2 DEPARTURE FROM SHIRAZ. 
bridge of Poohl-khan; where crossing the foaming Araxes of 
the south (otherwise called the Bund-emir), we took our new 
direction northward to the east of the river, and across the 
valley of Merdasht. On the second evening of our journey we 
travelled a distance of five farsangs, and by eleven o’clock 
arrived at the village of Fatabad. Here we bivouacked on the 
extensive roof of the Mehman Khaneh, for the night was fine, 
with an air so bland and refreshing, that no hesitation could re¬ 
main with half-breathless invalids, which to prefer, the sky-cano¬ 
pied platform above, or the close, smothering stone-work below. 
We left our quarters at five o’clock next morning, taking a 
course west-north-west; and after a march of six miles reached 
the entrance of a narrow valley, bounded on the right by a 
mountain, which our guide promptly named to be that of Istaker. 
But being a naked, perpendicular mass of rock, situated and 
formed in a manner that precluded fortress or town from finding 
a place on or beneath it, we felt no ceremony in assuring our 
informant he must be mistaken. The line of the valley carried 
us for a couple of miles more, in a direction nearly west; where, 
after an almost overpowering hot ride, we gladly found our¬ 
selves close to the green bank of the Bund-emir. At this point 
the river is crossed by a noble stone bridge of several arches. 
We left both it and the genial stream, to which we now bade 
farewell, to our left; pursuing our way between the scorching 
rocks and caverned defiles of the mountains. Near the western 
extremity of the valley rises a very lofty and insulated mountain, 
perfectly flat at the summit, and singularly precipitous on every 
side. The natives call it the Kala-Gul-Aub, or fortress of rose¬ 
water ; seemingly, a not very appropriate name for one of the 
roughest heaps of earth and stone imagination can conceive. 
mi 
