1 43
2 piles. The next morning I applied six leeches to my side, and
3 in the evening, the same number behind, by which means 1
4 completed my cure without having had recourse to any other
5 remedy. Keeping the blistered part in a state of suppuration,
6 and treating the external inflammation with cold water, I made
7 such an improvement in my health, that my restored appetite
8 soon enabled me to digest solid food. At the expiration of five
9 days I felt sufficiently strong to resume my journey to Lahore,
10 to the astonishment of those who witnessed my departure,
11 wondering whether I was really recovered, or in a state of deli-
12 rium, as only three days had elapsed since I made my will, and
13 their hakim had asserted that there was no chance of my recovery.
14 At the commencement I made but very short journeys. I
15 shortly afterwards had several abscesses where the leeches had
16 been applied, one of them as large as a hen’s egg, so that it was dif-
17 ficult for me to maintain a sitting posture, and, notwithstanding
18 my good appetite, and the salubrious air I afterwards breathed in
19 the mountains, the weakness, produced by only five days’ illness,
20 continued for a space of six months. What contributed greatly to
21 my illness, may perhaps have been the circumstance that I had not
22 been sea-sick, on our voyage to Bassora via Moscat to Bender-
23 Karatshi, as was the case with my servant Antun, who
24 inhaled the same atmosphere, ate and drank the same kind
25 of food and stinking water, &c., without suffering any incon-
26 venience. At that period, the Sindians were not yet acquainted
27 with the English, although they were their neighbours, and ac-
28 cordingly we passed villages, where the people were not inclined
29 to furnish us with provisions, even for payment. Our camel-
30 driver advised us to lodge in the mosques, in order to be taken
31 for Mahomedans. By so doing, we were provided with food
32 gratis, by the hospitable musselmans. I and my servant were
33 dressed in the costume of the inhabitants of Bagdad; we could
34 speak the Persian, Arabic, and Turkish languages, had long
35 beards, and addressed each other as Hajee, i. e., pilgrim. Our
36 carpets, which constituted our beds, were quite similar, and were
37 placed close to one another. We ate together, according to
38 the eastern custom, using our fingers instead of knives and