A night in tents
Kuh Garu shine like opals in a light of their own. Mist lay
in the hollo^ws aad the air was cold. In the village of Beira
where we lodged, in the north-eastern part of the plain beside
another ancient mound, the tribesmen had not yet moved from
their tents into the winter houses, so that we had another
evening in the open, roasting pleasantly round a fire of thorn
bushes in the middle of the headman's tent, where his carpets
were spread in our honour. One side was open: a long line
of black oxen -with felt rugs on their backs blocked it and
acted as a wind-screen: they chewed their feed gently through
the night, while we slept as well as we could with rivulets of
cold air creeping down our spines: now and then some tribes-
man, pirate-faced in the half-darkness, would rouse himself,
heap an armful of thorns on the embers, and fill the tent with
strange shadows and a fleeting warmth.
Here among the nomads even the universal Persian samovar
has not yet found its way, and the water for tea was boiled
in a beaked copper jug with the fire piled round so as almost
to bury it. Vater for washing one goes to look for in the
landscape around, and as it was very cold and very public
one washed rather little. The Lurs had no soap, but they were
very particular to pour water over their hands before and
after a meal, aad used to warm the second water, so that it
had some cleansing property: otherwise they neither wash
nor pray, and seem to get on without either of these virtues.
They are Shi'as. They give their money to any wandering
rogue •with a green sash or headband who declares himself
to be of the Prophet's family: but they have none of the
inhospitable bigotry of many Persian villagers, and are pleased
to share their dish with the traveller; in fact one of the griev-
ances against Jewish and Armenian traders who venture up
here to deal in antiques, is that they refuse to eat or drink out
of the tribesmen's bowls.
[35]