PLAIN OF CASVIN. 2g9 
quest, by the entire extirpation of the lawless race, which had so 
long preyed on the vitals of the country. 
As we gradually entered on the extending plain of Casvin, 
the range of mountains on our left, lofty, receding, and cleft into 
precipitous ravines, presented at the mouth of every pass, and 
along,the most commanding heights, the vast remains of the 
once menacing strongholds of these fearful people, now no more. 
On the summit of one of the highest hills to the north-west, I 
observed traces of a very extended line of towers, connected 
with walls, and so situated as to appear, to the gazer below, 
absolutely impregnable. This, my illustrious informant told me, 
had been the chief fortress of the Sheik-el-Jebal; it was called 
that of Alrnout, and had withstood many a siege; while the 
immediate tract around, bore the name of the Rood-bar country ; 
in memory of the sanguinary people, who had rendered those 
passes formidable. 
Our road was now at large over the plain, no regular path 
confining the line of march; so that the horsemen galloped to 
and fro, throwing the girid, firing their pistols and muskets, 
shaking their long bamboo lances, and forming into parties, 
affected to skirmish. All this was as much for their own amuse¬ 
ment, as that of His Royal Highness, who was looking on. As 
we proceeded, and the day advanced, the scene became every 
hour more varied, by the approach of other cavalcades, headed 
by their chiefs, coming forwards in all directions, to pay their 
compliments to the Prince. That done, they fell into his train; 
and so swelled our host to a little army. 
The gay, asiatic-romance appearance of the spectacle, must be 
seen, to be imagined. The beauty, fleetness, and perfect evolu¬ 
tions of the horses; the motion of their riders, in all the pic- 
VOL. i. 
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