216 
NATIVES NEAR KESRA-SHIRENE. 
learnt, there is every reason for my expecting to find the rela¬ 
tive distances very near the mark. 
After traversing the ruins of Kesra-Shirene, from one end to 
the other, we rode over a low hill or two to the south, which 
brought us to a wretched khaun, our purposed place of rest. 
It stood on the verge of a little river, near to an equally miser¬ 
able-looking village, of the same name with the peerless queen 
of the adjacent magnificent remains. The whole land around 
appeared in a state of utter neglect; the hills savage and stony, 
the valleys rank and uncultivated; and the natives seemed in 
perfect keeping with the wild rudeness of the country. The 
following description of one of the many ferocious idlers who 
thronged round the quarters of the Frangy, to gaze on him with 
the most determined curiosity and impudence, may be truly 
taken as a sufficient specimen of the rest. He wore neither 
shirt nor trowsers over his tall, lean, dun-coloured person ; a 
loose sort of wrapper, made of coarse brown cloth or camlet, 
was his sole garment; it fastened round the waist by a strap, or 
cord. A red skull-cap fitted the head, wound scantily about 
with a slip of dirty linen. Shoes seldom appear on any of their 
naked limbs ; but they never stir without a huge club-headed 
weapon in their hands, or stuck in their girdle. To this bar¬ 
barian garb, is added a ferocious countenance of hard aquiline 
features, a sallow sun-burnt complexion, and dark hollow eyes, 
looking scowlingly under their brows, or, with an expression 
arch and knavish to a degree of wanton mischief. Such were 
the individuals which composed the groups that swarmed round 
my menzil the whole day; and to get rid of whom, neither 
persuasions nor menaces were of any avail. I had marched full 
five farsangs under the rays of a most potent sun, and would 
