ARZ-ROUM TO AMASIA. 
323 
mate. But the reduced statement still leaves in Arz-roum , at the rate of 
five persons in a family, a total of two hundred and fifty thousand per- 
sons, besides Armenians. 
The climate of Arz-roum is very changeable, and must in winter be 
piercingly cold. It rained throughout the whole of the 19th, but the 
clouds dispersed on the morrow, and discovered the adjacent hills over¬ 
spread with snow. The high lands which arise from the plain around, 
attract constant thunder-storms; the elevation, indeed, of the whole 
region from the base of the sea is itself very considerable, and is suffi¬ 
cient to account for the cold. 
On the 17th we visited the Governor. He treated us with the usual 
civilities of the occasion in Turkey, pipes, coffees, sweatmeats and 
sherbet, for which we paid dearly by the numerous backshishes or vails 
that are given in such circumstances. Emin Aga, who then filled the 
station and was Musselim of the town, was also Gumruckchee or Col¬ 
lector of the Customs, an office which in Persia is confined to very infe¬ 
rior persons, and which therefore drew upon the Commandant of Arz- 
roum, who unluckily bore it, the laughter and contempt of the Persians. 
Yet when he invited us all to dinner, they were not the less anxious 
to make their best appearance before him. Throughout the day, the 
Persian Envoy was occupied with the arrangement of his clothes; he 
consulted every one of his servants on the suit which might become 
him best, and at length fixed on a fine gold-brocade coat. 
On the 20th we went accordingly to the entertainment. After 
smoking and drinking coffee, the Aga called for dinner. Water for 
the preliminary ablution was first brought, when I observed that the 
Turks washed both their hands, and the Persians the right only. The 
servants who brought the basin and ewer were attended by two others: 
one who spread a towel on the knees, and another who was ready to 
take it away, and replace it by a second for the hands. After this an 
octagonal stool two feet and a half high was placed in a corner of the 
sopha, on which was put a large round pewter tray carved all over in 
t t 2 
