_ 90 _ same people as already mentioned. A Bedouin arrived here on horseback with another forty horsemen armed with bows and arrows to rob the caravans. The captain of the caravan, at the cost of the travellers in the caravan, as was the custom, gave him four lengths of cloth for turbans, four cummerbunds, which are narrow, dyed strips of cloth to put around the waist, and two or three lengths of dyed cloth. On the following day, when we were loading, a son of this man came with three horsemen and five men on foot, also armed, and complained to the captain that we had given his father a miserable amount, as he was in the area with many men and at much cost to protect the caravans from thieves. In order not quarrel with him, a tent was put up for him and they were given a feast. Then he was given a gift double that given to his father. He then went away, telling the captain of the caravan that he would be safe and have nothing to fear from there on. They took a Turk from the caravan prisoner with five or six horsemen, saying that some of his kinsmen had killed a relative of his in Baghdad. Finally, by dint of argument and a gift, he was rescued a little away from the road. A little farther on in this region there is a noble city called Yazd, populous, where much trade is carried on.
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