'Notes of a journey from Kasreen to Hamadan across the Karaghan country. By J. D. Rees' [‎12r] (28/54)

FROM KASVEEN TO HAMADAN.
15
Camels were feeding in large numbers on the hill-sides, which*
presented now a blue, now a red, and now a purple appearance,
which must be due to peculiarities in the soil, the vegetation here
being sparse and uniform. Doubtless these were indications of
metallic wealth below.
From Chenarah we go up and down over barren, undulating
hills, now and again catching a peep of the Elburz, for four miles,
when we get to the Koh-i-Ramand, a hill famed for its herbs 51
throughout Western and Central Asia and away to distant Hindu
stan. So at least I am informed, and the peculiar character of the
vegetation would strike the most careless and unskilled observer.
The ascent lies along the bank of a big brawling stream of the
clearest water, fed by springs at intervals on its way. On either
side stretches a fringe of turf of unusual breadth, and beyond
this the hill-sides are grassy—the first hill-sides I had seen
that deserved the name. Scented wild thyme grows profusely
here, and the iris, butter-cup, dandelion, blue-bell, forget-me-
not, mallow, and other common English flowers, grow side by
side with others whose names I know not, of a most un-English
character.
Nothing is so extraordinary in travelling in these parts as the
sudden changes of temperature and scenery. To-day we started
from the lovely villages of Ruak and Alakaseer. No sooner were
these left behind than miles of stony road led through barren hills,
which reflected the sun's rays with painful intensity, to Chenarah,
whence, after crossing a breezy height, more stony barren road
led to this protected hill-side, clothed with grass, covered with
springs and adorned by flowers. At the top of Koh-i-Ramand the
aneroid marked 8,000, and thence a short but abrupt descent 521
brought us to Sumeinak, a tiny Eel village, possessed however of
a garden 'rude in uncultivated loveliness/
Here dwelt an aged Khan, who, with all the men in the
village, came and sat under the tree where I ate my breakfast.
While I bathed under a small cascade of icy water hard by, he
had had a soup made for me of onions, vinegar, and some other
ingredient I could not recognise. He begged me to stay there
while a kid was converted into roast. I declined and asked after
his health. This is done at intervals in Persian society as well
as at meeting. It is the equivalent to the English weather. He
answered me seriously enough however, " I am old, I am ill, my
eyes are dim, I have many enemies." He then told me that he
had been the Khan of the chief Eel or tribe of those parts, and
had been deposed in favour of his younger brother, who had
more money for bribing at Court than himself. I afterwards