SPORT AND TRAVEL 5 



to me. These two men were the only servants I took 

 with me from Smyrna ; and on Sunday, September 9, 

 they were sent on ahead with the baggage to Denizli 

 (the terminus of a branch line of the Aidin Railway), 

 to hire ponies and get everything ready for a start on 

 Tuesday morning for El Maly. 



On the following day I started for Denizli myself, 

 carrying in my pocket a letter of introduction to the 

 Bey of El Maly, as well as my passport and a docu- 

 ment which I had obtained from the Embassy at 

 Constantinople, and which, I think, was an official 

 letter from the Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs, 

 requesting on my behalf the good offices of all ser- 

 vants of the Sultan that I might meet during my 

 travels. It was dark when the train at last reached 

 Denizli; but I found Antonio and Manoli awaiting 

 me with quite a good two-horse carriage, in which we 

 all drove up to a small hotel kept by a Greek, who 

 gave me a good supper and a comfortable bed. My 

 men had got everything ready for an early start on 

 the morrow, having engaged two men and five ponies 

 to take us to El Maly, two riding ponies for myself 

 and Antonio, and three baggage ponies, which, al- 

 though they seemed to me to be very heavily laden, 

 had usually to carry Manoli and their owners on the 

 top of the loads. 



On Tuesday, September 1 1, we got the ponies loaded 

 up before daylight, and made an early start, leaving De- 

 nizli at 5.30 A. M., and, although we made two short 



