'Through Persia on a side-saddle' [‎46] (77/360)

46 THROUGH PERSIA ON A SIDE-SADDLE
doubly garish when displayed next the exquisite colouring
of the old materials.
Besides silks, we bought quaint, incised metal boxes and
old brass bowls, one of these latter being once the stock-
in-trade of a native doctor. The signs of the zodiac are
inscribed all round the outside of such bowls, and inside
are engraved descriptions of the different diseases that
afflict man, combined with prayers to Allah. The doctor
possesses a small key for each prayer, and his mode of
curing a patient is thus: he fills the basin with water,
drops the key against the prayer suitable for the com
plaint with which he is dealing, and if the invalid swallows
the water in a believing spirit, his recovery from illness
will be effected. Women wishing to gain the love of
their husbands, use these bowls, repeating an invocation
to the Prophet as they pour the water over their heads.
We had left the cold weather behind us since Koom,
and the delicate green of the young crops was springing
up all over the plain, which was intersected everywhere
with channels of water. As so little rain falls in Persia,
the irrigation is artificial, and is performed by letting water
over the fields for so many hours at a time. The ground
being of different levels, low banks of earth cut up the
whole country under cultivation into irregularly shaped
small pieces, and act as dams to prevent any of the
precious liquid from escaping, and to allow of one portion
being flooded while its next-door neighbour remains dry.
Throughout Persia the water supply is provided by
means of kanats or underground water-courses. The
kanat makers are a special craft, and are supposed to
guard the secrets of their trade very jealously.
The stream is uncovered close to the town, and here