We now cross Asiatic Turkey and reach to Persia, where, if we wish to see the country, we must engage horses for ourselves and baggage-mules to carry our goods and chattels. A traveller who went from Trebizond to Erzeroum in 1862 made the journey in this fashion, and a very romantic experience it must have been, for the scenery traversed was hilly and picturesque, and the climate left nothing to be desired. "Our caravan passed cheerfully along," he says, "the bells on our horses jangling merrily and the muleteers singing their chanting songs and entertaining each other with marvellous narratives. Much in the same way as we were travelling then, the old Crusaders rode to Palestine." [Illustration: MADAGASCAR LITTER.] At that time, more than fifty years ago, the Bagdad railway had not been begun and riding was the only means of getting about the country. The same writer describes the gorgeously caparisoned horses with purple silk bridle reins and silver harness, on which the high officials of Persia rode through the streets of Teheran, and goes on to say that the people might be called a nation of horsemen, for even the royal despatches of the Shah and the public documents were dated "From the King's Stirrup." Among other interesting sights to be seen in the towns of Persia are the itinerant beggars mounted on small humped bullocks, and the large panniers slung on to the backs of mules in which women travel. These panniers, which are closely covered, look as if they would be very airless and uncomfortable, but in them long journeys are made, and the mules thus loaded may be met in company with bullock-carts and long lines of camels on the great caravan road which leads from Persia into the heart of Central Asia. In Afghanistan women and children travel on camels, wooden panniers being hung on either side of the animal's hump, while between them is a kind of platform sheltered by a little tent-like awning. On we go, through Thibet and over the Himalayas, where we see shaggy yaks coming across the steep passes with heavy loads on their backs, and so reach India, the strange vehicles of which have been already described. There was, however, one province which was omitted when we visited India before, and this is Pondicherry, which belongs to France and is the only district of the great peninsula not under British dominion. In this place a very original conveyance called the push-push is to be seen. It is a light carriage with wheels, springs, and awning complete, but instead of being drawn by a horse it is, as its name implies, pushed from behind by two stalwart natives. [Illustration: PONDICHERRY PUSH-PUSH.]