REACH TEHERAN. 131 



almost up to the mules' bellies. The consequence was 

 they were perpetually falling down, having to be un- 

 loaded, picked up again, and reloaded, while we were in 

 imminent peril of frost-bite. On another occasion, after 

 braving a galling wind from the north all day, we 

 reached a small village where I found a room with 

 fireplace and chimney that did not smoke — a great 

 luxury. The huge wood-fire which I kept burning was, 

 however, of little avail, and the thermometer could by 

 no means be induced to rise above 30° Fahr. all night. 

 There were no windows, but this defect was made up 

 for by the door, which when closed did not reach the 

 wall on one side by several inches, leaving a gap through 

 which the wind shrieked a high-pitched threnody. 

 These are the occasions on which one ponders some- 

 what regretfully on the discarded comforts of civilisa- 

 tion, which appear possessed of attractions unsuspected 

 until now. Teheran, however, lay before me, and on 

 the last day of March, thirty- three days after setting 

 out from Baghdad, I rode into the capital of the Shah. 



