fail in any handicraft work. I could not help recollecting the Emperor of China's sarcastic remark on the Europeans and their arts, and so I dropped the subject. On his calean (I said hooka at first, but he did not understand me) I noticed several little paintings of the Virgin and Child, and asked him whether such things were not unlawful among the Mahometans? He answered, very coolly, 'Yes;' as much as to say, 'What then?' I lamented that the Eastern Christians should use such things in their churches. He repeated the words of a good man, who was found fault with for having an image before him while at prayer: God is nearer to me than that image, so that I do not see it.' We then talked of the ancient Caliphs of Bagdad, their magnificence, regard for learning, &c. This man, I afterward found, is, like most of the other Grandees of the East, a murderer. He was appointed to the Government of Bushire, in the place of an Arab Shekh, in whose family it had been many years. The Persian, dreading the resentment of the other Arab families, invited the heads of them to a feast. After they had regaled themselves a little, he proposed to them to take off their swords, as they were all friends together: they did so, a signal was given, and a band of ruffians murdered them all immediately. The governor rode off, with a body of troops, to their villages, and murdered or secured their wives and children. This was about two years and a half ago. "Abdalla Aga, a Turk, who expects to be Pacha of Bagdad, called to examine us in Arabic; he is a great Arabic scholar himself, and came to see how much we knew, or rather, if the truth were known, to show how much he himself knew. There was lately a conspiracy at Bagdad, to murder the Pacha. He was desired to add his name, which he did by compulsion, but he secured himself from putting his seal to it, pretending he had lost it: this saved him. All the conspirators were discovered and put to death; he escaped with his life, but was obliged to fly to Bushire. "On 30th May our Persian dresses were ready, and we set out for Shiraz. The Persian dress consists of stockings and shoes in one, next a pair of large blue trowsers, or else a pair of huge red boots; then the shirt, then the tunic, and above it the coat, both of chintz, and a great coat. I have here described my own dress, most of which I have on at this moment. On the head is worn an enormous cone, made of the skin of the black Tartar sheep, with the wool on. If to this description of my dress I add, that my beard and mustachios have been suffered to vegetate undisturbed ever since I left India-that I am sitting on a Persian carpet, in a room without tables or chairs— that I bury my hand in the pilaw, without waiting for spoon or plate, you will give me credit for being already an accomplished Oriental. "At ten o'clock on the 30th, our cafila began to move. It consisted chiefly of mules, with a few horses. I wished to have a mule, but the muleteer favoured me with his own poney; this animal had a bell fastened to its neck. To add solemnity to the scene, a Bombay trumpeter, who was going up to join the Embassy, was directed to blow a blast as we moved off the ground; but whether it was, that the trumpeter was not adept in the science, or that his instrument was out of order, the crazy sounds that saluted our ears had a ludicrous effect. At last, after some justling, mutual recriminations, and recalcitrating of the steeds, we each found our places, and moved out of the gate of the city in good order. The Resident accompanied us a little way, and then left us to pursue our journey over the plain. It was in a fine moonlight night, the scene new, and perfectly oriental, and nothing prevented me from indulging my own reflec. tions. I felt a little melancholy, but commended myself anew to God, and felt assured of his blessing, protection, and presence. As the night advanced, the cafila grew quiet; on a sudden one of the muleteers began to sing, and sang in a voice so plaintive, that it was impossible not to have one's attention arrested. Every voice was hushed. As you are a Persian scholar, I write down the whole, with a translation: 'Think not that e'er my heart could dwell How can the fresh-caught nightingale O then forsake thy friend for nought "Thus far my journey was agreeable: now for miseries. At sunrise we came to our ground at Ahmedee, six parasangs, and pitched our little tent under a tree: it was the only shelter we could get. At first the heat was not greater than we had felt in India, but it soon became so great, as to be quite alarming. -When the thermometer was above 112°, fever heat, I began to lose my strength fast; at last it became quite intolerable. I wrapped myself up in a blanket and all the warm covering I could get, to defend myself from the external air, by which means the moisture was kept a little longer upon the body, and not so speedily evaporated as when the skin was exposed : one of my companions followed my example, and