ach Marand till nearly 8 o'clock; but still with our
heads, necks, and baggage, all safe.

Marand lies in a fertile valley, and is the last Persian town which
I saw, and one of the most agreeable and handsome. It has broad,
clean streets, houses in good repair, and several small squares with
beautiful springs, which are, moreover, surrounded by trees.

My shelter for the night was not so good as the town promised: I
was obliged to share the court with the post-horses. My supper
consisted of some roasted and very salt eggs.

12th August. Our journey for today was as far as Arax, on the
Russian frontier. Although only one stage, it took us eleven hours.
We followed the course of a small brook, which wound through barren
valleys and ravines; not a single village lay on our road; and with
the exception of some little mills and the ruins of a mosque, I saw
no more buildings in Persia. Persia is, on the whole, very thinly
populated, on account of the scarcity of water. No country in the
world has more mountains, and fewer rivers, than Persia. The air
is, on this account, very dry and hot.

The valley in which Arax is situated is large, and the extraordinary
formation of the mountains and rocks renders it very picturesque.
In the extreme distance rise lofty mountains, of which Ararat is
more than 16,000 feet in height, and in the valley itself there are
numerous rocky elevations. The principal of these, a beautiful
sharp rocky cone, of at least 1,000 feet in height, is called the
Serpent Mountain.

The river Aras flows close to the headland. It separates Armenia
from Media, has a terrible fall, and high waves. It here forms the
boundary between the Russian and Persian dominions. We crossed in a
boat. On the opposite side of the river were several small houses
where travellers are obliged to stop and prove that they are not
robbers, and especially that they are not politically dangerous.
Occasionally they are detained in quarantine for some time, when the
plague or cholera happens to be prevalent in Persia.

A letter from the Russian consul at Tebris ensured me a very
courteous reception; from the quarantine I was saved, as there was
no plague or cholera. I had, however, scarcely set my foot upon
Russian ground, when the impudent begging for drink-money began.
The officer had among his people a Cossack, who represented himself
as understanding German, and he was sent to me to ask what I wished
for. The ro