'Through Persia on a side-saddle' [‎198] (233/360)

198 THROUGH PERSIA ON A SIDE-SADDLE
forcing us to unpack our warm things, which we imagined
we had stowed away for good since reaching Bam,
The country here was quite unlike any other part of
Persia through which I had travelled, and gave the
impression of a wild, deserted park, so abundant were
the branching tamarisks, gnarled acacias, and graceful
clumps of pampas, while the konar-\.r&& grew to a great
size. This latter is a species of wild cherry, from the
pounded leaves of which a soap is prepared, used for wash
ing the dead and also for toilet purposes. Both here and
in Baluchistan I constantly noticed a plant some three feet
high with big, fleshy leaves and masses of velvety mauve
flowers, remarkably like auriculas, its dull purple seed-
vessel being of the size of an egg. Streams of water
abounded, and all around us rose the loud, clear call of the
hot-country partridge or doraj\ while myriads of small birds
twittered in the jungle with its background of stately palms.
We lunched by a very muddy, swiftly running stream, and
to my excessive surprise it had departed on its way and
left its bed dry before our repast was completed, such a
phenomenon being, however, far from uncommon in Persia
whenever heavy rain has fallen.
From now onwards we had the vision of the magnificent
cone of the extinct volcano Kuh-i-Basman, the Demavend
of Baluchistan, standing up superbly from a range about a
hundred miles from us. My brother had made the ascent
of this mountain during his previous journey in Baluchistan,
and had had hard work in struggling through the masses
of deep snow near its summit. It is curious how much
the traveller gets attached to a grand peak which dominates
the landscape through which he passes. Demavend became
almost a part of my life when I was at Tehran, the fine