They would have been of no use, except in the way of stop-gaps, like the babies, in cheap prints, that the Russian traveller in the sleigh throws to the wolves to occupy their attention while he urges on his mad career, a pistol in each hand and the reins in his mouth.

Still, even for this purpose, they might have been useful, and were certainly worth a few kerans.

I was glad not to learn the truth till we reached Kazeroon.

The enjoyment of the meal of which we partook at the summit of the pass would have been somewhat damped by the feeling that at any moment a loud roar, bursting out of the silent fastnesses of the Kotal Doktar, might announce the approach of its grim tenant.
There was, after all, nothing very remarkable about the occurrence, for the southern parts of Persia are infested with wild animals of many kinds.

Of this I was already aware, but not that lions were among the number.
Kazeroon is, next to Shiraz, the most important place in the province of Fars, and has a population of about 6000.