roads of Persia. Abbas himself is an original, a Tatar of Azerbeijan, who does not speak a word of Persian. But he has made pilgrimages both to Kerbela and to Meshed, and therefore has a right to use the titles of honour awarded to pilgrims after visits to the graves of Hussein and Imam Riza. Spite insisted that when he found himself near Meshed he assumed the title of Kerbelai, and that when he was close to Kerbela he preferred the title Meshedi. In our party he was always addressed as Meshedi.
Now he informed us that Cheshme-i-Ghasemi was a poor little spring which trickled forth in a very thin thread. It had, therefore, taken several hours to water the camels, and after all they had not got enough. Two meshk had been filled for our use, but the water was both surkdi and talkh, that is, salt and bitter. But as there was no help for it we had to put up with this water.
In consideration of the approach of summer with its heat and insects and the lower and more southern tracts that awaited us, as well as of the long distance that still separated us from Nushki, I decided to give up the journey to Bahabad, which, there and back, would have occupied eleven days. It would also have put the strength of the camels to too severe a trial. Their wool was becoming looser, but they were still as shaggy as in Teheran. If they were overstrained now they would perhaps never bear up against the heat on the borders of the Lut desert.
Therefore I content myself with a survey from the small saddle rising little more than 3o feet above Camp 46. Kuh-i-Ghasemi is properly the name of the range which lies farther north and derives its name from the spring Cheshme-i-Ghasemi, which in its turn is called after some man Ghasem (Kasim). It presents a steep front to the east and to the west gently sloping ridges, and here and there its regular line is interrupted by rounded mounds and cones of loose material. To the south-west is seen a range running NNW. to SSE. called Kuh-i-nakhiya. To the south-south-east the highest elevation is attained by a third range, which seems to be parallel to the other
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