242 FROM GALEHDAR TO BUSHIRE [Chap. VIII
few days' interval could be used with great profit and pleasure for a renewed visit to Persepolis. Received there once more by Professor Ernst Herzfeld with the kindest hospitality, I was able at that, the grandest of all early sites of the New East, to gather instructive impressions of the important new discoveries which since my preceding stay had rewarded the labours of the leading explorer of the ancient monuments and history of Iran. Those three days full of profit and scholarly interest and stimulating in every way will always be cherished by me in grateful remembrance.
A very fortunate chance had caused my short stay under the hospitable roof provided by Professor Herzfeld at the palace which once housed the seraglio of the King of Kings, to coincide with a visit paid to Persepolis by Monsieur A. Godard, the Director of Antiquities in Iran, then on his way to Shiraz. Thus a favourable opportunity offered to acquaint that distinguished and ever helpful archaeologist with the obstacle immediately facing me, and to ask his friendly advice as to how to secure a renewal of permission for my explorations in the future if postponement for the time being proved inevitable. When, a few days later, we met again at Shiraz I learned without much surprise, both through M. Godard and direct from the Governor-General, that a continuation of my archaeological work on the desired lines could not be allowed for the present.
Following M. Godard's kind advice, I at once prepared a fresh application intended for submission to the Government at Tehran through the British Legation, setting forth in full detail a programme of exploration planned for the following autumn and winter within the great Province of Fars. Assured of M. Godard's readiness to recommend it to the Ministry of Education for approval, I was able on March 29th to set out once more for Bushire with a mind freed from uncertainties and with revived hope for future work in Iran.
By April 2nd I sailed from Bushire for Karachi, cheered by the kind wishes of Colonel and Mrs. Fowle and Major Gastrell, who had done so much by their sympathy to lighten the cares of my preceding long halt there. Before seeking the quiet of my Kashmir mountain camp in order to get through the very heavy writing work that lay before me, I was able to devote a few weeks to a renewed tour in that beautiful valley of Swat on the Indian North-West Frontier which, even after my successful explorations of 1926 on Alexander's track, had lost none of its antiquarian fascination for me. This tour in refreshing semi-alpine surroundings was made easy by the kind help of Major W. R. Hay, then Political Agent on the Malakand, and of that remarkable ruler and old friend, the Wall of Swat, until an unlucky riding accident cut it short and obliged me to seek Kashmir prematurely for sedentary work.
IIIF Color HighRes
