20 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



to drive the baggage animals. Fowls, turkeys, kids, 

 and babies were scattered over the loads in more or 

 less precarious-looking situations ; and altogether the 

 march past of these wild-looking, migratory people 

 was as interesting to me as the sight of the Lord 

 Mayor's Show would have been to them. 



In the afternoon we reached Bashkos, a little Turk- 

 ish village of a few wooden houses, picturesquely 

 situated at the bottom of a ravine, on both sides of 

 which rise mountains which attain to an altitude of 

 from five to seven thousand feet. The river Bashkos 

 (here a beautiful little stream of clear cold water) 

 rushes noisily through the village, passing just below 

 the house of the head man, a very civil, good- 

 looking Turk, who proved to be the hunter Achmet, 

 to whom the Bey of El Maly had given me a letter. 

 On being questioned as to the chances of sport in 

 the neighbourhood, Achmet declared that there were 

 plenty of " gay-eek " (a word used to denote all kinds 

 of game animals, but with Achmet meaning wild 

 goats) in the surrounding mountains, and said he 

 would go with me himself to look for them ; so I put 

 together a few things for a three days' hunt, and got 

 everything ready for an early start on the following 

 morning. Achmet then showed me several skins of 

 goats which he had shot, and also the horns of a 

 young ram about twenty inches long. 



At daybreak next morning Antonio brought me a 

 cup of coffee and a biscuit; and not long afterwards 



