PERSEPOLIS TO ISPAHAN. 
14T 
height our encampment at Moorgh-aub bore N, 55 E. Having 
descended again into the plain, crossed the beds of numerous Kanauts , 
and started several covies of partridges; I reached my tent highly con¬ 
tented with the unexpected gleanings of the day. 
Moorgh-aub is a large village, in which there is a fort and many en¬ 
closed gardens; and near it are springs of fine water which irrigate the 
whole plain. 
20th. Continuing our road to the N. we passed over a country of 
ascents and descents, which can hardly be dignified by the denomi¬ 
nation of mountains. The different bearings of the road were N. 30 W., 
then N., then E., then N. E., until we quitted the hills, when the road 
took a northerly direction, which we kept with some trifling variations 
for the remainder of our stage. At about nine miles from Moorgh-aub , 
we arrived at a caravanserai now almost ruined, called from the village 
which once stood in its neighbourhood, Khoneh Kergaun. Near it a 
river runs to the west, and over it is a bridge of three arches. We 
arrived at Deibeed at four o'clock, after having travelled a distance of 
twenty-five miles. We were seven hours and a half on the road, and 
we generally calculate our rate of going at little more than three miles 
in the hour. The country, through which we passed, was naked and 
arid; the plain only was cultivated, and that partially. It is quite 
destitute of wood, an article which, of all our necessaries, was collected 
with the greatest difficulty. On the summits of the mountains, parti¬ 
cularly on their northern aspects, were thin patches of snow, and some 
were scattered even near our encampment. Deibeed is only a caravan¬ 
serai ; close to it is an artificial mound of earth, covered with the 
foundations of a building, which, from the light brick of its construction, 
appeared to us a modern work. 
The evening set in gloomily ; Deibeed is considered the coldest spot 
in this region, and the snows in the winter have sometimes impeded 
the progress of travellers for forty days together. The Mehmandar 
looked at the sky with apprehension; and the Governor of Moorgh- 
u 2 
