"Do you know the answer?" I inquired.
"Unfortunately, I have forgotten it," he replied.
I proceeded to visit the Mosque, which was being built at the expense of Issek Pacha, Governor of Sivas. It had been in the course of construction for three years, and was only half finished. The walls were made of stone and marble, which had been brought from some quarries, about eight miles from the town. It was said that when the mosque was finished, it would be the handsomest one in Anatolia.
I met the Italian doctor as I was returning to my quarters.
"So you have seen the mosque?" he said.
"Yes."
"Well," he continued, "the Turks in some ways resemble us Catholics. Issek Pacha probably thinks that by building a magnificent mosque, he will be less likely to be fried in a future state of existence; and we are told that if we leave money to the priests, to say masses for our souls, we shall not have to remain so long in purgatory."
"It all comes to the same thing," said the old gentleman. "It is no matter where a man is born, whether in the Mohammedan East or in the Christian West, his Imaum or Priest will always get money out of him in some manner or other."
"In this instance," I remarked, "the money has gone to build a mosque and not to Imaums."
"Yes," said the Italian, "but whenever a priest or dervish asks a good Mohammedan for anything the latter will never refuse. The result is that the religious profession in Turkey is made up of as many idlers and beggars as can be seen in my own country."