"عبر بلاد فارس على سرج ركوب جانبي" [‎١‎٤‎٨] (٣٦٠/١٧٩)

CHAPTER XI
OUR SOCIAL CIRCLE AT KERMAN
OiM July 20th, the day after we came home from our
tour among the hills, the cannon of the city announced
at an early hour that His Highness the Farman Farma
was about to make his official entry into Kerman. We
were much pleased at his arrival, as he and my brother
were friends of over two years' standing, and he was
considered to be the most civilised and enlightened of
Persian princes. His home and property were at Tabriz,
where he had left his family, and his wife was the daughter
of the Vali Ahd, 1 the heir-apparent to the throne, while he
himself was cousin of the Shah,
The Prince was a short, slight man of about thirty-five,
and wore spectacles, being very near-sighted. He could
speak French fluently, the acquisition of that language
being one of the chief accomplishments of the Military
College at Tehran, where he had been educated; and I
found him most chatty and agreeable.
He was among our earliest guests when we began to
give dinner parties, and it was rather an undertaking
entertaining a Persian Prince, as besides having to prepare
a varied repast for our invited guests, I had to arrange for
1 Now the present Shah.
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