1N THE LAND OF THE LION AND THE SUN.* THOUGH

Persia is as yet but little visited by the modern tourist, it has been better described than probably any other land of the East, and this by both natives and foreigners who have made the country and the people the object of their study. Since the dawn of history, it is a land that has never ceased to be a centre of Eastern civilisation. Herodotus compiled the history of its kings, and Ctesias gave his experiences of Court life as physician to Artaxerxes Mnemon ; a thousand years later, the Arab geographers, from Mukaddesi down to Yakut, minutely described the country and its products ; and after the lapse of another thousand years, we have Tavernier and the copious tomes of Chardin, to be followed in our own century by Sir R. K. Porter and the author of the inimitable Hadji Baba. And those who have known the modern Persians and modern Persia, and have read some of the countless works which describe its condition in times of old, are astonished at the smallness of the change which Iran has suffered since the days when the Father of History penned his account of the halls of Darius and Xerxes. For the traveller of to-day, who camps on the platform at Persepolis, will be struck by the notable similarity in facial type between the peasant who brings him milk and the sculptured figure of the attendant on the Great King ; and, bearing in mind the twenty-two centuries that have elapsed, this persistence will perhaps strike him more here than in Egypt, or Greece, or Rome, where the modern and the ancient are also seen thus standing side by side. '

Dr. Wills' qualifications for writing a book about Persia are that he sojourned for fifteen years in the country, and studied the home-life of the people as only a physician can do in the closely-veiled East ; acquiring, at the tame time, an intimate knowledge of the colloquial dialects, which, though (unfor- tunately for philological science) unsupplemented by a study of the literary language, has enabled him to gain information at first hand from men of every rank and profestion. Since the visit of the Shah to Europe many changes have taken place in Teheran, and, especially in the precincts of the Court, many of the characteristics of old Persian life and manners have been improved off the face of the earth ; but happily for his readers,

• In the Land of Ms Lion and the Bun ; or, Modern Perri% By 0. J. Wills, 11.D.,

Sc. London : and Co. 1883.

Dr. Wills was not the senior "medical officer of H.M.'s Telegraph Department in Persia," and hence it fell to his lot to spend most of his time either at the old capital of Ispahan, or at Hamadan in the west, or Shiraz in the south, where the life of the provinces is unaffected by Feringhee innovations, and where" as Persia was in Morier's time, so it is now ; and though one sees plenty of decay, there is very little change."

Dr. Wills was fortunate in going out to Teheran with Colonel G—, his official chief, for a travelling companion, and he thus profited by the Colonel's knowledge of the road, being saved many of the hardships and much of the dearly-bought experi- ence which are the lot of one ignorant of the language and the customs of the East. The account of the voyage out, rid Constantinople, Tiflis, and Tebreez, will give many useful hints to any one who may project a tour in the further East, while to those who sit at home we may recommend the excellent receipt for coffee " alla Turca" which the reader will find detailed in the account of Stamboul. At this period, Dr. Wills' stay in Teheran was but short, and after a few weeks of rest he was ordered off to Hamadan, the head station of the telegraphic line connecting Bagdad and the Persian capital, which line was at that time in the hands of our Department. On reaching Hamadan, Dr. Wills proceeded to set up a modest establishment, bought horses, engaged servants, and learnt the true import of the Persian word modakel ("in- come"), an euphemistic expression for "pickings and stealings." Here the life was pleasant enough, sport—for Persia—was abundant, and we have a most interesting description of an antelope-hunt (with a Persian Prince for chief huntsman) ; and the delights of pigeon-flying are detailed, a pastime greatly in vogue among the Persians, who are bird-fanciers of no mean proficiency. In Hamadan, Dr. Wills first came into contact with the Armenians, among whom, subsequently, he was to live, at Julia ; and it is worthy of note that, unlike their country- men at Teheran and Ispahan, " they have mostly adopted the Persian dress and language, Armenian being in disuse as a language among those living in Hamadan, and there being no distinctive mark by which one can tell them in either indoor or outdoor dress." Before leaving Hamadan, Dr. Wills, of course, visited the tomb of Esther and Mordecai, and on the road to Ispahan he describes the inscriptions and sculptures of Darius at Besitun ; but, though interesting, there is little new in these matters, and we therefore pass on to our author's account of Ispahan, the capital of Persia when Teheran was still a village, and the Shah's ancestors but wandering tribesmen.

At Ispahan the European community do not live in the Moslem or old town, but in the Armenian quarter of Julfa, on the southern side of the Zendarnd River, peopled entirely by Christians, whose drunken frolics are in odious contrast to the sobriety of their Mahommedan neighbours. In Julia, the squab- bles of the monks and the Missionaries, together with the brawls arising from the effects of strong liquors in a hot climate, pre- vent the place from becoming dull. All men drink, and a specimen story is that of Dr. Wills' cook, an aged Armenian, who had learnt some English ; on a Sunday night this worthy was wont to say to his master,—" Dinner finished, Sir ; if you no orders, I go get drunk with my priest." Needless to add that they both did get drunk, and that it was at the cook's expense. The educational work done in the school maintained here by the Church Missionary Society is certainly excellent; some hun- dred and twenty Armenian boys are educated, and the Church of England has in Julia over two hundred com- municants, but as many of these latter benefit directly or in- directly, or are merely temporary Protestants to annoy their rela- tives and to obtain protection, the result of the whole thing cannot be considered a success as yet, for in eleven years not a single Mahommedan convert has been obtained.

