 section 45 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 45 on returning to the hotel with a sturdy porter who bore my purchases I found my old teacher Mirzo Asadullah of Sabzavar who had kindly come to bring me a short biography of his master Haji Mullah Audi the philosopher and also an autograph of the great thinker next day Wednesday 19th September Haji Saffar secured the services of a tinsmith with whose aid we packed up and hermetically sealed my books and other purchases in a large wooden chest lined with tin which luckily proved just large enough to contain them all when it was closed up we got porters to carry it to messios Ziegler's office in the Khoravon Saroje Amir where I left it in the care of their agent for transport to England by way of Boushia the total value of its contents as estimated by myself for the custom house came to almost exactly 79 tomans 24 pounds on the afternoon of the following day having concluded all my business and said farewell to such of my friends as still remained in Tehran I started on my last march in Persia which was to convey me through the interesting province of Mozandaron to the Caspian I had succeeded in obtaining through messios Ziegler's agent 228 rubles in Russian money the equivalent of 752 Khrans 8 Shahiz Persian the rest of my money amounting to 747 Khrans 12 Shahiz I carried with me in Persian silver and copper our first stage was as usual to be a short one of two or three Parisangs only but the moon had risen air we reached our halting place the solitary caravan Sarai of Surh Hessar the red fortress where I obtained a very good clean room opening on to a little courtyard through which ran a stream of limpid water soon after quitting Tehran by the Shemron gate we had been joined by an ex-artilleryman who had just been flogged and dismissed the service for some misdemeanor he expressed the desire to accompany me to land and London declaring that Persia was no fit place for an honest man and actually went with us as far as Amul where I was not altogether sorry to lose sight of him Friday 21st September left Surh Hessar about 730 a.m. and after a dull ride through a barren stony plane reached the solitary and rather dilapidated caravan Sarai of Asalak an hour before noon here I stopped for lunch and was entertained by a quaint old Sayed who was suffering from a bad foot he told me with great glee how he had recently succeeded in defrauding the revenue officers sent to collect his taxes being appraised of their intended visit he had in spite of his lameness gone on foot to Tehran a distance of six parasangs carrying with him all his cash some 12 or 13 Tomans mostly in copper coins which he there entrusted to the keeping of a friend when the revenue officers came there was no money to be found on the premises and they were obliged to depart empty handed after a fruitless search on my departure I gave the old man a crown with which he was highly pleased soon after leaving Asalak we entered the mountains and the scenery began to improve rapidly gradually assuming an almost English character for our way was between green hedgerows beyond which lay real grass meadows watered by rippling mountain streams and dotted with grazing cattle towards sundown we reached the pretty straggling village of all which consists of three distinct groups of houses separated by considerable intervals of road we stopped at the last group just before the steepness of the ascent begins here I obtained a delightful lodging in an upper chamber looking out on the most charming landscape imaginable Saturday 22nd September started about 7.15 a.m. and at once began to ascend steeply towards the pass by which we were to enter Mozandaran the first part of our march was delicious for our road was bordered by moss-grown walls overshadowed by leafy trees and crossed by innumerable streams while around us lay green grassy fields such as my eyes had not looked upon for many a long day as we advanced the ascent grew gradually more abrupt and the path began to climb the mountainside in a series of apparently interminable zigzags which has given to it the name of has our jam the thousand twists at the summit of the pass is a little building where we had lunch air commencing the descent into Mozandaran our downward course lay at first by the side of a rushing river the law I think which soon plunged into a deep gorge far down in this gorge on a little plateau which broke the sheer face of the opposite cliff we could see the village of ask of which the mother of the shafts eldest son the zealos sultan is a native how it is approached I could not imagine for I could discern no signs of a path down the beatling precipice on our left arose the mighty snow capped mountain of mount damor vand which can be ascended from the side without much difficulty although the inhabitants of the village of damor vand and indeed the generality of Persians believe it to be inaccessible for on its summit according to ancient legend was chained the tyrant the hawk by fairy dune the deliverer of his country the avenger of his race and the restorer of the ancient royal house and the accursed spirit of the usurper is popularly supposed still to haunt the cloud capped peak of the mountain but the inhabitants of the little village of rena where we halted for the night have no such superstitious dread of the mountain and some of them are in the habit of a sending it frequently to collect the sulfur which is to be found in a cave near the summit we left the beautiful alpine village of rena next morning Sunday 23rd September around 7 30 a.m. the pretty winding road by which we continued to descend was so steep that for the first hour or so of our march I preferred to walk at the bottom of the valley we again came to the river in some places this had undermined and washed away the path so that we were obliged to enter the water but on the whole the road was a triumph of engineering skill for soon the valley narrowed into a mere cleft with steep rocky sides out of which the passage had been cut this the new road runs along the left western side of the gorge on the opposite side word discernable the remains of the old road which had been built out from the cliff instead of cut in it at one point on the new road a bass relief of the present char surrounded by his courtiers had been carved on the rocks about 2 p.m. we passed a village no lodging was to be found there so we proceeded on our way halted for lunch in a cornfield and about 4 p.m. reached a house by a bridge where the mula tier wish to halt for the night here also