574 
THE OUROOMIA, OR SHAHY LAKE. 
posed circuit round the southern and western shores of the 
Ouroomia, or Shahy Lake, (a track, from the particularly wild 
state of its tribes, hitherto, I believe, unvisited by any 
European traveller,) the Topchi Bashi furnished me with an 
escort of ten mounted artillery-men, and an orderly officer re¬ 
turning to the English commander, Captain Isaac Hart, then en¬ 
camped with three battalions of infantry near the city of Ouroomia. 
With so respectable a guard, we recommenced our journey at 
nine in the evening, under a most beautiful and balmy atmo¬ 
sphere. The moon was quite up, and at this season losing her 
usual attribute of cold , shed a kind of glowing light over every 
object. The stillness, the repose of earth and heaven, were quite 
divine, while a gentle and refreshing air constantly passed from 
the waters. Our course lay S. 70° W. over the plain; which 
brought us, in about an hour, to the right bank of the Jigatti. 
We forded it, our horses breast-high in the stream, and at a 
breadth of ISO yards. The banks were very steep and high, 
and in places rendered more rugged by the sudden projections 
of large solitary masses of rock. Our road wound along their 
west cliffs for an hour ; thence ran more to the south, passing a 
few huts called the village of Chilick, and entering on a vast 
stretch of plain, diversified by tracts of sand, long grass, and 
immense spaces covered with tall reedy bullrushes. From the 
latter we startled several boars. The lake was now about eight 
miles from us, on our right; while scarcely a mile divided us 
from the base of the Courdish mountains on our left. 
September 5th. — We halted at three o’clock this morning, 
at a small vacated village of fourteen houses, the inhabitants of 
which were of the Mickri tribe, and all gone abroad into their 
summer tabernacles. But not having migrated far, the hardy 
