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HCI International 2020 Posters 22nd International

Conference HCII 2020 Copenhagen Denmark July 19 24 2020
Proceedings Part I Constantine Stephanidis
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HCI International 2020 Posters 22nd International

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HCI International 2020 Late Breaking Papers Interaction
Knowledge and Social Media 22nd HCI International
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HCI in Games Second International Conference HCI Games

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Constantine Stephanidis
Margherita Antona (Eds.)

Communications in Computer and Information Science 1226

HCI International 2020 -

Posters
22nd International Conference, HCII 2020
Copenhagen, Denmark, July 19–24, 2020
Proceedings, Part III
Communications
in Computer and Information Science 1226
Commenced Publication in 2007
Founding and Former Series Editors:
Simone Diniz Junqueira Barbosa, Phoebe Chen, Alfredo Cuzzocrea,
Xiaoyong Du, Orhun Kara, Ting Liu, Krishna M. Sivalingam,
Dominik Ślęzak, Takashi Washio, Xiaokang Yang, and Junsong Yuan

Editorial Board Members

Joaquim Filipe
Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal, Setúbal, Portugal
Ashish Ghosh
Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, India
Igor Kotenko
St. Petersburg Institute for Informatics and Automation of the Russian
Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia
Raquel Oliveira Prates
Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Lizhu Zhou
Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/7899
Constantine Stephanidis•

Margherita Antona (Eds.)

HCI International 2020 -

Posters
22nd International Conference, HCII 2020
Copenhagen, Denmark, July 19–24, 2020
Proceedings, Part III

123
Editors
Constantine Stephanidis Margherita Antona
University of Crete Foundation for Research
and Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH)
and Technology – Hellas (FORTH) Heraklion, Crete, Greece
Heraklion, Crete, Greece

ISSN 1865-0929 ISSN 1865-0937 (electronic)

Communications in Computer and Information Science
ISBN 978-3-030-50731-2 ISBN 978-3-030-50732-9 (eBook)
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© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

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 Foreword

The 22nd International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, HCI International

2020 (HCII 2020), was planned to be held at the AC Bella Sky Hotel and Bella Center,
Copenhagen, Denmark, during July 19–24, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 coronavirus
pandemic and the resolution of the Danish government not to allow events larger than
500 people to be hosted until September 1, 2020, HCII 2020 had to be held virtually. It
incorporated the 21 thematic areas and affiliated conferences listed on the following
page.
A total of 6,326 individuals from academia, research institutes, industry, and gov-
ernmental agencies from 97 countries submitted contributions, and 1,439 papers and
238 posters were included in the conference proceedings. These contributions address
the latest research and development efforts and highlight the human aspects of design
and use of computing systems. The contributions thoroughly cover the entire field of
human-computer interaction, addressing major advances in knowledge and effective
use of computers in a variety of application areas. The volumes constituting the full set
of the conference proceedings are listed in the following pages.
The HCI International (HCII) conference also offers the option of “late-breaking
work” which applies both for papers and posters and the corresponding volume(s)
of the proceedings will be published just after the conference. Full papers will be
included in the “HCII 2020 - Late Breaking Papers” volume of the proceedings to be
published in the Springer LNCS series, while poster extended abstracts will be included
as short papers in the “HCII 2020 - Late Breaking Posters” volume to be published in
the Springer CCIS series.
I would like to thank the program board chairs and the members of the program
boards of all thematic areas and affiliated conferences for their contribution to the
highest scientific quality and the overall success of the HCI International 2020
conference.
This conference would not have been possible without the continuous and unwa-
vering support and advice of the founder, Conference General Chair Emeritus and
Conference Scientific Advisor Prof. Gavriel Salvendy. For his outstanding efforts,
I would like to express my appreciation to the communications chair and editor of
HCI International News, Dr. Abbas Moallem.

July 2020 Constantine Stephanidis

 HCI International 2020 Thematic Areas
and Affiliated Conferences

Thematic areas:
• HCI 2020: Human-Computer Interaction
• HIMI 2020: Human Interface and the Management of Information
Affiliated conferences:
• EPCE: 17th International Conference on Engineering Psychology and Cognitive
Ergonomics
• UAHCI: 14th International Conference on Universal Access in Human-Computer
Interaction
• VAMR: 12th International Conference on Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality
• CCD: 12th International Conference on Cross-Cultural Design
• SCSM: 12th International Conference on Social Computing and Social Media
• AC: 14th International Conference on Augmented Cognition
• DHM: 11th International Conference on Digital Human Modeling and Applications
in Health, Safety, Ergonomics and Risk Management
• DUXU: 9th International Conference on Design, User Experience and Usability
• DAPI: 8th International Conference on Distributed, Ambient and Pervasive
Interactions
• HCIBGO: 7th International Conference on HCI in Business, Government and
Organizations
• LCT: 7th International Conference on Learning and Collaboration Technologies
• ITAP: 6th International Conference on Human Aspects of IT for the Aged
Population
• HCI-CPT: Second International Conference on HCI for Cybersecurity, Privacy and
Trust
• HCI-Games: Second International Conference on HCI in Games
• MobiTAS: Second International Conference on HCI in Mobility, Transport and
Automotive Systems
• AIS: Second International Conference on Adaptive Instructional Systems
• C&C: 8th International Conference on Culture and Computing
• MOBILE: First International Conference on Design, Operation and Evaluation of
Mobile Communications
• AI-HCI: First International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in HCI
 Conference Proceedings Volumes Full List

1. LNCS 12181, Human-Computer Interaction: Design and User Experience (Part I),
edited by Masaaki Kurosu
2. LNCS 12182, Human-Computer Interaction: Multimodal and Natural Interaction
(Part II), edited by Masaaki Kurosu
3. LNCS 12183, Human-Computer Interaction: Human Values and Quality of Life
(Part III), edited by Masaaki Kurosu
4. LNCS 12184, Human Interface and the Management of Information: Designing
Information (Part I), edited by Sakae Yamamoto and Hirohiko Mori
5. LNCS 12185, Human Interface and the Management of Information: Interacting
with Information (Part II), edited by Sakae Yamamoto and Hirohiko Mori
6. LNAI 12186, Engineering Psychology and Cognitive Ergonomics: Mental
Workload, Human Physiology, and Human Energy (Part I), edited by Don Harris
and Wen-Chin Li
7. LNAI 12187, Engineering Psychology and Cognitive Ergonomics: Cognition and
Design (Part II), edited by Don Harris and Wen-Chin Li
8. LNCS 12188, Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction: Design
Approaches and Supporting Technologies (Part I), edited by Margherita Antona
and Constantine Stephanidis
9. LNCS 12189, Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction: Applications and
Practice (Part II), edited by Margherita Antona and Constantine Stephanidis
10. LNCS 12190, Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality: Design and Interaction
(Part I), edited by Jessie Y. C. Chen and Gino Fragomeni
11. LNCS 12191, Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality: Industrial and Everyday
Life Applications (Part II), edited by Jessie Y. C. Chen and Gino Fragomeni
12. LNCS 12192, Cross-Cultural Design: User Experience of Products, Services, and
Intelligent Environments (Part I), edited by P. L. Patrick Rau
13. LNCS 12193, Cross-Cultural Design: Applications in Health, Learning,
Communication, and Creativity (Part II), edited by P. L. Patrick Rau
14. LNCS 12194, Social Computing and Social Media: Design, Ethics, User Behavior,
and Social Network Analysis (Part I), edited by Gabriele Meiselwitz
15. LNCS 12195, Social Computing and Social Media: Participation, User Experience,
Consumer Experience, and Applications of Social Computing (Part II), edited by
Gabriele Meiselwitz
16. LNAI 12196, Augmented Cognition: Theoretical and Technological Approaches
(Part I), edited by Dylan D. Schmorrow and Cali M. Fidopiastis
17. LNAI 12197, Augmented Cognition: Human Cognition and Behaviour (Part II),
edited by Dylan D. Schmorrow and Cali M. Fidopiastis
x Conference Proceedings Volumes Full List

18. LNCS 12198, Digital Human Modeling and Applications in Health, Safety,
Ergonomics and Risk Management: Posture, Motion and Health (Part I), edited
by Vincent G. Duffy
19. LNCS 12199, Digital Human Modeling and Applications in Health, Safety,
Ergonomics and Risk Management: Human Communication, Organization and
Work (Part II), edited by Vincent G. Duffy
20. LNCS 12200, Design, User Experience, and Usability: Interaction Design (Part I),
edited by Aaron Marcus and Elizabeth Rosenzweig
21. LNCS 12201, Design, User Experience, and Usability: Design for Contemporary
Interactive Environments (Part II), edited by Aaron Marcus and Elizabeth
Rosenzweig
22. LNCS 12202, Design, User Experience, and Usability: Case Studies in Public and
Personal Interactive Systems (Part III), edited by Aaron Marcus and Elizabeth
Rosenzweig
23. LNCS 12203, Distributed, Ambient and Pervasive Interactions, edited by Norbert
Streitz and Shin’ichi Konomi
24. LNCS 12204, HCI in Business, Government and Organizations, edited by Fiona
Fui-Hoon Nah and Keng Siau
25. LNCS 12205, Learning and Collaboration Technologies: Designing, Developing
and Deploying Learning Experiences (Part I), edited by Panayiotis Zaphiris and
Andri Ioannou
26. LNCS 12206, Learning and Collaboration Technologies: Human and Technology
Ecosystems (Part II), edited by Panayiotis Zaphiris and Andri Ioannou
27. LNCS 12207, Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population: Technologies,
Design and User Experience (Part I), edited by Qin Gao and Jia Zhou
28. LNCS 12208, Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population: Healthy and Active
Aging (Part II), edited by Qin Gao and Jia Zhou
29. LNCS 12209, Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population: Technology and
Society (Part III), edited by Qin Gao and Jia Zhou
30. LNCS 12210, HCI for Cybersecurity, Privacy and Trust, edited by Abbas Moallem
31. LNCS 12211, HCI in Games, edited by Xiaowen Fang
32. LNCS 12212, HCI in Mobility, Transport and Automotive Systems: Automated
Driving and In-Vehicle Experience Design (Part I), edited by Heidi Krömker
33. LNCS 12213, HCI in Mobility, Transport and Automotive Systems: Driving
Behavior, Urban and Smart Mobility (Part II), edited by Heidi Krömker
34. LNCS 12214, Adaptive Instructional Systems, edited by Robert A. Sottilare and
Jessica Schwarz
35. LNCS 12215, Culture and Computing, edited by Matthias Rauterberg
36. LNCS 12216, Design, Operation and Evaluation of Mobile Communications,
edited by Gavriel Salvendy and June Wei
37. LNCS 12217, Artificial Intelligence in HCI, edited by Helmut Degen and Lauren
Reinerman-Jones
 Conference Proceedings Volumes Full List xi

38. CCIS 1224, HCI International 2020 Posters - Part I, edited by Constantine
Stephanidis and Margherita Antona
39. CCIS 1225, HCI International 2020 Posters - Part II, edited by Constantine
Stephanidis and Margherita Antona
40. CCIS 1226, HCI International 2020 Posters - Part III, edited by Constantine
Stephanidis and Margherita Antona

http://2020.hci.international/proceedings
 HCI International 2020 (HCII 2020)
The full list with the Program Board Chairs and the members of the Program Boards of
all thematic areas and affiliated conferences is available online at:

http://www.hci.international/board-members-2020.php
 HCI International 2021
The 23rd International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, HCI International
2021 (HCII 2021), will be held jointly with the affiliated conferences in
Washington DC, USA, at the Washington Hilton Hotel, July 24–29, 2021. It will
cover a broad spectrum of themes related to Human-Computer Interaction (HCI),
including theoretical issues, methods, tools, processes, and case studies in HCI design,
as well as novel interaction techniques, interfaces, and applications. The proceedings
will be published by Springer. More information will be available on the conference
website: http://2021.hci.international/.

