CURZON, GEORGE N.
PERSIAN AND THE PERSIAN QUESTION
(both volumes)

LONDON: LONGMAN & CO, 1892



The things to be seen and observed are the courts of princes, especially when they give audience 
to ambassadors; the courts of justice, while they sit and hear -auses - and so of consistories 
ecclesiastic; the churches and monasteries, with the moluments which are therein extant; the 
walls and fortifications of cities and towns; and so the havens and harbours, antiquities and 
ruins, libraries, colleges, disputations and lectures, where any are - shipping and navies; 
houses and gardens of state and pleasure near great cities; armouries, arsenals, magazines, 
exchanges, burses, warehouses, exercises of  horsemanship, fencing, training of soldiers, 
and the like; comedies such whereunto the better sort of persons doresort; treasuries of jewels 
and robes; cabinets and rarities; and, to conclude, whatsoever is memorable. -BACON, Essay 
xviii. on I Travel
d


 IN this introductory chapter, before proceeding to my narrative, I wish to make clear to my 
readers the threefold object of which I have in view. Perhaps I shall best explain to this work 
them the primary aim of this work if I quote the opening words of my first letter from Persia to 
the  Times: 

The visit of the Shah of Persia to England in 1889 and the official and public reception accorded 
to him throughout the country have reawakened that interest in Persia and the Persian question 
which the remoteness of his dominions and the increasing indifference of the English public to 
interests lying outside their immediate ken had allowed in recent years to languish. The 
attentions paid to the distinguished visitor by all ranks, from the Sovereign downwards, and the 
efforts made to impress him both with the resources and with the friendly consideration of 
Great Britain, were evidences that the Shah was regarded as much more than an interesting 
Oriental potentate afflicted with a taste for foreign travel, and deserving to be run after
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and cheered as the latest social lion. The public was dimly aware that motives of higher policy 
were at work, and that the monarch who was brought in state up the Thames, and f6ted at the 
Guildliall, and conducted on a business-like progress through the principal manufacturing 
centres of the kingdom, was both an ally of the British nation and an important factor in the 
determination of our policy in the East. Even those who knew or cared little for Imperial 
politics were conscious that Persia is a country providing an extensive and profitable market 
for English and Anglo-Indian trade, and that on the most mercenary grounds, if on no other, a 
good understanding with its ruler is in the highest degree desirable. At the same time, in spite of 
the general recognition of the uncommon significance of the visit and of the practical expediency 
of a hearty welcome, there were not wanting symptoms both in the press an(l in the House of 
Commons that there were many who misunderstood, or could not read, the signs of the times; and 
it was more than hinted that there was something ridiculous in making such a lively fuss about a 
monarch who probably despised these tokens of interested attachment, and from whom nothing 
could be expected in return. The true bearing in its many and momentous ramifications of the 
Persian question was but imperfectly grasped ; and what is in reality a problem of the most 
abstruse statesmanship was discussed as though it were a casual obligation to be decently 
discharged and then conveniently forgotten.
It is in the belief that such, an impression exists, and with the conviction that it both is 
mistaken and may be disastrous, that I propose
to describe, from the evidence of my own eyes in Persia Meaning itself, the character and 
dimensions of the Persian problem, of tl)( Persian and to indicate to English readers what is 
their stake in that question distant country ; why they are compelled to regard its policy and 
development with such acute concern; what is the meaning and what may be the results of a 
Persian alliance ; and why it is so impossible to treat either the ruler or his people with polite 
indifference. There are many questions which in the course of my narrative will, I hope, come 
under examination. Such will be the present policy of the Shah's Government, the character, 
quality, virtues, or vices of the Persian Administration, the likelihood of reforms resulting 
from the European tour of the sovereign, the question of the succession to the throne, the 
strength and possible utility of the army, the opening for railroad enterprise in Persia, the 
political sympathies of the people, the relative degrees of influence possessed by Russia and 
Great Britain, the designs and ambitions of the two Powers, the meaning and significance of the 
Khorasan question, and the alleged danger to British commercial competition in the different 
provinces of the Shah's dominions. The late Sir C, MacGregor, when travelling in Persia in

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1875, soon after the Shah's first visit to Europe, left on record this opinion  I do not 
think our reception of the. Shah has produced at all a good impression. The Persians know that 
we are anxious about the Russians, and they look on it as a purely political matter; and, while 
the enthusiastic reception their Shah met with in London adds much to his importance in their 
eyes, it has not in any way improved our position. The idea, I think, is that we are very anxious 
for Persia to be on our side when the struggle with Russia comes, and that we will pay 
extravagantly for her assistance. This I cannot help regarding as a great pity. 
I shall endeavour to ascertain whether such an impression still exists among the subjects of the 
Shah, or how far their training in the rudiments of politics has progressed in the last sixteen 
years. In fine, -Persia, from an Englishman's point of view, and from the point of view 
more particularly of an English politician, will be the subject of my communications. Long 
residents in the country usually undertake, and are incomparably better qualified for, the task 
of describing local customs and manners, of which a traveller can form but a hasty and 
imperfect judgment. But a political problem may fairly be cosigned to interested hands, and can 
be so committed with the greater safety if an honest endeavour is made, as will be in this case, 
to regard it, not from any narrow or selfish, but from an Imperial standpoint, and in its due 
relation to the broader question of Asiatic politics as a whole, of which it constitutes no 
unimportant part.
In the above paragraphs is indicated with sufficient precision the political aspect of this work. I 
need not conceal the fact that Its relation it is in the elucidation of that aspect that personally I 
to the am most concerned, and that I would sooner be the Indian Empire author of a political 
treatise that commended itself to the well-informed than of a book of travel that caught the 
ephemeral taste of the public. Nor do I make this admission merely because success if attained in 
the one department may have some permanence, while in the opposite case it can scarcely be 
other than fugitive, but because, in the contemplation of the kingdoms and principalities of 
Central Asia, no question, to my mind, is comparable in importance with the part which they 
are. likely to play or are capable of playing in the future destinies of the East. Turkestan, 
Afghanistan, Transcaspia, Persia-to many these names breathe only a sense of utter remoteness 
or a memory of strange vicissitudes and of moribund romance. To me, I confess, they are the 
pieces on a chessboard upon which is being played out a game

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for the dominion of the world. The future of Great Britain, according to this view, will be 
decided, not in Europe, not even upon the seas and oceans which are swept by her flag, or in the 
Greater Britain that has been called into existence by her offspring, but in the continent whence 
our emigrant stock first came, and to which as conquerors their descendants have returned. 
Without India the British Empire could not exist. The possession of India is the inalienable badge 
of sovereignty in the eastern hemisphere. Since India was known its masters have been lords of 
half the world. The impulse that drew an Alexander, a Timur, and a Baber eastwards to the Indus 
was the same that in the sixteenth century gave the Portuguese that brief lease of sovereignty 
whose out i worn shibboleths they have ever since continued to mumble; that early in the last 
century made a Shah of Persia for ten years the arbiter of the East ; that all but gave to France 
the empire which stouter hearts and a more propitious star have conferred upon our own 
people; that to this day stirs the ambition and quickens the pulses of the Colossus of the North. In 
the increasing importance with which domestic politics are invested in our own public life and 
in the prevailing tendency to turn westwards, and to seek both for the examples and the arena of 
statesmanship amid younger peoples and a white-skinned race, room may yet be found fb~ one 
whose fancy is haunted by  the ancient of days;   who reminds his countrymen that, while 
no longer the arbiters of the West, they remain the trustees for the East, and are the rulers of 
the second largest dark-skinned population in the world ; and who argues that no safeguard 
should be omitted by which may be secured in perpetuity that which is the noblest achievement 
of the science of civil rule that mankind has yet bequeathed to man,
Whilst, however, the connection of Persia with the larger problems of Asiatic politics is the 
first object which I have had History in view, a second, scarcely less important, has ever been 
and before me, and has gradually swollen in scope and Geography dimensions, until of itself I 
would fain believe that it might justify these volumes. This is a desire to depict Persia as she 
now is, apart from her foreign relations; to give a succinct account of her provinces and 
peoples, her institutions and features, her sights and cities, her palaces, temples, and ruins; to 
trace her entry, in the present century, and particularly during the last half-century (a period 
nearly coterminous with the. reign of the

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present king), into the diplomatic comity of nations, and her efforts to accommodate herself to 
the ill-fitting clothes of a civilisation that sits but clumsily upon her: so that any man, anxious 
to ascertain in any respect what is the Persia of Nasr-ed-Din Shah, how to reach it, whither to 
go when he gets there, what to ask for and to see, what has been done or explored or said by 
others before him, what there remains for him to do, may discover that which he seeks in these 
pages, finding therein, not merely an account of the status quo-the fleeting record of a moment-
but, pieced together, fragment by fragment, the processes and means by which that state has 
been produced, and by a knowledge of which alone will he be able either to comprehend the 
resultant issue or to frame a forecast as to the future. In a word, I shall endeavour to do here for 
Persia what far abler writers have done for most other countries of equal importance, but what 
for two hundred years no single English writer has essayed to do for Iran, viz. to present a full 
length and life-size portrait of that kingdom.
Finally, I shall add whatever of variety or incident may be Travel possible to a text that might 
otherwise prove-somewhat
solid of substance, by describing the wayfarer's life in the East and the ever-fresb, if 
seldom momentous, incidents of travel.
It ought not to be difficult to interest Englishmen in the Persian ]Interest of people.  They 
have the same lineage as ourselves. Three Persian thousand years ago their forefathers left the 
uplands of nationality that mysterious Aryan home from. which our ancestral stock had already 
gone forth, and the locality of which is still
I in the minds of a great many English folk I fear that Persia awakens few other images than a 
recollection of the tales of Herodotus, the verses of Moore, and the diamonds of the Shah. On the 
whole, Herodotus more often wrote history than story; while the quality of the Shah's jewels 
is unimpeachable. But I regret to say that a heavy weight of responsibility lies at the door of 
Moore, whose descriptions of Persia are about as much like the original as the Alhambra of 
Leicester Square is like the exquisite palace of Boabdil.   The roses of Bendemeer's 
stream are equally illusory with the nightingales; I Kishma~s amber vines  are in comical 
contrast with the treeless sterility of the real Kishm; and when



ZLuttrell wrote, I am told, dear Moore, your lays are sung

---""ZZAlong the streets of Ispahan, 
he must have been confiding in the ignorance, as well as bumouring the egoism of the poet.

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a frequent, if also the most futile, battlefield of science.  They were the first of the Indo-
European family to embrace a purely monotheistic faith. Amongst them appeared Zarathustra, 
or Zoroaster, the second in date of the great religious teachers of the East, if, indeed, lie ever 
appeared at all.  Thence sprang the eniioblii-ig creed of Ormuzd and Alirirnau. Then the 
Avesta took shape, and there was kindled the fire that, all but extinguished on its parent altars, 
still lights a subdued but steadfast flame in the rich and comfortable exile of Bombay.
As we descend the stately flight of Persian history we encounter many a name familiar to us 
from childhood. Dismissing the legendary as appertaining to a region of myth more Drama of 
Persian nebulous in the case of Iran than of almost any history I country, we are confronted, 
with the illustrious figures of Cyrus, Darius, and Xerxes, whose handwriting still echoes their 
fame from the halls where they ruled and feasted. A succession of meteoric phenomena, the 
wonder or the scourge of humanity, an Alexander, a Jenghiz Khan, a Timur, a Nadir Shah, pass, 
at different epochs, in a trail of fire and blood across the scene. The direst day of the later 
Roman Commonwealth was when the legions of Crassus were strewn on the plain of Carrhm. 
Twice did a Roman Caesar surrender to a Persian or semi-Persian conqueror ; when the 
Emperor Valerian bowed his neck beneath the heel of Shapur I. ; and when the Emperor Romanus 
Diogenes fell a prisoner to the Seljuk Alp Arslan, the Great Lion. The death in battle of a third, 
the renowned Julian, was a triumph more precious than a battlefield to the second Shapur. 
Twice also, in the days of the famous Chosroes, or Nushirwan, and again under his grandson, the 
second Chosroes or Parviz, the borders of Iran were extended to the Mediterranean, and the 
terror of her
I am aware that it is now asserted that the Aryans never came from Asia at all. But, for the 
present, I hesitate to adopt either the Sarmatian theory (Dr. Schrader, Prehistoric Antiquities 
of the Aryan Peoples, translated by F. B. Jevons, 1890; and Canon L Taylor, The Origin of the 
Aryans, 1890) or the Scandinavian theory (Herr Penka, Die llerkunft der Arier, 1886), for 
fear of being presently invited to surrender them for a third and, as yet, undiscovered 
alternative. In. the meantime, therefore, I prefer the old Asian hypothesis, to which, Professor 
J. Schmidt has gallantly rallied in an essay published gn 1890 in the Transactions of the Royal 
Academy of Berlin,
2 Again a necessary qualification, seeing that so learned an authority as Professor Darmesteter 
has found in the personality of Zoroaster nothing more substantial than I a product of the 
ubiquitous storm-myth. 


arms to the malls of Byzantium. Then fell the sword of Omar and the devouring flame of the 
Koran. In the ensuing ages great names-Avicenna (Abu-ibn-Sena), Firdusi, Omar-el-Kbayani, 
Sadi, and Hafiz-adorned her literary annals, and have left her a legacy of imperishable renown. 
Finally a native dynasty and a naturalised religion appeared; and the name of Shah Abbas the 
Great is to this hour associated with anything that is durable or grandiose during the last three 
centuries of Persian history. A record of inferior names, of internecine conflict and 
international struggle, in the course of which Russia and England enter upon the scene, brings 
us down to the present time, when a dominion, greatly contracted, but withal much consolidated, 
acknowledges a Turkish dynasty, and parades before the world the now familiar figure of  
Nasr-ed-Din Shah. If Persia had no other claim to respect, at least a continuous national history 
for 2,500 years is a distinction which few countries can exhibit. There is, further, in the 
special connection of Persia with this nation at different epochs, and more especially during the 
present Anglo-century, a claim upon Englishmen's attention which no Persian student of his 
country's history should be willing to connection ignore. As long ago as the reign of Edward I. 
an accredited plenipotentiary was deputed from Great Britain to the court of the Mongol 
sovereign Arghun, in whose dominions Persia was included. Nearly three centuries later an 
envoy bore letters from Queen Elizabeth to the second Sefavi monarch. An ambassador from 
Charles I. reached Persia only to die. In the sixteenth and again in the seventeenth centuries 
gallant attempts were made by British agents to establish a trade with Persia by the north of 
Europe and the Caspian. Between the two periods the growing maritime ascendency of Great 
Britain had opened to her first a share, and presently the control, of the commerce of the 
Pei;sian Gtrlf. Finally, with the dawn of the present  century, emerged a policy of close 
Anglo-Persian relationship, which, though twice suspended by diplomatic rupture, and 
once by war, has remained in existence ever since; which has given birth to a few 
deservedly great reputations; and which, though it has been signalised by many follies and by 
some shame, by spasms -of prodigal concern succeeded by intervals of unreasoning apathy, has 
yet bound the two nations in a closer bond of political interest than unites this country with any 
other independent sovereignty in Asia.

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The memorials of many of these ages, the handiwork of some of these men, will come under 
notice in the narrative to which I Fourfold shall presently turn. My journey was divided into 
four division of portions, each of which will be found to possess a historijourney cal interest or 
a political importance, as well as physical idiosyncrasies, of its own. They will deal 
respectively with the north-east, the central, and the south-west provinces of Persia, and with 
the maritime highway on the south, the thread upon which will be strung whatever of 
information I have been able to collect, either with regard to the regions actually traversed or 
to those bordering thereupon, being supplied by the description of my o Wn travels, which 
consisted of (1) a ride of 850 miles throu~h the frontier province of Khorasan and thence to the 
capital, Teheran ; (2) the more familiar journey of 800 miles, also on horseback, from. 
Teheran to Bushire; (3) the ascent of the Shat-el-Arab and the Karun River; and (4) the 
navigation of the Persian Gulf.
In the first case I shall conduct my readers to the last remaining possession of the once mighty 
principality of Khorasan" a
Khora- dominion that embraced Merv, extended to Khiva, and included Herat and Kandahar, and 
was laved by the Oxus. Though shorn. of its high estate, this province, fortified by savage 
mountains and inaccessible ravines, interspersed with plains that sustain the relics of famous 
capitals, and possessing one city at least of world-wide. renown, will be found to present many 
problems of undiminished and imperial interest. For hundreds of years it has been the battle-
ground of races and the prey of a rapine less merciful than sustained war. More persons have 
probably died a violent death in Khorasan than in any other territory of equal size in Asia. 
There, moreover, at this moment, on the north and east, the eagles are again gathered together, 
and in the barracks of Transcaspia and the council-tents of Turkestan is being debated the 
destiny of Meshed.
While treating of this portion of my journey it will be both natural and necessary to the scope of 
these volumes that I should Con- give the latest information about the adjacent provinces 
tiguous or districts ; information the bulk of which was derived provinces from iriquiries made 
by myself while in the neighbourhood, and the whole of which has been supervised by the most 
competent authorities. This will apply to the Perso-Afghan border and Seistan question on the 
east, where a political crisis is

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always possible and sometimes acute, and where the Indian Frontier question, emerges as a 
formidable factor in the situation; to the maritime provinces of Persia on the Caspian, where 
such an amazing difference of natural conditions exists that they might be mistaken for the 
antipodes, instead of a physical continuation, of Persian soil; and to the north-westem and 
western provinces, containing great cities, an alien and divided population, and indestructible 
remains of antiquity. Similarly, when I come to the southern parts of the country, information 
will be forthcoming about those more distant and little known provinces in the southeast and 
south-west, which have held out the longest against the centralising tendencies of the age, and 
which still, in some sort, exhibit an image of the nomad turbulence that was once a uniform 
characteristic of Iranian society.
Resuming my journey at Teheran the opportunity will await ui of seeing something of a court 
whose splendour is said to have 2. Central formerly rivalled that of the Great Mogul, of a 
Governprovinces ment which is still, with the exception of China, the most Oriental in the East, 
and of a city which unites the unswerving characteristics of an Asiatic capital with the borrowed 
trappings of Europe. Thence the high road-only ninety miles of which is a road in any known 
sense of the word-will lead us across the successive partitions of the great plateau, possessing a 
mean elevation -of 4,000 to 5,000 feet above the sea, that occupies the heart of Persia; and 
whose manifold mountain ridges intervene, like the teeth of a saw, between the northern and 
southern seas. In the plains of greater or less extent lying at their base we shall find, in the 
shape of large but ruined cities, the visible records of faded magnificence, of unabashed 
misrule, and of internal decay. Kum, from behind its curtain of fanaticism and mystery, will 
reveal the glitter of the golden domes that overhang the reStiDgplace of saints and the 
sepulchre of kings. Isfahan, with its wreck of fallen palaces, its acres of wasted pleasaunce, its 
storeyed bridges that once rang beneath the tread of a population -numbered at 650,000, will 
tell a tale of deeper pathos, although in its shrill and jostling marts we may still observe 
evidence of mercantile activity and a prospering international trade  Shiraz, which once 
re(c)echoed the blithe anacreontics of Hafiz, and the more demure philosophy of Sadi, preserves 
and cherishes the poets  graves ; but its merry gardens, its dancing fountains, and its 
butterfly

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existence have gone the way of the singers who sang their praises, and are now only a shadow and 
a lament. In this neighbourhood, and in eloquent juxtaposition to these piles of modern ruini 
occur at intervals the relies of a grander imagination and a more ancient past. Here on the plain 
still stands the white marble mausoleum that, in all probability, once held the gold coffin and 
the corpse of Cyrus. At no great distance the rifled sepulchre of Darius gapes from its chiselled 
hollow in the scarp of a vertical cliff. Opposite the princely platform of Persepolis lifts its 
dwindling columns, and amid piles of d6bri8 displays the sculptured handiwork that graced the 
palace of Xerxes and the halls of Artaxerxes.
I shall not be reproached if I linger awhile amid these renowned, and often commemorated, 
relies of the past. They Monu- show us that, just as inediaeval Persia was far removed nients of 
from modern Persia in its pageantry and wealth, so antiquity ancient I)ersia-the Persia of 
Herodotus and Xenophonwas immeasurably superior to mediEeval Persia in its attributes, and is 
even now more respectable in its ruin. Though in dealing with these ancient and historic 
monuments I shall not recapitulate architectural or topographical details, which can be found 
better displayed in other and more technical works, I shall yet avail myself of the latest 
scientific knowledge and research, having no sympathy with those who rush through a country 
that has elicited the services of profound and famous writers, and who think the ignorant 
jottings of a tourist's notebook good enough to supersede the labours of a long line of scholars 
and men of science. A historian of travel who possesses any self-respect will thankfully profit 
by their researches, in the spirit of the seventeenth century editor of Tavernier, who wrote 
that I lie was sufficiently imbued in his intellectuals with all clue knowledge, of sciences, 
languages, and geography, and precedent travellers  maps and books, without all which 
common travellers cannot conceive so soon and so orderly, nor reap so much benefit for 
themselves or others.  At the same time he will endeavour, by the exercise of personal 
observation and of honest criticism, to give an independent account of what has passed before his 
own eyes.
In the extreme south-west I shall invite attention to a part of the country where nature has been 
lavish of gifts that man has alternately blessed and despised ; where navigable rivers flow 
through plains once enriched with a superb vegetation, though

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now relapsed into stony wastes; and where great engineering works, enduring memorials of a 
hydraulic ingenuity, and a public - spirited zeal, to which later centuries afford no parallel, 
now raise their shattered piers amid a waste of untended waters and uncultivated lands. There 
great cities once adorned the river banks ; great palaces reared their colonnades and halls upon 
the summit of elevated mounds; great kings, a Cyrus, a Darius, an Alexander, a Shapur, either 
swept past on the stormy tide of conquest, or paused to taste the splendid luxury of repose. Here 
I. shall halt to notice the newly revived sparks of industry and trade, which the present 
generation should not pass without fanning into a livelier flame. This romantic region abuts 
upon one still more famous-in the annals of the past. Its borders are washed by the broad 
estuary down which the Euphrates and Tigris roll their commingled waters to the Gulf. Here we 
are in a land of equal honour in sacred legend and profane history. We may sail past the 
traditional Garden of Eden to the mysterious site where, amid colossal mounds of pottery and 
brick, the alphabet of Nebuchadnezzar speaks loudly from the ruins of sculptured palaces, of 
terraced temples, and Babylonian towers, where Daniel prophesied, where Israel wept, where 
Alexander perished. We are on the river threshold of Busrab, the Balsorah of Sinbad the Sailor, 
that Arab Columbus of an earlier age. We may fringe the soaring arch of - Ctesiphon and descry 
on the horizon the minarets and palm trees of Baghdad.
Finally, skirting in a vessel the southern and maritime borders of Persia, I shall ask attention 
to a country and a sea little known 4. The at home, to warring Arab tribes and piratical 
professions, Persian to seaports, now dead and deserted, whose fame once Gulf sounded through 
Europe; to waters that have been ploughed by the rival argosies of Portugal, Holland, and Great 
Britain. If I am there tempted to unravel some few of the threads that have been woven into a 
web of history, intensely personal to our own country and race,. I shall also be able to show that 
Great Britain sustains, in a less acquisitive and martial age, the prestige which she gained at 
the-dawn of her career of Asiatic conquest, and that the British name is still on these distant 
waters a synonym for order and freedom.
These will provide what I may call the pictorial aspects of my narrative; mingled with the 
normal and yet uncommon episodes

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of travel in the East, they may win a hearing even from the desultory reader. Nor shall I despair 
of arousing his concern Change- when I turn from a past, however eventful, to a present, 
leBsiness of however degenerate and sad. A country that possesses the East no railways is ipso 
facto the possessor 4 a great charm. Here may still in many parts be found a people retaining 
the indigenous customs and modes of Asiatic life, and as yet unawakened to the summons that is 
beating at their doors. Fifty years hence the outlying towns of Persia may have taken on some of 
the varnish of the capital, and have lost their peculiar individuality of combined dignity and 
decay. But for the present Persia is of the East, most Eastern; and though the Persian nobleman 
may ride in a Russian brougham, the Persian merchant carry a French watch, and the Persian 
peasant wear a Manchester blouse, yet the heart of the nation is unregenerate, and is fanatically 
(and -not always unfortunately) attached to the ancient order of things. We may still re-echo 
the words of the philosophic Chardin:_
That it is not in Asia as in our Europe, where there are frequent changes more or less in the 
forms of things, as the habits, buildings, gardenings and the like. In the East they are constant in 
all things. The habits are at this day in the same manner as in the precedent ages ; so that one 
may reasonably believe that in that part of the world Z5 the exterior forms of things (as their 
manners and customs) are the same now as they were 2,000 years since, except in such changes 
as may have been introduced b religion, which are nevertheless very
.y Z5 inconsiderable.
And here let me. endeavour in some sort to explain to others what I am sometimes conscious of 
having only imperfectly exIts abiding plained. to myself, viz. the wonderful and incalculable 
charm fascination of the East. Mr. Stanley in one. of his letters spoke of the mysterious Soudan 
fever which drew Gordon and many another brave spirit to perish in the dim recesses of Africa, 
and which will require how many more human liecatombs before its appetite be appeased ? Just 
such another, thoug4 a less perilous contagion is that which tenipts the traveller into Asia, 
makes him regardless of the petty restraints of distance and time, animated only by a burning 
desire to go on. Perhaps it is that in the wide landscape, in the plains stretching without break 
to mountains, and the mountains succeeded by plains, in the routes that are without roads, in the 
roads that are without banks or ditches, in

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the unhampered choice both of means of progression and of pace, there is a joyous revulsion 
from the sterile conventionality of life and locomotion at home. Something, too, must be set down 
to the gratified spirit of self-dependence, which legions of domestics have not availed to subdue, 
and to the love of   adventure, which not even the nineteenth century can extinguish. Or is it 
that in the East, and amid scenes where life and its environment have not varied for thousands of 
years, where nomad Abrahams still wander with their flocks and herds, where Rebecca still 
dips her water skin at the well, where savage forays perpetuate the homeless miseries of Job, 
western man casts off the slough of an artificial civilisation, and feels that he is mixing again 
with his ancestral stock, and breathing the atmosphere that nurtured his kind ?
Upon the vivid and never failing contrast between the picture and the furniture of existence in 
the East and West, as an element Contrast Of attraction, it is needless to enlarge. The most casual 
between visitor to the true East is no stranger to its strange in the East 9 and West tensity. 
Countries which have no ports or quays, no railways or stations, no high-roads or streets (in 
our sense of the term), no inns or hotels, no bedsteads or tables or chairs) but where traveller 
is sufficiently equipped so long as he is provided with saddle and some soap, are severed by a 
sufficiently wide gap from our own to appeal to the most glutted thirst for novelty. Do weever 
escape from the fascination of a turban, or the mystery of the shrouded apparitions that pass for 
women in the dusty alleys? How new to us is a landscape where there are nd hedgerows or 
timber, no meadows or fields; where in the brilliant atmosphere minute objects can be 
distinguished for many miles,  where the cities are not swathed in smoke, and the level roofs 
are not broken by shafts or chimneys. How mute and overpowering the silence that prevails 
over the lone expanse, so different from the innumerable rural sounds that strike upon the ear 
at home. And how grateful a climate where fogs and vapours never strangle, but where the sun 
strikes with straight lance from the zenith.
In no Oriental country that I have seen is the chasm of exterior divergence between Oriental and 
European scenery more abrupt than in Persia. It is difficult to bring home to English
I have seen a small object, such as a single but or building, for at least twenty miles before 
reaching it; and every traveller in Persia will confess to the frequent exasperation of hope thus 
baffled and delayed.

|PPage_14
readers, whose ideas of nature ate drawn exclusively from the West , the extremity of the 
contrast that meets the eye. Mountains Extreme in Europe are for the -most part blue or purple 
iR in Persia, colour; in Persia they are -flame-red, or umber, or funereal drab. Fields in 
Europe, when not decked with the green of grass or crops, are crimson with upturned mould. In 
Persia thev are only distinguishable from the brown desert by the dry beds o~ the irrigation 
ditebes. A typical English village consists of detached and often picturesque cottages, half bidden 
amid venerable trees. A typical Persian village is a cluster of filthy mud buts, wbose outline is 
a crude combination of the perpendicular and the horizontal, huddled within the protection of a 
decayed mud wall. Outside the Caspian provinces and a few mountain valleys there is not a 
forest, and barely a wood in Persia that is worthy of the name. One may travel for days without 
seeing a blade of grass. Rivers do not roll between trim banks, nor do brooks babble over stones. 
Either you are stopped by a foaming torrent, or you barely moisten your horse's fetlocks in 
fording a pitiful thread.
For my own part-so normal and blunted after a while do these sensations become-I find a more 
abiding charm in the contrast Intrinsi existing, not between the lives of the East and West, but 
contF _
radic in the elements and conditions of Oriental life itself. It tion is a contrast equally visible in 
the inanimate and in the human world. Extensive plains are suddenly terminated, almost without 
slope or undulation, by gaunt and forbidding peaks, A drear and colourless desolation in winter 
is succeeded by riotous, though ephemeral, verdure and a thousand tints of flowers in the 
spring. Even in the green and cultivated spots, the moment we leave the charmed circle of water 
distribution the stark desert recommences, and the transition is as awful as from life to death. 
An entrancing warmth by day is expiated in thq autumn and winter months by biting cold at 
night and in the hours immediately preceding sunrise. Nature seenis to revel in striking the 
extreme chords upon her miraculous and inexhaustible gamut of sound.
And how faithfully do the cities and people respond to the The He. of suggestion that is always 
eloquent around them. Majestic life ruins that tell of a populous and mighty past rear their 
heads amid deserted wastes and vagabond tents.  Tiny and

|PPage_15
ill(c)nurtured children grow up into robust men. Conversely, female beauty in early youth is 
followed by a premature decay and ugliness beyond words. Just as from a distance a town 
surrounded by its orcbards looks a gem of beauty, but shrinks upon nearer approach into a 
collection of clay hovels; and just as in the exterior of these houses, consisting of blank and 
unsightly walls of mud, there is no hint of the flower-beds and tanks, of the taste and comeliness 
that sometimes prevail within, so does the human exterior tell a contradictory tale of its 
inmate. Splendide mendux might be taken as the motto of Persian character. The finest domestic 
virtues co-exist with barbarity and supreme indifference to suffering. Elegance of deportment 
is compatible with a coarseness amounting to bestiality.The same individual is at different 
Moments haughty and cringing. A creditable acquaintance with the standards of civilisation does 
not prevent gross fanaticism and superstition. Accomplished manners and a more than Parisian 
polish cover a truly superb faculty for lying and almost scientific imposture. The most 
scandalous corruption is combined with a scrupulous regard for specified precepts of the moral 
law. Religion is alternately stringent and lax, inspiring at one moment the bigot's rage, at 
the next the agnostic's indifference. Government is both patriarchal and Machiavellian-
patriarclial in its simplicity of structure, Machiavellian in its finished ingenuity of wrong 
doing. Life is both magnificent and squalid the people at once dispicable and noble the panorama 
at the same time an enchantment and a fraud.
I desire before concluding to say a few words about the literature to which the study of Persia 
has given birth, more especially Literature the literature of discovery and travel. Few 
countries so of travel sparsely visited have been responsible for so ample a bibliography. The 
reason is obvious. To each new-comer the comparative rarity of his experience has been 
conceded as the excuse for a volume. In the category of these productions are to be found works 
as painstaking and meritorious as ever passed through the press. Nor is their value in any 
degree diminished, it is, on the contrary, enhanced by the fact that the list of which I speak 
includes some of the most worthless rubbish that ever blundered into print. I shall hope shortly 
to publish in a supplementary volume as complete a bibliography of Persian history and travel 
as my own studies and existing sources of information have enabled me to

|PPage_16
compile; but I append here a table which I have drawn up, as the
result of personal reading, of the names of all such travellers, within my knowledge, as have, 
since the beginning of the tenth century, added to our geographical or historical acquaintance 
acquaintance with Persia by themselves visiting, and writing about the country, and whose 
compositions are, with few exceptions, accessible to the public. To the name of each traveller I 
affix the date, not of the publication of his work" since that appears to me to be but an 
illusory guide" but OF his own visit to Persia or residence in that conutry. And when I add that 
the collection of these figures has involved reference in every instance, with barely an 
exception, to the original work of the author, sometimes far from easy to procure, and that the 
cases are few in which I have not myself perused the work in question, it will, I think, be 
conceded that such a catalogue, the first of the kind that has ever been compiled with reference 
to Persia, is the result of no mean labour. In the following tables I include no writer whose 
work was not, originally written, or has not subsequently been translated, in a European tongue:
ZZZZ
d

"
Z"1Z
"ZC!("XX4"ddZZ-
XX
---""ZZ900-1000 A.D.'' 1000-1100 A.D.' 1100-1200 A.D.' 1200-1300 
A.D.
d
ZZZZCZ°Ali Abdul Hasan' Nasiri Khosru,' Edrai, circ.'' Yakut, circ.
d

Masudi, 913(c)5'' 1035(c)50'''''1150'''''' 1180(c)1220
Abu Ishak el''''''''''' Rabbi Benjamin' Friar William
Istakhri''''''''''''' of Tudela,''' de Rubruquis,
''''''''''''''''' 1160(c)73'''''1253
''''''''''''''''''''''''''Nicaro, Maffco,
''''''''''''''''''''''''''and Marco Polo,
''''''''''''''''''''''''''1271(c)94
''''''''''''''''''''''''''Abulfeda,
''''''''''''''''''''''''''1273(c)1331

---""ZZ1300(c)1500 A.D.''''' 1500-1600 A.D.'''''1600-1700 A.D.

Marino Sanuto, 1300(c)6''Ludovico di Varthema''Sir Anthony and


Friar Odoricus di''''(Ludovicus Wertomannus), Sir Robert Pordenone, c. 1325''' 1501; 
Anonymous Mer(c)'' Shirley, 1599(c)'Ibn Batutab, c. 1330'' chant, 1507(c)29; Gio(c)'' 
1627; G. Main(c)
Friar Jovanni di'''' Giovanni Angiolelle,'' waring, 1599(c)1600
Marignoli, c. 1350''' Antonio Tenreiro, 1529' John Cartwright,
Dea Ruy Gonzalez di'''Gabriel de Luetz, 1546(c)'Preacher, 1600
Clavijo, 1404(c)5'''''Sidi Ali, 1556'''''  Don Juan de
Abdur Rezak, 1441(c)58'' Factors and captains of'Persia  c. 1600
Nicolo Conti, 1419(c)44''(British) Muscovy Trad(c)'Sir John Mild(c)
Athauasius Nikitin, 1470 ing Co., viz: Anthony''denhall, 1600(c)6
Jesafa Barbaro, 1474'' Jenkinson, Richard''' S.K. Zalonkemeny,
ZListZ-
XX

A few remarks about some of the names occurring in the above almost monumental in character, 
dealing with every aspect of the tables may not be out of place, whether as explaining their 
sequence in order of time, or as facilitating a classification in order of merit. In the early 
centuries immediately succeeding the Mussulman conquest, we have but a few records of Persian 
travel, though we may be grateful that the piety of some pilgrims belonging to various 
persuasions, such as Rabbi Benjamin, the Spanish Jew; Ibn Batutah, the Moor of Tangier; and 
the Catholic Friars William de Rubruquis and Odoricus di Pordenone, impelled them to 
perambulate much of the East. Almost simultaneously with these the great figure of Marco Polo 
passes, none too slowly, ascross the stage. At the latter end of the fifteenth century, the 
comercial pre(c)eminence of Venice is attested by the appearance upon the scene of a number of 
Venetian merchants or grandees; just as a century later the expanding mercantile ambitions of 
England are prepresented by a similar batch of British pioneers, opening up trade routes 
respectively in the North and South. An example already set in the fifteenth century by the 
Spanish envoy Don Ruy di Clavijo" who kept an invaluable record of the mission upon which 
he was sent by Henry III of Castile to the Court of Timur at Samarkand" is followed in the 
seventeenth century by the ambassadors who flocked to the capital of the illustrious Shah Abbas 
of Isfahan from the crowned heads of Europe. The brothers Sherley, and Sir Thomas Herbert, 
who accompanied Sir Dodmore Cotton, Ambassador from Charles I., and wrote by far the most 
amusing work that has ever been published on Persia, represent the British point of view. Don 
Garcias de Silva, deputed by Philip III, is the official mouthpiece of Spain; Adam Olearius keeps 
the record of the Embassy from the Duke of Holstein;
the pomp and pageantry of the Sefavi kings, but the Persian travel, though we may be grateful 
that the piety of some first attempt to give a minute and illustrated description of the pilgrims 
belonging to various persuasions, such as Rabbi Benjamin, great ruins at Persepolis and other 
places, which already attracted the Spanish Jew; Ibn Batutah, the Moor of Tangier; and the the 
concern, while suggesting ludicrous reins to the fancy, of the Catholic Friars William de 
Rubruquis and Odoricus di Pordenone,_ literati of Europe. Pietro della Valle, a Roman of good 
family, andimpelled them to perambulate much of the East. Almost simultaneously with these 
the great figure of Marco Polo passes, none
the husband of a Nestorian lady whom he wedded at Baghdad, but'lost by death while in Persia, 
though pilloried by Gibbon as too slowly, across the stage. At the latter end of the fifteenth 
intolerably prolix and vain, is the first in date of this voluminou

|PPage_
century, the commercial pre-eminence of Venice is attested by the school of authors, prolixity 
and vanity being pardonable vices in a appearance upon the scene of a number of Venetian 
merchants or writer who lifts for our gaze the dim curtains of the past. He is grandees; just as a 
century later the expanding mercantile succeeded by Jean Baptiste Tavernier, the well-known 
French ambitions of England are represented by a similar batch of British. jeweller, who 
included the Court of the Grand Sophy (as the pioneers, opening up trade routes respectively in 
the North and Persian monarch was then called in Europe from a misadaptation South. An 
example already set in the fifteenth century by the of the name of the dynasty), as well as that of 
the Great Mogul, Spanish envoy Don Ruy di Clavijo-who kept an invaluable within the range of 
his businesslike peregrinations; by Cbardin, record of the mission upon which he was sent by 
Henry III. of claram et venerabile nomen, a French Protestant, and also a Castile to the Court of 
Tiniur at Samarkand-is followed in the jeweller, who, after writing his mag?.-bum opus on 
Persia, retired in seventeenth century by the ambassadors who flocked to the. capital later life 
to England, upon the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, of the illustrious Shah Abbas at Isfahan 
from the crowned heads of and died a Knight and Alderman of the City of London; by Europe. The 
brothers Sherley, and Sir Thomas Herbert, who ac- Th6venot and Daulier-Deslandes, also 
Frenchmen; by Sanson, a companied Sir Dodmore Cotton, Ambassador from Charles I., and 
French Missionary; by Dr. Fryer, surgeon to the East India wrote by far the most amusing work 
that has ever been published Company, who is only less quaint and comical than Herbert; and on 
Persia, represent the British point of view. Don Garcias de by Cornelius Le Brun, the 
Dutchman, who was always ready with Silva, deputed by Philip TIL, is the official mouthpiece of 
Spain; his measuring rod and pencil, and while freely denouncing the
d,Adam Olearius keeps the record of the Embassy from the Duke 2d

errors of his predeessors, bequeathed a scarcely inferior stock for the critical delectation of his 
successors. ledge about the country; and in the journeys and explorations of
some time enshrined the corpus of available geographical know
The next or eighteenth century was one of political storm in several English or Indian officers, 
notably Grant, Pottinger, Christie, Persia; a condition of affairs unfavourable to travel or 
research, I and Monteith. Almost simultaneously, the French Mission of Eighteenth and 
represented by a proportionate shrinkage in the General Gardanne, the emissary of Napoleon, 
carried with it century number and contributions of foreign writers. Neverthe- a train of 
emulous writers, amongst whom we may notice the less in the works of John Bell of Antermory, 
who acted as surgeon A names of Truilhier, Tr6zel, Tancoigne, and Dupr6, the latter being to a 
Russian embassy from Peter the Great to Shah Sultan 111usein, responsible for the best book. 
Sir Harford Jones, in 1809, penned the last of the Sefavi monarchs; of Krusinski, who in the 
same the record of his own energy and misfortunes, and was accompanied reign was Procurator 
of the Jesuits at Isfahan, and of other Roinan by Morier, who on this occasion, and again two 
years later, when Catholic priests; of Otter, who travelled through Persia while returning in a 
similar capacity with Sir Gore Ouseley, utilised his Nadir Shah was absent on his famous march 
against India; and opportunity to publish two works of considerable authority and most of all, of 
Jonas Hanway, the intelligent and philanthropic careful research. No mission ever had more 
plentiful historians London merchant, who attempted a revival of the impossible pro- than that 
of Ouseley, for, in addition to Morier's second work, its ject of a British Caspian trade-we 
have presented to us pictures, record was written by Sir W. OnseleY, brother to the 
ambassador, no less lurid in detail than vivid in outline, of the horrors attending 7 and a great 
Oriental scholar, and by W. Price. In 1817, Kotzebue an epoch of anarchy and bloodshed. 
Towards the latter part of the penned the narrative of the Russian Embassy of Count Yermoloff. 
same century, G. Forster, the first overland traveller by Afgliani- In 1835, Colonel Stuart 
came out as secretary to Sir Henry stan and Persia from Hindustan to England, adds greatly to 
geo- Ellis, and left an interesting picture of the administration of graphical knowledge by his 
adventurous journey in the North ; Moliammed Shah. Later, Sir Justin Sheil, British Minister, 
while in the South the liberal-minded and popular r6gime of Kerim assisted his wife in the 
compilation of a serviceable and informing Khan Zend, who ruled as Vekil or Regent at Shiraz, is 
pourtrayedwork. The Comte de Gobineau utilised a diplomatic residence at to us by Ensign 
Franklin of the Anglo-Indian army, and by Teheran in the interests of France to issue more than 
one learned Carsten Niebuhr, fresh from his great journeys in the Arabian volume ; while the 
junior branches of the various legations have peninsula. In the same period Gm6lin and Olivier 
sustain thebeen creditably represented by the Baron de Bode, secretary to the credit 
respectively of Russia and France. Russian Legation, who described an interesting journey to 
Bakhtiari
Turning the corner of the nineteenth century, we cross theLand in 1840-1 ; by Eastwick, who 
filled an analogous position

|PPage_
threshold of an epoch when the avenues of entry to Persia havingin the British Legation twenty 
years later; and by M. Barbier de Nine- been reopened by European diplomacy, a stream of 
Meynard, whose translations anti annotations of Oriental writers teenth travellers has followed 
in the. wake of plenipotentiaries, have placed him in the front rank of French scholars. century 
ministers, and envoys, both classes devoting themselves Attracted by the increasing noise that 
Persia was making with equal assiduity to the literary record of their experiences. in the 
Western world, a number of English travellers of indepenThe two missions of Sir John Malcolm 
in 1800 and 1810, resulted dent means selected that country, from the first decade of the in 
two works from his own pen: the  History of Persia,  which, century onwards, as the 
arena of geograpbical or arebwolOgiCal though written before the scientific -spirit had 
pervaded the research, and of subsequent literary enterprise. Scott Waring, historical school, 
has yet remained the standard English work on Buckingham, Sir R. Ker Porter, and J. Baillie 
Fraser) belong to the subject, and his I Sketches of Persia  (published anonymously), this 
class in the first half of the 6entury, the last-named having one of the most delightful 
compositions ever penned; in the found in Persia a literary mine which was not exhausted until 
be Geographical Memoir of Captain Macdonald, afterwards Sir J. had given several admirable 
books of travel, as well as a number Macdonald Kinneir, and British Minister in Persia, which 
for of romances, to the world. Another class of writers has beeri

|PPage_22 
furnished by the Indian civil and military services   officers belonging to both of which have 
taken Persia on their way to or from England; the most conspicuous among their names being, in 
th e military department, those of Colonel Johnson, Captain Arthur Conolly (afterwards 
murdered at Bokhara), and Sir Alexander Burnes, the subsequent victim of the tragedy of Kabul; 
and in the civil department, R. B. Binning, who, in 1851, assisted by an uncommon familiarity 
with the Persian language, wrote the last, really good book that has been written on Persia, and 
E. Stack, who, in 1881, threw the graces of independent thought and a fascinating style over the 
novel area of his explorations. In the middle part of the century, and at intervals since, distinct 
additions to our store of  Knowledge have been provided by the English and American 
missionaries, who have selected Persia as the scene of their labours, whether with the 
Nestorian Christians on the northeast frontier, or with the Armenians in several of the larger 
cities. In the same period a few other names stand forth from the ranks with conspicuous pre-
eminence. The first of these is Major (now Sir Henry) Rawlinson, who to the merit of his own 
topographical researches, when employed as an officer in the service of Mohammed Shah, 
superadded,a political knowledge and grasp that subsequentl
y made him British Minister at Teheran, and in later times the political historian of Anglo-
Persian relations, and an archoeological acumen that revealed to him the dark riddles of the 
Cuneiform alphabet, and have elevated him to the front rank of Oriental scholars. Sir H. Layard, 
a not inferior name, also most fortunately devoted to a portion of the Persian dominions those 
gifts of insight and of style that have rendered him famous; whilst among the officers of other 
nationalities who have been employed in Persia, the Frenchman Ferrier is conspicuous for his 
valuable and scholarly work. France has also had the credit of sending to Persia the expeditions 
of Texier, of Flandin and Coste, and, in later years, of Dieulafoy, whose researches or 
discoveries, supported by ample -funds, have resulted in the production of splendid volumes, 
illustrated on the most sumptuous scale. In 1859 the Geographical Society of St. Petersburg 
deputed M. de KbaDikoff, who applied to the study of Persian topography the spirit of scientific 
scholarship somewhat marred by political prepossessions. And if, during the same e-poeli, 
Great Britain , has neither commissioned nor endowed similar inquiry-a department in which 
she appears to
ZZZZ
dd

be unpardonably slack" at least the political undertakings with which the British Government 
has charged itself, have resulted in the labours and writings of Sir F. Goldsmid, and of his able 
band
of collaborators in the services of the Telegraph and Boundary Cominissions. A useful history of 
Persia within the compass of a single volume, has been published by Mr. Clements Markham, 
while the history of the first half of the present century has been carefully compiled by Mr. R. 
G. Watson. The field of Persian history, however, as a whole, is one that still calls for the 
enterprise of some English student, combining the rare gifts of familiarity with Oriental 
tongues, historical knowledge, and   classical erudition. In Germany, Spiegel, Justi, Nbldeke 
and Gatschmid have worthily divided the role. I should add that by far the best and most accurate 
account of Persia, within the limit of 100 pages, that I have ever seen, occurs in the 
monumental work of the Frenchman Elis6e Reclus. 1 During the last thirty years the north-
east portion of Persia has been brought more closely under our view by the labours of a 
succession of competent explorers; Khanikoff,  the Russian, already mentioned; Colonel 
Valentine Baker and Captain Gill, the former of whom displayed a rare intuition of Central Asian 
politics; Sir C. MacGregor, whose impetuous patriotism was reflected in his unpolished but 
masculine style ; and E. O Donovan, the I Daily News  correspondent, who penetrated to 
Merv and afterwards perished in the Soudan, and whose literary accomplishments equal those of 
any other writer on Persia. All of these have since died.
In the same period Messrs. Stolze and Andreas have thrown much light upon Persian commerce, 
industry, administration, and resources; and General Houtum Schindler, whom I shall so 
frequently have occasion to quote, upon almost every branch of topography, archaeology, and 
general knowledge. Dr. Wills, who was for many years Doctor to the Indo-European Telegraph 
Establishment, has given us a series of vivid and entertaining representations of life and 
customs in modern Iran. Mr. Benjamin, the first American minister to Persia, is the author of 
the last work in English on the country; but his observations on manners and arts, which are 
interesting, are handicapped by a general inaccuracy that renders his book of little value. 2 
Madame Dieulafoy's portly
This bas been translated into English, Universal Geography, vol. ix.
2 What, for instance, can be thought of a writer who describes as a small expanse of water 
which is three hundred miles in circumference
24
volume is superbly illustrated; and there is entertainment, as well as instruction, in her pages. 
Another lady, Mrs. Bishop, has just published a volume on her travels among the Bakhtiaris. 
and Kurds, containing much novel and interesting information.
In the above long list of eminent writers and authorities, it would be invidious and perhaps 
impertinent to attempt too minute Order of a discrimination on the ground of merit. I have 
already merit named the majority of those who either by flaithful reproduction of what they saw 
with their own eyes in interesting or troublous times, or by patient research, have added to the 
sum total of our knowledge of Persia. A few of these, by virtue of deeper insight or a wider range 
of observation, deserve promotion to the highest rank.
These are, in my judgment, Chardin, Tavernier,  Hanway7 Malcolm, Morier, Ouseley, 
Baillie Fraser, and Rawlinson. Of the trio whose works have for so long formed the basis of 
English ideas about Persia, viz., Morier, Ouseley, and Fraser, the first named, by his story of 
Haji Baba, even more than by his travels, has gained the firmest hold of the public ear. An equal 
rank is, in my opinion, deserved by Fraser, for his broad acquaintance with and faithful 
portraiture of every aspect of modern Persian life, and by Ouseley, for the amazing erudition 
which renders his ponderous tomes at once the delight and the despair of scholars, and which did 
not admit of their publication till the lapse of a full decade after the events which they describe. 
Of the older travellers the palm will be conceded, nemine contradicente, to the French Huguenot 
and English Knight, Chardin. He is apt to exaggerate,
cumference, and as I a lake of some size the Hamun in Seistaii, which is frequently dry; who 
speaks of the Elburz range as extending to Merv, and represents the tribes with whom Kaufmann 
fought in Central Asia as Tekke Turkomans; who makes Hasan, as well as Husein, slain at 
Kerbela, and, even at this date, confounds Shusbter with Susa; who descants upon inexhaustible 
coal mines in the south-west, near the best ports of Persia, when not a cubic foot of coal has 
ever been extracted from those regions; who antedates Nadir Shah by half a century, and post-
dates the famous famine by three years; and who thinks there are twenty-five thousand 
grenadiers in the British Army?
I am aware that grave charges have been brought, with some truth, against Tavernier, Cbardin 
said be never understood a word of Persian. One critic declares that he could neither read nor 
write. His descriptions of some places are manifestly incorrect. There is no doubt that his 
editors experienced much difficulty in arranging his papers, which were in a state of chaos 
(vide Ouscley's Travels, vol. ii. Appendix, 10). Nevertheless his work retains its value, 
both for its independence and general freedom from exaggeration.
ZZZZd

and he cannot invariably be relied upon; but he is always painstaking, frequently ingenious, and 
not seldom profound. The second class I have already filled with a goodly array of names. There 
are others who might well have been, and should perhaps still be, included under the same 
heading, were. it not that the romantic atmosphere of the East has proved too much for their 
critical equilibrium and has swept them away on gusts of sentiment, now lifting them to giddy 
heights of rhetoric, now plunging them into woeful depths of bathos. Of the early travellers John 
Struys, a Dutch nian, made the widest excursions into these fairy fields. In the present century 
he has been ably seconded by Sir R. Ker Porter, who, though a most diligent enquirer, has 
diminished the appreciation arising from careful plans and excellent drawings by a turgid 
pomposity of style that is alternately exasperating and ludicrous. It is when they contemplate 
the majesty of Nature, or the pathos of rain, that these rhapsodists are impelled to their 
greatest efforts; and on such occasions a Howling Dervish might learn something from their 
transports. Of the class of writers, daily receiving fresh and enthusiastic recruits, who rush 
through a country, either not having read what has been written by better men before, or 
reading it only in order to plagiarise and reproduce it as their own, and who misunderstand, 
misspell, and misinterpret everywhere as they go, I will say nothing. They too have fastened 
upon Persia. But the aids to such compilation as theirs are here less readily forthcoming than 
elsewhere; some considerable exertion must be endured; there are no railroads to ease the body, 
while great folios must be read to supply the place of mind; and altogether the kingdom of the 
Shah does not promise the best of spoils. Neither would I waste one drop of ink in rescuing any 
such from a salutary oblivion.

|PPage_26 
d,

ZZZZZheading ---""ZZ(Dedicated to the Traveller 
only)ZZ
2d

Sive per Syrtes iter wstuosas, Sive facturus per inhospitalem Caucasum, vel quse loca 
fabulosus Lambit Hydaspes.
HORACE, Car7n, lib. I. xxii.
THE questions that were put to me before I left England, as to the direction which I was about to 
take, and after I had returned as Necessity to the direction which 1 had taken, lead me to think 
that, of informa- even in these davs of universal primers and travellers  tion I guides, 
geograpl~ical information is not so widely diffused as to render superfluous a chapter 
explanatory of the different ways by which Persia can be approached or left, and of the 
preparatory steps which require to be taken by a traveller. There is so wide a choice open to the 
latter in regard both to route and means   that some guidance in either respect is desirable. 
The tables of routes and distances which I shall give are all derived from firsthand sources, and 
are brought up to the latest date. There is no existing publication in which they can be found 
similarly collected.
Persia, though remote, is the reverse of inaccessible. The physical situation of the country 
between two seas, on the north and Situation south, at once suggests the easiest avenues of 
approach -, of Persia whilst her land frontiers on the east and west, abutting as they do upon 
wide extents of territory, in the hands of alien if not hostile powers, indicate other but less 
facile modes of entry. It results accordingly that the majority of arrivals first land upon. 
Persian soil on the shores either of the Caspian Sea or of the Persian Gulf. The situation of the 
modern capital, Teheran, at a distance of about 200 miles by road from the Caspian, renders 
this the more frequented line of approach; just as in the seven WAYS AND MEANS
27
teenth century, when the Sefavi dynasty held their gorgeous court at Isfahan, the ports of the 
Persian Gulf were the more natural point of debarkation. Even in the early part of- the present 
century, while the Caucasus was still unsubdued and a terror to travellers, the southern route- 
was preferred by European, and especially by English voyagers* the more so as Anglo-Persian 
relations were then in the hands of the East India Company, and
|PPage_
were dictated and controlled from Calcutta or Bombay. It was at Bushire that the missions of Sir 
John Malcolm, Sir Harford Jones, and Sir Gore Ouseley first set foot upon the territory of the 
King of kings.
Premising, therefore, that these are the simpleat and most obvious lines of access, I will 
commence upon the north with the Scheme of Enzeli-Teheran route, and will next describe the 
rechapter maining northern approaches; after which the eastern, southern, and western 
entrances will succeed each other in natural order. The Persian port, or rather landing-place 
(for, as will be seen, Persia enjoys no such luxury as a port), on the Caspian is at Enzeli, a 
villacre upon a low spit of land enclosing upon 1. Enzeli- 0 Teheran the sea side a broad but 
shallow lagoon, known as the route Murdab, or Dead Water, on the inner or southern shore of 
which, at a slight distance from the sea, is situated the considerable town of Resbt. It is in this 
sense that travellers commonly sp eak of landing in Persia at Resht.
Enzeli is served by the steamers of -the Russian Caucasus and Mercury Company, running from 
Baku, which place there are Means of several methods of reaching from Europe. (1) Train may 
reaching be taken to Constantinople, boat (Messageiies, Austrian Enzeli Lloyd, or Russian) from 
thence to Batum-3 or 4 days -and train vU Tiflis to Baku-32 hours; (2) train may be taken, 
vid Berlin and Cracow to Odessa, and Russian steamer thence to Batum-3 days - (3) Tiflis may 
be reached overland from St. Petersburg and Moscow by rail to Vladikavkas, and by carriage 
over the famous Dariel Road-136 miles-into Georgia; (4) there is still another method of 
reaching Baku, viz. by rail across Russia to Tsaritsin, on the Volga, thence by river-boat to 
Astrakhan, and thence by Caucasus and Mercury Company steamers down the west coast of the 
Caspian, touching at Petrofsk and Derbent-21 . 2 days-to Baku. This is perhaps, in point of 
time, the most ex
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28
peditious route. In any case the traveller cannot rely upon reaching Baku under eight or nine 
days from London.
From May to November the Caucasus and Mercury steamers run weekly~ and sometimes bi-
weekly, to Enzeli, leaving Baku as Caspian a rule on Sunday night; during the remainder of the 
steamers year somewhat irregularly. After touching at the Russian (once Persian) port of 
Leii~_oran, and the frontier village of Astara on Monday afternoon, they are timed to arrive at 
Enzeli -a total distance of 197 nautical miles, in from 30 to 36 hours from the start, i.e. at 
some time on Tuesday morning.
Here, however, the peculiar and doleful idiosyncrasies of Persian travel are not unlikely to 
begin, for there is often such a Landing at surf on the bar I that it is quite impossible to land 
pasEnzeli sengers in boats; and in the winter months it not infrequently happens that the 
unhappy voyager, after being tossed about for several hours in sight of his destination, is taken 
all the way back again to Baku, whence, after a mournful week of dabbling in naphtha and 
becoming saturated with petroleum, he returns in order to repeat the experiment. Should the 
elements, however, prove propitious at Enzeli, lie is transferred to a small steam-launch, in 
which lie is conducted to Thethe projecting spit of land, at the western extremity of 
Murdabwhich stands the custorn-liouse of Enzeli, and where also is a somewhat decayed but 
picturesque five-storeyed pagoda or summer-liouse belonging to the Shall.The decorative 
features of this structure, which is painted blue, red, and green, increase in smartness as they 
approach the upper storeys, the topmost 0 f which is reserved for the use of His Majesty; but 
they are in a state of great dilapidation, and are moreover often rendered i I Tivisible by a mat 
covering, intended as a protection against the appalling damp. From here the launch steams 
across the Murdab,
t0
~ yage of about ten miles, in all hour and three-quarters. This shallow and wind-swept lagoon is 
some thirty miles long from east to west, by twelve in maximum breadth from north to south, 
and is peopled with every variety of wild fowl 
I This bar is such an obstruction that ships drawing over five feet of water cannot enter, but 
must lie outside. The Persian Government has often been pressed, but has never yet taken any 
steps, either to remove or reduce it. For an account of the Shah's small stearn yacht, the 
  Nasr-ed-Din, whicb is generally on the 31urdab, videa later chapter on the Navy.
  TAYS A ND MEANS
29

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cormorants, geese, swans, duck, coots, divers, guillemots, gulls)pelicans, crane, and snipe. 
They dot the surface and swarm in the islets and reed-beds on its inner fringe,  Supplying a 
foretaste to the sportsman of the richness of the entire belt of country between the sea and the 
mountains, which abounds in game. At the southern extremity of the lagoon the launch is 
exchanged for a native boat, which is towed up a creek for five miles to the fishing village of 
Pir-i-Bazaar.
Pir-i-Bazaar (i.e. Saint of the Bazaar; more probably PilehBazaar, i.e. the Cocoon Mart, so 
called from the silk industry) Pir-i- consists of a caravanserai, a few houses and sheds,  
and Bazaar a fishing establishment, a weir being thrown across the stream at this point, 
resulting in a multitudinous capture of a species of carp. Rickety carriages are here available 
which transport the new-comer along a vile road, roughly paved, for a distance of six miles 
through the jungle to Resht. The R6sht river, or Shah Rudbar, flows down to the sea; on the left 
hand, and snakes and tortoises . crawl in the slimy watercourses and swamps on the right.
Of Resht I shall have something to say in a later chapter upon the northern provinces of Persia, 
of one of which, viz. Gilan, it is the ReBht capital city. In this context it is regarded solely as the
first town in which the traveller sets foot on Persian soil, and as the starting-point of his 
journey into the interior. From the aspect of the place and of the surrounding country he will 
probably derive an impression of Persian scenery and life which requires very early to be 
abandoned, and which is as unlike the general characteristics with which he will afterwards 
become so sorrowfully familiar as Dover is unlike Aden. At Resht he sees red-tiled cottages and 
mosques, lanes, and hedgerows, and gardens, which speak to him of other lands, whilst in the 
wealth of wood and water that is spread around he observes a favourable indication of the 
fertility of Persian soil. Let him take his soul's fill of both sights; for the modest yet 
appreciable architectural features of Resht he will see nowhere repeated beyond the Caspian 
littoral, and the forests and rivers will presently be succeeded by stony deserts and treeless 
peaks.
At Resht the traveller will form his first experience of that Persian wayfaring, of whose 
pleasures and pains I shall have so much to say as I proceed. Here he must decide between the 
only

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so 
two practicable methods of travel in that country, viz. riding chapar, i.e. by Government post-
or riding with his own animals Choice of and appointments by caravan. The former mcaiis 
rapid, means of if exhausting and sometimes painful progress; the latter Progression. Cha- is 
attended with less physical discomfort, but is apt to par-riding be unutterably tedious, and, as 
the same animals must be used day after day, unconscionably slow. Ill the one case the traveller 
is an item or piece of animate baggage, who is transferred from his starting-point to his 
destination with as much swiftness as a succession of mediocre -and sometimes aboiniliable 
steeds can manage to convey him, or as his own inclinations. or strength will permit. He 
transports his wherewithal oil hors   eback with him, he sleeps in chapar-khanehs, or 
post-houses, which occur at regular intervals along the route, lie carries his food in portable 
shape or buys it on the way, he, pays a fixed tariff for horses and accommodation, he diverges 
not one inch from the main track, he seldom looks behind him, and he has but one appetite -viz. 
to get on.
The other plan involves much forethought and preparation-the purchase of a camp and 
equipments, the hiring of a large number Caravan of riding and baggage animals and of servants 
to look ning after both, and all the responsibilities consequent upon the superintendence of a 
numerous following. On the other hand, it leaves the traveller absolute discretion as to his 
movements, and, while it never allows him to hurry (for baggage animals cannot be trusted to 
do more than twenty-five miles on an average in the day), it gives him unstinted liberty to 
dawdle. According to his objects and tastes, therefore, the stranger will have very little 
difficulty in choosing between the two. If he is anxious to go ahead, does not mind roughing it a 
little, and is fairly active and strong, he will travel chapar. If lie has ladies or a family and 
household with him, if he is not inured to much riding, still more if he requires to move slowly 
and investigate or explore, and most of all if he wishes to diverge from the, beaten track (for 
there are less than a dozen post,-roads in Persia, the number being restricted to the chief lines 
of communication), lie will travel caravan. In either case he will probably do wisely to adopt 
the speedier method as far as Teheran, where he can then make up his plans as to the future; 
whilst, if lie can persuade some friend at the capital to send down a gholam (courier) or a 
Persian servant
ZZZ××- Z
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110 FROM ASHKABAD TO XUCHAN III
of his visit to Kucban in 1822; because I should have liked to ascertain the whereabouts of the 
fragments, described by him, of a magnificent Koran which had been brought by so me of the 
Kuchan soldiers of Nadir Shah from the grave of Timur at Samarkand. Seventy years ago about 
sixty of these pages , ten to twelve feet long
I by seven to eight feet broad, and covered with beautiful calligraphy, were seen by Fraser lying 
upon a shelf in an imamzadeh, or saint's tomb.
 While at Kuchan I also visited the native bazaars. They are. of the usual Oriental character-
long alleys roofed over with timbers meeting above in an arch, and covered with mud and faggots 
Native to keep out the glare. I stopped in the cotton bazaar, bazaars where I saw a number of 
shops stocked with what were evidently European printed calicoes and cottons, and asked where 
they came from. I Russia,  was the reply. Every piece bore the name of a Russian firm. I 
asked if there were any English goods sold in the bazaar. In reply some Turkey red was 
produced, and also some striped cotton-stuff. Neither, however, bore any English mark, and the 
vendor could not say where they came from. At length was produced some calico bearing the 
stamp of a Bombay manufacturer, and doubtless made of Indian cotton. I asked how it was that it 
was worth while to import goods from such a distance. The answer was that, though the price 
was high, yet the quality, which was not equalled in other wares, created. a demand. All the 
glass, hardware, and crockery in the bazaar were Russian. So was the sugar. I was told that most 
of the tea came from India vid Bunder Abbas and Meshed, but that some also came from Russia. 
Russian interests, political as well as commercial, are indeed well lookecT after at Kuchan, for 
the Russians keep a paid agent in the town. The export trade, which is principally in cotton and 
skins, is in the hands of Armenians, whose commercial aptitudes place much of the trade of 
Persia in their control. The proximity of Kuchan to Ashkabad, and the easy and secure 
communication between the two places, are alone sufficient to account for the Russian 
preponderance. The town is connected by a single (Persian) telegraphic wire with Meshed on the 
one hand, and Bujnurd, thirty miles lower down the Atrek valley, on the other. ! here 
connection is established with the Russian wires at Kizil Arvat. Kuchan is also served by a 
weekly Russian post from Ashkabad, carried by mounted Turkomans, who ride via Kucliaii to 
Meshed.
Before I leave Kuchan I may furnish a few details of   the district and government of which 
it is the capital. Bounded by The the district of Bujnurd -on the north-west, it extends as 
Ruchan far as Radkan on the road to Meshed, a total length of Principality nearly sixty miles, its 
breadth from north to south being a little less, and being about equally divided between the 
mountain ranges and uplands in which I had been journeying from the

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frontier and the Kuchan valley itself, which is fifteen miles in average width, and stretches 
without physical interruption to Meshed. The Shah Jehan mountains, which enclose it on the 
south, rise behind the town of Kuchan, which is, 3,800 feet above the sea, to a peak of 10,000 
feet. There is no more fertile or better watered tract in the whole of North -Persia than the 
Kuchan valley. Under irrigation it gives a hundred-fold return of grain; and its cereal 
productiveness entitles it to be termed the granary of Khorasan. Skobeleff knew very well what 
he was about when he despatched Grodekoff to buy forage for his horses and camels from the 
Shuja-ed-Dowleh; and the Russians of to-day also know very well what they are doing in 
planting themselves within easy reach and in strategical command of a district which would feed 
a large army and dominate the whole of Khorasan. The population of the principality consists 
mainly of Zaferanlu  Kurds, but contains also some Geraili Turks and a few- Persians. Its 
total has been variously estimated at from 90,000 to 200,000 souls, the lower figure being, it 
is needless to add, nearer the probable mark. The income of the Ilkhani is derived partly from 
duties on houses and shops in the towns and on cultivated lands outside, partly from the revenues 
of his own private property. Out of it he is required to defray the charges of his cavalry 
contingent, who are well mounted and armed with guns, but whose numbers, which formerly 
stood at 1,000, had, I was informed (perhaps in consideration of the altered condition on the 
frontier), been reduced to 500.
SUPPLEmExTARY ROUTES FRom KuCHAN
KucHAN TO MESHED (vid Jafirabad, Shurcha, Radkan, Chinaxan, Gunabad, Kasimabad, 93 
miles).-J. B. Fraser (1822), Journey into Xhora8an, cap. xxii.; (Sir) A. Burnes (1832), 
Travels into Bokhara, vol. iii. pp. 74-5; Captain Hon. G. Napier (1874), Journal of the -R.G.S.. 
vol. x1vi. pp. 79-87 and 161-3; E. O Donovan (1880), The Nerv Oasis, vol. i. cap. xxviii. 
I KUCHAN TO SHnzPwAR (69 miles).-E. O Donovan.(1880), The Merv Oasis, vol. L p. 437.

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112 PE RSU
KucHAN To ASTRADAD (Vid Shirwan, Buinurd, and the Gurgan).-J. B. Fraser (1823), Journey 
into Khorasan, caps. xxiii.-iv., and (183 t) A Winter's Tourney, vol. ii. Letters xii., xiih*; 
(Sir) A. Burnes (1832), Travels into BokAara, vol. iii. pp. 86-101. KuCHAN TO SHAHRUD 
(vid Shirwan, Bujnurd, SernulghaD, Jajarm, and Bostam). -Colonel Val, Baker (1873), 
Clouds in the East, caps. xvi., xvii.; Captain Hon. G. Napier (1874), .7ournal of the B. G.S., vol. 
x1vi. pp. 98-113 and 164-5; (Sir) C. MacGregor (1875), Journey through Khorasan, vol. ii. 
pp. 88-113. . KucHAN To DEREGEz.-Captain Hon. G. Napier (1874), Journal of the R. G.S., vol. 
xlvi. pp. 88-94 and 158-9.
113
CHAPTER VI
FROM KUCHAN TO KELAT-I-NADIRI
And one a foreground black with stones and slags, Beyond-a line of heights, and higher
All barred with long white cloud the scornful crags, And highest snow and fire.
TimNNYSON, The Palace of Art.
FROM Kuchan it was my intention, if possible, to visit the famous frontier stronghold of Kelat-
i-Nadiri, the Fort of Nadir Shah, Intention described by previous travellers as one of the most 
of visiting extraordinary natural phenomena in the world, and Kelat-iNadiri famous even in 
this land of mountain fastnesses and impregnable defiles for its inaccessibility and amazing 
natural strength. Ever since the rumour had been . spread, and even circulated in Europe, that 
Russia coveted this particular possession [a questio n was asked in the House of Commons in the 
spring of 1889 as to whether it had not actually been ceded to the Czar3, the Persians had looked 
with a jealous eye upon any intruder, and I accordingly judged it prudent to say nothing of my 
desire. I had ascertained that it was impossible for me to fortify myself before starting with a 
special permit from the Shah, the latter not having as yet returned to Teheran from Europe, and 
the British Minister not being at the capital, in order to approach the sovereign's 
representatives. - Nor in any case should I haVe solicited such permission, knowing that if 
granted it would at once have been treated as a precedent by the Russians for demanding a 
similar concession, which might in the case of their emissary have meant something very 
different from the visit of so innocent a traveller as myself. I was still less willing to telegraph 
for leave to the Governor-General of. Khorasan at Meshed, because I doubted his ability to grant 
it, and felt certain. that my footsteps would at
ged by spies, if I was not actually turned back. The

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once be dog Persians are so extravagantly  suspicious of foreigners, and par ticularly of 
such as sketch, or ask questions, or measure, or

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114 
pull instruments out of their pockets, that no successful exploration would ever be undertaken 
if they were to be forewarned of the traveller's intention. I determined, therefore, to take no 
one into my counsels, but to announce that I was going to Meshed and might possibly diverge on 
the way to hunt in the mountains; my secret resolve being to strike across country by whatever 
route I could find,  and ascertain for myself whether it was possible for a single individual, 
unexpected and unannounced, to penetrate into Kelat.
I had the greatest difficulty in eluding the vigilance of the Ilkhani, who was not only full of 
curiosity as to my movements, The but also insisted upon my travelling in his brand-new 
victoria of Russian victoria as far as Meshed, threatening to return the Dkhani me. the silver 
watch if I would not accept the loan of his vehicle.It was in vain tliat I said that I preferred to 
ride  You will have plenty of riding later on,  was the reply. Or that I wanted to stop at 
the villages en route..  So can the carriage,  was the rejoinder. Finally I compromised by 
accepting the victoria, with the intention of sending it back at the end of the first stage; and 
concluded by a most ceremonious departure from Kuchan.The Khan walked with me through the 
streets, holding me by the hand, and deposi - ted me in the vehicle, which was of Moscow build 
and of the newest and most elegant description (I fell to wondering from whom the present had 
come), and to which were harnessed four grey horses with postilions. With mounted gholams 
clearing a way in front and attendants walking by the side, the victoria, with myself inside *it, 
rolled slowly out of the town. The first part of my route lay along the highway to Meshed; as, in 
order to avoid suspicion, I had decided upon pursuing it as K.,han to far as Radkan, on the 
outskirts of the ShuJa's government, Chamgir and forty miles from his city. The road runs 
across an almost dead level, although at about twenty miles from Kuchan it crosses the 
watershed between the Atrek and Keshef Rud drainage, It was uumetalled, in bad repair, and 
reflected no credit on the engineer who had constructed it. My postilions, as a rule, preferred to 
drive over the open plain, for the road was frequently intersected by irrigation trenches of a 
foot or more in depth, whichI bad no information as to the existence of any such route, the few 
English travellers who bad previously been to Kelat having gone from Meshed.
FROM KUCHAN TO KELAT-I-NADIRI
caused excruciating scrunches to the springs of the light victoria, For the first ten miles the 
country, though at this season destitute of verdure, was richly cultivated, every square yard 
being turned by the plough. Wrapped up in a shroud of dust, I could scarcely see a yard in front. 
At. intervals on either side of the plain occurred small mud villages, clinging to the shade of tiny 
clumps

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of trees, which owed their existence to some stray watercourse or to a happily unchoked kanat.1 
Of these villages we passed in
I I shall have occasion so frequently to speak of kanat8, and they constitute so striking,and 
almost invariable a feature of the Persian landscape, that, for the benefit of those who have not 
seen them, I will describe what they are. A kanat (identical with the Beluch and Afghan kariz) is 
a wbterranean gallery or aqueduct conducting the water from its  parent springs in hill or 
mountain to the village where it is required either to promote cultivation or to sustain life. The 
process of construction is as follows. Experimental shafts are first sunk until a spring is tapped 
in the bi.-her ground. Then the labourer begins at the other~ end, where the water is required 
upon the surface, or at intervening points, and digs a trench or cutting, on a very slightly 
inclined plane, in the direction of the  spring. As he goes further and gets deeper 
underground, circular pits or shafts are opened from above, at distances of twenty yards or 
more, by which the excavated soil is drawn up to the surface and heaped round the mouth of the 
shaft. In time the subterranean tunnel reaches the spring, and the water flows down the nicely 
calculated slope to its destination. The sbaf ts are subsequently used to keep the gallery clear and 
free from obstruction. A village with any extent of cultivable soil is, therefore, as a rule, the 
apex from which radiate a number of kanat lines, often several miles in length, to the nearest 
mountain, the long succession of shafts resembling an array of portentous mole-hills thrown up 
one after the other across the plain. The water-way, however, is very easily blocked or choked 
-or in other ways impaired, whereupon the whole labour is repeated ab initio, two parallel 
kanat lines being often encountered within a few yar ds of each other, the earlier of which has 
been totally abandoned. It will easily be understood how dangerous are the open shafts of the 
latter. The d6bri8 round their summits gets washed in by the rain, so that nothing remains to 
mark the mouth of the pit; and many are the animals that have found a premature death by 
falling down. Their skeletons can sometimes be seen wedged half-way down the shafts. Riders 
and their horses have had the most extraordinary escapes, and the case is well known at Teheran 
of a gentleman who, while out hawking, suddenly disappeared from view, having dropped down a 
disused shaft, but was hauled up along with his horse without any damage to either. The kanat 
shafts are the favourite abode of bluerock pigeons, who, if the hands be clapped at one opening, 
will dart out of the next, providing shots that would puzzle even the professors of Hurlingham. 
In the account of his Persian travels, given by one of the Venetian Ambassadors, Signor Josafa 
Barbaro, over 400 years ago, occurs an interesting passage about the digging of kanat8, which 
was thus rendered into English in a quaint transla. tion of the sixteenth century: I Neere to the 
ryver they make a pitt like unto a well, from whense they folowe, diggeng by lyvells towardes 
the place they meane to bringe it to; so that it may evermore distende chanell wise; which 
chanell is deeper than the botome of the foresaid pytt, and whan they have digged about

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116 
succession Fathiabad, two miles from Kuclian; Sarkhan, seven miles; Tafirabad, a collection of 
low cubical domes, fifteen miles, and Daslitabad. Black goats -hair tents scattered here and 
there showed that not all the Kurds had taken to sedentary life, but that some retained their 
nomad instincts ; while an occasional deserted village marked the site of a destroyed kanat or 
exhausted spring.. At Kelata,l about twenty-two miles from Kuchan, I dismissed the victoria, 
with instructions to go home on the morrow - and mounting my liorse, and leaving the high road 
to Meshed and the telegraph poles oil the right, continued for another eight miles on the level to 
Chamgir, a small village some way short of Radkan. As we rode along the plain, now quite 
destitute of vegetation, a lovely lake of water, the creature of the Eastern inirage, trembled and 
glittered on the horizon, and ever receded while we advanced. Towards evening the north-east 
hills, oil which the declining sun shone with full orb, acquired a startling glory with tints of 
rose and coral ; the opposite range, plunged in the shadow, was suffused with an opaline vapour 
that temporarily endowed it with almost ethereal beauty. Presently they both * relapsed., the 
one into a russet brown, the other into a cold and ashen grey. I camped in all orchard outside the 
village. At one of the lianilets which we had passed during the day I saw a decidedly primitive 
manner of threshing barley straw. A Primitive threshing-floor was prepared of trodden earth 
outside the threshing walls, and upon this   the straw was spread out; while a long wooden 
cylinder or roller, armed with big wooden spikes, like the barrel of a colossal musical box, and 
drawn by bullocks, was driven slowly round and round over the heaps. The result was that the 
straw was chopped up into small pieces, which constitute the kah, or fodder, that is the common 
food of horses and mules in Persia. This mode of,threshing and the implement employed are as 
old and unalterable as are most of the habits and utensils of the East. It is described at length by 
Chardin over two hundred years ago,2 and by even earlier travellers, and will doubtless be 
visible in remote hamlets two hundred years lience. XX. paces of this cbanell, than digge they an 
other pitt like to the first, and so frorn pitt to pitt they con4igh the water alongest these 
chanells whither they won,  But the system is older yet, for It is described by Polybius (lib. 
x. 25). 1 Kelata is the plural, and signifies a collection of villages or hamlets, each of which is 
usually distinguished by a separate title. 2 Toyages (ed.it. Laxigl6s), vol. iv, pp. 105-106.
FROM KUCHAN TO KELAT-I-NADIRI
117
It is impossible to tire of the interest and humours of camp life. The traveller arrives first on 
his superior mount, and selects Camp life a favourable spot, beneath the protection of trees, and 
if

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ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZpossible near to running water. Stretching himself at full length upon an 
outspread carpet, he enjoys the luxury of relaxation and repose. The villagers crowd round and 
stare. Some firewood and forage are bought for a few coppers. A flame is soon crackling and 
blazing ; the samovar puffs out its grateful steam ; and an excellent cup of tea proves to be the 
best beverage in the world. By this time the remainder of the camp has arrived.The horses are 
unsaddled by their grooms, currycombed, wrapped in thick felts from ears to tail, picketed, and 
fed from nosebags containing grass and chopped straw. The tents and beds and cooking utensils 
and baggage are pulled with a crash from the backs of the inules, who, relieved of their burdens, 
immediately seek the nearest tree to scratch their hinder parts, and then incontinently lie 
down, and kicking their heels in the air, do their ineffectual best to turn a somersault in the 
dust. Meanwhile the cook is hard at work on one side scooping a hole in the ground, into which he 
transfers the already lighted fuel, and over which he prop . s an iron grid. On the other side the 
tent-pegs are driven in the tent soon rises, and, extended on his couch, the traveller recalls the 
incidents of the day, tries to summon up resolution to write his diary, and awaits the 
crowning consolation of dinner. By 8.30 or 9 P.m. all is still save the tinkle of the mule bells 
and an occasional sneeze from the horses; for at five next morning the forward movement must 
again begin.
d

And here   before I proceed further, let me introduce to my readers, for t   lie purposes 
of this chapter only, the names and M retinue individuality of my attendants, who will appear 
several
times with   in its pages. Their leader was Ramzan Ali Khan, all Afghan of Persian extraction 
(i.e. a descendant of a Persian ancestor who had accompanied either Nadir Shah or Ahmed Shah 
Durani into Afghanistan in the previous century,  .and had settled there), himself a 
duffadar, or sergeant, in the Indian Corps of Guides, who are recruited on the north-west border 
of India very largely from these sources, and whose members are commonly employed upon 
frontier expeditions or foreign service.Ramzan Ali had accompanied General Maclean, the 
British Consul-General at Meshed, from India, and was a fine

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118 
specimen of the Asiatic. Courageous and resourceful, a good horseman, with the manners of a 
perfect gentleman, he entertained a profound conviction that there was no people in the world 
like the English. Colonel Stewart, then acting as substitute for General Maclean at Meshed, had 
kindly given me the loan of his personal servant, Gregory, an Armenian of Julfa, who, knowing 
English fairly well, and Persian thoroughly, proved himself a most efficient interpreter,  
and also of his cook. He
NOBAD GELDI
FROM KUC ffAN TO KELAT-I-NADIRI
119
maintain this allegiance rather than join the conquerors, whom they cordially dislike. I present 
upon the accompanying page a portrait of Nobad Geldi, the senior of these Turkomans, which I 
took with my I Kodak at Imam Kuli. He rode a white Turkoman horse,
ho tail was dyed with henria, and which, though of unprepossessing appearance, could always go 
both faster and longer than any other animal in the caravan. Its favourite pace was the peculiar 
amble or run which the Turkomans teach their horses,
THE TURROMAN's CHARGER
and which it performed with its hind legs very wide apart. The bad, moreover, sent as a 
personal escort two of the TurkomanPersians look upon this idiosyncrasy as a good sign in a 
horse, soivars, or horsemen, a small contingent of whom are kept by theproving that it is not 
knock-kneed, and call an animal thus gifted Indian Government at Meshed, and are, eniployed as 
a private
asp shulwari gushad-i.e. I a horse with broad trowsers.  Riding mounted post between that 
city and Herat. They are chieflybehind him, I never failed to be tickled at the paces of Nobad 
Sarik Turkomans of Penjdeh, who threw in their lot with GreatGeldi's red-tailed charger, 
and used to amuse both myself and Britain before the Russian advance, of 1885, and have 
preferred tohim by taking him off, as be was ambling along, with my photo  The poor fellow 
died a few weeks later -on the march from Meshed tographic camera. Finally, the only other 
servant whom I need Teheran. mention was the Persian groom, Shukurullah, who had met me

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120 FROM RUCHAN TO KELAT-I-NADIRI 121
at Ashkabad, and of whom it was impossible to say whether he was more willing or more stolid. I 
will give my diary for the ensuing week according to each day's march, as the information 
may conceivably be useful to a later traveller following the saine line.
October 15-Starting at 7 A.M., we reached Radkan (seven miles), a largish village of 400 to 
500 houses and superb Tower of orchards, inhabited by Kaiwanlu Kurds, at 8.30. Away Radkan 
to the right I could discern Saidan (or Saidabad), a village on the road to Meshed; and the curious 
tower, or Mil-iRadkan, one of those lofty circular structures, evidently dating from the times 
that succeeded the Arab conquest of Persia, but whose exact purpose has never clearly been 
ascertained. Its exterior consists of fluted brick colunins, round the summit of which, beneath 
the conical roof, ran a gigant;c Kufic inscription in blue tiles. The interior originally contained 
three storeys, which have fallen in and disappeared. O Donovan, who carefully examined the 
structure,  says it could neither have been a dwelling nor a tomb. Why not the latter he does 
not state; and good authorities have regarded it as the mausoleum of one of the Tartar rulers of 
Khorasan, although the theory that it was designed as a watchtower is also worthy of 
consideration. Colonel Stewart conjectures that it was intended for a bunting-tower .2 It is a 
curious fact that a somewhat similar tower is to be seen near another village, also bearing the 
name of Radkan, on the road between Astrabad and Gez; from which we may infer that the name, 
which is neither modern Persian nor Turkish, contains some reference to the object of the 
building.
I The Aferv Oasis, vol. ii. pp. 22-24. 2 Proceedings of the 11,0.8. (NeiV Series), vol. iii. 
(1881). Colonel Stewart also says of Radkan : I A splendid breed of camels is met with in this 
district. The Khorasan camel is celebrated for its size and strength. It has very long hair   
and bears cold and exposure far better than the ord   inary Arab or Persian camel. The best 
animals are a cross between the Bactrian  or two-humped, and the Arab, or one-bumped, 
camel. The first cross is by far the best. The load of an ordinary Persian camel is generally 320 
lbs., of an Indian camel 400 lbs., but one of the Khorasali breed will carry 600 and even 700 
lbs.  It is worth while in this context to repeat the correction of the never sufficiently 
corrected error that the camel is an animal with one hump and the dromedary with two. A 
dromedary is merely, as the Greek derivation of the name implies, a fleet riding-camel, 
irrespective of hump. I think it was Palgrave who said that it stands in the same ratio to other 
camels w9 a Rotten Row hack does to a country nag.
Halting outside the village, I sent Ramzan Ali to hire a guide to lead us to Kelat, having heard 
from an Afghan trader at Marchto Kuchan that there was a track from here across the Pushtah 
mountains. A man was found who, for three krans, offered to conduct us to Pushtah, six 
farsakhs. Further be had

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never been, but another guide would be procurable there. As we were waiting outside the walls 
in some fields that formed part of the vak:f or endowment of the shrine of Imam Reza at Meshed, 
the leading personage of Radkan-a green-turbaned seyid who administered the domain-came out 
with a posse of townsfolk behind him to inspect some tobacco with which the ground had been 
planted. He loudly expressed his dissatisfaction with the crop, and his intention to sow wheat 
another year. We started again at ten. It was a long wearisome ride to Pushtali, for the sun was 
piercingly hot, and a brisk wind sprang up and blew the desert into suffocating whirlwinds of 
dust. At about ten miles from Radkan the track passed into the first fold of the foot hills on the 
north side of the plain, and then struck boldly up a dried torrent bed to a higher plateau, the 
first of a series of similar terraces between the main range and the Meshed valley. There were 
no villages, water, or vegetation in this and desert. At twenty miles from Radkan we came to a 
kind of circular crater with ragged walls, at the extreme end of which, under a rock once 
crowned by a fort, nestled the village of Shiri I by the side of a genuine stream. Skirting this and 
continuing to the north, we now passed on to a second and higher terrace that stretched for 
several miles to the base of the Hazar Musjid,2or main range. Dotted at intervals along its 
length could be seen the villages of Girri, Pushan, and Ardokh. We camped at the village of 
Pushtah, on the southern. side of this plateau, six good farsakhs from Radkan. On the plain 
outside was a very large encampment of Kurd nomads, with black many~peaked tents, and 
innumerable flocks.
October 16.-Started at 6.45 A.M. We marched straight across the plain to the village of Ardokh 
(or Ardrakh), two miles, at
I I find few of these names marked in any map that I have seen, and can only, therefore, give 
them as they were given to me. 2 1 Hazar Musiid  signifies I A Thousand Mosques,  the 
needle-like pinnacles and crags of the mountain range being compared by the facile imagination 
of the  Mussulman pilgrim to the minarets of many mosques-hazar being frequently uced. in 
Persian as around number. Others say that the Mohammedans believe in the existence of 1,000 
prophets, with a mosque for each.

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I
122 FROM KUCHAN TO KELAT-1-NADIRI 123
the foot of the mountain range. Here we entered the bed of a him; but we neither saw nor heard 
anymore of the latter. He broad but empty torrent that clove a winding passage in the wall was 
probably the solitary representative of the Imperial GovernMarch to of rock. Coming, after a 
mile or more, to a plain where ment in these parts, and did not -care to assert its majesty in 
the Bolghor two gorges converged, we followed that to the right,
face of a numerous caravan. and proceeded up a mountain valley to the village of Oghrah, October 
17.-Undeterred bythe fate of his predecessor, another picturesquely situated upon a rocky slope 
at its extremity. Here guide was forthcoming this morning. For an hour we were occuwe 
procured a guide, following whom we plunged into a deep and pied in climbing and descending the 
ridge immediately to
Bolghor to narrow gorge that cut straight into the heart of the rock wall, Vardeb the north of 
4aresh; and then, facing due northwards, as though some Titan's axe had slashed a savage 
gash in the solid
westruck the track from Meshed to Kelat, the passage of which stone. Its walls were absolutely 
perpendicular, and shaped in along a deep gorge was marked by telegraph poles and a single 
parts by the storms of centuries into windy buttresses and towers
3 wire, soloosely hung that we had frequently to dip our heads in while at the bottom brawled a 
stream, which had hollowed pools order to avoid being struck in the face. At this point I joined 
the in the rock and up and across the bed of which it was with principal caravan route from 
Meshed to Kelat-i-Nadiri, which has difficulty that our horses could be persuaded to climb. The 
been followed by most English visitors to the stronghold of Nadir. I formation and the scenery of 
this magnificent gorge, whose walls It runs here through a profound and narrow gorge, whose 
sides are were in receding terraces, are a precise reproduction on a minia
so close that in placesthere is only room for a single horseman to ture scale of the little known 
but unequalled caRon of the pass between .2 The pass is called Dahaneh-i-Zaupirzan 3 or Old 
Colorado River, in Arizona. After two hours  marching in this Woman's Gorge, any 
peculiarly horrible piece of country in Persia splendid defile, we scaled the right or east side, 
and followed a being described, as I shall have reason again to observe later on, line over the 
mountains in a north-easterly direction, crossing a by this quaint but in Persia most apposite 
simile. After an hour's second sweep of hills, and emerging upon another valley, richly 
laborious marching, we emerged upon a more open valley, where watered both by springs and 
streams, and tilled by the villagers two roads diverged, to the east and to the west. I. was 
informed of Maresh. This was the most remarkable of the mountain that the latter also led to 
Kelat, but was very rough and almost

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villages that I saw. Clinging to the side of the steep rock, its impassable for horses, and that the 
other was the easier and more houses were built entirely of stone, rudely quarried and loosely 
ordinary way. Accordingly we turned our faces towards the sun put together, the ruins of an old 
stone castle frowning from a and struck eastwards along a rolling upland valley, having upon 
peak above the whole. It was a sombre-looking place, even in our left hand the main range of the 
Karia Dagh (Black Mountains), the full blaze of the sunshine.- Here we again turned 
northwards, whose splintered limestone crags were dotted on their inferior and after climbing 
another ridge of bills descended upon yet I The Englishmen who have visited and described Kelat 
are as follows (Fraser, another valley, commanded by the romantic village of Bolghor. who 
endeavoured to come herewith Yalantush Khan fro m  Meshed in 1834, having There we 
halted for the night, having been on the march for nine been compelled to desist frbm the 
attempt) :-Colonel Val. Baker (1873), C10Ud8 hours; although, owing to the extraordinarily 
rugged ground, we in the East, pp. 194-210; Captain Hon. G. Napier (1874), Jowrnal of 
t1w B.G.S.,
vol.xlvi. pp. 75-79, 149-150; (Sir) C. MacGregor (1875), Tourmy through had probably not 
covered more than twenty-four miles. Khorasan, vol. ii. pp. 38-62; E. O Donovan (1881), 
Yhe Merv Oasis, vol. ii. p. 82;
After we had encamped I heard that the peasant who had Captain A. C. Yate (1885), 1 Through 
Khorasan  in the -Daily Telegra
PA, August
27, 1885. It was also visited by Mr. A. Condie-Stephen (1881), when a Secretary guided us in 
the afternoon had, while returning to his village,
of the British Legation at Teheran, but his report was not made public. The guide been overtaken 
and soundly thrashed by a Persian sowar. 2 The lower and even more rugged portions of this 
tremendous defile will be beaten He had, apparently, told my muleteers that he expected 
described upon my return journey to Meshed, where also I shall quote MacGregor's this 
chastisement for showing us the way. But three krans were opinion as to its astonishing 
strength. too tempting a bait to be resisted. One of my men overheard 3 The distinction   
between DahaneA and Teng, both Persian words applied to
passes, is strictly as follows: Dahaneh is the space or pass lying between the the howls of the 
poor wretch, and watched the soldier beating base of two hills; Teng is a narrow defile between 
vertical walls of rock.

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124 PERS1A
FROM KUCHAN TO KELAT-I-NADIRI
125  .
slopes with mountain juniper. At one point of this valley, where* horizon spread the blue band 
of the Kara Kum (Black Sand), which an elevation is crossed, a most superb view unrolled itself 
to the I had left little more than a week before at Ashkabad. A bee-line east. In tier after tier the 
mountain ridges descended towards the
due north from where I was standing would have struck the basin of the Tejend River (formed 
by the junction of the Keshef Russian station of Kaahka, on the Transcaspian Railway, from Rud 
and Heri Rud) and the Tnrkoman plains; while like a yellow which, or from the neighbouring 
station of Dushak, a year before scarf against the sky hung the dim outline of the desert. After 
my companions and I -had ligl~tly and without any preparations pursuing this valley for an 
hour and a half, we turned sharply to Contemplated an expedition to Kelat* and Meshed, little 
recking of the left and scaled the ridge by a path known as the Dewah Boini, the appalling stretch 
of country that intervened. On that or Camel's Neck, so steep, and alternately so rough and so 
slippery, occasion we had been stopped by the Russian authorities; I and I that, although on foot 
ourselves, it was with much difficulty that bad since travelled some thousands of miles in order 
to renew the we could prevail upon our horses to ascend. At the crest we gazed
experiment from the opposite quarter. We now commenced a down upon a second valley parallel 
with that which we bad just left very steep and prolonged descent, having to lead our horses 
most -i.e. running from north-west to south-east, in the bottom of which of the way, the 
ravine* breaking at times into a sheer precipice appeared a little hamlet with a ruined fort 
perched upon a knoll, upon our left hand. The opposite side of the gorge had sloping and beyond 
this again the larger red-coloured village of Vardeh. sides of coloured clay and marls, above 
which rose sandstone
Leaving these villages on our left hand, we struck eastwards, pinnacles and towers; and as we 
contemplated the strange and following the telegraph poles in the direction of Kelat, the 
variegated spectacle, it was as though the mountain had been
horizontal ramparts of which we thought we could now draped for festal purposes in a 
particoloured skirt with purple and Baghkhan
discern against the distant sky. At noon, having been crimson flounces .2 The defile was alive 
with partridges,.in coveys in the saddle for over five hours, I stopped for lunch by a rivulet of 
from four to,eight. They started up with a whirr almost under running at the valle bottom, 
which here dee ens into a rocky our feet, but seldom flew more than a hundred yards. 
Indeed,they
y p ravine. At this juncture one of the Turkomans, whom I bad left seemed to be greater adepts 
on foot

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than on the wing, for they behind to point out our direction to the muleteers, arrived with 
scudded up the bare vertical cliffs jgst like squirrels. At the the news that in scaling the 
Camel's Neck one of th   e mules had bottom of the descent we followed. the dried-up bed 
of a torrent slipped and rolled down for fifty feet, maiming or breaking its leg. till, through a 
rocky portal, it opened upon the last valley but one I was not in the least surprise4 at this 
intelligen ce, as there are before that of Kelat. Here the telegraph poles and track diverged 
certain places which even Persian mules can-not attack with to the right, but as it was now late 
in the afternoon, and our impunity, and of which this horrible natural ladder was most animals 
were dead beat we turned to the left, following the course assuredly one. We left the poor brute 
behind to be looked after of a plentiful stream that ran down the valley and made it green till our 
return, and followed the gully down for two miles till at with chenars (the Orientalplane) and 
poplars. At the mouth of this its eastern end we came to the small village and crumbling fort Of 
valley is a gigantic chemar springing from the base of a rock which Baghkhan. contains an 
imamzadeh. or saint's tomb. Its boughs were positively
Here the wire turned sharply to the north-east, and an hour was covered with rams  horns, 
a favourite offering of the pious occupied in crossing a rolling liump of hills, at whose further 
edge Mussulman to the distinguished dead, and with other emblems of Mountain a deep ravine 
disclosed itself below, and a second reverence. After a mile and a half I reached the secluded 
little defiles magnificent panorama burst upon our view. Now we village of Issurcha or Ab-i-
garm (i.e. hot water), so called from could distinctly see the corrugated battlements of the 
southern some warm springs which rise near by. outer wall of Kelat, dipping at the point where 
is the solitary rift Vide Ru8sia in Central A8ia, p. 101. in this portion of their circumference. 
Beyond to the north fold
2 1 have nowhere seen such brilliant natural colours in rock and mould except succeeded fold of 
lower undulations, until like a sea upon the in the cafion of the Yellowstone River in North 
America.

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126 FROM KUCHAN TO KELAT-1-NADIRI 127
Realising that my mules, which I had left far behind, would moon hung high overhead, and 
straight in front the Great Bear be unlikely to arrive for hours, if indeed they succeeded in 
twinkled solemnly, standing upon his tail. At the exit 6f the Ab-i-ga coming at all before it was 
dark, I made up my mind gorge was a ruined and unoccupied fort. The track now broad
rm
for a night in a Persian hovel. The inhabitants of ened into a flat and open valley, across which 
were drawn the Issurcha, however, were by no means glad to see a stranger, and segments of a 
curious rocky ridge which had been burst through at first declared that they could provide me 
neither with forage by some convulsion of nature, and whose strata were strangely nor with 
accommodation. After a little delay a villager was found contorted and inclined. Streams of 
 water, impregnated with  who placed at my disposal an empty mud apartment, in which, 
with naphtha, gushed from the mountain side and joined the river nothing but what I had on me, 
I made myself as comfortable channel, from which a flock of wild duck started with a prodigious 
as I could. Fortunately, about 10.30 P.m. the mules appeared, clamour. The sun rose as we were 
about half down the valley, having found a guide who brought them safely down the mountain. and 
disclosed the southern wall of Kelat on our right hand, a
During the last two days- i had, from such natives as we met magnificent and lofty rampart of 
rock, springing from the valley and interrogated, heard the most conflicting reports of the 
bottom to a height of 700 or 800 feet, as level along the summit Possibility possibility of 
entering Kelat. Some declared that any as though pared by a plane, but scarred and fluted down 
its of entering one could go in or come out as he pleased; I others that absolutely vertical and 
imp~rvious sides. Four times I passed to Kelat a strict guard was kept at the entrance, and no 
strangers and fro beneath this stupendous barrier, and never failed to think. permitted to pass. 
The question accordingly presented itself how it one of the most astonishing natural phenomena 
that I have ever. and in what guise I was to make the attempt. I did not want, seen. Its outer 
slopes or glacis consist of steep~ acclivities and after all this trouble, to be, turned back. On the 
other hand, I was shelving spurs, which swell up to it from the plain, and resemble reluctant to 
do anything that, if discovered, might arouse f colossal piles of d6brig that might have been shot 
from its summit.
sheer suspicion, or bring discredit upon the English name. I imagine Fro the point wh e they 
terminate  the rock rise
In I er and from what I saw later that it would have been possible to ride in abrupt to its a6rial 
battlements. As this wall encloses Kelat on at night, though I cannot be sure. I resolved, 
however, as I had the south-east side, it does not catch the morning sun, but remains no inotive 
in concealing my intentions, and as they were of the plunged in shadow. In the evening,

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however, towards sundown, most innocent description, to ride down bo the gate, if gate there the 
red sandstone under the descending rays glistens like columns was, at daylight, and either enter 
uninterrupted or not at all. My- of porphyry and jasper, and the entire rocky rampart seems to 
be presence, moreover, was likely so soon to become known in the on fire. neighbourhood, that 
disguise or concealment, even-it temporarily In descending the valley, where not a soul was to 
be seen, I successful, would be liable to detection in the end. had observed a place ahead of us 
where the  level top of the rocky
October 18.-1 was called at 4.30 A.M., and started at five in the
parapet ended abruptly in a jutting point, and its con
The gate moonlight, having a rough ride of nearly ten miles before me. of Arga- tinuity was 
evidently broken by some sort of rift or
wan Shah Approach Descending the valley of Issurcha to the point where we cleft. . As we drew 
nearer this spot, at a distance of thereto had entered it on the previous day, we followed the 
course abo& seven miles from the gorge by which we had entered the of the stream, which here 
turned northwards and plunged into a valley, the sides began to converge and close, until 
presently they black and rocky gorge called Derbend-i-Jaur, where we threaded left only the 
narrowest passage, the bottom of which was filled our way between sombre walls in and out of 
the river bed. The by the bed of the stream. Following this natural cutting through
General Annenkoff at Uzun Ada had asked me why, instead of going to one or two zigzags, we came 
in sight of a rocky portal, some Meshed vid Kuchan, I did not take the more interesting route by 
Kaahka and twenty yards in width, completely barred by a wall, the only Kelat-i-Nadiri. , 
Russian officers,  lie said, I were forbidden by their own Govern- aperture in which 
consisted of three arches that admitted the ment to enter; but no one would stop an 
Englishman.  stream, and were also the sole gateway for any visitor to Kelat.

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128
ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZThe upper part of the wall above the arches was loopholed and
d

had a parapet, but there was no one upon it and no sign of life or
movement. This is the famous Derbeiid-i-Argawan Shah, or
Gate of Argawan, or Arghun Shah, the passage having originally
been foitified by that monarch, who was the grandson of Hulaku
Khan, and is said to have retired to Kelat after being defeated on
one occasion in battle by his uncle, Ahmed Khan.  A fine inscrip
tion on a smoothed surface of rock upon the right-hand wall of the
GATE OF ARGAWAN SHAH
defile beyond the gate records this act of the sovereign. The present barricade is only a modern 
substitute for that which was built by Nadir Shah, and which, I do not doubt, was a far more 
substantial structure.
I This monarch, called by the Persians Argawan Shah, but raore commonly spoken of as Arghun 
-Khan (1284-1290 A.D.), was the remarkable man to whom Marco Polo was sent by Kubla 
Kban from China in charge of a Tartar bride, who opened diplomatic intercourse with the 
sovereigns of Europe, including King Edward I., and who, like his father, Abaka Khan, was 
almost a Christian, and degraded the Mussulmans from all publio office.
FROM KUCHAN TO KEI.AT-I-N.ADIRI
129
In the fond belief that all my previous fears had been groundless, I put my horse into the bed of 
the stream, and, accompanied Entrance by Ramzan Ali Khan, Gregory, and Shukurullah, also 
detected on horseback, rode through the central arch. No one appeared or challenged. I had time 
upon the other side to note the inscription of Argawan Shah, and to observe a round tower at the 
summit of an eminence commanding the entrance, and had already advanced about a hundred 
yards towards the houses of a village that appeared upon either side of the defile, when suddenly 
a terrific shouting was heard from the gate behind us, and a miserable soldier, still half asleep, 
and pulling his tattered cotton tunic about his shoulders, came running out, yelling at the top of 
his voice. Answering cries were heard; and presently there poured out of the wall, which was 
really a gate-tower and had casements on the inner side, a motley band of half-clad individuals, 
for the most part in rags, though an occasional button with the Lion and Sun upon it, and one 
pair of blue trousers with a red stripe, showed that I was in the presence of some of the serbaz 
or regular infantry of the King of Kings. As I did not want to begin with a fracas, and as the 
soldiers

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were clearly doing their duty, although they had been within an Colloquy ace of letting me slip 
through unobserved, I halted and with the we entered into conversation. At first they were very 
guard violent and tried to pull back our horses. But when I represented that I had no intention of 
going further without leave, they became calmer. I inquired for the officer in command. There 
did not appea r to be such a person. I next asked where was the Khan of Kelat. The reply was, 
given that he was at his village, two miles away. Accordingly I despatphed Shukurullah (as a 
Persian and therefore free from suspicion), with a soldier mounted on the same horse behind 
him, to the Khan, to tell him who I was, and to request permission to pass through Kelat and out 
on the other side; or, if this could not be granted on his own responsibility, then to telegraph to 
Meshed. While the Persian was away I remained in the rocky gateway conversing with the 
soldiers. It was bitterly cold, for the sun Attitude of would not strike the chasm for some hours, 
so I bought the serbaz Some brushwood and lit a fire. When they heard that I was an Englishman 
they seemed disposed to be more friendly; for they said that if I had been a Russian they would 
have shot me

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J
130
ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZdown as I rode through the gate, though how they could have guessed ray 
nationality when they never saw me, or have shot at all when they were fast asleep, I did not 
needlessly vex them by asking. They added that a Russian bad come to Kelat last year and had 
beaten a Persian, and been beaten by them, and had then started to come with 300 Turkomans in 
revenge; but that they had marched out, and the Russian and the Turkomans had marched back 
again. They also asked me if it was true that the Zil-esSultan, the. eldest son of the Shah, had put 
off the Persian costume, donned English dress, and sailed from Bushire for London. I 
interrogated them about their existence and service at Kelat. They said that the water was very 
unhealthy, being impregnated with naphtha, and that they suffered from it.  They also 
complained that, though they were to have been relieved in three months, they had already been 
there for five, and during that time had received no pay. I could not help feeling for the poor 
wretches, who were about as like what one ordinarily associates with the idea of a soldier as a 
costermonger's donkey is like the winner of the Derby. After an hour and a half of tedious 
waiting, Shukurullah returned with the news that the Khan -wished me to telegraph for 
A.nswer,q leave to the Governor-General of Meshed, and that if the Khan the answer was 
favourable I might pass through. This was all that I desired; so I proceeded to write a telegram to 
Oolonel Stewart, asking him to interview the Governor on my behalf and to wire me a reply. 
There was some difficulty, however, in finding any one to transcribe the message into Persian 
characters. Few of the lower orders know the Persian alphabet; if they want to write a letter 
they hire a scribe to do it for them. The solitary scribe of Kelat was reported to be asleep 
-under the influence of opium; but I insisted upon his being severely awakened, and at length he 
appeared, and spent exactly half an hour in transliterating the despatch which it had taken half a 
minute to compose. I now proposed to return to my camp, leaving the Persian behind till an 
answer arrived from Meshed; but Gregory suggested, from a more profound knowledge of the 
national
d

I The unhealthiness of Kelat is notorious, whether it be due, as is generally supposed, to the 
water-supply or not. When Colonel Baker was there in 1873 he found the population decimated 
by typhus, and the proportion of sick among the garrison is invariably exorbitant.
character, that I was not yet out of the wood, and. that it would be advisable to wait. So I moved to 
the other side of the gateway and halted in the sunshine. .

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ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZIn an hour Shukurullah reappeared upon the scene with the news that the 
telegram had been refused on the plea that the Persian line was broken between Kelat and 
Meshed. Presently tactics arrived a mounted emissary from the Khan, who was voluble with 
explanations, and afforded me an interesting insight into Persian character. First he repeated 
that the wire was broken; but when I replied that if that were the case it was unlikely that the 
Khan would himself have invited me to use it, he shifted his position and said that the wire, 
though not broken, was trailing upon the ground. Upon my rejoining that communication was not 
thereby interrupted, he was ready with the counter plea that the Khan had meant me to 
telegraph not to Meshed but to Teheran. As there was no wire to Teheran from Kelat except by 
Meshed, this falsehood was easily exposed ; but I confess 1 was scarcely prepared for the fourth, 
which immediately replaced it- viz. that the Khan had meant me to telegraph neither to Teheran 
nor to Meshed, but from Meshed on my return thither. As it was useless bandying words with so 
accomplished a liar, I resigned the verbal contest, but insisted upon receiving a direct answer 
or a direct refusal from the Khan to my request to telegraph ; and it was agreed that Gregory, as 
a more befitting ambassador than Shukurullah, should ride back to the village and receive a 
definite answer to my ultimatum.
d

All this occurred within 100 yards *of the gate of Argawan. Shah on the outer side. As I was 
giving final instructions to Abiit, ex- Gregory, the Persian, who had remounted, suddenly 
ces8it, clapped spurs to his horse, and disappeared like lightning evasit, crupit I through the 
archway, shouting to the guard not to let any one through. When Gregory arrived a few seconds 
later he was refused the passage. There was nothing  more to be. done; and thus ignobly ended 
my attempt to penetrate to the interior of Kelat-i-Nadiri! Shukurullah now told me that when 
he took the telegram to the office the clerk was about to accept it, when the Khan's son came 
in and said that his father absolutely forbade any message to be sent at all. I had heard a good deal 
of Persian artfulness before entering the country, but had scarcely expected so artistic a sample 
within the first fortnight; and I do not know
FROM KUCHAN TO KELAT-1-NADERI
131

|PPage_
132 
whether I was more incensed at the treatment I had received or tickled at the,illustration it 
afforded of Oriental tactics.
The most amusing episode, however, was yet to come; for on arriving at Meshed three days later 
Ifound the Governor-General Report at in a great state of excitement, having been informed -by 
Meshed the faithful Khan that the new British Vice-Consul had appeared at Kelat with an armed 
retinue, had tried to force a passage, and had drawn his sword upon the guard! The latter had 
gallantly performed their duty and had expelled the intruder. October 19.-Before I left the 
neighbourhood I determined to make one more effort to see the interior of Kelat. I knew from 
Attempt to MacGregor's book that, besides the two main entrances of climb theArgawan Shah 
and Nafta, there were other pathways wallby which it could be entered ; and at Ab-i-Garm a 
hunter was found who said that lie knew one of these very well, but was afraid to conduct roe 
himself. He had a nephew, however, who would act as his substitute, and would appear in the 
morning. I need hardly say that at the appointed hour the nephew was not forthcoming.That my 
presence in the vicinity of Kelat was beginning to be regarded with some suspicion, was e - 
vident both from this and from an incident which occurred that evening. As I was discussing 
plans in the mud hovel with Ramzan Ali and Gregory, I heard a scratching in the roof overhead, 
and, looking up, detected a man, who, it appeared, had come from Kelat, with his ear to a hole in 
the rafters, eaves-dropping. As no guide was procurable, I decided to go without one.I had noticed 
in riding down the valley to Kelat that there was one place where the other wise unbroken 
parapet of the southern wall dipped, and formed a V-shaped indentation, which seemed to be 
accessible from below by one of the sloping natural buttresses that swell up against it from the 
plain.Any future visitor to Kelat who has read this description will not fail to recognise the 
spot, about halfway down the valley.I was called at 3.30 A.M., the mules were laden, and we all 
moved out of Issurcha at 4.30 on a black cold morning. Sending the camp on to Vardeh from the 
Derbend-i-Jaur, I rode down the valley for the last time, and leaving my horse at the foot of the 
hills began the climb.It did not take long to mount the stony skirts, though the slope was very 
steep; and I easily arrived below the craggy battlements.Here the rock, the natural. con 
formation of which is in wavy horizontal baDds, parallel with the
FROM KUCHAN TO KELAT-I-NADIRI 133
summit) had been artificially scarped by some previous occupant, no doubt by Nadir Sliah,. so 
as to form a sort of rocky ledge or pathway running along the face, and defended at intervals by 
ruined circular towers. There were two such rocky ledges, one about thirty feet above the other. 
I scrambled on to  the lower and pursued it as far as the V-shaped gap. There were only 
about

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thirty feet of rock above me; and it was to be climbed. But the face of the rock was very pteep 
and smooth ; I was alone, and though, I could have * scrambled up it was the kind of place that 
would. have been very awkward to come down from again. Accordingly I resigned the attempt. 
With the aid of a friend and a rope it could easily have been managed, but from what I know of 
the interior of Kelat I,doubt whether the panorama afforded from the top of the wall would be as 
striking as might be expected from its external configuration.
On my way.back, however, I climbed the highest mountain in the- neighbourhood, the name of 
which I do not know, but whose Bird's-eye elevation is far higher than the perimeter of 
Kelat; and view of the , circumfer- from there my ambitions were so far and unexpectedly ence 
realised that, though I Could not see the interior level of Kelat, the angle of vision being too 
obtuse, I could trace the entire circuit of its walls from east to west on both sides; the southern 
wall, which I had attempted to climb, appearing from the height on which I stood to be the lower 
of the two, and the summit of the north wall rising above it on the further side. From this point 
I could follow, without difficulty, the whole southern rampart, nearly twenty miles in a 
straight line, running as regularly as though it had been built by design, and scarped and 
scarred along its vertical sides down to the point where the buttress-slopes shelved away to the 
valley. If in their war with Olympian Zeus the Titans had ever had occasion to build for 
themselves an unassailable retreat, such might well have been the mountain fortress that they 
would have reared. I made a sketch from this point of the entire circumference, which is 
reproduced on the next page.  The mountains in the foreground are the range that separate 
the valley of, Issurcha from the valley that leads down to Argawan Shah's  gate.
And now, having related with so much minuteness what I did see, I propose to describe from a 
variety of sources, some of which
Though my own sketch is poor enougob, I cannot say that I think at all an, adequate or faithful 
idea of Kelat is given by the drawings of Sir C. MacGregor,

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134 ,
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/j
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A
FROM KUCHAN TO KELAT-1-NADIRI
I I
136
have not been accessible to the public, what I did not see, in order that my readers may be able 
to form an ac curate idea of History Kelat-i-Nadiri as it is at the present moment. They of 
Kelst will already have gathered that, though literally translated and commonly called the Fort 
of Nadir Shah, it is not a fort at all in the accepted sense of the term; consisting as it does of a 
mountain plateau) with a mean elevation of 2,500 feet above the sea, intersected by deep gullies 
and ravines, some twenty miles in total length by from five to seven in breadth; and only so far 
resembling a fortress that this vast extent of ground, comprising a probable area of 150 
square- miles, is surrounded as with a ring fence by a mighty natural rampart enclosing it 
from end to end with a cliff~ wall of naked and vertical rock, 700 to 1,000 feet in sheer height 
above the valley, bottom. From early times the extraordinary character of the piace, which 
must have resulted from some abnormal convulsion of nature, impressed itself upon the 
imagination of the neighbouring peoples; and Iranian legend localises here one of the mythical 
combats between the hero Rustam and the alien forces of Turan under Afrasiab, who, expelled 
from Kelat by the victorious hosts of Iran, fell back. upon the Oxus, where they sustained a final 
and crushing defeat. Here too, according to the Shah Nameh of Firdusi, settled Ferud, the brother 
of Kai Khosru,

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and here he was attacked and slain by Tus. The inscription to which I have alluded proves that as 
a defensible and defended retreat it was known to the Mongol  successors of Jenghiz Khan. 
 Timur is said to have possessed himself of it by stratagem. . But it was not till the times of 
Nadir Shah that full use was made of its invaluable natural gifts. Returning from India, laden 
Fortifies,- with the spoils of conquered kingdoms and with the rifled tion by N&dir treasures of 
the Great Mogul, he saw in Kelat, with which Sh&h he must have been familiar. from 
childhood,  the ideal storehouse where this vast wealth could be deposited, and also an 
invulnerable place of arms. Accordingly, he constructed powerful fortifications at all the 
entrances, placed watch-tQwers on every peak -and point of vantage, artificially scarped the 
rocky battlements both within and without, in order to render them still more impossible of 
access, built himself a residence on a plateau in the interior (which it is, said he rarely 
occupied), and provided for a supply of
. Nadir Shah was born in a tent near Moharamedabad, the capital of the neighbouring district of 
Deregez.

