ABOUT MACEDONIA

Evening Star, Issue 11896, 26 May 1903, Page 4

ABOUT MACEDONIA

Of interest at the present time is Mr ff.- ’ Abbott’s book, ‘The Tale of a Tour in Macedonia.’ It is a travellers tale, told'with we frankness, insight, and intelligence of a cultured man, who uses his eyes and can tell pleasantly what ho has seen. Like almost all who travel in the East, Mr Abbott finds much *» m praise of the Turk. “The adage winch associates physical purity with moral uprightness finds a curious illustration in Solo* inca. ihe Mahomedans, whatever may be thought of them as rulers, are generally acknowledged to be extremely honest in them private transactions, and—always excepting the Oovernment officials, who have an immoral ? their own—scrupulously'careful in this handling of truth. The Turk'is too strong to unimaginative to Invent the thing that is not. His vices, great at thty ore, are the vices of a raee conscious of its might, and proud of it. These moral qualities are- typified in a striking manner by the 1 appearance of the quarters inhabited by Mnliuuudans. The streets are neatly swept, and tiie private dwellings, in point of cleanliness, present a wonderful contrast to the public offices. On passing from such a quarter to ouo inhabited by Christians, one notices a certain deterioration in those respects, accompanied by a corresponding inferiority in ths moral attributes which distinguish the Mahotnedan. But it is only on reaching the Jewish quarter that one fully realises the depths o! physical and other filth of which humanity it capable.” Sftlonica’s history can be read in its architectural monuments:— *'Every conqueror in turn has left behind him ma autograph in characters of marble or stone. A huge circular building now a Mahomcdan mosque, dates from pre-Christian times. Originally erected for the cult of pagan deities, it was subsequently used as a church, dedicated tb 61, George, and, after the Ottoman conquest, was converted into a place of worship of Allah. Until a short lime ago a rich-carved stone in the enclosure of the temple was pointed oat to the traveller as *St. Paul’s Pulpit,’ and popular tradition maintained that it was from the steps of this stone that the Apostle of the Gentiles had preached the Gospel to the Thossalonians. The ‘pulpit* has sinefe gone to grace the rooms of a Wesleyan museum. A triumphal, though sadly mutilated and begrimed arch, at the oast c-nd of the main street, is a relic _of Roman civilisation, although arohmologists cannot agree as to the particular emperor in whose honor it woe raised. This is, however, a purely theoretical question, and docs not in the least diminish the usefulness of the imperial monument, which at present affords shelter to a number of itinerant cooks and cobblers. Traces of the Frank occupation arc to be found in the Walls and fortifications, which still gird the town on three sides. As fop the rule of the Turk, it requires no memorial yet. Nor is it easy to (is on anything likely to perpetuate its me? mory, when it has become a thing of the past. The Turks, although.they have borrowed much end destroyed more, have built nothing—not even a gaol. Nearly all the mosques, of which there is a great number, were Christian churches onco, and to this day bear the names of their old patron saints. The * Seven Towers ’ and the ‘ White or Bloody Tower,* tho two principal prisons of the province, likewise Were Byzantine fortresses. The public edifices duo to Turkish initiative can bo counted bn the fingers of one hand—thumb not ittoluffed { a Eomik, or Government House; a berraok, a military hospital, aftd a fountain exhaust the list of Ottoman contributions to the architecture of the city. All these buildings are quite modern, and have nothing characterlftically Turkish about them save a look of neglect and premature decay." The ancient Thessalonfca is a city of many tongues and races. The Jews form the majority of the population. “We know from the New Testament that a considerable Hebrew colony existed in Thessalonica at the beginning of tho Christian era, as St. Paul found to his cost. Benjamin of Tudela also, that quaint old traveller of tho twelfth century, mentions a Jewish community in this place. But tew, if any, of the present members qf the colony can claim descent from those ancient settlers. The majority of them are the descendants of the Jews, who were expelled from Cpsln by Ferdinand' and Isabella, and they still speak a kind of Spanish, much damaged by wear and tear, and picturesquely patched up with Turkish and other foreign elements. These JeWs belong to tho Sephardim sent. It the Jews are taken as the arbiters of the commend of Salmiica, the Greeks may fairly claim to stand as the chief representatives of its intellectual culture. In multitude and in wealth they are immeasurably inferior to the Jews, but what they lack in those respects Is amply compensated by their literary tastes sad love of proTho views on Providence entertained by the Turks and Jews respectively, and the extent to wliich belief influences tho conduct of each, are well illustrated by the following anecdoFc : —“ A Turk and a Jew were one day in a boat. Suddenly the weather changed, and a fierce squall orose. The Jew prop need that they should turn back at once. - The Turk was for £oing on. ‘ Pear not, my friend, Allah is great,* ho said,. ‘ Allah is great,’ retorted the Jew, ‘ but, our boat is small.’ ” We gel the following description of ths Dancing Dervishes in their Castle of Holy Indolence:—“ The worshippers, having divested themseivcs of their flowing cloaks, stretched out their arms and began to revolve, at. firs! slowly and rhythmically, but gradually warming to it. In a few seconds the hau beneath was alive with a host, of figures reeling and twirling round and round with ever-incrra-utig rauidity. to tho weird music of rocd-fluies and cymbals—both instruments conductive to spiritual exultation. • In a few more seconds their long white robes bulged and expanded like colossal parasols, until the whole mass merged in one immense cloud of calico, while their tnwcriiur head-dresses assumed in the spectator’s bewildered eyes the appearance of a largo congregation of chimney pots suddenly gone whirling nmd.”

