4O By Mountain, Lake, and Plain 



The subject of charms and amulets reminds 

 me of the seals found by treasure-hunters amidst 

 broken pottery and other indestructible remains 

 on the sites of Persia's ruined cities, mostly of 

 Sassanian times. Some of these, cut in crystal, 

 agate, chalcedony, and carnelian, are engraved in 

 Kufic characters, others have heads of Grecian 

 type cut in intaglio, but the most interesting to 

 me were those representing animals, wild and 

 domestic, which it seems not unlikely were carried 

 by the owners as totems. Some of these display 

 a good deal of "life." Relics of animistic beliefs 

 are indeed common among these primitive peoples. 

 At Shusp is a fissured rock which is known as 

 the shrine of the Shah - i - Mar, the Shah (or 

 spiritual leader) of snakes. At any time in the 

 heat of the day you could go and see a wicked 

 flat head looking at you from a crack in the 

 rock. The snakes were protected, and, I think, 

 fed by the people of Shusp. Every time we 

 passed through Shusp on our annual migrations 

 to Kain we were delayed by the illness of some 

 member of the family, and my Seistanis believed 

 us to be under the ban of this being. It was 

 then necessary to do khairat, which meant the 

 sacrifice of sheep and their consumption by the 

 villagers. 



