order into Persian territory there is
no danger. We are now in the north-western corner of Persia, in the
province of Azerbeijan, which is populated mainly by Tatars. The capital
of the province is Tabriz, once the chief market for the trade of all
northern Persia with Europe. Here goods were collected from far and
near, packed in mats of bast and bound with ropes so as to form bales,
which were laden on fresh camels and carried in fourteen days to
Trebizond.

Now not more than a fifth part of this trade remains, but still the
caravan life is the same, and as varied as ever. The Tatar leader rides
in front; beside every seventh camel walks a caravan man, who wears a
black lambskin cap, a blue frockcoat, a girdle round the waist, and
pointed shoes. Each is armed with a dagger, for the Tatars are often at
feud with the Turks and Armenians, and the dagger has a groove on each
side of the blade to allow the blood of the victim to run off. Many a
caravan leader has spent the greater part of his life in travelling to
and fro between Tabriz and Trebizond. On every journey he has seen
Ararat to the north of the road, like a perpetually anchored vessel with
its mainsail up; and he knows that the mountain is a gigantic frontier
beacon which marks the spot where Russia, Turkey, and Persia meet.

On December 13 I arrived at Teheran, having driven 800 miles in a month.
India was still 1500 miles off, and the route lies almost entirely
through deserts where only camels can travel. I therefore bought
fourteen fine camels, and took six Persians and a Tatar into my
service.

FOOTNOTES:

[4] A government servant or courier.

[5] A light scarf wound round a hat or helmet in tropical countries,
especially India.

[6] A kind of cloth hood covering the ears.

III

THROUGH THE CAUCASUS, PERSIA, AND MESOPOTAMIA (1885-6)

ST. PETERSBURG TO BAKU

On August 15, 1885, I went by steamer to St. Petersburg. There I entered
a train which ran south-eastwards through Moscow to Rostov, at the mouth
of the Don, and thence on to the Caucasus; and for four days I sat in my
compartment, letting my eyes rove over the immense steppes of Russia.
Hour after hour the train rolled along. A shrill whistle startles the
air when we come to a station, and equally sharply a bell rings once,
twice, and thrice when our line of carriages begins to move on again
over the flat country. In rapid course we fly past innumerable villages,
in which usually