SHIRAZ TO BUSHIRE. 13 



and these were, all and each of them, delicacies that 

 were duly appreciated by us after several weeks' 

 travel, by night and by day, through desert sandy 

 plains. 



~\Ve had entered the valley, or rather the plain, of 

 Shiraz from the north, and the first glimpse of the 

 town which we had coming from that direction was 

 one by no means calculated to throw the beholder 

 into an ecstasy of delight with its beauty. We did 

 not even feel inclined to exclaim, " If there is a 

 paradise on earth humecn ust, humeen list it is 

 this ! it is this ! " These were our own particular 

 feelings as we reined up our horses and looked down 

 into a plain tolerably well cultivated, and irrigated 

 by tiny streams of water. The even surface of the 

 plain was broken by neither river nor lake, and there 

 were no trees beyond a few dark-coloured patches of 

 orange-groves and orchards scattered in the immediate 

 vicinity of the town. Xot so was it with the Persians 

 of our suite. A murmur of delight burst from them, 

 and one of their number, who gave himself some 

 pretensions as an apt quoter, immediately threw up 

 his hands and repeated the above line of one of their 

 favourite poets. Upon this they all gave way to 

 their feelings, and fell to invoking the blessed 

 Prophet, and the holy saint Imam Eeza, whose 

 shrine we had visited some months previous, and 

 whom they now, one and all, fervently thanked for 

 having brought them thus far on their journey in 



