BUSHIRE TO SHIRAZ. 
79 
fully clear, and rather tepid. Its short course down into the plain is 
marked by a wood, which more immediately flourishes under its 
influence, and follows its progress. In the lower country there is an 
extensive tract covered with date trees, and forming a mass of verdure 
on which the eye delights to rest after the constant glare of an arid 
desert. It is extraordinary how vegetation thrives in this country, 
wherever there is the least water. It is, indeed, a general rule, that 
wherever they can irrigate they can produce vegetation; and indeed 
with no other moisture than the dews, and the few occasional showers 
of the winter, the plain of Bushire (which all observers have agreed to 
call a barren land) produces one hundred for seven. The rude manner 
of cultivation here is sufficient to display the intrinsic goodness of the 
soil; for they just sprinkle with seed the spot marked out for the 
plough, then make the superficial furrows, and obtain most abundant 
crops. 
We mounted this morning at eight o’clock, and arrived at our en¬ 
campment at ten minutes before one. It is called four fuming *, but 
we compute it at sixteen miles. We soon entered the mountains, and 
followed the road through them to the Eastward. We came to the 
river (which in its lower course passes near Daalakee) at half past nine 
o’clock: we crossed it a second time about a quarter of an hour after, 
and at ten o’clock passed it for the third and last time, at a ruined 
bridge, of a structure which had once been neat. After hard rains its 
bed is very extensive, and its current most rapid : so that it entirely im¬ 
pedes the passage of travellers and caravans. At the fords where we 
crossed, it was a very fine stream up to the bellies of our horses. After 
that, we paced its banks, for the distance perhaps of half a mile, in a 
S. E. direction. We saw it for the last time winding on a southern 
course, when we had ascended an elevated peak of the Cotul range. 
We gained this summit at half past eleven; the road then continued 
through the mountains till twelve o’clock, when we came on the plain 
of Khisht. At ten minutes before one we reached our encampment. 
The extreme capriciousness of the windings of the road, rendered it 
