such people and countries is very remarkable; but a Toorkmun, though he can engage in a foray, and execute it with unexampled address, cannot commit a theft in a quiet way, which is not congenial to his nature. ~Remarks on the desert.~ I have now a little leisure to speak of the desert which we had traversed on our route to the Moorghab. In a military point of view, the scarcity of water is a great obstacle. In some places the wells were thirty-six miles apart; and, generally, the water was both bitter and scanty. The water which we had transported with us from the Oxus was not less nauseous than that of the desert; for it must be carried in skins, and these must be oiled to preserve them from bursting. The grease mixes with the water, which latterly became so tainted that the horses even refused to drink it. There is nothing of which we feel the want so much as good water. In the march, several people of the caravan, particularly the camel-drivers, were attacked with inflammation of the eyes; I suppose, from the sand, glare, and dust. With such an enumeration of petty vexations and physical obstacles, it is dubious if an army could cross it at this point. The heavy sandy pathways, for there are no roads, might certainly be rendered passable to guns, by placing brushwood on the sand; but there is a great scarcity of grass for cattle, and the few horses which accompanied the caravan, were jaded and worn out before they reached the river. A horse which travels with a camel, has great injustice done to him; but an army could not outstrip the motions of a caravan, and fatigues would still fall heavily upon them. History tells us, that many armies have fought in and crossed this desert; but they consisted of hordes of light cavalry, that could move with rapidity. It is to be remembered, that we had not a foot-passenger in our party. Light horse might pass such a desert, by divisions, and separate routes; for besides the high road to Merve, there is a road both to the east and the west. It would, at all times, be a difficult task for a great body of men to pass from the Moorghab to the Oxus, since our caravan, of eighty camels, emptied the wells; and it would be easy to hide, or even fill up these scanty reservoirs. Where water lies within thirty feet of the surface, an energetic commander may remedy his wants, since we have an instance of it in the advance of the Orgunje Khan to the banks of the Moorghab. But after I have written, and, perhaps, diffusely, on the passage of such a desert, I may ask myself, who seeks to cross it, and in the line of what invader it lies? It is not in the route between India and Europe; and if the descendants of the Scythians and Parthians wish to invade and tyrannize over each other, they may do so without, perhaps, exciting even the notice of the “fierce Britons.” ~A Toorkmun camp.~