THE ANCIENT HALYS.
Shortly before sunset on August 15th we started to climb the ravine.
This was a mile and a half long, and by the time we reached the top
night had fallen. On our way up we had seen a stone that looked very
like a bird; as one of us stooped to pick it up, the stone, to our
great surprise, turned itself into a night-jar and fluttered away. The
hills we now crossed were very rough and steep. At the bottom of the
first valley to which we came we found a stream, by which we halted
in the bright moonlight for a few minutes' rest and a drink. It was
fortunate we were amongst some rushes, for suddenly three or four men
rode by on donkeys not ten yards from us. They did not see us. Later,
on coming to a big nullah, we followed it, hoping that it would lead us
eventually to the Kizil Irmak, but by 3 A.M. we had tired of
its winding course and took a more direct line to the south.
The wind was bitterly cold, and the only comfortable few minutes' halt
enjoyed that night was under the lee of a hayrick. At 5 A.M.
we caught a glimpse of a big river six miles away; remembering,
however, our enforced march of the previous morning, we decided to halt
where we were without venturing farther. A shallow ditch, about two
feet deep, was our hiding-place for the day. Here we found some straw,
which proved a blessing. With it we obtained for our heads some sort of
protection from the sun, but, despite the shelter, the heat entailed
upon us a sleepless day. A bunch of straw, too, served as a cushion
for our thinly-covered hip-bones. Later on in the day we used straws
for drinking out of our water-bottles. It was a good scheme, for, by
judiciously choosing a very thin stem, one had the satisfaction of
drinking for minutes at a time without having expended more than a few
drops of water.
The cold wind of the night had died down at dawn, but towards sunset
a light breeze again sprang up, and this refreshed us greatly. We had
been so sure of reaching the Kizil Irmak on the previous night that
we had made no provision for water. Consequently, by now, it was much
needed, and we felt that when we did reach the river we would make a
good effort to drink it dry. Some of us ate grasshoppers that day. The
small nourishment they afforded did not make it worth our while to
expend any energy in chasing them, but if one came to hand and allowed
itself to be captured it was eaten. Opinions differed as to their
succulence. Nobby stated they were like shrimps; Johnny noted in his
diary that they were dry and rather bitter.
To the general relief, Grunt's ear had begun to heal; we had by now
used nearly all our supply of iodine and bandages on it, and had it
become poisoned Grunt would have had a very bad time.
It was not till nearly 10 P.M. that we reached the Kizil
Irmak, and then only with great difficulty. The country was well
populated, and many shepherds' huts and sheep-dogs barred our path.
At one point we actually passed by the front door of a small house,
outside which two men and their families were lying. The men sprang up
in alarm at seeing eight extraordinary figures walk by, but we did not
wait on the order of our going. Before reaching the river we came to a
small stream where we drank our fill: then making several detours and
walking as noiselessly as possible, we finally reached the bank of the
Kizil Irmak. It was difficult in the moonlight to judge how broad it
was: probably 300 yards across. But at that time of year half the bed
was merely sandbanks, with a few trickles running through them. Taking
off our boots and socks we tied them round our necks; trousers were
pulled up over our knees, and we started off, hoping that we should
find the main stream fordable. At the point where we stood the river
was on a curve, and it was clear that the deep water would be on the
opposite side. Walking along in single file we crossed in a direction
slanting up-stream, and to our delight reached the other bank with the
water only just above our waists. This bank was covered with reeds and
difficult to climb.
The river water had been much warmer than the small streams we had
passed, but now as we sat wet to the waist in the wind we soon became
very cold; for it was a lengthy process wringing out our clothes and
dressing on the steep bank where we remained so as not to be seen in
the bright moonlight. Here we also washed our faces and brushed our
teeth. When we started from Yozgad we had thought of the Kizil Irmak
as the first definite mark in our journey, and though we had not
crossed it as soon or in the same place as we had intended, yet we
were across it, and one stage was successfully accomplished after nine
days' march. As soon as all were dressed and ready we again set off,
and, passing a gigantic and solitary rock near the bank, here running
almost due N. and S., we went up a steady incline over prairie land.
