"Can I buy some meat?" I would inquire of Osman. "We will see, Effendi. I will run to the Khan, and inquire of the people there." This was Osman's favourite amusement. Under the pretence of making purchases, he would go to the different Khans, talk for some time to the assembled villagers about his own merits, drink several cups of coffee, and return. "Well, where is the meat?" "Effendi, there is no meat." "Have you been to look?" "Look, Effendi! My clothes are moist with perspiration. But there are some chickens; they will do for our dinner." This was the daily food—chicken. It is not a bad diet if a man is living a sedentary life, and not taking much exercise, but after a nine hours' ride he requires something a little more nourishing. _Toujours perdrix_ was too much for a French cardinal; if the holy gentleman had been riding through Turkey, he would have found _toujours poulet_ an equally unsubstantial diet. A crowd assembled to see us depart. The people in Mudurlu taking as much interest in an Englishman as the inhabitants of London would take in a chimpanzee or newly arrived gorilla. Asiatics have a very high opinion of our skill as manufacturers. English goods, can be met with in almost every large town in Anatolia, and the Turks prefer English merchandise to the cheaper but inferior articles sent from Belgium or America. The Zaptieh who went with me was a magnificent-looking fellow. Picture to yourself a tall, dark Circassian, with large piercing eyes, and carefully trimmed beard—a striking contrast to the huge white turban which surrounded his fez. He was dressed in a green jacket with red facings; a blue waistcoat peered from beneath it, and a pair of green trousers and red leather boots covered his extremities. He was armed with a sword and revolver, and, when the road permitted, was continually exercising his horse. Now he would break into a gallop, go at headlong speed for fifty yards, then, pulling his steed almost on his haunches, he would start in another direction, and, bending from the saddle-bow, touch the ground. All this was done with the most consummate grace and ease—in fact, as if horse and rider were one.