acrossasiaminoro00chiluoft

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80 ACROSS ASIA MINOR OX FOOT
him much pleasure to meet an Englishman and to do
anything for one, for England had ever been the
friend of Turkey. He would give me a letter to the
Chief of Police securing me from any further trouble.
And as I wished to take photographs, this letter would
permit me to do so wherever I might go, even in
Syria ; for that he could promise.
I never saw the letter—though I saw it written
in violet ink with a great reed pen, and dusted with
pounce— for it was closed and handed to the zaptieh
who accompanied me to the police quarters. It was a
long letter, but I doubted if it would be so potent as
the writer claimed. I did not think the Governor of
this city could ensure me the goodwill of officials in
distant places — perhaps military officers, jealous of their
authority. The fact remains, however, that wherever
I went subsequently, even into districts under martial
law, where foreigners were closely watched, I was
always free to photograph, and never was troubled
again by the authorities. British nationality is, or
was, a great possession in Asia Minor.
All this business took five hours of daylight, to my
great disgust ; then I met Achmet and set out for
the castle, depending on him to find the way, for
he had made the climb before. The day was hot
enough for August, and the ascent a thousand feet
of clambering upon a slope like going up a roof, and
had Achmet known just what awaited him he would
not have been so anxious to act as guide. In addition
to other clothing, he was much swaddled about
the middle with a girdle of numerous windings
his trousers, too, were thick as fearnaught ; on top
of all he wore a long heavy overcoat. His shoes
were incredibly heavy, and like clogs, open at the
heel for easy slipping off and on when attending
mosques. Besides handicap of dress he was a bigbodied,
big-limbed man, more used to sitting crosslegged
on the front seat of his araha than climbing
precipitous rocks. Such was the man who faced
the ascent about three in the afternoon, when the