and seized one of the men by the breast, when he held a loaded pistol before his face and threatened to shoot him.  This had an immediate effect; the waylayers relinquished their hold, and soon entered into a peaceful conversation with us; and at last, indeed, showed us a good place to encamp, for which, however, they requested a small bachshish, which was given to them by a general collection.  From me, as belonging to the female sex, they required nothing.  We passed the night here, though not without keeping guard.

11th July.  About 4 o’clock we were again upon the road, and rode six hours, when we came to the village of Selik.  We passed through several villages, which, however, had a very miserable appearance.  The huts were built of reeds and straw; the slightest gust of wind would have been sufficient to have blown them over.  The dress of the people approaches in character to the Oriental; all were very scantily, dirtily, and raggedly clothed.

Near Selik I was surprised by the sight of a fig-tree and another large tree.  In this country trees are rare.  The mountains surrounding us were naked and barren, and in the valleys there grew at most some wild artichokes or beautiful thistles and chrysanthemums.

The noble pilgrim took upon himself to point out my place under the large tree, where the whole party were encamped.  I gave him no reply, and took possession of one of the fig-trees.  Ali, who was far better than he looked, brought me a jug of buttermilk, and altogether today passed off tolerably pleasantly.

Several women from the village visited me and begged for money, but I gave them none, as I knew from experience that I should be attacked by all if I gave to one.  I once gave a child a little ring, and not only the other children, but their mothers and grandmothers, crowded round me.  It cost me some trouble to keep them from forcibly emptying my pockets.  Since that time I was more cautious.  One of the women here changed her begging manner into one so threatening, that I was heartily glad at not being alone with her.

We left this village at 4 in the afternoon.  The pilgrim separated from us, and the caravan then consisted of only five men.  In about an hour and a half we reached an eminence from which we obtained a view of an extensive and well cultivated hill country.  The land in Kurdistan is without comparison better than in Mesopotamia, and the country is consequently better inhabited; we were, therefore continually passing through different villages.

Before nightfall we entered a valley which was distinguished for fresh rice plantations, beautiful shrubs, and green reeds:  a brisk stream murmured at our side, the heat of the day was now succeeded by the evening shadows, and, at this moment we had nothing to wish for.  This good fortune, however, did not last long; one of the pedlars was suddenly taken so ill that we were obliged to stop.  He nearly fell off his mule, and remained motionless.  We covered him with rugs, but beyond that we could not do anything for him, as we had neither medicines nor other remedies with us.  Fortunately, he fell asleep after a few hours, and we squatted down on the ground and followed his example.