Travels into theh-EWAn t. Part IL 
top to bottom, with ornaments of Plaifter laid upon the Walls, and wrought 
with the Chizzel a good inch deep : Thefe ornaments are not lo regular, as 
thole that are to be feen in jEwrop?, nay they are even a little confûfed, 
and ( being but fmall j are not eafily diftinguiflied, though they efcape not 
altogether the fight neither ; and particularly one may plainly obferve a 
great many Roles : But after all, it is an agreeable confufion, and fince 
there is not one bit but what is covered with them even in the Seeling it 
idfj and that the ground is all azure, it yields a fight that furprizes the 
Eye, and in fome fort contents it better than more regular and accomplifhed 
Beauties. 
On the other fide of the River at the end of the Bridge, begins the 
Wneveh. place wherein ancient times flood the famous City of Nemveh^ which ha- 
ving repented upon the preaching of the Prophet Jonas, forty years after 
relapfèd into its former diforders ; wherefore the People of the Countrey fay, 
that God overturned the City, and its Inhabitants, who were buried in the 
Ruines with their heads down and their feet upwards: There is nothing of 
it now to be feen but Ibme Hillocks, which ( they lay, ) are its foundations, 
the Houles being underneath ; and thele reach a good way below the City 
of MoJhI. 
A little more up on land on the lame fide, is the Tomb of Jonas in the 
Molque of a Village, but I went not thither becaufe of the excellive heat.- 
For two hours after Sun-rifing there is no poffibility of ftirring abroad, till 
at leaft an hour after it is let ; the Walls befides are lb hot, that half a foot 
from them, one feels the heat, as if it were of a hot Iron ; and therefore du- 
ring the Summer all fleep in the Night-time upon TerralTes in the open Air, 
both Men and Women : And the laft of July I obferved in my Thermome- 
The degrés of tre expofed to the Sun, feven and thirty degrees of heat. In Ihort, the heat 
îieatatMo/?//. in Mefoptamia is certainly exceffive ; and though when I travelled there,) I 
wore upon my head a great black handkerchief, hke a Womanshood, that 
I might lee through ( bccaule the Turks commonly ule thele handkerchiefs 
upon the road ; ) neverthelels, I had many times my Fore-head fcorched ; 
that's to lay, it became all over red, after which itfwelled exceedingly, and 
then the skin came off ; my hands were alio continually fcorched. Some 
alio in the Caravan had their Eyes daily fcorched ; and the remedy for it is 
a powder made of Sugar and long Pepper bear very Imall ; which being well 
mixt, is put into a purle, or rather a long narrow bag, and when there is 
occafion for it, they take a skewer like a bodkin of wood, fo long as to reach 
to the bottom of the bag, ad having taken it out full of that powder draw 
/ it along betwixt the Eye and Eye-lid, where it leaves all the powder that 
liuck to it ; and this muft be done to each Eye feverally. 
In the City of Moful there is a Mofque divided into lèverai Ifles by means 
of many arched Roofs ; it is adorned with Plaifter-work as the former, but 
PJdifter. much decayed ; it is at leaft as big as Noflre Dame of Tans. The plaifter, where- 
with they emblellifli thele Moques, is made of a certain Stone which they 
^ burn,and then break and crufh with rc^wlers drawn by Horles. The houfes of 
* this Town are ill built, and are rather ruines than houfes, even the Bajhas 
own Serraglio, ( for Moful is a Bafhafhipj being a very forry place. 
In this Countrey and in the reft of Jjjjria the Melons are not rough and 
in a manner carved, as in Europe ; but they are long, have a very fmooth 
skin, and for the moft part the flelh white. They are very good, and eat as if 
they were full of Sugar ; but they are gathered fo ripe, that one may eafily 
eat them with a fpoon ; and the Le^vammes generally eat them lb. There 
are allb Ibme little round Melons which are white within and eat very 
fhort, but they are not lb good. When we came to T oui in Perjia, we found 
fbme of the fame ftiape v but yet are of a quite different nature, for they are 
never over ripe, and I have eat of one that looked firm and green, which I 
found to be very good ; and neverthelefs all the feeds were already fprouted 
out an inch long, nay it had a little Melon full fhaped of the bignels of a 
Nut, with a tail, to which the feeds that produced it were ftill flicking ; ic 
was not round, but wanted not much of it, and had the form that it could 
cake in the vacuity it met with : Having cut it I found feeds in it, but lb 
fmalJ, 
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