Page:From Constantinople to the home of Omar Khayyam.djvu/181

 the town devastated by plague, with its population of fifteen thousand shrunk to a paltry number, its houses in ruins, weeds in the streets, and grass in the shops. Eraser's prophecy, that the silk trade would repopulate it, has been well fulfilled, and the merchants were doing a brisk trade; but the idle urchins, struck by our Western garb, found sport in following us around the town with jests and jeers, until suddenly their tone changed and they fell back as we reached the Governor's House to pay our respects to that dignitary. A welcome with Persian cere- mony and genial hospitality was here in store for us, and an hour passed, with tea and cigarettes, as we chatted upon travel and affairs of state, the governor paying a return visit in the evening, with due formality in a carriage and span, accompanied by mounted outriders and footmen.

The aim of my pilgrimage had yet to be accomplished, so next morning, in proper fashion, I went on foot with a guide to the 'Gabr Arch,' Tāḳ-i Gabr, which is ascribed by local tradition to the ancient days when the sacred fire of Zoroaster had not been quenched by the followers of Muhammad. The entrance to its vaulted chamber is a low arched alleyway of stone, whose half dozen bows, with somewhat pointed tops, are just high enough to be easily touched by the hand. The shrine itself is about eight feet square and nine feet high, built of rather small bricks; but the style of the structure looks Sasanian, even if some modern Persian inscriptions mark the walls. The sanctuary now forms a part of a Muhammadan mosque and its precincts, and it seemed to me odd to see the shrine that was hallowed by the older faith now sanctified by the rival creed, though a kindred circumstance has already been spoken of in connection with the one-time Christian edifice of Saint Sofia at Constantinople.

After this interesting excursion I found the horses already saddled and in waiting as I returned to our rest-house, which adjoined a silk factory; and away we galloped at good speed so as to reach Rasht again before nightfall.