When the viceroy rides out, he is preceded by several hundred soldiers.  They are followed by servants with large sticks, who call upon the people to bow before the powerful ruler.  The prince is surrounded by officers, military, and servants, and the procession is closed by more soldiers.  The prince only is mounted, all the rest are on foot.

The prince’s wives are also permitted to ride out at times, but they are obliged to be thickly veiled, and entirely surrounded by eunuchs, several of whom hasten on before, to tell the people that the wives of the monarch are on the road.  Every one must then leave the streets, and retire into the houses and bye-lanes.

The wives of the banished prince, Behmen, who were left behind, learnt, through Dr. Cassolani, that I thought of going to Tiflis.  They requested me to visit them, that I might be able to tell the prince that I had seen them and left them well.  The doctor conducted me into their presence.  He had been the friend and physician of the prince, who was not one of the fanatic class, and allowed him the entree to the females.

Nothing very worthy of notice took place at this visit.  The house and garden were plain, and the women had wrapped themselves in large mantles, as the doctor was present, some, indeed, covered a part of their faces while speaking with him.  Several of them were young, although they all appeared older than they really were.  One, who was twenty-two, I should have taken to be at least thirty.  A rather plump dark beauty of sixteen was also introduced to me as the latest addition to the harem.  She had been bought at Constantinople only a short time since.  The women appeared to treat her with great good-nature; they told me that they took considerable pains to teach her Persian.

Among the children there was a remarkably beautiful girl of six, whose pure and delicate countenance was fortunately not yet disfigured by paint.  This child, as well as the others, was dressed in the same way as the women; and I remarked that the Persian dress was really, as I had been told, rather indecorous.  The corset fell back at every quick movement; the silk or gauze chemise, which scarcely reached over the breast, dragged up so high that the whole body might be seen as far as the loins.  I observed the same with the female servants, who were engaged in making tea or other occupations; every motion disarranged their dress.

My visit to Haggi-Chefa-Hanoum, one of the principal and most-cultivated women in Tebris, was far more interesting.  Even at the entrance of the court-yard and house, the presence of a well-regulating mind might be perceived.  I had never seen so much cleanliness and taste in any Oriental house.  I should have taken the court-yard for the garden, if I had not afterwards seen the latter from the windows.  The gardens here are, indeed, inferior to ours, but are magnificent when compared with those at Baghdad.  They have flowers, rows of vines and shrubs, and between the fruit-trees pleasant basins of water and luxuriant grass-plots.