were in his stable, and he
ordered that the best should be given me. He entertained me to tea and
took the keenest interest in my rifles. He also possessed one of the
familiar discarded British Martini military rifles, specially decorated
for the Persian market--a rifle worth at its most a pound sterling, or
two, but for which he had paid no less than 100 tomans (about L20). The
smugglers of firearms must have made huge profits on the sale of these
antiquated weapons, for firearms are among the few articles for which
large sums of ready money can be obtained in Persia.

This particular man now took a great fancy to my .256 Mannlicher, and
jokingly said he would not let me proceed until I had sold it to him. He
produced large sums in solid silver to tempt me, about four times the
value of the rifle, and was greatly upset when I assured him that I would
not part with the rifle at all.

When I left, he accompanied me part of the way, some few hundred yards,
and he took with him his Martini and a belt full of cartridges; his
servant who followed him was also similarly armed. On inquiring of him
why master and servant loaded themselves with arms and ammunition to go
such a short distance, he replied that it was not safe for him to go
unarmed even one yard out of his house. One of his friends had been
murdered only a few days before, and one never knows in Persia when one's
turn will come next. In out-of-the-way places in Persia private revenge
is extremely common, which generally takes the form of shooting one's
adversary in the back.

There seemed to be abundance of water at Kushkuhyeh, and the fields were
properly irrigated. Cultivation seemed prosperous, and vast cotton
plantations were to be seen all round. When we passed, hundreds of men,
women and children were busy taking in the cotton, and scores of camels,
donkeys, sheep and goats grazing were dotting the green patch in the
landscape. This gay scene of active life and verdure was all the more
refreshing after the many miles of sand and gravel and barren hills of
which we had grown so weary since leaving Yezd.

Two hours were wasted for lunch, and off we went again. On leaving behind
Kushkuhyeh we also left behind vegetation, and again we sank in sand. A
few tamarisk shrubs were scattered here and there on the large plain we
were traversing, bounded on all sides by distant mountains.

Three and a half farsakhs (about 13 miles) saw us at Hemmatawat, a large
wall