Half round the Old world. Being some account of a tour in Russia, the Caucasus, Persia, and Turkey, 1865-66

THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY

OF CALIFORNIA

PRESENTED BY

PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND

MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID

HALF ROUND THE OLD
WORLD.

BEING

SOME ACCOUNT OF A TOUR IN RUSSIA, THE
CAUCASUS, PERSIA, AND TURKEY, 1865—66.

BY

VISCOUNT POLLINGTON, M.A., F.R.G.S.

<2^' ^ />;^^w<.*.^^

Hontion:

EDWARD MOXON & CO., DOVER STREET, W.

1867. ■r'

/2D/^

LONDON :
J. SWirr, REGENT PRESS, 55, KING STREET, W.

/

PREFACE

The following pages are an almost exact transcrip-
tion of a diary, kept during the interval between
August and April 1865-66. Thus the present
and past tenses have been used indifferently, as
we thought the one or the other served the sense
best. We have added no after-thoughts; no
descriptions of the origin of peoples, or of the
former state of places, have been laboriously culled
from the pages of encyclopaedias. Under these
circumstances, profoundly scientific disquisitions
must not be expected. We preferred leaving the
statements as they were written down day by day,
only occasionally slightly arranging their order.

The names of places and persons are in almost
every instance spelt phonetically.

The Author,

London, January, 1 867.

M30a'?37

HALF ROUND THE OLD
WORLD.

CHAPTER I.

On the 14th of July in the year of grace 1865
we (editorial We !) started from London by the
L. C. and D. Railway. This may appear a some-
what unimportant fact, but we had for our fellow-
traveller an old lady who insisted to her com-
panion that all hotels throughout the inhabited
globe called " The Chatham " belonged to this
company ! Having booked our luggage through,
we hardly expected to have to pay any duty on
our saddle, but a certain sum was charged for the
privilege of having that useful article conveyed
through Prussia. Besides our saddle, we had also,
previously to starting, invested in a most useful
travelling dressing-case, calculated to hold nothing
in the smallest possible space. Some one made the

2 BERLIN.

observation that in Prussia the difference between
the several classes of carriages on the railway
apparently is, that the first-class only hold six
upon velvet and the second-class eight upon leather ;
the third-class as many as it will hold, upon wood,
and the fourth, as many as can stand upon their
feet. Stopping in Hanover just enough time to
admire the splendid Linden-Allee we had often
toddled in before, we proceeded to Berlin, that
enlightened capital, and of course walked into the
" Thiergarten," so called because there are no
animals there except horses, " lionnes," and an
occasional muzzled dog. As the heat was intense,
we found the Seltzer-water emporiums very useful,
and entered every one we could find to quench
our thirst (they are distributed at perhaps every
fifty yards in Berlin). Wandering about the
museum, we overheard a pimply-faced cicerone
in the picture gallery talking in extremely bad
French to an imbecile French family; the re-
mark we were most struck by, was his observing,
of the famous Correggio — almost the gem of
the gallery — lo and Jupiter, that it was " de

DANTZICK. 3

I'ecole du Titien ! " Again we went, as the great
King of Prussia might say, into " Mon musee pour
m'amuser!" Leaving for Dantzick, in company
with two Russian ladies and one ditto gentleman,
we were asked by one of them, on crossing the
frontier into Prussian Poland, whether the partition
of Poland dated from the "Guerre d'ltalie !" —
got into a charmingly old-fashioned hotel, the
" Englisches Haus," immensely deep and very
narrow, with no carpets in the rooms : such ruinous
old houses with pointed gables. Booksellers appear
to flourish here. This being considered in England
a seaport town, we were not surprised to hear that
the sea is four miles off; went into the largest
church in the place, and should be considerably
puzzled to say whether it was Protestant or
Catholic. The grotesque wood carvings, belonging
to a period when art was in swaddling clothes,
deserve notice, and some pictures painted before
the Flood, also. The changes that one's name goes
through in hotel books are perfectly appalling ; we
have had the felicity of seeing ourselves printed
and published in various gazettes as Minston,

B 2

4 ST. PETERSBURG.

Miryton, and once as Miss John. The town
swarms with soldiers; there are many fine Alices
outside affording a grateful shade in hot weather.
The Bourse is well worth a visit, but we leave the
descriptive portions to our Murray. The Jews walk
about in their long gabardines, vide Mr. C. Kean
when on the Rialto. At a village, rejoicing in the
melodious name of Wierzoboloff, we reached the
Russian frontier, where a revolver we had with us
was confiscated. However, we got it back at
St. Petersburg. Our passports were examined three
times, the Russian authorities probably taking us
for a " dirty conspirator." Reached St. Peters-
burg in due course, and got into a drosky,
remarked that the people all were impressed with
the idea that everyone must speak Russian fluently,
not at all our case. After an ineffectual search for
Miss Benson's establishment, we were obliged to
put up at an hotel where they very considerately
only charged us about ^^ ioj*. for one night's
lodging. In the morning we transported ourselves
and effects to the English Quay, Miss Benson's, a
wonderful view on the Neva. Truly we found

HERMITAGE. 5

St. Petersburg, a " city of magnificent distances."
Every house appears to choose what style of pave-
ment it will have before its door, and lays it
(the pavement) down accordingly, thus causing a
variety which, as is well known, is always charm-
ing— wood, iron, M'Adam, stone, every kind
appears to be represented, even india-rubber, and
the " tout ensemble " is horrible ! Admired the
statue of Peter the Great on horseback and the
Admiralty place — the horse is rearing and trampling
on a snake ! — why ? Orthodox passers-by of Isaac's
Cathedral cross themselves no end of times, on the
head, breast, two shoulders, and stomach. Went
with the Charge d'Afi^aires to the "Hermitage:"
magnificent dark marble caryatid negroes in front ;
we went first upstairs, but words would fail
to express the magnificence of the rooms; we
then went on into the first floor, and saw some
Roman antiquities, including a shepherd with a
very senile expression, and a stupendous greenish
marble vase in Siberian jasper, some twelve feet
long by five broad, on a fine pedestal of the same
material. The Kertsch room contains some beauti-

PETER THE GREAT's STATUE.

ful gold ornaments. My future travelling com-
panion, Captain W , arrived from Stockholm.

The block of granite on which stands the statue
of Peter I. suggested thoughts of how pleasant
it must be to have an unlimited quantity of serfs
who must work and of subjects who must pay for
you. It is the largest block in Europe, we believe.
At the Hermitage the floors are of marble, ex-
cepting where parquet is used. There is an immense
collection of drawings, the greater portion care-
fully sealed up in cupboards, to allow of easier
inspection presumably. An order is required before
gaining admittance. One printed on a Russian rouble
note and handed to the porter is as good as any.
Vases of fabulous size, in green jasper, malachite,
and lapis lazuli, stand about in reckless profusion.
Those of the delicate rose and deep purple Siberian
marble struck our fancy most. Peter the Great's
collection of bric-a-brac is interesting. We entered
the private theatre, which has a very deep
stage ; the auditorium consists of red velvet stalls
arranged in a semicircle, so that all the spectators
can see every part of the stage. For the Tsar

THE WALPOLE PICTURES. 7

there is a most uncomfortable straight-backed
chair — penalty of greatness as much as being
occasionally shot at. One hundred and eighty-
eight of the best pictures in the gallery came from
the Walpole collection at Houghton Hall, in-
cluding four delightful Murillos. A " St. George"
by Raphael once belonged to Charles I. of Eng-
land, art-patron and martyr. The largest picture
Sir J. Reynolds ever painted, " Infant Hercules
strangling serpents," is also here, rather washy,
however ; G. Kneller and Thos. Jones are also
represented. The collection of Intaglios is remark-
ably complete. After this we indulged in some
" quass," bought in the street, a liquid of a yellow
colour, somewhat like very sour lemonade.

On the 30th we entered Isaac's Cathedral to wit-
ness a Greek service, where all the congregation
stand, and perpetually keep bowing like the Chinese
porcelain figures. The singing of the concealed choir
is, however, very impressive. Of course we went,
by rail, to old PeterhofF palace, where we observed
copies of the two Athletae of the Vatican, by
Canova, gorgeously gilt, spouting water at each

8 AN IRISH COMMISSIONER.

Other — rather a " come down " in the world. The
Russian wodki, their brandy, we thought extremely
nasty, but the black bread, like pumpernickel,
excellent.

Next day we chartered a wild Irishman, who
could hardly talk English, owing in a great
measure to frequent imbibitions of wodki, but who
called himself a commissioner, and visited the small
house that Peter I. built himself, for himself, and very
well too. An outer roofing is now over it, to preserve
the priceless relic ; a quantity of things manufactured
by his own august hands lie about. The dining-room
is converted into a chapel, having a lot of mould
candles stored here for use in it. We remarked to

W that these were some of the candles Peter

moulded, whereupon our friend the Irishman
turned round and explained that they were not.
We also visited the Museum of Natural History,
and observed some pickled babies, on the ground
floor ; on the second, the Mammoth found in the
ice of Siberia is the most interesting object.
There are also many stuffed animals, and minerals
not stuffed), with a good many fleas of preter-

BALLS AND BALL-ROOMS. 9

natural size, which are not contented to remain,
but cling to one on going home. Saw a man being
carried ofF to prison by a member of the police ;
his (the man's) hands were tied behind his back.
We naturally went to see the largest ball-room in
the world, that in the Torrida Palace, but it is
mean, whitewashed, and with tawdry silver paper
decorations. At a dinner, at a restaurant in Rus-
sian fashion, with Zakuska (Caviar and bitters) be-
fore, heard a story of C C . When minister

of America here, he gave a grand ball, to which
archdukes came without their duchesses. When

supper was announced, C C clapped one

grand duke on the back, and said, " Come and
have some lunch in American fashion." Consterna-
tion of duke !

On the 1st of August we dined with one of
the attaches on an island in the Neva, and after-
wards drove out in a barouche appertaining
to the Spanish embassy, to see the illumina-
tions in honour of the new Tsarewitch, who had
taken the oath of allegiance to the Emperor
to-day. The whole island was studded with

lO RUSSIAN ILLUMINATIONS.

places of amusement, and the concourse of mujicks
and others was enormous ; we had to join a string
of carriages miles in length, and were continually
at a standstill. The Summer theatre there was
remarkably prettily illuminated with lamps, form-
ing green, red, and white wreaths round the
pilasters outside. There were fireworks going on,
of which we only caught an occasional glimpse,
through the trees, or when rockets shot up into
the clear summer air. The various branches of
the Neva wander about the island in an
eccentric manner, and we were continually
coming upon boat houses belonging to various
clubs, and all well illuminated, especially the
Russian national one, which had raised a very
tall mast in front, supported by four ropes, along
which all manner of coloured lamps were sus-
pended ; spasmodic Bengal fires kept illuminating
distant vistas, and a long row of trees by the water-
side was hung with lamps for more than a mile.
The cold wind was the only drawback.

Next night we drove to Petrovskoe, another island,
to an establishment called the " mineral waters," on

MUSCOVITE CREMORNE. II

account of there being none naturally there, but
supplies from the different springs of Europe are
kept in stock — none, however, from Bath ! There
are gardens and a theatre, on w^hich Sv^iss singers,
English niggers, German ventriloquists, and
French actors perform — anything but " native
talent." There are lengthy intervals allowed for
promenading in the garden, when the company
bears a close resemblance to that to be observed at
Cremorne. The last entertainment was termed
" L'Africaine, a burlesque," possibly because not
a particle of the music of the opera was in-
troduced into it. We visited the palace of
Tsarkoe Seloe by rail : a large, straggling build-
ing, in which, amongst other things we admired,
or wondered at, a room pannelled with amber.
Wandering about the fine gardens we came to
some sham ruins, where 'was also a model mast for
the little archdukes to play at sailors upon, and a
netting underneath to catch them when falling off.
Missing our way we dittoed (?) the train and thus
being in for the penny we thought we would " go
in for the pound," so took a train going to

12 HOW TO LOOK HANDSOME!

Paulowsky, a summer garden with a concert-
room, built as a speculation by the railway
company, where for the small charge of nothing
(excepting the railway ticket), you hear Strauss,
John Strauss of Vienna ; a military band played
in the intervals of S.'s music, but remarkably
badly — perhaps to act as a foil to his band.
Coming back, W told us of an old house-
keeper of his, who, upon his observing that he had
seen a great many pretty faces lately, said " Ah !
sir, it is very easy for them as has no work to do
to be pretty !" Receipt for good looks : — Do
nothing. Some of us ought to be very handsome !
With a written order we entered the Winter
Palace. Pictures of the battles of the Russian
army are very numerous. Balaklava figures in a
dark room, but full justice is done to the gal-
lantry of the charge. The first Duke of Welling-
ton's portrait is included in a collection of portraits
of generals. The Crown jewels are kept in an upper
room, v^ith two old soldiers as their guardians.

On the 7th we started for Moscow, which we
reached in twenty hours. At one of the stations,

MOSCOW. 1 3

bells with agreeable voices are made. Plenty of
stoppages for the purpose of eating.

One of our first visits was to the Kremlin. We
took off our hats in passing beneath the sacred
doorway and image, and then stood on the terrace,
almost overpowered by the sight that met our
eyes. A panorama is always difficult to describe,
more especially such an one : more churches than
in Rome, and most of them in the quaint Byzan-
tine style. The river Moskau flowing in front ;
on the right the new Church of St. Saviour — an
addition to the 380 (?) already existing, as if those
were not enough. On the left and in front,
innumerable silver, and gold, and green cupolas,
and the green roofs of the houses ; further, a dim
range of mountains ; nearer, the quaint Pegu,
Ravenna, Chinese, Indian pagoda-like, picturesque,
grotesque St. Basil Church, with others in the same,
but not quite so barbarous style, quite bewilder
the spectator. The great bell of Moscow lies on
the terrace in front of the Ivan Tower, which
we ascended, to be only more bewildered by the
extent and marvellous character of the view.

14 W. S RAILWAY ADVENTURE.

Mr. Billo, our host, is a most obliging man.
We found that no luggage is transported free
on the Petersburg-Moscow line ; but this is obviated
by taking as much as possible into the car-
riages, which are tolerably comfortable — now, we
believe, very good indeed. Writing of railways

reminds us of a story of W 's, which we

insert here, though having nothing to do with
our journey, but for want of a better place: —

Once, on getting to Calais, W wanted to enter

a first-class carriage, in which there were only
two occupants, lying curled up, apparently fast
asleep ; the opposite seats covered with small
bags, &c. He addressed each sleeping form in
English and French, to know whether those seats
were occupied, and getting no answer, he turned
round to a friend at the door, observing, " It's no
use, the old beggars won't answer." Sudden up-
rising of one of the bundles, crying out in great
ire, " Beggars ! sir, who do you call beggars ? No
more a beggar than you are. I'm a reel
gentleman, sir, and that's more than you are."
Having had almost all our hair cut off, it now

OMNIBUSES. 15

Stands on our heads like the quills upon the fretful
porcupine — Shakespeare. After breakfast at the
fork we walked again to the Kremlin, which we
discovered to be a portion of the town entirely
consecrated to palaces and churches, and sur-
rounded by a high wall. We entered the palace,
which we should describe — but are not all these
things written in Murray? — and afterwards saw
the robes of the " Papas," the superintending priest
keeping us waiting until he had got himself up
in his best suit of silk, and accepting afterwards
a small remuneration with thanks; we likewise
saw the original cruse full of Jerusalem oil, which
hath not failed yet.

Next day drove out to the Simonoff Monastery
by a desperate road, passing countless churches,
many of them having on their cupolas gilt crosses
with crescents at the bottom of them, a curious
mixture of Oriental and Occidental religious
symbols ; of course', the crescent is said to refer
to the Virgin. The omnibuses appear uncomfort-
able; they are covered, and the seat at right
angles to the driver, drawn by four horses abreast.

1 6 WATER-TOWER.

The monastery is on a low hill out of the town,
and the bell-tower affords a fine view of Moscow.
We had some difficulty in getting up, but at last
seized on a monk who was walking about in a
thick serge dress, with ditto round hat-cap, this
about six inches high. He unlocked the door for
us ; presently the bellringer came up and received
our offering, it being " infra dig." for the monk to
do so, though we have little doubt he would not
have refused a contribution. We entered an " old
curiosity shop," where there were several " soi-di-
sant" Italian and French pictures, but almost all
without exception repainted, if ever painted before !
After dinner we walked out to see the water-
tower built by Peter the Great to resemble a ship.
It requires to be told this previously, in order to
find a resemblance between this building and any-
thing that ever floated. It consists of a fine tall
spire, rising from the midst of an oblong Gothic
and Renaissance sort of building, which forms an
archway. We had an interview with the friend
of a prospective servant for our tour, but the
friend seemed too great a swell, and required all

DRUNKENNESS. 1 7

his expenses calculated on a princely scale. We
observed that the natives do not stare at one
much. We v^ent to the treasury in the Kremlin,
where many magnificent things are to be seen.
Here the " Constitution " of Poland lies buried in
a small black box, not unlike a coffin : Resurgat !
Downstairs some splendid carriages, one a gift of
Queen Elizabeth, which shows English workman-
ship in a very good light. The ironwork is like
the Venetian. Out to the Romanoff house. The
rooms about six feet high, doors four feet,
beds very small, windows in proportion; alto-
gether like a large wax-doll house. We visited
the common market for fruit and bread, crowded
with filthy people very picturesque. Why
does cleanliness seem incompatible with the
picturesque ? Drunkenness seems very preva-
lent in the town ; we saw one man per-
fectly drunk going through the ceremony of
crossing himself in the most imperturbable manner,
only swaying violently to and fro ; another was
walking behind a water-barrel, singing and turn-
ing the imaginary handle of this supposititious

c

1 8 TROITZA MONASTERY.

barrel-organ. On the 1 1 th we set out for the
Troitza monastery, founded by Saint Sergius ; we
had a card to a monk who formerly was a colonel
and a count, though that did not stand in the
way of his accepting a trifling present. We
visited the bakehouse ; all the bread is blessed, and
fashioned into round little loaves of the shape of
a " devil on two sticks " with a thick waist. We
drank some holy water, coming out of a fountain
in the shape of a cross, in the yard, surrounded by
lay and clerical tombs, and it was as nasty as any
impure water would be. In the chapel of the
Assumption some of the pictures of the Virgin
are literally incrusted with emeralds as large as
bantams' eggs. Returning, we went next day
to the museum, a fine Doric sort of building,
with cobwebs spun all over the door : no admit-
tance except on business, and no one had any
business there. Four of us then determined on
a regular Russian dinner in a regular Russian
restaurant. The waiters all wore white night-
shirt overalls ; we began with orange bitters, black
bread, salt smoked fish, and caviare. Then six

RUSSIAN DINNERS. 1 9

cups were placed on the table, each containing
a different drink : four soups, two cold — one rejoicing
in a name like Backvineyard, the other in
Ochrowska, apparently milk with cucumber in
small slices — and two hot, Onka and Solianca, a
Polish preparation, both containing the famous
Sterlet of the Volga. This fish tastes somewhat like
well-fed eel ; isinglass patties with the latter ; ex-
cellent chicken cutlets with buckwheat, Crimean
sherry, champagne, and claret, the latter nasty,
the second bad gooseberry, but the brown sherry
very palateable. After many other dishes, some
very strong yellow tea, without milk and in dimi-
nutive cups, finished up the whole. This, of
course, was some " caravan tea," and tasted to us
very like good cowslip ditto. On the 13th we
went to what our companion, the author of
Murray's handbook, uneuphoniously called the
Louse Market, where (dirty) merchants most do
congregate on a Sunday morning. The articles
exposed for sale are all second-hand here. We
then went to the Church of the Christening, on

the Kremlin, where we heard one of the bulls

c 2

20 DIRTY PRIESTS.

of Basan roaring the service ; and afterwards
watched a procession outside. This being a reh-
gious one all the populace took off their hats while
it was passing, an excellent opportunity, as it was
very raw weather, for catching cold, of which
we both availed ourselves. We are sorry to say
that we seldom have seen a more disreputable lot
than the priests who took part in the ceremony.
They never cut their hair or shave, and all these
looked as if from time immemorial no water had
ever profaned the dirt upon their faces. The pro-
cession descended to the river Morskau, when our
friend the Bull blessed the water — we hope to the
increase of its cleanliness. Small temples on rafts
were prepared for him at intervals on the water.
It is said that the town covers as much ground as
Paris did, we suppose before the octroi was removed
further out. Since the Ukase of the ist of July
smoking is permitted in the streets of St. Petersburg
and Moscow. Walking out in a pouring shower
of rain, in order to prove our waterproof for our
tour, we entered the inner Boulevards of Moscow,
and presently came upon a large pool of the most

THE burglar's FRIEND. 21

fetid water we ever had the pleasure of smelUng.
Yet there are some boats upon it, just as if it
would not act like the Stymphalian lake on every-
body's olfactory nerves. When in the stilly night
we have fallen into sweet slumber we are generally
awakened by a watchman making a hideous noise
with a sort of rattle, that sounds like two of
Christy's Minstrels' most infatuated " Bones "
playing against time and each other. Probably
the reason of making this noise is to afford any
possible burglar timely notice of the watchman's
approach — a purpose for which the now exploded
shiny hats of our policemen were originally in-
vented. The company at our hotel dinner is com-
posed of several nationalities — as, two Swiss, one
Frenchman, one American, three Germans, four
Italians, one Irishman, and three Englishmen dined
here. Our host says he will not have any more
Russians in his house since a Russian colonel stole
his watch !

On the 15 th we remarked a primitive " Punch
and Judy" in the streets, no scenery, no cover
to the box, and the principal performer's legs

22 TRAVELLING ORDERS.

were very apparent underneath. Our friend lost
his way, and forgetting the name of his hotel,
was unable to ask for further information until he
remembered it had something to do with a ghost,
Gostinska being the vernacular (here) for an hotel.
We had now, through the kindness of our Charge
d' Affaires at St. Petersburg, obtained letters of in-
troduction, and our Padarojna, or posting order
for six horses, for our route from Petrovskoi, on the
Caspian, to the Persian frontier, together with a
Russian passport (useful), in German, French, and
Russian, and a Persian visa (useless). The Pada-
rojna is a piece of paper for which a somewhat
high charge is made, which goes, however, we
believe, to the keeping up of the post-houses ; it
is necessary, having to be shown at every station
in order to establish a right to horses. There are
three degrees of them: we obtained the second.
The first is only given to government couriers, and
the third everyone must have to travel at all by
post. Each class takes precedence of the other;
so that a government courier coming up to a post-
house, while a person having the second class

TRAVELLERS WIT. 23

Padarojna was having his horses harnessed, would
have them taken away for his benefit as the bearer
of the first class order, and the other in return could
take the horses destined for a third class order. We
eventually found that three horses were quite
enough for our use. And now, before plunging
into wilder districts, we must premise that we
do not hold ourselves responsible for the ortho-
graphy of any places or things mentioned herein-
after, that being entirely phonetic, nor for the
opinions expressed by any of our correspondents !

Just as we were getting into our droskies to go
off to the station, an Italian arrived, who spoke
Russian, and offered his services as a courier.
Thinking that perhaps we should not have such a
chance again, we engaged him to come and catch
us up at Nijni. We travelled in a saloon-
carriage, with an unlighted stove in the middle :
although in August, the night was very cold.
During the night, as we had just closed our eyes,
one of our fellow-travellers, thinking us asleep,
pointed at us and remarked to a companion, in
German, " There, that is the way descriptions of

24 NIJNI NOVGOROD.

travel are written ; the English go abroad, see the
country in this way" (he must have met with
Brown, Jones, and Robinson, in Belgium !) " and
then write about a country being so poor ; and their
countrymen read and believe !" We regret, for his
sake, that we have not much to say about land
traversed in a railway, though this appeared to us
well-wooded and with much corn at intervals.
After twelve hours we arrived at Nijni Novgo-
rod, where we bade good-bye to railways, but
not to steam, for a good distance. We drove off
to the Nikita EgorofF Hotel in two droskies, and
must, we suppose, attempt to describe what we
saw, though the task is a difficult one. For about
a mile we drove along a row of one-storied wooden
houses, excepting a few stuccoed, on the banks of
the Oka. Every one of these houses had its
whole front taken up by a shop. Then crossing
a wooden bridge, crowded with mujicks of the
lowest class, we passed a singular church of Italian
Byzantine nondescript architecture, above which
rose a steep hill on which is the permanent town.
The banks of the Oka were literally covered with

PANORAMA. 25

bales of merchandise lying about, and the traffic
along there was very great. We then ascended
a deep ravine, crowned on the one side by the
Kremlin, and on the other by miscellaneous houses.
Our hotel we discovered to be right at the top of
the ravine, opposite the Kremlin. Owing to the
continuance of the fair we had telegraphed for
rooms, which we accordingly found prepared for
us. The hotel resembled a dirty South Italian
one in domestic economy. After breakfast we
walked to the steamboat office to secure our places.
We found it situated on the highest brow of the
hill, with a most lovely, nearly natural terrace in
front. At the foot of the hill ran the broad
Volga, here some 1600 miles from the Caspian
Sea, covered with small steamboats and merchant
ships of every description. The opposite bank
seemed perfectly flat as far as the eye could see,
the view only broken by an occasional church
with log-huts around it. A little to the right
again the scene is totally changed ; the busy fair
is before us, with the town on both banks of the
Oka and Volga. The horizon on the left is

26 THE GREAT FAIR.

bounded by the same chain, on a mountain link
of which we are at present standing. We found
our inn rather far from the fair, (a two-mile walk,)
to which of course we next turned our steps.
Seven wooden bridges cross the river during fair
time, and the banks are used as quays for disem-
barkation of merchandise at every available point.
Crossing one of these bridges, we wandered about
an inextricable labyrinth of one-storied wooden
shops. However, on nearer acquaintance we
found that they were all arranged according to
a specific plan, with the governor's house in the
centre. The commerce appears to be mostly
wholesale. Under the governor's house are the
precious marble, and nicknack shops, which of
course have the greatest amount of attraction for
the small purchaser. Here Siberian jasper, mala-
chite, rock crystal, &c., may be purchased to any
extent, as well as the delightful Circassian belts
and daggers. A band of twelve tuneless violins
played under the centre arcade, two of which inter-
sect each other here. Perhaps altogether the effect
produced upon us by the fair was not so great as

COMPANY TO BE SEEN. 27

we could have anticipated, since the mixture of
different nations was not very striking ; two or
three Chinese being the only natives not be seen
any day in St. Petersburg. Tartars there were
in abundance, but the war with Bokhara had pre-
vented any of that nation arriving this season.
However, the sight is well worth coming from
St. Petersburg to see.

( ^8 )

CHAPTER II.

On the 1 8th of August we started in a Russian
built steamer down the river for Astrachan. Graz-
zini, our new servant, arrived just in time. We
found the vibration of the engines something con-
siderable. The deck is given up to the third-class
passengers, who have the privilege of roaming all
over it. The first-class is at the bows instead of
near the steerage as in most boats : perhaps an
advantage, as the smoke coming out of the funnel
discharges countless blacks, the fuel being wood.

We quote verbatim from our diary: 3 p.m. There
are two passenger steamers in front of us which we
shall overtake directly. The banks are not more
than twenty feet high, pretty well wooded, but the
trees are small, and especially willows ; the river
light dirty chocolate colour ; the day very rainy ;
the banks are sandy. We have adopted the fashion
of wearing a thick cotton band round the waist, a

STEAMING DOWN THE VOLGA. 29

practice that we adhered to during our travels,
except when staying in any place. The boat we
are in belongs to an English company, that of the
" Volga." The feeding is according to bill of
fare, at every hour. There are several Circassians
on board, no doubt glad to return to their native
mountains. Our fellow passengers consist in five
ladies and three gentlemen, all Greeks. Whilst
quietly reading in our cabin, which, of three
berths, we have all to ourselves, we heard a
crashing scooping noise, as if the bottom of the
ship was coming off. Although we only drew two
feet four inches of water we had stuck on a
sandbank. We, however, by the help of an
anchor let drop further down the river, soon got
off. The channel is buoyed, but we had steered
too far left. It must be confessed that at first the
effect of pulling at this anchor was not to move
the boat but rather the anchor itself. However,
after re-dropping the anchor higher up, we got
off. During our stoppage several small tugs, with
their heavy ships after them, passed us scornfully.
We were then about an hour from Nijni, of which

30 ACCOMMODATION ON BOARD.

we can still see the bold headland, as the range
on which the town stands forms a projection there,
and then slopes away from the river. Some
wretched hens, in a large wooden coop on deck,
are being continually fed on rye-bread soaked in
water. Now the banks are varied by occasional
old red sandstone rocks, and brushwood up the
slopes ; sometimes a verdant field or a village
appears on the top, as the right bank is now

some I GO feet high. The "Bints," W 's

favourite depreciatory term for ladies, being we
believe Arabic for women, have taken up the
whole of the deck cabin, so to smoke we are
obliged to face the driving rain. Two stout
mujicks are steering on the captain's quarterdeck
(we believe that to be the correct nautical term).
Our captain is a young man, a Russian. Herds
of pigs are clambering about the banks, which
are now really sometimes picturesque. On trying
to go to bed the steward was astonished at a
demand for water and towels, and utterly flabber-
gasted on being asked for sheets and bed-gear.
He said such a thing had never occurred in the

A POLYGLOT CAPTAIN. 3 1

memory of the oldest passenger. So we were
reduced to sleep on a narrow sofa, with a great-
coat for bedding and coverlet. We grounded
twice during the night, and arrived at Kasan six
hours and a half late, on the 19th. Here the
Kasanka flows into the Volga. It is a flourishing
commercial town, as almost all the trade with
China passes through it. Soundings were con-
tinually taken with a long pole during our passage
down. Here we changed into another larger and
English built boat. We rather objected to the
arrangement of the cabin deck, being strewn with
the filthy bedding of the third class, but were
told that they (the third class) were the chief
source of profit to the company. The water
melons are already very good here, but imported
from the south. Our captain is a most gentle-
manly Dalmatian, speaking five languages, besides
his own, fluently and well. He told us that whilst
running a cargo from Kertch, during the Crimean
war, his ship was captured and burnt by the
Allies, and he himself placed on the nearest shore.
After wandering about for some time he took to

32 PASSENGERS.

his present occupation. The river is frozen up
from about the middle of October to April, during
a portion of which time a large trade is carried on
on the ice by means of sledges. The left bank
for almost the whole length of our sail was as flat
as a pancake. The boat we are in was sailed
into the Volga, all the way from England, by
water, through the canals that connect the Neva
with this river. The reason given for the bad
accommodation on board as regards bedding was
that the Russian passengers would all klepto-
maniarize (?) it ; and therefore the company confine
themselves as much as possible to fixtures. The
deck is crowded with mujicks in their greasy sheep-
skin cloaks, lined at the border with black Astra-
chan wool. We also have a dwarf on board, and
a man with two large pots of leeches, which keep
us in bodily fear. Though a river steamer the
cabins here have the stereotyped nasty sea-boat
smell about them. And now, whilst the banks are
flat and uninteresting on both sides, and we are
steaming some 1200 miles due south, we turn for
a moment to the letters of Lord Royston, written

MAD FISH. ;^^

at the beginning of this century, to see what he
thought of %iij||j|-iver then. He went down in a
small boat early in. the season, with an interpreter
and a companion, all well armed, and remarks : —
" In general I have been much gratified both with
the opportunities of inspecting the inhabitants, and
also with the beauty of the scenery ; the right
bank being in general very mountainous and well
wooded. * * * The number of fish of all
species which inhabit the Volga is amazing, but
the superstitious prejudices of the Russian peasants
prevent their making use of several sorts. I offered
' some fish resembling chad ' to our boat's crew ;
they refused them, alleging as a reason that all
those fish were insane and swam round and round,
and that if they eat them they would become
insane too ! " At the present day upwards of
10,000 boats are employed in fishing. The
stations at which we stop are, almost all of them,
simply a collection of log-huts. We are going
at the rate of sixteen miles an hour. The captain
is very amusing, and tells us long stories ; he in-
formed us that lately he had a Persian as third-

34 PERSIAN GRANDILOQUENCE.

class passenger on board, and happening to get
into conversation with him, the Persian had told
him that at the time when the three (?) Italian
gentlemen were travelling in Bokhara he also was
there on business. The Italians were seized and
thrown into prison. One day the Emir of Bok-
hara, his particular friend, sent for him, and asked
his advice about these foreigners — where Italy was,
and whether it was governed by a great emperor ?
According to his own account the Persian answered
that the Emperor of Italy was a most powerful
potentate, and that his (the Emir's) captives were
chiefs of the greatest importance in their own
country. He then asked him what he should do
with them, as their execution had been decided
upon. Our Persian advised him to let them go,
or he would get into trouble ; whereupon, the
Emir, in a great rage, told him he had not asked
him his opinion to receive such an answer as that.
Then our Persian, " Well, if you kill them I
shall kill myself, and that will get you into trouble
with the Shah, the Emperor, and the Tsar all at
the same time." The proof of the truth of the

SAMARA FAIR. ^^

foregoing is that the Italians were discharged plus

their heads !

On the third day we pass the picturesque portion

of the Volga, such as it is ! The hills are high

and rocky on the right bank and very well

wooded ; on the left at some distance a well

forested ridge of mountains may be seen. At

Samara we stopped to take in wood, which lies

ready piled on the pier, and was brought on

board in baskets on women's heads. We walked

on shore to look about us, and found a small

fair going on in the immediate vicinity of the

river. There were a quantity of shabby log-booths

in rows, one row being consecrated to eating and

drinking. The crowd of dirty people was so dense

that we had to force our way, elbowing coats

well stocked with every species of vermin. The

noise created by the crowd, and they themselves,

constituted a small pandemonium ; the echo here is

remarkable, and the boat's whistle was prolonged

on shore indefinitely with a most musical effect.

The town lay on the slope of a hill, with streets

intersecting at right angles, and at the top of each

D 2

36 A LOYAL COMPANY.

Street you can see down into the plain where a
sluggish river " drags its slow length along,"
therein resembling the celebrated wounded snake.
The dust was intense, but the greater part of the
pavement is better than that of St. Petersburg,
the trottoirs all of wooden planks ; shops seemed
scarce, all the trade going on in the log-huts
below. The greater part of the houses appear
unfurnished or burnt out, and the rest of stucco.
In the winter it is said to be the residence of
many converted Calmucks. We passed many
large barges, called schkootes, laden with cotton
from Bokhara and Persia, and being tugged up
the river. Our ship is called the Tsarewna or
Princess, and this is a most loyal company, for
their others, three large passenger ships, are re-
spectively christened Tsar (which we passed).
Tsarina, and Tsarewitch. The captain informed
us that a nice Englishman had been a passenger
on this boat two years ago ! This boat is con-
sidered (by her captain) the best on the river;
there is a rival company, but this one considers
that a bad one. Reading a book referring to

TASTE FOR PALM TREES. 37

the tour in Persia, we are about to make, we
came upon a passage where mention is made of
some " mountains which had receded about ten
miles from the sea^ We read on, anxiously
expecting to hear of some " rivers taking up
their beds and walking^^ but did not find the
page. Apropos of literature for the British public,
an oificer in India drew a sketch, which he for-
warded to an illustrated London paper. Some time
after he was surprised to see his sketch in the
paper, but with the addition of a whole forest
of palm trees. On remonstrating with the pro-
prietors, he was told that palm trees were neces-
sary to make the aforesaid public realise the idea
of India, and that they would not stand it
without them !

Late on the third day we passed a village, (on
the top of a sort of broad cliff,) composed entirely
of little log-huts, even the Church being of wood,
with two windmills crowning the whole, as we
found to be usually the case. The village, ex-
tending almost half-a-mile, had a very striking
appearance. On the fourth day we came to a

38 SARATOFF.

pier, consisting of a boat moored in the midst of
the stream, the current being too shallow to admit
of an approach to the bank. Numerous sandbanks
now make their appearance in the river : on most
of them a quantity of pelicans. Enormous swal-
lows are flying about. We have some of the
Persian insect powder with us. It is made from a
herb that grows about Erivan, and no biting in-
sects (are supposed to) come near it, probably on
account of its smell, which their nerves can feel,
but ours cannot. Took in wood again at SaratofF.
Our three days' sail consumes as much wood as
would suffice to warm three rooms during an
entire Russian winter — statistical ! The first thing
we remarked at SaratofF was the inscription on an
alehouse, Voksal, (the Russians, like the present
writer, spell all foreign names phonetically). The
town lies on the slope of a hill and is said to
contain 80,000 inhabitants. We saw at least
fifteen churches. The streets are broad and boast
of some tolerable shops. The dust lies about three
inches deep, and indeed on approaching the town
the whole view was obscured by clouds of it.

SHAM CIRCASSIAN. 39

There are several fine stuccoed houses, but the
town is very straggling. The river in summer is
here more than two miles wide. Amongst our
passengers were a Swede and a Norwegian; the
latter we saw again at Tiflis, where he entered
upon a business. We found the words of command,
as " stop," " back her," &c., obtaining as much on
this Russian boat as on those of all other nation-
alities. Fifth day — the south wind is the coldest
we have ever experienced from that quarter. One
of the men, dressed as a Circassian, who is on
board, turns out to be a pure Russian ; but it
having been the habit of the Russian colonists in
the Caucasus to adopt that dress for greater safety
during the war of independence, he had retained it
ever since. We passed many large rafts floating
lazily down the river ; their proprietors though, to
all outward appearance, sunk in the lowest depths
of poverty, are often possessed of a thousand
pounds sterling a year. It is their custom to leave
their homes in spring, directly the ice breaks up, to
build a large raft which is loaded with as much
wood as it will carry, and to start off from high up

40 MUSICAL RAFT PROPRIETORS.

the Stream. The master takes four or five men
with him, three of whom he keeps solely for the
purpose of singing to him. When the raft arrives
at any village he moors it to the shore, gets~out
surrounded by these men, who wear red bands
round their hats, and walks into the village to
make the best bargain he can for his wood. If the
terms do not suit him he returns to his raft and
floats on to another more lavish village, until all is
sold, when he returns to his home by land to begin
again another spring. From Tsaritzin a railway
runs to the Don, but passenger trains only start
twice a week. Our Greek fellow-travellers, of
whom two couples were newly married, and
between whom a continual hugging and kissing in
the face of all mankind had been going on, got out
here to go to Taganrog, where they had extensive
possessions. As they would not catch the Don
steamer for about a week, we must hope they liked
their enforced residence at some dirty little village.
Some of their party were standing on shore as we
came back from a walk into the uninteresting little
town, and one of them observed, either thinking

BEYOND TSARITZIN. 4 1

we did not understand French, or, more probably
as we had neglected their acquaintance, throwing a
Parthian shot at us, "lis ont decha (sic) vu la ville!"
alluding, we presume, to the reported celerity with
which the British tourist views objects of interest.
Half our passengers got out here. Many of the
barges going up carried large quantities of water-
melons on deck. We observed that our sailors
viewed these edibles and their proprietors with
most savage glances, and found out that, as it was
their custom to take a supply back from Astra-
chan, where they grew in profusion, to do a little
private trade, they justly considered these large
quantities as calculated to flood and ruin the
market. Below Tsaritzin the banks are studded
by neat little villages built by German colonists.
Now both banks are low and scantily covered
with willows. The wide Steppes are before us.

On the sixth and last day we got to YenitaiefF,
a town built on a rather higher sandbank than
usual. We entered a branch of the Volga not
broader than the Thames above London. We
should strongly advise all future travellers to

42 A KALMUCK ENCAMPMENT.

buy their quilts and other bedding at Nijni
Novgorod before going on board, as, if they
intend travelling further south, they must get
them anyhow at Astrachan. We found that a
great deal of land up the river seems wasted,
and might be turned to better account than lying
fallow, especially on the right bank; though it
must be admitted that the spring floods, which
sometimes extend seven miles either way, would
seriously impede agricultural pursuits, except on
the raised lands. The German colony of Sarepta
is composed of Moravian brethren, and is one of
the neatest towns on the Volga. The colonists
originally came from Saxony. About mid-day
we passed a Kalmuck encampment, and here we
saw the first string of camels winding its way
along. Numerous herds about. The conical
roofed huts have a quaint appearance. We
afterwards visited an encampment from Astra-
chan, where we can add more. They acknow-
ledge a native prince, who lives near the principal
temple, about eighty miles north of Astrachan.
We have just passed this on the bank of the

prince's abode. 43

river. It is of stucco, and like a Chinese pagoda,
with a sort of Grecian colonnade running from each
wing and ending in two other smaller pagodas.
The centre one has five semi-circular roofed
verandah terraces ; the other two, three each. The
palace is a moderate sized wooden house in excel-
lent repair, with two verandahs one above the
other, and another smaller one in the centre
higher up. During the summer the princess lives
in two or three tents like those of her subjects,
but of stouter material. The roofs of the cottages
are covered with camel's hair felt. The round
body of tent is wattled with cane, and also covered
with felt. They possess vast numbers of horses,
being all excellent horsemen. Each hut pays a
capitation tax of a half imperial per annum (about
16^.) to the prince, who thereby obtains a revenue
of about 50,000 roubles a year, say ^2,500. We
took in one passenger, a woman, who was dressed
much as ordinary European women — perhaps not
the last Mdme. Elise fashion, but civilised. The
more valuable animals during the night-time are
penned into an enclosure of willow branches

44 SEARCH FOR HOTELS.

Stuffed up with mud, which stood before many of
the huts. The left bank of the Volga is inhabited
by the Kalmucks, the right by the Cossacks of the
Volga. In the Russian army these Cossacks wear
yellow facings; those of the Don red, and those
of the Ural blue. During the spring the stench
coming from the remains of the fish that are
boiled down into oil here renders the passage in
a steamer almost impossible. We did not come
in for any of it. On arriving at Astrachan, our
courteous captain accompanied us on shore, thus
exempting us from the formality of exhibiting
our passports, which were demanded of the other
passengers. The first hotel was called " Table
d'Hote," the proprietor evidently fancying that
an important French city, where nothing accept-
able in the shape of lodging being forthcoming,
we went on to the " Paris," called the " Russia
Hotel" in Murray, which we found too filthy,
and trudged on back to an hotel (save the mark !)
called " Odessa," where we were fortunate enough
to find two rooms to suit us. They were dirty,
and swarmed with black beetles, but whereas there

ASTRACHAN. 45

were no beds in the other two pothouses, here
we found two bedsteads without sheets ; we how-
ever managed to get one a-piece after a time.
The appearance of the town from the river is
very uninviting. It is built on one of the thirty
or forty branches into which the Volga divides
itself at its mouth, but is some thirty miles from
the Caspian. With the exception of the Kremlin
it lies quite flat, all the country around being on
the same dead level, and very sandy. Grapes and
water-melons grow very luxuriantly all around.
Quantities of boats lay outside in the river, their
owners fishing with handlines ; and the throng
of small cargo-boats heavily laden with water-
melons, converts almost the whole watersurface
into one moving market. These melons, of great
size and excellent quality, are sold for a penny a-
piece and under. Indigo barges are preparing to
start for Nijni. Our inn is on the quay, with
the fruit market close by, and just opposite a
colony of smithies, the whole rendering the place
anything but quiet. The town is, with the ex-
ception of the Government houses, entirely built

46 . MILITARY DRILL.

of wood ; the streets are thronged, and intensely
dusty and ill-kept ; the trottoir, such as it is, of
wood. The bazaar is tolerably built, the outside
arcade of the square is devoted to linen and cotton
goods, and only extends on two sides, the other
two having regular shops out on the street. The
interior courtyard is filled up with booths, prin-
cipally of Astrachan fur cap manufacturers and
leather-stall keepers. We walked into the Krem-
lin, and found the Russian army in white undress,
being exercised ; the goose-step was the strategic
movement under consideration, and one soldier
after the other would advance gravely from his
squad to march about fifty paces forwards, keeping
himself as bolt upright as possible, and taking
rather longer steps then nature intended, thus im-
parting a " hoppy " motion to his body. As each
soldier approached the squad that had just under-
gone the same operation, he burst out laughing,
his comrades beginning to chaff him ; indeed the
discipline seemed . rather relaxed, an uncommon
fault in the Russian army, where the slightest in-
attention on the part of a soldier is generally

THE CHIEF CHURCH. 47

punished by a kicking and pummelling on
the spot from the commanding-officer. We
entered the chief church, and thought the
Ikonastas very magnificent. It reached quite up
to the roof — some 150 feet, and was entirely gorge-
ously gilt, excepting where the delicately painted
pictures came in. The door of the sanctuary was
of worked silver, and the side pillars carved to
resemble vine-trees with golden grapes. The
massive pillars in the church were, however,
rather spoilt, by a kind of well executed scagliola.

Having presented our letter of introduction to
the governor, he kindly invited us to dinner.
We found him a most enlightened Russian ; a
disciple of free trade — when not pressed to ex-
tremes, and a Liberal-Conservative of the best
school : rather inclining towards true Conser-
vatism. The revenues of the town are small,
though the inhabitants number 50,000, and
double that number in summer, when the sur-
rounding populations flock in to join in the
fisheries. After dinner at 4 p.m., our host
called out the firemen of the town, to prove

48 FIRE BRIGADE.

to US their discipline and readiness. Their or-
ganization is certainly admirable, for in less than
half an hour from the time of despatching one
foot messenger (a soldier) to the four watch-
towers to raise the red flag in each quarter of
the town, the whole brigade was galloping past
before the window. In this case, as all four divi-
sions came together, they assembled before tower
No. I , until all were got together. The chief of
the police, their direct superintendent, rode first.
Then an outrider to clear the way, and an engine
with a red flag with one black ball on it, — the
number of black balls marking the division. Two
water barrels on carriages, and thick felt coverings,
to be thrown over buildings near a fire, attended
each engine. After again assembling in the square
in front of the government house (a square, by
the way, really deserving that distinctive London
appellation, as there was an enclosure in the centre
of it fenced off^ by iron railings and containing a
few trees), they galloped past in service trim. The
thin Tartar horses were forced off at full speed,
and the drivers shouted with all their might.

SERFS IN RUSSIA. 49

the little boys also adding to the general excite-
ment. The Governor told us, amongst other
things, that on the promulgation of the Ukase
abolishing serfdom throughout Russia, the 3000
serfs on his estate, when informed that for the
future they would have a certain quantity of
land for their own and pay rent for it, wished, as
formerly, to till his land for him, and be kept by him,
rather than have a property of their own. They
were quite satisfied with their condition, and could
not be brought to see the benefits accruing to them
from paying rent and keeping themselves — very
much the case with the slaves of the South
American States. He gave us some excellent
sparkling Moselle, which is called the Emperor
Alexander's Champagne, as that monarch first
introduced it into Moscow. The district under the
government of Astrachan is about the size of
France, and the position hardly an enviable one in
a pecuniary point of view, the salary being ^^looo
per annum, besides a sum of 20 per cent, on any
great profit accruing to the Government from
improvements — no great thing in a country where

E

50 FISHING ON THE VOLGA.

all improvements progress so slov\rly. There is no
society, and the advent of tw^o "distinguished
foreigners" like ourselves v^as quite an event.
The residency is a large incongruous building, but
the reception rooms are very well parqueted, and
there is a good view from the — well, cockloft
above. The sturgeon fishery forms part of the
state revenue, but much poaching is carried on.
The revenue from all sources flowing into the pro-
vincial exchequer from i860 to 1865 was only
60,000 roubles in those five years — ^8000. We
almost fancy there must be some error in the
calculation, but so we were informed. On depart-
ing, our host presented us each with his photograph
and a lithographed view of the cathedral. We
have to stop here a week as the Caspian boats only
start twice a month. We went out fishing one
day, down the river, turning off^ into a small branch
of it ; and fish of all sizes were rising in the most
tempting manner, but we found them too un-
civilised to comprehend the advantages of English
flies ; so having caught one roach, we cut him up,
and found that his kind voraciously seized on his

JOINT-TENANTS OF OUR ROOM. 5 1

mangled remains — much as the human species.
On rowing home we were attacked by perfect
swarms of musquitos. The native hooks and Hnes
are of the coarsest nature. We found our com-
panion in a great state of mind, as we had taken
the key of our rooms with us by mistake. The
thermometer was at 82*" Fah. in the shade, and
anything you please in the sun. The boats navi-
gating the Caspian are heavy Dutch-looking
galiots. We made a perfect hecatomb of cock-
roaches the first night, and then had our room
thoroughly washed out ; but we find that it still
boasts of a small but interesting collection of
spiders and earwigs — indeed, most of the insect
kingdom are well represented in it, excepting those
that black beetles devour. It is papered white and
blue, and the window curtains are green and red to
match. The streets are lighted with petroleum
or naphtha, which is imported from Bakoo,* down
south, where are the natural springs of that useful

* Bakoo is situated on the western shore of the Caspian, in
Persian territory. The naphtha is collected by sinking deep
pits into which it flows.

