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We met a number of peasants who, although they had only a few fowls, eggs, fruits, etc., to carry to the town for sale, were nevertheless on horseback. There was abundance of grass and willow trees, and consequently of horses and horned cattle. At Marand I stopped, for want of an inn, with a Cossack.
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.
Such are the rich and extensive grazing grounds of Khawah and Alishtar, near Kermanshah, the pastures near Ojan and Marand, and the celebrated Chowal Moghan or plain of Moghan, on the lower course of the Araxes river, where the grass is said to grow sufficiently high to cover a man on horseback.
I had two stages to reach the village of Marand, which lies on the river Ribon, where the post-cars are changed for a boat, by which the journey to Redutkale, on the Black Sea, is made. The first stage passes chiefly through fine woods, the second presents an open view over fields and meadows; the houses and huts are quite buried beneath bushes and trees.
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.
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