to more pleasing than otherwise to meet with an old friend and hoary companion of one's youthful days. I entertained, likewise, the hope of examining the famous dyke which was erected by Shah Abbas the Great, to gather the melting snow into one immense reservoir, out of which the water flows into the plains of Kashan, which it serves fertilize. I was, however, rather disappointed in my expectations, as I passed the spot during the night, and, although the moon added much to the picturesque effect of the scene in the mountains, it did not yield sufficient light to enable me to follow the artificial work of the Bendi-Kúhrúd in all its details. The plains of Kashan are among the hottest places of Persia in summer, and are said to breed quantities of scorpions of the large black species, which are more venomous than the pale grey ones. Chardin has already observed, two centuries ago, in his admirable work on Persia, that one of the modes of expressing one's hatred to an enemy was to wish him to be bitten by a scorpion of Kashan, or to be made Governor of the province of Ghilan; the latter, on the Caspian, being reckoned the most unwholesome province of Persia and the most subject to malignant fevers. On leaving Kashan the weather was quite warm, but the atmosphere grew gradually cooler as we rose up the mountains, and, on reaching the dyke of Kúhrúd, we found ourselves in the depth of winter. The crests and the flanks of the hills were covered with snow; under our feet there was less, but the road was slippery; and the horses, not being sharp-shod, moved with great difficulty up the steep ascent, stumbling and sliding at every step. At some distance from the village of Kúhrúd, I was surprised at seeing, at that time of night, a light burning in a burying-ground to our right. It issued from a low temporary hut, constructed over a tomb, and the shadow of a human form was seen moving to and fro in slow measured cadence. On nearing the spot our ears were struck with low incantations and most guttural sounds. They proceeded from a Mullah who was reading the Kúran. It is sometimes customary in Persia for the relatives of a deceased person to engage a Mullah to recite prayers over his tomb, or to read the Kúran for a certain number of days for the repose of the departed soul. The district of Kúhrúd, together with Natens, which is distant from the village of Kúhrúd about ten farsangs to the East behind the mountains, has sixty-three villages, which, at the time I passed through that country, were in the hands of a relative of the Prime Minister, by name Abdullah-Khan. Kúhrúd has many orchards with fruit-trees, but is deficient in fields for sowing corn, which is brought from Josheghán, a small district about three farsangs to the West. The houses are large, mostly built with two stories, and have an appearance of cleanliness about them which is not often observable in the villages on the plain. The people likewise are a fine race of men and women, who seem to be |