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 Preface

You can’t make an educated decision about what career to pursue without adequate
information. Engineering Your Future endeavors to give you a broad introduction to
the study and practice of engineering. In addition to presenting vital information,
we’ve tried to make it interesting and easy to read as well.
You might find Chapter 2, “Engineering Majors,” to be a tremendous help to you in
determining what areas of engineering sound most appealing to you as you begin
your education. Our “Profiles of Engineers” chapter, available on the Companion
Website, may also be of particular interest to you. The chapter includes information
from real people—engineers practicing in the field. They discuss their jobs, their
lives, and the things they wish they had known going into the profession.
The rest of the book presents such things as the heritage of engineering; some
thoughts about the future of the profession; some tips on how best to succeed in the
classroom; advice on how to gain actual, hands-on experience; exposure to
computer-aided design; and a nice introduction to several areas essential to the study
and practice of engineering.
We have designed this book for modular use in a freshman engineering course
that introduces students to the field of engineering. Such a course differs in content
from university to university. This brief book focuses on core skills and can easily be
used in either in a full-semester course or a shorter course. Consequently, we have
included many topics, too numerous to cover in one course. We anticipate that sev-
eral of the topics will be selected for a particular course, with the remaining topics
available to you for outside reading and for future reference.
As you contemplate engineering, you should consider the dramatic impact engi-
neers have had on our world. Note the eloquent words of the former chair of the
American Association of Engineering Societies Martha Sloan, professor emeritus of
electrical engineering at Michigan Technological University:

In an age when technology helps turn fantasy and fiction into reality, engineers
have played a pivotal role in developing the technologies that maintain our na-
tion’s economic, environmental and national security. They revolutionized medi-
cine with pacemakers and MRI scanners. They changed the world with the
development of television and the transistor, computers and the Internet. They

vii

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 viii Preface

introduced new concepts in transportation, power, satellite communications,

earthquake-resistant buildings, and strain-resistant crops by applying scientific
discoveries to human needs.
Engineering is sometimes thought of as applied science, but engineering is far
more. The essence of engineering is design and making things happen for the ben-
efit of humanity.

Joseph Bordogna, former president of IEEE, adds:

Engineering will be one of the most significant forces in designing continued eco-
nomic development and success for humankind in a manner that will sustain
both the planet and its growing population. Engineers will develop the new pro-
cesses and products. They will create and manage new systems for civil infrastruc-
ture, manufacturing, communications, health care delivery, information
management, environmental conservation and monitoring, and everything else
that makes modern society function.

We hope that you, too, will find the field of engineering to be attractive, meaning-
ful, and exciting—one that promises to be both challenging and rewarding, and one
that matches well with your skills and interests.
For the instructor’s convenience, there is an Ancillary Resource Center site with
support materials (PowerPoint figure slides and a test bank). This material may be
found at http://oup-arc.com/oakes-engineering-9e/. (This site hosts material for both
the Comprehensive and Brief Editions of the text.)

New to the Sixth Brief Edition

■■ Chapter 1, “The Heritage of Engineering,” replaces “The History of

Engineering.” This chapter was rewritten to move away from chronicling
historical engineering achievements to describe engineering as something that
has impacted so much of our daily lives and to appreciate the rich and inclusive
heritage of engineering and the engineers who contributed to what we see today.
Diverse examples are used to discuss the heritage of engineering that span
genders and cultures, with some discussion of the historical contexts, to prompt
ideas and allow for further research and discussions. Themes that are discussed
include how engineers are making the world a better place and improving the
human condition as well as the importance of teamwork and communication
now and historically.
■■ Chapter 2, “Engineering Majors,” was updated to reflect current technological
advances, especially in the computer, electrical, and biological areas. Mobile
computing is discussed as an example. Nanotechnology and its influence have
also been reflected in the descriptions of the majors.
■■ Chapter 3, “A Statistical Profile of the Engineering Profession,” provides the latest
available data on the job market for engineers, recent starting salaries for the

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 Preface ix

different majors, and a variety of related information. This material includes

updated college enrollment data trends, number of degrees awarded for the
various engineering majors, and career-long projections of salaries by employer
size and type, field of study, and geographical region. Updated information is also
provided concerning the diversity of the profession, and engineering graduate
school data.
■■ Chapter 7, “Teamwork,” has been completely updated with new examples and
material. The chapter uses real examples from today’s leading companies,
including Netflix, Boeing, Tesla Motors, and Google.
■■ Chapter 8, “Engineering Design,” was revised to help students gain insight into
the more practical aspects of learning the engineering design process. The
10-stage process has been reduced to a more manageable five stages and includes
an open-ended case study that can be used in the classroom as is or with
modification.
■■ Chapter 10, “Ethics and Engineering,” has been rewritten with the goal of
introducing ethics to future professional engineers in a lively, more accessible
way. In addition to systematically introducing the vocabulary and concepts
needed to understand the nature of professional ethics and the difference
between ethics and policy, the chapter now more directly confronts and clarifies
some of the most common questions and confusions students have about ethics,
including where professional ethical obligations come from, why the ethical
obligations of engineers are not merely matters of subjective opinion and
personal conscience, and why codes of professional ethics must be understood
not as arbitrary lists of rules but rather as a reflection of rational,
intuitive requirements on the practice of a learned profession. These insights
about the nature of professional ethics are now also reinforced in the
revised explanation and analysis of existing codes of engineering ethics as well as
in the review questions.
■■ Appendix A: Nine Excel Skills Every Engineering Student Should Know. This
appendix has been completely revised. Instead of focusing on “which button to
click,” the skills are now presented in a way that promotes everyday application
as well as lifelong learning.
■■ Appendix B: Impress Them: How to Make Presentations Effective. A complete
overhaul, this appendix now offers guidelines for making a powerful presentation
that will leave a lasting impression on the audience. The makeup of a presentation
is dissected, and plenty of good and bad examples are included.
■■ Appendix C: An Introduction to MATLAB. This appendix is new to the brief
edition. The programming section has been significantly expanded. Learning to
code is an art, and making an efficient and elegant code is a lifelong pursuit, with
this appendix serving as a starting point.

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 x Preface

Acknowledgments

The authors are especially grateful to the reviewers whose opinions and comments
directly influenced the development of this edition:

Anil Acharya, Alabama A&M University

Spyros Andreou, Savannah State University
Asad Azemi, Penn State University
Jerome Davis, University of North Texas
Chris Geiger, Florida Gulf Coast University
Nolides Guzman Zambrano, Lone Star College
Dr. Dominic M. Halsmer, Oral Roberts University
Todd Hamrick, West Virginia University
Matthew Jensen, Florida Institute of Technology
Benjamin S. Kelley, Baylor University
Mark Keshtvarz, Northern Kentucky University
Dr. Raghava R. Kommalapati, Prairie View A&M University
Tanya Kunberger, Florida Gulf Coast University
Andre Lau, Penn State University
Dean Lewis, Penn State University
Jennifer Light, Lewis-Clark State College
Dr. James McCusker, Wentworth Institute of Technology
Deepak Mehra, Potomac State College
Christopher Miller, University of Akron
Melodee Moore, Florida A&M University
Ahad Nasab, Middle Tennessee State University
Herbert Newman, Coastal Carolina University
Dr. John H. O’Haver, University of Mississippi
Olayinka Frank Oredeko, Central Georgia Technical College
Reginald Perry, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering
Cherish Qualls, University of North Texas
James Rantschler, Xavier University of Louisiana
Dr. Farhad Reza, Minnesota State University
Bernd F. Schliemann, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Gary Scott, State University of New York
Yeow Siow, Purdue University at Calumet
Yiheng Wang, Lone Star College

We would also like to thank those reviewers who provided feedback for previous
editions:

Spyros Andreou, Savannah State University

Juan M. Caicedo, University of South Carolina
Matthew Cavalli, University of North Dakota
Rafael Fox, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi

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 Preface xi

Keith Gardiner, Lehigh University

Chris Geiger, Florida Gulf Coast University
Yoon Kim, Virginia State University
Nikki Larson, Western Washington University
Keith Level, Las Positas College
Jennifer Light, Lewis-Clark State College
S. T. Mau, California State University at Northridge
Edgar Herbert Newman, Coastal Carolina University
John Nicklow, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
Megan Piccus, Springfield Technical Community College
Charles E. Pierce, University of South Carolina
G. Albert Popson, Jr., West Virginia Wesleyan College
Ken Reid, Ohio Northern University
Nikki Strader, Ohio State University
Yiheng Wang, Danville Community College
Gregory Wight, Norwich University
David Willis, University of Massachusetts at Lowell
Shuming Zheng, Chicago State University
—The Authors

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 CHA P TER 1

The Heritage of Engineering

While writing this chapter, I was teaching a class over the Internet to engineering
professors in India. The class was about how to integrate design experiences (address-
ing needs of underserved people and communities) into undergraduate engineering
courses. I was excited when I finished that day’s class as we had had a great conver-
sation about how we can use engineering to meet human, community, and environ-
mental needs in India and the United States. The same ideas could be applied to any
country to make our world a better place. Today’s technology has opened so many
opportunities to make an impact in our communities, our countries, and our world.
I ended the class thinking that this is really an exciting time to be an engineer or an
engineering student—with all of the technological tools we have at our disposal and
the exciting things we can do with them.
As I ended the class, I looked outside at the first snowfall of the year. Because of the
time difference between India and the United States, I have to teach the class very
early in the morning, so the sun was just coming up. The beautiful sunrise with the
falling snow got me thinking. I had just been talking with about 40 colleagues who
were literally on the other side of the world and spread out all over their country. I
was in Indiana, and our course facilitator was from Massachusetts. The incredible
technology that allowed us to discuss how to use technology to make a difference in
the world was created by engineers who had come before us. A generation ago, we
would have had to make a very expensive phone call to have that discussion. Earlier
generations would have had to communicate with letters on actual paper that were
physically carried from one place to the next. Technology has significantly changed
the way we communicate as well as so many other parts of our lives. Those changes
were created and driven by engineers who started out a lot like you.
As I sat there in the warm house and watched the snow, I began to think about all
of the other ways that engineers have impacted us. The materials to make the house
to keep me warm were developed by engineers. The house is heated with an
ultra-high-efficiency furnace that also protects the environment. The natural gas
burning in the furnace was found, extracted, refined, and piped to the house using
technology developed by engineers. The lights in the house were developed by engi-
neers. The appliances in the house all have computers to make them more efficient
and easier to use. Everywhere I looked I saw something that had been touched by
engineers . . . with the exception of the snowflakes falling outside, of course.

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 2 Chapter 1 The Heritage of Engineering

There are so many engineers who have made an impact in our daily lives, and
they came from many different places and backgrounds. I thought about them as I
moved through the day. I had to pick up my daughter from a friend’s house, and
I was grateful for Mary Anderson, who had invented the windshield wiper to clear
the snow from my car’s windshield. When I got to the first intersection, I thought
about Garrett Morgan, the African American inventor who developed the traffic light
to keep us safe on the roads. I was grateful for the computer and electrical engineers
who developed the technology in my hearing aids that allow me to have a conversa-
tion with my daughter when I picked her up.

1.1 Introduction

The impact of engineers on our everyday lives is incredible. Even our life expectancies
are so much higher in large parts due to the technologies that engineers have devel-
oped to provide safe drinking water, sanitation, accessible medicines, and much
more. Engineers have made an enormous impact on our world, and there are so many
opportunities yet to come. Today’s technology has given us the tools to address needs
and opportunities to make a difference in our world.
The purpose of this first chapter is to give you a sense of the strong heritage of the
engineering profession. We will provide a brief glimpse into some of those who have
come before you and a feeling of the incredibly exciting profession you are exploring.
This is not meant to be a comprehensive overview of the history of engineering, as
that would be a book in itself. Instead we use history to illustrate some of the diversity
and wondrous heritage of the engineering profession and highlight a few of the men
and women who have developed the amazing world of technology we live in today.

Definition of Engineering

Even if you already have a general knowledge of what engineering involves, a look at
the definition of the profession may give you some insight. The organization that
accredits engineering programs is called ABET, and they define engineering as:

The profession in which knowledge of the mathematical and natural sciences,

gained by study, experience, and practice, is applied with judgment to develop ways
to use, economically, the materials and forces of nature for the benefit of mankind.

This definition places three responsibilities on an engineer: (1) to develop ­judgment

so that you can (2) help mankind in (3) economical ways. It places obligations on us to
address needs that benefit others and to make sure we don’t do harm. We seek to
­provide economical solutions because if they are too expensive, they are out of reach
of people. Looking at case histories and historical overviews can help us see how
others have applied these principles before us and understand more about

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 Chapter 1 The Heritage of Engineering 3

the profession we are entering. Study of history can also give us a sense of belonging
to the profession. There are engineers who come from the very kind of background
you come from and look a lot like you—or did when they were your age.
Definitions are important, but they don’t always inspire. The National Academy of
Engineering is a body of outstanding engineers who advise the federal government
on matters pertaining to engineering and technology. One has to be nominated and
invited to become a member of the national academy. This body studied the percep-
tions of engineering and engineers in the United States and came to the conclusion
that most people do not understand who we are and what great things we could do.
They produced a report entitled Changing the Conversation to help us communicate
the potential of engineering. Part of that report includes a positioning statement to
help guide our conversations. It reads,

No profession unleashes the spirit of innovation like engineering. From research to

real-world applications, engineers constantly discover how to improve our lives by
creating bold new solutions that connect science to life in unexpected, forward-think-
ing ways. Few professions turn so many ideas into so many realities. Few have such
a direct and positive effect on people’s everyday lives. We are counting on engineers
and their imaginations to help us meet the needs of the 21st century.

We need this positioning statement because engineers and engineering are often
misunderstood as a field. The contributions of engineers are not always seen, under-
stood, or appreciated. As illustration, I think of a class I teach that engages about
500 students per semester in designs to meet community needs locally and globally.
The students work together to develop designs, and they work with community
partners. I often hear them describe themselves as “not a typical engineer.” They
like to work with others, have a social life, and want to make a difference in the
world. I love that attitude, though I do wonder how I have 500 students who view
themselves as “not typical.” At least in our class they are typical and are very much
more typical of engineers and the overall engineering profession, what it is and
what it should be. It may not match the stereotypes, but it does match the heritage
we have as engineers. We have a strong knowledge of math, science, and technology
and have to work with many others to create solutions that can improve the human
and environmental conditions. It takes many different people to do that, and it
always has and always will. The following sections will explore history with examples of
some of these diverse engineers who were real people who have helped make the
world a better place.

1.2 The Beginnings of Engineering: The Earliest Days

The foundations of engineering were laid with our ancestors’ efforts to survive
and to improve their quality of life. From the beginning, they looked around their
environments and saw areas where life could be made easier and more stable. They

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 4 Chapter 1 The Heritage of Engineering

found improved ways to provide food,

through hunting and fishing. They
discovered better methods for provid-
ing shelter for their families and ways
to make clothing. Their main physical
concern was day-to-day survival. As
life became more complicated and
small collections of families became
larger communities, the need grew to
look into new areas of concern and
specialization.
If you look back at the definition of engineering given by ABET, you will notice a
statement: “The profession in which knowledge of the mathematical and natural
sciences . . . is applied.” Prehistoric engineers applied problem solving and tool-
making but did not have a grasp of the same mathematical principles or knowledge
of natural science as we know it today. They designed and built items more by trial
and error, testing, and intuition. They built spears that worked and others that
failed, but in the end they perfected weapons that allowed them to bring down
game animals and feed their families. Although they couldn’t describe it, they used
principles of aerodynamics and mechanical advantage to develop more efficient
tools to hunt.
Since written communication and transportation did not exist at that time, little
information or innovation was exchanged with people from faraway places. Each
group around the world moved ahead on its own. It is inspiring to see how people
from all over the world developed innovations to improve the quality of life for their
families and their communities.
Transportation was another area where early engineers made an impact. The
designs of early boats, for example, inspire even today’s engineers. Breakthroughs in
transportation and exploration are being located ever earlier as we continue to make
discoveries about various peoples traveling long before we thought they did—­
influencing others and bringing back knowledge. Transportation was used to hunt
and fish, to move families, and to explore new areas. Polynesian boat designers, for
example, developed crafts that could sail great distances and allowed people to settle
many of the islands across the Pacific. Their use of mathematics and astronomy
allowed them to navigate great distances on their vessels that were designed for long
ocean voyages. Their vessels are still an engineering marvel today.