no decent lodging was to be found and consequently in spite of the mutterings of the mula tier oh her most under honest to me oh he'd after all it is mozander on what would you have we again pushed on until about sunset we came to a little group of hovels half caves half huts called calovan where we halted it was a sweet night and its sweetness was enhanced by the shimmer of the moonlight and the murmur of the river but inside the cave hut which I shared with the owners it was close and warm and the gnats were plentiful and aggressive Monday 24th September we started about 7 30 a.m. and traveled for some time in the company of a mozander Ronnie mula tier who gave me information which I had been unable to obtain from my own South Country charvador as to the position of the castle of sheikh tabar see that once redoubtable stronghold of the barbies which if possible I desired to visit before embarking at mashadisar I found that it lay beyond borforush between that town and Salri some distance off the main road near a village called tau rathail and that if I were to visit it it must be from borforush as we advanced the valley began to widen out and the rocky cliffs which had hitherto formed its sides gave place to wooded slopes in front to low wooded hills appeared while round our path the wild pomegranate and other trees grew ever thicker and thicker so that we could no longer see far about us soon we were out of the hill country altogether and entered a vast forest where ferns and mosses grew thickly ever and anon we traversed beautiful glades on the green sword of which were pitched here and there the black tents of nomads whose cattle grazed peaceably round about the encampment say for these black tents and a certain luxuriance of vegetation the whole scene was wonderfully English in appearance and I could almost have believed myself to be already back in my native land in one of these delicious glades we halted for lunch which consisted of cold boiled rice and foul cold in mozanderoni parlance ket te later in the day the road got terribly bad being sometimes so deep in mud and slush that the beasts could hardly advance our mulitia had intended to make for a village called firu's color but we being somewhat in advance past the point where the road did a diverged from the road to our mall and we're already some way advanced on the latter when the mulitia overtook us a violent altercation arose between him and how do you suffer for he would have had us turn back but learning from an old peasant who happened to pass by that our mall was distant but one parasang we insisted on proceeding with her and the mulitia was finally compelled to a sullen submission again the character of the country underwent a sudden change for emerging from the dense forest we entered on a flat fanny plane covered with long sedge like grasses and tall bull rushes and dotted with marshy pools and grazing cattle about 6 p.m. we passed a little village with thatched cottages which seemed strangely out of place in Persia that land of clay houses and flat roofs in dispersed amongst which were curious wooden erections each composed of four staunt poles set vertically in the ground and supporting a sloping thatch beneath this at a distance of some feet was a sort of platform on which carpets and pillows were spread I suppose that the inhabitants slept on these platforms during the hot weather to escape the mosquitoes but how do you suffer said that it was to avoid the low lying fogs which at nighttime spread themselves over the surface of the ground about half an hour after passing this village we reached our mall one of the chief cities of Mozandaron a picturesque straggling town divided into two parts by a large river which is spanned by a long narrow bridge built of bricks crossing this bridge we found quarters for the night in the house of a respectable citizen but though the room allotted to me was clean and comfortable enough the close moist air mosquitoes and vagrant cats combined to keep me awake for some time Tuesday 25th September we started about 7 30 a.m. and all day our course lay through flat marshy fennelins covered with rushes sedges and scrubby bushes snakes lizards some large and green others small and brown tortoises and frogs abounded in and about the numerous stagnant pools by which we passed the road was in many places little better than the surrounding quagmire sometimes hardly discernible and this notwithstanding the fact that it is the main highway between two of the chief cities of Mozandaron about 5 p.m. we crossed the river Barbol by a fine bridge and turning sharply to the left north along its eastern bank traversed a great common used as a grazing ground for cattle and in a few minutes entered bar for rush on our right as we entered was a large lake covered with water lilies in the center of which was an island this island was joined to the shore by a bridge and on it stood a summer palace called bulgur show the king's garden which serves the show as a residence when he visits this part of his dominions farther on we passed just outside the town the caravanserai now in ruins where the barbies under molla Hussain of Bushraway the first letter of affirmation defended themselves against the town's folk of bar for rush in the conflict which preceded the fiercest struggle at Sheikh Tabarsi entering the town the spacious square of the sabzi may down or herb market turned my thoughts to the concluding catastrophe of the great struggle of 1848 to 9 for there in the summer of the latter year molla Muhammad Ali of bar for rush called by the barbies jena be called doos his excellence the most holy suffered death together with the chief of his surviving lie tenants at the hands of the Said al-Olamar and his mermid on's as we entered the main street of the city we found one of the Muharram representations tatzi is in progress and some of the people would have had us turn aside but we continued on our way while I wondered whether the Bob's prophecy would ever be fulfilled that a day would come when in these spots hallowed by the blood of his martyrs representations of their sufferings and steadfastness should move the sympathetic lamentations and tears of the children of those who slew them and obliterate the remembrance of the martyrs of Karbala the town of bar for rush is much finer and larger than our mall but less picturesque and old world we are lighted at a rather dilapidated caravanserai near the center of the town here I was visited in the course of the evening by a native of Kabul a British subject who showed me his