this important artery in good condition. Flocks of black, white, or brown sheep are driven to pasture among isolated farms, and horse caravans are laden with tiles from some neighbouring brickyard. Already fezes are less common than in Trebizond ; instead, the country people wear black bandages round the head, or a combination of fez and turban. Their clothes are dark, red, black, or brown ; the trousers are close-fitting at the ankles, but puffed out elsewhere and roomy as bags—especially behind. Through thin woods of coniferous and foliaged trees we drive past the farms and watchhouse of Aivasil, and leave on the left hand Möörchi with lofty cypresses above the graves and an arched bridge of stone over a brook. In the open booths of the village, on logs and terraces, Turks sit idle, longing for their supper, while children are carelessly transgressing the precepts of the Koran. The river flows on, now calm and silent, now roaring in white cascades. Among the soil-covered hillocks insignificant threads of water make their way to the main stream. On the right side a path runs up a lateral valley to the village of Larkhan. At the mouth of another valley stands Hesirogli with its stone bridge. Here the road is absolutely blocked by an endless flock of sheep which are being driven down to Trebizond, there to be embarked for sale in the meat markets of Constantinople. The shepherds lead large wolf-like dogs in leashes.
Among the passers-by may be noticed Turks, Kurds, and Armenians, brown, bearded, and ragged ; but the traffic thins out the farther we leave the coast and Trebizond, the focus of this part of Asia Minor, behind us. Matarajik is a picturesquely situated village with caravanserais, forges, and large open stables, where caravans from Persia are wont to rest—it is reckoned a stage from here to Trebizond. The village stands on a slope, so that the fronts of the houses rest on stone piles while the backs are on the ground. The stone foundation is solid, but the house itself, of wood, is often ready to fall, and is generally roofed with shingles. On the walls outside tobacco leaves hang up to dry. The staircase leading to the upper storey is erected outside the house. An
IIIFカラー高解像度