E 2

52 DEMOCRATIC TENDENCIES OF THE POPULATION.

but explosive material. On getting up this
morning (26th), we found that a large colony of
small red ants had discovered it to be more
convenient and economical to inhabit my sponge
than to build a residence of their own: we
immediately served them with a notice of eject-
ment— into water. The resources of the place, as
regards amusement, are limited, and we went on
board to smoke cigarettes with our Volga captain,
who rejoiced in the classic name of Soupuk. We
of course endeavoured to obtain some Astrachan
lamb-skins, but found that no easy matter. No
one has the least idea as to how long it takes to
get to Petrovskoi, our next destination. It is said
that " once upon a time " the Caspian covered the
soil on which now stands Astrachan. This being
simply sand, cultivation of anything requiring a
richer soil is utterly out of the question. The way
in which every person at the hotel bows to us
since our dinner with the Governor is remarkable :
he and the chief of the police, with perhaps two
rich merchants, are the only inhabitants that are at
all respected here ; nine-tenths of the population

RELIGIOUS TOLERATION. S3

have never heard of a Tsar, and the other tenth do
not know his name. The new regime of censor-
ship in newspapers admits of abuse of any local
administration, but all praise of an individual
Governor is strictly prohibited, as all good must (?)
flow from the Tsar himself; thus the incentive of
public approbation is taken from the Governor at
any distance from the capital, and in winter it
takes twenty-four days to communicate with St.
Petersburg, only very important messages being
transmitted by the telegraph, which is now com-
pleted for the entire distance. The principle of ,
religious toleration is carried out to its fullest
extent in this town — as indeed it is throughout
the Russian empire; no proselytism is, however,
allowed. The Catholic Church is represented in
all its many branches, a Greek, Armenian,
Lutheran, and Roman Church existing. The
Jews have their synagogue, the Persians their
mosque, and the Kalmucks their temple, as well as
the Russian schismatics. The secret police acts
independently of the Governor, under direct orders
from the capital. We forgot to mention, that after

54 SHOOTING ON THE VOLGA.

dinner, when our host arose he crossed himself in
front of one of the eternal holy pictures that was
hanging on the wall, and then shook hands with
us, thanking us for having dined with him. Now
we thought we were summarily dismissed, until he
asked us out on the balcony to smoke. We had
some white wine grown in the neighbourhood — a
little sweet, but capable of great improvement.
Much good but wild snipe shooting may be got
around the town, and indeed further down the river.
All sorts of wild-fowl abound in the reed jungle.

We found about 5 p.m. the best time to enter
the Bazaar, especially on Saturdays, when the place
is crowded with buyers and sellers. The curly
lambskins, of which the best come from unborn
lambs, are mostly brought from Bokhara. All the
shops are shut on Sunday, and the women walk
about attired in every gaudy colour imaginable,
with a white veil over head and shoulders. The
bakers carry about their whole stock-in-trade on
their heads and boards six feet long by two broad.
We took a walk down the river; the Admiralty
buildings soon caused us to make a circuit to get

ASTRACHAN DOGS. 55

back to it : we found a green on which the greater
proportion of the juvenile population were flying
elementary kites ; beyond this was the last resting-
place for decayed ships, which were being broken
up for fuel; most of them had their stern gro-
tesquely carved in arabesque foliage, and a lion and
two eyes generally painted on them. Then followed
a row of huts some three miles in length. Rain set
in and did not appear inclined to set out again.
We observed that all the dogs, of which there are
large numbers about, seem afflicted with the
mange — not wonderful, as they wander about all
day and all night, unfed and uncared for: almost
all have wounds upon their ears — scars gained in
honourable (or the reverse) combat with their
species, of which amusement they seem very fond.
Sunflower seeds are sold as a delicacy in all fruit
shops. After returning, we were constantly
attracted to the window by loud shouts, and then
we would see two drunken men, one running after
the other and hitting out with rounded arms^
tumbling down occasionally in missing aim ; a ring
of people would gradually gather around them,

56 INUNDATIONS.

and then the combatants would take off their coats
and hit out more wildly than before, but without
any very fatal results. The " Don Champagne "
is not so very bad — sweet, and tasting a little of
perry; and some of the white wine tastes like
raspberries. During our dinner at the hotel, two
violin players of Paganinistic propensities, but not
execution, struck up variations upon Scotch reels,
in our honour. On the S.W. wall of the Kremlin
there is a sheet of marble, marking the altitude to
which the Volga rose in 1857; ^^ "^^'^ ^^ ^^
could make out, it is fully thirty feet above the
present level of the river, and must have sub-
merged all the houses in the neighbourhood. The
Volga is navigable for some 1800 miles from Tver
to this place. The roads here get into a beastly
state after any rains.

The Governor has a scheme for the increase of
the carrying trade of Russia, which certainly has
the merit of novelty, if not of easy feasibility, and
that would attract the attention of English specu-
lators : — It is, that all English goods destined for
the Persian market should be securely packed and

governor's political economy. 57

sealed up at the English custom-houses, and then
proceed by sea to St. Petersburg, thence to go by
railway (or indeed canal) and steamer or sailing
vessel down the Volga to this place ; they (the
goods) should be admitted into Russia free from all
dues, the increased traffic enabling her to recoup
herself; then, here the seals should be examined
and if found intact, the goods be sent on to Persia
in Russian ships, to be landed at Resht on the
Persian shore of the Caspian. It is a scheme
which, if approved of by the Russian Government,
would certainly have many chances of success, the
carriage being so much less expensive all the way
by water, and the time occupied much shorter than
by Turkey, or to Busheer, the general plan.

28 th. Strolling out into the town we found a
small river, about two miles on the S.E., crossed
by several rope ferry-boats, and a little higher up
by a wooden bridge. A quantity of log huts, and
then orchards as far as we could see, each
surrounded by a wooden paling and with a plat-
form raised about twenty-four feet from the
ground in the centre; on each of these stood a

58 VISIT TO KALMUCK ENCAMPMENT.

boy, placed there to scare away any birds that
might damage the fruit ; some of them had slings,
out of which they periodically darted stones at
the offending bipeds, whilst others sprung a
very huge rattle, which answered the same purpose
with perhaps less muscular exertion. The Governor
having kindly placed a small steamer at our disposal,
we started one morning in company with a Rus-
sian staff-officer, who spoke French and explained
what was going on, and a Kalmuck interpreter, to
see the huts and temple of the Kalmucks, about
five miles up the river on the right bank. The
steamer got to within twelve feet of the shore, so
we stepped into a small boat just pushed out to us,
and emerging stood in the midst of the settlement.
We entered one of the round huts, and found
it rather smoky, but extraordinarily clean and
comfortable : there is a round opening at the top
to allow of the escape of smoke, and a piece of felt
to draw over it in case of any heavy storm coming
on. The physiognomies are certainly not traced in
the direct lines of beauty — at least according to
English tastes : they are of a dark copper colour.

THEIR RITUAL. 59

with no nose to speak of^ but plenty of mouth to
speak 'With, We then went into the temple. In
an ante-room containing a bed, most probably that
of the guardian, through the open doors of
which we could see into the inner temple, we
found six priests sitting cross-legged — three on
each side of a small carpet ; they had taken off
their yellow morocco shoes, and laid their hats
beside them ; these were flat, octagonal and of a
thick woollen material, red or yellow. Before each
group of three lay a spittoon ; before one of them a
conch shell, another had a pair of cymbals, another
a bell, and a fourth a sort of drum on a stand ;
they were dressed in yellow, with scarlet shawls over
their shoulders, and were reciting their prayers in a
continuous and monotonous tone, looking exceed-
ingly sleepy. One of them was turning a circular
praying machine, the prayer being written on it,
and every turn, like roasting coffee, constituting a
prayer — yellow prayers on a red ground. The
recitative sounded somewhat like "ding-dong,
jolly gong," repeated very fast; then a bell was
rung, then another recitative, " Day Oh, Amen !"

6o TEMPLE.

repeated over and over again: lastly, an intoned
prayer.

The priests sometimes folded their hands in the
attitude of Christian adoration; sometimes the
prayer was accompanied by all the instruments
going at one time, but still keeping a sort of
barbarous rhythm. We believe the religion varies
very little from that of Thibet, Llamas, &c. After
the conclusion of prayer v^e were allowed to enter
the inner temple, which was small and not above
nine feet in height ; long brocaded scarves were sus-
pended from the ceiling, and bundles of prayers lay
on a platform in one corner, a circular table in the
centre, with lamps burning in little tin vessels ; in
other cups, oil, water, salt, — the principal gifts of the
Deity to mankind, — lay in succession all round, and
flowers of tin representing nature's gifts ; in centre
of north wall, an idol holding a box with eight com-
partments, in each a cross-legged brass deity, and
several others near; on the wall were hanging
chintz prints of idols in Chinese style; one was
curious, representing in the centre the Grand
Llama, and on either side, below, a sort of heaven

SACRED MUSIC. 6 1

and the other place, with, above, various man-
sions of the blessed. The priests then gave us
their greater service, blowing an enormous horn
that sounded like a herd of enraged bulls, beating
some most sonorous hollow cymbals, blowing in a
conch shell, and playing on the shrillest sort of
flute we had ever heard : all this at once. The din
began softly, and then went on crescendo, until it
again diminished, each prayer lasting only two
minutes, probably from the exhaustion of the
officiating priests. The ritual was beautifully
written in white and gold letters on a black
ground. We forgot to say that the salt was
done up into white paper cones, and on some
of the wheat lay a pastile of incense. Five
hundred thousand persons profess this religion
in the province of Astrachan. As in some other
religious denominations, the common people
cannot understand the services, as they are all in
Thibetian language. The priests seemed very
devout and impressed with what they were about,
perhaps owing to their somnolent condition. On
rising they bowed down thrice before the inner

62 PRIESTS.

temple with their foreheads against the door, and
each before entering rapped his forehead against
the lintel. The worshippers who attended bowed
down to the ground outside the temple, crossing
their arms upon their breasts, and laying a small
offering, of the value of a farthing, on the threshold.
The temple itself is square, facing the cardinal
points of the compass. On the table lay besides,
a small silver teapot-looking thing, in which, we
were told, water and oil were sometimes mixed and
partaken of as a sacrament by good believers ; on
it stood some peacocks' feathers ; around the table
were stands supporting what looked like huge
Chinese shoes of tinsel, and beside them a round,
high, tapering cap, what for we know not, unless
to keep flies off sacred things : a few copecks (the
small Russian copper coin) lay before the principal
idol, inviting others to join them. The priests
came down to see us off, and looked very grand in
their bright coloured dresses, long tunics even
covering their feet.* The Governor paid us a visit

* Our Volga captain's idea of their religion was, the idola-
trous worship of the ashes of their deceased rulers and priests
turned into statuettes !

DEPARTURE FROM ASTRACHAN. 63

in full uniform and stars, and we parted with regret
from a charming conversationalist. The common
people feed their horses on melons during the
season, — not entirely, of course !

On the 30th we went on board a barge, built
for the purpose of passenger conveyance, and
towed by a small tug, as, owing to the shallowness
of the mouth of the Volga, the sea steamers cannot
come up to Astrachan. These boats only start once
a fortnight, and there are only four of them
altogether on the Caspian. Almost all the pas-
sengers are wearing the conical Astrachan wool
caps, the old fashion for Persians, and they all set-
to playing cards on deck for copper stakes. The
banks are perfectly flat, occasionally covered with
reeds. The steerage on deck is partially reserved
for 1st and 2nd class passengers. A gang of dirty
cadets usurped part of it, but most of them were
turned out. The absence of noise from engines, or
smell from ditto on board the barge is very charm-
ing. As we near the mouth the jungle gets
thicker and thicker on both banks, excepting
where a space is cleared, to allow of huge
sturgeon nets being dried there. It is a perfect

64 MISERY !

paradise for the sportsman ; swarming with herons
and water-fowl of every species. The river at
its estuary can hardly be seen across, so broad
is it. About thirty miles out we changed into
the sea steamer ; luckily, it was a perfect calm.
We pass some war screw steamers, which had
been transported hither from the Black Sea, after
the Crimean war.

We find that now there is one day missing in
our diary. Alas ! the calm was only a deception ;
in the morning we were rudely awakened by
water dashing into our face ; this was the rolling
sea coming in through our open window; the
wind had risen during the night, and we were in for
a bad passage. Happily, the steward spoke French
and Italian, so we were able to explain our-
selves to him tolerably. We remained in our berth
all day. At last on the ist, we sighted Petrovskoi
about I o A.M., eighteen hours late ; we then tossed
about at anchor for two hours before a boat put
out to us. The sea was going down, but the sailors
on shore were such cowards that they durst not
come out, though not more than 300 yards

LANDING AT PETROVSKOI. 65

separated us from the shore. At length, after
a struggle, we got in and luckily all our luggage was
also tossed on board. We were several times nearly-
swamped from the overcrowding of the boat, but
soon found ourselves on the shoulders of some
men, to be carried to the beach. We found the
proprietor of a sort of inn waiting for customers,
on shore : we closed with him, and got two
very dirty rooms and a decent breakfast.

The town seems well to do enough; substan-
tial wood houses, with some in brick. A bluff
hill rises behind it. A rough semicircular jetty
is in course of construction; the stones being
quarried from the rocks near the sea, loaded on
cars, and allowed to run down an iron tramway
to the extremity of the pier, which as yet,
though extending some 150 yards into the sea,
affords very little protection to ships even as
small as our steamer. A dozen small fishing
boats rested under its lee, but it protects only
from south and, partially, west winds. The
rocks around are of puddingstone, a shingly
beach, the water is very little salt, cockles the

66 TELEGAS.

chief shells. We called on the Governor, whom
we found a jolly, fat man, talking French.
He generally lives at Temichanshura, whither
we are going, but came here as to a watering
place for his children. He is a Georgian, in
the Russian army. He kindly wrote a letter
to his secretary at Temichanshura for us, and
sketched out our route through the Caucasus.
We found his house to be on the brow of the
hill above the town. Above rose the fort, which
seems of considerable extent.

We had a great hunt after the post-house,
and got on to the highest ledge of the hill,
whence we could see the mountains in the inte-
rior, looking stern and rugged, and frowning
on the plain of no great extent which lay betwixt
us: many villages scattered about. The post-
man we found, with an order on his coat,
looking very dirty but tolerably amiable, espe-
cially after being soothed by the gift of a cigar.
In the yard stood three " Telegas," the instru-
ments of torture in which we were to proceed
on the morrow. They are on four wheels, entirely

START FOR CAUCASUS. 67

of wood, and looking like a flat-bottomed boat
cut down at both ends and square at the bows
and stern, resting on two shafts over the wheels,
without the slightest vestige of a spring.

In the early morning before starting we
bathed in the green waters of the Caspian. My
companion found the fish so tame that he caught
a large one in his hand, and bore it home in
triumph to his breakfast. We did not discover
his fishing grounds. Of course, as we are no
longer upon it, the sea has returned to a state
of tranquillity. Our telegas (we were yet new
to our work, and therefore had taken two
with six horses) came to the door for us, and
after loading our baggage and our servant into
one of them, we started off in the other. We
first proceeded along a low spur of the Cau-
casus, ourselves on the plain whence the Caspian
had evidently retired ages ago. The dark rough
stone of the mountains, occasionally wooded with
stunted brushwood, was very picturesque. On
the roadside we observed several little animals
resembling the Norwegian Leming. All about

F 2

68 MOHAMMEDAN TOMBS.

grew plentifully yellow flowers, of the nature
of our hollyhocks, and many-coloured butterflies
fluttered gaily in the brilliant sunlight; on our
right, behind us, lay the Caspian, perfectly calm,
as if in our derision. Many Troikas (another
name for our vehicle, from their being drawn
by three horses abreast) passed us ; the " rule
of the road " being the same as in England.
Most of these contained Russian officials. An
occasional horseman, dressed in full Circassian
costume, with the six cartridge cases, looking
like Panpipes on each breast, his ornamental
sword at his belt, and a rifle slung behind
him, would also ride past us, every now and then.
In two hours we reached Kunperkaliefi;,
where we changed horses, first producing our
padarojna to the postmaster. Just before reach-
ing this, we passed a high hill composed of
yellow sand, which stood out in bold relief
against the intense blue sky; and the cemetery.
The inhabitants being Mohammedans, the tombs
were the perpendicular flat stones, some six
feet high, crowned with a high round knob.

KUNPERKALIEFF. 69

supposed to represent the turban, or here, per-
haps, the Circassian helmet. One of these was
brilliantly painted in white, red, and blue, and
all had some verses of the Koran sculptured in
high relief upon them. Three stones, probably
the memorials of chieftains, stood apart from
the vulgar crowd, and many were scattered
along the road.

The village is built on a perfectly flat moun-
tain overhanging a ravine, where flows a small
stream which we afterwards continually forded
and re-forded. The houses were all of one
story, bricks composed solely of clayey mud
being used, and then more mud plastered on.
The roofs, flat of course, as usual. The banks
of the stream were well cultivated, the chief
crops being Indian corn and melons. We wit-
i;iessed some of the process of thrashing out the
corn in Eastern fashion : two unmuzzled oxen
drawing heavy logs of wood, perfectly flat
beneath, upon which the driver was seated to
add weight, over the corn ; indeed, a perfect
wheat-sledge. Then it was winnowed by throwing

yO GEOGRAPHY OF THE ANCIENTS !

the corn and chafF into the air in wooden
shovels, when the wind blows away the chafF,
leaving only the grains ; however, this process
is always imperfect.

We were now in the government circle of
Daghestan,* the Thubal of the Jews, and Sar-
matia Asiatica of the Ancients, " Land of
Mountains." After skirting our little stream on
both sides for some time we came to a plateau
surrounded by most picturesque and wild-looking
hills.

We passed a village, Kumuk, where the
chief house was built on an isolated rock in
the centre. The appearance of the village, all
of mud, with a sort of open colonnade in
front of each house, the interior wall being
painted, in general, red, reminded us, we know
not why, of Medina Sidonia, in Andalusia.
Thence, over a horrible road, evidently made
solely by being driven upon, we reached an eleva-
tion from which we saw Temichanshura stretched

* It is said to contain 180,000 inhabitants, and 9,196 square
miles.

TEMICHANSHURA. 7 1

out before us. The large church, painted red
and green, standing out from all the houses,
and the only one visible, gave the town some-
what the appearance of a Swiss village. A
mud wall surrounds the whole town. In the
plain a few canvas tents were scattered about.

On entering the town by one of the gates,
our first care was to look out for lodgings,
when just as we were on the point of con-
cluding a bargain, a fine-looking Circassian
soldier came up and told us that rooms had
been prepared for us in a government house,
our arrival having been already announced. We
accordingly left our lodging-house keeper dis-
consolate, and were presently installed in some
rooms which had been left in exactly the same
condition as when the last occupant left them:
coats on the wall, books on the table, and
even a box of " capsules " lying about. We had
the run of four apartments, including a mode-
rate-sized ball-room. The politeness of all was
extreme. Monsieur SergiefF, the locum tenens^
being unfortunately laid up, another Circassian

72 bird's eye view.

officer called upon us, to know if we had
everything we wanted. We obtained our food
from the, so-called, "club," an establishment of
the officers in garrison here.

The day after our arrival we walked out of
the town to the top of a hill on the S.W.,
whence we obtained a splendid view of the
surrounding country. On our way we walked
through a cemetery, not over-well kept. Dwarf
oak constituted the principal vegetation. On the
S. rose the higher range of the Caucasus ; on
the plain before us lay the town, forming an
all but perfect parallelogram, the deficiency being
at the north-eastern extremity, where it is built
into a triangle. Though to all appearance per-
fectly level from our point of view, this is
raised considerably above the stream that we
had followed for five hours from our horse-
changing place. The church stands in the centre,
and there is a large square with arcaded shops
in front of it. The roofs present a most
variegated appearance. All the government
houses are painted green, and the others either

COMPLIMEISTARY VISIT. 73

brown or red. On the S. a few huts are
built outside the wall of circumvallation, one
side of which consists entirely of low barracks.
Many trees and poplars planted along some of
the streets give the town a cheerful aspect.
We found that our pedometer, which is quite
insensible to the progress of an ordinary civi-
lized carriage, advanced seven miles during
yesterday's jolting.

On the Sunday we found the open-air market
at the S.E. of the town thickly attended, the
staple commodity being gossip. A perfect hurri-
cane blowing. In the afternoon we paid a '
visit to the adjutant, who is the other occu-
pant of the large house we are in. As he
spoke no known language, we conversed by
means of Grazzini our servant, who engrossed
almost all the talk to himself, and was com-
pelled to sit down and partake of tea, the
obligatory accompaniment of every visit to a
Russian.

On the 5th of September, after a good deal
of preparation in the way of fastening our

74 LESGHIAN ESCORT.

luggage to our horses' backs, we started for
Kutishi, at half-past nine, A.M. Our cavalcade
consisted of ourselves and fourteen Lesghians,
given to us as an escort, not on account of
any danger, as the country is thoroughly trodden
down and pacified, but as a guard of honour.
They were dressed in white caftans (a bastard
species of frock coat), tall white Astrachan
hats, somewhat resembling, excepting in colour,
the familiar bearskin of the British grenadier,
and red capotes hung down over their shoulders.
Their little wiry horses were very ill kept, but
capital goers. The set would have driven an
English officer into desperation, such was their
slovenliness ; but, notwithstanding, their appear-
ance smacked strongly of wild romantic guerilla
warfare. We marched through the town with
an advanced guard of three " guerrilleros "
abreast. Next the commanding officer, the
same who had apprized us of our prepared
lodgings, then our two selves. The rest of the
escort, our servant, and the baggage, bringing
up the rear. Immediately upon starting our

THEIR TASTE FOR MUSIC. 75

escort set up a wild sort of war song, which
had the effect of bringing out most of the
population, who gazed with wonder at our cos-
tumes, not being accustomed to any others but
national dress or Russian uniforms. We are
bound to state that our "get-up" might have
created an equal sensation in St. James's-street !
These songs continued at intervals during the
march. One much resembled free variations on
" Buffalo Gals," and in another, rather melodious
one, the name of Schamyl was constantly repeated.
We are now in his country, and were told
that the events attending his last defence and
capture were being sung by these fellows, who,
on the whole, were rather inclined (as " de droit ")
to sympathise with their gallant countryman.
Our baggage caused us numerous detentions,
having a propensity to slip off the Cossack saddles
of the post horses. The first portion of the
journey lay over some monotonous black hills.
The women we saw, wore those garments that a
hen-pecked husband is said to make over to his
wife. Some of the younger ones were pretty.

76 CAUCASIAN PANORAMA.

with dark black eyes and hair guiltless of the
disfiguring " auricomous fluid."

In about four hours we reached Zengutai,
where a mosque is the principal place of worship.
We found that the commanding officer, who
seemed in a disconsolate state, (as well he might
be, having only himself to command,) spoke
French, and with the characteristic openhanded-
ness of the soldier had prepared a sumptuous
dinner for us. Leaving our host we passed
through Zengutai the lesser, and soon plunged
into the most romantic solitudes. Leaving the
road, (a bridle path, as we did not follow the cir-
cuitous carriage-way,) we gained a grassy peak,
whence we obtained a magnificent panoramic
view. We saw all the country we had tra-
versed, on the one hand ; the cultivated fields
on the plain spreading out before us in well-
marked lines, like so many vari-coloured ribbons.
On the left the Caspian Sea formed the boundary
in the far distance. Before us lay a dim blue
line of mountains, and behind us some pic-
turesquely escarped mountains hemmed-in our view.

URMAH. 77

Shortly after descending and regaining our
bridle path, we came upon a man with a species
of flageolet, whereupon our escort dismounted,
and two of them began to dance to a very shrill
tune, much resembling portions of a hornpipe.
The duo suggested reminiscences of the negro
" break down " and the gipsies' dance. The non-
dancers clapped their hands to the tune. Their
cheers were the regular " Hurrah " so well known
in the United Kingdom. After crossing an alter-
nation of hills and plains we reached Urmah,
when our baggage-horses were, after a consider-
able delay, changed. The houses here were all built
of limestone, that material being here more easily
obtainable than mud. The roofs all flat, and as
Urmah is built on the steep slope of a hill, one
house directly above the other, persons walking
in the upper streets appeared to be parading the
roofs of the houses below them. In this favoured
spot the fuel consists almost entirely of dried
cow-dung. We hence continued on by the light
of the full moon, which permitted a delightfully
hazy and indistinct view of the scenery. The

yS KUTISHI.

lofty but not yet snow-capped hills had not a
vestige of brushwood upon them. We now
passed several places where our narrow path led
along the sides of steep ravines, where " one false
step would have been destruction." This phrase,
or its equivalents, is used by every traveller in
every mountainous district, so we may as well
employ it also, though not to the purpose ! We
did not reach Kutishi till nigh 10*30 p.m., but
we found here also our arrival foreseen, and the
Commandant waiting for us. He could not
speak any language of ours, but the doctor of
the military post spoke a little German. In the
kindest manner, he insisted on placing his bed
and sitting-room at our disposal.

We had thus ridden forty-eight miles, at a jog-
trot, on our first day, and were very glad of the
English saddles we had conveyed with us. Here we
met an artist-officer, who was commissioned by the
Grand-Duke Michael (the governor-general of the
Caucasus) to execute for him drawings of all the
principal spots rendered famous by SchamyPs
heroic defence. We were fortunate enough to see

COLD.

79

those already finished. During the latter portion
of our ride we had to put on our greatcoats ; the
evening and the elevation combining to render the
temperature rather cool. The sitting-room was
hung all over with beautifully-worked fowling-
pieces. Our escort, or one or two of them,
were continually dashing out of their ranks at full
gallop, in front of us, to show off their horseman-
ship by executing the renowned " tour de force "
of picking up a small object from the ground
without dismounting, whilst at full gallop: un-
fortunately, the failures quite counterbalanced the
successes achieved. Our servant has a very vague
nation of geography. He is continually asking
us why such and such a thing is done in
" Persia," as if we were already there. Along
our road we observed many little square towers
of observation, now no longer of any use. Innu-
merable dogs who, silent during the day, render
night hideous by their incessant barking, greeted
us on our arrival. The last office of our
pedometer was to mark the jolting of the telega,
for we lost it during a gallop on the grass.

8o HADJEL MACHI.

All the officers in these parts appear to be
princes.

Early next morning we started again ; we saw
many eagles floating in the air high above our
heads. The rocks about appeared to be of some
alluvial deposit, with quantities of fossils cropping
out ; and further on many stone boulders lay
around, as circular as if just hewn for the cannon
of a Byzantine emperor. Shortly before reaching
Hadjel Machi, we passed an orchard of apple and
cherry trees. Some twenty file of soldiers pre-
sented arms to us as we marched in. The car-
riage road was very good ; two excellent stone
bridges. Here we noticed that the women wore
morocco slippers turned up at the toes, and a head
frontal embroidered in gold, the device resembling
Arabic letters. An ornamental drinking fountain,
with the crescent on the top, stood in the village.
A redoubt on a height commanding it. We now
rode through the wildest scenery imaginable, lofty
mountains, rising sheer above us, or descending
straight below us, according as our route led at
the foot, or higher up them, our road led us zig-

GOUNIB. 8 1

zagging up and down, till we got on to the side
of a deep ravine, which could not have been more
than a hundred yards across. On the side opposite
to us we saw some rocks resembling pillars, as
though the entrance to some great half-ruined
Egyptian Temple. We halted for luncheon about
2 P.M., just past some blasting operations that were
being carried on in order to widen the road.
The Tartar bread, baked in flat loaves about one
and a-half foot round and one inch thick, was very
nasty. The red wine here somewhat resembled
sour Valdepenas, the flavour of the skins in which
both are preserved being very perceptible in each.
Soon after emerging from the narrow portion of
the pass, we descried " Gounib " towering above us
in front. This mountain, isolated on all sides, and
only accessible (to the ordinary being) on one, was
the scene of Schamyl's supreme defence and of his
capture. We began to ascend it just as it was
getting dark, by a winding road, and in one hour,
at 7*30 P.M., reached our halting place — the adju-
tant's house. We passed through the military vil-
lage, on a email plain upon the mountain itself.

G

82 SCHAMYL,

A battalion is always quartered here. We found
everything ready for us, and after our night's rest
we made an excursion on horseback round the
place. Riding up a ravine for about an hour, we
reached SchamyPs village and last dwelling-place in
Daghestan. Here he, with a band of 600 devoted
followers, held the whole force of the Russian
empire at bay for three months ! Our guide, a
Lesghian in the Russian service, who had assisted
at the capture of the place — on which side he did
not inform us, though probably on the Russian —
was of opinion that if he ever should appear again
in this country a revolt would immediately break
out, notwithstanding the numbers of the Russian
army, which, practically, would render any such an
attempt abortive. The heroic struggle of Right
against Might must always command the respect
and admiration of all those who have nothing
to lose by espousing such a cause. The name
of Schamyl will go down to posterity as that
of a brave patriot. It is quite apart from the
question to argue that the country has benefited
by Russian rule : that is easily admitted, but

HIS SURRENDER. 83

the right and justice of a people defending their

ancient faith, their freedom, and their chief is

indefeasible. The village is in ruins, and the

rank weeds grow on the stone houses. An English

farm-labourer would turn up his nose at Schamyl's

house, which differed in no respect, excepting

its comparatively larger size, from the others. On

one side of an inner court-yard are the apartments

of his three wives ; his own occupy two storys.

About a quarter of a mile lower down the hill

is shown the spot where Prince Bariatinsky sat

on a flat stone to await the arrival of Schamyl,

after his surrender in his own house. Some birch

of stunted growth are planted around, and near,

a few willows, the greater number weeping for

their lord's ill fate. The Lesghian chief is now

located in the interior of Russia, and, in all other

respects but the loss of his freedom — an irreparable

one to such a spirit as his — is much better off than

when a chief in his own country. We saw these

spots on the sixth anniversary of his capture.

Continuing our ride for another hour, we

arrived at the spot where the Russian soldiers

G 2

84 SUMMIT OF GOUNIB.

climbed up the, to all appearance, perpendicular
rock, thus taking the unsuspecting Schamyl in the
rear. The feat performed here seems barely
possible, but one soldier having gained the summit
let down a rope to his comrades, and thus they
contrived to clamber up. Hence the view ex-
tended as far as the eye could see, in an endless
succession of mountain ranges of the greatest
variety of form. Turning off to the West we
ascended the highest part of " Gounib." On the
very summit some " Forget-me-nots " were grow-
ing, forming an appropriate memorial for preserva-
tion. White misty clouds obscured our view from
hence, so after halting for a short time, allowing
our horses to crop the luxuriant grass around, we
commenced our descent, skirting round the edge of
the mountain for some eight miles, until we got
into our old path again. The flora is very pretty,
though there is hardly any flower here that does
not grow in English fields. On the plateau, upon
which stands the military village, we saw some
soldiers drilling. Many of them are encamped in
tents. The native population is very small, almost

THE GARRISON. 85

all their houses having been pulled down by the
conquerors for greater security. On returning, we
were informed that, the general being absent and
the colonel ill, the officer in command was waiting
to receive us at dinner ; so we went down to the
barracks and introduced ourselves to him and his
wife. She spoke French, and indulged us with
" Ah ! che la morte " on a piano which had not
been tuned for two years, and, considering the
circumstances, was very good, not more than half
the notes being utterly ruined. We talked and
looked at each other, (the lady much admiring W.'s
knickerbockers,) and smoked, our hostess joining us,
for two hours and a-half, when we had supper,
which is generally taken " heavy " at about i o p.m.
This included toadstools in vinegar, and Barclay
and Percins {sic) brown stout.

Much mineral wealth lies, in all probability, con-
cealed amongst the mountains, as lead, copper, and
sulphur are continually found in this neighbourhood,
though the veins are not worked as yet. A care-
ful mineralogical survey would, no doubt, reveal
the hidden capabilities of the country ; and, unless

86 NEW ESCORT.

a hopeless but fierce revolt of the inhabitants
should break forth, will, it is to be hoped, soon
be carried out. The dwellers in one village can
frequently not understand the language spoken by
those living in the neighbouring hamlet. The
variety of languages is something bewildering;
Baron Haxthausen is, perhaps, the best authority
on a point about which we know nothing.

Next morning we started at 7, with a new escort
of irregular cavalry, this time arrayed in black
dresses with yellow capotes and black skin caps ;
most of them wear their cartridge-cases with beau-
tiful Niello work to the tops of each. This is the
peculiar work of Daghestan, from whence it has
entered Russia. Their pistols were carried in
richly embroidered holsters. Skirting the road for
some time, we turned to the N. W. passing many
herds of goats; most of these animals had long
horns that twisted around themselves in a quaint
fashion. We passed a small encampment, where
a coal mine is indolently worked, and a shaft had
been sunk for sulphur, which is procured in plenty
— the coal is very indifferent. After halting for

KHUNSAKH. 87

luncheon we rode through a chasm cleft by nature
and a small stream, in the rock, which appeared to
tower at least 1500 feet above us ; the sides were
so near together that sometimes we could not see
the sky. Of course the echo was great, and our
escort made the most of it during the 300 yards'
passage. Coming upon a small river, we skirted it
for some time, until we crossed it by a rough wooden
bridge, with an arch ingeniously contrived to make
every passenger get off his horse before crossing ;
thence we ascended a wild and peculiarly stefp
rock, and after reaching the summit, found our-
selves on a plateau in a sort of valley extending to
Khunsakh, our resting-place for the night. The
rock was of a friable nature here, and the road,
therefore, tolerably well made, except when con-
sisting of loose round pebbles very trying to our
horses' feet and our own balance.

We saw our destination long before we reached
a mud wall, in front of which we dismounted, the
whole population (not large) assembling to view
the unaccustomed strangers. We then entered (by
a large wooden gate) a court-yard surrounded

88 TLOCK.

by low mud buildings, the Russian official habita-
tions, and were shown into a room at the farthest
side of the court, where the only furniture con-
sisted of a table, two chairs, and one bedstead in a
rickety condition. The floor very damp. After
some time, an old tin bread-basket was brought in
(to serve as a bason,) and a camp-bedstead. Gounib
towers away on the south-east, here not seeming
so isolated as in reality, from our looking over the
hills in front of it. To-day we passed some of the
smallest cattle we have ever seen.

Riding out again next morning we followed a
very level road, on a mountain ledge, for some
time, till we came to an abrupt descent, where we
had to dismount and have our horses led. Ascend-
ing again, we skirted a valley, ourselves high up,
till we came to a hill of white marble, on whose
flat and long apex we rode, being able to see into
two valleys at once, one on each side. Coming to
the end we descended by a path still steeper than
before, and soon arrived at Tlock. We were con-
ducted through twisting lanes between stone walls,
to a rather grander house than the others, that, pro-

A LESGHIAN INTERIOR. 89

bably, of the principal, if not the oldest, inhabitant.
This gave us an excellent opportunity of studying
the interior economy of a Lesghian house ; with
which intention we immediately proceeded to poke
our noses into all sorts of uncomfortable places.
Through the outer door we had entered a court-yard
about 20 feet by 30, around which were built the
kitchen stables, and other warehousing rooms; a
colonnade of wood in front ; the walls themselves
of the rough unhewn stones that lie about the
mountains. On one side, above the kitchen, rose
the second story, with an open-air colonnade in
front; under this were our rooms. This second
story is exceptional, as the majority of houses have
only one, and all have flat roofs. Hay and peaches
cut in halves, lay on this one to dry in the sun,
when ready the hay is stored under the colonnade,
or perhaps verandah, in front of our rooms. The
court-yard is uncovered. We had not been installed
ten minutes when we were informed that another
place had been prepared for us, so out we marched
bag and baggage, but no trumpets blowing as none
were handy. We were led again through the vil-

90 GRAZZINl'S TASTE.

lage, out of it, and into a magnificent forest of
walnut trees, looking old and majestic enough to
have descended from nuts left by the flood, when
retiring from Ararat and the neighbourhood !
Indeed we found this a perfect oasis amongst the
mountains. We next came to a splendid orchard
of every kind of fruit tree ; Indian corn growing
amidst all. Presently we came to a low mud hut,
without any window, where we found a carpet and
bed spread for us, and a leg of mutton judiciously
hung up in a corner. However, on objecting that
we preferred our former halting-place, we were
marched back again. We then found the inhabi-
tants of the neighbouring houses congregated on
their roofs to look at us, as we sat in the verandah
eating excellent peaches.

The leg of mutton was cut into kabobs * for
dinner, cooked in their own fat, and vinegar, exactly
resembling the way of roasting pork in the south
of Spain. Grazzini here informed us that had he
known the voyage we were going to undertake he
never would have come with us — would even

* Small pieces of meat, roasted as described.

HAIR DYE, 91

rather have remained with his wife ! We find
him an excellent and ready servant, and honesty
itself. The doors here are four feet high, and the
windows in proportion. Our host is a rough-
looking Lesghian, with a grizzly beard, which he
has tinged a bright red colour, the custom of many
of his countrymen, — and others !

Many of the tombs that we passed are square
upright stones with a cavity at the bottom, in which
is the inscription. Several have long poles stuck
by their sides, — a succedaneum for the spear of the
chief whose tomb it is.

( 9^ )

CHAPTER III.

On the 9th of September we started and rode along
a black-looking stream for the greater portion of
our way. Swallow-tailed butterflies are the pre-
vailing variety, and yellow ones with black tips to
their wings. The end of our journey took us near
some slight hills; the dark blue sky above us showed
off the rugged rocks around us to great advantage.
In the middle of the day we arrived at Botlick, the
chosen home of fever, though njohy — it would be
difficult to conjecture. It lies in an exactly similar
situation to our morning's starting point, which is
entirely exempt from this disease, between rocky
hills at the bottom of a valley, and has as many or
more walnut and other fruit trees growing around
it. The vines are most beautiful, festooning tall
apple trees up to their very tops.

We had started early intending to pass this
place without stopping, but we were told that
the time of fever was just over by a week, so

FEVER QUARTERS. 93

finding agreeable quarters in the officer's house,
we remained ; the sun was certainly very hot in
the middle of the day. Our Lesghian officer,
who has accompanied us from Temichanshura
as our guide and interpreter, (the natives under-
standing no Russian,) here quitted us, as we
enter another circle of government. At a small
village, on our way hither, the inhabitants turned
out, offering us fruit, cold roast chickens, and strong
water of some description. The time of fever here
is June, July, and half August ; it attacks, to a
certainty, every person who remains three days here.
The fort is in a lovely spot, on a low hill in the
centre of a valley, surrounded on every side by
bold, lofty rocks. The Commandant, like almost
all the others in Daghestan, is very wisely absent,
having given himself leave. In the cool of the
evening we wandered with our three military hosts
into an orchard, where we eat peaches, grapes, and
plums to our hearts' content. As none of the
officers could talk anything but Russian, we passed
the evening smoking cigarettes, and carrying on an
animated conversation in detached words, occa-

94 A LONG RIDE.

sionally summoning Grazzini, when a more knotty
point than usual arose. Next morning we started
early, having a long day before us ; we immediately
began to ascend a very steep hill, forming the
boundary between two circles of goverment. This
occupied us three and a half hours in the ascent.
From its summit we saw the higher Caucasus, clad
in eternal snows, to the south. Riding on over
comparatively level ground, we came to a charming
little lake with intensely blue transparent water.
We judged it to be about five miles round. The
treeless nature of its banks somewhat detracts
from its beauty. Our horses went in some distance
to drink. Unfortunately our noble steed took it into
its head to lie down here, a proceeding which,
though no doubt affording intense gratification to
itself, was by no means so pleasant to its rider.

After some time we began to descend through a
valley enclosed by lofty granite rocks, upon which
the most luxuriant herbage was growing and being
cut down in every practicable spot, our road
became narrower and narrower, and altogether exe-
crable, consisting chiefly in the precipitous bed of

VIDENE. 95

a mountain torrent, running down the gorge we
were now in. Soon brushwood began to clothe
the sides of the ravine; and small birch trees,
together with huge ferns hung on the damp rocks.
The vegetation became grander and grander, until
at length we could fancy ourselves in an English
park. Our path led us through so many windings
that we could never see a hundred yards in front,
and thus every change in the vegetation burst upon
us by degrees. Having ridden over a treeless waste
in the morning, we now, towards evening, were
threading a forest glade. The torrent increased in
volume as we proceeded, and we were continually
fording it. Night set in at a quarter to eight,
while we were yet on our march, and our very
ragged escort, who did not know the way very
well, got off their horses to perform evening
prayer ; mounting again, we rode on in such dark-
ness that we could hardly see, the tails of the
horses in front of us serving as a guide. How-
ever, at 9 P.M., we reached Videne, our destination
and a Russian encampment, surrounded by a
wooden palisade, of which the gates were shut at

96 GRAZZINI AGAIN !

night, so we had to knock at one of them for a
considerable time, and only got in with some
difficulty, the guard evidently taking us for a
party of Tchetchens come to a night attack.

On getting in we rode to the commandant,
Colonel GolachekofPs (we apologize if it is
misspelt,) house, where we met with the cus-
tomary cordial reception, here doubly grateful to
us after our long ride. Unfortunate Grazzini had
to sleep out all night, as the escort of our luggage
refused to proceed. On arriving next morning, he
remarked that if ever he returned alive to Moscow
" sara un miracolo ! " Videne lies in an extensive
plain, surrounded on all sides but one by well-
wooded mountains.

After our night's rest we walked out in com-
pany with a Polish officer, who spoke French, and
said that he had had no other opportunity of
speaking it for five years, the time he had been
quartered here. We walked along the plain until
we came to the fossees dug by Schamyl to defend
his aoul or village against the Russians, before his
final retreat across the mountains to Gounib. After

A BALL AT VIDENE. 97

the third comes the spot on which stood his own
house ; here the Princess Chavchadazy and two
other Russian ladies were imprisoned; but no
traces are to be seen either of this or of the village
around, the rank vegetation having completely-
covered them and their ruins. Buffalo were lazily
cropping the grass, perhaps in Schamyl's dining-
room ; wild hops were growing about. Dinner at
2 P.M., and then the fashion is to rest for two
hours. Our colonel's amiable weakness is " sweets ;"
at least a dozen boxes of bon-bons and dried fruits
lie about his bedroom which he kindly turned
out of to accommodate us.

It being the Emperor Alexander's name-day, a
ball was given in the officers' clubhouse, to which
we drove in a huge sort of brougham, with a
strong flavour of the dust of ages about it. Ar-
riving at 8 P.M. we found a moderate sized ballroom,
decorated with fir branches and festoons of wild
hops hanging from the tin chandeliers; a billiard
and cardroom, and a library, are also here. The
portrait of the reigning sovereign occupied the
place of honour on the wall. Our Polish exile

H

98 THE COMPANY.

received and conducted us to the room, where we
found some eighty officers already congregated,
each with more or less decorations on their breasts.
The ladies, mostly officers' wives, mustered some
thirty strong. The force quartered here amounts
to 4,000 men, and thus all their officers were
present. The wife of the regimental doctor, a
Georgian, was perhaps the only pretty person in
the room — dark complexion. We made the ac-
quaintance of an officer commanding natives,
whose father was a Frenchman, and who informed
us that he had not talked his paternal language for
fourteen years ! A waltz was played by the mili-
tary band soon after we arrived. We were lucky
enough to be introduced to a lady who did not
dance what are in London called " round dances,"
and, then, to another just as the music ceased ;
neither of them spoke any language, so it was
just as well that we could not dance with
them. Quadrilles and Lancers were the other
dances; in these chairs were brought out for the
dancers to sit on when their turn was over, the
ladies gracefully folding their arms, or munching

OFF AGAIN ! 99

peaches whilst standing up in the figure. The
whist played here was of an astonishing nature;
no trumps allowed ; the dealer always threw his
hand on the table, as in dummy whist, and the
highest card of the suit led, invariably took the
trick ; more than fifty points could be made in one
hand, their value six a penny. Supper was served
in a large tent, open to the air, which now became
rather chilly. The garden around decorated with
coloured lamps. The Emperor's health was drunk
much past midnight.

We set off in the morning in an old rattletrap
with four horses, that the colonel kindly lent us.
Passed many plantations of sunflowers, and elder
shrubs six feet high and more, lining all the road.
We soon emerged from the brushwood-covered
low hills on to the plain ; here our ofF-horse ma-
naged to tumble under the carriage which was
stopped, and we got out, whereupon the other
three horses bolted, running the heavy carriage
over the stomach of their unfortunate comrade,
who, however, rather seemed to like it, as he then
got up and trotted after the others, which were

H 2

lOO GROSNA.

luckily stopped in due course opposite a small fort.
Here we halted for some time to rest the horses
after their escapade. An additional fort of stone
was in process of construction. We found the
thistle now flourishing along our road, only occa-
sionally relieved by a field of maize. The houses
in the plain have thatched, slanting roofs. We
crossed the Argoon on a long wooden bridge, and
saw several battalions of soldiers exercising beyond.
At sunset we drove into Grosna, a large village,
but with much unutilized space enclosed within
the boundary ditch. After driving over a stream,
the Sunjan, we drove back again to find the
commandant's house ; here a lady, who was stand-
ing on the doorstep, and purported to be that
commander's wife, informed us there was no room,
and advised a trial of the clubhouse. Following
her advice, we drove thither, but finding prepara-
tions for a grand ball going on, we had to make a
third effbrt for house-room, which we at last
obtained by going to a shop opposite; we found
that the proprietor had travelled down the Volga
in the same steamer as ourselves, and Grazzini imme-

TCHETCHENS' DRESS. lOI

diately claimed a cordial acquaintance with him,
which so far affected his tender bosom, that he
procured us two dirty rooms at the back for some
exorbitant sum.

Having again got into " postal districts," we sent
Grazzini off to engage a telega for us for next
morning, when we again took to that jolting
vehicle, this time in only one, with all our bag-
gage in it ; our trunks were our seats for the next
thousand odd miles. Passing many bullock-carts
along our flat road, we changed horses twice, and
our carriage once, as one of the wheels came ofi^,
leaving itself and ourselves in the road before
arriving at Slipsowsky, where we found a fair
going on ; so leaving our cart at the posthouse we
walked thither, and found a thriving trade going
on in leather and drink.

The Tchetchens have a pretty dress ; the usual
cartridge-cases on the breast, with red tips ; then
red shirts edged with silver, and displaying a white
under-shirt; red morocco boots, and the tunic
black or white, with a black or white Astrachan
cap tipped with red to correspond. Getting in

I02 VLADIKAVKAS.

again, we drove over low hillocks to Nazrah,
passing numerous round tumuli, and a cavalry en-
campment, at least 2,000 horses strong, with no
shelter for the quadrupeds and wretched tents for
the bipeds. The thick mud dashed plentifully
into our faces as we spun along. At Nazrah we
slept (more or less) in a private house, but the
dismal bowlings of many dogs sadly disturbed us.
At first we could get nothing but eggs, and they
were all bad, but after great struggles a fowl was
discovered and cooked by Grazzini. Rough
wooden look-out towers are attached to each
village.

Next day, proceeding again through a rain-
storm, we changed horses once at a fortified station
containing the dirtiest room we ever saw. Then
fording a small stream, we observed that villages
on the plain present the appearance of a large
collection of haystacks, as the thatched roofs looked
like so many of them. We reached Vladikavkas
in three hours. It is surrounded by a low stone
wall, pierced for muskets, with martello towers at
intervals. The post-house here is dignified by the

OUR HOTEL. 103

name of hotel, where sheets and towels are extras
to be charged for per diem. The town covers a
vast extent of country, but principally m the shape
of gardens within the walls. We are surrounded
by hills, except on the East. Walking out, we
came upon the bazaar here — a long straggling
street of shops, with nothing remarkable for sale.
The motto appears certainly to be " Nothing like
Leather," if one may judge from the quantity of
it exposed for sale. The Terek river flows through
the town, a noisy stream. A small public garden
descends from the main street to its bank. The
trees are planted so thickly as to afford a delightful
shade in hot weather. There is a wooden pavilion
in the centre, where concerts are given. On the
right of our hotel a badly-kept allee runs along
the bank of the shallow river, which is crossed a
little further on by an excellent iron and stone
bridge. Standing upon this and looking down the
stream, here rapidly flowing, the red tiled roofs of
the houses intermingling with the many gardens
and tall trees present a very pretty appearance.
Some of the houses are very well built. Of the

IC4 MISTS.

number is not our hotel. It is a great straggling
building of brick stuccoed over, two storys high,
with a wooden verandah running along the interior
side towards the post stables. The eating, however,
is very tolerable, and the wine good. The roads
(streets) are shocking, and appear to be always the
last things thought of throughout the Russian
empire. Thick mists cover the surrounding hills,
except when dispelled by a cursory burst of sun-
shine, which discloses a vista of snow-clad moun-
tains rising above the lower ones near us. The
Governor Boris MelikofF returned from a short
absence to-day. We saw him in an open caleche
galloping along, with a large escort of native
cavalry, his baggage, to all appearance, consisting
in half a portmanteau following in a telega !
Some of the natives wear most astounding reddish
felt hats conical in form, with broad turned-up
brims. The noise of the stream is distinctly heard
from our rooms here. We find the quails excel-
lent, and generally dine upon some of them.