General Chair
Prof. Constantine Stephanidis
University of Crete and ICS-FORTH
Heraklion, Crete, Greece
Email: [email protected]

http://2021.hci.international/
 Contents – Part III

Universal Access, Accessibility and Design for the Elderly

Brain-Computer Interaction and Silent Speech Recognition

on Decentralized Messaging Applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Luís Arteiro, Fábio Lourenço, Paula Escudeiro, and Carlos Ferreira

TACTILE – A Novel Mixed Reality System for Training

and Social Interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Elisabeth Broneder, Christoph Weiß, Monika Puck, Stephanie Puck,
Emanuel Sandner, Adam Papp, Gustavo Fernández Domínguez,
and Miroslav Sili

Affordance Requirements in Product Interface Design for Elderly User . . . . . 21

Hui-Qing Cai and Li-Hao Chen

A Resort or A Remote Village? - Using Jobs-To-Be-Done Theory

to Understand Elderly’s Thinking Toward Senior Residences in Taiwan. . . . . 29
Miao-Hsien Chuang, Ming-Shien Wen, and You-Shan Lin

Design Method of Online Health Education with Service Interaction System

for the Elderly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Binliang Chen, Yongyan Guo, Yinjun Xia, Yiyang Mao,
and Guanhua Wang

Shaping Social Relationships Digitally: WhatsApp’s Influence on Social

Relationships of Older Adults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Veronika Hämmerle, Rhea Braundwalder, Cora Pauli,
and Sabina Misoch

Process Automation in the Translation of Standard Language Texts

into Easy-to-Read Texts – A Software Requirements Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Claudia Hösel, Christian Roschke, Rico Thomanek, Tony Rolletschke,
Benny Platte, and Marc Ritter

Development of Behavior-Based Game for Early Screening of Mild

Cognitive Impairment: With the Plan for a Feasibility Study . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Hyungsook Kim, David O’Sullivan, and Yonghyun Park

Robot Use for Older Adults – Attitudes, Wishes and Concerns. First Results
from Switzerland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Stephanie Lehmann, Esther Ruf, and Sabina Misoch
xviii Contents – Part III

Evaluation of Musical Playing Ability of Children

with Intellectual Disabilities by Using Keyboard-Playing-Software
with the Figurenotes System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Kazuyuki Mito, Chiharu Watanabe, Rui Sotome, Aya Shirai,
Tota Mizuno, Naoaki Itakura, and Manami Matsuda

Constructing a Highly Accurate Japanese Sign Language Motion Database

Including Dialogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Yuji Nagashima, Keiko Watanabe, Daisuke Hara, Yasuo Horiuchi,
Shinji Sako, and Akira Ichikawa

A User-Centered Approach to Digital Household Risk Management . . . . . . . 82

Cristina Paupini, G. Anthony Giannoumis, and Terje Gjøsæter

Making the Home Accessible - Experiments with an Infrared Handheld

Gesture-Based Remote Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Heinrich Ruser, Susan Vorwerg, and Cornelia Eicher

A Proposal of Rehabilitation Application System Using Sliding Block

Puzzles for Prevention of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Shun Sasaki, Hiroki Takagi, Saburo Yokokura, and Meeko Kuwahara

Effectiveness of Color and Shape Matching Learning in Figurenotes System

Using Musical Instrument Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Rui Sotome, Chiharu Watanabe, Aya Shirai, Manami Matsuda,
Tota Mizuno, Naoaki Itakura, and Kazuyuki Mito

Simultaneous Speech Subtitling Systems for Multiple Speakers. . . . . . . . . . . 114

Takuya Suzuki

Voice and Speech Training System for the Hearing-Impaired Children

Using Tablet Terminal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Hiroki Takagi, Shun Sasaki, Megumi Kaneko, Takayuki Itoh,
Kazuo Sasaki, Kazuya Ueki, and Meeko Kuwahara

Research on Interface Design for the Elderly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Ruo-Qiao Zhao and Li-Hao Chen

Smartphones, Social Media and Human Behaviour

Effect of Online Weight Loss Advertising in Young Women with Body

Dissatisfaction: An Experimental Protocol Using Eye-Tracking
and Facial Electromyography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Carlos A. Almenara, Annie Aimé, and Christophe Maïano

Examining Independent Podcasts in Portuguese iTunes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Maria João Antunes and Ramón Salaverría
 Contents – Part III xix

An Analysis of Trends and Connections in Google, Twitter,

and Wikipedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Gianluca Conti, Giuseppe Sansonetti, and Alessandro Micarelli

University Online Counseling: Recommended Model Using iOS

and Android . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Krenar Huseini, Neshat Ajruli, and Agon Memeti

Does Social Media Close the Political Efficacy Gap to Participate

in Politics? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Hyesun Hwang

An Analysis on Digital Note-Taking Using Social Media in Japan . . . . . . . . 177

Toshikazu Iitaka

A Study to Understand Behavioral Influencers Related to Carpooling

in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Abhishek Jain and Sundar Krishnamurthy

A Study on Self-awareness Development by Logging and Gamification

of Daily Emotions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Jungyun Kim, Toshiki Takeuchi, Tomohiro Tanikawa, Takuji Narumi,
Hideaki Kuzuoka, and Michitaka Hirose

How Much Should I Pay? An Empirical Analysis on Monetary Prize

in TopCoder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Mostaan Lotfalian Saremi, Razieh Saremi,
and Denisse Martinez-Mejorado

Time to Log Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Catharina Muench, Lena Feulner, Ricardo Muench, and Astrid Carolus

Me Without My Smartphone? Never! Predictors of Willingness

for Smartphone Separation and Nomophobia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Ricardo Muench and Catharina Muench

User Attitudes Towards Facebook: Perception and Reassurance of Trust

(Estonian Case Study) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Triin Oper and Sonia Sousa

Problematic Use of the Internet - Using Machine Learning

in a Prevention Programme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Eryka Probierz and Adam Gałuszka

Influence of Ad Congruence and Social Cues on the Probability

of Choosing a Restaurant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Aline Simonetti, Shobhit Kakaria, and Enrique Bigné
xx Contents – Part III

The Framing Effect of Questions in Community Question-Answering Sites. . . 246

Qian Wu, Dion Hoe-Lian Goh, and Chei Sian Lee

Latent Profile Analysis of Generation Z and Millennials by Their

Smartphone Usage Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Yeon Ji Yang, Hyesun Hwang, Muzi Xiang, and Kee Ok Kim

Interacting with Cultural Heritage

Magical Pond: Exploring How Ambient and Tangible Art Can Promote
Social Interaction at Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Araceli Patricia Alcarraz Gomez, Ann-Charlott Beatrice Karlsen,
Bjørn Arild Lunde, and Susanne Koch Stigberg

Quantifying Museum Visitor Attention Using Bluetooth

Proximity Beacons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Jonathan D. L. Casano, Jenilyn L. Agapito, Abigail Moreno,
and Ma. Mercedes T. Rodrigo

The Museum Guidance System in Gamification Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

Zi-Ru Chen

Explore the Usability of the Cultural Museum Website – An Example

of Pazeh Cultural Museum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Hsiu Ching Laura Hsieh

Embodied Interaction for the Exploration of Image Collections in Mixed

Reality (MR) for Museums and Other Exhibition Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Kathrin Koebel and Doris Agotai

Participatory Management for Cultural Heritage: Social Media and Chinese

Urban Landscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
Xiaoxu Liang

Discussion on Aesthetic Design in Chinese Painting Based

on Cross-Cultural Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
Yuting Pan and Wei Yu

Towards the User Interface of Augmented Reality-Based Public Art . . . . . . . 317

Heehyeon Park and Gapyuel Seo

Displaying Art in Virtual Environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324

Tobias Piechota, Marcel Schmittchen, and Christopher Lentzsch

Experience Communication Design of Intangible Cultural Heritage

Shanghai Style Lacquerware Brand Based on H5 Game. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
Siqi Wang and Rongrong Fu
 Contents – Part III xxi

Human-Vehicle Interaction

Prevalence of Driving Schedule Habits and Fatigue Among Occupational

Heavy Truck Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
Junmin Du, Weiyu Sun, Xin Zhang, Huimin Hu, Yang Liu,
and Haoshu Gu

Facing Driver Frustration: Towards Real-Time In-Vehicle Frustration

Estimation Based on Video Streams of the Face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
Oliver Franz, Uwe Drewitz, and Klas Ihme

One of by Map - Two if by See: Implications of Dissonant Affordance

Structures in Human-Computer Interaction with especial Reference
to the Case of Driver-Automated Vehicle Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
P. A. Hancock and G. M. Hancock

Investigating User Needs for Trip Planning with Limited Availability

of Automated Driving Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
Tobias Hecht, Maximilian Sievers, and Klaus Bengler

Calculation and Validation of Driver’s Readiness for Regaining Control

from Autonomous Driving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Woojin Kim, Hyun Suk Kim, Seung-Jun Lee, and Daesub Yoon

Requirements for an Autonomous Taxi and a Resulting Interior Concept . . . . 374

Manuel Kipp, Ingrid Bubb, Johannes Schwiebacher,
Ferdinand Schockenhoff, Adrian Koenig, and Klaus Bengler

Impact of Visual Embodiment on Trust for a Self-driving Car Virtual

Agent: A Survey Study and Design Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
Clarisse Lawson-Guidigbe, Nicolas Louveton, Kahina Amokrane-Ferka,
Benoît LeBlanc, and Jean-Marc Andre

Improving the Detection of User Uncertainty in Automated Overtaking

Maneuvers by Combining Contextual, Physiological and Individualized
User Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
Alexander Trende, Franziska Hartwich, Cornelia Schmidt,
and Martin Fränzle

Theorization Human-Computer Interaction in the All-Digital Car:

Mediatized Driver Experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
Sarah Viktoria Christiane von Hören

“Light On”: A Voice Controlled Vehicle-Light System Based

on Translating Drives’ Voice into Computer Commands to Reduce
Operation Workload of Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
Yuan Yin

Design and Evaluation of an In-Vehicle Communication System. . . . . . . . . . 417

Xin Zhou
xxii Contents – Part III

Transport, Safety and Crisis Management

The Evolution of “GOJEK” as an Indonesian Urban Mobile Ride Hailing

Model Study Case: Public and Government Regulatory Responses
on Urban Mobile Ride Hailing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
Ajree D. Malawani, Salahudin Salahudin, Zuly Qodir,
Mohammad Jafar Loilatu, and Achmad Nurmandi

Aid Demand Aggregation Using Technology During Disaster Relief . . . . . . . 439

Charmie Kapoor, Divyanka Kapoor, Nishu Lahoti,
and Trevor Cobb Storm

Flow-Based ROS2 Programming Environment for Control Drone . . . . . . . . . 449

Kay Okada and Eiichi Hayakawa

Research on Safety Risk Management Programme, Procedures

and Standards in Aircraft Design and Manufacture Organizations Based
on Multi-management Systems Integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454
Mei Rong, Ying Liu, and Weihua Jiang

Using Block-Based Programming and Sunburst Branching to Plan

and Generate Crisis Training Simulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
Dashley K. Rouwendal van Schijndel, Audun Stolpe, and Jo E. Hannay

Development of Simple and Inexpensive Pedestrian Simulator in General

Traffic Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472
Taisei Sasaki and Mitsuhiko Karashima

Implementation of a Learning Assistance Framework for Prolonged

Evacuation Life in an Era of Massive Natural Disasters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480
Satoshi Togawa, Akiko Kondo, and Kazuhide Kanenishi

System Safety, Risk Management, and Human Performance Improvement . . . 486

Hiroshi Ujita and Naoko Matsuo

Efficient Exploration of Long Data Series: A Data Event-driven

HMI Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495
Bertram Wortelen, Viviane Herdel, Oliver Pfeiffer,
Marie-Christin Harre, Marcel Saager, and Mathias Lanezki

Construction of Airlines Safety Subculture Based on Human

Factor Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504
Yuan Zhang, Yanqiu Chen, and Mingliang Chen

Security, Privacy and Trust

Blockchain Technology: A Bibliometric Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513

Duaa Bukhari
 Contents – Part III xxiii

Effects of Recipient Information and Urgency Cues on Phishing Detection . . . 520

Xinyue Cui, Yan Ge, Weina Qu, and Kan Zhang

Evaluating Multiple Approaches to Impact Trust Formation:

Labeling, Design, and Support Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526
Benjamin Ewerz and Peter Moertl

LINE Based Learning System for IT Security Practices Through

Intrinsic Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534
Yukio Ishihara and Makio Ishihara

Co-occurrence Based Security Event Analysis and Visualization for Cyber

Physical Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540
HyungKwan Kim, Seungoh Choi, Jeong-Han Yun, Byung-Gil Min,
and Hyoung Chun Kim

The Right to Privacy in Socio-Technical Smart Home Settings:

Privacy Risks in Multi-Stakeholder Environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
Marina Konrad, Sabine Koch-Sonneborn, and Christopher Lentzsch

Imitation-Resistant Passive Authentication Interface for Stroke-Based

Touch Screen Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558
Masashi Kudo and Hayato Yamana

Emergence of Human-Centric Information Security – Towards

an Integrated Research Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566
Bin Mai

Neither Do I Want to Accept, nor Decline; Is There an Alternative? . . . . . . . 573

