IMPRESSIONS OF ASIATIC TURKEY 



609 



Mohammedans detest any form of pig's 

 meat, because it is so emphatically de- 

 clared unclean in the Quran. 



It is not the province of this article to 

 describe what Americans have done in 

 Turkey. But travelers who have ven- 

 tured away from the usual track of the 

 tourists have been astonished to find 

 everywhere high schools, colleges, hos- 

 pitals, industrial plants, and churches es- 

 tablished under the leadership of the 

 American missionaries and manifestly 

 influencing the whole life of the com- 

 munity. 



American manufactures are also be- 

 ginning to find a market throughout that 

 country. Sewing-machines, aeromotors, 

 gas-engines, and farm machinery no 

 longer excite the curiosity which they 

 once aroused. An American aucomobile 

 has traveled from Aleppo to Bagdad in 

 57 hours' running time, excluding the 20 

 hours spent in getting across the Eu- 

 phrates on a raft. The government mail 

 makes the same trip in 13 days and an 

 ordinary caravan in 21. This shows the 

 possibility of transit when once a reliable 

 and modern government is in control. 



FINAI, ESTIMATE OE THE TURK 



Although still in the dark ages as re- 

 gards science, although under the handi- 



cap of a religion which runs athwart all 

 our modern civilization, although well- 

 nigh ruined by the vicious despotism of 

 "the Red Sultan," Abdul-ITamid ; al- 

 though fanatical and ruthless toward his 

 Armenian and Syrian subjects, yet it is 

 my strong conviction that the Turk has 

 in him good material for manhood. The 

 qualities of fortitude and friendship are 

 not lacking. 



The consciousness of God is in his 

 heart wherever he goes and whatever he 

 does. It is not, of course, the Christian 

 ideal of God, but the instinct is there, 

 strong and persistent. Among the peas- 

 ants especially there is a Spartan spirit 

 of endurance which commands admira- 

 tion. If we could only understand the 

 soul of the Turk, I am sure we should 

 find that intrinsic worth which has been 

 implanted in human nature by Him who 

 has made of one blood all nations of the 

 earth. 



During the massacre of 1895 i^i the 

 city of Aintab, a Turkish neighbor by 

 the name of Haji Agha came across the 

 street and stood in the gateway of the 

 American hospital, ordering back the mob 

 of Moslem rioters and assuring them that 

 if they attempted to assault that gateway 

 it would be over his own body. His 

 fidelity and his courage saved the day. 



HENRY GANNETT 



AT THE meeting of the Board of 

 Managers of the National Geo- 

 L graphic Society held Wednesday 

 December 16, 19 14, it was moved and 

 unanimously adopted that the following 

 resolution be spread on the minutes of 

 the Society and published in the Na- 

 noNAE Geographic Magazine: 



"The National Geographic Society has 

 lost its honored President, Henry Gan- 

 nett, through his death on November 5, 

 19 14, after a devoted service to this So- 

 ciety covering the whole period of its 

 existence. 



"In his death the Society has lost one 

 of its most enthusiastic supporters and 

 one of its wisest counsellors. He was 

 one of the six men who orsranized the 



Society, becoming its first Secretary, then 

 its Treasurer, then its Vice-President, 

 and finally, in 1909, its President, an 

 office he filled with honor to himself and 

 credit to the Society to the day of his 

 death. From the day of the Society's 

 founding he was also a member of the 

 Board of Managers, and for the last ten 

 years of his life headed its Committee 

 on Research. 



"In his death geographic science has 

 lost one of its richest contributors. He 

 was in large measure the father of Gov- 

 ernment map-making in the United 

 States. As Chief Geographer of the 

 United States Geological Survey for 

 many years ; as Assistant Director of the 

 Philippine Census ; as Assistant Director 



