As we descended into the valley of Kohrood, which from the depth of the snow was a work of some trouble, we noticed a pretty little bubbling stream, which, winding through the vale, watered a succession of cultivated spots and plantations of apple, pear, poplar, and walnut trees. The town is built on the side of a mountain. We passed the night in the caravanserai, where our accommodations were indifferent, and our rest, of which we were in great want, was broken by the incessant noise and wrangling of our Persian attendants. Several of our horses had been left on the road from excessive fatigue.
The valley of Kohrood extends in a North-Eastern direction; it is abundantly watered and wooded beautifully, and every species of fruit tree thrives there. The fields are disposed in terraces, and each separate plat of cultivated ground is intersected by small ridges raised to facilitate irrigation. We had hitherto passed through a country, to which so much wood and so much cultivation afforded a very delightful contrast. The Persians, indeed, admit, that there are few Kohroods in the kingdom, and that in summer its verdure is incomparable. Our route led through another village in the same valley. Close to the road is the tomb of one of the inferior saints of Persia, with a pyramidical roof covered with green-lacquered tiles. As we passed near it, a little boy, surrounded by a set of his companions, entreated our compassion by invoking the name of the holy man in the neighbouring grave. When we had quitted the trees and cultivated grounds, we continued to wind in the valley which had then narrowed to a close and sometimes difficult pass. This pass, on a bearing of N. 30 E. is in length about six miles, and is terminated on the left of the road by a caravanserai called Gueberabad. Before we reached it, we skirted a small artificial lake called the Bund Kohrood, the waters of which are supplied by the river of Kohrood, and the melting of the snows of the adjacent mountains, and are confined on the N. extremity by a strong wall built across the chasm of the valley. A stream, however, oozes out from the base, which finally expends itself in the plain about Kashan. Gueberabad is at present a ruined village; in former days it was peopled, as its name imports, by the Guebres.
The caravanserai is one of the good buildings of the age of the Seffis, and by an inscription on the front appears to have been erected by Meer Sakee, one of the generals of Shah Abbas. Here first we discovered the plain of Kashan, bounded by the distant range of mountains, of which Demawend formed the most conspicuous and the highest point. It rises in a very symmetrical cone abruptly from a long and unbroken range. It is covered with eternal snows, but its height is more easily deduced from the distance to which it is visible. In a direct line from the caravanserai of Gueberabad, that distance could not have been less than one hundred and fifty miles; and the Persians declare that it can be seen even at Ispahan from the minaret of the Mesjid Shah, which is at least two hundred and forty miles distant. We descended rapidly into the plain towards Kashan: here we were met by a large istakball, which accompanied us to the Northern side of the city with all the noises of Persian rejoicings.[37]
From Kashan we continued along the immense plain; the mountains, which bind it on the North, just appeared in the lightest blue tints on the edge of the horizon. From Kashan to our encampment at Nusserabad, we saw on the skirts E. and W. of the plain several villages, and with them cultivation. On the left of the road were Cosac, Key, Ser, Badgoon, Rouand, Corabad: on the right, Aroun, Britgoli, Nouchabad, and Ali Abad. We reckoned the total length of the day’s journey at thirty miles (on a bearing of N. 20 W.) viz. eight to Gueberabad, thirteen to Kashan, and nine to Nusserabad. In former days the people of Nusserabad were noted for their idleness and propensity to voluptuousness, so that a fine gentleman is still called a Mirza of Nusserabad.
On the morning of the 11th we quitted our tents two hours before sun-rise, as we had a march of forty miles before us to Koom; the Persians call the distance fifteen fursungs. We continued our route along the plain in the same course as on the preceding day. On our left were mountains, and on our right was the plain bounded only by the horizon, and constituting indeed the commencement of the great Salt Desert of Persia, which, according to the people of the country, extends even to the confines of Usbeck Tartary. The principal part of that over which we passed was a soil strongly impregnated with salt, which, after rain or snow, renders the roads difficult and dangerous. The weather was favourable during our passage, and we crossed without any inconvenience (except that of a heavy mud) a part of the plain dreaded by caravans and travellers in winter journies. We traversed the plain for ten miles, and then turned N. 30 W. among the mountains. As we proceeded, we observed their strata disposed in singular directions, and forming very varied angles with the horizon. Nature, in some places, amid the stupendous masses of rock which surrounded us, seemed to have finished her operations by small conical mounds, increasing by regular gradations as they approached the mother mountain. Every thing looked as if it were newly created, and only wanted the art and industry of man to rub off its first rude surface.
