to rank himself among the humblest of
our slaves during the journey, will not only more
than compensate him, but leave him a very large
profit of self-esteem on the transaction.
Nevertheless, we repeat our request. It then turns
out that Ameen wants a great deal too much.
After half-a-day spent in the most roundabout
talk conceivable, he agrees to take something
rather under a fourth of his demand. Then we
desire to close the bargain, but Ameen still
hangs back.

"Do we want him to go all the way?"

"Yes; has he any objection to go all the
way?"

"None whatever; he will go to the end of
the world with us, and restore us safely to the
bosom of our family. Then, he will consider his
business in this life as having been satisfactorily
and even handsomely accomplished."

We are glad to hear it, and under these
inspiriting circumstances we will start to-morrow
morning, and, meantime, we frankly express
our opinion that Ameen is a jolly good fellow,
and will do well to trust in our generosity; for
are we not Englishmen and his friends? It is
quite surprising how one catches the Oriental
form of speech after a little practice.

Ameen veils his eyes and makes the salaam.
"On his head be it. All shall be ready. Is he
not our own peculiar slave, born for our
convenience, nurtured and brought up expressly
for the honour which has now been conferred on
him? What object can there be in this world
so delightful to a reasonable mind as the prospect
of becoming our servant? Whose dog is
he if he be not ours?"

Late in the evening we learn by accident
that Ameen has gone away, and is by this time
ten miles on his journey homeward; for, not
only can he not take us to Tehran, but he
dares not even pass the Persian frontier lest he
and his horses should be seized for debt. A
diligent search for him ends in our finding out
that Ameen has merely gone to the bath, where
he purposes to remain and open further
negotiations with us. Employing an Armenian
interpreter to treat with him on our behalf, it is
finally arranged that I shall ride the bonny black
to Erzeroum, and there we must shift for our
further progress as we can.

A sufficient number of mules are provided
for the baggage. About two hundred and eighty
pounds' weight is considered a fair load for a
mule, and we shall want forty mules for our
party. We have six tents to carry, portable
kitchens, tea-things packed in deal boxes, carpets
for bedding, cheeses, hams, tongues, brandy,
sherry, rice, for the two months of gipsying
we have before us, since we shall hardly travel
twenty miles a day. They must be packed as far
as can be, in long narrow deal boxes to be slung
upon the horses' wooden pack-saddles, balanced
equally on each side. Then there are earthenware
water-bottles and horse-hair saddle-bags
for provisions, and guns and ammunition, and
all sorts of unremembered things: with a Polish
cook, and, I think, some twenty servants and
hangers-on. The cost of the mules will be about
three pounds each, to the Persian frontier.

Let us have a walk round the town before we
take to boot and saddle. The modern city of
Trebizond contains a population of about twenty-
five thousand, of which three thousand are said
be Greeks, one thousand Armenians, and the
rest Turks. Trebizond is the ancient Trapezus.
It is situated at the south-eastern extremity of
the Black Sea, in the old province of Pontus.
It is six hundred miles from Constantinople.
It has been from time immemorial, a place of
considerable celebrity, and early rose into
commercial importance. It was for a long time the
capital of the Eastern Greek Empire. It is
favourably situated for trade, being on the great
highway between Europe and Central Asia. It
has unfortunately nothing that can be called a
harbour; but there is a tolerably good roadstead
for the anchorage of vessels, and there are the
remains of an ancient mole constructed by the
Emperor Hadrian, still serving the purpose for
which the mole was made. The climate is very
mild for its latitude. Figs, olives, pomegranates,
and lemons, grow here abundantly. The
atmosphere, however, is so humid that no metals
can be left about, even for a single day, without
rusting.

I noticed a certain shyness and curiosity in
the natives, different from the characteristics of
the grave and sober inhabitants of most Turkish
cities. I heard that Trebizond was a famous
market for the clandestine sale of white slaves
for the harems of Constantinople; and I saw a
horse auction on a new principle, or one which
was at least unknown to me. The auctioneer
mounted on the back of the poor little pony that
was for sale, and banged his sides loudly with
a thick stick: shouting out the value which he
put upon it. When a bid was made, he roared
out something higher, and, when the sale was
effected, he rode straight at the purchaser and
waited till he was paid.

SEVENTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-TWO.

A CENTURY ago, the reign of George the
Third had just begun; a year nearer to the
present time (the 8th of September, 1761), he
married the Princess Charlotte Sophia of
Mecklenburg-Strelitz; and on the 1st of January,
1762, Mr. Whitehead, the then poet-laureate,
informed an eagerly-listening public that " Love
commands, and Beauty's queen rules the power
who rules the sky." This poetical licence is
taken in the Ode to the New Year, without
which the new year, a hundred years ago, could
not have got on at all. It would be rude
to say that Mr. Whitehead's poetical licence
was exercised at the expense of charms which
had no existence, but he certainly stretched a
point in ascribing so much authority to " Beauty's
queen;" for it so happened that precisely at the
moment when he penned his loyal and
complimentary effusion, the " god of slaughter," whom
he urged to " quit the scene" and " lay the