AMASIA TO CONSTANTINOPLE. 
355 
At length, after having collected mj horses from various quarters, I 
departed for Geredeh , distant sixteen hours. At six hours from Cara - 
jalar is a large town called Clierkes , situated in a plain, environed by 
some pretty groupes of trees. It is surrounded by a wall, and on enter¬ 
ing one of the gates, I casually observed on the outside a Greek in¬ 
scription in good character, carved on a stone which formed the 
lowermost part of the arch. On quitting the place I noticed on the 
road side, at several intervals, shafts of small columns terminated on 
either side by a plinth and tores, and apparently erected as monuments in 
places of burial; for all around were spread other blocks of stone, more 
obviously designed to cover graves. As the night closed we deviated 
from the road to avoid Hamanlee , the town and fortress of a man 
(Hajee Ahmet Oglu,) who, being a rebel to the Porte, is always in 
arms; and whose parties (patroling the hills in watch for his safety) 
infest the whole country, and sometimes have not spared travellers. 
Instead, therefore, of ascending the mountain, we turned to the left 
through a valley. There was every appearance of a storm as the night 
fell; and our apprehensions were soon realized. We were overtaken in 
the open country by one of the severest tempests of rain, thunder, and 
lightning, that I ever witnessed. Our horses refused to proceed, and 
turned their backs instinctively, to the storm. The whole country was 
lighted by the flashes, which, ceasing at intervals, left us in impenetra¬ 
ble darkness. I can bear witness in this instance to the excellence of 
English broad cloth, a cloak of which preserved me from the heaviest 
torrents of rain, whilst my Janizary , who had a Turkish cloak made of 
a species of felt, was drenched from head to foot. After the storm had 
expended itself, we proceeded, till we reached the skirts of a village, where 
we fed our horses, and slept for an hour on the wet grass. 14th. The 
morning broke with unusual splendour, and introduced a most roman¬ 
tic country to us. We had now ascended to a region, the elevation of 
which was marked very sensibly by the increase of the cold, and by the 
tardiness of vegetation in comparison to that of the plains below. The 
peasantry were here ploughing the ground; and some delightful 
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