exceeded, they are on the road from nine to twelve hours
without halting. When travelling at night the proper rest is lost,
and in the day it is scarcely possible to get any sleep, exposed in
the open air to the excessive heat, and the annoyances of flies and
mosquitoes.

18th June. In Jengitsche we met with a chan, but it was by no means
equal in appearance and cleanliness to that on the road to Babylon;
its chief advantage was being situated near the Tigris.

The chan was surrounded by a small village, to which I proceeded for
the purpose of satisfying my hunger. I went from hut to hut, and at
last fortunately succeeded in obtaining some milk and three eggs. I
laid the eggs in the hot ashes and covered them over, filled my
leathern flask from the Tigris, and thus loaded returned proudly to
the chan. The eggs I ate directly, but saved the milk for the
evening. After this meal, procured with such difficulty, I
certainly felt happier, and more contented than many who had dined
in the most sumptuous manner.

During my search through the village, I noticed, from the number of
ruined houses and huts, that it seemed to have been of some extent
formerly. Here, also, the last plague had carried off the greater
part of the inhabitants; for, at the present time, there were only a
few very poor families.

I here saw a very peculiar mode of making butter. The cream was put
into a leathern bottle, and shaken about on the ground until the
butter had formed. When made, it was put into another bottle filled
with water. It was as white as snow, and I should have taken it for
lard if I had not seen it made.

We did not start this evening before 10 o'clock, and then rode
eleven hours without halting, to Uesi. The country here was less
barren than that between Baghdad and Jengitsche. We did not,
indeed, see any villages on the road; but small groups of palms, and
the barking of dogs, led us to conclude that there were some very
near. At sun-rise we were gratified by the sight of a low range of
mountains, and the monotony of the plain was here and there broken
at intervals, by small rows of hills.

19th June. Yesterday I was not quite satisfied with the chan at
Jengitsche; but I should have been very thankful for a far worse one
today, that we might have found any degree of shelter from the
pitiless heat of the sun; instead, we were obliged to make our
resting place in a field of stubble, far removed from human
habit