LIBRARY OF THE Theological Seminary PRINCETON, N, J, Case Ds^5a .A75 / .• -V.l. y ; - ‘. i " ' t # ■- / _ . y ' \ % > / ' ' 4- .»■ THEOUaH PEE8IA BY CARAYAK By aethur Arnold, AUTHOR OF “from THE LEVANT,” ETC. NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, franklin square. 18 77. MuQtxihth TO THE EARL AND COUNTESS GRANVILLE. PREFACE. During the summer of IS'TOj my wife and I left London, intending to travel through Russia and Persia. In the fol¬ lowing chapters I have transcribed our notes, commencing at Warsaw. From Poland we passed to St. Petersburg, and from the Russian capital southward to Astrakhan. We traversed the Caspian Sea from extreme north to south, and, landing at Enzelli, rode through the whole length of Persia — a distance of more than a thousand miles. Leavinor the Caspian Sea early in October, we arrived at the Persian Gulf in February. In March we were in Bombay; in April at Alexandria. Had I chosen a Persian title for these notes of travel, I would have taken Zil-ullah,” which is assumed by the two great sovereigns of the Mohammedan world. Hazr-ed-deen, Kajar, Shah of Persia, and Abd-ul-Hamid, Sultan of Turkey, are styled, in the high official language of their own coun¬ tries, ‘‘Zil-ullah” (Shadows of God). In Christendom there is one sovereign, and only one, the Tsar, upon whom is im¬ posed the awful burden of representing the ideal of wisdom, justice, mercy, and goodness. 6 PEEFACE. Civilization — the extension of civil rights — has taught the Western world to look with some contempt upon this assumption of supernatural dignity. It is a preten¬ sion which is doomed to fade away, and to become extinct. It dies unlamented, because it lives by force — by with¬ holding from mankind, or, at best, by holding in trust for mankind, their birthright of liberty and responsibility; nev¬ er deigning to admit that the sources of its power are other than divine. A. A. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. The Vistula. — Warsaw. — ^French Sympathies, — Partition of Poland.— Pass¬ port and Local Regulations. — The Three Imperial Courts. — The Turkish Capitulations. — The Ideal Pole. — The Real Pole. — Religion in Poland. — Hotel d’Europe. — Statue of John Sobieski. — Lazienski Palace. — Russian Government. — Napoleon at Warsaw. — Grodno. — Wilna. — “ Tronfolger’s Namstag” . . . . . . . Page 17 CHAPTER II. Russian Railway Carriages. — Russian Ventilation. — Dunaburg. — White Sand. — Droschky Tickets. — St. Petersburg. — Exaggerated Praise. — New- ski Prospekt. — ^^The Hermitage. — Winter Palace. — St. Isaac’s Church. — The Old Cathedral. — Tombs of the Romanoffs. — Down the Neva. — Cron- stadt. — Droschky-driving, — The Gostinnoi Dvor. — The Kazan Church. — The Russian Language.^ — The Road to Moscow.... . 29 CHAPTER III. Moscow. — The Native Capital of Russia. — The Kitai-Gorod. — Lubianka Street. — The Kremlin. — The Holy Gate. — The Redeemer of Smolensk. — Bell-tower of Ivan. — Church Bells. — Church of the Assumption. — Dean Stanley’s Description. — The Coronation Platform. — The Virgin of Vladi¬ mir. — Corner Tombs. — The Young Demetrius. — John the Terrible. — The Tsar Kolokol. — The Foundling Hospital. — Nurses and Babies. — “Nes avant Terme.” — Moral and Social Results. — Cathedral of St. Basil. — John the Idiot. — The Lobnoe Mesto. — Iverskaya Chasovnia. — How the Metropolitan is paid. — Virgin from Mount Athos. — Tsar and Patriarch. — Motto from Troitsa . . . . 30 CHAPTER IV. The Road to Nijni. — Rivers Oka and Volga.*— Nijni. — The Bridge of Boats. 8 CONTENTS. — The Heights of Nijni. — Lopachef’s Hotel. — A Famous Landscape. — Prisoners for Siberia. — Their Wives and Children. — The Great Fair. — The Last Bargains. — Caravan Tea. — Persian Merchants. — Buildings of the Fair. — Gloves and Furs. — Kussian Tea-dealers. — Mosque at Nijni. — Shows and Theatres. — Kussia vs. Free Trade. — Eussian Hardware. — Ar¬ ticles de Paris. — Melons and Grapes. — The Governor’s Palace. — Pictur¬ esque Nijni . Page 50 CHAPTER V. Leaving Nijni. — The Tsarevna Marie. — Tickets for Two Thousand Miles. — Our Fellow-passengers. — The Alexander II. — Kazan. — Mohammedans in « Russia. — Our Lady of Kazan. — “No Sheets!” — Oriental Cleanliness. — Russian Climate and Clothing. — Orientalism in Russia. — Persian Prayers. — A Shi’ah’s Devotions. — Shallowness of the Volga. — The River Kama. — Hills about Simbirsk. — Samara. — Mare’s-milk Cure. — Volsk. — Saratof. — Tartar Population. — Prisoners for the Caucasus Tsaritzin. — Sarepta. — Gingerbread and Mustard. — Chorney Yar. — A Peasant Mayor. — Tartar Fishermen. — Astrakhan. — Mouths of the Volga. — Raising Level of the Caspian . . 63 CHAPTER VI. Louis XIV. and the Tsar. — Russian Church and State. — Empress Anne’s Buffoon. — Prayers for the Tsar. — The Russian Press. — Censorship. — Press Regulations. — The Moscow Gazette. — Difficulties of Journalists. — The Wjedomosti. — The Russki Mir. — Russia not Russian. — Foreign Races. — New Military System. — The Emancipation of the Serfs. — The Communal System. — Bad Farming. — Ignorance of the Peasantiy. — The Corn Trade. — Complaints from Odessa. — Resurrection of Sebastopol. — Corn from Russia and the United States. — The Artel of Odessa. — De¬ mands of Odessa Merchants. — A Viceroy wanted. — English Interests in Russian Corn. — The Soil of Russia. — The Conquests of Russia. — Contrast with Persia. — Borrowed Money. — Unprofitable Railways. — Revenue of Russia. — Produce of Poll-tax. — Privileged Citizens . 80 CHAPTER VII. The Delta of the Volga. — Persian Passengers. — The Constantine. — Pe- trovsk. — Derbent. — “Le Feu ^Iternel.” — Persian Merchandise. — Persian Clothing. — A Colored Deck-load. — Russian Trio of Spirits. — “Un Knut Russo.” — Baku. — “Dominique.” — Dust of Baku. — The Khan of Baku. — The Maiden’s Tower. — Russian Naval Station. — Petrolia in Asia. — Baku CONTENTS. 9 Oil-carts. — Tlie Petroleum Wells. — Kalafy Company. — Pire-worsliip. — Parsees and Persians. — The Indian Priest. — The Siirahhani Temple. — Manufacture of Petroleum,..., . . Page 99 CHAPTER VIII. Bathing in the Caspian. — The Way to Europe. — A Tarantas. — The Baku Club. — Mihailovski Gardens. — Leaving Baku. — Lenkoran. — Astara. — Petroleum on Deck. — Enzelli. — Persian Boatmen. — Mr. Consul Church¬ ill, C.B. — Enzelli Custom-house. — Sadr Azem's Konak. — The Shah’s Yacht. — Lake of Enzelli.— Peri-bazaar. — Province of Ghilan. — Resht. — Bazaar and “Green.” — Women of Persia. — Their Street Costume. Shopping in Bazaar. — Riding in Persia. — Chapar and Caravan. — Kerja- vas, — A Takht-i-rawan. — Leaving Resht. — Charvodars and Gholams. — Lucky and Unlucky Days. — Whips of Iron. — “ Ul-lah.” — The Bell Mule. — Housseiii Mounted. — The First Station. — Our Camp Kitchen. — A Mud Hovel.. . . . . . . . 113 CHAPTER IX. The Month Ramadan. — Mohammed’s First Wife. — Ramadan in the Koran. — The Nocturnal Kalian. — ^Loading Up. — A Persian Landlord. — Persian Money : Tomans, Krans, and Shihees. — Counting Money. — Persian Mints. — Rich Provinces. — Kudem. — Chapar-khanah. — Bala-khanah. — Con¬ structed to Smoke. — Caravanserais. — Unfurnished Apartments. — Our Bell-mule. — A Traveled Khan. — The Safid-Rud. — Rustemabad. — ^Village of Rhudbar. — Parchenar. — Khan offers his Tree.— A Night in the Operr. — Mistaken for a Thief. — “ The Bells !” — Camels in the Path . . 132 CHAPTER X. How Hills are Made. — Kharzan. — Mazara. — A Persian Village. — John Milton and Casbeen.— The Plain of Kasveen.— The Mirage. — Gardens of Kasveen. — Dervishes. — Decay of Kasveen. — A Persian Town. — Women of Kasveen. — Persian Costumes. — “Allahu Akbar.” — Mosque of Kasveen, — Telegram from Teheran, — Visit to the Khan. — His Love Affairs. — Lost in Kasveen. — Abdulabad. — An Alarm and an Arrival. — “ Gosro- zink,” — Native Plows. — On to Karij. — Lodged in the Shah’s Palace. — The Imperial Saloon. — An Imperial Bedroom. — Approach to Teheran. — Population of the Capital. — The Kasveen Gate, — Mud Houses and Walls. — The Imperial Theatre. — Entrance to the “Arg.” — Neglect of Public Works. — British Legation. — Mirza Houssein Khan. — Teheran Bazaar. — Caravanserai Ameer . . . 148 1* 10 CONTENTS. CHAPTEK XL Teheran. — Street of the Eoreign Envoys. — The British Minister. — Lanterns of Ceremony. — The English in Telieran. — The Shah’s Palace. — Mirza Houssein Khan.— The Sipar Salar.— An Oriental Minister. —Persian Cor¬ ruption. — Mirza Houssein Khan’s Policy. — His Retinue. — Brigandage in Persia. — Saloon of Audience. — The Jeweled Globe. — The Shah’s Throne. —The Old Hall.— Persians and the Alhambra. —The Shah receiving Homage. — Rustem and the White Devil. — Reports in Teheran. The English Courier. — Character of Persian Government. — The Green Draw¬ ing-room. — The Shah’s Album. — Persians and Patriots. — The Shah’s Jewels.— The “Sea of Light” . . . Page 168 CHAPTER XII. The Shah.— The Kajar Dynasty.— Boxes of Justice.— Persian Soldiers.— Their Drill and Pay. — Military Supper in Ramadan. — Jehungur Khan. — The Shah’s Presents. — Zoological Garden. — View from Teheran. — Dema¬ vend. —Persian Fever. —Persian Honesty. —Europeans and Persians.— Caps and Galoches.— A Paper War.— The Ottoman Embassy.— A British Complaint.— A Turkish Atrocity.— Persian Window Law.— English in Bazaars.— The Indo-European Telegraph Stations in Persia.— The En¬ glish Clergyman in Persia . l^^ CHAPTER XIII. Teheran.— Snow in November.— Our Servant, Kazem.— Getting a Takht-i- rawan. — Abd ullah, the Carpenter. — Preparing for the Road. — A Charvo- dar’s “Beard.”— Black Monday.— Trying the Takht-i-rawan.— Loading the Caravan. — Servant’s Merchandise. — Zood ! Zood .'” — Leaving Tehe¬ ran. — The Road to Ispahan. — Seeing the Khanoum. — Shah Abd-ul-Azim. — Moollahs on the Road. — On to Kinaragird. — The Great Salt Desert. — Pul-i-delak.— A Salt River.— A Negro Dervish.— Salt-water Soup.— A Windy Lodging . 196 CHAPTER XIV. Koom.— Approach to the Holy City.— The Golden Dome.— Koom Bazaar. — The Governor’s Procession. — The Itizad-el-Dowleh. — Mirza Teki Khan. — Disgraced by the Shah. — Order for his Assassination. — The Shah’s Contrition, — A Visit to the Governor. — A Coat of Honor. — Pipes of Ceremony. — Mesjid-i-Juma. — Tomb of Feth-Ali-Shah. — The Shrine of Fatima.— A Pretended Pilgrim.— Reception at the Mosque.— CONTENTS. 11 Not allowed to Enter.— A Temperance City.— Takht-i-rawan in Bazaar. — The Koad to Sin-sin. — View from the Ghapar-khanah..... . Page 208 CHAPTER XV. Kashan, Visit to the Governor. — Kashan Bazaar. — The Governor’s House. —The Governor on Railways.— Tea, Pipes, and Sherbet.— A Ride round Kashan. — A House pulled down.— Present from the Governor.— Presents from Servants. — Manna. — Leaving Kashan. — Gabrabad.— Up the Mount¬ ains. — A Robber Haunt.— Kuhrud. — In the Snow.^ — A Persian Interior. A Welcome^ Visitor. — Kazem as a Cook. — The Takht-i-rawan Erozen. — Pass of Kuhrud. — Soh. — ^‘The Blue Man.’ —Beauties of the Road.— Province of Ispahan. — Moot-i-Khoor. — Ispahan Melons. — Village of Gez . . . . . . . 222 CHAPTER XVI. Ispahan. — Approach by Road. — Suburbs of Ispahan. — A Ragged Bazaar, — Departed Greatness. — The Grand Avenue. — The Great Madrassee. — River Zayinderiid.— Pipes on the Bridge.— Djulfa-by-Ispahan.— Russia and the Armenians. — Gate of Djulfa. — The English Missionary. — Mr. Bruce’s House. — Armenian Women. — The British Agent. — Church Mis¬ sionary School. — Armenian Priests. — Enemies of the School. — Visit to the Governor.— The Prince’s Carriage.— “ The Eorty Columns.”— The Prince’s Anderoon. — The Shah’s Eldest Son.— His Estimate of the Army. — Zil-i-Sultan. — His Hope and Pears. — His Court at Ispahan. — His Carte-de-Visite. — The Princess’s Costume . . . 238 CHAPTER XVII. The Zil-i-Sultan. — Order about the School. — Not Responsible for Murder. — Telegraph to Teheran. — Reports and Rumors. — Excitement in Djulfa. —Closing the British School.— Relapse of Pever. — Letter from the Prince. —Persian Compliments. — Prescriptions by Telegraphs.— A Persian Doc¬ tor. — Persian Medical Treatment. — Persian Leeches. — The Prince’s Ha¬ kim. — His Letter of Introduction, — His Newspaper and Autobiography. — The Prince and the Province. — A Son of a Moollah. — “The Sticks.” —How Punishment is Given. —A Snow Torture.— A Persian Dinner¬ party. — Before Dinner. — An Englishman’s Legs. — A Great Klian. — The Pirst Course. — Les Pieces de Resistance. — Going Home . 256 CHAPTER XVIII. Ispahan. — Zil-i-Sultan and the British School. — Church Missionary Society. 12 CONTENTS. — The “Crown of Islam.” — A Ride through Ispahan. — The Meidan. — Runaway Horses in Bazaar. — “Embassador Lilies.” — New-year’s-eve. — Severe Cold. — Sufferings of the Poor. — A Supper in Ispahan. — Kerbela and Nedjif. — Houssein and Ali. — Imam Juma’s Court. — Confiscation of Christians’ Projierty. — Bab and Babis. — Execution of Bab. — Attempted Assassination of the Shah.— Punishment of the Conspirators.— Revenge of the Koran.— Bab and Behar. — The Followers of Behar . Page 271 CHAPTER XIX. Getting out of Persia. — Northern and Southern Roads. — Advantage of Rus¬ sia.— Russian Goods in Persia.— English Interests in Persia.— Mr. Mac¬ kenzie’s Plan.— Navigation of the Karun River.— From Ispahan to Shus¬ ter. — A Subsidy required. — Price of Wheat.-^ — East India Company s Survey.— Letter to Lord Derby.— Baron Reuter’s Concession.— Traffic in Persia. — Mules and Railways.— Difficulties of Construction.— Inter¬ course between Towns.— Estimates of Population.— Traveling in Persia. — Mountain Scenery. — Plains covered* with Snow. — Persia and “The Ara¬ bian Nights.” — No Old Men. — The Lady and the House. — The Greatest Power in Persia . 281 CHAPTER XX. Leaving Ispahan.— “The Farewell” Hill.— Opium Manufacture.— The Tel¬ egraph Superintendent. — Punishing a Servant. — Khadji Josef’s Tea-party. — Marg.— Kum-i-Shah.— The Baggage lost.— Neither Ispahan nor Shiraz. —Ahminabad.— English Doctor robbed.— Doubt and Danger.— Yezdik- hast.— A Vaulted Chamber.— A Black Vault.— Telegram from Shiraz.— The Abadeh Istikbal.— A Traveling Pipe.— Display of Horsemanship.— Abadeh.— The Governor’s Present.— Bread from Teheran.— Letter from Abadeh.— An Ill -looking Escort.— Khanikora.— Miserable Lodging.— Soldiers refuse to March.— Up the Mountains.— Houssein Khan.— Deh- bid.— Shooting Foxes.— Khanikergan.— Meshed -i-Murghaub.— Robbers about.— Persian Justice.— Tofanghees . 292 CHAPTER XXL Classic Persia.— The Tomb of Cyrus.— Date of the Ruins.— Passargardae.— Columns of Cyrus’s Tomb. —Color of Ruins. —Neglected by Persians. — Kawamabad. — Takht-i-rawan in Danger. — Houssein Khan and the Sheep. — Village of Sidoon. — Ruins of Istakr. — Situation of Persepolis. — Araxes or Bendemeer. — Staircase at Persepolis. — Darius and Xerxes. Cuneiform Inscriptions.— Study of Cuneiform.- Chronology of Assyria.— CONTENTS. 13 Great Hall of Xerxes. — The Persepolitan Lion. — Hall of a Hundred Col¬ umns. — Professor Rawlinson on the Ruins. — Tomb of Darius. — “The Great God Ormazd.” — The Bringer of Evil. — Dios and Devils. — Errors in Religion and Art. — Pedigree of Architecture. --Persians, Medes, and Greeks. — Origin of Ionic Architecture. — Leaving Persepolis. — Plain of Merodasht . . . . . . . Page 314 CHAPTER XXII. Kinara. — A Eamily House. — A Troublesome Cat. — Houssein Khan and the Sheep. — Soldiers and their Debtors. — Zergan, — Persian Scenery. — A Per¬ sian Funeral.— Zergan to Shiraz. — Pass of Allahu Akbar. — Snow-storm at Shiraz. — The English Doctor. — Gate of Shiraz. — AGood Persian House. — A Present from Firman Firma. — Letter from His Excellency. — A Der¬ vish at the Gate. — Meidan of Shiraz. — Visit to Firman Firma. — Widow of Teki Khan. — Firman Firma’s Character. — Poverty of Persia. — Passion- play in Mohurrem. — Bazaar of Shiraz. — Tomb of Hafiz.— Odes inscribed on Tomb. — Translation of Hafiz.. — The New Garden. — Tea in an Ima- ret . . . . . . . 334 CHAPTER XXIII. Literature of Persia. — Hafiz and Sa’di. — Contemporary of Dante.— Mr. Bicknell’s Translation of Hafiz. — Consulting Hafiz as an Oi-acle. — Nadir Shah and Hafiz. — Hafiz’s Fragments. — “ Tetrastichs ” of Hafiz. — Sa’di's “Bustan.” — Sa’di’s “Gulistan.” — Extracts from “ Gulistan.” — Sa’di’s Wit and Wisdom. — Gardens of Shiraz. — Slaves and Slave-brokers. — En¬ glish Surgeons and Persian Patients. — Influence of Russia. — Mr. Thom¬ son and Mr. Bruce. — Indo-Persian Telegraph. — Major Champain’s Re¬ ports. — A View of the Neighbors. — Persian Homes. — Government of Shi¬ raz. — Eeliats in Ears. — Attack on a Caravan. — A Vengeful Government. —Cruel Execution of Robbers. — Firman Firma superseded. — Taxation in Persia. — The Shah and Shiraz . . . 352 CHAPTER XXIV. The Road to Bushire. — Yahia Khan’s Portrait. — ^To Cinerada. — Last View • of Shiraz. — Difficult Traveling. — Khan-i-Zonoon. — A Caravan in Trou¬ ble. — A Cold Caravanserai. — Murder of Sergeant Collins. — Death of Ser¬ geant M‘Leod. — Advantage of an Escort. — Dashtiarjan. — “Eaten a Bul¬ let.” — Plain of Dashtiarjan. — Ghooloo-Kojeli Pass. — A Lion in the Path. — Mr. Blanford’s “Interview.” — Up a Tree. — Wounded Horse. — Kaleh- Mushir. — Mount Perizan. — Kotul Perizan. — View of Mian-kotul . 372 14 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXV. Mian-kotul Caravanserai. — Tofiingliees on Guard. — Feuds between Vil¬ lagers. — Kotul Dochter. — Traveling on the Kotul. — The Mushir-el-Mulk. — Lake Famoor. — Encampment of Eeliats. — Ruins of Ancient Persia. — Plain of Kazeroon. — Songs of Persian Soldiers. — Kazeroon. — Anniversary of Houssein’s Death.— “Ah, Houssein !”— Fanatical Exercises.— Orange Gardens. — The Sheik of Kazeroon. — Plain of Kazeroon. — Attack on Ma¬ jor Napier’s Caravan. — Village of Kamaridj. — Plain of Khan-i-Takhte. Hospitality in Persia. — Kotul Maloo. — A Difficult Path. Daliki River. Arabs in Persia.— Palm-leaf Huts.— A Loop-holed Bedroom.— Petrole¬ um at Daliki. — Barasjoon. — Rifle Practice. — Indian Officers in Persia. — Functions of Political Resident. — Sowars from Bushire. — Caravanserai at Ahmedy. — Arrival of Captain Fraser. — The Mashillah. — A Wet Day’s Ride.— Bushire . 387 CHAPTER XXVI. Bushire. — The Residency. — Arab Towers and Wooden “Guns.” — Govern¬ ment in Persian Gulf. — The Arabian Shore. — Arabs and Arabs. — The Sultan’s Power in Arabia.— Oman and the Ibadhis.— Pilgrims to Mecca. — Destiny of Rotten Steamships. — Pilgrims’ Coffins. — Six Hundred Arabs Drowned.— Persian Land Revenue.— Collecting Customs Duties. — Trade and Population. — Commerce of Bushire. — Cultivation of Opium. — Opium and Cereals. — Export of Opium. — British Expedition in 1857. — Occupa¬ tion of Persia. — Persian Army in 1857. — Interests of England. — The Indo-Persian Telegraph. — Persia Ripe for Conquest. — Persia and In¬ dia . 406 CHAPTER XXVII. Tlie Province of Fars. — Memorandum by Colonel Ross. — Boundaries of Fars. — Government of Fars. — Six First-class Governments. — The Dis¬ tricts of Bushire. — Karagash River. — Eeliats. — Nomad Tribes of Fars. — Numbers of the Tribes. — Eel-Khanee and Eel-Begee. — Chief Routes in Fars. — Taxation and Revenue. — A Revenue Survey . 421 CHAPTER XXVIll. British India Steam Navigation Company. — Crew of the Euphrates. — Pil¬ grims in Difficulty. — Streets of Bushire. — German Archaeological Expe¬ dition. — Sermons in Bricks. — Leaving Busliire. — Slavery in the Persian Gulf. — Fugitive - slave Circulars. — The Parsee Engineer’s Evidence. — CONTENTS. 15 Ships searched for Slaves. — Pearl-fisheries of Bahrein. — Anglo -Turkish Ideas. — Lingah in Laristan. — Bunder-Abbas. — Landing at Cape Jahsk. — “Pegs” and Pale Clerks. — A Master Mariner’s Grievance. — The End of Persia. — Coast of Beloochistan. — Shooting Sleeping Turtles. — Harbor of Kurrachee. — Kurrachee Boat- wallahs.— The Orthodox Scinde Hat. — • Paults of Indian Society. — English Ladies in India. — Intercourse with Natives. — Unmannerly Englishmen. — Exceptional Behavior..... Page 428 CHAPTER XXIX. Bombay. — The Serapis in Harbor. — Suburbs of Bombay. — Parsee Dead. — Towers of Silence. — Hindoo Cremation-ground. — Cotton Manufacture in India. — Report of Indian Commission. — Neglect of Indian Government. — A Bombay Cotton Factory. — Hours of Factory Labor. — Seven Weeks’ Work. — Natives of India. — Expenditure of Indian Government. — The Great Absentee Landlord. — Grievance of Cultivators. — Their Enemies, tlie Money-lenders. — English and Native Equity. — The Suez Canal. — Landing at Ismailia.^ — English at the Pyramids. — Alexandria. — “Cleo¬ patra’s Needle.” — Proposed Removal to England. ^ — Condition of the Ob¬ elisk. — Recent Excavation. — Captain Methven’s Plan. — Removal in an Iron Vessel. — Cost of Removal. — Egypt and the Khedive. — Preparing for Mr. Cave. — Sham Civilization. — The Horse - trampling Ceremony. — En¬ glish en voyage. — Egypt and Persia. — Customs Officers at Alexandria. — Egypt and T urkey . . . . . 443 CHAPTER XXX. “From the Levant.” — Sunnis and Shi’ahs.— Turkish Government and Turk¬ ish Debt. — Fuad and Midhat Pashas. — Not a “ Sick Man.” — “Best Po¬ lice of the Bosphorus.” — Religious Sanction for Decrees. — The Council of State. — “ Qui est-ce qu’on trompe ?” — Murad and Hamid. — Error of the West. — Precepts of the Cheri.— Authority of the Sultan.— Non-Mussul¬ man Population.— Abd-ul-Hamid’s Hatt.— A Foreign Garrison.— Hatt-y- houmayoun of 1856. — Failure of Promises. — Fetva of Sheik-ul-Islam. — Non-Mussulmans and the Army, — Firman of December, 1875. — Sir Hen¬ ry Elliot and the Porte. — Conscription in Turkey . 458 CHAPTER XXXI. Islam in Persia. — Mohammedans of India. — Ali of the Shi’ahs. — Abu-Bekr Successor of Mohammed. — Imams of the Shi’ahs.— Eeza and Mehdee. — Religion in the East. — Mohammed as a Soldier. — War with Infidels. — Christianity of the Middle Ages. — Stretching the Koran. — Mohammed’s 16 CONTENTS. Marriage Law. — Status of Mohammedan Women. — Women and Civiliza¬ tion. — Special Privilege of Mohammed. — Mormonism and Mohammedan¬ ism. — Consequences of Polygamy. — Protection of Polygamy. — Moham¬ med and Ayesha. — Scandal silenced by the Koran. — Mohammed’s Do¬ mestic Difficulty. — Law for Men and Women. — Women in Mohammed's Heaven. — The Mohammedan Paradise. — Mohammed and the Jews. — • Birth of Christ in the Koran. — Miracles of Christ. — English Leaning to Islam. — Mohammedanism and Christianity. — Christians of the East. — Moslem Intemperance. — Wine and the Koran. — Superiority of Chris¬ tianity . . . . . . . Page 471 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. CHAPTER L The Vistula.— Warsaw.— French Sympathies.— Partition of Poland.— Pass¬ port and Lt)cal Kegulations.— The Three Imperial Courts.— The Turkish Capitulations.— The Ideal Pole.— The Keal Pole.— Religion in Poland.— Hotel d Euiope. Statue of John Sobieski. — Lazienski Palace. — Russian Government. — Napoleon at Warsaw.— Grodno.— WiIna.—“ Tronfolger’s Namstag.” By the waters of the Vistula we sat down and talked of the historical wrongs of Poland. TV^e were on the lower bank of the river, near where the bridge of latticed iron connects the suburb of Praga with the city of Warsaw. From this point of view the situation of the capital of Rus¬ sian Poland is picturesque. It was a beautiful evening in September of last year, and the rays of the setting sun gilded the stately lines of the palace, once that of Poniatowski, which stands from fifty to a hundred feet above the level of the water. The queer old houses of one of the most ancient parts of Warsaw are scattered on the slope, and the back¬ ground is filled with yet higher objects — the lofty roofs, tow¬ ers, and spires of Polish churches, and the five golden cupolas of the Russian Cathedral. Rafts of pine timber, cargoes of ruddy apples and dark- green melons, float before us ; the river has nearly the width of the Thames at Putney, but nowhere the beauty of our 18 THEOUGH PEKSIA BY CARAVAN. metropolitan stream; it comes to where we sit, visible afar in its course through flat, sandy lands, a silvery streak ; and as we mount the rising ground into Warsaw, we can trace its flow, burnisHed by the dying sunlight, as it passes away through a country equally destitute of charms or of high cul¬ tivation. Arrived at the top of the slope leading to the bridge, we are in the principal street of Warsaw, which, indeed, in its entire length is composed of two streets — the Krakowski Przedmiesci, or Faubourg de Cracovie, as the French-loving people of Warsaw call it, and the l^owy Swiat, or Rue de Nouveau Monde, as the more fashionable shop-keepers at once inform any stranger. There must be thousands of people in Warsaw who would be glad to see the defeat of Sedan and the annexation of Metz avenged and reversed. There is an air as well as a natural gayety in the manner of the people which makes one almost ready to forget that the broad ex¬ panse of the German Empire lies between this city and France, to which, of all foreign lands, the Polish sympathies are given. With the exception of the tram-way cars, which look like English second-class railway carriages, the vehicles have caught this gay and lively air. The queer-shaped omni¬ buses, like a landau and small omnibus pressed together, are as bright as red and yellow can make them. Occasionally one sees dashing through the crowd the equipage of some Russian offlcial, the flat-capped and petticoated driver hold¬ ing the reins d la Husse, one in each hand, steering his fast- trotting horses with marvelous skill and address, and with no need of whip. There are some populations which it seems impossible to fancy as living in apparent happiness and gayety together with their conquerors. For my own part, I can imagine the Battle of Dorking a reality, and conceive the occupation of London by foreign soldiery ; but I can not picture to myself WARSAW. 19 holiday-making Londoners in the Tower of London by per¬ mission of alien sentries, nor merry parties on the hills of Hampstead and Sydenham and Muswell cracking nuts and jokes as they looked down upon London, the prey of a for¬ eign foe. I can better frame for the mind’s eye the debonair populace of Paris disporting in the Bois, under the guardian¬ ship of Germans, than Berliners happy in the Thiergarten, while the IJnter den Linden was patrolled by French. The^ Italians would be lighter-hearted in such circumstances, and the Poles exhibit their affinity of race by all that the traveler sees in Warsaw. The partition of Poland is now something more than an accomplished fact — it is part of the settled distribution of the Continent of Europe. FTearly a hundred years have passed away since Freedom shrieked ” at the fall of Kosci¬ usko and of W arsaw. Generations have matured to which the independence of Poland is but a dim tradition — genera¬ tions which have followed the road to comfort and prosperi¬ ty, by subservience to the Russian power. Yet the rule of Russia has been harsh, and there has been no disposition, at least until the last few years, to conceal the character of the claim by right of which Russia rules in Warsaw. The insur¬ rection of fourteen years ago is outwardly forgotten, yet in many a Polish heart there must be rankling memory of the cruel time when the ferocious tyranny of the Russian Gen¬ eral Mouravieff evoked remonstrance from England. The older rebellions are commemorated in Warsaw. The inso¬ lence of conquest could not look more grim than in the blunt and stunted obelisk, supported on lions, which was erected in 1841 upon the Saski Place, in memory of the “loyal” Poles and of “ their fidelity to their sovereign.” We have been visitors in Paris and in Rome during a state of siege ; but when the Germans were at St. Denis, and the army of Versailles at ISTeuilly — when Garibaldi was in arms 20 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. at Mentana, and the newly invented Chassepot had ^\fait merveille ” upon the bodies of men which were yet unburied, it was easier to enter or quit either of those cities than it is to find acceptance in time of peace as a visitor in Warsaw. The penalties are dreadful for those who receive a stranger without at once giving notice to the police of his country and his quality. No hotel exists without a passport bureau; and travelers are not ‘‘ ushered,” as reporters say, into their apart¬ ments, but are rather “ interned ” to await, on Polish food, the good pleasure of the Russian police as to their liberty within the city, and the time of their departure. If their passports do not bear the vise of the Russian Legation in their country, they will be required to spend a good deal of time in a shut¬ tlecock existence between the police -ofiice and their hotel. They will be teased with formalities, which of course a well- informed conspirator would easily avoid. In fact, the inhabitants, temporary and resident, of Warsaw live in a fortress, under special license from the police and the governor -general. One notices in the streets that not only for convenience, but “ by order,” every shop-keeper must inscribe in Russian whatever name and business he chooses to set up in the native language. If on the right hand of his shop-window he writes, in the letters which are common to most of the languages of Europe, “Konicz, Tailleur, Cha¬ peaux de Paris, la Derniere Mode, Style Elegante,” he must on the left side, or elsewhere, communicate to all whom it may concern the same announcement in the semi-barbarous characters of the Russian language. One is everywhere re¬ minded that Warsaw is Russian, not Polish ; that Russian soldiers form the garrison; that Russian is the official lan¬ guage; that the Russo-Greek Church imparts the official re¬ ligion of this essentially Roman Catholic Poland. There would be little, perhaps, to recall to mind the fact that here is a suppressed nationality, were not the vital difference of THE THREE IMPERIAL COURTS. 21 religion ever present to remind the stranger of tlie history of this part of Europe. The partition of Poland is the fundamental bond of union, drawing together the alliance of the three imperial courts,” who,” in the language of the Berlin Memorandum, “ believe themselves called upon to concert among themselves measures for averting the dangers of the situation ” in Turkey ; who,” when united, are absolutely masters of that situation, and can be subject to the interference of other great powers only in their dissensions. The three emperors, who, if they agree, can, without reference to any other power, impose their own solution of the Eastern question upon the world, are first of all united in that transaction Avhich gave to Prussia her Ro¬ man Catholic provinces upon the Baltic ; to Russia, the cen- trak district, of which Warsaw is the chief city; and to Aus¬ tria, Cracow and Galicia. 'No more effectual mode of insur¬ ing the extinction of Poland as a separate state could have been devised ; and in fact Poland has ceased to exist. There is not even a quiver in the divided limbs ; Poles must be Prus- sian, Russian, or Austrian, if they wish for a successful ca- reer. He who climbs toward the prizes must wear the colors of the sovereignty ; and so it usually happens that acquies¬ cence and contentment follow conquest. This was manifest even in the short-lived annex'ations of the First N'apoleon. I have heard of Garibaldi that he, an Italian of Italians, was in fact born a Frenchman ; that in Nice, under the First Empire, it was the wish of prudent parents that their children should talk French, and that the tongue of Moliere, rather than that of Dante, was the language in which he first learned to speak. Poland is dismembered, but in religion she is united ; and undoubtedly the preservation of peace in the North of Europe has some assurance in the circumstance that her relisrion is not that of Russia nor that of Prussia. Austrians have al¬ ways had a hold on the sympathy of Poles, which neither 22 THEOUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN. Russia nor Germany can attain, in the fact that both turn to Rome as the fountain of their religious faith. Perhaps it is owing to tliis communion in religion that the rule of Austria in her Polish dominions has been milder ; although there can be no doubt that in part this has been the result of policy — of a desire to engender envy on the side of Russian Poland — so that, in the event of war, Austria might rely upon the deten¬ tion of a large Russian force in and around Warsaw. The Aus¬ trian Poles have neither Falck laws nor a schismatic Church connected with the Government to which they are subject; and in a conglomerate empire, in which there is unavoidably some confusion of tongues, the Government is not impelled by that irritating desire to impose the official language which marks the rule of Russia and of Prussia. The Tsar is doubt¬ less aware of the leaning of some among his Polish subjects toward his Austrian brother, who is, to a certain extent, pro¬ tected in his ambition upon the Danube by the probability that he could raise revolt in Warsaw by promising Poland autonomy like that of Hungary. Indeed, the more we exam¬ ine the condition of Poland, the more convinced shall we be¬ come that it is the centre , upon which reposes the concord of the three imperial courts ; and that but for the present settle¬ ment of Poland we might have less ground for confidence in their pacific resolutions. As for ourselves, and in connection with the politics of the East of Europe, it will possibly surprise not a few English¬ men to learn that for the peculiar privileges, “capitulations,” as they are called, by which our intercourse with the Ottoman Empire is regulated, and under which Englishmen live and carry on business in Turkey, we are as much indebted to the Poles as to any other people. These concessions, the existence of which has always proclaimed the infirmity of Mohammedan rule, were not made to us or at any bidding from our Foreign Office. They date, as we learn fi'om Mr. Hertzlet’s compila- THE TUEKISH CAPITULATIONS. 23 tion,* from a, time when England W’as not a great power in the East. Two hundred years ago — in 1675 — an extension to British subjects of privileges granted to French, Poles, Venetians,” w^as conceded, “by command of the Emperor and Conqueror of the Earth, achieved with the assistance of the Omnipotent, and with the special grace of Cod — TV^e, who by the Divine Grace, assistance, will, and benevolence now are the King of Kings of the W^orld, the Prince of Emperors of every age, the Dispenser of Crowms to nionarchs, and the Champion j” and it is in right of this extension of privileges originally granted to “ French, Poles, Venetians,” that our con¬ sular courts exercise judgment and authority in Turkey and in Egypt. Every historical student must have noticed how the use of such high-sounding titles, such pretenses to a quasi- Divine sovereignty, fade away at the dawn and in the increase of civilization; but perhaps there is no more remarkable ex¬ ample on record than that which is afforded by a comparison of the Sultan s style and titles in the treaty above referred to, with the simple designation of a successor in the Caliphate, Abd-ul-Medjid, in the Treaty of 1856, where the Sultan is, in French fashion, merely styled “ Emperor of the Ottomans.” Having thus connected Poland with ourselves, especially in our relations with tlie chief of Mohammedan powers, let us turn again to that shadow of her former self, which is seen in and about her ancient capital, of which the history mounts to the twelfth century. Those who were young children thirty years ago had at that time perhaps very much the same con¬ ception of an ideal Pole, an ideal which has possibly lingered in their thoughts through life. My notion of a Pole was of one who passed his time in the severest practice of the most noble exhibitions of personal honor and patriotism ; of one who was generally in chains, often in Siberia, who had a most * “ Treaties, etc., regulating Trade between Great Britain and Turkey.” 24 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. romantic visage, an elegant figure, a very picturesque costume, a coat all frogged and braided, a brilliant scarf, very high boots, as suitable for dancing as for striding over the corpses of his oppressors, and a j)ainful, oft-renewed acquaintance with the knout, as wielded by Russian executioners. I will venture to add that, in my own case, Mr. Punch is responsible for per¬ verting this idea. In the days of the late Lord Dudley Stuart, that zealous friend of Polish refugees, Mr. Punchy by the pen¬ cil of Leech and others, gave me to understand that a Pole was an alien creature, who inhabited London in the neighbor¬ hood of Soho and Leicester Square, chiefly with the object of stealing the hat or overcoat of paterfamilias upon the front door of an English house being opened to his petition, and whose loftier vocation was that of making love upon the smallest opportunity to any eligible young lady, with a view to an elopement, and to enjoying after marriage any patri¬ mony which might fall into the lap of the bride. W\\ Punchy it may be observed, is never very kind to people who are dis¬ satisfied with the government of their country. But let that pass. There was another circumstance in the life of the Pole of my childish imagination which has long since been dis¬ pelled. I thought him an inhabitant of craggy hills and lovely dales, living always in sight of high mountains and deep forests, a country like that in which dwell the insurgents of the Herzegovina, like those countries with which, from the almost invariable success of insurrection in mountainous re¬ gions, it is perhaps natural for untaught intelligence to sur¬ round the ideal insurgent. The Pole is in fact the laborious cultivator of a sandy plain, which would be a desert if it were in a rainless country two thousand miles south of Poland; he is pinched and poor — as a tiller of sand is likely to be — and, to say the truth, he is very ignorant and terribly bigoted — a neglected child in education and a priest-led fanatic in religion. EELIGIOK I]S^ POLAND. 25 Standing not long ago beside the open door of the Roman Catholic cathedral of ^^^^arsaWj I noticed that all who were neithei s nor Russian soldiers uncovered as they passed, while not a few prostrated themselves upon the damp and dirty pavement, making humblest obeisance to the distant al¬ tar. A droschky- driver, whose restive horses and nervous “ fare ” demanded all his attention, would not pass but with bare head; the country carter doffed his cap; the porter dropped his load ; even the school-boy paused to make his mark of homage ; some kissed the sacred threshold of the door ; all who had leisure seemed to enter. Quite a common sight in the Roman Catholic churches of Poland is a prostra¬ tion like that of the Moslems, with the knees and forehead resting on the |)avenient. The Papal religion and national sympathies have always been close companions in Poland, and it is probably true that many a fanatic has also been what is called a rebel. Looking to the intensity and superstitious character of the devotion in these Polish churches, one is al¬ most surprised that there are not miracles d la mode in War¬ saw. Perhaps the Tsar and Prince Gortschakoff do not ap¬ prove of Roman Catholic miracles, though they would hardly put the seal of their authority to the French couplet _ “ De par da Eoy, defense a Dieu, De faire miracle dans ce lieu.” Warsaw is one of the cities which “ have been.” It wants “ cleaning up,” as I heard an English lady say in the Nowy bwiat. It is nearly as foul as some parts of Berlin in regard to open drains coursing beside the pavements of the streets, and we noticed, not as a sign of progress, that men were watering a principal thoroughfare with the familiar pot and “ rose” of our English gardens. But the people who invented the polka and the mazurka are, perhaps, lifted above sanitary considerations and a policy of sewage. The streets of War* 2 26 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. saw will certainly match those of any city of the world for pretty names. Some British novelist will be indebted to me for suggesting as the name of his next heroine that of a chief street — ^^Dluga;” or, ‘‘Freta,” that of another main street. But the great, new, unpeopled way is called after a lady who has consented to become English — ‘‘ Alexandrovna.” Except in the houses of the very poor, there is great liberality of space in and about Warsaw. Of the hotels in Europe older than the second half of the nineteenth century, the Hotel d’Europe of Warsaw must be one of the largest. It is quadrangular in plan, and upon each of the floors there is an utterly unfur¬ nished corridor at least ten feet wide. The gardens in and about the city are pretty well kept; I know of no town which has in its midst a more pleasant and ornamental garden than that which adjoins the Saski Place in Warsaw; and the park surrounding the Lazienski Palace is more wooded and undulating than Hyde Park or the Bois de Boulogne. This suburban palace, in a most charming site between a lake and woods, was built in 1754 for King Ponia- towski. In style, it is an Italian villa, and the decorations include mosaics from Rome and Florence. In the grounds, which are studded with summer-houses and pavilions, per¬ haps the most notable object is an equestrian statue of John Sobieski by a native artist. If an Englishman discusses the past and present condition of Poland with a Russian, the latter is sure to introduce the state of Ireland by way of comparison, and will undoubtedly believe and maintain that the manifestation of political opin¬ ion is no more free in Ireland than in Poland. Apropos of this well- worn comparison, the sight of the statue of John Sobieski reminded us of what we had seen a few weeks before in Dublin. Some days after the termination of the inharmonious proceedings in connection with the O’Connell Centenary, we noticed, in riding through the streets of Dub- STATUE OF JOHN SOBIESKY, 27 lin, an uncared-for, neglected remnant of the Home Eule pro¬ cession in the shape of a green handkerchief which still en¬ circled the neck of the statue of Mr. Smith O’Brien. Fancy what would happen to the daring enthusiast who should vent¬ ure to tie the colors of revolutionary Poland around the col¬ lar of J ohn Sobieski, or to the officer who, seeing this mani¬ festation accomplished, should fail for one unnecessary mo¬ ment to remove the irritating symbol! What a rattle of swords, what a jingling of spurs, there would be among the long- coated Kiissian officers, who are omnipresent in War¬ saw, smoking always, and in nearly every street ! What a flutter of paper there would be at the head-quarters of Eus- sian government, in the city palace of Poniatowski, that dull quadrangle of stone which we looked at from the Pras:a side of the Vistula, where the Eussian viceroy lives ! The hapless man would soon meet the forms of Eussian justice, adminis¬ tered in a language incomprehensible to him, and punishment proportioned to Eussian estimate of his offense. I can see him, as I have seen others, marched off, chained in company with base criminals, to Siberia, his wife and children being permitted, if they please, to accompany him at the expense of the Government to that inhospitable region, the rigors of which can not be understood by those who have only seen the northern plains of Central Asia during the transient brightness of the brief summer. At W^arsaw, in a back street, stands the hotel in which the First Napoleon is said to have rested in his flight from Mos¬ cow ; of that great tragedy we were reminded again, when, after crossing the sandy plain from Warsaw, the name of Grodno was shouted by Eussian railway men. It was dark and late when we arrived at W^ilna, where Napoleon deserted the remnant of his army, and galloped off toward France _ and Elba. Between the railway station and the principal street of Wilna the wall of the town intervenes, and high 28 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. over the gate- way, which forms the main entrance, is a small chapel dedicated to the mother of Jesus Christ, which is an object of worship quite, in its way, as superstitious as was ever paid to the gods of ancient Greece or Egypt; with the difference that this guardian of the town is in herself, and in the ornaments with which she is surrounded, an exhibition of art in forms at once mean and base. This tawdry shrine faces the street, which descends rapidly from the gate-way ; and through all the hours of the day, and through many of the night, the sloping pavements are crowded with worship¬ ers, gazing, some with the touching, tender, wistfulness of anxious maternity, some with the doubting, half - despairing hope for spiritual aid to be rid of deadly clinging vice ; some with the look of prosperity upon them, whose desire is evi¬ dently to make the best of both worlds, and who especially wish to have the savor of piety in this world ; others with the misery of neglected old age, blinking and muttering their formulas, their hopes and wants, with their ideas of the In¬ finite subdued and compressed within the lines of this vul¬ gar image. Our Polish driver, like every one else of the same nation¬ ality, held his hat in his hand as he approached, j^assed through, and descended from this chapeled archway. With¬ in the town there was a curious and by us quite unexpected illumination. At regular intervals of two or three yards, there were lighted lanterns placed in the gutter on both sides of the streets. We drove a long distance through this cu¬ rious manifestation, which was further exhibited by lighted candles placed in a few of the windows, without knowing the event which it was intended to honor. At the hotel, a Ger¬ man-speaking waiter replied, ^^Tronfolger^s NamstagP It was the birthday of Alexandrowitch, heir to the throne of all the Russias. DUNABURG. 29 CHAPTER II. Russian Railway Carriages. — Russian Ventilation. —Dunaburg. —White Sand.— Droschky Tickets.— St. Petersburg.— Exaggerated Praise.— New- ski Prospekt.— The Hermitage.— Winter Palace.— St. Isaac’s Church.— The Old Cathedral. — Tombs of the Romanoffs. — Down the Neva. — Cron- stadt.— Droschky-driving.— The Gostinnoi Dvor.— The Kazan Church.— The Russian Language. — The Road to Moscow. A Rfssian^ railway carriage resembles a gypsy wagon, in having a stove-pipe issuing from the roof, and a succession of these chimneys attracts the notice of any one who is for the first time traveling in the dominions of the Tsar. Fortunate¬ ly, the stoves were not lighted on the mild September even¬ ing in which we set out for St. Petersburg — I say fortunate¬ ly, because the Russian notion of a fire is to enjoy its warmth without ventilation. Russian climate is the coldest, Russian rooms and railway carriages the hottest, in Europe. Our train staid a few minutes at Dunaburg— time enough to eat one of the excellent veal - cutlets which are always hot and ready for travelers. But at day-break, when we took coffee at Luga, in the raw and foggy morning, the guard needed the warm gloves in which he took the tickets. One notices, as a sign of the severity of the climate, how kindly people take to gloves whose equals in England would be unable to do their work with their hands so covered. W^hite sand, gray sand, the face of the country is covered with sand in the North of Russia ; flat sand, hidden for the most part with scanty crops, and with wide forest patches of fir, the sombre hues of which are occasionally varied with the more tender green and the silvery bark of birch-trees. 30 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. There is nothing interesting or picturesque in the approach to the Russian capital. One looks out to see the golden domes and spires, and is not disappointed. There from afar shines the gilded cupola of St. Isaac’s Church, and there, like golden needles, glitter the spires of the Admiralty, and of the old cathedral in which all the greatest of the House of Ro¬ manoff lay buried. Soon we are at the station, where the uninformed or incautious traveler, who rushes at the nearest droschky-driver to secure his carriage, will be disappointed. They manage these things otherwise in Russia. One must look out for the official on the steps of the station, whose hands |re filled with numbered plates, and the only cab the traveler can engage is that of which the number is received from this person. St. Petersburg has been often described, but generally in language of exaggerated admiration. It certainly possesses that feature, without which there can be no grandeur in town or city — that feature of space which we are slowly and suc¬ cessfully, though at an enormous cost, giving to London. I should say that the clear and flowing waters of the Neva, sweeping in ample width through the city, form the chief ad¬ vantage and ornament of St. Petersburg. But for that over¬ praised pile of stucco, the Winter Palace, I have no admira¬ tion ; and as for the treasures of the Hermitage Museum, they can not bear comparison in richness or interest with those of more Southern cities. The streets are wide, the pavement in the roads is execrable, the shops are gay only in the Newski Prospekt, and there is no more antiquity than in Boston or New York. St. Petersburg is not a handsome city, after the manner of Vienna and Paris, for those cities have at every turn the results of high civilization and a genial climate, which are lacking in the Russian capital. Before entering the Winter Palace, one must visit a den somewhere about the foundations — a place reeking with to- THE WINTER PALACE. 31 bacco-smoke — in which Russian officers sit to deliver the nec¬ essary permission; and the glories of this florid wilderness of stucco are supposed to culminate in the semi-barbaric re¬ splendence of the golden boudoir of the Empress— a small apartment, of which the ceiling, the walls, and even the doors are gilded. No wonder the Emperor Nicholas took refuge and comfort in his plain apartments, the furniture of which remains as it stood in his life-time. So entirely is the status quo preserved that his majesty’s cloak and hat, his sword and gloves, are in the places they occupied in his life-time. There is one exception to the buildings of St. Petersburg which, if we overlook some of its internal decorations, appears worthy of all praise. The Church of St. Isaac is, in my opin¬ ion, the noblest building of modern times, and one of which not half enough has been said in Europe by way of eulogy. Perhaps it is not difficult to account for the misplaced adula¬ tion of Russian palaces. The “ special correspondents,” who are sent to St. Petersburg on great occasions, have their eyes fixed upon the ceremonies of the court, and there can be no doubt that the Russian court is seen to great advantage by the soft glare of thousands of wax-candles. It is unquestion¬ ably true that the Winter Palace “ lights up well,” better even than the White Hall of the old Schloss of Berlin, and with far finer effect than the comparatively small apartments of English royalty. It must be owing to the effect of wax-lights on the brain that, in accounts of St. Petersburg, the stuccoed gew¬ gaws of the Winter Palace, and the veneered lapis lazuli and malachite of the Hermitage, have obscured the grand and sol¬ id magnificence of St. Isaac’s— a building most worthy of the golden crown which, with vast circumference, domes the cen¬ tre of this splendid edifice, which has been completed during the present reign. The style is Byzantine, that mixture of Greek and Romanesque architecture which is perhaps the best suited to the Northern climate; and though smaller than 32 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARA VAX. St. Paul’s in London, or St. Peter’s in Rome, St. Isaac’s is more massive in construction. St. Peter’s has some monoliths, pillaged from temples of the ancient city, but none that can compare with the polished col¬ umns of Finland granite which support the four porticoes of St. Isaac’s ; and there is nothing in the elevation of either of those world-famous churches more admirable than the bronze statuary with which the tympanum of each one of the pedi¬ ments of these porticoes is adorned, or than the compositions which, placed upon the wings of these pediments, vary with excellent effect the outlines of the church. In solidity, the masonry is not surpassed by any ancient work, and the splen¬ did interior is only disappointing because its permanent dec¬ orations are somewhat too substantial, and its religious orna¬ ments out of harmony with the grandeur of a building in which the spectacle of crowds smacking their lips upon the trumpery portraits of persons, some of them obscure, and sanctified after a narrow-minded life, spent for the most part in dirt and asceticism, is especially ridiculous, if not irrita¬ ting. The church in which the predecessors of tlje Tsar are buried is comparatively insignificant, and the tombs of the emperors are simple parallelograms, built with plain slabs of white marble, with not the least attempt at artistic style or ornament. The young soldier who acted as our guide in this church pointed to the graves of Peter the Great, of Nich¬ olas I., and of the eldest son of the present Tsar, as those most interesting. The Romanoffs rest beneath trophies of battle in the shape of flags, including those of most nations, the Union- jack among the number — a flag, perhaps, taken from the Tiger when that unfortunate vessel, having ground¬ ed in a fog off Odessa, was, during the Crimean war, sur¬ rendered by Captain Giffard to the Russian General Osten- Sacken. ST. PETEESBURG. 33 From all that we saw in steaming down the Neva, and at Cronstadt, I should suppose Sir Charles Napier could see the highest pinnacles of St. Petersburg while he was forced to respect the range of those ugly fortresses. Put that was in the unarmored, muzzle-loading days. What would happen now in a real fight between floating fortresses of iron and stationary fortresses of stone it is not for me to say; but at least this much is certain, that the conditions of naval warfare are entirely altered since the time when Sir Charles made his famous speech, ending with “ Sharpen your cutlass¬ es, lads, and the day is your own I” It seems that in our time the Shiver my timbers !” of Marryat’s age would be as little out of place as the Sharpen your cutlasses’’ of 1854. “ Ram often, and ram home I” is more likely to be the watch¬ word of the future. From the front of the Admiralty House in St. Petersburg one can look down the whole length of the Newski Prospekt, a mile and a half or so, to the Moscow Railway Station. Among the many cures ” which English physicians now prescribe, including mud-baths and grape cures, and the dili¬ gent drinking, as in Russia and Germany, of mares’ milk fermented, I wonder no one has suggested driving up and down the Newski Prospekt, or, better still, the back streets of the Russian capital, in a droschky as a “ cure ” for a slug¬ gish liver. Such a shaking can be obtained nowhere else. The ride has other advantages for gentlemen whose hearts and hands are free. Convenience and obvious custom may be pleaded for encircling a lady’s waist with an arm when the jangling, rattling vehicle is occupied by one of each sex; this mode is indulged in not only from occasional necessity as the only means of keeping a light body on the seat of the droschky, but it is further almost obligatory, on account of the smallness of the seat, which, though often occupied by two, is probably constructed only for one person. 9!}: 34 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. The journey down the Xewski Prospekt may be broken at the Gostinnoi Dvor, or great bazaar, an institution in Rus¬ sian towns, a reminiscence probably of Tartardora, that by¬ gone state of Muscovite existence which, it has been said, may easily be rediscovered by scratching a Russian. The Gostinnoi Dvor of St. Petersburg is a well-built quad¬ rangular arcade of shops, of which, perhaps, the most inter¬ esting to a stranger are those of the furriers; for, as a rule, there are but few native products or manufactures in Rus¬ sian shops, or it would be more correct to say, few possessing any uncommon interest or original character. There is plen¬ ty of bad hardware, that of Birmingham being excluded by high tariffs ; but where there is seen a rich display of taste in any of the St. Petersburg shops, the work is sure to be French. Russian garments of fur are little suited for En¬ glish wear, because of a radical differences in the usages of the two countries. In England fur is worn partly for orna¬ ment, and consequently the hair is turned outward ; in Russia it is always reversed, and the fur concealed beneath the out¬ ward cloth of the garment. And it is noticeable that the fur mostly used in England — seal-skin — is not met with in the St. Petersburg bazaar. If any one wishes to put as much money as possible into a fur-coat — a “ shuba,” as this indis¬ pensable part of the wardrobe of a gentleman is called in the Russian language — let him order in the Gostinnoi Dvor one of the fur of the ‘^blue” fox; it will be worth much more than its weight in silver rubles. Close by is the Kazan church, another pile of stucco, con¬ cerning the silver altar rails of which the guide-books make a terrible, unwarranted fuss. As these famous rails are short, hollow, and plain as a pikestaff, their glorification is some¬ what absurd. That which is much more curious in this church is the collection of keys of surrendered towns and the gilded and jeweled screen — the Ikonostas — standing between THE EOAD TO MOSCOW. 35 the rails and the sanctuary of the church, that ecclesiastical threshold which no woman may cross. But we had better leave the eccentricities of the Russo- Greek Church for the present, and get on from St. Peters¬ burg to Moscow — a journey which, owing to the railway arrangements, English travelers usually make by night. Ev¬ ery one who has w^andered much in the South oi Europe will have met with Russians unable to speak the language of their country ; and from the number of these it might be inferred that in Russia the use of the vernacular was exclusively con¬ fined to the lower classes. It remains true, however, that in Russia there is no language so useful as Russian, though from Cronstadt to Sebastopol the traveler who can speak German is never in great difficulty. By many of the higher classes, and at a few of the most fashionable shops, French is spoken, but German is unquestionably more useful in trav¬ eling. When morning dawns upon the mail-train, as it ap¬ proaches the more ancient capital of Russia, there is very much the same landscape in the neighborhood of Moscow as that which meets the eye in coming to St. Petersburg from the west: the same sand from which laborious peasants scratch a scanty crop ; the same forests of fir and birch in which princes and nobles delight to hunt the grizzly bear. All is flat and uninteresting. One shivers in the cold of May or September, and begins to comprehend what a reservoir of warmth is the tossing sea, how bitterly cold in winter are those vast, sandy, waterless plains, which, with the aid of rain, are coaxed to cultivation in the ISTorth, but in the ex¬ treme South of the Empire are seen and known as barren steppes, yielding nothing but a sense of bigness to the Rus¬ sian Empire. 36 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. CHAPTER III. Moscow. — The Native Capital of Russia. — The Kitai-Gorod. — Lubianka Street. — The Kremlin. — The Holy Gate. — The Redeemer of Smolensk. — Bell-tower of Ivan. — Church Bells. — Church of the Assumption. — Dean Stanley’s Description. — The Coronation Platform. — The Virgin of Vladi¬ mir. — Corner Tombs. — The Young Demetrius. — John the Terrible. — The Tsar Kolokol. — The Poundling Hospital. — Nurses and Babies. — “Nes avant Terme.” — Moral and Social Results. — Cathedral of St. Basil. — John the Idiot. — The Lobnoe Mesto. — Iverskaya Chasovnia. — How the Metropolitan is paid. — ^Virgin from Mount Athos. — Tsar and Patriarch. — Motto from Troitsa. Moscow is unlike any other city, not only in its walls, its towers, its cupolas, its churches, but in its streets and houses, its hospitals and its populace. He has not seen Russia who has never been to Moscow. Of countries more advanced in civilization — of constitutional Spain and Greece — he too has seen little who knows but the capital. Modern Athens is a reproduction of Munich ; and to see the chief Spanish town one must go to Seville, not to Frenchified Madrid. The hu¬ man heart of Moscow lies within the walls of the Kitai-Go¬ rod — the Chinese Town, as it is called — “ Kitai ” being Chi¬ nese for “centre,” just as the Orthodox and Imperial heart is found in the Kremlin. The encircling walls of the latter ex¬ clude the town, just as the walls of the Kitai-Gorod shut out the suburbs, where wealthy Moscow lives, sometimes in pret¬ ty villas. After the fire in 1812, which did not efface these girdles, Moscow dragged herself up again without regard to any great improvement of plan ; and the streets are so irreg¬ ular that the easiest thing in the world is to lose one’s self in the narrow limits of the Kitai-Gorod, in which nearly all the MOSCOW. 37 shop-keeping and the whole of the mercantile business of Mosr cow are carried on. From the Kremlin, or Acropolis of Mos¬ cow, which stands on a bank rising steeply about a hundred feet above the river from which the city takes its name, the ground slopes gently through the Kitai-Gorod to the Lubi- anka Street, from his house in which Count Rostopchin an¬ nounced to the terrified people that the Russian garrison would make way for the French army. In passing to the Kremlin from this street, one enters the “ Chinese Town ” through a gate-way in the massive wall of brick, and, if he is a Russian, uncovers before the little church on the left hand, which is one of those curious edifices that are seen nowhere beyond the pale of the Greek Church — a tiny building, the roof of which, with eaves that scarcely escape the hats of those who are passing by, is tortured into the most unex¬ pected shapes and angles; here a little cupola, and there a crocket — a confusion of the architecture of a pagoda and of a Lombard church, with tiles colored, red, blue, green, and yellow, in tints sobered and softened by age into a curious beauty. The ornamental little windows are not needed, for the diminutive church is ventilated only by the frequent oj^ening of the door; and as for light, there is that of the lamps and candles, which are constantly burning. In point of superstition, I see no superiority in the lower classes of Russia over those of Spain. With the latter, their religion is, for the most part, symbolized by wooden dolls, blackened with age, such as Our Ladies ” of Atocha and Montserrat. With the Russians, solid images are not per¬ mitted; and the symbols of their faith are generally worth¬ less pictures, made to resemble images as much as possible by having robes, wrought in thin gold or silver, placed over the painting upon that part of the person where such gar¬ ments would be worn in life. The celebrated gate in the wall of the Kremlin, to which one ascends by the slope lead- 38 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. ing from the Kitai-Gorod, is famous because a picture of this sort — “ The Redeemer of Smolensk,” as it is called — is sus¬ pended over the high archway of brick. With an opera- glass, one can discern a representation of the typical face of Christ, decked in golden garb and nimbus. It is barely per¬ mitted, even in these days, that any one may pass under this archway except uncovered. Jews and Mohammedans gener¬ ally find some less sacred portal, and the Tsar himself never enters the Kremlin by this “Redeemer Gate” with his hat upon his head. The tower above the gate-way — a Gothic structure upon Italian fortifications — is suggestive of much that one sees in Russia. The traveler who expects to find grand buildings upon the Kremlin will be grievously disap¬ pointed. They are interesting because they are national, be¬ cause they are unique and curious ; but that is all. Highest rises the octagonal bell-tower of Ivan the Great. The bells, as is usual throughout Russia, are, as the French would say, monies au jour ; so that bell, and tongue, and beam, and ma¬ chinery are seen from the ground, with no intervening wall or window. The importance attached to bells in the Greek Church has been curiouslv illustrated in the Blue-book, containinjr “ Cor- respondence respecting the Affairs of Turkey, and the Insur¬ rection in Bosnia and the Herzegovina.” Consul Freeman reports that orders have been received at Bosnai Serai to construct a second minaret to the chief mosque. It is to be much higher than the existing one, that it may command the Orthodox church and steeple. “ The execution of this work at the present time,” says the consul, “ when, notwithstanding the proclamation, the Christians are refused the permission, so ardently desired, to have bells in their churches, can not be regarded otherwise than as a demonstration of Mussulman fanaticism and superiority.” Sir Henry Elliot communicated with the Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs, and reported CIIUECH OP THE ASSUMPTIOX. 