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CHAPTER XX.
I leave lajesii for the land of cave-dwellera—Ighsan disappears and
returns—A strange land in sight—Ighsan shows his scars—Urgub
of the Holes—Introduction to cave life—A travelling merchant
Eock-hewn houses, monasteries, stables, chapels, and tombs—Door
of a stronghold.
I WISHED if possible to leave the southern highroad
at Injesu, and go westward for a few days into
the cave - dwellers' country beyond the mountains.
Whether I should go or not depended on the weather,
for the country stands high, and the pass over Topuz
Dagh is often closed by snow, and I desired much
to return to Injesu after the visit and continue my
southward journey from that point. Light rain was
falling this morning and clouds covered the mountains
; but it was scarcely wintry weather, and I
set out hopefully. If snow prevented my return I
proposed to go farther westward, descend into the
Axylon—the great plain of Asia Minor—and reach
the Mediterranean by following the ancient road which
comes from Constantinople to Cilicia.
From the village the path to Topuz Dagh ascended
a valley for several miles, planted everywhere with
vineyards. At the head of this moist green valley,
with its strips of wayside grass and trees and stream,
the path quickly rose to a desolate and forbidding
piece of country. It was thickly strewn with lichencovered
stones and boulders, and showed scarcely any
vegetation— a bleak, dark mountain-side, on which
the path sometimes climbed in a long straight ascent,