The Throne of Solomon
houses at the head of a shallow plain suspended, as it were, bi
tween two passes, the Michilisera by which we came and tl
Anguran out of sight to the south, die most frequented of d
ways between Chalus and Talaghan. Behind it the mountaii
rise ever higher and rockier to the Throne of Solomon, t
wild and barren valleys: but eastward is a flat stretch of cultiv;
tion for some miles, where a river meanders to another sma
village called flat, and then drops off the plateau as off a ledgi
into the unseen Chalus far below.
The sun came out, and we strode down on this landscap
with great strides, inflicting a shock on the children of Deli
who were playing by the roadside. They gave me a long lool
burst into tears, and fled screaming: this was the effect of m
terai, which invariably demoralizes all Mazanderani babies
The grown-up population of Delir were not much more sell
restrained than its children, and far more troublesome, fo
about two hundred women turned out, crowding the roofs
surging round me in the narrow streets, venturing close up t<
touch my garments to see if I was real, and very nearb
suffocating me among them. They were brightly dressed
with their silver coronets saucily tilted over one eye, and man;
silver ornaments hanging round the edge of their short jackets
Men, just as interested, but with their dignity to consider
were interspersed here and there, and to this more reasonable
portion of humanity 'Aziz turned in despair, and procured me
a litde momentary breathing space by shooing the women
away, and likening them to wild beasts of the forest.
Our idea of lunch in a cottage here was soon abandoned:
one might as well have lunched in a tornado. But presendy,
questions and answers having been exchanged, a man from
Talaghan emerged and took matters in hand. Talaghan is
next door to Alamut and therefore, in 'Aziz's estimation,
capable of containing a few good men: the two fraternized over
[34o]