The country between the two places was formerly morass and jungle, but on the occasion of the Shah's visit to Europe about twenty years ago, a carriage-road was made--not a good one, for such a thing does not exist in Persia--but a very fair riding-track (in dry weather).

We reached Resht wet to the skin, the snow having ceased and given way to a steady downpour of rain.
Resht bears the unpleasant reputation of being the most unhealthy city in Persia.

Its very name, say the natives, is derived from the word _rishta_, "death." "If you wish to die," says a proverb of Irak, "go to Resht!" The city, which had, at the beginning of the century, a population of over sixty thousand inhabitants, now has barely thirty thousand.

This certainly looks as if there were some truth in the foregoing remarks; and there is no doubt that, on the visitation of the plague about ten years ago, the mortality was something frightful.
A great percentage of deaths are ascribed to Resht fever--a terrible disease, due to the water and the exhalations from the marshes surrounding the city.

It is certainly the dampest place in the world.
The sun is seldom seen, and one's clothes, even on a dry, rainless day, become saturated with moisture.
The town is, nevertheless, prettily situated in a well-wooded country.
It would almost be imposing were it not for the heavy rains and dews, which cause a rapid decay of the buildings.