MODERN PERSIA AXD ITS CAPITAL 



391 



Photograph by J. W. Cook 



A SUMMER ENCAMPMENT OE PERSIAN NOMADS 



Nomadic tribal life in Persia still exists even in the environs of the capital. Fully a 

 fourth of the population of the country still dwell in their home-woven black tents, live on 

 the product of their flocks and herds, and wander with the change of seasons from the 

 warm plains in winter to the cold mountain valleys in the summer time. 



ward over slides of shale, around boulder- 

 strewn promontories, into an unexpected 

 hollow, green with stunted willows about 

 a spring, and up a breathless zigzag along 

 a snow- fed rivulet bordered with purple 

 iris, to the snow-streaked crest 12,600 

 feet above the sea. From there the view 

 to the south commands a sweeping area 

 of the plateau and, to the north, of the 

 second great range in the triple wall 

 which bars Persia from the sea. 



Far down the desolate southern slopes, 

 crevice-like gorges open, ground by the 

 tread of the ages in the forbidding gray 

 rock of the mountain side ; and down 

 these deepening canyons flow silent 

 streams of greenest foliage, concealing 

 foaming torrents and splashing water- 

 falls, and spreading, as they emerge from 

 their narrow confines, to hide the crude- 

 ness of mud-walled hamlets. 



On the open slopes of the low-lying 

 foothills irrigated patches of wheat and 

 barley stand out like the squares of a 

 checker-board, or well-watered villages 



gleam like emeralds in their yellow desert 

 setting. 



A dusty haze overhangs Teheran on 

 the northern edge of the level plains, and 

 beyond the sunlight falls on the ghostly 

 burial tower and the gilded dome of 

 Shah Abdul Azim. From the right the 

 Karaj River bends in a threadlike, silver 

 bow to the glimmering salt marshes far 

 to the south, and distant mountains in- 

 close the scene in a giant, bowl-like hol- 

 low. 



A COMPLETE PANORAMA OE DEVELOPING 

 CIVILIZATION 



Within a twenty-five mile radius of 

 Teheran a complete panorama of de- 

 veloping civilization unfolds, perfectly 

 illustrating the whole shifting scale of 

 human existence from the primitive to 

 the modern stage. In the city itself are 

 the conflicting institutions of modern so- 

 ciety and Mohammedanism, along; with 



an 



underlying stratum of 



unchanged 



primitive customs. 



