 Section 27 of A Year Amongst the Persians by Edward Granville-Brown This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Nicholas James Bridgewater A Year Amongst the Persians by Edward Granville-Brown Section 27 A few days after this, I again called on my friend Mirzo Ali. Shortly after my arrival, Halji Mirzo Hassan joined us. And for nearly three hours, we talked without intermission about the Barbie religion, save for a short time when we were interrupted by an ass's head, see pages 274-5, Supra. The conversation ran, for the most part, on announcements of coming events by Baha'u, of which Halji Mirzo Hassan related the following instances from his own personal experience. You have heard of the martyrs of Esfahaun, see pages 213-215, Supra. Said he? Well, shortly before their death, I was at Akre with Halji Mirzo Hassan Ali, whom you met at Esfahaun. And I'll go say Yid-Haudi, a day or two before the time fixed for our return to Persia. We were with Baha'u in a garden wither he sometimes repairs. He was seated, and we, according to our custom, were standing before him. Presently, he bada sit down and ordered an attendant to give us tea. While we were drinking it, he said, A great event will shortly take place in Persia. In the evening, Agha Said-Haudi privately inquired of him where this event would happen, and was informed that it would be in the land of Saud, Esfahaun. Said-Haudi wrote to some of his friends in Persia, and in his letter mentioned this prophecy. When we reached Persia, Halji Mirzo Hassan Ali remained at Tehran, while I continued my journey towards Esfahaun. At Kalshaun, I was met by the news of the martyr's arrest. As they were very rich, I confidently anticipated that they would be able to regain their liberty by means of a heavy bribe to the authorities. Neither did I connect this news with Baha'u's prophecy, for I rather understood that as pointing to some general catastrophe, such as a plague, famine or earthquake. Four or five days later, however, came the news of their martyrdom, and I, instead of proceeding to Esfahaun, turned back to Tehran, knowing now that this was the event foreshadowed by Baha'u. Halji Mirzo Hassan here added an account of the events which had led to the death of the two Seyids. This I have already given at pages 213-4 Supra, so I will not repeat it here. At the execution, the Emon Jom'e, seeing the headsman waiver, had put his hand to his throat, and said, If there be any scene in this, let it be upon my neck. Shortly afterwards, he fell into disgrace and retired to Mashhad, where he was attacked with abscesses in the throat, Khanao Zir, of which he died. About a month after the death of the martyrs, Sheikh Baugher received a letter from Akhre, containing the most terrible denunciations and prophecies of misfortune. Mirzo Ali told me that he had himself seen and copied this letter when a boy, before the calamities which it foreshadowed had befallen Sheikh Baugher. He subsequently went to Karbala. On returning thence to Esfahan, he discovered that both his wife and his daughter, who was extremely beautiful, had been seduced by the Prince Governor. His complaints and demands for address resulted only in the production of a letter from his wife to her paramour, proving that she had made the first advances. Other troubles and misfortunes succeeded this, and Sheikh Baugher presently died, as Bahar had foretold, without having been able to enjoy his ill-gotten gains. This is one instance of Bahar's prescience, about which you inquired. I will give you another in which I myself was more closely concerned, but indeed such experiences are common to most of us, who have been privileged to hold intercourse with our master. I and Houji Mirzo Hasan Ali, whom you saw at Esfahan, had been to visit Bahar at Adrianople, before he was transferred to Akhre. We received instructions to proceed thence to Egypt, to encourage the Barbies resident there, and to avert a threatened schism. On the steamer in which we took our passage was a merchant of Tabriz, named Houji Mohammed Jafar, who was also a believer. Just before we started, we were ordered to avoid all conversation with him during the voyage. Although we were completely at a loss to understand the object of this prohibition, we obeyed it implicitly. In due course, we safely reached Egypt, and there set ourselves diligently to confirm and encourage the believers, to check the schism which seemed impending, and to spread the faith amongst our compatriots in Egypt, so far as occasions served. The Persian consul, unable to prevent our compatriots from visiting us, sent word to us that he was desirous of hearing about our religion, as he had been long absent from Persia, and had been unable to satisfy himself as to the truth of the matter. We, suspecting no evil, for we thought that in Egypt we ran no risk of arrest or imprisonment, accepted his invitation, and, on an evening which he appointed, visited him at the consulate. We sat talking with him till five or six hours after sunset, speaking freely and unreservedly about religious questions. When, however, we rose to take our leave, we were seized by the consul's servants and detained in his house, while messengers were sent to search our lodgings and seize our books and papers. Next day, the consul accused us to Esmael Pasha of heresy and sedition, representing us as confessedly belonging to a mischievous and dangerous sect, imbued with revolutionary ideas which was hostile to all authority and had already attempted the life of the Shah of Persia. Of our heresy, he added, the five or six books found in our lodgings, books which we regarded as abrogating the Quran, would afford ample evidence. The case was laid before the Council of Inquiry, Majlis-e-Esten-taug. We were declared infidels and apostates, and, without a hearing, condemned to transportation for life to Khartoum in the Sudan. Vither we were sent, together with six or seven of our brethren. Halji Mohamad Ja'far of Tabriz, our fellow traveller from Adrianople, was amongst the accused. But he was acquitted, as it was proved that we had not spoken to him on board the ship, and this was taken as presumptive evidence that he had no acquaintance with us. Then we understood why Baha had forbidden us to speak with him on the voyage, for had we done so, he would have been involved in our misfortune. How long were you imprisoned at Khartoum, I inquired, and how did you affect your escape? We remained there for seven years, replied Halji Mirzoh Hassan, and for some time we were unable to communicate with our master, or even to ascertain whether he had been removed for vague rumours of his removal from Adrianople reached us. At length we foregathered with some Christian missionaries whose good will we won by manifesting an interest in their doctrines. By means of these we were able to send a letter to Baha, informing him of our condition. On receiving our letter, Baha at once indicted an answer, consoling us in our misfortune and announcing that our oppressor, Esma'il Parshah, would shortly fall from power, and that we should, in a little while again, stand in the presence of our master. This letter was entrusted to an Arab called Jossem, who started at once for Khartoum, where he arrived six months later. In the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for April 1892, pages 311, 312, I have attempted to prove that one of the epistles, now included in what is called by the Barbies, the text of which has been published in full by Baron Rosen, in volume 6 of the collection scientifique de la Institut des Langues orientales de Saint-Petersburg. Pages 149-192 is this very letter. Jossem, as I was informed at Acre, is merely a vulgar and local pronunciation of the name Gorsem, when we received it. There seemed to be no likelihood that the promises of deliverance which it contained would be fulfilled. But we were at least no longer wholly cut off from our friends, for the Arab not only took back with him our answer, but made arrangements with believers at Suez to forward our letters in the future. Soon after this, your English general came to Khartoum. I forget his name, but you will probably remember it. General Gordon, I answered, Yes, rejoined Hauji Mirzo Hassan. That was it. Well, soon after his arrival, he inquired about the prisoners whom he found in Khartoum, and especially about us and the other Persians. As he could find no crime recorded against us, he interrogated us as to the reason of our confinement. He told him that we were innocent of any crime, and that we had been condemned, unheard, without a chance of defending ourselves. Our statement was confirmed by the prison officials, and General Gordon accordingly telegraphed to Esmail Pasha, demanding the reason of our detention. The replies which he received were vague and unsatisfactory, and he accordingly released us, telling us that we were free to stay or go as we pleased. Hauji Mirzo Hassan Ali and myself at once availed ourselves of this permission, and set out for Akre, but our companions having wives and families at Khartoum chose to remain there. Soon after this, as you know, Esmail Pasha was deposed, and the prophecy contained in the epistle was fulfilled. You see, that in all these cases, when