'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎106] (141/714)

106
PERSIA
soldiers. We are not sour milk that the Russians should swallow
us down. 1 We have a wall of men; a wall of men is stronger
than a wall of stones.
While treating this asseveration with becoming respect, I fear
that I was uncharitable enough at this juncture to remember not
only the mural decorations of the house which I had so recently-
quitted, but a certain passage that occurred in a letter written by
this same vehement old patriot to the Russian, Grodekoff, only ten
years before, in which he had remarked : ' There is only one Jesus
on whom were poured out all divine blessings, so that he should
come from heaven and create such a people as the Russians.
Changing the subject, I inquired what the Khan thought about
railways in Persia. Though he had never seen a railroad in his
life, he surprised me by advocating their introduction everywhere
into the country, and wondered why they were not begun. He
was aware that Queen Victoria had reigned over fifty years and
had recently celebrated her jubilee. He could not undeistand the
niggardly policy of the Amir ot Afghanistan in refusing to allovi
strangers to enter his dominions, and was unwilling to believe that
it was more difficult to penetrate to Herat than to Kuchan. ilie
narrow range of his knowledge, however, transpired when I told
him that eight days were required to go from London to America,
and he immediately asked if the distance was 80 farsakhs, i.e. 320
miles, arsfuinof from the maximum distance of a days land maich
' o o
in Persia. 2
Very characteristic too, and in strict accordance with the
practice of his family (his father, Reza Kuli Khan, put the same
questions to Fraser, and the Ilkhani The paramount chief of certain tribes in south west Iran. himself had repeated them
seventeen years before my visit to Baker), were his interrogations
as to my object and motive in travelling. ' Why do you come to
Kuchan ? What do you want ? Do the English Government pa\
1 This was an allusion to the coagulated milk, called mast or ah-i-dugh, which
is a favourite drink with the Persians and Kurds ; and the meaning was, ' We are
not such a simple and agreeable draught as some suppose.'
2 This answer, which is typical of the ignorance on all matters concerning
geography that is universal in Persia, reminds me of the story told by Moner
{First Journey, p. 215) of Fath Ali Shah, who was very curious about America,
and asked Sir Harford Jones, ' What sort of a place is it ? How do you get at
it ? Is it underground ?' Similarly, a Persian envoy to London, half a century
later, being told that the steamer which was carrying him had engines of 500
horse-power, exclaimed delightedly, ' Oh, show me the stables.'