CHAPTER XX.
May 16th.—Left Diarbekir at 7 a.m. through the Mardeen Gate, and after passing through the pretty gardens which cover the valley on the south of the city, ascended the level plain, and travelled towards the northern extremity of Karajah Dagh. In one hour and a half we crossed the Tcarookhia Soo over a bridge of three arches, and following the road, which is here very devious and stony, and frequently intersected by streams which find their way into the Tcarookhia, or Kara Soo, we took shelter at half past 11 a.m. in a Coordish encampment from a threatening storm. We had hardly got off our horses when the rain descended in torrents, and glad indeed were we to find ourselves under so good a shelter as a Coordish tent. That into which we were ushered, and which was in form the same as is in general use among this people, was seventy feet long and twentythree wide. The material was of thick cloth, made of goats' hair woven in pieces varying from one and a half to two feet wide. This cloth is supported by four upright poles running down the centre, the middle two eight feet and the side ones six feet high. A second row of four upright poles, six feet high, and in a line with the former, runs down the front part of the tent, and a third row, eight feet high and resting upon the base of the middle poles, project diagonally from the ground, completing the scaffolding of the tent. A cord from the top of each
