USHKUL. 271 



impunity, even an ostrich would require to 

 be nourished on it from earliest infancy, 

 otherwise it would assuredly be too much 

 even for his digestion . 



It was about half an hour after this liofht 

 and wholesome meal, that we saw down below 

 us two black towers on the top of a low 

 round hill, grim -looking and ruined, like the 

 outworks of some fortified place long since 

 given up to fire and the sword. ' There is 

 Mookmer!' said one of the guides. ' Mook- 

 mer, hang Mookmer ! ' we answered ; ' where 

 is Ushkul ? ' ' Ushkvil is Mookmer,' ex- 

 plained our guide, and gradually we learnt 

 that the towers before us were on the out- 

 skirts of a collection of three hamlets, the 

 collective name for which was Mookmer, the 

 most important amongst them being Ushkul. 



But Ushkul is so unique, so unlike any 

 other town or village I ever saw, so extremely 

 unlike any that I ever wish to see again, 



