The record-union., 1893-04-05
AT BAGDAD.
Private Correspondence from Per-
sian Point.
The Bagdad of Yesterday and of To-
day-Sad Decadence-Ori-
entail Scenes.

By the courtesy of a well-known citi-
zen, we are able to give the readers of the
RECORD UNION the following extracts
from a private letter from Bagdad, in
Persia, written the 10th of February:
Here l am in the most eastern of East
ern towns. some seven thousand miles
from home Paris and from you the Lord
knows how many. Anyhow you will
not receive this letter for at least forty
five days. We are here in the hands of
the Turks, and as PAGERS they are pretty
bad To believe this to be the Bagdad of
which we read in history under the reign
of Haroun-eI-Raschid requires that faith
which we are told might remove noun
tains,
81 have Just come in from a ride around
the ancient Notifications, and from afar,
in the setting sun, with its domes, min
arets and palm trees, the town presents a
lovely aspect, but like all Eastern towns
it will not bear close inspection. Narrow
and filthy alleys, not streets, the paradise
of NANCY brutes called dogs "a cette belle
bette ie fails toutes mes eXcuses), Arabs,
Mussulmans, Jews, Persians and Chris
tians, who vie with each other in filth;
poor, suualid, broken-down houses with
very few exceptions, are all that meet the
eye. Their bazaar, the most celebrated in
| this part of the world, Is filled with the
! commonest of goods from Manchester,
Birmingham and Vienna. Rarely does
one see the tissues and work of gold
smiths for which the natives have such
| world wide reputation. Add to this that
! the natives one and all are the most
arrant set of thieves on Gods earth and
you have a pretty good idea of Bagdad.
| The Christian population, consisting of
! Armenians, Assyrians, and hali-bred
| English, are far and away the best. Their
/ of tho TOWN p0n1nQrafi Vnl U
clean.
Coming home tonight | rode through
! the Jew quarter. These people ought to
| take out patent for their innumerable
stenches. They certainly stand in no
| danger OF competition. Yet amidst all
their squalid filth and rags often one sees
among the young girls the most perfect
type Of beauty. All the female followers
| of the Prophet veil themselves, as you
know. Thank God for this, as / am told
they are as ugly as Satan.
1.-The Sisters of Charity are in strong
force and do much good. The Carmelite
monks are also here. The town has
three Christian churches-Latin, Arme-
MAN and Assyrian. l have had the honor
of being presented to and receiving the
| visit of the Mother Superior of the Sisters
| OF Charity, the AsSyrlan Archbishop Mi
| chel and of some gentleman with a most
horribly break-jaw name, a Mussulman
| descendant OF no END OF prophets, head of
the principal mosque, with whom, ow-
ing to the presence of bottle of whisky
and some excellent cigarettes, l got on
remarkably well, although neither OF US
understood one word OF each others
language. I fancy my friend, who lives
in kind of palace, had terribly bad
head next morning and wished me many
a long mile Off lie has, however, since
called, so 1 suppose it is all right.
81 am receiving the hospitality OF
family called A.. They are Chris
tians, very numerous, rich and of the
! highest standing. They are kindness
itself and seem unable to do enough for
| me. | ride their horses-reai beauties
drink their best wines, and am altogether
leading the life of fighting In
fortunately it will all como to an end to-
morrow night when l have to 90 on board
my ship on my way home.
"Coming up we lay off Bunder Abas
! for about sixteen hours. l landed and at