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136 ] FROM KUCHAN TO KELAT-I-NADIRI 137
t
good water by excavating large tanks and bringing in fresh supplies After the assassination of 
the latter in 1747, Kelat passed into by an aqueduct from the exterior. the hands of the present 
Khan's family, who have held it ever
I have only come across one description of Kelat as it was in Later since, along with the Atek or 
slopes extending to the the days of Nadir Shah, by a traveller who had evidently been there 
history Turkoman desert below, in nominal vassaldom to Persia,
I himself and had not trusted merely to hearsay. This Basil but with occasional assertions of 
independence which have more Batatzea occurs in the narrative of one Basil Batatzes, a Greek
than once led to the despatch of punitive expeditions from _ DNIeshed. merchant who 
travelled far and wide in Persia and Central AsiaIt has indeed been the habit to keep the head of 
the family as a at the beginning of the eighteenth century, penetrating to Khivahostage at 
Meshed, in order to guarantee the good behaviour of his and Bokbara and visiting Nadir  Shah 
at Meshed. -His diary, locum tenons at Kelat. Since the conquest of the Atek by Russia written in 
quaint but very intelligible Greek,  appears to have beenin 1881, and the subsequent 
delimitation of the Russo-Persian quite unknown to the historians who from oral evidence 
compiledfrontier in these ~parts by agreement between the two powers, the such erroneous 
descriptions of Kelat in the early part of the presentgreater part of the external properties of 
Kelat, such as Abiverd century,  and diffused ail altogether false impression of the place
(now Kaahka), Mehna, Chardeh (now Dushak), and Chacha-the that remained uncorrected till 
the visit of Baker and Gill in 1873.villages, in fact, which are situated at the northern base of 
the rangeReturning from Bokhara to Meshed in 1728, Batatzes came by wahave passed into 
Russian hands; and, as I shall show later on, the
I y of Kelat, to which he devotes forty lines of his diary (780-822). Thenew-comers are 
gradually creeping further and further up the mountains here rise, he says, to a great and 
inaccessible height,slopes towards the crest, till they will ultimately reach Kelat and the place 
is surrounded, as it were, by a mighty wall, which is itself. not only barren and treeless but is 
like as though made of marble The loss both of possessions and of prestige thus involved has or of 
brass. The circuit thereof is forty or fifty stadia [this is oneco-operated with the centralising 
policy so vigorously pursued by of his few mistakes], and there are two entrances only, and 
those by Persian Nasr-ed-Din Shah to reduce Kelat to thorough subordinameans of zigzag 
approaches. One might say that the mountain-,- sove- tion; and the present Khan, Haji Abul 
Fath Khan) would had been rent asunder bv an earthquake to form these entrances, reignty
I not dream of the rebellious vagaries of his predecessors. where there is barely space for three 
horsemen or footmen to pass. Kelat is garrisoned by the Persian Government, by a wing of one of 
Of the interior of Kelat (which was then under Nadir's fostering the infantry regiments 
stationed at Meshed, there being a nominal care, very different from what it is now) he will 
only say that it con- force of 500 serbaz in the valley, and two guns of the horse artillery. tains 
all that a m.an can want in the- way of natural delights, and From what I saw at the Derbend-i-
Argawan Shah, I cannot that it is self-sufficing and could sustain itself without ever bring- 
think that anything like this

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effective, strength is maintained, any ing in aught from the outside. He also speaks of it as the 
intended more than the conditions of service which promise relief at the end treasure house of 
Nadir Shah. i
of three months are observed. Though the place has enormous
It bas been edited by M. Ch. Scherer in Nouveaux M~Ianges 07-lentanx (one natural strength, I 
should think that with the present ragged and. of the Publications de PEcole des Langues 
Orientales Vivantes), Paris, 1886. scattered garrison it might be I rushed  any day ; while 
the defences Basil Batatzes, or Basile Vatace, as his French editor calls him, also wrote a are not 
such as would stand for ten minutes against modem biography of Nadir Shah, which has 
disappeared. artillery.
2 For instance, Malcolm, Using Kinneir as his authority, thus describes the
miles north-east of Meshed. It appears indeed that the military value of Kelat (in its present 
place The fort of Killaat is situated about thirty It is upon a very high hill, only accessible by 
two Dai row paths. An ascent of condition) to Persia is very small; nor, if acquired by Russia, 
can I six or seven miles terminates in a plain a-bout twelve miles in circumference, see that its 
value to her would be very great. No future watered by several fine streams, and covered with 
verdure and 0111tiViLti0i). A Military second asceDt by a route of ten or eleven miles leads to 
another plain of greater value of conqueror is likely to wish to use Kelat for Nadir's pur-,
Kelat elevation but of equal richric . -History of Ilersia, vol. L cap. iii., vol. ii. cap. pose-
viz. as a fortified treasure-house; nor would any Xv. modern tactician, I imagine, contemplate 
the fortification of an

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138 FROM. KUCHAN TO KELAT-I-NADIRI 139
enclosure over sixty miles in -circumference. The real value ofmine) by which it can be 
entered; and I doubt not that in that Kelat is as a basis of operations and starting point for 
offensivelarge circumference shepherds must have discovered goat-t-racks by movements 
against Trauscaspia. Well guarded at the entranceswhich approach, though difficult, is feasible. 
Nevertheless, the and held by a strong garrison, it might have been made, and mightcharacter, 
no less than the paucity of the acknowledged entrances, still become, a veritable thorn in the 
side of an enemy stationed in which are in each case through easily barred defiles, confirms 
the Atek below. A hostile force quartered here might, for instance,the general opinion which I 
have expressed as to the phenomenal descend without warning and with overwhelming strength 
upon
nature of this mountain stronghold. the Transcaspian Railway, and cut the Russian line of 
communica- The inhabitants are Turks chiefly of the Jallayer and Benjat tion with the Caspian. 
But Persia is not the power to do any-tribes, with a few Arab and Kurdish families as well. 
Their total thing one half so heroic; and Nadir's fortress is in the highestPopulation number 
does not exceed 1,000. They are to be found in degree unlikely ever to be made a sally-port 
against General two villages, situated in the valley by which the stream Annenkoft's railway. 
Should the Russians take Kelat, which theywhich I followed enters and traverses Kelat, and in 
six hamlets appear to be excessively anixous to do, the gain to them in prestigeupon the 
-uplands or higher elevations. Of the two main villages, would be considerable; for ever since 
Nadir's days ithas been lookedI saw that of Argawan Shah, clustered upon either side of the
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a short distance within the gate of the same name., The also acquire what might be made a 
suitable dep6t for stores, and i other, Giuk Gumbaz (i.e.  Vault of Heaven  in Turkish) or 
Ja arsenal for a limited number of troops (neither the water nor the Gumbaz, locally contracted 
into Gugumaz, is a little over two miles grain supply would sustain many), and there would be 
the decided down the valley from the same entrance, and is the spot to which negative advantage 
of pre-venting a position so formidable in the I had twice despatched Shukurullah to interview 
the Khan and to bands of an enemy from falling into an enemy's hands. But as send the 
telegram. Here is a curious circular tower of red sandan offensive measure against Khorasan I 
do not see that they stone, with fluted half-columns on the outer surface, rising from a would 
profit thereby, as other and far simpler ways are open to them big octagonal substructure. It is 
called Makber-i-Nadiri, having of reaching Meshed, and as no modern army would trust itself 
to been built (for what purpose does not appear clear) by that king, the awful defiles that extend 
for quite forty miles between the two and is now used as a residence by the Khan.  
FromGugumazthe places. In other words, the offensive eye of Kelat, so to speak,
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---""ZZrivercontinues to run for six miles at the bottom of the same looks 
northward not southward; and, the march of power being in valley, which intersects Kelat from 
south to north, and deepens the latter direction, it is unlikely that we shall again see it utilised 
into a rocky gorge, until upon reaching the northern wall it as a place of arms. passesout 
through a cleft not unlike that of Argawan Shah,
d

So much for the military value of Kelat-i-Nadiri. Let me now similarly fortified, garrisoned, 
and closed by a wall pierced with say something about its interior features. How little was 
knownarches across the bed of the stream. The latter, emerging from Its five about it before the 
visits of Baker and MacGregor may be the defile, makes its way dowm through the lower ranges, 
and

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gates illustrated by the scanty description furnished from hear-ultimately irrigates the 
cornfields of Dushak. say by Fraser, who doubled both its length and breadth.  Entrance In 
addition to Nadir's tower at Gugumaz, there are other but to the interior is gained by one of 
five gates, of which the two quite inconsiderable relies of that king's occupation. To the 
northprincipal are Argawan Shah on the south and Nafta on the north. Remains of west of the 
village, upon an elevated open plateau, are The three others are Kushtani OD the south-east, 
Chubast on the antiquity the ruins of what purports to be his palace, and is called west, and 
Dehcha on the north-west. All of these gates are said Imaret-i-Nadiri, the largest remains. 
being those of an enclosure, to be fortified and defended by troops; of the two main entrances 
itcalled the Diwan-Kbaneh, twenty yards square. Beyond this, is undoubtedly true. There are 
Also several footpaths (it is said
1 There is an illustration of it in MacGregor's Journey through Xhoragan, vol.
Vide Journey into Khorasan, Appendix B (1). ii. P. 50.

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140
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---""ZZagain, most travellers, have been taken up the summit of the Kuh Khisht, 
which is 1,500 feet above the level of the plateau and 4,000 feet above the sea ; but than which 
MacGregor was of opinion that finer views are afforded by other elevations: The water tanks and 
conduit constructed by Nadir, have already been mentioned.
d

O Donovan compared Kelat with the Happy Valley of Rasselas but he would probably have 
shifted his simile had he been condemned to reside for a time within its walls. Of the Cultivation 
and water total inside area, only a small portion is under cultivation, supply the water supply 
consisting merely of the stream so often mentioned and of five small springs. This scarcity 
renders the support either of a large population or of a powerful garrison impossible, except by 
supplies brought from the outside. Cultivation in the interior is limited to two areas, the river 
valley and the uplands. In the former, along the banks of the stream and in the flat spaces, rice, 
cotton, lucerne, vines, melons, and cucumbers flourish under the persuasive influence of water. 
On the higher ground, which rises to 1,000 and even 1,500 feet above the valley bottom, are 
grown barley and wheat. There are few trees or shrubs inside Kelat; and the grass cannot be 
remarkable either in quantity or quality, seeing that the inhabitants frequently send their 
flocks outside to graze. To represent the place, therefore, as an oasis is a misnomer. From this 
point I may resume my return march to Meshed, the first stage of which was by the route 
already traversed and described between Kelat and Vardeh. The distance is Return march to said 
to be five farsakhs ; I should call it a bare twenty Vardeh miles. My camp was pitched outside the 
tiny hamlet on the knoll, and here I found the mule which had tumbled down the Camel's 
Neck, but whose leg was fortunately not broken, but only severely sprained. From standing out 
in the cold at night, the limb had grown so stiff that the poor brute could scarcely hobble.
October 20.-We marched to Kardeh, nominally seven farsakhs, but according to my reckoning 
not more than twenty-six miles. On to For the first part of the route I was repeating my 
journey Kardeh of three days before, up to the point where the   lateral ravine comes in 
from. Bolghor. From here we continued down the main gorge, following both the telegraph poles 
and the stream which flows along and often entirely fills its bottom. For miles
FROM KUCHAN TO KELAT-I-NADIRI
141

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we threaded this intricate and precipitous defile, clamber ing over the boulders in the river-
bed, now confined in a narrow chasm, now emerging upon a neat little valley. MacGregor, who 
was a good judge of country from the soldier's point of view, paid no ordinary, though a 
well-deserved, tribute to this section of the Meshed-Kelat road when, in his graphic way, he 
said.: I certainly have never seen a stronger bit of country than the twenty- seven miles 
between Kardeb and Vardeh, it being one continual succession of impregnable defiles, any one of 
which would make the road celebrated. . . . The country is more like what one would see in a 
nightmare than anything one has ever beheld awake. 
On the way we pass a mighty lump of sheer rock, perched -upon the top of a 1,000-feet slope, 
and known as the Kuh-iPanjinana or Five-man (= about 32 lbs.) Mountain, from a story about 
a, facetious monarcli. who invited one of his courtiers to weigh the airy trifle. A little further, 
on the, left hand, is an Arabic and Persian inscription upon the smoothed surface of a big 
limestone block, some twenty feet above the path, which records a victory of Sheibani 
Mohammed Khan, the Uzbeg conqueror of Bokbara, over the Persian unbelievers in the year of 
the Helira 916. We then came to a little village, the name of which was pr I onounced to me as 
Hark (or Whark), where I found an agreeable shade in an orchard sloping down to the stream. 
After another six miles through the same defile, the valley widened into an open plain, at the 
head of which, surrounded by trees, was situated the larger. village of Kardeh. It is an 
insignificant place, but is the residence of the chief of  a petty district;
October 21.-After skirting the eastern slope of the hills that enclose the valley of Kardeh, the 
track to Meshed plunges into a Road to narrow gorge, called the Derbend-i-Kardeh, through 
Meshed which the stream, coursing in rapid zigzags between the walls, occupied the whole of the 
slender space between. Above the lower slopes the cliffs rose in craggy magnificence to a sheer 
height of 1,000 or 1,500 feet. This ravine equalled in savage splendour anything that I had seen 
even during the past week of astonishing scene ry ; and I could not help thinking that if those 
who rave about the Alpine passes, set though they be in the incomparable framework of snow and 
ice, could travel to this unvisited corner of Asia, even their senses would be bewildered by
I Jmryzey tltrougk K7wrawn, vQl. ii. pp. 44,49.

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142 PERS1A FROM KUCHAN TO KELAT-I-NADIRI 143
so amazing a succession of natural phenomena, each one of w hich of communication from valley 
to valley. These gorges are would attract a stream of pilgrims in any better-known land. 
frequently of almost inconceivable abruptness and grandeur.
At this point we finally left the mountains and debouched on Each one presents a score of 
positions of absolute impregnability; to the eastern continuation of the, same plain from which I 
had and I do not suppose that more savage mountain scenery, in zones Scenery of diverged a week 
before at Radkan. The moment, there- below the snow line, exists anywhere in the world. The 
base of North- fore, is an opportune one for casting an eye in swift these defiles seldom admits 
more than a torrent bed blocked with eastern Khorasan retrospect over the country and 
surroundings in which I enormous boulders, and the walls are frequently vertical to a height 
had been travelling since I entered Persia, and which embrace the  of from 500 to 1,000 
feet. The higher mountains rarely display least known and yet most typical characteristics of 
North-eastern even the scantiest vegetation, being sterile, stony, and forbidding Khorasan. I 
summed up my impressions, without, h   owever, to a degree, though the loftiest peaks are 
majestic with splintered describing my journeys, in the  Times  in these words outline, 
and occasionally some astonishing natural phenomenon  After leaving Kuchan, I struck 
eastwards through the moun-is encountered, like the southern wall of Kelat. Cultivation is 
tains, and spent eight days in wandering about amid the mountain
almost wholly confined to the valley bottoms, and is there depenvalleys of this rugged and almost 
inaccessible corner of Khorasan. dent upon precarious streams and watercourses dug therefrom 
Being hampered by a camp and mules, I was limited to about to the arable plots. Each village is 
like an oasis in a brown twenty-five miles a day, but even so succeeded in traversing about 
desert; and the squalid mud huts, with their fringe of green 200 miles of this interesting and 
rarely visited country. The poplars and orchards, present an appearance almost as refreshing 
names of most of the villages are not upon any English map, and to the wayfarer as the snuggest 
of English homesteads. only a few larger or more notable localities, such as the famous The 
ordinary beasts of burden in these mountain villages are stronghold of Kelat-i-Nadiri, are 
known to European ears. It is very small grey donkeys, camels being only seen: when belonging 
astonishing how difficult it is in these parts to procure reliable to a caravan, and a horse 
being.beyond the means of the
Animal information about anything, most of all about that which should and human poorer 
people. The and hill slopes provide a slender
life be best known-liamely, the distance between adjoining places . i herbage that sustains 
large flocks of black sheep and Afarsakh, nominally about four miles, is the sole unit of 
measure- goats, which are met with every-where, guarded by big dogs.

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ment, but, judging by my own experience, it may mean anything Mutton is consequently cheap 
and abundant. Rude wooden from two to five. The commonest thing is to be told that a place
Ploughs unshod with iron are drawn by yokes of black oxen; but is half a farsalch distant-a 
term which, being used to imply any cows and milk are not to be met with in every village. 
Fowls fraction less than the whole farsa7ch, may describe a distance of abound, and can be 
always bought for about 3d. apiece. The either one mile or three miles and a half. The scenery 
through valley of Ku.chan revels in every kind of fruit, but further north which I travelled, and 
which may be said to extend over the whole I was not able to procure any. Rice appeared to be the 
staple of North-eastern Khorasan, is singularly uniform in its character- food of the peasantry. 
These struck me as a fine and masculine istics. A series of lofty mountain ridges, with an axis 
inclined race, and as a very different type from the Persian of the towns. from north-west to 
south-east, run parallel to each other at varying They spring for the most part from a different 
stock, being not of distances, the intervening hollows being in the more northern Iranian, but of 
Turkoman or Turkish origin, and are far more like parts deep gorges admitting little more than 
a torrent bed at their the Uzbegs or Tartars in appearance than the Persians. They wore bottom, 
while further south they widen into valleys watered by sheepskin bonnets on their heads, not 
unlike those of the Turkomountain streams and dotted with villages, and eventually into mans, 
but less lofty in the crown, canvas bound round their legs broad, rich plains, such as that of 
Kuchan to the north and with thongs, and big loose shoes of untanned cowhide similarly Nishapur 
to the south of the Binalud Kuh mountains. Transverse attached.  The women were 
everywhere visible, but, as a rule, ravines cut these ridges, often at right angles, and provide a 
way carefully concealed their features, not with a veil, but with the,

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144 FROM KUCHAN TO KELAT-I-NADIRI 145
upper cotton garment drawn over the lower part of the face. My horse, I sped as quickly as I 
could over the intervening Such as I saw were prematurely old and ugly, the melancholy law 
plain. of the East.  Nobad Geldi and I weregalloping in front, and the old redIn extension of 
what was here said, I may add two other tailed charger was showing the best of his speed, when, 
ceasing observations upon the peculiar orograpby of the country. In the to hear the clatter of the 
rest of the party behind me, I
Accident
first place the dividing lines between the watersheds are to the turned round to see what had 
befallen. At a distance Physical cavalcade pecu- seldom the highest ranges or crests ; 
illustrations of which of 200 yards Gregory's horse was lying on its back, liarities 
phenomenon I noticed in the case both of the dividing furiously kicking its heels in the air. Its 
load la scattered in
y line between the Atek or Transcaspian and Kuchan drainage, and every direction on the ground. 
The unhappy Armenian was again of that between the Kucban and Meshed drainage -*i.e. the 
slowly extracting himself from under the horse and ruefully streams that run respectively to 
the Caspian and the Heri Rud. rubbing his knee. Ramzan Ali Khan, also on foot, and covered 
Secondly, the rivers, instead of pursuing a course parallel to the with dust, was seen careering 
over the plain after his horse, which axis of the mountain ranges, or, in other words, running 
down the was disappearing in an opposite direction. It appeared that deep valleys between them, 
and then turning the corner where the Gregory's animal, overtired, and unable, with its 
heavy load, to saddle dips, prefer to pierce the ranges almost at right angles to keep the pace at 
which we were going, had stumbled and fallen their previous course ; Nature having provided 
for that purpose on the top of Gregory; anathat the Afghan, dismounting in order transverse 
fissures and (rashes through the very heart of the rock, to extricate his colleague, had received 
a kick on the head which
7 which they could never have forced for themselves, and which do knocked him over. All was 
soon right again, and, leaving the not betray the symptoms of aqueous detrition, but must rather 
slow movers to follow at their own pace, I pushed on. At five have been caused by extreme 
tension at the moment of original I s fro the town we came to a massive high-backed bridge,
Mi e in elevation. of eleven arches, spanning the slender current of the Keshef Rud.1
Once upon the plain, we passed in quick succession the villages The bridge, which is called Pul-
i-Shall (King's Bridge), looked of Anderokh and Rezan, which appeared to revel in an 
abundant ridiculously out of proportion to the attenuated volume of the 
water supply and in a wide area of cultivation. Far Approach stream, which was only about 
twenty-five feet in width, and was to Meshed away on the southern side of the expanse the 
mountains barely moving. The , ramps of the 

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bridge had originally been behind Meshed could be seen, broken up into detached ridges, I but in 
common with all good work in
paved with big cobbles, with sharp and serrated points. I strained my eyes to catch in Persia, 
these had for the most part disappeared, and the ruined the distance the glint of the golden cupola 
and minars -of the k legs than to e them.
causeway was better adapted to brea sav holy Imam. Slowly the mist curled upward, as though a 
silken Continuing for a mile, we reached the enclosure of the tomb window-blind were being 
delicately raised by cords; and first a of Khojah (or KhwaJali) Rabi, a holy man who is 
variously reported sparkle, and then a steady flash, revealed at a distance that must as having 
been the personal friend and the tutor of Imam still. have been from twelve to fifteen miles the 
whereabouts of Tomb of
KhojahReza, and whose body, in order to be near that of his the gilded dome. Though my emotions 
were not those of the Rabi
sainted companion, was interred in -this spot. The devout pilgrim who had very likely travelled 
hundreds, perhaps
tomb is surrounded by a garden, in which there is abundance of thousands, of miles to see the 
hallowed spot, though I did not breaktrees, and which is entered by a lofty gateway containing 
rooms into wild cries of  Ya Alil Ya Husein, and though I did riot tear
This river, (Keshef, old Persian Eash
Tortoise) called also Ab-i-Mesbed off fragments of my dress and suspend them upon the nearest 
bush,(Water of Meshed) and sometimes Kara Su (Black Water), rises in the Cbashmehaccordin
g to the formula of the pious Shiah, I yet looked with i-Gilas, a marsh between Chinaran and 
Radkan, and, collecting the drainage of the interest of one who has heard and read mueb from 
afar upon the Meshed Valley, passes by the gorge of Ak Derbend (White Defile) to Pul-ithe 
famous city which I was approaching; and, putting spurs to Khatun (Lady's Bridge), on the 
Russian frontier, where it joins the Heri Rud,
and in conjunction with the latter forms the Tejend.

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146 FROM KUCHAN TO. KELAT-1-NADIRI 147
in arched recesses. From the surroundings it was evident that it is a favourite holiday resort of 
the people of Meshed, being indeed the only place of any attractiveness in the environs of the 
city. Thinking that the building also contained a mosque, and was, therefore, of an ecclesiastical 
character, I did not attempt to enter it, but merely took a photograph from the outside. I heard 
afterwards that, as with other tombs, any one can visit it who will. The present building is not 
the original mausoleum, but, as the inscription says, was raised by Shah Abbas the Great on the 
remains of the earlier structure. A second restoration was now in course of execution; for the 
building was enveloped in a scaffolding, and workmen were replacing the blue tiles on the 
exterior of the dome, most of which had peeled off and dis
-,appeared. MacGregor spoke of the tile-work, in 1875, as better than any in Persia. But of 
this, too, a great deal had vanished; and what had once been a magnificent circular frieze below 
the spring of the dome now existed only in segments and patches. Hard by is buried the father of 
Agba Mohammed Shah (the founder of the reigning dynasty), Fath Ali Khan Kajar, who incurred 
the hostility of Nadir Shah, and was beheaded by his orders.
Soon the road passed between dusty emrthen walls and over small ditches, the uniform suburbs 
of the cities of the East. The Entrance long line of the city wall now appeared, projecting to 
Meshed towers connected by a curtain, and defended by a shallow ditch. Passing through the 
gateway, where a shabby guard sprang, to his feet and presented arms with an ostentatious 
rattle of his musket, we rode for nearly half- an hour through the blank and unlovely alleys 
that constitute four-fifths even of the proudest Oriental capital; and after crossing the Khiaban, 
or central avenue of Meslied-more about which will belong to my next chapterpulled up at a low 
door, over which a large painted shield displayed the insignia of the British Government and 
indicated the residence of Her Majesty's Consul-General and Agent of the Viceroy of 
India. In a minute's time I was shaking hands with Colonel Charles Stewart.
The march from Kardeh to Meshed is called eight farsakhsl but is not in reality more than 
twenty-four miles. Accordingly, the route from Kelat to Meshed is as follows:
Kelat-i-Nadiri to Vardeh Vardeh to Kardeh Kardeh to Meshed
Total 20
Approximate disFarsakhj
Itance in miles

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5 7 8
20 26 24
70
SUPPLEMENTARY ROUTES TO AND FROm KELAT
KELAT To DEREGEZ (vid Archingan 70 miles). Col. Val. Baker (1873), Clouds in the East, pp. 
210-229; (Sir) 0. MacGregor (1875), Journey througA Xhorasan, Vol. ii. pp. 63-75. KELAT 
TO MEsHED (vid Kanegosha and Karategan), two alternative route&. (Sir) C. MacGregor 
(1875), Journey throuyk Khora8an, Vol. ii. Appendix IL

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148 . 
CHAPTER VII
MESHED
Some reverence is surely due to the fame of heroes and the religion of nations.-GIBBON, Decline 
and 1411 of the Roman -Empire.
MESHED has in the course of the past half-century been visited and described at greater or less 
length by several Europeans, among Previous whom Englishmen have been in the ascendant, in 
merit chroniclers as well as in numbers. I append a catalogue of their of Meshed names and 
publications,  so tha   t the reader may know whither to refer for such information as he 
may desire about particular periods or individual men. If I add one more to the list of these 
chroniclers, it is because 1 aspire not to replace, but to supplement their labours. 1 shall, as 
far as possible, avoid the repetition of what has been better said by them, believing implicitly 
in reference to the original source where that is feasible. But it will be within my power both to 
correct certain errors into which they have fallen, and to impart greater verisimilitude to the 
picture
I J. B. Fraser (1822), Journey into _Khgragan, cap. xvii.; Lieut. A. Conolly (1830), a,-erland 
Jourwj to India, vol. i. cap. x.; Dr. J. Wolff (1831 and 1844), Travels and Adventures and 
Narrative of a Mission to Bokhara; (Sir) A. Burnes (1832), Travels into Bokhara, vol, iii. cap. 
xiv.; J. P. Ferrier (1845), Caravan Journeys, cap. ix.; N. de KhaDikoff (1858), 3Umoire mir 
la Partie miridionale de PA8ie Centrale, pp. 97-108; ~Ve8hid, la Cittil santa e il suo 
Territorio; E. B. Eastwick (1862), Journal of a Diplomate, vol. ii. pp. 200-233; A. Vamb6ry 
(1863), Life and Adventures, cap. xxvii.; Neine Wanderungen und.Erlebnisse in Persien; 
Captain H. C. Marsh (1872), Ride through Islam, pp. 98-112; Seistan Boundary Commission 
(1872)-(i.) Col. Euan Smith, Bastern, Per8ia, vol. i. pp. 357-366 ; (ii.) Dr. H. W. Bellew, 
From the Indus to the Tigris, pp. 360-368; Colonel V. Baker (1873), Cloudg in the East, cap. 
x.; (Sir) C. MacGregor (1875), Journey through Khorasan, vol. i. pp. 277-end, with a plan 9f 
the city, p. 284; J. Bassett (1878), Persia, the Land of the Imams, pp. 221-235; E. 
O Donovan (1880-1881), The _21ferv Oasis, vol. i. cap. xxviii-xix., vol. ii. cap. xxx.; P. 
Lessar ( 1882), Pete?-mann's Mittheilungen, 1884, viii.; Lieut. A. C. Yate (1885), 
Travels ivitA the Afghan Boundary Commission, cap. x. Prior to this century the descriptions of 
Meshed are short and scattered. But an interesting account of the city in 1741 is to be found in 
Voyage de l7nde a1rekke, by Abdul Kerim, pp. 48, 70-74, trans,lated into French by M. 
Langl6s.
MESHED
149.
by bringing it up to date. The fixed residence of an official representative of the Qu I een in 
Meshed is alone sufficient to mark an epoch in its history
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I may dismiss with the briefest notice the rudiments of knowledge about the holy city.
dom or Witness and fame are alike due to the fact that History
in the ninth century A.D. the hol Imam Reza, son of Imam usa an hth of the twelve Imams or 
Prophets, were here interred. Rumour relates, but apparentTy without -any very certain 
foundation, that, having incurred the jealousy of the Khalif Mamun (son of the renowned Harun-
erRashid), whose capital was Merv, the saint, then residing at the. city of Tus, fifteen miles 
from the modem Meshed, was removed at his orders by a dish of poisoned grapes; although 
another tradition represents the holy father as having comfortably died in his bed, or whatever 
was the ninth century equivalent thereto, at Tus. Whichever be the truth, the body of the 
departed prophet was interred in a tower in the neighbouring village of Sanabad, where also (a 
curious corollaryto the story of the murder) lay the remains of the Khalif's father, the 
illustrious Harun. Sanabad gradually became an object of religious attraction and worship, and 
Ibn Batutah, who travelled hither about 1330 A.D., found the
mosque of the Imam in existehce, and highly revered .2 In 1404 the courtly Spanish 
Ambassador, Don Ruy Gonzalez di Clavijo, passing Meshed on his way to the Court of Timur at 
Samarkand, left a similar record.3 Shah Rukh, the youngest son of Timur, subsequently 
embellished the. mausoleum; while his wife, Gowher Shad, erected the magnificent mosque 
which still exists alongside.
Mashhad is the locative n6n. of the root s~ ~~, to witness. 2 -that I the Meshed of El Reza is a 
large and well-peopled city, abounding in fruits. Over the Meshed is a large dome adorned with a 
covering of silk and golden candlesticks. Under the dome, and opposite to the tomb of El Reza, is 
the grave of the Calif Harun-el-Rashid. Over this they constantly place candlesticks with lights. 
But when the followers of Ali enter as pilgrims they kick the grave of El Rashid, but pour out 
their benedictions over that of El Reza.  It is clear from the above that in the fourteenth 
century. Meshed was as much a place of Sunni as of Shiah pilgrimage. 2 1 Imam Reza lies buried 
in a great mosque in a large tomb, which is covered with silver gilt. On account of this tomb the 
city is crowded with pilgrims, who come here in great numbers every year. When the pilgrims 
arrive, they dismount and kiss the ground, saying that they have reached a holy place  
(Hakluty Society edition).

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150 
It was not, however, till the accession of the Sefavi dynasty, at the beginning of the sixteenth 
century, that Mesl~ed, as it had now for long been designated, became a centre of world-wide 
renown. Having established the Shiah heresy as the national creed, it was in the highest degree n 
ecessary for the new occupants of the throne to institute soine shrine which should divert the 
flow of pilgrimage and money from Mecca, and appeal to the enthusiasm of the entire Shiah 
community. Just as Jeroboam set up the golden calves at Dan and Bethel, in order to divert the 
Israelitish pilgrims from Jerusalem, so the Shahs Ismail, Tahmasp, and Abbas loaded the 
mosque of Imam Reza with wealth and endowments, visited and sometimes resided in the 
city,  and loft it what it has ever since remained, the Mecca of the Persian world. It does not 
indeed rank first among Shiah shrines; for just as Ali (son-in-law of the Prophet and in 
succession to him, accordil~g_to the Shiah canon, the true leader of the faith) and his son, the 
martyred Husein
, are superior in holiness even to the, Imam Reza, so their tombs at Neief (61- Meshed Ali) and 
KerbelL_Ljj~ superior sanctity to the shrine of Meshed. But Nejef and Kerbela, are both 
situated on Turkish-i.e. on alien-soil; and unpatriotic would be the soul that, while paying its 
devotions to those sacred spots, did not also bum with th e desire to behold and to offer its 
prayers at the religious centre of Iran, and to kiss the railings of the Imam's grave .2 The 
situation of Meshed, however, so near the confines of Turan, rendered it liable to constant 
inroad and attack, and in common with all the border cities of Khorasan it has had a stormy and 
eventful history. In the reign of Shah Abbas (A.D. 1587) it was once taken and sacked by the 
Uzbegs. It suffered severely during the Afghan invasion of Mahmud. But it revived under the 
patronage of the conqueror Nadir Shah, who, although after his accession to the tl~rone lie 
eschewed and endeavoured
I Abbas the Great is said, upon one occasion, as a proof of his piety, to have walked with his 
court the entire distance from Isfahan to Meshed, while the Astronomer Royal measured the 
distance with a string, and returned the total as 199 farsak7ts and a fraction. 2 1 asked a Shiah 
sevid of Kerbela the pzdeLin which the Holy-Places of the Moslem faith are _-s
~ccA by his persuasion, and his answer was as follows (1). Mecca, (2) Medina, (3) Nejef, (4) 
Kerbela, (5) Kasimcin, near Baghdad, (6) Meshed, (7) Samara, on the Tigris, (8) Kum. But a 
Persian Shiah would rank Meshed after Kerbela. Thej~11&Eftm~ ~etg_Mccca confers the title 
Haii. that to Kerbela Kerbelai. and to Meshed Me8h0di.
A
MESHED

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161
forcibly to expunge the Shiah faith,  yet often held his court at Meshed, restored and 
beautified the sacred shrine, and built in the city a tomb both for himself and for the son whom 
he had blinded in a fit of jealous passion. After his death, Meshed remained in the possession of 
his blind grandson, Shah Rukh, under whose infirm rule its population, harried by almost 
yearly invasions of the Uzbegs, sank from 60,000 to 20,000, until at the end of the century he 
was deposed and tortured to death by the brutal eunuch Agha Mohammed Khan Kajar, the founder 
of the reigning family of Persia. During the present century Meshed has several times been in 
rebellion against the sovereign power, having inherited a detestation of the Kajars, recurrent 
outhreaks of which have necessitated more than one punitive expedition; but along with the rest 
of the kingdom it has now passed in peaceful subjection into the hands of Nasr-ed-Din.
Meshed is surrounded, as are all Oriental towns of any size, by a mud wall with small towers at 
regular distances, and projecting bartizans at the angles. The wall was originally nine feet thick 
at the bottom and four feet thick at the top, besides having a parapet one foot in thickness, but is 
now in a .state of utter disrepair. There was formerly a small ditch or Pusse-braye, below the 
rampart, with a low parapet on the crest of the counterse.arp, and a broader ditch beyond. But 
the process of decay has merged these structural features in a common ruin, and in most parts 
they are not to be distinguished from each other. The circumference of the *walls has been 
variously calculated at four, four and a half, and six.miles; but any calculation is difficult, 
owing to the irregularity of the plan.2 They are pierced by five gates: the Bala Khiaban, or 
Upper Avenue, and the Pain Khiaban, or Lower Avenue Gate, at the two ends of the main street; 
the Naugan, Idgah, and Sarab. The ark or citadel, my visit to which I shall presently relate, is 
situated on the south-west wall .3 1 The attempted restoration of the Sunni creed by Nadir Shah 
was an act of policy, intended to reunite the Mussulman world from Tabriz to Delhi under the 
sceptre of a single monarch. ~ 2 MacGregor's plan (vol. i. p. 284), which was made by Col. 
Dolmage, is the only one that I know, but is not thoroughly accurate. Eastwick, in riding round 
the walls and describing the plan of the city, seems, by some strange error, to have reversed the 
points of the compass, turning north into south and east into west. . 3 For the geographical 
position of Meshed, vide a paper by Major.T. H. Holdich in the Froceedinys of the -R.G.S. (New 
Series), vol. vii. (1885) pp. 735-738.
Size and
PlEm of
the city
ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZ
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d

152
ZZZZ
d

 _

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZThe main feature of Meshed (next to the holy shrines) which endears it to 
the Persian imagination and distinguishes it from other The Oriental capitals, is the possession 
of a straight street, Khiaba.n nearly one mile and three-quarters in length, which intersects the 
town from north-west to south-east, being interrupted only in the centre by the imposing 
quadrilateral of the sacred buildings. This street is called the Khiaban (i.e. Avenue or 
Boulevard), and is regarded by the Oriental as the veritable Champs-E lys6es of urban 
splendour. Down the centre runs a canal, -or, as we should prefer to call it, a dirty ditch, 
between brick walls, about twelve feet across, spanned by frail foot bridges and planks. The 
kerbing and facing as well as the bridges are said to have been originally of stone. This canal 
appears to unite the uses of a drinking fountain, a place of bodily ablution and washing of 
clothes, a depository for dead animals, and a sewer. On either side of it is planted an irregular 
row-of chenars, mulberries, elms, and willows, in which are many gaps, and the majority of 
which aTe very decrepit and forlorn.  Then on either side again comes the footway, and then 
the ramshackle shops of the bazaar, the total width being about eighty feet. The Khiaban is filled 
in the busy parts of the day with so dense a crowd, that one can only proceed on horseback at a, 
foot's pace, even with outriders to clear the way in front. Everyone seems to be shrieking 
and shouting at the same time. All classes and nationalities and orders of life are mingled: the, 
stately whiteturbaned mullah, the half-caste dervish; the portly merchant, the tattered and 
travel-stained pilgrim ; the supercilious s6yid in his turban of green, the cowering Sunni who 
has ventured into the stronghold of the enemy; black-browed Afghans and handsome Uzbegs, 
wealthy Arabs and wild Bedouins; Indian traders and Caucasian devotees, Turk, Tartar, Mongol, 
and Tajik-an epitome of the parti-coloured, polyglot, many-visaged populations of the East. 
Conolly, Ferrier, Vamb6ry, and O Donovan have left such graphic descriptions of this living 
kaleidoscope in the Khiaban that I will not strive to emulate their achievements. Perhaps the 
most novel feature of the boulevard at the time of my visit was a row of lamp-posts, at distances 
of fifty yards apart, which had just been erected by the Governor.
d

I One writer says that the Khiaban was originally plautecl with palms; but this I see no reason 
to believe. O Donovan is strangely mistaken when he estimates the width of the street as 200 
feet.
MESHED
153
As soon as we diverge from the Kbiaban, we plunge into the

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familiar labyrinth of intricate alleys, wandering between mud Remainder walls, turning odd 
corners that seem to lead nowhere, of the city. Occasionally stumbling upon a small piece of 
bazaar, now Cemeteries emerging -upon open spaces and heaps of rubbish. The houses of the 
wealthier citizens are concealed behind high walls; the poorer hovels are entered by low 
doorways often below the level of the street. Suddenly we come upon a vast open area, the 
surface of which is broken into irregular heaps, and littered with broken slabs-of stone. This is 
one of the cemeteries, for a portion of whose liallowed soil a large price is paid by believers, 
and for a fi, al resting-place in which corpses are frequently transported for thousands of 
miles. Hard by, niasons in their sheds are busy chiselling the memorial stones, of a coarse 
granite quarried in the neighbourbood; engraving upon their surface a text from the Koran, or 
some symbol of the craft or status of the deceased. No more permanent or irremovable 
tombstone is tolerated; for it is essential to the requirements of the restricted area and to the 
revenues of the shrine that the ground should be constantly re-available for use, and as soon as 
the covering of an old grave has fallen in a new-comer is interred in its place. Over several of 
the graves were erected small white awnings or tents, in which mullahs are hired by the friends 
of the deceased to sit and moan prayers, and thus to expedite his path to heaven. In spite of the 
number of these cemeteries and the outrageous violation of sanitary laws with which they are 
managed; in spite of Health of the crowded numbers of human beings constantly packed Meshed in 
the city, and of its frequent and filthy cesspools, the average health of Meshed is superior to that 
of many Persian towns. Though situated in very nearly the same parallel of latitude as Teheran, 
and at a lower altitude (3,100 ft. as against 3,800 ft.), its average temperature is lower and 
its rate of mortality less high. Khanikoff attributes this immunity to its situation on the 
northern slope of a mountain range, by which it is shielded from the suffocating desert winds. 
The water of Meshed is abominable and quite, unfit to drink, being strongly impregnated with 
sulphuretted hydrogen. I left my razor standing in a cup for one night, and the next morning it 
was as black as a steel gun-barrel. Above the level of the rooftops rise several of the badgirs, or 
windtowers, which are such a prominent feature in the maritime towns

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154 . MESIIED
of the Persian Gulf. Their principle of construction is as follows. A tail square or four-sided 
tower is built from the roof, and Wind- is covered at the top, but contains in its sides long 
towers and guard- vertical slits or apertures, by which the air enters and passes houses down 
corresponding partitions in the interior into a room below, where the inmates live in the hot 
weather, and where there is consequently a perpetual current of air. In still hotter places in the 
South, these rooms are replaced by serdabs, or underground chambers. Another very prominent 
feature of Meshed is the number of karaoul-Utowhs, or guard-houses, scattered throughout the 
city and occupied by small detachments of the regular infantry. They consist, as a rule, of a low 
verandah with a guard-room behind. The muskets, which are old muzzle-loading smooth-bores, 
are usually standing piled in front. But as a European rides by, a ragged soldier, in a blue serge 
tunic and a sheepskin shako, who is pro bably lounging behind, jumps up, and with a prodigious 
rattle seizes one of these weapons and presents arms. It is then put down again and the guard 
resumes his seat. MacGregor in 1875 truly remarked that  there is very little in this city 
to induce any one to visit it, or stay long if fortune Thesacred has cast him into it. . There is just 
one building, the Lbuildingg Imam Reza's tomb, worth seeing; and that one there is
no chance of any European being permitted to see, except at a risk quite incommensurate with 
the reward.  It is indeed most irritating, as one rides down the Khiabaii, suddenly to find the 
passage barred by an archway in a wall surrounding the myste rious parallelogram that 
contains the holy places, and shutting it off as inexorably from the Christian's gaze as 
Aaron's cord between the living and the dead. Vrom the descriptions, however, that have been 
left by such Europeans as have entered it, and from the accounts that have been given by 
Mohammedans themselves, we can form a correct idea of what is to be seen within. Immediately 
beyond the barrier, above the archway of which is a European clock,.the street continues to run 
for 100 yards or 1. The more through a crowded bazaar up to the main entrance BaBt of the 
mosques. Here the greatest throng was always congregated, and the busiest barter seemed to be 
going on. Pil grims who reside within the enclosure can purchase there all the necessaries of 
life; while mementoes of their visit are pressed upon them, in the shape of the local 
manufactures of the. city, of amulets
and trinkets, and of turquoises engraven with sentences from the Koran. The most remarkable 
feature, however, about this section of the parallelogram is that, belonging to the Imam, it is 
holy ground, and consequently affords an inviolable sanctuary, or bast, to any malefactor who 
succeeds in - entering its precincts. Some writers declare that even Christians, Jews, and 
Guebres (the Persian

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name for the Parsis) are permitted to use it for the same purpose; but this I elsewhere heard 
denied. To a Mohammedan, however, it is a safe refuge from his pursuers, with whom, from the 
security of his retreat, he can then make terms, and settle the ransom which is to purchase his 
immunity if he comes out.  The idea of sanctuary is of course familiar to the Oriental mind, 
and is embodied in the Cities of Refuge of the Pentateuch. Nor should it excite the indignant 
surprise of the English reader, seeing that in our own country and capital at no very distant date 
a similar refuge for debtors existed in the famous Alsatia between Blackfriars, Bridge and 
Temple Bar, which also had an ecclesiastical foundation, having originally been the precincts of 
the Dominicans or Black Friars. The Bast at Meshed is so emphatically the property of the 
Imam, that any animal entering its limits is at once confiscated by the authorities of the 
shrine.In Persia the idea of bast seems, it is difficult to say why, to have a threefold localisation 
: (1) In sacred buildings or mosques (compare the   horns of the altar  in the Jewish 
tabernacle) ; (2) in the stabies or at the tails of the horses belonging to the sovereign or 
members of the royal family; (3) in the neighbourhood of axtillery-e.g. in the Meidan-i-
Tapkhaneh, or Gun Square, in Teheran, and particularly in contact with the big gun which stands 
outside the palace. Chardin (edit. Lan&s, vol. vii. p. 369) says, two centuries ago, that it 
applied to the tombs of great saints, to the gateway of the Royal Palace at Isfahan, and to the 
kitchen as well as the stables of the KiDg. The selection of the royal stables and horses as an 
especial sanctuary would appear to be due to the extravagant attention that has always been paid, 
in a country where there are superb breeds of horses, and where every man is a horseman, to 
this part of the establishment of the sovereign. There is a Persian saying that I a horse will 
never bear him to victory by whom its sanctity has been infringed;  and Malcolm (vol., ii. 
cap. xxiii) quotes a Persian MS., which attributed all the misfortunes of Nadir Mirza, the 
grandson of Nadir Shah, to his having put to death a fugitive who bad taken sanctuary in the 
royal stables. The MS. adds these interesting particulars: I The monarch or chief in whose stable 
a criminal takes refuge must feed him as long as he stays there; he may be slain the moment 
before he reaches it or when he leaves it;  but while there, a slave who has murdered his 
master ~;nnot be touched. The place of safety is at the horse's head, and if that is tied up in 
the open air the person who takes refuge~ is to touch the head-stall.  In later times, the tail, 
though perhaps more venturesome, appears to have been as much fraught with protection as the 
bead.

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156 .
At the end of the bazaar of the Bast, a lofty archway, rising high above the adjoining wall, leads 
into the Sahii, or principal 2. The court, of the Holy Buildings. This is a noble quadrangle, Sahn 
150 yards long by 75 yards wide, flagged with gravestones of the wealthy departed,.whose 
means have enabled them to purchase this supreme distinction, and surrounded by a double 
storey of recessed alcoves. In the centre of this court stands a small octagonal structure or 
kiosque, with gilded roof, covering a fountain which is supplied by the main canal, and 
surrounded by a stone channel constructed by Shall Abbas. The water of this fountain is used for 
purposes of ablution by the pilgrim as he enters. Upon the four sides the walls between and 
above the recesses are faced with enamelled tiles; and in the centre of ~each rises one of those 
gigantic portals, or aiwans (archways set in a lofty rectangular frame), which are 
characteristic of the Arabian architecture of Central Asia. These arches are embellished with 
colossal tiles, bearing in Kufic letters verses from the Koran. An inscription on the southern 
aiwan says that it was built by Shah Abbas II. in A.H. 1059. The lower bands of Kufic characters 
on all the aiwans were., we learn from a similar source, added in A.H. 1262. Upon the summit of 
the western aiwan rises a cage, very rashly assumed by Eastwick to be made of ivory, from 
which the muezzin gives the call to prayer.  The eastern aiwan is that which leads to the 
Holy of Holies, the tomb-chamber of the Imam; and its special character is indicated by the 
gilding with which its upper half is overlaid. An inscription upon it -says that it was finished 
by Shah Sultan Hugein in A.H. 1085 ; and some later verses record that it was gilded by Nadir 
Shah in A.H. 1145 with the gold that had been plundered from India and the Great Mogul. The 
Sabn contains two minarets, which, according to descriptions, and from what I myself saw from 
the roof of a bazaar within the Bast, do not appear to be placed in analogous positions on either 
side of the main entrance. The older minaret, built by Shah Ismail or Shah Tahmasp, springs 
from the mausoleum itself. When Fraser was here on his second visit in 1834, it had been I so 
shaken or damaged, that for fear of its falling they had taken it down.  It was afterwards 
rebuilt. The second or larger minaret was erected
Chardin says that the reason why these cages were constructed for the Inluezzins in Pensia was 
the fear lest from the summit of the minarets they should see too much of female life in the 
courts of the neighbouring houses.
MESBED
157
by Nadir Shah, and rises from behind the opposite gateway. - The upper part of these minarets 
is in each case overlaid with gilded copper plates, and is crowned with the cage4ike gallery that 
is

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common to the Persian style. The sun flashes from their radiant surface, and in the distance 
they glitter like pillars of fire.
And now we approach the chief glory of the whole enclosure, the inosque and sepulchre of the 
immortal Imam. I say immortal
advisedly, for the theory upon which the shrine and the
vast system dependent upon it subsist is that the sainted
Reza still lives, and responds miraculously to the petitions of his worshippers. The Hazret, as 
he is called-i.e. His Highness, -is the host of his guests. He supplies their bodily wants while 
they remain within his domain; and equally he answers their prayers, and furthers their 
spiritual needs. It is open to any pilgrim to consult him, and Delphic responses are easily 
forthcoming in return for a suitable fee to one of the attendant priests. From time to time also 
the rumour goes abroad that some astonishing miracle has been effected at the shrine of His 
Highness. The cripple has walked, or the blind man has seen, or some similar manifestation has 
occurred of god-like effluence.  The tomb itself is preceded by a spacious chamber, 
whose  marble floor is overlaid with rich carpets. Above it, to a height of seventy-seven 
feet, swells the main cupola, whose gilded exterior2
I This is no new thing, for, 200 years ago, the French missionary, Father Sanson, narrates and 
mercilessly analyses the same phenomena. I Shah Abbas has made this tomb famous by a great 
many false miracles he caused to be pr actised there; for, placing people there on purpose who 
should counterfeit themselves blind, they suddenly received their sight at this sepulchre, and 
immediately cry d out,    A miracle;    he procur*d so great a veneration for this tomb 
of Imam Reza that most of the greatest lords in Persia have desir d to be bury d in this 
mosque; and to which they give great legacies.  Nadir Shah, on the other band, had a most 
intense contempt for these manufactured miracles. Vide a story related by Malcolm, History, 
vol. ii. p. 51. 2 A very interesting passage occurs in the narrative of Chardin (edit. Langl6s, 
vol. iii. p. 228), who, being in Isfahan in the reign of Shah Suleiman in 1672, went to the house 
of the King's goldsmith to see these very gilt plates being made as tiles for the dome of Imam 
Reza, which bad just been destroyed by an earthquake. In the English translation of Lloyd (vol. i. 
p. 237) it appears as follows: I These plates were of brass (no-cuivre, i.e. copper) and square, 
10 inches in breadth and 16 in length, and of the thickness of two crown pieces. Underneath 
were two Barrs 3 inches broad, solder d on crosswise, to sink into the Parget (i.e. plaster) 
and to serve as cramp irons to fasten the tiles. The upper part was gilt so thick that  one 
would have taken the tile to be of massif gold. Each tile took up the weight of 3 Ducates and a 
quarter of gilding, and
8. Mosque of Imam Reza

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158 MESHED 159
marks the sacred spot to the advancing pilgrim, and gladdens his weary eyes from afar. The 
walls of this chamber are adorned with a wainscoting of kashi-i.e. enamelled tiles, above which 
are broad bands of Arabic writing in the same material. There is a hum of voices in the building; 
for servants of the shrine are heard reading aloud from the KoraD, seyids are mumbling their 
daily prayers, greedy mullahs are proffering their services to the new arrivals; and many are 
the exclamations of pious wonder and delight that burst from the bewildered pilgrim, as, after 
months of toil and privation in the most cheerless surroundings, there flash upon his gaze the 
marbles and the tile work, the gold and the silver, the jewels and the priceless offerings of the 
famous shrine. Encrusted within and without with Vold I it is    savs Vamb6rv, who 
himself saw it,  unqiiestionabv the richest tomb in the whole Ts-lamiteworld. 
_~61_thouvh_-si_n_cethe date-of its has been several times plunde fretted work of the 
interior still contain an incalculable amount of treasure.The walls are adorned with 
thi~_r_arest ~trinkets aWd an ai -of diamonds, there a sword and shield jewels: here grette, 
studded with rubies and emeralds, rich old bracelets, large massive candelabra, necklaces of 
immense value.  Well may the worshipper, as he enters, bow his head till it touches the 
ground, before he approaches the main object of his devotion, the sepulchre it-self, At different 
times the tomb has been surrounded with railings of gold and silver and steel. The first of these 
was originally set The up by Shah Tahmasp, but was in part dismantled and Prophet's 
plundered by the grandson of Nadir Shah. The last was tomb the gift of Nadir himself. - Three 
doors lead to the, shrine, one of which is of silver, another of gold plates studded with precious 
stones, the gift of Fath Ali Shah; the third being covered with a carpet sewed with pearls. Upon 
the railings round the tomb are hung silver and wooden tablets with appropriate forms
came to about 10 crowns value. They were ordered to make 3,000 at first, as I was told by The 
Chief Goldsmith, who was overseer of the work,  I By none more than those who should have 
been responsible for its safety. The two sons of the blind Shah Rukh and grandsons of Nadir Shah 
in particular could not keep their avaricious hands from the shrine which their grandfather bad 
bonoured and embellished. Nasrullah Mirza pulled down part of the gold railing round. the 
saint's tomb, and Nadir Mirza took down the great golden ball, weighing 420 lbs., from the 
top of the dome; while both brothers freely plundered the lamps, carpets &c., inside.
of prayer and inscriptions. I Before each of them a little group of
the devout is posted, either to pray themselves or to repeat the
petitions after the leader of their common devotions. This they
do with cries and sobs, as though thus to open to themselves the
gates of eternal bliss. It is indeed a singular and sublime

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J s spectacle to see how these rude sons of Asia kiss with unfeigned
tenderness the fretwork of the grating, the pavement, and especially
the great padlock which hangs from the door.
_Dly the priests
and the sevids are uninfluenced ~y these feqling~_of devqtioi~.
Their onlv concern is with the -Dence which they may collect.
They force their way everywhere among the devout, nor do they
retire till by felicitations or other good offices they have obtained
the desired mite. When the pilgrim, filled w-ith awe, walking
backwards, has at last left the building, he has earned for himself
tho honorary title of Meshedi, a title which he has inscribed on his
signet and his tombstone, and which he ever after prefixes to his
name as an agnomen. 
In the absorption consequent upon visiting the mausoleum of
the Imam, the pilgrim probably recks little of the dust of the
Other famous Harun-er-Ra-shid, which reposes beneath a sar
tombs cophagus hard by. Nor, perhaps, will he think much of
the tomb of Abbas Mirza, the son of Fath Ali Shah, and wrand
father of the present monarch, which also stands beneath the
sacred roof. Other tombs and chambers, moreover, there are
opening out of the principal shrine, but of minor importance, and
these may be dismissed without further notice.
I now come to a very prevalent error which it is desirable in
the interests of truth to expose. It was started by Mr. Eastwick
Europeans in 1862, when he claimed for himself that he was
who have  the only European that ever went into the mosque of
seen the
shrine Imam Reza at Meshed, certainly the only one that entered
as a Enrop~an.  I And it has been repeated and aggravated by the
new edition of the  Encyclopoedia Britannica,  which says (vide
article on Meshed) : I Eastwick was the only European before
O Donovan who penetrated as far as the parallelogram.  Both of
these claims are quite without justification. Before the time of
Eastwick, Fraser in 1822 went into the shrine and into the tomb
chamber itself, and after more than once repeating the Moslem
confession of faith and giving the mullahs to understand that be
I Journal of a Dil)loniate, vol. ii, p. 229.

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160 PERSIN XESIIED 161~
was a convert to Islam -(a most questionable proceeding on his looked through into the great 
quadranole.1 This is an achievement part), was allowed to sit for two days in one of the alcoves 
of the which might, I think; be effected without risk at the present time. Sahn, in order to make 
a drawing of its interior.  Conolly in 1830 A European who found his way into the Bast, 
particularly by some visited. all the chambers of the mosque but that containing tli6 other than 
one of the two main entries, might without much tomb itself, and walked daily in the Sahn, 
where, thou gli recognised, difficulty succeed in reaching the gates of the Sahn. He might be lie 
was free from insult.2 Burnes in 1832) on his return journey stared at or followed or mobbed, 
but lie would probably not be from Bokliara, went into the Sahn, but did not think it prudent to 
attacked. It would be a different thing were he to enter the
13 go beyond, his - Judgment conquering his curiosity. Ferrier in sacred precincts 
themselves;. though I am one of those who 1845 did exactly the same .4 Fraser, returning to 
Meshed in 1884, incline to the opinion that in these respects the fanaticism of after the 
occupation of the city by the army of Abbas Mirza, with Orientals is apt to be exaggerated. In the 
interests, however, not which were several English officers, found   the Sabn open to all 
merely of personal safety, but of the reputation of his nationality, Europeans,  but in a state 
of grievous dilapidation that was after- which might suffer from detection, it would be 
foolhardy in a wards repaired.,  All these were before the date of Eastwick's foreigner to 
make the attempt. I was myself conducted over the visit. But when we come to Eastwick himself, 
we are surprised to roofs of the bazaars to a spot, I believe, within thei Bast, where I could find 
not only that he did not o into the mosque, in the true sense see the sacred buildings very well, 
and was from eighty to a hundred
9 0 of the term, at all, but that he did not even go so far as the more yards distant from,the 
mosque of Gowher Shad, which adjoins cautious of his predecessors in crossing the Sahn. He was 
intro- that of Imam Reza, and to which I next turn. If I must claim duced by the Muta-vvali 
Bashi, or Chief Guardian of the. shrine, by for myself any special distinction, it is the modest 
one of being a door from the back into one of the recessed alcoves that surround the first English 
Member of Parliament who has entered the walls the Sahn, where he sat and gazed at -what was 
passing below. He of Meshed, so far as my know- ledge extends. went no further, and lie even 
went there unawares.6 The second mosque is behind that of Imam Reza, but is situated
Continuing the narrative since his day and down to that of obliquely to it. Like the othe , it has a 
large court, with two
r O Donovan, we find that in the year following (1863) Vamb6ry, on storeys of recessed 
compartments all round, with soaring
4. Mosque

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the return from his heroic voyage as a mendicant dervish to of Gowher tile-COVered aiwans, and 
with two great ungilt but tile
Shad Bokhai a and Samarkand, entered the mosque and visited the tomb encircled minarets. On 
the main fagade is aii inscription chamber in the character which he had go long and 
successfully saying that it was erected in the reign of Sha Rukh in A.H. 821.
h worn. About the same time Colonel Dolmage, an English officer A similar panel on the southern 
aiwan records its reconstruction by in the service of the Shah,  who superintended a powder 
factory Sultan Husein in A.H. 1087. Fraser, who visited it, thought
Shah near Meshed, penetrated into the interior under the auspices of the 4- this mosque  by 
far the most beautiful and magnificent that be had
I Hissam-es-Sultaneb, then Governor-General of Khorasan. Finally, 1: seen in Persia;  and 
Vamb6ry, speaking of its main archway, said: when we come to O Donovan in 1880, we find 
that he did not
rl~ It was long before I could determine whether I should award the even enter the Sahn, but 
claims from a doorway outside to have palm to this gate or to those two in Samarkand and Herat 
which are
Journey into K7iorasan, pp. 472, 511. il of the same style ; for it is certain that they all date 
from the reign of
Overland Journey to India, vol. i. p. 288. e work of the same architect. It
Travels into Bokhara, vol. iii. p. 70. Cararan Journeys, p. 126.Shah Rukh, if indeed they were 
not th
A. Winter's Journey, vol. ii. p. 211. is possible that the Madrasseh Khanym in Samarkand, 
as also the
Jour?zal of a Diploniate, vol. ii. pp. 224-229. Musallah in Herat, were more luxurious and 
magnificent, but I can 7 Colonel, originally Doctor, Dolmage was an Englishman who, after 
servinhardly believe that they were ever more beautiful.
9 as a veterinary surgeon in the Crimean War, came out to Persia and entered the service of the 
Shah.   He subsequently died at Teheran. It was his plan of Meshed Gowher Shad's mosque 
hardly, at the present day, sustains s that appeared in MacGregor's book, having been 
purchased by the latter officer, this reputation from the outside, though evidently its kashi is 
for a few krans. 217w3ferv Oasis, vol, i, cap. xxix.

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162 
superb. The dome, which is larger and loftier -than that of Imam Reza, is covered with tiles of 
blue, green, and orange patterns, which have peeled off in places.
Entrance is found by one of the archways in the principal Sabn to a mazlresseh, or religious 
college, which was erected by Other the munificence of one Mirza Jafir, a wealthy Persian 
buildings merchant who had made a fortune in India; and it is the in the Bast third finest 
building in Meshed, resembling the mosques in structural features and decoration. It was 
further endowed by its founder with large revenues, which supported fifty or sixty mullahs. 
Also included in the parallelogram are other madresschs, courts, lodging-bouses, and baths, as 
well as a great refectory, where the pilgrims are fed at the expense of His Highness (each new-
comer being entitled to three days  gratuitous board), at the rate of 30 mans or 195 lbs. of 
rice a day. Here it is said that 500 or 600 meals are served daily to the hungry guests of the 
Imam.
We are indebted to Khanikoff, who was a most scholarly and accurate inquirer, for the following 
information about the library Library of of the Iinam. He says that the date of its foundation the 
Imam cannot be placed earlier than the time of Shah RLikh, the oldest volume being a Koran 
that.was deposited in his reign. The next donations occurred in the reigns of Shah Abbas and Shah 
Sultan Husein. A catalogue had been drawn up shortly before Kbanikoff s visit in 1858, from 
which he learnt that the library contained 2,997 works in 3,654 volumes, of which 1,041 
were Korans (189 printed, and 852 manuscripts, some of the latter of great dimensions and 
rare beauty), 299 prayer-books and guides to pilgrims, 246 works on general ecclesiastical 
law, and 221 on that of the Shiah persuasion alone. It is curious to learn that the greatest 
benefactor of the library was the unlettered Nadir Shah, who presented it with as many as 400 
manuscripts.
The revenues of tlie shrine in money and -in kind are very large.. Fraser says that Linder Shah 
Sultan Husein, the last of the Sefavi Revenues dynasty, at the beginning or the eighteenth 
century, they of the were, 15,000 tomavs; but in 1821 lie gives the figures as Shrine 2,000 
to 2,500 tomans (can this be a.misprint for 20,000 to 255000 ?). Bassett, in 1878, gave the 
total as 40,000 tomans, which were then equivalent to 16,0001. According to the information 
supplied to me, they now stand at 60,000 tomans (equivalent at
MESHED
163
the present rate of exchange to 17,0001.) and 10,000 kharvars I of grain. The landed property 
of the Imam is scattered all over Persia, and there is a good deal of estate besides in the shape of 
houses, caravanserais, shops, and bazaars. There are 600 paid

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servants of the mosque, 100 for each day of the week * The total retinue connected with the holy 
buildings, and consisting of mvjtaheds, mullahs, mutawalis, attendants, menials, and hangers-
on, has been estimated at 2,000.
The entire fixed population of Meshed stands at about the same (45,000) as it did in the days of 
Conolly. But how large a part in Population its life. is played by the religious element is shown 
by the of Meshed Computation that within the year as many as 100,000 pilgrims enter its 
walls, and that the average number at any time to be found in the city is from 5,000 to 8,000. 
From these figures, and from what has been said above, some idea may be formed of the vast and 
potent machinery which is in the hands of the ecclesiastical power, and of the part that it must 
play in the politics of Meshed. The capital is, indeed, a great collection of peoples, occupations, 
interests, and intrigues, revolving round the central pivot of the shrine. Just as its middle 
portion is occupied by the sacred quadrilateral, so the life of the place throbs from the same 
hidden heart, moving in dark channels of superstition, miracle-_ mongering, and imposture. 
Conolly was well within the mark when he wrote of the mullahs of Meshed that  the greater 
number of these are rogues who only take-thought how to make the most of the pilgrims that 
visit the shrine. From the high priest to the seller of bread, all have the same end; and, not 
content with the stranger's money, those in office a-bout the saint appropriate to 
themselves the very dues for keeping his temple in order. 
Fromancient times the government of the shrine has been vested in the hands of an individual, 
not necessarily an ecclesiastic, Govern and commonly a laymau, know as the Mutawali Bashi, or 
mentof-the Chief Guardian. He has ordinarily become, by virtue of shrine his office, the 
principal personage in Meshed, equalling and often surpassing the Governor-General in 
influence. It was no mean proof of the strength of the present Shah, that here, as elsewhere, he 
had secured the due subordination of the  ecclesiastical to the civil element by appointing his 
own brother the Rukn-edDowleh, who was Governor-General of Khorasan at the time of my
I Uarvar = 649 lbs.; 31 khari-ars = (approxiniately) 1 ton.
2

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164 
MESHED
165
visit, to the post of Mutawali Bashi as well. It was the first time sojourn in the city. There 
is a large permanent population of in history that the offices had been united in the same 
individual, wives suitable for the purpose.  A mullah is found, under whose
sanction a contract is drawn up and formally sealed by both
and in proportion as the occurrence detracted from. the ecclesiastical...................parties, a fee 
is paid, and the uni is le ly accomplished After predominance of the clergy, so did it aggrandise 
the temporal on gal
nth, or whatever be the specifi ascendency of the sovereign. Below the Mutawali Bashi in de- the 
lapse of a fortnight or a mo e d. scending grades of authority and repute, extends a hierarchy of 
period, the contract terminates ; the temporary husband returns inferior gmthavalis, some of 
whom are hereditary office-bearers, to his own lares et penates in some distant clime, and the 
lady,
after an enforced celibacy of fourteen days  duration, resumes.her while others receive 
their appointments from the Shah; of mujlaheds, career of persevering_ matrimony. In other 
words, a gigantic or doctors of the law, who expound the canonical jurisprudence, and a
system. of prostitution, -ih  occupy positions of great distinction and influei ice, receiving 
in some i in~e r e sanction of the Church, prev ils in
who preach, Meshed. . There is probably not a more immoral citv in Asia, and I cases fixed 
allowances from the Shah; and of mullahs) and conduct the services, and live by what they can 
extract fromshould be sorry to say how many of the unmurmuring pilgrims who the pilgrims. 
The more emin2LE~Las very traverse seas and lands to kiss the grating of the Imam's holy 
characters. When they_emnt__exr_~ _torav,crowdsnot also encouraged and consoled upon their 
march bythe Xg2a~th~erbeh,ind tl~iemt ~ci ~ate in ~theijLyrayers, and they spendof an 
agreeable holiday and what might be described in th
vernacular as I a good spree! much of their spare time in indiscriminate shouting and weepinLy. 
Here, in the city which he patronised and adorned, was originAt th of my visit Meshed was in one 
of its chronic spasmsally laid the body of the, great conqueror, Nadir Shah. In his own of 
religious excitement. The anniversaries of the martyrdom both
raised both for him
lifetime he caused the buildings to be of Ilasan and of the holy Imam were 
_112e~in_cornmemorated. Tombof ,Taziehs, or religious play~, were being acted; the holy 
places were Nadir self and for his son, Roza Kuli Mirza. They were situ
Shah about halfw - between the mosque of the Imam and crowded to suffocation; and beaten 
tomtoms and clanioured invo- ated ay
the Bala Khiaban gate. Not a trace now remains of their existence. cations made the night 
hideous. Judging from the noise that heThe brutal eunuch Agha Mohammed Khan Kajar, mindful 
of the made, there must have been some particularly holy personage livingsource to which he 
owed his calamity, as soon as he became Shah near my quarters in the British Consulate; and 
freely did I anathematise this insufferable saint as I lay awake at ngratified the instincts of a 
long-nurtured rev,6nge by razing the,
ight listen- atruc ing to his long-drawn lamentations and plaintive howls.turesto the ground; 
while the bones of Nadir were removed
From gate to gate of the Bast on either side, the parallelogramat his orders to Teheran, and 
deposited (along with those of his

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thus enclosed must be at least a square quarter of a mile. Theother rival   Kerim Khan Zend) 
beneath the threshold of the palace,
western gate is used as,a . nakkara-khaneh, or band-so that whenever be went abroad be might 
trample upon the dust of Extent of the great persecutor of himself and his familv, In 
Fraser's day the the quad- tower), and from here, as in other Persian seats of royal 0 
rilateral residence, is sounded at sunset a discordant fanfaronade desecrated buildings at Meshed 
were heaps of rubbish. Ten years of cymbals, drums, and horns. later Burnes found a crop of 
turnips springing from the soil which
Perhaps the most extraordinary feature of Meshed life, beforehad sheltered the body of the 
conqueror of Hindustan. I leave the subject of the shrine and the pilgrims, is the provisionThere 
still exist a considerable number of Jewish families in
Meshed, although the practice of their own worship is strictly forProstitu- that is made for the 
material solace of the latter. during
0
tom.b a e
ZZZZZ Reference LineZ-
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---""ZZ re
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ZZ-
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ospect FAe e English
t the tim 0 1 igious 0 asan a f a7ieh or r
-1~12-n-    their stay in the city.In recognition of the long journeys I A sighek 
or_LQ_mP_OK2U_wijFV may be married for any period from one day to which they have made, 
of the hardships which they have sustained, X___ being sighehs for the full period to being adis 
or
99 years. Women often prefer
real wives. The akdi can be divorced at any time, the sigheh not before the end and of the 
distances by which they are severed from family and home, they are permitted, with the 
connivance of the ecclesiastical of her contract, except for misconduct. Short-period siq7whe in 
the big cities axe
quasi -prostitutes. law and its officers, to contract temporary marriages during their

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166 
bidden, and is only pursued in se&ret. The story of their enforced conversion to 
Mohammedanism in the year 1838 is well known, and Jews in has been repeated by more than 
one traveller. Dr. Meshed Wolff, who was twice at Meshed, both before and after the incident, 
described it in these terms:
The occasion was as follows : A poor woman had a sore hand. A Mussulman physician advised her 
to kill a dog and put her hand in the blood of it. She did so; when suddenly the whole population 
rose and said that they had done it in derision of their prophet. Thirty-five Jews were killed in 
a few minutes ; the rest, struck with terror, became Mohammedans. They are now more zealous 
Jews in secret than ever, but call themselves Anu8im, the Compelled Ones. 
Wolff does not add-what is necessary to explain the sudden outhurst-that the incidents of the 
Jewess and the slaughtered dog unfortunately occurred on the very day when the Mohammedans 
were celebrating the annual Feast of Sacrifice .2 Superstition and malice very easily aggravated 
an innocent act into a deliberate insult to the national faith; and hence the outhreak that ensued. 
There is much less fanaticism now than in those days ; but it still behoves a Yehudi, or Jew, to 
conduct himself circumspectly and to walk with a modest air in Meshed.
Khanihoff is responsible for the statement that there are fourteen madressehs and sixteen 
caravanserais in the city ; as also for an Public enumeration of their names and the dates of 
their buildings foundation. Any reader who requires information upon these points may be 
referred to his pages.3
had heard or read a good deal about the native manufactures of Meshed, but was greatly 
disappointed with such articles as I Manufac- saw. A more unfavourable hunting-ground for the 
tures would-be  purchaser can hardly be imagined. The manufacture of damascened sword-
blades has long been a trade here, having originally, it is said, been introduced by a colony 
transported for the purpose by Timur from Damascus.. Now, however, that rifles and revolvers 
have taken the place of swords and
I -Ararrative of Mission to Bokharo. in 1843-1845, vol. L p. 239, and vol. ii. p. 72.
2 The.A~id-L-Kaxhajq is held in cornmenioration of Abraham's intention, according to the 
Mussulman traditioD,to :_ off!T.,up Ismail- 0 muup, not Ishak (Isaac). The aDiinals sacrificed 
on this occasion are supposed also to act as a propitiatory offering, which will stand the believer 
in good stead when be comes to the razorlike bridge of Sirat, that spans the gulf to Paradise. I 
AUntoire sur 1a.Partie Afiridionale de I Asic CentraZe, p. 107.
MESHED
167

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daggers) there is not the same demand for new blades. Silk and cotton and velvet stuffs are made 
here, but of a quality greatly inferior to those of Bokhara. There are in the town 650 silk looms 
and 320 shawl looms. On the other hand, good carpets are procurable, particularly those of 
genuinely Oriental pattern, close texture, and imperishable vegetable dyes, that hail from Kain 
and BirJand. The Kurdish carpets are also original, but less artistic. In Meshed itself are forty 
carpet-looms. Turkoman carpets, jewellery, and weapons were formerly a common object in 
the bazaars, but are now almost entirely bought up by the Russians in Transcaspia or exported 
to Europe. Astrabad, near the camps of the Goklan Turkomans, is probably, next to Teheran 
(whither everything converges), the best place in Persia for procuring Turkoman articles. Old 
Tartar and even Bactrian coins are frequently to be met with at Meshed. I naturally anticipated 
that, being in such close proximity to the famous turquoise mines of Nishapur, the bazaars 
would be well stocked with specimens of that stone. I saw little but rubbish. All the best stones 
are bought at the mouth of the mines and are exported to foreign countries. Meshed seems to 
receive tiie residue, of a price and quality likely to attract the itinerant pilgrim. Nor was I any 
better pleased with the carved objects, cups, bowls, basins, ewers, which are hollowed with the 
aid of a very primitive lathe and tools out of a soft slate or steatite that is found in the 
neighbourhood. There are two varieties of this stone, a dull reddish brown, and a blue-grey. But 
though previous travellers have spoken in terms of great admiration of these works of art, I 
failed to appreciate either the material, the shape, or the workmanship. At the time of my visit, 
the scale of artisans  wages was as follows: Carpenters, 3 krans, or 1 s. 9d., per diem ; 
masons, 2 krans, or ls. 2d.; blacksmiths, 1J kran, or I ld.; common labourers, 1 kran, Wages 
and or 7d. The price of bread was about Id. per lb., of price4 mutton 21d. Fowls, which had cost 
J kran, or 3Jd.
., in the mountains, cost 1 kran, or 7d., in the capital. The price of wheat was a little less than 
6d. a stone, of barley a little less than 4d. There were reported to be 144 private bankers or 
usurers in the city, with a united capital of 931,000 tomans, or 266,0001. Two only of these 
had a capital of 100,000 tomans (28,5701.); three a capital of 50,000 tomans (14,2851.) 
each; and two a capital of

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168 PERSLk
30,000 tomans (8,5701.) each. The rest were petty money dealers. The New Oriental Bank in 
Teheran kept an agent at Meshed; Banks and but, as they have since parted with their business to 
Money- the new Imperial Bank of Persia, the latter have taken lending their place in Khorasan, 
where there is considerable scope for their transactions. A great many Russian rouble notes (it 
is said 200,000). were in circulation in Meshed. An English sovereign was worth 3 tomans and 
31 krans, or, at the normal rate of exchange, 19s. 6d. Indian rupees fetched their full Indian 
value of 1s. 5d.1
While at Meshed I enioved an interview with the GovernorGeneral of -khorasan. As I have 
already indicated, this ~1 gh
official is one of the two survivina brothers of the Shah. ViBit to the Governor- His naine- is 
Mohammed Taki Mirza. his tijID-111o RuknGeneral
ed-Dowleli (i.e. Pillar of the 
tate
), and he was then Governor-General for the third time, having filled the post at intervals 
during the past fifteen years, and occasionally been superseded or shelved, as some other 
aspirant had gained the ear of the sovereign or been able to offer a higher bribe .2 He had the 
reputation of being a mild but timid individual, who shared the family taste for Baving, but 
temporises in politics. His chief minister however, or Wuzir (Vizier
), was reported to be a stauR~h ~artisan of Russia, with~were notorious. The Ark, or Citadel, 
in which the Governor resides, stands in the south-west portion of the city, from which it is 
separated by a
lar e-varade-Lyround or meidan. It is defended by a TheArk 2M" 
circuit of low walls and towers. Entering a gateway between two towers, above which was a 
ludicrous daub or fresco of the Lion and the Sun, we rode down a long vaulted corridor into a 
large court. Here we dismounted, and, passing through an untidy
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court, where were a number of attendants and hangers-on, by whom we were ushered into the 
diwan-khaneh, or reception room, at the upper end.
d

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---""ZZHere the Governor came fbrward to receive us. He is short I No. 753 of 
the Diplomatic and Consular Reports on Trade and Finance. 1890. 2 The Rukn-ed-Dowleh has in 
the spring of the present year (1891) again been ejected, (it is said because of his Russophil 
tendencies), and has been replaced by Fathullah Khan, the Sahib Diwan, formerly Governor of 
Fars under the Zil-es-Sultan.
d

MESHED

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and very fat, but wears an amiable expression, and, although unlike the Shah, has the 
distinctive Kajar features. His hair was Conversa- black~ but a white stubble ornamented his 
chin. His tion with the Rukn- dress was the 7colah, or lambskin bonnet, and the ordinary ed-
Dowleh black large-skirted coat and trousers of - the Persian grandee. White cotton gloves 
covered his hands, which he crossed affably upon his stomach.
Our conversation was not of surpassing interest, as the Governor contented himself with civil 
and conventional replies. I asked him if he thought railways were likely to come in Persia. 
 If God be willing, yes,  was the somewhat ambiguous rejoinder. Of the possible lines, he 
thought that from Teheran to Kum was most likely to be the first constructed. He said that the 
mineral resources of his province were very great (which is probably true), and comprised 
gold, silver, lead, copper, and coal. When I asked him whether the people knew anything about 
the Shall's recent reception in Europe, and particularly in England, he answered  No; 
]low should they ? Only the officials and upper classes know~ Three newspapers are published 
in Teheran, and of one of these 100 copies are brought every week to Meshed. Later on, when the 
Shah's diary is published, people will read it, and then they will know. 
My interview with His Royal Highness left upon me the same impression that did the 
conversation of so many of the Persian ministers whom I afterwards encountered-viz. the 
existence of an abstract willingness for the internal development of their country, but a total 
absence of initiative, and a passive -acquiescence in the status quo.
In the succeeding chapter I shall have something to'say about the armed forces of the 
Khorasan province. I may here limit my Garrison attention to the garrison of Meshed, which 
consists of
three infantry regiments of 800 each, usually regiments recruited in the Turkish province of 
Azerbaijan; a precaution which is supposed to preclude any possible fraternisation between the 
populace and the military. There are reported to be some twenty light field guns in the Ark. But 
as they are never brought out, as the artillerymen never practise working them, and as the 
horses are never exercised, they would probably not constitute a very formidable battery in 
actual warfare.
The only two foreign Powers officially represented, or who

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170 
MESHED
171
have had any cause to be so represented in Meshed, are Great Meshed. Such a concession having 
beeu made to the Russians Britain and Russia; and in both cases the appointment is quite -could 
not, of course, be denied to the British, and General MacForeign
recent, and was effected under circumstances that had lean, who had for some time most ably 
represented the Indian Consuls in occurred a short time before in visit, and are worthy of 
Meshed y Government on the Perso-Afghan frontier, received simultaneously
narration. It was Russia who took the initiative in the his appointment as Consul-General, and, 
arriving at his post a latter part of 1888. By the seventh article of the Akbal-Kborasan short 
time before his Russian colleague, was the doyen of the limited Treaty of 1881, she was entitled 
to keep agents at the Persian Diplomatic Corps that had thus been called into being at the 
frontier-posts.  But there was no mention therein of a C   onsul or capital of Khorasan. 
Consul-General; Meshed could not possibly be described as a The Russian Government had for 
some time made preparations frontier-post, or as even remotely concerned with the Turkoman 
for this eventuality. Their native agent had acquired a large question; and the Shah was known to 
be particularly averse to Russian house, standing in spacious surroundings, in a suitable any 
such intrusion at the religious capital of Khorasan. Both Consulate quarter of the city, and into 
this abode, well qualified to Russia and Great Britain had for long maintained native agents 
furnish the pfficial residence o*f the repFesentative of a great at the latter place. But such 
British officers as had been specially M. Vlassof at once moved. The- Russian flag floated
sovereign, employed on political service in these regions, as, for instance, above the doorway. - 
A small bodyguard of four Russian Cossacks, General Maclean and Colonel Stewart, bad been 
careful either to as well as tha Persian guard assigned to both Consuls by the reside elsewhere 
or to move from place to place, and had never I Government, preceded the Consul when he moved 
abroad, and taken up permanent quarters in the capital, where they were the native population 
of Meshed, whose fanaticism turned out to always assured that their residence would be attended 
with be a very negative quantity, were speedily habituated to the personal risk. presence of the 
foreign element which made- so -brave a display.
Russia, however, bad decided for some time that her interests There can be no question that the 
presence of a capable Russian in Khorasan required direct and official representation in the 
city  official and staff, and the impression produced by ample surroundAppoint-
Accordingly M. Vlassof, Russian Consul at Resht, and ings and an imposing abode must have done 
much to augment

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ment of M. a diplomatist widely known for his grasp of Persian Russian influence in the capital, 
and, if that influence is someVlassof
politics, was nominated Consul-General by the Czar, and cised with an abrupt and imperious 
insistence, the
times exer the Shah was informed that he, must ratify the appointment. This
effect, even though it be the reverse of welcome to tho,se on whom peremptory manner of 
proceeding was not calculated to soothe the it is produced, will not thereby have been lessened in 
intensity. wounded feAings of the latter, and for some time the exsequatur A vigorous Russian 
representative at Meshed is a visible symbol was withheld. Russia, however, is in a position on 
the north to
of the great Power whose movements and intentions form the make it extremely dangerous for 
Persia to oppose any prolonged subject of conversation in -every Oriental bazaar, and whose 
everor genuine resistance to whatever proposals she may threaten to swelling shadow, 
witnessed with a sort of paralysed quiescence by enforce, and accordingly, after a certain delay, 
the exsequatur was the native peoples, looms like a thunder-cloud over the land. granted, and in 
the spring of 1889 M. Vlassof was installed at In one of my  Times  letters I.wrote as 
follows:- It is to be
ZZZZZ Reference LineZ-
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Z% Reference Line%ZZZ
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---""ZZThe article is as follows;  With a view to the observance and 
fulfilment of rD the stipulations of the present Convention, and in order to regulate the 
proceed- British house its representative in a similarly becoming fashion. ings of the 
Turkomans residing on the Persian frontier, the Government of His Consulate Preparations for 
such A contingency had not been made, Majesty the Emperor of AR the Russias shall have the 
right to nominate agents as in the rival case, long beforehand; and the building which now to the 
frontier-posts of Persia. In all questions concerning the observance of order and tranquillity in 
the districts contiguous to the possessions of the High bears the insignia of the British 
Consulate, and flies the British Contracting Parties, the appointed agents will act as 
intermediaries in the rela- flag, is one that affords the scantiest possible evidence of the tions 
between the Russian and Persian authorities.  f its ininate. It is little short of discredit
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172
PEA RSIA
able that the British Consul-General should be compelled to re
side in such attenuated and miserable surroundings. An imme
diate duty is imposed upon the Government to provide for his
inaintenance in a style and in quarters better fitted to represent
to the native mind the prestige of a great and wealthy Power.  I
rejoice to have heard since that the Government has taken the
same view of the case as I did; and that a sum of money has been
granted, sufficient for the T)urchase of a plot of ground and the,
TEMPORARY BRITISH CONSULATE AT MESHED
ei~ection. of a becoming edifice thereon. General Maclean, the capable representative of Great 
Britain in Khorasan,I contemplated at first the purchase of a well-wooded and well-watered 
garden, nearly thirty acres in extent, outside the walls of the city; but my latest information is 
that this project has been abandoned, and that a property is more likely to be bought within the 
walls.
  General Maclean has since retired (1891), and has been succeeded at Meshed by Mr. Ney 
Elias, one of the most distinguished members of the Indian Civil Service.
k
MESHED
173
The staff of the British Consulate, when fully organized (it is still in a state of embryo), will 
consist of the Consul-General, his Staff and assistant, and a Vice-Consul. A private guard is 
proappoint- vided by two sergeants and three privates of the Indian ments Corps of Guides, 
whose picturesque uniform and smart appearance create a favourable impression, while a 
native guard of one sergeant and six men is furnished by the Persian Government. Attached to the 
British Consulate is also a body of twenty-two Turkoman sowars, mainly Sariks of Penjdeh, 
who from the earlier stages of the Afghan boundary dispute allied themselves to the British side, 
and who are now employed upon a private postal service between Meshed and Herat, where their 
post enters into correspondence with that of the Amir of Afghanistan. Should the latter be in the 
northern parts of his domains, it sometimes occurs that a message from- the Viceroy of India is 
most easily and expeditiously transmitted to him by this circuitous route. When a proper house 
with becoming surroundings has been built, the British Consul-Gene ral, who is also Agent 
to the GovernorGeneral of India, thus attended and assisted, will be able to

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maintain an appearance worthy of the twofold Power which he represents, and positively 
essential in a country and amid a people where etiquette and display are credited with a virtue 
amounting almost to salvation.
So much for the outward political position at present occupied by the two Powers in Meshed. An 
immense amount of consular Consular business devolves upon the shoulders of either 
represenbusinese tative, for both the Russian and British Governments have several hundred 
subjects residing in or passing through Meshed for trading purposes. In the case of the British 
Government these will be in the main Hindus and a few Kashmiris trading, vid Bunder Abbas, 
from Bombay, or occasional descendants of Afghan and Persian families who became British 
subjects in the earli-er years of this century. The Afghans who come to Meshed are willing 
enough to claim the shelter of British citizenship, a recognition that is in sharp contrast with 
the haughty exclusiveness maintained in his own dominions by the Amir. The Russian subjects 
in Khorasan are Armenians, Caucasian Mussulmans, Turkomans, inhabitants of Transcaspia, 
Sarts, and Bokhariots. In the re&tration of these subjects and in the prompt attention to their 
business the Russians possess an indubitable

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174 
MESHED
176
advantage in their passport system, by which the identity, on the north-west. From Xelat a 
branch line runs to Deregez. nationality, and claims of an applicant can at once be ascertained. 
There isfurther a single wire from Meshed to the frontier outpost The British have never 
adopted this most useful of systems, and Telegraphs of Sarakhs, on the Russian border; but this 
is usually an immense amount of labour and time is spent in investigating broken or 
interrupted, and Sarakhs is, as a rule, cut off the titles of the claimant to British protection, 
which are frequently from communication with the capital. This line has been linked disputed by 
the Persian authorities, and can only be vindicated in the present year (1891) with Russian 
Sarakhs) on the other side with trouble and delay. It is worth while considering whether in of 
the Tejend, where there is a military outpost of Russia; the Persia, at any rate, the passport 
system might not advantageously point of Junction being in the bed of the Tejend. This brings be 
introduced.  It would, I believe, be welcomed by the Persian Meshed into telegraphic 
connection with Ashkabad and Merv, and Government. further exemplifies the Russian 
ascendency. There is, at present,
There is very little to be seen in the neighbourbood of Meshed. no telegraphic connection 
between Meshed and the south; but a The mosque of Khoj ah Rabi I have already described. 
TheMusallah, wire has been talked of from the capital to Bi~jand. The main
originally built in A.D. 1699 for the celebration of the feast line between Meshed and Teheran 
570 miles in length, consists Tus
of Kurban, and described by MacGregor as the only ruin of a single wire, vid Nishapur, 
Sebzewar, and Shahrud. Though of any note about the city, has lost any note that it may once have 
it belongs to the Persian Government, it is subsidised and mainhad by being a total ruin. Visitors 
will possibly care to ride out tained for them by the Indo-European Telegraph Department, who 
to the remains of Tus, the predecessor of Meshed, fifteen miles 1 keep an inspector at Shahrud 
and two signallers at Teheran and distant in a north-westerly direction. Persian legend is very 
busy Meshed. This staff is inadequate for the maintenance and service with the antiquity and 
history and vicissitudes of this once famous of the line, and it is out of order on several days in 
each month. city. The present remains, which are very clearly to be traced, The Persians were 
apt at first to invest the telegraph offices with are those of a walled Arab city, quite four miles 
in circumference, the sanctity of a bast, and cases have occurred at Meshed and elseand of a 
citadel in its north-east corner. In the centre is a large where where the premises have been so 
claimed by fugitives from ruined structure under a dome, which was no doubt once a mosque, 
pursuit or persecution-the underlying idea

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being that the wire but is now known as the Nakkara-Khaneh or Drum Tower. ran directly from 
the Shah's palace at Teheran, and that they O Donovan, who spent some time in examining 
and describing the could thus communicate at once with head-quarters. ruins, mistook this 
building for the tomb of the great national poet In conclusion I mav sav that the fanatical 
hostilitv to Europe ~s Firdusi,2 and even identified his Coffin.3 The poet's grave lay and 
Christians for which Meshed was alwavs said to be distinguished beneath a far humbler 
structure which was visible.seventy years appears to have complIettelly di Prec
~Utiolisl it
Attitude ago; but had disappeared long before O Donovan visited it, and to-,vards ii~_tiu_~, 
are still observed by the advice of the authorities been replaced by no more distinctive 
memorial than a field of wheat. foreigners and it was one of the inconveniences of life and 
residence
Meshed is connected by telegraph, as I have already shown, there that one had to pass through 
the town on horseback prewith Kelat-i-Nadiri on the north, and with Kuchan and Bujnurd ceded 
and followed by an escort. This prevents the desultory stroll
and  poking of the nose in every corner  which the European
I have since heard that the Afghans have been allowed by the British traveller loves, but which 
is so foreign to the Oriental's notion of Government to accept Russian passports through the 
medium of the Persian officials, a concession which I am unable either to justify or to explain. 
dignity and self-respect. During my residence of eight days in
2 Firdusi, born about 940 A.D., died 1021, was employed by Alahmud of Ghuzni Meshed I 
always moved about on horseback; but I believe that to write the history of Persia in verse. The 
result was the Shah Nameh, or Book there was nothing in reality to have prevented me from 
wandering of _Ki?~qg, in which the poet discharged his duty in 60,000 Pchlevi verses, 
contain- whither I would on foot, and in a few years  time a European will ing only two 
Arabic words, although two out of every three words in ordinary u~sagc at the time were of 
Arabic-Le. non-Iranian-origin, doubtless be as

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176 
SUPPLEMENTARY ROUTES FROM MESHED.
MESHED TO SARAKIFIS (vid Ak Derbend and Pui-i-Khatun, 96 miles). (Sir) A. Burnes 
(1832), Travels into Bokhara, vol. iii. pp. 56-65 ; Capt. Hon.. G. Napier (1874), Journal of 
the R. G.S., vol. xlvi. p. 146 (1876); (Sir) C. MacGregor (1875), Journey through Khorasan, 
vol. ii. pp. 1-30. MESHED To HERAT (two routes; the most familiar vid Turbat-i-Sheikh Jam 
and Ghurian, 220 miles). J. B. Fraser (1822), Journey into Khorasan, pp. 118-19; Lieut. A. 
Conolly (1830), Overland Journey to India, vol. 1. cap. xii.; J. P   Ferrier (1845), 
Caravan Journeys, cap. x. and cap. xxxi.; Capt. Claude Clerk (1857), .7ournal of the B.G.&, vol. 
xxxi. pp. 45-47 ; H. C. Marsh (1872), Ride through Islam, pp. 113-131 ; (Sir) C. MacGregor 
(1875), Journey through Khorasan, vol. 1. caps. viii. ix. MESHED TO SEISTAN (vid Turbat-i-
Haideri, Bajistan, Birjand, Lash Juwain). Dr. F. Forbes (1841), Journal of the B. G.S., vol. 
xiv. (1844); Col. Euan Smith (1872), Bastern, Persia, vol. i. pp. 323-356, and Appendix D ; 
Dr. H. W. Bellew (1872), From the Indus to the Tigris, caps. ix. x.; Sir F. Goldsmid (1872), 
Journal of the R. G.S., vol. x1iii. p. 65 (1873). MESHED To KAAHKA (Transcaspian Railway), 
vid Sengiban, Chaksari, Chark6i, and Kardeh. Max von Proskowetz (1888), Vom. Newastrand 
nach, Samarkand, iii. 5. MESHED To DUSHAK (Transcaspian Railway), vid Kanegosha, 
Khanibist, Namisar, Huntalabad, Tamura Pass, Cbacba, Karategan. (Private information.) For 
other routes, outlined but not described, vide MacGregor,  vol. ii. Appendix 11.
177
CHAPTER VIII
POLITICS AND COMMERCE OF KHORASAN I
See how this river comes me cranking in And cuts me from the best of aU my land A huge half-
moon, a monstrous cantle out.
SHAKsrEARE, Henry IV., Part I., act iii. scene 4.
IN this chapter I propose to discuss the political and commercial situation in Khorasan, the 
latter being a branch of the former Design of Subject, at any rate in a country where commerce 
can be chapter pursued with political objects, where mercantile agents are frequently 
diplomatic emissaries in disguise, and where the command of trade routes and bazaars is capable 
of being used awa preliminary to territorial acquisition. I wish to place before my readers the 
causes.counecte d with these two spheres of action that bring -the province of Khorasan within 
the purview of European politics, and are responsible for the existence of a Khorasan Question. I 
desire to point out the parts that are or can be played by Great Britain and Russia in the 
development of that question,

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and their respective interests in its future settlement. I shall endeavour, from data which I have 
collected with some trouble, and wh . ich are not elsewhere to be found systematically displayed, 
to indicate what that future is likely to be. First let me explain and define the factors with which 
I propose to deal.
Khorasan, or the Land of the Sun, is the extreme north
I For writings relative to Khorasan, other than those which have been mentioned or quoted in 
caps. v., vi., vii., vide Sir J. Macdonald Kinneir (1810) Geographival Memoir of the Persian 
Empire; J. B. Fraser (1822), Journal of the B.G.S., vol. viii. p. 308 (1838); Sergeant Gibbons 
(1831-1832 , ibid., vol. xi. p. 136 (1841); Captain Claude Clerk (1857), ibid., vol. xxxi. 
p. 37 (1861); R. Lentz, Eastern Persia and the Herat Territory (Russian), St. Petersburg, 
1868; Lieut. W. J. Gill (1873), Geographical Magazine, October 1, 1874; Hon. G. Napier 
(1874), Journal of the.R.G.S., vol. xlvi. pp. 62, 145 (1876); Proceedings of the B.G.& vol. xx. 
p. 166 (18T6); Lieut.-Col. 0. E. Stewart (1880), Proceedings of the B.G.S. (New Series), vol. 
iff. (1881), vol. viii. pp. 137-150 (1886); General Petrusevitch, The Turkomans betmeen 
the Old Bed of the Oxus and the N. Persian Peontier (Trans. of Caucasus Branch of Imp. Russ. 
Geogr. goo., No. xi.), Tiflis, 1880; A. H. Schindler on the Nomenclature and Legends of Khorasan 
in the Academy. 1885.

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178
ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
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---""ZZeastern province of Persia. Extending from about long. 56 degs. on the 
west, to long. 61 degs. on the east, or from the Kal Mura Provinceof River I to the Heri Rud., it 
presents an average width of Khorasan a little over 300 miles. Its extreme length would be, 
from its north-western to its Bouth-eastern extremity, a distance of 600 miles ; but its 
average length may be calculated at 100 miles less. Upon the north it is bounded by the great 
mountain range, the eastern continuation of the Elburz system, which I have already described 
at length, and by which it is severed from what was once Turkoman, but is now Russian 
Transcaspian territory.* On the south it is bounded and all but cut off from the world by the 
appalling desert that stretches like a sea to the very outskirts of Kerman. In this wide extent of 
territory, which is estimated at between 150,000 and 200,000 square miles, are included the 
most extreme Natural varieties of physical conformation, of scenery, and of features climate. 
Upon the north appear mountains whose highest peaks are rarely left by the snow, and rise to an 
elevation of between 12,000 and 13,000 feet. Range sticceeds range in this knotted mountain 
cluster; the intervening valleys, with a mean elevation of 3,000 to 4,000 feet, being the 
recipients of whatever moisture drains from their sides, the centres of cultivation, and the 
sites of villages and towns. In contrast to this almost Alpine scenery, the Dasht-i-Kavir, or 
Great Salt Desert of Persia, one . of the most strange and funereal scenes upon which ever fell 
the eye of man, lays its palsied hand across the middle part. Then towards the south-east ensues 
a second mountainous plateau, with peaks of 6,000 feet, and lower cultivated valleys. Finally, to 
redress the balance, comes the Dasht-i-Lut, or Desert of Lut, whose features, though different, 
are not unfit to be compared with those of the Daslit-i-Kavir.1 Cultivation here, as elsewbere 
in Persia, depends upon water supply; the detritus swept down by the streams or torrents 
depositing a layer of soil upon the sand, which is subsequently
d

I Rising on the south slopes of the Ala Dagh range, the Kal Alura receives the drainage of the 
Jagatai or Juwain plain, through which it flows in an easterly direction, is then joined by the 
Kara Su (Black Water), after which it turns south, cuts the main route from Meshed to Teheran 
at the Pul-i-Abrishum. (Bridge of Silk), and after a further course of fifty miles is lost in the 
Salt Desert. I Descriptions of both these deserts will more properly be given in a chapter UPOD 
the Eastern Provinces, Rde vol. ii. cap. xxiii.
POLITICS AND COMMERCE OF KHORASAN 179
fertilised by the same agency that originally brought it. A petty torrent named the Kusf gives 
life to a limited area of cultivation

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Rivers and near BirJand in the south ; and there are a few scanty cultivation confluents of the 
upper course of the Heri Rud. With these exceptions the rivers of Khorasan are confined to the 
northern portion of the province, which has in consequence acquired its reputation as one of the 
granaries of Persia. Here the Keshef Rud, of which I have spoken, drains the Meshed valley into 
the Heri Rud. Conversely, the Atrek and Gurgan on the western side of the watershed drain 
towards the Caspian Sea. About midway between the two the Kara Su and Kal Mura, already 
mentioned, lose themselves in the Kavir. This is the sum total of the rivers of a province that is 
more than half as large again as the whole of Italy, and not far short of the entire area of Spain. 
The population of Khorasan is as varied as are its physical characteristics. Successive waves of 
conquest have brought hither Population specimens of most of the great ethnic divisions of Asia,
and, retiring, have left them rooted, in greater or less degree, to the soil. Here, in addition to 
the original Iranian stock, and to other members of the Aryan family, are descendants of -the 
Mongols who came in the wake of Timur and Jenghiz Khan, Arabs who were borne on the flood 
tide of Mohammedan conquest, Tartars, Turkomans) and Turks-three really interchangeable 
names for different branches of the same great family that, in succession to the Mongols, 
startled the West first with the Seljuk and afterwards with the Ottoman invasion. The I 
Encyclopoedia Britannica,  in its latest edition, gives the relative proportions of these races 
in Khorasan as follows :
Tajiks . . . 400,000
I. Iranians Kurds . . . 250,000
Beluchis . . 10,000
Timuris . . . 250,000
Hazaras 50,000
III. Tartars Afshars 100,000
Kajars
IV. Arabs . . . 100,000
Total 1,160,000
But from what I can gather this estimate exceeds at least twofold the verifiable total of the 
population, which may be set down as between 500,000 and 600,000; the terrible famine of 
1872
IT. Mongols . . =

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I
180 
having inflicted damages from which the province has never recovered.
Khorasan has experienced a history of great and stormy vicissitudes. Situated on the borders of 
Iran, it has been the History perpetual theatre of armed struggle, and a favourite
battle-ground of races. Its capital cities have alternately excited by their dimensions the 
bewildered admiration of Arab -chroniclers, and have been swept off the earth, as though by a 
tornado, -by the passions of conquerors and kings. It has been the residence of great monarchs, 
and the nucleus of mighty empires. At one-time its name implied a dominion that included 
Kharezm (Khiva) and Merv on the north, that stretched to the, Oxus and embraced Balkh, the 
mother of cities, of which Herat was a central point, and that extended beyond Kandahar.  
Later, as limb after limb was torn away,-and independent sovereignties were created out of the 
fragments, its boundaries became more and more contracted, until the kings of Persia would 
sometimes have found it difficult to say how much they really held of Khorasan. In the early part 
of this century, desolated by border warfare oil the north, inhabited by turbulent chieftains and 
conflicting tribes, and commonly dependent upon the fluctuating politics and fortunes of Herat, 
it was the vulnerable spot of the Kajars  dominions, a sort of Ireland to an otherwise fairly 
united kingdom. Long after it had been forcibly conquered and subdued to the Shah's 
authority-, disorder trembled below the surface, and events might at any moment precipitate an 
explosion. As late as 1862 Mr. Eastwick wrote:
The normal state of Khorasan is war. Petty plunderings, murders, brigandage, small 
insurrections, executions of five, ten, or twenty robbers take place weekly ; and cavalry, 
engagements, sieges of fortresses or towns, annually, with a considerable war every five or ten 
years.2
It is not indeed till the last ten or fifteen years that Khorasan may be said to have become 
thoroughly fused, in sentiment as well as in title, with the rest of the Shah's dominions. The 
present King, who, whatever his failings, has undeniably consolidated his
I Of Malek Shah, the son of Alp A rslan, it was even said that I prayers were every day offered up 
for his health in Jerusalem, Mecca, Medina, Baghdad, Isfahan, Rhe, Bokhara, Samarcand, 
Ourgunje, and Kasbgar. -Malcolm, History, Vol. i. p. 217. 2 Journal of a Dil4omate, Vol. ii. 
p. 216.
POLITICS AND COMMERCE OF KHORASAN 181
reduced but still compact territories, can boast of a firmer hold upon

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the province than any previous member of his dynasty, and is as unquestionably sovereign at 
Meshed as he is at Teheran. In the reign of Fath Ali Shah, about fifty years ago, the revenue of 
Khorasan was 200,000 tomans, and 50,000 kharvars . Revenue grain.  In 1875 it was 
340,000 tomans, and 45,000
kharvars of grain. In 1889 it stood at 539,000 tomans (154,0001.) and 43,000 kharvars of 
grain (two-thirds wheat and one-third barley), and 13,600 kharvars of kah-i.e. chopped 
straw:2 figures which, in spite of the depreciation of the toman, show that the productive 
capacity of the province is on the increase, and also that the extortionary capacity of the 
Government is better organised and more keen.
Of this total, according to a subdivision which is highly interesting, and will afterwards come up 
for explanation, the Shah received Division 87,200 tom=8 (24,9141.) in cash, and 9,200 
tomans of th (2,6291.) as the cash equivalent of his proportion of the spoil grain; a total of 
27,5431. from the province. The remainder was absorbed in,~pay of troops and civil officials, 
pensions, &c. Like every other post or office in Persia, the governorship is as a rule sold to the 
highest bidder, the price given by the successful Govem- purchaser being a fair criterion of the 
estimated increase ment or diminution in productiveness and consequent value. The Governor-
General, who resides at Meshed, is usually a member of the royal family or some official of high 
standing and distinction. Subject to his orders are a number of district governors or chieftains, 
of differing power and influence, ruling over territories that vary in size from hundreds to 
shires, and from shires to provinces. These as a rule owe their appointments to the Shah, even 
where the succession is hereditary in a single family, but are responsible in the first place to 
his deputy at Meshed. Beneath them again is a hierarchy of petty governors, headmen, and 
mayors, -nominated by and responsible to. their superiors. It is in the multiplicity of rival 
claims and interests among these chieftains, in the variety of races Leneath their rule, and 1 1 
kharvar = 649 lbs.; 3-1 kharvar8 = (approxi . mately) 1 ton. 2 These figures correspond 
very fairly with those in the table, procured from an independent source, which will be printed 
further on. There the revenue of Khorasan is given as 508,268 toman8 in cash, 60,123 
kharvars in wheat and barley, and 12,424 k&rvars in straw and rice.
I

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182 
above all in the juxtaposition of their extended borders with those of two foreign Powers, 
neither of whom can be considered Origin as other than hostile-naniely, Russia and 
Afgbanistanof the that the Khorasan Question finds its birth; and it is upon Khorasan Question a 
consideration of these manifold elements that any attempt either to comprehend or to solve it 
must primarily be based. The greater part of the western and southern limits of Khorasan, not 
being border districts, but abutting upon other Persian proAstrabad Vinces~ and being either 
inhabited by Persians or not province inhabited at all, play no part in the problem of frontier 
policy. This may be said to commence with the Astrabad province, occupying the neck of land 
between the, Astrabad Bay, in the south-east corner of the Caspian, and the. district of Sbabrud, 
and also a stretch of fertile roil between the Gurgaii and Atrek rivers as far east as the 
56ZZthZZ parallel of longitude.  Its capital and only city is Astrabad, with a population of 
8,000, which is the residence of the Governor. Its port is Bunder-i-Gez, thirty miles distant, 
on the bay before named. The Governor was till recently Amir Khan Serdar, the Saif-el-Mulk, a 
young man.. who is the brother of one of the Shah's wives. Ile was said to possess every 
quality that should disqualify him for the discharge of such -in office, and to have been merely 
sent to Astrabad in order to get rid of him at Teheran. He has since either been superseded or 
lias resigned. The forces of the Astrabad province are nominally 3,800, of whom a garrison of 
300 is stationed at the fortified post of Ak Kaleh (White Fortress), eight miles from the capital, 
on the Gurgan; 2,900 were lately in camp at the same place; and the rest are scattered in 
different directions, or are not under arms at all; one-fourth of the total nominal strength being 
a very moderate deduction for absentees. Theprovince of Astrabad, though distinct from 
Khorasan and not responsible to the Governor-General, cannot be omitted from any discussion of 
the politics of the larger area, for the reason that it commands the western approaches thereto 
from the rest of Persia and Teheran, and that it is directly concerned in the solution of three 
distinct questions, each affecting Khorasan in the closest degree, though only touching it from 
without. These are the questions of the
I Something more will be said of the Astrabad province, its character, resoUrces, climate, and 
capital, in a chapter on the Northern Provinces of Persia, to which I refer my readers. Here it 
is only treated in its bearing upon the political or frontier problem.
POLITICS AND COMMERCE OF KHORASAN 183
Russian naval station at Ashurada, the control of the road from the sea to Shahrud, and the 
allegiance of the Yomut Turkomans between the Gurgan and the Atrek. A glance at the map will 
reveal the peculiar physical conforma
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tion of Astrabad Bay, and supplies another illustration of the The Rus- phenomenon that has 
already been described at Enzeli, sians at where the prevalent westerly gales in the Caspian pile 
up A,hu,d, long bars of sand on the seaward side of shallow murdabs or lagoons. Astrabad Bay is a 
large sheet of water forty miles in length by eight miles in width, protected from the open sea 
on the north by just such a long promontory or spit of land, projecting for thirty miles from 
the western coast line and terminating in three small islands, the furthest of which is only 
separated by a narrow channel from the eastern or Turkoman coast of the Caspian. The bay, 
therefore, resembles a lake, with the additional advantage of connection with the open sea; and 
although it has nowhere more than twenty feet of water, and in most parts much less, yet on the 
shores of the Caspian, which posse-ss so few harbours, it may claim a quite peculiar 
distinction. In the hands of Persia it is doubtful, judging from analogy, whether it would ever 
have been seriously utilised for commercial or other purposes. Russia, however, took very good 
care that not even the opportunity should be afforded to her timid neighbour. Already by the 
Treaty of Gulistan in 1813, confirmed by that of Turkomanchai in 1828, she had stipulated that 
no armed vessel flying the Persian flag should be allowed upon the Caspian -; while to make 
assurance doubly sure, she herself appeared in force upon the scene about the year 1840 and 
occupied the island of Ashurada, lying off the extremity of the- Iong peninsula of Mian Kaleh, 
hereafter described.  The plea under I The dates are given as follows by Sir H. Rawlinson, 
-England and Bunia inthe East, p. 137 - 1837-1838. Russians first set foot on Ashurada. 
1842. Their presence first reported to the Foreign Office by Sir J. McNeill. 1846. Buildings 
erected on the island, and negotiation opened with the Turko mans. Persia applies to England to 
aid in obtaining the withdrawal of
Russia. 1849. England makes the attempt, but without success. 1854. Persia demands officially 
evacuation by Russia, but receives the answer
that it is impossible, although Russia admits that Ashurada is Persian
territory. 1856. Russian position on the island strengthened, and naval force augmented. 1866. 
The Shah visits Ashurada, and confirms the police powers of Russia against
the Turkomans.

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184 
which she defended her intrusion wits the necessity of putting down the Turkoman pirates who 
infested the southern and eastern shores of the Caspian, and, after their fashion, robbed, 
pillaged, and carried off their captives into slavery. The Russians do not appear either then or 
since to have formally disputed the Persian ownership of the island, which is unquestionable; 
but to have justified their stay as the consignees of police powers which the Persians were 
incapable of exercising themselves, and which after a time were tacitly recognised by the latter. 
For this purpose a small naval armament was collected, four or five vessels belonging to which 
and one gunboat, under the command of a Russian commodore, still lie off the Russian naval 
station.  It is needless to say that the piratical escapades of the Turkomans have long ago been 
completely quelled * The Russians, notwithstanding, have never thought of giving back their 
trust, and would now be very much insulted at any suggestion that Ashurada was not their 
freehold property. The island, however, is low, swampy, and most unwholesome. For the last 
fifty years it has been reported as being slowly eaten Nature of away by the sea; and the 
surrounding conditions have the in fact changed so much as to render the descriptions of island 
only half that period ago quite obsolete. Eastwick left a most *minute and accurate account of the 
locality as he found it in 1862 .2 At that date there were two islands, Great and Little Ashurada. 
The first of these was severed by a channel about half a mile in width from the end of the long 
promontory of Mian Kaleh (called by the Russians Potemkin), and was about one and one-third 
mile long by three-quarters of a mile broad. This was the Russian naval and military station. 
Then came shoal water for half a mile,
1866. Russia prepares to garrison Gcz, but is forestalled by Persia. 1869. Russian occupation 
of Krasnovodsk. 1870. Russia claims the coast down to the Atrek. 1871. Russian occupation of 
Chikisbliar. For an interesting incident that occurred in 1851, but is not mentioned by 
Rawlinson, vide Lady Sheil's Gliinp8eg ol Life in Persia, pp. 215-242. The Turkomans 
descended upon the island one night, and, catching the Russians drunk or napping, slew some of 
their number. The Russian Government insisted on the recall of the Prince Governor of 
Mazanderan, the Shah's own brother, although be could not be credited with the most remote 
responsibility in the matter. Otherwise, the Czar threatened to withdraw the Russian Legation. 
  These were reported by a visitor in 1890 to have shrunk into two despatch boats and two 
or three hulks.   olm-nal of a Diplomate, vol. ii. pp. 26-43.
JT
POLITICS AND COMMERCE OF KHORUSAN 185
followed by the low sand spit known as Little Ashurada, two miles in length. Then came more 
shoals, with a narrow passage between

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them, extending to the Turkoman coast. Since then a third island, which the Russians call Middle 
Ashurada, has been formed between the other two, while to strike New island a balance the 
erosive process has been going on at Great
Ashurada to such an extent that the island is now reported to be less than a mile long by only 
one-third of a mile wide. Upon this space of ground are built the quarters of the commodore, 
barracks for soldiers, a church, club-house, and the usual appurtenances of a military station. 
In view of the facts here narrated it is not surprising that the Russians, who since the complete 
subjugation of the Turkomans Change of have next to nothing to do at Ashurada, and have really 
quarters no defensible raison d 6tre in the place, should have for desirable long turned 
covetous eyes upon some more secure and salubrious post on the inner line of the bay. Afore than 
twenty years ago they are said to have contemplated the seizure of the Persian landing-place of 
Gez, on the mainland, by offering to garrison it; but in this they were forestalled by the Persian 
Government. Unable to possess themselves of Gez, which, though a wretched place in itself, I the 
Shah would be in the last degree reluctant to yield, and the occupation of which would signify the 
beginning of the end, they are rumoured now to be desirous of obtaining a fortified position on 
the Kara Su (or Black Water), a small river rising about thirty miles cast of Astrabad, and 
flowing into the Caspian about six miles south of the embouchure of the Gurgan. Such a position 
would be equivalent to the occupation. of Gez, and would place Astrabad, literally at their mercy. 
Before I pass to the question of the reasons for which the Russians cling so closely to their 
foothold in this unlovely spot, let History me call attention to the fact that in their presence 
there repeats history is merely repeating itself. It is a strange and interitself esting 
coincidence, although it is one which I have never seen noticed, that over 200 years ago the 
island of Ashurada was simi
I Bunder-i-Gez, sometimes also called Kinara, is a miserable collection of huts and sheds on the 
shore, with a large caravanserai, a Persian Custom House, a few shops kept by Russian 
Armenians, and the residences of a Russian Consular Agent and a representative of the Caucasus 
and Mercury Steamship Company. It is about three miles from the village of Gez, which is an 
ordinary Persian forest. village with over 1,000 inhabitants.

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186 
larly occupied, without permission, by abody of Cossacks, and for some time held by them in 
force. It was in 1668, we learn from the omniscient Chardin,l that the Cossacks of South 
Russia, being instigated by the Grand Duke of Muscovy to attack Persia in revenge for a slight 
which bad been put upon his embassy by Shah Abbas the Great, invaded Mazanderan and sacked 
his capital, Ferababad. Thereupon, intending to winter in Persia, they entrenched themselves on 
the I peninsula of Mionne Kelle, or Middle-sized Horn, a tongue of land that runs forward into 
the Caspian Sea about ten or eleven leagues, and abounds in harts, wild boars, wild goats, and 
other sorts of wild venison.  The Persians promptly attacked them, and, bolder or more 
fortunate than their nineteenth-century descendants, succeeded in ousting the intruders, who, 
however, took refuge in Ashurada, and remained there for a time. Nor is this the only occasion 
upon which Russian forerunners have appeared upon the scene, or have been within measurable 
Peterthe distance of seizing Astrabad. Fifty years later, in 1722-3, Great Peter the Great, who 
had a very shrewd notion of the proper strategical positions to be occupied, and who, although 
his alleged will be apocryphal, entertained very clearly defined ideas of a Central Asian 
dominion, taking advantage of the disordered condition of Persia consequent upon the Afghan 
invasion in 1-722, and utilising as his plea the robbery and slaughter of a number of his 
subjects in Persian towns near the border, prepared to invade the country from the north. This 
project was never carried out in its entirety; although the Russian army, led by himself, 
advanced in 17 2 2 as far as Derbend. The submission of G ilan and surrender of Baku in -the 
following year were, however, sufficient to extort from the young Shah, Tahmasp II., who was 
endeavouring to make headway against the Afghan usurpers, a treaty, ceding to Russia Derbend 
and Baku with their dependencies, and the entire provinces of Gilan, M azanderan, and Astrabad ; 
in return for whieb magnificent donation-which by the way the young Shah was hardly in a 
position at the time to make-the Russian army was to drive the Afghans out of the country.2 The 
Russians occupied Gilan for a I Coronation of King Solyman _tlI. (printed as a supplement to his 
Travel$) pp. 152-154, 2 The treaty was dated September 3, 1723. Its terms are given by 
Hanway, Historical Account (!f British Trade over the Caqfian, vol. iii. p. 181. For a more 
minute accourt of the Russian occupation, ride a later chapter of this volume, pp. 373-5.
POLITICS AND COMMERCE OF KHORASAN 187
while, but were too busy elsewhere to trouble themselves with Astrabad ; and thus a second time 
it slipped out of their possession. Sixty years later the attempt was again renewed. Forster, the 
first English traveller who made the overland journey fi,om India Agha to Europe in 1784, and 
who passed this way, relates

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Moliam- an interesting tale of a Russian squadron, whose commed Khan manding officer in 
1781 commenced the erection of a large fortified building on the shore at Ashraf, the site of the 
famous palace of Shah Abbas near the coast, about twenty-five miles west of Gez. They had 
reckoned, however, without their host; for Aglia Mohammed Khan Kajar, afterwards Shah of 
Persia, and at that time engaged in establishing his authority in Mazanderan, soon appeared upon 
the scene. Expressing great pleasure at what he saw, he invited the Russian officers to dinner, 
made them prisoners, and only released them on condition of the guns being removed and the fort 
razed to the ground. He even appealed to the Russian Government for formal amends.  Thus 
ended the third Russian attempt to gain a foothold upon the mainland of Persia in the south-
eastern angle of the Caspian. The fourth attempt, which I have sketched,- is being pursued with 
less abruptness and with greater patience. Its solution may perhaps be visible in the time of 
many now living. Next I come to the reasons which have actuated the Russians in their long-
sustained desire to obtain an entrance into this corner of Reasons of the Persian mainland. It is 
not that Astrabad of itself Russian provides either the most convenient or a very easy avenue 
activity of invasion. In the first half of this century different and more exaggerated opinions 
prevailed as to its strategical value. If a line be drawn from Baku to India it will be found to pass 
through Astrabad; and accordingly this was the line of advance that was contemplated both by the 
Emperors Paul and Napoleon, when they together discussed and planned an overland expedition 
against India in 1800 ; and again by General Khruleff when, in the course of the Crimean war, 
he submitted a similar programme of invasion to the Emperor Nicholas.  The immediate 
objectives were in either case Meshed and Herat; and in those times the best
.I The most complete account of this incident is to be f ound in Sir J. MINcill's Progregs,and 
Present _11asifion of Russia in the East, pp. 33-4. He says that the Russian officers were 
thrown into chains and subsequently whipped down to their r,hips. Compare B. Dorn's 
Casj),ia (Russian).