AC TIVIT Y Prepare a brief report that focuses on engineering in a historical era and
1.1 cultural area (for example, pre-Columbian Central America, Europe in the
Industrial Revolution, Mesopotamia). Analyze the events that you consider
to be engineering highlights and explain their importance to human
progress.

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 Chapter 1 The Heritage of Engineering 5

1.3 Early Cities

As cities grew and the need to address the demands of the new fledgling societies
increased, a significant change took place. People who showed special aptitude in
certain areas were identified and assigned to ever more specialized tasks. This devel-
opment gave toolmakers the time and resources to dedicate themselves to building
and innovation. This new social function created the first real engineers, and innova-
tion flourished more rapidly.
Between 4000 and 2000 b.c., Egypt in Africa and Mesopotamia in the Middle East
were two areas for early engineering activity. Stone tools were developed to help
humans in their quest for food. Copper and bronze axes were perfected through
smelting. These developments were not only aimed at hunting: The development of
the plow was allowing humans to become farmers so that they could reside in one
place and give up the nomadic life. Mesopotamia also made its mark on engineering
by giving birth to the wheel, the sailing boat, and methods of writing. Engineering
skills that were applied to the development of everyday items immediately improved
life as they knew it.
During the construction of the pyramids (c. 2700–2500 b.c.) the number of engi-
neers required was immense. They had to make sure that everything fit correctly, that
stones were properly transported long distances, and that the tombs would be secure
against robbery. Imhotep (chief engineer to King Zoser) was building the Step
­P yramid at Sakkara (pictured in Fig. 1.1) in Egypt about 2700 b.c. The more elaborate

Figure 1.1 The Step Pyramid at Sakkara. Source: © iStockPhoto

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 6 Chapter 1 The Heritage of Engineering

Figure 1.2 The Great Pyramid of Khufu. Source: © iStockPhoto

Great Pyramid of Khufu (pictured in Fig. 1.2) would come about 200 years later. These
early engineers, using simple tools, performed, with great acuity, insight, and techni-
cal rigor, tasks that even today give us a sense of pride in their achievements.
The Great Pyramid of Khufu is the largest masonry structure ever built. Its base
measures 756 feet on each side. The 480-foot structure was constructed using over
2.3 million limestone blocks with a total weight of over 58 million tons. Casing blocks
of fine limestone were attached to all four sides. These casing stones, some weighing
as much as 15 tons, have been removed over the centuries for a wide variety of other
uses. It is hard for us to imagine the engineering expertise needed to quarry and move
these base and casing stones, and then piece them together so that they would form
the pyramid and its covering.
Here are additional details about this pyramid given by Roland Turner and Steven
Goulden in Great Engineers and Pioneers in Technology, Volume 1: From Antiquity
through the Industrial Revolution:

Buried within the pyramid are passageways leading to a number of funeral cham-
bers, only one of which was actually used to house Khufu’s remains. The gran-
ite-lined King’s Chamber, measuring 17 by 34 feet, is roofed with nine slabs of
granite which weigh 50 tons each. To relieve the weight on this roof, located
300 feet below the apex of the pyramid, the builder stacked five hollow chambers

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 Chapter 1 The Heritage of Engineering 7

at short intervals above it. Four of the relieving chambers are roofed with granite
lintels, while the topmost has a corbelled roof. Although somewhat rough and
ready in design and execution, the system effectively distributes the massive over-
lying weight to the sturdy walls of the King’s Chamber.
Sheer precision marks every other aspect of the pyramid’s construction. The
four sides of the base are practically identical in length—the error is a matter of
inches—and the angles are equally accurate. Direct measurement from corner to
corner must have been difficult, since the pyramid was built on the site of a rocky
knoll (now completely enclosed in the structure). Moreover, it is an open question
how the builder managed to align the pyramid almost exactly north-south. Still,
many of the techniques used for raising the pyramid can be deduced.
After the base and every successive course was in place, it was leveled by flood-
ing the surface with Nile water, no doubt retained by mud banks, and then mark-
ing reference points of equal depth to guide the final dressing. Complications were
caused by the use of blocks of different heights in the same course.

The above excerpt mentions a few of the fascinating details of the monumental job
undertaken to construct a pyramid with primitive tools and human labor. It was quite
a feat for these early African engineers.
As civilizations grew around the world, the need for infrastructure increased, and
it was the early civil engineers who met this challenge. Cities developed in many
places, including India, China, and the Americas. Early engineering achievements
can be seen even today in many places. For example, pyramids still stand in Latin
America as a testament to the skill and expertise of early Native American engineers.
Cities were constructed that included sophisticated infrastructure and building
techniques. One extraordinary example of ingenuity and skill that inspires many vis-
itors is the Incan city of Machu Picchu (Fig. 1.3) built on top of the Andes mountains
in Peru. Constructed in the 15th century at the height of the Inca Empire, it is an engi-
neering marvel that used sophisticated techniques of dry-stone walls that fused huge
blocks without the use of mortar. The design of the city itself is based on astronomical
alignments that show mathematical and astronomical sophistication. The site at the
top of the mountains would have created significant engineering challenges, as well
as providing for incredible panoramic views that can be enjoyed today. Recreating
that city would be a challenge even with today’s technology.

Engineering the Temples of Greece

The Parthenon (Fig. 1.4) was constructed by Iktinos in Athens starting in 447 b.c. and
was completed by 438 b.c. It is an extraordinary example of a religious temple. Engineers
played a role in the religious aspects of societies all over the world. The Parthenon was to
be built on the foundation of a previous temple using materials salvaged from its
remains, making this an early example of recycling. The Parthenon was designed to
house a statue of Athena that stood almost 40 feet tall. Iktinos performed the task that he
was assigned, and the temple exists today as a monument to engineering capability.

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 8 Chapter 1 The Heritage of Engineering

Figure 1.3 Machu Picchu in present-day Peru.

Figure 1.4 The Parthenon in Athens.

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 Chapter 1 The Heritage of Engineering 9

Structural work on the Parthenon enlarged the existing limestone platform of the
old temple to a width of 160 feet and a length of 360 feet. The building itself, con-
structed entirely of marble, measured 101 feet by 228 feet; it was the largest such
temple on the Greek mainland. Around the body of the building Iktinos built a colon-
nade, customary in Greek temple architecture. The bases of the columns were 6 feet
in diameter and were spaced 14 feet apart. Subtle harmonies were thus established,
for these distances were all in the ratio of 4:9. Moreover, the combined height of the
columns and entablatures (lintels) bore the same ratio to the width of the building.
Remember that this was the year 438 b.c. It would be a significant feat to replicate
the Parthenon today.

Aqueducts and Roads

As cities and populations grew, additional needs had to be met, including the delivery of
water. In Europe, the Romans developed sophisticated systems of aqueducts to deliver
and distribute water into their cities. This was the work of early civil engineers who were
using mathematics and an early understanding of sciences. One such aqueduct is shown
in Fig. 1.5. It is remarkable that these well-designed structures still stand.

