blows; not blows of the fist, for they know nothing
of fisticuffs, but they belabor each other vigorously
with their long, thick donkey persuaders, sticks that
are anything but small and willowy; it is an amusing
spectacle, and seated on the commanding knoll nibbling
“drum-sticks” and wish-bones, I can almost
fancy myself a Roman of old, eating peanuts and watching
a gladiatorial contest in the amphitheatre. The
similitude, however, is not at all striking, for thick
as are their quarter-staffs the Persian ryots don’t
punish each other very severely. Whenever one
of them works himself up to a fighting-pitch, he commences
belaboring one of the others on the back, apparently
always striking so that the blow produces a maximum
of noise with a minimum of punishment; the person
thus attacked never ventures to strike back, but retreats
under the blows until his assailant’s rage becomes
spent and he desists. Meanwhile the war of words
goes merrily forward; perchance in a few minutes the
person recently attacked suddenly becomes possessed
of a certain amount of rage-inspired courage, and
he in turn commences a vigorous assault upon somebody,
probably his late assailant; this worthy, having become
a little cooler, has mysteriously lost his late pugnacity,
and now likewise retreats without once attempting to
raise his own stick in self-defence. The lower
and commercial class Persians are pretty quarrelsome
among themselves, but they quarrel chiefly with their
tongues; when they fight without sticks it is an ear-pulling,
clothes-tugging, wrestling sort of a scuffle, which
continues without greater injury than a torn garment
until they become exhausted if pretty evenly matched,
or until separated by bystanders; they never, never
hurt each other unless they are intoxicated, when
they sometimes use their short swords; there is no
intoxication, except in private drinking-parties.
CHAPTER XX.
TABREEZ TO TEHERAN.
The wheeling improves in the afternoon, and alongside
my road runs a bit of civilization in the shape of
the splendid iron poles of the Indo-European Telegraph
Company. Half a dozen times this afternoon I
become the imaginary enemy of a couple of cavalrymen
travelling in the same direction as myself; they swoop
down upon me from the rear at a charging gallop, valiantly
whooping and brandishing their Martini-Henrys; when
they arrive within a few yards of my rear wheel they
swerve off on either side and rein their fiery chargers
up, allowing me to forge ahead; they amuse themselves
by repeating this interesting performance over and
over again. Being usually a good rider, the dash
and courage of the Persian cavalryman is something
extraordinary in time of peace; no more brilliant and
intrepid cavalry charge on a small scale could be well
imagined than I have witnessed several times this
afternoon. But upon the outbreak of serious
hostilities the average warrior in the Shah’s