When the river Tigris is well replenished with water, the passage from Babylon or Bagdat to Basora may be made in eight or nine days, less or more according to circumstances; we were fourteen or fifteen days, because the water was low, and when the waters are at the lowest it requires eighteen days. Having no rocks or shoals in the river, the voyage may be continued day and night. There are some places by the way at which you have to pay so many medins for each bale, as toll or custom. Basora, Bussora, or Busrah, [in lat. 30° 20' N. long. 47° 40' E.] is a city on the Arabian side of the united rivers Euphrates and Tigris, which was governed of old by those Arabs called _Zizarij_, but is now under the dominion of the grand Turk, who keeps an army there at great charge. The tribe of Arabs called Zizarij still have possession of a large extent of country, and cannot be overcome by the Turks, as the sea divides their country into islands by many channels, so that the Turks are unable to bring an army against them either by land or sea, and likewise because the inhabitants are brave and warlike. A days sail before coming to Basora, we pass a small castle or fort called _Corna_, on the point of land where the Euphrates and Tigris join; whence the united waters of these two rivers form a very large river that runs into the gulf of Persia. Basora is fifty miles from the sea, and it a place of great trade in spices and drugs, which are brought from Ormuz. It is abundantly supplied with corn, rice, and dates, from the surrounding country. At Basora I shipped myself for Ormuz, to which I sailed through the Persian gulf 600 miles, which is the distance between Basora and Ormuz. We sailed in small ships built of board fastened together with small ropes or cords, and, instead of caulking, a certain kind of straw is laid between the boards at their junctions, and they are sewed together; owing to which imperfect construction, these vessels are very dangerous, and take in much water. On departing from Basora we sailed 200 miles along the left shore of the gulf, having the open sea on our right hand, till we came to an island called _Carichij_ or _Karak_, whence we continued our voyage to Ormuz, always keeping the Persian shore in sight on our left, and seeing many islands on our right hand towards Arabia. SECTION IV. _Of Ormuz._