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188 
route for a European army marching to Meshed or Herat was undoubtedly by Astrabad. But since 
then the Transcaspian situation has been revolutionised. Russia sits securely where the 
Turkoman terror formerly reigned. Meshed can be smitten from Ashkabad, and Herat from Merv 
and Penjdeb, without any necessity for the lengthy land march from the Caspian. Astrabad, 
therefore, as a point of debarkation, has not the value for Russia that it formerly had. Nor are 
its own resources sufficient, so far as can be ascertained, to support a very large army in the 
field, although it is said that, in 1863, a Persian army of 30,000 men remained encamped for 
eight months in the neighbourhood. Its value is now not so much offensive as defensive. Its eye 
may be said to look not eastwards, but westwards ; and its strategical importance is involved in 
the second of the questions which I named above, viz. the control of the Shahrud road and the 
position which it consequently enables its occupant to take up against the rest of Persia and 
the capital. Astrabad is separated from Shahrud by the Shah Kuh, or main range of the Elburz 
mountains, which here retain a distinct physical The individuality before they are broken up 
into the manifold Astrabad- ridges of northern Khorasan. The highest peak of this Shahrud 
position section, fifteen miles south of Astrabad, attains an altitude of 13,000 feet, Across the 
range there are two passes to Shahrud, a distance by the mule track of sixty-five miles, one of 
which at least, in spite of the elevation and of the nature of the country, might be converted into 
an excellent military road.  An army marching by either of these and seizing Shahrud, which 
is absolutely defenceless, would find itself in this position. It would, in the first place, be 
surrounded by a district of considerable fertility and abundant water supply, capable even in 
summer of sustaining a large army.2 Secondly, it would hold the point of j unction of the I The 
two roads between Sbabrud and Astrabad (one by the Kuzluk Pass, the other by Ziarat) are 
described by Lieut. A. Conolly (1830), Overland Journey to India, vol. i. pp. 182-184*; 
Captain Claude Clerk (1872), Proceedings of the R.G.S., vol, xvii. pp. 193-194 ; Colonel B. 
Lovett (1881), Ditto (New Series), vol. v. pp. 75-84 (1883). The road from Astrabad to Gez 
(27 nules) is described by E. B. Eastwick (1862), Journal of a Diploviate, vol. ii. pp. 45-49; 
Captain Hon. G. Napier (1874), Journal o the R.G.S., vol. xlvi. pp. 114, 115; (Sir) C. 
MacGregor (1875), Journey through Khorasan, vol. ii. pp. 163-166. 2 Colonel Val. Baker 
(Clouds in the E t, p. 142) said that the plain of Bostam (which is the district surrounding 
Shahrud, Bostam, three miles distant, being the residence of the Governor) could maintain an 
army of 60,000 men.
POLITICS AND COMMERCE OF KHORASAN 189
roads from Mazanderan and the sea coast, and from the capital, Teheran. And, thirdly, it would 
command the sole entry from the west into Khorasan, into the heart of which run two easy 
roads, the

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one by JaJarm, Bujnurd, and Kuchan more to the north, the other by Sebzewar and Nishapur 
due east to Meshed. In other words, the Astrabad-Shahrud position is the key of Northern 
Persia. Stationed there, an army severs Khorasan from the rest of the world, and can effectually 
prevent any reinforcement from the capital. North Persia may be likened in shape to a wasp of 
which the head is at Teheran and the tail at Meshed. The narrow belt between Gez and 
Shahrud is the wasp's waist. Cut it and the head becomes powerless; while the utmost that 
the tail can do (and that-not if it is a Persian tail) is to implant a dying sting. It is in the light 
of the physical configuration of this portion of the Shah's dominions that the presence and 
the intentions of the Russians at Ashurada have always been invested with,such importance. 
Their interests in this neighbourhood are sufficiently guarded by a Consul at Astrabad, and by 
Consular agents or representatives at Bunder-iGez and Shahrud. I pass now to the third or 
Yomut Turkoman Question, in which Russia again plays a significant part. By the Boundary 
Treaty of
Persian and Russian Turko- the junction of the Sumbar at Chat, although it appears mans that 
one of their boundary pillars, for some unexplained reason, is still placed south of the Atrek. 
Moreover, Russian officers have been heard of who'since the treaty have crossed the Atrek 
River with soldiers, and have endeavoured forcibly to collect tribute from the Persian Yomuts 
on the Gurgan. However, for such an act there can be no excuse in international law, and 
practically, as well as diplomatically, the Atrek may be taken as the line of division. North of 
that river are settled the Yomut Turkomans under -Russian rule ; south of the river are the 
Yomuts under Persian rule, though nomad camps of the latter are in the habit of crossing the 
river at certain seasons of the year, and are allowed by treaty to do so in order to change their 
pasturages. The Russian Yomuts are thoroughly subdued, and, whether satisfied or not with 
Russian sovereignty, are powerless to revolt. The Persian Yomuts, however, who are subdivided 
into the Ata Bai and Jafir Bai clans, are far from submitting tamely to the pretensions of
1881, the Russo-Persian frontier in this quarter was definitely fixed at the Atrek River, from 
its mouth as far as

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190
ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZPersian authority, and were during the year 1888-9 in active rebellion. 
Further to the east are the Goklan Turkomans, a more submissive people, who, in order to 
escape the hereditary enmity of the Yomuts, have tranquilly accepted the Persian yoke, pay 
revenue to the Shah's exchequer, and provide him with a body of 300 irregular cavalry.  
The rebellion of th e Yomuts began in February 1888, and was not finally extinguished till 
March 1889. It appears to have Rebellion been fomented by, if not to have entirely arisen from, 
of the Persian the scandalous misgovernment of the Persian authorities. Yomuts So serious, 
however, did the movement become that at one time 130,000 Persian troops, under the 
command of the Governor-General of Khorasan, the Klians of Bujnurd and Kuchan, and the 
Prince Governor of Astrabad, were in the field against them. Almost incredible stories are 
related of the cowardice of the Persian troops, large bodies of 1,000 and 2,000 men being 
checked and routed in open daylight by a few scores, or at most liundreds~ of Turkoman 
horsemen. It is only fair to add that the Persian soldiers were perhaps as much actuated by 
discontent as by cowardice in these discreditable proceedings. At least onehalf of their pay, when 
it came from Teheran, was pocketed by the Saif-el-Mulk; and to expect these ill-fed, ill-
clothed, and unpaid wretches to fight was perhaps more than human. Savage -vets of violence 
occurred on both sides, particularly on that of the Persians, who spared neither the lives of the 
men nor the honour of the wornen who fell into their hands. At length the revolt was brought to 
an end by the familiar Persian methods of treachery and intrigue. The clans were indu?~ed to 
turn against each other; and, finally, the leading Ata Bai chieftain, Haji Nazar Khan, who bad 
been the life and soul of the rising, was enticed into Persian territory and killed. The revolt 
then collapsed .2 Episodes such as this not merely display the lamentable incapacity of the 
Central Government, but they can have but one ulterior consequence-the encouragement of 
Russian pretensions on the north. It is well known that that Power claims, and I The weakness of 
the Astrabad Government is shown by the fact that, although the Goklan Turkomans reside within 
the nominal borders of theAstrabad province, their tribute is collected and their levies are 
commanded by the Ilkhani of Bujnurd. 2 For information about the Yomut Turkomans, vide 
Aucher Eloy (1836), Relations de Voyages, pp. 331-36, and notes by Kazi Syud Ahmed, printed 
in the Jownial of the R.G.S., vol. xlvi. p. 142 (1876).
d

POLITICS AND COMMERCE OF KHORASAN 191
expects eventually to exercise, sovereignty over the whole of the Turkoman tribes. Now it is 
believed that the Persian Yomuts

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Wefthness are quite content, if fairly treated, to observe a reasonof the able allegiance to the 
Shah in order to escape the heavier Central Govern- taxation of their brethren on the Russian 
bank of the ment Atrek.1 Every fresh disturbance, however, and still more any evidence of the 
powerlessness of Persia to check it, provide just such an excuse for advance as a Power with 
aggressive intentions would welcome with avidity; and Persia must be careful that in 
this~critical region she is not found playing into her opponent's hand. Had Russia intended at 
the time to play a forward instead of a waiting game, she might have easily discovered an 
opportunity in the recent disorders. That her secret sympathies were not on the Persian side, 
was shown by the remarkable fact that the insurgent Yomuts were found to be mainly supplied 
with Russian breechloading rifles and cartridges. From the Astrabad province, with its appanage 
of acute political problems, we, have now crossed into Khorasan proper, Bujnurd and with our 
faces turned in an easterly direction may
I pursue our-inspection of the frontiers. We pass from the Turkomans to the Kurds, and in the 
Buinurd district encounter the first of the Kurdish communities whose ancestors were 
transplanted by Shah Abbas about 1600 A.D. to the mountain.border of Khorasan. I have already 
in the chapter upon Kuchan described with much fulness the circumstances under which these 
military colonists entered the country, the conditions of their tenure, and their present 
relations with the central power; and what I there said will apply to Bujuurd equally with 
Kucha-n. Whereas 1~uchan, however, is chiefly peopled with Zaferanlu Kurds, it is the 
Shahdillu tribe who settled at Bujnurd, and still constitute the large majority of its inhabitants. 
Like Kuchan, they are ruled by a Khan, bearing the title of Ilkhani, who, though appointed by the 
Shah, is selected usually in hereditary descent from the reigning family; who collects his own 
revenues, and furnishes in return a military contribution to the state, and who is generally in a 
superior position to an ordinary provincial governor. The cavalry contingent supplied by the 
Ilkhani of
I This is confirmed by the latest news (1891), according to which several hundred Russian 
Yomuts have crossed into Persian territory, and have voluntarily become the subjects of the 
Shah.

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192 
Bujnurd consists at present of 500 men. His district comprises the upland valley of Bujnurd, 
contiguous to that of Shirwan and Kuchan, the upper waters of the Atrek, and further south 
Jajarin in the Isferayin plain.1 Of Kuchan I have already spoken. Its military contingent is 
Kuelian at present 600 strong. To the north-east of Kuchan, and on the northern slope of the 
main range-the only Persian possession of any size now remainDeregeZ ing on the northern 
watershed of the Elburz-is situated
the little frontier district of Deregez (the Valley of Tamarisks). This favoured spot, w-hich- 
consists of a valley or basin some forty miles long, by thirty broad, is inhabited partly by 
Kurds, but mainly by Turks or Tartars, relies of old waves of Turanian invasion. Its capital is 
Mohammedabad, 1,200 feet, where in 1880 O Donovan met Colonel Stewart, disguised as an 
Armenian horsedealer, and lived for three weeks in his society without discovering that he was 
an Englishman. Deregez is separated from the Aterk by a low range of hills, which have hitherto 
saved it from Russian. absorption; though it has lost several of the villages lying upon the plain 
below, of which it formerly claimed ownership. Before 1832, it might be considered an 
independent principality; but in common with the other border states of Khorasan, it was then. 
reduced by Abbas Mirza, and has since remained a possession of the crown, in much the same 
way and under the same conditions as Kuchan and Bujnurd; although from its position on the 
extreme boundary, and the relations into which its chief was consequently brought with the 
Turkomans, the authority of the imperial Government was somewhat delicately and 
precariously  enforced from Meshed. The Khan of Deregez belongs to a ruling family who 
have inherited the chieftainship from the days of Nadir Shah. Neither he nor Deregez are now of 
much importance, and his military contribution has been reduced to one hundred .2
I For descriptions of Bujnurd and its district, vide Colonel Val. Baker (1873), Clouds in the 
-East, p. 284, et seq.; (Sir) C. MacGregor (1875), Journey througA XAorasan., vol. ii. pp. 93-
107; General Grodekoff (1880), The War in Turkoviania, vol. iv. cap. xvii. 2 The first 
Englishman to visit and describe Deregez was J. B. Fraser, in 1831 (A Winter's Journey, 
vol. ii. letters ix., x., xi.). For later descriptions, vide Colonel Val. Baker (1873), Clouds in 
the East, pp. 229-274; (Sir) C. MacGregor (1875), Journey t7trough Khorasan, vol. ii. pp. 
70-76; E. O Donovan (1880), The Nerv Oa8is, vol. ii. pp. 30-65.
POLITICS AND COMMERCE OF KHORASAN 193
In none of these three border districts is there the material for any resistance to aggression 
from the North. The two Ilkbanis, Attitude one of whom I have described in an earlier chapter, 
and towards

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Russia
both of whom are important chieftains, may talk very big about opposing Russia, and cannot, in 
the bottom of their hearts, be animated by other than hostile feelings towards a Power whose 
propinquity has already shorn them of so much of their ancient prestige. But it is more than 
doubtful whether either of them would lift a little finger if invasion actually occurred, while a 
steady influx of Russian presents for a series of years beforehand might be found to have 
sensibly alleviated the, pangs of surrender. Already Russia may be said to have obtained a 
definite foothold in each. I have described the new military road from Ashkabad to Kucban, and 
have shown its strategical importance. An alternative Russian road runs from Geok Tepe over a 
pa8s in the mountains further to the west by Germab and Firuzeh to Shirwan, and is continued 
to Kuchan from that direction. A third road leads up the Atrek to Bujnurd vid Chat from the 
Russian military station of Chikishliar, on the Caspian. Russia keeps Consular agents (Russian 
Mohammedans) at Bujnurd, Kuchan, and Mohammedabad. They are supposed to be there in the 
interests of trade; but, in the intervals snatched from commercial applica-_ tion, are not 
discouraged from promoting the interests of. their country in whatever way a discreet 
intelligence may suggest.
Continuing eastwards, we next come to the astonishing natural phendmenon known since the time 
of Nadir Shah, who made Kelat-i- it his stronghold, as Kelat-i-Nadiri. The physical and Nadiri 
strategical attributes of this remarkable place have previously been discussed. I have also 
mentioned that the Persian Government keep here a detachment (nominally) of 500 infantry, 
scattered at the different vulnerable points, and two guns. The inhabitants are chiefly Turks, 
and the Governor, sent from Meshed, Haji Abul Fath Khan, lives in a village in the interior, 
and supplies 150 mounted levies to the Persian border horse. For some time past Russia has 
turned a particularly affectionate eye upon Kelat, and rumours of its cession by the Persian 
]Russian Government have been designedly circulated in order to aspirations familiarise the 
public mind with such a transfer, of ownership. To those who deny such intentions on the part of 
Russia, it will bel sufficient to reply that a few years ago she

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194
ZZZZ
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---""ZZformally offered to give to Persia, in exchange for Kelat, her share of the 
famous and fertile plain of Moghan on the western shore of the Caspian. The offer was declined. 
The value of Kelat to Russia consists, as I have before argued, in its command of the bead waters 
of the streams that run down to the Atek; and still more in its position as a central point for 
controlling the border tribes, and in its prodigious prestige. Persia is far from willing to cede 
this remarkable point of vantage, and guards it with a jealousy that is in curious contrast to her 
general apathy and weakness. No stranger is permitted to enter except with a special permit 
from the Shah, and several Russians, as well as myself, have been baffled in the attempt to 
penetrate into the interior. Russian policy in these parts is at present directed to claiming more 
and more. of the streams that irrigate her possessions on the plain, and to extending her 
influence over the border tribes. Little by little she has crept up the mountain skirts from the 
Atek atthe bottom, while. disputes about the water supply which, though it fertilises Russian 
villages, yet flows from Persian sources and through Persian territory, can always be 
aggravated into an excuse for encroachment. Kelat would provide her with a centre of particular 
value for either object, and she will remain discontented until she possesses it. In the published 
treaty between Russia and-Persia, which was concluded in December 1881, and which defined 
the new boundary between Transcaspia and Khorasan, Decessitated by the Russian conquests of 
that year, the delineation of the border which commenced at the mouth of the Atrek, stops 
abruptly before it reaches the village of Lutfabad, situated in the Atek below the Persian district 
of Deregez. Lutfabad was left to the Persians; but what is the exact frontier eastwards from this 
point to Sarakbs on the Tejend is not ascertainable from any published document. It is believed 
to have been settled by a secret treaty in 1.881 or in 1883 between Russia and Persia, to which 
I shall later on have occasion to refer; and commissioners are reported to have passed over the 
ground and traced it out. The popular uncertainty, or rather ignorance, upon the point is, 
however, an excuse for just such acts of encroachment on the part of the stronger power as I 
have sketched in the proceding paragraph. At Sarakbs we once again touch a definite boundary in 
the shape of the Tejend River, which, though known in its upper
d

i
POLITICS AND COMMERCE OF KHORASAN 195
course as the Heri Rud, becomes the Tejend upon being joined by the Keshef Rud at Pul-i-
Khatun; and, after dividing the Persian

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ZZZZ
d

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---""ZZ0 The from the Russian military outposts at Saraklis, flows, when Tejend 
there is water in it, in a northerly direction across the desert, where it is spanned by a bridge 
of the Transcaspian Railway at TeJend or Karibent. There are two Sarakhs, the Old and the New 
Sarakhs; andmuch confusionhas been caused both among travellers andpoliticians Thetwo by an 
imperfect appreciation of their different sites and Sarakhs . features. Old Sarakhs is on the 
right or eastern side of the river, and from very remote times was the headquarters of the Salor 
tribe of Turkomans, who are one of the first subdivisions of that race of whom we hear in 
history, being mentioned by Arab historians as long ago as the seventh century. I The first 
European in this century of whose visit to Saraklis we read was the missionary Wolff, who 
stopped several weeks here in 1831, on his first journey to Bokbara, preaching to the Jews, of 
whom there was a small colony, and the Turkomans. He passed again in 1844, on his mission of 
inquiry into the fate of Stoddart and Conolly at Bokhara. In the interval Burnes had spent ten 
daysin disguise at Sarakhs in 1832, on the return from his great journey, and had very 
narrowly escaped detection. He described the place as a I small and weak fort almost in rains, 
situated on a hillock, with a few mud houses built by the Jews of Afesbed;  and said that its 
Turkoman occupants at that time professed a dubious allegiance to Khiva.1
d

I Sarakhs was visited bythe Arab traveller, El Istakbri (miscalled by Ouseley Ibn Haukal), in 
the tenth century. He describes it as distant sixvwnzil (stages) from Nisbapur, and adds:   
Sarkbes is a city between Meru (Merv) and Nishapour, situated on a level, without any running 
water but that which comes from Pousheng (which river comes from Heri and runs on to 
Sarkhes, but in a season of excessive heat the water does not run so far). It is computed that 
Sarkhes is as large as Meru-al-rud. It is a populous and thriving city; the air is wholesome; the 
inhabitants drink well-water, and they employ horses or asses in their mills. -The Oriental 
GeograpAy of Ibn Haukal, translated by Sir W. Ouseley, pp. 219-221. This description of the 
Tejend tallies exactly with that of modem travellers. When M. Lessar first came to Saxakhs, in 
1882, he reported the riverbed to be commonly dry, and from 300 yards to half a mile in 
width. TheMoorish pilgrim, Ibn Batutah, also came to I Sarakbas  from Meshed eire. 1330 
A.D. -Travels, translated by Rev. S. Lee, p. 96. For other references to Saraklis by early 
writers, vide Nasiri Khosru (Sefer Nameh, p. 6), Mukadessi (De8criptio, Imperii.3loslentici, 
pp. 312,313), and Yakut (Dictionnaire de la Perse, pp. 307, 308). 2 Travels into Bokhara, 
vol. iii. pp. 42-66.

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Very soon after Burnes  visit, Abbas Mirza, the heir-apparent, who was then prosecuting 
the, reconquest and thorough subjugation Capture by of Khorasan, appeared upon the scene with 
his army, took Abbas and destroyed the place, massacred most of its inhabitants, Mirza and 
carried away the rest as prisoners to Meshed ; I whence they were subsequently ransomed at 41. 
a head by their Salor kinsmen,of Yuletan. Some of them are still to be found at Old Saraklis; and 
a colony exists at Zolirabad on the Persian bank, a good deal higher up the river. But the clan 
has in modern times sunk into comparative insignificance.
Some time later, it is said about the year 1850, the Persians, in order to secure this frontier 
post against the merciless ravages of New the Tekke Turkomans of Merv, built a huge fort, of 
polySarakbs gonal shape, and flanked with twenty-four towers, upon which they mounted a 
number of decrepit guns, on the left or western side of the Tejend, at a distance of about half a 
mile from the river. Al. de Blocqueville-the unhappy French photographer who accompanied the 
famous Persian expedition to Merv in 1860, that was cut to pieces at K~ousliid Khan Kaleh, and 
who fell into the hands of the Turkomans and remained a prisoner in their tents for a year and a 
half-passed Saraklis on his way and described the newly constructed fort.2 MaeGregor was the 
next visitor, in 1875 Yand he both gave an account of the fort and its garrison of 700 infantry, 
a few cavalry, and eleven more or less serviceable guns ; and published in his book an 
illustration and plan.3 Next, in 1882, AT. Lessar, the well-known Russian ellgineer, at that 
time employed
I I After the fall of Cochoon (Kucban), Abbas Mirza made for Serrakbs, which be found totally 
off its guard, and at once invested it. Despising and rejecting an offer of 150,000 and then of 
200,000 tomauns of ransom which was offered by the inhabitants, be resolved, cost what it 
might, to root out this nest of manstealers, The place was invested, breached, stormed, and taken 
in little more thanaday. The town was given up to plunder, and afterwards reduced to ashes. 
Many of its inhabitants were slaughtered, and 3,000 of the remainder were carried off 
prisoners. The booty was enormous-incalculable-perhaps greater than in any capture of recent'
times. There were literally whole sacks of gold, and piles of rich goods of every sort and kind. It 
was a true robbers  den upon an immense scale: the amount of specie alone has been vaguely 
estimated at from 300,0001. to 400,0001., and the greater part of this fell into the hands of 
the soldiery. -J. B. Fraser, A JViider's Journey, &c., vol. ii. p. 29. The above, though a 
no doubt exaggerated versimi, is interesting as being almost contemporaneous (1834). 2 Dur 
du Monde, April, 1866   Joug-ney through Khora8an, vol. il. pp. 30-33,
POLITICS AND COMMERCE OF KHORASAN 197
as a prospecting pioneer of Russian advance, later as a member of the Afghan Boundary 
Commission, and now diplomatic agent at

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the Court of Bokliara, was at Sarakhs on the surveying tour which first laid bare to European 
knowledge the country between Saraklis and Herat. He described the pitiable fright of the 
wretched, garrison, who, instead of being a terror to the foe, were practically beleaguered 
themselves, inasmuch as they never dared to sally out, and bunit alarm fires on the watch-
towers at night.
Two years later, in April 1884, largely in consequence of the information which M. Lessar had 
collected, and in pursuit of that Reoccupa- effective but indefensible advance that resulted in the 
tion of Old affray on the Kuslik and the seizure of Panjdeh in 1885, Sarakba by the the Russians 
appeared in force, and occupied the deserted Russiawt position of Old Sai-aklis on the eastern 
bank of the river. Here they soon constructed a fortified position and barracks ; and the 
resuscitated Old Sarakhq, which I suppose may now be called the Newer Sarakhs, has ever since 
remained one of their frontier military stations. The only account of it that I have seen since it 
passed into their hands is that by the Comte de Cholet, a young French officer who ro-de down 
this way in disguise in 1888 with Colonel Alikhanoff from Merv. His description (translated) is 
as follows :
Strictly speaking to call Sarakhs a town would be'somewhat of an exaggeration. It is simply a 
military post around which are grouped the houses of the officers and of some persons engaged in 
trade. As the Persians seemed to resent the annexation of the Turkoman tribes who inhabit this 
neighbourhood, the Russians replied by erecting this advanced post, in which they placed two 
battalions   one of the first line, and one reserve or garrison, in all from 1,500 to 1,600 
men. This was more than *enough to teach the Persians that they could never hope to recover the 
country ; at the same time that, upon a really very shallow pretext, it established an important 
advanced post in the valley of the TeJend, commanding one of the two roads to Herat. Besides a 
large and excellent barrack, the town consists only of 100 houses, inhabited by the military or 
civil officials and the merchants. Two streets and two squares-one of which is the scene of a 
very busy and animated market-divide the town, and constitute a long parallelogram, half a mile 
in length by 200 yards in width. It is the residence of a pristav, or chief of district. I
I have in my previous work quoted the important opinion of
  Excursion en Turkestan, pp. 80-82.

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i
198 
MacGregor upon the strategical significance of the position at
ZD n Sarakhs, as commanding the approach up the valley of the Heri strategical Rud to 
Herat.  This advantage has now.passed entirely value from the Persians  into the 
Russians  hands. The Persian garrison of Saraklis, which consists of one wing of infantry-
about 300 men-and a small detachment, of artillery, is practically isolated in the big 
overgrown fort which it could in no case defend. The telegraph wire from Meshed is usually 
interrupted or broken ; and the Russians have. probably only to appear upon the other side of 
the river and fire a volley of blank cartridge, to ensure a precipitate stampede.
Saraklis is the extreme north-east point of the Persian frontier, and in fact occupies ail angle 
sharply ptished out into the desert. Eastern Here we turn south, following the valley through 
which frontier flows the Heri Rud, the river supplying the boundary first between Persia and 
Russia as far a-, the Zulfikar Pass, and afterwards between Persia and Afghanistan. Here also 
we touch the northern skirts of a belt of country lying upon or near the border lines, and 
inhabited by various tribes of mixed origin and alien religion, who, though subjects of Persia, 
profess a somewhat reluctant allegiance to her rule, and constitute a critical item in the politics 
of the frontier.
It is in the Meshed district which extends to the Heri Rud that we first encounter these foreign 
elements. Round the capital the Neshed -Iranian element is in the ascendant; but as we approach 
district the frontier we come across colonies or detachments who belong in race and religion to 
the Chehar Aimak (lit. Four Settlements), or wandering tribes of the Afghan border.2 These are 
the Jamshidis and Hazaras. The former are of Persian origin, but the greater part of the tribe 
long ago left Persian territory and settled in Afghanistan. The remnant were brought back after 
the siege of Herat in 1857, established at Kanegosha, near Meshed, and required
I -Russia in Central Asia, p. 121, 2 The Cbebar Airnak were originally, as their narne implies, 
four tribes, viz. the Jamsbidi, Firuzkubi, Tirauri, and Taimuni. Later on two other tribes, the 
Hazara and Kipebak, were included iii-the designation. TbeFiruzkuhis,Taimunis and Kipchaks, 
the two first of whom are said to be of Persian origin, are now not found in Persia. Alembers of 
the other four branches are. Dr Bellew's classification is different. He gives the original 
Chehar Aimak as the Tirnuri, Taimuni, Dahi, and Suri; the Jamsbidi and Firiizkuhi as 
subdivisions of Timuri, and the Hazaras as synonymous with the Dabi.
POLITICS AND COMMERCE OF KHORASAN 199
to furnish a mercenary force to the Persian Government. A border

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guard is still recruited from them; but, though of Persian descent and speaking the Persian 
language, they are credited with a very dubious fidelity. The Hazaras, on the other hand, never 
were a Persian race. They belong to the Turanian family, as their Mougolesque features, their 
crooked eyes, and paucity of beard indicate. Some of them are settled in the Meshed district, but 
the greater number further south at Mohsinabad, in the district of Bakharz. By far their most 
extraordinary feature is that, though Persian neither in blood, religion, nor affinity, they 
speak the Persian tongue. They profess the Sunni Mohammedan faith; and although supplying a 
force of 450 cavalry, entertain feelings of very questionable loyalty to the Sovereign power.
Next in succession to Meshed, on the south, come the border districts of Jam, or Turbat-i-
Sheikh-Jam (i.e. the Tomb of Sheikh Districts of Jam , a local saint of immense sanctity, who 
was buried Jam, Ba- here), Bakharz and Khaf, which are at present united under harz, and Khaf 
a single Persian governor of Arab blood, who bears the title of the Nasrat-el-Mulk, and who 
from the three districts supplies a quota of 1,025 cavalry. The bulk of the population under his 
rule also belong to one of the Chehar Aimak tribes, but to neither of those hitherto mentioned. 
They are of Arab origin, and are called Timuris, a -name which they are said to have derived 
from the great Timur, who originally deported them from their native country in a rage because 
they had plundered his mother when on a pilgrimage to Mecca, and who then handed them over as 
subjects to an emin . ent Seyid, to whom also he gave his own daughter in marriage. Th ere are 
settlements of Timuris in other parts of Khorasan, notably near Nisbapur and Sebzewar; but the 
bulk of the tribe are found in the three border districts, now under discussion.
The ill-judged and oppressive policy of the Persian Government has alienated the sympathies of 
these along with the other nomad tribesmen. Indeed, Persia has almost as much reason in these 
parts to mistrust her own mercenaries as had the Roman Empire to doubt its legions of Goths and 
Gauls. I should add that the Timuris, like the Hazaras and Jamshidis, are Sunni Mohammedans.
Further to the south lies the extensive and important district of KaiD, which includes ten 
belulcs or petty governorships, and stretches as far as the desert that separates Khorasan from 
Kerman.

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200 PE RSIA
Kain is ruled by an Arab Amir, in whose family is vested a hereditary chieftainship, and who 
among the border chieftains of Kaiu the south occupies a position analogous and even superior
to that enjoyed by the Ilkhanis of Bujnurd and Kuchan on the north. Mir Alam Khan, the present 
Governor, is probably the most powerful subject of the Persian Crown. Now more than sixty 
years of age, of strong character, and with a formidable reputation for severity, he has cleared 
his province of the roving bands of marauders, principally Afghans and Beluchis, who used to 
lay it waste with impunity; and is so big a personage that lie requires to be very cautiously 
interfered with by the Central Power. The Amir was already Governor at the time of the Seistan 
Boundary Coinmission iii 1872, and did not behave with any excess of civility to Sir F. 
Goldsmid. However, as the area of his own dominions was at stake, Seistan being a subdivision of 
his province, there was perhaps some excuse for offence; and lie has since been extremely 
attentive to such Englishmen as have gone his way. He bears a ceremonious title, conferred upon 
him by the Shah, and holds the rank of an Amir-i-Toman, or Major-General in the Persian 
army. The sovereignty of the Crown is typified by a detachment of Persian artillery in the fort 
at Biriand. (The Amir has since died, November 1891.)
The inhabitants of the khanate are of Persian and Arab descent, and -are estimated at not less 
than 80,000. Formerly the seat Popula- of government was the town of Kain; but it has now 
been tion and transferred to BirJand, a larger unwalled city, with 14,000 capital inhabitants. 
Colonel Stewart reports that opium is enormously grown and consumed here, and that hundreds 
are said to die yearly from excessive indulgence.  The military contribuof the Arnir is 700 
horsemen, from Kain and Seistan combined; and two regiments of infantry, which are called out 
in turn, one doing duty in Seistan, while the other is disbanded in BirJand.
Seistan, as I have indicated, is one of the beluks or subdivisions of the province of Kain, and is 
administered by a deputy of the
I Vide a most interesting paper by Colonel C. E. Stewart, entitled I The Herat Valley and the 
Persian Border from the Heri Rud to Sistan,  Proeeedb~qs of the -R.G.S. (New Series), vol. 
viii. pp. 137-156 (1886). Kain has been described by the Seistan Boundary Commission, 
1872 (i. Col. Dian Smith, Eastern Per8ia, vol. i. pp. 336-343; ii. H. W. Bellew, Front the 
Indu8 to the Tiyri8, pp. 320-322), and by (Sir) C. MacGregor, Journey throtqh, Khorasan, 
pp. 161, 162. For Birjand, vide the saine writers on adjoining pages.
POLITICS AND COMMERCE OF KHORASAN 201
Amir, residing at Nasratabad. In 1889 it contributed to the total revenue of Khorasan 26,000 
tomans (7,4291.) in cash, and 24,000 kharvars (6,957 tons) of grain. Seistan, however, 
involves Seistan so many independent problems, political, commercial, and

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---""ZZstrategical, that I propose to postpone its consideration to a separate 
chapter, where I shall better be able to render justice both to its history and to its future. With 
the south-east corner of Seistan Khorasan terminates. The melancholy Dasbt~i-Lut succeeds; 
and we then come to the province of Persian Beluchistan, which will more properly fall within 
the scope of my second volume.
d

It is along the belt of border territory which I have been describing from the Zulfikar Pass to 
Seistan-a region, as I have VUBBian shown, inhabited by tribes mainly of non-Persian origin, 
propa- non-Persian religion, and anti-Persian inclinations-that, ganda Russia has conceived 
the idea of propagating her political influence. Claiming to be the champion of Sunni 
Mohammedanismi, as against the Shiah  heresy of the Persians, she appeals to their 
fanatical instincts.  In their irregular levies she sees a possible auxiliary of great military 
value. In their situation, commanding the flank approach to Herat, and lower down to the 
Helmund, she sees an opportunity of threatening Afghanistan and of approaching nearer to the 
Indian Beluch frontier. Upon Seistan, lying inidway between Meshed and the sea, she directs a 
particularly enviousgaze, knowing that its possession by a rival Power would be the one step 
that might checkmate her complete ascendency in Khorasan. Russian native news-writers are 
maintained-at Turbati-Sheikh-Jam, Khaf and Kain. Russian emissaries have been heard of 
prosecuting their explorations in these regions, and a feverish interest is displayed by the 
Russian authorities in any information relating to the little-known districts that extend in the 
direction of the British border.
In other words, along the entire circumference of Khorasan, from north-west to south-east, 
occur a succession of points at which Russian interference, influence, or intrigue is being 
actively pushed forward ; and so the Muscovite toils are steadily and surely being wound round 
the body of the intended victim. Astrabad, Bujnurd,In 1882 the Govemor of the newly-
constituted Transcaspian province actually issued a proclamation at Ashkabad to the effect that 
all the Sunni villages in the Atek belonged to Russia, and should no longer pay tribute to Persia-
an exemption from their financial burdens which was eagerly grasped by many. The same policy 
ig now being tentatively pushed southwards.

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202 POLITICS AND COMMERCE OF KHORASAN 203
Kuchan, Kelat, Sarakhs, Khaf, and Seistan are the several scenes offensive and quiet ; and no 
trace remains of the condition of affairs of operation, and may eventually supply the requisite 
doorways of described by -ALIalcolm at the end of the last century, when the entry. A glance at 
the map and at the Transcaspian position of chief-, inaintained themselves in practical 
independence, and their Russia, coterminous for 300 miles with the northern border of 
subjects were noted for valour.1 The Khan provides a contingent Khorasan, will show how a 
situation which the vicinity of a strong of 150 cavalry. Power in possession of the mountains 
might have rendered ex- North of Tabbas is the small district of Turshiz, also with a tremely 
critical has, in the face of a neighbour as weak and pliant mainly Arab population, and under a 
Governor responsible to the as Persia, been converted by Russia into an overwhelming ad- 
Turshiz Governor-General at Meshed. Turshiz is famous for its vantage. fruit, which is 
incomparable, and for its silk, which th6
It is scarcely possible indeed to exaggerate the effect which the disease, that wrought such havoc 
in Gilan, fortunately failed to touch. Transcaspian conquests of Russia, and her subsequent 
construction It is also reported to have turquoise mines, greatly inferior to those Influence of a 
railway across the desert immediately outside and of Nishapur. of the
below the Persian frontier, have had upon the political Turshiz is really in the third, not 
the second, line of support; for Transcaspiftn
condition, and will have upon the political destinies of her between it and Turbat-i-Sheikli Jam 
occurs the district of Turbat-irailway
neighbours. This, however, is a wider question thanTurbat-i- Haideri (Tomb of Haider), which 
is of some strategical should fall within the scope of a chapter dealing solely with one Haideri 
importance, as being situated upon the line of advance of province of the Persian dominion; and I 
therefore propose to deferany army advancing from Herat by Khaf upon Meshed with a view it 
till a chapter is reached whicl) shall handle the whole questionof cutting off communication 
between the capital and Seistan. It is of Russian influence and policy in Persia, of which 
Generalpeopled principally by Karai Turks, but also by Beluchis, and a Armenkoff ~q railwa 
may be described as one of the propellingcentury ago was brought to a pitch of extraordinary- 
power and
y instruments.  prosperity by a very remark-able ruler named Isbak Khan, who was
Before I leave the politics of Khorasan, let me revert once again said to be as good a merchant as 
he was a soldier, and as accomplished Interior to its administrative subdivisions, and 
supplement the a student as he was an administrator, and who drew from his semidistricts 
information which I have given about the border 4 independent province a revenue of 
100,0001.2 Like most of their provinces by a brief sketch of its interior districts. I may 
divide neighbours the people of Turbat-i-Haideri have said good-bye to the these into two 
classes : an inner row, or second line, so to speak, days of fighting and freedom, and are now 
completely subdued by the of border districts; and districts which have no connection with 
Persians. Their country, like

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Turshiz, is rich in mulberries and the frontier at all. orchards; but was terribly decimated 
both by Turkoman ravages Commencing from the south, where we left off with Seistan, andand 
by the great famine. Turshiz and Turbat-i-Haideri comstriking inland from about the same 
parallel as Kain, we come tobined contribute two infantry regiments to the armed strength 
of Tabbasthe province of Tabbas, which touches on the south that Khorasan, which will be 
noticed presently.
of Yezd, from which it is 200 miles distant. The in- t The two interior behiks of Persia which 
are not concerned, even
i habitants of Tabbas are partly Arabs, partly Persians, and are in a secondary degree, with 
frontier problems, are those of Nishapur ruled by a hereditary chieftain of analogous though 
inferior position and Sebzewar. Their governorships are comfortable berths, which to the 
Kbans, Ilkhanis, and Amirs previously described. His name are usually bestowed upon some 
Persian prince-Nishapur, for is Mirza Mohammed Bakar Khan, and his official title the Imad-
el- I History of Persia, vol. ii. pp. 143, 144. Mir Husein Khan was then the Mulk, or   
Pillar of the State  ; though it cannot be contended that chief of the powerful ruling Arab 
family, and, with a population of only 30,000, either in contributions or in individual 
impottance he lends to it any sustained an army of 2,000 horse and 6,000 foot.
2 Malcolm (11-istory, vol. ii. p. 148) says 100,000 tomans, or 200,0004. But as particular 
support. The country is big and poor, the people in- he frequently speaks of a tonian elsewhere 
as equivalent to 11., 1 think that the
  Vide vol. ii. cap. xxx. latter total must be halved. Even this estimate is probably 
exaggerated.

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904 
POLITICS AND COMMERCE OF KHORASAN 205
instance, being at present under a cousin of the Rukn-ed-dowleb, CAVALRY.- continued. and 
Sebzewar under his eldest son. I shall subsequently have Deregez (Turks) . . . .. . . . . . . 100
Kelat-i-Nadiri .. 150 Nishapur something to say about both when I come to their capitals Kain 
and Seistan 700 and on my journey from Meshed to Teheran. Neither district Tabbas . . . . . . . . . 
. . . 150 Sebzewar contributes any infantry troops to the Persian army, Various towns 
(Sebzewar, &c.) 400 having seemingly been granted a special exemption after the visit Total 
4,675 of the Shah in 1868. Artillery. 200 . Finally we come back to the large and wealthy 
district of (2o light field guns in the Ark at Meshed, 2 field guns at Shahrud-Bostam, to which I 
have already alluded in a footnote xeiat, 6 mounted guns I at Sarakhs.) Shahrud- when speaking 
of Astrabad, and which is administered Infantry . . . . . 6,400 Bostam by the sole surviving son 
of Fath Ali Shah. This is only Cavalry . . . . . 4,675
Artillery 206 separated by the Elburz from Astrabad; and thus my task is over,
Grand Total .11,275 for I have now completed the circuit of Khorasan, and supplied a sketch of 
each of the administrative subdivisions of this most Such is the alleged effective strength of the 
Khorasan army. important province. Properly drilled and decently officered, it might be a 
respectable In quitting this branch of my subject, let me sum up the total force. Under existing 
circumstances it cannot be spoken of withof the armed strength of Khorasan, of which I have 
already in out a smile. Total passing noticed the majority of the items.The calcula- I now turn to 
the commercial part played by Great Britain militArytion does not of course include the local 
levies, Sham- and Russia in Khorasan. For many years past Russia, though a strength of 
Khorasan Hialchis (matchlock - men, &c.), who- might be _ raised in Commerce nation with no 
special commercial aptitudes, has contime of war, but the effective troops who, within a few 
days  time, in Khora- ceived the ambition of controlling the markets of Central could be 
called out and placed in the field. san Asia. Inherited from Peter the Great, this idea has
been prosecuted with a vigour instriking contrast with the listlessINFANTRY (Serhaz or 
Regulars). ness elsewhere exhibited by the same people. It is now a cardinal i. Territorial 
Reyii-nent8. axiom of Russian politics in the East that commercial must pre2 Regiments of 
Karai Turks levied at Turshiz; and Turbat-i- cede political control ; and the institution of 
mercantile agents and
Haideri, 800 each 1,600 A s of communication, and. the 2 Regiments levied at Birjand, 800 
each . . . . 1,600 mi ddlemen, the opening up of mean
(Of these 4 regiments only one wing of each is mobilised granting of special exemptions and 
preferences to goods on their at a time, or half of the whole, the other half being dis- way to or 
from Oriental markets are invariable features of their banded.)

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ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZAsiatic diplomacy. Khorasan) lying in such near proximity both
d

ii. Extra-territorial Regiments. 4 Regiments usually recruited in Azerbaijan, 3 of which axe to 
the Caspian, of which they possess the monopoly of navigation,
always in garrison at Meshed, 800 each 3,200 and to Transcaspia, which they conquered in 
1881, has presented
Total 6,400 a. suitable field for these operations, and may be looked to as
CAVALRY (chiefly mercenary). typifying the high-water mark of Russian commercial success.
Before, however) I pass on to examine the present condition of
Irregular (i.e. effective, but not mobilised). Timuris and Turbat-i-Sbeikh Jam 1,025 affairs, 
let me call attention to the fact, which I have never seen Jamshidis . . . . . . . . . . . 300 Former 
recorded in this context, that the trade between Europe and Hazaras . . . . . . . . . . . . 450 British 
Khorasan is not of Russian but of British institution, and Zaferanlu Kurds (under the Ilkliani of 
Kuchan) 600 trade with Shabdillu Kurds 500 Meshedthat 150 years ago English merchants 
were the first who
under the Ilkbani of Bujnurd Goklan Turkomans 1 300 endeavoured to open up that highway 
from the Caspian to Meshed

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206
ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZwhich is now so advantageously utilised by our rivals.. I regard the 
history of British commercial intercourse with Persia as one of the most remarkable chapters 
in the little-known or forgotten annals of this country ; and at a later stage I shall have 
something to say of the indomitable gallantry with which, in ages when merchants required to 
wield the sword almost as deftly as the pen, the representatives of English trading companies 
carried the flag, and the merchandise, and the high name of Great Britain into lands where all 
risked and many lost their lives in each venture, and wbence, those that returned were 
welcomed with no plaudits from crowded balls, and received no medals from royal societies. 
Among the ideas that fired the imagination of John Elton, the gifted but unstable Englishman, 
who himself both -created and destroyed that revival of the British Caspian trade in the middle 
of the eighteenth century, whose history has been so minutely recorded by one of the prominent 
actors in the scene, Jonas Hanway, was that of establishing a British factory at Meshed, and of 
importing, via Astrabad, the woollen cloths of London, which were to be exchanged at the capital 
of Khorasan for the fabled wealth of the East. With what a grim irony we now read the sanguine 
words in which he recommended his plan to the British Minister at St. Petersburg: The British 
merchants cannot have any formidable rivals to contend with, or to apprehend, in the trade from 
Meshed to Bokhara. They can never be supplanted in this trade so long as they secure a passage 
for their goods through the Empire of Russia, and a freedom of navigation on the Caspian, both of 
which it will be the interest of the sovereign of Russia to grant to the subjects of Great 
Britain.1
d

How this too fanciful picture of a generous and unsuspecting Russia and a money-making England 
failed- of realisation will be told later on. Here I will relate only the brief history of its 
application to Meshed. Hanway himself penetrated as far as Astrabad, in December 1743, with 
the merchandise which he proposed to transport from thence by caravan to Meshed; but be got no 
further, for during his stay in the city a rebellion broke out against Nadir Shah, his goods were 
seized and plundered, and he was within an ace of being sold in slavery to the Turkomans. Two 
other factors, however, of the Russian or Muscovy Company I Historical Account of British 
Trade over the Caspian, by Jonas Hanway, vol. i. pp. 37-39.
i .
POLITICS AND COIAIMERCE OF KHORASAN 207
(trading from London) succeeded in reaching Meshed. One of

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them, Mungo, Graham or Graeme, was murdered on his return journey at Semnan in 1743.1 
The other, Von Mierop, resided for two years and three months in Meshed, from 1743-5, but 
met with little success, for be only sold 22,000 crowns, or 5,5001. worth of goods. He 
returned in safety, but no one else was found to repeat so hazardous an experiment; and within 
three years  time every British merchant had left the country, only too glad in those stormy 
times to have escaped with his life. Such was the history of the first attempt at British trade 
with Meshed. During this century the shifting of the capital to, Later Teheran, the greater 
security of communication, and the conditions re-opening of the Bunder Abbas route from the 
PersianGulf on the south, have brought Meshed once again within the sphere of British or 
Anglo-Indian commercial enterprise; while her successive encroachments upon the north have 
given Russia a more than corresponding advantage in that direction. Earlier travellers have 
from time to time reported the growing influence of Russian trade in these parts,2 and Khorasan 
has, not without apparent justicel been regarded in recent- years as irretrievably lost to the 
British merchant. At first sight this alarm would appear to be well-founded. A visitor to the 
bazaars of any of the important towns of Khorasan, Apparent from Astrabad to Meshed (such as 
Shabrud, Sebzewar, Russian Nishapur, Bujnurd, Shirwan, and Kucban), will find ascendency 
the evidences of Russian influence very obvious to the outer eye. The shops appear to be laden 
with Russian cottons, calicoes, and chintzes, with Russian sugar, c rockery, and hardware, and, 
indeed, with all the che aper necessaries of civilised life. Entering Khorasan, either vid. 
Bunder-i-Gez, Astrabad, and Shahrud, or by Ashkabad and Kuchan, these goods flow in a great 
wave from one end of the province to the other, and completely drown any foreign competition in 
the native markets. French sugar used to be imported from Marseilles, vid Bombay.
1 rbid.,-vol. i. p. 358; vol. ii. p. 24. 2 Compare Colonel Val. Baker, Clouds in the East, p. 305, 
  The whole trade of Central Asia is slowly drifting into Russian bands;  and E. 
O Donovan, 17(6 Merv Oasis, vol. i. p. 480, 1 Russia completely controls the trade of 
Meshed in European goods, except perhaps in sugar, a little of which comes from Marseilles. 
Cloths, linen and 00ttoD goods, porcelain, glass trays, lamps, and other manufactured European 
articles are Russian. 

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208
ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZThe trade is now extinct, and no sugar, either loaf or crushed, but Russian 
is seen. Russian kerosine from Baku commands the market. In -1888-9, 36,000 pouds were 
imported into Meshed * Lamps, chandeliers, candle-shades, lustres, trays, glasses, tumblers, 
samovars, teapots, saucers, locks, and cheap cutlery are all of Russian origin, and suggest to the 
casual observer that the supply of the entire furniture of life has been monopolised by Russian 
enterprise. While I was in Meshed, I took such steps as were open to me, by consulting the best 
authorities, including Messrs. Ziegler's Persian agent, the sole European mercantile house 
represented figures there, to ascertain the true state of affairs, and more especially the 
respective volumes and values of Russian and AngloIndian trade. It is well known that in Persia 
it is almost impossible to obtain statistics, and that such as are with infinite difficulty 
procurable are too often imperfect or erroneous. Calculations as to the total amount of trade are 
frequently made from Custom-house returns, which do not necessarily supply a r6liable basis 
of induction. Figures are readily given by European merchants or- their agents; but native 
merchants either do not care to disclose them, or sometimes do not keep them at all. Therefore, 
of neither the figures which I am about to give, nor of those published by the officials. of the 
British Government, can absolute accuracy be postulated in Khorasan any more than in other 
parts of Persia. They may be regarded, however, as approximately correct. I was assured by my 
informants in Meshed that, while the volume of trade in Khorasan was indisputably Russian, the 
value My infor- was still on the side of the English. The cheaper objects mitio . which were 
everywhere visible and which flood the petty
d

n In Meshed retail shops all hailed from Russia, and competition with them was impossible; but 
the more costly imports, entering Khorasart partly from the west, vi4 Tabriz, Teheran, and 
Shahrud, but in far greater quantity from the south, viti Bunder Abbas on the sea, and Kerman, 
were of British or Anglo-Indian origin, and estimated in -.0 s. d.) it could be demonstrated that 
Meshed at that moment did a larger trade with Bombay than it did with the whole of Russia. For 
instance, the customs dues for Meshed for the year 1888 (i.e., the octroi collected on imported 
merchandise) had been bought from the Government for the sun). of 50,000 tomans (31
POLITICS AND COINIMERCE OF KHORASAN 209
tomans equal to 11.),  of which it was calculated that 30,000 tommis would be levied on 
goods from Bunder Abbas, and 20,000 on goods from the whole of the rest of Persia and from 
Russia, the latter

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not even amounting to one-half of the lesser fraction. This assurance struck me as requiring 
elucidation at the time; and I have since been able to explain and in some respects to correct it 
by the much fuller details contained in an adReport of the British mirable commercial report 
compiled by Consul-General Consulate Maclean in the past year (1890), the first that has ever 
been issued from Meshed or Khorasan, and in itself an ample justification  of the presence of 
a British consular staff in so important a trade centre as Meshed. This publication is contained 
in the series of Diplomatic and Consular Reports on trade and finance, issued by the English 
Foreign Office; and will no doubt be the first of an annual series. 2 From this report I gather 
that the total value of Anglo-Indian goods imported into Khorasan in 1889-90 (the Persian 
year is Value, of counted from the vernal equinox, i.e. from March 21, British 1889, to March 
21, 1890) was 84,3001., and the total and Russian value of Russian goods 110,4001. But to 
the former imports should certainly be added a considerable portion of the value of the Chinese 
black and green teas, shipped from Bombay, and no doubt for the most part purchased and 
brought from China by British merchants. The total value of this Chinese tea was 433,000 
tomans, or 123.,7141.; but very nearly the whole of it only passes through Meshed in transit 
to Bokhara, Khiva, &c., the taste of the Khorasanis being partial to Indian black tea, of which an 
import of 12,0001. is included in the total of Anglo-Indian imports already quoted. The addition 
thereto of a large fraction of the value of the Chinese tea will explain the otherwise ambiguous 
statement of my informants. Here let me pause to consider and balance the facilities at the 
disposal of the rival European Powers for trade with Khorasan. AngloIndian trade routes
Nominally there are three trade routes available for
British or ADglo-Indian imports, in practice only two.
First is the lengthy overland journey vid Teheran and Tabriz from the Turkish port of 
Trebizond, in the angle of the Black
I Conolly mentions that in 1830 the customs dues of Meshed were farmed for
15,000 tontaim.-Overland Journey to India, vol. i. p. 291. 2 Annual Serieg, 1890, No. 753.

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210 
Sea, a total distance by caravan march of 1,500 miles, and occupying a camel four nionths of 
time.  Second is the route from Bunder Abbas on the Persian Gulf to Meshed, of which there 
are t1vo variations: the shorter journey v?,d Kerman, Raliwar, Nahiband and Tun, a distance of 
940 miles, or 40 days by mule and 75 days by camel; and the longer deviation vid Yezd, which 
is occasionally taken by merchants, because of the greater abundance of transport and the 
additional chance of finding a sale in the busy mart of Yezd. The third, and by far the most direct 
and shortest, route for Indian merchandise, would be vid the Bolan Pass by rail to the British 
frontier at Chaman in Beluchistan, and thence by Kandahar and Herat to Meshed, a distance from 
the Indian frontier of 30 stages only, or 670 miles. This route, however, which was once a 
crowded trade artery, has practically been killed by the exorbitant transit dues charged by the 
Amir of Afghanistan,  whose fiscal policy is conceived on the strictest protectionist 
principles, and is coldly indifferent to  the convenience or the commerce of his neighbours. 
Of the two former or practicable routes, that from Trebizond was utilised by British 
merchandise in 1889 to the value of 23,4001., that from Bunder. Abbas by AngloIndian 
merchandise (excluding the China tea) to the value of 60,8701.
By treaty between Great Britain and Persia, only five per cent. (td valorem can be charged upon 
British merchandise, at the port Importor town of entry. Thus British goods will be called upon 
dutiesfor this impost at Tabriz (having passed through Trebizond, in transit, duty free), and 
Anglo-Indian goods at - Bunder Abbas. But as in the case of Khorasan there are no British 
merchants at the destination or at the big towns en route, the Persian Customhouse officials take 
the opportunity of screwing a little more than is their clue, and subjecting foreign merchandise 
to the same system -is prevails for native goods, viz. the, payment of a customs duty at each 
large city. Thus British goods from Trebizond after paying their five per cent. at, Tabriz will, 
after passing into the. hands of
  The freight-cliarge of each camel-load from Trebizond to Meshed is 271 bl?llans, i.e. 71. 
17s.; from Bunder Abbas (vid Kerman) to Meshed, 9 tomans, i.e. 27. 1 Is.. 6d, 2 The Amir 
levies 21. 2s. upon every cwt., and the cost of each camel-load is further 21. 7s. On the Kabul 
road lie is reported to levy 80 rupees (51. 13s. 4d.) 011 everY camel-loa(I of Indian goods in 
transit to Bokliara. This is not Protection, but Prohibition.
9
POLITICS AND COMMERCE OF KHORASAN 211
Persian merchants, pay a further two and a half per cent. upon entering Khorasan, or seven and 
a half per cent. in all. Similarly the total of dues levied on the Kerman route from Bunder 
Abbas

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will be about seven and a half per cent. ; and by the more circuitous Yezd route nine per cent. 
The excess above the stipulated five per cent. would be avoided if there were British consignees 
at the destination. Another plan of the Persian Cusiom-house officers at the ports is to levy less 
than the stipulated five per cent. there, but to give no voucher for the sum received; and thus to 
provide their confraternity in the remaining cities with the opportunity not merely of making 
up the five per cent., but sometimes of almost doubling its amount. These are the disadvantages 
under which British or AngloIndian trade labours. Russia has at her command four trade routes: 
(1) the Tiflis-Tabriz-Teheran line; (2) the ReshtTeheran line; (3) the Gez-Astrabad-Shahrud 
line; and (4) the Ashkabad-Kuchan line in connection with the Transcaspian railway. The three 
first have been practically superseded by the last, wiiich is only 150 miles in length, which is 
being converted along its entire distance into a carriageable highway-, -and which, in narrating 
my own journey, I have already described.  No words are needed to explain the enormous 
advantage of which she is the possessor - an advantage with which we are only able to compete 
because of her inability to supply some of the largest articles of import, such as tea and indigo; 
and because of the, as yet, superior quality of British manufactures- None the iess it is not 
surprising to find the British consul summarising his opinion of the situation in these words : It 
is obvious that with the Transcaspian railway at Ashkabad, only 150 miles from Meshed, and 
with both towns linked as they shortly will be by an excellent macadamised I road, British 
goods, having to cross the seas and traverse long, rough land routes cannot hope to compete with 
Russian goods, even in these provinces of Persia, unless our railway is extended in this 
direction.
Russia is thoroughly alive to the advantage of her situation,
I have since heard (May 1891) that heavy, springless carts, drawn by two, three, or four 
horses, have superseded mule and horse traffic on the KuchanMeshed section of the road. 2 1 
think this word is a misnomer, for I am convinced that were the original MacAdam to be raised 
from the dead and dropped down on the Asbkabad-Meshed road. he would stand aghast at such a 
prostitution of his respectable name.

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212 
and endeavours to push it by fiscal tactics, which are discountenanced by the gentlemen who call 
themselves political economists in Customs England, but which are a familiar feature in the 
comduties inercial strategy of foreign countries, and of the Russian Government in particular. 
Her own goods pay the regular five per cent. on crossing the Persian borders. But in order to 
encourage the export of Persian cotton, she allows it a differential preference of ten per cent. 
over that imported by the Baltic or Black Seas. By a Customs decree of February 1889, Persian 
goods passing into Transcaspia pay an ad valorem duty of two and a half per cent. But by a later 
decree of February 1890 such goods, if only passing through Transcaspia in transit to Europe, 
are exempted from all duty whatever, if forwarded by Ashkabad or by any other station of the 
Transcaspian railway. Of the Anglo-Indian imports from Bunder Abbas, the largest item, 
excluding the China tea, is still tea; Indian green tea to Largest the value of 7,1401. (mostly in 
transit to Bokhara), items: and Indian black tea, which is preferred in Khorasan, 1. AngloIndian 
to the value of 12,0001. Next comes indigo, with a total value of 10,1701., of which more than 
one-half is in transit to Russian Central Asia.  The import duty on this indigo affords an 
illustration of the cumulative system of taxation before mentioned; for three per cent. is exacted 
at Bunder Abbas, one per cent. at Kerman, and two and three-fourths per cent. on arrival at 
Meshed. This, with the two and a half per cent. exacted by Russia, when it passes into 
Transcaspia, and the further two and a half per cent. levied by Bokhara on the frontiers of that 
khanate, makes it a somewhat expensive luxury by the time it reaches the Tartar capital. In 
calico sheetings and shirtings, both grey and bleached, there is a marked preference for British 
over Russian goods, and of these nearly 12,0001. worth are imported vid Bunder Abbas. A 
considerable quantity of Kashmir shawls, of copper sheeting and tin, and finally of drugs and 
spices, are the concluding items worthy of mention. The Tabriz-Teheran line brings whatever 
cottons and chintzes. can succeed in holding their own against the cheaper Russian
I Indigo is largely used everywhere in Central Asia to dye silk and cotton garments. to stain 
glass, and to give the colour to those blue and white enamelled tiles which are so f amiliar a 
feature in secular as well as religious ornamentation POLITICS AND COMMERCE OF KHORASAN 
213
imports of the same article. English knives and scissors, crockery and porcelain, of which there 
seemed to be very little in the bazaars, 2. British but which come by this route, are greedily 
snapped
up when offered for sale, though at higher prices than

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the corresponding articles of Russian manufacture. Simultaneously I found a consensus of 
opinion that the Russian import of cheap cotton fabrics of which I have spoken had been very 
much overdone, that the bazaars were now overstocked with these goods, and that they could only 
be sold at prices which would result in serious losses to their owners. The main feature of the 
competition
between the two countries was undoubtedly this : that all English articles are considered vastly 
superior in durability and quality; but that the enormous distances which they have to traverse 
and the high prices which must necessarily be charged, render it almost impossible for them to 
compete with their rivals. For my part I think it extraordinary, when we compare the two 
situations (putting aside altogether the articles in which Russia cannot compete, such as indigo, 
minerals and tea), that Great Britain should still claim so creditable a proportion of the 
trade  Whether it can be maintained is another question, to which I should hesitate to return 
an affirmative answer.
Of the Russian total of 110,4001. imported by the Transcaspian railway, cotton stuffs, plain 
and coloured, constitute nearly one8. Russian third. The second largest item is sugar, which has
driven every other sugar, French or Indian, out of the market, and is sold in the bazaars at 4Jd. 
a pound-a price that is
2  in the main due to the bounties granted by the Russian Government to Russian exporters 
of the article,  and with which it is next to impossible for Indian sugar, even though made 
from the sugar-cane, to compete. Russian crockery and porcelain, which are almost universal, 
amount to 11,5001.; and the value of Russian hardware is only 1,0001. less. If we turn to the 
exports of Khorasan, physical considerations will explain the fact that the trade with Russia is 
vastly in excess of that with India. Exclusive,of such Indian goods as pass
I One rouble (2s.) per poud (3G lbs.) excise duty is refunded on Russian sugar exported abroad. 
In t   he case, however, of Central Asia and Persia, the rebate, having served its purpose by 
completely driving out all other competitors from the market, was discontinued from May 1, 
1891.

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214 
through Khorasan to Russian territory, the figures of export to Russia (some of course in 
transit to other European countries) Exports: amount to a total of 111,5001. Cotton, assisted 
by the 1. to differential preference before alluded to, is responsible for Russia the large figure 
of nearly 43,0001. Wool is credited with about half that total. 5,7001. worth of Turkoman and 
Persian carpets are sent to Europe, not all, of course, to Russian destinations. Finally, out of the 
total output of turquoises from the celebrated mines near Nisbapur, which is estimated at 
nearly 23,0001. annually, over 17,0001. were despatched in 1889 by the Transcaspian 
railway to Europe. That some idea may be gained of the enormous increase in Russo-Persiaii 
trade, due to the prosperous working of the TransGrowth of caspian railway, let me compare the 
figures that I have Russo Persian just given with those of the first nine months of 1886, trade 
the railway having only reached Ashkabad in December 1885. From January to October 1886 
the exports from Persia to Ashkabad equalled 61,0001., the imports to Persia from Ashkabad 
37)0001. The totals for 1889 were, as I have shown, respectively 111,5001., and 110,4001. 
In other words the exports have very nearly doubled in the space of three years, while the 
imports have exactly trebled.
Against these imposing figures the export - trade to British India can only oppose the modest 
total of 39.,0001., nearly the 2. to India whole of which is represented by Khorasan opium, in
tended chiefly for the Chinese market. Ten years ago the total output of opium in Khorasan was 
only 160 hundredweight. The value of the export, over and above that which is consumed in the 
province, is now 37,1001. to India, as well as 14,3001. to Constantinople, or a total of 
51,4001. In order to complete the survey of the commerce of Khorasan the figures of Perso-
Afghan trade must be added. There is very Perso- little diff6rence in the respective values of 
imports and Afghan exports, either country contributing in about equal protrade portion to the 
needs of the other. Whereas Afghanistan, however, sends her indigenous sheepskin coats 
(poshtins), pistachios, &c., the bulk of Persian exports are Russian piece goods, sugar, and 
hardware. The value of the exports from Khorasan into Afghanistan is returned as 18,3001., of 
imports into Khorasan from Afghanistan as. 17,3001.
POLITICS AND COMMERCE OF KHORASAN 215
Grand Adding up the entire totals, we arrive at the following
0 total hypothetical estimate of the trade of Khorasan
Imports from-Russia

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. I . Z110,400 India . . . . 60,800 Oreat Britain . 23,400 Europe . . . 15,700 Afghanistan 
17,300 Total of imports Z227,600
Grand total ;e396,300.
Exports to Russia and Europe ill 1,400 Exports to India . . . . . 39,000 1. , Afghanistan . . 
18,300
Total of exports . Z168,700
From this, total we must make a considerable reduction, on account of the goods that are 
reckoned in it more than once, first upon entering the province and then upon leaving it. On the 
other hand, the figures of export vid Teheran, Tabriz, and Trebizond do not appear. The absence 
of any figures of the PersoBokharau trade does not make as much difference as might otherwise 
be expected, the Persian cxports to Bokhara consisting almost wholly of Anglo-Indian goods, tea, 
indigo, muslin, &c., which have already been reckoned in the Bunder Abbas importations.
Having analysed the present situation, and endeavoured to some extent to forecast the future of 
foreign trade with Khorasan, Steps to be it may not be out of place if I here indicate such steps 
as taker, by might with advantage be taken by the British GovernGreat Britain ment, in order to 
retain and develop that share of the business which they naturally possess, and to prevent an 
ultimate loss of the remainder. Five such precautionary measures are within the range of 
practicability, although I fear that their probability is not in each case in the same ratio. 
British consular officials should be appointed to superintend and protect the principal trade 
route from the south. When I was at Bunder Abbas there was not a single European in the place, 
and only an unaccredited and purely unofficial representative of British mercantile interests. A 
British Vice-Consul might most opportunely be appointed at Kerman, and a Consular agent at 
Yezd, or vice versd. Secondly, the road running northward from Kerman, viti Rahwar, Nahiband 
and Tun, which is the principal caravan route from the Gulf to Meshed, might with ease and at a 
small expense be vastly improved by clearing out and resuscitating the filled-up wells and 
water-courses by which it was once fertilised. Th ir dly, I see no reason why not only 
should the existing route be

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216
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Beluchistan to the Persian border, avoiding Afghan territory altogether, and proceeding e.g. 
from Quetta vid Seistan to Birjand. All of these are feasible measures, and there can be no 
excuse for any supineness in developing or facilitating such pacific avenues of Anolo-Indian 
influence. The fourth remedy, which has doubtless engaged the attention of the Indian 
Government, is an intimation to the Amir of Afghanistan, not on grounds of political economy, 
for which I suspect that Abdur Rahman Khan would profess a very reasonable contempt, but on 
the grounds of the avowed wish of the Suzerain Power, that it is desirable to modify a fiscal 
policy which is injurious to his own subjects, and displeasing to his chief allies. The fifth and 
last remedy, to which I shall revert at greater length in dealing with Scistan, is the 
construction of a rival British railroad on the south, to balance the Transcaspian railway in the 
north, and enable us to compete with Russia in a fair field, ,and with her own weapons. I now 
proceed to explain the reasons for which, apart from the legitimate desire for-commercial 
profit, both Powers-Russia Russian and Great Britain-are induced to regard Khorasan with 
covetous- so intense a concern, what is the objective of Russian ness of Khorasan policy in the 
comprehensive designs which I have described in this chapter, and what are the counter-
interests and responsibilities of this country. The passion for territorial aggrandisement is one 
which, though it is indignantly repudiated by Russian writers. no one with his eyes open can 
believe to be other than a dominating influence in the Russian mind. There is a step in the 
development of every great Power in which the lust for new possessions is in excess of every 
other sentiment. Russia is now in this acquisitive stage of empire. Great Britain, having passed 
through it, and having in her day experienced its intoxicating fumes in all their intensity, has 
emerged into the more sober atmosphere of the conservative stage. In other words
d

0 Russian interest in Khorasan is the cupidity of the would-be possessor. England, on the 
contrary, neither aspires to, nor will ever hold, a square yard of the country. If we inquire the 
ulterior reasons for which Russia desires the possession of Khorasan, they are not far to seek. 
Her Transcaspian conquests have brought under her control a region, the greater part of which 
consists of barren wilderness, and whose
I
POLITICS AND COMMERCE OF KHORASAN 217

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only fertile spots are a series of detached oases at the base of a mountain range. On the other side 
of that mountain range for a Contrast distance of 300 miles extends a country which, in the to 
Trans- plains and hollows that separate its manifold ridges, concaspla ceals an abundance of 
wealth, in fruit, in minerals, in produce of every kind, above all in grain. She is like a man 
camping in a desolate and stony field divided only by a thick hedge from a spac.ious pasture, 
where he sees food for himself, fodder for his beasts, comfort and repose for both. What a 
temptation to break through the hedge and poach on the hidden preserves! Such are the feelings 
with which- the Russians regard Khorasan. They would fain move from Akhal Tekke to Kuchan, 
from Ashkabad to Meshed. Here they would find supplies that might feed mighty armies, 
mountain fastnesses invulnerable to attack, a docile population, a resting-ground where new 
plans of action could be formed, and a base whence they could be set in motion in the future.
It is the latter context-viz., with a view to future political contingencies-that Khorasan 
acquires a further and definite value Apied-d- . in Russian eyes. At present Russian is separated 
from t erre Y against Afghan territory in Central Asia by Sir West Ridgeway s India frontier-an 
artificial line drawn for a distance of 350 miles from the Heri Rud to the Oxus. This line could, 
no doubt, at any moment be violated ; but no territorial acquisitions of immediate value would 
result, and the step could only be taken at the risk, nay, with the certainty, of war with Great 
Britain, How much simpler to slip round the corner and so to turn the enemy's flank! From 
the Zulfikar Pass to the southern extremity of Seistan, Persia is coterminous with Afghanistan; 
and a Power established upon the Persian side of that border would command Herat (there is a 
carriage road of 230 miles fro *in Meshed to Herat), threaten the road by Farrah and Girishk to 
Kandahar, and be brought to the very banks of the. Helmund. Russia settled in Khorasan, and 
especially in that fringe of border territory which I have been at such pains to describe, has no 
need to infringe any Anglo-Afghan boundary. The entire western frontier of Afghanistan lies 
exposed to her influence or assault: Furthermore, in Seistan she comes into close contact with.a 
part of Beluchistan of disputed ownership and unsettled tenure, and is separated by only a short 
distance from the advanced British frontier in Pishin.

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---""ZZFinally, having reached that point, she is already half way to the sea; and, 
 her railways once carried as far as Nasratabad, she would begin to felicitate herself upon a 
port on the Indian Ocean and the long sought outlet in the, southern seas. 
d

The physical conditions which I have. expounded, the designs of Russia, of which evidence can be 
produced incapable of refutaBritish in- tion, and the importance of any movements so 
intimately terests in affecting Afghanistan explain the interest which Enc-land. Khorasan 5
is thereby compelled to take in this portion. of the Shah's dominions. Those who argue that 
Khorasan is far from India, and can therefore safely be left alone, repeat the irnbecile fallacy 
that has already been attended with such pitiable results in the past, and that has landed us in 
our recent position in both Persia and. Afgbanistan. Afghanistan has often been described as the. 
northwestern glacis of our Indian citadel; and to allow an. enemy to effect a lodgment 
undisturbed upon even the outskirts of that glacis is to commit a strategical error of the. first 
iniportance. British policy in Khorasan is directed to the safeguarding of British-i.e., of 
Afghan-interests in that quarter ; to the maintenance of the political status quo-i.e., of the 
Persian -dominion and more particularly to the watching of those approaches from the south, 
the freedom of which is indispensable to British commerce, and the control of which by a hostile 
instead of an allied Power would be an appreciable peril to Hindustan. It is a consolatory fact 
that General Maclean, the recently appointed ConsulGeneral at Meshed, is also Consul for 
Seistan. An independent British official should, however, be deputed to the latter place, whose 
near proximity to the Anglo-Beluch frontier renders it of great importance to British 
interests, and whose resources, if developed by scientific irrigation and a railway, might make 
it a nucleus of commercial influence radiating through central and southern Persia, and even 
counterbalancing Russian ascendency in northern Khorasan. Finally, let me indicate what I 
believe to be the attitude of the population of Khorasan towards Russia and Great Britain, and the 
assistance or the reverse that either Power in ay expect to meet with in the prosecution of its 
sch&mes. Earlier travellers, such
I That these designs are not, the offspringpf imagination, but are seriously entertained by 
Russia, evidence will be forthcoming, in a later chapter upon Russian Policy in Persia as a 
whole, to prove.
POLITICS AND COMMERCE OF KHORASAN ~ 219
as Fraser,  MacGregor 2 and Napier, reported a widespread aversion in northern Khorasan 
to the Kajar dynasty, and a profound dis
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Persian affection towards the central Government of Teheran. loyalty The process of time and 
the firm rule of the present Shah have obliterated these antipathies, and Khorasan is as 
negatively loyal as any other part of Persia. By negative loyalty I mean that the rule of the 
sovereign is passively acquiesced in by the bulk of the people, who of themselves would institute 
no movoment for change; but that this feeling nowhere amounts to a spirit of enthusiasm, nor 
has kindled the faintest spark of national unity. Whilst, therefore, the people would be 
extremely unlikely to fight against the Shah, they would be almost as unlikely to fight for him-a 
position which renders their allegiance a quantity of very precarious value. Against the Afghans, 
no doubt, who are Sunnis and hereditary enemies, such a feeling, approximating to national 
unity, might be aroused. But I am not now talking of possible warfare with an Asiatic enemy, but 
of the designs and encroachments of Russia. If Russia, therefore, were to-morrow to undertake a 
hostile movement against Khorasan, what might the inhabitants of that province be expected to 
do ? My answer is that, if the movement were accompanied by the smallest display of military 
force, they would probably do nothing Russian but sit still and accept the change of masters, in 
the belief prestige that it was Kismet, and that they might fare, if not the same, at least a little 
better, and could not fare much worse. The utter rottenness of Persian administration, by which 
the poor people have been long oppressed without hope of redress, has taught them to turn with 
eagerness to any alternative that at least promises a change. I am unable to say whether the 
Russians are personally popular in Persia, n.ot having had the means of ascertaining by 
personal inquiry on a sufficiently large scale, and having received the most contradictory 
answers from my several informants.
, Journey into Xhorasan, cap. xxii.  During the course of our journey from. Meshed, there 
was nothing that struck me more forcibly than the violent hatred borne by all ranks of people to 
the reigning family of Persia. They were never spoken of without detestation, and their name 
appears to be identified with all that is cruel, tyrannical, and unjust.  This was in 1822. 2 
Journey through Xlwrasan, vol. 1. p. 253. 1 In Khorasan there is another .opinion, which is as 
prevalent as belief in the Russians, and that is contempt of theKajar. This I have heard 
expressed over and over again, coupled with epithets the reverse of complimentary.  This 
was in 1875.

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220
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---""ZZBut the reputation acquired by them in Khorasan owing to their liberation 
of the slaves at Bokhara and Khiva, most of whom were Persians from this province,  and 
their deliverance of the borderlands from the devastating scourge of the Turkomans, combined 
with the prestige of their numbers and ever forward progress, have predisposed a naturally 
craven race to regard their advance with mingled resignation and respect. Some would be found 
to think the change a decided gain. The majority would vote it inevitable. The sympathy of the 
few, aided by the apathy of the many, would disarm opposition and pave the way for an easy 
conquest. If it be inquired whether the spirit of religious animosity might not be invoked, and a 
jihad, or religious war, preached against the infidels, the answer must be returned that Russia 
is not in the least likely to proceed until she has guarded against such a contingency. The 
religious element is in the ascendant at Meshed, and no doubt exercises a considerable control 
over the prepossessions of the people. Any fear of violation, either of the shrine or of the 
endowments by which it is supported, or of the privileges and abuses by which it is surrounded, 
would unquestionably awaken a feeling of the bitterest hostility. But Russia has never shown 
anything but a large patience towards the religious scruples and superstitions of her Mussulman 
subjects. Such suspicions would easily be disarmed ; and it is to be fe.ared that the holy mullahs 
and mujtaheds of Meshed are not more averse than the m ority of their fellowcountrymen to 
the receipt of bribes. When, therefore, the old Khan of Kuchan told me that all the people of 
Khorasan would rally and fight for M eshed, I believe him to have been talking nonsense. My 
impression is that Meshed, if it is destined-to fall, will fall without a blow; and that a change of 
ownership in Khorasan might be effected without the loss of a drop of blood.
d

I I never heard this doubted until I came across a Russian book, entitled Sketches of Persia, by 
P. Ogorodnikof, published in St. Petersburg in 1878. The author was a Russian who had been 
deputed by the Imperial Geographical Society to join a commercial caravan, conducted by 
General Glukbofski, to Meshed in 1874; and his utterances were mainly an epitome of the views 
of a Russian merchant, named Baumgarten, who resided for many years in Shahrud and was seen 
there by Baker, Napier, MacGregor, and other English travellers, Baumgarten, who presumably 
knew what he was saying and could not be regarded as a Russophobe, denied that the Khivan 
release of prisoners bad brought any popularity tD Russia, and declared that the Persians held 
the Russians in contempt while cringing to them, and seeking to propitiate them as possible 
informers to the Shah against their misdeeds and rapacities.
POLITICS AND COMMERCE OF KIIORASAN 221
When I credit the Russians with an influence so remarkable,

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I am not for a moment conceding to them a monopoly of such an Feeling advantage. Were the 
British in a position to exercise towards the same pressure or ultimately to take the same steps, 
England I believe that they would be received with an acclaim out of all proportion greater than 
that which might await their opponents. The Russians are in the habit of conducting matters in a 
somewhat high-banded and dictatorial manner in Persia; and, while such an attitude may 
inspire alarm and even create respect, it makes no appeal to affection. On the other hand, the 
franker and more honourable methods of the English have won for that Power a consideration 
which, in the absence of positive evidences of strength, such as numerous t)roops and adjacent 
dominions, is highly meritorious. The Timuri tribes, of whom I spoke, along the eastern border 
of Khorasan, are known to be extremely friendly to the  English; and the nearer we approach 
to Beluchistan and the Indian frontier, the more does the popularity arising from just and 
tolerant administration prevail. The Persians are beginning to see perfectly well that the 
English do not desire a rood of their soil, and that the Russians are bent upon forcible 
appropriation. But the Russians are near and formidable, and the English are far away and make 
no visible display of strength. While, therefore, British influence is welcome and meets with 
encouragement, there is no spirit or party capable of engendering a successful resistance to 
Russian designs. The Khorasanis, like their fellow-men all the world over, are not above 
making friends with the mammon of unrighteousness.
i
SUPPLEMENTARY ROUTES iN E. KHORASAN.
MESHED TO TUREAT-I-HAIDERI. H. W. Bellew (1872), Fr&m the I-ndu8 to the Tigris, pp. 
351-7; Col. Euan-Smith (1872), F48tern Persia, pp. 353-6. TURBAT-I-HAIDER1 To 
BAJISTAN. H. W. Bellew (1872), Ibid. pp. 340-9; Col. Euan-Smith (1872),.Ibid. pp. 349-
53. BAJISTAN TO KAIN. H. W. Bellew (1872), Ibid. pp. 325-39; Col. E. Smith (1872),Ibid. 
pp. 343-9. KAiN To BIRJAND. H. W. Bellew (1872), Ibid. pp. 309-25; Col. E. Smith (1872), 
Ibid. pp. 337-42. FARRAH (AFGHANISTAN) To NiSHAPUR (rid Birjand, Tun, and Bajistan). J. 
P. Ferrier (1845), Caravan J6urnep, pp. 437-8 FARRAH (AFGHANISTAN) TO SEMNAN (vid 
Khur and Tabbas). J. P. Ferrier (1845), Ibid. pp. 439-40. 
TABBASToBIRJAND(t~itiTunandKain). (Sir) C. MacGregor (1875), Journey 
through Khorasan, vol. i. pp. 137-66.

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222 223
BIRJAND TO PAHRI (H ERAT) (vid Forg and Yezdun). (Sir) C. MacGregor (1875), Ibid. vol. i. 
pp. 178-202. SHAHRUD To HERAT (vid Tursbiz and Khaf). G. Forster (1784), .7ourneyfront 
Bengal to Fingland, vol. ii. pp. 221-3. Captain Claude Clerk (1857), Journal o the R. G.S., vol. 
xxxi. pp. 47-54 (1861). LASH JUWAIN (AFGHAN SEISTAN To KERMAN (vid Neh). N. de 
KhanikofE
CHAPTER IX (1859), Ximoire, 4~o., pp. 156-86. SEMNAN To BAJISTAN AND JumAiN. H. B. 
Vaughan (1888), Proe. of tAe
THE SEISTAN QUESTION B. G.S. (Yem Series), vol. xii.
And thou hast trod the sands of Seistan And seen the River of Helmund, and the Lake Of 
Zirrah. 
MATTHEw ARNOLD, Sohrab and Ru8tun.
FRom Zulakar, upon the Heri Rud, the starting point of the new Russo-Afghan Boundaryof 
1885-7, and the point accordingly where Russian, Afghan, and Persian territory all converge, 
Eastern frontier f the frontier of the last-named Power, running due south Persia almost upon 
the 61ZZstZZ parallel of longitude for a distance of several hundred miles, is either only in 
part defined, doubtfully defined, precariously observed, or not defined at all. The entire distance 
from the Zulfikar Pass to the Indian Ocean at Gwetter is 700 miles in a straight line; along 
which extent Persia is brought into contact with two neighbours upon the east, with neither of 
whom is she upon the best of terms, viz., Afghanistan and Beluchistan. Disputes are constantly 
occurring with both of these Powers as to the boundary-line: and encroachments, sometimes 
ephemeral, in other cases permanent, are made upon territories claimed by the other. Of the 
three nations concerned, the most acquisitive, strange to say, appears to be Persia herself. She 
perhaps thinks to console herself for forcible contraction upon her north-west and north-east 
borders by a little surreptitious expansion here. . The frontier-line of which I am speaking 
falls naturally into four divisions, in each of which different degrees of stability and 1. Z.Ifika, 
differing political conditions prevail. The first of these to Seist- divisions is the section 
running from Zulfikar to the northern confines of Seistan, a total distance of nearly 300 miles. 
Ever since Herat and its dependencies were severed from Khorasan, a more or less recognised 
boundary has existed between the two countries in these parts; but it has never been defined, 
and provides material for recurrent disputes, arising as a rule from the contested command or 
possession of water-courses, the most valu
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224
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of these disputes between Afghanistan and Persia bad been raging for some time before my visit, 
concerning a border district named Haslitadan, on the parallel between Kuhsan and Ghurian. The 
British, who are usually appealed to on these occasions as umpires, and who have more than 
once undertaken what is apt to be a very thankless task, were invited to arbitrate; and a decision 
was given which, I dare say, had what MacGregor thought the superlative merit of dissatisrying 
both parties. I only allude to it as typical of the incidents that must constantly recur upon a 
boundary so ill-defined, assisted in most parts by no natural features, and peopled by nomad 
tribes who care very little for posts or pillars. The second section is the frontier of Seistan, as 
defined by the Anglo-Perso-Afgban Boundary Commission under Sir F. Goldsmid 2. Seistan in 
1872, which will form the main subject of this chapter.
d

The length of this section from north to south is about 120 miles ; but as the new frontier, fixed 
by the arbitration, pursues a wide deviation to the south-east until it touches the river 
Helmund, and then turns again in a south-westerly direction, the length of the two outer sides of 
the triangle thus described is considerably greater than that of the hypotenuse. Third in order 
comes a stretch of boundary from the southern end of the Seistan frontier, fixed in 1872, to the 
northern end of 8. Perso- the . Mekran boundary, demaxcated in the previous year; Beluch or, 
in other words, from the T C uh-Malek-i-Siah to Jalk, a b,u,d,ry distance of 200 
miles. This section of the border has never been defined at all. No one knows where or what it is. 
No  two maps colour it alike; and the majority compound for ignorance by obvious 
conjecture~ drawing a straight line in a south-easterly direction from the mountains named 
above to the neighbourhood of Jalk. Beluchistan is here the neighbour of Persia on the east; but 
the wandering Beluch tribes who camp upon the frontier own very little allegiance to the Khan 
of Kelat, and are practically independent. Lastly comes the line from Jalk to the port of Gwetter. 
on the sea, 130 miles in length, which I call the Mekran boundary, 4. Mekran because that part 
of Beluebistan which it divides between boundary Persia and Kelat is known by that name. It was 
defined under conditions of peculiar difficulty by Sir F. Goldsmid in
T
THE SEISTAN QUESTION
225

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1871, but is not uniformly observed. Both these last sections of frontier-viz. the upper and the 
lower Perso-Beluch borders-will conle under notice in a later chapter dealing with the Eastern 
provinces. They are mentioned here only in order to place Seistan in its proper focus to 
surrounding conditions. I have already, in the preceding chapter, spoken of Seistau as a beluk or 
sub-division of the Persian province of Kain, ruled by District of Mir Alam. Khan of BirJand, 
who deputes an official to Seistan represent him and to command the garrison at Nasratabad. 
Here let me describe the circumstances which have led to its being a Persian possession at all, 
and which necessitated the despatch of the Boundary Commission in 1872 ; whilst, in order to 
make this part of the narrative clear, some sketch will be required, both of the province itself 
and of its earlier history. The derivation of the name Seistan or Sejestan from-Sagastan, the 
country of the Sagan, or Sacee, has, says Sir H. Rawlinson, Derivation never been doubted by 
any writer of credit, either Arab of the or Persian; I a] though it is curious that a band of 
roving name nomads, as were these Scythians, who descended hither from the north in the third 
century A.D., should have bequeathed a perin anent designation to a country which they only 
occupied for a hundredyears. Expelled by the Sassanian monarch Varahran II. (A.D. 2 75 -2 9 
2) they have long vanished from history themselves; but in the name of the district they may 
claim a monumentum cere perenniu& At different epochs of history territories of very differing 
sizes have been called Seistan, according as the dominion of their rulers Its appli- has been 
extended or curtailed. In its stricter applicacation tion, however, the name has always been 
peculiar to the great lacustrine basin that receives the confluent waters of the Helmund and 
other rivers, whose channels converge at this point upon a depression in the land's surface, 
with very clearly defined borders, and a length from north to south of nearly 250 miles. It is 
certain that in olden days.this depression was filled by the waters of a great lake; and, were all 
the artificial canals and irrigation channels, by which the river-contents are now reduced and 
exhausted, to be destroyed, I imagine that it would very soon relaps e into its primwval 
condition.2
 Some 1~ I nglish writers, however, have derived it from 8ayhes, a wood that iv, grown 
locally and is used as fuel by the Persians. 2 For further information on the Helmund River, 
ride a Paper by C. R. Mark
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226
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which, according to the season of the year and the Present extent of the spring floods, are 
corivefted alternately into
d

Z:) condition lakes, swamps, or dry land. The first of these depressions consists of the twofold 
lagoon formed by the Harut Rud and the Farrah Rud flowing from the north, and by the Helmund 
and the
Khasb or Kbushk Rud flowing from the south and east respec- Protean tively. These two lakes or 
pools are connected by a thick reed- transforbed called the Naizar, which, according to the 
amount of water mationr that tliey contain, is either a marsh or a cane-brake. In flood time. 
these two lakes, ordinarily distinct, unite their waters, and the conjoint inundation pours over 
the Naizar into the second great depression, known by the generic title of Ilamun or Expanse, 
which stretches southwards like a vast shallow trough for many miles. When the British 
Commissioners were here in 1872, the Hamun was quite dry, and they marched to and fro 
across its bed. But in 1885-6, when some of the members of the later Russo-Afghan Boundary 
Commission were proceeding this way from Quetta to the confines of Herat, it was found to be an 
immense lake, ex- tending for miles, with the Kuh-l-Khwajah, a wellknown mountain and 
conspicuous landmark usually regarded as its western limit, standing up like an island in the 
middle.  In times of abnormal flood the Hamun will itself overflow ; and on such occasions 
the water, draining -southwards through the Sarshela ravine, inundates the third of the great 
depressions to which I alluded, and which is known as the Zirreh Alarsh. This was said at the 
time of the Com mission not to have occurred within living memory, it being a far more common 
experience to find all the river-beds exhausted than all the lake-beds full; and the Zirreh as a 
rule presents the familiar appearance of a salt desert .2 In 1885,
ham on I The Basin of the Helmund, in the Proceedings of the R. G.S. (New Series),  Vol. 
i. P. 191.
  The Kuh-i-Khwajah, known also as Kub-i-Rustam, is an isolated blutT cornposed of a 
crystalline black rock resembling basalt, and rising to a beiglit; of about 400 feet above the 
level of the HamuD, in which it, constitutes a fanious landmark for many miles. It was a 
stronghold of the old Kaianian dynasty who ruled Seistan, and is said to have been held for seven 
years by one of their number against the troops of Nadir Shah. It is also a place of popular 
resort among the Seistanis, for at No Ruz (Mirch 21) a fair is held there, and the flattened 
summit is used as a race-course. For further information, vide  Visit to the Kuh-
iKhwajab,  by Major B. Lovett, in the thournal of the R. G.S., vol. xliv. p. 145 (1874).
2 When Sir C. MacGregor was exploring Behichistan in 1877, be skirted the
THE SEISTAN QUESTION
227

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however, a British officer exploring Western Beluchistan found water two feet deep flowing 
down the Sarshela or Shela, and forming an extensive Hamun in the northern part of the Zirreh, 
which was said to be over one hundred miles in circumference.
It will readily be understood from the above description.how variable is the face of Seistan, and 
what a puzzle to writers its
comparative geography becomes. For not only do the
lakes alternately swell, recede, and disappear-the area
of displacement covering an extent, according to Rawlinson, of one hundred miles in length by 
fifty miles in width- but the rivers also are constantly shifting their beds, sometimes taking a 
sudden fancy for what has hitherto been an artificial canal, but which they soon succeed in 
converting into a very good imitation of a natural channel, in order to perplex some geographer 
of the future. It is not surprising, therefore, that while the country owes to the abundant 
alluvium thus promiscuously showered upon it its store of wealth and fertility, it also contains 
more ruined cities and habitations than are perhaps to be found within a similar space of ground 
anywhere in the world. Such in brief outline is the physical conformation of Seistan. I will now 
proceed to its history. From the earliest times there Legendary has been something in Seistan 
that appealed vividly to history the Persian imagination. The country was called Nimroz, from a 
supposed connection with Nimrod, I the mighty hunter ; it was the residence of Jamshid, and 
the legendary birthplace of the great Rustam, son of Zal, and fifth in descent from Jamshid. King 
Arthur does not play as great a part in British legend a% does the heroic Rustam in the myths of 
Iran. For, after all, Arthur   was a mortal man (and, if we are to followTennyson, almost a 
nineteenth century gentleman), while Rustam fought
Zirreh Desert on the south for two days and a half without finding a solitary pool of brackish 
water. I Nowhere was there the slightest sign of dampness. Everywhere it was the same-nothing 
but sand, and all the vegetation as dry as bones, crumbling into dust at the least touch.  At 
length, and with great difficulty, he did manage in one spot to extract a little fluid from the soil; 
and this was how, in his inimitable unvarnished way, he described it;If any should wish to save 
themselves the trouble of going to Zirreh to fetch Zirreh water, I think I could give a recipe, 
which would taste something like it, Take, then, the first nastylooking water you can find, mix 
salt with it till you make it taste as nasty as it looks, then impregnate it with gas from a London 
street-lamp, and add a little bilge-water. Shake vigorously, and it is ready for use,~- 
Wandering8 in Balocki8tan, p. 183.

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228 
with demons and jins as well as against the pagan hordes of Turan and Afrasiab. Perhaps our 
Saint George of the Dragon would be a nearer parallel; and just as we stamp the record of his 
inatchless daring upon our coinage, so do the Persians emblazon the great feats of Rustam upon 
gateway and door and pillar.
Seistan emerges into the clearer light of ascertained history in the time of Alexander the Great, 
when it was known as Drangiana Early (identical with the land of the Herodotean Sarangians): 
history He probably passed this way on his march eastwards to India; whilst on his return 
therefrom, though he pursued a more southerly line himself, through Gedrosia (Mekran) to 
Carmania (Kerman), he despatched a light column under Craterus through Arachotia and 
Drangiana.1 Under the Sassanian monarchs Seistan was a flourishing centre of the Zoroastrian 
worship, and hither came the last sovereign of that dynasty, Yezdijird, flying from the 
victorious Arabs on his way to his fate at Merv. It was under the succeeding re ghne that the 
province attained the climax of its material prosperity; and to this-the Arab-period are to be 
attributed the vast ruins of which I have previously spoken.2 In the ninth century a native 
dynasty known as the Sufari or Coppersmiths,3 was founded by one Yakub bin Leith, a potter and 
a robber, but a soldier and a statesman 4 who won by arms a shortlived empire that stretched 
from Shiraz to Kabul, but collapsed before the iron onset of Mabmud of Ghuzni in the succeeding 
century. El Istakhri, visiting Seistan at this epoch, described it
I The great authority on the early history and inhabitants of Seistan is Sir H. Rawlinson's 
essay, entitled I Notes on Seistan, published in- the Journal of the -R.G.S., vol. x1iii. pp. 
272-294 (1873). Compare also the excellent and accurate summary of Dr. Bellew, Ilront the 
Indus to the Tigris, pp. 248-262, and Inqviry into the Ethnography qf A~qhanistan, 1891. The 
chief modern inb~bitants of Persian Seistan are the Seistanis, who occupy a servile position 
among other and dominant tribes; the Kaianis claiming descent from the Kai dynasty of Cyrus; 
the Kurd Galis, a branch of the Kurds of Kurdistan, who emigrated and establisbed the Malik 
Kurd dynasty of Gbor, 1245-1383, A.D.; Iranian elements known as Tajik; and Beluchis, of 
whom the principal tribes in Scistan are the Sarbandi, who were transported by Timur to 
Hamadan, but brought back by Nadir Shah, and the Shahreki, 2 For an account of them, and 
particularly of Pesbawaran, vide Bellew, pp. 241, 246-247. 2 Vide an article entitled I The 
Kings of the Saffariun Dynasty of Nimroz, or Sij istan,  by Major H. G. Raverty, Journal of 
the Asiatio A56ciety (!f Bengal, vol. liv. (1885) p. 139. 1 Vide Malcolm's History, vol. i. 
pp. 148-152.
J i
THE SEISTAN QUESTION

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229
as a country of populous cities, abundant canals, and great wealth; I among its natural resources 
being included a rich gold mine that subsequently disappeared in an earthquake. In the thirteenth 
aDd fourteenth centuries Seistan, like most of its neighbours, experienced the two successive 
visitations of those scourges of mankind, Jenghiz Khan and Timur Beg, being turned from a 
smiling oasis into a ruinous. waste, and suffering a murderous blow from which it has never 
recovered. The Sefavi dynasty repeopled it under the local rule of the ancient reigning family of 
Kaiani, who claimed descent from Kai Kobad, the first Achmm.enian king. But the march of time 
brought round the fated cycle of injury and desolation; and at the bands both of the Afghan 
invaders of 1722, and of Nadir Shah who expelled them, it completed its chronic tale of 
suffering. Remaining a portion of the mighty empire of the Afshar usurper till his death in 
1747, it then passed to the sceptre of Ahmed Shah Abdali, the adventurous captain who, 
imitating his master's exploits, rode off and founded the Durani empire in Afghanistan. From 
this epoch dates its appearance on the stage of modern politics, and during the last thirty years 
upon the chess-board of Anglo-Indian diplomaCy.2
After the death of Ahmed Shah, Seistan continued to pay tribute to his successor, Timur Shah, 
till his death in 1793. In Later the break-up of the Durani dominion that followed, it history 
became alternately attached to the fortunes of Herat and Kandahar, the Persian Government 
having its bands too full elsewhere to be able to attempt its recovery. From about the year 
1851, however, after the death of Yar Mohammed of Herat, Persia, taking advantage of the 
disorder and disunion that prevailed in Afghanistan, began to revive and to press her claims. She 
now remembered that Nadir Shah, though a Turkoman usurper, had been king of Persia, and that 
Seistan had paid to bim the tribute which it paid to Persian kings before him. Ali Khan, the local 
ruler, was persuaded to hoist the Persian flag, and received in return a Persian princess in 
marriage. This was at about the time of the Persian expedition against Herat in 18-57
Oriental Geography, pp. 203-209. 2 An anonymous History of Seigtan has been written in the 
course Of the last half century in Persian by Reza Kuli Rban, the most accomplished and 
voluminous of recent Persian authors.

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230 PE RSTA
that brought about war with Great Britain, and resulted in the Treaty of Paris, by which Persia 
relinquished all claims to the sovereignty of Herat, and all right of interfei-ence in Afghanistan. 
Nevertheless, amid constant protests from the British Government, Ali Khan returned with a 
Persian military escort to Seistan; and both he and his successor, Taj Mohammed, who applied 
to Persia for protection when Dost Mohammed appeared in the field against Herat, acknowledged 
the sovereignty of the Shah. Throughout this period the British Minister was continually 
protesting against the violation of .one clause of the Treaty of Paris, while the Persian 
Government as continually kept inviting him to take advantage of another, that promised the 
friendly offices of the British Government in the event of any disagreement with 
Afghanistan.  Shir Ali, too, who bad succeeded his father Dost Mohammed as Amir in 1863, 
was equally anxious that something should be settled. But at that time the ignoble policy of 
 masterly inactivity,  of which Lord Lawrence was the recognised champion, was in 
possession of the field; and the Indian Government was unwilling to recognise the ruler whom it 
was subsequently obliged to pay. Accordingly, protests and appeals and -excuses went on, until 
at length, in November 1863, Lord Russell, sick to death of the squabble, penned a despatch in 
which he said that I Her Majesty's Government decline to interfere in the matter, and Must 
leave it to both parties to make good their pretensions by force of arms ;   a frank if not a 
very courageous subscription to the doctrine that might is right. Taking advantage of this 
permission, Persia, in 1865-66, marched a force into the country, occupied it, and gradually 
brought all the Persian inhabitants of the province under her sway, besides tampering with the 
Afghan allegiance of the Beluchis. The Afghans bebaved very quietly for a time; but Shir Ali, who 
had now established himself firmly upon the throne, and required to be treated with some 
respect, began
I Both clauses occur in Article VI. of the Treaty. The first was as follows:His Majesty the Shah of 
Persia engages to abstain hereafter from all interference with the internal affairs of 
Afghanistan. Ilis Majesty promises to recognise the independence of Herat and of the whole of 
Afghanistan, and never to attempt to interfere with the independence of those States.  The 
second clause ran thus:In ca~e of differences arising between the Government of Persia and the 
countries of Herat and Afghanistan, the Persian Government engages to refer them for 
adjustment to the friendly offices of the British Government, and not to take up arms unless 
those friendly offices fail of effect!
THE SEISTA~N QUESTION
231
seriously to push his claims. It was at this juncture that, fearing the war to which Lord Russell 
had lent the imprimatur of his

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suggestion, Lord Clarendon proposed arbitration. The offer was accepted without much 
enthusiasm on either side, and in 1870 Sir F. Goldsmid, having received the appointment of 
Chief British Commissioner, left England to carry out the undertaking. Difficulties and delays 
having supervened, the next * year was occupied in surveying and fixing a boundary between 
Persia and Beluchistan from the sea to Jalk ; and it was not till 18 7 2 that the Commission 
preceeded to Seistan to examine the rival claims upon the spot. The  story of the Commission 
and its labours has been told, partly by General Goldsmid himself and his personal assistant, Sir 
F. Major (now Colonel) Euan Smith,  partly by Dr. Bellew, Goldsmid's the well-known 
Oriental scholar and authority,2 who Commission in accompanied General (afterwards Sir R.) 
Pollock, the 1872 latter being sent from India, for no very well ascertained reason, as 
representative of the Viceroy (Lbrd Mayo). The case was a difficult one by reason of its 
extraordinary simplicity. The Afghan claim to Seistan was very clear and intelligible; it was 
based upon ancient dominion, dating from the time of Ahmed Shah, the founder of the Afghan 
empire. The Persian claim was equally clear and intelligible; it was based upon more ancient 
dominion still, reinforced by the very cogent argument of recent reconquest and actual 
occupation. Here were all the materials both for hard reasoning and fine casuistry. The 
difficulty was enhanced by the behaviour of the two Oriental Commissioners. The Persian, Mirza 
Maasum. Khan, was undisguisedly hostile from the start, and threw every possible -obstacle in 
the way. The Afghan was not much more practicable. Finally, having conducted such local 
surveys and inquiries as were possible, Sir F. Goldsmid, finding it hopeless to do any business 
on the spot, was obliged to retire to Teheran, where his arbitral decision, after a good deal of 
hesitation and cavilling, was ratified by the Shah. Broadly speaking, General Goldsmid found it 
advisable to distinguish between two Seistans, which he called respectively Seistan Proper and 
Outer Seistan .3 1 The former he defined as
Eastern Persia, Introduction and pp. 225-295.
Record of the Seistan Mission, 1872 (Official Publication), and Fr&v& the Indus to the Tilris.
Vide his own account in a paper, entitled I Journey from Bunder-Abbas to

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232 THE SEISTAN QUESTION 233
the region between the Naizar on the north and the main lateral canal,taken from the Helmund, 
in order to irrigate Sekuha and Partition the neighbouring villages on the south, and extending 
of Seistan from the old and true bed of the Ilelmund on the east, to the fringe of the Hamun and 
the Kuh-i-Khwajah on the west.  This area he estimated at 950 square miles, and its 
population at 4510007 20,000 of whom were Seistanis,l 15,000 Persian-speaking settlers, 
and 10,000 Beluchi nomads. Outer Seistan was the country on the right bank of the Helmund 
from its lake-mouth on the north to Rudbar on its upper waters on the south. His decision may 
be summarised thus. He gave Seistan Proper to Persia, and Outer Seistan to Afghanistan. The 
boundary between the two was drawn as follows: From the Siah Kuh (Black Mountain), which is 
the eastern boundary of the Persian district of Nehbandan, along the southern fringe of the 
Naizar to the left bank of the Helmund; thence up the river to a point about a mile above the 
great bund or dam at Kohak; I after which it consists of a line drawn from this point in a soutli-
westerly direction to the range Kuh-Malek-i-Siah, which is the northerly continuation of a 
line of mountains that bound the Zirreh desert upon the west. Here the district of Seistan 
terminated, and the award was concluded. South of this point is the indeterminate and 
unobserved line to Jalk which I have previously mentioned. Hampered as he was by instructions 
almost incapable of execution, impeded by systematic obstruction, and owing a definite Indepen- 
issue only to the foresight which induced him to complete dent his local surveys before the 
Indian members of the opinion mission appeared upon the scene, General Goldsmid may be 
congratulated upon having been able to formulate a decision at all. To the independent observer it 
undoubtedly appears that the Persians were the gainers by his award; for they Meshed by 
Seistau,  published in the JournaZ of the -R. G.S., vol. x1iii. pp. 65-83 (1873). . I Sir H. 
Rawlinson says: I The true Seistanis are Persians of the purest Arian type. In fact, the only true 
representatives of the old Arian race to be found ill Persia are the Seistanis and the Jamsbidis of 
Herat ; the language, physical appearance, and general characteristics of the Persians of the 
Acbmmenian period being better preserved in this outlying corner of the Empire than in any 
other locality.  2 This dam, known indifferently as the Amir's, the Seistan, and the 
KobakBund, is a great dyke built across the river with tamarisk branches, stakes, and rammed 
clay, in order to divert its priDcipal volume into the Sekuba Canal.
retained the only really valuable and lucrative portion of the country-a portion to which they 
could establish the double claim of ancient possession and actual occupation. Had the demarkation 
taken place ten years earlier, when first they pressed

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for it   there can be no doubt that in the absence of the second of these claims the award 
would not have been so favourable to them as it ultimately proved to be. Notwithstanding which 
facts, they professed themselves extremely dissatisfied with the result, and looked upon the 
partition as an attempt to enrich an English vassal state, Afghanistan, at th eir expense. The 
Afghans, on their side, were annoyed at losing the revenue-paying part of the province, and Shir 
Ali is said never to have forgiven the British Government in consequence.- The award has not 
been adhered to with absolute precision on the spot; but, even if we concede to it a fair amount of 
success, it still remains somewhat doubtful whether it is wise policy for the Indian Government 
to undertake these chivalrous but thankless Commissions) which are apt to be misinterpreted 
by both parties, and usually leave a legacy of odium behind them.
The -chief town of Persian Seistan is Sekuha (the- Three- Hills), so called from three clay 
hills around and in part upon which the Present town is built. At the time of the Commission in 
1872, it adminis- consisted of about 1,200 mud huts, not more than half of tration which were 
then or are now inhabited. The population is entirely engaged in agricultural pursuits, the town 
being situated in the most productive part of the province. As I have before said, however, the 
administrative and military head-quarters are at Nasratabad (called Nasirabad by Goldsmid), 
where lives the Deputy Governor of the Amir of Kairt, and where is stationed one of the two 
infantry regiments, nominally 1,000, but actually less than 800 strong, which are raised in 
the entire province; as well as a small force of cavalry and a few guns. Service is for life, and is 
hereditary in the families supplying the soldiers. They are armed with muzzleloading rifles of 
Persian manufacture, and are supposed to get a new uniform every second year. Their pay is 
reported to be 20 krans (12s.) and 71 mans of wheat yearly, and when on service in Seistan
2 rations also.  The capital of Afghan Seistan is Chakhansur or
I These figures, which date from 1886, do not Correspond with the general pay of the 
Persian infantry. Vide a later oha~ter on the Persian Army. But payment Is no doubt as 
haphazard as the system.

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234 THE SEISTAN QUESTION 235
Chaghansur (called by Conolly Chuknasoor, and by Ferrier Sheikh Nasoor), situated on the 
Kbash or Khusbk Rud, the eastern confluent of the Helmund lagoon. Before the despatch of the 
English Commission, the number of European travellers who had penetrated to Seistan and had 
left European any record of their explorations was exceedingly small. travellers In 1809 
Captains Grant (who was afterwards murdered by robbers on the road between Baghdad and 
Kermanshah) and Christie (who was killed while gallantly fighting with the Persian army 
against the, Russians at Aslanduz in 1812) and Lieutenant (afterwards Sir Henry) Pottinger 
were deputed by Sir J. Malcolm, then contemplating his third mission to the Persian Court, to 
explore Mekran, Beluchistan, and &istan. The journal of Captain Grant was published twenty 
years later. Christie's and Pottinger's travels into Beluchistan left the reading public 
the richer by the. admirable book of the elder writer.  Leaving Pottinger at Nushki, Christie 
marched northwards through Seistan te Herat; and an abstract of his journal (which was never 
separately published) iE incorporated as an appendix in Pottinger's work.2 In 1839 a young 
English officer, Captain Edward Conolly, accompanied for surveying purposes by Sergeant 
Cameron, made a tour through the country, and added immensely tothe existing store of 
knowledge.3 He was followed a few years later by Lieutenant R. Leech, whose less exhaustive but 
complementary information was published in the same journal.4 In 1841 Seistan claimed its 
first European martyr. Dr. F. Forbes, already well known for successful explorations on the 
north-western frontier of Persia, marched to Meshed, and from there by Turbat-iHaideri, Biri 
and, and Tabbas to Seistan, where he was murdered by one Ibrahim Khan, chief of Lash Juwain. 
A somewhat incoherent account of the incident was given by his personal attendant, and appeared 
in the  Journal of the R.G.S.  for 1844:1 Thirty years later the members of the 
Boundary Commission, when travelling in Seistan, came across the very murderer, who was 
then chief of
Travels in. Baloochistan and 8inde. By (Sir) H. Pottinger. 1816. Appendix, pp. 406-411,
He published two papers in the JournaZ of the Asiatic Society of Bengalthe first entitled I Sketch 
of the Physical Geography of Seistan, with a map, in vol. ix. (1840), pp. 710-726 ; the 
second, entitled I Journal kept while Travelling in Seistan,  in vol. x. (1841), pp. 319-
340.
4 A Descril)tion of the Ccuntq%y qf Selsthan, vol. xiii. (1844), pp. 115-121. 5 Vol. Xiv.
Chakbansur, and heard a true account of the tragedy. Ibrabiin Khan was, it appeared, a savage, 
serni-lunatic kind of barbarian, much given to charras and Mang (intoxicating drinks), and he 
had shot Dr. Forbes while hunting wild fowl on the lake, in a freak of sportive inebriation.  
About the same time another young officer, Lieutenant Pattinson, approaching the Helmund from 
the Afghan

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side, explored its course from Zaminda:wer to the Seistan Lake. He too was killed a year or two 
later in an outhreak at Kandahar, following upon the Kabul tragedy. A few years later-viz. in 
1845the French officer Ferrier was in Seistan, of which he has left a description in his 
interesting book .2 Khanikoff, the Russian, whose services to science are not enhanced by his 
jealous depreciation of the labours of any English predecessor in the same field, was here in 
1859,3 and crossed the Desert of Lut to Kerman. This was the sum total of European travellers 
who had left any record of Seistan prior to the despatch of General Goldsmid and his colleagueS.4 
I now approach the subject to which I have hitherto been leading up, and whose existence I have 
indicated by the title Politic I which I have given to this chapter. The Seistan Question, value af 
however, is not the old question of the boundary, or of
0 Seistan the rival claims of Persia and Afghanistan. It is the future question of the part, if any, 
that Seistan is likely to play or is capable of playing in the politics of Central Asia, and in the 
diplomatic or military strategy of Russia and Great Britain.5 Inspection of the map with the aid 
of a pair of compasses wil I show that the province, of Seistan lies about midway between 
Meshed and the sea. Its situation, therefore, constitutes it a sort of advanced outpost of 
Khorasan, as well as a terra media through which any power desirous of moving southwards 
from Meshed, particularly any power that is covetous of an outlet upon the Indian Ocean, must 
pass; and through which must eqplly pass any power desirous of reaching Khorasan and Meshed 
from a south
I 1~,om the Indus to the Tigris, pp. 217-219. Compare Bastern, Persia, p. 317.
2 Caravan Journeys, caps. xxvii., xxviii.
3 316nwire de la Partie 9n;ridionale de I Asie Centrale, pp. 153-164.
1 For a modern account of Seistan, other than that contained in the Reports
of the Goldsmid Commission, vide Globus, vol. xxxii. pp. 170, 186,200 (1877) ; and
Poternman's -Mittheilungen (1873), pp. 149-150; (1874), pp. 59-63 ; (1877), pp. 
661
72 (1878), pp. 25-29.
1 have already published a brief but very condensed statement of the case
in Russia in Central Asia, pp, 379-381.

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236 THE SEISTAN QUESTION 237
easterly direction. The former aspect of the case indicates its value to Russia - the latter to 
Great Britain.  
Seistan presents to Russia a positive and a negative value, of which it is difficult to say which is 
the. more important. Should Value to she at any time find it politic or necessary to absorb 
lx,UsBia Khorasan, the possession of Seistan would give her the whole and not the northern 
portion only of that province. It would further establish her in a position of close and almost 
immediate proximity to the advanced Indian frontier in Beluchistan. At present there intervene 
between her own and the Indian border 500 miles of Afghan territory, which, though presenting 
not the slightest physical obstacle to advance, are tenanted by wild tribes much attached to their 
own independence, even if uninspired by any loyalty to their sovereign. Ili other words, advance 
througii Afghanistan means hard fighting with Afghans by whomever it is undertaken. Solemn 
engagements would have to be broken, great forces collected, and daily risk incurred, while such 
an adventure was in course of execution. On the other ]land, should a Russian force, desirous-I 
will not say of invadino, , Hindustan, because we are not at present called upon to discuss any 
such remote possibility, but of acquiring a position menacing and contiguous to Hindustan, take 
up its quarters in Seistan, the above-mentioned perils are thereby one and all avoided, no 
Anglo-Russian compact is violated, no savage Afghans require to be fought. The forward frontier 
of Russia would be brought over 300 miles nearer to the advanced frontier of India; and the 
change in position would involve a proportionately greater aiixiety, outlay, and peril to the 
latter. Russia would be unlikely to march even from Seistan against Quetta; but she would have 
unlimited opportunities from this base of intriguing with trans-frontier tribes, and of nibbling 
at Beluchistan. How far her position against Afgbaiiistan would be strengthened is also self-
evident. Russia in Khorasan means Russia at Herat; and Russia in Seistan would mean Russia at 
Sebzewar and Farrah as well, the two most important strategical points on the march from 
Herat to Kandahar.
I do not for the moment lay stress upon the other aspect of the positive value to Russia of 
Seistan-viz. as facilitating her approach to the southern seas-because I assume that a Russian 
port upon the Persian Gulf or the Indian Ocean would no more be tolerated by any English 
minister. or government than would an
English port on the Caspian by any Czar. It is true that Russia turns longing eyes towards a 
maritime outlet on the south, and that of the two methods by which she can possibly attain 
thereto, encroachment in a southerly direction from Meshed vid Seistan is one. This fact is of 
course an addition to the prospective value of Seistan in Russian eyes, but it postulates a 
condition of affairs so remote, and I would fain hope so inconceivable, that I will not expend 
words upon its further examination.

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The negative value of Seistan to Russia is the inverse aspect of its positive value to Great 
Britain. Ili other words, Russia would
Value to like to -get hold of Seistan herself, in order to prevent Great Seistan from being got 
hold of by Great Britain; and Britain because, in the latter event, not only would the ambitious
and far-reaching schemes that I have sketched be frustrated, but England would be in a position 
very seriously to menace the Asiatic status of her rival. Let me explain. I have already in the 
previous chapter indicated the acute commercial warfare that is now being waged between 
Russian and Anglo-Indian merchandise in Khorasan. I have shown that the advantage which she 
derives, and will continue to derive in increasing degree, from -the Transcaspian Railway 
enables Russia. to flood the markets of North-eastern Persia with her manufactures, and to 
undersell her sole competitor, viz. British India, in the bazaars of Meshed. I have shown that a 
critical epoch has been reached, and that without some help, in the shape of increased facilities 
of transport or shorter and cheaper trade routes, Anglo-Indian cornmerce must in the long run 
be vanquished. The one means by which the latter could compete on nearly even terms with her 
rival would be by adopting her rival's tactics-by pushing forward a railway on the south to 
match the Transcaspian Railway on the north, by conveying the manufactures of Bombay as are 
conveyed the manufactures of Moscow, not solely on muleback and camel-back over vast 
distances at crushing expense, but by the potent auxiliary agency of steam. Such a railway 
starting from India must point, as its first objective, to Seistan. The commercial importance of 
such a line will not, I think, be denied, as bringing India into closer connection with the bazaars 
9trategical of Khorasan. Not less obvious, however, would be the impor- strategical advantage, 
as enabling England to occupy a tance flanking position in defence of that Afghan territory which 
she has undertaken to safeguard, and as preventing those

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238 PERSLV I THE SEISTAN QUESTION 239
developments of the Muscovite earth-hunger which I have sketched, and which might be fraught 
with peril to the harmonious relations between the two empires. Here I will pause ; and will not 
go on to suggest that, if a commanding necessity ever arose, such a position might very 
effectively be utilised by an Indian army for offence, because I am loth to imagine a situation in 
which British or Indian soldiers will ever again be required to march in fighting order through 
Persia, or be forced into a policy of aggressive retaliation. The map, however, will assist the 
reader to form his own judgment, There remain, however, two questions of practical 
importance -viz. the engineering possibility of constructing such a line, and the Engineer- 
probable returns that might be expected from the, country ing opened up. If the map be 
inspected, the physical confacilities tour of the region will suggest that; the most natural, 
though by no means the shortest, method of reaching Seistan is by the valley of the Helmund 
from Girishk or Kandahar. The greater part of this distance-namely, that from Hazarjuft below 
the confluence of the Argandab to Rudbar, a distance of 160 miles-is locally known as the 
Garmsel, or Hot Region, identical with the Garmsir of Southern Persia. No part of this unhappy 
neighbourhood has suffered more from the passions of man than the Garmsel. In olden times it 
was the scene of active cultivation, and the site of busy and populous cities. Brigands, outlaws, 
and the stormy I
Arail of armies have converted it into a sandy and untenanted desert. But the testimony of those 
who have explored it, notably of Dr. Bellow, who marched this way from India with General 
Pollock, is enthusiastic as to the possibilities of recuperation. This is what he says :
The valley everywhere bears the marks of former prosperity and population. Its soil is 
extremely fertile, and the command of water is unlimited. It only requires a strong and just 
Government to quickly recover its lost prosperity, and to render it a fruitful garden, crowded 
with towns and villages in unbroken succession all the way from Sistan to Kandahar. Under a 
civilised Government there is not a doubt that Garmsel would soon recover its pristine 
prosperity, and then this part of the Helmund valley would rival in the salubrity of its climate 
that of the Tigris at Baghdad. When the curse of anarchy and lawlessness is replaced in this 
region by the blessings of peace and order, then GarTnsel will once more becoinethe seat of 
plenty. Theadvancing civilisation of the West must some day penetrate to this neglected corner,
I
and the children's children of its present inhabitants may live to hear the railway whistle 
echoing over their now desert wastes. 
On the other hand, the children's children, who are probably by now beginning to be born, 
may live and die too without hearing it

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at all; and for this reason. A railwaydown the Helmu*nd meansa railway in Afghanistan; and as 
the Amir of that country has not yet been persuaded to allow a yard of rails to be laid in his 
dominions, and as, were such permission forthcoming, other and more important schemes would 
probably befirst undertaken, the grandchildren in the Garmsel may perhaps after all not hear 
the whistle i n their time.
But there remains-another line of advance, shorter because more direct, and free from the 
above impediment, because it need not Nushki-run through Afghanistan at all. It must be 
remembered Seistanthat the Pishin Railway system of Great Britain has now line been pushed 
forward to a point on the northern face of the KhwaJ ah Amran ra   nge, that that range has 
been pierced by a tunnel, and that the present terminus, Chaman, is on the open plain, less than 
seventy miles distant from Kandahax. Now a line drawn from this frontier rail w-* ay, whether 
at its term inatiou or at some point short of Chaman, to Seistan,  will be found to pass 
through Beluchi-i.e. allied territory solely, and according to the spot at which it strikes the 
Helmund valley, so would its transit of the desert be extended or abridged. The point of deviation 
usually suggested is that of Nushki, from which to the Sind-Pishin Railwav at Chaman is less 
than one hundred miles, at Quetta less than ninety, and at Darwaza less than eighty. Across t6 
desert from Nushki to the Helmund no physical obstacles are encountered. From the 
engineer's point of view the difficulties to be confronted would not be comparable with those 
so easily overcome by General Annenkoff. We can conceive, without anticipating, a condition of 
affairs under which there need be no rivalry between the Afghan and the Future Beluchi routes, 
but which would admit of the best line ,f Afghan- being followed, through whichever territory it 
ran; and istan that would be the free acceptance by Afghanistan of a British protectorate. By 
some this step has been recommended as the only logical corollary, as assuredly it would be the 
most
Fr(mi the Indus to the Tiyri8, pp. 205-206.

