{185} Some writers describe this colossal crystal as being twenty-
five feet long.
{190} If these two towers did belong to a mosque, why were they
built of such different sizes?
{193} The cheprasses are servants of the English government. They
wear red cloth scarfs, and a brass plate on the shoulders, with the
name of the town to which they belong engraved upon it. Each of the
higher English officials are allowed to have one or more of these
people in their service. The people consider them much superior to
the ordinary servants.
{200} Children are generally considered as impure until the ninth
year, and are therefore not subject to the laws of their religion.
{204} The god Vishnu is represented as a tortoise.
{209} Although only the beginning of spring, the temperature rose
during the day as high as 95-99 degrees Fah.
{212a} Mundsch is the royal tutor, writer, or interpreter.
{212b} It is well known that saltpetre produces a considerable
reduction of temperature.
{213} Indor lies 2,000 feet above the level of the sea.
{225} Monsoons are the periodical winds which blow during one-half
the year from east to west, during the other half from west to east.
{226} The Black Town is that part of the town in which the poorer
classes of inhabitants reside. That neither beauty nor cleanliness
are to be sought there, is a matter of course.
{227} There are in all only 6,000 Parsees in the island of Bombay.
{228} And yet Bombay is the principal seat of the Fire-worshippers.
{268} This is an error: M. Botta made the first attempt to excavate
the Ninevite remains at Khorsabad. Mr. Layard had, moreover,
commenced his excavations before he received the countenance of the
British Museum authorities. See "Nineveh - the Buried City of the
East," one of the volumes of the "National Illustrated Library," for
the rectification of this and other errors in Madame Pfeiffer's
account.
{270} The manuscripts of the journey through Hindostan as far as
Mosul miscarried for more than a year and a half. I gave them up as
lost. This was the cause of the delay in the publication of my
"Journey round the world."
{279} I had picked up enough of the language between here and Mosul
to understand this much.
{287} Mela is the name of the Indian religious festivals at which
thousands of people assemble. The missionaries frequently travel
hundreds of miles to them in order to preach to the people.
{305} Tradition says that the country about Erivan is that part of
the earth which was first of all peopled. Noah and his family dwelt
here, both before and after the deluge; the Garden of Eden is also
said to have been situated here. Erivan was formerly called Terva,
and was the chief city of Armenia.
