ate it was pleasant to warm ourselves and dry our clothes.
When Baki Khanoff had made tea, cooked eggs, and brought out bread and
salt, it was almost cosy. The company consisted of four Tatars, two
Persians, and myself, and the seven of us had to share the space for the
night. When the fire died down the close heat was succeeded by a damp
coolness, but at twenty-one years of age one is not particular.

Eventually we reached Teheran, the capital of Persia, safe and sound,
and there I stayed a short time as the guest of a fellow-countryman.
When I continued my journey southwards I had to travel alone, for Baki
Khanoff had caught fever and had to turn back to Baku.

Our journey to Teheran had been very expensive, but my good countryman
replenished my purse, so that I had again about L30 sewed up in my
waistbelt when I started off once more on April 27. The road is divided
by stations where horses are changed and you can pass the night if you
wish. A man accompanies you on every stage, and for a small silver coin
you can buy eggs and bread, a chicken, melons and grapes.

Sometimes the stable-boy who accompanies a traveller takes the best
horse for himself and gives the other to the traveller. This happened to
me on the road between the town of Kashan and the mountain village of
Kuhrud. As soon as I became aware of the trick, I exchanged horses with
my attendant, who dropped behind after some hours' journey, for his
sorry jade could go no farther. For four hours I rode along narrow paths
in complete darkness. I feared that I had gone astray, and, tired and
sleepy, I was on the point of coming to a halt, intending to tie the
horse to a tree and roll myself up in my rug for the night, when I saw a
light gleam through the darkness. "Hurrah! that is the station-house of
Kuhrud." But when I came nearer I perceived that the light came from a
nomad's tent. I rode up and called out to the people. No one answered,
but I could see by the shadows on the cloth that the tent was inhabited.
After shouting again without receiving an answer, I tied up the horse,
lifted up the tent-flap, and asked my way to Kuhrud. "Cannot one sleep
in peace in the middle of the night?" came a voice from inside. "I am a
European and you must show me the way," I returned sharply. Then a man
came out; he was as silent as a dummy, but I understood that I was to
follow him, leading my horse by the rein. He wound about in the dark
among bushes, and when he had l