'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎299] (340/714)

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FEOM MESHED TO TEHERAN
organ-pipes, and, upon nearer approach, like sham Corinthian
columns; one or two detached towers, and a domed structure
whose roof consisted only of skeleton ribs of iron, like the frame
work in which a schoolroom globe is hung. The latter turned out
subsequently to be the Takieh, or Theatre of the Passion Plays,
within the precincts of the palace. Outside the walls on the
southern side are a large number of brick-kilns, a monopoly of which
industry is possessed by the Grand \ izier. 1 Here, too, are the
slaughter-houses, the lease of which brings in an income of 2,230/.
per annum. Entering the fortifications by a gaudily decorated
gate at some distance from the populated quarter, I rode quite
two miles through the streets before reaching the British Legation,
which is situated on the northern outskirts of the city.
Supplementary Routes between Meshed and Teheran.
Ieheran to Shaheud (the summer or mountain route, via Demavend,
Firuzkuh, and Chasmeh Ali, 237 miles). J. B. Morier (1814), Second Journey,
cap. xxiii. Captain Hon. G. Napier (1874), Journal of the It.G.S., vol. xlvi p 62
seq. (1876).
^Routes between Teheran and Meshed taken by General A. H. Schindler in
1876, and described, with a map, in the Zeit. d. Gesell. f. Erd. zu Berlin, 1877,
pp. 215-229: 1. Semnan, southern route, via Frat, to Damghan; 2. Maiomai,
northern route, via Sherifabad, to Miandasht; 3. Miandasht, southern route, via
Khan-i-Khodi and Dashtgird, to Abbasabad; 4. Abbasabad, northern route, via
i erumed and Jagatai, to Plain of Juwain, and thence south-east, via Tabbas, to
Sebzewar ; 5. Nishapur, north-west route, to Madan (Turquoise Mines), and thence
south-west, via Shurab, to Zafarani.
He pays the sum of 12,000 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. (or 3,430Z.) a year for the monopoly, and
legulates the price of bricks to suit his own pocket. In 1887 there were made
two qualities of bricks, good and bad—the good costing, according to season, from
o5 to 40 hrans, the bad 25 to 30 krans, per 1,000. There has now been added a
third, and worse, quality, and the prices for the three qualities are 45 to 52 krans,
35 to 42 Tvrans, and 20 to 25 krans, per 1,000.