The Ruins Of Persepolis Are Situated About Fifty Miles North-East Of
Shiraz, Two Or Three Miles From The Main Road.
Signs that we were
approaching the famous city were visible for some distance before we
actually reached them.
Not fifty yards from the post-house of Poozeh,
a picturesque spot surrounded by a chain of rocky, snow-capped hills,
we came upon a kind of cave, with carvings in bas-relief on its
granite walls, representing figures of men and horses from eight to
ten feet high, evidently of great antiquity. The desecrating hand of
the British tourist had, however, left its mark in the shape of the
name "J. Isaacson" cut deep into one of the slabs, considerably
marring its beauty.
It is not my intention to write a description of the ruins that now
mark the spot where once stood the capital of the Persian Empire. To
say nothing of its having been so graphically portrayed by far more
competent hands, my visit was of such short duration that I carried
away but faint recollections of the famous city. The fact that it
had been persistently crammed down my throat, upon every available
occasion, ever since I landed in Persia, may have had something to do
with the feeling of disappointment which I experienced on first sight
of the ruins. It may be that, like many other things, they grow upon
one. If so, the loss was mine. I cannot, however, help thinking that
to any but a student of archaeology, Persepolis lacks interest. The
Pyramids, Pompeii, the ancient buildings of Rome and Greece, are
picturesque; Persepolis is not. I noticed, however, that here, as at
Poozeh, the British tourist had been busy with chisel and hammer, and,
I am ashamed to add, some of the names I read are as well known in
England as that of the Prince of Wales.
On the 18th of February, just before midnight, we rode into Shiraz.
The approach to the city lying before us, white and still in the
moonlight, through cypress-groves and sweet-smelling gardens, gave me
a favourable impression, which a daylight inspection only served to
increase. Shiraz is the pleasantest reminiscence I retain of the ride
through Persia.
[Footnote A: Small copper money.]
CHAPTER VIII.
SHIRAZ - BUSHIRE.
"The gardens of pleasure where reddens the rose,
And the scent of the cedar is faint on the air."
OWEN MEREDITH.
Shiraz stands in a plain twenty-five miles long by twelve broad,
surrounded by steep and bare limestone mountains. The latter alone
recall the desert waste beyond; for the Plain of Shiraz is fertile,
well cultivated, and dotted over with prosperous-looking villages
and gardens. Scarcely a foot of ground is wasted by the industrious
inhabitants of this happy valley, save round the shores of the
Denia-el-Memek, a huge salt lake some miles distant, where the
sun-baked, briny soil renders cultivation of any kind impossible.
Were it not for its surroundings - the green and smiling plains
of wheat, barley, and Indian corn; the clusters of pretty sunlit
villages; the long cypress-avenues; and last, but not least, the quiet
shady gardens, with rose and jasmine bowers, and marble fountains
which have been famous from time immemorial - Shiraz would not be what
it now is, the most picturesque city in Persia.
Although over four miles in circumference, the city itself has a
squalid, shabby appearance, not improved by the dilapidated ramparts
of dried mud which surround it. Founded A.D. 695, Shiraz reached its
zenith under Kerim Khan in the middle of the eighteenth century, since
when it has slowly but steadily declined to its present condition. The
buildings themselves are evidence of the apathy reigning among the
Shirazis. Incessant earthquakes destroy whole streets of houses, but
no one takes the trouble to rebuild them, and the population was once
nearly double what it now is - 40,000.
There are six gates, five of which are gradually crumbling away.
The sixth, or Ispahan Gate, is the only one with any attempt at
architecture, and is crenellated and ornamented with blue and yellow
tile-work. A mean, poor-looking bazaar, narrow tortuous streets,
knee-deep in dust or mud, as the case may be, and squalid, filthy
houses, form a striking contrast to the broad, well-kept avenues,
gilded domes, and beautiful gardens which encircle the city. Shiraz
has fifteen large mosques and several smaller ones, but the people are
as fanatical as those of Teheran are the reverse. Gerome, who had a
singular capacity for getting into mischief, entered one of these
places of worship, and was caught red-handed by an old moullah in
charge. Half the little Russian's life having been spent among
Mohammedans, he quickly recited a few verses of the Koran in perfect
Arabic, which apparently satisfied the priest, for he let him depart
with his blessing. Had the trick been discovered, he would undoubtedly
have been roughly treated, if not killed, for the Shirazis have an
unmitigated contempt for Europeans. There are few places, too, in Asia
where Jews are more persecuted than in Shiraz, although they have
their own quarter, in the lowest, most poverty-stricken part of the
town, and other privileges are granted them by the Government. Shortly
before my visit, a whole family was tortured and put to death by a mob
of infuriated Mohammedans. The latter accused them of stealing young
Moslem children, and sacrificing them at their secret ceremonies. [A]
Guilty or innocent of the charge, the assassins were left unpunished.
The climate of Shiraz is delicious, but dangerous. Though to a
new-comer the air feels dry, pure, and exhilarating, the city is
a hot-bed of disease, and has been christened the "Fever Box."
Small-pox, typhus, and typhoid are never absent, and every two or
three years an epidemic of cholera breaks out and carries off a
fearful percentage of the inhabitants. In spring-time, during heavy
rains, the plains are frequently inundated to a depth of two or three
feet, and the water, stagnating and rotting under a blazing sun,
produces towards nightfall a thick white mist, pregnant with miasma
and the dreaded Shiraz fever which has proved fatal to so many
Europeans, to say nothing of natives.
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