697 
PER 
thoufand men, and commanded by a fer-kechikdjee. Thefe 
are felefted from among all the tribes, but more parti¬ 
cularly from that of the Cadjars. Half of thefe troops 
are difciplined in the European manner, and half in the 
Perlian. The former, who belong to the king’s houfe- 
hold, are called djan-baz, in contra-diftindlion to thofe 
trained by the princes, and efpecially by Abbas Mirza, 
who are denominated fer-baz. The firlt of thefe appel¬ 
lations fignifies “one who plays with his foul,” and the 
latter “ one who plays with his head.” Both are expref- 
five of devotedneis and valour. Th e gholam Jhahees form 
the cavalry of the royal guard, and the kecliikdjees the in¬ 
fantry. Thefe troops are clothed, equipped, and main¬ 
tained, at the expenfe of the king. 
The wandering tribes, of which we {hall prefently have 
occafion to fpeak,form the real military force, and furnifli 
what we ha.ve termed the militia. When the king is going 
to war, he intimates his intention to their different chiefs, 
who are obliged to repair with thdfr contingents to the 
royal camp: the number of thefe contingents is governed 
by the population of the tribe. Each town and village has 
to furnifli its quota. In this manner Feth Ali Shah 
might raife probably from 150,000 to 200,000 men, in cafe 
of emergency. 
By way of pay, each officer and foldier receives a grant 
of land ; but, when they take the field, they have pay, 
and a furoofat, or allowance of barley and ftraw for their 
horfes, and wheat, rice, and butter, for themfelves. They 
find their own arms, horfes, and clothing; and are fup- 
plied with nothing but ammunition. 
The Perfian armies are compofed of infantry and ca¬ 
valry. The infantry are generally employed at fieges; 
but, as their fervices are feldom required, they are for that 
reafon very indifferent foldiers. It was to its cavalry that 
Perfia in ancient times owed its military glory, and it flill 
conftitutes the chief force of the kingdom. The Perfian 
is lefs oftentatious in the harnefs of his horfe than the 
Turk. Luxury has given place to utility and conve¬ 
nience. Nadir Shah fubftituted to the Arabian ftirrups 
and bit a very fimple bridle and iron ftirrups. The Perfian 
faddle, though lighter than that of the Turks and Mame¬ 
lukes, is not broad enough in the feat: it requires great 
practice to keep upon it, efpecially as the ftirrups alfo are 
very narrow. 
The troops are commonly divided into regiments of 
one thoufand men ; and each regiment has its ftandard. 
Thefe ftandards are of every colour, and of every fort of 
rich fluff, and cut to a point: they bear for a motto 
either the Mahometan profeflion of faith or a paffage of 
the Koran ; and many of them difplay a lion with a rifing 
fun, or the two-edged fword of Ali. It is a point of 
honour with them, as with our troops, to preferve the 
ftandard from falling into the hands of an enemy. The 
bearer of it is ftyled alemdar. The alemdar-bajhee, or 
chief ftandard-bearer, is an important perfonage in the 
military hierarchy of the Perfians. 
The arms of the Perfians are the fcimitar, the carbine, 
the lance, the bow, and the noofe. A horfeman, when 
fully equipped, ufually carries a pair of piftols either in 
his girdle, or at the faddle-bow, a carbine or bow flung 
at his back by a tranfverfe fhoulder belt, and a lance. 
The latter, which is very light, being made of bamboo, 
he carries in his right hand, and ufes the bow with great 
dexterity and promptitude. The ufe of the’ hemend, 
whichis a long rope with a noofe at one end, is of great 
antiquity in Perfia. Thereexift paintings, in illuftration 
of the Shah Nameh, in which Rouftam is reprefented 
catching his enemies with this noofe, and dragging them 
after him. It is well known that the ancient Sclavonians 
and Bulgarians employed this fpecies of offenfive weapon 
in war. At prefent the hemend is but little ufed. 