39 to Lord Derby that, before granting the permission to put up bells in the churches — which is now about to be granted, and which may create some soreness on the part of a portion of the Mussulmans — the Government considered it prudent to authorize the erection of a minaret, which should be hiffh- er than the steeple!” In Russia, as in Rome, there is a saint to be invoked upon every thought or purpose in life; and happy is he or she who remembers the right one when a handkerchief is mislaid or a sweetheart lost. Every one knows the church in Rome close to the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, to which pet lambs and dogs, and the horses of the Pope and of the car¬ dinals, are taken for the blessing of their patron, St. Antonio Abbate. The chapel in the basement of the tower of Ivan is, or ought to be, frequented by ladies about to marry ; for it is dedicated to that particular St. Nicholas who is their ap¬ pointed guardian in a country of many saints, and where the rude forms of the Anglo-Saxon action for breach of promise are, happily, unknown. But pass within the commonplace iron railing which shuts off the tower from the Church of the Assumption, enter, and there is no disappointment. One is dazzled and charmed with the spectacle. Let us hear Dean Stanley (who is dis¬ posed to look more kindly on the antics of the Greek Church than the present writer) upon the first view of this truly re¬ markable interior, “It is in dimensions,” he says, “what in the West would be called a chapel rather than a cathedral. But it is so fraught with recollections, so teeming with wor¬ shipers, so bursting with tombs and pictures, from the pave¬ ment to the cupola [the dean would not have been less ac¬ curate had he used the plural number, as there are five cupo¬ las, though that in the centre may be called t/ie cupola], that its smallness of space is forgotten in the fullness of its con¬ tents. On the platform of its nave, from Ivan the Terrible 40 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. downward to this day, the Tsars have been crowned. Along its altar- screen are deposited the most sacred pictures of Russia: that painted by the Metropolitan Peter; this sent by the Greek Emperor Manuel ; that brought by Vladimir from Kherson.” The platform to which Dean Stanley thits refers is a square dais of wood, raised by one step from the floor of the church, in the centre of which it is placed. The church has no long- drawn aisles,” nor any of the solemn beauty which is so ad¬ mirable in the dean’s own Abbey of Westminster. The inte¬ rior is a blaze of color from floor to ceiling. The walls are gilded in all but the frescoed representations of ‘‘The Seven Councils ” and “ The Last Judgment ;” and the five domes are upheld by four tall circular pillars of almost unvarying diam¬ eter, which are richly gilded from pavement to arch, except where they are adorned with quaint and highly colored por¬ traits of martyrs. “ Time was,” wrote Cardinal Wiseman, with a well-pointed sneer, “ when it needed not a coronation to fill the aisles of Westminster.” Since that was written, we have seen those aisles thronged with eager listeners to the eloquence of a Wilberforce or a Stanley. A coronation in the Uspenski Sa- bor of Moscow is probably a grander sight, because of the awful power with which the new wearer of the Russian crown is — not invested, but invests himself. Possibly Dean Stanley was present at the coronation of Alexander II. “ The coro¬ nation,” he writes, “ even at the present time, is not a mere ceremony, but an historical event, and solemn consecration. It is preceded by fasting and seclusion, and takes place in the most sacred church in Russia ; the Emperor, not as in the corresponding forms of European investiture, a passive 3’ecipient, but himself the principal figure in the whole scene ; himself reciting aloud the confession of the Orthodox faith ; himself, alone on his knees, amidst the assembled mul- THE VIRGIN OP VLADIMIR. 41 titude, offering up the prayer of intercession for the Em¬ pire; himself placing his own crown on his own head; him¬ self entering through the sacred door of the innermost sanct¬ uary, and taking from the altar the elements of bread and wine.” The Tsar is at once priest and king, pretending to be that which the Persian poet Sa’di describes as the kingly of¬ fice — “ the Shadow of God.” The picture of The Holy Virgin of Vladimir ” is saluted by the devout as the work of St. Luke, and by the careless as bearing nearly fifty thousand pounds’ worth of jewels, includ¬ ing an emerald of enormous size. The faithful, when divine service is over, walk along the altar-screen, on which this and other sacred pictures are placed, kissing them one after the other with marks of deepest devotion. These and other treas¬ ures were, of course, removed before the evacuation of Mos¬ cow, in 1812. It is quite impossible, without the aid of a series of colored plates, to convey to the mind of any one who has not seen it an accurate notion of the interior of this church. The principal architectural feature is the appropria¬ tion of about one-third of the area to the sanctuary, the altar- screen reducing the interior space from a parallelogram to a square, in which the four frescoed columns stand equidistant from the centre. Ho part of the walls is unadorned with paint or gilding ; and with the head well thrown back, one can see a gigantic face of Christ painted upon the inner sur¬ face of the central dome. There are many points, and those of great and significant importance, in which, to a Protestant mind, the Russian churches might be improved by following the example of any mosque. There can be nothing more opposed to the method of Islam than the constant exhibition of pictures, and the monstrous devotion and salutation of which these — for the most part daubs — are the object. Dean Stanley, however, notices one matter in which this great church of Moscow has 42 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAIST. followed Oriental custom — the assiornment of its four corners O as the places of most honored sepulture. The adjoining church, the Cathedral of Michael the Arch¬ angel, is more celebrated for its tombs. There lie the remains of John the Terrible, and of his murdered son Demetrius. As we entered this church, we noticed that all persons appeared to direct their steps, in the first place, to a low tomb not far from the centre, and that there they beat with utmost rever¬ ence to lay their lips upon a small opening in a golden frame¬ work, a brown, parchment - like patch, which is actually the forehead of the young Demetrius. This prince achieved his present position of saintship and adoration, involving neglect of the shrine of his Terrible ” parent, in consequence of his having been murdered by order of Boris Godunof, the Tsar of that turbulent period which preceded the settlement of the Empire by the election of young Romanoff, son of the Metropolitan of Rostof, in 1613. There happened also a “ miracle ” which led to the discovery of his sainted remains. Above the shrine his portrait hangs in a massive setting of gold. Externally the architecture of the buildings of the Kremlin is neither grand nor pleasing. It is possible that the uncom¬ mon aspect of the gilded domes, of which there are five on each of the churches above referred to, and several on other buildings, has led to the general impression, which certainly prevails, that these plain edifices are externally remarkable. The big bell, “ Tsar Kolokol,” claims attention as a fractured apartment (it is big enough for habitation) in bell-metal ; and if the day is fine, the view from the front of the Palace of the Kremlin will command admiration. The massive Avail is at this point sunk beneath the brow on Avhich the Kremlin stands ; and across the river, in the foreground of a very ex¬ tended prospect, there stands a huge AA^hite building, the Foundling Hospital, to Avhich Ave descended, fortunately upon FOUNDLING HOSPITAL. 43 the day when strangers are admitted to this vast nursery for Russian infants. To those who know any thing of the statistics of infant mortalityj there is something sad and ominous in entering a huge barrack such as this, devoted to the care of willfully, deserted infancy. The chief officer, a Russian exquisite, who conducted us over the building, spoke, and appeared to feel, like a showman. As for the inmates, he was quite unpitying. He looked for our deepest sympathy as he informed us that everyday it was his duty to walk through the well-kept wards. There is nothing to be seen like the dramatic cradle in which, at dead of night, the tearful, frightened mother de¬ posits her new-born babe, and reels, swooning with terror and agitation, into the dark background, after she has sounded, with feverish grasp, the knell of her maternal joys and anxie¬ ties. In Moscow we find the State encouraging the increase of population, and, with the least formality and utmost open¬ ness, relieving all who choose to bring their infants, from the burden, the cost, and responsibilities of parentage. Two women, friends, as they said, of the mother of the babe which one of them carried, entered the building shortly after we arrived. The child was not six hours old. According to the usual rule, there were but two questions asked — one to learn whether the child had been baptized, and if so, by what name. It was not officially a member of the Orthodox Church, and therefore was only described in the books by the number which ifwould from that time bear in the Found¬ ling Hospital. This was the twenty -ninth child that had been received that day, and ten more would probably be reg¬ istered before midnight. The baby was washed in a room adjoining the place of reception, dressed in the swaddling- clothes of the establishment, which, unlike the long clothes of English infancy, are swathed almost tightly about the limbs, and carried up - stairs to a large, long ward, where it was 44 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. placed, feet to feet, with another baby, in a curtained cradle, about the centre of the ward, its number being hung round its neck, and also fixed on the cradle above its head. Down¬ stairs we had seen a number of robust peasant-women seek¬ ing employment as nurses in these wards. The pay and ra¬ tions are so good, and there are such substantial advantages in obtaining babies as boarders when they and their wet- nurses leave the hospital, that these places are eagerly sought; and it is said that a mother not unfrequently leaves her in¬ fant, or sends it to the hospital, and then applies for the posi¬ tion of nurse, in order that both may be maintained by the State. The inspecting officer informed us that these women re¬ ceive seven rubles a month and a gratuity, as a reward for good behavior while they are serving in the hospital; and that when they leave it is usual for them to take away a baby, to be boarded out in their family, for the care of which they are paid two rubles per month. If the children are healthy, they are usually sent out, after vaccination, when they are ten days old. Each nurse has the care of two infants lying in the same cradle. In the wards the nurses wear a becom¬ ing uniform, with caps of scarlet. The arrangements, tem¬ perature, and cleanliness of the wards are admirable. It struck me that a little noise would have sounded more health¬ ful and natural than the painful silence of these regiments of, for the most part, dumb cradles. Especially was this sad feature noticeable in the sick ward, where there were many cases of ophthalmia. But the most curious of all was the ward devoted, as the foppish officer said, to “ les enfants oies avant termef'* those which had come prematurely into the world, and were now in wadded and fianneled cradles of cop¬ per — hot-water cradles, in fact, the heat of which was main¬ tained and regulated with the most careful precision. There may be, even in England, differences of opinion as CATHEDRAL OF ST. BASIL. 45 to the morality and advantage of an institution such as this, which deals in the manner I have described with nearly fif¬ teen thousand infants every year. To me it appears to be an approach, dangerous to the morality of a people, to that form of Communism which is especially to be dreaded. It re¬ wards, at the cost of all, the deliberate desertion of the most sacred duties and obligations of parentage. It tends to de¬ grade women by relieving them and the men with whom they associate from the responsibilities of childbirth : it places upon the careful, affectionate, and dutiful parents, in their capacity as tax -payers, the burden of maintaining the offspring of those who have none of these virtues. On the other hand, we can not doubt that it prevents infanticide in many cases, and promotes the peopling of the vast wastes of Russia. But it can hardly be denied that, while thus en¬ couraging population, it is indirectly responsible for the deaths of thousands of infants, because it is on record that the mortality of this hospital is terribly high, and that scarce¬ ly more than twenty -five per cent, of the infants committed to its care lived to learn, as men and women, the circum¬ stances of their childhood. We will return to the heights of the Kremlin, from which we made this digression, and descend through the holy gate to that part of ‘the space before the Kitai-Gorod in which stands the Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed, a church far more remarkable in its architecture than any other in Mos¬ cow. It is said that when the First Kapoleon saw this min¬ iature cathedral, with its grotesque irregularities of outline, he ordered the commander of his artillery to “ destroy that mosque.” But indeed the Cathedral of St. Basil has little re¬ semblance to a mosque. It is perhaps the best example of that queer admixture of Indo - Persian, Tartar - Chinese, and Graeco-Byzantine architecture, which may fairly be called the Russian style. The Cathedral of St. Basil, of which only the 46 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. crypt is used for divine service, is all towers and domes. These cupolas, or domes, in their colors of red and green, as well as ill shape, resemble huge inverted onions, the upturned ‘‘root” finished with a gilded cross. Of the eleven domes, no two are alike in superficial ornamentation ; one or two are painted in bands, which will certainly suggest the vegetable comparison above mentioned. One is indented like the sur¬ face of a pine-apple, others are decorated with patterns that are decidedly arabesque, and the highest of all is elongated with a multiplicity of ornament into something like a spire ; yet perhaps the cupolas are not the most curious part of the church, of which every portion is colored. One is hardly sur¬ prised to find the maze of small chapels above the crypt un¬ used ; they are too intricate. The whole building does not cover more ground than the Albert Memorial in Hyde Park. Dull red and green seem to be the prevailing colors ; but the church is so bewildering that one can hardly feel certain about any part of it. It is just such a church as one might suppose had been built by or for a lunatic ; then it appears not inappropriate. The riddle of its architecture seems to be solved when one learns that St. Basil, though regarded by many as a prophet and worker of miracles, was probably one whom in these degenerate days we should call a harmless simpleton ; and the church, fortu¬ nately uninjured by the French, was finished in the latter part of the sixteenth century by a Tsar, who, to the bones of Basil, added those of John the Idiot. In religion, the Russian peo¬ ple have a tenderness for lunacy and idiocy which I suspect has now and then taken ultimately the form of canonization. John the Idiot is certainly a saint — a religious mendicant who in his life-time, we are told, was known as “Water-carrier,” or “ Big-cap,” because he was ready to bear others’ burdens of water, and from the iron cap he wore. St. John the Idiot’s cap was lost during the Napoleonic invasion ; but the weights THE IBEEIAN CHAPEL. 47 and chains which he and St. Basil are supposed to have used for the mortification of their life are preserved in the chap¬ els. At all events, their reputation is fitly enshrined in the most bizarre and fantastic church in Europe. Of about the same date is the circular rostrum, or pulpit of stone, about four yards in diameter, with a surrounding seat inside, which stands in the large open place near the Church of St. Basil. This was the platform from which the Tsars made solemn promises, and the patriarchs administered bless¬ ings to the people. It is called Lobnoe Mesto ; and at other towns in Russia there are similar tribunes. Passinsc this un- interesting monument in a line from the Cathedral of St. Ba¬ sil, and entering the Kitai-Gorod, one is in front of the princi¬ pal entrance — the Voskreueski gate-rof the Chinese Town.” J ust outside that gate there is to be seen one of the most re¬ markable sights in Moscow — and, indeed, in all Russia. In no other European country is there such an exhibition of what is called religious devotion. Before the stout wall of brick¬ work, which separates the outcoming from the ingoing way, is the Iberian Chapel (Iverskaya Chasovnia), architecturally nothing but a large-sized hut of stone, or a platform raised by two steps above the road-way. From morning till night this platform is thronged, and the chapel overflows with a crowd, chiefly composed of men, pressing, all bare-headed, and all with money in their hands, toward the narrow door-way of the little sanctuary. We were some time getting into the chapel, which will hold about ten people abreast, and is lighted by the flickering glare of a score of candles. There is a step at the farther end, and the wall opposite the door is resplendent with shining metal, except where the object of this extravagant devotion looks grimy through its frame-work of gold. On the left side of The Iberian Mother of God ” — which is the name siven to this commonplace daub, supposed to possess miraculous pow- 48 THKOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. ers — stands a long-haired priest, now and then relieved by another long-haired, deep-voiced priest, who, hour by hour, in the name of the jeweled and tinseled picture, and with blessing, consecrates the prayers and offerings of the faithful. Only the face of the Madonna is visible, and in the candle¬ light it is not easy to distinguish the features beneath the dust of years. But not a minute passes in which the rattle of money, falling to the uses of the Russian Church, is not heard, or in which lips are not pressed upon the frame-work, or upon the rudely wrought robes of beaten gold, which conceal the picture to the neck. Surely no lower depth of superstitious degradation was ever reached in connection with Christian worship ! One can not be surprised that to a Turk a Russian seems to be an idolatrous worshiper of pictures. The refining explanation which the most enlightened fathers of the Greek Church could offer concerning this disgusting exhibition is precisely of the sort, and differs only in degree, from that which might be offered on behalf of the idol-worshipers of more Eastern and Southern lands. The picture has no his- \ toric reputation. It was brought from Mount Athos, that pleasant wooded hill, peopled with monkish drones, who so distrust their masculine instincts that not onlymay no woman enter their charming territory, and enjoy the lovely view sea¬ ward over the blue Levant, but no hen may be brought to their table ; though it is not on record that they refuse eggs which, if hatched, would produce female birds. About twelve thousand pounds a year is collected in coppers at this chapel, and from this sum the salary of the Metropolitan of Moscow is paid. Time has been when, in the ceremonies which pre¬ cede Easter, the Tsar of Russia used to lead the donkey on which the Patriarch of Moscow rode, carrying a sacred chalice and a copy of the Gospels. Nowadays that ceremony is neg¬ lected ; but we are given to understand that the Tsar never enters Moscow without assisting the revenues of this distin- MOTTO FEOM TROITSA. 49 guished ecclesiastical officer, by praying at the shrine of the “ Iberian Mother of God.” In reading Dean Stanley’s Lect¬ ures on the Eastern Church,” I am disposed to wonder at the patience with which he tolerates degrading and grossly super¬ stitious observances. I can not pretend to equal moderation in sight of these things. It may be that he has taken to heart, as I can not, the archiepiscopal inscription near the famous monastery of Troitsa: ^^Let not him who comes in here carry out the dirt that he finds within.” 3 60 THKOUGH PEKSIA BY CAllAVAN. CHAPTER IV. The Road to Nijni. — Rivers Oka and Volga. — Nijni. — The Bridge of Boats. — The Heights of Nijni. — Lopachef’s Hotel. — A Famous Landscape. — Prisoners for Siberia. — Their Wives and Children. — The Great Fair.— The Last Bargains. — Caravan Tea. — Persian Merchants. — Buildings of the Fair. — Gloves and Furs. — Russian Tea-dealers. — Mosque at Rijni. — Shows and Theatres. — Russia vs. Free Trade. — Russian Hardware. — Ar¬ ticles de Paris. — Melons and Gi’apes. — The Governor’s Palace. — Pictur¬ esque Nijni. Though it is only the 20tli of September, the air is keen and frosty, as we drive to the Moscow station of the Nijni- Novgorod Railway. We have a sleepy recollection of the comfort of some hot soup at Vladimir. When we awoke in the morning, at no great distance from Nijni, the window- glasses of the railway-carriage 'svere covered with hoar-frost, and the ground was hard as iron. We soon beheld the Volga, flowing in a broad, yellowish stream past the height on which the oflicial town of Nijni stands ; and from the opposite side of the carriage, as we approach the buildings of the world- famous Fair, w^e can see the lesser stream of the river Oka in its course to the point where it gives itself to the Volga, the site of the Fair being upon the angle between the two rivers. The sun was shining warmly, and the rugged pavement in the main street of the Fair was ankle- deep in mud, which our rattling droschky threw up on all sides. The driver, like all Russian coachmen, had his coat gathered at the waist, and sat upon the ample skirts with a rein of rope in each hand, “ p-r-r-r-r-ing ” his horses along at a rate which would be pun¬ ishable in London. It is, however, done at Nijni, though there upon the road are crowded carts loaded with cotton, NIJNI-NOVGOEOD. 51 tea, and melons, and people of every Eastern nation, many of whom come from lands where a wheel is never seen, where merchandise is of necessity carried by mules or camels. What a thundering the scampering hoofs of our horses and the rumble of our wheels seem to make as we pass on to the planked bridge of boats by which we must cross the Volga to reach the town of ISTijni-I^ovgorod ! From this point the view of the town is very picturesque. Close to the bridge the ground rises abruptly to a height® about two hundred and fifty feet, and the summit is crowned with the chief buildings of the place. Overlooking the river, the united stream of the Volga and the Oka, there. is the white-walled Kremlin, inclos¬ ing not only the governor’s residence, a pleasant garden, and the barracks of a considerable garrison, but also the principal church, the emerald-green cupolas of which show in pleasant contrast to the unvarying white of the walls. Along the ridge, and from the banks of the Volga up the slope, is jdaced the town of Kijni. We rattle along the street, past the stalls where men and women are selling huge water-melons, cut in radiating slices at something less than a farthing for a pound- Aveight of the fruit, which looks delicious in the rapidly in- , creasing heat of the day; past tawdry shrines of St. Nicholas and St. Isaac, before which long-haired and heavily booted peasants are bowing their bare heads nearly to their knees ; past a church built very much after the style of that of St. Basil in Moscoav; mounting always and at last through a deep, grassy cutting, Avhich has the Kremlin on one side, and on the other a group of prettily colored villas, the palest blue or green, soft red and primrose yellow, all Avith bright-green roofs of Avood or metal, to the high table-land, Avhere we are first in the great place” of Nijni, and then in a wide street, in Avhich is-Lopachef’s Hotel. There is a terrible smell of stale tobacco inside Lopachef’s closed door ; but Ave haA'e only to choose betAveen Lopachef 52 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. and Soboref, and tlie latter is Russian vapor bath as well as hotel. We are, without doubt, in the best hotel in Nijni, though there are no carpets on any of the floors, no sheets on the beds, and nothing but the invariable hors oeuvres of a Russian dinner — arrack, uncooked sardines, caviare, and rad¬ ishes, to relieve our immediate hunger. There is, of course, a picture of a saint, all but the head covered with tinseled robes, in one corner of the dining-room ; a lamp burns beneath it, the light hardly discernible in the brightness of approach¬ ing noon. Soup and cutlets, with something more drinkable than the alcohol of Russia, are, however, soon before us ; and in an hour or two we are strolling to the front of the high ground to enjoy the famous prospect — a view so extensive as to be limited only by the clearness of the air and of one’s eye¬ sight. From left all round to right, the foreground appears flat; the windings of the Volga and the Oka can be traced, like those of ribbon on a vast table, flowing through miles of sandy plain, varied with patches of pine forest, and smaller areas in which cultivation has reclaimed the soil. The steam¬ boats move like elongated dots. We can trace the ground- plan of the Fair, which is more than a mile distant, and see its myriad life moving to and fro like that of ant-hills. An unceasing stream of carts and droschkies pours, during the months of the Fair, across the bridge of boats. The scene is one to be remembered in company with that from the Krem¬ lin of Moscow. The usual quiet of this part of Kijni was broken, as we re¬ turned to the hotel, by the tramp of armed men. They were guarding a long procession of prisoners, who were making forced marches to Siberia. The soldiers slouched along, look- - ing hardly less miserable, dusty, and travel-stained than the wretched people whom they watched with fixed bayonets and drawn swords. The prisoners marched, some four and others six abreast, between the files of soldiers. Some were chained THE GEEAT FAIK. 53 in couples, others tramped alone, and all were apparently of the lower classes. There were three or four hundred con¬ victs, as nearly as I could count. Very little talk was pass¬ ing among them, and the soldiers, with sword or bayonet, rudely kept oft* any one who approached within their reach. All traffic was suspended while the long line jjassed. The prisoners were followed by twenty-seven wagons, loaded with the poor baggage of their families, upon which the women and children were uneasily mounted, among whom lay a few elderly or sick men. These women were the wives who were willing to accompany their condemned husbands, and to set¬ tle in Siberia at least for the term of their husbands’ sentence, which in no case is less than four years. If the wives choose to go, they must take their children, and all submit to the degradation and rigors of surveillance and imprisonment. The pavements of Nijni are the worst imaginable; and as these springlcss vehicles (which were not really wagons, but simply four fir poles fastened at obtuse angles on wheels) jolt¬ ed over the uneven bowlders, the poor children were shaken high out of their wretched seat at nearly every yard of the journey. Soldiers with drawn swords walked beside these cart-loads of weakness and childhood. It was very touching to see the old men and the sick painfully lift themselves when¬ ever they passed a church, and with the sadness of eternal farewell, uncover their miserable heads and cross their breasts devoutly as they were borne along in their terrible journey to Siberia. For another month or six weeks these wretched peo¬ ple, or such of them as survived, would be traveling to their dreaded settlement, which, however, I believe, is somewhat better than the Siberia with which our novelists and play¬ wrights have made us familiar. A pleasanter sight was that of the great Fair. ISTow is the time for the last bargains in the greatest Fair in the world — an international exposition half a dozen times as large as that 54 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN". which in 1851 set ns all thinking the millennium had arrived when Prince Albert’s ideas and Paxton’s plans were realized in Hyde Park. What shall we buy ? There is a sharp-eyed tea-merchant watching our movements, hoping to get rid of yet one or two more of those square seventy -pound bundles of tea piled at the door of his store. The tea is in a light chest, which has been cased before it left China in a damp bullock’s hide, the stitching of which has been strained and hardened in the long caravan journey over Central Asian des-- erts. Thinking that we may perhaps purchase, he makes a sign of encouragement, and forthwith rams an iron bodkin, three feet long, and shaped like a cheese - scoop, but with a solid, pointed end, into the tea, twists it, and produces a fragrant sample. He is one of hundreds of tea -merchants who have hired a stall in the Fair ; and, in compliment to the commodity, the roofs in this part are built pagoda-fashion, but, like all the I’est, the tea-stores are sheds of timber and brick, placed together in long parallel lines, sheltered from sun and rain by a rough arcade, upon the brick pavement of which purchasers and idlers pass along. More attractive, perhaps, than the tea-dealer is the Persian opposite, whose dark eyes gleam with desire to sell any thing in his store. He has carpets of soft colors, such as the sons of Iran best know how to blend, carpets heavy as himself, to cover large rooms ; small carpets ; mere handfuls, on which the faithful may kneel in orthodox Mohammedan fashion five times a day, fixing their eyes in the direction of Mecca. He has books; here is a copy of the Koran, bound in Tabriz, marble - backed, with yellow -edged leaves, like some of our older editions — a book which, for two rubles, any one, no matter whether his faith is centred at Mecca or Jerusalem, anywhere or nowhere, may put in his pocket. This bright¬ eyed merchant might be shown in London for the Shah, whom he much resembles; and if, in his high- standing cap BUILDINGS AT THE FAIR. 55 of black lamb-skin, his grass-green tunic, and his scarlet-lined overcoat, he were to appear at Charing Cross surrounded by two or three of his own traveling-trunks, which are also for sale, by way of luggage, he would be sure, as a traveling “ sensation,” to achieve legitimate success. He presses, with a gay smile, upon our attention one of the chests, which is painted bright vermilion, cross - barred, like Malvolio’s legs, with bands of black ; but he has another of green and black, and a third of yellow, with blue bands of iron ; and if one had the boldness requisite for traveling in such illustrious company, these trunks would certainly obviate all difficulty as to recognizing one’s luggage in the customary and truly British scramble at any London terminus. We see at a glance that any one who wishes to have a true idea of Nijni must get rid at once and forever of any notion of an English fair, by way of comparison. On the Volga they mean business, not pleasure ; and the Fair is held in buildings infinitely ruder and simpler in construction, but quite as permanent as those of the Lowther Arcade. For about half the year these are closed, and the straight lines of the parallel streets of the Fair are only tenanted by sparrows, picking up the last, traces of the great gathering. The site is flat, but in Fair-time the roads between the long rows of sheds are worn into rivulets of filth, or into heaps and hol¬ lows of dust. Not one man in five wears a leather shoe; the rest, those who do not go barefoot, are for the most part content with sandals made of dried grass, bound over thick woolen stockings with wisps of the same vegetable. There is a great deal of genuine barter going on. In one sense, indeed, it may be truly said that no one at this gath¬ ering has ready” money. Here are two Persian boys bar¬ gaining for a ring which has surely come from one of the fabriqiies cVimitation of Paris. The process is long. Twen¬ ty copecks, perhaps, divide seller and buyer, and it may be 56 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. that part of this difference will disappear in talk to - day, and the remainder to-morrow or the day after. Three Tar¬ tars, dressed in ragged sheep-skins, have their slanting eyes, that unmistakable mark of race, fixed upon the gay glories of a cotton handkerchief, which I hope is Manchester, but fear is Moscow, work. And so it goes on all through the busy town, or commercial camp, which is called the Fair of Nijni-N'ovgorod. Not rarely does a bargain take three days in the making. What Adam Smith calls the “ higgling of the market ” is a tremendous business at the Russian mart. ‘'Small profits and quick returns” is not the Nijni motto. Prices are all "fancy.” It is not easy to get at the relation of supply and demand. The dealer asks twice or three times the legitimate value, and then engages in a wordy duel with the purchaser, in which by - standers are quite at liberty to " jine in,” as a Yankee would say. * Out from his perpetual throne upon the bergs and amidst the fogs of the North, the Ice-king will come in a few weeks, sealing, as he passes, the land and the rivers of Russia ; and consequently no small portion of the work of the Fair is di¬ rected toward providing for his reception. Thick woolen and leather gloves are largely 'bought by the hairiest peasant¬ ry in Europe — men whose long back-hair and beards run into and seem intermixed with the wool of the dirty sheep-skins which cover them from head to foot. All these gloves have that well-known peculiarity of shape (common also to the gloves of English infancy) which Charles Dickens so happily described as made up with a parlor for the thumb and a common tap-room for the fingers. Of course there are furs — piles upon piles of fur — but this article of dress or orna¬ ment is not cheap at Nijni, and the kinds of fur most worn in England are not to be seen. There is no seal -skin, and but little sable or ermine. Black fox and silver fox, wolf and bear skin, and commoner furs for lining, are much sold. RUSSIA]^ TEA-DEALERS. 57 Desperately anxious upon these last September days of the Fair, which opens in May, are the dealers to sell their re¬ maining stock of cloth coats lined with fur — the shuba — so much worn in Russia. The prices rise from eight pounds to one hundred pounds, according to the sort of fur. A Russian will be ’warm, at any sacrifice of elegance in his person or of ventilation in his home; but he has another re¬ quirement not less imperative — he must have in his ill-ven¬ tilated house a tinseled picture of the head of Christ, or of some saint ; if a saint, then it is generally the one after whom he is named. There is not a baptismal name in common use throughout Russia which is not that of a saint — which has not a saint to father it; and so it happens that when all the Alexanders or Alexises in a village celebrate, with all the ar¬ rack they can get, the return of their name-day, a sort of brotherhood often becomes established between people who have received the same name at the ecclesiastical font. A roughly built country cart has just passed carrying off a pur¬ chase, a large head of Christ, the c'onventional face looking out from a setting of tawdry ormolu, the whole framed in vulgar, gaudy gilt. Two men are holding the frame, to keep it from contact with the sides of the cart, which rumbles and tumbles along the uneven way; and as it goes, peasants and dealers uncover their heads and make most reverently the sign of the cross upon their bodies before this article of mer¬ chandise. It is ten o’clock, and here are two men swinging back the iron doors of their shed to begin business for the clay. They are Russian tea-dealers. With feet placed close together, with cap in hand, they bow in deep obeisance three times to¬ ward the nearest church, crossing themselves, as they bend, before they unfasten the padlocks ; and then, on gaining the floor of their shops, they repeat the religious bowing, which in the Greek Church never takes the form of genuflection, 3* 58 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. the knees, in fact, being almost the only joint that is not bent. Last summer we met with a cottier farmer in Ireland who had given two hundred pounds toward the building fund of a Roman Catholic chapel, which was being erected in the par¬ ish wherein he lived. The sum was immense for a man in his position, and people were naturally inquisitive on the sub¬ ject. To one who asked why he had subscribed so largely he said, I want to have a claim on the Almighty and I am sure I do these Russians no wrong in believing that these os¬ tentatious shop prayers of theirs are in part a demonstration, and in part concerned with averting the influence of the devil of the Greek Church from their till. The religious difiiculty ” is nicely settled at ^Tijni. In the interest of Russian trade, the Crescent is lifted to the skies high as the Cross. Raised somewhat upon an artificial mound, near the centre of the Fair, is a mosque, probably the most Northern mosque in Europe. In the small court-yard, a stal¬ wart moollah was making signs of direction to a Tartar dwarf — a hunchback, and in rags ; a deaf-mute, whose glit¬ tering* eyes fixed greedily upon us as we advanced to visit the mosque. Perhaps the moollah in charge had not done well at the Fair ; he looked sad as we walked with him over the floor of his church, which was covered with clean matting, on which a few of the commonest sort of Persian carpets were laid. Probably he was sad at the thought that the glories and the work of the great Fair were nearly over. One finds no trace whatever, on entering a mosque, of the anti-human principles which are taught there from the words of the Koran. In the air of a mosque there is no taint of vengeance, of slavery, of polygamy, of deadly animosity to¬ ward dissent. One contrasts rather the purity and simplicity of the place of worship, the grateful absence of any stupid at¬ tempt to personify the Infinite in mortal forms, with the de- SHOWS AND THEATRE. 59 grading and meretricious attractions of a Greek or Roman church, with the trumpery, vulgar images of saints and vir- , gins, images of persons, some not only without real claim to reverence, but rather deserving, as repressors of civilization, the forgetfulness, if not the contempt, of mankind; objects of conventional regard, which not one worshiper in ten thou¬ sand could explain or account for by any well-informed state¬ ment of the saint’s claim. The mosque of Nijni was, like all mosques throughout the world, a temple without trace of sect. We passed from it into the adjacent church for the people of the Fair who are of the orthodox Russian faith ; and there a priest in sumptuous raiment was bringing bass notes appar¬ ently from somewhere about the region of the stomach, after the most admired manner of priests of that communion, and, as he paused to take breath, kissing pictures on the screen, gluing his worship and praise with his lips to the frame¬ work of these daubs, and to the sham jewels in the cover of the copy of the Gospels which lay before him. Over the way stood an Armenian church, a nearer approximation to Rome. No limitation to pictures with flat robes of gold or silver in that place of worship ! There they may go the whole animal, so far as images are concerned. Not distant from the churches is the principal theatre of the Fair, a wooden building, in which, at the time of our visit, one might see — so the bills said — the unapproachable Hickin Family.” These were the only words in English (and perhaps Mr. Hickin would tell us these words are “Ameri¬ can ”) which we observed within the Fair. There was, how¬ ever, one unquestionable exception. The heap of “Three- cord Knitting” on a stall near the governor’s house must surely have been of English manufacture. If I remember rightly, Mr. Cobden made a tour in Russia, and then formed no very high opinion of the solidarity or strength of the Empire, especially for external warfare. I CO THEOUGH PEESIA BY CARAVAN. never heard that he visited N^ijui, and I hardly think it pos¬ sible that he could have been there in the Fair-time, without leaving such a record of his visit as it would not have been easy to forget. Had he been there, his patriotic soul would surely have poured over with contempt for the commercial policy of Russia, and with longing for the universal reign of free trade. We passed scores of stalls covered with hard¬ ware of all sorts — knives, padlocks, door -locks, tools, nails, household cutlery and utensils — all of miserably inferior man¬ ufacture, the blades and fastenings bearing the mark of War¬ saw, but most often of Moscow, or some other Russian town. Tens of thousands of these useful articles had passed within the four preceding months, and were passing daily during our visit, from Nijni into Asia. What a trade might Mr. Bright’s constituents do in this way if it were not for the prohibitory rates of the Russian tariff ! and how soon would Russians, of Eurojoe and of Asia, learn to appreciate the dif¬ ference between a Sheffield or Birmingham blade and the home-made knives of coarse iron, wdiich are forced upon them at a price for which they could obtain English manu¬ facture, from a mistaken belief that this provision of inferior articles to the many for the benefit of the few is advanta¬ geous to the general welfare of the Russian Empire ! Of the vast quantity of cotton goods in the Fair, some look like Manchester pieces, but much is certainly the inferior work of Russian hands. There is no mistaking the Nouveautes de Paris,” which are to be met with on all sides ; buttons, especially ornamental buttons, gayly ribboned slippers, pict¬ ures of women beautiful in face and very much decolletees as to dress, figures in lewd attitudes, some representing the performance of the cancan — very salable in Persia — parcels of scent, toys of all kinds, and musical instruments. The large and open demand for Parisian pictures of the lascivious sort in Mohammedan countries is worth volumes of printed THE governor’s PALACE. 61 commentary upon the teaching of the Koran. These pict- xires, which a gar9on of the Quartier Latin would think it bold and roue-like to display upon the walls of his garret, are, in Persia and Turkey, paraded in the family apartments, and treasured in photographic albums in recesses which an¬ swer to the drawing-room tables of Western Europe; nor is it common for any father to hesitate in illustrating conversa¬ tion carried on in presence of his sons by indecent reference to these erotic productions, which are usually the work of Frenchmen, unless the taste of the khan or effendi leans to the less veiled and coarser indelicacy of German work. But this is premature; we are not yet in Persian houses. In the Kijni Fair, Parisian spoons seem to tickle most successfully Asiatic fancy, while prosaic and solid-working Germany con¬ tributes stockings and strumpfbdnde^ less elegant than the jarretUres de Paris. Floating through the Fair are the sellers of water-melons, shouting arhus^^ a-r-r-r-r at the top of their voices. But they are silent often when the glistening red inside of the huge fruit attracts thirsty buyers of slices at one copeck each. Others, armed with scale and weights, vend luscious grapes just arrived by steamboat from the shores of the Caspian. One can not go far without meeting a man loaded with furry caps, much worn in Russia. About the centre of the Fair is the governor’s ‘^palace,” in which the Duke of Edinburgh lately staid. It has an unusual, and, I believe for a palace, unique feature, in the emblazonment of “ Cafe Res¬ taurant” upon the wall of the ground-floor. This is in Rus¬ sian letters, of course, and it tempts one to enter. Being a Russian cafe, it is without ventilation, and the fumes of smoke — to say nothing of the mingled smell of soup, of oily fish, of tea, and of greasy people in heavy costumes bearing the dirt of years — prevent any immediate certainty as to whether it is the governor in person, or a young lady of G2 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. Nijni, to whom so many guests on leaving are paying their addresses and their copecks. It is a young lady ; and there is no connection between the cafe and the apartments of the first floor, which lately sheltered the illustrious son-in-law of the Tsar. The lively aspect of the Fair spreads upward to the roofs, which, as one sees from the top of this building, are all paint¬ ed red or green. One sees, too, the ‘Mife” of the Fair, not only coursing over all the land between the two rivers, but extending to the barges, the steamboats, and the shallow-bot¬ tomed vessels of every shape which are moored upon the sandy shores. Nijni is, as I have said, very picturesque and very dirty. One way of making a picturesque town is to take a site some¬ what irregular and rocky, and to plant houses washed with different colors, including blue, yellow, and salmon color, in gardens; cover these habitations with roofs painted red or ureen, let the intervals be filled in with trees and shrubs, most of them old and large, the leaves showing varied tints of au¬ tumn ; raise here and there a green or gilded cupola of some Byzantine church ; secure over all a blue sky, made bright with the genial warmth of the shining sun ; the result will be pleasing, and will much resemble Nijni as it appears toward the end of September. TICKETS FOR TWO THOUSAND MILES. 63 CHAPTER Y. Leaving Nijni.— The Tsarevna Marie. — Tickets for Two Thousand Miles. — Our Fellow-passengers. — The Alexander II. — Kazan. — Mohammedans in Eussia.— Our Lady of Kazan.— “No Sheets ! ’’—Oriental Cleanliness.— Kussian Climate and Clothing. — Orientalism in Russia. — Persian Prayers. — A Shi’ah’s Devotions. — Shallowness of the Volga. — The River Kama. — Hills about Simbirsk.— Samara. — Mare’s-milk Cure. — ^Volsk.— Saratof. — Tartar Population. — Prisoners for the Caucasus Tsaritzin, — Sarepta. — Gingerbread and Mustard. — Chorney Yar. — A Peasant Mayor. — Tartar Fishermen. — Astrakhan. — Mouths of the Volga. — Raising Level of the Caspian. It was not at all an easy matter in Nijni, a town of forty- five thousand inhabitants, to find a person who could speak even a few words of any language other than Russian, or the Arabic patois of the Russian Tartars. But the captain of the Tsarevna Marie, a rather high and mighty man, in fur coat and fur-lined boots, could talk German, and with his assistance we obtained, for one hundred and twenty-six rubles, two tick¬ ets, entitling us to a separate cabin from Nijni down the Vol¬ ga to Astrakhan (a river journey of about fourteen hundred miles), and from Astrakhan, again south, for the whole length (more than six hundred miles) of the Caspian Sea to the Per¬ sian landing-place of Enzelli. The steamboats of this part of the world, in waters which have neither ingress nor exit for shipping, are the pride of all the mooring-places, though they are not of native manufacture. They are built in other countries by foreigners, and brought in pieces to the banks of the Volga. It has always been so in Russia. The first ves¬ sel of war ever built in Russia was put together this way at Nijni by a company of merchants from Holstein, who in the 64 THKOUGH PERSIA BY CAEAVAI^. seventeenth century obtained permission to force a trade with Persia and India by way of the Volga and the Caspian. From the considerable town of Twer to its lai’gest mouth in the Caspian Sea, the Volga carries steamboats for about eighteen hundred miles, into such a change of climate that one sees passengers who are wrapped, chrysalis-like, in furs and rugs at I^ijni, transformed into a butterfly lightness and gayety of costume at Astrakhan. We left Nijni at the time of year when the boats are most crowded, and the deck saloon of the Tsarevna Marie was not exactly delightful. Though female as well as male j)assengers were at liberty to smoke in every part of the vessel, and certainly did not neglect the priv¬ ilege, there was a prejudice against open windows which one finds nowhere so strong as among the stove-grown people of Russia. Literally, the Russian women of the I’icher classes are reared in hot-houses, and have the characteristics of fruit so produced. They have less vitality than women of other countries, and their beauty — exquisite as it sometimes shows itself — fades more quickly. We struggle, and at last resign ourselves to the disagreeable accompaniments of the journey. We travel Avith the stream. We are all returning from the Fair of Nijni — a heavy bpat-load. Our fellow-passengers are Russians from the least civilized parts of the European Em¬ pire, Persians from Resht and Teheran, Armenians and Geor¬ gians from the Caucasus, Tartars from the Lower Volga. We are the only English on board. Our neighbors’ clothes are o-f many colors and shapes, and this many-colored variety is the striking feature of their luggage. The Christians of the su¬ perior class eat royal sturgeon in cutlets, and delicate sterlet mostly in soup ; while the more picturesque Mohammedans on the deck are content Avith unleavened bread and grapes, or Avater-melons. All of us, Avithout distinction of creed or coun¬ try, drink tea; the engine boiler has a tap on deck from which the Mohammedan kettles and those of the poorer Christians THE “ALEXANDER II.’’ 65 aie supplied with hot water. In the saloon we take tea d la Busse—m glasses, and amazingly weak. I venture to abuse the Russian mode of taking warm water with the faintest col¬ oring of tea, which at once brings down the national wrath of a passenger, who declares that the English “boil” their tea, and will have it no other way but “ cooked ” like broth or soup. When it was wet and cold, on the way from Nijni-Novgo- lod to Kazan, the poorer Christians on board the Tsarevna J\£aTie diank corn -brandy largely, while the Mohammedans hid themselves beneath their carpets and muttered hopes of reaching a better land. At Kazan, we were transferred to the Alexander II, a very large vessel, her white hull tower¬ ing five-and-twenty feet above the water. She is built upon the plan of those Hudson River and Mississippi steamboats which have so long made river traveling in America most comfortable. She has two floors or stories above the water, into which she presses nowhere to a greater depth than four feet, and the first and second class saloons and sleeping-cabins, with their surrounding galleries, are entirely shut off from the under story or main deck, where are the third-class pas¬ sengers, and where the cargo is received, and the crew are busy in making the vessel fast at the numerous stations on the river. In September, no vessel drawing four feet of wa¬ ter can get up the river to Kijni, and, for our parts, we were b.y no means sorry to quit the narrower limits of the Tsa~ revna Marie for the splendid saloon and ample space of the Alexander II, which, after assuring us that she is “ the first ship on the river,” the captain said was built in Belgium, sent in pieces to Russia, and put together on the banks of the Volga. There is time to drive to Kazan, of which, though it is three miles distant, we might see something from the river if the banks were not so high as to render this impos¬ sible. 66 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAYAX. The first sight of Kazan, a town of eighty thousand inhab¬ itants, impresses one with a sense of the error of supposing that Russia in Europe is exclusively inhabited by Christians. We had, in 1868, seen mosques at Eupatoria, and Tartars in other parts of the Crimea, but we hardly expected to find so large a proportion of the population of one of the princi¬ pal towns in Central Russia composed of Mohammedans, of whom, perhaps, there are not less than twenty thousand in Kazan. There is a tower in Kazan which some assert is a relic of times when the Tartars held their own in this region. But Kazan has been reduced to ashes,” as the historians say, more than once, and there is so much that is Tartaresque in Russian buildings of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, that this may as well be a monument of the conqueror Ivan the Terrible as of any Tartar Tsar. There is Our Lady of Kazan ” — she is Russian every bit of her. She is miracu¬ lous,” and a church has been built on purpose to receive her. Her miracle ” consisted in escaping destruction when the building in which she was suspended was consumed by fire. Doubtless she was removed by some priest and placed in a miraculous position after the fire, or she may easily have been preserved by the accidents of the conflagration. It is proba¬ bly true that many miracles ” of this sort happened in the Pantechnicon to articles ol furniture stored there before the fire. From a picture she was transformed into a revenue by the miracle. Catherine II. placed diamonds of enormous value above her head; and orthodox Russians, who bow down be¬ fore her, feel entitled to look with contempt upon their hea¬ then fellow-townsmen, the Tartar Mussulmans. “ Ko sheets !” I hear the one English lady exclaim, as we are leaving the moorings at Kazan ; and it does strike one as odd and uncomfortable, to see nothing but a bare couch pro¬ vided for a five days’ voyage — not a single article of bedding. Frostenia—i. 6., bed-linen— is perhaps the Russian word which ORIENTAL CLEANLINESS. 07 English travelers pronounce with most energy. Muscovite civilization has not yet attained to sheets ; indeed, Russians are generally prepared to maintain that theirs is the better mode of sleeping. The Russians have in this, as in many other matters, the Oriental rather than the Occidental fash¬ ion. In Western Europe, it is the cleanly, wholesome custom to lay aside entirely the garments of the day. In Eastern Europe and in Asia, the opposite plan prevails ; and, for the most part, people sleep in some, if not all, the clothes in which they have tilled the land or walked the street. In the house of a Persian, a man’s bed is anywhere upon the carpets in any one of the rooms. There are always pillows lying about, on which to rest the arm or back by day and the head by night. He takes his sleep by night as an Englishman does his nap after dinner, except that the Englishman is generally raised from the floor, and the Persian is not. Britains will humble themselves metaphorically to the dust, in asking a friend to “ give them a bed.” In Oriental lands, neither host nor guest would understand such a phrase ; for every trav¬ eler, whether he be visitor or voyager, carries all that he re¬ quires for sleeping, except shelter from inclement weather; and a man’s hospitality is not limited, as with us, to the con¬ fines of his spare bed,” nor is there any of that sense of in¬ delicacy in sleeping in company with others which is the nat¬ ural consequence of the bedroom arrangements of Western Europe. When people make their bed anywhere, and are in the hab¬ it of carrying all that they deem requisite in this way from place to place, they dispense with articles which would require frequent washing. It is otherwise when the bed becomes a fixed institution, as in England ; and there can be no doubt that the more cleanly practice is that which brings as much as possible of the bedding most frequently to the wash-tub, and with regard to the person, that which suggests by most 68 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN-. complete removal of garments of every-day life the most com¬ plete and thorough ablutions. It is quite a mistake to suppose that Oriental peoples are the most cleanly because they observe the washings directed by the Koran. These are certainly performed, and not with¬ out good effect ; but this is done in the perfunctory manner in which religious obligations are generally undertaken, and it is done while w'earing clothes which may not have been , removed for weeks. The face is smeared with water before prayer and before eating, but there is no washing such as will remove the dust from eyes already menaced, as a conse¬ quence, with chronic ophthalmia; and if it were not the cus¬ tom among Mohammedans to shave their heads, their matted hair would become a preserve for noxious vermin. The worst of the Russian is that he has carried some of these customs rather too far north. He does not shave his head, nor clean it. His food of oily fish, or the most greasy preparation of meat, the demand of a cold climate, is not so cleanly as the rice saturated with meat gravy and the fruit of the Oriental. At six months after date, the clothes of the Russian are not so tolerable as those of the Oriental of the South. The climate being so much colder, the Russian sleeps in a less pure atmosphere, and indeed the air of Russian bed¬ rooms, even of the higher class, is, in winter, often disgusting. Russians, whom English people meet in Italy during winter, are often heard to say that they have never experienced the miseries of cold until they came south of the Alps. On board the Alexander though there were yet more than three months remaining of the year, and though the weather was by no means what English people would call cold, the cabins were heated with hot- water pipes. Two Russian gentlemen complained of loss of appetite, from headache, and of sleepless¬ ness. They were astonished when we asked how they could expect any other result after lying for hours in a small cabin OKIENTALISM IN RUSSIA. 69 with the door and window closed, and with their pillows all but resting upon a huge pipe filled with boiling water. To their surprise, they were cured next day by changing their pillows to the opposite ends of their beds, and by leaving two inches of their window open. The day on which we left Ka¬ zan was such as in England would have been called and en¬ joyed as “ a mild autumn day;” but being in Russia, the cab¬ ins were warmed to a stewy heat, and we noticed through the day that our cabin was the only one of which the window was open. It would 'be possible to enumerate, almostr to weariness, the points in which Russians, differing from the people of Western Europe, resemble those races whom we call Orient¬ als. Except Turkey, Russia is the only European country in which women smoke tobacco habitually. Turkish women are, as a rule, delicate, owing to their customary seclusion in houses (some do not pass the threshold for months, or even years), and to the substitution of narcotics and sweet-meats for wholesome and nutritious food. Russian women are often not less feeble, owing to similar habits, and to the un¬ natural, enervating temperature of their houses. We have seen at Moscow and elsewhere how, after the manner of the mosque, Russians make the place of honor for interment in the corners of their churches. In the Cathedral of the As¬ sumption, the resting-place of the most revered dead, the tombs of SS. Theognostus, Peter, Philip, and Jonah, all Met¬ ropolitans of Moscow, are enshrined in the four angles of that Avonderful church ; and there also are the remains of SS. Pho- tius and Cyprian, of Philaret and Hermogenes, Patriarchs of the Russo-Greek Church. Some confusion of manners and customs is perhaps inevitable in an empire which extends through thirty degrees of latitude, and includes Finns and Persians, Germans and Calmuck Tartars, with people of many colors and creeds — the fair-haired girls of Hango and Hel- 70 THKOUGH PEESIA BY CARAVAN. singfors, and the ebonized descendants of Tartar slaves ; fol¬ lowers of Luther and worshipers of Buddha. As the setting sun and the flat horizon draw together in the reddening light of evening, representatives of millions of the Tsar’s subjects mount the highest places in our vessel, and turn their prayerful eyes tow^ard Mecca. But whether the view was clouded with pitiless rain, in our journey from Nijni to Kazan, or brilliant at Kazan and onward to As¬ trakhan, never did some of the Persian and Tartar traders omit, about the hours of sunrise and sunset, to stand with un¬ covered feet and make their prayers and obeisance toward the East. How could man, we thought at the time, be more picturesque than one of these merchants of Russian Persia, to whose naturally great stature was added a conical fur hat, high as the bear-skin of an English Guardsman ! Pressing this high crown of curling black lamb-skin tightly on his brow against the wind, he stripped off his outer robe, lined with the yellow fur of the marmot, which he spread as a prayer-carpet upon the high deck. Observed, yet seeming utterly uncon¬ scious and unnoticed by all around, he laid aside his boots, and stepped in his stockings upon his coat of fur. Then, drawing his bright green tunic more tightly within his silver- mounted waist-belt, he placed both hands upon his loose trou¬ sers of black satin, and gazed in rapt attention upon the east¬ ern sky. Soon he fell upon his knees, and pressed his fore¬ head several times upon the deck. He rose, and with new motions, designed to clear his thoughts from things of earth, and to make him receptive of ideas of Allah the all-merciful, he continued and concluded his devotions. We know that there is hypocrisy among men of every creed, and in Moham¬ medanism, as in others, a frequent seeming unto men to pray ; ■we know how much higher and nobler in morality and jus¬ tice, as in every other valuable attribute, is true Christianity ; but there can equally be no doubt in our minds that the out- SHALLOWNESS OF THE VOLGA. 71 ward aspect of this Mohammedan prayer is far nobler than the ceiemonies of the Greek Church, than the relio'ious exer- cises of Russians, with their farthing tapers, their bowings, their kissing of books and of tinseled pictures. No river of Europe so much resembles the Nile as the Vol¬ ga, and, especially in its southern course, the sandy likeness is very remarkable. For hundreds of miles the country upon the Volga is low and uninteresting. Like the Danube, and like the Nile also, the right bank is the more elevated; and, as upon the African river, the stream is occasionally crossed by sandy shallows, and the crew are summoned to sounding by the ringing of the captain’s bell. IJpon a river of such majestic breadth, one is at first amazed at the figures which are called out by the man who, from the head of the vessel, sounds the depth with a pole, colored alternately black and white, in lengths rather less than a foot ; eight,” “ six,” and sometimes “five,” he calls. It is demonstrated that the Al- cxQ,nd6T II. ^ with excellent accommodation for thirty first- class, as many second-class, and any number of third-class passengers, to say nothing of cargo, draws no more than four feet of w^ater. Her furnaces are fed with the fuel of the country, cleft logs of pine, each about two feet in length; and twice or three times in every day a fresh supply of wood is taken in, wLich is invariably carried on board from the shore by women. . Half a day’s journey after leaving Kazan, we arrive at the point where the bluish Volga receives the yellowish waters of the Kama, the highway into Siberia. We pass on toward Simbirsk, at which we touch in the hours of night. The lights of the town look down upon us from a height of five hundred feet, and the right bank of the river rises still high¬ er as we proceed the next day toward Samara. Just as upon the Rhine one is told to reserve admiration for the famous view of the Siebengebirgc, and upon the less picturesque 72 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. Danube for the scenery of the Iron Gates, so upon the Volga it is between Simbirsk and Samara that lovers of the beau¬ tiful are supposed to reach the acme of delight. The brief beauties of the Volga could be seen to no greater advantage than when we passed them in the last days of September; and the green firs set in the golden coloring of autumn-tinted birch leaves are very refreshing and attractive for the short distance in which there is any thing approaching the pictur¬ esque in the scenery upon the Volga. Near Samara, Avhere the right bank, like the unvarying left, is once more flat, we observed the commencement of an important public work of a character most truly Russian — a work to which, I should hope, the poll-tax, rather than Brit¬ ish investors in Russian railways, will contribute in every stone and girder. In this century, the undertaking will nev¬ er ‘^pay,” from the investor’s point of view. We saw the beginning of a viaduct across the Volga, a viaduct which will be the longest in the world, forming a connection by railway between St. Petersburg and Orenburg. The procureur -ge¬ neral of the latter town was standing beside us as we ap¬ proached the preparatory works. He and his townsmen re¬ joiced greatly at ’the proposed expenditure of a million ster¬ ling, apparently for the benefit of Orenburg, as it is not in contemplation to push the railway farther to the east. But they all understand very well that this is the high-road to Khiva, and that the Government, by constructing this via¬ duct and railway, will vastly increase the security of their hold upon Central Asia, and the facilities for extending con¬ quest in that direction. At Samara we have passed eight hundred and forty versts from Nijni. In all these towns of the Volga there is a large Mohammedan population ; but the most curious circumstance about Samara is in the mare’s-milk cure, which is carried on in several of the best houses near the river-side, these estab- VOLSK. 