On the 15th we strolled out on a nasty Scotch-
misty day, ^through inch deep mud, in a south-

deliberation! 105

easterly direction. We passed a small Christian ceme-
tery, badly kept, and Mohammedan tomb near it —
a square stone enclosure surrounded by a ditch,
with two short wooden columns surmounted
by enormous turbans also carved in wood, and
overshadowed by a poplar, a walnut tree, and a
weeping willow. Then we came to a narrow
country road which took us through a perfect
jungle of nettles, dwarf elders, and thistles, to
where brick kilns appeared to flourish. Some
distance further we ascended the nearest hill to
look panoramically at Vladikavkas, which we found
very irregularly built, and with the usual diversity
of opinion with regard to the best colour for a roof.
We on returning engaged in serious deliberation
as to the expediency of visiting Piatigorsk, the
Baden-Baden of the Caucasus. We duly weighed
the pros and cons ; the former being ; that we
ought to see the fashionable mineral-water baths
of South Russia, and that the highest mountain in
Europe, Mount Elbrouz, is to be seen from it. The
"cons" being; its distance out of our road, 130 miles,
having to return the same way, the expense, and

Io6 A CASUAL ACQUAINTANCE.

that the season was already over. On a division,
the numbers were- — for going, 2 ; against o ; so we
accordingly set off in our usual vehicle, this time
with very little baggage.

Before crossing the Ardon, at a village of the
same name, we traversed several rapid streams, but
always on bridges. This village, one of the largest
and best built we had lately seen, seemed to be
entirely inhabited by soldiers. Whilst we were
waiting for fresh horses, a lumbering old (evidently
European) travelling carriage with four horses
abreast, came up, and out stepped a Circassian with
a little boy ; our astonishment was great when
presently, hearing us talk English, the apparent
Caucasian came up and addressed us fluently in
our own language. He turned out to be a well-
informed Russian who had travelled much, especi-
ally in America and England, and now was living
in Circassia in Government employ. Amongst
other things he told us that he was about visiting
a curious temple high up in the mountains, that he
had heard was raised ages ago by the natives, to the
Spirits of the neighbouring range! We hoped he

CIRCASSIA. 107

would not be disappointed, and then drove on,
passing several tumuli ; the road quite level, indeed
sometimes we drove simply through the grass,
getting grievously jolted. We observed the usual
Caucasian Simon Stylites, on the top of his wooden
watch-pillar in front of each village.

After five hours' drive we came to a gap in the
low mountains, and, emerging again, were on
another large plain. Here a singular tube-like
building, used as a watch-tower, was standing,
looking very like an ornamented English manu-
facturing-district chimney. The sides of the
mountains forming the gap were perfectly covered
as with a dense matting of wild hops and vines —
a charming scene. As if to contrast with it, the
half-eaten skeletons of some horses and oxen lay
about along the road. On the north the Kiare
river wound along, but not through our mountain
passage. In a short time we arrived at the Melka,
which forms the boundary between the Tchetchen
and Circassian districts. Here our scanty allowance
of baggage was examined carefully by a soldier, in
search of tobacco. We halted at dusk at Proslai-

Io8 HOOPOOIDS.

naia, and slept in the common room of the post,
as a small house used as an hotel close by
was crowded beyond the limits of even Russian
endurance.

At the changing station, we had bought two phea-
sants for as many shillings ; of course these stood us
in good stead by way of dinner. From that station
we drove upon one of the best roads we have seen
in Russia, Macadamised and equal to a French
Chaussee. As if to tantalise us, it only lasted for
about an hour, and then our road was worse than
usual. We have apparently entered the climate of
pumpkins, as they are sold about in great quanti-
ties. We are following the line of telegraph from
Odessa to Tiflis. It is, to all appearance, newly
erected, as the date is carefully carved on each post.
The wires serve as a grateful resting-place for
countless birds, including small Hoopooids (?) and
pretty jays with blue breasts and green feathers,
besides quantities of the hawk tribe. We saw a
pack of doves in most dangerous proximity to
these their arch enemies. The road we had found
good, is kept up by a toll, exacted on leaving

PIATIGORSK. 109

Vladi ; the ticket we then received, on payment of
something more than double the proper charge,
was taken from us on crossing the bridge over
the Melka, at a toll-gate just resembling a German
one.

On continuing next day, we passed many white-
painted landmarks, resembling exactly an enlarged
edition of our pillar posts. These are evidently
intended to point out the road in winter, v^hen
snow is on the ground. However, the telegraph
posts, which conscientiously follow every winding
of the road, must have entirely superseded them.
At length, after jolting about in the most heart-
rending manner, we reached Piatigorsk, " the
Baden of the East," at 5 p.m. On approaching,
we came suddenly to a valley sunk in the plain and
formed by the action of some almost antediluvian
river now reduced to a small stream. The town,
which we could not see as yet, is situated on the
north slope of this sunken valley. Before reaching
it four or five isolated mountains appear, the last
spurs of the Caucasus detached from the paternal
range. From hence there is, we believe, almost a

IIO "the BADEN OF THE EAST ! "

dead level all the way to the Baltic. The town is
so situated that none of it is seen until within
twenty yards of the first house, as it nestles on
the southern flank of a mountain rising some 2,000
feet above it, and sheltering it from the North and
East. On entering, we passed the usual amount
of shabby wooden huts, and then came on the
decent houses. We are in an hotel kept by an
Italian Jew of the name of Carotto — Hebrew prices.
It is a roughly-cemented stone house of two
storys, with pretty good rooms and civilised ap-
pliances, but no sheets. Opposite this, on a little
slope, stands a house built in modern-English-
watering-place style — Bastard Tudor, answering to
the " desirable villa residences " stuck up in a
house-agent's shop. We discovered afterwards
that it belonged to a Mr. Upton, the Sebastopol
Englishman ! More information we cannot give.
The best Caucasian wines are pressed at Kahetie,
near Tiflis, where there are most extensive vineyards.
The morning of the i8th turning out rainy, dis-
appointed our hopes of seeing Elbrouz on that day.
We however sallied out. The mud being something

ITS CURIOSITIES. Ill

too awful, we went along the boulevard in front
of our hotel. It is tolerably well kept, but the
trees are young, — as in everything else, that is a
fault that soon rectifies itself. Entering some
jewellers' shops here, we inspected the lovely
Caucasian belts, and niello silver work, only re-
gretting that we had not the fortunes of several
nabobs to buy up the whole of the shops with.
Walking up the gully, we passed the library and
reading-rooms, near which an iron plate with a ditto
inscription commemorates the only ascent of Mount
Elbrouz, some years ago; then into the garden
leading up to the pump-room on the elevation.
In this garden are some very curious old monu-
ments : one like a semi-Egyptian human figure,
with its hands folded over the breast, a sort of
drinking-horn in the right, and below on the
pedestal the sports of the chase rudely carved.
The pump-room we found an oblong stuccoed
building, with its open colonnade in front, and two
rooms — one at each wing, the right-hand one con-
taining the spring. We entered the deserted halls,
and woke up a solitary soldier, who gave us some of

112 ITS SPRINGS.

the water to taste. We found it like Seltzer, with
a decided dash of rotten egg, the basis being partly
sulphuretted hydrogen ; but we are not analytical
chemists. Then walking out along the colonnade,
which opens on to the slope down to the town,
we sat down in the opposite room on leather divans,
wooden benches in the centre. The springs are said
to be very efficacious in curing rheumatism and
affections of that description. The principal bath-
rooms are on one side. The situation is very
charming ; green trees and little bowers all around,
and a good view. The inhabitants are Kabardians
here. They are building a church very much on the
model of St. Saviour's at Moscow, in white stone
which is obtained in large quantities in the neigh-
bourhood. The Russians appear to delight in magni-
ficent superfluous churches, whilst utterly neglecting
the roads. The cemetery lies on the south side of the
town, a low stone wall around, and a small church
in the midst of the tombs. A solitary mountain,
rising some 40 #o feet to the west, is very picturesque,
forming a sharp cone, with two lesser satellites of
the same shape half-way up it at each side.

KISLOVODSK. 113

The next morning being tolerably fine, we took
advantage of the last trip of the omnibus to go to
Kislovodsk, another bath some twenty-seven miles
distant. We drove along a plain that rose gradu-
ally the whole way, till it finally merged into low
mountains, between which we found our watering
place situated. An allee of poplars, some quarter
of a mile long, leads to the pump-room, the first, or
last house in the town. A gentleman of the
Hebrew persuasion, the only other passenger besides
ourselves and a decayed subaltern, observed during
our drive that there was nothing in the rest of the
world to equal this. However, he had probably
never been out of Piatigorsk before. The room in
which the springs bubble up with great vigour at
one end, is a long covered walk, wall at one side,
colonnade on the other. A few well-dressed ladies
and some officers were walking about here. These
stared considerably at us being, probably, the only
Englishmen who had ever drank the waters here.
The ferruginous springs bubble up in a large well
some twenty feet round. Procuring a glass tied to

a string, we let it down, and found them to taste

I

114 THE GARDENS.

again like strong Seltzer, but of less decayed egg than
at Piatigorsk. They are said to be very efficacious
to debilitated constitutions. There is yet a third
watering-place near, yclept Isslavodsk. To one
of these three all Russian officers quartered in the
Caucasus during the summer and off duty take
their wives, if they have any, and themselves if
not. Leaving the room, we got into a very
nicely laid-out garden. Following the course of a
clear mountain rill up a valley for about a mile,
the shade delightful, we mounted an eminence
whence the whole could be surveyed ; and we
found the native town situated on another slope of
the hills, well separated from the swell part. Re-
turning and sitting down, to await the return journey
of our omnibus, we observed a Russian officer sit
down on a bench opposite, then gradually draw-
ing closer to us taking all the seats on his way, and
at length locating himself on our bench. He was
evidently intent on addressing us, so we looked un-
conscious, until he presently uttered the cabalistic
words, " How are you ? " Thinking that he had,
perhaps, taken us for interesting patients undergo-

inquisitorial! 115

ing a course of Kislovodsk water, and had kindly-
enquired after our healths, we answered, " Pretty
well, thank you. How are you?" However,
this did not seem to be the satisfactory answer, as
presently came the other question "Whom are
you ?" Now this was a thorough " argumentum
ad hominem," so we ventured the evasive response
that we came from Vladicavkas, which contented
our inquisitive friend for the time being. How-
ever, after we had got into our omnibus, in which
he was also going, and which was now quite full,
he once again inquired " What business is it ?" We
entirely satisfied him by saying " House breaking ! ''
In the morning we had passed the freshly skinned
carcase of a horse ; at 5 p.m. we again passed its
skeleton on the same spot, magpies and dogs having
done the rest.

20th. At length, after the sky had been over-
clouded for five consecutive days, the sun shone
out brilliantly at dawn, and we saw magnificent
Elbrouz rising into a sharp snowclad cone from
our point of view, far above the other, also snow-
topped mountains. It is more than fifty miles off.

I 2

I 1 6 AGREEABLE DRIVES.

The clouds assembled again before we started on
our return journey, our only adventures being,
bolted with on two stages, and having drunken
isvodskys (Russian, we believe, for drivers) twice,
of course for the longest stages. We discovered this
day to be a church festival, which caused this exu-
berance of spirits on the part of our drivers but
not on ours. A third driver, more sober than the
rest, insisted on standing up, waving his cap, and
shouting at his horses to make them gallop. We
passed a station called Soldatsky because it was
the only one on the whole road where we did not
see a single soldier near, and stopped the night at
the station, Preschiskaya, where the pheasants were
to be got. The only room was a large one, with
a division, effected by a thin hanging ; so we gave
up one part to Grazzini, and took the other our-
selves. The window was imperfect, indeed, only
consisting of one shutter, the other having decayed
long since. To remedy this, the oldest piece of felt we
ever saw was brought in on a pole, (nobody daring
to touch it,) and leant against the open window.
After we had just fallen to sleep, a cat thought she

ROADS again! 117

would like to examine the strangers, or perhaps
what they had had for dinner. Moving just then,
we caused such a panic in the feline breast that
she hurriedly bolted through the window, carrying
this piece of felt along with her and smashing the
other shutter ; so the window was open for the
rest of the night, to let in a vast amount of rain
which fell most furiously. In the morning no
better, so we put on our waterproofs, and in a
short time our telega and ourselves resembled a
huge mass of mud. We rather regretted that we
could not make a sensation by driving thus round
Hyde Park Corner. We passed a lot of soldiers
smoking round a large fire kindled in the centre of
some waggons containing cartridges ! We are in
a position to aver that the road between one of the
principal towns and the principal watering-place of
the Caucasus is, like most roads in Russia, a dis-
grace to a semi-barbarous nation. We except the
the three miles after the Melka, which are a credit
to the same. This was constructed by soldiers.

( ii8 )

CHAPTER IV.

On the 27th we got off at 10*30 after some
trouble, and drove up the mountain gorge leading
towards Tiflis, which gets gradually narrower and
narrower. A dense bank of clouds hanging over the
mountains. The post-houses are excellently built
now. After the first station we passed a fortress
commanding a bifurcation of our defile. We kept
the north bend. The Astrachan caps are worn
very low now — indeed, sometimes the head-gear
only consists of a circular piece of skin with long
hair hanging down all round the head, imparting
the appearance of having very unkempt locks to
the wearer; felt pork-pie hats also obtain. The
natives all look very cold and frost-bitten. Some
of the physiognomies are not so sharp-looking as
in Daghestan. At the second station four horses
were attached to our telega, which we now have
to change at every one — a great nuisance, as the

GEORGIA. I 1 9

loading and tying the baggage always takes some
time. Shortly after, we passed a fort built in
mediaeval style, with Saracenic buttresses, but
quite modern. Here was a toll-gate, where we
delivered our ticket taken at Vladi, and we now
entered the province of Georgia.* The clouds
now lifted occasionally, giving us glimpses of
glorious snow mountains above us. However,
much of the snow had evidently only just fallen.
We now entered the defile of Dariel ; the road
good, and soldiers mending any ruined portions.
We were following the Terek stream, here only a
mountain torrent ; one or two very small patches
the only visible cultivation.

At 5 P.M. we reached Cazbek. Here we were
surprised to find the best hotel since leaving Mos-
cow. The Government has built this and some
other stations for the accommodation of travellers,
and the prices, extremely moderate, were according
to tariff. The eating was good, and we enjoyed
the luxuries of iron bedsteads and spring mattresses.

* Iberia of Romans, Gog of the Hebrews, and the Colchidis
of Democritus and Eratosthenes.

1 20 CAZBEK.

The cold IS sensibly felt, but not so much as to call
for a fire, though there are iron stoves' in each room.
A very neat little red sandstone Armenian church
graces this small village. In front is a Gothic mo-
numental cross, two horse-shoe arches, supported on
three pillars on each sid€ ; behind, a belfry in the
same style. On the summit of a mountain just
under the lee of Cazbek, which rises, covered with
eternal snow, in front of our post-hotel, stands
a small, probably Armenian, church with another
belfry. The height of Casbek is given at about
17,380 feet, but there seems to be considerable
doubt as to the relative heights of mountains in
this part of the world.

Next morning the clouds had disappeared, en-
abling us to see the snow-clad summits on all sides
of us — we could not, however, discover any glaciers.
The incline up which we were driving is so gentle,
up to the very last five miles after the first station,
that one hardly realises the immense height of the
pass, 7000 German feet. Small patches of snow lay
about but not on our road. When the culminating
point of the Pylae Caucasia is reached, then,

ENGLISH PRODUCTS. 121

indeed, the descent on the other side into Asia is
rapid. The Kill on the left of the pass is called by
some German geographers the Kreuzberg, as here
was erected a small cross, marking the confines of
Europe and Asia. The road down the steep in-
cline is excellently well engineered. Some way down,
the hills appear generally composed of bad slate.
The telegraph, which is adapted even into some
of the post-houses, lined the whole road we have
come. The snowy peaks now disappeared gradually,
none being visible near us after the first station
down the South water shed. At one of the stations
there were some wretched little shops, in which,
curiously enough, the chief commodity on sale was
" Frend's double stout," and German matches, made
at Vienna for the English market, with the re-
markable lines, " If you want a light, I'll shine so
bright," printed on the etiquette. In the humblest
post-houses we generally found English crockery-
ware, the willow pattern largely predominating.

The scenery now lost in wild grandeur but gained
in peaceful charm, cultivation assumed the upper
hand, and elsewhere brushwood coppices began to

122 ARMENIAN RUINS.

encroach on forest trees. Turning off to the right
we followed the vale of some river, all down hill
to Ananoor, where we stop the night ; the post-
house not so good or so large as that at Cazbek,
but still a glimpse of Paradise to the stations on other
routes. A gay-coloured (probably Armenian) church
was in course of building at the station before this ;
the cross on the top golden, the cupola dark blue,
the pedestal of this a cream colour, the under part
light blue, and the octagonal roof with conical points
also cream colour. The beasts of draught
appear generally to be two Bulgarian bullocks
(buffalo) in the shafts and two oxen in front. The
horses we got were not by any means invariably
excellent. Above our halting-place rises a picturesque
old Armenian convent or monastery. The weather-
beaten walls, as much intended to keep out the
attacker as to keep in the monks or nuns, run
slantingly down the side of the hill on which the
convent is built, and the church rises at the highest
point of the enclosure. A few ruined castles,
scattered along the road at points easily defensible,
give a look of romance to the scene which even
enhances its natural beauty.

GEORGIAN ARCHITECTURE. 1 23

Shortly after Ananoor, we left the torrent we had
skirted, and turned up a branch gorge rather
westerly, then mounting a few miles until we came
to a point whence we could see an endless suc-
cession of undulating valleys, their soil fertility
itself; near the next station we passed, at some
distance, a most flourishing village, all the land
around being arable. Still descending gradually we
crossed the broad stream of the Kur, the ancient
Cyrus, at the last station before Tiflis, on a well-
built stone bridge. Here there were two churches
with the greatest pretension to simple architectural
beauty that we have seen in Russia. They were of
stone, half stuccoed over, as seems to be the in-
variable plan for spoiling fine buildings in this
empire. The windows were of Norman character,
and the double roof Gothic. This may sound in-
congruous to the contributors of the Building News^
but the effect was charming in the extreme. Here
also we observed, some miles away from us a de-
serted Armenian monastery, built on the summit
of a tall broad hill. In one of the Gothic churches
the tombs of almost all the Georgian kings are
preserved. We had not time to see them, and indeed

1 24 TIFLIS.

did not know of this till we reached Tiflis. For
the last two stations the road was not artificially
made, but left to chance and traffic. As we ap-
proached the capital of Georgia the increasing
number of vehicles and travellers on foot clearly
demonstrated our approach to a large town. At
last, when some ten miles off, we reached a turn
whence we surveyed Tiflis. We, however, reserve
our impressions till we have entered it. Before the
last stage we passed some Bactrian camels quietly
browsing among the brushwood by the road side,
their immense loads of cotton piled into a heap
awaiting replacement. We now were on an in-
clined plain between mountains, at the apparent
end of which lay our present destination. A large
encampment of soldiers was situated on the op-
posite side of the Kur. The various styles of
architecture in vogue at Tiflis rather puzzled us at
first. We on entering came upon the common
wooden thatch house, gradually merging into Swiss
chalets sort of affairs. Then one-storied stuccoed
buildings, then two-storied, and last a Boulevard,
where we felt considerably ashamed of ourselves in

ITALIAN OPERA. I 25

our disreputable vehicle and dirty waterproofs (for it
had rained slightly) exposed to the gaze of the
"Row" of Tiflis. We "descended" (authority for
the term, Morning Post) at the Hotel de T Europe,
kept by an Italian and a Frenchman in partner-
ship, and really a miracle of cleanliness for this
country : the eating good, though everything was
preposterously dear.

At 7*30 o'clock we went to the opera — nay !
start not ! — a real Italian opera in Georgia — to see
the company and the " Ballo in Maschera." The
performance reflected infinite credit on the manage-
ment and the actors. The baritone especially, who
rejoiced in the music-breathing name of Kolliwo,
would not have disgraced many an European stage.
The same can be said of the tenor and the prima
donna Mdlle. Dsenoni, as she chose to spell her
name. She was evidently a great favourite with
the audience, who, however, were not professed
critics. The scenery and appointments were both
well done, and the orchestra, of whom the greater
proportion were Germans, was excellent. The
little house was well illuminated with oil lamps,

126 THE THEATRE.

the decorations in white and gold in Moorish
style ; the stage boxes lined with blue silk, and the
upper boxes decorated a PAlhambra. The Geor-
gian ladies in the boxes were hardly to be called
even good looking ; indeed it requires great beauty
to carry off the effect of the head-dress worn by
them — a sort of flat pork-pie hat looking object of
coloured silk, yellow the fashionable colour, studded
with silver stars, which presents a tinselly appear-
ance. Sometimes it is prettily embroidered instead ;
a white lace veil is attached all around this, excepting
on the forehead, and falls over the shoulders. The
ladies then present all seemed to have black hair in
ringlets of the " Follow me, lads." description, and
plaited behind. The Imperial box was empty, as
the Grand Duke Michael, the Governor of the
Caucasus, was not then in Tiflis. The stalls, and
indeed most of the house, were crowded with Rus-
sian and Georgian officers, every one with at least
three decorations on his breast, including the
inevitable one of two crossed swords, given in com-
memoration of the final submission of the Caucasus
to any officer or soldier who happened to be near

IN difficulties! 127

this Russian dependency at the time. Many of
the native officers wore gold-tipped cartridge cases.
Evening dress was adopted by those individuals who
happened to have the misfortune — in Russia — of
being civilians. Between the third and fourth acts
an Italian dancer executed a solo very creditably,
being encored by an enthusiastic public, which,
during the other pauses had always left the theatre
in a body to smoke cigarettes. In the upper boxes
we observed two Englishwomen with their hus-
bands, engineers engaged on the line of railway
now in course of construction from Poti on the
Black Sea to this place, and then on to the Caspian.
There is a performance three times a week during
the season.

This morning we had a long hunt after some
one who would replenish our almost exhausted
purse on the faith of an English letter of credit.
The representative of the (Asiatically) wide-spread
house of Ralli scornfully refused to have anything
to do with it. At length a nice old German chymist
said he would think about it. The town is built on
both sides of the river, and slopes down to it accord-

128 THE BAZAAR.

ing to the incline of the mountains on which it is
built. We wandered down the intricate streets to
the bazaar, where we found the lanes crowded
with shops on both sides, and crammed with
people of all nations — Italians and Germans are
most numerous; indeed the latter have a regular
colony on the left bank of the river.

The Persians and Armenians have their regular
quarter apiece. The noise was deafening, the shops
one mass of litter and confusion. To have anything
made you have to enter four or five shops to buy
its constituent parts. Nothing ready made except-
ing in the civilised " emporiums " out of the
bazaar. Lace work, silk, tobacco, jewellery, wine,
wine skin, linen, boot blacking, fruit, and omnium
shops, each had their separate quarter in each sepa-
rate national bazaar, excepting, perhaps, those for
tobacco, which seemed impartially distributed,
averaging every third shop ; one street is covered
over at a considerable height from the ground,
resembling somewhat Lowther Arcade reduced to
the dirtiest possible level ; another street leads to the
Tartar bazaar, with little intricate passages lined

TIFLIS BOULEVARD. I 29

with shops, principally linen ; before each of these
wooden benches were placed, where the customers
sat down in front of the shopman to make their
little bargains, which always seemed to require
some time before a mutual agreement was effected.
The scene reminded one more of the Arabian
Nights, plus the dirt and minus the romance, than
of anything else. The bustle, the hurry, the
jostling of Europeans and gorgeous or filthy
Asiatics, presented a scene of confusion strangely
at variance with preconceived notions of Oriental
laziness, and utterly bewildering to the unaccus-
tomed spectator. However, as we never have
any preconceived notions, we were not so disturbed
as we might have been. Getting up to the Boule-
vard, we found this lined with more civilized
shops ; out of it on the right hand side the public
gardens slope down steeply to the river ; they are
not of any great extent, hardly one acre, but
prettily laid out. At their foot, a bridge crosses the
Kur, which here divides into two branches, leaving
a small, stony, uninhabited — because probably

inundated in spring — island between. This bridge

K

130 .A WALK.

is almost a quarter of a mile in length, with shops
on each side of it where it passes over this island;
these are, however, bad and shabbily Oriental. The
main stream, here already as large as most English
rivers, flows rapidly underneath. On the left hand,
leaving the bridge, five or six houses, some fifty
feet above the level of the river, are built in the
style, and from their position, evidently in imitation
of some of the palaces on the Canal Grande at
Venice, The very narrow roadway between them
and the river is the only drawback to the illusion.
The native women walk about with a long white
linen sort of sheet over them. All letters from
England, and even from Italy, pass through Mos-
cow on their way hither, thus going some 4000
miles out of the road to their destination.

27th. Walking out in a south-westerly direction,
we found that the houses are built up a steep rocky
hill, so close to each other as hardly to leave room
to pass through the lanes. They are here all low
flat-roofed mudbrick houses of one story ; Eastern
dirt apparent everywhere. Above these, on the
summit of the mountain, rises an old and ruined

THE OLD FORT. I3I

fortalice, whose outer walls are, we should say,
certainly not less than three hundred yards in
circumference. We entered through the original
passage under one of the towers of the southern
extremity, and found that though built with
almost Roman solidity, the interior buildings had
fallen to the ground, owing in a great measure
to the bad quality of the cement, which crumbles
at a touch. The ground plan of the fortress can,
however, be traced with very tolerable distinctness,
some underground cellular apartments evidently
having formed dungeons in days long past. The
only arch remaining, part of the roof of one of the
chambers, was in the old style with an angular
apex instead of the improved semicircular one. The
north wall is built over a sheer precipice, which
must have been very convenient for the Georgian
kings to throw their superfluous wives down, when
they got tired of them ! Underneath are the new bo-
tanical gardens, which seem pretty; and on the other
side of the ravine rises the high flat mountain
which bounds the plain of Tiflis on the west.

From the ruins the view over the town beneath is

K 2

132 THE KUR.

very interesting. Flat and angular roofs are used
very impartially all about the tow^n, excepting in
the extreme west — the European quarter — v^here
slant roofs obtain. Armenian churches, v^ith
extinguisher steeples painted black or green, ac-
cording to the taste of the architect or founder,
abound ; we could only discover one mosque, v^ith
its minaret crowned by an egg-shaped apex of
glazed green and yellow tiles ; there are, however,
some more in the town. The river winds like
a serpent through Tiflis. Almost all the better
houses have the open verandah before them on
each story.

The banks of the Kur are rocky, and at the
south portion rise abruptly from the stream. Some
fortified barracks, with a church in the centre,
stand at the south bend. A little higher up there
is a low muddy island, given up principally to
cattle and temporary wooden huts ; here the river
is spanned by a wooden bridge. Lower down the
left bank is flat, then it rises again covered with
houses, mostly flat roofed ; at the extreme north
are the public gardens, still surrounded by houses.

A PRETTY TOMB. 1 33

Then walking along the pathway under the walls
of our fort, we find the houses on the slope almost
perpendicularly below us. The portion of hill on
which they are built now merges at an obtuse
angle Into the higher flat one, and our path leads
downwards into the town, here built between the
two projecting flanks of the west mountain. The
first building reached on getting to the town
is a small church with four or five pretty tombs
near, in a small churchyard. We were particularly
struck by one in white marble, erected, as the
inscription in Russian tells, by a sorrowing hus-
band to his dear wife ; underneath in French,
" Tout mon bonheur. Toute ma jole. Tout mon
orgueiL" The design, a square raised pediment,
angels' heads at each corner, and above a cross
covered by a winding-sheet, surmounted by a
carved wreath of roses and convolvuli. This was
an extremely windy day, but still warm. The
principal portion of the town, and almost all the
grand houses and government buildings — the
palace of the Governor-General is on the Boule-
vard— are built on the right bank of the Kur.

134 " BAKERS.

Cigarettes are smoked as extensively as in other parts
of Russia here. The bakers' shops are level with
the pavement, and have a counter in front, behind
which stands the officiating German^ and again
behind him the furnace is let into the wall, vSO that
he has only to turn round to fetch the loaf out of
it, and present it to the purchaser. The loaves
are baked in a round shape, very brittle and brown,
their appearance generally unsavoury. We found
throughout the whole of Russia that fancy bread
bakers almost always belonged to the " Vaterland."
Many of the shops are situate in cellars as in
Hambro' and other towns.

The Armenians wear a long flowing garment,
generally black or dark violet, tight at the waist,
with an opening in front, under which is a sort of
waistcoat, with a coloured border, buttoned or
hook-and-eyed up. Large full-grown ox-hides are
used as the wineskins, and water is conveyed about
the town on horses' backs in skins, apparently those
of the thigh of the buffalo, the skin of the leg still
attached as a pipe to empty them by. On a clear
day, the high range of Caucasus we had passed

jewellers' bazaar. 135

ean be seen clearly ; Cazbek stands well out, above
the lower mountains, resembling from here, rather, a
doge's cap in shape. We went again to the Opera to
see " Ernani " for the first time. We thought that
almost a sublime and especially grand idea when
the hero in the last act exclaims, " In the mean-
while, and to fill up time, I'll kill myself ! "
and suiting the action to the word, stabs himself
for no other apparent reason. This part was
taken by a Signor Biondini, who acquitted him-
self very creditably of it.

The 28 th was a day devoted by us to shopping.
Having seen a pretty pipe, for which the shopman
asked three roubles, we managed, after a deal of
bargaining, to get it down to two and a-half ;
thereupon we tendered a three rouble note in
payment. The proprietor, with true Oriental
laziness, preferred giving us one rouble back to
sending out for change. In the jewellers' row the
working is continually going on at the shops,
which have no front, but a glass case with the
small stock-in-trade exposed in the centre. Hardly
anything is kept on hand, but all is made to order.

136 romance!

However, by careful inspection some fantastically-
shaped plate may be picked up. The little cabinets
in which instruments and odds and ends are kept
are sometimes artistically inlaid in ivory, &c. The
tobacco of Imeritia is very cheap, and smokeable
when made into cigars. We discovered a tolerable
restaurant, kept by a Frenchman, on the Boulevard.
A countryman of his has established a brewery
some miles from the town, where beer not unlike
German Weissbier is made at fourpence a stone jug.
At Tianelee, a village some thirty miles north of
Tiflis, we are told the inhabitants, as yet uncon-
taminated by the rude hand of civilization, ply
their ordinary every-day life avocations dressed in
complete suits of armour, such as the Crusaders
wore, the round low helmet ending in a point, and
chain armour. Very romantic ! An enthusiastic
German traveller we met at our hotel wanted us
to verify this, but we thought it would encroach too
much upon our valuable (?) time. We have
engaged a new servant, Joseph SefFer by name,
vice Grazzini, as he would be of no use to us in
Persia. We parted with regret from an honest.

THE PUBLIC GARDENS. I 37

faithful, and ready, though perhaps somewhat
grasping, servant.

30th. Walked out to the public gardens some
two miles off to the north. On the way to them is a
private garden called " Mon Plaisir," where a
military band plays almost every night during
warm weather. The walks in the gardens are
laid out nicely, but they sadly needed gravel when
we were there, and the carriage road was full of
ruts. An enterprising Frenchman has established
a restaurant in the gardens, with a music pavilion
and a dancing platform, attached to another refresh-
ment platform he has built regularly out over the
bed of the Kur, on a level with the gardens, which
are here some fifty feet above the stream. Excepting
when the river is much swollen, the water does
not reach this bank, but leaves a wide shingly
margin between. Good-sized rafts are built above
this, and floated down for firewood to Tiflis.
The trees seemed young and lately planted,
with the exception of some most venerable willows
by the principal road. Some of the walks are
charmingly arranged, with vines over them on

138 RIOTS.

trellises across. Hardly a grape is to be seen.
This, however, cannot be wondered at, considering
the publicity, and that the large soldiers' encamp-
ment we had seen coming from Ananoor is at the
further extremity of these gardens. This was
formed to accommodate the soldiers from other
cantonments who were sent here to assist in quelling
the riots that took place in^ this town last July,
originating on a question of taxation. The Arme-
nians were the chief instigators of this disturbance,
which assumed rather formidable proportions ;
indeed, they regularly gutted the house of the
mayor;' (who was particularly obnoxious to them,)
which stands in the centre of their portion of
the town. The ruins were still unrepaired in
September. The streets here are principally lighted
by the moon — when it shines ! The season is
far enough advanced for every third day to be
rainy. This, the ist of October, is one of the third
days ! We clomb (?) up a portion of the pathless
mountain to the west of the town. The streets
leading up to it are simply the beds of torrents
flowing between two rows of houses. On the hill

LEAVING TIFLIS. 1 39

hardly any vegetation, but a friable sandstone soil.
A good view of the town from here, but much re-
sembling that from the ruins. We saw two
soldiers, heavily manacled round the ankles and
wrists, escorted through the town by others with
loaded muskets. They were probably deserters.

The fish caught lower down the river are excel-
lent and of large size. Not having been able to
procure horses easily, it was 5 p.m. before we
started from Tiflis on the 2nd, and jolted right
through the bazaar, on our way out of the town,
which extends for a considerable distance in the
direction we were taking ; we were following the
downward course of the river Kur on its right
bank. Huge lightly made waterwheels supplied
the irrigation of the plantations along the river in
the most rude manner, the water adhering to
the large paddles being brushed into a trough
by loose brushwood, and then conducted down to
the grounds through a wooden channel. We
reached Suganloo at a quarter to seven, having
driven some time by a brilliant moonlight, and
passed several droves of sheep and camels.

140 A narrative!

Getting ofF tolerably early next morning, we
drove along a bleak undulating plain, bordered by
mountains on both sides, high at first on our left
and low on the other hand, then high on both
sides. During our second stage, the driver beguiled
his time by telling Joseph stories, which he im-
mediately translated for our benefit. One of them
was of such a highly probable nature, that we think
it worth recording; be it observed, that to all
appearance the story-teller implicitly believed
what he was stating, and expected us to do the
same : —

" One night as our driver was passing some
lonely Tartar tombs after dark in his Telega, he
espied something white moving about amongst
them ; with considerable strength of mind, he got
off and walked towards the object, which he pre-
sently discovered to be a very pretty little white
dog. This immediately began jumping upon and
caressing him, playing about in a dog-like fashion.
Pleased with his find, he took it home in his cart
to the posthouse, where it was much admired, fed,
and petted, and at last put into a room for the

NATIVE HUTS. I4I

night. Strange to relate (indeed exceedingly so !)
on opening the door in the morning, the little
white dog had disappeared, and a dead body lay in
its place."

The same gentleman had once again wandered
about these tombs at night (one would have
thought he had had enough of them), and heard a
voice crying out of one of them : " Help me !
Protect ! Save me ! " Whether he rendered the
required assistance, deponent sayeth not.

At the third station there was a large Tartar
cemetery, perhaps the home of the white dog.
Joseph looked about carefully for one. Upright
stone slabs, rounded off at the top, some of large
size. The habitations of the natives are hardly
distinguishable from the surface of the plain, as
they are excavated in it, and then the ground is
heaped up on the roof, so as to present exactly the
appearance of a low oblong tumulus. When some
distance off, on the slope of a hill, they look like
fit homes for Troglodytes, nothing but the open
doors being apparent. We met several curious
waggons covered with tenting, on two wheels.

142 SALAHLEE,

each wheel at least seven feet high, and much
larger in proportion than the body of the cart itself
Reaching Salahlee in a storm of rain, we de-
termined at 4 P.M. to halt here, more especially as
we were told that there was no accommodation at
the next station — though for that matter the
accommodation here was what Irishmen call "no
great shakes," as at first we could get no food, and
candles were not to be found. An old candlestick
and the samovar — the " hot water urn " (we carry
our own tea and sugar) were procured with some
difficulty, and bread and new laid eggs from the
usual little shop near. Unfortunately perhaps,
for our palates the black bread was musty. The
stone floor of our room afibrded, by its uneven-
ness, a model on a small scale of the Swiss Alps !
Near this place we saw a land tortoise of some
size, its shell a foot in diameter lengthwise.

In the morning we drove along a road as broad
as you like over the plain, the telegraph to Persia
alongside. On a mountain to our right a ruined
house, we were told, was once a robber's lair. We
continually met long strings of camels, each laden

ISTIBULLEH. 1 43

with two bags of cotton as large as themselves.
The soil evidently only wants irrigation to turn it
into a land flowing with all sorts of good things,
for wherever a stream ran through it there the
vegetation was of a most luxuriant character ; hops,
walnut-trees, elms, vines, and apple-trees, vied
with each other in beauty and fertility. We
remarked an enormous spider, its body quite an
inch long, creeping along the ground. We soon
reached a low ridge of sandy-looking hills which
we crossed, and then entered upon another plain
for about twelve miles, when we got into the defile
of Dillijan. The river of the same name flowing
through it caused fertility around, and the moun-
tains became well wooded. At 4 p.m. we reached
Istibulleh. Here the postmaster refused to allow
us to proceed (which by not giving us horses he
could, effectually), alleging as his reason that there
were some brigands on the mountains we had to
cross. The band, he said, were fifteen strong, and
had plundered some caravans lately, so that no
travellers were allowed to proceed without an es-
cort, which was not to be got that night. Having

144 BRIGANDS t

lately killed a colonel who objected to being
robbed, a body of three hundred soldiers had been
sent against them, so that the danger could not be
very overwhelming. It will be observed that kill-
ing a colonel has the same effect on the Russian
army as including a bishop in a railway accident
is hypothetically estimated to produce on a railway
company in England — causing the powers that be
to show some energy.

The postmaster informed us that a "billet" was
required in order to procure an escort, but that if
we would stop one night he would give us one in
the morning without this formality. We accord-
ingly stayed with as good a grace as possible. We
observed oxen used as beasts of burden on the road
to-day, the load conveyed in immense saddle-bags.
Up to this place in the pass, the carriage-way is
quite unartificial, and the boulders cause awful
jolting. The fat-tailed sheep look most ludicrous
when their caudal appendages waddle about in their
walk. The women wear the white sheet over their
mouths and foreheads, only exposing the eyes. The
process of covering up the nose, we thought, must

A PROVERB. 145

have its great inconvenience w^hen a severe cold is
caught ! They all ride astraddle, side-saddles not
being know^n here. We are now in Armenia, and
the first natives v^e saw had a decidedly cunning
look about them, though not to such an extent as
to justify the proverbial expression about them
which is current in Turkey. This is, that it takes
five Christians to get over a Turk, and five Turks
to cheat a Greek, five of these latter are required
to swindle a Jew, but it requires five Jews to " do "
one Armenian ! However, as our dealings with
them have been limited, we are not entitled to
speak from experience. W. is studying Shake-
speare hard, and has lately come on a passage in
" Richard II." he wishes embalmed herein :

*' Oh ! who can hold a fire in his hand,
By thinking on the frosty Caucasus ! "

At 7.30 A.M. next morning we looked around
for our escort, one miserable horseman with the
usual rusty matchlock. He would certainly have
bolted had he seen "the fifteen" descending from the
mountains, as indeed should we under similar
circumstances. However, there was not the slightest

L

1 46 DILLIJAN.

appearance of danger on our road, indeed we met
several solitary pedestrians and horsemen, so, after
the first stage we declined the services of another
escort. We passed many caravans of camels kneel-
ing in a circle round their loads of cotton by the
roadside. The scenery is fine and wild, well
wooded hills on each side, some of it where the
mountains approach so close together as only to
leave space for the road, and the Dillijan much
resembles portions of Norwegian scenery just north
of Christiana, but the general scenery is very dif-
ferent, lacking the magnificent firs, the " Nor-
wegian pines " of Milton, and the waterfalls. At
our second station, Dillijan, we were informed
that we could not have horses, as all were out
and the rest had to be kept in readiness for
the post, which was expected to arrive im-
mediately. Nothing for it but to wait till it
turned up. The common black soldier's bread
is along our route as dear as meat is cheap in
Tiflis. A nasty drizzling day. After two hours'
waiting, the post arrived in the bodily presence
of one horseman, so we got off, taking the bag

THE OLD PLAUSTRA,

47

along with us. The road was up-hill almost all
the way, and more fitted for a " gemsbok " than
for a heavily laden cart like ours.

The influence of early autumn was just begin-
ning to show itself on the foliage of the trees
clothing the mountain sides, and imparted the most
varied tints to the leaves. At times the groups of
timber were so symmetrically arranged by nature
that we could fancy ourselves in the well kept
grounds of an English park. The west wind
blew very cold, and as we neared the top of the
pass, a dense mist surrounded us, luckily clearing
away at the very summit, allowing us to see snow
on some of the surrounding peaks. Here the road
was comparatively level for about ten miles. The
aspect of nature had completely changed from that
at the northern side of the pass. On our way up
we passed several carts on two wheels, these being
made simply out of two slices of good-sized tree,
the body flat, in fact as near as possible the plaus-
trum of the ancients in which Thespis is said to
have transported his theatrical paraphernalia.*

* " Dicitur et plaustris vexisse poemata Thespis." — Hor.

L 2

148 LAKE SIEVAN.

The landscape being totally devoid of trees, we
here saw the lake Gooitcha, of considerable extent,
not unlike a Swiss one ; we descended slightly to
get to its edge, and came to a halt at 6. 1 5 p.m., on
the western bank at Shibookli, a very small
station. Here eggs were the only eatables to be got.
It froze hard during the night, and was bitterly
cold even in-doors. We managed to get off at
8.15, and drove for about ten miles along the west
bank of the lake, generally about two hundred
feet above its level. The panorama of the hills on
the further side was very fine. There is a small
island at the northern extremity of the lake on
which stand two old Armenian churches called
Sievan Killeasea — the latter word meaning church
(ecclesia) in that language (Armenian). The lake
cannot be much less than forty miles long, and at
least half as broad for the greater part of it. Many
fish are caught in it, especially excellent trout, of
these we saw some dried specimens at Jellanook, the
next station still on the shore. Some small boats
were returning from fishing with enormous nets ;
there are also plenty of wild duck. The land side

DARAHLEGLASS. 1 49

is cultivated in cornfields, the soil when ploughed
up looking as black as coal. Jellanook is a very
squalid village, but the houses are above ground,
owing, no doubt, to the proximity of the lake on
whose level they are. We passed the Zengi river
just where it leaves the lake to flow hereafter
through the streets of Erivan. Then leaving the
lake on our left hand we turned into a stony un-
dulating road, round and over small mountains,
until we suddenly saw the snow-capped peak of
Ararat in front of us. On the left some recent
snow covered the higher mountains, and on the
other hand rose a four peaked mountain eternally
snow capped, called Darahleglass. We now gra-
dually descended until we were in full view of
Ararat, which standing like a solitary giant looks
down with proud contempt on the lesser pigmy
mountains around it. W.'s waterproof unluckily
fell out of the carriage somewhere here, so he and
Joseph went back to look for it, but were not suc-
cessful, and we managed to get to the nearest
station, some eight miles off, before W. caught us
up in the carriage. Here, having sent Joseph back

Ij-O ARARAT.

to look for the coats, we stay for the night, ar-
riving at 5 P.M. The dimate here is again
tolerably warm, unlike up in the pass.

Our servant is a Chaldean Catholic of that branch
which acknowledges the sovereignty of the Pope,
about whom he knows just as much as a non-
elector does about the " man in the moon." How-
ever, we have again been lucky in getting a good,
though extremely dirty servant at short notice, and
he speaks French very well. We strolled out upon
a small hill just opposite our post station, and got a
capital view of the country, the only drawback to
the perfect beauty of the scene being the total
absence of all vegetation — nothing green to be
seen excepting a little stunted brushwood on the
distant mountains ; even the corn was all cut, thus
adding to the general desolation. Mighty Ararat
appears a mountain of easy ascent compared
to many Swiss peaks, at least from this point
of view, as the west side ascends with a very
•gradual slope to the summit, looking very nice to
climb up — from a distance ! Perhaps actual inspec-
tion might tell a very different tale ; at all events,

ORIGINAL ploughing! I5I

we shall not make the attempt. The snow only
covers the apex then, as aforesaid, a slope and then
a flat surface of small extent, another slope, and a
precipitous south and west side, a few thousand feet
downwards. On our right, Darahleglass, looking
very black where not very white owing to snow,
and other lower mountains completed the panorama.
The dusty road we had come wound up to the north
in tremendous zigzags, — troops of camels grazing
unrestrained on the broad surface of the plain.
Only scanty herbage theirs here ; though on the
other side of Dillijan they would, or had, found
plenty of young trees, the tops of which to devour.
The ploughing is carried on laboriously in the
parched soil. Two yoke of oxen harnessed to a
pointed forked tree branch, the lower limb being
cut off sharp and sharpened so as to form the
ploughshare, and the other branch the handle. One
man leans on this contrivance with all his might,
whilst another sits on the bar connecting the heads
of the two leading oxen to guide them ! a peculiar
position, which it must require considerable practice
to keep for half a second. Joseph returned next

152 ERIVAN.

day at noon without the coats, and we set off from
Yogunarshie, or the " long stream," so called from
a miserable rivulet that runs behind it and is care-
fully hoarded up for purposes of irrigation. In
about two hours, down an incline all the way, and
after passing a village on the road surrounded by
willows, walnuts, and poplars (proving thus that it
is only for want of planting that trees do not grow
in other spots near which there is water), we reached
Erivan. We found it lying in a valley, in which
the trees were so numerous that the town looked
like many houses buried in a forest. They (the
houses, not the trees) are all of mud, and have flat
roofs. We drove through most of the town, and
stopped in front of a building calling itself the
"Ararat Hotel," where two nasty little rooms
without furniture were offered us in exchange for
some exorbitant sum. So we drove on to the
post-house, where we got a tolerable room at a
cheaper rate, — nothing per diem ! In the bazaar
we found nothing very much calculated to tempt
the European purchaser, though the fruit is mag-
nificent. There is a large mosque in the midst of

BREAD. 153

It, with the usual bakehouse dome and glazed tile
minaret. Here we for the first time heard that six
persons had died of cholera while we were at Tiflis.
However, happily that disease did not extend its
ravages. The bread is of a pancaky nature,
baked in pieces about three feet long and half
as broad. Not bad. Ararat is at thirty miles
distance, though from its immense height it is
utterly impossible to judge by the eye. It might
be any distance off, from five to fifty miles.

( 154

CHAPTER V.

On the 8 th we procured horses and carriage to
take us to Etchmiadzin, not without some trouble,
as the name of this monastery was not written down
in our padarojna, which only indicates the straight
route towards Persia, and this is eleven miles to the
west of Erivan. We passed the bazaar, and then
the fort opposite our rooms built apparently of mud,
but still (to the unmilitary eye) on most scientific
principles. It has lately been renovated, as the
original fort is coeval with this town, the capital of
old Persian Armenia. Descending to cross the
Zengi, the road again mounted on the opposite
bank ; the fort now opposite on the precipitous left
bank, some huge poplars on our right. The road
for the first four miles is rather stony, and then
very good on the elevated plain.

After about a two hours' intensely dusty drive,
we reached the first of the Ooch Killeasea or three
churches, another name for Etchmiadzin, which is

ETCHMIADZIN. 1 55

SO called after the manner of nomenclature obtain-
ing in England also, because there are here four
churches within half a mile of each other. However
one of them is more modern than the others. We
met numerous pilgrims on the road, this being
Sunday and St. George's day. Each church has
its own grounds, surrounded by a high stone wall,
those of the principal one being much the largest.
Etchmiadzin is said to have been founded by
" Gregory the illuminator," in the ninth century.
When we visited the monastery, the seat of the
patriarch of orthodox Armenians, who is also called
the Catholicos, that post was vacant, the last
occupant having died a month since ; and the new
one, who is elected in a peculiar manner by the
votes of all male Armenians whether Turks,
Persians, or Russians, was not yet chosen. We
made the half circuit of the strong walls to get to
the west door, where we found three priests and an
Armenian, a native of Tiflis, who spoke French,
ready to receive us, though we had given no notice
of our arrival. The priests are dressed in a long flow-
ing robe of dark blue cloth with a "moire antique,"

156 PILGRIMS.

silk " capuchon " over the head, replaced indoors by
the little red Turkish fez.

