252 A VISIT TO PERSIA. 
adorned with designs representing soldiers of the various branches of 
the army. 
Most of the time spent by the infantry on parade is taken up with 
ceremonial exercises; marching past is rehearsed daily, while the 
manual exercise and any form of drills, likely to make an effective 
show, are practised continually. But ‘drills even of this nature are 
executed in a slack and slovenly manner and it is not unusual to see 
some of the rear rank, during the manual exercise, taking advantage 
of their somewhat concealed position, to re-adjust an uncomfortable 
shoe or to arrange some part of their uniform. 
Hven in Tehran the soldiers are very baldly clothed, so one may con- 
clude that, in the more remote garrisons, the uniforms are in much 
worse condition; little attempt is made to fit the clothing and the 
material from which it is made is of very inferior quality. As to the 
officers they do not appear in the matter of general smartness to be in 
any way superior to the men, nor of a type likely to do much towards 
elevating the army at large. Their words of command are generally 
accompanied by much manual demonstration and flourishing of swords, 
but mere words of command do nof, appear to have much effect in 
quickening the movements of the men to enliven whose paces much 
stronger forms of argument are frequently resorted to. 
The Persians are proud of their artillery, the small increase of pay 
given to that arm securing a fine set of men—both gunners and 
drivers receive the same pay. Field batteries are to be seen at drill 
every morning on the garrison parade ground, their movements seem 
to be limited to driving round in column of route or with an occasional 
variation to column of sections; any rapid or more extended move- 
ments would, in the crowded state of the parade ground, be attended 
with much danger to the other arms. ‘The horses are the ordinary 
horses of Persia, mere ponies when judged by an Hnglish standard, 
they are well fed and in good condition and, like all the horses of Persia, 
are very hardy and possess great powers of endurance. 
Pole draught is entirely used while the old Bengal Artillery pole 
and harness, still in use with a few batteries, shews that the first 
training of the artillery was carried out under Bengal Artillery officers. 
The harness generally in use is a copy from the Austrian Artillery, but 
little attempt is made to fit it to the horses and the whole turn-out is 
untidy, shewing a great absence of care or supervision on the part of 
the officers. : 
The uniform of the artillery is a dark-coloured blouse, almost black, 
of common serge with light blue collar, pantaloons of a blueish shade 
with red stripe. The head-dress is a sheep-skin of the usual national 
type with a brass badge in front, both gunners and drivers wear jack 
boots of an English pattern, generally of enormous dimensions round 
the calf. 
There are two cavalry regiments in ‘l’ehran which are equipped and 
turned out so as to resemble as closely as possible Cossack Cavalry. 
These two regiments form by far the smartest portion of the Persian 
army, due of course to their being under the direct control of Russian 
officers. There are at present three Russian officers and six Russian 