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240 THE SEISTAN QUESTION 241
practical conclusion, of the previous phases of ADglo-Afghan relationship. Given such a 
protectorate, and England would not only before long be free to run her iron rails where and 
whither she pleased in Afghanistan-a line to the Persian frontier being obviously one of the 
first that in such a case would demand consideration-but, with the Afghans acting in concert 
with the British, and with Russia and Great Britain (as ex hypothesi they would be) 
coterminous powers, the objections which I have elsewhere so strenuously urged against a 
junction of the Indian and Russian railway systems in Afghanistan, and which I continue to hold, 
would be minimised, if they did not disappear. For in such a case, the buffer having vanished, 
the two empires would stand cheek by jowl i-a Asia, as do Russia and Germany in Europe; 
England would be as much committed to defend Balkh or Herat as she is now compelled to defend 
Portsmouth or Bombay; and the respective railways of the two powers would have a tendency 
sooner or later to be united. Such a consummation, however, even if realisable, is as yet far 
distant. It can only arise in the event of an independent Afghanistan-which is & justification and 
outcome of our present policy-proving to be impossible; and in our inability to venture any 
prophecy upon data so precarious, our plans must be constructed so as to harmonise with a more 
immediate future.
When we approach the question of the quality of the country opened up by a Beluchi-Persian 
railway, presuming it to be constructed under existing political conditions, we advance 
criticism into a region in which the most conflicting evidence is forthcoming from our 
authorities. From the strategical point of view there are some who say that such a line would be 
vulnerable both from the north and west. There are others who find in the deserts on either side 
of the Helmund, and in the Helmund itself, an ample protection. I am not here concerned to 
engage in the strategical controversy, because there has probably never been. a strategical 
railway since locomotion by steam was discovered about which the professors have not held 
diametrically opposite and contradictory opinions. It was so with the Transcaspian Railway, and 
it would be so with a Nusliki-Seistan railway. Nor am I even concerned to discuss the strategical 
aspect of such a railway at all, because I am not a soldier, and shall probably be told that I am 
talking of what I know nothing about; although I may, in passing,
confess that to my uninstructed vision the military advantages of such a line would appear to be 
considerable. I prefer, however, to treat it as a commercial scheme, a-ad to assume that a 
subscribing public, as well as generals and colonels, wish to be able to form an opinion. We will 
suppose, therefore, that our railway has reached Seistan. What will it find, and what will it do 
when it gets there? Hostile There are som e, who protest that the features of the

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opinion country are hopelessly unfavourable to commerce or colonisation. They paint 
lamentable pictures of the physical amenities of Seistan. There is a famous wind called the Bad-
i-sado-bist-ruz (Or wind of 120 days), which - blows steadily there from a north-westerly 
direction in the months between March and August, beginning soon after sunrise, abating at 
midday, and attaining its maximum strength after sunset. There is also a particularly horrible 
kind of fly thai bites and even kills horses by its bite. At times of the year the climate, owing to 
the extent of marsh water stagnating under the sun, breeds fevers and ague. The face of the 
country is apt to be flooded; and communication is only kept up by the precarious method of 
tutins, a kind of -raft made of reeds lashed together and strengthened by tamarisk stakes.  
These critics even go so far as to include the whole country in the scope of their truculent 
denunciation, and to ask wherein lies the beauty or the money value of reed-beds, and sandhills, 
and swamps. Less sweeping, because better informed, and worthy of careful examination (by 
reason of the unequalled position of its author), Sir H. although -unfavourable in character, is 
-the opinion that Rawlinson has been expressed by Sir H. Rawlinson. He has written as follows: 
Though possessing great natural advantages, the province of Seistan is, in its present aspect, a 
wretchedly unhealthy country, only habitable for a few months in the year, and hardly worth 
the expense of government ; while in regard to its strategical value, which is the point of view 
that has been chiefly regarded in India, great misapprehension prevails. So far from Seistan 
being, as has been so often stated, a convenient base for aggression upon, India from the 
westward, it is in every respect inferior to Herat for that purpose.  To the south and I For a 
description and illustration, vide Bellew's From the Indu8 to the T~gris, p. 227.
This is true; but supposing it is thought desirable by an invader for political

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242 
TIIE SEISTAN QUESTION
243
south-east it is bounded by an impassable desert ; while to the east it itches and dykes,
but also very frequently to runto waste in superfluous swamps and possesses one single line of 
communication along the Relmund, con as large as rivers, and a network of smaller d tracted and 
ill-supplied, and exposed to a flank attack from the
lagoons. Let us, however, quote the 
opinion of eye-witnesses northward throughout its whole extent from Seistan to Kandahar.
0 upon the actual capacities of the soil.This is what Ferrier said Supposing, indeed, the Afghans 
to be in strength at Herat, Farmh, in 1845 or Zamin Dawer, it would be quite impossible for a 
Persian army to march along the Helmund from Seistan to Girishk. The only military Seistan is 
a flat country, with here and there some low hills. Onevalue of Seistan consists in its abundant 
supply of camels for carriage ; third of the surface of the soil is composed of moving sands, and 
the and these animals are for the most part in the hands of the Beluchis, other two-thirds of a 
compact sand mixed with a little clay, but very who are Afghan, and not Persian dependents, and 
who might thus rich in vegetable matter, and covered with woods of the tamarisk, be available 
for our own purposes, though hardly for those of our saghes, and tag, and reeds, in the midst of 
which there is abundant enemies. I
pasture. The detritus and slimy soil which is deposited on the land
It is permissible to point out that, although the author of the after the annual inundation of the 
Helmund fertilises it in a reabove paragraph is fortunately still living, it was written at 
markable manner, and this has probably been the case from time
a
immemorial ; at any rate, the number of ruins on the banks would time (1875) long anterior to 
more recent developments, and with a lead one to suppose so. view to conditions which no longer 
exist., The question discussed by Rawlinson in dealing with the strategical controversy is the To 
this let me add the opinion of Sir F. Goldsmid chance afforded to Persia of invading Afghanistan 
from the base The soil is of proved fertility. Wheat or barley is, perhaps, the of Seistan; and 
this has no relation whatever to the new problem staple cultivation ; but peas, beans, oil-seeds, 
and cotton are also created by the appearance of Russia within striking distance of grown. 
Melons and water melons,- especially the latter, are abundant; Herat. A Persian army is now 
about as likely to invade Afghanistan grazing and fodder are not wanting. By means of the canals 
in their as it is to March against St. Petersburg. But what Persians or ordinary course, and by 
occasional inundations, a, systeni of profuse Afghans would not, or could not do, European 
armies operating from irrigation is put in force, which, with an industrious and a contented

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railway bases may, and siiice 1885 alone it may be said that population, should be productive of 
most extensive grain cultivation.2 any previous military criticism upon Seistan has already 
become Finally, to both may be added the testimony of those who have obsolete. visited Seistan 
since the Boundary Commission,  and who report
To the jeremiads of those critics who represent Seistan that its resources have already been 
wonderfully augmented, and (Parodying the phrase in which Persia as a whole was once that its 
capacities of production under a more scientific system of
described 2) as c - irrigation are enormous. The future of Seistan depends indeed Favour- Z - 
Onsisting of two parts, a desert under 4 able water and a desert above water, must be opposed 
the upon the application of hydraulical skill to the course and overflow opinions of natural 
evidence both of history and of existing facts. If their of the Helmund. The river now runs 
northward, and spends itfertility
verdict be, true, how comes it that this province was self in superfluous swamps. There is 
nothing in the lie or in the once so famous for its magnificent fertility, its dense 
population,levels of the land to prevent it from being turned southward, and and its splendid 
cities ? What must be said of the square miles of entirely devoted to cultivation. ruins still 
encumbering the ground ? Fertility in Persia is almost Nor should a concluding but most 
important consideration be solely dependent upon water supply; and here, alone amol~g 
forgotten. Though railways will not come in Persia with the headPersian provinces, is enough 
water not merely to fill great canalsA link in a long rapidity that some imagine, and though it is 
Dot
b larger desirable in many parts that they should, yet most of us reasons to leave Herat alone, 
or supposing Seistan be added as a base to t e chain already acquired base of Herat, what then? s 
look forward to a time when there will be some more
England and Russia in the East, p. 116. rapid means of communication between the great cities 
and trade
  Persia consists of two parts: a desert with salt, and a desert without salt.I Caravan 
Jlourney8, p. 426. 2 Journal of the R. 
G.S., vol. xl1ii. pp. 71, 73.

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244
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communications from north to south, the main cities In the centre, from Kermanshah in the 
west to Kerman in the east, shall be united by steam lines, following the direction of the valleys 
and surface depressions, whose general inclination is alm ost without exception in a favourable 
direction-viz. from northwest to south-east. From a trunk line so designed, with which must 
ultimately be connected the Indian system, a Seistan railway would be but a slight and that a 
natural diversion to the north. At the same, time connection with the sea would be established by 
a line. running either vid Bampur to Chahbar, or vid Regan and Minab to Gwadur; or, if a more 
easterly port be required in Beluch, i.e. British protected territory, to the excellent harbours 
of Pusnior Kalmat.   Indeed, if the Sind-Pishin or Bolan Railway to the present Indian 
frontier be considered, because of its liability to destruction by flood, an insecure basis for a 
forward line to Seistan, the latter might perhaps start into independent existence as a purely 
Behich railroad from the coast, through Panjgur towards the Persian frontier, while some 
authorities have recommended the connection of such a line with the Indian system by a railway 
from Kurrachi through AlekraD. The Indian Ocean, in correspondence with such a railroad, 
would then play the part to Eastern and South-Eastern Persia that the Caspian Sea, in 
correspondence with the Transcaspian Railway, does to the north-east; and the combined 
powers of steam by sea and land would effect a revolution in a few years that may otherwise be 
awaited for centuries. Perhaps, to employ -Bellew's phrase   neither our childreii nor 
our children's children will hear the whistle. But when we are long dead and gone and 
forgotten, may be some itinerant reader of books may pick our volume from the shilling stand of 
obsolete literature outside some antiquated shop in a back street of London, and congratulate us, 
even in our graves, on having anticipated and fondly endeavoured to promote what will then be 
an achieved cousuinniatiOD.
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245
CHAPTER X
FROM MESHED TO TEHERAN
There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced 
as by a good tavern or inn.- Dn. JoaxsoN, Bonvell i Life.
Persicos odi, puer, apparatus.
Postal route between Meshed and Teheran
HORACE, Carm., Lib. 1. xxxviii.
AFrER the serious political discussions contained in the last two chapters, it will be a relief to 
such of my readers as have passed through, if they have not altogether evaded, that ordeal, to 
turn to a chaptelf with more digestible contents. Having spent eight days at Meshed, I started 
upon the long chapar ride to Teheran. The distance is given by the Persians, and is therefore 
paid for by the traveller, as farsakhs. At the full complement of four miles to a farsakh, this 
would amount to 616 miles; but, though the Khorasan farsakh is famed beyond all others for its 
odious and seemingly inexhaustible length,  a compliment in reality to the funereal 
monotony of the road-the distance (comparing my own estimate with that of previous voyagers) 
is under rather than over 560 English miles. It is surprising how soon, if a man be riding a-
lone and have nought to distract him but the paces of his steed and the thought of his destination, 
he can arrive at an approximately correct calculation of the distance he is covering from stage 
to stage. The route between Meshed and Teheran is divided into twenty-four stages, the post-
houses being established at distances varying from fifteen to thirty miles, but averaging 
twenty-three miles apart. This
I I What a long fargakh is that of Khorasan P says a traveller who has toiled from sunrise nearly 
to sunset, and who can no longer cling to his jaded horse but by the prong in front of his saddle. I 
By the beard of the Prophet,  said one of the party a.9 we neared our balting-ground, I the 
road is longer than the entrails of Omar, for my back and my knees have lost their feeling.  
There is also a local proverb, worthy of being quoted (Burnes  2~-avels into Bokhara, vol. 
iii. p. 89), which says that the Kborasani farsakA is as endless as the chatter of women, and that 
he who measured them must have done so with a broken chain.

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246 FROM MESHED TO TEHER.A_N 247
distance I accomplished in the comfortable time of nine days, doing an average of sixty miles a 
day, but in reality combining days of seventy miles with shorter spams. This is slow rather 
than speedy travelling for Persia; I and I afterwards became easily habituated to journeys of 
seventy-five to eighty miles in the day. Telegraph officials and residents in the country seldom 
do less, and frequently more. The post which goes through from Meshed to Teheran without 
stopping, but with first claim upon the horses at each station, covers the distance in from five 
to six days. Dr. Wills reports having ridden from Isfahan to Teheran, about 280 miles, in 
thirty-nine and a half hours; 2 whilst officers travelling by day alone and resting at night have 
accomplished 120 miles between dawn and leaving the saddle.
Quick riding is indeed an accomplishment for which the Persians have always been famous, and 
notable records in which have been Speed of achieved even by their kings. Abbas the Great, 300 
years locomo-ago, rode from Shiraz to Yezd in twenty-eight and a half tiou In
hours, the Astronomer Royal being commanded to take the time. Malcolm gives the distance as 
eighty-nine fitrsakhs, or 303 -Miles-; 3 but, though modern measurements have-reduced it to 
220 miles, it was still no mean performance. Agha Mohammed Khan, the founder of the reigning 
dynasty, fleeing to Mazanderan on the death of Kerim Khan Zend, rode from Shiraz to Isfahan-a 
distance, by whatever route, of not much under 300 miles-in less than three days. Fath Ali 
Shah, his nephew, upon succeeding to the throne, rode from Shiraz to Teheran, a distance of at 
least 550 miles, in six days. Fraser mentions the case of a Persian, Agba Bahrain, who kept the 
best horses in the country, and who once on the same Arab horse rode from Shiraz to Teheran in 
six days, rested three days, rode back in five days, rested nine days, and performed the journey 
a third time in seven days.4 But the most remarkable, because the most sustained performance 
of which I have ever read was that of the dragoman who, in 1804, rode from Constantinople
I And yet I find a French officer (-A otes de I- oyage d un Hussard, par le Comte de 
Sabran, p. 225) who, bavirig accomplished the journey in the same leisurely time in 1888, 
writes a book to say that General Maclean expressed himself as stupefied with his astonishing 
performance, and told him that an English officer, who had clone the journey in ten days, had 
fallen seriously ill in consequence I Sir 11. RawliDSOn once rode it in six. 2 Persia as It Is, p. 
296. 1 A Winter's Journey, vol. ii. p. 319.
I History of Persia, vol. i. p. 345.
to Demavend (near Teheran), a total distance of 1,700 miles, in seventeen days, with*the news 
of Napoleon's escape from Elba. On the other hand, when there is no purpose in.haste, no 
rider can

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be so slow as a Persian. If he is not proceeding at a headlong gallop, he affects a dignified crawl; 
and in the whole of my chapar rides I never once met a native who was moving at more than a 
foot-pace on horseback.
As this is the first occasion upon which I have required to describe chapar riding from personal 
experience, and as I subsequently Cost of rode considerably over a thousand miles by the same 
journey means, I may as well here condense whatever of observation or suggestion I have to 
make upon the subject. Ihavealready in Chapter II. (upon Ways and Means) supplied all 
necessary information as to cost and procedure. The basis of calculation there laid down will 
show that for four horses-self, gholam, posthoy, and baggage (for I duly purchased my own 
experience by taking on this occasion, but on this only, an extra baggage animal, which cost me 
many a hard gallop in pursuit as well as a proportionate loss of time)-my journey from Meshed 
to Teheran cost 600 7crans or, at the then rate of exchange, about 171., exclusive of tips to the 
posthoys and payment for the use of quarters at night, amounting to about 21. more, and the cost 
of food on route, which will depend in each case upon the amount of tinned meat carried by the 
traveller. The journey will not in any case cost over 201. My sole companion and attendant upon 
this journey was a Perso-Afghan gholam (mounted courier - or k-avass) of the British 
Legation at Teheran, who bore the imposing name of Nadir Ali Khan   and who was well posted 
in all the tricks of the road.
The postal system in Persia, about the inauguration of which I shall have something to say later 
on, is under the superintendence Minister of of a Minister of Posts; but as the present tenant of 
that Posts office holds two other portfolios in addition, besides being President of the Council, it 
may be inferred that it is not regarded as one of comman ing importance, The Government allows 
him a certain annual sum for the repair and equipment of every posthouse upon the Government 
roads, as well as an annual allowance of barley and straw as fodder for the horses.  The 
Minister does
I Quite recently there were 172 Government chalmr-Nidnehs, and the Treasury allowance was 
20 tontans (51. 148.) a year for each, as well as 10 Ntarvars (nearly 3 tons) of barley, and 
the same amount of straw, for the horses.

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248 . FROM MESHED TO TEHERAN 249
not, -however, work the system himself. That would be a shocking violation of all Persian 
usage. Each road is farmed to a publican, probably some merchant or wealthy person, who pays 
a certain suni per annum. to the Minister for the privilege. He then provides the servants and 
animals at each station, and makes as much money out of the business as he can; the only check 
upon his parsimony being the fear of losing his contract in favour of a higher bidder at the end 
of the year. It is not surprising, therefore, that the posthouses are mostly in a state of extreme 
and disgraceful dilapidation, or that the horses are among the sorriest specimens of the equine 
race that were ever foaled. The system is a vicious one, and it is hard to say whether the 
traveller or the poor brutes whom he is compelled to flog along are the more to be pitied. Let 
me, however, endeavour to balance the pains and the pleasures, if any there be, of chapar 
riding, so as to arrive at a fair Pros and verdict. The system has been variously described by 
cons of the travellers according to their tastes, endurance, and fortune, chapar
as an exhilaration, a tedium, or a torture; and there is perhaps something to be said for each 
opinion. Much depends upon the extent to which the road adopted is travelled upon, and, in 
consequence, supplied; something upon the season of the year or th e  weather encountered; a 
good deal upon the luck of the voyager. The route between Meshed and Teheran is but little 
traversed (except by pilgrims, who move in Icaftlahs, or caravans), and there are accordingly 
not above five or six horses, sometimes less, at each station. These I found to be for the most 
part underfed, broken-down, and emaciated brutes, with ill-regulated paces, and open sores on 
their backs that sometimes made it- almost unbearable to bestride them. The best that were 
supplied to me would anywhere else be classified at a low level of equine mediocrity. To ride the 
worst was a penalty to which any future Dante might appropriately condemn his most inveterate 
foe in the lower circles of hell. Subsequently, however, upon the Teheran-Shiraz line, which is 
more travelled upon and better provided, I found a larger number and a superior quality of 
animals. They were generally tolerable and sometimes positively good; and when I succeeded in 
covering by their means an average of between eight and nine miles in the hour throughout the 
day, when they invariably cantered and sometimes galloped, it can be imagined that a day's 
ride of from seventy to eighty miles may become quite endurable,
and7 under favouratle conditions of climate, at times almost pleasant. In the- last resort, 
however, more depends. upon the fortune of the traveller than upon any other consideration. If 
he can avoid clashing or competing with the Government post, which has universal priority of 
claim; if he is lightly equipped himself and does not require many animals.; above all, if he can 
get ahead and keep ahead of any other party of travellers on the same road,

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he will fare passably well. If he is unlucky in any or all of these respects, he will leave Persia 
muttering deep and unrepeatable curses against a land of rascals and jades. . That this is the 
more common experience may perhaps be inferred from the fact that the main solace of a 
European's life in Persia appears to be the desire to cover a specified distance in quicker 
time than it has ever been done before. A furious competition prevails. Where there is a 
telegraphic line along the route the wire conveys to anxious ears the news of the rider's 
progress ; and a man is seldom so happy, or leaves -so enduring a reputation, as when he 
succeeds in cutting the record.
At this stage let me describe the chapar-khaneh, and its meagre, but peculiar -properties. 
Sometimes in the heart, sometimes on The the outskirts of a town or village, sometimes planted 
in
absolute solitude upon the staring waste, but usually in
the neighbourbood of water, is to be seen a small rectangular structure, consisting of four blank 
mud walls surrounding an interior enclosure, with a stunted square tower rising, above the 
gateway, and a projecting semicircular tower or bartizan at each corner. The whole presents the 
appearance of a miniature mud fort. And such indeed it is intended to  be; for in a land till 
lately desolated by Turkonian forays, and where promiscuous thieving is indubitably popular, 
every possession, from a palace down to an orchard, has to be safeguarded from attack, as though 
the country were in a state of open war. Entrance to the chaparkhaneh is gained by a big wooden 
door in the gateway; and when this is closed it is unassailable except by ladders. Riding into the 
gateway, one observes a low seat or platform against the wall on either side, and two doorways 
leading into dark and dirty rooms on the ground floor. The gateway conducts into the interior 
court, which is an open space about twenty to twenty-five yards in length and twelve to fifteen 
yards in width. In the middle is a chab?dra, or mud platform, usually occupied by fowls and 
filth, but

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950 . FROM MESHED TO TEHERAN 251
designed for al fresco slumbers of the traveller in the summer season. The walls of the court, on 
two and sometimes on three sides, are pierced with holes or mangers, into which the chopped 
barley, or kah, is placed for the horses, and to which they are tethered in the warm -weather. . 
In the interior of the two side walls, however, are long dark stables for winter use, unlighted 
save by the low door, unventilated, and reeking with accumulated refuse. In one of these, along 
with the horses, the posthoys and attendants
himself at full length or boils a cup of broth or tea. His Persian attendant takes a pull at the 
kalian, which is always ready, and the wearied animals, stripped except for their tattered 
horsecloths, are slowly walked up and down for ten minutes by the posthoy, and finally marched 
off to water. In a quarter   of an hour, if lucky, sometimes not for one hour or even two, a 
fresh batch of horses having been brought out, and the traveller having selected the best for 
himself, he will remount, and will once again pursue the
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at one time or another been faced with plaster; but this has uniformly peeled off, and the entire 
fabric looks what it ismud. As the weary traveller rides in, the chaparchi, or post-bouse 
keeper, -who sometimes wears the semblance of an official dress, comes out to meet him. Eager 
inquiries are exchanged as to the supply of fresh horses in the stables; and. while these are 
being gratified or disappointed, the baggage is pulled off the exhausted beasts and piled upon the 
chabutra, and the English rider stretches
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uneven teno tir of his way. If, however, no fresh animals are forth, coming~ or if he has been 
anticipated by some other voyager, then ensues the in ost heartrending experience of all. For, 
after a tedious wait of perhaps two hours, the same miserable brutes that have borne the burden 
of his last twenty-five miles  stage are brought out again to be urged and flagellated through 
twenty-five more. I confess that my sympathies were always with the beast rather than with 
his rider; and considering the pitiless daily, nay, almost hourly, task that is irnposod upon 
these wretched crocks, it was

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252 FROM MESHED TO TEHERAN 253
sofnetimes a surprise to me that persuasion, however extreme, when, aroused at four or five 
A.-M. in the pitchy darkness and amid could extract from them anything more than a hobble. 
biting cold, he must get up to the light of a Bickering candle, But supposing the traveller to have 
reaclied the end of his dress and pack up all his effects, cook- his breakfast, and finally 
seeday's journey and to have arrived at the post-house where be pro
the whole of his baggage safely mounted in the dark upon the poses to pass the night, what then? 
The answer to the The bala- steeds in the yard below, that he is sometimes tempted to think 
khanehquestion is contained in the projecting square tower momentarily of proverbs about game 
and candles, and to reflect above the entrance gateway.Access thereto is gained by stair- that 
there are consolations in life at home. ways of almost Alpine steepness, fashioned in  the mud 
at the A word more about the Persian post-borse, for a rhan does not ride angles of the court 
inside.Clambering up these with difficulty, from sixty to seventy of these beasts in the space of 
a few weeks we reach the flat roof that runs right round the building, and find The Per- without 
being driven to generalise somewhat upon the that the tower consists of a single chamber, which 
invariably has sian post_ species. The traveller of course selects the best out of a two, 
sometimes three, doors (that are never known to shut), and horse bad lot for himself, but an 
eye must be kept on the usually a couple of open window spaces in the walls, so that it may
ch(~par-shagird, or post-boy, who knows the  form  of each animal literally be said to 
stand to a nicety
and who, if left alone is apt to consult his own rather Four-square to all the winds that blow. 
than his employer's comfort. As you emerge from the post-house,
and, after a short walk, try the paces of your new mount, there This is the bala-khaneh, or 
upper chamber, specially reserved for
is a moment of acute suspense. . Within 300 yards you know the comfort of foreign guests, and 
within this forlorn and wintry whether your next three or four hours are to be a toleration or 
an abode, which is not much less draughty than the rigging of a ship, anguish. The pace which, 
after a little experience, a European the wayfarer must- speLnd the night. The interior has at 
one time usually adopts, is a sharp canter alternating with a walk. The been plastered and 
whitewashed Its only decorative features are
Persians, when not cantering or galloping seem to prefer - a a number of shallow niches in the 
walls, in which Persian visitors rough jog-trot shamble, which on an English saddle is 
excruciating. have sometimes scrawled the most fearful illustrations, and occa- In the whole of 
my chapar rides I only twice encountered a horsesionally, but not always, a fireplace. Of 
furniture it is absolutely that could trot in English fashion. The post-boy carries, and each 
destitute. To have the floor swept clean of vermin, to spread a felt rider must carry, a long whip 
made of twisted leather with a or carpet in the corner and one's sack of straw upon it, to buy 
fire- leathern thong, and appalling are the

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whacks that are administered wood and light a fire, to stuff up the open windows and nail by the 
former, often without exciting the faintest response from his curtains Over the ramshackle 
doors-all these are necessary and habituated steed. In this place it maybe well to remark that, 
though preliminary operations, without which the dingy tenement would called a boy, the 
shagird is much more commonly a man. He be simply uninhabitable, but which it is sometimes 
bard work to
does not ride upon a saddle, but usually sits perched upon the top undertake in a state of extreme 
stiffness and exhaustion after a
of a vast pile of baggage with his legs sticking out on either side; long day's ride -upon a 
freezing winter's night. Even so, this nor does he use reins, but only a single rope or halter 
attached to a6rial roost is sometimes too chill for endurance, and one is com- one side of the bit. 
He is supposed to lead the way and to set the pelled to descend and seek refuge in the dank and 
cellar-like pace, but I soon found that seventy miles in the day could never apartments below. In 
half an hour's time. however, when the be accomplished in that fashion, and that it was 
better even in a work has been done, as the genial warmth begins to relax stiff joints strange 
country to lead the cavalcade oneself. As a rule it is and weary limbs, and as the samovar puffs 
out its cheery steam, a difficult, if there is light, to mistake the track; for though there feeling 
of wonderful contentment ensues, and the outstretched is no road and the route is simply a mule 
track which * crosses traveller would probably not exchange his quarters for a sheeted plains, 
climbs mountains, and descends gorges, sometimes, so to bed in Windsor Castle. But it is upon 
the followiug morning,
speak, a sing] e rut, and sometimes a wide belt of parallel -paths,
I

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254 FROM MESHED TO TEHERAN 26,6
yet the. passage of countless animals has left, such impressions from which strangers can afford 
to abstain. Perhaps I shall not upon the soil that the direction to be followed can often be inaptly 
conclude this digression upon the Persian post-horse and traced in advance for miles. At night a 
stranger would be lost ostal system if I quote the sententious observation with which
p atonce but for the guidance of the post-boy, whose sight and memory Tavernier prefaced his 
Persian travels more than three centuries ago: are unerring. A man cannot travel in Asia as they 
do in Europe; nor at the same.
The best known characteristic of the Persian post-horse is his in- hours, nor with the same 
ease.  curable predisposition to tumble. Most of them have bare knees in The road from 
Meshed to Teheran is one whose intrinsic attracIts
consequence, and the first law in mounting is to select an tion is so small that no one would ever 
be found to traverse it but for hurnours animal with some hair still adorning that portion. I 
General the necessity of getting from one place to the other. For could not make out that either a 
tight rein or a slack rein had character the entire distance of 560 miles there is scarcely a 
single very much to do with the occurrence of this phenomenon, and I of road object of beauty, 
and but few of interest. The sceniery, ended by concluding that the Persian post-horse has a 
certain regu- at any rate in the late autumn, is colourless and desolate. The lation number of 
falls in the year, which may be distributed either road, or rather track, winds over long, stony 
plains, across unlovely by accident or as he pleases, but the full tale of which some hidden 
mountains, and through deserted villages and towns. There is law of necessity compels him to 
complete. The fact that I rode frequent and abundant evidence that the country traversed was 
through the country from the east to the centre and from the once far more densely or less 
sparsely populated, and for that reason centre to the south without a single fall, tended to 
confirm rather more carefully tended, than it is at present. The traveller passes, than to 
invalidate my theory, for there was no conceivable reason towns which have been entirely 
abandoned, and display only a melanwhy I should be so favoured, except that others would have 
or had choly confusion of tottering walls and fallen towers. He observes had topay the price. It 
became quite a trite occurrence to hear the citadels and fortified posts which have crumbled into 
irretrievable groan with which my Persian servant riding behind me sank or decay, and are 
now little more than shapeless heaps of mud. He was hurled on to mother earth; while the 
clwj)m~shagird  Would be sees long lines of choked and disused kanats, the shafts of the 
seriously disappointed at an entire day without a -fall. There is underground wells by which 
water was once brought to the this to be said for the instability of the Persian post-horse, that 
it lands from the mountains. The walls of the cities are in ruins and appears very seldom to be 
vindicated at the, lasting expense of his exhibit yawning gaps; the few public buildings of any 
note are

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rider. The number of accidents or injuries that take place in falling to pieces; rows of former 
dwellings have been abandoned proportion to the number of fallsis ludicrously small. Two other 
to dust-heaps and dogs. The dirty, desecrated cemeteries that tricks I noticed which were 
widespread and popular. Some of the stretch for hundreds of yards outside every town of any size 
in meanest of the animals would very much resent being mounted, a
which the tombstones are defaced and the graves falling in, are not curious proof that their 
memories had profited by experience; and more lugubrious in appearance than is the interior, 
where the living the only approach to an accident that I had was when a horse from
seem to be in almost as forlorn a plight as the dead. The utmost which I had dismounted ran away 
as I was putting my foot into
that the traveller can expect in the way of incident-an expectation the stirrup, and as nearly as 
possible pitched both himself and me in which I have already said that I was disappointed-is that 
his down the shaft of an open 7ranat. The lifting of the right arm, whether
Chapar horse should tumble down, to break, if not its own knees, with or without a whip, had, 
further, such a provocative effect upon at any rate the paralysing monotony of the journey. the 
memory of these beasts that they would frequently swerve and J But though the route be thus 
devoid of external attraction, it spin right round to the left. The Persians, if peculiarly 
disgusted i
has a twofold interest, historical and pyactical. The traveller is not with apost-horse, 
sometimes revenge themselves by dockin histail,
9 merely pursuing the track that has been worn by countwhich incapacitates him from further 
use in a country where a tail Its lessons
I less thousands of pilgrims for at least 500 years, but he is considered de rigueur; but this is a 
spiteful, if not a

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2536 FROM MESHED TO TEHERAN 257
steps of great conquerors and kings. And if, in the desolation that gapes around him, he- sees no 
hint or reminder of what these countries once were, at least he is able to form some judgment of 
what the combined horrors of war, pestilence, and chronic misgovernment -which is worse 
than either-have done for them, and in this blighted zone of crumbling cities and forsaken 
homes to read the tale of Persia's long decline. Table of The following is a table of the 
stations and distances stations a distances d between Meshed and Teheran:
)istance Approxi- Distan
mate dis ce Name of station I Name of station infar
ifflkhstance in sak-hs
miles
Meshed Deli Mullah 4 Sherifabad 6 22 Darughan 6 Kadamgah 7 29 Ghushah 7 Nishapur 6 17 
Ahuan. 7 Shurab : 7 25 Semnan 7 Zafarani 5 18 Lasgird 6 8ebzewar 7 24 Deh Nemek. 8 Mihr 7 
32 Kishlak T Mazinan 6 20 Aiwan-i-Kaif 6 Abbasabad 7 23 Kabd Gumbaz 7 Miandasht 6 23 
Teheran 7 Maiomai 7 24 Armian 4 17 Shahrud 7 27
T
Total 154
Approxi
mate dis
tance in
miles
26
23
24
24
22
25
26
21
26

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25
559
Before proceeding further it may be well to state that there is an alternative route for the first 
three stages between Meshed and Nishapur. The postal service and stations being upon the other
I This road has been followed and, in part or wholly, described by a long series of travellers, of 
whom I select only the most eminent or learned :-El Istakhri (900-1000 A.D.), Oriental 
Geography, p. 181 ; Ruy di ~ Clavijo (1404), Narrative of 1,7,nibassy; Von Mierop (1744), 
J. Hanway's Historical Account of British Trade, vol. L pp. 357-359; Captain Truilhier 
(1807), Daussy's Mbnloire -Descriptif; J. B. Fraser (1821-1822), Journey into 
Khorasan, cap. xiii-xvii.; Captain A. Conolly (1830), Overland Journey, vol. L pp. 194-220; 
E. L. Mitford (1840), Land Ararah, vol. ii. pp. 13-34; Dr. J. Wolff (1831, 1844), Travels, 
and -Narrative of Mission; J. P. Ferrier (1845), Caravan Journeys, pp. 54-115 ; Captain C. 
Clerk (1857), Journal of tAc R. GJ?., vol. xxxi, pp. 37-45; N. de Khanikoff (1858), 
jIfentoire, 4-c., pp. 72-97; E. B. EaBtwick (1862), Journal of a _Diploniate, vol. ii. pp. 
134-1.91, 271-295; A. Vamb6ry (1863), Zife and Adventicres, cap. xxviii.; H.M. the Shah of 
Persia (1867 and 1883),.Diaries (in Persian); H. W. Bellew (1872), le rom. the Indits to 
the T~qris, pp. 368-411 ; Colonel Enan Smith (1872), -Ceastern Persia, vol. L pp. 366-
388; ColonelVal. Baker (1873), Clouds in the Eavt pp. 142-176; B. O Donovan (1880), 
The Aferr Oasis, vol. il. cap. xxii.-xxviii.
or southern route, this, which is a more northerly line, cannot, be taken by chapar riders. It 
is, however, frequently adopted by Alternative caravans (other than camels), particularly in 
the summer; line as though the road is much worse, and in parts excessively steep, it runs over 
higher ground (10,720 feet), and through scenery of quite exceptional verdure and beauty. It is 
a positive surprise to the traveller, within a few miles of the naked rocks and dusty plains of 
Meshed, to alight upon ru. . nning water and a wealth of trees. The stages are as follows:- 
Name of station
Meshed Jaglierk Dehrud Nishapur
Total
Distance infarsakhs
5
6
6
17

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ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZApproximate distance
d

In miles
20
22
18
60
Colonel Stewart and other friends accompanied me on horseback-after the prevailing Persian 
fashion, which for polite goodDeparture fellowship might be- commended elsewbere-for -some 
from distance outside the city gate. In deference to another Meshed excellent Persian habit, he 
lent me a horse from his own stables for the first stage ; whilge, in obedience to a third, I 
proposed only to do one stage on the first -afternoon, so as to allow servants and baggage to   
shake down, and to inure myself for harder work on the morrow. After I had been riding 
across the level plain for an hour, one of those violent winds arose, which the traveller in the 
East knows by sad experience, and drove like * a hurricane across the land, whirling heaven and 
earth into one savage thundercloud of dust. Eyes, mouth, and bars were filled and choked with the 
gritty storm, which was blowing straight in my teeth, and yet was perfectly warm. About seven 
miles after leaving Meshed we arrived at the base of the mountains, in reality the south-east 
extremity of the Binalud Kuh, which separates the plain of Meshed from that of Nishapur. The 
Jagherk-Dehrud road boldly crosses this range; but the postal route avoids so steep a climb by a 
divergence in a south-easterly direction, and mounts only the lower spurs and slopes.
I It was followed and described by J, B. Fraser (1821), E. B. Eastwick (1862), H. W. Bellew 
and Colonel Buan Smith (1872), and Colonel Val. Baker (1873).

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258
ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZAt the crest of each ridge, where the road, now rapidly
d

0 ascending, topped the rise, grateful pilgrims wending to the holy The piety city had, as they 
caught sight of the gilded cupola of the of pilgrinis Prophet, piled little heaps of stone in pious 
thanksgiving. The symbolism of these erections is said to be that the pilgrim is building in 
anticipation a home for the next world, either for the dear departed, or for those who may 
survive him, or for himself. Every knoll was thickly covered with these emblems of devotion. 
The topmost of all, where the new-comer first discerns the sacred pile, is known as Salaam 
Tepe, or Kuh-i-Salaam. (the Hill of Salutation) ; and there is an analogous site upon the Dehrud 
road. Here, as he first come's in sight of his destination, the excited Shiab iMussulman 
kneels, and strikes his forehead upon the ground, and sobs aloud at the recollection of the 
indignities that were heaped upon the martyrs of his faith; here he tears off little fragments of 
his dress, and ties them to a bramble or a bush, in order that the holy Imam may recognise them 
and plead for him in Paradise; here he unfurls his coloured banner; and here with loud cries of 
 Ya Ali,  I Ya Husein,  and I Ya Imam Reza, be presses forward to the long-sought 
goal. Many times I turned back myself to look, but the entire valley was wrapped in a tornado of 
dust, the white clouds of which rolled upwards like the smoke of a prairie fire. At, the top of one 
of these hills is an upright slab of stone, which has been erected to commemorate the piety of a 
former Governor-General of Khorasan, who was exiled to this post after being both Sadr Azem, 
or Grand Vizier, and Sipah Salar, or Cominander-iii-Chief, at Teheran, and who -earned a great 
reputation, particularly with pilgrims, for improving the Meshed road and adorning it with 
substantial caravanserais. His name still lives, both on the slab of slate and on the lips of many 
a grateful Meshedi. Following the telegraph poles, and winding over a succession of bleak but 
undulating ridges, we passed the caravanserai of Sherifabftd Turukh   situated by a stream. 
The road was thronged
with pedestrians, with camels, and donkeys; and I even saw a wheeled vehicle which had stuck 
fast on one of the hills. At length in a hollow we came upon the domed caravanserai of Sherifabad, 
erected by the famous Tshak Khan of Turbat-i-Haideri, of whom I have spoken in the chapter on 
Khorasan, at the beginning of this century. Here it was that in 1831 the eccentric Dr.
FROM MESHED TO TEHERAN
269
Wolff, travelling for the first time to Meshed, so narrowly escaped

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being taken a prisoner by a band of wild Hazaras. There is a small village round the 
caravanserai, and the chapar-khaneh stands hard by. There was no sun in the early morning, 
and a cold wbiteniist ran shivering along the mountains. Two hours after starting we
Corpse- passed the village and caravanserai of Sultanabad, where caravans my baggage horse, 
seeing his opportunity, bolted down the intricate alleys of the village, and we had quite a game of 
hide and seek before we could drive him out again. There were many hundreds of travellers upon 
the road, chiefly going Meshed-way, and all or nearly all on horseback, a sign of greater 
affluence than the employment of a donkey. I was on the look-out for coffins of defunct Shiahs on 
their way to the great mecropolis of Meshed ; and from the descriptions of previous travellers 
recognised the ghastly burden as soon as I saw it. Some that I passed were
wrapped in bl.ack felt, and slung on either side of donkeys. One man, however, was carrying a 
very long coffin in front of him on his saddle-bow, and must have had moments of strange 
emotion. Sometimes a regular corpse-caravan is met, which has been chartered to convey so 
many score of departed Shiahs to their final resting-place. But as frequently an amateur 
carrier is encountered, who, to pay the expenses of his own journey and leave a little for 
amusement at the end, contracts to carry the corpse of some wealthier fellow-citizen or friend. 
It was a long and stony and fatiguing ride to the next post-house at Kadanigah.
At Kadarngah the Dehrud route from Meshed descends from the mountains on to the plain and 
joins that upon which I Kadamgah travelled. The name means  the place of the step,  the
tradition being that the Imam Reza halted here on his way to Tus, and, in order to convince the 
local fire-worshippers of his superiority, left the imprint of his foot upon a. black stone, 
which became a ziarat gah, or place of pilgrimage, ever afterwards.  Over the sacred spot a 
mosque was raised, not, as Eastwick says, by Shah Abbas, but by Shah Suleiman, and the 
sanctity of the site has led to its being peopled by a colony of seyid8, who are as
There is another Kadamgah near Persepolis, in the province of Fars, so called from the alleged 
footprint of A] i's horse on a slab of rock. Captain Wells, Proceedings (if tAe B.G.& (New 
Series), vol. v. (1883). Some Sassanian sculptures near Shiraz were also called Kadarngali by 
the seventeenth century writers.

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i
260 FROM MESHED TO TEHERAN 261
emment rascals as are most of their brethren. The -mosque numerous ditches and banks show 
that the whole country is under stands on a raised platform at the upper end of a large garden, 
irrigation. Its return of the grain sown is said to be tenfold; but which. has once been 
beautifully laid out in terraces, with flower.......................the chief local products are now rice, 
opium, and tobacco Ferrier, beds, and tanks, and channels of running water, and which, who 
passed this way forty-five years ago at a more favourable season hough in a state of hopeless 
decay, is still overshadowed by con t of the year, spoke quite enthusiastically of its charms. I 
Never siderable trees.Inside the mosque is a single chamber, entered
had I before seen in Persia such rich and luxuriant vegetation; by a coffered archway, and 
covered by a large dome. - The sacred
and, as the eye revelled in contemplating it,* I could understand stone is inside; nor is it 
surprising to find that the Prophet's foot- without any difficulty the predilection which 
ancient sovereigns marks are of more than ordinary size.All these great men had had for 
Nishapur.  huge feet.I have seen Mohammed's footprint in the Mosque of The shattered 
walls and towers of Nishapur- the Nisaya or Omar at Jerusalem, and Buddha's footprint 
on the summit ofNisoa blessed by Ormuzd, the birthplace of the Dionysus of Greek Adam's 
Peak in Ceylon; and in view of their prodigious magnitude
C) City oflegend, and one of the    paradises    of Iran -with the I was surprised at the 
modesty of the Imam Reza in having been Nishapur roof and minar of a lofty mosque looming 
above them, content with, comparatively speaking, so temperate a measure ment.The exterior of 
the dom e has once been covered with tiles;were visible long before we reached the city. Passing 
through an
extensive cemetery, whose untidy graves were typical of the squalor but all these have been 
stripped or have fallen off, though bandsthat environs death as well as life in Persia, and 
skirting the town of a still perfect inscription encircle the drum and adorn the faVade.wall on 
the southern side, we came to the chapar-khan_-h,. immeFrom the garden of the mosque the 
stream flows down the middlediately outside the western gate. The walls of the city, which of the 
roadway, past a remarkably stately row of pines,  between the chavar-kha , neh and a large 
caravanserai.Above the shrine,had at one time been lofty, were in a more tumbledown 
condition -hill some 500 feet-above the plain stand the village and forteven than those of 
Kuchan. Great gaps occurred every fifty yards, on. a 5 and whole sections had entirely 
disappeared. In one place, howof Kadamgah, whilst upon a corresponding hill on the 
oppositeever, men were at work rebuilding a bastion, lumps of clay being side of the valley 
which here opens into the mountains, is perched
dug out of a trench at the bottom and tossed from hand to handan old fortress. until they reached 
the top, where they were loosely piled one upon An hour after leaving Kadamgah we entered upon 
the famousthe. other; though what purpose this belated renovation can have plain of Nishapur, 
whose praises have been sung by so manybeen intended to serve, I am utterly at a loss to 
imagine. An  Plain of chroniclers of the past.Its wonders were expressed in Nishapur 
multiples of the number twelve.It was said -to haveenemy could march into Nishapur as easily 
as he could march
down Brompton Road, and would find about as much to reward twelve mines of turquoise, 
copper, lead, antimony, iron, salt,him as if he occupied in force Brompton Cemetery. marble, 
and soapstone; twelve ever-running streams from the The name Nishapur is popularly derived 
from nei (reed) or

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hills; 1,200 villages, and 12,000 7eanats flowing from 12,000ni=-no (new) and Shapur, the 
tradition being that Shapur built springs.Gone, irretrievably gone, is all this figurative. 
wealth;Its history the town anew, or built it in what had been a reed-bed. but fertile, though far 
less fertile than legend has depicted, is still  1 f  The city was older, however, than 
Shapur, its legendary the plain of Nishapur.Not that fertility in these parts, at anyfoundation 
being attributed to Tahmuras, one of the Pishdadian rate in the late autumn, bears the smallest 
resemblance to itskings, fourth in descent from Noah ; and its true derivation is from English 
counterpart.There is no visible green except in thenize. (the modern Persian nik.) = good, and 
Shapur. This town is said square patches, topped with trees, that mark the villages. But to have 
been destroyed by Alexander the Great, and subsequently these occur at intervals of almost 
every quarter of a mile, and therebuilt either by Shapur L or by Shapur Zulaktaf (the two are 
con  The seeds or cones from which these pines sprang are said to have beenstantly confuse4 
in Persian tradition), who is further said to have brought by a pilgrim from the Himalayas 
nearly four hundred years ago. erected here a huge statue of himself, which remained standing 
till

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262 FROM MESHED TO TEHERAN 263
the Mussulman invasion. Sbapur's city, however, was not upon the site of the modern 
Nishapur, but considerably inore to the southeast, where its ruins are still traceable round a 
blue-domed tomb to the left of the road. Nishapur, which has certainly been destroyed and. 
rebuilt more thai   1 any city in the world, rose again under the Arabs, and became 
successively the capital of the Taheride.dynasty, of Mahmud of Ghuzni, when Governor of 
Khorasan, and of the powerful Seljuk family, whose first Sultan, Togrul Beg, resided here, and 
brought it to the zenith of its splendour. A long line of eminent travellers testified to its 
magnificence and renown. In the tenth century, the Arab pilgrim El Istakhri found the city a 
square, stretching one farsalzh in every direction, with four gates and two extensive suburbs. 
In the eleventh century, Nasiri Khosru declared that it was the sole rival to Cairo. An Arab wit 
said of its kanals and its people,  What a fine city it would be if only its watercourses were 
above ground and its population underground!  Another writer, Abu Ali el Alewi, recorded 
that it was larger than Fostat (old Cairo), more populous than Baghdad, more perfect than 
Busrali, and more magnificent than Kairwhan. It had forty-four quarters   fifty main 
streets, a splendid mosque, and a world-famed library. It was one of the four Royal cities of the 
Empire of Khorasan.  But now the cycle of misfortune had come round; and from the twelfth 
century downwards it may be said that if Nishapur Its de- was only destroyed in order that it 
might be rebuilt, it structions, was no sooner rebuilt than it was again destroyed. No city ever 
Aowed such unconquerable vitality. No_ city was ever the sport of such remorseless ruin. 
Nature herself assisted man in the savage tenacity of his vengeance, for what a conqueror had 
spared an earthquake laid low. Three great earthquakes are recorded in the twelfth, the 
thirteenth, and the fifteenth centuries. The long career of human devastation was inaugurated by 
the Turkomans, who in 1153 A.D., in the reign of the great Sultan Sanjar, ravaged it so 
completely that the inhabitants on returning could not discover the sites of their homes. But if 
the Turkomans had chastised with whips, the Mongol hordes of Jenghiz Khan might be trusted to 
chastise witli scorpions. They fell upon the city with flame and sword in 1220 A.D., under the 
command of Tului Khan, son of the conqueror; and the appalling measure of I The others were 
Merv, Balkh, and Herat.
their cruelty is said by a credible historian not to have been filled until they had slain 
1,740,000 persons, and razed the city so completely to the ground that a horse could ride over 
the site without stumbling. Fifty years later, Nishapur was rebuilt, but it would be tedious to 
relate the vicissitudes of misery through which it has since passed. Mongols, Tartars, 
Turkomans, and Afghans in turn made it their prey, and gradually reduced it to what in the 
eighteenth century was reported to be one vast ruin. Upon the

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death of Nadir Shah in 1747 it held out against Ahmed Abdali the Afghan; but after a six 
months'siege was taken by him under circumstances which recalled, if they did not equal, 
the atrocities of Jenghiz Khan. The conqueror, however, was as prudent as he was successful. He 
restored as ruler to the city the Turkish chieftain, Abbas Kuli Khan, who had resisted him, but 
whom he learnt to respect, and whose sister he married. The vassal repaid the compliment by 
life-long loyalty, and by an energetic restoration and adornment of the town. In the time of his 
successor , in 1796, Nishapur passed tranquilly into the hands of the Kajar usurper, Agha 
Mohammed Khan, and has ever since remained an appanage of the Persian crown. Fraser in 
1821 computed its population as under 5,000, Conolly in 1830 said 8,000, Sir F. Goldsmid in 
1872 gave the same figure; the latest estimate is 10,000, which, with the growth that might be 
expected in a long period of peace, ought not to be excessive.
To a great many English readers Nishapur will perhaps be known only as the last resting-place 
of the Persian astronomer-poet Tombof Omar el Khayam. (i.e. the tent-maker), whose name and 
Omar el works have been rendered familiar to the pre sent g-eneraKhayam. tion by the 
masterly paraphrase of Fitzgerald, and by the translations or adaptations of many inferior 
bards. I remember reading in the preface of one of these latter the plaintive request that 
someone would take the volume and cast it as an offering at Nishapur before the poet's tomb. 
Had I poss(ssed it, I should certainly have gratified the writer's petition, at the same time 
that I disencumbered myself of useless baggage by making the offering, although I fear that the 
condition of Omar's grave would have greatly shocked his English admirers. It stands in a 
neglected garden, which once contained flower-beds and rivulets of water, but is now a wasteof 
weeds. There is no inscription to mark the poet's name or fame and it is to be feared that the 
modern Persians are

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264 FROM MESHED TO TEHERAN 265
as little solicitous of the dust of Omar el- Khayam as a nineteenth- which is rich in mineral  
deposits, there being a productive salt centur citizen of London might be of that of Matthew 
Paris or mine a neglected lead mine, and sandstone quarries within the
y William of Malmesbury. same area. The turquoises are found in a range of hills, 
consistNishapur possesses a Telegraph station of the Mesbed-Teheran ing of porphyries, 
greenstones, and metamorphic limestones and line worked by a Persian staff. It is also the 
meeting-point of sandstones, at an elevation above the sea which has never exceeded Roads 
several important roads in addition to the two from 5,800 feet or fallen below 4,800 feet. They 
are obtained in one
Meshed. On the south a road comes in from Turshiz, of two ways, either by digging and blasting 
in the mines proper, and on the north a track runs vid Madan I (where are the turquoise which 
consist of shafts and galleries driven into the rock, or by mines) to Kuchan; while in a more 
westerly direction stretches search among the d6bris of old mines, and amid the alluvial 
detrithe old long-forgotten trade route to the Caspian, which is believed tus that has been 
washed down the hill-sides on to the plain. The to have been a link in the great chain of overland 
connection in finest stones are now commonly found in the last-named quarter. the middle ages 
between China and India and the European The mining, cutting, &c., give occupation to some 
1,500 persons, continent. It ran from Nishapur to the Arab city of Isferayin in who inhabit the 
two principal villages of Upper and Lower Madan the plain of the same name, then struck 
westwards, and passing and several small hamlets in the neighbourhood. through the mountains 
by the defile known as the Dahaneh-i- It is believed that in former times and under the Sefavi 
dynasty, Gurgan, through which the river Gurgan forces its way, descended when Persia touched 
the climax of her wealth and renown, these the slope to the Caspian. The stages on this route are 
recorded History of mines were worked directly by the State. In the anarchy in the itineraries 
of Isidore of Charax, and of El Istakhri, and the working and turbulence of the eighteenth 
century they were either caravanserais built by Shah Abbas the Great are still standing, 
neglected or left to the villagers, who extracted from them what though in ruins. they could. As 
order was re-established, control was resumed by
About thirty-six miles in a north-westerly direction from the Government, which throughout 
this century has farmed them to Nishapur, on the first of the roads above mentioned, are 
situated the the highest bidder. Abundant relics, however, exist of the reign Turquoise famous 
turquoise mines of Madan (i.e. mines), which from of  every man for himself  that 
preceded. There was no system mines their proximity to the better known city, have always or 
science in the working, and the clumsy and sporadic efforts of been called the mines of Nishapur. 
Though turquoises are or individuals have resulted in the roofs and sides of most of the old have 
been found elsewhere in Persia,2 and, it is sometimes said, in mines falling in and thus 
completely

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choking the most lucrative other countries, these may for all practical purposes be regarded 
sources of produce. Moreover, the march of science has itself as the only mines in the world 
-that are worked -or that repay tended to make the work more unscientific, for gunpowder is 
now working on a large scale, and as the source of 999 out of every used at random where the 
pick once cautiously felt its way; and 1,000 turquoises that come into the market. The mines, of 
which many of the stones are smashed to atoms in the process that briDgs. there are an immense 
number, actually worked, fallen in, or dis- them to the light. used, are situated in a district 
some forty square miles in extent, Conolly relates that when Hasan Ali Mirza was Governor of
Described by Colonel Val. Baker (1873), Clouds in t7te East, pp. 166-171. Khorasan the 
turquoise mines were rented for 1,000 tomans, and
2 The other turquoise mines of which I have heard or read in Persia are Financial the rock-salt 
mine for 300 tomans per annum. In Fraser's (1) Near Turshiz, ]eased by the Government 
(1889) for 500 tontans a year, but return time (1821), 2,000 Khorasan tomans or 2,7001., 
were asked not worked; they are mentioned by Bellew. (2) Near Tabbas, mentioned by 
MacGregor and Herbert, (3) Near Kerman, mentioned by Marco Polo, Langl~s,and for the whole 
mines, and 1,300 tomans for the principal mine. In Herbert. (4) At Taft, in the district of 
Yezd, mentioned by Khanikoff, Napier, and 1862, Eastwick says the rent was only 1,000 
tomans, or 4001. Ten Herbert. (5) At Kaleh Zeri, near Basiran, between Birjand and Neh, 
mentioned years later the Seistan Boundary Commissioners found the total by Khanikoff. The 
mines in the Kerman district are several in number: (a)
rent of all the mines to be 8,000 tomans, or 3,2001., though in 1874 Those of Paxiz at God-i-
Alimer; (0) near Masbiz; (-y) near Shebr-i-Babek. But the stones of all these mines are very 
pale in colour and of no great value. Captain Napierreported the figures to be 6,000 tomans, or 
2,4001.

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266
ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZThe rent remained at 8,000 tomans up till 1882, when the Shah very 
wisely thought that he could make a better bargain. In that year he leased the mines for a term of 
fifteen years to the Mukhbered-Dowleh, Minister of Education, Telegraphs, and Mines, the rent 
to be 9,000 tomans in the first year, and 18,000 tomcms in each succeeding year.  The 
Minister took a few rich men into partnership, and the versatile and accomplished General 
Schindler, whoser services are enlisted for whatever work of regeneration is contemplated (I 
wish I could say executed) in Persia, held the post of managing director for one year.  This 
syndicate appears to have found the system of working the mines itself unremunerative; for at 
the time of my visit I found that they bad been sublet to the Malek-et-Tajar, or head of the 
Merchants  Guild at Meshed-the enterprising speculator who had also undertaken the Kuchan 
road -and who was paying a rent of 10,000 tomans, or 2,8501., per annuin as sublessee, 
himself subletting again to the villagers after the immemorial fashion to which every tenant in 
turn seems compelled to come back. He had just had a smart dispute with some of his own 
sublessees, who had discovered some larger and finer stones than he had bargained for, and 
whose tenancy he had accordingly terminated by the abrupt method of confiscation. In the past 
year (1890) the output of stones was estimated at not less than 80,000 tomaws , or 
22,8501. It would be quite a mistake to suppose that by going either to Meshed or to Nishapur, 
or even to the pit mouth, the traveller can Purchase pick up valuable stones at a moderate price. 
Fraser tried of stones seventy, years ago, and was obli  ged to desist from the attempt by the 
ruthless efforts made to cbeat him. Every succeedino, traveller has tried and has reported his 
failure. All the best in stones are bought up at once by commission agents on the spot and are 
despatched to Europe or sold to Persian grandees. I did not see a single good specimen either in 
Meshed or Teheran, though I
d

I Benjamin (Persia and the Persiang, p. 408), with his usual inaccuracy, says 80,000 dollars, 
or 16,0001. 2 By far the best account of the mines is to be found in a report written by him 
(and published in DijWovtatia and Convilar 11(yoorts, part ii., 1884). The remaining 
travellers who have visited and described the turquoise mines of Madan are J. B. Fraser 
(1822), Jourvey into Khorasan, cap. xvi., and Appendix to Tralxls South of the, Casj)ian, pp. 
344-346; Alex. Chodzko (eire. 1838), Revue d Orient; N. de Khanikoff (1868), Alkinoire, 
4-e., pp. 90-93 ; Colonel Val. Baker (1873), Clouds in the Efast, pp. 166-71.
f
FROM MESHED TO TEHERAN

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made constant inquiries. I might indeed, to record my own ex
over two centuries
perience, adopt the very words of Tavernier
acro 0
Formerly the Mesched jewellers brought some turquoises of the old rock out of Persia; but for 
these fifteen years last past there have bin none found. Th   e last time I was there I could 
only meet with three which were but reasonable. As for those of the new rock, they are of no 
value, because they do not keep their colour, but turn green in a little time. 
Against the proverbial craftiness of the Oriental the would-be purchaser of turquoises must 
indeed be pre-eminently upon his Deception guard. There is a plan by which the deep azure that
should, characterise the true turquoise can be artfully retained up till the very moment of sale. 
The stones are kept in moist earthenware pots or otherwise damp, until they are parted with. 
The purchaser hugs his trouvaille, only to see its colour fade from day to day, until it is turned 
to a sickly green. The commoner stones are much used in Persia and the East generally for the 
decoration of bridles, horse-trappings, dagger-hilts and sheaths; though even of the -flat slabs 
so employed I could obtain no decent specimens; while the commonest of all are converted into 
charms and amulets, Arabic characters being engraved and gilded upon them so as to hide the 
flaws. A roaring trade in these trinkets is driven with the pilgrims at Meshed. From this 
digression let me now return to my forward journey. The plain of Nishapur is -separated from 
that of Sebzewar (which Zafarani is 1~000 feet lower) by an undulating range of ugly hills 
over which the road passes. Fifteen miles from Nishapur, the big caravanserai of Zaminabad is 
passed, the hills are entered by a low pass, and after a while the post-station and hamlet of 
Shurab (salt water) are discerned in a hollow. It was during the next stage that my worst 
chapar experience in Persia befell me. The pitiful brute that I was riding smelt so abominably 
that I could barely sit upon his back, while he himself groaned (for I can call it by no other 
name) in a manner that testified to his own misery. Removal of the saddle soon showed the seat 
of mischief in a great open sore; but I only exchanged horses with the gholam to discover that his 
Rosinante was similarly afflicted. It was cruelty to man and beast alike to be compelled to ride 
these suffering
I Travels, book v. cap. xii.

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268
ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZskeletons for eighteen miles. A stretch of several miles across the level 
brought us to the station of Zafarani. There was once a magnificent caravanserai here, reported 
to be the largest in Persia. The Persians, eager for a fantastic interpretation wherever it can be 
suggested, explain the title (yellow or saff~on) by a legend of a certain rich merchant who, 
when building the structure, mixed with the bricks some saffron which he had bought out of 
charity from a poor man, and which was forthwith converted by a miracle into gold dust, that is 
supposed to have glittered in the bricks ever afterwards.  The building, which is said once to 
have contained 1,700 rooms, besides baths, shops, and gardens (all of which have disappeared), 
has been attributed by some travellers to Shah Abbas. But Kbanikoff very appositely pointed out 
that the style and the inscriptions in the Kufic character alike referred it to the Arab period, 
and he conjecturally placed its foundation in the reign of the Seljuk Malek Shah. Upon its ruins a 
fine modern caravanserai was built by the public-spirited Sadr Azem before mentioned. From 
Zafarani tile road leads across the Sebzewar plain at no great distalice from the mountains on 
the north, until the city of that name is reached. The entire town, whose central street is a very 
long covered bazaar (newly constructed when Conolly passed through in 1830), must be 
traversed before we arrive at the chal-?ar-Ichaneh, close to the western gate. Sebzewar (i.e. 
green-having) is the capital of a district of soule fertility, which suffered terribly in the 
famine of 1871, and is only Sebzewar now beginning to raise its head again. Before that year the 
population of the city was estimated at 30,000. It sank at once to less than 10,000, butis now 
said to have mounted to 18,000. The town is surrounded by the usual wall of mud bricks, and on 
the north is commanded by a ruined ark or citadel on a niound. The legendary foundation of 
Sebzewar, it is needless to say, goes far back into the past, but its historical birth is more 
justly attributed to the Seljuk dynasty, the style of whose architecture can be detected in 
certain of its r emains. Like most of its neighbours, it has been several times destroyed ; Timur 
completing in 1380 A.D. the operation which Mohammed Shah of Kharezm had left imperfectly 
done., Whatever of prosperity it subsequently regained was obliterated in truff Afghan fashion 
by the Afghan
d

I Different versions of this legend are related by Fraser, pp. 385-386; Ferrier, pp, 102-103 
; and Eastwick, vol. ii. p. 180.
FROM MESHED TO TEHERAN
269
invaders in the eighteenth century. The modern city is not a

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century old, having been rebuilt and fortified by Ali Yar Khan, of Mazinan, one of the rebellious 
governors in Khorasan in the reign of Fath Ali Shah. A good deal of trade has latterly sprung up 
in Sebzewar, for it is a considerable centre of cotton cultivation, as well as the local entrep6t 
for the export of wool: and there is an Armenian commercial establishment in the town whose 
occupants trade with Russia vid Astrabad and Gez,l exporting cotton and wool and importing 
sugar and chintzes. A coarse cotton cloth is Manufactured in the bazaars, and rude copper pots 
are also fashioned from the produce of three mines in the neighbourbood, which are reputed to 
be the richest in North Persia and the proper exploitation of which is not unlikely to be 
undertaken by the Persian Mining Rights Corporation. Sebzewar is also said to be one of the 
strongholds of the Babis in North Persia. Almost the only object of interest in Sebzewar to a 
stranger lies) if a bull may be permitted, outside it. This is an isolated Minaret Minaret called 
by the Persians (in their legendary vein) of Khosrugird,1 which stands about four miles beyond 
the. IChosrugird walls of the present town on the west, but -was no doubt within the limits of 
the ancient city destroyed by Mohammed Shah of Kharizm. That any one should ever have been 
mystified by this tower, which has every feature of Arabic architecture about it, simply 
because it has lost the mosque which it once adorned, is difficult to believe. Riding out to inspect 
it in the early dawn, I found the mountain crests both to the north and the south of the town 
white with freshly fallen snow, the -first of the winter. Glorious they looked as the rising -sun 
. shone on their glistening caps, and flushed the purples and reds of their lower skirts. 
O Donovan, rather irreverently, but with some justice, compared the minaret at a distance 
to a factory chimney; but this illusion  is
This route is now being superseded by the new Ashkabad-Ruchan line of entry into Khorasan, 
which I have previously described, and which is brought into easy connection with Sebzewar. 2 
It is astonishing that so intelligent an observer as Colonel Val. Baker should have been seduced 
thereby to speak of this I curious old minaret of burnt brick of the time of Khosro (Cl&uds 
in the Ea8t, p. 166.).  He might just as reasonably have attributed it to Edward the 
Confessor or to Confucius. O Donovan, too, regards this tall shaft as an unusual feature in 
Persian architecture, where the call to prayer is commonly given from a balcony; quite 
ignoring the fact that it was raised in Snnui, and not in Shiah, times. Khosrugird was the chief 
place of the district.of Beihak, identical with the modern Sebzewar.

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270 FROM MESHED TO TEHERAN 271
dispelled as we approach. Then we see. it to be a single lofty tower, 100 feet high, of brickwork 
arranged so as to form an exterior pattern on the surface, converging towards the summit, and 
adorned with two bands of Kufic inscriptions also in brickwork. The capital at the top is broken, 
and the shaft has, therefore, an unfinished appearance. It springs from a square plinth of mixed 
concrete and gravel, the whole of which to a depth of about six feet is exposed, and which stands 
upon a further terrace about eight feet high, in the corners of which are doors, and which is 
surrounded by low pillars and a
p
MINARET OF KHOSRUGIRD
low mud wall encircling the whole enclosure. Fraser ascended the tower in 1822 by an interior 
flight of spiral steps, and O Donovan followed his example in 1880. The stairway is now in 
ruins. No traveller who could read the Kufic character need ever have been in doubt as to the 
history of this interesting relic; for Its history the inscription states that it was raised in the 
year 505 of the Hejira-i.e.inI 10 A.D.-when Sultan Sanjar ruled in Khorasan, in the reign of 
Sultan Mohainined, the son of Malek
Shah the Seljuk. It suffered severe injury in the Afghan invasion in 1722, but was subsequently 
restored by Nadir Shah, and now stands the sole surviving reminder of a city and a splendour 
that have utterly perished. Near Sebzewar the country was richly cultivated, especially with 
cotton. In less than an hour, however, the arable ceased, and Mihr and in front and around 
stretched a desolate gravelly plain,  Kazinan in the middle of which in the distance a 
mountain with double cone stood up and expanded, as we drew near, into a small
ICE-HOUSE AT MAZINAN
isolated ridge. Leaving this on the left, we turned towards the base of the snowy range on the 
north, and after a five hours  ride reached the village of Milix, the first inhabited place that 
we. had seen for over thirty miles. The post-house is in the very Centre of the village, down 
whose main street runs a rapid and brickcoloured stream. Between Mihr and Mazinan I caught 
my first glimpse of a kavir, or salt desert, one of those strange and weird expanses, sometimes 
hard plain, sometimes treacherous swamp,

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272
PERSU
which cover so large a portion of the centre of Persia, and about which I shall require to 
particularise later on. The white patches of sand glittered under a thin saline efflorescence, and 
at a little distance might have been mistaken for shallow pools. Mazinan was once a place of 
considerable size, and was itself the centre of a cluster of fortified villages and towns, but was 
destroyed by Abbas Mirza in 1831, in punishment of a rebel chief. It is now a most miserable 
spot, full of tumble-down or abandoned houses. A relic of bygone days exists in the shape of a big 
caravanserai on the outskirts of the village, built by Shah Abbas. A once far finer structure, the 
work of Mamun, the son of Haruner-Rashid and murderer of the Imam Reza, is now in partial 
ruin. All around are the remains of other towns or villages not less dismal or deserted. As I rode 
out of Mazinan at 5.30 A.M. on an icy morning, the caravans of pilgrims in the two big 
caravanserais were already astir; and some loud-lunged seyid or haji would be heard to chant 
the note of invocation to Allah, which the whole body would forthwith take up in a responsive 
volume of sound that rang far through the crisp chill air. From the other side of the village came 
a chorus of similar cries; and with plentiful shouting and discord, another day for the holy 
wanderers began. The mention of the pilgrims, or zawars, of whom I saw so much on each 
day's journey, and who all but monopolise the Pilgrim Meshed road, tempts me to vary the 
dull recital of my kaftlahs progress by a slight description of the human surroundings in which 
it was framed... The stream of progress appeared in the main to be in the oppogite direction to 
that which I was pursuing. Sometimes for miles in the distance could be seen the kafilah, or 
caravan, slowly crawling at a foot-pace across the vast expanse. Then, as it came nearer, would 
be heard the melancholy monotone of some devout or musical member of the band, droning out in 
quavering tones a verse from the Koran; sometimes, in less solemn companies, a more jovial 
wayfarer trolling some distich from the Persian classics. As the long cavalcade approached, it 
would be seen to consist of every kind of animal and of every species of man. Horses would carry 
the more affluent, who would be smoking their kalians as they paced along; some would affect 
camels - mules were very common, and would frequently support kajavehs,l a sort of
I The kqjamh, which is very small and rocks disagreeably, is a most uncomfortable and alinost 
impossible vehicle for Europeans, whose nether limbs are not

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FROM MESHED TO TEHERAN
273
wooden pannier, with an arched framework for a hood, in which men as often as women were 
curled up beneath mountains of quilts. The donkey, however, was the favourite beast of burden. 
Tiny animals would bear the most stupendous loads, with pots and pans, guns, and water-bottles 
hanging on either side, and with  the entire furniture of a household on their backs; the 
poultry of the owner perched with ludicrous gravity upon the top of all. It is a common thing for 
the poorer pligrims to take shares in a donkey and to vary riding with walking. In the early 
morning the equestrians would often be seen fast asleep upon their asses, lying forward -upon 
their neeks, and occasionally falling with a thump on to the ground. Each kafilah would. have a 
caravan-bashi, or leader, who not infrequently bore a red pennon fluttering from a lance. It was 
often difficult to discern the men's faces as they rode by shrouded in huge woollen blanket-
coats, pulled up over their heads, while the stiff, empty arm-holes stood out on either side like 
monstrous ears. But, if it was not easy to discern the males, still less could be distinguished of 
the shapeless bundles of blue cotton that were huddled upon the donkeys  backs, and which 
chivalry almost forbade me to accept for the fairer sex. I confess to having once or twice, with 
intentional malice, spurred my horse to a gallop, as -1 was overtaking some party of wayfarers 
thus accompanied: for, to see the sober asses kick up their heels and bolt from the track as thev 
heard the clatter of horse-hoofs behind, to observe the ir amorphous bundles upon their backs 
shake and totter in th6 seats, till shrieks were raised, veils fell, and there was imminent 
danger of a total collapse, was to crack one's sides with sorely-needed and well-earned 
laughter. There would usually be an assortment of beggars in every band, who would beg of me 
in one breath and curse me for an infidel in the next, or of tattered dervishes) who in 
Mussulman countri6s are beggars in their most offensive
guise. Not that every company we met or passed were pilgrims on pious mission bent. Far from 
it. Sometimes we would encounter
inured to the telescopic contractions common in the East. Adam Olearius, the Secretary of the 
Embassy from the Duke of 
in 1637, graphically described his woes as follows:  The Physician and myself were set in 
kdza?veha upon the same camel, whereby we were put to great inconveniences-one proceeding 
from the violent motion causod by the going of that great Beast, which at every step gave us a 
furious jolt; and the other from the insupportable stink of the camels, the infectious smell of 
whom came full into our noses. 

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274 PERSLk FROM MESHED TO TEHERAN 275
merchants, absorbed and ,edate ; sometimes mullalis oil sleek asses or mules; sometimes 
officials and soldiers; and sometimes whole Others families migrating. All classes and all ages 
were on the
road: horsemen and footmen ; rich men and poor men ; seyids and scoundrels-a microcosm of the 
stately, commonplace, repulsive, fascinating Oriental world. At night these varied and polyglot 
elements (for there will be pilgrims from" plany lands) seek shelter and sleep in the cara 
Caravan-vanserais erected at intervals of ten or fifteen miles along serais the entire route.I 
have so often spoken of these struc tures that I ma here, in passing, describe what they are. The 
y zn caravanserai is the Eastern inn. But with the name the parallelism ends: for no proud 
signboard, no cheerful parlour or burnished bar, no obsequious ostler or rubicund landlord 
welcoines your approach. The caravanserai, perhaps, contains a single custodian, and that is all. 
The wayfarer must do everything for himself. He stables his own beasts, piles together and 
watches his own baggage, lights his own fire, and cooks his own repast. As a rule, the building is 
a vast square or rectangular structure of brick or stone, built in the form of a parallelogram 
round an open court. The
ack wa p two exterior sides and the b, Us are lain, and give the building from a distance the 
appearance of an immense fort-an idea which is frequently, and with full illtention, sustained 
in the shape of projecting towers at the angles and a parapet above. In the front outer wall, or 
faVade, is a series of large recessed arches, with a seat, or platform, about two feet from the 
ground. These are frequently used as sleeping-places in the warm weather. A huge gateway opens 
in the centre, with sometimes a tower and balakhaneh overhead, and leads into the inner 
quadrangle, which is
7 perhaps fifty yards square, and whose sides are divided into recessed compartments, open to 
the air, similar to those on the outside wall. In the superior caravauserais a doorway at the back 
of each of these arches leads into all inner cell, which is occupied on cold nights. Behind these, 
and reaching to the exterior wall, are long rows of hot, unlit stables, wbere the animals are 
lodged, and access to which is gained from the four corners. Such, is the ordinary Persian 
caravanserai. In a few of. improved style or recent construction, such as that at BorasJUll, near 
the Persian Gulf-by far the finest that I saw in the whole country-there, is a series of 
-upstairs apartments for visitors of higher rank or means ; but, as a
rule, democracy is the prevailing law in the economy of the serai of Persia.
Perhaps the weirdest and most impressive of the many unwonted memories that the traveller 
carries away with him from such-like Camels by travel in the East is the recollection of ~ the 
camel

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night caravans which he has encountered at night. Out of the black darkness is heard the distant 
boom -of a heavy bell. Mournfully, and with perfect regularity of iteration, it sounds, gradually 
swelling nearer and louder, and perhaps mingling with the tones of smaller bells, signalling the 
rearguard of the same caravan. The big bell is the insignia and alarum of the leading camel alone. 
But nearer and louder as the sound becomes, not~ another sound, and not a visible object, appear 
to accompany it. Suddenly, and without the slightest warning, there looms out of the darkness, 
like the apparition of a phantom ship, the form of the captain of the caravan. His spongy tread 
sounds softly oil the smooth sand, and, like a great string of linked ghouls, the silent procession 
stalks by and is swallowed up in the night.
And how wonderful and ever-present is the contrastin Eastern travel to all life and movement at 
-home! No heavy carts and The lumbering wagons jolt to and fro between the farmyard 
poetry of and the fields. No light vehicles and swift equipages contrast dqsh past upon 
maeadamised roads. Alas! there are no roads; and, if no roads, how much less any vehicles or 
wagons! Thatched roofs and tiled cottages, lanes and hedgerows and trim fields, rivers coursing 
between fall banks, beyond all the roar and sudden, smoky rush of the train-these might not 
exist in the world at all, and do not exist in the world of the Persian, straitened and stunted) but 
inexpressibly tranquil -in his existence. Here, all is movement and bustle, flux and speed; 
there, everything is imperturbable, immemorial,. immutable, slow.
Between Mazinan and Shahrud, a distance of approximately one hundred miles, intervene four 
stages, which were formerly knowd Turkoman as the  Stages of Terror.  Here the 
western extremities forays of the Khorasan mountains, pushed out in long spurs of diminishing 
height from the knotted mountain chister that surrounds the head-waters  of the Atrek, 
descend on to the plain, and the road pursues a winding course through their lower folds and 
undulations. This entire mountain region was once desolated by Turkoman bandits) and through 
these valleys and ravines they,

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dashed down in headlong foray upon tile helpless bands of travellers making their way to or 
from Aleshed. Sweeping up whatever they could get, driving off the animals, and chaining a few 
score of captives to their saddle-bows, they galloped off into their mountain-fastnesses with as 
much precipitation as that with which they had come. Already, along the route which I have 
described from Aleshed to Mazinan, I had seen frequent proofs of their dreaded presence, in the 
shape of those small circular towers, dotted all over the plain like chessmen on a chessboard, 
which, from Ashkabad to Meshed, from Sarakhs to Farrah, and from Slialirud almost to Kum, 
marked the chosen hunting-grounds of these terrible moss-troopers of the border. In parts 
almost every field had one of these structures, into -which, as soon as a rolling cloud of dust 
revealed the apparition of the enemy, the husbandman crept by a small hole at the bottom, and, 
rolling two big stones against the aperture, waited till the scourge had swept past.  Similar 
evidence of the terror they inspired, and of the state of siege which self-preservation imposed 
upon their possible victims, is forthcoming along the entire belt of country above named, in the, 
rude forts erected in -every village as a refuge for the inhabitants. Once behind a mud wall the 
miserable peasants were safe; but woe betide them if caught in the open country-death or the 
slave-markets of Khiva and Bokhara were then the certain issue. What the luckless peasant 
faced every day the timid pilgrim looked to encounter on this fateful stretch of road which I am 
Military about to describe. The most elaborate precautions were escort taken against the danger. 
An escort used to leave Shahrud and Mazinan twice a month, consisting of a number of so-called 
foot-soldiers armed with matchlocks, and a mounted detachment accompanying an old gun. At 
Miandasht the two escorts met and relieved each other. The support of the Mazinan detachment, 
consisting of 150 matchlock men and twelve artillerymen with their horses, was imposed, in 
lieu of the ordinary taxes, upon the villagers of that place; and even so late as 1872, when the 
Seistan Boundary Commissioners passed this. way on the ir return to Teheran, they had to 
travel with an escort of eighty matchlocks, a 41-pounder dragged by six horses, and 150 to 
200 mounted
2 sowars, between Mazinan and Sliahrud.
Conolly, Fraser, Eastwick,. O Donovan, and other writers who journeyed with the pilgrim 
caravans have left inimitable accounts
276 PERSUV FROM MESHED TO TEHERAN 277.
of tile perils and tile panics of their pious companions. A Persian is a coward at the best of 
times: but a Persian pilgrim is a degree Perilsand worse than his fellows; and a Persian pilgrim 
in the pan c of t1he vicinity of a Turkonian almost ceases to be a human being. pilgrims There 
would be long delays and anxious rumours at the beginning; several false starts would be made 
and abandoned in

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consequence of some vague report; finally the caravan would venture forth, moving frequently 
at night, when the darkness added to, rather than diminished, the terror. First would come the 
mateblock men blowing their matches, and either marching on foot or mounted on donkevs. then 
the genuine cavalry, with flintlocks and hayfork-rests; next tile great body of the pilgrims, 
huddling as close as possible round the artillerymen and tile gun, which was looked upon as a 
veritable palladium, but of which it is not on record that it was ever fired. Soldiers again 
brought up the rear, and, wrapped up in dust, confusion, arid panic, the procession -rolled on. 
The noise they made, shOUtiDg, singing, cursing, praying, and quarrelling, signalled their 
approach for miles, and, if they escaped, it was tile positive worthlessness of the spoil (for a 
Mussulman pilgrim leaves all his valuables behind him), rather than the hazard of capture or 
the a-we inspired by tile bodyguard, that was responsible for their safety. To their fearful 
imaginations ever bush was a vedette of the enemy, every - ff
Y . PU of wind that raised the dust betrayed a charge, every hillock concealed a squadron. Loud 
were the shout's and clamorous the invocations to Allah, and Ali, and Husein, and all the 
watchful saints of the calendar, when the end of the march was reached and God had protected his 
own. It is only just to add that, if the panic of a multitude was despicable, the terrors of 
individuals were not unfairly aroused. Tales of Many are the tales that are still told of the 
capture of capture isolated travellers or of small bands; and there was scarcely a single peasant 
in the villages in this strip of country that had not, at some time or other, been pounced down 
upon in the fields or at the water-springs, and who, if happily he,were ransomed after years of 
slavery, did not bear upon his person the lifelong imprint of cruelty and fetters. Colonel Euan 
Smith is in error in stating that it was upon this piece of road that M. de Blocqueville, the 
French amateur photographer who had accompanied the disastrous expedition against Aferv in 
1860, in order

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278
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carried off, and not redeemed until lie had been a captive for fifteen months and a ransom of 
11,000 tomans (then equivalent to 5,0001.) was paid by his royal patron.  - He was 
captured in the successful attack made by the Turkomans upon the Persian column while at 
Merv. It was here, however, that a Persian general in command of 6,000 men, halting behind 
his column for two or three moments to take a final pull at his kahan, was snatched up and swept 
away in full sight of his troops, and within a few weeks  time was sold for a few pounds in 
the bazaar of Khiva. Whatever may be said of the designs of Russia on this province of Khorasan, 
not Persia only, but every traveller between Serv ce of Teheran and Meshed, owes her a 
lasting sense of gratitude th.   for the service she has wrought in putting an end to this 
Russians unmitigated curse. It was certainly not for unselfish reasons, nor in the interests of 
Persia, still less out of pure philanthropy, that Russia under[ook her successfal campaigils 
against the Tekke Turkon-ians of Transcaspia. But here we may afford to ignore motives, and 
may be content with congratulating both ourselves andberupontliefact. Since 
thevictoriouscampaign of Skobeleff in 1881, and the subsequent annexation of Akhal Tekke, the 
Meshed-Teheran road has been absolutely secure. No guard is maintained or needed, the 
pilgrims have no special ground of appeal to Allah, and the traveller is startled by nothing more 
serious than the whirr of wings as a covey of red-legged partridgeswhich abound in these 
mountains-rises almost from between his horse's legs. Leaving Mazinan, our road struck- 
northwards towards the hills. In the grey morning light I discerned a numerous herd of wild 
Pul-i- deer, as large as red deer, at a distance of 300 yaxds Abrishum irom the track; but the 
bullets of -my revolver had no other effect than to accelerate their disappearance. After 
fourteen miles we came to the deserted caravanserai and fort of Sadrabad.
d

I It was said that the Turkomans had at first priced the luckless photographer at 31. 10s. But as 
soon as they found out that be was a European, and of some value, their demands rose in a steady 
crescendo. Meanwhile the Khan of Khiva, hearing that the captive bad instruments, and thinking 
lie must be a military engineer, was very anxious to get hold of him to fortify his capital. 
Colonel Val. Baker gratuitously doubles the ultimate ransom. M. do Blocquevillc wrote the 
history of his adventures in the nur du Monde, April 1866.
FROM MESHED TO TEHERAN
279

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As the name implies, these edifices were raised by the great Minister, or Sadr Azem, before 
mentioned; but the fort and its garrison were practically useless: for the latter were only just 
strong enough to guard themselves, without turning a thought to the protection of others. A mile 
and a half beyond Sadrabad brought us to the Pul-i-Abrishum. (or Bridge of Silk) -originally 
built by Nadir Shah, and recently restored-over the Abrishum River (a stream
THE BRIDGE OF SILK
strongly impregnated with salt from salt-springs near its source), which flows down here from 
the north, and, under the name of the Kal Mura, subsequently disappears into a kavir to the 
south. The Kal Mura is generally regarded as the eastern boundary of Khorasan, and it marked 
the extreme north-west limit of the Afghan empire of Ahmed Shah Durani in the last century. At 
the time that I passed, the river-bed, which was about twenty yards in width, was absolutely 
dry. The rising sun just enabled me to take a photograph, which reveals a very typical Persian 
bridge, and I then hurried on.

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280 FROM MESHED TO TE HERAN 281
A few miles beyond we came to a spot kfiown as the from three large abambars, or subterranean 
reservoirs, to which Chashmeh-i-Gez (or Spring of Tamarisks), where a scanty rivulet access 
is gained by steep flights of steps. Abbasabad supplies a number of little pools and fertilises 
some Beyond Miandasht occurs what was formerly the most perilous
patches of grass. This was a notorious and dreaded part of the journey.The road winds in and out 
of low passes spot in the old days, for hither came the Turkoman robbers to Dabaneh-i- between 
rounded knolls, where every turn discloses a water their horses after the long mountain ride, 
and here the *luck- Zaid . ar hidden hollow, and where every elevation might hide an less 
voyager was frequently swooped down upon and caught. It ambuscade. The hills are bare and 
stony, or clad only with a was close to this spot that Ferrier had a brush with them in 1845. 
diminutive scrub. They are alive with partridges, in pairs or in The end of this stage is the 
remarkable-looking village-fort of small coveys of five or six, which were so tame that they 
ran Abbasabad, which rises in tiers upon an eminence, the lofty front along the road and 
crouched till one was within a dozen yards.  being pierced with numerous windows and 
crowned with ruined Here is the peculiarly noted Dahaneh-i-Zaidar, the gully by which 
battlements. Its inhabitants are the converted descendants of a the Turkomans usually descended 
to make their attack, and at
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families, who were transported to its mouth was the small, this spot by Abbas the Great three 
centuries ago, as a link in his a garrison of fifty regulars. On emerging from the hills we see 
chain of military colonies along the northern frontier. He before us the twin-peaked mountain 2 
above Maiomai, and, skirting assigned them an annual allowance in coin (100 tomans) and 
wheat its northern base, reach the village of that name, where is a fine (100 kharvars), which 
after a while was not paid. In the third caravanserai, built by Shah Abbas II., and some superb 
old generation, being forbidden to use the Georgian tongue, they are chenars. It was in the bala-
k-haneh of the posthouse at Maiomai, said to have become Mussulmans; but traces of their 
mother which I occupied, that O Donovan was besieged by an,infuriated language -have been 
detected by some travellers in their dialect. band of Arab ha~is, and had rather a narrow escape 
- and it-was During the Turkoman reign of terror there was said not to be a in the caravanserai 
that Dr. John Cormick, for many years- chief single adult man in Abbasabad who had not more 
than once been physician to Abbas Mirza, died of typhus in 1833. carried away captive. The next 
march, from Maiomai to Sbabrud, forty-one miles,
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XX
---""ZZA hilly ride over low, barren ridgesj and up the gravelly bed of used to be 
the longest in Persia, and has been bewailed by many a valley known as the Dahaneh Al Hak, 
brings us to the squalid Armian victims. But, for postal purposes, it has now been Miandasht 
village of that name5 where a corps of fifty militiamen divided by the station and chajoar-
khaneh of Armian.
d

were once stationed to guard the road. Through similar The first part of the road, along the base 
of the same mountain scenery and over undulating ground we mount 1,000 feet since range, is 
very stony. Two small villages are passed, each dependent leaving Abbasabad, and come at length 
to the magnificent cara- upon a single small rill, whose passage from the mountains can 
vauserai of Miandaslit I (lit. mid-plain), whose lofty embattled walls be traced by a thin line of 
poplars.

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Armian is picturesquely and projeceing towers resemble a vast fortress, and can be seen 
situated on a hill-side, with an abundant stream flowing down the for miles. This was the 
central point of the  Stages of Terror,  road just outside the posthouse door, and 
subsequently fertilising and here, one half the peril over, the pilgrims foregathered to a series 
of well-kept terrace-plots below the village. The first exchange felicitations or foment alarms. 
There is -,in old caravanserai I This is the kabk, or ordinary red-legged partridge. There are 
also in Persia built by Shah Abbas, whose name appears above the gateway; but the kabk-i-
darah (variously explained as I royal partridge,  or I partridge of the the huge castellated 
structure is a new erection of burnt brick, with defiles ); the durraj, the black partridge of 
India, commonly called the frana parapet and walls twenty feet high. A courtyard, in which the 
colin; the tiku, or sand partridge, which, as Fraser said, I runs like the very devil;  
the jirufti, or bush partridge; the kabk-i-chil, or grey partridge; and the bakhrichapar-
khaneh is located, connects the two, an~ water is provided kara, or bakir-ghirreh, the sand-
grouse.
  Conolly called it Meergunduslit; Von Mierop, more correctly, nearly a 2 Fraser climbed 
this mountain in 1834, and found two very ancient ruined hundred years before, Meondasht. 
forts on the highest peaks.-ATririter g Jour2iey, vol. ii, pp. 154-164.

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282 FROM MESHED TO TEHERAN 283
half of the ride to Shahrud is spent in winding in and out of the lower ranges that gradually dip 
into the plain of Shabrud, 1,000 feet below Armian. The snowy crown of the Shah Kull (King 
Mountain), the highest point of the Elburz between Shahru d and Astrabad, had been before my 
eyes the whole day, and at its feet, I knew, lay Shabrud. About eleven miles before reaching the 
latter, the first view is caught of the level plain, some ten miles in width, on which were 
visible three detached green clumps. The two nearer were unimportant villages, tile farthest 
and largest, nestling at the very foot of the Elburz, was Shalirud. So buried in. trees is the town, 
that, after riding for some time between garden-walls and orchards, I found myself in the main 
street, almost unawares. I have already, in a previous chapter, dwelt upon the strategical 
importance of the position of Shahrud. The town is a great meetShalirud , ing-point of roads, 
from Herat to Meshed, from Tabbas and
Turshiz, from Yezd, from Astrabad and Mazanderan, and from the capital. It is situated in a 
plain, of whose fertility I could form no just estimate in the month of November, but whose 
productiveness and abundant water-supply are unquestioned. The Rud-i-Shah (or King's 
River) flows down the street outside the chapar-l&wneh, but at this season of the year was 
little more than a rivulet, and reflected no honour upon its name. The defensive properties of 
the place struck me -as contemptible, and appeared to be limited to a ruined citadel, and to two 
small mud towers, perched upon a conical bill above the town. Shahrud is celebrated for its local 
manufacture of boots and shoes, which are said to be patronised by the Shah and tile Royal 
Family; for the redoubtable shabgez, or gherib-ge7, which attacked O Donovan here but 
spared me ; and as an entrep6t both of the local products of Mazanderan and of Russian imports 
vid Gez and Astrabad, through the agency of Russian and Russo-Arinenian traders.  The 
Russian Caucasus and Mercury Company also keep an agent in the town. Its population is said V) 
be 5,000. There is a Persian Telegraph-station here, and a wire t6 Astrabad, whence there is 
further telegraphic connection by Chikislillar with Kizil Arvat and Transcaspia-a line which is 
much used by the Russian Legation in Teheran in communicating with Ashkabad.
I The opening-up of the new trade-route from Ashkabad, vid Knolian, to Sebzewar is reported to 
have already caused -a considerable falling-off, or, perhaps, I should rather say, transference, 
in the. Russian trade with Shahrud.
Having arrived at Shahrud early in the afternoon, I spent some time in inspecting the town. It 
contains a large covered Bazaars bazaar, not thatched, but properly roofed, and with
spacious and well-appointed shops. My observations and inquiries tallied exactly with what I 
had heard at _Xesbed. All the sugar was Russian, all the tea was Indian, brought from Builder 
Abbas vid Yezd. The greater part of the coloured

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cottons and chintzes were Russian, but the white sheeting bore the name of a Bombay firm, and I 
saw, not merely a large pile of Manchester glazed calicoes with a Bombay label, but also a 
number of unbleached cottons direct from Manchester itself. This was a gratifying fact, 
considering that Shahrud lies within four marches of what is practically a Russian port on the 
Caspian. I bought some delicious white grapes for a few pence. A wine is made from them in 
Shahrud.
Though Shahrud is the capital of the district of BostamSliahrud, it is not the residence of the 
Governor or the seat of Bostam government. The latter is at the town of Bostam, three
and a half miles in a north-easterly direction from Sliahrud (from which it is concealed by a 
rocky bill), and -higher up the course of the same river. Bostam, a Mazanderani proper name, 
is a place of superior fertility and luxury to Shahru d. It is, further, a site of great sanctity 
among Mohammedan pilgrims, for here was buried the famous Sheikh, or Sultan, Bayazid, the 
leader of a dervish sect, who died, and was interred in the court of a beautiful mosque, now much 
ruined, in the year A.D. 874. Attached to the same mosque, whose cupola was erected by a Mongol 
prince in A.D. 1313, is a shaking minaret, similar to those which I shall afterwards describe at 
Isfahan, and which can be made to vibrate by rocking it at the summit. Colonel Lovett has 
attributed this phenomenon to the elasticity of the bricks and cement employed, the latter 
becoming more elastic with age, and has compared it with the kindred phenomenon of slabs of 
elastic sandstone.  There is, further, at Bostam a curious brick tower, whose outer 
circumference is, so to speak, dog-toothed by a number of salient angles, similar to the tower of 
which I shall speak later at Rhey.2 I Proceedings of the -R. G.S. (new series), vol. v. p. 79 
(1883). The best account of the buildings at Bostain. is that of Khanikoff, Mi7noire, &c. p. 79. 
2 Fraser (Journey into Mwrasan, pp. 612-614) describes a very similar tower, with 
polygonal surface, near Jorjan, on tiie banks of the Gurgan River, This tower was 150 feet 
high, 10 yards interior diameter, 52 yards exterior circum
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284
FROM MESHED TO TEHERAN 285
Already, upon arriving at the posthouse of Shahrud-which is Accordingly, they announced that 
the hour for repose had arrived, unique in the possession of a threefold 1,(da-khaneh-l had 
observed and bowed themselves out. For my part, I slew the sheep and had Deputa- unfamiliar 
symptoms of refinement, in the shape of a a capital leg of mutton for dinner. tion from druggeted 
floor and curtained doorways. On my return Sliahrud is rather more than the halfway stage 
between Meshed the Governor from the bazaars I was proceeding to make my toilet, and Teheran, 
but it serves to divide the journey into two portions, and was already in a state of semi-
d6shaUlle, when, without the of which it is difficult to determine which is the less
Second slightest warning, I became aware of a further act of official atten
section of attractive.There is a curious identity between their
journey tion. Two Armenians first entered unannounced, both of whom respective features: for, 
just as the Meshed-Shahrud seecould speak a little French. One was the agent of Messrs. Ziegler 
tion presents two cities of ancient fame, Nishapur and Sebzewar in Shahrud, the other of a firm 
named Tumanianz. I presumed so the Shahrud-Teheran section displays Damghan and Semnan 
that they had come out of curiosity, as they offered no explana- and, just as the only structures 
worthy of observation in the first tion. But in the East such amenities cannot be resented, 
requiring section are the minarets and towers of Sebzewar and Bostam, so, rather to be 
interpreted as tokens of civility. Wherefore I con- in the second, we must be content with the 
analogous monuments tinued my toilet while discussing the trade and commerce of of Damghan 
and Semnan. Finally, to complete the parallelism, Shahrud. Presently, however, the doorway of 
the bala-khaneh was just as the first section terminates after threading the famous again 
darkened, and a trio of Persian officials marched in, while Turkoman passes, so does the second 
conduct us, on the penultia posse of attendants stood outside. They were succeeded by mate 
day's journey, through the even more famous Caspian Gates some menials carrying a tray, 
on which were two packets of tea that lead into the Plain of Veramin. Stones, sand, kavir, and and 
four sugar-loaves wrapped up in blue paper; following whom execrable horses are the common 
prerogatives of both. appeared two other individuals holding by the legs a kicking sheep, Tt was 
on one of the worst of these brutes that over a track while a third balanced a couple of cane-
bottorned chairs behind. scarcely less atrocious, I pursued my way to Deh Mullah ( the 
Village I really think that I am  ustified in presenting this to my readers rted of the 
Priest ). The chapar-khaneh is on the outskirts of
J I Dese as a spectacle of no mean dramatic effect. cities the village, which lies a little farther in 
the plain, and is
Scene.-A mud room in a Persian posthouse. remarkable only for a huge mound of clay, once 
crowned by a
Dranzatis Personm. -Englishman in flannel shirt, breeches, and citadel, whose riven and 
crumbling walls stand up in melancholy stockings only; Armenian traders; Persian 
chamberlains; struggling ruin. The ride from Deb. Mullah to Damghan is over rather better 
sheep. ground, but is unutterably tedious. On my right hand was the
Dramatic Accessories.-Sugar-loaves and cane-bottomed chairs. scarped red rampart of the 
Elburz, rising sheer from the plain, and,
I now realised that I was the recipient of a formal deputation like a wall of brass, shutting off 
the defiles and gorges of that from the Prince-Governor of Shabrud, who had sent to welcome and 
mighty range; and behind them, again, the steamy lowlands of

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to invite me to become his guest at Bostam, and that the Armenians Mazanderan, sloping to the 
Caspian. On the left, or south, whereas had been despatched as a sort of advanced guard to 
reconnoitre on most maps I see marked a salt desert, or kavir, my own notes and interpret. By 
their aid I was enabled to acknowledge the record that, throughout the entire day's journey, 
the horizon was
0 at an -average distance of about ten miles, by hospitality of the Governor and to accept his 
gifts -a process which bounded on that side, naturally involved the return of an equivalent 
present to the depu- a range of bills of quite sufficient elevation to appear upon most ties. 
Having pocketed a few tomans with much satisfaction, these maps, although I cannot find any 
trace of them upon the majorworthies forthwith realised that no more business was to be done. 
ity of those that I have studied.  The road to Damghan passed
several villages, one of which, Mehmandost, was evidently a favourite ference, and terminated 
in a lofty pointed cone, in which was a single window.
balting-place for travellers, as there were crowds of wayfarers and Two belts of Arabic 
inscriptioDs demonstrated a kindred origin to the tower of Bostam. horsemen in the single 
street.About three miles from Damghan

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286 
FRO-11 _21IESHED TO TEHERAN
287
we rode through the ruins of a deserted city, Bostajan. A more in the present century, is now in 
a pitiable state of decay.   The sorrowful spectacle than an abandoned town of mud cannot be 
deserted ruins of a huge square citadel-a room in which used to conceived. The buildings, and 
roofs, and walls gradually waste be preserved and shown as the apartment wherein Fath Ali Shah 
away into indistinguishable heaps of clay; but, so compact and solid first saw the light-rise 
above the cubical domes of the bazaar, but do these become in the process, that they last for 
scores, and some- are fast crumbling to pieces. I rode through the bazaar, which times for 
hundreds, of years. Nor is it fair to assume that, along consists of a long covered street, far less 
cleanly and decorous than with each deserted city or site, its inhabitants, as an item in the that 
of Shahrud. Through the town runs a stream, flowing down population, have been wiped off the 
face of the earth. Were such from a spring in the mountains called Chashmeh-i-Ali, where is 
the case, one might be led to infer that Persia, which is now as both a summer residence of the 
Shah, and also a place of pilgrimsparsely peopled as Palestine, was once as densely crowded as 
China. age, as one of the spots where Ali's charger appears to have I believe that this would 
be a false inference. Just as each great stamped so fiercely with his hoof as to leave a permanent 
indentaPersian monarch or founder of a dynasty, from Cyrus downwards, tion in the rock. On a 
hill-top near this miraculous site a further has shifted the capital and seat of government, so as 
to associate miracle exists in the shape of a spring, called Chashmeh-i-Bad (or a fresh glory 
with his name, so has each petty governor or chief- Fountain of the Wind), which, if stirred at 
certain times, is said to tain striven to emulate his sovereign by a new urban plantation; 
produce a hurricane that blows -everything to destruction.  and, in a yet lower grade, each 
father of a family has thought to
Damghan has a twofold historical interqst-legendary and better himself and to transcend his 
forerunners by erecting a new modern. It is always supposed to mark the site of the ancient 
abode. It is to this universal instinct, permeating every rank of History Hekatompylos (or City 
of a Hundred Gates), the name life, not less than to the ravages of famine, disease, and war, that 
given by the Greeks to the capital of the Arsacid dynasty must- be attributed the countless 
wasting skeletons of tenements of Parthian kings , although, with the exception of a number of 
and cities that litter the soil of Persia. mounds and of several underground conduits, built of 
large-slabs
From a distance of some miles the two minarets of Damgban, the of stone, there does not exist, 
and is not on record as having counterparts of that of Sebzewar, rise in view. They stand some 
existed, at Damghan a single remain that could be identified

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way apart, in different quarters of the town. The better with so illustrious a past. Ferrier, I 
think erroneously, enDamghau
preserved of the two, which is mountable and has a deavours to combat this theory by the 
argument that the City of small turret of later date at the top, with a door for the muezzin, a 
Hundred Gates must mean a city in which many roads met, is situated jvist off the main street or 
the town, and is in close Whereas at Damghan there are only two. He, therefore, prefers 
:proximity to a mosque-not, indeed, that to which it was originally the Shahrud-Bostam site for 
that of Hekatompylos.2 Apart, howattached, but a comparatively modern structure. Like the 
minar ever, from the fact that more roads meet at Damghan than two, at Sebzewar, it is faced 
with bricks, so laid as to form geometrical it is by no means certain that the Greeks, when they 
used this patterns on the circumference, and has, further, a band of Kufic descriptive 
 epithet, referred to city gates at all. The title was letters in high relief. The two minarets 
belong to the ijnamzadehs, equally applied by them to Egyptian Thebes, where it has been or 
tombs of two saints, named respectively Jafir and Kasim. ; and, conjectured to refer to the 
pylons, or gateways, of the many splendid for an account of their shrines, as well of a third 
tomb raised over temples by which the capitid of the Rameses was adorned; and it may a saint 
named Mohammed, the son of Ibralilin, and called Pir-i
have had some 
imilar application in the case of the Parthian city. Alamdar, I cannot do better than refer my 
readers to the erudite
Persia for large and fine buildings, and would apply to the mosque, not to the pages of 
Khanikoff.1 Dauighan, though a considerable place, even minaret. Similarly, Maschide Jam is, 
of course, the Musjld-i-Jama (or I Town
Mosque ), like the I University Church  at Oxford or Cambridge.
_M~nioire, .5-c., pp. 74-75. Bassett (Land of the Inimns, p, 197) commits the I J. B. Fraser, 
A IV-Inter 8 Journey, vol. ii. p. 400; E. B. Eastwick, vol. ii. absurd mistake of saying that 
the minars are called Cheliil Sutune and Maschide p. 157; Colonel Val. Baker, p. 138Jam. The 
former name-i.e. , forty pillars -is a common descript~ve epithet in 2 Caravan Journeys, 
pp. 69-74.

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288
ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZDismissing, however, the identity of Damghan with Hekatompylos as a 
question of purely speculative interest, we may Jind enough of romance in the history of the 
town under its modern name.  It is needless to say that Jenghiz Khan destroyed it once, or to 
add that Timur destroyed it again. That was a compliment invariably pid by those rival scourges 
of humanity to urban magnificence. al Don Ruy di Clavijo, passing through Northern Persia on 
his embassy from the Castilian King to the Court of the Great Tartar in 1404, fou   nd still 
standing at Damgbaii two towers of human heads set in mud, which, but a few years before, the 
latter had erected as a trophy. Shah Abbas rebuilt the town and constructed its citadel. Here, in 
October 17 2 9, Nadir Shah gained his great victory over the Afghan Ashraf, which heralded the 
final expulsion of the aliens in the following year. Here, in 1763, Zeki Khan, the savage half-
brother of Kerim Khan Zend, being despatched to quell a revolt of the Kajar tribe, planted a 
garden with his prisoners, head downwards, at even distances; and here, in 1796, perished the 
miserable grandson of Nadir, Shah Rukh, from the effects of the inhuman torture inflicted upon 
him at Meshed by Agha Mohammed Shah. In the present century Damghan is said to have been 
finally ruined by a friend, instead of a foe, having never recovered from the encampment here, 
for three months, in 1832,  of the army of Abbas Mirza on its way to Herat. No flight of 
locusts could have inflicted a more wholesale devastation. The population is reported now to be 
13,000. 1 cannot credit it. After leaving Damghan the road strikes due west, and traverses first 
a gravelly, and afterwards a richly-cultivated, plain to Ghushah, Dowleta- a place consisting 
only of two buildings-a caravanserai bad and a posthouse, which the exigencies of travel have 
conjured up in an otherwise untenanted expanse. The only interesting spot passed on the way is 
the deserted fort of Dowletabad, with a triple wall of enclosure, surrounded by a deep fosse. 
Sixty years ago Sergeant Gibbons, an Englishman serving in the army of Abbas Mirza, said it 
was I one of the best little forts he had seen in Persia .1 2 Its chief, who had held out for some 
time against the exactions of the provincial Governor, offered Abbas Mirza a bribe
d

I For early notices of Dainglian, ride Isfakhri, T7im Regnorum, p. 211 ; Tvlukadessi, 
Degeriptio -Tmperli i1foslemici, p. 256 ) ; Yakut, Dietionvaire GJographique, p. 233. 1 
Journal of the vol. xi. p. 136 (1841).
FROM MESHED TO TEHERAN
289

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of 30,000 tomans if he would continue him in the govemment. The Prince pocketed the money 
and carried off the chief to Meshed, the local Governor taking advantage of his absence to capture 
the fort. Like most other places in the neighbourhood, it is now abandoned and is rapidly falling 
to pieces. Throughout this day, and, indeed, in all parts of my journey, I passed several of those 
great tumuli, or barrows, which have so
puzzled the traveller in North Persia. They consist of Turauli immense circular or oval 
mounds, from fifty to a hundred feet in height, supporting, as a rule, no traces of buildings, but 
composed of solid masses of clay, worn smooth_by the long passage of time. Local tradition, of 
course, assigns them to Jamshidwhich is tantamount to a confession of utter ignorance as to 
their origin. By some they have been regarded as the sites of firetemples, raised in the old days 
of Zoroastrian worship. I entertain very little doubt that they were mostly, if not all, raised as 
citadels or forts of defence for villages, long since perished, below. They are invariably to be 
found upon the plains where Nature has provided no ready means of def~nce, and where artifice 
was consequently required to create them. Many -still exhibit upon their summits the 
crumbling, shapeless walls of -the mud citadels by which they were once   crowned. Good 
illustrations of this stage of existence are visible at Bidesht, near Shahrud, and at Jajarm, 
between Bujnurd and Shahrud. Where the tumuli (or kurgans, as they are called) are smooth 
and bare, the superstructure has entirely perished. A long line of these mounds is still traceable 
along the valley of the Gurgan., starting from Gumesh Tepe (or Silver Hill)-an obviously 
artificial erection-on the shores of the Caspian, and forming part of a triple line of earth 
ramparts, attributed to Alexander the Great, which extends as far as Bujnurd. The regularity of 
their occurrence in some places, as, for instance, between Kazvin and Teheran, has led to the 
plausible conjecture that they may also have been used as signal-stations, or beacons, from 
one camp to another. But, in either case, their purpose was military. There seems to be no 
ground for regarding a:ny of them as sepulchral barrows. The road from Gbusliah lay over a 
desolate and uncultivated plain, and then gradually mounted, until, having traversed an easy 
pass in the hills, it suddenly dropped down upon a gloomy hollow, where stood the caravanserai 
and posthouse of Ahuan. The existing

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290 
brick serai was built by Shah Suleiman Sefavi; an older one of stone, attributed to the Sassanid 
Nusbirwan, is in ruins. The
name Ahuan, which has apparently much perplexed Ahumn previous travellers, I signifies 
antelope or gazelle,2 tradition ascribing to this spot one of the astounding miracles by which the 
Imam Reza signalised the various stages of his eastward journey to Tus. Here he found a captive 
female antelope, which, detecting his sacred personality, found speech, and invoked the 
assistance of the saint on behalf of her motherless young. The Imam bade the hunter release the 
animal, and himself went bail for her reappearance. The antelope, however, found the joys of 
home too much for her plighted word, and failed to keep the tryst; whereupon the prophet, being 
appealed to,  willed  her back again to her captor, with wl~oln she remained a prisoner, 
or a pet, ever afterwards. Here the mountain range is entered that separates the plains of 
Damgban and Semnaii. Froill the highest point of the dividing crest the latter city was visible, 
twelve miles away, lying like a green splash upon a floor of stones. The descent on the far side, 
though easy, is very stony, and cantering down was no pleasure. Meeting a closed carriage drawn 
by four horses, with two postillions, outriders, and a guard, I had a horrible momentary dread 
that I was in for ail isti7t:bal, or official entry ; but was reassured by finding that the occupant 
was the hakim, or Governor, who presumably was making a tour through his not very extensive 
dominions.
Semnan is held remarkable in Persia for its extensive and wellirrigated gardens, for its ancient 
trees, for ail old minaret which Semnan enables it to compete with Damghan, for a smart and
well-preserved modern mosque, for its local manufactures of teacakes and blue cotton pyjamas, 
for the beauty of its women, and for the unintelligibility of its speech. Perhaps in none of these 
respects does it quite answer to expectation. There is a great deal of water flowing in rivulets 
down the smaller streets, -which usually serve as watercourses in Persia as well us roadways; 
but the environs of the town did not appear to profit thereby to the full extent, although a good 
deal of tobacco is cultivated.
I Fraser speltr it, Abeaiyoon; Ferrier, Aheeiyon; O Donovan, Agbivan. Similarly, Ghushah 
bas been rendered Gosbek, Goocheb, Kushak, and Kosbaw. 2 Ahu = an antelope or gazelle. Ilence 
ahzebara, (little antelope) is the name for the elegant Persian bustard.
FROM MESHED TO TEHERAN
291
Outside the bazaar is an open space in which there are some venerable chenars, and one 
magnificent veteran is enclosed in the bazaar itself, and protrudes his stupendous bole through 
the roof. The

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old minaret is also encountered in the middle of the bazaar, attached to the Musjid-i-Jama, 
which is in ruins. , The tower is one hundred feet high and contains a hundred steps leading to 
the summit, which is fitted with a prayer-gallery. Earthquakes and age have caused it to slant. 
Fath Ali Shah's mosque, a little distance away, contains a spacious quadrangle, fifty yards 
square, and two fine aiwans, arebes, set in tile-enanielled frames.
or recessed, Attached to it is a m(uh-esseh, or religious college. As for the teacakes, when 
Vamb6ry asked in vain for them, having heard of their fame as far away as in Herat, he received 
the truly Persian reply that, so great was the demand for these articles, and so enormous the 
export, that none were left for local consumption. I did not see the beautiful women any illore 
than Vamb6ry found the teacakes. Upon the speech I am not qualified to pronounce; but so 
learned a philologist as Khanikoff, having made fruitless efforts, to ascertain something by 
queries, came to no more definite conclusion than that it was a Mazanderan dialect, enriched by 
more vowels; whilst a legend relates that a savant who was once employed by a Persian monarch 
to report upon the languages spoken by his subjects illustrated that of Sellinan by shaking some 
stones in an empty gourd before his royal patron.  Semnan is reported to contain 4,000 
houses.and 16,000 inliabitants-a probably altogether extravagant estimate. Jews are 
prohibited from residing here; but there are some twenty-five Hindu Buniahs engaged in trade, 
Semnan being the point where a route from Builder Abbas, vitt Yezd and Tabbas, comes in from 
the south and supplies the northern provinces. A mud wall of the usual character, with flanking 
towers and gateways, and in the usual state of dilapidatioiv surrounds the town; and the 
Governor lives in a fortified ark (or citadel) projecting from the city wall on the north-west.
A long stony ascent leads us to one of the. few interesting spots oil the road between Meshed and 
Teheran. - This is the remarkable mail-roost-for I can call it by no more appropriate name-of 
Lasgird. Here there has once been a citadel, built upon a lofty
I UiWc I Grammatical Note on the Simnuni Dialect,  by Rev. J. Bassett, ir, Jow-nal of t1w 
-Royal Asiatic Society, vol. xvi. p. 120 (1884); and I Bericbt i1ber Semnan Dialect, by A. 
H. Schindler, in 2~,it. d. H. Gesell. vol. xxxii. 3.

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292
ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZcircular mound to a total height of perhaps eighty feet from the plain. The 
citadel has fallen into ruin   and the buildings in its Lasgird, interior are a litter of rubbish 
and bricks. But the villagers have established themselves in the deserted erceinte, and, on the 
very top of the outer walls, have built a double storey of mud houses, which are only accessible 
by flights of crazy steps from the interior   and the. most remarkable feature of which is a 
ledge or balcony built out from each storey with rude logs of wood plastered over with mud. 
Upon this rickety platform, which has nothing in. the shape of a railing to prevent anyone from 
falling off, and which is full of holes, the inhabitants appear to live their outdoor life. The place, 
from a little distance, looks as if a gigantic colony of birds had settled there and built out their 
nests from the walls, the outer shape of the entire mound resembling a huge cask. It is entered 
bv a steep stairway from the ground, mounting to a small postern, ~he door of which is a  
single block of stone swung on a pivot. I entered, and scrambled up the rude flights of steps in 
the interior, and poked my nose into some of the nests-I cannot call them cottages-in the upper 
storeys. The women were unveiled and steeped in squalor. The general condition of the tenements 
was very much like what the domestic economy of a rookery might be expected to be. Here the 
same dialect is spoken as at Semnaii. The citadel is surrounded by a deep, broad fosse, converted 
into garden-plots, the revenues of which go to swell the endowment of the Imam Reza at Meshed.
d

After leavingLasgird the route conducts through a hilly region which has been furrowed by 
winter torrents into deep gullies Road to and ravines crossed by bridges. Upon descending again 
Kishlak into the plain, the village of Deh Nemek (Salt Village) can be seen, at least twelve miles 
away, in the middle of an unutterably barren and repulsive desert. Few things are more 
treacherous in Persian travel than the false expectation induced by the sight of one s 
destination at the apparent distance of a few miles only, or more wearying than the 
disappointment that follows as the miles lengthen out into farsaklm, and the end never seems to 
come. What, in the distance, had appeared a settlement of two buildings only, turned out to be a 
village with a good many houses, hidden in a little semi-fertile depression of I the level waste , 
the rounding grey.  In the succeeding strip of country-wbich is not less desolate-we pass, at 
the villages of Padeb and Aradan,l further
I Fraser calls this place Ueratoo.
FROM MESHED TO TEHERAN
293
specimens of abandoned, though not, as at Lasgird, re-inhabited5

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citadels on the top of great artificial clay mounds. When originally raised, and crowned with 
battlements and towers, these 7rulehs must have been imposing structures. They are now in a 
sort of intermediate stage between the recognisable fort and the indurated bare mound which I 
have discussed and explained in a preceding paragraph. Beyond Aradan an abundant stream 
descends from the mountains and separates into many channels, of which I must have crossed 
twenty in the space of half a mile. Cultivation improves in the same ratio, and at Kishlak (lit. 
winter quarters), which is Nudisah, or Crown property, is responsible for the grain and fodder 
with which the royal stables are supplied at Teheran. This is the district of Khar, so often 
mentioned in earlier history and travel, and renowned as one of the granaries of North Persia. 
Here the route turns towards the north-west, and, at a distance of eight miles from Kishlak, 
enters a range of hills by a path which is commonly identified with, and which therefore raises 
the question of, the famous Pyloe Caspioe (or Caspian Gates). I do not here propose, and I have 
not the space at my command, to discuss that question at full length. Its essential points may be 
The said to have been argued, if not determined, by the labours Caspian of previous writers; and 
I will, accordingly, refer my Gates readers to the pages of Rennell,l Ouseley,2 Morier, 3 Fraser 
4 Ferrier,5Eastwick,6 and Goldsmid.7 The Pylao Caspim were the pass through which Darius 
fled towards Bactria after the defeat of Arbela, and through which he was pursued by the army of 
Alexander. Information that may help us to identify it is to be found principally in the pages of 
Arrian and Pliny. The latter says that the pass itself was eight miles in length, and that no fresh 
water is encountered in a tract of twenty-eight, miles; 11 the former reports that Alexander 
reached it in one day's rapid march from Rhages (Rhey).9 Now
The Geographical Systein of Kerodotim, p. 174.
Travels in tAe East, vol. iii. appendix iii. 3 Second Journey (1814), pp. 364, 365. 4 Journey 
into Khorasan (1821), pp. 291-293.
Caravan Journeys (1845), pp. 59, 60.
Journal of a Diplomate (1862), vol. ii. p. 140 7 Journal of the R.G.S., vol. xliv. p. 167 
(1874). 8 -Aat. Hist., lib. vi. cap. xiv. I De Exped. Alex., lib. iii. cap. xx. I say I napid,  
because Arrian, when be describes the distance as 68ap juEpaYuiZis 9Xa6voyrt cLs  AXc-
 jap5poy +ye, i.e. I one day's journey to a man marching as Alexander did,  clearly 
predicates exceptional speed.

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294 FROM MESHED TO TEHERAN 295.
the claimants to the distinction of being the veritable Pylaq CaspiEe deserted building with 
towers at the corner, and at the western exit axe four in number. There is a pass called Teng-i-
Shemsbirbur, are the remains of two old castles or towers. The place has evidently (or the Pass 
of the Sword Cut-the tradition being that it was hewn been strongly fortified and guarded, 
according to the standards of an in the rock- by one slash of Ali's scimetar), on the upper 
road from age that knew no guns; and this very fact tends to sustain the likelithe capital to 
Shahrud, and just under the shadow of the Shahkuh, hood of its having been the recoguised 
mountain passage in a. the highest peak of the Elburz, between Astrabad and Shahrud. bygone 
day. Furthermore, the distance from Rhey-wbich is about This pass is 150 yards long and only 
18 feet wide, between forty miles-corresponds sufficiently with the reckoning of the classtwo 
perpendicular walls of limestone. Napier says, I there can be ical writers. little doubt that this 
is the Caspian Gates.  On the other hand, On the other hand, there remain the considerations, 
which I feel there can be no doubt that Napier is wrong. For, not only do it impossible to ignore, 
that the pass itself does not. in its material neither the features nor length correspond in any 
particular, but
Hostile features, in the least justify the description of pyla, or the Sword Cut Pass is about 200 
miles too far to the east. Burnes  considera- gates, or the statement of Pliny that it was art-
ificially selected as his candidate the Gaduk Pass in the Elburz, north of tions fashioned, and so 
narrow in parts as only to admit a cart; Firuzkuh, through which runs the ordinary road to 
Mazanderan. that, leading, as it does, through a quite subordinate spur of the Among the 
northern passes leading from Irak Ajend into the main range, it would be surprising that it 
should have attained a Caspian provinces, those of Sawachi, near Firuzkuh, and the Teng-ser- 
celebrity so far in excess of other, and much more remarkable, enza, just beyond that place, 
have also been mentioned, both of them
defiles; and, above all, that, as it does not conduct directly to the being precipitous rocky defiles 
of a character t1i at might be supposed Caspian, but leaves the main range of the Elburz still to 
be pierced, to justify the name of gates.2 Morier, however, who visited them, there appears to 
be no sufficient reason for its being known as the, and was at first impressed by the 
verisimilitude of their features, Caspian Gates.  The first, however, of these difficulties is 
to some soon recognised that, in addition to other respects, they failed in extent met and obviated 
by the suggestion of Sir H. Rawlinsonthe essential element of distance, being ninety miles east of 
Teheran, whose acquaintance with the orography of Persia is unrivalled-that and, consequently, 
not within a day's march even for Alexander. the real Caspize Pylaa are not the Sirdara 
Pass, but a defile in the Accordingly, he suggested, and Fraser, Ferrier, and Eastwick have same 
range a few miles to the north, known asthe Teng-i-Suluk, supported with much wealth of 
argument, the choice of the pass to which he saw and examined in 1835,

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and whose physical characwhich my journey has now brought me, between the plains of Khar 
teristics, although little known, correspond with the accounts of the and Veramin. classical 
authorities, besides containing a shorter route between
This pass is known as the Sirdara, or Ser Dereb, or Sardari, Rhages and the Plain of Khar 
probably Ser-i-dareh (i.e. Head of the Valle ). It is entered by a 1 cannot help thinking, indeed 
that some such solution must
y The Sir- narrow passage or gateway on the south-east, and winds be accepted, or at least 
anticipated, by those who attach a becoming darm Pass tortuously through a projecting spur of 
the Elburz range, The real value to the statements of the Greek and Roman writers. that here 
runs forward in a south-westerly direction into the great gates Nor can the very important fact 
be left out of sight, that central desert. MY notes represent it as being nearly six miles in 
European travellers, passing northwards from Isfahan to Mazanlength.3 A salt stream flows 
down the valley bottom, and encrusts deran, to the Court of Abbas, the Great at Ferahabad or 
Ashraf, on its banks with a white efflorescence. At times the pass opens into
the Caspian, less than 300 years ago, have left descriptions of the a little plain, and then again 
contracts. In the centre is an old
defile or defiles by which they penetrated the Elburz in this veryTravels into Bokkara, vol. iii. 
p. 111. 2 Morier's Second .7ourney, p. 365.
The extent to which miscalculation of distance is possible when the writerThis difficulty may, 
perhaps, be met by supposing that 
the pass, like the has ridden on horseback, and has perhaps composed his description from 
memoryCaspian Sea itself, took its name from the tribe of the Caspii, of whom Strabo. 
afterwards, may be judged from the varyffig estimates of the length of this pass.constantly 
speaks, and who resided in the neigbbourhood. Their name is conFerrier says 21 miles, 
Eastwick 4, and O Donovan 12.ceivably preserved in the district of Jasp, west of Kashan.