We now entered a court-yard surrounded on all
sides by dwellings for pilgrims and visitors, and
quite full of every variety of the human race, pre-
senting a gay picture of Eastern life. In one
corner we saw several women seated round their
dinner, each of them holding up with one hand a
large shawl over themselves to hide their features
whilst eating. Most of the women have only half
the face covered, but some wear the whole face
under a thick veil, (punctured with holes to see and
breathe through,) a precaution which, considering
the extreme ugliness of all the women we have yet
seen (the features of those who wear the open veil
are easily discovered), it were only common charity
to extend to all. Passing thence through a passage
under one side of this court, we entered the large
square in which stands the church. The portico, of
old red sandstone, is evidently a later addition
as the other walls are well weather-beaten.
This is curiously carved in Armenian style, the
design of it being Gothic. Two frightful daubs of

THE CHURCH. 1 57

saints, of most modern date, disfigure the inner
pillars of the principal entrance. Just outside are
the tombs of two patriarchs, one of whom built the
immense tank, which is beyond the outer gate of the
monastery and oblong in form, of solid stone. By
the side of the patriarchs lies an Englishman in
fraternal and tolerant juxtaposition. This is Sir
J. Macdonald, and his neat tomb is of white
marble, with an inscription setting forth in Greek,
Arabic, and English, that it was raised by the
East India Company to Sir J. Macdonald, K.C.B.,
who died at Tabreez in 1830, when proceeding as
their envoy extraordinary to the court of Persia.
The other tombs are alabaster. The service
having already been performed, the church was
closed, but we entered by a side door, and were
received by a most venerable priest, with a long,
majestically flowing white beard. The interior is
very imposing, though the style in which the walls
and cupolas are painted, more resembling the
pattern on a Persian carpet than anything else,
is perhaps a little gaudy. The tawdry gilding of a
Greek church is, however, absent. In the centre of

158 THE patriarch's CHAIR.

the church, on the spot where our Lord is said to
have appeared to St. Gregory, rises an altar, on
which is a picture of Madonna and Child, in
Greek style, wearing a sort of breast-plate of carved
silver. The light streaming through the windows
on to the high altar shed a wonderful rose-colour
over it. The railings are of alabaster, painted over,
principally with figures of the twelve Apostles, in
the style of the Vivarinis. The patriarch's chair
was covered over with a cloth not to be removed
till the late Catholicos' successor should be appointed.
It was, however, raised to allow us to see the ex-
quisite carvings of the back. It is of some Indian
wood, and the species of pavilion overhead is of
tortoise-shell, inlaid with mother of pearl.

We then walked round the exterior. The church
is built in two intersecting oblongs in Byzantine
style, with little Gothic towers on each of the
eight corners.

We now went into the third court around which
are the patriarchs and priests' rooms ; we ascended
a very narrow staircase to the library. It con-
tains 2040 volumes, all in manuscript, principally

AN ARMENIAN THEATRE. 1 59

relating to sacred subjects in Armenian. A copy
of the Evangelists is kept in a wooden box, and
shown as a chef-d'oeuvre. Its binding in curiously
Byzantine carving is certainly remarkable, and the
writing is beautifully executed ; the monks say that
it is 800 years old. All the books required for the
use of the monastery, or the various churches, are
printed at a press on this spot. At the present
moment the work being performed consisted in
" setting up " theatrical playbills ! and posters. Our
French-speaking Armenian and two friends were
going to open a native theatre in Erivan ; the
performances to commence in a week with an
original drama and a translation. Ladies' parts, to
be performed by one of the three men. From the
library we went into the patriarch's rooms; they
were plainly furnished, portraits of Armenian kings
hanging on the walls. A few of the rooms were
painted in the Persian carpet style aforesaid, inter-
spersed with agreeable martyrdoms. A small
" Madonna della Seggiola " in Gobelins, a bad
Riberesque Crucifixion of small size, complete the
patriarch's boudoir. We now again entered the

i6o pilgrim's amusements.

first court, and went up through the wooden
verandah that completely surrounds it, to the room
of one of the priests, where we sat for some hours
talking, drinking black coffee, and smoking cigar-
ettes, the worthy priests joining vigorously in all
these pursuits. Some dozen persons came and sat
with us at intervals.

The modest furniture consisted of a bed, table,
four broken-down chairs, a trunk, and a Persian
carpet. The noises in the court below were of the
most varied and continuous description. Now an
enthusiastic pilgrim would fire off a pistol, then
another would begin practising on a large drum,
and now a quarrel arose, not without some fighting.
Presently a musician with a sort of bagpipe would
set up unmusical sounds, to quell strife by melody !
Then an amateur indulged in a piccolo flute. The
women all wore ornaments on their heads or necks,
sometimes only glass beads, but more generally gold
coins strung together. We were not accosted by a
single beggar whilst walking in the monastery.

An Armenian from Constantinople, who spoke
French, and rejoiced in the archangelic name of

A KING OF ARMENIA. 10 1

Raphael, was very mysterious on the subject of his
visit ; and from his conversation we judged him to
be an emissary of the Turkish Armenians, sent to
enquire into the state of feeling among the Russian
Armenians, — whether they were ripe for revolt or
no. He was speculating on an insurrection in
Turkey at no distant date. It appears there is a
" King of Armenia," who habitually resides in
Italy, the Turks having an unconquerable but
natural objection to his domiciling himself amongst
them. His name is Leo, a lineal descendant of the
old kings of Cyprus, the Lusignan family. After
our two hours' converse, we bethought us of sending
for horses to take us back to Erivan, as our telega
driver had refused to stop for us at the post. Mean-
time we went to see the westernmost church.
It is not ornamented outside, and the interior is
quite plain, even the whitewash having peeled oiF,
Outside are some fine alabaster slabs covering
the tombs of patriarchs and princes. The ordinary
tombs are of red sandstone, and in shape exactly
like a gigantic common round-topped envelope
box on a pedestal, with the inscription on the top.

M

1 62 ECCLESIOLOGY.

A few relics are preserved on the high altar, but
we wondered much at not seeing a piece of the
true Ark! We asked the priest in attendance
whether no piece was preserved in the monastery,
when my friend bursting out laughing spoilt the
idea completely. A low arch in the west wall
under the high altar leads into a passage only three
feet high and ten feet long, which descending with
a taper we were in a cellar, in a recess of which
lies buried Gaiamee, a female missionary, who
laboured amongst the first Armenian Christians.
We returned to the monastery to find that there
were no horses to be got at the post, so we de-
termined upon walking back, though most hospit-
ably pressed to stay, but we could not, as we had
brought nothing with us.

On our way we took the easternmost church,
about half a mile off. Its very weather-beaten
walls of Saracenic order contain nothing remark-
able excepting the tomb of Repsimah. We were
told that this lady had been a beautiful Armenian,
educated in Greece, where she imbibed the prin-
ciples of Christianity and returned to attempt the

REPSIMAH. 1 6^

conversion of an Armenian king. This gentleman
not being anxious for conversion, but wanting a
mistress, asked Repsimah to act in that capacity.
Upon her refusal he began to persecute her in
various ways ; so she wisely fled to the spot where
she now lies. Her death so affected our Armenian
king that he became a Christian. The tomb is
down another short dark passage, which we had to
creep through to get to a small and dimly lighted
cellar, where a woman who was howling vigorously
was getting herself healed (!) of whatever disease
she had by lying down at full length upon the
grave !

After a slight shower we saw a rainbow in
heaven, perhaps at the same spot where the first
messenger of Divine clemency appeared unto
Noah ! Just as we were leaving to start off on
our pedestrian excursion to Erivan, two men from
the monastery came up and informed us that a
Troika was being got ready, so we walked back,
and were met by our priest and first Armenian
friend on horseback, the priest in full canonicals!
Of course when we got back no carriage was

M 2

164 RETURN JOURNEY.

visible, so we entered the room we had before sat
in, again and waited somewhat impatiently for
more thau an hour. It was getting late — already
five — when we were told the Troika was ready ;
so after a glass of tea we again left the monastery,
and had to wait outside for twenty minutes longer,
when at length the horses belonging to the monks
arrived. We bad adieu to our courteous hosts, and
lying down on the hay in the telega, were soon
jolting back on the same road we had traversed in
the morning. Two armed horsemen escorted us
the whole distance, being changed once on the
road. In the evening a drunken man created a
disturbance in our posthouse by beating a woman
with a baby in her arms. However, we consoled
ourselves by the reflection that if she did not de-
serve the blows then^ she probably had, and would
again. At last a very small soldier, looking
frightened, came in and quelled the riot by seizing
hold of the wrong man. We left Erivan on the
ninth of October, and for the first station we
drove, perfectly south, through numbers of poplar
trees enclosed in mud walls, the rare intervals being

THE TWO ARARATS. 1 65

filled up by castor oil and dwarf cotton plants.
The greater and lesser Ararats were on our right
hand during the whole of the day; the greater
slopes down to the south to half its height, and
then rises again into the lesser, which had a very
little of this year's snow on its summit. As seen
from the north it much resembles Vesuvius, and
the greater, W. tells us, might, with the assistance
of a little imagination, represent Etna. Thus
the two seem like a baby by the side of its
nurse ! Our road was impossibly dusty. The
second station was in a larger village than usual,
with a small open bazaar of principally English
cotton goods, of which the women and even the
men are very fond. After this the cultivation was
nil, and the road perfectly flat. We now met
several darkly bronzed Kurds driving unloaded
cattle along the road. Near the fourth station we
passed a tomb raised to one of their chiefs ; it was
about thirty feet round and fifteen high, painted
white, with a round dome, something like Dante's
tomb at Ravenna. We reached Sadarack at 5.45,
and stayed the night in the clean post-house.

1 66 A simoon!

Here a woman came in to dust the table — an
unheard of thing. W. complained of midges at
sunset, but they do not interfere with us. Next
morning we found the first two stages unusually
long, twenty-two and a quarter versts a-piece, or
about fifteen miles. The plain partially cultivated.
We now skirted the low mountains on its east,
and saw in a drove a camel almost perfectly white.
It appears that it is the arrangement of the pack-
saddle which gives the camels we had yet seen the
appearance of having two humps on the back ; for
in those animals that we saw without one hardly a
single hump was visible. After the second station,
where we were detained for two hours, whilst a
runaway horse was being caught, we crossed the
Arpahchi, whose stony bed is at least half a mile
broad. At this season it divides into at least ten
small streams, each of which we easily forded.
Just as we neared the third station, a north-west
wind began to rise, and without much warning
it came on, rolling clouds upon clouds of dust
before it — a perfect simoom — before which nothing
could have stood. Fortunately we were going

search! 167

with It, but as it was, the road was utterly in-
visible, even the horses' tails not being discernible.
We luckily stumbled upon the posthouse, and
there waited for half an hour, when a heavy
shower allayed the dust, and after an additional
thunderstorm we were able to proceed. On our
left hand Ilandagh, or the serpent's mountain,
stood out well from the surrounding hills, in shape
like a sugarloaf for all its height, with a cleft at
the top. At about 6 we came in sight of
Naxshivan, built on the slope of a hill — a very in-
significant place now. There was only one room
at the posthouse, and nothing but bare walls to
that ; so we drove on to what our Yamshick pleased
to call an hotel, a mud hovel with glass windows,
but not a soul near. Our servant Joseph had,
however, heard of one kept by a German, so he
and the coachman, who wished to patronise his
absent friend, had a wrangle, only put a stop to by
threats of personal chastisement if we were not
driven to look for our German. At length we
found the house, but " Vaterland " had left, not
finding it a paying concern. Some very civil

1 68 "hotel billar."

Russians had succeeded to the goodwill of the
house, and the remains of German civilisation
were still hanging fondly about In the shape of
one sheet apiece for our beds, and a clean table-
cloth !

The wine of Erivan we had found not bad,
and resembling Kahetle, but here It was atrocious
with a bitter taste. The Inhabitants are more or
less afflicted with ophthalmia; those fortunate
enough to escape this scourge of the East had
fever. For the Information of future travellers
we would say that our hotel (?) here was called
" Billar," from the fact of there being a billiard
table In the house ! In the front room some
European trumpery was exposed for sale. In the
morning we sallied out and made our usual
inspective tour of the bazaar, which Is extensive
but with nothing worth buying, as everything
was either brought from TIflls where we had been,
or Tabreez whither we were going. The streets
are very narrow, bounded by mud walls.

This town, a flourishing one under the Per-
sians, is now half utterly destroyed, most of its

NAXSHIVAN. 169

poorer inhabitants having migrated into Persia.
We got upon the ruins of a quarter of the town,
and thence enjoyed a magnificent view on to the
mountains on either hand. We were forcibly-
reminded of the panorama to be seen from opposite
Turin, when looking on the Piedmontese Alps in
mid winter. On the east the greater portion of
the mountains, though looking low, owing to our
own elevation, were covered with snow, much of
it of recent date. This range extended on either
hand north and south, as far as we could see in
an almost unbroken mass of snow. Ilandagh rose
darkly against the snowy background. Ararat,
on the north stood clearly out against the clear
blue sky — a contrast to yesterday, when we could
hardly see it for clouds. The lesser Ararat,
though between us, could hardly be made out
against the dark side of its mother. On the west
the mountains were not yet all snowed up. We
saw below us a large Eastern-looking building, and
being told that it was a Tartar Khan's palace,
we determined to pay him a visit if he would re-
ceive us. A much dilapidated octagonal tower

lyo A TARTAR KHAN.

Stood outside the brick wall near ; the sides of
this were exquisitely ornamented in bricks arranged
In all manner of Arabesque figures, each panel of
the octagon having a different design, and light
blue glazed tiles being let in to form the reliefs.
The old brick archway was flanked by two round
towers of some elevation, and on the arch were
Arabic letters, also in the blue glazed tiles, most
probably setting forth the usual welcome to the
coming guest. We entered through this into a
garden in the front courtyard, the bricks in the
walls still arranged in exquisite figures, and the
garden itself planted with flowers and fruit trees,
though in no great order, as a tasteful arrangement
of a garden is not a Persian accomplishment. More
is left to nature than to art. We now sent in to
ask permission to visit the interior, which the
prince (the Russians had made him a prince to
keep him true) graciously accorded.

We entered a low, whitewashed room where he
was giving an audience, and found him attired in
a gorgeous blue silk close-fitting coat with gold
trimmings and collar. On a Persian carpet in

OUR FIRST PERSIANS. I7I

front of him three Persians were seated on their
crossed knees, one writing in what one would
consider an uncomfortable way in England — that
is, holding the paper on the flat of his left hand,
taking the ink from his portable writing-case or
kalamdaun, which every Persian of at all a literary
turn of mind always wears about him ! The
pens are always reeds. Sometimes the paper is
held on the knees. We were then conducted into
another room, where the floor was being covered
with common blue thick paper pasted on in
squares. This was to be glazed, and then the
carpet to be laid over all ! Here the chimney-
piece was some seven feet high, all painted in the
Persian style, somewhat resembling lacquer work,
rather tawdry. We then went out into the inner
court, also a garden, and through this into another
portion of the house which was undergoing com-
plete repair.

In one of the upper chambers — properly devoted
to the wife or wives, who were absent then — there
was a lovely Persian carpet with trees and birds of
many colours wrought into it 5 divans with

172 THE ARAXES.

embroidered cushions all round. Outside was a
roofed wooden balcony, carved in Arabesque trellis
work, little pieces of coloured glass being let in,
forming the pattern. "We sat down, and the Khan
produced a pair of opera-glasses by Chevalier. In
front of us, about ten miles out, flowed the Araxes,
the opposite bank being in the dominions of the
Shah. This was thus our first view of Persia.
Some eight miles on the other bank rose the
range of black mountains we had seen yesterday.
The Russian side is cultivated ; on the Persian
side only the two miles next the river. In the
winter the vines, of which there are large planta-
tions near this place, have to be covered over
deeply with earth to preserve them from the
Intense cold. We observed that the Russian
princes' coronet on our host's property had the
crescent instead of the cross on its top, and the
initials K. X. underneath; rather an alarming
name he must have had !

The common water jars here are very prettily
shaped, as the ancient amphoras. At a little after
noon we started on our last telega journey. A

THE PERSIAN FRONTIER. 1 73

portion of the last piece of road was rather bad,
as it led us through the bed of a torrent amongst
very rugged red sandstone boulders. We see
Ararat for the last time, after being in full view of
it for six days. The tints of the mountains
around us now presented the most exquisite
possible colouring, from light grey blue to deep
red. On our arrival at Joolfa, the frontier station
on the Araxes, the sun was setting, and all the hills
in the East were covered with an intensely purple
haze. As we gazed, the shadow projected from
the Western mountains gradually rose as the sun
went down, at length leaving the hills in their former
cold colours. We found the post-station a very
good one, and thought that this might be owing
to a wish on the part of the Russians to present a
more vivid contrast to those on the Persian side.
Our first care was to order horses for our onward
journey. This had to be effected by screaming
across the river, which luckily is not much over
fifty yards in width at this point. Our servant
Joseph having wisely told the Custom-house man
here that he (Joseph) had a quantity of silver

174 A BAD PRACTICE.

money to carry over for a friend (!), the Custom-
house man very naturally objected, as the exporta-
tion of coin is strictly forbidden by the Russian
authorities — an evil practice, by the v^ay, as it
encourages white lies.

( 175 )

CHAPTER VI.

Entering a new country affords an opportunity
for a new chapter, of which we avail our-
selves. A judicious bribe secured an unquestioned
exit for our baggage next morning, when we
crossed in a rough wooden boat with two pointed
ends. Bakshish demanded and tendered, we found
horses brought down to the river for us; and
getting our baggage tied on to the pack-saddles
with ropes of horsehair and flax mixed, we rode to
the post station, custom-house, and passport office
all in one, some hundred yards off — a mud house.
We went up-stairs and bowed to two Persian
swells sitting cross-legged on a carpet in the ve-
randah. Our Feringhee names were then neatly
inscribed upon two Persian passports, which were
handed to us by way of an excuse for getting
money. They were roughly lithographed with a
huge lion at the top, and a female face looking
out of half a suri, just over the lion's back.

176 PERSIA AT last!

Kaleouns were brought in, but never having
smoked one we dedined, fearing to muddle the
process, which at first is rather difficult, though
extremely pleasant when acquired. The smoke is
vigorously inhaled through a wooden stem, and
inflates the lungs, whereupon it emerges through
the nose. The wooden stem communicates with
a bowl, nearly full of water, out of which proceeds
another stem supporting the tobacco holder ; they
are sometimes gorgeously decorated. The tobacco
is called Tumbak, and the best grows near Shiraz.
We got off at 10 o'clock, with an escort of three
men, who followed us for two or three hours, and
then remarked that the danger (!) was over. We
were making straight for a gap in the range of
hills in front of us, then up and down hill with
an upward tendency, through an arid country with
considerable cultivation however, wherever flat.
We passed a ruined caravanserai of great extent,
the foundation walls being of old red sandstone
blocks, and the rest brick ; the gateway almost
perfect and beautifully ornamented in coloured
glazed tiles. In five hours we reached the first

PERSIAN POSTHOUSE. 1 77

post Station where we changed our baggage horses,
and then proceeded onwards to Merand. We wit-
nessed another glorious sunset, and had to march
after for four hours by the sole light of the stars,
our horses sometimes fancying that going down on
their knees would be an improvement, " Stumblings
by ' Starlight^ " indeed ! We forded plenty of
small streams near the stations, but the inter-
mediate ground seemed very arid.

At length, at lo p.m., we entered Merand, and
marched up what appeared to us a stream skirted
by trees and walls on both sides, constituting the
high street of the place. After knocking for some
time at the posthouse, the htige door was opened,
and we rode in. The post houses are always of
mud bricks, in square form, presenting a dead wall
on all sides, with one large entrance in the centre
of one wall, and one room built above this, which
is the grand strangers' room. We entered this
here, and found that it boasted of three windows,
the outer one extending the whole size of that side,
and none of them having, or being ever intended
to have, glass in them. A broad lattice of wood-

N

lyS SOOFIANEH.

work is the only protection from the air outside,
and this is generally wanting. Thus these rooms
are more adapted for summer than for winter
travellers. In winter we found one of the two
rooms under the archway always the warmest.
The square courtyard of these posthouses is formed
by low stables on three sides. On the door side
generally are the attendants' rooms. Cribs are let
into the walls in which the horses feed whilst
waiting to cool down. On going into our upper
chamber we found its entire furniture (!) to consist
of two carpets. Little niches in the walls had to
serve as receptacles for our moveables. We found
considerable difficulty at first in writing at full
length on the floor. A huge lantern of wood and
linen was presently brought in, and after tea we
slept soundly on the floor.

At 3.30 P.M. next day we reached Soofianeh,
first passing on the road a most venerable Persian
dressed in a most magnificent blue silk flowing
garment. We find now a piece of sentiment in
our journal ! " We passed the carcases of two
camels, their toil over for ever !" The gardens

TABREEZ. 1 79

around the various villages are the only objects
breaking the dreary monotony of the parched scenery.
Next morning we left after the usual squabble
about money ; the Persian appears to be not easily
satisfied. We rode over a plain here ploughed
up on all sides, streams of brackish water very
plentiful, but "not a drop to drink." This we
found rather a hardship as the sun shone burningly
hot overhead. On our left the rocks were of a
deep gory red, on our right we saw the mirage of an
extensive lake. After about five miles we caught
sight of Tabreez, lying at the end of our plain,
surrounded by mountains on three sides. We
rode on and on without seeming to get much
nearer, until after five hours the mud walls of the
first gardens became distinctly visible, when we
halted to allow our baggage to come up, and then
we began a march through high twelve feet mud
walls, surrounding flourishing gardens with every
sort of fruit tree. After a time the streets got
narrower, and then we threaded our way through
the most intricate windings. We presently halted
in front of a large house, that of the English

N 2

l8o HOSPITABLE RECEPTION.

Consul-General Mr. Abbott, upon whom we made
a most sudden descent. Though totally unex-
pecting English visitors, he and his wife immedi-
ately, in the kindest manner, placed two rooms at
our disposal. The house was entirely Persian in
shape — of one story, with a charming garden in
the front courtyard, and an open gallery supported
on stuccoed pillars at one end. Under this were
our rooms. This town stands at an elevation of
4200 feet above the level of the sea. It is liable
to earthquakes, but there had been none for some
time. A strong easterly wind blows almost con-
stantly in summer, but by a merciful provision of
nature ceases in winter, or the climate would be
insupportable. All potable water is brought
down from the mountains by a succession of wells
dug at stated intervals, and having a subterraneous
conduit connecting them. These are sometimes
called Canauts. This is the most commercial town
in Persia, and almost the most flourishing. It is
said to contain 120,000 inhabitants, but the truth
in that respect is very difficult to arrive at. Having
a letter of introduction to a Mirza Abdul Nahib

PRESENTS. I 8 I

Khan, a species of lord mayor with a seat in the
Cabinet, we sent it him ; whereupon he returned
us a tray with four sugar loaves, two pounds of
tea, and some sugar candy, as a complimentary
present, no doubt very useful, but to travellers
rather cumbersome. The servant who brings these
presents expects a sum or sums of money, which
constitute his pay ! The sandgrouse are very good
eating, and water-melons flourish, some of them
charming baby ones as large as an orange. We
walked on the top of the house, and had a good
bird's-eye view of the town. The object which
strikes the eye most, and which indeed we had
seen as soon as we were at all able to discern
Tabreez, is a mass of brickwork towering over the
town, the wall of an ancient mosque. There
are only two consulates, English and Russian, here;
a French one was in course of institution. On
riding through the town we observed that many
of the doors of private houses were solid blocks of
stone some six feet high, with pivots cut in them
at the top and bottom to act as hinges. The
wooden doors are studded with immensely larpe

I 82 THE BAZAAR.

copper or iron-headed nails, much resembling
those to be seen on some doors at Toledo, in Spain.
The custom here is to take cofFee early in the
morning, then breakfast later, between lo and 12,
and to fast more or less till dinner, say 6 p.m. This
being Sunday, the old flag of Great Britain floats
over the entrance porch, where are stationed four
Persian (so-called) artillerymen, as the guard to the
consul ; two of them are habited in something like
cast-off English shell-jackets and trousers, the
other two are got up anyhow, though always with
the tall Astrachan cap with a dent at the top. This
they never remove on entering a room : shoes off !
hats on ! The climate is said to be drier here than
in the hottest parts of India, but not so high in
temperature. Thus trunks that have stood Indian
heat warp upon being brought hither.

1 6th. The bazaars are very extensive : miles of
arched ways. The European caravanserai well
built ; a court-yard in the midst of the bazaar with
a fountain in the centre ; red brick buildings all
round containing rooms in which the traveller
can unroll his carpet and sleep, besides the regular

THE TRADE. 1 83

offices of the merchants who trade with Europe ;
our banker's establishment we found in the centre
of one of the sides of the court-yard where it
forms a graceful curve, with the bazaar running
underneath at the depth of each of the four curves.
We got our first Persian money here. It is very
roughly coined and consists of Tomauns in gold,
about eight shillings, and Kerauns in silver, about
tenpence.

It is said that the exports and imports of this
place amount to something like three millions
sterling per annum. This is no doubt a flattering
estimate but still a very large trade is carried on, as
it lies on the high road from all north and central
Persia to Turkey and Europe.

On the top of the surrounding hills which look
so black and poor, many flowers grow, including
" gentinilla," "wild tulips," and "Pride of Peru."

A Dr. Cormick, whose father was physician to
Abbas Mirza when governor of Shiraz, and
who himself holds the corresponding office now,
called here. He has passed the greater part of his
life in Persia, and tells us, as indeed we imagined,

184 THE MEEANEE BUG.

that the stories about the deadly effects of the bite
of the Meeanee bug are absurd fictions. It is a
small red-coloured insect whose bite is supposed to
take effect upon strangers sleeping in Meeanee
(which we have to pass), by causing them to waste
away and at length die, the natives not being sus-
ceptible of the bite, and a lighted candle keeping
off its attacks. Now Dr. Cormick stayed there,
and his cook was bitten by a red bug on the chest.
Nothing but quiet was prescribed, and no evil
effects ever followed ; but owing to the low rice
plantations about Meeanee the place is most feverish,
so much so indeed, that out of a party of twenty-
two Europeans who lately slept there, twenty
were taken ill, and all declared they had been bitten
by the insect, though they had slept in tents outside
the town. This latter circumstance affords a clue
to the mystery, as they all had low fever. The
fable no doubt arose from some persons catching a
malignant fever in the place and dying from exhaus-
tion, this being attributed to the little insect which
certainly infests Meeanee, but whose bite is little
worse than that of the ordinary domestic " cimex."

AN OLD family! 1 85

This morning the Alvizoreh came to pay us a
visit, attended by twenty-four ferashes to clear the
way for him. He seemed a portly, good-natured,
olive-complexioned man, talking no European
language, so Mr. Abbott kindly undertook the
office of interpreter, though our conversation was
not marked by any particular brilliancy, beginning
with the usual compliments and merging into the
weather and the comparative antiquity of English
and Persian families ! Our friend stated that one
family whose title of nobility extended back three
thousand years, was just extinguished through
failure of heirs ! Something like our Welsh pedi-
grees : " About this time the Flood occurred ! "

The wall of circumvallation is in ruins here as
in most Persian towns. Mr. Abbott has attempted
mending a few of the roads in the immediate vici-
nity of his house, but bad are the best. Being
invited to dine with some Greek merchants, we
walked out in the evening, preceded by men car-
rying huge linen lanterns. These are proportioned
to the dignity of the individual before whom they
are carried ; no one is allowed out after dusk

1 86 VISITS.

without them, and indeed it would be rather diffi-
cult to avoid perpetually tumbling about were it not
for them. We find considerable difficulty in get-
ting a muleteer to take us on, but hope to achieve
one to-morrow, 1 9th. The quinine, jujube, and rose
trees grow well here. We returned the Nahib Al-
vizoreh or lieutenant of the ministry's visit to-day.
(It will be observed that we get more learned in the
titles of this individual the longer we stay at Ta-
breez.) We went on horseback, as walking on such
an occasion is " infra dig." and found the broken
state of the roads to interfere considerably with
our comfort whilst riding.

A large proportion of the regular (?) Persian
army was loitering about the prefect's court-
yard, as he, like most Orientals, keeps up a great
and useless state with regard to his retinue. We sat
on the civilized appliances called chairs and smoked
Kaleouns, though as an exception our host did
not indulge in them. Two tiny cups of coffee and
two ditto of tea were handed round to each of us at
intervals, and after half an hour's not lively twaddle
we departed as we came. Mussulman cemeteries

CARAVAN journeys! I 87

are all over the town. The tombs are generally
the common flat oblong stones, with a low one at
the head. The government of this town and dis-
trict being the most important in Persia, is
always given to the heir-apparent. At present
(1865) he is a boy of fourteen.

On the 1 9th of October we parted from our
kind hostess. Mr. Abbott rode out a considerable
way with us, showing us the blue mosque on our
way, a ruined place of worship still beautifully over-
laid with the tiles from which it derives its name.
We are now travelling " en caravane," that is with-
out one ! for the main body of heavily-laden horses
and mules always travels by night, whilst we have
hired five horses for ourselves and baggage to go
by day. We were soon overtaken by a European,
escorted by a Cossack, who turned out to be a
Russian secretary to the consulate. The first
question he put to us was what our names were.
We made with him a detour through a nice poplar
wood, in whose centre we found an octagonal
pavilion of three storys in a bad state of repair, but
still retaining traces of Alhambresque decorations.

1 88 progress!

This he Informed us was called Khelaut Shah (?) as
here the khelaut, or robe of honour, which the shah
sends every year to his son and chief officers of
government, is put on by them. This is a sign
that the king's good graces are still continued to
them, and they come out these nine miles to meet it.
We passed through a well-cultivated country and
over two fresh-water streams before reaching our
first halting-place. Cay (?). An extremely dirty
caravanserai received us about three farsacks or
twelve miles out. Next morning we set off again,
having been kept awake most of the night by the
noises produced by our caravan, which started at
midnight. Shortly after leaving we began to
mount. Seeing one of the old massively-built
caravanserais on the way, we entered it, and found
strong arches of brick, the level being below sur-
rounding ground. Thus the basement was dug
out, and the whole interior very dark, in arched
galleries. We passed a small piece of water, on
which were a large number of ducks. We tried to
get a shot at them, but failed to get within range,
so fired our- Colt's revolver, loaded with ball, at a

MODES OF TRAVELLING. 1 89

lark flying. Oddly enough we missed. At
Hadjala we put up in (and with !) a mud room,
without going to a caravanserai. Another plain
and ridge of hills to cross before getting to Danadgar,
where there are only three houses. We put up at
the posthouse, as our friend the Alvizoreh had given
us a road order ; though, for the matter of that, no
doubt bakshish was the one thing needful. We
passed several horses in caravans laden with huge
clothes' basket affairs, having a semicircular hood
over them. In these, one on each side of the
horse, sit travellers who prefer this mode of con-
veyance to riding; it is the only alternative in
Persia, excepting a thing like a double sedan chair
carried by two mules in shafts — one before, one
behind. In this one can lie at full length, but in
the clothes' basket the only postures are sitting
cramped or curled up, or with legs dangling over.

This day (21st) a succession of hills and vales,
each valley getting higher up as we advanced ;
our village is in a low valley, and is called
Chodjakias. Same sort of road next day and
latterly following the broad bed of a stream for

I go meeanee!

three miles to Meeanee, the chosen home of the
cimex. Here, as usual, we were shown into a mud
room by some inhabitant. In a few minutes a
man, who turned out to be the proprietor, rushed
into the courtyard, objecting to our installing our-
selves. He was cuffed on the head and then
quietly retired. The town lies in a low district
by the stream we had followed, and beautifully
green beds of unhealthy rice grow close around.
Having to keep our candles lit for fear of the
insect, we passed a good deal of our time in read-
ing, and now follows a Persian story, in con-
sequence : —

" Once upon a time, long, long ago, there
flourished in some part of Persia an academy called
that of Silence, whose tenets inculcated a vast
amount of thought, a very little writing, and no
talking at all. The number of academicians was
strictly limited to one hundred ; and as may well
be supposed no ladies belonged to it. It so hap-
pened that in due course one of the members died ;
it also occurred that at that very time there was
living at the other extremity of Persia a most

allegories! 191

learned man, Zeeb by name. He had written
many treatises, as ' On the art of Hving for ever,'
and others too numerous to mention. No sooner
had he heard of the vacancy in the Academy of
Silence, than seized v^ith a laudable desire of filling
it, he posted up, as fast as horses could carry him
(the Indo-European telegraph was not in existence
then, and would most likely not have worked had
it been !). Meanwhile a court favourite, renowned
for his talking propensities, had been installed in
the vacant place. The consternation of the fellows
may therefore be imagined, when the learned Zeeb
sent in his name as craving admittance. The Pre-
sident determined to give him an audience in full
council to show their regret. Zeeb, therefore,
was ushered in, and the president taking a glass,
filled it as full of water as it could possibly hold,
so that another drop would cause it to overflow.
Zeeb, like a wise man, understood the allegory, but
seeing a roseleaf lying on the floor, he picked it up
and placed it gently on the water, which did not
run over ! The fellows were so charmed at this,
that clapping their hands, they instantly admitted

192 OOROOMEAH.

him a member regardless of all rules to the con-
trary. The book was brought to him to sign his name
in, which he did, adding the numerals 1 00, and then
prefixing a nought, thus, 0100, showing that the
number and worth of the academy were not in-
creased by his admittance. However, the president
charmed with so much modesty in so learned a
man, scratched out the nought, and added a one in
its place, 1 100 ; thus implying that the academical
worth was increased tenfold by his presence !"

Near the lake Ooroomeah, west of this place,
on the borders of Turkey, there are chalybeate and
sulphur springs of great medicinal effect. The
lake is seventy miles in length, and on its west
bank is the town of Ooroomeah, where some
Presbyterian American missionaries have established
a station and schools, which are said to do much
good, especially amongst the Nestorean Christians.
Our candles effectually kept off the insect, and
most of our sleep.

Eggs are seven for one penny here, but the price
of fowls fluctuates considerably in the different
villages, from the moderate sum of two-pence to

SPASMODIC pavement! 1 93

the enormous charge of fourpence ready cooked !
In the morning we crossed the stream of yesterday
by a long flat bridge, and began ascending a steep
mountain. We passed a bush covered w^ith rags,
as every Mussulman passing by tears a strip off
his already scanty raiment, to hang it upon this
solitary bush, making a prayer at the same time, or
a v^ish for something v^hich is to be fulfilled as long
as the rag remains fluttering upon the branch. Out-
side Meeanee and other villages we saw two or three
families of lepers, living cast out in tumbledown
mud huts. We found the upper portion of the
road over this mountain to be paved spasmodi-
cally in bits about a quarter of a mile long, with
rough intervals, but totally regardless of inclines,
so that no human being riding on any animal
would venture on the pavement, consisting of
various sized stones hid in the ground with their
flattest side uppermost, and this was generally a
jagged point ! Descending we crossed a river with
a strong current, on a high bridge, and then as-
cending again, we came to a vast high table land,
intersected by shallow ravines. Our road was

194 SHARSHAN.

very wild and solitary ; in our seven hours' ride we
hardly met as many people ; no cultivation visible.
We observed on the road some curious animals
with the tails of lizards and the bodies of toads,
also some rat-like animals with bushy tails, burrow-
ing in the sand and called Sichan by the natives.
The latter part of our road was a descent to a
stream and the village of Sharshan.

On the 25th we marched for seven and a half
hours along a level road, following the course of the
stream all the way. Along the flat banks corn and
rice were growing, and we saw several Kurdish
or Eeliaut encampments, a congregation of tents
made of dark felt, of goat's hair, woven by the
inmates. Neekbash our halting place. One gets
used to the smell of a stable at night. Here it
was rather nearer to us than pleasant. The inhabi-
tants seem gladly to put their mud room at
European travellers' disposal, no doubt on account
of the expected donation. We apparently halloaed
before we were out of the wood, for at Sharshan, we
were bitten by some insect, assuredly the bug, that
left a round and perfectly deep crimson mark,

ZENGAN. 195

about the size of a silver penny, with a black spot
in the centre. On our servant's right arm these
bites caused a very considerable swelling ; grape
treacle was recommended him as a cure, and was
very efficacious.

On the 26 th we followed the valley of a river we
find spelt Naclowzum in our journal : it abounded
in poplars and willows. In seven hours we reached
Zengan, the largest town between Tabreez and
Teheran ; a blue glazed tile mosque with a round
cupola, rising far above the other buildings, we
saw a great distance off. We installed ourselves in a
very dirty caravanserai, but luckily in an upper
room. Of course in these places we always have
to send our servant out to see whether there is any-
thing to eat, and then to light a fire and cook
whatever there may be. The first morning after
our arrival here we departed from this plan, in so
far as that our servant went out to buy eatables,
and came back with some beastliness resembling a
sausage with the skin off, tasting more of garlic
than of anything else. We stopped here this

day, as we had a serious disagreement with our

o 2

196 SEARCH FOR A MULETEER.

muleteer, who wanted us to stop two days ; we
even got half our money returned to us, as this
place Is supposed to be half way between Tabreez
and Teheran, though really nearer the latter, but
as the sequel showeth, we were obliged to give in !
We went out alternately to-day, one of us
staying to look after our things. We went out
first in search of a new muleteer, but they were all
engaged or going the wrong way. During our
voyage of discovery we strolled through the ba-
zaar, which is a solid new brick gallery, and shows
considerable commercial enterprize to exist here.
The nights are already rather chilly, though in the
daytime the temperature is good. We find that,
in American phraseology, we " caved in " on the
28 th, and stop here to-day to proceed with our
former muleteer to-morrow. However, he apolo-
gized, and as we could not find another we take
him on again. Just outside our windows there is
a large open space only partially occupied by under-
ground baths, whose round mud roofs project a
few feet from the surface. Here there are con-
stantly playing a quantity of youths, age from

MOURNERS I 197

seven to thirteen, whose garments are of the most
elementary description, just consisting of sleeves
and a portion of back. A large cemetery is just
beyond and there are female mourners constantly
passing to and fro. A dark blue sort of serge
appears to be the fashionable mourning dress. The
women not engaged in mourning we find to be
generally dressed in a black and white chequed
cloak. The coppersmiths, whose bazaar is close at
hand, seem to drive a " roaring trade," as the noise
of their hammering continues ceaselessly from early
morn till dewy eve. The mutton is excellent, and
the best quality is sold at three halfpence a pound ;
then they have had no cattle-plague !

Starting on the 29th we rode over a perfect flat,
until we imagined ourselves at the end of the
world. The plain on which we were riding was
bordered by two chains of mountains which seemed
to end about twenty miles further on and then —
nothing. Our thoughts were however recalled
from these reflections on attempting a gallop, when
our horse fell on its nose and pitched us very neatly
over its head. After about seven hours' riding we

198 SULTANIEH.

reached Sultanieh. About a mile outside this village
stands the most picturesque edifice we had yet
seen in Persia. On a small hill, made higher by art
and rising abruptly from the plain, we saw the for-
tress palace of the Shah, to which he often comes
during the summer heats to review his army,
which encamps below him. It is a square on two
platforms of brick rising one above the other, with
arched glass windows. There are about fourteen
sentinels' boxes excavated in the hill and looking
like gigantic rabbit-holes. Mohammed Khoda-
bundeh, the son of Ghazan, one of the successors
of Zingis Khan, that " scourge of the Lord,"
founded Sultanieh as a great town ; now it consists
of a few wretched mud huts, though the traces of
former grandeur are still distinctly recognisable, as
we passed through ruins for some few hundred
yards before entering the present village. These
are however now almost level with the soil, and
indeed sometimes ploughed over ! We saw the
remains of a mosque and two circular-roofed
buildings on the west side. This city did not es-
cape the ravages of Tamerlane, who spared it from

A DERIVATION ! 1 99

Utter destruction on payment of an enormous ran-
som, which perhaps contributed to its ruin, though
no doubt, as in other parts of Persia, misrule is the
principal cause of its decay.

We Christians were conducted into a very clean
room with carpets belonging to a Mussulman
priest. Tolerance ! (perhaps pecuniary). The son
of the priest was of a gossipping turn of mind, and
fell to talking with Joseph. He informed him of
the derivation of the founder's name ! " When
he (Khodabundeh) had founded this city, he took
up his abode in it. Most probably feeling hungry
one day, he sent to a neighbouring village to
demand two fowls as a tax. The villagers did not
send the animals, but instead a complaint of the
exorbitant nature of the impost, which amounted
to two shis (one penny, the common copper
coin of the realm !) Now two shis, it appears, in
the Tartar language are called Khodabundeh.
From henceforth Mohammed was called nothing
else ! just as Dean Swift explains the deri-
vation of Alexander the Great ! He was buried
here, surrounded by his own creations, and his

200 khodabundeh's tomb.

tomb stands close to our room. We went to in-
spect it before starting in the morning. It is an
octagonal building of fine brick, encrusted with
blue tiles. At the top of the octagon a gallery runs
round the building outside, with three horseshoe
openings at each side. The roof of this gallery is
fretted and apparently inlaid with red tiles, which
of old time were evidently gilt. The entrance and
portions of wall have tumbled down, so we entered
through a breach, and found ourselves in a space
quite as large as the body of the Pantheon at Rome
and resembling it in shape, excepting that where the
high altar stands in the Christo-Pagan temple here
an open arch leads into a square high room. The
height cf the roof from the ground appeared to us
to be almost double that of the Pantheon. It is a
perfect concavity, exceedingly well built in brick ;
these being laid in circles, each circle getting
gradually smaller till there is only the one at the
apex. These bricks were then covered over with
some sort of mud plaster into which the lacquered
tiles were fixed. Those parts of the edifice which
strike the eye most are very carefully worked, each

CAZVEEN. 20 1

tile being baked in the form required by the design.
The prevailing colour is light turquoise blue. The
roof has several large cracks, and is evidently has-
tening to decay. No trace of the actual tomb is to
be discovered, nor did any inhabitant know of its
existence ; but hov^ can we expect a people whose
annals preserve no record of such monarchs as Xerxes
and Darius to exhibit any interest in later kings ?
Khodabundeh was the first Persian ruler who
embraced the Sheah heresy, now the dominant
religion. Accounts of this are no doubt to be
found in many encyclopaedias. We rode eight
hours over the plain, discerning the remains of
many villages and watercourses, and stop at
Koorumderah, a large and well planted village.

Leaving the plain next morning, we ascended
the hills on the east, which we crossed, and in six
and a half hours arrived at Meskeen : a cold north
wind blowing. Next day, it took us just as long to
arrive at Cazveen. Shortly after starting, we met
a Persian bound for Stamboul, who talked French,
and asked us where we were going to and why !
His wives and other baggage came after him. A

202 WATER.

short distance amongst hills, and then into a plain,
which to judge from the comparative multitude of
towns and villages seemed very populous and
flourishing. Six miles outside Cazveen we began
marching through vineyards, which extended to
the very walls in unbroken succession ; grapes were
also ludicrously cheap, as we bought a pennyworth,
and received rather more than six pounds weight
of them for that sum. Until within a mile of the
town, we seemed to be approaching a forest of
poplars, as no buildings were visible ; then a finely
decorated mosque and some blue minarets made
their appearance, and we gradually got into the
village. We put up at a caravanserai in the
bazaar, which is long and dirty, with nothing
remarkable for sale. The dwelling houses are ' all
beneath the level of the street, which runs between
the garden walls of each one. This is no doubt
owing to the fact that the bricks of each house
were dug up out of the mud on the spot, thus
sinking the soil. The drinking water is conveyed
through the town in a subterraneous brickwork
channel, the access to which is gained by an in-

EXTRAORDINi\RY NAMES I 203

dined plane, or long sloping staircase, arched over.
At the entrance to this stands a pretty porch-like
open edifice, gaily decorated in tilework. Then a
regular tube and cock communicates with the
aqueduct below. This arrangement, however,
sometimes as at this place, allows the drainage of the
town to filter into the water, thereby not im-
proving its taste. After a prolonged search after
our muleteer, who deserted us here, but was
brought back and slightly cuff^ed, we started
next morning at 10^ a.m., and reached Hassar-
koobad in four and a half hours, when we
got into a room whence the inmates bundled out
leaving all their portable property about. Our
road lay over the yesterday's plain. We observed
that the ants of this country, contrary to the
practice obtaining amongst their civilised congeners,
burrow^ under ground instead of erecting ant hills !
Next day we rode for seven hours, passing some
Eeliaut tents and a large flock of cranes. We now
see the snow-capped mountains of the Elburz range
towering over the lower range on our right, stop
at Aptarasseen, and next day at Sophiabad pur-

204 BAD QUARTERS.

porting to be thirty-two miles ofF, where we got
the worst rooms we had yet been in, the place
swarming with children, and all the inhabitants
looking diseased.

'( 205 )

CHAPTER VII.

On the 5th of November we started early for
our last day's journey before reaching the capital
of Persia, Teheran. We cross a good-sized stream
on a good-sized bridge, we ride on for six hours
without discovering any traces of a large town,
though Demavend towers loftily above and before
us. At last we see Teheran before us, in a sort of
embrasure of hills (though in reality rather far
from any, and on the plain). The impression con-
veyed by a first sight, as to the size, is that it is
smaller than Tabreez, which is indeed the case.
Nothing striking about it, as trees as usual conceal
all the public buildings. We met hundreds of
unloaded camels going out of the gates ; then
passing through some very crowded streets and
dark crooked bazaars we reached a narrow well
paved street where the pavement was frightfully
slippery, and halted before the British legation. The
first objects that struck us were fireworks placed in

2o6 REMEMBER ! REMEMBER !

readiness for letting off before the door. This was
appropriate — Guy Fawkes' day ! Mr. AUson,
our envoy, in the kindest manner offered us apart-
ments at the embassy, and the same evening he
gave a grand entertainment to the Turkish minister,
where we saw all the Europeans then staying at
Teheran. The Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs
and the Shah's Aide-de-camp also dined, and the
two Persian ambassadors respectively to London and
Paris, who much prefer Teheran to going about
their business !

The first news we heard was that of the death of
poor Lord Palmerston. This had come by tele-
graph, which traverses this town, coming from
Bagdad and also from Tiflis. We found here a
billiard table, brought all the way from England
with great difficulty. The Persians played at it
with more or less (rather less than more) success.
Two Persian bands played alternately in the large
garden in front during and after dinner : one was led
by a Frenchman, the other by an Italian : this latter
much the best. The fireworks were creditable,
but the art of colouring the fire did not seem to

TEHERAN. 207

have been brought to any great perfection, and the
smoke was much too great.

On the yth we went into the bazaars, accom-
panied by Mirza Jan, the second moonshee or
interpreter to the mission. These were positively
interminable, and filled with every sort of com-
modity. Old arms are seemingly a great article of
trade, and the jewellers^ who are always Christians
or Jews, are also very numerous. These enamel
very beautifully on gold, though when the subjects
chosen are human beings the drawing is anything
but perfect, and the perspective always ludicrous.
The bazaars are very solidly built of burnt bricks,
and the various caravanserais are commodious. At
one end we came out upon the Shah's palace. This
is surrounded by a moat long since dried up. Then
an arched gateway leads into a street well paved,
and with little shops on both sides ; these are the
outer precincts. Then a large garden courtyard
with a large tank brimful of water in the cg^itre.
This was added by the present monarch, Nusreddin
Shah. In this (the courtyard, not the tank) quan-
tities of soldiers were lounging about, and in one

2o8 PERSIAN EXECUTIONERS.

corner we saw about twenty rough-looking fellows
with nothing distinguishing about their dress ex-
cepting dirt, who, we were told, were the execu-
tioners— as handy with the baston or the bowstring
as with the sword. The whipping-post is only a
stout pole with a loop of cord in the centre, into
which the whippee's feet are placed, and thus held
up to be bastinadoed. Taking off a man's toe nails
neatly with the stick is one of the executioners'
greatest accomplishments. On the right of this
court stands the royal palace, flanked by two tall
broad towers. Before getting in here we passed
some corridors decorated with designs worked in
white plaster. Here is the English telegraph office
and a staff of English operators. Some of the
walls of these corridors are painted in barbarous
style, but withal picturesquely.

In the evening we dined with a solitary French
attache, who filled the post of charge d'affaires, first,
second and third secretary all in one at this
moment, and for some time before. We went on
horseback with attendants on foot bearing the
lanterns, as the road is very treacherous, full of

THE RACES.

