'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎56] (87/714)

,,, :f-J:
: M
1 .
I
m
I ■:
PERSIA
mmmm
■Hk.
bread and eggs, and sometimes a venerable fowl. Milk is not every
where procurable, as cows are not kept to any great extent ; and I
Food •ukI more often failed than succeeded in getting it. Goat's milk is
cooking ou the whole more common than cow's milk. A frying-pan,
a tea-kettle, and a teapot must be carried, and can be bought in any
Persian bazaar. Japanned plates and drinking cups, egg cups, knives
and forks, and a small Etna spirit lamp, should be brought from Europe
(Baku). Tinned meats, soups, and biscuits can now be procured at
European or Armenian shops in Teheran, Isfahan, and Shiraz ; but it
is a wise precaution to take them. Crosse and Black well's tinned
soups are quite excellent, and, besides being easily prepared, are almost
a meal in themselves. Soup in tablets or powders are good in their
way and economise space, but require more trouble and time in cooking.
Sardines, potted meats, chocolate or cocoa, Liebig's beef tea, and good
tea or coffee, are useful adjuncts, which should be procured in Europe.
Lump sugar can be bought in the humblest Persian village. I nearly
always cooked my own dinner. Firewood is easily and cheaply pur
chased ; a couple of bricks make a respectable fireplace ; and, though
there is frequently no exit for smoke but the door, the situation has
compensations which you must have ridden eighty miles in the clay to
discover.
A small medicine chest or case should be carried ; and the maladies
against which the stranger must chiefly provide are fever,
diarrhoea, and dysentery. Chlorodyne and quinine form the
nucleus of any such medical outfit.
If the traveller be a sportsman he will of course accommodate his
armament to whatever game he proposes to pursue. If he is merely
Arms and v() y a ging along the recognised highways in order to see the
country, I do not recommend him to carry gun and cartridges ;
as game cannot easily be got at without time and trouble, and
as these implements will add greatly to the weight of his baggage. In
the out-of-the-way parts there is a great deal of game, and a sportsman
well provided with introductions and equipped for the purpose might
make a successful expedition. Round Teheran all the best shooting is
in the hands of the Shah ; but I have no doubt that should any sports
man encounter one of the royal keepers while in pursuit of game, the
present of a shilling to the latter would turn him into a willing and
competent beater. There are tigers in the north, lions in the south and
south-west; wild fowl and partridges everywhere ; and on every mountain
range are to be found wild deer, sheep, or goat, of some description,
from the mouflon and the ibex to the gazelle. Wild bears are seen in
the Elburz range, and wild boars along the southern rivers. The way
farer who has no lethal intent usually and wisely carries a revolver.
The mere knowledge that he is armed acts as a deterrent upon robbery
Medicine
ammuni
tion