AMERAT. 
77 
height; this led direct to our expected menzil, namely, the vil¬ 
lage of Amerat, It is situated at the opening of a long, and 
beautiful glen, flanked on either side by mountains, whose lofty 
brows, of less savage forms than those we had lately left, looked 
down on their own verdant bosoms ; the shelter of a variety of 
sweet shrubs nestling amidst the rocks, and deriving nourishment 
from the little streams which veined their surface. A few hundred 
yards from the village, and close to a projecting rock of a sin¬ 
gularly sloping form, issues an abundant spring of the purest 
water. Near to this favoured spot, the inhabitants of Amerat 
have erected their mesched, or mosque, and dug a spacious tank 
in the middle of the building, furnished with water by the con¬ 
stant flowing of the neighbouring fountain. It forms a delicious 
bath for the ablutions of the worshippers, and a no less welcome 
refreshment to the way-wearied stranger, where the spirit of 
charity repeats the lesson of Cana, and converts all nature to a 
sacred use. The front of the mesched is entirely open to the 
south, commanding a beautiful view of Amerat, its silvery 
streams, gardens, and alpine back-ground. In this part of the 
consecrated building we took up our quarters, and found it, 
indeed, a sanctuary of peace and rest. There we passed the 
night, after a fatiguing additional march of four hours and a half. 
To the sick in particular, such repose was paradise ; and those 
who did not sleep quite so sound as others, lay, gazing at the 
fine mountain-scenery before them, or at the stilly, starry 
heavens, or listening to the bubbling fount, whose cooling waters 
embalmed the air they breathed. 
Just as the morning began to dawn, I was a little disturbed by 
the approach of three or four venerable personages, who, as a 
religious rite, stripped themselves and plunged into the sacred 
