'Through Persia on a side-saddle' [‎37] (68/360)

FROM THE CAPITAL TO FAT/MA'S SHRINE 37
ugly mud buildings clustered round it, and a vast expanse
of graves, all the devout who can do so, taking their dead
for interment to the Holy City, so that in reality Fatima's
resting-place is most imposing from a distance. A soft-
toned clock chimed the hours d la Perse from a gateway,
and at noon and sunset the melodious voices of the muez
zins calling to prayer resounded throughout the whole city.
Nasrullah Khan visited the mosque, which is a sort of
Westminster Abbey, sharing with Meshed and Kerbelah
the honour of being the last resting-place of the Shahs of
Persia, and saw marvellous old carpets, embroideries and
jewellery which I would have given a good deal to have
been able to inspect. However, merely to attempt such a
thing would have been almost certain death in one of the
most fanatical cities of Persia, where the wife of the tele
graph clerk was accustomed to go about clad as a Persian
woman, that being the only way to secure her from insult.
Our way out of Koom led through a mile of crowded
bazaar, narrow, vaulted passages with booths on either side,
and thronged with men and animals. A string of loaded
camels blocked the road in one place, and separated me
from my brother, whose old cavalry charger threaded his
way in and out with wonderful agility; and when we freed
ourselves from these, my steed and I got mixed up in a
crowd of little donkeys carrying panniers full of firewood.
As donkeys in the East never make way for any one, we
had to bide their pleasure, and my disgusted horse revenged
himself by backing into the stalls containing dried fruits,
vegetables, and odd drinks in curiously shaped bottles.
However, we got free at last, and I was able to watch men
working at bits of leather or stamping sheets of brass,
though none seemed to have any press of business, our