 Section Zero of A Year Amongst the Persians by Edward Granville Brown. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Nicholas James Bridgewater. A year amongst the Persians, impressions as to the life, character and thought of the people of Persia received during 12 months residence in that country in the years 1887 to 8 by Edward Granville Brown. Section Zero, Exordium, dedicated to the Persian reader only. In the name of God, the Merciful, the Forgiving. Praise be to God, the Maker of land and sea, the Lord of be, and it shall be. Quran 2, 111, 342, etc. Who brought me forth from the place of my birth, obedient to his saying, journey through the earth. Quran 6, 11, 2771, etc. Who guarded me from the dangers of the way, with the shield of no fear shall come upon them, and no dismay. Quran 236, 59, 106, etc. Who caused me to accomplish my quest, and thereafter to return and rest, after I had beheld the wonders of the east and of the west. But afterwards, thus saith the humblest and unworthiest of his servants, who leased the serveth his bounty, and most needeth his clemency, may God forgive his failing, and heal his ailing, when from Kermon and the confines of Bam, I had returned again to the city on the Cam, and ceased for a while to wander, and began to muse and ponder, on the lands where I had been, and the marvels I had therein seen, and how in pursuit of knowledge I had foregone the calm seclusion of college, and through days warm and weary, and nights dark and dreary, now hungry and now a thirst, I had tasted of the best and of the worst, experiencing hot and cold, and holding converse with young and old, and had climbed the mountain and crossed the waste, now slowly, and now with haste, until I had made an end of toil, and set my foot upon my native soil, then wishful to impart the gain, which I had won with labour and harvested with pain, for travel is travail, say the sages. So Burton has well translated the Arabic proverb, travel is a portion of hellfire, I resolve to write these pages, and taking ink and pen to impart to my fellow men what I had witnessed and understood of things evil and good. Now seeing that to fail and fall is the fate of all, and to claim exemption from the lot of humanity a proof of pride and vanity, and somewhat of mercy our common need therefore lets such as read and errors detect, either ignore and neglect or correct and conceal them, rather than revile and reveal them. For he is lenient who is wise, and from his brother's failings averts his eyes, being loath to hurt or harm, nay meeting bane with balm. Vassalom. End of Section Zero, recording by Nicholas James Bridgewater, recorded in London, England. Section One of A Year Amongst the Persians by Edward Granville Brown. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Nicholas James Bridgewater. A Year Amongst the Persians by Edward Granville Brown. Section One. Chapter One, Introductory. Science is twofold, theology and medicine. I have so often been asked how I first came to occupy myself with the study of eastern languages, that I have decided to devote the opening chapter of this book to answering this question, and to describing as succinctly as possible the process by which, not without difficulty and occasional discouragement, I succeeded ere I ever set foot in Persia in obtaining a sufficient mastery over the Persian tongue to enable me to employ it with some facility as an instrument of conversation, and to explore with pleasure and profit the enchanted realms of its vast and varied literature. I have not arrived at this decision without some hesitation and misgiving, for I do not wish to obtrude myself unnecessarily on the attention of my readers, and one can hardly be autobiographical without running the risk of being egotistical. But then the same thing applies with equal force to all descriptions intended for publication of any part of one's personal experiences, such for instance as one's own travels. Believing that the observations, impressions and experiences of my 12 months sojourn in Persia during the years 1887-8 may be of interest to others besides myself I have at length determined to publish them. It is too late now to turn squeamish about the use of the pronoun of the first person. I will be as sparing of its use as I can, but use it I must. I might indeed have given to this book the form of a systematic treatise on Persia, a plan which for some time I did actually entertain, but against this plan three reasons finally decided me. Firstly, that my publishers expressed a preference for the narrative form, which they believed would render the book more readable. Secondly, that for the more ambitious project of writing a systematic treatise I did not feel myself prepared and could not prepare myself without the expenditure of time only to be obtained by the sacrifice of other work which seemed to me of greater importance. Thirdly, that the recent publication of the honourable G. N. Curson's encyclopedic work on Persia will for some time to come prevent any similar attempt on the part of anyone else who is not either remarkably rash or exceedingly well informed. Moreover, the question what first made you take up Persian when addressed to an Englishman who is neither engaged in nor destined for an Eastern career deserves an answer. In France, Germany or Russia such a question would hardly be asked, but in England a knowledge of Eastern languages is no stepping stone to diplomatic employment in Eastern countries. And though there exist in the universities and the British Museum posts more desirable than this to the student of Oriental languages, such posts are few and when vacant, hotly competed for. In spite of every discouragement there are, I rejoice to say, almost every year a few young Englishmen who actuated solely by love of knowledge and desire to extend the frontiers of science in a domain which still contains vast tracts of unexplored country devote themselves to this study. To them too often have I had to repeat the words of warning given to me by my honoured friend and teacher, the late Dr William Wright, an Arabic scholar whom not Cambridge or England only, but Europe mourns with heartfelt sorrow and remembers with legitimate pride. It was in the year 1884, so far as I remember, I was leaving Cambridge with mingled feelings of sorrow and of hope. Sorrow because I was to bid farewell forever, as I then expected, to the university and the college to which I owe a debt of gratitude beyond the power of words to describe. Hope because the honours I had just gained in the Indian languages' tripos made me sanguine of obtaining some employment, which would enable me to pursue with advantage and success a study to which I was devotedly attached and which even medicine for which I was then destined with all its charms and far-reaching interests could not rival in my affections. This hope in answer to an inquiry as to what I intended to do on leaving Cambridge I one day confided to Dr Wright. No one as I well knew could better sympathise with it or gauge its chances of fulfilment. And from no one could I look for kinder, wiser and more prudent counsel. And this was the advice he gave me. If, said he, you have private means which render you independent of a profession, then pursue your oriental studies and fear not that they will disappoint you or fail to return you a rich reward of happiness and honour. But if you cannot afford to do this and are obliged to consider how you may earn a livelihood then devote yourself wholly to medicine and abandon, save as a relaxation for your leisure moments the pursuit of oriental letters. The posts for which such knowledge will fit you are few and, for the most part, poorly endowed. Neither can you hope to obtain them till you have worked and waited for many years. And from the government you must look for nothing for it has long shown and still continues to show an increasing in disposition to offer the slightest encouragement to the study of Eastern languages. A rare piece of good fortune has in my case falsified a prediction of which Dr. Wright himself, though I knew it not till long afterwards, did all in his power to avert the accomplishment. But in general it still holds true and I write these words not for myself but for those young English orientalists whose disappointments, struggles and unfulfilled though legitimate hopes I have so often been compelled to watch with keen but impotent sorrow and sympathy. Often I reflect with bitterness that England though more directly interested in the East than any other European country save Russia not only offers less encouragement to her sons to engage in the study of Oriental languages than any other great European nation