under any circumstances, be properly closed. The advantage of the bala khaneh over the lower rooms is that it is rarely, if ever, used by native travellers, and its mud floor and dilapidated walls are, comparatively speaking, clean. It can, however, only be inhabited in fine weather, and its occupant's first care, after causing it to be swept out, is to obtain the loan of as many stable rugs and old carpets as can be secured, in order to check the intrusion of the cold night air through all the numerous apertures which invite its entrance.
Some weeks before leaving Tehran we had obtained a promise from the Amin ed Dowleh, the Minister of Posts, that fresh horses would be secured for us at the different stations in place of the worn-out beasts with reference to which recent travellers had made loud but hitherto ineffectual complaints. The Amin ed Dowleh regretted that it was beyond his power to place the station houses in anything like decent order, but he gave us an open letter addressed to the naib, or postmaster, of each station, ordering each one to place himself at our entire disposal, and to give, or to obtain
