This, however, would not be pleasing to the Sultan's powerful neighbour. Reform is impossible in Turkey so long as Russian agents[25] foment rebellion amidst the Sultan's subjects.
One of my fellow-passengers was a Turkish doctor. He had the rank of Pacha and was under the Army Medical Department. He had left Constantinople with orders to visit Kars, and report to his Government about the sanitary state of this town. On arriving at Batoum, he found that the tracks were still covered with snow. The doctor, who was suffering from heart disease, had determined to return to Trebizond.
"In what state is the road between Erzeroum and Kars?" he now asked.
"Probably it is covered with snow."
"Dear me," said the Pacha, "I shall wait a little at Trebizond for a change of weather."
"You had better go to Kars as soon as possible," I remarked, "or there will be an outbreak of fever there."
"If I travel quickly," observed the official, "I shall die of heart disease. A little sooner or later will not make much difference to the people in Kars. I shall be able to leave the service in a year and a half," he continued; "if I were to hurry myself, death might carry me off before I could enjoy my pension. Please God there will be no war. We shall have so many cases to attend. I was at Alexinatz," he added.
"Did you have a great deal to do?"
"Yes, so few of our surgeons know anything about anatomy; dissecting a Mohammedan is contrary to the tenets of Islam. But there were plenty of dead Servians, and so our people practised upon them."
The following morning we arrived at Trebizond. There was a French steamer on the point of starting for Constantinople. I had just time to take my luggage on board of her. In a few minutes we were again steaming ahead. Three days later, and after a most delightful passage, we anchored in the Bosphorus. My leave of absence had nearly expired. There would be another French vessel belonging to Les Messageries Maritimes leaving on the morrow for Marseilles. I took our tickets on my way to the Hôtel de Luxembourg, and eight days afterwards arrived in London.