Evening star., 1925-10-25

| had Il nasty feeling Of funk and a
sensation Of my heart slipping quickly
into my boots. When held up by well
, armed horsemen 1t is not at all heroic
to try and fight an uneven battle
only two courses are open. One is to
say "Bismillah"-help yourselves. the
other is to run, if possible. We de
cided on the latter, but as to turn
around would have been impossible, |
trod on the gas and went at them
trusting to luck, and found myself
wondering how il would affect the car
ii | hit i horse broadside on.
We had to take that chance, and
as we approached them with quickly
increasing speed they split up. and |
missed one fellow by fraction of an
! inch. They turned and started after
us, firing wildly as they came, but
luckily did not hit US.
] have faint recollection Of look
ing over my shoulder and seeing one
big fellow almost up to the car.
which l worked up to 81 miles an
hour, and by the greatest piece of
luck We then hit long patch Of dust.
l could not see what happened, but
Redknap told me later that the dust
screen we put up saved us, as il
must have nearly blinded the horse
men. and they gave up the chase.
We did not stop until we were well
narrow and we felt that no sensible
origand would follow us in place
where only two could ride abreast
We put good 10 miles between us
and them before we halted to wipe
off the nervous perspiration and to
seek little Dutch courage from our
small store of bottles.
Felix had again helped us out Of
our troubles, and in that first short
I y I xNh,e sa.Nl..
at 80 miles an hour that in the ordi-
nary way we should have crawled
over. We were more than relieved
to find that there was no damage.
The next day, after a slow. dreary
drag over a terrible track. we arrived
on the Plain of Persepolis. the ruins
of a city with which. according to the
ancient writer's. no other city could
be compared either in beauty or
! wealth." and which was generally
designated the "glory of the East" ="
Darius, Herstaspes. Xerxes. Artaxer-
xes, each in his turn contributed to-
ward its ACKNOWLEDGMENT. 1t was
| burned during his advance of con
quest by Alexander the Great, in a
drunken orgy, at the instigation of
That's, the courtesan.
| = +
THE ruins are among the finest in
existence, and to see Persia In
her present state of decay makes one
marvel at the wonderful state of CIV
! ilization that must have existed here
| in the early ages, d civilization that
| rivaled Rome in its splendor.
The whole internal area of the city
was built on three huge terraces about
1,S00 feet long by 1000 feet wide, ris-
| ing about 80 feet above the plain and
| reached by a huge double fight Of
| marble stairs. Each step was 90 feet
| wide and 9 inches high, and with a
| l5-inch tread which enabled horsemen
| to ascend them.
| The whole city was built of dark
| gray marble, and many wonderful
| carvings are still in a well preserved
state in the palaces of Xerxes and
| Darius. The main portals are still
standing and bear figures of animals
| resembling the Assyrian bulls of
Nineveh. Above the ruins and cut
| in solid rock are the tombs Of Jam
schid and Xerxes. and we climbed the
hill and entered the tomb of the
former.
The actual coffin was looted years
ago. but the sarcophagus still remains
| intact, with its lotion broken lid of
solid granite. Wandering Persians
use the tomb for shelter at night, and
nothing but filth surrounds this won
derful mausoleum. In the great pal
ace Of Xerxes. with the few remain
ing Of its 40 pillars. we found three
Persians stabling their horses. AS on