TEHERAN. 
229 
had been at 86°, sunk to 67°. On the night of the 20th there had 
been a storm; and on the dawn of day we discovered that the Albores> 
which before had lost their snow, were again covered. These tran¬ 
sitions are common to situations like that of Teheran. The rain re¬ 
freshed the air, and gave strength to the grass, which in the more 
immediate neighbourhood of the town requires much moisture to 
enable it to pierce the hardness of the soil. From this time the days 
continued cool, with rain and frequent storms; and the evenings be¬ 
came almost piercing; but the showers gave a new force to vege¬ 
tation. 
Teheran is considered an unwholesome situation. The town is low 
and built on a salt, moist soil. In the summer the heats are said to be 
so insufferable, that all those who are able (all perhaps except a few old 
women) quit the town and live in tents nearer the foot of the Alhores , 
where it is comparatively cool. We had several illnesses in our 
family, which we attributed to the water. The symptoms were an 
obstinate constipation with great gripings, a disorder very common in 
the place. Our head Persian writer was long laid up with a fever, 
which brought him to the point of death. He was bled copiously six 
times in six days. These people put no faith in our medicines, and 
therefore he would not allow the Physician of the Mission to visit him. 
At length however he was persuaded by a “fall” which he took in 
Hafiz, and which pointed out, that he should “ trust in the stranger 
The superstitious faith with which the Persians observe these folk is 
inconceivable: the oracle consists in taking the book of Hafiz, where- 
ever it may chance to open, and reading the passage on which the 
eyes first happen to alight. That, by which the attention is thus at¬ 
tracted, is the prediction. Before they open the book, they make 
certain invocations to God. Dr. Jukes accordingly prescribed ; but 
his patient I believe disregarded his advice; and we were despairing 
about him, when we were told that the King's physician had been with 
him, and had given him a water-melon to eat, and that the sick man 
was now recovering. The theory of Persian medicine is somewhat that of 
