'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎277] (318/714)

FJROM MESHED TO TEHERAN
277
of the perils and the panics of their pious companions. A Persian
is a coward at the best of times: but a Persian pilgrim is a degree
paTic and WOrSe tllan llis and a Persian pilgrim in the
Sngrims IT J 0 ^' L * rkom ™ almost ceases to be a human being.
* . 6 would be lon 8" deI ays and anxious rumours at the
egmnmgj several false starts would be made and abandoned in
consequence of some vague report; finally the caravan would
venture forth moving frequently at night, when the darkness
added to rather than diminished, the terror. First would come
the matchlock men blowing their matches, and either marching
on foot or mounted on donkeys; then the genuine cavalry, with
intlocks and hayfork-rests; next the great body of the pilgrims,
huddling as close as possible round the artillerymen and the gun
which was looked upon as a veritable palladium, but of which it
is not on record that it was ever fired. Soldiers again brought
up the rear, and, wrapped up in dust, confusion, and panic, the
procession rolled on. The noise they made, shouting, singing
cursmg, praying, and quarrelling, signalled their approach for miles'
and, if they escaped, it was the positive worthlessness of the spoil
(tor a Mussulman pilgrim leaves all his valuables behind him)
rather than the hazard of capture or the awe inspired by the
bodyguard, that was responsible for their safety. To their fearful
imaginations every bush was a vedette of the enemy, every puff
of wind that raised the dust betrayed a charge, every hillock con
cealed a squadron. Loud were the shouts and clamorous the
invocations to Allah, and Ali, and Husein, and all the watchful
saints of the calendar, when the end of the march was reached
and God had protected his own.
It is only just to add that, if the panic of a multitude was
despicable, the terrors of individuals were not unfairly aroused.
Tales Of Many are the tales that are still told of the capture of
cap ure isolated travellers or of small bands ; and there was scarcely
a single peasant m the villages in this strip of country that had
not, at some time or other, been pounced down upon in the fields
or at the water-springs, and who, if happily he were ransomed
after years of slavery, did not bear upon his person the lifelong
imprint of cruelty and fetters. Colonel Euan Smith is in error
m stating that it was upon this piece of road that M. de
Blocqueville, the French amateur photographer who had accom
panied the disastrous expedition against Merv in 1860, in order