Journey in Fars j S.W. Persia. 503 



seven baggage-mules, and two muleteers. The rate of mule- 

 hire in Persia is variable. We paid at Bushire the fairly 

 high price of 5 krans (55 krs. at the exchange of the day 

 = £1) per mule per day, while later on at Shiraz we paid 

 only 3| krs. per day. The rate varies from many causes : 

 corn and fodder may be scarce, a governor may have im- 

 pressed the services of many thousand mules to take him 

 and his retinue on a journey, or several boats with cargoes 

 for up-country may have arrived together at port. When 

 we got back to Bushire the rate of mule-hire had risen to 8 

 and 10 krs. per day, owing to the fact that thousands of 

 loads of telegraph material for the new line which is bein°- 

 constructed across Persia were lying at the coast ready to 

 be taken up-country. 



I made a mistake in selecting a mule, having had very 

 little experience of these animals before, and good horses 

 it was practically impossible to obtain at Bushire. A mule 

 has two annoying characteristics — he is restless when alone 

 and he will not be led. To be happy he must be in the dust 

 of the caravan along with other mules, and he must be driven. 

 Consequently it took me a long time to train ray mule to 

 turn aside from his comrades and to stand still while I shot 

 a bird. If the bird was dead I could generally pick it up 

 without getting off the saddle, but, supposing it was only 

 winged and no one was near to help, I might as well have 

 tried to move a mountain as to lead the mule, and matters 

 generally ended by my letting him clatter off to the caravan 

 while I retrieved my bird ; but this involved a great loss of 

 time and energy, and I fared much better on the march 

 when, later, I had an old "yabu," or pack-horse. This 

 curious animal had a habit of shying towards the edges of 

 precipices, and he was a wonderful stumbler. He became 

 nevertheless a cherished friend, because he soon learnt to 

 stand stock still while I fired and would go where 1 liked. 

 He was unfortunately stolen just when I had perfected his 

 training. 



Mules as baggage-animals were fairly successful. They 

 performed wonderful feats in the way of climbing, ami 