Nurul Momen and Sven Bock

Improving the Training Materials of Information Security Based

on Cybersecurity Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581
Satoshi Ozaki

Cyber Trust in the Norwegian Online Flea Market: An Ethnographic Study

on Fraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589
Yushan Pan

Attention! Designing a Target Group-Oriented Risk

Communication Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597
Lara Raffel, Patrick Bours, and Sashidharan Komandur

Understanding the Impact of Service Trials on Privacy Disclosure. . . . . . . . . 605

Yayoi Suganuma, Jun Narita, Masakatsu Nishigaki, and Tetsushi Ohki

PISA: A Privacy Impact Self-assessment App Using Personas to Relate

App Behavior to Risks to Smartphone Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613
Ludwig Toresson, Maher Shaker, Sebastian Olars, and Lothar Fritsch
xxiv Contents – Part III

Human Error in Information Security: Exploring the Role of Interruptions

and Multitasking in Action Slips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622
Craig Williams, Helen M. Hodgetts, Candice Morey, Bill Macken,
Dylan M. Jones, Qiyuan Zhang, and Phillip L. Morgan

A Study on Biometric Authentication and Liveness Detection Using Finger

Elastic Deformation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630
Yu Yoshitani and Nobuyuki Nishiuchi

Product and Service Design

A Study on Oral Health Care System Designing for the Middle-Aged Based
on SAPAD-PCA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639
Shanshan Chen and Yajun Li

Consumers’ Digital Capability and Demand for Intelligent Products

and Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654
Seonglim Lee, Jaehye Suk, Hee Ra Ha, Yue Huang, and YuanZhou Deng

Product Innovation Redesign Method Based on Kansei Engineering

and Customer Personality Type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
Yihui Li, Meiyu Zhou, and Xiaohan Wu

An Evaluation Model of Commercial Ring Designs from Cognitive

and Emotional Aspects Based on the Quantification Theory I . . . . . . . . . . . . 671
Ting Liu and Jian Shi

Designing a New Interactive Outdoor Light Installation for a Recreational

Urban Trail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 680
Marthe Victoria Paulsen, Anja Holter Gigernes,
and Susanne Koch Stigberg

Study on the External Ear Size of Chinese Minors for Product Design. . . . . . 685
Linghua Ran, He Zhao, and Zhongting Wang

Impression Estimation Model for Clothing Patterns Using Neural

Style Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689
Natsuki Sunda, Kensuke Tobitani, Iori Tani, Yusuke Tani,
Noriko Nagata, and Nobufumi Morita

Design Aid of 3D Wire Art Using 3D Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 698

Satoshi Tsuda, Yuta Muraki, and Ken-ichi Kobori

Research on Design of Shared Bicycle Service System Based

on Kansei Engineering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 704
Zhengyu Wang, Meiyu Zhou, Zhengyu Shi, and Jiayi Lian
 Contents – Part III xxv

A Comparative Study on the Preference Model of Users and Designers

for Scissors Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 714
Xiaohan Wu, Meiyu Zhou, and Yihui Li

Extracting Kansei Evaluation Index Using Time Series Text Data:

Examining Universality and Temporality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 722
Runa Yamada, Sho Hashimoto, and Noriko Nagata

Behavioral Research and Service Innovation of Cinema Viewers in China . . . 730

Xiaofang Yuan and Qiujie Jiang

Interactively Solving the Takeout Delivery Problem Based on Customer

Satisfaction and Operation Cost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 738
Liuyang Zhang and Wenzhu Liao

Author Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747

Universal Access, Accessibility
and Design for the Elderly
 Brain-Computer Interaction and Silent
Speech Recognition on Decentralized
Messaging Applications

Luı́s Arteiro(B) , Fábio Lourenço, Paula Escudeiro, and Carlos Ferreira

Polytechnic of Porto - School of Engineering (ISEP), 4200-072 Porto, Portugal

{1150625,1150434,pmo,cgf}@isep.ipp.com

Abstract. Peer-to-peer communication has increasingly gained preva-

lence in people’s daily lives, with its widespread adoption being catal-
ysed by technological advances. Although there have been strides for the
inclusion of disabled individuals to ease communication between peers,
people who suffer hand/arm impairments have scarce support in regular
mainstream applications to efficiently communicate privately with other
individuals. Additionally, as centralized systems have come into scrutiny
regarding privacy and security, development of alternative, decentralized
solutions has increased, a movement pioneered by Bitcoin that culmi-
nated on the blockchain technology and its variants.
Within the inclusivity paradigm, this paper aims to showcase an alter-
native on human-computer interaction with support for the aforemen-
tioned individuals, through the use of an electroencephalography headset
and electromyography surface electrodes, for application navigation and
text input purposes respectively. Users of the application are inserted
in a decentralized system that is designed for secure communication
and exchange of data between peers that are both resilient to tamper-
ing attacks and central points of failure, with no long-term restrictions
regarding scalability prospects. Therefore, being composed of a silent
speech and brain-computer interface, users can communicate with other
peers, regardless of disability status, with no physical contact with the
device. Users utilize a specific user interface design that supports such
interaction, doing so securely on a decentralized network that is based
on a distributed hash table for better lookup, insert and deletion of data
performance. This project is still in early stages of development, having
successfully been developed a functional prototype on a closed, testing
environment.

Keywords: Brain-computer interface · Silent speech recognition ·

Peer-to-peer communication · Decentralization · Distributed hash table

1 Introduction
With the advent of messaging applications, there is an apparent lack of sup-
port for disabled individuals to communicate on these platforms and use such
c Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
C. Stephanidis and M. Antona (Eds.): HCII 2020, CCIS 1226, pp. 3–11, 2020.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50732-9_1
4 L. Arteiro et al.

applications to interact efficiently with other people. There has been significant
progress addressing such issues mainly through electroencephalography (EEG)
sensors capable of recording brain activity that, powered by machine learning,
can translate it into actions [6]. Similarly, electromyography (EMG) electrodes
can measure activity from muscle responsible for speech, enabling silent speech
recognition (SSR) [11], that can be used for private and silent text input into
the application.
Additionally, privacy and security of data within centralized systems have
been under the spotlight, especially on mobile applications [2], contributing to
the rise of the development of alternative, decentralized solutions have increased,
a movement first created by Bitcoin [8] that effectively stapled blockchain as a
growing technology. The latter has shown tremendous potential and applicability
on a wide range of scenarios, boosted by the introduction of smart contracts by
Ethereum [13], going beyond currency exchange. These assets allow trustless,
secure, peer-to-peer value transfer that can easily be applied to the messaging
paradigm, thus allowing immutable, secure messaging between nodes. The surge
of this technology paved the way for variants that maintain blockchain’s main
advantages but change their scope. These have set a precedent and strides for
decentralization across many fields [10].

2 Related Work

Regarding brain-computer interfaces (BCI) using non-invasive EEG, research

projects have emerged allowing users to control virtual keyboards and mouses,
empowering individuals with motor disabilities in their interaction with com-
puters. Regarding app’s navigation using this approach, there are experiments
on cursor movement that allow a user to move it by a BCI. Tests with differ-
ent approaches within movements for one or two dimensions showed an accu-
racy of approximately 70% [5]. A similar project utilizes a hybrid near-infrared
spectroscopy-electroencephalography technique trying to extract four different
types of brain signals, decoding them into direction symbols, namely, “forward”,
“backward”, “left”, and “right”. The classification accuracy for “left” and “right”
commands was 94.7%, for “forward” was 80.2% and 83.6% for “backward” [6].
Later in this document, it will be shown that our system uses a similar approach
for the set of commands used for navigation in the platform.
Since this project concerns a messaging platform, text input is a key feature
that must offer support for the target audience - disabled subjects. Experiments
have been made using EEG to input text using virtual keyboards, allowing a
user to make binary decisions and iteratively splitting a keyboard in half until
one letter remains, having a spelling rate of about 0.5 char/min [1]. Another
approach, which instead of doing binary choices, allows the selection of one
between six hexagons, enabling the input of about 7 chars/min [12]. Although
input speed is not the central focus of these projects, it must be user-friendly for
instant messaging to be conceivable. Yet another studied approach to allow text
input was through a silent speech interface (SSI), which also enables input by
 Synthetic Telepathy on Decentralized Messaging Application 5

people with speech impairments (e.g. laryngectomy). Researches on this field still
have a high word error rate (WER), as some have achieved around 50% WER
for their SSR attempt, using a vocabulary of 108 words through the EMG-UKA
corpus [11]. Another group proposed another solution, using the same corpus,
attaining around 30% char accuracy [9]. Studies for this approach do not yield
satisfactory results for a wide-range vocabulary, although appearing to be more
promising when compared to EEG-based interfaces.
Regarding messaging platforms and their dedicated backend, there have
been attempts to develop decentralized messaging applications that aim to
address many issues present in centralized applications that are usually per-
ceived as secure (e.g. Telegram) and allow decentralized authoritative messag-
ing [7]. Applications that follow the classic blockchain approach towards the
messaging panorama include Adamant, which showcases an example of a fully
anonymous, private and secure messaging between peers. Relying on its own
token that is used for each transaction, such application relies on having no per-
sonal or sensitive data being extracted from the user [4]. A decentralized solution
which follows a distributed hash table (DHT) approach is Jami, where the DHT
is used to locate peer addresses and establish peer-to-peer connection without
any personal sensitive data associated, with undelivered messages being stored
locally.

3 Our Solution
The proposed solution encompasses a new approach to the interaction of an
application that partakes in a decentralized ecosystem that is user-centric, with
high throughput and maintaining a bottom-line of privacy of data and message
exchange. It envisions a way for people with arm/hand to be able to communicate
with anyone. It is, therefore, divided into two distinctive counterparts: human-
machine interaction, through BCI and SSI, and decentralized communication
between peers. This is further outlined in Fig. 1.

3.1 Human-Machine Interaction

Aiming towards a hands-free controlled application with text input through
silent speech, this project proposes a synthetic telepathy-based solution to mes-
saging. It allows individuals with arm motor disabilities to interact with the
platform and also creates a multitude of use cases for people without these limi-
tations (e.g. privacy and mitigation of background noises when using speech-to-
text features in public; multitasking while navigating with mental commands).

Brain-Computer Interface. For the BCI component in this project, Emotiv

EPOC+ is being used for EEG recordings and the Emotiv BCI software for train-
ing and classification of the data gathered from the user. This device and related
software are of great advantage since it accelerates the overall project develop-
ment considering it already has predefined mental commands for a subject to
6 L. Arteiro et al.

Fig. 1. Overall conceptual view of the platform, outlining the interaction between the
user and interface, as well as showcasing the decentralized system where the user is
inserted into (DLT - Distributed Ledger Technology), outlining the different compo-
nents that make up the backend.

train, which can be applied for the user interface (UI) navigation. Considering
the UI must be accessible and intuitive for both users with or without impair-
ments, a new design idea had to emerge to accomplish these goals. Thus, besides
from regular click/tap to interact, the user can also navigate through different
chat rooms using four different commands, “pull”, “push”, “left”, and “right”.
Simulating a three-dimensional space, the “pull” and “push” commands pull
closer to and push away from the user view, respectively (see Fig. 2), and the
remaining “left” and “right” commands are used to slide through a carousel-type
view with each chat room, always fixing a chat room in the middle, until the user
pulls the one selected (see Fig. 3). Furthermore, more commands may be added
for others minor tasks, or these already implemented commands can correspond
to multiple actions depending on the state of the application or feature that is
being used.

Silent Speech Interface. Regarding SSI, it is being used the aforementioned

EMG-UKA corpus for implementation and testing of the system in its early
stages. Approaches for this system are still being studied, and the first experi-
ments are being conducted on a session-dependent model attempting to classify
phones (speech sounds) from EMG data. Further developments will allow users
to input full words into the system. In order to reach a broader audience and
using the exiting corpus, the system is tailored for the English language.
 Synthetic Telepathy on Decentralized Messaging Application 7

Fig. 2. “Pull” and “push” commands Fig. 3. The user can slide right or left
effect the UI, allowing the user to enter and navigate through his/her chatrooms
and leave chatrooms. through “right” and “left” mental com-
mands.

