THE MUSEUM. 



121 



plain of Northern Persia and in full 

 si^ht of Deinavend, the great extinct 

 volcano mountain 19,400 feet hif^h aotl 

 covered with a beautiful sheet of snow, 

 to the north gate of the great walled 

 city of Teheran — the capital and me- 

 tropolis of the Empire. \\'hat I did 

 during my stay of t^vo weeks in this 

 great Persian city must wait in its nar- 

 ration till we meet. Now I will only 

 tell \ou of \'eraniin — that magnet me- 

 teorite which had, all irregularly, pul- 

 led me with its strong attraction so far 

 away to the south. 



After a few days in this cily I had 

 obtained audience with the Grand Viz- 

 ier at his palatial residence. He spoke 

 and understood French; so I told him 

 in simple, unvarnished words the ob- 

 ject of my visit. I had heard clear in 

 distant America of a famous stone 

 which had fallen from Heaven many 

 years ago, and was now in the Palace 

 of the Shah. That I wished to see it, 

 to examine and weigh and photograph 

 it, and also, if possible, to obtain a 

 piece of it for my collection of these 

 wonderful objects. His Excellency in- 

 formed me that it would be possible to 

 bring about most of my requests as 

 stated, but that he doubted very much 

 my being able to obtain a fragment, 

 even ever so small, of the precious and 

 somewhat celebrated stone. He would. 

 however, at an early day be called to 

 see His Majestv the Shah, and that he 

 would then bring up the subject, and 

 ascertain what mi},'ht be done. In 

 fact, after a few days' delay I received 

 a letter from the Grand Vizier, enclos- 

 ing word from the Shah inviting me to 

 call on the following day with him and 

 with the .American .Ambassador, who 

 had interested himself actively in my 

 behalf. 



We went promptly the next day to 

 the Paldce; passed the guard at the 

 outer and inner gate.«, traversed, one 

 after another, many courts with foun- 

 tains, and wandered through the mazy 

 pathwajs of the Gulistan, or Garden 

 of Koses, before we reached the en- 

 trance part of the noble edifice. We 



were joined at the grand staircase by 

 the Guardian of the Palace and one or 

 two court attendants, and with them 

 we proceeded at once to the hall of 

 the Peacock Throne, where the audi- 

 ence was to be given. Our little 

 party — including the American .Ambas- 

 sador, the Grand \'izier and myself— 

 walked down the hall with as much 

 circumstance and dignity as if we were 

 representatives of some foreign poten- 

 tate on a mission of importance to the 

 state, instead of being in the main led 

 and motived bv a Yankee seeking a 

 meteorite for his cabinet. At the fur- 

 ther end of the hall, and immediately 

 in front of the throne, stood His Im- 

 perial Majesty the Shah, Mozuffer-ed- 

 Din ( ■ '\'ictorious of the Faith,") whom, 

 when you meet on such occasion, it is 

 proper to address as "King of Kings," 

 or "Asylum of the Universe." He 

 stood before us quite unattended; a 

 middle-aged man of medium height, 

 somewhat stout and portly in figure. 

 He was dressed in a plain civilian suit 

 of light blue, his coat buttoned in front 

 to the chin, and his skirts, which were 

 long, had voluminous folds and pleats 

 which made it stand out in the peculiar 

 heavy manner distinctive of this article 

 ol Persian dress. Our audience being 

 a private one, he wore no decoration 

 and no insignia or jewels save one large 

 diamond in the front of his ko/a, or 

 head-dress of astrakhan wool, which is 

 in shape like a Turkish fez without the 

 tassel. We of course made our bows 

 in the lowest and most impressive 

 manner. His Majesty opened the con- 

 versation with "Bon jour"; which 

 words, uttered in an explosive manner, 

 proved to be the limit of his French. 

 Our conversation thereafter, in which 

 the Grand Vizier changed my French 

 into Persian for His Majesty's benefit, 

 and His Majes y's Persian into F"rench 

 for my benefit, seemed to roll chiefiy 

 upon meteorites. His Majesty was 

 curious to know more or less about 

 their place of origin, the places in 

 which they had fallen, their general 

 composition, and particularly if any of 



