Page:Kennedy, Robert John - A Journey in Khorassan (1890).djvu/60

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The only building of note in Meshed is the shrine of Imaum Riza, with its mosque and gilded cupola, which gleams far and wide in the Persian sun. Inside this sacred building no 'infidel' can, of course, enter. Hither flock yearly hundreds of pious votaries of the Shiite sect of the Mussulman religion, who once they have visited the holy spot are authorised to prefix the title of 'Mashdi' to their names. 'Mashdi Kennedy' would doubtless sound well in Mussulman ears, but to an Englishman there is a suspicious ring of 'Mister' pronounced somewhat thickly by one who has dined not wisely but too well. In the neighbouring cemetery are laid thousands of corpses, transported from different parts of the empire, who in their passage to their last resting-place have tainted the pure summer air with their odoriferous exhalations,whilst within the outer court of the shrine are collected criminals of every shade, who have taken 'bust' or refuge from the arm of the law or from the vengeance of their private pursuers. Once inside the 'bust' the refuge is sacred, and not even the Shah himself can drag him from the horns, so to