but can find no employment even for those few who not withstanding every discouragement are impelled by their own inclination to this study and who by diligence, zeal and natural aptitude attain proficiency therein. How different is it in France? There, not to mention the more academic and purely scientific courses of lectures on Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, Zand, Pahlavi, Persian, Sanskrit and on Egyptian, Assyrian and Semitic Archaeology and Philology delivered regularly by savants of European reputation at the Collège de France and the Sorbonne, all of which lectures are freely open to persons of either sex and any nationality. There is a special school of Oriental languages now within a year or two of its centenary where practical instruction of the best imaginable kind is given also gratuitously by European professors assisted in most cases by native repetitors in literary and colloquial Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Malay, Javanese, Armenian, modern Greek, Chinese, Japanese, Anemite, Hindustani, Tamil, Russian and Romanian as well as in the geography, history and jurisprudence of the states of the extreme east. To these lectures, the best I repeat without fear of contradiction which can be imagined any student, French or foreign, is admitted free of charge and any student who has followed them diligently for three years and passed the periodical examinations to the satisfaction of his teachers provided that he be a French subject may confidently reckon on receiving sooner or later from the government such employment as his tastes, training and attainments have fitted him for. The manifold advantages of this admirable system alike to the state and the individual must be obvious to the most obtuse and need no demonstration. All honour to France for the signal services which she has rendered to the cause of learning may she long maintain that position of eminence in science which she has so nobly won and which she so deservedly occupies and to us English too may she become in this respect at least an exemplar and a pattern. Now, having unburdened my mind on this matter I will recount briefly how I came to devote myself to the study of Oriental languages. I was originally destined to become an engineer and therefore partly because at any rate 16 years ago the teaching of the modern side was still in a most rudimentary state partly because I most eagerly desired emancipation from a life entirely uncongenial to me I left school at the age of 15 and a half with little knowledge and less love of Latin and Greek. I have since then learned better to appreciate the value of these languages and to regret the slenderness of my classical attainments yet the method according to which they are generally taught in English public schools is so unattractive and in my opinion so inefficient that had I been subjected to it much longer I should probably have come to loathe all foreign languages and to shudder at the very sight of a grammar. It is a good thing for the student of a language to study its grammar when he has learned to read and understand it just as it is a good thing for an artist to study the anatomy of the human body when he has learned to sketch a figure or catch the expression of a face but for one to seek to obtain a mastery over a language by learning rules of accidents and syntax is as though he should regard the dissecting room as the single and sufficient portal of entrance to the academy How little a knowledge of grammar has to do with the facility in the use of language is shown by the fact that comparatively few have studied the grammar of that language over which they have the greatest mastery while amongst all the Latin and Greek scholars in this country those who could make an extemporary speech dash off an impromptu note or carry on a sustained conversation in either language are in a small minority then amongst other evil things connected with it is the magnificent contempt for all non-English systems of pronunciation which the ordinary public school system of teaching Latin and Greek encourages granted that the pronunciation of Greek is very different in the Athens of today from what it was in the time of Plato or Euripides and that Cicero would not understand or would understand with difficulty the Latin of the Vatican does it follow that both languages should be pronounced exactly like English of all spoken tongues the most anomalous in pronunciation? What should we think of a Chinaman who because he was convinced that the pronunciation of English in the 14th century differed widely from that of the 19th deliberately elected to read Chaucer with the accent and intonation of Chinese? If Latin and Greek alone were concerned it would not so much matter but the influence of this doctrine of Pan-Anglican pronunciation too often extends to French and German as well the spirit engendered by it is finally displayed in these two sayings which I remember to have heard repeated anyone can understand English if they choose provided you talk loud enough always mistrust an Englishman who talks French like a Frenchman apart from the general failure to invest the books read with any human historical or literary interest or to treat them as expressions of the thoughts feelings and aspirations of our fellow creatures instead of as grammatical treadmills there is another reason why the public school system of teaching languages commonly fails to impart much useful knowledge of them when any intelligent being who is a free agent wishes to obtain an efficient knowledge of a foreign language as quickly as possible how does he proceed? he begins with an easy text and first obtains the general sense of each sentence and the meaning of each particular word from his teacher in default of a teacher he falls back on the best available substitute namely a good translation and a dictionary looking out words in a dictionary is however mere waste of time if their meaning can be ascertained in any other way so that he will use this means only when compelled to do so having ascertained the meaning of each word he will note it down either in the margin of the book or elsewhere so that he may not have to ask it or look it out again then he will read the passage which he has thus studied over and over again if possible allowed so that the tongue, ear and mind may be simultaneously familiarized with the new instrument of thought and communication of which he desires to possess himself until he perfectly understands the meaning without mentally translating it into English and until the foreign words no longer strange evoke in his mind not their English equivalents but the ideas which they can note this is the proper way to learn a language and it is opposed at almost every point to the public school method which regards the use of cribs as a deadly sin and substitutes passing and construing for reading and understanding not withstanding all this I am well aware that the advocates of this method have in their armory another and more potent argument a boy does not go to school say they to learn Latin and Greek but to learn to confront disagreeable duties with equanimity and to do what is distasteful to him with cheerfulness to this I have nothing to say it is unanswerable and final if boys are sent to school to learn what the word disagreeable means and to realise that the most tedious monotony is perfectly compatible with the most acute misery and that the most assiduous labour if it be not wisely directed does not necessarily secure the attainment of the object ostensibly aimed at then indeed does the public school offer the surest means of attaining this end the most wretched day of my life except the day when I left college was the day I went to school during the earlier portion of my school life I believed that I nearly fathomed the possibilities of human misery and despair I learned then what I am thankful to say I have unlearned since to be a pessimist, a misanthrope and a cynic and I have learned since what I did not understand then that to know by rote a quantity of grammatical rules is in itself not much more useful than to know how often each letter of the alphabet occurs in paradise lost or how many separate stones went to the building of the great pyramid many of my readers even those who may be inclined to agree with me as to the desirability of modifying the teaching of our public schools will blame me for expressing myself so strongly the value of a public school education in the development of character cannot be denied and in the teaching also great improvements have I believe been made within the last 10 or 15 years but as far as my own experience goes I do not feel that I