Principal Characters of the Mission--Mahomed Hoosein
Khan--Jaffier Ali Khan--Meerzâ Aga Meer--Mahomed Hoosein--Hajee
Hoosein--Candidates for the Elchee's favour.
Before I proceed further on my journey, I must introduce my reader
to some of the principal characters, Indian and Persian, with whom I
associated. These were my companions every where; and I owed much of
the information and amusement I derived on my visit to Persia to their
remarks and communications. No persons could differ more from each
other than my friends. This resulted, in part, from their dispositions,
but more from the opposite scenes in which they had passed their
lives. But a short account of them will best exhibit their respective
characters.
The first, Mahomed Hoosein Khan, is a person who is attached to the
mission, more as a companion to the Envoy, than in any specific
employment. He is my particular friend, and is one of almost every
party in which I mix; rides with me, talks nonsense with me, besides
cutting jokes, writing epigrams, and telling stories; therefore I must
give a short sketch of him, otherwise he will never be understood.
Khan Sâhib, or "my Lord," is the name by which my friend is usually
known, though he has a right, from his inheritance, to the higher
title of Nabob. He is about five feet three inches high; his face,
though plain, has an expression which marks quickness and intelligence,
and the lively turn of his mind has its effect heightened from an
impression of gravity, conveyed by a pair of large spectacles, which,
being short-sighted, he always wears. His frame is not robust, and
his whole appearance indicates the over-care that has been bestowed
upon his childhood, and the enervating pleasures in which his youth,
according to the usage of Mahomedans of quality, has been passed.
He has, however, notwithstanding early habits of luxury, if not of
dissipation, received an excellent education. He is a tolerable Arabic
scholar, and has few superiors in Persian; he writes that language with
the greatest elegance, and is no mean composer, either in prose or
verse. Add to these qualifications a cheerful disposition, an excellent
memory, with a ready wit, and you have my little friend.
The father of Khan Sâhib was a Persian, who went, in early life, to
improve his fortunes in India. He succeeded in recommending himself
to Mr. Duncan at Benares, and, after that gentleman became Governor
of Bombay, he appointed his Persian friend Resident at Abusheher, and
in 1798 sent him on a mission to the court of Persia. This preferment
naturally excited ambitious views: and, among other means by which he
sought to ennoble his family, was the marriage of his eldest son, my
friend, to the daughter of an ex-Prince of the Zend family, who being
in exile, and poor, was glad that his falling star (to use an Asiatic
figure) should come in conjunction with one that he thought was in
the ascendant. But the father died soon after he had grafted his son
on this branch of a decayed tree of royalty, leaving the latter what
he often laughingly calls "The sad inheritance of poverty and rank
combined with a most dignified wife," who, if he is to be believed, not
unfrequently reminds him of her high birth, and is rather wont to dwell
upon her condescension in allying herself to him. "I could," he added,
the other day, "have given her some reasons for that act of prudence,
but it would only have made her worse, and God knows what her violence
might have prompted, so I kept quiet."
Here Khan Sâhib betrayed his foible, which is certainly extreme
prudence. He is in the habit of wearing yellow boots with high heels,
loose red cloth trowsers, which are half displayed by a tunic tucked
up, like that of the most valiant among the horsemen of Persia. His
high lamb's-wool cap has, when he is equipped for a march, the true
military pinch; two small pistols and a dagger are stuck in his girdle,
and to a waistbelt is fastened a powder-flask and a bag of bullets; a
large sabre hangs by an embroidered cross-belt, while a shorter sword,
for close quarters, is fastened to his saddle; to the front of which
is attached a pair of holsters that contain two large horse-pistols.
In spite of all these indications of desperate courage, aided by an
upright and imposing seat on horseback, and sufficient boldness in
galloping to and fro on a smooth plain, there is some want of that
forward valour which depends more upon itself than the arsenal of great
and small arms it carries for its defence. My friend is quite sensible
of this deficiency, and is at times very happy in his allusions to
the fact, and can very wittily philosophise upon the causes.--Want
of stamina--coddled infancy--indulged youth--fear of his father--and
terror of his royal wife, form the principal items in the list. "But,"
he is wont to add, "if I have, from a combination of causes, lost that
strength of nerve which constitutes brute courage, I trust I have a
manly spirit, the result of reflection, which, on proper occasions, you
will always see me exert."
