1 INTEODUCTION.
2 the gentlemen were dieBsing ; he waited wi^out the tent till th^
3 were ready, and then entered. He was an uneommonly handsome
4 &ir man, under tliirty yean of age. He wore a black shawl turban,
5 and a light blue dLoakt ornamented. with black silk fbogs at the breast
6 His manners were very pleasing, and his demeanour dignified and
7 easy. After tliov became acquainted, he told them that he was in
8 much distress at that time, owing to factions in his tribe ; asked tlieir
9 advice, and even begged them to give him a talisman to secure his
10 success. While at Deraulmiid, the two gentlemen were riding out
11 with two or three lliiidoo>t;nii i iiorsemen behind them, when the
12 latter were mobbed, and a sliaiiger of the tribe ot" Solimaun Khail,
13 struck one of them thrice with the fiat of a naked sword. The cause
14 could not be discoTered* as the A%haiuis spoke nothing but piuhtoo :
15 Omar Khami alone having been at Gaubul, spoke Ptfrian^ of which
16 amne Moollaa also knew a few words. Omar Khaun endeavoured to
17 diasnade the gentlemen from their entefprise^ as being too dangeRniss
18 but findix^ that vain« he contrived to procure safeguards fiom hia
19 own enemies the GBieeraimeeS) in whose country ^e mountun lay;
20 he also made the gentlemen cover themselves up, so as to look as like
21 natives of the country as they could, and he advised them to leave all
22 their Indians behind. They then set off into the hills. They found
23 the north side sloping, covered with fir trees, and abounding in rocks
24 of a kind of pudding stone ; there were many vallejrs divided by nar-
25 row ridges, and eadi watcrcil by a clear brook. So circuitous was the
26 road by whicli the\ travelled, that after they had advanced about
27 twelve miles, they tbuml tliey were stil! tliree days jouniev from the
28 top; thty ;ilsi> learnetl thai the upper j)art of the nu»iiiit;iiii was re!i-
29 dered inaccessible by tlie snow ; and these < OTisiderations, witli tlie
30 intended departure of the mission, rendered it necessary for them to
31 return. They slept that night in a Sheeraunee village, lodging in a
32 low hovel, partly sunk in the ground. They were olfcrcd bread and
33 ineat Ixuled in smaU lumps, but so bad that they could not eat it.
34 <Th^ were lighted by pieces of a Und of deal, so fiill of tnrpentmii^
35 tfiit they bumed like tovehes. Thej then returned to Dennhiind,
36 ti
37 Digitized by Google