Figure 1.5 Roman aqueduct. Source: © iStockPhoto

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 10 Chapter 1 The Heritage of Engineering

Transportation, including the design and construction of roads, continues to be an

active area of study for civil engineers, and the Romans were among the first great
transportation engineers. Construction of the first great Roman road, the Appian
Way, began around 312 b.c. It connected Rome and Capua, a distance of 142 miles.
The Appian Way eventually stretched to Brundisium, at the very southernmost point
in Italy, and covered 360 miles. The Roman engineers continued building roads until
almost a.d. 200, when the entire empire was connected with a network of roads.
For those interested in civil engineering, the Roman roads followed elaborate
principles of construction. A bedding of sand, 4 to 6 inches thick, or sometimes mortar
1 inch thick, was spread upon the foundation. The first course of large flat stones
cemented together with lime mortar was placed upon this bedding of sand. If lime
was not available, the stones (none smaller than a man’s hand) were cemented
together with clay. The largest were placed along the edge to form a retaining wall.
This course varied from 10 inches thick on good ground to 24 inches on bad ground. A
layer of concrete about 9 inches deep was placed on top of this, followed by a layer of
rich gravel or sand concrete. The roadway would generally be 12 inches thick at the
sides of the road and 18 inches in the middle, thus creating a crown that caused
runoff. While this third course was still wet, the fourth or final course was laid. This
was made of carefully cut hard stones. Upon completion these roads would be from 2
to 5 feet thick, quite a feat for hand labor.
It is interesting to note that after the fall of Rome, road building was no longer prac-
ticed by anyone in the world. It would be many hundreds of years before those who
specialized in road building again took on the monumental task of linking the peo-
ples of the world.

The Great Wall of China

In 220 b.c., during the Ch’in Dynasty, military general Meng T’ien led his troops along
the borders of China. His primary role was that of a commander of troops charged
with the task of repelling the nomadic hordes of Mongolians who occasionally surged
across the Chinese border. The Ch’in emperor, Shih Huang Ti, commissioned him to
begin building what would become known as the Great Wall of China (Fig. 1.6).
The emperor himself conceived the idea to link all the fortresses that guarded the
northern borders of China. The general and the emperor functioned as engineers,
even though this was not their profession. They solved a particular problem by apply-
ing the knowledge they possessed in order to make life better for their people. The
ancient wall is estimated to have been 3,080 miles in length, while the modern wall
runs about 1,700 miles. The original wall is believed to have passed Ninghsia, con-
tinuing north of a river and then running east through the southern steppes of Mon-
golia at a line north of the present Great Wall. It is believed to have reached the sea
near the Shan-hal-huan River. After serving as a buffer against the nomadic hordes
for six centuries, the wall was allowed to deteriorate until the sixth and seventh cen-
turies a.d., when it underwent major reconstruction under the Wei, Ch’i, and Sui
dynasties. Although the vast structure had lost military significance by the time of

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 Chapter 1 The Heritage of Engineering 11

Figure 1.6 The Great Wall of China. Source: © iStockPhoto

China’s last dynasty, the Ch’ing, it never lost its significance as a wonder of the world
and as a massive engineering undertaking.

Agricultural Engineering

We have used a number of examples of civil engineering, and there were other
branches of engineering that impacted people early in history, including agricultural
engineering. The development of agricultural practices included many contributions
by engineers. Earlier, we mentioned the plow as an example of a mechanism that
made the growing of food easier and more productive. The Native Americans were
very astute agricultural engineers. Today, we are still learning about the sophisti-
cated ways that indigenous people incorporated an understanding of the land and
the environment into their efforts to produce sustainable processes. They were truly
the first sustainability engineers. Recent discoveries in the Amazon River basin show

01-Oakes-Chap01.indd 11 10/27/16 7:31 PM

 12 Chapter 1 The Heritage of Engineering

that native peoples once cultivated much of what is the Amazon jungle today, and in
a more environmentally friendly manner than our current practices. Researchers
are studying the ancient methods to inform practices of today to develop a sustain-
able approach for protecting one of the most biodiverse places on the planet.
Like the Romans, Native Americans learned how to distribute water for drinking
and for agriculture. The water systems were often very sophisticated for agriculture
irrigation, drinking, and defense. The Spanish colonists learned from the indigenous
people and their irrigation techniques. In Mexico today, many of the irrigation sys-
tems still derive their designs from the native ones.
Innovative ways of processing food were developed by Mayans, Incas, and others.
For example, the Incas developed ways to freeze dry food, including potatoes, that
could be stored for years. The technique was adapted by the Spanish to send fresh
potatoes back to Europe.
Native Americans were some of the first genetic engineers, and corn is an example.
There is not a wild form of corn that exists today, unlike most other crops. Scientists
hypothesize that Native Americans cross-bred wild grains to produce what has
become one of the largest agricultural crops today.
Early engineers from all over the world helped improve the quality of life of their
fellow citizens. That tradition continues today, and we will discuss some examples of
those engineers and their qualities in the sections that follow.

Industrial Age

The pace of technological change has increased as more technology has been devel-
oped. In the earliest centuries, advances were slow and developed over a long period
of time. That changed significantly with the Industrial Revolution that began in the
1800s. Machines were created that performed tasks more efficiently than people or
animals could. Transportation moved from relying on horses to locomotives and
automobiles. Ships could power themselves instead of relying on wind or rowing.
Machines were introduced to provide power and changed the way many industries
were performed, including mining and agriculture. The Industrial Age produced
machines that could replace the need for manual labor and also created new jobs for
people to manufacture, operate, and repair these machines.
The invention of machines was significant, but engineers are also interested in
how they are used and by whom. The invention of the automobile, for example, didn’t
change the lives of ordinary people until it was made affordable and thus accessible
to more people. Making technology affordable and accessible to a broad and diverse
section of people is, and always has been, an important aspect of engineering. In
1913, Henry Ford pioneered the moving assembly line for the automobile industry,
which began to make the automobile affordable. The idea of mass production reduced
the costs of cars and also provided jobs for people to earn the money to own one.
The advent of large-scale manufacturing created new challenges and areas of
engineering related to manufacturing. Understanding the manufacturing pro-
cesses and how to make them more efficient and safe for the workers and the

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or his slave, and when overtaken by poverty he first would sell his shirt,
then his slave.
 CHAPTER XXX.
TRAVELLING—ART WORK—FOODS.

Travelling—Difficulties of posting—Saddles and bits—Cruel joke—Old stories—

Pastimes—Enamels—Persian pictures—Curio-buyer—Carvings—Metal-work
—Calligraphy—Kahtam—Incised work on iron—Embroideries—Silver-work—
Washing of linen—Ironing—Needlework—The bath—Washing the hair with
clay—Bread and baking—Unleavened bread—Other kinds—Travellers’ food
—Inordinate appetites—Food of the poor.

