The Austin weekly statesman., December 16, 1897, Page 12, Image 12

About The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898

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18
BIKING
THE ROCGII AND THOIHtY PATHS
TRAVELED BY TWO ADVENTl'Il
OVH AMERICANS.
MIS OR BE simn m.
The Shnh'a I-Hle Joke He Wanted
to Sec One of the ItlcycliHta Break
II 1 m Neck nnd Almoxt Had IiIn
WUh CinttlDed.
If you look nt the northwest corner
of a map of Persia, yon may, or you
may not, find n spot marked .Tulf.i, lying
on the Armenian side of the stream
Araxes. That is the place where, vvith
two friends, I commenced a bicycle rldo
ihrough the land of the Lion and Sun.
If you are good at tracing routes on
irinps, it will not be Ions before th' eye
drops on Tabriz, and on the right will
be seen Kazvin. Lot your lingers slide
in a line almost down the map, and you
will find Teheran, Kurn, Ispahan, and
Nhlrnz, nnd then, with n twist to the ,
i..rt. T it... .-in i if t . I
juji, jiisnirc win ne uiseoverod on ine
oast. It was nt Bushire wo finished
our cycling in the realm of the Slinh,
covering a distance of nearly fifteen
.hundred miles.
It wns a curious experience. Them
nre no line parks nnd asphalted roads in
Persin. No cycle sports have ever been
held there. This may lie been two there
Jire no cycles. 1 am glad of this, for
the eyes of the sons of Iran would bo
opened, nnd then they would declare
the cyclists to be frauds. At present
they believe any distance can lie cover-4-d
In no time. At Teheran I told a
man I had come from Julfa, onlv some
T.00 miles off. "What, sahib, today V"
he asked, with the faintest astonish
ment. Another man was peering curiously
nt my wheel. The imeumntic tires wore
a mystery. He pressed his sallow thumb
on the rubber, nnd then blandly asked:
"Sahib. Is this like the heel of n
man's foot? Does it get harder the
more it is used t
I wished It did.
)iio day I was talking to the governor
of the village. It was blistering!)' hot
and I casually remarked It was cold in
America nt that time of year.
"Hut it is very hot in Bombay, isn't
It?"
"Yes, but Bombay isn't New York,"
I answered.
Surprise spread over Ills features, and
when he questioned:
"But nre not both Bomhny nnd New
York in FrnnkistnnJ" Which Fhows
that knowledge of geography In the do
minion of the king of kings is hazy.
Our first dny In Persia wns character
istic. We had crossed the A raxes from
Armenia, nnd we started oil all right
over a bumpy, lione shaking mule track,
and went hard for a black gorge that
gaped In the center of high red cliffs.
When we reached the gorge the pith
took a fancy to occasionally dabble In
a stream. As the stream was deep,
boulders slippery, and our necks previous
we thought It best to walk. Now and
then we cnrrled the bicycles a mila or
two. linen weycle, with baggage,
weigneu seventy pounds. Of course
we were wet up to the thighs. But
we soon got used to that. Nlirht dosed
In nnd the moon was good enough to
oblige.
llipre had been a fearful robbery in
the Dunrdees pass a few week heforo;
the mnll hnd been attacked, and bars of
goni nnu Dags or money for the Persian
bank had been purloined. We wonder
ed whether the robbers would deem it
worth while nttneking us. And we had
hardly escaped from the dark ball, and
wore cautiously and silently wheeling
mer a faint track, when two horsemen
sprang from nowhere. "Brigands!" we
whispered, nnd noticing the Hash of the
foes' pistols In the moonlight we parley
ed nt a distance. They seemed more
frightened than we were.
"We went searching for one village and
found another. It was not much of
a place, as far as villages go. But we
wore very cold, nnd very hungry, nnd
very tired, and very wet. So we aroused
the place, and made them find us a
room. And while we were being gazed
at like wild beasts we dangled our frozen
legs over a twig lire and thawed shem.
One man made us tea in a ilrty pan,
and another fried tis snndy rice in a fat
flwlniiuing dish, much dirtier. Then
we had to bustle the whole crowd out
and lie down to sleep the sleep of the
wandering cyclists, always keeping the
six-shooters within reach.
