One tic found. No one bitten.
A tremendous wind blew all the twentieth, making it very cold out of cover.
No robbers, which was lucky, as the caravanserai has no doors.
April 21st.—Started at seven A.M. Went through undulating hill tops, with only a few black tents in them, but plenty of grass. Saw four troops of antelope. On getting to Hajeeb (three farsakhs), found that one side of the caravanserai wall had fallen down, and the place was really not safe from night thieves.
Got breakfast of grilled mutton and maccaroni. Sent some on hot for N⸺ and the children, who do not stop on the march.
After one and three-quarter farsakhs of same sort of country, got to a descent and came to a large plain (the plain of Kasvin?), thickly sprinkled with villages. Though the wind continues, it is much warmer here, and the sun stronger.
The muleteer says that we shall have this wind to Kasvin, or a stage beyond it.
The first village, Allah Sung, five farsakhs from Koshkirūd, we did not stop at, but went a farsakh farther to Bōween, a large village. Here we got a good carpeted room in the large house of a villager, and another room for N⸺ and the children. In our room are the man’s carpets and all his valuables, boxes, etc., but they are left to our mercy without the slightest hesitation—his bedding, his clothes, and all his earthly goods.
The people of this place are very well-to-do. They speak Turkish, and do not understand Persian. The women do not hide their faces.