'Through Persia on a side-saddle' [‎84] (115/360)

84 THROUGH PERSIA ON A SIDE-SADDLE
groom seemed to have his personal hanger-on, so our
staff became considerably increased. Shah Sowar In the East India Company army and later Indian Army, an ordinary native cavalryman or mounted cavalryman. had
a genius for starching and ironing, a gift so rare in
Persia that he felt raised on a pedestal far above the
other servants, and at first used to pursue me all day long
with specimens of his skill. Much as I appreciated well-
got-up linen, yet it was a decided strain on my powers
of admiration to have each collar, cuff, and shirt brought
up in turn for approval! He also arranged for our washing,
charging, as I found out later, exactly double the proper
price for each article, and, even then, naively complaining
to Nasrullah Khan that he did not make nearly as much
on our wash as he had done at Tehran!
The proper price at Kerman was a penny for five articles,
no difference being made for size, a handkerchief and a
sheet being washed for the same money. This did not
include soap, starching, or ironing, and, although cheap,
I do not think it deserved higher pay, as our woollen
garments shrank to half their original size, and all linen
articles acquired a brownish tint, besides developing an un
accountable amount of holes. I was quite in despair over
my new table-linen, which, in less than a month, was com
pletely spoilt by the energetic, green-trousered lady who
came every Monday to wash for us in the stream running
past our doors; for no European in Persia ever allows
his 'wash' to be taken into a Persian dwelling to be
done.
All our servants were in the habit of getting ill fre
quently. Fever was the staple complaint, but the slightest
cold, the smallest scratch or cut, would bring them to me at
once for medical assistance; while their eyes were in a per
petual state of inflammation from exposure to the sun, keep-