FRINGE OF VERDURE AROUND ASIA MINOR 763 



were in the shade of fine oriental pines, 

 many of which have their branches 

 bunched at the top in a form suggesting 

 the pahn. They were of a sunny yellow 

 tint, washed, as it were, over deep green. 



We were in a lovely land of sharp- 

 cut clififs of variously tinted limestone 

 rising from rich green valleys, with 

 pretty, prosperous villages here and 

 there embowered in a wealth of trees. 

 The ground, to be sure, was dry, and 

 the abundant growth of spring grass 

 had died entirely by the time of our visit 

 in x\ugust, but trees and bushes were 

 still verdant, and so, too, were the gar- 

 den tracts watered by the great clear 

 springs which determine the location of 

 the villages. 



Two days later we came to the village 

 of Kuzzililar. It is only 50 miles south- 

 west of Girmeh and 40 miles west of 

 Adalia, but its scenery and the character 

 of its people are absolutely different 

 from those which have just been de- 

 scribed. In spite of its nearness to the 

 sea, the village gets little moisture, for 

 it lies on the landward side of a range 

 of mountains 10,000 feet high. 



A gentle descent over treeless slopes 

 brought us to an open plain, green with 

 the reeds of a great swamp at the west- 

 ern end and brown with ripe wheat in 

 other parts. The eastern horizon, to- 

 ward the Gulf of Adalia, was black with 

 the clouds and rain of a heavy summer 

 thunder-storm, which cooled the plain 

 but gave it no moisture. Westward the 

 sky was clear except for a few light 

 clouds, pink in the setting sun. 



Here and there groups of harvesters 

 with camels and donkeys were moving 

 homeward toward the barren little vil- 

 lages of stone and mud nestled at the 

 base of the mountains, where small 

 springs furnish a scanty water supply. 

 Elsewhere the villagers were still hard 

 at work, eager to take advantage of 

 every moment of daylight. 



It was dusk when we reached Kuzzil- 

 ilar, a group of a dozen houses, with no 

 verdure except a few willows and some 

 fields of tall hemp surrounding every 

 house. A harvester, just back from the 



field, pointed out I'.e guest-room. It 

 was so poor and forlorn that we did not 

 wish to stay there. 



"See," we said, "yonder is a good 

 house, with two stories and an upper 

 balcony made of wood. Let's go there 

 and see if they won't take us in." 



"Yes, it's a good place," answered the 

 servants, "but don't you see there are 

 'black-eyes' there?" 



Going nearer we hailed a young man, 

 who evidently belonged to the house. 

 He did not seem at all disposed to re- 

 ceive us, because, as he said, there was 

 no room, and also the guest-house was 

 empty. We were just turning away 

 when a "black-eyes" — in other words a 

 woman, so called because when she is 

 properly veiled only her dark ey.es are 

 visible — ^looked over the railing of the 

 porch and called out, "Let them come 

 near, that I may see them." 



She was the young man's mother and 

 her word was law. On looking us over 

 she decided that she wanted to see more 

 of such odd-looking strangers, so up we 

 went to the crowded porch, where most 

 of the family appeared to be living. 

 They moved inside, however, and left 

 us in comfort. 



When the head of the house, a keen 

 old man, came from the fields, he began 

 to reprove his son : "Why are the stran- 

 gers here? Let them go to the guest- 

 house, and not come here where the 

 women are. There we will gladly bring 

 them food and all things that we have. 

 Why didn't you send them there?*" 



Just then his wife came up, and a 

 single word from her turned him back 

 to us with profuse apologies. "You are 

 welcome indeed. I did not know who 

 you were. I thought you were Circas- 

 sians, come with tobacco to sell [an ille- 

 gal and highly profitable traffic]. What 

 village are you from? What do you 

 bring to sell? Have the 'sharp flies' 

 [mosquitoes] bothered you much? This 

 wind will keep them away tonight. Is 

 your village a large one? How many 

 hours away is it? Make yourselves 

 comfortable and soon my 'house' [that 

 is, 'wife'] will have something ready to 