the prophecy was uttered, there seemed to be no likelihood of its fulfilment. Indeed, when we received instructions to act in a certain way, we seldom understood the reason till afterwards. For instance, on one occasion, Hauji Mirzo Hassan Ali and myself were about to return to Persia from Akre by way of Dior Bekr, Mosul and Ravondiz. We were to take with us certain books destined for a believer at Tabriz, but though we intended to proceed with ourselves, we were instructed to convey them no further beyond the Persian frontier than we could help, but to hand them over to some trustworthy person as soon as possible after entering Persia. Accordingly, on reaching Sochbolok, we heard that a certain believing merchant was staying in the caravan Sarai. We sent a message to him informing him that we wished to see him at once on a matter of importance. He understood the nature of our business and what was toward, though with no small trepidation, came out to us at once. We walked away from the town, he following us, till we came to a streamlet where we sat down and signed to him to do likewise. We explained to him our object in seeing him and handed over to him the books which he took with some reluctance, promising to convey them to Tabriz on the first opportunity. Next day, we started for Tabriz, but we had not gone one parasang when we were attacked by Kurdish robbers and stripped of everything save our shirts and drawers. Had the books been with us, they too would have been lost. As it was, we had to return in this plight to Sochbolok. We laid a complaint before the governor of Tabriz, Hossein Haun, son of the Saheb Divan and he promised us a hundred tomahns, thirty pounds sterling, as compensation, but this we never received. These are certainly very strange experiences, I said, but of course the evidential value of prophecies referring to events of public notoriety and existing in written form before those events came to pass would be greater. Well, is there not the epistle to Ali Pau Shah, answered Hajji Mirza Hassan? I think for reasons stated at pages 271-2 of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for 1892 that Fou Aoud Pau Shah, not Ali Pau Shah, is really intended. I have not, however, thought myself justified in altering the notes of these conversations recorded in my diary, compare note 1 on page 323 Supra in which his death in a foreign land as well as the assassination of the Turkish ministers whom Cerkiz Hassan slew is clearly foreshadowed and is there not also the epistle to Sheikh Balger by whom the martyrs of Esfahan were done to death, of which you have already heard? These epistles are well known and the events to which they refer are notorious. But let me tell you how Hajji Mohammed Jafar, who escaped exile to Khartoum, showed his devotion to Baha'u when it was decided by the Turkish government to remove our master and his family and relatives as well as Mirza Yahya'u, i.e. Subhe Azal. This title, however, is seldom given by the followers of Baha'u to Mirza Yahya'u. At most they call him An Shakhse Azal, that person Azal. From Adrianople they at first determined to dismiss his followers with their passports and a sum of money from their journey to Persia. Hajji Mohammed Jafar refused to agree to this, declaring that he would not be separated from his master. He was told that he must obey the Sultan's orders. Thereupon he drew his knife and, before they could prevent him, inflicted a severe wound on his throat. Neither would he allow the surgeon who was immediately summoned to sew it up until he had received an assurance that he should be allowed to accompany Baha'u to Akre. The Turkish authorities were therefore obliged to telegraph to Constantinople that Baha'u's followers could not be separated from him as they would rather kill themselves than leave him. However, the Turks tried to send some of them with Mirza Yahya'u to Cyprus. But these, on discovering whether their ship was bound, cast themselves into the sea to swim to the ship in which Baha'u was a passenger. They were finally allowed to accompany him to Akre and only Mirza Yahya'u and his family were conveyed to Cyprus, where they still remain. This, as I subsequently discovered, is not strictly accurate. Four of Baha'u's followers, Sheikh Ali Sayyar, Mohammed Baugher, Abdul Qaffar, and Mechkin Qalam were sent with Subhe Azal to Cyprus. The first and second died in the island in 1871 and 1872, respectively. The third escaped in 1870 and the last left for Akre where I saw him in the spring of 1890 in 1886. Why, I asked, do you speak of Mirza Yahya'u as though he were of no account? In the books about your religion which I read in Europe he is described as the Bob's chosen successor and after him as the chief of your sect. Yes, replied Hauji Mirza Hassan. It is true that he was one of the early believers and that at first he was accounted the successor and vice-regent of the Bob but he was repeatedly warned not to withhold his allegiance from him whom God shall make manifest and threatened that if he did so he would fall from the faith and become as one rejected. In spite of these clear warnings of his master he refused to acknowledge the new manifestation when it came wherefore he is now regarded by us as of no account. Has he any followers in Cyprus, I asked? Hardly any, answered Hauji Mirza Hassan. He writes absurd and meaningless letters to his partisans and to such as he hopes to persuade but he is afraid to come to Persia though the Turks have given him permission to do so. This also is a mistake. It was only after the English occupation of Cyprus that the Barbies interned at Famagusta were given permission to leave the island on condition of forfeiting the pensions which they enjoy. Fearing lest we should kill him. And would you kill him? I inquired. I ask pardon of God. We are not authorized to kill anyone. replied the Barbie missionary. Next day I again met Hauji Mirza Hassan at the house of my friend Mirza Ali. He had with him a commentary on the Kitabe Ak Das with the aid of which we attempted with but partial success to unravel the complicated law of inheritance laid down by Baha'u. I was able, however, to learn from it something more about the arrangement of the Barbie year. This consists of 19 months of 19 days each the same names serving alike for the months of the year and the days of the month. These names are as follows. One, Baha'u. Two, Jalal. Three, Jamal. Four, Azamat. Five, Noor. Six, Rahmat. Seven, Kalimaut. Eight, Kamal. Nine, Asmal. Ten, Ezat. Eleven, Mashiyat. Twelve, Elm. Thirteen, Qudrat. Fourteen, Ghol. Fifteen, Masal El. Sixteen, Sharaf. Seventeen, Sultan. Eighteen, Mulk. Nineteen, Alal. According to this arrangement, the week is completely abolished. The third day of the eighth month, for example, is called Yomul Jamal Men Shahrel Kamal The day of beauty, Jamal, in the month of perfection, Kamal. But, pending the retention of the week, new names have been given to the days comprising it as follows. Sunday, Yomul Jamal. Monday, Yomul Kamal. Tuesday, Yomul Fezal. Wednesday, Yomul Edal. Thursday, Yomul Estejlal. Friday, Yomul Esteglal. Saturday, Yomul Jalal. For a fuller account of the arrangement of the Barbie calendar and of the system of intercalation employed to keep it in correspondence for the solely year, for the no-roos which corresponds with the entry of the sun into the sign of the ram and the vernal equinox which marks the beginning of the Barbie as of the old Persian year C Volume 2 of My Traveller's Narrative written to illustrate the episode of the Barb, pages 412 to 425. C also pages 320 to 1, Supra. I learned a few more facts about the Barbies on this occasion. The relations of the Barb, of whom I saw several at Shiraz, are called Afnaun, and the sons of Bahar, Aqsaun. Both of these words meaning branches. Bahar's eldest son, Abbaal Sefendi, I have described the impression produced upon me by this remarkable man at pages 35 to 36 of Volume 2 of My Traveller's Narrative. It's called Qosne Akbar, the most great branch, and also Aghoy-e Serrullah, the master God's mystery. While another of his sons, named Mirza Muhammad Ali, is entitled Qosne Akzam, the most mighty branch. Here, my did not see at Akre, he was probably living in seclusion. Since then, he has become the pontiff of the Bahoy Barbies, agreeably to Bahar's testamentary depositions, published in the original by Baron Rosen in Volume 7 of the Zapiski, pages 194 to 6. Bahar died on 29th May, 16th old style, 1892. In my diary, as well as in my first article on the Barbies, in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for July 1888, I have wrongly transposed the titles of these two sons of Bahar. I was also shown the epistle from Bahar to Sheikh Baugherr, of which I have heard so much, and copied from it the passage which, as the Barbies declared, foreshadowed the recent disgrace of the Zellos Sultan. The translation of this passage is as follows. Verily we heard that the provinces of Persia were adorned with the ornament of justice. But when we made inquiry, we found them wellsprings of injustice, and sources of violence. Verily we see justice under the claws of oppression. We ask God to free it by an exercise of power and an act of authority on His part. Verily He is a protector over whomsoever is in the earth and in the heavens. One of the older Barbies whom I had previously met was present for a while, and I urgently repeated a request, which I had already made, that I might be taken to see the house, called Bait, the house par excellence, formally inhabited by the Barb. There had been some difficulty about this. Firstly, because its inmates at that time were without exception women, and secondly because it was feared that my visiting it would excite the suspicion of the Muhammadan's, to whom also the house was well known, but these difficulties appeared to have been surmounted, and I received a promise that on the next day but one my wish should be gratified. It was therefore in the highest spirits that I took leave of my Barbie friends and turned homewards. But alas for my hopes, destined to disappointment, for had I known it, there was already awaiting me there that which was to cut short my pleasant days in Shiraz, and debar me from the accomplishment of the visitation which I so ardently desired to perform. End of Section 27. End of Chapter 11. Shiraz Continued. Recording by Nicholas James Bridgewater. Recorded in London, England. Section 28. Of A Year Amongst The Persians by Edward Granville Brown. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Nicholas James Bridgewater. A Year Amongst The Persians by Edward Granville Brown. Section 28. Chapter 12. From Shiraz to Yazd. A Year Amongst The Persians by Edward Granville Brown. A Year Amongst The Persians by Edward Granville Brown. A Year Amongst The Persians by Edward Granville Brown. A Year Amongst The Persians by Edward Granville Brown. Shall my beloved one's house delight me, when issues ever and none, from the restless bell the mandate, till time to bind thy litters on? Half-Hairs, translated by Herman Bicknell. It was, as I have said, in the best of spirits that I returned on the evening of this Friday, the 12th of April, to the house of my kind host, the Navvabh. I was well pleased with my environment at Shiraz, and more especially, with the progress which I had made in cultivating the acquaintance and winning the confidence of the Barbies, from whom I had already obtained several precious manuscripts and much valuable information. On the morrow there was to be another picnic in the garden of Rashkebehest, the envy of Paradise, and on the following day, I was to be allowed to visit the Barb's house. My mind was therefore filled with pleasant anticipations as I entered the Navvabh's house. Sohib, you are late, exclaimed the servant who met me in the doorway. Where have you been? A telegram has come for you, and we would have sent it to you at once, but we knew not where you were. I rushed upstairs to my room and tore open the telegram. It was a very long one, and the substance of it was this, that a European lady, travelling northwards to Tehran with her husband, had been taken ill at Derbide, five stages from Shiraz, that her husband had been obliged to continue his journey, that she had been treated for some time by Dr. S, then absent on a tour of inspection along the Buxia Road, with whom communications had been maintained by means of the telegraph, that she was now much worse, being indeed in a very critical condition, and that Dr. S, unable to go to Derbide himself, had suggested that I, having a medical qualification, might go instead of him. The symptoms of the patient were fully described, and I was asked, in case I should come, to bring with me certain drugs, which were not contained in the medicine chest at Derbide. These it was added, I could obtain from the acting head of the telegraph office at Shiraz. I sat down with a telegram in my hand to consider what I ought to do. A few moments' reflection showed me, that however unwilling I might be to quit Shiraz, and however different I might be as to my fitness to deal with what I clearly perceived, was a difficult and critical case, I could not with clear conscience refuse to go. It was a sore disappointment to me, to tear myself away from Shiraz, and to forego the visit to the Bob's house, to which I had so eagerly looked forward. The ride posed for nearly 120 miles to confront a medical crisis, such as my inexperience ill-fitted me to cope with, and which, as I anticipated, was but too likely to terminate fatally even before my arrival, was moreover a prospect that daunted me not a little. My duty however, was perfectly clear, and when I joined the Navvab and Haoji Dao Yi at supper, I told them that in all likelihood, it was the last meal we should eat together for some time. As soon as it was over, I made the best of my way through the dark lanes leading to the Baoghe Sheikh, to consult with the acting head of the telegraph, and to obtain such medicines and instruments as I might require. The medical stores, which we ransacked, left very much to be desired, both as regards extent and quality, and it was with a miserably insufficient outfit that I returned about 1 a.m. to my abode. Even then, tired though I was, it was some time ere my anxiety suffered me to sleep. Next day, it seemed at first as though, after all, I might escape the dreaded ordeal, for in the morning a message came from Der Bid, giving a somewhat more favourable account of the patient, and bidding me not to start till further notice. I therefore decided to accompany the Navvab to the picnic at Raskebehest, but before doing so I made all my arrangements for quitting Shiraz. I had decided during the night that, should I be compelled to go to Der Bid, I would not return directly to Shiraz, but would proceed to Yazd, a city that I greatly desired to visit, both because of its remote situation, and essentially Persian character, and because it is the chief stronghold of Zoroastrianism in Persia. And thence make my way perhaps to Kermon, and so back by Ney Riz and Dow Rob. I therefore drew 30 tomans, nearly 10 pounds, in cash for my travelling expenses, and obtained a cheque on Ardeshir Mehrabon, the leading Zoroastrian merchant at Yazd, for the balance still remaining to my credit, 147.5 tomans, or about 45 pounds. I also obtained a letter of introduction to this same Ardeshir from one of the Zoroastrians at Shiraz, named Khosro, and received from my kind friend, Mirzan Ali, a promise of letters to certain highly considered Sayedz of Yazd, to whom he was related. Having furthermore purchased a pair of saddlebags, Khurjin, and sundry other necessaries for my journey, I had transacted all my business, and was able to follow the Navvab to the garden of Rashkebehest. I found there the same company as on the previous occasion, but as the weather was fine, they were sitting out in the garden on a stone platform overshadowed by trees, instead of in the summer house. The time passed pleasantly in the usual fashion, and as sunset approached, and still no summons came from the telegraph office, I began to hope that my time at Shiraz was, after all, not destined to be cut short. As I was returning from a solitary ramble round the garden, however, I suddenly caught sight of the Farosh of the telegraph office, and knew before I had heard the message which he brought, that my hope was disappointed. Hastily bidding farewell to the Navvab and his guests, I set off at once with the Farosh to the Baoga Sheikh. Haste is of the devil and tardiness from the all-merciful, says a very oriental proverb, and it is indeed an ill thing to be in a hurry in an eastern land. It was well enough to have an order for three post horses, but these, notwithstanding all the opportunity, were not forthcoming till the following afternoon, and then that no element of delay might be lacking, I discovered that my servant, Hauji Safar, had gone off to the bazaars to buy a saddle. Even when we did ultimately start at about 3.15pm, I had to submit to several further delays for the purchase of sundry forgotten articles which were declared necessary, and it was already late in the afternoon, when, from the summit of the Tangi Allahu Akbar, I turned in my saddle to take what proved to be my last look at beautiful Shiraz. It was the very day, even the very time, when I was to have made my eagerly desired visit to the Bob's house, and instead of this, here I was with my back to Shiraz and the rain beating in my face, with a hundred miles and more to ride, to what I much feared would prove to be a deathbed. Remembering that life hung in the balance, I urged on my horse, and presently found myself in the great plain of Mardasht, and the Shahgerd Chapar post-boy were far behind me, but thinking that I remembered the way, I heeded this but little, and pushed on as fast as I could towards a group of poplar trees beneath the eastern hills, which, as I thought, marked the position of Zargon. I was mistaken, however, for when I drew near them, I found nothing but gardens, and it was in almost complete darkness and pouring rain that drenched to the skin, and in the worst of tempers, I finally entered the narrow streets of Zargon and alighted at the post house, where, as it appeared impossible to proceed further, I spent a miserable night, which wet clothes and prowling cats rendered almost sleepless. Next morning I was off before 7am. My first stage was to Puzer, the snout, hard