The Pacha was an energetic man, and very popular with the inhabitants. He had been at Erzingan but a few months. He had found time to put the streets in tolerable order, and to make the town one of the cleanest in Anatolia. He was desirous of purchasing some machinery with the object of making cloth from the cotton which grows in this district. As it is, the raw cotton is sent to England, and is then manufactured into the articles required. The Pacha would have liked to save all this expense, and have the work done on the spot. He had tried to form a company, with the object of realizing his idea; but there was no energy in Erzingan—the people were afraid of risking the little money they possessed; it was impossible to carry the project into execution.
I now went to the Mohammedan School.
"Will you ask the boys some questions?" said the Hodja.
I remembered the success which I had obtained with the sum put by me to the lads at Yuzgat, and at once gave it. The schoolmaster was at his wits' end for a solution. However, later in the day he came to my house and said—
"You set me a sum this morning—I cannot do it. I should like to ask you one."
"Go on," I remarked.
"Three men," said the Hodja, "who were accompanied by their three wives, arrived at a river. The husbands were all jealous of their wives. There was one boat in which to take the party. The bark would only hold two persons, and no woman could be trusted by her husband unless there were two men with her. How did they cross the river?"
"Can you do it?" said the schoolmaster.
"I will think it over," I replied.
"This sum has puzzled our Mutasarraf for six months," said the Hodja; "it is a beautiful sum!"