'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎408] (463/714)

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PERSIA
preter. He looked extraordinarily hale and well, and was in
the best of tempers. Hearing that I had entered Persia via
Ashkabad and Kuchan, his curiosity was at once excited, and for
ten minutes I sustained a cross-examination conducted in short
jerky sentences, which fairly elicited from me all that I knew
about the position of the Russians, the road that they had made
and the unfinished works on the Persian side of the frontier.
' What was Ashkabad like ? How many streets, houses, inhabi
tants, barracks, soldiers, did it contain? What of the water-
supply ? ' Next about the Kuchan road ; 'Was the Russian sec
tion finished A\ as it well engineered ? How many men were
at work on the Persian section ? How broad was it? Were the
gradients easy and the work good ? It was fortunate that I had
made a special study of this question while passing over the road,
and was therefore able to give His Majesty a more unvarnished
account than he probably receives from his own officers.
r l he domestic life of the Shah is shrouded in the mystery
common to Mussulman countries. No glimpse of the Harem is
Harem of caught by males, either Persian or European, with the
tht shah exception of doctors of both nationalities) save what may
be derived from the passage of a closed litter with silken curtains,
or of an ancient coach containing undistinguishable masses of
drapery. European ladies have, however, frequently been admitted
to the royal anderun, and its features and occupants are tolerably
well known. The actual number of the Shah's wives and concu
bines cannot accurately be determined, but is believed to be about
sixty. This is exclusive of those who have died, been sent away,
or otherwise parted with. All these ladies live in the palace, and
most of them have separate establishments, with equipages, servants,
and jewels of their own, and an allowance varving from 200Z. to
2,000?. a year, which is often doubled in value by the presents
which beauty or complaisance knows how to extract from an
uxorious lord. The Shah is reported to be a kind master in his
harem, for on so extended a scale of matrimony it is scarcely
possible to apply the European nomenclature of a good husband.
By the law of the Koran every Mohammedan is allowed four regular
wives or ahdis, and as many sighehs or concubines as means or
inclination permit. Three only of the Shah's wives belong to
the former category. Two of them were his cousins, both princesses
of royal blood. The elder of the two, known as the Shukuh-es-