702 DOMOKOS AFTER THE TURKISH OCCUPATION.

CHAPTER X THE BATTLE OF DOMOKOS. \ FTER the battleof Pharsala therehad been /-\ no attempt at a pursuit, and the Turks had lost all touch of the Greek main army. It was conjectured that it wouldmake another stand on the hills about Domokos, and this surmise was confirmed by two deserters who came into the Turkish headquarters on May ioth.

mountain mass. On the north side towards the plain a bold hill is occupied by* the castellated citadel that towers above the little town of Domokos. Themain roadfromPharsala crosses the plain, zig-zags up the ridge near the town, dips behindit into the largehollow occupied by a lake known— like the other lake in the north ofThessaly— by thenameofNezeros. South-east of Lake Nezeros the roadrises again and crosses the mainridge of Mount Othrys by the Phurka Pass, beyond which it descends to the town of Lamia, on the edge of the marshes of theMaliah Gulf. Lamiais connected by* a steam tramway with two seaside villages on the gulf, Stylis and Hagia Marina. South ofLamiatheroad crosses the valley of the River Hellada (the ancient Sperchios) and enters the pass of Thermopylæ, between the spurs of Mount Rta and the marshy shores of the gulf.

This is the only road practicable for wheeled traffic that crosses the ridge of Domokos, but east and west of it there are a number of hill tracks that canbe traversedby infantry,cavalry, On the 14th, as a reply to the Greek movement in Epirus, Edhem Pasha received orders fromConstantinople to advance and attack the CrownPrince's army. On that and the following day the country towardsDomokos was reconnoitred by Turkish staff officers,but they did not succeedin passingthe Greek outposts,which they found watching all the approaches to Domokos from Tsiobu on the west to Kislar in the hills on tlae east front of the position.

The ground which the Greek staff had chosen for the last stand against the invaders of Thessaly is an outlying ridge of the Othrys Range. Itsnorth-western slopeslook out on the plain ofPharsala ;its eastern end joins the main