Poets hnve much to answer for. I
think I got my idea of Persin from
Lnllnh Kookh. I anticipated a gorgeous
land one big garden, where there were
ix-rfume-lndon orange groves nnd bril
liant rose bowers, delicious retreats nnd
unlimited sherbet, where one would see
the "fierce warriors of the turquoise
Jims, nnu sip the "reu weepings of the
Information reached the office
shiraz vino;" where every woman was
beautiful, every house a palace, every j
brook a rippling delight. 1
And what did I see? Persia I found
to be nenrly all desert. The people were ,
dirty nnd foul, and the women more re-
puislve than men. Everything wns in :
decay. The hnlf of every town wns in !
ruins. Uhe famous gardens were be-;
drnggled and unkempt, the famous foun- i way, and, following the Hibernian ad
tnUis stunk abominably, the famous nlu- vice of "when you see a head, hit it."
baster baths were of slabs and cracked let loose with our fists with all the ener
slnibs of yczd stone. The Idea at g.v we possessed.
home is mat nil that is oriental must
be picturesque and quaint, romantic
nnd drenmily poetic. And travelers
try to deceive themselves It is ro. and
tr.ke a pride in deceiving their friends
nnd making them jealous by dra.ving
imaginative pictures of the east.
We created the wildest excitement,
There is no Persinn equivalent for "bi
cycle, and so it is called a "toot car
nage," or nn "iron horse or devil. A
horse that did not eat corn wns a mar
vel, nnd the joke of bringing a handful
of chart and offering it to u bicycle was
worn to threads before we half finished
our ride.
There were no roads, hut nearly al
ways well defined cnmel tracks. Wh.re
the ground was hard and gritty we ypun
along easily at twelve miles an hour,
but when, by way of change, there was
swamp, or a rock-strewn pass,, then
well, we did not travel so fast.
We generally ' reached a- village to
wards sundown. The housetops -the
chief places of recreation would be
crowded. A great shout went up when
we were seen, nnd our arrival called out
all the people more quickly than ever
did the Pied Piper of llanielin call out
the rats. The Inhabitants would make
a swoop townrds us, laughing, screech-
ng, yelling, wnving their arms, bawling
questions. We would dismount and ask
for the chapar-khnnna (the post house),
where horses could be found for jour
neying nnd there was generally a bare
hut reserved for travelers. On the
way there was often n demand that we
should ride. We would point out th.it
we could not rldo over rough ground.
"Ulde, ride!" the people cried. Th'-y
pushed and squeezed. Advancing in
tne middle of two hundred folks was not
AUSTIN WEEKLY STATESMAN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1897.
HELD UP.
;
of The Statesman late laat night that an organised Juvenile band of high
on the outskirts of Austin while he woa reconnolterlng for hla Chrint
ensy. It wns difficult to be patient. On
one occasion a stone wns throwu, then
miother. The crowd opened out to give
facility for the stoning. We dnshod
inside the chnimr-khnnnn. A dash was
made to follow. But when once our
machines were safe and we were alwavs
more careful of our machines than of
ourselves we would turn to the door-
suffocated us. We told the postmaster
to bring rugs.
"Itugs," he exclaimed; "there isn't
suc't a thing in the village."
"Ho and fetch rugs," we would icply,
"and, look here, make your boy prepare
ten at once; nnd in an hour and a half
you must boil us a lot of rice, and fetch
us in n dozen pomegranates.
In vain he protested that it was im
possible. "Go!" we roared, and seizing him.
we gave him n push on his way.
He brought the things.
It. was absolutely necessary to be de
termined nnd bullying. At first we
tried gentleness nnd uersuasion. The
result was we starved. A Persian re
spects you If he fears you.
We never secured much variety in
food. We generally asked for mutton.
But ts secure mutton In Persia one
must usually buy the sheep alivi and
the killing, skinning, dressing ami cook
ing occupies too much time when throe
uicn are irritable with hunger.
We rarely nald more than 14 cents
for a leg of mutton. One of us prepar
ed a nice ember fire, whil.. another
hacked the joint Into nno-oiinen mor
sels. Those were threaded on a wire.
and then, twisted and twirled otror the
red ashes, were cooked. This method
of preparing mutton was a favorite one
with us.
Often we had fowls, navlm; If) rents
apiece for them. Indeed, to be strictly
act urate, we nearly always had fowls,
ucouBe iney were easily obtainable,
whereas mutton seldom wns. nnd we
did not care to embark on the wholesale
extravagance of bnying a live sheep, for
wnicn we woum nave to pny half a
dollar.
