The Atherstone, Nuneaton, and Warwickshire Times. — 1889-09-07 (Atherstone, Warwickshire, England)

NCTD ARMS IN RIISSIAN ASIA. —The Russians at 'Mery have built burped', two streets, and a church. The fact is that, thanks to the Russians, the eclustrY between 'Meshed and Mery is now perfectly safe, and M. Boni allot and his companions crossed it with a servant and three muleteers. As to Holy Meshed, the " Pearl of Islam," having been so often described —its dirt, its heat, in fanaticism, and its great shrine with its golden dome—M. Bonvallot tells us very little. Besides the marquee," he says, "these is nothing remirkable about Meshed, exempt the degradation of Its papule*, the most dismayed In the world, with a hypocritical outward of the most bigoted fanacticism. ft is • place where is held, in the fashion of the Middle Agee, a vast Tellico= fair, where people trade, or amuse themselves, or pray. The great sanctuary, tilled with Persian refugees, justice and local bankrupts, is a vast Eastern Meade ; once within the sacred precincts which surround the tomb of holy Inman Reza, the thief, the murderer, the political refugee, or the bankrapt, is perfectly safe." These fasts, or sanctuaries, exist at all the great shrines in Central Asia : not only the slid= in sanctuary, but frequently a whole quarter of the city itself in the immediate vicinity of the shrine. The impecunious criminal has but to join the vast crowd of professional beggars who throng the precincts of the shrine, and he is sure of at least food and shelter and the lavish charity of the pilgrims. The man who declines to pay his creditor, can easily hire a house and set up a comfortable establishment within the sanctuary. Pilgrims and poor are fed, and well fed, every day at the shrine of Inman Reza at Methed, out of the vast funds belonging to the shrine. The privileges of the sanctuary are jealously guarded by a horde of fanatical mollabs, while the townspeople would be easily aroused to tumult or open rebellion should those in authority, or even the Avenger of Blood himself, attempt to violate the sacred place ot refuge. Meshed is one a the holiest of these shrines. Close to Teheran is another sanctuary, the torah of the holy Abdul Azim. Ispahan has its sanctuary, while half way between the ancient and nioderu capitals of Perna is one of the holiest of Persian shrines, the tomb of the sainted Fatima at Kim. This, like that at Mesh 4, is covered by a vast dome plated with pure gold a quarter of an inch thick. These golden domes, which are visible for many miles, are welcome sights to the criminal who Is flying from justice, or to the innocent man pursued by his oppressors. Besides these religious sanctuaries the great cannon at Teheran is an inviolable bast; so b the King's stable, and the stable of any provincial governor; the heel ropes of the Royal horses give ye, to the criminal who touches them, and in a bate degree the stables ofdocal governors and great men are also bast. But a criminal at times falls into the hands of justice by being starved into surrender, the grooms being forbidden to give him food or water, Cr, if they an not bribed,they may decline to do sa Sanctuary in the East ii rarely or ever violacedo