and on a large scale.

The present Governor, Salal-ud-dauleh--"Glory of the state,"--eldest son
of Zil-es-Sultan, is an intelligent and well-to-do young man, sensibly
educated, who tries his best to be fair to everybody; but it is very
difficult for him to run alone against the strong tide of corruption
which swamps everything in Persia. He is not in good health, and spends
much of his time hunting wild game at his country place in the hills near
Yezd. His town residence is a kind of citadel--not particularly
impressive, nor clean--inside the city wall. The Naib-ul-Kukumat was the
Deputy-Governor at the time of my visit. He seemed quite an affable and
intelligent man.

Near the Palace in the heart of the city are the covered bazaars, old and
new, and well stocked with goods, but they are in character so exactly
like those of Teheran and Isfahan, already described in previous
chapters, that a repetition is quite unnecessary. The streets are
irregularly planned, and the older ones are very dark and dingy, but the
newer arcades are lofty and handsome. The merchants seem--for
Persia--quite active and business-like.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century the population of Yezd is said
to have been one hundred thousand souls, and to have dwindled down to
less than thirty thousand in 1868-1870 during the terrific famine which
took place at that time. Whether this is correct or not, it is difficult
to ascertain, but to-day the city is on the increase again, and the
population, as already stated, is certainly not less than sixty thousand.
There are numerous Mahommedan _hammams_ (baths)--some 65 or more--in
Yezd, but Europeans are not allowed to enter them.

The Yezd people are very forward in educational matters. I inspected some
of the schools and colleges, and was much impressed by the
matter-of-fact, sensible way in which some of the more modern
institutions were conducted. They would indeed put to shame a great many
of our schools in England, and as for the talent of children, as compared
with English children of the same age, one had better say nothing at all.
With no exaggeration, children aged six analysed and reasoned out
problems placed before them in a way that would in this country baffle
men of six times that age. The quickness of the Persian child's brain is
well-nigh astounding, and as for their goodness and diligence, there is
only one word that fits them: they are simply "angelic." Their intense
reveren