wn, a Persian, with a significant
gesture, informed me that the Mullahs get it and with them it remains.

The handsome dome over the shrine was begun by order of Hussein Nadir
Shah, but the gorgeous gilding of the copper plates was not finished till
a few years ago by Nasr-ed-din Shah. A theological college also exists at
this place. There is a station here of the Indo-European Telegraphs, with
an Armenian in charge of it.

Much to my disgust, I was informed that the owner of the post-house had
the monopoly of the traffic on the track for six or seven farsakhs more,
and so travellers were compelled to submit to a further extortion by
having to hire another wheeled conveyance instead of being able to ride.
This time I chartered a victoria, and off we went as usual at a gallop.

Two horses had to be sent ahead while the carriage was driven with only
two animals through the narrow streets of the bazaar, covered over with
awnings or with domed perforated roofs. The place had a tawdry, miserable
appearance, the leather shops being the only interesting ones, with the
many elaborate saddles, harness, saddle-bags, and horses' ornamentations
displayed on nails along the walls.

I saw in a blacksmith's shop an ingenious device to create a perpetual
draught with bellows. The big bellows were double and allowed sufficient
room to let two boys stand between the two. The boys clinging to handles
in the upper part of the bellows and using the weight of their bodies now
to the right, then to the left, inflated first one then the other, the
wind of each bellow passing through a common end tube and each being in
turn refilled with air while the other was blowing. This human pendulum
arrangement was carried on with incredible rapidity by the two boys, who
dashed their bodies from one side to the other and back, keeping steady
time and holding their feet stationary, but describing an almost complete
semicircle with the remainder of the body, the whole length of the boy
forming the radius.

There was a shop or two where glass was being blown, and numerous
fruit-shops with mountains of pomegranates, water-melons and grapes. At
the entrance of the mosques crowds of people stood waiting for admission,
some praying outside.

Once out of the town the extra two horses, which were waiting at the
gate, were harnessed, and as we sped along, the lungs rejoiced in the
pure air of which the stuffy, cellar-like bazaar had afforded none.

Behind,