Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-07-22

n y
a man sometimes divorces all four wives
ana begins over again. The women have
rarely any dlihculty In securing new hus-
bands. 1t is no disgrace to be divorced.
I There is an extraordinary law about mar
rage outside Of the ordinary ceremony.
which permits man and 4 woman TO
marry for any specified length Of time.
+ from hNe minutes up 10 sixty years. TIE
couple go before a priest and state the
time settled on, and the msus then pays
an agreed sum OF money to the woman.
/ II he leaves her at the end OF the II Ned
time she cannot marry again for four
I months, and any enid born is the legiti-
mate offspring OF the man. aud he cares
/ for 1t. Many women of rank prefer fhis
/ kind OF marriage, making the term nity
/ OF sixty years long, as by doing so they
/ secure their jOinture beforehand. and The
/ husband cannot divorce them until the
! time is expired. There are some highly
1 educated and intellectual women in Per
/ STA, but they are very rare. In taking
evidence The testimony Of one man equals
/ that Of two women. The civil law or the
/ Urf IS based on the religious law. whose
eXpounders are the MOllahs or priests"
Nv here does the tank water come
from?"
There are some thirty cannaughts, or
underground sQueducts, leading into the
/ Z
/ base Of the mountains ten miles away,
and bring the cold water Of the melted
snow on the mountain tops. In the city
I it runs along the sides of the streets,
and is conveyed thence into the court
/ Yards"
''What does the King do when he rises
eariv?"
He gives an audience to his ministers.
/ lie sits on his heels and they stand
orf. GfN COLL fr r.-,sas
| anG genutieXiOns are all mOohshlne. one
/ bows on entering and on going ont. The
\ King is clement, kind-hcarted, and not at
/ all cruel. He is inclined to abolish CAPT
tai punishment. and has done SO almost
entirely. Tie undoubtedly did some cruel
! things, from our point Of view, when he
! first assembled the throne, but he is less
and less inclined that way every year,
and he has never approached the cruel
/ ties of the most lenient OF his predeces-
/ sors. One of their faVorite punishments
was to tie a man, back down, on camel,
slit open his abdomen, and then drive him
/ through the streets. The English story
/ of the Shah having carried before him
| trays containing 30 pounds of eyes re-
moved from the principal men OF a cap
/ tured city is sheer nonsense. A common
/ punishment is the bastinadO, which is
rarely fatal unless 700 or 500 blows are
] n
/ few DAYS All below princes of the royal
/ blood are subject to this punishment, but
/ it is rarely inflicted on men Of high rank.
/ In the southern provinces murderers and
! adulterers are still sometimes built into a
/ solid stone wall, sometimes only up 10
| their mouths, and there they NAV linger
/ for days until they starve TO death. 1t
| has been said that the prompt execution
/ Of criminals is cruel, bat the only way to
ii
| advantage or fear Of quick, punishment.
| The King is obliged to do it in order to
maintain himself As soon as a man is
! found guilty of treason, murder, or 0dul-
/ terry he is condemned 10 Death, and witsin
/ ten minutes his throat is cut like
/ sleeps. There would be no object In i'm
prsoning him longer, as there are no
courts of appeal. But nearly every crime
/ can be expiated hy,a money indemnity,
and certain price Is, nXed, upon many
4 things, such as the loss az an eve or a
/ leg. If the friends of a murdered man
will accept blood money even "A murderer
may escape death. The Judges are the
Mollahs, the Shah in important cases, the
/ Governor of the city, who is the third son
/ of the Shah; Count de MOntefOrte, an
Italian, who is the executive head of the
/ city government, and his deputies. These
try all cases and pass judgment. There
/ is Il Wtll-OISdUiLSu l1pl4Cb tulCb. lUIAHeu bu
| European models. The policeman wears
European clothes and carries a short cut
lass. The streets around the palace, the
! Champs de Mars, and a few principal
streets, are lighted with gas, but all else
| is dark. the waytarer is lighted by Ian
terms at night, and his rank Il indicated by
the number and size Of his lanterns.p
"The Persians are spoken Of as cow
ardlyy
"That is another mistake. They fur
nish good material for soldiers, but they
lack good officers. Like all Orientals
they are thrown into a panic if their
leader is stricken down, and European
discipline is naturally uneOngenlal 10 the
best Oriental sOidiers-''
"You spoke Of the Shah sitting on his
heels?''
eyes, that is the wsy Persian sits
down. IL would be almost impossible FOR
any one else to do it. for any length o.
time, but they are trained to it from boy
hood. In some houses they have Euro
pean furniture, but when the Persian sits
III chair he generally manages TO get
one foot under him, aud then he Is con
tent"
"How do the Persians treat Christians
and Europeans?"
Not badly, if their fanaticism is not
aroused. Then they become dangerous.
! A lew years ago II European cOnsortCu
| with Persian woman be was killed at
once, or obliged to turn MOhammedan
aud marry her. Even now il would
/ create the greatest trouble, so that Euro
peans confne their attentions to the Ar
menian women of the native Christian
| population. When the 5hah's wives
drive through the streets, men 20 ahead 10
clear the streets and warn all persons TO
conceal themselves. II man has no
chance in getting away be turns his face
around and does not look, on pain OF be-
/ ing roughly handled or perhaps killed on
the spot. Europeans are competed TO do the
same thing. In June Of last year, OWING 10
the intense heat, ! was compelled TO move
my family out OF the city. On MY way 70
/ the country met n large force Of soldiers
/ escOrting the Shah's wives. " a Persian
had CHANGED TO glance at the royal ladies iu
4 such circumstances he would have Jared
hard. but the foreign legations have
! rights and privileges of their own, so l
/ stood my ground. Some twenty Of the
mounted guards violently attacked US
ana beat my servants and their horses i'm
/ the effort to drive them back. ] directed
/ them 10 stand their ground, and things
/ were looking serious, when one OF the
/ Queens, who recognized the servants Of
| my legation by their badges, sent her
/ chief eunuch TO call the soldiers away.
/ We were then allowed 10 pass through
| without further molestation This attack
was an insult 20 the dignity OF the lem