Of marching with a native caravan I have no experience—

Europeans as a rule avoid it—and having usually enough luggage
and servants to occupy a string of mules of their own, generally
travel by themselves. A specimen of daily life upon the road when
marching will be given in my journal on our road home, when we did
twenty-eight days’ marching over some twenty-five to thirty miles a
day, with only two days’ rest.
Of travelling post I have said enough: I have ridden myself from
Ispahan to Teheran, seventy farsakhs, in thirty-nine hours twenty-five
minutes, the horses being mostly full of grass: taking three miles and
three-quarters to the farsakh, this gives two hundred and sixty miles
as the distance, or a continuous speed of over six and a half miles
an hour, allowing for stoppages, sleep, etc., in that time. Probably
the actual rate is an average of eight miles, but it requires some
resolution to keep it up. When it is remembered that the roads are
vile in the extreme, being mere mule-tracks, and that horses can
only be changed every twenty to twenty-six miles; that a heavy kit is
carried; also that saddling, to be done well, has to be done by
oneself, the horses paid and haggled for, half the time being at night,
and that the post-people have to be awakened; it is not perhaps,
after all, bad going. Much faster journeys than this however are
made when the rider is expected, or prepared to liberally grease the
palms of the post-people.
 As a rule the European always outrides the native, the baggy
“shulwars” of the latter rendering the wearer sore after prolonged
cantering, and the native saddle and short stirrups being unfitted for
long and rapid journeys. How a Persian can ever be thrown, as they
are frequently, is very wonderful. Packed into the deeply-forked
saddle, with a tremendous pommel, to which they cling, a fall ought
to be impossible.
The native bits are “ab khori,” or watering-bit, a common snaffle;
and “danah,” a most severe ring-bit. These are made like the letter
H, very small, and having a plate, to which a ring is attached, affixed
to the middle of the centre bar. This ring acts as does the curb-chain;
a horse can be certainly stopped with one, but they are cruel though
effectual; being made square, they cut like a knife, and are the
frequent cause of very hard mouths. In fact, when one buys a horse
he is always a puller, and, if an old horse, it takes a long time to
accustom him to the snaffle. Of course in posting the native bit is the
best to use, unless one wishes to be quite powerless.
Endless yarns are told in Persia of the road and its vicissitudes,
every one has had his special experiences; a few sweet, many bitter,
and each man starts fully determined in his heart to make the fastest
time on record, but a succession of bad horses, an ugly fall, or a very
wet day, often upset the most careful plans; or the dearness of grain,
or a series of couriers, may provide the rider with a number of half-
starved or tired horses, or he may lose his way and find himself “on
the road to nowhere.” I travelled once with one Malek Mahommed
Beg, one of the couriers of the English Legation: this man was a
celebrated rider, and I well remember my astonishment at seeing
him get down from the saddle and deliberately place a sharp stone
under it, in order to get an extreme turn of speed out of a wretchedly
knocked-up post-horse. On going into Teheran I was horrified to see
the post-house guide deliberately whip a bit of cord round his knife-
blade, thus making a goad of three-quarters of an inch in length, with
which he urged on his wretched steed; remonstrance was useless,
and, as he went on ahead, he called to me to follow his example.
Among the stock yarns told amongst Europeans in Persia is that of
the most cruel and elaborate hoax I have ever heard of. One of the
Teheran residents was in the habit of snubbing a quiet little man,
who had come to the country as private secretary to the manager of
an enormous scheme for the regeneration of Persia; the little man
bore the rough jokes and rudeness of his tormentor for a year, and
then, as even worms will turn, got huffy and vowed revenge.
Unluckily for the habitual snubber, he had revealed in a moment of
confidence that he was proprietor of some tickets in an Austrian
lottery scheme, and that a drawing was imminent: also he gave
some of his numbers, even exhibiting the bonds or tickets. One
morning the monotony of Teheran life was broken with the news that
X⸺ had won a fortune. It appeared that a bogus telegram was
brought to a gentleman in Teheran requesting him to ascertain if the
holder of a certain number in the lottery was in Teheran, as he was
believed to be a Mr. X⸺.
No sooner was the news communicated to X⸺ than he went to
his strong box to verify the number, and, to his delight, found that he
was the actual holder of the winning bond.
A castle, one hundred thousand gulden, and the territorial rank of
Count was, I believe, the prize, as stated in the telegram.
X⸺ sent an immediate invitation to his friends to come to his
house, and was congratulated generally on his good fortune; no one
being taken into the secret, everybody’s pleasure was sincere, and
they became accomplices unawares, in the carrying out of the
elaborate trick. Just as the excitement was at its height, and the
clock was five minutes to twelve, the perpetrator of the hoax arrived;
he was received by the victim with open hands, and bursting to tell
his news: this was heard, and the expected congratulations given. “I
have made up my mind to return to Europe at once,” said the
doomed one: “we shall buy a two hundred ton yacht and live a good
deal abroad,” etc., etc. “By the bye, what is to-day?” said the hoaxer.
The First of April!
Tableau! I regret to add, though, that this very cruel joke caused
an attack of hysterics to the victim’s wife.
 X⸺ was the hero of many tales, one of which was too good not
to be perpetuated. An American missionary at a large breakfast party
was suddenly accosted by X⸺, from the other end of a long table,
with—“I say, P⸺, I don’t believe in hell.” The parson took no
notice, but the remark was repeated in a loud tone after a dead
silence.
“I say, P⸺, I don’t believe in hell.”
The pale Yankee drew himself up, and, in the national drawl,
quietly replied, “Waal, for your sake, X⸺, I hope you’re right.” That
parson was more than a match for his opponent.
Another Persian tale of these latter days is the answer of a lady as
witty as she was prepossessing. On the high-road to the capital from
the Caspian, the members of the expedition sent by the German
Government to observe the transit of Venus met a lovely vision in
habit and hat, on a prancing steed. They halted, saluted, and
declared their errand.
“To observe the transit of Venus, ah—well, you can go home now,
gentlemen; your duty is done; good-bye;” and the pretty vision
disappears at a smart canter “away in the ewigkeit,” as Hans
Breitmann says. That joke dawned on those Germans after some
hours.
There was once a little paper published in the Persian Gulf, called
the Jask Howl, to which I was a contributor, but it died a natural
death, after becoming very personal.
Theatricals, too, had their day, both in the capital and down
country. Lawn tennis, played on a ground of prepared mud, was the
great amusement when I left Teheran.
Riding, however, is the never-failing pastime, and the poorest
European can afford a horse.
Photography was to me a pleasant way of beguiling the tedium of
Persian down-country life. I spent many hours a day, and obtained a
fair proficiency; but finding myself becoming a slave to it, I gave it up,
though reluctantly. In the meantime I had taken innumerable
likenesses, and some two hundred types. I had also had the barren
honour of having large photographs reproduced in the Graphic and
Illustrated.
I patronised art in Persia to the extent of having some enamels
painted on small gold plaques. This art is rapidly being lost, and the
continued marring of an otherwise pretty picture by errors of drawing
and perspective is very annoying.
I also commenced having illustrations to the wonderful novel of
‘Hadji Baba,’ by Morier, executed by native artists; but the men I
employed raised their prices in almost geometrical progression as
each fresh picture was executed. They are, however, very spirited,
and well exhibit Persian life.
While I was in Ispahan, M. P⸺ was sent by the ‘Magazin du
Louvre’ to buy curios, china, etc., of every description.
He bought with a vengeance, doubtless knowing what he was
about. All was fish that came to the net; and to see the little
Frenchman gesticulating to a crowd of excited Persians, each
anxious to dispose at a fancy price of his own wares, was very
amusing. Since that time it has been difficult to get anything really
good in the curio way in Persia, each man thinking his own article an
unappreciated treasure.
The Abadeh carvings, generally ornamental sherbet spoons and
boxes, carved from pear-wood with a common knife, and very
beautifully done, are still to be had; but the work is deteriorating, and
the attempt to copy European drawings is destroying its originality.
Very beautiful carving, or rather engraving, on metal is still done in
Ispahan; and I have some cups of brass, and others of silver, that
are probably unique in this kind of metal-work. But that, too, is
deteriorating; the good artists find it pays them better to do a quantity
of coarse work for the exporting curio-dealers than finer and more
delicate engravings, which are paid for at a higher rate, but which tax
their sight and skill to the uttermost.
Calligraphy as a high art is dying the death. A single line by a
great calligrapher was worth a fabulous amount, and large sums
were often paid for a good manuscript of Hafiz or the Koran. Printing
