68 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



road immediately to the right. By the faint light 

 silvering the awful precipices and crags around us, 

 we could but faintly discern the wildness of the 

 scene ; but it was one that Gaspard Poussin only 

 could have dared to paint. Though the road was 

 a trifle better than that of yesterday's inarch, the 

 descent was very rough and very rapid. About an 

 hour after daybreak we crossed a rapid mountain 

 stream, which the guides called the Eohilla river. 

 The water came well up over the horses' girths, and 

 the ford was so rocky that the mules in crossing 

 slipped and stumbled in a manner that was quite 

 alarming to witness ; for if they had once got off 

 the ford, the stream would have swept them away 

 beyond all hope. However, all got over without mis- 

 hap, the muleteers keeping up a thundering chorus 

 of Allahs the while. In winter, this ford, owing to 

 the rapid current of its icy waters, is considered a 

 very dangerous one. Every year, we were told, both 

 men and cattle are lost in it. A little beyond the 

 ford we passed two large bridges, completely in ruins ; 

 the large single arch of one was still standing, its 

 massive brick buttresses defying the rapid stream 

 below. These were probably the work of the good 

 King Shah Abbas, Persia's best monarch. 



Leaving the river, we struck suddenly into a 

 gloomy gorge of the mountains; this led us down 

 upon the village of Dalakee ; and when the view 

 opened out, the plain, which stretches away without 



