ON THE SHORES OF THE DARDANELLES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 279, 4 May 1915, Page 6

ON THE SHORES OF THE DARDANELLES.

i:i;it;s:i near tiik P;.Ai::S Oh' Ti'.OY. Ki,!i*AUKTII. (i:.v Kveiyn lioss.) * •!!:i a certain leggy morning ii lies- j sag'-rio-; heat slowed down to let mo \ :;'.;! rather than step i;:to ;i caique, oil'*; of a siuad i!--til.'n waiting for i to div-mhark lor ( hanak. ' j Later ;:i the alkmioun began ii journey for the interior, in u native carl, or [ l:*.ic!::v, ilraivn by two of the fnest horses j in the eountryilde. Two hours' run brought Hi" to thi! village oi l'.eiikuoi, • liJtl from that point a long drive through j vitch darkness—at a breakneck speed which was not at all pleasant in a spriiigle.-Js cart—took mc to myi destination, in the midst of those scenes of which Homer and Virgil wrote, where! Helen loved and Prian foug'ht and j Ilium's.citadel for ten long year, defied] Agamemnon and Achilles." i CLASSIC GKOUN.D. j The morning revealed a wonderful panorama. To the extreme left the islauu : oi Tcr.edos lay stretched almost opposite ; Ccsika Kay. On the mainland was the' village of Alexandria Troas, now a mass of ruin;;, while further north was the ; Tomb of Ascites, excavated by Dr.; Schleiinann. ! Up the coast lino lay the village of \ Kum Kaleh, the fort on the extreme nor- ; therly point. Just round the corner the 1-uver Scamandcr emptied itself into the straits, down which peasants floated pine logs from Mount Ida, in the interior. Not far from llendere bridge lay the ruins of Troy, through which 1 wandered . many hours during my stay in the Troad. j Beneath the walls on which Helen of: Troy stood to view the Trojans fighting j lay a grassy plain, to the right of which is'the village of Chiblak, composed of mud huts, a tiny olace, but very quaint, j Acro33 the water stretched the long spit of land on the European side, the fort of Sedd-el-llahr almost opposite to that of Kum Kaleh, all now destroyed. j The Allied fleets have passed Troy, i „m,c„ „•<,!'.> i.™ I,,milinl,vl 5111,1 whose

whose walls were loopholed and w.iosa warriors' weapons were made for use at very close quarters, and where the Agamemnon was hit at 11,000 yards. What would be the thoughts of King I'riam ;ould he rise from the dead for one brief hour and see the modern warfare? j .Not far from the ancient city are ; mounds now grown over with grasses.' Dig through and you will find little hut r.hite ash, for t'.iese were the funeral pyres where the Trojans were burnt, sometimes a bone will be discovered iv.hicli breaks on being touched. These mounds are now the homes of countless badgers which roam abroad all through . the night.. ! In one square mile of territory here: there is perhaps more history crammed j than in any other similar space on the ■ universe, and to-day more is being added ■ which may change our very existence as ; svents did that of the ancient Trojans In agos long gone by. [ TN T CHANAK. I Chanak itself is a far-sized town, bor-' dering on the straits opposite the Nar- [ rows. Forts are on all sides, ami were , supposed to bj quite impregnable until, the advent of the Allied fleets, liar-, racks there are of a sort, a prison and j a well-equipped hospital, the latter i perched on the top of a hill overlooking . Nagara Point, where a short distance j from the shore lies anchored the firman boat. The European element is practically confined to Consular officials, and only about .half a dozen English inhabit the spot. For the rest of the population, Greeks, Armenians, Turks, and peasants complete the number, most being engag- ' ed in either pottery manufacture or agriculture. On the plains of Troy proper, a little to the north of the ac'tual ruins, some of the finest hard wheat in Asia Minor is grown, live, 'barley, maize, haricot beans, and water melons are cultivated for export. The wants of the natives are few, and, to their credit be it said, they try to j dive—and generally succeed—within very j limited means. _ j Hospitality, frank and unbounded, is : in evidence throughout the countryside, I from the meanest hut to the head house of the village, and though payment for , food is rarely asked or expected, stll a ( medjid (Hs 4d) left on departure is really j welcome to the simple folk, who neither I

forget a kindness nor, 1 believe, an injury, he the latter imaginary or real." j The actual soil h fertile, ploughing being conducted with the ancient wooden instrument shod at the tip with iron, and drawn by two oxen or buffaloes. The animal goad, a long rod with a short! nail in the end, serves as a gentle reminder to these slow-going beasts that some exertion is necessary, 'be it ever so little, in order that a crop of corn may come some time. RELICS OF THE PAST. Sometimes as one wanden over the ■, land, an antique vase shows itself, turned up by the ancient plough. Perhaps j a tiny terra-cotta bust will show its j head, or a rare coin, or part of a statue! will show, half-hidden in the soil. Bur.! for these rarities the nativo cares less j than nothing, familiarity once again; showing the discovery) to he of no ac- j count to him. Eains come till March from the pre-! ceding October, while the river Sca-j mander flows from Mount Ida through- j out the year —in winter a full volume of water, in the summer months little j more than a small stream. Down this river, when in season, are! floated . logs, planks, and sometime* | whole pine trees, from the mountain, an ; easy form of transport to the woodcutters in the interior. These logs are gathered in by the men at the entrance, near Kum Kaleh, and stored for shipment. For many months the Troad was my home, a calm, peaceful spot, where I j learned to love the East. The forts boomed on the feast of Bairam, but that j was to rejoice. Now huge cannon deal: death on every side, and mine-sweepers | clear a way for the mightiest battleships '• the world lias ever seen. j The face of the countryside is being! changed, hut the grey ruins of Troy will remain intact. There are no •barbarians here to serve them as the Germans ■served the grand old cathedral of Rhcims or as they_served the glories of Louvain.