124 APPENDIX. 
object of our search was not easily visible at any distance ; too much 
‘confidence, however, in the knowledge of our servants and guide who, 
with true Persian effrontery, asserted they were familiar with the 
appearance of the gez. in its natural state, nearly occasioned us a 
complete disappointment. We had relinquished the pursuit in very 
ill-humour, to resume our journey, when we met, as chance would 
have it, two peasants proceeding to the spot we had just quitted: as 
usual, we accosted them, and were not alittle pleased at hearing they 
were the people whose occupation it was to gather the gez. These 
men were furnished with a stick three-fourths of an inch in diameter 
and curved at the further extremity, which was covered with leather, 
and a kind of oval leathern bowl, near three feet long and two broad, 
with a handle to it, resembling an egg-shell cut in two longitudinally. 
Besides these, they had a sieve suspended from the right side, to free 
the gez from the insects and small pieces of leaf that generally fall 
with it when first beat from the bush: the bottom of the sieve was 
of coarse woollen cloth, 
The countrymen were easily persuaded by a trifling present to fall 
immediately to work and show us a specimen of their employment. 
They turned off the road a few yards amongst the bushes we had 
just quitted, and placing the leathern receptacle underneath, they 
beat the bushes on the top with the crooked stick; in a few minutes 
they had obtained a handful of a white kind of sticky substance not 
unlike hoar frost, of a very rich sweet taste: this, r being 
purified by boiling, is mixed up into the sweetmeat before mentioned 
under the name of gezangabeen, 
Though the gez, when fresh gathered from the gavan bush, admits 
of being sifted, still in this original state it is brittle and adhesive 
at the same time, qualities for which it is so remarkable after its 
preparation as a sweetmeat. If pressed, it sticks to the fingers ; but 
on being smartly struck with a bit of wood separates easily into 
small grains like lump-sugar. It is in this state in cool weather, or 
when the thermometer does not exceed 68° F.; but liquefies on being 
exposed toa higher temperature, resembling white honey both in 
colour and taste, 
The shrub on which the gez was found is called the gavan ; it 
grows from a small root to the height of about two feet and a half, 
spreading into a circular form at the top from three to four feet and 
