September 8th.—A tent is a poor place to spend the night in, nevertheless I slept soundly in my narrow camp-bed. At daybreak I was roused by the sound of trumpets and the beating of drums; the soldiers began to stir, in great excitement, and less than a quarter of an hour later the whole camp was broken up. Our soldiers having burned all their useless rags by the fire, hundreds of the indigent inhabitants of Erzeroum hurried down like birds of prey upon the place recently occupied by our camp and searched for the remains in the dense smoke. Meanwhile our troops drew up in a line while their commanders took a survey of their ranks and congratulated the men on the occasion of their return to their homes. After that public prayers were sung; during the Te Deum the sounds of the trumpet resounded to signal our departure. We mounted on horseback and left Erzeroum with our troops, with music playing and banners waving in the air. To-day is the birthday of the Grand-Duchess Olga Fedorovna, therefore twenty-one cannon-shots have been fired. We were already approaching the Postern of Kars when, in the middle of a cloud of dust, a cavalcade came into view. It was Moukhtar-Pasha who had come with a numerous suite to see us off. Suddenly we heard the sounds of a march, and saw a Turkish military band preceding a battalion of Turkish soldiers, marching also in the direction of the Postern of Kars in order to escort the departing Russian troops; they drew up in a line on each side of the road. I was greatly impressed to see the enemy troops, who a short time ago fought ferociously with us, now presenting arms to the Russian commanders. There was a great crowd of Turks round about, but the Armenian inhabitants restrained from appearing. The Postern is left behind, the Russian and Turkish commanders have made their adieus, and we are marching off to Kars. Our cavalcade was very gay; we were trotting fast and soon overtook our troops. In the afternoon we arrived at the spot where we were to lunch in a tent pitched on the banks of a river. After sunset, we came to Hassan-kala where we passed the night under the roof of the chief of the district. An impromptu bed was made up for me far too short, alas, for my long legs. September 9th.—We continued our journey at daybreak. The chief of the district of Kharoussan came to meet my husband on horseback, accompanied by an escort of Kurdes. The chief of their tribe, wishing to be agreeable to Sergy, told him how glad he was when the new frontier was made, that his land became joined to the Russian territory, when the land of his brothers was joined to that of Turkey.