73 lishinents being superintend eel by medical men, just as hydro¬ pathic cures are in England. At Samara, mares’ milk is made into an effervescing and fermented drink by the admixture of an acid ; and the result, not very unlike one variety of cheap Champagne, in flavor as well as in appearance, is taken as a cure for diseases of the lungs and kidneys. At Volsk we are nearly seven hundred miles from Nijni. We landed at this “ large, handsome town,” as Murray’s “ Hand-book for Russia ” calls it, upon a sand -heap littered with refuse of all kinds. There were several carriages waiting for hire ; but these were nothing better than dirty baskets, originally of great strength, containing a handful of dried roots and grass, of the roughest sort, for the fare ” to sit upon. One or two had a seat cov¬ ered with leather; but it needed the education of a life-time to keep one’s self on this perch, when the vehicle moved over the deep and filthy ruts of the main streets. The streets of Volsk are straight and wide; the houses are, with very rare exceptions, built like a log-hut, of fir poles, tenoned and mor¬ tised together, just in the same style as the houses in a Nor¬ wegian village. The Mayor of Volsk and his wife, who came on board as passengers to Saratof, were full to overflowing with happy an¬ ticipation of the gayeties of the latter town, where, they told us, an Italian opera company were giving a series of perform¬ ances, some of which they hoped to witness. I asked his wor¬ ship how the Tartars, of whom there are a great number in Volsk, agreed with the Russians. He said that difficulties constantly arose, and that recently Tartars had complained to him, alleging that Russians would not let them use the public wells. When we arrived at Saratof, we were almost inclined to laugh at the notion of Italian opera in such a place, where the rickety wooden sheds of the Tartar bazaar occupy the neighborhood of the Opera-house. Probably one-third of the ninety thousand inhabitants of Saratof are Mohammedans, and 4 74 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. live ill kennels in the outskirts, or in their wooden shops. Some of these people, with a store in the bazaar, which is per¬ haps ten feet square, have a bundle of dried grass in a corner, which they cover with a carpet. This serves them for bed, and the place is at once home and shop. But the streets, like those of other Russian towns on the Volga, though their sur¬ face is the public sewer, and is without any attempt at paving, are generally straight and wide ; and a house which would be thought good in a second-rate German town stands side by side with a wooden hovel neither water-tight nor wind-proof. The Tartars in these towns have probably a hard time, and suffer much oppression. Their religion is tolerated ; and though they rarely have mosques in the shape of buildings designed and erected for the exercise of their religion, they have houses which, though with none of the outward appear¬ ances of a mosque, are set apart for their religious ceremo¬ nies. All this region, where they now take the lowest place, was once their own. They have schools, but only those at¬ tached to their mosques, and there nothing beyond the poor art of reading a few sentences from the Koran is taught. Many of them steal away into the Turkish Empire, in order to avoid the operation of the new military law, which has put thousands of these Mohammedans of Europe into the uniforms of the Russian army. On the Volga, about Saratof, in autumn, one sees boats loaded with melons, the fruit stacked high upon the decks, just as the old-fashioned sixty-pound cannon-balls were piled in former days at Woolwich. Third-class passengers rush on shore at every station, buy a melon as big as one’s head for copecks of the value of threepence, a large loaf of brown-bread for as much more, and there is provision for a man for a whole day. At Kijni we had seen a procession of prisoners on the way to Siberia ; at Saratof we saw a number of men, women, and children, in similar circumstances, on the way to PEISONERS EOR THE CAUCASUS. 75 the Caucasus. They were marched on board a passenger steam-vessel, in build resembling the Alexander IL, between two files of soldiers, and secured in two large cages placed near the paddle-boxes. The front of each cage overlooking the water, and the sides, which faced the stern of the steam¬ boat, were barred with iron, so that every part of the interior could be seen, just as in the lion-houses of the Zoological Gar¬ dens, with this difference, that in the case of these prisoners there was no overhanging roof to prevent rain or sunshine from pouring in upon their wretchedness. At the back of each cage there was a lair common to all, without distinction of sex or age. When all were secured, including the guiltless wives and children, fights occurred for places least exposed to the cold wind. The Tartar prisoners were alone. No wives had elected to go with their Tartar husbands into the snows of the Caucasus. The greater criminals wore heavy chains, linked to their ankles and wrists, the loud clanking of which, as they walked to and fro in the cage, seemed to be enjoyed as a sort of distinction in the miserable crowd. There were three soldiers in undress uniform, one of them wearing chains of this sort. But the saddest sight was the exposure of the innocent children in a criminal cage, and the inevitable injury to them of being thus associated with criminals, and exhibited for days to the population of the Volga, in a company where there could be no doubt that he appeared the greatest hero whose chains clanked heaviest. Saratof is the largest town upon the Volga, and its site is so hilly that from one point of view nearly the whole of its buildings may be seen. It has an immense trade in fish and agricultural productions. The description of Saratof as “ handsome,” in Murray’s “ Hand-book,” is ridiculous and mis¬ leading. It has a few official buildings which would pass muster in a second-rate German town, and it has the prime element in the formation of a handsome town — that of lib- 76 THROUGH PERSIA EY CARAVAN. eral space in the plan of its roads and streets. Compared with a purely Tartar village, it may seem handsome ; but Sa- ratof is, to a great extent, itself Tartar. So is Tsaritzin, the next railway station upon the Volga. Tsaritzin is usually the place of debarkation for travelers from Persia and the Cas¬ pian who are bound for Western Europe. With the next place, at which the Alexander II. stops, we are disappointed. We had hoped to find the little town of Sarepta upon the wa¬ ter-side. It is known throughout Russia as an exclusive col¬ ony of the German “ Herrnhtiter ” — the Moravian Brethren, and spoken of as a model of social welfare and successful industry. Instead of the town, there was only a wooden stall in sight. This was painted green, and stood at some little distance from the landing-place on the sandy bank of the river. The captain declared he did not intend to wait more than two or three minutes, but it was clear that, whatever happened, half a hundred at least of the passengers were re¬ solved to reach that wooden stall. Behind the little counter, which was spread with gingerbread cakes and neatly fastened packets bearing the word Sarepta ” in large letters, stood a tall, solemn-looking German, who, if he had been born with ten arms in place of two, could not have delivered ginger¬ bread fast enough to satisfy the eager and hurried passen¬ gers. Seeing that the cakes looked good, several people bought the' mysterious packets, of whom one at least was ig¬ norant, as we were, that these contained not cakes, but condi¬ ment — the mustard of Sarepta, for the manufacture of which the German colony is famous. The Sarepta community have a shop in St. Petersburg for the sale of their mustard and gingerbread. ' The Volga widens to a noble stream. Gazing on its broad and resplendent surface at any point between Kazan and As¬ trakhan, one would hardly suspect its real weakness — its shallowness. At Chorney Yar, we were more than sixteen A PEASANT MAYOE. 11 hundred miles from Twer, and yet our four- feet- deep ship grated on the sandy bottom of the shallows at that point. To be sure, we were there in the time of year when the wa¬ ters of the Volga are at their lowest; in May the river has twice the breadth to which it dwindles in September, and there is then more movement and life upon the stream. We passed hours without seeing a vessel of any description'. At Chorney Yar the mayor and his deputy ushered the govern¬ or of the province of Astrakhan to a cabin in the Alexan¬ der II, They, in their official costumes, afforded an interest¬ ing exhibition of the personnel of Russian local government. The mayor, evidently a peasant, wore a gilt-laced coat, very like a Windsor uniform, and over his shoulders a massive chain — of brass, I should think — which at odd moments, when his worship fancied himself unobserved, he adjusted to a nice diagonal upon his wide chest. He looked as comforta¬ ble, in his gorgeous apparel, as the Shah did in his diamond¬ breasted coat when seated upon a high chair at some of the London entertainments. We glide on over the stream, running between low sandy banks across the steppe of Astrakhan. The water of the Volga pales from the appearance of burnished gold to that of molten silver, as the lovely tints of the Southern sunset gave place to the cool twilight. What a picture those four Calmuck fishermen, with their immense circular caps of white fur, their swarthy faces, with the clearly marked Mongol feat¬ ures, their pink, blue, and white garments would make ! Their rudely constructed boat, with a bow^ rising from the water and sharpened to the shape of a pike’s mouth, is grotesquely paint¬ ed. On the high, square stern is a cartoon representing a yel¬ low lion, with face averted from the object of pursuit, chasing a lady in short costume among a.grove of trees. The evening sun bathes them in splendor ; their squalor looks like glory ; a pelican, whose natural color is a dirty white, flaps its yard- 18 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. long wings, and projects its pouched bill over the water be¬ fore them — a gilded bird; even the misery of their reed- roofed hut, with walls of crumbling sandy mud, is metamor¬ phosed into beauty ; and far in the distance, across the unva¬ rying level, the sunlight marks the green cupolas of the Ortho¬ dox Cathedral of Astrakhan — a town mainly Mongol, partly Russian, where the Volga at last pours its waters through many and long mouths into the Caspian. Within a w^eek we have passed in the same boat from one of the best bear-hunting grounds in all Russia, a forest of fir near Kazan, to this strange town, to which Russian gentlemen come for the Indian sport of “ pig-sticking,” which is much practiced in the neighborhood of Astrakhan — a town in which the scanty mixture of Russian houses with the mud-built huts of Calmuck Tartars proclaims the remotest borders of Euro¬ pean civilization. There is nothing very strange to see in Astrakhan, except the houses of the Tartars and the curious worship in their pagodas. Perhaps the best thing in the place is the caviare, for which Astrakhan is famous. This delicacy is, however, being obtained at cruel and ruinous cost to the sturgeon -fisheries of the Volga. Russians say that caviare is nowhere so good as in Astrakhan, and. certainly the damp turnip-seed, or that which looks like turnip or rape seed, sold in London as caviare, has very little resemblance to the greenish, fresh dainty which one obtains, though not very cheaply, in Astrakhan. Each particle of the caviare of As¬ trakhan is three times as large, apparently from mere fresh¬ ness, as that sold in London ; the color is different and the flavor as unlike as that which distinguishes fresh grapes from raisins. Moored at Astrakhan after six days’ journey on the riv¬ er, we can not but reflect how vastly greater would be the Russian power if the Volga had the uniform depth of the Thames ; if, instead of flowing through two thousand five RAISING THE LEVEL OF THE CASPIAN. 79 hundred miles of the poorest land in Europe, it watered such soils as those of Berks and Bucks ; and if, in place of emptying itself into a closed and shallow sea, it were a high¬ way for the commerce of the world. Even here at the quays of Astrakhan, the steamboat, drawing only eight feet of water, which is to carry us down the whole length of the Caspian, can not approach ; we must be tugged in a flat-bot¬ tomed barge for sixty miles or more through the delta of the Volo-a to where the vessel lies anchored in the sea, and when we have boarded her we shall pass yet another sixty miles over the Caspian before we shall get into five fathoms of water. Six months after we had quitted this region, we read in The Times the scheme of an American engineer who pro¬ posed to raise in forty years the surface of the Caspian five- and-twenty feet, to a level with the waters of the Black Sea, by cutting a small channel, which in that long period would be scooped by the efiluent water to the size of a ship-canal. Our recollection of various heights of the shores of the Cas¬ pian is not, in an engineering sense, precise, but we would suggest to this American engineer’’ the practical considera¬ tion whether his plan, if carried out, would not submerge Astrakhan and a large part of Southern Russia. It would certainly obliterate the Russian station of Ashurade, so im¬ portant for the maintenance of Russian influence in Peisia, and it would conceal forever the Persian landing-places on the Caspian, together with the town of Resht, and much of the most productive land in the dominions of the Shah. 80 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN^. CHAPTER VI. Louis XIV. and the Tsar. — Russian Church and State. — Empress Anne’s Buffoon. — Prayers for the Tsar. — The Russian Press. — Censorship. — Press Regulations. — The Moscow Gazette. — Difficulties of Journalists. — The Wjedomosti. — The Russki Mir. — Russia not Russian. — Foreign Races. — New Military System. — The Emancipation of the Serfs. — The Communal System. — Bad Farming. — Ignorance of the Peasantry. — The Corn Trade. — Complaints from Odessa. — Resurrection of Sebastopol. — Corn from Russia and the United States. — The Artel of Odessa. — De¬ mands of Odessa Merchants. — A Viceroy wanted. — English Interests in Russian Corn. — The Soil of Russia. — The Conquests of Russia. — Contrast with Persia. — Borrowed Money. — Unprofitable Railways. — Revenue of Russia. — Produce of Poll-tax. — Privileged Citizens. In the great library of St. Petersburg there is preserved a writing exercise — a calligraphic study — done in the days of his childhood by Louis XIV. of France. Six times, at least, the little hand of the future sovereign was instructed to pen the following sentiment : L^hommage est deue mix Toys; ils font ce qiCil leurs plaiV^ — (“Homage is due to kings; they do as they please”). We shall be more kind to the memory of monarchs when we remember how they have been trained by sycophants. Nowhere is the royal of¬ fice exalted higher than in Russia, where every human creat¬ ure holds life and liberty at the good pleasure of the Tsar. Except the Sultan, the Tsar has no peer in Europe ; and it is no wonder if the solemn loneliness of his elevation impairs the nervous system and menaces the sanity of members even of the stalwart race of Romanoff. Sprung from the Church of Russia, the Tsars are never dissociated from it. They are divine as well as imperial; PRAYEES EOR THE TSAR, 81 the Tsar is priest as well as king; he is a miracle -worker upon the l^eva; he administers the sacramental bread and wine with his own hands at his coronation; in short, like the Shah and the Sultan in their respective dominions, the Tsar is, in the theory of Russian Government — which stands for the present in place of a constitution^ — “the Shadow of God.” Members of other imperial houses may change their creed to win, or even to share, a throne; but it is not so with a Romanoff. In Russia, an empire by no means homo¬ geneous in population, this thorough and personal association n of Church and State is the centre of the centripetal force which is grinding foreign races into Russians. The grand ambition of the Emperor Nicholas, and the high moral character and qualities of his successor, have in our time cleared the Russian court, and the exercise of its autocratic powers, from the vagaries of a period when there was no responsibility to a dumb people, or even to the more enlightened opinion of Western Europe. The days in which, according to respected authorities, the Empress Anne mar¬ ried one of her buffoons, himself a prince of the Empire, to a Calrnuck dwarf, and made them pass the first night after their wedding upon an ice couch in an ice house upon the Neva, are gone forever. So, too, is the issue of such ukases as that by which Peter the Great sought to subdue heresy and the obstinacy of hairy sectaries by a decree prohibiting the wearing of beards, when every one who dared to present himself at the “Redeemer Gate” of the Moscow Kremlin with a beard upon his chin was caught and fined; or that by which the Emperor Paul, in 1799, with the same object, forbade the use of shoe-strings and the wearing of round hats. All this is gone, but the personal power of the Tsar continues. In all Russian churches the most earnest prayer — that without which no service is complete — that during which heads are most bowed and crossings are most fre- 4* ) 82 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. quent, is the prayer in which the welfare of the Tsar and of his house is implored. It has been said that a venturesome diplomatist once asked the Emperor Nicholas who was the most distinguished of his majesty’s subjects ? And, accord¬ ing to report, the Tsar replied that the most distinguished Russian was he whomsoever the Emperor honored by speak¬ ing to him. Even Alexander II., the mildest and most mod¬ ern of his line, could declare, Mussie c’est le Tsar^’’ more truly than the young copyist with whose name I commenced this chapter could say, in after-days, of himself and France, ^^IjjEtat c'est MoiP The Russian Press is a sham, inasmuch as its existence leads the outside world to suppose that there is within the Empire a widely based expression of public opinion. I am not now alluding to the censorship which forbids the utter¬ ance of progressive sentiments, or the full expression of hope for a constitutional regime, but to the initial fact in the just comprehension of this important matter, that the productions of the Russian Press are not open to more than one in a hun¬ dred of the Tsar’s subjects, because of their ignorance of the meaning of letters. Every reader of a newspaper in Russia, of the most loyal, and even servile, of the issues from the Press, is, we may say, a marked man, because as a rule jour¬ nals can only be obtained by subscription through the post- office. Many visitors from our own country must have learned by irritating experience the truth of this statement, when they have found their English newspapers sequestrated, day after day, because they were not subscribed for in this manner. In 1870, including printing of every sort and kind, there was but one printing-press in Russia for every sixteen thousand of the population. The life of a journalist in Russia must be, to say the least, uneasy, if we may presume that he has any opinions of his own. There are two newspapers published in St. Petersburg CENSOKSHIP. 83 which are not designed for the Russian people— the Journal de JPetershou7^g, printed in French, and the jSt. Petersburg¬ er Zeitung^ printed in German ; the latter being the organ of the German-speaking people of Russia, as the former is of the Russian Foreign Office. These journals are, of course, valu¬ able rather for information relating to external than to inter¬ nal affairs. A writer long resident in Russia, one who has already attracted the unfavorable notice of the Tsar’s Government for his too accurate and well-informed acquaintance with im¬ perial arrangements, has lately described Russian newspapers, and the regime to which they are subject. He says of the censorship that it appertains to the department of the Min¬ ister of the Interior, and is carried out either by special com¬ mittees, as at St. Petersburg, Moscow, Warsaw, and Odessa, or by individual censors in such towns as Kief, Kazan, Riga, Dorpat, Mittau, Revel, and Wilna, who have to report their decisions for confirmation to the Chief Board of Censors at St. Petersburg. The committees are composed of a presi¬ dent, and three senior and six junior censors, with an inspect¬ or of printing-offices and book depots, and his assistants. The president and three chief censors meet at least once a week, when the various manuscripts and journals are registered, and either licensed or prohibited. All writings which are directed, first, against the dogmas of the National Church; secondly, against the form of government existing in Rus¬ sia, and especially against the person of the Emperor, or any member of the imperial family; thirdly, against morality; and, fourthly, those containing offensive attacks on any private person, or calumnies of any kind, are prohibited by the cen¬ sorship. No communication respecting the imperial family may be printed until permission has been obtained from the Minister of the Imperial Court. Not only writings, but pict¬ ures and music, are subject to the censorship; and care is 84 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. taken to prohibit the latter when any thing resembling the airs of the Polish insurgents is discovered to have been intro¬ duced. It is left to the discretion of the editors whether they will place themselves under the preliminary preventive censorship or not. In the latter case, they are subject to the control of the Press Director — an official also belonging to the Ministry of the Interior. Under this regime, articles are not subject to official examination and revision before they make their appearance in the columns of the paper ; although in cases where the Government has had an inkling of some more than usually dangerous effusion, the whole issue has been seized as it left the printing-machine. The usual meth¬ od of proceeding — which in its main features appears to have been borrowed from the Press Laws of the second French Empire — is, for the head authority of the particular branch of the j)ublic service that considers itself unwarrantably as¬ sailed to lay a complaint before the Press Director, should he indeed not have already taken the initiative. In either case, he gravely cautions the offending printer to be more careful for the future. A repetition of the offense is followed by a repetition of the warning; but should three such remon¬ strances prove ineffectual, the offending periodical is sus¬ pended for a period not exceeding three months. If, on its re-appearance, it obstinately persists in its former course, it receives three further warnings, and is finally suppressed. A preliminary caution, too, is sometimes sent round to the dif¬ ferent editors, forbidding them to mention a certain subject at all, or enjoining them to take only a particular view of it. This was especially the case with regard to the Khiva expedition. For accidentally disregarding a similar injunc¬ tion, the Moscoio Gazette {Moscauer Zeitung) — the organ of the German element in Central Russia, and most ably con¬ ducted by M. Katkof — recently underwent a temporary sus¬ pension.” DIFFICULTIES OF JOUENALISTS. 85 This system is not calculated to give a fresh, progressive, vigorous, and independent tone to the Press of Russia. The Press Director is, under this regime, virtually the editor of the whole Press. The writer above quoted says : “ The larger St. Petersburg and Moscow papers are almost all under his control.” If an English statesman were in friendly talk on this subject with such men as Prince Gortschakoff or the Grand Duke Constantine, men of liberal mind and large ac¬ quaintance with the forces that mold and govern the actions of mankind, I am sure he would be told that the Russian Press is not injuriously controlled ; that the Government of the Tsar would not only sanction, but that it desired, that re¬ forms and even radical changes in the mode of government should be discussed and examined. Biit how? It can not be doubted that a journalist desiring, say the spread of edu¬ cation, and convinced that it will never come until representa¬ tive institutions are established, which shall in some measure control and determine the action of Government, may express an opinion that if it should seem good to his Imperial Maj¬ esty, our august Imperator, in the progress of the century, and when to the wisdom of his Government it shall appear that the Russian people are fitted to bear the burden of so great responsibility, then, if it please the Tsar to establish rep¬ resentative institutions, these will further the work of civiliza¬ tion.” But he dare not say that such institutions are good, and ought to be established, without showing that he regards the existing order of government as the very best that human hands, assisted by celestial influences, could construct, and that he desires nothing except through the bounty of tlie Tsar and his majesty’s Government. Occasionally the Russian papers exhibit their differences from each other in a leaning to Germany or to France, either tendency not being sufiiciently strong or external in its aims, or offensive to the Government, to bring down upon them the 86 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN". interference of the Press Director. A Russian journal which desires a successful, untroubled existence must turn its eyes from the acts of Government, bestowing now and then indis¬ criminate praise without scrutiny. The writer to whom I am already indebted gives a fine ex¬ ample with reference to the 'Wjedomosti^ a paper founded by Peter the Great, and which used to represent the Russian Liberal party. A few months ago its editor, M. Korsch, who by his sympathy in the cause of reform has helped to raise it in public opinion, was summoned before the Minister of the Interior and told that the paper was of such radical tenden¬ cies that he must resign the control of it. The editor sought to mollify the ministerial anger by offering to make certain changes in his staff, but without effect ; and as in Russia, in matters connected with the Press, a ministerial has all the force of an imperial ukase, nothing remained but to quietly obey, when the paper was placed under the immediate supervision of the Ministry of Public Instruction, and supplied with an entirely new staff, appointed on the express condition of pub¬ lishing as leading articles all communications which the Min¬ istry may think proper to forward, and of defending the Min¬ istry itself on all occasions through thick and thin.” One is not surprised to learn that even in Russia, under these cir¬ cumstances, “ influence and circulation alike have been dwin¬ dling away.” Only those who have nothing to lose can afford to attack the Government in Russia. M. Korsch, the de¬ nounced editor of the Wjedomosti, “ endeavored to buy the BussJci Mir, or Bussian World [the organ of General Tcher- nayeff], at that time under suspension. It seems that its pro¬ prietor, finding he was losing money, hit upon the expedient of attacking the War-ofiice, both with regard to the admin¬ istration of Turkistan and the Kirghiz rebellions of a few years ago, until he succeeded in getting his paper suspended, hoping that things w'ould take a turn for the better in three RUSSIA NOT RUSSIAN. 87 • months, when he proposed to start afresh with all the prestige pertaining to a martyr — always a certain advantage under a despotic form of government.” There can be no question that the neglect of social improve¬ ment and reform, when the work is much less conspicuous than the emancipation of the serfs (which no power but that of the Tsar could decree, as it affected the nobles in their property), is in no small degree due to the misdirected train¬ ing of Russian statesmen. In the absence of representative institutions and of a free Press, politicians find in the line of diplomacy and the field of foreign affairs the only road by which it is possible to arrive at a great reputation. The eyes and thoughts of Russian statesmen are in consequence averted from their country, and their ears are closed to appeals in the language of Russia. There is no free and widely studied de¬ bate in which they can hope to win influence by making a great name throughout the Empire ; the only path to distinc¬ tion is by successful manipulation of Russian influence upon external politics, by wielding the pen which is weighted, at the advice of the writer, with the armed forces of Russia, or the sword which leads those forces to battle and conquest. And it must be acknowledged that the work of leading Russia from a system of government which has resemblance in system more to that of the Sultan than to any other Gov¬ ernment of Europe, is beset with many and great difficulties. Russia is not yet Russian. All the pressure of the superin¬ cumbent machinery of Government, exercised in the name of God as well as of the Tsar, has not as yet resulted in a fusion of the diverse populations of the Empire. To Germany, and to her war with France, from which he wisely held aloof, the Tsar is indebted for the establishment of a military system which, in spite of its obvious faults in diverting productive labor and diminishing the wealth of Russia, is, in fact, the most powerful agency which, perhaps, in the circumstances of 88 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. that Empire, could have been devised by the Tsar, not only for the amalgamation of his heterogeneous subjects, but also for securing progress in general education. In Russia in Europe there are Mohammedans speaking dialects of Turkish and Arabic; Poles clinging to their national language; and Ger¬ man-speaking people of whom probably one million are actual¬ ly natives of VcitCTlciudj and aliens in Russia. In the towns, the Mohammedan, the Pole, and the German keep, as far as possible, aloof from each other and from the Russian. They do not intermix or intermarry. The poor of Warsaw do not understand the Russian language. The German colonies upon the Volga are distinguished not only for the general superi¬ ority of their houses, but throughout their life for a higher standard of comfort than is common in the Russian towns a result of their superior education. And in the densely pop¬ ulated Mohammedan quarters of towns such as Kazan and Saratof, there are multitudes of people preserving their relig¬ ion, their customs, and their race unmixed, though they are regarded, like the Jews of Odessa, with dislike and contempt by their Muscovite masters, who do not forget or forgive the barbarities practiced by the forefathers of these Tartars upon the persons and the buildings of their own ancestors. There is no pretense or affection or sympathy between the German¬ speaking people and the genuine Russians. This is perhaps most conspicuous in the Baltic provinces, where in line with the treatment of native Germans there is always a train laid which may be exploded at any moment into a cams belli by the chancellor of either Empire. Germans in the Korth and Jews in the South are hated, not only because their presence is inharmonious with Panslavonian ideas, but rather for their superior success in trade and commerce. The poor Moham¬ medans have no such guilt, but it is traditional policy with the faithful of the Eastern Church to trample upon Islam. The new military system of Russia, which excepts neither EMANCIPATION OF THE SEEPS. 89 creed nor race, which carries the youth of all, German, Polish, Mohammedan, as well as Russian, far away from home, to make all alike soldiers of the Tsar, is the severe but effectual school in which these distinctions are being: most effaced. One can see this in the streets, in the comradeship of oblique¬ eyed Tartars with bright Armenians from the Caucasus, of golden-haired boys from Finland with native Russians from the South, all speaking, or trying to speak, the language in which they are drilled, and by the knowledge of which they can alone hope to win higher pay and improved position. In every branch of the military service there are some education¬ al facilities and even requirements. To these the troops are led by self-interest, and in some cases by stern punishments. Every impulse in the direction of personal advantage suggests to them to make the Russian language their own, and to di¬ rect their spiritual ideas toward that truest index of national loyalty — the Russian Church. The Russian military system is probably accomplishing as great a social reformation as that which was achieved by the abolition of serfdom. That grand measure, the main glory of the present reign, has not yet effected all the improvement of the Russian peas¬ ant and his tillage which the most sanguine of its advocates expected would immediately follow the operation of the great ukase of 1861, and the belligerent power of Russia is reduced because of the unimproving condition of agriculture. Pri¬ marily, this is due to the general ignorance and poverty of the peasantry ; and, secondarily, to the land system and the onerous taxation of Russia. It was very absurd to expect that twenty-two millions of people would, at a stroke of the Tsar’s pen, advance by a leap from the display of the charac¬ teristics of slavery to the exhibition of the virtues of people who have for ages sustained the ennobling cares and the re¬ sponsibilities of personal freedom. It may be said, without fear of contradiction, that the Russian peasantry will never be 90 THBOUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN. as the rural population of Germany or Switzerland, or even of less educated France, until they too are instructed, and un¬ til they, like those, are accustomed to the exercise of a sub¬ stantial and duly responsible share in the Government of the country. In many villages or communes of Russia, the peas¬ ant is disposed to say that the Emperor’s benign policy has done him no good, inasmuch as it has resulted in giving him a harder master in the commune than he had in the proprie¬ tor. The advances which the Government has made to the peasantry for the enfranchisement of their lands, as well as the revenue resulting from taxation, are secured by making each commune equally with each individual responsible for payment. In 18'72, the State had advanced no less than eighty million pounds in respect of sixty-six million acres; and if the peasant fails to pay to the commune his due share of the interest and sinking fund upon the aggregate sum which stands against the name of the village and its local govern¬ ment in the books of the Empire, he is of course not unlikely to meet with severity from his fellows, who must make good any deficiency on the part of lazy or dissolute defaulters. Perhaps at this point we may usefully make a brief, and therefore necessarily imperfect, reference to the Russian land system, merely in order to exhibit the blighting effect of the communal system upon agriculture. In the primitive state, the Russian people used land, and, when that was exhausted, went farther afield for more. By degrees, in fertile places, when there was no more land to be had, this method began to assume the aspect of private property by right of posses¬ sion. But the community increased, the land did not ; the fulfillment of the obligations of individuals to the State and to proprietors was demanded, and could not be met, according to Russian ways of agriculture, unless every man had land from which to earn his contribution to the general liability. So it came about that the system of periodical redistribution IGNORANCE OF THE PEASANTRY. 91 m of the cultivated land by each commune was established, and under this system the Russian peasant has no security of ten¬ ure, no certainty as to his payment to the commune, and through the commune to the State, for these things are de¬ termined by the circumstances of his neighbors. Mr. D. M. Wallace, who has lived in Russia, says: ‘^The allotment of the land is by far the most important event in Russian peas¬ ant life, and the arrangement can not be made without end¬ less talking and discussion. After the number of shares for each family has been decided, the distribution of the lots gives rise to new difficulties. The families who have plenti¬ fully manured their land strive to get back their old lots, and the commune respects their claims so far as these are consist¬ ent with the new arrangement ; but it often happens that it is impossible to conciliate private and communal interests, and in such cases the former are sacrificed in a way that would not be tolerated by men of Anglo-Saxon race.” This will account in a great measure for the inefficiency of Russian agriculture where the communal system prevails ; but that is not universal, and greater intelligence would bring about a reform in the method of Russian agriculture, which is much needed. A three-course system of farming — one field of rye or wheat, one field of spring-corn (oats, etc.), and one field fallow — obtains over nearly the whole of European Russia. This inferior condition of the Russian people affects not only their agriculture, but also their foreign trade. Odessa is perplexed because the corn trade from that port is dwindling; and we are told, upon official authority, that a peculiarity of the bills in circulation in South Russia is, that ten per cent, of them are given or indorsed by persons who can not sign their own names, but get it done by proxy at a notary’s ; and from twenty to thirty per cent, more are omitted, and in¬ dorsed by parties who can only just sign their names, and are 92 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. not able to write any thing in addition.” The Odessa Com¬ mittee on Trade and Manufactures have reported to the Coun¬ cil for Trade and Manufactures in St. Petersburg that the commerce of their town, by far the most important in South Russia, ‘‘is not only undergoing a temporary crisis, but is actually entering a period of absolute decline.” The “ tem¬ porary crisis” is due to the failure of the two last harvests ; and Vice-consul Webster reports from Kherson that “nearly every body in South Russia will be bankrupt ” if the harvest of this year be not sufficient. “ The commercial banks,” he writes, “ whose principal occupation now is renewing or pro¬ longing old bills, have been assisted by the State bank, and will be able to make way till the probable result of the har¬ vest of 1876 is known. Should the harvest fail, a financial crash is inevitable.” The Odessa Committee find that Kiko- laief and Sebastopol, having become places of export, are drawing away their trade, and* that much of the produce in the fertile district of Kief, which was formerly brought for shipment to Odessa, is now conveyed by railway to the ports of the Baltic, the freight from Konigsberg to England being less than half that to Odessa, or in the proportion of three to seven. “ But it is not in the opening of these new outlets for Rus¬ sian grain that the committee see the danger to Odessa.” “The competition of Kikolaief, Sebastopol, or even Konigs¬ berg, could not prevent Odessa continuing to be the natural outlet for a tract of country quite sufficient for a large remu¬ nerative trade.” The danger is one which threatens, not Odessa only, but all Russia; and it comes from the valley of the Mississippi— from the United States of America. Of the nine million to fourteen million quarters of foreign wheat re¬ quired by England, the proportions supplied by Russia and the United States have been as follows during the last seven years : THE ARTEL OF ODESSA. 93 Russia. United States. Per Cent. Per Cent. 1867 . 44 14 1868 . 32 18 1869 . 32 18 1870. . 38 21 1871..... . 40 23 1872 . 31 24 1873. . 21 44 The committee say they have no positive information for 1874, but they have reason to believe the result is less favor¬ able to Russia than that of 1873. The figures given above show that in seven years Russia and the United States have, in this very important matter, changed positions. In 1867 Russia supplied 44 per cent, and the United States 14 per cent, of England’s demand for foreign wheat; in 1873 the United States supplied 44 per cent, and Russia only 21 per cent. The Odessa Committee have no illusions ; they in¬ dulge no hope that even a most prosperous harvest in Rus¬ sia will turn the scale ; but rather believe that the United States will take a still higher position among the grain-pro¬ ducers of the world. Congress has granted 2,000,000 dollars for deepening the mouths of the Mississippi, and on the com¬ pletion of these works the cost of the transport of wheat from Chicago to England will be diminished by more than 50 per cent. The Odessa Committee see in a near future the United States so absolutely the controller of the prices of the Lon¬ don market that we shall be utterly unable to compete with her.” And in this race it must be admitted that they, in common with all Russian enterprise, are heavily weighted by the ofticial system of the Empire. The Artel (Association of Workmen) has a monopoly of Custom-house work; and the committee find that the cost of the-necessary Custom-house formalities is, on the average, seven times, and for some classes of goods, eleven times, more than before this associa- 94 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. tion was formed. It is estimated that the annual sum paid to the Artel of Odessa amounts to 400,000 rubles, ‘‘ and this for no service rendered, as the Artel in no way dispenses with the necessity of employing the workmen who were em¬ ployed before the institution of the Artel.” The commit¬ tee further complain that the inspection of goods commences at eleven and closes at two, which they think a somewhat absurd indulgence of Russian bureaucracy. That powerful caste — for the official class has a tendency to become such — is, of course, directly interested in maintaining the trouble¬ some system by which “the declarations required for the formalities of clearing goods pass through twenty -nine dif¬ ferent hands.” But impartial critics must admit that, while stating noth- inor untrue, the Odessa merchants have not been careful to relieve their picture, and that they employ the very dark col¬ oring of their foreground to show up the remedial measures which, with the natural dependence of people living under a despotic and protective system, they hope for from the Tsar. Such tactics are natural. When Marshal MacMahon was Governor -general of Algeria, a disastrous earthquake occur¬ red, by which hundreds of houses were destroyed, and many people impoverished. I shall never forget the scene, nor the spectacle of the emigrants crowding round his excellency, and declaring that if the emperor did not rebuild their houses, they would return to France. In like manner these enfants d^etat of Russia want the Tsar to make Odessa a manufact¬ uring centre, in spite of the facts that it is bounded on one side by the Euxine, that fuel is scarce, and that water must be paid for. Very characteristic of the evils of Russian Government is their proposal to exempt manufactures from all taxation, and their belief that the appointment of a viceroy instead of a governor -general “would be the best guaranty for the effectual carrying-out of the measures they have sug- BUSSIAN COEN. 95 gested.” They want the State to help them to wash wool, and to make depots for colonial goods, regardless of the fact that the proprietor of the only wool-washing establishment in Odessa lately hanged himself, a suicide which was followed by that of the principal importer of colonial goods. But perhaps England has most direct interest in the state¬ ments which have reference to the export of wheat. From a thoughtless glance at the figures, held up by the Odessa mer¬ chants, it might be supposed that our supply from Russia had in seven years fallen off by more than one-half, from 44 per cent, in 1867, to 21 per cent, in 1873. But this is not so. To say nothing of the increase from Sebastopol and Konigs- b erg, the export of cereals from Odessa in 1867 amounted to 2,674,978 quarters, and to 2,648,000 quarters in 1873; while the value of the export in the latter year was greater by 15,200,169 rubles than in 1867. In 1874 there was an in¬ crease in quantity as well as value ; and while we learn from these facts that the Russian supply is not declining, we can not escape the conviction forced upon us by the table of fig¬ ures given above, that Russian agriculture is stationary in comparison with the boundless and successful activity of the IJnited States. In all this there is much that may be amended with ad¬ vantage; but Russia is not a fertile country. We hear of it as a great corn-exporting land, and are apt to compare it, as a whole, in fertility with such rich soils as those of the Danubian provinces, or the alluvial valleys of British India and of the IJnited States. In this important matter it is hardly possible to make a greater error. The present writer has visited Russia twice, in north and south, has passed lei¬ surely through the length and, to a great extent, the breadth of the European Empire, and has also seen something of the Asiatic dominions of Russia. In these travels no fact is more constantly impressed upon the mind than the iinequaled 96 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. }30verty of its soil. From the frontier of Russia west of Warsaw to St. Petersburg, and from the capital, through Moscow and Nijni, to Astrakhan, is a journey of about three thousand miles. The constant feature of that route is white sand, the worst and most hopeless, thankless soil for cultiva¬ tion. There is no natural fertility ; and this is exhibited by the surest proofs. There are none but stunted trees other than the pine and fir, and the landscape is therefore without a charm which is present in every English county. It may well be doubted whether the scrubby wastes of the Crimea would repay the cost of cultivation, if that were attempted ; but there can be no question that, taking the Empire from north to south, and east to west, Russia is, and will remain, the poorest country in Europe. There are rich lands in Rus¬ sia in the south-west; but the existence of these, to which the Emperor Nicholas would gladly have added the territory now known as Roumania, does not neutralize the fact that, for the most part, the Empire consists of plains of white sand, which, if Central Russia were rainless as Central and South¬ ern Persia, would be arid and irreclaimable desert, because there are no mountains in which water might be stored for irrigation. It is noteworthy, also, that the recent conquests of Russia in Asia have been of the same quality, and, so far from adding to the wealth of the Empire, are probably bur¬ densome to the revenue. ExcejDt where Persian territory borders upon the Caspian in its southern extremity, Russia is sole owner of the shores of that sea ; but there is hardly a mile of her large frontage upon the Caspian which for agri¬ cultural purposes is worth the cost of occupation. These facts augment the anxieties of her neighbors. Not only on the Pruth, but east of the Black Sea, where her Geor¬ gian and Persian conquests border upon the Shah’s province of Azerbaijan, and again east of the Caspian, where the At- trek marks Iier off from the Persian Provihce of Astrabad, REVENUE OF RUSSIA. 97 Russia looks upon territory of great natural fertility which is not her own. And in her approach to the northern bor¬ ders of India she occupies a position wherein this contrast of her own poverty with her neighbor’s wealth is even more remarkable. In spite, however, of the terrible weight of her increasing debt and unproductive expenditure, her people appear to be cheaply governed, if we compare them with other popula¬ tions of Europe. But as they are poorer than any other peo¬ ple of that continent, the comparison would be unfair. It Avould be a very nice question to decide how far they have been enabled to support their burdens by the largely unpro¬ ductive expenditure upon railways and other public works, the cost of which has been chiefly provided for by English capital. The revenue gathered from a population which approaches (including the Asiatic dominions of Russia) 90,000,000, does not amount to £77,000,000 — much less than £1 per head. Great as is the cost of the Russian army — £23,716,000 in 1874— they “drank themselves out of it” with the exhibition of a surplus ; for this people who, in company with all their Northern neighbors to the extrem¬ ity of Ireland, are among the most drunken in Europe, con¬ tributed £27,609,000 in 1874 to the revenue by means of excise duties on spirits and other intoxicating drinks. By this means, and by the poll-tax, nearly three-fifths of the revenue are provided, the poll-tax yielding in the same year no less than 122,000,000 rubles. To what extent Russian ability in the matter of taxation has been assisted by the an¬ nual expenditure of £12,000,000 to £15,000,000 of borrow¬ ed money, I shall not attempt to determine. But it is clear that Russia has borrowed about £70,000,000 for the con¬ struction of railways, and I can not accept the argument of the JEconomist that this great sum “ is at least no more than can be afforded, even if the railways are directly and in- 5 98 THKOUGH PERSIA BY CARAYAN. directly unprofitable, because the interest of these loans is charged in the accounts, and there is still a balance of rev¬ enue and expenditure, or even a small surplus.” To uphold this proposition, it would be necessary to prove that Russia can maintain this equilibrium when the annual expenditure of £15,000,000 of borrowed money is discontinued; and, from all that I have lately seen of Russia, I have no confidence in the statement that this outlay, which now produces an income of only £2,132,000, will be remunerative. Of course, I do not deny that railways are necessary to the existence of the Russian Empire. The Government of Russia rewards distinguished citizens and successful traders who are loyal and respected, by making them free from all taxation. There are probably four or five thousand of these privileged untaxed citizens in Moscow, and it is not ordained that, paying nothing, they shall have no voice in the general expenditure. Quite the contrary. Own¬ ers of a hundred arpents of land, which is the qualification for one who has the legal privileges of a “proprietor,” elect in great part the provincial assemblies, which elect the provin¬ cial judges; and perhaps it would be impossible for any sys¬ tem to be more strongly marked with injustice than one in which all those most able to pay are exempt from taxation, and have a powerful voice in the election of judges who can not afford to disregard the claims of important constituents because their tenure of the judicial office is only for three years, at the expiration of which they must, if they desire to continue their functions, again submit their candidature to the provincial assemblies. It should, however, be said that these provincial judges can not sentence a prisoner to more than one year’s confinement, and can not deal with civil cases in which the amount claimed is over five hundred rubles. PEESIAN PASSENGERS. 99 CHAPTER VII. The Delta of the Volga. — Persian Passengers. — The Constantine. — Pe- trovsk. — Derbent. — “Le Pen ifiternel.” — Persian Merchandise. — Persian Clothing. — A Colored Deck-load. — Russian Trio of Spirits. — “Un Knut Russe.” — Baku. — “Dominique.”- — Dust of Baku. — The Khan of Baku. — The Maiden’s Tower. — Russian Naval Station. — Petrolia in Asia. — Baku Oil-carts. — The Petroleum Wells. — Kalafj Company. —Pire-worship. — Parsees and Persians. — ^The Indian Priest. — The Surakhani Temple. — Manufacture of Petroleum. We quitted the line of our travels at Astrakhan for this digression into the general affairs of Russia. The delta of one great river is very much like that of another, and there are no peculiar features about the delta of the Volga. For fourteen hours, the long barge in which we sat, in company with nearly a hundred passengers (mostly Persians, many from the provinces of Old Persia, which have long been Rus¬ sian, and a few from the dominions of the Shah), was tugged by a small steamboat from Astrakhan to the steamship Con¬ stantine, which was moored in the shallow waters of the Cas¬ pian. We were along-side about two in the morning of the last day of September. There was a dreadful pell-mell: the Persian passengers being anxious to secure the most sheltered places on the deck for their bales of pillows and carpets, their caged canaries and pipe-cases. Bags and bundles were has¬ tily lifted from the barge, and descended like a shower upon the decks of the Constantine j and in the cabins of the first- class the pressure of Armenians of doubtful cleanliness was so great, that we had difficulty in obtaining attention. When at last our cabin was lighted, there was, of course, no bed¬ ding, and, to our horror, the walls and roof were covered with 100 THEOUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN. crawling creatures of small and suspicious form. They van¬ ished at the candle-light; and observing the preference of these insects for darkness, the sleep we had upon the Con¬ stantine was consequently accomplished by illumination of our cabin. The Constantine is not a Russian-built ship ; she, like all the vessels of the same line, came from Great Britain in pieces, and was put together upon the shores of the Caspian. After steaming about fifty miles from her moorings near the en¬ trance to the Volga, the Constantine lay to in twenty-four feet of water, on account of a strong east wind, which in the deeper sea would have caused the ship to roll so as to jeop¬ ardize the piles of Persian baggage upon the main-deck. The carpets and rich silks would certainly have been soaked with the very salt water of the Caspian. In two days we reached the harbor of Petrovsk, a straggling town upon the edge of a mountainous country, from which there is a good road to Tiflis ; and at the next station we could see the high walls of Derbent, as we anchored beneath them in moonlight. This is a fortress which Peter the Great wrested from Persia in 1722. When travelers are told in Russian, French, and German that on their way down the Caspian Sea it is absolutely nec¬ essary, for their information and advantage, that they should stay at Baku and see the “ everlasting fire,” they are natural¬ ly inclined to yield to this concurrence of advice. So it hap¬ pened that when the Constantine rounded the promontory on which Baku stands, and, facing suddenly northward, ap¬ proached the long range of bare, brown hills which shelter this chief town and port of the Caspian from the coldest winds, we were prepared to make Baku our home for a week at least. I am sorry I am not a painter, and can not render in colors the aspect of the vessel we were about to leave. What an Oriental picture the after-deck would have made ! There was A COLOEED DECK-LOAD. 101 not a foot of space which was not covered with Persian car¬ pets. The deck had been quartered out among* themselves, with fair regard to the balance of power, by the Persian traders returning from Nijoi; and in groups of three or four they lay intrenched beneath their gorgeously colored saddle¬ bags and bundles, stuffed with rich shawls, with finely worked saddle-cloths, and with silks of most beautiful colors. The barricades between each group were sometimes four or five feet in height, and there were many curious boxes and cages containing canaries, whose yellow plumage and sweet song are much esteemed both at Baku and in Teheran. There was not a man among them who did not wear a fine turquois set in a leaden ring, though all were third-class passengers ; not one without the tall hat of black fur or felt, or without robes of those soft colors which the T'Testern world of fashion has but lately learned to love. They were the same Persians — at least in manners and appearance — as those whose acquaint¬ ance we all made years and years ago in “ The Arabian Nights’ Entertainments.” A patriarch, with nails and beard dyed red with khenna, stood blowing out his water-pipe — the Persians call it “kalian” — in preparation for the shore. Three young men sat near us in outer robes of black, which, like the cover¬ ing of some tropical insect, heightened the effect of the bright coloring of their bodies, which were covered with tunics of red, green, and purple, decorated with silver and gold. They were on a coverlet of red silk, quilted upon a thick lining of cotton wool, and behind each man lay a richly colored pillo’w. The three were pecking, like fowls in a yard, but with their fingers, at the half of a w^ater-melon, the inside of which had been slashed into pieces with a knife. In another “ encamp¬ ment,” one who might, as he wore the green turban, be a de¬ scendant of the Prophet of Islam, was reading to the others from the Persian version of “Joseph and Potiphar’s wife.” In the Persian, the encounter of virtuous Joseph with the am- 102 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. oroiis Zulaikha is worked up into a tale of infidelity, passion, and revenge, and, for obvious reasons, is very much in vogue in Persia — as popular as a book can be in a country where publication in finely written manuscript is still common, and where there is virtually but one book — the Koran. The passage from Astrakhan has been a very rough one ; and we may add, that all Byron has said of the fate of the traveler in the “Euxine” might be told with equal truth of the nauseous swell of the Caspian. We A’^entured, as mem¬ bers of Mr. Plimsoll’s committees, to ask the captain why he allowed his main-deck to be so loaded and encumbered that the sailors could only pass to the wheel by walking upon the bulwarks of the vessel. ‘^Ah,” he replied, “these Persian people Avon’t give up their baggage. They would cry if I sent it doAvn into the hold. They think every body is going to rob them, and that nothing out of sight is safe. As a fact, I believe they do rob each other Avhenever they get an op¬ portunity, They would rather risk having their carpets and things Avashed Avith sea-Avater on deck than put them safe in the hold.” Certainly our fellow-passengers Avere foolish as to their baggage ; but as to themselves, almost anv corner of the open deck Avas better than to endure the vile atmosphere of the cabins, Avhere the smells of a Russian dram-shop and of an unventilated Spanish prison seemed to be mingled in almost suffocating odor. Early in the voyage Ave had paid the pen¬ alty of opening our cabin Avindow, in having our beddino- soaked by a huge wave ; and, to the indignation of the stew¬ ard, the Avaters from our window had passed beneath our door into public view. There Avas the alternative of the deck-sa¬ loon, Avhere no one Avould suffer a AvindoAV to be open ; Avhere every body smoked tobacco, and spit in every direction ex¬ cept that of the neglected spittoon ; Avhere there Avas sus¬ pended a tinseled image of St. Constantine, patron saint of our vessel, whose fixed eyes stared upon the invariable Russian BAKU. 103 trio of bottles, containing spirits, brown, green, and white, all ardent and intoxicating. Both captain and passengers seemed much more devoted to the spirits than to the saint. The pres¬ ence of English names upon every part of the ship betrayed the backwardness of mechanical skill in Kussia — a country which seems to be full of kindly, good-natured people, steeped, for the most part, above the ears in superstition, but loyal to their Church and Tsar to a degree almost fanatical, and quite beyond comparison with the sentiments of the less simple- minded people of Western Europe. ‘Woila un knut Russe, monsieur,” laughed a Russian offi¬ cer in my ear. We were approaching the wooden quay, where the police of Baku were thrusting the crowd of too urgent porters back from the gangway, and threatening them with short but terrible whips, a representation in miniature of the knout,” of which we read in childhood with so much horror at the barbarity of Russian punishments. The porters, some with huge pads on the back of the neck, others carrying cords in their hands, with which to balance or secure their loads, were a body of strong men, twenty or thirty, at least, whose bare limbs of every shade, from the ebony of Africa to the copper of Southern Persia, and the redder tinge of native Baku, protruded from rags which seemed to have neither shape nor fastening. The Baku policemen are a most pecul¬ iar institution. They wear a Circassian costume, with huge muff-shaped hats of white or black sheep-skin ; and, besides their lash, carry a long sword and a dagger. One must, how¬ ever reluctantly, admit that something more than the “ Move on” or “ Stand back, can’t you?” of our own Policeman X is needed to maintain order among Baku boatmen and porters. The former have a very savage appearance, which indeed is common to the boatmen of the Caspian. Waving aloft their spade- shaped oars, propellers as primitive as those of any Sandwich Islanders, they invoke with smiles and shouts, ris- 104 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. ing to screams and shrieks, if their overtures do not receive attention, the descent of passengers into their boats ; and the porters, Avho unite the powers of the camel to the pertinacious ajDpetite — for baggage — of hungry jackals, are not easy to manage. We were about to engage three, when one seized upon our trunks, and, piling two together upon a high seat, passed a cord round the load, and with a face beaming with satisfaction at the prospect of a good job, bent almost double, and took the pile, like the howdah of an eleiDhant, upon his back. Along the wooden jetty he led us to the street, and delivered his burden to the turbaned driver of one of several two-horsed carriages, better and handsomer than any which stand for hire in London, or in Paris, or St. Petersburg. These carriages were all open barouches, clean and bright, as things may be where there is no rain or mud for many months. In Baku, when, as often haj)pens, these carriages are drawn by white or gray horses, the manes and tails are dyed pink, after the Persian manner. When a stranger — a European — arrives in Baku, nobody seems to have any doubt as to his destination. In the first place, he, with all his luggage, must desire to go to “Domi¬ nique.” If a European landed at Baku and said nothing, he would be taken to Dominique. N^o one ever alludes to “ the Hotel dTtalie,” though that is synonymous with Domi¬ nique, who is, in fact, the landlord of that hotel. Along the quays, past the baths floating in the clear, bitter-salt sea, through the dusty place, we drove to Dominique, where, after surmounting the ground-floor, occupied with casks and stoies, by a lengthy flight of wooden stairs, w'^e were shown into rooms with floors thickly sanded by the sea-breeze, each furnished with a bare bedstead and a chair. At our re¬ quest, Dominique slouched in, a man with a cigar in his mouth and ear-rings in his ears, spitting now and then as he appioached a man with the appearance of aHevantine sailor “DOMINIQUE.” 