‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎175v] (355/722)

304
those who might want dye for their beards. Two hours afterwards the
scene changes. The shops are all open, and the many trades being busily
carried on. Fruits and vegetables, brought in from the villages, are piled
in baskets along the bazar, which is now crowded with purchasers; and
many householders or servants, laden with the day^s provisions, are repairing
to their several homes. The mullas are astir; and occasionally a doctor of
high degree will sweep by, with his turbaned train of satellites, on his way to
lecture in a college; while often may be heard the joyous < salamaat ; of
approaching pilgrims, who press through the city gate into the broad
boulevard—a dense troop of soiled and jaded travellers—and presently
disperse to seek lodgings, in order that they might repair to the baths and
perform their ablutions, so as to visit the holy shrine at the blessed hour of
evening prayer.
“ During the heat of the day the streets are nearly deserted; but the stillness
of noon is broken by the loud and solemn chant of the ‘ muazzins/ calling
from the high minarets in prolonged Arabic verses to summon the Faithful
to prayer.
“ In the afternoon the boulevard is thronged again with natives from all
parts of the east—Afghan troopers in their loose and slovenly, yet picturesque,
dresses; Arabs, Kurds, Turks, and a few Usbaks or Indians, with pilgrims
from all the provinces of Iran ; the staid, long-bearded Shirazi and the fop
of Ispahan; priests, merchants, peasants, and fakirs, without end/'
The residence of the prince is in the citadel, which is an oblong with large
towers at the angles, and smaller ones at the intervals, connected by curtains.
Connolly and Ferrier say that there are about 100 families of Jews in
Mashhad. They are chiefly engaged in petty traffic; and though not rich,
their situation is respectable compared with that of their brethren in the
cities of Tihran and Ispahan. They go about, as in European countries,
selling and exchanging old garments; but they are not without a share of
the indignities that are entailed on their race. They may not pass the pale
of the sanctuary; neither may they put foot within the college squares in
which good men are buried. On their clothes, however new, they must wear
a patch at the breast. Their caps must not be of the same form as those
worn by true believers ; and they dare not return abuse, much less a blow,
given by a Muhammadan, so that even children of the Faithful race throw
stones and dirt at them in the streets, unchecked by their parents, who
think it a very meritorious act to worry the soul of an unbeliever.
A few of the longest established merchants of different cities have
correspondents in Mashhad; but they only trust each other to a limited extent,
and few traders requiring a sudden advance of money could obtain it other-
wise than at a ruinously exorbitant rate of interest. Thus, for want of a
regular understanding, many bring goods at a complete venture ; and, if
they do not suit the market, send them to any place at which there is a
chance of their selling. It is not unusual for tea, brought to be sold from
Bukhara, to be some months afterwards sent back thither, because a large
supply had come in from the west from Russia. The trade is not con
fined to regular merchants ; for pilgrims commonly load a mule or two with
the produce of the place they come from, and purchase at Mashhad articles
which they think likely to sell at profit on the road or at their homes.
The actual extent of a trade, which is thrown into so many hands, and some
of the details of which are so petty, could with difficulty be ascertained;
but it appears to be by no means inconsiderable. The year that Ferrier was
at Mashhad the prince had farmed the import customs for fifteen thousand