SPORT AND TRAVEL n 



trouble me. On the following day we passed through 

 a broken hilly country, seemingly uninhabited, and pres- 

 ently emerged upon a level circular plain of great 

 extent, in the centre of which was a large and prosper- 

 ous-looking village of some fifty wood and mud houses, 

 or rather cottages, each of which was surrounded by a 

 small orchard of apple and apricot trees. The plain 

 surrounding the village was almost entirely under 

 cultivation, and well irrigated, the water being led all 

 over it from streams pouring out of the surrounding 

 mountains, some of which must, I think, attain to a 

 height of over seven thousand feet. In the afternoon 

 we reached the summit of a pass fifty-five hundred feet 

 above sea level. Although the sun was shining brightly 

 in a cloudless sky, the air here was delightfully cool and 

 pleasant, reminding me of the winter climate on the 

 highest portions of the Mashona plateau. We were 

 surrounded by mountain ranges, and I think I never 

 looked upon a more harsh and desolate landscape, for 

 in all the vast expanse of cold grey rock over which 

 one's eye could wander, there was not a tree or a 

 bush, or any apparent vegetation to be seen. Where 

 we were standing, there was little or no grass; but I 

 found that many little prickly spiny plants grew 

 amongst the stones, and on these goats thrive well. 

 From the farther side of the pass we had a fine view 

 of the Ak Dagh mountains. This range must look 

 magnificent in winter when covered with snow, as many 

 of its peaks and great rounded domes are ten thousand 



