le, is shown to devotees in a
receptacle in the east wall of the mosque. The actual grave in which the
real hand lies is covered with magnificent ancient tiles.

It is with a certain amount of sadness that one gazes on the old Fin
Palace, up on the hills some six miles to the west, and listens to the
pathetic and repellent tragedy which took place within its garden walls.

The square garden is surrounded by a high wall, and has buildings on
three sides. Marble canals, fed by large marble tanks, in which run
streams of limpid water, intersect the garden in the middle of a wide
avenue of dark cypresses. The garden was commenced by Shah Abbas. The
Palace, however, was built by Fath-Ali-Shah, who also much improved the
gardens and made this a favourite residence during the hot summer months.

There is here a very hot natural spring of sulphur water, and copper,
which is said to possess remarkable curative qualities, especially for
rheumatism and diseases of the blood. One bath is provided for men and
another for women.

The Palace, with its quaint pictures and decorations is now in a state of
abandonment and semi-collapse. The tragic end (in 1863 or 1864, I could
not clearly ascertain which) at this place of Mirza-Taki Khan, then Prime
Minister of Persia--as honest and straightforward a politician as Persia
has ever possessed--adds a peculiar gloom to the place.

A man of humble birth, but of great genius, Mirza-Taki Khan, rose to
occupy, next to the Shah, the highest political position in his country,
and attempted to place the Government of Persia on a firm basis, and to
eradicate intrigue and corruption. To this day his popularity is
proverbial among the lower classes, by whom he is still revered and
respected for his uprightness. The Shah gave him his only sister in
marriage, but unhappily one fine day his enemies gained the upper hand at
Court. He fell into disgrace, and was banished to Kashan to the Fin
Palace. Executioners were immediately sent to murder him by order of the
Shah. Mirza-Taki Khan, when their arrival was announced, understood that
his end had come. He asked leave to commit suicide instead, which he did
by having the arteries of his arms cut open. He bled to death while in
his bath.

Royal regret at the irreparable loss was expressed, but it was too late.
The body of the cleverest statesman Persia had produced was conveyed for
burial to the Sanctuary of Karbala.

One cannot help being struck, in