found the benefit of it. But the thermometer still rising, and the moisture of the body quite exhausted, I grew restless, and thought I should have lost my senses. The thermometer at last stood at 126°: in this state I composed myself, and concluded, that though I might hold out a day or two, death was inevitable. Capt. ***, who sat it out, continued to tell the hour and height of the thermometer: with what pleasure did we hear of its sinking to 120°, 118°, &c. At last the fierce sun retired, and I crept out, more dead than alive. It was then a difficulty how I could proceed on my journey; for besides the immediate effects of the heat, I had no opportunity of making up for the last night's want of sleep, and had eaten nothing. However, while they were leading the mules I got an hour's sleep, and set out, the muleteer leading my horse, and Zachariah, my servant, an Armenian, of Isfahan, doing all in his power to encourage me. The cool air of the night restored me wonderfully, so that I arrived at our next munzel with no other derangement than that occasioned by want of sleep. Expecting another such day as the former, we began to make preparations the instant we arrived at the ground. I got a tattie, made of the branches of the date tree, and a Persian peasant to water it; by this means the thermometer did not rise higher than 114°. But what completely secured me from the heat was a large wet towel, which I wrapped round my head and body, muffling up the lower part in clothes. How could Í but be grateful to a gracious Providence, for giving me so simple a defence against what, I am persuaded, would have destroyed my life that day. We took care not to go without nourishment, as we had done; the neighbouring village supplied us with curds and milk. At sun-set, rising up to go out, a scorpion fell upon my clothes; not seeing where it fell, I did not know what it was; but Capt. *** pointing it out, gave the alarm, and I struck it off, and he killed it.-The night before, we found a black scorpion in our tent: this made us rather uneasy, so that though the cafila did not start till midnight, we got no sleep, fearing we might bẹ visited by another scorpion. "The next morning we arived at the foot of the mountains, at a place where we seemed to have discovered one of nature's ulcers. A strong suffocating smell of naphtha announced something more than ordinarily foul in the neighbourhood. We saw a river; what flowed in it, it seemed difficult to say whether it were water or green oil; it scarcely moved, and the stones which it laved it left of a grayish colour, as if its foul touch had given them the leprosy. Our place of encampment this day was a grove of date trees, where the atmosphere, at sun-rise, was ten times hotter than the ambient air. I threw myself down on the burning ground and slept: when the tent came up, I awoke, as usual, in a burning fever. All this day I had recourse to the wet towel, which kept me alive, but would allow of no sleep. It was a sorrowful Sabbath: but Capt. *** read a few hymns, in which I found great consolation. At nine in the evening we decamped. The ground and air were so insufferably hot, that I could not travel without a wet towel round my face and neck. This night, for the first time, we began to ascend the mountains. The road often passed so close to the edge of the tremendous precipice, that one false step of the, horse would have plunged his rider into inevitable destruction. In such circumstances, I found it useless to attempt guiding the animal, and therefore gave him the rein. These poor animals are so used to journies of this sort, that they generally step sure. There was nothing to mark the road, but the rocks being a little more worn in one place than in another. Sometimes, my horse, which led the way, as being the muleteer's, stopped, as if to consider about the way: for myself, I could not guess, at such times, where the road lay, but he always found it. The sublime scenery would have impressed me much, in other circumstances; but my sleepiness and fatigue rendered me insensible to every thing around me. At last we emerged, superas ad auras, not to the top of a mountain to go down again, but to a plain or upper world. At the pass, where a cleft in the mountain admitted us in the plain, was a station of Rahdars. While they were examining the muleteers' passports, &c. time was given for the rest of the cafila to come up, and I got a little sleep for a few minutes. We rode briskly over the plain, breathing a purer air, and soon came in sight of a fair edifice, built by the King of the country, for the refreshment of pilgrims. In this caravansera we took up our abode for the day. It was more calculated for Eastern than European travellers, having no means of keeping out the air and light. We found the thermometer at 110°. At the passes we met a man travelling down to Bushire with a load of ice, which he willingly disposed of to us. The next night we ascended another range of moun |