338 
CATTLE AND PROVISIONS. 
could not approach it ; in their attempts to quench 
the flame, they held skins of animals to screen them 
from the heat, which we in our clothes could hardly 
bear. Its further progress was happily stayed, but 
the hut with all that it contained was soon a heap of 
ashes. 
In December, the people burn down the grass on 
the hills and dales. The black ashes fill the air for 
some days till laid by rain, serving the purpose of 
manure for the following season. The dews are very 
heavy at this time of the year : one night my knife 
was left on a bank, and next morning it appeared 
rusted all over. After eight in the morning it was 
too hot to walk out with comfort before the after- 
noon ; and although no musquito troubled us, the 
place was infested with flies, which stuck to our faces 
and clothes during a morning walk. The small 
stream below the village dried up as our rivulets at 
home do in summer, and, during January, scarcely 
afforded sufficient water for the cattle. There were 
nine separate herds, and probably fifteen hundred 
cows, to be seen daily. They belonged chiefly to the 
Turks, but the country being overstocked, the animals 
were small and poor, and many of the calves were 
not able to follow the flocks. While housed in the 
villages, each animal was tied to a peg in the ground; 
and when released, in order that they might be taken 
to graze, all rushed to a salt bank of earth which had 
been scooped out by their tongues. We obtained 
provision here by sending our men with a cow to a 
neighbouring village, where they killed it before the 
natives, who exchanged their grains or vegetables for 
the beef. Very often, when a fowl was required, the 