passport with evident pride and by one or two other persons who informed me that the Russian ambassador had on the previous day passed through the town on his way to Salri whence as I understood he proposed to return to his own country by ship from Astarabad I inquired of my visitors concerning Sheikh Tabar see which I still eagerly desired to visit they told me that it was to Paris ang's distant from bar for rush to the south east and that the barbies drawing an analogy from the early history of Islam called it Karbala bar for rush coup fa and the lake surrounding the bulgur show the Euphrates for route and we're still in the habit of making pilgrimages Veda in the evening after supper I summoned how she suffered told him of my wish to visit Sheikh Tabar see and asked him whether it would be possible to do so after thinking for a little while he replied that as we must necessarily be at the port of mashad is our by nightfall on the following day to be in time for the steamer which was to leave early on Thursday morning the only practicable plan was that he should if possible secure the services of a competent guide and to stout mozander on the ponies to convey me to the shrine and back to bar for rush and then on after a short rest to mashad is our with a he himself would proceed direct with the baggage all depends he concluded on my success in finding a guide if I can find one I will wake you but times in the morning for you must start early if not you must perforce relinquish the project next morning Wednesday 26th September how she awoke me about seven with the welcome intelligence that he had found a shop keeper of bar for rush who owned two ponies and was well acquainted with the road to Sheikh Tabar see with her for a consideration he was willing to guide me while I was drinking my morning tea the after said guide an honest looking burly fellow appeared in person well said he I hear you want to visit Tabar see what for is no concern of mine the wire ferringi should desire to go there baffles my understanding however I am ready to take you if you'll give me a suitable present for my trouble but we must start at once for it is too good parasangs there over the worst of ground and you must as I understand get to mashad is our this evening so that you should be back here at least two or three hours before sunset if you don't like fatigue and hard work you had better give up the idea what do you say will you go or not of course I will go I replied for what else did I seek you out well said replied my guide patting me on the shoulder then let us be off without delay in a few minutes we were in the saddle and moving rapidly along the high road to salary on our sturdy wiry little mozanderoni ponies wither away cried some of my guides acquaintance as we clattered out of the town shake he replied laconically we're at expressions of surprise and curiosity which we did not stop to answer would burst from our interrogators soon we left the high road and striking across a broad grassy common entered trackless swamps and forests in which my guide well as he knew the country was sometimes at fault for the water lay deep on the rice fields and only the peasants whom we occasionally met could tell us whether or no a particular passage was possible after crossing the swampy rice fields we came to thickets and woods intersected by the narrowest and muddiest of paths and overgrown with branches through which we forced our arduous way thence after fording a river with steep mudbanks we entered on pleasant open downs and traversing several small coppices arrived about 10 30 a.m. at the lonely shrine of Sheikh Ahmad ebn abitou le betabar see so stands the name of the buried saint on a tablet inscribed with the form of words used for his visitation which hang suspended from the railings surrounding his tomb rendered immortal by the gallantry of the Balbi insurgents who for nine months October 1848 to July 1849 held it against overwhelming numbers of regulars and volunteers Sheikh tabar see is a place of little natural strength and of the elaborate fortifications said by the Mosul man historians to have been constructed by the barbies no trace remains it consists at present of a flat grassy enclosure surrounded by a hedge and containing besides the buildings of the shrine and another building at the gateway opposite to which but outside the enclosure stands the house of the mote valley or custodian of the shrine nothing but two or three orange trees and a few rude graves covered with flat stones the last resting places perhaps of some of the Balbi defenders the building at the gateway is two stories high is traversed by the passage giving access to the enclosure and is roofed with tiles the buildings of the shrine which stand at the farthest end of the enclosure are rather more elaborate their greatest length about 20 paces lies east and west their breadth is about 10 paces and besides the covered portico at the entrance they contain two rooms scantily lighted by wooden gratings over the doors the tomb of the sheikh from whom the place takes its name stands surrounded by wooden railings in the center of the inner room to which access is obtained either by a door communicating with the outer chamber or by a door opening externally into the enclosure my guide believing no doubt that i was at heart of balbi come to visit the grave of the martyrs of my religion considerably withdrew to the motevali's house and left me to my own devices for about three quarters of an hour i was still engaged in making rough plans and sketches of the place note these will be found in my translation of the new history published by the cambridge university press end note however when he returned to remind me that we could not afford to delay much longer so not very willingly yet greatly comforted and having successfully accomplished this final pilgrimage i mounted and we rode back by the way we had come to bar for ruche where we arrived about three p.m you are a hoji now said my guide laughingly as we drew near the town and you ought to reward me liberally for this day's work for i tell you that there are hundreds of balbis who come here to visit sheikh tabar see and can find no one to guide them thither and these would almost give their ears to go where you have gone and see what you have seen so when we alighted at a caravan surai near his house i gave him a sum of money with which he appeared well content and he in return set tea before me and then came and sat with me a while telling me with some amusement of the wonderings and speculations