'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎332] (379/714)

332 PERSIA
so-called ' Royal Air, whicli has considerable merits, and was, I
believe, composed by the French bandmaster, M. Lemaire. Soldiers
in Prussian helmets, soldiers in sheepskin shakoes, soldiers in cloth
busbies, soldiers with sartorial reminiscences of nearly every army
in Europe, are encountered on all sides. Very apparent too are
the city police, about 300 strong, organised and commanded by an
Italian, ( ount Monteforte, who, after being an officer in Bomba's
army at Naples, retired to Austria, and was passed on either by (
the Emperor of that country, or, more probably, by himself, to the
service of the Shah. They are constantly to be seen hanging
about the guardhouses which are scattered through the town, and
their black uniform, with violet velvet facings, is decidedly smart
and picturesque. Queerest, however, and most parti-coloured of
the street figures of Teheran are the shatirs, or royal runners, who
precede the Shah whenever he goes out, running in front of his
horse or carriage. They strike a stranger, unacquainted with the
( ourt history of Persia, with amused astonishment, their costume
being an apparent cross between that of a liveried servant and a
harlequin at a pantomime. They wear white stockings, green
knee-breeches, a red coat with large skirts and green breast-facings,
and a tall erection upon the head, surmounted by a sort of coloured
crest like a cock s comb. In their hand they carry a staff or wand.
Some writers have too hastily attributed this amazing uniform
to the fanciful taste of His reigning Majesty : therein at once ex-
aggerating the fancy and ignoring the conservative instincts of
that monarch. As a matter of fact, this dress is a faithful reproduc
tion of that which was worn by the shatirs of the Sefavi kings in
the halcyon days at Isfahan, two and three centuries ago; and
what is apt to look ridiculous in a semi-modernised court and
capita] was, no doubt, in thorough keeping with an age and a
ceremonial of almost barbaric splendour. 1
t or an interesting illustration of this uniform as worn by the shatirs in the
•lays of t ath Ali Shah, ride an admirable engraving from a drawing by J. P.
Morier {Second Journey, p. 387), representing the entry of the Shah into Teheran
in 1815, Dr. Fryer, in 167G, described their costume thus: 'The Shotters are the
only men who wear Plumes of Feathers in their Turbats, small Bells about their
\\ astes. Truncheons in their Hands, Horse-Cloaths over their Shoulders, richly
Embroidered on Scarlet, Packthread Shoes on their Feet, and close Jerkins with
l>reeches below their Knees' (Travels in Persia, p. 232). In the Sefavean days,
howevei, the shatirs were much more than ornamental royal lacqueys. They
were members of a guild in which no one could graduate as a master shatir (