432 
CONSULAR EXPERIENCES IN TURKEY. 
Travelling: Travelling in winter is very difficult. In January 1880 I went to 
Winter. ] 3 as hk a ] at The distance is only about 60 miles, but it took me four 
days. Progress through the snow was slow and a pass about 10,000 
feet high had to be crossed where the horses plunged often to their 
girths in the soft snow. One baggage animal broke his leg and had 
to be destroyed. In winter it is of course impossible to sleep in tents 
and we had to content ourselves with what accommodation the villages 
afforded. Some of these had a regular guest-chamber, but this was 
not always the case. At a village called Chugli, on this trip, Dr. 
Paynolds, one of the American missionaries who was with me, and I 
occupied a corner in the large house-room of the headman. In this 
one room lived six families of the headman and his brothers, 50 
persons, men, women and children in all. The weird scene at night— 
this large sort of domed room, lighted principally by the flickering 
flames of a fire in the centre, with the deep shadows and the multitude of 
figures flitting about—can be better imagined than described. At 
other places I have occupied a raised platform at one corner of a 
stable, with the only opening besides the door a hole in the roof, 
which I had the greatest difficulty in preventing being closed up at 
night by a sod. 
On this journey I heard grievous accounts of the straits caused by 
the scarcity. The headman of Chugh could only give his family bread 
once a day. Poor people had been driven to eat roots and grass; 
others had killed and salted their cattle. This diet was causing 
disease and the loss of their cattle prevented them from cultivating 
their land, so that when the meat came to an end they would have 
nothing left. I was shown some of the bread to which the people 
were to a great extent reduced. This was formed in round cakes as 
hard as a stone and of a greenish-black colour. It seemed to 
me to consist of a mixture of husks, perhaps grass, a little linseed and 
a good deal of grit. It must have been fearfully unwholesome and in¬ 
digestible with very little nourishment in it. 
Whilst at Bashkala on this occasion I visited the prisons in which 
were upwards of 60 prisoners, all Kurds confined for robbery. These 
prisons were terrible places. In the first building I went to there 
were 35 men in a room about 15 feet square, very hot and stuffy with 
only a hole in the roof for light and air. One man was lying with his 
toes rotting off from frost-bite, he having tried to escape whilst being 
taken to prison. There was also another sick man. At the Govern¬ 
ment offices were two other rooms with better air, but very dark and 
rather cold. The prisoners complained of having been kept three 
days without food. I recommended that the sick should be separated 
from the rest. Of course the state of things sounds horrible, but it 
must be remembered that it was really not much worse than the way 
in which they live at home in their own villages. 
Travelling Travelling in summer is delightful. I always took tents, so that I 
Summer. was independent, though I on occasions availed myself of hospitality 
which was generously offered to me. 
In June 1880 I went to Sert to meet Major Trotter by a route new, 
