or abambar named Hauz-i-seh, whence it is reckoned 3 farsakh to Jandak. This basin is larger than the last, and the water, which has a temperature of 41.5°, is sweet and well flavoured.
A caravan of 6 men and 26 camels from Anarek were resting here on their way to Semnan, which they would reach in eleven days' journey. They came from Yezd, and had taken sixteen days to Hauz-i-seh. The men reported that they were in the service of Seid Muhamed Bager Erdekuni, a rich merchant dwelling in Anarek ; but their home was Ardekan, which they pronounced in their local dialect Erdekun. They transported tea, cloths, white Indian thread, and henna, an orange dye-stuff, in large bales from southern Persia to the north. The English goods are disembarked in the harbours of the Persian Gulf, particularly Bushir, and thence carried to Yezd, and the men at Hauz-i-seh were now conveying them on from Yezd to Semnan. They were wont to travel always by night, and could cover 7 or 8 farsakh in one night. The camels travel much better in this way ; they have been accustomed for generations to the arrangement, and they need the hours of daylight to eat their fill of steppe shrubs. They do not become tired in the cool, calm air of night, and scarcely feel their loads. Our camels were tired because we made them work in the daytime. The men advised us to change our habits and follow their example ; but I told them that I had come hither solely to see the country, and that therefore I should have no reward if I travelled on pitch-dark nights.
They formed a picturesque group in the lifeless landscape ; they sat on the lee-side of the well vault, smoking, and eating bread with their cups of water before them and a freshly filled pitcher in the middle. One of them went to attend to the camels, which were eating their dinner before starting, for on this particular day they were to travel while the sun was still up in order to reach Jandak before dark. When our camels passed their grazing comrades, these began to gurgle heavily and peevishly, and let their large purple throat bladders hang dangling from the corners of their mouths. When the men saw the
IIIFカラー高解像度
