water to the inhabitants, a luxury not very common in this part of Persia; near it is a stone building, apparently of European architecture; and upon my noticing this, I was informed, that many years ago it was inhabited by an European stationed here for the purpose of forwarding packets from Sheeraz to Reeshire.

Dalikee is a respectable village, protected by a fort tenable against horse; it was formerly under the government of Sheikh Nasir, who resigned it in favour of Wulee Moohummud Khan. In the evening I rode to some pits called Nufti Seeah, and found them to contain black naphtha. There were a number of pits; and the ground all about so tenacious, as to make it no easy matter for my horse to extricate himself from it. It is used by the Persians as we are told it was in hell, for lamps,* and occasionally is given to their camels. Our route was north-east, thermometer 104.

10th. The mules left our ground by ten, and reached Koonar Tukhtu (four Fursukhs) by five in the morning. Our route this night lay over the hills, and the road was the whole way dangerously frightful. We had to pass several places, not above three feet broad, over deep and rocky precipices; the roar of the rushing waters, and the stupendous heighth of the mountains, presented a scene terrific and sublime. The ascent was frequently so steep, that the mules who had gained the summit appeared to be directly above our heads, and you involuntarily trembled lest they should fall and crush you with their weight. We were more than three hours ascending the Kohi Mullooh, or hill of Mullooh, the whole of which time the horses were their own guides; we contented ourselves with clinging to their manes, the best and only safe way of travelling over such bad and rocky ground. I often preferred

from the arched roof,

Pendant by subtle magic, many a row

Of starry lamps and blazing cressets, fed
With Naphtha and Asphaltus, yielded light
As from a sky.

MILTON, Book 1st.

walking; but my companion, who was neither young nor active, and who even here could not keep himself awake, rode, and fell four times. We crossed a tolerably broad and rapid stream at the bottom of one of the hills, over which a bridge has been erected, but not quite finished, by Hajee Moohummud Husun. Owing to the rapidity of the current, this stream was not passable in winter; but the public and liberal spirit of two merchants has rendered this part of the road free from all hazard or danger; and travellers are more indebted to the Hajee, and his nephew, Hajce Ubdool Humeed, than to any of the kings of Persia from Shah Ubas to A Moohummud.

We found it adviseable to procure sixteen musketeers as a guard, owing to the road having been lately infested by a banditti, who had plundered a caravan a few nights before. They could not have chosen a better place, as the narrowness of the road would not admit of more than one person passing at a time, and the hills on either side afforded them excellent lurking places to fire from with safety. Although we were more than thirty persons, armed with swords, matchlocks, or pistols, I am almost convinced that five resolute robbers might have plundered our caravan. However, we escaped all danger; and the romantic scenery around us, whenever we could contemplate it with safety, amply compensated for the fatigue, the hazards, and the difficulties we had encountered. Frequently we lost sight of the moon, and as often did we appear to be on a level with it. Looking down from an immense height, we beheld its pale beams playing, as it were, amid the gurgling waters; the noise of tinkling bells, the cries of the muleteers, and the reverberated echoes of the matchlocks, (for we kept up an incessant firing), was a scene so novel, and so unexpected, that I insensibly forgot the difficulties we had overcome, and the dangers we had to surmount. The sensations which I felt when the moon, as it often happened, burst from a black cloud, and shed the

fulness of her lustre on a ruggid hill, covered sometimes with the almond, or with many a waving shrub; or when her silver beams fell on a rapid torrent, as it rolled impetuous down many a height: these sensations convinced me that I had formed a feeble notion of the awful grandeur of nature. I must confess that I am unable to do justice to the sublimity of the views which presented themselves on every side; but so strongly are they impressed on my mind, that no time or distance will ever obliterate them from my recollection.

Some years ago a stream ran by the village of Koonar Tukhtu, but owing to the disturbances which distract this country, the channel has been either choaked up or diverted. Our route was north by east; and the thermometer, at three o'clock, in a tent, 110.

