414 The Hunting Grounds 



and found a party of Abbasians catching fish in 

 ingenious traps made of willows, which are laid in the 

 most likely places in the stream. They had upwards 

 of two dozen very fine fish, chiefly trout, which seemed 

 exactly to resemble the English species, being formed 

 and speckled without any distinguishable difference. 

 I got two glorious fellows, weighing about five pounds 

 each, in exchange for a silver quarter-franc piece, 

 which made a welcome addition to our supper. Our 

 camp this night appeared to be the head-quarters of 

 the mosquito tribes ; for they settled upon us in my- 

 riads, keeping up a perpetual hum, and not allowing 

 a moment's rest. It was positively amusing at times 

 to hear the exclamations and growling of some of the 

 people who were driven almost wild with continued 

 torture. Strange to say, they scarcely molested me, 

 although the faces of some of the others were much 

 swollen by the multiplicity of their stings. With 

 those, sleep was out of the question, so they made a 

 huge fire, round which they got some relief. 



Sunrise saw us again en route, and after a most 

 delightful ride of about ten miles up the river, through 

 glorious woods of gigantic oak, beech, and walnut, or 

 glades of rich nutritious grasses, we entered a most 

 picturesque valley, which, for beauty of scenery and 

 rich fertility, far exceeded anything that I had 

 hitherto seen. On each side rose densely- wooded 

 hills, here and there broken into gorgeously-coloured 



