'Through Persia on a side-saddle' [‎12] (39/360)

12
THROUGH PERSIA ON A SIDE-SADDLE
Next morning we selected what baggage we should
take with us to Tehran. It was carefully weighed, then
packed along with our servants into a big fourgeon, while
we ourselves got into the rickety carriages again for our
ninety-mile drive. We were now on the great Iranian
Plateau which stretches to the south of Kerman, and is
at a height of 4000 to 6000 feet.
The jolting on the so-called road was excessive, therefore
we walked ahead whenever a halt was made to change
horses, four of which dragged each vehicle. As darkness
approached we passed several caravans of camels reposing
for the night, and it was weird to come upon these encamp
ments in the clear moonlight, the animals folded up as it
were into heaps, two or three usually erect, deliberating
whether to lie down or not. My brother and I, striding
on ahead of the carriages, aroused the guardian dogs, who
rushed out barking furiously at us, and we should probably
have felt their teeth if we had not hurled stones at them
liberally.
In the rest-house that night we were amused to observe
that a felt skull-cap, to serve as a nightcap, lay on the
pillow of each bed; and the hair-comb and tooth-brushes
which were provided for travellers all bore signs of con
stant use!
We left for Tehran early the next day, in order to reach
the city before the gates closed at sunset; and the sun
rose over the snowy Elburz Range as we drove across
the great plain, the road improving as we neared the
capital, and got our first glimpse of the cone of stately
Demavend.
In the distance Tehran seemed a patch of greenery set
in the midst of a desert, but we could distinguish walls and