summer months, and in
these residences, too, we find the rooms mostly decorated with mirrors,
and differing very little in character from those in the Teheran Palace,
only not quite so elaborate. European influence has frequently crept in
in architectural details and interior decorations, but not always
advantageously.

The Andarun or harem, the women's quarter, is generally less gaudy than
the other buildings, the separate little apartments belonging to each
lady being, in fact, quite modest and not always particularly clean.
There is very little furniture in the bedrooms, Persian women having
comparatively few requirements. There is in addition a large reception
room, furnished in European style, with elaborate coloured glass windows.
This room is used when the Shah visits the ladies, or when they entertain
friends, but there is nothing, it may be noted, to impress one with the
idea that these are regal residences or with that truly oriental,
gorgeous pomp, popularly associated in Europe with the Shah's court.
There is probably no court of any importance where the style of life is
simpler and more modest than at the Shah's. All the houses are,
nevertheless, most comfortable, and the gardens--the principal feature of
all these country places--extremely handsome, with many fountains, tanks,
and water channels intersecting them in every direction for the purpose
of stimulating the artificially reared vegetation, and also of rendering
the places cooler in summer.

Unlike most natives of the Asiatic continent, the Persian shows no
reluctance in accepting foreign ways and inventions. He may lack the
means to indulge in foreign luxuries, but that is a different matter
altogether; the inclination to reform and adopt European ways is there
all the same.

More forward in this line than most other Persians is the Shah's son, a
very intelligent, bright young fellow, extremely plucky and charmingly
simple-minded. He takes the keenest interest in the latest inventions and
fads, and, like his father the Shah, fell a victim to the motor car
mania. Only, the Shah entrusts his life to the hands of an expert French
driver, whereas the young Prince finds it more amusing to drive the
machine himself. This, of course, he can only do within the Palace
grounds, since to do so in the streets of the town would be considered
below his dignity and would shock the people.

At the country residences he is said to have a good deal of amusement