acrossasiaminoro00chiluoft

156 ACEOSS ASIA MINOR ON FOOT
the smell of an old musty library, but everything was
spotlessly clean, like the interior of most Armenian
dwellings. The wood-work was unpainted ;
the walls
covered with plain hangings
; a heavy padded leather
curtain served as door ; and the room was warmed by
a brazier, which was taken away on our entering. In
some such style as this the monks had probably lived
for centuries ; for though this part of the building
may not have been more than two hundred years old,
the monastery was founded in the thirteenth century,
has had a continuous existence ever since, and customs
are likely to have changed but slowly.
The Bishop did not keep us waiting long, and seemed
even glad of an opportunity for seeing visitors. As
Bishop of a Church and people in difficulties, and a
man said to have been placed in this office for his
exceptional capacity, I looked at him with more than
ordinary interest. His age appeared to be no more
than fifty, though doubtless he was older ; his full
beard and long hair were dark, his figure shortish and
strong, and his face inclined to florid. He spoke in
Armenian, and my American friend translated. An
Armenian bishop in another part of the country had
been said to have charged his people to sell their
shirts if necessary in order to buy firearms. But the
Bishop of Sivas was not of that sort ; discretion and
patience seemed to be what he relied upon. He
avowed himself on good terms with the Government,
and satisfied with their present treatment and intentions.
I gathered, however, that he not only had to
guide his priesthood and flock, but also take part in a
game of political euchre with the Turkish authorities
and the Greek Church as his opponents, in which the
higher cards never by any chance fell to him. It was
not a game so important as that which the Armenian
Patriarch at Constantinople has to play against Turks
and Greeks, but had the same characteristics.
Conversation ran on many topics, but without
apparent efibrt the Bishop managed to get in various
allusions to his race and Church. With a few in-