Porter'' s Traoels in Georgia, Persia, 4'c« 



We had no (owel to dry one or the 

 other save our own pocket-handker- 

 chiefs ; the bread-napkin or j)hite hav- 

 ing no capability lint to be eaten off, 

 and to wipe the ends of the fingers be- 

 tween eveiy new plunge into the 

 opjMJsite dish. A kalloun, with tea, 

 followed ; and continued, witii a few 

 interruptions, during the conversation 

 which had broken the dead silence on 

 the departure of the rolled-up web and 

 its ap{>eudages. A fresli kalioun fiuish- 

 «d the entertainment, and we tlien rose 

 to take our leave." 



POISONOUS INSECT. 



The town of Mianna, and its imme- 

 illately adjacent villages, are infested 

 with a plague they have found it im- 

 Jwssiblo to eradicate, in the form of a 

 small but ^wisonous bug, which breeds 

 in myriads in all the old houses, and 

 may be seen creeping over every part 

 of their walls, of the size and shape of 

 the bugs in Europe, only a liltle flatter 

 and in colour of a bright red. Its bite 

 is mortal, producing death at the ex- 

 piration of eight or nine months. 

 Strangers of every sort, not merely 

 foreigners, but the persons not usually 

 inhabiling the town or its vicinity, are 

 liable to be thus poisoned ; while the 

 people themselves or the adjacent pea- 

 santry are either never bitten, or if so, 

 the consequences are not more baneful 

 thauthestingof the leastnoxious insect. 



MURDER OF MR. BROWNE. 



This enterprising ti'aveller, who had 

 perfected himself in the Turkish lan- 

 guage, assumed the Turkish dress, and, 

 thus equipped, set forward with an in- 

 tent to penetrate thi-ough Khorasau. 

 So little was danger from attacks of 

 any kind apprehended, by the persons 

 best acquainted with the state of the 

 country, that no difficulties whatever 

 were suggested as likely to meet him, 

 and accordingly he proceeded in full 

 confidence. Having reached the pass 

 of Irak, he stopped at the Caravansary 

 to take a little refreshment. That over, 

 he remounted his horse ; and, leaving 

 his servant to pack up the articles he 

 had been using, and then follow him, 

 he rode gently forward along the moun- 

 tains. Mr. Browne had scarcely pro- 

 ceeded half a mile, when suddenly two 

 men on foot came up behind him ; one 

 of whom, with a blow from a club, 

 before he was aware, struck him sense- 

 less from his horse. Several other vil- 

 lains, at the same instant, sprang from 

 hollows in the hills, and bound him 

 haml and foot. At tiiis moment tiiey 



641 



offered him no further personal vio- 

 lence ; but as soon as he had recovered 

 from the stupor, occasioned by the first 

 mode of attack, he looked round and saw 

 the robbers plundering both his luggage 

 and his servant, the man having come 

 forward on the road in obedience to 

 the commands of his master. Wlien 

 the depredators found their victim re- 

 stored to observation, they told him 

 it was their intention to put an end to 

 his life, but that was not the place where 

 the final stroke should be made. Mr. 

 Browne, incapable of resistencc, calmly 

 listenetl to his own sentence, but in- 

 treated them to spare his poor servant, 

 and allow him to depart with his 

 papers, which could be of no use to 

 them. All this they granted; and 

 what may appear still more extraordi- 

 nary, these ferocious brigands, to whom 

 the acquisition of arms must be as the 

 staff of life, made the man a present of 

 his master's pistols and double-barrell- 

 ed gun : but tiiey were English, and 

 the marks might have betrayed the new 

 possessors. These singular robbers then 

 permitted Mr. Browne to see his ser- 

 vant safe out of sight, before they laid 

 further hands on himself; after which 

 they carried him, and the property 

 they had reserved for themselves, into 

 a valley on the opposite side of the 

 Kizzilouzan, and, without parley, ter- 

 minated his existence, it is supposed, 

 by strangulation. They strippeil liis 

 corpse of every part of his rainient, and 

 then left it on the open ground, a prey 

 to wolves and other wild animals. The 

 servant, meanwhile, made the best of 

 his way towards Tabreez, where he re- 

 lated the tale I h.T,ve just told. 



THE SEAT OF ASSASSINS. 



The faith of these people was a wild 

 aberration from the RIahomedan creed, 

 mingling with its laws and fatalities 

 the transmigatory doctrines of the Hin- 

 doos ; and, in consequence, they be- 

 lieved that their prince or imau was a 

 successive incarnation of the Great 

 Propiiet, and that every behest of his to 

 good or evil, must be obeyed as impli- 

 citly as the word of God himself. The 

 first of this tribe who arrogated these 

 divine pretensions, was Hassan Saheb ; 

 a man whose domineering passions, 

 conssimmate subtility, and perseverino- 

 spirit of enterprize, perfectly fitted for 

 his plan of imposture. He appeared 

 about the year 1090 ; and by various in- 

 trigues, andsiugfilar mysterious deport- 

 ment, as well as so invincible acourage 

 that few dared to resist (hat approached 



it, 



