DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4719#0215
194
CAKIA.
ground: the projecting feet had been broken off, but the
folds of the drapery showed that the statue must have been
of good Greek workmanship. In the town I also saw a
beautiful body of a child, about a foot or eighteen inches
long, with one arm over its breast, built into the wall of a
house; the head and legs had been broken off. I wished
to purchase it, and was told that the occupier of the house
would willingly part with it for a trifling sum, but that he
could not because he was a rich man. On inquiring into the
reason of this, I learned that the stones of the country are
the right of the governor, as lord of the manor; and that if
he heard of a rich tenant selling one, he would assert that
the stone contained gold, and levy a tax or fine upon him
of some thousand piastres. This arbitrary power proceeds
doubtless from a very bad system, but in its operation is not
without its advantages. The law of the Koran, by which the
country is governed, is known to all, and its comprehensive
declaration, "Thou shaltnot steal," is easily understood. If
any man obeys the law, he is secure, even from the caprice
of a Sultan; but if once he breaks it, the offender has placed
himself at the mercy of a governor, whose sole object in pur-
chasing his district is gain. The offender is therefore fined
according to his power of paying; his life or liberty would
be no gain to the governor, and thus his gold is his only
ransom; the effect of this system is that a rich man very
rarely breaks the law. I have often heard that to be rich
in Turkey was dangerous, and I now see the meaning of the
expression.
Every house, wall, or fence is formed of the stones of the
old town, which must have contained very highly ornamented
buildings. There remain standing some walls and many
foundations, a beautiful Corinthian arched gateway, and a
single fluted column; the latter stands conspicuously in the
upper part of the present town, which is a place of consider-
able importance.
.•
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CAKIA.
ground: the projecting feet had been broken off, but the
folds of the drapery showed that the statue must have been
of good Greek workmanship. In the town I also saw a
beautiful body of a child, about a foot or eighteen inches
long, with one arm over its breast, built into the wall of a
house; the head and legs had been broken off. I wished
to purchase it, and was told that the occupier of the house
would willingly part with it for a trifling sum, but that he
could not because he was a rich man. On inquiring into the
reason of this, I learned that the stones of the country are
the right of the governor, as lord of the manor; and that if
he heard of a rich tenant selling one, he would assert that
the stone contained gold, and levy a tax or fine upon him
of some thousand piastres. This arbitrary power proceeds
doubtless from a very bad system, but in its operation is not
without its advantages. The law of the Koran, by which the
country is governed, is known to all, and its comprehensive
declaration, "Thou shaltnot steal," is easily understood. If
any man obeys the law, he is secure, even from the caprice
of a Sultan; but if once he breaks it, the offender has placed
himself at the mercy of a governor, whose sole object in pur-
chasing his district is gain. The offender is therefore fined
according to his power of paying; his life or liberty would
be no gain to the governor, and thus his gold is his only
ransom; the effect of this system is that a rich man very
rarely breaks the law. I have often heard that to be rich
in Turkey was dangerous, and I now see the meaning of the
expression.
Every house, wall, or fence is formed of the stones of the
old town, which must have contained very highly ornamented
buildings. There remain standing some walls and many
foundations, a beautiful Corinthian arched gateway, and a
single fluted column; the latter stands conspicuously in the
upper part of the present town, which is a place of consider-
able importance.
.•
''*r$M
i ■ ■
■: : ■
i [«i
1 lr*