National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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Overland to India : vol.1 |
27o OVERLAND TO INDIA CHAP.
0
bearings I occupy it. It is furnished every evening in 0
the same way, is lighted dimly with a piece of candle, i
and warmed with a mangal of fire. This is my airy 4
prison - cell, where, nevertheless, I find myself very 0
comfortable. We have many a step to take before we 0
come to the eastern frontier of this blessed Iran, the t
western boundary of which I crossed with such enthusiasm 0
at Julfa. $
But I have nothing to complain of. In this way one 0
learns to know a country though one misses its inhabitants. A
It is worse for the herdsmen whom fate holds captives
round these poor hills. The camels and sheep they tend ;_
are not their own, but they are responsible for their safety. j
I cannot imagine anything more dreary, uninteresting, and g
monotonous than to pass one's whole life here on the
edge of the Kevir, living on meal, roghan, and brackish N
water, without knowing any other diversion than the change afforded by the annual migrations to and from Luristan. For eight months they remain sedentary, and
see no one but their three or four comrades. What do !
they think of? what do they talk about ? how do they pass '1
the weary time ? No ; a rapid journey along the foot of t
Kuh-i-busurgi is welcome enough, but I should shrink r
from a permanent residence at its foot as a shepherd s
among shepherds. e
In the night before January 20 the temperature fell to 1
23.2°, and therefore it feels cool in the morning ; owing to I
the greater absolute height up here among the hills it is 1
colder than down below at the Kevir. The ground is
white with hoar-frost, which this time, curiously enough, 1
has left the vegetation untouched.
We at first marched southwards as yesterday, and gently ascended to a ridge consisting of light red quartz
porphyrite. After little more than half an hour we were at
the road to Ashin, a very well-worn path, which we had only to follow. The herdsman therefore bade us farewell, to
return to his lonely life, and he received 2 tuman for his trouble. He informed us that we had to pass Kafer-kuh, Cha-penir, Cha-gabi, Dom-Abdullah, and Sagh-ab, and that Ashin was situated at the western foot, and a good
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