DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9841#0196
xxxiv.]
RECENT EVENTS AT ASKYFO.
177
only one of them had been present in the assembly at
Murnies. The other three of the seven were of Nfpros,
Komitadhes and Haofiios Ioannes : two of the Askyfldtes,
and the other three Sfakians, were arrested and executed
in this village in the following manner.
When the Pashas had established their head-quarters
at Pre, and their army was dispersed through the vil-
lages of 'Ipos, Prdsnero, Abkampo and other places in
the plain of Apokdrona, they at length sent to Askyfo
Ah-effendi, the Turkish President of the Council of
Sfakia, accompanied by a bfmbashi, (colonel), with a
battalion of regular troops and about one hundred and
fifty Arnauts. On their arrival the President and the
Colonel professed to be the bearers of letters'", both from
the Pashas in the plain below, and from the Viceroy,
Mehmet-Ali-pasha, to the inhabitants of Sfakia. They
therefore despatched messengers to each of the villages
of the whole Sfakian district, requesting that two or
three of the principal persons of every place would
come to Askyfo, in order to be present at the reading
of these letters. The wary Sfakians suspected some
treachery, and came but slowly; so slowly that the
Turks waited no less than six days before they executed
their real intention. They never read any letters from
the Viceroy or Pashas, but, on the evening of the sixth
or seventh day of their stay, about two hours before
sunset, they arrested five of their destined victims, and
immediately wrote to the Pasha, telling him the names
°f those whom they had secured.
The sensation produced in the village may be easily
conceived. These hardy mountaineers, who had main-
tained a contest with the Turks, with but little inter-
mission, for a period of ten years ; and who, however
closely pressed by superiority of numbers, had always
found a refuge in the fastnesses or on the summits of
their native mountains, were not likely to stand tamely
38 YpdfXfxara.
RECENT EVENTS AT ASKYFO.
177
only one of them had been present in the assembly at
Murnies. The other three of the seven were of Nfpros,
Komitadhes and Haofiios Ioannes : two of the Askyfldtes,
and the other three Sfakians, were arrested and executed
in this village in the following manner.
When the Pashas had established their head-quarters
at Pre, and their army was dispersed through the vil-
lages of 'Ipos, Prdsnero, Abkampo and other places in
the plain of Apokdrona, they at length sent to Askyfo
Ah-effendi, the Turkish President of the Council of
Sfakia, accompanied by a bfmbashi, (colonel), with a
battalion of regular troops and about one hundred and
fifty Arnauts. On their arrival the President and the
Colonel professed to be the bearers of letters'", both from
the Pashas in the plain below, and from the Viceroy,
Mehmet-Ali-pasha, to the inhabitants of Sfakia. They
therefore despatched messengers to each of the villages
of the whole Sfakian district, requesting that two or
three of the principal persons of every place would
come to Askyfo, in order to be present at the reading
of these letters. The wary Sfakians suspected some
treachery, and came but slowly; so slowly that the
Turks waited no less than six days before they executed
their real intention. They never read any letters from
the Viceroy or Pashas, but, on the evening of the sixth
or seventh day of their stay, about two hours before
sunset, they arrested five of their destined victims, and
immediately wrote to the Pasha, telling him the names
°f those whom they had secured.
The sensation produced in the village may be easily
conceived. These hardy mountaineers, who had main-
tained a contest with the Turks, with but little inter-
mission, for a period of ten years ; and who, however
closely pressed by superiority of numbers, had always
found a refuge in the fastnesses or on the summits of
their native mountains, were not likely to stand tamely
38 YpdfXfxara.