3.2 Decentralized Backend

As it was aforementioned, individuals who make use of the platform, whether
these suffer from any impairment or not, will partake in a decentralized ecosys-
tem that is intended to provide secure peer-to-peer communication with data
integrity. The system is agent-centric, meaning each user runs a copy of the
backend, have their own identity and their private and public shared data. Being
on the same encrypted peer-to-peer network entails each user can communicate
with each other directly to maintain its integrity. Having each peer hold the
same application bundle with the respective logic, it is possible to verify other
peer’s transactions and data created. Each data has proof of authorship (i.e. a
signature). Since every data is recorded and validated by the peers within the
system, it is tamper-resistant - this showcases data integrity.
Data resilience is also important in any messaging platform. That is, data
must not get lost when users go offline. To address this issue, each piece of public
data is witnessed, validated according to the system’s logic that is present in
every user and stored by a random selection of peers. This makes it that the
community and cooperating parties detect invalid data, gossip such evidence of
harmful agents and take action to deal with malice data/users. This is a synonym
to peer data replication and data validation.
The system shares similarities with Jami in a way that it is based on a
distributed hash table (DHT). This table, contrary to blockchain-based applica-
tions, is not replicated in each node. To attain a higher transactions per second
(TPS), throughput and lookup, each peer stores a segment of the table. This
DHT is where the data resides and, in cases where users go offline, is stored to
later be retrieved by the recipient. The implementation of this table is based on
top of the Holochain framework, allowing for easier data replication and vali-
dation between peers. As more users join in the network, more computational
8 L. Arteiro et al.

power is contributed to the environment and data replication is more redundant,

allowing the system to scale as more users partake within the system.

User Record. Each user has their own chain signed with their rightful private
key. This chain can be thought of as a record of all the messages/data the user
has produced and exchanged within the app and is stored on their own device.
Each individual has their own digital identifier using the public/private key pair
cryptographic method. The combination of these two keys is imperative for the
user online identity and for communication with other peers. The public key is
shared with other participants. Each user proves authorship of their data through
digital signatures stemming from their private key. Any tampering is promptly
detected by simply using the correspondent public key to verify the signature. If
such validation fails, the data is considered invalid and this finding is gossiped
and broadcasted to the rest of the network. The distributed hash table is where
all public data resides in. The word “public” is used very loosely. Every entry
is hashed so as to make it untraceable so it is not necessarily public as in it is
available for everyone to see. Each and every entry that resides within the DHT
are essentially user chain entries that are merely marked as public.

Validation and Direct Peer-To-Peer Communication. The security, state

and integrity of the whole system is maintained by logic that is hard-coded
and bundled in every node. Data integrity is ruled by these rules which, in
turn, uphold the security of the system. All data, whether it is in the user
private chain or in the public DHT, is validated according to these rules. Normal
messaging occurs when two users are online and is made through direct peer-to-
peer connection in an end-to-end encrypted channel by resolving each agent’s IP
address. This method only works when both peers are online. To circumvent this,
private messages are encrypted using the recipient’s public key and published to
the DHT, to later be retrieved by the recipient when they are back online.
Most of these networking protocols and distributed computing scenarios are
handled by the Holochain framework, from which the architecture is based from.
Not only it resolves many concerns regarding encryption but also allows for inter-
operatibility with other systems that take part within the Holochain network.

4 Preliminary Evaluation

As this is a work-in-progress and with no tangible results yet yielded, it is possible

to define an assessment strategy for it. BCI evaluation process will consist of
usability tests performed by hand/arm impaired individuals to gather feedback
on how the platform improves the user’s communication and overall navigation
compared with similar apps. Prior to testing, the subjects ought to train the
BCI headset and tailor it to their mental activity for the model to recognize the
commands from a specific user. Afterwards, subjects will be asked to perform
a planned set of actions that entails navigating in the platform and interact
 Synthetic Telepathy on Decentralized Messaging Application 9

with it. Lastly, a survey will be conducted following the System Usability Scale
[3], with 10 items answered in a degree of agreement or disagreement with each
statement on typical five-level Likert scale. For SSI, the datasets used for each
model created will be divided into smaller training and testing sets, allowing to
evaluate their accuracy, aiming to obtain the lowest WER possible.
The Holochain framework provides support for both unit and functional tests.
These are useful to provide a measurement of code coverage and respective reli-
ability. End-to-end tests will ultimately leverage a way to measure performance
as the solution scales. The throughput is tracked as the number of users grows
and its consistency is assessed. Early results have showcased successful data cre-
ation on the public DHT on a small number of users (five) with a step duration
of 1000 ms, where the period is halved at every stage. In this, the stress test is
conducted indefinitely and increases pace at every stage. Additionally, a small
increase of throughput was noticed when more users joined the network, from
two peers to five. These experiments have not shown any sensible traces of data
corruption nor delay, although more tests on a higher scale are be needed to
form more conclusive results.

5 Conclusion
This project mitigates communication barriers between subjects with or without
hand/arm impairments and allows the inclusion of everyone into a single messag-
ing system, using a new strategy to this type of platform, applying a synthetic
telepathy approach for the interaction with it. Additionally, if the project pro-
duces positive results, the range of applicability for both BCI and SSI approaches
can extend beyond the messaging paradigm.
The system that was outlined showcases a new proposal on the decentralized
messaging platform, either from human-machine interaction standpoint or the
distributed ecosystem counterpart. Following an user-centric approach towards
the problem, utilizing a DHT with ad hoc peer consensus instead of data repli-
cation in its entirety with global consensus is more adequate to the messag-
ing panorama. These design choices have a direct effect on performance and
throughput of the system: more TPS can occur whilst the exchange of data
is still secure, private and resilient against tampering attacks. This essentially
means that scalability does not pose as a problem on a long-term perspective,
unlike many solutions that are based on the classic blockchain concept.

6 Future Work
With the drafted architecture and design choices, there is still room for improve-
ment for future project prospects so as to be providable to a broader audience
and maintain a performance bottom line. On the human-machine interface coun-
terpart, for the BCI component, other commands can be mapped and used by
the platform, giving the user more options for navigation and control over the
application, for a wider set of features, but keeping the interaction as intuitive
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
to be a reflection of Mohammed, who suggested that pilgrimages
should be used for purposes of trade, invited people to become
Mussulmans for political reasons, and not only winked at the making
of converts by threats and terrorism, but laid this down as one of the
essential means for spreading the religion. It is not sufficient to call
such a system politico-religious, for it not only includes matters of
public expediency in the religious idea, but it also sanctifies
considerations of expediency that are purely personal. Yet there is
one thing that the missionary in such a land as Persia cannot too
fully realise; and that is that he is dealing with people who are not in
the least ashamed of doubleness of motive. In their view, two
purposes are better than one; and when it has been proved that
their purposes are worldly, it has still to be considered whether there
is not an unworldly purpose as well.
Men frequently come to enquire about Christianity, drawn by what
seems to us a strange mixture of motives. They naturally enough put
their more spiritual purposes first, for they realise that these are
most appreciated by those to whom they talk, and they also consider
that things like this ought to have a theoretical priority. Temporal
needs are, however, much more pressing, and these have just as
much claim to be satisfied by a new religion. Of course such a
position is likely to be fruitful, not only of the gravest difficulties, but
also of the most lamentable misunderstandings.
It will be readily understood that a system like this can easily be
made to cover ideas which appear inconsistent, and as a matter of
fact, it is very difficult to define some of the notions which Persian
Shiahs hold to a point of fanaticism. For instance, there is room for
considerable difference of opinion as to how far the Yezdi regards
the foreigner as unclean. The Mohammedan is taught to regard as
unclean the eating of certain kinds of food, contact with certain
animals, and also contact with the persons of people who have not
been ceremonially cleansed. There seem, however, to be degrees of
uncleanness. Mohammed in one verse of the Quran declared the
food of the Christians and Jews, as well as all food that had been
properly prepared by a Mussulman, to be lawful; but we cannot
suppose that he regarded these different classes of food as equally
clean. Bigoted Persians sometimes ignore this permission of their
prophet’s, and declare that it refers only to dry food prepared by
Jews or Christians; but in this they are not consistent, for they eat
dry food prepared by pagans also.
The truth is that the attitude of the Persian towards the infidel is
not altogether decided by Mohammed’s direct teaching, but to a very
large extent it is based upon an elementary human feeling which can
be found in almost every country under the sun. Most people in
England have a physical shrinking from undue contact with other
persons. We do not care to drink out of a cup that other people have
used, until it has been washed; we should, very few of us, care to
take alternate bites at an apple with somebody else, and most
Englishmen have a very similar objection to kissing. We are much
less particular about contact with the hand, though here also we feel
that a line has got to be drawn somewhere. Within the family we are
less particular. Of course in connection with these things there is in
England a great deal of talk about infection and the laws of hygiene,
but the instinct exists apart from any notion of hygiene at all. Now in
Persia you have got to remember that everything takes a religious
colour, and this has tended to slightly modify the natural instinct,
breaking down the wall of reserve within the boundaries of Islam,
and giving the feeling the colour of a religious prejudice when
applied to the outside world. Of course there are hundreds of Yezdi
Mussulmans who will eat freely with a European without the
slightest scruple, and a still larger number who do not allow their
scruples to make any practical difference: at the same time people
who wish to get into close touch with the natives should remember
that the feeling of nijāsat, or ceremonial uncleanness, is a somewhat
complex one, and that it will be more easy to overcome it if a certain
discretion is observed. Persians eating the food of a European are on
the look out for anything which is strange and peculiar, and if such
peculiarities are observed they naturally feel more strongly the
difference between themselves and their host. This not only renders
them less approachable, but it also makes them much more shy of
adopting Christian ideas, and in the case of enquirers, who, as I
have said before, find it very difficult to understand that our customs
are not all regulated by religion, a feeling may grow up that the
state of Christianity is not possible to a native Persian.
As this book is not about Mohammedanism but about the Yezdi, I
have perhaps devoted as much space to the religion of Islam in Yezd
as is warranted by my choice of subject matter. At the same time
there is no doubt that I have left out a great deal that might have
been said, even without going into those details of doctrine and
practice which it has been my intention to avoid. I have tried to give
some idea of what Islam means to ordinary people in an ordinary
Persian town, and I have had to dwell rather more at length on
points where there was danger of misconception either through too
precise a study of the accurate doctrines of Islam, or through a too
superficial view of the result. In doing this I fear that I may have
passed over too rapidly the more familiar aspects of the religion, the
intense excitement of the spectators and actors at the Muharram
games, the mourning for Hasan and Husain, the frenzied fanaticism
of the mob after a rousing sermon at the mosques, and the close
adherence of many Mussulmans to washing and prayers. This is one
side of Shiah Islam, but as it is better known I have attempted to
give the other. I cannot, however, leave the subject without
reminding those who have to do with Persians of two most
important things; first, that there is a real spiritual seeking amongst
Mussulmans, and that the presence of worldly motives does not
preclude it; secondly, that there is real enthusiasm for their religion
in spite of latitudinarian ideas. To the Mussulman, as has been
before stated, the system of Islam is everything, and he clings to it
as dearly as to life itself, for it represents to him every habit that he
has formed, and its cause is the cause of every motive that he
acknowledges to be possible.
The religious ceremonies which in Persia arouse the greatest enthusiasm and
fervour are essentially Shiah. The yearly miracle play in the month of Muharram
depicts the death of the Imam Husain, son of Ali and Fātima, and grandson of
Mohammed. This is the occasion of the most violent exhibitions of emotion on the
part of both players and spectators. Men lash their naked bodies with chains in an
ecstasy of frenzy, and the whole crowd bursts into groans and tears of grief.
Feeling runs so high, and becomes so unmanageable on these occasions, that the
secular authorities have tried to keep the performances out of the larger towns.
But the atmosphere which is created is not by any means anti-foreign in a general
sense. The Imam Husain was done to death by his co-religionists, and tradition
reports that a Ferangi ambassador interceded with Yazīd for the martyr’s life. This
ambassador appears in the play, and Persians often try to borrow an English
saddle for his horse from the European residents. At the performance at the big
village of Taft, which is near Yezd, I think the ambassador was often dressed as a
modern Englishman, but I cannot vouch for this. At Yezd itself, the miracle play
was not acted; but the carrying of the Nakhl, a ceremony supposed to be fraught
with the same kind of danger, took place yearly. The Nakhl is a huge wooden
erection hung on one side with daggers, and on the other side with looking-
glasses. There are several Nakhls in Yezd, and two are very large. This custom
also is connected with the death of the Shiah martyrs. The Nakhl is supposed to
be moved from its place in the square by the miraculous agency of Fatima; but a
good many people take it on themselves to assist her. Lastly, there is a night set
apart for the burning of Omar, the usurping Khalif, and the carrying of the effigy
through the town is the occasion of extreme excitement. One cannot help being
strongly reminded of Guy Fawkes’ day in England. Omar, it must be remembered,
is a Sunni saint.

CARRYING THE NAKHL IN THE BIG SQUARE IN YEZD.

