TRUTH ABOUT THE TURK.

Hastings Standard, Volume XIII, Issue 4204, 10 July 1909, Page 4 (Supplement)

TRUTH ABOUT THE TURK.

A CHAT WITH MR. JOHN FOSTER FIIASER, THE DISTINGUISHED TRAVELLER.

It is .a good many yeans since I made my first travels in and about Turkey, an experience often repeated, and I can only say that I liked th© Turk from the first. To begin with, the Turk, be ho of high or low degree, is a gentleman, and a "white man" all through for all his olive skin. Then I have always found him hospitable to a degree, and the pink of courtesy. I remember when travelling in outlying districts coming to a small town. The governor and other chief men, as sooij as they heard of my arrival, came to sec me, and in the evening we all went down to the river bank, where a fire was lighted, and I was royally entertained at an al fresco ■and musical meal. HIS KINDNESS TO ANIMALS. Another of the Turk's great points is his sportsmanship. He is not perhaps a sportsman in the way of following field sports or games, bub he shows himself a thorough sportsman in his kindness to animals. . I was particularly struck by this trait in his character when travelling through Albania \Vith an escdrt of Turkish soldiers. I was in a hurry and we moved by forocd marches (on horseback), after being ten hours in the saddle at a stretch over villainous country. It was tough work, but when we came to a iourn< y's end I at least could gratefully fling myself from my horse and give myself and my steed np to being made comfortable by my servants. Not so my' escort; they had none to wait on them, ar.d I noticed that no matter how arduous the day's journey, no mattr how tired, stiff, and saddlesore the Turkish soldiers might be, thev looked after their horr-es first. The magnificent fighting qualities of tbo Turkish soldier, his absolute indifference to death and danger, and his splendid stamina, are too wellknown to need any praise from me, bat the Turk, soldier or not. is not only a brave man, but as a rule a sincerely religious man.

Popular-imagination depicts the Turk as the tyrant of the harem, the occupants of which he regards as infinitely beneath him, and as mere dolls and playthings, but like most of our notions about the Turk, the picture is false. Only wealthy Turks can afford several wives, and many are monogamists. Apart froifl that, while the Turkish lady is not "emancipated" as we understand the term, I have no hesitation in saying that, taken as a whole, women in Turkey are infinitely better treated than women in England. Of course, the Turk is not perfect. For all his splendid dash in battle, he lacks energy, and is indolent to an exasperating degree; at least, from our point of view. j The Turk cannot conceive the idea of a man engaging in public life, unless he means to get something out of it —and that something money. RAID EACH OTHER FOR CONVERTS. As to the cruelty of the Turk and his slaughtering propensities, there is something to be said on the other sido. Take Macedonia ; on the one side you have the Bulgarian Christians; on the other, the Greek Christians. They are overlastinglv raiding each other in search of converts, and they convert Macedonia into a cockpit for their religious battlos. Macedonia becomes disturbed, and the Turk comes along and restores order—certainly with a very heavy hand. I tike" the Turk, and 1 fear this new constitutional government will not prove an unmixed blessing to him. He lias been accustomed for centuries to autocracy, and, therefore, I do not f:co why he should take any more kindly to a sudden violent change to democracy than we after long years of constitutional government would quietly settle down under an autocracy. Therefore, I foresee much trouble in Turkey.