skimming, the great Tatar,
Timur, fought the memorable battle with Bajazet I., which resulted in the
capture of the Ottoman conqueror. Since the time that the title of Asia
applied to the small coast-province of Lydia, this country has been the
theater for the grandest events in human history.

[Illustration: A CONTRAST.]

The old mud-houses of modern Angora, as we rolled into the city,
contrasted strongly with the cyclopean walls of its ancient fortress.
After two days in Angora we diverged from the direct route to Sivas
through Yuezgat, so as to visit the city of Kaisarieh. Through the efforts
of the progressive Vali at Angora, a macadamized road was in the course of
construction to this point, a part of which--to the town of Kirshehr--was
already completed. Although surrounded by unusual fertility and luxuriance
for an interior town, the low mud-houses and treeless streets give
Kirshehr that same thirsty and painfully uniform appearance which
characterizes every village or city in Asiatic Turkey. The mud buildings
of Babylon, and not the marble edifices of Nineveh, have served as models
for the Turkish architect. We have seen the Turks, when making the
mud-straw bricks used in house-building, scratch dirt for the purpose from
between the marble slabs and boulders that lay in profusion over the
ground. A few of the government buildings and some of the larger private
residences are improved by a coat of whitewash, and now and then the warm
spring showers bring out on the mud roofs a relieving verdure, that
frequently serves as pasture for the family goat. Everything is low and
contracted, especially the doorways. When a foreigner bumps his head, and
demands the reason for such stupid architecture, he is met with that
decisive answer, "Adet"--custom, the most powerful of all influences in
Turkey and the East.

[Illustration: A TURKISH FLOUR-MILL.]

Our entry into Kirshehr was typical of our reception everywhere. When we
were seen approaching, several horsemen came out to get a first look at
our strange horses. They challenged us to a race, and set a spanking pace
down into the streets of the town. Before we reached the _khan_, or inn,
we were obliged to dismount. "Bin! bin!" ("Ride! ride!") went up in a
shout. "Nimkin deyil" ("It is impossible"), we explained, in such a jam;
and the crowd opened up three or four feet ahead of us. "Bin bocale"
("Ride, so that we can see"), they shouted again; and some of them rush