358 
AMASIA TO CONSTANTINOPLE. 
soldiers, with colours flying (and preceded by a man beating a sort of 
little kettle drum tied to his middle) entered at a very slow and admir¬ 
ably-contrasted pace. 
We departed from Boli in the evening; and, having quitted its 
delightful plain, begun to wind among mountains, and entered the 
large forest to which Boli gives its name. Through the whole there is 
a fine causeway made by some pious Mussulman*, which is a sufficient 
guide to the traveller if he will only follow it through all its windings. 
The Tatars prefer the side to the road itself; though the path which 
they thus make for themselves may be full of water and mud. We 
chose the same, even when it was dark; for of the two evils, the fatigue 
of wading is less to the horses and mules, than that of scrambling and 
stumbling over the pavement. 
Having rode six hours through the forest we reached a small wooden 
hut, the station of the guards of the mountains. Here we determined 
to wait till morning, as my Tatar told me that the forest grew so much 
thicker as we advanced, that in so dark a night it became dangerous to 
proceed. We unloaded therefore our baggage, and seated ourselves 
among a party of a dozen Turks, the chief of whom, a merry fellow, 
did the honours of his hut very agreeably. He was seated in the 
corner, and his men were strewed around him on the floor. Pistols, 
swords and muskets, and every implement of a soldier, were hung along 
the walls. Whilst the oldest of the party made some coffee for us, 
the youngest took down a rude guitar from a peg, and broke the 
stillness of the night by a song, to which he applied the whole force of 
his lungs, and which did not ill express the wild life of himself and his 
companions. I attempted to compose myself to sleep in a corner, but 
the heat of an immense wood-fire had given so much animation and 
impertinence to the fleas and vermin of the hut, that I was obliged to 
* It was made by the celebrated Kuprigli , the Grand Vizier. See Tavernieb, 
Tom. I. p. 7. 