The Persians are not blgot'-d Mohnra-
niodans, nnd frequently we had food :n
nntive houses. Removing our shoes.
we squatted on the tloor, sitting tailor
fashion. A blc trnv nllpd wiih rice
wculd be In the center. Knives, forks
and spoons nre not used there so every
body ents with his lingers. It is hard
nt first to eat rice without making a
hash of yourself and the floor. But
after a while you succeed In kneading
a little ball. This Is rested on the
fore part of the fingers, raisi-d ti the
month, nnd finally shot in with the
thumb. After you have hnd a lot of
rice, green, shlney stews are placed be
fore you, and you dive in your fingers
nnd pull out what yon want. A bowl
of sherbet stnnds by, and you all drink
from the same spoon. It is quite the
proper thing for the host to pick some
thing from your plate, which is s i Indi
cation thnt there Is no poison. Indeed,
nt the house of one Persinn gentleman,
he always took something from my plate
before I commenced eating myself. The
greatest mark of honor is when the
host discovers a tit-bit on his own
plate, nnd, holding it between his finger
and thnmb, pops It into your mouth.
There were some regular experiences
on the road. At Tobrls we were pur
sued by a howling mob right through
thy bazaars. We naw a couple of po
licemen, or guards, or soldiers, or ruf
fians nnd requested them to show ns
the wny.
"How much will yon give nsV" was
the first thing they asked. And there
we hnd to stand, bargaining what was
the price of their civility. Perhaps, after
all, there was nothing strange in this.
Every office in Persia goes to the high
est bidder, and tha town guards must
pny for their positions.
we ramer expected trouble, leaving
tne town; so we cot a. eonnie nt mount-I
ed soldiers to see ns safe beyond the I
IV hnn thn i!aib ii'ufn ta I.ii at I .i.rv .
would look around. The room 'was turned outon horXek" 7
re fnr ihp IxJmI Tn Ztf , )? ' front, and the troop danced and career
re, for the nights in Persia are cold. e(1 nii.ollt ,. ,iinl(ntp,i .,r.irt Th
5i'K ITU" "LTJJ" !rub!.0.. !' 1 wire Vcked "'with men nnd X
nwiu, ni'ii uuinze. nit? uiuuue iieim.v i
for a wny to be cleared, slic
ing at people with his whip, and turning
cnmels, donkeys, and their drivers up
side streets. Four or five hundred peo
ple tumbled nfter us, making a fearful
din. We took no notice. But our rear
guard would every now and then swing
round his horse, chnrge where the
throng wns thickest, slash away wildly
nt anybody and everybody, and allow us
to slip ahead.
At one place the news of our journey
preceded us, nnd when we approached
housetops crowded with women. A feast
had been prepared and there was much
bowing mid exchnngias of compliments.
drinking of ten, smoking of kalians, and
general lionizing. The governor of the
town waited on us, nnd asked, on Ix1
half of the inhabitants, who had lu'vor
before seen a bicycle, thnt we chonld
give an exhibition. We said we would
ride in c open space at noou iiext day.
A STRIKING
I well recollect the flutter f excite
ment I wns nlwnys in when n traveling
circus came to the little town of my
school days. I think the folk-i of that
Persian town experienced something of
the same. sensation. Five hours be
fore noon, crowds collected before the
house where we were staying, and-, as
time went on, the gossiping gave w.iy to
yells of impatience. Casually I strolled
to the roof to smoke a cigar, and the
tumultuous shout that arose hns only
been equalled In my memory by the pan-domonium-like
roar of the posting of the
figures nt a presidential election.
When we snlllied out, hnlf a dozen
fnrnshes, armed with long switches,
cleared the wny. Never wns there any
where snch confusion. There was a
jnmb of the populace in the narrow
ways followed by screaming, struggling,
fighting. We felt nervous. Bnt two
soldiers kept near each of us. There
wore quite three thousand Persians
nbout, nnd, ns we rode in circles on our
wheels and "did stunts," the delight of
the folks was tremendous.
The hnlt for a couple of days gave
horsemen traveling south the opportuni
ty of carrying the news of our coming.
So our reception in every mud village
nnd straggling hamlet was noisy. At
first we enjoyed the novelty, but soon It
became a nuisance. Then we would
make a circle round the place. But the
lookouts saw the trio, and there was a
race between ' the villagers across the
fields to intercept us, and we cycled for
all we were worth to give thetn the go
by. It was a bad habit.? but we turned It in
to a rule, to wash as little as possible
traveling across Perkla. Certainly we
naai. ni,.j .... mnin I
fnr in th it r f;-.'.'J
' ''''' ' ' '--i,,- - - - ii I, I
J ,
waymcn had waylaid Kris Krlngle
nioa eve visit.
a little lukewarm water in the evenim;
was agreeable. Of bedding there was
none. Therefore for a week or ton davs
at a time we slept in our clothes, only
removing them to change, or to bathe
our legs In some rivulet. Nnturnllv our
costumes got very tattered. For a
pocket to be torn from a jacket is noth
ing. It wns when knickerbockers were
slit at the knee, and there were great
rents in the hinder parts when thread
refused to bind, and . canvas, fastened
with tire repnlring solution, refused to
hold, ami our bnr tops peeped through
that we began to feel disreputable. At
lehernn, where a kindly welcome was
extended to us by the English residents,
we walked circumspectly till slow-working
tailors hnd provided new 3iiits. It
was necessary always to retire back
wards from the presence of ladies.