have spoken at all too strongly it was the Turkish war with Russia in 1877-8 that first attracted my attention to the east about which till that time I had known and cared nothing to the young war is always interesting and I watched the progress of this struggle with eager attention at first my proclivities were by no means for the Turks but the losing side more especially when it continues to struggle gallantly against defeat always has a claim on our sympathy and moreover the cant of the anti-Turkish party in England and the wretched attempts to confound questions of abstract justice with party politics disgusted me beyond measure near the close of the war I would have died to save Turkey and I mourned the fall of Plevna as though it had been a disaster inflicted on my own country and so gradually pity turned to admiration and admiration to enthusiasm until the Turks became in my eyes veritable heroes and the desire to identify myself with their cause make my dwelling amongst them and unite with them in the defence of their land possessed me heart and soul at the age of sixteen such enthusiasm more easily establishes itself in the heart and while it lasts for it often fades as quickly as it bloomed exercises a more absolute and uncontrolled sway over the mind than at a more advanced age even though it be transitory its effects as in my case may be permanent so now my whole ambition came to be this how I might become in time an officer in the Turkish army and the plan which I proposed to myself was to enter first the English army to remain there till I had learned my profession and attained the rank of captain then to resign my commission and enter the service of the Ottoman government which as I understood gave a promotion of two grades so while the project will doubtless move many of my readers to mirth and some to indignation but such as it was it was for a time paramount in my mind and its influence outlived it its accomplishment however evidently needed time and as my enthusiasm demanded some immediate object I resolved at once to begin the study of the Turkish language few of my readers probably have had occasion to embark on this study or even to consider what steps they would take if a desire to do so suddenly came upon them I may therefore here remark that for one not resident in the metropolis it is far from easy to discover anything about the Turkish language and almost impossible to find a teacher however after much seeking and many inquiries I succeeded in obtaining a copy of Barker's Turkish grammar into this I plunged with enthusiasm I learned Turkish verbs in the old school fashion and blundered through the pleasantries of Hoca Nasruddin Effendi but so ignorant was I and so involved is the Ottoman construction that it took me some time to discover that the language is written from right to left while true to the Pan Anglican system on which I have already animadverted I read my Turkish as though it had been English pronouncing for example the article bir and the substantive bear exactly the same as though both instead of neither rhymed with the English words fer and fer and so I bungled on for a while making slow but steady progress and wasting much time but with undiminished enthusiasm for which I was presently rewarded by discovering a teacher this was an Irish clergyman who had, I believe, served as a private in the Crimean War, picked up some Turkish attracted attention by his proficiency in a language of which very few Englishmen have any knowledge and so gained employment as an interpreter after the war he was ordained as a clergyman of the Church of England and remained for some years at Constantinople as a missionary I do not know how his work prospered but if he succeeded in winning from the Turks half the sympathy and love with which they inspired him his success must have been great indeed when I discovered him he had a cure of souls in the Concet Iron District having been driven from his last parish by the resentment of his flock wigs almost to a man which he had incurred by venturing publicly to defend the Turks at a time when they were at the very nadir of unpopularity and when the outcry about the Bulgarian atrocities was at its height so the very religious and humane persons who composed his congregation announced to his vicar their intention of withdrawing their subscriptions and support from the Church so long as the boshi bozuk such as he informed me not without a certain pride was the name they had given him occupied his pulpit so there was nothing for it but that he should go isolated in the uncongenial environment to which he was transferred he was I think almost as eager to teach me Turkish as I was to learn it and many a pleasant hour did I pass in his little parlour listening with inexhaustible delight to the anecdotes of his life in Constantinople which he loved to tell peace be to his memory he died in Africa once more engaged in mission work not long after I went to Cambridge end of section one recording by Nicholas James Bridgewater recorded in London, England section two of a year amongst the Persians by Edward Granville Brown this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Nicholas James Bridgewater a year amongst the Persians by Edward Granville Brown section two one of the incidental charms of Orientalism is the kindness and sympathy often shown by scholars of the greatest distinction and the highest attainments to the young beginner even when he has no introduction save the password of a common and much loved pursuit of this I can recall many instances but it is sufficient to mention the first in my experience expecting to be in or within reach of London for a time I was anxious to improve the occasion by prosecuting my Turkish studies for the Boshi Bozuk had recently left concert for Hull and to this end wished to find a proficient teacher as I knew not how else to set about this I finally and somewhat audaciously determined to write to the late Sir James then Mr Red House whose name the study of his valuable writings on the Ottoman language had made familiar to me as that of a patron saint asking for his advice and help this letter I addressed to the care of his publishers and in a few days I received an intense delight a most kind reply in which he the first Turkish scholar in Europe probably not only gave me all the information I required but invited me to pay him a visit whenever I came to London an invitation of which as maybe readily believed I availed myself at the earliest possible opportunity and so gradually I came to know others who were able and willing to help me in my studies including several Turkish gentlemen attached to the Ottoman Embassy in London from some of whom I received no little kindness but if my studies prospered it was otherwise with the somewhat chimerical project in which they had originated my father did not wish me to enter the army but proposed medicine as an alternative to engineering as the former profession seemed more compatible with my aspirations than the latter I eagerly accepted his offer a few days after this decision had been arrived at he consulted an eminent physician who was one of his oldest friends as to my future education if you wanted to make your son a doctor said my father where would you send him and the answer given without a moment's hesitation was to Cambridge so to Cambridge I went in October 1879 which date marks for me the beginning of a new and most happy era of life for I suppose that a man who cannot be happy at the university must be incapable of happiness here my medical studies occupied of course the major part of my time and attention and that right pleasantly for apart from their intrinsic interest the teaching was masterly and even subjects at first repellent can be made attractive when taught by a master possessed of grasp eloquence and enthusiasm just as a teacher who lacks these qualities will make the most interesting subjects appear devoid of charm yet still I found time to devote to eastern languages Turkish it is true was not then to be had at Cambridge but I had already discovered that for further progress in this some knowledge of Arabic and Persian was requisite and to these I determined to turn my attention during my first year I therefore began to study Arabic with the late professor Palmer whose extraordinary and varied abilities are too well known to need any celebration on my part no man had a higher ideal of knowledge in the matter of languages and as I believe sounder views as to the method of learning them these views I have already set forth substantially and summarily and I will therefore say no more about them in this place save that I absorb them greedily and derived from