We were met by a Zaptieh. He conducted me to a house set apart for travellers. Shortly afterwards I received a visit from the Caimacan (governor). This official was an active, bustling little man, and much more energetic than any of the governors I had previously met. An order had arrived for him to send 1000 men immediately to Samsoun. The battalion would march the following morning at daybreak. He proposed that I should go and see the start. An engineer now called, a Pole by birth, but a naturalized Englishman. He was engaged in making a road from Tokat to Sivas; he had been in Tokat five years, and the work was not half completed. Indeed, judging by the system adopted for the construction of public works in Anatolia, it will be a wonder if the road is ever finished. According to the engineer, Tokat has a population of 25,000 inhabitants. Of these there are 8000 men who should each work four days a year at the construction of the road. "It is a pitiable sight," continued the Pole. "The Zaptiehs are ordered to bring the people. A rich inhabitant bribes the gendarmes; they leave him and seize some impecunious individual. The latter is brought to me, and I tell the fellow to commence digging. The man digs so long as I am in sight, but the moment my back is turned, down goes the shovel, and he lights a cigarette. The result is that I have been here five years, and only five miles of road are finished." The engineer complained of the want of funds in the public chest. His pay was only 10_l._ per month, and it was never paid punctually. Meantime, the authorities had discharged several engineers in their employ, on the ground that every piastre in the treasury was required for the maintenance of the troops. There were several Armenian schools in Tokat, and the Turks and Christians got on very well together. However, the Caimacan was of opinion that not much reliance could be placed upon the Greeks, i. e. in the event of a war between Turkey and Russia. "They are very cunning," remarked the governor. "They will not declare themselves at once, but will wait a little, and hang back to see which side is the strongest. They still dream of the old Greek Empire, and think that some day Constantinople will be a Greek capital. This is not very likely to happen," he continued. "If Russia were to conquer us, and to take Constantinople, she would not be willing to hand it over to the Greeks. What Russia takes she keeps. Look at the Caucasus. Look at the Crimea. Look at Khiva, Tashkent, and Samarcand. Some day she will try and conquer India, and what shall you do then?" "Probably take our Indian troops, and, joining with the Afghans, and inhabitants of Kashgar, drive Russia out of Central Asia," I remarked. "That is easier said than done," said the governor. "But, talking of the natives of India, is it true, as I have read in our newspapers, that many Mussulmans in India have petitioned your Queen to help the Sultan?"