which my visit to sheikh tabar see had provoked amongst the townsfolk some say you must be a barbie he concluded but most inclined to the belief that you have been there to look for buried treasure for say they who ever heard of a ferengi who cared about religion and in any case what has a ferengi to do with the barbies i for my part have done my best to encourage them in this belief what took you to tabar see is no business either of theirs or of mine when i had rested for a while a horse on which was set up alone or pack saddle instead of an ordinary saddle was brought round my guide apologized for not himself conducting me to mash had a sir adding that he had provided a guide who knew the way well with this new guide a barefooted stripling i set off for my last ride in persia our way lay at first through beautiful shady lanes and thriving villages composed of thatched cottages both singularly english in appearance and we made good progress until about two miles from mash had a sir we emerged on the bare links or downs which skirt the coast and almost simultaneously darkness began to fall here we lost our way for a while until set in the road by an old villager and at length about seven thirty p.m after traversing more lanes that were shadowed by trees and brilliant with glow worms we saw the welcome light of the caravan sarai which stands hard by the seashore at some distance beyond the village that night was my last on persian soil but i had little time to indulge in sentimental reflections for it was late when i had finished my supper and i had to dispose my baggage for a different manner of traveling from that to which i had been so long accustomed besides settling up with houji sapphire i paid him 163 kronz in all about five pounds of which 60 kronz were for his wages during september 30 kronz for the first half of october for he would not reach tehran for 10 days probably 40 kronz for the hire of the horse i had ridden and 33 kronz for the journey money i also made over to him my saddle saddlebags and cooking utensils as well as some well-worn clothes and further entrusted to him my revolver which he was to give to one of my friends in tehran as a keepsake together with several letters this done i retired to rest and slept soundly next morning thursday 27th september houji sapphire woke me early telling me that the steamer was in sight this proved to be a false alarm and when i went to the russian agents who had an office in the caravan sarai they declined to give me my ticket until the steamer actually appeared these two agents either were or feigned to be excessively stupid they affected not to understand either persian or french and refused to take payment for the ticket in anything but russian money so that it was fortunate that i had in tehran provided myself with a certain quantity of ruble notes finally the steamer hove in sight the ticket was bought for 25 rubles and i hastened down to the shore of the estuary where several large clumsy boats were preparing to put off to her it was with genuine regret that i turned for a moment before stepping into the boat to bid farewell to persia which notwithstanding all her faults i had come to love very dearly and the faithful and efficient houji sapphire he had served me well and to his intelligence and enterprise i owed he was not perfect what man is but if ever it be my lot to visit these lands again i would wish no better than to secure the services of him or one like him i slipped into his hands a bag of money which i had reserved for a parting present and with a few brief words of farewell stepped into the boat which at once cast off from the shore and hoisting a sail stood out towards the russian steamer the sea grew rougher as we left the shelter of the estuary but with the sail we advanced quickly and about 8 15 a.m i climbed on board the emperor alexander and for the first time for many months felt myself with a sudden sense of loneliness a stranger in the midst of strangers the only passengers who embarked besides myself were two or three persians bound for mashhad and with these i conversed fitfully knowing not when next i might find chance of speech in an intelligible tongue till we entered the vessel when they took up their station forward as deck passengers and i descended to the cabin at nine the steamer had turned about for mashhadisar is the end of this line and was running eastwards for bandara gas the port of astarobaud about 10 30 a bell announced breakfast and i again descended to the cabin i was the only passenger and on entering the saloon i was surprised to see two tables laid at one was seated the officers of the vessel three or four in number busily engaged in the consumption of sardines caviar cheese roasted potatoes and the like which they were washing down with nips of vodka a strong spirit resembling the persian arab the other table was laid with plates but the places were vacant wondering whether the officers were too proud to sit down at the same table with the passengers i stood hesitating observing which one of the officers called out to me in english asking me whether i felt sick i indignantly repudiated the imputation where upon he bad me joined them at their zakuski i sat down with him and after doing justice to the caviar and cheese we moved on to the other table and had a substantial at 6 30 in the evening we had another similar meal also preceded by zakuski at 4 p.m we reached bandara gas the port of astarobaud and anchored close to the shore by a wooden barge serving as a pier in full view of the little island of ashurada this now belongs to the russians who first occupied it on the pretext of checking the turkiman pirates who formally infested this corner of the kasbian and then declined to give it back to the persians and around it several russian warships were anchored some of their officers came on borda steamer and later in the evening rockets were sent up from them in honor as i suppose of the russian ambassador who so far as i could learn for everyone was very reticent and uncompagnionable was in the neighborhood i went to sleep that night with the sweet scent of the forests of mozanderan in my nostrils for the wind was off the shore but when i went on deck next morning friday 28th september not a tree was in sight but only a long line of yellow sand dunes which marked the inhospitable turkiman coast whence in bygone days ere the russians stepped in and put a stop to their marauding the turkiman pirates issued forth to harry the fertile persian lands and bear back with them to hateful bondage hosts of