DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.748#0034
INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1881. 25
and mutual congratulations that the long hours of privation
are over, the day can be spent only in sleep and inaction. On
the conclusion of this distressing period, however, the Turks
of neighboring villages came in numbers to be engaged on the
excavations, and were particularly valuable as forming a link
between ourselves and the inhabitants of the vicinity, — to
explore which was among the purposes of the Expedition.
As a general rule the Greek proved a more diligent and
intelligent laborer than the Turk. There were, however, note-
worthy exceptions in favor of the Moslems, especially in the
case of some discharged soldiers, who had been subjected to
the privations and discipline of late campaigns.
The men were paid at the uniform rate of one-half a medjid
(about forty-one cents) a day. This sum is a trifle larger than
the average given to navvies upon the Smyrna railroads; but it
was found that the best workmen, when employed at graded
wages, were in the end the cheapest, and the comparatively
small staff needed at Assos was made efficient and trust-
worthy by weeding out all but capable and diligent men.
The number of laborers employed never exceeded thirty-
five, averaging about twenty-six during the last half of the
work. The hours of labor were from half-past five in the
morning until the same time in the afternoon, including two
hours' recess, — a half-hour for breakfast, and one and a half
hours at noon. A short siesta at the time of the sun's great-
est blaze seems to be a necessity of the climate. The duty of
the superintendent, beside the oversight of the trenches, com-
classes when it occurs during the summer, the long parching days provoking
intolerable thirst, and the least exertion in the fields causing exhaustion. The
lunar month devoted to the Fast naturally occurs in every season of the year dur-
ing the course of thirty years. Its effect upon land and people is pitiable; it is
astonishing that human beings can subject themselves to such abstinence. The
precepts of the Fast are carried out in the austere Troad with scrupulous fidel-
ity. As the Turkish word for smoking unfortunately signifies " to drink smoke,"
the believers are deprived even of that incomparable solace.
and mutual congratulations that the long hours of privation
are over, the day can be spent only in sleep and inaction. On
the conclusion of this distressing period, however, the Turks
of neighboring villages came in numbers to be engaged on the
excavations, and were particularly valuable as forming a link
between ourselves and the inhabitants of the vicinity, — to
explore which was among the purposes of the Expedition.
As a general rule the Greek proved a more diligent and
intelligent laborer than the Turk. There were, however, note-
worthy exceptions in favor of the Moslems, especially in the
case of some discharged soldiers, who had been subjected to
the privations and discipline of late campaigns.
The men were paid at the uniform rate of one-half a medjid
(about forty-one cents) a day. This sum is a trifle larger than
the average given to navvies upon the Smyrna railroads; but it
was found that the best workmen, when employed at graded
wages, were in the end the cheapest, and the comparatively
small staff needed at Assos was made efficient and trust-
worthy by weeding out all but capable and diligent men.
The number of laborers employed never exceeded thirty-
five, averaging about twenty-six during the last half of the
work. The hours of labor were from half-past five in the
morning until the same time in the afternoon, including two
hours' recess, — a half-hour for breakfast, and one and a half
hours at noon. A short siesta at the time of the sun's great-
est blaze seems to be a necessity of the climate. The duty of
the superintendent, beside the oversight of the trenches, com-
classes when it occurs during the summer, the long parching days provoking
intolerable thirst, and the least exertion in the fields causing exhaustion. The
lunar month devoted to the Fast naturally occurs in every season of the year dur-
ing the course of thirty years. Its effect upon land and people is pitiable; it is
astonishing that human beings can subject themselves to such abstinence. The
precepts of the Fast are carried out in the austere Troad with scrupulous fidel-
ity. As the Turkish word for smoking unfortunately signifies " to drink smoke,"
the believers are deprived even of that incomparable solace.