MODERN PERSIA AND ITS CAPITAL 



361 



great cities on whose sites stand modern 

 Persian towns, across the Iranian plateau. 



Making its way eastward, where the 

 foothills of the Elburz Mountains meet 

 the northern edge of the great central 

 desert of Persia, it passes by way of 

 Meshed, Merv, and Bokhara into central 

 Asia and on to the borders of China. In 

 time of peace it has served as a thorough- 

 fare of commerce between Mesopotamia 

 and China; in time of war it has directed 

 the march of armies. 



The war chariots of Cyrus and Xerxes 

 rumbled over it, Alexander led his co- 

 horts along it to Asiatic conquest, Per- 

 sian liberty and religion fell before the 

 Moslem Arabs who surged through this 

 gateway in the seventh century. Still 

 later it gave too ready passage to the de- 

 vastating Mongol hordes of Hulagu and 

 Genghis Khan ; then, as Persia's power 

 declined and ocean trade routes opened 

 up, this highway accompanied its builders 

 into sad dilapidation. 



But once more, with the outbreak of 

 the World War, remote Persia came 

 within a scheme of world conquest ; and 

 German, Turkish, Russian, and British 

 armies fought along this crumbling high- 

 way, where Turkish ox-carts in retreat 

 outdistanced the motor trucks of the 

 Russians. 



Before the war was over a new, well- 

 macadamized road existed, built by the 

 British Royal Engineers — a road which 

 is but the forerunner of a railway, al- 

 ready in operation to the Persian frontier 

 near Kasr-i-Shirin, that will connect Te- 

 heran, and eventually all of Persia, with 

 the Bagdad Railway at Bagdad. 



So the war has rediscovered Persia and 

 brought new prominence to the affairs of 

 its capital. 



A CITY AS OLD AS PERSIAN HISTORY 



No one knows how long there has been 

 a city where this modern capital stands. 

 It has not always been called Teheran, 

 and it has not always been in quite the 

 same spot ; but a city has existed in this 

 locality as far back as Persian history 

 records, for so suitable a location could 

 not well be overlooked. 



The present city stands 3,810 feet 

 above sealevel, at the foot of the inner 

 slopes of the Elburz Mountains, which 



rise at this point nearly 13,000 feet. To 

 the southeast is the great, lifeless desert, 

 shaped like a huge hour-glass, 900 miles 

 in length, from the foothills of the Elburz 

 range, in the north, almost to the Indian 

 Ocean, in the south, and ranging in 

 width from 300 to 100 miles. 



This untraversable wilderness deter- 

 mines this point as the junction of the 

 great trunk route from Mesopotamia into 

 the East, the north and south road 

 through central Persia, and the old cara- 

 van trail westward through Kazvin and 

 Tabriz to the Black Sea. 



TEHERAN HAS ARIZONA CLIMATE 



Passes through the Elburz from the 

 Caspian Sea converge upon Teheran 

 from the east and west ; and water, whose 

 presence is of such supreme importance 

 in the location of a Persian city, is here 

 in abundance. The annual rainfall is 

 only ten inches, but in the mountains 

 which overshadow the city are springs, 

 wells, and rushing streams ; and not far 

 to the northwest and northeast the Karaj 

 and Jajrud rivers burst from their moun- 

 tain gorges to irrigate the rich surround- 

 ing plains which produce the city's food 

 supply. 



The district, which lies in about the 

 latitude of Cape Hatteras, has a tem- 

 perate, healthful climate which is invigor- 

 ating and pleasant during nine months 

 of the year. The three summer months 

 are excessively hot and dry, but if one 

 wishes the luxury of a summer resort, it 

 is necessary only to load one's belongings 

 on a string of donkeys or a springless 

 cart and move six or eight miles to one 

 of the cool mountain villages, where the 

 six or seven hundred members of the 

 foreign colony and many of the Persians 

 take refuge from the heat. 



Teheran weather is similar to that of 

 Arizona, but several degrees cooler, both 

 in summer and winter. The nights are 

 always cool, the sun shines nearly every 

 day of the year, the winter is brief and 

 moderate, and the long spring and autumn 

 are like those seasons in delightful south- 

 ern California. 



Although occupying an ancient site, 

 Teheran is a very modern city. It has 

 been the capital of Persia onlv a little 

 more than a century, and has been an 



