Sileh Zela stands in the centre of a natural basin, the hills which form its sides being at a distance of six or seven miles from the town. A small rising ground near the principal street is occupied by the ruins of an old citadel. A stream runs through the heart of the city. The soil in the neighbourhood is very rich; corn abounds throughout the district. The inhabitants do not seem to have suffered from the famine which a few years ago so depopulated the Angora district. Half a battalion of infantry, about 400 strong, was drilling in a plain immediately in front of the town. The inhabitants had turned out, men and women, to witness the instruction of the troops. The white dresses of the ladies, contrasting with the blue uniforms, red caps, and the many-coloured dresses of the inhabitants, formed a bright and vivid picture. It was a glorious day. The sun poured down its rays with a force much more suggestive of July than January. The drill was just over as we neared the town. We rode into Sileh at the head of the regiment, the band, which consisted of about twenty musicians, performing a wild and discordant march. Halting at the house of the Caimacan, I dismounted and proceeded to pay him a visit. He was in the audience-chamber, surrounded by clerks, who were on their knees, and submitting different documents for his approval. The great man himself was squatted on a divan; the members of the town council were by his side. The Cadi, whose head was enveloped in a gigantic yellow turban, was engaged in smoking a long chibouk. A crowd of men were in the anteroom, some with petitions in their hands, others apparently prisoners, judging by the guards who stood beside them. It was evidently a busy day. The Caimacan, not taking any notice of my arrival, continued attaching his seal to the different papers. At last he stopped, and, turning to me, salaamed and apologized for his apparent rudeness. It appeared that the half battalion which I had seen drilling was to march the following morning for Constantinople, _viâ_ Samsoun. The Caimacan was engaged in making arrangements for its departure. Carriers would have to be sent forward to the different villages between Sileh Zela and Samsoun, to apprise the local authorities of the approaching arrival of the troops. The chief difficulty which the Caimacan experienced was the want of money, he presently observed, "_Asker tchok, lakin para yoke_," "We have plenty of soldiers, but no paras" (money). The colonel of the battalion now entered the room, and after having been introduced to me, observed that he had heard in the event of hostilities England would be neutral. "What! desert her old friend of the Crimea?" said the Caimacan, turning to me. And the Cadi, grinning in a ghastly manner at the rest of the company, remarked that England had many paras, and that perhaps she would send some of them to the Sultan.