by Persepolis and Estach, of Achaemenion and Sarsonyan splendor. I had promised the Shahgerd Chapar a present of two Khrans if he brought me there by 9.30, and our pace at first was consequently good, but when the little solitary post house of Puzer was already in sight, the miserable jaded horse which I rode, after relapsing from a spasmodic and laboured trot, into the walk of ever increasing slowness, came to a dead stop, and I was forced to dismount and walk the last few hundred yards. Just before this took place, there met us three post horses, which a Shahgerd Chapar was leading back from Puzer to Zargon. He stopped him and demanded whether I should find horses at Puzer, as I wished to continue my journey without delay, intending, in case of need, to impress into my service the horses of which he had charged. He assured me that there were three fresh horses in the post house ready to start at once, and I left him wondering whether he was speaking the truth. I wronged him by my suspicions. What he had told me was exactly and literally true. For a few minutes later, these three fresh horses, ready to start at once, issued from the post house, now only a hundred yards distant, with another traveller, and set off northwards. On reaching the post house, I found, of course, that there were no horses to be had, and there was nothing for it but to sit on a carpet on the roof and try to dispel my annoyance with tea and tobacco. I found that the traveller who had taken off the horses, as it were under my very nose, was none other than the Bombay Porsi whom I had met at Shiraz, and who was so anxious to get back to a land of railroads and hotels. He was so disgusted with caravan travelling, and especially with the extortions of the servant, whom he had engaged at Poushir, that he had decided to continue his journey alone by the post, although he was a very indifferent rider, and had only accomplished two stages during the whole of the previous day. It appeared that he had slept at Pouser that night, and was loitering about without much intention of starting, when he saw me approaching, whereupon he hastened to secure his horses and set off before I arrived to contest their possession. It was not till after midday that horses were forthcoming, and I was able to proceed on my journey. At the very last moment a woman brought her son to me, saying that she had heard I was a doctor, and begging me to examine an injury in his arm, and prescribed for him. I was in no mood to tarry there any longer, and telling her that if she had chosen to come to me any time during the last three hours, I could have given her my undivided attention, but that now it was too late, I rode rapidly away. The Chalgerde Chopard, who accompanied us, stimulated by the promise of a present, exerted himself to accomplish his two Parsangs an hour, and by leaving the post road and fording the river, which here runs to the west of it, affected so great a saving of distance that I caught up the porsi just as he was leaving the post house of Kevomobald. I was obliged however to wait there for an hour and a half before I could obtain horses to take me on to Murqab. There I was more than ever desirous of reaching Dahbid, that night if possible, as I had met my friend, Muhammad Hassan Khan Qashqa'i, on his way to Shiraz, and he had told me that my presence was urgently required there. The ride to Murqab was delightful, the horses being good and the night superb. I passed the porsi hard by the tomb of Cyrus, and traversed the ruins of that classic plain by the light of a crescent moon, which hung suspended like a silver lamp in the clear dark blue sky. Once some great beast, a hyena probably, slunk, silent and shadow-like, across the path and disappeared in the bushes. It was ten p.m. when I reached the post house of Murqab, where, much against my will, I was obliged to remain for the night. The porsi arrived soon after me, and we established ourselves in the Balakhaone or upper chamber. I could not help pitying him, for he was travelling in a manner at once costly and uncomfortable, and while he had, as he informed me, paid the servant to accompany him from Boushir to Shiraz, the exorbitant sum of eight-and-a-half tomans, for eleven days' bad service, he became involved in a lengthy, violent and unprofitable altercation with the boy who had brought him from Pevamabad about a trifling present of a groan. The consequence of this was that all the post house people were against him, and my Shahgerd Chaupar, well pleased with his reward, assured me that I should have the best and the porsi the worst of their horses on the morrow. Next morning, after a cold and uncomfortable night, I was off before six a.m., but, for all the fair words of the Shahgerd Chaupar, there felt my lot the most miserable and ill-conditioned beast that ever it was my lot to bestride. So bad were all its paces, and so rough and steep the road that it was past midday when I finally alighted at the Telegraph Office of Deh Bede. Needless to say how anxious I was to learn news of my patient, or with what heartfelt thankfulness I heard from Mr. and Mrs. Blake, who welcomed me at the door that she had taken a turn for the better and was now practically out of danger. When I had eaten and rested a while, I visited her, and found that it was even as they had said the crisis was past and all that was left for me to do was to watch over the period of convalescence, which, fortunately, was short. Day by day, I had the satisfaction of seeing a marked improvement in her condition, and it was only as a matter of precaution and at the request of my host and hostess that I remained for twelve days at Deh Bede, at the end of which time she was already able to walk out in the garden. Deh Bede is one of the loneliest and bleakest spots that I saw in Persia. The village, so far as I recollect, consists of not more than fifteen or twenty hovels, a dilapidated caravancery, the post house, and the telegraph office. This last is a spacious and comfortable dwelling with a fair-sized garden attached to it, but its remote and solitary situation and the severe cold of the winter season must render it a very undesirable station to inhabit for a period of any length. The time which I spent there, however, passed pleasantly enough for my host and hostess were kindness itself and the surrounding country, though desolate, was not altogether devoid of interest. The worst feature of the place, indeed, in my estimation, was the complete lack of educated Persian society, the village as being, without exception, poor peasants and quite illiterate. Such as they were, however, I saw a good deal of them, for, of course, it very soon became known that I was a hakim, and not from the village of Deh Bede only, but from neighbouring hamlets of Qasriya Qub, Koshk and Khurrami, the lame, the halt, and the blind, flocked to consult me. Indeed, though I had no wish to practice the healing art, I soon found myself in the position of Le Medecine Malgré Lui, for it would have been cruel and cherlish to refuse these poor folk such service as the porcity of drugs and appliances at my disposal and my own lack of practical experience, permitted me to render them. So every day, after I had attended to my own special patient and sat for some time conversing with her, playing with her pet mongoose, a charming little animal and hearing how the Persian wise women, who had been called in before my arrival, had treated her with what can only be described as tincture of al-Quran, made by writing a text from the sacred volume on the inside of a cup or saucer and then dissolving it in water, I used to hold a sort of reception for my Persian clientele. The cases about which I was consulted were of the most miscellaneous character varying in gravity from corneal opacities to cardiac disease and from soft corns to epilepsy, but I do not propose to inflict on my readers any account of their symptoms, diagnosis or treatment. Two of them, however, from a certain element of pathos, which they seem to me to possess, are perhaps deserving of a brief mention. The first of them was a little boy aged 12, named Khaun Mirza, who was suffering from paralysis and wasting of the arms and legs. When I had completed my examination of him and heard the history of his sickness, I knew that I could do nothing for him and, as gently as possible, told his father and mother who had brought him to me that I was powerless to help them, adding that I was doubtful whether the best physicians in Farrangistan or the best appliances at their disposal could restore him to health. So hip! they wailed. We know that you can cure him if you like. We are only poor peasants, and we cannot reward you as you have a right to expect, but tell us what some of money will satisfy you, and, if possible, we will obtain it. I told them that to cure their child it was not money I wanted, but the power of working miracles. Can you not believe me? I concluded, when I tell you, that I would rejoice to help you if I could, but that it is beyond my skill and not mine only, but that of the greatest physicians of our country. I neither desire nor will consent to accept your money, but I have no right to deceive you with false hopes. Surely you must