 CHAPTER V
Character of the Yezdi—Systematised inconsistency—Loyalty to
causes and individuals—Unreliability of evidence—Shame—
Humour—Disregard of time—Language—Lack of initiative—
Courage—The Yezdi soldier—Etiquette and manners—Triviality
—Pride—Kindliness and cruelty—Dishonesty—Difficulty in
obtaining anything—Tendency to fatalism—Latent strength of
Persian character—Family ties—The Jus Paternum—Religious
liberty—Open-handedness—Summary.

If it were not absolutely essential to the purpose of a book like

this that there should be a more or less detailed analysis of the
character of the Yezdi, I should certainly shirk making such an
analysis. The Yezdi’s faults are numerous, glaring, and interesting.
His virtues are not only fewer, but there is much less to be said
about them. In the concrete man, these virtues show fairly
prominently, the vices have their peculiar humour, and the whole is
not unlovable. On paper, while discussing the different points of the
Yezdi’s character one by one, it will be almost impossible to convey
the general effect made by the entire human being.
When one first becomes acquainted with the Yezdi, one is inclined
to regard him as so inconsistent in matters of morals as to be utterly
devoid of all principle, bad or good. There is the same uncertainty
about his actions that there is about the fall of an unloaded die. But
just as the fall of the die is regulated by the law of averages, so the
actions of the Yezdi are more or less consciously decided by what
can only be termed systematised inconsistency, a kind of law of
balance which seems to him to possess the merit of a principle.
When he has done a certain number of good actions, which it must
be confessed is frequently the case, then it is time for him to do
some bad ones; and vice versâ, when he has done enough bad
ones, he comes back for a time to good ones. This is partially the
result of the theory of savabs; and the painful thing about it is that it
makes moral trustworthiness impossible. If a man holds this
pernicious theory as it was sketched in a previous chapter, then the
more he has done right in the past the more he will feel justified in
doing wrong in the future; and this in Yezd is no mere nightmare,
but the literal fact. A good many of the Yezdis are frequently fair and
straight in their dealings, but I do not know a single Mussulman
among them, with regard to whom it would be fairly safe to depend
on his doing the right thing on any particular occasion simply
because he knew it to be right. There are men whose ordinary
habits are fairly good, but to a man who considers that derelictions
of duty can be absolutely paid for by past or future acts of merit not
necessarily involving very much trouble, the temptation to yield to
slightly increased pressure is very strong, and is likely to frequently
overcome the bias of habit.
On the other hand, Persians have very strong notions of loyalty
both to causes and to individuals. Nothing has brought this out more
than the history of the Babi movement, which has certainly exhibited
the strength of Persian character. Boys and young men have in this
movement willingly undergone the most terrible tortures in the
service of their spiritual teachers and the common cause. It ought to
be understood that the motives of the Babi martyr are not quite the
same as those which have generally influenced the Christians who
have died for their faith. The Christian martyrs have generally died
rather than do some act which they felt to be sinful, or leave undone
something which they regarded as essential. A large number of the
Babi martyrs on the other hand have died because they chose not to
deny their faith, which according to their tenets was perfectly
permissible to do. Now I know of at least one man, a Persian of high
position, who was killed as a Babi, but who would have preferred
embracing Christianity. What was his connection with Babiism I
cannot say: he would, I believe, have embraced Christianity had it
not been that he shrank from a religion where a direct denial of
one’s faith must always be accounted sinful. Whatever he was, he
certainly did not shrink from making his divergence from orthodox
Islam dangerously plain, and in this way he met his death. My
purpose in mentioning the fact is to show that it is most difficult to
induce a Mussulman to accept a very hard and fast line. Of course
the story is only an illustration and does not prove the point,
because there must have been other considerations which made
Babiism, or a degree of unorthodoxy which passed for Babiism,
easier to such a man than Christianity. It is not necessary to suppose
that he was only influenced by a dislike to unbending rules; for the
inability to ever deny his faith might have exposed him to petty
insults, which would have been to him worse than death. Also his
position as a Christian would have been, humanly speaking, a more
solitary one. Still, when all has been said, I am convinced that the
constitutional dislike to a hard and fast rule played at least some
part in bringing the man to his decision, and also that this dislike is
more pronounced in the Mussulman Yezdi than in the Yezdi Parsi.
A Persian who attaches himself to an individual will often prove
himself very trustworthy in all matters affecting that individual’s
interest; and generally speaking, attachment to a European would
be likely to produce a more dependable loyalty than attachment to
another Persian. The feeling that a European friend would always
himself act in a certain manner frequently leads a Persian to try and
act in the same way towards him. I remember a Persian servant
once replying to my wife, who had expostulated with him on the
subject of some egregious falsehood that he had just told in the
bazaars, “Of course, Khanum, I don’t tell lies to you, for you don’t
like it; but these people expect me to lie, and one couldn’t tell the
truth to them.”
Perhaps one might go further, and say that the Yezdi Mussulman
frequently questions the virtue of keeping to an abstract principle,
particularly when by abandoning it one might do a good turn to a
friend. Impartiality is a thing which he absolutely fails to understand:
indeed he considers it simply another name for disloyalty, and here it
is probable that most other Easterns would agree with him.
 It is impossible to treat the inconsistency of Yezdi Mussulmans as
simple weakness. It is rather the absence of such principles as
Westerns generally possess than the inability to keep to them; and
indeed it is often the result of other principles of a peculiar kind,
diametrically opposed to those to which we are accustomed. The
Yezdis are a free-handed folk, and they despise a man who does not
spend freely. They like to appear to live up to their incomes, and I
think that some of them have a feeling of the same kind about their
debit and credit account with their Creator. Also we must not forget
that Persian inconsistency is not always a deviation towards wrong,
but equally often a deviation towards right. Though in Persia it is
never well to trust to a man’s character, it is always advisable to
appeal to high principles, even when dealing with apparently the
most abandoned. While we were in Yezd we were brought into
contact with three men in high position, whose names it is not
necessary to mention, but whom I would put down as the three
worst prominent men in Yezd. The first was an aristocratic official,
the second a cleric, and the third an official and a nouveau riche.
Now each of these three at some time or other made himself
conspicuous by conduct that one was bound to commend and
approve. It is impossible to always analyse motives, but in at least
one case the action seemed to have been due to nothing but a
disinterested and unselfish impulse. In the other cases it is more
probable that expediency, or a conscious intention of paying for sins
by savabs, entered into the matter.
To trace this peculiarity of the Yezdi’s character to its source is not
easy. Sometimes it appears to be a species of hedging, for it is very
difficult to find out the truth in Persia, and a general disbelief in
everything may have led the Persian to feel that it is unsafe to stake
his all on one theory of the universe. The amount of lying that is
done in a town like Yezd baffles description. An Englishman when in
doubt tells the truth. A Persian when in doubt tells a lie. This would
be more tolerable were it not that a Persian is always in doubt. In
Yezd security is a thing unknown, and telling lies becomes part of
the instinct of self-preservation. Then again the lies are of a new
kind. Lies in England are generally told to deceive people in some
particular; in Yezd they are just as frequently told in order to make
the very search for truth impossible. When I have had to examine
into cases of petty theft amongst schoolboys, I have found that to
get at the truth is an almost superhuman task. English boys, if they
do not tell the truth, will at least tell as few falsehoods as possible, if
for no other reason, to avoid being found out. Persian boys will not
only lie on the subject they wish to conceal, but they will tell as
many untruths as they can cram into the story, so as to render any
attempt at investigation futile. Of course you know that they are
lying, but, as they never imagine that you will suspect them of
telling the truth, they are not much deterred.
The result of this practice is that in the Yezd bazaars, taking
together all statements, even the most trivial, that are made by
Mussulmans, probably not less than one-third of the speeches made
are falsehoods. I do not think that the Persian beggar ever expects
to be believed. A woman once came to the house, asking for a quilt
because she had none, and her son was ill. To have no quilt, that is,
to have no bed-clothes, is by no means an unbelievable state of
poverty, and there is no doubt that the woman expected to have her
words taken literally. It transpired that her son was quite well, but
was taking sanctuary to avoid being molested for a debt. The
woman had a perfectly possible quilt, but it was old and patched.
She actually brought it to us the next morning, not to prove that
after all they were very poor, but to show that in saying she had
none she had spoken the truth. Another woman once told me in the
street, that she had six orphan children and her husband was sick.
In a country like this it is not surprising that evidence is at a
discount, and that there are intelligent people absolutely convinced
that truth is unknowable. A man who is accustomed to act upon this
theory in the ordinary affairs of life, is naturally inclined to apply the
same principle to whatever religion or philosophy he possesses. So
we get men who are unwilling to stake everything on anything in
particular. If they have previously assumed that it is most
advantageous to do what is right, then it is well to perform just a
few actions on the assumption that it is more advantageous to do
wrong. If they have hitherto acted on the principle that it is better to
do what is wrong, then it is well not to put all their eggs into that
basket either. And indeed I am inclined to think that many of the
Yezdis would apply the same philosophy to their non-ethical ideas. If
they have based most of their opinions on the assumption that
something is true, it is well to base others on the assumption that
the same thing is false. This, of course, sounds to us mere
nonsense, but once grant with many of the Yezdis that evidence is
valueless, and truth absolutely unknowable, and it at once becomes
an approximation to sense.
It is quite possible that some of my readers may ask whether this
last attempt to explain the inconsistency of the Yezdis is to be taken
seriously. To say that I do not know is rather a weak confession, but
at the same time it is true. I certainly do not pin my faith to it, yet it
seems to be the way in which the bewildering topsy-turvydom of
Persia is working. Never forget that the jokes of W. S. Gilbert are the
facts of Persia. For instance, in an isolated place like Yezd, the laws
of supply and demand operate so peculiarly that the ordinary custom
of discount on quantity is inverted; you will be able to get things
usually sold at three for a penny at perhaps thirty for a shilling.
There was a governor in Yezd, certainly not more than twenty years
ago, who had men bastinadoed for walking in the bazaars without
treading down the heels of their slippers. In such a country it is very
difficult to say what is in itself ridiculous and impossible. One can
only judge from evidence, which is, I think, in favour of the theory I
have just suggested as a possible explanation of undoubted facts. At
the same time the unreliability of the Yezdi is probably due to several
causes, and there is one of these causes about which one may
speak with less uncertainty. This is the piecemeal appreciation of
ideas and circumstances, which I have already mentioned as the
result of the impression made on the Yezdi’s mind by the isolated
objects which continually surround him, and which is probably
heightened by a religion which was constructed under circumstances
very similar to those of the Persian deserts.
 Shame is the feeling of vexation consequent upon the
consciousness of having fallen below an accepted standard of
conduct, and where such a standard is not to be found, shame does
not exist. Consequently the Yezdi, who has only the faintest idea of a
moral standard that ought to govern his whole life, is not susceptible
to shame in this particular. He has, however, a rather stronger idea
of a general standard of intelligence up to which he ought to live, so
it is often a greater deterrent to him to point out that a certain
action will be regarded as ignorant or silly than to show that it is less
moral than his ordinary behaviour. He also possesses a very keen
appreciation of what he considers to be the ethical proprieties of a
particular occasion. We must remember that what he lacks in
breadth of view he makes up for in power of concentration on the
comparatively small field of ideas that can come simultaneously
within the range of his mental vision. For example, when European
missionaries have been in vain attempting to simplify a most
abstruse and metaphysical doctrine by spreading it over several easy
steps, they sometimes find that the Persian mind, though it utterly
fails to grasp the simpler train of reasoning, can without any
assistance take in the more difficult idea, so long as it is expressed
with sufficient brevity. In the same way the Yezdi, who seems to
have little or no sense of the proprieties of a lifetime, will have an
appreciation of what is right and fitting on a particular occasion
stronger than that of the European. This is what makes him so
dignified at times and seasons, and so undignified in his life.
Although his sense of propriety does not always work, where it does
work it is so far from being weak that to violate it seems to give him
a sensation that is near akin to physical pain. You cannot make a
Yezdi apologise: if he has done an injury, he is quite content to
ignore it, or to assert that it has not taken place, which is the
ordinary substitute for an apology in Persia: but the man’s sense of
shame is too great to allow him to confess to such an action before
the man he has wronged. He has no objection to the man knowing
what has happened; but at the interview his denial must be
accepted or the injury ignored. This is the only way in which he can
submit to the meeting.
 The Yezdi has not a very fine sense of humour, but he is easily
amused. Perhaps it is worth while to instance an occasion which
occurred during our stay in Yezd when the natives seemed really
tickled. A certain Russian doctor resident in the town, who had not a
very complete and accurate knowledge of Persian, wanted to use
bad language to his servant, who had in some way offended him. As
he knew no suitable expressions he seized the dictionary and kept
looking them out one after another, and hurled them at the
unfortunate man’s head as fast as this process would permit. This
story was retailed with very great appreciation by some of the better
class natives. I rather think it seemed to them very much more
funny than it does to us, and this for two reasons. Persians have a
great respect for literature, including dictionaries, and they would
hardly understand their being frivolously handled; also they are very
particular in adapting their language to the occasion, and it would
strike them as the height of absurdity to abuse a servant in book
language, as the doctor must have done, unless indeed the Russian
publication he consulted contained real specimens of colloquial
abuse, which would have struck the Persians as even more funny.
The story of Mulla Nāsiru’d Dīn and his mule is a very fair instance
of Persian humour at its best. The Mulla, who was a notorious wit,
had sent a mule to the market-place where such beasts were sold.
People were suspicious owing to the Mulla’s reputation, but nobody
supposed that he would let himself down by sending an unsaleable
animal to the bazaars. So first of all someone examined its forelegs,
and got badly pawed; then someone went to its hind-legs and got
kicked; next they looked at its mouth and got bitten; finally they
tried to put saddle-bags on to its back, and it threw them off
immediately. Consequently when the Mulla strolled down everyone
laughed at him, and asked him if he really expected anybody to buy
it. “No, my friends,” said the Mulla, “I never expected any of you to
buy it; but I wanted you to know what I have to put up with at
home.”
One of the things that is most difficult for a European to tolerate
in a Yezdi is his extraordinary disregard of time. It is not only that he
does not care how long he takes over a thing, one might tell story
after story on this point, but this is a malady common in the East.
What I was not prepared for was that he should have no idea what
time means. In Persia a clergyman’s work consists more of seeing
people in his own house, and less of visiting; but the great difficulty
in receiving visitors is that, if one wants to see parties separately, a
single reception is all one can satisfactorily arrange in an afternoon.
This is what happens. Two parties send to ask when they can see
you, and you reply by asking when it will be convenient for them to
come. Both messengers state with the most absolute politeness that
it makes no difference to their masters when you say, and that they
wish you to choose the time. If you are wise you will tell one party
to come two hours after noon, and the other to come at one hour to
sunset, which, supposing the sun to be setting at six, will be five
o’clock. They will both acquiesce, but you will have to be ready to
receive the party due at two at one o’clock, and you must not
consider them late if they arrive at three. Similarly you will prepare
for the second party at four, and not consider them late before six.
But the probabilities are that both parties will arrive at four, the
favourite visiting hour, having both decided on that time before
sending to ask you.[5]
Another great difficulty is the Persian language. Persian is a pretty
language with an extremely large vocabulary. What is more, every
class of Yezdi, that is, of the men, uses a very large number of
words. For all this it is almost impossible to accurately define an
idea, for the language largely consists of synonyms, which cannot be
used indiscriminately, but must be carefully selected according to the
