ains now gradually
diminished, and their sides, covered with pine and cedar, became less
broken and abrupt. The summits, nevertheless, still retained the same
rocky spine, shooting up into tall, single towers, or long lines of even
parapets Occasionally, through gaps between, we caught glimpses of the
snow-fields, dazzlingly high and white.

After travelling eight or nine miles, we emerged from the pass, and left
the Sihoon at a place called Chiftlik Khan--a stone building, with a small
fort adjoining, wherein fifteen splendid bronze cannon lay neglected on
their broken and rotting carriages. As we crossed the stone bridge over
the river, a valley opened suddenly on the left, disclosing the whole
range of the Taurus, which we now saw on its northern side, a vast stretch
of rocky spires, with sparkling snow-fields between, and long ravines
filled with snow, extending far down between the dark blue cliffs and the
dark green plumage of the cedars.

Immediately after passing the central chain of the Taurus, the character
of the scenery changed. The heights were rounded, the rocky strata only
appearing on the higher peaks, and the slopes of loose soil were deeply
cut and scarred by the rains of ages. Both in appearance, especially in
the scattered growth of trees dotted over the dark red soil, and in their
formation, these mountains strongly resemble the middle ranges of the
Californian Sierra Nevada. We climbed a long, winding glen, until we had
attained a considerable height, when the road reached a dividing ridge,
giving us a view of a deep valley, beyond which a chain of barren
mountains rose to the height of some five thousand feet. As we descended
the rocky path, a little caravan of asses and mules clambered up to meet
us, along the brinks of steep gulfs. The narrow strip of bottom land
along the stream was planted with rye, now in head, and rolling in silvery
waves before the wind.

After our noonday halt, we went over the hills to another stream, which
came from the north-west. Its valley was broader and greener than that we
had left, and the hills inclosing it had soft and undulating outlines.
They were bare of trees, but colored a pale green by their thin clothing
of grass and herbs. In this valley the season was so late, owing to its
height above the sea, that the early spring-flowers were yet in bloom.
Poppies flamed among the wheat, and the banks of the stream were brilliant
with patches of a creeping plant, w