Geographical Journal (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society): Volume VIII, No. 5 [‎35v] (73/154)

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DE MORGAN’S “MISSION SCIENTIFIQGE” TO PERSIA.
to all his fellows. When the grave was closeJ, the female mourners came and
encircled it, continuing their cries and wailings. Then, at a given signal, they
suddenly became silent, to resume shortly, in unanimity of cadence, their moan
of despair, wai, wai, ivcii, wai, wai, w ti, and so on for about an hour. During this
time the men, who had accomplished their funeral task, were seated, smoking their
kalians and discussing their private affairs.”
M. de Morgan alludes to the practice of despatching invalids who
had grown unconscious as common throughout Kurdistan, and not
infrequent in Persia generally. Sometimes, he affirms, the supposed
dead man only revives when he has been deposited under the earth.
Should his voice at such time be heard, it is said that a great calamity
has come upon the country, and every one seeks to escape from the
presence, as it were, of an exorcised demon, throwing over the body the
largest available stone. Stoning for adultery is mentioned as a national
law, but not often put into practice, owing, on the one hand, to the few
cases which present themselves, and, on the other, to the difficulty of
finding four witnesses to give evidence, a lesser number being insufficient
for conviction.
Among the ancient customs of Mukri may also be mentioned the
festival of the “ sham governor,” celebrated at Suj-Bulak in the spring
of every year, which is thus described :
“The townspeople appoint a governor {Amir), who for three days exercises
control, and abandons himself to the eccentricities of the occasion. As soon as this
official is installed, he selects his ministers, secretaries, and Farrash-bashi (head
servant), chooses his body-guard, and proceeds in state, followed by the whole popu
lation, to announce to the real governor that he has been deprived of office.
“ This festival has often been productive of trouble, for the inhabitants of Suj-
Bulak have taken advantage of the occasion to belabour the actual Amir with
blows. So that now the sham ruler is always accompanied by soldiers and a
government delegate, whose duty it is to prevent the joke being carried too far.
for three days the mock rule continues. The governor decides the most absurd
cases, and punishes the assumed culprits; but as, in the exaction of penalty
inflicted, the dinar part of a kran) counts for the kran, a fine of one
hundred tumans (or 10 x 100 krans) is, in reality, that of one kran only. Thus
payment is readily made and amusement afforded. The whole procedure is, prac
tically, the ‘ Carnival of Mukri.’ ”
There are some noteworthy observations on the mineral riches of the
Kurdistan of Kirmanshahan which may be commended to the attention
of present and future explorers. Not only do they possess a general
interest for the geographical world, but they indicate the existence of a
special field of investigation, to turn which to good account no serious
effort seems yet to have been made. We are reminded that marble,
such as utilized in the wonderful sculptures at Besitun and Tak-i-Bustan,
is still abundant in the locality of these monuments. Moreover, the
perfect quaiity of the plaster procurable from the gypsum—the presence
which in the Zohal district and neighbourhood has been certified by