ight, for
indeed camels are troublesome animals. They must not eat after sundown or
it makes them ill. They are let loose on arrival at a camp, and they
drift away in search of lichens or other shrubs. At sunset they are
driven back to camp, where they kneel down and ruminate to their hearts'
content until it is time for the caravan to start. The heavy wooden
saddles with heavy padding under them are not removed from the camel's
hump while the journey lasts, and each camel has, among other
neck-ornaments of tassels and shells, one or more brass bells, which are
useful in finding the camels again when strayed too far in grazing.

We left at midnight and crossed the wide valley with the village of
Sar-es-iap (No. 1) four miles from our last camp. Again we came among
mountains and entered a narrow gorge. The night was bitterly cold. We
caught up a large caravan, and the din of the camels' bells and the
hoarse groans of the camels, who were quite out of breath going up the
incline, made the night a lively one, the sounds being magnified and
echoed from mountain to mountain.

Every now and then a halt had to be called to give the camels a rest, and
the camel men spread their felt overcoats upon the ground and lay down
for five or ten minutes to have a sleep. Then the long string of camels
would proceed again up the hill, the camels urged by the strange cries
and sing-songs of the men.

This part of the journey being mountainous, one came across three little
streams of water, and at each the camel man urged me to drink as much as
I could, because, he said, the time will come when we shall see no water
at all for days at a time.

We were gradually rising, the camels panting dreadfully, and had got up
to 7,100 feet when we camped near the village of Kalaoteh--a few small
domed hovels, a field or two, and a cluster of trees along a brook. We
were still among the Kupayeh Mountains with the Kurus peak towering
directly above us.

CHAPTER II

Fifty miles from Kerman--Camels not made for climbing hills--The
Godar Khorassunih Pass--Volcanic formation--Sar-es-iap--A
variegated mountain--A castle--Rock dwellings--Personal
safety--Quaint natives--Women and their ways--Footgear.

On November 6th we were some fifty miles from Kerman. Again when midnight
came and I was slumbering hard with the two kittens, who had made
themselves cosy on my blankets, the hoarse grunts of the camels being
brought up to t