DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4752#0039
TURKISH VILLAGE LIFE IN ASIA MINOR 29
a suitable rebuff from the colonel, who had no
idea at the time that the man was not one of the
servants of the house ".
Hamilton travelled in 1831, when the Turks had
not been tamed by adversity ; and he seems to have
found them very ready to air their fancied superiority
to one or two slenderlyequipped European travellers.
Older travellers often give the same report. Mac-
donald Kinneir, in 1813, speaks of "that blustering
air so peculiar to Turks" ; but his adventure at
Eski-Sheher gives such a bad picture of his way of
dealing with Orientals that one cannot wonder at
his experiences being unfortunate.1 In several other
cases the travellers were obviously so ignorant of
everything, and so anxious and timid, that one can
set little store by their impressions of native char-
acter : a man may look very fierce and dangerous,
with a shaggy moustache and quite a museum of
lethal weapons adorning his person, and yet be
most reasonable and good-humoured when you
address him in a courteous style, and if you put a
touch of authority and confidence into it, so much
the better.
An experienced traveller, Mr. Barkley, in his Ride
through Asia Minor, p. 83, says very justly: "All
village Turks talk well for ignorant people, and when
Paying you a visit behave quietly and well. They
Journey through Asia Minor pp. 32 and 40.
a suitable rebuff from the colonel, who had no
idea at the time that the man was not one of the
servants of the house ".
Hamilton travelled in 1831, when the Turks had
not been tamed by adversity ; and he seems to have
found them very ready to air their fancied superiority
to one or two slenderlyequipped European travellers.
Older travellers often give the same report. Mac-
donald Kinneir, in 1813, speaks of "that blustering
air so peculiar to Turks" ; but his adventure at
Eski-Sheher gives such a bad picture of his way of
dealing with Orientals that one cannot wonder at
his experiences being unfortunate.1 In several other
cases the travellers were obviously so ignorant of
everything, and so anxious and timid, that one can
set little store by their impressions of native char-
acter : a man may look very fierce and dangerous,
with a shaggy moustache and quite a museum of
lethal weapons adorning his person, and yet be
most reasonable and good-humoured when you
address him in a courteous style, and if you put a
touch of authority and confidence into it, so much
the better.
An experienced traveller, Mr. Barkley, in his Ride
through Asia Minor, p. 83, says very justly: "All
village Turks talk well for ignorant people, and when
Paying you a visit behave quietly and well. They
Journey through Asia Minor pp. 32 and 40.