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The Shah: Fat'hh

Yet Fat'hh Ali, in spite of his inhuman punishment of Sadek, was not naturally cruel. Many instances are, indeed, related of his kindly and magnanimous disposition. On one occasion, as he was passing through the desert from Bastam to Shahrud, it so happened that the ladies of the harem and their escort lost their way. The king, with a few attendants, immediately set out in search of them; but they strayed so far that all the water was consumed and nothing remained except a small piece of ice, which was reserved for Fat'hh Ali. Perceiving however, that a young prince had fainted from weakness and thirst, this Oriental Sir Philip Sydney relinquished the life-giving morsel, and with his own hands placed it in the mouth of his exhausted fellow traveller. Fat'hh Ali was on one occasion visited by Sir R. Kerr-Porter, who in his Travels thus describes his magnificent reception: "He entered the saloon from the left, and advanced to the foot of it with an air and step which belonged entirely to a sovereign. Had there been any assumption in his manner I could not have been so impressed. He was one blaze of jewels, which literally dazzled the sight on first looking at him. A lofty tiara of three elevations was on his head, which shape appears to have been long peculiar to the crown of the great king. It was entirely composed of thickly-set diamonds and pearls, rubies and emeralds, so exquisitely disposed as to form a mixture of the most beautiful colours in the brilliant light reflected from its surface. Several black feathers like the heron's plumes, were inter-mixed with the resplendent aigrettes of this truly Imperial diadem, whose bending points were finished with pear-shaped pearls of an immense size. The vesture was of gold tissue, nearly covered with a similar disposition of jewelry, and crossing the shoulders were too strings of pearls, probably the largest in the world. I call his dress a vesture, because it set close to his person, from the neck to the bottom of the waist, showing a shape as noble as his air. At that point it devolved downwards in loose drapery, like the usual Persian garment, and was of the same costly materials with the vest. But for splendour nothing could exceed the broad bracelets round his arms, and the belt which encircled his waist. They actually blazed like fire, when the rays of the sun met them; and when we know the names derived from such excessive lustre, we cannot be surprised at seeing such an effect. The jewelled band on the right arm was called the 'Mountain of Light,' and that on the left 'the Sea of Light.' These names were of course derived from the celebrated diamonds contained in the bracelets."

It will be seen from our account of the "Darya-i-Nur" and "Moon of Mountains" that this writer is in error regarding the name of one of these famous diamonds. His description is in other respects extremely interesting, and helps to show that towards the beginning of the present century most of the crown jewels (scattered during the troubles ensuing on the death of Nadir Shah), had again been recovered and collected in the royal treasury. Fat'hh Ali, who retained his seat on the throne till his death in 1834, was remarkable in another respect. His harem consisted of 800 ladies, and he left issue nearly two hundred children. Mr. Binning assures us that in 1850, many of his off-spring were still alive, and earning their bread as artisans and tradesmen.