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[Page 55]
The first part of the climb was the most dangerous so we lowered our gear down on a rope and then we got down ourselves. After the first hundred feet it was not so bad There were two wild goats which scampered away at our approach. They must have wondered what we were for I am sure no man had ever approached the Tarsus River that difficult and dangerous way before. However we got down to the waters edge without serious mishap. We found it to be a very fast flowing stream about 30 yards wide and looked to be about 4[to?] 6 deep. We were doubtful whether we could cross it as it was flowing so swift. Directly opposite where we were the rocks inclined slightly from the bed of the creek to the top we reckoned on being able to climb up. Directly above and below this crossing place the stream ran between sheer walls of rock 2 to 300 feet high. If we missed our footing crossing, we would be washed down with little chance of ever getting out. However we decided to spend the day here and cross in the evening. We were well concealed so we lit a small fire, boiled a little water and made oxo. This was indeed grand after having nothing but biscuits for the last 3 days and little of that. After we finished our meal we went in for a bath to freshen ourselves up, for we had not had a wash since we left. Afterwards we lay down in the shade and had a good sleep. About 4 p.m. we prepared to cross one of us just managed to pick our way across. Then we threw a rope over and hauled our gear across without getting it wet. Then the other one got over. Had it been another 3 inches deeper we should not have been able to cross. It would have been impossible to swim as the current would have swept us too far down so it was a great relief to find ourselves on the other side. Just before dusk we started on our perilous climbin up the opposite side which we managed without accident. We started off on our course & after travelling about two miles over rough country we came to another precipice with the river flowing far below. This was very disheartening. We came to the conclusion that this must be the same stream that we had crossed but turned back in a bend through the mountains, so we turned off to the right to avoid it. Here the travelling became very difficult, thick prickly bushes, and huge rocks. To make things worse we came on to a village and all the dogs in the place started barking so we had to pick our way carefully round this village. After we had gone another mile still terribly rough we were just about deciding to lay down and sleep till daylight when we came on to a narrow track running in the direction we wanted to go so we decided to follow this. We had gone about 5 miles when we came on to a small stream. There was an old broken down stone bridge so we crossed over and before leaving refilled our water bottles. Just as we started off we could hear a Turk coming in the distance, singing, as they always do at night, so we had to hide till he passed. After we had gone another two miles we came out to fairly clear country and