paying an enormous ransom of eight hundred tomauns. He had not travelled in any state, and had therefore pretended great poverty; but it did not escape the sagacity and penetration of his captors, that his hands and feet were of a delicate texture, and bore no traces of a life of hard labour. This proved a key to the discovery of his condition, and he was compelled to obtain his enlargement at the price abovementioned, or incur the risk of being used as a slave, and probably put to death.

At Karee-nee we were quartered in an Illyautee tent of woven black goat's hair, to the exclusion of the rightful owners, who, however, submitted to the ejectment with a tolerably good grace. This mode of procuring lodgings is common to travellers in Asiatic Turkey, when escorted by approved guides, or attars, and as it rarely happens that the parties thus deprived of their habitation go without reward, the apparent harshness of the proceeding does not much affect them. This reconciled me to what at first seemed an arbitrary usurpation.

Our journey to Bayazeed was impeded for a

day by the illness of one of the party, and we therefore resolved to make for a small encampment and group of stony dwellings inhabited by Koords which just came in sight, and request shelter for the night. The place was called Arap-deezur, and had evidently once been a village of some extent, for the ruined walls of substantial houses were scattered in every direction. On our approach the watch-dogs rushed from the hamlet and bayed fierce defiance, in strong contrast to the "deep-mouthed welcome" with which they greet their masters returning from a chappow.* The barking brought out several richly-dressed Koords, whom my guide recognised for members of a tribe remarkable for their thievish and bloody propensities. He rode up to them, and after a brief parley, pointed out a tent into which my servant carried my joals,† spread my carpet, and deposited saddle, bridle, and horse-cloth, whispering that things were safer within than without, and that a well-primed pistol might

* A plundering excursion. + Travelling bags.

save a world of inconvenience. The Koords grouped themselves about my tent and endeavoured to draw me into conversation. As, however, I did not understand the Turkish language, a ready excuse was furnished for my apparent reserve, and my baggage being moreover but trifling in extent, the groups were not long in dispersing.

Early the next morning we commenced ascending the mountains leading to Bayazeed. Many Koordish encampments lay scattered about in the plains beneath, and we frequently met a solitary horseman covered with his abbah and bearing a long bamboo lance, who eyed us askance and passed on without exchanging the usual salutation. We gave the vicinage of these savage and inhospitable mountaineers what in nautical phraseology is termed " a wide berth," and hastened on to our destination, which we reached late in the afternoon of the 18th of September.

CHAPTER XI.

Bayazeed Gloomy reflections-Departure for ArzeroumArarat again-Review of Sir R. K. Porter's hypothesis regarding the Ark-The Koords—A Koordish camp— Costume- New companions-Interesting march-Singular scene-Armenian villagers- Alashké─Visit to the Pacha of Bayazeed-His history.

BAYAZEED is approached on the south-eastern side by a small chain of steep and rocky acclivities of various strata, the surfaces of which are covered with cockle shells and crystal. The defiles are deep and narrow; of such slight breadth, indeed, that the projecting crags often come in contact with a horseman's legs, and endanger either his limbs or his seat, if he is not rather cautious. The town is perfectly shut out from view until the traveller gains the summit of the tung'h or

strait of the pass, when he suddenly finds. himself within a stone's throw of his goal. He stands, as it were, on the brink of a ravine, Bayazeed occupying the opposite edge, and he pauses involuntarily to contemplate this curious location, where the labour and the might of man, "proud man," are reduced to contemptible insignificance by their proximity to the stupendous workings of divine power. Ask me for the most striking contrast between the fruits of human effort and of Almighty toil, and I will direct you to a busy city at the base of Ararat.

Bayazeed has not an interesting or agreeable appearance. In fact, were it not for the Pacha's palace, which is covered with white plaister and rises high above the rest of the town, it would be difficult to distinguish it from the craggy elevation on the side of which it is built, for the houses are composed of the same material as the rocks, and the soil yields not an inch of verdure. To complete the sombre and cheerless hue of the prospect, the memory of the visitor insensibly recalls the cruelties and sufferings of which Bayazeed has been the theatre from