DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.748#0033
24 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE.
brilliant success of the excavations at Pergamon, by his liberal
transfer of tools adapted to the usage of the laborers, which
those brought from London were found not to be, and by the
loan of a powerful winch.
By the first of August all preparations for digging had been
made, and all requisite formalities complied with ; on the sixth,
the work at last began. It was at first difficult to obtain la-
borers on account of the scanty population of the land and
the inhospitable character of the little village. The natives,
moreover, are indolent. A well-known Ottoman proverb af-
firms, that "it is better to serve without pay than to stroll
without purpose;" but most of the Turks in the Southern
Troad are evidently of the opinion that absolute idleness is
preferable to either. Those of the hundred and fifty male in-
habitants of Behram who are willing to work at all are busied
in the grain-fields bordering the Touzla, or follow their rest-
less goats over the neighboring mountains in search of
verdure.
The first laborers to arrive upon the site were Greek quarry-
men from Stypsis, a village upon the slopes of Mount Elias,1
near the northern coast of Mytilene. Later on came Greeks
from Ivalee, from the villages on the north of the Adramyt-
tian Gulf, and from various parts of the island of Mytilene.
Those who had served at Pergamon were natives of Lemnos.
Greeks and Turks were employed side by side, working in
perfect harmony, and even with some spirit of emulation.
The Fast of Ramazan, which occurred during August, de-
prived us of the services of nearly all the Moslems. As during
that month no believer may touch food or drink from sunrise
to sunset, the Turks are wholly unfitted for severe or continued
exertion.2 When the night is occupied in eating, drinking,
1 The ancient Mount Lepethymnos.
2 The strict observance of the Ramazan is particularly severe upon the lower
brilliant success of the excavations at Pergamon, by his liberal
transfer of tools adapted to the usage of the laborers, which
those brought from London were found not to be, and by the
loan of a powerful winch.
By the first of August all preparations for digging had been
made, and all requisite formalities complied with ; on the sixth,
the work at last began. It was at first difficult to obtain la-
borers on account of the scanty population of the land and
the inhospitable character of the little village. The natives,
moreover, are indolent. A well-known Ottoman proverb af-
firms, that "it is better to serve without pay than to stroll
without purpose;" but most of the Turks in the Southern
Troad are evidently of the opinion that absolute idleness is
preferable to either. Those of the hundred and fifty male in-
habitants of Behram who are willing to work at all are busied
in the grain-fields bordering the Touzla, or follow their rest-
less goats over the neighboring mountains in search of
verdure.
The first laborers to arrive upon the site were Greek quarry-
men from Stypsis, a village upon the slopes of Mount Elias,1
near the northern coast of Mytilene. Later on came Greeks
from Ivalee, from the villages on the north of the Adramyt-
tian Gulf, and from various parts of the island of Mytilene.
Those who had served at Pergamon were natives of Lemnos.
Greeks and Turks were employed side by side, working in
perfect harmony, and even with some spirit of emulation.
The Fast of Ramazan, which occurred during August, de-
prived us of the services of nearly all the Moslems. As during
that month no believer may touch food or drink from sunrise
to sunset, the Turks are wholly unfitted for severe or continued
exertion.2 When the night is occupied in eating, drinking,
1 The ancient Mount Lepethymnos.
2 The strict observance of the Ramazan is particularly severe upon the lower