MODERN PERSIA AND ITS CAPITAL 



363 



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Photograph by J. W. Cook 



TWO AMERICAN WOMEN TRAVELING A EA MODE IN PERSIA 



These two-passenger vehicles, called kajavchs, resemble chicken-coops balanced on the back 

 of a diminutive horse or donkey (see text, page 371). 



population does not amount to more than 

 15,000 souls, including a garrison of 

 3,000." 



But once the prestige of the new 

 dynasty was established, this mud-walled 

 hamlet grew with amazing rapidity, con- 

 sidering the decadence of its surround- 

 ings ; and today, with its 300,000 inhab- 

 itants and its foreign colony representing 

 at least a score of nationalities, it is not 

 only the metropolis of Persia, but a city 

 of considerable international importance. 



The substitution of internal peace for 

 anarchy in the country was bound to 

 repopulate this productive district, but 

 the shifting of trade routes westward, 

 through the rise of Russian commerce, 

 largely restricted Teheran's commercial 

 importance to that of a local distributing 

 center. It grew, therefore, like Washing- 

 ton or Petrograd, because it was the 

 capital ; because the Kajars were ruling 

 with a firm, steadying hand, and because 

 Persia was being forced into the widen- 

 ing commercial and political plans of the 

 great powers. 



''the Foot op The throne" 



The Persians commonly refer to Te- 

 heran by its title, "The Foot of the 

 Throne." As the Kajar sway extended. 



all the chiefs of the royal tribe, all the 

 great nobles, wealthy land-owners, and 

 famous generals, and all the hungry 

 office-seekers — in fact, all those who 

 wished to bask in the sunlight of royal 

 favor — crowded into Teheran and set up 

 their lavish establishments. 'With them 

 came their obsequious hordes of parasitical 

 clients, and after them the poets, scholars, 

 buffoons, and quack scientists, a shabby 

 band of flattering pensioners who by 

 nimbleness of wit would live by royal or 

 noble patronage. 



The leading merchants and architects 

 and the most highly skilled artisans of 

 the country found ready employment, 

 and the bazaars began to resound with 

 the metallic tapping of the silversmith 

 from Shiraz and the coppersmith of 

 Ispahan, to be scented with the pungent- 

 smelling product of the Hamadan tanner 

 and to overflow with the wares, not only 

 of Persia, but of Manchester, Birming- 

 ham, and Moscow. 



Naser-ed-din Shah, who ruled justly 

 and well for 47 years, till in 1896 he was 

 removed by the hand of a fanatical assas- 

 sin, traveled extensively in Europe and 

 introduced many modern western institu- 

 tions to beautify his capital, such as 

 broad streets, substantial buildings, frock 



