HIS MEDICAL PROCESS. 
233 
of green satin, floating majestically down to his heels; and an 
unusually large turban on his head. On his advance into the 
khaun yard he happened to turn his eyes towards the open space 
where my two invalids lay, and their groans attracting him, he 
approached the spot; and seating himself on the ground by the 
side of Sedak Beg, first took several long whiffs of his chabook, 
or pipe, and then began a solemn address, which ended with 
information that he was a celebrated doctor from Bagdad, and 
possessed a nostrum which would cure him and his companion 
on the first application. After this assertion, he enquired their 
complaint, and the answer brought forth a second boast of his 
skill. Both my patients seemed so willing to try its power, that 
Sedak undertook to ask my permission ; and which he did with 
such earnestness, that, considering him the best judge of medi¬ 
cal knowledge so near the frontiers of his own country, I gave 
my consent, on condition that the application of the nostrum was 
not to detain us beyond the night in the khaun. The doctor 
declared that delay was so unnecessary, the patients might set 
out the moment it was applied ; the cure, being as speedy as 
certain. Accordingly, while the preparations were going on for 
our march, in about an hour he came forward with a couple of 
huge cataplasms, he had been all that time preparing, of coffee- 
grounds, yolks of eggs, and spices. These were to be applied 
to the heads of the patients, to relieve their aching. The bald 
pate of the Persian suited the surface of the sable plaister with 
admirable fitness, but the unshaven locks of my poor Russian 
were obstacles in the way of the specific ; however the forehead 
was at last deemed sufficient, and to that the cataplasm, in 
smaller dimensions, was adapted. The next proceeding was to 
administer an infallible aperient. This piece of news put me 
VOL. II. 
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