176 
ISPAHAN TO TEHERAN. 
although the weather on the plain was delightfully serene and mild. 
The soil is hard, in some places argillaceous. The whole country, 
which we had passed in the day’s march, was poor and depo¬ 
pulated, though the ruins in different parts of the plain, speak that 
it was once enlivened and enriched by men. As we approached 
Mourchekourd we found indeed cultivation, and the kanauts which 
produce it. 
9th. From Mourchekourd a caravanserai which we were to pass, 
bore by our compass N. 15 W. a distance of twelve miles. The 
road was good, on an arid plain, bounded by inconsiderable moun¬ 
tains. The caravanserai itself was another of those structures, which 
in the latter part of our route we had so often admired. From this 
point we continued for eight miles over rising and falling ground to a 
second caravanserai called Aga Kemal , but pronounced short without 
the g, Aakemal. Around we saw a little cultivation and a few poplars; 
all the rest is desert. On the left, bearing West, is the small territory 
of Joshoogun , containing the three villages of Bendai , Khosroabad , 
and Vazvoon , which we descried at the distance of about four miles, 
situated under a red hill at the extremity of the plain. From Aga 
Kemal we ascended mountains entirely covered with snow, which, 
from its appearance indeed, may remain there throughout the whole 
year. The distance to Kohrood was still twelve miles, which we 
travelled by sun-set, having set off at five in the morning. By 
the bearings of elevated hills we arranged our whole march to the 
direction N. 10 W. 
As we descended into the valley of Kolirood , which from the depth 
of the snow was a work of some trouble, we noticed a pretty little 
bubbling stream, which, winding through the vale, watered a succes¬ 
sion of cultivated spots and plantations of apple, pear, poplar, and 
walnut trees. The town is built on the side of a mountain. We 
passed the night in the caravanserai , where our accommodations were 
indifferent, and our rest, of which we were in great want, was broken 
by the incessant noise and wrangling of our Persian attendants. 