understand that there are diseases which no physician can heal. And that, for instance, when the agile, i.e. the appointed time to die, comes Jarlinus and Bokrat, i.e. Galen and Hippocrates, who still to the Persian typify the perfection of medical skill, themselves have no resource but to cry. There is no strength and no power save in God the Supreme, the Mighty. There is no strength and no power save in God the Supreme, the Mighty. A form of words used by the Mohammedans when all hope is gone and only a miracle can avert disaster. You speak truly, answered the Father, but that only holds good of death. How then, said I, does it come to pass that even amongst the rich there are blind and deaf and halt and dumb persons who would give any price to be restored to health if they could find one to cure them, but who go down to their graves unhealed. It is because they cannot get hold of a physician like you, replied the man. Bejahati onke, mesle shomau hakeemi, gira shon, namia yad. The expression, gira madan, to be got hold of, though not I think found in classical, is common in colloquial Persian. In the face of such faith, what could one do but make up a prescription which, if it were not likely to do much good, could at least do no harm. The other case to which I have alluded was the poor old man called Mashhadi Khadoram who lived at some distance from Deh-Bid. The first time he came was late one afternoon when I had seen all my other patients and was resting after my labours. My servant, whether out of consideration for me or to emphasise his own importance, refused to let him see me or to inform me of his arrival. The poor old man thought that he had been turned away because he had not brought a present and when he returned and was finally admitted to me he had in his hands a couple of fowls as a propitiatory offering. These he begged me to accept, promising that in the morning he would bring me a lamb and it was with great difficulty that I succeeded in making him understand that I had no wish to deprive him of any portion of his scanty possessions. I found that his son had gone down to the turbulent and lawless town of Abarku some two months previously and had there been stabbed in a quarrel about a girl to whom he was attached. Since then the old father's eyesight had been gradually failing through much weeping as he said and it was for this that he sought me. I did the best I could for him which I fear was not much and he went on his way and was no more seen by me. Of the country round about derby'd I need say but little hard by the village stands a ruined tower with enormously thick walls built of dried clay which the country folk believe to have been one of the seven hunting places of Bahramgur. The Haft-Gonboz of Bahram or Varahran the fifth surnamed Gour the wild ass from his fondness for chasing that animal are familiar to every student of Persian literature. The king in question reigned from AD 420 to 438. At Shiraz I was told by Haujinasro Lachan that the sights of all these seven huge palaces were known to him. He gave me a list of them but I did not write it down at the time and only remember that he identified the Qasre Zard or yellow tower with Khosh Qizard on the Sarhad or high-level road to Shiraz. I was informed by one of the inhabitants that coins and ornaments had been dug up in this vicinity. Round about the tower are some curious rocks looking like dried masses of mud. Many of these are hollowed out into caves in which the wandering tribesmen take up their abode in summer. The stream which flows past Deh-Bid crossing the main road a few yards south of the telegraph office runs in a south-westerly direction to Qasre Yaqub, Jacobs Castle where as I was told it forms a lake in which are fish of considerable size. Some distance to the east of the stream and about two-and-a-half or three miles southwest of Deh-Bid stands a solitary withered tree hard by a ruined and deserted village and graveyard known as Mazra-e-Sabs. This tree, as I was informed by Mr. Blake is said to be haunted by a white-robed woman. I could learn no particulars about the legend related with this ghost and only mention it because it is the sole instance of this type of apparition which came to my knowledge in Persia. To the north and northwest of Deh-Bid lie the hamlets of Koshk, Hossein-Abad and Khurrami, which I did not visit and which are, I believe, places of but little importance. The whole plateau is, as I have said, of considerable elevation and I suppose to the rarefication of the air one is liable when walking to experience a certain curious and unpleasant shortness of breath. It was the 29th April when my patient being convalescent and able to take the air in the garden adjoining the telegraph office I finally quitted Deh-Bid and turned my face eastwards towards Yazd. After the somewhat monotonous though pleasant fortnight which I had spent at Deh-Bid I looked forward eagerly to the excitement of a journey through country far wilder and less known than any which I had hitherto traversed. I had some difficulty in obtaining animals for the march but at length succeeded in hiring a mare for myself and two donkeys for my servant and baggage for which I was to pay a moderate sum of seven tomans rather more than two pounds it being understood that the journey to Yazd was to be accomplished in six or seven days. A fine handsome young man named Baba Khan was to act as a guide and to take charge of the animals. This arrangement satisfactory enough to myself was very distasteful to Harji Safar who was greatly incensed and wanted to ride a donkey and was only pacified with some difficulty. We left Deh-Bid about 7.30 in the morning as our intention was to push past the caves of Haneshk where two or three musketmen are stationed as a guard and where it is possible to halt for the night and reach one of the flourishing villages which lie like islands of Virger in the sandy desert of Abarkuh. The Yazd road quits the main road from Shiraz to Esfahan close to the Deh-Bid Karavansari and runs in a north easterly direction towards the tail of the mountains above Haneshk. These we reached about 10.30 am and then began the long descent towards the plain the sides of the narrow ravines through which our path wound were abundantly decked with flowers concerning which I questioned Baba Khan who turned out to be a very intelligent and agreeable companion. There were tall, hyacinth-like spikes with white blossoms and very thick succulent stems called Korroglu, fine, large mountain chrysanthemums called Daudi, abundance of wild rhubarb, revos and a little, ill-smelling plant with orange-brown flowers named Morgayal, snake-grass. After passing a beautifully green grassy spot called Goushti well-watered by a stream which ran down the ravine where some peasants were pastoring their cows and donkeys we came at 11.15 am to a point where the valley opened out somewhat and allowed us to see for the first time the great sandy plain Kafei of Aberku spread out at our feet. This plain which at its narrowest point where we proposed to cross it is about 15 parasangs 52 miles in width runs, roughly speaking from northwest to southeast and is bounded on both sides by mountains the highest of which behind which lies Yazd were streaked with snow. The village itself is a dreary sandy waste encrusted here and there with patches of salt yet notwithstanding this or perhaps partly because of this the villages which lie on its western border Esmenobaud, Mehrabaud, Shaorauz and the larger town of Aberku present a singularly fresh and verdant appearance. Near to the town of Aberku and to the east of it there are a number of black jagged hills rising abruptly from the plain and crowned with ruins of some size amongst which a dome called Konboseau Li is particularly conspicuous. At 1130 we reached Haneshk and halted for lunch there are no buildings here but only a few caves in the rock which serve the Tofang cheese musketmen there stationed for a dwelling mulberry trees under which we rested a stream and a spring of clear cool water leaving Haneshk again at 1245 we continued our descent and finally at about 2.15pm emerged from the narrow jaws of the ravine into the plain which from this point slopes but very slightly downwards towards Aberku at 330 we passed a ruined cistern or bamboo covered by a dome and about 6.30pm just as the sun was setting reached the beautiful green oasis formed by the gardens of Merobaud where we were to halt for the night round about these enclosed within a high outer wall to keep off the drifting sand lay fields of corn and of the white poppy for opium is largely produced in all this district and I was amazed to see what the skillful irrigation of the Persians could do for even so unpromising a soil it is more irrigation not railways and factories that Persia needs to increase her prosperity and were the means for this forthcoming many a dreary desert might yet blossom with the rose and the poppy there is of course no post house at Merobaud nor so far as I know a caravan Sarai but I was far from regretting this as I obtained a much more delightful resting place in a beautiful rose garden near the gate of the village I was it is true obliged to sleep in the open air but apart from the