Sport in Eastern Persia

Black Partridges 3
of the delta, and business calling me there, we
left the Consulate on a bright winter's morning
and headed away north-east. The party consisted
of three English gentlemen, an English lady (my
wife), an escort of Indian cavalry sowars and some
mounted Seistani levies such as would be called
"catch-em-alive-o's" on India's North-West frontier.
The track is over hard-baked mud, with occasional
areas of tillage. Villages, with willow-trees look-
ing dark in the distance, rise up one by one on the
straight horizon, and as we draw closer, are seen
to be clusters of low mud domes. Through the
narrow evil-smelling alleys we pull up to a walk to
avoid riding over swarms of naked children. They
are all surprisingly alike, these Seistani hamlets ;
the same groups of men sitting in front of the
local mosque ; the same scowling, green-turbaned
Syeds ; the women veiled in hideous black ; the
weavers sitting at their looms under sheltered
walls ; the pond of awful looking water with
its floating corpse of dog or goat. Through
packs of savage pariahs, retriever Don walks
with apparent unconcern as a good dog should,
bestowing a glance neither to right nor left. We
of his tail what
only know by the extra stiffening
it costs him. For without our threatening whips
and the sowars' lances, the howling village curs
would soon make an end of him. Outside the