And my servant, lighting a short wooden pipe, the wonder of the Turks, smoked furiously—the rapidity of his puffs probably denoting an extreme dislike to his late fellow-servant. CHAPTER XXX. Snow—The path covered by it—The scenery—Upset in a snow-drift—Nearly down a chasm—Probing the ground—A consultation—Teaching my followers manners—May he die of the plague—A baggage-horse knocked up—Yarbasan—A dirty village—The farmer committing himself to Providence—Visiting his friends—The Zaptiehs—Their remarks—The giaour threatened to beat us—The Inglis giaour is different to the Armenian giaour. Snow fell heavily during the night. The next morning our path was covered to a depth of quite two feet. In the valley it was as much as our horses could do to force a passage onward; but, as we ascended a mountain path, the snow, though deep, was in a frozen state, and afforded a firm foothold. The scenery was very picturesque as we gradually climbed the steep. The bushes and pine-trees which studded the mountain's sides were wreathed in flossy snow; crags of all shapes and colours glinted out above the pale white carpet. A thick veil of azure clouds hung on the peaks of the distant hills; then, gradually dispersed by the rising sun, it broke up into a hundred different forms, and, ascending higher in the sky, opened out other mountains to our vision. Layer upon layer of seemingly ever-ascending ranges barred the way in front. They sparkled beneath the rays of the golden orb. They flashed and glittered like the billows of the mighty deep. My eyeballs acted and felt as if they would burst beneath the glare. The village at our feet disappeared in the distance; shrubs and such-like traces of vegetation were now no longer to be seen. We had arrived in the midst of what seemed to be a vast white ocean. The intensity of the light created a kind of mirage along the surface. The various crests and ranges seemed to rise and fall. They became more wave-like than before. Not a living thing was in sight save ourselves. Ever and anon a boom, as of thunder, announced the fall of an avalanche. The cry of "Look out!" from a Zaptieh in rear of our party awoke me from the contemplation of Nature's marvellous scene. A second later, and I found myself on the broad of my back in a snow-drift; the animal which I had been riding was pawing the air with his fore-legs, like a spaniel the first time he is thrown into the water; before any one could reach my horse's head, over he fell—the soft substance fortunately saving my body from the effects of the collision. It appeared that I had strayed half a yard or so from the track, hence this disaster. The Zaptieh in front of our party dismounted, taking a wand, six feet in length, from his saddle-bow, he began to advance with great caution, and to probe the ground before him at every step he took.