IMPRESSIONS OF ASIATIC TURKEY 



599 



teaus. In this bracing climate a strong 

 type of physique is developed, as those 

 who have traveled among the Turkish 

 peasants very well know. 



Yet it is doubtful if the Turkish na- 

 tion can stand much longer against the 

 steady and well-planned advance by Ger- 

 many, Russia, and England for the ulti- 

 mate occupation of what is left of the 

 Empire. The complete defeat at the 

 hands of the Balkan allies, due very 

 largely to 30 years of political corrupt- 

 tion and mismanagement in Constanti- 

 nople, has broken Turkish prestige in 

 such a way as to invite further terri- 

 torial dismemberment. 



Those ancient plains and valleys which 

 have seen the momentous clash of Asiatic 

 and European armies in the centuries of 

 the past are destined to see still further 

 political changes before their rich re- 

 sources are claimed for modern science 

 and industrial development. 



A HISTORIC COUNTRY 



The historic character of the country 

 appeals strongly to the imagination of the 

 traveler. At Jerablus, on the Euphrates, 

 where the new bridge of the Bagdad 

 Railway is to span the half mile of tur- 

 bid, rushing water, the ruins of Car- 

 chemish, the capital of the Hittite Em- 

 pire, lie buried 15 feet below the Greek 

 and Roman ruins. No less than seven 

 cities have been built upon that site, and 

 each civilization has left its layer of shat- 

 tered brick and stone. This was once the 

 rich country ravaged by Nebuchadnezzar 

 and Pharaoh Necho. 



From the crags of the Amanus Moun- 

 tains one may look down upon the plain 

 of Issus, bordering the blue Mediterra- 

 nean, where Alexander the Great so over- 

 whelmingly defeated Darius and forced 

 his way into the coveted realms of the 

 Orient. 



West of Issus, in the fertile Cilician 

 plain, is the city of Tarsus, the birthplace 

 of St. Paul. In the Taurus and Amanus 

 Mountains many Armenian fortresses 

 are to be found, recalling the days when 

 Armenian kings ruled from their capital 

 at Sis. In every broad valley and upon 

 every plain are the mysterious Hittite 



mounds, which shelter the secrets of an 

 almost prehistoric past. The Germans 

 have excavated the mound at Zinjirli and 

 have carried the immense sculptures to 

 the Berlin museum. 



Two days' horseback journey south- 

 east from Issus, the outlines of the an- 

 cient Antioch, the very city from which 

 Paul and Barnabas set forth upon their 

 first missionary expedition, may be clearly 

 recognized from the crumbling walls 

 which were once able to withstand the 

 most desperate sieges. 



Seventy miles to the east of the Eu- 

 phrates, at the northern end of the Meso- 

 potamian plain, is the citadel of Edessa, 

 the modern Urfa, which for 50 years was 

 valiantly held by the Crusaders. To look 

 down into the yawning moat, cut to a 

 depth of 50 feet in the living rock, gives 

 one a sense of the enormous difficulty of 

 storming those ancient castles. Baldwin 

 captured the fortress in 1098, but event- 

 ually the Saracens, under Zangi, drove 

 the Crusaders forth and reclaimed the 

 stronghold for Islam. 



Aleppo, now a prosperous city of over 

 200,000 population, is famous as the capi- 

 tal of Salah-ed-din (the Saladin of Cru- 

 sader history), whose mighty fortress 

 stands to this day. From that point the 

 Saracen monarch directed his conquests 

 of northern Syria, and marched south- 

 ward to do battle with Richard Coeur-de- 

 Eion (see page 600). 



The persistent influence of the Cru- 

 sades may be realized from the fact that 

 as late as 1638 the Knights of St._ John 

 occupied the western hill of the city of 

 Aintab against the assaults of the Turks. 

 When the excavations for the building 

 of an American Girls' School were being 

 made about eight years ago, a kettle full 

 of silver coins was dug up. The coins 

 are of the early seventeenth century and 

 were evidently buried by the Knights of 

 St. John — perhaps in their last stand 

 against the followers of Mohammed. 



Roman coins and bits of Grecian pot- 

 tery are frequently dug up by Turkish 

 plowmen or are washed to the surface 

 by the torrent of some sudden rain. 

 Along the limestone cliffs of the Eu- 

 phrates are seen the ruins of Greek aque- 

 ducts which were in full operation in the 