them no small advantage learning by their application more of Arabic in one term then I had learned of Latin or Greek during five and a half years and this notwithstanding the fact that I could devote to it only a small portion of my time I began Persian in the long vacation of 1880 neither professor Palmer nor professor Cowell was resident in Cambridge at that time but I obtained the assistance of an undergraduate of Indian nationality who though the son of Hindu parents converted to Christianity had an excellent knowledge not only of Persian and Sanskrit but of Arabic to this knowledge which was my admiration and envy he for his part seemed to attach little importance all his pride was in playing the fiddle on which so far as I could judge he was a very indifferent performer but as it gave him pleasure to have a listener a kind of tacit understanding grew up that when he had helped me for an hour to read the Golestan I in return should sit and listen for a while to his fiddling which I did with such appearance of pleasure as I could command for two years after this that is to say till I took my degree such work as I did in Persian and Arabic was done chiefly by myself though I managed to run up to London for an afternoon once a fortnight or so for a Turkish lesson till the Lent term of 1881 when the paramount claims of that most exacting of taskmasters the river took from me for some weeks the right to call my afternoons my own and when the Lent races were over I had to think seriously about my approaching tripos while a promise made to me by my father that if I succeeded in passing both it and the examination for the second MB at the end of my third year that is in June 1882 I should spend two months of the succeeding long vacation in Constantinople determined me to exert all my efforts to win this dazzling bribe this resolution cost me a great deal but I was amply rewarded for my self-denial when in July 1882 I at length beheld the minarets of Stamble and heard the Muesin call the true believers to prayer I have heard people express themselves as disappointed with Constantinople I suppose that wherever one goes one sees in great measure what one expects to see because there is good and evil in all things and the eye discerns but one when the mind is occupied by a preconceived idea but I at least suffered no disenchantment and returned to England with my enthusiasm for the East not merely undiminished but if possible intensified the two succeeding years were years of undiluted pleasure for I was still at Cambridge and was now able to devote my whole time to the study of oriental languages as I intended to become a candidate for the Indian languages tripos in 1884 I was obliged to begin the study of Hindustani a language from which I never could succeed in deriving much pleasure during this period I became acquainted with a very learned but very eccentric old Persian Mirza Mohammed Borgher of Bavarnat in Fars so named Ebrahim Jaune Moattar having wandered through half the world learned and learned well half a dozen languages and being successively a Shiite Mohammedan a dervish, a Christian an atheist and a Jew he had finished by elaborating a religious system of his own which he called Islamo Christianity to the celebration I can hardly say the elucidation of which in English tracts and Persian poems composed in the most bizarre style he devoted the greater part of his time, talents and money he was in every way the most remarkable man and one it was impossible not to respect and like in spite of his appalling locacity his unreason his disputatiousness his utter impracticability I never saw anyone who lived so entirely in a fantastic ideal world of his own creation he was totally indifferent to his own temporal interests, cared nothing for money, personal comfort or the favor of the powerful and often alienated his acquaintances by violent attacks on their most cherished beliefs and drove away his friends by the ceaseless torrent of his eloquence he lived in a squalid little room in Limehouse surrounded by piles of dusty books, mostly theological treatises in Persian and Arabic with a sprinkling of Hebrew and English volumes amongst which last, Carlisle's Sartor Re Sartus and Heroes and Hero Worship occupied the place of honor of these however he made but little use for he generally wrote when alone and talked when he could get anyone to listen to him I tried to persuade him to read with me those portions of the Masnavi and the Divan of Harfers set for my examination and offered to immunerate him for his trouble but this plan failed on its first trial we had not read for 20 minutes when he suddenly pushed away the Harfers dragged out from a drawer in the rickety little table a pile of manuscript and said I like my own poetry better than this and if you want me to teach you Persian you must learn it as I please I don't want your money but I do want you to understand my thoughts about religion you can understand Harfers by yourself but you cannot understand my poetry unless I explain it to you this was certainly true allusions to grotesque visions in which figured grass eating lions bears, yellow demons Gog and Magog crusaders and Hebrew and Arab patriarchs saints and warriors were jumbled up with current politics personal reminiscences rabbinic legends mystical rhapsodies prophecies old Persian mythology Old Testament theology and Quranic exegesis in a manner truly bewildering the whole being clothed in a Persian so quaint so obscure and so replete with rare dialectical and foreign words that many verses were incomprehensible even to educated Persians for the most part the little son of London Shomei Sey el-Andaniye so he called the longest of his published poems was a source of terror one of my Persian friends for I made acquaintance about this time with several young Persians who were studying in London would never consent to visit me unless he had received an assurance that the poet prophet philosopher of Bavarnat would be out of the way I however by dint of long listening and much patience not without some weariness learned from him much that was of value to me besides the correct Persian pronunciation for I had originally acquired from my Indian friend the erroneous and unlovely pronunciation current in India which I now abandoned with all possible speed believing the French of Paris to be preferable to the French of Stratford at Bow towards the end of 1884 Mirza Borgair left London for the East with his surviving children a daughter of about 18 and a son of about 10 years of age both of whom had been brought up away from him from Christian religion and neither of whom knew any language but English the girls failing health for she was threatened with consumption was the cause of his departure I had just left Cambridge and entered at St Bartholomew's hospital where I found my time and energies fully occupied with my new work tired as I often was however when I got away from the wards I had to make almost daily pilgrimages to Lime House where I often remained till nearly midnight for Mirza Borgair refused to leave London till I had finished reading a versified commentary on the Quran on which he had been engaged for some time and of which he wished to bestow the manuscript on me as a keepsake daughter will die said he as the doctors tell me unless she leaves for Beirut in a short time and it is you who prevent me from taking her there for I will not leave London until you have understood my book argument was useless with such a visionary so willing or no I had to spend every available hour in the little room at Lime House ever on the watch to check the interminable digressions to which the reading of the poem continually gave rise at last it was finished and the very next day if I remember rightly Mirza Borgair started with his children for the East I never saw him again though I continued to correspond with him so long as he was at Beirut whence I think he was finally expelled by the Ottoman government as a firebrand menacing the peace of the community he then went with his son to Persia his daughter had died previously at Beirut whence news of his death reached me a year or two ago and now for three years from 1984 to 87 it was only an occasional leisure hour that I could snatch from my medical studies for a chat with my Persian friends who though they knew English well for the most part were kind enough to talk for my benefit their own language or for quiet communing in the cool vaulted reading room of the British Museum with my favourite Sufi writers whose mystical idealism which had long since cast its spell over my mind now supplied me with a powerful antidote against the pessimistic tendencies evoked by the