138 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



hurled against the rocks and bushes on either side of 

 the path. My hair between my hat and the nape of 

 my neck soon became a lump of ice, and Dr. Car- 

 puzza suffered the same inconvenience which Theo- 

 dore and the Turks escaped, as they wore long cloaks 

 with hoods. 



After four hours' struggle, we reached the village 

 of Homa. Here we were below the snow-line, but 

 it was still sleeting, the sleet melting as it fell to 

 the ground. From Homa, another hour's walking 

 brought us to the Greek farmhouse where we had 

 passed the night on our way to the Ak Dagh. The 

 storm had now lasted for forty-eight hours, and still 

 showed no signs of abating. The farmhouse in which 

 we had taken shelter shook and rattled again under 

 the violent assaults of the wind, and a great deal of 

 plaster was shaken or torn from its walls, whilst all 

 the tiles were blown off the roof of an outhouse. Just 

 above the village of Homa, there were some high cliffs, 

 on the ledges of which, the Turks had told me, two 

 pairs of eagles were nesting, as well as numbers of 

 griffon vultures. Of these latter, they said there were 

 at least one hundred nests. I was loath to leave the 

 district without visiting these cliffs, but the badness of 

 the weather made it very difficult to do so. All night 

 long the gale continued, and on the following morn- 

 ing the wind was as strong as ever, and Mustapha said 

 it would be impossible to climb up the cliffs. How- 

 ever, I determined to try what could be done, and so 



