acrossasiaminoro00chiluoft

;
FINDING A GUIDE 189
there and back meant a whole day, and I grudged the
time.
Being now out of the country of deep winter snow,
and haste on the road no longer essential, I resolved
to travel in the leisurely manner of my first intention.
So far I had followed roads ; now I proposed to
follow paths, and take a road only when no path
offered. It was somewhat of a lottery to cast oft*
into the wilds with an unknown man, but I had
always got on well with Moslems—excepting always
the irascible invalid Mehmet—and a Moslem servant
was in himself an important passport. Between the
probability of a Turkish Moslem being faithful, and
what I could discern of a man's character in an interview,
I had few misgivings about being ill-served
for the rest I would depend upon myself. The Armenian
steward of the mission knew a Turk who
might be suitable, and undertook to find him.
So one afternoon I was called into the doctor's garden
to see this man. I went with as much curiosity
as one could have who knew that the success, or at
least the pleasure of the coming journey, depended
greatly on the guide engaged. I went, believing
firmly in the value of first impressions, and alert to
be influenced by them, and received an unpleasant
shock. I saw a white-bearded, mumbling old man,
on whose face seemed to be the vacant smile of
senility. This candidate would never do, I thought
and yet, after looking at him closely, these first
impressions faded away. White-bearded he certainly
was ; but without movement of any sort, or change
in manner of speech, another aspect appeared which
commanded my curiosity and attention, and even
respect. He stood confident and completely at ease,
in the attitude of a Dutch peasant, with hands thrust
deeply into the pockets of well-worn chocolate-brown
breeches, loose and ample above and tight at ankle.
His shirt was of bluish cloth, tucked into a wide
girdle, his coat black and faded, and a fez with aj^'^^t
^
dirty white yazma around it covered his head. W^^^^y 'i
" T '-