Diarbekr

The skins on which we had floated so far were deflated and the kalekjis would return with them to Diarbekr by land on donkey back.

A week later we sat on the banks of the Tigris by the Roman bridge which spans the river just below the black walls of Diarbekr.

"Young man," I said sternly, "we may be brothers and sisters in spirit, and we may be travelling along the same road to heaven; but please understand that we travel to Diarbekr on our own horses and not in our sisters' arabas."

Why should two foreign ladies choose the depth of winter to travel between Urfa and Diarbekr along the caravan route which had been long deserted owing to the raids of the Hamidieh Kurds?

We never travel more than eight hours, and shall not do the regular stages to Diarbekr.