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INDISPENSABLE LUGGAGE 205
square, with one side hinged as lid and fitted with
a lock. The interior was divided into compartments
in which various articles fitted tightly. In
one section was the vapour stove ; in another a
gallon reservoir of paraffin, and a quart of methylated
spirit. All the aluminium utensils, the boxes
and canisters in which tea, sugar, milk, and a day or
two's supply of food were carried, packed in snugly
here. On reaching a khan this box was always the
first thing to be taken upstairs ; the open lid made
me a table ; everything necessary was then to hand
and by the time my other goods were deposited in the
room water was boiled, tea made, and I could proceed
to further cooking. This invaluable box was made
for me in the mission workshop at Marsovan by the
Armenian foreman, whose ingenuity conjured success
out of various difficulties.
Besides these chief articles of luggage there were
various lesser ones, all of them indispensable. A linen
bag for carrying bread—not a small affair by any
means when containing six or eight large loaves
a similar bag, but smaller, for fruit and nubs and
potatoes ; and yet another for an enamelled iron
wash-basin. Altogether this luggage weighed between
two and three hundred pounds, and to that
was to be added Ighsan's belongings.
An interested crowd watched the loading of the
horse in the khan - yard, some of them experts in
the science, who offered advice not well received by
Ighsan. First a folded rug was placed on the devoted
animal's back, and secured by two girths, and
next the hahe was slung. Then with much care
Tghsan arranged a complex system of ropes, laid
loosely but in a certain order over the hahe, not for
immediate tying, but each in its proper turn as
different articles were superimposed. The gladstone
bags, slung together and hanging one on each side
of the horse, were then corded. Above them came
the cooking-box and kit-bag, balancing each other
from opposite sides, and secured by more cording,