CONTENTS. 



PEESIA. 

 CHAPTER IX. 



BAGHDAD TO KBRMANSHAH. 



Persian characteristics — Methods of travel in Persia — Interesting 

 monuments of Western Persia — Nature of country on the 

 Turkish border — The legends of Shirin — Man walled up alive — 

 The Darcy concession — A strange dinner-party — The ascent to 

 the Persian highlands — A late winter — Reach Kermanshah — 

 Strategic position of — Population — Persian amenities ! — The 

 nakarreh khaneh — The rock sculptures of Bostan — Description of 

 — Inscriptions — Disfigurement of panels — • Opinion of the late 

 Shah concerning — Other remains . . . . .107 



CHAPTER X. 



KERMANSHAH TO TEHERAN. 



E«mains at Kangavar — The inscriptions at Bisitun — Deciphered by 

 Sir H. Eawlinson — Description of the tablet above the inscrip- 

 tions — Ker Porter's surmise — Names and identities — Another in- 

 scription — The country between Kermanshah and Hamadan — 

 Hamadan — Population — Trade — The tombs of Esther and Mor- 

 decai — The tomb of Avicenna — A beautiful mosque — The Ganj- 

 nameh — A stone lion — The key to the decipherment of the 

 cuneiform alphabet — Gold — The question of the site of Ecbatana 

 of Deioces — The debauches of Alexander the Great — The decay 

 of Hamadan — The country between Hamadan and Teheran — 

 Execrable weather — Discomforts of travel — Reach Teher§,n . 121 



CHAPTER XI. 



TEHERAN. 



Recent improvements at Teherfin — The city gates — Days of mourn- 

 ing — Interview with the Shah and with the Prime Minister — A 

 visit to the palace — A motley collection ! — The picture-gallery — 

 An extraordinary ceremony — Religious plays — Nature of the 

 country round the capital . . . . . .132 



