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LAND OF THE AMAZONS 87
and white goats were filing along the narrow path.
Like most animals in this land they wore bells ; but
theirs were smaller than an egg, and so thin and
sharp of note that when many were heard soundingtogether
in the distance they made no more than a
rustling like the wind among aspens. Several flocks
passed, each with goatherd and dog, and disappeared
round the rocks lower down. They followed a path
of more than ordinary interest, leading to a wild,
romantic country which has figured in legend. One
day's march down this gorge of the Yeshil Irmak,
or Iris, is reached the valley of the Lycus, where,
above the meeting of these two rivers, stand the
mountains of Amazonia. We speak of " fabled
Amazons," and are probably as far from the truth
in believing them altogether unreal as if we took
the old stories at their legendary value. If all
legends are facts more or less embellished, this
legend should be counted among the least idealised.
There are curious stories current in these parts of
the mountain-dwellers above the Lycus. They are
called by some a people w^ithout affinities. But of
whatever race they may be, their customs affecting
women are remarkable, the more so considering the
country in which these customs prevail was of old
the land of Amazons. Women are the bread-winners
—workers in field and among the herds ; they have
the superior physique, they are the masters, their
men nothing but indispensable drones. So one is
told. I had heard the tale from various sources, as
a matter of common knowledge along the Lycus and
lower Iris.
Had I reached Amasia a month earlier I should
have gone to Amazonia as part of the present
journey ;
now, however, the season was too late, and
I had to leave it unseen ; but I told myself hopefully
that in another year I would make another journey
and visit this unknown region, and see these strange
women for myself So I went along the pathway to
its next bend, and thence looked down this gorge