letter xxxni       A EEPENTANT KATIEJI	369
apparently "loafing about" among the valleys. The
zaptiehs said that they were notorious robbers, and would
not go home without booty. Towards evening they re-
appeared with several bullocks and asses which they had
driven off from the village of	, the headman of
which came to me in the evening and asked me to report
the robbery to " the Consul," adding that this was the
third time within a week that his village had been robbed
of domestic animals, and that he dared not complain.
At Kara Kapru, the best-looking Armenian village I
have seen, while I was looking for an odaTi, Moussa, in
spite of Murphy and the zaptiehs, dashed off with his
horses at full speed, and never stopped till he reached
Ghazloo, three hours farther on. This barbarous conduct
was occasioned by his having heard that two of his forty
horses ahead had broken down, and he hurried on to
replace them with two of mine! I was so tired and in
so much pain that I was obliged to lie down on the road-
side for a considerable time before I could proceed, and
got a chill, and was so wretched that I had to be tied on
my horse. It was pitch dark, the zaptiehs continually
lost the way, heavy rain came on, and it was 9 p.m. when
we reached Ghazloo, a village high up on a hill-slope,
where Mirza and Murphy carried me into a small and
crowded stable, and later into my tent, which was pitched
in the slime at the stable door. Moussa was repentant,
borrowed a kajaveh, and said he would give me his strong
horse for nothing!
Torrents of rain fell, changing into sleet, and sleet
into snow, and when the following day dawned dismally
my tent was soaked, and standing in slush and snow.
My bed was carried into the stable, and I rested while
the loading was going on. Suleiman, my special zaptieh,
said that the khanji was quadrupling the charges, and
wanted me not to pay him anything. The khanji retorted
vol. II	2 b