'Through Persia on a side-saddle' [‎145] (176/360)

OUR STAY IN THE HILLS
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an easy matter, as he was unhaltered, and they had to
grasp him by his flowing mane or forelock. It was a scene
of wild confusion. Grooms, muleteers, servants and no
mads all joined in the chase, shouting and yelling, while
the kicking, stampeding, neighing, and squealing were so
infectious that it was all I could do to keep ' Charters' from
joining in the fray otherwise than with loudly uplifted voice.
Partridges swarmed in these hills, their cheerful note in
the early morning and late in the afternoon resounding
about our camp, the peculiar clucking call when feeding
changing into a shrill whistle if they were disturbed. Their
soft, brown-grey plumage, with its black and white markings
on the wings,- makes them almost indistinguishable from
the boulders among which they live, so that my brother,
when out shooting, often lost birds, which the most diligent
searching failed to discover. The huntsman sometimes
brought out a big, square screen made of many-coloured
patches, holding it up before him to attract the partridges,
which are excessively curious, and then shooting them as
they approached his shelter to examine it.
We halted for a few days near the steep pass of Dilfa,
which we inspected with much interest, as it had been
crossed by Marco Polo on his journey to Kerman; and
it added to my interest to feel that in all probability we
were the first Europeans who had visited Sardu since the
time of that illustrious traveller.
One day when here we had a visit from seven nomad
women, the principal ladies of their tribe, who brought us
offerings of cheese and mast. They refused to take money
in return, saying that they intended to see the Khanum,
and would sit near our camp until I had interviewed them,
even if I kept them waiting for days. So they were all
K