"عبر بلاد فارس على سرج ركوب جانبي" [‎١‎١‎٧] (٣٦٠/١٤٨)

CHAPTER IX
four visitors and a maid
O ne of our first visitors at Kerman was the old Sahib
Diwan, Governor of the province and grandson of the
notorious Ibrahim Khan, by whose instrumentality the
Kajar rulers of to-day wrested Persia from the Zend
dynasty a century ago.
Having expressed a wish to see me, the Sahib Diwan
came dressed in plain clothes, as he was told that to appear
in uniform would be to change his call into an official
visit at which I could not be present.
He arrived about half-past three, but long before that
hour the servants were in a state of much excitement over
their preparations for afternoon tea, bustling about in a
purposeless way, and flourishing the white cotton gloves
of which they were inordinately proud, and which were
only produced on great occasions such as the present
The' white tea,' to which Persians are so much addicted,
was seething in the teapot above the burning charcoal of
the samovar, the sherbet was ready with a large assortment
of cakes, sweets, and biscuits, and Hashim was fingering
everything to give the viands a more appetising appear
ance, when a carriage drove to the entrance of the court
yard, and in a few moments the great man himself had
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