daily contemplation of misery and pain this period was far from being an unhappy one for my work, if hard was full of interest and if in the hospital I saw much that was sad much that made me wonder at man's clinging to life since to the vast majority life seemed but a succession of pains struggles and sorrows on the other hand I saw much to strengthen my faith in the goodness and nobility of human nature never before or since have I realised so clearly the immortality greatness and virtue of the spirit of man or the misery of its earthly environment it seemed to me like a prince in rags ignorant alike of his birth and his rights but to whom is reserved a glorious heritage no wonder then that the pantheistic idealism of the Masnavi took hold of me or that such words as these of Hafez thrilled me to the very soul Tauraw Zikungariye Arsh Meezanan Safir Nadaw Namat Kidar Chauk Daon Tawdast they are calling to thee from the pinnacles of the throne of god I know not what hath befallen thee in this dust heap the world even my medical studies strange as it may appear favoured the development of this habit of mind for physiology when it does not encourage materialism encourages mysticism and nothing so much tends to shake one's faith in the reality of the objective world as the examination of certain of the subjective phenomena of mental and nervous disorders but now this period too was drawing to a close and my dreams of visiting Persia even when their accomplishment seemed most unlikely were rapidly approaching fulfilment the hopes with which I had left Cambridge had been damped by repeated disappointments I had thought that the knowledge I had acquired in Persian, Turkish and Arabic might enable me to find employment in the consular service but had learned from Kurt official letters referring me to printed official regulations that this was not so that these languages were not recognised as subjects of examination and that not they but German Greek, Spanish and Italian were the qualifications by which one might hope to become a consul in western Asia the words of Dr. Wright's warning came back to me and I acknowledged their justice to my professional studies I felt and not my linguistic attainments must I look to earn my livelihood I had passed my final examinations at the College of Surgeons the College of Physicians and the University of Cambridge received from the two former with a sense of exaltation which I well remember the diplomas authorizing me to practice and was beginning to consider what my next step should be when the luck of which I had despaired came to me at last returning to my rooms on the evening of May 30th 1887 I found a telegram lying on the table I opened it with indifference which changed in the moment I grasped its purport to ecstatic joy I had that day been elected a fellow of my college end of section 2 end of chapter 1 introductory recording by Nicholas James Bridgewater recorded in London England section 3 of a year amongst the Persians by Edward Granville Brown this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Nicholas James Bridgewater a year amongst the Persians by Edward Granville Brown section 3 chapter 2 from England to the Persian Frontier and I know not when bound for the land of my quest if my portion shall be the good which I hope for and seek or the evil that seeketh for me so at last I was ready to go to Persia about that there could be no question so at last I was ready to go to Persia about that there could be no question for I had long determined to go if I got the chance and now not only had the opportunity come but in view of the probability that the university would soon require a resident teacher of Persian I was urged by my friends at Cambridge to spend the first year of my fellowship in the way which would best qualify me for this post yet as the time for my departure approached a strange shrinking from this journey which I had so much desired a shrinking to which I look back with shame and wonder and for which I can in no wise account took possession of me it arose partly I suppose from the sudden reaction unexpected good fortune will at times produce partly if not from ill health at least from that lowering of the vitality which results from hard work and lack of exercise and fresh air partly also from the worry inseparable from the preparations for a long journey into regions little known but whatever its cause it did much to mar my happiness at a time when I had no excuse for being otherwise than happy at length however it came to an end bewildered by conflicting councils as to the equipment which I should need and the root which I had best take I at last settled the matter by booking my passage from Marseille to Batoum at the London office of the messagerie Maritimes and by adding to the two small portmanteaus into which I had compressed so much clothing as appeared absolutely indispensable nothing but a Woolsey valise a saddle and a bridle a pith hat which was broken to pieces long before the summer came round a small medicine chest a few surgical instruments a revolver a box of a hundred cartridges a few books a passport with the Russian and Turkish visas and a money belt containing about 200 pounds in gold, paper and circular notes at the last moment I was joined by an old college friend H who having just completed a term of office at the hospital was desirous to travel and whose proposal to join me I welcomed he was my companion as far as Tehran where as I desired to travel for a while and he to proceed we were obliged to separate we had booked our passage as I have said to Batoum intending to take the train thence to Baku and so by the Caspian to Rasht in Persia for this route unquestionably the shortest and easiest I had from the first felt little liking my own wish being to enter Persia through Turkey either by way of Damascus and Baghdad or of Trebizond and Eirze Rum I had suffered myself to be persuaded against my inclinations which I think where no question of principle is involved is always a mistake for the longer and harder way of one's own choosing is preferable to the shorter and easier way chosen by another and so as soon as I was withdrawn from the influences which had temporarily overcome my own judgement and inclination I began to repent of having adopted an uncongenial plan and to consider whether even now at this 11th hour it was not possible to change the sight of the Turkish shore and the sound of the Turkish tongue for we stayed two days at Constantinople went to Trebizond the deck of the steamer was crowded with Turks and Persians with whom I spent the greater part of each day in conversing swept away my last scruples as to the wisdom of thus reversing at the outset a decision which had been fully discussed I consulted with H who raised no objection and we decided on reaching Trebizond where the steamer anchored on 4th October to inquire at the British consulate as to the safety and practicability of the old caravan road leading thence into Central Asia and if the report were favourable to adopt that route there was a heavy swell in the open roadstead and the wind which rolled back the rain clouds on the green thickly wooded hills seemed to be rising as we clambered into one of the clumsy boats which hovered round the steamer to go ashore nor had the gruff old captain's answer to my inquiry as to how long the steamer would lie there tended to reassure me if the wind gets up much more he had said I may start at any time and if we are unsure I demanded how shall we know that you are starting vous me verrez partir voilà tout he replied and with a shrug of his shoulders walked off to his cabin so I was somewhat uneasy in my mind last while we were conducting our inquiries on shore the steamer might put out to see bearing with it all our worldly goods this disquieting reflection was dispelled by the shock of the boat striking against the little wooden jetty we stepped out and found ourselves confronted by one of the Turkish police who demanded our passports these had not been presented as theoretically they should have been at Constantinople for a fresh visa and I feared we might consequently have some trouble in landing however I assumed an air of confident alacrity produced the passports and pointed to the seal of the Turkish consulate given in London as the visa to which this was attached was in French the officer was not much the wiser and after scrutinizing the passports which he held upside down with a critical air he returned them and stood aside to let us pass and this is typical of Turkey where the laws those theoretically stringent are not practically troublesome in which point it has the advantage over Russia provided by a boy belonging