'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎31] (62/714)

WAYS AND MEANS
to meet him at Enzeli or Eeslit, lie will be saved from the agony
of the opening struggle with an unknown people and tongue, and
will pass with less mental exasperation through the grim ordeal of
Persian chcvpar-hhanehs and post-boys. In favour of this decision
are also the facts that he can take a carriage from llesht as far as
Kuhdum, eighteen miles, and therefore need not begin his ride till
the latter place; that the post-houses between Resht and Teheran
are somewhat better equipped than those on the other lines; that
more and rather better or less execrable horses are engaged in
the service ; and finally, that at Kazvin they can be abandoned
altogether for the luxury of a carriage which will convey him
the remaining hundred miles to the capital over the sole road
in the country on which the European method of locomotion is
common.
In passing I may say that the charge for post-horses is one
hran (7d.) per farsalih (approximately 3^ to 4 miles) for each horse
Cost of required. The minimum number usually employed by a
chapar- single traveller is one for himself, one for his native
servant, 1 and one for the chapar-shagird, or post-boy, who
takes back the animals, driving them in front of him, when the
stage is over. If the traveller is carrying a good deal of baggage,
a fourth horse may be required ; but the vagaries of this animal,
who is far too obstinate to be led by a rein, and who, being rider
less, takes every opportunity of bolting from the track and
disappearing across country, where he has to be pursued and
whipped back again, constitute such a check upon progression as
well as such a tax upon temper, that most persons will gladly
purchase immunity from so indefinite an expansion of their journey
by the necessary contraction of their personal effects. And it is
surprising, as I shall presently show, how much can be carried on
the backs of the three horses already named. Hie charge for each
stage must be paid beforehand to the chajjccrchi, or post-master, at
the chapar-khaneh where the fresh animals are engaged ; and at
the end of the stage it is customary to give one hran for an
ordinary stage, or two Icrans for a very long stage, to the post-boy
who has accompanied you. Not once in postal rides of over 1,200
miles did I receive the faintest sign of acknowledgment from any
1 I should prescribe as a golden rule, not to take a European servant unless
travelling by caravan. In the latter case, he is merely a single addition to a laige
cavalcade, and may be of use, as well as a luxury.