A RUSSIAN BO AD. 147 



CHAPTER XIIL 



THROUGH THE PORTALS OF PERSIA. 



The highroad to Persia — A contrast in scenery — Cost of the cAa?me— Dis- 

 advantages of— The object of Russia— A huge advertisement— What 

 the Persian thinks — Leave Teheran — Persian methods — TeherSn to 

 Resht— The silk industry— Obstacles encountered between Eesht and 

 Enzeli — A false start — OS at last. 



You cannot pass imperceptibly out of Persia into 

 Russia, as you would out of Italy into Switzerland, for 

 instance. She makes her presence undeniably felt right 

 up to the last, and you inevitably miss something when 

 you leave her. Though I had entered Persia twice 

 and left her once, I had never passed through what I 

 suppose may be described as the usual entrance, and I 

 found the journey instructive. The road is Russian, 

 built at enormous cost and so far at considerable loss, 

 but the service is Persian — eminently so. 



The most striking feature is the extraordinary change 

 in the scenery as one enters the lower slopes of the 

 mountains of Ghilan. Behind lies the staring sterility 

 with its crude outHnes and harsh contours, — "a vast 

 rocky horrid wilderness," — which, to any one who has 

 seen, and who therefore accepts the rhapsodies of Moore 

 with the indulgence they demand, means Persia. A 

 sudden descent down a precipitous mountain - road, 

 round sharp corners, and along a valley where flows a 



