ISMAEN AGHA. 245 4 A.M. ; we were obliged to have good fires kept up all night, and the first hour's ride in the mornings we felt to be bitterly cold. There are great numbers of savage dogs at all these villages, who make an abominable noise at night.

At Bir Allay, on December 28, we were met by Ismaen Agha, who had been sent by Slatin Bey, the governor of Dara, to meet us. He is a splendid example of an Arab sheikh, and interested us as being the man who had taken Gessi's ultimatum to Suleiman when he was captured at Gara. We halted for some time after meeting him, and soon after leaving the place at which he joined us we ascended some two hundred and fifty feet by a series of ascents, each thirty feet high, and very steep. The water all along the route was very bad, muddy, and had a strong mineral taste ; all the khors we passed were quite dry. We camped at Fasko, from which place a good view of the country can be enjoyed, and twelve mountain peaks could be counted in the distant north.

Ismaen Agha had told us that it was a very long march from the village of Fasko to his own place, Saril, but in reality it only occupied three-quarters of an hour. It is a large well-built place, and we stopped a few hours there. He has large herds of camels and oxen, and a good number of horses. The begin he rode himself was a splendid animal ; he valued it at glOOO. At this place we reached