in of a wayward little stream, then leads over a pass and emerges, in
the company of another stream, upon a slanting plateau leading down to an
extensive plain. Rounding the last spur of the hills, I find myself
approaching a crowd numbering at least a hundred people. Hats are waved
gleefully, voices are lifted up in joyous shouts of welcome, and the
whole company give way to demonstrations of delight at my approach. A
minute later I find myself surrounded by the familiar faces of the
population of Nukhab--my road has followed a roundabout course of
six or seven miles, and our enterprising friends have taken a short cut
over the lulls to intercept me at this point, where they can watch my,
progress across the open plain. They have brought along the kind old
Kahn's kalian and tobacco-bag, and the wherewithal to make me a parting
glass of tea.

Eight or ten miles of fair wheeling across the plain, through the
isolated village of Mohammedabad, and the trail loses itself among the
rank, dead stalks of the assafoetida plant that here characterizes the
vegetation of the broad, level sweep of plain. The day is cloudy, and
with no trail visible, my compass has to be brought into requisition;
though oft-times finding it useful, it is the first time I have found
this article to be really indispensable so far on the tour.

The atmosphere of an assafoetida desert is among those things that can
better be imagined than described; the aroma of the fetid gum is wafted
to and fro, and assails the nostrils in a manner quite the reverse of
"Araby the blest." The plant is a sturdy specimen among the annuals: its
straight, upright stem is but three or four feet high, but often
measuring four inches in diameter, and it not infrequently defies the
blasts of the Khorassan winter and the upheaving thaws of spring, and
preserves its upright position for a year after its death. The thick,
dead stems and branching tops of last year's plants are seen by the
thousands, sturdily holding their ground among the rank young shoots of
the new growth.

Mountainous territory is again entered during the afternoon, and shortly
after sunset I arrive at a cluster of wretched mud hovels, numbering
about two dozen. Here my reception is preeminently commercial and
business-like, the people requiring payment in advance for the bread and
eggs and rogan provided.

A nonsensical custom among the people of Southern Khorassan is to offer
one's food in turn to everyb