The Bujnurd Sheep 1 79 



On these Kurds, therefore, still falls the task 

 of holding the passes by which Turkoman raiders 

 might swoop down on the defenceless villages of 

 Khorassan, or hold up caravans of traders or 

 pilgrims. The existence of such goings - on was 

 brought home to me one evening when our coach r 

 man lost his bearings. After some three hours 

 wandering about in the dark, over country that 

 seemed more suitable for the playground of wild 

 goats than the perambulations of a " four-wheeler," 

 we espied a light, and drew up outside a walled 

 and fortified village. There we hoped at least to 

 get the wherewithal to cook a speedy but much 

 desired dinner ; but to our horror the villagers 

 flatly refused to open their inhospitable gates. 

 It seemed that a very few days before they had 

 been raided by a party of Turkoman ; men had 

 been killed and maidens carried off. Hence their 

 for us very ill-timed caution. Fortunately the 

 persuasive eloquence of the attache, carried on 

 with an unseen interlocutor on the top of a tower, 

 and listened to by myself with painful anxiety, 

 at length allayed their suspicions, and our bivouac 

 was at least free from the spectre of starvation. 



It was pleasant to leave behind, as we gradually 

 did, the parched plains and arid hills of Persia, 

 and to enter a goodly land like that of Bujnurd. 

 First patches of green by the roadside, a few 



