CHAPTER IX. 



BAGHDAD TO KERMANSHAH. 



Persian characteristics— Methods of travel in Persia— Interesting monu- 

 ments 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 Kerman shah — Strategic position of — Population — 

 Persian amenities !— The nakarreh kha^ieh— The rock sculptures of 

 Bostan — Description of — Inscriptions — Disfigurement of panels — 

 Opinion of the late Shah concerning— Other remains. 



" The springs of the Teams yield the best and finest 

 water of all rivers ; and a man, the best and finest of 

 all men, came to them, Darius, son of Hystaspes, King 

 of the Persians and of the whole continent." Thus 

 Darius — at least so says Herodotus, though we are all 

 of course entitled to our own opinion as to how far 

 Herodotus wrote history and how far story. I have 

 recalled the above, because the trait which prompted 

 a Persian 2400 years ago to cause such an inscription 

 to be chiselled on stone is so palpable in a very large 

 number of the dwellers in that country to-day. I was 

 once discussing various episodes in the history of Anglo- 

 Persian relations in the past with a gentleman in a 

 position of authority, and I happened to remark that I 

 hoped if ever England and Persia were again involved 

 in war, that it would be side by side that their soldiers 

 would be fighting, and not in opposition as once before. 

 " Yes, indeed," replied my friend, " you have good reason 



