A Fortnight in N.W. Luristan
In the early morning we were very glad of our little glasse
of hot tea. Our hosts chipped sugar from the cone an<
heaped it in with real generosity, for tea and sugar are th«
two luxuries among the Lurs. They never expected to b<
paid in any way. They may contemplate a raid on thei:
guest's luggage while he sleeps, but that is another matter
it is the country's national pastime, with rules of its own
and who are we, after all, to demand consistency in morals!
As the sun climbed over Kuh Garu, I left Beira and the
Sardari Naib, and set off with my original escort of two, tc
visit the Nurali Lurs of 'Abdul Khan in Dilfan. Though IK
was a friend of the Sardari's, and to be trusted, we were not
to stay away more than a day before rejoining our police on
the west of Khava in Chavari. As we left them all behind
us, the spirits of Mahmud, my Lur guide, rose, and he yodelled
in the freshness of the morning: but Hajji dragged behind with
returning gloom.
We skirted the southern edge of Khava south of the great
mound of Cheha Husein, and noticed for the first time the
rolling breadth of the beautiful plain. The track from Arjine
and the Jungle comes in here. Strings of black cattle were
creeping along it under their sacks of charcoal; the men's white
coats showed here and there, not tampered with as yet by the
police. The men never gave a greeting of their own accord;
but they smiled when spoken to, and seemed friendly in spite
of their bad name. It takes them three days to make the char-
coal, and four more to bring it from their homes to Nihavend:
seven days in all, for which they get twelve krans, or 2<>. 5d.
We were now among the shallow hills we had seen from the
Varazan Pass, and we followed a trough among them between
two low ranges: it is called the Valley of Gatchenah, and
belongs to the Nuralis. At the entrance to the valley we
crossed the new road, and saw the deserted beginnings of