'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎28] (59/714)

28
PERSIA
peditious route. In any case the traveller cannot reh upon leach-
inff Baku under eight or nine days Irom London.
From May to November the Caucasus and Mercury steamers
run weekly, and sometimes bi-weekly, to Enzeli, leaving Baku as
Casian a rule on Sunday night; during the remainder of the
steamers year somewhat irregularly. After touching at the
Russian (once Persian) port of Lenkoran, and the frontier village
of Astara on Monday afternoon, they are timed to arrive at Lnzeli
—a total distance of 197 nautical miles, in from 30 to 36 hours
from the start, i.e. at some time on Tuesday morning.
Here, however, the peculiar and doletul idiosyncrasies of
Persian travel are not unlikely to begin, for there is often such a
Landing at surf on the bar 1 that it is quite impossible to land pas-
Enzeli sengers in boats; and in the winter months it not infre
quently happens that the unhappy voyager, after being tossed
about for several hours in sight of his destination, is taken all the
way back again to Baku, whence, after a mournful week of dab
bling in naphtha and becoming saturated with petroleum, he returns
in order to repeat the experiment.
Should the elements, however, prove propitious at Enzeli, he is
transferred to a small steam-launch, in which he is conducted to
the projecting spit of land, at the western extremity of
Murdab which stands the custom-house of Enzeli, and where also
is a somewhat decayed but picturesque five-storeyed pagoda or
summer-house belonging to the Shah. The decorative features
of this structure, which is painted blue, red, and green, increase in
smartness as they approach the upper storeys, the topmost of
which is reserved for the use of His Majesty 5 but they are in a
state of great dilapidation, and are moreover often rendered
invisible by a mat covering, intended as a protection against the
appalling damp. From here the launch steams across the Murdab,
a voyage of about ten miles, in an hour and three-quarters.
This shallow and wind-swept lagoon is some thirty miles long
from east to west, by twelve in maximum breadth from north
to south, and is peopled with every variety of wild fowl—
1 This bar is such an obstruclion that ships drawing over live feet of water
cannot enter, but must lie outside. The Persian Government has often been
pressed, but has never yet taken any steps, either to remove or reduce it. For an
account of the Shah's small steam yacht, the ' Nasr-ed-Din, : which is generally on
the Murdab, vide a later chapter on the Navy.