r spoon or plate, you will give me credit for being already an
accomplished Oriental.

"At ten o'clock on the 30th our califa began to move. It consisted
chiefly of mules with a few horses. I wished to have a mule, but the
muleteer favored me with his own pony; this animal had a bell fastened
to its neck. To add solemnity to the scene, a Bombay trumpeter who was
going 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 an 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
jostling, 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 residents accompanied us a little way, and then left us to
pursue our journey over the plain. It was a fine moonlight night, the
scene new and perfectly oriental, and nothing prevented me from
indulging my own reflections. As the night advanced the califa 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.

"These were the words translated:

Think not that e'er my heart could dwell
Contented far from thee,
How can the fresh-caught nightingale
Enjoy tranquility?

Oh, then forsake thy friend for naught
That slanderous tongues can say,
The heart that fixeth where it ought
No power can rend away.

"Thus far our journey was agreeable. Now for miseries. At sunrise we
came to our ground at Ahmedu, 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
intense as to be quite alarming. When the thermometer was above 112
degrees, 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 being quite
exhausted, I grew restless and thought I should have lost my senses.
The thermometer at las