'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎29] (60/714)

WAYS AND MEANS
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cormorants, geese, swans, duck, coots, divers, guillemots, gulls,
pelicans, crane, and snipe. They dot the surface and swarm in the
islets and reed-beds on its inner fringe, supplying a foretaste to
the sportsman of the richness of the entire belt of country between
the sea and the mountains, which abounds in game. At the
southern extremity of the lagoon the launch is exchanged for a
native boat, which is towed up a creek for five miles to the fishing
village of Pir-i-Bazaar.
Pir-i-Bazaar (i.e. Saint of the Bazaar ; more probably Pileh-
Bazaar, i.e. the Cocoon Mart, so called from the silk industry)
p—. consists of a caravanserai A roadside inn providing accommodation for caravans (groups of travellers). , a few houses and sheds, and
Bazaar a fishing establishment, a weir being thrown across the
stream at this point, resulting in a multitudinous capture of a species
of carp. Rickety carriages are here available which transport the
new-comer along a vile road, roughly paved, for a distance of six
miles through the jungle to Resht. The Resht river, or Shah
Rudbar, flows down to the sea on the left hand, and snakes and
tortoises crawl in the slimy watercourses and swamps on the
right.
Of Resht I shall have something to say in a later chapter upon
the northern provinces of Persia, of one of which, viz. Gilan, it is the
capital city. In this context it is regarded solely as the
first town in which the traveller sets foot on Persian soil,
and as the starting-point of his journey into the interior. From
the aspect of the place and of the surrounding country he will
probably derive an impression of Persian scenery and life which
requires very early to be abandoned, and which is as unlike the
general characteristics with which he will afterwards become so
sorrowfully familiar as Dover is unlike Aden. At Resht he sees
red-tiled cottages and mosques, lanes, and hedgerows, and gardens,
which speak to him of other lands, whilst in the wealth of wood
and water that is spread around he observes a favourable indica
tion of the fertility of Persian soil. Let him take his soul s fill of
both sights 5 for the modest yet appreciable architectural features
of Resht he will see nowhere repeated beyond the Caspian littoral,
and the forests and rivers will presently be succeeded by stony
deserts and treeless peaks.
At Resht the traveller will form his first experience of that
Persian wayfaring, of whose pleasures and pains I shall have so
much to sav as I proceed. Here he must decide between the onl}