testified by their gaping beaks and expanded wings. During the whole journey she had never taken off her clothes or changed her linen, had eaten meat but twice, and passed half her time on the road. Never- theless, she reached Mossul fresh and in good spirits.
"From Mossul I could at last ven- ture certainly not without consider- able danger, but yet with a possibility of success upon the much desired journey to Persia. I sought a cara- van going to Tabriz. Unfortunately I found none going the whole way, and must therefore content myself with making the journey piecemeal and circuitously ; an arrangement which was so much the more dis- advantageous, that, as I was assured, I should not meet a single European upon the road. Nevertheless I risked it. Mr Rassam (the English vice- consul) made a bargain for me for the journey to Ravandus, and provided me with letters of recommendation to one of the natives at that place. I wrote down quite a little lexicon of Arabic and Persian words, and set out upon the 12th July, not without some apprehensions as to the fortunate issue of my expedition. On this ac- count I despatched my papers to Europe before starting, so that if I were plundered or killed, my sons might at least get my journal." This precaution delayed the publication of the book before us. The notes of the journey through Hindostan to Mossul wandered about the world for more than a year and a half before they again reached their writer's hands. Ali, the leader of the caravan to Ravandus, was a cut-throat looking Arab, clad in rags. By this time Madame Pfeiffer must have been pretty well accustomed to villanous physiognomies; nevertheless she was staggered by his, and would scarcely have risked herself with him, but for the assurances she received of his trustworthiness. The caravan con- sisted of three Kurds, no better look- ing than Ali, a few traders, and a pilgrim apparently the most pros- perous of the party, and who had two servants. After a few hours' march they crossed the line of hillocks, form- ing the boundary between Mesopo- tamia and Kurdistan, and soon after- wards halted at a cluster of ruined huts. As usual, Madame Pfeiffer showed herself an old campaigner. "I hastened immediately into the best of the huts to get a good place, and was so fortunate as to find one where the roof still kept out the sun ; thjs place, however, the pilgrim, who presently hobbled in after me, seemed disposed to dispute. I threw my cloak upon the ground, seated myself upon it, and stirred not from the spot, well knowing that no Mussul- man will use violence towards a woman, even though she be a Chris- tian. And so it proved : he left me my place, and went grumbling away." It seems that at this period of her travels Madame Pfeiffer (perhaps from the difficulty of receiving re- mittances in regions so remote as she had now for some time been wander- ing through) was very much strait- ened for money. At any rate she left Mossul with dry bread for sole stores, and was indebted to a friendly fellow-traveller for some slight amend- ment of her fare. Early on the second night's march, there was an alarm from robbers. Kurdistan is ill-famed in this respect. Six sturdy fellows, armed with cudgels, sprang suddenly from behind the corn that lay cut in heaps by the roadside, and seized the horses' bridles. "I was persuaded we had fallen in with a band of robbers, and exulted in having left behind me at Mossul my papers and the treasures I had collected in Babylon and Nineveh. The baggage I had with me was easy to replace. Whilst this passed through my mind, however, one of our party jumped off his horse, collared an assailant, thrust a loaded pistol into his face, and threatened to shoot him. The effect was miraculous ; the highwaymen let go our bridles, and strife was ex- changed for a peaceable conversation, which ended by their showing us a good camping place and receiving in return a trifling trinkgeld." This was a lucky escape, but 'they were in a region where robbers abound, and had frequent alarms, more or less well-founded. On the 14th July they started at two in the morning, and after proceeding a short distance, left the plain and entered a wildly magnificent mountain pass. A bril-