105 who had once been an Italian of Lesjhorn or Genoa. Domi- nique has none of the deferential manner of the average ho¬ tel-keeper. No fear of rivals haunts his mind. He is Domi¬ nique; and if any one comes to Baku with sufficient money in his pocket, a room in Dominique’s house is his by a sort of right which Dominique does not question, but to the exer¬ cise of which he seems profoundly indifferent. The rooms are sandy, but so is all Baku, except where the streets are spread with a mixture of water and the dregs of petroleum ; and if bedding is required, Dominique keeps a little in store for eccentrics from Western Europe, and will produce a scanty supply of linen for a consideration in the bill. Dominique is a quaint, pleasant fellow, and, from the spa¬ cious balcony, points out, between puffs of his cigar, the chief objects of interest in Baku. Peter the Great, he says, built that strong wall which surrounds the old town when he had captured Baku from the Persians. But Russia, he adds, lost it again ; and it was not till the beginning of the present cent¬ ury that Baku became a part of the Russian Empire. He directs our eyes to the sombre, solid building, placed in a sta¬ tion of command where the town rises highest — the old pal¬ ace of the Khans of Baku — now used as a military store-house ; a building, in its fluted arches and in other features thorough¬ ly Persian or Moorish, but, though very similar in style, infi¬ nitely inferior in design and workmanship to the palaces of the Deys of Tunis and Algiers. A merchant (an Armenian) joins us — there is much freedom and fellowship at Domi¬ nique’s — and kindly volunteers a recital of the legend concern¬ ing “ The Maiden’s Tower,” the most prominent building in Baku, a huge cylinder of masonry rising in the lower part of the town, which is somehow connected at present with the wa¬ ter supply of the place. The khan, it appears, had a daugh¬ ter — lovely, of course, like all the ladies of all the legends — whose will he desired to coerce — matrimonially, we need not 5* 106 THEOUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN. say. The daughter, whose inclinations were opposed to her father’s commands, ascended the tower, which the khan was then building, and soon afterward her lifeless body was car¬ ried from its foot. Dominique ejaculates the Italian equivalent for rubbish !” and points, as more worthy of attention, to the farther side of the bay, to the white buildings of the Russian naval sta¬ tion, in front of which there are two steam corvettes lying at anchor. One looks with interest on these ships of war, im¬ prisoned on this isolated, land-locked sea, destined never to meet with their equals or superiors under other flags, for Persia has no ships of war — can not, must not, by treaty with Russia, have them in the Caspian ; and where is the possible enemy who will bring ships of war in pieces from the Tigris or the Black Sea to be put together in a hostile country? They have, however, a useful function in preventing piracy in the Caspian, and at no very distant day these vessels may be called upon to cover and protect with the fire of their guns the landing of Russian troops upon the Persian shore. The harbor of Baku is not only the best in the Caspian, but it is the only capacious, sheltered port in that sea. At Baku rain rarely falls; the sky is generally cloudless; but if a man has the fixed popular belief that his life will en¬ dure until he has eaten the proverbial “ peck of dirt,” and no longer, then he will only expedite. his end by coming to Baku. It is more dusty than San Francisco or Odessa, the dustiest towns of Europe and America, and one must be careful, or he may swallow the peck ” in a month. Baku is part of Old Persia. Nine-tenths of the population are descendants of subjects of Shah Abbas. The manners and customs of the bazaars are thoroughly Persian. The old men, in striking contrast to their high hats of black fur, dye their beards bright- red with khenna. Very few women of the superior class are to be seen. We arrived in company PETKOLIA IN ASIA. 107 with many men who had been absent from their homes in Baku for months, trading at Nijni-N’ovgorod, but no wives met this “ husbands’ boat ” from Europe. The Persian wom¬ en in Russian Baku rarely leave their homes. There were three or four shuffling along the quay with slippered feet, closely covered from the sight of man, and groups of washer¬ women labored in the ripples of the shore, who were careless as to any other exposure, so that they could clap something over their faces at sight of a passing stranger. There is not a tree or shrub to be seen upon the arid hills and stony steppe, and the odor of naphtha is never out of the nostrils. Baku has for ages past been celebrated in the East¬ ern World for that which every one in the town who can speak three words of French calls Le Feu Fternel ; and in these days — when her native population is sprinkled with sharp Armenians who would rake profits out of this or any other fire, and some streets are bordered with houses of European style — Baku presents the aspect of an Oriental town, conscious of coming greatness and higher civilization under a different system, when her subterranean riches shall have become better known, and be more largely brought forth. Baku has struck oil and before many years are past, the world will hear much more of this obscure town — this Petrolia in Asia. The engines of the Constantine — the ship in which his imperial majesty the Shah traversed the Caspian — were driven with petroleum. Coal, the cajitain told us, costs eighteen and a half rubles per hour, while pe¬ troleum costs only one and a half rubles — a reduction from fifty shillings to four shillings. In three years Baku will be united by railway with Tiflis and the Black Sea, and then probably all the Russian steamships on the Euxine will be supplied with the same disagreeable but inexpensive fuel. The machinery for combustion reminded us of one of those pretty contrivances for blowing the spray of liquid scent 108 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. about a drawing-room. As the coarse residue of the petro¬ leum — for it is the dregs or sediment only which is burned — pours in a thin, muddy stream from a tap near the door of each furnace, a jet of steam, generated by a coal fire, blows it into s]Dray, and thus it is consumed, wdth an even heat, throughout the furnaces of the engines. All day long petroleum rolls into Baku in carts of the most curious pattern imaginable. A Neapolitan single-horse, tw'O- wheeled carriage for fifteen people is unique, but it is com¬ monplace in comparison with an oil-cart of Baku. Few men would have the courage to import a Baku oil-cart, and drive it, even for a very high wager, through Regent Street or Pall Mall. Where is the man who would dare to pose himself there, perched and caged in a little railed cart, big enough to hold one barrel of petroleum, and lifted so high on wheels seven feet in diameter, that another huge tub can be slung be¬ neath the axle, the whole thing being painted with all the col¬ ors of the rainbow, and creaking loudly as it is drawn by a diminutive horse, the back of which is hardly up to a level with the axle ? Yet the exploiteurs say that already they pay collectively not much less than one hundred thousand pounds a year for the cartage of oil in carriages of this sort. They were eager to show us the oil-wells, and hopeful, as they are much in want of capital, that we should send them some meek and moneyed Englishmen. We set out to visit the “ever¬ lasting fire” and these mines of liquid wealth, in a dust-storm, with horses so active that we might suj)pose they too were fed with naphtha. In the outskirts of Baku, where we saw a scorpion for the first time, the country is all dust and desolation — a desert in which every one with an original turn of mind may make his own road. For two or three miles along the shore of the bay, the many buildings in which the petroleum is refined by itself as fuel pour forth dense smoke, and at eight miles from KALAFY COMPAI^Y. 109 the town are the springs. The average depth at which the oil is touched seems to be about a hundred and fifty feet. The wells are, for the most part, nine inches to a foot in di¬ ameter. From the first well we visited, a small steam-engine, with most jDi’imitive gear, was lifting about four hundred and fifty thousand pounds’ weight of petroleum in a day. The oil is of greenish color, and, as it is drawn from the earth, is emptied into a square pit dug in the surface soil, from whence men take it in buckets and pour it into skins or barrels, the charge at the wells being at the rate of one and a half pence per fifty pounds’ weight of oil. At the works of the Kalafy Company, an Armenian concern, when their well was first opened, the petroleum burst up in a fountain nine feet in di¬ ameter, a part of which rose forty feet in the air. At all the wells the oil is now raised in circular tubes about nine feet long and as many inches in diameter, with a valve at the lower end which opens on touching the ground, and closes when the tube is lifted. This cylinder is lowered empty, and raised again when filled with oil, in less than two minutes. A man pulls the full tube toward a tub, into which its contOnts are poured, and through a hole in the tub the oil runs into the pit from which the skins and barrels are filled. We were assured that the Baku petroleum is of better quality than the oil of Pennsylvania, and that it is less dangerous, because its flashing point of temperature is from thirty to forty de- gi’ees higher than that of the American product. It is certainly very wonderful, upon a sandy plain, with not a tree nor a blade of grass in sight, to look upon a reservoir of liquid fuel thus drawn from this stony soil; yet to our thinking there was a spectacle much more curious, about twelve vefsts farther from Baku, when we came to one of the oldest altars in the world, erect and flaming with its natural burnt-offering to this day. Surakhani is an ancient seat of probably one of the most ancient forms of worship. For un- 110 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. numbered ages, the gas which is generated by this subter¬ ranean store of oil, identical with that which caused the Re¬ gent’s Park explosion, has escaped through long-established and inaccessible fissures in the limestone eras: of which the hills in the neighborhood are composed, and the fire of this gas has lighted the prayers of generations of priests, as it blazed and flared away to the heavens. Fire-worship in Persia, of which until the eighteenth centu¬ ry Baku formed a part, is older than history. When we have passed about a thousand miles farther south, between Ispahan and Shiraz, we shall come, at the ruins of Istakr and Persep- olis, upon authentic traces of the reigns of Cyrus, of Darius, of Xerxes and Artaxerxes. But the fire-worshiping period is older than Cyrus. We do not know when the remnant of the fire-worshipers was driven southward, nor precisely how far we are justified in assuming the Parsees of India to be their descendants. But we find the Parsees using as sacred books the Zendavesta ” of the Zoroastrians ; and we know that at an obscure town between Kurrachee and Bombay there is a Parsee temple, the fire in which is regarded with peculiar rev¬ erence as the oldest ” fire in the world, the tradition among the Parsees being that this fire was originally brought in charred wood from a temple in Persia, and that it has never since been suffered to expire. It may be that the fire in this temple has been unextinguished for a period extending from before the time of Cyrus. “It is,” says Professor Wester- gaard, “to this ante-Achgemenian period that I refer Zoroas¬ ter; and I find it therefore quite natural that he could have belonged to a remote and uncertain antiquity so early as in the fourth* century before Christ, when his name is first men¬ tioned by Greek authors. The main accounts of his* lore date. * This may be a misprint in the preface to Westergaard’s translation of the “Zendavesta.” THE INDIAN PEIEST. Ill I think, from the period which they intimate ; and their lan¬ guage, two cognate dialects of very distinctive character, liossesses a greater store of grammatical forms, and has an appearance less worn, and consequently older, than the old Persian, in the descriptions of Darius, the nearest cognate branch.” For long, long ages, the worship of these flaming issues of petroleum gas at Surakhani has been maintained by delega¬ tions of priests from India, who have died and been buried upon the spot, to be succeeded by other devotees from the same country. It would, of course, be possible to extinguish the blaze, if one were to choke the fissures ; and the people about the place say that sometimes, when the wind rises to a hurricane, the fire is actually put out. The gas, however, can then at once be relighted with a match. We saw this done, not, as of yore, with mysterious incantations, and the terrified awe of superstitious worshipers, but — to what base uses may gods come ! — in order to burn lime for Baku, and to purify the oil raised from the natural reservoir in which the gas is generated. We thought that never, perhaps, had we seen a man more to be pitied than the “poor Indian,” who is the successor of a long line of religiously appointed guardians of this once wholly sacred spot. There the light of this lamp of Nature’s making flared on its formerly hal¬ lowed altar-place, maid of all work to half a dozen degenerate Persians, now subjects of the Christian Tsar, who thought of nothing but making lime, and of warming their messes of sour milk and unleavened bread. In another place the gas was conducted from the surface of the ground into a furnace, where it flamed beneath vats of petroleum, in the process of refining the native oil by distillation. Surely there never was such a pitiful reductio ad ahsurdum ! Before us stood the priest of a very venerable religion, which has always seemed to me to be one of the most noble and natural for a primitive 112 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. people. There he stood, ready for half a ruble to perform the rites of his worn-out worship, and there also was the ob¬ ject of his life-long devotion set to work as economic firing. Such a rude encounter of the old and the new, of ideality and utility, of the practical and the visionary, was surely never seen elsewhere. I suspect that, as a Yankee would say, the worship of Le Feu Eternel at Baku is almost played out. Of course, the enlightened Parsee worships God in the fire, and not the fire as God ; his theory being, I believe, that the God of Nature can not be truly adored unless the worshiper has his atten¬ tion fixed upon one of the elements — fire, air, earth, or water. Failing fire, a Parsee may pray in open air, or beside a tree or stream. The “ poor Indian ” of Surakhani complains bit¬ terly that he is robbed of every thing by the Persian work¬ men, of whom probably not one now sees any mystery at all ' in these flames issuing from the earth. They are every day engaged with an inflammable material, and not a few have made perilous acquaintance with the explosive properties of the gas which is emitted from petroleum ; yet but few acci¬ dents seem to occur. A TARANTAS. 113 CHAPTER VIII. Bathing in the Caspian. — The Way to Europe. — A Tarantas. — The Baku Club. — Mihailovski Gardens. — Leaving Baku. — Lenkoran. — Astara. — Petroleum on Deck. — Enzelli. — Persian Boatmen. — Mr. Consul Church¬ ill, C.B. — Enzelli Custom-house. — Sadr Azem’s Konak. — The Shah’s Yacht. — Lake of Enzelli. — Peri-bazaar. — Province of Ghilan. — Eesht. — Bazaar and ‘‘Green.” — Women of Persia. — Their Street Costume. — Shopping in Bazaar. — Biding in Persia. — Chapar and Caravan. — Kerja- vas. — A Takht-i-rawan. — Leaving Besht. — Charvodars and Gholams. — Lucky and Unlucky Days. — Whips of Iron. — “Ul-lah.” — The Bell Mule. — Housseiii Mounted. — The First Station. — Our Camp Kitchen. — A Mud Hovel. We had bathed every day in the buoyant waters of the Caspian ; we had sailed two miles across the natural harbor to visit the Russian naval and military station, which will become still more important as a base for operations in Cen¬ tral Asia when the railway from the Caucasus is complete. We had become known to many of the Armenian exporters of petroleum, who continually implored us to send them a few British capitalists (as if such people were to be picked up in London for the trouble of stooping), so that their works may be extended, and the oil produced more cheaply. We had made acquaintance with a tarantas,” and with the members of the Baku Club, before we prepared to quit that rising town. If we had decided to return to Europe by Tiflis, we must have taken a tarantas, or, rather, we must have purchased a tarantas ; for no one lends or lets a suitable carriage for that five days’ journey, over a road which is impassable for car¬ riages of lighter construction than a tarantas. Where the 114 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CAEAVAIf. return journey would cost more than the value of any vehicle in the country, hiring is of course out of the question. A ta- rantas is simply a stronge. carriage, securely fixed upon half a dozen horizontal fir poles, the pliancy of which (and, being small trees, they are not very elastic) stands for springs. The wheels are small, and very strong. To the carriage, some¬ times three and sometimes seven horses are attached, accord¬ ing to the view which the postmaster at each station takes of the pocket of the traveler, of the engagements of his horses, and the condition of the road. The body of the tarantas is quite unfurnished. Some travelers from Baku make a seat by plaiting rope across from side to side of the carriage ; but it is more usual to make a seat of some box or bundle, inas¬ much as the traveler is expected to carry his luggage inside. A tarantas costs about fourteen pounds sterling, and at the end of the journey will probably be found unsalable. In Dominique’s yard, at Baku, there was a tarantas in which a British consul in Persia had traveled with his wife from Tiflis. Dominique had been told to sell it for the owner; but there it stood, rotting away with years of waiting for a purchaser. As seen by light of the oil of petroleum, the Baku Club is a pleasant institution. There is a sea-side garden at Baku in which a few shrubs are dragged through life by copious watering applied daily. They look dusty and unnatural by daylight, and so do the gayly-painted wooden pavilions; but at night, when the rippling sea can be heard between the pieces of music, the club meets in the highest of these pa¬ vilions. The garden is then full of people, and there is no stint of the light of petroleum oil. None may mount the steps of this pavilion who are not of the club. The pavilion is open to the garden, and is set out with refreshment and card tables. In this place the Russian officers of the station and the wealthier of the towns-folk of Baku, together with LENKOEAN'. — ASTAKA. 115 their wives and families, appear to spend the happiest hours of their existence. The aggregated babble of their talk, a good deal of it real “coffee-house babble,’’ and the strains of the music from this Mihailovski Garden, fell not unpleasantly on our ears, as we embarked late one evening for the realms of the Shah. There was a strong wind blowing; and the captain, who could speak German after the manner of a Finlander, said that if it com tinned, which he did not think likely, we could not be landed in Persia, which has no port or harbor on the Caspian. Any body may take a ticket entitling the bearer to travel by the boats of the Caucasus and Mercury Company (which is heav¬ ily subsidized by the Tsar’s Government) from Baku to the Persian town of Enzelli, the usual landing-place for Teheran ; but if, when the vessel arrives in the roadstead of Enzelli, the wind is blowing strongly from the north-north-east, there will be a surf rolling in which not all the power of Shah or Tsar can enable passengers to land. Who that has read the “ Diary ” of the Persian “ Shadow of God ” can forget the pa¬ thetic record of imperial and grand-vizierial sufferings when the Constantine rolled so fearfully off Enzelli that her yards nearly touched the waves, and the Shah, with the hand of ap¬ prehension placed on the stomach of discomposure, feared he would never again touch the soil of his own Persia ! The scenery in the south of the Caspian is magnificent. At Lenkoran — a famous place for tiger-hunting — the sea is bordered with high mountains. We see the last of Russian territory at Astara, where a narrow river of that name limits for the present the conquests of Russia from Persia. We had four immense hogsheads of petroleum on board for As¬ tara, but our steam- vessel rolled so heavily that it was impos¬ sible to land them. They must be carried to Astrabad and back, more than five hundred miles ; and i30ssibly upon the return journey there would be the same difficulty, and the 116 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. enormous tubs must then be returned to Baku. On personal grounds, we were sorry not to be rid of this part of the cargo. The hogsheads were lashed to the funnel upon the main deck, and the Persian passengers used them frequently as a support for their kalians, from which the lighted charcoal rolled some¬ times on to the deck. It seemed to me that we lived in momentary danger of an explosion, which would have de¬ stroyed the vessel, with all its passengers and cai’go. Possibly it was for a fair wind that the Persians were pray¬ ing at sunset upon the last evening of our voyage. There was hardly a man of the score or so upon the after-deck Avho had not, either in a bag hung round his neck or hidden in the top of his tall, brimless hat, a circular lump of sacred sun-baked clay, about the size of four half-crowns, taken from somewhere near the tomb of Houssein at Kerbela, in Turkish Arabia. Wlien the supplicant knelt in prayer, this was laid before him upon the deck, so that he could press his fore¬ head upon the holy clay ; and an elderly man who was not possessed of such precious fruit of that pilgrimage, which ranks next in importance to a religious journey to Mecca, borrowed the treasure from one of the company, and per¬ formed his devotions, wdth his face toward Mecca, while the previous supplicant was engaged in preparing the sugary tea-water, the “ chie,” which rich and poor in Persia seem to prefer to any other drink. Is it owing to their vegetable diet that Eastern people ap¬ pear so rarely to suffer from sea-sickness ? Those who have endured such sufferings, for which the Caspian oilers much opportunity, will have passed Astara, and approached the shore at Enzelli with gladness. If the sea is moderate, as it most fortunately was when we arrived, they will not be sorry, even though there comes through the cabin windows a Babel of screams and shouts, varied with the cracking of wood, as the surf-boats are dashed by the waves against each PERSIAN BOATMEN. 117 other and upon the side of the steamship. While the bun¬ dles of reeds tied upon the bulwarks of the frail craft are crunching together, with what skill the half- naked rowers avoid tumbling into the sea, or suffering in j uiy to their hands and arms! ‘‘Pedder sec!” (^^Son of a dog!”) shrieked a melon-seller with nothing upon him except a skull-cap of many colors, a beard dyed bright red, and a tattered pair of blue- cotton trousers. Son of a dog !” he raved, as he saw his chance of early approach to the gangway diminished by the stealthy advance of an ingenious rival. To impute that a Persian’s progenitor was canine rouses still more indignation than is evoked even when the averaf^e Briton is told that he may trace his pedigree to an ape; to say “Pedder sec!” to a son of Iran is as bad as calling a Frenchman “ cochon,” or a German ^Glummkopf.” But the triumph of the melon-sell¬ er’s enemy was momentary; a Russian sailor, leaning over the bulwarks of the steamboat, snatched the skull-cap from the head of the ingenious intruder and flung it into the sea, exposing the shorn pathway from forehead to neck, which is the mode of “ hair-dressing ” common throughout Persia. In the terrific din caused by this exploit, there rose from another boat a tall Persian of melancholy as]3ect, with dark, dreamy eyes and handsome features, clad in a robe of sober green — a man with air and aspect very superior to those of the eight rowers before him. He had been looking long at us ; he laid his hand twice on the front of his fur hat as he bowed in salutation, and then handed up a card, which I gladly saw was that of Mr. Henry A. Churchill (who won the C.B. for his share in the defense of Kars during the Crimean War, with Colonel Fenwick Williams and others), the British consul at Resht. I had written to the consul — ignorant that Mr. Churchill, whom I had met in Algiers during his resi¬ dence there as consul-general, held the office, and he had kindly sent this man (who accompanied us as chief servant 118 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. to Teheran) to guide us to Resht. Seeing me read the card, on which Mr. Churchill had written a recommendation of “Houssein, the bearer,” the melancholy Persian placed his hand once more upon his head to indicate that he was Hous- sein, and at a sign from me he ordered our baggage to be lowered to the boat. The oars of our rowers reminded us of ‘Hhe eight of spades they pulled with short, sharp digs in the water as we moved slowly to the place where the Lake of Enzelli pours the muddy waters of the Perhbazaar (I have adopted throughout the ordinary English spelling of this word) River into the Caspian. In front of the wooden building which serves as a custom-house at this northern gate of Persia, there is no landing-place ; some ragged, and more than half- naked, boys laid a plank from the bundle of reeds which formed the gunwale of our boat to the shore, and we landed, following Houssein into the only two-storied house in the place, the first floor of which was neatly spread with mats of grass. There were a few colored tiles over the door-ways, but the whitewashed walls were as bare as the mud-cement of the exterior, and on the matting there was not an article of furniture. We had fasted for many hours; and in that simple free¬ masonry of signs, familiar to all the world, I made known that on landing in Persia we wanted something to put in our mouths. Houssein had left us to attend to the baggage, and the bearded attendant seemed at once to understand and ap¬ preciate our wants. He hurried off, as I supposed, to bring some food, and soon re-appeared with a blue-glazed pitcher of water. The pitcher was pretty in design and coloring, but water was not quite all that we needed. It was not till we arrived at Resht that we discovered the full meaning of this watery provision ; the house which we had supposed to be a Persian hotel, where we could call for any thing — the kababs SADR AZEM’S KONAK. 119 of the bazaars, the cakes of ISToureddin Hassan, or the sweet¬ meats of the harems— was indeed a villa, a '' koiiak,” belong¬ ing to the acting Sadr -A.zem, the Prime Minister of Persia, in which, by special ^favor, we were allowed to take shelter for half an hour from the sun while a boat was being pre¬ pared to carry us twelve miles across the Lake of Enzelli. It was the first suggestion of that which is almost universal throughout Persia. The traveler will have no difficulty in finding a bare room in the towns. At a palace the servants in charge will cheerfully, if he looks likely to give them a present, put apartments at his disposal, and the floors may, perhaps, be covered with matting ; but for all other require¬ ments he must depend upon himself or his own attendants. The white awning and cushions of our boat gave promise of comfort. The Shah’s steam yacht, also white, w^as moored close at hand, and soon we had rowed past her to enter the shallow lagoon or lake which lies between Enzelli and Kesht. A pensive, slender lad, with features of exquisite form, took his place behind us at the helm. His flowing robe of light stuff, resembling cashmere, appeared hardly suited for his occupation, but he had evidently a skillful knowledge of the currents and shallows of this muddy lake, upon which the sun was glaring. The banks were hidden from us by tall reeds, their tops waving ten feet above the water; and risino- be- hind this rustling fringe, we could see the highest trees of the rank, dense jungle, which is famous as the home of ti¬ gers, and of the huge water-fowl, which screamed and fluttered among the reeds as we passed. It was veiy slow work get¬ ting across the lake with oars shaped like a baker’s peel,” and three hours had passed before we reached the oozy banks of the Peri-bazaar River. Then the spades were shipped, and a long rope, attached to the very top of the mast, was handed to the shore. The rowers landed, and disappeared among the reeds. On the muddy bank they harnessed themselves to 120 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. the rope, which, descending to them from the mast, touched only the heads of the reeds as they moved swiftly along the river -side. The scene was as purely natural as if we had been exploring some country never before trodden by the foot of man. The brown stream was not more than sixty feet wide. The current seemed to be silenced by the weight of mud suspended in the water; the air was still and oppressive between the high walls of reeds. Sometimes, where, for a few yards, there were no reeds, we could see the heads of our crew, who were pushing their way through the grass of the jungle; and now and then there was a buzz, or a loud lattle among the reeds, and a gorgeous pheasant, or a wild turkey, or a long-legged stork sailed over our heads to the other side of the rivei-r After being tugged in this way for an hour, we arrived at a landing-place, to which there was a stony foot¬ path leading from a large house partly in ruins. By the river- side there was a group of people, excited at the ap¬ proach of our boat. This was Peri-bazaar, from whence we had to ride seven miles — is it not w’ritten in the Shahs X)iary? — to Resht. We bought some of the only food to be obtained at Peri-bazaar, a few grapes, and about a foot square of the brown flabby bread of the country, in thickness and general appearance very like soaked leather. Oui boxes were hoisted on to the backs of mules, and secured with cords of camel’s hair neatly plaited ; the melancholy Hous- sein then grandly waved us to a carriage which it appeared he had specially retained for our advantage. We were told at Resht that this was the one and only car¬ riage in the whole province of Ghilan, recently imported from Riissia by a khan of high degree, who, it seems, was not above letting it out to Houssein for our use. It was, in fact, a superannuated Russian droschky of the meanest kind. W^e planted our feet with utmost firmness, and grasped the sides for safety as it moved off, uneasy as the waves of Enzelli. 121 PROVINCE OF GHILAN. But for the dignity of the thing, as the Irishman said of the bottomless sedan-chair, one of us would as soon have walked j but any exhibition of contempt might have been the death of the gloomy Houssein, so proud was he of this chariot. Tlie admiration of the people of Peri-bazaar, who had probably not seen a wheeled conveyance since his Imperial Majesty the Shah rumbled that way in a carriage, was an insufficient con¬ solation. As we rattled along, sometimes between rice-fields, from which the crop had been lately gathered, at others be¬ tween thick groves, there was water always on both sides standing high in the ditches. The province of Ghilan, of which liesht is the chief town, must be one of the most fertile areas in the world. From Enzelli to Peri-bazaar, and for miles beyond Resht, the coun¬ try is a flat marsh, perennially manured with rank and rot¬ ting vegetation. Yet in places the richly green lane through which we approached Resht resembled parts of Devonshire. The verdure was so bright, the climate so agreeable, we might almost have fancied it to be a day of early autumn in En¬ gland, save that at every turn we met some Persian, long- robed in blue, or yellow, or russet-brown, sometimes perched between the humps of a sententious camel, sometimes upon the hinder extremity of a very good-looking donkey, a most awakening object to one who was dreaming of distant En¬ gland. Wherever there was a hole, it was filled with stag¬ nant water, which the sun lifted in unwholesome vapors. The undrained approaches to Resht reeked with filth, and people were picking their way close by the walls of the houses and gardens, in order to avoid the abyss of muddy slush which awaited them in the centre. The day was hot, but our horses’ hoofs were hidden in mud as we passed through the bazaar, in which there was hardly room for our miserable carriage amidst the crowd which pressed to see the strangers. The way was so narrow that any one of the stall-keepers G 122 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAX. on either side could have handed goods to us from his seat. But they themselves appeared far more attractive than their wares; than their gaudy horse-trappings of reddish leather, decorated with strips of carpets or pieces of bead- work, and hung with red and yellow tassels of silk or wool, and bells of silver or brass ; their bowls of sour cream, their eggs (many of them colored red, a common practice in Persia), pomegran¬ ates, Russian candles, tigs, and cotton prints, some of the last from Manchester, of those special patterns which are never to be met with in the home markets. They all squat upon their heels, in a position peculiar to the Persians — a posture which no man could assume whose joints had not been trained to it from childhood. From the bazaar we drove across* a large open space, resembling the “ green ” of many an English vil¬ lage. It was dotted with trees, and boys were playing in cos¬ tumes which made the sylvan scene, one extremely pretty and effective, apj^near to our eyes almost theatrical. A few women are seen. We met one sitting astride on horseback, as all Eastern women ride. We believe them to be women because of their costume and size; but we can see no part of them, not even a hand or an eye. They are shrouded from the head to the knees in a cotton or silk sheet of dark blue or black ; the chudder,” it is called, which pass¬ es over the head, and is held with the hands around and about the body. Over the “ chudder ” there is tied round the head a yard-long veil of white cotton or linen, in which, before the eyes, is a piece of open work about the size of a finger, which is their only lookout and ventilator. The veil passes into the ‘‘chudder” at the chin. Every woman before going out-of- doors puts on a pair of loose trousers, generally of the same r stuff and color as the “chudder,” and thus her outdoor se¬ clusion and disguise are complete. Her husband could not recognize her in the street. In this costume, Mohammedan women grope their way about the towns of Persia. Their 123 SHOPPING IN BAZAAR, trousers are tightly bound about the ankles above their col¬ ored stockings, which are invariably of home manufacture; and slippers, with no covering for the heel, complete the un¬ sightly, unwholesome apparel of these uncomfortable victims of the Persian reading of the Koran. In the East the appearance of guests is, we may say, never the first announcement of their arrival. From the “green” of Kesht, Houssein galloped off at a wild pace, and we were soon very kindly welcomed by Mr, Churchill, whom, as I have said, I had met in Algiers, when he was consul-general in that jdeasant colony. He and Mrs. Churchill hospitably entertain¬ ed us for a day while we were hurriedly preparing for our ride to Teheran. On the way to Persia, one learns, if igno¬ rant before, that in traveling there one must be self-depend¬ ent for all but fruit and the plainest and coarsest of uncooked food ; yet with the experience of Europe, and even of Pales¬ tine and Egypt, where dragomans abound, and of Algeria, with its Arab-French caravanserais, a traveler is slow to be¬ lieve that this can really be the fact. The roughness of Rus¬ sian travel, especially the absence of bedding, prepares one for worse in Persia, and at Resht the whole truth becomes evident. It is well to be forewarned and forearmed. We were fortunate in meeting, at any price, with camp bedsteads and bedding of English make, and into the dirt of the Resht bazaar we plunged to obtain other necessaries for the journey to Teheran. The noise of wooden hammers upon metal pots led us to the department where we had to purchase a whole batterie de cuisine. Intended for use over what is known in England as a gypsy fire, none of the Persian pots are pro¬ vided with handles. The Persian smiths seem to have no faith in solder; perhaps they do not know how to prepare it. And all Persian pots are of copper; so that after buying what Houssein thought requisite, we left the saucepans to be tinned upon the inside — an operation which in all Persian households .124 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAX. is renewed at intervals of about three weeks. Houssein and the servants of the Consulate kept off a curious crowd, who appeared to be deeply interested in watching our selection of innumerable yards of cotton for sheets and other purposes. Later in the evening, our servant brought in, with an air of triumph, a folding-table, which bore the name, roughly carved upon its surface, of an English officer of Royal Engineers, who had been traveling the previous year in Persia; and to Houssein, when we grew tired of shopping, we left the pur¬ chase of candlesticks and glasses, saddle-bags and bridles, and the necessary stores of food. There is but one mode of traveling in the interior of Per¬ sia. Even from Resht to the capital, on the most frequented road in all the empire, no carriage can travel except with a sufficient number of men to lift it over places which are oth¬ erwise impassable. It was with the help of such bearers that the Shah was able to accompany his “ carriage.” Yet perhaps it would be more correct to say that there are two modes. The traveler may buy horses and mules ; the average cost will be about ten pounds sterling for each animal. He will then have to provide pack-saddles as well as riding-sad¬ dles, and gholams, or grooms, to feed and load his horses and mules; or he may hire all the animals he requires from a muleteer, or “ charvodar.” In the latter case, the horses will not be so good-looking, but they will probably know the road, and be quite as safe in riding over rough paths which are sometimes dangerous. The charvodar and his gholams will be responsible for the stabling, feeding, and loading of the animals. The cost of a mule hired in this way, from Resht to Teheran, is about fifty krans, or two pounds English, for a ten days’ march. It is usual to give the muleteers a present at the end of the journey if they have behaved well — a toman, about eight shillings, each. One may travel “cha* par ” or “ caravan ;” the latter being to the former as goods- “kerjavas.” 125 train to express. In traveling cliapar,” oi’j as the Anglo - Persians say, in “chaparing,” saddle-horses are taken from one post-house or station (‘^menzil” is the Persian word), and galloped twelve, twenty, or sometimes five - and - twenty miles, to the next station. Those who travel with bedsteads and bedding and boxes can not travel chapar.” They, with their baggage-mules, must form a caravan, and march from station to station at a rate of about three miles an hour, which is as fast as mules can walk. Those, in fact, are described as riding caravan ” who travel at the pace of loaded mules. For men and women who suffer from being in the saddle for so many hours, there is a choice between the ‘‘kerjava” and the ‘Hakht-i-rawan.” The kerjava, in its best appear¬ ance, takes the form of two very small gypsy tents made of light bands of wood, the top bent circular, and covered with shawls or carpets. In each of these tents a man or woman sits after the kerjavas have been slung, like panniers, across the saddle of a strong mule. In the kerjava one must sit cross-legged, or with one’s feet hanging out. The open side is sometimes turned to the tail of the mule, and the rider can not see where the animal is going. The kerjava may be sus¬ pended over a precipice, on the edge of which the feet of the mule have but dangerous hold; or by sudden collision with an¬ other mule — and this often happens — one kerjava is thrown over the mule’s back upon the other, and both fall heavily to the ground. Sometimes kerjavas have no roof, are simply strong panniers of wood, in which the riders (there must be two, or, if one, then an equivalent freight will be required in the second kerjava) are doubled up, their heads and feet only being visible, the body lost to sight in the kerjava, amidst a substratum of pillows and carpets. Although but one mule bears the burden, those who ride in kerjavas are very prop¬ erly made to pay for two mules; and although two mules carry a takht-i-rawan, those who employ this, the superior 126 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAX. form of carriage, pay for four mules. The takht-i-rnwaii is used by great ladies of the Shah’s court, by the aged and in¬ firm, and by the ladies of the foreign embassies. It is not a sedan-chair, because the bottom is usually quite flat, level with the shafts, and the occupant sits cross-legged, or lies down during the journey. But the shafts are like the four poles of a sedan-chair, and the two mules are harnessed in them — one between the two poles in front, the other, with its eyes close to the body of the carriage, between the two hinder poles. The takht-i-rawan is a carriage built of wood, and placed upon a strong frame-work, of which the two long poles, form¬ ing the four shafts, are the principal parts. The sides are generally paneled, in order to obtain strength without weight, and the roof of thin boards is covered with coarse cotton or canvas to keep out rain. There is usually a small square of glass in the side doors to give light when these are closed. One can rarely find a takht-i-rawan when such a carriage is wanted ; they are usually built to order, and cost from six to ten pounds sterling. We were in a hurry to leave Resht, and not disposed to wait while a takht-i-rawan was being built. We were anxious to escape to the mountains, away from the deadly atmosphere, the feverish swamp in which the British consul at Resht is doomed to live. On the second and last morning of our stay in Resht, we sat in Mr. Churchill’s room, the whole side of which was open to the garden, transacting business with muleteers and sellers of articles of every description. We had little trouble in agreeing with the charvodar for horses and mules. He was a man about middle age, whose hair and mustache, naturally dark, were made the color of a raven’s wing with a dye com¬ pounded of indigo with khenna. Like all Persians, he was shaved across the poll, the side hair being led in a curl be¬ hind the ear. He wore a red turban, wound around a buff skull-cap ; his legs were bare to the knee, and his socks and CHAEVODAES. 127 sandal shoes bore marks of much travel. A green tunic of cotton left but little of his loose drawers of blue visible, and over all he wore a long garment of pale yellow, lined with red cotton, and bound about Ids waist with a scarlet sash. He was anxious to get back to Teheran, a distance from Resht of two hundred miles, and fortunately the day was not an unlucky one for setting out. It is of no use whatever to engage with Persian muleteers for commencing a journey on a day which they consider unlucky. They may fear to dis¬ please or disobey openly; they" may consent, but they will be certain to find some means of delay. Once off, all days are alike to the charvodar, except that day of the month Mo- hurrem on which the death of Houssein is celebrated. There is another rule which the charvodar always desires to establish. On the first day of a march, it takes a great deal of trouble and a strong will to get a caravan farther than two hours’ ride, or eight miles, from the town. Time is not a costly consideration in Persia ; and as for space, the mean¬ est and poorest possess that great boon. It is better always to avoid Mondays and Fridays in arranging for a march. Fortunately, the day we selected was Thursday, and there was no objection. We paid half the price of the hire of the horses and mules, and the charvodar departed, to prepare for settimr out in the afternoon. It is usual for consuls’ wives and for people of such quality in the East to have the shops brought to them ; they lose a good deal, both in pocket and in amusement, by not visiting the bazaars, and certainly they have a more limited choice of goods. Persuaded not to visit the bazaar a second time, we had in this way to give audience to the “ butcher, the baker, the candlestick-maker,” and to receive their slaves, loaded with goods, from which, assisted by Houssein, who, however, could not speak a word of any language but Persian, wc made very satisfactory se¬ lections. 128 THEOUGII PERSIA BY CARAVAN. At last every thing seemed ready, and the mules arrived, saddled and festooned with ropes, to be loaded for the first time. It is a work of great moment. Every thing must be nicely balanced ; so much on one side, and about an equal weight on the other of the high, heavy pack-saddle, which the mule wears day and night, and which for weeks together is never removed, except during the very few minutes when the rude process of grooming is performed at the end of a day’s march. The charvodar, whose waist was now encircled, not only by a sash, but also by a thong of leather wound twice round his body, ending in about a foot of iron chain, eyed every box and package, and with skillful hands adjusted the loads. The iron chain dangling from his waist is the ordinary whip of the Persian muleteer. It w^as worn bright with handling and with cruel application to the legs of his animals. The gholams, who were to accompany us, w- ere also provided with thongs and chains of the same sort. The char¬ vodar was engrossed with two of our trunks, which were ob¬ viously unequal in weight. He laid an iron bedstead, folded in very small compass, ui^on the lighter one, bound each of the trunks in coarse cloth, then placed stout cords of plaited camel’s hair across the saddle of a mule, and, summoning as¬ sistance, had the two packages lifted simultaneously, one on one side and one on the other of the saddle. This is done with many an “ IJl-lah ” — an invocation without which mule¬ teers rarely engage in any signal effort. “J^’ow, by the grace of God, let’s do our best,” is contained in a liberal translation of “Ullah” when thus employed; and if there is a box to be lifted, or a fallen mule to be reset upon its legs, or when the tired animals are to be urged to a quicker walk, it is invaria¬ bly with an “Ul-lah” that the effort is called for. When the second mule was loaded, we see it is intended that he should lead the caravan. He is covered with bells, which are always ringing, and they are not the ‘Glrowsy HOUSSEIN MOUNTED. 129 tinklings ” which may “ lull the distant fold those upon his head, and a score more suspended round his shoulders — all these might be said to ^Uinkle;” but suspended from the saddle this animal carried two bells almost big enough for a steeple, the clangor of which is terrific. I object, and urge, in English so emphatic as to be comprehended by any Per¬ sian, that bags of fodder, to, say nothing of camp-stools, and carpets, and half a dozen saucepans are enough; but the charvodar will not leave the bells behind him. He assures me, with a pleasant smile, that “ he,'’ and “ he,” and “ he,” pointing to the other mules, like the bells ; that, in fact, they won’t go without this perpetual ding-dong. Houssein, who, in spite of his melancholy appearance, is strongly recom¬ mended as a very good cook and chief servant, now made his appearance in full traveling costume. He was girt with a short, straight sword, and his long legs were incased in yel¬ low leather. He loads his mule with saddle-bags, and upon these places a large cushion made of his pillow and over¬ coats ; then, in the true Persian fashion, he throws himself on the neck of the mule, and struggles to the high seat, from which his legs dangle in a way that seems pleasing to Persian riders of his class. He had not forgotten brooms, which Mr. Churchill warned us were very requisite in traveling. It had been arransred that Houssein was to ride forward in advance of our arrival at a station, and look to the cleaning of our sleeping-place. When at last we set out from Mr. Churchill’s yard, our strinsT of horses and mules carried beds and bedding, carpets, tables, folding seats, cooking utensils, and all the glass and crockery necessary for simple meals in a land where any pro¬ vision beyond an empty room and a pillow of straw is abso- ♦ lately unattainable, and where the comforts of such a service of dragomans and tents as may be had on the deserts of Syria and Egypt have never been heard of. Twenty -four G* 130 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. miles in a, day of eight hours, or nine, with an hour for rest in the middle of the march, is the ordinary caravan rate of traveling ; and at this pace we passed out from the miserable town of Resht into the deliciously green forest which, for about forty miles, lies between Resht and the barren ground, rising ruggedly toward the Elburz Mountains, which we must cross by the Pass of Kharzan, on the way to Teheran. Near sunset, in a small opening in the forest, we approach¬ ed a building with not a soul in it, which looked like a brick- built barn that had long been deserted and had fallen into ruin. At either extremity there were the remains of a brick staircase, which led, by ste]3s that by ruin had become very difficult, to a loft or apartment opening upon a wooden plat¬ form. Our servants informed us that this was a station, that there was none other for many miles, and that, in fact, this was to be our resting-place for the night. Both apartments liad walls and floor of clay. There were window-frames, but they were broken, and the glass had fallen out. One room was full of brambles, collected for firing by some former oc¬ cupant, and in the other there were holes in the floor nearly large enough for a guest to fall through into the mule-shed beneath. Like the roof, the floor was of mud, dry, hard, and dusty, laid upon sticks and straw, which covered the rude cross-beams cut from the forest. It was more than half an hour’s work to clear the better room of the brambles, to col¬ lect bricks from the ruins with which to stop the holes in the floor, to sweep the place thoroughly, to spread the floor with our Persian carpets, to fill the empty window -frames with green boughs, and to set up our beds. A stream of water ran near, and a limitless supply of fire-wood was at hand ; nor could any one be more skillful than Houssein in making a stove of bricks. The crackling of our fire soon brought creatures around us, men and children in rags, who seemed to be drawn from the OUR CAMP-KITCHEN^. 131 very ground by the smell of mutton and chicken in the stew- pots. We sat on the wooden platform enjoying the first- fruits of the fire in a cup of tea ; the horses and mules were feeding in a patch of luxurious grass ; and as the stillness in¬ creased at sunset, the forest seemed to grow into life with the noises of insects and animals. Our camp -kitchen upon the grass would have made an interesting picture. The grand form of Houssein stalked now and then before the - flames. On one side stood an animated bundle of rags, who no doubt saw happy prospect of participation in the remains of the feast, from the fact that he was permitted to hold the cover of a stew-pot while our major-domo stirred the con¬ tents with a wooden spoon. I shouted for the kettle which occupied a corner of the fire, and other forms started up in willing service. Their joy was unbounded when we indulged a hopeful opinion that there would be pillau enough for ev¬ ery body to have some. But the flies in their thousands in¬ sisted also upon their share when the savory mess arrived on our platform. Not “the worst inn’s worst room” could present an ap¬ pearance of abject poverty so striking as the mud- wails, the broken roof and walls, and rough rafters of the room into which we retired for the night. But our beds were excel¬ lent. The air was sweet, and the moonlight so bright that we could see all the rich colors of our Persian carpets upon the floor. There were no locks or fastenings on the door. Afterward we learned how rare it is to have a wooden door in a country where the craving for fuel is with many strong¬ er than the respect for property. We barricaded the en¬ trance with trunks, and slept for some hours during the first night of our ride through Persia. 132 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. CHAPTER IX. The Month Ramadan. — Mohammed’s First Wife. — Ramadan in the Koran. — The Nocturnal Kalian. — Loading Up. — A Persian Landlord. — Persian Money : Tomans, Krans, and Shihees. — Counting Money. — Persian Mints. — Rich Provinces. — Kudem. — Chapar-khanah. — Bala-khanah. — Con¬ structed to Smoke. — Caravanserais. — Unfurnished Apartments. — Our Bell-mule. — A Traveled Khan. — The Safid-Rud. — Rustemabad. — ^Village of Rhudbar. — Parchenar. — Khan offers his Tree. — A Night in the Open. — Mistaken for a Thief. — “The Bells !” — Camels in the Path. It is the month Ramadan, the great Mohammedan fast. Our servants, as good Mussulmans, have to do all their eating and smoking between sunset and sunrise ; and, unfortunately for our repose, they do much talking at the same inconvenient time. In every great town throughout Persia a cannon is fired in the evening and morning, to signalize, the moment when the fast ends and is to be resumed. Mohammed ordained that the month Ramadan should be thus held sacred, because it was then that he first conceived his prophetic mission. He had lately risen in the world, as other leaders of men hav6 done, by an advantageous match. Mohammed, at first the servant, the manager of her caravans, became the husband of the rich widow of Mecca, Khadijah, a woman who appears throughout her life to have commanded his affection and respect. She was his elder in years, and Mohammed was forty when, in a cave beneath Mount Hara, he disclosed to Khadijah, with all the nervous energy of his temperament, his visions, and, as he alleged, the promise of God that through his mouth should be poured out the laws of mankind. Khadijah was Mohammed’s first convert. This occurred in Ramadan, and therefore it was written in the THE NOCTUKNAL KALIAN". 133 Koran that “ in the month of Ramadan shall ye fast, in which the Koran was sent down from heaven.” All lawful enjoy¬ ments, including eating and drinking, may be taken during the night, until ye can plainly distinguish a white thread from a black thread by the day- break; then keep the fast until night. These are the prescribed bounds of God.”"^ Sleeping in the wood near Resht, I was awaked several times in the night by the ceaseless stream of talk going on beneath our resting-place ; the intervals being audibly filled with the gurgling of the narghileh, or hookah, the “ kalian,” as the Per¬ sians call their social pipe, which is the inevitable accompani¬ ment of every long rest on the road, and of every hospitable reception or entertainment. Correctly speaking, this can only be called “ narghileh ” when the water-bowl is the shell of a cocoa-nut, for v^hich I believe the Arabic word is “ narghil.” The Persians smoke but little, and no man seems to regard a pipe as entirely his own. On a march, a great prince receives his jeweled kalian on horseback; and when the lips of his highness are satisfied, the tube passes to those of his follow¬ ers and servants. Among the lowest classes of the people, a reed pipe, with an earthenware bowl, is commonly used in traveling, and this passes in like manner from hand to hand. The smoke is always and at all times co-operative. To pre¬ pare the kalian, the tobacco is damped and placed in the pipe beneath a thick layer of live charcoal. For my own part, I prefer the smell of a wood fire such as that the odor of which easily found a way through the many holes in the walls and floor of our room, and awoke us with a pleasant sense that the sun would soon rise, and that a kettle was about to boil for the purposes of breakfast. In the morn- in gt air, which in these Persian lowlands was somewhat too dewy, an hour passed quickly while the horses and mules * Sale’s “A1 Koran,” chap. ii. 134 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. * were being caught and loaded. Then from beside the ashes of our camp-fire arose a personage dressed in a long, bine robe of ragged and dirty cotton, who appeared to claim the rights of a landlord over the remains of the ruined shed in which, thanks to our purchases at Resht and our other pos¬ sessions, we had slept not uncomfortably. The landlords of Persian “ chapar-khanahs,” or post-houses, do not present a bill with a bow and a, grimace, in the European method ; all their accounts are, the same with Mohammedans and with Christians, discharged verbally. This one, after the invari¬ able manner of his kind in dealing with a European, lifted his joined hands to the sky and muttered something about “ Allah ” and the “ sahib.” Then he presented both j^alins laid together, hollowed large enough to hold five hundred krans. The order of payment is of the what-you-please ” character; but whether you put five or ten silver pieces into those khenna-dyed hands, you will get no word of thanks; the Persian language has no equivalent for ‘‘thank you.” Such an expression could only be conveyed in Persian by words glorifying the giver. But in any case the action will be the same ; the “ landlord ” will stare at the coins, exhibit them to the by-standers, and extend his joined palms again to the giver for any addition. The Persian money is not the least queer tiling in the coun¬ try. Every body talks of “ tomans,” which are gold coins of the nominal value of ten krans. But the small remnant of this gold coinage is sold as a curiosity in the bazaars at twelve or. thirteen krans for each gold toman. Virtually, there are but three coins in the currency of Persia : the silver kran, the half kran, or penabat, and the shihee. The value of the kran, w'hich is of pure, unalloyed silver, is about equivalent to that of a franc. It is a small piece of metal, intended to be cir¬ cular, upon which the Shah’s stamp may have fallen full}’’, or may have left but half an impression. Krans are often rag- PERSIAN MONEY. 135 ged at the edges, as pieces of dougli would be if subjected to the same process, and every important town in Persia has a mint. The gold coinage has been exported, to pay for im¬ ports of foreign manufactures ; and it seems that the silver is following the same course, and that Persia is being drained of the precious metals. It is a hard morning’s work to count a hundred pounds sterling in the silver currency of Persia. The labor is generally shunned by employers, and trusty serv¬ ants become skilled in the business. The method is always the same. The money-changer and the receiver sit upon the floor; the changer throws down from his hand the krans by fives, and both payer and payee keep in mind the number of tomans by repeating it all the while in an audible mutter. Thus, while the first ten krans are being poured out, they say ^tyek [one] yek^ — yek — yek then, while the “ties” are mounting to twenty, they say “ du [two] du — du — du,” and so on. It is very rarely that such a servant as Houssein makes an error in counting. As to coining, that is carried on in all manner of ways. During our stay in Persia, the Shah had two Austrian ofii- cials, who were engaged, to the disgust of the Persians of the court, in arranging for the issue of money. They had been a year in the country, and were so successfully thwarted that nothing had been accomplished by these detested Europeans. A clever khan, whose acquaintance we made in the capital, had a coining-machine sent from Paris at his own expense ; and with the aid of this lie last year presented the Shah with some specimen coins, remarking at the same time upon the dilatoriness of the Austrians. The consequence was that he received orders to proceed with his manufacture ; and now new krans and penabats are occasionally to be seen. But base money is becoming more and more common, I am told, in Per¬ sia. People who affect to know, and who are certainly in a position to be well informed, declare that most of the bad 130 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAYAX. money comes from the imperial mints ; and if, say, a master of a mint has a salary of a thousand tomans, and is able and willing, in order to retain his office, to give presents to the value of twenty thousand tomans — which I am assured is the case with at least one of these officers — the fact would, to say the least, throw much suspicion upon his issue. There is a copper coinage, the shihee, of which twenty make a kran. But there are no shihees, there are only half-shihees ; and it seems to be the abiding and unvarying conviction of Persian servants that this coinage, which is for the most part stamped with the well-known Persian combination of the lion and sun, is not sufficiently valuable for Europeans to handle. The odd shihees in any purchase or any settlement of expend¬ iture are never forthcoming; the real value is much greater than the nominal worth, and perhaps Persian servants do not like to see the premium lost by unthrifty masters. Possibly this is the reason why they collect and sell them wholesale for their private advantage, at about twenty-five per cent, increase upon the nominal value of the coins. No other part of Persia is so fertile as the wooded borders of the Caspian Sea, through which we passed from Enzelli to the Elburz Mountains. Every need of a large population might be supplied from this marvelously prolific soil; the ex¬ port of silk would provide foreign produce in abundance; and the malarious fevers, from which nearly every one suf¬ fers, would disappear, if these low lands upon the coast were properly drained. The rivers are full of fish, including stur¬ geon and salmon. The field would produce tea, tobacco, and rice, while the forests, swarming with game, supply food for myriads of silk-worms. Silk is the chief article of commerce in this province of Ghilan, and both the quantity and value of the export are capable of great extension. But it is in har¬ mony with all other things in Persia, to find in this a rapid and serious decline. Mr. Churchill, the British consul at KUDEir. 137 Resht, ill an elaborate report upon the silk-trade, addressed to Lord Derby, has shown that within the brief space of seven years the value of the silk produced in the province of Ghilan has fallen from seven hundred thousand pounds to one hun¬ dred and four thousand pounds. Through the green and winding path of the forest, which would seem interminable but for the glimpses of the gray mountains we catch from time to time, and which we know we have to cross, we approached Kudem, the end of our second day’s march. When we alighted in the door-way of the chapar-khanah,” one of the best post-houses in Persia, in front of the brick stairs leading to the “ bala-khanah,” the raised apartment we were to occupy, we insisted upon hav¬ ing the heavy pack-saddles removed from off the backs of our mules — an order which was regarded by the charvodar as the silly whim of ignorant eccentrics. Perhaps, as like other Eastern peoples, Persians do not lay aside their own clothes at night, they suppose their mules prefer to carry a high and heavy structure composed of wood, straw, carpet, and leather, on their backs through all the hours of repose. Our mules seemed to express their own opinion by enjoying a prolonged roll on the grass. For our own refreshment, the invariable chicken was soon boiling in one of our traveling stew-pots. I should have looked forward to the result with greater pleasure if I had not seen the chicken running about an hour before it was reduced to this condition. Our apart¬ ment, though not very clean, was large, and had a boarded floor. It was placed over the archway leading to the stable- yard, and the question of ventilation was easily settled by the existence of a large hole in the floor, which, after the manner of ice-men in the parks, we thought it desirable to mark with a flag of white paper as decidedly “dangerous.” The chapar-khanah of Kudem is, I think, the best in Per¬ sia, but in outward form it resembles the usual construction. 