Girls are obliged to keep
these fasts after their tenth year, and boys after their fifteenth.
It was to the courteousness of Dr. Cassolani, and his intimacy with
some of the principal families in Tebris, that I was indebted for my
introduction to them, and even for my presentation at court,
notwithstanding the strict observance of the fast.
There was no viceroy in Tebris until about six months since, but
only a governor; the present reigning schach, Nesr-I-Din, raised the
province of Aderbeidschan to a vice-royalty, and decreed that every
eldest son of the future inheritor of the empire should reside here
as viceroy until he came to the throne.
The last governor of Tebris, Behmen Mirza, the schach's brother, was
a remarkably intelligent and just man. He brought the province of
Aderbeidschan into a flourishing condition in a few years, and
everywhere established order and security. This soon excited the
envy of the prime minister Haggi-Mirza-Aagassi; he urged the schach
to recall his brother, and represented to him that he would engage
the affections of the people too much, and that he might at last
make himself king.
For a long time the schach paid no attention to these insinuations,
for he loved his brother sincerely; but the minister did not rest
until he had attained his wishes.
