11th August.  The stations between Tebris and Natschivan are very irregular; one of the longest, however, is the first—­namely, to the village of Sophia, which occupied us six hours.  The road lay through valleys, which were, for the most part, barren and uninhabited.

As it was already 3 o’clock when we reached Sophia, the people there endeavoured to prevent me from going any further.  They pointed to the sun, and at the same time signified that I might be attacked by robbers, plundered, and even murdered; but such statements had no influence with me; and after I had with great trouble ascertained that it would only require four hours to reach the next station, I determined to continue my journey; and to the vexation of my servant, whom I had engaged as far as Natschivan, ordered him to saddle fresh horses.

Immediately after leaving Sophia, we entered barren, rocky valleys, which my guide represented as being very dangerous, and which I should not have liked to pass at night; but as the sun was shining in full splendour, I urged on my horse, and amused myself by looking at the beautiful colours and grouping of the rocks.  Some were of a glittering pale green; others covered with a whitish, half transparent substance; others again terminated in numerous oddly formed angles, and from the distance looked like beautiful groups of trees.  There was so much to see that I really had no time to think of fear.

About half-way lay a pretty little village in a valley, and beyond it rose a steep mountain, on the summit of which a charming prospect of mountain country kept me gazing for a long while.

We did not reach Marand till nearly 8 o’clock; but still with our heads, necks, and baggage, all safe.

Marand lies in a fertile valley, and is the last Persian town which I saw, and one of the most agreeable and handsome.  It has broad, clean streets, houses in good repair, and several small squares with beautiful springs, which are, moreover, surrounded by trees.

My shelter for the night was not so good as the town promised:  I was obliged to share the court with the post-horses.  My supper consisted of some roasted and very salt eggs.

12th August.  Our journey for today was as far as Arax, on the Russian frontier.  Although only one stage, it took us eleven hours.  We followed the course of a small brook, which wound through barren valleys and ravines; not a single village lay on our road; and with the exception of some little mills and the ruins of a mosque, I saw no more buildings in Persia.  Persia is, on the whole, very thinly populated, on account of the scarcity of water.  No country in the world has more mountains, and fewer rivers, than Persia.  The air is, on this account, very dry and hot.

The valley in which Arax is situated is large, and the extraordinary formation of the mountains and rocks renders it very picturesque.  In the extreme distance rise lofty mountains, of which Ararat is more than 16,000 feet in height, and in the valley itself there are numerous rocky elevations.  The principal of these, a beautiful sharp rocky cone, of at least 1,000 feet in height, is called the Serpent Mountain.