He carried on a long conversation with the dragoman in Turkish, the upshot of which was that he would give me a "buyuruldu" or special order to go to Sivas, and would provide an escort if the British Consul would send a written guarantee that I was a bona fide traveller. We thanked the Vali for the concession, and took our leave, […] He wrote the required guarantee, and a Chawush, or sergeant of Zaptiehs, was told off to accompany me to Sivas.¶

Sivas is in another province, not under Memdouch Pasha's rule, and as the Vali there was on bad terms with him, it was more than likely that he would send me back in spite of the buyuruldu. The Chawush was sent with me, possibly to make sure that I was neither an agitator nor a newspaper correspondent, but I paid him well and he proved of great use to me.