are obtained, and a pretty tremolo,--and other instruments of minor
importance, are all employed in Persia.

The Persians are masters at playing the drum. Most marvellous effects are
obtained by them. They hold the drum on the left leg with the left arm
resting on it, and tap it with the tips of their fingers round its edge.
For broader notes it is struck with the palm of the hand. Soft, gentle
notes as well as the rumbling sound in good time with the air they
accompany, are extracted from the instrument, so fast in its vibrations
as to produce a continuous sound that one would never believe came from a
drum.

[Illustration: Beluch Dance (at Sibi.)]

Metallic castanets are used both by the Persian and Beluch in the
dancing, and it is usually the dancers--one or more boys--who play them.

Many of the songs and melodies I heard in Persia reminded me very
forcibly of Spanish melodies, which, like these, are undoubtedly of Arab
origin.

Whatever fault one may find with Persian or Beluch music, one cannot say
that the performers do not play with an immense deal of feeling and
_entrain_--a quality (the primary one, to my mind,) in music often
lacking in musicians nearer home, but never in Orientals.

The dancing, both Persian and Beluch, is not so interesting. It is
usually executed by effeminate long-haired boys generally dressed in a
long pleated coat with a tight belt, and wearing a number of metal bells
attached to the ankles. The Persian is probably the more lascivious of
the two in his movements, and, having begun by throwing his long shock of
hair backwards twirls round gracefully enough, keeping good time with the
music. This is merely a feat of endurance, resembling the dancing or
spinning dervishes of Egypt, and generally ends by the dancer suddenly
squatting down upon the floor with his flowing gown fully expanded in a
circle around him. The skill of the dancer is shown most in successive
dances, such as the slow progression by merely twisting the feet to right
and left, occasionally varied by raising one foot directly above the
other, then throwing the head far back and the body in a strained curve,
with arms raised fluttering like a flying bird, while the song to which
he dances imitates a nightingale.

Contortions and suggestive waist movements are much indulged in Persian
dancing, as well as throwing the body backwards with the hands almost
touching the ground behind and walking while in this position--n