_ 318 _ If a storm lasts and they often last seven or eight days people get lost and die there of cold and hunger. As a help in these hard conditions, the people who live in those parts place great wooden stakes, one within sight of the next, so that they do not lose their way. But the snow is such in January, February and March, that this is of no use for it the snow covers them to a height greater than that of a lance. On other occasions the snow overtakes them; they abandon the loads and go on with the animals, and when the storm has passed they return for them. Beyond this plain there are many settlements and places of Armenians and Kurds, and when they wish to travel from one to another, or caravans wish to do so, they do so on devices made of wood which are for this purpose. People and goods travel on them, and they are towed by men, drawing them over the snow, which, with the great winds, compacts and becomes hard. It is possible to run over it, and they help themselves to do so by wrapping their feet in much cloth, in order not to fall. They are made on the one part with beams and planks, so that they are like litters, and the pieces of wood are curved over the top. We travelled across this plain for about a league and a half and with some difficulty arrived at a caravanserai. From here a day’s journey to the north is a
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