s from north to south.
The most northern one had the appearance of a fortress with a very high
wall, still in fair preservation, and several more of these fortresses
were to be seen along the line of houses, the majority of dwellings being
outside these forts. The domed houses--some of which were in perfect
preservation--showed the identical architecture and characteristics of
Persian houses of to-day.

We were benighted again. Curiously enough, even within a mile or so from
Sher-i-Nasrya, on asking some natives where the city of _Nasirabad_ or
_Nasratabad_, as it is marked in capital letters on English maps (even
those of the Indian Trigonometrical Survey), nobody could tell me, and
everybody protested that no such city existed. (The real name of it,
Sher-i-Nasrya, of course, I only learnt later.)

This was puzzling, but not astonishing, for there is a deal of fancy
nomenclature on English maps.

Eventually, when I had almost despaired of reaching the place that night,
although I could not have been more than a stone-throw from it, I
appealed to another passer-by, riding briskly on a donkey.

"How far are we from Nasratabad?"

"Never heard the name."

"Is there a town here called Nasirabad?"

"No, there is no such town--but you must have come through a small
village by that name, two farsakhs off."

"Yes, I have. Do you happen to know where the English Consulate is?"

"Oh, yes, everybody knows the English Consulate. I will take you there.
It is only a short distance from here, near the city of Sher-i-Nasrya!"

Thanks to this fellow, a few minutes later I found myself greeted most
effusively by Major and Mrs. Benn in their charming mud Consulate. This
was on the evening of December 6th.

CHAPTER XVI

English fancy geographical names--Sher-i-Nasrya--The main
street--The centre of the city--Reverence of the natives for
Major Benn--A splendid type of British official--Indian and
Russian goods--The Shikin Maghut cloth--Steadily increasing trade
of the Nushki route--Khorassan horses for
remounts--Husseinabad--Russian Vice-Consulate--Mr.
Miller--Characteristic windmills--"The wind of 120 days"--Benn
Bazaar.

Disappointing as it may seem that the natives themselves should be
barefaced enough not to call their city by the fancy name given it by
certain British geographers, we might as well explain why the natives
call the capital of Sistan by its real name, Sher-i