this." There is but little watching done at night in the most
severe cases, and a physician is seldom called up at night to see a
patient.

On my first introduction to the _andaroon_, I had little acquaintance
with either Persian customs or costumes. I had been asked to see the
wife of a high dignitary, and on my arrival was at once ushered into her
presence. I found my fair patient awaiting me, standing beside a
fountain, in the midst of a garden quite Oriental in its features. She
was closely veiled, but her feet and legs were bare, and her skirts were
so economically abbreviated as at first to raise the question in my
mind, whether I had not by mistake of the servant been announced before
the lady had completed her toilet. She, however, held out her hand,
which apparently she did not intend me to shake, and I presently made
out that I was expected to feel her pulse as the preliminary to my
inquiries concerning her symptoms; or rather in lieu of them, the
competent Persian physician needing no other clue to the diagnosis. Then
the pulse of the other wrist had to be examined, and I inspected the
tongue, of which I obtained a glimpse between the skilfully disposed
folds of the veil. This woman had been suffering from a malarial
disease, which had manifested some grave symptoms, and I tried to
impress upon the family the importance of her taking prompt measures to
avert another paroxysm. Feeling somewhat anxious as to the result, I
sent the next morning to inquire about her condition and the effect of
the remedy prescribed, but learned to my disgust that the medicine had
not yet been given, the Mullah who must make "istekhara" (cast the lot)
to ascertain whether the remedy was a suitable one for the case, not
having yet arrived.

Seclusion, lack of exercise, the monotony that leaves the mind to prey
upon itself, ignorance, early marriage, unhappiness, abuse, and
contagious diseases bring upon the Persian woman a great amount of
physical suffering directly traceable to the system of Mohammedanism.
One special demand of her religion, the month of fasting, is a case in
point. At the age of seven, the girls must assume this burden, not taken
up by boys till they are thirteen. For a mere child to be deprived of
food and drink, sometimes for seventeen hours at a stretch, day after
day, and then allowed to gorge herself at night, cannot but be a
physical injury.

In illness, no pen can depict the contrast between a refined C