'A second journey through Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor, to Constantinople, between the years 1810 and 1816. With a journal of the voyage by the Brazils and Bombay to the Persian Gulf. Together with an account of the proceedings of His Majesty's embassy under Sir Gore Ouseley, Bart. K.L.S. With two maps, and engravings from the designs of the author.' [‎115] (154/516)

SEWUND.
115
we
n6cii tho front of th© stRiicasG which I had prGviously clGarcd away, <ind
he thus brought to light some interesting fragments. Among others
he found a stone upon which is a sculpture of a chariot drawn by two
horses, driven by a man standing upright; and another of a caparisoned
horse, both of which are so nicely preserved, that every detail of furni
ture may be most minutely traced.
We next proceeded to Sewund. The road generally travelled in the
summer is by Mayin ; but owing to its being destitute of population in
many places, we were obliged, even at the present season of the year,
to take the winter road. A¥e encamped close to the banks of the
Sewund river, which winds through the narrow vale into the plain of
Merdasht, and flows into the Bend-Emir, somewhere above Fhatabad.
The valley in which we stopped is surrounded by hills of rugged forms,
and is covered by the liquorice plant, which the Persians call sus, and
by the Khor Shuter the camel-thorn, so called because camels browse
upon it in preference to other herbs. The mastication of it produces a
frothy salivation at the mouth, which appears to give great pleasure to
the animal. The village itself was situated on an eminence at some
distance from our encampment, but it was totally abandoned; for we
found all its inhabitants living some in tents and some in temporary
huts made of rude stakes, driven into the ground, covered over with
branches of trees and furze. They do this to enjoy the nearer vicinity of
their river, and a cooler exposure than that in which the village is
situated. Sewund belongs to the holooh or district of Hafrek Bala, which
contains twenty-one villages, but is under the jurisdiction of Mirza
Mahomed Ali, the same who governs Merdasht, although the territory
of Meidasht only extends to Hajiabad. Phe son of this man came out
to meet the Ambassador at Sewund, and made apologies for the
absence of his father, who, he said, was reposing himself after the
fatigue of a long journey. Indeed, on coming near the village, we saw
him extended under a shed fast asleep on the ground, with a spear
stuck at his bolster head, which now, as in the days of Saul, marks the
spot where a man of consequence reposes. And behold Saul lay sleeping
q 2