Part 7 (1/2)
”Hast thou any doubts about it? One syllable froe of all the sciences and languages of the world
Thou art a Frengi, and speakest probably e”
The doctor stared atmy reserve Finally he addressed e
”Swedish,” I said, ”I know that language as well as thou dost” As a proof I recited to hia,”
which, having beenin my youth, came vividly back to an to try me in German, and to his astonishment I readily answered him in German, too He did not fare any better with his atte exchanged with hies, I returned to Persian and recited very iood of his soul The poor uessing atfarewell speech: ”I will give thee ti; either thou wilt turn Mussulman, or thou shalt feel the power of my ot out of bed nextfor me His curiosity did not allow hiame with him at first, but finally I dropped the reat, and we eht you were a European,” he said, ”but your Persian talk made me doubt of it” He inquired about Teheran and his acquaintances there, and insisted, after we had been talking for so hi as I desired it To my Persian friends I pretended that I made my stay with the doctor in order to receive instructions in alchemy from him, a science which he was known to have cultivated before, and, besides, e to the entirely in Persian fashi+on I passed six of the pleasantest weeks at his hospitable house I chiefly e the custo inhabitants of shi+raz Thefeature about them is their extreme excitability and irritability Everybody, without exception, carries a two-edged curved poniard in his girdle, and is ready to htest provocation or difference of opinion Nor is there another city in Persia where so many lives are taken in such a carelesssuperciliously along the narrow side walk of the bazaar whilst another Persian came from the opposite direction The latter, in his hurry, did not know exactly which side to take in order to pass the former, and, as is usually the case on such an occasion, danced before the irate Persian froed to the better classes, drew his poniard without another word, and mortally stabbed the innocent ht, in the presence of thousands of people; it s are occurring in the darkness and seclusion of night
The dreadful cases one daily hears of make one's blood curdle; but the punishment dealt out by the Government is not a whit behind these atrocities in their extreme ferocity To have the belly split open, the limbs maimed, and to be torn to pieces by horses are, by no overnor caused four culprits to be buried together in a pit and had burning lime poured over them afterwards
One day, in the corave of _Saadi_, the celebrated poet and e of the valley, and over it is a very fine building erected by _Keriarden kept in excellent order Mounting several steps, we first passed through sundry e open hall, in the centre of which rose aarden there used formerly to be fish, and it is said that the enthusiastic visitors of Saadi's grave would hang golden rings on thee There is a srave called _Saadi_ in honour of the great poet, and a gate in the city, looking towards the grave, bearing the nae, christened _Pul Saadi_; which are all evidence of the veneration in which he is held to this day But this great poet and scholar is an object of veneration not only to the people of Persia but to every Mohammedan in the Asiatic world His _Gulistan_ (Grove of Roses, the title of his book) is read with admiration and rapture in the middle of China as well as on the extremest borders of Africa Wherever schools are attended by Mohammedan youths, there the Gulistan is sure to for since appreciated and aduage and his witty and telling similitudes In one of the charey-headed e contrast to the dervish's hat, denoting his calling With engaging good humour he hastened to address me, and I learned in the course of conversation that he was a native of India, and that, proned his rank and given up his wealth at ho days of his life at the toreat man It is known that Saadi was a dervish himself, but unlike the arb) in furtherance of their oorldly ai with nus He was, in turn, a servant, a slave, a lord and celebrated scholar; and he even assuion of the worshi+ppers of Vishnu, in order to extend and increase his knowledge of all things He despised wealth and the favour of princes, and sought his only happiness in--as the Orientalswith the diamond of his soul the precious stones of his experiences, and after gathering the therave of Hafiz, standing in a larger cemetery, rave is marked by a monument of white marble erected by Kerim Khan, and the inscription carved upon it is a verse frorave, and, toco their wine; at other tirireat master in a life of carelessness and jollity; the latter consider him a saint and co his songs while the cheering cup is going the rounds, whilst others deem his book as holy as the Koran itself When any one wishes to read the fate in store for hi the following verses:
Ei Hafizi shi+razi, Ber men nazr endazi, Men talibi yek falem, Tu Kashi+fi her razi
(Oh Hafiz, of shi+raz, cast one look upon me; of thee I wish to learn my future fate, for thou art the discoverer of all secrets); and having done his invocation, he studies the page before hiood or bad fortune
