departure,
attracted merely by the lovely view from the pilgrimage stone, and
absolutely unaware of what misconstruction might be placed on his
hospitality, the Russian gave a picnic at this spot to the tiny European
community of Kerman. Needless to say, the evil-minded Persians of course
put a wrong construction upon the whole thing, and a good deal of
merriment was caused among the natives--who may lack many other
qualities, but not wit--by the sahibs going _en masse_ to the pilgrimage.

The Russian picnic was the talk of the bazaar when I was there, and will
probably remain so for some little time.

We will now leave ruins and puzzling pilgrimages alone, and will accept
an invitation to a substantial Persian dinner with Hussein-Ali-Khan,
known by the title of Nusrat-al-Mamalik, and probably the richest man in
the province of Kerman. At great expense and trouble, this man bought an
English carriage, for the pleasure of driving in which he actually made a
road several miles long. He kindly sent the carriage for the Consul and
me to drive to his place, and had relays of horses half-way on the road
so that we could gallop the whole way. He has planted trees all along the
new road, and brought water down from the hills by a canal along the
roadside in order to provide sufficient moisture to make them grow.

When we reached Fatabad--that was the name of the village close to which
our host's country residence stood--we alighted at a most beautiful
avenue of high trees on either side of a long tank of limpid water, in
which gracefully floated dozens of swans and ducks. We were met at the
gate by our host, a charming old fellow, and his son, Mahommed Ali Khan,
a most intelligent young man. Surrounded by a crowd of servants we were
shown round the beautiful garden, with its rare plants from all parts of
the world, its well-cared-for flowers, and its fruit trees of every
imaginable kind. There was a handsome house built in semi-European style
and with European furniture in it. On a table in the dining-room were
spread a great many trays of sweets. After the usual compliments dinner
was brought in by a long row of attendants, who carried tray after tray
full of delicacies, part of which they deposited on the table, the rest
on the floor.

Our host, with much modesty, asked us to sit at the table, and he and his
Persian friends sat themselves on the floor. We--the Consul, the two
other Englishmen, residents of Kerman, and mys