722 
PER 
S I A. 
inmates of the houfe. The whole of the day is fpent in 
feafting and jollity : towards evening, the damfel makes 
her appearance enveloped in a long veil of fcarlet or 
crimfon (ilk ; and, being placed on a horfe or mule fplen- 
didly caparifoned, is conduced to the habitation of her 
affianced hufband by all her relations, marching in regu¬ 
lar order to the found of the fame clamorous band which 
had efcorted the prefents. When alighted at the bride¬ 
groom’s door, the lady is led to her future apartments 
within the houfe, accompanied by her female relations 
and waiting-maids. Her friends of the other fex mean¬ 
while repair to thofe of the bridegroom, where all the 
male relations on both fides being affembled, the feafting 
and rejoicing recommences; with the drums and other 
mufical inftruments ftill playing the moft confpicuous 
part. When the fupper-feaft is over, the bluffiing bride 
is conduced to the nuptial chamber ; and there the impa¬ 
tient lover firft beholds his love, and the marriage is 
confummated without farther ceremony. The bride¬ 
groom, not long after, returns to his party, and an an¬ 
cient matron in waiting leads the lady back to her fe¬ 
male friends. A prefcribed time is allowed for both fets 
of relations to congratulate the young people on their 
union ; after which they repair to the bridal chamber for 
the night, leaving their feparate companies to keep up 
the revelry, which generally lafts for three days. 
The marriage-contraff ftipulates the fettlement on the 
bride of fuch jointure as may be agreed upon. It confifts 
of a fum of money, proportionate to the fortune of the 
bridegroom, and other prefents. If he is in middling 
c.ircumftances, he prefents her with two complete dreftes, 
a ring, and a mirror. This jointure, called mihir or havin, 
is deftined for the fupport of the wife in cafe of divorce. 
The hufband alfo fupplies the requifite furniture, carpets, 
mats, culinary utenfils, and other necefiaries. 
When any mifunderftanding arifes between hufband 
and wife, they each choofe an umpire out of their refpec- 
tive families, and refer the matter to his decifion: but, if 
their difpofitions or taftes cannot be reconciled, a divorce 
is folicited and granted by the judge. The wife then re¬ 
ceives back her portion, 3 nd fometimes keeps half her 
jointure. A man may marry again after fuch feparation, 
and be a fecond time divorced; but the third marriage, 
though allowed, muft not be contraffed till the woman 
has married another man. A wife who has been put 
away, cannot marry for three months after her repudia¬ 
tion ; neither can a widow till Tour months and ten 
nights after the deceafe of her hufband. 
Jf a wife commits adultery, and the is attefted by 
four witneffes, the hufband has a right to keep her a pri- 
foner for life; “ but the chaftity,” fays M. Olivier, “ or 
the addrefs, of the married women, renders the infliftion 
of fuch punifliment extremely rare.” M. Olivier adds, 
that, though four wives are allowed, people in low cir- 
cumftances feldom have more than one. 
In Perfia, and throughout the Eaft, there is no fuch 
thing as illegitimacy : all the children are equal and legi¬ 
timate in the eye of the law. The firft-born is heir of 
right, even though he received life from a (lave. 
When a wife dies, half her property belongs to her fur- 
viving hufband, if (he has no children: in the contrary 
cafe he has but one-fourth. When the wife furvives, 
(he can claim one-fourth of her hufband’s property, but 
one-eighth only in cafe there are children. 
