THE PASHA OF BAGDAD. 
251 
described as sculptured on the walls of the banqueting chamber 
in the palace of Persepolis. There a group of persons are seen, 
“ one, holding a sort of censer, evidently intended for burning 
perfumes, while in the other hand he carries a vessel resembling 
a pail j probably to contain the aromatic gums. The man who 
follows him, bears a little bottle set in the palm of his right 
hand, and in the left he holds a piece of linen or towel* we 
cannot doubt that all this apparatus was to perform the cleansing 
rite we had just gone through. The saloon in which we were 
received, exhibited no gaudy variety of ornament; and those in 
attendance, both in demeanour and apparel, were in unison with 
its cleanliness and simple furniture. Most of these persons, for 
they were numerous, appeared to be Georgians; a regular garde 
de corps, amounting to several hundred well-looking young 
men of acknowledged bravery and talent, having been the long- 
established household battalion of the pashas of Bagdad. It is 
from this body that their favourite ministers are usually chosen ; 
and too often the ambitious servant manifests his gratitude to his 
master, by engaging in intrigues to displace him from his au¬ 
thority, or to remove him to a better world; that he may, for a 
brief while, seat himself on the same slippery chair of state ! 
The pashalick does not, at present, enjoy that entire quiet it 
had anticipated from having placed the golden wall , I noticed 
when writing of Mahmoud Ali Mirza, between it and “ the in¬ 
cursions of the Medes.” Its own assumed subjects, the Arabs of 
the deserts, to the south and south-west, excited by injuries, have 
arisen in open war against it; asserting their right of resistance 
to certain heavy oppressions laid upon them by their Turkish 
* See Vol. I. page 654. Plate XLVII. The group of two, with circlets round 
their heads. 
K K 2 