At about eleven miles from Nusserabad stands a caravanserai called Sin Sin, erected by the present King. It is a strong but vulgar building, when compared with the elegant structures of the reign of Shah Abbas. The rude stones and plaster with which it is constructed, are covered with a coat of white wash, which, at a distance indeed gives it a magnificent appearance. Near this were the ruins of a village. Still further, on the right of the road, are more ruins, which, according to my informer, were those of a town called Dehnar. A second caravanserai of the same materials as that of Sin Sin, is situated at the distance of seven miles. Next is Passangoor, which is merely another caravanserai in the plain, and distant twelve miles; at three miles distant further is Langarood, which is remarkable for some old pinasters standing about it, and a garden of some extent. From Langarood to Koom is ten miles more. We reached Koom very late and had to pass through its extensive ruins when it was quite dark. The Envoy, who rode in the takht-e-ravan, was in some danger in passing over a bridge, for one of the mules slipping threw him nearly into the stream.
Koom is esteemed a holy city; it encloses the tombs of many saints, and among others that of the sister of Imaum Reza. The present King made a vow before he ascended the throne, that if he should ever succeed to the crown he would enrich the city of Koom by buildings, and exempts its inhabitants from paying tribute. He has fulfilled his vow, and has built a large medressé or college near the tomb of the sister of Imaum Reza, and gives great encouragement to the learned people who resort to it. He covered the cupola of the tomb itself with gold plates (instead of the lacquered tiles which he removed), and he is said to spend one hundred thousand tomauns annually, in the embellishments of these monuments. The riches of this tomb are said to be immense, and they are augmented every year by some new donation in jewelry and precious stones from the King’s wives, and the great men of the court. The tomb of Imaum Reza himself is in the city of Mesched.
12th. The morning presented to us a dark and threatening atmosphere, and a country covered with snow. It had fallen in the night to a depth of six inches. We however proceeded on to Pool Dallauk, a distance of twelve miles; leaving our heavy baggage behind, as the Envoy was particularly anxious to reach the capital, before the commencement of the mourning of Moharrem. North of Koom there is a small river called the Khour-e-Shootur. The plain was much soaked with the melted snow; we reached the caravanserai at Pool Dallauk at an early hour, intending to depart again at ten o’clock at night. This place derives its name from a barber who repaired the bridge, originally built by Shah Abbas over the river, which runs E. and W. before the caravanserai. The water of this stream, and indeed all the rivulets here, derive a saltness from the soil through which they pass.
After having refreshed our cattle and ourselves, we made preparations to depart at ten o’clock. The night was very dark, and our Mehmandar (who had not shewn an inclination to second our desires of proceeding with all dispatch) now opposed every difficulty which he could devise: he expatiated on the danger of undertaking the journey by night, and talked of certain passes on the road, where travellers had been lost and never more heard of. He was in fact an old man, unaccustomed to the activity of our proceedings. Yet he was not the only one, who was disappointed and surprised at the celerity of our movements.
The chiefs of the tent-pitchers and of the muleteers, who had attended former missions, had passed months on the road, and thus secured a profit on the pay of their people and their mules, which the shortness of our engagement greatly reduced. Our journies were compared with the celebrated marches of their late King Aga Mahomed Khan, who waged so many wars with Lootf Ali Khan; but those, who considered it incompatible with the dignity of a great man to move fast, said that we were rather choppers (couriers) than Embassadors. Yet the greatest distance that we ever travelled in one day was forty miles, and we employed thirty-five days in a journey of about six hundred and fifty miles, at an average perhaps of nineteen miles a day.