Page:Kennedy, Robert John - A Journey in Khorassan (1890).djvu/61

 speak, of the altar. Here he therefore remains until he has successfully negotiated an arrangement with his adversary, either by paying a 'blood tax,' in case of murder, or by giving satisfactory guarantees for the discharge of any legitimate and ordinary debt.

Meshed, which has about 50,000 inhabitants, cannot in any way lay claim to the title of a manufacturing town, the only industry being the manufacture of silks and carpets, which are all, of course, made by hand. There are in the town 650 looms for silk weaving, 320 looms for shawl weaving, and 40 carpet-weaving looms. We were conducted over one small, pokey little establishment by its owner, a tall, lean Persian, where we saw several men and boys engaged with the looms. They work according to a pattern, and three or four men are employed at the same time upon one carpet, which if about twelve or fifteen feet square takes three months to make, and costs 15l. or 20l.