ventures; and one journey
to Constantinople or to Astrachan would yield me enough profit to repay
every one with interest."

'In short, I said so much, that at length they were persuaded to make
the necessary overtures to the parents of Mariam; and it was fixed, that
in the course of a few days my father, my uncle the priest, and one
of the elders of the village should proceed to Geuklu, and ask her in
marriage for me. In the meanwhile, I myself had been there almost every
day, upon one pretext or another, and I had had several opportunities of
informing her of my intentions, in order that she and her family might
not be taken unawares.

'My father and his colleagues were very well received by the parents of
my intended. Having talked over the matter, and seizing this opportunity
of drinking some more than usual glasses of arrack, they agreed that
we should be united as soon as the marriage-articles should have been
agreed upon, and the forms of the _nam zed_ (the ceremony of betrothing)
should have been gone through.

'Three days after this, my mother, accompanied by two old women of our
village, by my uncle the priest, and me, proceeded to Geuklu for the
purpose of the nam zed, and settling the terms of the marriage. They
were received with more ceremony than my father and his colleagues had
been, and the women of the other party having met ours, negotiations
were opened.

'My mother offered, on my part, that I should give of clothes to my
bride two full suits, consisting of two shifts, one of crimson silk, the
other of blue cotton; two pairs of trousers, one of silk, the other of
striped cotton; two _jubbehs_, or robes, fitting tight to the body, of
chintz; two veils, one of white cotton, the other of chequered blue; two
pair of slippers, one of green shagreen skin and high heels, the other
of brown leather, with flat bone heels and shod with iron; and I was
also to add a printed muslin handkerchief, and a set of bandages and
kerchiefs for the head. She moreover offered fifty piastres in silver
coin for minor expenses; and a chain for the neck, from which there
should be suspended one gold tomaun of Persia.

'After some little consultation among the friends of my wife, this
was agreed upon; but one of the old women, who had been a servant in a
Persian family, started a demand which gave rise to some discussion; it
was, that I ought to give something for _sheer baha_, or milk money, as
is the custom throughout P