14 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



safety. The sight of waving corn and of running 

 streams of water, be these ever so small, has at once 

 the effect of throwing a Persian into raptures. The 

 " propcrantis aquce per amcenos ambitus arjros " has an 

 especial charm for him ; and I often remarked that 

 when from a hill-top we looked down upon anything 

 of the kind, some one of the party was sure to he 

 ready with Saadi's couplet; for all are given to 

 quoting, from the first vizier of the realm to your 

 spreader of carpets. The previous day we had crossed 

 "Bendemeer's Stream," and as my horse splashed 

 through its turbid waters, swollen by the melting 

 snow, I could think only of the fair Shirazee who 

 wooed the ever-faithful Azeem in vain. Where we 

 crossed the river it was about twenty yards broad. 

 It had worn a tolerably deep bed through the stony 

 arid plain, across which our road had that morning 

 lain. The " bower of roses had vanished," and 

 where these were once bright by the calm Bendemeer, 

 we saw only some green rushes and sedgy pools. 

 Our last march to Shiraz was one of about sixteen 

 miles ; it lay through a hilly bare country, and the 

 road was execrable, covered with rocks and rolling 

 stones. Till you are within half a mile of the town 

 you see nothing of it, then it is immediately below 

 you, the road leading straight down upon it through 

 a rugged stony defile. The only conspicuous object 

 in the town is the citadel, built of sunburnt brick, 

 and laying some claim to being in a state of repair : 



