Page:From Constantinople to the home of Omar Khayyam.djvu/285

 reports of your doings in taking pictures within the sacred shrine of a mosque have been despatched from Semnan.* I confessed that my transgression, had been committed quite in- nocently, for I had simply followed where my Muhammadan guide had conducted me ; but I then understood the reason for the murmurs of the crowd.

Yet it speaks well in general for the growing spirit of toler- ation in Persia that no attempt at violence was offered because of the unwitting offence, and also for the progressive tendency shown in the immediate cognizance of the affair by the Semnan police — an unwonted compliment had been paid indeed — while it likewise proved the spirit of enterprise on the part of the youthful press in Persia to report such incidents in Teheran, besides whispering them along the route by word of mouth. Considering the circumstances, I value rather highly the pho- tograph which I secured of the Mosque of Fath Ali Shah and which is here reproduced.

The evening at our manzil was the most comfortable and pleasant we had enjoyed on the trip. The native merchants that chanced to be halting with their caravans were polite and kindly disposed, treating us with an easy social air that made us feel more at home ; the master of the station busied himself with providing the best viands that he could — a simple fare, but none the less tasty — especially a liberal supply of tea- bread (nun-i chai)^ a kind of rusk or cake for which Semnan enjoys a particular renown. The air was mild and soft, and the long shafts of moonlight found their way through the trees that bordered the adjoining garden — a garden vocal with the bulbul and noisy with the swift rush of a babbling brook in which we gladly washed off the thick dust of the day's jour- ney. But all was changed with the morning light and the first beams of the sun. The stream proved to be a magic rill, for when we sought it towards dawn, it had disappeared, hav- ing actually swept itself out of existence, leaving a bed as dry as the powdery sand of the plain which we had washed off six

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