296 RAWLINSON ON SOUTHERN PERSIA. [Feb. 9, 1857. 



of gi-ass. The change is marvellous. You go to bed with the country quite 

 yellow, and awake in the morning to find it perfectly green. The grass 

 increases until May, and gets so high that horses can scarcely make their way 

 through it. After May, the heat soon dries up the grass ; it disappears as 

 rapidly as it grew, and the whole country becomes again a parched and barren 

 desert. The heat in summer is so intense, that it is almost impossible to live 

 there ; and I doubt whether any European troops could exist there in tents. 

 The inhabitants are obliged, the whole of the day, to live in holes under 

 ground, whence at night they issue and sleep on the tops of their houses. For 

 three or four months in the summer it would be impossible to live in tents ; 

 but at a short distance from Shuster there are what they call the " yilaks," 

 or summer quarters. You have only to ascend a little, and you get into rich 

 mountain plains, where the climate is delicious, and where you may pass the 

 summer months in security, and get an abundant supply of cattle, sheep, and 

 other provisions. The plains below Shuster produce almost everything ; in fact, 

 it is one of the most productive countries in the whole world. I hope that, 

 whatever may be the evils produced by the war, some good will result from it, 

 and that the country will be opened up to the enterprise of the British mer- 

 chant. The inhabitants are not bad people. During the time I was in these 

 mountains I used to go about, from one end of the country to the other, without 

 an attendant. On one occasion only I was plundered ; and even then the 

 chief got everything back for me. It was a common saying at that time, that 

 a man might walk from Shiraz to Kennanshah with his hands full of gold, 

 without being touched. The people in the plains are exceedingly quiet ; they 

 are our friends, and have always been most desirous to enter into friendly 

 relations with us. I can give you a curious instance of this. I went up to 

 Shuster on one occasion in a steamer under Captain Selby. At that time the 

 river was very high. As the current was exceedingly strong, we did very well 

 so long as we kept in the centre of the river ; but Captain Selby was desirous 

 of keeping as near as possible to the sides, where the water was still or dead. 

 We had been aground many times through the day, and at sunset we again 

 got aground. The men had been working very hard all day, and the Captain 

 allowed them to go to bed, thinking he would get the steamer afloat in the 

 morning. In the morning, however, we found ourselves in the middle of a 

 corn-field, twenty feet from the river, so rapidly had the water subsided. In 

 this dilemma, as I knew the people, I told them that the English had brought 

 a steamer up for them to see, and were so anxious that the people should see 

 the whole of her that they had put her aground. The people came round in 

 crowds to see her ; but we remained there six weeks before we could move her. 

 As a measure of precaution, we erected defences around her in case of attack. 

 We took out the engines, and almost lost them ; for as soon as we had taken 

 them out, the water rose as suddenly as it had fallen, and we had considerable 

 difficulty in getting them into the vessel again. I think, as far as the inhabi- 

 tants of the country are concerned, that we have nothing to fear from them. 



Colonel Sykes, f.r.g.s. — At what time of the year was that ? 



Mr. Layard. — I think it was in April or May. 



The President. — Will Sir Henry Kawlinson be so good as to offer some 

 observations upon Herat ? 



Sir H. Rawlinson. — I was asked a question just now by Mr. Frith with 

 regard to Bassadore, which I will answer before entering on the subject of 

 Herat. Bassadore is the name of the station in the Persian Gulf where the 

 ships of our squadron have their several depots, and where the general naval 

 hospital is also established. It is situated on the island of Kishm, at its 

 north-western point, and is the port at which all the ships usually touch in 

 their passage up and down the Gulf, and where, on the present occasion, the 

 fleet rendezvoused preparatory to the attack on Bushir. This position of 



