still, by a blindfolded donkey plodding ceaselessly around in
his circular path. In the streets we frequently encountered boys and old
men gathering manure for their winter fuel; and now and then a cripple or
invalid would accost us as "Hakim" ("Doctor"), for the medical work of the
missionaries has given these simple-minded folk the impression that all
foreigners are physicians. Coming up and extending a hand for us to feel
the pulse they would ask us to do something for the disease, which we
could see was rapidly carrying them to the grave.

[Illustration: A KADI EXPOUNDING THE KORAN.]

Our first view of Sivas was obtained from the top of Mount Yildiz, on
which still stands the ruined castle of Mithridates, the Pontine monarch,
whom Lucullus many times defeated, but never conquered. From this point we
made a very rapid descent, crossed the Kizil Irmak for the third time by
an old ruined bridge, and half an hour later saw the "stars and stripes"
flying above the U. S. consulate. In the society of our representative,
Mr. Henry M. Jewett, we were destined to spend several weeks; for a day or
two after our arrival, one of us was taken with a slight attack of typhoid
fever, supposed to have been contracted by drinking from the roadside
streams. No better place could have been chosen for such a mishap; for
recovery was speedy in such comfortable quarters, under the care of the
missionary ladies.

The comparative size and prosperity of Sivas, in the midst of rather
barren surroundings, are explained by the fact that it lies at the
converging point of the chief caravan routes between the Euxine,
Euphrates, and Mediterranean. Besides being the capital of Rumili, the
former Seljuk province of Cappadocia, it is the place of residence for a
French and American consular representative, and an agent of the Russian
government for the collection of the war indemnity, stipulated in the
treaty of '78. The dignity of office is here upheld with something of the
pomp and splendor of the East, even by the representative of democratic
America. In our tours with Mr. Jewett we were escorted at the head by a
Circassian _cavass_ (Turkish police), clothed in a long black coat, with a
huge dagger dangling from a belt of cartridges. Another native cavass,
with a broadsword dragging at his side, usually brought up the rear. At
night he was the one to carry the huge lantern, which, according to the
number of candles, is the insignia of rank. "I