352 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



the valley, and embowered amid gigantic trees, a 

 little beyond which we emerged upon a large green 

 meadow surrounded by a paling, in the centre of 

 which stood a group of cottages, and at the gate the 

 stalwart and venerable person of our host. 



The process of the evening before was repeated : 

 the beds were spread and the sheep killed, and con- 

 versation carried on. with our entertainer. Fortu- 

 nately the sun had not yet set, and nothing could 

 exceed the beauty of the scene as we sat at the door 

 of the konak. We had attained an elevation of be- 

 tween four and five thousand feet above the sea, and 

 from our lofty point of view looked over the inter- 

 vening ranges to the level horizon-line of the ocean. 

 As the sun descended, lights and shadows played over 

 the vast extent of mountain country which lay heaped 

 in a confused mass before us. In wonderful and 

 rapid variety we could watch the night creeping 

 slowly over valley after valley ; the bright tints upon 

 the hill-tops became gradually circumscribed until 

 they disappeared altogether, and the golden path 

 upon the distant ocean vanished; but on the fan- 

 tastic outline of the clouds was still painted a bright 

 record of its departed glory, until at last that too 

 melted away, and the long and eventful day was over. 

 It was a worthy recompense for all our toil to revel 

 in such a scene, and then to wait until the moon 

 appeared above the highest mountain-peak, and to 

 watch its silvery rays glancing into the dark recesses 



