MODERN PERSIA AXD ITS CAPITAL 



371 



Passing through a gaudily tiled gate- 

 way (see Color Plate VI), the route leads 

 along a wide avenue shaded by beautiful 

 plane trees to a pretentious and much- 

 ornamented building, which is nothing 

 more nor less than the post-house and 

 hotel, where one may actually occupy a 

 spring bed or eat a passable attempt at a 

 European dinner. 



A large portion of the last ninety miles 

 between Kazvin and Teheran is a mo- 

 notony of drab, stone-covered waste, of 

 which the road itself is an almost indis- 

 tinguishable part. 



The route is level and parallels the 

 great northern mountain rim of the pla- 

 teau. The only sign of approach to an 

 important city is the increasing traffic on 

 the road, not only of the leisurely mule 

 and camel caravans, but of primitive 

 prairie schooners, with wild-looking, 

 shaggy-hatted drivers, and bare-legged 

 villagers driving strings of heavily laden 

 little donkeys to market. 



Even an occasional Persian family, evi- 

 dently moving to the metropolis, jogs 

 along, the head of the family astride an 

 undersized mule, which is enveloped in 

 capacious saddle-bags bulging with cop- 

 per kitchen utensils ; the good wife, f etch- 

 ingly attired in lavender hose and bal- 

 loon-like trousers, perched on a pile of 

 bedding under which labors the counter- 

 part of her husband's mount, and the nu- 

 merous offspring distributed between two 

 huge chicken-coops slung on the flanks of 

 a diminutive, moth-eaten donkey. 



the: sudden transition from desert 



TO CITY 



So sudden is the transition from desert 

 to city that before one realizes that the 

 journey is at an end he finds himself clat- 

 tering across the stone causeway over the 

 moat toward the most surprising of gate- 

 ways, a great multicolored facade over- 

 laid with a gay mosaic of glistening tiles 

 and topped with numerous minarets or- 

 namented in the same fashion. Over the 

 iron-bound gate itself is wrought in glaz- 

 ing of many colors some stirring scene 

 from Persian mythology, and the flank- 

 ing walls are niched with tiled and arched 

 recesses. 



Teheran is one of those numerous cities 

 between the Near and the Far East which 



calls for a modification of Kipling's oft- 

 quoted line ; for here East and West have 

 met, but have not mixed. 



WITHIN THE WATTS OE TEHERAN 



Undoubtedly the strongest impressions 

 for a stranger to the Orient when first 

 entering the city are those made by the 

 wide, shaded avenues, with their border- 

 ing high mud walls inclosing beautiful 

 gardens and palatial residences, as con- 

 trasted with the noisy, primitive street 

 life itself. 



For the most part the buildings, the 

 homes of the middle class, are of one- or 

 two-storied, flat-roofed, adobe construc- 

 tion, many of them plastered dingy white 

 or pale blue or pink and with projecting 

 balconies. At intervals rows of slim pop- 

 lars project above the street walls, and 

 through a stately gateway one gets a 

 glimpse of conventionally ordered flowers 

 and shrubbery, spraying fountains, and 

 the brick or stucco residence of some 

 Persian prince or noble. 



Outside, along the streets there is the 

 hubbub of an overgrown Persian village, 

 increased by the clatter of carts and dros- 

 kies, and the raucous shouts of impudent 

 hucksters, mixed with the importunate 

 chattering of repulsive beggars. 



In the city, as in the country, the ugly 

 wall is a symbolic dividing line between 

 present-day development and yesterday's 

 primitiveness. 



The northern portion of the city, built 

 up largely during the last generation, is 

 quite different from the southern, or 

 older, section. This newer part, the 

 product of western influence, has many 

 wide, well-graded streets, some of them 

 lined with elms and plane trees ; and it 

 boasts of a tramway, electric lights, mo- 

 tion-picture theaters, hotels and restau- 

 rants, European shops, and numerous 

 respectable buildings of semi-Western 

 architecture. 



In this area are located some of the 

 government buildings, the foreign lega- 

 tions, the homes of the foreign residents 

 and of most of the wealthier Persians, 

 numerous foreign business and philan- 

 thropic institutions, including the large 

 American mission schools and hospital, 

 and also the small Armenian and Parsee 

 quarters. 