209

holes and desperately slippery. Returning on
foot, we were vigorously attacked by the watch-
dogs in the bazaars ; they were however repulsed
without much slaughter. A few dim oil-lamps
were stuck up here and there in niches in the
walls. The Russian mission having determined
to build a house in grand style, they got the
plans drawn out, and the building was commenced
by laying the foundations and cellars in solid
stone. Then no more money being forthcoming,
the rest was built of mud. The Russian Govern-
ment has now (1865) about 650 cases calling
for redress of wrongs done to Russian subjects by
Persians, for which they have received no satisfac-
tion, and thus it is only waiting its opportunity or
the withdrawal of British countenance to seize
upon the provinces of Ghilan and the port (!)
of Astrabad, in the Caspian, as a compensation for
those cases.

On the 7th the races, a national institution,
came off. As we were riding into the town we
saw at a distance a building open in front, which
looked something like a grand stand, and it turned

P

2IO THE COURSE.

out to be SO. The course is about two miles out,
and purports to be two miles round. The foreign
embassies are always invited, but it appears have
never gone, owing to a point of etiquette, the
minister for foreign affairs always allotting them a
position not by any means suited to the dignity of
representatives of European sovereigns, — a room
on the ground instead of near the Shah. On this
occasion a message was however sent round to the
various envoys to say that this had been rectified
and that the room generally appropriated to the
queen mother had been allotted to them. We
therefore set out with Mr. Alison in the morning,
forming a cavalcade of nine Europeans, preceded
by the Gholaums (the mounted attendants and
foreign-office postmen to the envoy), and the
Kaleoun, as that pipe is always carried about on
state occasions. We had hardly got out of the
town when a messenger rode up bringing word
that the arrangement of rooms had again under-
gone alteration, and that the missions were to sit
in a room below the Shah. This, of course, was
an indignity not to be overlooked, so we turned

THE FUN. 2 I I

our horses' heads away from the course, and pre-
pared to return.

However, we thought that as we were mere
travellers not diplomatically connected, we might
have a look at the fun incognito ; so we rode a
little way up the course, which is enclosed by two
low mud walls, and quite as uneven as the rest of
the plain, and then turning, accompanied by two
Gholaums, we got to the stand, where we dis-
mounted and stood in the passage of one of the
outer wings of this building.

Early in the morning, when the Shah prepared
to go out of his palace, one gun was fired, then a
salvo when he mounted his horse. This we heard
when some distance off, so we cantered on through
a multitude of people who lined the course for a
great distance. The sight put one much in mind
of a racecourse in any other country. The
Shah's eldest son soon drove up in a carriage on
springs most gorgeously got up. Then after an
interval came a troop of camel artillery, each car-
rying a gun of the smallest calibre in front of its

rider. Before these came a drum and fife band

P 2

212 THE SHAH.

also on camels. These soldiers were dressed in
perfectly respectable red coats. Then some
mounted horsemen rode up clearing the way, and
after these some fifty fellows got up in the most
curious of helmets, apparently high cones of black
cloth, flat at the sides and with bits of silver paper
pasted on in bits ; upon this a pasteboard erection,
like a painted bunch of flowers, red coats and gold
(or brass ?) buttons. These were the Shah's "run-
ning footmen." Then the state coach, richly
mounted in gold with a glass front; the harness
of the eight horses also to all appearance of gold.
After this, and preceded by all the dignitaries of
the realm on foot, came the Shah himself riding
alone, on a splendidly caparisoned steed and holding
a red silk umbrella majestically open over his head.
His complexion was olive, with dark moustaches,
no beard or whiskers ; his epaulettes one blaze of
diamonds. After him came an immense and mis-
cellaneous escort of horsemen wildly galloping
about. Immediately on the king's entering the
grand stand, which was in two storys and built of
brick, the races began. Nine venerable-looking

THE RUNNING. 213

men got up in red robes like so many Venetian
senators, took out bits of paper, and began writing,
standing in the centre of the course, in front of
the king ; these were the king's scribes, " chiels
taking notes." For the first race eight horses
started, six times round the course — twelve miles !
The jockeys were all boys, four of them dressed in
red silk shirts and violet breeches, two in white and
two others in green shirts. They each wore a hand-
kerchief, of colour corresponding to the shirt, on
their head. The start took place at an immense
pace ; no false starts here : should one jockey be
behind the others, tant pis pour lu'i. Anybody is
allowed to enter a horse, and should one not be-
longing to the king win, the jockey and owner are
bastinadoed. Whilst the race was being run a band
of drums and shrill clarionets struck up in front of
the stand, the musicians sat cross-legged on the
ground, and to this accompaniment the Shah's sing-
ing dervishes struck up a song in a quavering treble.
Very luckily the sound hardly reached us, as the
performers were on the other side of the course.
All this time the sun was shining very hotly upon

214 THE PRIZES.

US all. The horses at each successive round seemed
to be taking it easy, though, judging from the sup-
posed length of the course, this could not be the
case, as they finished the first two rounds in ten
minutes (four miles), and the whole twelve miles
in twenty-eight minutes ! At the last round, the
spectators who were on horseback rushed on the
course and licked the respective horses they had
any interest in with sticks to make them go faster.
One of the red shirts won. There were five
prizes ; this is the number for each race we believe,
irrespective of entries, so that if only five enter,
each has a good chance of gaining one ! The
prizes, sums of ready money, were wrapped up in
a sort of white linen handkerchief, and were laid
on the ground in front of the king, before the
start. Each winner receives one of these,
which he puts on his head, and then walks in
front of the king, to whom he makes an obeisance,
as he did before the start. After this race we left,
as all the others are the same, excepting that the
distance for each gets shorter.

On the Indo-European telegraph being opened

MOSLEM TOLERATION. 215

in Persia the king went in person to the office and
telegraphed to all the governors of the various
provinces on the telegraphic line. The message
sent v^as to this effect : — " What present have you
brought the king on this auspicious occasion."
Satisfactory answers were received, each governor
giving a present according to his ability or the
tax-paying powers of his province ; and when the
king retired, the respective governors at the various
stations also left. They had, however, not pro-
ceeded far away when they were summoned back
again, and received messages from the Prime
Minister : — " How much have you brought for
me ?" The present minister of finance, a devout
Moslem, who frequents the society of Mullahs and
Dervishes more than any other Persian, lately ac-
quired possession of a village in the neighbourhood,
an Armenian colony, by name Van-eck. Upon
hearing that his tenants were in want of a place of
religious worship, he immediately gave orders that
a church should be built for them ; and not only
that, but with his own hands presented them with
a large crucifix to place in it ; a rare instance of

2l6 SHAH ABDULAZEEN.

Moslem toleration ! A favourite present to make
to a Christian here is that of a pig ! which animal
is supposed to be very useful in the stable. We
had heard great things of the dangers of travel
between Tabreez and Teheran, but at any rate "we
found it perfectly safe. Our muleteer was con-
stantly complaining about our liability to be at-
tacked ; but as we continually saw solitary horsemen
on our road, it did not seem so very unsafe after all.
On the 8th we went out hawking towards Shah
Abdulazeen, a village about three miles from town,
where there is the tomb of a very holy Imaum of
the same name. The cupola of the mosque in
which he is interred is gilt all over, and shines
accordingly. We soon found some partridges, but
on very bad ground intersected by narrow and deep
ravines ; so they got away, and we turned to the
right, away from the ruins of Rhe, the supposed site
of ancient Rhagge. These are to all appearance of
mud. A few bricks lie strewn about, and rude
sculptures have been found by careful explorations.
The city (then called Rei) was destroyed by the
Tartars in the 1 2 th century. After a long search the

HAWKING.

217

dogs (of a thin greyhound breed), found a hare, which
not having sufficient start, was run down by them
before the hawk got a chance at it. Finding another,
after ineffectually beating a castor oil plantation, we
got a short run over a corn country, when it was soon
pulled down by the hawk. Then we had tea and
a kaleoun under a chinar or Oriental plane-tree, and
returned over a bad country full of small ravines.
The corn is already growing, about six inches high.
It is covered with snow in the winter, and then
shoots up to its proper height in the spring ! We
saw the top of Demavend peering out of the clouds.
It is variously estimated to be from 19,000 to 22,000
feet high !

We on the loth came suddenly upon a lion, led
by a string in the bazaar, and nearly fell into its
mouth. It rained heavily, falling as snow on the
surrounding mountains. On the 12th, Sunday,
we went to the Teheran Zoological Gardens, thus
keeping to the fashion even here. We got to the
animals, which were the king's private property,
through a large garden, also belonging to the Shah.
This has a summer palace at one end, and the

2 1 8 THE " ZOO " AT TEHERAN.

walks are well planted and laid out. Thence
we entered a smaller garden where the beasts are
kept in small brick huts ; some six tigers, two
panthers, and one lioness, completed the collection
of wild animals. The keeper walked amongst
them very unconcernedly. They are much better
treated than in many public " Zoos " in Europe,
petted, never beaten, and always well fed. The
birdhouse is a large building with wire for win-
dows, where every sort of bird runs about indis-
criminately. In a large yard were some gazelles
and wild asses ; one of the latter was very tame,
and came up to us to be patted. We dined with
the Russian minister.

On the 1 8th we visited Goolaheck, the residence
of the English mission during the summer heats ;
we went on horseback in front of a sort of four-
horsed landau, in which came Mr. Alison and one
of his secretaries. We passed one of the Shah's
palaces on the way — a lofty square stuccoed
building, with a platform and trees on the top,
and a nice garden in front. Some distance from
thi$ there rose a Persian cotton-spinning factory

GOOLAHECK.

219

built in European style, and bringing reminiscences
of the neighbourhood of Manchester into one's .
mind. It does not succeed as a speculation. The
road is remarkably good, perfectly level for five
miles with a trench on either side. At about seven
miles from Teheran v^e turned off on to a less
perfect side road, to Goolaheck, v^hich stands on
rising ground. The house has nothing remarkable
about it, but a good garden and many trees in
front. These latter throw a grateful shade on it
during the summer, but hinder all view, excepting
from the roof. A tent is raised in front where
the mission eat their meals whilst residing here.
The supply of water here is on rather odd
terms. A stream runs right through the grounds,
but the water may be only stopped for pur-
poses of irrigation for twenty-four hours every
week; on other days only enough for ablutions
may be taken from it. These rules obtain for
all the grounds through which the stream runs,
though according to the various leases the time
you may stop the water is shortened, or the same,
but never longer than the twenty-four hours.

220 BLUE TILES.

The passage walls of the house are Persianly
ingenious, a sort of open lattice work of blue
glazed tiles, which admits all air whilst excluding
most heat !

221

CHAPTER VIII.

We now determined to visit the Shah's town
palace, so having obtained permission, we were
escorted into it by one of the servants. We entered
the court which has a long narrow sheet of water
in the centre, with trees planted on both sides of
it, and saw at its head a large room open
in front, but now covered in by a huge sort of
bamboo or reed mat. There the king sits in state
during great public festivals, such as the Norooz,
or New Year's Day. Then the Shah takes up his
position on a richly gilded alabaster throne ; this
is simply a raised moveable platform, on which is
spread a carpet, and a step at the further end of
the platform is the post of honour, where he sits
cross-legged on another carpet, until he varies his
posture by sitting on a chair most brilliantly inlaid
with precious stones, to be gazed at by his faithful
subjects. The lower portion of the walls of the
room in which stands the throne is coated with

2 22 THE shah's TOWN PALACE.

alabaster with raised gilt or painted mouldings ; the
upper is of the small mirror pattern with plaster
ornamentations in Moorish taste. The actual roof
is flat, and covered by pieces of looking-glass, two
feet square laid side by side, and of European ma-
nufacture ; the portion nearest the opening towards
the court is supported by two pillars said to have
come from Persepolis ; they are of some white
hard marble, with circular decorated flutings. We
then entered the actual precincts of the palace
by a side gate. The first court is inhabited by
servants or officials and is proportionally dirty and
ill paved. Passing a sentry, we entered a large
garden, with ponds and trees and running streams;
on our left was the Harem, in another court
which we did not approach. The first room
entered was on our right in this first court, the
front again open to the garden ; in it a throne
of enamelled gold set with precious stones ; by its
side, leaning against it, a tawdry French daub
not even hung up. In point of fact, magnificence
and disorder, riches and squalor elbowed each
other throughout what portion of the palace we

THE ROOMS. 223

saw. Here the chandeliers were of rich, perhaps
too rich, Bohemian glass, decorations of room all
in the looking-glass style. We entered then
another room across the garden. This portion
of the palace being built by Futteh Ali Shah,
his portrait and name were stuck all about. Here
there was a throne of more European conforma-
tion and one perfect blaze of jewels, as was also
a chair of state in the same room. Then into a
room hung all round with bad French chromo-
lithographs in gilt frames, and English engravings
out of the Illustrated London News. In the
corners some newly arrived French carpets lay
still rolled up.

Passing under this room we entered another
garden court, surrounded by buildings still in
course of construction, a tank of very clear
water filled with fish occupied its upper end.
Here, another room was inspected with the usual
throne, now of carved wood ; the interior walls
very artistically painted. The new palace was
built in two story s and flanked by two broad
towers of the same elevation, with peaked roofs

224 THE GARDENS.

and rooms open in front supported by pillars on
each story, thus presenting an utterly novel and
singular appearance. The rooms in this palace
were being tastefully decorated in foliage and
arabesque patterns on looking-glass ground. We
we were now conducted, as a finale, into an orange
and citron-tree house in this court. A stream
flowed right through it, and the channel being
paved in light blue tiles gave a most cheerful
aspect to the water as it ran rapidly along. After
a cup of tea (and bakshish !) we departed. The
Shah had gone into the country for a day, or we
could not have gained admittance to his palace on
the point of etiquette, unless to be presented to
him. We did not see the crown jewels on this
occasion, as their late guardian had been
disgraced, and the office being in abeyance the
Shah had sealed them up himself.

After a great deal of squabbling, the diplomatic
difficulty about seats at the races has been amicably
arranged. The king wrote an autograph letter to
Mr. Alison, as the " doyen " of the ministers, to
say that he regretted what had past, that it should

AN EXPENSIVE MESSAGE. 225

not occur again ; and hoping that the matter
might rest here — as it does. The king's aide-de-
camp who brought back a favourable answer from
the ministers to the Shah, was presented by him
with a diamond-hilted dagger, worth some hun-
dreds of pounds, as a token of his majesty's grati-
fication. The other day H. M. tried his 'prentice
hand at telegraphing. The sole answer he could
get was " repeat, repeat !" until he gave it up. The
governor of Shiraz, to whom he sent some mes-
sage, telegraphed back that one hundred Tomauns,
say ;^40, would be his present for the honour
done him (the Governor).

The 1 6th was a cloudy day. We can see the
snow getting lower down the mountain's sides.
Owing to the quantity of fruit, &c., diarrhoea is very
prevalent here. We had some enormous shrimps
caught in the Persian Gulf and dried in the sun^
exceedingly beastly. On the 1 9th we, for almost the
first time since last May, saw the rain coming down
in a continuous pour. Last night we dined with
the Sepah Salar, or commander-in-chief, who is
also Prime Minister,* having attained that office in

* Removed 1866, we believe.

Q

226 A PERSIAN INVITATION.

'64 owing to some victories he achieved over re-
belHous Turcomans east of Mazunderan. Our
invitation was worded as follows ; be it remembered
that he had never set eyes on us ! — The heading
" O high in place companion of greatness and
dignity, kind and bountiful friend." — "With re-
ference to the pleasure we experience by meeting
with kind friends, I beg that on the evening pre-
ceding Sunday, the 29th of Jemidee, one hour
after sunset, you will take the trouble of making
your friend happy by meeting with him and par-
taking of dinner. There is no further trouble.
Wednesday, 25 th of Jemidee." We rode out
through the ark, as the king's palace is called, to
the Sepah Salar's house out of town, and dis-
mounting, walked through several garden court-
yards to the reception-room, where we found our
host seated on a sofa at the top of the room, and
the various diplomatic or official magnates in order
around him. Kaleouns were brought in and carried
out twice before dinner was announced, each
servant presenting the pipe to his own master.
Frequently there are great contests about prece-

PERSIAN DINNER. 227

dence outside as to the order they are to march in.
We observed that all the Persians present had adopted
the civilised custom of wearing shoes ; excepting a
major and lieutenant-colonel who had to stand in
the doorway, and behind the Sepah Salar at dinner,
who were in their stockings ! The dinner was a
perfect medley of European and Persian dishes, and
the wines tolerable. We received what we were
told was sherry at first, but upon swallowing the
wineglassful, discovered it to be brandy neat.
Bordeaux was also handed round, and then the
half-emptied glass re-filled with Malaga. We
dined with our hats on. Ours was a wide-awake,
not a graceful full-dress portion of costume ! The
adjutant-general and confidential adviser of the
Sepah Salar is an Armenian Christian. At the
conclusion, a plate containing clay in which jes-
samine and geranium blossoms were fixed was
placed before each guest, standing thus in lieu of
the old English rose water, as we were supposed to
take the flowers away to smell at ! We now passed
through courts crowded with servants jostling each
other and ourselves to two smaller rooms, open in

Q 2

228 AW A BAB A.

front, with a colonnade extending into a large
garden, where we witnessed a display of fireworks
and the sending up of two fire balloons. The
grand finale consisted of a man running about and
twisting round, covered all over with squibs and
crackers of every description, a sort of Persian
fire king. On returning, a soldier of the regular
army had to accompany our large cavalcade in
order to procure us admittance into the ark. This
was only obtained on pronouncing the password for
the night; and during our progress through the
palace we were continually challenged by sentinels.
2oth. We have now got a Persian servant called
Awa Baba, which name, slightly modified, recalls
unpleasant recollections of the forty thieves ! His
son also accompanies us. Awa at present talks
about twenty words of English (which is our only
means of communication with him) indistinctly;
however we found him to improve as we got on.
By very special permission we were allowed to see
the crown jewels to-day. We started at noon,
and waded through a sea of mud, only partially
alleviated by the covered way in the bazaar,

THE CROWN JEWELS. 229

slipping in our goloshes at every step. Of five
Europeans we were the only one who possessed
the luxury of an umbrella, and as it rained hard it
came in usefully. We went through the first
court of the palace, and were ushered up a very
narrow and extremely steep staircase, into a small
room, where we found the king's aide-de-camp
awaiting us. The designs on the walls here were
very well drawn, and the decoration more tasteful
than of ordinary. The chairs were of pure
chased gold, as also was a sort of huge dumbwaiter
that stood in one corner. Of the chairs the
Shah possesses forty, of the dumbwaiters nine !
(Of course underneath the gold there are wooden
supports, unseen.)

After some tea, the jewels were brought in for
our inspection in detail. It would be endless and
impossible to attempt to describe a tithe of them
or even the impression they produced on our eyes.
Their value, putting a moderate estimate on them,
could not, in our own judgment and that of the
four gentlemen who saw them with us, by any
possibility be under forty or fifty millions of

230 ORIENTAL PEARLS.

money ! that is if they were to be sold singly.
Of course, in the aggregate no fortune would
suffice to pay for them, and therefore their value
would be depreciated. We must attempt to
describe a few in the order they were shown to us.
An evidently French jewel case was brought in
first and placed on a table, round which we eagerly
gathered awaiting its opening. In this there were
some forty gold rings, each with a single diamond,
of which the largest (diamond, not ring) was some
one and a half inch round, and the smallest
a quarter of an inch. One with a large yellow
diamond. Two diamonds were placed as pendants
at the end of a necklace of pearls, and most grace-
fully, looking like two drops of dew. Two pearl
necklaces, each pearl perfectly round and white and
about the size of a large pea. In two little drawers
two or three more necklaces, the pearls this time
much larger ; and in the bottom drawer another,
of the largest pearls we had yet seen, arranged —
an oblong one and a perfectly round one alter-
nately, each, without the smallest exaggeration,
being the size of a sour cherry.

THE BELTS. 23 1

This casket always follows the Shah wherever
he goes ; next came a collection of a dozen belts,
each surpassing the other in costliness and taste.
One of these had the fastening buckle, about eight
inches long and three broad, studded with perfect
rubies, each about half an inch round, set in gold.
Another diamonds only ; a third, the whole band
set in emeralds and diamonds and so on. We
then were shown four sabres ; all had the flat side
of the scabbard richly enamelled on gold ; one
was one blaze of diamonds on the hilt and scab-
bard ; another was studded with pearls like large
peas; a third was set with diamonds and other
stones to represent flowers. Two other necklaces
we were shown were about two and a half feet
long each, and formed of large emeralds, each
about an inch and a quarter long, alternating with
bunches of pearls. An aigrette presented by some
emperor of Austria was exquisitely worked as a
bouquet of flowers, in diamonds, with one large
amethyst set a jour. The last tray of jewels was
the " bonne bouche." On this we saw a belt of
pliant gold work, the buckle consisting of the cele-

232 THE " DERIEHNOOR."

brated " Deriehnoor," or " sea of light ;" a diamond
perfectly flat except at the edges, and almost two
inches long by one and a quarter in breadth (?) ; it was
set round with other smaller diamonds ; with this
there were some bracelets of uncut rubies and
emeralds, quite as large as pigeons' eggs for the
most part. The largest turquoise we saw was
perfectly flat and about one inch by a half.
Two beautiful amethysts in silver settings. We
saw one of the royal crowns ; the other is kept in
the inner treasury in the Harem, which is only
opened once a year; on the top of this is the
famous ruby that belonged at one time to Aurung-
zebe, a good deal larger than a pigeon's egg and
uncut. The aigrette in front, something in the
style of the Prince of Wales' Feathers, is of dia-
monds (the largest is set as a pendant, alone) ;
between this and the red velvet cap of the crown
there is a plume of spun glass such as may be
bought for the sum of one penny at the Poly-
technic. A black velvet robe with diamond
buttons and frogs looked lugubrious but priceless ;
others, with the collar and sleeves completely

THE TELEGRAPHIC CONVENTION. 233

covered with large pearls, were amongst some of
the various things we saw. We returned delighted.

After very prolonged negociations, the telegra-
phic convention between England and Persia is at
last concluded. The existing English staff to have
entire control over one wire for five years, when,
should the Persians have acquired the art of tele-
graphy, the whole to revert to them — always re-
serving the right of transmitting any messages
through it. At present the value of a message
from London to Kurrachee (the first Indian station),
is exactly £^, On the morning of our departure
Mr. Alison received a letter from an anonymous
Persian lady, stating that she wished to marry a
Frank ; she had no objection to change her
religion, and was young and handsome, but some-
what expensive in her tastes. Mr. Alison told us
it was not the first application of the kind he had
received. As we were just departing, here was a
chance for one of us gone !

23 rd. For the last three days we were detained
in Teheran by the rainy weather; we hardly went
out of the house, excepting to Major Smith's, next

234 FURTHER TRAVEL.

door — he is the superintendent of telegraphs in
Persia, a very agreeable and well-informed person
— or to take a tour in the garden. It is the drav^-
back (amongst many others) of a Persian town that
when the bazaars and any other sights there may
be to see are exhausted, you cannot go out for a
walk with any pleasure ; for just outside the walls
there is a bleak sandy desert, and even to reach
this you have to walk through endless uncomfort-
able and narrow streets, unless you have a horse or
a carriage, and these latter are so few in number
that they hardly come into consideration. After
bidding farewell to our hospitable entertainer and
the other members of the mission, we started at
12.30, as this was to be a short stage. Now we
are travelling in great luxury, having bought
wooden bedsteads, and we have also positively two
sheets, besides an embryo " batterie de cuisine."
The mountains that looked black and bare when
we entered Teheran, seventeen days ago, now form
a magnificent snow-capped range. We passed the
gilded shrine of old Abdulazeen on our left, and
steered (!) due south ; road bad from mud. We

HOUSSEINABAD. 235

passed the deserted shrine of one Ibrahim, and some
of the immense irregularly circular tumuli which seem
peculiar to the plain of Teheran. None have been
opened within the memory of man we are told, as
permission is never given to what is here considered
an act of desecration. We saw also many small
ruined villages ; if we may form a theory as to the
cause of their desolation, we should say that the
vicinity of the seat of power and government
rendered extortion too easy here !

Having sent on our baggage, and taken only
Awa Baba with us, we managed to lose our way,
as he had not the smallest notion in which direc-
tion our destination lay, although the village was
only twelve miles out of Teheran, where he lived,
and he had twice done this journey before ! How-
ever, after wandering over some ploughed fields we
were shown our village, at least the one where we
had intended to stop ; but we found our baggage
had proceeded another farsakh (or four miles) to
Housseinabad. The road between these two
points was so covered with salt, brought to the sur-
face probably by the heavy rain, that we seemed

236 THE MALEK EL MOST.

to be traversing ground after a most heavy hoar
frost.

We found our baggage domiciled in a large
caravanserai, and our beds set up in two very
small rooms. Next to ours, in another room, par-
titioned off by loose bricks in the doorway, was a
quantity of cocks and hens. We distinctly over-
heard one of them snoring during the course of the
night, and at 4 a.m. the male portion of the com-
munity set up a simultaneous and long-continued
crow. Starting in the morning, we rode up a hill
and down again on through the Malek el Most or
" valley of the angel of death," a succession of very
barren ravines and small plains; the road very good.
A caravanserai is in course of construction at the
further end of the ravines, presumably to take the
sting from the angel aforesaid, but the name is an
exaggeration. Before entering the vale we passed an
ice-house just like a gigantic beehive, built of the
customary mud, in a cone in successive circular
steps ; also a fresh-water crab ; and, whilst in the
valley, Demavend at sunset glowed some time after
all else was shrouded in darkness. Night fell just as

" POOLE DULLAK." 237

we were getting out of the valley, which certainly
is then very lonely, and after riding eleven hours
altogether we reached Houz-i-Sultaun, an immense
caravanserai, or manzil, as any place of customary
halt is called, where we stopped the night. Riding
on over the outskirts of the great salt desert, Deria
Caveer, we stayed at the posthouse of Poole
Dullak, or the "barber's bridge," a barber of
Teheran having repaired the bridge here at his
own expense. The small stream that flows beneath it
is brackish and bitter to the taste, like the salt that
lies about and of course impregnates the water.
Nevertheless, fish of the dace kind are found in it.
We passed a low range of hills before arriving.
Our room here is twelve feet square and has three
doors and as many windows to it; none of the
latter shut, and the former let in all winds that
blow.

A Persian officer whom we met here on his way
to Teheran was most urbane, and gave us some
cups of tea on our arrival, sending us a bottle of
Hamadan wine later. We returned the compli-
ment by sending him some brandy, of which he

238 KOOM.

took a very little, and with rare courtesy said he
would not deprive us of it, as he was going where
there was plenty of it to be got, whereas we were
not.

We rode on in the morning, a sharp wind blow-
ing, across black undulating gravel hills, to Koom.
We saw the great gilt dome of the sepulchre of
Fatima " the immaculate " long before we arrived.
This mosque contains also the sepulchre of Futteh
Ali Shah, the " father of his people," at any rate
of five hundred of them, thus rivalling Mr. Car-
lyle's favourite Augustus the Strong of Poland !
We walked into the bazaar, where we observed
nothing particular excepting that more than half
the people we met proclaimed themselves Mullahs
(priests) or Saids (descendants of the prophet), by
the colour of their turbans. Koom ranks as one
of the three holy cities of Persia, having deserved
the appellation of the " Abode of the pious." We
regret that the Persian of this is so badly written
in our diary as to preclude deciphering. Those
who have read Mr. Morier's amusing " Hadji
Baba " will recollect that it is here the self-styled

THE MOSQUE OF FATIMA. 239

Hadji fled from Teheran to take " Bust," or sanc-
tuary ! We visited the exterior of the mosque,
which is of the usual shape ; the tiles on the dome
are not well joined together, but highly gilt. No
fire was to be lit in our room on account of the
smoke, which all obstinately persisted in mistaking
the way out by the chimney ; but we had to re-
main here all next day, as it poured drearily.
Whilst in Teheran we applied for an order to see
the tombs here, several Europeans having told us
that they had seen that of Futteh Ali; but we
were told that no order could be given, as it would
only cause a collision between civil and ecclesiastical
authorities. Perhaps, however, we might get per-
mission on the spot, by making interest with the
guardian. This however we were unable to do,
and we strongly doubt the desecration of the
mosque, by the profane tread of a Christian foot,
ever to have been allowed !

We got off on the 28 th, riding first right
through the town, which is rather dilapidated, even
to three little mosques with extinguisher tops. On
one of these were perched at least seven generations

240 CASHAN.

of Storks' nests. There are great quantities of these
birds about. We arrived at Pasangoor by a flat
road, it having taken us six hours to do sixteen
miles, owing to the mud. Next morning we rode
up an inclined plane, with Demavend behind us
all the while, and passed one oasis in the sur-
rounding barrenness, where one man was ploughing.
Here there were the remains of a gigantic castle,
whose mud walls were yet standing some thirty
feet high. The oasis in front enclosed by earthen
walls. The watch-tower at the gate still pre-
served slight traces of its former shape — tobacco
growing here. We then rode downwards to Sein
Sein, our halting-place. Next morning we left our
baggage to come on after us, and rode on to
Cashan, having a picturesque jagged range of low
mountains on our right, and behind these a snowy
range ; road good. On arrival we immediately
rushed into the bazaar, which we found very long and
with little in it. The copper ware is famous here,
cheap and well executed. The neighbourhood of
this large village is well cultivated, and there are
many smaller villages near the mountains. They

GREAT DAM. 24 1

are built in this situation owing to the old fear of the
Turcomans, who used to make raids across the salt
desert : the mountains presented a refuge for the
inhabitants on these occasions. Some of the streets
are quite as well paved as any in the capital — no
very high meed of praise ! Some six miles west of
this place, on the slope of the hills, and surrounded
by trees, stands Theem, one of the many royal
palaces scattered over Persia.

On the 1st of December we started, buying
some things on our route through the bazaar,
and rode gradually up a stony plain, following
a little stream up into the mountains, where it
became a torrent, which we crossed and recrossed
several times, getting higher and higher until snow
began to lie under our horses' feet, and it became
bitterly cold. We came upon a huge dam of
masonry work, some twenty-five feet broad and
fifty to sixty high, across the ravine we were
threading, built up to bar the water of the tor-
rent from devastating its banks below during the
spring. Thus only a small portion of water was
allowed to descend at a time, the rest being kept

242 KOHROOD.

in by the dam. At this time there was little
there, but we could distinctly see the water-mark
on the rocks, where the pent-up stream occasionally
forms a formidable and deep lake. At sunset,
the rosy rays struggling for a time on the snow
with the brilliant beams of a full moon were very
pretty, until the latter gained the upper hand, and
crowned the snowy tops with a silvery light. Up
and up, till we came to a valley richly cultivated
in terraces, and then rode through stone walls like
those in Daghestan, enclosing fruit trees of every
description ; through a rich orchard country, past
a small isolated mosque, finding our lonely path
by the light of the moon, as we had dismounted
to keep our blood in circulation. At length past
a large cemetery on the side of a hill, we gladly
entered Kohrood, and found the first house to be
the post, where we ensconce ourselves in a lower
room, making as large a fire as possible : fortunately
wood is not scarce. This village has all the
characteristics of a Caucasian one, the houses,
solidly built of mud and stones, stand one
above the other on the slope of the hill.

PERSIA IN MINIATURE. 243

Starting again next morning, we rode up a
gradual incline through the mountains, all snow,
until our path appeared barred by a diagonal
mountain across the ravine. On approaching, we
saw a steep path which we went up and then
" topped " the pass, for after this we rode down a
valley which sometimes widened, sometimes nar-
rowed. Here the difference between a north and
south aspect was very distinctly visible, all the
snow having melted off the southerly mountains
whilst it remained on their northern slopes. We
went a short distance up hill again, and then
came on to a table-land, presenting on a small
scale all the features of that larger table-land
Persia — a small gravelly desert, then intersecting
ravines and higher hills on each side. At 4 we
reached a village, Zoog, where there is no post
station, so proceeded onwards by a by-path to
Beedush, of which the valley is cultivated. We
find here a diatribe against P**l's waterproof
boots. Certainly ours were heavy, clumsy,
and badly fitting, though made to order ; un-
bearably hot in sunshine, and deadly cold on

R 2

244 UNEXPECTED RENCONTRE.

a cold day. However, no doubt we were
unfortunate.

On the 3rd we rode for four hours down a
shelving plain, nothing but camelthorn and some
other small plant growing on the wild waste
around. We then espied five horsemen galloping
towards us, who on approaching turned out to be
Mr. Walton, the then superintendent of telegraphs
at Ispahan, and Doctor Baker, the medical travel-
ling adviser to the telegraphic staff, with three
servants, each carrying an English fowling-piece.
They insisted on making us mount two of their
horses, after which we continued our course to
Moorchacoor, but on the plain off the road in
hopes of putting up a hare ; with the assistance of
two greyhounds and a retriever we accomplished
this, and had a short run, after which we entered
the village in triumph. Here we feasted on some
ducks Mr. Walton had shot in the morning.

4th. There is a considerable improvement in the
temperature here : it is almost mild, and poor Mr.
Walton is accordingly seized with recurring fever,
preventing his riding to the next station with us.

AN ANTELOPE HUNT ! 245

He had kindly come some thirty miles out of Ispahan
to meet us. We started with the Doctor, and rode
to a rumed caravanserai, deserted on account of
robbers, where we breakfasted. Across a plain,
where cultivation had evidently been attempted
some years before, as the furrows testified, we
started a fox, which after giving us a run, got
away through a very dilapidated building. Still on
the plain, we got a run at full speed for at least
five miles over excellent ground, after some ante-
lopes. They however easily outran our horses, as
it is quite impossible to run them down in the
open. They made for some small hills on which
wild sheep are said to exist. We then rode twenty
miles to Gezd, where an English engineer cor-
poral on the telegraph staffs came in to visit us;
he was engaged in surveying the line and happened
to be halting in the same caravanserai as ourselves.
Watercourses and ruined manzils abound by the
roadside. The south wind was cold here. Next
morning our companions of yesterday came up,
and we rode on towards Ispahan. The high
pigeon-houses, like elevated Martello towers with a

246 THE CHAR BAGH.

smaller one erected on the flat roof, are the princi-
pal objects that strike the eye besides ruins. We
soon beheld the outskirts of the ancient capital of
Persia, and some very tall slender pillars, in reality
minarets. We got into a lane between mud walls
along a canal or watercourse, here and there
riding through a small bit of bazaar; this lasted
for an hour's walk ; then through an archway
supporting rooms above, which had once been
gaily decorated in coloured tiles now mostly fallen
off. We entered the famous Char Bagh or " four
gardens," probably so called because it consists of one
magnificent alley of chinar trees. There are, how-
ever, four gardens on the other side of the wall on
each side. We rode along this for more than a
mile. The alley is composed of a narrow, ill-
paved stone road in the centre, then plots of ground
sown with grass, and scantily planted, about twenty
yards across ; then the superb oriental planes
and another paved road on each side, bounded
by a wall. There are occasional reservoirs and a
canal flowing across almost flush with the pave-
ment. At the alley's end we came to a fine massive

JOOLFA. 247

brick bridge, whose surface certainly afforded the
best bit of road we had seen in Persia ; perfectly
level, consisting of stones with gravel laid upon
them. The bridge is about twenty yards broad;
on each side a covered way allows foot passengers
to walk under it ; horseshoe openings at every two
yards afford light to them. The river itself had
sunk into a very small channel when we crossed
it, and on the banks the trades of dyeing and
bleaching were being actively prosecuted.

After crossing we were in Joolfa, a colony of
Armenian Christians, whose ancestors were trans-
ported to this place from the village of the same
name on the borders of the Araxes. Here we
are installed in a house rented by the Indian
government for the use of one of the telegraph
officials who is now in Teheran, luckily for us.
There are many churches here, all of mud bricks,
with a semicircular dome ending in a point upon
which a small iron cross is fixed.

After resting one night, we rode out in the
morning over the long bridge. On each side of
the Char Bagh there are at intervals houses, origin-

248 ISPAHAN.

ally inhabited by officials of the court, in the time
of Ispahan's greatest splendour. The Medressa, or
college, is situated about halfway down the avenue.
To-day we turned out of this, just below the col-
lege, and rode through gardens that must be per-
fectly lovely in the spring and summer, though of
course in December there was no foliage visible ;
indeed, in the daytime, we see frost lying on the
ground in shady spots, whilst in the sun it is quite
warm. Each of these gardens was attached to
some palace, of which more anon. We rode into a
large square, where we dismounted, and walked on to
see the bazaar. The first short arcade was devoted to
the workers in copper, and out of this we emerged
into an immense oblong space, the Maidan, that we
should guess at about six hundred yards by two
hundred. It has, however, been measured. One
side is taken up by low buildings, soldiers' quarters.
At the upper extremity rises the great mosque, an
imposing structure covered with the light blue
glazed tiles. The life and bustle at the sides of this
space were greater and more varied than anywhere
else in Persia that we had visited, and all sorts of

INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS. 249

trumpery were exposed for sale under small tents.
We then turned into the great bazaar. Mr.
Agenor, the British agent, an Armenian gentleman
educated in Bombay and speaking English fluently,
had procured us a guide from the governor, with-
out whose assistance we should infallibly have lost
our way. We marched about for some hours,
purchasing amongst other things a tiger-skin for
five shillings. The jewellers exhibit considerable
taste. The old armour of Ispahan is famous, but
much is now made in imitation of it. The Persian
painting on wood is chiefly carried on in this town.
The drawing of figures is always out of all perspec-
tive and proportion, but flowers and fruit are
rendered remarkably well. The calamdauns, or
inkstands, show the greatest variety in this respect ;
they are oblong narrow boxes, with a slide drawer,
in which is fixed a small Inkstand, and into which
the reed pens, knife, &c., are placed.

On the 7th we walked out with " Hakim "
Baker to visit the cathedral in this part of Joolfa.
We entered a court in front of the church, where
stands the belfry, a structure on four pillars in two

250 ARMENIAN CATHEDRAL.

storys, like those at Etchmiadzeen. Under this
an Englishman lies buried, a Mr. Rich, who died
at Shiraz, whilst visiting Persepolis, being at
the time " Resident " at Bagdad. A priest monk,
dressed in a black apron as at Etchmiadzeen,
showed us into the cathedral. We were greatly
astonished at finding so much splendour at such a
distance from any other Christian community.
The whole of the walls are covered with oil paint-
ings, representing, some the life of our Saviour,
some scenes from the Old Testament, and others
martyrdoms. The largest of all is a Day of Judg-
ment of somewhat grotesque character. The style
of art is not high, as they were probably painted
by local Armenian artists 310 years ago, but some
of the pictures are evidently intended to imitate the
North Italian styles at their best periods. The
floor is carpeted, and the priest took off his slippers
before entering ; most exquisite tilework extends for
the height of five feet along the wall, then there is
a row of small paintings, about two-and-a-half feet
high and, above, the same height of gold ground,
painted with arabesque flowers and angels very

NEW REFECTORY. 25 I

tolerably executed. The circular dome is coloured
blue and white, the high altar is painted with
miniatures of saints and cherubims ; above it is a
large picture of our Saviour, one of the best in the
church; only two missals on the altar, the treasury
being here naturally poor. The church is not large,
but no doubt sufficient for its congregation, more
especially as there are ten others in Joolfa. The
Doctor knew the monk — who seemed a lively
fellow — well, and he conducted us to see a new
refectory, building on one side of the monastery.
There are rooms with open arched passages on each
side for the summer air to pass through, and on
the roof there are two rooms, open on every side,
to serve as residences in the hot weather ; we got
on to the top of one of these, by means of a ladder,
and had a tolerable view of Joolfa, though Ispa-
han could not be distinguished owing to the
immense quantity of trees in it, and the excessive
flatness of the ground. We paid the (arch ?)
bishop, who is appointed by the Catholicos, a visit,
and found him sitting on a kind of sofa in a
small, well carpeted room. A most venerable and

252 " BUST ! "

affable somewhat portly old man, with a magnifi-
cent beard, who welcomed us to Joolfa. The
conversation, however, between him and ourselves
languished considerably, as he only talked Arme-
nian. One of the monks translated his remarks
into Persian for the Doctor, who then made
English of it, and vice versa. The worthy
father gave us kaleouns and cigarettes, and the
entertainment wound up with fruit, sweetmeats,
and English ale !

We were besieged in our rooms this morning by
curiosity dealers, all unmistakably of the Hebrew
persuasion. There really is considerable difficulty
in selecting from the quantity of pretty things they
bring. There is now a temporary governor of Ispa-
han, as the king's eldest son (but not heir apparent)
is in Teheran. About a week ago a baker in the
bazaar insulted one of the telegraph clerks, and
then took " Bust " in the house of the chief
Mullah ; another man, however, who had insulted
Doctor Baker, having been given up by the Mullah
himself, the baker got frightened, and leaving
while the police were not on the look out, posi-

ENGLISH GATHERING. 2^;^

tively sought sanctuary in Mr. Walton's stables
here! The stables are considered inviolable in
Persia. However the " Feringhee " do not admit
this, and the servants told the baker so ; thus he
escaped again, Mr. Walton being too ill in bed to
go out and chastise him. The " Ferashes " are
again after him, and he v^ill, no doubt, be caught
and soundly bastinadoed in the bazaar, pour en-
courager les autres. We are now seven English-
men who sit down to dinner together, a greater
number than Joolfa has ever, perhaps, before
contained within its walls. Lieutenant St. John,
the superintendent of telegraphs at Shiraz, has
arrived here on his way to Teheran, to take tem-
porary charge of the whole line ; whilst Colonel
Goldsmith and Major Smith have reached this
place from Teheran. These two gentlemen are
bound on a journey to Yezd (the great fire-wor-
shippers' city, to the east of this) and Kerman
(the carpet emporium, to its south), there sepa-
rating to discover a practicable route for a new
overland telegraph to India. We might have
joined them, but, alas ! non omnia possumus omnes^

254 PERSIAN SWEETMEATS.

we should not see Persepolis, if we went that way,
and so preferred our intended route. The expe-
dition was completely successful, and an additional
line of telegraph is most probably now in course of
construction.

We had roast porcupine for dinner one day,
the idea is unpleasant, but the flesh is like
that of very tasteless pork. Hulver, a sweet-
meat, looking like very thick, dirty, yellow putty,
consisting principally of sugar, honey, and treacle,
is not bad, and " gez " is delicious, made of what
is called manna, with almonds and cream, and
eaten when hard in round bits.

( 2SS )

CHAPTER VIII.

On the loth we paid a visit to the telegraph
office which is exactly opposite the bridge over
the Sengarood, and a commodious well adapted
building. Having gazed with astonishment at the
working of the apparatus we walked across the
bridge, through the Char Bagh to the first palace,
about half way down. This was in a considerable
state of disrepair^ but a portrait of " the beautiful
Strachey," as one of the Englishmen attached to
Sir J. Malcolm's mission is still called in Persia, is
well preserved on the wall facing the side entrance;
and portraits of Futteh Ali Shah at diverse
pursuits, such as hunting, feasting, standing up,
sitting in state, and sitting in ordinary, are plen-
tiful. We previously entered the Medressa, or
college — a square surrounded by buildings once
appertaining to the students studying there, but
now untenanted excepting by stray cats with bushy

256 THE CHEHEL SITTOON.

tails. On the right rises an enormous circular
roofed building, superbly decorated in coloured tile
work. Having once been a mosque one may
only enter it on taking off one's shoes. We
proceeded on to the Chehel Sittoon palace, or
that of the forty pillars. It has a portico supported'
on twenty pillars in front of it ; the other twenty
are to be imagined reflected in the water of the
tank before it. The only objection to this is that
there is no water in the tank. However, no doubt
there was, in the palmy days of Ispahan, In this
instance the appellation oi forty is thus far correct,
but that number, as is well known, is used to
denote an indefinite number in the East !

The Shah allows 50,000 tomauns yearly
(about £20,000 in round numbers) towards keeping
up the royal buildings in this town, and not one
penny of it finds its way to them, being all absorbed
by the officials connected therewith. Thus these
noble structures are gradually decaying. This one
has stood some 250 years, with hardly any atten-
tion paid to it. Each of the pillars that support
the portico, is coated with the usual small mirrors,

PERSIAN PAINTINGS. 257

and the roof is gaily painted — it seems to be at least
a hundred feet from the ground. The whole
has still a marvellous effect, and when new must
have been positively dazzling. The bases of the
pillars are of some coarse marble like fine granite
sculptured roughly into the forms of four lions
looking each way, and painted over. The walls of
the palace slant inwards, forming a room opening
out to the portico, and raised on two steps. This
is decorated with frescoes and mirrors. Then,
entering by one of the two low doors at the further
end of the room, we stand in the great hall, whose
walls are entirely covered with various large paint-
ings, representing scenes in the reign of Shah
Abbas, who is engaged in the same sort of pursuits as
Futteh Ali Shah in the other palace. The drawing
is of the most grotesque nature. One of the pictures
has been partly painted over with a portrait of the
present Shah in a rudimentary style of art. We
went up to the roof, and saw the solid construc-
tion of the palace ; some of the rafters were whole
chinar trees quite seven feet round and unhewn.
From thence we proceeded to the actual palace, where

258 THE PALACE.

the king used to live when this was a royal city.
Here we saw a room entirely paved and pannelled
with marble, with an enormous sash window of
coloured glass admitting very little light, a
bath in the middle and in the centre of this a
marble throne, forming a cool retiring-place in
the heats of summer ; the roof was supported by
columns, whose pedestals of marble were carved in
four female draped forms, each holding a hideous
tragic mask in the left hand. Fountains used once
to play out of their mouths. Behind the bath we
entered a room with beautiful windows — a sort of
filigree of plaster of Paris, with designs and Persian
characters executed in small pieces of coloured
glass. Thence into a large court, on one side of
which we entered a large room, open in front, whose
walls were decorated by scenes out of Persian history.
Hence up a very high square tower, built over an
archway leading into the Maidan. From its sum-
mit we had an excellent view of the town and
surrounding country. Ispahan appeared to extend
for at least two miles around us, the only very
conspicuous building was the grand mosque, which

"the sticks !" 259

was undergoing repairs, (and had been for the last
thirty-five years ! ) and the citadel right in front of
us, not greatly elevated above the town, mud walls
as usual ; below us lay the great square, with the
execution pole in the centre. The criminal con-
demned to death used to be hauled up to the top
of this by means of ropes, and then let fall sud-
denly on the hard pavement, — it appeared to be
about 80 feet high. When an individual is bastina-
doed in Persia the punishment is called " giving
him the sticks," and the number of strokes is not
counted, but the number of sticks broken on the
beatee^s feet by the violence. Thus, 50 sticks
being a mild punishment, the number of strokes
may amount to some 700 in that case. When the
sticks used are of pomegranate wood 500 of them
are sometimes broken over the criminal, but when
they are of palm-tree the punishment is so much
severer that the number of sticks is considerably
reduced. The panorama of mountains girding the
whole plain, and encircling it as it were with a
barrier only passable at certain points, is very

beautiful. One mountain, called by Franks " Hadji

S 2

26 O THE DESERTED BAZAAR.

Baba's," has a regular top-knot on its summit, look-
ing like the cupola of a mosque. Descending, we
strolled through the Maidan; five pieces of ordnance
stood here in front of a guardhouse on the right.
One of these was presented to Persia by Sir J.
Malcolm, and has the East India Company's mark
upon it; the others were either taken from the Turks
or cast at Tabreez. We walked back through a
ruined portion of the town, emerging on the Char
Bagh through a deserted bazaar leading at right
angles into it. Here, some fifty years ago, an
insurrection, headed by the Imaum Juma (the chief
spiritual authority), was quelled, as the governor of
the town got some Armenian artillerymen to plant
cannon at the entrance of this straight bazaar, and
fired down it on the dense mass, killing all who
were there. Ever since this is "the deserted
bazaar." N.B. The object of the insurrection, to
get the governor turned out, was accomplished !
We dined with the British agent in the evening ;
the (Arch ?) bishop was there and afterwards played
at the English game of "horse-racing." Some
Ispahan wine tasted as sweet as Malaga, but was
strongly brandied.

