The Assassins' Castle of Lamiasar
like a sailing vessel under canvas, so that it was hard not to slip
off it now and then. Rustum Khan was taking us to see the
casde of Qustinlar, which is on his land. It holds a command-
ing position, and must have been built to guard or prevent
communication with the Qazvin plain over the passes; but
there is nothing left except the rudiments of an outer wall
badly built of rough stones embedded in mortar, and enclosing
a space about 800 by 50 feet. Having seen this, we left
Rustum Khan, and came down by the cornstacks and threshing-
floors of Qustin, and thence after four hours reached the rice-
fields in the lowlands of the Shah Rud at Siahdasht.
The bridge of Siahdasht and that of Shireh Kuh higher
up were said to be the only ones not yet washed away, and the
river was too full to ford so low down. The bridge was
therefore important. Rustum Khan, however, had been
giving us statistics of mules and muleteers drowned with the
bridges they happened to be crossing. The new one is never
built till the old one is swept away, which usually happens
under the weight of the last muleteer, so that the crossing
of bridges towards the end is rather like musical chairs when
the music may stop at any moment. When Ismail saw
what he had to get over, he was nervous, for the loose poles
were shaking even under my weight alone; the mules were led
after, separately and very reluctant; and Ismail wiped his fore-
head and dianked several Imams when the strain was over.
We were now in the region of mosquitoes. They buzzed
about even by day, and it was impossible to escape. One
could only take quinine and hope for the best. We found a
garden, a little above the rice-fields and stagnant pools, and
rested there in the company of a wandering tortoise, some
village women, and an inquisitive, suspicious man. The garden
was dark with fruit trees and deep grass; from its shade one
looked down the glittering sunlit windings of the river whose
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