'Through Persia on a side-saddle' [‎51] (82/360)

TO THE GOAL OF OUR JOURNEY VIA YEZD 51
ground, making picturesque groups in their blue, purple,
or pale green cotton blouses and trousers, and brown
sheepskin pushteens, and we noticed that the country
women seldom veiled their faces, and were for the most
part sturdy creatures, though prematurely aged. The
long cotton shawl which they wore over their heads
changed in pattern and colour with the district, being here
a check material, while further on navy blue was the
fashion, and at Kerman white was de rigueur. We found
the villagers invariably most polite, looking upon us and
our camp as a sort of theatrical representation. The
servants would employ them freely in putting up the tents
and in fetching water, evidently considering that the novel
sight of three Europeans and their belongings was an
ample reward for their labours.
We were pestered here for alms by two well-fed and
well-dressed dervishes, clothed in long white woollen gar
ments, with bare heads and flowing hair. They were
young and strong, and carried handsomely inlaid battle-
axes over their shoulders, and curiously shaped bronze
boxes in their hands, in which to collect alms. These men
live entirely by the proceeds of begging, and it has been
hinted that they often attack and rob people in lonely
places unless their demands are complied with.
The usual stony waste had to be traversed before we
reached the town of Kuhpah, a large place through which
passed the rickety poles of the Persian telegraph line,
which joins Isfahan to Yezd.
Our camp lay near the cemetery, which was, as usual,
unenclosed, and the last resting-places of the deceased
only to be recognised by bits of brick or stone stuck into
the ground. Sometimes there are elaborately carved