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296
PE, RSIA
part, that correspond with sufficient exactitude with the words of Pliny. Starting from 
Afahalleh Bagh, which a Persian geographer identifies with the Plain of Khar, both Pietro della 
Valle, in 1618, and Sir Thomas Herbert, accompanying Sir Robert Sherley and Sir Dodmore 
Cotton, in 1627, proceeded through a defile, which they describe in very similar terms, to 
Hablah Rud and Firuzkuh, whence they continued their march to the Caspian. Of this defile 
Pietro della Valle says that, after leaving Mahalleh Bagh, he entered a deep and very narrow 
valley (una profonda c angustisshaa valle), with lofty mountains on either side (i monti son 
sevqpve altissivii delle bande), and in some turnings so narrow that to conduct a litter through 
it was a critical undertaking (che ci diede fastidio per far passar la lettiga), and that through 
this valley flowed a rivulet of salt water. Herbert, in his inimitable phraseology, says:  -
The greater part of this night's journey was through the bottoms of transected Taurus, 
whose stApendibus forehead wets itself in the ayery middle region; the fretum, or lane, is about 
forty yards broad even below, and bestrewed with pibbles; either side is walled with an amazing 
hill, higher than to reach up at twice shooting; and for eight miles so continues, agreeing with 
the relation Pliny and Solinus make of it; a prodigious passage, whether by art or nature 
questionable; I allude it unto nature, God's handmaid.  The description of these writers 
does not essentially differ from that left by A. Chodzko, formerly Russian Consul at Resht, of the 
pass which he visited in company with Sir H. Rawlinson, in 1835. He calls it Gardan-i-Sialek, 
and describes it as a tremendous defile, 2,500 yards long, with bare precipitous rock walls, 
from 650 to 1,000 feet in height, the passage between them being only thirty feet wide in its 
broadest and five feet in its narrowest part.  On the other hand, it is quite credible that the 
passes of Pliny, Della Valle, Herbert, and Rawlinson, may not be the same Caspian Gates through 
which Darius fled and Alexander marched; and that there may be more than one claimant to the 
title. This is, on the whole, the most probable solution, the Sirdara pass, in the opinion of the 
most learned critics, corresponding more accurately to the account of Arrian (cf. also Quintus 
Curtius and Amm. Marcellinus), than does any other pass to the north or east.2 It cannot, 
however, to my
I Anna7es des Voyages, 1850, Part Ill. 2 This view is sustained by the German writers Spiegel, 
Feranische Alterthumsk?,vnde, vol. ii. p. 532; Droysen, Geschichte Alexanders, p. 257; 
Tomaschek, Zur hist.
FROM MESHED TO TEHERAN
297
mind, conceivably be identified with that of Pliny, nor is it likely

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to have been the Caspioe Pylae to which so much geographical importance was attached by 
Strabo. It was soon after emerging upon the plateau beyond the pass that an isosceles cone of 
perfect shape and dazzling whiteness rose in view above the browns and greys of the nearer 
ranges, Demavend .
and disclosed to my enchanted vision the mighty Dema, vend. From that day, for over a month, I 
never, except in z the mist of early morning, lost sight of the lordly spectacle, which always 
overhangs Teheran, and which attended me on my southward ride to a distance of 160 miles. 
What Fujiyama is to the Japanese, Demavend is to the Persian landscape. Both are everpresent, 
aerial, and superb. Both have left an enduring mark upon the legends of their country; I and if 
the peerless Fuji has played a far greater part in the -art of Nippon than has Demavend in that 
of Iran, it is because the Japanese, while not inferior in ingenuity, are a vastly more 
imaginative people. Traversing a level, uncultivated plain, we reached the village and posthouse 
of Aiwan-i-Kaif,2 fording a rapid but muddy stream Aiwan-i- which flows over a broad bed 
outside. The name indicates Kaif Portal, or Hall, of Delight, although other derivations have been 
suggested-viz. Aiwan-i-Kai (i.e. Hall of the Kaianians tradition interpreting a ruin in the 
neighbourhood 3 as a palace of
Tolwgraphie von Persion, p. 79 ; and by Schindler, in the publication mentioned at the end of 
this chapter. The last-named authority has supplied me with the following conjectural 
identification of Alexander's march: first day, from Rhages to the, present Aiwan-i-Kaif, 
383 stadia or 44 miles; second day, through the Caspian Gates (Sirdara Pass) and Choara 
(Khar) to the present Aradan, 297 stadia or 34 miles; third day to Lasgird, 331 stadia or 38 
miles; fourth day to Alab, or Germab, 370 stadia or 42 miles; fifth day to Frat, near 
Hekatompylos or Damghan, 417 stadia or 48 miles; sixth day, 400 stadia or 46 miles to 
Shahrud, where he found the corpse of Darius.I According to the local legends, Demavend, or 
Divband, i.e. 11 Dwelling of the Divs or Genii,  has been the scene of all the events veiled 
under the form of myths. Here, say the Persian Mohammedans, Noah's Ark was stranded; 
here dwelt Jemshid and Rustem, heroes of the national epics; here was kindled the bonfire of 
Feridun, vanquisher of the giant Zohak; here the monster himself is entombed, and the smoke of 
the. mountain is. the breath of his nostrils; here, also, is chained down the Persian Prometheus, 
Yasid ben Jigad, whose liver is eternally devoured by a gigantic bird. The caverns of the 
volcanoes axe full of treasures guarded by snakes!-Elis6e Reclus, Universal Geography (English 
edition), vol. ix. p. 84. 2 Ferrier calls it Haivanak or Eiwanee-Keij.   Described by 
Eastwick, vol. ii. pp. 137,138.

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298 FROA1 MESHED TO TEHERAN 299
Cambyses), and Aiwan-i-Key (or Royal Drinking-liall). Whichever organ-pipes, and, upon 
nearer approach, like sham Corinthian it be, the place appeared to me to have no attractions for 
the moderii columns; one or two detached towers, and a domed structure votaries of Epicurus. A 
great many of the houses had no occupants  I whose roof consisted only of skeleton ribs of 
iron, like the frameand seemed to have been abandoned; and ill-advised would the work in which 
a schoolroom globe is hung. The latter turned out monarch be who sought refuge in so squalid a 
retreat. Between subsequently to be the Takieh, or Theatre of the Passion Plays) Aiwan-i-Kaif 
and Kabud Gumbaz (Blue Dome) the River Jajrud within the precincts of the palace. Outside the 
walls on the descends from the mountains, and was divided at this season of the southern side are 
a large number of brick-kilns, a monopoly of which year into at least twenty-five different 
channels, straggling over a industry is possessed by the Grand Vizier.  Here, too, are 
thepebbly bed-in all, quite a quarter of a -mile in width. I forded
slaughter-houses, the lease of which brings in an income of 2,2301. all these, and at Kabud 
Gumbaz encountered the first returning per annum. Entering the fortifications by a gaudily 
decorated symptoms of proximity to that civilisation to which I had now been gate at some 
distance from the populated quarter, I rode quite a stranger for nine days, in the shape of a vast 
pile of letters (the two miles through the streets before reaching the British Legation, first I 
had received since leaving England) and a good hack sent which is situated on the northern 
outskirts of the city. out for my use by a friend in Teheran. Right gladly did I speed over the 
Plain of Veramin, whose ruins, presenting in the distance SUPPLEMENTARY RoUTES BETWEEN 
MESHED AND TEHERAN. the appearance of four solitary columns, rose from a mound far 
TEHERAN TO SHAHRUD (the summer.or mountain route, vid Demavend,
Firuzkuh, and Chasmeh Ali, 237 miles). J. B. Morier (1814), Second Tournvj, away in the, 
hollow of the plain. From a distance of quite ten cap. xxiii. Captain Hon. G. Napier (1874), 
Journal of tAe.R. G.S., vol. xlvi. p. 62 miles the flash, as of a beacon fire, on the horizon showed 
where the seg. (1876). sun's rays splintered on the golden dome of Sliali Abdul Azim. 
Routes between Teheran and Meshed taken by General A. H. Schindler in Formerly the caravan 
route lay past this sanctuary and round the 1876, and described, with a map, in the Zeit. d. 
Gesell. f. Erd. zu Berlin, 1877,
1 - pp. 215-229. 1. Semnan, southern route, vid Frat, to Damghan; 2. Maiomai, base of the 
range which separates the plains of Veramin and i
northern route, vid Sherifabad, to Miandasht; 3. Miandasht, southern route, vid Teheran. Still 
is that line followed by the pilgrims, upon whom,
Khan-i-Khodi and Dashtgird, to Abbasabad; 4. Abbasabad, northern route, vid whether starting 
for or returning from Meshed, it is incumbent to Ferumed and Jagatai, to Plain of Juwain, and 
thence south-east, rid Tabbas, to call and do reverence at the prophet's shrine; but pack 
animals Sebzewar; 5. Nishapur, north-west route, to Madan (Turquoise Mines), and thence
south-west, vid Shurab, to Zafarani.

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and the postal road now both cut off an angle by striking in a due northerly direction over the 
ridge itself. Mounting to the summit
I He pays the sum of 12,000 tonians (or 3,4301.) a year for the monopoly, and of the pass, the 
new road winds up and down through dusty folds regulates the price of bricks to suit his own 
pocket. In 1887 there were made
7 r until, the northern crest being reached, far down upon the plain two qualities of bricks, 
good and bad-the good -costing, according to season, from that expands below is seen spread out 
the belt of verdure, topped 35 to 40 krans, the bad 25 to 30 krans, per 1,000. There has now 
been added a
third, and worse, quality, and the prices for the three qualities are 45 to 52 kraus, only by a 
few edifices, that marks the capital of Persia. Beyond, 35 to 42 krans, and 20 to 25 krans, per 
1,000. again, at a distance of about seven miles from the city, rises the abrupt ferrugineous 
face of the Elburz range, like a prodigious rampart of rusty corrugated iron.
The first appearance of Teheran is agreeable after a long journey, but in no sense imposing. As I 
descended the slope and drew Teheran nearer, it, was difficult to believe that that green band
could shroud a great city with a population of nearly 200,000 souls. The only buildings that 
rose to any height above the level of the tree-tops appeared to be a large mosque, with four tile-
covered minarets, that looked from a distance like painted.

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300 
TEHERAN
301
Whatever its origin, Teheran must have been for long a small and
insignificant place, for neither of those indefatigable geographers,
El Istakhri and Masudi, whose travels illumine. the tenth century,
allude thereto, although they have much to say of the adjacent
Rhey. The earliest irrefragable mention is in the pages of Abu
CHAPTER XI Abdullah Yakut in A.D. 1179-80.- His account, which is borne
out by several native historians,  represents the primitive Teheranis
TEHERAN  as troglodytes, living underground in a semi-savage state, at war
Over the utmost hill at length I sped, with their neighbours, and in revolt against the sovereign. 
How
A snowy steep-the moon was hanging low ever this may be, the locality soon became quite 
famous for its
Over the Asian mountain-and outspread rivulets and gardens, and a more normal and respectable 
city
The plain, the city, and the camp below.
SHELLEY, The -Revolt of Isla-in, Canto V.sprang into existence. Haindallah, in the fourteenth 
century, de
scribed it as a town of some magnitude and importance, and as TEHERAN, the modern capital of 
Persia, has frequently been preferable, both for climate and water-supply, to Rhey. Don Ruy di 
spoken of by travellers, with some suspicion of contempt, as a new Clavijo-, the. Spanish 
ambassador to Timur, halting here on July G, An old and City- In the sense in which they use the 
word-i.e. in 1404, delivered himself of a somewhat balancing opinion.__2 a new C y the 
historical sense -it is by no means a new, but, on the The city of Teheran was very large, but it 
had no walls; and it contrary, an ancient city. In another sense-viz. structurally-it -was a very 
delightful place, well supplied with everything ; but it was was made a new city by Agha 
Mohammed Shah, a century ago, an unhealthy place, according to the natives, and fevers were 
very and still more by his nephew and successor, Fath Ali Shah; and prevalent. Z5 has become a 
yet newer city-so new that the visitors in the first Shah Tahinasp, the second of the Sefavi 
dynasty, seems to half of this century would barely recognise it-during the last twenty years. 
Before I trace the incidents  of this twofold have been the first to favour it with a royal 
patronage; but Shah renaissance, I propose to say something of the antique, forgotten, Abbas the. 
Great, having fallen ill there   from a surfeit of fruit, but withal not uninteresting Teheran 
of the past. Research can vowed he would never enter the place again. Byhim.the province
and city were placed under the government of a Khan. never be quite wasted upon the origin and 
youth of a gTeat
At this time Teheran was visited by more than one European; capital.
and the. descriptions of the Italian, Pietro della Valle (1618), and of
It has been conjectured that the name Teheran is identical oma -Herbert- (1G27), are so
Teheran the English-man, Sir Th i s with the Tazora that appears in the Theodosian tables as 
near to under curious as to be worthy of reproduction. I quote from a Ang,ient Rhages (Rhey). In 
the tables, however, it is not the Shah
Abbastranslation of the former that appears in   Pinkerton's

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testimony Median Rliages, but a place of the same name near Yezd, Travels :that is 
spoken  of; and the identity cannot therefore be sustained.
I shall not attempt to give, as I have done in the case of previous chapters, Teheran is a large 
city, more spacious than Cashan, but not well
peopled, nor containing many houses, the gardens being extremely any bibliography of Teheran, 
for the reason that very nearly every foreign visitor
large,and producing abundance of fruit of various descriptions, of to Persia has stayed in the 
capital and has described his stay. Any reader, therefore, desirous of more ample 
instruction may be referred to the large bibliography such excellent quality. that it is sought 
for by all the circtunjacent, which I propose to publish. Teheran, however, has been much less 
rich in historians than any other Persian capital; and the information contained in this I For a 
list of them, vide a note by M. Langl~s, in vol. viii. p. 164 of his edition chapter will, in the 
main, not be found elsewhere. I may add that the popular of Chardin. etymology which explains 
Teheran or Tihran as I the pure  is false. It is an old Narrative of F-mbassy (Hakluyt 
Society), p. 98. Watson (History of Perea, Persian word which was formerly written with the 
two-dotted t, and sometimes p. 62) must have been unaware of Clavijo when he wrote that Della 
Valle was the
first European to visit Teheran. also Tirun and Tiran.

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302 .
country. The Khan ordinarily resides here. All the streets are watered by a number of 
considerable streamlets, which, serpentining in the gardens, contribute not a little to their 
fertility. The streets, moreover, are shaded by beautiful, lofty plane-trees, called in Persia 
chinar; some of them are so extremely thick that it would take from two to three men to clasp 
them round. Excepting these, Teheran possesses nothing, not even a single building, worthy of 
notice,
iMore humorously the English traveller, whose tender susceptibilities appear to have been 
inflamed by the Teheran ladies:
Seated is Tyroan in the midst of a large level or plain. The Houses are of white bricks hardened 
by the Sun. The City has about 3,000 Houses, of which the Duke's and the Buzzar are the 
fairest ; yet neither to be admired. The Market is divided into two ; some part thereof is open 
and other part arched. A Rivolet in two branches streams through the Town, serving withal both 
Grove and Gardens, who for such a favour, return a thankful tribute to the Gardiner. The 
inhabitants are pretty stately, the Women lovely, and both curious in novelties ; but the 
jealousies of the men conflne the temper of the weaker sex ; yet by that little they adventured 
at, one might see vetitis rebus gliscit voluntas.1
Under the later Seffivi kings Teheran sometimes became the  temporary residence of the 
Court - a palace was built here by Sliah Suleiman; and here Shah Sultan Husein received the 
Turkish Ambassador. Tavernier incidentally notices, but did not apparently see, the town; 
Chardin calls it apetite ville du p(tys. It was taken and pillaged in the Afghan invasion, but is 
mentioned by Hanway (as Tcehiran) in the catalogue of Von Mierop's stages to Meshed in 
1744 .2 It was here that Nadir, on his return from India, convoked a meeting of all the priests 
of religion, with a view to promulgating a new- national faith. Here he blinded his son, Reza 
Kuli Khan, and here that helpless individual was afterwards murdered.3 Kerim Khan Zend added 
to and altered the existing Ark or citadel, but did not often Occupy it. Ali Murad Khan stayed 
there while marching against Mazanderan. With the rise of the Kajar dynasty, at the close
I Sovie Yeares  Travel, 4e. (3ZZrdZZ edit.), p. 206. 2 Histarical Account, 4-c., vol. i. pp. 
357-359.   Toebirm is a city enclosed -%vith a wall of earth, which bas many round 
turrets, But the whole is much decayed. llere we found provisions in plenty, and the bread 
exceedingly good.  J G. A. Olivier, Iroyage, 4,e., vol. v. p. 418 ; vol. vi. p. 47.
TEHERAN
303

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of the same century, the first epoch of the citY's political ascendency began. The seat and 
cradle of the Kajar family was at Astrabad; but this was too remote and too far situated to the 
East to suit the Made his expanding ambitions of the eunuch candidate for the capital by throne. 
For some time, while his fortunes were yet inAgha
Moham-secure, and while his sovereignty was practically limited med Shah to Mazanderan, 
Agha Mohammed fixed his residence at Sari ; but, as he turned his eyes and aspirations 
southwards, and the dream of a Pan-Iranian kingdoin became capable of realisation, a more 
accessible capital was required. Accordingly, lie selected Teheran,and its elevation to 
metropolitan rank is cominonlY dated from 1788* It was not till seyen years later that his 
rivals were all removed, and that he found himself firmly seated upon the throne ; but what had 
been perhaps in the first place a choice of necessity remained the selection of prudence. 
Rebellionbad been -effectively stamped out of life in the south. The Afghan-, bad ceased for 
awhile to be hostile or formidable. On the other hand, at Teheran, the successful usurper was 
within easy reach of his own patrimony and tribesmen ;- and he was in a better -position to 
watch the only enemy of whom he had real apprebension-Russia. The same considerations, 
aggravated rather than diminished by the events of the present century, have compelled his 
successors to endorse his judgment; and, whatever may be said against the site, there is very 
small likelihood, as long as Persia escapes dismemberment, of Teheran being dethroned from its 
position.
Agha Mohammed, though lie elevated Teheran to the rank of his capital, either had riot the taste 
or did not reign long Its then enough to confer upon it any of the external distinction extent with 
which his predecessors on the throne had always striven to adorn their seats of governuient. 
Olivier, who was there, in 1797, the year of the king's death, reported the city as being 
little more than two miles in circuit, and as containing a population of only 105,000, 3,000 of 
whom belonged to the court, or army of the Sliah. Fath Ali Shah, however, had more regal ideas. 
Under his rule the city increased in size, importance, and display. In 1807 General Gardanne, 
the French Envoy, found it containing a population of over 50,000 in winter, though all but 
deserted in summer, when the Court was away, and the inhabitants had retired to their yedaks, 
or summer quarters, on the mountains. A very

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304
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Ouseley, who were at Teheran within the next few years. The former said it contained 12,000 
houses, the latter a population of from 40,000 to 60,000, figures which practically coincide. 
As such, or, at any rate, not very much larger, it remained during the first seventy years of 
this century, before it experienced the entire renovation at the hands of Nasr-ed-Din Shah, 
which I shall presently describe. What, however, was the appearance of the city in this first 
epocllofinoclifiedrejuveneseeiice? The narratives and the illustraIts tions of a long series of 
minute and accomplished writers appearance enable us to ascertain with absolute certainty. 
Planted in the hollow of the plain, and surrounded only by the stark desert, with few or no 
suburbs, and with clearly-defined outline, stood the city-a fortified polygon, between four and 
five miles in exterior circuit, surrounded by an embattled mud wall twenty feet high, flanked 
with circular towers, and defended by a moat forty feet in width and from twenty to thirty feet 
in depth. The wall was mean and in parts ruinous, the, ditch was clumsy and broken down -in 
both respects, that is to say, profoundly Persian. Six gates of somewhat gaudy construction, 
adorned with glazed tiles, admitted to the interior, where.  the streets were narrow and 
filthy, with uncovered drains in the middle,  and where the onlybuilding of any 
pretentiousness was the citadel, or ark, in the northern part of the town. This contained the 
Diwan-khaneh-i-Shah, or Dar-i-. khaneh (i.e. the Royal Palace). Beyond the city walls the 
country palace of Kasr-i-Kajar, built by Fath Ali Shah, upon an eminence
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surrounding plain. Demavend soared loftily over all-the one noble feature in the landscape. Such 
was the Teheran that met the eyes of Malcolm and Ilarford Jones and Ouseley, and the long train 
of soldiers, diplomatists, and writers, who, escorted by brilliant cavalcades and equipped with 
costly presents, marched up hither from the Gulf in the first decade of the present century, to 
court the superb graces of Fath Ali Shah. Up till the year 1870 this, with few alterations, 
remained the Teheran with which a wealth of writers has made us familiar. In OldBritish this 
circumscribed city the British Legation, or Mission, Mission as it was called, was situated in 
the southern part. The grounds originally belonged to one Mohammed Khan, the Zam.
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TEHERIN 305
burakchi Bashi, or Commander of the Camel Battery, which was one of the favourite military 
toys of Fath Ali. Upon this individual his sovereign bestowed that especial mark of confidence for 
which Persian monarchs have always been famous, by inviting him, spoute sud, to part with his 
property, which was forthwith transferred to e English Elchi. Sir Gore Ouseley built upon it a 
commodious house, whose Italian portico and  pillars were a perpetual record of Europe in 
the heart of Asia. The Russians originally occupied a Legation in another part of the town, but, 
after the assassination of their Minister, Grebayadoff, in 1828, they moved for greater 
security into the precincts of the ArIc. Until its disappearance, or rather expansion, in the 
years 1870-2, this transitional Teheran was in every respect an Oriental city-contracted, 
filthy, shabby, and what the French so well denominate as morne.
Nasr- ed-Din Shah, among other titles to distinction, may claim to have made his city a 
capital in something more than the name. New After being twenty years upon the throne, it 
appears Teheran to have occurred to. him that the   Point of Adoration (Kibleh) of the 
Universe  was, framed in a somewhat inadequate setting. Accordingly, Teheran was suddenly 
bidden to burst -its bonds and-enlarge its quarters. The old walls and towers were for the most 
part pulled down,  the ditch was filled up, a large slice of surrounding plain was taken in, 
and, at the distance of a full mile from the old enclosure, a new rampart was constructed upon 
Vauban's system, copied from the fortifications of Paris before the German war. A good deal 
of the money sent out from England by the Persian Famine Relief Fund in 1871 was spent in the 
hire of labour for the excavation of the new ditch, which has a very steep outer profile, and for 
the erection of the lofty sloping rampart beyond. There is no masonry work upon these new 
fortifications; they are not defended by a single gun ; they describe an octagonal figure about 
eleven miles in circuit; and, I imagine, from the point .of view of the military engineer, are 
wholly useless for defence. Their main practical service consists in facilitating the collection of 
the town octroi. Nevertheless, Teheran can now boast that it is eleven miles round, that it has 
European fortifications, and twelve gates; while its interior features have developed in a 
corresponding ratio.
I They are still standing or traceable in parts, particularly along the south west face of the old 
town.

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306
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its royal Haussmann is evident as soon as we enter The the gates. These consist of lofty 
archways, adorned with interior pinnacles and towers, and presenting from a distance a showy 
appearance, which has caused to some incoming travellers paroxysms of delight. A closer 
inspection shows that they are faced with modern glazed tiles, in glittering and frequently 
vulgar patterns, depicting the phenomenal combats of Rustam, or the less heroic features and 
uniform of the modern Persian soldier. After entering the gates, where a guard is stationed, we 
are again in the open country, for on most sides the city has not yet grown up to its new borders, 
which embrace a large extent of bare, unoccupied desert. This passed, a ride through squalid 
suburbs brings us to the more central and pretentious quarters of the town. At every turn we 
meet in juxtaposition, sometimes in audacious. harmony, at others in comical contrast, the 
influence and features of the East and West. A sign-board with Usine d Gaz inscribed upon it will 
suddenly obtrude itself in a row of mud hovels, ostentatiously Asiatic. Tram-lines are observed 
running down some of the principal -thoroughfares. Mingled with the turbans-and kolahg of the 
Oriental crowd are the wide-awakes and helmets of Europeans. Through the jostling throng of 
cavaliers and pedestrians, camels, donkeys, and mules, comes rolling the two-horsed brougham 
of some Minister or grandee. Shops are seen with glass windows and European titles. Street 
lamp-posts built for gas, but accommodating dubious oil-lamps, reflect an air of questioning 
civilisation. Avenues, bordered with footpaths and planted with trees, recall faint memories of 
Europe. A metalled and watered roadway comes almost as a shock after weeks of mule track and 
rutty lane. Strange to say, it does not appear to be mistaken by the inhabitants for the town 
sewer. We, ride along broad, straight streets that conduct into immense squares and are fringed 
by the porticoes of considerable mansions. In a word, we are in a city which was born and 
nur[mred in the East-, but is beginning to clothe itself at a West-End tailor's. European 
Teheran has certainly become, or is becoming - but yet, if the distinction can be made 
intelligible, it is being Europeanised upon Asiatic lines. No one could possibly mistake it for 
anything but an Eastern capital. Not even in the European quarter has it taken on theinsufferable 
and debauched disguise with which we are familiar in the hideous streets of Galata and
d

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TEHERAN
307
Pera. Its most distinctive features retain an individuality of their own, differing from what I 
have noticed anywhere else in Central Asia. Jeypore is sometimes extolled as the finest specimen 
of a native city, European in design, but Oriental in structure and form, that is to be seen in the 
East. The  rose-red city  over which Sir Edwin Arnold has poured the copious cataract of 
a truly Telegraphese vocabulary struck me, when I was in India, as a. pretentious plaster fraud. 
No such impression is produced by the Persian capital. Though often showy, it is something 
more than gilt gingerbread; and, while surrendering to an influence which the most stolid 
cannot resist, it has not bartered away an originality, of which the most modern would not wish 
to deprive it.
In the northern part of the new town, but outside the line of the old walls, is situated the 
principal square or public place of The Tup Teheran. This is known as the Tup Meidan or 
Meidan-iMeidan Tup-Khaneh-i.e. Gun Square or Artillery Square, from the fact that it is 
surrounded by the artillery barracks, and that it contains a park of rusty cannon, dating from 
an obsolete past. The length of this fine meidan, which is cobble-paved, is 270 yards, its width 
120. On the longest, i.e. the northern and southern, sides . it is surrounded by low one-
storeyed buildings, where the guns are housed and the men quartered; on the western side is the 
Arsenal, in front of which some twenty-five venerable smooth-bores, 24-pounders, and wholly 
useless, rest upon their ancient carriages. The eastern face is entirely occupied by a fine 
building with an ornamental plaster fagade, which is now tenanted by the Iniperial Bank of 
Persia. In the middle of the square is a great tank, fenced round by an iron railing, with some 
cast-iron statuettes, and with four big guns. planted at the corners and covered with tarpaulins. 
Its most distinctive features, however, are the gateways by which it is entered or left, and 
which are regarded by the Persians as triumphs of modern architectural skill. They -are 
certainly, as the accompanying illustration will show, very imposing and original structures, 
and, with their light arcades and fantastic fronts, present a handsome appearance from a 
distance, though a closer scrutiny of the coarse tile-work with which they are faced is apt to 
destroy the illusion. Of these gates the two principal and most striking are those which lead 
from the two southern angles of the square, opening on to streets which skirt the outer wall of 
the Ark, or citadel, on either side, the entire intervening

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308 TEHERAN 309
space being occupied by its courts and buildings. From the southeast corner the Nasirieh Gate 
leads down to the eastern entrance to the palace and to the bazaars. From the south-west corner 
the Dowlet Gate conducts to the Khiaban-i-Almasieh (or Avenue of Diamonds), fro   in which 
the western or public entrance to the Ark and palace is gained. Upon this gate, when the Shah is 
in Teheran, floats the royal standard. Two other 9neidans are worthy of notice. One is the 
Meidan-iMashk, a vast open space, over a quarter of a mile in length, which Other is used as a 
Charnp de Mars, or parade-ground, fo~ the rueidans garrison, and where I witnessed a military 
display which I shall afterwards describe. This meidan is a little to the northwest of the Tup 
Meidan, and is reached by a gateway opening out uf the so-called Street of Ambassadors, which 
leads from the northwest angle of the Gun Square. The remaining square, called the Meidan-i-
Shah, is outside the gardens of the Ministry of War, and the more southerly portion of the palace 
enclosure. It contains a large tank in the centre, and a colossal brass gun, known as the Tup-i-
Murvarid, or Cannon of Pearls, which has always been in especially sacred bast, or sanctuary, 
for the fugit ive criminal, a veritable  horns of the altar,  in Teheran. Successive 
chroniclers of the capital have given different and inconsistent accounts of this monster cannon, 
some alleging that it was brought by Nadir Shah from Delhi, where it was originally decorated 
with a string of pearls near the muzzle, others that it was cast by him in Persia. Sir R. K. 
Porter says that it was the same gun that Chardin saw in the meidan at Isfahan ; but, as I 
cannot find that Chardin saw or described any particularly big gun there, I am loth to accept this 
explanation. Elsewhere I have read that the gun was cast by Kerim Khan Zend at Shiraz, and that, 
having been kept for some time under cover in an imamzadeh there, it acquired a sacred 
character, which it has retained since its removal to the Kajar capital. Jebangir Khan, the late 
Mij)ister of Fine Arts, informed me, however, that, according to Persian historians, this 
cannon is one of the Portuguese ordnance captured by the allied Persians and British at Ormuz 
in 1622.1 Whatever be the truth, its
I This version has already been given by Mme. Serena (Hommes et Choseg en Perse, p. 54), 
although she proceeds, quite gratuitously, to make Ormuz I a port in the island of Muscat in the 
Persian Gulf ; Muscat being neither in the Persian Gulf, nor an island, nor the site of 
Ormuz.
~ f
semi-sacred character is unimpeachable. An artillery guard is Adtioned hard by, and barren 
women make a pilgrimage hither, and pass beneath the gun, in order to promote the object of 
their  - ~sire. The most distinctive feature, however, of this smaller oteidan is the great 
arched gateway leading from it, and used as the

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Nakkara- Nakkara-Khaneh (or Drum Tower), whence, every evening, Khaneh at sundown, is 
discoursed ., from prodigious horns, kettledrums, cornets, and fifes, the appalling music which 
is an inalienable
DRUM TOWER AND CANNON OF PEARLS
appurtenance of royalty in Persia, and is always sounded at sunset from some elevated gallery 
or tower in any city blessed with a royal or princely governor. Over two hundred years ago it 
used to disturb the slumbers of Tavernier and Chardin at Isfahan, where it was sounded at sunset 
and at midnight; the truth being, as the former writer sagaciously observed, that I the musick 
would never Charm a curious ear. It is commonly supposed that thi
 practice is a relic of the old fire or sun worship, that luminary being saluted both at its 
rising and setting by respectful strains. Whether this be so or not I cannot say. What is certain 
is that it has for long

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310 
TEHERAN 311
been an Oriental attribute of royalty ; and, in a letter from the runnels of water. This delightful 
grove, which, as the result of French traveller, Bernier, written in 1663 from the Court of the 
only twenty years  growth, shows of what the Persian soil under Great Mogul at Delhi, 
where there neither was, nor, so far as we irrigation is capable, conceals the main building of 
the Legation, know, ever had been, fire-worship, I have come across the following as well as 
four other substantial detached houses, accommodating the passage, describing the practice as it 
prevailed there and then, in various secretaries. The principal structure is a low building 
terms which exactly fit the sonorous and portentous discord which occupying three sides of a 
court, and terminating at one end in a is evoked every evening by the band of brazen-lunged 
youths to campanile, or clock-tower, of Byzantine design, in which a large whom I used to listen 
with a sort of horrified fascination at clock tells the time after the English fashion and according 
to the Teheran:- hours of the English day. On one side is the Chancellery; in the
Over the great gate there is a large raised place which is called centre are the reception-rooms 
and Minister's quarters; on the Nagar Kanay, because that is the place where the Trumpets 
are, or other side are the spare rooms. The building opens by a verandah rather the Hoboys and 
Timbals that play together in consort at certain at the back on to a lovely garden, where swans 
float on brimming hours of the day and night. But this is a very odd consort in the ears tanks of 
water and peacocks flash amid the flower-beds. The of an European that is a new comer, not yet 
accustomed to it ; for design was the work of Major Pierson, R.E., of the Indo-European 
sometimes there are ten or twelve of these Hoboys, and as many Timbals Telegraph Department, 
who may be credited with a very successful that sound all at once together; and there is a Hoboy 
which is called result. The coolness and seclusion of the entire enclosure is one Karna, a fathom 
and a half long, and of half a foot aperture below; I as there are Timbals of brass or iron that 
have no less than a fathom of the most agreeable and uncommon features in Teheran. The in 
diameter, whence it is casie to judge what a noise they must needs Turkish Embassy and the 
Legations of several others of the make. Great Powers are in the same street, or near at hand. 
Russia,
Bernier goes on to say that at first he found this royal music liowever, is elsewhere 
accommodated ;_ the residence of her Minister quite insufferable; but that afterwards it was 
very pleasing in the being, as I have pointed out, in the older portion of the town, near night 
time, when it seemed  to carry with it something that is the bazaars. In the same quarter as 
the British Legation are grave, majestical, and very melodious.  Verily de gustibus non est 
situated tiie establishment and chapel of the American missionaries. dis The Armenian church, 
where British subjects used to be interred,

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putandum. The same practice is still kept up by some of the native princes in India. A and which 
contains the tomb of a son of Sir Walter Scott, was near
From the Tup Meidan, as I have indicated, two streets run in the former British Mission in the 
old city.
To a stranger, possibly also to a native, the most interesting a northerly direction towards the 
outer walls. These streets or British avenues- for they are planted with poplars- are regarded 
portion of Teheran is the great quadrilateral, containing the Ark Legation Citadel. and occupying 
a space of probably nearly a
as the crowning glory of modern, being, in fact, the The Ark or nucleus of European, Teheran. 
The more westerly of the two, quarter of a  mile square on the southern side of the known to 
the Persians as Khiaban-i-Dowlet, has been sometimes Tup Meidan. Since the demolition of the 
old town there is described as the Boulevard des Ambassadeurs, from the fact nothing in the 
appearance of this enclosure to identify it with that the representatives of several foreign 
Powers have acquired a citadel in the ordinary acceptation of the term ; for, although it 
residences Upon it. Of these, by far the most spacious and is surrounded by mud walls, it is in no 
sense fortified, and is now
merely a vast collection of courts gardens, and buildings, the imposing is the Legation which 
shelters the representative of .Her Britannic Majesty. At the distance of nearly half a mile 
greater part of which appertain to the Doyal Palace. Let me, from the greSt square, a fine 
gateway, upon which Her Majesty's therefore, attempt to give some description of the latter, 
so far as initials are carved in stone, conducts on the left hand into a its somewhat haphazard and 
unmethodical interior arrangements
he building remain in exactly the same large wooded enclosure, where nothing at first is visible 
but a will admit. Parts of t dense growth of trees, interspersed with winding pathways and state 
as they were, when viewed in the opening years of the century

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312 
by the successive envoys of the British and Indian Governments. But the major part of the 
enclosure does not now answer to their description and has been so much altered by the reigning 
Shah in the reconstruction of the past twenty years, as to need a fresh historian.
Upon entering by a modest and wholly undistinguished gateway from the Khiaba-n-i-Almasich, 
the visitor finds himself in a small irregular courtyard, planted with trees. From this he The 
Palace is conducted into dnother and larger paved court, in the centre of which is a long raised 
hau7 or tank, the water lapping noiselessly, in the Persian style, over the level brim. On either 
side of this is a paved causeway, beyond which are flower-beds and rows of poplars, planes, and 
piues. The entire upper end of this court is occupied by a handsome building, the centre of 
which, when the heavy curtains that shield it are raised, is open to the public gaze, disclosing 
the Talar or throne room, and the, famous white marble throne, standing upon a dais in the 
centre. Upon this throne on certain public occasions, and particularly at, the festival of No Ruz 
or New Year (March 21), the Shah displays, himself to the people in a fashion not essentially- 
different from that in which Darius and Xerxes appeared in royal state before. their subjects in 
the talars of Persepolis 2,300 years ago. 
On either side of the throne room, and opening into it, are~ apartments sumptuously decorated 
in the Persian style with mural Takht-i- ornamentation and oil paintings. In these the 
ministers Marmor and bonoured guests are entertained with coffee and kalians before and during 
the royal lev6es. The Talar itself is a spacious chamber, whose flat ceiling is set with mirror 
panels, and whose walls are embellished with the aineh4wri or mirror work small facets 
ingeniously and artistically fixed in plaster, so as to produce a thousand angles and coruseations, 
in which the Persians are so undeniably clever; and with oil paintings of the various princes of 
the Kajar family. Round the lower part is a dado or wainscoting of alabaster carved in relief,.aud 
adorned with painted flowers and birds. In the centre of the room stands the Takbt-i-.
These open throne-rooms are, however, far older than either Darius or Xerxes, and are one of 
the most ancient accompaniments of Eastern royalty. We read of Solomon in I Kings, Vii. 6, 7, 
that I He made a porch of pillars, and the porch was before them ; and the other pillars and the 
thick beam were before them. Then he made a porch for the throne where be might judge, even 
the porch of judgment!
t
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313
Marmor, or white marble throne of Kerim. Khan Zend, wrought of

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marble of Yezd, and brought from Shiraz.  This great structure, which does not in the least 
degree resemble a throne according to Western ideas, but might rather be compared to an 
elevated platform surrounded by a pierced marble balustrade, rests upon low twisted pillars 
and upon the shoulders of grotesque figures representing J . ins or divs. Two steps supported by 
recumbent lions lead up to it, and the throne itself consists of a two-fold terrace, upon the back 
part of which, supported by a pearl-embroidered cushion, sits, or rather kneels (this being 
the. Persian substitute for sitting), upon State occasions the King of Kings. In front of the 
throne is a place for a fountain, running water being another of the appurtenances of Eastern 
royalty.2 The roof of the front part of the throne room, where it is open to the garden, is 
sustained by two immense columns with deep spiral flutings, also of Yezd marble, and 
constructed by order of Kerim. Khan for his palace at Shiraz. A passage from the court of the 
Talar leads into another and larger court, where is the main and State entrance into the palace. 
The It was under a threshold, opening out of the arcade Museum between the - two, that -were 
deposited - -by Agha Mohammed Shah the bones of Nadir Shah and Kerim. Khan,3 that lie might 
have the exquisite luxury, as he passed in and out, of trampling upon the dust of his hereditary 
foes. Here are a large doorway, and a broad flight of carpeted steps, leading up between great 
bronzes and porcelain vases to the State apartments. As I mounted them three times during my 
stay at Teheran, and became familiar with the rooms to which they conduct, I -may here 
describe the latter. At the top of the staircase is the Shah's library, a small - room which 
has been neatly fitted, after the
I There is an illustration of it, from a photograph, in Benjamin*s Persia and the Persians, p. 
222, and a superb engraving of the whole Talar in P. Coste's Monuments Modernes de la 
Perse. Some writers have supposed this also to be an Indian throne, and to have belonged to 
Nadir's spoil. Others have declared that it was wrought of Maragha marble. In Kerim 
Khan's day it stood in the tal-a r of the palace, that is now the office o   f the Indo-
European Telegraph in Shiraz, from whence, along with the fluted columns, it was removed by 
Agba Mohammed Shah to Teheran. 2 The symbolism of this custom is variously interpreted 
either as signifying light, and being, therefore, of good omen, or as typifying the main source of 
wealth in a thirsty land, and being consequently a mark of luxury.   Those of Kerim, Khan 
were said to have been after-wards restored to their original resting-place.

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314 Pl~,RSIA
European manner, with bookcases behind glass doors, and in which I saw several well-bound 
European books. It is reported to contain many Arabic MSS. of inestimable value. Upon the left 
hand at the top is the entrance to the new Museum, a great hall or gallery, constructed after the. 
return of the Shah from his first visit to Europe in 1873, to contain not only the Royal Regalia, 
but also the vast collection of objets d art and curiosities, which the generosity qf foreign 
crowned heads, or his own whims, have enabled him to amass during a reign of over forty years. 
This extraordinary chamber, which with its contents alternately resembles an Aladdin's 
palace, all old curiosity shop, a prince's wardrobe, and a municipal inuseum, consists of a 
long parallelogram, crowned by a series of low domes, with plaster decorations in white, blue, 
and gold, there being a number of deep recesses, terminating in windows along one side; while 
the partition between these recesses, and the remaining walls of the room, are fitted with glass 
cases, in which are displayed, side by side, treasures of priceless value and the most 
unutterable rubbish. The central part of the chamber, which is, in part, tile-paved, contains -a 
number of immense porcelain vases, mostly from Europe, candelabra, lustres, armchairs 
covered with a thin plating of real gold, etc., whilst ~pon tables or under glass cases are 
disposed with some slight effort at arrangement, but in ludicrous juxtaposition, Swiss musical 
boxes, Persian antiquities and specimens, meteorolites, European purchases or presents, and 
heads of game shot by His Majesty.
Perhaps the objects in this bizarre collection that most attract the stranger are the infinity of 
gems, cut, uncut, or set in every Crown variety of fashion, that are seen behind the glass panels. 
jewelB Here are the enamelled and beJewelled arms of the great Sefavi kings, here the swords of 
Timur, Shah Ismail and Agha Mohammed Shah, here the magnificent Abbas  coat of mail. A 
square~ glass case contains a vast beap of pearls, four or five inches deep, into which one can 
plunge the hand and spill them in caScades and handfuls. Upon a separate stand appears the globe 
of jewels which was constructed out of his loose stones by the reigning Shah, at a cost (exclusive 
of the gems, provided by himself) of 320,0001., and which is looked upon as the artistic chef 
d ceuvre of his reign, Its alleged valtie, with the stones (75 lbs of pure gold, and 51,366 
gems, weighing 3656-4 grammes) is 947,0001.
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It is a little difficult to determinethe respective countries amid the flash of the various stones ; 
nor does the artist appear to have been as good a cartographer as he was a craftsman. However, 
as well as I could discern, the sea is composed of emeralds, England and France

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of diamonds, Africa of rubies, India of amethysts, and Persia herself of the national stone-
turquoises.  I can imagine the day when some future and less economical sovereign, or 
possibly even some conqueror from the north, shall handle this glittering plaything in a more 
practical spirit, and shall perhaps desire to ascertain by personal experience the worth of the 
constituent elements into which his curiosity may suggest that it should be again resolved. At the 
upper end of the room, beneath glass cases, are a number of royal crowns, dating from the 
Sefavean days to modern times, prominent an-long them being the mighty head piece, pearl-
bedecked, and with flashing jika or aigrette of diamonds in front, which is worn by the King at 
No Ruz, and was so familiar an object upon the bead of Fath Ali Shah, as depicted in the 
illustrations, English and Persian, of the early part of the century. Here, too, is a superb tiara, 
manufactured by order of the present Shah, in Paris. The number of jewelled swords, 
scabbards, epaulettes, and cups, vases, boxes and kalians, is enormous, while in separate 
glasses repose huge, solitary, uncut gem s. At the upper end of the chamber stands a throne of 
modern shape, if not of modern construction, viz., a lofty chair exq-alisitely enamelled and 
completely covered with rubies and emeralds. I shall have something to say presently about the 
history of this beautiful work of art. I was informed that the Shah, when he uses this ball, as he 
not infrequently does, as an audience chamber to the Ministers and Foreign Representatives at 
No Ruz, prefers to stand near the lower end of the hall to occupying the throne itself. Upon the 
walls on the right hand side of the room are displayed a heterogeneous collection of the treasures 
or trifles which the august traveller has brought back from Europe. Here are suspended the 
ribbons and stars of a multitude of orders, including the Garter, and an imposing array of 
It assian decorations. Elsewhere are arrayed gorgeous sets of silver-gilt plate, enamelled 
snuff-boxes, gold and silver I Of the remaining gems, M. Orsolle (Le Cavease et la Perse) says 
that the ruby which marks Demavend was tile last jewel torn from the miserable Shall Rukh by 
the myrmidons of Agha Mohammed Khan; and that the diamond which marks Teheran was found 
upon the body of Ashraf, the last Afghan king, by a Beluchi, who presented it to Shah Tahmasp 
11.

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316 .
vases, a case containing photographs of the English Royal Family, dating from the Shah's 
first visit in 1873, specimens of filagree work, and a number of objects in ivory and bone, 
ranging from the most delicate Chinese workmanship to a collection of sixpenny toothbrushes 
(classification, with a vengeance!). From the walls depend a number of mediocre or execrable 
oil paintings, and large panels of glazed tile-work, representing different scenes in the life of 
the present sovereign. The three finest jewels possessed by the Shah are said to be a huge uncut 
ruby, once the property of Aurungzebe, which shimmers at the top of what is called the Kaianian 
crown; a large diamond, set in a ring, which was sent by George IV. as a present to Fath Ali Shah, 
and was said by the gossips to have opened at once the gates of the capital and the heart of the 
monarch; and beyond all the Daria-i-Nur, or Sea of Light, the sister diamond to the Kuh-i-Nur 
(Kohinoor), or Mountain of Light, which is the property of the British Crown. Both jewels are 
said to have descended from Timur to Mohammed Shah, the puppet whom Nadir spared at Delhi, 
but whom he considerately relieved of all his chief valuables, including these diamonds and the 
Peacock Throne. Upon Nadir's death, the Kuh-i-Nur went with Ahmed Shah Durani into 
Afghanistan, and descended to Shah ShIlia, from whom it was taken by Runjit Singh, the Lion of 
the Punjab, whence it passed by conquest into the possession of the English Crown. The Daria-i-
Nur remained in Persia, and has been worn by its successive sovereigns. Fath Ali Shah 
immortalised his own vanity at the same time that he considerably lowered the value of the 
stone, by causing to be scratched upon it his own name.  He was in the habit of wearing it in 
one of the 7)azubands or armlets which he bore upon State occasions, between the shoulder and 
elbow; but it is also sometimes worn in a belt, and in other settings. I asked to see this jewel, 
but it was shut up in an iron box that lay upon the seat of the elevated throne : and it appeared 
that in the absence either of the key or of the Grand Vizier, I think the latter, it could not be 
shown.
Such, as well as I can remember them with the assistance of
I I have read in different works that the stone was valued at 200,0001., and also that its value 
was depreciated to the extent of 1,000,0001. by the act of Fath Ali Shah ; statements from 
which it is difficult to strike out a mean of truth. It weighs 186 carats.
TEHERAN
317
my notes, were the chief contents of the Royal Museum.1 In a country that is always bewailing 
its lack of money, and which

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cries aloud for the regeneration that might so easily spring from the construction or repair of 
roads, bridges, caravanserais, and other elementary public works, it can excite but one feeling. 
to see all this impotent wealth piled up, secreting beneath a glass case that which should serve to 
populate entire districts and to enrich great communities. How much worse is it when we know 
that the treasures here displayed do not stand alone, but are supplemented by hoards of specie 
and bullion stored iii the vaults below, which the lowest estimate values at three millions 
sterling and the highest I will not say at what figure. Patriotism need not be so very difficult an 
attribute in royalty, when it is able to stop short of the treasure-house and the money-bags.
Below the, Museum are a number of vaults, known as the Chillee Khaneh, or Porcelain Room, 
where vast quantities of Sovi-es, Dresden, old Worcester, and other porcelain are stored, the 
gifts of European sovereigns to the present and preceding kings. There is also an Aslaheh-
Khaneli, or Armoury, containing curious arms, and the Shah's rifles and fowling-pieces ; 
and a gallery wherein is hung a large collection of the paintings of the late esteemed artist,-
Abu] Hasan Khan Ghaffari, styled the Sani-el-Mulk. These last-named apartments I did not see.
On the other side- of the top of the staircase is a room, sometimes called the Council Chamber, 
in which I was admitted to a The private audience by the Shah. It was empty on all the alleged 
Peacock occasions when I saw it, save for an object standing iii Throne the corner by the 
window. This was the Takht-i-Taous or celebrated so-called Peacock Throne, said to have, been 
brought, by Nadir Shah from India in 1739-40, and identified by a long consensus of writers (I 
know of no divergent opinion) with the famous Peacock Throne that stood  in the Diwan-i-
Khas at Delhi (where its site is still shown) and that was the main ornament of the glittering 
court of the Great Mogul. From a study of  all the extant authorities bearing upon the 
question, I had come to the conclusion that this claim could not be substantiated, and that the 
throne at Teheran, exquisite work of art though it be,
I Sir 11. Jones, in 1810, estimated the value of the Persian Crown Jewels at 15,000,0001. 
(Mission to Per8ia, vol. i. p. 384) ; Lord Pollington, in 1865, at 40,000,0001-
50,000,0001. ! (HaY.Round the World, pp. 229-232).

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i
318 TEHERAN 319
Was a fraudulent pretender to the honour of having supported the majesty of the Great Mogul. 
Let me deploy the chain of reasoning by which I had arrived at this conclusion. The standard 
reference to the original Peacock Throne at Delhi is contained in the wellknown description of 
the French jeweller Tavernier, who visited that capital in the year 1665 in the splendid reign 
of Aurungzebe. He wrote as follows:
The largest throne, which is set up in the hall of the first court, is in form like one of our field 
beds, six feet long and four broad. The cushion at the base is round like a bolster; the cushions 
on the sides are flat. The under part of the canopy is all embroidered with pearls and diamonds, 
with a fringe of pearls round about. Upon the top of the canopy, which is made like an arch with 
four panes, stands a peacock with his tail spread, consisting all of saphirs and other proper 
coloured stones. The body is of beaten gold enchas d with several jewels, and a great ruby 
upon his breast, at which hangs a pearl that weighs fifty carats. On each side of the peacock stand 
two nosegays as high as the bird, consisting of several sorts of flowers, all of beaten gold 
enamelled. When the king seats himself upon the throne there is a transparent jewel with a 
diamond appendant -of eighty or ninety carats, encompass d with rubies and emeralds, so 
bung that it is always in his eye. The twelve pillars also that uphold the canopy are set with 
rows of fair pearl, round, and of an excellent water, that weigh from six to ten carats apiece. 
This is the famous throne which Tamerlane began and Cbm Jeban finish d, which is really 
reported to have cost 160 million and 500,000 livres of our money. 
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""ZZZZZZZNow contrast this with the Persian claimant to the title. I have purposely 
caused to be reproduced an engraving of the Takht-iTaous at Teheran, in order to accomparty and 
elucidate my argui-nent. It is certainly a platform, or, as Tavernier calls it, a Field-bed 
Throne, - as were the majority of those employed by the sovereigns of the East. It is further a 
sumptuous and a beautiful work of art. The entire fabric is overlaid with a plating of gold, which 
is exquisitely chiselled and enamelled, and is absolutely encrusted with precious stones, among 
which rubies and emeralds are the most prominent. Seven bejewelled legs sustain the plat
d

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---""ZZi Trajels in Jndia (edit. 1678), book ii. cap. viii, P. 122. Hanway (vol. 
ii. cap. x.) says that the Peacock Throne and nine other thrones, as well. as several jewelled 
weapons and utensils, were valued at nine crores of rupees, or 1l;250,0007. The Nadir-Aantelt 
(HistorY of Nadir) valued the Peacock Throne at 2,000,0001. Scott at 1,000,0001.
d

form, access to which is gained by two steps, decorated with salamanders. An elegant balustrade 
containing inscriptions in

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panels runs round, and the lofty back, which is one mass of gems, rises to a point in the centre 
whereupon is fixed a circular star of diamonds, with scintillating rays, made to revolve by a 
piece of
THRONE OF FATH ALI SHAH
mechanism at the back. On either side of the star are two bejewelled birds, perched on the edges 
of the back-frame, and facing each other. Now there is in the fabric thus delineated and 
reproduced above very little except general shape that tallies with Tavernier's detailed 
description. There is no trace or sign of a canopy, or of the means by which a vanished canopy 
could

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320
have been added to the. existing throne. Above all there is no peacock. 
At this stage, however
, I felt compelled to remember that Tavernier, while particularly describing the Peacock 
Throne, bad Testimony also left on record that  The Great Mogul has seven of Bernier 
thrones, some set all over with diamonds, others with rubies, emeralds, and pearls;  and 
that Hanway had reported Nadir as carrying off nine other thrones in addition; and it -might be 
therefore that the Teheran throne, though not the Peacock Throne, was one of the rifled thrones 
of the Emperors of Hindustan. Such a theory seemed to find a momentary corroboration in the 
description given by another Frenchmati, Bernier, in the same century, of a throne (clearly not 
the Peacock Throne of Tavernier) at Delhi. The throne, that lie saw was supported by six high 
pillars or feet of massive gold, set with rubies, emeralds, and diamonds. Its value was estimated 
at forty millions of rupees (a rupee at that time was equivalent to half a crown) or to sixty 
millions of French livres. And yet, to maintain the confusion, this too was a Peacock Throne, for 
he added: 
The art and work m-anship, of this throne is not answerable to the matter - that which I find 
upon it best devised are two peacocks covered with precious stones and pearls, which are the 
work of a Frenchman called - that was an admirable workman.
Nevertheless, this could not be the Teheran throne; for.the latter has seven legs; nor was an 
acute observer like Bernier likely to have committed the error that Morier did, and mistaken 
its winged supporters for peacocks. In this dilemma, but with the growing conviction that the 
modern Takht-i-Taous had a very shadowy connection, if any at What all, with the plundered 
treasures of Delhi, I turned to conhistory temporaneous records. I found in Malcolm 2 that 
Nadir says Shah was so fond of the real Peacock Throne of the Great Mogul that he bad an exact 
duplicate of it made in other
I Morier, who saw Fath Ali Shah seated in audience upon this throne in 1809, described it with 
no great accuracy. He said,   On each side of the back are two square pillars, on which are 
perched birds-probably intended for peacocksstudded with precious stories of every 
description, and holding each a ruby in their beaks  (First Journey, p. 1.9 1). Now, no one 
who really inspected them could possibly mistake the birds for peacocks; nor are there (now at 
any rate) rubies in their beaks. 2 ~Yistory of Persia, vol. ii. p. 37.
TEHERAN

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jewels. This left two Peacock- Thrones to be demolished between his death and the end of the, 
last Celltury, a catastrophe which in the anarchy and violence of those times would have. been in 
itself no unlikely occurrence; but it left the Taklit-i-Taous unexplained, as under no 
circumstances could the latter be described as a duplicate of Tavernier's original. Now, 
however, I came across a passage in Fraser's I Khorasan  in which lie mentions that an 
old Kurd told him in 1822, that  when Nadir Shah was murdered and his camp plundered, 
the Peacock Throne and the Tent of Pearls fell into our hands, hud were torn in pieces and 
divided on the spot.  Any 1-urd might certainly have been trusted to handle such an object 
as the Peacock Throne in the unceremonious manner here described, and, assuming the veracit 
of this par
0 y ticular Kurd, I witnessed with some delight the disappearance of the real Peacock Throne, or 
one of the two, from the scene.
A phrase in -Morier's account had now set me thinking that the Takht-i-Taous at Teheran 
must be a modern structure after Deposition all. In the saine passage which I have quoted in a of 
the footnote, he adds:It (i.e. the throne) is said to have usurper _ cost 100,000 to7nans  
(equivalent at the beginning of the century to about 100,0001.); 1 herein clearly implying 
that an account or a tradition of its cost prevailed at Teheran, which was far more likely to be 
the case with a new than with an old fabric, and which was extremely unlikely to have been the 
case with an object carried off in plunder from a remote country seventy years before. At this 
stage, accordingly, I referred my doubts for solution to Teheran itself, and after an interval of 
some weeks was interested and (I may confess) rejoiced to hear, on the authority of the Grand 
Vizier and the former Minister for Foreign Affairs,2 that, as I suspected, the Takht-i-Taous is 
not an Indian throne at all. It was constructed by Mohammed Husein Khan, Sadr (or High Priest) 
of Isfahan, for Fath Ali Shah when the latter married an Isfahani young lady, whose popular 
sobriquet, for some unexplained reason, was Taous Khanum or the Peacock Lady. The King is 
further said to have been so much delighted with the throne, that it was made a remarkably 
prominent feature in the
I understand, however, that it is now valued at nearly 200,0001.
When I was in Teheran I had in vain asked the same questions of tile custodian of the treasury, 
and of every Persian official whom I met, but without eliciting any satisfactory response.

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ZZZZ
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---""ZZceremonies that commonly ensue i1pon marriage. Ilere, therefore, at one 
fell swoop, toppled down the whole of the. brilliant hypothesis, which has sustained scores of 
writers, and provided material for pages of glowiug rhetoric. From the same authorities I 
learned that the original Peacock Throne of Nadir Shah (i.e. the survivor of the two facsimiles) 
was discovered in a broken-down and piecemeal condition by Agba Moliaillined Shah, who 
extracted it along with many other of the conqueror's jewels by brutal torture from his 
blind grandson Shah Rukh at Meshed, and then had the recovered portions of it made up into the 
throne of modern shape and style, which now stands at the end of the new Museum in the palace 
at Teheran, and to which I have allnded in my description of that apartment. In this chair, 
therefore, are to be found the sole surviving remnants of the Great Mogul's Peacock 
 Throne, and the wedding present of Fath Ali Shah must descend from the position which it 
has usurped in the narrative of every writer in this century, without exception, who has 
alluded to it. Beyond the room in the palace containing this beautiful impostor, which, with a 
respectful iconoclasm, permissible, I hope, to the Oriental student of history, I have 
endeavoured to depose from its taste false pinnacle, extend a. series of chambers of  some 
size, but no merit, exhibiting an extravagant and often farcical contrast of the Oriental and 
European. Illustrations, snipped from the English illustrated newspapers appear side by side 
upon the walls with photographs of the Shah and his little boy favourite, the Aziz-es-Sultaia, 
and with inferior copies of Italian oil-paintings. Here is a picture of the Paris Exhibition and 
the Eiffel Tower; there a deplorable oleograph of an Alpine village, both hung in a room adorned 
with Persian plaster-work and spread with Persian carpets. I noticed here, what I observed in 
the other palaces that I visited, that the Oriental intellect seems to derive a peculiar 
gratification from the display of duplicates. Thus, the King's soil, the Zil-es-Sultan, has, in 
his town residence, a long row of facsimile portraits of biniself hanging upon a single wall. 
Similarly, in the royal abode, I noticed in one place two large copies of a semi-mide Venus or 
Magdalen of the later Italian school, absolutely identical, banging on either side of a doorway; 
and the same phenomenon was constantly repeated. The impression left upon me by all 
inspection of many modern Persian residences of
d

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size and magnificence, was this : that whereas the Persian taste, if restricted to its native art or 
to the employment of native styles,

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seldom errs, the moment it is turned adrift into a new world, all ,;ense of perspective, 
proportion, or beauty, all -esthetic perception, in fact, appears to vanish; and in proportion as 
its choice will have been correct and refined amid native materials, so does it become vulgar and 
degraded abroad. I am sometimes not sure that our own countrymen can escape the same 
impeachment, particularly -when I observe rich Englishmen triumphantly carrying away from 
Japan the gaudy embroideries that are made for them (done, and which no civilised Japanese 
gentleman would admit into his house. The rooms of which I have been speaking look out on to a 
vast garden court, which is entirely surrounded by the various buildings rD The of the palace, 
and which I consider to be by far the Gulistall prettiest and most effective portion of the entire 
enclosure. This great garden is divided by paved avenues and gravel paths into flower beds, 
tanks, and extensive lakes. Magnificent pines and cypresses, as well as the more familiar plane 
and poplar, line its alleys and create a pleasant shade. It is -called the Gulistan or Rose Garden. 
Little iron bridges cross the numerous channels, often lined with blue tiles, down which the 
water runs in perpetua, motion; the pools are alive with fish and decked with swans and 
waterfowl; elegant kiosques are seen amid the trees. It was in this lovely garden, and under an 
entrancing sun and sky, that. I ,vitnessed a royal Salaam, or Lev6e of the Shah, to which I may 
devote a. few words in passing. It was the replica, on a smaller scale, of the great ceremonial 
that takes place at No Ruz. The theory of the Court Lev6e in Persia is not that the subjects attend 
upon, or are introduced to, the sovereign, but that the Royal sovereign displays himself to his 
awestruck and admirLev~e ing subjects. Accordingly, the two central and essential attributes of 
the scene are the monarch being gazed at on the one side, and the audience gazing on the other. 
Very little else transpires, and not more than half-a-dozen persons play any other part than 
that of statues during the ceremony. I will describe, however, exactly what takes place. Upon 
entering the palace I was conducted to a chamber where the regulation coffee and kalians were 
served. Soldiers and officials were pouring pell-mell intothe palace oil every side. Bailds were 
aimlessly tuning up or playing

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in di%,rent corners.
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variety of disorder. Mirzas
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~_ (i. e. government clerks) and accountants were hurrying to the scene of action.The royal 
executioner, clothed in red, was stalking about, while some attendants carried the fellek, a red 
pole about eightfeet in length with a double loqp--2r nggs frd a6,ae6(f_t_of1W_ middle, into 
which are fixed the upturned soles of the culprit condernnedtothe bastinado.Hewas the Persian 
counterpart of 1 ~he-r-om an-li, ~tor~ ith liLs axe and rods. The members of the Royal or 
Kajar tribe were all congregated together, and wore the ol d court costume, which was 
obligatory on all alike at the begin ning of  the century, and which consists of a lofty and 
voluminous Kashmir (more, probably Kerman) turban, big, flowing Kashmir cloaks, and the 
well-known red leggings, or chaloshurs, which the English ministers and plenipotentiaries 
were obliged to pull on over their breeches when attending the audiences of Fath Ali Shah   
but of wearing which they were ultimately relieved by treaty. Here I was met by the Lord 
Chamberlain, or master of the cere monies, known as the Zahir-ed-Dowleh (Supporter of the 
Govern ment), a young man of magnificent stature and singularly handsome countellanCe, who 
belongs to the Kajar House, and is married to a favourite daughter of the Shah.Tiis gorgeous 
individual was clothed in a resplendent white frock coat and trousers beneath his Kashmir robe 
of state; a jewelled sword hung at his side; a por trait of the Shah set in diamonds depended from 
his neck; and he carried a silver wand or staff of office.I was conducted to a room next to that in 
which the Shah was about to appear, the uplifted sashes of both apartments opening oil to the 
garden, where, on the broad, paved pathway running in front and down the central alleys 
between the tanks and flower beds, were disposed in order the various participators in the 
ceremonial.A little to the right of the middle spot stood the. Naib-es-Sultaneli, the third son of 
the Shah and Commander-in-Chief of the army, standing at the head of a long line of field-
marshals and generals.His bosom blazed with decorations, and was crowned by a light-blue 
ribbon that might have been mistaken for that of St. Patrick.Next to him, also in field-
marshal's uniform and with a tiny sword, stood the diminutive favourite of the Shah, whose 
features had become so familiar in Europe during the royal journey of the preceding summer. 
Next in order, and accentuating the ludicrous contrast, came a tottering
k
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veteran, the oldest field-marshal in the, Persian army; then a row of full-blown generals; 
finally, the officers of the so-called Cossack regiments, including two Russians. In front and in 
the middle stood alone the former Ilkhani of the Kajar tribe, a wbite-bearded elder, once out of 
favour with his sovereign but long since reconciled.  Behind stood the solid and forbidding 
figure of the Kawam-edDowleh, Minister of Foreign Affairs; and beyond again the various 
functionaries, each in his due rank and position. The whole of the, assemblage was now arranged, 
every man stood shoulder to shoulder with eyes fixed in front, and absolute silence prevailed.
Suddenly a cry was raised. The, Shah appeared in the room adjoining that in which I was placed 
and took his seat upon a gilded The Shah chair . in the window. His principal ministers accom
panied him and stood in the background. As the King appeared every head was bowed low, the 
hands outspread and resting upon the knees. Bands struck up the royal air in different parts of 
the garden, and guns banged away at a slight distance. The Ilkhani of the Kajars now, acting as 
spokesman of the entire assembly, exchanged formal compliments with the King, who spoke in 
short, brusque -sentences in reply. Then a- mullah, standing behind, recited in. a loud voice, 
the Kltuthah, or prayer for the, sovereign. This done the Poet Laureate advanced,and, pulling out 
a sheet of paper, read a complimentary ode. Meanwhile the bands went on playing different tunes 
in different parts, and the guns boomed noisily outside. When the ode was at an end, the Shah 
rose from his chair, and slowly stalked from the chamber; the troops, with very little attempt 
at precision, slouched past the windows; and a waving mass of helmets, plumes, and turbans was 
seen disappearing through the garden entrance. Such is a Lev6e as held by H.I.M. Nasr-ed-Din 
Shah at Teheran.
Upon another occasion I was conducted over the rest of the palace (with the exception, it is 
needless to add, of the andffUn,
I
I He was the son of the wife of Haji Mirza Aghassi, the eccentric dervish prime-minister of 
Mohammed Shah, and, as an especi~l favourite of his step-father, lived in princely style. Upon 
one occasion the present Shah, then Heir Apparent, was going in pilgrimage to Shah Abdul Azim, 
when he saw an immense and gorgeous cavalcade approaching, which he took to be that of his 
royal father. Respectfully dismounting, he awaited the arrival of the cort~gc on foot. Great was 
his disgust when he discovered that the central figure was only the Ilkbani of the Kajars. In 
deference to his complaints, the too sumptuous nobleman was banished to Baghdad.

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or private apartments). Among the many apartments which I saw, and to which my previous 
general description will apply, I Shem,_,~,_ will only here notice the Naranj-khaneh or 
Orangery; Imaret a particularly pretty building, with water flowing down a blue-tiled channel 
in the middle between double rows of orange trees. It was from here that a passage led into the 
old anderun; the new ladies  quatter being on the other side of the palace enclosure.  At 
the further end of the Gulistan, on the eastern side, rises the great twin-towered pavilion called 
the Shems-el-Imaret, or Sun of the Palace, which is such a conspicuous object from the 
exterior of the palace, on the side of the bazaars. This remarkable structure, which is, in my 
opinion, a triumph of fanciful architecture, is built in the form of two towers, sloping inwards 
towards the top, and terminating in two elegant kiosques. A slender clock-tower, with a 
European clock, rises from the roof between the two. On the outer or street side-for it is built 
upon the exterior wall of the Ark-its surface   which is entirely covered with brilliantly 
painted tiles, is unrelieved by a single window, lattices of pierced brickwork answering that 
purpose. On the inner or garden side it possesses a number of balconies and stained-glass 
windows, while- a large Italian portico in the centre opens on to a flight of steps leading down to 
the edge of an extensive lake. This beautiful pavilion was begun by the Shah twenty-five years 
ago, and is certainly a very creditable specimen of the fanciful ingenuity that still lingers in 
modern Persian art. I had thought from the blank outer walls and from the. air of mystery that 
surrounds this building that it must at least contain the royal harem ; but this was not the case. 
Strangers are sometimes admitted to the interior, in some of the chambers of which are to be 
seen yet other among the many costly presents that have been sent to the Shah and his 
predecessors by European sovereigns. Here, for instance, are the Gobelin tapestries, repres 
,enting the Crowning of the Faun and the Triumph of Venus, that were given by Louis Philippe to 
Mohammed Shah; and here is the great rneelianical clock, with uioving figures and peacocks, 
that was intended as a present from the Queen to the-, 14   Diperor of China, fifty years 
ago: but, either having been rejected by him or never having got as far, was bestowed upon the 
Persian monarch.
ZZZZ
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---""ZZThere stan(Ts in the court of the Royal anderun a great plane-treo, called 
the Chenar of Abbas Ali (origin of name unknown), which is held in great veneration as an 
object of pilgrimage. I
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At the further extremity of the Gulistan. rises the extraordinary circular structure, the arched 
ribs and girders of whose open roof Takich I . had seen from a distance as I approached Teheran,
rising above the low level of the housetops. This is the Taldeh, or Theatre, - built for the annual 
performance of the Tazieh, or Passion Play of Persia.  I entered and looked around. The 
building was entirely empty, save for some chained beasts, a curious use to which to put so 
consecrated a structure. It consists of a. great rotunda, in the centre of which is a circular stone 
platform, mounted by steps 4nd ramps (for the animals employed in the play). This is the stage. 
An open passage runs round, sueceeded by five tiers of stone seats, which, on the occasion of the 
performances, are packed with veiled women. Between these, numerous gangways lead to arched 
passages, through which the actors come in, On one.side is a lofty marble mimbar, or pulpit, i.e. 
a small platform at the head of a steep flight of steps, whereon stands the mullah, who directs or 
interprets the ceremonies. Above the stone tiers rise three stories of loggias, or boxes, with 
fanciful brickwork and light arcades .2 Some of these, which conceal the ladies of the Royal 
harem, are shielded with green lattice screens. From the~ upper rim of the building rise the 
great arched and iron-bound traverses of the roof. It was originally intended to
I was not in Persia during the month of Moharrem, when, in every great city, if not in every 
town throughout the country, this famous religious tragedywhich reproduces and commemorates 
the martyrdoms of Hasan and Husein and their devoted followers- is performed. I shall 
therefore say nothing of that  which I did not see. Admirable accounts of the Tazieh, however, 
have been left by most visitors to Persia; notably J. P. Morier (1811), Second Journey, pp. 
175184-; A. Vamb6ry (1863), Life and Adventu?~es, cap. viii. ; A. H. Mounsey (1865), 
.7curney throvg& t7te Caucasus, pp. 311-315; C. J. Wills (1866-1881),.Tn the Land o .f t7w 
Lion and Sun, cap. xxvi., and Persia as it is, cap. xxiv.; S. G. Benjamin (1883-1885), Persia 
and the-Tersiamt, cap. xiii. For more particular iDformation, vide A. Chodzko, Le Thititre en 
Perse (Revue Ind6pendante), Paris, 1814 ; Thidtre persa7l, Choix de Veazziis, Paris, 1878; 
Comte A. de Gobineau, Les Religions et les PkilosolAies de VA8ic Centrale, cap. xiii.-xvi., 1865; 
Sir L. Pelly, The Afiracle Play o d r
.f Wa8an and Husain, 1879; Ed. Moutet, LaReligion et le TU t e en Perge (Revue de Phistoire des 
Religions), Paris, 1887 ; Le Thidtre en Perge, Geneva, 1888; Journal of t7te Royal Asiatic 
Society, April, 1890;  Matthew Arnold, A Persian Passion Play (in Essays in Criticism); 
Eth6, Persische Pas8ionspiel (Morgenliind. Stud., p. 174) ; and E. Renan, WcavelZ68 ~*udeg 
d Hiitaire Religieuse, Paris, 1884. 2 So great is the demand for these boxes that the Crown 
revenues are swollen by the annual sum of 4201., paid as rent for the yearly performance by 
the leading courtiers and noblemen.

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cover the whole with a dome, the Shah, it is said, having been 80 much impressed with the 
Albert Hall in London, as to long for a reproduction in Teheran; but the substructure was found 
to be inadequate to tile burden. Accordingly, these spans were thrown across and awnings are 
stretched over thern when the play is acted in the. heat of tile day; the precise counterpart of 
the velarium-of tile Roman amphitheatre. As tile drania is prolonged into the evening, light is 
gained from thousands of candles fixed in lustres against the walls. The electric light was 
introduced for a time, but is said to have been abandoned or to have proved a failure.
Such are the inain features of the, Royal Palace at Teheran-  I have described them at some. 
length, as 6iey are eloquently typical The re- of the lif~ of mingled splendour and frippery, and 
of the
maindertaste, half cultured and half debased, of tiie Persian 1-nonarchand, it may be said, of 
the Persian aristocracy in general. It is shocking, for instance, to our eye, but not to a 
Persian's, to see this beautiful garden, which Nature has co-operated with ingenious art to 
render pleasing, surrounded by hideous daubs of Persian soldiers painted upon the plaster 
walls, with the exaggerated disregard of all verisimilitude or proportion that might be expected 
of a street urchin who had stolen a brush and a pot of paint. In different parts of this building 
inust be stored away ail infinity of presents and works of art in addition to those which I saw. 
For in this century alone the various embassies who competed so gallantly, and it must also be 
said so extravagantly, for the favour of Fath Ali Shali, brought with them a mass of European 
objects and curiosities, from panelled coaches down to mechanical toys, not one tithe of which 
are exposed to view in the State apartments. Many, no doubt, have never been looked at since 
the, day on which they were presented ; or, having been playthings for a week, have been 
relegated to lumber rooms for a lifetime. For a great capital Teheran is singularly destitute of 
those immense religious edifices, whether mosques or madressehs, which Mosques tower, too 
often in a state of utter ruin, above the housetops of most Oriental towns. The reason is that, 
only having become a capital, so to speak, in later lif~, the city has   ound no patron to endow 
it with the great strtictures that have immortalised the seats of government of earlier kings. 
Fath Ali
I The best description of the Palace that I bave seen is by Orsolle, Le eaziease et la Perse, cap. 
xvi.
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Shah, it is true, built the 11u.-Jid-i-Shah, a mosque crowned by a small gilt dome; and other 
edifices of some importance, but no -distinction, are to be found in tile MusJ id-i-Madr-i-
Shah, or Mosque of the King's mother, and the Madresseli-i-Khan-i-Mervi. It has been 
reserved, however, for tile present reign, for the wealth of a subject, and for the decade not yet 
complete, to raise a fabric which, however far it inay fall below tile exquisite artistic beauty of 
earlier monuments of the --,Nlohammedaii style, is yet calculated, by its ambitious design and 
vast extent, to confer a lustre upon the epoch .and the men that produced it. This is the yet 
unfinished Musjid-iSipah Salar, or mosque of tile Con-u-nander-in-Chief, whose four lofty 
and glittering minarets, entirely covered with bright tiles and terminating in florid capitals, 
looked to me at a distance like immense organ pipes protruding through the trees. This building, 
or rather range of buildings, for it includes both a mosque and a madresseh, or college, was 
commenced by the late Mirza HusemKhan, the statesman who negotiated the Reuter Concession of 
1872, and who, after being successively Sadr Azem (Grand Vizier), Minister of Foreign 
Affairs, and Sipab Salar, died in comparative exile as Governor-General at Meshed. -With the 
-endowments which lie bequeathed for the purpose, the incomplete works have been resumed by 
one of his surviving brothers, Yahia Khan, the Mushir-ed-Dowieh, of whom I shall have 
something to say later on, and are now slowly approaching completion. I went over the 
buildings, which are on a very grandiose scale. A lofty archway leads into a quadrangle, in whose 
centre is a large tank. On the right is the principal fa~ade with the four minarets; an immense 
dome was being constructed over the prayer-place in its interior. Opposite the entrance is a 
smaller recess, now used for purposes of devotion, but opening into a long, vaulted 
prayerchamber, with four rows of stone pillars, fifty in all, and a broad, shallow mihrab, or 
prayer-niche, tile-adorned, at the end. In a corner of the building a library was being fitted 
with wooden shelves, elegantly carved ; and outside was a tank for purposes of drinking or 
ablution, with an iron railing and taps all round. The effect of the entire range of buildings is 
spacious and handsome, ,and the gaudy enamelled tiles give it a brave appearance. It does not 
require much discrimination, however, to realise how ineffably inferior are these modern 
specimens of the ceramic art of Persia to the exquisite productions of an earlier age - or how, 
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design, execution, nor glaze, do they deserve to be considered works of art at all.
The bazaars of Teheran occupy a very considerable space in the old city; although, in common 
with the rest of the capital,
they have experienced a niucli-iieeded renovation in the Bazaars reign of the present king. The 
main entrance is from n the street opposite tile Shems-el-Iniaret, and conducts, through an 
open courtyard containing a pool of water, and known as the Ateidan-i-Sebz, into tile dim, 
vaulted arcades -which are so familiar to the wanderer in Eastern lands. The Teheran bazaars 
are vaulted throughout with a succession of low brick domes, and open frequently upori small 
courts or squares. They contain a nuniber of spacious and well-built caravanserais; and there 
are few objects of Eastern use or consumption-froni a saddlehorse to a tea-tray,-which cannot 
be there procured. European merchandise is exhibited on every other stall, and one of the first 
and most obvious discoveries is, that Persia clothes itself from Europe. Another of the most 
widely-spread but unintelligible of modern Persian tastes is abundantly illustrated, and can be 
-inexpensively gratified, in tile Teheran bazaars. This is the fon dness, which seems to 
permeate all classes, from the Shah downwards, for lustres, candelabra, candle and lamp 
shades, and glass vases or ornaments of every conceivable description. I never ente~ed a Persian 
prince's or nobleman's house without encountering a shop's window full of these 
articles, as a rule proudly stacked, as though they were rare treasures, upon a table; and I 
imagine that a Persian would have no hesitation in pronouncing the Crystal Palace to be the 
maximum olms of the world's architecture. I shall say nothing about the manner of shops or 
modo of selling, about the division of trades or scenes of barter, in the Teheran bazaars; for the 
reason that they are the same as in every other town in tile East, and have been so frequently 
described as to be familiar even to those who have not seen them. I will merely say that, in 
arrangement, width of passage, size of shops, and general structural convenience   they are 
in advance of almost any Oriental bazaar that I have elsewhere seen, though inferior to those 
which I afterwards saw at Isfahan and Shiraz, and which may also be seen at Tabriz; but that, as 
a field of exploration for the curio-hunter or stranger, they are the most disappointing in the 
East. The vendors ask the most impossible
TEHERAN
331
prices, and exhibit a stolid indifference to the offers of the would-be purchaser. The sale of 
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wholly conducted by dellals, or itinerant dealers, who bring their stores on donkey-back to the 
residences in the European quarter. From them must be procured the silks, brocades, or 
velvets, the, metal work or enamel work, the embroideries or carpets, the painted mirrors or 
pen-cases, which the collector may wish to take back to Europe. The foremost among these 
dellals, alike for the quality of their wares and the scale of their prices, appear to be the 
Jews. But the passing traveller will find it difficult to procure anything of much value, the 
rarities being commonly bespoken in advance by resident customers, and some weeks being 
required before a fresh stock can be collected by the dealers among their private clients. Such a 
place as a shop whither, after European fashion, one can go and see a large variety of articles 
spread out, before making one's choice, is unknown in Persia. The street scenes in Teheran 
are not to be compared, from the artistic point of view, with those that may be witnessed either 
in Street life the great Indian cities or in the old capitals of Central
Asia. With the Kajar Dynasty, a hundred year __p~o came in a new and soberer fashion in dress 
as well ~]_;a2q~ of rn
~rs. 0 turban has graduallv disappeared and is worn on by ~e~han ,_Aa S a
Lis1_,_eY4S1_.ud_.m WaLbs. The flowing robes and daring colours of the East, such as one may 
see alike in Benares and Bokhara, have been exchanged for tight-fitting garments of European or 
semi-European cut, and for neutral tints such as dark blues, browns, greens and greys, with a 
very plentiful admixture of uncompromising black. There is manifold jostling in the streets and 
bazaars, and everywhere. are the contrast and variety so inseparable from Asiatic life, and from 
a crowd where three out of four men are mounted; but there are not the kaleidoscopic change and 
glitter that bespeak the true and unredeemed Orient. A good deal of colour, however, as well as of 
noise, is lent to the street life of the capital by the number of soldiers, in every variety of 
uniform, who are seen lounging about the streets, and by the military bands, which play in the 
public squares,  their favourite tune being the
I In 1887 an entire set of instruments for a band of sixty persons WLS presented by the British 
Government to the Shah; but the Persian bands having been taught to play French instruments, 
which are in a different key or pitch, they were relegated to the Museum.

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ZZZZ
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---""ZZso-called   Royal Air,  which has considerable merits, and was, I 
believe, composed by the French bandmaster, Al. Lemaire. Soldiers in Pri" issian helmets, 
soldiers in sbeepskin shakoes, soldiers in cloth busbies, soldiers with sartorial reminiscences 
of nearly every army in Europe, are encountered on all sides. Very apparent too are the city 
police, about 300 strong, organised and commanded by an, Italian, Count Monteforte, who, after 
being an officer in Boinba's army at Naples, retired to Austria, and was passed on either by 
the Emperor of that countr , or, more probably, by himself, to the y service of the Shah. They 
are constantly to be seen hanging about the guardhouses which are scattered through the town, 
and their black uniform, with violet velvet facings, is decidedly smart and picturesque. 
Queerest, however, and most parti-coloured of the street figures of Teheran are the shatirs, or 
royal runners, who precede the Shah whenever be goes out, running in front of his horse or 
carriage. They strike a stranger, unacquainted with the Court history of Persia, with amused 
astonishment, their costume being an apparent cross between that of a liveried servant and a 
harlequin at a pantomime. They wear white stockings, green knee-breeches, a red coat with 
large skirts and green breast-tacings, and a tall erection upon the he-ad, surmounted by a sort 
of coloured crest like a cock's comb. In their hand they carry a staff or wand. Some writers 
have too hastily attributed this amazing uniform to the fanciful taste of His reigning Majesty : 
therein at once exaggerating the fancy and ignoring the conservative instincts of that monarch. 
As a matter of fact, this dress is a faithful reproductiou of that which was worn by the shatirs of 
the Sefavi kings in the halcyon days at Isfahan, two and three -centuries ago ; and what is apt to 
look ridiculous in a seidi-modernised court and capital was, no doubt, in thorough keeping with 
an age and a ceremonial of almost barbaric splendour.1
d

  For an interesting illustration of this uniform as worn by the 37tatirs in the days of Fath 
Ali Shah, ride an admirable engraving from a rlrawin~g by J. P. Morier (&eond Journey, p. 
387), representing the entry of the Shah into Teheran in 1815. Dr. Fryer, in 1676, described 
their costume thus:   The Shotters are the only men who wear Plumes of Feathers in their 
Turbats, small Bells about their Wastes,  Truncheons in their Hands, Horse-Cloaths over 
their Shoulders, richly Embroidered on Scarlet, Packthread Shoes on their Feet, and close 
Jerkins with Breeches below their Knees  (Travels in Persia, p. 232). In the Sefavean 
days, however, the shatirg were much more than ornamental royal lacqueys. They were 
members of a guild in which no one could graduate as a master skatir
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ZZZZ
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---""ZZEstimates of the population of Teheran vary between poles as remote as is 
the case with every statistical calculation in Persia. Population I was informed, however, that 
the most reliable computa
d

tion, determined upon a joint reckoning of the births and deaths in the city and of the amount of 
food brought for consumption into its bazaars, fixed the present total at from 200,000 to 
220,000; though, on the other hand, some old residents would not admit a larger figure than 
175,000. Twenty years ago, before the structural changes of which I have spoken were 
commenced, the most generous estimate of the total was 120,000-a fact which is in itself the 
best justification of. the policy of the royal ,E dile. The capital is said to contain about 4,000 
Jews, possessing ten synagogues and several schools, and engaged for the most part in trade, as 
dealers, vintners, and physicians. Here, as elsewhere in Persia, the Jews are obliged to walk 
circumspectly; but they are not subject to the outhreaks of religious fanaticism which 
sometimes occur farther south, in the more bigoted atmosphere of Isfahan and Shiraz, and of 
which I s   hall require to speak when writing about those cities. There is also a large colony 
of Armenians (1,000) in Teheran, with two churches of their own, to which I have before 
alluded; but the Persian Armenian will also more appropriately come up for discussion when I 
treat of the settlements in Azerbaijan and at Julfa. There are further said to be several hundred 
Parsis, or Guebres, in the capital, mostly engaged in correspondence with their mercantile 
head-quarters at Yezd and Kerman.
without a test that wou~d startle even a modem University sprinter. The aspirant to the honour 
was required to run on foot and fetch twelve arrows, one by one, from a pillar at the distance of 
one league and a half from the palace gate of Isfahan, the entire distance to be covered between 
sunrise and sunset being, therefore, 36 leagues, or 108 miles. The day fixed for the ceremony 
was a great public holiday. Everyone, from the sovereign downwards, was interested in the 
success of the candidate. Ministers and grandees galloped at his side to encourage him; every 
variety of fruit and provision was eagerly offered to him by the sympathetic crowd. Chaxdin 
witnessed and described one such ceremony on May 26, 1667, when the successful ohatir took 
nearly fourteen hours to cover the distance. But he mentions another runner who, in the reign 
of Shah Sefl, did it in twelve hours." Trave18 (edit. Langl6s, vcl. iv. p. 35; edit. Lloyd, 
vol.ii.p.153). Vido also Tavernier, book iv. cap. v. The 87tatir8,asa class, were an institution 
of much earlier origin. They are mentioned by the Venetian Josafa Barbaro at Tabriz, 200 years 
before Cliardin, in 1474; and are undoubtedly a legacy from far older times. In lst Kings i. 5, 
we read: I Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king: and he 
prepared Limself chariots and horsemen, and fifty nien to run before him. 

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---""ZZThe gardeners of the British Legation were once almost wholly recruited 
from this class.  But by far the most startling consequence of the new order of things is the 
increase in the number of Europeans now resident in European the capital. As late as 1851 Mr. 
Biiiniug reported that element the only European foreigners were the staffs of the various 
Legations, a few officers in the army (the majority having left because they could not get their 
pay), two or three- French and Italian shopkeepers, and an Englishman employed by the Shah to 
translate the foreign journals to hini and to edit his own pet newspaper. In 1.865 Mr. MoLiusey 
found this total swollen to fifty. But at the time of my visit, in the autunin and winter of 1889, 
it was estimated to have risen to nearly 500 persons. The increase is not in the official eleinent. 
They-i.e. the diplomats, the officers of the Telegraph Department, a few Austrian and Russian 
officers in the army, and one or two other einploy6s of the Persian GovernMent-remain at 
about the same figure. So, it may be said, do the missionaries, the merchants, and the few globe-
trotters who may be annually driven by a vagabond fancy to Teheran. It is in the large number of 
speculators, small traders, would-be concessionaries, wandering chevaliers d industrie, et 
hoe genus omne-all the goodly crew, in fact, who live to illustrate the phrase that I where the 
carcase is, there will the eagles [surelya inistranslation for vultures!] be gathered 
togetlier -it is in these that the main increase has taken place; and in time we may expect 
the streets of Teheran to present as many models of- the sartorial degradation of Europe as do 
those of Cairo or Constantinople. The elements of this polyglot, but, unfortunately, monochrome, 
society are necessarily thrownsomewhat together - and in their idiosyncrasies, foibles, 
combinations, rivalries, and projects is to be found an inexhaustible fund of local gossip, as 
well as almost the sole source of non-political interest. There is but one Embassy at Teheran-
that which is occuForeign pied by the representative of the Sultan : a compliment Legations 
which could hardly fail to be exchanged between the two great Mohammedan Powers. Europe is, 
however, represented by I Guebre, which means   infidel,  and is the same as Giaour, is, 
of course, not their own name, but only a term of opprobrium applied to them by the 
Mussulmans. Until 1882 they paid a special jezich or poll-tax to the Persian Govern  ment; 
but, through the intervention of the British Legation, this invidious tax was repealed.
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six Legations-those of Great Britain, Russia, France, Germany, Austria, and Italy. A Belgian 
Minister Resident was also expected at the time of my visit, and a Dutch Charg6-d Affaires 
had been appointed by his Government. America sent a Minister Resident forthe first time in 
1883. Most of these diplomats possess comfortable residences situated in large and well-shaded 
compounds, similar, though inferior, to that belonging to the British Minister. I could not 
ascertain that, with the exception of the British and Russian Ministers and the Turkish 
Ambassador, they have much, if anything at all, to do; and, to the majority of their number I 
should imagine that the post offers itself either as an bonourable exile or as an interesting 
repose. Teheran has been much abused as a capital. It has been attacked for having no river-
which is true, although of such Advan- Persian cities as are better endowed in that respect it 
tages and must be said that, during four-fifths of the year, the river disadvantages as is seldom 
more than a streamlet. Lady Sheil went so capital far as to declare that, as a capital, it had 
nothing whatever -in its favour. I do not agree with these opinions. Looking at the question 
mainly from a political point of view, I am disposed to think that Teheran is about the best 
capital that Persia could produce, and that Agha Mohammed Shah showed to the full his 
statesmanlike foresight in selecting -it as his seat of government. The objections to the present 
site are mainly advanced on sanitary grounds. The water supply is indubitably meagre and 
costly, an attempt to divert th e~ River Karij to the city having been abandoned, I and the entire 
needs of the population being dependent upon kanats dug from the Elburz. Situated, moreover, 
in.the hollow of the plain, it is said that the infiltration of the surrounding moisture causes 
malarial fevers, which have already produced an increase in the recorded cases of typhoid. It is 
further said that the drainage is atrocious, which is probably true of all Persian towns. At 
Teheran the system adopted has one advantage, which, if not conducive to health, is, at any rate, 
less obnoxious to the senses than the paraded abomination of other Eastern cities. Each house is I 
This attempt was made by Haji Mirza Agbassi, the eccentric minister of Mohammed Shah, who 
had a passion for public works, and it was successfully executed. Upon his commencing a similar 
experiment with the Jajrud on the Eastern side, the complaints of the villagers of Veramin at 
the loss of their water supply caused the works to be abandoned; as also were those of the Karij, 
after the fall of the Haji.

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---""ZZprovided with a shaft, sunk into the ground to a- depth of thirty 01, forty 
feet, from the bottom of which four lateral shafts run intG the soil. When all these are -filled, 
tile. whole is closed and sealed up. This certainly does not sound very nice : but between Oriental 
systems of sewerage it would be difficult to discriminate.
d

Oil the other hand, the city is situated at all altitude of 3,800 feet above the sea; during the 
greater part of the autumn, winter, and spring months the climate is delightful; and, whe 
Politieftl n merits the scorching heats of summer begin to prevail, there is an easy and rapid 
retreat to the mountain- slopes, where life under tents and the trees, though not exhilarating, 
is endurable. But the grounds upon which I should prefer to rest my defence of the site are 
political. Here, too, adverse critics have declared that the city lies exposed to Russian attack and 
invites aggression. I do not agree. - Teheran is nearly 500 miles by road from the Russian 
frontier at Julfa, oil the Araxes, whence, as conducting to the northwest capital, Tabriz, an 
invasion would doubtless begin ; and, if Persia did not stop Russia before those 500 miles were 
passed, she would never stop her anywhere. The sole remaining alternative -on the north is the 
Resht-Kazviil route, crossing the main range of the Elburz, than which all arilly posted for 
purposes of defence could not solicit a better position. If, oil tile other hand, as I have argued iii 
my chapter upon Khorasan, invasion were to coille from the, nortli-east quarter, how much 
better would the Shah be able to meet it from Teheran, than from Isfahan. The choice of a capital 
must, however, in the main, be determined, not by its exposure, or the. reverse to a single 
possible enemy, but by its central or cen trali~,ing position, and by its ready co
n inniand of the routes leading to tile rnost valuable provinces of the kingdom. It is in this 
respect that Teheran is so admirably placed.Situated but little more than niidway between the 
eastern and western capitals, Meshed and Tabriz, it commands tile important provinces of which 
they are the governing centres.At the same time, it is in close proximity to, and in easy yet 
defensible coninitinication with, the northern maritime provinces, for which it may hereafter 
require to ,strike a blow.Lastly, it stands as a sort of advanced outpost to the elder capitals of 
Isfahan and Shira7, upon which, in the event of disaster in the north, it would always be 
possible to fall back. So far, therefore, from thinking that Persia would be the better or the 
stronger for a change of capital to a more southerly site, I
TEHERAN
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should regard such a movement as the voluntary abandonment of a strategical position of no 
mean advantage, and as an encouragement to Muscovite cupidity.
Among other semi-European attractions ofTeheran at the time of mv visit was the, possession of 
a racecourse andan annual raceRa.ce- meeting. It is true that in neither respect were European
course standards rigorously maintained. For instance there was no turf; but, as a Persian horse 
seldom, if ever, treads upon turf in the course of a life-time, it would clearly have been 
superfluous to bumour him on this solitary occasion. The gravellyplain outside the city, which 
is flat enough and big enough to race upon for a whole day without stoppi g, accordingly answered 
the purpose very well.
in Nor was there a  ring  at Teheran, betting being an imprudent venture when tile 
winner was so uniformly apt, to be drawn from the stable of the sovereign. The jockeys were 
small boys, clad in loose trousers and colourea tunics. The races were of various lengths, the 
most important being the longest, which completed the circuit of the wall no fewer than six 
times. Eastwick, who has left the most minute account of the Teheran race-meeting that I 
know,  measured the coursel and found it to be two miles ininus thirty and a half yards in 
circumference; so that eleven and three-quarter miles was the length of what I might call the 
 Cup course  at Teheran. This distance he saw covered in what seems to me the very 
respectable time of twenty-six minutes twentynine seconds. It must be remembered that in a 
country where all movement is on horseback, and where very long distances
require to be covered by that means, endurance is of greater -avera re Value than speed. Nor do 
the Persians, so far as I know 9 .advance the ludicrous defence of short-distauce speed-tests 
with which we are familiar in countries nearer home-that they are indispensable to improve 
the breed of the native animal.
In no respect are Teheran and its environs more peculiar, and
in no fashion can the nature and circumstance of Eastern royalty Negaristan be better typified, 
than in the number of royal palaces
and country seats which may almost be said to crowd the suburbs of the capital. It is as though 
all the present and past royal residences in the neighbourh,ooa of Lonaon-Kew, Hampton Court, 
Chiswick, and Greenwich Hospital, were kept for the sole use of the sovereign, and in his or her 
absence were allowed to fall
I Journal of a Diplomate, vol. L pp. 263-270.

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ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZinto unarrested decay. Of these Persian palaces the one that is best known 
in history is the Negaristan (or Picture-gallery) built by Fath Ali Shah,  and the favourite 
country resort of himself and his colossal seraglio. In those days the Negaristan was more than 
half a mile outside the  Walls of the contracted Teheran, whose history and disappearance I 
have chronicled; but the more ambitious projection of Nasr-ed-Din Shah has brought it well 
within the limits of the modern city; whilst his mercantile instincts have lately induced him to 
sell the grounds in plots for building sites, In the early part of the century it was described as a 
lovely retreat, with umbrageous gardens, interspersed with imaret8 (Pavilions), kolah 
Feringhis (octagonal kiosques, so 6alled.because their shape was supposed to resemble a 
Feringhi's, or European's, bat), cascades, and tanks. Sir R. K. Porter, who visited and 
described it in 1818, went into positive raptures over its beauty. It was a  Hortus 
Adonidis,  a  bower of fairy-land,  I the very garden of    Beauty and the 
Beast,   whilst the palace itself was  an earthly imitation of the houris  
abodes.  And when the susceptible baronet came to the bath-room, his poetical transports 
could scarcely find words in which to depict the image of the sporting naiads and the uxorious 
monarch looking on. The place is never occupied by the present Shah, and is now fast falling to 
ruin. The name was given to it in consequenco of the contemporary oilpaintings by which it was, 
and still is, adorned. Fath Ali Shah never built or occupied a palace anywhere without 
immortalising himself, and his regiment of sons, and his crown and jewels and throne, and, 
above all, his wasp-like waist and ambrosial beard, in canvas, upon the walls. There are two 
such paintings in the Negaristan. One is a somewhat undistinguished picture of the Shah and 
some of his sons, but the more widely known is an illustration of the monarch surrounded by his 
sons and chief ministers of State, seated upon the Takht-i-Taous   and receiving in solemn 
audience the plenipotentiaries of European Powers. The Shah and his sons occupy the end of the 
apartment, and upon either wall advance to his presence two long lines of life-size figures-fiffy 
in all ; those in the place of ho-nour, nearest the .sovereign, being the rival representatives of 
Great Britain and France. An historical anachronism appears to have been perpe
d

I Taucoigne.says that the original building was built for Abbas Mirza by his minister Mirza 
Buzurg.
_rT _; IT777777T! 4-40--    ~i

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trated here, with a view of representing, not so much a single incident, as the events of an 
entire period. Accordingly, Sir John Malcolm, Sir Harford Jones, Sir Gore Ouseley, and the 
French General Gardanne, all figure in the pictures, being recognisable both by their uniforms 
and their features. The Englishmen's dress consists of a three-cornered cocked hat, laced red 
coat with huge skirts, white breeches, and the then obligatory Persian red stockings pulled up 
above the knee. These paintings, which possess the very highest historical importance, and 
which in so dry a climate have been admirably preserved, were the work of Mohammed Hasan 
Khan, one of the most eminent artists of the period. As works of art, whilst violating all laws of 
perspective and all requirements of light and shade, they are yet admirable also, and, in their 
stiff angularity of pose, suggest no unfair idea of what was then the most rigid and ceremonious 
Court of the East.
In an upper chamber of the same pavilion, Mirza Abul Kasim, the Kaimakam, I or Grand Vizier, 
of Mohammed Shah (the father of the present monarch), was strangled in 1835, by order of his 
royal master, who therein followed an example set him by his predecessor, and set one himself 
that-was duly followed-by his son. It must be rare in history to find three successive 
sovereigns who have put to death, from jealous motives only, the three ministers who have 
either raised them to the throne or were at the time of their fall filling the highest office in the 
State. Such is the triple distinction - of Fath Ali, Mohammed, and Nasr-ed-Din Shahs.
An. adjoining pavilion was devoted to the anderun, or ladies  quarter; and here the visitor is 
conducted to a subterranean bathBath-room room, in the centre of which is a circular pool, 
lined with
blue tiles, whilst at the extremity of the chamber is an inclined plane of polished marble,2 
down which it is understood that the shiftless naiads, over whom Sir R. K. Porter waxed 
poetical, used to slide into the arms of their royal adorer, and were by him pitched into the 
pool" a feat of no common exertion, con TEHERAN
339
He was the son of Mirza Buzurg, also known as the Kaimakam, who was the great Minister of 
Abbas Mirza, the Prince Royal  at Tabriz. When Mirza Buzurg died, his son succeeded to his 
position and title with Abbas Mirza, and, upon the lattefs death in 1833, with Mohammed Shah. 
But his haughty and imperious demeanour rendered his fall certain, 2 Binning (Tmo 3ears  
Travel, vol. ii. cap. xxix.) made the discovery that this slide was sheeted with zinc; but no one 
else has ratified the discovery, or will.

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340
PERS12,
sidering that it is at some distance. I will refrain from reflections about the  vanished peals 
of laughter and the songs once warbled by ruby lips,  leaving such flights of the fancy to the 
late American Minister in Persia, who was well qualified to bear the vacant mantle of Sir It. K. 
Porter.1
Outside the walls the most conspicuous eminences and the most advantageous sites have likewise 
been monopolised by the
0 Kasni- palace-building craze of the Kajar dynasty. Of these
4n Kajftr edifices the most prominent in any view of Teheran is that known as the Kasr-i-
Kajar (Castle of the Kajars, irreverently transliterated by the. E11gliSh sergeants who came to 
Persia in the first quarter of the century to instruct the native army, as I Castle Cadger ), 
or Taklit-i-Kajar-i.e. Throne of the Kajars. It is situated upon an elevation about two miles to 
the north of the modern walls. From a distance this building has a most imposing appearance, 
for it rises from a base of foliage in a number of white tiers, one above the other, culminating 
in a sort of  castle at the top.  The Persians entertain the most grotesque notions of its 
architectural importance, an(] have beell known to assert its superiority to Windsor Castle or 
Versailles. A nearer approach dissipates the fond but foolish illusion. It is then seen to inerit 
comparlson with a European palace, whether of'soN,ercign or of subject, about as appositely 
as might a barbour bumboat with a man-ofwar; the successive tiers consisting only of earthen 
terraces faced with brick, and once adorned with lakes and fountains, which, like most such 
things in Persia, have gone to ruin. The palace at the top contains a varietyof pictures of scene 
and persons datiDgfrom. the time of Fath Ali Shah, and in one of the pavilions in the grounds is, 
or was, a portrait of the English  Beau Brummel  of Persia, Istarji, or Strachey, who 
accompanied Sir John Malcolm's Mission, and created such an impression as an Adonis that 
Fath Ali Shah composed an ode in his lionour and bad his picture painted for most of his palaces 
here and at Isfahan. In the Kasri-Kajar be was framed between the mythic heroes, Zal and 
Afrasiab-an apotheosis which I am not aware that any other Englishman has ever attained. When 
the King moved with the
Persia and the Persians, p. 78. 2 Illustrations of the Kasr-i-Kajar appear iu the works of 
Malcolm, Morier, Ouseley, etc. ; but by far the best are a number of
ylates-in P.-Coste- s-PRUIPILUVUSE yqrk, Afonuments-Modernes do la Perse, P1. Iviii., 
lix Ix.
TEHERAN

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341
pick of his harem in the summer months to Sultanieh, the rest of the ladies were left behind in 
this castle. He is said to have contented himself with the modest total of one hundred upon these 
occasions, but Persian tradition fixes the number of the disconsolates. as seven hundred.
Other palaces, or summer villas, or shooting-boxes of the Shah,
PALACE OF ESHRETABAD
on the northern side of the capital, are Sultanetabad, 600 feet Other above Gulahek on the hill-
slope, a building constructed by palaceB the present Shah, and adorned with Persian frescoes of 
European, and particularly of English, scenes, among which may be noticed the Lobby of the 
House of Commons, the interior of a fine London restaurant, and the nave of a cathedral; showing 
that His Majesty has most accurately discerned the three leading influences

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ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZin the lives of Englishmen; I Eshretabad, a very pretty place, o which I 
give an illustration, where the inain pavilion is occupied ~, the Shah, and seventeen sinaller 
pavilions, situated round a lake by the ladies who accompany him (a creditable reduction from 
th standards of his great grandfather), and where also is to be seen painting of Fath Ali seated in 
durbar with the foreign ambassador before him; Niaveran, or Nioberan; Agdasieh, near 
Niaveran NeJefabad; and Suleimanieb, of which I have spoken in Chapter II These are all in the 
immediate neighbourbood of Teheran, and the majority of them are situated on the hill-slope 
known as Shimran, 2 a cultivated belt extending for a length of about twenty miles along the 
base of the great scarp of the Elburz, that towers like a prodigious natural rampart above the 
plain of Teheran on the north. F ath Ali Shah set the example of retreat to this cooler, because 
more elevated, site; and the large number of trees and gardens which have been planted in 
consequence of its since universal adoption is said to have had a very appreciable effect in 
lowering the temperature and increasing the rainfall of the capital. One result of the royal 
partiality for suburban residences has been the. construction or the improvement of the 
roads,that lead thereto
d

Doshan- from the city. A very passable road, planted for the Tepe most part with trees, leads to 
Gulahek on the north; and another such road, affording the solitary carriage-drive of Teheran, 
conducts between stiff rows of poplars in a straight line north-east, towards yet another villa, 
known, from the rocky eminence on which it is placed, as Doslian-Tepe (or the Rabbit Hill). 
The rock is an ugly excrescence from the plain at the distance of three miles from the city; and 
the palace is from the outside a yet uglier excrescence upon the rock. It is, however, a favourite 
hunting-lodge of the Shah's when he goes shooting in the neighbouring mountains, which are 
kept as a royal preserve. At the foot of therock is a large and shady garden, -where, in a long 
row of cages or dens, are kept the wild beasts of the Sliah's menagerie. The aninials, 
themselves struck me as fine specimens, but they were badly housed, and their number was 
small. The popularity of the place, however, as
  Excellent descriptions of this palace are given by Stack (A?ix Months in Persia, vol. ii, pp. 
155-1517), and Orsolle, (Le Caucase et la Perse, pp. 283-5). 2 The popular e tymciogy- 
Shera-i - Iran, i.e. Ligbt of Iran-is again absurd. Sbimran is an old Persian word, the origin 
and meaning of wbich are unknown.
0
TEHERAN
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a sort of Iranian Jardin des Plantes, or Zoo, is evidenced by the rent of 500 krans per annum. 
exacted by the crown from the lessee of a small coffee-house at the entrance of the garden. In the 
neighbourhood of Doshan-Tepe are two other royal shooting-boxes, Kasr Firuz to the south, and 
Surkheh Hissar to the north. Further to the east is a more considerable hunting-lodge on the 
banks of the Jajrud. The Shah, as I have indicated) is not the sole patron of the slopes of 
Shimran. His sons and the nobility in general have British followed the royal example, and there 
are many tasteful Le~ation and beautiful residences perched 6n the hill-sides or at 4ulahek 
hidden in the valleys. Of these, by no means the least agreeable is the summer residence of the 
British Legation in the village of Gulahek, about six miles from the northern gate of the capital, 
and said to be 700 feet higher in elevation. The seignorial rights of this village-the lordship of 
the manor, in fact-were presented by Mohammed Shah to Sir John Campbell in 1835; the 
grounds and garden, in which stand the Minister's residence, were the gift of the reigning 
sovereign. Under the terms of these concession s the -villagers of Gulahek, which consists of 
about 100 houses, enjoy quite peculiar privileges, being exempt from the obligations both of 
conscription and of the billeting of troops. Their assessment is payable to the British 
Government, and is levied by the Legation. Petty jurisdiction is exercised among them by a 
village kedkhoda (or headman), who is nominated by the British Minister, and is responsible to 
the member of the Legation invested with Consular functions. As at Teheran, there are more than 
one edifice in the enclosure belonging to the Mission ; bat the main building alone is of any size. 
This is supplemented by a great Indian durbar-tent, which is pitched outside and serves as a 
dining and drawing room during the summer months. The surrounding garden is a dense thicket 
of trees, and, though not comparable with what we style a garden here, is yet far better- adapted 
to the torrid climate, from which its shade in the summer affords an invaluable protection. The 
recent purchase of a neighbouring garden, with its water-supply (every gallon of the precious 
fluid having a wellascertained and costly market value), has added to the attractions of a 
residence without which it would be impossible for the staff of a European Legation to remain at 
the capital during the hot months. Russia is similarly favoured in the possession of the

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ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZvillage of Zargandeh, a little to the north-west of Gulahek, for which they 
claim analogous privileges. The French lease a residence at Tejrisb, a mile higher up the 
momitaiii, where, in the court of an imamzadeh, is what claims to be the largest chenar in 
Persia. The Turks own grounds in the same neighbourhood. The Germans were till recently 
tenants of the English in Gulahek, and now live at Dizashub. The Austrians are leaseholders at 
Rustaniabad. Before I quit the northern outskirts of Teheran I must pay the tribute of one more 
parting paragraph to the mighty mountainDemaVelid sentinel Demavend. The shapely white cone, 
cutting so
d

keenly and so high into the air, becomes so familiar and cherished a figure in the daily 
landscape, that on leaving Teheran and losing sight thereof (which, if be be journeying in a 
southerly direction, he does not do for 160 miles), the traveller is conscious of a very 
perceptible void. Dernavend is a volcano, not, as some have said, wholly extinct, but rather in a 
state of suspended animation. There is no record of eruption during the historic period, but 
columns of smoke are sometimes seen to ascend from the fissures, particularly from the Dud-i-
Kuh (or Smoky Peak) on the southern side. It is very strange that no mention is made of the 
mountain by Cliardin, whose keen vision overlooked but little; or by Pietro della Valle, who 
passed almost at its base. Hanway, in 1744, speaks of it as  the great mountain Demoan on 
which the Persians say that the Ark rested.  The first to accomplish the ascent-the Persians 
having always believed and declared, like the Armenians in the case of Ararat, that it was not to 
be climbed by mortal man -was Mr., afterwards Sir, W. T. Thomson, in 1836. The French 
naturalist, Aucher Eloy, met Thomson coming down from the top, and himself ascended a few 
days later. Since that date Dernavend has been frequently ascended by members of the various 
Legations in Teheran, the climb being neither difficult nor dangerous, but intensely fatiguing. 
For long an irreconcilable divergence between the trigonometrical and other calculations of its 
height, arrived at by different travellers or men of science, prevailed, the estimates ranging 
from 14,500 to 21,500 feet. General Schindler, as the result of a combined trigonometrical 
and barometrical measurement, gives the true altitude as 19,400 feet.  From the summit, 
which
Notes on Demavend, from Proceedings q
.f the R. G.S. (new series), vol. x. pp. 85-89 (1888); vide also  Accounts of Ascent,  by 
W. T. Thomson, in 1836,

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TEHERAN
345
consists of a crater filled with snow and ice, a horizon of 50,000 square miles is unrolled in 
clear weather. This is what Mr. Stack, in 1881, had to say of the view:- The crater is some 200 
yards in diameter, girt with a ring of yellow rocks of nearly pure sulphur, exhaling a 
pestiferous smell. The hollow is entirely filled up with snow. From the rocks Teheran can be 
seen, and the Kohrud Mountains 160 miles south of it ; the Great Kavir can be dimly perceived 
through its haze of heat to the south-east ; while to the north-a faint blue field under the 
horizon-stretches the Caspian behind the cloudy forests of Mazanderan. On the right hand and on 
the left were mountains of from 10,000 to 12,000 feet in height ; we over-looked them all 
with their thinly-scattered snows. But what a lifeless prospect ! Teheran so many miles 
away , and all the rest mere desert and crag and desolation, with here and there a village lost
0 r3 on the bare mountain-side.
I now pass to the environs of Teheran. on the south, and shall conclude this chapter with some 
brief notes about the sole localities Southern that there invite attention-viz. the shrine of Shah 
Abdul environs Azim, the remains of Rhey, or Rhages, and the ruins of Veram.in. A Persian 
city-much more a Persian capital-is ill off that c annot boast of some -noted iinamzadeh, or 
saint's tomb (literally, descendant of an Imam), to serve as an object of. pilgrimage and 
magnet of attraction. . Teheran is thus endowed in respect of the mausoleum and sanctuary of 
Shah Abdul Azim. Reposing beneath a golden-plated dome, whose scintillations I had seen from 
afar while riding towards the city, the remains of this holy individual are said to attract an 
annual visitatioia of 300,000 persons. I find that most writers discreetly veil their ignorance 
of the identity of the saint by describing him as I a holy Mussulman, whose shkine is much 
frequented by the pious Teheranis.  It appears, however, that long before the advent of Islani 
this bad been a sacred spot, as the sepulchre of a lady of great sanctity, in which connection it 
may be noted that the shrine is still largely patronised by women. Here, after the Mussulman 
Journal of the R.G.S. vol. viii. p. 109; by R. T. Tbomson and Lord S. Kerr, in 1858, in 
Proveedbigi of the R. G.S. vol. iii. p. 2: by R. G. Watson, in ibid. vol. vi. p. 103; and by E. Stack, 
Six JfoatAs in Persia, vol. ii. cap. vii. For further information, vide a learned lecture by Dr. 
Tietzo, , Vulcan Demavend,  in the Verhandlungea der Gesellsehat fiar Brdkunde zu Berlin, 
1878 ; and Frh. v. Carl Rosenburg, , The Lar Valley and Demavend  in.31itthell. der K. Und 
K. 6eogr. Gesell. Men, 1876, pp. 113-112. Compare Sir W. Ouseley, Travels, vol. iii. pp. 
328-334; wid De Filippi, Vietygia bt Persia, p. 267.

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conquest, was interred Imamzadeh Harnza, the son of the seventh Imam, Musa el Kazim; and 
here, flying from the Khalif Mutawakkel. came a holv personage named Abul Kassem Abdul Azim 
who
ENTRANCE TO MOSQUE OF SHAIT ABDUL AZIM
lived in concealment at Rhey till his death in about 861. A.D.  Subsequently his fame 
obscured that of his more illustrious pre
I This is the account given by the Persian Kitab-i-Majlisi, quoting Sheikh Najasbi, quoting 
Barki.
TEHERAN
347
decessor. Successive sovereigns, particularly those of-the reigning dynasty, have extended and 
beautified the cluster of buildings raised above his grave, the ever-swelling popularity of 
which has caused a considerable village to spring up around the hallowed site. The mosque is 
situated in the plain, about six miles to the soutli-south-east of the capital, just beyond the 
ruins of Rhey., and at the extremity of the mountain-spur that encloses the Teheran plain on the 
south-east. A narrow-gauge line of rails-the only railroad in working order in Persia-runs 
from a station near the southern gate of the city to the sbrine, which is also approached by a 
tolerable cart-road. Of the railway I shall have occasion to speak hereafter. At a short distance 
from the terminus-for the line goes no farther-we come to the portal of a covered and crowded 
bazaar, leading down to the main gateway of the mosque. But the warning of a chain stretched 
across the entrance teaches us that this bazaar is I)ast, or sanctuary; and, where the 
AlohamDiedan criminal of the deepest dye can enter and abide with impunity, the Christian 
visitor must pass aside. By skirting the bazaar it is possible, however, to arrive at a side court 
of the mosque, adjoining the main quadrangle with the minarets and the golden dome, and into 
this no one seemed to object.to our entering. To any but a Mussulman visitor there is nothing to 
be seen except the crowd. Far more interesting than the sanctuary or the worshippers of the 
saint are the famous, but fast-disappearing, ruins to whicE it ]Ruins of stands in such close 
pro-~_imity. I shall not here discuss ]RIley the question whether the remains still visible at 
Rhey are those of the famous Rhages or -not. That they are those of the Arabian Rhey there can 
be very little doubt, but whether the latter occupied precisely the same site as the Parthian 
and the Achoemenian Rhages is perhaps more open to question. Sir H. Rawlinson is, I believe, 
inclined to identify the latter with certain of the ruins in the neighbourbood of Veramin ; -nor 
is it out of

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keeping with the traditions of most Oriental cities of any great size that they should at different 
epochs of their lifetime have occupied different sites. Leaving the vexed question, however, to 
the savants, I shall here, in narrating the history of Rhages, or Rhey, assume, the identity of 
the two names. First comes the mythical period, starting from a legendary foundation by the 
patriarch Seth, and illuinined. by other great

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0 348 
TE H Ell AN
349
traditional names. This we may dismiss. III the Vendidad, how- Beg, and one of the capitals of Alp 
Arslan, the Great Lion.  In the ever, occur the names of Raulia and Varena among the stations 
in
n i tenth centurv El Tstakhri had declared it to be the most flourishing Ancient the. wanderings 
of the Aryans, which have an undeniable city in the iast after Baghdad, and had eulogised the 
hospitality and 1,11ages, 2 but in his discriminating praise we may
resemblance to Rbages and Veraiiiiii. Next comes what politeness of its people.; may be termed 
the nebulous period, of which little definite is find a sufficient corrective of the arrooant 
boastin-s to which I known, but echoes of which, loud though uncertain, have echoed have 
previously referred. Now fell the twofold catastrophe which, down the galleries of time. The 
Rhaves of this period was con- throughout the East, wherever of population, of pride, or of 
opulence temporary with Babylon and Nineveh, and was reported to be great examples were to 
be found, is associated with the names of a great city containinc, over a million souls. This was 
the Rages Jenghiz Khan and Timur. The troops of the former took the
7 to which the Tobias of the Apocrypha set forth from Nineveh, city by storm in A.D. 1221, on 
which awful day, says a local hisguided by an angel in disguise, to recover the ten talents 
deposited torian, ( 700,000 respectable persons  were slain. In the next with Gabael by his 
father.  This, too, is supposed to have been century the Great Tartar completed the work of 
destruction - and the Raoan of Judith,2 where Niab-Lichodonosor smote Arphaxad in Don Ruy di 
Clavijo, passing in 1404, found it   a great city, all in the, mountains. It is mentioned in the 
Behistun inscription as the ruins; but there appeared towers and mosques; and the name of place 
where the troops of Darius son of Ilystaspes captured the rebel the place was Xaliarihrey (i.e. 
Shalir-i-Rhey).3 The, town, however, Alede Phraortes. Hither too came Alexander, in pursuit 
of Darius, revived sufficiently to become one of the seats of government of on the eleventh day of 
his inarch from Eebataiia (Hamadan). The Timur's younger son Shah Rukh - and here his 
grandson, the city is said to have been rebuilt by Seleucus Nicator, and in the nerveless Khalil 
Sultan, who bartered an empire for the love ot succeedin g century to have been inade his capital 
by Aslik, or the fascinating Shad-el-Mulk (Delight of the Kingdom), lived a Arsaces, the 
founder of the Parthian empire, about B.C. 250. Finally fitful career-of romance, and died. 
From the death of Shah Rukh comes the third, or historical, period, dating from the. Arab 
conquest, the final decline of Rhey may be traced; and succeeding centuries when, if we are to 
believe one tithe of what Arab and Persian Ihave witnessed the steady decay and obliteration of 
its remains, histories have related, it was a most phenomenal place. One such until they have 
reached the sorrowful condition in which they may chronicler, a native of Rhey himself, fired 
by a patriotism which il now be observed. exulted in the lordly manipulation of figures, has left 
on record The fullest and most accurate account of the existing ruins of that the city contained 
96 quarters, each with 46 wards, each with Rhey is to be found in the pages of Ker Porter,4 
accompanied by a 40,000 dwelling-liouses and 1,000 mosques, and in each mosque careful 
plan. Some of the. walls and towers traced by 1,000 lamps of gold and silver, the total 
population amounting to Its ruins him cannot now be so

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clearly defined, the lapse of time, 8,000,396 persons. BY other writers it was termed the First 
of ~he advent of the railway, and the unexhausted inclination of the Cities, the Spouse of the 
World, the Market of the Universe. Of Teheranis, when they are in want of bricks to build a 
house, to get more certain knowledge are the facts that it was the birthplace and them from Rhey 
for nothing, having combined to still further reduce one of the favourite residences of the 
renowned Harun-er-Rashid; the great heaps of d6bris which mark the site. Porter traced the 
that it was captured by Malimud of (1hazin from the Buyah remainsof a strong citadel on a 
projecting rocky ridge above the dynasty III A.D. 1027; thatit became one of thetwo great cities
I Rhey was one of the places whose surrender was coolly demanded of Alp of the Seljuk 
sovereigns, the residence and the sepulchre of Togrul
Arslan by the Roman Emperor Romanus Diogenes before he would consent to
T)bit, i. 14, ix. 5. parley with the Seljuk sovereign. The latter's reply was the vigorous 
campaign
Judith, i. 5,  King Nabuebodonosor made way with KiDg Arphaxad in the which resulted in 
the capture of the vainglorious Coesar. great plain, which is the plain in the borders of Ragan; 
  and ibid. v. 15,  Ile 2 Oriental GeogralMy, p. 176. took also Arpbaxad in the mountains 
of Ragan.  It has been conjectured, if the Narrative of Finbassy (HakluyL Soc.), p. 99. book 
of Judith is to be regarded as historical, that this refers to the campaign of Travels, vol. L pp. 
358-364. Compare also Sir W. Ouseley, Travels, vol. iii. Darius against Pbraortes.
pp. 174-199.