The Perfians are greatly deficient in the foldier’s firft 
art, the art of dying. A Perfian, talking to one of our 
officers on that fubjeft, faid very ingenuoufly : “ If there 
were no dying in the cafe, how glorioufly the Perfians 
S I A. 
would fight!” Their ideas of courage, indeed, are to¬ 
tally different from ours: they look upon it as a quality 
which a man may have or not, as he may feel at the mo¬ 
ment ; and one of the king’s generals, who has the repu¬ 
tation of being a courageous man, was not afhamed to 
own that he and a large body of troops had been kept at 
bay by two Ruffian foldiers, who alternately fired their 
mufkets at them, and at length obliged them to move 
away. In talking of the Ruffians, they fay “ that they ale 
fo diverted of feeling, that rather than run away they will 
die on the fpot.” Thus much of the Perfian armies. 
Government and Laws. —The firft perfonage of the 
kingdom, next to the fovereign, is the itimad-ad-doudah, 
w'hofe dignity correfponds with that of grand vizir among 
the Turks, or our prime minifter. In petitions addreffed 
to him he is ftyled Vifir azem , Supreme Vizir ; but in fa¬ 
miliar language he is denominated Itimud-ad-dowlah, a 
compound w'ord fignifying “ Pillar of the Empire.” This 
minifter is in fa£l the axis round which the enormous 
mals of the affairs of the ftate revolves. His favour is the 
only way to obtain appointments and emoluments from 
the prince : no application reaches the royal ear, unlefs 
tranfmitted through and fupported by him. He nego- 
ciates with the ambaffadors of foreign powers, and con¬ 
cludes or breaks treaties at pleafure. The finances are 
under his direction, and no public or royal domain can 
be alienated, no innovation made in the government,and 
no point whatever decided, without his participation. No 
document is valid unlefs it be furnifhed with his leal, and 
the governors of provinces ail only by his inftruilions. 
No fooner has the favour of the fovereign exalted a 
fubjeil to the dignity of ilimad-ad-dowlah, nofooneris his 
utmoft ambition gratified, than he becomes a ftranger to 
peace and happinefs. His days belong to the ftate; 
he paffes them in the palace, away from his- women, his 
children, and the objects of his affeilion. His nights are 
difturbed by the conflant apprehenfion left fome courtier 
who is his enemy, and has contrived to win the good 
graces of the monarch at an entertainment; fome eunuch 
whom he has affronted ; fome female who (hares the 
king’s couch, and whole parents have met with fome refu- 
fal from him ; or laftly, the queen-mother, whofe fchemes 
he has thwarted ; may be fecretiy preparing his downfal. 
He frequently owes his high fortune to chance : why then 
may not his difgrace be the work of intrigue ? This ap¬ 
prehenfion identifies itfelf with his being, haunts him 
wherever he goes, and fhows him the elevation of his 
rank merely as a meafure of the depth of his portable 
fall. He has two methods of retaining his dignity ; and 
the duration of his power depends on the addrefs with 
which he employs them. Thefe are, to remove by exile or 
death thofe from whom he has any thing to fear ; and to 
flatter the vanity and the partions of the fovereign by 
magnifying his mod infignificant exploits, aferibing to 
him qualities which he does not poflefs, and adminiftering 
to his pleafures. 
Kotzebue has given fome anecdotes tending to fliovv 
that the fituation of prime-minifter in Perfia is not 
always a very enviable poll. We (hall relate only one, 
for which we are indebted to Sir Robert Ker Porter. The 
late prime minifter Mirza Sheffea, who died fo lately as 
the year 1819, at the advanced age of 82, held the fame 
port under Aga Mohammed Khan, the predeceffor of the 
reigning monarch ; indeed he had been prime minifter 
feven-and-forty years. Among the variety of cruel pu- 
nilhments with which that tyrant vifited thofe who of¬ 
fended him, pulling out their tongues, cutting off their 
ears, and digging out their eyes, were his mod lenient 
fentences. One morning, fome of the royal gholams 
having juft returned from an errand of this kind to an 
unfortunate village under the difpleafure of the king, 
and its doom having been to lofe a certain number of 
eyes extracted from the heads of its inhabitants, the 
people in attendance produced the fatal bag, and the 
lighrlefs organs were poured out before his majefty. 
Scrupulous 