to our boat we ascended through narrow tortuous streets to the British consulate where though unprovided with recommendations we received from the consul Mr. Longworth that courteous and kindly welcome which to their honor be it said Englishman and indeed other Europeans as well as Americans resident in the Turkish and Persian dominions seldom fail to give the traveller in reply to our inquiries he told us that the road to the Persian frontier was perfectly safe and that we should have no difficulty in hiring horses or mules to convey us to Erzerum whence we could easily engage others for the journey to Tabriz he also kindly offered to send his dragamon Armenian gentleman named Hekimyan to assist us in clearing our baggage at the custom house so we returned to the steamer to bring it ashore as we pushed our way through the deck passengers to the side of the ship some of my Persian acquaintances called out to me to tell them why I was disembarking and whether I was going and on learning my intention of taking the old caravan rode through Erzerum they cried oh dear soul it will take you three months to get to Tehran thus if indeed you get there at all why have you thus made your road difficult but the step was taken now and I paid no heed to their words the custom house thanks to the aegis of the British consulate dealt very gently with us we were even asked if I remember right which of our packages we should prefer to have opened H's Wallsley valise was selected but we forgot that his rifle had been rolled up in it the Turkish excisemen stroked their chins a little at this site for firearms are contraband but said nothing when this form of examination was over we thanked the mudir or superintendent for his courtesy gave a few small coins to his subordinates and with the help of two or three sturdy porters transported our luggage to the one hotel which Trebizond possesses it is called the Hotel de Thali and though unpretentious is clean and comfortable during the three days we spent there we had no cause to complain either of being underfed or overcharged next morning our preparations began in earnest Hekimyon was of inestimable service arranging everything and accompanying us everywhere the Russian paper money with which we had provided ourselves for the earlier part of the journey was soon converted into Turkish gold provisions and a few simple cooking utensils and other necessaries were bought in the bazaars and arrangements were concluded with two sturdy muleteers for the journey to Erzerum they on their part agreed to provide us with five horses for ourselves and our baggage to convey us to Erzerum in six or seven days and to do what lay in their power to render the journey pleasant while we were on our part covenanted to pay them six and a quarter Turkish pounds three pounds down and the remainder at Erzerum to which we promised to add a trifle if they gave us satisfaction there remained a more important matter the choice of a servant to accompany us on our journey two candidates presented themselves an honest looking old Turkish cavals of the consulate and a shifty Armenian who on the strength of his alleged skill in cookery demanded exorbitantly high wages we chose the Turk agreeing to pay him one Turkish pound a week to guarantee this payment for six months and to defray his expenses back to Trebizond from any point at which we might finally leave him it was a rash agreement and might have caused us more trouble than it actually did but there seemed to be no better alternative seeing that a servant was an absolute necessity the old Turk's real name was Omar but having regard to the detestation in which this name is held in Persia for he whom Sunait Muhammadan's account the second caliph or successor of the prophet is regarded by the sect of the Shia as the worst of evil doers and usurpers it was decided that he should henceforth bear the more auspicious name of Ali the darling hero of the Persian Shiites the repetition of the following curse on the three first caliphs of the Sunnis is accounted by Persian Shiites as a pious exercise of singular virtue oh god curse Omar then Abu Bakr and Omar then Othman and Omar then Omar then Omar as for our old servant's character viewed in the light of subsequent experience I do him but justice when I express my conviction that a more honest straightforward faithful loyal soul could not easily be found anywhere but on the other hand he was rather fidgety rather obstinate too old to travel in a strange country adapt himself to new surroundings and learn a new language and too simple to cope with the astute and wily Persians whom moreover religious and national prejudices caused him ever to regard with unconquerable aversion this business concluded we had still to get our passports for the interior Hekimion accompanied us to the government offices where while a courteous old Turk entertained me with coffee and conversation a shrewd looking subordinate noted down the details of our personal appearance the spaces reserved for that purpose on the passport I was amused on receiving the document to find my religion described as English and my moustache as fresh, ter but not altogether pleased at the entries in the head and chin columns which respectively were taupe, bullet shaped and deir men round before leaving the government house we paid our respects to Sururi Effendi the governor of Trebizond one of the judges who tried and condemned the wise and patriotic Mithat Pasha he was a fine looking old man and with all courteous but he is reputed to be corrupt and bigoted in the evening at the hotel we made the acquaintance of a mining engineer who had lived for some time in Persia the account which he gave of that country and its inhabitants was far from encouraging I have traveled in many lands he said and have discovered some good qualities in every people with the exception of the Persians in whom I have failed to find a single admirable characteristic their very language bears witness against them and exposes the swordedness of their minds when they wish to thank you they say may your kindness be increased that is may you give me something more and when they desire to support an assertion with an oath they say may your kindness be increased that is may you die if I speak untruly apart from the doubtful justice of judging a people by the idioms of their language it may be pointed out that with regard to the two last expressions they are based on the idea that to swear by one's own life or death that is may you die and to swear by one's own life or death would be to swear by a thing of little value compared to the life or death of a friend and they would be as indifferent to your death as to the truth of their own assertions although we were ready to start on the following day we were prevented from doing so by a steady downpour of rain having completed all our arrangements to visit to the Persian consulate in company with Mr. Longworth in answer to our inquiry as to whether our passports required his visa the Persian consul signified that this was essential and for the sum of one Megidiya a piece endorsed each of them with a lengthy inscription so tastefully executed that it seemed a pity that during the whole period of our sojourn in Persia no one asked to see them though perfectly useless and unnecessary the visa as a specimen of calligraphy was cheap at the price next day, Friday 7th October the rain had ceased and at an early hour we were plunged in the confusion without which as it would seem not even the smallest caravan can start the muleteers who had been urging us to hasten our preparations disappeared so soon as everything was ready when they had been found and brought back it was discovered that no bridle had been provided for H's horse for though both of us had brought saddles from England he had thought that it would be better to use a native bridle eventually one was procured and about 9am we emerged from the little crowd which had been watching our proceedings with a keen interest and rode out of the town our course lay for a little while along the coast until we reached the mouth of the valley of Khosh Oglan which we entered turning to the south the beauty of the day which the late rains had rendered combined with the novelty of the scene and the picturesque appearance of the people whom we met on the road raised our spirits and completely removed certain misgivings as to the wisdom of choosing this route which when it was too late to draw back had taken possession of my mind the horses which we rode were good and leaving the muleteers and baggage behind we pushed on until at 2.30pm we reached the pretty little village of Javizlik the first halting place out of