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360
plain. This was, no doubt, the arx, or acropolis, and its outline can still be satisfactorily 
determined. Below this was a lower fortified enceinte, or citadel; and encircling this, upon the 
plain, was a vast space surrounded by fortified walls, with its entrances masked by three great 
square towers, the whole forming a triangle with the arx as its apex. Such, briefly stated, 
appears to have been the form of the fortified part of ancient Rhey. At present the line of walls 
has resolved itself into prodigious mounds of broken brick and clay, from which coins have, 
constantly been recovered, and to which visitors to Teheran are in the habit, of going out with a 
spade or shovel for an afternoon's private excavation. They seldom return without some 
fragment of exquisite tile-work, still gleaming with that flame-like iridescence which is a 
perished secret of the past, but which is indescribably beautiful even upon the minute chips and 
splinters that are, as a rule, the sole reward of the spade. I am not aware that any scientific or 
systematic excavation has ever taken place in the mounds of Rhey, and it is one of the tasks 
which I should consequently recommend to the labours of arebmologists. There are, however, 
other and more substantial relies of the ancient city. The most conspicuous of these is a great 
circular Tower of tower, locally known as the Nakkara-Klianeh (or DrumYezid tower) of Yezid, 
which too ardent writers, with no apparent justification, have identified with the sepulchre of 
Togrul Beg, and with the mausoleum of the lovers Khalil Sultan and Shad-el-Alulk. It is a great 
fabric, built of brick, entirely hollow inside, and roofless, from sixty to seventy feet in height 
and one hundred and twenty feet in exterior circumference, the outer surface being broken into 
a scries of projecting angles, similar to the towers which I have previously noticed at Jo *an 
and Bostam. Around
ri the summit is, or, rather, was, a cornice decorated with a Kufic inscription. This structure 
has unfortunately been subjected in the last few years to a restoration so complete that it now 
presents the appearance of a brand-new fabric. The surrounding ground has been converted into 
a garden, with tanks and trees, and a stairway, constructed in the wall, leads to the summit. 
From this point some idea may be gained of the outline of the ancient city. At a little distance to 
the east, and at the foot of the mountain, stands a second ruined tower with Kufic cincture, of 
which, as it has not been restored, I present a photograph. Above this are the remains of a stone 
citadel, on the rock.
ZZZZ
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351
od of the One relic there used to be at Rhey of the famous peri Sassanian kings. This was a semi-
obliterated bas-relief of a figure Rock mounted on horseback and armed with a spear, which was 
scuiptures sculped on a smoothed surface of rock, above what I have called the arx. The globe-
crowned headdress and the style left Do
RUINED TOWER AT RHEY
doubt as to the period of the sculpture, though insufficient to warrant an identification with any 
individual among the monarchs,

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352
ZZZZ
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d

later on. n the latter part of F ath Ali Shah's reign, however, this bas-relief, in the true 
spirit of Persian restoration, was effaced to make way for a sculpture representing the long-
bearded monarch spearing a lion; and no one now seems to be aware of the history of this wanton 
palimpsest.  At some distance lower down, another smoothed surface of rock, rising above a 
pretty pool known as the Chashmeh-i-Ali (or Fountain of Ali), exhibits Fath Ali Shah seated in 
high relief, with his Court-a nineteenth-century imitation of the Sassanian model, which has 
also been copied by Nasr-ed-Din Shah on the road through the Elburz into Mazauderan, and of 
which it is difficult to say whether it is more pompous or absurd. Anadjoining panel exhibits the 
same sovereign under a parasol, holding a falcon uponbiswrist. This is the sum total of wbatis to 
be seen at Rhey. In a desolate valley of the mountain-range at whose feet it lies is situated, at a 
considerable elevation, the circular   Tower of Silence, or place of exposure of the Parsis of 
Teheran. Like its well-known namesakes at Bombay, it consists of a hollow tower, in which the 
bodies of the dead are exposed upon ledges, to be devoured by birds of prey; but, unlike the 
structures of Bombay, its interior can be seen by climbing to a higher point of the mountain.
Between thirty and forty miles in a south-easterly direction from Teheran are the remains of 
yet another dead capital, Veramin. Veramin The present town is dominated by the walls of a great
mud fort, flanked with bastions and sloping inwards from the base. It was this great structure 
(of which there is an excellent likeness in Alme. Dieulafoy's book) which I had seen upon the 
summit of its mound while riding towards Teheran across the northern skirts of the plain of 
Verarnin, and which the fickle light bad transformed into huge detached pillars of mud. The 
village also contains the ruins of what was once a most noble mosque   attributed to Sultan 
Abu Said, the son of Sultan Mohammed Khodabundeh (i.e. Slave of God), whose. tomb I have 
mentioned at Sultanieh. Scattered about the plain are other great kalchs, or similar earthen 
fortresses, with, towering walls of unbaked bricks
I Vide E. Flandin, Perse Moderne, plate 30. Illustrations of the original are given by Ouseley, 
Travels, vol. iii. plate 65,and W. Price, Journal qfL inhamy, p. 37 and the fact of the 
mutilation is mentioned by Fraser in 1834, TFint   er's Journey vol. ii. p. 49. 
Nevertheless Stuart, who wrote in 1835, Lady Sheil cire. 1850: Binning in 1851, and Ussber 
in 1861, all mention and describe the Sassanian basrelief, which it is therefore clear that not 
one of them had ever so much as seen.
TEHERAN
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fused into a mass as solid as cement and as imperishable as stone. Among these Eastwick 
characterises as the most remarkable, a great artificial mound at Asiabad, 200 feet high, 350 
feet long, and 300 feet broad, on whose summit are the remains of what is said to be an old fire-
temple, built with unbaked bricks with alternate layers of stone, and rising to a maximum 
height of nearly forty feet. A third kaleh, known as Kaleh-i-Iraj (Rhages ?), near the village of 
Jafirabad, encloses with a thick mud wall, fifty feet high, a space, according to Eastwick, of 
1,800 yards by 1,500, or nearly a square mile.  The date and era of these prodigious 
structures are unknown and disputed; there is no hazard in referring them to a remote 
antiquity; but, whatever ,their age, they recall a past when Persia was more powerful and more 
populous, even if less pacific or secure, than now; and their silent witness accentuates the 
pathos of the country B ruin.
I Eastwick's is the best account of these ruins, vol. i. p. 282. For Veramin. proper I 
recommend A. Chodzko's narrative in Annales de8 _Foyagn, 1850, Part M., and Mme. 
Dieulafoy's La Perse, pp. 140-154.

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d

THE NORTHERN PROVINCES
For the King of the North shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former, 
and shall certainly come after certain years with a, great army and with much ricbes. -
Daniel xi. 13.
IN Chapter II. I have disembarked the newcomer to Persia at Resht, or rather at Enzeli, in the 
south-west corner of the Caspian, and Alazande- have conducted him from thence to the capital ; 
in Chapter ran and VTIL I have begged his company as I ranged over the Gilan whole of Khorasan 
from the Herat border in the east, to ,Astrabad in the west; in the last chapter I have shown him 
the plain of Teheran, bounded on the north by the stupendous barrier of the Elburz Mountains. 
But on the far sideof those mountains, where their northern skirts descend in wooded flounces to 
the Caspian, and between Resht and Astrabad, extends a range of country, marked by so strange 
an individuality, and so unlike anything else that is to be seen in any other part of Persia, that a 
work professing to treat of that country as a whole would err seriously in omitting any notice of 
it. Readers who have followed me so far will have pictured, and have justly pictured Persia, at 
least in the winter months, as for the most part a colourless, waterless, and treeless expanse, 
where wide deserts, with whose monotony the eye aches, roll their sandy levels to the base of 
bleak mountains, whose gaunt ribs protrude like the bones of some emaciated skeleton through a 
scanty covering of soil. And yet within a few miles at the most of this cheerless scene, severed 
by a single. but mighty mountain range, lies another Persia, so rich in water that malarial 
vapours are bred from the stagnant swanips, so abundantly clothed witli trees of the forest, that 
often a, pathway can scarcely be forced through the intricate jungle, so riotous in colour that 
the traveller can almost awake with the belief that he has been transported in sleep to sonie 
tropical clime. These extraordinary ebaracteristics, and this amazing change, are exhibited by 
the northern maritime provinces of Mazanderan and Gilan. Mazanderan signifies Maz
t
I z 0
E-4
9 0

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the inner part, whence its application to the women's quarters in a house), i.e. the hollow 
between the mountains and the sea. Gilan has been commonly said to be derived from a word 
signifying mud; and this would certainly be appropriate to a region in which that is the chief 
tangible commodity~ and which an experienced and sympathetic traveller has summed up as 
 moist, muggy, villainous Gilan.  But this derivation is disputed by some professors, 
though I am not aware that they have found anything to suggest in its place. The name is, no 
doubt, adapted from the Gelea, who inhabited the south shores of the Caspian, and who bequeathed 
a title both to the sea, the country, and the principal local manufacture.  The characteristics 
of these two provinces are so similar, if not identical, a slight difference of latitude being the 
only serious disparity to which they can lay claim, that I propose to treat them in conjunction. 
Mazanderan starts in the neighbourhood of Astrabad on the east, and runs for a distance of 220 
miles along the coast to an unimportant river, which is the boundary of Gilan. From this point 
GilAn continues round the south-west curve of the Caspian for a further -distance of 150 miles, 
terminating in the mountain district of Talisb. It is this transmontane maritime belt, 370 miles 
in length and with a breadth varying from twenty to sixty miles, with which I am called upon to 
deal .2
THE NORTHERN PROV1NCES
355
(a Pehlevi, or old Persian word for mountains) and anderun (within,
I Marco Polo (cap. iv.) called the Caspian I Mer de Gheluchelan   (i.e. Ghel ou Ghelan), and 
the silk I Ghelle.  2 As the provinces of Mazanderan and Gilan stand apart from the rest of 
Persia in their physical features, so they do in the literature to which they have given birth. I 
append here, therefore, for the ben~fit of such travellers or students as wish to make a special 
study of this part of the country, a small chronological bibliography of the principal works 
which I have found relating thereto. General mention of the two provinces is of course frequent 
in larger works upon the whole of Persia. For journeys through the country irrespective of 
more general observation, vide the routes printed at the end of the chapter. Pietro delIa Valle 
(1618), Viaggi (Let. iv.), or Les -Favieux Voyages, A-C.; Sir Thomas Herbert (1627), 867ne 
Yeares  Travels, p. 170, et seq. (3ZZrdZZ edit.); Captain P. H. Bruce (1722-3), 
3fenwirs; Two English Gentlemen (1739), Journey tAroligil -Russia, into Persia; Jonas 
Hanway (1743-1744), 11istorical Account of British Trade over the Caspieva, vo   I   
s. i. and ii.; S. G. Gm6lin (1771-1772), Histoire deg Decoavertes, vols. ii. and iii,; R. Hablizt 
(1773-1774), Bemerkungenge?nacht in doer persischen Landschaft Ghilan (St. Petersburg, 
1783); G. Forster (1784), A Journey from Bengal to Rngland, vol. ii. ; Colonel Tr6zel (1805-
1806), Voyage en A rntin ie, 4- d AmWe Jembert; Sir W. Ouseley (1812), Travels in the 
1ast, vol. iii. cap.xvii.; J. B. Fraser(1822), TrarelsontheSoutABanksof the Caspian (pamba); 
(1831), A Winter's Journey, vol, ii, Letters xv., xvi., ivii.; Colonel W, Monteith

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366
When discussing the political and strategical aspects of the Astrabad-Shahrud position in 
Chapter VILL, I undertook to say Astrabad something more upon afature ocension of the former 
city Province and of the province of which it is the capital. Politically, Astrabad looks in the 
main towards Khorasan and the East. Physically, it must be classified with the Caspian 
provinces, to which in climate, vegetation, and character of inhabitants, it bears the closest 
resemblance. Furthermore, any visitor to Mazanderan is so likely either to start from 
Astrabad, if he be coming from the East, or to end his Journey there if he have started from 
Teheran, that some mention of its features seems to be appropriate in this connection. Astrabad 
city  (i.e. the town of either astra star, or aster inule), sometimes called by the Persians 
Dar-el-Muminin or Gate of the Hi.to~y of Faithful, from the number of Seyids living there, is 
said the City by Fraser, who is incomparably the best authority upon the Northern provinces, to 
have beenfounaed by Yezid ibn Meklub, or Muballab, an Arab chief of great celebrity, and 
general of the armies of the Omeyah Khalif Suleiman about 720 A.D .2 Its subsequent history is 
somewhat obscure. Of course it was levelled in the universal cyclone. of Timuride destruction in 
1384 A.D. In later history it became famous as the headquarters of the Kajar (1831), Journal 
of the R.G.S., vol. iii.; Colonel W. K. Stuart (1836), Journal of a Residence in Persia, cap. x. 
xi.; Major D Arcy Todd (1836), Journal of the R. G.S., vol. viii. pp. 102-108; A. Eloy 
(1836), Relations do Voyages, pp. 416-451; Sir H. Rawlinson (1838), ibid., vol. x. p. 1; A. 
Chodzko (1839), 2vouvelles -Annales deg T oyages, 5me s6rie, vols. xx., xxi.; W. R. 
Holmes (1843), Sketches oil the Caspian 8hores; F. A. Bubs6 (1848), Annales des Voyages, 
1851, part iv.; N. do Khanikoff (1859), Journal Asiatique (1862); Keith Abbott (1859), 
Proceediogs of theR. G.S., vol. iii, p. 390; E. B. Eastwick (1860),fournal of a Diplomate, vol. 
ii.; M. Guilliny(1866), Essai sur le Ghilan (Bull. do la Soe. de Wogr.); G. Melgunof (1868), 
Bas Siidliche Ufer des Kagpischen Meeres, oder die ord
N provinzen Persiens; Colonel Val. Baker (1873), Clouds in the East; DrTietze (1875), 
Zeitschrift der Oes. filr Erdhunde, Vienna, 1875; B. Dom, Caspia (Russihn), 1875; Captain 
Pusebin (1877), The Caspian Sea (Russian); Colonel B. Lovett (1881-1882), Proceedings of 
the R. G.S. (new series), vol. v. (1883) and Consular Report, No. 36, 18892. 1 For accounts of 
Astrabad city vide Jonas Hanway (1743-1744), Historieal Account, vol. i. p. 165, &c.; J. B. 
Fraser (1822), Travels on the South of t1W Caspian, cap. i.; W. R. Holmes (1844), Sketches 
on the 6asIfian Shores, caps. xiv., xv. E. B. Eastwick (1860), Journal of a Diplontate, vol. ii. 
pp, 50-59; (Sir) C. MacGregor (1875),_7ourney through Khorasan, vol. ii. pp. 161-163; E. 
O Donovan (1880), I he Merv Oasis, vol. i. cap. x.; Colonel B. Lovett (1881), Consular 
Re ort, No. 36, 1882. p I The Eneyelopmdia Britannica antedates the reign of Suleiman by one 
hundred years, and turns his general's name into Yezzen-ibn-Messlub,
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THE NORTHERN PROVINCES
367
Tribe, one branch of whom was settled here, and. at the fort of Ak Kaleh on the Gurgan; and one 
of whose chieftains raised the standard of revolt against Nadir Shah and seized the town in 
January 1744, while Hanway happened to be residing there, innocently bent upon the quixotic 
task of conducting a large trading caravan to Meshed, and attracting to the English net the 
commerce, of Central Asia. Nadir Shah took summary vengeance upon the rebels, and ordered the 
Kajar stronghold of Kaleh Khundan in the city to be razed to the ground. The subsequent rise and 
ascendency of the Kajar tribe brought Astrabad into a prominence that it had not before enjoyed; 
but in this century the members of that tribe have been dispersed in positions of mark 
throughout the country; whilst Astrabad has acquired another and more sinister importance as 
the armed outpost against. Turkoman attack. Of this desultory guerilla warfare I have before 
spoken. Its significance has usuallybeen thought sufficient to justify a Royal Governor at 
Astrabad, and the province has
The town is at once one of the most picturesque and rag ed in
C 9Persia.The circuit of its mud walls, flanked with round towers
and defended by what was once a deep ditch, is about
3-1 miles; through which four gates admit to the interior.
2
But walls, towers, and ditch are in a state of like decay; the forest has encroached almost to the 
outskirts of the city, and a jungle of brambles and briars, the favourite haunt of the wild boar, 
fills the moat and assails the ramparts. Nor does the city occupy the whole of the interior space; 
for here, too, are deserted and overgrown patches more frequented by wild animals than by man. 
Nevertheless, the town is most picturesquely situated; the wooded slopes of the Elburz 
descending almost to its gates; and the outlook from its walls extending over a thick forest for 
twenty miles to where, on the west, the Caspian glitters on the horizon; and on the other, or 
north-eastern side- to the Gurgan or Wolf River,  and the sandy flats of the Turkomans 
desert. More picturesque, however, than its own surroundings is the town itself. Its thatched or 
red-tiled houses, with roof of high pitch and wide projecting eaves, the tiles being laid on reeds 
supported on rafters,
I It was from the Gurgan that the ancient Hyreania was named; the roots hyre and gurg being 
identical in old Aryan. Hyreania comprised the Gurgan plain as far as the Atrek, Astrabad, and 
the greater part of Mazanderan.

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358 PERSIN
present a spectacle in singular contrast to the cubical parallelograms of mud with which 
Persian urban architecture has hitherto familiarised us, At Astrabad, too, the walls are often of 
stone or burnt brick, mud being unable to resist the abnornial dampness of the climate. Many of 
the houses in the neighbourhood are built on platforms raised by poles to a height of from two to 
three feet from the ground, in order to escape the excessive moisture; and many have pleasant 
verandahs beneath the eaves. The streets are stone paved, a still surviving relic of the days of 
the Great Abbas; and the flanious causeway or Sang farsh (lit. shall stoife carpet), built by Iiiiii 
to facilitate communication Abbas  through these northern provinces to which lie was so 
much causeway attached, emerges from the western gate. From here it ran right through the 
forest, passing the various palaces and cities which lie created or enlarged in this locality, to a 
place named Kiskar in the western part of Gilan. It was composed of big roughly hewn blocks of 
stone, sometimes nearly a foot square, and dwindled from a widdi of fifteen feet at Astrabad to 
frorn eight to ten feet as it penetrated further into the jungle.  None the less it was once a 
magnificent work, and worthy of the monarch who ordered its construction. It has now in parts 
entirely disappeared; elsewhere the stones have been broken up, dislodged, or tossed hither and 
thither, and the road is a perilous succession of pitfalls and quagmires. On the other, or south-
eastern, side of Astrabad it reappeared and conducted to the foot of the pass leading to Sbabrud 
and Bostam. From the summit of this pass began what may be described as its second section, 
which ran in an easterly direction, via Jajarm to a point near Chinaran, about fifty miles from 
Meshed. In no part of this extended length has it ever been repaired; and, where it still exists, 
the roadway gapes with a three hundred years  ruin. Astrabad is said to contain a population 
of 8,000 persons, and the surrounding villages 23,000. The Governor's palace is in the 
Population Ark or citadel, a considerable but ruined structure in of ABtra- t e south-east angle, 
built by Agha Mohammed Shah bad in 1791. The remaining public buildings are of no 
importance. There is the proper allowance of one reputable shrine, viz., the sepulchre of 
Abdullah, a brother of the Imam
I Hanway, however, 150 years ago, says that I in sorne parts it was over twenty yards 
broad, -vol. i. p. 291.
THE NORTHERN PROVINCES
359
 Reza, who appears to have graciously distributed his relations in

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the places which he could not patronise himself This is situated outside. the walls on the north, a 
little to the west,of theAk Kaleh gate. Six madressehs, or colleges, communicate a stinted and 
obsolete education to such pupils as take advantage thereof; but the vakf or religious 
endowments, in which the place is rich, sustain a dissolute crowd of mullahs and seyids, who 
appear to be a curse to any spot which they afflict with their sanctity. Soap boiling and the 
manufacture of gunpowder are the chief local industries. The former is conducted in a very rude 
and Local clumsy fashion, the potash employed being extracted industries from a plant that 
grows on the banks of the Atrek; nor is the article, when manufactured, of a character or quality 
that has ever warranted exportation. Gunpowder is made of sulphur brought from Baku, nitre 
from Meshed, and willow charcoal locally procured. A certain amount of felt carpets are also 
made, compounded of a mixture of camel's hair, goat's hair, and sheep's wool, beaten 
together into a solid mass. I The abatement of Turkoman ravages has resulted in the bringing 
under cultivation of a much larger area than heretofore Peasant in the province of Astrabad. The 
soil is so extraordinarily life productive that emigrants from a great distance, even from 
Afghanistan, come and settle here. The climate is gentle; fuel is abundant; there is no lack of 
water; and the land has merely to be scratched in order to  produce a manifold return. 
Wheat, barley, and rice are the chief crops; and the rent of land under grain cultivation is only 
about 8s. an acre. Partition of property in equal moieties between the male and female members 
of the family is here the law of I anded inheritance; and accordingly, the several properties, not 
large at the commencement, have shrunk into narrow plots, some fields of six acres having not 
less than nine partner landlords. I This state of things,  as Colonel Lovett said in his 
Consular Report, I tends not only to impoverish the country, but is a fruitful source of the 
indolence and apathy that characterise the inhabitants of this province, and also accounts for the 
rarity of handicraftsmen.  Many of the villages encountered in the forest or in the open 
clearings are curious places, surrounded by impenetrable bramble hedges - and the homesteads 
of the peasants, I constructed of split poles, wattle, and mud dabbing,  thatched or tiled, and 
elevated above the ground, suggest

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__1
9 
reminiscences of countries very far removed from Persia. Rice is the staple of every-day 
consumption, and an adult male is said to consume ten ounces at breakfast, twenty-two ounces at 
lunch, and twenty-two ounces at supper; which, on the whole, is not a bad performance. From 
the Astrabad province and city, which have merited a somewhat minute particularisation, I turn 
to the adjoining Maritime provinces of Alazanderan and Gilan. And here I sliall provinces first 
give an account of those natural features and products which they share in common, before 
turning to individual cities or sites. I have already pointed out that these provinces consist of a 
strip of country rising from the sfiores of the Caspian, itself eighty-five feet below the sea 
level, to the summits of the Elburz, possessing a mean elevation of 12,000 to 13,000 feet. It 
may readily, therefore, be conjectured that a region, however narrow, that embraces so many 
zones of climatic influence, will not admit of a single classification. It should rather be divided 
into four belts or sections, which may be thus distinguished and described. First comes the 
maritime edge of these provinces, where they are lapped by the waves of the Caspian. And here 
we are at once 1. Sea-coast confronted with a phenomenon of remarkable but uniform
occurrence, allusion to which has been made in an earlier chapter. The wash of the surf and the 
violence of the prevalent north and north-western winds oil the Caspian have combined to pile 
up along this stretch of sbore a long chain of sandhills, sometimes from twenty to thirty fact in 
height, and from 200 yards to a quarter of a mile in width. On the inner side of these sandhills 
the rivers descending from the mountains, surcharged with alluvial deposit, have, in their 
inability to force a way to the sea, outspread themselves in low morasses and lagoons, where the 
waters chafe idly to and fro, or lie stagnant, a nursery of humid and poisonous exhalations. In 
cases where the current has with difficulty cleared a way for itself to the sea, the incoming 
resistance of the surf creates an outer bar, which renders the lake useless for purposes of 
navigation. These murdabs, or dead waters, succeed each other along this entire fringe of coast, 
the most notable ex amples being the lagoons of Enzeli at the western, and of Astrabad at the 
eastern extremity, between which occur the cognate murdabs of Lengarud and Meshed-i-Ser, 
The inner banks of these
THE NORTHERN PROVINCES
361

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backwaters are overgrown with a dense jungle of alders, ashes, planes, poplars, willows, and 
such timber as loves a saturated soil. nirough this jungle the rivers and strearns come down 
from the mountains, furrowing a bed that is alternately a swamp, a torrent, or a quicksand, and 
in the rainy season spreading themselves out into sluggish morasses. Pestilential vapours rise 
from the rotting vegetable matter; every manner of reptile infests the swamps, and a cloud of 
mosquitoes and insects spins in the air. From the very brink of these maritime lagoons the 
jungle stretches inland to the mountain base, which is sometimes at
a distance only of two miles, at others of twenty. 2 , Jungle and Through the dense undergrowth 
the stranger picks his arable ay with the aid of a guide, by intricate pathways
W, known to the villagers only. And yet in the heart of this malarial forest clusters of cottages 
are bidden away beneath the trees; and every now and then occur considerable clearings devoted 
to the cultivation of sugar, cotton, or rice. No European could live for long in these damp low 
levels, where there is no elasticity in the air, and an ever-present sense of suffocation; but 
their native population is sedentary, and though liable to rheumatism, ague, dropsy, 
ophthalmia, and other eye diseases, does not appear to be liereditarily stunted or weak. What the 
acclimatised Mazanderaiii or Gilani, however, can stand, is perilous even to other Persians. 
There used to be a proverb which, parodying a wellknown Italian saying, might be translated: 
Vedi Gilan e Mori; and over two hundred years ago we find Tavernier and Cbardin recording that 
 The air is so unwholsom. that the People cry of him that is sent to Command here, Has he 
robb d, stolen, or murder d, that the King s6nds him to Guilan ?  Fraser, after 
penetrating for a second time, in 1834, from end to end of this maritime belt, could pass no 
more lenient verdict upon it than this:
Bengal in the rains, Demerara in the wet season, Bombay in the monsoon-these were the 
recollections that suggested themselves to my mind; and yet -1 think Mazanderan far more 
unpleasant than either. 
From the marshes and jungles of th,e plain, however, we pass to a region of surpassing beauty 
and splendour. The skirts of the Elburz descend in greht wooded slopes and buttresses towards 
the sea; and between their spurs lie the most romantic glens and ravines. It is difficult to 
count,.much less to classify, the
I A Winter's Journey, vol. ii. p. 464.


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362 THE NORTHERN PROVINCES 363
immense variety of forest timber that clothes these spurs and valleysthe silk spun, that first 
brought Persia within the range of Eurowith its shaggy mantle. The trees are mostly deciduous; 
and therepean commerce, and that made Gilan the most famous to foreigners 3. Forest have been 
reported by different travellers, the oak, among Persian provinces. Well might Sir Anthony 
Sherley, the belt elm, plane, maple, ash, lime, box, walnut, beech, juniper,adventurous 
English knight-errant who entered the service of yew. Wild vines wreathe the tree-stems and 
clamber among the Shah Abbas in 1600, write of it as follows:branches. Wild hops, wild figs, 
plums, pears, and apples abound. Gheylan is a country cut off from Persia with great 
mountaynes Wild strawberries are met with everywhere; and while honeysuckle, hard to passe, 
full of woods (which Persia wanteth, being here and wild briar, and roses deck the 
undergrowth, in which are seen there onely sprinkled with hils, and very penurious of fuell, 
onely laurels, hawthorn, and box, the forest floor is carpeted in spring their gardens give them 
wood to burne, and those hils, where are time with primroses, violets, and other sylvan 
flowers. It will be some faggots of Pistachios, of which they are well replenished) ; beobserved 
that this flora is in no sense tropical, but is such as tweene those hils there are certaine 
breaches rather than valleyes, might be encountered in any southerly temperate zone. The 
which, in the spring when the snow dissolveth, and the great abuncomparison, therefore, with 
the East or West Indies, which is dance of raine falleth, are full of torrents. The Caspian Sea 
includeth naturally suggested by the climate, is in reality a faulty one. The this countrey on the 
east, betweene which and the hils is a continuing
valley, so abounding in silke, in rice, and in corne, and so infinitely vegetation is rather that of 
Southern Europe, to which special peopled that Nature seemeth to contend with the people's 
industry, atmospheric conditions, presently to be explained, have superadded I
the one in sowing of men, the other in cultivating the ]and ; in which a humidity rarely met with 
out of the tropics. Wild animals you shall see no piece of ground which is not fitted to one use or 
abound in this region, just as they do in the low-lying jungle other; these hils also are so 
fruitfull of herbage, shadowed by the trees, as and on the.greater altitudes. Tigers of great size 
are common, they show, turned towards the sea, that they are ever full of cattell, which and 
play havoc with the cattle, though they rarely attack a human yieldeth commoditie to the 
countrey by furnishing divers other parts.  being. Leopards, wolves, bears, wild boar, 
jackals, lynxes, different Finally, above the wooded zone, rise the naked heights of the varieties 
of deer, wild sheep and wild goats, are among the larger mountains, covered with a scanty 
pasture, frequently veiled in mist, game, and in the Turkoman desert wild donkeys and gazelles; 
4. Bare and with snow-streaks rarely absent, from their summits. pheasan ts and woodcock 
among the smal ler ; whilst in the morasses mountains Thus from the steaming vapour bath by 
the, sea's edge to and on the lagoons, as 1 have previously indicated in speaking of the eternal 
frost and ice of Demavend, every gradation of climate Resht, are to be found swarms of wild 
fowl, duck, and suipe. and atmosphere may be encountered,

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alternately enervating the
It is in this third belt, and principally on its lower slopes, that system and filling it with brisk 
vitality. In the upper ranges, occur the towns and largest centres of population. Hidden, one 
tremendous kotals or rock-passes are met with, as stiff and neckTowns and may literally say 
buried, amid the trees, they are entered breaking as any in Persia. In the open places of the 
forest zone cultiva- by the traveller almost before he is aware that he has and on the slopes of 
the mountains above are the yeilaks, or summer tion - left the forest. It is difficult for him to 
say whether he quarters, to which all the richer folk retire from the plains and lowis in a 
village or in a great town, so overtopped and submerged lands in the heat, and to which the nom 
ad villagers who are depenis everything with the foliage, not merely of natural plantation,dent 
upon herds and flocks, drive their cattle for summer pasture. but of orchards and gardens rich 
in every variety of fruit. I haveA very large proportion of the population is, therefore, 
migratory already mentioned the wild fruits that grow unasked in the woodedin character; and 
with them are mingled other wandering tribes, depths. In cultivated ground may be produced 
oranges, lemons,Populmtion who have become village-settlers, but whom the summer citrons, 
pomegranates, peaches, melons, medlars, quinces, andheats tempt to wander again; whilst in 
Gilan. bands of olives. In fact, it would be difficult in temperate regions to name gipsies are not 
rare. Of the two provinces, Gilan is said to be a tract more favoured by Nature for purposes of 
production. It isthe damper, and its people less vigorous and brave ; but I cannot in country of 
this character that, the silkworm was cultivated, andI Purebas Pilgrivig, vol. ii. lib. ix. 
cap. 2.

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364
ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZconvince myself that there is any genuine distinction between the two. 
Fraser, the most competent authority to follow, said that he had expected to find the inhabitants 
wretched, puny, and diseased; but that, on the contrary, they were stout, well-formed, and 
handsome, the children being particularly beautiful. Of the two, he reported the Mazanderanis 
as the darker and swarthier. Holmes said that the sedentary population near the sea were sallow 
and sickly; and I am sure it would be surprising if they were anything else. The Mazanderanis 
have been commonly denounced as the Bceotians of Persia, and the taunt of Mazanderani yabus, 
or packhorses (fbr which, too, the province is famous), has been levelled at their heads. Here 
too, however, Fraser comes to their rescue, reporting them as quiet and inoffensive, but brave 
and good soldiers, at least in their own climate, outside of which they are now never employed. 
The population of the two provinces suffered terribly from theplague of 1830-31, in which 
itwas estimated that two-thirds were swept away. Epidemics of small-pox and other diseases 
have ravaged the district since, -and it is only latterly that it has begun again to hold up its 
head. The totals for each of the two provinces are variously- estimated at from 150,000 to 
250,000 ; but I doubt if the data for correct enumeration have ever been collected. The natives 
are said to be descended froni the ancient -Medes, and speak a dialect of Persian, which differs 
slightly in the two provinces, and a third form of which, with more Peblevi words than in 
either of the others, is spoken in the highlands of Talish.1
d

Like their surroundings, and like themselves, the costume of the peasantry in Gilan and 
Mazanderan differs from that which is Dress worn in the cities and plains of the interior. Their
shulivars, or pyjamas, are frequently made of a woollen stuff called chakah, which is better 
adapted than cotton to resist the thorns. On their legs they wear bands of webbing rolled round 
and round, called pai tava, ortua, the counterpart,aDdperhaps the eponyinous forerunner of the 
Kashmir Initti. Their sandals, or charuks, are made of raw bide fastened over the instep and 
ankle by a thong. On the head they wear, not the felt egg-shell of the Persian peasant, but a 
shako of sheepskin. Their costume, in fact, is not unlike that worn by the Kurds in the 
mountain-border
I As long ago as the tenth century El Istakhri said:  In Taberistan they have a peculiar 
dialect, neither Arabick nor Persian; and in many parts of Deilman (Dilern) their language is 
not understood. 
.f
I/
THE NORTHER.- PROVINCES

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365
of East Khorasan. The entire outfit is said to cost from sixteen to eighteen shillings. The men are 
frequently equipped with billhooks to clear a way through the jungle.
To anyone who has been, as I have, in other parts of the Caspian, or who knows of the 
temperature that there prevails in the winter Influence months, the contrasts between the 
northern and central of the Caspian on and the southern shores, as I have here depicted them, 
climate in climate, in flora, and in fauna, is so great as to be almost amazing, and far greater 
than can be accounted for by the mere difference, of latitude; Khanikoff well expressed the 
phenomenon thus exhibited in the following terms, which I have translated:
If we compare the and and sorrowful uniformity of the saline plains on the north shore of the 
Caspian with the luxuriant and almost tropical vegetation on its southern coast, we are struck 
with the contrast presented by the development of organic nature upon the two borders of the 
same inland sea. In the north the donkey can scarcely withstand the rigour of the climate ; in the 
south the tiger of Bengal is a common animal. Near Astrakhan it is all that the grape can do to 
ripen ; in the Gulf of Astrabad, on the semi-island of Potemkin, the palm-tree grows wild, and 
sugar-cane and cotton are cultivated with success. Finally, every year the northern parts of the 
sea are fast bound in ice; wbilst, before they have had time to melt, everything is in full bloom 
on the coasts of Gilan and Mazanderan.1
The explanation of this seemingly strange phenomenon is, no doubt, that the vapour-charged 
clouds arising from the Caspian, and drifting southwards under the effect of the prevalent 
winds, impinge against the crests and slopes of the Elburz, and descend in mist and rain on to the 
lowlands sloping below. Khanikoff thinks that the dissolvent process is furthered by currents of 
hot air flowing in a north-westerly direction from the Great. Central Desert, and that, when 
these meet the northern blasts, they melt in soft rain. Certainly the rainfall in the Caspian 
provinces is as ten to one compared with that in other parts of Persia; and rain is liable to fall, 
not at certain seasons of the year only, but almost at any time.
The staple produce of Mazanderan is rice, cotton, and sugar. The staple produce of Gilaii   
once was ~ilk. As Richard Chenie, Produce one of the factors of the British Moscovy Company,
wrote home in 1563,  The King of Gillan, where as yet you have had no traffique, liveth al 
by marchandise.  Since it I Wmoire, etc., p. 71.

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366
ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZwas this silk traffic that brought Persia into mercantile contact with 
Europe, that prompted the interchange of embassies and the framing of treaties in the sixteenth 
and later centuries, and that made Persia wealthy and famous ; and since, moreover, it is only 
recently that it may be said to have permanently declined, I shall take advantage of this 
opportunity to give a short r6sumg of this interesting page of Persian history, only treating of 
the subject in so far as relates to Gilan and Mazanderan, and reserving for a later chapter on the 
Commerce of Persia, its international application in bygone ages. The romantic story of the 
introduction of the silkworm from China into Europe in the reign of the Emperor Justinian, 
about 550 A.D., is one of the favourite anecdotes of history. The first mention of its cultivation 
in the northern provinces of Persia that I have come across, is in the pages of the tenth century 
pilgrim, El Istakhri, who travelled from Rhey to Sari, the capital of Mazanderan, and spoke of 
the silk which was produced in great quantity in the province called Taberistan, the ancient 
name for the Elburz region in these parts. Three centuries later we learn from Marco Polo that 
the merchants of Genoa, then at the height Of its commercial renown, had recently brought the 
Caspian within the far-reaching sphere of their trade, and had begun to export  the silk 
which is called Glielle.  In the middle of the sixteenth century the Moscovy Company, 
through its agents, Anthony Jenkinson and others, made that courageous attempt to open up a 
British Caspian trade, through Russia, whose dramatic annals I shall afterwards relate. It was 
the silk of Gilan in quest of which they came. In the succeeding century the main channel of 
export of this product was in Dutch hands from the Persian Gulf. Early in the eighteenth 
century, Peter the Great, who fully understood the part that commerce can be made to play in 
schernes of imperial aggrandisement in the East, endeavoured to di Vert the entire northern 
export into Russia, by an arrangement with the Armenian traders of Baku. After a while this 
conspiracy broke down and the Russians atteitipted the business themselves. In 1725 Peter was 
about to  enter into an engageinent with a company of English merchants, being willing even 
to invoke foreigii aid in order to gain his end, when lie sickened and died. Then eDsued the second 
brief, but, gallant, experiment oil the part of a small band of Eiiglish merchants, beaded by 
Elton
d

THE NORTHERN PROVINCES
367
and Hanway, the history of which will also come under notice in my second volume. Since then, 
no direct endeavour has been

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made forcibly to divert the traffic into this or that channel, although the conquests of Russia in 
the early part of the present century have rendered it inevitable that the greater part of the 
exports of northern Persia should pass through her hands.
Sooner than weary my readers with a lono-drawn and statisti
zn cal narrative of the state of the Silk trade of Persia, and of northern Table of Persia in 
particular, during the last 250 years, I have produce preferred to arrange in tabular fashion 
the principal inforand value mation with which my reading has supplied me as to the produce 
and value of that trade at different dates within this period.
Date
1637 Olearius
1670
1744
1771
1822
1836
1839
1840 1843 1844 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1876 
1876 1877 1878 1882 1885
1886 Herbert

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Authority
Char(liu
HanWRY
Gm6lin
Fraser
Fowler
Chodzko
Chodzko Holmes Sheil
Stolze & Andreas 
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Churchill
Do.
Stolze & Andreas
Benjamin
Produce of all Persia
Value
20,000 bales 2s. 6a. or 2s. 8d. of 216 lbs. per lb. in ach Persia
bales; I 22,0( 0 to 12 million of 276 lbs. each 608,000 lbs.
Produce of Gilan
8,000 bales

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10,000 bales
livres
30,000 Winans o
12 lbs. each
60,000 shahmans of 14 lbs. each
1,800,000 lbs. (Gilan and Mazanderan)
90,000 shahmans of 13 lbs. each 110 (00 shahmans 1,300,000 lbs. 1,000,000 lbs. 
2,190,000 lbs. 1,230,000 lbs. 612,500 kilogr. 503,400 kilogr. 403,400 kilogr. 323,800 
kilogr. 418,100 kilogr. 35o,400 kilogr. 286,600 kilogr. 347,400 kilogr. 644,700 kilogr. 
245,400 kilogr. 262,ooo kilogr. 210,000 1 bs. 704,700 lbs. 177.000 k1logr.
7,000 shahmans of 65 lbs. each
6,000 bales as above
12-18 crowns, i.e. 31-41. 10s. per batman ; 30-40 crowns, i.e. 71. 10s.-10L cire. 1750
6J-8 tomans, i.e. 31.12s.-41. 8s. per shahman 2,000,0001.

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450,0001. 1,000,0001. 667,0001. 743,0001. 507,0001. 451,0001. 302,0001. 
359,0001. 286,0001. 221,0001. 225,001. 330,0001, 105,0001. 215,OOOZ. 123,0001. 
135,0001.
Produce of Value Mazanderan
2,000 bales
2,000 bales
1,500-1,600
batmaus
35,000 lbs.
I These figures are copied from the British Consular Reports of Mr. Churchill, but the authors 
append the just observation (Peterviann's Xittheilungen, 1885,

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368
ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZRestricting our observations to Gilan alone, in the absence of sufficient 
data upon which to base any more general conclusions, History f we notice the lamentable falling 
off in production bedecline tween the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries, consequent upon 
the anarchy that succeeded the overthrow of the Sefavean kings. -In Hanway's time Gilan 
only furnished oneeighth of the total output in the days of Chardiii. At the close of the century, 
the firm hold of the Kajar family -upon the northern provinces re-established security and 
brought with it a revival of trade. During the first half of the present century the progress 
continued without intermission. Sir J. Sheil, when BritishiNfinister, wrote in about the year 
1850, 1 Silk is the,great staple of Persian commerce, particularly of foreign traffic, which 
enables it to pay for a portion of its imports from abroad.  He spoke of attempts that bad 
been made by English merchants to introduce improvements in the preparation of the silk, but 
which the normal supineness of the Persians and their reluctance to abate one jot or tittle of 
archaic routine, bad rendered unavailing.  In 1864, the very year in which, as the above 
figures show, the climacteric of production was touched, disease appeared for the first tinie. By 
the year 1869, its ravages had made such serious inroad that the value of the annual output had 
sunk to one-fifth of the figure at which it stood five years before. From this attack the silk trade 
of Gilan has never recovered. Eggs from Khorasan and eggs from Kbanikin in Turkey were tried, 
but with no success. Eggs were brought all the way from Japan, but without much better 
results. In despair at bad season succeeding bad season, the peasants have turned their attention 
to other crops. Tobacco was started as an experiment in 1875. An impulse was given to the olive 
cultivation of Rudbar near Resbt. In the central silkgrowing districts of Persia, opium has been 
largely adopted as an alternative, and has produced most gratifying results. But in the northern 
provinces rice has proved the most popular and remunerative substitute - and in a country 
where Dew ideas and improved methods penetrate so slowly as in Persia, it is doubtful whether, 
at least in Persian hands, the silk industry will ever permanently
d

p. 21) that they cannot be accepted as absolutely reliable, and are sometimes totally at variance 
with the contemporaneous estimates to be found in the Consular reports from Tabriz. I 
kilogramme=approxiinately 21 lbs. I Note H. to Lady Sheil's Glimpses of Life and Na vners 
in Persia.
I
THE NORTHERN PROVINCES
369

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revive. Under other auspices, a different tale migght very likely soon be told; for the disease 
having been expelled, and the soil and climate remaining what they formerly were, there is no 
valid reason why so lucrative an industry should either be abandoned or should cease to flourish.
At present the silk-worm is cultivated, in addition to Gilan and Mazanderan, in Azerbaijan 
(where in 1885 the crop was Present 32,500 lbs.), in Khorasan (16,2 50 lbs.), and in the 
central area of district of Persia, whose chief marts are Kashan, Isfahan, production Yezd, and 
Kerman (13,000 lbs.). In the two latter cases, the produce is wholly, or almost wholly, 
required for local consumption, and it is from Gilan and Azerbaijanalone that the export now 
takes place to Russia, and still more to Marseilles. The native manufactures in which Persian 
silk is employed are velvets, brocades, satins, and sarsenet, as well as plain silk, and silk 
mixed with cotton  Since pure silk is forbidden by the Koran, such of the Persians as are 
sticklers for that somewhat neglected code of precepts, salve their consciences by wearing silk 
with the slightest admixture of cotton. Of the modern fabrics that I saw in the above-mentioned 
towns, I admired the velvets of Kashan the most. Old Persian velvets and velvet brocades are 
superb, but are very difficult to procure in pieces of any size. Silk carpets are still made to 
order at Kashan and Sultanabad, and are as magnificent and as costly as heretofore ; but, unless 
carefully watched, the manufacturer flies to the use of cheap aniline dyes, and the artistic value 
and durability of tone of the fabric are irretrievably ruined.1 Before I quit the subject let me 
very briefly describe the manner in which the silk cultivation is conducted in northern Persia. 
Mode of In the month of April the nativesi and chiefly the women, cultiva- take the eggs, 
attached to a sheet of paper, and expose tion them to the warmth of the human body by wearing 
them beneath their clothes, next to the skin. After the lapse of three days the eggs are hatched 
and the caterpilhirs appear. They have before, them a life of about forty days, which is spent in 
alternateIn addition to information contained in Consular Reports, let me recommend for a study 
of the Persian silk trade an essay by A. Chodzko, De rilhe des vers d sole en Perse (Paris, 
1843); W. R. Holmes, Sketches on the Caspian Shoreg, pp. 96-101; & G. Benjamin's 
Persia, pp. 414-422; and a paper on I Silk Production in Persia  in the Journal of the 
Society of Arts, Nov. 19, 1886. For the figures of production in 1889, vide a later chapter on 
the I Resources of Persia!

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370
ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZspasms of excessive gluttony arid stupefied repose. The periods of 
feasting) however, last from seven to ton days, the, int
d

0 ervals of torpor not more than two. After the first ton days the worms.are transferred to a 
tilambar, or platform, covered with a thatched shanty and reared at a height of about five feet 
from the ground   where, in the intervals of voracity, they are stuffed to repletion with 
mulberry leaves. After about forty days they become fat, full, and nearly transparent, in which 
uncomfortable condition they exhibit a desire to climb up a number of branches placed 
vertically in the shed, and to spin their cocoons. This goes on for ten days, during which time the 
tilambar is hermetically closed, At the end of that time it is again opened, the boughs are remov 
ed, the roof is found to be entirely covered with beautiful cocoons; and while some of these are 
spared to develop into moths for breeding purposes, the bulk are taken down, the chrysalis is 
killed by exposure to the sun, or iminersion in boiling water, and the silk is un~avelled and 
wound off on reels. The survivors come out as full-blown moths in a fortnight, when the
female, having done her duty by laying from 100 to 300 eggs, pines, and incontinently expires. 
In addition to the valuable products of their cultivated area, Mazanderan and Gilan are endow-e-
d with gratuitous sources of Otherre- wealth, of which but little~ and that unsystematic, 
adsources vantage is taken by the Persians. There are considerable mineral resources in the two 
provinces, of which I shall speak in a future chapter on the resources of the whole country. 
Much of the timber that is grown on the mountain slopes is well adapted for ship building. It was 
utilised for that purpose by John Elton, the ingenious English shipwright of Nadir Shah, who 
was commissioned by that monarch to construct for him a flotilla on the Caspian. Timber from 
Mazanderan was even hewn and ordered to be transported across the whole of Persia to the Gulf, 
in order to repeat the experiment there. Boxwood has been exported from the Caspian provinces 
in some quantity to Russia and England. But no system or science of forestry exists; and the 
timber which might produce a large annual revenue is either apathetically neglected or 
mischievously destroyed.  Nor is the sea much less rich in money-making properties than 
the land. The months ofIn 1886 the monopoly of wood-cutting in Gilan was purchased by a 
Russian for two years for 50,000 tomans (16,0001.).In 1890 it stood at 17,000 tomans.
THE NORTHERN PROVINCES
371

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the principal rivers, especially the Sefid Rud, and the marine lagoons. swarm with a variety of 
fish, sturgeon, salmon) mullet, trout and carp. At the mouth of the above-named river nearly 
4~000 fish have sometimes been taken in the day at the height of the season, whilst in the 
Enzeli lagoon 300,000 carp have been netted in a single day. At the time of my visit the entire 
fisheries on the south shore of the Caspian were leased to a Russian for 65,000 tomans  - 
(18,5 0 0 1.) a year ; and from, the export both of dried fish, and still more of caviar to 
Russia, he was said to make a large annual profit by the speculation. The revenue of these two 
provinces has been peculiarly fluctuating, according as it has followed the ups and downs of 
their Revenue material progress or decline. Fraser in 1822 found the
revenue of Gilan, from customs and land-tax, to be 200,000 to 210,000 tomans, or 
110,0001. to 115,0001. Ten years later Monteith returned it as 300,000 tomans, whilst, 
after a further decade it had, according to Holmes, reverted to the original figure. Sir F. 
Goldsmid has given the revenue (in 1874) as 440,000 tomans. The  Encyclopoedia 
Britannica,  quoting from an obsolete report, gives 105,000 tomans as the revenue of 
Mazanderan, and says that no surplus is left therefrom for the treasury, the entire receipts 
being consumed in military and administrative expenses. I do not find  that this is the case. 
In .1888-89 the revenue of Mazanderan was 139,350 tomans in cash, that of Gilan 345,000 
to,mans. The expenditure in the former province on government dues, cost of collecting, public 
buildings, &c., -was only returned at 4,590 tomans; in: the latter it was 24,430 tomans. What 
proportion actually reached the Royal Exchequer it is impossible to determine. Shut off by the 
mountains from the rest of Persia, and differing therefrom in climate, character, and interests, 
the Caspian proHistory vinces have necessarily played a somewhat independent
part in history. The imagination that find's both its stimulus and satisfaction in the 
legendary period of a nation's life, not unnaturally located the heroes of Persian myth in the 
sublime uplands. There they fought their battles and triumphed, the very beasts of the forest 
taking their side in the conflict ; there Rustam vanquished the Div Sefid, or White Demon; an 
inferior order of men, predestined to a just servitude, inhabited the maleficent regions below. 
The part played by the;se provinces in classical

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372 THE NORTHERN PROVINCES 373
history, and in the campaigns of Alexander, -may be traced by reference to the title 
Hyr cania in a Classical dictionary. In the Christian Era they appear only at fitful epochs 
upon the public stage. During the Sassanian period and the first centuries of Islam, Mazanderan 
f6rmed part of Tapuristan ., the modern Taberistan. About the year 900 A.D. Alazanderan was 
given by the Khalif TATutadhid (or iMutazzid) to Ismail Samani, the founder of the Samanid 
dynasty of North Persia and Bokhara, as a reward for his services in conquering the rebellious 
Amr bin Leith, the brother and successor of Yakub bin Leith, already mentioned in the chapter 
on Seistan. In the fourteenth century we find an independent k9eyid dynasty ruling In 
Alazanderan. When Anthony Jenkinson and his fellow pioneers opened the British Caspian trade 
with Persia in the middle of the. sixteenth century, they speak of a king of Gilan, who was only 
in nominal dependence -upon the Sefavi Shahs. This state of balting si" thjection developed 
into actual rebellion in the reign of Shah Abbas, who, in 1593, ordered a general massacre in 
Gilan. Mazanderaii, however, as his mother's birthplace, was a special favourite with 
Abbas, Here he built a series of magnificent palaces, whose wasting ruins I shall presently 
describe;.here, in sight of the Caspian and in a retreat where no enemy could either follow or 
disturb him, he loved, when not at Isfahan, to reside.- So anxious was he to raise the maritime 
border to a higher level of prosperity and cultivation, that here, as elsewhere, he pursued his 
favourite policy of colonisation on a gigantic scale; transplanting 30,000 families of Christians 
from the Turkish border in order at one and the same tirne to depopulate the regions which were 
yearly ravaged by the Ottomans, and to apply a fresh and vigorous industry to the most neglected 
part of his dominions. Chardin gives the following quaint description of the aptitudes of the 
country for the novel immigrants:
It is sayd to be a perfect right country for the Christians ; it abounds with wine and hog's 
flesh, two things which they mightily like ; they love to go to sea, and they will traffick with 
their brothers, the Muscovites, by the Caspian Sea. 
Abbas, however, bad failed to reckon with the Mazanderani climate, which quarrelled as fatally 
with the new comers as it did with the worthy English ambassador, Sir Dodmore Cotton; for, as
I Travels (edit. Lloyd), vol. ii. pp. 8-11.
Chardin goes on to relate,  The malignity of the air was so cross to his designs and 
projects , that, about 1630, the 30,000 Christian families were reduced to 400.  The 
Italian Pietro della Valle, who visited the Court of Shah Abbas in Mazanderan, was very much 
smitten with the ladies of that province.  The women,  be wrote, 4 were in my eyes 
perfectly beautiful; and I had full opportunity

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of judging, as, unlike other Mohammedans, they never cover the face, but converse freely with 
man. In addition, they are affable and exceedingly obliging.  I have previously spoken of the 
Cossack descent upon kazanderan that occurred in the year 1668. Fifty years later the Russian 
Russians made their first determined attempt, in the in-vasion closing years of Peter the 
Great's reign, to occupy the southern shores of the Caspian. Such conflicting versions of this 
episode have found their way into books about Persia,  that I will briefly relate, so far as 
can be ascertained, what actually occurred. The best authorities are Jonas Hanway, who was in 
the country within a few year-s of the event; G. Forster, the first overland traveller from India 
to England, sixty years later; Captain P.- H. Bruce, an Englishman serving in Peter the 
Great's-army during the first Persian Campaign; Dorn's  Caspia  (in Russian) 
and a work by AT. Fonton entitled I La Russie dans I Asio Mineure.  From a collation of 
these several sources we may reconstruct the narrative of events as follows. In 1722, Peter 
sent an ambassador to the Persian Court at Isfahan to demand redress for serious  damage 
done to the property of Russian merchants by the Lesghians, then in constant revolt against 
Persia, in the town of Shemakhi. The envoy  arriving at the capital, found that Shah Sultan 
Husein had been deposed, and that Mahmud, the Afghan usurper, was on the throne. The latter 
replied that he could not accept the responsibility, and that the Czar had better safeguard his 
own trade. Peter, who was never slow at accepting a hint, at once assembled an army of 30,000 
veterans at Astrakhan, embarked in July 1722, and sailed against Derbend, which yielded to his 
arms. He was proceeding to advance upon Baku and Shemakhi, when he was met by the 
Ottoman ambassador with the threat that, unless be withdrew (the Turks also laying claim to the 
entire Caucasus), he would find a Turkish as well as a Persian war upon his hands. He then 
retired for the winter to Astrakhan, leaving a garrison at Derbend and a fort on a river further 
south, which was presently attacked by the Afghans

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374 
and destroyed. In the. course of the winter, the, Persian chief of Gilan sent an agent to Astrakhan 
offering to surrender Reslit, which -was then besieged by the Afghans, tc Russia. Ovejoyed at 
this windfall, Peter despatched anotlier ariny early in 1723. Resht opened her gates to tile 
new-coniers, and tile greater part of the province of Gilan passed into Russian hands. In July of 
the saine year, Baku, after suffering a bonibardment from the sea, also capitulated. The young 
Shah Taliniasp, who meanwhile was striving to make headway against the Afghans in the north, 
now thought it tinie to enter a claini of ilonlinal ownership over his fast-shrinking dominions. 
What weakness, however, rendered him unable to dispute, policy suggested that lie should 
amicably concede. Accordingly, an ambassador was sent to Peter, and the terin& of a bargain, 
which in all probabil ity neither party had any idea of keeping, were embodied in a treaty of 
alliance that was signed on September 3, 1723. It contained four principal articles. The Czar 
was to drive out the Afghans from Persia, and to reinstate Tahiiiasp on tile throne. In return the 
Shah was to cede to Russia in perpetuity the towns and dependencies of Derbend and Baku, as 
well as the provinces of Gilan, Mazanderan, and Astrabad. He further undertook to furnish 
camels and provisions for the Russian army of invasion. Finally, full liberty of commerce was 
guaranteed between Russia and Persia.  The Russians, as has been shown, bad occupied Gilan 
even before the treaty was signed, and the agreement in that respect was little more than a 
ratification of tile status quo. They do not appear ever to have set foot in Alazanderan or 
Astrabad, having their hands full elsewhere, or realising the doubtful policy of such a 
proceeding. In 1725 Peter the Great died, and his schemes of Oriental aggrandisement were 
temporarily shelved. In the same year the Russian forces took Lahijan, the second town to Resht 
in the province; but they advanced no further to the east. Basil Batatzes, the Greek merchant, 
whose travels I have, cited when speaking of Kelat, was in Gilan during tile period of the Russian 
occupation and had an interview at Resht with General Levasoff, the Russian commander.  
Finally, about the year 1734,  the Russians, then involved in domestic commotion and 
intrigue, were compelled to evacuate their Caspian dominions, with only a permission to hold
Hanway, Historical Account, vol. iii. p. 181. Xouveaux JlPlanym Orientaux (Paris, 1886), 
lines 933-950.
THE NORTHERN PROVINCES
375
a resident at the seaport of Enzeli for tile management of the silk trade of Gilan.  This is 
Forster's version. Hanway, who was in Gilan within ten years of the evacuation, assigns as 
the true

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reason the pernicious effect of the climate.  The warmth and dampness of Ghilan, together 
with the unwholesome fruits, rendered that province the grave of the Russians, for which 
reason the Empress Anne very prudently consented to evacuate the country in 1734, without 
drawing any advantage from it.  Watson, quoting from a writer in I Blackwood's 
Magazine  (vol. xxi.) says that.Astrabad and Mazanderan had already been restored to Persia 
by a treaty concluded at Resht in 1732; and that a further treaty restored Gilan in 1735-
statements which, if correct, would absolutely dispose of any claim that Russia may 
subsequently have felt disposed to make on the ground of the original concession. There is a 
fourth version of the epilogue, which may be supposed to reflect the view that might commend 
itself to a patriotic Persian, whose amour jig-opre could admit neither the voluntary 
occupation, nor the peaceful retreat. According to this version Nadir Shah, having obtained the 
throne, sent an imperious ultimatum to the Russian commander, that unless the Russians 
disappeared from the scene, he (Nadir) would send his ferashes (lit. carpet-spreaders), to 
sweep them into the sea. It is the obvious sequel of this story, which is probably of later 
construction, that the Russians embarked with great precipitation, and were no more seen. In 
1746 the, only relic of their occupation of the coast strip was a factory at Enzeli, and a 
commercial agent at Derbend.
That Shah Tahmasp himself attached v   ery little validity to the treaty with Peter the Great, 
had already been shown in 1730, in Later which year he made a grant of _21azanderan, along 
with history Khorasan, Seistan, and Kerman to Nadir, as a reward for the expulsion of the 
Afghans. The- condition of the two maritime provinces during the latter part of Nadir Shah's 
reign, the oppression and misery and ruin that everywhere prevailed, are admirably depicted in 
Hanway's pages, from which we learn how a national hero soon transformed himself into an 
intolerable curse, for whose removal men prayed almost in public. In the anarchy, consequent 
upon Nadir's assassination, a local chief named Hidayet Khan raised himself and the province 
of Gilan to a position of practical independence. When Kerim Khan Zend attained the
. I Hi8torical Aecoimt, vol. i. P. 12.

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376 THE NORTHERN PROVINCES 377
throne, lie left Hidayet Khan in charge of Gilan, exacting only an annual tribute. The chief kept a 
large army, and observed great state. It was during his rule that the Russian traveller Gm6lin 
visited Reslit, and travelled in the Caspian provinces. Meanwhile, in Mazanderan and Astrabad, 
the wily Kajar eunuch was organising the strength and the following that were shortly to place 
birn upon the Persian throne. Sheikh Vais, the son of Ali Murad Khan Zend, who held the throne 
for four years, from 1781-85, was despatched by his father to crush these pretensions, and to 
recover Mazanderan. Though at first, successful lie was deserted by his followers and compelled 
to retire.  When Agha -foliammed had finally triumphed, Hidayet Khan of Gilan was foolish 
enough to resist the successful usurper, and paid the, penalty with his life. Since then Gilan and 
Mazanderan have remained in secure and undisputed possession of the Kajar reigning family, 
and have commonly provided governing billets for the sons -or relatives of the sovereign.
I have already spoken of the partiality displayed by Shah Abbas for Mazanderan, and have alluded 
to the royal residences Palaces of Which he there constructed. Let me -say a few words Abbas 
the Great. more about them before passing on. The monarch was Ashraf here visited and seen by 
the garrulous Italian Pietro della Valle, and by the ingenious Englishman, Sir Thomas Herbert, 
and their contemporaneous narratives are still extant. A century later, Ilanway described the 
ravages of a hundred years  decay. In the present century, the tale has been carried down to 
modern times. These palaces were several in Jiumber. The principal were located in a 
situation- of great natural beauty at Ashraf, about five miles south of Astrabad Bay, and with an 
exquisite outlook over the sea. Shah Abbas  causeway, running in a westerly direction from 
Astrabad city, passed the village of Gez, and conducted thence, a distance of twenty-six miles, to 
Ashraf, whose title signified the Most Noble. Here the Great Abbas set about building himself a 
 sort of northern Isfahan, whose palaces and gardens should rival those of the southern 
capital. Pietro della Valle was there in 1618, while the king's palace was the only completed 
structure, and the town was still in the bricklayers  hands. Nine years later, on May 25, 
1627, in the same palace, which Herbert described as  pretty large and but newly 
Enisbed, . the KiDg received  in public audience Sir Dodmore
Cotton, ambassador from Charles I., and his own accredited envoy Sir Robert Sherley. This is 
how the ever-amusing Herbert describes the scene:
At the upper end sat the Pot-shaw [i.e. Padisbah], beloved at home, famous abroad, and 
formidable to his enemies. His grandeur was this: Circled with such a world of wealth be clothed 
himself

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that day in a plain red callico coat quilted with cotten, as if he should have said His dignity 
consisted rather in his parts and prudence than furtivis coloribus, having no need to steal 
respect by borruwed colours or embroideries. Cross-le,g d the Pot-shaw sat ; his sash was 
white and large - his waste was girded with a thong of leather; the bilt of his sword was gold, the 
blade formed like a senii-eircle, and doubtless well tempered ; the scabbard red ; and the 
Courtiers, regis ad exe7nplum, were but meanly attired. I
Originally there were six different royal establishments at Ashraf; five of which were contained 
within one large wall of circunivallation. Of these the most famous was the Bagh-i-Shah, or 
King's Garden, laid out with stone terraces, and canals, and cascades, and adorned with 
aiwans, or open halls, the largest of which, called, like that at Isfahan, Chehel Situn, or Forty 
Pillars, terminated the principal vista. Terraces, and cascades, and hallshave all gone to utter 
ruin, but the garden is still a glory, with its gigantic cypresses and orange trees. The Chehel 
Situn: was accidentally burnt down in the time of Nadir Shah, and was replaced by a flimsy 
structure, itself in equal ruin. Other gardens and palaces were the Bagh-i-Harem, or Garden of 
the Seraglio, the Bagh-i-Tepe, or Garden of the Hill, which con   tained the Hummum,. or 
warm baths, the palace of Sahib Zeman, or Lord of the Age, and the Khelwet, or private 
palace and garden. A.-paved way with streams and waterfalls led from this enclosure to the 
Imareti-Chashmeh, or Pavilion of the Fountains, making. the sixth royal residence at Ashraf. 
The old stone pavements have vanished, the slabs having been broken or stolen for the sake of 
the iron clamps cemented by lead, and the entire precincts are a wilderness of ruin .2 Half a 
mile from Ashraf the grandson and successor of Abbas, Shah Sefi, built a.palace   for his 
daughter, upon a lovely wooded eminence, and called it, after himself, Sefiabad. Like its 
predeces-_ sors it has perished; and a hunting lodge; built many years ago by
Sonie Yeares  TraveIg (3ZZrdZZ edit.), p. 185.
For the palaces of Asbraf, vide- Gen, J. von Blaramberg, Efrinnerungen au,8 dem Leben.

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378 
THE NORTHERN PROVINCES
379
the present Shah in its place, is within measurable distance of a intheir ar ebitecture, which is 
similar to that already described at similar dissolution. The town of Ashraf was peopled by Shah 
Astrabad, and in their population, which is easily distinguished Abbas with a colony of 7,000 
Armenians, some of whose descen
from the Persian of the centre and south, they are sui generis. dants still inhabit the place along 
with a mixture of Persian and Sari, thirty-five miles from Ashraf, is the old capital of 
MazanTurkish descent. During the last twenty years it has experienced deran, and has been 
identified by D Anville and Rennell with the quite a revival, owing to the trade with Russia 
that has sprung up Sari Zadracarta of the ancients, where Alexander halted for from the port, or 
rather roadstead, of 21eshed-i-Ser. fifteen days and offered sacrifice. Be this as it may, it was
Twenty-six miles from Ashraf on the north-west, at a distance the capital and residence of the 
independent sovereigns who ruled of about three miles from. the Caspian and on the banks of the 
this regio in the later Middle Ages. The more modern city was
in n Feraluthad Tejen river, are situated the ruins of another city and also selected is -his 
capital by Agha Mohammed Shah in the days
palace of Abbas, known as F4 eraliabad. Pietro della when he was still fighting for the throne, 
and when his dominions Valle declared that the circuit of the walls was equal to, if not did not 
extend much beyond Astrabad and lilazanderan. He built greater than, that of Roine or 
Constantinople, and that the city the palace, which still exists in a ruined condition, and which 
concontained streets of more than a league in length. In this palace tained pictures of the battles 
of Shah Ismail and Nadir Shah. In died Shah Abbas in Januar 1628, in the forty-third year of 
his
y I the early part of the present century, Sari was reported to contain reign and the seventy-
first of his age. Forty years later the palace, from 30 000 to 40,000 inhabitants; and as late- 
as 1874 Captain which, according to Chardin, was  a wonder of art that deserved a Napier 
was told that the total was 16,000. It is not now supposed kind of perpetuity,  and   
vi,herein was kept a vast treasure of to contain much over 8,000 persons, business having 
migrated to dishes and basins of porcellane or china, cornaline, agate, coral, Amol and 
Barfurush. The streets are stone-paved and the town amber, cups of crystal of the rock, and 
other varieties without has a picturesque -appearance. When -Hanway was here in 1744, 
number  was plundered by the Cossacks and destroyed - and the he left on record that I there 
are yet four temples of the-Gebres, or worthy knight sorrowfully adds,   Everytime I think 
of the magni
worshippers of fire, made of the most durable -materials. These ficence and delightfulness of 
that place, I cannot but lament its edifices are rotund, of about 30 feet diameter, raised in

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height to hard fate.  I Fraser, in 1822, examined and carefully described the a point near 
120 feet.   Herein there can be no doubt that the ruins of Ferahabad, which he declared to 
be vastly inferior to those excellent merchant was hoodwinked either by the ignorance or the of 
Ashraf, in extent as well as in ma-nificence, and to indicate deceit of his informants; for these 
four (there were only in reality only a temporary rather than a permanentabode. 
Itiscuriousthat three) towers, so far from being Parsi fire-altars, were merely the king should 
have ventured -upon two such similar designs in gumbaz, or sepulchral towers, erected in the 
Arab -period in such close proximity to each other; but it is also characteristic of memory of 
eminent saints. Fraser in 1822 found all three still the whims of a monarch, who shared to the 
full the capricious irre- standing. The largest was called Gumbaz-i-Selm-wa-Tur, and was 
sponsibility that has always been a feature of despotism in the a hollow, circular, brick tower, 
100 feet high, with two belts of East. Ferahabad is now a miserable village, which no one turns 
Kufic inscription and a conical roof. It was believed to be the aside to visit. tomb of Hasan-ed-
Dowleh) a descendant of the Buyah or Dilemi
From the palaces I turn to the cities of -Mazanderan, few in sovereigns in the fifth century of 
the Hejira. The two other number but distinct in individuality, which I sliall treat in the 
imamzadehs were attributed to Yahia and Ibrahim, the sons of
order in which they are encountered if *ourneying upon the Imam Reza. Since Fraser's day 
all three have been destroyed, Cities of Mazan- Shah Abbas causeway from. Astrabad, 
namely: Sari, Bar- or partially destroyed, by earthquakes. deran furush, Amol. Of all of them it 
may be said that in theirBarfurush, the modern commercial capital of Mazanderan, is situation, 
amid forest or jungle and on moist and luxuriant plains, situated twenty-six miles west of Sari 
and ninety miles north-east
I Coronatioa of King golynzan. Ill., pp. 152-154. 1Bistorical Aecount, vol. L p. 292.

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380
ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZof Teheran. Three centuries ago it was a mere village; but its admirable 
position and the improved communication both with the Barfurush capital and the sea, have 
combined to make it the most
d

considerable town on the Caspian sea-board. Little more than a century ago (1771) Gni6lin 
found it a poor place, in no wise resembling a capital. And yet Fraser, in 1822, would have us 
believe-the sole instance, so far as I know, in which his judgment was seriously at fault-that it 
had grown within that space of time into a great city, as frequented as Isfahan, and with a, 
population alleged to consist of 300,000, but accepted by him as 200,000persons. He went into 
positive ecstasies over  the spectacle of a city purely mercantile, governed by a merchant, 
with no khans or nobles, peopled entirely with merchants, mechanics, and their dependents, and 
prosperous and happy far beyond any in Persia.  The people were as respectful and polite as 
their town was admirable, and the bazaars, a mile in  length, were as excellent as the 
town.  Twelve years later Fraser returned to find that the. scourge of the plague had fallen in 
the interval upon this earthly paradise of cities, and that the fanciful population of the previous 
decade had fallen to 30,000. Since then it has partially recovered, although it is to be feared 
that the halcyon days of Fraser's imagination will never return. Napier, in 1874, reported 
its population as 50,000 (a greatly exaggerated estimate), its streets as clean and well paved, 
its shops as well built, and its bazaars as full of European goods. The town is situated in the level 
country about halfway between the base of the mountains and the sea, and though surrounded by 
rich rice, sugar, and cotton plantations, is, so buried in forest trees as to be invisible from the 
exterior. In the summer it is almost deserted by its inhabitants, who fly to the mountains. On an 
island in a small lake or tank between the town and the river stands a dilapidated villa belonging 
to the Shah. The Russians keep a Consular agent here to superintend their trade with the 
Caspian. There has for long been a considerable number of Jews resident in Barfurusb, where 
they are engaged in retail trade. A furious outhreak against them took place in 1866 and is 
recorded by Mounsey.1 It was suppressed by the vigorous action of the Shah ; but public opinion 
prevented him from inflicting condign punishment upon the authors.
I Travels South of the Caspian, cap. vii, 2 Journey through the Caucasus, pp. 273-282.
THE NORTHERN PROVINCES
381
Fifteen miles from Barfurush is the port or roadstead of

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Aleshed-i-Ser, at the mouth of the river Babil. Here the Russian Meshed-i- steamers of the 
Caucasus and Mercury touch in their Ser circumnavigation of the Caspian, and there is a very 
considerable trade, both export and import, principally with Astrakhan. The barbour 
accommodation is of the most mea-re description, or, rather, does not exist. The rival 
influences of river and wind have, in a manner before described, created a formidable bar which 
no effort is made to pierce or dredge. The steamers are obliged to lie out in the offing at a 
distance of between two and three miles from the shore; and passengers and cargo, as at Enzeli, 
can only be disembarked in calm weather, when they are transferred to native, flat-bottomed 
barges.   The coast here is a line of low sandlitills, overlooking a steep and narrow beach of 
dark-grey sand. There are no shells on the shore, no birds in the air, no seaweed, no fish, 
nothing but green water-snakes, tortoises, and frogs.  There is a Persian Custom-house at 
Aleslied-i-Ser, and a lighthouse, with no light. The only other edifice worthy of notice is an 
imainzadeh of a brother of Imarn Reza, who appears to have strewn his dead relatives about this 
neighbourhood. as thick as autumnal leaves in Vallombrosa. Amol, the third town of Mazanderan, 
and the present residence of the Governor of the province, is, unlike Barfurusb, but like Ainol 
Sari, a place that has figured in history.   In the time of
Yakut it was the first city in Taberistan; and it long retained a celebrity for its cotton and carpet 
manufactures. It is situated on the banks of the Haraz, about twenty-three miles west of 
Barfurush, the river being crossed outside the town by a very old stone bridge, between 80 and 
100 yards long and not more than a yard in width, Gin6lin, 120 years ago, found the population 
of Amol to be only 800 persons, but 50 years later Fraser, still in his generous mood, reported 
from 35,000 to 40,000, although on his second visit in 1,834 the place was I a ruin, a desert-
the streets grown with jungle, and not a soul to be seen. ~ The population now is said to be 
about 8,000. There are the ruins here of a mausoleum, erected by Shah Abbas, over a Seyid, 
called by Fraser Mir Buzurg, who was his mother's ancestor, and raised
Stack, Six Months in Persia, vol. ii. p. 202.
Compare Travels South of the Caspian, cap. viii., tvith A Winter's Journey, vol. ii. p. 453.

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382 . THE NORTHERN PROVINCES 383
j himself to the throne of Alazanderan in the fourteenth century, but 4 must at least be conceded 
the merit of energy, which, in any form whose real title was Kawain-ed-Din. In the, 
neighbourhood, also, of public undertaking, is so rare in Persia as to deserve encomium are a 
number of the square or circular towers with conical roofs, even if ill-judged or misplaced. 
which local ignorance has attributed to the fire-worshippers, but A new road from Amol over 
the main range of the Elburz to which were the familiar sepulchres of holy men in the first 
Teheran, was constructed by order of the Shah in 1877-78 by centuries succeeding the Arab 
conquest. The town is so New road General Gasteiger Khan, an Austrian engineer officer in 
overgrown with jungle and orchards as to be collectively in- to Teheran the Persian service. 
The total distance is about 120 visible.  miles, and the places passed en route are Parus, 
Sbalizadeh, Raineh
Within the last three years an attempt has been made to (or Rehna), skirting the Eastern base of 
Demavend, Iiiiainzadeh connect Aniol with the Caspian by rail-the second of the two Hashim, 
Ali, and Jajrud. The scenery is superb, alike amid the lower Railway to only railroads in 
Persia-and to open tip a new coui- elevations and the wooded glens and valleys, and on the 
rugged the sea mercial route with the capital. This speculation has and savage heights. Of the 
former, Stack (in 1881) wrote the been undertaken by one Haji Mohammed Hamn, the Master 
of following description, which I think it only fair to quote as a the Persian Mint, who conceived 
the idea of monopolising the set-off to my own occasional jeremiads upon the sullen sterility 
carrying trade between Teheran and the Caspian by creating a of the normal Persian 
landscape: quicker and shorter route than that which runs from Amol to Our iiiarch to Amol was 
the loveliest I made in Persia ; but, indeed, Barfurush, and thence to Meslied-i-Ser. 
Accordingly, he obtainedone could hardly believe that this was Persian scenery, with its forest a 
concession from the Sliali-the first step in any public under-paths and meadow glades, and 
broad river bordered by tall and leafy taking in Persia-and, selecting as his port of debarkation 
thegrowth of oaks. I thought of the leagues of brown or black desert,
ZD murdab of Mahmudabad, at the mouth of the Haraz river, twelve the bare sand-ridaes, the 
salt hills, white and crimson and green, the miles due north of All-1-01, he built a fine 
caravanserai and shops dry, clear air, and the bold and sharply-defined forms and colours that 
there (which, when I was in the country, were unoccupied), lie I had seen during my 
wanderings in Persia till now; but here was an imported rails and engineers from Belgluin, and 
lie laid a single atmosphere laden with soft, invisible vapour, and all the shapes of
mountain and valley were rounded or clothed with vegetation, hiding line of rails to Amol, which 
was to be in connection with a horse b
the bare outlines of the rock, and all the colours were the blue and tramway for a distance of 
some miles beyoud. Of the engineering
white of the cloud-flecked sky above, and varied shades of green all quality of this enterprise I 
shall require to speak in a later around us.

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chapter upon Railways in Persia. I may here limit myself to
in one of remar king that the newly-created port is is bad, if not worse, than Between the 
village of Bund-i-burideh and Raineh, any on the Caspian, there being the familiar bank of 
sbingle and the narrowest parts of thi~ mountain defile, through which the sand between the 
murdab and the sea, and vessels requiring to lie road runs, is a great rock sculpture of Nasr-
ed-Din Shah on off at a distance of some miles and to land their cargoes in light- i horseback 
facing the spectator, with ten ministers in full uniform ers. The line was badly laid, and the 
proprietor soon. quarrelled standing five on either side of him. The figures are life-size, and 
and parted with his Belgian engineers. Quite lately, however raised in relief about three inches, 
and the likenesses are un (October 1890), Maji Mohammed Hasan appears to have found a 
deniably good. I saw the original full-size cartoon in the Royal new field for his energy, for I 
hear of a large factory in course College at Teheran. The tablet is bordered by a metrical 
inscripof erection by him at Amol, which i
 to contain wood-working tion, which sounds the praises of His Majesty and commemorates 
machinery and a powerful sugar-cane press, the labour being the making of the road. The idea is 
a somewhat belated and directed by a Russian engineer. To this indefatigable Persian turgid 
imitation of the Sassanian model; but apart from the
absurdity, the execution is in this case creditable.
The most exhaustive account of Amol is to be found in Sir W. Ouseley, Travels, vol. iii. pp. 295-
316. Of the towns of Gilan, the only one worthy of iiiention (with

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384 THE NORTHERN PROVINCES 385
the possible exception of Lahijan, on the Lengarud), is the capital, Resht, of which I -undertook 
in Chapter 11. to say some
thino, in this connection. It is ~he first town which Townsof n Gilan-most travellers see in 
Persia, and the last also to which Reoht the majorltv bid farewell. Situated in the low, swampy 
ground at a slight distance from the sea, it has always been an unhealthy spot, from which 
Europeans would willingly fly. It was originally buried in jungle, after the fashion of the other 
cities which I have described. The Russians, during their occupa tion 160years ago, cleared. the 
surrounding timber for a distance of 15 miles, as far as the mountains ; but a good deal has 
sprung up since. Its position ~ as the capital of the chief silk-producing province of Persia, and 
as the natural outlet of export trade, very early secured it a prominence, which has rendered its 
naine one of the most familiar of Persian titles to English ears, and which has left its record in 
the pages of many travellers,  British, Russian, and French. Consuls or Vice-Consuls were 
here from an early period, to safeguard the commercial interests of their several countries. The 
near vicinity of Russia, and her predominance in the Caspian, have naturally given her a 
commanding position; the more so as she has a large- number of subjects, chiefly Russian-
Armenians, in Reslit and Gilan, and as slie, is understood to own several villages in the 
neighbourhood by right of mortgage. Nevertheless, the best days of Resht have passed. Early in 
the century, while the silk trade was at its zenith, its bazaars exhibited a curious congeries of 
different nationalities: Armenians, Jews, Europeans, Buniahs from India, and even Povindahs 
from Afghanistan. Frhser, who, at the close of his first journey in 1822, experienced an 
unprovoked and vexatious imprisonment here, escaping on foot only to be recaptured and 
brought back under circumstances of great indignity-estimated its population at that date as 
from 60,000 to 80,000. It was almost annihilated by the plague in 1830-31, which swept like 
a tornado, carrying everything before it, over the natural fever-beds of the maritime border; 
and in 1834 was only   the ghost of its I For Resht in 1717 vide John Bell's Travels, 
vol. L pp. 134-136; in 1744, Hanway's Nistorical Account, vol. L pp. 279-281; in 1771, 
Gm6lin, Lristaire deg Dicouvertes, vol. ii. p. 426, etc.; in 1822, Fraser's Travels K%UtA 
of the Caspian, pp, 148-155; in 1843, Holmes's Sk-etches on the Casl,~ian Shores, cap. 
vi. ; in 1861, Eastwick's Journal o a DiliZomate, vol. ii. p. I ; in 1881, E. 
O Donovan's Xerv .Oa8is, vol. L p. 317.
former self.  The silk trade, however, which continued to flourish till the last twenty-five 
years, enabled Resht to raise its head more quickly than any of its neighbours. It was a 
flourishing town in the middle part of  this century, and manv English travellers have 
occasion to recollect the hospitality of the firm of Ralli, who kept a large establishment here, 
and maintained a country house in

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almost European style. With the collapse of the silk trade they disappeared, and the fortunes of 
Resht experienced a sensible decline. The counterbalancing increase, however, in the cultivation 
and export of rice and cotton have caused it to revive, and the population is now calculated at 
from 25,000 to 30,000. The, situation of Resbt as the chief maritime outlet on the north, must 
always render it an important place, quite apart from the trade of the province whose capital 
city it is. For instance, in 1878, the last year in which published statistics are accessible, the 
exports to Russia fi-om the province of Gilan, vid Reslit, equalled 192,0001.; while the 
exports from the rest, of Persia through the same Customhouse were only 4,0001. less; the 
internal trade between Resht and the Persian interior amounting to 143,0001. in the same 
period. Anyone who has followed me so far, willby thistime be expecting the statement, that 
considerable as is the trade of Resht, Possible it might be increased and, in all probability, 
doubled, did improve- the Persians take the most elementary steps to expedite ments or 
facilitate its transit. It is safe to say that in no other country in the world would the main 
avenue of mercantile entrance and exit be left in so miserable and chaotic a condition. The bar at 
Enzeli, the entrance to the _Murdab, or Laooon, the anchorage therein, the ascent by creek to 
Pir-i-Bazaar, the road to Resht, are so many successive and undisputed obstacles to freedom of 
intercourse. In any other country the bar would have been dredged, steamers would have been 
admitted into the lagoon, jetties would have been built for lading and unlading therein, the creek 
would have been deepened and widened, or a canal constructed to Resht itself. Above all, the 
marsh and forest roads would have been kept in good repair. The question of railway 
communication with the interior is one that has frequently been mooted, and was once on the 
verge of being put into execution, the embankments being built, and even the rails being laid for 
the distance of a few miles from Resht; but this is a subject which I must reserve for a later 
chapter. The only

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386 THE NORT11ERN PROVINCES 387
plausible excuse wbich Persia can offer, apart from her congenital
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words, to Russia. Such a fear is, perhaps, venial, but I do not think- that it constitutes either an 
lionourable or a valid excuse. The. power that designedly fosters its own weakness, ultimately 
perishes of the atrophy thus engendered. :Nforeover, Russia can march so easily into Persia 
from other quarters that her power of aggression would be but little augmented by the removal 
of obstacles from one out of man channels of  invasion.
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And thus I am brought to the question, with which I will conclude this chapter, of the alleged 
designs of Russia upon the Russian northern provinces, and of the probable place allotted to 
designs them in her political horoscope. There can be no doubt upon   all that ever since the 
temporary occupation of Gilan in the and Mazan- reign of Peter the Great, Russia has turned a 
regretful deran and covetous eye upon the Persian possessions to the south of the Caspian Sea. It 
is also I a matter of common knowledge that, on occasions when the Shah has shown too marked a 
disposition either to independent or to Anglophile action, he has been significantly reminded of 
that bygone incident, and has been threatened with its repetition. It is further true that Russia 
could land her forces either at Resht or at Gez without, in all probability, incurring any armed 
opposition. Lastly, it is rumoured that in the famous secret memorandum drawn up by General 
Kuropatkin, now Governor-General of Transcaspia, in 1885, and generally accepted as the 
official scheme for a Russian invasion of India, the incorporation of Gilan and Mazanderan, as 
well as of Azerbaijan and Khorasan, are treated as indispensable preliminaries upon the Persian 
stage of operations. There is therefore abundant ground for believing that Russia regards these 
particular provinces with a not wholly disinterested vision. Sir Justin Sheil, himself a British 
Minister in Persia, and consequently well-illformed, echoed and confirnied the general 
impression when he wrote: That Gilan should have been long coveted by Russia is not surprising. 
Everything contributes to make it a desirable possession its situation relative to Russia, its 
wealth and improvable qualities, its defensible position-mountains on one side, the sea on the 
other, swamps and jungles all over the province. I
I Note H to Lady Sheil's Glivil),ves of life in 1ersia.
On the other hand, it is well to pause for a mom ent and consider whether the movement, if 
conternplated, would be either so advan
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Perils of tageous or so simple as at first sight appears. Let it be the remembered that there is 
not in the same parallel of climate latitude a more unhealthy strip of country in the world. The 
Russians were expelled by the climate before. Gilan has proved a graveyard to most Europeans 
whose lot has cast them there. In the fifth trading expedition of the British Moscovy Company to 
North Persia in 1568-1574 A.D., five of the English factors died of illness and two were 
murdered in the space of five weeks. Sir Robert Sherley and Sir Dodniore Cotton succumbed in 
the manner already related in 1627. When Elton and Hanway revived the British trade with the 
Caspian in the eighteenth century, five out of the fifteen Europeans engaged in the traffic died at 
Kazvin between 1740 and 1744. In the latter year we hear of all the Europeans in Resht as very 
ill with agues, distemper, &c. The recent occupants of the British and Russian consulates at 
Resht tell a similar tale. It may, therefore, be accepted that for Europeans an occupation in, 
force or a colonisation of either Gilan or Mazanderan would be an extremely risky experiment. 
Any such invaders would be compelled to seek the higher altitudes, and to leave the lower levels 
to the acclimatised indigenous population. Such a partition might be possible, in the event of the. 
absolute quiescence of the latter ; but it might also become in the highest degree perilous if the 
natives resisted a foreign usurpation, and profited by the extraordinary natural advantages for 
defence of their jungles, and defiles, and mountains.
It may be averred without fear of contradiction that a more difficult country either to carry or 
to hold in the face of armed Perils of opposition can nowhere be found. Fraser, who twice the 
traversed it from end to end, summed up its strategic country i
properties in the following language:
Certainly I never saw, nor can I imagine, a stronger or more impracticable country in a 
military point of view than these provinces. Roads, i.e. made roads, there are none, except the 
great Causeway made of old by Shah Abbas, and this has now so nearly disappeared that it 
requires a guide to find it; and even when found it would be useless, for military purposes, from 
the numerous breaks and gaps in its course, and from the impenetrable jungle which surrounds 
it on all sides, and affords cover for all sorts of ambuscades and surprises.

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388 THE NORTHERN PROVINCES 389
The -surface where not cultivated consists of natural or artificial swamps, overgrown with 
forest trees and thorns, particularly bramble bushes of incredible luxuriance, and perfectly 
impervious. Indeed, these brambles are called by the inhabitants the I PehlewanhA 
Mazunderanee,  i.e. the heroes or guardians (lit. wrestlers) of Mazunderain, and well do 
they deserve the appellation. 1
Monteith, who was a practical soldier, said,If only the Persians were united, nothing ought to be 
more desired by,them. than attack from the Caspian.  . Indeed, in the present state of 
communications, it should. be as easy for a comparatively small body of well led troops, with 
proper dispositions, to repel any incursion from the Caspian, as it would be to repel a storming 
party from the Great -Pyramid. Disembarkation, to begin with, is difficult, cumbrous, and 
lengthy. An invader should find his work cut out for him ere ever he set foot on land. But, even 
supposing him to have landed, the swamps and jungles of the lower levels should whistle with 
bullets and ptillnlate with ambuscades ; 2 whilst, if the lowlands were either surrendered or 
seized, there would remain the ambush of the forest, the covert of the deep ravines, -the 
invulnerable -vantage points of rocky pass and precipitous ledge. For an army whose advance 
was seriously and systematically contested, to cross the Elburz would be no mean achievement of 
warfare. Finally, supposing resistance to have been either abandoned or overcome, and the 
country to have been occupied by the enemy, his continued stay there should be made a daily and 
nightly persecution by a peasantry, or still more a native militia, familiar with the country and 
inured to guerilla warfare. All these perils are based upon the hypothesis of an unwelcome 
intruder, and a population or an army pledged to defend its homes. If neither of these conditions 
be realised in North Persia, and it may be rash to assume their possibility, there will remain 
no reason why Russia should not occupy Gilan and Mazanderan
A Winter's Journey, vol. ii. p. 468.
This was what actually happened in 1804 in the early stages of the first Russo-Persian war, 
when Zizianoff, the Russian Con iman d er-in-Chief, planned a descent upon Gilan, with a view 
of threatening thecapital. He landed his troops at Enzeli, but, Dot finding boats enough to convey 
them across the lagoon to Resht, was compelled to march round theshore through the swamps and 
jungle. From these secure recesses the natives harassed the Russian column with musketry 
fire, an(i threw it into such confusion that the order was given to retreat, and the attemptwas 
ignominiously abandoned..
to-morrow. Ehrenbreitstein itself would -be powerless if its garrison lounged unarmed on the 
ramparts and left open the gates.
ROUTES IN THE CASPIAN PROVINCES.

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Ser], Sari, Ashiaf).-Colonel W. K. Stuart (1836), Journal of aResidence, cap. xi. Captain Hon. 
G. Napier (1874), Journal of the R. G.S., vol. xlvi. pp. 118-129. E. Stack (1881), Six Months 
in Persia, vol. ii. cap. vii. viii.
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Ouse ley (1812), Travels, vol. iii. cap. xvii. Major D Arcy Todd (1836), Journal of tU 
11.67.S.,vol.viii.pp.101-108. Colonel W. K. Stuart (1836), Journal ofa Residence, cap. x. 
Capt. R. Wilbraham, Trarelq in 1837, caps. xxxviii-xIii.
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TEHERAN To ASTRABAD (vid. Firuzkuh, Shirgah, Sari, Ashraf, Gez).-(Sir) A. Burnes (1832), 
Travels into Pokhara, vol. vii. pp. 105-114. E. B. Eastwick (1862), ,Tournal of a Diplomate, 
vol. ii. pp. 60-101, Colonel Val. Baker (1873), Clouds, in the. Vast, pp. 70-77.
TEHERAN To FIRUZK1LTH (viti Abar, Screk, Waliabad, Asolat, Arsinkiru, Oz, Baladeh, Khan tar 
Khan, Ask, Arjumand).-Colonel B. Lovett (1881-82), Pro ceeding8 of the R. G.S. (new 
series), vol. v. pp. 58-75.
FiRUZKUH To ASTRABAD (rid Chashiueh Kabud, Salash, Fulad Mahalla, and Mardeb).-Colonel B. 
Lovett (1881-82), ibid.
RESHT To AMOL (vid Lahijan, Lengarud, Rud-i-Ser, Abbasabad).-W. R. Holmes (1843-4), 
Sketches, cap. vii. ix.

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391
CHAPTER XIII
THE SHAH-ROYAL FAMILY-MINISTERS
Where the word of a kiDg is there is power; and who may say unto him, What doest thou ?-
Ecvlesia8tes, viii. 4.
I Now approach the discussion of the political conditions under which Persia at present subsists. 
In a country so backward in con
stitutional progress, so destitute of forms and statutes and
charters, and so firinly stereotyped in the immemorial
traditions of the East, the personal element, as might be
expected, is largely in the ascendant ; and the govern
ment of Persia is little else than the arbitrary exercise of
authority by a series of units in a descending scale from the sovereign to the headman of a petty 
village. The only checkthat operates upon the lower official grades is the fear of their
superiors, which means can usually be found to assuage; upon the higher ranks the fear of the 
sovereign, who is not always closed against similar methods of pacification; and upon the 
sovereign himself the fear, not of native, but of foreign opinion, as represented by the hostile 
criticism of the European Press. In the earlier part of tile Shah's reign  an indigenous 
controlling influenco existed in the power of the clerical order. But the gradual reassertion of 
the civil authority, at which the present Shah has constantly aimed, and the introduction of lay 
administration of Church property) have considerably detracted from the former power of the 
inullezhs; and, except in places where a spirit of fanaticism either exists or can easily be 
kindled, such as Meshed and Isfahan, their prejudices, which are invariably enlisted on the side 
of reaction, cannot be regarded as a serious deterrent upon the prerogative of the sovereign. The 
Shah, indeed, may be regarded at this moment
as perhaps the best existing specimen of a moderate despot ; for within the limits indicated lie is 
practically irresponsible and omnipotent. Ile has absolute command over the life and property 
of every one of his subjects. His sons have no independent power,

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The personalele- nient in Persian Governinent

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392
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ministers are elevated and degraded at the Royal pleasure. The sovereign is the sole executive, 
and all officials are his deputies. N o civil tribunals are in existence to check or modify his 
prerogative. Enormous, therefore, is the importance attaching to the character of the individual 
in whose person is concentrated such a wealth of plenary powers. Nasr-ed-Din Shah, as I have 
before said, is not a Persian, but a Turk, by descent, and is the fourth sovereign of the Kajar 
Tho Dynasty which has occupied the throne of Persia for close Kitjitr upon one hundred years. 
The Kajars, whose family history Dynagty has been written by inore than one. Persian 
biographer, and has even been translated into English,  are not content with any more 
modest descent than from Japhet, the son of Noah. Elven if we question the authenticity of so 
illustrious a pedigree, it is yet indisputable that for 700 years the Kajar tribe have been heard 
of in history. A chieftain of that race ruled the country from Rhey to the Oxus, as deputy for one 
of the Mongol descendants of Jeuihiz Khan. Timur is said to have banished them to Syria, but 
afterwards to have suffered them to return. Later on they, espoused the cause of the Sefavi 
Shalls and assisted in raising thein to the throne, in return for which service they were 
included in the Kizil-bash or seven. Red-Head tribes, so called from the scarlet head-covering 
which they were permitted to wear. According to one account the mother of Shah Ismail himself 
was of K.-Jar blood .2 Under his successor, Shah Tahmasp, we hear of a Kajar governor of 
Kandahar, and of a Kajar ambassador to the Porte, demonstrating the prominence to which the 
tribe had already attained whilst in the reign of Abbas the Great their power had become so 
considerable that that monarch found it expedient to divide them into three branches, whom lie 
settled respectively in Merv and Khorasan to fight against the Tartars, in Georgia to fight 
against the Ilesgbians, and on the Gurgan and at Astrabad to fight against the Turkomans. The 
latter became the main Persian settlement
d

I The Dynasty of the Xajars, translated from an Oriental Persian MS. by Sir .Harf ord Jones 
Brydges, 1833. Compare Morier, Journal of the R. G.S., vol. vii. p. 231. 2 So says Mr. Watson 
in his History of _11ersia; but I have always understood that the mother of Shah Ismail was 
Martha, the daughter of Uzun Hasan, chieftain of the White Sheep, and his Christian wife 
Despoina, who was a daughter of Kalo Johannes Emperor of Trebizond.
THE SHAII-ROYAL FAMILY-MINISTERS    393
of the tribe) whose chieftain, Fath Ali Khan, a little more than 150 years ago, having been made 
joint Commander-in-Chief

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 0 with Nadir Kuh Khan, by Shah Tabinasp 11., was speedily put out of the way by the 
ambitious soldier of fortune,  thereby bequeathing to his posterity a blood feud which was 
not satisfied until Nadir's descendants bad-all. been removed by death or torture, and a 
Kajar sovereign was firmly seated upon the throne of Persia. Agha Mohammed Shah, the 
grandson of Fath Ali Khan, could not himself perpetuate the race, having at an early age been 
inado a eunuch by order of Adil Shah, the nephew and successor of Nadir. But his nepliew, 
I ath Ali Shah, to whom lie transmitted the crown, and his successors after him, have proved 
so extraordinarily prolific of male oMpring that the continuity of the dynastybas been assured; 
and there is probably not a reigning family in the world that in the space of one hundred years 
has -wollen to such ample dimensions as the royal race of Persia. The Kaja.rs have, indeed, been 
mainly distinguished for five characteristics, which have been uniformly noticeable in the 
princes of the blood : a genius for paternity, a fairly high level of intelligence, handsome 
 f~atures, sporting instincts, and a remorseless economy. How true a Kajar is the reigning 
monarch will be evident as I proceed.
Since his two visits to England in 1873 and 1889   the personality and many of the 
idiosyncrasies of the Shah have become familiar to Nas,-,d- the British public. Nasr-ed-Din 
(Defender of the Faith) Din Shah. was the eldest son of Mohammed Shah, and was born on 
nisa,ppeluance July 17, 1831. Consequently, he is now just sixty years of age. Upon his father 
succeeding Fath Ali Shah in 1834 (Abbas 2N[irza, Mohammed's father, and for so many 
years Vali-Ahd or Heir Apparent, having died in the previous year), Nasr-ed-Din became. 
Vali-Alid and, after the fashion of the Persian Royal Family, was, at the early age of twelve, 
made nominal Governor of Azerbaijan, residing at Tabriz. In that province, at Deran near 
Urumiah. he was seen in 1835, and described as follows by Colonel Stuart, who accompanied Sir 
H. Ellis as private secretary on his mission to Teheran:
The Walee Allud was, like his uncle, seated at an open window. I never saw so beautiful a c hild. 
The expression of his countenance is mournful, and the poor thing was evidently shy. We were 
given
He was buried in the Mausoleum of Khojah Rabi outside Meshed: ride Chapter VII.

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394
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ablutions of the Walee Ahud were carefully performed after he had drunk his tea. He wiped his 
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A_nd again in 1836:
The little prince is grown since we last saw him. He has a beautiful but mournful cast of 
countenance, and was terribly bored, most likely, poor child.
As a fact, the Vall-Ahd was very in Lich neglected by his father, over whom the young 
prince's mother had ceased to exercise any charin. He lived in very difficult circumstances, 
ofl-Pu being compelled to borrow money in order to pay his daily expenses. Mohanimed Sliah 
favoured his younger son, Abbas Afirza, then styled Naib-es-Sultaileh, who retired from the 
country soon after his elder brother ascended the throne, and only returned to Persia in later 
years after a long exile at Baghdad.
So much for the Shall in his early years. Soon after reaching man's estate, his appearance 
was described by Nlr.. Binning in terms which hardly ratify the promise of Ills childhood:The 
SlIa,li is now (1851) in his twenty" second year, but looks older. His complexion is very 
sallow, and his countenance, thougli not disagree-thle,c.tiiiiotheproliotiiieedhandsonie. He 
wears moustaches, with but the rudiments of a beard.2
In middle life, the Shah's appearance is so familiar throughout Europe as to need no 
lengthened description, and may be judged of from the illustration which accompanies this text. 
The KaJars are a handsome race, and if Nasr-ed-Din cannot equal the majestic appearance of his 
great-grandfather, Fath Ali Shah, or even of his grandfather, Abbas Mirza, both of whom were 
famous for their long-bearded beauty, his iuien and deportment are, at any rate, kiDgly and 
pleasing. He, and his sons after him, have abandoned the fashion of the beard that was set by bis 
Kajar predecessors, and bavereverted to the shaven cheeks and clun which we see in the 
portraits of most, of the Sefavi sovereiguS. Tbough sixty years of age, the Shah is erect, active, 
and robust, making the. inost of a middle stature, and walking with a slow step and a peculiar 
jaunty movement of the. bips, which has a certain air of distinction.
I Journal qf a Residence i9b.N. Persia, p. 136. 2 Tournal of Tko Years  Travelin Persia, vol. 
ii. p. 236.
H.M. NASR-ED-DIN SHAH

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A
THE. SHAH-ROYAL FAMILY-MINISTERS 395
Black eyes and hair and clear complexions have been common to all the Kajars, both male and 
female, and the Shah is no exception in these particulars. It is probably, however, to the 
assistance of dye that his hair and luoustache owe the raven hue, which as yet shows no tinge of 
grey. His younger brother, the Rukn-7ed-Dowleh, whom I saw at Meshed, was equally black 
upon the head, but a white stubble besprinkled his duplicate chin. On his return from Europe in 
the autumn of 1889, the Shah very nearly died at Tabriz, his life at one time being despaired of 
Healthand by the. physicians; but his general health is excellent, babits and his habits of life are 
simple.It is possibly to their descent that the Kajars owe a manliness, amounting almost to a 
brusqueness of bearing, that is uncommon in the smooth and polished Persian; while the 
Turanian blood also asserts itself in a passionate love of the chase and a taste for noinad life, 
which have in no wise - succumbed to the inroads of western eivilisation. The Shah frequently 
absents himself from the capital on hunting ex cursioDs in the mountains, which abound with 
ibex, deer, and other four-footed game, immense tracts of country being preserved for the royal 
sport; while upon the plains the antelope is- hunted with hounds, or hawks are flown after 
bermis, bustards, francolin, quail, and partridge.Many of the kings of Persia have, been great 
hunters - one, of the Sassanian monarchs, Bahrain V., being surnamed Gur, or wild ass, from 
the animal which he loved to pursue, and in hunting which lie lost his life; and the later Sefavi 
sovereigns having divided their existence in about equal proportions between the chase, the 
harem, and the bottle. Fath Ali Shah and his son Abbas Mirza were both fine riders and excellent 
shots; and in these respects Nasr-ed-Din follows in their footsteps.He may frequently be 
encountered riding out of the city to one of his numerous shooting boxes in the mountains, 
attended by a large camp-following, and solaced by a selection from -his extensive seraglio.In 
manner and address the Shah gives the impression of a man habituated to authority; and whether 
seen in public state or in private audience, he both acts and looks the monarch.He is believed to 
be naturally shy, which may account for a somewhat abrupt and fidgety manner, and for an 
utterance rapped out in short, incisive periods. In an interview with which I was favoured, he 
was continually shifting the spectacles which he wore from bis eyes to the front of his sheepskin

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crossexamination rather than a conversation. He is extremely aff4ble and well-disposed 
towards Europeans, and few foreigners leave his capital without the bonour of an audience with 
the sovereign. In earlier life lie was more partial to show and poilip ; but his tastes appear to 
have grown simpler with advancing years. The representative of a monarchy that has long been 
one of the most gorgeous in the East, the heir of sovereigns whose court, ceremonial, up till the 
last fifty years, was a blaze of splendour, and the possessor of jewels unnumbered, be now 
affects a simplicity of costume in striking contrast to his predecessors. The bedianionded sword 
and th(
d

-, flashing aigrette, which were so fitiniliar on his first visit to England in 1870 , had 
disappeared in 1889 ; and in Teheran I have seen him walking in the streets in a braided frock, 
coat, with prodigious skirts (a speciality of the Persian Court), holding a walking stick in his 
hand. Upon other occasions lie either appears on horseback, or, more commonly, is driven 
through the streets of the town in a sort of coach with glass panels, not unlike the carriage of a 
City sheriff, drawn by six or eight white horses with henna-dyed tails. In front and behind ride 
a small detachnient of the royal bodyguard, or yholams, whose full number stands at 2,000 , or 
two corps of 1,000 apiece, and who are recognisable by their gold-braided tunics and by the 
muskets, wrapped up in red cases, which they wear slung across their shoulders. A number of 
the liveried harlequins, or royal runners, wboni I have previously described, are also in 
attendance to clear a way, while the less ornamental ferw4bes, with their long switches, keep 
back the crowd. The Shali does not allow of any redundant zeal on the part-of the fera,slies, and 
is accessible to any one of his subjects who may press forward to offer him a petition. While 
Heir Apparent and when residentat Tabriz, Nasr-ed-Din Mirza I received the usual education of 
Persian princes. In other Tntellec- words, he was taught to read, write, pray, ride and shoot. 
tual n t-1 The governorship of Azerbaijan, though nominally vested taimnet ts, in the Vali-
Alid, being aq a rule exercised by some .minister of weight and years, the heir to the throne has 
few other occupations except those of the harein and the chase- Accordingly,
  I need scarcely explain that when Alirza succeeds a proper name it signifies Prince (being 
a contraction of Amir-zadell" deseend ant of an ArDir), but that when it prece(les it means a 
person in civii employment or a secretary.
THE SHAII-ROYAL FAMILY-MINISTERS 397
it is not surprising to learn that the young prince was a father at sixteen, and that the chief 
reputation he left at Tabriz was that of

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a great hunter. Called to the throne at the early age of seventeen, and surrounded therefore frOlu 
youth upwards by the sycopliants and flatterers who buzz round an Oriental crown, it is 
surprising that Nasr-ed-Din Shah has turned out so well. This happy development lie owes to 
abilities considerably above the average, and to decided strength of character. When be came to 
the throne he only knew the Turkish language, which is spoken in Azerbaijan; but he soon learnt 
both to speak and to write.Persian well, and has since acquired a tolerable familiarity with 
French and Arabic. lie is well versed in the Persian poets and in Oriental works of history, 
philosophy, and art. Nor is the Shah by any means destitute of artistic accomplishments. He can 
draw well, and is reputed to write passable verses, or, toadopt the Persian hyperbole, I be can 
make the nightingale of the pen flutter about the fullblown roses of the harein.  He is assured 
by his courtierT, as was his great-grandfather Fath Ali Shah., that his poetical effusions are 
superior to those of Hafiz.1 But lie is probably too sensible a man to believe that whatever 
immortality be may attain to, it will be among the lords of song. Well informed, and thoroughly 
au conrant with passing events, be is full of inquisitiveness, and has a thirst for new 
information, which he acquires by closely questiol~ing those with whom lie comes in contact His 
published journals, if they can with justice be at   tributed to his own pen, show decided 
originality, and a vein of native. shrewdness.2 A private Wcretary translates to him the French 
newspapers; the  Times  lie regards
I Yet on one occasion, according to a well-known story, Fath Ali Shah found an honest critic in 
his own Poet Laureate. I What do you think of my verqes?  said the king. I" Ilay I be your 
sacrifice, I think they axe great rubbish,  Nvas the frank rejoinder. I Take the donkey to the 
stables,  shouted the indignant Shah ; and the order was obeyed. A little while lAter the King 
sent for the poet again, and read out to him some more of his own compositions. The poet, 
without a word, began to walk away. I Where are you going?  cried the Sbab. I Back i o the 
stables,  answered the fearless Laureate. It is to the credit of the King that lie -was so 
pleased -,vith the repartee that be released the poet, and ordered his niout li to. be st uffed with 
sugar-candy as a mark of his extreme approbation. 2 In addition to the diaries of his tours in 
Europe, which have been translated into English and French, the Shah has published diarics in 
the Persian tongue, with illustrations, of his two journeys to Meshed, and of his pilgrimage to 
Kerbela. The bulk of their contents, no doubt, emanate from the royal pen. When in England, His 
-.Majesty was in the babit of dictating his diary to the Head Chamberlain before retiring to rest.

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398 PE R S LA THE SHATI-ROYA-L FAMILY-MINISTERS 399
with great respect; lie is well posted in European politics, and the brilliant schemes, and the 
lumber-rooms of the palace are not personal criticism of the Continental journals is generally 
reported
ZD more full of broken mechanism and discarded bric-a-brac than are to his ears.That the 
freedom of speech which he there encounters, the pigeon-l;oles of the government bureaux of 
abortive reforms and of which lie has occasionally found himself the victim, does and dead 
fiascoes. not quite harnionise with his own ideas of the licence that should More curious, and, in 
a sense, more, childlike still, is the Shah's be accorded to a press, will be evident when I 
come to an account well-known partiality for a pun, or still more for a practical joke. of the 
newspapers of Teheran. Sense ofHis sense- of humour is easily operated upon, and does Tilat the 
Shah is not without artistic tastes is shown by his burnour not err on the side of refinement. It 
is recorded that he fondness for music.In the Royal Museum is quite a collection was immensely 
tickled upon one occasion, when he asked the Tastes void Of musical boxes ; and the sound of 
 Military airs is reason for the removal of some lamps which had lighted the caprice,; 
peculiarly agreeable to his ears.To gratify this pro
approach to one of the palaces, and received the reply that it was p-ensity, lie keeps both a 
French and an Austrian bandmaster. C parce que le chat (Shah) voit toujours mieux dans la 
nuit.  He Another respect in which he and his predecessors have so far is even more pleased, 
however, when he can victimise his ministers conquered native prejudice as to rely upon 
foreign assistance, is or courtiers by some successful ruse. Having procured a number in the 
employment of medical science.Abbas Mirza was the first of skates and bicycles, he compelled 
the luckless grandees to to set theexample by appointing Dr. Cormick, an Englishman, to 
perform upon these strange instruments in the palace g~rden, to be Physician of his 
Household.Mohammed Shah followed, with his own intense amusement. Well known, too, is the 
story of the Dr. Labat, a Frenchman, who on one occasion saved his life, and collapsible india-
rubber boat, which was presented to him by an later with Dr. Cloquet.Dr: Dickson, of the 
British Legation, English officer, and in which he sent a dozen A.D.C.'s and acquired a great 
reputation _ during the present reign , but the chamberlains out for -a row, on -the tank in the 
royal garden. personal physician of the Shah has, for many years, been another Meanwhile- he 
had secretly ordered the valve to be opened, and Frenchman, Dr. Tholozan, whose name and 
personality are I
the boat duly collapsed in mid-lake, leaving the richly-dressed familiar to most visitors to 
Teheran.Among the more trivial, courtiers floundering in the water. Nor do the titled members 
of but not uninteresting characteristics of the monarch whom we are
the royal household by any means fill sinecure offices) for the Shah discussing, there are three, 
which in this context are worthy of

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will. sometimes, when out in the country, require them to prepare mention.,These are the 
Shah's childlike passion for novelty, his
his-meal with their own elegant hands. incurable love of a joke, and his fondness for animals, 
about all of Strongest of all these proclivities is the extreme fondness. of which niaDV good 
stories are current in the, society of the capital.
the Shah for animals, which is pushed to a point that recalls the Just as, in the course of his 
European travels, he picked up a vast number of what appeared, to the Eastern mind, to be 
wonderful F.,y for story of Caligula and his horse. Cats have been the curiosities, but which 
have since been stacked in the v . arious apart- animals especial object of this strange 
attachment. For one of ments of the palace, or put away and forgotten ; so in the larger these 
creatures was kept a baggage horse, which carried a specially
constructed cage with velvet-padded wires. On another occasion, one sphere of public policy and 
administration he is continually taking up and pushing some new scheme or invention which 7 of 
the royal cats fell asleep on the coat-tails of a courtier, who, with when the caprice has been 
gratified, is neglected or allowed to true diplomacy, cut off the offending skirt rather than 
disturb the expire. One week it is gas ; another it is electric light.Now slumbers of the 
favourite. Another cat had a pension of 4001. a. it is a staff college; anon, a military 
hospital.To-day it is a j- year settled upon it in old age. One of the Shah's wives is said 
Russian uniform; yesterday it was a German man-of-war for the ir to have originally 
commended herself to his fancy by her devotion
favourite of the hour. Quite the funniest, however, to the feline Persian Gulf. A new army 
warrant is issued this year; a new code of the anecdotes illustrating -this innocent, if 
uncommon taste, is of law is promised for the next. Nothing comes of any of these that of the 
lioness who gave birth to cubs in the royal menagerie

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400 at Doshan Tepe. The Shah was so consumed with anxiety for the welfare of the mother that, 
being detained by the ceremonies of the Tazieli in Teheran. lie had the telegrapn wires in the 
capital connected with an improvised bureau opposite the cage of the animal, so as to be. in 
possession of the latest news and finally cashiered an unsympathetic clerk who telegraphed, 
 The beasts are doing well,  on the ground that the true beast was not the lion, but the 
man who could call the lion by such a name.
Almost the same in kind, if superior in degree, is the intense fondness which the Shah has 
developed in receut Wal's for the little bov, known as the Aziz-es-Stiltai), whoin lie 
~)rouglit with him to England, and whoin he seldoin allows out of his Sight 8t Teheran. This 
child, whose name is Gliolam All Khan, is a nephew of the Amin-i-Akdas (Trusted or the Sovei-
eign), one of the Shah's favourite wives. She, was on)), a Kurdish slave, and ber brother, 
the father of the. child, was a peasant. as his appearance and maDuer sufficiently indicated. when 
lie came over to EDgland in the retinue of the Shah. There seems to have been no trutli in the 
stories circulated throughout Europe of a superstitious origin of the Shah's attachment to 
this boy, which would appear to be no more than one of the peculiar caprices of the royal nature. 
The child, who is eleven or twelve years of age, is a Field-_Marslial, and wears a huge portrait 
of the Shah, set in diamonds, round his neck. While in Teheran, I saw him driving about in a 
state and style second only to that adopted by the sovereign ; and lie was deputed by the latter as 
a special compliment to make a call upon the British Minister. If the lad is not well. the Shah is 
at once in a bad humour, and is incapable of attending to affairs of S~ate. From these anecdotes of 
personal idiosyncrasies which I have related, not so much because of tl;e interest attached in 
popular The Sh,h estimation to the deeds and fancies of sovereigns, as as ruler because they 
illustrate the bent of a character which Could bardly have been moulded in any other 
surroundings than those of an Asiatic throne, I turn to a contemplation of Nasr-edDin Shah in 
his more important capacity as a monarch and a statesman. Here lie possesses many excellent 
business qualities, and betrays a voracious appetite for any and every affair of State. Rising 
early in the morning, lie devotes the forenoon to audience with his ministers and to inatters of 
State. The smallest detail is
THE SHAH-ROYAL FAMILY-MINISTERS 401
submitted to him, and is not decided except upon his authority. His ministers disavow all 
initiative, and tremble at any executive responsibility. Imperious, diligent, and fairly just, the 
Shah is in his own person the sole arbiter of Persia's fortunes. All policy

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emanates from him. He supervises every department with a curiosity that requires to be 
constantly appeased ; and his attention both to foreign and doinestic politics is constant and 
unremitting. There is a consensus of opinion in Persia that he is the most competent man in the 
country, and the best ruler that it can produce. N or will anyone, deny him the possession of 
patriotism and of a genuine interest in the welfare of the nation. He is, however, placed in a 
most unfortunate situation by the rivalry of Great Britain and Russia-a question which I shall. 
discuss in a later cliapter-while be is further impeded by the intrigues that swarm about the.. 
Court and person of the monarch, by a tendency natural to humanity, and particularly to a man 
who has passed the middle of life, to let things abide in his time, and by a sense of powerlessness 
against the petrified ideas and prejudices of an Oriental people. Perhaps a special sympathy is 
due to a sovereign, the exigencies of whose rank and position render it almost impossible for 
him to receive the assistance which tried and indeAtino- sphere of pendent counsellors can 
afford even to the wearer of a flattery crown. Such is the divinity that doth hedge a throne in 
Persia, that not merely does the Shah never attend at state dinners or eat with his subjects at 
table, with the exception of a single banquet to his principal niale relatives at No Ruz, but the 
attitude and-language employed towards him even by his confidential ministers are those of 
servile obeisance and adulation.  May I be your sacrifice, Asylum of the Universe,  is the 
common mode of address adopted even by subjects of the highest rank. In his own surrounding 
there is no one to tell him the truth or to give him dispassionate counsel. The foreign Ministers 
are probably almost the only source from which he learns facts as they are, or receives 
unvarnished, even if interested. advice. With the best intentions in the world for the 
undertaking of great plans and for the amelioration of his country, he has little or no control 
over the execution of an enterprise which has once passed out of his hands and has become the 
sport of corrupt and self-seeking officials, Half the ruoney voted with his consent never

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402 
reaches its destination, but sticks to every intervening pocket with which a professional 
ingenuity call bring it into transient contact; liqlf* the. schemes authorised bv him are never 
brought any nearer to realisation. the. minister or functionary in charge trusting to the 
oblivious caprices of the sovereign to overlook his dereliction of duty. Nevertheless, whilst 
admitting the difficulties with which Nasred-Din Shah is surrounded, let Lis not fail to do full 
justice both to Cruelty or his character and to his reign. He is unquestionably the 
1111111ftn ty best sovereign fliat, has sat, upon the throne of I;ersia since Kerini Khali 
Zend in the last century. He is the first king of his race, and one of the, few kings in ~ersian 
history, against whom the charge of cruelty and arbitrary indifference to injustice or suffering 
cannot fairly be. brought. It is true that his reign has been disfigured by one or two acts of 
regrettable violence; worst aniong which was, the murder of his first Prime Minister   
Alirza Taki Khan) the Amir-i-Nizam-a man who, although of humble origin, was endowed with 
lofty sentiments, and who, in the short space of three years (1849-18.5 1), established a 
reputation for statesmanship that constitutes him. one of,the most remarkable. figures of the 
century. The brother-in-law of the Shah, and the first subject in the kingdom, lie owed to the 
vindictiveness of court intrigue and to the maliciously excited jealousy of his youthful 
sovereign, a disgrace which his eneluies were not satisfied until they had fulfilled by the death 
of their fallen, but still formidable victim.  It should be said, however, that the Shall was 
only twenty years of age at the time; that it was.inevitable, under the circumstances, that a 
young ruler without experience should be the instrument of unscrupulous advisers; and that he 
is believed ever since to have repented of the act. The terrible acts of cruelty that followed the 
suppression of the Babi conspiracy against the life of the Shah in 1852, and of the Babi sedition 
in general throughout the country, come under a different category.2 For not
I For the administration and murder of the Wdr-i-Nizani I juay refer my, readers to the pages 
of Markham, Watson, Lady Sheil, and Binning. 2 It was on this occasion that Mirza Agba Khan, 
the (3rand Viiier, in order to distribute the responsibility of punishment and to lesson the 
chances of bloodrevenge, conceived the extraordinary idea of assigning the several criminals for 
execution to the principal ministers, generals, and officers of the court, as well as to 
representatives of the priestly and merchant classes. The Foreign Secretary killed one, the 
Home Secretary another, the Master of the Horse a third, and so on.
THE SHAH-PLOYAL FAMILY-31INISTERS 403
only had the life of the sovereign been attempted, but the existence of the dynasty was believed to 
be,at stake; and it must be remembered that studied refinements of torture are an immemorial 
tradition of the East.

