Page:From Constantinople to the home of Omar Khayyam.djvu/359

 hangs it, gave a brief rest in a solidly built caravansarai, erected by Shah Abbas the Second, in 1655, and made almost as strong against the Turkomans as a heavily bastioned fortress. ^ On the heights above the place, which Fraser ascended in 1833, are the remains of two very ancient strongholds, evidently dating from the times of Irano- Turanian warfare before the Muhamma- dan conquest. Fraser's description of the climb, and the results of his examination, should inspire some zealous young follower of the ancient faith of Zoroaster to emulate the feat, and care- fully to study the ruins, whose large Gabr bricks are the best witness to their age.^ Local legend naturally associates the remains on this embattled height in some way with the labors of Rustam, and our driver whispered weird tales of lions and tigers to add to our impression of the peaks.

One of the most dreaded of the stages is the rough gorge of Zaidar, some eight miles farther on ; ^ but our journey through it was signalized by no worse experience (bad though it was) than a runaway of our servant's horses. We hoped that the well-mounted Arab pilgrims whom we met at the next station, Tara Taghi, had better luck with their high-mettled steeds.

I cannot forget the glare of the Persian sun as we reached the great caravansarai of Miandasht — an ancient settlement which can boast of its extreme antiquity, of its capacious accommodations for the caravans that pass under the high portal of its hostelry (due again to Shah Abbas), and of its isolated position in the midst of the plain, arid and glowing,

1 On Maiamai a century ago (as 6. 23, and Kudamah (880 a.d.), 6.

now) see Truilhier, pp. 250-251; 201.

Fraser, pp. 360-361 ; of. also Terrier, 2 gee the graphic account of the

pp. 78-79 ; O'Donovan, 1. 405. Hou- ascent by Fraser, A Winter's Journey^

tum-Schindler, Zt. Gesellschaft f. Erd- 2. 155-164.

kunde, 12. 218, notes that the spelling ^ On the dangers of Turkoman

of the place with d (Maiamaid), as attacks at the ravine Dahinah-i Zaidar,

given by the older travelers, is not now see Fraser, A Winter^ s Journey, 2.

to be followed. I find ' Maimad ' as 170-175 ; Eastwick, 2. 169 ; and

early as Ibn Khurdadhbah (834 ad.), O'Donovan, 1. 415-418.

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