the "Result of a dream," and other similar canvases by the
same artist, is generally, I should think, a nightmare.

There are some good paintings by foreign artists, such as the life-size
nude with a dove by Folagne, which we have already seen, most faithfully
and cleverly copied by a Persian artist, in the Shah's dining-room. Then
there are some pretty Dutch and Italian pictures, but nothing really
first-rate in a purely artistic sense.

The cases of ancient and rare gold and silver coins are, however, indeed
worthy of remark, and so are the really beautiful Persian, Afghan and
Turkish gold and silver inlaid shields, and the intensely picturesque and
finely ornamented matchlocks and flintlocks. Here, too, as in China, we
find an abnormally large rifle--something like the _gingal_ of the
Celestials. These long clumsy rifles possess an ingenious back sight,
with tiny perforations at different heights of the sight for the various
distances on exactly the principle of a Lyman back sight.

The Persians who accompanied me through the Palace seemed very much
astonished--almost concerned--at my taking so much interest in these
weapons--which they said were only very old and obsolete--and so little
in the hideous things which they valued and wanted me to admire. They
were most anxious that I should stop before a box of pearls, a lot of
them, all of good size but not very regular in shape. Anything worth big
sums of money is ever much more attractive to Persians (also, one might
add, to most Europeans) than are objects really artistic or even pleasing
to the eye.

Next to the pearls, came dilapidated butterflies and shells and fossils
and stuffed lizards and crocodiles and elephants' tusks, and I do not
know what else, so that by the time one came out, after passing through
the confusion that reigned everywhere, one's brain was so worn and jumpy
that one was glad to sit and rest in the lovely garden and sip cup after
cup of tea, which the Palace servants had been good enough to prepare.

But there was one more thing that I was dragged to see before
departing--a modern printing-press complete. His Majesty, when the fancy
takes him, has books translated and specially printed for his own use.
With a sigh of relief I was glad to learn that I had now seen everything,
quite everything, in the Shah's Palace!

The Shah has several country seats with beautiful gardens on the hills to
the north of Teheran, where he spends most of the