At 2 A.M. we halted and slept for two hours under the shelter
of some small rocks. At daylight we crossed a valley which had been
converging on the left with our course, and drank at a little pool on
the farther side. This would have been a pleasant resting-place for
the day: we could have lain and slept under the shade of the trees
which ran the length of the valley, and we even saw a few blackberry
bushes to tempt us; but there were signs of human activity in vegetable
gardens around, so we proceeded.
Again it was a case of out of the frying-pan into the fire, as we soon
came into open country that was cultivated and signally lacking in
cover. Two men on a track we were about to cross stared very intently
at us, but moved on. An old man on a donkey was ruder still; for not
only did he stare at us, but he waited till we came up to him, and then
without an introduction asked us where we were going and whence we had
come. These questions were answered by Cochrane pointing vaguely to the
south, and then to the north; and so we left him. At 6 A.M.
we were momentarily out of sight of mankind in a shallow depression in
the ground. It was overlooked by a hill to the north, but a glance over
the next ridge showed us that we were half encircled by villages: we
therefore stayed where we were. All day we must have been seen again
and again by herd-boys and women on the hill, what time the sun beat
down upon us from a cloudless sky. Cooking a meal or tea was out of the
question, and our 11 oz. of food that day consisted of two biscuits, 1
oz. of chocolate, and 4 oz. of sultanas. The last named are not only
of excellent food value, but last a long while when eaten one at a time.
When we marched on at 7 P.M., thirst once again controlled our
movements, and we spent over an hour in an anxious search for water.
After visiting one clump of trees after another, we were at length
rewarded by the discovery of a trickle feeding a small pool. The water
moreover was sweet, and we felt that the refreshment of that drink was
well worth the hour's search. Having filled chargals and water-bottles,
we set off once more over easy rolling country, and within three
hours were again drinking our fill at an unlooked-for spring. The
moon set shortly after midnight, and coming soon afterwards to a deep
reed-filled ditch, we thought it would best repay us to rest there till
dawn should reveal what sort of country lay ahead. The icy wind which
on the march had been a blessing, now threatened to be our bane. The
nullah itself was sheltered, but it was marshy; so we lay down in a
shallow but dry water-channel beyond, and obtained what sleep we could.
It was, however, with little regret that at dawn next day we restored
our frozen circulations by a brisk walk, the improving light having
revealed the existence of a village close at hand. Making off into some
low hills to the S.W., we proceeded to pick our way up a small valley,
until at 5.30 we reached the head of a dry water-course. Here we
settled down for the day. It was not an ideal hiding-place, but by this
time we had ceased to expect one. We soon discovered a village track
led by our lair a few yards above our heads. Along this would pass
from time to time a country bullock-cart. The creak of the primitive
axle revolving wood against wood within its rude socket was a noisy
reminder, which we little needed, of the backward state of Turkey's
civilisation. In view of the persistence of such anachronisms even in
India, perhaps we should say it was a symbol of the stupid conservatism
of the East. In addition to the unfortunate proximity of the road,
our valley had the disadvantage of being itself the frequented path
of cattle, a small herd of which came leisurely by not long after our
arrival and showed more surprise at the strangers than did the two
boys who followed them. We had seen water a little farther down the
valley--mere puddles, it is true, but sufficient to justify our using
a chargalful for cooking. It was not long, therefore, before a welcome
half-mug of cocoa was being measured out, to be followed later by the
standard mixture of rice, Oxo, and a few raisins. During the day most
of us got more than the usual quota of sleep, for the cool wind still
held.
At 5 P.M. our conversation, carried on now almost
unconsciously in the low tones of the fugitive, suddenly broke forth
into a more natural loudness; for two men had seen us from the road
and were bearing down upon us. We had fortunately decided beforehand on
a story containing a touch of local colour. Salutations over, the usual
questions were asked as to where we had come from and what was our next
objective. A Turk does not usually stop to inquire who you are; but
this time we volunteered the information that we were German surveyors
who had been engaged on fixing a site for a new bridge across the Kizil
Irmak, and that we were now making our way to the railway at Eregli.
