The Hidden Treasure
crops on either hand. Large animals were rootling among
the maize stalks on our left. " Pig/' said the Kermenshah
policeman, and galloped in nonchalantly, turning out five
humped and clumsy silhouettes in procession at the other
end of the field. At ten-thirty we came upon the tents
of Saumar, dim in sleep. A man lying across the entrance
was roused, while a chaos of dogs sprang round us, guarding
the huddled flocks. The people there soon spread a bit of
" chit" to enclose a bedroom for me: mattress and pillow
were brought: without seeing the faces of our hosts, we
slept after ten and a half hours in the saddle.
I woke next morning in a windy dawn and saw that we
were in the desert. The huts of the Saumar were all around,
built and roofed with reeds, whose leafy fronds stuck up
like battlements. Some of these were real houses, with
three good rooms and a porch.
At a little distance, on a mound, was the police post:
the customs house and a rest-house for officials were below.
Here, too, was the Shah's garden, a place of whose magnifi-
cence I had been told in Iraq, which turned out to be about
two acres of untidy ground, just planted with young palms,
apricots and pomegranate trees, where I wandered while
passports were being attended to.
Four more police came on horseback to watch me: they
added themselves to the escort, and, more like a cavalry patrol
than ever, we rode along the Gangir bed to where, on a
low cliff, a round tower shows the last of Persian land.
Here we said good-bye. My presents, carefully prepared,
were rejected. We spoke of die splendour and charm of
the kingdom of Persia and our regret in leaving it instead.
I would have wished to do something more tangible for my
friends, for they had treated me with great kindness, and,
although their incorruptibility impressed me, I felt that
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