502 
WITH THE TURKS. 
existed, but I was not near enough to distinguish this, nor could I in 
any case, ignorant as I am of the language, have understood what was 
going forward in this respect. 
Be TuriSsii of Many contradictory reports have been circulated regarding the 
soldiers m general behaviour of the Turkish soldiers in Thessaly; so far as my 
e 6 ’ personal acquaintance with them went, I found them honest, simple 
fellows, very patient under privation and discomfort and always good 
tempered. I can quite imagine that there must have been black sheep 
amongst them and do not suppose that discipline was always strictly 
maintained amongst the volunteers, who were mostly lawless Albanian 
mountaineers, attracted by the prospect of plunder and rifle. 
The country when I passed through it was entirely deserted by its 
inhabitants, so that it is impossible that they should have suffered any 
personal outrage or violence. It appears to me very natural that, 
under the circumstances, houses should have been plundered and in 
some cases burnt, but in the case of Larissa in particular the chief 
mischief was done by the convicts liberated from prison by the Greeks 
on their retreat from the town and also by Jewish inhabitants who re¬ 
mained behind for the purpose, and this may well have have been the 
case elsewhere. 1 
It was, I believe, the case that few if any wounded prisoners were 
made by the Turks, but this may be explained by the fact that after 
the principal actions the Greeks had ample time to remove any 
seriously wounded, whilst the dread of falling into the hands of the 
enemy doubtless lent wings to those only slightly injured. 
It was from the commencement of the war part of the Greek policy 
to set on foot rumours of atrocities perpetrated by the Turks with a 
view to gaining the sympathy of the emotionally-minded to their 
cause. 
E vS?tT The railway from Kalabaka, through Pharsala to Yolo, a single 
Kaiabaka. narrow gauge line, was rendered useless to the Turks by the Greeks 
having accumulated the rolling stock and disabled the engines before 
evacuating Yolo; one engine was, I believe, repaired sufficiently to 
run a train before I left Yolo for Salonica. 
officers. i that I have omitted to make any general reference to the 
officers of the Turkish army. From what I have read and heard of 
former campaigns, it appeared to me that a very great improvement in 
professional knowledge and attainments must have taken place of late 
years. Amongst the higher ranks that jealousy which was so fatal to 
the Turks in the Russian war of 1877 had apparently ceased to exist and, 
so far as I could judge, perfect harmony in carrying out operations had 
taken its place. It would be an absurdity for me to attempt to criticise 
the conduct of particular officers, but the names of Hamdi Pasha, Com¬ 
manding the 6th Division; Riaz Pasha, Commanding the Artillery; 
and Seifullah Pasha, of the General Staff, were universally mentioned 
as being officers of great activity and promise. 
An impression seemed to have existed that a number of German 
1 The desecration of the cathedral at Pharsala, to which I have alluded to, might well haye 
occurred in this way. 
