CHAPTER XIII.

A LAST VISIT TO ASIA MINOR.

I become an object of interest to the Palace spies--I therefore leave Constantinople for a time--England and the Anatolian Railway--Prosperous whitewash and a deceitful governor--Bureaucratic changes in Asia MinorThe measures for restricting large gatherings of the people--Wedding entertainments diminished--The war-game of Jareed--My mother's objections to my visiting England--A perversion of the truth on my part.

AT this time, when I was making a fair living by means of the business entrusted to me by those European concessionnaires whom I have mentioned, I thought it convenient to take up my residence in Pera, the European quarter of the capital. But my residing in Pera among foreigners must have made me an object on which some persons connected with the Palace deemed it worth while to keep an eye. I began to suspect that my movements were being shadowed by some mysterious individuals, though I could hardly be sure. I informed my English friend, the late correspondent of the Times, that I had reason to fear that the spies were after me, and that I thought the time had come to carry out my old intention of going to England. He agreed with me as to the advisability of my getting out of Turkey, but he warned me that unless I secured some means of livelihood beforehand, it was a most risky matter to give up my work, my hopes and probable chances at home, and go over to a country which was absolutely foreign to me. A strong presentiment, however, possessed my mind that I should, sooner or later, be added to the list of the victims of the prevailing tyranny. Taking advantage of the approach of the summer vacation, I thought it would be better at least to go away for some little time from Constantinople. My English friend recommended me to the director of the then newly opened Anatolian railways, and he gave me a first-class free ticket to Angora, which I had not seen for several years. A few days later I crossed over the harbour of Constantinople to the Asiatic shore, and from the Haidar Pasha terminus I took the train which carried me away at once towards the heart of Asia Minor. The distance between Haidar Pasha and Angora is shorter, I should say, than between London and Glasgow, yet the express train takes two whole days to cover it. The German Railway Company does not seem generous in affording facilities to the people of the country, and the customs officers and the rough inspectors employed by the Tobacco Régie Company (one of the European companies) give the traveller an intolerable amount of trouble by seizing and examining his belongings at different places on the journey. The train stops when it has gone half-way on the first evening, as it is not allowed to run at night The traveller's inland passport is examined, and he himself is subjected to a perfect inquisition of questionings, first in the capital, again on the first night, and finally on the second night, when he reaches his destination.

When the Anatolian line was first constructed as far as Angora, the general belief in the country was that the long projected trunk line from the Ottoman capital to the Persian Gulf would pass through Angora. This has not been the case, and the main line changes its course at Eski-Shehir, which is situated half-way between the capital and Angora, and runs to the south, towards Konia (ancient Iconium). It is no doubt within the recollection of many people that the scheme of shortening and facilitating communication between Europe and the nearer East and India by constructing a great line over Asiatic Turkey was first projected by English engineers, supported by the British Government. This enterprise, however, could not be realised. The Germans, ever ready to seize all commercial and political ground lost by the English in the nearer East, took the matter into their own hands, and are now going to have the control of what should have been essentially the British route to India through the friendly Ottoman empire. I do not know whether the possession of this line by Germans is a loss to England, but it is really a loss for my countrymen that this enterprise should not have been in the hands of an English company, because they are aware that in dealing with the English there is a fair possibility of mutual benefit; while in bargaining with Germans, the greediest of all grasping Europeans, Turkey has little to expect in return for what she has to give.

On the second evening after my departure the train arrived at Angora at the moment of sunset. I saw from the window of my carriage that some of the mud-walled houses of the town and the walls of the ancient citadel were white and glistening. At first I thought that they were some new buildings which had sprung up as a sign of the prosperity produced by the opening of the railway. But I soon discovered my mistake. The Governor-General had given orders that the municipal authorities were to whitewash the citadel and that many of the citizens were to do the same to their houses before the formal opening of the railway, so that the European visitors and official commissioners who should come to Angora for the first time might suppose that the town was as smart and prosperous as it looked. The governor must have learnt this mode of deception from the Yildiz authorities, who caused all the more ruinous quarters of Constantinople to be whitewashed or surrounded with high timber hoardings before the German Emperor first came to the city. I was particularly surprised that the great time-worn stones of the ancient citadel should have been so monstrously disfigured by a vulgar coat of whitewash. The governor was a certain Abideen Pasha, and he is now the Vali of the Turkish Archipelago. He is an Albanian by birth, and was first educated in Athens. He can write poems in ancient Greek, and is known to be a linguist and scholar. He had been governor of Angora for several years, yet he had done almost nothing to improve the condition of the province. In other countries such a man would perhaps have been given a professorial chair in some educational institution, but he would hardly have been put in a responsible government post which requires practical administrative capacity. Turkey cannot expect beneficial reforms from such learned theorists, any more than from the ignorant incapable officials who are still entrusted by the Palace with the administration of many of the important provinces.

