368 
FOULAD MAHALEH. 
tations. We ascended a steep hill of a deep chalky soil, extremel}^ worn 
by the passage of the King’s troops, and reached a summit, on which 
we found a hard, flat chemen or pasture: thence we continued on the 
tops and sides of mountains, occupied by large flocks of sheep, which 
in the cool of the morning lay collected in the warm dales. Here they 
lead out their sheep to graze at the close of the day until midnight, 
and also in the grey of the morning, never exposing them to the 
noon-day heats. We saw occasionally immense flocks distributed over 
the brown waste, browsing apparently upon the bare stones. On 
a sudden we broke upon a very remarkable tract of wilder mountains 
than before, of a soft crumbling soil, composed of chalk and lime¬ 
stone. On their crests the grey stone prevailed, as in the whole 
of the region of Demawend. Leaving these heights we entered 
upon a region romantically wooded with pines, and full of the red- 
legged partridge. Its air and appearance were truly delightful. Be¬ 
tween the bases of the mountains were lawns, of a bright green, which 
here and there were covered with the conspicuous black tents of the 
Eelauts. 
We stopt at one set of these tents that belonged to some Hezar Je- 
ribis, all drest in the Mazanderan costume, speaking the language of 
that province, and extremely dirty. They were churning their moss 
or curdled milk into butter, which they afterwards boil and lay by for 
roghun, the common ingredient of Persian cookery. Just before 
reaching the small plain of Foulad Mahaleh, a superb view opens and 
discloses very distant ranges of mountains, that border on the territory 
of Asterabad and the Caspian Sea. 
Foulad Mahaleh is a dirty mud-built village, situated upon a hillock 
insulated on the plain, consisting of about eighty houses. Its inhabi¬ 
tants are very poor, if we might judge from the misery of their ap¬ 
pearance. The women were particularly turbulent and clamorous, 
and appeared entirely to regulate the foreign relations of the village. 
They resisted a demand made upon them for horses, by throwing 
stones, and taking up so menacing an attitude as to become formidable. 
This miserable place belongs to the Mollah Bashi, or chief priest of 
