Marand Lies In A Fertile Valley, And Is The Last Persian Town Which I Saw, And One Of The Most Agreeable And Handsome.

It has broad, clean streets, houses in good repair, and several small squares with beautiful springs, which are, moreover, surrounded by trees.

My shelter for the night was not so good as the town promised: I was obliged to share the court with the post-horses. My supper consisted of some roasted and very salt eggs.

12th August. Our journey for today was as far as Arax, on the Russian frontier. Although only one stage, it took us eleven hours. We followed the course of a small brook, which wound through barren valleys and ravines; not a single village lay on our road; and with the exception of some little mills and the ruins of a mosque, I saw no more buildings in Persia. Persia is, on the whole, very thinly populated, on account of the scarcity of water. No country in the world has more mountains, and fewer rivers, than Persia. The air is, on this account, very dry and hot.

The valley in which Arax is situated is large, and the extraordinary formation of the mountains and rocks renders it very picturesque. In the extreme distance rise lofty mountains, of which Ararat is more than 16,000 feet in height, and in the valley itself there are numerous rocky elevations. The principal of these, a beautiful sharp rocky cone, of at least 1,000 feet in height, is called the Serpent Mountain.

The river Aras flows close to the headland. It separates Armenia from Media, has a terrible fall, and high waves. It here forms the boundary between the Russian and Persian dominions. We crossed in a boat. On the opposite side of the river were several small houses where travellers are obliged to stop and prove that they are not robbers, and especially that they are not politically dangerous. Occasionally they are detained in quarantine for some time, when the plague or cholera happens to be prevalent in Persia.

A letter from the Russian consul at Tebris ensured me a very courteous reception; from the quarantine I was saved, as there was no plague or cholera. I had, however, scarcely set my foot upon Russian ground, when the impudent begging for drink-money began. The officer had among his people a Cossack, who represented himself as understanding German, and he was sent to me to ask what I wished for. The rogue knew about as much German as I did Chinese - hardly three or four words. I therefore signified to him that I did not require his services, in spite of which he held out his hand, begging for money.

13th August. I left Arax betimes in the morning, in company with a customs' officer, and rode to the town of Natschivan, which lies in a large valley, surrounded by the lofty mountains of Ararat. The country here is fertile, but there are very few trees.

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