unfortunate captives destined for sale in the slave markets of samarkand and bocharal at about midday we anchored off checkishlar where a number of russian officers two ladies and a child came on board to breakfast on the steamer immediately after breakfast we again stood out to see that evening an official of the russian police who i suppose had come on board at checkishlar came up to me with one of the officers of the boat and demanded my passport which he said would be returned to me at the custom house at baku i was very loath to part with it but there was no help for it and inwardly chafing i surrendered to him the precious document early next morning saturday 29th september i awoke to find the vessel steaming along between a double row of sand dunes towards yuzun ada long island the point whence the russian railway to bocharal and samarkand takes its departure passing the narrows we anchored alongside the key about 8 30 a.m being without my passport which had probably been taken from me expressly to prevent me from leaving the steamer i could not even if i would have gone on shore but indeed there was little to tempt me for a more an attractive spot i have seldom seen it seemed to consist almost entirely of railway stations barracks police stations and custom houses set in wastes of sand infinite and immeasurable and the turkmen seemed to bear but a small proportion to the russian inhabitants a number of passengers came on board here all of whom save one lady and three children were russian officers the deck too was crowded with soldiers who after dinner at a sign from their officer burst out into a song with a chorus like the howling of wolves which i supposed was intended for a national anthem on retiring to my cabin i found to my disgust that my birth had been appropriated by a russian officer who had ejected my possessions and now lay there snoring hideously i was angered at his discourtesy but deemed it wisest to make no remonstrance from my short experience of russian traveling i should suppose that their military men make a point of occupying places already taken in preference to such as are vacant at any rate when the occupant is a civilian and a foreigner i woke about 6 30 a.m on the following morning sunday 30th september to find myself at baku or bod kube as it is called by the persians somehow or other i escaped the ordeal of the custom house for intending at first a breakfast on board i did not disembark with the other passengers and when afterwards changing my mind i went on shore about 9 30 a.m the pier was free of excisemen and i had nothing to do but step into a cab and drive to the station stopping on the way at a persian money changes to convert the remainder of my persian money into ruble notes the train did not start till 2 37 p.m so i had some time to wait at the station where i had lunch the porters were inefficient and uncivil the train crowded and the scenery monotonous in the extreme so that my long railway journey began under rather depressing auspices still there was a certain novelty in finding myself once more in a train and after a while i was cheered by the entrance into my compartment of two muscle mons of the Caucasus with these i entered into conversation in turkish for which i presently substituted persian on finding that one of them was familiar with that language but i had hardly spoken 10 words when a russian officer who sat next to me on the right and with whom i had had a slight altercation in french about one of my portmanteaus which he alleged to be insecurely balanced in the rack leaned forward with an appearance of interest and then addressed me in perfectly idiomatic persian i discovered that he had been born in Persia near Borujerd i think and had learned persian almost as his native language to both of us i think but to myself certainly it was a pleasure to speak it and we became quite friendly i had intended to stay a day at Tiflis where we arrived at 8 15 next morning Monday 1st October but the friendly officer told me that the steamers for Odessa left Batum on Tuesdays and Thursdays and that after city's more truly oriental in character Tiflis would offer but little attraction to me so i determined to continue my journey without halt in order to catch the morrow's boat i had some difficulty in getting my ticket and finding my train as no one seemed to talk anything but russian but at last i succeeded though only after a waste of time which prevented me from making more than the most unsubstantial and desultory breakfast this however was of little consequence for i never knew any railway on which there were such frequent and prolonged stoppages for refreshment or any refreshment rooms so well provided and so well managed the fact that there is only one train a day each way no doubt makes it easier to have all these savory dishes and steaming samovars tea urns ready for passengers on their arrival but at no railway station in europe have i seen food at once so cheap so good and so well served as in the stations of the trans-caucasian line the scenery on leaving Tiflis was fine and at one point we caught a glimpse of splendid snow-capped mountains to the north but on the whole i was disappointed for the line lies so much in narrow valleys which bar the outlook that little is to be seen of the great caucasian range what could be seen of the country from the train was pretty rather than grand and i was not sorry to reach Batoum at about 11.15 pm where i put up at the Hotel de France and for the first time since leaving Tehran 11 days ago enjoyed the luxury of sleeping between sheets as the steamer for Odessa was not to leave Batoum till 3.30 pm on the following day Tuesday 2nd October i had all the morning to look about me but the town presented few features of interest and the only thing that aroused my wonder was the completely european character assumed by a place which had only ceased to be turkish 12 years ago i was very glad to embark on the steamer which actually started about 4 pm dinner was at 6 pm and afterwards i stayed on deck till after 11 pm where we arrived at Suhum Kala next evening Wednesday 3rd October we reached Novo Rasayask about 5 pm and lay there till late at night there were several war vessels in the fine harbor which continued throughout the evening to send up rockets and flash the electric light from point to point early on the morning of Thursday 4th October we reached Kerch where amongst other passengers a very loquacious american came on board he had been spending some time amongst the russians whom he did not much like or