UPPER AND LOWER EKLETT. 
469 
entrance of a valley scarcely a mile broad, and separated from 
the greater by a low range of hills. 
At half-past 9 o’clock, we approached our quarters for the 
day, rather invigorated than fatigued by our hunt of the morning ; 
for the pursuit of any really wild animal, whethe” gour or 
antelope, and over a country without other boundary than those 
which nature presents, gives a spring to the blood, and an 
adventurous spirit to man and horse, that turns danger to sport, 
and carries them over every obstacle. 
Our menzil was to be one of two villages, distinguished by 
the names of Upper and Lower Eklett. They are romantically 
situated in a beautiful little vale, running westward into the 
mountain-chain, where the undulating ground, diverging from 
the more abrupt sides of the hills, was one superb carpet of 
the richest vegetation; corn, fruits, and flowers, uniting in 
the production of the most glowing colours, harmonizing in 
forms of nature’s own design; and where the hand of man was 
visible, the neatness and order of the husbandry proclaimed the 
peace of the inhabitants. I rode up a height to command the 
view, and, as I looked over the enamelled ground I have 
described, and the disposition of the dwellings amongst it, I 
thought it one of the most enviable spots I had seen in Persia. 
The trees were of a larger and more umbrageous growth than 
the finest in the valley of Kourood, they were also more widely 
and thickly scattered over the hills: but the water was the 
luxury; it flowed in numerous rippling streams, transparent as 
crystal, through the winding channels between the sloping sides 
of these verdant heights ; till, collecting into broader streams in. 
the deeper parts of the dell, it took a serpentine course 
eastward. 
