"Haide, get on!" cried Mohammed from behind, and, striking the quadruped on his flanks, the animal stretched his fore-legs over the declivity, almost touching the slippery surface with his girth.
Another crack with the whip, away went the guide and horse down the glacier. For the first fifty yards the man succeeded in keeping his steed's head straight. A slight inequality in the ice gave the animal's hoof a twist in another direction; horse, and rider went round in mazy circles; they had nearly obtained the velocity of an express train, when they were suddenly brought up by a snow-drift. There was not much damage done, and now I prepared to make the descent. It was not an agreeable sensation. I was on the edge of the precipice. The yelling Mohammed was castigating my animal from behind. I felt very much like Mr. Winkle, as described in the "Pickwick Papers," the first time he was on skates. I would have gladly given Mohammed five shillings or a new coat to desist from the flagellating process. However, the die was cast. My followers were looking on. What the guide had done it was very clear that an Englishman ought to do. I committed myself to Providence. Away we went. The steam roundabouts in the Champs Elysées in Paris revolve at a great pace; a slide down the artificial ice-hills in St. Petersburg will sometimes try a man's nerves; but the sensations experienced in these manners of locomotion are nothing to what I felt when sliding down that glacier. Was I on my horse or was I not? Now we were waltzing madly down the slippery surface, and then my boots were touching the ice itself, owing to my animal's position. One moment we ricochetted from a rough piece of the hard substance, and were flying in the air, as if jumping the Whissendine brook; a second later we were buried, as the guide had been, in six feet of snow.
Next came the turn of my followers. Their descent was a fearful thing to witness, but, fortunately, not half so dangerous as it appeared. With the exception of some damage to the luggage and saddlery, there was little harm done.
"I never thought as how a horse could skate, sir, before!" remarked my English servant, as he slowly extricated himself from the snow-drift. "It was more than sliding, that it was—a cutting of figures of eight all down the roof of a house! And then I was buried alive in snow, to finish up with! Mohammed will have something to pray about, if he has to go down any more of these hills, for nothing but Providence can save a man's neck in these here parts."
CHAPTER V.
Hasta Khan—The Kurds—Their summer depredations—Our Sultan ought to be Padishah in his own dominions—The English Consul—A story about the Kurds—The Delsin—Arresting the major—The major's dinner with the chief—Acknowledge the Padishah—A sore back—The mule which is offered in exchange—The pack-saddle—The Euphrates—Coal in the neighbourhood—Kemach—The Caimacan—Djerrid—A National Guard—A miniature Gibraltar—Turkoman horses—Numerous wells—One of the faithful.
On we went, fortunately not down any more glaciers, and, after being upset about twenty times in the snow-drifts, reached Hasta Khan. This was a house built on the road-side for travellers. It was kept by an old Turk. According to him, the Kurds in the neighbourhood were engaged all the summer in robbing their neighbours, and were hardly ever brought to justice.
"They take our cattle," said the man, "and they bribe the police. There is no sort of order here. What we want is our Sultan to be Padishah in his own dominions."
I subsequently heard from the English Consul at Erzeroum a story which rather corroborated the Turk's account of the Kurds.
It appeared that in the Delsin, not far from Erzingan, a major commanding a battalion of infantry received orders to apprehend a Kurdish chief. Somehow or other the Kurd heard of this. One day, taking with him about five thousand followers, he managed to surround the place where the troops were encamped. Riding up to the commander's tent, he accosted the officer—who was much surprised at the unexpected presence of the culprit—with the words,—