No water was to be had for love or money till the morning, and, knowing the raging thirst produced by melted snow, we had to forget our thirst till next day.
[Illustration: POST-HOUSE AT KUSHKU BAIRA] A pleasant surprise also was in store for us.

Two or three miles beyond Kushku Baira we were clear of snow altogether.

Not a vestige of white was visible upon the bare stony plain.

Nothing but dull drab desert, stretching away on every side to a horizon of snow-capt hills, recalling, by their very whiteness, the miseries of the past two days.
"Berik Allah!" [B] cried Gerome.

"We have done with the snow now." "Inshallah!" [C] I replied, though with an inward conviction that we should see it again further on, and suffer accordingly.
The sacred city of Koom [D] is one of the pleasantest recollections I retain of the ride between the capital and Ispahan.