'Notes of a journey from Kasreen to Hamadan across the Karaghan country. By J. D. Rees' [‎7v] (19/54)

6
NOTES OP A JOURNEY
Leaving Kasveen then at 8 a.m. by the She gate and cross
ing a torrent from the Elburz Mountains, we proceeded south
west looking towards the hills of Syadahan, through orchards
and vineyards and crops of barley and alongside an under
ground irrigation channel or kanaat, the water of which never
fails, to Mashaldar, which we make at half past nine. * This is
a little village of a hundred houses and odd as it may seem, the
distance from Kasveen being but 5 miles, the women all protest
they have never before seen a Farangi. As usual at this time
all the men are working in the fields.
Four miles further on is Farsian, a village twice the size of
Mashaldar, which is reached through crops of wheat and vetch.
On the way two watch-towers are passed, whence the flocks are
guarded when they spend the night out in the open, and a hillock
which looks like an elephant sitting down, a shape often
affected by rocky hills in the south of India.
Farsian is a walled village, whose inhabitants are sufficiently
well to do. From the corner towers, across the orchards that
surround the town, the dome of the mosque of Kasveen can be
seen. The village is entered by a kind of cloister turning twice
at right angles. This is the only entrance. In the mud walls of
the houses bones abound. I was told that they are considered a
useful ingredient.
Bulbulabad, north-east of this, is ruined and empty, though it
pretends to be a large village in the maps. The nightingale
sings there no longer.
The grave-stones of Farsian are all of marble. This is the
rule in the plain of Kasveen. It
does not indicate great riches,
though the people of Farsian and
the neighbouring villages are pea
sants in easy circumstances, but the
neighbourhood of a marble quarry,
which in fact exists at Ab-i-garm.
The stones are neatly carved with
symbols showing the sex and often
the occupation of the deceased.
The annexed rough drawing will
suffice as an example. From the prayer-stone, on which in life
the attention of the deceased was concentrated when praying, it
is inferred that she belonged to the family of a priest, while her
sex is marked by the ear-rings and the comb. The rosary tells
nothing, as both sexes use it. Later in Kurdistan I saw spirited