SHAKING minarets! 26 1

On the 1 2th, we all rode out to see the " Shak-
ing Minarets," probably distant relations of the
"Minarets" that "waved o'er the plains of
Stamboul," of Bon Gaultier. We crossed the
river by a bridge about a mile higher up than the
long one, and wound along mud walls and a canal
sunk some 1 5 feet deep, into a small village, where
stands the mosque over which these phenomena
are built. We entered a court, where are a few
tombs, and on one side, the mosque. On each side
of a recess, some 15 feet deep, rise the minarets on
solid brick foundations; they have lately been put
into repair. There is a stone tomb about 7 feet
high in the recess, and various offerings, like old
clothes and spinning shuttles, hang above it. From
the ground to the top of the minarets the elevation
may be about 130 feet, but the minarets proper
only rise some 30 feet above the main building, on
each side facing the court. They are, perhaps, ten
feet round and the ascent is by a very steep spiral
staircase, then four windows. A man went up and
putting one foot on a window-sill as a fulcrum,
then clasping one of the brickwork window-frames,
began to rock himself to and fro. They (the

262 ARTESH GOOR.

minarets) really sway about in a wonderful manner,
so that a tremulous motion is observable even at the
base of the whole building down in the court. We
went up one of them and felt exceedingly uncom-
fortable while rocking ourselves about. In front of
us rose the " Artesh Goor," or fire-mountain, a rocky
isolated conical hill, of no great elevation, with a
ruined building on the top, said to have been a
great fire-worshipping temple in days gone by.
We are informed that Ispahan lies some 3500 feet
above sea level, and Shiraz 1000 feet higher.
We are endeavouring to get our old muleteers to
take us to Shiraz, as they themselves offered
some time ago, giving them a little more than the
merchants would ; still we had great difficulty in
getting them to come, till Mr. Agenor got the
deputy governor to send a policeman after them
and make them go, nolens volens^ for a fair remune-
ration of course, part of which, no doubt, the
" Ferash " pocketed. Thus affairs are carried on in
this favoured land !

Yesterday a foot messenger was despatched to
Teheran with letters. He is expected to do the two

HASHT BEHESHT. 263

hundred and eighty miles in, at most, seven days.
We once more started on our travels on the 1 4th,
bidding farewell to the large company assembled
and especially to Colonel Goldsmith, a man uniting
rare kindliness of manner to benevolence of heart.
Having sent on our baggage, as we had to do
thirty-six miles, we rode out of Joolfa, finding
the outskirts in ruins, and walked steadily up a
sloping hill, thus obtaining a perfect view of the
town, which lay stretched out before us as far as
we could see east and west, a confused mass of
mud buildings relieved by tall leafless trees and an
occasional lacquered tiled mosque. The Char Bagh,
we found,, extended for another mile on the right
bank of the Sengarood, and the " Hasht Behesht,"
or eight paradises, the gardens on either side of the
wall of the Char Bagh, also extend to this side.
On our right rose some rocky hills ; a little way
up one of these there was a picturesque summer-
house with a rock parapet. We soon came to an
almost perpendicular path, steps being occasionally
hewn out of the rough shiny slate-coloured rock.
This lasted for about sixty yards, and so precipitous

264 MAYAR.

was the ascent, that our saddle quietly slipped off
our horse with ourselves upon it and deposited
us on the ground ! The rocks around appeared of
primitive formation, and well battered and water-
worn. On the barren plain before us, we saw large
herds of antelopes, and far to the east very many
towers, probably for pigeons. Just out of Ispahan
we passed an immense graveyard on the slope
of a hill, the stones dark and massive. As it
was getting dusk we reached Mayar, and taking
the wrong side of the wall, we wandered along
it to find an entrance through ruins, one being
that of a post-house, but we could not stay there ^
so we rode on to a khan of most magnificent
appearance ; two lofty galleries with rooms leading
to the entrance of the khan proper — an immense
quadrangle, with a broken reservoir in the centre.
This being also deserted, excepting by two or three
mule drivers, we, after enquiries retraced our steps,
and at last found our Chappar Khanee at the other
side of the wall.

Next morning, on continuing our ride along the
level Valley, we saw that a steep rock rose just

KOMISHAH. 265

above the village. A house in front of us, that
appeared quite close at hand at our start, turned
out fully twelve miles distant, so clear was the air
hereabouts. After passing this we left on our
left-hand a village principally tenanted by pigeons,
at least to judge by the quantity of towers therein,
and rode on through a narrow valley to Komishah,
which we reached at four p.m., immediately
rushing out to wander through the small bazaar,
where nought but heavy white slippers and sweet-
meats of a dirty description, attracted our notice. A
mile outside we passed a mosque, with magnificent
brickwork outbuildings and a large caravan-
serai attached to it. Quantities of little pointed
stones at the head of each grave here marked the
situation of an extensive cemetery ; many almond
trees and liquorice shrubs grew about.

Next morning we rode through luxuriant rice
plantations and richly cultivated fields for some
sixteen miles. Many streams of drinkable water
intersected the soil and produced this unwonted
fertility, little villages dotted the valley in all direc-
tions, After this, however, we got on a wild

266 ABADA.

and barren flat plain, over which we rode for
twenty-two miles to the caravanserai of Ameenabad.
Here we only found two individuals crouching round
a brushwood fire in one of the rooms. The interior
court was octagonal ; we selected the cleanest room
on the west side, this was full of dung, which we
had to clear out before installing ourselves.

Early on the 17th we started again to ride over
some barren plains at the end of which we per-
ceived what appeared to be a rise in the ground. On
approaching, however, we found a broad ravine
between it and ourselves, which we had to cross ;
then ascending to a dreary higher plain, very cold,
imtil we reached the post-house at Shoolgestaun ;
we had thus come 120 miles in four days, very fast
caravan journeying.

Next day we rode for five and a half hours over
the same dead level and halted at Abada. We found
the gates shut in our faces, but being foreigners
were admitted after much knocking and precau-
tionary measures. A curious state of things reigned
here. The English engineer attached to the inter-
mediate telegraph station at this small village told

A LOCAL REVOLUTION. 267

US that the governor of Shiraz had lately
appointed a new governor of Abada, whilst the
old one was still in office, he having rendered him-
self in some way obnoxious. Strange to say, the
inhabitants took the part of the old governor and
determined to resist the new man, so that the gates
were closed and the inhabitants on the alert day
and night. The telegraph station only afforded
one room fourteen feet by six in which the super-
intendent slept ; so we had to proceed to a caravan-
serai just outside the gates. Now, the " Kat Koder "
of this village may have been a very estimable gentle-
man, and no doubt was, as the inhabitants backed
him up ; but this caravanserai was the worst we had
yet seen ; a decrepit mud building with a dead wall
on one side, and stables on the others ; one of
the stables was cleaned out for us, and as there
was no fire-place, we lighted a fire in the centre of
the room. This smoked so abominably that we
had to give even that up, and there we were in a
little dirty room with a huge opening as a door,
no fire, and freezing hard outside. We observed
some little boys gambling for halfpence with" nux"

268 SOORMUCK.

at the door of a mosque. The wooden spoons of
Abada are celebrated for the delicacy of their
carving.

Numerous villages, v^e observed next morning,
studded the plain. About twelve miles out we
came upon some two hundred men (most of them
armed with matchlocks, or sticks with iron knobs),
in detached groups surrounding a walled village ;
we were told that these were Abadians, who had
come out thus far to arrest the new obnoxious
governor, who was ensconced therein, and held an
involuntary prisoner. The matter was referred to
the telegraph, as the new man swore that the Shah
gave him the appointment in consideration of a
douceur of 12,000 Tomauns (just ;^5ooo). No
doubt the sum was exaggerated, but there might be
truth at the bottom of the statement. We, early,
reached Soormuck, and for some time searched in
vain for a hole to lay our heads in, as all the
caravanserais were crammed. At last we got a small
room in the post-house, where we warmed our-
selves as best we could with burning charcoal. Just
outside we passed a most massive mud-brick build-

DEHBEED. 269

ing (the corners so jagged by the hand of time that
we doubted whether it was sexagonal or square),
apparently an old Persian fort. On the 20th
we rode up a gradual incline, the valley getting
narrower. It snowed during the night, and as we
progressed upwards, we came upon a patch or two
of snow, then it began to lie an inch thick, and
around Khana Khora, our post-house, it lay at
least two inches in depth. A bitter north wind
blowing all the time. Next morning we soon got
into a foot's depth of snow, then into deeper drifts ;
we followed the tracks of an immense caravan and
overtook it, passing with some difficulty. Then
only two horsemen had gone on before us, so we
followed their tracks, and at last, after a deal of
floundering about, we reached Dehbeed. The road
rose most of the way.

At this place the caravan road from Yezd to
Shiraz joins ours, so that the traffic is increased,
and we found next morning that the snow had
been tolerably trodden down on the path.

We followed a slightly ascending, but tolerably flat
path for five hours, until we reached a lonely caravan-

270 A LONG MARCH.

serai, where our muleteers had wished us to stop.
We thought, however, that this was too close to our
starting point, and determined to push on, so we
ascended a steep mountain, coming at its summit
to a flat of small extent, and then up another steep.
The sun was just setting, and the path became so
slippery that our horse fell down with us at
intervals. At last we reached a level winding
road which we followed for some hours (hills on
each side of us), where we were far from any
human habitation. We were walking by ourselves
to keep the blood in circulation, and rather in front
of W. and Awa Baba, when we suddenly heard the
voices as of many men and women laughing, and
the barking of dogs, breaking in upon the stilly
night. The owners could not have been within miles
of us, but the snow acted as a conductor of sound.
We had been told that Moorgaub was only twelve
miles from the lonely caravanserai, so after marching
for six hours longer, we began to think that it ought
to be in sight, but no signs; the brushwood on the
hills gradually increased from little stumps to the
size of tolerable trees looking like whitethorn.

MOORGAUB. 271

At length, at nine p.m., we reached some houses,
and here we learned, to our disgust, that we had
passed Moorgaub six miles back, although we had
not observed any habitation before. We got off our
horses and crouched for a short time before a fire
kindled by some muleteers, reflecting whether it
were better to stay here or go back. At last, rather
reluctantly, we went back, obtaining a guide to
show us the way. At eleven p.m. we reached
the post-house, off^ the high road, and there found no
traces of our baggage. We lighted a fire and waited,
but the night passed without anything to eat being
obtainable, and a Persian coat was our sole bed. In
the morning, till 3 p.m., we amused ourselves
by squatting in front of the fire ; then our baggage
arrived. Our servant and the muleteers had slept
out on the mountains all night, as they said that
the mules were unable to proceed.

Early in the morning of Christmas Eve we
heard some shepherds, who " were watching their
flocks by night," playing on their rough curved
cowhorns very melodiously, much more so than
any Persian musicians we had heard before, their

272 RUINS.

melodies being generally very unmelodious ; these
shepherds, however, performed tunes rather like
the " Ranz des Vaches."

We left at 9 with scant regret, and rode
for an hour before coming on the broad path
again. We soon reached the village we had
already visited two nights before, and in half an
hour came upon the first ruins really deserving
that name that we had seen in Persia. These
were two blocks of stone at least nine feet square,
hollow inside, and placed as if to support an arch.
There being a mound close behind them we
thought this might have been the entrance to
some large temple, though the mound is only
composed of shapeless stones. On one of these
pedestals (?) lay a smaller stone, and by the side of
the other a large block cut into steps, as if to allow
of reaching the summit of the pedestal. It now began
to snow to add to the forlornness of the scene.
Some five hundred yards beyond, to the left, we
observed some columns, so rode up to them, and
discovered four pillars partially standing, square
and hollowed out; between these stood another, some

THE TOMB OF CYRUS. 273

forty-five feet high, perfectly round and smooth,
composed of three pieces, each piece standing on
the other by its own weight and all of them sup-
ported on a round dark-coloured stone only a
foot in thickness and about half a foot broader than
the column. This evidently marked the site of a
forum, or other public space in a flourishing city.
The plain is supposed to contain the ruins of
Pasagarda, and it is evident that a large town was
once located here. We saw flocks of wild pigeons,
ducks, storks, starlings, and crows about.

Riding on we came to the miserable village of
Madre-e-Suleiman, where stands the reputed tomb
of Cyrus. Some of the huts are built on older
foundations, and in their midst is a square space
surrounded by upright cut stones. A mud wall
built between the intervals of smooth stone columns,
which yet stand some eighteen feet high, sur-
rounds the tomb, which is raised on six square
layers of stones, each layer being smaller than the
other, so as to form high stairs to the little stone
parallelogram on the summit. Snow was lying

on these, making the ascent rather difficult as each

T

^74 THE INTERIOR.

Step was four feet high and very slippery. We man-
aged to crawl up, and entered a little smoke-
coloured room, of which the walls appeared to be
each in one piece, though outside there are divisions,
perhaps only chiselled. However, the place has been
described frequently. The interior walls have par-
tially crumbled in; round the lower portion an inscrip-
tion runs forming a frieze ; nothing inside, excepting
some of the shuttle-like tin offerings. At the right-
hand of the door is an inscription in Arabic (?) Some
modern grave-stones are scattered about outside.

Mounting again, we soon rode into a wild and
picturesque defile. The romance of the scene, how-
ever, was sadly weakened by the snow which fell
faster than we ever remember seeing it fall before.
We followed a rushing stream which had watered
the plain of Pasagarda. At one place the path
was chiselled out of the solid rock, when the defile
got too narrow to allow of a path by the stream.
This we thought very probably coeval with the
remains we had left behind us, as modern Persians
would never have been at so much trouble, but
would have waded through the torrent. We rode

KUMEENABAD. 275

on and on till night fell, then our beasts all had a
tumble in succession, our carpet bags fell into some
water, and we lost our way. After some wander-
ing about, we luckily descried the walls surround-
ing the gardens near Kumeenabad, and soon after
those of the village. We found the gate closed, but
by dint of knocking we obtained admittance.
It had taken us ten hours to perform twenty-four
miles, but we kept our baggage safely in view all
day, mindful of our last day's experience. On
entering the village we found that, whilst on
horseback, we could see over the roofs of all the
houses in it, so low were they. After much search,
a room was found above the gateway. One
part of the wall was broken down, and the door
would not close, but it was better than nothing, so
we lighted a fire in the middle of the room, and
killed a kid, of which we eat a portion within half
an hour of its slaughter. We bought a duck
yesterday and are carefully preserving it for
Christmas day. W., to-day, by a stroke of
genius invented a plan for keeping ourselves
warm in our beds which had got rather wet

T 2

276 A MERRY Christmas!

during our travel — we put lighted charcoal under
them !

Christmas Day. — W. caught rather a severe cold
yesterday (no wonder), so we determine to rest
here to-day. Perhaps a description of the room
in which we passed this day of rejoicing, 1865,
may not be inappropriate. At any rate it affords
us some useful occupation, of which there is no
over abundance. Well, — our room is twenty feet
long by eight broad : the door in the centre of
one of the long walls, and our beds in opposite
corners, with their heads to the short walls.
Above W. there is a small cross-shaped opening and
above that two square ones about a foot large, the
only windows in the place. Our system is that
on alternate days we choose which corner we
prefer ; this was our choice, and therefore farthest
from the windows. The walls are brick plastered
over with mud, and with recesses about a foot
deep and four square along them. The wall
opposite the door has bulged in, and part has
fallen into the room, the floor of which is com-
posed of broken bricks and mud. The roof is

SUMPTUOUS ABODE ! 277

supported by rafters, upon which coarse matting is
laid, and above that again, mud. The walls, how-
ever, do not reach the roof at all points, but have
crumbled away. Cobwebs abound. There is no
fire-place, so we light our fire in the centre of the
room opposite the door ; somehow it does not
smoke much. We are sitting on a small box
against the wall by the door and the fire, some-
times reading Murray's Handbook for Syria and
Palestine (a useful book here !) carefully through.
Outside there is another and larger room, but
with only three walls ; however it seems to keep
out the wind more or less ; outside this again is a
mud platform, and a rotten staircase descending
into one of the streets of the village. Our left
wall is also that of the town. It is thawing to-
day, so to add to our comfort the melting snow
begins to drip through the roof in most eccentric
style, now sensibly falling on the floor where it
can do no harm, now inundating our carpet bags,
then seeking to find a watery bed in our own, and
anon attempting to extinguish our fire ! The
landscape without is essentially wintry ; the village

278 OUR PLUM PUDDING.

half snowed up, and all the hills close around as
white as a winding-sheet. Kumeenabad is only
some hundred yards square and wretchedly poor ;
the inhabitants are said to have been much op-
pressed by the Governor of Shiraz. Some of the
bread baked here is very good, very white and
crisp, as thin as a wafer and baked in round pieces
about two feet in diameter. We set some nooses,
out of our horses' tails, for sparrows, but most
ineffectually ! We determined to get up a plum
pudding at any cost, so with the help of nine eggs,
a little mutton fat, flour and raisins, and a dirty
silk pocket-handkerchief, we turned out something
that, with a little lighted brandy, gave us the idea
of one. We wished ourselves a merry Christmas
and a happy New Year, the former rather half-
heartedly, the latter in hope of realisation.

Next morning we rode on again, and in about
an hour entered a most romantic gorge. The aspect
of the sky was very lowering, until at a turn in the
defile the sun shone out. Five hours' riding
through this, and down a shelving plain, brought
us to a good-sized village, when we struck off at

TACHT I TAOUS. 279

right angles, turning from east to south down
a valley. The road wound about much in order to
avoid a little stream. On coming to an abrupt
turn to our left, we were upon Tacht i Taous, or
" the peacock's throne," and saw some large hewn
stones, just off the road, which apparently consti-
tuted the remains of some small temple ; then to
the right behind a little hillock some more hewn
stones, with a small fluted column in two pieces
with a shapeless capital, standing amongst them.
Riding on to another abrupt left-hand turn, we
suddenly emerged on an immense circular plain,
that of Merdusht, and the ruins of Persepolis
burst upon our view. They were now some three
half miles off on our left, and the high rock
exactly behind took off somewhat from their
grandeur, so that we are bound to confess to a
feeling of disappointment at first sight. Two miles
farther we came to Kinara, our halting-place. We
again waited in vain for our baggage, and passed
an uncomfortable night on the floor, huddling
over the fire. Rather unrefreshed, we got on horse-
back again in the morning, and accompanied by a

28o TACHT I RUSTAM.

guide — some inhabitant who boasted of a " yaboo "
or pony — we set off to visit Tacht i Rustam and
Tacht i Jumsheed, or the " thrones " of the in-
dividuals named ; the latter the modern Persian for
Persepolis. We discovered that we had passed
Rustam's throne yesterday, leaving it some five
miles on our right ; but we had hardly observed
it as it was so far off. Now we cut across a
country abundantly supplied with running streams.
We crossed the stream we followed yesterday,
wading it at a ford, and soon came to a village where
our guide procured men with ropes for the scaling
of the Tacht. The streams swarmed with snipe
and plover, and had we had a gun, we might have
bagged them at the rate of six dozen an hour.
A mile from the village we alighted from our
horses, in front of the four memorials of departed
greatness. A curious square stone building stands
in front of them ; three of the memorials are on
one surface of a rock, and one on a projecting
side of the same. Each of them is hewn deeply
into the rock at a considerable elevation from the
ground, so as to present a flat surface, which is all

THE TOMBS OF KINGS. 28 1

sculptured into figures and cuneiform inscriptions.
There is a door in the centre of each lower compart-
ment,— but luckily they have been very often
described, especially by Sir R. K. Porter, who also
describes Persepolis at great length.

Now one man contrived to climb up the per-
pendicular wall, probably " hanging on by his
eyelids," till he got to a projecting shelf below
the centre Tacht. Then he pulled another man
up, and both of them dragged us up by a horse-
hair rope fastened round our waist. We were
told to take off our boots previously, so as to be
able to stick our toes into crevices in the rock,
but this was of little use, as we were dragged up
bodily! There was a very long cuneiform in-
scription on the outside surface, and on entering
by the low door we found ourselves in a large
room, all excavated in the solid rock ; four deep
compartments were cut further into the interior
wall ; in each of these, three excavations like baths
with slabs to cover them — these were all broken.
They are supposed to be the tombs of kings.

We then rode across to Persepolis. The hill

282 PERSEPOLIS.

before which stand the ruins forms a fine natural
quarry of itself; the formation (in blocks) being
like that near Torquay in the bay. One block
that the builders had cut out and left on their
way to the buildings is still to be seen where it
was originally quarried. On approaching, the
grandeur of the ruins developed itself. There is
a huge platform formed entirely of hewn stones ;
a magnificent double flight of steps up to this, each
step not more than four inches high. On this
artificial platform are the remains, to which it would
be impossible to do justice under ten pages. The
cuneiform inscriptions are numerous, and we also
observed more in the snow, these latter the impress
of pigeons' feet ! Fronting the staircase stand two
immense winged bulls about twenty-four feet apart,
forming the entrance to the area behind. Below
these, on their pedestals, are cut the names of most
of the travellers who have visited these ruins — the
vast majority were English. C. Niebuhr, 1765,
and Franklin, 1787, close together; a Mr. Becher,
1704, was the oldest in date, and the most
prominent a M, Emile Bernay de Paris —

THE SCULPTURES. 283

as if Mr. Snooks were to add of London to his
aristocratic cognomen !

In the rock above are excavated two more such
monuments as at Tacht i Rustam. The sculptures
remaining are all in excellent drawing, and some
of them exquisitely finished. Eleven columns of
the great hall are still standing, and two others
front the staircase behind the winged bulls, thus
thirteen in all, the same number that were stand-
ing forty years ago. The actual living rooms
of the palace were apparently to the right ; the
side of the double flighted staircase leading up
to these is exquisitely carved in basreliefs repre-
senting a long procession. The chief incident
sculptured in all directions appeared to be that of
a man catching hold of a lion by a forelock and
sticking a sword into his (the lion's) stomach ; with
another representing a king with a well-trimmed
flowing beard, having an umbrella held over
him by a satrap, another attendant in front.
The stone out of which these figures are carved
admits of a very high degree of polish : probably
the whole was formerly polished ; now it is only

284 BUND AMEER.

SO in a few places, and these are darker than
the rest.

As we stood here upon the spot, — in the very
dwellings of the proudest monarchs of ancient
times, — whence orders had issued planning the
greatest expeditions ever known, our thoughts turned
involuntarily upon the degeneracy, the decay of
modern Persia. Alas, how fallen ! The stream
we crossed going to Tacht i Rustam is called the
Kour Ab, or water of Cyrus, thus perpetuating the
memory of the founder of Persian greatness — the
only memorial, by the way. This falls into the poet's
stream, the princess river ^ Bund Ameer, which we
crossed on a bridge whose ascent was as nearly as
possible at right angles to the road and the top
flat. The stream though lacking (at least here)
the well-known " Bower of roses," was far the
largest we had yet seen in Persia. At this point its
banks were desolate ; it rushes rapidly through the
three arches of the bridge, just where we left the
plain of Persepolis, or Merdusht. A ridge of rock on
the right. The mountains surrounding the plain
are most picturesque. The best view is perhaps

SHIRAZ. 285

that from the platform of Persepolis. Three hills
on the right were most curiously shaped, rising into
rocky tablelands with perpendicular cliffs, snow on
all of them. We soon reached Zirgoon, where we
halted that night; just above the village, on the left
were some high steep rocks, along which goats were
climbing seeking their very scanty pasturage.

Leaving again next morning at nine, we began
to ascend after an hour's ride. In three hours
more we reached an isolated caravanserai, Barjgar,
and soon after came to a winding descent, which
became rather abrupt, till at a turn we saw a
large heap of stones in the centre of the path
a little above us, and on reaching this our gaze
fell suddenly on Shiraz. The heap had been
raised by wayfarers like ourselves, who coming
here in sight of their wished-for goal, had cast
a stone upon it as a memorial. Indeed the
sight was lovely : we were looking down a
gully on to the plain, where the town lay
stretched out before us. At the foot of the hill we
were standing on, rose two groves of tall, dark, full-
foliated cypress trees surrounded by walls, between

286 THE PLAIN OF SHIRAZ.

which ran the broad and perfectly straight road,
ending in the town, the colossal blue dome of
the chief mosque the most striking object. The
plain was dotted all over with buildings, surrounded
by picturesque though gloomy cypresses. The
hills on the opposite side of the plain stood
out fine and massive, all covered with deep
snow. We passed a clean new house, with open
rooms approached by a broad flight of steps, on
our left, and on descending found orange trees
growing plentifully in the gardens. A large grove
of cypresses on the left formed four straight inter-
secting alleys ; another grove a little further on.
In the morning we had sent our servant JafFer on
with a letter to Mr. Babington, the temporary
superintendent of telegraphs here, and one to the
Persian " mirza " attached to the same institution ; so
a horseman met us some way out of the town and
conducted us to Mr. St. John's house. On entering
the town over a bridge, we found the houses in a
most ruinous condition, Shiraz being very sub-
ject to earthquakes — having been almost totally
destroyed several times ; the streets were filthy.

ORANGE TREES. 287

We rode through a portion of the bazaar, and
turning out of it came to the house, orange trees
growing in the court, their fruit hanging golden
upon them. However, the oranges are very sour
as a general rule, and the wonder is how the trees
manage to survive the winters. There is no
actual snow on the ground here, but the moun-
tains surrounding the plain on all sides are covered
with it, and the temperature is very low. Mr.
Babington's house was close by, and he entertained
us most kindly during our stay.

( 288 )

CHAPTER IX.

We entered the town on the 30th of December,
and next morning of course paid our first visit to
the bazaar. The principal one is a high well-built
straight arcade, the bazaar " al Vakeel," but the stock
is not very varied, hardly anything being kept
on hand. The wine of Shiraz is famed through-
out Persia ; it has much body. We were told
that about three weeks ago there had taken place
some serious bread riots, owing to the high price
of the staff of life — the large proprietors, to whom
belonged all the corn-growing country around,
having the bad Bishop Hatto-like habit of keeping
back the crop, and only selling at an exorbitant
rate. Some arrangement was, however, come to,
and the riot quelled. The "mirza" Hassan Ali Khan
"Nawab" informed the prince governor of our arrival,
and he sent us a present of sweetmeats in the
morning — a rather disagreeable offering, as it

A CEREMONIAL INTERVIEW. 289

entails a fee to the servant bringing it of about
double the value. One hour before sunset, the
Mirza insisted on taking us to see the Governor.
We entered the old garden of the old palace, in
v^hose outer wall is situated the telegraph office,
and were shown into a small decorated room, with
three chairs in it. We monopolised two of these,
keeping our boots on and hats off in Feringhee
style. Presently the prince, an elderly man with
rather an European look about him, came in and
seated himself gravely upon the chair at the other
extremity of the room, upon which the conversa-
tion began, — after our bows, — as usual spasmodically.
In the course of it we made out that the recalcitrant
governor of Abada had fled. We had met, occasion-
ally, on our road small detachments of troops
going to rout him out, but the trouble, it seems,
was spared them. The prince desired to know
the number of the inhabitants of China — a rather
difficult question to answer, but putting a bold
face on it, we said 300,000,000, not having the
remotest idea on the subject.

The population of this town is said to be 40,000.

u

290 SAADI^S TOMB.

The telegraphic line, which had been broken
between this and Ispahan, was restored to-day,
keeping our host at work till long past midnight ;
we had ungraciously to dine without him. On
New Year's Eve we rode out accompanied by the
Mirza to see Saadi's tomb. We soon got out of
town and rode for three half miles over cultivated
land — the chief produce, lettuce — to a garden, Del
Cason — with orange trees in rows and a ruinous
house in the centre — which we entered, to see what
an orange garden in this part of the world was
like. Behind this we came to a small village — on
the left hand a high wall, with a small door in it.
We entered through this, and were in a dirty garden
court with five cypresses, at the farther end a
dilapidated building, with three arched rooms. In
the one on the right — a small hole about twenty feet
square — lay the tomb of the second poet of Persia,
a slab of common hard stone, some seven and a
half feet by two, with the surface chiselled out in
letters forming stanzas written by him who lay
underneath ; the whitewashed walls had more
poetry painted on them in fading letters of gold.

HAFIZ* GRAVE. 2gi

Riding out next along the hills, we came to the
large cypress grove in four alleys ; this belongs to
the king, nearer the town stood a walled
cemetery, and in the centre the lowly tomb of
Hafiz, some two feet longer and two inches
broader than that of Saadi. Whether this be to
show their comparative merits we know not. An
alabaster slab about an inch thick lay on the top,
very delicately carved into poetry ; and almost
all the graves, strewn thickly around, bore some
poetical inscription upon them, probably owing
to the presiding ^^ genius /ori." Then crossing the
road we entered the Bagh-i-no, or new garden, by a
very small door in the wall. This also belongs to the
king, and is . planted with orange-tree rows — an
open roomed house in the centre full of portraits
of Futteh Ali Shah. Leaving this, we rode west
for about half a mile to the Bagh i Tacht, or
garden of the throne, once a royal summer resi-
dence, and still inhabited by the Governor of
Shiraz in the hot weather. It is built on the
summit of an isolated rock some thirty feet high,

itself standing on elevated ground, and a series of

u 2

292 THE BAGH I TACHT.

terraces descend gradually to the garden, where
there is an immense tank. The view from the
dwelling-rooms at the summit is delightful. We
have the tank, certainly not less than one hundred
yards square, just below us, with four stone lions
spouting water in the centre ; then the garden
spreading out before us, and a straight avenue of
cypresses, leading down some half mile towards the
town, of which we obtain a glorious bird's-eye
view, on all sides gracefully shaped mountains
surround the plain. We then descended by
steps down the terraces ; on the third from the
bottom there were a quantity of concealed foun-
tains, so contrived as to spring up suddenly and
drench the unwary traveller — a right royal joke.
Down the centre of the terraces a cascade is
contrived but it is only supplied with water once a
week. On looking up we saw the sun shining
full on the terraces, which were partially tiled in
blue. These and all the buildings were reflected
in the mirror of the (somewhat dirty) tank, pre-
senting a really fine sight. W. called it the
Versailles of Persia, and we fully concurred.- The

TELEGRAPHIC SPEED ! 293

sun now began to set, and the temperature became
very cold, so we galloped home. Here, as at
Teheran, a band of musicians with long horns
and drums performs a hideous charivari above
the principal gate of the palace at sunset.

1st January, 1866. — We wandered about the
bazaars, which are very straggling in this town.
We entered a court resembling that of the Me-
dressa at Ispahan, but the tiling was not of so fine
a quality as it is there. The telegraphic wire has
been broken for a fortnight now, so that messages
for which ;£^ have been paid in London, may
perhaps reach Kurrachee a few days after a letter
written at the same time ! Many of the telegrams
are most amusingly unintelligible, couched in lan-
guage of which the key is only known to the
correspondents, though, we apprehend, not difficult
to decipher with a little care. As, for instance,
" cotton, Paris ; rapeseed, Avignon ;" and so on.
There is a Swede, a Dr. Fagergrim here, as doctor
to the troops ; we did not see him, however ; but
on the 3rd, a " pere Clement," who had travelled
from Ispahan to Busheer with two Frenchmen,

294 A NUMISMATIST.

and now returned, called upon us. As far as we
could make out he was an Armenian Catholic
educated at the Metacharisten Kloster at Vienna.
He was an ardent numismatist, having, indeed, as he
told us, studied that science for twenty years.
Coins are continually brought to us, but most of
them are counterfeits. It is rather strange, that the
art of fabricating antique coins appears to be one
of the few brought to any perfection in Persia.
The padre showed us his collection of coins, bought
on his last trip ; a few, he said, were not known
in Europe, and of course of great value, though
picked up at small cost. He told us that
once he had travelled in Asia Minor for six
months on six pounds sterling, and had yet contrived
to buy enough antiques to realise £^o afterwards !
He also informed us that the pictures in the church
at Ispahan were really by Venetian hands ! There
are only three Armenian families, with one priest
and a small chapel, at Shiraz. The coins are exceed-
ingly well made, and an inexperienced eye like
ours cannot in the least distinguish between the
true and false money.

CURE FOR A scorpion's BITE ! 295

We were told, and the fact was vouched for, that
the cure for the bite of a scorpion (as for that of a
mad dog !) is found in the animal itself. Imme-
diately on being bitten catch your scorpion, cut
his head off and rub the neck on the wound ; then
a drop of something that exists there will soothe
all pain, and prevent any evil consequences ! So
much cotton was being sent down on mule and
camel-back to Busheer for Bombay that we had
great difficulty in finding any beasts to carry us ; and
for our shortest stage we found the hire to amount to
more than for our longest (from Tabreez to Teheran),
though still very cheap.

On the 4th we bade farewell to Mr. Babington
and the padre (who accompanied us some distance
on horseback), and left Shiraz for ever by a ruined
gate — that of Kauzaroon. We left the Bagh i
Tacht on our right hand, and rode straight west
through rich gardens to the end of the plain of
Shiraz, the sun shining warmly down upon us,
until we reached the well-built stone and stucco
caravanserai of Chenarada, where we found the
usual opendoored stone-paved room, in \Yhich we

296 UP !

passed the night. Next morning we started over
a bridge just in front of the Khan, and began
mounting small hills one after the other. After
a rather steeper bit than usual we descended
again to a pellucid stream with tall brushwood
jungle and willows on its bank. Following this
we reached Khauna Zenyoon. The first caravan-
serai is bad, but two hundred yards further on there
is a good new one, built by a lieutenant-governor of
Shiraz. Outside this there was an arrangement
as if for a fives court, we could not make out what
it really was. There are no post-houses or horses
beyond Shiraz, so all posts go by foot messenger.

Starting early, we rode along an uneven plain
with hills at intervals, till we came to a regular climb,
up which we scrambled, and then rode along this
spur of a lower range of mountains, the snow
coming down fast upon us. Descending into a plain
we reached a most miserable tumbledown-looking
village, and determined to proceed in a drizzling
rain which wetted all our things and did not make
itself generally agreeable. The rocks on our right
had a perfectly wonderful echo. In about two

down! 297

hours we began to mount again, first gradually-
then by abrupt windings up a rocky well-wooded
mountainside. Our horses' hind legs here gave
way, and allowed us to slide gracefully off, and on
to the snow, so we walked up with difficulty by a
sort of natural staircase, made by the constant wear
and tear of the mules' hoofs; without this we should
have slipped at every step. At last we reached the
summit, and then began the descent, showing not
every "descensus" to be "facilis." This one was mud-
dily slippery, loosely rocky, rainily sleety, and dark-
ness set in about half anhour before we reached Mian
Cothul, where we were very glad to find any room
at all. The name of this caravanserai answers to
our " half-way house," meaning " half the mountain."
It is one of the best built "travellers' rests" in Persia,
as we discovered in the morning, and the scenery
around is wonderfully beautiful. There were many
swallows' nests under the eaves, but the birds had
sought warmer climes. The building stands on a
flat piece of ground just above the road. The
high grey mountain, down half of which we had
come, almost overhangs it on the north, wild

298 THE PERSIAN LADDER!

ridges of rock to the east, and a boundless vista of
rocks to the south, about two miles below a narrow
plain, then a tall range of mountains. Then
another plain much lower down, and on the further
side of it another chain of mountains. Thus we
appeared to be looking down some gigantic ladder
(as indeed we were), which led up by steps
that the seven-league boots could hardly stride, to
the tablelands of Persia.

Though it had rained torrents all night, in the
morning on proceeding, we found that the sun, in
about an hour, had dried the road. No snow now,
as we were descending to a warmer clime ; some
of the trees around looked like gigantic broom
some twenty-five feet in height. On reaching the
bottom we rode along a plain through thickly-
planted trees, which almost formed a forest. They
appeared to us to be a kind of beech. We had been
told numerous stories of terrific lions haunting them ;
but as we saw cattle quietly grazing amongst the
trees, we thought there could be no imminent
danger of an attack. On coming to the end of
the valley-plain, the mountains on our right (south),

COTHUL I DOCHTER! 299

which had gradually decreased in height, afforded
a gap, through which our road passed almost level.
We, however, soon came to the next descent;
then the road became difficult ; another turn, and
we were descending the most celebrated path in
Persia, the Cothul i Dochter ; that which we had
descended before was called the Cothul Pierazan, we
were informed that the latter means the old woman's
hill, and the former the daughter's ditto. Of
course this suggested an old Eton quotation : " Oh
matre pulchra filia pulchrior," though we were
much inclined, regardless of metre, to read " hor-
rida" and "horridior" instead. Certainly the first was
a tolerably stiff descent, but nothing when com-
pared to this — a road composed of stones laid
together unevenly and without order, some ten feet
broad, a slight rampart of mud two feet high
towards the precipice, the incline of about seventy-
five degrees, with sharp turns. However, this is
since the road has been, what in Persia is called,
made. Formerly, mules and men had to scramble
down as best they could. Half way down two
men with guns demanded a backshish, which they

300 A DESCENT !

did not get. We were then walking down by our-
selves, and we pointed blandly up the hill as if the
backshish was following behind. However, that
was enough, as the natives are very chary of inter-
fering with Feringhees ; luckily so too, for we often
thought when walking about unarmed, what a
chance robbers would have if they only knew ! The
descent cannot be less than two thousand feet, and
when we looked up, after fairly descending, it
appeared to us an inaccessible precipice, the only
wonder being how it was ever scaled at first.

Three villanous-looking men armed with pistols
and guns were lying in wait for any solitary native,
at the foot of the Cothul. Perhaps, however, we
are wronging them, for they certainly did not in-
terfere with us, but stories of robberies are rife
about here. We met several caravans toiling up
the steep, principally laden with English copper.

The temperature was now quite different and
much warmer than that up above. For some time
after the chief scramble the road was bad and still
on an incline ; a little lake lay to the south. At a
turn to the right we came upon Tacht i Timour,

TACHT I TIMOUR. 30I

a sort of attempt at an imitation of the Tacht i
Rustam, executed by a living artist (?). A tablet cut
in the rock represents Timour seated on a throne-
chair, under which is the irrepressible Kaleoun.
A waiting-woman presents a goblet to him ;
on the left a hawk sits on its perch ; a vizier
is standing behind the chair; the excavated sides
bear also the figure of a man sculptured on each of
them ; a little broken down stone building encloses
the tablet. We observed some Eeliauts encamped
under a projecting ledge close by, and rode on
over a rough causeway built upon a piece of
marshy ground, with fine cane brakes all round
and a running stream in the centre. The
various kinds of thorn trees had their leaves still
on them and the grass was fresh and green as
if it were already spring ; the plain was richly cul-
tivated, and sometimes we saw hedges of cut
branches.

Some miles off to the left we saw a village sur-
rounded by palm trees, and in three hours from
Tacht i Timour we reached Kauzaroon. We had
to wait outside as Awa Baba had not yet come up

302 KAUZAROON.

with US, and there were so many roads intersecting
each other that we were at a loss which to take.
The wind blew cold at sunset. The town
seemed in a very ruinous condition but prettily
situated between palm and orange trees. Eventually
we found a refuge in the Bagh Nazaar, outside the
town, the telegraph station. There was no Euro-
pean clerk there at that time, as he had gone to
Shiraz for his Christmas holidays ! The garden in
front of the house was perhaps three hundred
yards long by fifty, and just in front rose a grove of
some fifty magnificent palms planted regularly in
rows; the rest of the garden was planted with
orange trees; so high were these that we could
ride under their branches without much difficulty ;
a little stone fountain in the centre.

On the 8th we started late (half-past 1 1 o'clock)
for Shapoor, off^ the high-track to the north. A
dense Scoto-Persian mist covered the landscape, but
luckily lifted at midday. In about an hour we
passed a grove of palm trees ; in another hour we
got into a stone-built village. Here we asked the
way, and were told to follow two men. In half an

SADOWA ! 303

hour more a horseman informed us that we were
going wrong, and compelled one of the men to take
us to a village called Sadowa (not in Bohemia !).
The ground was covered with little bulbous plants
like snowdrops, the flowers not yet out. We found
Sadowa, where we halted, a ruined fort ; the walls
looked in good repair, but when we got inside we
discovered utter desolation, only one round tower still
standing. In this we ensconced ourselves. It was
built on a vslight eminence, and nomads' tents clustered
around it. We determined to start immediately for
the ruins of Shapoor, so we procured a guide, who
set off at a pretty good pace on foot in an easterly
direction across the valley, along a sedgy path where
quantities of reeds had been cut to make the tents
around the fort. We passed some large box-trees, and
a little pond swarmingwith wild duck. In about an
hour we rode amongst what appeared to be heaps of
rough stones ; presently signs of human handi-
work became apparent, and we saw that we were in a
ruined city* The massive foundations of walls could
be distinctly traced, and close to a thick clump of
box we noticed some cut stones, portions of an edifice

304 SHAPOOR.

of some kind ; here we started a jackall, which ran
into an old well ; we rode amongst these heaps of
stones for about a quarter of an hour and arrived at
the foot of a low mountain (rather detached from
the neighbouring chain), which had also been built
over in olden times, portions of walls of unhewn
stones cemented together still standing, and occa-
sional arches not tumbled in. On the other side the
hill appeared to have been once converted into a fort
and escarped. Turning the corner of this hill, we
entered a defile some 500 yards across (eye
measurement) ; in the centre flowed a tolerable
sized stream that we had already seen on our
way. About 100 yards from the entrance
to the defile, we came upon the first sculptured
tablet. This represented a Roman figure kneeling
before a monarch on horseback, another horseman
stands behind the kneeling figure. This is supposed
to represent the great Julian before Sapor
(Shapoor) ; it is much defaced. Many oleanders
grew about. Further on we came to the largest
hewn tablet, in good preservation; it is divided
into seven compartments. The centre one is the

TACHT I FERAOUN. 305

largest, and represents Shapoor with a round, high
cap or crown on his head ; a man offers him some-
thing that we did not make out. The other com-
partments are formed by a low framework of rock,
and represent various standing figures ; the whole
cannot be less than thirty feet long by twelve
high. We now crossed the stream, about
twenty feet wide, not very deep, and rode up
to the first of the four tablets cut into the
rock on the other side of our defile. This one is
not flat, but forms an angle as the rock turns, and
is sculptured in two sets of small figures — some
procession or other ; the second, going up the defile,
is more than halt hid by a raised path of stones,
so that only the heads of life-sized figures are to
be seen. The third represents two persons on
horseback with the round emblem of royalty on
their heads ; and the fourth another procession of
small figures. These tablets are called Tacht i
Feraoun in the district, though the country people
point it out also as Naksh i Rustam, everything
out of the common being attributed by the vulgar
to their popular hero Rustam.

3o6 TACHT I SHAHI.

We now asked for the Tacht i Shahi, or king's
throne, a cave in which there is supposed to be a
statue of Shapoor cut out of the rock. We were
shown a hole high up in the rock, some distance
down the defile, and determined to ride there,
although it was four o'clock. We skirted the
north side of the valley finding the path no-
thing to boast of, and passed the traces of nomads
who had only just shifted their abode, as the hedge
of prickly branches, laid in order all round the
encampment, was still there.

We put up a fox, and after riding some five
miles, came to where it was necessary to get off our
horses ; high up in the rock above us we saw three
caverns, situated like the eyes and mouth of some
gigantic "jin." Our guide told us to enter the
cavern representing the mouth — the lower and
centre one. We began, therefore, to ascend, and
we never had a steeper climb. To use a familiar
illustration, Vesuvius was a front staircase to it.
Sometimes we had to scramble over rocks forming as
it were steps four feet high and more ; at other times
to climb up a mass of loose crumbling small stones.

BAFFLED I 307

when each step seemed only to let us down further
instead of takhig us up. After a twenty minutes'
burst, which appeared to us much longer, we were
within ten yards of the cave. Here the rocks became
almost perpendicular, necessitating some caution to
get up. We found the cave very shallow, and
of course the abode of various birds. Lighting
a candle, we looked about us ; at the further end
there was a narrow passage into the rock, but
nought there ; and on one side a hole leading up
to the cave forming the right eye. We managed
somehow or other to scramble up to it, although
we do not understand how we did it, for the rocks
over which we had to make the short ascent almost
overhung each other, and afforded scarcely a foot-
hold. On emerging we stood on a ledge of rock
— the platform of the upper cave ; this also was
of no extent, and nought there. Descending again
to the lower cave we tried hard, for our own credit
as " intelligent travellers," to make out a semblance
of a human figure in the rocks strewn about beneath
our feet, but in vain ; we were obliged to confess

to ourselves that here was only nature's handiwork,

X 2

3o8 THE ROUND TOWE^.

SO we recommend further travellers not to toil up
to this cave at any rate. We saw two others some
distance off to the east, at about the same height,
in one of which the statue may be, perhaps ; but
we were certainly told that it was in the one we
had explored. It had become dark by this time,
so our descent was characterised by more slips and
tumbles than would, perhaps, otherwise have been
the case. Our horses were awaiting us and we
commenced our short ride home, following close
upon our guide, who found his way on the little
country path with hardly a mistake. Reaching
our round tower at 9.30 p.m., we found therein just
room for our beds and two feet to spare ; it was
an octagon without a fire-place or door. The fort,
which was about one hundred yards square, ap-
peared to have been deserted years ago, and was now
being used as a stabling ground by the villagers. A
centre square tower was still partially standing.
Our antiquarian researches kept us up till the
utterly dissipated hour of 11.30 p.m., some four
hours later than usual !

On the 9th we reached a little defile in about

COTHUL I GAMAREJ. 309

an hour, whence emerging we rode across a short
plain, and into another pass where we had to
ascend over slippery rocks for a short time. There
was a ruined caravanserai here, and we passed a
little village, Gamarej, leaving it on our right.
Suddenly we came to the top of another descent
to which even the Cothul i Dochter was a perfect
farce. This was called the Cothul i Gamarej ;
precipitous rocks down which wound a path worn
into them by the many feet of many animals, and
this frequently blocked by fallen donkeys, which
were going down laden with bales of cotton larger
than themselves. The rocks on the opposite side of
the defile which we were descending were upheaved
as if by some tremendous convulsion of nature.
The usually horizontal strata were perfectly perpen-
dicular and the tops jagged. The worst parts came
after crossing a little rivulet half way down. Here,
by looking over at any point, we could see the
whole path almost vertically below us. Where the
precipice was very abrupt indeed, a low ledge of
stones cemented together was built up, but other-
wise the road was left entirely to nature and the

3IO KONAR TACHTA.

traffic. We were detained for half an hour by an
unfortunate camel which had slipped down whilst
ascending. Its groans were very tiresome ; at last it
managed, unloaded, to scramble up to where we
could pass it, and we reached the bottom safely.
Here we came upon swarms of locusts in a dying
state. On between lias rocks, which teemed with
ordinary fossils, till we came to a rapid river
whose banks we followed without crossing for
about half an hour, when we turned off and
ascended slightly, till again descending we came to
the valley of Konar Tachta, whose caravanserai
we reached in nine and a half hours from Sadowa,
though the distance purports to be only twenty-
two miles.

It rained so heavily all next day that we
stopped in our mildewy room, whose roof was
about to collapse at no distant date. The court
of the caravanserai was turned into a swamp
consisting of every kind of abomination; in the
centre there stood a ruinous heap of stones,
probably a cistern once upon a time. Our room
faced the west; the eastern portion had tumbled

THE VILLAGE.

311

down ; every available hole was crammed. Bales
of cotton lay in the wet on the ground. The
amusement of the muleteers, besides swearing at
each other — which was a " constant quantity" —
was, firing at the sparrows which swarmed here. The
village, principally a colony of nomads, looked
picturesque, sheltered by palm trees. The dates
are dried and made into a sort of half paste, half
solid, some stones are extracted, others left in. The
cultivation in the valley seemed to prosper, and
grass grew well around. The aspect of the
country was dreary enough when we saw it, but
on a fine day it must be lovely. We were
surrounded on all sides, at about five miles' distance,
by lofty mountains, the range on the south being
that which we had to pass before finally emerging
on the plain extending to the Persian Gulf.

( 312 )

CHAPTER X.

Leaving on the nth, we soon got into the
mountains and the descent began abruptly. The
soil around was alluvial, with strata of hard con-
glomerate and limestone in sloping shelves, over
which our track lay. The pass was called the
Cothul i Mulloo, answering somewhat in name to
the Via Mala, though there is no comparison
between a " Diligence " road and one down which a
single mule can only get with difficulty. The
path was most slippery and treacherous owing to
the mud. " Thus we remember in our youthful
days, when the time was winter, to have attempted
many a venturous slide, not without a tumble ! "
Even at the bottom the road was almost impassable
owing to the accumulated mud. After riding on for
some time, we saw a river far beneath us down to
which the road gradually led. A herd of some dozen
gazelles passed us within easy pistol range, but, of

A FORD ! 313

course, we had not got our revolver with us. We
followed the river for an hour, passing a broken
bridge, and arrived at the ford. Here we found
that the rains of the last few days had so swollen
the waters, that the caravans which had reached
either side before us, were encainped there, waiting
for the flood to subside. An island here divided
the river into two streams. After waiting some
time, W. determined to ford them. He got across
the first branch easily enough, but at the second was
very nearly swept away, provmg it to be out of the
question to attempt to lead a heavily laden mule
over. Some men, who were on our side of the river,
agreed at length, after a great deal of squabbling,
to take us over a little higher up ; so we retraced
our steps for about a mile. Then six men stripped
and led our mules over three at a time — the water
came above our knees. The river was about thirty
yards across, and the force of the current carried
us at least fifty yards further down on the opposite
side. Then we had to find a path up the hills on
that side, for there was no road between them and
the river. We scrambled up, although the leading

314 DALACHY.

horse fell down frequently, and had to be un-
loaded each time. We thus reached a level path
(which had not been used for a long while) at the
top of the hills ; this probably was deserted when
the bridge we had passed broke down. Soon we
again descended to where the road abutted on the
ford ; then we skirted the river, sometimes ascending
a little, and after riding some time, we turned up into
the mountains. Darkness now came on, as we
rode down a sloping shelf of rock, but not before
we had seen that a flat surface lay extended before
us; at last the road sloped very gradually down
along the mountain to the plain, when we
reached Dalachy, having taken the moderate time
of ten hours to do sixteen miles. We find that the
keep of a horse or a mule costs more than that of
a man, for the food of the four-footed beast comes
to about IJ-. id»2i day, whereas we lodge and board
ourselves luxuriously. (?) for about i od.