lack of privacy which it involved this was a luxury rather than a hardship the temperature in this low hill goat plane being so much higher than this derby'd that I seem to have passed in one day from early spring to mid-summer in a sort of alcove in the high mud wall a carpet was spread for me and here I ensconced myself Haoji Safar taking up his position under the opposite wall tea was soon prepared and while I was drinking it the gardener brought me two great handfuls of loose rose leaves a pretty custom common this more eastern part of Persia needless to say visitors soon began to arrive and as none of them thought of moving till midnight I had plenty of opportunity of observing their characteristics in several ways they appeared to me to differ very widely from any type of persian which I had hitherto seen notably in this that they manifested not the least curiosity about my business, nationality or religion sullen, independent quarrelsome and totally devoid of that polished manner which characterizes most of their countrymen they talked for the most part with one another and appeared to take little interest in anything except sport horses, firearms, spirits and opium the only occasion on which the son of a local magnate addressed me with any appearance of interest was when he demanded whether I had with me any strong drink I told him I had not you lie replied he all Ferangi's drink I then recollected that I had a little pocket flask half filled with whiskey well I have this small quantity I said in case of emergencies let me see it said he I handed it to him whereupon he unscrewed the top sniffed at the whiskey and finally put the flask to his mouth drained it at one gulp and threw it back to me with a grimace I asked what he thought of it poor stuff he said no better than our Arak if as good you're certain you have no more I told him I had not another drop and there at he ceased to pay any further to me Dorob Khan had with him a very handsome page another most savage looking attendant named Hossein with enormously long drooping mustaches which gave him somewhat the appearance of a Chinaman one or two younger brothers and several friends they all sat together servants and masters without distinction of rank they were nearly all armed to the teeth and they nearly all smoked opium and drunk as much spirits as they could get as we had made a long stage on the first day and as the heat was now considerable Baba Khan decided to await the approach of evening before starting to cross the desert in consequence of this I saw plenty of Dorob Khan and his disillute companions who kept coming and going from 8am onwards one Fat Far Khan also came to consult me with symptoms of indigestion and disordered liver having received a blue pill he became communicative and entertained me with a panagyric on a certain Molo Colom Reza of Taft near Yazd who was highly reputed for his medical skill and a dissertation on Persian Pharmacology drugs he explained were primarily divisible into two classes hot used for combating cold diseases amongst which the most efficacious were Babu Neh Afsantina Rumi and Goli Gov Zabaun and cold useful for the treatment of hot melodies of which Rishayi Khatmi Hollyhawk Root Rishayi Khosni and Rishayi Khadu made the highest reputation this interesting dissertation was unfortunately interrupted by the arrival of two or three of Daraab Khan's young brothers so at least I judged them to be from their likeness to him who forthwith began to pull about my effects and examine my clothes and bedding one of them seeing Haaji Safar smoking a cigarette plugged it out of his mouth and began to smoke it himself whereupon he was to my great delight seized with so violent a fit of coughing that he had to retire the relief afforded by his absence was however of short duration for he soon came back accompanied by a man who complained of that most usual of Persian ailments pain in the loins Dar de Kamar this latter I declined to treat whereupon he said since you will not give me medicine I will have a cigarette I accordingly made him one which he smoked rapidly but without much apparent enjoyment for he suddenly threw it away and departed hastily without a word it was evident that cigarettes were a novelty in the plane of Abarku end of section 28 section 29 of a year amongst the Persians by Edward Granville Brown this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information nor to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Nicholas James Bridgewater a year amongst the Persians by Edward Granville Brown section 29 I was now left for a while in comparative peace for my host after amusing himself for a while by firing bullets with his long Shirazi gun at the birds on the garden wall turned Darob Khan's troublesome young brothers out of the garden and shut the door at 3.30pm the animals were laden and ready to start. Haji Safar gave the owner of the garden five grans about three and sixpence with which he was evidently well satisfied for he came and showed me the money remarking this was not necessary nor so much he then gave me a large bunch of roses as I was about to mount and walked beside me to the outskirts of the village where he badass farewell as soon as he had gone Haji Safar began to abuse the people of the village roundly for their churlishness adding that one boy's had stolen a pair of galoshes and other articles out of my baggage but that he had recovered them I should like to have given him a good thrashing he concluded but I thought you would not like it prudence I imagine had something to do with his self restraint for the Aberguhis are not the kind of people one would care to anger our course at first lay nearly due north towards the fantastic jagged hills which rise abruptly from the sandy plain close by the city of Aberguh as we passed between two ridges of these I could plainly see the ruined domes minarets and walls which crowned their summits the largest dome stands at the northern end of the northern ridge and is called li. I should greatly have like to explore these ruins and to see something of the city of Aberguh which Jafer Khan declared to be the oldest city in Persia except Sahlch by which I suppose he meant Estach and to be full of ancient monuments but unfortunately this was impossible emerging from between these rocky ridges we found ourselves once more in the open sandy plain and could discern at a short distance several small villages in a little while we passed one of them called Chaurraus just beyond which the road bifurcated the left hand or more northernly branch for we had now again turned nearly due east leading to Shamsabad or more southerly one to Hakim we followed the latter and reached Hakim about 6.45pm as it was getting dusk here we found a small caravan of donkeys laid in with wheat for Yazd and learning that this was not to start till the moon rose we halted in the plain for rest and refreshment after supper I lay gazing at the starry sky till sleep overcame me about midnight and soon afterwards we started at a good pace for these caravans of donkeys travel faster than ordinary caravans on the long desert stage which was to bring us to Choh Begi the first habitable spot on the Yazd side of the desolate plain bare and hideous as this desert is by day seen in the silver moonlight it had a strange weird beauty which produced on me a deep impression the salt pools and salt patches gleamed like snow on every side the clear desert air was laid in with a pungent briny smell like a sea breeze and over the sharply defined hills of Yazd towards which we were now directly advancing hung the great silvery moon to the right and the seven brothers Haft Barodaron or Great Bear to the left I kept in advance of the caravan and watched with a keen pleasure the stars beginning to faint on a bed of daffodil sky till first the caravan killer Khoravon or Charvador Kosh and then the morning star dissolved in the rosy flush which kept upwards from behind the eastern mountains and suddenly like a ball of fire the sun leaped up over their serrated summits scattering the illusions of the night and bringing into view chains and ridges of low hills which had hitherto seemed to form part of the main mass as it grew light a man carrying a large wallet over his shoulders and walking rapidly came up with me I saluted him and entered into conversation he was as I gathered a Khor said or courier with letters from Arbade for Yazd he informed me that he had been a soldier in one of the Zellos Sultan's regiments till these were disbanded like a soldier's life and he once deserted walking from Esfahan to Arbade about 130 miles in two days he had also walked from Yazd to Mashhad by the desert road in 20 days and from Tehran to Mashhad in the same time he asked me many questions about England and its government and complained bitterly of the heavy taxation to which the Persian peasantry were subjected the tax on a donkey was he said, two tomans about 130 shillings a year and on a sheep three tomans, nearly one pound he further informed me that bread was deer at Yazd costing three panor balts one and a half grams or about 11 shillings the man and that during the great famine about 16 years ago it had risen to 16 prawns about 10 shillings the