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There was less excuse for the execution of the soldiers suspected of having conspired against the 
life of the Shah, just before his second European journey, in 1878. The story is a tragic one, 
illustrating both the abuses of the Persian administrative systern and the perils attaching to the 
irresponsibility of an Oriental sovereign.  Some soldiers of an Isfahan regiment, who, 
according to the Persian custom, had received no pay for three years, and had yet been ordered 
to remain under arms, seized the opportunity of a pilgrimage of the Shah to the shrine of Shah 
Abdul Azim. to approach his carriage and present a petition. The Shah was in a bad humour, and 
ordered his ferashes to drive back the supplicants. An gmeute ensued, in which stones were 
thrown, some of which struck the royal equipage. The apprehensions of the Shah were further 
excited by the wicked assurance of one of his suite that it was a Babi conspiracy against his life. 
He ordered the arrest of the soldiers,- a-rid, on his return to the palace, ten of their number 
were strangled without further inquiry-, and their bodies dragged through the streets. The 
remainder were sentenced to have their ears cut off, and to be bastinadoed. A few days later, 
when starting for Europe, the Shah read the petition of the suspected soldiers, and ascertained 
his fatal mistake. He at once took steps to redress the injustice that had been done; but the 
d&ouement is even more Persian in its characteristicP, than the earlier incidents of the story. 
The culprits were released, and their arrears paid, with a small indemnity of five tomans to 
each man for his unmerited sufferings. But the offending chamberlain, who bad started the false 
cry of a Babi rebellion, was mulcted in a sum of 18,000 tomans, so that the whole transaction 
resulted in a gain to the Royal Exchequer of 7,0001. 1 do not think it would be possible in the 
space of a short paragraph to narrate a more profoundly illustrative tale.It is related amontT 
otliers by Mme. Carla Serena, Hom7nes et Umses en Perse, p. 319, and by S. G. Benjamin, 
Persia and the Persians, pp. 178-180. With it may be compared the incident of the execution of 
the Kalantar or Mayor of Teheran, on the ocassion of a riot arising out of a corner in grain 
which had been effected by some rich speculator in 1861, It is related by Ussher, Journey from 
London to Persepolis, p. 625.

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404: ~/
PERSTA
Notwithstanding these cases of cruelty and iujustice, for which ~some palliation may in each 
case be found, the Shah is admittedly a man of humane disposition. Since his visits to Europe, the 
instances of  such unlicensed exercise of power have been rare, if they have not altogether 
ceased to exist. We have only to contrast his reign with that of his predecessors, to say that on 
the whole it has embraced the most bloodless forty years in modern Persianhistory. Only a 
century ago the abominable system prevailed of blinding possible aspirants to the throne, of 
savage mutilations and life-long captivities, of wanton slaughter and systematic bloodshed. 
Disgrace was not less sudden than promotion, and death was a frequent concomitant of disgrace. 
The old fashion which made the kings of Persia the executioners of their subjects, the ,deed of 
blood being enacted before. their very eyes, has been abandoned. The bastinado has lost somewhat 
of its consecrated ubiquity of infliction. Provincial governors are no longer allowed the 
immunity of savage punishments which ma~de the rule of some ,of the king's uncles and 
great-uncles so dreaded although so superficially successful. Under the Sefavi kings, when the 
ladies of the royal harem desired all outing in the country, a latruk was ordered, which meant 
that every man was to absent himself from the neighbourbood of the prescribed route; and we 
read of poor wretches, straying by accident on to the road, or caught sleeping in its vicinity, 
being hewn to death by the guards or eumichs. In the present reign males are expected to turn to 
the wall when the royal cort6ge passes, but the old horrors of the kuruii; have disappeared. 
Similarly, a labourer, who, pursuing an -underground kanat found himself in the anderun of 
the royal palace, was spared by the Shah, although his life would certainly have been forfeited 
in any previous reign. We may attribute this fortunate amelioration of manners both to the 
chaxacter of the sovereign and to the immense, though perhaps grudgingly acknowledged, 
influence of foreign opinion, and of the representa fives of foreign Powers at the Persian Court. 
It is no mean criterion of the. strength and also of the general popularity of the Shah, that lie is 
the first Persian moDarch who His has ventured to leave his dorninions and to journey in E0 - a 
conqueror at the head ur pean foreign and infidel land., not as , journeysof an army, but as a 
friendly visitor, if riot as a volunteer tourist.During the last three centuries for certain no 
Persian
I
THE SHAH-ROYAL FAMILY-MINISTERS __405
sovereign could have hazarded such a step. Nadir Shah, before. he

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started out for India, had removed every possible competitor for the throne. Moreover, he took 
his army with him, and the prospect of the great Afshar returning at the head of a victorious 
host was enough to make  the blood of any would-be upstart run cold. Nasr-ed-Din Shah had 
to contend with many obstacles in arranging the first of his European journeys, of which there 
have now been three, in 1873, 1878, and 1889. The project was obstinately resisted by the 
clergy; great difficulty was experienced in settling the problem of the serao-lio, the solitary 
wife who accompanied His Majesty in 1873 being ultimately sent back from Moscow; and the 
putting of the government into commission in his absence was also not unattended with hazard. It 
is to the credit of the Sliah that then, and indeed throughout his reign, he has shown a 
commendable independence of the fanatical element among the mullahs and inujiahe(Is of Islam. 
Though a careful observant of the forms and rites of the Mussulman creed, and though reposing a 
superstitions credulity in astrology and divination, he has uniformly asserted the superiority of 
the temporal over the spiritual power, and there was probably never a moment in the history of 
Persia when the ecclesiastical asceridelicy, that is of the essence of Islani, was so much in 
abeyance as at present. The immense amount of money spent by the Shall in the purchase of 
furniture and curiosities in Europe also excited a feeling of discontent; and his second tour was 
unquestionably unpopular among his subjects. That lie was able to venture upon a third is a 
proof of the absolute security of his position, but it is also due to the sentiment which he has 
taken care to diffuse among his subjects, that the princes of Christendom vie with each other in 
anxiety to entertain so great a potentate and squabble for the honour of his alliance. Finally, I 
will apply the double test of a comparison, firstly. of the general state of the country during the 
Shah's reign with its state Coinpari- under his preAecessors; and, secondly, of its condition 
now9011 ~rith with its condition at his accession forty-three years ago. previous reigns The 
record of previous reigns is one of internal warfare, yearly renewed against insurgent tribes or 
recalcitrant chieftains, of tribute refused, of brigandage rampant and unpunished, of ambitious 
nobles struggling with each other for the ascendency, of the royal authority frequently insulted 
and sometimes wholly ignored. Such is not the picture which is presented by the Persia of to-
day.

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406 
lts condition is bad enough viewed fron) the standpoint of public works, education, or internal 
development. But life and property are fairly secure, brigandage is scarcely known, robbery 
and violence (at any rate upon Europeans) are rarely attempted ; revenue is exacted even from 
the nomad and mountainous tribes; the provincial Governors are thoroughly under control and 
quake at the vibrations of the telegraph wire from Teheran ; the Shah is supreme from the. 
Caspian to the Gulf, and from the Kurdish mountains to Seistan; and there is not a single man in 
the kingdom who dare venture either his voice or his position against the sovereign. Hitherto, 
again   the death of the inonarch has almost invariably been the signal for a general outhreak 
; rival candidates for the throne have appeared in arms; and there has been a horrid interval of 
anarchy and turbulence until the superior geni Lis or resources of one competitorhave enabled 
him to win the day. When Fath Ali Shah died in 1834, there were two claimants (if the thronein 
the field in addition to the rightful heir, Mohammed Shah; and it was only owingto the 
inexhaustible energy and influence of Sir John Campbell,theii British M inister, and to the 
assistance of the British officers in command of the Persian troops, that he was able so soon to 
establish his legitimate claim. Similarly, when Mohammed Shah died in -1848 rebellions 
broke out in Khorasan, Kerman, Yezd, and Isfahan, and it was mainly to the joint co-operation of 
the British and Russian Ministers that Nasred-Din was indebted for his speedy recognition. 
Such has been the experience of the last two accessions to the crown. If the present Shah were to 
die to-morrow there might be isolated acts of lawlessness or violence, but I do not credit the 
likelihood of any general insurrection; -1 foresee no warring competition for the throne; and I 
believe that the Heir Apparent would succeed without firing a musket or shedding a, drop of 
blood. Secondly, if we take the period covered by the present reign and contrast the state of 
Persia at the beginning and end of this Compari-epoch, we shall note a marked advance in many 
of the ,son resources of civilisation, culture, comfort, and security. between ,1848 ftidIn the 
year after Nasr-ed-Din Shah ascended the throne 1891 the following sentences were penned by 
the greatest living authority on the Persian question:
In every quarter there is abundant cause for anxiety, and few, very few, faint glinimerings of 
hope. The treasury has beon drained of its last ducat, and we see little chance of its being 
replenished. The
THE SHAH-ROYAL FA-MILY-MINISTER.S 407
sustaining or motive power of the Government no longer exists, nor can it be renewed. The 
general condition of the provinces is hardly less unfavourable to the consolidation of the young 
monarch's power than an empty treasury and impotent and divided councils. In no

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quarter is there any feeling of confidence in the stability of the Government. A domestic crisis 
may be imminent, and cannot be very far
Nevertheless, the subsequent period has not ratified these gloomy vaticinations. There is a 
balance in the Royal Ex.cbequer, regrettable though it, be that it should swell by idle increment 
instead of being devoted to the service of the people. The Government is secure, strong, and 
respected. The provinces, as I have shown, are in thorough subordination. No member of the 
Royal Family has ventured to dispute the supremacy of the Shah. Simultaneously there has been 
a considerable, even if inadequate, expansion of commerce. The telegraph wire has been 
stretched between all the principal towns ; regular posts have been. inaugurated ; newspapers of 
an official character are published in the capital; a miniature railway, which may perhaps 
become the nucleus of a great undertaking, has. been built; gas is manufactured at Teheran. 
Thecritic of the present finds plenty that is backward and a good deal that is deplorable in the 
condition of the country. Of these abuses I shall presently speak. But the historian, contrasting 
the Persia of the two periods, will record all advance, small as measured by European ideas, but 
by no means contemptible according to the standards of the East. Before I quit the subject of the 
Shah and his personality, I may briefly recapitulate the incidents of an interview with which I 
was honoured in the Palace at Teheran. The Shah, to whom I had been previously intioduced in 
England, received me in the room in which stands the so-called Peacock Throne. Audience .with 
the There was no other article of furniture in the chamber, Shall and the King was standing 
alone in the middle. He wore black trousers and a black coat, edged with astrakhan, thick with 
gold cording in front, and equipped with voluminous skirts. Upon the face of his kolah, or 
sheepskin hat, was a small Lion and Sun in diamonds, a recent commission from a Parisian 
jeweller. Whereas in England he had employed French, which however he is shy in using in 
conversation, he now spoke in Persian, through an inter I Sir H. Rtnvlinson, L qkqland and 
Riissia in the Fast, p. 75,

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408
ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZpreter. He looked extraordinarily hale and well, and was in the best of 
tempers. Hearing that I bad entered Persia vi(i, Asbkabad and Kucban, his curiosity was at once 
excited, and for ten ininutes I sustained a cross-examination conducted in short, jerky 
sentences, which fairly elicited from me all that I knew about the position of the Russians, the 
road that they had made, and the unfinished works on the Persian side of the frontier.  What 
was Ashkabad like? Ilow many streets, houses, inhabitants, barracks, soldiers, did it contain? 
What of the watersupply?  Next about the Kuclian road:  Was the Russian seetion 
finished ? Was it well eDgineered? I-low many men were at work on the Persian section ? How 
broad was it ? Were the gradients easy and the work good ?  It was fortunate that I had made 
a special study of this question while passing over the road, and was therefore able to give His 
Majesty a more unvarnished account than he probably receives from his own officers. The 
domestic life of the Shah is shrouded in the mystery common to Mussulman countries. No 
glimpse of the Harem is Harem of caught by males, either Persian or European, with the the 
Shah exception of doctors- of both nationalities) save what may be derived from the passage of a 
closed litter with silken curtains, or of an ancient coach containing undistinguisli able masses of 
drapery. European ladies have, however, frequently been admitted to the royal anderun, and its 
features and occupants are tolerably well known. The actual number of the Shah's wives and 
concubines cannot accurately be deterinined, but is believed to be about sixty. This is exclusive 
of those who have died, been sent away, or otherivise parted with. All these ladies live in the 
palace, and most of them have separate establishments, with equipages, servants, and jewels of 
their own, and -,in allowance varying from 2001. to 2,0001. a year, which is often doubled in 
value by the presents which beauty or complaisance knows how to extract from an uxorious 
lord. The Shah is reported to be a kind master in his harem, for on so extended a scale of 
matrimony it is scarcely ible to apply the European nomenclature of a good husband. possi By 
the law of the.Koran every Mohammedan is allowed four regular wives or (YWis, and as many 
sighehs or concubines as means or inclination permit. Three only of the Shah's wives belong 
to the former category. Two of them w6re his cousins, both princesses of royal blood. The elder 
of the two, known as the Shukuli-es THE SHAH-ROYAL FAMILY-INIINISTERS 409
d

Sultaneb. (Glory of the Empire), is the mother Qf the Heir Apparent and consequently the first 
lady of the 44yem. In Oriental and Mussulman countries it is absurd to speak of any i4dividual 
wife

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as queen. The third aWi, and the favourite, wife of the Shah, is known as the Anis-ed-Dowleh 
(Companion of the King). She was originally a sigheh, being a miller's daughter, of the 
Shimran district, who lifted her veil to the Shah while out riding, and so fascinated the monarch 
that she was removed next day to the royal harem. She has had no children, but her influence 
over the Shah has procured her elevation to the rank of a lawful wife and of first favourite, and 
has secured lucrative positions at court for all her relations. European ladies have on several 
occasions been courteously received by her, and a description of one of these visits is contained 
in the pages of Madame Carla Serena. She was the wife who was chosen to accompany the Shah on 
his first European journey, but who was sent back in high dudgeon from Moscow. In earlier life 
the Shah made. another girl of humble origin an okdi, she having given birth to a son whom he 
named Vali-Ahd. But mother and child both died. Among the sighehs, all of whom bear high-
sounding titles of very similar import, I need only mention the Iffat-ed-Dowleh (Chastity of the 
Kingdom), who is the mother of the Zil-es-Sultan , eldest surviving son, but not the heir, of the 
Shah. I owe an apology to His Royal Highness for having described his inother in a letter to the 
  Times, which the prince saw, and at which he was very furious, as  a poor village girl-
a carpenter's daughter, who accidentally attracted the notice and won the affections of the 
Shah.  Of this parentage I had been informed on high authority, and it was, moreover, 
confirmed by Dr. Wills, who lived fourteen years in Persia, and was on intimate terms with the 
Zil-es-Sultan, and who, in his books, described the prince's mother, no doubt confusing her 
with the Anis-ed-Dowleh,- as  a poor Kurdish girl-the daughter of a miller, who caught the 
Shah's eye while washing clothes at the brookside.  I hasten to make the reparation that is 
due-even at this distance of time-by informing English readers that the mother of the prince 
was the daughter, neither of a carpenter nor a miller, but of Musi Reza Beg, who was yholam, 
i.e. mounted attendant or outrider, of Bahman Mirza, son of Abbas Mirza, and uncle of the Shah. 
Next among the I Vide Land of the lion and the Sun, p. 18; and Persia as it is, p. 65.

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410
ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZsigltehs must be counted the Munir-es-Sultanell (Grandeur of the 
Empire), daughter of the late, and sister of the present, Chief Architect of Teheran, who is the. 
mother of the Naib-es-Sultaneli, third son of the Shah, of whom I shall speak presently. The 
only other si.(17tch who merits attention in this place is the Amin-iNkdas (Trusted of the 
Sovereign), a Kurdish slave    who has acquired the confidence of the Shah by her business 
capacity and honesty, and who is the aunt of the little boy favourite already alluded to. She 
originally owed her position to having been the devoted attendant of the Shah's favourite cat, 
which I have before mentioned. In the past year (1890) the Shah sent her to Vienna to submit to 
an operation for cataract which, unfortunately, was not successful. Deeper into the secrets of 
the seraglio, or into a further enumeration of Stars, Suns, Lights, and Glories of the Empire, it 
is unnecessary to advance. Regarding the indoor costunie of these ladies, 1 can, of course, only 
speak from hearsay. But it is well known that, while in the days of Fath Ali Shah the ladies of 
high t-ank wore silk or muslin shifts, loose velvet pantaloons, and an embroidered vest, the 
reigning sovereign has introduced a more liberal fashion of toilette. The upper part of the dress 
consists of a chemise under a short jacket; below which are worn very short, and very much 
puffed-out petticoats.  In their excurgions abroad the ladies of the Harem, as I bave before 
said, are as closely veiled as are Mohammedan women in general, and more closely veiled than 
the favourites of the Seraglio at Constantinople. Neither in the number of his wives nor in the 
extent of his progeny, can the Shah, although undeniably a family man, be The Kajars - 
compared with his great-grandfather, Fath Ali Shah. To ,its pro- the high opinion universally 
held of the domestic capacities genitors of that monarch must, I imagine, be attributed the 
divergent estimates that are to be found, in works about Persia, of the number of his concubines 
and children. Colonel Drouville, in 1813, credits him with 700 wives, 64 sons, and 125 
daughters. Colonel Stuart, who was in Persia in the year after Fath Ali's death, gives him 
1,000 wives and 105 children. Lady Sheil, in the next decade, mentions 80 sons, and 
innumerable daughters. Binning names 800 wives, 130 sons, 170 daughters, and 5,000 living 
descendants, at the time of his death. Madame Dieulafoy I Vide Mrs. Bishop's Journeys in 
Persia, vol. i, pp. 216, 264.
d


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also names the 5,000 descendants, but as existing at an epoch fifty years later (which has an 
air of greater probability); she reduces the wives to 700, but increases the children to 600. 
Rawlinson represents 3,000 direct descendants as existing at the time of his death. The two 
historians of modern Persia likewise fail to agree; for while Watson mentions 159 children, 
Markham allows for 300 wives, 150 sons, and 20 daughters. The estimate which appears in the 
Nasekh-et-Tavarikh, a great modern Persian historical work, fixes the number of Fath 
Ali's wives as over 1,000, and of his offspring as 260, 110 of whom survived their 
father.  Hence the familiar Persian proverb : Camels, fleas, and princes exist 
everywhere.  The talent ot paternity was by no means exhausted in the next generation, for 
several of Fath Ali's sons could boast of 40 or 50 male offspring ; and one of their number 
Sheikh Ali Mirza-used to ride abroad with a bodyguard of 60 of his own sons. No royal family 
has ever afforded a more exemplary illustration of the Scriptural assurance,   Instead of thy 
fathers thou shalt have (A. V. shall be thy) children, whom thou mayest make princes in all 
lands; 1 2 for there was scarcely a governorship or a post of  emolument in Persia that was 
not filled by one of this beehive of princelings; and to this day the myriad brood of Shahzadehs, 
or descendants of a king, is a perfect curse to the country, although many of these luckless 
scions of royalty, who consume a large portion of the revenue in annual allowances and 
pensions, now occupy very inferior positions as telegraph clerks, &c. Fraser drew a vivid 
picture of the misery ent secretaries   ailed upon the country fifty years ago by this I race 
of royal drones,  who filled the governing posts not merely of every province, but of every 
beluk- or district, city, and town; each of whom kept up a court, and a huge harem, and who 
preyed upon the country like a swarm of loeusts.3 In contrast to these surprising totals, it is 
with an air of relief that we learn that the reigning Shah has only bad a family of about 40 
children, of whom half are still living, viz., 9 sons, and I None of these figures can be compared 
with those of Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, who left a child for 
every day in the year. Either of these monarchs might well have spoken in the language of our 
own Charles U, who, when addressed by an effusive courtier as the Father of his People, replied, 
I Well, say of a considerable proportion of them 1  Psalm xlv. 16. Compare what is said of 
Relloboam, in 2 Chron. xi. 23. A Winter's Journey, vol. i. p. 400.

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412
ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZ12 daughters. His eldest son *as born forty-four years ago, his youngest 
during the present year. Of his grown-up daughters, FfLmily of who bear similar titles to their 
mothers, and are known the Shah as Pride, Purity, Chastity, Splendour, and -Diadem of the 
Kingdom or Empire, one is married to the Chief Priest of Teheran -an ingenious method of 
annexing the ecclesiastical interest~-and the rest are wedded to princes, or erninent subjects. 
It is withno special delight that one of the latter receives the intimation that he has been selected 
as a son-in-law of the sovereign; for although it may bring official promotion for himself, the 
distinction also involves a large ready-money present, followed by recurrent donations, to his 
royal father-in-law; it entails a great outlay in keeping up the requisite state for a Princess of 
the Blood; and it deprives the favoured husband of the liberty of taking any other wife. The Shah, 
as a rule, gives a dowry of 2,0001. a year to his married daughters. Under the Sefavi kings 
there existed no rule determining the succession to the Persian crown. Differing from the 
practice that His Sons. prevails amono, the Sunni Mussulmans, e.g. in the Court Succession to 
the at -Constantinople, of the heredity of the eldest -surviving throne male, the Persian ruler 
selected which of his offspring he pleased, and often did not declare his choice till his deathbed. 
The Kajars have resumed what is an ancient Tartar orTurkish custom   by instituting the 
Blood-Royal qualification, and closely regarding the rank of the mother. Mohainmed Husein 
Khan, the father of Agha Mohammed and grandfather of Fath Ali Shah, when a refugee with the 
Turkomans, refused to wed the daughter of one of their ch~efs, on the ground that she was not - 
of sufficiently exalted rank to give birth to a line of possible aspirants to the throne. Abbas 
Mirza was not the eldest son of Fath Ali, but was preferred above Afol   iammed Ali Mirza, 
his elder brother, because he was the son of a KaJar princess. It is true that early in his reign 
the present Shah departed from this custom, and gratified both the pride of irresponsibility and 
the instincts of love by nominating as Vali-Alid, or Heir Apparent (after his first male child and 
bearer of that title, had died), the son of a flavourite sigheh, who was of humble birth. But upon 
the death of this child he reverted to the more normal custom; his eldest surviving son, the Zil-
es-Sultan, was passed over, and the junior of the latter by three years-being the son of a 
princess THE SHAH-ROYAL FAMILY-MINISTERS 413
d

was named Vali-Ahd, and is now Heir Apparent to the Persian throne. Muzaffer-ed-Din 
(Victorious of the Faith) is the name of this

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prince, who was born in 18-53, and who has now been Vali-Ahd Muzaff r- (having succeeded 
three elder brothers in the title) for ed-Dirleth, thirty-three years. In -accordance with 
another fixed, Vali-Alid but most impolitic. tradition of the Kajar dynasty, the Vali-Ahd is 
appointed Governor-General of the north-western province of Azerbaijan, with his capital and 
palace at Tabriz. He cannot leave this province without the sanction of the Shah; and, immured 
there, he remains in total ignorance of the politics and statecraft of Teheran, of the ministers 
whom he may have to depend upon, the system which be may have to dispense, the people whom 
he may have to rule. He does not ordinarily even administer the province of which he is the 
Dominal governor, but is a . mere puppet in the bands of some trusted servant of the State. It is 
as though the Prince of Wales were compelled habitually to reside at Cardiff or Carnarvon and 
were never allowed to quit the borders of the Principality. Nay, it is worse; for Tabriz, whicb-
is the second city in the kingdom, cannot fairly be compared to a small provincial town; and a 
better simile would be that of an English Heir Apparent who, as heir of the Duchy of Lancaster, 
was compelled to hold his court at Liverpool, but was precluded from bearing any part in the 
admiDistration of that great county or city. Placed, moreover, in the province which is nearest 
to the Russian frontier, and is overshadowed by Russian influence, the Vali-Ahd is apt to 
contract prepossessions or apprehensions which it is difficult to throw off, and which may 
affecthis entire subsequent reign. The Shah has three times been, to Europe himself, but, 
unfortunately, has Dever so far permitted his son to stir outside of Persia. The consequence is 
that but little is known of the character and capacities of the latter, which have been variously 
represented as those of a polished and wellinformed gentleman and of a weak and harmless 
nonentity, Dr. Wills has, I think, in his writings done ,a, great injustice His chn- to the Vali-
Ahd, whom, in passages to which, without riteter quoting, I may refer my readers, he has 
described as physically weak and mentally imbecile, and as an impracticable and obstinate 
bigot.  I ra the Land, etc., p. 366; Persia aq it is,p. 176. Other books about Persia

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414
PERSTA
I believe (and I have taken steps to procure the best inforniation on the subject) that this is a 
most unfair account, of the personality of the future king of Persia, So ~ ar from being 
either an idiot or an imbecile, be is a man of good intelligence and considerable instruction, 
being well read in history, professing an interest in botany, and being withal of all amiable and 
unassuming disposition. The charge of bigotry appears to have arisen front the fact that be pays 
marked respect to the midlahs, and that lie is believed to be more or less under the influence of 
the Sheikhi sect, which may be described as a fanatical agency. I Any such prepossession, 
however, which probably does not amount to more than serious orthodoxy, as contrasted with 
the free-thinking tendencies of his elder brother, is far front justifying a fear of active 
religious persecution in the future. If tl)e prince is, as alleged, of weak character and easily 
led-although such a lack of individuality is denied by others-it is largely owing to the 
inexcusable position of subordination in which he, a man of nearly forty years of age, 0 the 
second personage in the kingdom, and the future sovereign 7 has been placed by the shortsighted 
apprehensions of his ffither. ;0 Though nominally Governor-General of a great province, he has 
hitherto been allowed no more voice in the actual administration than a lacquey at his table; a 
child in leading-strings has more control over his own movements than this pseudo-ruler has 
had over his subjects .2 Tile allowance given to him by the Shah has been
have contained similarly unflattering portraits of the Vali-Ahd, but I cannot ascertain that they 
amount in any case to more than repetitions of second-hand or third-hand gossip. I The Sheikhi 
sect are so, called from a celebrated Sheikh of Kerman, Haji Mohammed Kerim Khan, who in the 
early part of the century was a disciple of Sheikh Ahmed Absai, the doctrinal parent of Babism. 
A split occurred between the followers of the Bab and the pupils of the Sheikh, who called 
themselves by his name. He preached a superior rationalism, reconciling dogma with reason, 
and bad many admirers, including Fath Ali Shah. The three chief points of his creed were, 
extreme veneration for the Imams, as divine incarnations, belief in his own spiritual 
communion with thein, and denial of a material resurrection; Tride E. G Browne, Journal of the 
_B.A.8., 1889, art. xii. 2 The Province, as I shall presently show, has been for long 
administered by the Prince's Vizier-the Amir-i-Nizam. Several years ago, in the absence of 
a strong hand at the helm, the mis-government was so great that the Vali-Ahd was temporarily 
deprived of his governorship, which was conferred upon one of the Shah's uncles, in adept in 
the. proper use of the bastinado, the bowstring, and the executioner's knife. The Amir-i-
Nizam having been recalled (1891), the Vali-Ahd has now once more a chance.

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THE SHAII-ROYAL FAMILY-MINISTERS 416
variously quoted to me as 40,000, 60,000, and 72,000 tomans, the lowest estimate 
beingequivalent to 11,4001.,the highest to 20,5001.; whichever it be, it is llotoriously 
inadequate for the becoming maintenance of royal state, a great retinue, and a large harem; and 
the prince has continually found himself in the ignominious position of being indebted to his own 
Prime Minister for the means of defraying his expenses. From the Amir-i-Nizam he received 
all annual contribution towards this object of 40,000 toinans. Owing to his long residence in 
Azerbai~jan, and to the close proximity of that province to Russian territory, be has frequently 
been credited with strong Russophile proclivities. There does not appear, however, to be any 
more ground for this than for  the other damaging insinuations against his character ; the 
Prince seeing so little of aliy Europeans that it is impossible to ascertain his real sympathies. 
The Anlir-i-Nizam was reputed to be a strong Russophile, and in consequence to have.. 
encouraged the belief that his feelings were shared by his royal master. In the lack of any more 
serious occupation, the latter has devoted himself greatly to sport and shooting, being, like all 
the Kajars, a fine performer both with a rifle and a shot-gun ; and being further devoted to 
artillery exercise, at which he is something more than an antateur., making excellent practice 
with the Austrian Uchatius guns in the arsenal at Tabriz. In appearance, as the accompanying 
photograph will show, he is of middle stature, and of handsome butcareworn expression. He is 
the father of a large family, having more than twelve children living, several of whom are 
already married. His first wife-the daughter of Mirza Taki Khan, the great minister of whom I 
have spoken, and consequently his first cousin, her mother being the Shah's sister-he 
parted with, owing, it is said, to circumstances arising out of her father's assassination. One 
of her sisters was married to his elder brother, the Zil-esSultan, but died many years ago. Such 
is the information that I have been able to gather about the next king of Persia. He is 
emphatically what would, in sporting parlance, be termed I a dark horse.  It is quite 
possible, however, that upon his succession to the throne, this unknown quantity may turn out 
soinewhat of a surprise. The recent eclipse of his elder brother has added to his prestige and 
chances, which, approved by the reigning monarch, recognised by foreign Powers, and accepted 
by the. country, may now be looked upon, humanly speaking, as absolutely secure.

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416
ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZI now turn to the best-known son of the Sliali, Sultan.Masud Mirza 
(Prince Felicitous), more commonly kDown by the title of The Zil-es- the Zil-es-Sultaii, or 
  Shadow of tlje Kijigr-~t misnomer Sultanin this case, seeing that he is very nearly double 
his father's size.Three years older than the Crown Prince) having been born in 18,50, he is 
yet disqualified frorn the succession to the throne by reason of his plebeian origin on the 
maternal side, of which I have previously spoken.Though not destined to rule as sovereign, this 
prince has, from youth upwards, been allowed to ape the part, and to wield the functions, of 
sovereignty with a freedom that could not fail to encouragq extravagant pretensions, and that 
ultimately led to his downfall.At a very early age he was made Governor of Isfahan, and 
afterwards of Shiraz.  As the years passed by, he grew in favonr and authority. His stern and 
savage rule, which effectually repressed disorder and brigandage in the provinces under his 
control, arici the punctuality of his remittances of revenue to Teheran, caused him to be 
regarded with pecirliar gratification at Court.Province after province was added to his 
dominions, until Fars, Isfahan, Kurdistan, Luristan, Arabistan, and Yezd were all subject to his 
sway.  It was calcu lated that, prior to his fall, 250,000 square miles, or two-fifths of the 
whole of Persia, were beneath his rule.Simultaneously, he collected and controlled a great army 
at Isfahan, for which he adopted Prussian uniforms and pickelhaabe helmets-a dress in which he 
was very fond of being photographed himself, in full general's uniform.In 1886 the troops 
under his comma-rid amounted (I give the actual, not the nominal, figures) to twentyfour 
regiments of infantry, containing 10,800 men, with 6,000 breech-loadirig rifles, 10 
batteries of artillery, and 8 regiments of irregular cavalry, or a total of nearly 21~,000 men 
and 7,000 horses.Residing, as Governor, at Isfaban, he was constantly in terviewed by English 
travellers, to whom lie invariably professed the most liberal and Anglophile sentiments. The 
severity of his ,adn I iiji'stration, by which the turbulent tribesmen of the western 
provinces were kept in fair order, and his manly hearing, created I The provincesordistricts of 
which lie was actually Oic, governor in 1886 were Gulpaigan and KhODSar, Joshagan, Irak, 
Isfahan, Fars, Yezd, Aral)jstan, Luristan, Kurdistan, KaDgayar, Nihavend. Kainareli, Burujird, 
Kermansbah, Asadabad, Kezzaz. Their revenue amounted in the saine. year (reckoning three 
tontans as 11., according to the then rate of exchange) to 599,4001. in casl), and 73,8001. in 
grain, or a total of 673,2001.
d

THE VALI-ATID

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r
THE SHAII-ROYAL FAMILY-MINISTERS 417
an impression of resoluteness and strength; and it was erroneously inferred that the prince thus 
gifted and smiled upon would ultimately both deserve the throne and win it. These impressions 
have nowhere found a more emphatic spokesman than in Dr. Wills, who has already been proved 
to have Fall.cious cast as erroneous a horoscope for the Zil-es-Sultan as, I predictions believe, 
he will also be proved in the future to have done for the Vali-Ahd. This is what be says in his two 
works before quoted:
I suppose the time will come when His Royal Highness will make an effort for the throne, 
probably on the present Shah's death. It will be a lucky day for Persia if he succeeds, as he 
is clever, tolerant, and a good governor. His personal popularity is very great, and his luck as a 
governor proverbial. He has a dislike to deeds of blood, but is a severe governor. And later:
There is no shadow of a doubt that the Zil will ultimately become Shah. He is a vigorous and 
fortunate governor, and his popularity is immense.2
I do -not know whether, -as a statement of facts or - as a -prediction of the future, these. 
paragraphs are the more to be mistrusted. The Zil-es-Sultan was undoubtedly a ruler of vigour 
and determination. He held the reins in his own hand) and with a tight grip. Hating and despising 
the Alussulman clergy, he treated them with refreshing contempt. Never were the nomad 
tribesmen of the. south-west provinces in a state of such acceptable subordination. But these 
merits, which were undeniable, and which are such as an Oriental respects, were compensated 
by faults of character and administration that in early days, when he was Governor at Shiraz, 
caused a popular outhreak which compelled him to fly, and in later times, at the very zenith of 
his power, were secretly preparing his downfall. Continued acts of violence and extortion on the 
part of officials to whose licence he appeared indifferent inflamed the public mind against his 
government. Several lamentable tragedies occurred during his administration-sueb, for 
instance, as the execution of the two Babi merchants in 1878 3 and the assassination of the 
Ilkhani of the
I In the Land of the Lion and the Sim, p. 366. 2 Persia as it is, p. 176. 1Vide p. 500,

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418
I 
Bakhtiaris in 1882.1 The astonishment, therefore, was not great when, in February 1888, the 
prince, being on a visit to the capital, was deprived of all his governorships, except that of 
Isfahan, and denuded of all but a fracrinent of the fine army on which he had so triumphantly 
relied. Acquiescing in his disgrace, be has since led a more humble and contracted existence, and 
is generally recognised as having, at least for the time being, lost all chances of future eminence 
or promotion. He has lately begun to exhibit a closer personal interest in the details of his 
government in Isfahan, where lie acts as his own Vizier, and sits daily in one of the cabinets 
opening out of the Clieliel Situu, to receive in audience any who may choose to come. The Zil was 
kind enough to accord me an interview at Teheran; and in the above remarks I must be 
understood to pass no personal sentence, but merely to reflect, with as much accuracy as I can, 
the verdict of the well-informed. The palace of the Prince is one of the finest in Teheran, having 
an imposing fagade relieved with stucco work, and broad large Interview windows. At the door 
was standing a carriage richly with the adorned with gilt armorial bearings and drawn by four 
Prince horses. Mounting a staircase, and- passing through several rooms decorated with a comic 
mixture of the European and Oriental, I entered a long passage or corridor, one side of which 
consisted entirely of windows filled with geraniums, while the opposite wall was covered with 
pictures, chiefly replica photographs and portraits of the Zil, illustrations from Russian 
newspapers of Russian Emperors, generals, and battle scenes, interspersed with innumerable 
coloured prints of sparsely attired and languishing houris. The Zil was standing in the middle, 
attired in a loose frock coat or pelisse of Persian cashmere material, drab cloth trousers, and 
patent-leather boots. He took his seat on an iron bedstead-a culminating example of the bizarre 
furniture of a Persian palace-which supported a brocaded mattress, and in front of which were 
placed chairs. During the interview,
I For this tragedy ride Wills, _Tn the Land, 4-e., 1). 262 ; Persia as it is, p. 192. The victim 
was Husein Kuli Khan, the Ekbani or Chieftain of the Bakbtiari tribes, a man of enlightened 
character, a vigorous and beneficent ruler, and a loyal subject. He was invited to Isfahan, where 
it was given out that he died of apoplexy. It subsequently transpired that, having refused to 
drink a cup of poisoned coffee, he was strangled. For further mention of this great chief, and for 
the unfortunate policy pursued by the Persian Government towards the Bakbtiari tribes and 
their rulers, ride vol. ii. cap. xxiv.
THE SHAIT-ROYAL FANITLY-MINISTERS 419
Ft younger son of the Shah came in, a nice I - ittle boy of eight years of age, with a pink velvet 
coat and an immense diamond buckle.

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His elder brother appeared to be very fond of him, and. caressed the lad as he talked. The Shadow 
of the King is short of stature, unusually corpulent for his years, and is a chronic sufferer from 
gout. A defect in one His ap- of his eyes detracts from the smart appearance that he P11111111 
has commonly been made to present in photographs; and conversation and his features wear an 
expression of mingled bonhomie and astuteness. Upon the present occasion he looked pallid and 
far from well. He talked a great deal in Persian, with a very rapid flow of language and constant 
laughter. Beginning with the stereotyped conversational overture that he always had been and 
would be the friend of England, which was the centre of civilisation and to whose interests he had 
devoted his life, he went on to say that he thought Lord Salisbury's Government the best in 
the world, and hoped it would remain in office for ever. On the other hand, he considered Lord 
Randolph Churchill not too loyal, and rather troublesome. I asked him what they would do with 
him in Persia. He replied, with some discretion, that a course of office might be expected to have 
a steadying effect He added that he took in fifteen English as well as French, German, and Russian 
newspapers; and that he employed a special translator for the purpose. Turning the conversation 
on to general politics, with which he seemed creditably familiar, and on to the chances of peace 
and war, he expressed sentiments unfavourable to the two greatest neigbbouring Powers. On the 
other hand, he told a Russian officer of my acquaintance, upon one occasion, that he was eagerly 
awaiting the Russians; and Mr. Stack, in his excellent book, I relates a story-  that casts 
similar doubt -upon his Anglophile professions. It is supposed that his general predisposition is 
in favour of the English as against their rivals; but that expediency recommends an application 
of the same compliments to both. He then proceeded to pass an elaborate panegyric, on the good 
government of the Shah, -under whose administration life and property were secure, and no one 
was oppressed or murdered (an examp le, which, in these respects, it is still not too late for the 
Prince to follow). Persia he depicted as  hungering and thirsting for civilisation,  
emotions of very dubious existence, which I question if the Zil 8,*x Jfont7is in Persia, vol. ii, 
p. 27.

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---""ZZwould lift a little finger to appease. He added What was true-, that he had 
come to Teheran in order to reingratiate himself with the Shah, to whom he had brought a fine 
present of money and horses. The attempt was so far successful-the prince having an alleged 
enemy in the ruling Grand Vizier, the Amin-es-Sultan -that the governments of Irak and Yezd 
were added to that of Isfahan. In the Fortune's wheel of Oriental politics, the degraded of one 
day is the uppermost of the next, and no revolu tion is too astonishing to be possible. But 
whatever be the ups and downs of the Zil's future career, lie can no longer be regarded as a 
competitor for the throne, or as a formidable factor in the political future of Persia. It should 
be added that the prince shares to the full the masculine tastes of his family, being a great 
sportsman and passionately addicted to the saddle and the chase. His first wife died thirteen 
years ago ; and his eldest SOD., the Jelaled-Dowleh, who, during the Zil's period of 
grandeur, ruled as deputy
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THE SHAH-ROYAL FAMILY-MINISTERS 421
at Shiraz, and was, in 1890, transferred to Yezd, now rules as his father's deputy in that 
city. The prince has also several daughters. The third grown-up son of the Shah, by -name 
Kamran Mirza, but more commonly called by his title of the Naib-es-Sultaneh, The (Lieutenant 
of the Kingdom), with whom also I was Naib-es- rranted an audience. holds the posts of 
Minister of 9 Sultaneh War, Commander-in-Chief of the Persian Army (entitled Amir-i-
Kebir) or Great Lord), and Governor of Teheran. He is now
THE NAIB-ES-SULTANER
thirty-five years of age and is also unusually stout for his years. Though generally reputed to be 
the favourite son of the Shah and a young man of amiable disposition, be is deficient in capacity 
or political influence, and, except for the importance attaching to his military rank, fills no 
part on the public stage. Alone among the Shah's sons, he speaks very tolerable French, and 
can converse without the aid of an interpreter. He is understood to be very much afraid of his 
elder brother, the Zil, and to be on the reverse

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422
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---""ZZof friendly terms with him. He possesses a fine palace at Teheran, as well 
as a summer residence in the country, the garden attached to the former being reputed the most, 
beautiful in Persia. This prince is partial to the luxuries of life, ; and the appointments and. 
furniture of his palace reflect these aesthetic inclinations. On the Sliah's anniversary be has 
been in the habit for some years of giving a great dinner, in the French style, to the foreign 
Ministers, at which are to be noticed all the latest refinements of Parisian art. In youth he 
married a daughter of the Hissam-es-Sultaneh, who was Governor of Khorasan and was called 
the - Victor of Herat. It was her brother, the present Hissam-es-Sultaneh, who represented the 
Shah at the Queen's Jubilee in 1-887. The expenses necessitated by his various posts entail 
an outlay upon the Naib which his allowance is inadequate to meet; but in the administration of 
the Army he has discovered the wherewithal of a very substantial fortune. Of the audience. with 
which I was favoured, I can recall nothing more important or perhaps more characteristic than 
the prince's declaration that he disliked the military parades in the Great Meidau, because 
they blew the dust in his eyes. The remaining- sons of the Shah are little boys of seven and eight 
years of age, and infants, the offspring of younger and later wives. It will be seen from what has 
been said that in R - -t of the Royal none of the Royal Family is there any certain 
reproducFamily tion of the kingly qualities of their father; and that though the succession to the 
throne is not now likely to be disputed, yet it will place in power a personality whose character 
is still an enignia, and with regard to whom, if he. turns out a feeble. ruler, no one can be 
astonished; if a good ruler, most- people will be surprised. While speaking of the Royal Family 
I must not omit all mention of the brothers of the Shah, although none of these Brothers 
possesses any special importance beyond that which of the results from his rank. The eldest of 
them is Abbas Shah Mirza, Mulk Ara. Regarded forty years ago as a possible pretender to I lie 
throne, be fled, on his elder brother's accession, to Baghdad, where lie resided for thirty 
years, until reconciled to the Shah, who invited him back to Teheran. Here he became Minister 
of Commerce and Honorary President of the Council. He has also been Governor of Kazvin and 
other places. Soured, however, by his long exile, lie is destitute of at-ribition, and has
d

i
THE SHAH-ROYAL FAMILY-MINISTERS 423
finished his r6le. it, public life. The second brother, Abdus Samed

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Mirza, the Izz-ed-Dowleb, was till recently Minister of Justice. He accompanied the Shah on his 
previous tour to Europe, can speak both English and French, and was also sent to Moscow to 
congratulate the present Czar on his accession to the throne. Politically he exercises no 
influence, but is now for a second time Governor of Hamadan. The third and last surviving 
brother is Mohammed Taki Mirza,the Rukn-ed-Dowleh,of whom1have already spoken, in a 
previous chapter, as Governor-General of Khorasan. He was reputed not to be a strong governor 
and to be mainly in the hands of his Vizier, who was a strenuous Russian partisan; and it is to 
these reasons that his recall in the present year has been attributed. The three brothers are 
 , therefore, in no case factors of political moment, and are said to be dependent for their 
fortunes upon the bounty of the Shah. From the Palace I pass to the principal Ministers of the 
Crown. The Shah is nominally assisted in the task of government by a Council of State of 
fluctuating numbers-it at present contains thirty members-nominated by himself. The more 
prominent of Council these are ministers with portfolios, the departments of State being 
distinguished and named on semi-European lines, though an accumulation of several offices, 
with not the slightest connection between their functions, in the hands of a single person is a 
characteristic departure from the European model. It is, in fact, the greatest mistake to confuse 
this Council with the Cabinets of Western Constitutions, with which it has little in common. 
Perhaps the institution which it most closely resembles, and from which it was in all 
probability copied, is the Imperial Council-in Russia. It was after returning from his first 
voyage to Europe that the Persian Council of State assumed its present shape. The Shah on 
Scheme that occasion issued a Rescript to the Secretary of the of its Council in which the 
functions of the reorganised body functions were thus defined :
The regular establishment of a Council of State is an affair of great importance, and is 
indispensable to the Government. It is our desire that this assembly shall be well constituted and 
well directed, and we are resolved to confer upon it unlimited powers and exalted influence. You 
will therefore communicate to the Council of State the following orders, which will serve as a 
basis for its reorganisation -(i.) Inasmuch as the affairs of Government are manifold, and as we

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424
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shall be immediately executed, two meetings in the week are insufficient. The Council will 
therefore in future be convened three times in the week. (ii.)The members of the Council will 
enjoy full liberty of speech. They must fear nothing, and must deliberate with the greatest 
impartiality. lf one of their number, occupying an inferior position in rank, desires to make 
observations or criticisms upon the manner in which certain affairs of government have been 
conducted by the higher officials, the latter will have no right either to be angry or to complain; 
but they will be able to defend and to justify themselves by reasons and remarks offered in 
polite language. (iii.) Every member of the Council, of whatever rank, may submit for 
discussion any project of merit or public utility. (iv.)All business will be decided by the 
majority of votes. The decisions, inscribed upon parchment, will be signed by all the inembers. 
Those that are verbally given will have no effect unless they are written out and signed, 
(v.)Henceforward all the provincial governors and officers charged with high functions by the 
State shall be nominated and elected by the Council of State. (vi.)The meetings of the Council 
will take place regularly, and all public matters will be laid before them.
d

This document possesses undeniable merits as a scheme for a powerful Cabinet of advice, in a 
constitutional monarchy; and might supply a very respectable charter of the rights of functions 
of such a body. But Persia is very far from being a con - stitutional monarchy, and accordingly 
it is not surprising to find that the Rescript has been either tacitly ignored or diplomatically 
forgotten, the fifth article in particular never having shown a spark of vitality. The Persian 
Council of State, as it at present exists, has no miaisterial responsibility and no collective 
authority, either execuPresent tive or legislahve. It, is a purely consultative body, concondition 
vened sometimes to advise the Shah beforehand, more commonly to discuss the, fulfilment of his 
orders when already delivered. Its sole executive power is that of the. individual men composing 
it, who are the Shah's servants, and can be shifted, promoted, or dismissed without any 
relation to their colleagues. There is a titular President of the Council who summons the 
meetings, but has no other presidential functions. He neither
THE SHAII-ROYAL FAMILY-MINISTERS 425
takes the chair nor puts questions to the vote. Indeed, no speeches are made nor votes taken. The 
discussion is purely informal and

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conversational, and each minister is in the habit of reporting privately to the sovereign. , Of the 
general character and accomplishments of the ministers Ministers of the Persian Court, Sir J. 
Malcolm, in his History, wrote of State as follows in the early years of the century:
The Ministers and chief officers of the Court are almost always inen of polished manners, well 
skilled in the business of their respective departments, of pleasant conversation, subdued 
temper, and very acute observation ~ but these agreeable and useful qualities are, in general, 
all that they possess. Nor is virtue or liberal knowledge to be expected in men whose lives are 
wasted in attending to forms; whose means of subsistence are derived from the most corrupt 
sources; whose occupation is in intrigues which have always the same objects: to preserve 
themselves or ruin others ; who cannot, without danger, speak any language but that of flattery 
and deceit ; and who are, in short, condemned by their condition to be venal, artful, and false. 
There have, no doubt, been many ministers of Persia whom it would be injustice to class under 
this general description ; but even the most distinguished for their virtues and talents have been 
forced in -some degree to accommodate their principles to their station ; and, unless where the 
confidence of their sovereign has placed them beyond the fear of rivals, necessity has compelled 
them to practise a subserviency and dissimulation at variance with the truth and integrity 
which can alone constitute a claim to the respect all are disposed to grant to good and great 
men. 
These observations are marked by the insight and justice characteristic of their distinguished 
autilor, and it is to be feared that to a large extent they hold as good of the present as of the old 
generation. Nevertheless, I hope I am not wrong in believing that the milder disposition and 
example of the reigning Shah, the results of European experience-inost of the ministers having 
accompanied the king on one or other of his journeys-and the changing spirit of the times, 
recognisable even in Persia, have tempered some of the harsher outlines of the original picture 
; and that there is increasing scope for that honesty and integrity, whose absence Malcolm 
deplored, and which have biiherto been frightened out of existence by the danger attaching to 
honourable pre-eminence and by the universal complicity in fraud and corruption.
I History of Persia, vol. ii. cap. xxiv.

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426 
I at least shall assume the best in describing the character and conversations of those ministers 
whom I met in England and at Teheran. There are at the present time seven ministers who may 
be described as possessing portfolios, the division or concentration of Th. Aini.- which will 
strike European readers as both arbitrary eB-sultau and eccentric. The rank of Sadr Azem, or 
Grand Vizier, which has occasionally been conferred by the Shah upon his leading adviser, is not 
strictly now enjoyed by any individual.  The present Prime Minister is known as the Amin-
es-Sultan, or Trusted of the Sovereign, his Daine being TA1,irza Ali Askar Khan. He is a young 
man of now (1891) only thirty-four years of age, who, without the advantages of noble birth, 
has by his dash and ability won for himself the foremost position in Persia, and in 1889 
accompanied the Shah on his European tour as the most important personage after his royat 
master. The grandson of an Armenian, and the son of an official who was originally ab(lar (the 
cup-bearer of Nehemiah i. 11 ; the  chief butler  of Genesis xl. 1) to the Shah on his 
travelling and hunting excursions, but who subsequently rose to high favour and office, the 
Amin-es-Sultan now unites in his own person the Ministries of the Interior, Court, Customs, 
and Treasury, besides being Administrator of the Mint and Governor of the Persian Gulf Ports. 
He is also practically Foreign Minister as well. I met him several times, and was favourably 
impressed with his intelligence, energy, and seeming force of character. His appearance is 
prepossessing, he has a frank and attractive manner, and he talks with great ease, rapidity, and 
emphasis. Having, like all Persian officials of high rank, attained a very large fortune, partly 
inherited, partly acquired, he in-, babits a fine residence in the capital. He makes no 
concealment, at any rate to English ears, of liberal and Anglophile sympathies,
I Upon the Shah's accession he made Mirza Taki Khan his First Minister; but the latter is 
said to have declined the title of Sadr Azem, and to have been content with that of Amir-i-Nizam, 
or Commander-in-Chief. After his murder in 1852, Mirza Agha Khan was appointed Sadr 
Azorn, a I itle and position which he held till 1858. The Shah did not again confer the rank until 
1871, when the recipient Was Mirza Husein Khan, the author of the ]Reuter concession. An 
official intrigue caused his fall in 1873, but lie was afterwards made Minister of Foreign 
Affairs, and received the title of Sipali Salar, another synonym for Commander-in-Chief. Since 
1873 there has been but one Sadr Azem, Mirza Yusuf Ashtiani, who was raised from the high 
oflice of Mustoti-el-Marnalek to the higher one of Sadr Azem, and died while in occupation of 
that post.
THE SHAH-ROYAL FAMILY-MINISTERS 427
and spoke to me with the utmost freedom about the politics of his country. He said that what had 
struck him most in England was the wealth of the nobility, where each was a king, the education 
of

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the people, where all could philosophise, and the density of the population, where every village 
was a town and every town a city.  Upon his return to his native country, the sight of the 
Persian
r77-77 -777; c
THE AMIN-ES-SULTAN
roads had almost inade him weep, and he considered the introductI  on of roads and railroads 
as the best method of expressing his indebtedness to Europe.. He declared that be would like his 
two sons, the eldest of whom was twelve years of age, to be educated in England, but that their 
mother would not  hear of their leaving the country. We discussed many political questions, 
to which I will not here refer, but in all of which I was struck by the grasp of the situation and 
by the ready comprehension of rival designs anct standpoints exhibited by the Ainin. He has now, 
in the face

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school, by whom lie is regarded as a schemer and an upstart, held his own for several years. His 
administration has on the whole been marked by ability and success, and if he continues to 
receive the support of the king, if he can escape the deteriorating contagion of Persian official 
life, and if be can hold up his bead amid the hurricane of intrigue that surges round a leading 
man in Persia, he may live to be a real benefactor of his country. At the time of going to press, 
in the winter of 1891-2, his position appears to be still unimpaired; nor does the jealousy of - 
his rivals seem to have shaken the wise confidence of his sovereign. The remaining ministers 
are for the nonce somewhat overshadowed by the ascendency of the Amin. The most bonourable 
and The Amin- capable among them is the Amin-ed-Dowleh, Mirza Ali ed-Dowleh Khan, a man 
of middle age, courtly manners, liberal sympathies, and great cultivafion. Superseded in the 
first position by his younger rival, he is regarded as hostile to the latter, but still unites in his 
own person the Presidency of the Council with the Ministries of Posts, Pensions, and Church 
Property. He accompanied the Shah on his former visit to England, but not in the year 1889, 
having withdrawn from the suite in Germany, it was said, in consequence of strained relations 
with the Amin-esSultan. Were it not for a certain want of initiative and energy, possibly the 
result of too acute an insight into the stubbornness of the system with which woul d-be 
reformers are brought into collision, he might be regarded as the best man in Persia. I visited 
him in a fine house which was decorated in the European fashion. He conversed very fairly well 
in the French tongue, and struck me as the most attractive personality whom I encountered in 
Persia. His tone about his own country was that of a true lover of reform, whose enthusiasms 
-were dead and who had lost, all hope of regeneration in his time. The portfolio of Foreign 
Affairs is in the hands of iA Iil-za,Abbas Khan, the Kawani-ed-I)owleh (Siipporf, of the 
State),   ], mail of rough manners and appearance, and a typical representaThe Kawani-ed- 
tive of the old school. He did not accompany the Shah Dowleh to Europe, but was left in charge of 
his departinent at Teheran. He was formerly N linister of the Interior, and has the reputation of 
being straightfbpArard and indush lous, as well as enormously wealthy. In spite of  his 
potUblio, lie is little. more
d

THE SHAH-ROYAL FAMILY-MINISTERS 429
than a political cypher ; the real control of the foreign relations of Persia being entirely in the 
hands of the Shah and the Prime Minister.

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Among the most important of the ministers, although at present occupying only a secondary 
official rank, is Yallia Khan, known as the Yahia Musbir-ed-Dowleb. He is the younger brother 
of the Khan  famous Sadr Azem and Sipah Salar Mirza Husein Khan, Mushir-edDowleh who 
was Prime Minister at the time of the Shah's first visit to Europe, and who afterwards died 
in semi-exile at Meshed in 1881. From early years he attracted the favour of his 
sovereign.  He became a minister, received the Shah's sister in marriage,2 was 
appointed Governor of Gilan and Maz~nderan, and afterwards of Fars, was President of the 
Council of Regency during the Shah's second absence in Europe, and Minister of Foreign 
Affairs from 1885 to 1887. In that year he forfeited the post by the intrigues which led to the 
flight of Ayub Khan from Teheran, and which rendered him a persona ingrak to the British 
Legation. This charge he resolutely denies; but it is to be feared that it is not without serious 
justification. He has also been sent on a special mission to St. Petersburg, where he was treated 
with great consideration, and where he is supposed to have imbibed Russian ideas. He is -now 
Minister of Justice and Commerce. Speaking French admirably, the result of an early European 
education, and thoroughly versed in the politics and habits of the West, be is probably one of the 
cleverest of the public men in modern Persia. He inhabits a magnificent house, which he holds 
no loan from the Shah, who had confiscated it from his deceased brother. It adjoins the immense 
Sipah Salar Mosque, which I have described in my chapter on Teheran, and which he is 
completing in accordance with the instructions and bequests of the former Sipah Salar. At the 
time of my visit his eldest son was about to be married to one of the daughters of the Vali-Ahd, 
and the Mushir, who
I Contradictory and incorrect accounts of the incidents of his early career have been given by 
Mme. Carla Screna (Ilonirnes et Choses en Perse, cap. xx.), and Benjamin, p. 225. 2 This lady, 
who is the Shah's sister by the same mother, has bad a somewhat checkered matrimonial 
career. She was first wedded to Mirza Taki Khan, the great minister who was murdered by the 
Shah in 1852. She was then given to the son of his successor in that post. Upon his disgrace and 
exile several years later she was again set free, and on this occasion married her uncle, who 
soon died of cholera. Her fourth and final destiny was as wife of Yahia Khan.

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430
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---""ZZdoes everything in the most lordly style, and is understood in consequence 
to be crippled with debt, was giving a series or entertainments that were the talk of Telieran. 
One day he entertained the Persian Ministers ; on another the foreign element; on a third all the 
dervishes in the capital ; on the day when I visited him the nbullahs of Teheran were enjoying 
their share of the festivities, and I saw 200 of these holy and turbaned individuals seated round 
an immense room consuming an excellent d~jeuner. On the night of the wedding he illuminated 
the main streets and big Meidan. Of all the ministers with whom I came in contact be was the 
least Oriental and the most European. Dispensing with the rotund phraseology of compliment, 
which, as a rule, occupies the first ten minutes of an interview with a Persian grandee, he 
conversed sensibly and pointedly about both the European and Eastern situations, iiiakiDg the 
Just remark, that if England bad spent half the money in co - neiliating the friendship of Persia 
that she has squandered in alienating that of Afghanistan, she would have gained a secure and 
invaluable bulwark for lier Indian Empire. Rumour credits the- Mushir-ed-Dowleh. with 
strong Russian proclivities ; but these, in conversation with me, he strenuously denied. It is 
possible that lie may again come to the front; and in any case his personality is one that cannot 
be ignored in the future. (fle has since died, January 1892.) Of the Minister of War, the Naib-
es-Sultaneh, I have already spoken. Jeliangir Khan, an Armenian, was, till his recent death, 
Other Minister of Fine Arts. Mohammed Hasan Khan, the ministers Itinlad-es-Sultanell, is 
interpreter to the Shah and Minister of the Press, without a portfolio. He translates the 
European papers daily to the Shah, and is in close and confidential attendance upon the sovereign. 
The sole remaining minister of distinction is the Mukhber-ed-Dowleh, Ali Kuli Khan, who 
combines the ministries of Public Instruction, Telegraphs, and Mines. In the second capacity lie 
was brought into constant, intercourse with the officials of the Indian Government and of the 
Indo-European Company during the first introduction of the. telegraph wire into Ilersia 
twenty-five years ago, and was made a C.I.E.; while, in the third, he has again been in close 
relations with the, English since the formation of the Persian Mining Rights Corporation. Ile 
also is a man of considerable ability and enlightenment, though deficient in ambition. He 
accompanied the Shah as far as London in 1889, but, owing to
d

jealousies among the suite, obtained permission to retire from there and undertake a pilgrimage 
to Mecca. One of his sons, who bears the title of the Sani-ed-Dowleh, is married to a daughter of 
the Vali-Ahd. Among other prominent personages, though not actually a minister of the Crown, 
must be mentioned the Amir-i-Nizam,

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The Hasan Ali Khan, who till lately was Vizier to the Heir Aniir-i- Apparent in Azerbaijan, and 
was for years the real governor Nizain of that province,. This remarkable man is a native of 
Bijar, a small town in the Gerrus district between Sinna and Kazvin. The country of Bijar, 
where his family have. lived long and have some influence, is Kurdish, though they are 
Persians. It was no doubt owing to these patrimonial surroundings that he understood the Kurds 
so well and kept them, on the whole, in such excellent order. -Formerly Persian Minister in 
Paris, he speaks French with perfect facility and is imbued with Western and progressive ideas. 
He has also been several times in London. Before being raised to his recent high office be was 
Minister of Public Works in Teheran. A man of very strong will and determination-, he reduced 
turbulence in Azerbaijan- to a minimum, and was the best provincial administrator in Persia. 
Though far advanced in years, being now seventy-five or seventy-six years of age, he is hale 
and robust, is frequently spoken of as a likely Minister of Foreign Affairs, and in a new reign 
would possibly be appointed Grand Vizier to the sovereign.  Another powerful individual is 
the Sahib Diwan, Fathullah Khan, a wealthy nobleman of Shiraz, who has been both Vizier to The 
the Vali-Ahd at Tabriz, and Governor of Isfahan and Fars, Sahib and who formerly held office in 
the capital. His adminisDiwan tration at Shiraz was reported to be hard and avaricious, but 
strong. He is a man of enlightened views and intelligence, and, in spite of his years, is said to 
covet the post of First Minister, which he sees with reluctance in its present occupant's 
hands. In the spring of the present year he was appointed Governor-General of Khorasan, where 
it is to be hoped that he will prove less pliant than his predecessor.
THE SHAII-ROYAL FAMILY-MINISTERS 431
I He was recalled by the Shah (Sept. 1891) on account of the disturbances in Tabriz arising out 
of the Tobacco Concession, which he is alleged to have fomented; but has since been appointed 
Governor of Kermanshah and Persian Kurdistan. I have before alluded to his unconcealed Russian 
proclivities.

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432 . PERSU
In addition to the Council of Statej there exists an imperium in imperio in the shape of a small 
Council of Five, specially con 433
Council of 8tituted by the Shah in 1888 to advise him on matters of Five high political moment. 
This inner Council consists at the present moment of the Amin-es-Sultan, the Naib-es-
Sultaneb,  the Amin-ed-Dowleh, the Kawam-ed-Dowleh, and the Mukhber-ed- CHAPTER 
XIV Dowleh. THE GOVERNMENT Theseare at present the leading men in Persia. From my account 
of them it will be seen that there is no deficiency, either I do not like the fashion of your 
garments. You will say, They are Persian. in capacity or (if assurances are to be believed) in 
will, to prevent But let them be changed.-SHAKSPKARE, King Lear. the initiation of a policy of 
reform. Intrigue, however, is rampant, FRom what was said at the beginning of the previous 
chapter, it. prejudices are powerful, fanaticism is not extinct, and both Shah and Ministers are 
caught in the meshes of a system which is in ay be inferred that the government of Persia would, 
nominally characterised by many ingrained vices, and which in my next at any rate, be 
classified by constitutional writers as an An abso lute mon- absolute monarchy.In theory the 
-king may do what chapter I shall endeavour to describe. i,h y he pleases; his word is law. The 
saying that  The law of the Medes and Persians altereth not  was merely an ancient 
periphrasis for the absolutism of the sovereign. -He appoints and he may dismiss all ministers, 
officers, officials and judges. Over his owil family and household, and over the civil or military 
func tionaries in his employ he has power of life and death without reference to any tribunal. 
The property of any such individual, if disgraced or executed,  reverts to him. The right to 
take life in any case is vested in him alone, but can be delegated to governors or deputies. All 
property, not previously granted by the crown or purchased-all property in fact to which a 
legal title cannot be established-belongsto him, and can be disposed of at his pleasure. All rights 
or privileges, such as the making of public works, the working of mines, the institution of 
telegraphs, roads, railroads, tramways, &d., the exploitation, in fact, of any of the resources of 
the couutry, are vested in him, and must be pur chased from him before they can be assumed by 
others. In his person are fused the threefold functions of government, legislative, executive, and 
judicial. No obligation is imposed upon him be yond the outward observance of the forms of the 
national religion. He is the pivot upon which turns the entire machinery of public life. Such is, 
in theory, and was till lately in practice, the character Modern of the Persian monarchy. Nor 
has a single one of these pretensions high pretensions been overtly conceded. The language in 
which the Shah addresses his sul~jects and is addressed by them,

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434 THE GOVERNMENT 435
recalls the proud tone in which an Artaxerxes or Darius spoke to sanctity ; and both the scope 
and limitations of his prerogative his tributary milliong, and which may still be read in the 
graven 1must be sought on purely secular grounds. record of rock-wall and tomb. He remains 
the Shahinshah, or Although ostensibly supreme, the practical restraints upon the King of 
Kings; the Zil Allah, or Shadow of God; the Kibleh sovereign)s power are many. Respect for the 
religious teachers and Alem, or Centre of the Universe;  Exalted like the planet Saturn; 
Effective law miulit have been predicated with greater truth of Well of Science; Footpath of 
Heaven; Sublime Sovereign, whose restraints his predecessors than of the reigning Shah, who, 
without standard is the Sun, whose Splendour is that of the Firmament; either insulting or 
alienating the ecclesiastical element, has yet Monarch of armies numerous as the stars.  I 
Still would the contrived its subordination to the civil authority to a degree unPersian subject 
endorse the precept of Sadi, that I The vice ap equalled in any previous reign, except that of a 
uian of blood and proved by the king becomes a virtue ; to seek- opposite counsel iron, such as 
Nadir Shah. Regard for established usage has been is to imbrue one's hands in his own 
blood.  The, march of time found a stronger deterrent in the present reign. So long as the has 
imposed upon him neither religious council nor secular council, revenue is collected and 
robbery is suppressed, the complete asserneither idema, nor senate. Elective and 
representative institutions tion of the royal power is not, in hazardous cases, too rigorously 
have not yet intruded their irreverent features. No written check pressed. In other words, 
political expediency,acts as a further exists upon the royal prerogative. dete,rent. But, 
strongest of all, in the case of the reigning And yet the power of the Persian king by no means 
corre- monarch, and of great interest as proving the extent to which sponds to its arrogant 
definition, nor is it now equal to what it Persia has been drawn into the vortex of civilised 
states, is the Real cur- once was. In the first place, the Shali is no longer the deterrent of 
foreign opinion, which, in the absence of any indigetailineut of religious head even of the Shiah 
community of the nous public opinion worthy of the name, has taken its place, and prerogative 
Mussulman world. At no time have the sovereigns of has operated as a safeguard for which the 
Persian people are Persia entloyed the spiritual supremacy that was conceded to the probably 
quite without gratitude, and of which they are, it may Khalifs of Baghdad, and that is still 
claimed for the Sultan of be suspected, wholly unaware. It may safely be predicted that 
Constantinople. But the Sefavi monarchs, by virtue of their any extravagant or savage exercise 
of the royal prerogative, descent from a famous saint, who was himself a Seyid, or descendant 
such as has been a familiar incident in the Persian history of the of Ali, the son-in-law of the 
Prophet, were invested with a semi- past, will rarely occur, if at all, in the future, and that in 
any

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sacred character, to which alone can we attribute the passiveness case it will prove an 
exceptional, instead of a normal, feature of with which, for a whole century, their subjects 
submitted to the rule government. This remarkable change is to be attributed to the of a 
succession of capricious and dissolute drunkards. Cbardin says permanent presence of foreign 
Ministers and to the electric that they were regarded as vicars or successors of the Imams ; and 
telegraph. Kaempfer records that the water in which they had washed was The administrative 
r6oime of Persia is in essence the same at deemed holy, and was eagerly sought after as a cure 
for all com- this day as under the Achvemenian kings. The empire is divided plaints. No such 
pretensions, however, have been made, or could into satrapies or provinces, ruled by 
governor-generals Adminisbe made, on behalf of any subsequent dynasty; least of all on be- 
trative who are appointed by, and are directly responsible to, the hierarchy e in half of a family 
like the Ka ars, of Turkish extraction. The Shah Crown, and these are further subdivid d   to 
beluks, or of Persia, therefore, niust be dissociated from any claims of personaldistricts, cities 
and their dependencies, and towns, the lieutenant governors of which are either nominated 
directly by the sovereign Vide Fowler's Tb-ee I-ears in Persia, vol. ii. p. 12, for an 
enumeration of theor by the governor-general of the larger province to which they Shah's 
titles. The Dame Shah is the Khsbayathiya, or Kbsbatya, of the Cuneiform Inscriptions. From the 
same root, indicating pre-emiDence, come Khshatrapa,belong. Until the present century four of 
these satraps, of pecui.o. Sat rap, Khshayarsba, i.e. Xerxes, Artliklisbat ra, i.e. Artaxerxes, and 
Khsbath-liar distinction and almost independent power, bore the title of raputhra = Shaputra = 
Sapor. Vali, viz., the rulers of Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, and

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436
ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZLuristan. Of these, the last-named alone retains either the title or any 
shadow of independence. Governor-generals and lieutenant-governors are usually called kakim, 
the latter sometimes vaib-el-hukumak. Under the governors are the daroyltak, or bead of 
police; the kalantar, or mayor of a city, and the kedkhoda, who is either the chief of a ward or 
parish if in a town, or the headman of a village. The principal governorships are conferred upon 
the kiDg *S sons, brothers, uncles,- or relations, but to nothing like the intolerable and 
almost criminal extent that prevailed at the beginning of the century. The governor is now also, 
as a rule, resident in his province, instead of being all absentee at the capital. He is commonly 
assisted in the work of administration, and more especially in the fiscal side of government, by 
a vizier or minister. Amon the nomad and military tribes a different system of ap 9 1 
pointments and titles prevails, the governors of the Kurdish, Bakhtiari, and other clans being 
known as 11khani and 11begi, and their subordinate chiefs as khan, sheikh, tushmal, &C., all of 
these being responsible for the collection of revenue to the governor of the province in which 
they reside. Ostensibly, in the creation of this governing hierarchy, the sovereign is absolute 
and supreme. Here. again, however, in practice, very considerable checks are. found to exist 
tions of  upon his prerogative. As I showed in my chapter upon royal power Khorasan, in the 
case of the Ilkhanis of Kucllan and Bujilurd, and of the Amir of Kain, and, as I shall subsequently 
show in a chapter dealing with the Eeili and Bakhtiari Lurs, the Shah is practically compelled to 
choose a governor from the ruling family; nor is it easy for him to interfere with the custom of 
direct hereditary succession. Similarly, in the cases of local magistrates or head men, such as 
the k(dantars in cities, and the kedkhodas in wards or villages, although nominally he has a free 
choice, yet in reality he must make a selection that is agreeable to the inhabitants. Otherwise 
the authority of government falls into abeyance; and, what is regarded as much more serious in 
Persia, the revenue fails to come in. Hence, the popular choice as a rule marking out some 
individual for the exercise of these offices, and the Shah for expediency's sake accepting it as 
his guide, some writers have seen in this fact an introduction of the elective or representative 
principle into Persian administration. In many cases it happens that the office is practically 
hereditary in a single
d

I
i
THE GOVERNMENT

|PPage_
437
ruling family, much after the fashion of the Italian cities before the. Renaissance. There is no 
fixed principle or permanence in the administrative subdivisions of Persia. Their separation or 
combination is Adrninis- regulated by the ability or reputation of their governors, trative and 
by the scope that may be conceded thereto by the divisions confidence or the fears of the 
sovereign. Thus, for instance, a larger number of provinces were collected under the rule of the 
Shall s eldest son, the Zil-es-Sultaii, prior to his fall, three years ago, than have probably 
ever before been assigned even to a prince of the royal family. Abbas Mirza, at the height of his 
power, when Khorasan had been joined to Azerbaijan and placed beneath his sway, did not wield 
as extensive an authority as this prince. Since his disgrace the vast dominion under his rule has 
been resolved again into its constituent elements; and the following list of the Persian provinces 
and administrative districts at the time of my visit in 1889, probably exhibits a larger number 
of independent posts and functionaries than at any recent period of Persian history. It should 
further be remarked that no principle, geographical, ethnographical, or political, appears to be 
adopted in determining the borders and size of the various divisions, which ,vary in extent from 
a province larger than the whole of England, to n a small and decayed town with its immediate 
surroundings. 0
I, LARGER PROVINCES oR DISTRICTS
Administrative Division Capital Azerbaijan Tabriz Khorasan and SeistanMeshed Teheran and 
Dependencies Teheran Fars Shiraz Isfahan and Dependencies Isfahan Kerman and Persian Belu 
chistan
Kerman
Administrative Division Arabistan . Gilan and Talish Mazanderan
Capital Shushter Resht Amol

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Yezd and DependenciesYezd Persian Gulf Littoral and Islands Bushire
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ZZI now come to that which is the cardinal and differentiating feature of Iranian administration. 
Goveriinient, nay, life itself, System of in that country may be said to consist for the most part 
purebase itrid of of an interchange of presents. Under its social aspects presents this practice 
may be supposed to illustrate the generous sentiments of an amiable people; though even here it 
has a grimly unemotional side, as, for instance, when, congratulating yourself upon being the 
recipient of a gift, you find that not only must you make a return of equivalent cost to the donor, 
but must also liberally remunerate the bearer of the gift (to whom your return is very likely 
the sole recognised means of subsistence) in a ratio proportionate to its pecuniary value. Under 
its political aspects, the practice of gift-making, though consecrated in the adamantine 
traditions of the East, is synonymous with the system elsewhere described by less agreeable 
names. This is the system on which the government of Persia has been conducted for centuries, 
and the maintenance of which opposes a solid barrier to any real reform. From the Shah 
downwards, there is scarcely an official who is not open to gifts, scarcely a post which is not 
conferred in return for gifts, scarcely an income which has not been amassed by the receipt of 
gifts. Every individual, with hardly an exception, in the official hierarchy above mentioned   
has only purchased his post by a money present either to the Shah, or to a minister, or to the 
superior governor by whom be has been appointed. If there are several candidates for a post, in 
all probability the one who makes the best offer will win . Upon his appointment he receives 
the Icitabehelt., or official statement of the revenues of the province, with regulations for its 
management. Henceforward it is his business to collect the taxes, to see that the proper military 
quota
ZZ
|PPage_
ZZis forthcoming, and to administer justice. But there appears in Persia to be a peculiar 
objection to a new assessment, no doubt arising from the universal and legitimate fear that it 
can only result in further exaction. Accordingly, the Nlabeheh remains obsolete and unaltered; 
but in bargaining for his post, the would-be
ZZTHE GOVERNMENT
ZZ489
ZZgovernor engages to pay to the Shah a sum 1 n excess of that mentioned in the kilabcheh-
the prolonged duration of peace having increased the general productiveness of the whole 
country ; such sum being determined by the competing bribes of the several candidates, one of 
whom will perhaps undertake to pay to the Crown 30,000 tomans above the official assessment 
(in order to cut out the existing governor, who may only be giving 20,000), and will presently 
find himself outhidden by a third, who offers 40,000. Every post of any importance in Persia 
being, in theory) tenable only for one, year, and being renewable at the annual festival of the 
vernal equinox or No Ruz, then comes the moment at which the most minute and delicate 
calculation of the requisite bribe prevails. I extract the following account of the system in its 
actual operation from the excellent report upon the condition of modern Persia, contributed to 
Petermann's   Mlittheilungen  I in 1885) by Messrs. Andreas and Stolze, who were 
themselves for some years in official or other employment in Persia:
ZZEvery official has to purchase his appointment and to pay for his continuance in office by a 
present once a year, frequently almost equivalent to the salary that he receives. To this rule 
there are few exceptions, from the governor of a province, whose present goes direct into the 
private purse of the Sha,b, down to the lowest servant of an undergovernor. The governors of 
provinces are required every year to 9 pay in to the government the taxes of their provinces at 
a sum determined at the beginning of the spring equinox. Now, by law each has the right of 
levying a certain sum beyond-the Hak-el-Hukumah. All this, however, will go in presents to 
the Shah and NKinisters. He is, therefore, compelled, for the maintenance of his own state and 
house bold, to extort a much higher sum still. Careful investigations, instituted in Fars, 
during the several years  government of the Motemed-ed-Dowleh-Justly celebrated as the 
best governor in the country, under whom Fars attained its zenith of order and prosperity 
-showed that, instead of the prescribed 6,360,000 francs, 10,000,000 francs were collected. 
It is an open secret in Persia that the excess of levies averages at lea st 6621 per cent. The 
method of collection is as follows. The sub-governors (zabit) have to deliver in iDStalMentS to 
their respective superiors on each occasion a higher sum than is entered on the tax-roll 
(kitabcheh). They, in their turn, receive the taxes from the diffbrent heads of districts 
(kalantars), and these from the
ZZ
|PPage_
ZZvillage magistrates ; the collector at each stage paying in more than
ZZI Die ffandels?,erhaltnisse Persiens, by F. Stolze and F. C. Andreas.
ZZ
|PPage_
ZZ440
ZZPERSIN
ZZis due. All these supplements being regulated at best only by use and wont, there is ample 
scope for extortion ; and terrible are sometimes the cases, complaints whereof are seldom of 
any avail, the complainant having probably to reckon with the bastinado. The tax list (titmar) 
is often drawn out years beforehand, according to the number of taxable objects in each district : 
acres, fruit-trees, water-springs, beasts of labour, herds, &-c. Not only is this sum exacted 
thenceforward year after year, though the taxed objects are meanwhile dwindling, but it is 
gradually raised. In these lists will figure villages which, from dearth of water or other causes, 
have been abandoned by their inhabitants. Although, in consequence of the silk-worm disease, 
and the dreadful famine of 1869-73, the economic condition of Persia became greatly reduced 
during the twenty years 1864-84, whence it is but recently, through the culture of opium, 
that it is beginning to revive, the taxes were yet continually going up, in litany cases to an 
almost insupportable figure. Only the extreme frugality of the Persian peasant and of the lower 
classes in (,eneral, on n In whom presses almost exclusively the but-den of the taxes, explains 
how they are got in at all.
ZZI have quoted the above passage at length, because it is the evidence of eye-witnesses, who 
lived for years in the country and Madakhil whose authority is not to be impugned. From a 
perusal of its contents, a glimpse will have been caught of that which, along with, and perhaps 
even more than, the bribe or gifb required to secure or to retain office of any description, is a 
cherished national institution in Persia, viz. the mudalchil, i.e. consideration, recompense, or 
profit which is required to balance the personal account, and the exaction of which, in a myriad 
different forms, whose ingenuity is only equalled by their multiplicity, is the crowning interest 
and delight of a Persian's existence. This remarkable word, for which Mr. Watson says there 
is no precise English equivalent,l may be variously translated as commission, perquisite, 
douceur, consideration, pickings and stealings, profit,
ZZ The word vwdahil, for which there is no exact English term, has for Persian cars a 
charm which few Europeans can comprehend. Aludahil signifies all that one can acquire by 
receiving bribes, by swindling and extortion, and by all other irregular ineans. It is mudahil 
and not salary which every Persian official is anxious to secure. A salary regularly paid affords 
no scope for the display of the talents in which Persians most excel-for dissimulating and over-
reaching, oppressing and cringing-and therefore a post which has only a good salary attached to 
it, and wbich affords no good opportunities of making mudakil, is looked upon by Persians as 
being but a poor possession. -flistory of Persia, p. 372.
ZZTHE GOVERNMENT
ZZ
|PPage_
ZZ441
ZZaccording to the immediate context in which it is employed. Roughly speaking, it signifies 
that balance of personal advantage. usually expressed in money form, which can be squeezed out 
of any and every transaction. A negotiation, in which two parties are involved as donor and 
recipient, as superior and subordinate, or even as equal contracting agents, cannot take place in 
Persia without the party who can be represented as the author of the favour or service claiming 
and receiving a definite cash return for what he has done or given. It may of course be said that 
human nature is much the same all the world over; that a similar system exists under a 
different name in our own or other countries, and that the philosophic critic will welcome in 
the Persian a man and a brother. To some extent this is true. But in no country that I have ever 
seen or heard of in the world, is the system so open, so shameless, or so universal as in Persia. 
So far from being limited to the sphere of domestic economy or to commercial transactions, it 
permeates every walk and inspires most of the actions of life. By its operation, generosity or 
gratuitous service may be said to have been erased in Persia from the category of social viltues, 
and cupidity has been elevated into the guiding principle of human conduct. Examples, however, 
explain more clearly than call any verbal generalisation; and I will, therefore, proceed to show 
how the institution of mudak-hil works in every channel and department of Persian life. I have 
already shown that no office of distinction is conferred by the Crown except for a pecuniary 
consideration or price, which, Practical in the case of a post bestowed by the Shall, goes into 
illustra- his private exchequer. This is the mutlak1bil of the tionB sovereign. Some of the 
processes adopted for raising this branch of the revenue will hereafter come -under discussion. 
Here I propose to follow the further ramifications of the system, as it spreads through the 
entire official hierarchy of which the Shah is the head and exemplar. In the next descending 
grade the governor who ha's paid a smart price for his appointment is not one whit 
behindhand either in the desire or in the capacity to indemnify himself. He farms out the taxes 
or customs to a third individual for a sum, perhaps, half as much again as that which he himself 
has given. The balance is his mvdakhil. So too the kalantar or 7~edUoda in his turn insists upon 
his squeeze; the   farming  process, which is universal in Persia, affording an easy basis 
for
ZZ
|PPage_
ZZ442 
ZZthe realisation of the desired profit; and the system by which the mudakhil is extracted does 
not come to an end until the bottom of the descending scale has been reached, and there is no 
further victim from whom to grind out a gain. An Austrian, Baron von Teufenstein, was finance 
officer of the district of Saveh for a year, from 1881 to 1882, and published a most interesting 
account of his experiences, in which lie said that his predecessor paid 25,000 francs for his 
office (the m?tdaWbil of the sovereign, or of the minister who procured him the post), and 
cleared 80,000 francs by his year's tenure of it (his owu madakhil). If, however, in the 
sphere of administration this graduated scale of extortion be deemed either not extraordinary or 
normal, it will perhaps excite greater astonishment when observed in active existence in the 
army. It may- safely be averred that no general officer obtains his post with,out a substantial 
money equivalent. His own profit consists in what he can extract from the colonels and majors 
under his command. They, in their turn, squeeze the captains and lieutenants; and these, not 
behindhand in resourcefulness, extract moisture from what one would, prima facie, imagine, to 
be the flinty consistency of the Persian infantry soldier, by selling to him the privilege of 
furlough, or leave to work as an artisan in the bazaar. The last illustration which I sliall give 
will be taken from domestic life. Here mad(d&il is the commission exacted by your servant (in 
a Persian household usually by a member of the family, specially commissioned) upon every 
article that you purchase, or every order that you give. This is conceded to him. as a matter of 
right by the. vendor, who accordingly names a price, ten per cent. or more, in excess of that 
which he requires for his own profit, the balance to go to the domestic; and by the master, who 
knows well enough that he is. paying ten per cent. above the market value. Still, qnuda7chil 
must exist all round ; and seeing that lie himself is doubtless making it on a larger scale 
elsewhere, why should lie. be so unjust as to complain? If we examine this system in the light 
in which it affects the pockets and the interests of the governed, it, is obvious that it Effect 0. 
niust result in wholesale and illicit extortion. Take the the pea- case of the tenant or farmer of 
any office who has bad to santry pay a substantial price for his nomination. He requires, in. the 
first place, to recoup himself for this outlay. Next he has to collect the, stipulated annual 
revenue for the Royal or -Ministerial
ZZI
ZZTHE (40VERNMENT
ZZ443
ZZExchequen Thirdly, lie must be ready to purchase a continuance of the ever-precarious 
favour of his superiors ; and, lastly, not
ZZ
|PPage_
ZZk-nowing when he may fall, be must provide for himself against a rainy day. Hereby is 
instituted an arithinetical progression of plunder from the sovereign to the subject, each -unit 
in the descending scale remunerating himself from the unit next in rank below him, and the 
hapless peasant being the ultimate victim. It is not surprising, under these circumstances, that 
office is the common avenue to wealth, and that cases are frequent of men who, having started 
from nothing, are found residing in magnificent houses, surrounded by crowds of retainers and 
living in princely style.  iMake what yoi" L can while you can  is the. rule that most 
men set before thei-aselves in entering public life. Nor does popular spirit resent the act; the 
estimation of anyone who, enjoying the opportunity, has failed to line his own pockets, being the 
reverse of complimentary to his sense. No one turns a thought to the sufferers from whoill, in 
the last resort. the material for these successive mvdakhils has been derived, and from the 
sweat of whose uncomplaining brow has been writing the wealth that is dissipated in luxurious 
country houses, European curiosities, and enormous retinues. In one of Sir Lewis Pelly's 
reports upon Southern Persia, penned while lie was British Resident at Bushire, I have come 
across the following passage, which tersely depicts the effect of this system upon the cultivators 
of the soil :_ One of the consequences of this system of farining is that the agriculturist is called 
on for a much larger rent than the State receives from him; e.g. A. farms a governorship from 
the Shah for an amount B. plus C. the douceur (the term of the annual contract remaining a 
constant quantity, while the clouceur varies). A. in turn farms his circle of villages, of which 
D. takes one circle. D. again sublets a hainlet or one of his villages to E. who deputes F. to collect 
the rents. EA ach, of course, expects a profit on his contract, and consequently the ag] 
riculturist, instead Of 1MViDg to pay the amount B. which benefits the State, is called upon for 
his share of B + C, + D's + E's + F's profits. He cannot pay. F. coiriplains to E. and 
E. to A., who is dunned for lii~, contract sum from the capital. ik. gives to his subfarmers 
permission to collect the revenue by force. Thisisdone;next year some of the peasants have fled, 
some of the land is lying waste. The conntry, in brief, is revenued as if the Government were to 
end with the expiry of the governor's lease.1 Report on the Tribes around the Shores of the 
Persian, Gu~,f. 1874.
ZZ
|PPage_
ZZ444 
ZZIt may be wondered why a system that seems to press so hardly upon the taxpayers, who are 
in a numerical majority, and Reasons of which is attended with such obvious injustice, should 
be popular mildly acquiesced in by a people wbo have never been acquieBeence slow at rebellion. 
I conceive the reason in part to lie in the fact that, frout one point of view, Persia is the most 
democratic country in the world. Lowness of birth or station is positively not the slightest bar 
to promotion or office of the most exalted nature. Nor must it necessarily, as in European 
countries, be compensated or supplemented by distinguished abilities. Interest or the capacity to 
pay is sufficient to procure a post for anyone, even of menial origin. Many a Persian governor 
has started by filling a subordinate post in the household or retinue Of some great nian, and has 
passed through ever~y grade of society before arriving at the top. The present Grand Vizier, as I 
havo shown, was himself of humble descent, while his father was an attendant in the royal 
household. The Prime Minister who accompanied the Shah on his first visit to Europe was the 
grandson of a barber, and the great Amir-i-Nizam, Mirza Taki Khan, was the son of a cook. 
Consequently, every man sees a chance of some day profiting by the system of which he inay for 
the moment be the victim, and as the present hardship or exaction is not to be compared in ratio 
with the pecuniary advantage which he may ultimately expect to reap, he is willing to bide his 
time, and to trust to the fall of the dice in the future. A second fact which may variously be 
regarded as a reason for the continuance, and as a product of the existence, of this Meagre- 
system is the low and inadequate. figure of official salaries Iless Of in Persia. In most cases, the 
government allowance is (fficial salaries sufficient for little more than household expenses, and 
takes no thought of the personal remuneration of the official. What a grudging treasury declines 
to give, mudakhil, it is well understood, is intended to supply, and were it conceivable that by 
some miraculous transformation of Persian character, or by a decree from some iconoclastic 
sovereign, this most sacred of institutions should perish without a corresponding rise at the 
same time of fiftv per cent. in official salaries, the machine of government would be brought to a 
standstill. Quite apart, therefore, from the inherent popularit   v of % system by which all 
aspire to profit, so long as a miserly sovereign sits upon the throne, and the
ZZI THE GOVERNMENT
ZZ445
ZZtreasury is administered in the present niggardly fashion, MAUIU~
ZZ
|PPage_
ZZkhil remains an essential feature of public life in Persia, and no reform is to be anticipated. 
Although it might be thought that the existence of the purchase system on so extensive a scale 
would render long tenure of Duration office rare, it is not it, a rule found in practice that this is 
ill office the case. The official in possession is in a far better situation than the candidate who 
wishes to oust him, inasmuch as he has at his easy disposal the means of increasiucr his annual 
gift or purchase money to the Shah. Moreover, the test of good governorship in Persia being, not 
the ainelioration or contentment or prosperity of the province, but the absence of highway 
robbery and the punctuality with which the taxes and customs are paid into the royal exchequer, 
personal merit plays a very small part in the bar ain between sovereign and deputy, and 
dismissal or degrada 9 In tion by no means follows upon proven incompetence. Too often it has 
happened that when coniplaints against an oppressive l:3 governor have been manifold and just, 
the accused official has been able, by the prompt addition of a few thousand tonitt ns to his 
annual money-offerino-to the Shah. to avert disaster and to continue with impunity in his 
career of maladministration. That, which is known as miidakhil from.the point of view of the 
recipient, is classified as pishkesh, or gift (0. that which n p.is7,7,s7, leads on or comes 
before), from the standpoint of the. or gifts donor. Every ii-ioney-bribe, or gift, made to 
secure a post or concession, to influence a judicial decision or to escape punishment, falls under 
the bead of pish-kesh. This mysterious and elastic term, -which includes every form of 
donation, from the contribution paid in by a governor-general to the, fine exacted from a petty 
delinquent, inay be roughly divided into two headings : (1) the fixed, regular, and open 
payments, prescribed by usage and never relaxed; (2) irregular or extraordinary payments, 
made or extra   cted as the opportunity occurs. Among the former the most conspicuous are 
the so-called presents made at the festival of No Ruz, or the New Year, to the Shah. Every 
governor, minister, chief of a tribe, or official of any rank, then makes his offering, the 
minimum amount of which is determined bv custom, and the maximum left to the means or 
ambition of the donor. As Malcolm put it, to fall short of the accustomed sum means loss of 
office, to exceed is increase of favour. In his day the sum-, thus
ZZ
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ZZ446
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hpZ x-- (#ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZXZ 
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hpZ x-- (#ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ -
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZreceived amounted to two-fifths of the entire fixed revenue (which he 
estimated at 3,000,0001.), or to 1,200,0001. Madame Serena I makes a great mistake in 
calculating the receipts of the present Shah at No Ruz from these sources as 60,000,000 
francs, or double the sum ascribed to Fath Ali Shah by Malcolm. As a matter of fact the presents 
received by the reigning Shah have never been more than a third, or at most a half, of those 
extorted by his great-grandfather, and the total is said to have dwindled in recent years to only a 
few thousand pounds. This reduction does not by any means imply that the receipts of the 
government have fallen, but only that there has been a redistribution of incidence, the greatly 
increased results from the assessed revenue producing a corresponding diminution in the cash 
money-presents of the governor and officials. A device, more delicate in its regard for the 
scruples of the donor, but equally certain in its productiveness, is the gift of the Th, R,y,l Royal 
khelat. Once in each year every provincial khelat governor receives from the sovereign the gift 
of a khelat, or robe of honour (as a sign of his continuance in office), to the bearer-of which he 
must present a khelatt-1)eha, or equivalent price, the gift of which is in reality a relief to the 
pocket of the Shah   2 The cost of the Uelat is reckoned as a normal item of expenditure by 
every provincial governor in the calculation of his budget. Outside every Persian city of any 
size is a pavilion, or place, known as the Khelat F?tshan, whither the governor rides out at the 
bead of a brilliant cavalcade to receive the royal present, and whence, having donned the garb or 
mantle, he returns to the town, the remainder of the day being given up to public rejoicing. The 
happy recipient knows that he is safe for another year. Extraordinary khelats are frequently 
solicited and paid for on a larger scale, in order to insure the continued favour of the sovereign. 
The same system is repeated in a descending scale among the lower grades of the official 
hierarchy, the provincial governor also sending a yearly Uwlat to his subordinate, and being 
equally gratified by the petition for an extraordinary 17helat. These are the more familiar and 
recognised resources of royal Hovanes et Choses en Perse, p. 240. 2 Thus the function of 
transmitting the klielat is intrusted to some minister or member of the household whom it is 
intended to favour, and who not uncommonly himself sells the lionour toanother party. The 
h7wZat-beha of Khorasan is not less than 1,000 tomans, in addition to other perquisites.
d

THE GOVERNMENT
447
finance. They are supplemented by a variety of proceedings which

|PPage_
may be classitied under the bead of irregular or extraordinary In _pb;hZ:esh, to which I 
promised a little while ago to devote the tribute of a paragraph. Of these presents, I have already 
described the most habitual. in the shape of the gifts which precede, and often follow7 every 
appointment, according as they represent the aspirations or the gratitude of the nominee. But 
even when installed in office, the latter is not safe against rumours of the withdrawal of his 
post, in which case he must take the necessary steps to secure his position. Or let us suppose 
that. a governor is accused of committing some offence against the central authority. A few 
thousand lmnans are straightway despatched to the capital, and thus, by the payment of a 
voluntary fine, the dignity of the Government is satisfied, and the anxiety of the offender 
relieved. Other methods also exist. The Shah announces his intention of lionouring a subject with 
a visit, and the latter loyally prepares an offering for his royal guest. Sometimes the high 
distinction of a present arrives from the sovereign, whose condescension is gratefully 
acknowledged by the return of a gift worthy of its royal destination. Sometimes, after a 
successful day's sport, there is the exhibition of a head of game that has fallen to the royal 
rifle. The defunct animal, let us say an ibex or a leopard, is taken round and shown to a select 
number of wealthy or eminent personages, who make, as a matter of course, a handsome present 
to the official who has given them the privilege of seeing the quarry of so illustrious a 
sportsman. It can be readily understood that one of the results of this system of presents from 
inferiors to superiors is that everyone of any standing in the official hierarchy is relieved of 
the irksome necessity of paying salaries to the bulk of his personal retainers. If be desires to 
discharge the arrears of pay of a member of his retinue, he has merely to send him with ail 
ornamental gift to someone whose sense of etiquette may be trusted to make him bestow a 
substantial acknowledgment upon the bearer. One stone thus kills two birds. The recipient of the 
gift is pleased with the compliment implied, while the bearer gets a present which he accepts as 
a form of payment from his master. Manifold are the ineans by which the gift of a compliment 
can thus be translated into the compliment of a gift. Occasions have been known when the Shah, 
in a playful mood, has entered the bazaars, established a temporary partnership with a 
shopkeeper, and sold off his wares

|PPage_
448 
THE GOVERNMENT
449
at suitable prices to his courtiers, dividing with the delighted to say that they can be counted on 
the fing6rs of the two hands. tradesman the proceeds of the sale. Enough has perhaps been The 
same applies to the mosques, which, with a few exceptions in said to give some idea of the 
system. Truly the maxim  Render the great cities, are dilapidated and crumbling to ruin; to 
the an~s in no need of being unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's  st, madresschs, or 
religious colleges, whose exterior of itself would pressed in a country where Caesar takes such 
very good care of invite no students; to the abandoned palaces and deserted gardens, himself. in 
whose unsightly decay the dignity of the reigning monarch It is all obvious result of the 
administrative systein which I appears to find a vengeful solace at the expense of his 
predecessors. have described, and of the proud predominance of pWA-esh, that If anywhere a 
fine modern caravanserai, or a road which shows Corrupt there is iio guarantee, beyond the 
wisdom or the apprehen- signs of labour, or a new bridge be encountered, it is almost certain 
adminis_ sions of the sovereign, for the best men filling the right to have been the work of some 
private individual, who, whether tration places. So long as the gift of office. is largely 
determined minister or merchant, defrayed the cost out of his own pocket, by tile length of 
purse, corrupt administration must prevail, and and thought thereby to gain the grateful 
prayers of pilgrims honest illen will go to the wall. Even if a good mail gains an or to enhance 
his personal reputation. The productions of thi n 8 appointment, the intrigues or the, bribes of 
a rival behind his back somewhat spurious public spirit are the only structures that modern 
May oust him at any moinent, and he falls because at Rome he Persia can show, to compare with 
the superb and almost indestrucfailed to do what the Romans do. Of the effect upon the governed, 
tible relies of the Sefavean rule. About the neglect Of roads and who are the ultimate source from 
which the successive mudakhils railroads I shall speak hereafter. But of all illustrations of the 
and the stipulated 19ishkeshes are drawil, I have. already spoken. dearth of administrative 
energy, resulting from a system where But the - country does not suffler only from the greed of 
officials in every man is squeezing his neighbour *and being squeezed by somerespect of what 
they extort, but also in respect of what they with- body else, perhaps the most significant is the 
indifference that has hold. Sums of money are assigned from the Royal Treasury for a hitherto 
been displayed to the mineral resources of Persia, which definite public object-e.g., the 
payment of an army, the construe- three centuries of travellers have pronounced to be 
exceptionally tion of public works, the building of a bridoffe, the repair of a road. rich, but 
which, until the formation

|PPage_
of anEnglish company a year These sums either never reach their destination at all, or only 
reach ago, no systematic or scientific effort has been made to explore or it in sadly diminished 
volume, having been arrested on the way in to utilise. the pocket of some. official responsible 
for the distribution. The Among the features of public life in Persia that most quickly Shah, 
meanwhile, is quite unaware of, or is powerless to detect, the strike the strancrer's eye, 
and that indirectly arise from the same embezzlement practised by his subordinates, upon 
whom, in the Hosts of conditions) is the enormous number of attendants and absence of 
responsible supervision from above or free criticism from retainers retainers that swarm 
round a minister, or official of any below, it ~ i S almost iTnpossibl e to keep a watch. The 
rapacity of th 6 description. In the case of a functionary of rank or position, these entire official 
world being thus enlisted in the maintenance of the vary in number from 50 to 500. Benjamin 
says that the Prime existing system, it will easily be understood how stubborn a barrier 
Minister in his time kept 3,000. Now, the theory of social and is opposed to any administrative 
reform, and how faint is the hope ceremonhl etiquette that prevails in Persia, and indeed 
throughout that Persia will ever, unaided, work out hei, own salvation. the East, is to some 
extent responsible for this phenomenon, It is also to the peculation engendered by this ~~ystem 
that personal importance being, to a large extent, estimated by the must be attributed the 
neglect, _v the staff of or the total absence, of public works -m-aVe, and _pjbj~ which it can 
_;7hom Neglect of whic . h so constantly arrests the traveller's attention in on occasions it 
ja~:~_pa But it is the institution of mudakhil public Persia. When I think over my long 
journeys, and recall and of illicit pickings and stealings that is the root of the evil. If works how 
many caravanserais, or bridges, or post-houses in thethe governor or minister were bound to 
pay salaries to the whole of entire country I saw in at all an efficient state of repair, I am bound 
this servile crew their ranks would speedily dwindle. The bulk of

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460 
THE GOVERNI)IENT
451
them are unpaid; they attach themselves to their master because Saveh during his year of office, 
were cancelled upon his resignation,  of the opportunities for extortion with which that 
coniiection and that at the same time the improved state of the province was presents them, and 
they thrive and batten on plunder. It mayI made a ground for screwing a higher pishkesk out of 
his sucreadily lie conceived how great a drain is this swarm of blood- cessor. suckers upon the 
resources of the country. T~He -true, ~Y~ps I have already pointed out that the bulk of this 
bureaucratic of unproductive labourers, absorbing but never creating wealth; horde are not 
paid by the State, but are expected to remunerate and I ~ i 2i i ~ b il~ ~ ltence is little i l~. rt 
of ill, i! ~ i:~! Salaries themselves, and that for the same reason the salaries of -----------
The same feat private household of an andtitles the higher officials are fixed at a notoriously 
inadequate important functionary is carried into the official departments and figure. A further 
characteristic results from the combined dislocaBureau- into the service of the State. Every 
minister, every tion and parsimony of the system, viz. that even the fixed and official er y 
governor, every petty official, is surrounded by asalaries are frequently in arrears, or are not 
paid at all.Europe n immense ans staff of munshis, 22i~, and mustoyis, i.e. clerks, secretaries, 
and in the service o t e tati ar(TV~ttW P id or more regularly paid accountants. Tbere is no 
proper division of labour -;confusion than Persians, because, if they do not get their salaries, 
they are and lack of system prevail everywhere. This enormous staff of apt to send in their 
resignations. But even they have often been civil servants justifies itself by no reports, and 
produces no statistics; put off with barats, or orders, payable some weeks or months from 
official returns, tables schedules, or calculations either do not date, on some merchant in the 
bazaar; whilst the native official is exist at all or, if they do, exist in a deceptive shape. There 
frequently without even this compensation, and in the absence of is no means of arriving even. at 
in approximate estimate of-so any sign of an impending settlement of his little account with the 
. The figures State, makes up the deficit from other quarters. How fatally this which I elsewhere 
print of revenue and taxation have been derived condition of affairs operates -in the case of- the 
army will be seen from official sources; but though probably correct in themselves, I lateron. 
In somewhat ludicrous contrast with this sordid and decal tell what omissions they may contain, 
or how far it is legiti- spic le system are the brave and sonorous titles that aELMLrn by mate to 
make thein a basis of induction. Baron Teufeiastein) the theojffi~cia ~- ~wb~oml ~haye b~eens 
~eakinc~r. As will hava
|PPage_
Austrian Governor of Saveh, whom I have before quoted, thus been gathered from my narrative, 
ministers, or functionaries of any position, ar described the routine of official life:- e seldom 
called by their proper names2 t are known conf rred upon them by by the ornamental tit A 
Ministry in Persia consists of the minister and some scribes, without any determinate place of 
office, or any of the apparatus that the TSha ~.Th~ese itles are much sought smuch as they ity, 
and the opportunity of lucre. They appears indispensable to Europeans. The bureau is set up at 
what- confer distinction, secur ever spot the minister happens to be, whether in his house, or 
in an are divided into three classes: those with the suffix Sultaneh, i.e. ante-room, or a court of 
the Royal Palace, or perchance in the street of the Government which are ra or in a coffee-
bouse. A swarm of scribes buzzes after the chief on all members of the Royal Fam2ily; those 
with the suffix Dowleh, of the his marches, each bearing with him in his pocket the necessary 
writing Empire or State; and those with the suHix Mulk of the Kingdom. apparatus and 
documents. Accordingly, an office can be rigged up It is to be feared that the majority of their 
owners think of little any or everywhere in a trice. In the pockets of such a mirza are often r 
lundering the government, state, or kingdom of which i else but p to be found the documents of a 
series of years past, consisting of little i theyare grandiloquently described as the Ornament, 
Support, scraps of paper which be has come to regard as private, and in no sense i Defence, 
Pillar, or Strength. official, property.
My readers will not be surprised to learn that the reforms which Baron Teufenstein laboriously 
introduced into the administration of
I Petermann's Afittkoilungen (Andreas and SLolze), 1885.
I M. Orsolle (Le Ga?wase et la Perse, p. 314) says he was dismissed because be refused to pay to 
the Naib-es-Sultaneh a 1)ishkesA of 4,0001. as sadir, or extra revenue, in addition to the 
greatly increased mallat, or ordinary revenue, which he bad already paid in. But this does 
noCappear to be true.

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454
ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZwas inaugurated, immediately upon his accession, by the great minister 
Mirza Taki Khan, who showed his contempt for the ecclesiastical order by seizing the person of 
the Sheikh-el-Isla -in at TabhErijZz~ ~a~ffording sanctuary in his f Teheran. Jee The 
complete assertion of the sovereign power, which ever since een the kevinote of the domestic 
policy of Nasr-ed-Din, is incompatible with the ascendency of an ecelesii6stical coTi-rt.Civil 
jurisdiction involves a final reference in every case to the sovereign; and one can easily 
understand the reluctance of a powerful monarch to admit a higher court of appeal. There is, 
however, in the constitution of the ecclesiastical bench, an inherent check upon their 
supremacy, of which the civil power can always take advantage to vindicate its own. They 
pronounce~, but they cannot execute, judgment. The latter function devolves upon the officers of 
government; and although the decisions of the mujta heds are seldom disputed, and are, as a rule, 
carried into effect, yet the final reference to the civil power is an acknowledgment of its 
superiority, while it opens the door to the leDgthy process of -negotiations and bribes that 
always supervenes when one of the parties engaged is a Persian governor or official. From the 
Shar, I pass to the Urf, or Common Law. Nomi nally this is based on oral tradition, on precedent, 
and on custom. As such, it varies in different parts of the country. But, there Urf, or being no 
written or recognised code, it is found to vary C Mmon still more in practice according to the 
character or caprice o n Law of the individual who administers it; and so far from any attempt 
being made to hunt up precedents or to ascertain what has been done in parallel cases before, the 
decision is, as a rule, promptly given and as promptly executed by the civil officer be fore 
whom it comes, and whose sole guide, presuming him to be lionest (perhaps a rash assumption 
in Persia), is a rough sense of right and wrong. The administrators of the Urf are the civil 
magistrates throughout the kiDgdorn, there being no secular court or bench of judges after the 
Western model. In a village the case will be brought before the ked1rhoda, or headman ; in a 
town before the daroqha, or police magistrate. To their judgment are sub mitted all the petty 
offences that occupy a city police-court or a bench of country magistrates in England. The 
penalty in the case of larceDy, or assault, or such like off~nces, is, as a rule, restitution,
d

THE GOVERNMENT
465
either in kind or in money value; while, if lack of means renders

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this impossible, the criminal is soundly thrashed. All ordinary criminal cases are brought 
before the- hakim, 9~r_gn=rnx off a town.: the more important before the provincial governor 
or governorgeneral. The ultimate court of appeal in each case is the king, of whose sovereign 
authority these subordinate exercises of jurisdiction are merely a delegation, although it is 
rare that a suppliant at any distance from the capital can make his complaint heard so far. The 
power of life and death, which was formerly wielded with freedom by the governor-general of a 
province, more especially if of royal blood, is now reserved by the Shah; and in an earlier 
chapter I have related an incident in which the Ilkhani of Knelian, having attempted to revive 
the prerogative enjoyed by his predecessors, found himself in abrupt collision with his 
sovereign. Justice, as dispensed in this fashion by the officers of government in Persia, obeys 
no law and follows no system. Publicity is the sole guarantee for fairness; but great is the scope, 
especially in the lower grades, for pishkesh and the bribe. The daroghas have the reputation of 
being both harsh and venal, and there are some who go so far as to say that there is nQt a 
sentence of an official in Pej
j~, even of the highe ranks, that cannot be Bweed by a Rgqgniwy consideration. Theoretically,- 
the secular court takes cognisance of civil, just as, according to the same criterion, the 
ecclesiastical court embraces Civil caseB criminal cases. But the distinction is not less 
fallacious and arbi-in this than in the other instance. The dread of the trationCivil court, or 
diwan-Haneh, with its crude justice and the long avenues of - bribery and rascality that it 
opens up, deters suitors from submitting to its judgment civil cases of any complexity or 
importance ; and such cases are, as a rule, referred in the first place to private arbitration. Dr. 
Will~L, who has written --- a- most interestinv account of the Persian law in its every7day 
or (~r _~y~ _ki_qg np2sit-1 I names questions DC-contracts, titles to landed property, 
disputed wills, intesiate succession, the boundaries or shares of lands, the recovery of debts and 
bankruptcy, as among the cases which are commonly decided in this fashion. A mejilis,_or 
informal council ofleading merchants, is convoked in the house of a mullah or leading citizen. 
Both sides state their case; the documents are ion, which is almost. always in produced and 
inspected; and a decis 1ersia as it is, caps. v. vi.

|PPage_
456 ! THE GOVERNMENT 457
the nature of a compromise, is given, and, if reasonably fair, is accepted. The verdict is signed 
and registered by the Sheikb-elIslam or the Imam-i-Jama (the Chief Priest), and with a little 
present to the jury all round, the appellants conclude what is probably one of the cheapest and 
most effective forms of legal procedure in the world. If either party is dissatisfied with the 
sentence, an appeal lies to the local governor ; or, in intricate cases of landed titles and 
testamentary disposition, the ecclesiastical court may be first invoked. The same system 
prevails in the lower grades and occupations of life. A dispute of the character above mentioned 
occurring in a country district, will be referred, in the first place, to a mejilis of farmers, 
village elders, or rish-sefi,d (literally white-beards), &c., with an appeal from them to the 
kedkhoda or to the mullahs, or, in the last resort, to the provincial governor. In spite of the 
shameless bribery that prevails directly the purlieus of the diwan-khaneh are reached, Dr. 
Wills gives us the consolatory assurance that substantial justice is done in the end; for what the 
Asiatic expends in bribes, we disburse in fees, costs, and charges - thus both reaching the same 
goal by different roads. This genial opinion appears somewhat to ignore the quality of the justice 
that is dispensed in either case. Before I quit the subject of the Persian law and its 
administration, let me add a few words upon the subject of penalties and prisons. Nothing is 
more shocking to the European reader, Pains ... a in pursuing his way through the crime-
stained and bloody Penalties pages of Persian history during the last and, in a
happily less degree, during the present century, than the record of savage punishments and 
abominable tortures, testifying alternately to the callousness of the brute and the ingenuity of 
the fiend. The Persian character has ever been fertile in device and indifferent to suffering; and 
in the field of judicial executions it has found ample scope for the exercise of both attainments. 
Up till quite a recent period, well within the borders of the present reign, condemned criminals 
have been crucified, blown from guns, buried alive, impaled, shod like horses, torn asunder by 
being bound to the heads of two trees bent together and then allowed to spring back to their 
natural position,  converted into human torches, flayed while living. The latest case
I This is avery ancient mode of exeention; foritwas the punishment inflicted by Alexander on 
Bessus, the, murderer of Darius.
in which I have heard of robbers being walled up alive in pillars of brick and mortar was in 
1884.1 Fortunately, the visits of the Shah to Europe, and the increasing influence of civilised 
opinion, have had a wonderful effect in mitigating the barbarity of this truly merciless and 
Oriental code, and cases of unnecessary torture are now rarely heard of. The worst criminals 
are strangled,

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or decapitated, or have their throats cut. Robbery and thieving are expiated by mutilation, a 
finger -or thumb, a hand or an ear, paying the penalty for the offence of the body. But the 
standard and most cherished punishment is the bastinado. to which all are liable, from the 
kiiia's sons downwards, and in which a Persian, eanqd-station.,.. does no~__
ee !~ i~juch gre~te indignity _Yirell-r & Nowhere gL is the house of a governor, or official, 
or even of a private person of high degree, without the implements of this hallowed mode of 
castigation; the theory of hereditary transmission must almoA be invoked to explain the 
phenomenal hardness of Persian soles; and cases have been known where 2,000 switches have 
been broken, or, in other words, some 6,000 blows have been delivered, upon the feet of a 
single delinquent. -On these occasions, the ferashes who administer the flagellation find a 
welcome opportunity of wtudakh il, the leniency with which they lay on the strokes being 
rigidly proportioned to the bribe which they are promised by the victim. In cases of murder, 
the Lex Talionis, or Law of Retaliation, C an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,  yet 
prevails; and the family of the murdered man may still claim the culprit upon his arrest, and 
kill him as they please. As late as the autumn of 1888 a case occurred in which a number of 
male collaterals of the royal family forced their, way into the compound of the War Office, 
where. a priSODer was confined who had murdered one of their relatives) backed him to pieces 
with their weapons, and burned his body with petroleum. But in practice this bloody vendetta is 
seldom executed except among the nomad tribes of the south, where blood-feuds survive for 
generations, and sometimes reFult in the extinction of entire families. In ordinary cases the 
criminal escapes to the nearest sanctuary, from which secure retreat a bargain is conducted 
with the relatives of his victim as to the price of his free exit and
In 1841 the Motemed-ed-Dowleb, Manuebeher Khan, regarded as one of the severest of Persian 
governors, built a tower of 300 living men packed in layers of mortar, near Shiraz.-
Layard's Early Adventures,vol. 1. p. 312.

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458 . 
release from the pursuit of revenge. The majority of crimes perpetrated upon individuals are 
expiated in this fashion. Concerning the Persian mode of imprisonment, the practice is as 
different from our own as in the case of penalties. There is no Prisons such thing as penal 
servitude fo~ life, or even for a term of years; hard labour is unknown as a sentence; and 
confinement for a en th period is rare. There is usually a gaol-delivery at the beginning of the 
new year; and when a fresh governor is appointed, he not uncommonly empties the prison that
PRISON AT TEBERAN
may have been filled by his predecessor, one or two of the worst cases, perhaps, suffering the 
death penalty, in order to create a salutary impression of strength. There is no 
suchAhiu9_aaA_fTP_ale ward, women being detained, as also are male criminals of high s t. 
there are said to be three kinds of prison : the subterranean cells beneath the Ark, where 
criminals guilty of conspiracy or high treason are reported to have been confined; the town 
prison, where the vulgar criminals may be seen with iron collars round their neck, sometimes 
with their feet in stocks, and attached to each other by iron chains ; and the private guard-
house, that is frequently an appurtenance of
THE GOVERNMENT
459
the mansions of the great. It will be seen that the Persian theory of justice, as expressed both in 
judicial sentences, in the infliction of penalties, and in the prison code, is one of sharp and rapid 
procedure, whose object is the punishment (in a nianner as roughly equivalent as possible to 
the original offence), but in no sense the reformation, of the culprit. Not even the most generous 
estimate of the merits, or the most lenient consideration of the failings, of the judicial 
procedure ]Defects which I have described in this chapter, can blind us and abuses Of the to the 
fact that it is lamentably deficient in the two system essentials of an effective legal system, viz., 
-a compact and sYstematised code of law, and a competent tribunal to administer it. Although the 
Ecclesiastical Law has been subjected to a rough codification, this is neither scientific, 
exhaustive, nor suited to modern conditions. The Common Law has no written existence, and is 
moulded by the arbitrary idiosyncrasies of in Ividuals. The jurisdiction of the clerical and 
secular courts overlap -7 nor is there any intelligible distinction between their prerogatives 
and functions. Cases are referred to one or the other according to the -fancy of the appellant, and 
frequently pass through the two

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courts in succession, Even if it be thought hazardous or unwise to interfere with the law based 
upon the Koran, no voice can possibly defend the haphazard condition of the Common Law, which 
is in a state of disgraceful uncertainty, and, as an instrument of guidance to the civil 
magistrates, is practically useless. Finally, the confusion of the judicial and executive functions 
in the person of the same individual, who is at once governor, tax-collector, police-magistrate, 
and judge, is a mark of a radically defective system) and is incompatible with the honest 
administration of the law; whilst the proverbial venality.of the Persian official renders 
litigation a farce unless backed by a well-filled purse and the adroit understanding how to use it. 
In justice to the Shah, it must be said that he is thoroughly well aware of the crudities and 
abuses of the Persian system of Attempts law, which, during his reign, certain efforts have been 
at reform made to diminish; but equally in justice to the stubbornness of Persian character, 
which no Shah is strong enough to override, must it be admitted that these efforts have so far 
resulted in dismal failure. Lady Sheil, in her book, speaks of the institution at the beginning of 
the present sovereign's reign of

|PPage_
460 THE GOVERNMENT 461
41
Courts of Justice for the conduct of civil jurisprudence.  I can find no trace either of their 
subsequent or of their present existence. 1n 1875, after the return of the Shah from his first 
visit to Europe, he introduced Councils of Administration, which were intended to assist the 
local authorities in the task of government, to check injustice or corruption on their part, and 
to counteract the legal prerogative of the clergy. But the mullahs, who saw their reign 
threatened, succeeded in persuading the people that such European innovations would deprive 
them of the slender protection they now enjoyed against the arbitrary government of the official 
classes, and created such a storm of opposition that the project was abandoned. After the 
Shah's second visit to Europe, another equally well-meaning, but equally futile, endeavour 
was made. On this occasion it was the institution of bast, or sanctuary, which 1 have described 
in the chapter upon Meshed, that was most deservedly attacked; that which was originally 
designed as a safeguard against the arbitrary exercise of power having degenerated into a scandal 
of the worst description. Orders were issued from Teheran that  sanctuary  was to be 
done away with; and that courts of justice were to be established. But the execution of the decree 
being committed to  old hands deeply pledged to the system under whose iniquities they bad 
prospered, nothing more was beard of the projected reform, which quietly vanished from 
existence. Undeterred by these previous failures, and with a. serenity that bespeaks either a 
very sanguine or a very careless disposition, the Shah, in May 1888, took another step in the 
direction of reform. He issued the following Royal Proclamation to all the provincial governors, 
by whom it was posted in- the principal telegraph stations throughout the country:
Forasmuch as Almighty God has endowed our blessed nature with the attributes of justice and 
benignity and ordained us the manifestor Royalp,o- of his ordinances and power, and has 
especially committed clamation to our all-sufficient guardianship the lives and propert of of 
Freedom y of Life tind the subjects of the divinely-guarded Empire of Iran ; in Property 
gratitude for this great gift, we consider it incumbent on us, in discharge of the duties it 
imposes on us, to relax nothing in ensuring to the people of this kingdom the enjoyment of their 
rights and the preservation of their lives and property from molestation by oppressors,. and to 
spare no efforts to the end that the people, secure in their per Glinq)ses (?f Life and Mawners 
in Pe , ia, P. 169.
sons and property, shall, in perfect ease and tranquillity, employ themselves in affairs 
conducive to the spread of eivilisation and stability.