Funerals are conducted with very little fplendour; and 
the day of death is commonly that of fepulture. The 
dead are perfumed with incenfe, and buried in a kind of 
fhroud open at both ends, that the deceafed may be able 
to fit up and reply to the interrogatories of the angels of 
death. (See p. 702.) The burial-grounds are near the 
highways; and, as one grave does not intrude upon ano¬ 
ther, they are very extenfive. Though the Mahometan 
religion forbids graves to be covered with any ftrudhire 
whatever, yet the oftentation of the great has violated 
this precept, and left the obfervance of it to the very low- 
eft clafs, who have only a piece of ftone fet up vertically 
at the end of the grave, with a moral infeription, or a 
paffage from the Koran. The tombs of the middling 
fort of people are built with bricks, with a fmall piece of 
marble at the head to contain the epitaph. Stone lions 
and rams rudely fculptured are very frequently feen in 
Perfian burial-grounds ; and are placed over the tombs 
of foldiers, or thofe famed for their courage. The rich 
have over their tombs fmall cupolas refting on four pi- 
lafters : the largeftand moft confiderable are called takie/i, 
and are built over the remains of holy and learned men. 
Around thefe and fuch-like monuments, are in general 
to be feen collections of minor tombs ; for it is a received 
opinion, that thofe who are buried in the vicinity of a 
holy perfonage will meet with his fupport at the day of 
refurredtion. The Perfians, however, do not take the 
fame care of their dead as the Turks. Their tombs are 
trampled on; paths frequently lead direCtly over them; 
and epitaph, temb-ftone and all, are often carried away 
to be ufed as materials for building. 
Mourning lafts forty days at the utmoft. Black is not 
the livery of forrow : that colour is abhorred by the Per¬ 
fians. They exprefs grief, and mark the ftate of mourning, 
by fighs and moans, by abftaining from food for eight 
days, and by wearing garments of a brown or pale colour 
adapted to the ftate of the mind. For ten days their 
friends pay them vifits, and afford them all the confola- 
tion in their power. They then go to the bath, have 
their heads fliaved, and put on frefh clothes. Here ends 
the full mourning; but their lamentations continue till 
the fortieth day, and they renew them twice or thrice 
a-week, always at the hour when the deceafed expired. 
The grief of the women is more ftrongly exprefled, 
and of longer continuance. Endowed by nature with 
keener fenfibility than the other fex, and left by the death 
of a hufband in a ftate of forlorn widowhood, to which 
they are generally doomed for the reft of their lives, they 
mourn for many months, paying daily vifits to the grave, 
and watering it with their tears. 
Agriculture and Commerce.— We have repeatedly 
noticed the extreme drynefs of the climate and the great 
deficiency of rivers. Thefe circumftances have obliged 
the Perfian hufbandmen to turn all their ingenuity to the 
difeovery of fprings, and to the art of bringing their 
ftreams to the furface of the earth. When a fpring has 
been difeovered, they dig a well until they come to wa¬ 
ter ; and, if they find that the quantity is fufficient to 
repay them for proceeding with the work, they dig a fe¬ 
cond well, at fuch a diftance from the other as to allow a 
fubterranean communication between them. They then 
afeertain the neareft line of communication with the le¬ 
vel of the plain upon which the water is to be brought 
into ufe, and dig a fucceffion of wells with a fubterraneous 
communication between the whole feries, till the water 
at length comes to the furface, when it is conducted by- 
embanked channels to the place of its deftination. The 
extent of country through which fuch ftreams are fome¬ 
times conducted is truly aftonifhing; and fuch is the con- 
fequence of a new kanaut, or aqueduCt, that the day when 
the water is brought to its ultimate deftination is a day 
of rejoicing among the peafants. The aftrologers are 
confulted to name a fortunate hour for the appearance of 
the ftream ; and, when it comes forth, it is received with 
fongs and mufic, attended by fhouts of joy and exclama¬ 
tions of Molatrek bajhed! “ Profperity attend it!” 
The labour and expenfe of a kanaut of courfe depends 
greatly upon the diftance whence the water is to be 
brought. The mode of making the w-ell is very Ample. 
A (haft is firft dug, then a w’ooden trundle is placed over 
it, from which is fufpended a leather bucket which is 
filled with the excavated (natter by a man below, and 
wound up by another above. Where the foil is foft, the 
mouth of the well is fecured by mafonry. The mode of 
drawing water from thefe wells is as follows: Two ports 
fupport a cylinder which turns on an axis and is placed 
over 
