66 
GILPAIGON. 
of the great boundary on the west. We held our course close to 
the foot of the mountain limits on the east, which reared them¬ 
selves to an immense height in gradually ascending sweeps. 
After a ride of three farsangs, we came to the termination of 
this chain ; at which point an expanding opening towards the 
rising sun, burst upon us. A precipitous pile hemmed it in to 
the north, over whose colossal heads appeared the still more stu¬ 
pendous giants of mighty Taurus, which overshadow the town of 
Kashan. But here their distance is so great, and the effect of 
the medium atmosphere so magical, as to make those huge alps 
of earth and stone, seem the heaven-lit pass to some celestial 
country. The intervening chain, which, bounding the great 
plain to the north, formed a fine contrast to the aerial heights 
I have just described, is connected by some of its far-stretching 
branches, with the lengthening valleys which open into the 
western side of the vast salt-desert towards Khorasan. From 
the spot whence we viewed this magnificent prospect, to the 
town of Gilpaigon, was four farsangs. Wlien descried from a 
distance, the place had an air of consequence; standing at the 
foot of a very lofty and bold height, and bearing its stately 
towers north 45° west. Here the vale we had passed through, 
formed an angle, which united it with the fine plain, just noticed, 
to the north-east. 
We reached Gilpaigon by eight o’clock in the morning; a 
journey estimated at seven farsangs from Dour. The country, 
for several miles as we approached the town, gave evidence of 
an industrious and flourishing people. Corn, melons, castor, 
and other products of good husbandry, enriched its fields and 
gardens ; which, on one side, only terminated at the rocky walls 
of the mountain. But, perhaps, nothing had so much to do 
