'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎160] (195/714)

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PERSIA
was a convert to Islam (a most questionable proceeding on his
part), was allowed to sit for two days in one of the alcoves of the
Sahn, in order to make a drawing of its interior. 1 Conolly in 1830
visited all the chambers of the mosque but that containing the
tomb itself, and walked daily in the Sahn, where, though recognised,
he was free from insult. 2 Burnes in 1832, on his return joumev
froin Bokhara, went into the Sahn, but did not think it prudent to
go beyond, his 'judgment conquering his curiosity.' 3 Ferrier in
1845 did exactly the same. 4 Fraser, returning to Meshed in 1834,
after the occupation of the city by the army of Abbas Mirza, with
which were several English officers, found ' the Sahn open to all
Europeans," but in a state of grievous dilapidation that was after
wards repaired. 5 All these were before the date of Eastwick's
visit. But when we come to Eastwick himself, we are surprised to
find not only that he did not go into the mosque, in the true sense
of the term, at all. but that he did not even go so far as the more
cautious of his predecessors in crossing the Sahn, He was intro
duced by the Mutawali Bashi, or Chief Guardian of the shrine, bv
a door from the back into one of the recessed alcoves that surround
the Sahn, where he sat and gazed at what was passing below. He
went no further, and he even went there unawares, 6
Continuing the narrative since his day and down to that of
O'Donovan, we find that in the year following (1863) Vambery, on
the return from his heroic voyage as a mendicant dervish to
Bokhaia and Samarkand, entered the mosque and visited the tomb
chamber in the character which he had so long and successfully
worn. About the same time Colonel Dolmaare, an English officer
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iij the service of the Shah," who superintended a powder factory An East India Company trading post.
near Meshed, penetrated into the interior under the auspices of the
Hissam-es-Sultaneh, then Governor-General of Khorasan, Finally,
when we come to O'Donovan in 1880, we find that he did not
even enter the Sahn, but claims from a doorway outside to have
1 Journey into Khorasan, pp. 472, 511,
2 Overland Journey to India, vol. i. p. 288.
3 Travels into Bokhara, vol. iii. p. 70. 4 Caravan Journeys, p. 126.
5 A Winter's Journey, vol, il, p. 211,
6 Journal of a Diplomate, vol, ii, pp, 224-229.
7 Colonel, originally Doctor, Dolmage was an Englishman who, after serving
as a veterinary surgeon in the Crimean War, came out to Persia and entered the
service of the Shah. He subsequently died at Teheran, It was his plan of Meshed
that appeared in MacGregor's book, having been purchased by the latter officer
for a few krans.
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