'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.' [‎372] (403/582)

372 INHABITANTS OF BUSSORAH.
have seen, excepting only that the black sheep's-skin cap is ex
changed for the shawl or muslin turban, and the scarlet embroi
dered coat for the Arab cloak. These, however, are sufficient
to alter the appearance of the dress so much, that a stranger
would not easily distinguish a Persian from an Arab inhabitant
of Bussorah. Some, indeed, both among the rich and the poor,
adopt the Arab costume entirely ; and then it is only by the
characteristic features of their race, and by their peculiar manner
of pronouncing the Arabic language, that they can be known.
The Turks are very few in number, and are almost all in offices
of trust under the Government, or otherwise personally attached
to the Governor himself. This man, who is called here the Mute-
sellim, or literally the Lieutenant of the Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. of the province,
is himself a native of Bussorah, but of Turkish descent; and
having been many years at Constantinople, and served several
campaigns against the Russians, he is much more a Turk than
an Arab. The officers attached to him are principally Turks
by family, but born in towns remote from the metropolis, as
Moosul, Bagdad, and Bussorah. All these, however, preserve the
Turkish kaook of Constantinople as a distinguishing mark of
dress ; their other garments differing in nothing from those of the
well-dressed merchants of the place. Few as are these Turks in
number, and never at any time perhaps exceeding five hundred,
they maintain firm possession of the city, with the aid of a small
number of Georgians, Koords, Arabs, and Persians, who are paid
by the Government as soldiers, but who furnish their own arms
and clothing, and are the most undisciplined rabble that can be
imagined. The horse are estimated at 1500, but that number is
seldom complete, and the foot are composed of five companies or
Beiraks, of nominally one hundred muskets each. There are
about fifty of the best of these who are selected as a body guard
for the Mutesellim, and who accompany him to the mosques on
Fridays, and attend him on state occasions. These are foot
soldiers and musketeers, and they are distinguished by a uniform