Dr. Wills' account of life in Persia is certainly most interest- ing, and those who may read his book io order to profit by his experiences will learn how (like Robinson Crusoe) he built him- self a house in Ispahan, and how he and a descendant of the Prophet (the latter sub rosa) made excellent wine in Shiraz. But his charming house in Ispahan he was unable to enjoy for very long, on account of ill-health, and this brought him home via the Caspian Sea and Russia. On his journey out he chose a new route, coming post from Trebizond, rid Erzeroom to Teheran ; the voyage was as uneventful as travelling in .the East often is, and the only detail that need be noted is that at Erzeroom he heard, on the authority of " Mr. B—, the Chancellier," " that the Erzeroomis are so sharp, that there are no Jews " in the place.

On arriving at Teheran, Dr. Wills was immediately sent down country to Shiraz, the city of Hafiz and Saadi, which, lying embowered in meadows and gardens of cypresses, presents a strong contrast to most other Persian towns. Here,—

" One soon finds out that one has reached another country. Instead of the thrift of the Ispahani, and his mortified look—his dress made purely for comfort and economy, and his donkey or ambling pony— the Shirazi smiling, joking, singing, clad, if be can by any means attain it, in gayest-coloured silk, the turban frequently discarded, even among the aged, for the jaunty hat of finest cloth or lamb-skin, the well-dyed and kept moustaches, and the long love-locks, with the hat of the smallest size and latest mode cocked with a knowing air among the beaux; the universal pistols at the holsters, the well- appointed and gay horse trappings, and the well-bred, well-fed, well-groomed horses, all with some breed in them, like their riders. These men are a different race from the more Northern Persian,— there is little fanaticism, and some religion."

For a description of Shiraz and its lovely gardens, of our author's visit to Fussa, where he shut up a Khan in a coal-cupboard, for an account of how before his very eyes a scorpion voluntarily stung itself to death when surrounded by a ring of live coals, for a description of the Persian famine and its dire effects, for the story how when on a professional visit the Doctor was captured by brigands, and the ultimate fate of these poor wretches, for these and innumerable other details of Persian life, manners, and customs, wo must refer our readers to the book itself, and not, as our Shirazi friends would say, " skim the cream from the pot of expectation." But since it may be prophesied that this book will become a standard work for those about to visit Persia, we must here point out some few errors into which Dr. Wills has inadvertently fallen. Would that he had studied a little more book-Persian during his long leisure after- noons in the hot summer weather, and he might have written an account of Iran as complete as that of The Modern Egyptians, by Edward Lane.

Of Persian words, it should be said that a glossary is added, "having the transliteration of the Oriental 'scholar Johnson affixed in parentheses ;" so far so good, but why does Dr. Wills very properly on p. 217 write, " Yezd-i-khast or Yzed-khast," and then on the very next page call the town " Yezdicast or Yzedcast "? The heir-apparent in Persia is the Vali-and, and not (as given on pp. 199, 366), the Valliat,—this word, too, it may be noted, is omitted in the glossary. The celebrated garden near Shiraz is named ,Tehan-n,uma, "the world-dis- player," on account of the fine view gained from its terraces, and Dr. Wills is therefore in error in writing (pp. 218, 276), "Tabu-i-ma, the garden of my soul." Page 388, tobeh means simply repentance, which is not of necessity " a vow of abstinence from some particular sin." Page 312, backgammon (not chess) called Takht i Nadir is the Board (meaning the game) of Nadir Shah, and not "the camp." Lastly (p. 290), Mashallah means neither " God is great," nor " praise God," but, as correctly given in the glossary, " what God pleases." Of clerical errors, we should say that on p. 353, line 22, for " horses " read "houses," and on p. 260, line 5, for " Julfa "read " Shiraz ;" but these are but slight blemishes, and we only note them in case a second edition should be called for.

At the end of Dr. Wills' book are some most useful appendixes. We have the table of post stages, where, by the way, p. 412, in "the shortest possible time from Ispahan to London," the 200 and odd miles from Teheran to Enzelli are omitted.

Appendix C, on " Travelling in Persia," is the result of many long journeys, and "Russian Goods versus English" might prove interesting reading to some of our enlightened M.P.'s. After all we have said, it is hardly needful to add that Dr. Wills' interesting volume is a vade-mecum to any diplomat,

telegraph-dim, or traveller who may be projecting a sojourn in " the Land of the Lion and the Sun." We have pointed out some few errors into which he has fallen through not being a bookworm, but even to professed philologists his book will

prove instructive, giving as it does the modern Persian pro- nunciation; it shows, for example, the change of r into l in such words as khiyar, " cucumber," which Dr. Wills writes " keeal," after the manner in which that word is pronounced over all the south of Persia.