'Through Persia on a side-saddle' [‎313] (356/360)

X
TEHRAN REVISITED
lines, with the aid of Orientals whose ideas of honesty,
cleanliness, and nearly everything else, were diametrically
opposed to mine!
Or I am ' on the march,' and we are eating a hasty
breakfast in the chilly, starlit darkness before sunrise,
while the tents are being struck and the groaning camels
loaded up. I can feel the freshness of the morning air,
as, huddled up in cloaks, we walk along, leading our horses,
and watching the daily marvel of the dawn, where the
sun seems indeed to spring into the heavens as 'a giant
refreshed.' Then later on we mount our steeds, and
perhaps ride across some great, dun-coloured plain towards
a range of brilliantly-tinted mountains, a ride through
an utterly barren, desolate country which yet possessed an
enchantment that held me from the first to the very last.
The cheerful tinkle of the caravan, the gleam of white
tents, rambles in the cool evenings, and dreamless nights
are among my reminiscences, coupled with the life-giving
air, which coursed like wine through my veins and enabled
me to laugh at fatigue and discomfort.
It was the sun that made it a keen joy merely to be
alive, as we rode through the frosty air in the winter
months, and its glorious light is what I miss more than
all in my native land.
To the end of my days I shall be ever grateful for those
happy years, so rich in friends and experiences, and the
4 Land of the Lion and the Sun' will never lose its charm
for me!
neill and company, limited, printers, edinburgh.