PER 
out a fpecies of dramatic exhibition. There are perfons 
who recite and a£l pafi'ages of the Shah Name!) of Fer- 
doufee, fuch as the battle between Rouftatn and Sohrab, 
and between the fame hero and Isfendiar. 
In fummer, when the approach of night terminates 
the labours of the villagers, they affemble around a foun¬ 
tain or on the margin of a dream, fpread their mats, and 
highly enjoy the fupreme delight of breathing a frefli and 
pure air. To the Perfian there is no enjoyment equal to 
this: yet there are other amufements which enliven the 
village circle, and banifh from it laffitude and care. Some¬ 
times an itinerant bard charms his auditors with the re¬ 
cital of the loves of Medjnoun and Leiilah ; at others 
a kiffeh-kon, or ftory-teller, declaims the hiftory of the 
heroes of Perfia. Here a dervife edifies his hearers with 
a delineation of the virtues, misfortunes, and miracles, of 
Ali and his family; there the reiji-deh, or village bailiff, 
relates the hiftory of the great men of the province, and 
confiders the motioniefs attitude, the fixed gaze, the ftu- 
pefaftion of his auditory, as the moft flattering tribute 
to his ruftic eloquence. In another place a mollah, at 
once a minifter of religion and a priell of the mufe, re¬ 
peats, with due emphafis. pieces from the Guliftan of 
Saadi, or the Divan of Hafiz ; while a few paces diftant a 
buffoon by his fallies, or a juggler by his tricks, excites 
the laughter and admiration of the junior clafles. 
When night has fhrouded the earth, and its refrefhing 
coolnefs has fucceeded the heat of day, the villagers join 
in the dance accompanied by inftruments : at other times 
the peafants remain fpe&ators, and leave the exercife to 
troops of dancers of both fexes who ftroll about the 
country for hire. 
Other amufements of the Perfians confift in (hooting 
with the bow, managing the fabre, and playing at jureed- 
bazee , a game very common among the military men. It 
is played in the following manner. A number of men on 
horfeback, each armed with a jureed, or dart, three cu¬ 
bits long, divide into two oppofite troops. Two or three 
gallop away from their troop, and are purfued by the like 
number of the other party, who throw the jureed at them 
while going at full fpeed. The perfon at whom the ju¬ 
reed is thrown, either catches it in his hand, or, flipping 
under the horfe’s belly, allows it to fly over him. This 
feat, wdiich is by no means eafy, at the rate the horfe is 
going, they perform very expertly. The jureed comes 
with fufficient force to break an arm. They alfo amufe 
themfelves with riding at full fpeed, throwing the jureed 
on the ground, and catching it as it rebounds. 
The king’s cavalry are alfo trained to an exercife called 
the keykaj, which confifts of turning about on the faddle 
at full fpeed and firing a carbine backward. This they 
learn from their childhood, and it gives them great con¬ 
fidence and dexterity on horfeback. It is probably a 
remnant of the old Parthian cuftom, fo frequently alluded 
to in ancient authors ; with this difference, that fire-arms 
are now ufed inftead of bows and arrows. 
The modern exercife of the bow is likewife performed 
on horfeback. The horfeman gallops away with a bow' 
and arrow in his hand, and, when he has reached a certain 
point, he inclines either to the right or left, and dis¬ 
charges his arrow, which, to win the prize, muft hit a 
cup fixed at the top of a pole one hundred and twenty 
feet high. 
Another fpecies of exercife, which feems to be lefs cul¬ 
tivated than the preceding, is thus mentioned by Kotze¬ 
bue : “When the review was ended, the mailer of the 
horfe came forward, Handing upon a wild Arabian, and 
turned himfelf round while the horfe was bounding 
about in every direction at full fpeed, not in the meafured 
canter of our riding-fchools. Sometimes he would fuf- 
pend himfelf by either foot, while his head and arms 
hung down to the ground ; then, fwinging himfelf on the 
horle, he would (land in the faddle upon both legs or one: 
in fliort he went through a great variety of feats, the 
fight of which was really alarming. This man’s perform- 
Vol.XIX. No. 1338. 
