In his travels Meer Hadjee Shah had often been exposed to the dangerous consequences of the plague; but (as he declares), he was always preserved from the contagion through the same protecting care of Divine Providence which had followed him throughout his life.  He has been often in the very cities where it raged with awful violence, yet neither himself nor those who were of his party, were ever attacked by that scourge.  On one occasion, he was, with a large party of pilgrims, halting for several days together at a place called Bundah Kungoon[6] (the word Bundah implies the sea-shore), preparatory to commencing their projected journey to Shiraaz; he relates, that the mules and camels were provided, and even the day fixed for their march; but, in consequence of a dream he had been visited with, he was resolved to change his course, even should his fellow-travellers determine on pursuing their first plan, and thereby leave him to journey alone in an opposite direction.

He made his new resolution known to the pilgrims, and imparted to them the dream, viz., ’Go not to Shiraaz, where thou shalt not find profit or pleasure, but bend thy steps towards Kraabaallah.  His companions laughed at his wild scheme, and as their minds were fixed on Shiraaz, they would have persuaded Meer Hadjee Shah to accompany them; but, no, his dream prevailed over every other argument, and he set out accompanied by two poor Syaads and fifteen mendicant pilgrims, embarking at Kungoon on a small vessel for Bushire, which by a favourable wind they reached on the third day.  Here they first learned the distressing intelligence that the plague had raged with frightful consequences to the population; and during their few days’ sojourn at Busserah, he says, many victims fell by that awful visitation.  The city itself was in sad disorder, business entirely suspended, and many of the richer inhabitants had fled from the scene of terror and dismay.  No accommodation for travellers within his means could be procured by Meer Hadjee Shah, and he was constrained to set out on foot with his companions, after providing themselves with provisions for a few days.

Unused to walk any great distance of late, and the effects of the short voyage not being entirely removed, he grew weary ere the first day’s march was ended; ‘But here’, he says, ’I found how kind my Creator was to me, who put it into the hearts of my companions to take it by turns to carry me, until we arrived within sight of Feringhee Bargh[7] (Foreigners’ Garden), where we found many of the healthy inhabitants from Bushire had, with permission, taken refuge, some in tents, others without a shelter; and in their haste to flee from danger, had forsaken all their possessions, and neglected provision for present comfort; a change of garments even had been forgotten in their haste to escape from the pestilential city.

‘Never’, he says, ’shall I forget the confusion presented at this place nor the clamorous demands upon us, whom they esteemed religious men, for our prayers and intercessions that the scourge might be removed from them.  I could not help thinking and expressing also, “How ready weak mortals are to supplicate for God’s help when death or affliction approaches their threshold, who in prosperity either forget Him entirely or neglect to seek Him or to obey His just commands.”