A JOURNEY THROUGH PERSIA.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 480, 14 June 1890, Page 6

A JOURNEY THROUGH PERSIA.

Mr F. H. Cook (of Thos. Cook and Son) has published an interesting account of his recent journey through Persia for the purpose of opening up that ancient country to tourist traffic. He says :—“ For several years Thomas Cook and Son have been urged to send a representative through Persia to ascertain exactly the facilities for travelling in that country, the time occupied, the approximate expense, and other information sonecessary to induce travellers to visit any far distant or comparatively unknown country. “The recent visit to England of H.I.M. the Shah caused us to receive a number of inquiries, which we could not answer satisfactorily, and os we were authorised by Her Majesty’s Government to make the whole of the arrangements for the journey of His Imperial Majesty # through Great Britain—which arrangements were made by Mr F. H. Cook and carried out by Mr T. A. Cook —it was suggested that the time had arrived when Thomas Cook and Son should send their representative on a tour of inspection through Persia.” Acting upon the adviceof Sir Henry Drummond Wolll, who kindly offered to render all the assistance lie could, Messrs F. H. and E. E. Cook left London on Octcibor 20th, 1889. MrF. H. Cook writes: —“Theroutes from London to Persia are numerous, but I may say that the two moat usual are via Vienna, Budapest, Constantinople, thence by Austrian Lloyd’s Messageries or Russian steamer to Batoum; or viaßorlinand Cracow'to Odessa. thence by Russian steamer to Batoum ; from Batoum by rail to Baku, about thirtytwo houvs straight through ; but if time permits a stay should be made at Kutais and Tiff is. Baku, as everyone knows, is one of the chief sourcos of petroleum supply of the world. Two days may very well be spent here in seeing the wells and reffneriers. The best hotel is the ‘ Europe,' but is capable of much improvement. From Baku Russian steamer is taken to Enzelli. The steamers of the Karkaz-Mercur Company run weekly from May to beginning of November, and then somewhat irregularly. Frequent Persian trading steamers run, butcannobbe recommended. The passage takes usually thirty-six hours, stops being made at Lenkoran and Asbara. The steamers are small, so places should be secured as long in advance as possible. “At Enzelli there is a lagoon which might, without difficulty, be made into a good harbour, but the bar is so shallow that only very small steamers can cross, and if the sea is rough the launch in which passengers are landed cannot get out, and when this unfortunately happens passengers must return to Baku and waffi there sixdays for the next steamer. Enzelli is a small place lying very low on the shore of alagoon, and consequently very feverish. There is a picturesque summer-house of the Shall in the form of a five-storied pagoda. Sir Henry Drummond Wolff, the British Minister in Teheran, came from Baku by the same steamer a 3 wo did, and the Shah’s yacht was waiting to take him across the iagoon. He was good enough to ask us to accompany him,so we started at 12.30 p.m., and after an hour and bhree-quaters’ steaming reached the entrance to a small creek on the other side of the lagoon. Hero we got into row-ing boats, and were towed up the creek for a little over an hour to Peribazaar, an important village. “ Here we found carriages, and drove about four miles to Reshb; the road, roughly paved with large stones, runs through a forest. Resht was formerly the centre of a very important silk industry, bub some few years ago the worms were attacked by disease and the trade has. entirely gone. There is no hotel of any kind, and unless the traveller is fortunate enough to be the guest of one of the very few European residents, he must pub up at the Caravanserai.”

Mr Cook then gives a detailed account of his journey, from which it would seem that there is very little to attract tourists to the land of the Shah. He says :—“ Travelling through Persia is nob expensive. Ths chief item is for horses. The living expenses amount to very little, as nothing is paid for accommodation in the post-houses or chapar-khanas, as they are called, beyond a tip to the man in charge. Water, fuel, food, etc., of course, must be paid for.

“On travelling in Persia in general I may offer the following remarks : There are two modes of travelling, chaparing or posting and caravaning ; both are, of course, on horseback. The former, though very fatiguing, is the one usually adopted, as by this means three or four stages may be covered in a day, changing horses at each stage. The tariff is fixed by Government. The horses are usually miserable animals, but warm up after a short time, and eight miles an hour may be done withoutdifficulty where the road is good. The night is spent in the post-houses, usually a little better than mud hovels, with no furniture, but plenty of dirt. This does not apply to the road from Kesht to Teheran, where thev are better and furnished, some of them with great attention to detail, the proprietor supplying even hair and tooth brush. The -inconveniences and fatigue are very great, and the trip is certainly one that ladies should not undertake.

“ The other method of travelling, caravaning, means taking the same animals right through, so that only one stage a day can bo covered. This makes the journey long, monotonous and expensive, and is not to be recommended.”

The chief sight of the journey appears to be Demavend, a fine cone about 19,000 ft high, and i 3 about forty miles from the road. In Teheran Mr Cook observes there is very little to interest the traveller, and three or four days there are quite ample. At Koom the population is said to be 35,000. There is a very sacred Mosque there. Kashan is a large town with an important silk industry. Ispahan is a thoroughly Oriental city, and the bazaars are very fine. Beyond this and the life of the streets there is nothing to be seen. The ruins are well worth a visit. Shiraz, like Ispahan, is thoroughly Oriental, but there is nothing of an particular interest. From Shiraz to Bushire the road is so bad that there are no post horses asShe party therefore hired horses and mules to take us the whole distance in six days. The road is a succession of passes which descend in huge steps to the level of the Persian Gulf. They are very rough and it is safer to go down them on foot. Mr Cook reached Bushire on December 12th, and left by the British India steamer for India, &c. It took the party over a month to make the joui’ney from Reshb to Bushire. The routedescribed represents about 1,000 miles on horseback ; and, to show what can be accomplished in a reasonably short time, we may add that from Bushire Messrs Cook travelled through India, Australia, New Zealand, and thence via Vancouver through America, and are expected back in London about May 20th.