m 
TEHERAN TO TABRIZ. 
before; but they had no characters upon them. At about five miles 
before we came to Saidabad we entered a pass in the mountain, on the 
right of which, as we left the plain, we noticed a piece of water with 
much wild fowl upon it. After having ascended and again descended 
the pass, (from the summit of which we had a view of the mountain of 
Tabriz ), we came to a caravanserai situated amid very picturesque 
scenery just at the bottom. The right wing, and many other parts of 
this edifice, were falling into ruin. It contains a square area of two 
hundred and sixty paces of an admirable and solid construction; the 
work of the Seffis, strongly contrasted with the comparatively misera¬ 
ble buildings of the present day in Persia. The fine arches of the 
domes attest the excellence of art in the age of its erection. The inte¬ 
rior arrangements are very good: on each side of the square are rooms, 
each with a fire-place, and in the centre of the whole is a large square 
compartment, divided into a variety of chambers of all descriptions, 
with recesses for horses. All this is built of a fine brick, with a strong 
foundation, and occasional reliefs of stone. At the foot of the whole 
building, at close intervals, are stones cut for the convenience of 
tying up cattle. At this spot we were overtaken by a storm of thunder 
and hail, and driven to seek refuge in the caravanserai; where the 
gloom of the old building, enlivened by the grotesque figures of our 
party, reminded me of those scenes of romance which modern writers 
have so frequently laboured to describe. 
We turned off from the high road to the left, and at about two miles 
and a half from the caravanserai reached Saidabad. We found in it a 
mud fort, and houses with roofs arched but extremely low. Our ser¬ 
vants were introduced into a chamber, a part of which was already 
occupied by a family of young asses; the rest was all their own. In all 
parts of the village were small pyramids of cow-dung, the different 
collections of the poor inhabitants for their winter fuel. The walls 
of their houses were likewise covered with great cakes of the 
same materials, which were then drying as additions to their 
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