"Now," added the Consul, "the Turk was a Mohammedan, and Mr. Thompson a Christian; if the Turk had been in England, and had found himself placed in a similar predicament to Mr. Thompson, do you think that there are many Englishmen who would have behaved so generously to an utter stranger?" The following day I called upon some Armenian gentlemen, and found their houses furnished like my host's, with thick carpets, divans, and pipes, the walls being bare and whitewashed. Pictures and looking-glasses were seldom to be seen, the latter being a very costly luxury, owing to the difficulty of carriage. The Armenians dressed in a similar manner to the Turks. The Christian women were closely veiled whenever they left the house. In many instances, an Armenian was not permitted to see his wife[12] before marriage, and had to take her, as the Yankees say, "on spec." Great harmony existed between the Turks and Christians. Whenever I dined with an Armenian there were always Mohammedans present. When I visited a Turk's house, I generally found Armenians amongst the visitors. On inquiring whether this state of things prevailed elsewhere, I was informed by the Armenians that in other parts of Anatolia, and more particularly in Sivas, the Christians were ill-treated by the Turks, and that the prisons were filled with Armenians. During my stay at Ismid I had heard precisely the same story of the sufferings of the Christians at Angora. I had been told that the Armenians were cruelly oppressed, and that justice was never shown to them. However, in Angora the two religions did not seem to clash. The Mohammedans and Christians were on the best of terms. I began to be a little sceptical as to the truth of the statement about Sivas, and determined not to form any opinion on the matter from mere hearsay evidence, but to see with my own eyes if the prisons were so full of Christians as the Armenians in Angora would have had me believe. Later on in the day, Radford suggested that it would be as well for me to sell the lame horse and buy another; he was doubtful whether, even without his pack, the animal would be able to march to Yuzgat. The poor beast was very lame, the frog of his foot was much swollen. Whilst we were talking, a Turkish veterinary surgeon arrived: taking out his knife, he made a slight incision in the swollen place. Meantime several horse-dealers, learning that I wanted to buy a horse, brought me some animals for inspection, at the same time offering me the liberal price of 2_l._ sterling for my own animal. "Well," said one man, extracting some silver from what appeared to be an old stocking, "I will give twelve medjidis." "Your heart is very hard, brother, soften it a little," said Osman. "Our horse shall not go for less than forty silver pieces. You love your money, but we love our horse still more."