'Through Persia on a side-saddle' [‎270] (311/360)

CHAPTER XIX
the karun river and ahwaz
T he whole climate appeared to change as soon as the
palms of the Shat-el-Arab were replaced by a sandy
desert stretching on either side of us to the line of the
horizon. The enervating damp heat of Busreh had given
place to a very different kind of warmth, so dry that it
seemed almost bracing by comparison.
A high, hot wind blew clouds of burning sand from the
desert wastes, and the disturbed waters of the Karun
reflected the glare of the sun with a million facets, very
speedily making us have recourse to our blue glasses. All
the same, we felt vitality and energy returning to us, and
slept that night as we had never done under the waving
of the punkahs at Busreh, where the great question of
life seemed to be how to keep fairly cool.
The scenery on the river was highly monotonous. The
Sahara was partially flooded, and grass, with occasional
willows and banks of reeds, grew close to the water, while
'flocks of pelicans and small white gulls gave a touch of
life to the picture. It would have been thrilling to have
seen a lion stalk along the banks, a sight vouchsafed to
travellers in the days before deforestation took place, and
when the Karun, as described in Layard's delightful Early