'Lord Curzon's Notes on Persia' [‎394r] (788/1386)

region, across which the road from Yezd to Damaghan runs. It contains,
I believe, two great depressions, one immediately south and at the foot of
the Gugird Hills, the other at the point formed by the junction of the
Kal Mura and Kal Lada rivers, both of which depressions pretty cer
tainly contain vast sheets of water in the rainy season. As regards the
southern border of the Kavir, I cannot speak with any certainty.
“ My observations for altitudes are only approximate, though corrected
for temperature. The latitudes were taken with a six-inch sextant from
meridian altitudes of the sun and altitudes of the North Pole star; time
being taken by a half chronometer, which kept going fairly accurately
throughout.
“ The insect and animal life of the desert consisted of the wild ass,
snakes, lizards, scorpions, spiders, and beetles. Birds—the vulture,
raven, and, if I remember rightly, a few doves. All the snakes I saw
were brown, exactly resembling in colour and appearance a piece of dead
stick. Some of them used to climb bushes, and hitching their tails
round a bough would stick their bodies out in imitation of a withered
branch, and thus remain motionless for hours. My servant said that
they were waiting for a bird to come and perch on them, when they
would immediately strike it. None of the snakes I saw exceeded 3 feet
in length ; they were usually from 18 inches to 2 feet long. Scorpions
of all sizes and of various colours abounded, especially in dry and sandy
places. There was also a curious spider, called the dumlak. He had
long hairy legs, formed of shell like those of a crab, while his body was
soft and attained the size of a walnut. They had no tails, but were
provided with two pairs of curved crab-like claws, which carried a row
of teeth like a saw on their inner surface. They spin no web, but run
about on the surface of the ground with great velocity, seizing any
beetles or other insects which fall in their way. The natives say that
they are very poisonous, and that all insects living in the desert are so,
even though the same species may be found harmless elsewhere.”