For this amount of baggage and for the sacks of flour and rice, weighing 160 lbs., which will hereafter be carried, I have four mules, none heavily laden, and two with such light loads that they can be ridden by my servants. These mules, two _charvadars_, and a horse are engaged for the journey at two _krans_ (16d.) a day each, the owner stipulating for a _bakhsheesh_ of fifty _krans_, if at the end I am satisfied. This sum is to cover food and all risks.
The animals are hired from a well-known _charvadar_, who has made a large fortune and is regarded as very trustworthy; Dr. Bruce calls him the "prince of _charvadars_." He and his son are going on the "trip." He has a quiet, superior manner, and when he came to judge of the weight of my loads, he said they were "very good--very right," a more agreeable verdict than muleteers are wont to pass upon baggage.[41]
The making of the contract with Hadji involved two important processes, the writing of it by a scribe and the sealing of it. The scribe is one of the most important persons in Persia. Every great man has one or more, and every little man has occasion for a scribe's services in the course of a year. He is the trusted depositary of an infinity of secrets. He moves with dignity and deliberation, his "writer's inkhorn" pendent from his girdle, and his physiognomy has been trained to that reticent, semi-mysterious expression common to successful solicitors in England.
Writing is a fine art in Persia. The characters are in themselves graceful, and lend themselves readily to decoration. The old illuminated MSS. are things of beauty; even my contract is ornamental. The scribe holds the paper in his left hand, and uses a reed pen with the nib cut obliquely, writing from right to left. The ink is thick, and is carried with the pens in a _papier-maché_ inkhorn.
Hadji tells me with much pride that his son, Abbas Ali, can write "and will be very useful."
Sealing is instead of signing. As in Japan, every adult male has his seal, of agate or cornelian among the rich, and of brass or silver among the poor. The name is carefully engraved on the seal at a cost of from a half-penny to 18s. a letter. Tihran is celebrated for its seal-cutters. No document is authentic without a seal as its signature.