218 
MESSAGE TO THE PERSIAN CAMP. 
white tents of which, by the help of the moon, we distinguished from 
a considerable distance. A dead stillness reigned throughout the 
camp ; and such was the want of precaution, that we were in the centre 
of a thousand pavilions white as snow,” without having been chal¬ 
lenged by a single person. By chance I discovered the tent of Mr. 
Campbell, the Prince's Surgeon, where I reposed till the morning, 
when at an early hour the latter was awoken by a summons from the 
Prince to attend him in the chase. 
We heard cries and loud shouts, trampling of horses, people running 
about in haste, and all the camp in motion. On looking through a 
slit in the tent, the first person I perceived was the Prince himself on 
horseback, who had issued forth without having given sufficient notice 
to his attendants, who yet half-awake were hastening to join him in all 
speed. The Prince returned from his excursion at about noon. He 
had been on the hills which surrounded his camp, in the hope of meeting 
a tiger, which had been seen a short time before by shepherds. This 
animal is known to exist in this part of Persia, for Mr. Campbell pos¬ 
sesses the skin of a royal tiger that was killed here not long ago ; but 
instances of its being seen are very rare. In addition to his usual 
hunting equipages, the Prince had taken with him a battalion of his 
trained infantry, who were to surround the spot where it was likely the 
animal was lurking, and to rouse him by the beating of drums. All 
their efforts, however, proved unsuccessful: the Prince and his attend¬ 
ants consoled themselves by firing with balls across a valley, at a stone 
for a mark, which produced a continual discharge of musquetry, of the 
noise of which the Persians are extremely fond. Mr. Campbell who 
had witnessed the scene, said that it was truly extraordinary to see the 
dangerous places to which the Prince and his followers urged their 
horses. Indeed they hold it as a fact, that a horse will find footing 
wherever a man can do the same, consequently an ascent however steep, 
or a soil however difficult, scarcely ever stops them. On this occasion, 
they rambled about on the tops of the mountains, until an immense 
precipice completely impeded their progress. The Prince however sent 
one of his men to see if it were possible to pass it, who urging his 
