The Báb Himself, in the Persian Bayán, refers to the
hardships of that voyage. “For days,” He wrote, “we suffered from the scarcity
of water. I had to content myself with the juice of the sweet lemon.” Because
of this experience, He supplicated the Almighty to grant that the means of
ocean travel might soon be speedily improved, that its hardships might be
reduced, and its perils be entirely eliminated. Within a short space of time,
since that prayer was offered, the evidences of a remarkable improvement in all
forms of maritime transport have greatly multiplied, and the Persian Gulf,
which in those days hardly possessed a single steam-driven vessel, now boasts a
fleet of ocean liners that can, within the range of a few days and in the
utmost comfort, carry the people of Fárs on their annual pilgrimage to Hijáz. (Chapter 7, ‘The Dawn-Breakers’)