3 I A. 719 
ances certainly furpafied any thing of the kind that I 
had ever witnefled in my own country; and, when the 
minifter afked my opinion of them, I allured him that we 
had nothing equal to them in Ruflia. * And yet,’ added 
he, * that is not our beft tumbler; the beft is fick.’ I 
did not, however, give much credit to this aflertion ; and 
I afterwards learned that this man was the only perfor¬ 
mer at the king’s court, and indeed fuperior to any in 
Perfia. 
The game of the mall is alfo known to the Perfians, 
who play at it on horfeback. At the extremity of the 
place appropriated to this exercife, there are two polls 
which ferve for a wicket. The ball is thrown down in 
the middle of the place, when the players, provided with 
a fliort flick, purfue and ftrike it while going at a gallop, 
and endeavour to drive it between the two ports. Scarcely 
any but people of fuperior rank play at thefe games, in 
which they difplay great (kill as well in the fport itfelf as 
in riding. 
In many cities of Perfia, particularly at Shiraz, there 
are houfes called zour-ltaneh, where bodily exercifes are 
prairtifed. They may be compared with the gymnafiums 
of the ancients. The zour-kaneh confifts of a room, the 
floor of which is funk two feet below the level of the foil. 
They have no air or light but what is admitted at fmall 
apertures in the dome 5 and hence it is unwholefome to 
remain long in them. A broad frnooth terrace is the 
arena where the exercifes are performed, while the fpec- 
tators and muficians are ftationed in a kind of boxes or 
rather niches. 
Niebuhr, who vifited thefe gymnafiums, gives a faith¬ 
ful defcription of their different kinds of exercifes, all of 
which were defigned to develop the phyfical powers and 
natural dexterity. The champions enter the arena ftark 
naked with the exception of a pair of light drawers. 
They begin with a (hort prayer and proftration, for the 
Muflulman never engages in any thing, not even amufe- 
ment, without praying. Having performed this duty, 
fome extend themfelves at full length, but without allow¬ 
ing the belly to touch the ground, and in this pofture 
defcribe a circle with the head, yet without ftirring either 
hands or feet by which they are fupported. Others take 
thick wooden clubs, about a foot and a half long, and 
cut into the fliape of pears, place one on each (houlder, 
brandilh them about in cadence with the mufic, at the 
fame time (lamping with their feet, and continuing this 
exercife for half an hour. Some (land on their hands, 
with their heels in the air, and leap up by a plank fet 
againft the the wall, or even without the afiiftance of the 
plank ; others dance to the found of lively mufic, fome- 
times turning round, fometimes leaning againft the wall, 
fometimes (landing on one hand, fometimes on the other. 
Some lie down on their backs with cufliions under the 
head and arms, and raife in cadence heavy pieces of wood ; 
while others, Handing upright, (hake their bodies in every 
direftion, up, down, forward, and backward. Thefe pof- 
tures are varied to infinity, and they are generally fuc¬ 
ceeded by wreftling. The combatants never try their 
ftrength till they have paid each other a thoufand com¬ 
pliments. They firft clap their hands one againft ano¬ 
ther, then crofs them over their foreheads; they next lie 
down on the ground, each feeking the means of attacking 
his antagonift to the greateft advantage. The conteft is 
thus prolonged till the viftory is decided, and the van- 
quiftied party kifles the hand of the conqueror. When 
the champion has beaten all his adverfaries, he folicits 
fome donation of the fpeftators. If he can prove that he 
has overcome the mod eminent champions of the great 
cities, he has a right to have a lion placed on his tomb. 
Thefe gymnafiums, like thofe of antiquity, have each 
their gymnafiarch, who is called pehlevan , hero. Superior 
ftrength, flcill, and dexterity, are the qualifications for 
this office. The pehlevan muft have vanquifhed all com¬ 
petitors in the different exercifes. He is then inverted 
with the fuperintendence over them, adjudges the vidlory, 
8 X encourages 