admire though as he told me he believed them to be the coming nation end of section 45 recording by Nicholas James Bridgewater recorded in London England chapter 18 section 46 of a year amongst the persons 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 Friday the 5th of October reached Yalta about 5 am and lay there till 8 it's a very beautiful place and I was told that the drive then to Sevastopol along the coast traverses scenery so fair that it has been called the earthly paradise at 1 30 pm we reached Sevastopol where the american left the steamer the harbor struck me as very fine but I ignorant of things military should never have guessed that the place would be a position of such remarkable strength on the following morning Saturday the 6th of October we reached Odessa before 7 am there was no customs examination as we came from a russian port and I drove straight into the hotel the Europe thinking that my troubles were over and that from this point onwards all would be plain sailing here however I was greatly out of my reckoning as will shortly appear for while I was visiting an English ship owner to whom I had a letter of introduction he inquired whether I had had my passport visa for departure from Russia I replied that I had not as I was unaware that it was necessary then said he you had best get it done at once if you wish to leave this evening give it to me and I will send a man with it to your hotel that your landlord may see to it I did so and sat chatting there for another quarter of an hour when we were interrupted by a telephonic message informing me that my presence was necessary the landlord made me at the hotel door I'm afraid you'll not be able to get your visit today said he for it is past noon and if the police granted it will only be as an act of grace your only chance is to take a cab drive direct to the police station and request the prefect as a favor to visa your passport explaining to him that you've but just arrived and wish to start tonight fruitless errand to see such grace from the Russian police whether I offended them by a meeting to remove my hat on entering the office I know not probably this had something to do with it for a man cried out at me in anger through a pigeonhole and was only quieted when I uncovered my hair then it was some time before I could find anyone who spoke anything but Russian but at last I was shown into an inner room where two men said at a table one portly irascible and clad in uniform the other thin white heard smooth shaven and sinister of countenance I presented my passport and explained in French the reasons which had prevented me from coming sooner adding that I should feel deeply obliged if they would grant me the visa the whisen-faced man answered in a high peevish voice in very bad French that I must come tomorrow I cannot come tomorrow I replied for I must leave tonight you cannot leave tonight he retorted as his portly colleague threw the passport back to me across the table if you wished to leave tonight you should have come earlier but I tell you that I only arrived this morning I answered then you must stay till tomorrow they answered and when I would have remonstrated go shouted the man in the uniform you waste our time and yours and so gulping down my anger and pocketing my passport I left the office here was a pleasant state of things I was in hot haste to get back to England I had traveled as fast as I could from the Persian capital not even stopping at Tiflis where I would gladly have spent a day and now there seemed ever likelihood of my being detained in this detestable Odessa for the whim of a Russian prefect of police I asked my friend the shipowner what I should do I'm afraid said he that you can do nothing now you seem to have offended the susceptibilities of the police in some way and they will certainly not do anything to accommodate you for their will is absolute and argument is useless a judicious bribe might have smoothed matters over if you had known how to give it and to whom but I fear that the time for that has passed are you sure the passport needs a visa at all I inquired remembering that the words bon pur se rendre un angleterre par voy de la russique had been inscribed on it at the English embassy after it had received the Russian visa at Tehran my friend was at first inclined to maintain that the visa was indispensable but I asked why as I was not stopping even a single night at Odessa and as I was traveling straight through Russia as fast as possible it should need a visa here more than at Baku or any other town through which I had passed then he called the clerk more experienced in the ways of Russia than himself and asked his opinion the clerk finally gave it at his decision that the passport was good without the visa of the Odessa police unless the latter apprehending my departure should telegraph to the frontier stations not to let me pass well said I the practical point is this would you advise me to take this evening's train or not I hardly like to advise you replied my friend but if I were in your place I should go and risk it in that case I rejoined after a moment's reflection I'll go I had some difficulty with the hotel keeper here he would consent to my departure but at length to my great relief I found myself with a ticket for Berlin in my pocket ensconced in a compartment of the 740 p.m train for the west a pleasant and kindly Austrian who was returning to Vienna and who would therefore bear me company as far as Oshvinchi was my fellow traveler he spoke English well and gave me much seasonable help both at the Russian and the Austrian frontiers it was an anxious moment for me when about 9 a.m on the following day Sunday the 7th of October the train steamed into the Russian frontier station of Wolichesky and we were bitten to a light for the inspection of passports a parent Tory official collected these and disappeared with them into an office while we waited anxiously outside presently he appeared with a handful of them and began to call out the names of the possessors each of whom as his name was called stepped forward and claimed his passport I waited anxiously for mine was not there the official retired to his office and again emerged with another sheaf of papers and still I waited in vain till all but one or two of the passports had been returned to their owners haven't you got your passport yet inquired the kindly Austrian the train is just going to start I don't know what has become of it I answered despairingly making sure that my detention had been resolved upon there upon he stepped