occasion. Some of these synonyms really possess accurate
meanings, but if you choose your word according to the sense you
wish to convey, you talk bad Persian. To give an illustration of this,
suppose in dealing with the Incarnation you desired to bring out the
Christian doctrine that God is not only the Friend of man but also his
close Companion. I am quite certain that in ordinary Yezdi Persian
there is no sufficiently appropriate term for “companion,” that could
be applied to God in such a way as to bring out your meaning,
without exposing you to a charge of irreverence. As a matter of fact
I once tried to convey this idea in a Persian sermon, and was met
with this difficulty. I afterwards tried to get three or four native
Christians, one of whom was a teacher of Persian, to suggest a
possible word, but the only expression they could propose was the
word I had used.
The words one uses in a letter in Persian, even for the commonest
objects, are almost entirely distinct from the words one uses
conversationally, and the words which one would use in an ordinary
prose history book are again different. Then it is almost impossible
to distinguish the tenses; the true future is hardly ever used,
consequently the present and the future are indistinguishable; and
the preterite is frequently used of action which was begun in the
past but which is still continuing. Lastly, the adjective is generally
indistinguishable from the substantive, and the link between an
adjective and the term which it qualifies is the same as the sign of
the genitive. For instance the text, “This is My beloved Son,” may be
read in the Persian Bible, “This is the son of My beloved” without the
slightest violence to the grammar; nor, indeed, is there any obvious
way out of the difficulty. I have mentioned these peculiarities of
language because I think they are greatly connected with the Yezdi’s
inaccuracy of ideas, though which is the cause and which is the
effect is sometimes difficult to say.
There is no situation in which the Yezdi is so incalculable as that
which seems to demand a certain amount of daring. Sometimes the
people seem absolutely wanting in the power of taking the initiative,
and expect to be directed like children. They have an aversion to
killing animals except for food, even when there is danger to human
life in allowing them to live. One day an English lady asked why a
dangerous dog which had bitten several people was not killed. The
answer was, “If you tell us to kill it we will do so, but not otherwise.”
The fact is no one minded killing the dog, but they fancied the curse
might lie with the initiator of the movement. They will go on letting
things be, or allowing them to get more and more dangerous, until
they have accustomed themselves to an amount of risk to incur
which would be accounted by a European mere foolhardiness. In this
they are largely influenced by predestinarian notions. An English lady
was one day standing by an open tank in a Persian compound, into
which one of the children had fallen that morning, and she remarked
on its extreme danger. “Yes,” said the mother, “I have lost three
children in that tank.” To build a small wall round such a tank would
be in Persia exceedingly easy. Perhaps the little power of initiative
that is left them by their predestinarianism is destroyed by the
insecurity of the country. People get in the way of making as few
improvements as possible, and of never exposing their capital more
than they can help. In fraudulent business, however, there is a great
deal of audacity, sometimes combined with a good deal of ingenuity.
They are exporting at present to China a quality of so-called opium
in which there is absolutely no morphia. The stuff is really an entirely
different substance, and very cheap, and it is tied up in bags
steeped in a solution of opium. It is, I believe, more harmful to
smoke than the real article.
Passive courage the Yezdi possesses to a very high degree, but he
must have a cause for which he cares sufficiently, if this courage is
to be called out. If the terrible Babi massacres that have taken place
from time to time in Persia have proved nothing else, they have at
least shown that there is grit somewhere in Persian character. The
way in which mere lads in Yezd went to their death in that ghastly
summer of 1903 was wonderful. There was one boy whom they tried
very hard to spare, for sometimes the mob were moved by
something akin to pity. They took him to the mujtahid first, and told
him to recant, and he would not. Then they took him to the open
square, and held him up to give him one more chance, if he would
curse the Behāu’llah and the Behāīs. “The curse be on yourselves,”
was all he said; and then they tore him in pieces. The early Babis
showed good fighting qualities in the north of Persia, as well as
passive courage, and, as they were chiefly townsmen, we may
presume that there are military possibilities in the Persian people,
even amongst those who dwell in cities. But to look for military
feeling in the kind of soldier that we get in Yezd is not fair. He is, I
believe, collected by a sort of conscription from certain localities.
When collected he is taught about as much of the ordinary elements
of drill as is considered necessary in England for the national
schoolboy. He is also assigned a wage of a toman a month, which if
punctually paid would be insufficient to cover anything but the
barest food expenses. This mistake is, however, generally remedied
by his superior officers, who usually intercept so much of his wages
that he is bound to look for other means of support. In this he is not
discouraged. If he has a little ready cash he usually sets up as a
money-lender, his official position and possession of a bayonet
assisting him to collect his debts. Otherwise he steals shoes, or takes
up some other similar form of employment which does not demand
an extensive capital; sometimes he even makes shoes. Once a year
he is supposed to be supplied with a uniform, but, though the
uniforms are probably not worth more than a few shillings, they are
very seldom regularly supplied. He is, however, free to add to his
uniform as well as to his pay, and at certain times of the year there
is very little left of the original outfit except an old cap with a metal
badge, and possibly a belt. When on sentry duty he amuses himself
by planting a small garden, four inches by two, in front of his
station, and he keeps a heap of rose-heads to press into the hands
of passers-by on the chance of extracting odd halfpence.
During the latter days of the Babi massacres, a guard of four men,
a sergeant and three privates, was placed at the doors of the
European houses by the Governor. Every soldier came to us with a
thing that looked like a gun and certainly had a bayonet attached to
it; but we heard that at one house it became necessary to send
down an extra weapon which would shoot for the common use of
the party. Of course the gun that would shoot was withdrawn at the
earliest possible opportunity. The higher officers of this extraordinary
force are surprisingly numerous, but as there are among them, I
believe, boys of about twelve who hold the title of Field-Marshal,
there is some excuse for a reduplication of officers. It is only justice
to add that some of these soldiers are in their way very good
fellows: the guard sent to our house were by no means a bad lot;
and I shortly afterwards met a military officer whom I would class
with the best Persians I know.
Nor does the courage of Persia come out very strongly in the high
official class, though here too there are honourable exceptions. Still,
as a general rule, amongst those who claim nobility there is very
little apprehension of the maxim “noblesse oblige.”
Of course there is in Yezdi manners and customs much that strikes
the outsider as intensely funny. For instance, the etiquette is
distinctly peculiar, and although very ceremonious, it does not
always appear to the European to be characterised by great
politeness. When you come into the room the first two minutes will
be spent in phrases intended to convey an exaggerated
respectfulness. In upper middle-class houses your host will take
upon himself the menial offices of service, not only making your tea
himself, but going out of the room every two minutes to supplement
the crockery, or to fetch another lump of sugar. If you have a
servant with you, your host or his other visitors will discourse freely
with this man before your face as to your most trivial personal
affairs, and if there is a pause in the conversation they will make
side remarks to one another on the number of your virtues, and
when they have discovered a certain consensus of opinion, they will
turn to you and give you the benefit of it directly, by telling you that
you are a very good man. From this you must not infer that Persian
friendliness is hollow: all that can be said is that the etiquette is
artificial. Even so it means something; for when a man is anxious to
pay you proper respect he adheres to it closely, unless he has reason
to suppose that you would like him to adopt something of European
manners, which some Persians dealing with Europeans try to do.
However the etiquette is too elaborate and artificial for universal
use, and generally speaking it is not much used except in matters
relating to visits and to letter-writing. On other occasions Persians
who have no intention of impoliteness are often a little off-hand as
compared with other Easterns, and those who intend to be rude find
plenty of opportunities for being so.
 There is, I suppose, between the Persian and the European a
difference of opinion as to what constitutes puerility. One of the
Governors of Yezd once boasted to an English resident that it was no
good trying to hide things from him, as he knew what every
European in the town had for dinner. Then there is the custom of
making absolutely worthless presents with the most superb
empressement. Once when I was in a big village near Yezd with my
wife and baby and mirza, a woman whom my wife knew came in,
and after greeting us presented us with four very crumpled lettuce
leaves, selecting the leaves according to her ideas of our exact
precedence with the utmost care and circumspection, and having in
the whole transaction very much the air of a maiden aunt giving a
tip to a schoolboy. Nor must it be supposed that these customs only
obtain amongst the women. A European banker once told me that if
one of his brokers gave him anything, the others always followed his
example; and that once at the bank one of them presented him with
a rose-head, the second at once plunged his hand into his pocket
and produced an old sweet, the third fumbled among his treasures,
and at last found something which looked like a lump of gum. He
could not quite remember what the fourth presentation was, but he
fancied it was another sweet. Sometimes, particularly in Parsi
houses, presents of this sort will be elaborately handed about,
somewhat after the fashion of a round game, everybody giving
something to everybody, and finishing with exactly the same amount
as they had at the beginning. This game, however, is generally
played on a special occasion, and the presents of fruit and sprigs of
myrtle have a certain symbolical significance which gives grace and
dignity to the performance. Of course the interchange of presents
which although trifling have a positive value is one of the most
striking features of the social intercourse of Persia. This is a custom
which needs to be understood, and which soon degenerates into
extravagance, but essentially it is a good custom. A higher value is
always placed on what are called saughāts or travellers’ presents,
and Europeans either travelling or residing in Persia should
remember that a certain number of these will be expected of them.
When a Persian has done you a real civility, he feels that to a certain
extent he has introduced you to his home, and any little European
thing which you may give him he takes as a graceful introduction to
your separate life, and he values it from this point of view much
more than would be otherwise possible. The custom, however, has
its drawbacks; for it is the fashion in Persia always to present
anything which a visitor has admired, and this becomes a peculiarly
hollow piece of etiquette. Occasionally big Persians in dealing with
inferiors use this custom as a means of enriching themselves, but
this of course is exceptional.
When all has been said I think that we must admit that for some
reason or other the Persian is willing to expend his energies upon
things which seem to us to be absolute trifles. This was curiously
illustrated on one occasion by one of the Yezdi gentlemen who is
supposed to have advanced most in civilisation and culture. I was
calling at his house at the time, and he handed me a most elaborate
atlas with charts and diagrams illustrating all sorts of out-of-the-way
things. Some of these I did not feel myself competent to explain, but
everything that I could explain he understood at once, and he had
obviously before my arrival discovered the meaning of many of the
diagrams. We passed on from this to discuss several of the great
inventions of the age, including wireless telegraphy. In everything he
showed a most intelligent interest, and great quickness of
perception. Finally, he produced a photograph of a man who had
been shown at an exhibition, I think at Paris. The man had an
enormous beard, some twelve feet long. My Persian friend made no
difference at all in his manner, but discussed this peculiar
phenomenon in exactly the same way. I cannot remember all the
details of this interview, or the exact amount of smile which my host
allowed himself when we were discussing the photograph, but I
have attempted to faithfully convey the general impression left on
me by his manner. I think I am right in saying that it all points to the
fact that the great difference between Persia and Europe is that the
Persian tends to take things piecemeal, and the European to regard
ideas in their relation to others. At the same time this is not always
at once obvious. A European is firmly convinced of the value of
scientific knowledge, and will decorate a man who has discovered all
that is to be discovered about a black beetle. Here the Persian will
laugh at the European, as he also will when the European rewards
highly extreme excellence in the practical trivialities of life. But it is
obvious that these exceptions are more apparent than real. The
Persian is like a man who has got a pair of glasses that give him a
very clear view of a very small field of vision. He does not view
things absolutely piecemeal, but he generally regards only a very
small area at a time. A man who picks up shells with an idea of
adding to the general store of human knowledge is to him an
imbecile; but he is only willing to pay the same attention to an
invention like Marconi’s that he would to an improved hair-wash. The
consequence is that the Yezdi very soon adapts himself superficially
to circumstances, and it is very easy to veneer him, but he does not
easily assimilate fresh principles of action. In dealing with Persians it
is well to realise this, and not to build too much on their adaptability.
A Persian visitor, when he is behaving according to strict etiquette,
depreciates not only himself but all his belongings. It has been
suggested that the admiration which is frequently expressed for
foreign customs and ideas is really due to this etiquette, and
similarly that the belittling of Persia as a country that has gone to
pieces is due to the same cause. This suggestion is, I believe,
entirely incorrect. A Yezdi will belittle himself, his house, his
relations, and the country of Persia, because he regards the first
three as purely personal, and does not care the least bit about the
fourth; but if he belittles his town, his etiquette, or the foundations
of his creed, he will make it very plain that he expects you to
understand that he simply does it out of civility. There is one thing
that a Yezdi puts before everything, and that is the water-supply of
his town. I personally got on very well with the Yezdis, although I
had to own that I did not admire Mohammed or his religion. But
another European, who openly stated that he did not approve of
their water, succeeded in absolutely alienating their affections. These
exceptions show that Yezdis are willing to exhibit their pride in what
they really love. They are also very proud of their literature, their
language, and their intelligence. As a matter of fact, considering
their extreme ignorance, they are not a conceited people, and their
willingness to adopt foreign things more or less points to the same
conclusion. Some of them, and these are generally the most
ignorant, are insufferably conceited, but as a rule their comparative
freedom from this vice makes them peculiarly likeable.
The nearest approach to a moral principle that I can find amongst
the Persians is their commendation of simple acts of kindness. As I
have before mentioned the idea of savabs covers many actions
which have no ethical point, and it fails to cover in the Persian mind
many actions of a moral character where the benefit is not at once
apparent. But Yezdis are brought up to admire simple and direct acts
of kindness, and to enjoy doing them. Generally speaking, they are
very good-natured, and in nothing is this so obvious as in their
conduct towards children. Of course cases of gross cruelty to
children come to one’s notice occasionally, but they are after all the
exception and not the rule, and the children are more often spoilt by
weak indulgence. The Yezdi’s conduct towards animals very well
illustrates his character. I believe that there is less wanton cruelty,
particularly towards wild animals, than you would find in a European
town. On the other hand, the cruelty towards working beasts is
beyond description, there being in this case an ulterior object. Again,
the dogs in the street, which are more or less under the ban of the
Mussulman religion, are treated in the most extraordinary way. They
are made the recipients of little acts of good-natured kindness,
perhaps under the impression that a savab, even to a dog, cannot
do any harm, perhaps because a Yezdi is often better than his ideas.
They are also treated on occasions with the most fearful cruelty, and
the cruelty in this case has no point but the satisfaction of a religious
prejudice. This is, after all, exactly the way in which the Yezdi
Mussulman treats the human being whom he considers unclean. He
has alternative principles which he chooses according to his mood
and circumstances. Sometimes the prejudice against killing animals
gives rise to very great cruelty. It is generally considered a sin to kill
an animal except in self defence or for food, but you may do
anything to it short of extinguishing life with your own hand.
To sum up, in the case of offences against the person Yezdis have
an inkling of an ethical principle, which is frequently at issue with the
more explicit teaching of their religion. This seems to me to be one
of the most hopeful points in Persian character, and one which the
missionary ought to most carefully study, trying to make it in many
cases the basis of his appeals. But we have to beware of trading too
much upon this very rudimentary principle. When we come to
offences against property, we shall find it applied much less
frequently, and working with much less force. There is no inclination