The pair appeared satisfied, but put the question why we did not
shelter from the heat in one of the villages round about. To this
came the ready reply that one day we had done so, but had not been
politely treated, so now we only entered when in need of food. We took
the opportunity of finding out from our two callers the names of the
various villages visible from the road above; unfortunately, none were
marked on our forty-year-old map, so that this means of settling our
position failed. However, we at least had the satisfaction of learning
that there was a spring only a couple of hundred yards farther up the
hill; in fact, when standing up we could see its stone trough.
Despite their apparent friendliness and the absence of any sign of
suspicion, we were relieved to see our visitors depart; and having
filled ourselves and our water-vessels at the spring, lost no time in
moving on. We soon found that we were on the top of a small plateau,
which to the east rose gently towards a low range of hills; while to
the S. and S.W. the country fell away in a steep scarp. Below this
stretched the desert plain, in the midst of which could be seen in the
failing light the shimmer of the great salt lake. Even when we expected
to have the guidance of the peaceful shepherds, this desert had not
been a pleasant prospect; still less did we relish the thought now,
after the troubles we had experienced in comparatively well-watered
country. It was, however, a matter either of going on or giving up, so
we went on. We had now been free men for eleven days.
The moon at this time served us for rather more than half of each
night, so that even after sunset we could see the solitary peak of
Hasan Dagh rising majestically over the plateau's edge to a height of
several thousand feet above the plain. As we descended the scarp to
our right we lost sight of this landmark; but our course was decided
for us, since we soon found ourselves compelled to follow a gradually
narrowing valley. For the next three and a half hours we were confined
to a steep-sided gorge. A little before this a man mounted on a donkey,
and accompanied by a boy, had seen us, and to our disagreeable surprise
turned and followed. We had shaken them off, when in the shadow of the
gorge we saw a group of several men. It is hard to say whether they
were more likely to have been brigands or fugitives like ourselves: one
thing seemed certain, they had no business there. At any rate, they
let us pass undisturbed, but the impression was forced upon us that
this ravine we had entered was a death-trap, and when it veered more
and more to the west we decided to make an attempt to get out of it.
A clamber up the rocky southern slope, however, only revealed ridge
after ridge and valley after valley between us and the plain, so we had
perforce to go back into the ravine. Our relief was great indeed when
at 1 A.M. the valley opened out, and we debouched on to the
desert past a village.
Before we left Yozgad, Nobby had continually impressed upon the party
the need of living as much as possible on the country. To aid us
in this he had consulted with another naturalist, and prepared an
elaborate list of somewhat uncommon but possible foods. Amongst them
appeared tortoises, snails, frogs, snakes--these last were especially
nutritious, stated this unique document--rodents, and grasshoppers.
There were also notes regarding mushrooms, and how to distinguish
them from poisonous toadstools. Tortoise we ate at Yozgad, not, we
must hasten to add, because we were reduced to it by lack of better
nourishment, but with a view to testing its edibility. It proved
messy and uninteresting, but at least non-poisonous. We had, however,
hardly come across any tortoises during our march, although we had seen
many on the journey from Changri to Yozgad four months previously. In
fact, the only item of the list we had sampled so far had been the
grasshoppers. We had, of course, also placed considerable dependence
on being able to eke out our meagre ration by plucking corn as we
went along at night, intending either to boil or to parch it the next
day. We had discovered that the Turkish soldiers did the latter very
quickly and effectively by making a small fire of twigs, placing whole
ears of corn on them, then adding more twigs on top. When the fire had
died down they took out the corn and separated the grain by the simple
process of rubbing it between the hands. Unfortunately for us, although
we had passed a good deal of ready-cut crops, there never seemed to be
enough grain inside to be worth the trouble of collecting.
On this particular night, however, Nobby was able for once to satisfy
his predatory instincts by looting a couple of water-melons, for there
was a bed of these outside the village we were now passing. These were
cut up and divided out among the party without further ado, and eaten
as they continued on their way. As a matter of fact, the melons were
far from ripe; but even the rind seemed too good to throw aside, for
by this time we were ready to eat anything: but it did not tend to
quench thirst, we found, so the rind was sacrificed.
The going was easier, and with one long halt of an hour and a half
we plodded on steadily until 5 A.M. It was then, of course,
daylight; and as a mile to our west there was a large town, boasting
a rather fine-looking white tower, we resolved to lie up in a dry but
grassy irrigation channel. A light haze covered the country, but in the
direction opposite to the town we could just recognise Akserai built
near the foot of the Hasan Dagh peak. Before us stretched the desert
plain, bare except for an occasional nomad encampment; there seemed
little sign of movement, even around the town near by.
