The slaves in Persia have what Americans call “a good time;” well fed, well clothed, treated as spoiled children, given the lightest work, and often given in marriage to a favourite son, or taken as a “segah,” or concubine, by the master himself (and respectable Persians only take a “segah” for ninety-nine years, which is equivalent to a permanent marriage), slaves have the certainty of comfort and a well-cared-for old age. They are always looked on as confidential servants, are entrusted with large sums of money, and the conduct of the most important affairs; and seldom abuse their trust. The greatest punishment to an untrustworthy slave is to give him his liberty and let him earn his living. They vary in colour and value: the “Habashi” or Abyssinian is the most valued; the Souhāli or Somāli, next in blackness, is next in price; the Bombassi, or coal-black negro of the interior, being of much less price, and usually only used as a cook. The prices of slaves in Shiraz are, a good Habashi girl of twelve to fourteen, forty pounds; a good Somāli same age, half as much; while a Bombassi is to be got for fourteen pounds, being chosen merely for physical strength. They are never sold, save on importation, though at times they are given away. Strange as it may appear, to the mind of any one who has lived in Persia, slavery in that country to the African is an unmixed good. Of course the _getting to Persia_, and the being caught, is another thing. But I have never seen a Persian unkind to his own horse or his slave, and when overtaken by poverty he first would sell his shirt, _then_ his slave. CHAPTER XXX. TRAVELLING—ART WORK—FOODS. Travelling—Difficulties of posting—Saddles and bits—Cruel joke—Old stories—Pastimes—Enamels—Persian pictures—Curio-buyer—Carvings—Metal-work—Calligraphy—Kahtam—Incised work on iron—Embroideries—Silver-work—Washing of linen—Ironing—Needlework—The bath—Washing the hair with clay—Bread and baking—Unleavened bread—Other kinds—Travellers’ food—Inordinate appetites—Food of the poor. Of marching with a native caravan I have no experience—Europeans as a rule avoid it—and having usually enough luggage and servants to occupy a string of mules of their own, generally travel by themselves. A specimen of daily life upon the road when marching will be given in my journal on our road home, when we did twenty-eight days’ marching over some twenty-five to thirty miles a day, with only two days’ rest.