'Through Persia on a side-saddle' [‎150] (181/360)

ISO THROUGH PERSIA ON A SIDE-SADDLE
and French has ever since been spoken by a cultivated
minority, the Shah himself being able to speak it with
tolerable proficiency.
Persians struck me often as much resembling Frenchmen
in their love of compliments and courtly phrases, and by
their mannerisms of talk and gesticulation ; and when they
waxed eloquent about their feats of war and their prowess
in the chase they would put the immortal Tartarin himself
to the blush. I fancy that Parisians would, however, be
considerably astonished were they to hear their language
as spoken in the France of the Orient.
While we were at Kerman the Prince began to learn
English from a Gabre youth who had been to Bombay, and
he and the doctor had daily lessons for some time; but,
finding they did not make the progress they expected, they
got discouraged, and I fancy such phrases as, " The cat sat
on the mat" marked the highest point of proficiency that
they managed to reach, although His Highness used to
bring his reading-book when he came to dine with us,
bursting out at intervals into fragmentary sentences from it
for my edification.
Fazl Ali Khan, an elderly gentleman in the Farman
Farma's suite, was the great authority on English, as many
years ago, at the age of nine, he had been sent for a short
time to a school at Brighton. Another of his accomplish
ments was that of photography, and as his productions were
almost professional in their excellence, I was very grateful
for the hints he gave me freely when my camera arrived.
With the exception of the Prince and his Deputy-Governor
the Behjat, he was the only Persian I ever met who was
really energetic. Like most of his compatriots who have
been to Europe, he was much discontented with his country