Late in the evening, we reached the little town of Sauh-Bulak.  As it was not fortified, we could still enter; however, the chans and bazaars were all closed, and we had much trouble to get the people of one of the chans to receive us.  It was very spacious and handsome; in the centre was a basin of water, and round it small merchants’ stalls and several niches for sleeping.  The people—­all men—­were mostly retired to rest; only a few remained at their devotions.  Their astonishment may be imagined when they saw a woman enter with a guide.  It was too late to give my letter today, and I therefore seated myself composedly against the luggage, in the belief that I should have to pass the night so; but a Persian came to me and pointed out a niche to sleep in, carried my luggage there, and, after a little while, brought me some bread and water.  The kindness of this man was the more admirable, as it is known how much the Mahomedans hate the Christians.  May God reward him for it.  I was truly in want of this refreshment.

22nd July.  Today I presented my letter, and the Persian merchant received me with a welcome.  He conducted me to a Christian family, and promised to make arrangements for the continuation of my journey as soon as possible.  In this instance, also, the conversation was carried on more by the means of signs than words.

There were twenty Christian families in this town, who are under the care of a French missionary and have a very pretty church.  I looked forward with pleasure to conversing again in a language with which I was familiar, but learnt that the missionary was on a journey, so that I was not better off than at Ravandus, as the people with whom I lived spoke only Persian.

The man, whose trade was that of a carpenter, had a wife, six children, and an apprentice.  They all lived in the same room, in which they gave me a place with great readiness.  The whole family were uncommonly good and obliging towards me, were very open-hearted, and if I bought fruit, eggs, or anything of the kind, and offered them any, they accepted it with great modesty.  But it was not only towards myself that they were so kind, but also towards others; no beggar went away from their threshold unrelieved; and yet this family was terrible, and made my stay a complete purgatory.  The mother, a very stupid scolding woman, bawled and beat her children the whole day.  Ten minutes did not pass without her dragging her children about by the hair, or kicking and thumping them.  The children were not slow in returning it; and, besides that, fought among themselves; so that I had not a moment’s quiet in my corner, and was not unfrequently in danger of coming in for my share, for they amused themselves by spitting and throwing large blocks of wood at each other’s heads.  The eldest son several times throttled his mother in such a way that she became black and blue in the face.  I always endeavoured, indeed, to establish peace; but it was very seldom that I succeeded, as I was unfortunately not sufficient master of the language to make them understand the impropriety of their conduct.