gold, and coloured thread, a gold belt having a rosette of diamonds with a huge central emerald, the thing being four inches in diameter, and wearing his various decorations and the portrait of the Shah set in brilliants. His black cloth hat is fiercely cocked, and he smiles at the acclamations of the people, and is evidently delighted at his apparent popularity. After him come the two rival magnates of Shiraz, the Kawam and Muschir (the minister of the young prince); then the two secretaries, the hakim-bashi, and myself; then the principal people of Shiraz and the prince’s attendants, all on horseback; then some merchants on mules; then a shouting crowd which follows the procession. Soldiers lined the road, and a battery of artillery is drawn up to fire one hundred and one guns when the royal dress of honour is donned. We ride to about a mile and a half from the town on the Ispahan road. Half-a-dozen horsemen station themselves at distances of one hundred yards along the post-road in the direction whence the king’s messenger must come. In a few moments a gun is fired by one of these, then another as he perceives the messenger’s arrival, and we see three men, one bearing a bundle, advancing at full gallop. A letter is handed to the prince, it is the royal firman; he raises it to his head and hands it to the Muschir, the principal official present; the messenger rides at the prince’s side, who asks him the news of Teheran. We all ride slowly back towards the town, and so enter the “Bagh-i-No” (new garden), a Government garden where the dress of honour is to be publicly put on. The prince invites me into an inner room, and I am given coffee. He then tells me that he has requested the Order of the Lion and Sun to be conferred on me, for which I express my gratitude; and the hakim-bashi, who is also to get it, does the same. The doctor and I enter the big open verandah, or talár, and are given a prominent place among the grandees there, a few priests and officials also being honoured with places, as are the chief merchant and some others. Vases of roses and common flowers are placed at intervals along the front of the talár, beyond this is the big tank, round which are crowded the merchants, tradesmen, and populace of Shiraz, an orderly crowd. The Muschir who presides is affable, and regales us with sweetmeats, pipes, and sherbet.