Persia Revisited | Page 7

phrase by the frequent
reply '_Chashm_' (My eye!), the simple slang expression known in our
country, and which 'Trilby' has made better known by its introduction
on the stage. The word is an abbreviation of '_Ba sar o chashm'_ (By
my head and eyes! May my eyes be put out, and my head taken off, if I
obey not!). We also heard the similar but less formal reply _Chira_?
Why?--meaning, why not? why should I not do as you desire? i.e. you
will be obeyed.
We travelled to Kasvin, halfway to Tehran, over the execrable road
which leads from Resht. For the first forty miles the landscape was
lovely from wooded slopes, green growth and clear running water. The
post-houses are just as they were--ill-provided, and affording the very
smallest degree of comfort that it is possible for a 'rest-house' to give.
They had been in some way improved for the reception of General
Prince Karaupatkin, and his suite, who visited Tehran to announce to
the Shah the accession of H.I.M. Nicolas II.; but no effort to maintain
the improvement had been made, except in one place--Menzil. The on
dit in Tehran was, that the successful launching of the Russian
cart-road enterprise, now fairly well in hand, is entirely due to Prince
Karaupatkin's strong representation on his return to St. Petersburg. He
is said to have taken the opportunity of telling the Shah, in answer as to
his journey up, that he was greatly surprised to find the road leading to
the capital such a very bad one; whereupon his Majesty remarked that
the blame lay with his own countrymen, who, after begging for a
monopoly concession to construct a good road, had held on to it and
done nothing, and they had the right, so long as the contract time
allowed, to prevent others from making the road. The Russian press,
which interested itself in the matter, pointed out that what was wanted
to give an impetus to their trade in North Persia was good roads, not
bounties, and it may be that the interest which is believed to be
guaranteed by the Government on the road capital will take the place of
trade bounties. The money subscribed is sufficient to provide a

solidly-built road, and the idea is that it will be aligned so as to be fit
for railway purposes in the future. The existing cart-road from Kasvin
to Tehran is but a track, lined out fairly straight over a level bit of
high-lying country, with a few bridges over small streams. The distance,
ninety-five miles, is comfortably covered in fourteen to eighteen hours
in carriages drawn by three horses. The nature of the ground makes this
road a good fair-weather one, and as the Russian company has rented it
from the Persian concessionnaire, we may expect to hear of
considerable improvements, so as to encourage an increase of the
Persian waggon traffic which already exists on it. The completion of a
system of quick communication between the Russian Caspian Sea base
and the capital of Persia must attract the practical attention of all who
are interested in Persian affairs.
Many of the Moullas, in their character as meddlers, are always ready
to step forward in opposition to all matters and measures in which they
have not been consulted and conciliated. So the Russian road from
Resht was pronounced to be a subject for public agitation by the Tabriz
Mujtahid, Mirza Javad Agha, who, since his successful contest over the
Tobacco Régie, has claimed to be one of the most important personages
in Persia. This priest is very rich, and is said to be personally interested
in trade and 'wheat corners' at Tabriz, and as he saw that the new road
was likely to draw away some of the Tabriz traffic, he set himself the
task of stirring up the Moullas of Resht to resent, on religious grounds,
the extended intrusion of Europeans into their town. The pretence of
zeal in the cause was poor, because the Resht Moullas are themselves
interested in local prosperity, and the agitation failed.
A change is coming over the country in regard to popular feeling
towards priestly interference in personal and secular affairs. The claim
to have control of the concerns of all men may now be said to be but
the first flush of the fiery zeal of divinity students, fresh from the
red-hot teachings of bigoted Moulla masters, who regret the loss of
their old supremacy, and view with alarm the spread of Liberalism,
which seems now to be establishing itself in Persia.
The unfortunate episode of the Tobacco Régie in 1891 gave the

Moullas a chance to assert themselves, and they promptly seized the
opportunity to champion a popular cause of discontent, and the pity of
it was that the