ds were raised flat before
the face, with a bow. Kneeling followed, with hands first resting on the
knees, then raised again to cover the face, after which, with the palms
of the hands resting flat on the ground, the head was brought down until
it touched the ground too. A standing position was further assumed, when
the temples were touched with the thumb while prayers were recited, and
then the petitioners stooped low and fell a second time on their knees,
saying the beads of their rosaries. The forehead was made to touch the
ground several times before the evening prayers were over.

Next, food was cooked in the small fire places of the caravanserai, and
tea brewed in large quantities. The inevitable kalian was called for, and
the caravanserai boy brought out his interesting little arrangement to
set charcoal quickly alight for the large cup of the kalian. To a string
three feet long, hung a small perforated iron cup, which he filled with
charcoal, one tiny bit being already alight. By quickly revolving the
contrivance as one would a sling, the draught forced through the
apertures in the cup produced quick combustion, and charcoal was at once
distributed alight among the kalians of the impatient guests.

Much amusement and excitement was caused among the pilgrims by a fight
between a puppy-dog and five or six small goats. Only one of these at a
time fought the dog, while the others occupied a high point of vantage on
which they had hastily climbed, and from that place of security displayed
a keen interest in the fight.

The water at Passangun was extremely bad. There were two tanks of rain
water drained from the hillside along a dirty channel filled with animal
refuse. The wells were below the ground level, and were walled and domed
over to prevent too rapid an evaporation by the sun's rays. The water was
pestilential. It had a nasty green look about it, and patches of putrid
matter decomposing visibly on its surface. The stench from it when
stirred was sickening. Yet the natives drank it and found it all right!
There is no accounting for people's taste, not even in Persia.

At last, from this point, the positive torture of driving in carriages
was over, and _Chappar_ horses were to be obtained. The saddles were got
ready, and with five horses we made a start that same evening for Sin
Sin. After the wretched bumping and thumping and being thrown about in
the wheeled conveyance on the badly-kept road, it seemed heave