Part 5 (1/2)

Each Persian wishes to surpass the other in expressions of politeness and delicacy, which seem the more absurd the more we happen to know of the private lives of the Persians

At every turn in the street the eyecontrasts of splendour and misery At one end of the street ars loitering about, whilst a Khan on horseback, followed by a numerous retinue, appears at the other end

Forty to sixty servants, ared on each side of the Khan, who, on his richly caparisoned horse, looks very po with an air of great ih officer of state, judging by the noisy conduct and impudent behaviour of his followers towards every one they hted doith debts, who has been in the capital ante-cha for some office for months past His very s who follow hi some office, and meanwhile try to add to the splendour of his appearance in public Nothing but deception and delusion!

The Persians exhibit in the presence of their sovereign the most abject humility; but I have often heard expressions, and witnessed acts of disrespect towards hiht As an instance of their cringing iven by a courtier as asked by the Shah to draw nearer to hi up his eyes with his hand, ”spare lory of thy nificent splendour dazzles htest attention to their sovereign's commands, requests or threats, and the more distant the place or province is fronored The courtiers highest in his confidence, the servants and officers standing nearest to his person, those whoenerosity has enriched, are the very men to spread the vilest rust the people; poets compose lampoons about them, and these are declaidom For a week or two life at the Embassy was pleasant, but soon ”Up to shi+raz” was ht, and in a few days I joined a caravan to start for that city

XI

THE SALT DESERT OF DESHTI-KUVIR

I left Teheran on the 2nd of Septeate of _Shah Abdul-Azidad,down to irdle round my waist, a striped black _mashlak_ (a waterproof coat) on my back, and on my head a neat _keffie_,[2] both useful and ornaates of Teheran after sunset, our little caravan had fixed upon a caravansary outside the town for our place ofthe caravan, became, for the most part, first acquainted with each other there The caravan consisted of about thirty ladenfronificant self It o hours afterthe wide path leading to Shah Abdul-Azih esteerithe day, especially in the afternoon hours There can be seen at all tiaudily dressed wo on horseback man fashi+on, prominent mirzahs and khans with nuenerally by the court only Of course at the tih it a dead silence was brooding over it The e stretching to the left and upon the gilded cupola beneath which the earthly remains of Shah Abdul-Azi in silence for two hours, soan to thaw into a social mood, and interrupted the monotony of our march by conversation and lively sallies

[Footnote 2: An Arab headgear, consisting of a large handkerchief of silk with yellow stripes]

I selected for dad, as about to s), through Southern Persia Properly speaking only such persons are called rawzekhans who sing Tazies, _ie_, elegies in honour of Hussein, of great renown in Persia These men are the most fanatic shi+-ites, and it may cause some surprise that we became more intidad, and a subject of the Sublih to cultivate the acquaintance of an Effendi

He introduceda jovial felloould easily pass fros to a livelier and more worldly tune, he very soon became a favourite with the whole company, and I, too, indirectly, profited by his popularity

I at first scrupulously avoided all religious discussions, as I wished to ingratiate h it was by no , and willingly entering into a discussion with Christians, Ghebers, and especially with Sunnites The night was a hts are siraceful outline of theruins, the spectre-like shadows of the advancing caravan, and, above all, the wonders of the starry vault above us, do not fail to produce an unutterable i from the far West to the East Our road, however, was the worst iments and boulders of rock, and cross ditches, ravines and the beds of rivers run dry The difficulties of the road affected ait of my trusty asinine quadruped, and watched with intense interest every movement of the Seid, who contemplated the star-covered sky, and had soend of its own, an influence good or baneful, and I listened to his wonderful accounts with a soul full of faith The constellation of the Great Bear was already inclining towards the ht of _Karizek_, upon whose doard slopes _Kenaregird_, the village which was to be our first station, was lying

I cast one lance at the beautiful , and as ent down on the other side of the ht of theday

As soon as thestar appears to the eye it is the custo day The es in the recital of the Ezan, a task which quite naturally fell this time to the lot of our Seid The ablutions are perfor, and before the first rays of the sun touch the crest of the ed in

[Illustration: TRAVELLING IN PERSIA]

The animals stand quietly with their heads bent lohilst the , in a line, side by side, with such a penitent and remorseful expression on their countenances, as may be witnessed only with Mohammedans When the rays of the sun reach the devout faithful, they lift up their voices and chant thewith the words Allah Ekber (_ie_, God is the greatest)

