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.
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