By 10 A.M. this 19th of August, we came to the conclusion that
we might as well go on by day. We had practically no water, and if we
were to be in the sun it was better to be on the march as well. The
next water shown on our map was a river called the Beyaz Sou, or "White
Stream," and thither we set forth, once more transformed into Germans
by the simple expedient of replacing the fezes we had been wearing by
Homburg hats or service dress caps, one or other of which each of the
party carried for this very purpose.
In less than an hour we were glad to find ourselves nearing a stream,
on the banks of which were a few reed huts and a vegetable patch with
some more of those excellent water-melons. This time, however, there
were not the same facilities for their removal, and, as we rather
anticipated, their wild owners would not part with them, money or
no. We therefore proceeded to the stream, which was perhaps a foot
deep and twelve feet across. The paddle was refreshing to the feet;
the water for drinking purposes less encouraging, for above us were
cattle watering and the bottom was muddy. It belied its name of "White
Stream," we thought, as we filled up our water-bottles. While doing
this and wiping the mud off our feet, a villainous-looking cutthroat
came out from a tent close by and drew near for a talk. We told the
usual German story, and he asked for no details, but mentioned there
was better water in a village farther on; we could see its grove of
trees to our left front.
On resuming our march we did not visit it, but kept due south over the
scorched prairie land, varied here and there with a bit of plough. The
heat was already terrific. At 1 P.M. we halted for an hour
within a broken-down enclosure of large sun-dried blocks of mud. Two
of these made an excellent fireplace for the dixie, while dry camel
thorn and scrub provided fuel in abundance. Here we cooked some rice
and cocoa, which, although amounting to only half a mugful apiece, took
some time to demolish, for in that temperature the food was long in
cooling.
Here a dissertation upon mugs. If an aluminium mug saves an ounce
of weight, it makes a ton of trouble: and Looney's was thoroughly
unpopular on account of its unpleasant habit of burning the fingers of
any one who handled it. Moreover, it shared the failing of instability
with Perce's empty ovaltine tin, which did duty for mug after his own
had fallen out of his haversack on the very first night. Its small base
was a source of anxiety both to its owner and the disher-out of brews.
If you ever think of having all your food for a month or so out of a
mug, let it be a squat enamelled one.
While we were eating our simple fare, a man passed ahead of us, but
took no apparent notice of our little group.
We marched on at about 2 P.M., having as our next objective
Mousa Kouyousou, _i.e._, the Well of Moses: aptly named we thought,
for the parched plain before us would need a Moses' wand to make it
bring forth water. No treed oasis round this well was to help us in our
quest; the map itself wrote the name vaguely across the desert without
committing itself to any definite spot. All we could say from the map
was that the well should be almost due west of Hasan Dagh. In that case
we ought to find it within eighteen miles of the Beyaz Sou, and that
as we imagined was now five or six miles behind us. An hour later we
unexpectedly came upon a couple of small irrigation canals, at the
first of which we halted a few minutes to bathe our scorched feet. The
heat and glare of the desert were indeed overpowering; mirage seemed
to raise the southern end of the Touz Cheul--the Salt Lake--above the
level of the plain, and mocked us with the vision of an arm of water
stretching out eastwards at right angles to our course, until we began
to wonder where we could best cross it. As we proceeded, however, it
became clear that this was in reality but the broad white bed of a
dried-up river.
A horrible suspicion entered our minds that here was the real Beyaz
Sou, and that the muddy stream and two canals we had crossed were
merely its diverted waters. The surmise was soon confirmed, for, as
we drew near, we were able to see far away to the S.E. a humpbacked
bridge of some antiquity, now standing high and dry. This meant that
those eighteen miles to the Well of Moses were still before us. On the
far bank of the old river-bed could be seen a few huts, apparently
deserted, while a little farther on, and to the west, stood an old khan
or inn which eventually turned out to be in ruins. It was possible,
however, that a well might be found there, so we decided to go rather
out of our way on the off-chance. We amused ourselves by estimating how
long it would take to reach it. The most pessimistic view was twenty
minutes, but from the time of the guess we were on the march for a full
hour before we finally reached that khan: so much for distance-judging
in the desert.
