The morning journal-courier., 1908-05-04
SHAH JEWEL POOR Persia's Monarch Has Many Gems But Little
 Cash.
CAN HARDLY PAY BILLS
But the Famous Peacock Throne
 Is Worth Forty ..... Millions.

Dle Ndlue' tI tlt nHdH mus liliiSNiA nowadays almost without the means of paying his current expenses,
 Under his predecessors the palace expenses were the first lien on what ever revenue the country produced. But nowadays there Is Q Parliament, and the appropriation made for the Shah and his household for the cur rent year is only s600,000
 Though money goes n good way In Persia, this sum Is not one-flfth enough to maintain the establishment on It's present scale All the oflicehold- CTS stormed and the harem of Nasr- ed-Din, grandfather of tho present shah went In carriages to the Palace of Baharistan to remonstrate. But the Parliament stood pat. and when the Shah contemplated dissolving 1t and withdrawing the new constitution he found he would have too much trou- ble on his hands
 Just how he will deal with the eX- pense account remains 10 be seem he certainly has done nothing to reduce it. The tralr of servants and attend ants, high and low, stllI numbers more than i500 men, and there are more than 1000 women in the anderoun, or harem with their number rather in- creasing than diminishing,
 The Shahs palace is situated in the oldest quarter of Toheran, called the Ark It consists of number of houses and payilions built at various times and located haphazard among beautI- full gardens.
 The buildings used by the Shah himself are called the biroun There the staff of court dignitaries are on duty all day. They number altogether | from 500 to 700 men.
 Across the gulistan or gardens, In the most remote part of the enclosure, the kadie- Rashi or chief of the sum uche holds sway with his regiment of dusky guardians of the anderoun. The gardens are divided into the mems en- closure and the women's, into which no man but the master may ever en- \ ter.
 The walls are lined with encaustic \ tiles, ripping brooks intersect green \ lawns and gorgeous flower beds. Shade trees hang over deep pools that cool the air. Songbirds in vast aviaries concealed by shruhhcry animate the scene with their enrolling, and hid- den musicians play in the summer | houses all day and late into the night, fashion borrowed it Is said, from i India
 The women of the anderoun have q double hierarchy. There are in the first place the official authorities. There Is also the purely social her- archy at the top of which arc the prIncesses of the Kadiar line, the Shahs own family, who have borne sons of rank to succeed 10 the throne All women of the Kadjar race have undisputed precedence
 Next come the favorites of noble family and after them beauties of low CT rank Beneath these are the hun- drods of attendants and companions, down to the kitchen maids The sys- tenn Is much more aristocratic than the Sultan's sernglio, but any woman may secure a certain elevation by winning the notice of the shah.
 Some of the great princesses have pavilions all to themselves, with suites of attendants and servants. The other favorites live In groups with their households in common. The dress of bolero, called the val. which Is sleeve less and fastened across the breast with frogs of gold lace.
 Beneath if is the dlaphanous under garment called pirahen, A skirt not much longer than a ballet dancers, and sometimes fuffed out In the same way with stitfened undersklrts, is call- ed 2irjoume, It only reaches to the knee
 There are slippers for the feet, and square .fichu called tchargat Is worn on the head and lnotted under the chin From under 1t the hair falls in luxurious curls to the shoulders
 All the women of the anderoun wear the same costume, though of course there are vast differences in material The servants wear coarse linens and heavy mohairs; the prin- cesses and favorites draw not only on the marts of Asia but those of Eu- rope nowadays for their choicest fab rics
 Gorgeous ornaments of gold and precious stones arc worn by the fa- vorites and their favoritcs The rig Is enchanting on young women, but the few Occidental women and doctor or two who have had peep into the an- deroun speak with shuddering of tho appearance of the old and middle ] aged women-o especially as they say the Persian woman when she grows old always grows fat.
 The Shah spends only his nights in the anderoun, He leaves it every } morning at early prayer time He spends his day in hunting, sleeping and eating, with occasional confer ences with his ministers or receptions | to foreign representatives. The rooms of the biroun, the equiv. alent of the Turkish selamlik, are all , decorated with glass The floors arc 2 tiled but the tiles are hidden under priceless carpets. The walls are pan. } eled with mirrors or with moulded and engraved glass. Festoons of crys. l tals hang from the ceilings. 3 The present Shah Is indolent and 5 Oriental in his habits Sometimes he ) will spend half the day smoking ant
 dozing, Capriciously he will start of for one of his five hunting lodge, 2 near the capital, where he can find an, r sort of game from partners down to { l quail,
 f He takes his meals wherever he hap s pens to be when the desire seize. - him. His kitchens are always on tho t alert; there are 500 cooks and scul , lions in them,
 s The dishes are passed from these tt l grade of attendants who may b,