FROM ENGLAND TO CEYLON BY LAND.*

THE appearance of these volumes, which are composed of letters written more than forty years ago, evinces considerable courage in both author and publisher, for necessarily such value as Mr. Mitford's observations originally possessed has been much dig. counted by the lapse of time. A great deal that Mr. Mitford states is no longer applicable to the scenes or places he refers to, and in some parts he describes a condition of things that has completely passed away. Still, there remains much that, if not absolutely fresh, is still novel enough to be told over again ; and

• A Land March front England to Ceylon Party Years Ago, through Dainintin, Montenegro, Turkey, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Assyria, Pers'a, Afghanistan, gcinde, and India, of when 7,000 Maes en Horeekrk. Illustrated with Original Sketches. By Edward Lodwich Mitfor,l, F.B.G.g. 2 vols. Loudon: W. H. Allen and Co. 1884.

the traveller was fortunate in passing for the greater portion of his journey through those countries of Western Asia where the march of time has made but faint impression on either the people or the governments. There has been a change of names, but in every other feature the Asia Minor, Syria, Persia, and Afghanistan of to-day are very much what they were forty years ago. Mr. Mitford's travels, although they cannot be considered to possess any serious value or importance, are still sufficiently interesting reading for those who care to see how little changed the condition of Western Asia has been in a period of almost half a century.

The most remarkable thing about Mr. Mitford's tour was certainly the manner of performing it. Even at the present time the traveller who left England with the intention of pro- ceeding overland to Ceylon, with the exception of the three unbridged channels, would be regarded as something of a phenomenon, and we are not quite sure whether the English Minister at Teheran would not cause his detention as a person incapable of taking proper care of himself. The dangers of the journey from political complications and local disorders were much more serious in 1839 than they would be now, for an Egyptian army was in hostile occupation of Syria and Palestine, an English war with Persia had only recently concluded, and the tribes of Afghanistan were simmering to revolt. Yet none of these con- siderations, nor the additional reason that more than three- fourths of the journey would have to be performed on horse- back, deterred Mr. Mitford, who, after five years' unprofitable residence in Morocco, resolved to proceed to Ceylon in search of employment. Mr. Mitford writes that :—

"Moved by a love of travel, after consulting the map I resolved to undertake the journey entirely by land. By taking a south-east line through Southern Europe, Central [P] Asia, and India, I could reach my destination with no more sea than the Straits of Dover, the ferry of the Bosphorus, and the Straits of Adam's Bridge, through most interesting and little-known countries."

While this determination argued a keen spirit of adventure in the author, it must be admitted that the passion was not gratified, for his journey proved singularly tame and uneventful. One could hardly conceive a"walking or riding tour through Europe at the present day accomplished in greater security, and with such complete absence of the sensational as these travels through unsettled countries and among semi-civilised peoples. Only twice in the course of this journey of 9,000 - miles did there threaten to be a hostile collision with the inhabitants—once in a town on the Turco-Persian border, and the second time in an Afghan village between lIerat and Candahar. Of course, this fact reflects the greatest credit on Mr. Mitford's tact and good. temper. He seems, indeed, to possess in perfection that in- valuable gift in a traveller of seeing the bright side of everything, and of discovering the best traits in the character of the people among whom he happens to be. Thus we find him saying pleasant things about such different races as the Turk, the Kurd, and the Albanian ; and he has the eyes to see behind Afghan swagger and deceit the possibilities of a great character. Almost unconsciously Mr. Mitford gives one or two stories that are strangely typical of the people to whom they refer, and show how little real progress has been made in forty years. The following deserves preservation as the account of a long-forgotten and equally unfortunate Armenian inventor:— " On the mud of the Golden Horn lies the wreck of a small steamer, of which, and of the self-taught engineer who constructed it, we heard the following extraordinary history :-1 It seems that this vessel and her engines were constructed by an Armenian with no assistance or instruction except what he had derived from books on engineering. After ten years of labour and a great expenditure of money he exultingly imagined that his perseverance and skill had overcome every obstacle to bij success. The day of his triumph was come, when the work of his hands was at length launched on the Golden Horn ; the vessel was rather inclined to one side, but this could be rectified by stowage. The steam was got up, and she ploughed her way through the yielding waters. So far his success was brilliant ; but alas ! the very completeness of his present success tended but the more to embitter the eventual destruction of his long. cherished hopes, when he discovered, to his dismay, that he had provided no means of checking or stopping the machinery ; on, on it flew, with desperate pertinacity, like the Dutchman's leg, and after various eccentric evolutions the baffled engineer ran her aground in despair. The poor man took his failure so much to heart that he forsook his business, and eventually went out of biS mind—a martyr to science.'"

