'Through Persia on a side-saddle' [‎194] (227/360)

194 THROUGH PERSIA ON A SIDE-SADDLE
asinine concert, the reader will not wonder that none of
our party felt much refreshed on the following day.
On the next morning we were escorted for some way
by our host and a troop of horsemen, and saw in the far
distance our goal, the Kalah-i-sang of Abarik, a striking
looking mud-brick fortress on the crest of a black shale
rock rising up abruptly from the ground, and said in local
legends to have been built in prehistoric times by Bahman,
son of Isfendiyar.
The little village of Abarik is almost entirely encircled
with range behind range of low hills and snow-crested
mountains, and its position has given rise to a Persian say
ing : " The wind was asked one day where its home might be.
It answered,' I often make expeditions to Tahrud and Sar-
vistan, but my abiding resting-place is Abarik.'" Owing
to this predilection of the wind the houses here are lower
and more squalid than most in Persia, and our quarters
for the night were practically underground, my room being
entered by crawling through a low door. A limited supply
of light and air was provided by means of a hole knocked
in its roof, and I fancy that I must have ousted a previous
occupant from it, for a large dog banged violently at my
door during the night, and when he found that his efforts
to get in were fruitless, he rushed up on to the mud roof,
and exhausted himself in barking down at me through my
air-hole, scrabbling at it with his paws until the loosened
mud fell in showers into the room, making me fear lest my
would-be visitor might effect an entrance if he persevered
long enough!
It was only a week since we had left Kerman, travelling
south-east, and gradually leaving snowy peaks and ice
bound brooks behind us, and now we were at Bam, the