This is, no doubt, the case; but I never happened to be present on any
of these "proper occasions," and I was one of a party, where we were
almost diverted from thinking of danger by his ludicrous behaviour at
its approach.
The Elchee having particular business when we were lying in Abusheher
Roads, had determined to land; though the sea was rough, and the waves
ran very high on the bar at the mouth of the harbour. The Khan, who
had recently been attached to the Mission, insisted on going, though
advised not: he was very courageous till we came on the bar, where
the waves that chased each other seemed at every moment as if they
would overwhelm our little bark. To each of these, as they rose and
pursued us with their foaming crests, Khan Sâhib addressed a rapid
invocation--"Allah, Allah, Allah!" (God, God, God!) and the moment we
were safe from its fury, he, in a still more hurried way, repeated
his gratitude; "Shooker, shooker, shooker!" (thanks, thanks, thanks!)
These invocations and thanksgivings were repeated with great volubility
and wonderful earnestness; Allah, Allah, Allah! and Shooker, shooker,
shooker! continued to sound in our ears for a quarter of an hour;
when "Al hamd ulillah!" (praise be to God!) pronounced in a slow
and composed tone, proclaimed we were in smooth water. I rallied my
friend[30] on the little composure he showed on this occasion; but he
defended himself stoutly, saying, he always prayed twice as much at sea
as on shore. This I believe; but he is on shore even an indifferent
observer of the rites of his religion, and is suspected by some of the
orthodox of our party of being a Sooffee, or philosophical Deist, which
seems to me a general name, that includes all, from the saint who raves
about divine love, to the sinner who scoffs at the rites of the worship
of his country.
The next personage is Jaffier Ali Khan, brother to the Nabob of
Masulipatam. This Indian Mahomedan is a man high in rank though of
limited income, and has been from boyhood an intimate friend of the
Elchee. Having married into a Persian family, he now resides at Shiraz,
where he has been for some time employed as an agent. Jaffier Ali
is a tolerable English scholar, but writes that language with more
facility than correctness. He was, in his earlier years, extravagant
from love of dissipation, and is now imprudent from irresolution. He
has acquired a good deal of knowledge, but wants firmness of judgment.
The consequence is, that both in conducting his own affairs and those
of others, he becomes the dupe of rogues, with whom such a character is
sure always to be surrounded. Nevertheless, there is such a redeeming
simplicity of manner, and such kindness of heart, about poor Jaffier
Ali, that it is impossible for any one to keep up that indignation
which his folly often produces. "My friend is not the honest man I
thought him," said he one day to me, speaking of a fellow who had duped
him; "I have been more foolish than I could have believed, but I will
take care another time: yet," he added, with a sympathy for his own
weakness, "it is very difficult to deal with these Persians, they are
so pleasing in their speech and manner, and most of all when they have
cheating intentions."
Mahomed Hoosein, who is also an Indian, has served the Elchee as
Moonshee, or instructor in the Persian language, since the latter was
an ensign of eighteen, and has gradually risen with his master, whose
confidence he enjoys and merits. He is a modest man, speaks little,
but always to the purpose. It is not the habit of the Elchee to bring
any man in his station prominently forward, and this practice appears
exactly to suit the character of the Moonshee, which it has perhaps
formed. He never goes to the Elchee but when he is sent for, and
never stays when not wanted; is pleased with any mark of flattering
attention, but never appears, like others, to make that his object.
With this happy temper, and an honesty that has stood the test of great
temptation for more than twenty years, he passes a comparatively still
life, amidst all the bustle with which he is surrounded. When not busy
writing letters he is employed reading some Persian book, chiefly
works on the theological disputes between the Soonees and the Sheas.
He holds the tenets of the former; and, with all due reverence to Ali,
the nephew and son-in-law of the Prophet, he thinks, with the Turks and
Arabs, that Abubeker, Omar, and Osman, were true men and good Caliphs,
and not as the Persians, in their enthusiasm for Ali, term them, base
caitiffs and vile usurpers. The Moonshee said to me one day, when I
was joking him on his studies, "I do not want to dispute with these
red-headed[31] doctors, but I must fortify myself in my own belief;"
and he added, in a low tone of voice, "How can the faith of men be
right, whose practice is so wrong? Did you ever see or hear such a set
of swaggerers and story-tellers? I rejoice my master has seen so much
of them; he will think better than he has ever yet done of us poor
Indians."
