Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1888-06-29
Ing WOMEN OF PERSIA.



boppv bejnrs on the theory that they
are imprisoned in gilded cage close
" guarded by very ugly eunuehs. ana
reduced to spend their time in attempt
ing to catch the smiles OF {" Jealous
lord, as they sprawl in graceful atti-
tudes on silken cushions. Their only
other occupation is understood to be
devouring immense quantities ="
| sweetmeats in order to become CORPUS
| lent; their only amusement the pleas
uro of poisoning rival wives, ana hear
inc intelmnable stories OF the
ARABIAN Nights" pattern.
II Is true that with the Turk beauty
must be fat 1t is not so. however,
with the Persian; he has the apprecia-
ton of connoisseur for the Jnste
milieu. A stout women in Persia is
spoken of as can elephant" while the
lcaner ones are generally called Cam
els" Though they deal largely in
hypcrtole, the Persians do not mince
matters in speaking of the fair sex.
The vail. which is blbitually worn
out of doors even by the very poor in
all great towns in Persia, though its
use is unknown among the tribes who
form at least third of the whole pop
ulation, is chung to by the women as n
privilege; it is in fact dom no. The
Persian woman out Of doors is unrec-
ognizablo even by her husband. She
sees without being seen, and in the
vail it is impossible to detect the aye
of the wearcr, and the Persian lady il
nearly always married at fourteen, she
begins to fade at twenty-sevcn at
latest, at thirty she appears fifty. and
there are only two dentists in the
whole of Persia.
Polygamy is the luxury of the rich;
A mans first alliance is II nlartagG de
conrenancc.. the second either II mar
riage for love or for the qualification
of vanity. When your Persian brings
home Il second wife there is usually Il
scene which lasts for week or two;
there is struggle for supremacy. bni
| it is soon over. Both wives do their
| best to please the master of the house;
| but they do not attempt to poison each
other, unless in very exceptional cir
cumstances. But Persian ladies still!
believe in the efficacy of love philters,
| and many an abomnation is secretly
| administered to unfortunate husbands.
Happily, the love philler, though
usually composed Of horrible ingredi-
ents, is quite harmless.
The bath takes up II good deal of the
| time of ali Persian women. Even the
! poorest will attend the Hammam at
| least onte week. For the lady
the bath is one of the serious af-
fairs of life, and takes up daily from
two to four hours of her time. 1t is
| something more than our idea of q
bath. The victim is scraped and
rubbed and parboled. The soles of the
feet are pumiced until theyare soft and
tender as those of little child. The
hair is thoroughly washed by means
of hot water and tho saponaceous
clay for which Shiraz is celebrated.
Then the attendants mix in a brazcn
bowl the aromatic hcnna with the re.
quiste amount of lemon juice. till a
brown paste of the consistency of Cruel
is produced, and several handfuls OF
the rcpulsivclooking compound are
smearcd over the l;tdy's head Then
| the hair, collected INTO mass is
bound up in cabbage leaves. Small
| quantities of the dye are smeared over
the eyebrows; the soles of the feet,
the toes, the palms of the hands, and
the finger-tips are also covered with
1t. And now the lady has to sit per-
fectiy still from one to three hours, till,
Like meerschaum pipe, she colors;
and it is exactly the color obtained
on the best specimens Of pipes that is
most fashionable among the Persian la
dies. Day after day the bath is thronged
with women, earh sitting perfectly still
for the color to "take." But they
have the, reward, for the henna dyes
the hair beautiful deep, warm chest
nut; nee gray hair is unknown
among the Persian ladies. While the
coloring process has been going on
tongues have been running. and good
deal of scandal has been exchanged.
The female barber, with pair of
tweezers, has removed every outlying
hair from the region of the lady's eve
brows. 1t is the ambition of every
Persian woman that her eyebrows
shall met or at least appear to do so.
So attractive are eyebrows that meet
that they are called the bridge OF
love. " The first care, then, of the
Persian beauty is with little pencil
of antimony to unite her eyebrows,
and then she proceeds to make them
appear of unnatural thickness; her eye
lashes are penciled, too, in a manner
not unknown to our own country.
women. BY this time the lady will
have smoked many kalians of water
pipes, she will have partaken of tea,
and RECALLED herself with coffee; iced
shcrbets, too, will not have been want
ing, Her finger tips, nails and palms,
rs well As the soles of her feet and her
toes, have attained bright chestnut
hue which will last week. The hair
is carefully washed once more. 1t il
seldom under yard long, often much
more; for the Persian woman never
cuts her hair, except in front. perhaps.
when two heavy love-lock are left
| on either side of the face. The l,dios