right a path leading to the village Kheirabad, half a farsakh from Chahrdeh, and in the same direction is seen a grove of seven palms. A gez, a kind of tamarisk, grows by the road, more like a tree than a bush, and of a beautiful cypress-green colour. Two ruins stand by the road, a fallen-in kanat and two others which are still in use, and finally we come to green fields with majestic palms rising above them, some higher than the others by the crown. The road takes us along the wall of the quadrangular fort with towers at the corners and at the middle of the northern and southern sides, and surrounded by a moat. It has suffered much by time, and many heavy downpours of rain have eaten deep vertical grooves into its ramparts. We ride past the burial-ground, where the abodes of the dead are covered with bricks, and where some decayed mortuary chapels have been erected over the graves of prominent men.
In the open square, outside a magnificent caravanserai built twenty-five years ago by H aj i Mollah Taghi of Yezd, we set up our tents. The roof of this quadrangular hostelry affords ample room for walking beside the brick-covered cupolas, and from here a picturesque and instructive view presents itself. The western hills form only a dark outline beneath the sun, and after it has set an intense yellow glow shines above the dark crests. Kuh-i-shuturi is nearer and therefore shows a stronger purple tone than yesterday, the snowfields shimmer more intensely white, and the whole presents a fascinating picture peeping out from between dark palms. With their verdure the grey houses of the village lying below us are in striking contrast. Graceful, elegant, and flexible as reeds the palms lift their heads, some straight and stiff, others bending slightly and humbly, but always standing out clearly with their deep green colour against the light airy tints of the horizon. Here and there yellow leaves, damaged by the frost, are distinguished in their fine fronds. A hundred of the thousand palms of the oasis perished in the last severe cold.
Wheat also and barley, cotton, and tobacco are grown, and the village has 3000 sheep and 3o asses. The houses are 8o in number and are inhabited by moo persons, a
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