CONSTANTINOPLE TO ANTIOCH 



But the guns were not to be had. That was 

 plain after what I had heard and seen and I did 

 not want to stay an hour longer in the place 

 than was necessary. So we decided to leave 

 Jack Thompson behind us to wait for the cable 

 from Constantinople and bring along the guns. 

 He was to be taken to the mountains that night 

 away from the mosquitoes and return the next, 

 while JNIoore, Mr. Sneddon, the sick English- 

 man and myself, together with three soldiers 

 as bodyguards, were to leave for Antioch, eight 

 hours ride toward Aleppo. 



Personally I was not sorry to leave Alexan- 

 dretta. It is a miserable place built in the 

 right angle of the Mediterranean, between 

 Syria and Asia Minor. It is a small town with 

 a large graveyard, and it is almost shoved into 

 the water by the big meaningless mountains at 

 its back. At a quick glance it would suggest 

 the banks of the upper Snake River, in the 

 northwest. The people have a washy yellow 

 complexion, owing to the fever which is al- 

 ways present. 



Its mosquitoes are smaller than the Jersey 

 mosquitoes, but they are wilder, and have 

 striped legs. They are the most deadly species 

 of any mosquitoes in the Ottoman Empire. 



[57]^ 