has destroyed all this, and the cheap volumes from Bombay presses
tend to eradicate calligraphy as an art.
A kind of inlaid work similar to our Tonbridge ware is made in
Persia; it is to be seen at both Ispahan and Shiraz; though not so
chaste as the Indian work, it is much more varied in pattern, and the
effect is good. Metal is freely used with the coloured woods, but
brass, and not silver, is employed. It is called “Kahtam.” Glove and
handkerchief boxes are made for the European market, and tables,
chairs, chess and backgammon boards, and mirror frames for the
wealthy Persians. The Shiraz work is the best.
Ispahan is celebrated for its incised work on iron. This “pūlad,” as
it is termed, is beautifully veined and cleverly damascened, being
inlaid with thin plates of gold. The specimens are, however, very
expensive; as the work is the monopoly of a family, prices are almost
prohibitive. This, too, is a dying art.
Of painters and paintings I have spoken. The copying of doubtful
European works is their bane, and they fail in their rendering of the
nude, in which they delight. For pretty faces and good colouring, the
Persian artist has a deserved reputation. He is especially great in
miniatures, some of these being almost microscopic.
The embroideries of Resht, on the Caspian, are too well known to
need description. They are very florid, but cheap and effective. The
price is about two pounds a square yard for very elaborate ones, if a
large one is ordered, and paid for by instalments as the work
proceeds. Aniline colours, used to dye the silks employed, are the
curse of the modern work, the showy tints of which soon fade.
These, however, can be avoided by specifying that they are not to be
used.
The gold and silver work, except that of Zinjan, is poor in the
extreme, but solid; while, for filigree-work especially, Zinjan rivals
Malta. There are, however, some great artists. Stones are clumsily
set, and often even strung and bored. A few clever gem-setters have
come from Constantinople to the capital.
 The use of starch is unknown in Persia, and the laundresses very
bad. As in most Eastern countries, the washing is done at the side of
a stream, the minimum amount of soap and the maximum of beating
being employed. Such rough washing rapidly destroys one’s linen.
Nowadays most Europeans keep a laundress, or what is called a
washerman, of greater or less skill, and their shirts are “got up” as in
Europe.
The Persians understand ironing, and the trade of ironer is a
common one. The dresses of the common people are ornamented
by lines drawn on them parallel with each other, by means of a kind
of iron. The garment is laid on a large jar of clay, and, holding this
between his knees, the ironer (“ūtū-kesh”) makes his pattern upon
the new garment of silk or cotton.
The same means are used to mark the stuffs for quilting, which is
much in fashion. A Persian wears always at least one quilted
garment, and his quilts (“lahaf”) are simply large sheets of thick
quilting. New cloth clothes are also carefully ironed, a box-iron, filled,
with live charcoal, being generally employed.
The needlework of the Persians is very beautiful, silk being used
for sewing to the total exclusion of cotton. Some of the patterns of
embroidery, particularly those on silk, are very original; while the
networks of white silk, done with the needle on the “rubanda,” or
veils, at the part covering the eyes, being done wholly with the
needle, are almost monuments of art work.
Women as well as men smoke the kalian, and the aged ladies are
often opium-eaters to a large extent.
The great amusement of the Persian women of every rank is the
bath. Generally three or four hours in the week are passed by the
very poorest in the “hammām.”[32] As for the wealthier, they have
baths in their own houses, and use them almost daily. The middle
classes make parties to go to the hammām, and assist each other in
the various processes of shampooing, washing with the “keesa,” or
rough glove, and washing the hair with pipe-clay of Shiraz—a plan,
by the way, which it is worth while to follow, for the hair is rendered
thereby cleaner than when eggs are used. The pipe-clay is made up
in little round cakes much resembling biscuits.
A traveller of the pessimist type, who was posting through the
country to India, once showed me a pocketful of these cakes of clay,
and drew my attention to the “beastly native biscuits, that a fellow
couldn’t eat!” He had got a large handful for a copper as he passed
through a roadside bazaar.
Serious matters are the dyeing of the hair and beard, the use of
the depilatory, and the smoothing of the soles with pumice, and,
lastly, the dyeing of the soles and palms of the hands with “henna.”
The very poor seize the opportunity to wash their rags in the public
bath at the same time that they bathe. These public baths are open
free of charge and without distinction to rich and poor. A few coppers
are given to the “delaks,” or bath attendants, male and female.
These pay for fuel, hot water, etc. Certain hours are appropriated to
each sex. The whole bath can be always exclusively hired for a few
kerans.
As to bread, it is of three varieties, and is all made from leavened
dough. The “sangak” is of the thickness of a finger, some three feet
long and a foot wide. This is baked in a peculiar manner, and from
the word “sang,” a stone, it obtains its name. A huge arched oven is
half filled with small pebbles from the river. Upon these pebbles is
placed a pile of brushwood; this is fired and fed till the stones are
sufficiently hot; the fire is then pushed into a corner, and the flaps of
dough are placed on the heated stones by means of a peel, as many
as twenty loaves being put on at a time. Batch after batch is baked in
this way, the stones being stirred occasionally when they get too cool
to bake well, and the fire is raked forward and fed again, and so on.
Or at times the fire is simply shifted from place to place in the oven,
the loaves being placed on the stones as they are heated.
Thoroughly good bread is the result, crisp, appetising, and satisfying.
Eaten hot with butter, it is the finest of breads after the Russian. Of
course it is absolutely pure. The term “flap-jack” is applied to this
form of bread by the Europeans in Persia.
 The next variety is mostly baked by the smaller bakers of the
various suburbs of the towns, who have a slower sale. Your Persian
likes his bread hot from the oven, save the thrifty Ispahani, who
prefers it cold, thus gaining in the weight. This is the “tannūr” bread.
The “tannūr,” or oven, is simply a huge jar fixed into the earth, and
usually placed against a wall. This is constantly fed with pieces of
camel-thorn, which catch from the flames at the bottom, and keep
the walls of the jar hot, as well as maintaining a high temperature
inside. The loaf is the same thickness as the “sangak,” and about
two feet by one, oval in shape. They are flung against the inside of
the heated jar by a peculiar motion of the hand of the “shartir,” or
baker’s oven-man. In a few seconds they are thoroughly done and
browned. They are then quickly removed by a fork, and others
placed in their stead.
The third kind of bread is that usually baked by villagers or
tribesmen. It is a thick circular loaf, some foot or more in diameter,
and is a sort of griddle-cake.
It is baked on a hot plate of iron, or at times a pot-lid covered with
live ashes is placed over it, or the cake is turned over.
The unleavened bread, which is best prepared by Armenians and
Kūrds, is merely a paste of flour and water, rolled to the thinness of a
wafer, and of great size. It is baked on a hot plate, and is hung out to
air and dry; it is then folded, when not quite dry, into four. It will keep
for several months if kept dry, and is damped prior to using, when it
loses its brittleness, and becomes easily rent, but unbreakable. It is a
capital bread for the road, and is invariably carried by Persians when
marching, being very portable, and as palatable after a couple of
months as on the day it was made.
Rusks, biscuits, and a peculiar form of very dry bread, called
“twice-fired,” are specially made for travellers; and the Armenians
prepare a kind of bun, which is made with flour and ghee, slightly
sweetened and sprinkled with sesamum seeds. Sesamum and
poppy seeds are often used to ornament and flavour the breads,
especially the “tannūr” variety. Hard-boiled eggs are also sold, dyed
red or yellow, for the use of travellers. A lump of cheese, a few
raisins, and a dozen of eggs are, with some of the “twice-fired”
bread, a sufficient and cheap provision for the native traveller.
The appetite of some of the lower orders for bread is very
extraordinary. I have often been surprised to have a servant ask for
an increase of wages, because he had a large appetite. Persians
invariably pay their servants so much in cash, so much (by weight) of
bread, two suits a year, and what is left at meals divided among
them. This the European does not do; he gives it all in coin. I have
seen a boy eat fourteen pounds of new bread and, as a sauce to the
bread, a dozen hard-boiled eggs. I saw this, and I left him—still
eating.
Bread, eggs, “mast” (curds), and cheese form the staple food of
the labouring classes in Persia; occasional onions, eaten in chunks
as a boy eats an apple with us, render the menu tasty, and the eater
insupportable.
Meat the poor seldom eat. When they do get it, they make soup of
it, pounding up the meat after it is boiled to rags, and mixing it anew
with the soup; they dip bits of bread in the mess till it is consumed.
Of course, in the fruit, lettuce, cucumber, grape, and melon seasons,
these form a large portion of their diet.
 CHAPTER XXXI.
EDUCATION. LEAVE, AND RETURN VIÂ INDIA.

