We were now among the conical mounds,
along the steep sides of which a path of about twelve inches width
appeared to invite destruction, as the loose crumbling material rolled
down the deep incline beneath the hoofs of the sure-footed horses and
mules. These creatures had a disagreeable habit of choosing the extreme
edge of the narrow ledge, instead of hugging the safer side; and
although no great precipice existed, the fall of thirty feet into the
rocky stream below would have been quite as effectual as a greater depth
in breaking necks and limbs. We again entered a village, where a large
plane-tree formed the centre of a small open space, faced on either side
by a cafe; the situation being attractive during summer from the dense
shade afforded by the spreading branches. There were many people sitting
in the open shed, who as usual rose and made their salutations as we
passed. The path became worse as we proceeded, and we at length emerged
from the long string of contracted villages and skirted the precipitous
sides of the ravine, which formed one of the innumerable gorges between
the conical mounds of marls and alluvium that had been washed from a
higher level and worn into heaps by the action of rain upon the unstable
surface.
About a mile beyond all villages we skirted the stream along a steep
bank, from which point we looked down upon the roofs of houses more than
a hundred feet below, and we at length halted and dismounted at a rocky
termination of the gorge, from whence issued suddenly the celebrated
spring of Kythrea.
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