"رحلة ثانية عبر بلاد فارس، أرمينيا وآسيا الصغرى إلى القسطنطينية، بين سنتي ١٨١٠ و١٨١٦. مع يوميات الرحلة مروراً بالبرازيل وبومباي وصولاً إلى الخليج العربي. مع تقرير لإجراءات السفارة البريطانية تحت إدارة السير جور أوسيلي، البارونيت، فارس وسام الأسد والشمس، مع خريطتين ونقوش من تصميم المؤلف." [‎١‎٧‎٨] (٥١٦/٢٢١)

178 preaching in tents.
and we generally passed unmolested through the middle of congre
gations, during the time of their devotions.
Such little scruples have they at our seeing their religious ceremonies,
that on the 8th night of the Moharrem, the Grand Vizier invited the
whole of the Embassy to attend his takieh. On entering the room we
found a large assembly of Persians clad in dark-coloured clothes, which,
accompanied with their black caps, their black beards, and their dis
mal faces, really looked as if they were afflicting their souls. We
observed, that uo mau did put ou his ovnciments* The^ neither wore
their daggers, nor any parts of their dress which they look upon
as ornamental. A mollah of high consideration sat next to the
Grand Vizier, and kept him in serious conversation, whilst the re
maining part of the society communicated with each other in whis
pers. After we had sat some time, the windows of the room in which
we were seated were thrown open, and we then discovered a priest
placed on a high chair, under the covering of a tent, surrounded by
a crowd of the populace; the whole of the scene being lighted up
with candles. He commenced by an exordium, in which he re
minded them of the great value of each tear shed for the sake of
Imam Hossein, which would be an atonement for a past life of wick
edness ; and also informed them with much solemnity, that what
soever soul it be that shall not he afflicted in the same day, shall he cut
off from among the people. Lev. xxiii. 29. He then began to read from
a book with a sort of nasal chaunt, that part of the tragic history of
Hossein appointed for the day, which soon produced its effect upon
his audience, for he scarcely had turned over three leaves, before the
Grand Vizier commenced to shake his head to and fro, to utter in a
most piteous voice the usual Persian exclamation of grief, " wahi! wahi!
wahi!" both of which acts were followed in a more or less violent
manner by the rest of the audience. The chaunting of the priest
lasted nearly an hour, and some parts of his story were indeed pathetic,
and well calculated to rouse the feelings of a superstitious and lively
people. In one part of it, all the company stood up, and I observed
* Exodus, xxxiii. 4.