distinguish themselves among their diplomatic brethren by the comfortableness as well as the splendor of their establishments. In addition to the diplomatic corps of Europe, I found at that time at Teheran many officers, French or Italian; an Austrian officer, too, of the Engineers, R. von Gasteiger-all of them in the service of the Shah, with liberal allowances. These gentlemen, as I heard, were disposed to render themselves very serviceable, possessing all the requisite qualifications; but any benefit that might have resulted was entirely neutralized by the systematic want of system that existed in Persia, and by the low intrigues of the Persians.

the

The object of Ferrukh Khan's diplomatic journeys in Europe was in reality to show our cabinets how much Iran had it at heart to obtain admittance into the comity of states. He begged aid He begged aid every where, that his country might have the wondrous elixir of civilization imparted to it as rapidly as possible. All Europe thought that Persia was really upon point of adopting every European custom and principle. As Ferrukh Khan has a long beard, wears long robes and a high hat, which give him a very earnest look, our ministers were kind enough to attach to him unlimited credit. Wishing to honor a regular government in Persia, troops of officers, artists, and artisans flocked to him. They went still farther, and hastened to return the visits of the Envoy Extraordinary of the Shah. In consequence, we saw Belgium, at no little expense, forwarding an embassador to Persia to study commercial relations, to make treaties of commerce, and to give effect to

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ARRIVAL OF EMBASSADORS.

25

numberless other strokes of policy. He arrived, and I can scarcely imagine that his first report home could have begun with "Veni, vidi, vici," or that he could have felt the slightest desire to pay a second visit to "la belle Perse." Next to Belgium came Prussia. The learned diplomatist Baron von Minutoli, to whom the mission was intrusted, devoted his life to it. His thirst after science impelled him to proceed to South Persia; and at only two days' journey from "heavenly Shiraz," as the Persians call it, he fell a sacrifice to the pestilential air, and now reposes in the place last mentioned, a few paces from Hafiz, and behind the Baghi Takht.

A few days after I came the embassy of the new kingdom of Italy arrived also, consisting of twenty persons, divided into diplomatic, military, and scientific sections. The object they had in view has remained always a mystery to me. I have much to recount respecting their reception, but prefer to keep. these details for a better occasion, and to busy myself more especially with the preparations I then made for my own journey.

By the kind offices of my friends at the Turkish embassy, I was in a condition very little suited to the character of a mendicant dervish which I was about to assume the comforts I was enjoying were heartily distasteful to me, and I should have preferred, after my ten days' repose at Teheran, to proceed at once to Meshed and Herat, had not obstacles, long dreaded, interfered with my design. Even before the date of my leaving Constantinople, I had heard, by the daily press, of the war declared by Dost Moham

med Khan against his son-in-law and former vassal at Herat, Sultan Ahmed Khan, because the latter had broken his fealty to him, and had placed himself under the suzerainty of the Shah of Persia. Our European papers seemed to me to exaggerate the whole matter, and the story failed to excite in me the apprehensions it really ought to have done. I regarded the difficulties as unreal, and began my journey.

Nevertheless, here in Teheran, at a distance of only thirty-two days' journey from the seat of war, I learned from undeniable sources, to my very great regret, that the war in those parts had really broken off all communications, and that since the siege had begun, no caravan, still less any solitary traveler, could pass either from or to Herat. Persians themselves dared not venture their wares or their lives; but there would have been far more cause for apprehension in the case of a European, whose foreign lineaments would, in those savage Asiatic districts, even in periods of peace, be regarded by an Oriental with • mistrust, and must singularly displease him in time of war. The chances, indeed, seemed to be, if I ventured thither, that I should be unceremoniously massacred by the Afghans. I began to realize my actual position, and convinced myself of the impossibility, for the moment, of prosecuting my journey under such circumstances; and in order not to reach, during the wintry season, Bokhara, in the wastes of Central Asia, I immediately determined to postpone my journey till next March, when I should have the finest season of the year before me; and, perhaps, in the mean time, the existing political relations, which

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PROCEED TO SHIRAZ.

27

barricaded Herat, the gate of Central Asia, from all approach, might have ceased. It was not till the beginning of September that I became reconciled to this necessity. It will be readily understood how unpleasant it was for me to have to spend five or six months in a country possessing for me only secondary interest, and respecting which so many excellent accounts have already appeared. Not, then, with any serious intention of studying Persia, but rather to withdraw myself from a state of inactivity calculated to be prejudicial to my future purposes, I quitted, in a semi-dervish character, my hospitable Turkish friends, and proceeded at once by Ispahan to Shiraz, and so obtained the enjoyment of visiting the oft-described monuments of ancient Iran civilization.

CHAPTER II.

RETURN TO TEHERAN.—RELIEF OF SUNNITES, DERVISHES, AND HADJIS AT THE TURKISH EMBASSY.—AUTHOR BECOMES ACQUAINTED WITH A CARAVAN OF TARTAR HADJIS RETURNING FROM MECCA.-THE DIFFERENT ROUTES.-THE AUTHOR DETERMINES TO JOIN THE HADJIS.-HADJI BILAL.-INTRODUCTION OF THE AUTHOR TO HIS FUTURE TRAVELING COMPANIONS.-ROUTE THROUGH THE YOMUTS AND THE GREAT DESERT DECIDED UPON.

"The Parthians held it as a maxim to accord no passage over their territory to any stranger."-Heeren, Manual of Ancient History.

TOWARD the middle of January, 1863, I found myself back in Teheran, and again sharing the hospitality of my Turkish benefactors. A change came over me; my hesitation was at an end, my decision was made, my preparations hastened. I resolved, even at the greatest sacrifice, to carry out my design. It is an old custom of the Turkish embassy to accord a small subsidy to the hadjis and dervishes, who every year are in the habit of passing in considerable numbers through Persia toward the Turkish empire. This is a real act of benevolence for the poor Sunnitish mendicants in Persia, who do not obtain a farthing from the Shiitish Persians. The consequence was, that the hotel of the embassy received guests from the most remote parts of Turkestan. I felt the greatest pleasure whenever I saw these ragged wild Tartars enter my apartment. They had it in their power to give much real information respecting their