LETTER xvni A BAKHTIARI JUDAS 71

streams fall into this Ab-i-Basnoi, which is the channel
for the drainage of far-off Faraidan, and after a full-
watered course joins the Ab-i-Burujird, which drains the
plain of Silakhor, the two forming the Ab-i-Diz, on which
the now famous town of Dizful (lit. Pul-i-Diz or Bridge
of Diz) is situated.

Gardan-i-Gruntik, July 20.—On July 17 we retraced
our steps to Padshah-i-Zalaki, and camped on a height
above Aslam Khan's tents on ground so steep that the
tent floor had to be cut into steps with a spade. Aslam
Khan and others came to meet us, again performing feats
of horsemanship. No sooner were the tents pitched than
the crowd assembled, and it was another noisy and fagging
day. Among the things taken from my tent were an
umbrella, knife, scissors, and most of my slender stock of
underclothing. The scissors and cotton were taken by a
young sister-in-law of the Khan, while I was attending
to a terrible hurt outside. It turns out that Aslam Khan
Jhas got the Agha's binocular, and that he told his men
to acquire a small but very powerful telescope which he
coveted. My milk bottle in a leather sling-case has
a likeness to it, and this morning as I was giving a
woman some eye-lotion her son withdrew this, almost
under my eyes!

The Khan's face is a most faithful reproduction of
that of Judas in Leonardo da Vinci's " Last Supper." He
is so fine-looking that one is surprised that he should
condescend to do small mean things. I sent him the
knife he asked for, and soon he called and asked for a
bigger one. He passed off his handsome daughter, the
wife of Taimur Khan's son, as his wife, in order to get,
through her, a travelling-clock which he coveted.

They brought a woman to me who might have been
produced from a London slum, ophthalmia in one eye, the
other closed up and black, and behind it and through her