Then we got on to a wide road in a valley; presently there was another block, and the Armenian turned off the road to the right. I shouted angrily, “Look here! I am not going along any more of your infernal paths. I would rather sit in a block for an hour: we are not in such a tremendous hurry.” He called back, “Sir! he is all right here.” The ground was broken-up by huge cracks, seven or eight yards wide! A man rode out from the crush and looked, then turned his horse back and re-entered the crowded road. Away across the broken-up plain we could see a road running along the foot of a mountain. It was not very crowded, and, after all, we were not on a mountain with only bare rock under foot, so we went for it. Scrambling down the cracks or miniature ravines, some fourteen or fifteen feet deep, we waded, or rather rode, through pools of water, and scrambled up the other side. I don’t know how many we climbed into and out of--but a good many. The Armenian’s horse, though a good mountain-climber, was afraid of water, and he refused and shied, but had to go. When he was plunging the Armenian’s turban tumbled off into a pool, but he fished it out and clapped it on his head again, wet, and cursed his horse in Persian. At last we got on to the road at the foot of the mountain, and went some distance; but it became excessively stony and rough. The Armenian said, “He is become worse, you go further.” We, therefore, branched off to the left from the road, and found ourselves in a marshy valley. In the mountains, on the left, I saw the openings of several caves, and there were waterfalls tumbling down the rocks. This valley was infested with tigers, but there were too many people about, and too much noise for that to be a danger. [Sidenote: A Cheap Drink.] Then we got among cornfields again. Where all the other roads led to I don’t know, but we found a great many people riding along here, though we were not badly crowded. I came alongside of the Page boy who used to live next door to me in Mazar, but we lost him again in the crowd. We went on and on through villages, where trees and vegetables were growing--a refreshing sight after a life in Mazar. Further on, the roads apparently converged, for the lanes became more and more crowded and more and more dusty, till I was compelled to tie a handkerchief over my nose and mouth. In one valley seeing a few cows and goats feeding near some huts, we branched off to try and get a drink: the peasants brought some milk in a wooden vessel which the Armenian poured into my cup and handed to me. He preferred drinking whey, of which the peasants had a plentiful supply, for it is a popular drink, but advised me not to drink any as it is apt to disagree. We had as much milk and whey as we wanted for two pice, that is a little more than a farthing.