136 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



soon covered with a wintry white sheet several inches 

 deep, and we had to keep continually shaking and 

 scraping the fast accumulating snow from the tents. 

 At ten o'clock it was still snowing hard, and it really 

 looked as if it never meant to stop doing so any more. 



The Turks and Dr. Carpuzza now began to get 

 anxious, and advised me to send immediately for the 

 horses to carry our baggage down the mountain before 

 the paths became impassable ; and as I could do noth- 

 ing whilst the snowstorm lasted, and they thought it 

 might continue for three or four days, I took their 

 advice and sent for the horses, which reached our 

 camp in the afternoon. It was still snowing hard, and 

 the snow by this time lay about a foot deep on the 

 open meadow-land round our tents ; but we lost no 

 time in getting the packs on the horses, and reached 

 the village of Mendes at the foot of the mountain by 

 six in the evening. About half-way down, the snow 

 changed to rain, and having no waterproofs we got 

 very wet before reaching the village. We rented a 

 peasant's house or two-storied log hut for the night, 

 and buying a good supply of wood soon had a brisk 

 fire burning on the large hearth, before which we pro- 

 ceeded to dry our things. 



During the night it must have turned colder, as 

 when we woke in the morning the whole village and 

 the surrounding country were covered with snow. 

 A perfect hurricane, too, had sprung up, which, tear- 

 ing the new-fallen snow from the ground, carried 



