ake the loads woke me up with a start, and the weird
figure of the camel-man stooped over me to say it was time to depart.

"Hrrrr, hrrrr!" spoke the camel-man to each camel, by which the animals
understood they must kneel down. The loads were quickly fastened on the
saddles, the kittens lazily stretched themselves and yawned as they were
removed from their warm nooks, and Sadek in a moment packed up all my
bedding on my saddle.

We continued to ascend, much to the evident discomfort of the camels, who
were quite unhappy when going up or down hill. It was really ridiculous
to see these huge, clumsy brutes quite done up, even on the gentlest
incline. The track went up and up in zigzag and curves, the cries of the
camel-drivers were constantly urging on the perplexed animals, and the
dingle of the smaller bells somewhat enlivened the slow, monotonous
ding-dong of the huge cylindrical bell--some two and a half feet high and
one foot in diameter--tied to the load of the last camel, and mournfully
resounding in the valley down below.

And we swung and swung on the camels' humps, in the beautiful starlight
night--the moon had not yet risen--on several occasions going across
narrow passages with a drop under us of considerable depth, where one
earnestly hoped the quivering legs of the timid camels would not give way
or perchance stumble. The higher we got the more the camels panted and
roared, and the cries of the drivers were doubled.

One farsakh and a half from our last camp, we reached at 2 a.m. the top
of the Godar Khorassunih Pass (8,400 ft.), and we had to halt for a while
to let the camels rest. The cold was bitter. Camels and men were
trembling all over. Then came the descent.

Camel riding is comfortable at no time. It is passable on the flat; just
bearable going up hill, but dreadful going down a fairly steep incline.
The wretched beasts assumed a kind of hopping, jerky motion on their
front legs, with a good deal of spring in their knees, which bumped the
rider to such an extent that it seemed almost as if all the bones in
one's body began to get disjointed and rattle. When the camel happened to
stumble among the rocks and loose stones the sudden jerk was so painful
that it took some seconds to recover from the ache it caused in one's
spine.

The moon rose shortly after we had gone over the pass, as we were wending
our way from one narrow gorge into another, between high rocks and cliffs
and mountains of most