I then told him he was hard to please, as surely a High Vazir was good enough to be compared with, for was it not true that the famous Haji Mirza Aghasi was of the noble order of dervishes.

He took in slowly what I said, then smiled, and gave back the jacket with a good grace.

The Persians have a proverb similar to our own regarding giving to beggars, '_Avval khesh, baad darvesh_' (First our own, then the beggar.

Charity begins at home).
The ordinary Persian horses are small, but very wiry and enduring.

In harness they are also capable of very long journeys in light draught, as proved in the carriage service between Tehran and Kasvin.