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THE GEOMEJ ON LALE BEL 177
who knew it well. I had heard the story always
with unbelief, and on this sunny morning was more
than ever inclined to doubting. In fact I had forgotten
Lale Bel, and might have passed down it
unknowing, only that the guard-house and a couple
of lounging zaptiehs presently appeared. And yet
even had there been no guard-house, perhaps 1 should
have remembered Lale Bel before leaving it behind.
For I had not gone half-way down the slope before
a cold strong wind came from the north, though the
sun was warm, the air quite motionless till now, and
the sky perfectly clear. It came as suddenly as a
squall, and for its surprising coldness might have
blown straight from the dazzling snowfields of Argaeus,
only that they were in the opposite direction
indeed, I found myself presently breaking into a sharp
trot for warmth. And while I ran I thought with
new respect of the geomej, and was glad that I saw
Lale Bel in no wilder mood.
Some little distance beyond this place I entered a
district overlaid by sheets of volcanic rock representine:
the last labours of Arg-aeus. He has been
long asleep, and though, considered geologically, these
lava-sheets pertain to yesterday, yet they are so old
that no tradition exists of the mountain as an
active volcano. In places one may see the rock run
out to a thin edge ; there are areas, too, where the
rock seems to have great depth ; the country looks
like an undulating district levelled up by lava, and
great crevices appear filled with vegetation. Hereabouts,
also, are signs of a large population having
existed in times gone by, for the surface of rock is
crossed by a network of ancient roads. They go in
all directions, and yet in curious parallel series that at
first are puzzling. In a few minutes, however, you
grasp the key of their riddle, and with a map can
roughly fix from the course of these roads the positions
of various outlying towns and villages which surrounded
Csesarea when it was the greatest city in
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