'Through Persia on a side-saddle' [‎35] (64/360)

FROM THE CAPITAL TO FAT/MA'S SHRINE 35
ravan, or litter, which we had bought at Tehran in case of
illness, the conveyance used by Persian ladies of position ;
while those of the lower rank must content themselves with
the kajaveh, or pannier, hung on the side of a mule.
Our takht was a kind of large, blue-painted box, long
enough to lie down in, with a door on each side and round
windows. It was furnished with a mattress and cushions,
and had an outer chintz cover in case of heat, or more
probably for greater elegance. At each end were two long
shafts, to which were harnessed mules that plodded steadily
along, their burden swaying with each step, in a manner
uncomfortably suggestive to me of being at sea.
We used to halt at midday for lunch, which Hashim
would serve in the open. He had not yet grasped that
we objected to see him touch everything with his fingers
at meals, handing us pieces of bread with these useful
members, taking up spoons and forks by their wrong
ends, and he was much hurt when we told him to use a
spoon for helping us to lumps of sugar, proudly display
ing a pair of purple gloves, dirty and travel-stained,
which he felt must completely alter the case!
This reminds me of an old Persian servant who invari
ably insisted on putting the sugar into the teacups with
his fingers, completely ignoring the tongs, which he
always put ready by the basin. His master remonstrated
with him, but to little purpose, as on the next occasion
he laboriously picked up the sugar with his fingers
crooked like pincers, saying triumphantly, "You want
me to use tongs for the sugar, and so I do !"
On our fourth day's march we left the low, barren-
looking hills through which we had come, and skirted the
edge of the Kavir or Salt Desert, and the picturesque-