Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-07-27
PERSIAN WEALTH.

| China, Is at present better able to present
| such spectacular effects as Milton alludes to
than Persia. She is not a populous country.
| she Is by no means relatively as powerful
or wealthy as In her former periods of pros
perlty On the other hand she is not poor.
Tor all have something; there is no public
debt; the shah annually lays by certain
! proportion OF the revenue, and he still pre-
serves goodly number of the princely and,
IN some cases, priceless jewels wrested from
| other nations by Persia's cOnquerors of old.
Were these treasures turned into coin they
might reasonably be expected to realize
enough to pay large part Of the expenses
OF war even in these days of costly war
| fare.
| THE CHIEF PALACE
OF Nasr-ed-Deen shah, and the one he occupies
at the capital, has for one Of its most remark
able features superb hall of large proportions,
| which serves at once as an audience chamber on
great occasions Of state and a store house in
which he keeps his vast accumulation Of
/ treasures
III Is not easy to gain access to the splendors
OF this hall, partly because some of the jewels
are often in actual use by the wives and
aauShters OF his majesty, who may disply them
| Ior DAY, these jewels being collected when
visitors are expected to visit the palace, and
| partly because there seems to be lurking
dread OF too often and too publicly displaying
the spoils that might reward a successful in
| vader of Persia
! When, after months Of patient effort the
| writer finally succeeded in receiving an invita-
tion to Inspect the royal treasury, he was imme-
! dately besieged by requests of Europeans to
! permit them to accompany himself and family,
request which could only be granted spar
| lngly. Twelve royal feranshes or attendants in
scarlet livery preceded us as we went to the
palace. and one of the high ministers of the
realm was present to receive us and exhibit the
wealth OF Persia
THE HALL OF AUDIENCES
or treasury is superb apartment some 100 feet
ons and GO broad, paved with the tiles for
(which Persian art is famous, arranged in ele-
CANT designs. The ceiling is vaulted and dec
GRATED very deliberately in stucco, an art in
which the Persians excel. The treasures were
arranged in cases about the sides of the apart
ment like book cases and in glass-covered re-
ceptacles resembling show cases. The first OBJ
jects to attract our attention we're the chairs
and tables covered with beaten gold. There
were about forty of the former. shaped like any
arm chair, but differing from the usual house
hold furniture in being entirely OVERLAND with
sheets of gold nailed on with gold fastenings
| These chairs, were told, are worth $4,000
each; they certainly are of great value, and
| S15O,000 does not seem an exaggerated estimate
| for the entire number. The tables were about
! 6 feet long and were completely covered with
the same precious material. These sumptuous
articles are truly oriental in character and from
the earliest times beaten gold has been favor
| lite method of decoration in the east, and is
often mentioned in their poems and tales.
THE PEACOCK THRONE.
| 1t was an easy transition to pass from examin-
| ing these objects to an inspection of the famous
peacock throne. This is one of the most cele-
brated treasures of the east. Ages before it
| was acquired by Persia it had. a worldwide
celebrity. 1t stood in the audience hall of the
raaf, oft ha Ia NJ nal6 and
favorite object for eliciting the enthusiasm and
| descriptive talents of European travellers in
India. Tavernier, himself a jeweller, well known
both in Europe and Asia as such, estimated its
value at some twenty millions of dollars. Other
experts have valued this astonishing treasure
| as high as thirty-fve millions, while some
| place its worth under thirteen millions. Its
| name is derived from the form of the back
which radiates like the tail Of peacock, each
separate feather glittering with the matchless
| iridescence of countless jewels Of price. The
frame of the throne is of gold and the surface is
BLAZE OF GEMS
arranged in Intricate patterns, combining to a
common effect q mosaic whose splendor has
never been approached, much less surpassed
since the days Of Solomon or the storied mag
| nificence of Bagdad when at the zenith OF her
| glory and power This bewildering combina-
| ton of the wealth of oriental mines and the
| skill Of oriental artists was sliced by Nadir
| Sndn WQen ne conquered lnQla at the mead or
| the armies Of Persia early in the seventeenth
century. After distributing spoil to the value
| Of 81, 900 to each Of his soldiers he brought
home with him, 1t is said, treasures to the value
| of upward Of one million, of which the peacock
throne was the chief. Wherein the wealth of
the east differs from that Of Europe is its less
even distribution. II Is concentrated in the
hands Of the monarch and few Of the noble
| and hence, while the country may give an i'm
preston OF poverty the court is always able to
| dazzle by pageantry and genuine treasures.
WITH THREE KEYS.
On the seat Of the peacock throne was small
box covered with cloth OF gold. The key to
this box, which is metal, is retained by the
| shah about his person, except on the rare oc-
| casions when the case is to be opened, when it
| is given to the lord keeper Of the treasury
| whose head must answer for the result. In
side of the case is a silver casket, of which the
| key is hidden in the royal library in a box re-
sembling book. Within the silver casket is
one OF gold, whose key Is kept by the lord
| keeper himself.
On this occasion the three keys were forth
coming, and the lord keeper, placing the pre-
| cious packet on his lap, opened one case after
| another. When the golden lid of the inner
the sun burst forth and We looked on the IA
nous Dar-i-Noor, or sea Of light. This Is the
great diamond Of Peasia-one Of the largest,
most magnificent and
MOST COSTLY GEMS IN RxIsTxNcE.
Its exact weight am unable to state, but il
approaches the size Of the Kohinoor diamond
before that was cut down TO its present dimen-
sions. The lord keeper raised it by the gold
chain attached to the ilaments which encircle
! the Dar-i-Noor and passed it to me. For q
| mosnent held 1t with q certain sense of awe,
turning II to the light with a half-formed fancy
| OF expecting the spirit Of beauty Gagged in that
magical prison 10 give Us some new revelation
Of the principles OF light or some record Of the
imperial beings whose power 1t symbolized,
and then returned it TO its case, glad to be re-
heved Of the responsibility. Men come and 60,
| shah wears the Dar-i-Noor on his bosom ON
the great state occasions Of his reign, and
another viii In turn wear that jewel when he 10
gathered 10 the tombs Of the monarchs who
have reigned over Persia for 5000 years. To
me such Q diamond seems like the soul, the
essence, the visible manifestations Of the
entity Of the people which possesses II. The
people are born to die but the empire lives on,
an empire still, while the men who built and
maintained IL are gone forever.
Although wearing the Dar-tNooe only on
rare occasions yet the ordinary
STATE DRRsa
of Nau-ed-Desn shah - BY no means insdgniA-
can't. II would take The capital Of no end Of
ordinaxy jswsisrs shops to buy up. the gems
that decorate his person even whom giving
simple sudience to . foreign minister. His
garb y apparently simple enough, perhaps .
dark sea green, but the breast buttons Of the
coat and OF the sleeves are diamonds the sise
Of valuuts. The spspist banda are also marked