The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1822-10-24 00:00:00

PERSIA IN MINIATURE.

The account of the domestic life of the Persians
is not the !raid Interesting portion of this entertain-
ing work. The following extract contains some
curious particulars

" The houses of lopahan are one story in height,
but composed of so ninny apartments, that even the
meatiest of them cover a considerable area : for the
extent that we occupy ill our high houses is in
Penis laid out horizontally. They are built either
of earth or brick, and their uniformity ut height
and colour produces a very dull appearance when
seen collectively.
" M. Milner gives an humorous enumeration of
the noises characteristic of a Persian city. First,
at the dawn of day, the muezzins are heard in a
great variety of tones, calling the people to prayers
from the tops of the mosques. These are mixed
with the sounds of cow-horns, blown by the keepers
of the Anoint/rots, to inform the women, who bathe
before the men, that the bathe are heated, and ready
fur their reception. The cow-horns vet all the dogs
of the city howling in a frightful manner. The aura
of the town generally beginning to bray about the
same time, are answered by all the asses of the neigh-
bourhood ; a thousand cocks then intrude their shrill
voices, which, with the other subsidiary notes of per-
sons calling to each other, knocking at doors,and cries
of children, complete a din very unusual to the ears

of apt European. In she summer *eosin,. as the
operations of domestic life are noisily performed in
the open sir, ern,' kind of noise is heard. At night
all sleep on the tops of astir houteii, their beds
being spread upon their terraers, without soy
other covering over heed than the vault of beeves);
The poor seldom have u screen to keel, them frtml
the gaze of p•ssengeri, end as we generally rode
out on horseback. sore the traveller, at an early
hour, We perceived on she tops of the booms people:
either still is bed or just getting up, and 41 s. :Va
no _tight trite arae.atamager4 7110 arelMatt
to be always up the first, while the men were fre-
qeently sees lounging in bed long after the sun had
risen. This universal custom of sleeping on the
house top speaks mach in favour of the efitsate.hi
Persia; audt indeed; we found that our repose in
the open sir sof much more refreshing than its the
confinement of a room.

" On entering the door of a house of any con-
sequence, a long passage generally leads to a spa-
cious court, which has a fountain at the farthest
extremity, while the sides are bordered by CUMIN
and alleys of tree•. Each house has ■ divan. kumeh,
or an apartment for the reception of visitors.
When it is of large dimensions there are two fire.
places adorned with paintings and • indow glAss ;
and on each tide there is a close., of which no use
seems to be made.
" It is difficult to form a correct ides of the
extent of buildings in Persia. The women hare
their particular apartments, called harem-kande, or
:enema, and the servants, who are frequently very
numerous, also have rooms for their exclu►ive
a:motivation.

•• The furniture of s Persian house is extremely
simple when compered with ours. We find in them
neither beds sumptuously decorated, nor tables and
chains:amity wood, nor chandeliers and lustres,
nor those numberless articles of various forms and
materials, with which European lottery decorates
our apartment.. In Persia the furniture consists of
• thick coarse felt, which covers the Boor, and over
which is spread a rich Persian carpet. People in
middling circumstances content themselves with
the felt alone. Instead of chairs, small mattresses
about • yard wide are placed no the door round the
room, sad covered with chintz, silk, or cloth of gold.
Cushions set ea and close to the wall serve to lean
against.
•• Whoa it is time to retire to rest, a mattress is
spread upon the carpet with • blanket or counter-
pane, and two pillows of down. This is all the bed
used by the Persians, and they lie in it without un-
dressing. The mattress is of velvet, and the coon-
teepees of silk brocade, os cloth of gold sod silage.
Articles of this kind are not changed perhaps for a
century; for these velvets and brocades never wear
out, owing in part to the extreme dryness of ►he
atmosphere.
lu Persia a native never enters the room in
boots or slippers ; and when a foreigner attempts
any transgression of this usage. it is looked upon
as the height of ill-breeding, if not quite • preme-
ditated insult. As these people use the carpet not
merely fur domestic purposes, but to kneel down
on when they say their prayers, it is considered in
some wasters sacred, and hence arises the custom
of a visitor always leaving his slippers •t the room-
door. The term door here means whatever denotes
the way of ingress to the apartment ; for though,
in general there is a double door of carved or paint.
ed wood, which may be dosed at pleasure. yet it
is so seldom closed in the day, that we usually find
• silk curtain filling the vacant space of the en.
trance; its light drapery being not only • cooler
bat a more elegant appendage than • thick heavy
door. An encoding servant raises the curtain st
the spproach of a visitor, and drops it on Isis hav-
ing entered. That the custom of such draperies is
of great antiquity we find in various authors. Plu.
Larch, for instance, informs us that • Alexander,
snatching a spear from one of his guards, and
meeting Clytus as he was drawing back the door
eau-tails, ran him through the body.'
•' At on interview which took place between
the Prince Royal of Persia and the Russian
Governor-General of Georgie, the latter, un-
accustomed to the manners of the Persians,
dressed himself in full uniform. which comprises
▪ pair of tight pantaloons and military boots.
The English Ambassador hid previously inri-
mated to him in a friendly manner, that it would be
but a common mark of respect to the Persians,
whose carpet was not only their seat but their table,
to substitute for his boots the chackehour, or red
cloth stockings usually worn on such occasions.
The General, alleging that the ouly costume in
which he can appear was that which he wore in the
presence of his own Sovereign, persevered in his
full dress, and was seated, boots and all, on the
Prince's carpet. The Prince was so incensed, that
soon as the General was gone. he ordered his hiss-
ter of the Ceremonies to be bastivadoed almost to
death.

" The Persians hare no candles for lighting their
houses. For this purpose they use brass cups,
fixed upon rodent the same metal, which they fill
with pure white tallow, having a cotton wick in the
middle. Sometimes they burn scented tapers, the
wax of which has been mixed up with oil of clans.
mou or cloves, or some other ;monistic.

" The mode of warming houses is economical,
but unwholesome. As wo.rl is scarce, the Persians
are strangers to the use of fire-places and chimneys.
lu their stead a sorry expedient presents itself
the shape of a large jar, called a kourcy, which is
sunk in the earth, generally in the middle of the
room, with its mouth on a level with the floor.
This the people fill with wood, dung, or any other
combustible; and when it it sufficiently charred,
the south of the vessel is shut in within a square
wooden Gorge, shaped like a low table: the whole
is then covered with a thick wadded quilt, ruder
which the family, ranged round, place their knees,
to allow the hot vapour to insinuate itself into every
fold of their clothing. When very cold, they
d►aw the borders of the quilt up as high as their
chino, and forms group somewhat resembling our