The next person with whom I must make my readers acquainted is Meerzâ
Aga Meer; he is a Syed, that is one of the tribe of Mahomed, and enjoys
great respect among his countrymen, from being a lineal descendant of
a holy man, the Ameer Hemza, whose tomb is at Shiraz, and is esteemed
one of the most sacred shrines of that city. Aga Meer is a fine penman,
and an uncommonly good writer of letters, which is his occupation. He
is of mild and unassuming manners, slow in word and action; his even
temper and good sense appear always directed to the object of keeping
himself clear of all taint from the scene of cupidity and intrigue in
which all around him are engaged. The very opposite of the generality
of his countrymen, he endeavours to shun all employment not in his own
line; and, though a great favourite with the Elchee, he takes nothing
on himself, and will, indeed, do nothing without a specific order.
Aga Meer is sometimes ashamed of his countrymen; but he is usually
satisfied with showing his feeling by a shrug of his shoulders, and
sometimes by averting his head, and is evidently disinclined to inform
against or condemn them, when he can avoid such a course without a
breach of duty; but whenever duty is in question, this good and honest
man is firm and temperate in its fulfilment.
I have before mentioned Khojah Arratoon, the Armenian treasurer. This
sensible and honest man has the characteristic reserve of his tribe,
who, from living in a country where they are subject to oppression,
become, from early habit, most guarded in their words and actions. This
good man is fond of a joke, but he whispers it to you as if it was
a state secret. We call him, as I have stated, Blue-beard, from the
circumstance of this dye being one day predominant in the colour he had
given to this ornament of his face, of the size and form of which he
is, and not without reason, proud. He told me his vanity was once not
a little flattered by the abuse of a Persian, who after exhausting all
other topics, concluded by saying, "And then what business has a dog of
an unbeliever like you with such a beard?"
The most prominent among the lower servants is old Hajee Hoosein, the
head of the personal attendants; he assumes a superiority over his
fellow-servants on the ground of his having visited foreign countries;
and he boasts that from every one of them he has brought away some
advantage or attainment. He has added to a taste for poetry and the
marvellous (which he tells me was born with him in Persia) a love of
antiquities, acquired at Bagdad--a knowledge of Arab horses, picked up
at Bussorah--skill in traffic in small wares, learnt at Muscat--some
theology, and the holy and useful name of Hajee or Pilgrim, gained by
a visit to the Prophet's Tomb at Mecca; and a small but profitable
acquaintance with the machinery of clocks and watches, obtained by
a short apprenticeship with an eminent horologist at Calcutta. This
travelled and very accomplished person, though he condescends to hand
the Elchee his Kellian, and to distribute coffee to visitors, is in
great request throughout our camp, and with none more than me; and I
am rather flattered by the partiality he shows for my society, owing,
I suspect, to my having early declared my admiration of his various
talents, and in particular of his skill as a watchmaker, on his having
succeeded in making an old watch of mine, that had stopped for a
twelvemonth, go for nearly one whole day.
The above personages are our principal characters; minor gentlemen will
speak for themselves when they come upon the stage.
Besides these attached to our camp, we have numbers who, from frequent
visits and dealings, are almost considered as belonging to it. But
our mode of proceeding is now understood, and the Elchee is not
compelled, as he was on his first mission, to guard against attempts of
individuals to establish an exclusive influence. Two of these, made by
very opposite characters, deserve to be recorded.
The first was a specious young man of some ability, whose name was
Hajee Abd-ool-Hameed, who came from Shiraz with a complimentary
letter from the minister, Cherâgh Ali Khan, to whom he had promised
to discover the real object of the mission, while to others he
had professed his intention of making himself the sole medium of
communication and intercourse between the English Representative and
the Persian government.
He pursued his design with some address; but the Elchee seeing him
linger at Abusheher, and very assiduous in his court, suspected his
motives, and one day plainly asked him whether he had any further
business, or entertained any expectations of employment? Though at
first disconcerted by these direct queries, he confessed he had no
business except that of recommending himself; and he then represented
how impossible it would be to carry on any concerns in Persia without a
qualified native as an agent, stating at the same time that he himself
was exactly the man required.
