BALCAN MOUNTAINS, MOUNT HEMUS. 773 
became so dark, cold and tempestuous, we were obliged to seek 
refuge in a small village inhabited by Bulgarians, not much out 
of the road. It too had suffered in the late warfare; but had 
risen again from its ashes, presenting to us all the humble com¬ 
forts of the industrious and kind-hearted peasantry which pos¬ 
sessed it. The owner of one of the cottages, on hearing the 
halloos of our surragees through the darkness, came out from 
his little door to offer us shelter. 
February 4th. — Having the mountains to cross, and the 
storm being something abated, we left our quarters at three 
o’clock, though no ray from moon or star lit our way. Still 
ascending amongst thicket and broken ground, the path became 
more difficult with its increasing steepness at every step ; and 
in proportion as we gained the brow of the mountain-chain, the 
trees expanded to a gigantic magnitude, nearly equal to those of 
the forest of Boli. This magnificent sylvan range stretches 
across from the western shore of the Black Sea to the eastern 
confines of Greece. It is now called the Balcan Mountains, but 
was the celebrated Mount Hemus of the ancients, which divided 
Thrace from Moesia, now Roumili and Bulgaria. The northern 
face of the mountains, at the point we traversed their summit, 
was extremely rough, and in many parts so dangerously pre¬ 
cipitous, we took full six hours in gaining the valley below. 
Our halt there was very short, merely taking a little refreshment 
in the populous village of Changea, which stands near a stream 
watering this first rather considerable place in Bulgaria. The 
snow lay deep in many tracks. The road hence led us through 
minor woods, and several finely-cultivated valleys ; through the 
most extensive of which flows the Kamin-chai, and which we 
crossed by a rickety float near the village Yangy-Kuiey. At 
