Page:Kennedy, Robert John - A Journey in Khorassan (1890).djvu/30

 of Semnan, consisting of small gardens, fields, cemeteries, and crowded bazaars. The town has a flourishing, busy look, and is plentifully supplied with good water, which, with a customary dash of whisky, proved more than usually refreshing after our hot three-hours' morning gallop. At 12.20, having spent two hours resting and luncheon, and having made use of the services of the telegraph clerk resident here, we started for a twenty-four mile ride to Ahuân. The road was long and rather wearisome, with a steep ascent, but our horses were more than ordinarily good, and we reached the wretched hamlet of Ahuân, situated amidst desolate mountains, at 4.30 p.m. At seven o'clock we had an excellent dinner, cooked as usual by our factotum, Ali Akber, on the roof of the house in one of the angles formed by the battlements.

Ali Akber's method of procedure on arriving at a station-house for the night was most methodical, and is worth describing. His first care was to remove the saddles from the horses, in order to prevent the weary animals rolling upon them, which they were always prepared to do on the slightest provocation. He would