they had not--of petty quarrels
to be settled among themselves and with the Persians. These, of course,
arose mostly out of matters of money. They seemed otherwise quite jolly
and happy, notwithstanding the exaggerated hats and curious costumes they
are compelled to wear, so that they may be distinguished at a glance from
the Persians themselves.

Here, too, as has been already said, there is a small Parsee community of
about 3,000 souls. They are, however, rather scattered nowadays, and are
not so prominent as in Yezd.

The side streets leading out of the bazaar are narrow and dingy, covered
up in places with awnings and matting. There is very little else worth
seeing in the city, but the many ruins to the east of the town and the
ancient fortifications are well worth a visit.

It is to the east of the city that the ancient fortifications are found,
on the most western portion of the crescent-shaped barrier of mountains.
According to some natives the smaller fort, the Kala-i-Dukhtar, or Virgin
fort, on the terminal point of the range, at one time formed part of
ancient Kerman. The fort, the Kala-i-Dukhtar is on the ridge of the hill,
with a fairly well-preserved castellated wall and a large doorway in the
perpendicular rock at the end of the hill range.

In a long semicircular wall at the foot of the hill a row of niches can
be seen, but whether these made part of an ancient stable for horses, or
were used for other purposes, I could not quite ascertain. Some people
said that they were a portion of a _hammam_; others said they might have
been cells of a prison, but what remained of them was not sufficient to
allow one to come to a satisfactory conclusion.

[Illustration: The Hot Room in a Persian Bath.]

[Illustration: The Kala-i-Dukhtar or Virgin Fort.

(Kala Ardeshir on summit of mountain) Kerman.]

The outside wall of the fort was very high, and had strong battlements
and towers. Inside the lower wall at the foot of the hill was a moat from
twenty-five to thirty feet wide and fifteen feet deep. The upper wall
went along the summit of two ridges and was parallel to the lower one,
which had four large circular turrets, and extended down to and over the
flat for some 120 yards. There was another extensive but much demolished
fortress to the east of this on the lower part of the hill range,
guarding the other side of the entrance of the pass, and this, too, had
two large walled enclosures in the plain at its foo