Trebizond here we should have halted for the night but since the muleteers had not informed us of their plans and it was still early we determined to proceed to Khamseky and accordingly continued our course up the beautiful wooded valley towards the pass of Zygona Dolg which gleamed before us white with newly fallen snow during the latter part of the day we fell in with a wild looking horseman who informed me that he like all the inhabitants of Khamseky was a Christian it was quite dark before we reached Khamseky and it took us some little time to find a Khan to rest for the night the muleteers and baggage were far behind and at first it seemed probable that we should have to postpone our supper till their arrival or else do without it altogether however Ali presently succeeded in obtaining some bread and also a few eggs which he fried in oil so that with the whiskey in our flasks we fared better than might have been expected at about 9pm the muleteers arrived and demanded to see me at once they were very tired and very angry because we had not waited for them at Javizlik I did not at first easily understand the cause of their indignation for this was my first experience of this kind of travelling and my ideas about the capacity of horses were rather vague till it was explained to me that at the present rate of proceeding both men and animals would be wearied out long before we reached Erzerum oh my soul said the elder muleteer in conclusion more in sorrow than in anger a fine novice art thou if thou thinkest that these horses can go so swiftly from morning till evening henceforth let us proceed in company at a slower pace by which means we shall all please god reach Erzerum with safety and comfort in seven days even as was agreed between us not much pleased at being thus admonished but compelled to admit the justice of the muleteer's remarks I betook myself to the Woolsey valise which I had after much deliberation selected as the form of bed most suitable for the journey excellent as this contrivance is and invaluable as it proved to be my first night in it was anything but comfortable as I intended to stuff with straw the space left for that purpose beneath the lining I had neglected to bring a mattress straw however was not forthcoming I was therefore painfully conscious of every regularity in the ill-paved floor while the fleas which invest most Turkish hans did not fail on this occasion to welcome the advent of the stranger in spite of these discomforts and the novelty of my surroundings I soon fell fast asleep looking back at those first days of my journey in the light of fuller experience I marvel at the discomforts which we readily endured and even courted by our ignorance and lack of foresight bewildered by conflicting councils as to equipment I had finally resolved to take only what appeared absolutely essential and to reduce our baggage to the smallest possible compass prepared by what I had read in my distant travel to endure discomforts far exceeding any which I was actually called upon to experience I had yet to learn how comfortably one may travel even in countries where the railroad and the hotel are unknown yet I do not regret this experience which at least taught me how few are the necessaries of life and how needless are many of those things which we are accustomed to regard as such indeed I am by no means certain that the absence of many luxuries which we commonly regard as indispensable to our happiness is not fully compensated for by the freedom from care and hurry the continual variety of scenery and costume and the sense of health produced by exposure to the open air which, taken together constitute the irresistible charm of eastern travel on the following morning we were up at times and after a steep ascent of an hour or so reached the summit of the pass of Zygona Dolg which was thickly covered with a dazzling garment of snow here we passed a little which would have been our second resting place had we halted at Cevizlik on the preceding day instead of pushing on to Khamsekyui as it was however we passed it without stopping and commenced the descent to the village of Zygona Kyui where we halted for an hour to rest and refresh ourselves and the horses excellent fruit and coffee were obtainable here and as we had yielded to the quest that we would not separate ourselves from the baggage we had our own provisions as well and all together fared much better than on the previous day after the completion of our meal we proceeded on our journey and towards evening reached the pretty little hamlet of Kyupriboshi situated on a river called from the town of Ardessa through which it flows Ardessa Irmari devoid the luxury of a bath the inhabitants of this delightful spot were few in number peaceable in appearance and totally devoid of that inquisitiveness about strangers which is so characteristic of the Persians although it can hardly be the case that many Europeans pass through their village they scarcely looked at us and asked but few questions as to our business, nationality or destination this lack of curiosity which so far as my experience goes usually characterizes the Turkish peasant extends to all his surroundings inquiries as to the name of a wayside flower or the fate of a traveller whose last resting place was marked by a mound of earth at the roadside were alike met with a half scornful half amused Kimbelir, who knows indicative of surprise on the part of the person addressed at being questioned on a matter in which as it did not concern himself he felt no interest in Persia, more especially in southern Persia it is quite otherwise and whether right or wrong an ingenious answer is usually forthcoming to the travellers inquiries the third day's march took us first through the town of Ardessa and then through the village of Demirci Suyu on emerging from which we were confronted and stopped by two most evil looking individuals armed to the teeth with pistols and daggers my first idea was that they were robbers but on riding forward to ascertain their business I discovered that they were excisemen of a kind called whose business it is to watch for and seize tobacco which does not bear the stamp of the Ottoman Regi it appeared that someone either from malice or a misdirected sense of humour had laid information against us alleging that we had in our possession a quantity of such tobacco a violent altercation took place between the excisemen and our servant Ali whose pockets they insisted on searching and whose tobacco pouch was torn into in the struggle meanwhile the muleteers continued to manifest the most ostentatious eagerness to unload our baggage and submit it to examination until finally by protestations and remonstrances prevailed on the custom house officers to let us pass the cause of the muleteers unnecessary eagerness to open our baggage now became apparent sidling up to my horse one of these honest fellows triumphantly showed me a great bag of smuggled tobacco which he had secreted in his pocket I asked him what he would have done if it had been detected he tapped the stock of a pistol which was thrust into his belt with a sinister and suggestive smile although I could not help being amused at his cool impudence I was far from being reassured by the warlike propensities which this gesture revealed continuing on our way and still keeping near the river we passed one or two old castles situated on rocky heights which we were informed had been built by the Genoese towards noon we entered the valley of Gyumishchane so called from the silver mines which occur in the neighborhood this valley is walled in by steep and rocky cliffs and is barren and arid except near the river which is surrounded by beautiful orchards indeed the pears and apples of Gyumishchane are celebrated throughout the district we passed several prosperous looking villages at one of which we halted for lunch here for the first time I tasted petmez a kind of treacle or syrup made from fruit in Persia this is known as Dushaub or Shire it is not unpalatable and we used occasionally to eat it with boiled rice as a substitute for pudding here also we fell in with a respectable looking Armenian going on foot to Erzerum anyone worse equipped for a journey of 150 miles on foot I never saw he wore a black frock coat and a fez his feet were shod with slippers down at the heels and to protect himself from the heat of the sun he carried a large white umbrella he looked so hot and tired and dusty I was moved to compassion and asked him whether he would not like to ride my horse for a while this offer he gladly accepted where upon I dismounted and walked for a few miles until he announced that he was sufficiently rested and would proceed on