382 
SHOOR AUB. 
a casual traveller, is to be found within miles of the spot on 
which it stood. For some time, our track had lain near the base 
of the mountains ; which, in every point of the desolated but 
interesting scenery I have been describing, added their lofty and 
frowning back-ground, to the melancholy memorials of the suc¬ 
cessive devastating wars which had put to silence the towns and 
villages below. Gradually, the road turned due south; and 
then, at about two farsangs’ distance from Lanker-rood, we 
crossed the point of these hills, which is most extended to the 
eastward. We had still some hours to travel, and over difficult 
ground, before we should reach our halting-place ; and the heat 
poured upon us with a fervour that made us all earnestly wish 
ourselves beyond the influence of the desert. In our way, we 
came upon the dry bed of a mountain torrent; at the bottom of 
which flowed a small and clear stream of salt-water; and, on 
gaining its opposite bank, our day’s journey was completed ; 
having travelled seven farsangs, that is, twenty-eight miles, by 
eleven o’clock, the time at which we halted. A newly-erected 
caravansary, taking its name from the brook Shoor-Aub, we had 
just passed, stood very invitingly, in the gorge of a narrow rocky 
valley, leading into the heart of the mountains. This was to be 
our quarters ; and though its neat brick-work bore no harmony 
with the gloomy heights by which it was surrounded, it was very 
congenial with our present taste ; and gladly we turned our 
horses’ heads under the hospitable porch. The entrance to the 
valley had, formerly, been defended by a strongly towered castle; 
whose dark ruins rose in heavy, but majestic masses, over the 
light structure that was now our shelter from the sun. 
May 18th. I did not get off till five o’clock this morning; 
the road still due south, winding amongst the hills, with little 