man and that the people were in some cases driven to eat human flesh to appease their hunger as we approached Chah-Beggy we passed numerous tamarisk bushes, gaz which as my companion told me had formally been much more abundant till they were cut down by order of the government because they afforded a harbour to highway robbers of the Bhaktiari and other nomad tribes he gave the people of Abarakur a very bad character declaring that fatal quarrels were of constant occurrence there we reached Chah-Beggy a miserable walled village containing a few sordid and quarrelsome inhabitants a little before 7 am and alighted at the dilapidated caravanserai in front of which stand several sickly trees I spent the whole day in the large dusty ruinous chamber allotted to me sleeping, eating washing to the very limited extent permitted by the surroundings and writing up my diary being the only resources available for passing the long hot day a certain excitement which can hardly be described as pleasurable was produced from time to time by the appearance of sundry large and offensive insects first a tarantula rotael or Chauya-Gaz which was killed on the wall where it sat by a kick from Baba Khaun who informed me in an encouraging manner that they had just killed another one outside and that as these were probably a pair there was nothing to apprehend I failed to see the conclusiveness of this reasoning and as I had left my bed stared at Shiraz and was therefore obliged to spread my bedding on the floor continued to keep a good look out for which I was presently rewarded by seeing a large black creature shaped something like a gigantic wood louse emerging deliberately from a cranny in the wall I threw half a brick at it and it vanished with a horrid splash after this I felt little inclination for sleep but after supper fatigue overcame me and I fell into a deep slumber from which I was aroused about an hour after midnight by Haji Safer it was with sincere delight that I quitted this detestable spot about 1.30 am and found myself once more on the road in the cool clear moonlight having nothing else to do I watched and timed the changes in the sky which heralded the dawn at 3.30 am the false dawn Sobhekao Zeb appeared a little to the north of the point where the sun subsequently arose at 3.45 am a rosy tinge was perceptible in the sky at 4.00 am the morning star began to shine over the hills at 4.30 am it was quite light and at 4.55 am the sun rose but it was not till 6.00 am that the day began to grow warm an hour later we entered the village of Baugestan where the road bifurcated taking the right hand branch we presently passed the castellated village of Irdun situated on a small hill and at about 8.00 am reached a beautiful village named Godeshirdan or Sharifob which with its shady lanes rippling streams and verdant trees reminded me more of my native land than anything I had seen for many a long day here we halted and in one of the well kept gardens which gave to the village so flourishing an appearance I spread my bed under a yellow rose tree and slept for a while till tea was ready I then found that the little streamlet beside me had been diverted from another channel for the irrigation of another part of the garden and as it now threatened to inundate my resting place I was obliged to alter my position just as I had affected this and was preparing to go to sleep again a deputation of the principal inhabitants of the village and the neighbouring hamlet of Dehipal-een was announced of course they wanted medical advice but needless to say they did not touch on the business which had brought them till they had exhausted all other topics of conversation amongst other things they informed me that two men had lately been put to death by the new governor of Yazd for drinking wine I expressed surprise that if the governor of Shiraz were to take it into his head to deal thus harshly with wine-drinkers he would soon have no subjects left to govern yes, replied my informant but thank god this is not Shiraz other persons gradually joined the group which had gathered round me amongst these being a respectable looking though poorly clad man who had joined our caravan at Hakim presently one of those present asked me if I knew Russian no, I said why should I? a great distance separates the English from the Russians one man only intervenes between them remarked my fellow traveller I looked at him in wonder you are not Russian I exclaimed I am a Russian subject at any rate he replied my native place is Erivan at length my visitors began to approach the object which had brought them was it true they asked that I had some knowledge of medicine I answered in the affirmative would I visit a woman in their village who was stricken with a grievous sickness they continued I asked whether she could not come and see me but they told me that she was too ill adding that their village was quite close at hand it proved to be about 2 miles off and on my arrival there the whole population some 20 or 30 souls turned out to stare at me and followed me into the sick room the patient a middle aged woman was lying on the floor in the middle of the room and was evidently very ill though owing to the impossibility of making a careful examination and the distracting effect of the eager crowd of onlookers who kept up a continual buzz of conversation I was enabled to satisfy myself as to the nature of her complaint when I had prescribed some medicine as appeared to me most likely to afford her some relief I was called upon to examine several other sick persons and it was only with much difficulty that I was able to get away as I was leaving the principal inhabitants of the village presented me as a reward for my trouble with a saddle cover which I bestowed on Boba Chon who had come with me to carry my box of drugs and instruments Hauji Saffar was greatly annoyed at what he called the meanness of the people declaring that I might have gained 100 tomans in fees since I left Deh Bid but for my lamentable weakness I was being advised gratis we left Gaudi Shirdan about 4.30 next morning it being then quite light but though it was midday before we reached Sonej our next halting place we did not suffer any inconvenience from the heat as we were again ascending into a cool and mountainous region the wheat laden donkeys had started at an earlier hour but the Erevoni these acquaintance I had made on the previous day had preferred to wait for us and I had a good deal of conversation with him I found him a pleasant and intelligent companion for he had travelled widely and spoke besides his own Caucasian Turkish Ottoman Turkish Russian, Persian and Arabic he told me that it was now 3 years since he had left Erevoni to Tabriz, Tehran Esfahan, Kermanshah Baghdad Boushir and Shiroz he was now proceeding to Yazd having come with a caravan northward bound as far as Deh Bid where he had been detained for 10 days ere he could find means of continuing his journey he had heard at Deh Bid that I was going to Yazd but had hesitated to join me in that manner of man I might be yesterday however he concluded I watched you with those people in the garden and saw that you were not wanting in crop, havesale properly the crop of a bird or the stomach of an animal is commonly used in Persian in the sense of patience evenness of temper or capacity for stomaching insults or annoyance tempered or impatient man is described as tang havesale thus the present shaw says in one of his poetical compositions dost naboyad ze dost dar gelah boshad mard naboyad ke tang havesale boshad friend should not complain of friend a man should not be short tempered for you have never once showed any irritation at their absurd and impertinent questions but continued to answer them with a smile and a jest I asked him whether he was bound and when he expected to return to his home he replied that from Yazd he intended to go to Mashhad and thence through Afghanistan to India and that it would be two years at least ere he again reached Erevan I asked him if he did not fear to trust himself amongst the treacherous and cruel Afghans but he answered no, with patience and courage a man can go where so ever he will on God's earth the road which we traversed this day was singularly beautiful and the country looked prosperous and well cared for we passed two villages however one on the right and another on the left named Haydarabad and Abbasabad respectively which had been deserted owing to the failure of their water supply the trees in their gardens were still for the most part green and luxuriant but already the fragile mud walls were falling into ruin and meditating on this process of rapid decay I ceased to wonder at the many Persian towns and villages mentioned by early geographers and historians of which no trace remains and which it seems impossible to identify at a considerable distance to the right north on a low conical hill the castle of Bonhaft with the village of the same name below it was clearly visible and farther east the precipitous black crag called Alathezard the yellow castle which as Baba Khaun informed me is only accessible by one path and at the foot of which lies the village of Balchogoriz farther on we passed the village of Kathu and on the right by