foot he was so grateful for this indulgence that he bore us company as far as Erzerum and would readily have followed his father had we encouraged him to do so every day H and myself allowed him to ride for some distance on our horses and the poor man's journey was I trust thereby rendered less fatiguing to him during the latter part of the day our course lay through a most gloomy and desolate valley walled in with red rocks and utterly devoid of trees or verger emerging from this and passing another fine old castle situated on a lofty and precipitous crag we arrived about 5pm at the little hamlet of Tekke where we halted for the night it is rather a miserable place containing several haunts swarming with Persian camel drivers but very few private houses a shallow river which runs near it again enabled us to enjoy the luxury of a bathe our fourth day's march was very dreary lying for the most part the ravines walled in with reddish rocks like that which we had traversed at the end of the previous day's journey in addition to the depressing character of the scene there was a report that robbers were lurking in the neighbourhood and we were consequently joined by several pedestrians all armed to the teeth who sought safety in numbers shortly afternoon we halted at a small roadside in where we obtained some cheese and a not very savoury compound called Kawurma which consists of small square lumps of mutton embedded in fat at 3pm we reached the solitary hawn of Qodarak which was to be our halting place for the night a few Zabteers were lounging about outside which was expected to pass shortly as it was still early I went out into the balcony to write my diary and contemplate the somewhat cheerless view but I was soon interrupted by our Armenian fellow traveller who came to tell me that the Zabteers outside were watching my proceedings with no favourable eye and suspected that I was drawing maps of the country so he advised me either to stop writing or to retire indoors lest my diary should be seized and destroyed whether the Armenians spoke the truth or whether he was merely indulging that propensity to revile the ruling race for which the Christian subjects of the port are conspicuous I had no means of deciding so I thought it best to follow his advice and retire from the balcony and completed my writing our fifth day's march led us through the interesting old Armenian village of Varzahan just before reaching this we passed several horsemen who were engaged in wild and apparently purposeless evolutions accompanied with much firing of guns it appeared that these had come out to welcome the Qaim Maqam of Diaudin who had been dismissed from office and was returning to his native town of Gyumishkhaune and we had scarcely passed them when he appeared in sight met and passed us I wish to examine the curious old churches which still bear witness that Varzahan notwithstanding its present decayed condition must formally be the place of some importance our Armenian fellow traveler offered to conduct me and I was glad to avail myself of his guidance after I had examined the strange construction of the churches the Armenian inscriptions cut here and there on their walls and the tombstones which surrounded them amongst which were several carved in the form of a sheep my companion suggested that we should try and obtain some refreshment although I was anxious to overtake our caravan I yielded to his importunity and followed him into a large and dimly lighted room to which we only obtained admission after prolonged knocking the door was at length opened by an old man with whom my companion reversed for a while in Armenian after he had bidden me to be seated presently several other men all armed to the teeth entered the room and seated themselves by the door a considerable time elapsed and still no signs of food appeared the annoyance which I felt at this useless delay gradually gave way to a vague of alarm this was heightened by the fact that I was unable to comprehend the drift of the conversation which was still carried on in Armenian I began to wonder whether I had been enticed into a trap where I could be robbed at leisure and to speculate on the chances of escape or resistance in case such an attempt should be made I could not but feel that these were slender for I had no weapon except a small pocket revolver five or six armed men sat by the heavy wooden door which had been closed and for anything that I knew bolted and even should I succeed in affecting an exit I knew that our caravan must have proceeded a considerable distance my apprehensions were however relieved by the appearance of a bowl of yoghurt curds and a quantity of the insipid wafer-like bread called lavosh having eaten we rose to go and when my companion whom I had suspected of harboring such sinister designs against my property and perhaps my life refused to let me pay for our refreshment I was filled with shame at my unwarranted suspicions on emerging once more into the road I found the faithful Ali patiently awaiting me perhaps he too had been doubtful of the honesty of the Armenian villagers at any rate he had refused to proceed without me about 2pm we arrived at the town of Beiburt and found that H and the muleteers had already taken up their quarters at a clean and well-built khan owned by one Khalil Effendi we at once proceeded to explore the town which lies at the foot of a hill surmounted by an old fortress being too lazy to climb this hill we contented ourselves with strolling through the bazaars which formed so important a feature of every eastern town and affords so sure an index of the degree of prosperity which it enjoys we were accompanied by the indefatigable Armenian who, thinking to give me pleasure exerted himself to collect a crowd of Persians mostly natives of Huy and Tabriz whom he incited to converse with me a throng of idlers soon gathered round us to gaze and gape at our unfamiliar aspect and dress which some, bolder or less polite than the rest stretched out their hands to finger and feel anxious to escape I took refuge in a barber's shop and demanded a shave but the crowd again assembled outside the open window and continued to watch the proceeding with sustained interest meanwhile Ali had not been idle and on our return to the Khan we enjoyed better fare as well as better quarters than had fallen to our lot since we left Trebizond our sixth day's march commenced soon after daybreak the early morning was chilly but later on the sun shone forth in a cloudless sky and the day grew hot the first part of our way lay near the river which flows through Beiburd and the scenery was a great improvement on anything that we had seen since leaving Ghumishchane we halted for our midday rest and refreshment by a clump of willow trees in a pleasant grassy meadow by the river on resuming our march we entered a narrow defile leading into the mountains of Korpdorg a gradual ascent brought us to the summit of the pass just below which on the farther side we came to our halting place Pasha Punari the view of the surrounding mountains standing out against the clear evening sky was very beautiful and the little Khan at which we alighted was worthy of its delightful situation we were lodged in a sort of barn in which was stored a quantity of hay how fragrant and soft it seemed I still think of that night's sleep as one of the soundest and sweetest in my experience early on the morning of the seventh day we resumed our march along a circuitous road which after winding downwards amongst grassy hills followed the course of a river surrounded by stunted trees we saw numerous large birds of the falcon kind called by the Turks Dogon one of these H brought down with his rifle while it was hovering in the air to the great delight of the muleteers at a village called Osh Gala we purchased honey bread and grapes we resumed while halting for the midday rest by an old bridge continuing on our way by the river we were presently joined by a turbaned and genial Turk who was travelling on horseback from Gyumishchane to Erzerum I was pleased to hear him use in the course of conversation certain words which I had hitherto only met with in the writings of the old poet Fuzuli of Baghdad and which I had regarded as archaic and obsolete the road gradually became more frequented than it had been since leaving by Burt and we passed numerous travellers and peasants many of the latter drove bullet carts of which the ungreased axels sent forth the most excruciating sound the sun had set before we reached our halting place, Yanichan and so full was it that we had some difficulty in securing a room to ourselves end of section 3 recording by Nicholas James Bridgewater recorded in London, England