Across Coveted Lands

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Coveted Lands, by Arnold Henry Savage Landor

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Title: Across Coveted Lands or a Journey from Flushing (Holland) to Calcutta Overland
Author: Arnold Henry Savage Landor
Release Date: July 22, 2007 [EBook #22117]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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[Illustration: His Majesty the Shah of Persia.]

ACROSS COVETED LANDS
OR
A JOURNEY FROM FLUSHING (HOLLAND) TO CALCUTTA, OVERLAND
BY
A. HENRY SAVAGE LANDOR
WITH 175 ILLUSTRATIONS, DIAGRAMS, PLANS AND MAPS BY AUTHOR
IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. I
London MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited 1902
All rights reserved
Richard Clay and Sons, Limited, LONDON AND BUNGAY
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
To face page His Majesty the Shah of Persia Frontispiece The Baku Oil Wells 20 The Amir of Bokhara leaving Baku to return to his Country 26 Persian Wrestling 38 Fourgons on the Russian Road between Resht and Teheran 50 Making a Kanat 74 The Murderer of Nasr-ed-din Shah 90 Persian Cossacks (Teheran) Drilled by Russian Officers 100 The Eftetahié College, supported by Meftah-el-Mulk 102 H. E. Mushir-ed-Doulet, Minister of Foreign Affairs 106 Persian Soldiers--The Band 112 Recruits learning Music 112 The Arrival of a Caravan of Silver at the Imperial Bank of Persia 126 The Imperial Bank of Persia Decorated on the Shah's Birthday 134 A Typical Persian Window. (Mr. Rabino's House, Teheran.) 140 The First Position in Persian Wrestling 158 Palawans, or Strong Men giving a Display of Feats of Strength 158 Iman Jumeh. Head Priest of Teheran, and Official Sayer of Prayers to the Shah 170 Sahib Divan, who was at various periods Governor of Shiraz and Khorassan 190 Persian Woman and Child 206 A Picturesque Beggar Girl 206 Ruku Sultaneh, Brother of the present Shah 218 The Shah in his Automobile 224 The Sadrazam's (Prime Minister's) Residence, Teheran 224 In the Shah's Palace Grounds, Teheran 230 The Shah and his Suite 240 Rock Sculpture near Shah-Abdul-Azim 244 Author's Diligence between Teheran and Kum 244 The Track along the Kohrut Dam 270 Between Gyabrabad and Kohrut 270 The Interior of Chappar Khana at Kohrut 272 Chapparing--the Author's post horses 278 Persian Escort firing at Brigands 278 Jewish Girls, Isfahan 292 An Isfahan Jew 292 The Square, Isfahan 298 The Palace Gate, Isfahan 304 Boys Weaving a Carpet 314 Cotton Cleaners 314 Handsome Doorway in the Madrassah, Isfahan 322 One of Zil-es-Sultan's Eunuchs 326 The "Hall of Forty Columns," Isfahan 326 The Quivering Minarets near Isfahan 330 H.R.H. Zil-es-Sultan, Governor of Isfahan 350 Agriculture and Pigeon Towers near Isfahan 352 Persian Spinning Wheels and Weaving Looms 366 Halting at a Caravanserai 380 A Street in Yezd, showing High Badjirs or Ventilating Shafts 380 Ardeshir Meheban Irani and the Leading Members of the Anguman-i-Nasseri (Parsee National Assembly), Yezd 394 Parsee Priests of Yezd Officiating during Ceremony in their Fire Temple 400 Interior of Old Caravanserai with Central Water Tank 410 Typical Caravanserai and Mud Fort in the Desert between Yezd and Kerman 414 A Trade Caravanserai, Kerman 414 H. E. Ala-el-Mulk, Governor of Kerman, in his Palace 432 Tiled Walls and Picturesque Windows in the Madrassah, Kerman 438 Sirkar Agha's Son, the Head of the Sheikhi Sect, Kerman 438 The Interior of a Hammam or Bath--First Room 442 The Hot Room in a Persian Bath 444 The Kala-i-Dukhtar or Virgin Fort 444 Graveyard and Kala-i-Dukhtar or Virgin Fort, Kerman 446 Ruined Houses of Farmitan 450 Plan of House at Farmitan 450 A Steep Rock Climb, Kerman 454 A View of the Kerman Plain from the "Ya Ali" Inscription 458 Wives Returning from the Pilgrimage for Sterile Women 458 Map at the End of Volume.

ACROSS COVETED LANDS
CHAPTER I
The start--The terrors of the Russian Custom-house--An amusing incident at the Russian frontier--Politeness of Russian officials--Warsaw: its sights; its lovely women--The talented Pole--People who know how to travel by train--A ludicrous scene.
"First single to Baku," I requested when my turn came at the window of the ticket office at Victoria Station.
"Baku?--where is that?" queried the ticket man.
"In Southern Russia."
"Oh, I see! Well, we cannot book further than Warsaw for Russia."
"Warsaw will do. . . . . How much? . . . Thank you."
My baggage having next been duly registered direct for the capital of Poland, off I set to Queenborough, crossed over by the night boat to Flushing, and continued the following morning by express to Berlin.
Once in the Russian train from the German capital one hears a great deal of the terrors of the approaching Russian Custom-house, and here I may relate rather an amusing incident which will prove what