As we approached Sennah, the capital of the province of Ardelan, the soil improved, and, if cultivated, would, no doubt, produce abundance of grain; but its rude inhabitants prefer a pastoral life. They are, if we may judge from what we saw, an uncommonly robust race, and appear unchanged in their manners and customs by the twenty-three centuries which have elapsed since the days of Xenophon, who would have no difficulty, if permitted to return from the Elysian fields, to recognize the descendants of the enemies he encountered amidst these wilds. I made this observation to Baharâm Meerzâ, who had been sent by the Waly of Sennah to welcome the Elchee, and remarked, at the same time, the little care or knowledge they had about religion, though all professed that of Mahomed. "It is all very true," he said, "but two or three days will bring you to Sennah, and you will then see that though we are Kûrds, and have a pride in being so, we are not all barbarians." The evening before we went to Sennah, I read the introductory pages of the history of the Kûrds. It is written by a native; and, according to this patriotic author, all the virtue and courage this world has ever known was nurtured amid the wilds and mountains of Kûrdistan. Its inhabitants, he affirms, attained great glory in former ages, and would have subjected the universe, but for the caution of the prophet Mahomed, who, struck by the fierce look and gigantic form of a Kûrd ambasssador, prayed to God that this formidable race might never be united. This prayer was heard, adds my author; and the warriors of Kûrdistan have ever since been at variance with each other. Sennah is so surrounded by hills that the town is not seen till you are close to the suburbs. We were pleased with its appearance: the houses are well built; and the gardens and cultivation in its vicinity came in strong and pleasing contrast with the rugged lands through which we had travelled for the last eight days. Two sons of Aman ollâh Khan, the Waly, or prince, came with three hundred horse to meet, and welcome us to the court of their father. I was delighted with the eldest of these boys. Though only ten years of age, he rode and managed a very spirited charger with great address. In his conversation he was free and unembarrassed, mixing the simplicity of the child with the information of the man. He had, he said, been in all parts of his father's territories, and appeared well acquainted with the various tribes by which they were inhabited, answering every question put to him by the Elchee on this subject with remarkable clearness and correctness.