PERSIAN CARAVAN SKETCHES 



431 



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Photograph by F. E. Murray 



A MODERN ROCK CARVING IN ANCIENT RHAGES 



Fath AH Shah, one of the early rulers of the present Persian dynast}*, endeavored, per- 

 haps in emulation of the great Achsemenian kings, to perpetuate the memory of his reign by 

 this carving in the rock which forms a portion of the north wall of the ancient Median city 

 of Rhages. whose ruins lie five miles south of modern Teheran, Fath Ali's capital. Just 

 below, and not at all abashed by the overshadowing presence of the great Ghajar on his 

 Peacock Throne, Persian women do their weekly laundry, rug merchants freshen their stock 

 in trade, and tanned bathers enjoy the cool waters of the famous Chashmah-i-Ali (see also 

 text, page 389). 



servers. I was trying to catch the last 

 rays of sunlight on the Musallah, with 

 the Elwend Range in the background, 

 when the owner of a lime-kiln in the fore- 

 ground thought I had done enough and 

 wanted to buy the picture. 



The Persians, far more than the Arabs 

 or Kurds, show a great interest in an 

 "achs" (a painting or photograph). Not 

 only small boys, as in Mesopotamia, but 

 older men stop to look and linger and 

 hold lengthy discussions among them- 

 selves as to what the poor creature is try- 

 ing to do. As some one remarked, the 

 bazaars of Persia are full of people very 

 busy doing nothing, and in a country 

 where the password is "Fardah" (tomor- 

 row), everybody has time to watch what 

 others are about. 



The village people are often afraid of 

 a camera, for the only thing they are used 

 to having pointed at them is a gun. They 

 also generally fear the "evil eye,'' which 

 is somehow connected with the one eye 

 of a camera. But Persians are, as a rule, 



most vain, and those who have seen a 

 camera before are so anxious to pose that 

 often you have to pretend to take their 

 picture just to satisfy them. Then ensue 

 lengthy explanations why you cannot 

 open the box and give them a copy at 

 once, or else they expect to see the fin- 

 ished product by copying your example 

 and looking in the finder. 



Women, on the contrary, are most diffi- 

 cult to photograph. This is partially be- 

 cause, though veiled, they have the idea 

 that a camera has almost X-ray powers — 

 will show their very souls and "sans 

 habits.'' One day, wishing to snap some 

 peasant women working in a field, I tried 

 to get my camera out speedily. Too late ; 

 the bevy of shy females had disappeared 

 under a stack of ha v. 



A THREE-HUNDRED-MIL] 

 TO THE CASPIAN SEA 



DIGRESSION — 

 AND RUSSIA 



Instead of going direct to Teheran, we 

 decided to keep on northward to the Cas- 

 pian. There is much silly romance about 



