CONSTANTINOPLE TO ANTIOCH 



But as soon as we came to the mountains we 

 arrived at what seemed to be the chff dwellers' 

 home. There was a town of some size, built 

 just as if the swallows had made it of mud, 

 hanging from the mountains. The houses 

 were perched on top of each other, all suspend- 

 ed from the cliffs above. Water rushed in 

 ditches between the houses. This was the town 

 of Baylan, the first place of safety from the 

 fever we had reached since leaving the sea coast 

 below. 



The soldiers rode ahead of us to the thickest 

 part of the village. We stopped there a few 

 moments to take tea. During that brief space 

 the whole population gathered around leaving 

 their shops to take care of themselves. 



We were now traveling on the finest moun- 

 tain road I had ever seen. It was the old 

 ancient Roman road and the same one over 

 which Darley's Arabians had travelled when 

 he was taken from Aleppo in 1703. We passed 

 one point that looked dangerous; we could 

 look over the bank more than two hundred 

 feet down to the jagged rocks below. And 

 then on and on we climbed over this wonderful 

 mountain pass. 



We saw small boys herding long-eared 



[59] 



