'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎113] (148/714)

1]3
CHAPTER VI
FROM KUCHAN TO KELAT-I-NADIRI
And one a foreground black with stones and slags,
Beyond—a line of heights, and higher
All barred with long white cloud the scornful crags,
And highest snow and fire.
Tennyson, The Palace of Art.
F rom Kuchan it was my intention, if possible, to visit the famous
frontier stronghold of Kelat-i-Nadiri, the Fort of Nadir Shah,
intention described by previous travellers as one of the most
KelaS ing extraordinary natural phenomena in the world, and
famous e\en in this land of mountain fastnesses and
impregnable defiles for its inaccessibility and amazing natural
strength. Ever since the rumour had been spread, and even
circulated in Europe, that Russia coveted this particular possession
[a question was asked in the House of Commons in the spring of
1889 as to whether it had not actually been ceded to the Czar],
the Persians had looked with a jealous eye upon any intruder, and
I accordingly judged it prudent to say nothing of my desire. I
had ascertained that it was impossible for me to fortify myself
before starting with a special permit from the Shah, the latter not
having as yet returned to Teheran from Europe, and the British
Minister not being at the capital, in order to approach the
sovereign's representatives. Nor in any case should I have solicited
such permission, knowing that if granted it would at once have
been treated as a precedent by the Russians for demanding a
similar concession, which might in the case of their emissary have
meant something very different from the visit of so innocent a
traveller as myself. I was still less willing to telegraph for leave
to the Governor-General of Khorasan at Meshed, because I doubted
his ability to grant it, and felt certain that my footsteps would at
once be dogged by spies, if I was not actually turned back. The
I 'ersians are so extravagantly suspicious of foreigners, and
particularly of such as sketch, or ask questions, or measure, or
vol. i. t