138 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARA VAX. The chapar-khanah is always inclosed with a wall built of raud- bricks, brown, sun-baked, and friable, plastered over with a coarse cement of mud mixed with broken straw. The entrance archway is secured by a strong gate. In the cen¬ tre is a quadrangular yard for horses and mules, and round three sides are flat-roofed sheds, one side of which is formed bv the outer wall. The sheds are for the animals and their drivers, who all sleep together in the winter months. On the fourth side, near the gate, there are generally two or three windowless and doorless sheds, plastered inside with mud, having a hole in one corner for a fire-place, which in¬ variably smokes. But perhaps the more common arrange¬ ment is for these places to have a hole somewhere in the roof, and then the fire can be lighted on any part of the floor. In this way the smoke is blinding; but if a Persian has not his eyes and mouth full of smoke, he seems not to think he is getting fully the worth of his fire -wood, which is always costly. A smoky chimney appears to be not at all unpopular in a country where no necessary of life is so dear as fuel. These two or three holes or hovels are used by native travel¬ ers, and it was in one of these places that our servants pre¬ pared our food. We very rarely met with a chapar-khanah which had not a bala-khanah. The latter word would seem to have some philological connection with “ balcony,” because it is used to denote any apartment above the ground-floor; and the most distinctive feature of a Persian apartment thus elevated is the platform which the occupant enjoys upon the flat roof of the lower buildings. Inside the quadrangle, near the door¬ way, there are, as a rule, two ways to the bala-khanah; high steps in the stable wall, by which one climbs to the roof and the level of the bala-khanah. This single room, the sole erec¬ tion above the flat roof of the parallelogram-shaped stables, is generally about eight feet square, built, like all the rest, of PRECAUTIONS AGAINST COLD. 139 mud -bricks and covered with mud -cement. The rafters of the roof are usually festooned with cobwebs ; the walls are grimy with issues from the fire-place, which is rudely con¬ structed to smoke. Indeed, we often found the flue purpose¬ ly stopped witli clay and stones which had been placed there by thrifty Persians who, having lighted a fire of wood on a winter’s evening, had stopped the chimney, in their desire for economy of heat. As a rule, there are two or three door¬ ways without doors, and sometimes a hole or two intended for windows. If the wood fire smokes, one is glad to have no door until tlio charred wood is flung outside, and the pure wind of evening has blown the pungent odor from the place. Upon the high table-land extending from Teheran beyond Shiraz, the nights are intensely cold from December to April, and a fire is necessary in these vile lodgings. When, as is the rule, there is no door, the traveler nails up a horse-cloth, a ‘‘ nummud,” as the Persians call their serviceable felts of pressed camel’s hair, or, better still, the canvas door of a mili¬ tary tent; and when the same work has been performed at the other doors, and about the holes which serve as udndows, and the breeze, to which the bala-khanah is pre-eminently ex¬ posed, is thus partially blocked out, the thermometer may possibly, in the warmest hours of a January night, creep as high as zero. In the summer and autumn, in such heat as that in whicli we rode from Resht to Teheran, there are worse discomforts than a freezing temperature. The bala- khanah, which in winter is free from vermin, then swarms with the most troublesome of insects. In the caravanserais, of which there is generally one near to every chapar-khanah, the traveler has no trouble whatever about windows, because there are none. Around the laro-e horse-yard there are a number of dark arches, opening upon a brick terrace, raised about three feet above the yard. Gen¬ erally, the arches have a circular hole in the roof for the out- 140 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. let of the smoke ; but sometimes there is a, flue. The end of the arch next the yard is fllled with rough masonry, a square door-way being left, in which, if one wishes for privacy or in winter for greater warmth than that of a north wind ca¬ reering over miles of snow — there must be nailed some cov'- ering from the traveler’s baggage. But whether in chapar- khanah or caravanserai, his baggage must include every thing, and for security all must be placed with him or his servants, in their respective arches of the caravanserai, upon the dusty floor of the bala-khanah, or in one of the mud caverns near the gate, which may during the previous night have been used as a stable for mules. Every morning and evening an hour is spent in packing and unpacking, in loading and un¬ loading. On arriving, the apartment is bare, littered Avith the rubbish of the last occupier, and, on going out, there is little danger of forgetting any part of one’s baggage. It is only necessary to see that the place is stripped of every thins: ; that nothing useful remains behind ; there will be no risk of taking aught that does not belong to the traveler. We lieft Kudem in the morning, when the grass was wet with dew, and the unrisen sun shoAved the outline of the mountains in a clear, gray light. When the forest Avas at its stillest hour, our little caravan moved on toward Rustema- bad, but not noiselessly. In spite of our protests, the first horse carried a Avholo peal of bells 5 bells on his neck and bells on his hind quarters, bells Avhich I had heard tinkling in some distant pasture during the night, and that rang in our ears all the day long. These Avere gentle in their tones, com¬ pared Avith the tAvo “ Big Bens,” each nine inches high and four Avide at the mouth, Avhich I had argued against at Resht to no purpose, and Avhich Avere still carried by one of our baggage - mules. At times Ave urged our horses onward to escape from the sonorous stroke of these dreadful bells ; but Tydides, as aa’'c named the bell-mule, Avas ever “rushing to A TRAVELED KHAN. 141 the war.” His step was fastj and the projecting trunks with which he was loaded were terrible when he charged upon us. Subject to his load, he was, to a great extent, the master of his own actions ; the course was completely open to him. At about two feet distant from each of his sides the sharp iron-bound angle of a wooden trunk projected. An ancient Briton with scythes attached to the wheels of his chariot could hardly have been a more dreadful neighbor. When¬ ever the clang of his bells was heard close behind, we looked to our legs 'with fond solicitude, and hurried away. Tydides was utterly careless of the wounds he inflicted upon us with our own trunks for his weapons of war. In traveling “ caravan,” that is, at walking pace, in the long hours of the day’s journey, and especially in the presence of beautiful scenery, one often becomes listless and inattentive — an attitude which certainly will bring into painful operation the too dangerous proclivities of caravan mules and horses. If the road is inclosed, these animals will probably turn ev¬ ery corner with an eye to saving distance, rather than of re¬ gard for the full space required for the rider’s legs ; and when the path is on one side precipitous, if his legs are not forced against the rocky side of the path, he will be taken to the ex¬ treme outside edge, on which a stumble or a tiny land -slip would probably prove fatal. When we emerged from the forest, our path began to be of the latter sort — a track made with no regard for level, but simply up and down the stony ledges, over the spurs of hills which had been broken by the course of the yellow river, the Safid-Rud, the windings of which we had now to follow for about fifty miles. W^e were riding in the outskirts of the forest, when a Per¬ sian, whose dress and saddle-cloth proclaimed him to be a man of rank, overtook us. He wore the usual high black hat, with a peak strapped round it upon the side from which the rays of the morning sun were already hot, a coat of light cot- 142 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAX. ton, the skirt thickly gathered at the waist; very loose trou¬ sers of black satin, and high riding- boots rising above the knee. He had evidently learned all that was to be known about us at Kudem, and surprised me with Good-morning, sare.” He was a handsome man, but there was something artificial in his face. The ambition in Persia to have a black or red beard is overmastering. For the former color the Persians mix indigo with khenna, and it was with this mixt¬ ure that his hair and beard were dyed a blue-black. Years ago, he said, he had been attached to the Persian Legation in London, and even now he told us he liked to be “very En¬ glishman.-’ The ideas of the khan (I will not further identify him) on the subject of baggage appeared to be enviably sim¬ ple. His servant carried saddle-bags which contained a brass samovar (the Russian kettle), a couple of small carpets, a well-stuffed pillow, two or three coats, and a few pomegran¬ ates. He was traveling “chapar,” posting, upon his own horse, and could proceed at trot or gallop. I had reason to know all this in the course of a twelve days’ journey, in which the khan kindly insisted on keeping company with our caravan, partly, as he said, because in Persia nobody travels alone if he can help it; partly, I think, because he wished to be well spoken of to the English minister and the Persian Government in Teheran by an Englishman ; and not a little from a kindly, genuine desire to be of service to us. The exquisite scenery through which we were passing seemed to give him no special pleasure. The sun had risen gloriously above the mountain peaks, varying in height from ten to fifteen thousand feet. The bare sides of the Elburz chain showed almost every known tint of color. The bright reds and greens of these mountains can mean nothing less than that they are metalliferous to enormous richness. The yellow stream of the Safid-Rud, stretching sometimes over a bed a quarter of a mile in width, ran between the mountains KUSTEMABAD. 143 and our path, which was for miles overhung with trees. In the woody hollows we sometimes forded rushing streams which covered the knees of our mules, then mounted, a hill, to dip again into the next watery hollow, where beside the stream grass grew deliciously green; and our active mule¬ teers, careful in nothing so much as to keep their feet mod¬ erately dry, walked, sure-footed as goats, across a prostrate tree, which in every difficult case formed the only bridge. Tlie sun was intensely hot when we reached Rustemabad, at two o’clock, having passed through a mud -built village which lent its name to the station. The buildings of the vil- lage were of the simplest order ; the material, the river-mud mixed with chopped straw ; the flat roofs of the same mate¬ rial laid upon what in England we should call bavin- wood, which rested on rafters placed upon the mud-walls. A round hole here and there in the mud roof served for a chimney. The huts were so close together that there was not left a roadway of more than three yards in the bazaar, where grapes, pomegranates, melons, green figs, fowls, and ropes of camel’s hair were exposed for sale. As usual, a servant had gone forward to prepare and fur¬ nish the room which we were to occupy, but the nature of the floor defied the efforts of any broom to remove the dust. The apartment had six windows and three doors. In the former, half the glass was gone, and the doors had never seen a lock. In fact, locks are not used in Persia. The Persians have not as yet advanced further than bolts and padlocks of the rudest manufacture. We had just succeeded in getting our beds set up, our car¬ pets spread, and tea made, when we received a visit of cere¬ mony from the khan, who was immensely amused at my elab¬ orately made bed, with sheets and counterpane in the good English fashion, and, on my returning his visit, contrasted his simple carpet and pillow with my complicated arrange- 144 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAX. meiits. He had courteously given up to us the only room which had doors. In his resting-place there had been win¬ dows, but there were now only the wide openings. However, the samovar was boiling, and we had a glass of tea in the Persian manner — that is, very weak, without milk, and with an almost sickening quantity of sugar. Next morning, on resuming our journey, we passed through groves of olives, quite unfenced, the trees growing in rich and well- watered oases by the river’s side, through the mud village of Rhud- bar, w'ealthy in splendid fruits. We bought a delicious melon for the value of twopence English, and grapes more luscious than those of Italy or Spain for less than a half-penny a pound. Near the end of the day’s march, we crossed the river by a bridge and arrived at Manjil, another mud-built village. We had risen above the level of universal richness which belongs only to the provinces of Persia which border the Caspian Sea. Now our road lay through an arid coun¬ try, which was only green near the river, or where artificial irrigation made an oasis. We left Manjil on the 18th of October, about daylight, and at nine o’clock forded the river three times, which was high enough to be quite inconvenient ; and as we approached Parchenar, the resting-place for the night, we anticipated bad things of that station, on seeing that there was nothing above the ground-floor level of the buildings. The inclosure was, as usual, occupied by mules, and littered with dirty straw. A tall old Persian, dressed in the blue-cotton robe and trousers common to the peasantry and working-classes of the country, showed us a hole in the wall, leading, upon the same level as the yard, into what was a stable or a dwelling room, but what in another position every one would call a dungeon : a stone- built room, with no window of any sort, dark but for a fire of wood, which was burning unconfined on the centre of the floor — a room of which the natural illumination came only THE KHAN OFFERS HIS TREE. 145 from a small hole in the roof, through which some of the smoke was finding exit, and the door-way, which was as open to the mules or dogs in the yard as to ourselves. After ma¬ ture deliberation, we preferred to encamp in the open air. At the gate of this wretched chapar-khanah we met the khan, who pointed to a solitary tree, in the shade of which he had already spread his carpets. He offered us his tree ” with ceremonious courtesy, if we preferred to pass the night beneath its branches ; but we chose a place under the wall of the post-house, from which we could see across the valley. We sent Ali, a lanky lad whom we had engaged upon the road, to the river to cut some of the tall green rushes, with which we strewed the ground before we laid down our car¬ pets. The melancholy Houssein built a fire-place of stones from a ruined wall with ail the skill of a Count Rumford ; we had dined before the light of day departed, and presently our servants appeared bringing every article of our baggage, which they placed upon our encampment. In vain I tried to make them understand that these things would be safer with them inside the walls ; they protested, for a reason I have never yet discovered, that the baggage would be more secure at our side. We were soon left alone with the starry night, one lying in a well-made bed, and one rolled in a rug on the carpets. There were three fires burning in the valley, two marking the resting-place of long strings of camels laden with goods for Teheran, and the third that of our muleteers, one of whom disturbed our first attempt to sleep with a caution against wandering thieves. This made us regard with increased sus¬ picion the motions of two men, who half an hour afterward glided noiselessly, as all Persians walk, round the wall of the chapar-khanah, and stood talking together near to Qur solitary resting-place. The night was beautiful ; not a cloud nor the slightest mist 7 14G THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. obscured the stars, or concealed any part of the hard, jagged outline of the mountains, from behind which the moon, a little less than full, rose about nine o’clock, throwing a flood of sil¬ very light upon the two men, whose position, one on each side of us, about thirty yards distant, gave us uneasiness, and pre¬ vented sleep. At last they lay down upon the ground, intend¬ ing, as it seemed very possible, to wait until we fell asleep be¬ fore they approached our baggage. We agreed to watch these disquieting visitors in spells of two hours each ; but I had scarcely entered upon the second watch at half an hour after midnight, when our chief servant apjDeared and suggest¬ ed that, as the next day’s journey included the very severe work of crossing the Elburz Mountains by the Kharzan Pass, it would be well for the horses and ourselves, if we were will¬ ing, to start at once, so as to get to the top before sunrise. We were soon in our saddles, when it turned out that one of the suspected thieves, who lay like a log near us, was none other than the landlord of the miserable place in which wo had refused to lodge. He had come out to guard us during the night: and, had we but knovm who he was, we need not have been sleepless. “ The bells !” I said, with something of the horror which Mr. Irving expresses in his painful representation of Mathias, when I heard the too Avell-known clangor of our baggage- mule. It was weird work, fording the river, and pushing our way through the tall rushes of the valley, in the morning moonlight; but when we saw the terrible steeps up which the mules and horses had to climb, we were very glad we had not slept till sunrise. For hours we mounted, until we had gained an elevation of about seven thousand feet. The air was keen and cold, the stony path narrow, and in places dangerous. Just at the worst part of the ascent, an hour before day¬ break, we heard the sound of other bells, and in the moonlight saw the first of a long line of loaded camels coming down the CAMELS m THE PATH. 147 pass. There were, in all, nearly a hundred divided into strings of about twenty, fastened to a rope, which passed from the nose of one to the nose of another. To have met the camels in the narrow path would be perilous, and we stood aside, on the widest ledge at hand, to let them pass. But they moved very slowly ; and meanwhile mules, horses, and camels en route for Teheran collected behind us, and some of the more unruly mules forced their loads among us, making great con¬ fusion. Such moments would be unbearable if one thouo-ht of nothing but the possible danger of the position. But there is so much kicking and cuffing, and active work of self-pro¬ tection to be done, one's legs are so exposed to injury, and form such an engrossing embarrassment, that one has no time to think of the precipice, and of the death which a sudden push from a stumbling mule or camel might, or rather must, cause. 148 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. CHAPTER X. How Hills are Made. — Kharzan. — Mazara. — A Persian Village. — John Milton and Casbeen.— The Plain of Kasveen.— The Mirage.— Gardens of Kasveen.— Dervishes.— Decay of Kasveen.— A Persian Town.— Women of Kasveen.— Persian Costumes.— “Allahu Akbar.”— Mosque of Kasveen. — Telegram from Teheran. — Visit to the Khan. — His Dove Affairs. Lost in Kasveen. — Abdulabad. — An Alarm and an Arrival. — “Gosro- zink.” — Native Plows. — On to Karij. — Dodged in the Shah’s Palace. The Imperial Saloon. — An Imperial Bedroom. — Approach to Teheran. Population of the Capital.— The Kasveen Gate.— Mud Houses and Walls. —The Imperial Theatre.— Entrance to the “Arg.”— Neglect of Public Works.— British Legation.— Mirza Houssein Khan.— Teheran Bazaar.— Caravanserai Ameer. They say in the Herzegovina that when the Creator had made the world he passed over it strewing the smooth sur¬ face with mountains and hills, but that over that country he let fall a great part of his burden. In this way they account for its peculiarly unlevel surface. And as the rising sun glowed upon the summits of the lower mountains of the El¬ burz chain, upon which we looked down shortly after our en¬ counter with the camels, the whole land seemed to be covered with hill-tops. The khan had ridden on to Kharzan to a car¬ avanserai near the end of the pass^ and was standing in the door-way when we rode up, shivering with cold. He pointed cheerfully to his servant, one Syed Ali, who was blowing the charcoal in his master’s samovar to a white heat. Our serv¬ ants were provided with cold fowl, boiled eggs, bread, and grapes and wine. We had a pleasant bivouac in this mount¬ ain station, and soon forgot the sleepless night at Parchenar. Two hours afterward, we had descended about fifteen hun¬ dred feet, and arrived at the village of Mazara. The post- MAZARA. 149 house, like the village, was built of mud. We mounted by a ladder, with rungs terribly wide apart, on to the flat roof of the ground -floor, and there found a little room with two wooden doors, which also served as windows. Inside, there lay our bright carpets, and upon them a tray covered with pomegranates, a present from the khan, which we acknowl¬ edged with the gift of a melon. The sun was intensely hot, and the advantages of mud construction in point of coolness were very perceptible. We all slept through the middle hours of the day; and toward evening, when I came out upon the roof, activity had been resumed. I had to avoid stepping down the chimneys, which, however, were smoking remind- fully and pungently. Below in the yard there were dancers keeping slow time to a monotonous tom-tom. I fancy they had an eye to the remains of our dinner, which they after¬ ward enjoyed. The neighboring roofs were for the most part covered with a layer of horse and cow dung, spread out to dry. When dried, it is mixed with clay, and forms the fuel of the village. On some roofs the manufacture of desic¬ cated dung and clay was being carried on. Close by the vil¬ lage a piece of ground had been trodden hard by use as* a threshing: -floor. There were two small bullocks and two large men at work in this way. The beasts were dragging round and round, over the broken straw, a wooden sledge, in which were set two circular harrows, also of wood, which revolved simply by being drawn over the straw. They had trodden and dragged until none of the straw was more than two inches in length. The oxen and the men were knee-deep in it, and beneath the broken straw lay the golden grain. The tilled land surrounding the village looked but a patch upon the vast plain stretched out before us. The cultivated soil was naturally no better than much of that which was waste, but it was watered, and irrigation brings forth rich crops of corn and fruit. 150 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAK. Mazara, lying under the Elburz Mountains, uiDon the edge of a sharp slope, is a fair specimen of a Persian village. The earth is brown, the houses are brown, and crumblins: into the dust of the plain, from the mud of which they have been made. If human beings were wont to burrow in the earth, their habitations would, I suppose, look from a distance very much like the mud-built villages of Persia. There is no street, no order in the arrangement of the huts, no provision what¬ ever for drainage. The houses are set together anyhow; sometimes with space enough between for a loaded mule to pass, but rarely more, though the plain is so vast and barren. The miserable kennel of dried mud in which we rested was the only elevation, and its raised position was the cause of one of us having a fall which might have had a very serious result. The roof outside our sleeping-place was very infirm, and iny shadow concealed a hole jagged with broken sticks which lay beneath the clay. In the early morning, when we were preparing to start, my wife stepped through this hole, and to a considerable extent disappeared. It was most fort¬ unate that she was not badly hurt. Our path lay directly to Kasveen, or Casbeen, formerly one of the chief towns of Persia, a city which was famous in Mil¬ ton’s day, for the author of Paradise Lost ” wrote— ‘‘ Or Bactrian Sophi, from the horns Of Turkish crescent, leaves all waste bevond The realm of Aladule, in his retreat To Tauris or Casbeen.” • We rode to Casbeen, or Kasveen, over the nearly flat plain which stretches far beyond Teheran, and of which the aver¬ age level is nearly four thousand feet above the sea. It is in¬ closed by mountains and hills, and in some places is not more than fifteen or twenty miles wide. From Mazara to Kasveen the unbroken soil appears to be naturally fertile, but it is waste for want of water, which might so easily be stored in THE MIRAGE. 151 the hills. Where water is artificially provided, the method is very curious. From a spring found by digging upon raised ground, a tunnel is made until the surface is reached, the course of the tunnel being marked by shafts (“ k’nats ” these holes are called), the openings of which upon the plain are embanked with the earth removed by the excavation. The illusion of the mirage, which is nowhere more often seen than in Persia, is well known. The mist of the morn¬ ing, hovering upon the plain, assumes the appearance of wa¬ ter. Near Kasveen, the mirage was very remarkable. The cattle in the distance seemed to be drinking upon the edge of still waters, and the posts of the Indo-European Telegraph to be standing in a shallow lagoon. The deception is as “ old as the hills.” It has been observed in all ages. In one of the odes of Hafiz, the great poet of Persia, who has been dead nearly five hundred years, it is said of this natural illusion, “ The fountain-head is far off in the desolate wilderness ; Beware, lest the demon deceive thee with the mirage.” For hours we seemed to be riding toward water which we knew did not exist. The mirage floated deceptively before us, and when at last it cleared off, there was another illusion. The trees in the gardens of Kasveen, which were yet a dozen miles distant, seemed to be scarcely more than three or four miles from us. At last we reached these gardens, which are for the most part vineyards ; and in the way of eating there can be few greater pleasures than to devour the grapes of Kasveen on a hot day as one would currants in England. ' They are the small stoneless grapes, which, when dried, are sold as Sul¬ tana ” raisins. But Kasveen is a half-ruined, famine-stricken dust-heap. During the famine of 1870-71 the poor of Kas¬ veen died by hundreds. As we rode through the bazaar, on our way to the post-house, we saw what it might cost to have 152 THKOUGH PEESIA BY CARAVAN. a blind horse in Persia. Every now and then there was a deep square hole, open and unguarded, in the centre of the street, for cleansing the water- course which runs beneath. INTear the entrance to the mud- built chapar-khanah, there were two dervishes groveling in the dust and screaming for alms. One, a strongly built man, nearly naked, was hoarse and half stupefied with his shouts, which, though few re¬ garded, none mocked or laughed at. The other, an old man, was more methodical. In a fanatical burst, he now and then threw out “Ali! Ali!” nothing more being needed, espe¬ cially in Ramadan, to show his devotion to Ali, the great son- in-law of Mohammed. The dervishes of Persia are a privi¬ leged institution. They are not a caste, for I believe any one is free to take up the profession of religious mendicancy to which they seem devoted. The madder their actions, the more respect they appear to gain. Nobody ‘‘chaffs” a der¬ vish, and in none do his eccentricities provoke ridicule. When, after passing through many by-paths and crooked ways, we reached the chapar-khanah, our mules rushed to the mangers, and we mounted the roof of the stables by steps, of which some were nearly two feet high, to the bala-khanah. Kasveen is still regarded as a town of much importance, where a traveler might expect to find accommodation for man and beast; yet our servants had to build a stove of bricks on the roof for cooking our dinner, Avhich consisted of chicken -broth, followed by the stewed chicken, with rice and sweetmeats. Kasveen suffered horribly in the recent famine, and this may account for some of the ruin which sur¬ rounded us. But the decay of Kasveen is of long standing, and will not, apparently, be arrested by the absence of famine. There are miles and miles of ruined mud-walls in and about the town. At all times, and under any circumstances, a Per¬ sian town has a desolate appearance. Even in a town as large as Kasveen, with twenty or thirty thousand inhabitants. WOMEN^ OF KASVEE]^. 153 there are not a dozen houses with a second story, and not a single private house with a window opening upon the street. In Turkey, the windows of the harem — ^the women’s part of the house — are, it is true, jealously latticed, and the lattice has sometimes a pretty appearance from the street; but one can not see an inch into the “ anderoon,” or harem, of a Persian house. The streets, except in the bazaars, are bounded by mud -walls, with no opening or variation except the door, which is very rarely unfastened. We were standing on the roof of the chapar-khanah, look¬ ing down into the dusty street, when a number of women re¬ turning from a mosque passed beneath, chattering and laugh¬ ing. They lifted their heads to look at us, but not an eye was visible ; and though they were probably only neighbors, and certainly belonged to different houses and families, there was as precise similarity in their coloring — the indigo chud- der and trousers and the white veil — as if they had worn the uniform of one regiment. The indoor costume of Persian women of the higher class appears indelicate to Europeans. The chudder and trousers are the invariable walking cos¬ tume. Indoors the dress of a Persian lady is more like that of a ballet -girl, except that the Persian lady’s legs are not covered, and that her bodice makes even less pretension to be a covering than that of a danseuse of these decolletees days. In the anderoon s of Persian royalty, my wife was re¬ ceived by princesses thus attired, or rather unattired, the high fashion being for the short skirts to stand out in the most approved manner of the ballet. I have often thought it would make the canal scenes of Venice far more beautiful if the gondolas were not so invari¬ ably painted with sombre black, a survival, I believe, of the stern equality of the Republican epoch. And to see the Per¬ sian women stumbling slipshod or riding over the miserable roads, all disguised in the same dismal covering — a dress far 154 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. more ugly than was ever worn by nun or Sister of Mercy — is to pity the wearers of a costume which custom and the rule of the Koran have made acceptable. In Turkey, again, the women are veiled, but their dress is of many colors ; in Persia, no part of their person, not an eye, is visible, and their outdoor costume has this painful and sombre uniformity. At sunset, as usual, the voices of the moollahs chanting the “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) sounded from all quar¬ ters of the town of Kasveen; highest of all, .from a little building something like a Swiss chalet placed over the arch¬ way of the court-yard of the principal mosque. Ignorant of the fact that Europeans never visit the Persian mosques, and with no knowledge of the great danger of the excursion, we set out to see this royal mosque, the only interesting build¬ ing in Kasveen. We passed through a part of the bazaar, where, as in all towns in Persia, men may be seen ginning cotton with a bow, ignorant of the European inventions, and where others were laboriously embossing writing-paper by rubbing the rough sheet with polished wood. Our visit to the mosque attracted much attention, but we met with no opposition. We were followed by a crowd ; but this was not unusual, and no one made any remonstrance. The building has no architectural merit, and is curious only for the pleas¬ ing effect produced with glazed bricks of different colors. Like most of the Persian mosques, this praying-place is en¬ tirely open. The high, pointed arch of the centre, beneath which is the chief or grand pavilion, has a beading of bright blue. There are panels set with highly glazed tiles; the ground of primrose yellow, on which there are flowers in red and blue. The effect is very pleasing, and might be much more so with better workmanship and a finer style of con¬ struction. At Kasveen, there is a station of the Indo-European Tele¬ graph Company; and, on our return to the post-house, we VISIT TO - THE -KHAN. 155 found the local inspector, an Italian, with a telegram in his hand an invitation to us from the English minister in Tehe¬ ran to make the Legation our home during our stay in the capital. I had forwarded to Mr. Thomson a letter of introduction, of which this telegram contained an acknowledgment. We should gladly have accepted the minister’s very kind offer of hospitality, had we remained under the impression, which we had on leaving England, that it was a matter of necessity; that there was no other place in which we could find suitable lodging. But we had learned at Baku from Count Thun, the brother-in-law of the Austrian envoy, and at Resht from Mr. Churchill, that there was a hotel in Teheran, kept by a Frenchman who had been ^^chef” to the Shah: and, hearino; this, we did not feel disposed to intrude upon the British minister. We at once telegraphed our thanks to Mr. Thom¬ son from Kasveen, and expressed our intention of staying at M. Prevot’s hotel. The khan, our faithful traveling companion, had taken up his quarters at the caravanserai, where I found him lodged after the manner of his country. About the entrance, on the brick ledges of the wide gate-way, muleteers lay sleeping in every imaginable posture; and inside, the same might be said of their mules, among which I recognized our own animals. Surrounding this yard \vas the usual brick parapet, about four feet high and as many broad, by which the human in¬ habitants of the caravanserai reached their apartments, which ■were simply deep niches, closed on the outside with paneled Avood, in which there was a door, and a sliding shutter for a AvindoAV. The khan, Avith his shutter raised and his door open, sat cross-legged on his traveling carpet at the mouth of his arch, of Avhich both floor and ceiling Avere of plain, unconcealed brick-Avork. It Av^as very curious to see a man Avhose manners evinced in some respects great refinement. 156 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. lodged, with ajjparently perfect contentment, in a dark arch looking upon a stable -yard. Beside him lay three or four melons, and far in the background two live fowls, wdth their leo’s tied together : this was his larder. The ritual or etiquette which regulates, in Persia, the mak¬ ing, and the exchange, and the duration of visits, as well as of presents, is very severe. The anxiety of the khan that I should pay him a visit in the caravanserai was quite touch¬ ing. He was evidently fearful that his reputation would suf¬ fer in the eyes of the Kasveen people, if, after we had trav¬ eled together to the town, and had been accompanied by him to the chapar-khanah, I allowed the day of arrival to pass without making personal inquiries concerning his health and comfort. And I was glad to please him in so small a matter, for he had been untiring in his attentions to us upon the road. While I sat with the khan upon his carpet in the Kas- veeii caravanserai, he told me that he had a princess for a wife in Teheran. He had once, he said, hoped to have been married to an Englishwoman. At the Legation in London there was, he went on to tell me, a servant-girl, Emily,” whom he wished to marry. She was “ very beauty,” “ very beauty,” and he confessed to having made her an offer; but it appeared, from the sequel of this story of unrequited affec¬ tion, that Emily,” on learning that in Persia men had more than one wife, and that women never walked in the streets with their faces exposed to view, would not listen to the khan’s proposals. The great Mohammedan fast is not the best time for trav¬ eling. Servants and muleteers can obtain priestly permission to eat while upon the journey ; but not a few of them are fa¬ natics, and prefer to keep the fast. The consequence is that they are ill-tempered and languid all day, ravenous toward evening ; and the traveler may as well whistle to the wind as endeavor to obtain their attention at the moment when, at ABDULABAD. 157 sunset, feeding is lawful. Till sunrise, their license is un¬ checked ; they eat, drink, smoke, and, finally, are found asleep when their employer wishes to be on the road. It was so in the morning upon which we quitted Kasveen, and, leaving the baggage to be packed by the sleepy gholams and servants, we set off quite alone two hours before sunrise, thinking that the high path to Teheran would be perfectly clear. But we were soon lost among the ruins of Kasveen, with no living thing at hand except one or two howling dogs, which stalked mournfully over the ruined mud-walls and broken archways of the decayed and decaying town. Soon, however, the ris¬ ing sun revealed the posts of the Teheran telegraph, and these led us to the road, where in a short time we heard the jin¬ gling bells of our baggage - train. We met with no shade w^hatever during the whole day’s ride until we arrived at the solitary post-house of Abdulabad ; and we had not been there an hour before one of our servants rushed into the room, ex¬ claiming, “ Inglees Sahib! Teheran!” He was quickly fol¬ lowed by an Englishman, who reminded me at once of the photograph of Mr. H. M. Stanley. And this was no wonder ; he was like Mr. Stanley in face ; the same bold, active expres¬ sion ; and his dress was identical : pith helmet, short tunic, leather belt, garnished with pistol and pouch, and high rid¬ ing-boots. His Mr, Arnold, I believe ?” w^as not needed to suggest the resemblance. He had brought a letter from the British minister at Teheran, repeating in writing the very kind invitation which we had received the day before by tele¬ graph at Kasveen, and cautioning us to avoid exposure to the sun, which “ even at this time of year,” Mr. Thomson wrote, is dangerous.” We left Abdulabad three hours before day-break, in order to finish our journey before the great heat of the afternoon. There was no moon ; it was cold, and very dark. Ali was acting as guide, with his hand upon the bridle of my wife’s 158 THEOUGH PEESIA BY CARAVAN’. horse, which at every brook or water-course he abandoned, leaving the rider to splash into unknown darkness and depths, while he sought a crossing which could be accomplished dry- shod. But All misled us, and it was some time before the caravan was collected upon the right track. We had, how¬ ever, not gone far, after discovering this error, before there was another alarm. The khan, my wife, and I were riding a quarter of a mile in advance of the servants and baggage, when we heard loud cries of ‘‘Houssein !” ‘^Houssein !” and saw a tramp who had, for his own convenience, attached him¬ self to our caravan, running toward us, screaming, as Persians do whenever they are excited. I turned and galloped back in the darkness, expecting at least to find Houssein in the hands of robbers. He was only bruised by a tumble from his saddle, in which he had fallen asleep. The way from Kasveen to Teheran is very uninteresting ; the road is “ where you please,” for the stony plain belongs almost entirely to the rider. There is little attempt at culti¬ vation. N^ow and then there is a parallelogram surrounded by a mud- wall twelve feet high, the rude fortification of a vil¬ lage, such as we rested in the night after leaving Abdulabad. It was called by a name which sounded like Gosrozink; and after riding through a hole in the mud fortification, and be¬ tween two ranges of miserable huts, which served as a bazaar, we arrived at the place wherein it was proposed we should sleep. The khan had gone on before, and, when we arrived, he was sitting on the wide ledge of the bramble-roofed gate¬ way, through which every mule entering the yard must pass. He was scooping a water-melon with the utmost composure and contentment, while a servant, who had arrived before us, emerged, broom in hand, from a dark hole opposite — a cave constructed of mud cement, with no other light but that from a small door opening beneath the gate-way. Houssein seem¬ ed conscious that it would be pronounced an intolerable lodg- NATIVE PLOWS. 159 ing ; and when I pointed, in preference, to one house in the village which had a room raised upon the roof of the ground- floor, he at once darted off, and, to my horror, I saw him flinging out the furniture, which consisted of bundles of rags and a few pots of earthenware, before, as it seemed to me, he had consulted the wishes of the proprietor. But it soon ap¬ peared that he was not wrong in taking this for granted. The lady of the house hurried up the ladder which led to the apartment I coveted, and assisted in the removal and sweep¬ ing. Then I saw that the room had no door ; but this it was not diflicult to supply with a rug. The place was a fine observatory for watching the doings of Gosrozink. Across the squalor of the undrained village, over the inclosing wall, w'hich was literally and purely built of mud, the view of the mountains was delightful ; and as the rnoollah of the village loudly proclaimed the hour of prayer, numbers of the people knelt upon their roofs, and made their evening prostrations and prayers in the direction of Mecca. In the zigzag ways of the village were stored those wretched primeval plows 'which, from the Adriatic Sea to the Pacific Ocean, are the bane of agriculture. A beam of wood three or four inches in diameter, with a prong of wood (not always tij^ped with iron) fixed at an angle of forty-five degrees — -that is the plow wdth which the rich lands of Greece, of Turkey, of Persia, and eastward to the ocean, are tilled. The plow of the time of Herodotus and of Constantine was in shape pre¬ cisely the same as that which scratches the soil of these coun¬ tries to-day. Who would venture to say what might be the increase in the production of corn, if the light iron plows of English manufacture were to pass into general use through¬ out Eastern Europe and in Asia? It is terribly wearisome to ride over a plain so flat that, in the morning, one can see the goal of the evening — a ride in which nine hours of traveling bring no material change of 160 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. landscape. When the sun rose, shortly after we left Gosro- zink, we could see almost the lowest rock of the spur of the Elburz Mountains, under which lay a palace of the Shah, where the khan had promised us we should, through his in¬ fluence, obtain good lodging for the last night of our long journey. We reached the palace early in the afternoon, scarcely less tired than our horses with the heat and dust. It is one of half a dozen palaces in the neighborhood of Tehe¬ ran, and was last occupied by the Shah when his majesty re¬ turned from London. There are palaces and palaces, and this palace of Karij is not in accord with the English notion of a palace. The gate¬ way, placed in the mud- wall which surrounds the buildings and gardens, is in style a compound of a Swiss chalet and a Chinese pagoda. It opens into a large yard, where we dis¬ mounted. The khan assisted, and then offered his arm in English fashion, to the evident astonishment of the Shah’s do¬ mestics, to lead the lady of the party to the palace. Through a side door we passed from the yard into a garden, and, be¬ neath trellised fig-trees, walked by a shady path to the main building. This was long and narrow, crossed near each end by two staircases, a large landing on the first floor dividing the back and front stairs. The steps were painfully steep, and covered with blue - glazed tiles, which were generally broken. IN’ot the Shah-in-Shah,*^ or any other f)otentate, could main¬ tain a dignified deportment while climbing up such steps as those of any one of his palaces. With few exceptions, an easy staircase seems to be one of the latest triumphs of civili¬ zation. The imperial steps in the Roman Coliseum are so * This title, “ Sliah-in-Shah ” (King of Kings), is said to have been origi¬ nally, assumed by the Persian monarchs in right of their suzerainty over four kings — those of Afghanistan, Georgia, Kurdistan, and Arabistan. THE IMPERIAL SALOON. 161 high that the CoBsars must have looked like bears climbing a pole or alpine travelers in difficulty, when mounting to their throne in that vast amphitheatre. We found the Shah’s stairs really painful, after our tiresome ride. On the landint^ there were double doors on either hand, covered with arono-h. red paint, and without locks or handles. W^e entered on one side the large saloon of the palace, the only apartment which contained a single article of furniture, and in this room the solitary provision was a carpet, or, rather, four carpets ; one large carpet in the centre, and thick felts, extending for about six feet from the wall, on three sides. At both ends of the room, from the roof half-way down the wall, were paintings, each containing the portraits, or supposed portraits, of about a dozen Shahs, every monarch having a square black beard of impossible dimensions and singular uniformity. There was one thing in the saloon besides the carpets — a large, circular metal tray, about a yard in diameter, on which were three large melons, cut in halves, for our refreshment. I think every half-melon was more or less scooped before the tray was carried away ; and we left the saloon to look at our bed¬ room, which was a large oblong, with doors opening upon the mud-cement roof of the under offices, of which our servants had taken possession, with the result of filling the place with the smoke of their cooking fire, for which they had to pur¬ chase wood. The light of the bedroom came from the ends, according as we raised or lowered the heavy wooden shutters. There were no other windows. On the rubbishy concrete floor there was a layer of dust, which rose in small clouds as we walked across the room. It was not without hard labor that we shook offi the dust of the Shah’s bedroom from our carpets the next morning before starting for Teheran. This palace of Karij possesses a feature not uncommon in the residences of the Shah — a tower joined to, but easily shut against access 162 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. from, the palace — a high, square building, ascended by flights of stairs, with slits for windows, just large enough to admit a glimmer of light. There is no ornament or furniture ; the tower is merely a place of temporary retreat and security in case of sudden attack or attempted revolution. I have spoken of a ‘‘bedroom,” but a Persian palace has, properly speaking, no apartments specially devoted to sleeping. The khan, in the true Persian fashion, passed the night on the thick Kho- rassan felt upon the floor of the saloon. One looks in vain for the signs of a great city on approach¬ ing the capital of Persia. The plain is stony, nearly level, and utterly wearisome. There are strings of camels and droves of asses entering and leaving the city. Much of the daily food, all the fire- wood, and all the foreign produce con¬ sumed in Teheran must be so conveyed. A wheeled car¬ riage for such service is never seen. No fine building pre¬ sents a remarkable outline. At one or two points, the sun’s rays gleam upon the vitrified tiles of the dome of a mosque or shrine ; but these are miserable in elevation. Nobody knows how many people there are in Teheran : some say fifty thousand; some say eighty thousand; but in other countries and climates a town with twenty thousand inhabitants makes far more show. Were it not for the plane-trees, one might overlook Teheran as one would a sleeping crocodile on the banks of the Nile. The city is of the color and of the ma¬ terial of the plain. It is a city of mud, in an oasis of plane- trees. The flat roofs continue the level of the plain. As one approaches Teheran in autumn, the eye passes over the wretched dwellings, is relieved with the verdure of the trees, and delights in the high mountains, of which the tallest sum¬ mits, covered with perpetual snow, chill the evening and the early morning air, even at that season. The area within the heaps of earth •which form the de¬ fenses of Tehei’an is much larger than the citv. For the O V THE KASVEEN GATE. 163 most pavtj there is no wall, only an irregular trench, at the side of which the excavated sand has been carelessly heaped. We approached the Kasveen gate in quite a cavalcade. The khan’s brother, his two sons held by servants upon white donkeys, and three mounted servants, had ridden an hour from the city to meet him. A man seated on the extreme end of a donkey had come out from Prevot’s, the hotel of Teheran, having heard by telegraph of our probable arrival. Altogether we formed a small crowd in passing the gate, which, like all the entrances to Teheran, reminds one of Tun¬ bridge ware. The style of building, and the mode of arran¬ ging the glazed bricks, of various colors, is like nothing so much as the surface of the boxes one buys, or does not buy, at that pleasant town in Mid-Kent. No European could enter the gates of Teheran for the first time without a feeling of intense disappointment: the city appears so insignificant in area and elevation. One sees nothing but wide, dusty spaces, broken occasionally by a mud -wall of precisely the same color as the road. After riding within the gates across country for about a mile, through holes in the walls of dusty inclosures which looked as if somebody had at one time thought them worth a mud- wall, and on second thoughts had arrived at an opposite con¬ clusion, we came to something that had in the uniformity of its width the aspect of a street ; but, like all the other ways of Teheran, this was bounded by apparently interminable walls of mud, broken only at about every twenty or thirty yards by an iron-bound door, the single sign that this erec¬ tion was the outer wall of habitations. At last we arrived in the Belgravia of the Persian capital — the place of highest fashion ; and there the only difference was, that the twelve- foot wall was paneled, and the mud cement covered with finer plaster, and washed over with blue, upon which were scrolled decorations molded in the same plaster. 164 THEOUGH PEESIA BY CARAVAN. The uniformity and ugliness of some of our own streets — say Gower Street, for example — are bad enough, but a brick wall would be worse ; and a brick is a thing of beauty, and of many colors, compared with mud. Dried mud is the pre¬ vailing material and color in Teheran. One of the principal sites in the city is occupied by the “ taziah,” or theatre, in which religious representations are given, after the manner of the Ober-Ammergau Passion-plays, of the sufferings and death of Houssein. The front of this building is a good specimen of modern Persian architecture, which in England we should recognize as the Rosherville or Cremorne style — the gewgaw, pretentious, vulgar, and ephemeral style, erected in those places of amusement, only to be seen at night, and to last for a season. The fagade is shaped like a small transept of the Crystal Palace, and covered with florid, coarse decora¬ tions in plaster, with headings of bits of coarse looking-glass, bright blue, red, yellow, and green being plentifully laid upon the plaster wherever there is opportunity. Behind this is the Shah’s palace, which is better, in that the plaster is uncolored. The gate which leads to this central inclosure, the citadel, or arg (the same word probably as “ ark ”), of Teheran, is of the same Tunbridge-ware pattern as the town gates ; but the arches are filled with extravagant representations, in tiles of the coarsest colors, of the triumphs of legendary heroes of Persia over terrible creatures which can have existed only in the fancy of the artist. The excessively grotesque in these mosaics gives them a certain curious interest. It is upon the inner side of this gate-way that one sees to what a low level Persian art has descended. The ornaments of this most im¬ portant and central gate in Teheran are representations of Persian soldiers, life-size, the painting of the glazed tiles being very much such as is seen in the east end of London upon the street bills of the lowest music-halls. In drawing, each sol¬ dier is like the “ men ” we are accustomed to see from the NEGLECT OF PUBLIC WORKS. 165 pencil of children of three or four years old. The features of each man are upon one plan ; they have the same leer as those of his companions ; the mustache is a brick and a half long, and the black boots are hanging painfully, as if tortured in the search for some clod or cloud to stand upon. The or¬ namentation of the exterior of some of the mosques with these colored bricks, chiefly of light blue and yellow, is very effective ; but we met with no place in which this work was not more or less disfigured by ruin ; and repair does not seem to be the business of any person or department. From one end of Persia to the other, this miserable condi¬ tion of decay, dilapidation, and ruin is characteristic of all public edifices — the mosques, palaces, bridges — every thing. It is probably correct to say that this invariable condition is a consequence of the universal corruption of the Government. The work of maintenance and repair belongs to the Executive Government, and the funds which should be thus expended pass into the rapacious pockets of the governors of the coun¬ try. The gross neglect of useful public works in Persia re¬ called to my mind a passage in which Adam Smith refers to this as one of the worst symptoms of the worst administra¬ tion. He nearly describes the state of things in Persia in the following passage, which had reference to the condition of the by-roads in France about the middle of the eighteenth centu¬ ry ; with the difference, that in Persia no one delights in ex¬ penditure of any sort for the j^ublic advantage. Expenditure is never made except with a view to private plunder. The proud minister of an ostentatious court may frequently take pleasure in executing a work of splendor and magnificence, such as a great highway which is frequently seen by the prin¬ cipal nobility, whose applauses not only flatter his vanity, but even contribute to support his interest at court. But to exe¬ cute a number of little works in which nothing that can be done can make any great appearance, or excite the smallest 166 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. degree of admiration in any traveler, and which, in short, have nothing to recommend them but their extreme utility, is a business which appears in every respect too mean and paltry to merit the attention of so great a magistrate. Under such an administration, therefore, such works are almost entirely neglected.”* Passing from north to south, almost the first house in Te¬ heran, and certainly the best, is that of the British Legation. John Bull must have been caught in a liberal mood, and with loose purse-strings, when the vote was taken for this array of buildings ; or is it not probable that poor India helped to pay for this residence? In Persia, it is the fixed idea of all peo¬ ple that Russia and England are rival powers. The ascend¬ ency of the influence of one or the other at the court of the Shah varies with men and circumstances. But although the Russian Legation is not nearly so fine a place as the house of the British minister, yet it is generally understood in Teheran that at present Russian authority is predominant. Most Per¬ sian statesmen have a decided leaning toward England ; and His Highness Mirza Houssein Khan, the present chief minis¬ ter of the Shah, is no exception. But, of course, the Persian liking for England is a natural preference for that power which is the less suspected of designs upon the independence of the country. However, it is certainly believed that a com¬ plainant is better off when he is backed by the Russian envoy. The Sadr Azem, as the chief minister is called (though Hous¬ sein Khan was Sipar Salar — commander-in-chief — when we were in Teheran), may prefer the English envoy to the Rus¬ sian ; but I have no doubt whatever that he would move more quickly at the demand of the latter. From the British Lega¬ tion, in a straight southward line, are the taziah, the palace, and, farther on, the most interesting part of the town, the ba- * “ Wealth of Nations,” book v., art. 3, part i. 167 CARAVANSERAI AMEER.” zaars and caravanserais. It is there one can take the truest measure of Persian civilization. Every one knows what an Oriental bazaar is like; in Teheran it is a labyrinth of narrow ways, some of which are covered with well-executed brick arching, in which customers, camels, donkeys, Persians of high degree, attended by half a dozen servants, who rudely clear a way for the great man ; Persians of low degree, and in al¬ most every stage of undress ; veiled women, and once a week perhaps a European — jostle all day long, while the sellers sit mute and motionless, rarely soliciting the custom of the throng. The dark shade, flecked with patches of bright sun¬ light, which is perhaps not the least noticeable feature of an Oriental bazaar, is broken occasionally by the entry to a cara¬ vanserai or mosque. The commercial caravanserais are some¬ times attractive, the centre of the open square being occupied by fountains, and the space itself with plane-trees. Around the square, in large boxes, closed with heavy wooden shutters when the day’s work is over, sit the merchants. The name of the finest caravanserai recalls to mind the great crime of the Shah’s long reign — the cruel execution, at his majesty’s word, of the most honest and best of his ministers, the Ameer-el- Nizam. The Caravanserai Ameer ” of Teheran is known on all the paths of Persia. 168 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. CHAPTER XL Teheran. — Street of the Foreign Envoys. — The British Minister. — Lanterns of Ceremony. — The English in Teheran. — The Shah’s Palace. — Mirza Houssein Khan. — The Sipar Salar. — An Oriental Minister. — Persian Cor¬ ruption. — Mirza Houssein Khan’s Policy. — His Ketinue. — Brigandage in Persia. — Saloon of Audience. — The Jeweled Globe. — The Shah’s Throne. — The Old Hall. — Persians and the Alhambra. — The Shah receiving Homage. — Eustem and the White Devil. — Keports in Teheran. — The English Courier. — Character of Persian Government. — The Green Draw¬ ing-room. — The Shah’s Album. — Persians and Patriots. — The Shah’s Jewels. — The “Sea of Light.” At an open door in the wall of the best .street in Teheran, which I have referred to as the ‘‘ Belgravia ” of the city, and which might be called ‘^the Street of the Foreign Envoys,” our twelve days’ march ended. We were at Prevot’s, a Per¬ sian house, kept by a Frenchman as a hotel, with Armenian servants. We found three small rooms prepared for us, look¬ ing upon a paved yard about as large as the rooms, with a door-way leading to the larger quadrangle, which forms the usual centre of a house in Teheran. From the windows we could see a plastered wall four yards distant, and that was all ; a miserable, depressing prosj^ect in a city the situation of which is highly picturesque. In an hour I called on the En¬ glish minister, Mr. Taylour Thomson, whose visit to us the next morning was followed by entertainments which made us more or less acquainted with the European element in the population of Teheran. Mr. Thomson is in some points undoubtedly well qualified for his post. But it is only just to say that bis long service in countries so remote as Persia and Chili (he acted as charge- LANTERNS OF CEREMONY. 169 d’affaires for fifteen years in South America) has had the nat¬ ural and inevitable consequence. Mr. Thomson is far better acquainted with Persian modes of thought and with Persian politics than with the affairs, and the thoughts, and the policy of his own country, and I am inclined to doubt very much if this is desirable for one in his position. Local knowledge is unquestionably valuable — it is, indeed, indispensable; but I believe it to be far more important that the envoy of a coun¬ try should be closely familiar with the mind and disposition of those whom Lord Derby has lately called his “ employers,” and this can not be the possession of a man whose memory has to pass over five-and-forty years before it reaches the time when he was resident in England. Mr. Thomson is a man in whom strength of will and direct¬ ness of speech, two important qualities in English dealings with Orientals, are plainly marked. His deficiencies, I should say, are due to the absence of a life-time from the polishing in¬ fluence of the capitals of Europe, and in political knowledge, from the stimulating action of English opinion, which, during the years of his long and honorable diplomatic service, has undergone a change far more remarkable than was ever brought about at one stroke by the swift agency of revolu¬ tion. He has mastered, and that is no small matter, the curiosi¬ ties of Persian etiquette. It baffles the simple English mind to conceive a plan by which rank can be indicated at night in a dark, unlighted city, where the streets are full of holes. But Avith the Persian rank is every thing; and this is denoted at night according to the size and number of lanterns by which the progress of the great is illuminated. The ceremonious lanterns of Teheran, about eighteen inches in diameter, have a metal top and bottom, the intervening and luminous space being of plain or colored linen, about a yard deep. Through a ring in the top the bearer passes his arm, and, holding it 8 170 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. high, he can just keep the lantern from off the ground as he walks. On the occasion of a dinner at the British Legation, or any similar festival elsewhere, these lanterns are seen ad¬ vancing from all quarters, followed by guests, who are invisi¬ ble in the surrounding gloom. We were received with much kindness by the English in Teheran. I can imagine nothing more wearisome than their position. Their houses, for the most part built in Persian fashion, are dull beyond description, because they have no view of the grand outlook upon the mountains, to which it is always a relief to turn from the wretchedness of Teheran. They have what they call “a drive” — a long, straight road over the plain in the direction of a suburban palace belong¬ ing to the Shah — a road which is flat, tedious, and horribly dusty, one of those dreadful promenades of which the end is seen from the commencement. They have their parties, their coursings, their balls, in all of which they are doomed to look on combinations of the same faces. ‘‘We are now,” writes one of them, “ looking forward to a ball next Monday, given by - , the - charge -d’affaires. Fifty-eight Europeans are invited. They are all sure to come ; and as the ladies do not number, all told, fifteen, the black-coat element necessarily preponderates.” Narrowness is born of such circumstances, but there is an absence of scandal among the European com¬ munity of Teheran which is praiseworthy. The English minister obtained permission for us to visit the Shah’s palace in Teheran, and added the honor and ad¬ vantage of his company. As is usual in Teheran, Mr. Thom¬ son’s carriage was surrounded by mounted servants. It is impossible to avoid much ceremony when the English minis¬ ter visits the palace. We passed through the gate of the citadel, adorned with the soldiers, to the taziah, which closes the end of the street. Then, turning between the walls of the palace gardens, which were lined with lounging guards, THE shah’s palace. 171 we alighted at the simple entrance to one of the court-yards of the palacCj the buildings of which are all loWj and divided by these inclosures, in which there are rows of tall plane-trees and paved rectangular walks. The minister was received by a large cluster of officials and servants, with whom we approached the principal hall of audience, which resembles an open temple. There is a mixt¬ ure of Swiss and Chinese forms in the construction of the wooden roof, the sides of which are suj^ported by four large twisted columns richly gilded. There are hangings of stout hempen stuff, by which the whole saloon can be protected from the weather; but the intention is that it should be open, and the Shah’s reception visible to all upon the lower level of the court-yards. This is the place in which his majesty (who was at the time living in one of his palaces near the Caspian shore) receives, on the occasion of a salaam or levee, the diplomatic body and other persons of distinction. This saloon is raised by six high steps from the court-yard, and is nearly sixty feet long, with a width of about twenty-five feet. From the richly carpeted floor, we overlooked the court-yards, through which ran a stream of clear water, passing beneath the saloon in a paved channel. We were enjoying a first glance at this curious apartment, the ceiling of which is set with facets of looking-glass (these, if they had been clean, would have been gorgeous with pris¬ matic colors), when a posse of barefooted servants entered, something after the manner of a theatrical procession, evi¬ dently preceding some very great personage. It was His Highness the Sipar Salar, acting Prime Minister of the Shah, Mirza Houssein Khan, who, when he accompanied his impe¬ rial master to London, was Sadr Azem, which is the highest official title, and is, in fact, the Persian equivalent of Prime Minister. But Mirza Houssein Khan is not a popular man, and upon his return to Persia with His Majesty the Shah, a 1'72 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. storm of hatred had risen against him, to which the Shah in¬ clined so far as to deprive his clever minister of the title of Sadr Azem. The life of Mirza Houssein Khan w^as thought to be in danger, and it is said in Teheran that an order for his execution was arrested only by reminding the Shah that one who has the Grand Cross of the Star of India must, as a member of a most illustrious English brotherhood, be re¬ garded as a person not to be given over to the knife or the bowstring of the executioner, without consideration for the opinion of Europe. The Sipar Salar, next to the Shah himself, the greatest personage in the country, was in undress uniform of Russian cut. His overcoat resembled precisely, excepting its orna¬ ments, that of a Russian officer. He wore the Persian hat, black trousers, and pumps ” of polished leather, which made a considerable exposition of his white stockings. Probably his highness wore these slight shoes in order to place him¬ self upon equality with the Europeans who were treading the imperial carpets in their walking -boots. In pumps, he was equal to the custonls of either continent; these could easily be laid aside if he desired to appear in Persian fashion, in his stockings. His highness was the only Persian whose feet W'ere shod. Of his large retinue of more than fifty persons, those who mounted with the Sipar Salar into the saloon had left their shoes upon the pavement below. Mirza Houssein Khan is a man about middle height and middle age, with, for a Persian, commonplace features, full of mobility, and ex¬ pressing great cleverness. He talks French fluently, and has a quick ruse manner. An artificial manner is cultivated by Persians, who in public affairs and correspondence do not affect sincerity. The Sipar Salar is a man whom, even at first sight, one feels little disposed to trust; a statesman of very superior ability and intelligence, probably spoiled by the cruel difficulties of his position. If the reports current A5T OEIENTAL MINISTER. 