forward and addressed the official who in reply produced two or three passports amongst which I recognized my own I was very near trying to snatch it out of his hand but luckily I restrained myself that's mine I exclaimed the Austrian translated what I had said to the official who after staring at me for a moment threw the precious document to me he was surprised said the Austrian to see so vast a collection of strange visits and inscriptions on the papers of a young man like you so much time had been consumed thus that I had to forego all hope of breakfast and thought myself fortunate in finding a few moments to change my Russian into Austrian money then I reinterred the train and describable was my satisfaction when we steamed out of the station and left Russia behind us the people I doubt not are honest and kindly fall but the system of police supervision and constant restrained which prevails is to an Englishman and used to such interference well-nigh intolerable I had suffered more annoyance during the few days of my passage through Russian territory then during all the rest of my journey not yet however where my troubles over five minutes after leaving Wallachesky the train pulls up at the Austrian frontier station of Pod Wallachesky for the Austrian customs examination as it began to slacken speed my Austrian friend asked me whether I anticipated any trouble there I answered in the negative what for instance said he have you in that wooden box the boxing question contained a handsome silver coffee service of Persian workmanship which a Persian gentleman to whom I was on their great obligation had asked me to convey for him to one of his friends in England I told my Austrian fellow traveler this whereupon he exclaimed a silver coffee service you'll have trouble enough with it or I'm much mistaken why do you not know that the custom house regulations in Austria as to the importation of silver are more stringent you'll be lucky if they do not confiscated and melted down I was greatly disquieted at this information for I felt myself bound in honor to convey the silver entrusted to me safely to its destination and I asked my companion what I had best do well he said you must declare it at once on your arrival and demand to have it sealed up for transmission to the Persian frontier station of Auschwitz I'll give you what help I can I had another bad time at Pod Wallachesky but at length thanks to the good offices of my fellow traveler the box containing the silver was sealed up with lead and seals and registered through to Auschwitz all my luggage was subjected to an exhaustive examination and everything of which the use was not perfectly apparent such as my medicine chest and the Wallasey valise was placed in the contraband parcel for which I had to pay a considerable additional sum for registration all this took time and here too I had to abandon all idea of breakfast by the time we reached Lumberg at about 2 p.m. I was extremely hungry having had practically nothing to eat since leaving Odessa on the previous evening and I was glad to secure a luncheon basket the contents of which I had plenty of time to consume here we reached the next station where it was removed my original intention was to stay the night at Krakow as I found that I should gain nothing by pushing onto the Auschwitz but now seeing that the bundle containing the silver entrusted to my care must go through to the frontier and anticipating further troubles at the Russian custom house I changed my plan and then arriving at Krakow alighted from the train reclaimed that portion of my luggage registered from Odessa and re-registered it to Auschwitz the Prussian frontier station and the point where the Vienna and Berlin lines diverged I had just time to effect this here the train started again at 11.30 on the night of this miserable day the train stopped at Auschwitz and I emerged into the Blackwood night the cheerlessness of which was revealed rather than mitigated by a few feeble oil lamps with some difficulty I found the porter for the place seemed wrapped in slumber who making me leave all my luggage in a locked room to await the customs examination on the morrow and suffering me to retain only my great coat led me through a perfect sea of mud to the miserable hotel opposite the station there was a light in one of the windows but though we knocked vigorously for some time no one came at last the door was opened on a chain by a most ill-looking fellow clad in a night shirt and trousers with a beard of two days growth on his ugly chin so little did I like his looks that I did not press for admission which he on his part showed no inclination to grant me so I returned to the empty waiting room of the station with its dimly lighted berry smoke-laden atmosphere thinking that after all I should not be much worse off sleeping on the wooden beach which run round the walls then in some of the Turkish stables and Mozandaron hovels to which I had become inured in the course of my travels I do not think that the porter who accompanied me spoke German very fluently and as I could hardly speak it at all communication was difficult tired out wet and discouraged I was anxious to throw myself on the bench and forget my troubles in sleep yet still the porter stood by me striving as I supposed to express his regret at my being compelled to pass so uncomfortable a night so I roused myself and as well as I could told him that it was really of no consequence since I had passed many a good night in quarters no more luxurious this will do very well till the morning I concluded as I again threw myself down on the bench thinking of that favorite euphorism of the persons under such circumstances as those in which I found myself after all it is for one night not a thousand it might do very well explain the porter if you could stop here but you cannot we are going to shut up the station I again sprung to my feet I can't spend the night walking about in the rain I remonstrated and you see that the hotel will not admit me where am I to go that's just the question retorted he we again emerged on to the platform and my porter to counsel with some other station officials but from the way they shook their heads and shrugged the shoulders I infer that my chances of being allowed to remain there were but small finally a gendarme with a gun and bayonet appeared and I was invited to follow him which I did pathetically without the least idea as to whether we were bound tramping after my guide through dark muddy lanes I presently found myself at the door of a house where the