One could not go Into the streets of
lehernn without nn enormous crowd
gathering. Yet there wns uevr any
thing but good humor. We hnd the
pleasure of seeing the shah, nnd being
entertained at the palace, where all the
dazzling royal jewels were unfolded for
the sinister purpose of making us blind
CONTRAST.
and filling us with envy. At Isfahan
we hnd nn 'interesting afternoon with
the zil-i-sultnn, who Is the shah's broth
er. We rode nbout the palace grounds
and his royal highness, who Is as round
ns n tub, was so slinky with mirth, that
he rolled nbout like nn animated barrel.
"Now ride down thnt path ns hard
r.s you enn," paid he to me. I did, won
dering why he 'wns nenrly having an
epileptic fit from laughing. Then I
saw. At the end of the path was a sud
den drop. Tight went the brake and
I jumped from the wheel. The zil
wns disappointed. A broken neck and
a broken wheel would have been so di
verting. "Ah, how wonderful!" his highness
said; "how suddenly you can stop the
bicycle!"
There was one thing thnt puzzled him.
How it was that a bicycle kept on end
when it was running, but when still,
toppled over? A bicycle was turned
round so that the wheels were in the
air. The fore wheel was glveu a spin
nnd it ran for seven minutes. That
also was. curious. He could not com
prehend the working of ball bearings.
Neither could he understand the spirit
which prompted us to cycle In foreign
countries. "When America Is so beau
tiful a land, why do you want to leave
it?" he kept asking. Adventure does
not appeal to the Persians. -
Though there are no roads in Persia,
and though there was many a mile of
rough tramping, very often we got mag
nificent runs.- The ground was hard,
gritty, and sunbaked, just like a cinder
track. ' Once we left a place with a
prospect of snow and slush, and we ex-
Sected to walk most of,ihe way. Sud-enly-Tsrfame
o." . ground.
-t.i'R d'1"- :, -pd occupy
a half. As it was winter, and w tra
versed Tery nign nius, tne coin ana
the snow troubled us. When we were
On a mOUinaui luueu mr nun ivuen
which meant "tne snouiuer or aeatn,"
we were lost and spent a dreadful Light
struggling through drifts, till we felt
wenry and faint. By the time wu
reached a village the next morning we
v.r- in a tolerably fainisbe I sta'e, fcr
vi- had been tvopsed to a storm, 30CHI
feet up a mouiita.n -etc a i l nnd th'thles
tc eat for :wei v hour. Wjlve of
ten prowled around us, and once ve met
bears. One, a big, blnck, ferocious
brute, looked like attacking us, but he
thought better of it, and scampered off
to the woods.
To be honest, one must not describe
Persin ns either beautiful, or romantic,
or poetical. And yet, in saying tills,
I must make exceptions. '
Shiraz, the garden of love, Is nn ex
quisite spot, renowned for its ros gar
dens, its orangeries, Its myrtle groves.
The scenery is charming, and all is fra
grance and delight. Towurds the south
coasts, nfter dropping from the grent
Persian tableland, there are palms nnd
shady bowers; folks dress gaily and nre
merry; and one did indeed fuel that the
scene wns enstern. There were to be
seen the marvelous ruins of PersopoliH,
the great palaces built by Dernius, the
nudience chamber of the mighty XerxtP,
the noble hall of a hundred columns,
the spot where Alexander the Great
feasted. ' ' . '
The shattered pillars were the giuiit
remnants of ji mighty piiBt, and nu
American riding his bicycle over encU
historic ground was a marvel beyon
imagination
Wished Henry Bon Voyage.
Berlin, Doc. 13. A number of civic
military nnd university deputations ' at
Keil waited upon Prince Henry of Prus-
c.it.w.n u.ittiwlnv'n vviuh him hnn vnvatre..
The rector of the university said:1-1
In alK'.iermnii lands tne leenng pre
vails that we are reaching a decisive-
. . i i . r i ......
turning point m tne nisiorj in ucnunuj.
nurseries, not nly of science but of pa
triotism, stand beside the fatherland
whenever its honor or greatness iB at
stake."
