t is
very similar in its growth and foliage to the Dauk of Hindoostan.

The _assa foetida_ shrub also abounded on the neighbouring hills, and
we were almost overpowered by the horrible stench exhaled therefrom.
It is collected in its wild state and sent to C[=a]bul and India,
yielding a good profit to those who pick it, as it is used very
generally throughout the East for kabobs and curries. We also
observed, that day, several coveys of chikore.

At Rhobat is an old caravanserai for travellers, the remains of a very
fine and extensive building, with accommodation and apartments all
round the square of about twenty-four yards. It is said to have been
constructed in the time of the famous Abdoollah Khan, and was reduced
to its present desolate state by Meer Moorad Beg, the chief of
Koondooz, who some years ago ravaged the whole of this district,
burning and laying waste whatever he could not carry off.

On the 25th of July we marched to Ghoree, a distance of about 21
miles. As we approached it, we enjoyed a fine prospect of the
extensive savannahs of grass so characteristic of Toorkisth[=a]n; many
horses were feeding in the distance, and the vale, flanked by low
hills, was bounded only by the horizon. We were told that it extended
in a right line upwards of thirty miles, and that it was frequently
used for horse-racing, the customary length of the course being
upwards of twenty miles. We were now in the territories of Meer Moorad
Beg, a chief of notorious character, but, trusting to the continuance
of the good fortune which had hitherto attended us, we did not make
ourselves uncomfortable about him. We could not much admire his town
of Ghoree, which, with his fort, was situate on the edge of a morass
extending from the limits of the savannah to the foot of the hills--I
should think that the fever so prevalent in these districts must be in
a great degree attributable to the absolute want of drainage and the
decomposition of vegetable matter. Its position was most insalubrious,
for the marshy swamps commenced at the very base of hills, and thus as
it were encircled the savannahs with a belt of miasma.

The ague, which is usually accompanied by fever, is of a kind very
difficult to shake off, gradually weakening the sufferer till he sinks
under its influence; the natives themselves are by no means free from
its strokes, to which attacks every stranger who remains for many days
in the vicinity of the marshes is liable. Th