gendarme bade me wait for a minute while he entered presently after much wrangling in polish he again emerged and beacons to me to follow him we passed through an outer bedroom where several persons were sleeping and entered a smaller inner room containing two beds occupied by the owner of the house and his son between the former and my guide a further alteration ensued and it seemed as though here also I was to find no rest at last the owner of the house got out of bed led me to a sort of window looking into an adjacent room which I had not hitherto noticed and pointing to a mass of human beings vagrants I suppose sleeping huddled together on the floor remarked that it was pretty full in there I stepped back in consternation well continued he will you stay I must stay somewhere I replied I'm not allowed to stop in the railway station I can't get into the hotel and you can hardly expect me to spend the night out of doors in the rain well you can sleep on that bench said he pointing to one which stood by the wall I signified a scent and as the gendarme prepared to depart I offered him a small silver coin which looked like a sixpence the effect was most happy it had never occurred to me that these people would suppose me to be absolutely impecunious but I fancy that this was the case and that I did not sufficiently realize how shabby my appearance was in the old travel stained cloths which I wore at all events the production of this little piece of silver acted like magic my host after asking the gendarme to let him look at it turned to me with a marked increase of courtesy and asked me whether I would like a bolster laid on the bench and some blankets were with to cover myself I replied that I should and venture to suggest that if he had any bread in the house I should be glad of some as I was ravenously hungry cheese inquire I eagerly assented and further asked for water instead of which he brought me milk I made a hearty meal while his little son who had been awakened by the noise sat up and began to question me in bad french which as it appeared he was learning at school all together I feared much better than I had expected and had it not been that my socks and boots were wet through I should have been sufficiently comfortable in the morning they gave me breakfast made me inscribe my name and a book kept for that purpose were delighted to find that I had a passport and thankfully received the few shillings I gave them then the porter of the previous night returned to conduct me to the railway station and I paid farewell to my entertainers not knowing to this day whether or no I had passed that night under the sheltering roof of a polish casual ward by reaching the station an hour before the departure of my train which started from Krakow where I had intended to spend the previous night I hoped to get my luggage cleared at the custom house and the silver plate sealed up again for transmission through Germany in good time here again I was foiled however for I found that the custom house officers did not put in appearance till the arrival of the train when they did come they were intelligent and courteous enough but very rigorous in their examination of my luggage about my opium pipe the nature of which greatly to their credit I thought they at once recognized they were especially curious then they must see the silver coffee service at the beauty of which they utter guttural ejaculations of admiration but when it came to the question of sealing it up again for transmission to the Dutch frontier they declared that there was not sufficient time before the departure of the train and that I should have to wait till the next which did not start till the afternoon or evening I was so heartily sick of Oswieci and so eager to get to the end of my journey that I could not face the prospect of further delay especially as I had every reason to expect that I should have another similar experience at a Dutch frontier so I inquired whether it would not be possible to have the package forwarded after me to England they replied that it would and introduced to me an honest-looking man named Arnold Haber who they said was an agent for the transmission of goods to him therefore I confided the cure of my precious but troublesome little box which dearly reached me some days after my return to Cambridge with a heavy charge for duty from the Dover custom house it was with unalloyed satisfaction that I took my seat in the train and about 10 a.m left Oswieci behind me at 2 p.m I reached Brestland where I had just time for a hasty meal and at 10 p.m I was at Berlin just in time to see the flushing nightmare which I had hoped to catch steam out of the station so here I had to spend the night at a wholly comfortable hotel called the Berliner Hoef the luxuries of which a remembrance of my last night's discomfort enabled me to appreciate to the full next morning Tuesday the 9th of October I left Berlin at 7 45 a.m for flushing and 24 hours later without further adventure landed once more in England by half past nine on the morning of that day Wednesday the 10th of October I was at King's Cross debating in my mind whether I should go straight to the north or whether I out first to visit Cambridge where term had just begun to report my arrival and request the week's leave to visit my home this indecision however was a brief duration for my eagerness to see my home again with brook no delay and increased nearness did but beget greater impatience there are I supposed few pleasures in this world comparable to the return to a home one loves after a long absence abroad and the realization of this pleasure I could not bring myself to postpone for a moment longer than necessary thus ended the journey to which though fraught with fatigues and discomforts and not wholly free from occasional vexations I look back with almost unmixed satisfaction for such fatigues and discomforts and they were far fewer than might reasonably have been expected I was amply compensated by an enlarged knowledge and experience and a rich store of pleasant memories which would have been cheaply purchased even at a higher price for without toil and fatigue can nothing be accomplished even as an Arab poet has said and he who hopes to scale the heights without enduring pain and toil and strife but wastes his life in idle quest and vain end of chapter 18 section 46 end of a year amongst the Persians impressions as to the life character and thought of the people of Persia received during 12 months residence in that country in the years 1887 and 1888 by Edward Granville Brown