It is remarkable that in going eastward the skin of this race will be found to grow more dark and rough, while the Kurds and Armenians often have a perfectly South-European complexion. The hair is always —except in a few mountain-tribes like the Ossetes—black and straight or curly; it grows abundantly on the body. The forehead is low, the shape of the face oval; the eves are finely formed, but generally do not lie deep; the lips of the Armenians are thick, like those of the Afghans, and their features exhibit some similarity to those of the Hindoos and the Asiatic Semites.
The Afghans are of good stature, but the head lies too low between the shoulders; their skin is of a blackish color, feels velvety, and is glossy; the nose is large and flat, the eyes straight, the lower lip thick.
The Bcloochees are of a tall and muscular figure, and, especially those living in the hot plain, of a rather dark color. The nose is broad, the forehead low, the hair, growing abundantly like the beard, is coarse. They have remarkably large feet.
The Tajiks are generally small, but thickset; the feet are large, the face broad, their features good, except that the mouth is too large.
The Kurds are often large and handsome, with less broad noses, but otherwise like the Afghans; hut among them there are many individuals of clumsy build, of poor proportions, with coarse large heads, and large noses (M. Wagner).
The Ossetes are physically of a peculiar development. Scarcely mid dle-sized, they are thickset and vigorous, and their hair is either red or blond. The old Scythians of the Crimea and Southern Russia may be called the extreme advanced posts of the Iranians.
have remains of two Iranian languages of antiquity— the Old Bactrian, the so-called Zend or the language of East Iran, in which the Zend Avesta was written; and the ancient Persian or earliest West Iran ian tongue, which was the language of the Aclkemenidean dynasty and their cuneiform writing. The Pehlevi was the language of the Sassanian period: it was developed from the Old Persian, and is identical with the Hnzvaresh, as the language of some of the commentaries upon the Avesta is called. The Parsi of the Middle Ages has been developed from and by the side of the Pehlevi, and from it the New Persian, which is much mixed with the Arabic, has descended.
illustrations show various Persian costumes and castes (p1. 109, figs. 1-4, 6), which require no explanation, and which are at present the same as about the year 1700, when the famous Dutch painter De Bruyns painted them. It is noteworthy that the old tiara, the high cap
worn by the contemporaries of Cyrus, is still a universal article of dress (p1. figs. 3, 5; pi. III, fig. 2; comp. pt. 73, fig. 6). In Figures 5 (p1. 109) and 3 (p1. iio) we see warriors—Figure 5 109) in mediaeval equipment—Figure 3 (p7. Ito) with a kind of culverin fastened to the saddle of a trained camel, but this arrangement is now out of use. The Bcloochees live in villages of black felt tents, each village forming a clan. They wear wide pantaloons, a gown-like girdled overdress (mostly blue), and for ordinary use a peculiar cap (p1. toS, jig. 6); the turban is w orn only on festival days.
idea of the splendor of ancient Ispahan, which was destroyed soon after the year 1700 by the Afghans, as also of its active business-life, is given by Plate 109 (fig. 7). The Armenian houses—at least in some villages and small towns—arc wholly or partly imbedded in the ground, and the walls are of clay or stone. On Plate i i r (A1,-. 2) we present the interior of such a house, with its strange roof-construction, its benches serving both as seats and as beds, the household utensils, the large Oriental water-pipe of its smoking inhabitants (comp. p7.107, fig. 8), the connecting stables (left), and the entrance-door (right).
Iranians are a highly-gifted people; they have had the ability to form great states; they have developed a rich literature of high poetical value and of historical importance; they have shown them selves subtle, active, and skilful in business, and indeed the Armenians may be numbered among the shrewdest business-men of the world; on occasion they have always shown a capacity for accepting new ideas and for developing them; they are brave, and even heroic; and their ancient laws are distinguished by lofty morality and clemency.
If we find the present Iranian peoples less elevated in their morals— untruth and avarice are common—if we find no independent intellectual achievements among them, some excuse can be made for them in the unfavorable geographical conditions in which they live and in the terrible fate to which they were condemned by the invasions of various nations. We are, however, far from overestimating the achievements and abilities of the Iranians. They stand in sharp contrast with the Indians.