The Pleasures of Desert Travelling Desert blossoms as a rose--Flowers of the desert--Arabs, their occupation and women--Arab dancing--Robbers of the desert--An army of 10,000--Five hundred armed men--False alarms--Lost in the desert--Delights and disturbances of travelling 307 Chapter XIII Pioneer Medical Mission Work in Mosul (Nineveh) Winning the confidence of the people--Native surgery--Difficulties to be overcome--Backward patients--Encouraging work--Prevalent diseases--Lunatics--Possible future of Mesopotamia 317 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Page The Author and her Husband in Bakhtian Costume Frontispiece Persian Conveyances 26 A Halt for Lunch 26 A Novel Drying Ground 46 Persian Mode of Irrigation 46 A "Chimney" of Yezd 54 A Korsi Or Heating Contrivance 54 House-building in Persia 72 Persian Shops 72 Scene from the Roof of our House at Kerman 76 A Street in Kerman 76 The Mosque Gate, City of Kerman 86 A Mountain Pass 132 A Caravanserai 132 A Very Ancient Bridge 142 A Typical Street in Baghdad 142 Using the X Rays in Julfa Hospital 148 A Ward in the Julfa Hospital 148 Opium Making 158 The Rich Beggar 158 Types of Persian Jews 166 The Water Square 166 Our Home in Nineveh 174 A Bridge of Boats 176 The Bridge of Boats Over the Frozen Tigris 180 A Picnic Party 188 Mutrar Paulus, Syrian Roman Catholic Bishop 192 Dr. Hume-Griffith's Study in Mosul 210 Our Drawing-room in Julfa 210 A Group of Persian Girls 216 The Camera in Mosul 222 Tired of Play at a Picnic 222