Mr. Mitford gives an interesting description of the chief towns of Syria, such as Damascus, Aleppo, Horns, Hamah, and other places. Of these Hamah is a place of some present im- portance, situated in a fine position on the Orontes :—

" The view of Hamah is fine. It is nearly as large as Aleppo and backed by high cliffs fall of excavations, which are now inhabited. The Orontes flows through the centre of the town, bordered with trees, and washing the foot of a high, artificial monad which rises from amongst the houses on its banks. This place must be very beautiful in summer, the houses being interspersed with trees and groves lining the banks of the Orontes. The houses are roofed with domes and arches, on account of the scarcity of timber for building. The water-wheels for supplying the town are, I suppose, the largest known ; these enormous wheels are worked entirely by the current, and discharge their water into aqueducts supported on two or more tiers of arches."

Mr. Mitford supplies pictures of many other towns in Asiatic

Turkey which only require a beneficent Government to recover their long-lost prosperity. He also gives a graphic account of

his reception in an Arab encampment, when by a bold dash among their tents he disarmed any hostile intentions they may have meditated, and obtained the sacred claim of hospitality. When the scene changes to Persia, he is equally copious in his details about the people and the frontier region between Sunni and Shiah, where the Kurd marauder succeeds the nomad Arab as the terror of the cultivator and caravan. The two principal Persian towns on this frontier are Kermanshah and Hamadan. Whereas the former is represented as having "a rather dingy appearance," the latter is described as being in a most beautiful situation, and in the centre of a richly-cultivated plain. His opinion of Persia generally may be considered as summed-up in the following passage :—

"I am not now surprised at the praises that have been lavished on this country by their poets and other writers, whose imagery has been copied by us and tended to disseminate a false impression with respect to it even among Europeans. After traversing desolate and dreary tracts which sink the spirit to the lowest ebb ; when we come suddenly on one of these beautiful valleys, full of pellucid streams and towering trees, the contrast is so striking and delightful that it is naturally described in the most glowing colours, and its beauties expatiated on and exaggerated by being seen through the false medium of a com- parison with the surrounding deserts; and thus from individual localities a false judgment is formed of the country in generaL I have myself often felt the force of this delusion ; but after crossing the barren mountains of Persia Proper and the salt deserts of Khorasan, I am forced to the conclusion that, although the weary traveller often finds spots of surpassing fertility and beauty, the country in general is dreary, ungrateful, and barren."

Mr. Mitford's experiences in Persia, Afghanistan, and India form the substance of his second volume, which is certainly the more interesting of the two. From his earlier experience in Morocco it is interesting to learn that he gives the palm for both strength and appearance to the Barb over the Arab horse, and he pronounces the black tea of Persia received overland from China to have a flavour and aroma unlike any to be tasted in Europe except Russia. We cannot accompany him during his ride through Khorasan on the iron-grey horse which proved such an excellent purchase from its French master, although it may be mentioned that his escort was a small army, and that the fear of the Turcomans was more or less uppermost in the minds of the Shah's officers the whole way from Teheran to the vicinity of Herat. However, these formidable depredators never came bodily within range of this party. At Meshed he was rendered prostrate by fever, against which he had long been struggling, and he was kept consequently confined to his bed in that place for three weeks. At Meshed also he met one of these soldiers of fortune, who were more plentiful at Asiatic Courts during the last century than the present, and whose reappearance may be a factor in future political complications. His name was Dotter- wich, and his adventures may be summarised in his own words.

