established at once. An
imprudent beginning was made in exercising the right of search in a
manner which alarmed some people for the privacy of their homes, a
dangerous suggestion in a Mohammedan community.

The suspicions and fears of all--buyers, sellers, and smokers--were
easily worked upon by the priests, ever ready to assert the supremacy of
the Church over the State. And then the biggest 'strike' I know of took
place. Mirza Hassan, the High-Priest of Kerbela, the most sacred shrine
of the Shiah Mohammedans, declared tobacco in Persia to be 'unlawful' to
the true believer, and everyone--man, woman, and child--was forbidden to
sell or smoke it. The 'strike' took place on a gigantic scale, a million
or two certainly being engaged in it, and steps were taken to see the
order from Kerbela carried out rigorously. 'Vigilance men,' under the
Moullas' directions, made raids on suspected tea-shops, to find and
smash the 'kalian' pipes which form part of the stock-in-trade of
these places of refreshment. The Shah was faced with the sight of silent
and forsaken tea-shops as he passed through the streets of Tehran, and
he saw the signs of the censuring strike in the rows of empty benches,
on which his subjects used to sit at their simple enjoyment of pipes and
tea. The interdiction reached the inner homes of all, and even in the
_anderuns_ and boudoirs of the highest (all of which are smoking-rooms)
it was rigidly obeyed. The priestly prohibition penetrated to the
palaces, and royalty found authority set at defiance in this matter. A
princely personage, a non-smoker, is said to have long urged and
entreated a harem favourite, too deeply devoted to tobacco, to moderate
her indulgence in it, but to no effect. On the strike being ordered, she
at once joined it, and his Highness is reported to have said, 'My
entreaties were in vain, my bribes of jewels were refused, yet the
priest prevails.' And this was at a place where not long before Moullas
had been at a discount.

[Illustration: PIPE BEARER IN A PERSIAN ANDERUN]

There are now signs of the people resenting the arrogant assumption or
power by the Moullas, and freeing themselves from their thraldom. There
has always been great liberty of opinion and speech in Persia, and six
hundred years ago the poets Khayyam and Hafiz took full advantage of
this in expressing their contempt for the 'meddling Moullas.' Not very
long ago the donkey-boys in one of the great towns would on occa