173 ill Teheran are true, his highness has not found it easy to keep his head on his shoulders in a great position in a coun¬ try governed by a wayward despot, whose mind may at any time be fatally influenced against his minister. An Oriental minister, even so clever a man as Mirza Hous- sein Khan, does not seem desirous of pushing his own coun¬ try into European grooves when he has traveled in the West¬ ern Continent, If such ideas ever enter into such minds, they are, at all events, soon abandoned. He has, and that in itself is no small advantage, a truer estimate than can be formed by his untraveled countrymen of the strength, power, and wealth of the nations of Europe. But it is the Palais Koyal of Paris rather than the Palace of Westminster which fills the largest place in his mind. His longing, as a rule, turns rather to the former than to the latter. In his shallow, courteous conversation, Mirza Houssein Khan did not appear to me to have any other view for Persia than that of battling with the difiiculties of his own position, which I have no doubt are very engrossing. As he is certainly in experience the ablest and most competent of Persian statesmen, Mirza Houssein Khan would seem to be the right man in the right place. But his is a position which would break the heart of a good man. One can imagine a good man killing himself in the effort to reform the Government of Persia. But suc¬ cess would seem impossible, and endurance must lead to compromise with evil and corruption of every sort. A vio¬ lent death would be the likely end of a good man in such a jiosition, and wealth that of one who would accept the place and swim in the stream of corruption. People say that Mirza Houssein Khan has preferred the latter course. A week before we met his highness on this visit to the Shah’s palace, the following was written for publi¬ cation with reference to him by a resident in Teheran, who has had opportunity of forming a mature judgment upon the 174 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. estimation in which this undoubtedly able minister is held in Persia : “ Since Mirza Houssein Khan has been at the head of af¬ fairs in Persia, the country, both socially and politically, has followed a visibly retrograde movement. On him at one time all hopes of progress were centred : his j)romises of re¬ form were great ; but events have now shown either that ho never meant to keep those promises, or that he is incapable of the task. Of all the influences that act against the true in¬ terests of the State, the selfish ambition and the avarice of this powerful minister have been perhaps the most effectual. To keep in his own hands the whole power of Government, and to enrich himself by this means, are with him the sole ends of existence ; and, to effect his purjDose, he leads the Shah’s attention as much as possible away from public affairs while his majesty is at home, which is now rarely the case, as his chief adviser contrives to persuade him to undertake repeated journeys into the provinces. Thus it happens that during the last eight months the Shah has passed barely ten days in the capital. His majesty is now on a hunting expe¬ dition near Sari, in Mazandaran ; and Mirza Houssein Khan, left completely his own master, has surrounded himself with almost regal pomp. Yesterday, at the Beiram ceremony of the salaam [a levee held by the third son of the Shah], he was followed by a cortege more numerous than that which the king himself leads on great occasions. In contrast with these displays, the affairs of Government have fallen into deplora¬ ble confusion, and ojDpression has become so rampant that an open manifestation of popular discontent is to be expected. Kever was there a more unpopular minister. Two years ago, "when the Mirza was execrated as a reformer by the nobles and the priesthood, he succumbed for a time to the opposi¬ tion of these conservative classes. Kow that the hatred of the populace is added to that of his political rivals, his fall. SALOON' OF AUDIENCE. 175 when it coniGSj will be signal indeed. It is not to be denied that brigandage is flourishing in Persia. Caravans and trav¬ elers are plundered at the very gates of Teheran. Want and oppression have turned the most peaceful of the population into highwavmen.” It may be that Mirza Houssein Khan, who nearly lost his life on account of his reputation as a reformer on his return from London, is now content if he can keep his head on his shoulders, and himself above all his rivals on the surface of the foul pool of ofiicial life in Persia. Close to the insignificant door-way by which we entered the saloon, there is hung upon the wall a very large picture, which, somewhere about the centre, contains a full-length portrait of the Emperor of Austria. The picture is so large, and , is hung in so important a position, that, should other monarchs who are on friendly terms make the bhah a similar present, it would be quite impossible for his imperial majesty to give even to one of them an equally advantageous display. When the Shah received this portrait, he resolved to present in return a likeness of himself, and declared it should be placed in a frame of solid gold. But inquiry and calculation modified his majesty’s intentions, and at last he consented to order a gilt frame in Francis Joseph’s own capital city. Be¬ neath this huge canvas were hung a landscape and a sea-piece, evidently purchased from some French gallery, the small tin plate bearing the exhibition number of each picture being still in the corner. It is at the opposite end of this saloon that the “ Shadow of God” sits on his heels, or stands to receive the envoys of Europe. But the Shah’s movable throne was not occupy- iim the central niche. There, in that place of honor, we were • • A permitted to gaze upon one of the characteristic feats, per¬ haps the greatest art-^fork, of his majesty’s long reign. This is an eighteen-inch globe, covered with jewels from the ISTorth 176 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. Pole to the extremities of the tripod in which this gemmed sphere is j)laced. The story goes that his majesty bought — more probably accepted, at all events was in possession of — a heap of jewels, for which he could find no immediate pur¬ pose. J^othing could add to the lustre of his crown of dia¬ monds, which is surmounted by the largest ruby we have ever seen, including those of her majesty and the Emperors of Germany and Eussia. He had the Sea of Light,” a dia¬ mond in size but little inferior to the British Koh-i-noor, the ‘‘Mountain of Light.” He had coats embroidered with dia¬ monds, with emeralds, with rubies, with pearls, and with gar¬ nets; he had jeweled swords and daggers Avithout number; so, possibly because his imperial mind Avas turned toward ti aA el, the Shah ordered this globe to be constructed, covered Avith gems— the overspreading sea to be of emeralds, and the kingdoms of the world distinguished by jewels of different color. The Englishman notes Avith pride and gratification that England flashes in diamonds ; and a Frenchman may share the feeling, for France glitters illustrious as the British isles, being set out in the same most costly gems. The do¬ minion of the Shah’s great neighbor, the brand-new Em¬ press of India, is marked Avith amethysts ; Avhile torrid Africa blazes against the literally emerald sea, a whole continent of rubies. Hear the globe, side by side Avith a French couch, Avorth perhaps a hundred francs, stands the Shah’s throne, Avhich is, of course, arranged for sitting after the manner of the coun- try. It occupies a space almost as large as Mr. Spurgeon’s or Mr. Ward Beecher’s pulpit; for the occupants of this throne are fond of space, and occasionally have a kalian of Avonder- ful dimensions Avith them ujpon the splendid carpet, Avhich is fringed Avith thousands of pearls. The embroidered bolster upon Avhich the Shah rests his back or arm is sewn with pearls. Behind his majesty’s head is a “sun,” all glittering THE shah’s THEONE. 177 with jewels, supported at the corners with birds in plumage of the same most expensive material. On the other side of the niche in which the globe stands, there is a table grimy with dust and extremely incongruous, the top inlaid with the beautiful work of Florence, and a mod¬ el, in Sienna marble, of the Arch of Titus, both gifts from his holiness the infallible Pope. Near these presents, in a recess, and in a very common wooden frame, is a portrait of the late Sir Henry Havelock ; and, not far off, a time-piece with run¬ ning water ” and a nodding peacock, a gift from the defunct East India Company in the days when Shahs received such toys as pleased them, and were not considered eligible as kniorhts of the great orders of European courts. At a short distance is another and a much older hall, still more exposed to public view. In this pavilion, which is built to cover and give increased dignity to the ancient throne of the Shah, the arrangements are wholly Persian. The marble floor is raised not more than three feet above the pavement of a large oblong court-yard, up the broad paths of which the sons of Iran throng to make salaam before their monarch. The Shah sits in the motionless majesty of an Oriental po¬ tentate, upon a high throne built of the alabaster-like greenish marble of Yezd, the platform which the Shadow of God” occupies being supported upon animals, having the same queer resemblance to lions which is noticed in the supporters of the great fountain of the Alhambra at Granada. With reference to this likeness, and to other points of resemblance, both in this palace and in the decorations in some of the modern pal¬ aces of Persia, Major Murdoch Smith, R.E., the accomplished director of the Indo-Persian Telegraph, has indicated, in a re¬ port to the Council of the South Kensington Museum, the probability that the Alhambra of Granada was itself designed by Persian architects ; and, with regard to this supposition, has pointed to the statement of Senor Rivadeneyra concern- 8* 178 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. ing the existence of official documents assigning Rioja in Spain to “ Persians ” as a place of residence. The ceiling of this old reception-hall in the Shah’s Palace at Teheran is fashioned in stalactites, like the ceilings in the ruins of the famous Oriental palace in Spain, and then cov¬ ered with pieces of looking-glass, which, if the work were not bad, and the glass were cleaned, would have a very glittering effect. Externally the roof is suggestive of a Chinese pago¬ da. In this pavilion, the background of which is hung with a few pictures in frames of looking-glass, including a portrait of a singularly handsome young Englishman, formerly at¬ tached to the British Legation, the Shah reclines upon the marble platform of his throne, on those very great occasions when the hundred and fifty yards of the inclosure before it are filled with a moving crowd of his subjects, to whom he is the impersonation of law and authority. For their rever¬ ent homage, he makes no sign of gratification or acknowledg¬ ment. The ‘‘ proper thing” for his majesty to do, when thus exhibiting himself in solemn state, is to regard their expres¬ sion of loyalty and devotion as something far beneath his no¬ tice ; and probably the imperial gaze passing over their heads is now and then fixed upon the coarse mosaic on the wall at the end of the court -yard, showing how Rustem, the “Ar¬ thur,” the legendary hero, of Persia, destroyed the White Devil — an encounter, it should be remembered, of authen¬ ticity as respectable as that of St. George and the familiar Dragon which is stamped upon so many of the current coins of England. I had scarcely ceased talking with the Sipar Salar, whom I had seen at several entertainments in London, when one of the numerous company whispered in my ear, pointing to his highness, “ He had one of his wives strangled lately.” I did not for a moment believe that this was any thing but a piece of idle gossip, yet it is worth recording, because it is one of EEPOETS m TEHERAN. 179 many pieces of evidence wliich came to our notice indicating the bad state of society in Persia, owing to the uncivilized system prevailing both in the family and in the State. Per¬ haps the worst symptom of the body politic in Persia is that no one hesitates in ascribing horrible crimes to the most highly placed men in the State, and that the venality of such exalted persons in regard to the misappropriation of public money is regarded as a foregone conclusion. A few days before our visit to the palace, the talk of all the soldiery in Teheran, as we heard from several of their officers, had been that the crown prince, the Governor of Tabriz, had caused his wife to be strangled in his presence. Homicide or murder is a prerogative of royalty in Persia. But what was most amazing was the ready reception given to the report, which was regarded, even by Europeans, as quite authentic. The report was untrue. It had origin in the fact that the prince’s aunt had lately sent a second wife to her illustrious nephew in Tabriz, and the anger and grief of the first wife, on seeing the new arrival, had been magni¬ fied into her death. The minister of public ’works is said to double his estimates, and to retain the surplus for himself, after silencing those whose mouths must be stopped. The frequent robberies of the messengers of the British Legation, while carrying letters and dispatches overland from Teheran to Trebizonde, have been the subject of much talk, and Per¬ sians wag their heads and say that this happens because his hio-hness Mirza Houssein Khan likes to read Mr. Thomson’s letters to Lord Derby, and the replies of the British Foreign Office. With reference to this curious charge, I will make the fol¬ lowing extract from a letter 'written by a resident in Teheran, dated November 2d, “ The English courier, on his last journey from Constantinople, was attacked and robbed on or near the frontier. The previous courier had been stopped 180 THEOUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN. and examined by the police at Tabriz, on suspicion of smug¬ gling contraband goods into the country. As the English parcels alone were opened, however, the couriers of the other legations never meeting with adventures of this kind, some people affirm that the attack upon the British post was insti¬ gated by the Mushir-ul-Dowleh himself, who wished to inter¬ cept or to make himself acquainted with the contents of cer¬ tain dispatches. I can not, of course, pretend to say whether or not this assertion is true, but it must be said that the Mir- za’s known unscrupulousness gives it some color.” It is universally believed that a little money will mitigate, and that much money will obviate, the punishment of crime. That every ‘^hakem,” or governor, may commit offenses against the property and lives of the Shah’s subjects within his province with impunity, no one seems to doubt. It mat¬ ters little, in forming our judgment as to the social condition of Persia, whether these reports are true or false. They are not all true — some are certainly false — they may all be false, and yet the tacit, unastonished acceptance of them as true by the populace implies that they have at least the common flavor of the ordinary fruits of Persian government. From the great halls of state, the commander-in-chief, the minister of commerce, and other Persian grandees led our party to an orange house, through the centre of which ran the stream of clear water I have noticed before as passing be¬ neath the saloon of the gilded columns. On the marble pave¬ ment beside this running water there were chairs and couches arranged, upon which his highness invited us to be seated. Snowy sherbet and warm tea were then served, and after¬ ward we proceeded to a more homely saloon than those we had seen. The architecture of this room, a succession of ar¬ cades, again carried our thoughts to Spain, in its resemblance to the mosque, now the cathedral, of Cordova. It was a large oblong apartment, the walls colored green, with raised THE shah’s chair OF STATE. 181 decorations in white plaster, the room containing three rows of arches. On the walls were a great many pictures very irregularly hung. Many had in the corner the exhibition number in the gallery from which the Shah had bought them during his recent tour ; and in no very conspicuous place was a small portrait of her majesty, a gift presented by Mr. Thom¬ son to the Shah on behalf of the queen. The floor was of parqueterie - work, and upon it stood several Sevres jars of great value. Very uncomfortable chairs, evidently bought by people with little knowledge of what a chair should be, were ranged against the walls. On a table lay a photographic al¬ bum containing the portraits of actresses, of whose personal charms the Shah may be supposed to have become acquainted by report, and by diligent attendance at theatres during his stay in Europe. At one end of the apartment was an object in strange contrast with the trumpery by which it was sur¬ rounded. This was an awkward, ugly chair of state studded with jewels, having a footstool, before which stood a cat-like representation of a lion, each eye a single emerald, and the body rugged with a coating of other precious stones. It was so entirely in keeping with the mixture we had eveiywheie observed, that the stand upon which this chair was placed should be studded with white-headed German nails worth about twopence a dozen ! Xone of the great rooms of the palace have covered com¬ munications, and from this green saloon we crossed another open court to a pavilion in which the Shah frequently gives audience, which is distinguished by the possession of an En¬ glish carpet, and by the exhibition upon the walls of two fine pieces of Gobelins tapestry. One sees in the figures upon tliis tapestry, and in the portraits upon tlie walls of the pal¬ ace, how far the Persians have departed from observing the rule which was certainly that of the architects of the Alham¬ bra, and which is observed by the Turks and, all Sunni Mo- 182 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. hammedans, of excluding imitation or resemblance of life from the ornamentation of their public buildings. In another room we saw the imperial jewels, which, by special command of his highness the Sipar Salar, were laid out upon tables for our inspection. I fancy that no sover¬ eign in Europe has a regalia of equal value. The Shah is especially rich in diamonds of large, but not the very largest size. He has a great number of which the surface is as large as a silver sixpence. The imperial crown is topped with a ruby which is probably the largest in the world. The “ Sea of Light,” a flat, ill-cut diamond, mounted in a semi-barbaric ornament, is inferior to the great jewel worn by the Empress of India. The display of the Shah’s riches in precious stones included, of necessity, the exhibition of several coats, the fronts of which are studded and embroidered with jewels. Several of these became well known during the Shah’s tour, when they were shown to the admiring gaze of European cities. There, too, was the wonderful aigrette, which the Shah’s brow sustained during the grandest of the London entertainments, and beside these garments lay a number of jeweled swords and daggers. From the dazzling spectacle of this display we passed again to the orange house, where coffee and pipes were served, after which we took leave of the Shah’s ministers, his highness the Sipar Salar having promised Mr. Thomson that we should be provided with vizierial letters to the Governors of Koom, Kashan, Ispahan, Shiraz, and Bushire. 183 ‘‘boxes of justice.” CHAPTER XIL The Shah. — The Kajar Dynasty. — Boxes of Justice. — Pereian Soldiers. — ■ Their Drill and Pay. — Military Supper in Ramadan. — Jehungur Khan. — The Shah’s Presents. — Zoological Garden. — View from Teheran. — Dema¬ vend. — Persian Pever. — Persian Honesty. — ^Europeans and Persians. — Caps and Galoches. — A Paper War. — The Ottoman Embassy. — A British Complaint. — A Turkish Atrocity. — Persian Window Law. — English in Bazaars. — The Indo-European Telegraph Stations in Persia. — The En¬ glish Clergyman in Persia. The Shah is of the Kajar tribe — a dynasty yet young, the annals of which have been marked by great cruelties. Kazr- ed-deen Shah, Kajar, the reigning monarch, has in this mat¬ ter a better character than his predecessors, with whom it has not been uncommon to put out the eyes of those relations who stood in their way to the throne, or who might be rivals when they had attained that position. The Shah himself is not unpopular, and is believed to have at heart the welfare of his subjects. Persians frequently speak of him as in per¬ sonal character the best among the governing men of the country, and they are never shy in talking of their rulers. If there is any tempering in the Persian despotism, it is that of abuse of all who surround the despot. His majesty re¬ cently issued an order that a “Box of Justice” should be fixed in a prominent place in all the large towns for the re¬ ception of petitions, which were to be forwarded direct to himself. But the oppressors found means to thwart this in¬ nocent plan by setting a watch over the boxes and upon those who wished to forward petitions. Thrice the amount of the British Prime Minister’s salary, or twice that of the President of the United States, does not 184 THKOUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN^. satisfy men of the first official rank in Persia. And while the prince governors in the provinces and all the high func¬ tionaries of State plunge their greedy hands thus deep into the miserable revenue, forced — often at the bayonet’s point — from the poorest of peasants, the soldiery are not seldom marauders, with the excuse that they can not obtain their pay from the Government. The creditors of the peasants and small traders are generally in the uniform of the Shah. In Persia the trade of small money-lenders is usually carried on by soldiers, for these only feel sure of the requisite power to recover their loans. The defaulter well knows that if he does not repay the soldier, his house or his store in the ba¬ zaar will be plundered of all that is worth taking by a gang of military money-lenders. There is a parade every morning in Teheran. It takes place in a dusty inclosure near the meidan, or principal square. We were present on several occasions at these pa¬ rades, where European drill-instructors vainly labored. The Persian soldiers are fine in physique, though they look more awkwardj I fancy,' even than Japanese in European hats, tu¬ nics, and trousers. In England one is apt to think that mi¬ litia-men display every possible awkwardness in wearing an infantry hat and scarlet tunic, but the Persian soldiers beat the rawest of oui* militia-men. Some wear the hat on the back of their heads like a fez, others at the side ; with some it falls over their eyes. Their drill is wretched. Their of¬ ficers are probably the worst part of the force. This is the special weakness and inferiority of all Oriental armies. I saw a Persian officer box the ears of a private on the parade- ground, rushing into the ranks to execute this summary pun¬ ishment. There is a reason for the deficiency of the rank and file in drill. N’o soldier comes to parade who can obtain work in the city. The consequence is that the personnel of each skel- MILITAEY SUPPER IN RAMADAN. 185 etoii regiment is changed every morning, and the unhappy drill-instructor has never before him the same body of men. But this immunity from service must of course be paid for, and the absent privates devote a portion of their earnings to their officers, who, from their colonel to the corporal, divide the fund contributed in respect of this ' temporary desertion. From the officers and middle class of State officials, a some¬ what intricate method of plunder is adopted. Their pay, al¬ though appropriated from the revenue, is withheld, and after repeated applications they are told that the minister will ad¬ vance the sum with a deduction to cover his personal risk. The offer is generally accepted from pressing necessity, and the gains of the higher functionaries from this line of conduct are said to be not inconsiderable. I was assured by an officer that he himself suffered this treatment, and that he knew it to be common in the civil and military service of the Shah. Every evening in Ramadan, of which there remained some days after our arrival in Teheran, the Sipar Salar entertained a regiment at dinner. The repast was served by candle-light in the straight street between the gate of the citadel and the taziah. Two lines off thick felt {niimmiid) were laid equi¬ distant from the centre of the street, leaving about a yard of the bare road between them. Shortly before the gun-fire, his highness’s guests were seated in long files upon the felt. Aft¬ er the gun had boomed permission, huge dishes, one to every four soldiers, each piled high with rice and stewed meat, were placed in the centre of the road, and were at once hidden from view by the overhanging heads of the hungry men, ev¬ ery one hard at work with his fingers. Under such circum¬ stances, the nearer the mouth can be brought to the dish, the larger is the share which can be pushed into it. Close over every dish four heads were laid together, and not a word w^as uttered till the platters were empty. For the officers there was spread a white cloth between the 186 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAJJ". carpets, and a little adornment was attempted in the way of bouquets placed between the lighted candles, which were pro¬ tected by Russian bell-glasses, and shone like glow-worms down the long street. In company with a member of the British Legation, I was looking on, when Jehungur Khan, the adjutant-general of the Persian army, one of the stoutest and most courteous men in the country, asked us to join the soldiers in the fruit and tea which followed the pillau. We sat down, doing all we could to get rid of our legs, which had an awkward, natural tendency to cross the dining-table. My immediate neighbors were officers of the Sliah’s irregular cav- alry, gentlemen wearing turbans almost as broad as their shoulders, and with a very Bashi-bazoukish look. At that time a story was in circulation with reference to this Jehungur Khan, which is very possibly untrue, but, being accepted by many as correct, is curiously illustrative of Per¬ sian government. It was said that one of the courtiers who owed him a grudge had told the Shah that he (the adjutant- general) had saved eight thousand tomans out of a work in hand, and that he wished to i3resent them to his majesty. The King of Kings is much addicted to presents, and, as usu¬ al, graciously signified his willingness to accept, and Jehun¬ gur Khan had to produce the money, which he had not saved. The Shah does not appear to be very scrupulous in regard to presents. There is at least one tradesman in London from whom articles were purchased by order of his majesty for presents to some of his ladies, which have not yet been paid for, and probably this is not the only city of Europe in which the Shah obtained articles of value in this way without pay¬ ing for them. In the quarter of the town near the Legations there are several walled gardens, and one of these is devoted to zoology. We were about to apply for admission, when an Englishman recommended us to remain outside. The caging of the few MOUNT DEMAVEND. 187 beasts was, he said, quite uncertain. The lion was sometimes observed taking an airing, roaming where he pleased within the walls, and the bear had been seen from outside climbing a plane-tree. One is named the Shah’s English ” garden, and from this his majesty lately received, with great effusion, a bunch of radishes as a present from his English gardener. If it were not for these gardens, the appearance, of Teheran would indeed be miserable. We mounted upon one of the highest houses, from which we could overlook the city. Par¬ allelograms of mud varied with cupolas of mud, representing the roofs of the houses, are the general features, the long suc¬ cession of mud roofs being now and then broken by the taller plane-trees and the cypresses of a garden. But the landscape is charming, and even the Himalayas do not present grander elevations than may be seen from Teheran; the loftiest peak of the Elburz Mountains in sight being that of Demavend, an extinct volcano, the top of which is not less than eighteen thousand five hundred feet above the sea-level. The conical summit of this high mountain is covered with perpetual snow, and some of the peaks near Demavend are not of much infe¬ rior altitude. At the latter end of October I was prostrated with fever. I remember that, in the witless condition in which I lay, the jDains appeared to my disordered imagination as if I were suf¬ fering from the effects of a terrible beating, and, with every muscle sore and painful, were condemned to be rolled about upon sheets of heated copper. When I became convalescent, the closeness of the apartments at Prevot’s seemed intoler¬ able, and, through the kindness of a Danish officer, Mr. Laes- soe, resident in Teheran, we removed to a suite of rooms in liis house, which had been the residence of the French Lega¬ tion. There we had a large garden, and an open view of the plain and mountains. Mr. Laessoe holds the position of chief instructor of artillery in the army of the Shah. His wife, 188 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. from whom also we received much kindness, is a daughter of the distinguished painter, Madame Jerichau. At the house of every European of position in Teheran there is a permanent guard of soldiers, who hurriedly forsake their pipe, or game of cards upon the dust, to present arms upon the arrival of any visitor. The doors of these houses are generally open throughout the day; and as Persians re¬ gard an open door as an invitation to enter, and the rooms are never locked, and rarely closed with any thing more obstruct¬ ive than a cotton curtain, it is necessary there should be some guard in the door -way. Europeans talk much of the dishonesty of Persians, but our experience did not confirm the bad opinion. Our suite of rooms in this mud-built house, which had formerly belonged to the French envoy, opened upon a large square garden inclosed by a mud -wall, ruined and broken down in three or four places, by which any one might enter. Our doors and windows had no fastenings, and by either it was never difficult to enter the rooms from the garden. On the other side was a court-yard, with a fountain and a few trees in the centre ; and this, except for the sol¬ diers and servants who lay about in the passages connecting it with the crowded street, was quite open. Yet we never suffered any loss from theft. The manner in which Europeans meet Persian habits half¬ way, in their intercourse with the highest class of natives, al¬ ways appears to me ridiculous and humiliating. It is a clean¬ ly habit, that of Mohammedans, not to enter their carpeted apartments in the shoes they have worn in the mud of the filthy ways and streets of Oriental towns. No doubt, if we could choose, many of us in London would prefer that our visitors should carry their boots in their hands and their hats on their heads, rather than the reverse, especially upon a muddy day. But the English in Persia confound both prac¬ tices in a most unseemly way. They wear their hats in the A PAPER WAR. 189 presence of Persians of high rank as a compromise with na¬ tive prejudice, which from habit dislikes to see the head un¬ covered, and embarrass their feet with galoches in order that they may leave these overshoes at the door of the great man’s apartment. In the course of our own travels in Persia, I no¬ ticed this on the part of Europeans ; but even after such ex¬ perience, I was rather surprised to find it elevated to a duty in the recently published volumes edited by Sir Frederic G. Goldsmid, and entitled Eastern Persia.” By officers of the Boundary Commission galoches for ceremonious receptions were provided as indispensable, and the members of the Com¬ mission always sat on these occasions in their undress caps. I should fancy that, to a quick-witted people like the Per¬ sians, this appears very absurd. For my own part, in any in¬ tercourse with men of the highest rank and of the imperial family in Persia, I never adopted these fashions. One need not soil carpets in a country where riding is universal, nor encourage premature baldness by Avearing one’s hat when there is no need of shelter from the sun or the outer air. During our stay in Teheran, a fierce paper war was raging with reference to a dispute Avhich, in continuation of the above remarks, shows what a tendency Englishmen have to take local coloring in their domestic habits. The peculiar construction of Persian houses has an object, that of securing most complete privacy for the inmates. It is true that there is no part of a Persian house which can not be looked into by any of the inhabitants ; but this does not offend Mussulman ideas, of which the first is that the male head of the house¬ hold is lord of all, and that none can have rights separate from his supreme authority. Persians much dislike rooms raised above the ground- floor, because these erections may enable neighbors to observe their domestic arrangements. Many tales are told of the fierce opposition which the inten¬ tion to raise a second story has aroused in the hearts of 190 THEOUGH PEESIA BY CARAVAN. neighbors, and, as a rule, it is not permitted by the authorities to any one to build so as to overlook another house. War had broken out upon this domestic question between the representatives of Great Britain and of the Ottoman Em- ■ pire. The mediation of Persia had been called in, and Mirza Houssein Khan was engaged in arranging a treaty of peace and future amity. The British envoy’s object was to circum¬ vent the wicked and abominable design of the Ottoman em¬ bassador (the politicians of the Porte have, as a rule, no Mus¬ sulman prejudices), who had dared to build an embassy-house in sight of that of Great Britain, and to add a second story, from which it was possible to see something of the ladies of the British Legation (the subsequent tale about the archives is too ridiculous to be true) if they happened to be walking in the extensive grounds in which are the houses of the secre¬ taries and attaches, as well as the residence of the minister. The Bulgarian atrocities had not then been heard of, and one might have thought that no subject of Great Britain need object to be exposed to the eye of a Turk with an in¬ terval of not less than five hundred yards. But this was not the view of the British Legation. That the British establish¬ ment should command a view of the Ottoman quarters was quite unobjectionable; but that the Turk should be able to cast an eye upon the Englishman’s garden was intolerable. I do not know how this great international difficulty has been arranged ; but, since our return to England, I have met with a published letter written about the time of our visit by a gentleman who lives in Teheran, which is probably, at least on some points, well informed. This correspondent says: “A short time ago the Turkish Government hired a building for fifteen years, to serve as a residence for its representative. The edifice stands within a few hundred yards of the Brit¬ ish Legation, which is surrounded by a garden inclosed by a high wall. The wall is, however, not high enough to conceal A TURKISH ATROCITY. 191 the upper part of the Legation. The Turks wished to add a story to their Legation ; but the English minister, on hearing of their intention, opposed it, on the ground that, if carried out, it would afford to the denizens of the Turkish ^ palace ’ a view into the apartments occupied by the secretaries of the English mission, and, to give greater weight to his assertion, said that the archives of the Legation w'ould be exposed to prying eyes. The Mushir-ul-Dowleh received a comjDlaint to this effect in due form from Mr. Thomson, and, instead of de¬ clining to interfere in a matter which did not concern him, promised to arrange matters to the satisfaction of the En¬ glish minister. By his order, a commission was appointed to examine the relative positions of the two edifices ; but the result of their inspection was far from satisfactory for Mr. Thomson. They stated not only that the distance between the two Legations was too considerable to allow of any per¬ son in the Turkish Legation becoming acquainted from that vantage-ground with the contents of any documents exposed to view in the archive office of the English Legation, the lat¬ ter being situated at least a third of a mile from its Turkish neighbor, but that none of the windows of the English ar¬ chive office faced the new building. They observed, more¬ over, that if Mr. Thomson desired absolutely to conceal the roof of his habitation, he had only to add a foot or two to the height of his garden walls.” The letter (which appeared in the Levant Herald) goes on to state that, undaunted by this adverse decision, ‘‘ Mr. Thomson raised the precedent of one Melcom, an English subject at Bushire, Avho, in the course of certain building operations, was sued at law^ by some neighbors jealous of their privacy, and forced to aban¬ don or modify his undertaking. The dispute has thus been placed in a new light. Either it is not lawful in Persia to have windows commanding a prospect of another man’s house, even at a distance of five hundred yards, or it is law- 192 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. fill to have windows possessing that not uncommon peculiar¬ ity. In the former case, the Turkish Legation has no course left but to close up all its windows permanently and alter its fa9ade; in the latter case, the judgment pronounced against Mr. Melcom of Bushire is illegal, and the Persian Govern¬ ment owes him heavy damages.” Let us hope that this storm about mud-walls and windows has now been arranged to the satisfaction of all parties. To my mind, the most interesting part of Teheran is to be found in the bazaars, which the Europeans of the legations very rarely enter, and their ladies never. The men appear to regard the shoving-about to which one must more or less submit in the narrow ways of the bazaars as a serious in¬ fringement upon the dignity of their position, and the ladies consider a visit to the bazaars as simply impossible. The sight of an unveiled woman has no doubt a tendency to make Persians use language which can not but be taken as in¬ sulting ; and if Englishmen in their company are acquainted with Persian slang, they are likely enough to have a quarrel or two on hand in passing through a bazaar. Ignorance of the vernacular has unquestionably some advantages in Persia. A long inclosure separates the buildings of the palace from the bazaar. There are in this open space two large tanks, at which camels, horses, mules, and men are always drinking. Upon a high stand a very long, huge cannon is placed, which is said to have been captured in India, and brought as a tro¬ phy from Delhi; but this is probably untrue. Second only to the British Legation in importance is the establishment of the Indo-European Telegraph in Teheran. From the Persian capital to London the telegraph is a pri¬ vate enterprise ; from Teheran through Central and Southern Persia to Bushire and by the Persian Gulf, to Kurrachee and the chief centres of India, the wires belong to the Indian Government. There is an arrangement by which the Shah’s THE INDO-PEESIAN TELEGEAPH. 193 Government has the use of a wire in Persia. The mainte¬ nance of this telegraph engages a considerable staff, of which the local director is Major Murdoch Smith, R.E., who, with much advantage to the British public, has bestowed some of his leisure hours in collecting specimens of the ancient art¬ work of Persia, with funds provided by the Council of the South Kensington Museum. Many of the articles which are now in the Museum were kindly shown to us by Major Smith in the neighborhood of Teheran. In the work of the Persian telegraph, he is assisted by a staff of superintendents, inspect¬ ors, and clerks, whose health is cared for by three medical men, the chief of whom. Dr. Baker, is resident in Teheran, his two colleagues being placed, one in Ispahan, the other in Shiraz. The testing - stations, most of which we visited in passing through Persia, are generally placed about a hundred miles apart, and the chief duty of the clerks at these stations is to correspond at stated hours in morning, afternoon, and evening with the men on duty at the stations on either side, in order to see that no break has occurred in the line, and that all is in good working order. If the connection is bro¬ ken, the native horsemen attached to each station are at once sent out to ride along the course of the wires till they reach the fracture. As the break must be known to two stations, the horsemen are sometimes sent out from both, and meet where the repair is needed. The fracture of the wires by de¬ sign or malice is of very rare occurrence ; but they are bro¬ ken now and then by bullets. Persians are ambitious of skill in rifle-shooting ; and in the plains, where natural targets are scarce, they find in the earthenware insulators of the tele¬ graph a most inviting object. Sometimes the poles are over¬ thrown by storms of wind, and sometimes the wires are bro¬ ken and the poles borne down to the ground by the weight of frozen snow which collects in thick, icy bands from pole to pole. We were much indebted — as every English trav- 9 194 TUPwOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. eler by the same path must be — to the Government officers of the Indo-Persian Telegraph. One of the most interesting persons whom we met with in Teheran was the Rev. Robert Bruce, the only English mis¬ sionary — in fact, the only English clergyman in Persia. He is stationed at Ispahan, and we accepted an invitation to stay in his house during our visit to that central city of Persia. When we met with Mr. Bruce in Teheran, he was returning from England to his duties in connection with the Church O Missionary Society. In the Persian capital he was in great request for the baptism of the babies born during the long time which had elapsed since the visit of an English clergy¬ man. An exception to the rule of other legations, religion is not represented in that of Great Britain. A TAKHT-I-KAWAIS'. 195 CHAPTER XIII. Teheran. — Snow in November. — Our Servant, Kazera. — Getting a Takht-i- rawan. — Abd -ullah, the Carpenter. — Preparing for the Koad. — A Charvo- dar’s “Beard.” — Black Monday. — Trying the Takbt-i-rawan. — Loading the Caravan, — Servant’s Merchandise, — ‘ ‘ Zood ! Zood — Leaving Tehe¬ ran. — The Road to Ispahan. — Seeing the Khanoum. — Shah Abd-ul-Azim. — Moollahs on the Road. — On to Kinaragird. — The Great Salt Desert. — Pul-i-delak. — A Salt River. — A Negro Dervish. — Salt-water Soup. — A Windy Lodging. I WAS slowly recovering from a fever — taking quinine, as every one does at some time or other in Persia — when we determined to set out for Ispahan. Already the snow was creeping down the mountains, and seemed, in spite of the noonday sun, to be firmly established for the winter within about two thousand feet of the plain of Teheran. Though the days were hot, the nights were becoming cold. The first thing was the construction of a takht-i-rawan. Servants brought in reports of takht-i-rawans for sale. A khan had one to dispose of, in which two of his ladies had just arrived from the sacred city of Meshed. I went to look at it. Through the narrow streets, between brown walls of mud, I followed two of the khan’s servants to the outskirts of Teheran. In a small yard, surrounded by walls, half of which lay in a dusty heap under the takht-i-rawan, I examined the conveyance. It was coarsely decorated wdth somewhat inde¬ cent figures ; it had no windows, was simply a box, like an elongated Saratoga trunk, built on two long poles, and had seen so much service that it was none too strong for a jour¬ ney of six hundred and fifty miles to Shiraz. The French Secretary of Legation heard of our want. His wife had just 196 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. arrived from Astrabad in a takht-i-rawan, but the poles of his conveyance were decidedly rotten. It was better to have one made, even though we must leave it, after thirty days’ jour¬ ney, in Shiraz. To travel in a takht-i-rawan from Shiraz to Bushire is well known throughout Persia to be impossible. Amons: the servants in the household of Mr. Laessoe was one Kazem, who urged us to engage him for the journey to Bushire, and presented a written character from the Hon. Evelyn Ellis, whom he had accompanied in the same journey two or three years before. Mr. Lsessoe very kindly consent¬ ed, and we at once placed this bright-eyed, active, intelligent little Persian at the head of our arrangements. In all things Kazem did his part well. His first business was to introduce a carpenter, to be instructed in the most improved plan of a takht-i-rawan. Abd-ullah was the carpenter introduced by Kazem. We were told that Kazem was sure to have made an arrangement, after the manner of Persian servants, with Abd-ullah, by which the latter was to give him ten per cent, upon the price. This is no doubt the way in which Persian servants increase their gains ; but it does not come to much. The method is weU known, and it is probable Europeans would not obtain articles at a lower price if they purchased for themselves. The carpenter, though the picture of abject humility, as he stood at the edge of our carpet with meekly folded hands, was a well-dressed man : his turban was of spot¬ less white, his robe of red, his trousers blue. Together we set out to see the takht-i-rawan at the British Legation, which was better than the native carriages in that between the seats it had a well, like that of a European carriage, for the feet, drawers beneath the seats for stores, and glass windows. . Abd-ullah looked it carefully over, notched its measurements on a piece of stick, and entered into an agreement to make one like it for a specified sum, money to buy wood being paid at once. PEEPAKmG POR THE ROAD. 197 This is quite usual in all transactions. When he came to the iron-work, he wanted money to buy the iron. No trades¬ man seems to have any capital, but every one has a seal, which, after most careful scrutiny of every letter, he will affix to agreements and notes of advances. Persians are fond of written agreements, and these seem more common than in England, where no one would think of having an agreement for so trifling a piece of work. I drew up an agreement in English for the building of the takht-i-rawan ; it was read to Abd-ullah by an interpreter of the Legation, and the carpen¬ ter, with many bows, almost prostrations, scaled it, and re¬ ceived part of the sum agreed to be paid for the carriage. He had bound himself to complete the takht-i-rawan in nine days. During this time, we ransacked the bazaars for stores and equipment of all sorts. You are neither of you strong enough for such a journey,” said the good medicine-man of the British in the Persian capital. “The cold, snowy blasts are such as you can not conceive from English experience; and your lodging will be the most wretched, and exposed to the same temperature, to say nothing of the dangers of the road, especially for you, who have no English-speaking serv¬ ants, and who can not talk Persian.” We laughed at his fears, and told him we had made some progress in Persian ; could ask for horses, and for any sort of food ; that we had tracings of the route enlarged, and marked with the name and distance of every station. At his suggestion, our iron stirrups were covered with thick felt of camel’s hair, to pre¬ vent the risk of frost in the feet ; and we bought felts, nearly half an inch thick, to nail up in the door- ways of the unpro¬ tected hovels in which we must sleep. Among a score of other things, Kazem strongly recommended a bag of picked and broken walnuts mixed with green raisins. We had double counterpanes, thickly lined with cotton wool. Our kind friends, Mr. and Mrs. Laessolh ordered the baking of half 198 THROUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN. a dozen large loaves of bread in English fashion ; and when the takht-i-rawan was built, we sent to the bazaar for a mule¬ teer. Up came a man seated on a leggy little chestnut horse — a‘^yaboo,”as these much - enduring and sure-footed ani¬ mals are called. This is the special name for the horse of a charvodar. Sometimes it carries a traveler, sometimes the muleteer himself, and at other times it bears a load of goods, and, with jingling bells attached to every part of its harness, gayly leads the caravan. This charvodar was a short, old man, with sunken eyes and gloomy, fanatical aspect. His beard, his hands, and his feet were dyed deep-red with khen- na. He hitched his waist-belt of camel’s hair rope, straight¬ ened his long, loose robe of blue cotton, and salaamed when he saw us standing in the door-way. He sat on his “ yaboo ” inside the door while we discussed the proposed journey. “The sahib wants to go to Ispahan said our friend. “In- shallah ” -(“By the will of Allah !”) was the reply of the char¬ vodar. “ He wants horses and mules.” — “ I have horses and twelve mules, but I can load any the sahib does not want with merchandise.” At last the price was settled — so many krans for each ani¬ mal, the two in the takht-i-rawan to be paid for as four ; and then came the question of advance and security. “ My beard is in your hands,” said the charvodar, meaning that if we ad¬ vanced money after he had sealed an agreement, we could punish him if he did not go. “ISTo,” urged our friend, in the Persian phrase ; “ the sahib’s beard will be in your hands, and you may go off to Ispahan : leave saddle-bags and cloths as security, and then we shall have your beard in our hands.” He was sitting on saddle-bags, which he at once threw down as a pledge of service to Kazem. Then as to the time of de¬ parture, we declared that we must set out on Monday ; but the charvodar said “N^o,” he would not go on Monday. He was quite ready, but it was not a lucky day. He would go .TRYING THE TAKHT-I-EAWAN. 199 on the afternoon of Mondajj and put up for the night at Shah Abd-ul-Azim, whose shrine is held sacred by all Persian trav¬ elers. But “ it was not good,” he said, to begin a journey on the morning of Monday, and as we determined to reach Ki- naragird — a distance of eight-and-twenty miles— on the first evening of our journey, we sent him away. Another came — a tall, dark man, with bare, hairy legs showing beneath a short green tunic. He had a skull flattened like that of a wild animal, and a step like a camel, so long, and noiseless, and untiring. Equally inexorable as to Monday, we agreed with this man to start on Tuesday, the 23d of November. The next work was to try the mules in the takht-i-rawan, which was declared, on handling it, to be a very heavy one. We had already purchased harness, which for a takht-i-rawan is of peculiar construction, provided with very strong sad¬ dle straps and stout hooks of iron, w^hich are passed through rings upon the extremities of the shafts of the carriage. The Persians never lift all together, as European laborers are taught to do, and the consequence is that half a dozen men are required to do the work of two. All called loudly on “Allah” as they lifted the points of the front shafts to the back of a mule. The hooking was accomplished with diffi¬ culty, while the carriage rested on the iron-shod points of the rear shafts; the second mule was then placed between them, they were lifted and hooked, and the takht-i-rawan was then fairly arranged. But the motion was violent, for the hinder mule resented the position of his face against the back boards of the carriage, and kicked out until I feared the harness would give way. Yet he was compelled to move on, for as his hoofs plunged wildly in the air, he was dragged awk¬ wardly forward by the front mule, who of course knew and could see nothing of his colleague’s objection, and soon there were concert and progress. Of course the experiment inter¬ ested half Teheran ; and when the charvodar expressed, in the 200 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN". Persian equivalent, that the mules “ went beautiful,” which was the declared opinion of Mr. Thomson’s servant, who was passing, there was a highly enthusiastic and gratified crowd to witness the performance. Where are all the things to go? I look with dismay at the baggage while we are waiting for the mules at sunrise. The back seat of the takht-i-rawan, to be occupied by my wife, is padded with a wool mattress, which covers the back and sides, and is held in position by straps at the corners ; pillows and a rug are used for cushions, and on the opposite seat the rest of the bedding is secured in cotton bags. But there are bedsteads and boxes, tables and camp-stools, mat¬ ting and carpets, and a heap of pots and pans. Kazem has been marketing, and has bought half a sheep, a quantity of potatoes (such as in England would be given to pigs), some large onions, huge turnips, coarse carrots, and enormous cab¬ bages. There are, besides, some mysterious packages, which he confesses are merchandise. He is going to do a little trading on his own account by the way, at our expense as regards his time, and as regards the carriage upon the backs of our mules. The extra weight is not great, and his excuses are so well made that we readily forgive him. The practice is very common with Persian servants, and has this advan¬ tage : that when it is known to their master they can never grumble about the trouble of loading, nor complain if their seat is not quite comfortable, though to make it uncomfort¬ able would appear difficult; for if they are raised by saddle¬ bags and bundles to an awkward height above the mule’s back, they seem to be just as happy. The load is well se¬ cured, the softest things placed on the top, where the rider sits, his legs swinging on either side with all the regularity of a pendulum. It is, as I have said, eight-and-twenty miles from Teheran to Kinaragird, and, traveling as fast as possible — that is, three MEETING A COFFIN. 201 and a half miles an hour — we could hardly get there before sunset. ^^Zood! zoodP^ (''Quick! quick!”) we called to the chattering servants and muleteers. At last the takht-i-rawan has received the English lady, who from north to south in Persia is always an object of the deepest interest to the population ; and the charvodar, with his abominable whip of iron chain girded round his waist, leads out the first mule by a halter. We straggle after the takht-i-rawan, a string of loaded mules and riders, surrounded with servants, some mounted and others on foot, the servants of the house attend¬ ing us, in Persian fashion, not only to the door, but for some distance toward the gate of the city. After going with us a few hundred yards, they kiss our hands, accept a present, and depart, salaaming most impressively. In Persia, travelers by caravan rarely or never set out alone. It is the established rule for some of their friends to accom¬ pany them, if only for a little way. It is well at such times to avoid sneezing, or falling, or any other thing which the most superstitious of muleteers can interpret into a bad omen. Sometimes these men will take days to recover from the sad¬ dening effects of a maladroit sneeze. On our path to the Is¬ pahan gate of Teheran, we met a coffin in a way which, I be¬ lieve, was not exactly as it should have been. I do not allude to the arrangement of the dead body, which seemed indiffer¬ ent almost to carelessness. It was inclosed in a long, light box very much like those in which French eggs are shipped for England, and the whole, covered with white cotton, was slung across the; back of a mule, and swung, sometimes high, sometimes low, with the motion of the animal. In some parts of Persia caravans are met with, conveying dead bodies to the sacred soil of holy, cities for interment. Before the Turkish Government declined to receive such imports, the road from Teheran through ^Bagdad to Kerbela was much frequented by these mortuary caravans, and the work of embalmment 9* 202 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. was either imperfect or unattempted, for the smell of these funeral processions is described as having been most horrible. The gates of Teheran are a reality, and the belated traveler may knock in vain ; but the walls in the direction of Ispahan, , as well as in that of Kasveen, are, for the most part, not walls — nothing but heaps of earth thrown from a trench. The Is¬ pahan gate, like most others, is faced with glazed bricks, col¬ ored blue and yellow, the main structure being surmounted with quaint pinnacles of no particular shape, which have, after the manner of all high buildings in Persia, short, thick poles standing out at right angles, the ends built into the brick¬ work so as to support a ladder. Looking back at Teheran, as we pass through the gate, we can see nothing but dried mud, and all is of the color of dried mud. The plane-trees, still green with lingering leaves, rise over houses of which nothinor is seen but the bare, blank walls. If the Persians were African savages, the general aspect of their chief town could hardly be more barbarous and wretched. There is, of course, no road outside the gate; there are tracks leading over the plain in every direction. Like most of the. Persian plains, that in which Teheran is situated is stony; and, in the direction of Ispahan, mules and camels have trodden clear of stones eight or ten, and in some places fifteen or twenty, parallel paths. Into these we turn, on leav¬ ing the gate, the charvodar leading the front mule of the takht-i-rawan, and one of his assistant gholams bringing up the rear, his chief business being to see that no part of the load of any of the baggage mules falls off and is left in the desert. 'Now and then one of the mules bearing the takht-i-rawan stumbles, and the carriage is shot forward, to the very great discomfort of the occupier. It is common, when caravans meet on the plains, to indicate, by holding up the hand, to which side the indi-eator will direct his troop; and those SEEING THE KHANOUM, 203 whom we met appeared, when they reached us, to be happy or unsuccessful, according as they passed upon the open or closed side of the takht-i-rawan. The desire to see a “feran- ghi ” lady is, however, always mingled with an evident feel¬ ing that prying is both impertinent and improper. An En¬ glishman may do much as he pleases in Persia. He must be very faithless before people will hesitate to take his word as the best security — as much better surety than any fellow-coun¬ tryman can offer. An Englishman is obeyed and honored in the same way, but the English lady is a puzzle. The Per¬ sian can not quite comprehend the union of what he acknowl¬ edges to be severe propriety with exposure of the charms of face, and with a manner kindly and gracious toward men of all nations. . / ■ > , v At noon we are three farsakhs from Teheran. We have been rising gently, and can still make out one or two colored domes amidst the green trees, an oasis in the desert-like plain we are traversing. Behind the city rise the Elburz Mount¬ ains, with snowy summits all along the ridge, from the per¬ petual white of lofty Demavend to the point where the hills slope to the Karij Palace. All around, indeed, are mountains and hills, glistening with snow or brown with arid surface beneath the glaring sun. The hills are lowest of all before us in the distance, which we must surmount before sunset. On our left, the groves of Teheran seem extended to include the shrine of Shah Abd-ul-Azim, the gilded cupola of which shines brightest of all objects in the landscape. There is a ruined hovel on the plain, which casts a sharp shadow. In this Ka- * I have spelled this word as it is pronounced. It is sometimes spelled “ parasangs” — the Persian measure of distance, varying in our experience from three miles to four. A farsakh is, by some who are well acquainted with Persia, held to mean an hour’s journey for a loaded mule, which would account for the farsakhs being shorter in a difficult country than upon the plains. 204 ' THKOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. zeni has already arranged a seat and spread a carpet. The takht-i-rawan is unhooked and lowered, a work which engages every hand, and the mules drink at a stream, which is the jus¬ tification of this point in the plain as a stopping-place. The muleteers have a luncheon of bread and a poor sort of cream- cheese. Kazera produces a bottle of good wine and a cold fowl, which looks as if it had been carried round the world since it was cooked, after a life of semi-starvation. Our horses and mules wander where they will, which is not far ; and at the end of half an hour, at a sign from us, the caravan is made up. Miles before us, when we resume our journey, near the foot of the hills w^e are^approaching, there are black specks like flies on the plain, some twenty or thirty, which are evi¬ dently loaded mules. We overtake them at a ruined build¬ ing, a crumbling caravanserai, in which they are going to rest for the night. The mules are carrying two moollahs, their wives, and households ; the animals belong to our charvodar, who wishes us to stay under this ruined mud-wall, over which lizards are coursing in scores. The accommodation is per¬ haps as good as we shall meet with at Kinaragird. If this had been our first excursion in Persia, we should have been astonished at the suggestion of such a lodging as this, which was only better than the open plain, inasmuch as there was a ruined wall which, if it had been provided with gates, would have been an inclosure. We had, however, been advised to stay nowhere but in the chapar-khanahs marked upon the chart which Mr. Preece, of the Telegraph Service, had kindly made out for us in Teheran, and therefore determined to push on across the hills to Kinaragird. It was certainly an advan¬ tage that we could not fully understand the language in which the charvodar and all our train vigorously expressed their objections. We, however, refused to give way, and drove the caravan onward over the brown hills, which were without a ON TO KINAEAGIED. 205 sign of vegetation. But afterward we had reason to believe that the distance was farther than that marked upon our guide map; and when we looked down from the summit of the hills upon the Salt Desert in which the station at Kinara- gird appeared a distant dot, it was gilded with the rays of the setting sun; and in Persia there is no twilight. Just at this moment my horse refused to move, which the charvodar explained was owing to the discomfort of the English saddle, to the pressure of which he was unused. I had therefore to walk nearly two farsakhs into Kinaragird, which "we did not reach until the moonlight was our only guide upon the bor¬ der of that immense desert, which extends for hundreds of miles to the confines of Afghanistan. We had entered upon the Great Salt Desert of Persia, which occupies part of the centre and a great portion of the north-east of the country, in which there is no vegetation or good water. We had to cross a corner of this very desolate region, in which we should not see a tree or a blade of grass for days. The sur¬ face of this desert is in many places so thickly inci usted with salt that it looks as if there had been a slight fall of snow in these spots ; the streams are brackish and unwholesome, nei¬ ther good for man nor beast. There is no fire-wood. Our mules carry sufficient for ourj96>^ au feu until we shall have reached the place where in the desert there are a few dried camel-thorns, of which some Persian boy will collect a don¬ key-load for half a kran. At Kinaragird the water was bare¬ ly drinkable ; the next day it would be worse. Ko imaginary picture can exceed the desolation of the scene on any part of the road between Kinaragird and Haus Sultan, our next stopping-place. Kot a drop of water for our animals from morning till night; not a shadow in which to escape from the glaring light. In the morning the mirage played before us, dividing the mountains from us by the sem¬ blance of a lake. To watch the changing forms of this illu- 20G THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. sion was our only pastime. On the third evening we reached Pul-i-delak, a station like the others, where there was nothing but the chapar-khanah and a caravanserai. At Kinaragird, our bala-khanah had doors, though in these there were holes large enough to put one’s hand through; but at Pul-i-delak there were no doors, and, when we entered it, every corner of our apartment was visible from the plain. We had to close it up with our hangings of thick felt, but the openings were so numerous that we were forced to borrow empty sacks from the charvodar. From the chapar-khanah the ground sloped to a stream, of which the waters were, yellow as those of the Tiber after a heavy flood, and nauseous with a flavor of sulphur and Epsom salts. The river had once been cross¬ ed with a substantial bridge, but now four of the brick arches were broken and ruined, and the roadway severed. ^Nobody minds. The consequence is that in winter, and whenever there is much water, every caravan has . to go about a mile out of the way, in leaving or approaching Pul-i-delak, up or down the stream to a suitable ford. At the river I met one of our gholams bearing a pitcher of this fluid for our consumption, and had no pleasant anticipa¬ tions of the soup or tea to be made wuth it. The moollahs and their party, with one or two other, caravans, had arrived at the caravanserai, the door of which I passed in returning to the chapar-khanah. There was a group of Persians lounging about after the day’s journey; they were eating pomegran¬ ates, walnuts, and raisins. Two of them advanced toward me, both with the palms of their hands held together.before them as people would do who were trying to carry water without a vessel. One held in this way a small pomegran¬ ate, and the other about two dozen raisins, which they pre¬ sented to me. We entered the caravanserai together. In the door-way sat a dervish, a negro, ugly and fierce, who at this hour of sunset was proclaiming continually in loud, harsh A WINDY LODGING. 