720 
PER 
encourages emulation, keeps good order, and in eloquent 
harangues, in which the names of Ali and Huffeyn fre¬ 
quently occur, he reminds them of the good-humour, 
friend/hip, and refpeft, which, though rivals, they ought 
mutually to ffiow to each other. 
The Perfians are paffionately fond of the chafe; it is 
an exercife to which they are addicted from their youth, 
and in which they excel. They, however, make but 
little ufe of dogs in hunting, confidering them as the 
mod impure of animals ; hence they employ birds in their 
dead. They have brought their hawks to a great degree 
of docility, particularly one clafs which they call the 
churkh, and which is trained to catch antelopes. It is 
hunted with in this manner : When a herd of deer is dif- 
covered, one is feparated from the reft by the dogs, and 
the bird, being let loofe, almoft immediately pounces 
upon it, flapping its wings over the eyes of the antelope. 
The animal endeavours to rid itfelf of the churkh by 
beating its head againft the ground ; but, as the bird is 
perched on the upper part of the head, this attempt is of 
no avail. As the antelope flops the inftant the churkh 
pounces on it, the dogs foon come up to fecure their prey. 
One of thefe birds will kill two, and fometimes three, an¬ 
telopes in a day. 
The wild afs is fometimes hunted, though rarely, on 
account of its very great fpeed. Whenever it is, horfes 
are ftationed in places where it is moft likely to run, and 
by continually changing horfes the hunter fometimes 
overtakes this furprifingly fleet animal. 
Near Khoi are to befeen two pillars, called kelleh minor, 
or pillars of fkulls, which are the memorials of an extra¬ 
ordinary hunt of Shah Ifmael, who is faid to have killed 
in one day a multitude of wild goats, the heads and 
horns of which were arranged round two maflive pillars 
of brick, where they ftill remain. Some, lefs credulous, 
affirm, that thefe heads were the produce of the fport of 
a year, which feems much more probable; though it is 
allowed that the flocks of goats and antelopes on the 
mountains to the northward of Khoi are more numerous 
than it is eafy to conceive. 
Quails abound in fome parts of Perfia. This bird the 
Perfians hunt in a very curious manner. They flick two 
poles in their girdle, and place upon them either their 
outer coat or a pair of trowfers, which are intended to 
look at a diftance like the horns of an animal. They 
then with a hand-net prowl about the fields ; and the 
quail, feeing a form more like a beaft than a man, permits 
the hunter to approach fo near that he can throw his net 
over it. The rapidity with which the Perfians catch 
quails in this manner, is truly aftoniftiing. Mr. Morier 
fays, that, in one of his rambles with a gun, he met a ffiep- 
herd-boy, who, laughing at the few birds he had killed, 
ereffed his horns, and prefently caught more birds alive 
than he had fhot. 
The horfe-races of the Perfians are very different from 
ours. The horfes ftart at the diftance of perhaps fifteen 
miles, and purfue a direct courfe to the poft. No care is 
taken to level the ground; and, as it often happens that 
more than twenty horfes ftart together, there are frequent 
accidents. Purfes of gold are given to the firft, fecond, 
and third, horfes. They take great pains in training 
their horfes, which they do for a much longer time than 
is praftifed in Europe. 
The Mahometan religion interdi&s games of chance, 
and the police fines thole who tranfgrefs this prohibition : 
the Perfians, neverthelefs, pay but little attention to this 
precept. They cannot, however, be charged with a par¬ 
ticular fondnefs for gambling, which they never purlue 
to excels. The Perfians are acquainted with tennis and 
dice ; the game of backgammon is common among them, 
but they know little of chefs. Their cards, called kand- 
jafeh, are of wood, ninety in number; they are very cle¬ 
verly painted, and marked with eight colours. They 
have alfo a game which is common alfo in Turkey, by 
the name of mangala. Moft of thefe games are confined 
z 
S 1 A. 
to the lowed clafles of the people. The priefts hold per- 
fons who play, efpecially if for money, in little eftimation, 
and believe that they will fuffer in a future world for 
thefe afts of impiety. 
