xxv PATHS OF THE SANDY DESERT 279
fore hurry our pace, and come up to them in half an hour, for they are traversing the same path as ourselves but in the opposite direction.
They are four herdsmen with their provisions and clothes on two camels, and are making for Cha-sefid or the " white well," the one we have just left. They watch
Ioo camels at the northern foot of Kuh-i-busurgi. They left Anarek this morning, and reckon it 5 farsakh to the town.
Although it was 32° above freezing-point the wind was bitterly cold, and it was a satisfaction to all when Meshedi Abbas made a crackling fire, round which we threw ourselves down and subjected the herdsmen to a searching cross-examination. Cha-busurgi and Cha-khalech lay at the foot of the Busurgi hill or Busrugi, as they pronounced it. At a half farsakh south-eastwards was seen, in the midst of the plain, a hauz, or a well protected by a vault of stone, called H auz - i -Haji - Lotvi. It was 2 farsakh south-west to the village Ashin, which we had lost sight of by going too far northwards. Kuh-i-nigu is a high hill in the north-east on the way to Jandak, and N. 61° E. is a small hill at the foot of which we should find the village Alem ; it is therefore called Kuh-i-Alem. Fakhe, Nakhlek, Kuh-i-mushemma, and Kuh-i-muhalla are simply hills in the district ; they rise like islands from a sea, quite near the coast. Cha-Alem lies on the way to the village, and Cha-kharbuseh, or water-melon well," is situated at the foot of an isolated elevation in the east-south-east. Kuh-i-sebers is a hill to the south. The road on which we stood runs very directly to Anarek, passing through a gudar, portal or passage, between two heights, and over an easy kotel or pass threshold.
The herdsmen advised us not to go farther than Hauzi-Haji-Lotvi this day, and to send from there two of our men and camels to Ashin, where straw and cottonseed could be procured in abundance, for the village was quite a large one. Meanwhile, both we and the strangers thawed by the friendly fire, where we formed a picturesque group of freebooters in the wind, and if some mistrust might be detected at first, it disappeared entirely in the warmth
IIIFカラー高解像度
