At the word '_Off!'_ heels were brought into fast play on the donkeys' ribs to make them move forward, and the scenes that followed were ludicrous and exciting.

Riders were pulled off backward, and, still hanging on to the rope, they managed to remount and get again into the pulling line in time to drag off someone on the opposite side, who had lost his balance on the sudden 'go' forward from the lessened strain.

This amusement was a highly popular one with the laughing spectators.
Our travelling-party on the outward journey had separated at Tehran, and I travelled back homeward alone.

I left Tehran in the middle of November, and as there had been a heavy fall of snow some days before, I quite expected to have a cold crossing of the Kharzan Pass over the Elburz range.

I did the journey to Kasvin comfortably in a carriage, and rode thence to Resht in three days.