'Lord Curzon's Notes on Persia' [‎389r] (778/1386)

hills, when “ a small black cloud was visible to the west,” and by the
time they had reached the loftiest point on the road, “ the sky in that
direction was completely shrouded by a dense black mass of clouds
advancing with great rapidity ” towards them. Then followed “ brilliant
flashes of lightning, accompanied by a continuous roll of thunder ever
growing louder,” after which “ came a cold wind raising clouds of dust,
next a few heavy drops of rain,” and the storm burst upon them with
terrific fury. What with the wind and rain and hail, their progress was
effectually checked; the animals refused to face the tempest, and, “huddled
together in a helpless mass,” remained still, while the members of the
little company dismounted, and, covering up the saddles, sought shelter
among them.” After about twenty minutes the weather abated, and,
drenched to the skin, the travellers hurried over the muddy ground as
fast as their animals could take them. Descending from the hills along
the bed of a stream, luckily not in flood, they emerged on open ground,
and travelling across it for a few miles, arrived in the caravanserai A roadside inn providing accommodation for caravans (groups of travellers). out
side the large town of Anarak. Here they lit fires, and, drying their
clothes, entered upon an investigation of damage incurred.
Anarak is a town, or small city, of some 4000 souls, chiefly miners
who work in neighbouring lead and copper mines. It is compactly
built, and surrounded by two walls. In the immediate vicinity is the
Kuh Darumgill, the highest peak of a lofty hill range on the north. The
inhabitants were not well disposed to the stranger visitors. Vaughan
states that they turned out in large numbers and mobbed both him and
his servants, compelling them to leave the city which they had entered,
and seek refuge in the caravanserai A roadside inn providing accommodation for caravans (groups of travellers). . Fortunately, there was a brighter side
to the picture; for some Persian’ travellers, in the latter building, came
out in a body to their assistance, and so put an end to an affair which at
one time threatened to have a serious result. On the 9th April, crossing
a pass of about 5000 feet in height, they descended to a plain, and halted
at Shur-ab, a hamlet said to mark the extreme limit of Turkman
inroads. These are now, it may fairly be hoped, put an end to in
North-Eastern Persia, by the contiguity of Russia and the Trans-Caspian
railway.
Their next march took them to Ashin, a small village of about
fifteen houses. To the eastward they passed a high range of precipitous
and barren hills called the Kuh Mahalla. North of their halting-place
some small hills were observed, beyond which, at 12 miles distance, was
a village called Baba Khalet, inhabited by charcoal burners. North,
again, of this place, Lieut. Vaughan was informed that a forest existed,
four miles in depth from north to south, and stretching out many miles
in a north-easterly direction. Beyond this was the Kavir, which they
neared on the 12th and 13th April, by two marches aggregating
361 miles, over an undulating country draining into a salt swamp.
Gauhir, their halting-place, was a cluster of springs of brackish water
at the foot of the Kuhi Dom, at an elevation of 4400 feet. On the
14th April, arrived at the very Kavir in its full reality—or at the actual
stage from which we reverted to Yezd—Lieut. Vaughan will tell his