Page 61 - 1930 October - To Dragma

60 To DRAGM

seventy feet high were carved deep into the face of the rock. Bas re4
liefs filled the upper arm of all the crosses; the three lower arms of the
cross were left plain, in gorgeous simplicity. In other parts of the greaJ
rock cliff Sassanian kings had placed wonderful bas reliefs in the earl
centuries after Christ; around the end of the cliff stood two ancient fire
altars erected by the Zoroastrians for their fireworship. I t was difficu
to realize the tremendous age of it all.

The Persepolis ruins in the same vast plain but in another direction
were easier to reach, but had suffered far more at the hands of time and
enemies. They were in a gorgeous setting, however—on a w o n d e r f
vast platform high over the Plain of Mervdasht. We spent hours W
exploring the colossal ruins, finding thrillingly beautiful carvings in the
columns and doorways and walls that are all that remain of the glorious
city which Darius the Great built as his capital in about 500 B.C.

Shiraz, the city to which we went from Persepolis, also was an en]
chanting place, full of picturesque ruins of former loveliness, of mosques
and minarets, of cypresses and famous old Persian gardens—the seat, too
of the tombs of Sadi and of Hafiz, Persia's beloved poets. I f only 1
could describe for you the beauty of the view over the city and its sua
roundings from the Pass of God Is Great—or, on the less serious side
make you see the funny little "hotel" in which I stayed, and the pitH
fully and screamingly amusing attempts of the entire* personnel to fur-
nish their idea of European service and food and comforts in my honor
Or if you could have watched the kissing and weeping pilgrims I saw
start on their journey to Meshed; or seen the fabulously wealthy old]
Persian owner of Shiraz' loveliest garden, lying in his shirt-tails among]
pillows and being gently fanned by his wives, who invited me to come
up from the garden for a cup of tea, and ended by buying from my neck]
a string of beads whose color caught his fancy, and which are now doinJ
duty as his Mohammedan rosary! Why isn't there time and space to tel
about those things—and countless others?

From Shiraz, then, instead of going further south to Bushire, and saQl
ing from there back to Bombay, as I had planned, I went north again t
Isfahan, doubling on the road I had taken on the southward trip ( s i n c
it was the only one!) and, incidentally, pnssing again the Bachtiari coufl
try in which that interesting picture, "Grass," was filmed several y e a
ago showing the migration of an entire community across the difficuM
snow passes in its annual search for pasture for its flocks. I had am
opportunity to go on a horseback trip over the mountains themselves, bxm
I didn't take it because I wanted to get back to Teheran to see what ham
happened to my application for a Russian visa. I reached the c a p i t i
after a further delightful stay in Isfahan, and to my overwhelming
surprise, and contrary to everyone's expectations, found the permission
to go to Russia waiting for me, received just ten days after my telegraflfl
went to Moscow!

I had so definitely expected a refusal (several people I had met hav-
ing received one), that it took me a day or two to readjust to the nem
order of things. When matters were finally arranged, and I went to sem