164 
COURDISH EELAUTS. 
independence, in their countenance and manners ; impregnable 
courage, without that menacing fierceness which usually charac¬ 
terises the expression of those weaker tribes who possess more 
will for independence than power to maintain it. Unceasing 
apprehension of attack excites constant watchfulness, and a de¬ 
meanor of ever threatening repulsion. But an immense mountain 
nation, which has preserved its liberty unimpaired from the 
remotest times to the present, seems to dwell in security by a 
prescriptive right; and determined to hold that liberty for ever, 
by holding the weapons of defence always in their own hands, 
they wander about at will over their allodial mountains; and 
like the rocks on which they tread, their bold, open fronts, shew 
the firmness of their station, and their character. I need not 
repeat here, that Courdistan is the ancient Carduchia; a country 
on which neither Grecian nor Roman arms could make any 
essential impression ; and at this day, its connection with the 
Persian empire furnishes the Shah with his most warlike troops. 
We reached our halting-place, the village to which the rock 
of Tackt-i-Bostan gives its name, by seven in the morning; but 
we found it deserted by its inhabitants; the whole people being 
encamped, at about a mile’s distance, under their dark tents, 
enjoying those cooler dwellings at that hot season of the year, 
and finding themselves more conveniently situated for the pur¬ 
pose of preparing the gathered harvest for winter storing. Not 
a creature did we meet in the silent streets, to point out to us 
the Ketkhoda’s mansion ; but its superior appearance to the 
other houses in the village, soon announced itself, and without 
any ceremony, which must, indeed, have been paid to the tenant¬ 
less walls, I took possession. A short time disposed my people 
in their quarters ; and, meanwhile, I despatched one of the Per- 
