The King of Persia chooses his wives not exclusively from amongst the princesses or the highly-born ladies of the land, but equally from amongst the whole of the daughters of his subjects. Any peasant, if she be beautiful, may become the favourite wife of the Shah, and the mother of the heir-apparent. The son of the present King, who was first designated to be his successor, was born of the daughter of a peasant. The boy died, as did his only full brother, and in his place the son of a princess was named the King's heir. It is probably to the free admixture of stranger blood in the royal family of Persia that the healthiness and the unusually great personal attractions of the princes and princesses are chiefly to be attributed. ***** The Persian Government, as I have said, is formed upon the principle common to all independent Mussulman nations, namely, that the head of the state is an absolute King, who is expected to rule according to the laws laid down in the book containing the decisions of the successors of Mahomed.
In all dubious cases the Koran forms the authority to which both sides can appeal, and the meaning and application of the Koran are expounded by the men of the law, who make it the business of their lives to prepare themselves for explaining the sacred texts, and to point out and apply the decisions of the fathers. This is the law of the country, and though the Shah has power over the law insomuch that in cases not coming within circumstances specified in the written or traditionary Mahomedan code he may exercise his own discretion, yet as being a Mahomedan the Shah is under the same law as his subjects, and Mahomedanism has too much