The Elchee thanked him for his kind intentions, but informed him that
such assistance was not at that moment necessary. If ever it was, he
assured Abd-ool-Hameed his disinterestedness in coming so far to afford
it, should not be forgotten. The manner more than the substance of this
observation was death to the cherished hopes of the Persian expectant.
Two days afterwards he left the camp and returned to Shiraz, where
he became actively hostile to the mission, considering himself, by a
selfish but common perversion of human reasoning, not merely slighted,
but robbed of all the benefits he had anticipated.
The rejection of this gentleman's services no doubt prevented many
speculators for favour making the efforts they might have intended. But
we learned from Shiraz, that Aga Ibrahim, a native of Cazveen, who had
been long settled as a merchant at Shiraz, and was a candidate for the
contract for making up tents and other articles wanted for our outfit,
ridiculed Abd-ool-Hameed and his plan, and boasted that he would show
them all the way to win a Faringee Elchee.
The intelligence of his intentions, which was written by the Moonshee,
Mahomed Hoosein, who had been sent in advance with letters to the
Prince Regent of Fars and the King, made us anxious to see this
formidable personage. When we were a stage from Dusht-e-Arjun, he made
his appearance. He seemed a merry open-hearted fellow, and, according
to his own communications, fond of the good things of this world. He
was not over-scrupulous, he said, as to a glass or two of good liquor,
and he boasted of having been a boon companion to the King, when his
Majesty was Prince Regent at Shiraz, before dread of his uncle, Aga
Mahomed and the Moollâhs, made him publicly renounce his wicked ways,
and march round the city to break all the vessels which contained wine,
in order that young and old should be aware of the sincere repentance
of the Heir Apparent of the throne of Persia.
"I had no uncle with a crown on his head," said Aga Ibrahim. "I care
nothing for priests, and have never yet felt the slightest disposition
to alter my ways, except when the liquor was bad; but I take care,"
said he, with a significant nod to the Elchee, "to have it always of
the best."
This conversation occurred during the day. In the evening, Aga Ibrahim
desired a private interview with the Elchee; and after being some time
with him, he returned to our party evidently disappointed. We soon
discovered the reason: he had caused two loaded camels to be taken to
the Elchee's tent by a back road, and, after a short preamble, had
begged he would accept of both, with their burdens, as a "paish-kesh,
or first-offering." One of the camels was loaded with Russian brandy,
and the panniers which the other carried were (according to his report)
two young and beautiful female Georgian slaves! The liquor and the
ladies had both been politely declined, with many thanks for his
intended kindness.
Our friend, Aga Ibrahim, was a very different character from
Abd-ool-Hameed. A few glasses of wine which we gave him restored his
spirits. "My plan was a good one," he said, "and would, I thought, have
won the heart of any Faringee. This Elchee must have some deep designs
on Persia, or he could never have resisted such temptations."
Aga Ibrahim had been a great trafficker in the slaves, male and female,
which the army of Aga Mahomed brought from Georgia in his irruption
into that country in 1797. He had retained one in his own family, of
whom he appeared dotingly fond. The more wine he took, the more he
spoke of his favourite Mariamne. "I have often," said he, "offered to
marry her, if she would only become a Mahomedan, but all in vain; and
really, when she is on her knees praying before her cross, or chanting
hymns to the Virgin Mary, she looks so beautiful, and sings so sweetly,
that I have twenty times been tempted to turn Christian myself.
Besides, I can hardly think of Paradise as delightful without Mariamne!"
Our jolly good-natured friend went back to Shiraz next day with his
camels, neither out of humour with us nor himself. He had failed, it
was true; but he remained satisfied that it was some mysterious cause,
against which human wisdom could not provide, that had defeated his
excellent scheme for gaining the heart of a Faringee Elchee.
Aga Ibrahim was consoled for his first disappointment by having a good
share of the employment he desired; and, in all his dealings, he was
found as honest as other Persian merchants.
FOOTNOTES:
[30] It is with great regret I state that the witty and accomplished
Khan Sâhib, like many others mentioned in these pages, has paid the
debt of nature. He continued in India as in Persia to accompany his
friend the Elchee till 1821, when he fell a victim to the cholera.
[31] Kezzelbash, or red-headed, is the appellation by which the
Persians are known over Asia. It is said to have arisen from their
wearing red cloth tops to their black lambs'-wool caps.