Chapter I: Front Matter

Transcriber’s Note: This book was published in two volumes, of which this is the first. The second volume was released as Project Gutenberg ebook #74043, available at https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/74043.

WANDERINGS OF A PILGRIM,
IN SEARCH OF
The Picturesque,
DURING FOUR-AND-TWENTY YEARS IN THE EAST;
WITH
REVELATIONS OF LIFE
IN
THE ZENĀNA.

BY
فاني پارکس

ILLUSTRATED WITH SKETCHES FROM NATURE.

“Let the result be what it may, I have launched my boat.”

IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.

LONDON:
PELHAM RICHARDSON, 23, CORNHILL.
1850.

LONDON:
GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS,
ST. JOHN’S SQUARE.

To the Memory
OF
MY BELOVED MOTHER,
AT WHOSE REQUEST IT WAS WRITTEN,
THIS NARRATIVE IS DEDICATED:
AND IF ANY OF THE FRIENDS,
WHOSE KIND PARTIALITY HAS INDUCED THEM TO URGE
ITS PUBLICATION,
SHOULD THINK I HAVE DWELT TOO MUCH
ON MYSELF, ON MY OWN THOUGHTS, FEELINGS, AND ADVENTURES,
LET THEM REMEMBER THAT
THIS JOURNAL WAS WRITTEN FOR THE AFFECTIONATE EYE
Of Her
TO WHOM NOTHING COULD BE SO GRATIFYING
As THE SLIGHTEST INCIDENT CONNECTED WITH HER
BELOVED AND ABSENT CHILD,
فاني پارکس

श्री

INVOCATION.

Work-perfecting Gŭnéshŭ! Salamut.
Gănésh!—Gănésh!
Two-mothered! One-toothed!
Portly-paunched! Elephant-faced Gŭnéshŭ!
Salām!!

Moon-crowned! Triple-eyed!
Thou who in all affairs claimest precedence in adoration!
Calamity-averting Gănésh!
Salām!!

Thou who art invoked on the commencement of a journey,
the writing of a book,
Salām!!

Oh! Gănésh, “put not thine ears to sleep[1]!”
“Encourage me, and then behold my bravery;
Call me your own fox, then will you see me perform
the exploits of a lion[2]!”
“What fear need he have of the waves of the sea,
who has Noah for a pilot[3]?”
First-born of Mahādēo and Parvutī!
God of Prudence and Policy!
Patron of Literature!
Salām!!
May it be said,
“Ah! she writes like Gănésh!”

_In stone by Major Parlby_

فاني پارکس]

श्री