'Travels in Assyria, Media, and Persia, including a journey from Bagdad by Mount Zagros, to Hamadan, the ancient Ecbatana, researches in Ispahan and the ruins of Persepolis, and journey from thence by Shiraz and Shapoor to the sea-shore. Description of Bussorah, Bushire, Bahrein, Ormuz, and Muscat, narrative of an expedition against the pirates of the Persian Gulf, with illustrations of the voyage of Nearchus, and passage by the Arabian Sea to Bombay.' [‎109] (140/582)

ONE OF THE FRONTIER TOWNS OF PERSIA. J99
beard -plastered elders, fresh from the hands of their attendants,
look oddly enough, with different shades of red, black, and grey
in their beards; for it takes a day or two, according to the quality
of the hair, to produce an uniform blackness; and this requires to
be renewed every week at least, to look well, as the roots of the
hair which grow out, after each time of staining, are either brown
or grey, according to the age of the wearer, and contrast but badly
with the jet black of the other parts.
When all is finished, and the visitor leaves the inner bath, he
is furnished with two cloths only, one for the waist, and the other
to throw loosely over the head and shoulders: he then goes into
the outer room into a colder air, thus thinly clad, and without
slippers or pattens; no bed is prepared for him, nor is he again
attended to by any one, unless he demands a nargeel to smoke ;
but, most generally, he dresses himself in haste, and departs.
The Turkish bath is far more capable of affording high sen
sual pleasure, and is consequently visited as much for the mere
delight to the feelings which it produces, and to lounge away an
agreeable hour, as for the performance of a religious duty; while
the Persian bath seems altogether resorted to for the purpose of
the toilette, as one would submit to a hair-dresser, to have the hair
cut, curled, powdered, and set in order, for a party.
The bazars have been already described, as far at least as they
can be in their present imperfect state. Such of the few as are
finished, are lofty, wide, and well lighted and aired, built of brick,
with vaulted domes, rising in succession from the roof, and having
ranges of shops, about twelve feet wide in front, divided by a
central perpendicular bar, and closed by double shutters. The
benches before these are built of stone, are conveniently low for
the seating of passengers, and the shops within are sufficiently
spacious to contain a great variety of merchandize, and leave
ample room for the keepers of them, a guest, and an assistant,
which those of the best bazars in Cairo and Damascus do not.