207 tones, the greatness and the unity of Allah, the all-powerful, the merciful. He spit, and cleared himself visibly, and most impolitely, from the contamination of my presence; and when I smiled and bowed, pretending to receive his curses as blessings, his expressions of disgust were violently renewed. Inside, there were the usual scenes and noises ; in two or three arches, a clatter and chatter of women and children, hardly concealed by suspended carpets; in another, half a dozen muleteers sat around the precious blaze of a single log, W'hich warmed their evening mess of bread and sour goat’s milk. In the centre, the donkeys brayed, the mules rolled, and occasionally fought, all of course carrying their heavy pack-saddles, and some noisy with the discordant music of suspended bells. In the caravanserai I heard Kazem’s cry, “ Sham, sahib P’’ (“ Dinner, sir !”) and, 'wondering how soup made with the water of the Pul-i-delak River would taste, mounted to the bala-khanah. At night-fall the cold was so great, the wind so piercing, that I had to make excursions in search of big stones to place upon the ends of our doors of camel’s - hair cloth. But the wind drives in alb directions through our little chamber. If any poor were so lodged in such a night in England, the boasted civilization ” of our country would be upheld to scorn in journals of ‘largest” and “world-wide” circulation. But in bed, if one is neither cold nor hungry, the freest ven¬ tilation is not often hurtful, and we were encouraged with the prospect of reaching Koom next evening — one of the two holy cities of Persia, to which the shrine of Fatima, sister of the eighth Imam Reza, attracts thousands of faithful Shi’ahs. 208 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. CHAPTER XIY. Koom.— Approach to the Holy City.— The Golden Dome.— Koom Bazaar. — The Governor’s Procession. — The Itizad-el-Dowleh. — Mirza Teki Khan. — Disgraced by the Shah. — Order for his Assassination. — The Shah’s Contrition, — A Visit to the Governor. — A Coat of Honor. — Pipes of Ceremony. — Mesjid-i-Juma. — Tomb of Feth-Ali-Shah. — The’ Shrine of Patima. — A Pretended Pilgrim. — Reception at the Mosque. — Not allowed to Enter. — A Temperance City. — Takht-i-rawan in Bazaar. — The Road to Sin-sin. — ^View from the Chapar-khanah. Sometimes in Western lands one is reminded of Oriental scenes. “ This is like a bit of India,” the retired proconsul is heard to say in Kent or Surrey. But just as there are some richly verdured scenes, purely English, which can not be matched, so there are others, always more or less arid, which are purely and entirely Oriental. One never can for¬ get, one will never be reminded in any part of England, of the approach to Koom. The writings of Orientals tell us that the aim of their architecture is harmony with nature ; that their swelling domes and cupolas represent the mount¬ ains, their minarets the trees, their roofs the level of the plain. Perhaps in such a comparison of Oriental architect¬ ure with nature, the highest buildings are most especially useful in the landscape, because they assist the eye to some measure of the vast space which is a chief element of the un¬ doubted beauty of such a scene. For days we had traversed a plain of unvarying brown; and even the muleteers, to whose untiring tread all ground seems alike, broke into songs as they approached the holy city. ^^Manzil, manz-i-i-i-l ” (rest, rest), they chanted, rolling the word in the dirge -like monotone of Persian song from APPROACH TO ROOM. 209 one to the other, from end to end of the caravan. The mules quicken their pace at si^ht of the green trees, where even they seem to know that the thirst of days may be quenched in sweet waters. The golden dome which covers the remains of the Imam’s sister, shines the central point of the scene. The town lies flat on the plain, but it is set like a gem in a wide surround¬ ing of hills. To the right, as we approach, the hills appear red, not with passing sunlight, but with natural color j and behind the town, high above its domes and gardens, are mountains, literally of all colors — snowy at their highest, red and green at their lowest ranges. Nearer, the scene is still more interesting. In the outskirts of the town there is a pyramid fifty feet high, the outer surface resplendent with blue-glazed bricks. This is the tomb of Feth-Ali-Shah, and it is only one of many curious monuments in Room. Nearer still, and much of the beauty has suddenly vanished. We are amidst the realities of ruined walls of mud-brick j we are enveloped in dust ; the miserable bala-khanah, with blackened walls and broken doors, is before our eyes, and we are on the edge of the river — the cloaca of Room. We were prepared to stay two nights in the holy city, and it is worth while to nail towels over the holes in the doors, and to “glaze” the windows with linen, so that within we may have a little light and less wind. W^hile this is being done, we have sent a servant to the governor with a letter from the Sipar Salar, or Grand Vizier, as Mirza Houssein Rhan is sometimes styled. As usual, I perform my evening toilet upon the open roof of the stables, protected from observation from without by the mud paraj)et. From this elevation I can look down into the shallow river and across the bridge, where the road pass¬ es at once into the shade of the bazaar. This is the main thoroughfare, connecting the two capitals of Persia ; and to 210 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. pass witli a horse or a camel through the bazaar of Koom in the busiest hours of the day is no easy matter. But it has to be done, and in the doing of it, without doubt or question, the weakest will go to the wall. That is the way in Persia. An unprotected woman, or a peasant driving a bargain, or his donkey, such are pushed away by the servants of some great man, tumbled over on to the fruit or cotton stalls bordering the narrow path which, in front of many of the shops, espe¬ cially those in which cotton prints are sold, is further con¬ tracted by one or two high stools, on which purchasers may sit through the slow process of settling the price of their bargains. As a rule, the shop-keepers are silent, but the place is full of noise. A dervish clad in white, his face en¬ circled with long black hair, screams eulogies of Houssein, supposed to be peculiarly acceptable w^hen the Mohurrem is drawing near. A half -naked peasant rattles his scales, and shouts aloud the praises of his grapes ; a water-seller clashes brass cups together, the noisy exhibition of his vocation 5 and beggars clamor for relief in the hoarse voices of age and the treble of childhood. •I have sent word to the governor that I will follow the grand vizier’s letter immediately. The bazaar is intricate, but our servants are very intelligent, and I am soon at the entrance to his residence. It is a small brick arch, through which two men could not easily walk abreast 5 the way is cumbered with dust and ruin; at about fifty feet from the outer door there is a rectangular turning into a small yard, which is heaped with broken mud-bricks, over which the path mounts and falls. I was making my way through these mis¬ erable precincts of the governor’s palace, when a man entered on the scene, evidently the herald of a procession. He was silver stick in waiting, and bore a large staff tojDped with heavy ornaments of silver. I stood aside in the ruined yard. The superior servants and secretaries followed him, two and ITIZ AD-E L-D O WLE H. 211 two, after the manner of our stage in Shakspearean revivals. At last appeared the governor himself, dressed in a gold- braided robe of cashmere. He was a young man, with an appearance of great refinement and of feeble health. We ex¬ changed salaams, and I gathered from his highness’s Persian that he had just sent servants to the chapar-khanah with or¬ ders to present his salaam, and to say that he would be happy to receive me the next morning ^^two hours after the sun.” In Persia, all time has reference to sunrise. Caravans start two, three', or four hours “ before the sun,” and visits of cere¬ mony are frequently paid, as the Governor of Koom proposed in my case, two or three hours after sunrise. I joined his highness in the procession, and walked beside him to the gate, where, as is usual before the houses of the great, there sat a dervish, a man of wildest aspect, with long, black hair falling upon his shoulders. He was dressed in white, from turban to his bare feet. He shouted Allah-hu 1” while the govern¬ or’s procession was passing, and scowled at me with most ob¬ vious disgust, appearing extremely offended at the civility with which the prince governor shook hands and expressed his hope of seeing me in the morning. The Governor of Koom is a great personage, to whom the Shah has given the title of Itizad-el-Howleh (the Grandeur of the State). He is married to the eldest daughter of his maj¬ esty, the Princess Fekhrul Mulook. Her highness has also a title from her imperial father ; she is addressed as “ the Pomp of the State.” It is easy to see that the Itizad-el-Dowleh has neither vigor, energy, nor ability, and that the advantages of his natural good-breeding are wasted by excesses, such as Per¬ sian viveurs most delight in. He owes his position, his title, and his wife to the contrition of the present Shah for having consented to the murderous execution of his father, the Mirza Teki Khan, the great Ameer-el-Kizam, whose conduct as com- mander-in-chief of the army and acting grand vizier, in the 212 THEOUGH PEES! A BY GAEA VAN. early part of his majesty’s reign, is referred to by Persians with unbounded pride and satisfaction. They speak of Teki Khan as having been honest, as having had no itching palm for public money or for private bribes — a political phenom¬ enon, therefore, in their eyes. The handsomest and largest caravanserai in Teheran is, as I have said, named after him ; and over the Ameer’s tomb in that city the repentant Shah has built a structure, the blue dome of which is one of the most prominent features in the general aspect of Teheran. In his high station, he was of course the object of jealousy and hatred ; enemies intrigued against him, and represented to the young Shah that Teki Khan not only held himself to be greatest in the empire, but that the Ameer-el-Kizam boast¬ ed of his personal security as guaranteed by the Tsar of all the Russias. The Shah listened unwillingly, for Teki Khan was high in favor and repute, and was his majesty’s brother- in-law, having been recently married to a sister of the King of Kings. But Kazr-ed-deen was versed in the traditions of his house. All men say he is a true Kajar, and his dynasty won and has retained power by killing, or rendering impo¬ tent, by blinding or maiming, any who are suspected of ri¬ valry. Teki Khan was disgraced, and sent away from the sight of “ the Shadow of God but it was long before the Shah would consent to his being put to death. Day after day his enemies urged that he should be disposed of, and suggested the sending of assassins to the country palace near Kashan, in which he and the princess, his wife, were living, with or¬ ders to kill him in his own apartments. The Shah hesitated ; he had some affection for his sister, who was devotedly at¬ tached to her distinguished husband. The princess believed that Teki Khan’s life was in danger, and never quitted his side, knowing that her presence was his chief security. At last his enemies spread a report that the Tsar intended to in- ORDER FOR ASSASSINATION^. 213 terfere, and to obtain from the Shah an assurance of the safe¬ ty of the Ameer. The plot was now successful. The Shah was told that the Russian envoy was about to demand that the person of Teki Khan should be inviolable, and it was art¬ fully represented that this would render the Shah contempti¬ ble in the eyes of his subjects, who, in their anger, would prob¬ ably depose or murder himself. He was persuaded to give his consent to the immediate assassination of Teki Khan, in order that his death might be accomplished before the Rus¬ sian envoy applied for audience. The Shah gave way, and the murderers set out with glee to take the life of the ex-minister, who had been so great a benefactor to his country. Their only remaining difficulty was in detaching the princess from Teki Khan, and this they accomplished by stratagem, representing themselves as bear¬ ers of returning favor from the Shah, Teki Khan received them alone, expecting to hear that his imperial master was once more his friend. But he was quickly undeceived. Yet these emissaries of “the Shadow of God” were no hireling assassins, anxious to finish their job with fatal dagger in the quickest possible manner ; they were men who had come, with true Persian cruelty, to enjoy personal and political revenge ill watching the long-drawn agonies of their victim. They seized and stripped Teki Khan, cut the arteries of his arms, and then stood by and beheld, with gloating, his encounter with death. Time quickly brought the truth to light, and the Shah felt guilty of the murder of the noblest of his subjects. His maj¬ esty had two daughters ; his sister, the widow of the Ameer, had two sons. The four children were betrothed in marriage, and the penitent sovereign pledged himself to regard the wel¬ fare of the boys he had made fatherless. So it happened that the elder had become his majesty’s son-in-law and Governor of Koom, with power to keep for himself the surplus of the 214 THEOUGH PEESIA BY CARAVAN. results of taxation, after paying into the imperial treasury the sum at which the province of Koom is assessed to the reve¬ nues of the State. On the morning after I had seen his highness, at one hour after the sun,” which at that season was eight o’clock, I heard a noise of arrival, and stepped out from the mud hovel, which was our only apartment, on to the wide roof of the stables of the chapar-khanah. Four of the governor’s servants, splen¬ did in costume and armory, had arrived, to be my escort to the palace. Our way led through the crowded bazaar, and the servants, who marched before me, did all possible honor to the occasion by the most offensive rudeness to the people. I threatened to lead the way myself if they did not cease from pushing the women and men alike aside, sometimes knocking them down upon the traders’ stalls, in their zeal to exhibit the importance of their master and of his visitor. Ko one complained, and in no case was there apparent even a disposition to return their blows; for the violent man¬ ner in which they pushed and drove the people with their sticks frequently amounted to assault. “ Away, sons of a burned father I” “Away, sons of dogs !” they cried, belabor¬ ing the camels and asses, which were slow to perceive the necessity of clearing the centre of the path for our passage. There may be some alleys in the East End of London with entries as mean and dirty as that of the palace of the Itizad- el-Dowleh ; but, then, in London the path is not choked, as it was at Koom, with bits of sun-baked clay, and with heaps of dust, contributed in part from the breaking-up of the mud cement with which the walls are plastered. The white-clad dervish spit, with unconcealed disdain, as I entered ; and on emerging from the passage into a court-yard, in which were placed a square tank and a few shrubs, there was a crowd of about thirty servants and hangers-on, who bowed with that air of grave devotion which is a charm of A COAT OF HONOR. 215 Persian manner, and followed toward the mud-built house, a single story high, which bounded the court-yard on the far¬ ther side. The rooms of Persian houses very rarely have doors, and a curtain of Manchester cotton, printed in imita¬ tion of a Cashmere pattern, was hung over the door-way of the Itizad-el-Dowleh’s reception-room, which was not more than fifteen feet square. His highness looked very uncomfortable in his coat of honor, which, I believe, w^s a present from his imperial fa¬ ther-in-law. It is common in Persia for the sovereign to send a coat when he wishes to bestow a mark of favor; and, of course, if the garment has been worn by the Shadow of God,” the value of the present is greatly enhanced. The State coat of the Itizad-el-Dowleh was made from a Cash- mere shawl, of which the ground was white. The shape was something like a frock-coat, except that it had no collar, and the waist was bunched up in gathers, which gives, even to wmll-made men, an awkward and clumsy appearance. It was lined throughout with gray fur, resembling chinchilla. Upon his head he wore the usual high black hat of Astrakhan fur. His black trousers were wide and short, after the Persian manner, allowing an ample display of his coarse white socks and shoes. He rose from an arm-chair, which had probably formed part of the camp equipage of a Kiissian oflicer, and on his left hand there were ranged three similar chairs — fold¬ ing-chairs, with seats of Russian leather. The walls and ceil¬ ing were whitewashed, and the floor, as is usual, covered with the beautiful carpets of the country. The governor’s chair and mine were placed on a small Austrian rug, which was probably valued for its glaring stripes of green and white ; the farther corners of it were held down by glass weights, on the under side of which were photographic portraits of the Emperor ISTapoleon HI. and of the Empress Eugenie. The Itizad-el-Dowleh could speak a few words of French, 216 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. and understand simple phrases in that language ; but he had never been in Europe. While we were exchanging civilities in French, two servants were brewing tea upon the floor with a steaming samovar. The infusion was sweetened in the pot, for Persians are of one mind in the matter of sugar, and in¬ variably like as much as the water will hold without ceasing to be fluid — that which chemists call a saturated solution. The tea was served on metal trays of Persian design, in pret¬ ty cups of French porcelain, with lemons cut in halves ; and afterward pipes were brought in, the live charcoal which was laid upon the damp tobacco being blown occasionally by the servants until the tube reached the mouth of the smoker. I refused, and the jeweled mouth-piece of the flexible tube was then presented to the governor, the water-bowl of the kalian being held by a slave, while his highness languidly inhaled the smoke. I am sure that my dislike for tobacco was not unwelcome to any one of the grandees of Persia. To a true Mussulman, it is very disagreeable to place in his mouth the tube which has just quitted the lips of an infidel; and I have heard of Persians of rank being provided with a double mouth-piece, so that, after fulfilling the hospitable duty of presenting the pipe to a Christian guest, they could unobserved slip off the piece from which he had drawn the smoke, and enjoy the second without defilement. The feeling which leads English people to wipe the brim of the loving-cup before passing the goblet to a neighbor has no place in the Persian mind. The governor knows perfectly well that the pipe from which he draws a few puffs of smoke will be finished by his servants ; and indeed a kalian is always tried after it is lighted by the pipe -bearer, who, if necessary, keeps it alight by smoking until his master is ready for it. The pipe is always followed by black coffee, thick, strong, and sweet, the quantity served to each person never exceeding the meditjal dose of two MESJID-I-JUMA. 217 table-spoonfuls,” in china cups without handles, which, in the houses of the great, are usually secured in metal egg-cups of gold or silver, studded with turquoises and garnets. After the coffee one looks for leave to go— to obtain permission to retire ; a w^ord which, in Persia, is always su23posed to be given by the greater person, whether the visitor or the visited. In Peisian fashion, the governor placed himself and all his power at my disposal ; but I found it impossible to make him understand that at the suggestion of Mr. Ronald Thomson, the very able secretary of the British Legation in Teheran, I wished to see as much as could be permitted of the sacred buildings of Koom. We sent for the clerk of the Indian Gov¬ ernment Telegraph, which has a testing station in Koom; and with his help it was arranged that the Itizad-el-Dow- leh’s servants should take me to the Mesjid-i-Juma, the oldest mosque m Koom, to the tomb of Feth-Ali-Shah, and that I should enter the door-way of the golden-domed mosque of Fatima, and look upon — for it could not be expected that an infidel should approach — the shrine of that sacred sister of the most holy Imam Reza. ^ The two servants who were appointed to lead this excur¬ sion looked as if they had been chosen for their strength; Biey were two of the largest, most powerful men I had seeii in Peisia. The Mesjid, or mosque, of Juma was very like the mosque of Kasveen, but rather more decayed and dilapidated ; and from this we passed quickly to the tomb of Feth-Ali- Shah, which was in the outskirts of the town. The tomb is a jiafallelogram, in shape like many which were erected in En¬ glish church-yards a hundred years ago. It is a simple struct¬ ure of brick, covered with very beautiful tiles, with brown letteis laised in high-relief on a ground of blue, not much un¬ like the samples of this work which have been procured for the South Kensington Museum by Major Smith. Over the tomb there is a small building or mosque. 10 218 THKOUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN. From the resting-place of Feth-Ali-Shahj I returned through the centre of the town toward the grand mosque containing the shrine of Fatima. I expected difficulty there. Koom is renowned throughout Persia for devotion to Islam and for hatred of infidels. 'Not long ago, an Armenian doctor was in imminent danger, from the fact that he, a Christian, had en¬ tered this mosque in disguise. It appears that he had in this way been successful in seeing the Caaba at Mecca 5 and this success had, no doubt, made him contemptuous as to danger from the fanaticism of Persia. Clothed as a pilgrim, he had entered the mosque we were approaching; and having seen the shrine of Fatima, was leaving the building. He met with a moollah in the door-way, and could not refrain from boast- ino- of his success. “ There is not much to see here,” he said, and compared it with Mecca. The priest’s suspicions were aroused ; he told the by-standers that he believed the sanctu¬ ary had been violated by a Christian, who had committed the graver offense at Mecca. The anger of the people grew hot and hotter by talking together ; and at last a crowd rushed down to the chapar-khanah, where the pretended Moslem was staying, in the mud hovel which w^e occupied during our stay in Koom. He was warned just in time to save his life by flight over the back wall of the post-house. My appearance in the court -yard of the mosque caused great excitement. Along the sides of the inclosure, which is nearly half an acre in extent, there are seats, upon which idlers of the “ Softa ” class, and beggars, with no pretensions to learnino:, but with abundant fanaticism, were sitting. Most of them rose at the sight of my procession, which was mak¬ ing directly for the main door of the mosque. In the centre , was the usual tank, around which were ranged a few shrubs in wooden boxes ; the golden dome of the mosque rose, glit¬ tering and grand, in the foreground. In the door-way hung a heavy chain, festooned in such a manner that none could EECEPTION AT THE MOSQUE. 219 outer without a lowly bendiug of the head ; and behind this stood a black -bearded moollah, wearing a huge turban of gi ecu the saci ed color — and next him I recognizedj with a sense of coming defeatj the wild - looking dervish who had cursed and frowned at me from the door-way of the govern¬ or’s palace. His face now wore an expression really ter¬ rible. The two gigantic servants of the Itizad-el-Dowleh, who led the way, mounted the steps, and, standing outside the chain, informed the priest that it was the governor’s wish that I should be allowed to enter so far as to be able to see the shrine and the surrounding tombs. The moollah replied with an angry negative, and the dervish supported him with wild gesticulations. The servants pushed forward, evidently think¬ ing that I should demand the fulfillment of their master’s or¬ der. But to force a passage appeared to me not only very dangerous, but unjustifiable ; and, from all that we had seen of Persian mosques and shrines, I doubted if the contents of this mosque were sufficiently interesting to warrant the slightest risk or disturbance. Clearly, too, the moollahs were stronger in this matter than the governor. Already a crowd watched the altercation, and every man in it could be relied on to sup¬ port the moollahs, while in the crowded bazaar close at hand they had a reserve of force willing and eager to do the work of fanaticism a force which could destroy any other power in Room. I ordered a retreat ; and, lest the servants should not understand my words, beckoned them to quit the door¬ way. Fortunately I had learned to beckon in the Persian manner. I had noticed that when I held up my hand and waved it toward my face in the European way, our servants did not understand this direction. The hand must be turned downward, and the waving done with the wrist uppermost. This was the sign I made in the court-yard of the mosque at Koom. Our jDosition in recrossing the long court-yard was 220 THKOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. not very enviable ; in Persia the vanquished are always con¬ temptible; but there were no unpleasant manifestations. In Koom we found it impossible to refill our empty wine- bottles. Something stronger than the Maine Liquor Law prevails in this sacred city and in that of Meshed, where the brother of Fatima is buried. Intoxicating liquors appear to be absolutely unattainable, and intoxication is accomplished by those who desire that condition with bhang, or opium. That which can be purchased anywhere in Koom, cheaper and of better quality and manufacture than elsewhere in Per¬ sia, is pottery, for which the town is famous. The water- bottles of Koom are seen all over Persia. The clay, when baked, is fine, hard, and nearly white, and the potters have a specialty in the way of decoration. They stud the outside of their bottles with spots of vitrified blue, like turquoises, in patterns varied with yellow spots of the same character. The effect is very pleasing. In the bazaar of Koom we bought three delicious melons, each about a foot in diameter, for a kran, the value of tenpence in English money. The muezzin was shouting ‘^Allahu akbar,” and the call to the day-break prayer, when our caravan set out for Pasangan, the next station south of Koom. There is difficulty, as we afterward found, in the passage of a ship of three thousand tons burden through the Suez Canal ; but there is much greater difficulty in passing a takht-i-rawan through the ba¬ zaar at Koom at about seven o’clock in the morning. What Avith the opposing stream of traffic and the anxiety of all to see the English Tchanoum, the operation Avas most difficult. After enduring many collisions Avith loaded camels and mules and donkeys, Ave escaped from the croAvd of black hats and broAvn hats, green turbans and AA^hite turbans, and Averc once more in the open plain, Avhere the only A^ariety occurred in the fording of Avater- courses Avhich crossed the path be¬ tween artificial banks raised for the purpose of irrigation. VIEW FROM CHAPAR-KHANAH. 221 A?V^e thought we had never beheld a more lovely sunrise than that in the faint light of which we left the chapar-kha- nah of Pasangan. Above, yet near to the horizon, having a clear space beneath it, there hung a dense dark cloud. In a moment this was infused with rose -color; then it became a floating mass of gold, increasing in splendor until the arisen sun passed behind it, and over all was gloom. Through the day we rode across the dusty plain to Sin-sin, a mud-built chapar-khanah and caravanserai, so entirely the color of the plain that it was difficult, when there was no shadow, to see the buildings before we were clo^e to the walls. When the usual operations of sweeping out the bala-khanah and cover¬ ing the doors and windows with hangings had been perform¬ ed, the carpets laid, our beds set up and made, the table spread for dinner, I sat, as usual, on the roof, avoiding the smoke-holes. Through the clouds rising in one of these holes I could see Kazem tending his stew-pots in an atmosphere dense with smoke, and unendurable to any. but those who are accustomed to sit on the ground. Outside, the scene was, as always, charming ; as always of magnificent extent, and as in¬ variably bounded on every side by mountains. In the plain, toward the town of Kashan, a few patches of softest green, the wheat crop of next year, were the only vegetation. Be¬ fore us, distant two days’ march, lay the snowy outline of the highest mountain pass in Central Persia. Cold and clear in the fading sunlight, it seemed very near; and the black, ser¬ rated outline of the lower ranges against the silver sky gave that aspect to the landscape which, while it fills the mind with melancholy, is accepted as most beautiful. 222 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. CHAPTER XV. Kaslian. — Visit to the Governor. — Kashan Bazaar. — The Governor’s House. — The Governor on Railways. — Tea, Pipes, and Sherbet. — A Ride round Kashan. — House pulled down. — Present from the Governor. — Presents from Servants. — Manna. — Leaving Kashan. — Gabrabad. — Up the Mount¬ ains. — A Robber Haunt. — Kuhrud. — In the Snow. — A Persian Interior. — A Welcome Visitor. — Kazem as a Cook. — The Takht-i-rawan Frozen. — Pass of Kuhrud. — Soh. — “The Blue Man.” — Beauties of the Road. — Province of Ispahan. — Moot-i-Khoor. — Ispahan Melons. — Village of Gez. Early in the morning of the last day in Xovember we left Sin- sin, and rode toward Kashan, which lies beneath high mountains. About two in the afternoon we arrived in the court-yard of the telegraph-office, where Mr. Xicolai, an Arme¬ nian, gave us hospitable welcome. His house, extraordinary as a building having a second story, though the upper floor was so ruined that no part was habitable, stands at the com¬ mencement of the town, beside a broad road, horribly rough as to pavement, within a hundred yards of the entrance to the bazaar. Xo picture could give an adequate conception of the appearance of such a town as Kashan. There are hov¬ els in the County Meath hardly more comfortable, though far less roomy, than the flat, square boxes, plastered with mud and broken straw, in which the Persians dwell. But in West¬ ern countries the roofs of the houses give variety of outline and of tint; in a town like Kashan, all is of the dusty color of the road. Immediately upon our arrival, we sent a servant at once to the haJcem, or governor, with a letter of recommendation from the grand vizier ; and very soon an answer was returned THE BAZAAR OF KASHAN. 223 that the governor was waiting to receive me. Two led horses and five servants followed the governor’s letter, and, mount¬ ing one, I gave the other to Mr. Nicolai, who was kindly will¬ ing to act as interpreter in my interview with the governor of Kashan. The town is famous for saucepans and scorpions. A hun¬ dred wooden hammers were ringing upon as many copper pots and pans when we entered the bazaar, the governor’s five servants clearing the way in the usual unceremonious fashion. The brass and copper work of Kashan is useful rather than ornamental. Some of the pans and kettles are engraved with rude ornament; but although this is the Birmingham of Per¬ sia, there is no lavish bestowal of labor on any of the produc¬ tions of Kashan — no elegances in metal-work such as may be purchased in Ispahan or Benares. The bazaar of Kashan has a vaulted roof of stone, from which the noise of the sauce¬ pan-makers resounded so loudly that conversation was impos¬ sible. Other alleys were devoted to more quiet industries. In the East the carpenters and turners make no small use of their toes. Being always barefooted when at work, and seated either on the ground or upon the level platform of a stall or shop in the bazaar, they from childhood accustom their toes to such motions and functions as European fingers are wont to undertake ; and in bowing or ginning cotton, in turning or in carpentry, the toes often do the work of a third hand. The life of Eastern tradesmen, especially of those engaged in the comparatively inert occupations of selling groceries or manufactured cottons, must be very unwholesome. They spend their days, for the most part, seated in the perpetual gloom of the sunless bazaars, which are icy -cold in winter, and through which draughts of chilling air are always blow¬ ing. Their only fire is a pan of charcoal, upon which they sometimes sit, when it is covered with a perforated box. At 224 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. Other times two or three may be seen crowding together to warm their hands over this lifeless fire. Very many sleep in their shoj)s, and never see the sunlight except in the morning, or midday, or evening walk to the mosque, the court-yard of which is usually entered from the bazaar. Bread and fruit aie their ordinary foodj the kalian, their solace and diver¬ sion. They dread none so much as the servants of the as seul, when required to hasten on in front of the caravan. The mule kicked, turned round and round, but nothing could dislodge the merry little Persian. At last a soldier under¬ took to drive it before him, and Kazem was soon trotting on to light a fire. Having brought us through the mountains from Kashan, a]id into the territory of his Royal Highness the Prince Governor of Ispahan, the soldiers were now to leave us. We gave them a present of money, with which they were evidently delighted, and a note to the Governor of Kashan stating that they had left us in safety on the road to Moot-i-Khoor. This I wrote at their especial request, which, in its urgency, reminded me of that of a Hindoo ayah, who, in traveling toward England, from Alexandria to Kaples, was overwhelmed with astonishment at the sight of Vesuvius. When it was explained to her that the mountain was smok¬ ing from natural causes, she exclaimed, ‘‘ Mem sahib, do give me a ‘ chit ’ [a note] to say that I’ve seen it.” She evidently felt sure that none of her own people would believe in her account of a volcano if she could not produce a “ chit ” from her mistress. The village of Moot-i-Khoor is closely surrounded by a high wall, above which nothing was visible but the green dome of a small mosque. The chapar-khanah and caravanse¬ rai were the only buildings outside the walls. I deplored the cold chiefly because the temperature was unfavorable for the enjoyment of Ispahan melons, the perfection, the ne plus id- VILLAGE OF GEZ. 237 tra^ of fruit. It seems an error on the part of nature that this golden fruit, so luscious and refreshing, ripening late in the autumn, should be for sale when to eat a melon makes one’s teeth chatter. But at Moot-i-Khoor, before a larf^e fire, I did manage to enjoy the larger part of a melon, and carried the outside to my horse, who seemed to think he had not met with any thing so good for many a day. Upon leaving Moot- i-Khoor, we had but one more station before reaching Ispa¬ han ; and after riding about one farsakh, on the way to Gez, we passed a caravanserai three hundred feet square, which, though, for a Persian building, in excellent repair, was quite deserted. We had met with an official at Teheran, upon whose caravan a band of robbers rushed out from this cara¬ vanserai. We therefore eyed it with some anxiety; but when we arrived there was not a living; creature to be seen, and nobody could explain the cause. One supposed it was left thus desolate because it was so near Moot-i-Khoor, and therefore obtained no custom ; another said something about evil spirits ; but to the charvodar it appeared possible — and his was the wisest opinion — that it had been built without thought of water supply, and had been abandoned because no water could be had at a less distance than four miles ; and, moreover, nothing would grow in the neighborhood. Much of the ground round about was covered with white salt, which in the morning looked like hoar-frost, and had the un¬ pleasant flavor of saltpetre. There was nothing remarkable or unusual at Gez, which is only sixteen miles from the city of Ispahan. 238 THEOUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN. ) CHAPTER XVI. Ispahan. — Approach by Koad. — Suburbs of Ispahan. — A Eagged Bazaar. — Departed Greatness. — The Grand Avenue. — The Great Madrassee. — Eiver Zayinderud. — Pipes on the Bridge. — Djulfa-by-Ispahan. — Kussia and the Armenians. — Gate of Djulfa. — The English Missionary. — Mr. Bruce’s House. — Armenian Women. — The British Agent. — Church Mis¬ sionary School. — Armenian Priests. — Enemies of the School. — Visit to the Governor. — The Prince’s Carriage. — “ The Eorty Columns.” — The Prince’s Anderoon. — The Shah’s Eldest Son. — His Estimate of the Army. — Zil-i-Sultan. — His Hope and Fears. — His Court at Ispahan. — His Carte-de-Visite. — The Princess’s Costume. The Persians rave about Ispahan as Spaniards do of Sev¬ ille, or Italians of Xaples. Isfahan nisfjahdn'’'* (“ Ispahan is half the world ”), says one writer ; and Hakim Shefa’ee, a poet of Ispahan, has taken even a higher flight. He has sung : “The moving heaven of heavens is the father, and the towers of the earth the mother ; But Ispahan, their famous child, surpasses both the one and other.” When we were about three miles from the city, we over¬ took a party of priests. Several of them were mounted on white donkeys, and some were persevering in their desire to see the occupant of the takht-i-rawan. While we were rid¬ ing beside them, an incident occurred which shows in a very striking manner how little intercourse there is between the chief towns of Persia, or, rather, how ill-adapted the paths (there are no roads) are for much traffic. A muleteer com¬ ing from Ispahan reported that, for purposes of irrigation, a new water-way had been banked up across the track, and at APPROACH TO ISPAHAISr. 239 oncG we all turned into wheat-fields, and made our way round by circuitous courses. On the main track there were many bridges. But there are bridges and bridges : these were Per¬ sian bridges, of which the most common form is a lono* stone thrown from bank to bank, over which only one animal could pass. The larger bridges of brick were in such a state of dilapidation that, with less careful animals, or at night-time, it would be highly dangerous to cross them. The mules seem to know that these are traps well calculated to break their legs, and avoid the holes in these crazy bridges with wonder¬ ful care. W e had heard much of Ispahan, and were dismayed at the wretchedness and ruin in the outskirts of the town, in the general view of which from the level of the plain there was nothing to be seen that was not of mud, except the few domes and towers, which rose but little above the low houses. The environs of Ispahan are dotted with a cordon of round tow¬ ers. These are not high, or in any way extraordinary ; and one would pass them with the notion that, like the village defenses throughout Persia, they were suitable fortifications against enemies who had no artillery. But these are pigeon towers, maintained, in the interests of the melon-gardens, for the guano, which, after a season of occupation by hundreds of t^igeons, is found inside the doors at the base. Like every thing else in Persia, these towers are falling into decay ; and there are but few pigeons. Time was when there were many, and when the melon-growers of Ispahan paid a considerable rent for each tower. A stranger to Persian ways and means seeing us fording water-courses, winding round ruined walls, passing between miserable sheds scarcely eight feet apart, would hardly sup¬ pose that, by the most frequented route, we were entering the chief city of the Persian Empire. The main street of Coomassie was, according to the sketches of correspondents, 240 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. hardly more barbarous than the ragged bazaar through which we rode in the suburbs of Ispahan ; in fact, we were remind¬ ed by it of the picture we had seen in the Illustrated London News of Coomassie. Not a few of the people were of the color, and almost as naked, as the Ashantees. The ragged roof of boughs and straw, which was intended to cover the way, but the result of which was to checker the path with patches of sunlight, was supported by saplings just as they were brought from plantations by the river-side, and the road was such as it had pleased the population to make it. Some used it as a sewer ; others had thrown earth from the founda¬ tions of their stalls upon it. In some places there were 230ols of filthy water, with a bed of mud, into which our horses’ feet sunk deep ; then hillocks which jerked the unwary rider in his saddle. There was improvement, not in the road -way, but in the buildings of the bazaars, as we approached the cen¬ tre of the town. We avoided the principal bazaars, owing to the difficulty of passing through with the takht-i-rawan. At last we entered by a narrow gate-way upon the grand av¬ enue, which, though itself a ruin, and in a city which is for the most part in ruins, remains the glory of Ispahan. From near the centre of the town for half a mile this ave¬ nue slopes in straight lines to the river. Six rows of large l^lane-trees, many with signs of great age and of approaching dissolution, overshadow as many roads. I was about.to write that at the sides, along the walls, are footpaths ; but in Per¬ sia there are no footpaths, or, rather, all ways are footpaths. The raised paths at the side may have been specially designed for foot-passengers; but in a country where there is no wheeled traffic, and where no one who is of the higher classes is ever seen far from home on foot, there are, properly speak¬ ing, no footpaths, no 2)lace in which a horse, or mule, or cam¬ el is not free to walk. The greater part of the avenue is paved ; but nearly a century must have elapsed since any thing THE GREAT MADRASSEE. 241 has been done to repair or replace the huge stones which, in their present disarrangement, make the road far worse than it would be if there was no paving whatever. The central road of the avenue is interrupted at three places by tanks, the masonry of which is now in ruins. These tanks hold no water except the stagnant rain or melted snow ; and where the tanks occur, the long straight line of wall at the sides of the avenue is broken with buildings, irnarets, large summer¬ houses, with two or three apartments elevated above the wall, covered with a timber roof with large projecting eaves. In this roof, as well as in the highly colored decoration, there is fresh evidence of the relationship between the architecture of Persia and that of the Alhambra of Granada. About half-way down, on the left hand, as we approached the river, we came to the Madrassee^ or great mosque-school of Ispahan, which has the most notable dome in the city. The building itself is unimportant, constructed, as usual, of sun-baked bricks, and plastered with mud. There is some decoration, composed of colored bricks and tiles ; but the dome, seen far and wide upon the plain, is perhaps the finest example of tile-work, and the most lamentably striking pict¬ ure of ruin, in Persia. Originally it was covered with tiles, on which the prevailing colors are blue and yellow. The scroll-pattern is so large that it extends over two yards of the tiling, occupying a great number of tiles for its complete ex¬ hibition, About two-thirds of the tiling are in excellent con¬ dition ; the colors bright, the pattern regular, and the effect cliarming ; but from the remaining third, on the south side, tlie tiles have completely disappeared, and the bare bedding of brown cement is exposed. For generations it has been so; and there is no prospect of repair. No Persian seems to give a thought to the preservation of the buildings of the country. At the end of the avenue — in which the foot-fall of our horses and mules had that peculiar hollow sound, so melan- 11 242 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CAEAVAN. choly and so suggestive of departed greatness — a sound sin¬ gular and solemn, which is always the reverberating accom¬ paniment of the horseman in a scene of mingled grandeur and decay — the roads converge to the bridge, a long, straight via¬ duct upon high, semicircular arches of brick, by which we crossed the river. This stream, the Zayinderud — a beautiful feature in the view of Ispahan — is a river with no outfall. Prodigal of its waters from the beginning, flowing hither and thither upon the plain in half a dozen courses, wastefully All-- ing shallow basins from which the sun carries off its waters, and in winter claiming a bed wide enough for ten times the flow, tapped at every turn, and its waters led away to irrigate fields and gardens, the gay Zayinderud dies in the plains to the east of Ispahan. The sides of the flat bridge are inclosed with walls about twelve feet high, which would shut out one of the most en¬ chanting views in Persia, if they were not pierced with small openings so frequent that these boundaries are arcades rather than walls. There arg no paths or pavement — nothing but a level way upon the bridge. At either end, from day to day and year to year, there are two Persians seated on the ground, whom at first we supposed were placed there to re¬ ceive toll from passengers. They rose at our approach, and from one of the arches brought forward a lighted kalian, all ready for indulgence in the favorite form of smoking. They make this advance to any mounted passenger, and, indeed, to every one willing to pay a copper. The traveler, if he pleases, takes the pipe, and after smoking from one end of the bridge to the other, leaves it with the second pair of pipe-bearers. It is a curious way of getting a living, and reminded me of - that poorest of all trades in Naples, in which one member of the family passes the day j)icking up the chewed ends of cigars in the Yia de Toledo, now del Corso, and another offers this choice commodity for sale at ten for a half-penny in the Marina, ' DJULFA-BY-ISPAHAN. 243 At the farther side of the bridge the avenue is continued, with the plane-trees and pavement as before, gently sloping upward to its termination at the ruin of an imperial summer¬ house. But in the December afternoon we turned sharply to the right, among the green patches of young wheat, to where the suburb of Djulfa borders on the river. This is the Christian quarter of Ispahan — the home of about two thou¬ sand Armenians, the largest Christian community in Persia, who named it Djulfa, in fond remembrance of that Other Djulfa upon the borders of the Caucasus, in Georgia, from whence came the ancestors of the present population. Per¬ haps there is not in the world any more extraordinary mani¬ festation of the sentiment of patriotism than that which is seen among Georgians and Armenians, the very names of whose countries have been wiped out by Imperial Kussia from the map, and whose nationality is scornfully regarded by the dominant power. As a mark of the insolence of con¬ quest, I have mentioned the monument in the Saski Place of Warsaw; but probably there is nothing in the history of Po¬ land to equal the terms of the proclamation in which the Emperor Alexander I. of Russia announced to the Georgians, in 1801, the loss of their independence. “Ce n’est pas pour accroitre nos forces, ce n’est pas dans des vues d’interet, ou pour 4tendre les liraites d’un Empire deja si vaste, que nous acceptons le fardeau dii trone de Georgie and the Tsar, in diplomatic phraseology, proceeds to add that it is in order to extend to them the blessing of Russian Government that he has conquered the people who are, without dispute, the handsomest in the world. It was easy to see that the Armenians of Djulfa-by-Ispahan are miserably poor, and that wine- shops — very rare in the Mussulman city — are frequent in the Christian settlement. One of the gates of Djulfa, the wooden frame of which was about seven feet six inches in height by five feet in width. 244 THKOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. would not admit the takht-i-rawan, the top of which came in violent collision with the structure. We were obliged to unharness the first mule, and slope the takht-i-rawan to the ground. By this movement we were just able to get inside the town of Djulfa, of which the narrow ways are utterly un¬ kept, as indeed is usual throughout Persia — quagmires of mud in the wet season, irregular blocks of frozen filth in the winter, and noisome dust-heaps in the summer. Through a small maze of mud-walls, past the Armenian cathedral, with its brown dome, built of sun-baked bricks, surmounted by a gilt cross, we approached the house of Mr. Bruce, the mis¬ sionary — the only Englishman resident in this part of Per¬ sia, where the British Government is represented by an Ar¬ menian agent, subordinate to the envoy in Teheran. The missionary’s house is thoroughly Persian; and from the street in which we set down the takht-i-rawan there was nothing visible except the line of mud-wall common to this and the adjoining houses. But unlike most Persian houses, the strong doors, studded with iron bolts, were, as is usual with Mr. Bruce’s doors, standing wide open. In Persian eyes, the construction would indeed be faulty if any thing of the interior could be seen through this one opening of com¬ munication with the outer world. There is always a turn in the dark, covered entry. We had been met outside the town by one of Mr. Bruce’s servants, Kalifat by name, an intelli¬ gent youth, mounted on a white pony, who could speak En¬ glish with some readiness, and was himself inclined to walk in the ways of the Anglican Church. Before the door of the house stood the missionary — the centre of a small crowd of his Armenian neighbors — no longer booted and spurred, but all in clerical black, with orthodox white tie, a man who deserves as much as any one in Persia a brief description of the char¬ acter and personal influence which he brings to bear upon so wide and desolate a field of action. Tall and spare, with the THE ENGLISH MISSIONAKY. 245 keen eye and the strong hand of one accustomed to rural life from childhood, frank in face, and with winning, well-bred manner, Mr. Bruce is quite an exceptional missionary. One sees at a glance that the man is by nature a theological sol¬ dier with a particular taste for religious warfare in the re¬ motest places of the earth. Capable of enduring immense fatigue, accustomed in boyhood to more or less reckless rid¬ ing ill an Irish county, gentle in temper, firm and broadly liberal in argument, with gustatory tastes so simple that the worst of Afghan or Persian fare is always sufficient, a labori¬ ous scholar, already better acquainted with Persian dialects than any other of our countrymen in Persia, the one mission¬ ary in that empire is, in his way, a remarkable man. On passing through the covered entry, we came upon the quadrangle of his house, in the centre of which there were bunches of the pretty little flower which at home we call Michaelmas daisy,” and the invariable tank. A paved ter¬ race surrounded the square patch of garden, on the side of which next the street were three rooms of the house. The first, a vaulted, whitewashed chamber, about five-and-thirty feet long, had two doors opening upon the narrow terrace. This answered to what in English farm-houses is called the “keej)ing” room — ^at once drawing-room, dining-room, and library. The missionary’s books, all of them more or less relating to his calling, were ranged in those recesses which are always constructed in the walls of Persian rooms. The only decoration was a native painting of queer animals, with some likeness to birds, over the fire-place, upon the floor of which there was a cheerful fire of logs. Between this and a similar apartment, occupied by ourselves, there was an inter¬ mediate and smaller room, which, like the others, opened upon the terrace, and in front of which wo had always to pass under the sky in going from our apartment to the ‘^cecping” room. On the right of the quadrangle, which 246 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. was perhaps a hundred and twenty feet square, there were the kitchen offices, and a small staircase, leading first to an anteroom, and through that to the grand room of the house, which was used as a chapel. The Christian subjects of Mohammedan powers always adopt, to some extent, the customs of their masters. The Armenian women at Djulfa veil their chins, and expose their painted cheeks and dyed eyebrows. Every morning at eight there was a procession of these women, draped from head to foot in coverings of spotless white, into the missionary’s room. The few boys and men made a louder clatter, and all left their shoes on the terrace outside the door before they entered to hear the missionary recite prayers and read the Bible in Persian ; and on Sunday many of these people came to an early service in the same language. They were men and boys exclusively who attended the afternoon service, when the missionary read the familiar liturgy in English, and preached with pleasant simplicity and engaging earnestness, usually, however, choosing some dogma or miracle, the truth of which he declared in detail with much of the minuteness and determination of the school of Calvin. To hear and to appreciate the labors of Mr. Bruce expounding to converted Armenians the indispensable connection between ‘Hhe cove¬ nant of circumcision made with Abraham ” and the crucifix¬ ion of Jesus Christ, was very instructive as to the strength and the weakness of the teaching of dogmatic Christianity. The British agent, an Armenian, named Agenoor, was the first person to call upon us. I gave him a letter addressed to himself by his official chief in Teheran, and another from the grand vizier addressed to the Prince -governor of Ispahan, which I requested him to forward to his royal highness, who is the eldest son of the Shah. Mr. Agenoor is a respectable but timid little man, who seems to gain all the strength he has from his connection with the British Government. A CHUECH MISSIONAEY SCHOOL. 247 walk through Londoiij or a sight of the British fleet iu Turk¬ ish waters, would strengthen his nerves. England is to him, and to many such who are placed in positions of much im¬ portance, powerful only by report, while the Mohammedan authority surrounds them as an existing reality, and the mis¬ ery of their fellow-Christians is before them as an ever-pres¬ ent warning. There are many disadvantages in the repre¬ sentation of Great Britain by members of the subject Chris¬ tian races of the East. We visited the missionary’s school, in which we were soon afterward to take an unexpected interest. We were much pleased with the excellence of the teaching and its admirable results. The class-rooms were in a house adjoining that of Mr. Bruce, and very similar in construction. The school¬ master, Kalifat Johannes, was a native of Djiilfa, who had for years enjoyed the position, to gain which is the chief mo¬ tive power in all self-improvement among these Armenians. He had been in India, and had there learned the art of tui¬ tion. In the Hjulfa school there were, at the time of our visit, a hundred and thirty-one pupils, of whom all but three Mussulman children were Armenians. The poor people of Djulfa warmly appreciated the benefits of this school for their boys as a means of enabling their children to emigrate from poverty-stricken Persia to India, from whence there flowed back rills of pecuniary aid to embarrassed parents in Djulfa. Eeligious conformity with the tenets of the Church Missionary Society of Great Britain, by which the school was entirely maintained, was not enforced as a test of admission. As a matter of fact, many of the children so educated did find their way on Sunday to join with their school-master in Mr. Bruce’s services, but not all ; and there were even chil¬ dren of Armenian priests among the pupils. The satisfaction of the people with the school was not, how¬ ever, sliared by the priests of the Armenian population, nor 248 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. by the Roman Catholic priest, who rules a dwindling com¬ munity in Djulfa. There are no fewer than sixteen priests, including a bishop of the Armenian Church, in this wretched suburb ; and all these, with their families, have to obtain a living, as unproductive creatures, from the piety of a popu¬ lation little above beggary. Naturally they are more than dubious as to the advantage of training the boys of Djulfa in schools established by members of the Church of England, with the probable result of making them Anglicans in relig¬ ion, and the likelihood that the flower of them, the most iwomising of the future wealth-makers of Djulfa, will leave the valley of the Zayinderud and emigrate to British India. There could be no more obvious menace to their means of living ; and to these poor jDriests it is the more aggravating, because there is nothing that each one of them so much de¬ sires for himself as to be sent to minister to some Armenian flock in the land of rupees. They say that the Armenian bishop never sends a priest to India who does not first lay at his ei^iscopal feet an offering of fifty tomans ; and if any kind person were to give an Armenian priest of Djulfa the sum of twenty pounds, it is not at all unlikely it would find its way to the bishop, so that the giver might obtain translation to India. ^ For some time past, Mr. Bruce told us, the school had been regarded as an offense by the priests of Djulfa, who, con¬ scious of their own political insignificance, had not scrupled to arouse Mohammedan feeling by denouncing the school to the moollahs as an English engine for the destruction of Is¬ lam. In this evil work, I have no doubt that the Roman Catholic priest lent a willing hand ; and perhaps it was not unnatural he should do so when he compared his miserable school with the comparatively bountiful appliances of that ruled by the English missionary. We had forwarded our letters of recommendation to the THE prince’s carriage. 249 prince-governor, who immediately sentferashes to the mission¬ ary’s house to be my personal attendants during our stay in Is¬ pahan. It was quite in accordance with Persian custom that I should give them a present and send them back, as I did. On the day upon which the prince was to receive us, more servants arrived, and brought news that the prince’s carriage was on the way in order to convey my wife to visit the prin¬ cess. We knew that the gate of D3ulfa, which had stopped the takht-i-rawan, would not admit a carriage; we therefore hired mules and set out, a large party, including the British agent and the missionary, our servants and those of the prince, all on horseback, surrounding the takht-i-rawan. When we arrived in the open fields by the river, there stood the prince’s carriage, drawn by two white horses, the manes and tails of which were dyed a lively red. They had spots of the same color upon the forehead, which, if they had been men, would have given them the look of a clown at a circus. As for the carriage itself, in hardly any sale-yard in London could such a wretched rattle-trap be found. The lining was torn, and hung in large rectangular rents, and this was only the most striking “ note ” of the general condition of the vehicle. It w^as not inviting; but the anxious British agent thought the prince would be offended if “ the lady ” did not make use of the carriage. So the change w'as made, and my wife had an opportunity of learning, by painful experience, why it is that wheeled carriages are not used in Persia. The postilion set off delighted. The barb -like horses switched their red tails and dashed down a steep place into the river, the car¬ riage banffine: about over the bowlders in the bed of the Zay- inderud, to the satisfaction of no one but the postilion, hfo doubt it was as good as any other road, and perhaps he rare¬ ly got an opportunity of displaying his powers as a chariot¬ eer. We, however, caught him, and compelled him to walk his horses for the rest of the way ; but even this pace over 11'^ 250 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAIST. the stones of the avenue was described by the unfortunate occupant of the carriage as being almost unendurable. We stopped at a mud-wall in which there was a gate, not large enough to admit the carriage, and all dismounted be¬ cause my wife was obliged to do so. Above the gate-way a patch of the mud was smooth and whitened. On this was painted a large heraldic lion, with his head in the rays of a gilded sun, the sign of Persian royalty. We had some dis¬ tance to walk to the palace through ill-kept grounds, in which there were many plane-trees. The low buildings of the palace, in the distance, were in no way attractive. They presented a long, straight wall toward the garden, divided in panels, cov¬ ered with fine white plaster, and decorated in fantastic pat¬ terns, colored red, blue, and yellow. About the centre of the grounds, there was a building which is regarded as one of the sights of Ispahan. It is a pavilion, the roof supported at a height of about fifty feet by twenty columns of wood, the oc¬ tagonal surfaces of these columns being covered with mirrors. The floor was of various colored marbles, and the roof, which was fast falling into decay, was highly colored in kaleido¬ scopic patterns. , The building is known as “The Forty Col¬ umns,” and was probably constructed to be used as an out¬ door throne-room for “ the Shadow of God.” There is in it an admixture of the barbaric and the tawdry, which, together with the unsubstantial character of the building, are the usual characteristics of Persian architecture. At a distance the ef¬ fect is very pleasing, and one sees that “ The Forty Columns ” would play a grand part in Persian pageantry; but, nearer, the illusion vanishes. The floor is unwashed, the mirrors are grimy, the tall, slender columns are awry, and the roof is fall¬ ing to pieces. During the short time we staid at “The Fortv Columns,” a number of people, only some of whom were of the prince’s household, gathered round us, and not a few followed toward THE PEINCE’s AOTEROON. 