The
contrast to my thirteen heavy marches is so great that I am content to
remain for the present without thought or action, enjoying absolute
rest. Evening--We halt at Sopoor, and now let me endeavour to continue
the diary. Got up at seven this morning and sent for a boat, one of the
larger kind about thirty feet long, and six feet broad in the middle,
the centre portion covered with an awning made of grass matting. The
crew consisting of an entire family, from the elderly parents to quite
young children--9 in all. I was towed up the still widening river by all
of them in turns, one wee girl not three feet high being most energetic,
though I should think of little real service. Boat flat bottomed, and
alike at both ends, they use paddles instead of oars. But the scene! I
am unable now to do justice to it, so I will only give the outlines to
be elaborated hereafter. Splendid river--verdant plain covered with many
varieties of trees, poplar and chenar or tulip tree the most
conspicuous, extending as far as the eye can reach and enclosed by lofty
snow capped mountains, on which rest the clouds of heaven. Bright blue
King-fishers darting like flashes of light or hovering hawk-like before
the plunge after fish and the many hued dragon flies upon the water
weeds. Among the several varieties of the weeds, I noticed a great
quantity of "Anacharis.
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