Of peasant life there are many anecdotes in Mr Abbott’s pages;—“lf von look out towards the narrow while bridle-path which stretches at the foot of yonder cliffs across tho river, yon will see a shabbily-dressed peasant ridinpr sideways on a decrepit donkey, while his wife trudges wearily behind barefooted, of rather wearing her shoes on her hands. ‘ Bow shocking! ’ will perhaps exclaim the chivalrous tourist from the West. But if he has an opportunity of questioning the lady he will find that she at any rate sees nothing shocking in her condition. If she vouchsafes any answer at all, she will tell him that it is only in accordance with the eternal fitness of things that she should walk while her lord and master is riding. As for her hare feet and eccentri-cally-gloved hands, she is pretty certain to explain—as one of them actually explained to the writer; ‘Feet don’t wear off, sir; shoes do! ’ What a promising field to the apostle of feminine emancipation does Macedonia offer* ” The Christian monks came in for some severs Vuifiinrr : course of a conversation about the monks of Mount Athos, a peasant astonished me by describing them, in a phrese more pithy than polite, us ‘men mostly fit for the rope and the stake ’ —a pretty vigorous denunciation of sainthood I thought it at the* time, but I have since found that the fellow was by no means singular in bis opinion.” Though there is much to be said for the Turk as an individual, yet his rule is to be endured, not enjoyed. “It must not bo ftnamned that the people are insensible to their degradation. How keenly they feel and resent the cringing and fawning which they are compelled by stem necessity to practise can be amply gathered from their private conversation. When amongst themselves and secure from espionage, they give vent to their feelings in pretty strong language. The ‘Eodjabasm’ already quoted spoke to me one day as follows:— ‘ This is no life, sir. We are slaves. Patience is our only resource. Hope of succor there is none. Wo have been suffering for the last five hundred years, and none of the kings of Christendom has held out a hand to rescue us. But the day of reckoning shall come, as sure as there is'a God on high! *” Our last quotation may be called the idyll of • the maiden by the fountain: —“ I ‘reined in beside one of the fountains, at which a tall, willowy damsel was filling) her pitcher. And the damsel wfs very fair to look upon, I v was very thirsty. So I Said: ‘ Give me, I pray thee, a little water of thy pitcher to dnnic.' And she replied; ‘ Both drink thou, and I will also withdraw my pitcher that thy mule may drink likewise.’ And I, carried away by the Biblical charm of the scene and by the witchery of the damsel’s large black eyes, asked her, not for information, but for the sake of hearing the music of her voice, * so soft, so sweet, so delicately clear,’ and said: ‘ Whose daughter art thouP’ And she answered: ‘Mind thine bwn business, O stranger! ’ I went away crestfallen and corrected, pondering over the difference between Mesopotamia in the days .of Abraham and Macedonia in my own. Thus I halted up the slope on 'whicn spreads the, village of. Provista. A church belfry and a minaret, rising side by side, showed in a striking manner that here also the Koran ond the Gospel »lived in hostile proximity. As I entered the village, a second damsel came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder. She was not fair to look upon. So] made bold to ask her to direct me to the house of the man to whom I was recommended. And she made haste and let down her pitcher frem her shoulder, and showed me the way. And I bowed down my head and offered her a silver coin, which she declined. Thereupon I offered her a water-lily from my belt, which she accepted with a modest, maidenly blush, and fonnwith ccaaed to look plain. Verily, 'tis not always the fairest vessel that sweetest wine.”