ot rub his eyes with
the back of his hand when I asked him to suspend work for a moment. The
tension upon their pupils must be enormous in the dim light.

Although made in a primitive method, the carpet weaving of Persia is
about the only manufacture that deserves a first-class place in the
industries of Iran. The carpets still have a certain artistic merit,
although already contaminated to no mean extent by European
commerciality. Instead of the beautiful and everlasting vegetable dyes
which were formerly used for the worsted and silks, and the magnificent
blue, reds, greens, greys and browns, ghastly aniline dyed threads--raw
and hurtful to the eye--are very commonly used now. Also, of the carpets
for export to Europe and America the same care is not taken in the
manufacture as in the ancient carpets, and the bastard design is often
shockingly vulgarised to appease the inartistic buyer.

But even with all these faults, Persian carpets, if not to the eye of an
expert, for all general purposes are on the whole better than those of
any other manufacture. They have still the great advantage of being made
entirely by hand instead of by machinery. It is not unwise, before buying
a Persian carpet, to rub it well with a white cloth. If it is
aniline-dyed, some of the colour will come off, but if the old Persian
dyes have been used no mark should remain on the cloth. However, even
without resorting to this, it must be a very poor eye indeed that cannot
recognise at once the terrible raw colours of aniline from the soft,
delicious tones of vegetable dyes, which time can only soften but never
discolour.

To manufacture "ancient carpets" is one of the most lucrative branches of
modern Persian carpet-making. The new carpets are spread in the bazaar,
in the middle of the street where it is most crowded, and trampled upon
for days or weeks, according to the age required, foot-passengers and
their donkeys, mules and camels making a point of treading on it in order
to "add age" to the manufacturer's goods. When sufficiently worn down the
carpet is removed, brushed, and eventually sold for double or treble its
actual price owing to its antiquity!

There are some thirty different types of carpets in Persia. The Kerman
carpets are, to my mind, the most beautiful I saw in Persia, in design,
colour and softness. They seem more original and graceful, with
conventional plant, flower and bird representations of delicate and very
varied ti