1 2 th. Like the little ratcatcher's daughter, who,
it may be remembered, did not quite live in West-
minster, because her dwelling was on the opposite
§ide of the Thames^ we find that we are not quite on

LOCUSTS. 315

the plain, because we are still in the mountains. Our
course was a gradual descent with a few ups and
downs. About half an hour after starting, we
passed a large hot sulphurous spring, and further on,
two more. We rode through a swarm of locusts,
which flew high in the air, as numerous as the flakes
of a heavy snowstorm. They were also on the
ground eating up everything, which fact had
occasioned the scarcity of fodder and its conse-
quent high price. On our right stood an immense
forest of palms, looking not unlike the pine forest
of Ravenna ; a spur of the high mountains extended
into the plain on our left. We reached Barasgoon
in five hours and a quarter. There was no cara-
vanserai, but we found a long narrow room in a
deserted house to sleep in. In the morning we
rode through a grove of palm trees, and then got
upon alternate sand and mud. We were indeed on
the plain ; nothing relieved the monotony of the
dead flat except the occasional palm-groves and
villages. A great deal of corn seemed to be grown
here. We stopped at Achmedi, in the only mud
hovel in the village, all other habitations being

3l6 THE PERSIAN GULF.

tents of matting. The only clean (?) place we
could find was in a passage between the outer door
and the court; large folding doors, with plenty
of crevices, shut out the outer world, and the other
entrance (not opposite the doors) had none. We laid
our beds on a raised shelf of dry mud. The roof
was of palm-stems cut in two, and matting laid over.
The 14th day of January saw our last caravan
ride in Persia. We started early and rode over a
muddy path, till we came to a place where
water stood about two inches deep ; through this
and deep mud underneath we floundered for an
hour and a half. At a distance we descried the
masts of two ships at anchor in the Persian Gulf,
which we could not yet see. We had to make a
circuit of some miles in order to get upon the
promontory on which stands Busheer, as the sea
runs up and forms an extremely shallow bay here.
At last we got to the neck of the promontory, and
then were on rather better ground, so we galloped
on into Busheer through a gate in the mud wall,
which appeared to be here in rather better preserva-
tion than in other Persian towns. Guided by a

BITSHEER. 3 1 7

small British ensign floating from a tall mast-head,
we rode up to the Residency, where we found a
few sepoys on guard.

The political resident was away, but the vice-
resident, uncovenanted civil service servant Mr.
James Edwards, received us in the office. In
Colonel Felly's absence, Mr. Edwards showed us
the strangers' rooms where we installed ourselves.

The mail steamer had arrived the day before
from Bombay and was just starting for Bassora,
so we were in good time for its return. The
bazaar we found bad and narrower than usual,
though there were many European goods ex-
posed for sale, owing to the facility of importa-
tion ; indeed some ships trade direct from Eng-
land to Busheer. The building we were in was
an immense rambling construction, some thirty
yards from the sea, and about ten above its level.
Beach there was hardly any.

On the 1 8 th a violent wind blew and heavy
rain came down all day. The roofs of our rooms
were leaky — everything was damp ; the very soap
in one's room dissolved as if in water. The sea,

3l8 W.'S DEPARTURE.

we were told, is gradually encroaching on the con-
glomerate rocks on which the town stands.

The 19th was a fine day but windy. The mail
steamer returned from Bassora : the harbour is so
bad that she had to lie some five miles out at sea.

On the 20th, our companion, W., started
for Bombay at 3 p.m. We could not bring our-
selves to face the seven days' sea ; thus we were
alone at some distance from England. We walked
down to the place of embarkation on the land side
of the promontory, where W. got into a little
rough boat, rowed, or rather propelled, by six
men. Even this little boat could not get within five
yards of the rough quay, so W. was conveyed
into it on the shoulders of two men. It was calm
but raining when the boat started ; soon afterwards
the wind arose, thus diminishing any small regret
we might have felt at not going to India. We
were now fixed here for certainly four weeks.

The alternations of climate were perfectly mar-
vellous in their regularity — one day warm and
sunshiny, the next windy, cold, and rainy. In
the summer punkahs are used here. About twenty-

THE PEARL FISHERY. 319

five miles out to sea there are two small islands ;
the larger of these, Karg, vulgarly called Karrick,
was the station of the fleet during our desultory
war with Persia. Here are some old reservoirs
built by the Portuguese, and other ruins are said to
be still visible. Near the island of Bahren, in the
" Sea of Oman," off the Arabian coast and about two
days' steaming down the gulf, the best sort of
pearls are found. The fishermen who dive for
them are so poor that they hardly can keep body
and soul together ; whilst the merchants who farm
the fisheries and their services amass immense
fortunes thereby. These merchants are all " Ba-
nians," or Indians, and this month many of them
have sought refuge here, on account of some
disturbances on the islands. There are many
Indian merchants here, all of them British sub-
jects ; and all persons living in Busheer, not Persian
subjects, are under English protection. The
" Banians " wear a red turban twisted into a point.
One of our chief amusements here was to go over
to the gulf cable office and talk with the superin-
tendenti The inland Persian telegraph and the cable

320 REESHEER.

office, are a mile apart, so that messages are always
delayed here, a rather unwise proceeding, we should
have thought, when combining the offices would
both save time and expense. The charge for a message
from Busheer to Kurrachee is £2 1 4/., and to Eng-
land ;^2 I OS, Such is the difference in costliness
between sea and land telegraphy !

On the 28th a party of Englishmen, ourselves
included, rode out to visit Reesheer. We rode
along the coast about a mile from the sea,
through partially cultivated country, by a very
narrow and stony path ; hardly any trees except
a solitary palm here and there. About eighteen
miles out we arrived at the Resident's country house,
whither he retires in the summer, when his heavy
duties do not compel his attendance in Busheer,
or elsewhere. It was a small mud-built villa, with
an open court on one side and verandahs all round.
We breakfasted here. During summer the roof forms
the sleeping apartment, and dinner is eaten in the
open air after sunset, under a punkah. We then
walked to a little mound about a mile off, and found
the whole country strewn with immense quantities of

A GALLANT DEFENCE. 32 1

large and small cornelians. We picked up some frag-
ments of bricks with cuneiform inscriptions, on the
mound, thus proving it to be formed out of some
very ancient ruins. Permission to excavate it has
been repeatedly asked and always refused, for
the Persian government will neither excavate
themselves nor let others do it for them, as they
are under the impression, it is said, that inside
might be found documents handing Busheer over
to the English ! After partaking of " tiffin,"
as English people will call luncheon in India and
parts around, we walked down to the shore to inspect
the fort of Reesheer ; large slightly-cut stones
lay all about, marking the ruins of some larger
settlement. The fort is memorable for its gallant
defence against the English in the late war. The
commander of the small force to whom its defence
was at that time entrusted, seems to have been a
braver man than most Persians, if his remark be
authentic : — " I will go : I know I cannot withstand
the English, but as I am ordered to do so, I will
sell my life as dearly as possible." He kept his
word and was slain after inflicting much loss on

32 2 THE FORT.

our troops. The fort was only attacked in order
to make an example of its defenders, and induce
the capitulation of Busheer. The plan succeeded ;
for after the British landed to the east of Reesheer,
and stormed the fort, the garrison of the larger
town ran away, a few Persian soldiers only being
killed by shells thrown from the fleet. The fort
looked very insignificant from a distance — a square
mound of earth — but on approaching we found
that a trench some twenty yards across, sur-
rounded it, and the earthworks rose some fifty feet
on the other side, apparently raised on a natural
elevation of rock. We entered through a breach, and
found it to be about a quarter of a mile square.
Nothing in the way of shelter for troops inside,
but scattered stones on the ground testified to
former buildings. The side towards the sea had
broken down, but was still about one hundred feet
in elevation and very steep; an old reservoir in
the centre, near which an underground passage
led to the shore, affording a means of escape to
the garrison if attacked (and overcome) from the
land side.

RESTRICTIONS ON PROPERTY. 323

We got down to the beach ; it was a beautiful
day, and the waters of the gulf lay like a large
lake tranquilly before us. We trode the sands in
search of shells, but found none. A native doctor
rode out with us on a magnificent donkey, the
size of an ordinary pony. He (the doctor) had
adopted European costume. We returned before
the gates were closed, as they are at sunset, our ride
being enlivened by the freaks of the servant ot
one of our party, who had got frightfully drunk,
and rolled off his saddle every five minutes, getting
on again regularly as if nothing had happened.
At last his horse ran away from him into the
town, and he walked home. Even at midsummer
the days are only fourteen hours long.

No foreigners are allowed to possess house pro-
perty in Persia, and the government generally
waits till the house has been purchased, to put
the money into its subjects' pockets, then it steps
in and pulls the house down, granting no redress.
In Teheran it is exceptionally permitted. The back-
ground of mountains to the plain was very pictur-
esque, though we were glad we had crossed them.

Y 2

3H

A PIRATE.

The inhabitants of the town are hardly true
Persians; we scarcely ever saw the conical hat —
this is supplanted by the Arab Kefyeh — a blue and
red cloth wound round the skull cap being the
fashionable head-dress.

1st February. — The rain fell so heavily, accom-
panied by a gale of wind, that our room was
perfectly wet through, from the drippings of the
ceiling, entailing wet feet and a sore throat without
our stirring out — " Fever made easy." When a
shopkeeper in the bazaar leaves his stock in trade
to go to dinner, or for any other purpose, he just
throws a broad-meshed netting over the front of
his stall. Thus anything might be stolen from it,
were it not for the neighbouring tradespeople.
One day we made an excursion along the narrow
strip of beach extending outside the broken down
sea-wall around the town. We observed several
flamingoes lazily floating on the waves. Coming
to the head of the promontory, we saw some
decayed ships, one a largish pirate, captured by
Colonel Felly's ship the " Berenice,"* in the Sea of

* Burnt 1866.

THE BEACH. 325

Oman ; the style of build between a Chinese junk
and mediaeval galley. Then we soon came to the
entrance to the bazaar, and went into a Jew anti-
quarian's shop, where we sat looking at various coins,
most probably imitations, till after " dusk. This
necessitated our marching home, preceded by the
Jew, carrying a tallow candle fixed in a bottle !
Another day we walked out to the east, and
found a good sandy beach, after passing half a
mile of rocks. This extended for about a mile —
only common shells on it, and a few sharks' heads ;
then on to rocks level with the sea and much
worn by the perpetual action of the waves. We
came to a village, in front of which a few boats
lay on the beach, and, seeing that the sun would
soon set, returned. One of the Persian servants
of a lady here lost one of her earrings lately.
On discovering the loss, instead of trying to find
the jewel, she began to beat her bosom, tear her
hair, and get generally into a most excited state,
including hysterics ; at length sitting down in the
court and throwing sand upon herself, until a
fellow-servant, hearing of it, came to her and

326 PISTOL PRACTICE.

showed her the earring, which she had picked
up. All Persians, more or less, go into similar
paroxysms of grief on the most trifling occasions.

On the 9th some of us English went down
to the beach and shot at glass bottles with pistols
but not unvarying success, as out of 50 shots we
made o hits between us. Most of the population
of Busheer gathered around us in about ten
minutes. Next day we played quoits. The Vice-
resident told us that Mr. Palgrave came here on
his return, after travelling through Arabia as a
Mohammedan physician, and left in his disguise.
Colonel Felly has been to the Wahabee country in
the disguise of a British officer.

The steamer " Euphrates " arrived here from
Bombay on St. Valentine's Day, two days late.
N.W. winds are those prevalent in this portion of
the* gulf, especially blowing into the roadstead, and
rendering the anchorage, except far out at sea,
exceedingly precarious.

( 3^7 )

CHAPTER XI.

Exactly a month after arriving at Busheer, on
the 1 5th of February, we set out again for Bassora.
We played quoits till the last moment, 6 p.m., and
walked down to the " Bund," or port, with a young
Armenian of the name of Melcombe, then bidding
good-bye to all English friends, we got off at half
past 6 P.M. There were four oars to our boat,
each about fifteen feet long, by six inches round
in the thickest part, the blade oblong, two feet long
by three-quarters broad. The rowers sat on the
sides of the boat, and rowed pulling the oars
towards the sides. We grounded when about half
a mile out, so shallow was the water, and it
took half an hour to raise the mast and hoist a
felucca-like sail ; then, with the assistance of a
little rowing, we reached the steamer in three
hours, having to make a circuit to avoid shallows.
It was too Ute to 3tart^ so we were at anchor

328 THE SHAT EL ARAB.

till 3 P.M. next day; luckily the sea was
perfectly calm. The only passenger on board was
an old Egyptianized Italian, who was proceeding to
Bagdad to buy horses for the Viceroy of Egypt.
Precisely at the appointed hour the ship's screw
began to revolve. The tonnage of the "Euphrates "
was 750 ; she was very long and narrow ; we had
the ladies' cabin. At 6 p.m. we sighted Karrick,
a small round, elevated island.

On the morning of the 1 8th we were told that we
were in the river Shat el Arab, although land
was nowhere visible, until looking hard we ob-
served some dim mountains on the north. The
water was much discoloured already. The crew
of the ship were all Hindoos, the officers and
steward English. In the daytime we took a
book out of the select library on board, and ascended
to the upper deck, where we sat in an Indian
blackwood smoking-chair, with our heels on a level
with our head ; the arms of these chairs extend
to allow of the feet being placed upon them.
At 10 A.M. we were fairly in the Shat el Arab.
The banks were very low and covered with palm

FAO. 329

trees, here and there a canal emptied itself
into the river. We passed a creek, up which lay
Mohammud, the scene of some fighting during
the Persian war ; as the left bank is Persian ground
and the right Turkish. At Fao we saw the
crescent flag floating on its own territory for the
first time. Fao is the terminal (!) station of the
gulf cable, and two houses of palm- wood are re-
spectively the English and Turkish telegraph
stations. On the land line there are now two
wires, and between Bassora and Bagdad the poles
are chiefly of iron (as they are near Busheer),
on account of the swamp. The English workmen
and telegraphers have all been dismissed by the
Turkish government, who have taken the whole
management into their own hands. The employes
are of all nations (rarely English) and their uniform
is very neat. The forms are printed in French.
Here a quarantine officer came on board, but no
other formalities were observed. We now passed
between very low banks, covered with palm
trees, which belong partly to the government,
partly to the Montifick Arabs, and partly to private

330 BASSORA.

individuals who rent the land on which the trees
stand. They are planted from shoots, not date-
stones, as these latter rarely come to anything.

At 4 P.M. we sighted Bassora, the famed El
Basreh of the Arabian Nights ; a few ships in the
river, and some mud walls amongst the palms,
were all the signs of human handiwork we could
see. A Turkish war-ship, resembling the landing-
pier of penny boats on the Thames, had all its
flags trimmed, and fired a loud salute — not, how-
ever, in our honour, but on account of the close
of the fast of Ramadan, which takes place as the
new moon rises. It had been seen the day before
at Bagdad, and the day before that at Constan-
tinople, much to the disgust of the impatient
Mohammedans of Bassora ! Another quarantine
officer came on board and allowed none of us to
leave the ship until a clean bill of health had been
reported to the proper authorities. Captain Carter
of the " City of London " — the steamer that was to
take us up to Bagdad — came on board, and after
a short time we got our luggage stowed on board
one of the numerous boats that crowded around

MARGIL.

33^

our steamer. We went straight off to the river
steamer which lay close at hand, not without
some demur on the part of the Customs' officer,
who wanted us to go first to the custom-house ;
a little bakshish, however, smoothed over all
difficulties.

At lo P.M. we weighed anchor and steamed
up half an hour to Margil, where is situated the
British Consulate. The captain of the " Comet,"
the British Resident at Bagdad's ship, was acting
as consul during the proper oflScial's absence, and
we found a brother of the (late) sultan of Muscat
with him ; he had visited Bagdad and was going
back to Bombay on his way to Zanzibar, — a
young and rough fellow, who, though an Arab,
had an unconquerable aversion to a vskittish horse.
Our steamer lay about twenty yards out in the
Tigris, and we went on shore in a small boat. The
landing place was of palm trees arranged in steps,
and uncommonly slippery. The English Consulate
was close to the bank. We entered under an arch,
into a large court-yard with walls all round ; on the
right-hand a door led through another smaller court

^^2 PALM GARDENS.

to a colonnade and the living-rooms. These were
lofty and well furnished, with a real English
fire-place and chimney piece, blackwood furniture
in the drawing-room. There was a nice garden
attached, with all sorts of flower-trees in it.

After breakfast, on the i oth, the acting Consul
lent us a horse to ride into Bassora. We went
through a forest of palms, interspersed with the palm
huts of stationary Arabs, and got on a sandy and
marshy plain, where our horse ran away with us,
doing about two miles in five minutes. We
pulled him up close to Bassora, and rode in, to the
steamer's office. The mud walls round the town
appeared easier to get over even than in Persia, but
the gate was still guarded by Irregulars. At first
we rode through palm gardens, surrounded by
mud walls, and much below the level of the road,
which was elevated by the earth thrown out of these
very excavated gardens. This was done to get the
gardens on a level with the Tigris for irrigation.
Outside the walls we passed some heaps like old ruins.
When we got amongst the houses, we found them
very ruinous. The court of the consular oflSce is

TOMB OF EZRA. T,^^

covered in, and the rooms are in two galleries
around. We tried the bazaar, but found that, on
account of the great holiday, all the shops were
shut ; and as it was Saturday, even those of the
Jews. It seemed well built, but short. The glory
has departed from El Basreh. The first object
seen on approaching the town is the French flag
floating from a tall masthead. This is under the
keeping of a merchant, who is called the " gardien
du Pavilion." The relations of France with Bas-
sora are — that once a year a ship belonging to some
Swiss merchants, calls here under the French flag !
We went to the telegraph office ; the operator,
a Turk, spoke French. In Turkey the women
do not seem to care so much about hiding their faces
as in Persia. We must do them the justice to say
that there is nothing to see. At midnight, after
dining on shore, we went on board the " City of
London," and started in an hour. We passed the
" Garden of Eden," a few palms and Arab huts,
in the early morning, and soon after sighted the
tomb of Ezra, a square mud-brick enclosure with
high walls, the windows at least 70 feet from

334 'THE devil's elbow.

the ground. A cupola of glazed tiles rises above
the sanctuary, v^here lies the tomb held in high
honour by all neighbouring Jev^s, v^ho make
annual pilgrimages to the shrine. We v^ere told
that one of the Barons Rothschild had given a large
sum towards the establishment of schools here. The
low banks were hardly four feet above the river ;
many Arab encampments on them; no trees;
numerous flocks. The villagers generally turned
out to see us pass, children in the costume once
fashionable a little lower down the river, in the
Garden of Eden, women w^ith their faces un-
veiled. Occasional heaps testified to the ruins of
ancient times. Numerous pillars of smoke arose at
intervals about the plain, each seeming some "jin"
released from a casket that had been sealed with
Solomon's seal, but in reality the less romantic
consequence of reeds burning near some nomad
encampment. The river w^inds in the most eccen-
tric fashion, so that the tomb of Ezra seemed to
be now on our right, then on our left ; nov^ before
us, now behind. We reached a sharp turn, nick-
named the Devil's Elbow, about noon. Per-

ON THE TIGRIS. 335

mission to cut a straight course for the river
through this, has been repeatedly refused by the
Turks to the company whose steamer we were in.
Indeed, the navigation from Bassora to Bagdad
might easily be shortened by about one-half, simply by
cutting through corners, but the Turkish Govern-
ment, of course, does nothing, and will not allow
others to do more. There are three English and
two Turkish steamers on the river. The navigation
is very treacherous when the river is low, and not
without hazard even at this time of the year, when
it is pretty full. Our ship drew four feet of water,
and the deck was only three feet above the water.
The cabins were built upon this deck, and the
steerage passengers slept above them. The saloon
contained about thirty square feet, and to get from
one side of the table to the other at dinner, the ser-
vants had to go out at one door and in at the other.
Some Arabs were continually racing the steamer
on shore, bronzed fellows, very lightly dressed, with
florid kefyehs. The breadth of the river varies con-
siderably, and is generally deepest near one of its
banks. ^ We were now on the Tigris, the river below

336 Alexander's bridge.

the junction of the Euphrates, and this being called
the Shat el Arab. At 7 o'clock we reached Ordy,
a large Turkish camp. A Turkish steamer which
started thirty hours before us from Bassora, was
now only eighteen hours ahead, so we were gaining
rapidly on her. A large fire burnt luridly on
the horizon ; the glare was great and the light far
spread.

At 7 A.M. on the 19th we passed the cele-
brated bridge of Alexander. The remains of one
buttress are still visible on the (proper) right bank.
It is of bricks, firmly cemented together. Higher
up a few trees. The road to the bridge may
still be traced on either side, in the shape of
two parallel mounds. At 5 p.m. we passed the
little Turkish steamer. The river was very dis-
coloured. The bridge is called Fley Fley by the
Arabs, from a sort of Hero and Leander story.
A lady of that romantic name (Fley Fley) was
enamoured of a young gentleman whose fame has
not sufficed to preserve his name, but who, at all
events, used to swim the river every night to get to
his " ladye love." She, therefore, out of kind con-

THE TARK KESRA. 337

sideration for his health, and that he might not
catch cold, built him this bridge !

At 7 P.M., we reached Kutellamara, about half
way. At 3 P.M. on the 20th, we met the Dijillah,
the other English steamer, belonging to Messrs.
Lynch. Sh^ was much larger than the " City,"
and named after the Arab for this river, meaning
" The Arrow," probably so called because it is one
of the most crooked rivers going — or rather flowing.

At 8 A.M. on the 21st we drew up opposite the
Tark Kesra, or Arch of Chosroes. Here the river
makes an immense sweep, so that we could walk
across the bend in half an hour, whereas it took
the steamer two hours and a half to go round.
Here Captain Carter and ourselves landed, and
walked across to the Tark. On our right we
saw the remains of a gigantic wall of brick. We
crossed a broad canal. Here the city of Ctesi-
phon was situated in ancient times. The Tark
is a most magnificent arch, standing out in bold
relief against the sky ; it must be some two hun-
dred feet high by eighty broad. Part of the
arched roof has fallen in, but the solidity of the

338 IRRIGATION.

remainder is imposing. It is built of large burnt
bricks, cemented most solidly together. On either
side of the arch are two wings of masonry as
high as itself, with columnar decorations, the outer
walls of a palace, of which the other sides have
fallen in. On the west side of the arch there is a
practicable way up owing to the decay of the bricks,
which leaves a sort of narrow staircase going up,
sideways. The greatest difficulty is to get up the
first ten feet, as there the upper bricks project, and
there is no foothold. After this we easily ascended
to the arched portion, where the interstices between
the bricks afford an easy climb to the summit.
The plain near is covered with heaps of ruins,
which look like ordinary hillocks. Getting down
again we made for the river, through brushwood
where we put up a few partridges. The banks
were here very muddy. The water for irrigation
is drawn up over a cross-bar by means of a large
bucket let down into the river by a rope, to the
other end of which a horse is harnessed, and then
driven down an excavated hole, so as to afford
leverage for the purpose. The ruins extend to the
other side of the riven

BAGDAD. 335

At length about 2 p.m. we reached the first
palm gardens around Bagdad, and in about three-
quarters of an hour more we steamed into the city
of the Caliphs. At a bend in the river we now
saw the masthead on which ought to have floated
the British ensign, but it was not hoisted till we
fairly arrived. A bastion of the wall of circum-
vallation, which is of well preserved burnt brick,
jutted out into the river. The gates are shut at
sunset. Colonel Kemball, the resident and consul-
general, received us most graciously. We found a
real bed in our room, a thing we had not seen
since Tabreez. Next morning we made our cus-
tomary inspection of the bazaar, which is the best
stocked one we had yet seen in the East; the
arcades are wide and the building solid.

On the 24th we rode over the bridge of boats to
Cosmein, the great Persian sanctuary, with two
gilt cupolas and four good minarets in excellent
preservation. The town on the right bank of the
Tigris has very narrow streets which are con-
tinually thronged. On the Residency side, (the

fashionable quarter,) latticed windows overhang

z 2

340 ZOBEIDE^S TOMB.

the streets. The right bank outside the town is
planted with pahns, then an open plain, and Cos-
mein lies amongst more palms.

On the 26th we started on an excursion to
Hilleh, the ruins of ancient Babylon. We hired
three horses, and crossing the river by the bridge
we turned south, after paying a small toll. After
threading the streets for some time, we emerged out
of the town to the west. On our right now rose the
tomb of the celebrated wife of Haroun al Raschid,
Zobeide ; a burnt brick edifice in the shape of a
sugar-loaf on an octagonal base, rising in steps.
We soon came to a narrow canal that spread out
further to the north, and found ourselves on
the banks of the Tigris. We now rode through
a succession of mounds and dry canals, past
two khans, as the caravanserais are here called,
and the bifurcation of the road to Kerbelah, a
place of pilgrimage for Persians, whither immense
cargoes of corpses are conveyed for burial in the
holy ground around the shrine where lies interred
the body of Houssein. We slept at Khan al Hassan,
(thirty-two miles,) under a projection in the inside

THE RUINS OF BABYLON. 34 1

caravanserai passage — lots of donkeys close to us.
We had a new dodge for a portable bed, simply
a large canvas bag, to be filled with chopped
straw at night. It made a remarkably good couch.
On the 27th, continuing our ride, we passed
many more dry canals, and two with deep streams
in them. The bridges over these were in good
repair. At 1.30 p.m., having started at 8.30 A.M.,
we saw a large mound, so we cut across to get
at it, but were stopped by a deep canal, up which
we had to ride to find a bridge. After this we rode
straight to the enormous hill-like mass, which we
discovered to be the Majellibe of Rich. It was
oblong, at least one hundred feet high, and
from a distance appeared to be composed of dry
mud, but on approaching and dismounting, we
found a portion of it to be solid brick wall of
stupendous thickness, and in other parts the ma-
terial of which the mound was composed was
perfectly friable, so that on pulling out one brick,
a whole mass would tumble down. Here there
were several large clay vases, cinerary urns ;
we pulled one out and thus discovered another

342 THE KASR.

just behind it. There was nothing but dry mould
and bits of bone inside. We walked round the
mass and got on to the top, where we saw many-
traces of excavations, as the Arabs freely pull out
the bricks to build houses with.

We now sent on our guide with a letter to Kalif
Aga, the governor of Hilleh, and rode across
country, over dry canals — the plain full of mounds ;
— on the right a palm forest, which, from the top
of the Majellibe we discovered, grew on the banks
of the Euphrates. It was a lovely afternoon, and
the river stole lazily along amongst the palms and
long grass. We soon came to another enormous
mound, the Kasr of Rich, on to which we rode,
and found the remains of a stout brick building,
apparently of rather more recent date than the
Majellibe. Descending, we came to an Arab
village. One of the inhabitants rushed out and
asked whether we had seen a stone bull amongst
the ruins. We had not, and so rode back to the
Kasr, where, in an excavation, stood a black basalt
hewn figure, more resembling a lion than a bull,
and not unlike m enlarged edition of the lion?

HILLEH. 343

frequently seen in Persian churchyards. The face
was mutilated and the legs broken off; the sculp-
ture very rude. It had been discovered a long
time, we believe, though it is strange that more
have not been found. We rode on, and soon got
between mud walls enclosing palms, which ex-
tended for some two miles. When we reached
the outskirts of Hilleh, a servant on horseback met
us, saying that he had been commissioned by the
European doctor of one of the regiments quartered
here to offer us a room. We therefore rode
through a mangy bazaar, (principally for corn,) to
the doctor's house. He spoke French, and we
discovered that our muleteer, who knew of his
being in the town, had gone to him, and told him
that we had seen the room appointed for us by
the aga, but finding it not sufficiently good, had
expressed our intention of going to the doctor.
Of course we explained. Every article of furni-
ture, as well as the house itself, was of palm-wood,
even to the matting of shreds of palm.

On the 28th, at 11 a.m., we rode out to Birs
Nimroud, the supposed tower of Babel (or Belus),

344 ^I^S NIMROUD.

We crossed the Euphrates on a bridge of boats,
which then presented an animated scene, as a long
string of camels was crossing, attended by its Arab
conductors, a swarthy set, tall, and with bright red
and yellow silk kefyehs, kept on their heads by
long skeins of camel's hair. A small toll is pay-
able for crossing. Then we passed through a
tolerable bazaar, and out of the town, when we
immediately descried the Birs Nimroud at a
distance, about seven miles out. We had to make
several circuits, in order to avoid canals and to
find bridges, before getting to the Birs.

We rode on to an enormous pile of earth and
ruins, some fifty feet high and a quarter of a mile
long by 300 yards broad ; immense quantities of
broken and valueless pottery scattered about ; close
beyond rose the tower, a gigantic mass of brick-
work almost round in form, but broken up, and
covered with debris at the bases. A, yet standing,
massive piece of wall like a very thick column, and
constructed of the most solid brick, rises about fifty
feet above the main body of the edifice, forming
a distinct landmark. We climbed up to this,

TURKISH MUSIC. 345

and viewed the flat landscape. The river made a
bend to within a mile of our standing point and
was very wide, as if the inundations were be-
ginning. On the south side of this mass huge
pieces of brickwork have fallen down, as it were
vitrified into slag by intense heat, perhaps that
of lightning.

On returning we paid a visit to the vice-governor.
He received us in a shabby room, where we had the
usual Arab coffee without milk or sugar but with *
plenty of sediment. After dinner, the doctor Deme-
triades, a Greek, took us to the barracks ; a square
building in two storeys, with rooms round a large
court, and a gallery round the upper storey. We
went into the bandmaster's room, who presently came
in as drunk as possible. He insisted on exchanging
our wideawake for his " fez," which was miles too
big for us. Luckily he soon fell asleep, and
tumbled off his divan, upsetting his narghile
(Turkish for kaleoun). At 7 p.m., the hour of the
" retraite," the band struck up in the court, and
played polkas, and English and French song tunes
very tolerably. When it was over, we slipped out.

346 KHAN AT BIR NOOS.

and recrossed the bridge beneath which the river
flowed silently in the moonlight night. The coffees
which were crammed at six were empty now.
Their divans of palm branches with backs and sides
seemed very rude and hard to lie upon.

On the I st of March we started on our journey
back to Bagdad. The vice-governor insisted upon
sending two very irregular cavalry Bedouins as an
escort, but we soon managed to get rid of them ;
just at sundown we reached the Khan of Bir Noos,
where we halted for the night. A wild Arab in-
sisted that our room (!) was engaged for some soldiers
who had not yet arrived ; but we observed in the
vernacular, " first come, first served," and the sight
of our whip effected the rest. Next day we
reached Bagdad at 3 p.m., having to lead our horses
through one small canal, whose waters had swollen
since we crossed it, going.

On the 3rd we saw the Pasha riding in the
bazaar. He paid a visit to the resident, bringing
our firman for the road with him.

An export duty of four per cent, was charged
upon many things in a box which we sent to

MISSIONARY SUCCESS ! 347

England via Bombay (which by the way had not
arrived eleven months afterwards !) Five years ago
the duty was nine per cent., but the Turkish
Government were induced to agree on lowering it to
one per cent., by taking off one per cent, every
year for eight years. Messrs. Bruhl and Epps-
tein, two missionaries from England to the Jews,
with their English wives, were about to leave for
England, having, during nine years' ministration,
succeeded in converting two Jews, one of whom,
we believe, soon relapsed. However, the schools
that they instituted did much good.

4th. — We start to-morrow, and have already
paid our horse hire for the first four stages. The
letting of post-horses is in this country farmed
out to different proprietors, who supply so many
stations with horses. The man who farms the
first distance supplies four stations, so these are
prepaid.

348 )

CHAPTER XII.

On the 5th, the EngUsh dromedary post from
Damascus came in, and we started on our long ride
after breakfast. We rode two stages, and found a
Mr. Weber, a merchant at Mosul, just going to start
at the changing-station. Near Bagdad the road
was rather bad, intersected by small watercourses
with a very narrow bridge over each. We reached
Yengiyeh early, doing ^ thirty-nine miles in six
hours, including the half-hour for stoppages ; we
travelled with only three horses — one for ourselves,
one for Awa Baba, and one for the postilion.
Our bed was strapped behind ourselves, our lug-
gage (!) behind our servant, and saddle-bags carried
our cooking utensils, &c., on the third horse.

The first station was on the left bank of the
Tigris, then over a bad marsh. The post-house is a
large square with stables all round, not more than
ten feet high (we slept in a kind of guardroom) ;

ROBBING THE POST. 349

It is only accessible by one door, so as to be easily
defensible against any wandering Arabs, who
sometimes are troublesome along the road ; they
are said to have been quiet lately, only having
robbed the last Turkish post to Constantinople of
many thousand pounds' worth of treasure and
jewels — this notwithstanding a strong escort, which
most likely connived at the robbery, although two
of the number were killed and as many wounded,
not being in the secret. The robbers of course in-
stantly made for the Persian frontier. Palm trees
still grow around the villages by the Tigris. The
telegraph again adjoins our track as in Persia.
This is the best season for travelling down here —
neither too hot nor too cold. The air is delight-
ful, and early spring flowers are beginning to
blossom.

On the 6th the road led to a meandering river,
at present just level with the plain ; many kinds
of shrubs grew about, and the banks were
often occupied by the settlements of Eeliauts, here
Kurds, we believe. After changing horses, we
crossed a long and low ridge of the Hamaram

^SO TOOZ KHURMATI.

hills. A few stones set up in the road marked
the spot where the post was attacked. We reached
Kara Teppah — fifty-four miles — in nine hours.
The accommodation was of the vilest. The surreje,
or postilion, generally rides a mare ; the other two
are horses; the charge is 2^d, per horse per mile —
very little. The number of storks on their nests
is almost ludicrous ; every house has two or three
of them upon it.

Starting early, we crossed a spur of the snow-
covered mountains on the east, and were delayed
three-quarters of an hour at the station, as there
were no horses. After all only two were obtain-
able, so we took on one that we had come with.
We rode along a low range of hills to Tooz
Khurmati, - where we were accommodated in a
decent mud room. In this post-house there was a
very pretty girl with large black eyes, — almost the
only pretty face we had yet seen. Oranges were
to be bought at all these stations, and good honey.
Fifty-one miles in nine hours and three-quarters.
We observed several crows with white backs and
breasts, and crossed a broad but shallow river just

KIRKOOK. 351

before this station. During the night a bitumen
Hght was burnt in our room, and by its gHmmer
we saw a man stealthily creeping about, groping
for anything he could find. He found nothing,
however, and a slight movement on our part
induced him to crouch in a corner for half an hour,
occasionally imitating the purr of a cat; then he
crept away.

On the 8 th we crossed another river, and reached
Taough, the changing station, in three and a-half
hours. A mounted horseman generally wished to
ride with us as an escort, whose services we as
generally declined ; for if we were to be robbed one
horseman would do no good, but rather make any
stray marauders think that there was something
worth getting in our possession. We reached Kir-
kook at 4 P.M. Eight and a-half hours, forty-eight
miles. It is a prosperous town, with a large Turk-
ish garrison. The barracks are the best house in it.
The town is apparently divided into three quarters,
one across a little rivulet with a wide channel,
another on an elevated and isolated plateau, and
the third around it, where the post-house was

;^^2 ARBIL.

situated. The pomegranates were remarkably fine,
as indeed we found them to be ever since Busheer.
The proprietor of the post-horses here, who farmed
a distance of i8o miles, was particularly anxious
to impress upon us the advantages to be derived
from paying him for the distance from Zab to
Mosul. As his farm only extended to Zab, he
wished to send his horses on thence with us, and
to do the post-horse owner there, besides calling
the distance three miles further than it really
was.

On the 1 1 th, as we were bound on one of our
longest rides, it began to rain early, and continued
without ceasing all day, making the roads bad; we
found no horses at the next station, and had to take
our old ones on, after baiting for an hour and a
half; we reached Arbil at half-past nine, the last two
hours and a half ride, in the dark — sixty-three
miles, thirteen hours and a quarter. We passed two
isolated mounds with flat tops, on which were the
ruins of some houses, probably built there for
security. Now, however, the road here is perfectly
safe, and the district well cultivated, as the system

NEBBI JUNAS. ^^^

of government has been changed. The Pashas
receive a fixed salary, instead of paying so much
for their office, and then grinding so much more out
of their subjects. Arbil is built on a flat moun-
tain, accessible only on one side ; walls all round
besides. The post-house is below amongst some
other houses. Next day our surreje, a young boy,
lost his way, and we rode over ploughed fields for
some time, so that we reached the greater Zab late.
We crossed in a rough ferry-boat, and then had
to ford a smaller arm of the same river, which
was rather deeper than we expected. We changed
horses quickly, as we had to reach Mosul before
sunset, and waded through certainly 200 yards of
water up a stream by a ford.

The mountains of Kurdistan rose far to our right
— the country was high and very undulating ; at
last we arrived in sight of Mosul, and rode through
the ruins of Nineveh, which are nothing now but
large mounds, not distinguishable from the natural
hillocks. We passed a portion of suburbs on a low
hill, with several mosques and minarets on it, the

largest of them is called Nebbi Junas ; the prophet

2 A

354 MOSUL.

Jonas is reputed to be buried underneath. The
room which contains his sepulchre is about six-
teen feet square, the passage to it narrow, the
walls of green glazed tiles. The sepulchre is
raised from the ground and about eight feet long by
half as broad ; it may be of wood, but rich
coverings and costly Persian rugs completely hide it.
There is a bason in one corner of the room, and
the attendant Mullah informed Mr. Rassam, that
every Friday Jonah rises from his tomb to perform
his ablutions, after which he quietly returns to his
coffin ! We think most people would hardly return
having once got out. We reached the bridge of
boats at half-past six o'clock ; a stone bridge
is built nearly half way across the river bed, but
water only flows underneath it in spring ; then the
bridge of boats spans the main stream of the Tigris,
here considerably shrunk from its dimensions at
Bagdad. This bridge, as at Bagdad, is removed
when the river rises.

Paying a small toll, we entered the gate, and
passing through several squalid and filthy streets,
we reached Mr. Rassam's, the vice-consul's house.

THE BAZAAR. 355

Mr. Weber, who had outstripped us, had informed
him of our arrival, and we were shown into an
excellent room. The house was entirely built
of marble from the neighbouring mountains, of a
sort of blue grey colour, streaked with white. Mr.
Rassam and his wife were about starting for
England in September, then he was going to
return to Mosul to arrange his affairs, and give
up his post.

He was actively engaged in translating portions
of the Old Testament, especially the Prophet Isaiah,
from the original into English, giving each word in
Syriac, with his authorities for his interpretation
in colloquial Arabic phrases.

On the 1 2 th we went into the bazaars, and
found them most intricate and badly constructed,
but the stock in trade good. The jewellers con-
gregated in a street without an arched roof,
some portions of the bazaars were only arched in
with branches. All fuel comes from the mountains
on donkey-back. The ruins of Nemroud are
about twenty miles down the river and those

of Khorsabad fifteen miles on the opposite side.

2 A 2

^^6 AN ECCLESIASTICAL WAG.

Nothing is, however, to be seen at any of them.
The excavations made by Mr. Layard are all
covered up again.

1 3th. During the course of the day two Roman
Catholic bishops, who had been educated at the
Propaganda of Rome called, and stayed to tea,
previously a Chaldean Catholic bishop looked in.
They all three wore the common Turkish fez,
with rolls of thick black cloth, about four inches
broad, wrapped round it. The bishops had on
black gabardines with red tunics and close-fitting
sleeves. The Chaldean appeared to be a funny
fellow, full of anecdotes, and with always a simile
ready on all occasions. One of his anecdotes we
remember : — " Some Arabs plundered a mosque
dedicated to some great Mohammedan saint. On
being remonstrated with by the dwellers around —
who were too weak to attempt other measures — on
the impiety of their proceedings, they said, ' Oh,
never mind, we will make it all right with the
saint,' so going into the mosque they had rifled,
they ejaculated the following :— ' Oh ! saint, if
thou art indeed a believer, then what we have

A NESTORIAN BISHOP. 357

obtained from thy shrine is thy bounty unto
us ; but if thou art an unbehever then we despoil
thee rightly, and burn thy father !' "

14th. An Ullema, or doctor of the law, came in
and smoked a chibouk. Soon after him came a
Nestorian bishop with one attendant. The bishop
wore a conical felt cap, with a long black calico
handkerchief wrapped round it in disorderly folds.
His beard was black, and his long uncombed
flowing hair brown, altogether a shaggy-looking
personage ! Later the Pasha, a benevolent-looking
old Greek, paid Mr. Rassam a visit, attended by his
narghile. The bowl of this is almost always of
Bohemian glass, the receptacle for tobacco is about
five inches above it — the Pasha's was of silver,
shaped like a bunch of flowers. The whole is
placed on the ground, and the smoke is inhaled
through a leathern snake. We went on to the roof
and surveyed the town. Nothing remarkable : mud-
brick houses so close together that no streets were
perceptible; flat roofs and parapets around them.
There are sulphur springs near, which are said to
be very healthsome. It was now just eight months

358 UNDERGROUND APARTMENTS.

since we left England. A Syrian Catholic bishop
called in the evening. We had seen church digni-
taries of every description here. This one v^as a
Mosulee, educated at the Propaganda and a mon-
signore, as he wore a long black cloth garment
doubled with purple ; his tight sleeves and tunic
were also purple. A handkerchief of black silk with
a gold Maltese cross embroidered in front was on
his head. At Mosul the last palm tree grows ; it
is carefully wrapped up with matting in the winter.
Cucumbers grow to the length of six feet and two
feet round ! As the Pasha was collecting objects to
be sent hence to the Paris Exhibition of 1867, we
suggested that one of these cucumbers might be as
wonderful as anything else ! The underground
portion of Mr. Rassam's house, whither he retires in
summer, was very grand, resembling the crypt of
some large church. Most of the good houses here
are interiorly built of marble. The north part of
the town rises gradually in hillocks. About two
hundred yards down the . river, we saw a square
building with a high whitewashed wall pierced
everywhere with windows, probably the barracks,
or a sort of fort.

zAKoo. 359

On the 15th we started again, the horsekeeper
at first objected to the weight of our load, but soon
gave in, not having a " locus standi." We recrossed
the bridge, turning north ; a small stream, here
flowing into the Tigris, had its banks covered
for some distance with — washerwomen ! we rode
over a very undulating country till sunset, crossing
three little streams, and soon reached Ismael, a
wretched little village with a still more wretched
little post-house. We slept on the ground in a
barn, whence we previously turned out two
donkeys to make room for ourselves.

Next day, we rode over rough road to Zakoo,
where an old castle on rising ground above the
village contained the post-house ; then we forded a
large stream, and two others at intervals. At
sunset we got amongst hills, when the surreje
told us to ride on rapidly, as the road was in bad
repute. Sure enough, we saw, down a ravine
close to us, a lurid light, waving about in a
cavern ; however, the inmates, whoever they were,
did not perceive us, and we reached the Tigris.
Here we had to halloo across the stream for a
kelek or raft. After a time one came over. It

360 A HORRID ROAD.

was about twelve feet square, of rough boards on
inflated sheepskins. We left the horses to return
without us, and were rowed across by two
men. On the opposite side we found four horses
and a man with a lantern awaiting us. In half
an hour's walk we reached the post-house ; it
rained more or less all day, and the lighted fire there
was grateful to us. The village was called Jezireh.
Leaving early, we mounted a little, and then
came to an immense plain ; the road was of the most
appalling description, rendering any pace faster
than a slow walk a moral and physical impossi-
bility. It consisted of mud two feet or more in
depth, with boulders scattered about so thickly,
that there was only just room between them for the
horses' hoofs to sink into the mire. This lasted,
more or less, for thirty-six miles, a piercing north-
easter blowing all the time. We passed the
Turkish post, only two days late from Stamboul.
Jezireh is under the government of a mudir —
an officer inferior in rank to a Pasha and a
Kaimacan — it is a telegraph station. The Indian
traffic, for which a large sum was paid to the

NISIBEEN. 361

Sultan's government, is sadly impeded by the
trivial messages sent from one pasha or mudir
to another. These are generally twenty words
of compliments, then ten words of real business,
and another twenty words of more compliments.
We changed horses and rode along the same plain,
but on a better road. The district appeared to us
very populous, as there were a number of small
isolated hills like large tumuli, scattered about at
intervals of about three miles in every direction,
and on the southern slope of each of them a
Kurdish village was erected. However we were
told that many of these were deserted, and formerly
the whole region was devastated by Arab ghazus
or forays, which still compel the post to make an
immense circuit, as the whole road up to Zakoo is
directly out of the straight direction to Diarbekir.
We rode on another thirty-six miles after the
change, till we crossed several branches of a stream
on a causeway bridge without a parapet, and
entered Nisibeen, where we slept.

20th. Still on the plain. We came to a ruined
castle, which the surreje informed us was of early

362 DARA.

Christian architecture, in reality dating from the
Roman empire, having probably formed one of
the frontier forts. We then turned off into a
small by-path, to visit the great Roman fortress
of Dara. It was built at the foot of a low rocky
range of mountains, the first outskirts of the
Antitaurus (?). The first impression conveyed to
our minds was that we were approaching an
immense ruined mass of hewn stones. We crossed
a small stream just above a massive broken
stone bridge, of thorough Roman solidity. Fifty
yards higher up stood the remains of, probably, a
dam, a wall some 100 feet high and 10 thick, of
solid hewn stone facing, and rubble between ; at the
bottom were three arched openings, about eight feet
across, probably sluices, as the holes for the hinges
of the locks were still visible. Then the stream had
broken through the wall, and in the portion on
the left bank a miller had installed himself. Two
hewn stone walls once formed a conduit on the bank
to admit the water into the massive edifice, but
now it enters by another aperture. This kind
of mill is very common ; for almost all the little

RUINS. 363

Streams are utilised in this way, — a portion of
the water is carried along the bank in a conduit,
till it is of sufficient height to allow of its pouring
through the mill with sufficient force to turn the
wheel Fifty yards above the dam, another bridge
of three arches spanned the stream, whose banks
had been apparently confined by walls of hewn
stones. From this bridge a magnificent road
once wound up the eminence ; now only a
few traces remain to indicate its existence — a few
steps here and there. Some columns were lying
about, one standing some fifteen feet high and four
round. Upon the low hill to which the road led,
was a mass of buildings, something like a forum
in shape. Some Corinthian capitals lay about.

Kurds have installed themselves in one part of
the ruins, where a building with many fine broken
arches is standing on the left bank of the stream.
Some of the inhabitants now gathered around and
offered to show us the principal remains. We
acquiesced and followed one of them into an open-
ing under the forum-shaped mass. This was a
passage with sides of hewn stone. At the further

364 ~ THE GRANARIES.

end we turned to the right into a very dark passage
where our conductor lighted a tallow candle. We
soon came to some steps which led down along a
hewn stone wall, a slight parapet was raised on the
other side to prevent falling into a tremendous ex-
cavation that in Roman times was probably used as a
granary. This formed a magnificent hall, supported
by immense square pillars of hewn stone. The roof
was arched, and a little light from the outer world
just allowed the magnitude of the work to be seen.
The hall appeared to be some 150 feet high, by
120 broad. At the sides little chambers were
excavated, and walled with blocks of stone.

On emerging again, we purchased a quantity of
copper coins, most of them of Justinian and Con-
stantine. We now rode along the hills ; where the
quarries and catacombs in the rocks were distinctly
visible. Sometimes one excavation had two little
pillars and an arch cut in the rock for a doorway.
In the quarries the stone was sometimes hewn in
steps, presenting a very picturesque appearance.

