'Through Persia on a side-saddle' [‎156] (187/360)

156 THROUGH PERSIA ON A SIDE-SADDLE
pitch our tents outside his garden, there not being enough
accommodation in his pavilion.
I will give an account of one such visit, which will stand
for them all. We started off early one afternoon in
August, the servants, tents, etc., having been sent on, and
rode across a great sandy desert, the monotony of which
was only broken by a small mud tea-house, erected close
to the one solitary spring for miles round. Here we halted
for afternoon tea, and, after watering our horses, rode on;
while across the desert, columns of sand, dark at their base
with swirling dust, rose into fantastic shapes as the light
wind drove them in circles upwards. These jinns, as the
Persians call them, occasionally approached us at such a
pace that we were forced to gallop our horses to avoid
them.
In the distance we saw the bright blue dome and tall
minarets of Mahun's famous shrine, and as we neared the
village the setting sun bathed the eastern hills in a rosy
glow with long, purple shadows, while the gardens clustering
round the dome seemed enveloped in a golden haze.
Shah Niamatullah, to whose memory this beautiful shrine
was built, was a notable personage in his day. An Indian
dervish, born in the year 730 of the Hejreh, he is supposed
to have prophesied that the English rule in India would
cease in 1857. Be that as it may, he has other claims
to fame, for on one occasion, being specially warned not
to land on a certain island infested with lions, he went
there straightway, saying that his fate lay in the hands of
Allah. His faith proved to be well founded. The lions
rushed in a body to greet him with many an uncouth
salaam as he stepped on shore, killed a gazelle to feast
their guest, and collected wood wherewith to roast it. As
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