Some years had elapsed between my last trip and the present one into Asia Minor, and during this period I found that serious changes had taken place in the state of the interior. Among other things, the number of useless officials sent by the central Government had increased alarmingly, to the detriment of the inhabitants of the provinces. For instance, there is no piece of land in Angora which could properly be called forest, yet a Department of Woods and Forests had been created there; directors, sub-directors, and several subordinate officials had been sent out by the central government, and in connection with this office new taxes and unaccustomed laws had been imposed upon the inhabitants. The fact is that, in order to show the Powers that it had been introducing reforms, the Government of the Sultan had adopted among other laws the French regulations relating to the management of forests, and a new department had been created in Constantinople. This central department had opened branch offices in all _vilayets_ or counties, and many Palace favourites were sent to them as forest officials, without regard to the circumstances that in some vilayets there was not an acre which could be considered forest land. In order to crush local influence in the government of the provinces, the administrative councils of the towns, on which the notabilities and religious heads of all communities in each locality, Mussulman and non-Mussulman, sit ex officio in company with the officials of the Sultan's Government, were discouraged from attending meetings.

Such events as would occasion the gathering of large crowds were either prohibited or restricted, after the custom of the capital. "He who is a traitor is also a coward," said the Prophet, and Abd-ul-Hamid, who has caused irreparable harm to Turkey, is afraid that such gatherings might be the prelude to a general uprising. I will mention here two things which used to cause great masses of people to collect. One was a wedding entertainment, and the other the war-game of _jereed_. The restriction of the former to a 'simpler' form was, according to the reasons openly given for it, one of the Sultan's so-called 'paternal' measures. It was alleged to be necessary because people on such occasions indulged in ruinous expenses, and thus fell into the hands of the Armenian and other money-lenders, and became victims of their extortions. As a matter of faot, to maintain a wife is not an expensive luxury in Asia Minor, but people are fond of grand wedding entertainments. Several days before a wedding, luncheons and dinners are given to large parties of rich and poor, who are entertained with string music and spectacles indoors. A great procession passes through the chief streets of a town bringing the bride and bridesmaids in closely shut palanquins, which are carried by mules or horses. At night there is a display of fireworks and illuminations composed of torches, and by day exhibitions of wrestling are given by local champions. (Wrestling is one of Turkey's most ancient and favourite pastimes, and in the provinces all schoolboys practise it, besides a large number of adults. It is of the greatest use in developing the physical strength of the provincial Turks.) Both the bride's procession and these outdoor entertainments are accompanied by the incessant beating of drums and blowing of long trumpets, or sometimes of a kind of bagpipe,[8] the most favourite and in fact the only music of the humbler class of people and peasants. The old national game of _jereed_, which used to attract an immense crowd of spectators, was, I learned on this visit, also prohibited in Angora. This game used to be most popular in every town of Asiatic Turkey. On Fridays, in the afternoon, when the khutba or prayer-oration in the mosques was over, people used to hasten out of the towns, mounted on their trained horses, and armed with several long and heavy sticks. The _jereed_ is a game for the able-bodied alone. Two things are essentially necessary for players--they must be first--rate horsemen, and must be skilled in throwing their sticks straight and hard while galloping. There are about twenty men on each side, and they take up their positions about fifty yards apart The spectators look on from some high ground, where there is no danger of their being trampled upon by the struggling horsemen. The game is opened by one man, who gallops forward from one side and throws one of his sticks at one of the enemy; as soon as he throws it he is pursued. The pursuers do the same in their turn, and so the game goes on. There must be no confusion or unfairness, and everyone must play his game 'bravely,' as they call it. The sticks must not wilfully be aimed at the heads of the enemy. The players are allowed to do anything to avoid being hit by the sticks, and in order to avoid it they play risky tricks, such as bending from the saddle down towards the neck and belly of their galloping horses. Anyone who has thrown away all his sticks is free to pick up any stick lying on the ground, with a pole which has a hook at the end, or by dexterously bending down and snatching it up with his hand as the horse gallops by. Sometimes, of course, the horses of two opponents collide, and then most likely both men fall in a heap, and very often under the horses. The most exciting way to play the game is that adopted by a man whose horse is unusually swift After throwing his stick at the enemy he does not hurry back towards his own line, but dashes away toward the open country and rides as fast as he can. Some of the enemy pursue him far away down the valley, until he is either caught up or escapes.

During this last visit the game was no longer played, because some serious accidents had happened and lives had been lost, and the kind Government accordingly prohibited it Seeing all these prohibitions, I was perhaps rather injudicious and outspoken in criticising the Government. So a relation of mine reminded me of the old proverb which runs, "A man's safety lies in holding his tongue." He, moreover, warned me that times were now different, and added, "If you are not careful you will go...." I understood what he alluded to. He meant, of course, that I should be sent into exile or thrown into prison if I went on criticising the existing regime. I did not stay long in Asia Minor during this last visit, and after settling my affairs I hastened my packing and returned to Constantinople, where it is, comparatively speaking, easier to find means of getting out of Turkey. With us there is filial obligation for a man of right feeling, no matter how old he may be, to secure his parents' consent to any venture on which he is going to embark. So, guardedly and in confidence, I broke to my mother my intention of going to the land of _Ingliz_. The poor Mussulman lady was terrified at the idea, and began to put to me such questions as--Who would look after me? Who would take care of me in case of my falling ill in that distant strange land? And if I died there, should I desire to be buried according to the rites of the infidels? It perhaps never occurred to her that there was a danger far greater than those she instanced--the danger of falling into destitution in a foreign land. This was the possibility which I dreaded most, as I knew that anyone who left the Sultan's dominions without his august permission could not depend for his living upon any resources he might have at home. So, while I was making ready to return to Constantinople, my mother entreated me to renounce the idea of going to England, and to calm her I was wicked enough to make some evasive promises, which to me meant nothing.