I had passed three months in shi+raz, and was so an to turn over in enial cli afterwards, when spring cah Yezd and Tebbes to Khorassan But the arrival in shi+raz of two European travellers upset all my plans in that direction One of them was Count Rochechouart, awith a view to studying the commercial condition of Persia, and the other the Marquis of Doria, a distinguished member of the extraordinary Italian Embassy which ca in pursuit of zoological and botanical knowledge Upon their arrival these distinguished foreigners were received and feasted by the authorities
After the official receptions were over, Dr fagergreen, my excellent Swedish friend, invited theuests literally groaned under everything that was good and savoury produced beneath the southern skies of Persia The doctor's face bealass in hand, to propose a toast in honour of the three nations represented by the guests sitting at his hospitable board The good man was happiest if he could entertain a European traveller in his house, and overwhelmed him on such occasions with kindness I had enerous treatment at the hands of the kind-hearted doctor, he had proved such an unselfish friend to me, that I becas of keen regret the invitation of Count Rochechouart to acco behind him his Italian fellow-traveller, the Marquis, who intended to prolong his stay in shi+raz in order to enjoy its unrivalled climate Yet I was bound to accede to the French nobleh it involved an immediate separation fro, and expected to derive so the journey back in his co dervish, and here was a chance to go back as a European traveller, sharing in all the co in an affair of state and representing His Majesty the E; my mind was soon made up
The Count reer in order to attend to some matters, and at their expiration ere to return, in forced marches, to Teheran
On the day of enerous friend, Dr fagergreen I found him still in his bedroom in the upper storey of his house Our conversation frequently turned upon the probability of our ever ain, and whenever I happened to touch upon my Turkestan journey the tears would start to his eyes I was deeply enuine sympathy I had to leave; I eive it a last hearty shake; but at the veryI glanced at my friend's face--it was pale as death ”Quick, for the love of God,” he cried; ”let us call my wife and children, there will be an earthquake The earthquakes in shi+raz are awful, especially if the shocks begin early in the ”
We quickly collected his wife and children, and as we came down the narrow staircase into the s us with a hollow roar, as if the bowels of the earth were about to open at our feet The second shock was h walls and the surrounding edifices began to totter fro sound, and whilst I was looking up to the sky, the cry of ”Yah Allah! Yah Allah!” piercing to the very marroas heard from every part of the town The inhabitants of shi+raz know but too well the frightful consequences of this elemental catastrophe, and the stoutest heart may well quail at the deep roar in the womb of the earth, at the cries of distress above, the very birds fluttering about scared and helpless For a few ht My host was the first to regain his composure; he turned to me and said: ”We are here in a very narrow place If this wall happens to come doe shall all be buried beneath it Take er place I shall reeneral fright to rob and plunder the house” I wished to reply, but the doctor silencedwife and children, I left without saying another word We passed through a narrow alley croith pale and frightened people The open space which we reached in a fewpicture of distress and , screa to and fro half clad or without any clothing on, as if they had just come out of their baths A few minutes had sufficed to deprive the whole city of its senses A a couple ofthat the Frengis sojourning in the city had brought on it this calaan to entertain fears for the safety of my friend, and retraced my steps as fast as I could
As I reached the yard I observed the birds flying about and flapping their wings in a restless and wild manner, which was a sure forerunner of another shock And indeed very soon we heard the deep roar which usually precedes a violent thunderstorm The earth shook beneath our feet, and as the shocks ca, the shock became so powerful that in spite of all our efforts we lost our equilibriuround I heard a frightful crash, and in another second I had the sensation of water rolling over ht my last moment had coiven way, and the water which had passed over our bodies cahtened, I looked round to see if the building did not threaten to come down on our heads In this is are unclean,” reached our ears, followed by savage curses, and it seemed as if the mob intended to take the house by storm ”To are to enter a house which threatened to come down at any moment? We paused and looked at each other, and then with one accord rushed into the house, returning immediately armed with rifles and pistols We had now to defend ourselves both against the rage of the elements and the wickedness of raved in my memory Suddenly we heard a loud report, and soon after saw dense clouds of dust rising in the air Fortunately for us a building in the neighbourhood had fallen down and scattered the savage hbourhood became quiet We did not feel another shock, but the whole city rapped in a dense cloud of dust The veryto the south, had been cleft in twain by these shocks which hurled down their precipitous sides huge blocks of stone and rocks, with a noise like thunder Seeing that half an hour had passed without a renewal of the shocks, I picked up courage enough to leave the house
