XXXIX THE DATE PALMS OF TEBBES 63
this dear bird which had now kept me company for nine nights. The jackals were cunning. Once we heard some of them at the basin in the garden, and they availed themselves of the noise of the storm to approach from the windward, and outwit our dogs. They succeeded in snapping up our best cock as he sat dozing on a load outside the men's tent.
The court was full of people. The owner of the garden was present, a haji, ferrashes, purveyors, water-carriers, and peasants who daily supplied trusses of green sweet-smelling hay for our camels. All received their pay. We also laid in provisions in Tebbes for a long time, and the whole expenses amounted to ‘35.
Once more we pass down the endless khiaban, its walls echoing the clang of the bells, and mount at the Rudkhanehi-kale-bagh, which, issuing from a valley opening to the N. 63° E., flows just south of Tebbes. The river is now divided into numerous arms of grey turbid water after the last rain, most of them carrying about 35 cubic feet of water per second, and enclosing on both sides the village Deheshk. In the narrow shady lanes, and on the cultivated land, the ground is smooth and treacherous, and the camels' legs slip about as though they were practising skating, but soon we leave this little oasis also, and the last delta arms, with an aggregate volume of 700 cubic feet, are behind us. The oasis had been thoroughly flooded by the rain, and here and there a peasant is seen digging temporary trenches to retain the water. The rain in the night caused a large flood in the hills, large volumes of which have found their way down to the road, 5 farsakh below. The rise in the water commenced early in the morning, and the canal by my tent had threatened to overflow. On the upper parts of the hills there has been snow, and their crests look whiter than ever.
After we leave the last river arm the country becomes absolutely barren, and consists of sand and small pebbles. But the water still pours through its subterranean channels to the villages of Sadetabad, Mohamedabad, Sadikabad, and Deh-no, all lying to the right of and below our road, while Khosroabad lies to the left, at the foot of some small
IIIFカラー高解像度
