1834.] Persia and Mesopotamia. 461 



to 3,300 feet. Leslie's hygrometer only fell to 30°, which may be attri- 

 buted to the moisture of the air by the melting snow, for the climate is 

 naturally very dry. Our position appeared so close to Mount Savalan 

 that I was desirous of attempting its ascent, but the natives informed 

 me that we were at least nine farsangs, or thirty-six miles off ; and 

 that there was no regular road leading to it. Such is our deception of 

 the distances of mountains, in an open and bare country, which presents 

 no succession of objects by which the eye may calculate relative dis- 

 tances. 



This mount is greatly venerated by the Persians. It derives its 

 name from a Sherif, or lineal descendant of the prophet Mohammed, 

 whose dead body they say still lies in one of its numerous chasms in 

 the highest preservation. The peasantry of the surrounding plain 

 insist that upon its summit the ark of Noah rested, and describe the 

 curiosities in its neighbourhood as very numerous. Its ascent would 

 doubtless be most interesting, and at the same time most dangerous. 

 I saw a man who assured me he had some years ago accomplished it.* 

 He described the undertaking as extremely hazardous, as it is sur- 

 rounded with high, and partly snow-covered, walls of rock, which must 

 be ascended to reach the top, immensely steep and fatiguing to attain : 

 but when attained, a magnificent and striking view of Alpine scenery 

 astonishes the beholder. The peak is surmounted with a wreath of 

 snow, whose border is beautifully fringed and fantastically shaped. 



While we were smoking our kaliuns in the evening, immediately 

 before Savalan, with a bright moon throwing her silver touches along 

 the line of its rugged points, I was apprized that the Prince's astro- 

 loger had been examining the stars, and according to his divination, 

 the suite could not depart for Tabriz until the expiration of seventy 

 hours ■ it was then to quit the town gates at midnight, to enable Khos- 

 ro Mirza to enter his father's capital three hours and a half after sun- 

 rise, that being the most fortunate moment of the day, agreeable to 

 astrological calculation. This caused us to make preparations to com- 

 plete the remainder of the journey alone, and consequently we departed 

 from Ahar on the 22nd of February, at the hour of noon, with a thick 

 mist, which at this time of the year is common to Karadaugh. After 

 having cleared the suburbs, the fog took off, and we traversed the 

 plain on a bearing of west. The river Ahar wound its way through 



* Captain Shee of the Madras Infantry effected its ascent in 1827 with a party 

 of English travellers : an account of the trip is given in Monteith's Survey-Tour, 

 Journ. Geog. Soc. iii. 27. The tomb and skeleton were found on the summit, 

 some of the dried flesh and pieces of the winding sheet still adheriug to the 

 bones. — Ed. 



