RUINS OF KASSAMABAD. 
681 
and luxuriance, still enrich this comparatively deserted spot; 
from amidst whose thick variety of shade, a species of very large 
cypress, with wild pine, and mulberry trees, rose most eminent. 
A rapid, full, and clear stream from the mountains, poured down 
through this romantic scene, in one part washing the feet of its 
mournful groves, and tomb-like edifices, and in others assisting 
the industrious peasant to spread vegetation wherever its waters 
touched. Large spaces of ground were covered with the growing 
barley, where I was shown several little watch-towers, (similar 
to some I had observed near Room,) erected on different 
stations near the cultivated lands, and designed for the abode of 
certain officers of the crown, whose business is to mark the 
progress of the crop, and to watch over its safety when ready 
for the sickle. When land is hired from the crown, as this is, 
it pays rent according to its produce. For which reason the 
above-mentioned sentinels are placed, not merely to preserve 
the harvest from the depredations of strangers, but more par¬ 
ticularly to prevent the tenant from stealing his own property; 
a manoeuvre that has been adopted to lessen the payment of 
rent, by offering the excuse of a robbery having been committed 
on the produce of the land. 
Continuing our ride for nearly a farsang farther, we reached 
the dried-mud remains of a very strong fortress ; and proceeding 
a mile or two more, came up to the large stone caravansary of 
Parsangan. At some distance on the plain, to the south-east, 
extended a long black line of ruins; the only interruption to 
whose almost horizontal level, was the dom e of a lonely mosque ; 
marking all that now exists of the once considerable town of 
Kassamabad, through which Chardin passed in the year 1686. 
It was then fully inhabited;/ now, not an individual, excepting 
