men is rather more than sunburnt; among the
upper classes, white is the prevailing colour of the skin. They all
have black hair and eyes. Their figures are tall and powerful, the
features very marked--especially the nose--and the look rather wild.
The women, both of the upper and lower classes, are uncommonly
thickly veiled when they go out. The better-dressed men wear, out
of doors, a very long mantle of dark cloth with slashed sleeves,
which reach to the ground; a girdle or shawl surrounds their waist,
and their head-dress consists of a pointed black fur cap more than a
foot high, which is made of the skins of unborn sheep. The women of
the labouring class do not appear to have much to do; during my
journey, I saw only a few at work in the fields, and I noticed also
in the town that all the hard work is done by the men.

In Tebris, as well as throughout the whole of Persia, the Jews,
semi-Mahomedans, and Christians, are intolerably hated. Three
months since, the Jews and Christians in Tebris were in great
danger. Several crowds of people gathered together and marched
through the quarter where these people dwelt, when they commenced
plundering and destroying the houses, threatening the inhabitants
with death, and, in some cases, even putting their threats into
execution. Fortunately, this horrible proceeding was immediately
made known to the governor of the town; and he, being a brave and
determined man, lost not a moment's time even to throw his kaftan
over his house-dress, but hastened out into the midst of the crowd,
and succeeded, by means of a powerful speech, in dispersing the
people.

On arriving at Tebris, I expressed my desire to continue my journey
from here to Tiflis by way of Natschivan and Erivan. It appeared at
first that there was not much hope of its possibility, as, since the
late political disturbances in Europe, the Russian government, like
the Chinese, had strictly prohibited the entrance of any foreigners;
however, Mr. Stevens promised to make use of all his power with the
Russian consul, Mr. Anitschow, in my favour. I was indebted to
this, together with my sex and age, for being made an exception. I
received from the Russian consul not only the permission, but also
several kind letters of introduction to people at Natschivan,
Erivan, and Tiflis.

I was advised to ride from Tebris to Natschivan with post-horses,
and to take a servant with me as far as that place. I did so, and
comme