160 THROUGH THE MOUNTAIN PASS OF AHUAN
Omar Khayyam must surely have known some place as little suited as was this for any but the briefest tarrying.
As we sped forward over the flat expanse towards Daulatabad and Damghan, we could see, at the distance of some miles to the south, the dust-buried remains of a series of villages and small towns that had once made up the metropolis of the ancient district of Comisene, and that are still called Shahr-i Kumish, or ' City of Kumish,' by the natives, a site which I visited later and shall describe further on. Anon the somewhat sandy stretch that we were traversing was brightened by cheery wheat-fields, not far from Saidabad, although this village itself was hardly more than a study in mud walls, like several others of its neighbors dotting the plain, which here becomes fertile. Among these settlements Daulatabad, already mentioned, attracted our attention by its waving grain and its extensive fortified enclosure, whose clay walls, however, showed by their lack of repair that their need was no longer felt as a protection against Turkoman marauders.
Two hours more and we caught sight of the widespreading city of Damghan, above whose low walls rose rich foliage to offset the gray clay of its antique citadel and the yellowish dome of its principal mosque; while two towering minarets, at some distance from each other in the city, served as guideposts to its gates and told us we had reached the goal of our long day's journey of thirteen hours.
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