PKEFACE. 



" The fault of most books of travel is that the 

 writer delays to tell us his experiences until he 

 has got accustomed to his new surroundings ; in 

 his solicitude to supply information he forgets the 

 salient points which struck him on his first arrival, 

 and therefore cannot communicate them to us 

 stay-at-homes ; and they are the very things we 

 want to know. Moreover, he omits those details 

 in which the difference really lies, and also the 

 means by which he accomplished his journey, 

 which to those who would follow his footsteps are 

 absolutely essential. To find a volume of travel 

 free from these faults is a distinction in itself" 

 {James Payri). 



It has been a great comfort to me to come 

 across the above opinion, which I did when about 

 half of the following pages was written. I can at 

 all events claim to have fulfilled two of Mr. Payn's 



