er--so bad for one's health--is to make up one's mind at
once to what extent one is prepared to be imposed upon, and leave the
country after. That is to say, if one does not wish to adopt the only
other and more attractive alternative of inflicting summary justice on
two-thirds of the natives one meets,--too great an exertion, to be sure,
in so hot a climate.

They say that Persia is the country that our stock came from. It is quite
possible, and if so we are indeed to be congratulated upon having morally
improved so much since, or the Persians to be condoled with on their sad
degeneration. The better classes, however, are very different, as we
shall see later.

Personally, I adopted the first method suggested above, the easier of the
two, and I deliberately put by what I thought was a fair sum to be
devoted exclusively to extortion. On leaving the country several months
later, much to my astonishment I found that I had not been imposed upon
half as much as I expected, although I had stayed in Persia double the
time I had intended. Maybe this can be accounted for by my having spent
most of my time in parts not so much frequented by Europeans. Indeed, if
the Persian is to-day the perfidious individual he is, we have to a great
extent only ourselves to blame for making him so.

Keeping my temper under control, and an eye on my belongings, I next
hired a carriage to convey me to the town of Resht, seven miles distant.
In damp heat, that made one's clothes moist and unpleasant, upon a road
muddy to such an extent that the wheels sank several inches in it and
splashed the passenger all over, we galloped through thick vegetation and
patches of agriculture, and entered the city of Resht. Through the narrow
winding streets of the bazaar we slowed down somewhat in some places, the
carriage almost touching the walls of the street on both sides. The
better houses possess verandahs with banisters painted blue, while the
walls of the buildings are generally white.

One is struck by the great number of shoe shops in the bazaar, displaying
true Persian shoes with pointed turned-up toes,--then by the brass and
copper vessel shops, the ancient and extremely graceful shapes of the
vessels and amphoras being to this date faithfully preserved and
reproduced. More pleasing still to the eye are the fruit shops, with huge
trays of water-melons, cucumbers, figs, and heaps of grapes. The latter
are, nevertheless, not so very tasty to the pal