speak a little English-"no plenty speak, but little;" we were at a loss to understand his calculation of time, but found out eventually that what he called three o'clock was a distance which it would take us three hours to accomplish.

At the foot of Mount Amanus we stopped at a Khan for breakfast. It was a long earth building, in which some sixty people had passed the previous night; there were still some few asleep, and one sick person moaning-probably he was laid up, poor fellow, with fever contracted at Iskanderoon. We were almost

shivering from the cold, and were glad to sit by a wood fire hastily kindled on the floor, although it filled the hut or Khan with smoke.

We arrived about five, and at six, after the horses had eaten their barley, we mounted. Our way was along a sandy, stony, rocky, ill-defined course, through scrub: before us a vast plain; immediately behind us, Mount Amanus, whose purple heights were tinged with rose under the influence of the rising sun.

We were now traversing the upper or northern part of the great plain of Antioch, which, as well as others in the north of Syria, is covered in the spring and summer by numerous families of Kurds and Turkomans, who descend from the highlands to feed their flocks, and is traversed by numerous caravans; and it is a wonderful sight to see, on the western slopes of Mount Amanus, the meeting of many hundreds of camels, going loose in opposite directions, under charge of a very few Arabs, apparently mixed up inextricably, yet

threading their way through the two opposing streams, guided only by the Arab cry, so well known to and understood by the camel, of "Hohe, Hohe."

In Syria the changes of temperature are sudden and very great, and although it was the end of October, the sun was intensely hot. Hour after hour passed, and we were still riding across the plain; after having forded a river twice, with steep banks and muddy bottom, and crossed it again by a causeway of stone and a series of stone bridges, rather narrow and without parapets, and not in the best order, where the water is deep and swells out over the plain into a wide swampy expanse, we approached what we thought had been the boundary of the plain, but a pass through the low hills revealed another, apparently boundless.

There is another Khan for travellers rather more than half way between the foot of Mount Amanus and the Afrine river, under some low hills, and close by one of the most delightful springs of water I have ever seen. This comes out of the rock, forms a large pool of many yards in length and breadth, through which the road, or rather track, runs; it is as clear as crystal, cold and refreshing, and delicious to the palate, and yet devoid of hardness. Horses and other animals delight in it. We did not stop here on this occasion, but hastened on for the Afrine, some three or four hours distant, and passed a Hamman, or bath, a medicinal one in a large rock, where a sick man was bathing, while another anointed him with what looked like mud. After a slight rise, a sudden descent to the left brought us to

the Afrine, a broad but, at this time of the year, shallow river of clear and sparkling water, but after the winter rains, and in early spring, it is often impassable, and caravans are often detained for many days.

The Khan is on the opposite or right bank of the Afrine; it is surrounded by a wall, which encloses a large extent of ground. We dismounted, and mats of bamboo were spread for us under some willow trees. We had some tea, and Michael recommended sleep, as we were to stay here until 8 p.m., to take advantage of the moon to light us over the mountain pass, some four or five hours distant. He showed the way by stretching himself full length on his back, and soon gave audible indication of sound sleep. We tried to follow his example, but without success. The tinkling of bells was in our ears, and we sat up. Caravan after caravan passed to or from Iskanderoon, the sound of the bells on the baggage animals being heard a long way off. We looked at the Turkish officer, who was sitting on a chair smoking a Narghileh and listening to an irregular horseman seated opposite to him, their knees almost touching. After awhile the officer rose and mounted, saluting us courteously before he rode away. After this the irregular horseman mounted, and patrolled once or twice to a distance of about two hundred yards; having finished this duty, if such it was, as a compromise, he dismounted, fastened up his horse, and sang, accompanying his voice by playing on a small kind of guitar, for the amusement of those who keep the Khan. Michael was still asleep; the sun was getting low. Now and then a mounted traveller

rode in; one, a tall, respectable, sedate Mussulman, tied up his horse, looked him over, took his pistols from his saddle, fed his horse, washed his hands and face, said his prayers, and prepared to eat.

We also arose, and for the place and under the circumstances made rather an elaborate toilet, and dined in the Khan on a roast chicken and two boiled eggs. There were several persons in the Khan; one of those in attendance could speak French, and another Italian. Grapes we brought with us; at this time of the year, from Smyrna to the Euphrates, you may, and people do, feast upon grapes morning, noon, and night -thin-skinned, luscious, delicious grapes.

All day we had been meeting caravans carrying wheat from Aleppo to Iskanderoon. Some of these are composed entirely of camels, which are smaller and higher-bred-looking animals than those generally in use in India. Each animal goes loose, and not confined in a string by a cord from the nostril of one animal to the tail of the preceding one, as is the custom in India. Other caravans are made up of horses, or asses and mules. These are also all loose, and, except where the track may be narrow or difficult, spread over the ground, often showing a wide front, each animal selecting his own path, twenty or more abreast, or in any way they please. These horse and mule caravans perform the journey in much less time than do those composed of camels. Nearly every animal is decorated with bells: in some cases there is a large bell and a smaller one suspended from the neck; the harness and trappings of

others are studded all over with small round ones. The sound from all these many bells is rather pleasing than otherwise, and after a weary ride throughout a darksome night, the first tinkling of these bells about dawn is welcome music to your ears.

Many of the horses in these caravans show some blood; and we remarked, after many months' experience of these caravans, that the legs and feet of the horses were in better order than those of either the asses or mules!

We mounted and left the Afrine at 8 p.m., and after having ridden for more than two hours in the dark, up a gradual ascent, we entered a narrow gorge, with lofty and precipitous cliffs on both sides, and skirted by what appeared to be the deep, rocky bed of a mountain torrent. But in the deep bed are immense rocks, and deep chasms where water might be still and deep-vast caverns and precipitous walls of rock, looking white and startling by the light from the moon, which now had appeared in full glory above the rocky heights.

Now and then narrow strips of sand about two feet wide intervene between the masses of rock on the banks of the torrent, along which we canter until we come to rocks again. Up, up we go: the cliffs or precipices are higher, glistening white in the dazzling moonlight; caverns yawn in the waterless river. Here our way is over great blocks or large slabs of white stone, white above, white on every side; on a sudden a chasm with perpendicular walls is seen on our right, the moun