Notes on Macedonia 



795 



the; Turkish butcher: saloniki 



"Over the backs of asses and sure-footed mountain ponies the butcher has an arrange- 

 ment of carving boards, and cuts off a lamb chop or a roast at his customer's door. One has- 

 to rise early to see the heads still on the lambs, for they are great delicacies, and go first, 

 and when roasted the unbounded joy of the native cracking the skull and picking out the 

 tasty bits is nauseating in the extreme. The entrails of animals are also relished ; they are 

 eaten as the Italian eats his macaroni. The milkman, generally a Tzigane, does not drive the 

 cow through the streets, but brings the milk slung over an ass, in a skin, one end ot which he 

 milks at order." — Frederick Moore. 



Many of its mountains reach 10,000 feet 

 in height, and are clad with magnificent 

 forests. 



In ancient times Macedonia was one of 

 the best-known regions of the world, but 

 during many centuries of misrule the 

 records of its early civilization have dis- 

 appeared. The archeologist is sorely 

 needed to recall the past, and would 

 probably find rich relics of ancient 

 grandeur throughout the province. Sa- 

 loniki, the seaport of Macedonia, is said 

 to be richer than any city in Greece in 

 ecclesiastical remains, and its ancient 

 structures, for the most part, have borne 

 well the ravages of time. There are 

 many great edifices, built by the Romans 



during their occupation and by the 

 Greeks in their time, and a minaret at 

 the corner of each denotes the purpose 

 it serves today. 



There is a mosque of Saint Sophia at 

 Saloniki, built, like its great sister at 

 Constantinople, during the reign of Jus- 

 tinian, and with a history also marked 

 by the wars of the Catholic and Ortho- 

 dox churches. But a fire of four years 

 ago and an earthquake more recently 

 have wrecked the place so that it is no 

 longer used. The Rotunda, now the Eski 

 Metropoli Mosque, was built by Trajan, 

 after the model, though on a smaller 

 scale, of the Pantheon at Rome, and was 

 dedicated by him to the rites of the mys- 



