Travelling with caravans is very fatiguing:  although a walking pace is never exceeded, they are on the road from nine to twelve hours without halting.  When travelling at night the proper rest is lost, and in the day it is scarcely possible to get any sleep, exposed in the open air to the excessive heat, and the annoyances of flies and mosquitoes.

18th June.  In Jengitsche we met with a chan, but it was by no means equal in appearance and cleanliness to that on the road to Babylon; its chief advantage was being situated near the Tigris.

The chan was surrounded by a small village, to which I proceeded for the purpose of satisfying my hunger.  I went from hut to hut, and at last fortunately succeeded in obtaining some milk and three eggs.  I laid the eggs in the hot ashes and covered them over, filled my leathern flask from the Tigris, and thus loaded returned proudly to the chan.  The eggs I ate directly, but saved the milk for the evening.  After this meal, procured with such difficulty, I certainly felt happier, and more contented than many who had dined in the most sumptuous manner.

During my search through the village, I noticed, from the number of ruined houses and huts, that it seemed to have been of some extent formerly.  Here, also, the last plague had carried off the greater part of the inhabitants; for, at the present time, there were only a few very poor families.

I here saw a very peculiar mode of making butter.  The cream was put into a leathern bottle, and shaken about on the ground until the butter had formed.  When made, it was put into another bottle filled with water.  It was as white as snow, and I should have taken it for lard if I had not seen it made.

We did not start this evening before 10 o’clock, and then rode eleven hours without halting, to Uesi.  The country here was less barren than that between Baghdad and Jengitsche.  We did not, indeed, see any villages on the road; but small groups of palms, and the barking of dogs, led us to conclude that there were some very near.  At sun-rise we were gratified by the sight of a low range of mountains, and the monotony of the plain was here and there broken at intervals, by small rows of hills.

19th June.  Yesterday I was not quite satisfied with the chan at Jengitsche; but I should have been very thankful for a far worse one today, that we might have found any degree of shelter from the pitiless heat of the sun; instead, we were obliged to make our resting place in a field of stubble, far removed from human habitations.  The caravan guide endeavoured to give me some little shade by laying a small cover over a couple of poles stuck into the ground; but the place was so small, and the artificial tent so weak, that I was compelled to sit quietly in one position, as the slightest movement would have upset it.  How I envied the missionaries and scientific men, who undertake their laborious journeys furnished with horses, tents, provisions, and servants.  When I wished, shortly afterwards, to take some refreshments, I had nothing but lukewarm water, bread so hard that I was obliged to sop it in water to be able to eat it, and a cucumber without salt or vinegar!  However, I did not lose my courage and endurance, or regret, even for a moment, that I had exposed myself to these hardships.