1914] American Agricultural Mission 



lineal descendants of those of Bible times. I accord- 

 ingly wrote to Burbank asking him to send Dr. House 

 specimens of his spineless cactus which might prove 

 useful as fodder. At the mission I gave a lecture in 

 English on the condition of Europe, which the 

 students, largely Bulgarian, were able to follow. 



On low ground near the sea two miles beyond A pest- 

 stood an agricultural college founded by the Turkish ridden 

 government, then taken over by the Greeks. This 

 was an utter failure, the swampy land round about 

 being rife with malaria-bearing mosquitoes which 

 rendered the place almost uninhabitable. For the 

 same reason the whole Salonica region was regarded 

 as very unwholesome. The modern remedy of a 

 petroleum layer over standing water had not yet 

 found favor with the Turk. 



The Bulgarian student who drove the mission 

 carriage was the victim of a gross piece of Greek 

 brutality, suffocation in a crowded cell so small 

 that but half its inmates could lie down at once 1 

 and most of them died before release. 



At Salonica Mez left us, hurrying back to Munich 

 to preside over the Corda Fratres Congress, held (as 

 already indicated) under discouraging circumstances. 2 

 Holman and I then sailed eastward on the Meran of 

 the Austrian Lloyd line. The steerage was crowded 

 with Turks fleeing from Salonica, some bound for 

 Gallipoli, the majority for Constantinople. From the 

 deck we noted the three lofty promontories famous 



1 An incident told in part in the English edition of the Report of the Balkan 

 )mmission, page 188. See also this chapter, page 605. 



2 See Chapter XLV, page 553. . 



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