PERSIA.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume IV, Issue 92, 1 July 1852, Page 4

PERSIA.

The character of the Persians is amiable at the same time grave. Even in the intimacy of the domestic circle the children always stand in the presence of the father.

They listen with respect to thetr elders, and take no part in the conversation unless when called upon to speak. Even if princes tlicy wait on their parents and serve them wilh water in a humble and respectful manner. After rising in the morning they take |pa, usually two cups. Eleven o'clock is their dinner hour, when they have some very light simple dishes served up to them with fruit. At four o'clock they again take lea, and at seven thev have their supper, which is served up much in the same manner as the dinner. After dinner, and after supper they usually lake a small cup of cofl'ec if lliev have visitors. They are not so fond of codec as the Turks who drink from thirty to forty cups of it every day. Thev do not take spirits or wine. They are very religious, and never omit the due performance of their devotions, praying live times each clay. —Manners ami Customs of Kalians.

Tin: SiiFi>iir.M>'s Dor;.—Without Ihe shepherd's dog, the whole of the mountainous l land in Scotland would nol he worth sixi pence. li would require more hands to manage a /lock of sheep, gather them from Ihe hills, force them into houses and folds and drive them to markets, than tlio profits of the whole stock would lie capable of maintaining. Well may tin; shepherd then feel an interest in his dog. Il is indeed he that earns the family bread, of which he is content himself with the smallest morsel. Neither hunger nor famine will drive him from his master's side ; lie will follow him through lire and water. Another thing very remarkable is, the understanding these creatures have of (he necessity of being particularly tender over lame anil particular sheep. They will drive these a great deal more gently than others, and sometimes a single one is committed (o (heir care to take home. On these occasions they perform their duty like the most lender nurses. Can il be wondered at then, that the collev should lie so much prized liy the shepherd; thai his death should be regarded as a great calamity to a family of which he forms, to all intents and purposes, an integral pari; or thai bis exploits of sagacity should be handed down from generation to generation, and form 110 small pari of the converse by the cozy ingle on long winter nights! A Fox's Ri:yi:xci:.—An old man of the county of .Montgomery used frequenllyto relate an anecdote ofa circumstance which he saw. In bis youth Ik; resided on the bank of tliollndson lliver. One day he went toabay on the river in order to shoot wild ducks or geese. When he came to the river he saw geese beyond shot. —lie determined to wail for them to approach the shore. Whilesitiing therehesawa fox come down to the shore and stand smile time and observe the geese. At length he turned, and went into the woodsaud canieoul with a very large bunch of moss in his mouth. lie then entered the water very silently, sunk himself, and keeping the moss above the water, and himself concealed, Ik; floated among the geese. Suddenly one of | them was drawn under the water, and the j fox soon appeared 011 the shore with the ' goose on his back. lie ascended the bank l and found a hole, made by the tearing up of ; a tree. This bole he cleared, placed in the ! goose, and covered il willigreal care, strew- ' ,ing leaves over it. The fox then led, and while he was away, the hunter unburied the ' goose, closed the hole, and resolved lo await the issue. In about half an hour the fox returned in company with another. They went dirreclly to the place where the goose had , been buried, ami threw out the earth. The ■ gooso could not be found. Tliey stood , regarding each other for some lime, when, j suddenly, the second fox, attacked (lie other mosl furiously, as if otl'ended by the trick of his friend, 'during the battle the spectator • shot them both.—Murray's Creation.