ARDASHIR. 
208 
to as far as the limits of the Sardar’s power would allow obe¬ 
dience to his commands. This person bore an order from his 
chief, according to which I was to be furnished with mules, 
lodgings, provisions, and every other accommodation I might 
require, in all the towns and villages within his jurisdiction. 
This was a fair welcome to Persia; and I enquired for the escort, 
\ 
which, en train , must have been appointed. But my mehmandar 
informed me, with a smile, and look of satisfaction, that none were 
now needed, in almost any part of the Persian dominions ; for, 
since the accession of the present monarch, such a course had 
been taken with the old banditti, and whatever new bands had been 
desperate enough to attempt similar depredations, that hardly a 
robber, or even a thief, dared show his head within reach of the 
Great King’s justice. If this were true, it was, certainly, very 
agreeable intelligence; and, at least, giving the information 
credit till it should be contradicted by fact, I was glad to make 
arrangements for the further prosecution of my journey, without 
the incumbrance of the half-savage guards, which had been for 
so many weeks necessary to any probability of my personal 
safety. Certainly, from Eitch-mai-adzen, (where, being in the 
Persian dominions, my last troop had no longer authority to 
remain, and I therefore dismissed it,) all the way to Erivan, I 
had found the road perfectly free from any shadow of mo¬ 
lestation. 
At 9 o’clock in the morning of November 23d (O. S.), I set 
forth again, accompanied by my Persian provider, (that being 
the real import of the name mehmandar;) having previously in¬ 
timated to him my wish to take the old city of Ardashir in our 
way. I was glad to find it lay in the direct road ; and, accord¬ 
ingly, on leaving Erivan, we turned our faces to the south-east, 
DD 2 
