dictions of their soothsayers and astrologers, in lucky hours and the evil eye, and in the occult science which derives its name from the Magi. Persians are, as a general rule, not devoid of intelligence ; but their cleverness is too often allied to want of honesty and moral rectitude. The children amongst the ancient Persians, we are told, were taught to ride, to speak the truth, and to draw the bow. The chief thing impressed on the sons of their representatives would seem to be that which was taught to the children of the Spartans namely, never to allow themselves to be found out in telling a falsehood. This lesson they certainly take to heart. Nothing is more difficult than to convict a Persian of telling an untruth, and nothing at the same time less common than to hear the plain facts of a case from the lips of an inhabitant of that country.
Like their ancestors, the modern Persians are taught to ride. They make use of high-peaked saddles, and wedge their feet into flat iron stirrups, and lean well forward, so that when their horses fall they not only come with great violence to the ground, but generally find their feet entangled. Nevertheless, they ride courageously at full speed over the very worst ground, and by the very brinks of the most appalling precipices. They are utter strangers to the fear that comes of physical nervousness. When their courage fails them, as it too often does, the fact is to be attributed to moral causes. They are skilled in the knack of throwing the jereed and catching it again without once having checked their speed ; and like the Parthians of yore, these with their bullets as those with their arrows, can check the pursuit of their enemies by deliberately turning round in their saddles and aiming
