We were near the summit of the mountain, and arrived at an ancient camp
that had been arranged with considerable judgment by a series of stone
walls with flanking defences for the protection of each front. This was
many centuries ago the summer retreat of the Venetian government, and it
had formed a sanatorium. This extends to the summit of the mountain,
where fragments of tiles denote the former existence of houses. In the
absence of water it would have been impossible to adopt the usual custom
of mud-covered roofs, therefore tiles had been carried from the low
country. It is supposed that the stations fell into decay at about the
period of the Turkish conquest.
A rattle of loose stones upon the opposite side of a ravine suddenly
attracted my attention; and two moving objects at about 230 yards
halted, and faced us in the usual manner of inquiry when wild animals
are disturbed to windward of their enemy. The rocks were bare, and their
cafe-au-lait colour exactly harmonised with that of the two moufflon,
which I now made out to be fine rams with large and peculiar heads.
Motioning to my shepherd lad to sit quietly upon the ground, upon which
I was already stretched, I examined them carefully with my glass. Had
they not been moving when first observed I should not have discovered
them, so precisely did their skins match the rocky surface of the steep
inclination upon which they stood.
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