Intermingled with these scenes of ancient civilization are
inscriptions of great interest, in the cuneiform or wedge-shaped
character.
* * * * *
A caravan starting from Mosul for Tabreez, Madame Ida Pfeiffer determined
on joining it, though warned that it would traverse a country containing
not a single European. But, as we have already had abundant evidence,
Madame Pfeiffer knew not what fear was. Nothing could daunt her fixed
purpose. She had made up her mind to go to Persia; and to Persia she
would go. She started with the caravan on the 8th of July, and next day
crossed the hills that intervene between Mesopotamia and Kurdistan. The
latter country has never enjoyed a good reputation among travellers; and
Madame Pfeiffer's experience was not calculated to retrieve its
character. The caravan was crossing a corn-field which had been recently
reaped, when half-a-dozen stalwart Kurds, armed with stout cudgels,
sprang out from their hiding-place among the sheaves, and seizing the
travellers' bridles, poured out upon them what was unmistakably a volley
of oaths and threats. One of the travellers leaped from his steed,
seized his assailant by the throat, and holding a loaded pistol to his
head, indicated his determination of blowing out his brains. The effect
of this resolute conduct was immediate; the robbers desisted from their
attack, and were soon engaged in quite an amicable conversation with
those they had intended to plunder.
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