side of a river.  The 27th, after four c. we came to a castle called Greece, the first belonging to the king of Persia.  Here we delivered to the governor the letter we had got from the Persian ambassador at Lahore, and presented him a mirror and three knives.  He would take nothing for our camels, while the others had to pay five abacees for each camel.  He promised to give us a safe conduct under an escort of horse to the next governor, but we saw none; neither were we sorry for the omission, for he was little better than a rebel, and all his people were thieves.

[Footnote 153:  We here lose the almost infallible guide of Arrowsmith’s excellent map of Hindoostan, and are reduced to much inferior helps in following the route through Persia.—­E.]

The 28th we departed at night, going two parasangs, and lodged at a dea or village called Malgee.  A farcing or parasang is equal to two Indian cosses and a half.[154] The 29th we went ten p. and lodged in the open fields, where we could get nothing but water.  The 30th we went five p. to a small castle named Gazikhan.  The 31st other five p. to an old ruined fort, where we could get nothing but water, and that was stinking.  The 1st August we proceeded other five p. to an old fort called Dilaram, where we paid an abacee and a half for each camel.  We staid here one day to rest our cattle, which was termed making mochoane; and on the 3d we went seven p. to an old castle called Bacon.  The 4th four p. and lodged in the open fields, where we found nothing but water.  The 5th four p. and the 6th five p. to Farra.[155]

[Footnote 154:  In a side-note, Purchas says a parasang consists of sixty furlongs.  This is a most egregious error, as the parasang or farsang is exactly equal to 2.78 English miles, or twenty-two two-5ths furlongs.—­E.]

[Footnote 155:  Farra, the capital of a district of the same name in the north of Segistan, is in lat 33 deg. 40’ N. long. 62 deg. 40’ E.—­E.]

Farra is a small town, surrounded by a high wall of bricks dried in the sun, as are all the castles and most of the buildings in this country, and is of a square form, about a mile in circuit.  It has a handsome bazar or market-place, vaulted over head to keep out the rain, and in which all kinds of necessaries and commodities are sold.  It is situated in a fertile soil, having plenty of water, without which nothing can be raised in this country; and it is wonderful to see with what labour and ingenious industry they bring water to every spot of good ground, which is but seldom to be found here, often carrying it three or four miles in trenches under ground.  At this town, all merchants going into Persia must remain for seven, eight, or ten days; and here the king’s treasurer sees all their packs weighed, estimating the value of their commodities at so much the maund, as he thinks fit, and exacts a duty of