The
caravan only conveyed goods, and the drivers were Tartars. The
journey from Natschivan to Tiflis is generally made in from twelve
to fourteen days; but with my caravan, to judge from the progress we
made at the commencement, it would have occupied six weeks, for on
the first day we went scarcely any distance, and on the second, very
little more than the first; I should have travelled quicker on foot.
19th August. It is really unbearable. During the whole day we lay
in waste stubble-fields, exposed to the most scorching heat, and did
not mount our horses until 9 o'clock in the evening; about an hour
afterwards we halted, and encamped. The only thing good about this
caravan was the food. The Tartars do not live so frugally as the
Arabs. Every evening an excellent pillau was made with good-tasting
fat, frequently with dried grapes or plums. Almost every day
beautiful water and sugar-melons were brought to us to buy. The
sellers, mostly Tartars, always selected a small lot and offered it
to me as a present.
The road led continually through large, fertile valleys round the
foot of Ararat.
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