22 CASUALS IN THE CAUCASUS 



A little felucca, with spotless lateen sails, crossed our 

 course, passing beneath the bows in dangerous prox- 

 imity in an arresting effort to call attention to a 

 basketful of red mullet glittering in carp-like bril- 

 liance. Two energetic Blue sharks chased each other 

 hither and thither in a churning turmoil of spray. 



The huge isolated mass grew dim, dimmer yet, its 

 every outline expressing unique aloofness. Wonderful, 

 heart-gripping spot, changeless as the tides. 



The years have built up centuries, the swirl and 

 rush of battles have swept about its hoary foundations, 

 the pains, and groans, and griefs of multitudes have 

 endured and passed to nothingness, but the great 

 Rock, in majestic column, stands for Eternity. 



We touched at the Piraeus, thence across the .Egean 

 Sea to Smyrna, and, heading north, cruised between 

 the islands of the ^Egean Sea to the Dardanelles, most 

 wonderful of straits, with its sullen menacing batteries 

 frowning down from the heights. 



Next the beautiful yacht slipped like a white sea-bird 

 into the stormless sapphire Marmora, and here Ismidt's 

 Gulf, a deep-set Eastern inlet, tempted us from our 

 course the while some necessary repairs were made to 

 the yacht's engines. 



Anchoring off Hereke, Cecily did the industrial side 

 of the place, for here is situated the Royal silk and 

 cloth factory of Turkey, and I went out in a tiny 

 caique, skirting along a shore fringed with gigantic 

 rushes, amid which the sleek Anatolian buffalo 

 shambled and the heron flew low to his fishing- 

 ground. Here and there a tall Greek in a gay blouse- 



