TRUTH ABOUT THE TURK.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 133, 3 July 1909, Page 3

TRUTH ABOUT THE TURK.

A CHAT WITH -MR. JOHN FOSTER FRASER, THE DISTINGIJISHED TRAVELLER. It is a good maV years since I nuke my first travels in and' about Turkey, ", Can ° nl J sa >' th at I liked the Turk from the first. To begin with, the Turk, be he of high qrjow degree, is a gentleman, and a white man" all through, for all his olive skin. „;t T »M n } haVP , alwa - V 6 W "" d h ™ hospitable to a degree, and the pink of courtesy. I remember when travelling £-- r !r£ i,SttH!i corain S t0 a small town. The governor and other chief men as soon as they heard of my «r----rival, came to see me, and in the evening we all went down to the river bank "L" ? r< v-™ s li e hted ' and i ™. royally entertained at an al fresco and musical meal.

HIS KINDNESS TO ANIMALS. Another of the Turk's great points is his sportsmanship. He is not perhaps a sportsman in the way of following field sports or games, but he shows himself a thorough sportsman in his kindness to animals. I was particularly 6 truck by this trait m his character when travelling through Albania with an escort of Turkish soldiers. I was in. a hurry and we moved oy forced marches (on horseback),.after being ten hours i„ the saddle at a stretch and over villainous country. ' It was tough work, but when wc came to a journey's end I at least could gratefully fling myself from my horse and give myself aiid my steed' up to being made comfortable by my servants. Not so my escort; they had none to wait on -them, and I noticed that no matter how arduous the day's journey no matter how tired, stiff/and saddle' sore the Turkish soldiers might be, they looked after their horses first The magnificent fighthg qualities Of the Turkish soldier, hi s absolute 'indifference to death and danger, and bis splendid stamina, are too well fciomi to need any praise from nie, but the lurk, soldier or not, is not only a brave man, but as a rule a sincerely religious man. •

I lopular imagination depicts the' Turk as the tyrant of the harem, the occii" pants of which he regards as infinitely' beneath him, and as mere dolls „„d plavtlungs, but, like most of our notions about the Turk, the picture is false. Only wealthy Turks can afford s ever»l wives, and many arc monogami*Apart from that, while the Turkish hj„ is not "emancipated" as we understand the term. T have no hesitation in savins tliat, taken as a whole, women in TinKey are infinitely better treated than women in England. Of course, the Turk is not perfect, for all his splendid dash in battle, he lacks energy, and is indolent to an «- asperating degree: at least, from ni'ir point of view. The Turk cannot conceive tli»'idcn oVa man engaging. In public life unless h* means to get something,out 0 f it _aiid I hat something money.

RAID EACH OTFIEIS Fo[| CONVERTS. As to the cruelly of the Turk and his slaughtering propensities, (here is so - tlnng to be fi n id on the other side. Take Macedonia; on the one side yon nave the Bulgarian Christians: mr'the other, the flreek Christians. They are everlastingly raiding each other- h search of convert's, and Ihev convert Macedonia into a roekp.it for their re'igiom- battles.

Macedonia becomes disturbed, and Ibe Turk conies' and restores order +- certainly with a very heavy hand. ' • J

I like the Turk, and 1 fear Ibis new constitutional government will no! ITove a-,i unmixed blessing to him. He lias been accustomed for centuries to autocracy, anil, therefore, 1 do not see why he should take any more kindly 10 a sudden violent, change to demorracy than we after long years of constitutional government would quietly! settle down -under an autocracy. ' I

Therefore. I foresee much trouble in Turkey.—Pearson 1 - Weekly.