82 
BUSHIRE TO SHIRAZ. 
parture we came to the banks of a river, which is the same that, flow¬ 
ing by Zeira , falls into the Daulakee river at Deerooga , and which, 
according to my information, takes its rise in the mountains near 
Shapour. Immediately on coming on its banks we began to wind 
through the difficult passes of the mountains, which in various 
parts are very dangerous. The Arab horses, who had been accustomed 
to the equal surface of their own sandy plains, trode the rocky 
sides of the mountains with fearful and uncertain steps, and one or two 
of the most valuable of the Envoy's stud suffered by severe falls: the 
Persian horses, on the contrary, scramble over the threatening emi¬ 
nences, and confidently walk by the sides of the precipices with an 
indifference, which gives an equal consciousness of security to their 
riders. Our Mehmandar, by way of bravado, urged his horse over a 
rocky heap, which appeared almost as the feat of a madman. 
There were some particular points of view in our progress, that were 
picturesque and grand in the extreme. The path wound so fantastically 
along the side of the mountain, that those who were yet at the bottom 
saw the whole surface intersected by the ranges of our procession; and 
the travellers at the upper point appeared so diminutive, that man and 
brute could scarcely be distinguished from each other. Just before we 
reached the very highest top of the mountain we came to a station of 
Mhadars, and to the dwelling of a derveish, which was formed in the 
crevice of a rock. In parts of our route we saw the Rodo-dendron , 
one of the strongest symptoms of the change of our climate. We 
reached our encampment at twenty minutes past eleven, and we found 
it pitched near a Caravanserai. The village of Khaumauridge is situated 
on a small plain, and is distant about a mile N. 20 W. from the Cara¬ 
vanserai. On an eminence over us was a small tower, where a rebel 
stood a long siege. 
The mountains through which we passed were infested by a race of 
robbers called the Memmeh Sunni. They live in the deepest recesses of 
their wild valleys, and commit their depredations on the unguarded 
