TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 171 



w the last village on the coast inhabited hy the light-coloured or Malay race ; so that 

 from Manumanu river ivestwards the Negrillo race alone flourish, the Malays in- 

 habiting the whole of the eastern peninsula of New Guinea. 



Notes of recent Travel in Persia. By Colonel Sir Fkedeeic Goldsmid, K.S.I. 



The paper comrnenced with a review of Persia at the present day, according to 

 geographical limits, as compared with Persia of the past, arguing that it may he 

 said to comprise now quite as much settled aud consolidated territory as at any 

 period of its political existence of which we can speak with the authority of 

 intimate acquaintance. If she has less extent of land than before her latest disas- 

 trous war with Russia, there is, at least within her recognized limits, less rebellion 

 and more allegiance. Allusion was made to the various works of reference on the 

 country, from those of Tavernier and Chardin up to the existing time ; and it was 

 asserted that to the nineteenth century we were indebted for the most important 

 additions to our knowledge of the geography and people of this part of Central 

 Asia. As regiirds the diplomatic relations between Persia and the European states, 

 there was practically none of these had more to do with her than England. We 

 no longer sent our commissioned officers to teach her the art of war, but we had 

 for nearly ten years supplied her with commissioned and non-commissioned officers 

 of engineers to direct and maintain her lines of telegraph. By Convention of No- 

 vember 1865, this number was raised to fifty. Since that period the number was 

 increased. In the very recent Convention no specification of numbers of emi>loyes 

 is made at all; and a plain straightforward agreement for maintaining and working 

 the line has been accepted on both sides for a further term exceeding twenty years. 



The routes more particularly described were those traversed by the writer from 

 Resht to Tehran, from Bushahr to Tehran, and from Mash-had to Tehran. The 

 first might be stated generally as one fourth low forest, one fourth mountainous, 

 and one half a tolerably level plain. To Kazvin the scenery is very varied ; but 

 the latter town, although it has a telegTaph-office and post-house, and is interesting 

 in its history and remains, as an abode of civilized life is orderless and methodless. 

 From Bushahr to Tehran, the first section of the road, or 170 miles, conimences 

 with a low marshy coast, and rises to a height above 7000 feet among noble 

 mountains, ending at a lower but still respectable elevation at Shiraz. The second 

 section is of 265 miles, to Ispahan, and is interesting from the ruius of Persepolis 

 and other monuments of antiquity, as well as mountain scenery and the presence of 

 " Iliats " or wandering tribes. The third and last section of 250 miles, to Tehran, 

 has for its attractions the charming mountain-station of Kohrud and the cities of 

 Kashan and Kum ; but between Kum and Tehran is a desert not inaptly termed 

 that of " the Angel of Death," so utterly blank and desolate does it appear. From 

 Mashhad to Tehran there are here and there pleasant or interesting halts ; but the 

 gi-eater part of the 540 miles is monotonous, and some 60 to 100 miles are infested 

 by the Turkman hordes. 



Some account was also given of the cities of Tehran, Ispahan, Mashhad, and 

 Kazvin, and the following extracts may have interest as conveying recent and 

 original impressions : — 



" 1 should not say that life in Persia was generally suited to Europeans ; but it 

 promises, at least, to be more so as intercourse progresses, for the drawbacks are 

 rather social than physical or external. In the north, except for two or three 

 summer months, the climate is agreeable enough, aud even at tlie hottest time it is 

 seldom that the nights are oppressive. To those who come from India direct, or 

 to whom Indian heat is habitual, the change is most delightful. There are days in 

 autumn, winter, and spring which leave the impression of unequalled temperatm-e ; 

 and the blue sky, with its tempering haze, as it were a veil of reflected snow 

 gathered from the higher peaks or ridges of continuous mountain-chains, is too 

 exquisite a picture to be readily forgotten. In the late spring Fashion moves out a 

 few miles from Tehran to the cooler residences near the mountains, returning in 

 the late autumn to the precincts of the capital. These, it may be noted, have been 

 considerably extended of late years, and are designed for yet further extension. . . . 



12* 



