"بلاد فارس والشأن الفارسي من إعداد السيد المحترم جورج ناثانييل كورزون، عضو البرلمان." [‎٥‎٢] (٧١٤/٨٣)

52
PERSIA
Chaldsea to the great Iranian plateau, which lie does not again quit
until he leaves Persia. Secondly, he passes through the important
and flourishing Persian cities of Kermanshah and Hamadan, for
accounts of which I must refer my readers to Chapter XVI., and
which are situated in exceedingly productive tracts of country.
Lastly, at Bisitun and at Tak-i-Bostan (four miles from Kerman
shah) he encounters some of the most celebrated remains of Persian
antiquity; and in the rock carvings, sculptures, and inscriptions
which look down upon him from the chiselled surface of the moun
tain-side, he both reads a tale of bygone splendour and observes
the most important historical document, albeit in stone, next to the
Damietta Stone, that lias been discovered and deciphered in this cen-
turv. Here again let me invite any inquisitive readei to read on.
I have now, at some expense of space, and at a greater expense
of previous trouble than many would imagine, completed the tour
of the Persian frontier, and have supplied to the m-
Summary ^ en( ]j n g voyager information which he will not find
collected in any other volume, but which I have judged to be indis
pensable to a work that claims to be one of general reference upon
the country with which it deals. I have shown how Persia can be
approached from the north, south, east, and west, and have indicated
the routes and the means of doing so. It remains only for me,
before concluding this chapter, to furnish that information re
garding outfit and equipment which is as necessary to a traveller
in the East as is a ticket upon a European railway.
For the requisite equipment for caravan travelling in Persia I
cannot do better than refer my readers to Appendix I. of the second
Caravan volume of Sir C. MacGregor's ' Journey through Khorasan, to
equipment 0 f ^i ie second volume of Mr. E. Stack's ' Six Months
in Persia,' and to Appendix C of Dr. Wills's entertaining work, In
the Land of the Lion and the Sun.' Few persons will commence
caravanning in Persia who have not tried it elsewhere, and al
ready formed their own conclusions as to the desiderata of camp life.
The size of tents, the structure of beds, the irreducible minimum of
furniture, the provision of ammunition, the extent of the camp, the
canteen, are matters dependent partly upon the taste or purpose of the
traveller, partly upon the fashion of the day ; and any too definite
instructions might easily be found superfluous or might soon become
obsolete. The case, however, is different with the chapar rider, who
probably leaves England without the slightest idea of what lies before
him, and who may be saved great expense and annoyance by knowing