Nothing could be more characteristic than the appearance of our caravan, as we wound down the mountain path—bullock cars laden with luggage creaked and rattled over the rocky road; led horses carrying bedding and provisions were scattered along the wayside; and thirteen mounted individuals, as ill-assorted to the eye as can well be imagined, completed the party. Two Greek ladies, mounted _en cavalier_, one wearing an ample white turban, and both having their feet enveloped in shawls: three men servants perched on the top of great coats and cloaks, and armed with chibouks and umbrellas; two Greek _femmes de chambre_, mounted like their mistresses; my father, myself, and three gentlemen, with our English, Viennese, and Tartar saddles; altogether formed a spectacle which would not have passed unobserved in the West. My own horse, a powerful animal, that went like the wind, was almost blinded by crimson and gold tassels; a Turkish inhabitant of Tzèkerghè having insisted on replacing the ill-conditioned bridle provided by the post-master with the elaborate head gear of his own animal; while my saddle was girt over a flaming horse-cloth of blue and scarlet. Some of the party were less fortunate, both as regarded their horses and accoutrements; but, once upon the road, our spirits rose with the bright sun which was beginning to light up the glorious scene around us; and, when we had descended into the plain, and passed the romantic fountain of Adzem Tzèsmèssi, the most energetic among us were soon galloping right and left among the trees, gathering the wild hollyhocks, and scattering, as we passed, the yellow blossoms of the barberry bushes. Our enjoyment was not uninterrupted, however, for the whole journey was a chapter of accidents; one servant lost her turban; another her umbrella; a third rode a lazy hack, that lay down with her three times during the day; while, to complete the list of misfortunes, a young Austrian gentleman, resolving that our departure from Broussa should be signalized by some _éclat_, with a want of reflection which he afterwards bitterly repented, threw a rocket among the burning tobacco that he flung from his chibouk by the wayside, which exploded with a violence that unhorsed one lady of the party, and left us for some time in doubt whether she had not paid the penalty of his folly with her life. There was a general halt as soon as it could be effected, for several of the animals were almost unmanageable from fright; when all those domestic remedies were applied which could be commanded at such a moment, in order to recover the sufferer from the deadly faint into which she had fallen; and, after the delay of about half an hour, when the serudjhe had duly emptied a bottle of water on the spot where the accident had taken place, in order to prevent its recurrence, the unfortunate lady was with considerable difficulty lifted once more upon her horse; and, with an attendant at her bridle-rein, resumed her journey.