Page:Kennedy, Robert John - A Journey in Khorassan (1890).djvu/38

 lunch under the shade of some trees in preference to remaining in the chapar khaneh.

After lunch we continued with fresh horses, by a northerly and easterly track, to Miamai, which we reached at 3.30 — sixteen miles in two hours. Miamai is a prettily situated village, with a small chapar khaneh adjoining an enormous caravanserai. It has large chenar-trees and many streams of water. Late in the afternoon I went out and selected for my bath a suitable pool under a shady tree by the roadside. My ablutions much interested the small children of the village, who watched me at a distance from the flat roofs of the houses, and viewed my proceedings with the same curiosity which London street boys would exhibit were the Shah to take to bathing in the Serpentine. Late in the evening, which was bright, clear, and balmy, Hemmet Ali arrived, having followed slowly in our wake on the same horse. We slept well in the bala khaneh, although startled once by the sudden appearance of a large cat, which came down the chimney, and on being pursued disappeared by the same route. Our first impression was