NAZIRABAD. 
385 
yards from the caravansary, appear the massy fragments of two 
castellated bulwarks, now battered down into little more than 
rude heaps. The fertility of this part of the plain, was much 
superior to what we had lately seen ; and the difference was 
easily explained, by the countless little streams which, pouring 
from the mountains in a variety of directions, spread fruitful¬ 
ness wherever they touched; the salt tracts alone excepted, 
which unalterably maintained their cold, white, desolate ap¬ 
pearance. 
We reached Nazirabad at ten o’clock in the forenoon ; and our 
mehmandar estimated the distance between it and our last quar¬ 
ters, in the caravansary at Shoor-Aub, at seven farsangs, that is, 
twenty-eight miles ; an amount I cannot credit, from the short¬ 
ness of the time, only five hours, in which we must have tra¬ 
velled it. The immediate neighbourhood of this place is parti¬ 
cularly animated, by a succession of populous villages scattered 
all along the foot of the adjacent mountains. In one of the 
most extensive we halted. It possessed a noble caravansary, the 
erection of one of the inhabitants, at his own cost; and which, 
both for magnitude and accommodation, far exceeded any I had 
hitherto seen. 
The people were all in the greatest joy; making festivals 
amongst themselves, and returning thanks to God, for the 
blessing of so much rain as had fallen this spring. Indeed, I had 
witnessed similar testimonies of gratitude during the whole way 
of my travel from Teheran; wherever I found inhabitants, in 
towns or villages. And well might they express such feelings ; 
having only the year before, suffered the most grievous calamities 
attendant on the failure of the seasonable rains, famine, and all 
its connecting miseries. In the midst of their present rejoicings, 
3 D 
VOL. i. 
