The settlement consists of about fifty tenements, of which six or seven belong to the Zirkanli tribe and the remainder to sedentary Kurds. [171] These latter are liable to service in the regular army. A single house is conspicuous among the huts of mud and stone; it is used as a receptacle for travellers. We found it in the occupation of a detachment of Turkish soldiers, on their way from Melazkert to Erzinjan. Horses and men alike were quartered in the building; but, after some parley, room was found for us. We joined in the circle of officers collected round the open fireplace, in which cakes of tezek glowed. Among other things I learnt that four regiments of Hamidiyeh are enrolled in the caza of Melazkert. They are furnished by the Hasananli tribe. Next morning before eight we continued our journey, the temperature registering 14° of frost. Mist still hung over the valley; but we soon were raised above it, again ascending to the table surface which borders the depression on either side. Full sunlight streamed upon the undulating snow-field, and was reflected in tiny rays from a thousand little crystals, placed, like diamonds, on the heads of encrusted flowers. It was, indeed, over the face of an immense block of elevated country that our course was directed for some little time. Here and there, especially in the north, it appeared to be broken by chains of mountain; but the closer you approached such an apparent barrier, the more it assumed the familiar features--the flat edges, and the fanciful castles with their Cyclopean walls. At half-past nine we obtained a view of the Bingöl Dagh itself, in the furthest horizon of the south (Fig. 161). We stood at a level of 7130 feet. At ten o'clock we turned off eastwards to the bed of mist suspended above the river, which lies in a deep trough. Following for awhile along the sides of the lofty cliffs which confine it, we admired the play of the vapours, wreathing like jets of steam. From the edge of the cliffs on either bank, the table surface of the higher levels was seen to stretch east and west, and back to the peaks of the Akh Dagh--a sheet of snow, only broken by the gorge. The Bingöl Su was pursuing a north-north-easterly direction, which became more northerly as we progressed. The fog lifted and disappeared; we descended into the bottom of the gulf, which opened on either side the further we rode. At a quarter to twelve we arrived in the Kurdish hamlet of Mejitli, where we decided to make our mid-day halt. We had come a distance of about 13 miles from Kulli. The river, which had a breadth of about 20 or 30 yards, was flowing some 50 feet below the village, with a rapid current, flashing over the rocks. The site of the village is a little plain on the left bank of the stream having an elevation of about 5800 feet.