Prince Hemy replied:
"I enthusiastically undertake the voy
age to China nt the personal instance of
the emperor and with the consciousness
of thereby contributing to 'Jermany's
might and greatness."
The prince added:
"There are reasons to hope for a
penceful solution of the difficulties with
China."
Marcus Daly the Purchoner.
New York, Dec. 13. The Mail uad
Express snys today:
Ihoso who connect the visit of Wil
linm Lakeland to Kentucky with the
purchase of Hamburg say there is no
doubt thnt Mnrcus Daly, the Montana
copper kiug, is the new owner of Han
over's greatest son. Mr. Daly has ex
pended a qunrter of a million of money
in the last four years trying to get a
good horse. His costly eastern stable
has not had any success since the time
of the all-conquoring Tammany, except
the victory of Ogden in the futurity in
189G. Mr. Daly has announced his in
tention of retiring fro.i the enstern turf,
but there is renson to believe that he
engaged Lnkelnnd as a trainer ond will
try nis iuck again.
MYSTERIOUS ASSASSINATION.
A Stranger Shot Down In Amite, Lu.,
by I'nknown AssnNHln.
New Orleans, Dec. 12. A special to
the Picayune from Amite, La., snys:
Almost before the sod hnd closed over
the grave of Joseph Reed another as
sassination is placed to the record of
Tangipnpa parish.
This evening nt 7 p. ni., in the full
view of the City hotet lights, S. L. Mul
1 1 ii, a stranger here, was shot to denth.
He was standing on the hotel gnllery
nnd the assassin shot him from behind.
There were two shots .fired, but only
one took effect. This one penetrnted
the center of the back of the head nnd
made its exit just under the right eye.
Death wns almost instantaneous. He
fell to the steps nnd rolled to the
ground, n distnnce of perhaps four feet.
Immediately a large crowd congregntod
and the greatest excitement prevailed.
Sheriff M. F. Edwards nnd Deputy
Sheriff W. J. Mullins were at once no
tified and soon organized a small posse
and got the bloodhounds, nnd ns soon
ns the moon rises they will no doubt
take up the trail nnd follow the guilty
parties.
Why Mullin was killed is as yet a
mystery. lie is nn entire stranger here
nnd could hardly have had nny connec
tion with any of the murderers here
abouts. Mr. Mullin registered nt the
City hotel nt 8 p. nu hist night as com
ing ironi Jlarnsvllle, Simpson county.
Miss, lie is a man of small stature,
nbout 40 years of nge and rather poorly
dressed. He claims to have beer a cor
respondent for the Louisville Home nnd
Farm- and wns here for the purpose of
writing up the ngrieultural possibilities
of this country.. He had just finished
supper,, inquired about church, walked
to nnd looked over the register for a
second, pulled out his tobacco, opened
the glass door which leads to the gal
lery, took a step on the gallery nnd two
shots rung ont and the mnn fell dend.
The man or men that did the shooting
mnst have been- on the gc"ory, also,
for the ball came out on a level with'
the place where it entered. '
Some people are under the impression,
that the mnn hnd enemies nt his homel
and they followed him here and mur
dered him. Others are of the opinion,
that this man was a detective nnd had
come here for the purpose of working
up some case. Still many assort that
he was killed by mistake, but the latter
theory can scarcely be correct ns the
man was standing in the full light when
fc received the fatal shot.
The Cleveland Shooting Party.
Charleston, S. C, Dec. 12. A special'
to the News nnd Courier from George
town snys:
The launch Witter Lily came up to
the city this morning from the shoot
ing camp of Mr. Cleveland and party
for mall and dispatches and returned
about 12 o'clock.
Mr. Clevelnnd and some of his pnrty
went out yesterdny nfternoon to get a
few shots nt the ducks, and notwith
standing the very warm, unfavorable
weather, they bagged twenty-four fine
clucks nnd enjoyed the afternoon's sport.
Shonld the weather turn cold with brisk
winds from the northeast in the next
few days, as most likely it will, they
yvill have fine sport, as those nre the
favorite conditions for duck shooting.
Changed It Nome.
Texarkana, Tex., Dec. 12.-(Specian
-The board of directors of the Texttr
kana and Fort Smith Uailway met here
yesterday in annual session. Vhfname
tvhep?lwa8 chnnKe, Kansas
City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railway com-Py-
It "was also concluded d Bek
?e nftytr trftnsfeR the hendquar.
v& ArCthTD5r frm T'rlana
Heavy Utaa by Fire.
t,a la" thn? was at firK
stock wenYX andban,(,iD
-iiiLs-f. . ' -K? ' and fire. lb