CHAPTER XVIII. 
Intelligence having reached the Ambassador from Georgia, which 
required an immediate conference with the King, our camp broke up 
on the 16th of June, and we halted at Mahajeran, the first stage from 
Hamadan, on the road to Sultanieh. Owing to the great plenty of 
water, we found the country through which our road lay highly culti¬ 
vated, and thickly spread with villages. At two miles from Hamadan 
we crossed a considerable stream, and met it again on arriving at our 
stage. The peak of Alwend, under which Hamadan is situated, bore . 
from Mahajeran, S. 40° W. 
The next day we went to Kaboot Reheng, still in a fine district, rich 
in corn, which was now nearly ripe. The heats of this and the pre¬ 
ceding stage were very oppressive; the thermometer being at 92 and 93 
in our tents, at three o’clock. Owing to the great scarcity of wood, 
the peasants collect for fuel the common thorn, the Khor Shutur, which 
overruns the country, and lay it up in stacks for winter. 
On the 18th, we traversed a flat country to Kaleh Jogh, the inhabi¬ 
tants of which displayed a trait of perverseness of character which can 
be found only under a despotic government. Since the villagers had 
fled at our approach on the road to Hamadan, the Ambassador deter¬ 
mined no longer to accept the sursat, or provisions, allowed him by the 
Government at the expense of the peasantry, and paid for every thing 
himself, as it was furnished to us. But here the peasantry, without 
reflecting that, if we chose, we might get provisions from them for 
nothing, would not sell our servants bread, absolutely refusing, with an 
obstinacy for which we could not account, except by supposing that 
they were apprehensive, if it were known that they had sold their pro¬ 
visions, their Governors might make it a pretext for levying greater 
contributions upon them than before. 
We then travelled a short distance to Gav Sawar, a village situated 
in a cooler district, and pitched our tents in a chemerif or pasture. The 
