There was little to break the monotony of our lonely journey except a large number of caravans, and, every now and again, one of those tiny little donkeys, used to lead a troop of from nine to fifteen camels! “Now you see,” said the ‘man from the States,’ “why we sometimes speak of a ‘conceited ass!’” “Only,” I answered, “this little fellow has something to be conceited about. He has the right to say ‘look at me,’ as he trots along with the double row of turquoise beads round his neck, leading these great big chaps behind him. When he chooses to push ahead, they must hurry after him; and when he condescends to turn round and ‘look over’ them, for all the world as an officer might ‘eye’ his men, you could not discover a more striking example of personality in the East. I declare I have fallen in love with that charming ass!” [Illustration: “He has the right to say, ‘Look at me.’” ] “Very well,” he replied with a laugh, “the next time anyone calls me an ‘ass,’ I shall be proud to accept the compliment.” “But, seriously,” I replied, “asses are seldom as black as they’re painted. After all, to be stubborn is one form of personality. I remember staying in a French chateau during the war, where one donkey had taken over the duties and responsibilities of the eighteen horses, which had been requisitioned by the State. On Sundays, tied up to a tree in the churchyard, while the family was inside the church, he always waited to hear the Sanctus bell, and then brayed his loudest. He must take part in the Mass!” One rarely sees any driver astride his camel. He may be “considering his beast,” but, on the other hand, he may not. For of every variety of sickness (of the sea, the home, or love itself) is not camel-sickness the worst? My companion agreed that he had not found the Turks either stubborn or unreasonable. “Everyone I met in Anatolia made an honest attempt to understand my point of view, even when I endeavoured to explain or at least to excuse, English policy. “Turks are ‘stubborn,’ if you insist on the phrase, about the future of their country; but they have given a great deal of thought to the subject, and they speak from experience that has been bought at a big price. I have never encountered that uncomfortable type of mind we know so well among ourselves, and in a more aggressive, if less dangerous, form in the States, which nothing will move from its ‘pet’ hatred or chosen love, _in spite of_ great culture and general understanding. “I will not quote President Wilson, because we have an even better illustration in the late Lord Bryce. Few men could claim wider culture, few have been so universally acknowledged a great statesman, yet the Turk to him was no better than a red rag to a bull! And when he said that these people were ‘unspeakable,’ the world believed it.