SPORT AND TRAVEL 21 



I commenced to ascend the steep hill above the vil- 

 lage, accompanied by Achmet, Manoli, and three 

 Turks carrying food and blankets. After a three 

 hours' climb up the mountain, I was very much dis- 

 gusted to find an encampment of Yuruks, especially 

 as every man carried a gun. There being no water 

 higher up the mountain, we here filled the wooden 

 bottles we had brought with us, and then ascended 

 another one thousand feet or so. Achmet and I then 

 separated from the rest of the party, after he had 

 first arranged to meet them at a certain place in the 

 evening ; but although we went over some excellent- 

 looking ground, we did not come across any wild 

 goats, and about 4 p. M. rejoined the rest of our party 

 on the edge of a wild, precipitous ravine. Soon after- 

 wards we saw a large flock of tame goats appear on 

 the crest of a hill above us, a sight which did not 

 please me; for although I knew that wild goats and 

 tame ones might live on the same mountain, yet I 

 thought that the presence of the latter, together with 

 their shepherds all armed with guns, would be sure 

 to make the former very wary, and prevent them from 

 coming out of the forest into open ground. We were 

 standing just on the edge of the tree line, the moun- 

 tains above us being quite devoid of either trees or 

 scrub, while the slopes below were covered more or 

 less thickly with pine forest, many of the trees being 

 of very large size. 



Achmet now made me understand that there were 



