The linguistic educational qualification for the post is evidently confined to Russian, for on finding that I spoke Persian, the officer asked me for the information he pretended to seek from the English passports.

He acknowledged the farce he was called upon to play, and we proceeded without any farther inquiry.

The day was warm, but not oppressively so; the sea-breeze helped the boat across the lagoon and up the Pir-i-Bazaar stream, and the weather being dry, we reached Resht in carriages By the Mobarakabad route, without the splashing plunging through a sea of mud which is the general disagreeable experience of the main road.
The Enzelli Lagoon is a swarming haunt of numerous kinds of wild-fowl and fishing birds.

Conspicuous among the waders in the shallows and on the shore are the pelican and the stork.

The place is a paradise to them, teeming with fish and frog food.