1822.] 
sons who have been accustomed to eat 
home made bread without alum, on 
eating the bread they meet with in 
London (generally) are obliged to re- 
sort to artificial means to assist the 
powers of digestion, which are no doubt 
checked by the astringent salt (alum) 
used in the manufactory of the bread. 
With respect to the doubt entertained 
of its being of any use fo the baker, it 
may be observed that the kind of bread 
required in London, viz. light and 
whife, cannot be made but of the dest 
flour, without the use of alam or some 
substitute, which at this time gives the 
person so using it a very considerable 
advantage over those who do not use it. 
The late harvest having been so unfa- 
vourable in many parts, has caused 
such various qualities of flour, that the 
use of alum was never so great as at 
this moment, and never so profitable 
an ingredient to the baker. Tie use 
of it improves the bread in appearance 
at least 20 or 30 per cent, while the 
greater part of the consumers in the 
metropolis are careless or insensible of 
the pernicious effects it has on their 
health. The person who uses. alum 
ean undersell the one who does not, or 
if he gets the full price for his bread, 
has the advantage. I do not, however, 
conceive it so much a matter of legisla- 
tive interference as an attention on the 
part of the consumer; more would be 
accomplished by attention on their part 
than any act of government. It is 
notorious that there are bakers in Lon- 
don who do not use alum, and I know 
that they are obliged to buy the very 
best flour for their dread. i. 
Jan. 17, 1822. 
——=>— 
for the Monthly Magazine. 
THIRD LETTER” from an ENGLISH 
OFFICER, én the PERSIAN SERVICE. 
HEN the Tartar delivered the 
Cadi’s letter, the Pasha imme-, 
diately gave orders that I and my lug- 
gage should be carried up “ en masse” 
to his own residence; but when his 
people came down to the post-house for 
that purpose, I was so sound asleep 
from the effects of fatigue, that they 
would not disturb my repose. Very 
early in the morning the great man 
came himself, before I had shewn the 
least symptoms of moving: being in- 
formed of his arrival, I did not lose 
mach {ime in presenting myself. He 
then stated, that all my appurtenances 
were already at his house, and re- 
quested me instantly to accompany 
Original Letters from Turkey. 
lit 
him. Héisa young man of the finest 
personal appearance I ever saw, and & 
perfect picture of manly beauty.. When 
he understood that I had served in the 
cavalry, he asked me, very courteously, 
to put on my uniform. T could not 
well refuse my landlord, and that land- 
lord a Turk, so I complied with his 
wishes: and rummaging out a suit of 
regimentals, I shewed him a spectacle 
which had never before met his sight — 
a British Hussar in full dress. He ex- 
pressed himself highly pleased, and re- 
marked, that the costume: was well 
adapted to a warrior. As the danger 
from the robbers was now over, I took 
my leave the next day, previous to 
which, mine host kissed me on the 
cheeks and forehead, after the eastern 
manner. 
Between this town and the next of 
note (Kars, the ancient Charsa) are 
the remains of the campsof Xerxes and 
Heracleus, whe, at different periods of 
time, encamped nearly on the same 
spot. The ruins resemble each other 
so much, that I could scarcely distin- 
guish any difference between them. 
My friend, the Tartar, two Armenian 
post-boys, or conductors, and myself, 
had a long and unsatisfactery dispute 
concerning them. We all. spoke to- 
gether in different languages, and, from 
our gestures and vociferation, would 
have made a very amusing sketch for 
an artist. In three days we arrived at 
Kars, which place we left the same 
evening; and on the fullowing morn- 
ing, soon after day-break, we had a 
view of the celebrated Mountain of 
Ararat, then distant I79 miles; al- 
though so far from this grand object, 
and in a valley surrounded (as Lon- 
doners would term them) by “ prodi- 
gious” high mountains, yet it towered 
above them in as great a degree, (to 
use a cockney comparison) as Saint 
Paul’s over the surrounding build- 
ings. 
The next morning at seven o’clock 
we arrived at Kur or Cyrus, a branch 
of the Euphrates, which separates the 
dominions of the Persian and Turkish 
nionarehs; here a most extraordinary 
and rather perilous adventure awaited 
me: the river at this place is deep, 
broad, rapid, and stony; and at first 
{ could not imagine how we were to 
cross; a short time put an end to my 
conjectures, and filled me with no 
small portion of alarm. The first ob- 
ject that attracted my notice was the 
baggage placed in a kind of raft, on 
which 