After sunrise it is custoer or shorter space of tiht before, or as the next station is nearer or farther off

When we turned into our station the rays of the sun shot down mercilessly on our heads We put up at the spacious caravansary, near the village of Kenaregird Theof its name is, ”Border of Sand,”

for to the east of it extends the salt desert of _Deshti-Kuvir_ This desert h Persia I never met with a native who had travelled over that portion of it lying between Kenaregird and _Tebbes_ A Persian talking about the desert of Deshti-Kuvir is always ready to frighten his listeners with a batch of tales of horror, in each of which devils and evil spirits conspicuously figure The favourite legend which is most often repeated is the story of _Shamr_, Hussein's murderer and the mortal enemy of every shi+-ite Persian, to who froe here, and the once flourishi+ng country suddenly became a sterile desert The salt lakes and the botto down his body in the agony of his sufferings The most dreadful place of all is _Kebir Kuh_, where Sha to this day Woe to the poor traveller who allows hiht of the ignis fatuus! Such and sialed with by my fellow-travellers in connection with the salt desert of Persia As soon as we arrived at the caravansary every one of us hastened to seek a shelter in the shade, and ere all of us soon comfortably settled In a few instants the city of travellers presented the appearance of a lively and stirring settle their dry barley straw, the Persians looked to the preparation of their ot their servants to rub their backs and shoulders and to pull their li evidently intended to restore elasticity to the body After a short rest we breakfasted, and then iain The caravan recuperates fro the heat of the day, and continues its way at the dusk of evening The ani ain, and whilst the ani scrubbed and attended to, the men prepare their _pilar_ (a dish composed of meat and rice) The supper is eaten about an hour before starting The dervish fares better than any one else, for no sooner does the caravan arrive than he, without a care, seeks his rest, and when the savoury stea meal, he seizes his _keshkul_ (a vessel oes the rounds of the various groups, shouting out sultily, ”Ya hu, Ya hakk!” He gets a few slices froeneous contributions, and ss it all with a good appetite ”He carries with hi,” say the people of the East; ”he does not cook, yet he eats; his kitchen is provided by God”

We had to cross the desert in its entire length to get to our next station The silence of the night becomes, in this wilderness, doubly oppressive, and as far as the eye of the traveller can reach he will find no spot to repose it upon Only here and there may be seen piled up colu from place to place like soshadoere taken by timid and credulous souls for evil spirits pursued by furies My co to the superstitious class, for wrapping his cloak tightly round him, he kept close to the densest part of the caravan, and would not, for the world, soto the east

It was about ht e heard the sound of bells, and upon er caravan, which had left an hour earlier than we did, was in front of us We accelerated our march in order to overtake it, but had hardly come within a hundred paces from it when an intolerable stench, as if of dead bodies, filled the air The Persians were aware of the cause of this poisonous stench and hurried silently on; but it went on increasing the further we advanced I could not restrain hbour, I asked again what this reat anxiety: ”Hurry up, hurry up!

this is the caravan of the dead” This infore reater speed, and after a while I reached, together with my companions, the caravan It consisted of about forty animals, horses and mules, under the leadershi+p of three Arabs The backs of the animals were laden with coffins, and wenear one of the horseht of a face, which was frightful to look at; the eyes and nose were concealed by sohastly by the light of theatmosphere, I rode up to his side and inquired about the particulars of his errand The Arab informed me that he had been now ten days on the way, and that twentythe dead bodies to Kerbela, the place where, out of devotion for Hussein, the pious wish to sleep their eternal sleep This custom prevails all over Persia; and every person who can afford it, even if he live in distant Khorassan, ements to have his remains carried to Kerbela, in order that they may be interred in the soil wherein the beloved I It takes sometimes two months before the dead body can reach its place of destination One mule is frequently laden with four coffins, and whilst their conveyance during the winter is comparatively harmless, it is of deadly effect, to beast and man alike, in the heat of July in Persia

At solanced back at the strange funeral procession The ani their heads, see to bury their nostrils in their breasts, whilst the horse thereater speed It was a spectacle which seen anywhere could not fail to produce a profound impression of terror, but seen in the very centre of the desert, at the dead hour of the night, in the ghastly illumination of the moon, it could not fail to strike the most intrepid soul with awe and terror