European was present. The origin of the custom of removing the shoes was
clearly to avoid soiling the carpets in the house or tent, on which the
inmates sat, ate, and slept.

Felts and rush-mats, no doubt, formed the first floor-coverings for
tents and houses; but as arts and manufactures grew in Central Asia, the
pastoral tribes, with whom, there being little or no agricultural work
for the women and children, the woollen industries began, introduced
carpets with coloured designs, many of the patterns of which are known
to be of very old date, and still remain in the hands of certain
families as their own carefully-guarded secrets and property. These
carpets then became their pictures, framed in felt side-strips, on which
people sat, slept, and transacted business. At meals the centre is
covered with a cloth, on which the dishes are placed; and I think the
carpet is regarded similarly as a well-polished dining-table was in the
West in olden days, when the cloth was removed at the end of the
courses. At other times it may be supposed that the pretty carpets are
their pictures on the floor, just as ours are on the wall; in fact, many
carpets of old design are so lovely and delicate that they are hung on
the walls of European residents' houses in Persia as being too good to
be trodden on. In the village houses the peasants always leave their
shoes at the inner doors, and when a man arrives in riding-boots, with
no intention of staying long, he complies with the object of the custom
by sitting on the edge of the carpet, or felt, and tucking his legs
underneath him, so that the feet may not touch or soil it. In this there
is no question of inferior and superior, for all are socially equal; it
is merely a matter of good manners and friendly feeling, just as
signified in the West by removal of the hat or cap. It would appear that
in the reception of Western Envoys at the Court of Persia it was
customary to change the boots or shoes for slippers, or to cover them