CHANAK

Evening Star, Issue 18145, 8 December 1922, Page 9

CHANAK

ITS HISTORIC INTEREST.

[By Lieutenant It. A. F\no, in London ‘ Daily Telegraph.’]

The little town of Clisnak, which now occupies bo largo a place in the 'minds of thinking people, is perhaps not much known to the average Englishman. It le situated on the Asiatic side of the Dardanelles, on the Narrows, and is faced across them by Killd Bahr, a small town on ,the . rocky peninsula of Gallipoli, for ever sacred to the English-speaking rare for .the heroic sacrifices made there by British and Anzao troops in 1315. The journey to Ohanak from Constantinople Is made by steamer, and usually takes about twelve hours. Approaching from tho sea, the steamer rounds the promontory of Niagara, the spot from which Lord Byron accomplished his historic swim across the’Straits, and in classic times the scone Qf Leancler’s nightly journey to his beloved Hero at Sestos on toe European side. Next is seen the dismantled Mcdijieh fort, now occupied by British troops; _ and about half a mile beyond Ohanak itself comes into view.

From the sea Ohanak resembles one of those small towns that are dotted about the coast of Southern Italy. In shape it is a crescent, its houses are mostly a dirty white* with green or chequered blinds. It looks its best from the sea, and in toe summer the blue sea and sky and the white town offer a pleasing contrast to the sun-baked masses of rock and dried-up earth composing tho Gallipoli Pensinsula. _ The charm, however, is soon lost on landing, and one is greeted with the smells and pandemonium of noise common to nil Eastern towns. There are Turkish, Greek, and Armenian quarters m the town, and the inhabitants keep a jealous distance from one another. The shops are poor and mean-looking, and the bazaars in the Turkish quarter have few attractions to the curious traveller. The Greeks appear to be in tho.most flourishing condition, duo, no doubt, to their superior business instincts. At the southern end of tho town, facing towards the Aegean Sea, is the ancient Turkish castle of Kaleh Sultanieh, built by . Mohammed IT. in 1454, just after tho cap- ■ ture of Constantinople. It conaista_ of a square keep, surrounded by a eoml-circular wall. Both keep and wall bear the marks of the. Queen Elizabeth’s 15in shells, groat piles of masonry being scattered about. Opposite, at Kill! Bahr, is a similar fortress, built at the same time. A battalion of a famous Lancashire regiment now occupies Chanak, and the cheery, bronzed faces and khaki uniforms of our soldiers offer a pleasing contrast to the swarthy Turk and dirty Levantine who are continually to be met with in tho streets. BRIGAND INFESTED HILLS.

At the back of the town is a range of hi*ls averaging 2,oooffc in height, which stretches from Bigba, some thirty miles north, to the ruins of Troy, about thirty miles south of Gbamik. These hills have an imposing appearance, and in the winter and spring are cohered with green herbage. Thcy_ arc usually overrun by brigands, who are in league with the inhabitants of the neighboring villages, and the hills themselves are cut up bv deep ravines, which make excellent hidingplaces. The country generally is wild and rugged-looking, and tho roads few between, and usually in a, ruinous condition The majority of tho villages are inhabited by Turks, the Greeks being in a zone further to the south. Thcsi Turkish villagers are friendly, hospitable people, brave and open-hearted. They have a great Jove for their soil, and arc industrious husbandmen. Lou? streams of them, in picturesque and multi-colored clothing, mounted on ponies or donkeys, or loading long strings of camels, may be seen entering Chamik every morning laden with vegetables and farm produce, especially milk, eygs, and “yowart, or Turkish cream, made from buffalos milk, or which animals they keep large herds. The scene, whether when entering in the morning or leaving as the sun sets, is a very picturesque one, reminding the onlooker of the life described in the Old Testament, and one realises the unchaugeablenesa of the Basb,even in these days of progress. The climate of Ohnnak vanes between two extremes —intense cold in winter, accompanied by ice and snow; and great beat in summer, especially during the months of July and August. All vestige of green disappears from tho countryside; the land becomes brown in appearance, and baked like hard clay; dust lies thick in streets and houses, and penetrates tho mouth and throat of persons unused to the climate, although the native, be he Turk or .Greek, scorns little incommoded. Largo pariah dogs wander about in the sun, and clouds of flies prove almost as great a worry ■as they seem to have been to that Pharaoh who kept the Israelites'in 'bondage. The sun is at its hottest about 2 o’clock m tho afternoon, ami all those who are fortunate enough to have no work to do take, a siesta. Later on it starts to get a little cooler, but ones rest at uicrht is apt to bo troubled owing to the swarms of mosquitoes and sandflies, and the consequent necessity of sleeping finder a close-fitting net, which keeps out trie air as well as the insects. . The neighborhood of Clianak is rich in historic interest. There are the remains of many Grteco-Eoman cities, both on the coast and inland. The Nagara promontory is on the site of the ancient Abydos. Near by the Persians crossed into Europe in their invasion in the fifth century n.c. At Kaiabigha, some thirty miles north of Clianak. are. still to be seen the remains of the walls and a temple of tho ancient Priapus, the former in a good state of preservation. But by far the most famous are the ruins or Troy. They can be reached in a threehours’ motor drive from Chanak. Excavations have been previously earned out, but it would eecra that there is still a lot more that might be done. Part of the mound on which tho city stood is untouched,_ and there are remains of nine different cities, dating from b.c. 1800 to the Roman era on the site. Chanak and its vicinity is not, therefore, a place devoid of interest even m peaceful times; and if only the roads were hotter, and the bauds of _ brigands who infest the countrv dispersed, it might attract the Euro* peau or American visitor who is interested in foreign peoples and their customs, or the students of bygone histoiy and its memorial*.