CHAPTER XIV.

TCHUKOUR. DURGÈLLER. ALATA. KHADEM.

Passage of Muharram Bel—Kizilja and its Kadi—Guide to the Inscription of Tchukour—Had been a Prisoner of War at Tiflis—Coarse Barley Bread—Tchukour—The Officer from Stamboul—Ravine of the Gieuk Sou—Rock Fortress—Latin Inscription—Wild District—An Assassination—Fountains of Yerkooblü—“Black Water”—The Hospitable Mudir of Durgèller—Derivation of the word “Durgèller”—Villagers have a Bad Reputation—The Head Servant warns me against Thieves—Precautions of our Souriji—Start for Alata—A Disagreeable Zaptieh—View over Isauria—Anxiety on Account of my Baggage—A Line of Precipices—Villagers of Alata Inhospitable—Difficulty of finding a Guide—Remarkable Geology of the District—Mernak—Handsome Room of the Mukhtar—The Serai at Khadem—The Kaimakam and his Friends—I am Suspected of being a Russian Spy—The House of the Mufti of Khadem—Fever—Visitors—My Host a Fine Specimen of the Osmanli Country Gentleman—A Native Doctor—Healthy Climate of Khadem—My Host’s House—His Hospitality—His Wealth—The History of his Family, and their Settlement in Khadem—The True Meccan Coffee—His Sons—Their Great Respect for him—Filial Piety amongst the Osmanlis—An Examination of Nahli—“You Tchelebi, I suppose, do drink Raki?” 361-398