'Through Persia on a side-saddle' [‎78] (109/360)

78 THROUGH PERSIA ON A SIDE-SADDLE
his accounts, which I insisted on checking and settling
daily, the syce, Fakir Mahomet, was entrusted with the
coveted position, and I had the satisfaction of feeling that
however much he might be imposed upon, he would
invariably deal fairly with his mistress, as his honesty was
his strong point. Nasrullah Khan used occasionally to
wax sarcastic when we dined off stringy roosters, aged
sheep, or inferior rice, and quoted a Persian proverb to the
effect that when the Lurs (a nomad tribe) came into the
bazaars, every one produced articles that they could not
pass off on their ordinary customers; and he would apply
this to the syce, who, however, gained experience in time.
His great mania was to save our money for us, and
occasionally this parsimony on our account was a little
trying, as when I grumbled about the quality of his
purchases he would triumphantly cite their extraordinary
cheapness!
Certainly living in Kerman was by no means expen
sive, as meat and bread were under a penny a pound,
eggs ten a penny, chickens twopence, a minute lamb four-
pence halfpenny, and all the ordinary articles of food in
the same proportion. Our bill of fare, however, had a
sameness about it; the ' eternal mutton and everlasting
fowl' being only occasionally varied by pigeons, quails,
partridges, and a rare ahu, or gazelle, while we never
tasted beef until December, when the weather was cool
enough to keep meat for a considerable time ; no Persians
at Kerman, or indeed elsewhere, indulging in that food,
which they look upon as low class.
We paid a penny daily for our vegetables to the old
gardener who rented the garden from our landlord, advanc
ing to twopence in the fruit season, when we consumed