"The Russians would not have been pleased if we had been made independent at that time," said a priest. "They have always looked upon us as a certain inheritance, all they want to do is to take our territory without having to fight for it." "We revenged ourselves upon Hassan, Khan of Persia, who had defiled one of our churches near Ararat," remarked the old merchant. "He was taken prisoner and transported to the church which he had desecrated. He was afterwards tied face to face with a dog, and given the same food as that animal. The Persian soon died of shame or starvation." There is but little export trade from Sivas. Tobacco is the staple produce of the country. All the articles imported are very dear, owing to the expense of transport from Samsoun, the roads between Sivas and that port being very bad. Sugar, I was informed, costs eighteenpence a pound. If an enterprising inhabitant were to start a manufactory of this article of consumption, he would speedily make an immense fortune. Beetroot and a peculiar sort of sweet carrot abound throughout the district. The first-mentioned vegetable can be bought for eight shillings a ton. It might be grown for very much less. Any amount of water power could be brought from the neighbouring mountains to bear upon machinery. Coal is also to be found in the neighbourhood. This part of Anatolia is supplied with sugar from Constantinople. If it were manufactured on the spot, the profit would be very great, for the cost of carriage would be saved; in all probability it would utterly supplant the Constantinople sugar, and soon find a market throughout the whole of Asia Minor. CHAPTER XXIX. The principal mosque—An ostrich egg—Curious custom—The dancing dervishes—A regiment of cavalry leaves Sivas—The arms of the men—Appearance of the horses—A short route to Erzeroum—Dudusa—The Kizil Ermak—Scenery—Glass replaced by alabaster—A raid on an Armenian village—The robbers caught—Women said to have been outraged—Kotnu—An accident—The Zaptiehs out of temper—Mohammed's appetite—A comparison between Mohammed and Osman. On leaving the monastery, we rode to the principal mosque of the town. I was struck by seeing a large ostrich egg suspended from the ceiling by a silver chain. On my asking the Turk who showed me over the building, why this egg was hung there, he replied,— "Effendi, the ostrich always looks at the eggs which she lays; if one of them is bad, she breaks it. This egg is suspended here as a warning to men that, if they are bad, God will break them in the same way as the ostrich does her eggs." Mohammed met me as I was returning to my house. He was very much excited. "What is the matter?" I inquired.