AT TABREEZ.]

[Illustration: LUMBER-YARD AT TABREEZ.]

_Tabreez_ (fever-dispelling) was a misnomer in our case. Our sojourn here
was prolonged for more than a month by a slight attack of typhoid fever,
which this time seized Sachtleben, and again the kind nursing of the
missionary ladies hastened recovery. Our mail, in the mean time, having
been ordered to Teheran, we were granted the privilege of intercepting it.
For this purpose we were permitted to overhaul the various piles of
letters strewn over the dirty floor of the distributing-office. Both the
Turkish and Persian mail is carried in saddle-bags on the backs of
reinless horses driven at a rapid gallop before the mounted mail-carrier
or herdsman. Owing to the carelessness of the postal officials, legations
and consulates employ special couriers.

The proximity of Tabreez to the Russian border makes it politically, as
well as commercially, one of the most important cities in Persia. For this
reason it is the place of residence of the Emir-e-Nizam (leader of the
army), or prime minister, as well as the Vali-Ahd, or Prince Imperial.
This prince is the Russian candidate, as opposed to the English candidate,
for the prospective vacancy on the throne. Both of these dignitaries
invited us to visit them, and showed much interest in our "wonderful wind
horses," of the speed of which exaggerated reports had circulated through
the country. We were also favored with a special letter for the journey to
the capital.

On this stage we started August 15, stopping the first night at
Turkmanchai, the little village where was signed the famous treaty of 1828
by virtue of which the Caspian Sea became a Russian lake. The next morning
we were on the road soon after daybreak, and on approaching the next
village overtook a curious cavalcade, just concluding a long night's
journey. This consisted of a Persian palanquin, with its long pole-shafts
saddled upon the back of a mule at each end; with servants on foot, and a
body-guard of mounted soldiers. The occupant of this peculiar conveyance
remained concealed throughout the stampede which our sudden appearance
occasioned among his hearse-bearing mules, for as such they will appear in
the sequel. In our first article we mentioned an interview in London with
Malcolm Khan, the representative of the Shah at the court of St. James.
Since then, it seemed, he had fallen into disfavor. During the late visit
of the Shah to England certain memb