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Therefore, for the information and re-assurance of all the subjects and people of this kingdom 
generally, we do proclaim that all our subjects are free and independent as regards their 
persons and property ; it is our will and pleasure that they should, without fear or doubt, 
employ their capital in whatever manner they please, and engage in any enterprises, such as 
combination of funds, formation of companies for the construction of factories and roads, or in 
any measures for the promotion of civilisation and security. The care of that is taken on 
ourselves; and no one has the right or power to interfere with, or lay hands on, the property of 
Persian subjects, nor to molest their persons or property, nor to punish Persian subjects 
except in giving effect to decrees of -the civil or religious law. This proclamation was 
accompanied by a Firman to each provincial governor, enjoining the strict observation of the 
edict, and severe penalties. for its infringement. The Shah further commanded that both 
Proclamation and Firman  be read in all muiyids (mosques) and meeting-liouses and 
thoroughly explained to the people; that they be circulated in all districts, small towns, and 
even villages and -encampments; and that bonds be taken from all petty authorities, binding 
them to carry out the Royal commands.  The Firman concluded with these words:  Anyone 
disregarding these orders will be punished in such a manner as to be the wonder of all 
beholders.  This declaration or charter of the rights of the subject is excellent in its way, 
and although it has made very little difference in the provinces, has been honourably observed 
by the sovereign himself; while its existence and public notification to tile representatives of 
the European Powers afford the latter a reasonable ground for protest should any particularly 
scandalous case of injustice be brought to their notice, and therefore to some extent operate as a 
check upon the evilly-inclined. It will be observed that the most needed reforms-viz., the 
codification of the law and the construction of an independent Proposed tribunal to confer a 
sanction upon the new decree and to codificationofthe administer the law already existent-were 
left entirely law untouched by the Royal Proclamation. Once more, however, the Shah returned 
to the charge; and at tile time of my visit to Teheran, in 1889, official circles in the capital 
were stirred to their foundations by the intelligence that the king bad assigned to the Council of 
State the task of creating a new body

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J
462
ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZof law for the regulation of justice. In the  Times  I wrote as 
follows of this undertaking, purposely couching my remarks in a hopeful strain, so that I might 
not seem everywhere to see the blacker side of the cloud:
d

The Council, who have not the clearest notion of what is required of them, have commenced the 
translation of the Code Napol6on, and have also been supplied with copies of that code as modified 
to suit the exigencies of the French Alobammedan populations, and also of our own Indian 
Mohammedan code; but, beyond this, have come to 110 decision as to what is incumbent upon 
them. There are some who regard the Royal command as a mere passing caprice, and expect no 
practical result. It is to be hoped, however, that this will not be the case., but that the Shah may 
be encouraged to proceed with a not unpromising design. The new code, however, if it is to be of 
any service, must contain provisions for tribunals, as well as laws ; such provisions being, 
indeed, embodied in the European codes, upon which it will probably be modelled. A difficulty 
may be experienced in procuring judges of integrity and worth, and no abrupt change can be 
expected in the habits or moral standards of an Oriental country. But the eyes of the West will, 
at least, be directed with interest towards this fresh attempt to emancipate Persia from herself; 
while the assistance of foreign Governments may legitimately be given both towards the 
compilation of the new body of law and towards its proper administration when completed.
In response to recent inquiries (1891), 1 am informed that nothing further has been heard of 
the new code) whence I am led to infer that one more excellent scheme has gone into the waste-
paper basket, and that one more stone must be added to the cairn of abortive reforms that has 
been so conscientiously piled by Nasr-edDin Shah. Under a twofold governing system, such as 
that of which I have now completed the description-namely, an administration in Effect on 
which every actor is, in different aspects, both the briber national and the bribed; and a 
judicial procedure, without either character a law or a law court-it will readily be understood 
that confidence in the Government is not likely to exist, that there is no personal sense of duty 
or pride of bonour, no mutual trust or co-operation (except in -the service of ill-doing), no 
disgrace in exposure, no credit in virtue, above all no national spirit or patriotism. Those 
philosophers are right who argue that moral must precede material, and internal exterior, 
reform in Persia. It
THE GOVERNMENT

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1
468
s useless to graft new shoots on to a stem whose own sap is exha , usted or poisoned. We may give 
Persia roads and railroads; we may work her mines and exploit her resources; we may drill her 
army and clothe her artisans; but we shall not have brought her within the pale of civilised 
nations until we have got at the core of the people, and given. a new and a radical twist to the 
national character and institutions. I have drawn this picture of Persian administration, which I 
believe to. be true, in order that English readers may understand the system with which 
reformers, whether foreigners or natives, have to contend, and the iron wall of resistance, 
built up by all the most selfish instincts in human nature, that is opposed to progressive ideas. 
The Shah himself, however genuine his desire for innovation, is to,some extent enlisted on the 
side of this pernicious system, seeing that be owes to it his private fortune; while those who 
most loudly condemn it in private are not behind their fellows in outwaraly bowing their heads 
in the temple of Rimmon. In every rank below the sovereign, the initiative is utterly wanting to 
start a rebellion against the tyranny of immemorial custom ; and if a strong man like -the 
present king can only tentatively undertake it, where is be who shall preach the crusade ?

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464 
CHAPTER XV
INSTITUTIONS AND REFORMS
And the nations far away Are watching with eager eyes; They talk together and say To-morrow, 
perhaps to-day, Enceladus will arise. LONGFELLOW, Enceladus.
DEPRESSING as is the picture which I have been compelled in the
Ambiguous the need for a fundamental change in the principles upon interests of truth to draw of 
Persian administration, and sore as is
panorama which it is conducted, the present reign has yet witnessed the introduction of a series 
of reforms into the country which honourably differentiate it from any immediately preceding 
epoch. An examination of these reforms and f th i It- i - ta 0 eir istory, is a sk of alternate 
congratulation and dismay. On the one hand we see the imperious and irresistible influence of 
the West, and of what we term civilisation, successfully beating down the barriers of ancient 
Oriental prejudice. On the other hand, and side by side with this welcome spectacle, we observe 
superstition resurgent, reformatory zeal baffled, and the vis inerti(v supreme. We know not 
whether to give the rein to our hopes or to our despair. Is Persia about to enter nay, has she 
alread entered, the comity of civilised natj2Rg.,Av does she still sit a contented outcast without 
the g,!,te ? From the ivi-de-nc-e-w-hi-ch-w-lU-Fe-ro-rtYe-om-l-ng- -n-tN ~s-
Th-a-~ier, added to that which has already been adduced, the reader must shape his own 
judgment. For my own part, I would solicit, in the interests of my subject, a friendly and even a 
lenient consideration; knowing well, as I do, that the ways of the East and West are wide asunder 
as the poles; that what we call civilisation and sometimes rashly confuse with progress, is 
viewed by Oriental peoples in a wholly different perspective; and that different nations have 
their own peculiar way of finding salvation. Moreover, wbat may seem but a foot-pace. to 
ourselves, may resemble the rush of a locomotive
INsTrrunONS AND REFORMS
465
engine to others, to whom speed has hitherto been unknown. Nor must the sower expect an 
immediate harvest ftom all his seed. Among the reforms successfully introduced by the present 
Shah, I have already noticed in other contexts, the institution of a city

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Petition- police in Teheran, and the reconstruction and embellishboxes ment of the capital 
itself. Among those unsuccessfully attempted, I have drawn attention to administrative 
reorgani.sation, the institution of judicial tribunals, and the codification of the law. To the 
latter class also belongs an amiable but ephemeral device that was one of the results of the first 
European journey of the Shah. Aware that much injustice existed which never reached his ears, 
and acting in unconscious imitation of the. old Venetian practice, when petitions to the Council of 
Ten were placed in the mouth of a stone lion, he ordered petition-boxes to be exposed once a 
month in the public place of the larger towns. The keys were kept in his custody, and the boxes 
were to be opened in his presence. But the Persian provincial governor was not to be got the 
better of by so transparent a machinery. He promptly ordered a watch to be kept on the boxes; 
and the bastinado was freely administered to any indiscreet person dropping in a petition  
Wherefore the petition-boxes remained permanently empty, and the Shah felicitated himself 
upon the singular contentment of his subjects. The reforms to which I now turn belong to a class 
that is not associated in the Western imagination with any very advanced Scheme of degree of 
national progress, but that marks a considerable chapter forward move in a country such as the 
Persia of Malcolm, of Morier, and of Ouseley. They will include the institution of a letter-post, 
of the electric telegraph, of newspapers, of a government mint and a new currency, of European 
banks, of commercial and other concessions, of manufactured roads, and of higher education. The 
opportunity will also present itself of saying something about the state of religious feeling in 
the country. Railroads will be reserved for a separate chapter. Down to the year the li,~n_dsof 
the chaparchi-bashis, or masters of the post-houses who
I For information upon this subject, vide articles by J. E. Polak in Oesterreichische 
~Vonatsschriftfiir den 0,rient, 1876, pp. 186-8; by G. Riederer in ibid. 1878,pp. 17-22; 
byHerr vonGiAel Lannoyin ibid. 1881, pp. 176-9; andbyAndreas and Stolze in Peterinann's 
Mittheilungen, 1885, pp. 30-2.

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ZZZZZClosingZ-
XX
---""ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ46t,
d

Z-Closing-ZZZ

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZfanned the chapar service from the. Minister of Ways and Conimu 
nications.The conveyance of letters was an agreeable source Letter Posb of profit to these 
individuals. There was supposed to be some fixed scale of charge, which, however, no one knew. 
As a matter of fact, they extracteda commission at both ends of the line; for on the one hand the 
sender of the letter had to pay beforehand for its conveyance; and on the other the recipient 
could not secure its delivery until lie too had crossed the postmaster's palm.I have seen it 
stated that in this primitive epoch a postal service after the European model was started, but 
that it was abandoned because the contractor for the stamps was discovered to have privately 
printed 100,000 for his own benefit; an incident so profoundly Persian as to render the tale 
more than credible. In 1875, an official of the Austrian Post Office, by name G. Riederer, was 
entrusted with the organisation of the Persian Post upon European lines.Beginning 
experimentally with a postal delivery in the capital, and gradually extending his material and 
training a staff, within little more t~an a year of his appointment he had instituted the first 
regular riding post in Persia once a -week be tween Teheran, Tabriz, and Julfa, with a branch 
from Kazvin to Resht.In the succeeding year (1876) he was appointed Post master-General.In 
1877 Persia was admitted to the International Postal Union. He  Riederer having 0 in the 
same year, lie was succeeded by a Russian named Stahl, who appointed Dr. Andreas, the joint 
author of the publication from which I have more than once quoted, General Inspector of Persian 
Posts.Within a couple of months Andreas was dismissed for reclaiming an embezzled letter from 
the Governor of Shiraz, and a year later M. Stahl fell also.For some time the service remained in 
a precarious and insecure condition, valuable packets being opened and plundered; and E 
uropeans found it safer to trust to the couriers of the British Legation, or to the officials of the 
Indo European Telegraph.Latterly much greater safety has been as sured, and the arrangements 
now include a bi-weekly service to Europe viet rabriz and Tiffis, and via Reslit and Baku; a 
weekly .service to India via Bushire; and weekly services between the capital and Meshed, Yezd, 
Kerman, Shiraz, and Kermanshah. In 1.886 there were reported to be seventy-three post-
offices in the kingdom; and in the year 1884-5-the latest for which official statistics are 
procurable-there were conveyed 1,368,83 ) letters,
d

1NSTITUTIONS AND REFORMS
467
2,050 post-cards, 7,455 samples, and 173,995 parcels, having a value of 304,7201. The 
receipts for the same year were returned

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as 13,7641., and the expenses as 13,2981. From England letters go to Persia via Berlin, and 
under favourable conditions are delivered in Teheran in a few days over a fortnight. By a 
curious inversion of the customary chronology (most characteristic of the East, Oriental 
potentates having a common passion Electric for novelty, and having preceded gas alike in 
 2,1,gr,ph Korea and Kabul) the electric telegraph was already in full working order thro 
Yhout Persia lon nt letterp 2st had been 2rgpinised. The first experiment was made by the 
Government in 1859, with a line from Teheran to Sultanieh; but this was so badly constructed 
as to be soon abandoned. In 1860 followed a complete line from Teheran to Tabriz, extended in 
1863 to Julfa. At this period ensued the negotiations between the British and Persian 
Governments that resulted in the passage of the main line of Indo~European Telegraph through 
Persia in transit from London to Bombay. The history and the result of these negotiations, which 
have profoundly affected the internal condition of Persia, will more appropriately be discussed 
in a chapter dealing with Anglo-Persian relations in the past and present; to which accordingly I 
refer the inquisitive reader. Here it will be sufficient to say that the issue of these proceedings 
has been the construction of a triple wire from Julfa to Teheran, worked by the Indo-European 
Telegraph Company; and from Teheran to Bushire, worked by a staff of the Indian Government. 
In addition to these lines Persia possesses some 3,000 miles of sin0e* wire lines in a more or 
less dubious state of repair, which belong to the Government and are worked by a Persian staff. 
The capital is now connected with every city or centre of importance in the kingdom; and the 
prodigious effect that this has had in the consolidation of the sovereign power will afterwards 
come under notice. The chief Persian lines, excluding local lines around the capital, are those 
connecting Teheran and Meshed; Meshed and Sarakhs; Meshed, Kelat-i-Nadiri, and Deregez; 
Meshed and Kuchan; Shahrud, Astrabad, and Meshed-i-Ser; Sefnnan and Firuzkuh; Kazvin, 
Resht, and Enzeli; Resht and Khorremabad (Mazanderan frontier); Tabriz, Ardebil, and Namin; 
Tabriz and Suj Bulak; Marand, Khoi, and Urundah; Teheran, Hamadan, and Kbanikin; Hamadan, 
Sinna, and Gerrus; Hamadan, Burujird, and

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468 INSTITUTIONS ItND REFORMS 469
Sultanabad; Burujird and Nihavend; Bitrujird, liliorreinabad, and Shusliter (in course of 
extension to Ahwaz and -K.oliainnierah); Isfaban, Yezd, and Kerman. Statistics of the revenue 
and expenditure, and of the work accomplisbed, are not issued. The history and the present 
condition of Journalism in Persia afford as eloquent an illustration of the anomalous position 
occupied News- by that nation- su spended, like Mohammed's coffin, bepapers tween the two 
worldsof culture and barbarism-as can be conceived. For on the one hand the outward symptoms 
of civilisation present themselves in the shape of a number of J ournals, published in the 
capital and elsewhere, under Royal and ministerial patronage; but on the other, the Press 
a's an institution has positively no existence and freedo~i-of - pri-iited sp-ee-cli or even 
liberty of criticism, are unknown. Hence it is an ilhisory, if not, a deceitful, claim that is 
sorhetimes advanced by the professional spokesmen of the Regeneration of Persia, when they 
point to her possession of three or-four newspapers -as a proof of respectable advance in the 
domain of liberty and -culture. It was in 1850 in the administration of the famous Amir-
iNizam, Mirza TI-Zi Kha  , whom I have so often mentioned, that Their his- the first 
Persian newspaper was established.  He placed tory, past it under an English editor, whose 
duty was to republish and present judicious or - interesting extracts from the European 
journals; and be frequently contributed political articles to it himself. At the same time he 
started the system, which has been virtually continued with every succeeding publication-and 
without which a press so straitly laced and hampered could not subsist -of requiring the entire 
Civil Service above a- certain rank to become regular subscribers. d murder of its fo nder). In 
1866 Mr. Mounsey -speaks of another piblication, entitled the  Teheran Gazette,  which 
was started by command of the Shah in that year, and whose columns were at first filled with 
descriptions of European countries, inventions, and trades, until, the interest of editor and 
readers alike in these novelties being exhausted, the bill. of fare was restricted to a Court 
Circular, and to disquisitions on Oriental Science, Alchemy, &c. At the present time the 
newspapers in existence in Teheran are as follows:(11>-1.11teIran, a purely official organ, to 
which all functionaries ~ I Rde R. B. Binning, TxoYears  Travel, vol. ii. p. 162.
are expected to subscribe, and which is supposed to come out once a fortnight, although its 
appearances are irregular. This paper is edited by the Minister of the Press, who enjoys an 
absolute monopoly of all newspaper and other printing, and pays 500 tomans a year for the 
privilege. The  copy  is always submitted to and countersigned by the Shah. It is 
produced, as are

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the other journals that I shall mention, by the lithographic process. The Shah -occasionally 
contributes to the  Iran,  and prides himself on the exceptional purity of his style, in 
which few Arabic words occur, in spite of the large part they fill in the national vocabulary. In 
the same journal (May 10 and 19, 1888) was printed a communication, also from the Royal 
pen, to which I shall afterwards refer, upon the, new lake that was formed a few years ago on 
the road from Teheran to Kum. Foreign politics are excluded from the purview of the 
 Iran,  for fear of ofibnding the ambassadors; domestic politics are eschewed for fear of 
offending the Shah and governing -hierarchy - and- accordingly its scope, is narrowed to the 
uninteresting dimensions of a Court Journal and Official Gazette, in which are recorded 
ministerial appointments, the movements of the Court, and the wonderful shots made or heads of 
game bagged by the king. A feitilleton, however, always appears, consisting as a rule of some 
historical or geographical work of ancient or modern times. It may well be imagined that 
without a subscription list artificially recruited such an organ could not boast of a very 
lucrative existence. (2) TheIttelali,  a semi-official organ, also edited by the 31iiiister of 
the Press, and also appearing irregularly, though nominally once a fortnight. The scientific bent 
of its editor, the Itimad-esSultaneh, then known as the Sani-ed-Dowleh, was responsible for 
the technical character of some of its earlier contents -, but it has now embarked upon a less 
restricted field. It often contains a political article, snipped as a rule from some French 
newspaper by the scissors of the -Minister; and it has been known to publish telegrams of 
European incidents within a month of their occurrence.
(3) The   Sheref,  an illustrated monthly, lithographed at Teheran, under the same 
official supervision and editorship. Its illustrations are usually confined to portraits. of some 
Persian minister or grandee, sometimes varied by the phy." ignomy of a European potentate.

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470
ZZZZ
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---""ZZThe price of each of the above-mentioned jourrials is one kran (7d.), a 
figure which is quite prohibitory as regards general circu lation. Where the official impulse to 
subscribe does not exist, self-interest has the same consequence; for the leading personageS, 
unless they are counted among the patrons of the organ, find them selves roundly abused. A bribe 
is,often found a wise preliminary to a flattering notice. (4) The  Farhang.  At Isfahan is 
published the I Farhang,  under the editorship of the Zil-es-Sultan, or of an official 
employed b him. It shares the characteristics already described. y I Formerl, a pap~erycalled 
the ~ Akliter  (Star) was much read. a It was broug roll out ras ~b ~htout y ~11 r r - ) 
subse luently interdicted in Persia, when found to contain somewhat too candid re iiTent ~ofthe 
Kino-, of Kings. A simil n named the e first European journey of the Sba irza Husein LtAfter 
Klian, then -TivIinister of Foreign Affairs, fired by what he had- seen French in Europe, 
proposed the foundation of a Franco-Persian papers paper. The requisite plant was procured; a 
European was engaged as director; the promising title of I La Patrie  was selected; but on 
February .5, 1876, when the first, and solitary, buluber appeared, the editorial with which it 
opened was found to contain the following astounding statement: With regard to internal affairs, 
we shall speak of them with absolute independence. We take, and we mean to take, no side ; we 
are bound by no pledge; we are under no official obligation. We desire to serve our country by 
enlightening it upon its true needs. We shall support progress, and encourage every 
manifestation of it. But we will never be vile flatterers ; we shall offer no incense to power; we 
shall defend every just cause and blame every reprehensible act. We shall support the power 
that represents the law to us ; but if its acts are contrary to the law, we shall censure them all 
the more severely. War upon abuses an(] those who are guilty of thern, Progress, Justice, 
Equity-this is our device, there is our programme. We shall devote our entire care to nleritin.g 
popular favour by constituting ourselves the universal cliam pions of the rights of the country 
and the people.  n
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Such an announcement, which to Persian ears sounded like Sir Peter Wentworth declaiming in 
the Parliament of. Elizabeth, or Cain s Gracchus thundering in the Forum at Rome, was an insult 
to

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INSTITUTIONS AND REFORMS
471
all that Iran held most dear. It was at once expiated by the dismissal of the guilty editor, and by 
the suppression of the offending organ. The number from which I have quoted remains a unique 
curiosity in the annals of journalism. The same minister established a military inagazine at 
Teheran ; but its existence was limited to seventeen or eighteen numbers, In 1885 a more 
orderly and semi-official paper was started in the French language, entitled the I Echo de la 
Perse.  It has since ceased to exist. A journal was al.,o published for a short tiuie at Tabriz, 
but soon expired. The Royal College further undertook for a while the publiffttiOll of a scientific 
journal; but this, too, is defunct. There have been other journalistic attempts, whose epitaph 
required to be even sooner written. Such is a brief record of the history all([ present condition 
of the press in Persia. How far it entitles either its promulgators or its patrons to the praise of 
enlightenment, every reader can judge for himself. Anyhow, no alarm need as yet be -felt, even 
by the ulost tender susceptibilities, about the creation of a fourth estate in the dominions of the 
Shall. It in ay be imagined that in % country possessing the liabits and instincts that I have 
described, the currency has at all times pro The sented a fine field of operation for the devices of 
sovereigns, coinage governors, and ministers, and that any approach either to science of 
management or stability of value has been conspicuous by its absence. The fluctuations in the 
value of the monetary unit have been enormous, and at the time of my visit haul touched almost 
as low a point as bas ever been reached. In Tavernier's time, in the middle of the seventeenth 
century, a tornan was equal to fifteen French crowns or forty-six livres (a livre was about 1.3. 
Gd.). Chardin, a little later, under Shah Suleiman, gave the value of the ioman as from forty-
five to fifty liyres, or 8)1. 10s. in English money. Early in the following century Krusinski 
returned its value as sixty livres or twenty crowns. Then came the overthrow of the Sefavi 
dynasty, the invasion of the Afghans, the reign of Nadir Shah, and the general anarchy and 
dislocation consequent Upon his death. At the beginning of this century, when security had been 
re-established under the KaJar dynasty, Malcolin gave the value of the toman as 11. Between 
1820 and 1830 Fraser valued it at lls. Since then the value has fluctuated, but with a general 
inclination to fall. In 1874 the taman was h ten franes

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472
ZZZZ
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ZZ-
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---""ZZor 8s. In 1889-90, when I was in Persia, it bad sunk at one moment to 5 
Is. The rise in the price of silver has since raised it 2 to over 6s. Formerly there was a 
Government Alint at nearly every big town in Persia-at Hainadan, Tabriz, Kashan, Isfahan, 
Kerman, Meshed, Govern- Kermanshah, Reslit, Astrabad, Kum, and in Mazanderan utent Mint 
and Seistan-and the antiquated products of these local mints are still sometimes encountered.1 
This haphazard system was a great encouragement to forgery. and there was quite a brisk 
manufacture of spurious coins. the Government being finally compelled to call in the whole of 
the old hanimer-struck currency. It was in 1865 that the reigning Shah, having been persuaded 
by some interested individual to recoin the currency on the European ;ystem, instructed his 
minister at Paris to purchase the necessary machinery and to engage Frencliengineers. The men 
duly arrived at Teheran, had already been consumed as fuel for the steamer that brought it, was 
deposited upon the sand at Enzeli, where it lay and rotted, no beasts of burden being strong 
enough to carry the big boilers and wheels,  I and the Shah's elephant being even found 
unequal to the task. These misfortunes delayed for some time the execution of the projected 
scheme; and it was not till 1877 that the new coinage appeared, a large building on the northern 
outskirts of Teheran, which had been unsuccessfully tried as a cotton factory, having been 
converted into the Royal Mint. This establishment, which possesses a German overseer and 
French dies, and is under the control of the Amin-es-Sultan, is now the sole mint in Persia. In 
my volume of appendices will be found a table of the coins issued by the Government Mint. The 
silver kran is the monetarNr Modern unit. Originally it weighed eighty-three grains, then it 
currency was reduced to seventy-seven grains, now it weighs seventy-one grains. The 
proportion of fine silver was originally ninety-five per cent. ; that is, the /~-ran contained 
only five per cent. ofalloy.  Lhp gold-tQLna?talso contained the same original proportion of 
p-Lite-inetad -viz., 1yWe e )~i cent. Later on this was reduced in the silver 1~!ran to ninety-
two per cent., and subsequently again to ninety per cent., at which figure the r atio now 
nominally
d

but the machinery, the mcking-cases of which
The old krans remain the basis of the coinage in Persia; and the Imperial Bank has been 
compelled to make its notes payable in the old currenci, since the new krans have been at a 
constant premium.

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INSTITUTIONS AND REFORMS
Need of European banks
473
stands. The Master of the Mint, however, who pays 5,000 toinans a year for the concession, and 
is allowed to take five per cent. seigneuratle on whatever he coins, is not to be cheated of his sly 
personal mudul,!hil in addition; and the actual proportion in the case of the silver coinage was, 
in 1889, 8912- in every 1,000, in the gold 3 coinage 885-1, the remainder being Copper 
alloy. Originally this individual paid a much larger sum for the concession, and realised a 
handsome profit out of the copper currency. But, in consequence of the scandalous depreciation, 
this prerogative was taken from him.  Owing principally to the great excess of imports over 
exports which existed till within recent years, but which is now being Circulation slowly 
redressed, gold may be said to have disappeared of -gold from circulation.Silver at one time 
became exceedingly scarce.The Persian Government, becoming much alarmed, con ceived the 
delicious idea of prohibiting the export of the precious metals; but- this design was, 
fortunately, not proceeded with. The gold pieces nominally in circulation are coins of a quarter, 
half, one, two, five, and ten tomans.To such a point had the apprecia tion risen, that I found that 
one of the last-named coins, nominally equivalent to 100 kruns,- could not be purchased for 
less than 145 krans in Teheran, a premium of nearly fifty per cent. The abuses and drawbacks 
of the Persian monetary system, and, indeed, of all mercantile transactions in that country, 
have long rendered the introduction of banks managed upon the European plan a sine qua non of 
any material improvement on a large scale. Of the fluctuations in exchange and scarcity of 
money I have already spoken. Another drawback was the unequal distribution at any - given 
moment of the precious metals, and the enormous cost of the transport of specie, which could 
only be carried at much expense on the backs of beasts of burden. Merchants experienced the 
greatest difficulty and risk in making remittances to Europe. Small cliques of native 
moneyjobbers controlled the market in the provincial towns. Native capital was frightened away 
from any enterprise of public advantage by the distrust attending all investment. Still worse 
was the practice of hoarding pursued by every man of wealth, from the Shah downwards. Nothing 
could demonstrate the retrograde
I In December 1889, however, he procured a renewal of the right to coin copper money for an 
experimental period of six months, and the farm price was increased to the rate of 25,000 
tomans per annum.

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474 INSTITUTIONS AND REFORMS 475
condition of Persian finance more effectively than the exorbitant rate of interest cheerfully, 
paid to native usurers. Legal interest is limited by the Koran to twelve per cent.; but, in the 
middle of the century-, Lady Sheil recorded that  it seldom aniounts to less than twenty-
five, and often reaches fifty, sixty, or one hundred per cent.  For loans of ready money, 
native bankers could, till a year or two ago, easily procure two per cent. per month, settled 
monthly, i.e. twentv-nine per cent. per annum. Private inoney-lenders exacted a good deal 
more. Such, in outline, was the state of Persian finance when, in 1888, the New Oriental Bank 
Corporation decided to include Persia
New within the sphere of its Asiatic operations, and opened Oriental branches or established 
agencies in Teheran, Meshed,
Bank Tabriz, Resht, Isfahan, Shiraz, and Bushire. Asatrading company, dealing in a branch of 
commerce open to all, it required no special concession from the Persian Government. Renting a 
palatial building occupying one entire side of the Meidan-iTupkhaneh in the capital, after only a 
year's existence it already, at the time of in visit, did a considerable business both there and 
y , in the provinces. The Persians were beginning to understand the meaning of a deposit account 
and the value of a- fixed and certain interest upon their savings. The bank paid two and a half 
per cent. on current accounts, four per cent. on those running for six months, and six per cent. 
on yearly deposits. It had already lowered the rate of interest on loans to twelve per cent., and 
was reported to have lent money to the Shah at from six to eight per cent. The Oriental Bank had 
also introduced and familiarised the natives with a form of paper money, in the shape of 
cashier's orders, for sums from five krans upward, payable to the bearer, which enjoyed a 
considerable circulation in the capital. After an existence of two years, the Persian branch of 
the Corporation was bought out for a substantial sum by the new Imperial Bank of Persia, 
which, entering upon the scene under the niost favourable auspices, and with a wider ambition, 
rendered competition even less desirable to others than to itself. The Imperial It was on. 
January 30, 1889, that the Shah signed the preliminary concession in favour of Baron de 
Reuter for the Imperial Bank of Persia. That this concession was in some sort an amende 
honorable to that gentleman for the scurvy treatment he had received in respect of the famous 
Reuter Concession of 1872, was
Bank now reigns supreme.
Imperial Bank of Persia

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evident both by the new agreement being made out in his favour, and also by a clause in one of its 
articles, which provided for the repayment to Baron de Reuter of the sum of 40,0001.) 
deposited by him as caution money for the first undertaking, and illegally confiscated by the 
Persian Government in 1873. Appendices and additional articles were added to the new 
concession up till the end of July 1889. In August the British Government granted a Royal 
Charter of Incorporation for thirty years to the Bank thus formed. In October the prospectus 
appeared in London, and subscriptions were invited; and so great was the confidence in the 
undertaking that, within a few hours of the date of issue, the capital, amounting to 
1,000,0001., was subscribed fifteen times over. I shall print in my supplemental volume a 
copy of the original concession to the, Imperial Bank, and will, therefore, content myself Terms 
of here with noticing only its more important provisions. concession The concession was for a 
period of sixty years, dating from January1889. The key-note of a future policy which, if 
interpreted with enterprise and liberality, may result in the inauguration of commercial 
undertakings on a-large scale, independent-of banking proper, was struck in the very first 
article, which contained these significant words:In order to develop the commerce and increase 
the riches of Persia, the Imperial Bank, outside any operations which appertain to a finnneial 
institut ion, may undertake on its own account, or on account of third parties, all matters 
financial, industrial, or commercial, which it may think advantageous to this end, on the 
condition, however, that none of these enterprises be contrary to treaties, laws, usages, or the 
religion of the country, and that previous, notice thereof be given to the Persian 
Government.  Article 2 fixed the capital of the bank at four millions sterling, of which the 
first series, in shares to bearer, was to amount to one million, in 100,000 shares of 101. each. 
. Article 3 related to bank-notes, to which I must devote a separate paragraph. In Article 7 
appeared the quid, pro quo (apart from the price paid for the concession itself) exacted by the 
Persian Government, viz. 6 per cent. of the net profits of the bank in each year, such suni never 
to be less than 4,0001. Articles 11, 12, and 13 were among the most important of the whole 
series, inasmuch as they conceded to the bank, with certain stipulated exceptions, the right to 
work the mineral resources of Persia, currently believed to be very con
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follows: I The Imperial Bank being ready to incur forthwith the sacrifices necessary for 
developing the resources of the country by the exploitation of its natural riches, the Persian 
Government grants to the said bank, for the term of the present concession, the exclusive right 
of working throughout the Empire the iron, copper, lead, mercury, coal, petroleum, manganese, 
borax, and asbestos mines which belong to the State, and which have not already been ceded to 
others. The Persian Government shall, as an appendix to this concession, deliver to the Baron de 
Reuter, on the day of the signature of these presents, an official list of mines already ceded. The 
gold and silver mines and mines of precious stones belong exclusively to the State, and should 
the engineers of the bank discover any such they must immediately notify the same to the 
Government of his Imperial Majesty the Shah. Excepting the necessary engineers and foremen, 
all the workmen engaged on the mines must be subjects of his Imperial Majesty the Shah. The 
Persian Governinent sliall assist the bank by all the means in its power to obtain workmen at 
the current wage of the country. All mines which the bank b as not commenced working within 
ten years of its formation shall be deemed to have bee n abandoned by it, and the State may 
dispose of the saine without consulting the bank.  Article 12 promised that the lands 
necessary for working the mines should, if on State domain, be given free, whilst, if they 
belonged to private individuals, the Government should co-operate in getting them for the bank 
on the most favourable terms. No import duty was to be charged on the necessary materials, and 
the lands and buildings should be exempt from all taxes. Article 13 fixed the share of the 
Government in the profits of the mines at 16 per cent., and also that  on the expiry of the 
term of the present concession, the mines, with their lands, buildings, accessory constructions, 
and plants, should revert to the Persian Government according to the most f4vourable rules and 
regulations generally adopted by other Powers who have stipulated in this behalf.  How this 
extensive and important mining concession, amounting to the command of the mineral resources 
of Persia, was disposed of by the Imperial Bank, how a Corporation was specially formed in 
London for its purchase and for the execution of its terms, what steps have since been taken by 
the company so constituted for the exploration or exploitation of Persian mines, and what 
success
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has so far attended, or may be expected to attend, their laboursall these are questions which will 
more appropriately find an answer in a later chapter dealing with the natural resources of 
Persia. I here turn to the history of the bank since its formation, and proceed to show how, up 
till the present time (winter of 1891-2), it has sustained the expectations of its founders or 
justified the, confidence of its shareholders.1 At the time of my visit to Teheran, the Imperial 
Bank had just commenced business, having acquired premises in the street Openin.-of wherein 
stands the British Legation. A competent prennses manager had been secured in the person of 
Mr. Rabino, a gentleman long and honourably connected with the Cr6dit Lyonnais in Cairo; and 
the relations of the bank with the Persian Government were in the capable hands of General 
Houturn Schindler, whom my readers will long ago have learnt to regard as a sort of deits ex 
machina required to assist in the solution of most Persian problems. Early in 1890 the 
directorate of the bank came to terms with the New Oriental Bank Corporation, of which I have 
already spoken, and for the suni of 20,0001. purchased the lease of their premises in Teheran, 
as well as the Corporation's goodwill, furniture, appointments, &c. I have previously 
mentioned among the rights conceded by the Shall to the Imperial Bank, the monopoly of issuing 
bank notes. Monopoly Article 3 stipulated that the amount so issued should not of bank exceed 
800,0001. without the knowledge and assent of notes the Persian Government; and that for two 
years the bank should keep a cover in specie of fifty per cent., and afterwards of thirty-three 
per cent. This is not the first time in history that bank notes have been introduced into Persia. 
Just 600 years ago the scheme was Ancientex- attempted by one of the Mongol sovereigns of the 
house perinientof Jeiighiz Khan, wbo succeeded that conqueror upon of the THongolthe throne of 
Iran. This was Kei Khatu (1291-94 A.D.)~ the brother of Arghun Khan, or Argawan Shah, and 
grandson of Hulaku Khan. It was lie who was ruler in Persia when Marco Polo came from the 
distant court of Nublai Khan with the Tartar bride intended for his brother. Kei Kliatu had heard
I Vide a most valuable paper on 113anking in Persia, by J. Rabino, with notes by A. H. 
Schindler, read before the Institute of Bankers in December 1891. An extract from it is quoted 
at the end of this chapter.

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]money into China three centuries before, a-ad of its revival in that country within the last 
fifty, years; a proceeding with which we have been rendered familiar by the writings of the 
learned
d

siall Venetian, and of Ibn Batutah, the Moor of Tangier. The Per i Mongol, finding himself over 
two millions sterling in debt, conceived tile bright idea that, by issuing a paper currency, 
which would be bought by his faithful subjects, all the gold and silver in the kingdom would flow 
into the royal exchequer; while the paper would become the universal medium of  exchange. 
F or  this purpose a royal edict was issued, forbidding the circulation of the precious metals 
as currency. Banks, called, after the Chinese name, Chowkhaneh, were erected at Tabriz and oth 
er places , and notes, or Chow, were issued for sums varying from Jd. to 4s. 7d., bearing a 
Ivfohalnmedan inscription and the value written in a circle upon them, and the imperial 
mandate to accept this novel currency. The subjects of Kei Khatu were, however, less docile or 
more wide-awake than he had anticipated. A howl of universal execration greeted the 
promulgation of the scheme; the minister who had suggested it was tom to pieces by an 
infuriated mob; and within three- days the -decree was repealed, and the first Persian 
experiment of paper money ignominiously expired. Warned by this example, or timorous of 
empirical finance, no subsequent Persian sovereign repeated the experimentof the Mongol.
Modern Indeed, in the present century, the introduction of the opinion Russian paper rouble into 
Persia was regarded with the gravest suspicion by the ruling powers as an insidious attempt to 
drain the country of its silver and gold. So strong did this feeling  become that, in 1-883, 
the Shah actually issued a royal edict which declared that  the people are very foolish who 
take dirty pieces of paper for gold and silver, and in future all Russian rouble notes will be 
confiscated.  Like many royal decrees, this was fortunately allowed to become a dead letter 
almost as soon as promulgated. It is, therefore, in the face of inauspicious historical omens, and 
among a people and court whose ideas of finance are rudimentary,
Notes of that the Imperial Bank has started upon this part of its the programme. Some time was 
spent in selecting a suitable Imperial in Bank and handsome design ; and in 1890 the neiv bank 
n notes, having a Persian inscription with the badge of the Lion and the Sun oil one side, and an 
English inscription with the

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INSTITUTIONS AND REFORMS
479
Shall's portrait oil the other, and representing values of from. one to 1,000 tom-ons, were 
issued. One of the first discoveries made by the bank was that these notes were bought up by 
wealthy men and hidden away, a purpose for which they were better adapted, in bulk and weight, 
than coined money. This was an unexpected development of the Persian passion f6r boarding. It 
is as yet too early to say how the experiment of paper money will eventuate. I understand that 
the. bank notes of the provincial towns are only payable oil the spot, and are not interchangeable 
elsewhere, the reason being that the bank gets a commission on the transfer. This may,.perhaps, 
stand in the way of an immediately wide circulation. At the end of tile, first year of its existence 
(September 1890), the directors of the bank were enabled to present a satisfactory report 
First year to their shareholders. The net profits realised, after paying of exist-all charges and 
deducting interest paid and due, were nearly ence68,0001., and justified the board in declaring 
a dividend equal to. eight per cent. oil the capital paid up from the date of pay ment.Branches or 
agencies of the bank have been opened, in addi tion to London and Teheran, at Tabriz, Reslit, 
Meshed, Isfahan, Shiraz, Bushire-, Kermanshah, Baghdad, Busrah, and Bombay; and the bank 
bas already taken its place as a great national institution, affecting and absorbing the financial 
interests of Persia. It is employed by the Persian Government as a vehicle for tile receipts of 
revenue and payment of expenditure, and for general finan cial purposes; and by most foreign 
governments having relations with Persia, for the discharge of their necessary business. By the 
natives it is already much used as a channel for mercantile traus actions, and has appreciably 
benefited commerce by the issue of advances against merchandise, bills of lading, etc. The 
deposits made with the bank doubled in the first six months what the New Oriental Bank 
Corporation had received in the whole year of its existence, and have since risen to five and 
sixfold the arnount. Similarly, the busine-ss done in loans to natives upon security was doubled 
in the first eight months; and the normal rate of interest has sunk to less than half of its 
previous figure. Nor has the effect been less noticeable upon the fluctuations of the money 
market arisin- from. the, shifting rates of exchange. In a country possessing a silver currency 
there will always be a certain move inent arising ftom. the rise or fall in price of the precious 
metal but the inore violent oscillations due to the speculations of private

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480 INSTITUTIONS AND REFORMS 481
exchange agents, and to other causes, have been reinedied, and a far greater steadiness may be 
predicated of the Persian money market as a whole. The report at the end of the second year 
(September 1891 ) did not, perhaps, fully answer the expectations that had been formed; but 
substantial progress was recorded, and a dividend equal to five per cent. was declared. It is to be 
hoped that the bank will, before long, acquire control of the inint, ill order to secure an 
efficient currency and to put an end to the reactionary abuses of the present system. I have had 
occasion to mention the original and famous Reuter Concession of 1872, which produced such a 
sensation in Europe; The Renter and both in order that a contrast may be drawn between 
Concession its provisions and those of the Imperial Bank's concession, of 1872 arid as the 
raost conspicuous historical sample of the fortuitous fashion in which Persia seeks redemption, 
I may here be permitted to recapitulate what were its leading features. As a railway scheme I 
shall not now notice it, though the construction of a Grand Trunk Railway through Persia, and 
the monopoly of all future railroadq in the country, were among its most important features, 
reserving any remarks upon that bead for a future chapter. The Reuter scheme was the 
culminating product of a phase of sincere and zealous Anglophilism. at Teheran. Designed as the 
crowning act of the policy of Mirza Husein Khan, the powerful Sadr Azem., or Grand Vizier, who 
then guided the councils of the Shah, it summed up a programme which, in the words of Sir H. 
Rawlinson,l 4 was aimed at the regeneration of Persia through the identification of her interests 
with those of Great Britain.  The concession was dated July 25, 1872. When published to the 
world, it was found to contain the most complete and extraordinary surrender of the entire, 
industrial resources of a kingdom into foreign hands that has probably ever been dreamed of, 
much less accomplished, in history. Exclusive of the clauses referring to railroads and 
tramways, which conferred an absolute monopoly of both those undertakings upon Baron do 
Reuter for the space of seventy years, the concession also handed over to hiin the exclusive 
working for the same period of all Persian mines, except those of gold, silver, and precious 
stones ; the monopoly of the government forests, all uncultivated land being embraced under that 
designation ; the
I By far the best account of the Reuter Concession is to be found in his Enyland and Bussia in the 
-East, pp. 122-8.
exclusive construction of canals, kanats, and irrigation works of every description; the first 
refusal of a national bank, and of all future enterprises connected with the introduction of roads, 
telegraphs, mills, factories, workshops, and public works of every description - and a farm of 
the entire customs of the empire for a period of twenty-five years from March 1., 1874, upon 
payment to the Shah of a stipulated sum for the first five years, and of an

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additional si~,ty per cent. of the net revenue for the remaining twenty. With respect to the 
other profits, twenty per cent. of those accruing from railways, and fifteen per cent. of those 
derived from all other sources, were reserved for the Persian Government. Such was the 
amazing document that fell like a bombshell upon Europe just before the Shah started upon his 
first foreign journey in 1873.1 The subsequent history of this colossal but impossible 
undertaking is well known and may be briefly summarised. In the Its re-Shah's absence in 
Europe, time, and opportunity were scissiongiven for the marshalling in hostile array of all the 
reactionary, or fanatical, or, as a Persian might say, patriotic forces in the country. In England 
the Shah found that but a lukewarm reception had -been given to the scheme, the possible 
political complications arising from which more than counterbalanced, in the eyes of the 
British Government, and of public opinion in general, the advantages which it conferred. But the 
coup de grdce to the project was in reality dealt at St. Petersburg. Naturally indignant at a 
concession which handed over to her rival the entire resources of which she had long 
contemplated, or at least coveted, the future reversion, and firmly convinced (the conviction 
was utterly devoid of foundation) that the British Government was at the back of Baron de 
Reuter and had insidiously inspired the whole scheme, Russia adopted an attitude of resentment 
mingled with menace, that, in the absence of any reassuring counterblast from Downing Street, 
effectually frightened the Shah, and settled the fatff of the too precocious bantling of Baron de 
Reuter.It did not much matter, in a country and with a government like Persia, what excuse was 
forthcoming to justify the revocation that was decided upon - and when the Baron's caution 
money was, after the Shah's return to Persia, rudely confiscated5 on the technical ground 
that the works had not been commenced I For an abstract of the Reuter Concession, vide Appendix 
to Rawlinson's work.

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was felt that the Persian Government bad adopted a convenient~ even if an illegal, way of escape 
from an impossible situation. The Baron, who had every right to complain of ill-usage, 
continued to make appeals and claims for compensation; but until the reparatory clause inserted 
in the Imperial Bank Concession sixteen years later, these met with no response. It must be 
obvious to all impartial critics, both that the Reuter Concession was doomed to failure from its 
birth and also that its Reasons of demise was not, on thowbole, to be regretted in the infailure 
terests of Persia. The scheme was overweigbted ab initio. No individual, nor even any company? 
would have been capable of carrying even a moiety of it into execution. As Sir H. Rawlinson 
observes:
d

It was only under the possible agreement of the European Powers to the neutralisation of Persia, 
the Shah's dominions forming a sort of Asiatic Belgium, that the working of the Concession-
by means, perbaps, of a great international company or commission-would have been at all 
practicable; and although this idea was mooted, and is understood to have received some 
consideration at Berlin and Vienna, it may be well understood that where the- interests of 
England and Russia were strong, immediate, and conflicting, the prospect of any joint action or 
acceptance of mutual responsibility was altogether visionary.
As a matter of fact, the commercial world was completely staggered by the proposal; and Baron 
do Reuter found that, without a Government guarantee, he could neither raise the loan of 
6,000,0001. stipulated by Article 16 of the agreement in the London market, nor constitute a 
company for working the Concession. Thopolitical objections to the scheme were great and 
formidable. Its execution would have involved Great Britain and Russia in a perpetual and 
unseemly strife in Persia, and might have produced serious international embarrassment. But 
stronger, in my judgment, than any other objection, was the fact that it involved the complete 
abroga
I This article said,   Should the works not be begun within fifteen months of the date of the 
Concession. the caution money will be forfeited to the Persian Government.  Baron de Reuter 
contended that be had fulfilled these conditions by commencing the carthwork for the railway 
from Resht, the permanent way of which was completed for a short distance. The Persian 
Government, on their side, contended that the terms were broken because no rails bad been laid 
and no mines opened.
INSTITUTIONS AND REFORMS

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483
tion of a nation's birthright in favour of foreign speculators. We have seen in other and 
contemporaneous cases enough of the evil effects of a country or a people sustained and exploited 
by foreign capitalists, and falling a prey to successive gangs of selfish adventurers -according 
as subconcessions are granted in a descending scale by the parent government or compaDy-
to know that it is not by such methods that national stability is.. built up. Persia may be, and is, 
deplorably infirm; but she will never be able to stand if she voluntarily surrenders the use of 
all her limbs. Her regeneration must doubtless be worked out by foreign aid, and to some extent 
by,foreign capital-as is now being attempted-but native enterprise, Dative industry, and native 
resources must play some part in the undertaking, or an artificial redemption will only have 
been achieved at the cost of national atrophy. England would seemingly have been placed in a 
position of overwhelming political preponderance by the realisation of the Reuter Concession. 
But it would have been at the expense of the best interests of Persia, and since it is one of the 
objects of this book to show that Persian interests are British interests, or, in other words, 
that. a strong Persia should be the object of British diplomacy, we may congratulate ourselves 
that a scheme which p * ostulated the reduction of that country to impotence broke down. It was 
said at the time of the Reuter Concession that one of the reasons for confiding powers so 
enormous to a single individual Conces- or to a single company, was the desire of the Persian 
sion- Government to escape from the conflicting offers of a mongers -horde of foreign 
speculators, who, ever since the opening of the Indo-European Telegraph in 1865, had settled 
down upon Persia, and were clamouring for a share in the division of the spoils. For a time the 
collapse of the Reuter scheme frightened away these harpies; but as confidence was re-
established, and more especially when, under the friendly pressure of the British Government, 
concessions such as those for the navigation of the Karun river and the Imperial Bank were 
granted, they began to reassemble; and on the return of the Shah from his last European journey 
a crowd of these interested applicants descended like a flight of locusts upon Teheran. The air 
was full of rumours of concessions for the exclusive introduction, or manufacture, or growth of 
wine, sugar, glass, telephones, electric light, and in one instance for a monopoly of all 
agricultural produce! To a temp erament and to tastes such as those of

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mean the payment of a lump sum down to his own account; if successf4 they augment the annual 
revenue ; and if the reverse, they only implicate foreigners in failure. Wbilst applauding the 
policy of assisting Persia by foreign capital where she cannot assist herself, and in enterprises 
-of iiiiquestioned stability, I am of opinion that she is more likely to lose than to gain from the 
indiscriminate gift of commercial concessions, and that her best advisers should check any 
premature zeal in this direction. The first concessionary usually thinks of little but selling his 
monopoly, and realising a good profit for himself. He is not uncommonly an adventurer, 
andsonictimes arogue. Bythefailure of such bogus undertakings, good capital is frightened away 
from the country, and the natives themselves form -,in unfavourable impression of European 
conduct and honesty. The internal development of Persia will fare much better if it follows the 
broad lines of road and railroad extension, rather than imperil its chances by grotesque 
monopolies and fanciful concessions to vagrant chevaliers d industrie. An unfortunate, but 
significant, illustration of the truth of the above remarks, which appeared originally in the 
  Times,  was Recent afforded by a case that occurred almost simultaneously schemes 
with my visit to Persia. One among the numerous concessions of the class that I have described 
had been granted by the Shah-who bad received his douceur-for the introduction, inter alia, of 
State lotteries into Persia - but this concession had subsequently been cancelled in consequence 
of the inclusion of other and less desirable items in its terms. In apparent ignorance of these 
facts, the concession was disposed of to a syndicate, and again passed on to a company (the 
Persian Investment Corporation), whose final collapse agitated the London market in 1890; the 
result of the entire series of transactions, the moral blaine of which I do not pretend to 
distribute, being that a great shock was given to Persian credit and that capital was scared away 
from Persian investment. Hence it arose that, when in the autunin of the same year a large 
scheme was brought out for the formation of theIniperial Tobacco Corporation of Persia,  to 
acquire and work a concession for a monopoly of the purchase, sale, and manufacture of the 
entire tobacco crop of the Persian Empire, this project, though warmly commended by bigh 
authorities and possessing many
d

INSTITUTIONS ATND REFORMS
486
features of probable advantage, did not at once secure the anticipated support.  I am myself 
aware of many other inchoate or

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abortive schernes for the exploitation of various of the natural resources of Persia, in each of 
which cases the concession has been granted and paidfor, but the further progress of which has 
beer y arrested b the sense of insecurity developed by past proceedings, I cannot, as a friend of 
Persia, too strongly reiterate my conviction that this headlong signing away of the country's 
assets, in return for a cash payment, to all the knights-errant of speculation whose quest, may 
lead them to Teheran, is a policy fraught neither with principle, patriotism, nor ulterior 
profit. Among the evidences of civilisation that have been, or are capable of being, introduced 
into Persia, a prominent place must Roads in be assigned to roads. Truth, unfortunately, 
compels the the East discussion of this question to be couched as yet in the future and otential, 
ratlier than in the past or present tenses p 2 but this phenomenon holds good of so many Persian 
institutions, as to require neither explanation nor apology. I have more than once pointed, as one 
of the most conspicuous characteristics of the East, to the total absence of anything 
corresponding to what we call roads; and yet, such is -either the poverty or the tyranny of the 
English vocabulary, I find myself frequently using, and I observe that others frequently use, 
that term to describe what is no more than a foot-track beaten by the hoofs of horses, donkeys, 
and mules. Occasionally a great Eastern sovereign of the past has immortalised his name by 
constructing a paved causeway between important cities of his dominions (such was Shah 
Abbas  Causeway through Gilan and Mazanderan, and the Atabegs  road, probably the 
survival of an earlier Sassanian construction, from Arabistan to Fars) ; but, as a rule, roads 
may be classified as an institution unknown from early times to the East, until introduced by a 
European conqueror. The Romans were, the road-makers of the ancient world. The British are 
their heirs in t I he modern. The. French have constructed souie admirable roads in their 
foreign and colonial possessions. The Russians, though painfully in arrears, are slowly, and -.it 
an immense, distance, following suit. But in no Later on, the capital having been raised, 
business commenced, but was greatly impeded by native bostility, directed and aggravated by the 
mullahs, who even placed an interdict on the use of the pipe. The agitation at length became so 
serious that the Shah was forced to give way,and in January 1892, cancelled t1w entire 
C011CCSSiOrl, Promising pecuniary conipen~:ation for the rupture of contract.

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486
PERSI-1
Eastern country, within my knowledge, where these influences have not been felt, do the 
recognised and most populous highways of communication, though, perhaps, as in the case of 
pilgrim routes, trodden by hundreds of thousands, correspond to what we should term a road, 
that is, a track artificially prepared, levelled, and metalled; and in Persia, least perhaps of any 
among the important and frequented countries of Asia, is there plausible excuse for the 
employment of the term. The need of roads for Persia has been long seen. No one who has 
laboriously travelled over that country, by postal service or by Need in caravan, or who bas 
witnessed the tedious and expensive Persia transport of merchandise on the backs of camels or 
mules, but sighs for the intelligence or the enterprise that will set on foot this most elementary 
and indispensable of innovations. The quick eye of Sir John Malcolin at the beginning of the 
century detected the need ; and his bluff candour as soon communicatec! the discovery to the 
Persian Ministers. But let him speak for himself: The wisdom which prompted this advice was 
lauded to the skies. Roads were admitted to be a great and obvious improvement, at once 
ornamental and profitable to Persia. Plans for making and keeping them in repair were required 
and furnished. The royal mandate, the Elchi was told, should be issued immediately ; and. he was 
much pleased at the thought of having given rise to a measure so ~ good, and which he considered 
as preparing the way for the permanent improvement of the country. . . . I But you know 
Persia,  was the concluding observation of the Amin-ed-Dowleh, Minister of Finance, on the 
scheme.1
Yes, the Amin-ed-Dowleh was right; and a far inferior knowledge of Persia to that which he 
possessed might have taught the sanguine plenipotentiary that roads would not come in his time. 
It is eighty years since Malcolin was in Persia; and a chorus of later travellers has swollen 
alike the advice and the lament. Here, therefore, we may reasonably pause and note both what 
has been done, and what is still projected, for the supply of this classic and venerable need. In 
1889 Persia possessed only two carriageable roads of any Existing extent. These were the roads 
from Kazviii to Teheran, carriage and from Teheran to Kum, each between ninety and a roads 
hundred miles in length. Upon the fornieralone is orgaii ised a service of telegas and 
taranlas,.;es, after [,lie Russian fashion,
  Sleetehes of Persia, vol. ii. p. 231.
INSTITUTIONS AND REFORMS 
487

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and a series of post-houses, superior in equipment to any of the chapar stations, at intervals of 
from fifteen to twenty miles. This road, of which I have previously spoken in Chapter II., cost a 
sum officially returned at 87,000 tomans, or about 2~,0001., but alleged in reality to have 
mounted to more than double that total. It is unmetalled, and would -not provo~e the encomiums 
of a European engineer. The Teheran-Kum road, which was constructed in 1883, is said, after 
the experience gained upon its predecessor, to have cost much less, viz. road and six 
caravanserais upon it, 35)000 tomans; I but, having ridden over part of it, I can aver that the 
road-making must have been ofthe most moagre description; for nothing appeared to have been 
done beyond the marking out of a straight track., with a ditch on either side, and the removal of 
the loose stones encumbering the'space thus enclosed. To these two roads must be added that 
from Baj Girha, on the Russian -frontier near Ashkabad, via Kuchan to Meshed, which I have 
elsewhere described at length, and which, having now attained completion, raises to the dignified 
total of three the carriageable highways of Persia. To these must be added a limited number of 
roads in the suburbs of Teheran, mostly conducting to favourite countryresiMinor dences of the 
Shah, and accordingly levelled so as to roads admit of the equipages that transpor t the royal 
harem. Of these there are three, affording the solitary possible drives to the residents in the 
capital. The straight and ugly road, lined with an avenue of trees, that leads to Doshan Tepe, was 
made after the Shah's first visit to Europe, in 1874, and was opened with great ceremonial 
and with public rejoicing, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mirza Ifusein Khan, receiving the 
proud title of Sipah Salar, or Commander-in-Chief, in honour of the occasion. In the succeeding 
year, with a similar flourish of trumpets, was opened the scarcely longer road that conducts 
from the Southern Gate to the shrine and village of Shah Abdul Azim. The third suburban road is 
that leading to Gulahek, which is monotonously familiar to the members of the British Legation. 
Among minor routes, to construct or repair which some effort has at one time or another been 
made, must be inentioned the roads frorn Resht to Pir-i-Bazaar, and - from Tabriz to JulFa.
I The caravanserais, five upon the road and one at Kum, are rented by the Amin- es- S ultan for 
the sum of 600 tontans or 1701. a year.

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488 INSTITUTIONS ANThese are accessible to vehicles, but are unworth of any more y lavish 
praise. I have in my previous volume so fully (Leseribed the features of the postal or chtrp(tr 
service that I need not here recapitulate ChaVar its characteristics. The ch(Tar roads are in no 
sense of routes the term made roads; they are superior caravan tracks; and although on the flat, 
gravelly plains they are often as level as Pall Mall,  yet they are C011111110Dly strewn 
with stones and boulders, and in the mountain passes are little more than furrows or ruts. The 
ch(fpar routes in Persia are as follows: Teheran to Khaiiikin Teheran to Aleshed Teheran to Sari 
Tcheran to Tabriz Khoi to Suffian Julfa to Tabriz
Kazviti to Reslit Hainadan to Sinna Hamadan to Khorreniabad Teberan to Shiraz Kasban to Yezd 
and Kerman
The remaining highways of Persia may be divided into two classes : caravan or inule tracks, 
upon which some, however slight, Pftck roads labour has at one tirne or other been spent, and 
those to which no labour has ever been devoted at all. Samples of the former are the mountain 
road leading-from Teheran through -miles Mazanderan to -Atfeshed-i-Ser on the Caspian, and 
the execrable Teheran to Kum 100 ladder-road from Bushire to Shiraz. To the second class 
belongs Kum to Sultanabad 80 every other track in Persia that has been more or less worn by 
the Sultanabad to Burujird 60 Burujird to Kborremabad 63 feet of beasts of burden passing 
from town to town or village to village. The distinguishing features of all these pack-roads are a 
superabundance of loose, jagged stones, the most impossible gradients in steep places, al-I utter 
disregard of improvements so elementary that they might be effected for a few pounds, and the 
universal decay of bridges, caravanserais, and public works. So much for the existing routes. 
Under the auspices of the Imperial Bank of Persia, an attempt is now being inade. to supply 
Ne%v Persia, not inerely with a carriageable road and. transTeheran- port service. by carts, 
but with a new highway of entry road into the country, penetrating as fiar as the capital, from 
the Southern sea. This is the long-pro . jected and now finally I Hence, in the dry season, it is 
possible for wheeled vehicles to travel upon them in many parts, thougli, as soon as a mountain 
pass is readied, the situation becomes critical. The Sbal) jourmyffl al11109t- all the way to 
Baghdad, on bis way to Kerbela in 1870, in a carri~ige; bitt the, road was in the bands of 
workmen for

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montlis beforeliatid. In the -wliole of jay chaliar rides I did not encounter lialf a dozen vebicles.
commenced road between Teheran and Shushter, or Abwaz, on the Karun, vii Kum, Sultanabad, 
Burujird, and Khorremabad. A concession for this road for sixty years was granted by the Shah 
in 1889 to the Mushir-ed-Dowleh, and was acquired from him by the Imperial Bank, whose 
engineers have since prospected the line, and whose workmen are now engaged upon its 
construction. It is not improbable that a syndicate may be formed for the complete execution of 
this scheme. Its advantages have long been realised, and consist in the great reduction of distance 
effected between the Persian Gulf and the principal cities of Western Persia; in the corn-
growing districts of immense but neglected capacity opened up ; in the increased facilities that 
will be provided for the importation of British or Anglo-Indian merchandise into the interior ; 
and in the use that is likely to be made of the road by the human stream of pilgrims who, by the 
hundred thousand, annually trudge along the Persian highways in movement towards the sacred 
goals of Kum, or Meshed in the east, and of Kerbela, Nejef, Kazimein, Saniara, and, ultimately, 
Mecca in the southwest. The distances upon this road may roughly be calculated as follows:
Miles Khorreinaabad to Dizful 1156 Dizful to Shusbter. 36 Shushter to Ahwaz 52
Upon this line, or at least upon the more level sections of it, a wagon service will be organised; 
the rivers, where necessary, will be bridged; caravanserais and guardhouses will be built; and 
from Burujird a branch road is to be constructed to Isfahan, a distance of 210 miles, thus 
bringing the southern capital into new connection both with the western centres of trade and 
population and with a fresh outlet on the Persian Gulf. Thi's road, as will have been seen, is 
linked on the south to the waterway of the Karun river; and I must postpone to my chapter upon 
that subject any further discussion of its features, which I have here regarded only, in their 
bearing upon the system of Persian communications in general.  It is calculated that Teheran 
I For a more elaborate discussion of the advantages claimed by the new road, I may be permitted 
to refer my readers to Colonel Bell's article in Black?V00d's _01 ttgazine, April 
1889, and to a paper by myself on I The Karun River and Commercial Geography of South-West 
Persia, in the Proceedings of Me -R. G. S., Sept. 1890.

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490 
will thereby be brought within twelve days by caravan of the Persian. Gulf, instead of the 
forty to fifty days that are the minimum now occupied by beasts of burden following the familiar 
mule-track vi6 Shiraz from Bushire. Lastly comes the -heading of projected, discussed, or 
contemplated roads, a class which, whatever the ingredient commodity, is Projected always 
well-stocked in Persia. In my chapter upon roads Azerbaijan, I have mentioned the long-talked-
of, but as yet uncommenced, roads from Tabriz vid Ardebil to Astara on the Caspian, and from 
the Turkish frontier at Bayazid vid, Khoi to Tabriz. The Sliall is also willing to grant, or has 
already granted, concessions for wagon-roads from Teheran to Tabriz, from Tabriz to Julfa, and 
from Zinjan vid, Hamadan to Burujird. It goes without saying that all these roads, if 
constructed, would be of great advantage to the undeveloped resources of the country; although, 
in the present backward condition both of agriculture and population, some of them might not 
produce an immediate return, and others would be remunerative in different ratios. Political 
considerations will render some of these roads more favourable to British, others to Russian, 
ambition. Broadly speaking, roads fro *in the north and north-west will beDefit Russian 
commerce, and, if it ever arise, Russian aggression; roads from the south and south-west will 
benefit British influence. I prefer, however, not to regard this question from the outside-nation 
point of view, conceiving that the true interests to be regarded are those of Persia, and that to 
whatever schemes can be devised for the amelioration of that country, both Russia and England 
should lend a helping hand   opposing no obstacles of a purely selfish character, but 
extracting in friendly competition whatever of commercial advantage they can from that which 
is primarily beneficial to Iran. It is, indeed, to the extension of roads, and at; a future date of 
railroads (for the latter vide Chapter XVIII.), that the energies of Road- all friends of Persia 
should be directed. They will be n1ahilig inclined to favour the one or the other iaethod, 
according policy as their conception of the due rate of progress is slow or rapid, The more 
cautious spirit, whose motto is Fleslina 169de, tl~e eternal Yavash of the. Persian vocabulary, 
declares that lie will be content for the time being with the repair or construction of good cart 
roads between the various trading centres and from the sea INST1TUTIONS AND REFORMS
491
ports, with the removal of arbitrary restrictions upon commerce, and with the assurance of 
security to life and property upon the caravan routes. Later on he hopes for the gradual 
introduction of

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railways, commencing experimentally in the regions most likely to give a mercantile return, 
and extending by slow degrees throughout the country. The more impetuous nature would like to 
carry Persia by storm, to throw down her walls by trumpet-blast, and to open her doorways to 
the world by a network of railways, connecting with those of India, Turkey, and Russia, and 
transporting her at a bound into the van of civilised nations. A mean may very practically be 
discovered between the two ideas. The Persian Government may reasonably be pressed, or, if it 
be found unwilling, foreign capital May be enlisted, to undertake the proper opening up of the 
natural channels of communication. Di(I the Shah's Government show the least genuine 
earnestness in the matter, there is quite sufficient money in the country, without appealing to 
Europe for a sixpence, to initiate and to carry through these by no means costly undertakings. 
Persians possessed of means would be willing enough to invest in their own country, did they not 
feel that it was like throwing money down a kanat. The absence, however, of any State guarantee, 
and the general insecurity of property, prevent, and will probably continue to prevent, any 
such employment of native capital on a large scale. Until a better r6gime is inaugurated in the 
country, the necessity of foreign assistance will continue to be felt. lt is noteworthy that 
Messrs. Andreas and Stolze, after their seven years  official or semi-official experience of 
Persia, concluded Messrs. their r6sumg of the industrial condition of that country Andreasz by 
the strongest possible recommendation of such road and Stol e works as I have indicated or 
described. They said:
The caravan tracks are designed only for beasts of burden, and are only passable by them with 
difficulty. Yet there is no doubt that it would be possible to d   iscover roads upon which, 
with comparatively little improvement, large two-wheeled carts might pass from the coast to 
the mountain terraces and to the plateau proper. It would be of great advantage to have the goods 
remaining in the cart until they reach their destination, in place of the reckless daily unlading 
of the mules. In the second place, bales of over 75 kilos. have now to be transported on litters, 
and accordingly pay double carriage, while packages of more than 250 kilos. have to be hauled 
along by

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492
ZZZZ
d

ZZ-
XX
---""ZZmanual labour, with the aid of rollers. On carts, weights up to at least 
700 kilos. would be transportable. Such an undertaking under European control would be sure 
of the grandest success, enlarging, as it would, the market range of all the cheaper products at 
least threefold. The roads would doubtless require improvement, calling for outlay of capital. 
But be it remembered bow cheap labour is in Persia, and how the material for road repair is 
everywhere to be had for nothing. I
d

I have been surprised, in my studies of works on Persia, to note bow-small is the attention that 
has been bestowed by their writers Persian upon he sul~ject of the national education. With the 
education conscious superiority of a civilised standard, it is simple enough to expose and to 
denounce the abuses of an Oriental system. But while complaining of the stupidity of the 
Persians for not at once recognising the beneficent contents of the cornucopia which is offered to 
them by Europe, ought not such critics to go a little further, and to examine the foundations of 
the system upon which is built up the fabric of nationil preJudice which it is so easy to condemn 
? Persian character may be obstinate, or retrograde or perfidious, but, like everv other 
ellaranEr, it is the product of a system; and if we are to turn our batteries upon its walls, had 
we iTo t -better ascertain of what inaterial they are made  ? I have even seen it stated-a 
rash generalisation from the universal existence of education of a sort, without regard to what 
sort-that the lower classes in Persia are the best educated in the East. A more grotesque paradox 
could not, I believe, be uttered. A. mere ability to read and write the native language, however 
widespread it may be, acquaintance in the higher classes with the Koran or the Persian classics, 
carry with them no adaptation to a diffierent life or to liberal propensities. Amid the heroic 
schemes which a hundred iniracle-mongers propose for the revivification of thecouutry no one 
seems to thinkof the schools, or to suggest that better teachers, a wider curriculum, difTbreut 
class books, are needed to make the next generation otherthan t1w present. Afamillaritywith 
theways and standards of eivilisation will breed ail ali-Niety for a sbare in its advantages which 
no ai i iou i if o I d i 1)] oinatic illanip ulation can ill] plant. If I had any voice ill the ~:o-
called re-eneration of Persia, I would not bring out, a company in London, but I would organise 
a coup d 61(d in the village schools.
  Peteq-2)iann's Jfittheihtiiye)~, 1885, pp. 54-6.
INSTITUTIONS AND REFORMS
493

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Let me, however, describe Persian education such as it is. In every town, city, and village in 
Persia there is some sort of school. PrimaryIn the small villages it is often little more than a 
class schools held by a 9nullah in the parish mosque. Here the children are taught the Persian 
equivalent to the three R's; i.e., they are taught the Persian alphabet, the rudiments of 
arithmetic, and a parrot-knowledge of the Koran.By this phrase I mean that they learn to read, I 
should rather say to pronounce, the Arabic of the Scriptures, without the slightest inkling as to 
its meaning.Though all arrive at the power of reading the Persian alphabet, only a few attain to 
that of writing it. Hence the pride with which anyone who can both read and write passably pre 
fi._xe_s_tVe_t-1tle -mina to _~is _:~a_mmong this class primary education is carried a step 
farther, inasmuch as it will embrace a slight knowledge of the national poetry, and an 
acquaintance with the art of rounded phrase and swelling trope, in which the Persian 
imagination loves to expand its infantile wings. But, as Dr. Wills says, in the majority of cases 
 the repeating from memory Qf a few prUers and passages rom the - Koran, with some 
verses of poetly, is all that -remains to a villager his education. Elementary education is, 
however, very cheap in Persia, the fees for attendance amounting only to- from one to three A-
rans (7d. to Is. 9d.) per month for each child. There are no higher schools or grammar schools 
in Persia in the- English sense of the term. The only form of secondary educaSecondary tion 
open to the masses, and that only to a limited seceducation tion of them, is provided in the 
madressehs, or religious colleges, which are frequented by candidates for the three learned 
1~i~ofessLons of the Qhm- aw, and medicine. Here the curri---------- culum is one of a 
peculiarly straitened character, for, as every Oriental believes that all human knowledge is 
summed up -iii ibe obsolete is permitted to, (Jawn UDOU the inctuirer -s mind. The study 
of the Te-,xtand commentaries of the Koran, deeper excursions into Persian literature, an 
absorption of the sterile nonsense, that passes for philosophy in the East, and a respectful 
attention to the discourses of learried men-these are the duties and the results of madresseh 
education. In every town of any size are one or more of these establishments, many of them 
owning large incomes from endowments, and containing accommodation for tenfold the number of

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494 - -1 -1 INSTITUTIONS AND REFORMS 495
students that they sustain. The Minister of Public Instruction has no authority over these 
colleges, and the management of their revenues is-frequently abused by the priesthood. In the 
field of education, however, as in other departments, the reign of Nasr-ed-Din has not passed 
without an effort, although, Royal as in other cases, a curiously one-sided and restricted College 
at effort, to open to the youth of Persia the benefits of a Teheran European education. In the year 
of his accession, the - Yn-o Shah started at Teheran an institution -w-n ~asthe Madresseh-i a 
European curriculum and foreign teachers. The premises are in the pre-cincts oT the Ark, and 
consist of a series of low one-storeyed buildings round a court planted as a garden. They contain 
a tolerable library and a concert-hall   or theatre, where for a time amateur theatricals 
were given, until stopped by the hostility of the gnallahs. The preparatory courses are in 
Persian and Arabic, taught by native masters. The higher branches comprise the learning of 
some foreign language, either English, French, Russian, or German; and tuition in mathematics, 
medicine, chemistry, drawing and painting, mineralogy, geography, instrumental music, and 
military science.- The latter department, which is under two Prussiau officers, will more 
appropriately be mentioned in a chapter dealing with the Army. At the time of my visit there 
were eight European teachers in the Envlish, three French, three German, and one Pole, Russian 
being _1~t b~a~n Armenian of Julfa. There were seventy-five pupils in the military 
department, one- hundred and forty in the science and art departments, and forty new comers. 
The division in the foreign classes was as follows:- French, forty-five students; French~ plus 
drawing, eighty; Russian, twenty; English,
thirty-seven. I visited most of the class-rooms on a working day, and was much interested by 
what I saw. In the French class, the pupils were invited to compose,a short story in French, 
upon the nucleus of a few given ideas (voq yage, cheval, mal-d-la-161e); to write French from 
dictation, F6nelon's  T616maque  being the Lext-book; and to translate from French 
into Persian. All these tasks theyperformed very creditably. In the geography class, where the 
maps in use. have been drawn by Persians from English models, a pupil traced from memory a 
very respectable map of Europe upon a blackboard. In the drawing-class the models were 
European studies from the nude, classical heads and busts, drawings of Christ, pictures of 
subjects as various as His Majesty the Shah, Andromeda, and Landseer's I Challenge.  In 
the English classes, I also witnessed dictation, composition, and translation, elementary 
illustrated school manuals being employed, and the text-books in use being

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Robinson Crusoe    and  Baron Muncbausen, the latter of which I thought a somewhat 
dubious selection. _L~at~ majoritv of the Pu ils show an extraordinary aptitude for 
mathematics and that in the department ick and ~e_ceptivW,-b ut_1-a-z_y_._ The 
~chemistry_branch has included the -teaching of pEo-tography, and several of the best 
 illustrations, in these two volumes are from photographs taken by pupils of the Royal 
College, I made inquiries about the management and discipline of the college, and received the 
following replies. The institution is state Manage- ment and discipline
supported, and costs 30,000 tomans (8,5001.) per annum,  being under the direction of 
the Mukliber-ed-Dowleb, Minister of Public Instruction. It is open to all. . Parents are not 
required to procure any nomination, but only leave from the head of the school. The pupils are 
entered at all ages, usually at ten or eleven, and remain for a period of six or seven years. The 
royal endowment, or foundation, consists~ in the free gift of two uniforms, or suits of clothes, 
annually, summer and winteri daily breakfast, a small premium as the reward of passing 
certain examinations, a medal on leaving, and sometimes nomination to a post in the Civil 
Service. The hours of work are from 8 A.M. to 3 P.m. but there are frequent holidays for 
saints  days, and a vacation of some months in the summer, the working period not 
amounting to more than six months of the year. - I was informed that the boys are more often 
idle than insubordinate. Punishments are assigned by the cla teacher. but me-quire to be 
confirmed by the head master. They are,adrainistered ZZ.hyZZ.E, band of ferashes kept in 
attendance, and differ considerably from the Euroi)ean i)attern. The lowest or simplest 
punishment is that of standing sentry with a shouldered gun, which is regarded as derogatory to 
self-respect. Next in order comes the cat-o -nine-tails upon the back. Finally are I the 
sticks, or bastinado, a specified number of which are broken upon the soles of the feet. This, I 
heard, was the only punishment that is really feared.
remained for a long time unpaid.
I One of the teachers informed me, with a sigb, that the salaries frequently

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I-, 496 .INSTITUTIONS AND REFORMS 497
There is also a college, nominally on a similar plan, at Tabriz;serious perversion, in 
proportion as the current verdict is derived but, in the absence of direct Royal supervision, it 
is ill-attended,from the prejudices of the arraigned, but dominant, creed. Upon Provincial and 
not much work is done.At Isfahan a college wasboth aspects of the question, however, much light 
has been thrown collegesopened by the Zil-es-Sultan under the direction of a by the researches 
and writings of Mr. E. G. Browne, a study of Persian officer who had passed the examination of 
an artillery lieu-whose admirable essays, together with the writings of the Comte de tenant at 
Fontainebleau. Gobineau and others, I will enable any reader to form a coherent Such is the 
modest scope of liberal education that is open to theimpression of the development and character 
of this remarkable subjects of the Shah.The Royal College at Teheran is an excellentheresy in 
the Mohammedan church. I shall consign to a footLimitedinstitution in its way, but, standing 
practically alone, itnote a summary of the early history of the schism.2 and shall then scopeis 
on far too small a scale to have any appreciable effectI have compiled the following bibliography 
of Babism. Lady Sheil, in leavening the. lurnp.It is disappointing to thillk that, in 
theGlinipsesof-Life R.C., caps. xi.,xviii.; Comte de Gobineau,l?pligionsetPhilosop7ties forty 
years of the Sliab's reign, more progress has not been made,davs I Asie Centrale; R. G. 
Watson, -History of Persia, caps. xi., xiii.; Mme. 0. Serena, 17ovones et Choses en Perse, caps. 
iv., v., vi., vii.; Mirza Kazirn Beg, Joulmal and that, while the crumbs of European knowledge 
are dispensed Asiatique, 1866; C. Huart, ibid. 1887; Dorn, Pull. do I Acad. Imp. de St.-Pit., 
to the few, the old, stale loaves of Mussulman lore are still thought1864-5 ; F. Pillon, 
L Annie PAilosophi que, 1869; Eth6, Essays und Studien, 1872; food enough and to spare for 
the many. BaronV.*Rosen, Coll. de l Inst. Or. de St.-P9t. (Les Manuscrits Arabes, 1877; Les 
Manuscrits Persans, 1886); A. von Kremer, Herrsohenden Ideen des Islams; Of the religion of 
Persia, of the precepts of the creed of Islam,E. G. Browne, Journal of the -Royal Asiatic Society, 
art. vi. and xii., 1889; and and of the differences, ceremonial, practical, and dogmatic, 
betweenthe works of Benjamin (cap. xii.), Dieulafoy (pp. 77-84), and Binder. ind persuasi( . 
posely !ay 2 Mirza Ali Maliommed, the Bab, was the son of a grocer of Shiraz, and was Religio 
the Shiah and the Su )us I pur Us question There are few writers on Persia born in the year 
1819 or 1820. From early years he was addicted to metaphysics who have not entertained their 
readers with disquisitions on the and theology, and, being sent by his father to manage his 
business at Bushire, soon started upon the pilgrimage to Mecca, on his return from which he 
became subject, and those who are desirous of the rudiments of information a pupil of Haji Seyid 
Kazim. at Kerbela. Upon the death of the latter, be returned thereupon may confidently be 
referred to the pages of a score of to Bushire, where lie presently announced his pretensions to 
the leadership of the writers infinitely better qualified to handle the matter than 1. -sect 
formed by his master, and was accepted as a prophet by Mullah Husein of Bushrawleh, who 
became one of his most zealous disciples. The date of his Znhur There are, however, the state 
-fo-r or manifestation was May 23, 1844. At Bushire he. continued to preach in the liar 
interest I mosqu es and public places, attacking the mullaks, and, in defence of his claims to

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foreivners, upon which the majority of authors have either been miraculous powers, exposing 
himself bareheaded to the rays of the noontide Sun. He now assuined the title of the Bab, or gate, 
through whom knowledge of the silent or, at least, inadequate, and Twelfth Tmara Mahdi could 
alone be attained. His pretensions undoubtedly contemporary thought and action, became more e 
- xtravigant as time proce - eded, and he successively announced himare the present condition 
of the self as the Mahdi, as a re-incarnation of the Prophet, and as a Revelation or In carnation 
of God himself. His disciples now carried his faith, with a missionary Persia towards Christian 
missionarv entermise, and the state-of energy that scorned persecution, far and wide through 
lran. They were imI T f; prisoned, proscribed, tortured, hunted, and slain. Foremost among 
their number each of these cases some clue may be found to the interpretation of were Mullah 
Husein, before mentioned, and Mullah Mohammed Ali of Barfurush, who, at the head of a band of 
devoted followers, sustained a protracted siege modern Persian life, some straw to show which 
way the wind is setting in Iran. against the Shah's troops in Mazanderan, until they were at 
leDgth exterminated in 1841). Beauty and the female sex also lent their consecration to the new 
creed, Both about the history and the dognia of the Babi movementand the heroism of the lovely 
but ill-fated poetess of Kazvin, Zerin Taj (Crown great confusion and much error have 
prevailed among European,of Gold), or Kurrat-el-Ain (Solace of the Eyes), who, throwing off 
the veil, carried d~ WW1_1ic11,_,in a wor1-,_T(e_aF1_ng  wit1h require to be 
mentioned. These Rn:~__Ii_ Z al5i~mo,~einent. t e ttitJp of
The Babi and especially English, writers, of whoin Binning and the missionary torch far and 
wide, is one of the most affecting episodes in modern history. Meanwhile ihe Bab had himself 
been arrested, examined, and thrown movement Markham, for instance, have gone 
conspicuously astray. into prison at Shiraz in 1845. He escaped to Isfahan, where he was at 
first well The early history of a schism, particularly if visited with prompt received by the 
Motemed-ed-Dowleli, Manuchcher Khan, in 1846, but soon found persecution, is apt to 
be" ome involved in mystery and to suffer himself again in prison, from which he never again 
emerged. Of the remaining

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probable future. The Babi movement may be divided into three epocbs-the pe,riod of formation 
and persecution, the temporary recoil, and the Later de- subsequent internal schism, with its 
consequences. After velopments the first savage outhreak-whieb   has been most unfairly 
mistaken for a revolutionary and anarchical conspiracy-had been drowned in blood, the Babis 
shifted their headquarters to Baghdad, where Mirza Yahia, known as Hazret-i-Ezel-i.e. His 
Highness the Eternal-was recognised as the Khalifa, or successor of the Bab, his chief 
subordinate being his half-brother, Mirza Husein Ali of Mazanderan, known as Bella, who 
during this period wrote the 1kan or argumentative demonstration of the truth of the Babi 
doctrine. After a ten years  sojourn (1853-63) at Baghdad, the Babis were removed by the 
Turkish Government, first to Constantihople, and afterwards to Adrianople. It was while at the 
latter place that, in 1866, Bella renounced his allegiance to his stepbrother, and claimed 
himself to be  He whom God shall manifest i.e. the Malidi, or veritable incarnation, 
whon) the Bab had foretold, and who superseded all other maDifestations. A bloody dissension at 
once arose between the followers of the two prophets, which was only superficially healed by 
the despatch of Beha to Acre and of the Hazret-i-Ezel to Cyprus, where the two have ever since 
remained, each claiming the sole headship of the Babi Church. Bella, three years of his life, the 
greater part was spent in confinement at Maku and Cberik in Azerbaijan; and on July 9, 1860, 
be was led out with a disciple, and shot in the citadel of Tabriz. How at the first volley be escaped 
unhurt, and disappeared, but, taking the wrong direction, was recaptured and killed, is well 
known. Had he evaded recapture on this occasion, there can be little doubt but that Nasr-ed~Din 
Shah would not now be upon the throne of Persia, and that Babism would be the religion of the 
land. While in prison, the Bab composed the voluminous works, the principal of which was the 
Beyari, that embody his doctrines and beliefs. In the same year occurred the terrific siege and 
slaughter of Babis at Zinjan, where women and children fought in the streets like fiends against 
the Royal troops, and the execution of seven leading sectaries, since known as the Seven 
Martyrs, at Teheran. Babi rebellions occurred atYezdand elsewhere, and were put down with 
horrible cruelty, and an attempt was made upon the life of the Amir-i-Nizam. Finally, in 
August 1852, an attempt was made by four Babis to assassinate the Shah while out riding near 
Teheran. The inquisition and appalling tortures that succeeded have been alluded to elsewhere. 
Since that time there has been no formal outhreak of Babi bostilityor revenge,and 
thepersecution of the ruling powers has been only intermittently revived. But sanguis marty?-
um semen EeclMev, and the massacres of those five years have given Babism a vitality which no 
other impulse could have secured.
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INSTITUTIONS AND REFORMS
499
however, has a great superiority;. for whereas his rival hag never pretended to be more than 
the successor and vicegerent of the Bab, Bella claims to have altogether superseded the Bab, who 
is now no more than a martyr John the Baptist to a subsequent Messiah, and whose scriptures 
are of inferior holiness to the revelations that come from Acre. Of these the principal is the 
Lawh-i-Akdas, or most holy Tablet, which is an enunciation of the precepts of Babism as 
revised and remodelled by Bella. Under these circumstances it is not surprising that the Behais 
have rapidly outnumbered the Ezells, and are now believed to comprise nineteen twentieths of 
the Babi persuasion. The rival prophets still survive, he of Acre being an old man of  
seventy-six years of age, while his younger brother of Cyprus is only sixty-three and is in 
receipt of a pension from the British Government. Though the movement is still popularly 
known as the Babi movement, the followers of neither leader now acknowledge the name. They 
are the Mahr-el-Beha, or the Mahrel-Beyan, according as they subscribe to Bella or to the 
scriptures of the original Bab. Even the latter is no longer known by that title, but is designated 
Hazret-i-Ala, His Highness the Supreme. It will thus be seen that, in its external - 
organisation, Babism. has undergone great and radical changes since it first appeared as a 
proselytising force half a century ago.These changes, however, have in no wise impaired, but 
appear, on the contrary, to have stimulated its propaganda, which has advanced with a rapidity 
inexplicable to those who can only see therein a crude form of political or even of metaphysical 
fermenta tion. The lowest estimate places the present number of Babig in Persia at half a 
million. I am dfrom conversations with perso!-S ~eli lualified tthat the total is nearer one, 
~MRO-n.,--They are _Co-~O__fbund in every walk of life, from the ~J nisfjrs and nobles 
of the Court to the scavenger or the groom, not the least arena of their activity being the 
Mussulman priest hood itself.It will have been noticed that the movement was initiated by 
seyids, kajis, and mullahs-i.e. persons who, either by descent, from pious inclination, or by 
profession, were intim ately concerned with the Mohammedan creed; and it is among even the 
professed votaries of the faith that they continue to make their converts.Many Babis are well 
known to be such, but, as long as they walk circumspectly, are free from intrusion or 
persecution. In the poorer walks of life the fact is, as a rule, concealed for fear

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recently the Babis have had great success in the camp of another enemy) having tecured-piany-
proqtlytes aTiiopg_1ke_Jewish pqvalatioijs~ of the Persian towns, I hear that during the past 
year they are reported to have made 150 Jewish converts in Teheran, 100 in Hamadan, 50 in 
Kashan, and 75 per cent. of the Jews at Gulpaigan. For a long time after the terrible events of 
1850-52, Babism dared not lift its head in Persia, and the zeal of even a triumphant 
Persecution priesthood found no victims.  Latterly, as the widespread influence of the 
heresy has become inore manifest, there have been spasmodic outhreaks of fury on the part of 
the sacerdotal hierarchy employing the civil governors as their tools, and occasional acts of 
barbarity that recall -in earlier tiine. In -1878 occurred the brutal and unprovoked murder of 
twQ-eminent nts of Isfahai ~i,__at the instance of the Ulema, or priestlv Council of that ci .1 
The two victims, whose naines were Haji Mirza T-Tasaii and Haii. Mirza Hiiseln, have been 
renamed by the Babis, Sultaii-e-Shahada, or King of Martyrs, and Mahbubes-Shahada, or 
Beloved of Martyrs; and their naked graves in the cemetery have become places of pilgrimage 
where many a tear is shed over the fat-e of the  Martyrs of Isfahan.  In 1-888 a 
respectable elderly man, named Mirza Agba Ashraf of Abadeh. was put to death in Isfahan by the 
Zil-es-Sultaii, and his body -b-urnt,becaus e, _bemg -s-L-ispecte-T  of Babism, he 
declined publicly to curse the Bab. Just before my visit to Persia in 1889, a Babi persecution 
bad broken out at Nejefabad and Selideli, two towns or groups of villages in the neighbourhood of 
Isfahan, where the Babis have always been very strong. Large numbers of the unhappy sectaries 
were expelled from their homes by the mujfaheds, and came wandering to Israhan, seeking 
redress, and taking sanctivary in the stable of the Zil. Some fled to Teheran, but were sent back. 
by the Shab. As for the Zil, in his weakened position, be was so powerless in the hands of the 
mullahs, that small mercy could be expected from him, At
d

The xncssenger~ however, who bore a letter from Beba, to the Shah in 1869-one of a series 
addressed by the prophet to the cro-,vned heads of Europe and Asia-received. the penalty of his 
rash presumption by being branded to death ivith red-hot bricks. 2 Vid6 ING. Stack, A'six 
Months in. -Persia, vol. ii. p. 21) ; anfl C. J. Wills, In, t7tc -Ta7ld, etc. pp. U1-56.
INSTITUTIONS AND REFORMS
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length, as some of the miserable fugitives reapproached their home they were met by a crowd 
headed by the Imam Jama, or Chief Priest of Sehdeh. Kill these r enegades,  shouted he. Who 
is the Shah? We know no Shah! Erase them from the earth !   The poor Babis were at once 
attacked, several were killed or wounded, and one captive was smeared with petroleum and 
burnt alive. It is these little incidents, protruding from time to time their ugly features, that 
prove Persia to be not as yet quite redeemed, and that somewhat stagger the tall-talkers about 
Iranian civilisation. If one conclusion more than another has been forded upon our notice by the 
retrospect in which I have indulged, it is that a Heroism sublime and uninurmuring devotion has 
been inculcated by this new faith, whatever it be. There is I believe, but one instance of a Babi 
havinop r 12r -essure or .menace of faith and was executed within two years. Tales of 
magnificent heroism illumine the bloodstained pages of Babi history. Ignorant and unlettered as 
many of its votaries are, and have been, they are yet prepared to die for their religion, and the 
fires of- Smithfield did- not kindle a nobler cour re than has met and defied the more refin ed 
torture" mon of Teheran. Of no small account, then, must be the tenets of a creed that can 
awaken in its followers so rare and beautiful a S Pirit of self-sacrifice. From the facts that 
Babism. in its earliest years f6und itself in conflict with the civil powers, and that an 
attempt was made by Babis upon the life of the Shah, it has been wrongly in ,OLZcar rferred 
that the movement was political in origin and Nihilist in character. It does not appear from a 
study of the writings either of the Bab or his successors, that there is any foundation for such a 
suspicion. The persecution of the government very early drove the adherents of the new creed 
into an attitude of rebellion and in the exasperation produced by the struggle, and by the 
ferocious brutality with which the rights of coriquest were exercised by the victors, it was not 
surprising if fanatical hands were found ready to strike the sovereign down. At the present time 
the Babis are equally loyal with any other subjects of the Crown. Nor does there appear to be 
any greater justice in the charges of socialism, communism, and immorality, that have so 
freely been levelled at the, yotithful persuasion. Certainly no such

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---""ZZidea as communism in the European sense, i.e., a forcible redistribntion 
of property, or as socialism in the nineteenth century sense, i.e., the defeat of capital by labour, 
ever entereJ the brain of the Bab orhis disciples. The only communism known to and 
recommended bv him was that of the New Testament and the early Christian 6hurch, viz., the 
sharing of goods in common by members of the faith, and the exercise of alms-giving, and an 
ample charity. The charge of immorality seems to have arisen partly from the maligiiant 
inventions of opponents, partly from the much greater freedom claimed for women by the Bab, 
which in the Oriental mind is scarcely dissociable froni profligacy of conduct. Babism. is, in 
reality, a religious movement whose primar of the Koran, Religious and against the growiDg 
laxity of Mussulmai tenets As such, it represents what, in our terminology, would be described 
as an effort after freedom of thought and purity of observance. Foremost am0Dg the objects that 
it inculcates is the emancipation of women, an idea which it seems to have derived, in common 
with many others, from the Christian doctrine. The Bab atid -Beha in -their writings have 
enjoined the disuse of the veil, the aholition of divorce, polygamy, and concubinage, in other 
words, of the harem, and greater liberty of action for the female sex. They recommend a system 
of poor-law relief, but declare war against mendicancy. As regards the corrupt practices of the 
modern  Mussulman, the Bab forbade smokinV, and condemned the kalian. Wine-dr* iding is 
permitted in moderation by Beha, but J is interdicte Again the Di&vate imposture of the. 
ordinarv 77milah's life, both inv~jjgl~_witLi acriuic~ny. Broadly regarded, Babism may 
be defined as a creed of charity, and almost of common humanity. Brotherly love, kindness to 
children, courtesy combined with dignity, sociability, hospitality, freedom frorn bigotry, 
friendliness even to Christians, are included in its tenets. That every Babi recognises or 
observes these precepts would be a foolish assertion; but let a prophet, if his gospel be in 
question, be judged by his own preaching. Only secondarily does Babism present a constructive 
body of doctrine, which, it Ynay safely be averred, not one tenth of its votaries either 
understand or could explain. The somewhatmystic  and speculative cliaracter of the Pers]an 
is easily attracted by a pantheistic conception of the Deity, by which all creation is regarded as
d

INSTITUTIONS AND REFORMS
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an emanation from that source, into which it will ultimately again be resolved. According to the 
Babi view, God is not a person, as in the Bible or in the Koran, but a spiritual essence, 
perpetually conimunicating and reproducing itself. Man is compounded of this essence, subject 
to the defilements of the flesh, but by reason of his origin is essentially divine. To whatever 
extent the average Babi has imbibed or holds these doctrines, he appears to have absolutely cut 
himself adrift from Mohammed and the Koran. He believes in the divinity of Beha, and, it may be 
added, of Christ, as several incarnations of the Deity; and his scriptures may be described as a 
curious amalgam of the Bible, Suffism, and the Koran. Mr. Browne thinks it an error to credit 
the Babis with a belief in the transmigration of souls. Among other properties claimed or 
observances pursued by the Babis, may be mentioned the gift of clairvoyance, or foresight, of 
Observ- which instances are related that appertain to the miracuances lous. They have also a 
peculiar sort of handwriting, very little. in vogue, a seal with a peculiar device, a particular 
form of salutation, and an elaborate burial service. - If Babisin continues to grow- at its 
present rate of progression, a time may conceivably come when it will oust Mohammedanism 
Future of from the field in Persia. This, I think, it would be unBabism likely to do, did it appear 
upon the ground under the flag of a hostile faith. But since its recruits are won from the best 
soldiers of the garrison whom it is attacking, there is greater reason to believe that it may 
ultimately prevail. To those who know anything of the Persian character, so extraordinarily 
susceptible of religious influences as it is, it will be obvious to how many classes in that 
country the new creed makes successful appeal. The Sufis, or mystics, have long hold that there 
must always be a Pir, or Prophet, visible in the flesh, and are very easily absorbed  into 
the Babi fold. Even the orthodox Mussulman, whose mind's eye has ever been turned in eager 
anticipation upon the vanished Imam, is amenable to the cogent reasoning, by which it is sought 
to prove that either the Bab, or Beha, is the Mahdi, according to all the predictions of the Koran 
and the traditions. The pure and suffering life of the Bab, his ignominious death, the heroism and 
martyrdom of his followers, will appeal to many others who can find no similar phenomena in 
the contemporaneous records of Islam. Finally, all those who secretly rebel against the tyranny

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of old-fashioned superstition, are inspired by a teaelling which, alone among Oriental heresies, 
seems to be. imbued wltji ideas of amelioration and progress. How far the gentlor and more 
amiable aspects of Babism would prevail if that faith. ever found itself in the ascendant, it is 
more hazardous to predict. I incline to think that the  old mail   would still be found 
unregenerate; and that, even if such an issue could -be described as a victory for civilisation, it 
would not, as some have fondly firiagined, be synonymous with an overture to Christianity. I 
There are some who hold diffierent opinions, and who see in the increasing popularity of the 
Babi movement, in the wide-spread Persia as though secret revolt against the authority of the 
Koran, field for Christian and in the prevalent tendency in Persia towards speculamissions 
tive inquiry and extrenle latitude of religious opinion, a favourable opening for the 
proselytising zeal of the Protestant Church. Persia has even been described as the most hopeful 
among the fields of missionary labour in the East. While conscions of the valuable work that has 
been and is being done by the representatives of English, French, and American Mission 
societies in that country, by the spread of education, by the display of charity, by the free gift of 
medical assistance, by the force -of example, and while in no way suggesting that these pions 
labours should be slackened, I am unable, from such knowledge as I possess, to participate in so 
sanguine a forecast of the future. Before I give -my reasons for this opinion, let, me cast an eye 
in brief retrospect over the history of Christian effort, in Iran. If Mr. Thomas's suggested 
translation of the I-Taiiabad Inscription be correct, it may even be that a Christian king sat 
upon History of the throne of Persia, in the person of the renowned Chris- Shapur I., as early is 
241-272 A.D. But it. would be unwise to speak -with any colifidence of this hypothesis.  
The second Cliosroes or Parviz (A.D. 591-628), tlie, Iast5 great sovereign of the same 
dynasty, seenis for a time to have professed a dubious sort of Christiauity, wlilell lie picked. up 
while in exile with the Romans. Ile worshipped the Virgili, prayed to saints and martyrs, and 
adopted St. Sergius as his own patron saint. He
I Vide his -E arly Sassanian, 17? scrij)tions, pp. 7 3- 10 1, wb ere Ile reads the naine of 
Jesus in the epigraph. So great a sebolir, however, as Dr. M. artin Haug finds no such reference 
at all, and interprets the inscription as referring to an unsuccessful bowsbot on the part of the 
Kbig (Essayq on the k5aeTed Langvafle eto. ofthe Parsees)
nNSTITUTIONS AND REFORMS
505
also inarried a Christian, the far-farned Sira or Shirin. Similar suspicions have been 
entertained of the enlightened Mongol

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prince, Abaka Khan, the son of Rulaku. Khan, and great-gralidson of Jeiigliiz Khan, who 
married the daughter of the Greek Emperor Michael Paloeologos, and is believed to have, 
embraced the Christian faith. It is certain in any case that the Gospels were first translated into 
the Persian tongue a few years after his death, in 1282 A.D.; and a Persian MS. version of the 
Four Evaiigelists is in existence, dated 1314.1 A later version was published in London in 
1652-7 (edited by Pierson), from a collation of three MSS. supposed to have been inade from 
the Greek. Shah Abbas liked to delude the -missionaries at Isfahan into thinking that he was a 
Christian, and is said once actually to have gone through the ceremony of baptism - whereupon 
tracts were issued by the delighted Friars, ascribing his victories over the Turks to this 
conversion. In the succeeding century Nadir Shah, in a freak of autireligious intolerance, 
ordered the four Gospels to be translated into Persian, after which, before all audience of 
priests, rabbis, and mullahs, Ile made fun of the doctrines presented in what was a ludicrously 
inaccurate version. The first Protestant -missionary to Persia was the famous Henry Martyu, 
who, in the year 1811, went out to Shiraz.2 This remarkable man, who impressed everyone by 
his simplicity and godliness of character, created an effect in the short space of a year, (for lie. 
died at Tokat in Asiatic Turkey in October 1812), that was as much to be attributed to the charm 
of his personality as to the character of his mission. Known as C the enlightened iiifidel,  he 
spent his time in translating the NewTestament into Persian, in preaching, Christ, and in 
publicly confuting the doctrines of Islam, a written refutation of which from his pen was sent to 
Kerbela, to be answered by the learned Moliammedan divines of that sacred city. An anonymous 
writer in the  Asiatic Journal  of March 1830 quoted the words of a Persian mullah 
named Mohammed Rabim, alleged to have been converted to Cbristianity by Martyn. In the year 
of the I-Iejira 1223, there came to this city (Shiraz) an Englishman, who taught the religion of 
Christ with a boldness hitherto
This was first printed in the London Polyglot by Bishop Walton. Vide Journals and Zetters of the 
Rev. Henry Martyn, edited by Rev. S. Wilberforce (London, 1821, 1839); wid a Afe7noir of the 
same, by Rev. J. Sargent (1828, 1837).

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unparalleled in Persia, in the midst of much scorn and ill-treatment from the mullahs as well 
%is the rabble. He was a beardless youth and evidently enfeebled by disease. Ile dwelt amongst 
us for more than a year. His extreme forbearance towards the violence of his opponents, the 
calm yet convincing maiiner in which lie expounded the fallacies and sophistries by which he 
was assailed (for he spoke Persian excellently) gradually inclined me to listen to his 
arguments, to inquire dispassionately into the subject of them, and finally to read a tract which 
he had written in reply to a  Defence of Islam  by our chief mullahs. The result of my 
examination was a conviction that the young disputant was right.
Binning, in 1850, made inquiries as to the alleged convert at Shiraz, but finding no trace of 
him, said,  it is probable that the account is a fiction;  a conclusion which, considering 
the lapse of time-forty years-between the incident and - the inquiry, and in spite of my own 
views upon converts from Islam, it seen-is to me far from fair to adopt. Martyn having died, the 
next comer, in 1829, was Mr. Groves, who, however, soon gravitated from Persia to Baghdad. 
Some Germans, named Dietrich, Zaremba, and Haas, opened Christian schools at about the same 
time in Shisheh and Tabriz. In 1838 the Rev. W. Glen arrived in Persia, and- eventually 
completed a revised edition of the New Testament translation of Martyn, having already,spent 
three years in translating the Old Testament at Astrakhan. In the same period the Frenchman, 
Eug6ne Bor6, created much excitement and uproar by his preaching in Isfahan. I shall, in my 
chapter upon the North-West Provinces, narrate the foundation of the American, the French, 
and the English Missions to the Nestorians of Urumiah and the border districts of Azerbaijan, 
and the extension of branches of the firstnamed mission to Teheran (1872), Tabriz (1873), 
Hamadan (1881), Resht (1883). In a later chapter I shall mention the flourishing Church of 
England Mission, established by the Rev. Dr. Bruce -under the auspices of the Church 
Missionary Society in Julfa, the suburb of Isfahan. I am here concerned rather to discuss the 
attitude of the Persian Government towards Christian missions in general, and the success or 
the reverse that attends the missionary propaganda among the Persian Mohaminedaiis. The 
Persian Government must be credited on the whole with a liberal and conciliatory policy 
towards the Christian elements among its population. As I have said, the Nestorians have few
INSTITUTIONS AND REFORMS
507
real grievances of which to complain, and the same may be said of the Armenians, though both 
may have to submit to the stigma Religious of social inferiority in the middle and lower grades 
of life.

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liberty in No objection is raised by the Government to the settlePersia ment of missionaries, or 
building of schools, chapels, and dispensaries in the country; to the free circulation of the 
Christian scriptures, or to the distribution of Christian books. The latter are even printed and 
published by Mohammedan printers at Teheran. In these respects the Persian Government 
sustains the honourable traditions of the Sefavi monarchy, under whose rule there were houses 
belonging to the four orders of Catholic Friars at Isfahan. But the attitude of the Government is 
not always the saine thing as the attitude of individual governors; and the security and freedom 
enjoyed by the Christian missionaries depend very much on the character of the litter. The Zil-
es-Sultan, for instance, does not regard with a very friendly eye  Dr. Bruce's 
establishment at Julfa. The protection, however, that is extended to missionaries by the 
ministers of their nationalities at Teheran is Itil effective guarantee against positive injustice, 
and, on the whole, the Christian missions have very little to complain of in Persia. They must, 
of course, reckon upon the active hostility of the mullahs; and there was, at the time of my 
visit, a prominent Seyid source of in Isfahan who distinguished himself by the bitterness 
hostility of his fanatical antagonism, and did all in his power to provoke anti-Christian 
violence.  These Seyids, or descendants of the Prophet, are an intolerable nuisance to the 
country, deducing from their alleged descent and from the prerogative of the green turban, the 
right to an independence and insolence of, bearing from which  their countrymen, no less 
than foreigners, are made to suffer. In Persia, however, not the least of the obstacles with 
which Christian communities are confronted arise from their own sectarian differences ; and 
the Mussulmans are perfectly entitled to scoff at those who invite them to enter a flock the 
different members of which love each other so bitterly. Protestants squabble with Roman 
Catholics, Presbyterians with Episcopalians, the Protestant Nestorians look with no very 
friendly eye upon the
I In May of last year, another of these firebrands, Haji Seyid Ali Akbar, raised a disturbance by 
preaching against the Christians in Shiraz, and was forcibly expelled from that city, several 
lives being lost in the riot that ensued, but the Government behaving with commendable 
firmness.

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---""ZZNestorians proper, and these, again, are, not on the most harmonious 
terms with the Chaldwans, or Catholic Nestorians. The Armenians gaze askance upon the United 
(or Catholic) l -rinenians, and both unite in retarding the work of the Protestant missions. 
Finally, the hostility of the Jew's may, as a rule, be. reckoned upon. In the various 
countries of the East in which I have travelled, from Syria to Japan, I have been struck by the 
strange, and, to my mind, sorrowful phenomenon, of missionary bands waging the noblest of 
warfares under the banner of the King of Peace with fratricidal, weapons in their hands. And 
now, with regard to the practical results of all this excellent, if not always harmonious, 
enterprise. In my remarks upon Practical the Nestorian Christians I shall show that the 
missionresults aries have there performed, and continue to perform, a highly meritorious 
work. The same may be said of Dr. Bruce's labour among the Armenians at Julfa. But, after 
all, the temper of mission work is propagandist, and the zealous missionary is illsatisfied 
unless lie is adding to the fold as well as confirming its existing inembers. If, then, the 
criterion of missionary enterprise in Persia be the number of converts it has made from Islam, 
I do not hesitate to say that the prodigious expenditure of money, of honest, effort, and of 
sacrificing toil that has been showered upon that country has met with a wholly inadequate 
return. Young Alohammedaiis have sometimes been baptised by Christian missionaries. But this 
must not too readily be confounded with conversion, since the bulk of the newconiers relapse 
into the faith of their fathers; and I question if, since, the day when Henry Martyn set foot in 
Shiraz up till the present moment, half a dozen Persian Mohanimedans have genuinely embraced 
the Christian creed.  I have myself often inquired for, but have never seen, a converted 
Mussulman (I exclude., of course, those derelicts or orphans of Mussulman parents who are 
brought up from childhood in Christian schools). Nor arn I siirprised at even the most complete 
demonstration Of failure. Putting aside the
d

I Canon Isaac Taylor, in b is well-known article, entitled TheGreatMissionary Failure,  in 
the .14ortnightly Jlerieiv of 1888, said of Persia : In Persia, we are told that 11 a great and 
wondrous door has been opened for the Gospel   ; but no converts are mentioned, and the door 
seems to consist of a Persian who reads the Bible, which is one of his own sacred books. I have 
several correspondents among the Persian 3-Nioslemo, and they continually (piote the Bible, 
with which they seem to be almost as familiar as with the Koran. 
dogmatic assumptions of Christianity (e.g. the doctrine of the Trinity and the. Divinity of 
Christ), which are so repugnant to the

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Alohairimedan conception of the unity of God, we cannot regard the. reluctance of a Mussulnian 
to desert his faith with much astonishment when we remember that the penalty for such an act 
is death. The chances of conversion are reniote indeed so -long -is the body is well as the soul of 
the convert is thrown into the scales. But personal apprehensions, though an important, are not 
the deciding factor in the situation. It is against the impregnable The rock.-wall of Islain, as a 
system embracing every sphere, strength and duty, and act of life, that the waves of missionary 
of Islam effort beat and buffet in vain. . Marvellously adapted alike to the climate, character, 
and occupations of those countries upon which it has laid its adamantine grip, Islam holds its 
votary in complete thrall from the cradle to the. grave. To him, it is not only religion, it is 
government, philosophy, and science as well. The Mohammedan conception is not so much that of 
a state church as, if the phrase may be permitted, of a church state. The undercrirders with 
which society itself is warped round are not of civil, but of ecclesiastical, fabrication - and, 
wrapped in this superb, -if paralysing, creed, the, Mussulmaii lives in contented surrender of 
all volition, deems it his highest duty to worship God and to compel, or, where impossible, to 
depise those who do not worship Him in the spirit, and then dies in sure and certain hope of 
Paradise. So long as this all-compelling, all-absorbing code of life. holds an Eastern people in 
its embrace, determining every duty and regulating every act of existence, and finally meting 
out an assured salvation, missionary treasure and missionary self-denial will largely be, spent 
in vain. Indeed, an active propagandais, inmyjudgment, the worst of policies that a Christian 
mission in a bigoted -Tvtussulman country can adopt, and the very tolerance with which I have 
credited the Persian governnient is in large measure due to the prudent abstention ofthe 
Christian missionaries from avowed proselytism, Their work and their -ultimate reward lie 
rather in the .secular and physical than in the spiritual aspect of missionary enterprise. By 
schools, by charity, and still more by the free gift of medical aid, they slowly, but surely, make 
some impression upon the hearts of the unregenerate mass, and some day, when they have, been 
long dead and forgotten, their justification may come.
INSTITUTIO NS AND REFORMS
509

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510 
INSTITUTIONS AND REFORMS
511
Finally, let me speak of the attitude of the Persian Govern- they are prosperous and free from 
persecution. As soon, however, ment towards the Jews. Five years ago the number of Jews in as 
any outhurst of bigotry takes place in Persia or elsewhere, the The Jews Persia was 
conjecturally return ed as 19.000 ; but I incline i Jews are apt to be the first victims. Every 
man's hand is then in Persia to the opinion that this total is below the mark. I have pinst 
them ; and woe betide the luckless Hebrew who is the first ag indeed, been supplied with a table 
in which their total census isI to encounter a Persian street mob. I have already related the 
fixed at 65,000, but this appears to be a gross exaggeration. The 3 circumstances of the 
forced conversion fifty years ago of the Jews chief centres of Jewish residence are Teheran 
(4,000), Hamadan in Meshed. During the absence of the Shah in Europe in 1889, a (2,000), 
Isfahan (3,700), Shiraz (3,000), Urumiab, Meshed, Kasban, fanaticaldisturbance took place 
in Shiraz and Isfahan, largely Saveb, Kermanshah, and Bushire. M instigated by the clerical 
firebrand, Sheikh Agha Nejefi, who As a community, the Persian Jews are, sunk in great 
poverty ntioned, in the course of which a Jew wa killed in the have me s and ignorance. They 
have no schools of their own, except in the streets, and his murderer was at first suffered to go 
scot-free, and Backward synagogues, where they are only taught to repeat their finally only 
sentenced to the bastinado. The Sheikh, by way of condition prayers, which the majority do not 
understand. Except improving or embittering the situation, took upon himself to proin Teheran, 
Hamadan, Kashan, Khonsar, and G n1paigan only mulgate a series of archaic disabling laws 
against the Jews of Hebrew is taught, and not Persian. Such as can read or write the Isfahan, in 
which odious restrictions were imposed upon their food, language of the country have studied it 
privately. In Hamadan, dress, habits, life, fortune, inheritance, and trade. The Zil-esabout a 
hundred young men receive tuition in the school of the Sultan was afraid to move for fear of 
endangering his position. It American Mission; in Teheran, about fifteen study foreign lan- was 
largely in consequence of this outhreak that an influential guages under similar auspices. In 
Isfahan, a converted Jew of deputation from the Anglo-Jewish Association waited upon the 
Teheran, Mirza Nurullah by name, who has been educated in Eng- Shah. while in London, and 
presented to hima memorial on the land, has recently started a school, where lie instructs about 
twenty subject of their co-religionists in Persia. The Shah gave assurances young men in 
Hebrew, Persian, and English. of protection, which were much needed, and which, it is to be 
hoped,

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Throughout the -Mussulinan countrie~of the East these unhappy will be carried out. people have 
been subjected to the persecution which custom has This slight sketch of the condition of 
religious liberty in Persia Disabilities taught themselves, as well as the world, to regard as 
their will have shown that, universal as is the spirit of scepticism among and perse- normal 
lot. Usually compelled to live apart in a Ghetto, or the intelligent classes, conciliatory as is the 
attitude of cution Summar * separate quarter of the towns, they have from time im- Y  the 
Government towards Christian sects who keep to memorial suffered from disabilities of 
occupation, dress, and habits   themselves and do not interfere with others, and decadent 
though which have marked them out as social pariahs from their fellow the power of the mullahs 
has become in contrast with their former creatures. The majority of Jews in Persia are engaged 
in trade, pride, the hold of Islam, as a system over Persia, is not seriously in jewellery, in 
wine and opium manufacture, as musicians, dancers, weakened, fanaticism can still be played 
upon by adro*it fingers, scavengers, pedlars, and in other professions to which is attached and 
the day is yet far distant, when, if ever, the Crescent will be no great respect. They rarely 
attain to a leading mercantile posi- supplanted in Iran by the Cross. tion. In Isfahan, where 
there are said to be 3,700, and where they occupy a relatively better status than elsewhere in 
Persia, they are NOTE ON not permitted to wear the kolah or Persian head-dress, to have THE 
Persian CURRENCY shops in the bazaar, to build the walls of their houses as high as a (from 
 Banking in Persia,  by J. Babino, in the I Journal of the Institute of Aloslem 
neighbour's, or to ride in the  streets. In Teheran and Bankerg, Deeenber 1891). ~ 
Kasban they are also to be found in lar e numbers and enjoying The story of Persian currency, 
like that of all eastern countries, is a story of 9 Etymology gives us in Persia depreciation, and 
in great measure of debasement. a fair position. In Shiraz they are very badly off. At Bushire a 
lesson in economic history. I have spoken frequently of a toman, which is

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512 PERSIN
actually a piece of money of ten silver hrap?s, worth about 5s. 9d. Now tontan is a word 
introduced into Persian by the Mongols, under Jenghiz Khhn, in the thirteenth century. It 
signities I ten thotisand,  and, amongst other applications, was used to mean ten thousand 
dinars. The dinar was a gold coin of 52 grains, equivalent, therefore, to a fraction more than 
half a sovereign ; consequently a tovio= was worth about 5,0001. With the Sefavi dynasty, 
during the sixteenth century, the tontan ceased to be equivalent to 10,000 gold dinam, and under 
Abbas the Great a tonian of money was equivalent to 50 abbassis-a silver coin weighing about 
130 grains-and the value of the toman was about 31. 7s. The abbassi was divided into four 
sAahig, weighing each 18 grains of silver, and worth about 4d. The tonean, as it does to-day, 
still figured in accounts as 10,000 dinars, but the dinars became a mere money of account, 
without any coin to represent it. The weights of the silver coinage were soon reduced, and in 
1678 one toman (or 50 abbassis) was worth 21. 6s. 8d. At the beginning of the eighteenth 
century, under Shah Sultan Husein, the abbassi weighed only 84 grains, and the toman was 
worth about 21. 4s., and under Nadir Shah, some years later, the abbassi was reduced to 72 
grains, and the toman was worth 11. 18s. In Sir John Malcolm's History o Persia, published 
in 1815, the toman is put down at 11. Under Fath Ali Shah, who died in 1835, krans, each 
weighing 142 grains, were first coined, and a kran was eAual to 5 abbassis or 20 shahis, and 
was the tenth part of a tontan, which was worth 15s. The shahis ceased to be silver coins, and 
with a further reduction in the weight of the Iran, silver abbassis were also abolished. The kran 
experienced several reductions in weight; already in 1839, ten of them, or one toman, were 
worth only 10s. 91d.; and now, in 1891, the tontan is worth about 5s. 9d. 2 The abbassi, or 
one-fifth of a kraa, is worth less than Il.d., and the shaki is a copper coin weighing 77 grains, 
and worth a quarter of that amount. It is tolerably certain that the people had to bear the 
weighty burden of these tamperings with the standard, and, as in other countries, the decrease 
in weight or fineness of coin was no more than an indirect and very severe tax. Of the copper 
coinage, we are told, for instance, that it was considerable, that each town had its own coinage, 
and that it was re-minted every year at a reduction, and that the old coin was forcibly bought tip 
at par with the new coin of lesser weight. In the seventeenth century one pound of copper was 
coined into 46 kagbeks, worth Is. 4d., giving a profit of 15 per cent. The Shah in 1672 received 
a royalty of 2 per cent. on the mintage, Three. inferences may, I think, be drawn from the 
fragmentary notices we have of currency matters, viz.: that the riches of the country have 
greatly decreased; that the circulating medium has for ages been below the wants of the country; 
and that one of the causes of this lack of coin is the boardings of the Government and, doubtless, 
also of the people. Any one who has examined a handful of old Persian coin-i.e. coin minted 
before 1877-will understand the difficulty there is in counting (for weighing is out of the 
question) and examining any considerable sum. A thorough and well thought-out reform is, 
therefore, of great urgency, as a first step to the economic regeneration of the country. 
Unfortunately, to bring about such a reform, the Persian Government must give up all its old 
ideas of administration, and its profits obtained by farming out the mint; in fact, it must submit 
to be absolutely guided

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by European theory and practice, Attempts have been made of late years to attain this object, 
but, they have failed, on account of the public weal having frequently given way to temporary 
profit. In 1863 Monsieur Davoust was invited to Teheran to take charge of the
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INSTITUTIONS AND REFORMS
513
mint, but the resistance, active and passive, be encountered was so great that seven years later 
be left the country without having been able to accomplish anything. In 1875 Herr Pechau, an 
Austrian mint official, was entrusted with a reform of the currency, and initiated one which 
would have been effiCieDt bad he been allowed full powers and the requisite means for carrying 
out his ideas. He no sooner had begun his work, however, than he was ordered to coin large 
quantities of copper, and to leave silver minting for a future occasion. When he attempted to coin 
a standard silver kran, and asked for the funds necessary for raising the quality of the piece, be 
was met by a refusal, and by a suggestion as to alloy which it was impossible for