CHAPTER VIII.

HIGHLANDS OF CILICIA. THE CILICIAN GATES. PASS OF BOZANTI.

No Travelling by Day in the Plain—A Night March—Jackals—Labourers exposed to the deadly Night Air—A Fever-stricken Village—Approach to the Highlands—Turkmans—Yaramiz Fountain—Specimen of the Way in which a Turkish Governor recoups himself—Entrance to the Pass of “Kulek Boghaz”—Geuzlük Khan—“Water, Stones, and a Bench to Sleep on”—Sunstroke most common in earlier Part of the Day—Snow-range in Brilliant Sunlight—Ravine leading to the Pylæ Ciliciæ—A Naturalist in the Mountains—House of the Austrian Botanist, Kotchy—Opinions as to Russian aims by a Traveller of Experience—The Village only affords Water—Peak above Defile—A Night on the Roof of the Police Station—Ibrahim Pasha’s rule in Cilicia—Passes from the Interior over the Mountain Chain rendered impracticable—The Pylæ Ciliciæ—Tremendous Rock-walls—No Egyptian or Assyrian Inscriptions—Ibrahim Pasha’s Entrenchments—Hadjin Dagh—Bel Amalik Dagh—Khan at Bozanti—An Armenian Host who knows how to Charge—Ak Keupri—Two Sources of unwholesome Water—Ravine of the Ak Sou—Tahta Keupri—Roman Bath, and Hot Mineral Spring—Tchifteh Khan—Vast Precipices of the Bulghar Dagh 198-220