Opium is not smoked in Persia, but is taken in the form of pills.

Many among the upper classes take it daily, the dose being a grain to a grain and a half.
We covered, the first day out from Ispahan, nearly a hundred miles between sunrise and 10 p.m .-- not bad work for Persia.

A little after dark, and before the moon had risen, I was cantering easily along in front of Gerome, when a violent blow on the chest, followed by another between the eyes, sent me reeling off my horse on to the sand.

My first thought, on collecting myself, was "Robbers!"-- this part of the road bearing an unpleasant reputation.

Cocking my revolver, I called to Gerome, and was answered by a volley of oaths, while another riderless horse galloped past me and disappeared in the darkness.
Our foe was a harmless one.