Photograph by Frederick Moore 



REFRESHMENTS IN SALONIKI 



"As I listened to Mr. Black Eyebrow, looking about me at the red fezzes, the white skull- 

 caps, the fur robes, and all the other variants of the Saloniki scene ... I began to 

 understand . . . why the equilibrium of races in Macedonia is so difficult to bring about" 

 (see text, page 232). 



them in roofed or awninged thorough- 

 fares, into which the JEgean sunlight 

 picturesquely drips. 



A CONGRESS OF NATIONS 



Little is Latin there. To loiter among 

 the booths of the bazaar, to explore the 

 busy squares and markets beyond it, to 

 stroll in the crowded Street of the Yar- 

 dar, or to idle among the coffee-houses of 

 its western end, is to take in something 

 of the Macedonian question. Fur robes 

 and green pigtails are only incidents 

 among many. Sedate red fezzes come and 

 go. Tall Albanians, variously braided ac- 

 cording to their tribes and wearing a 

 white skull-cap on one ear. stalk through 

 the crowd with that lordly swing of 

 theirs. 



Bulgarians, less lordly, but no less in- 

 different to the opinion of the world at 

 large, mind their own business in brown 

 home-spun. Kilted Greek peasants in 

 tight white trousers tasseled under the 



knee, booted Montenegrins with hanging 

 sleeves, lend the scene an operatic air. 



Women in hats, women in kerchiefs, 

 women in embroideries that you want to 

 buy off their backs — and sometimes do ! — 

 women in the Turkish domino, offer a 

 complete exhibition of Balkan fashions. 



Beyond the Street of the Vardar the 

 Turkish quarter begins. Saloniki is nat- 

 urally less of a Turkish town than it was, 

 when the Turks stood second and the 

 Greeks third in the roll of the local babel. 

 But while they have now changed places 

 the fez still adds a very appreciable note 

 to the color of Saloniki. 



While Jews and Christians, too, live in 

 this part of the city, the higher you climb 

 the better you might imagine yourself to 

 be in Stamboul. There are more stone 

 houses, and some of them are unfamil- 

 iarly frescoed on the outside. The win- 

 dows, though, are latticed, as they should 

 be. There is a good deal of decorative 

 iron work about them. 



22S 



