o thick with salt and dirt that it resembled in colour and
density a mixture of milk and coffee. In flavour I do not know what it
was like because I would not drink it, but I induced Sadek to try it and
let me know, and he said that it tasted like salt, sand, and bad eggs
mixed together. Unluckily, Sadek had omitted to fill the skins with good
water at Warmal, and after our long march of 36 miles we should have been
in a bad plight, had not the Beluch men in charge of the other caravan
offered us some good water from their supply to drink and cook with.

The post station at Girdi has a high wall round it, with two rooms for
_sawars_, and one adjoining for their families, and grain shop. There are
four watch towers at the corners of the wall of sun-dried bricks, and a
path on the top to go from one tower to the other. A canal has been cut
to drain as much rain water (the only water obtainable here) as possible
into a small pond, but the pond was nearly dry and only had in it some
filthy salt water densely mixed with camel refuse. It was of a ghastly
green with patches of brown, and some spots of putrefaction in circular
crowns of a whitish colour. The surface was coated with a deposit of
sand, dirt and salt.

A few yards from the British Consular post-house stood a small hut in
which two Persian Customs soldiers were stationed. They were
picturesquely attired in peaked white turbans, long yellow coats, leather
belts with powder and bullet pouches, and various other adjuncts. They
were armed with long, old-fashioned matchlocks.

These men and the postal _sawars_ complained of the terrible water--and
no wonder!--but although they seemed painfully worn and thin it had not
actually caused them any special illness so far. They generally laid in a
small supply of better water from the well six miles off.

On our way in that direction when we left the next morning we again saw
in the distance to the east and south-east four or five ruined cities.
Tamarisk was plentiful and grew to quite a good height.

We passed the post-house of Nawar-chah with its well of fairly good
water. The well was some three feet in diameter and water had been struck
fifteen feet below the surface. The shelter, with a low mud enclosure
round it, was very similar to the one at Mahommed Raza-chah.

At each post-house one was generally greeted by a Beluch cat with pointed
ears, who came out in the hopes of getting a meal, then by picturesque,
bronzed-