which runs the direct road from Yaz to Babonaut and soon afterwards turned the northern end of the vast pile of cliffs which forms this western face of the Shirku and following a ravine to the left down which rushed a clear cool mountain stream presently reached the beautiful Alpine village of Sonedge a mass of gardens and groves situated amidst the grandest rock scenery a more charming spot for a summer residence could hardly be conceived and the people of Yaz are fortunate in being able to retreat so easily from their baking sandy plains to this or other equally delightful highland resorts I succeeded in obtaining a very comfortable lodging past the door of which ran a stream of beautiful clear water in the afternoon I was visited by a number of the inhabitants who were of the true Yazdi type fair skinned and grey-eyed with loosely coiled bluish turbans and the curious sing-song Droll which always characterizes the speech of Yazd this accent reminded me strongly of the south Northumbrian in English the modulation of the voice in both cases being very similar it is generally much laughed at in Persia but to me it always seemed soothing and at times rather pretty my visitors of course were very inquisitive and asked me more than the usual number of questions chiefly about my religion and the business that had brought me into a region so seldom traversed by Europeans was it true they asked that Europeans accounted the flesh of the pig a lawful food had we fixed ablutions and prayers how were marriages celebrated in Europe and what were the regulations as to dowry presently a comical looking old man broke in declaring that as for my business he had no doubt that I had come to affect disruptions in church and state else how did I come to know the geography of the country and to be so anxious for information as to the names of all the villages mountain peaks and streams in the neighborhood hear the Erevani interposed saying that all the Europeans even the children learned geography by means of maps such as I possessed there upon my map was at once called for and exhibited to an admiring crowd some of whom however expressed great disappointment had not also a microscope Chordebin so that they might by its aid see what was going on in the streets of Yazd next day we were off about 5.30am many people assembling to witness our departure amongst these was the old man who had regarded me with such suspicion on the previous evening but he seemed to have changed his opinion of me for the better for in bidding me farewell he begged me should I again pass that way by no means to admit a visit to the ancient castle of Shavauz situated 10 parasangs away in the direction of Aliyah Baud our host accompanied us till we were clear of the village and on the road to Taft his little son following a somewhat father plaintively calling out to Hauji Safar his childish Yazdi drawl yeto mocham na kardi thou hast not given me one kiss a remark to which Hauji Safar only replied with an outbirth of mirth and mimicry which caused the boy to turn petulantly away the road which we followed was again singularly picturesque for it led us almost immediately below the rugged and precipitous cliffs of the Shirku rent and shattered on every ridge into fantastic towers and needles we were now again descending towards the plain of Yazd and in a valley to the left could discern amongst several others the village of Aliyah Baud through which passes another road from Yazd to Aberku the conversation of my Eravani friend did much to dispel the monotony inseparable from even the most picturesque march amongst other things he told me a rather clever variation of the well known though probably fictitious anecdote concerning the interview between the poet Haufez and Timur Relang the Tata conqueror better known as Tamalain who as the story runs angrily demanded of Haufez how he had dared in one of his poems to say that he would give Samarkand and Bocharal for the black mole of his beloved's cheek according to the usual version of the tale Haufez replied, Yes sire, and it is by such acts of generosity that I have been reduced to the poverty in which you see me where upon Timur laughed and ordered a sum of money to be given him according to my companion's account however the poet affected his deliverance by an ingenious emendation in the obnoxious line. I would give Samarkand and Bocharal he exclaimed those are not my words what I wrote was I would give three stone of sugar and a couple of dates and some ignorant scribe has altered it into this we reached the large and flourishing village of Taft about midday two hours and a half after passing another prosperous and pretty village called Choroche Taft was looking its best on that fine May morning the luxuriant green of its gardens being pleasantly varied by the bright red flowers of the pomegranates in which they abound a wide sandy riverbed at this seasoned void of water divides it into two parts whereof the northern is inhabited by the Zoroastrians and the southern by the Mohammedans we follow this riverbed to serve also as a road for some distance till we came to a point where the houses were more abundant and the gardens fewer here we halted and began to look for a lodging which I finally obtained in a sort of pavilion in the middle of a large square four rooms raised somewhat above the level of the ground opened out of the central hall of this pavilion and appeared to offer desirable and comfortable quarters unfortunately these rooms were lighted by iron barred windows opening onto the square and I soon found myself an object of interest to a crowd of blue-turbaned bearded men and fair-faced grey-eyed boys who watched me using a knife and fork to eat my lunch with uncontrolled delight and amusement they were perfectly well behaved and evidently had no desire to annoy me but I never before realised what the lions in the zoological gardens have to put up with later in the afternoon I went for a short walk down the road river with my Erevani friend after extracting myself with some difficulty from a crowd of people with sore eyes and other ailments for which they desired treatment in the course of our walk we were accosted to my great delight by two of the yellow-robed Zoroastrians whom I now saw for the first time in the raiment which in Yazd and Kermon serves to distinguish them even at a distance from their Muhammadan fellow citizens but which in other parts of Persia they are permitted to lay aside the Erevani asked them what was their religion to which they proudly replied Verdosti, Keoni Zoroastrian Achaemenian where at he laughed not a little on returning to my lodging I found a handsome clever looking man waiting to see me from his talk I had little doubt that he was a barbie for he inquired very minutely into the Christian belief as to the advent of the Messiah adding perhaps he has come and you have not recognised him and presently have you heard news of the manifestation but when I asked him point blank whether he was of that sect as Anta efe he only replied God knows and soon after left me next morning, Saturday 5th May we started about 5am as to reach Yazd before the day grew hot our road sloped continuously but gently downwards towards the city which was in view almost from the beginning of the march as we were leaving Taft a little boy came up and presented me with a rose and farther on an old man who was working in a field near the road offered me the like attention neither of them expecting any reward for what in these parts of Persia which have not yet been spoiled by Europeans is an act of pure kindliness and courtesy towards strangers we passed successively the large and flourishing villages of Mubarakke and Chander on the right and Zainalbard on the left while on a low spur of the mountains to the south of the road the white Dachme or tower of silence of the Zoroastrians was plainly visible leaving these behind us we presently entered the sandy plain wherein lies the ancient city of Yazd towards which we wound our way through gardens and cornfields as we approached it I was much puzzled as to the nature and function of numerous tall chimney like structures the like of which I had not hitherto seen knowing that Yazd gloried in the title of Darul Ebaudat the abode of devotion I was for a moment disposed to regard them as a new variety of minaret but I soon learned that they were really Baldgears or wind chimneys designed to collect and convey into the interiors of the better class of houses such breaths of fresh breeze as might be stirring in the upper regions of the air which lay so hot and heavy over that sudden parched plain it was still comparatively early in the day when we passed through the city gates and after some enquiry alighted at the caravanserai of Haojiqanbar where we secured two rooms or rather cells at a little distance from one another my first business was to dispatch my letters of introduction to the Seyeds and to Ardeshir Mehroboun the Zoroastrian requesting them to appoint a time at which I might call and see them having done which I occupied the interval which must elapse before the return of my messenger in making such toilet as the circumstances admitted of end of section 29 end of chapter 12 from Shiraz to Yazd