another, according to their own convenience. Each village, however, has a patron, or feudal-lord, at whose expense the peasants are all entertained on the recurrence of the yearly feasts. All Persians of any consequence maintain a large number of idle retainers about them, who contribute nothing to the general wealth of the country.
The class of men who obtain their daily bread by the charity of others is also very numerous in Persia. There are no poor-laws or workhouses, and, therefore, to private charity is left the task of relieving the wants of the indigent. If such relief were only extended to the diseased, the aged, and the infirm, the calls upon the charitable would be comparatively slight; but I believe the greater proportion of the beggars of Persia to be composed of able-bodied men, who lack no means, except the will, necessary to enable them to earn their own bread. The fraternity of dervishes or religious mendicants is spread over the country. They are for the most part an entertaining set of men, who enjoy the good things of this life, and who appeal for charity, not to any physical claims to it, but to their religious character solely. These useless members of society are of two classes, those who reside in towns and live at their ease in the midst of their families, and those who make a vow of celibacy, and who wander about the country. The distinguishing badges of the first of these two classes are the dervish's cap, the peculiarly shaped axe carried over the shoulder, and the water-cup slung over the arm. There are hundreds of these jovial beggars scattered over Persia, and many of those in Tehran find their employment so lucrative that they are enabled by it to live in well-
