A "butterfly summer" in ASIA MINOR. 81 



to reach such a butterfly paradise as Amasia was to prove after- 

 wards to be. At about 9 p.m. we reached a village called 

 Tchakaler, where there was a khan (there are no hotels or even 

 inns in the interior of Asia Minor). Here I put up for the 

 night. Bersa had procured provisions at Samsoun, enough to 

 last for the three days' journey to Mersivan ; so, having had an 

 open stove of charcoal placed in my room, I soon became warm, 

 and passed an excellent night. 



It was still raining the next morning, but the weather was 

 better that day on the whole, and so were the roads — just a little 

 better, I thought — though it might only have been that I was 

 getting more accustomed to them. In some places where they 

 were under repair, and in others where they were too hopelessly 

 bad, the yileys would strike down into the fields, and go for miles 

 along temporary tracks, which were certainly less rough than the 

 main road even at its best ; but the descent and ascent to and 

 from this lower level was exciting, to say the least of it. The 

 bridges across the rivers were generally so hopelessly out of 

 repair as to be practically useless, so that one of these precipitous 

 leaps over the side of the road would be made, and then, in order 

 to cross, a swollen ford must be scrambled through, to the immi- 

 nent peril of the yileys being upset over and over again ; and 

 sometimes they are upset, I was told. 



Kauzar was the next stopping place, and on the third day I 

 reached Mersivan, where Dr. and Mrs. Riggs most kindly invited 

 me to stay as a guest at their house, the luxury of which was 

 wonderfully appreciable after the hardships of that journey. 

 Here I made the acquaintance of Prof. Manissajian, the zoologist 

 at the College, and he showed me the collections, which were 

 most interesting, and gave me many useful hints about Amasia, 

 also providing me with a letter for two Armenians, with whom, 

 he said, I could stay during my sojourn there, as there were 

 nothing better than khans even in Amasia. During the two 

 days I spent at Mersivan I met with much hospitality and kind- 

 ness, more especially from my host and hostess. Dr. and 

 Mrs. Riggs. 



The way to Amasia lay across a wide flat plain, and I was told 

 that the road was better than that from Samsoun, but nothing 

 would induce me to resign myself again to the tender mercies of 

 a yiley ; so I told Bersa to hire only one for the luggage, and 

 two saddle-horses. This was a much better arrangement, but 

 when I had ridden for the better part of eight hours on a Turkish 

 saddle, I could stand it no longer ; so a Greek master from the 

 College, who had joined forces with me for the journey, said he 

 would take my horse and gallop on to Amasia with the professor's 

 letter, so that the old couple with whom I was going to lodge 

 would be all in readiness to receive me. I thought this an 

 excellent arrangement, but I could not stay in the yiley, so I got 