11th. We quitted our ground at ten, and arrived at a Surae (three Fursukhs) by three in the morning. Our road was as bad as the preceding night, but the distance being less, we did not experience so much inconvenience. We again passed a small river, which I learn rises near Kazroon, and running through the country of the Roodhillus, falls into the sea near Bundureek. Most of the streams between Bushire and Sheeraz are lost amidst the mountains

before they can reach the sea. We halted at an excellent Surae, built by Moohummud Hosein Khan, son of Zal Khan, governor of Khisht.* His father is highly respected; so much so, as to have excited the jealousy of Hajee Ibrahim, the late minister, who caused him to be blinded, and his tongue to be cut out. He was, however, continued in his government of Khisht.

Near the Surae, on the summit of a hill, is a fort called Furhad, formerly possessed by a banditti, who for a long time bid defiance to the partial attacks of the inhabitants of the village, and to the

Suraes, or Karuwan Suraes, are built for the accommodation of travellers. They are more commodious than the Choultries on the Coromandel coast, containing a variety of apartments. They generally form a square, with a range of rooms on each side, behind which are sometimes excellent stables. It is customary for the muleteer to collect all the dirt which has been made, and on his leaving the Surae, to set it on fire, so that the stables are kept tolerably clean.

troops of government. It was at last taken, and nearly destroyed. To the north-west is another fort, which was likewise a rendezvous for robbers; it is in excellent order, but its inhabitants have been at several times entirely extirpated. To day, at three p. m. the thermometer was 97. It would be impossible to describe our route, as our winding round the hills directed us to every point in the compass.

12th. This evening we quitted our ground at sun-set, that we might gain a pass resorted to by robbers. This hill is notorious for thieves: indeed in a country infested with them, it would be surprising were it not, as a person well acquainted with the windings and paths of the mountains, might with impunity attack, and most probably defeat, a whole caravan. Two Fursukhs from Kazroon are the ruins of a very large town called Dires. The marks of its former splendour and magnificence are still discoverable; and the faint traces of mouldering walls and broken pillars, afford a melancholy but impressive proof of the injustice and oppression of the government. Its inhabitants abandoned their homes and houses in the time of Kureem Khan; some fled to Bushire, and others to the parts adjacent.* A few scattered hovels still insult its former splendour; and the people preserve the singular custom of not permitting a Moordu-Sho (a washer of dead bodies) either to inhabit or enter their village without being required. Whenever a person dies, they send to Kazroon for a Moordu-Sho; and the instant he has performed his duty, they drive him away with stones and sticks, conceiving that if they hold any intercourse with him, that they will soon themselves require his good offices.

On awakening this morning, I received an acceptable present of

The memory of Kureem Khan is venerated by the Persians. He was excessively liberal, and liberality in Persia is the first of all human virtues: but his memory is obscured by the commission of many cruelties; yet if we judge of him as the Persians do, by a comparison with his successors, he was feelingly alive to the calls of humanity.

fruit, ice, and snow; the thermometer was then 104. I understand that ice and snow are sold all the year in the market at Kazroon, and are even occasionally conveyed to Bushire on mules. Our journey, for these last two days, has been strongly indicative of one of those violent convulsions of nature which now and then threaten a country with total annihilation. Mountains heaped on mountains, and stones piled on stones, almost realize the fable of the giants attempting to storm the imperial throne of Jupiter. The mountains are very irregular; and it is no uncommon thing to observe an immense hill three or more miles distant from a chain of mountains. The vallies which we passed appeared to be very fertile, many of them were cultivated with wheat and rice. Our Munzil-Gah was near a very excellent garden full of cypress and fruit trees.

In the evening I rode to a fort, called the Fort of the Jews, and believed to have been possessed by them. How true this may be I shall not take upon myself to determine; it is now converted into a corn-field, and from an Arabic inscription which I saw there, I would rather suppose it belonged to the faithful. I saw the remains of a canal, which was conducted from a hill about two or three miles from Kazroon, and which must have supplied the city with water. The method of conducting it is singular: Pits, at the distance of two or three yards, are dug to an equal depth, the earth on each side hollowed out, and the centre is excavated to connect one pit with another.

Kazroon is a town of considerable extent; many parts of it are, however, in ruins, and the wall is in a decayed and falling state. The Dushistan is considered to extend, I believe, to Kazroon, though, properly speaking, it ends at the foot of the hills. I was desirous of visiting the baths, and requested permission of the owner, which was readily granted: but in the evening, as I was preparing to go into the town, I learnt that the people might