The destruction in the city had been much too cruel for any pen to be able to present a picture of its terrible details I met Count Rochechouart in the street; with an anxious face he urged our i fro the streets the huge cracks and fissures in the walls were yawning at us, as ent on; to the right and to the left--everywhere--nothing but desolation and misery were to be seen, whilst an expression of indescribable discourage over the countenances of the people e met on our way Our hearts yearned towards these unfortunates in their present sad plight, but it was, nevertheless, a feeling of relief to find ourselves, after passing through the gates of the city, in the open air again, where our fellow-travellers were awaiting our arrival Outside there was an immense crowd; those who had run to the open country for safety atching, with sinking hearts, for those members of their families who had been left behind in the city, and in their unreasoning distress inquired of us, ere perfect strangers to the about their whereabouts Words cannot tell hat profound satisfaction I descried at last Tenghi Allah Ekber, the spot from which I had on my arrival admired the romantic situation of shi+raz Ten years before shi+raz had been visited by an earthquake far st the people that years and years ago the present site of shi+raz was covered by the waters of a lake, called Deryai Ne to the east of it, and that the city is doomed to final destruction by this very lake, which will overwhelm it with its tide on the Day of Resurrection We returned, in forced o, I had wearily plodded on at the slow pace of caravan travelling The journey was enlivened by the fascinating conversation of the noble Count and, now and then, by the chase of a herd of gazelles The Persian horse in front, descried the hounds were not long in overtaking the to a city, solemn receptions were prepared for us, and, on such occasions, there was no end of co
I came back to Teheran at last, in the middle of January, 1863
XVI
PREPARATIONS FOR MY JOURNEY TO CENTRAL ASIA
I made it of course my first duty in Teheran to revisit the hospitable circle of my patrons Here I learned that the war in Herat was at an end, and that, therefore, another obstacle to the carrying out of ramme was cleared away It has always been custoive some assistance to the hadjis (persons who have visited the holy to every year froh Persia, to the Turkish Ereat boon to the poor Sunnitefrom the Persian shi+-ites As a consequence the palace of the Euests from far-off Turkestan, and upon these occasions I took particular pleasure in having the wild and ragged Tartars coood deal about their country that was interesting They were quite overwhel at the caravansary where these people used to put up, that Haidar Effendi, the Aenerous heart, but that Reshi+d Effendi (your hu more than that, for he treated the dervishes like brothers, and most likely was, in secret, a dervish himself
[Illustration: MAKING FRIENDS WITH THE TARTARS]
It was nothing to be wondered at, therefore, since I enjoyed such a reputation, that the dervishes should have called first uponto be admitted to the presence of the Ambassador-in-chief who frequently would not receive theh my intercession alone that they were able to obtain assistance in ranted In this way it happened that four hadjis came to see me on the 20th of March, and asked me to introduce them to the Turkish Eainst the Persians for levying upon them, on their return from Mecca, the Sunnite tax, the collection of which had been prohibited long ago by the Sultan, a prohibition since ratified by the Shah of Persia ”We do not coreat ambassador,”
said they, ”we only wish to ensure that henceforth our Sunnite country the holy places” These unselfish words frouests to a closer scrutiny and discovered in thelected exterior and the shabbiness of their dress, a certain natural nobility which did not fail to enlist my sympathies Their spokesman, as a rule, was a hadji from Chinese Tartary, or Eastern Turkestan, as it is actually called; he wore over his tattered gararantic size His eyes sparkled with vivacity, and his superiority over the rest of his companions became more and more apparent in the course of the interview He introduced hiovernor of Aksu, one of the provinces of Chinese Tartary, and as a double hadji, having visited twice the holy tomb, and declared that he and his three companions present were the avowed chiefs of a hadji-caravan consisting of twenty-fourand the old, of the rich and the poor, of the lettered and the unlettered, yet we live in the utmost harmony with each other, for we are all natives of Khokand and Kashgar (the nanate the whole of Chinese Tartary), and have no Bokhariotes vipers of hust us”