SPORT AND TRAVEL 9 



Altogether, many of them look like the descendants of 

 a fair-skinned race of people, burnt deep brown by ex- 

 posure for many generations to a terrific sun. 



After a hot day of riding and walking, I passed a 

 most unpleasant night at a Turkish " han " or guest- 

 house in the town of Adzibaden. In the first place I 

 could get nothing to eat, so cooked a little of the rice 

 I had brought with me, and made a cup of tea. I slept 

 in my own blankets on the roughly boarded floor of an 

 empty room, or rather endeavoured to sleep, but with- 

 out success, for all night long I was assailed by legions 

 of bugs, that kept me in such a constant state of irrita- 

 tion that I was glad indeed when at last day broke 

 and I was able to escape from their attentions. On 

 leaving the room in which I had passed the night, and 

 entering a paved courtyard enclosed within the guest- 

 house, I found the whole air pervaded with the 

 most sickening stench imaginable, which arose from 

 open cesspools serving as water-closets in the yard 

 below the sleeping rooms. Why Adzibaden escaped 

 the cholera epidemic then raging in certain parts of 

 Asia Minor, I cannot imagine, unless the smells were 

 too bad even for cholera or typhoid bacteria. The 

 curious thing was that the people about the place did 

 not seem to notice the dreadful smell. Glad, indeed, 

 was I to once again breathe pure air beyond the pre- 

 cincts of this unsavoury town. We were rather late 

 in starting, not getting off till after six o'clock, the de- 

 lay being caused by my having to wait for my papers 



