"But will your commanding officer give you leave to accompany me?" I inquired. "If the Effendi asks him," interrupted the Zaptieh. Mohammed was apparently not above twenty-five years of age. He had a pleasant, frank expression, and I determined to engage him, that is, if I could obtain the sanction of his captain. I now went to see this officer. He at once agreed to the proposal; that is, if I would pledge myself to give up Mohammed at Erzeroum. "How can I pledge myself?" I remarked, "he may run away on the road." "That is true," said the officer; "but he is a straightforward fellow—he will not do so. If I had the power, I would let you take him as a servant for all the time that you remain in the country; but I have no authority to do this, I am merely a captain." The matter was settled. Returning to my house, I informed the man of his officer's consent. Mohammed was to have the same wages as Osman, and as he had a horse of his own, which he wished to take to Erzeroum, I was to pay for the forage of the animal, and could make use of him for the baggage. This would be very useful; hitherto I had been obliged to hire a horse, owing to my loss of Obadiah. Up to this time I had been travelling on the postal track. It was possible to find horses. After leaving Sivas, the next town I should reach, there would be no more postal-stations; I should then have to trust to my being able to hire animals from the peasantry, or be obliged to purchase another horse. "I have a wife," said Mohammed; "will my lord give me a little money?" "How much do you want?" "Two liras." "I wonder if he will bolt with the money, like the Tartar I engaged last winter in Orenburg." This idea at once occurred to my mind. On second thoughts, I remembered that he was well known to the Zaptieh, and to many of the other inhabitants of Tokat; so I acceded to his request. An Armenian doctor called to see me. He had been educated in the States, and spoke English with a most unmistakable Yankee drawl. "How is business here?" I inquired. "Very flat," said the medical gentleman; "the people do not put much faith in doctors, that is, until they are really ill, and then we have a busy time of it. They pill themselves," he continued, "and go in for herbs and old women's remedies; they get them cheap, and grudge the money which they must pay to a regular practitioner." "You do not look very well," said the doctor. "Thank you, there is not much the matter," I replied. The fact was that I had a splitting headache, owing to the charcoal pan or mungo which warmed the apartment. The gas from the charcoal being lighter than the air, fills the upper part of the room. The Turks and Armenians generally squat on the floor. They do not feel the effects of the fumes so much as a person who is seated on the divan.