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The National Geographic Magazine 



European city. The wide streets and 

 tree-lined avenues of the newer quarter 

 of the town date from the reign of Shah 

 Nasr-ed-Din, grandfather of the present 

 Shah, who returned from a visit to Eu- 

 rope fired with the ambition of trans- 

 forming his capital into an Oriental 

 Paris. But the Persian of the lower 

 classes is a fanatical conservative ; the 

 strange madness that drives his rulers to 

 leave the blessed shores of Iran to wan- 

 der in infidel lands beyond the seas 

 seems to him wholly foreign and dis- 

 tasteful. The Shahs of the present dy- 

 nasty have spent large sums in enlarg- 

 ing and embellishing their capital, and 

 while Teheran can scarcely be said to 

 rival the natural beauties of Shiraz or 

 the architectural splendors of Ispahan. 

 it is now considered the metropolis of 

 Persia. 



The climate of this part of the Iranian 

 plateau, varying from extreme heat in 

 summer to bitter cold during the winter 

 months, leaves much to be desired. On 

 account of the high elevation, sudden 

 and violent changes of temperature 

 occur ; and I remember witnessing, soon 

 after our arrival, the curious spectacle 

 of a rose garden in full bloom suddenly 

 overwhelmed and buried beneath a fall 

 of early snow. To these discomforts 

 must be added the high winds, which 

 raise clouds of choking dust and sand 

 from the broad unpaved streets during 

 the drv months of the year. Neverthe- 

 less. Teheran is a very healthful spot, 

 and in spite of the primitive methods of 

 sanitation still in vogue, the death rate 

 among its population remains compara- 

 tively low. 



The varied types of humanity that go 

 to make up the population of the "City 

 of Contrasts" are perhaps never seen to 

 such striking advantage as on some 

 sunny winter's day on this favorite 

 promenade of the citizens of Teheran. 

 Threading his way carefully through the 

 streams of traffic, a fat mollah ambles by 

 on a lazy mule, toward the mosque. 

 Next comes a smart young attache from 

 the foreign legations, on his way to play 

 polo on the Maidan, or a Cossack of the 



Shah's body-guard, dressed as nearly 

 like a Russian soldier as possible. A 

 court official in a Parisian landau, sur- 

 rounded by a galloping troop of attend- 

 ants, goes charging through the crowd, 

 with loud cries of "Kabardah ! Kabar- 

 dah !" ("Make way! make way!"). 

 Next, a wild-eyed dervish adds his loud 

 cries to the general confusion, in an in- 

 solent demand for the alms of the Faith- 

 ful ; or a party of Persian women, in 

 baggy black pantaloons, their faces hid- 

 den by thick linen masks, pass in single 

 file, under the escort of a negro eunuch. 

 And at intervals the finishing touch is 

 added to this Oriental scene when a 

 tramway, crowded to the roof with na- 

 tive passengers, goes jostling its way 

 through the long files of camels and 

 pack-horses on their way to the ba- 

 zaars — perhaps the most popular Euro- 

 pean innovation in the Persian capital. 



the; bazaars 



While the broad streets and squares of 

 the new quarters of Teheran give the 

 many parts of the city quite a European 

 appearance, the older quarters that lie 

 about the bazaar still retain all the char- 

 acteristics of the Orient. Here, in a 

 labyrinth of narrow lanes and alleyways, 

 where even the oldest Teherani often 

 finds himself at a loss which way to turn, 

 centers the whole commercial life of the 

 city. In Teheran, as in most of the cities 

 of northern Persia, the main bazaar con- 

 sists of a series of long passageways 

 covered by a roof of vaulted brick-work. 

 Between the buttresses that support the 

 roof are narrow niches which serve as 

 shops and booths, and these again open 

 at the back into great court-yards or 

 "caravansaries," where the goods are 

 stored on their arrival, and where the 

 weary camels and pack animals of the 

 caravan road are stabled after their long 

 journey. Few of the largest of these 

 shops are more than twenty feet square, 

 and the merchant, sitting on a narrow 

 ledge or counter before his booth, is 

 within easy reach of every article in his 

 stock; yet the amount of business trans- 

 acted in this primitive way is often con- 



