Having thus prepared me, he shut the door, and produced with _empressement_ a small bag of coins and seals from his stamp-safe. These were for the most part early Muhammadan, a Parthian or two, and a few Assyrian pieces. The greatest treasure--to him--was a George III. five-pound piece, upon which he put a fabulous value. Beyond telling the probable date of his antiques I could not help him, but he pressed so hard--thinking my unwillingness to mention prices was due to an idea of purchasing--that at last I proposed some values which I was pleased to see highly gratified him. In these regions there is always a good market for antiques among the Turks and Christians, who buy them, gradually collecting a stock, and then take them to Constantinople in the hopes of selling for a fortune. Coming back that morning I remember buying some lettuces of an old man, who cleaned and washed them for his purchasers. The price, which gives a good idea of the price of vegetables and fruit, was two lettuces for three “pul,” seven of which make a “qamari,” which is equivalent to three-farthings, so the lettuce worked out at about the twenty-fourth part of a penny each. In this stands explained the tenacity with which two persons will haggle for an hour over fractional sums, for the acquisition of a farthing means a considerable part of a meal gained. [Sidenote: LEAVE KIRKUK] One morning early, the muleteer Rashid came along and woke me. The effendi under whose wing it had been arranged for us to go had suddenly made up his mind the day before, and was now ready. So hurriedly we loaded up, and barely getting time to bid farewell to Haji Rasul, who commended me to God and the saints, we filed out into the yet empty streets to the meeting-place outside the town. Just as we got there and saw ahead a collection of mules, foot-passengers, and soldiers, the day broke, and we bade farewell to this remote corner of Turkey for a time. FOOTNOTES TO CHAPTER VI: [22] The Hittites. [23] The Mediterranean. [24] Ragozin’s _Assyria_, p. 57. [25] The Kurds call it Haoril and occasionally Haolir. [26] Formerly one of the most famous and powerful families of southern Kurdistan. [27] Ragozin’s _Assyria_, p. 161. [28] The Iman Ali, termed only by the Shi’a or Persian Muhammadans, “Lord of the Faithful.” [29] This action is an abbreviation of the compound wave, which apparently beginning by lifting imaginary dust, places it upon the mouth, eyes, and head. [30] Persian translation of the last line:-- “Kurdi guz i khar ast.”