"Very far," was the reply. "So far," pointing to a rock about 1000 yards from us. It was clear that however well the guide might shoot with his gun, he was equally good with the long-bow. I began to be a little doubtful about the story he had just told us of the brigands. We rested for a while at Yenihan, a large village with 200 houses; the population is composed half of Armenians and half of Turks. The Caimacan had gone to the mountains in search of some redif soldiery. He had experienced considerable difficulty in inducing these men to leave their homes, and join the army in the field. There was nothing particular to see at Yenihan. Sivas was only nine hours distant: I determined to make a long march on the following day, and give our horses a rest in that city. The track was good. Ox-carts—the chief means of transporting baggage in this part of Anatolia—have no difficulty in travelling along the road to the Yeldez Ermak, a rapid stream which is about seventy yards wide. It is crossed by a good stone bridge on arches. The river, though fordable in the winter, would be impassable in the early spring if it were not for the bridge. It is a tributary of the Kizil Ermak, and meets that stream about twelve miles S.E. of Sivas. The district is hilly, but is highly cultivated. In about four hours we reached the Kizil Ermak, a broad, deep river. It is crossed by a stone bridge. A road on the opposite bank leads to Divriki. We did not cross the bridge, but continued on to Sivas, which lay before us, with a background of rising slopes. A citadel, in a ruined state, frowned down upon us from the centre of the city. Sivas, the capital of Armenia Minor, is situated at the head of the valley of the Halys of the ancients. It is the most important military position in this part of Turkey. It commands the sole route which descends with the waters upon the plateau of Asia Minor. Sivas is the key to the Peninsula on the Asiatic side; the Turks ought to fortify this place, particularly when they are threatened in Asia Minor by the Russians. Should the latter succeed in forcing the first line of defence, consisting of Kars, Ardahan, and Bayazid, and afterwards take possession of Erzeroum, there will be no other fortified town between themselves and Scutari. The governor had sent an officer with some Zaptiehs as an escort for our party. As we were entering the principal street a servant approached us with a fine Arab horse, and said that the Pacha hoped I would honour him by riding his favourite animal to the quarters prepared for my accommodation. It appeared that the Bey in Angora had telegraphed to the governor of Sivas about me, hence the preparations which had been made. I dismounted from my own quadruped, and mounted the Pacha's horse. I now found that the stirrup-leathers, even when let out to the last hole, were much too short, I was sitting with my knees nearly up to my chin.