'Through Persia on a side-saddle' [‎192] (225/360)

192 THROUGH PERSIA ON A SIDE-SADDLE
it. A series of plains, great or small, separated from one
another by low passes in the hills, seems to be the prevailing
characteristic. The plains are usually completely barren,
unless there be a rare stream of water which produces grass
and willows on its banks, and so relieves the deadly same
ness of the landscape ; and the mountains only compensate
for their sterility by their beautiful colouring and often
quaint configuration.
The traveller may have to caravan across one of these
plains for days, always riding in the direction of some pass
in the encircling chain of hills, and when he has reached
and surmounted his goal, lo and behold! another plain is
stretching at his feet, probably almost identical with the
one he has traversed, and so on ad infinitum.
One of our longest marches was to Khanakhartun, and
as it was some thirty-five miles from our last halting-place,
we had to start in the chilly darkness that precedes the
dawn.
On this particular occasion we had the rare phenomenon
of a river to diversify our route, and on leaving it, found
ourselves in a weird country. Clusters of mud hills rose
up, moulded into a hundred fantastic forms. Cathedrals,
castles, fairy palaces, coloured in all shades of ochre and
green, met our astonished gaze. Here, quaint mud pin
nacles threatened to topple over; there, a monstrous
excrescence, shaped like an owl's head with enormous
hollowed-out eyes, appeared to be glaring at us; while
toads and curious prehistoric creatures seemed to be poised
everywhere on the sides or summits of these queer hillocks.
The whole scene was dominated by a ruined fortress, which
so closely resembled many of the rocks around that it took
us some time to make up our minds as to whether it was