251 the palace. In a theocratic governmentj which is the real nat¬ ure of authority in all Mohammedan countries, one notes the mixture of democracy with absolute authority. There are two powers — that of Allah and that of the Shah, ruling in the name of Allah, and in strict accordance with his will as re¬ vealed in the Koran. In the sight of Allah, all men are equal ; and among men, none are great save those who wield his pow¬ er. Servants, peasants, beggars, all went with us toward the presence of the prince. Kot one of these people would under¬ stand exclusion, except as an arbitrary exercise of power ; not one would resent it, because he who has power may do what he pleases ; and if the prince had singled out any one, and ordered the ferashes to give him a hundred sticks,” there would have been no outcry of injustice. But until repelled, they feel they have as much right to be in the governor’s room as the flies which buzz about his head. We separated in the first court of the palace, my wife being led to the “ anderoon,” or harem, the women’s quarter, while I passed to the rooms of the prince. He was not there, and I was received by members of his household, including his hakim, or doctor, an agreeable young man, who spoke some French. The prince was, in fact, taking an unfair ad¬ vantage of me, and availing himself of the customs of the East and West. While it would have been in the highest degree improper for me to propose a visit on my own part to the anderoon, the prince, with laudable curiosity, received my wife there, and himself presented her to his wife, the only one whom he had then married. A pipe was passed round while we waited for his highness, and those of the popula¬ tion who could not crowd into the corners of the little room watched us through the open door -way. It was presently announced that the prince was ready ; and we passed through another court, the doors of which were covered with cotton hangings, and up two high steps into a narrow passage, in 252 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. which stood a servant sui^porting the hangings before the door- way of the room in which the Governor of Ispahan was seated. There was a clatter of shoes, which were left in a heap on the threshold, and the prince, a youthful likeness of liis father, rose from his arm-chair to shake hands with me, and to place me in the chair next to himself. He has exactly the bold, dark eye of the Shah, which I am told is the family feature of the Kajar tribe; and his face, though hardly so pleasing, has the same look of good-nature, with evidence of an unexhausted appetite for enjoyment and consciousness of arbitrary power. The breast of his frock-coat was covered with jewels, his waist-belt blazed with rubies and diamonds, and, when he resumed his seat, he laid across his knees a richly jeweled sword. He had plainly placed himself for the occasion in full dress, and was anxious to escape from his load of jewels. Our conversation proceeded in the usual way. I said that, having had the honor of meeting his majesty the Shah at several entertainments in London, I felt very happy in being thus kindly received in Persia by his eldest son, who so much resembled his majesty. , The prince replied with an unmean¬ ing flourish of compliments, and then expressed his fear that we found traveling in Persia very difficult. “There is no railway,” he said, in a tone which seemed to repeat the appar¬ ent belief of the Governor of Kashan that Englishmen and railways were inseparable. He never said a word to indicate that he had seen my wife, and that he had just left her in the anderoon ; that would have been a breach in the code of Persian manners. “ Here we have every thing as from nat¬ ure,” he observed, when I told him that we had enjoyed our journey the more because there were no railways. I spoke of the physique of the Shah’s soldiers. “Yes,” he said, “Al¬ lah be praised, the army is very good ; my father has five crores [a Persian crore is 500,000] of soldiers.” He uttered THE ZIL-I-SULTAN'. 253 this monstrous exaggeration so quietly that one could see he was utterly ignorant of the real meaning of numbers. He attributed every thing to Allah. It vras Allah’s will that Per¬ sia should be afflicted with famine, therefore it was useless to take means against it; but his father had given two or three millions of tomans (another tremendous exaggeration) in re¬ lief, and “ now, mashallah ! there was no famine.” The dialogue was interrupted by the appearance of a richly jeweled kalian, from which, after I had refused it, the prince drew a few puffs of smoke. It then passed away, and in the corridor I could see that the attendants were handing about this royal pipe among themselves with a freedom which is certainly Oriental. The prince was much inclined to talk; but, with one exception, I had always to start the subject of conversation. That exception was Don Carlos, in whose con¬ test for the crown of Spain the prince evidently took intense interest. He asked me how many men Don Carlos had, and expressed an earnest hope that this pretender would soon be in Madrid. I fancy there was something of a personal char¬ acter in the feeling he had for Don Carlos, and that he was thinking of himself, and of the imperial throne of Persia, while he followed with such curious ardor the fortunes of the civil war in Spain. < This eldest son of the Shall, who is now about twenty-seven years of age, is known, and is always spoken of, by the title Zil-i-Sultan ” (Shadow of the King), a title of honor given him by his father, the Shadow of God.” But though first¬ born, he is not crown -prince. In Persia, the Shah names whom he pleases as his successor ; and his majesty has long since designated his son by his second wife to that position, and has confirmed the heirship by informing the powers of his selection, and by making this second son Governor of Ta¬ briz, a position always held by the heir to the throne. The reason given for passing over the natural claims of the Zil-i- 254 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. Sultan is one usually accepted in Persia as quite sufficient — he is not, and his brother is, the son of a princess. But the Zil-i-Sultan is a vigorous, violent, headstrong young man, ac¬ customed from his earliest manhood to hold in his hands virt¬ ually irresponsible power of life and death — a being, in his own opinion, and in the eyes of his followers, superior to all laws ; a bold sportsman, with the ambition to be a warrior ; a man with abundant capacity for matching the cruelties with which the pages of Persian history are red ; and yet the bad rearing, the indulgence of untaught self-will, which has devel¬ oped his very strong natural impulses into tyrannical ferocity, has not bereft him of genial good-humor, the natural accom¬ paniment of high health, so evident as to win for him some devoted followers, and to please all to wh'om he wishes to be gracious. He is supposed not to acquiesce in the devolution of the crown upon his brother’s head, and is said to have expressed his determination to fight for it upon his father’s death. But his vagaries, which have been many and serious, are held to have destroyed any chance of success which his undoubtedly superior vigor might have given him. ISTo man better under¬ stands that which failure involves, even upon suspicion of an attempt in this line. Blindness, with perhaps some other mu¬ tilation, or death, is the lot of rivals of the Kajar tribe when the successful one attains supreme power ; and in Persia it is not as in Europe — flight is unthought of. Outside Persia there is no world for fugitives of royal blood. While we were taking coffee, I had leisure to observe the surroundings of the Zil-i-Sultan. At his feet sat an old mool- lah, one of the great religious, authorities of Ispahan, who seemed to consider that any attention on his part to what was going on would be an improper subtraction from his duty to Islam. His bright eyes were overshadowed with a huge white turban ; he sat on his heels, and, I am sure, lament- THE princess’s COSTUME. 255 ed, as a sign of decadence, the elevation of the prince and that of liis visitor in chairs. Beside the prince stood his vi¬ zier, or vakeel, a man dressed as one of high authority, and with a face full of intelligence and power. My servant, Ka- zem,in right of his position, had squeezed himself into the lit¬ tle room, and squatted in a corner : there were a few others, including the British agent, who acted as interpreter, and Mr. Bruce. When I rose to leave, the prince called for pen and ink, and wrote his name and mine on the back of a photo¬ graphic likeness of himself, which he presented to me as a souvenir ; and then, after shaking hands, turned to the mis¬ sionary, and desired him to remain. Intelligence was con¬ veyed to the anderoon, and my wife returned to me, attended by two negroes, the peculiar guardians of that place, men of horrible ugliness. She had been received very kindly by the princess, who, with bare legs, was seated upon cold pavement, which had but a thin covering of cloth. Her highness’s face was painted with red and black, not in tints, but in large patches ; and though a young woman, she had that greatest of beauties in a Persian lady — excessive obesity. Her two black-eyed children were introduced, and the usual refresh¬ ments were provided. 256 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CAEAVAN^. CHAPTER XVII. The Zil-i-Siiltan. — Order about the School. — Not Responsible for Murder. — Telegraph to Teheran.— Reports and Rumors. — Excitement in Djulfa. — Closing the British School. — Relapse of Fever. — Letter from the Prince. — Persian Compliments. — Prescriptions by Telegraphs. — A Persian Doc¬ tor. — Persian Medical Treatment. — Persian Leeches. — The Prince’s Ha¬ kim. — His Letter of Introduction. — His Newspaper and Autobiography. — The Prince and the Province. — A Son of a Moollah. — “The Sticks.” — How Punishment is Given. — A Snow Torture. — A Persian Dinner¬ party. — Before Dinner. — An Englishman’s Legs. — A Great Khan. — The First Course. — Les Pieces de Resistance. — Going Home. Mes. Arnold had such painful experience of the Zil-i-Sul- tan’s carriage, that we hoped she would not return in it, and had sent a servant to bring up the takht-i-rawan ; but, as we afterward learned, the mules were not easily found, and we had to leave as we arrived, wdth my wife in the carriage. Mr. Bruce joined us in about twenty minutes. I was anxious to know the cause of the missionary’s detention. He was evi¬ dently very much disturbed. He told us that, after I had left the room, the Zil-i-Sultan had said to him, in presence of the moollah and the vakeel, and indeed of all who remained, that his school had caused much complaint, and that it must be closed at once. Mr. Bruce asked the reason for this sudden order. Then the prince began a rambling statement made up of the accusations he had heard from all sides : the mission¬ ary had boasted of having converted a Mussulman ; there were Mussulman children in the school; the teachers were not good men ; he or they had said that the Virgin Mary was just like other women ; the Armenian priests had said the school was doing harm in Djulfa; in short, the Zil-i-Sultan NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR MURDER. 257 would not have it ; the school must be closed. His highness concluded by turning to the officer who had charge of his re¬ lations with aliens in religion and allegianccj and saying, “You see that this is done, or Til cut your ears off.” This officer, whose place is an established one in the imperial system of Persia, bowed, and Mr. Bruce endeavored to excuse his school. “ It is quite free,” he said ; “ no one is constrained to attend, and to the people of Djulfa it is a very great benefit.” “Free !” shouted the Zil-i-Sultan, with a show of the native Kajar ti¬ ger — “free ! No one is free except my father and me. If I please that the people shall not go to school, and grow up bar¬ barians, that is my affair.” He would hear no more. But Mr. Bruce is a persevering man, and still he argued that his school ought not to be closed, and intimated that he could not obey the order. “ If you are murdered,” replied the prince — with cruelly thoughtless exposure of this good man’s life to the fanaticism of all who heard him, and all to whom his words were to be reported — “ I shall not be responsible.” And so the interview ended ; the fanaticism of Ispahan en¬ couraged to attack and murder the British missionary, and his school to be closed. It was a dangerous position, not only for Mr. Bruce, but in a less degree for ourselves. The Amer¬ ican mission schools in Teheran and Tabriz have never been molested by the Shah’s Government, and the missionary nat¬ urally felt most unwilling to close this, the only British school in Persia. We agreed that it would be best not to close the school until there was further pressure, amounting to force, from the prince ; and Mr. Bruce determined that the pupils should be received next day as usual. We had just settled this when the takht-i-rawan came in sight, and on the Zayin- derud bridge, after enduring the pavement of the avenue, we dismissed the carriage, having first satisfied the clamor of its five attendants for “ pishkish.” On arriving at Mr. Bruce’s house, we immediately arranged 258 THROUGH PERSIxi BY CARAVAN. a long telegram to tlie British minister in Teheran, informing Mr. Thomson of the prince’s order and of his invitation to murder, requesting that immediate steps might be taken to secure Mr. Bruce’s personal safety and to enable him to con¬ tinue the useful work of his school. We had not long to wait for evidence that the Zil-i-Sultan’s rash sjDeech was known throughout all Ispahan, ^^ext morning an Armenian came in, full of the news. A report — and a very accurate report — of the prince’s words was circulating in Djulfa, with embellish¬ ments of Persian flavor. This man said he had heard that the Roman Catholic padre,” the Armenian bishop, and the chief sheik of Ispahan, had given the prince two hundred tomans as the price of the order for the closing of the school, and that Mr. Bruce, who is popularly regarded as a rich man be¬ cause he aided very largely in obtaining and distributing the Persian Famine Relief Fund, had since capped their bribe by the larger one of six hundred tomans, for which sum the Zil- i-Sultan had agreed to put three of the missionary’s enemies to death. Throughout the day, many of the pupils were absent from the school, and by evening the order of the prince and his threat of “ the sticks ” to the parents of those who disobeyed were known to all. The school was nearly deserted, and the Christian people of Djulfa very fearful of outrage by the Mus¬ sulmans. The excitement was intense; and in the circum¬ stances Mr. Bruce thought it his duty, for the preservation of peace and order, to close the school. In the ordinary course of events, the Christmas holidays would have commenced in ten days; and on closing the school, he affixed a notice upon the doers announcing that the vacation would begin ten days earlier than usual. Unfortunately, I was at this time in bed suffering a serious relapse of fever, accompanied with the most agonizing rheu¬ matic pains. For a fortnight I could not put my feet to the LETTER FROM THE PRINCE. 259 ground. I fell ill within a few hours after leaving the palace. The Zil-i-Sultan had quitted Ispahan for his favorite hunting- grounds at Margj a chapar-khanah in the mountains, about twelve miles distant. On the day after our interview, the controller of his palace arrived at Mr. Bruce’s house, followed by two slaves, who carried a large antelope tied to a pole, the ends of which rested on their shoulders. It was the first- fruit of the prince’s sporting expedition, very kindly sent to me as a present. With the venison the prince-governor sent a letter, in Persian, which is a very interesting specimen of polite letter-writing in a country where it is a breach of good manners not to employ compliments, and of good sense to take them for more than mere words. I am quite sure his royal highness would not object to see his letter in English print: “Exalted in Dignity, Companion of Honor, Mr. Ar¬ nold ! — In the first place, I write to inquire after your health, and am extremely desirous that your time should be spent happily, and that you should enjoy good health and peace, especially during your sojourn in Ispahan. You should, with¬ out fail, visit the ancient buildings of this place, which are the memorials of mighty kings who had their wars, their cares, and pleasures in this world, and against their wills left this earth and have passed away. Yow, here are we remaining behind, and what Allah may decree concerning us — “ It would have given me much pleasure to have remained in the city, that I might fully enjoy your society, for you ap¬ peared to me to be a perfect man and well-informed. I shall return on Saturday. “ I should be delighted if you could come to these hunt¬ ing-grounds, and see with what difficulty and courage Persian horsemen strike this kind of game, for without doubt it is a sight well worth seeing. The chase in Persia is attended with much hardship, and is not as it is in Europe. 260 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. send you by my servant an antelope wliich I have shot with my own hand. I hope you will eat it in company of friends. “ Sultan Mazud Mirza, Kajar, Zil-i-Sultan.” The least acquaintance with Persian habits of speech re¬ duces such extravagant expressions as are met with in the above letter to their proper meaning, which is simply that of a mere flourish of the pen. To say in Persian that Mr. So- and-so is “ exalted” and “ perfect,” means nothing more than, or nothing very different from, the words in which any En¬ glishman, refusing the prayer of a humble correspondent, as¬ sures that suppliant for favor that he (the great man) remains the “faithful servant,” or the “most obedient humble serv¬ ant” of the disappointed place-hunter. In thanking the prince for his letter and present, I did not feel able to allude to his arbitrary decree concerning the school, and soon I became much too ill to leave my bed. There was no English doctor nearer than Teheran on one side and. Shiraz on the other, a ride of a week for any one who “ chapared” hard either way. MTe sent an account of my condition by telegraph to Pr. Baker, the medical super¬ intendent of the Indo- Persian Telegraph, and with prompt kindness he prescribed by “ wire.” As for medicine, there was fortunately a small supply of that he recommended, at the telegraph-office in Ispahan, but he also ordered immediate application of leeches, and accordingly we dispatched Ka- zeni in search of those live lancets which seem common to all countries. There had been a heavy fall of snow in the night, which lay white and deep about the doors and windows of my bedroom. Kazem returned with tidings of a man re¬ nowned for the application of leeches, who was to follow him. Presently the hakim himself arrived with his box of leeches, an old man with a long beard dyed a most fiery red. A PERSIAN DOCTOR. 261 his eyes deeply sunken, his head covered with the drab skull¬ cap of the country ; his outer garment of sheep-skin, fitting loosely over a long tunic of blue cotton; the lower part of his legs was bare, and almost as dark in color as the woven socks which covered his feet. His shoes were, of course, left outside the door, and his tread was noiseless as that of a cat. The ideas of a Persian doctor are few. He relies most conspicuously upon the aid of Allah, whom he invokes every minute, and at every step in his proceedings. He has a de¬ cided tendency to blood-letting, and a delight in strong medi¬ cines. In a morning’s walk through the streets of Ispahan, we have often seen the snow blood-stained, as if slaughter had been done in these public places. Sometimes we saw, in passing, the actual operation, a patient extending his bare arm in the street for the barber’s lancet. We inquired of several why they were thus bled? One replied that he had a cold ; another that he had a pain in his stomach ; a third that his head ached, and so on. Perhaps it may be said without error, that such drastic treatment, whether purga¬ tive or phlebotoraic, will remove, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, the particular sensation which led the patient to the doctor. It is not for us to assess the amount of subse¬ quent injury or physical deterioration. The probability is of itself alone sufiicient to account for the high esteem in which ignorant people hold strong treatment, a regard al¬ ways exhibited with inverse ratio to the education and en¬ lightenment of people. In a country like Persia, every En¬ glishman is tempted to play the doctor ; to Persians the mere sight of a European seems to suggest a cry of ^‘Dvor/ dvorP (medicine! medicine!). We have met with sufferers from ophthalmia who shouted the word as , they laid fingers on their eyes, and who turned away with disgust when we rec¬ ommended a plentiful application of water, the neglect of which is half the cause of that terrible and disabling disease. 262 THEOUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. My Persian had something of the manner of an English medical man, though with a gravity which does not belong to Europe. “ He had seen w^orse cases,” and “ inshallah !” (God willing !) he would make me better. I felt interested in seeing what there would be of novelty in his simple work. He prescribed a hot bran mash to be used as a vapor-bath, and, before applying the leeches, provided himself with a quantity of the tinder of burned linen, in which he placed the utmost faith for stopping undue bleeding from the leech bites. He did his work well; came on three consecutive days to see how it was progressing; and when asked to name his own remuneration, mentioned three krans, about two shillings and sixpence, with evident doubt as to whether he was not making an exorbitant demand. But we were to receive a far greater medicine-man. The news of my illness reached the ears of the Zil-i-Sultan, who sent the following letter, in Persian, by the hands of his own hakim, a man of great renown in Southern Persia, not only for medical skill, but for literary acquirements. There was commotion at his arrival with a train of royal servants. He was a bright-eyed, pleasant-looking man, about six-and-thirty years of age, dressed in military uniform, of European cut, with the hiffh black hat of the Persians. He had a sword at his side and a cigarette in his mouth. Throwing off his shoes at the door, he approached my couch with a low bow, and presented the prince’s letter, which, upon translation into English, ran thus : Exalted in Dignity, Companion of Honor, Me. Ar¬ nold ! — God knows that on hearing continually of your ill¬ ness I have been greatly distressed for two reasons. First, because I saw you were a good and perfect man ; and it is a sad thing that such a man as you should be ill without any apparent cause. HIS LETTER OF INTRODUCTION. 263 “ Secondly, I could not in any wise be happy that you should not pass your time pleasantly while you are in my province ; and with all lowliness of mind do I pray and be¬ seech the blessed and most high God, and those near his presence, to give you complete restoration to health, that you may leave my Government in great happiness. “I send my chief doctor, Mirza Tagi Khan, colonel, a man who has traveled, and who is skilled in home and foreign sci- ences, to look to your health. If you will consult him, he will have much pleasure in prescribing for you. This is that dis¬ tinguished individual who cured my hand when it was so bad that I had no hopes that any one in the Empire of Persia could heal it. He made that perfect cure which you have seen, and, inshallah ! he will work as wonderfully in future. It was with that very hand I shot the deer I sent you. “I long to hear of your recovery and to enjoy your society. As soon as you are well, I hope I shall have the pleasure of a talk with you. Sultan Mazud Mirza, Kajar, Zil-i-Sultan.” Tagi Khan could talk more French than any Persian we had met with, and we made no objection to his very simple prescription of quassia, wdiich he subsequently sent in a queer -shaped bottle “corked” with cotton -wool. The Per¬ sians are badly off for bottles, and have no corks. The bot¬ tles they make of very brittle glass, have small mouths, and the cotton-wool used for stopping is, when necessary, secured with sealing-wax. Tagi Khan willingly turned the conversation from my ill¬ ness to his own accomplishments. While attending the Zil- i-Sultan, when the prince was Governor of Shiraz, he had edited a newspaper, of which twelve copies had been pub¬ lished. These he had bound into a volume, of which he kind¬ ly proposed to send us a copy. He had also written an au- 264 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. tobiography, of which he would send us a copy containing his photograph. Both arrived in the evening. The news¬ paper is a curiosity, in size equal to two pages of the Echo in its first and most prosperous days. Its pages contain, to¬ gether with a few telegrams and extracts from foreign let¬ ters translated from European journals, nothing but accounts of the movements of the Shah and of the imperial family. It is, however, much better than nothing at all ; and when Tagi Khan came again to see us, we pressed him to continue in Ispahan the work he had begun in Shiraz. The copy of his autobiography is a beautiful manuscript, a mode of pub¬ lication which, having passed away from Europe, survives in the more ancient countries of Asia. The Zil-i-Sultan is worth looking at again if only because he is a fair type of a Persian ruler. It is impossible to be in¬ sensible to his good qualities or blind to his faults. Perhaps it may be said that while the former are natural, the latter result from defective education and from the unbridled exer¬ cise of despotic authority. With the tastes of a hunter, with no idea of government but that of force, with no shadow of doubt as to the absolute right of his father and himself to dispose, at their pleasure, of the liberties and lives, the proper¬ ty and relationships, of every one in Ispahan ; controlled only by fear of exciting a fanaticism which would rise in a body stronger than his authority, and taught from infancy to re¬ gard the people as existing only to make wealth for the mon¬ arch and his officers — why should we look for good results from the absolute rule of such a man? To me the prince seemed a wayward, passionate youth, moved by strong im¬ pulses, alternately good and very bad. Disliking, yet fear¬ ing, the priests of Islam, utterly untaught as to the higher principles of morality, such a man’s standard of right is never erect. I can quite believe that the writer of those gracious, kindly letters I have quoted is at other moments A SOX OF A MOOLLAH. 265 the ferocious tyrant he is said to be by the people of Is¬ pahan. Shortly before our arrivalj the Zil-i-Sultan had displayed some energy in opposing the domination of the priesthoodj had sent soldiers to force a criminal from sanctuary, and had banished a sheik-priest who, in his capacity of judge in the Court of the Imam-Juma, had been guilty of horrible oppres¬ sion. When we were riding into Ispahan, we met this eccle¬ siastic on his way into exile, seated upon a white donkey, and attended by three moollahs. But before he reached the first stage out from Ispahan, he had been fetched back, and rein¬ stated by the prince, who had thus quickly given way to ec¬ clesiastical influence, and perhaps menace. There lived in Ispahan a man, the son of a moollah, well known for the lib¬ erality, as we should say, of his religious opinions — one who had been treated in a friendly manner by the Zil-i- Sultan, who is known to share his theological views. To the horror of the sheik-priest, this man wore clothes which did not in¬ dicate that his parents belonged to the sacred order, and fre¬ quent complaint of this impropriety was lodged at the palace. It was during my illness that the prince sent for this man, and bid him change his clothing, which his highness said was offensive upon one of his descent to the Sheik-ul-IsIam. The man, eager to obey the wish of his illustrious friend, departed, and quickly re - appeared in orthodox costume. “ Go,” said the gratified prince, to the sheik, and show him how quickly you have, at my request, conformed to his desire.” The man went ; but immediately upon reaching the presence of the re¬ ligious authority, he was seized and ordered to be beaten with “one hundred sticks.” We were told of this in a street of Ispahan, and at once made close inquiry into the truth of the story. We found that no exaggeration had been made, and that the sufferer had been so cruelly punished that for weeks he would be unable to put his feet to the ground. 12 266 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. Ill Persia, death or ‘^the sticks ” is the commonest punish¬ ment. The man, in the latter case, is laid on the ground, and, after his shoes and stockings are removed, his ankles are pass¬ ed through leather loops fastened to a beam, which is held by two men at nearly the length of his legs from the ground, and by them is turned until his ankles are so tightly secured that no writhing of his back can unplace them. Near him are laid the precise number of sticks to which he is sentenced. These are lithe switches, five or six feet long and rather more than half an inch thick in the centre. Two experts — who usually wear scarlet coats bound with black, which is the uniform of the Shah’s executioners — then take their places near the beam, each armed with a stick, with which they in turn belabor the soles of the feet until the stick is broken too short for use. In the case above referred to, the beating was continued until the hundred sticks were reduced to this con¬ dition. The prince was annoyed at the severe punishment of his friend, but his highness had to bear it ; for in Persia, un¬ less stirred to unwonted effort, the Shah’s Government is far less powerful than the chief priests of Islam. A European doctor, to his shame be it said, talking one day with the Zil-i-Sultan upon the interesting topic of tor¬ ture, suggested an ancient method which, we were told, at once struck the prince as applicable in the snowy region of Ispa¬ han. To draw the teeth of Jews who refused gifts to the Government was the practice in days when the civilization of England was no more advanced than that of Persia ; but I never heard before of stuffing a man’s trousers with snow and ice as an efficient way of combating his refusal to pay a large demand in the season when the thermometer stands — ' as it does in Central Persia — for months below zero. We were told that one day when the prince was returning from hunting, he met two dervishes on the road, who did not rec¬ ognize or make way for him. The Zil-i- Sultan at once A PERSIAN DINNER-PARTY. 267 snatched his gun from a servant, and wounded the unhappy dervishes — a story to which it would be easy to add many others of similar im|)ort. I was invited to a dinner which was to be thoroughly Per¬ sian. It was a bitterly cold evening, and the guests arrived mostly on mules, and all wrapped from head to foot in furs. At first, it does strike one as odd to be received, upon an occasion of ceremony, in a room without chairs or table — in¬ deed, with nothing but a carpet. The room was high, the ceiling domed and painted, and upon it there was a good deal of gilding and stalactite ornament such as is seen in the Crystal Palace revival of the coloring of the Alhambra. There were hung on the walls several pictures of women such as are exhibited for view in the Palais Koyal, and there were also one or two familiar prints from the Illustrated London News. At a lower level, there were some pictures painted in Persian style, that is, crowded with figures, no regard being had to perspective or to gradation of color. One represent¬ ed the miraculous procession of birds and beasts into I^oah’s ark, the rear brought up by :N'oah himself, whose beard, co¬ lossal and black as a raven’s wing, drew attention to the far background. The shoes of all the guests who were not European were outside the door ; their overcoats thrown in a corner of the apartment, which was at once reception and dining room. In a rectangular recess, three musicians, sitting on the floor, dis¬ coursed strange song and music. One had a wiry instru¬ ment, resembling a small guitar ; another produced short screams from a sort of flageolet ; and the third, who also con¬ tributed the chief part of the vocal entertainment, had a small drum. In the centre of the room there was a Persian carpet of many and beautiful colors : round the sides were felts, nearly half an inch thick, and five feet wide, upon which most of the guests sat or reclined. 268 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAX. It is not considered good manners in the East to display much of one’s legs upon the carpet. Mohammed, the founder of Islam, has been praised by his biographer because he never projected his legs or his feet before company; and we are told that the prophet showed his humility of spirit in never suffering his knees to stand out beyond those of the person with whom he was conversing. But an Englishman at a Per¬ sian dinner wishes in vain for the power of fulfilling the rig¬ orous demands of etiquette. ^^To sit on one’s heels, as camels and Persians do, requires the training of a life-time. No one can assume the fashion for the first lime in manhood.V I found my legs appearing so awkward that I was glad to hide the exhibition with a shawl. The imposing dignity with which my neighbor, a man of splendid apparel and appear¬ ance, managed his naked extremities, fondling now and then his toes with his hands, made my legs and booted feet so very obvious a nuisance. This man wore a robe of honor, of cash- mere, which had been given him by the Shah, and underneath this garment, upon the junction of his green tunic and loose trousers of black satin, his waist was bound with a magnifi¬ cent scarf. He seemed a man of immense strength ; his face, full of power, was bounded on the top by his black hat, and beneath by a dense beard, dyed with the same color. He had but one tone of voice, and that the loudest in the room. He had, it was said, amassed great wealth from farming the cus¬ toms in all the south of Persia. I had already heard of this person, and had met with some account of his transactions in official reports. For the privilege of collecting as much as he could obtain under the name of customs in the port of Bushire, the principal port of Persia, in the year 18V3, this khan paid thirty-two thousand tomans, or about twelve thou¬ sand eight hundred pounds. None but his dependents are employed in obtaining the revenue ; there is no interference of any sort by employes of the Government, and no returns or A GREAT KHAN. 269 reports are required of any of his transactions. In these cir- cumstanceSj surely it was mild language which the British resident at Bushire used in reference to this monstrous abuse of fiscal authority, when he wrote to the Indian Government that “ the system is felt to be inconvenient by traders.” Having disposed of my intrusive limbs, I asked my neigh¬ bor on the other side something more about this man, and he told me it was notorious he had begun life as a robber, and that his greatest success in that line had been in connection with a royal caravan. '' But,” said he, the khan has bad times. I met him the other day coming from Teheran, and he looked so miserable that I at once believed I had heard a correct account of his visit to the capital. He is obliged to pay so much every year to the imperial revenue, but occasion¬ al contributions are forced at Teheran by threats of loss of ofiice, or of the sticks.” The khan was roaring, the singers twanging, piping, drum- ming, and shouting monotonous love - songs, when the first dish ’ was served. A servant walked round the room carry¬ ing a large bottle of arrack in one hand and wine in the other. The khan took half a tumbler of the fiery spirit, and drank it oft without winking ; most of the guests preferred arrack. Another servant followed with a plate, in which was laid about half of a sheet of Persian bread, thin, tough, and flabby. Upon the bread was a heap of kababs — pieces of meat about an inch square, well cooked, and covered with the remain¬ der ‘of the bread, which was turned over them. Each guest raised the bread flap, took a kabab with his fingers, added a piece of the flap, or wiped his fingers upon it, as he pleased. For three hours this was the form of the entertainment; the talk and the music went on while the kababs, the arrack, and the wine circulated. About ten o’clock the real dinner be¬ gan. A table was brought in, a cloth spread ; bowls of sher¬ bet, piles of boiled rice, other piles of pillau, a mixture of rice 270 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. and stewed fowls, were introduced. In one huge dish was placed a lamb roasted whole, presenting a horribly sacrificial appearance. I watched the khan, curious to see if it was possible that appetite for boiled rice remained after he had drunk about a pint of raw alcohol, intermixed with kababs. His attendants — the servants of every guest share in the work on these occasions — drew a couch toward the table, upon which the khan lifted himself ; then he pointed with a loud laugh to the soup-tureen, from which the British agent, an Armenian, was helping himself. That’s what makes you such a little fellow,” he said. “ I like pillau.” He bared his huge arm to the elbow to vindicate his preference, and for the better handling of the rice. Plunging his fingers into a pile, he kneaded a huge bolus of the greasy rice at a single pinch, and pressed it into his mouth ; another and another followed, until he had made a great hole in the heap of pillau. For nearly an hour there was little talk, much eating ‘and drinking ; then some coffee ; and after that the guests were hoisted on to the high saddles of their steady, patient hiules, and jogged homeward through the narrow streets, lighted only by the lanterns of their attendants. ZIL-I-SIJLTAN AND THE BEITISH SCHOOL. , 271 CHAPTER XVIII. ‘ Ispahan. — Zil-i-Sultan and the British School. — Church Missionary Society. — The “Crown of Islam.” — A Bide through Ispahan. — The Meidan. — Eunaway Horses in Bazaar. — “Embassador Lilies.” — New-year’s-eve. — Severe Cold. — Sufferings of the Poor. — A Supper in Ispahan. — Kerbela and Nedjif. — Houssein and Ali. — Imam Juma’s Court. — Confiscation of Christians’ Property.— Bab and Babis. — Execution of Bab. — ^Attempted Assassination of the Shah. — Punishment of the Conspirators. — Eevenge of the Koran. — Bab and Behar. — The Followers of Behar. As soon as I was able to leave my bed, I desired the Brit¬ ish agent to ask the Zil-i-Sultan for an audience, that I might - offer some remarks upon the closing of the British school. The prince appeared glad to see me, and at once cleared his room, that we might talk more freely. I suggested that pos¬ sibly he was not aware of the character of the school, which I explained was not, as many Persians supposed, maintained by the missionary, but by a great society (the Church Mis¬ sionary Society), to which hundreds of thousands of English men and women, including the queen, subscribed. The En¬ glish people would not, I said, contend that they had a right to establish schools in Persia; I could not question the au¬ thority of his royal highness to close the school ; but I vent¬ ured to add that this arbitrary proceeding would be regard¬ ed by England as a veiy unkindly act, and would do much, when it became generally known, to destroy all the good feel¬ ing which the liberal professions of the Shah during his stay in England had caused to prevail toward the Government of Persia ; that the English people were not ambitious of chang¬ ing the established religion of Persia was, I urged, evident 272 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. from the fact that the Church Missionary Society, with an in¬ come of about one hundred and seventy-five thousand pounds a year, expended no more than a few hundreds in the Persian Empire, and confined all that expenditure to Ispahan. I did not refrain from adding that his highness’s order ap¬ peared the more unjust because the Armenian Orthodox and the Roman Catholic schools in Djulfa were not molested; and because in Teheran and in Tabriz the schools of Ameri¬ can missionaries had been long established, and were prosper¬ ing under the immediate government of the Shah and of the crown-prince. The Zil-i-Sultan appeared somewhat moved by these argu¬ ments, and said he was very anxious to explain the circum¬ stances under which he had felt bound to issue the order for closing Mr. Bruce’s school. “ The Shah, my father, and I,” he said, “are friends of education. You must do us the jus¬ tice to admit that. I am no fanatic. I mean to ask my father to allo^v my children to be educated in Europe. That will show^ you I am not a bigot. But Ispahan is Ispahan. They call it the ‘ Crown of Islam,’ and the moollahs are very strong here. I closed the school to preserve the peace of the town. The Armenian bishop came to me; the Roman Catholic priest came to me ; the moollahs complained ; they came here and cried ; tears ran down their faces. What could I do ? They said that Mr. Bruce had converted a moollah ; that he had spoken in the streets of the Virgin Mary as being not differ¬ ent from Other women ; they stirred up the people, and I was obliged to close the school. But, I give you my word, it shall be opened again — at the proper time. I wdll see Mr. Bruce. He thinks I am not a friend to him, but I am his friend. I will show him how to act so as not to excite the moollahs.” After taking leave of the prince, I rode for some hours about the streets and bazaars of Ispahan. There are literally A EIDE THROUGH ISPAHAN. 273 miles of ruins in and about the city, and of ruins that are never picturesque nor in any way attractive. Along the side of the river there is nothing but ruin. Thick walls of mud- bricks which have not lost their original color by exposure to the sun (the only baking that Persian bricks ever get), are broken into heaps of dusty ruin, and have remained untouch¬ ed, the home of birds and lizards. Some of the bazaars are well built, with lofty, vaulted roofs of stone, but of these not a few are deserted. I rode through these sombre, cold, de¬ serted places, the way incumbered by stones fallen from the overhanging roof, in momentary danger of another fall. De¬ cay, dilapidation, and ruin are never out of sight. In the largest open place, the meidan, which is about five hundred yards in length and two hundred broad, there is the best view of the life of the city. Caravans of camels or mules, carrying travelers, pilgrims, merchandise, or supplies of fuel and vegetables, are always there. At one end is the Mesjid- i-Juma, the great mosque of Ispahan, the dome and minarets adorned with colored bricks and tiles. In the centre of the meidan is a small, circular mound, built of brick, about as big as half a dozen wagon- wheels piled together; and where the axle would be is reared a ragged pole. This is the exe¬ cution ground, and the pole at times bears the head of a criminal. Some of the bazaars which we entered from the meidan are full of life and interest, crowded the whole day long. It is perhaps as difficult to ride as to walk through the bazaars. A passing donkey with a load of wood is a dangerous neigh¬ bor for the knee on horseback, and on foot the jagged sticks may strike one in some tender and vital place. And, then, a horse may be frightened, and run into a hundred dangers of this sort. On one occasion, I dismounted in a bazaar of Is¬ pahan to buy a fur coat; and while I was trying it on, with the assistance of a crowd of idlers, attracted by the sight of a 1 2'^‘ 274 THROUGH PERSIA BY GARAY AN. foreigner, my horse broke away from my servant, and, with a loud neigh, flung up his heels, rushed at the servant’s horse, threw himself upon it, bit it in the neck till it screamed with pain, and, breaking loose, started away down the narrow ba¬ zaar, my horse in furious pursuit. I was in great fear as to the result. Such a rout I never saw. Steady-going camels roared and groaned with fright; purchasers bounded on to the stalls for safety; several people were knocked down. Fortunately, no damage was done, and nobody much hurt. The runaways were caught before they got outside the ba¬ zaars, but they would not be held, and it was only by re¬ mounting that we could control them. Ispahan would look its best in April or May, when the dark violet lilies — called ^^eelchee soosun^'* ov ‘‘embassador lilies,” because they are the first to blossom — appear, and when the mud color of the town is relieved by the tender green of the young leaves of the plane-trees. Then, as at all times, the charm is not in the buildings of the city, but in its exquisite situation, with immensely expanded views of plain begirt with mountains. The view of Ispahan from the Djulfa side of the river is not easily effaced from the memory. FTo doubt the great name of the city has something to do with the im¬ pression which the prospect plants upon the mind. But the real glory of the scene is the ever-varying color of the many¬ shaped mountains, and the indescribable, yet not less real, sense of freedom which is imparted by the aspect of the plain. It is difficult to enter any Mohammedan city without tread¬ ing on the graves of departed citizens. Main roads in the East often cross burial-grounds. Indeed, no place of sepul¬ ture is more desired than that in which there are most trav¬ elers. Fences there are none, and the tombs afford the only sign of burial. As with us, the grave is sometimes marked with a horizontal stone, and sometimes with a perjoendicular new-year’s-eve. 275 slab. A translation of an epitaph not uncommon in the grave-yards about Ispahan runs thus : “ The Lord of earth and sky is onr helper. The eyes of all are fixed on the Prophet. We need not fear the light of the searching sun of the resurrection, While the protection of Murteza Ali surrounds and covers us.” On the last day of 1875 we rode out of Ojulfa to the great cemeteries on the edge of the plain. An icy wind blew over the frozen snow, in which most of the grave - stones were buried ; only on the slopes which lay exposed to the southern sun could the brown earth be seen. One or two peasants, miserably clad in cotton, covered with a ragged sheep-skin, were trying to get a handful of fuel by uprooting the camel- thorns from the desert. In the far distance some black dots upon the snow indicated a caravan of mules approaching the city. The sun was dimmed with clouds, and where its rays 'did not shine there all remained hard bound with frost. Anywhere in the world, for those who have money in a city full of people, cold is more endurable than heat. One is not prostrated by cold as by heat, and one recovers more quickly from its effects. Frost-bite is better than sun-stroke, and to be chilled to the bone less painful than fever. For my part, I would rather endure an attack by robbers than be perpetual¬ ly the prey of vermin ; but in the extreme cold of the Persian winter there is less danger of either pest. Both hibernate in the season of frost and snow. And do not the warmth and the pleasant blaze of a wood fire make amends for the cold? while for the heat which has fevered one’s brain into sleepless misery there is sometimes no relief. But as we turn homeward from our ride on New-year’s- eve, and pass through the walled, and narrow, and deadly cold streets, the deep,.mud frozen into hard rocks, over which our horses roll and stumble, we are forced to remember how little 270 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. the poor of Persia are armed against cold more intense than is ever felt in London. In Persia the poor have no firing, few clothes, and little food. Of a group comprising half a dozen huddled round a handful of live ashes in an earthen¬ ware dish, not one had any covering on the legs between the ankle and the knee. Among the poorest of Persia, frost-bite is not uncommon. They walk barefooted,, or in miserable shoes, in the snow j then ride, perhaps for hours, their feet covered with half-melted snow: upon these the frost fixes with fatal grip, and the poor wretches, ignorantly seeking re¬ lief from their tortures at the first fire they approach, lose sometimes their toes and sometimes their feet. Happy are those who are not forced to endure extremes of climate : theirs is the most pitiable condition who sustain both severe heat and extreme cold, as do the Persians. ^^Tres meses inmerno ; nueve meses infierno'^'^ (“Three months win¬ ter and nine months hell”) is the saying of Spaniards concern¬ ing the climate of Madrid. But the poor of Persia suffer in a magnified degree the miseries of poverty in Madrid. For me there was organized a supper, to which every per¬ son in Ispahan who could speak even a few words of any European language was invited ; and the Roman Catholic priest had lent a bell, which, being suspended upon a tem¬ porary stand of poles, was to be made to resound the witch¬ ing hour of midnight by the servants of our entertainer. In the motley company assembled in his rooms, Armenian was perhaps the predominating element, and the Armenians are not a jovial people. The entertainment was a failure, by rea¬ son of the cold. Only one room had a fire-place, and in that a few damp logs fizzled, but refused to burn continuously, and warmth could not be obtained by drinking cold thin wine of Shiraz, or by egg-cups of lukewarm coffee. Hot punch would have relieved the iciness of the supper, but warmth was con¬ spicuously absent from the feast. And there was a median- KEEBELA AND NEDJIF. 277 ical failure. When we were trying to make merry with cold meats and colder wine, news was brought that the bell had fallen from its perch, and we were therefore left to form our own ideas as to the moment of midnight. When no doubt remained as to that having passed, we lighted our lanterns, and began the work of the new year, by groping our way home through the unlighted streets of Djulfa- Ispahan, dis¬ turbing no one but the wolfish dogs which prowled, in pit¬ eous hunger, upon the snow. While we were in Ispahan, a report was spread that Ker- bela, where Houssein was buried, and Kodjif, where rest the remains of his father Ali, were to be ceded to the Shah. This, which would naturally delight the hearts of all true Shi’ahs, was reported in two ways. First it was said that the Sultan would give up these sacred towns to Persia as the price of an alliance, offensive and defensive, against Russia; and, again, it was said that Kerbela and Red] if were to be purchased by the Shah from the Porte for a million of to¬ mans. One day I showed a sketch of Kerbela to our serv¬ ants and to a knot of by-standers, telling them wdiat it repre¬ sented. Immediately the picture was in danger. All wished to kiss it, to press it to their foreheads, and cried “Ah, Hous¬ sein !” with an expression of deep regret, more true and ten¬ der, in the ardor of sincerity, than one expects to find uttered over a grave which has been closed for twelve centuries. There is but little expression of dissent in Persia, and in Ispahan orthodoxy is practically enforced by the court of the Imam Juma. Armenians in Djulfa have actually been robbed of their property by authority of this court, upon the representation of a renegade member of their family who had joined the community of Islam. Mr, Bruce assured us that, after he had purchased a piece of ground from an Ar¬ menian, he was cited to appear in the Imam Juma’s court, to answer the complaint of a Mohammedan, who alleged that 278 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAIN^. the property did not belong to the vender, but had passed to him, a member of the family, who had adopted the faith of Islam. The English missionary declined to acknowledge the authority of the court. But this defiance, which was not dangerous in the case of a well-known British subject, is quite beyond the power of his poorer Christian neighbors, who are naturally fearful of the courts of law, which are strictly governed by the language of the Koran, and presided over by j)riests as fanatical and cruel as any inquisitor of that European period w^hich is well described as the Dark Ages. The measure of injustice and oppression which these courts of the Koran inflict upon the Christians may seem mild in comparison with the treatment by which they supjiress non¬ conformity within the pale of their own community. We have seen an example in the sentence of “ a hundred sticks,” which the incautious expression of liberal views brought upon the friend of the Zil-i-Sultan, who added to free speech the wickedness of wearing trousers of European cut. There is, however, in Ispahan a surviving heresy, the most notable in Persia, which, when proved against a man, is almost a death- warrant. Early in the present century a boy was born at Shiraz, the son of a grocer, whose name has not been iireserved. Ar¬ rived at manhood, this grocer’s son expounded his idea of a religion even more indulgent than that of Mohammed. He is known by the name of Bab (the gate), and his followers are called Babis. In 1850, Bab had established some reputa¬ tion as a prophet, and was surrounded by followers as ready to shed their blood in his defense as any who formed the body-guard of Mohainmed in those early days at Medina, when he had gained no fame in battle, and had not conceived the plan of the Koran. Bab was attacked as an enemy of God and man, and at last taken prisoner by the Persian Gov¬ ernment, and sentenced to death. He was to be shot. Tied EEVENGE OF THE KOEAIST. 279 to a stake in Tabriz, he confronted the firing-party, and await¬ ed death. The report of the muskets was heard, and Bab felt himself wounded, but at liberty. He was not seriously hurt, and the bullets had cut the cord which bound him. Clouds of smoke hung about the spot where he stood, and probably he felt a gleam of hope that he might escape when he rushed from the stake into a neighboring guard - house. He had a great reputation, and very little was necessary to make soldiers and people believe that his life had been spared by a genuine miracle. Half the population of Persia would perhaps have become Babis, had that guard-house contained the entrance to a safe hiding-place. But there was nothing of the sort. The poor wretch was only a man, and the sol¬ diers saw he had no supernatural powers whatever. He was dragged again to the firing-place and killed. But dissent is not to be suppressed by punishment, and of course Babisni did not die with him. Two years afterward, when the pres¬ ent Shah was enjoying his favorite sport, and was somewhat in advance of his followers, three men rushed upon his maj¬ esty and wounded him, in an attempted assassination. The life of ISTazr- ed-deen Shah, Kajar, was saved by his own quickness, and by the arrival of his followers, who made pris¬ oners of the assassins. They declared themselves Babis, and gloried in their attempt to avenge the death of their leader, and to propagate their doctrines, by the murder of the Shah. The bafiied criminals were put to death with the cruelty which the offenses of this sect always meet with. Lighted candles were inserted in slits cut in their living bodies, and, after lingering long in agony, their tortured frames were hewed in pieces with hatchets. In most countries the theory of punishment is, that the State, on behalf of the community, must take vengeance upon the offender ; but in Persia it is otherwise. There, in ac¬ cordance with the teaching of the Koran, the theory and ba- 280 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. sis of punishment is that the relations of the victim must take revenge upon the actual or would-be murderers. In conformity with this idea, the Shah’s chamberlain executed, on his majesty’s behalf, and with his own hand, one of the conspirators. Yet the Babis remain the terror and trouble of the Government of Ispahan, where the sect is reputed to number more followers than anywhere else in Persia. But many of them have, in the present day, transferred their alle¬ giance from Bab to Behar, a man who was lately, and may be at present, imprisoned at Acca, in Arabia, by the Turkish Government. Behar represents himself as God the Father in human form, and declares that Bab occupies the same posi¬ tion, in regard to himself, that John the Baptist held to Jesus Christ. We were assured that there are respectable families in Ispahan who worship this imprisoned fanatic, who endan¬ ger their property and their lives by a secret devotion, which, if known, would bring them to destitution, and probably to a cruel death. ADVANTAGE OF KUSSIA. 281 CHAPTER XIX. Getting out of Persia.- — Northern and Southern Eoads. — Advantage of Eiis- sia. — Eussian Goods in Persia. — English Interests in Persia. — Mr. Mac¬ kenzie’s Plan. — Navigation of the Karun Eiver. — From Ispahan to Shus¬ ter. — A Subsidy required. — Price of Wheat. — East India Company's Survey. — Letter to Lord Derby. — Baron Eeuter’s Concession. — Traffic in Persia. — Mules and Eailways. — Difficulties of Construction. — Inter¬ course between Towns.' — Estimates of Population. — Traveling in Persia. — Mountain Scenery. — Plains covered with Snow. — Persia and “The Ara¬ bian Nights.” — No Old Men. — The Lady and the House. — The Greatest Power in Persia. I The ways and means of getting out of Persia are especial¬ ly forced upon the mind of the traveler from Europe when he is in Ispahan, the central city of the empire. If he is fa¬ tigued, or not in good health, one fact will weigh upon his mind — he must ride, or be carried in a takht-i-rawan, for five hundred miles before he can be clear of the dominions of the Shah, or obtain any more easy conveyance. It is far less difficult to ride northward to the Caspian Sea than southward to the Persian Gulf. And as it is with trav¬ elers, so it is with goods. Xothing in the way of merchandise can arrive in Ispahan except on the backs of mules, or horses, or camels. The consequence is, owing to the easier access from the north and to the proximity of Russia, that Russian imports are pressing southward to the exclusion of English manufactures from the markets of Persia. The entry of English goods to Persia, and the export of corn, cattle, wool, and other products of that country, have been rendered much more easy by the construction of the 282 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. Suez Canal ; but as regards the market for our manufactures, we shall be beaten back to the coast by Russia, unless some better road be opened for the conveyance of goods to Ispahan. Russia has a great advantage over us, in this respect, from the north, and the bazaars of Teheran are chiefly supplied with Russian manufactures. The proposal— which was noised as being the first large work to be undertaken upon the con¬ cession to Baron Reuter— to construct a railway from Resht to Teheran, would, if carried out, have facilitated most ob¬ viously the entry of Russian goods, and have enabled Russia to command the trade, not of Teheran only, but of Ispahan, and probably of Shiraz. Of all the powers, Russia is the most ungenerous and unen¬ lightened in her tariffs. She forces her wretched hardware and inferior cottons upon her subjects, and her near neigh¬ bors of the semi-barbarous sort, to the complete exclusion of the superior goods which England could furnish ; the north gate of Persia is absolutely in her keeping ; and the proposal to carry her commerce to the chief towns of Persia by a rail¬ way, to be constructed with English gold, imiflied either great ignorance of the nature and consequences of the work, or an astounding confidence in the unselfish disposition of British capitalists. Moreover, we have never been able, in passing over the ground, to see what security could be obtained for expenditure in this direction. There can be no doubt that Russia would be grateful to any foreign capitalists who would make a railway from the Caspian Sea to Teheran and Ispa¬ han ; but this would hardly diminish any desire she may have to possess the rich northern provinces of Persia ; and it is un¬ deniable that she may take them at any moment she pleases to put forth her hand. There is nothing but the Persian army to withstand her ; and the railway, besides promoting her commerce, would render the military occupation of I^orth- crn Persia less costlv, and much more secure. ME. Mackenzie’s plan. 283 For English interests it is very necessary to improve the means of communication in the south ; and the best scheme I have met with, is that which was pressed in January last, though without any success, upon the Shah’s Grovernment by Mr. George Mackenzie, a British merchant, of the firm of Gray, Mackenzie, & Co., resident at Bagdad. The united wa¬ ters of the Tigris and the Euphrates flow past the Turkish town of Bussorah into the Persian Gulf. This confluence of the two rivers is called the Shat-el-Arab. At right angles to this great stream, and nearly opposite the town of Bussorah, the Persian river Kanin contributes its flow, the junction be¬ ing at the town of Mohammerah, the taking of which was the only considerable achievement of the British expedition un¬ der the command of Sir James Gutram in 1856. At Shuster, nearly half-way between Mohammerah and Ispahan, the Ka- run is navigable by steamboats drawing four feet of water ; and Mr. Mackenzie, who has ’lately been over the whole route, has reported that the passage of mules from Ispahan to Shus¬ ter would be far more easy than upon the difficult path be¬ tween Shiraz and Bushire. The path by which English man¬ ufactures must be carried on mules, camels, or donkeys from Bushire to Ispahan is very little less than five hundred miles in length ; whereas from Shuster to the central city of Persia the distance would be not more than two hundred and seven¬ ty miles. Mr. Mackenzie, probably the first Englishman who has passed over this little -known region of Persia, found the Bakhtiari tribes, by whom it is inhabited, better than their reputation, which is that of marauding gypsies. He states that they are hospitable, obliging, and free from caste preju¬ dices. Mr. Mackenzie says of the tribes between Ispahan and Shuster, “ They evinced no objection to eat out of the same dish with me, smoking the kalian, too, at all times after me.” Ho found the Bakhtiari people “ignorant of the division of 284 THROUGH PERSIA BY CARAVAN. time or of distances.” “ Generally,” he says, they know of two other nations only; the Farangi [a term equivalent to Gentiles,” but generally employed in describing the English] and the Russ. To the latter they appear to give precedence, as I was at more than one place asked whether the Emperor of Russia was not the Shah-in-Shah. They are a happy and contented people, entirely under the control of one chief, the Eelkhanie, whose authority alone they acknowledge.” Mr. Mackenzie’s proposal was that the Shah’s Government should concede to his firm — which is in close relations with that of Messrs. Gray, Dawes, & Co., of London — permission to put steam-vessels on the Karun; and these gentlemen have in¬ formed Lord Derby that if the British Government would give them a subsidy of four thousand pounds a year, they would undertake to run a steamer monthly from Shuster to Mohammerah and back. From the latter town, the vessels of the British India Steam Navigation Company, of which the firm above mentioned are agents, run to Bushire and Bombay, and, by the Suez Canal, to London. I have no means of judging whether the subsidy is justly calculated ; but I know that the Russian Government gives a large subsidy, nominally for carrying the mails, to the line of steamers belonging to the Caucasus and Mercury Company a purely Russian undertaking — which call at all the Persian landing-places on the Caspian ; that the British Government adopts a similar policy with regard to the British India Com¬ pany ; and it is obvious that in both cases this is done with a view of promoting influence and trade in Persia. But En¬ glish trade is being beaten out of Persia for want of a better entry than by the terrible road from Bushire to Shiraz, and Persia would benefit immensely by having a more ready out¬ let for her surplus produce. In villages not distant from the Karun, a quarter of wheat may be bought for about four shillings; so that Persia might hope, if this river were made LETTER TO LORD DERBY. 285 available, to reduce the adverse balance of trade, which, in its constant augmentation, threatens the country with ruin. I am not acquainted with the precise language in which the re¬ fusal of the concession was conveyed; but I have no doubt that the negotiation failed because some Persians in high offi¬ cial position wanted to be paid, and largely paid, for allowing Englishmen to confer gratuitous benefit upon their country. In 1842, when Lieutenant Selby ascended the Karun River by direction of the East India Company, he concluded his re¬ port with the words, I feel sure the day is not far distant when these rivers will be as well known and traversed as the Indus and the Ganges.” As to the j)resent condition of Brit¬ ish in competition with Russian trade, Messrs. Gray, Dawes, & Co., than whom probably no persons are more competent to form a trustworthy opinion, have written to Lord Derby as follows : “Ispahan, the centre of the Persian trade, may fairly be taken to be the common ground where Russian and British commerce meet ; and until recently the expense of transport¬ ing goods to and produce from that point, by the northern and southern routes, was nearly the same. Of late years, however, the Russian Government has so far improved the northern facilities, that, by degrees, various articles of com¬ merce (for instance, copper, iron, refined sugar, manufactured hardware, candles, etc.) have been closed to us, and their trade is extending farther south ; and, in some instances, we are beaten even at the coast ports. The facilities provided are — frequent, cheap, and direct communication to the Cas¬ pian ; abolition of the transit duties through the Caucasus on goods via Poti and Tiflis; and a resolute insisting upon a prompt settlement of the claims which their traders have against the Persian authorities. “To compensate for these growing disadvantages, we would respectfully urge upon your lordship’s consideration 286 THEOUGH PEESIA BY CAEAVAN. the necessity of adopting some protective measures for our trade in the south ; and we would suggest, first, that a Brit¬ ish consul should be placed at Ispahan ; and, secondly, that the Shah’s Government should concede to us the privilege of placing steamers on the river Karun, to run from Moham- merah and Shuster, in connection with the steamers from Bombay and London. ‘‘About fifteen years ago, in the interests of trade, the Government subsidized river steamers to ply between Bus- sorah and Bagdad. This has resulted in a very large and still increasing trade : the subsidy, we believe, was four thou¬ sand pounds per annum. For the same subsidy, we would be prepared to place a steamer on the Karun, and maintain a monthly service between Shuster and Mohammerah, connect- in