502 Mr. H. F. Witherby — Ornithological 



Karachi and Bushire, quarantine regulations forbade our 

 landing. The sea-birds in the Gulf were disappointingly 

 few, and as I had sent my guns by another steamer, we 

 were able to obtain only one or two with a saloon-rifle — no 

 other weapon being available. On March 18th we arrived at 

 Bushire, and after spending some twenty-four hours on the 

 quarantine island, were permitted to go to the town. 



Before leaving England I had experienced great difficulty 

 in getting my guns and ammunition shipped to the Persian 

 Gulf, and it was only with the very kind help of Mr. B. T. 

 Ffinch of the India Office, of the authorities at the Foreign 

 Office, of His Excellency the Persian Minister, and of the 

 authorities at the British Museum, that I eventually induced 

 the shippers to run what they chose to consider a great risk. 

 On my arrival at Bushire, however, there was no difficulty 

 whatever about the matter, and the polite Belgian custom- 

 house officials passed all my baggage through on the day of 

 my arrival, an ad valorem, duty of 15 per cent, being paid 

 on the guns and cartridges. 



At Bushire we were very hospitably entertained by Mr. 

 and Mrs. W. F. Garden. Mr. Garden gave me the greatest 

 possible assistance in getting together a caravan, and in 

 many other matters helped me greatly, both by word and 

 deed. Assistance such as this from a fellow-countryman 

 abroad is extremely valuable, and travellers have very much 

 to be thankful for when they meet one so capable and willing 

 to give advice and help as was Mr. Garden. March 21st is 

 the " No Buz," or the Persian New Year's day, which is kept 

 as a festive holiday. We accordingly made use of this day 

 and the next in collecting birds in the gardens and fields 

 round Bushire, and I managed to secure representatives of 

 twenty-five species ; but vegetation, owing to a three years' 

 drought at the coast, was naturally sparse and birds were 

 few. 



On March 25th we took a boat across the bay to Shif, and 

 started on our journey to the interior. Our caravan con- 

 sisted of our two selves and two Persian servants (a cook 

 and a general servant and interpreter) mounted on mules, 



