my plans, and kept me for twelve days within the precincts of the city. Owing to the uneven nature of the ground on which the town is built, one sees but a small portion of it from the plain over which one rides when approaching from the east, and it is not until one has climbed one of the many low irregular-shaped hills which surround it, and looked down on it from above, that one can claim to have seen the city in its entirety. From such a point of vantage one sees spread out before one a stretch of hilly ground thickly covered with a mass of irregular domed houses, with here and there an edifice larger than the rest standing out conspicuous with upper story and bald flat roof, usually the residence of some servant or retainer of the Amir. At the southeast corner stands the old fort, the usual high mud walls enclosing a few houses and a fine mosque and courtyard, built and completed by the present ruler about five years ago, by far the finest building I saw in Birjand, which has little to boast of in the way of architectural beauty. Through the northern part of the town a broad thoroughfare runs crescent-wise from end to end, dominated at its western extremity by the new fort, an erection standing on the summit of a low my plans, and kept me for twelve days within the precincts of the city. Owing to the uneven nature of the ground on which the town is built, one sees but a small portion of it from the plain over which one rides when approaching from the east, and it is not until one has climbed one of the many low irregular-shaped hills which surround it, and looked down on it from above, that one can claim to have seen the city in its entirety. From such a point of vantage one sees spread out before one a stretch of hilly ground thickly covered with a mass of irregular domed houses, with here and there an edifice larger than the rest standing out conspicuous with upper story and bald flat roof, usually the residence of some servant or retainer of the Amir. At the southeast corner stands the old fort, the usual high mud walls enclosing a few houses and a fine mosque and courtyard, built and completed by the present ruler about five years ago, by far the finest building I saw in Birjand, which has little to boast of in the way of architectural beauty. Through the northern part of the town a broad thoroughfare runs crescent-wise from end to end, dominated at its western extremity by the new fort, an erection standing on the summit of a low |