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JOURNEYS
IN
PERSIA AND KURDISTAN
JOURNEYS
IN
PERSIA AND KURDISTAN
INCLUDING A SUMMER IN THE UPPER KARUN
REGION AND A VISIT TO THE
NESTORIAN RAYAHS
By MRS. BISHOP
(ISABELLA L. BIRD)
HONORARY FELLOW OF THE ROYAL SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY
AUTHOR OF 'SIX MONTHS IN THE SANDWICH ISLANDS'
'UNBEATEN TRACKS IN JAPAN,' ETC.
IN TWO VOLUMES—VOL. I.
WITH PORTRAIT, MAPS, AND ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET
1891
TO
The Untravelled Many,
THESE VOLUMES
ARE CORDIALLY DEDICATED
WORKS BY MRS. BISHOP.
"Miss Bird's fascinating and instructive work on Japan fully maintainsher well-earned reputation as a traveller of the first order, and a graphicand picturesque writer. Miss Bird is a born traveller, fearless, enthusiastic,patient, instructed, knowing as well what as how to describe. No perildaunts her, no prospect of fatigue or discomfort disheartens or repelsher."—Quarterly Review.
I. UNBEATEN TRACKS IN JAPAN, Including Visits to the
Aborigines of Yezo and the Shrines of Nikko and Isé.
With Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d.
II. A LADY'S LIFE IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
With Illustrations. Post 8vo. 7s. 6d.
III. THE HAWAIIAN ARCHIPELAGO: Six Months Among
the Palm Groves, Coral Reefs, and Volcanoes of the Sandwich Islands.
With Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d.
IV. THE GOLDEN CHERSONESE AND THE WAY THITHER.
With Map and Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 14s.
JOHN MURRAY, Albemarle Street.
PREFACE
The letters of which these volumes are composed embracethe second half of journeys in the East extending overa period of two years.[1] They attempt to be a faithfulrecord of facts and impressions, but were necessarilywritten in haste at the conclusion of fatiguing marches,and often in circumstances of great discomfort and difficulty,and I relied for their correction in the event ofpublication on notes made with much care. UnfortunatelyI was robbed of nearly the whole of these, partlyon my last journey in Persia and partly on the Turkishfrontier,—a serious loss, which must be my apology to thereader for errors which, without this misfortune, wouldnot have occurred.
The bibliography of Persia is a very extensive one,and it may well be that I have little that is new tocommunicate, e