House Garden 
COURTYARD OF THE ROYAL TREASURY 
Members of the royal family,—and they 
are by no means few,—ministers ot state and 
other potentialities who rejoice in a sense of 
security, are prone to expend upon these 
gardens a liberal share of the revenues drawn 
from the farming of taxes, always bearing in 
mind that to outshine a sovereign, even by 
the least of glories, is to court a gracious 
confiscation. Tenure in Persia, whether of 
place or property, is uncertain at best ; 
possession is by no means nine points of the 
law, as the record of ruined favorites and 
cabinet ministers so abundantly shows. 
In cities laid out upon level sites there is 
decided limitation to the possibilities of a 
garden, even in the most extensive estates ; 
but where hills surround the town the houses 
of the major dignitaries will usually be 
found upon the slopes, where terraces—the 
Persian’s highest delight—may be developed, 
with the accompanying effects of stairs, and 
attendant devices of masonry. On these 
TEHERAN 
hillsides, too, such as are specially accessible 
in the suburbs of the capital, the water 
problem is easier of solution ; and that is, 
after all, next to the possession of sufficient 
ground, the essential requisite for a Persian 
garden. The photograph of a bit in the 
Camranieh Gardens, now the property of 
the Naib-es-Sultaneh—prime minister and 
marriage relative of the Shah—illustrates 
the fashion in which side-hill facilities are 
utilized, though the conditions apparent are 
eloquent of the neglect and general decadence 
to which reference has been made, and into 
which even the most pretentious of Persian 
establishments are permitted to lapse. 
The gardens of the Zil-i-Sultan—the 
Shah’s eldest son, but not heir to the throne, 
since it is the royal prerogative to nominate 
the successor to kingship, and the Zil, while 
enjoying, or not enjoying, the governorship 
of Ispahan has not found particular favor in 
the sight of his sire—will serve to show 
