'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎37] (68/714)

WAYS AND MEANS
37
Afghans in 1722 and by the Turks in 1725, and has suffered
severely from earthquakes since. Among the remains of its
ancient grandeur are the Royal Palace, built by Tahmasp and en
larged by Abbas the Great, which is now in ruins, but whose
high gate, called Ali Kapi, like that at Isfahan, remains. The
Musjid-i-Jama, originally built by Harun-er-Rashid in the eighth
century, also survives; a huge structure with two broken blue-tiled
minarets and vast deserted courts. But the principal mosque is
the Musjid-i-Shah, rebuilt by Agha Mohammed and FathAli Shah
upon the remains of the original edifice of Tahmasp and Abbas.
Although, however, Kazvin has fallen from its high estate, its posi
tion at the point of junction of the two roads from Resht to Tehe
ran, and from Tabriz to Teheran, and of a third to Kum ; 1 its
vineyards, which produce a grape of good repute in Persia ; and
its textile manufactures, which are not inconsiderable, render it a
place of some importance ; and side by side with the evidences of
decayed splendour are signs of reviving prosperity and pretentious
appearance. The town has very showy modern gates, and it con
tains by far the finest inn (there is only one other competitor) in
Persia. This building, or meliman-khaneh, is attached to the post-
house, and is situated in a large garden with a wide avenue of
trees. It is a handsome two-storeyed structure with large portico,
belonging to the Governor of Kazvin, whose residence is hard by,
and who 'runs the concern. Furnished apartments and good food
are an almost bewildering luxury to the traveller. There is also
at Kazvin a combined station of the Persian and Indo-European
Telegraph Departments, the wires of the latter connecting Teheran
with Tabriz, and the Persians having the management of a line
to Resht.
From the hotel at Kazvin, springless tarantasses and lumbering
four-horsed European vehicles can be procured to transport the
traveller the remaining 100 miles to Teheran; and he
road to may well profit by the convenience while he can, for he
Teheran will traverse one 0 f the only two made roads in the
country, and will enjoy a method of locomotion which he cannot
repeat for months. The distance is reckoned as 24 full feusukhs,
or 96 miles, and is divided into six stages of about 1G miles each,
1 This was the road that was traversed by most voyagers in the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries, before Teheran had been made the capital e.g by
Struys, Chardin, Le Brun, and others.