Page 11 - Journal of the Cenral Asian Society (1960)

82 SOME EARLY TRAVELLERS IN PERSIA
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lapse of time. It was at Minab, a fow miles cast of Bandar Abbas, .!
that lie lost his wife, a Baghdad Christian ; ho carried her embalmed I
corpse with him on his travels, until on his return to Rome four years i
later ho buried her remains in the family tomb. Ilis second wife was %
also a lady of the country. From his matrimonial experiences and
those of one, at all events, of the Sherley brothers, it would seem that t.
“ mixed marriages ” were in those days less imperilled by incompati­
bility of education and temperament and custom than to-day; it is
certain that they were not frowned on by society or Government either
in Europe or the East. In this respect, as in many others, the world 4
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was perhaps a happier and less bigoted place in the sixteenth and j
seventeenth century than in the twentieth, and we have something to •J
learn from our forbears, for whose religious prejudices we have sub­
stituted racial prejudices no less unreasonable and perhaps more i
dangerous to peace and goodwill.
In conclusion, I should like to place on record my belief that, not­
withstanding the classic researches of Professor E. G. Browne and the
monumental works of Curzon and later of Sykes, there is still a great
field for those who will .study the records of British policy in Persia v
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in an historical spirit. Of material for such researches there is
no lack ; it is in our power, and it is our duty, to learn from and
to profit by the mistakes of past generations. If we do so, we may
look forward with confidence to the future, bearing in mind that, if we
lower our standard iu history, we cannot uphold it in our national life
and international relations. Magna csl veritas, yrcvalct.
Lastly, whilst ample facilities exist in England for the study of V
Persian literature and thought, it is less easy for a student to gain
from lectures or from existing books an insight into the mainsprings of
a
Persian character and an appreciation of the Persian outlook on
affairs. It is the business of those whom we send to Persia to learn
to understand Persian character ; the amusement, contempt, or eyeu
repulsion which human observers, wedded to their own ways of life,
are apt to feel for a mode of life which dilfers vitally from their own,
gives way, on deeper acquaintance, to a measure of sympathetic under­
standing. There is a real need for more books which will encourage
this tendency without drifting into apologetics. Meanwhile, the study
of the literature of travel is an important aid in this direction which
it is the duty of this Society to foster.