pursues, and if he overtakes her she becomes his wife, and the
marriage is consummated on the spot; after which she returns with him
to his tent. But it sometimes happens that the woman does not wish to
marry the person by whom she is pursued, in which case she will not
suffer him to overtake her; and we were assured that no instance
occurs of a Calmuck girl being caught, unless she has a partiality for
her pursuer. If she dislikes him she rides, to use the language of
an English sportsman, 'neck or nothing,' until she has completely
escaped, or until the pursuer's horse is tired out, leaving her at
liberty to return, and to be afterwards chased by some more favourite
admirer."]



Such was the old man's tale; whether the offspring of his fertile
imagination, or actually founded upon fact, so plausible did it
appear, and so much interested was I in his narration, that it became
forcibly imprinted on my memory, and I have minutely followed him in
its details.

The morning after our arrival at Ghoree several of our followers were
taken ill, and as all were in great dread of the Koondooz fever, a
considerable alarm prevailed in our small camp. We did not at first
think much of the sickness, which we attributed to too free an
indulgence in the Koondooz melon, which is of a very large size, and
equal in flavour to those of Cabul. We therefore determined to remain
a day or two at Ghoree, in the hopes of a favourable change taking
place. But on the third day it was evident that the Koondooz fever had
really made its appearance, and several of the guard and servants,
to the number of twenty and upwards, were so much weakened as to be