'Through Persia on a side-saddle' [‎238] (277/360)

238 THROUGH PERSIA ON A SIDE-SADDLE
groves ending abruptly in kavir, or salt marsh, and on all
sides of them stretched low hills and desert, save for a
line of palms showing where Ladgusht, rich in tombs, lay
some thirty miles off. The fertilising of the date-trees
was going on, men climbing up the female trees and
introducing a little of the pollen from the male tree into
their flowers, which looked much like bundles of wheat
ears. The male trees do not bear fruit, and the Baluchis
eat their masses of flowers, which travellers aflirm are not
unpalatable. During our visit to Jalk the inhabitants
were suffering from influenza, which carried off several
of the poor people daily, and they were less able than
usual to combat illness, because the Fast of Ramazan
drawing to its close, had left the population in an
exhausted condition.
None of us, fortunately, were attacked by the scourge,
but some were visited by a mad dog, which might have
been worse. This creature came into my brother's' tent
one night and growled and snarled for a considerable time
before it could be ejected. It then rushed into the tent of
the Persian Commissioner and attacked him as he lay in
bed, tearing his clothes; but fortunately he drove it off,
one of his guards coming in and wounding it with a sabre'
On this the animal fled, but bit one of the sentries badly
before it finally disappeared.
I confess to feeling very uneasy the next night, as tents
have so many entrances for an animal determined'to push
its way in ; but precautions proved needless, our nocturnal
visitor not making its appearance. On the following day,
however, I saw the poor creature dragging itself painfully
along near our tents, and, as my brother was over at the
English camp, I called AH Agha, the bravest of our