ally; and once a Mevlevi
Dervish and a stately Turk, riding in company, saluted me so
respectfully, stopping to speak with me, that I quite regretted being
obliged to assume an air of dignified reserve, and ride away from them.

Ere long, we saw the two white minarets of Aineghioel, above the line of
orchards in front of us, and, in three hours after starting, reached the
place. It is a small town, not particularly clean, but with brisk-looking
bazaars. In one of the houses, I saw half-a-dozen pairs of superb antlers,
the spoils of Olympian stags. The bazaar is covered with a trellised roof,
overgrown with grape-vines, which hang enormous bunches of young grapes
over the shop-boards. We were cheered by the news that Brousa was only
eight hours distant, and I now began to hope that we might reach it. We
jogged on as fast as we could urge our weary horses, passed another belt
of orchard land, paid more harvest-tolls to the reapers, and commenced
ascending a chain of low hills which divides the plain of Aineghioel from
that of Brousa.

At a fountain called the "mid-day _konnak_" we met some travellers coming
from Brousa, who informed us that we could get there by the time of
_asser_ prayer. Rounding the north-eastern base of Olympus, we now saw
before us the long headland which forms his south-western extremity. A
storm was arising from the sea of Marmora, and heavy white clouds settled
on the topmost summits of the mountain. The wind began to blow fresh and
cool, and when we had reached a height overlooking the deep valley, in the
bottom of which lies the picturesque village of Ak-su, there were long
showery lines coming up from the sea, and a filmy sheet of gray rain
descended between us and Olympus, throwing his vast bulk far into the
background. At Ak-su, the first shower met us, pouring so fast and thick
that we were obliged to put on our capotes, and halt under a walnut-tree
for shelter. But it soon passed over, laying the dust, for the time, and
making the air sweet and cool.

We pushed forward over heights covered with young forests of oak, which
are protected by the government, in order that they may furnish
ship-timber. On the right, we looked down into magnificent valleys,
opening towards the west into the the plain of Brousa; but when, in the
middle of the afternoon, we reached the last height, and saw the great
plain itself, the climax was attained. It was the crown of all that we had
yet seen. This superb p