424 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph from A. N. Mirzaoff 



COLLECTING SILKWORMS IN THE PROVINCE OF LNZALL ON THE CASPIAN SEA 



Persian silks, like Persian shawls and Persian rugs, are world-famous. The chief centers 

 of production are Khorasan, Kashan, and Yezd. 



ply carts and cavalry of the British forces 

 inarching up to cross Persia to the Cas- 

 pian. Squads of khaki-clad figures on 

 the parade ground near the camp, bal- 

 anced on the other side by the dark- 

 brown forms of camels, which were being 

 loaded with bales of fodder to the accom- 

 paniment of an intermittent series of 

 pathetic, enraged, impassioned roars and 

 raucous gurgles from the protesting 

 beasts. 



Half a mile below lay the little mud- 

 built town of Khanikin, half Arab, half 

 Persian, brilliant in the sun against a 

 dark fringe of date palms. Along the 

 dusty road between the high-walled gar- 

 dens there came out of the town a strag- 



gling group of donkeys and blue-clad 

 men, returning Persian pilgrims from the 

 sacred cities of Kerbela and Nedjef or 

 caravans of merchandise for the bazaars 

 of Hamadan or Teheran, all with tink- 

 ling bells, jangling bells, and clouds of 

 dust. 



At last our convoy of Ford cars was 

 ready to leave, and, bumping and chug- 

 ging, we wound along the white line of 

 the new macadamized road toward the 

 Persian hills. 



The journey to Hamadan, some 300 

 miles, was by stages of twenty miles a 

 day, accomplished in the early morning, 

 before the heat of the day. The cars 

 were driven by unskilled Indian mechan- 



