'Through Persia on a side-saddle' [‎85] (116/360)

HOUSEKEEPING AT KERMAN
85
ing my lotion-dropper well employed. I never met such a
set of cowards. They would moan and lament over a tiny
bruise, or an imperceptible burn, and at a touch of real
illness they invariably gave up all hope and had visions
of shrouds and the graveyard. Their constitutions seemed
to be fashioned in cast iron, and a dose suited to a horse
had no power over them ; but it was extraordinary what
an appetite they had for physic. They were singularly
indifferent to kindness, and scarcely took the trouble to say
4 thank you' for medicine or tendance ; and indeed their
' Ilte-fath-i-shuma-ziyad ' is characteristic of the nation,
as it means, ' May your kindness be increased,'
From first to last the ruling passion of our domestics
was a fondness for display. This was good for us in some
ways, as they looked on themselves as part of the Con
sulate and spent most of their money in buying clothes
to enable themselves to live up to what they imagined was
an exalted position. Persians have a proverb to the effect
that no one knows what a man eats, but that his clothes
are apparent to every eye, and another saying as to the
advisability of being well dressed is, ' New sleeves get a
good dinner.' The origin of this is, that a certain mollah
went in shabby attire to the house of a rich man, who was
dispensing hospitality with a free hand during the month
of Moharram, but the servants, imagining that he was a
beggar, would not admit him, and he had to go away
hungry. However, he managed to beg or buy a new
garment, and the next night craved for admittance again,
was ushered in with great honour, and was placed at the
head of the table. He could not get over his surprise at
this treatment, and kept on saying that he was the same
man who was turned away the night before, but that evi-