The Geographical Journal (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society): Volume X, No. 6 [‎98r] (48/186)

RECENT JOURNEYS IN PERSIA.
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we camped at an altitude of 6550 feet, near a large cave, which pro
tected our horses from the intense cold. My companion was unfor
tunately ill, so, as the weather looked very threatening, I decided not to
wait, but to make the attempt on the following morning.
For 7 miles the track led up the valley, which then terminated in
an extraordinary fissure, termed the Band-i-Gelu. Creeping up this,
we found ourselves in a valley, which smelt strongly of sulphur, but
the going was easy enough until we began to climb the actual peak.
First of all, we had to scramble over boulders, but these at 11,000 feet
were replaced by soft lava ash, so that it was 2 p.m., after eight
hours’ incessant climbing, when we reached the summit at 12,850
feet. We here found a plateau about 400 yards square, the northern
portion of which is termed the Kuh-i-Ziarat, or “ Sacrifice hill,” while
separated by a slight depression lay the Mader Kuh, or “Mother hill,”
which is still the actual object of worship for most Sarhaddis, although
nominally they are Mohammedans. The volcano, which was belching
out blinding clouds of sulphurous smoke, consists of two apertures, each
some 8 yards in circumference, which apparently united a few feet below
the surface, as there was only a yard or so of ground between them.
With considerable difficulty, we extricated specimens of the sulphur
and sal ammoniac, and then turned our attention to plane-tabling. At
the elevation we were at, we could see Sistan and the lake of Zirreh,
mentioned in Matthew Arnold’s great poem, while to the north-west