acrossasiaminoro00chiluoft

68 ACROSS ASIA MINOR ON FOOT
There were breadths of dark forest and scrub upon
the slopes and a hovering cloud or two about the
rocky grey 7000-feet summit ; but not a vestige of
snow could be seen on this southern face, though
the reverse side was white far down, as I came
from Sam sun.
High on the side of Ak Dagh several shafts of
smoke were rising from charcoal-burners' fires. In
the still air they rose vertical and unwavering, till
they thinned away and became invisible against
the blue backoround of distance. The mountainside
which appeared so vacant and inaccessible held
something living after all ! There men were working
who found their livelihood among the clambering
oak forests ; and as I went I found myself turning
again and again to look at their columns of smoke.
There is something, indeed, about a column of
smoke seen upon a far-off hillside, especially a hillside
covered with forest, which is likely to stir the
instincts of any one. Our wild old ancestors, looking
out over blind woodland from their hill-top forts
and palisaded villages, took a lively interest in such
columns of smoke, and saw in them much of hostile
significance at times. And at a later date, not so
many generations ago, bale fires ancLbeacon fires had
a power of meaning for every one.
So I saw the distant smok^|/6f these charcoalburners'
fires always with interest and even with a
touch of respect, the more so that once I had come
upon a charcoal-burners' camp in these parts. Climb
up the side of Ak Dagh for a couple of hours and
you will find just such a group about their lair now.
Three or four cutting branches with curiously shaped
axes, dragging wood and building a fresh kiln ; one
man perhaps asleep, for he will be busy at night.
They are not only grimy, but evil-looking men whom
you would not care to trust. It is possible, indeed,
that having got here alone in this way you would
never return. You would become the subject of
consular inquiry, and at last figure as one of those