'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎30] (61/714)

■" 1
30
PERSIA
two practicable methods of travel in that country, viz. riding
chavar i.e. by Government post—or ridmg with Ins own animals
' and appointments bv caravan. The former means rapid,
if exhausting and sometimes painful progress ; the latter
progres-^ . g attenc [ ec i with less physical discomfort, but is apt to
^ar-riding ^ unutterably tedious, and, as the same animals must
be used day after day, unconscionably slow. In the one case
the traveller is an item or piece of animate baggage, who is trans
ferred from his starting-point to his destination with as much
swiftness as a succession of mediocre and sometimes abomi
nable steeds can manage to convey him, or as his own inclinations
or strength will permit. He transports his wherewithal on horse
back with him, he sleeps in chapar-Jchanehs, or post-houses, which
occur at regular intervals along the route, he carries his food in
portable shape or buys it on the way, he pa^s a fixed taiiff foi
horses and accommodation, he diverges not one inch from the main
track, he seldom looks behind him, and he has but one appetite
—viz. to get on.
The other plan involves much forethought and preparation—the
purchase of a camp and equipments, the hiring of a large number
of vidino- and bassage animals and of servants to look
Caravan- o 00 0
ning a fter both, and all the responsibilities consequent upon
the superintendence of a numerous following. On the other hand,
it leaves the traveller absolute discretion as to his movements, and,
while it never allows him to hurry (for baggage animals cannot be
trusted to do more than twenty-five miles on an average in the
day), it gives him unstinted liberty to dawdle. According to his
objects and tastes, therefore, the stranger will have very little
difficulty in choosing between the two. If he is anxious to go
ahead does not mind roughing it a little, and is fairly active and
strong, he will travel chapar. If he has ladies or a family and
household with him, if he is not inured to much riding, still more
if he requires to move slowly and investigate or explore, and
most of all if he wishes to diverge from the beaten track (for
there are less than a dozen post-roads in Persia, the number
being restricted to the chief lines of communication), he will travel
caravan. In either case he will probably do wisely to adopt the
speedier method as far as Teheran, where he can then make up
his plans as to the future; whilst, if he can persuade some friend
at the capital to send down a gholam (courier) or a Persian servant