'Through Persia on a side-saddle' [‎96] (127/360)

THROUGH PERSIA ON A SIDE-SADDLE
from whose marvellously fine fleeces the famous carpets
and shawls of Kerman are made. It is said that there is
no wool in the world to equal it, and although Fath Ali
Shah tried to introduce Kerman sheep into other parts of
Persia, the experiment resulted in failure, owing, Persians
say, to lack of some special quality in the water.
And it is the extremely scanty supply of this water that
makes Kerman almost a desert. Old chronicles speak of
the hundreds of wells that once contributed to make the
surrounding country one of the most fertile in Persia, but
now, alas, they are all choked up and have completely
disappeared.
Near the city is a spring, celebrated in local tradition as
having gushed out of the hard rock at a blow from the
hand of Ali. Upon the steep side of a mountain the words
Ya Ali are painted in huge white Persian characters, and
below them the merest trickle of water exudes, making
one feel that the saint, while about it, might have done the
thing more handsomely. All day long women climb up
to this spot to collect the slowly-dripping water from the
sacred stream, and to hang tallow-dips from the branches
of the one small tree growing by it, which votive offerings
will ensure to them the joys of motherhood. Sick women,
on the other hand, made their pilgrimage to a spur of the
hills on which are the old fortresses, and deposit bread,
meat, sugar, and fruit in a small mud room. If on their
return their offerings are eaten, they believe that the Queen
of the Fairies has taken pity on them, and will cure them
of their complaints.
As is usual in Persian cities, Kerman is built upon a
plain, and has many ranges of hills in its near vicinaiy. To
the south towers the splendid mass of Jupar, the great