'Through Persia on a side-saddle' [‎289] (330/360)

FROM BUSREH TO TEHRAN AGAIN
England and America, where they are used for making
sweetmeats or vinegar, and for purposes of distilling, while
vast quantities are consumed in the mining districts of
England.
At last kind Doctor Scott gave us leave to attempt the
voyage down the Gulf to Karachi, and we decided to make
our way back to Tehran, via Bombay, Alexandria, and the
Black and Caspian Seas, instead of the delightful journey
across the Baktiari country to which we had both looked
forward so much.
On September 4th we left Busreh in the British India
steamer Assyria, and turned our backs joyfully on a part
of the world where we had passed some of the worst
months of our existence, although the great kindness we
had experienced had done so much to mitigate our
troubles.
It is all very well for travellers passing through a
country to praise its climate, when they have probably
timed their stay during the best season of the year.
Busreh is a most pleasant place in the winter, the air being
fresh and almost cold, giving the residents energy for golf,
cricket, shooting, and long rides across the desert. But,
as I have tried to show, it is very different during the
summer months, and the exhausting nature of the climate
is such that, in case of illness, it is most difficult to regain
strength.
When we started on our steamer down the Shat-el-Arab,
it seemed at first as if we had exchanged Scylla for
Charybdis, for punkahs were conspicuous by their absence,
and we were much less sheltered from the heat in the
vessel than on shore. Moreover, as there was no ice, all
our drinks were quite warm, although the bottles were