Part 4 (2/2)
IX
FROM KAZVIN TO TEHERAN
My next place of destination was _Kazvin_, once the capital of Iran
There is not at present, however, a trace left of its ancient grandeur
The finely cultivated and luxuriant gardens in the suburbs were objects of great interest to me, and I lost so ht when I entered the caravansary I set down e and immediately went off to purchase the necessary articles of food, but found, to reat surprise, all the shops closed
After half an hour's fruitless search I was cory and worn-out with the fatigues of a whole day's travelling
In my vain attempts to procure some food I invariably received the same answer: ”To-morroill be the anniversary day of Hussein's death; the shi+-ites are good Mussulmans, and much too devout to carry on their business on the day on which Hussein and the other saints suffered soleft to ; but the scanty alms one can obtain from the close-fisted Persian are by no means sufficient to satisfy the tre , under the seal of the profoundest secrecy, of a man as not a shopkeeper, some bread and boiled rice I hastened back to the caravansary and persuadedthrough the bazaar, towards the gate of the toereprocession--such as on this day may be seen everywhere in Persia, in pursuance of an ancient custohtful yelling and barbarous fanaticis the wild antics in which those who participate in these processions indulge One is taking ahis chest until blood issues fro up his body with a sharp knife, in order toblood I withdrew into a corner of the bazaar, waiting until the hbourhood resounded, had passed My companion inforuished itself on this day ast all other towns in Persia by the death of at least two persons, out of devotion for Hussein I readily believed him, for the scenes which transpire here on the tenth day of Moharrem vividly recall the self-ious fanaticisypt when on the day of Bairaround, in front of the mosque, to be trampled upon by the hoofs of the chief priest's well-fed horse
The heat of the day co just then full moon The only objection I had was the extreh we met now and then with solitary travellers and s froed to jog on by ourselves On the third night after our departure fro in a flat country, I heard, about night, voices in the distance, and soon after the steadily approaching clatter of horses' hoofs Placing my firearms before me on the saddle head, I bent forward in order to be able to see and observe better Three horse down upon us
Holding , I called out to them: ”Get out of the way, or I will shoot you down” Either the strange sound of the foreign dialect, or our costuhtened theh my companion looked upon the occurrence as a joke, I could not help feeling uneasy, and had so day, in the certainty that Teheran would be our next station
I had brought with me several letters of recommendation fro me to Haider Effendi, the then Turkish Ambassador in Persia I was spoken of in these, for the most part, as an eccentric person who, tired of the idyllic repose of a quiet life in Constantinople, had set out to look for distraction in the wilds of Persia So led to the East by the queer idea of studying the Eastern Turkish language; in one word, they did everything to satisfy Haider Effendi that I was in no way connected with politics, but a e
Haider Effendi had, besides, the reputation of being an affable, kind and straightforward man, and I felt convinced of a friendly reception at the Turkish E of this as I came up to the banks of a se crowd of travellers, soed in prayer on the banks It was a cool su the day My curiosity to see the capital of Iran gave me no rest I quickly washed reatly to the disgust of my companion, ished to rest here for another half-hour, immediately mounted my horse, and started in the direction of the capital I repeatedly asked, ”Where is Teheran?” for I saw no indication of it My companion's stolid answer always reer onward In vain I exerted ray htbase of asoon gave way to the rising sun I got a gliilded cupolas, and at last the panoraate of the seat of governs,” as the Shah calls hi an apprenticeshi+p of two ot thinner, darker and considerably speckled in the face, I had every reason to be satisfied with the state of my health, which had successfully resisted so far the by noon s
X
IN TEHERAN
The wall upon which Teheran and its inhabitants rely for their protection is built of mud, but it is nevertheless talked about by the Persians, with their usual exaggeration, as an inable wall of solid rock I rode into the capital of Iran through a narrow gate in this wall, and had to pushof pedestrians, horseular and crooked streets After protracted inquiry I succeeded in finding the palace of the Turkish Eone The soldiers uard infor the fashi+on of the upper classes here, were living in the country, in a village called _Djizer_, at the foot of the neighbouring mountains, where the air was cooler and more bearable than that of the capital
I was rather pleased with this news, for one day's experience was sufficient to convincethe su to the intolerable heat and a stifled atmosphere choked with noxious miasmas The new-comer feels immediately the effects of theseon the day ofthe air became somewhat cooler, and as I had parted with , too, I was obliged to hire an ass, in order to accomplish my trip to _Djizer_, which was about two hours' distance off It was late in the evening when I arrived Thetheir supper beneath a tent of silk, in the garden I was received by theuine expectations, and immediately invited to join them at their meal Haider Effendi and his secretaries, the latter of whohtly in Constantinople, looked at me as if I had dropped from the sky; and if everybody in Persia, even the Persians themselves, are pleased to listen to accounts about Constantinople, one can easily ierness I was listened to by Turks, and especially by people from Constantinople There was no end to all sorts of questions and inquiries I had to tell theoverns, and spoke, of course, as in duty bound, of the heavenly beauties of the Bosphorus, until it was ht When I told them of the journey I contemplated, the kind-hearted Osmanlis only stared at me They could not conceive how a sensible ion spoken of, even in Persia, as the dreadful desert and the dwelling-place of all that is e and barbarous
The a my plan as eccentric
”First of all,” he said, ”stay with us for a couple of months, and then ill talk about your travels in Central Asia Take first a good look at Persia, and it will be tih afterwards to proceed on your journey” He evidently thought that I should gladly renounce, in the ht fully recover froood Osinable comfort I was put into a tent by myself and provided with a horse and a servant; in short, I was transferred froreat lord I was thus placed in a position to study atthe stranger is struck with is the utter want of cleanliness in the streets, as well as in the interior of the houses
The Persian covers the large unfurnished halls--e should ter-rooms--of his house with costly carpets, and decorates its walls with rich ornaments, but the kitchen, the roolected by him It is the same with his dress A person ill spend froarments is rarely the owner of more than two or three shi+rts
Soap is looked upon as an article of luxury, being hardly ever used, and I haveand refinement who made use of their servants' pocket-handkerchiefs The henna-painting, however, is that which renders every Persian grandee particularly loathsome, in spite of his outward splendour and rich dress Henna is a yelloder obtained fro dissolved in water, furnishes a red dye of brick-colour With this henna they dye their fine black beards and their very eyes red, the colour of bricks Persons of standing also dye with henna their finger-nails and hands The coat of paint hides the dirt; and a gentlefor several days
Knives, forks and spoons are things unknown in Persia It is utterly repulsive to the European to see the ers, a boiled chicken, and giving each guest a piece of it, or having a cup of sherbet passed round, in which a dozen men have already steeped their henna-dyed estures, speech and conversational manner But in these they excel all the Eastern nations--perhaps the nations of the West, too--and these elegant hest perfection at the capital
Volumes could be filled with the strict laws laid down for visits and return visits, and the proprieties of correspondence and conversation