Education—Schools—Punishments—Love of poetry—Colleges—Education of
women—Religion—March to Bushire—Extremes of cold and heat—Good luck
—Go home to England—Leave viâ India—The “Boys”—Lisbon—Algiers—Port
Said and Suez—Jeddah—Donkeys—Coral reef—Sea-slugs—Aden—
Madagascar oranges—“Grimes”—Kurrachee—Drives—Visit to the alligators
at Muggerpir—Disgusting scene—A legatee—Black-wood furniture—A lost
bargain—Persian Gulf—Bushire—Leave for Shiraz.

As to education in Persia, reading, writing, and the rudiments of

arithmetic are general among the merchant and bazaar class; and
each small village has its school, which is generally held in the
mosque. The usual sum paid for instruction to the “moallim,” or
schoolmaster, is from sixpence to a shilling a month. The letters are
taught, and then the reading in Arabic of the Koran. Of course the
boys do not understand what they read, and as they all read at once
in chorus, the noise is deafening. The discipline is severe, and a boy
who is idle, or whose parents are backward with the monthly stipend,
has a rough time of it. The bastinado on a miniature scale is always
ready in the corner, and a rope and pulley is kept, in which a
troublesome boy’s hand and foot may be placed, that he may be
hoisted on high, a terror to evil-doers. This, however, is not a painful
punishment; it is a sort of substitute for the standing on the form as
practised with us. No attempt is made to teach anything more than
the three R’s; particular attention is devoted to calligraphy, for a good
writer is sure of his living, if merely as a clerk.
Those who aspire higher, to the post of mirza or secretary,
generally obtain a knowledge of phrase, trope, and compliment from
the writings of the poets; and the intricacies of detail on these
matters are endless—in fact, they are a science.
 The tales of “Saadi,” and a smattering of Arabic, form the climax of
what is learnt at school.
At many village schools a few only of the boys learn to write, all to
read. This power of reading they soon lose, but a villager has little
occasion for it, and the repeating from memory of a few prayers, and
passages from the Koran, with some verses of poetry, is generally all
that remains to the villager of his education.
The quoting of poetry in Persia is universal; it is in every man’s
mouth from highest to lowest, and is introduced into the most
unpoetical conversations. The servants would often pass their
evenings listening to the declamation of the poet Firdūsi as intoned
by my cook; and certain hackneyed quotations are ever on the lips of
even the most ignorant.
A few boys, after leaving school, proceed to college
(“medresseh”). These are intended for the priesthood, the law, or
medicine.
There seem to be no regular courses.
The student studies Arabic sedulously, and reads a good deal in a
desultory sort of way, much time being devoted to poetry and
commentaries on the Koran, while he fills up the rest of his time in
literally “sitting at the feet of the local Gamaliels,” regularly
presenting himself at the receptions of the heads of law and religion;
he is seen at their “medjlisses,” or assemblies; ever ready with a
quotation, or a smooth affirmative, or a sigh of astonishment at the
erudition of his patron; the student swells the throng of his numerous
hangers-on, accompanying him on visits, and to the mosques; ever
ready to write a letter, run with a message, give an order to a
servant; in fact, to do everything that is not exactly menial.
After a few years of assiduously imitating the great man, the young
priest or lawyer is, perhaps, sent to a small village, where he may
become pedagogue and parson, or he elects to follow the fortunes of
some grandee, as secretary on no wages, with possible
opportunities of modakel (peculation).
 Or, if a doctor’s son or relative, he compounds his drugs for a year,
and then is a full-blown hakim, or physician, and, setting up in some
distant town, on the principle that “no man is a prophet in his own
country,” he may earn a very comfortable living.
In Teheran there is a college where the rudiments of a liberal
education are taught by English and French professors on an
ambitious scale. From this college are recruited the courtiers,
diplomats, and Government employés of the Shah, also the principal
officers of the army.
The daughters of the rich and learned are the only women who are
at all educated; some of them are good readers and reciters of
poetry, and can even write verse themselves; but most of the
educated women can merely write a letter and read the Koran, or an
ordinary Persian story-book, the former without comprehension, it
being in Arabic. A great deal of their time is given to poetry, and they
are all of a very sentimental turn. About one woman to fifty educated
men are found, the policy of Mahommedanism being “not to open
the eyes of a woman too wide.”
Among the educated classes many are infidels, others pure
theists, while communism as a religion is followed by the numerous
secret sectaries of the “Baab;” among whose tenets is undoubtedly,
though the Baabis deny the fact, that of community of wives and
property.
The great portion, however, of the merchants, traders, and
villagers are really Mahommedans, a practical and work-a-day
religion, when stripped of mummery and bigotry. The Persian is not
prone to fanaticism, though he is easily excited to it, and dangerous
when in a state of religious fervour. They are very particular as to
prayers and forms, as fasting, etc., and many carry them out at great
personal inconvenience.
Among the higher servants—military and courtier class—however,
irreligion is rife. These say no prayers, keep no fasts, have no belief,
and are utterly dead to everything but what they believe to be their
own interests. Many openly boast their disbelief in anything, and this
is done with impunity.
 In the year 1874 I had occasion to march down to Bushire. The
journey was without incident, but shows the extraordinary variety of
the climate. We went down on our own horses in five days.
The first night we lay covered with all our rugs in a small room,
four of us, with a huge fire, and it was impossible to sleep for the
intense cold. The next day we rode through heavy snow, having to
blunder through drifts on foot up to our waists, dragging our horses,
and glad to drink raw curaçoa to keep any warmth in us when
freezing on our horses, where we were able to ride. The fourth night
we slept in the open air at Dalliké, under some palms, with next to no
covering; and as I was the only one of the party who had taken the
precaution to keep my head wrapped up in a handkerchief, and my
gloves and a pair of socks on, so I was the only one who was not
terribly bitten on face, feet, and hands by mosquitoes. That day and
the next we suffered from the heat.
The only memorable event in Bushire, which we left after a week’s
stay, was the good fortune of one of the cable employés. He had
bought a ticket in the big Indian Derby sweepstakes for nine rupees,
the original price being ten. It was sold to him rather against his will,
the seller being a married man, and feeling it wrong to gamble. The
ticket won five thousand pounds, which was duly paid to the lucky
buyer. What must have been the feelings of the other man? Mr. S
⸺ (the purchaser), however, salved them by generously giving him
five hundred rupees.
Being now entitled to two years’ leave I made up my mind to return
home, and posted up to Teheran and Resht; thence by Russian
steamer over the Caspian.
On the Caspian I met the Rev. R. B⸺, of the Church Missionary
Society, who had been stationed at the Armenian village of Julfa,
near Ispahan. He was returning with his wife, after a stay in Persia of
some years. This companionship made a tedious journey more
agreeable. We had fine weather on the Caspian, and reached
Zaritzin without incident.
When passing through Russia a French lady, Madame O⸺,
authoress of ‘Impressions of Life in Russia,’ came into our train. She
was accompanied by a crowd of friends, who had provided her with
supplies of food and drink, fruits and sweetmeats, on a most
extensive scale.
These she most kindly insisted on our partaking of. She proved an
amusing companion, but differed on religious matters with the
clergyman, who at length expressed himself as shocked with her
very liberal opinions. The lady then ceased to argue, and asked for a
cigarette. My friend gave her one, but it was of Teheran manufacture,
and not at all to her taste.
“Tiens,” she said, handing a silver case to him, filled with Russian
Laferme cigarettes, “my opinions are like your cigarettes, execrable,
but my cigarettes are undeniable;” and they were.
I took my two years’ leave, married, and made up my mind, very
reluctantly, not to return to Persia; but the English climate did not
agree with me, and at length my wife and I determined to go out,
and, at all events, see if it were preferable to England or no.
I fancy it was rather against my own previous ideas, as we were
shown a letter of mine by a married French friend, who had, when
personally unknown to me, written to ask what was the needful outfit
for Persia. I had replied, so many shirts, boots, etc., such saddlery,
and, above all, no wife.
