'A Journey from Bengal to England, through the Northern part of India, Kashmire, Afghanistan, and Persia, and into Russia, by the Caspian-Sea. By George Forster. In the Civil Service of the Honourable the East-India Company in Two Volumes. Vol. II.' [‎6] (19/314)

6 FORSTER’S TRAVELS.
one, was fcantily coveted with a Render mat, and the wind, current,
and a heavy rain had fet in againil us. The rain continued incef-
fantly the whole night, and though my bedding was drenched with
water, I received no injury from having lain on it feveral hours.
After exprefling my grateful acknowledgements to a hale conftitu-
tion, I am induced to afcribe a great fhare of the prevention of
ficknefs, on this as on other occalions to the frequent ufe of to
bacco, which manifeftly pofiefles the property of defending the
body againfl the impreflion of damps and cold or impure air,
which, from the thick ranges of wood and hills, is tainted with
noxious vapours, produces fevers of a malignant kind, and I am
prompted to attribute the good health I enjoyed in thole parts, to
the common habit of fmoking tobacco.
Our party was greatly furprized at the receipt of this very un«
feafonable mandate, as we had during the day, occupied one of
the moft public places of the town, where moft of the principal
people vifited Zulphucar Khan, fupplied him with provifions, and
were apprized of his intention to depart in the evening. But it
had been ifliied I believe by the governor of the town, in refentment
of the khan’s not vifiting him ; and operated with a quick force,
on the minds of all the men, and even the children of Iflaamabad,
who, but the fhort day before, from treating us with a ftudied kind-
nefs, would now pafs our quarters without a notice. In every region
of the earth, the lofs of power, nay the trivial crofies of life, too
often caufe the defertion of thofe, whom the language of the world
has