A RIDE TO TEHERAN IN 1888. 319 



purpose we handed them in through a hole in the wall 

 to a rather effeminate-looking Persian, with long black 

 hair coiled under his lambswool hat, sitting on a 

 carpet; and after tea, eggs and fruit, with the inevit- 

 able but indispensable samovar, the use of which is 

 as general in Persia as in Eussia, I set off to over- 

 take my baggage which had been sent on in charge 

 of a post-boy, the Armenian accompanying me and 

 carrying his own saddle-bags on his own horse. 

 The path followed the course of a torrent, passing a 

 number of clear springs of good drinking water, and 

 by sunset we had completed the first of the four 

 stages of twenty-five miles each, which separated us 

 from Tabreez. In Persia the only buildings which 

 a traveller enters while on the road are the post- 

 stations, the general plan of which never varies much, 

 and consists of stables for the horses built round three, 

 or sometimes two sides of a square yard, which is 

 entered through a large gateway ; the whole being 

 surrounded by a high wall and roughly fashioned of 

 mud, which becomes very hard when dry. The room 

 or rooms for travellers are generally over, or on each 

 side of this gateway, and are also entirely of mud, but 

 generally have glass windows. There is an excess 

 rather than a deficiency of ventilation, as the doors 

 rarely close properly, and a few panes are usually 

 missing from the window. A samovar of boiling water 

 is ready whenever one happens to arrive, as Persians 

 are constantly drinking tea, like Eussians ; and eggs, 

 milk, and bread are always procurable. The worst 



