'Travels in Beloochistan and Sinde; accompanied by a geographical and historical account of those countries, with a map.' [‎216] (258/476)

216 RELIGIOUS CEREMONY.
stranger; to which he was about to reply, when a third person inter
rupted us by coming in, and the spy made off. *
The same evening, I witnessed a very extraordinary ceremony,
which was repeated two or three times during my stay at Kirman.
About five o'clock in the evening, a vast concourse, at least amounting
to four or five hundred men, collected in the square of the Karwan-
surae, and a Moollah, or priest, mounted up on the top ot a pyramid
of steps in the centre; he then commenced reading in a very loud
and sonorous voice, the adventures and sufferings of Allee, the son-
in-law of Mohummud ; and the whole party gradually melted into
tears and cried like children. I thought at first that their grief was
only pretended, but soon became convinced to the contrary. The
Moollah was repeatedly obliged to desist from reading, and sat sob
bing with the tears running over his beard for ten minutes ; nor were
many of the auditory less affected. I confess I could not look on
this scene with perfect calmness, and my people were nearly as much
distressed as the Persians. The congregation was composed of per
sons of all ages, from boys of ten or twelve years old to men of
seventy or eighty ; and it was impossible to see such a number ol
them all weeping most piteously without feeling something like
respect and awe for a religion, however erroneous, which had so
sincere an effect on the believers ol it.
A Karwan being expected to set out for Sheeraz on the 25//i, I
prepared myself to accompany it, conceiving that it was needless to
wait any longer at Kirman, in the hope ol Captain Christie s arrh al
from Heerat. The minister hearing of this resolution, sent a man
* The employing of spies was very contrary to the general conduct of the Peisian
government towards General Malcolm's mission. It never betrayed the slightest jealousy
of surveying, or any other steps that were taken to acquire a more complete knowledge
of the kingdom and its resources. On this occasion, however, a doubt cannot exist. No
person would have taken the trouble to come to me unless sent by the Prince's orders,
and this was further corroborated by my ascertaining that the would-be Christian held
one of the inferior offices of government.