ACROSS A CONTINENT. 



Oannes, the fish god, came up from the sea to teach 

 wisdom to the children of men. Bac^hdad remains now 

 as the counterpart of the old capitals of Shumir and 

 Accad, but modern Baghdad is not the Baghdad of 

 the ' Arabian Nights ' or of the golden days of the 

 Kalifate. It is, in fact, hopelessly commonplace, 

 and is of chief interest to the traveller as affording 

 him an excuse for a rest and the congenial society 

 of his fellow-countrymen. The halo of romance over 

 the Baghdad of our imagination has been dimmed 

 by the exigencies of modern trade and commerce. 



As you journey eastward into Persia along the old 

 highway from Media to Babylonia, you rise at one 

 bound from the level plains of Assyria and Chaldsea 

 to the elevated tableland of the Iranian plateau, 

 ascending the rock walls of the historic " Zagros 

 Gates." Here, on the western extremity of the Per- 

 sian highlands, a series of gorges, mountain -ranges, 

 and elevated plateaux confront you, forming a barrier 

 as it were between the level stretches of Mesopotamia 

 on the one side and the vast inhospitable reaches of 

 Central Persia on the other. No difference will be 

 found by the traveller in his mode of procedure, 

 and as you ride slowly along on your daily march 

 you agree with the sapient remark of the seven- 

 teenth-century traveller, Tavernier, that "the best 

 inns are the tents which you carry along with you, 

 and your hosts are your servants that get ready 

 those victuals which you have bought in good 

 towns." There is, however, one great drawback to 

 a tent, — you cannot always use it. You cannot 

 pitch your tent in two feet of snow, and even 

 hoisting it in six inches of mud is a doubtful ex- 

 periment ; and then you must seek what accommo- 

 dation is to be had in the serai, if there is one, 