After five years’ experience we both think my advice to my friend
was correct.
In September 1876 we got on board the British India Steamship
Company’s ship Arcot. Our friends and relatives went with us as far
as Gravesend, and we went through all the usual weepings and
farewells. My wife was very ill till in the Bay of Biscay; I insisted then
on her coming on deck, and after that, though she couldn’t stand the
saloon, which was stuffy, for the first week, she enjoyed the voyage,
which, as she had never left Europe before, had all the charm of
novelty.
We were lucky in our ship, and lucky in our captain, and we had
only one fellow-passenger, a youth of nineteen; save a Portuguese
doctor, who got in at Lisbon, and out at Aden, whence he was bound
to Mozambique. There was an enormous staff of Portuguese (half-
caste) waiters, and, with so few passengers, of course we received
great, almost oppressive, attention from them.
The captain had a small dog, of the curly variety called “Tiger,” and
one “boy” looked after him, and another after our little black-and-tan
terrier, “Pip.”
Of this arrangement I was unaware till one day I asked a “boy”—
they were much alike—if he had seen the dog about. “Don’t know,
sah; I Tiger’s boy, sah; I go ask Pip’s boy, sah.”
There being so few passengers we got a state-room for four to
ourselves, which opened into a bathroom. This was specially
convenient, and the bath of hot and cold water very refreshing in the
hot places we had to pass on our long seven weeks’ voyage.
At Lisbon we stayed two days. The entrance to the mooring-place
was very fine, and the site of the old town—that destroyed by
earthquake—was pointed out to us. The wine trade seemed to
absorb the principal energies of the inhabitants, who were a bustling
lot, and the reverse of prepossessing. As it rained the whole time we
were there, we saw nothing of the place. We got a box of Bucellas,
containing two dozen, for two pounds, for use on our march up
country, and found it a clear light wine, but not strong enough for the
ordinary English palate. It did not seem to be sophisticated.
Algiers, the next port we reached, was a delightful break in the
voyage. We went ashore, saw the lions, and here my wife had her
first glimpse of Oriental life. The Arabs in their white burnooses,
looking in the gloaming like so many freshly-risen Lazaruses, the
negroes, veiled women, camels, etc., all astonished and delighted
her. We went for several long drives (in the sun and dust); we sat
under the palms of the “Place,” in the dust, and heard the band;
lunched at a café in the dust; bought many lovely photographs, and
were very sorry to continue our voyage. We here got fresh sardines;
very far superior to tinned ones we thought them.
Of Port Said and Suez there is little to be said. A kind of café
chantant, with roulette on disadvantageous terms, seemed to wake
into extreme liveliness on the arrival of the P. and O. boat at the
more cheerful of these two towns, I really forget which; and syrens,
of an elderly Teutonic type, sang and played on various instruments;
while a roaring temporary trade was done in beer and syphons. The
canal is too well known to need description.
At Jeddah we had two days. The first one was diversified by an
invitation to the house of the consul, whose nephew was acting, and
in the afternoon we went for a gallop on donkeys in the desert—such
donkeys, nearly fourteen hands high, pure white; groomed within an
inch of their lives, full of spirit, and worth forty pounds apiece. I forget
if these animals were Bahrein donkeys, or, in fact, where they did
come from, but they were the equal of any hack I ever rode—soft-
mouthed, spirited, of free action. They kept up with our host’s horse
with ease, and our ride in the desert was certainly an enjoyable one.
The next day the captain was good enough to give us a day on a
coral reef. We went by boat to the reef, and saw Nature’s superb
aquarium, where all the vegetation and fishes were in good condition
—such zoophytes, such seaweeds, and such gorgeous fish,
sponges of all sorts and sizes, and coral of all sorts of shapes and
colours; lovely, indeed, as seen through the clear water.
The boat was run aground on the reef, and the men got us many
specimens, which we carefully treasured in a foot-bath for twenty-
four hours, but the great heat killed them all then. Huge sea-slugs
were very numerous; they are eaten by the Chinese, and are dried
and sold in large quantities.
We did not call at Hodeida, the port of Mocha.
At Aden we lay three days, and of course went to see the tanks;
very wonderful, but so often described that it would be presumption
to attempt it. We were presented by Captain Hansard, of the B.I.SS.
Co., with a large basket of the biggest and sweetest oranges we had
ever tasted; they were from Madagascar. Only those who have been
in the Red Sea can appreciate the delights of such a present at its
full value.
 Captain Hansard’s vessel, the steamer for Zanzibar, was moored
alongside ours while cargo was trans-shipped, and there was quite a
congregation of British India steamers. Captain Hansard brought on
board for our amusement his pet, a rare species of lemur; this being
—he was more human than a monkey—constantly accompanied the
captain over his ship; he was a dullish white, save the body and
arms, which were covered by a bright brown-coloured fur, giving the
animal the appearance of having on a sort of “cardigan;” the bright
yellow eyes, and noiseless, rapidly graceful movements were
strange; the term lemur being a very appropriate one, for the animal
was very ghost-like.
Quite different in habits from the common gray lemur, “Grimes,” for
so Captain Hansard named him, was a most gentle and affectionate
animal, clinging to his master like a baby, and quite like a child in his
affection.
But “Grimes’s” temper was uncertain; he got loose and would have
severely bitten a youth who teased him had he not been with
difficulty secured, and this he never would have been had not
Captain Hansard just then luckily come aboard; to his master’s
whistle he came at once. More agile than a monkey, the creature,
when pursued, flew over the rigging and awnings, taking long
bounds without apparent effort, like an exaggerated Spring-heeled-
Jack; and coming down to the ground noiselessly, as if devoid of
weight. “Grimes” was altogether a notable animal; his master was
much attached to him. We were presented with a monkey by another
of the captains; he was amusing, as all monkeys are, but his light
paled before the superior attractions of “Grimes.”
Leaving Aden, we ran straight for Kurrachee, which we reached
after nearly five weeks from London. We knew no one in the place,
and we should have been glad to have seen a little of India by taking
a tour by rail, but Captain Burke assured us that he might be ordered
off at any moment by telegram; and as we did not feel disposed to
chance being separated from our kit, we had to forego it.
Each day we went ashore after tiffin, and were driven about in a
landau and pair; it was much too hot to walk.
 Since we reached Jeddah we had been sleeping on the skylight
platform; this was each night fenced in by tent walls, but here the
damp drove us below. On this skylight, too (a big awning covered the
whole deck), we lunched and dined.
One day we diversified our drive by an excursion to Muggerpir; it is
some twenty miles off, most of the way on a good road, but a terribly
dusty one; we had to take four horses, and as soon as we arrived,
were glad to take refuge in the travellers’ bungalow and lie down to
escape the heat. After lunch (tiffin I may say, as we were in India) we
went to see the muggers (alligators).
Behind a low mud wall was a muddy pool having some twenty
snouts exposed: apparently lifeless, they looked like bits of
driftwood; under a tree lay a big alligator quite motionless. On the
guardian being interviewed, he suggested our regaling the muggers
with a kid, and one was brought by a villager, paid for, and killed. The
priest in charge now advanced close to the pool, the eyes of the
owners of the snouts opened, but the heads hardly moved; we saw
several other smaller reptiles among the bushes. The man now
called to them, a few wagged their heads slightly, but otherwise did
not notice him; then he brought the kid, and all now were instantly
alive; those who had been hidden in the bushes slid into the muddy
water hole, and all began to swim vigorously, while the big
gentleman under the tree actually opened his eyes; but he did not
stir. The body of the kid was tossed in, and was instantly torn in
pieces and struggled for; in two minutes it had disappeared; it was a
horrible sight. In another five minutes the pool was still, the
motionless heads lay sweltering in the sun, and all was as quiet as
death.
The guardian now advanced to the big alligator, and informed us
that he was a legatee, and regularly fed under the terms of a will,
and so independent of the votive kids. The brute allowed the man to
open his jaws, and gave no signs of life, save that when called his
eyes opened. He was a fine animal, but the rest of the muggers were
what Americans would call “right mean little cusses.” We satisfied
the priest and returned to Kurrachee, having seen its one sight.