90 Mr. C. G. Danford on the 
ground ; and under his guidance we bagged a certain number 
of both species of Partridge. He also told us of a man who 
had shot a bird like a cock, with a long tail; but the place 
was two days off, and quite out of our way. Can it be that 
Pheasants are to be found in this quarter ? 
Our route lay along the opposite bank of the Euphrates 
river to the strange old castle of Room Kaleh, where the 
scenery is very imposing, the river being shut in with huge 
walls of iron-stained rock. Among the few birds seen were 
Mergus merganser and Carbo cormoranus. Again ascending, 
we leit the river, and travelled by bad stony paths through 
upland valleys, whose only tenants seemed to be antelopes. 
This is the region of the “ Pistazien-Wald” above alluded 
to, the oaks composing it giving place, as Marash is neared, 
to scrub and evergreens on the lower levels, and to pine-woods 
on the mountains. 
February 28th saw us again on the move, first up the steep 
face of the Achyr-dagh to its ridge, where a good deal of 
snow still remained, and then down its north side, among 
pines and red earthy ravines. 
The views were very fine on all sides, especially of the wild 
mountains inhabited by the revolutionary Armenians of Zei- 
toun, from whom, according to the alarmists, the least to be 
looked for was robbery. Certainly many of the Turkish 
dwellings near the river had been sacked and burnt, and the 
inhabitants of those remaining kept nightly watch at the 
bridges and fords; but so far as we were concerned the pro- 
phets of evil were at fault, nor do I believe that the armed 
European travelling through the most out-of-the-way districts 
of Asia Minor stands much chance of being molested. On 
the second day we passed some very grand scenery ; for the 
valley narrowed to a gorge, high wooded crags rose on either 
side, while the ends of the vista were blocked by great snowy 
mountains towering against the pure blue sky. At last the 
path became nothing more than a partly scooped-out and 
partly built-up ledge overhanging the river, and at length 
reached a point where the opposing rocks almost met. The 
turning of this obstacle necessitated a high zigzag, the track 
soon after bringing us to the httle village of Hadji oglu. 