The ancient feftival of nouroos, or new year’s day, has 
been explained at p. 674.. The converfion of Perfia to If- 
lamifm was followed by the fufperifion of this feftival, 
for the fanaticifm of the firft Mulfulmans would not have 
fuffered a foletnnity commemorative of any other religion 
than that of Mahomet, which was to overturn all other 
creeds and to reign ever the whole earth. The Guebres 
alone continued to celebrate the nouroos. But, when 
Malek Shah refolved to reform the calendar, and inftitu- 
ted the era called after his name, the aftronomers having 
obferved to him that he afcended the throne on the firft 
day of the fpring equinox, and that it would be but right 
to revive-the folemnity of that day in honour of fuch an 
important event, the Seljuk monarch, delighted with a 
propofal fo flattering to his vanity, eagerly adopted the 
idea. Ever fince his time, that is, fince the end of the 
fifth century of the hegira, or the eleventh of our era, the 
nouroos has been celebrated with great pomp throughout 
all Perfia. 
This feftival, though no longer conneffed, as in the 
early ages, with the religion of the country, has neverthe¬ 
lefs retained many ceremonies fimilar to thofe of antiquity. 
On the day when the feftival is to begin, the aftrologers, 
magnificently dreffed, repair to the palace of the king, 
or of the governor of the province, and ftation them- 
felves on a terrace or in a belvidere, to watch the moment 
of the fun’s entrance into the fign Aries. As foon as 
they have announced it, numerous volleys of mulketry 
are fired; horns, kettle-drums, and trumpets, rend the 
air: all forts of fports and amufements commence 
throughout the whole city ; and high and low give them- 
felves up to the wildeft joy. During the three days that 
the nouroos lafts, there is nothing but feafting, horfe- 
racing, exercifes and exhibitions of various kinds; every 
one appears in his belt apparel, pays and receives vifits, 
makes prefents to his acquaintance, and receives their’s 
in return. The day before the nouroos, they mutually 
fend one another eggs, painted and gilt, which fometimes 
coft two or three guineas. This practice of prefenting 
eggs on new year’s day feems to derive its origin from 
India. When the moment of the equinox is paft, all the 
grandees repair to court, and prefent their offerings to 
the king: thofe of the princes, and the governors of pro¬ 
vinces and cities, are prelented by their agents. Thefe 
prefents confift of jewels, rich fluffs, precious ftones, per¬ 
fumes, horfes, and even money. Their value is propor¬ 
tionate to the rank and fortune of the giver : for the low- 
eft officer is obliged to make his prefent, j uft as well as the 
beglerbeg. Sir Robert Porter ftates, and, as he affures 
us, from unqueftionable authority, that the perfonal pre¬ 
fent made every nouroos to the king by Hadjee Moham¬ 
med Hoffein Khan, while he governed the province of 
Ifpahan, amounted to not lefs than 200,000 tomans. 
Bathing, though enjoined by the religious code, may 
be confidered among the amufements of the Perfians. 
The baths in this country are numerous and magnifi¬ 
cent, and the price of admiffion to them is moderate. 
They are open to perfons of all clafles and of both fexes; 
to the men five days in the week, and to women the 
other two. Thefe buildings confift of two very fpacious 
rooms; the one where you undrefs, fmoke, talk, and 
hear the news of the day ; the other contains the bath. 
Along the walls of the former, are placed feats of marble 
or ftone two feet high, covered with mats and carpets, 
on which the bathers fit to ftrip off their clothes. A nar¬ 
row paffage leads to the bathing-room, which is an octa¬ 
gon furmounted by a cupola, at which air and light are 
admitted, and paved with marble. At the upper end of 
this room is a large refervoir of water heated by means 
of boilers. 
The procefs of the bath, when applied by either fex, is 
much 
