'A second journey through Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor, to Constantinople, between the years 1810 and 1816. With a journal of the voyage by the Brazils and Bombay to the Persian Gulf. Together with an account of the proceedings of His Majesty's embassy under Sir Gore Ouseley, Bart. K.L.S. With two maps, and engravings from the designs of the author.' [‎250] (299/516)

250
UNSUCCESSFUL NEGOTIATIONS.
shireen, the sweet; the former of which is always handed about first,
and then the latter. The Vizier said to me, pointing to the Ge
neral, " As we are not yet at peace, let us begin with drinking the
" shireen first, in order that it may be propitious to our business, and
" that our words may partake of its quality." But when the conference
had terminated without success, then the Vizier called for the coffee,
and said, " Now we must drink the talkhee, the bitter, togetherand
handed a cup of it to the General.
During our stay here, one of our servants was bitten by a snake,
evidently poisonous, for its bite produced many of the consequent
symptoms, such as great drowsiness, lassitude, &c.; but he recovered
by the aid of our medicine. Many snakes were seen ; and the ap
parently fabulous accounts which the Persians relate of the vast quan
tities of these reptiles that infest Mogan, were in some measure veri
fied by what came under our observation. On their account Abbas
Mirza was once obliged to move his camp; and there are other
instances in Persian history, equally corroborative of their great
numbers.
I returned to the Prince's camp on the 11th of October, and it is
worthy of remark, that the heat of the sun in some parts of the road
was so violent, that it blistered the skin of that part of my body
most exposed to it. I was seized on the road with a bilious suf
fusion, which laid the foundation of a severe illness; and the same
heat, although it did not act so immediately upon the English servant
who accompanied me, yet it brought on so violent a bilious dis
order, that after a few days' illness, he was laid in his grave. There
is a searching heat in a Persian sun, which even to those who had
lived long in India is quite insupportable; and in regard to health,
a stranger must consider it as his principal care to expose himself to it
as little as possible.
The Ambassador broke up his camp three days after my return, and
commenced his journey back to Teheran, by the road of Ardebil; whilst
the Prince departed for Maranlou, a place about three fursungs from the
Araxes, in order to carry on his operations against the Russians.