Riding on, we gradually approached a high
mountain, on which traces of houses were dimly

MARDEEN. 365

discernible ; as we drew nearer these became more
distinct and we found them to constitute Mardeen,
whither we were bound. The situation of this
town was perhaps the most extraordinary we had
ever seen. It was built more than half-way up a
precipitous hill, along whose southern flank it
extended for some mile or so, and up for half a
mile — below the wall, a bleak rock to the plain.
The houses rose one above the other, as it were in
storeys, so that each possessed a view over the plain
as far as the eye could stretch. The access to it was
very difficult : we first went round a mountain
below that on which stood the town, up a difficult
path, until we came to a neck of land connecting
the two hills, which we rode over, and entered the
gate just an hour before sunset. The streets were
ill-paved, and sometimes led over the roofs of the
houses below.

Above the town the rocks rose quite per-
pendicularly, and a ruined fort was perched on the
table-land at the top. We passed some fine Saracenic
archways of friable stone, and after some trouble
discovered Mr. Williams' house. This gentle-

^66 PROTESTANT CONGREGATIONS.

man was a missionary of the American Pres-
byterian Church, whose head-quarters are in
Boston, U.S. The society does a great deal of
good amongst the Christian populations of Asia
Minor. The Armenians are those who afford the
greatest number of converts, the Jacobites and
Nestorians also contributing. There is a congrega-
tion of these Protestants at Mosul, but that station
is, with justice, deemed so unhealthy to Americans,
that it is only occasionally visited, native preachers
keeping the congregation together. Our host had
to deplore the loss of three wives, each sacrificed to
the climate in a very short time. His house con-
tained an excellent classical and theological library;
it was situated in the lower portion of the town.
Having partaken of his hospitality for one night,
we started again. The inhabitants, a turbulent set,
amongst whom robbery and even murder is rife,
boast that even the invincible Tamerlane had to
turn from Mardeen without entering it. Now its
walls are fast crumbling into ruins; indeed one need
not go to a gate at all to get out ; some of the
mosques are very fine and solidly constructed. We

THE TIGRIS AGAIN. 367

rode along a bad rocky path, sometimes up, some-
times down, to Khanakee, twenty-four miles; no
post-horses; so we baited our old ones for three hours.
We had hardly proceeded half a dozen miles when
darkness came upon us. We persevered for some
time longer, and then, as the gates of Diarbekir are
closed at sunset, and there is no admittance after-
wards even on business, we put up in a wretched
little village. Khan Achbar, in an outhouse
boasting of a roof but not of very much more.

Next morning we rode gradually downwards
over a road varying in badness, till we saw the
Tigris again and rode along its right bank.
Immediately above us, on our left, rose a high
range. The snowclad Taurus loomed around
us on the north-east and west. At length
we came to where the road winds up to the
gates of Diarbekir which stands on a flat hill
overlooking the river. We passed by a good
stone bridge, just before beginning to ascend;
then the ruggedly paved road led us through
gardens, in some of which stood Turkish villas,
and in one the English Consulate.

368 PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS.

Mr. Taylor has a somewhat extended field of
usefulness as consul at Erzeroum and this place,
and does not possess the gift of ubiquity ; so being
at Erzeroum he was not at Diarbekir ! The road
became very good for the last hundred yards, and
passing a large graveyard on our left we entered
the gate. The Tigris makes an immense bend
just below the town ; the portion of country in-
cluded in the bend is most richly cultivated.
We were most kindly received by Mr. Walker
(to whom Mr. Williams had given us a letter)
and introduced to his wife and a Miss West,
a lady missionary, who had chosen this portion
of Asia Minor as the field of her disin-
terested, and by no means thankless labours.
The congregation, under Mr. Walker's charge
numbered six hundred souls, and a third chapel
was in course of construction, the two already in
existence being too small to contain their increasing
numbers. The members of the congregation,
although generally very poor persons, supported
their teachers and chapels to the utmost of their
means ; those who were too poor to contribute in

THE CHAPELS. 369

money, worked at the construction of the new
chapel.

We visited the chapels after breakfast on the
20th. One of them was in the shape of a cross,
although not originally built for a place of wor-
ship. The larger was in the old Consulate and sadly
in need of repairs. There was a separate room for
the various books sent out by the English Bible
Society, and those printed in New York in
Armenian and Kurdish; the Bible was the first book
ever printed in the Kurd tongue, which has properly
no written language, the letters used for the purpose
were Armenian. The principal languages em-
ployed were Caramanian, Turkish and Arabic, and
many books, besides those of prayer, were translated
into them. Amongst the rest, Bunyan's " Pilgrim's
Progress" held the chief place. Whately's
" Evidences," and other useful and instructive
books came in for their share of popularity. A
quantity of little children were at school near
both the chapels. They were bright-looking little
lads, worthy of Armenian parents, some of them

were Jacobites. We entered the Jacobite church ; it

2 B

370 THE WALLS.

was a fast-day, and many women were worship-
ping— that is, going up to a money-box, putting a
small coin inside, and having a large silver cylinder
containing the hand of some saint rubbed over
their heads and bodies. After this they went and
knelt down in front of the centre shrine — a tawdry
affair — whereupon the gates in front of it were
closed by the attendant acolyte, and the women
offered up prayers that they might be opened to
them again, which after a short space they were !
The church is a very old one. The patriarch's
house is good, with hewn stone porticoes.

We then walked to the old walls, of massive
hewn stone and immense solidity, containing within
their thickness the rooms for the garrison and their
stores in case of siege. They are said to date
from the time of Constantius, and they have only
four gates, one for each point of the compass.
The stone of which they are built is dark ; there
are towers at stated intervals ; crenelated parapets
and a moat hewn in the rock all round ; covered
ways inside. We afterwards entered the courts of
two mosques, both of stone. The first had a

A FINE MOSQUE. 37 1

splendid portico in front of it, and on two sides of
the court of the other, were columnar walls of great
age and beautifully executed. This is said to have
been an old Christian church in days when there
were caliphs in Bagdad ; the mosque was on one side.
The appearance of the whole is equal to that of
the best preserved Roman ruins. The pillars in the
walls support arches, and over these there is another set
of arches and pillars. Probably these two remain-
ing walls formed those of some covered space —
perhaps of a basilica — there are almost one hundred
yards between the two. On the left some lower
columns support the third wall. One of the
mosques we passed reminded us, by its hexagonal
form and alternate layers of black and white
marble, of some churches in Milan. The minarets
looked as like a gigantic candle with an ex-
tinguisher on the top as possible. The lower
part was square, of stone, then a large tube-like
concern was painted white, and the angular roof was
of tin or iron. The superintendent of telegraphs
here was an Englishman, married to an Italian

wife. We visited them, and met there an Italian

2 B 2

372 CIRCASSIANS AGAIN !

doctor M. Arrlvabene, and the French consul, M.
Pons. The sultan has ordered a road practicable
for carriages to be made from Samsoun on the
Black Sea (whither we are bound) to this place,
each pashalick is to bear its share of the expenses
and to construct its portion of the road. This
order has had the effect of causing about two miles
of road to be made outside Diarbekir — then it
stops. One of the streets, leading to the northern
gate, is broad and fairly paved. The houses being
all built of stone, look much more decent than in
any other town we had yet seen. Some of them
have overhanging lattice windows. The bazaar
is very intricate ; the principal portion is of
gridiron shape — several galleries parallel, and cross
arcades — the stock pretty good. We saw two
Circassians ; they have come here in large numbers,
flying from Russia, and are immediately sent down
to colonise a ruined city on the border of the
mountain land, where they will serve as a barrier
against the Arabs. In this town telegraphic mes-
sages are received for transmission, in French,
Italian, German, and English. The local Turkish

HOW TO PRESERVE ICE ! 373

and through-Indian lines were in separate rooms in
the same building. A third wire had lately been
put up to Constantinople ; but as for the greater
portion of the way it lacked insulators, of course
it did not work ! When we were there the com-
munication with India was very perfect; a message
only took twelve hours to Akyab, on the east coast
of India,

On the 23rd we took a walk outside the Stam-
boul gate, and on our return, sat down on a low stool
just* outside — where an itinerant coffee and narghile
vendor had established himself — to indulge in a
portion of his stock. Close at hand rose a wonder-
ful contrivance for preserving ice during the whole
of the intense summer heats : a hole is dug, not
very deeply into the ground ; in this ice in blocks
is symmetrically arranged, rising some feet above
the ground, then it is covered over with about five
feet depth of chopped straw, and the thing is done;
to get at it, the proprietor has only to poke a hole
in the straw and take out as much ice as he requires.

An American story ; a very fat man was hurry-
ing to get into the gates of some city, which were

374 ARGANAH.

closed at a certain hour. Fearful that he should
be late, he asked of a passer-by whether he should
be able to get into the gates in time ? " Wall,"
quoth the addressed, " I guess you might ; a load
of hay passed through this morning !"

One of the missionaries that we met during our
journey suggested that the best means of saving
life in America would be to hang a few prominent
Southerners !

On the 23rd, we started out of the Stamboul
gate past an extensive cemetery, on a good road
for two miles (the two made by way of going to
Samsoun !) We rode over an elevated plateau for
some thirty miles, and got amongst some low hills,
when we soon saw Arganah, our changing-station,
perched up on a projecting hill. Above rose
another higher one, upon which a sort of large
guardhouse was built some 2,000 feet over our
heads. We found the post, by no means one of the
lowest houses in the village. Having changed horses
we had to get down the hill again only to mount
another one, and yet another, till on reaching a
crest of hills, a panorama of great wildness lay

MAADAN. ^y^

Stretched out before us ; a series of conical mountains,
some seemingly below us, some as high, and all of
the most varied colours, red and brown, black and
yellow, in endless succession. After sunset we
passed a smelting-furnace for copper. There were
several mines of this metal near Maadan, a village
of some extent, where we stopped in a tolerably
clean post-house.

On the 24th we started at half-past 6 a.m., and
rode up a very steep mountain, with much snow
about; then a steeper descent. Indeed, now the
road seemed to go up high mountains for the sole
purpose of coming down again. Unfortunately
there is no other road ; the scenery was startlingly
wild, the colouring magnificent. After some time
we came to a lake some twenty-five miles in cir-
cumference, with very blue water reflecting the
snow-covered mountains. We rode along the
northern shore and up a hill. On arriving at
the summit we looked down into a mountain-
locked plain, much below the level of the lake,
with several villages scattered over its surface.
We descended, and rode across it, through three

376 KHARPOOT.

villages. Here civilisation first stared us in the
face in the shape of a common cart, like the
plaustra of Persia. We had seen nothing on
wheels since leaving Teheran. "We passed some
decent whitewashed barracks, surrounded by a
wall pierced with windows, and were in Mazrah.
About six miles off to the right, we saw Kharpoot,
situated somewhat like Mardeen on a hill. It
is a great American missionary station, and we
passed it with some qualms of conscience, as it was
the only place in Asia which, containing civilised
beings (one cannot call them Europeans !) we had
not visited. There is a large seminary, where
converts are educated to be native preachers and
teachers. The streets of Mazrah betokened
awakening civilisation, probably owing to the
proximity of this station. Some of the houses had
wooden arched doorways with windows on each
side, evidently new, and resembling some streets in
German villages. Indeed, over one shop we
observed " Pharmacie " written up in French !
We were constrained to stop here, as they would
not give us horses, these being wanted for the

MAZRAH.

377

post, which was expected to pass hourly. We slept
in a stable some fifty yards long by twenty broad,
the roof supported by stems of trees in two rows ;
some fifteen horses were tied to the wall on either
side ; a little raised platform of mud constituted our
bedstead. During the night sleep was rather out
of the question ; we had long ceased to care
about fleas, but the horses kept us awake by the
noise they made. Five men also slept about the
stables ; they appeared to be up, more or less, all
night, wrangling and fighting at intervals. In the
morning we had a great squabble about the
number of horses to be taken. The postman
said four; we said three — our usual number.
Eventually three were agreed upon, and we got
off at half-past six, riding over picturesque
mountainous country. We suddenly came upon
another portion of the projected carriage-road,
skirting a mountain above a brawling torrent. It
was really very well Macadamized, and blasted
through portions of rock, but ended abruptly; thus,
of course, being of no possible use, except to
accelerate the speed of horses over some four miles of

378 MAADAN GUNISH.

ground ; then a very bad bit of road, where a sort
of pavement had been attempted, led us into
Maadan Gunish, v^here there was a silver mine,
whose produce certainly did not seem to flow
into the pockets of the inhabitants, as there were
many deserted and half ruined houses in the village.
There was a good mosque, however, with a portico in
front, and a dome covered with iron plates. The
minaret was of hewn stone, and the balustrade from
which the muezzins call the faithful to prayers,
was adorned with carved pomegranates. The
silver mine was not being worked when we passed ;
perhaps it was exhausted. Leaving this, after
changing horses, we crossed the Euphrates in a
rough ferry-boat. The river here made a bend,
and the stream formed two backwaters, one at
each bank, thus facilitating its crossing im-
mensely. On again till sunset, when the surreje
informed us that he had lost the way. We tried back,
and then made for the first village that we could
discover, where we got a guide to our station,
Argooan Dagh, which, fortunately, was nigh at
hand. Fifteen hours and sixty miles.

DELEKLI DASH. 379

Next day we rode over the usual picturesque
country, and on a good road. After changing our
horses, and mounting some small ponies, we got
into snowy districts ; patches of snow lay on the
ground, and the mountains covered with it gathered
close around us. We reached Allaje Khan one
hour after sunset, a baiting-station, where we
stopped, as the road was very bad; fifty-seven
miles, twelve hours and three quarters. Just
before arriving we met another Turkish post, re-
duced to the commonest of walks by the badness
of the road. It had no escort.

On the 27th, starting early, we rode over high
ground with a good deal of snow here and there.
After eighteen miles, we came to some that lay
extended for the next nine miles, a narrow path
serpentined through it, so that if the horse stepped
off, he immediately sank into about three feet of
snow. The glare of the sun was trying to the
eyes. Reaching Delekli Dash, a wretchedly cold-
looking village, we changed our ponies for capital
horses, and soon got out of the snow by a
rapid descent. Then we rode rapidly on over a

380 SEEVAS. .

good road, till half an hour before sunset, just
after our horse had tumbled with us into the
mud, we sighted Seevas, lying in a plain by
the river Kizzil Irmak or Halys ; we were on
a high point, whence we could see it well.
Thence descending, we crossed a long bridge, then
two smaller ones, and got into the town as night
fell. The river had much overflowed its banks,
so that the road into the town was covered with
water. After some search, we found Mr. West,
the missionary physician's house. He himself had
gone to Kaisaryeh to the S.W., but a Mr. Bryant
and his wife were in the house, and Mrs. West
most kindly put us up. This is also an American
Presbyterian station, and three families live here.

In the morning we walked through the town
with Mr. Bryant. We went to an old mosque,
in front of which stood two magnificent Alham-
bresque gateways, richly carved in Saracenic
ornamentation. Opposite these another sculptured
gateway led into a court surrounded by massive
hewn stone arched buildings. Under one of
these there were some tombs. This town is sup-

OLD REMAINS. 38 I

posed to be the Sebaste of Mithridates. An old
citadel stands on an eminence above the town ;
the old town walls still partially stand ; they were
evidently built upon still older foundations, as
bits of sculptured stone are promiscuously stuck
into them. In the midst of the town stands a
very strong stone gateway, with two iron folding
doors at each end ; in the space between there
are some dark underground dungeons with loop-
holes for windows looking out into the street.
We next walked into the bazaar. The principal
products of Seevas are woollen stockings, carpets,
and extremely pretty plaited straw-work, only
used to ornament pipe-stems. Some of the shops
were quite civilised ; that is, had their stock ex-
posed at windows, and were on each side of an
uncovered street. Portions of the bazaar reminded
us of the fair at Nijni Novgorod. Wooden por-
ticoes ran in front of wooden shops. The arabas,
or rough carts, in the streets, contribute to give
the town the appearance of factitious civilisa-
tion. Seevas is 3700 feet above the level of the
Black Sea. The population is considered to

382 TOKAT.

amount to 75,000, though returned at 50,000
for this reason — the number of inhabitants is
always returned as low as possible, as the taxes
vary according to the population. We called on
the Italian superintendent of telegraphs, and he
very kindly gave us a letter for the Russian
Consul at Samsoun, where there is no English
functionary.

"We started again on the 20th, and rode up the
hills on the N,W. The road took us over high
ground and was rather bad ; we stopped at Kakheen
in a decent room, though the village seemed poor.
Next day over a stony mountain ; we met the weekly
post to Seevas ; this is sent on from post to post,
without any special Tatar to accompany it, the
sole escort being the surreje and one policeman.
The latter came back with us, and left the post
to its fate and the postilion. We saw the ruts
made by many carts plainly on the road now,
and rode on to Tokat by an abrupt descent. All
the houses there, like most of those at Seevas,
were covered with tiles, giving the village quite a
Swiss appearance when seen from a dijit^nce. It

TOORKAL. 383

is encircled by mountains excepting on the north
side. As we descended, we emerged from winter
into spring ; the fruit-trees were in blossom and
the grass growing; a rapid river ran by the
town and then into a broad valley along which lay
our road, where we met many Circassians going
into the interior. We had to wait an hour for
horses, as their proprietor had very properly gone
to church, and very improperly left no one in
charge of them. We passed two Saracenic portals
and several ancient cut stone buildings in the
village; the bridge over the river was of the
same material and also very old. After about
four hours' riding, we came to another portion of
the carriage road, here on comparatively level
ground ; it only consisted of the mud dug out
of two deep trenches about twenty-one yards
apart, and flung in between them; an excellent
khan with glass windows, and of two storeys,
was built by its side. We could not stop there,
however, as it was not the post-house ; but continu-
ing our ride we soon turned off abruptly, and reached
Toorkal by a cross road, the regular track being

384 PICTURESQUE SCENERY.

inundated ; we had to ford a considerable stream just
before coming to the village, and found even the
post-house yard covered with water ; twelve hours
and a quarter; fifty-one miles.

Starting at half-past five o'clock next morning,
we made for the north, coming again upon the car-
riage road for about 100 yards. This portion of
road may be some five miles long altogether. We
now galloped up branching valleys ; the mountain
sides began to be covered with dwarf oak, birch,
and a species of fir ; up an abrupt ascent, and down
more gradually into a widening valley. Here
there were plenty of orchards, with each a villa
possessing a tiled roof but otherwise in fearful
^/V-repair, as they were built of a wooden frame-
work with unburnt mud bricks laid in between ;
these had generally crumbled away, leaving large
gaps, and sometimes only the woodwork. The
road now turned to the right up a valley ; on both
sides the mountains rose abruptly. We rode along
another piece of good carriage road, with orchards
between us and the hill on our right-hand and a rapid
river on our left j orchards again on the other side

AMASIYEH. 385

of the river, reminded us forcibly of some roads
in the mountainous parts of Germany. The
variegated blossoms on the fruit trees and the spring
flow^ers all around, vy^ith the tiled houses peeping
out, gave the place an extra look of Europe. At
length, bending round a corner, we entered
Amasiyeh, w^here wq observed several carved
remains of antiquity, especially Saracenic gateways,
and one massive square building w^ith round
towers at each corner. The first houses were in a
sad state of decay. There is a flourishing German
colony here, and we observed a cart with spoked
wheels. Further on the houses were very good.
The town is situated somewhat like Tiflis, with a
rapid river running in the midst of it, but the hills
are closer together, and higher on the west, where
there are artificial caves sculptured in the rock, singu-
larly carved in imitation of the front of a house
and an old castle of stone on the summit. Here we
had an adventure. We changed horses and started
again, but had not got far when the postman came
running after us, to say that we had got one

wrong horse, and he must take it back ; we, rather

2 c

386 A CONFLICT.

feebly, acquiesced. After waiting in the street for
about twenty minutes, the man returned, bringing
the very same horse back again, whereupon Awa
attacked him with a heavy riding-whip and beat
him severely, much to our dismay, as a crowd
immediately gathered around us, and the head-
postman, a tall powerful individual of about six
feet three, coming up, endeavoured to pull Awa off
his horse. In this he did not succeed, but a police-
man who came up insisted that we should go before
the Pasha; so we were ignominiously led across
a wooden bridge to a large house consisting of
three storeys, where we passed through a large hall
crowded with Turks, up a double flight of stairs
into an antechamber. After waiting here for about
half an hour, we were ushered into the presence.
The Pasha sat on a divan in a small room, with
several other men. We handed him our bulti, or
road-order and general certificate of respectability
that the Pasha of Bagdad had given us, and, after
hearing the aggrieved man and our servant, he
said, very justly, that he thought the best plan
would be to make the man a small present. This

ELADICK. 387

we accordingly did, whereupon the postman kissed
Awa with effusion, and we rode on, having been
detained one hour and a half. The good road
wound through delicious orchards for about four
miles, when we began to ascend a lofty hill. At
the summit a thick mist, resembling the palmiest
of London November fogs, gathered round us, and
night came on. The road also became execrable
as we sank in deep mud at every step. However,
everything comes to an end, and we reached Eladick
where we got a good room with glass windows.
In the morning we observed a fine mosque in the
village.

On the I St of April we started for our last day's
ride in Asia Minor. We rode along a mountainous
country, through woods, where the ground was car-
peted with primroses, anemones, violets, and every
sort of wild flower. The road was perhaps the worst
of our whole journey; it took us seven hours to
accomplish the first twenty-four miles, and it rained
torrents during four of them, thus rendering our last
also one of our hardest days. At length we rode

down into a little valley, through which flowed a

2 c 2

388 SAMSOUN.

Stream that we could see emptied itself into the Black
Sea ; then ascending to the top of the opposite hill,
we beheld long-looked-for Samsoun, and the Black
Sea stretched calmly in front of the town. A
steamer was at anchor in the roadstead.* Samsoun
is delightfully situated on the slope of the green hill
down which we were riding, but is terribly given to
fevers in summer. There are many decent houses
in it. We first attempted to discover some inn to
put up at, but ineffectually, so we rode out to the
Russian vice-consulate. This stands to the East
of the town, outside, and near the other consulates.
Although we neither belonged to his own nation
nor to that for which he acted. Chevalier J. Cacaci
received us most cordially. He was a Greek by
birth, and his brother served as dragoman in the
English army before Sebastopol.

In the morning we were intensely surprised by
seeing, coming up the stairs, no other than Mr.
Walton, our host of Ispahan. He was going
home on sick leave, so we of course immediately

'■^' For list of stations and distances from Bagdad to Samsoun
see page 394.

THE BLACK SEA. 389

booked a passage on board the " Neva," of the
" Messageries Imperiales," the ship in which he
had come from Trebizond. We found that as far
as ships went we were in luck, for she was a large
vessel built for the Mediterranean passenger trade,
and had first-class accommodation for about one
hundred passengers; but, on the other hand, she
had been ordered by telegraph to go back to Tireboli,
a short distance from Trebizond, to take on board
the passengers of a smaller ship, the " Orient,"
which had met with a misadventure. She would
not call here on her way back, so we were con-
strained to make the extra trip with her, and
to perform twenty-seven hours' longer sea journey
than necessary. After all, she called at Samsoun
to take up four passengers.

We coaled at Sinope, a magnificent harbour ; a
promontory juts out into the sea, forming a land-
locked bay, protected from all but N.E. winds,
which never blow hard. The town itself, sur-
rounded by an old wall, is built on the neck of the
promontory, so that after lying for some while in
the bay, and then steaming out of it, on rounding

390 TRAFFIC IN LABOUR.

the point we again saw the town on the other side.
We called at Ineboli just in time to find that a
Russian steamer had embarked sixty-five deck pas-
sengers destined for us. The fare on board was
excellent and the prices a lesson to the English
steamers in the East. Most of the deck passengers
were taken on board by contract. Some man collects
a quantity of poor labourers at the different ports,
and then brings them on board, paying their pas-
sages, and accompanying them on the ship. These
people generally have not even money to buy
their scanty food, which is supplied by the con-
tractor. On arriving at Stamboul, they are taken
on shore and securely locked up. Then when
any labour-owner wants workmen, he comes
and chooses out of their number as many as he
may require, paying the man who brought them
over their passages and all other expenses, which
he afterwards deducts from their pay by instal-
ments— a sort of organized traffic in labour !

Our passage of three days and nights was
perfectly calm; indeed the Black Sea is always
more or less so from the months of April to

THE BOSPHORUS. 39 I

October, making up for it, however, in the
winter.

At length we entered the far-famed Bosphorus.
The weather was cold, and the sun did not shine
brightly, but nothing is able entirely to efface from
the mind the impression of extreme beauty left
upon it by the scene, which fortunately has been
oft described. We obtained our certificate of health
at the quarantine office, near the entrance, and
steamed through the twenty-three miles of green
hills with villas dotted along them on both shores.
We passed twenty magnificent palaces belonging
to the Sultan. It is said that whenever he gets
any spare cash into his hands, he immediately sets
about building a new one, possibly thinking that
the money thus laid out does him as an individual,
more good than it would if diffiised over a
larger field, in improving his government.

After casting anchor in the magnificent harbour
between Pera and Stamboul, we were rowed in
a small boat to the custom-house, where every-
thing was searched and nothing found. We, of
course, made for Misseri's Hotel in the Grande

39^ STAMBOUL.

Rue de Pera, where we were soon comfortably in-
stalled. We observed that riding was the fashion-
able mode of transport ; the streets were so badly
paved that the few carriages we saw, resembling
Lord Mayor's coaches as they might have been
constructed two hundred years ago, had a hard time
of it. Sedan chairs have found their last refuge in
Pera ! The view from the Galata tower is one of the
most magnificent sights in the world. The Grande
Rue was lighted with gas, and the adjoining str-eets
were allowed the same lights to the length of one
hundred yards, when utter darkness was only
relieved by an occasional dim oil lamp. We crossed
over to Stamboul on one of the two bridges of
boats, and explored the bazaars. The number of
windings in the arcades almost rendered Ariadne's
twine necessary as a guide to find our way back.
Some gauzes, embroidered with silk, were perfectly
lovely; and every kind of embroidery was, of
course, seen to great perfection there.

A very creditable Italian Opera company sang
in one of the theatres at Pera whilst we were
there. We occupied ourselves during ten days

THE END. 393

very pleasantly. The weather on the 12th ot
April was quite warm, with a southerly wind.
However, having brought our reader again into
Europe, we take leave of him, as our further
journey, by Kustendje and the Danube to Vienna
and London, presented nothing calling for special
notice, and we stopped nowhere on our road, being
glad to get back again to old England ! Vale !

( 394 )

List referred to in page 388.

List of Stations and Distances from Bagdad to
Samsoun, with occasional remarks for the use of any
future travellers. Three miles are reckoned to the
hour : —

NO.

STATIONS.

HOURS.

REMARKS.

Bagdad :

I

Jedida . . . .

7

2

Yengiyeh .

6

3

Delli Abbas

9

4

Kara Teppa

9

Crossing Hamaram ravines

5

Kifri . . .

7

6

Tooz Khurmat

10

7

Taough . .

7

8

Kirkook . .

9

9

Altoon Kupri

9

lO

Arbil . . .

12

II

Zab . . .

7

Boat ferry

12

Mosul . .

9

loi hours

13

Ismael . .

12

H

Zakoo . .

9

Two hours for pass

15

Jezireh . .

12

Tigris, raft ferry

16

Deroomah .

12

17

Nisibeen . .

12

18

Mardeen

12

19

Khanakee .

8

Baiting station

20

Diarbekir .

10

87 hours

( 395 )

List of Stations and Distances {continued).

NO.

stations.

HOURS.

remarks.

21

Arganah. . . .

12

22

Maadan . . .

4

Copper mines

23

Kharpoot . . .

12

In reality Mazrah

24

Maadan Gunish .

lO

Euphrates, boat ferry,
copper and silver mines

25

Argooan Dagh

lO

26

Hassan Killekee .

12

27

Delekli Dash . .

i6

Bad road

28

Seevas . . . .

lO

29

Kakheen . . .

9

30

Tokat ....

9

o

31

Toorkal ....

8

32

Amasiyeh . . .

12

8

Road branches to Scutari
(Stamboul)

33

Eladick ....

6

34

Kawak ....

8

35

Samsoun . . .

146 hours

Total hours, 334 ; miles, 1002. Steamers three times a
week to Stamboul. Samsoun is the ancient Amisus,

INDEX.

Abada, p. 267

Accommodation at Khunsakh, 88

Achmedi, 315

Acquaintance, a casual, 106

Adventure, W.'s railway, 14

Agent, British, at Ispahan, 249

Allaje Khan, 379

Alexander's Bridge, 336

Alison, Mr., 206

Amasiyeh, 385

Ameenabad, 266

Amusements of Armenian pilgrims,

' 160

Ananoor, 122

Anecdote, an, 356

Antelope, 245

Aptarasseen, 208

Ararat, first glimpse of, 149-50;

last, 173
Araxes river, 172
Arbil, 352

Arch of Chosroes, 337
Architecture, Saracenic, 119 ; at

Tiflis, 124 ; Alhambresque, 126
Ardon river, 106
Arganah, 374
Argooan Dagh, 378
Ark, the Shah's palace, 226
Armenia, King of, 161
Armenian character, 122 ; costume,

134; cunning, 145; pilgrims,

160 ; priest's dress, 156
Armenians, revolt of, 161 ;
Armour, Ispahan, 249
Arpachi river, 166
Artesh Goor, the, 262
Artillery, camel, 211
Ascent, an, 306
Asia Minor, 368; last day's ride

in, 367 ; wonderful journey in,

294

Astrachan, 44 — 63
Awa Baba, our Persian servant,
135

Babylon, ruins of, 341 — 5

Baggage, trouble with, 75

Bagdad, 339

Bagh i No, 291 ; i Tacht, 292 ;
Nazaar, 302

Bahren, Island of, 319

Bakers, German, in Tiflis, 134

Bakoo, naphtha springs, 51

Bakshish, 175

Ballroom, largest in Europe, 9

Banians, 319

Banks of Volga, 30

Barasgoon, 315

Bariatinsky, Prince, 83

Bar j gar, 285

Barge, passenger on Volga, 63

Barracks, Turkish, 345

Bassora, 230—3

Bastinado, the, 259

Bazaar at Astrachan, 54

Beach at Petrovskoi, 66

Beedush, 243

" Bints," W.'s term for women, 80

Bir Noos, 346

Birs Nimroud, 344

Black Sea, 388—91

Bokhara lambskins, 54

Bosphorus, the, 391

Botlick, fever's home, 92 — 4

Boulevard, Tiflis, 129

Bread, Tartar, 81

Brewery, French, at Tiflis, 136

Bridge, Alexander's, 336 ; at Is-
pahan, 247 ; in Daghestan, 87 ;
over Kur, 130

Brigands near Istibulleh, 143

Bug Meeanee, 184

398

INDEX.

Bund Ameer, 284
Busheer, 316—27
" Bust," taking, 239, 252

Caliphs, City of the, 339
Camelthorn, the, 244
Canauts in Persia, 180
Caravanserai, a ruined, 176
Cashan, copper bazaar, 240
Caspian Sea, distance from Nijni,

25 ; on the, 64 ; tame fish in

the, 67
Cat at Preschiskaya, 116
Catholicos of Armenians, 155, 251
Caucasus, languages of, 86 ; mine-
ral capabilities of, 85 ; first day's

travelling in, 67 ; view in, 76
Cay, 186

Cazbek, 119 ; height of, 120
Cazveen, 201
Chaldean Catholic, bishop, 356 ;

our servant, 150
Chappar lOianee, a, 264
Char Bagh, the, 246
Chatham Hotel, 1
Chehel Sittoon, Ispahan, 256
Chenarada, 295
Chodjakias, 189
Chosroes, Arch of, 337
Christmas Day, 1865, 275 ; Eve,

271
Church at Astrachan, 47 ; Etch-

miadzeen. 157 ; Ispahan, 250
Churchyard at Tiflis, 133
Circassians on the Volga, 29
Coins, old, 294
Constantinople, 392
Constitution, the Polish, 17
Convention, telegraphic, 233
Corn thrashing in the Caucasus,

69
Cosmein, 339
Cossacks, various, in Russian

army, 44
Cothul i Dochter, 299 ; i Gamarej,

309 ; i MuUoo, 312 ; i Pierazan,

297
Cotton trade, 295
Crown of Persia, 232
Ctesiphon, 337
Cuneiform inscriptions, 282
Cunning of Armenians, 145
Curiosity dealers at Ispahan, 252

Custom-house in Persia, 176 ;

Russia, 174
Cyrus, tomb of, 273

Daghestan, 70 ; ancient name of,
70 ; governor of, 66 ; Niello
work, 86 ; scenery in, 80

Dalachy, 314

Dam in Persia, 241

Danadgar, 189

Dantzick, 3, 4

Dara, ruins of, 362 — 4

Darahleglass, 149

Dariel, defile of, 119

Decorations of Shah's palace,
Teheran, 223

Defence, a gallant, 321

Dehbeed, 269

Del Cason, an orange garden, 290

Delekli Dash, 379

Demavend, 205 ; height of, 217

Deria Caveer, great salt desert, 237

Deriehnoor, the Shah's diamond,
232

Derivation, a, 198

Descent, an abrupt, 299

Devil's Elbow, the, 334

Diarbekir, 367—73

Dijillah, the, 237

Dillijan, 143 ; detention at, 146

Dinner, a Russian, 19 ; at Teheran,
206, 226

Diplomatic difficulty, a, 210, 224

Don, champagne of the, 56

Drawback of Persian towns, 234

Drill at Astrachan, 46

Drunkenness, 17

Eagles in Caucasus, 80

Echo in chasm, 87

Ecclesiastical dignitaries, 35G

Eden, Garden of, 333

Eeliaut encampment, 194

Eladick, 387

Elbrouz, Mount, 105 — 111 ; view
of, 115

Elburz Mountains, 203

End, the, 393

English, company of Volga, 29 ;
gathering at Ispahan, 253 ; pro-
ducts in Georgia, 121

Erivan, 152 ; leave, 164

INDEX.

399

Escort in the Caucasus, 74 ; in
Georgia, 145 ; a singing, 75 ;
new, 86

Etchmiadzeen, 154 — 163

Euphrates, the, 378

Export duty in Turkey, 347

Ezra, tomb of, 333

Fair at Nijni, 26

Fao, 329

Fatima the Immaculate, 238

Fire brigade, Astrachan, 48

Fireworks at Teheran, 206

Fish in Volga, 33

Fley Fley, romantic story of,

336
Ford, a, 313
Fort, old Georgian, 131
Fuel at Urmah, 77
Futteh Ali Shah, portraits of, 255 ;

tomb, 238

Gaiamee, a female missionary, 162
Galata tower, 392
Gardens, public, at Tiflis, 137
Georgia, entrance into, 119
German colony at Amasiyeh, 385 ;

at Tiflis, 128
German Bakers, 134
Gez, 254
Gezd, 245

Gooitcha lake, or bievan, 148
Goolaheck, 218
Governor, the, of Astrachan, 49 ;

his salary, 49 ; of Daghestan, 66
Gounib, 81 ; ascent of, 81 ; flora

of, 84 ; Schamyl's defence of, 82 ;

spot of surrender, 83 ; summit,

84
Grapes at Cazveen, 202
Grazzini, our servant, 28 ; his

lament, 90, 96 ; his notion of

geography, 79
Grosna, 100

Hadjala, 189

Hadjelmachi, 80 ; women's dress

at, 80
Hafiz, tomb of, 191
Halys, the, 380
Hamadan wine, 237
Hamaram ravines, 349
Hare hunting, 244

Haroun al Rashid's wife's tomb,
340

Hasht Behesht, the, 263

Hassarkoobad, 203

Hats, Kalmuck, 58

Hens, ill-treatment of, 30

Hermitage at St. Petersburg, 5

Hilleh, 343

Hoopooids, 108

Hotel at Astrachan, 44 ; at Dant-
zick, 3 ; at Erivan, 152 ; at
Moscow, 27 ; at Naxshivan, 168 ;
at Nijni, 24 ; at St. Petersburg,
4 ; de I'Europe at Tiflis, 125 ;
Misseri's, 391

Houses in Caucasian villages, 69, 70

Houssein, tomb of, 340

Housseinabad, 235

Houz i Sultaun, 237

Hulver, 254

Ibrahim, shrine of, 235

Ice at Diarbekir, 373

Ilandagh, 167

Illuminations at St. Petersburg, 10

Ineboli, 390

Insects in our room at Astrachan,
51

Interview, a ceremonial, 289

Invitation, a Persian, 226

Ismael, 359

Ispahan, 246 — 63

Issavodsk springs, 114

IstibuUeh, 143 ; brigands, 143

Isvodskys, Russian drivers, drunk-
en, 116

Itahan opera in Tiflis, 125

Jacobite church, 370
Jellanook, dried fish, 148
Jetty at Petrovskoi, 65
Jewels, the crown, of Persia, 229

—33
Jewellers at Tiflis, 135
Jews in Dantzick, 4
Jezireh, 360
Joolfa in Persia 247; in Russia,

173

Kabardians, 112
Kabobs, mutton, 90
Kahetie wine, 168
Kaisaryeh, 380

400

INDEX.

Kakheen, 382

Kalamdaun, Persian writing-case,

171
Kaleoun, water pipe, 176
Kalmucks, encampment of, 43 ;

visit to, 58 — 63
Kara Teppa, 350
Karg or Karrick, 319
Kasan, 31
Kasr, the, 342
Kat Koder, a, 267
Kauzaroon, 302
Kefyeh, Arab headdress, 324
Kerbelah, 340
Kerman, 253

Kerstch, room in Hermitage, 6
Khanakee, 367
Khana Khora, 269
Ivlian al Hassan, 340
Kharpoot, 376
Khauna Zenyoon, 296
Khelaut Shah, 188
Khodabundeh, Mohammed Shah,

198—201
Khorsabad, ruins of, 355
lOiunsakh, 87 ; lodgings at, 88
Kiare river, 107
Kinara, 279
Kirkook, 351

Kislovodsk, 113 ; springs, 114
Kizzil Irmak, the, 380
Kohrood, 242
Komishah, 265

Koom,the "abode of the pious," 238
Koorumderah, 201
Konar Tachta, 310
Kour Ab river, 284
Kremlin at Astrachan, 56 ; Moscow,

13 ; Nijni, 25
Kreuzberg, the, in Georgia, 121
Kumeenabad, 275
Kumuk, 70
Kunperkalieff, 68
Kur, the river, 123, 132
Kurdish encampment, 194
Kutellamara, 337
Kutishi, 78

Ladder, the great, of Persia, 298
Lake, small, in Caucasus, 94
Laziness, Oriental, 135
Lepers, 193
Lesghians, 83 ; their houses, 89

Library at Etchmiadzeen, 159
List of stations between Bagdad

and Samsoun, 394
Locomotion, means of, in Persia, 189
London, leaving, 1
Louse market at Moscow, 19

Maadan, 375

Maadan Gunish, 378

Macdonald's, Sir J., tomb, 157

Madre e Suleiman, 273

Maidan at Ispahan, 248

Majellibe, 341

Malek el Most, 236

Marble, white, in Daghestan, 88

Mardeen, 365

Margil, 331

Mayar, 264

Mazrah, 376

Medressa at Ispahan, 248, 255

Meeanee, bug, 184 ; arrival at, 190

Melka, river, 107 ; tollgate, 109

Merand, first sleeping station in

Persia, 177
Merdusht, plain of, 279
Meskeen, 201
Mian Cothul, 297
Minarets, shaking, 267
" JSIineral Waters " at Petrovskoe,

10
Mirza, a Persian title, 288
Missionaries, Presbyterian,366 — 8 ;

success at Bagdad, 347
Mohammedan tombs, 68 ; mosque

at Tiflis, 132
Mohammud, 329
Monastery, Troitza, 18
Money, Persian, 183
INIontefick Arabs, 329
IMoorchacoor, 244
]\Ioorgaub, search for, 271
Moscow, 13 — 19
Mosque at Diarbekir, 371
Mosul, 353

Mountains near Piatigorsk, 112
Mujicks, 24, 30
JMuseum, Berlin, 2

Naclowzum, river, 195
Naksh i Bustam, 305
Names cut at Persepolis, 282
Nationalities, mixed, at Moscow,
21 ; at Nijni, 27

Natives near Vladikavkas, 118

Naxshivan, 167—70

Nazrah, 102

Nebbi Junas, 353 ^

Neekbash, 194

Nestorian bishop, a, 357

New Year's Day, 293 ; Eve, 290

Niello work, 86

Nijni Novgorod, 24 ; the fair, 26

Nimroud, ruins of, 355

Nineveh, ruins of, 353

Nisibeen, 367

Norooz, Persian New Year's Day,

227
Numismatist, a, 294
" Nux " in Persia, 267

Oka, river, 24

Oman, sea of, 319

Ooch Killeasea, another name for

Etchmiadzeen,154 ; West church,

161 ; East church, 162
Ooroomeah, 192
Orange trees, 287
Orchards at Astrachan, 58
Ordy, 336

Padarojna, our, 22

Palace at Ispahan, 257

Palm trees, demanded by British
pubUc, 37 ; at Fao, 330

Pasagarda, ruins of, 272 — 3

Pasangoor, 240

Pasha of Amasiyeh, the, 386

Pavement, a spasmodic, 193

Pearls, 230, 319

Pedometer, 73 ; its last functions,
79

P**rs waterproof boots, 243

Pera, 392

Persepolis, pillars from, at Te-
heran, 222 ; first view of, 279 ;
the platform, 282—4

Persia, first view of, 172 ; first
sleeping station in, 177 ; fare-
well to, 327

Persian decorations, 171 ; excita-
bility 325 ; executioners, 208 ;
frontier, 173 ; insect powder, 38 ;
painting on wood, 249 ; pas-
senger on the Yolga steamer,
33 ; scribes, 171

:x. 401

Peter the Great's statue, 6 ; his

house, 8
Peterhoff palace, 7 ; fountains, 8
Petrovskoi, 64 ; landing at, 65 ;

posthouse, 66 ; town, 65
Piatigorsk, 105; "Baden of Ihe

East," 109—13
Picturesqueness, why incompatible

with cleanliness ? 17
Pigs on Volga, 30
Pilgrims, Armenian, 156
Piratical junk, a, 324
Ploughing in Armenia, 151
Plumpudding in Persia, 278
Policeman, a, 21
Polish constitution, 17
Poole DuUak, the barber's bridge,

237
Porcupine, taste of, 254
Post from England to Tiflis, 130 ;

horses in Persia, 175
Prayers, Kalmuck, 60 — 1
Presbyterian missionaries, 366 — 8
Preschiskaya pheasants, 116
Priests, Kalmuck, 59 ; Russian,

20 ; procession of, 20
Printing press at Etchmiadzeen,

159
Prussian railways, 2
" Pylse Caucasise," the, 120

Races in Teheran, 209 — 14
Railways in Russia, 14, 23 ; in

Caucasus, 127
Ramadan, the, 330
Reesheer, 320
Religion of Kalmucks, 60
Religious toleration in Russia, 53
Repairs for palaces at Ispahan,

256
Repsimah, a female missionary,

162
Residency at Busheer, the, 317
Revolution at Abada, 267
Rhe, ruins of, 216
Riding, of Lesghians, 79
Riots in Tiflis, 138
Roads in Russia, 104—8
Romanoff House, 17
Room, our, on Christmas day 1865,

276
Royston, letters of Lord, 32

2 D

402

INDEX.

Ruins of Babylon, 341 — 5 ; Dara,
362 ; Pasagarda, 272—3 ; Slia-
poor, 303

Russian, Mission at Teheran, 209,
querist, a, 114

Saadi, tomb of, 290

Sidarack, 165

Sadowa, 303 ^

ll'alahlee, 142 .

Samara, 35

Samovar, Russian tea urn, 142

Samsoun, 388

Saracenic architecture, 119, 380

SaratofP, 38

Sarepta, German colony of, 42

Scenery in Daghestan, 80

Schamyl, songs in honour of, 75 ;

a patriot, 81 ; prison of, 83 ; at

Videne, 96
Schkootes, barges on the Volga, 36
Scorpion's bite, 295
Sculpture at Persepolis, 283 ; at

Shapoor, 304
Seovas, ancient Sebaste, 380-2
Sein-Sein, 240
Sengarood river, 255
Sepah Salar, the commander in

chief, 225
Serfs belonging to the Governor

of Astrachan, 49
Servant, our Italian, 28 ; Joseph

Seffer, 136
Shah, palace of, 207, 221—4 ; Nus-

reddin, 212; Abdulazeen, 216;

Abbas, 257
Shapoor, 303
Sharshan, 194
Shat el Arab river, 328 •
Sheah heresy, the, 207
Shlbookli, a station on lake, 148
Ships, decayed at Astrachan, 55
Shiraz, first view of, 285 ; height

of, 262 ; tobacco, 176
Shoolgestaun, 266
Shrimps four inches long, 225
Sichan, animals, 194
Sievan Killeasoa, on Lake Goo-

itcha, 148
Simonoff monastery, 15
Simon Stylites, a Caucasian, 107
Sinope, 389
Slipsowsky, 101

Smoking in Moscow, 20

Snoring fowl, a, 236

Soldatsky, why called so, 116

Songs of escort in the Caucasus, 75

Sooiianeh, 178

Soormuck, 268

Sophiabad, 203

Springs, at Fiatigorsk, 112 ; sul-
phurous in Persia, 315

Stables used as " Bust," 253 .

Stamboul, 392

Steamers, war screw, 64

Stories related to us, 140

St. Petersburg, Miss Benson's, 4 ;
people of, 4 ; St. Isaac's, 7 ;
winter palace at, 12 ;

Strachey "- the beautiful," 255

Strauss, concert at Paulo wsky, 12

Suganloo, 139

Sultan's palaces, 391

Sunday at Astrachan, 54

Sunset in Persia, 242

Sweetmeats, Persian, 254

Tabreez, 179—87

Tachti Feraoun, 305 ; i Jumsheed,
280; iRustam,280— 1; i Shahi,
300 ; i Taous, 279 ; i Timour,
301

Taough, 351

Tark Kesra, 337

Tartar, tombs, 140 ; khan, 170

Tchetchen dress, 101

Teheran, 205—34

Telega, a Russian cart, 66

Telegraph at Busheer, 320 ; at
Fao, 369 ; at Shiraz, 286 ; in
Russia, 127 ; in Teheran, 215 ;
new line in Persia, 253

Telegraphic convention, 233

Telegraphy, expensive, 225

Temichanshura, 66, 71 — 3

Temperature near Kutishi, 79

Temple, Kalmuck, 60

Terek river, 103, 119

Theem, a royal palace, 241

Thiergarten, BerUn, 2

Tiflis, 124—39

Tigris, the, 335

Tireboli, 389

Tlock, our house there, 89

Tobacco plant, the, 240

Tokat, 382

INDEX.

403

Toleration, religious, 53 ; in Persia,

215
Tombs of Mohammedans, 69 ; of

Mohammed Khodabundeh, 200 ;

of Mr. Rich, 250
Toorkal, 383
Tooz Khurmati, 850
Torrida palace, 9
Trade, carrying, of Russia, 57
Translations of Scripture, 369
Travelling in the Caucasus, 67
Troglodytes, fit houses for, 141
Troikas, Russian carts, 68
Troitza, monastery of , 18
Tsaritzin, 40
Tsarkoe Seloe, palace of, 11,

Urmah, 77

Vegetation in Persia, 292

Venetian ironwork, 17

Versailles of Persia, 292

Videne, ball at, 97 ; reception at,
96 ; romantic gorge, 95

Visit in Persia, a, 186

Vladikavkas, 102—5

Volga, the, 26 ; length of navigable
portion of, 56 ; villages on the
banks of, 38 ; when frozen, 32

Walnut trees at Tlock, 90
Walpole collection of pictures, 7
Watch towers in Daghestan, 79
Water — melons, 41 ; supply, tenure
of, in Persia, 219 ; tower, Mos-
cow, 16
W., departure of, 318
Whist at Videne, 90
Wierzoboloif, Russian frontier, 4
Wine — at Astrachan, 54 ; in Da-
ghestan, 81 ; at Shiraz, 288 ;
skins in Tiflis, 134
Wodki, Russian brandy, 8
Women, Armenian, 144 ; pilgrims,
156 ; riding of, 145

Yengiyeh, 348
YenitaiefF, 41
Yezd, 253, 269
Yogunarshie, 152

Zakoo, 359

Zakuska before-dinner, 9

Zengan, 195

Zengi, river, 149

Zengutai, 76

Zirgoon, 285

Zobeide, tomb of, 340

Zoog, 243

Zoological gardens at Teheran, 217

THE END.

J. SWIFT, REGENT PRESS, KING STREET, W.

CA^

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m

l mum TO M,2/^ VSB — ^

""'"""mediate recall.

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