Page:Ainsworth's Magazine - Volume 1.djvu/193

I had been received at Shiraz, whither I had proceeded from Bushire, accompanied by an interpreter and muleteer, at the house of Colonel Shee, a British officer, at that moment in command of the troops in Farsistan. My intention being only to make this celebrated city a halt on my way to Persepolis, the gallant Colonel, whose unbounded hospitality will always secure a grateful reminiscence, expressed his intention of accompanying me on my proposed trip.

We accordingly started one fine evening (for it was the hot season, and day-travelling was out of the question) by the pass of Teng-i-Allah Akbár, so called because from thence the wanderer first gains a view of the city—a sight which is supposed always to call forth the pious exclamation of Allah Akbar!—"God is the greatest of beings!"

Our retinue was rather large. A spare horse, splendidly caparisoned, was led before the Colonel; this was followed by a horseman, from whose saddle a little bucket of fire was ingeniously suspended; and next a man charged with the important service of the kalliyun, or smoking apparatus. We followed afterwards, while behind was the interpreter and other servants. As we proceeded leisurely along in the cool of night, we halted every quarter of an hour, but without dismounting, when the kalliyun was charged, a live coal crowning the pile of tambac of Shiraz, the best in the East; and we communicatively indulged in a few amicable whiffs.

Our first visit on the mountain was to the Colonel's ice-house, where we laid in a store of that luxury; our next was a halt at the custom-house, where we indulged in a cup of tea improvisé, under a tree so full of singing locusts, that it was impossible to hear a person at the top of his voice. The customs on this side of Shiraz were farmed out for 700l. a-year.

We were glad to run away from this horrible din, and passing a plain occupied by an encampment of Eelhiauts, we reached the stream of Bund Emir.

These roses that hung over Bund Emir's stream, these groves that shaded its fertile banks, have, alas! disappeared. All is now nakedness, save an occasional scanty bush of tamarisk, beneath which the hyæna crouches, and a little pink-flowered rest-harrow.