, which threw up an icy spray in our wake. We never
once stopped until we reached the bottom of the dome, at our last night's
camp among the rocks.

In less than an hour we had dashed down, through a distance which it had
taken us nine and a half hours to ascend. The camp was reached at 4 P. M.,
just twelve hours from the time we left it. Gathering up the remaining
baggage, we hurried away to continue the descent. We must make desperate
efforts to reach the Kurdish encampment by nightfall; for during the last
twenty-seven hours we had had nothing to drink but half a pint of tea, and
our thirst by this time became almost intolerable.

The large snow-bed down which we had been sliding now began to show signs
of treachery. The snow, at this low altitude, had melted out from below,
to supply the subterranean streams, leaving only a thin crust at the
surface. It was not long before one of our party fell into one of these
pitfalls up to his shoulders, and floundered about for some time before he
could extricate himself from his unexpected snow-bath.

Over the rocks and boulders the descent was much slower and more tedious.
For two hours we were thus busily engaged, when all at once a shout rang
out in the clear evening air. Looking up we saw, sure enough, our two
zaptiehs and muleteer on the very spot where we had left them the evening
before. Even the two donkeys were on hand to give us a welcoming bray.
They had come up from the encampment early in the morning, and had been
scanning the mountain all day long to get some clue to our whereabouts.
They reported that they had seen us at one time during the morning, and
had then lost sight of us among the clouds. This solicitude on their part
was no doubt prompted by the fact that they were to be held by the
mutessarif of Bayazid as personally responsible for our safe return, and
perhaps, too, by the hope that they might thus retrieve the good graces
they had lost the day before, and thereby increase the amount of the
forthcoming baksheesh. Nothing, now, was too heavy for the donkeys, and
even the zaptiehs themselves condescended to relieve us of our
alpenstocks.

That night we sat again around the Kurdish camp-fire, surrounded by the
same group of curious faces. It was interesting and even amusing to watch
the bewildered astonishment that overspread their countenances as we
related our experiences along the slope, and then upon the very top, of
Ak-Dagh. They listened through