The people have a curious legend about sponges. They say the English people take very large earthen jars, and set them on the highest peaks of the mountains, and conceal the pots by piling stones round them, so that only the mouth shows. They then hide themselves in the crevices of the rocks, and wait until the clouds settle on the mountain-top, and come slowly down to the jars. Then, when a small cloud is seen to enter the jar, one of the men comes cautiously from his hiding-place, and quickly puts the lid on, and fastens it there. The jar is allowed to remain closed for about three days, by which time the cloud is dead, after which the vessel is broken and the dead cloud is cut into pieces, and taken out and sold as sponge. The Persian name for “sponge” is the same as for “cloud,” and perhaps this accounts for the legend. Astrologers do a good business among the people, and their forecasts as to the lucky days on which to commence a journey or some new work are implicitly believed. The Amir and the members of the royal family have their own astrologers, who are consulted as to the auspicious day on which to commence any matter of importance, besides being asked to read what the future contains, but their verdicts, or such of them that I have heard, are ambiguous, and capable of being read in more than one way—a very necessary art for those who read the riddle of the future for the Amir. The astrologers have also to interpret dreams, for dreams are looked upon as signs given to warn or guide people, and it was due to a dream that the present Amir divorced all his wives but the four allowed by the Koran. It is not all people who consider themselves capable of predicting the future who are treated with honour and amass wealth, as witness the case of three men from a distant part of the country, who were brought before the Amir for predicting that a great calamity was to visit the country on a certain date, some few months ahead, and who expected much from their voicing of the prophecy. The Amir’s mood, which is always an uncertain quality, at the time the men were brought before him, was not inclined towards signs of evil portent, and he gave an order that the prophets be kept in prison until the date fixed by them for the happening of the calamity, and then, he said, they shall be rewarded if their words are shown to be true, but in the other event, death. The prophecy was not fulfilled, but the Amir’s sentence was.