"'I speak English, Mynheer, but I am a German, and my name is Dotterwich. It is some time ago I came to India to seek my fortune.

My first speculation was in indigo-planting at Calcutta was afterwards employed by the East-India Company exploring for minerals in the Himalayas, near Simla. I wished to enter the service of some of the native princes in India, but as they were all controlled by the English Government, I found it difficult for a stranger to gain an entrance. So I made my way to Afghanistan, and offered my services to the Shah of Herat. Kamran Shah took me into his service, and I disciplined his troops in the European style, and drank schnapps with himself. The old Shah is very fond of schnapps, and many a jolly drinking-bout we had together, and I soon became his chief favourite.'"

The reader will discover for himself the turn which occurred in the fortunes of this individual when he incurred the jealousy and resentment of Kamran's Minister, Yar Mahomed. Suffice it here to say that he was carried off one night by a party of the Vizier's sowars, and left to become slave to the Turcomans in the heart of the desert between the Murghab and the Hen i Rud.

He fortunately escaped the fate intended for him, and entering the service of the Governor of Meshed, rendered the Persians much assistance as military instructor. He was dissatisfied

with his new masters, as he found it very difficult to get his pay out of them. Mr. Mitford's journey from Meshed to Herat, his stay at the latter city, and his subsequent travels through Afghanistan are, perhaps, the most interesting portion of the whole work. At Herat, he found the English Envoy, Major D'Arcy Todd, installed, but hampered very much by the intrigues and secret opposition of Yar Mahomed. Mr. Mitford gives a personal sketch of this clever Minister, who subsequently became ruler of Herat, and also of his nominal master, the Shah Kaman. He was present at an entertainment given in his honour by the former, and he says of the Afghans present that he had seldom seen a more aristocratic body of men. After leaving Herat, he proceeded by the postal route established by the English to Candahar ; and while on this journey be heard several rumours of the intended rising against the English, then, it need hardly be stated, in military occupation of the whole of Eastern Afghanistan. It was during this part of his journey that he met with one of the few adventures that occurred to him :— " The people had collected in great numbers on my arrival felt conscious that I had got into a bad neighbourhood, bat as two of my men had not come up I was obliged to wait for them, and although we had marched twenty-eight miles, as our horses had plenty of forage, they would be able to go on to a less dangerous locality. These people were of rather a darker complexion than the Afghans of the towns, but were apparently quiet. I walked round the village, and as I was washing in a stream that ran by the walls, my head sower, whose suspicions had also been aroused, came to me and told me that we were not safe here; that there was a Jamas (a gathering) for bad intentions, and the sooner we went on the better for ourselves, and he was anxious to order out the horses immediately. However, I told him to have patience, and not show the people we were afraid of them, and that when our horses had been fed and rested we would march to the next station, twelve miles farther on, and in the mean- time not to evince the least alarm. On returning to the village my suspicions were confirmed, for on approaching the gate, without their being aware of my presence, I found the chiefs of the party in anxious consultation, and one ferocious-looking fellow addressing the crowd from a raised station using the most meaning gesticulations, amongst which he several times passed his flat hand across his throat in a very significant manner. I took good care they should not know I had seen their council of war, but, on the contrary, showed them the utmost confidence, and remained till within two hours of sunset, when we ostentatiously examined the loading of our guns and pre- pared for a start. Seeing us going, the people came round and tried

every method short of force to induce us to remain thanked them for their kind offers, telling them I knew I should be so much more comfortable with them, but that I was anxious to reach Girishk the next day. Their language was Pashto°, but I spoke to them through the sower, who could speak Persian. I could see an incredulous smile on many a face ; however, they let me de- part, but I could hear some muttered curses from some of the younger fellows as I rode out."

With this quotation we may conclude our notice of these volumes, which in come respects are a striking record of travel. A little curtailment might have been judicious, and would certainly have added to the interest of the travels. But still, having accomplished so exceptional a feat, Mr. Mitford can easily be pardoned for having decided to describe it in its entirety. At least, it shows him to have been a very observant and a very considerate traveller. Some of the sketches, par- ticularly those of Candahar and Herat, are interesting, but the majority were hardly worth reproduction.