We continued riding through the land of the Changles or Kangittae, as before mentioned, from Holy Cross-day till All-Saints, travelling every day, as well as I could guess, about as far as from Paris to Orleans, and sometimes farther [2], according as we happened to be provided with relays; for sometimes we would change horses two or three times a-day, and then we travelled quicker; while sometimes we had to travel two or three days without finding any inhabitants to supply us, and then we were forced to travel more deliberately.  Out of thirty or forty horses, we were always sure to have the worst, being strangers, as every one took their choice before it came to our turn.  They always, however, provided me with a strong horse, because I was corpulent and heavy; but whether his pace happened to be hard or gentle, was all one to them, and I dared not to make any complaints.  Our horses often tired before we could fall in with any of the inhabitants, and we were then obliged to beat and whip them up, being obliged to lay our garments upon spare horses, and sometimes two of us obliged to ride on one horse.

[1] Probably intended for what is now called Servia—­E.

[2] This may be taken at a medium of thirty miles a day which, in
    forty-six days, would amount to 1380 miles; no doubt a very fatiguing
    journey for a corpulent heavy man as he describes himself—­E.

SECTION XXIV.

Of the Hunger, Thirst, and other Miseries we endured.

There was no end of hunger and thirst, and cold and weariness.  In the morning they gave us something to drink, or some boiled millet; but afterwards we had nothing to eat until the evening, when they bestowed some flesh upon us, being generally the shoulder and breast of a ram, and every one was allowed a proportion of the broth to drink; and we considered ourselves fortunate when we had enough of broth, as it was exceedingly refreshing, pleasant, and nutritive.  Sometimes we were constrained to eat our meat half boiled, or even almost raw, for want of fuel, especially when we were benighted and obliged to pass the night in the fields, because we could not conveniently gather horse or cow-dung to make a fire, and we seldom found any other fuel, except a few thorns here and there, and a few rare woods on the banks of some rivers.  Every Saturday I remained fasting until night, and was then constrained, to my great grief, to eat flesh, as I could not procure any other food in the desert.  In the beginning of our journey our guide disdained us exceedingly, and seemed quite indignant at being obliged to take charge of such base fellows as he seemed to esteem us; but he afterwards behaved better, and often took us purposely to the courts of rich Moals, who requested us to pray for them; and if I had been so fortunate as to have a good interpreter, I might have been able to do some good among these ignorant people.