On our way back to Tomarza we passed a large encampment of Avshars. The tents of these Turkish nomads are of a pattern which is common to nearly all the tribes of central Asia, but entirely different from that of the Arabs ([Fig. 229]). They are round, with a domed roof of felt supported on bent withes, and the sides are of plaited rushes over which a woollen curtain is hung when the nights are cold.[232] We did not sleep a second night at Tomarza, but marched a couple of hours further upon the road to Cæsarea, and camped at the village of Mardîn, which lies in a cleft of the lava beds under the twin peaks of Mount Argæus. Next day we skirted the flanks of the great volcano, passing by the ruined Sarî Khân and under the small peak of ’Alî Dâgh, which is (so I was credibly informed by my zaptieh) nothing but a stray boulder dropped by ’Alî ibn abi Tâlib when he was engaged in helping the Prophet to pile up the huge mass of Argæus.[233] Not only the geographical features of the land, but also the physical and moral qualities of the inhabitants of Cæsarea came under our consideration as we rode.
“If a serpent bites a man of Ḳaiṣarîyeh,” observed Fattûḥ, “the serpent dies.”
“Jânum!” exclaimed the zaptieh (who was not a Cæsarean). “My soul! they can outwit the devil himself. Have you not heard the tale?”
“I have not heard,” said Fattûḥ.
“This it is,” said the zaptieh. “Upon a day the devil came to Ḳaiṣarîyeh. ‘Khush geldi,’ said the people, ‘a fair welcome,’ and they showed him the streets and the bazaars of the city, the mosques and the khâns, all of them. When he was hungry they set food before him till he was well satisfied, but when he rose to depart, he looked for his cloak and belt and they were gone. The devil is not safe from the thieves of Ḳaiṣarîyeh.”
“God made them rogues,” said Fattûḥ.
“What can we do?” observed the zaptieh philosophically. “Dunya bîr, jânum—the world is all one.”
“Great travelling they make,” continued Fattûḥ. “In every city you meet them.”
The zaptieh was ready with historic evidence on this head also.
“There was a man,” said he, “who lived some time in Cæsarea, and having had experience of the people, he found them to be all pigs. Therefore he resolved to journey to the furthest end of the earth, that he might escape from them. And he went to Baghdâd, which is a long road.”