At 5.30 P.M. haggard eyes were peering down into the depths
of two wells, obviously long disused, but which might still perhaps
contain a little water. As it happened one of them did, and Cochrane
lowered a mug. All he succeeded in drawing up were a few putrid dregs,
in which floated some decomposed cockroaches--to Nobby's disgust
especially; for it was his mug. Prospects were not very bright: Moses'
Well, if it existed at all, was still something over twelve miles
distant, and if we marched on at night it would be the easiest thing in
the world to miss it in the darkness.
At length the sun set, and as the air became cooler our spirits revived
a little. We made up our minds that we would carry on for only part
of the night, so as to be short of the well when daylight appeared. 7
o'clock accordingly saw us once more on the march; the going remained
good, although the country was becoming rather more undulating. There
were still the little fields of dusty plough in the midst of otherwise
hopeless desolation. After a couple of hours we took our long halt
on the edge of one of those ploughed patches. Nobby, wiser than the
remainder of the party, dug himself a shallow trench in the loose
soil, and so slept for five happy hours undisturbed by the cold which
woke the rest; for we seemed to live in extremes of temperature.
Dawn on the 20th August found us very anxious. Having marched for
another two hours or more, we felt that the well must be somewhere
near. As the light grew stronger, we crossed a couple of steep rocky
nullahs, and looking back saw that we had passed not far from a village
in a group of trees. A minute later two stunted trees ahead caught our
eye. We thought there might be water here, but were disappointed. By
six o'clock we were seriously thinking of going back to the village
behind us, when another came into view on our left. This time, however,
there were no trees, and the huts seemed entirely deserted; but next
moment our steps quickened as we recognised the stone circle of a well.
As in other countries in the East, so in Turkey, water is often drawn
up by bullocks: they are harnessed to a rope which, passing over a rude
pulley supported directly over the mouth of the well, is attached to
a large waterskin. The track beaten out by the patient beasts as they
go to and from the well gives a measure of its depth. In the present
instance, we could see by the length of the track that our well was a
deep one; but it was comforting to find that the hoof-marks appeared
fairly recent. So deep, indeed, was this well that no sound could be
heard of the splash of a dropped pebble, but as the eyes became more
accustomed to the dark depths, it was possible to recognise the sparkle
of running water.
Packs were off in a moment, and while Johnny and Grunt went on to
see what they could find in the village, Cochrane joined up the
heterogeneous collection of string and cord produced by the rest.
There was still insufficient length, however, until we had added on
a couple of strands unravelled from a skein of rope. Nobby's mug was
then lowered, and we began filling our water-bottles and chargals. No
drinks were to be allowed until this had been done--a wise precaution,
for after a few mugfuls the string snapped, and poor old Nobby's mug
was gone. It was not long before a new line was made, this time all
of strands from the rope, and a water-bottle was lowered, suitably
weighted to make it enter the water mouth upwards. As soon as the
supply was ensured, Ellis and Looney started a fire in a high stone
enclosure near the village huts; for here it was possible to obtain a
little shade from the already burning sun.
Inside the enclosure there was a limitless supply of canes, placed
there by some unwitting friend, and these, after weeks in the sun,
were dry and burned admirably. Things were certainly beginning to look
up, and we refreshed ourselves with a series of brews--cocoa, rice
and Oxo, and tea--calculating with satisfaction that we had covered
something over forty-four miles in the preceding thirty-five hours.
Our contentment was but temporarily disturbed by the arrival of two
men on donkeys--who with three or four boys now came into the village.
They passed by the open side of our enclosure, so we thought it best
to call out the usual greeting, as though pleased to see them. To this
they responded, and a few minutes later, having dismounted in the
village, the two men came up, borrowed a brand from our fire, lit their
cigarettes, and chatted pleasantly enough. The conversation turned, as
often, on the subject of firearms. We slapped our thighs in a knowing
way, and left them to infer that we had revolvers. They seemed to take
our presence as a matter of course, and asked no awkward questions as
to what we were doing in such an out-of-the-way place. After a short
rest they took their departure, and we thought no more about them.