many lions, tigers,
wolves, and jackals, which are a kind of wild dogs, besides many other
noxious and hurtful animals. In their rivers they have many crocodiles,
and on the land many overgrown snakes and serpents, with other venomous
and pernicious creatures. In the houses we often meet with scorpions,
whose stinging is most painful and even deadly, unless the part be
immediately anointed with an oil made of scorpions.[233] The abundance
of flies in those parts is likewise an extreme annoyance; as, in the
heat of the day, their numbers are so prodigious, that we cannot have
peace or rest for them in any part. They cover our meat the moment it is
set on the table, wherefore we are obliged to have men standing ready to
drive them away with napkins, while we are eating. In the night,
likewise, we are much disquieted with musquetos, like our gnats, but
somewhat less; and, in the cities, there are such numbers of large
hungry rats, that they often bite people as they sleep in their beds.

[Footnote 233: This is a mere fancy, as any bland oil is equally
efficacious.--E.]

In this country the winds, which are called monsoons, blow constantly,
or altering only a few points, for six months from the south, and other
six months from the north. The months of April and May, and the
beginning of June, till the rains come, are extremely hot; and the wind,
which then sometimes blows gently over the parched ground, becomes so
heated, as much oppresses all who are exposed to it: Yet God so
mercifully provides for our relief, that most commonly he sends so
strong a gale as greatly tempers the sultry air. Sometimes the wind
blows very high during the hot and dry season, raising up vast
quantities of dust and sand, like dark clouds pregnant with rain, and
which often prodigiously annoy the people among whom they fall. But
there is no country without its inconveniences; for the wise Disposer of
all events hath attempered bitter things with sweet, to teach mankind
that there is no true or perfect contentment to be found, but only in
the kingdom of God.

This country has many excellent horses, which the inhabitants know well
how to manage. Besides those bred in the country, they have many of the
Tartarian, Persian, and Arabian breeds, which last is considered as the
best in the world. They are about as large as ours, and are valued among
them at as dear a rate as we usually esteem ours, perhaps higher. They
are kept very daintily, every go