Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 1.djvu/49

Rh which induced Pompey to select it as his favourite residence. On a hill to the west of the town are a few ruins, which have been supposed to point out the site of the ancient acropolis, but this is very doubtful. The modern town is a miserable assemblage of wretched houses, said to contain three hundred and fifty Mohammedan families. A crime committed by a member of the Greek Church some years ago was considered sufficient ground to exclude any Christian from taking up his residence within the town, and the descendants of the citizens of ancient Amisus inhabit the large village of Cadi-kieui, about three hours distant from Samsoon, where they have a church and two priests, one of whom is the village schoolmaster. They are all of the Greek rite, and belong to the diocese of Trebizond.5

A lodging was provided for us in one of the town houses through the kindness of Mr. Richard Stevens, the British Vice-Consul, where we put up for the night. In the meanwhile our Tatar was engaged in making the necessary arrangements, such as hiring horses and mules, and procuring provisions for our departure on the morrow. I had been advised by travellers who had gone over our projected route by no means to go unaccompanied by a Tatar, and now at the outset, as well as during the whole journey, we found the services of old Kushker Oghloo almost indispensable. Had he been a little more conscientious in the fulfilment of his engagement, we should have been spared some few inconveniences and extra expenses which his duplicity and avarice imposed upon us; but my former experience in eastern travelling prevented any disappointment on this score, and on the whole we had much cause to be thankful for the important services which he rendered us. Without his assistance we should often have been obliged to encamp in the open air, more frequently to have put up with scanty food, and repeatedly to have suffered impositions without any possibility of redress. His semi-official character generally ensured respect to our party, and added weight to the imperial firman which we had obtained before leaving Constantinople. It was ludicrous in the extreme to witness his first interviews with several of the pashas on the road. After some preliminary inquiries as to what was going forward at the capital, he was generally asked whether his protégés had a firman. "Boo kadar," said Kushker