insignificant from every side. A green-tiled dome of no impressive
proportions, a minaret or two, and a few mud walls--that is all one sees
of the mass of houses one leaves behind.

Barren country and dusty road, a graveyard with its prism-shaped graves
half-buried in sand, are the attractions of the road. One comes to an
avenue of trees. Poor trees! How baked and dried and smothered in dust! A
couple of miles off, we reached a patch of verdure and some really green
trees and even signs of agriculture. To our left (east) lay the
narrow-gauge railway line--the only one in Persia--leading to the
Shah-Abdul Azim mosque. The whole length of the railway is not more than
six miles.

To the right of the road, some little distance before reaching the
mosque, a very quaint, large high-relief has been sculptured on the face
of a huge rock and is reflected upside down in a pond of water at its
foot. Men were bathing here in long red or blue drawers, and hundreds of
donkeys were conveying veiled women to this spot. An enormous tree casts
its shadow over the pool of water in the forenoon.

[Illustration: Rock Sculpture near Shah-Abdul-Azim.]

[Illustration: Author's Diligence between Teheran and Kum.]

It is interesting to climb up to the high-relief to examine the figures
more closely. The whole sculpture is divided into three sections
separated by columns, the central section being as large as the two side
ones taken together. In the centre is Fath-ali-shah--legless
apparently--but supposed to be seated on a throne. He wears a high cap
with three aigrettes, and his moustache and beard are of abnormal length.
In his belt at the pinched waist he disports a sword and dagger, while he
holds a baton in his hand. There are nine figures to his right in two
rows: the Naib Sultaneh, Hussein Ali, Taghi Mirza, above; below,
Mahommed, Ali Mirza, Fatali Mirza, Abdullah Mirza, Bachme Mirza, one
figure unidentified. To the Shah's left the figures of Ali-naghi Mirza
and Veri Mirza are in the lower row; Malek Mirza, the last figure to
the left, Hedar Mirza and Moh-Allah-Mirza next to Fath-Ali-Shah. All
the figures are long-bearded and garbed in long gowns, with swords and
daggers. On Fath-Ali-Shah's right hand is perched a hawk, and behind his
throne stands an attendant with a sunshade, while under the seat are
little figures of Muchul Mirza and Kameran Mirza. There are inscriptions
on the three sides of the frame, but not on the base. A seat