220 SHORT STALKS 



Yuruks are responsiljle for the terrible destruction of the 

 forests by fire. This is not accidental, but done of set 

 purpose to improve the grazing. From some of our 

 camps we could, every night, see two or three of these 

 fires raffino-. 



According; to our hosts, no strang-er had ever hunted 

 on that mountain. They assured us there were plenty of 

 Kayech on it. Some Yuruks whom we met the next 

 mornino;' brinmng; wood down the mountain said the same, 

 but when I showed them a picture of the ibex, I saw that 

 they looked doubtfully at it. The fact is, the term 

 Kayeeh is used vaguely, and is generally applied to the 

 largest horned animal in the district. We were assured 

 that there was plenty of water on the mountain, but it 

 took us four hours of stiff walking up a rough path to find 

 the first sign of it. AYhen reached it proved to be a tiny 

 mud pool no bigger than a soup-plate, from which the 

 faintest trickle oozed away, losing itself in slime. Along- 

 side lay a very ancient and disused trough formed of a 

 hollowed trunk, dry and cracked. It was unpromising, 

 but this camp was so beautiful that it was worth an effort 

 to make it habitable. By clearing out the little pool and 

 puddling the trough with mud, we at length got a tiny 

 trickle of clear water, enoug-h for drinking*, though not for 

 washing-. If we had gone farther we should have found 

 plenty of water, but not so favourable a camp. It was at 

 an elevation of about five thousand feet, and at the upper 

 edge of a gorge or canon, fifteen hundred feet deep. The 

 position overlooked an extensive forest of stone pines, the 

 finest trunks we had yet seen. 



Having; settled the water, we beg^an collecting; wood, 



