The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1886-11-25
ADJUSTMENTS IN PERSIA,
PLEASURES OF RICH AND POOR IN
AN ORIENTAL CO UNTRY.
Smoking and Drinking-Tea-ho
and Public BathS-Proicsslona
Story TcllcrS--The "LOuterS."

Chronicle. The rich, of course, as else
where, know how to find and sip tho
honey of amusement from the chalicc OF
life. Not so the poor. The wealthy Per
sian ;ndulges in banquets, to which he
will invite his intimate friends, and
where they will get beastiy drunk on ar
rack and wine and date brandy, where
from forty to 200 dishes and sweetmeatS
are served, and where some female slaves
will dance to him and his guests; where
they will recline after the meal by the
bubbling kanaut, with the fragrant
fumes of the ghalyan cnveloping them,
while Jewish musicians will play and q
professional story-teller will get of his
best yarns and jokes, the whole crowd
meanwhile swilIing tea and sherbet by
the galloon. In the evening they will
even have fireworks, and hundreds Of
little lamps, inclosed in varicolored glass
globes, which have their rays reflected
from the glass ceilings.
The rich will 60 off on long hunting
excursions or on hawking parties, or to
pigeon matches. They will employ Jug
glers and prize-fghters and magicians.
They will while the weary hours pleas
antly away in their andarouns with their
women in variety of ways. Money al
ways finds means to spend the time
amusingly, if it chooses, but how about
the poor Persians, and they form ninety
nine per cent. of the population2 Prac-
tically they have only the ghalzan, the
tea-house, the bath, and the professional
story-telers and 'boutees' to give them
their foretaste of the paradise which
Mohammed has printed in such glowing
colors. The ghalzan is the Russian
water pipe. 1t is quite different from
the Turkish narghileh, has no flexible
tube and mouthpiece, but q straight,
stiff stem, and it is so heavy and incon-
venicnt to hold that it requires ones two
hands aud entire attention to manipulate
it. But the splendid smoke it furnishes
.compensates for the trouble. the smoke
passes through cool water and is quite
free from nicotine when it comes to the
mouth. -:
The tobacco used in the ghalzan is
called "tumbekee," to Distinguish it
from the "futun," or tobacco OF the
chibouk. 1t is raised in three grades.
In the lower grades of tumbtkee some
opium is admiXed, and this with the in
veterate smoker produces along in the
afternoon a sort of narcosis, called by
them ''kctf;1 that is, the state of greatest
attainable well being, of tranquility
{thc Persian has the same word for bliss,
JOY, happiness and tranquility.
Many Pcrsans will smoke fo.ty to fifty
ghalzans day; that is, they will gener-
ally only smoke up half the t bacco in
the silver cup that holds it on top of the
bottle. shaped gbalzans, throwing the
other half way as it is usually imp:egna-
ted with nicotine. These pipes are kept
exceedingly clean, remarkable fact in
q country where even the highest are
.quite.flthy; to our notion. In the house
holds of the well-to do one of the high
est servants is the ghalZandar (pipe-
bearer), whose exclusive duty it is to
clean the pipes and keep his master sup
piled with fresh ones. The ladies, too,
smoke the ghalzan a great deal, both
those of hig gh and low rank. I have
seen ladies from the Shah's audaroun
stop on the high road in their carriages
by a wayside i'm and have half dozen
ghalzans brought to them, the eunuchs
and servants meanwhile blocking the
way to all passers-by.
The teahouse is the Persian substitute
for our great American saloon. Curiously
enough, although nothing but tea aud
sherbet is ever called for in these places
in the way of liquids, they are termed
galway khane coffee house, in Persian.
Every large town in Persia has hundreds
such places. In Teheran there are between
400 and 800 of them, some of them quite
elegant and high-toned, but they are
cheap, all of them. There is generally
large, high room, through the middle of
which stream is rushing, in summer,
with species of summer garden behind,
where the nightingales are performing
and the roses are blushing in their native
pink. Dozens of Persians Of high and
low degree are scared on their launches
by the babbling water, smoking inccssant
ghalzans and drinking tea sweet and hot,
while a story teller unfolds before their
half f-closed eyes all the splendors of Rus
tum and the Persia of old. To sit there
q couple of hours enjoying himself
hugely, while son or nephew is left in
charge of the shop in the neighboring
bazar, will cost no more than 5 to 10
shahi (34 to 10 cents). Of late, however,
the tea-house business had become so
much in vogue all over Persia, and the
artisans, mechanics and small merchants
had become so addicted to the habit of
sesorting there, that the Shah issued
frman to close up or pull down all the
houses in Persia. Of course, like all
these firmans, it was not carried out, al
though thousands of the smaller ones
were razed to the ground. The Lilies
Sultan and Ispahan, for instance, had
about 200 destroyed, But that left sew
eral hundred yet. and the remaining
ones of course did more flourishing
business than ever.
The public baths are another source Of
pleasure to the lower class Of Persians.
They are nearly, if not quite, as numer-
Gus as the tea houses. The big majority
of them are very meanly built of sum
baked mud bricks, and so carelessly con-
structed that a roof of one fell in while I
WAS in Teheran. The towels uaed in
xl>1-o H., %ho Droar, D>o1a ool Ia