'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎153] (188/714)

MESHED
153
As soon as we diverge from the Khiaban, we plunge into the
familiar labyrinth of intricate alleys, wandering between mud
Eemainder Walls '. turnin g odd corners that seem to lead nowhere,
Of the city, occasionally stumbling upon a small piece of bazaar, now
CGinetGries * ^ *
emerging upon open spaces and heaps of rubbish. The
houses of the wealthier citizens are concealed behind high walls •
the poorer hovels are entered by low doorways often below the
level of the street. Suddenly we come upon a vast open area, the
surface of which is broken into irregular heaps, and littered with
broken slabs of stone. This is one of the cemeteries, for a portion
of whose hallowed soil a large price is paid by believers, and for
a final resting-place in which corpses are frequently transported
for thousands of miles. Hard by, masons in their sheds are busy
chiselling the memorial stones, of a coarse granite quarried in the
neighbourhood ; engraving upon their surface a text from the Koran,
or some symbol of the craft or status of the deceased. No more-
permanent or irremovable tombstone is tolerated ; for it is essential
to the requirements of the restricted area and to the revenues of
the shrine that the ground should be constantly re-available for
use, and as soon as the covering of an old grave has fallen in a
new-comer is interred in its place. Over several of the graves were
erected small white awnings or tents, in which mullahs are hired
by the friends of the deceased to sit and moan prayers, and thus to
expedite his path to heaven.
In spite of the number of these cemeteries and the outrageous
violation of sanitary laws with which they are managed ; in spite of
Health of the crowded numbers of human beings constantly packed
Meshed j n city^ and of its frequent and filthy cesspools, the
average health of Meshed is superior to that of many Persian
towns. Though situated in very nearly the same parallel of latitude
as Teheran, and at a lower altitude (3,100 ft. as against 3,800 ft.),
its average temperature is lower and its rate of mortality less high.
Khanikoff attributes this immunity to its situation on the northern
slope of a mountain range, by which it is shielded from the suffo
cating desert winds. The water of Meshed is abominable and quite
unfit to drink, being strongly impregnated with sulphuretted
hydrogen. I left my razor standing in a cup for one night, and
the next morning it was as black as a steel gun-barrel.
Above the level of the rooftops rise several of the hadgirs, or wind-
towers, which are such a prominent feature in the maritime towns