"'All English gentlemen come to me, sir,' he said, 'and I learn it from the ships, and from the Americans. Shake hands, sir; that's right. Buy the purse, sir? "'How much is it?' asked one of our party. "'Six piastres,' replied the brother of the merchant, who also spoke English, but had not heard the first price. "'And you asked me ten!' I said to the other. "'So I did, sir,' he replied with a laugh; 'then, if I get the other four, that's my profit--eh? But what's four piastres to an English gentleman?--nothing. It's too little for him to know about. Come--buy the purse. What will you give?' "'Five piastres,' I answered. "'It is yours,' he added directly, with a hearty laugh, throwing it to me. "'What a merry fellow you are!' I observed. "'Yes, sir; I laugh always; very good to laugh. English gentlemen like to laugh, I know; laugh very well. Look at his turban--laugh at that.' "He directed our attention to an old Turk, who was going by with a most ludicrous and towering head-dress. It was diverting to find him making fun of his compatriot." The mode of dealing, which in Christian Europe is stigmatised as Jewish--the system, namely, of asking thrice the value and twice what the seller means to take--is received, and by no means discreditable, in Turkish bazaars. The only way to purchase in such places, without being imposed upon, is at once to offer half the price demanded. This is met with a refusal; you walk away, the merchant calls you back, and you then offer him twenty per cent less than before. This plan Mr Smith, having picked up experience at Smyrna, put in practice at Constantinople, and generally found to answer.