to honesty in a Mussulman’s character to correspond with the
inclination to kindly action. If you want to find anything of this kind
you must go to the Parsis. On the contrary, there is nothing that
gives the Yezdi Mussulman such intense satisfaction as the feeling
that he has scored by his wits. He would much rather steal one kran
than earn two by the same expenditure of effort. A certain amount
of dishonesty is recognised, and is not in any way resented. The
servants, for instance, expect to make a certain profit upon all
transactions. The extent of their profit is by custom left entirely to
the conscience of the servant, but everybody would confess that
taking more than a certain amount was wrong. You will frequently
catch less trustworthy servants trying to make over fifty per cent.,
and sometimes over a hundred. As to the morality of this custom
when the lowest possible percentage is drawn I can only say that I
am not wholly convinced, as it appears to me that servants who are
trying to live a straight life never ask for it to be sanctioned, and
sometimes certainly give it up, at any rate in its direct form. But the
point is that wages are generally arranged on a scale that allows for
a man taking very much more than the minimum percentage. Nor is
this sort of allowance for dishonesty only made in servants’ wages.
One day the cook of one of the Europeans went to the bazaars for
meat, and after the usual haggling the price was fixed at twelve
krans a man’ (thirteen pounds), “But,” said the cook, “you have got
your thumb on the scale.” “And do you think,” retorted the butcher,
“that I am going to give you meat at twelve krans a man’, unless I
keep my thumb on the scale?” This shows you something of Persian
business principles, and indeed trickery is regarded by all Persians as
part of the ordinary routine of life. Our servant once asked the
milkman if he could sell us some cream, and the man replied quite
gravely, “No, if I take off the cream they will complain of the milk.”
He obviously thought that the natural way to supply us with cream
would be to skim the milk he sold us.
Passing to the merchant class the opium trade affords a good
instance of the most barefaced type of wholesale fraud. Indeed, the
fraud of a Persian town is beyond conception. We had a neighbour in
Yezd who was considered a fairly respectable man, and whose sole
business was the forging of seals. But the fact is that every class,
from the highest to the lowest, is thoroughly permeated by the
leaven of dishonesty.
There is so little security for property in Persia that men do not
consider it worth their while to amass wealth by ordinary means.
Everybody in a town like Yezd is trying to effect a coup, either a big
one or a small one, and one of the results is the most extraordinarily
rapid shifting of social positions. In Persia the road from beggary to
princedom is a very short one, and the road from princedom to
beggary is not very lengthy; only in this return journey it is
somewhat difficult to prevent being assassinated, for when a big
man is disgraced his life is in extreme danger.
This inattention to ordinary and petty business enterprise has
curious results. When I first went to Yezd I found it almost an
impossibility to get the things I wanted from the bazaars. The
European has to deal with the bazaar through his servants, and it
took my men about three days to get the commonest articles other
than necessary provisions. Articles which I knew would need a little
hunting for were sometimes, if I insisted, procured within the month.
This is absolutely without exaggeration; and, although I believe I
was unfortunate, other residents and travellers in Persia have
confessed to similar difficulties. You may go into a town where the
chief occupation is weaving, and declare that you want some of the
woven articles which it is their principal business to make, and it is
very possible that you may be unable to procure them, or only able
to get the most inferior specimens, if you are passing through
quickly. This is rather less true of the larger places on the main
roads, like Tehran and Isfahan, but in towns like Yezd there is the
greatest difficulty in getting what you want.
In an emergency it is frequently almost impossible for a European
to get what is needed, if the things required are not such as he has
been accustomed to buy at other times. To offer rather more than
the price one usually gives is not of much use, and frequently has
the very reverse effect to what is intended; for the seller in such a
case may decide to forego the profits of legitimate trading for the
chances of effecting a coup. But the real difficulty is rather that the
retail trading of Yezd is totally devoid of ordinary enterprise. When
the trader moves out of the ordinary rut of his every-day commerce
he prefers to be fraudulent. In his customary business the shop-
keeper makes a fair profit, and although his dealings may not be
very extensive, there is always the chance of something really good
coming his way. Meanwhile he has a position very much more
dignified than that of the English shop-keeper. In Yezd the seller, not
the buyer, is the conferrer of the benefit, and so far as the relation is
concerned, the superior. When he sells very small quantities, he
often charges less than the usual price. When he sells large
quantities, he frequently charges something extra. Europeans in an
ordinary way have not much difficulty in getting regular supplies
when they become well known, though they have to pay more for
them than the natives do. An Armenian also has to pay more than a
Yezdi, but less than a European. I am inclined to think that the
poorer natives suffer from the difficulty of procuring on emergencies
things which they do not ordinarily buy quite as much as ourselves,
though probably the richer Persians have more facilities. This is just
one specimen of the inertia of Yezd. In matters of transport one is
even more in the hands of other people. It is extremely difficult to
find transport at less than three days’ notice, and one can seldom
get off on a journey within two hours of the time arranged. During
the journey there is the same difficulty in controlling affairs. Under
such circumstances people naturally get a tendency towards
fatalism, and undue persistence even gets to be regarded as a sin.
Probably this has some effect on the religious conceptions of the
people, for, if a man who sticks to his point is not to be admired, it is
difficult to understand why we should consider unchangeableness of
purpose a necessary attribute of the Deity. Whatever may be the
orthodox doctrine of Islam upon the subject, there is no doubt that
the Yezdi fails utterly to understand why there should be any
persistence or consistency in the view taken by the Deity of human
sin, for the Yezdi himself would hardly feel justified as a father, or
person in authority, in taking a similar firm stand. One of the
consequences of this doctrine is that weakness is hardly accounted a
sin at all. I remember two conversations with Babi mullas in which
this came out very forcibly. They tried to argue that taqīya, that is,
the custom of denying one’s faith under the stress of danger, was
sanctioned in the gospels by the story of Peter’s denial. I have also
found other Persians who have disputed the sinfulness of Peter’s
action, on the ground that he was the victim of compulsion. But the
most curious suggestion with regard to the defensibility of weak
conduct was made by another party of Babi mullas, who considered
that the difference between the forbearance of Christ towards His
enemies and the impatience exhibited by Mohammed was fully
accounted for by the respective lengths of their ministries.
One finds the marks of this want of persistence everywhere. I
have seldom seen a tombstone in Yezd that has been finished
accurately, and there is scarcely a building that has not got a rough,
unfinished corner. Similarly every one who has seen a Persian carpet
knows that the design is almost always broken in at least one place.
I suppose the prima facie conclusion is that the Yezdi is the
weakest of weak beings, but I am very doubtful whether this
conclusion is true. Repose and weakness are two different things,
and although we seldom find the Yezdi putting out his strength, the
condition of the country is hardly such as to rouse him. Certainly in
the sphere of morals the Yezdi’s religion gives him very little
inducement to a consistent life. “The Light That lighteth every man
that cometh into the world” is not wanting in Persia. Sometimes it
makes Mussulmans superior to their creed, but, if I may be allowed
to express an opinion, I think this Light operates more in calling men
out of Islam than in guiding them in it.[6] I should hesitate to make
a similar statement about the Parsis. It is not my intention to discuss
Zoroastrianism at length, but although it is a religion without a
gospel, almost all the essential ideas about God, and right and
wrong, and the bases of human action are undoubtedly true so far
as they go.
If one wants to know whether the Yezdi Mussulman is strong or
weak, one must examine his conduct when he is sure of his cause. I
think he is worthy of some praise for the self-restraint he habitually
shows when he is conforming to the by no means easy restrictions
of an established and elaborate etiquette. But, as I have previously
said, the thing which has opened people’s eyes to the enormous
strength of Persian character under partially favourable moral
conditions, is the way in which the Babis have exposed themselves
to martyrdom, and have stood firm to their beliefs and cause under
tortures too horrible for description. It has been mentioned that,
although Yezdis, while they remain Mussulmans, do not show any
great enthusiasm for a distinction between right and wrong, they still
possess the greatest powers of loyalty both to causes and to
individuals. In their affection for those for whom they care they are
anything but weak, and when they really attach themselves to
Christianity and realise the personal presence of Christ, they develop
an unexpected strength of character. We must, however, beware of
expecting an utter change of constitution to take place at the time of
conversion.
A Yezdi’s personal attachments do not run so closely along the
lines of duty and relationship as might be expected by people
coming to Persia from other Eastern countries. The family tie is not
always a very strong one, though it is sometimes exceedingly strong.
Perhaps one reason for this is the extreme looseness of matrimonial
relations. A Shiah may have four regular and permanent wives.
When he marries, a settlement is made on the woman, who may be
divorced at any time if he cares to pay the settlement. The woman
may also divorce her husband, if she cares to forfeit the settlement,
that is if she is sufficiently mistress of her own movements to be
able to make the necessary arrangements. There is no limit to the
number of divorces and re-marriages, so long as no man possesses
at any time more than four wives. Besides these he may have as
many temporary wives as he likes. It is true that these wives are
theoretically only slaves, but this, after all, is simply a legal quibble.
They can be married either for a few days or for a few years. Babis
may only have one wife, and divorce is discouraged, though
amongst the less respectable Babis in Yezd divorce is as common as
anywhere. Some of the more respectable Mussulmans in Yezd
openly profess a belief that monogamy is the more respectable
state, and among the better Yezdi merchants it is very common.
Girls are sometimes married extremely young, for instance at nine or
ten, but there is a growing feeling that to marry a very young child is
not altogether respectable, and some of the better class merchants
prefer not to let their girls be married before fourteen. Of course this
is an unsatisfactory state of things, but one must not fly to the
conclusion that there is no affection in Persian marriages. One of the
missionaries had a lad of about eighteen in his employment, and
there had been talk of a marriage between him and a child of ten or
twelve. Going home one evening for his night off, he found that he
had landed in the middle of his own marriage ceremony, which took
place that night. He was a good-natured lad, fond of children, and
the little wife was devoted to him and was terribly distressed at his
not coming home the next night, for she had got everything ready
for him, and would not believe he was not coming. When one of the
ladies from the missionary’s house went to call on her some days
after she came very close up and whispered that she wanted her
husband to come home every night.
 The women of the highest official class are kept very close in
Yezd, perhaps only going out once in six months, except to the bath;
but the merchants’ wives have considerably more liberty, and the
commoner women go about freely. Sometimes there is a great deal
of real affection in the home, at other times exceedingly little,
especially when there is more than one wife, and sometimes there is
the grossest cruelty. The fact is that Persians are led by impulse in
these matters. They are very slightly constrained by any feeling of
principle. As a class perhaps the old mothers are the worst treated,
and an old woman generally prefers going to her daughter rather
than to her son. One of the richest merchants in Yezd had an old
mother who was very ill, and he refused even to buy a chicken to
make the broth the doctor had ordered. At last a favourite black
slave wheedled one out of him, and made the broth for the old
woman. Slaves in Persia are very valuable and are generally well
treated. On the other hand, another well-known merchant and
landowner, whose old mother-in-law was very ill, thought nothing
too good for her; he insisted on her having all she wanted promptly,
and came himself to her room at least once a day to enquire after
her health. The same man took a personal interest in seeing that
every provision was made for the comfort of his old cook when she
was past work, and the general tone of the household was one of
affection and consideration. Another big merchant, whose old
mother had fallen off a roof, showed the very greatest solicitude for
her comfort in every possible way, spending hours with her, and
himself lifting her most carefully. At the same time the old women as
a class are not well treated, and in the better class houses it is often
difficult to distinguish them from the servants. The poorer classes
are generally no better. I remember that at one time my wife was
trying to explain to one of my servants’ wives what ingratitude
meant. The woman was very fond of her children, so my wife asked,
“Would you not think it very ungrateful, if, when you were old and
poor, your boy refused to do anything for you?” “No,” she said, “of
course that is what I expect. Our boys are always like that. We only
say, ‘It is the will of God.’” Several women present joined in the
laugh at my wife’s ignorance.
 Of course a great deal of cruelty goes on in the less respectable
Persian households, and the use of poison is not uncommon. It
should be explained that in Persia people who are not even
professedly respectable are to be found in every class, and in a
commercial town like Yezd status goes largely by wealth, and carries
with it no obligation to keep up even a superficial reputation. The
organisation of the household is very largely outside the operation of
the ordinary law. I do not know what is the exact legal limit of the
jus paternum, but I am quite sure that it is very difficult to bring to
book the head of a household for murdering any member of his
family. Also in the case of a member of the family leaving Islam, the
matter would probably be primarily left to the head of the
household, although if the case was flagrant the matter might also
be taken up by outsiders. It is very necessary to understand this
when discussing the possibility of religious liberty in Persia. Religious
liberty, proclaimed by a firman of the Shah, would not have the
enormous value which is sometimes supposed. Indeed it would be
almost entirely without immediate value, unless the Persian
government were considerably strengthened, and a limitation put on
the jus paternum. A decision by leading mujtahids that it was
expedient to give such liberty either to the individual or to the family,
would probably have more immediate effect, but, even were such a
thing possible, it would be difficult to say how long such a decision
would remain unchanged if advantage was really taken of it, and the
precedent of the decision would on the whole be rather a bad one.
Another conceivable form of religious liberty is that the right of
making converts from Islam should be secured by treaty to the
European missionary. This, however, would not put a stop to the
persecution of converts. There is so much injustice that is done in
Persia as a matter of course, that it would be very difficult to prove
that Persian subjects who were converts had been interfered with for
religious reasons. One of the difficulties that missionaries experience
at present, is that converts are always bringing forward instances of
injustice which they themselves believe to be due to their profession
of Christianity, whereas the missionary, who has considerable doubts
on the subject, is often afraid of calling down real persecution by
using his influence on their behalf.
The subject of religious liberty is a very difficult one, and although
some people feel that an extension of treaty rights would be a good
thing, and others, that a firman of the Shah giving religious liberty to
his subjects would help the growth of sound and civilised ideas in his
domain, there can be no doubt that the primary want is strong and
good government. I have tried in this chapter not to discuss the
government of Persia more than is absolutely necessary. It is of
course far from perfect. At the same time, during my stay in Yezd,
the governors of the town, and notably the Jalālu’d Daula, showed
great friendliness to the whole European colony, and great fairness
in their attitude towards the mission. The strengthening of the
Persian government is a clear gain to the missionary, and seeing that
strong government without religious liberty could certainly do for us
infinitely more than religious liberty without strong government, I
personally feel that the strengthening of the Persian government,
central and local, is at present the main desideratum. At the same
time, with God all things are possible, and I should hesitate to press
this view on other people.
One or two instances of the lengths to which crime can go in
Persian houses without arousing much notice from the authorities
might be recorded. There was in Yezd one man who stabbed his
own child in its mother’s arms, and remained absolutely unpunished.
He was still flagrantly ill-treating his wife and children while we were
in the town. In the Isfahan district, a man murdered his child-wife by
pouring paraffin over her and lighting it. The child died in the Julfa
hospital. If any punishment was inflicted it was a very light one.
There was another woman in Yezd dangerously stabbed by her son-
in-law, but as she did not die, even her family took very little notice
of the matter. These are a few typical specimens of the way in which
the family is allowed to manage, or mismanage, its own affairs.
 SQUARE OUTSIDE GOVERNOR’S RESIDENCE IN YEZD.

