158 THE GREAT DIAMONDS OF THE WORLD.
In
our account of the "Koh-i-Nur" allusion was made to the horrible
practice of gouging out the eyes of political opponents, until recently
so prevalent both in Persia and Afghanistan. The inÂdifference with
which these frightful cruelties came to be regarded, even by the
victims themselves, is well illustrated by the following graphic story
of Riza Kuli Khan, related by Sir John Malcolm in the work just quoted.
"Riza
Kuli Khan, the governor of Kazerun, came to pay the Elchi a visit. This
old nobleman had a silk band over his eye-sockets, having had his eyes
put out during the late contest between the Zend and Kajar families for
the throne of Persia. He began, soon after he was seated, to relate his
misfortunes, and the tears actually came to my eyes, at the thoughts of
the old man's sufferings, when judge of my surprise to find it was to
entertain, not to distress us, he was giving this narration, and that,
in spite of the revolting subject, I was compelled to smile at the
tale, which in any country except Persia, would have been deemed a
subject for a tragedy. But as poisons may by use become aliment, so
misÂfortunes, however dreadful, when they are of daily occurrence,
appear like common events of life. But it was the manner and feelings
of the narrator that, in this instance, gave the comic effect to the
tragedy of which he was the hero.
"
I had been too active a partizan," said Riza Khan, " of the Kajir
family, to expect much mercy when I fell into the hands of the rascally
tribe of Zend. I looked for death, and was rather surprised
