‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎217r] (440/722)

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and-a-half high. These caps are all jet black, and are all made of skins
of the same animals. The finest are taken from the lamb, in the first
moments of its birth; and they decrease in value down to the skin of the
full-grown sheep, which the common raiyat wears. The lambskins are
also used to line coats, and make very comfortable pelisses. The only
distinction in the headdress of Persia is that of a shawl wrapped round
the black cap; and this distinction is confined to the king, to the princes,
his sons, and to some of the nobility and great officers of °state. Cashmere
shawls have been discouraged of late, in order to promote the domestic
manufacture of brocade shawls.
a Like the Lurks, and indeed generally like other Asiatics, the Persians
are very careful in preserving warmth in the feet. In winter they wear
a thick woollen sock; and in the air, or on a journey, they bind their feet
and legs with a long bandage of cloth, which they increase with the
advance of the cold. They have three different sorts of shoes, and two
sorts of boots: (I) a green slipper, with a heel about an inch-and-a-half
high, with a painted piece of bone at the top; these are worn by the higher
classes and by all before the king: (2) a flat slipper, either of red or
yellow leather, with a little iron shoe under the heel, and with a piece of
bone over that shoe, on which, as in the first instance, the heel rests : (3) a
stout shoe (with a flat sole, turning up at the toe), which covers the whole
foot, and is made either of leather or of thick-quilted cotton. It is worn
by the peasants and by the chatters, or walking footmen.
“The boots are (1) a very large pair with high heels, turned up at the
toe, made generally of Russia leather, and covering the leg : (2) a smaller
and tighter kind buttoning at the side, and reaching only to the calf of the leg.
When the Persians ride, they put on a loose trouser of cloth called shalwar,
into which they insert the skirts of the alkalik, as well as the silken
ti\nsers, so that the whole looks like an inflated bladder. The shalwar
is very useful in carrying light baggage, as handkerchiefs, small books, &c.,
and not unfrequently a slight meal.
“The Persians shave all the head, except a tuft of hair just on the crown
and two locks behind the ears. But they suffer their beards to grow, and
to a much larger size than the Turks, and to spread more about the ears
and temples. They almost universally dye them black, by an operation not
very pleasant, and necessary to be repeated generally once a fortnight.
It is alwaj'S performed in the hot bath, where the hair, being well saturated,
takes the colour better. A thick paste of henna is first made, which is
largely plastered over the beard, and which after remaining an hour is all
completely washed off, and leaves the hair of a very strong orange colour,
bordering upon that of brickdust. After this, a thick paste is made of
the leaf of the indigo (which previously has been pounded to a fine powder) ;
and of this, also, a deep layer is put upon the beard. But this second process,
to be done well, requires two full hours. During all this operation, the
patient lies quietly flat upon his back; whilst the dye (more particularly the
indigo, which is a great astringent) contracts the features of his face in a
very mournful manner, and causes all the lower part of the visage to smart
and burn. When the indigo is at last washed off, the beard is of a very
dark bottle-green, and becomes a jet black only when it has met the air for
twenty-four hours. Some, indeed, are content with the henna or orange
colour; others more fastidious prefer a beard quite blue. The people of
Bukhara are famous for their blue beards. It is inconceivable how careful