Generally speaking, Yezdis are open-handed. They have not the

least shame about begging, and will show the greatest meanness in
money-getting, but this does not prevent their being themselves
generous at times. The fact is, that they regard beggary as a
bargain; one man gets a coin, and the other a savab. They accept
kindnesses of any sort in this manner, and consider that they give as
good as they get, particularly if they are Seyids; but for all this, they
are frequently ready to take the other side in the game. Probably not
less than ten per cent of the population are professional beggars,
and as they do not starve, we may conclude that a great deal of
money is given away. But the open-handedness of the Yezdi takes
other forms besides the mere giving of money to those who ask for
it. He spends money freely upon his own pleasures: considering his
poverty he lives well: this is true of all classes: finally, he really
enjoys showing hospitality.
There is in Persian hospitality a great deal more than the
observance of etiquette. Even the inquisitiveness of the Yezdi is a
kind of attempt to get into real touch with his guest. In a word, he is
essentially human. Most Europeans who have lived in Persia find it
rather difficult to explain why they like the people. In the Yezdi there
is certainly much to lament, but there is something to admire, and
very much more to like. A people who are open-handed, good-
natured, affectionate, not always extravagantly conceited, and above
all, intensely human, are a people one cannot help getting to like
when one lives among them for any time. At the same time, their
inquisitiveness, unpunctuality, intense dishonesty, frequent
ingratitude, and absolute want of principle in everything, are, to say
the least of it, very trying. As to their exact position in the scale of
civilisation, my personal opinion of them greatly changed after living
through the Babi massacre of 1903. To find men, and women too,
who had been to a certain extent influenced by contact with Western
ideas and standards, and who prided themselves on representing
the section of Persian Society most advanced in civilisation and
refinement, openly gloating over horrors that would pollute these
pages if I were to write them, seemed to us to be an indication of a
more radical difficulty than was evidenced by the horrors
themselves. At the same time, the behaviour of the Babis under
persecution was sufficient to convince any one that there is plenty of
strength in the Persian character, if only it can be called out.
My conclusion is that it is unfair to the Yezdi’s character to in any
way depreciate the evil effects of the circumstances among which he
lives. His want of principle, his ferocity, and other similar points in his
character can most of them be traced to a religious system which
was forced upon him by the sword; for we must remember that he is
four-fifths a Parsi, and only one-fifth an Arab. The good points in his
character are much less easy to trace to his religion. He is not
indisposed to reform, a fact which is proved by the success of the
Babi movement, the possibilities of which have been discussed
already.
Under these circumstances one can hardly imagine a country
where the call to Christian missionary work was so peremptory, both
because of the need and because of the peculiar opening afforded.
Missionary work must, of course, be based rather upon the direct
commandment of the Saviour than upon human judgment. However,
there is no doubt that God sometimes accentuates His written
commands by placing peculiar circumstances before our eyes, and I
cannot conceive places appealing more strongly to the intelligent
student of the missionary field than these isolated towns of Persia,
one of which I have attempted to describe.
 CHAPTER VI
Difficulties in dealing with enquirers—Language—Argument—
Parabolic interpretation—Distrust of evidence—Ignorance—
Attachment to Islam as representing whole scheme of life—
The problem of converts—Industrial missions—Employment
by missionaries—Helpful points—Readiness for religious
discussion—Quickness in grasping single points—Yezdi wants
distinctive and systematic teaching—And a concrete example
—Difficulties in accepting converts—Tests.

From what has been previously said it will be understood that

from the missionary point of view there are, when dealing with the
Persian, certain peculiar difficulties, and also certain things which
tend to make missionary work more easy. We have to deal with a
people whose fundamental notions of God and of His dealings with
men are absolutely different from our own. I am not now so much
speaking of those tenets on which the Mussulman loves to dwell, but
rather of those tenets of which he does not think it necessary to
speak, which are not so much the objects of his faith, but rather
indisputable facts which stand outside the sphere of faith. The
difficulty is not so much that the Persian is repelled by our holding
contrary ideas; he cannot believe that we hold them; and indeed it is
a serious difficulty that in accepting the Persian language we often
unconsciously admit the very Mussulman ideas which we intend to
attack, and give to the Persian premises upon which he can build his
whole argument. To give an illustration; a Persian enquirer will say
to the missionary, “Of course you allow that Moses and David were
prophets?” The missionary will probably admit this. Now if the
Persian has used the most ordinary term for such prophets, that is,
the term paighambar, he will naturally suppose that the missionary
has admitted the following: first of all, that God sends from time to
time men who are appointed by Him to reveal a new law of human
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