its dark-green belt of fruit
trees. It stands in the mouth of a narrow valley which winds down from the
Taurus, and is watered by a large rapid stream that finally loses itself
in the lakes and morasses of the plain. There had been a heavy black
thunder-cloud gathering, and as we reached our camping-ground, under some
fine walnut-trees near the stream, a sudden blast of cold wind swept over
the town, filling the air with dust. We pitched the tent in all haste,
expecting a storm, but the rain finally passed to the northward. We then
took a walk through the town, which is a forlorn place. A spacious khan,
built apparently for the Mecca pilgrims, is in ruins, but the mosque has
an exquisite minaret, eighty feet high, and still bearing traces of the
devices, in blue tiles, which once covered it. The shops were mostly
closed, and in those which were still open the owners lay at full length
on their bellies, their faces gaunt with fasting. They seemed annoyed at
our troubling them, even with purchases. One would have thought that some
fearful pestilence had fallen upon the town. The cobblers only, who
somewhat languidly plied their implements, seemed to retain a little life.
The few Jews and Armenians smoked their pipes in a tantalizing manner, in
the very faces of the poor Mussulmans. We bought an oka of excellent
cherries, which we were cruel enough to taste in the streets, before the
hungry eyes of the suffering merchants.

This evening the asses belonging to the place were driven in from
pasture--four or five hundred in all; and such a show of curious asinine
specimens as I never before beheld. A Dervish, who was with us in
Quarantine, at Adana, has just arrived. He had lost his _teskere_
(passport), and on issuing forth purified, was cast into prison. Finally
he found some one who knew him, and procured his release. He had come on
foot to this place in five days, suffering many privations, having been
forty-eight hours without food. He is bound to Konia, on a pilgrimage to
the tomb of Hazret Mevlana, the founder of the sect of dancing Dervishes.
We gave him food, in return for which he taught me the formula of his
prayers. He tells me I should always pronounce the name of Allah when my
horse stumbles, or I see a man in danger of his life, as the word has a
saving power. Hadji Youssuf, who has just been begging for an advance of
twenty piastres to buy grain for his horses, swore "by the pardon of God"
that he would sell t