DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4752#0058
48 TURKISH VILLAGE LIFE IN ASIA MINOR
on him, and he never grumbled at any fatigue.
That it was all done from regard for his own ulti-
mate advantage is doubtless true ; but it was an
enlightened self-interest that ruled his action. If
a flower could be found within a mile of the camp,
he had a nosegay ready for my wife every morning.
He had undoubtedly in him the capacity for
cruelty; and it would go hard with any man who
stood between him and his advantage. He seemed
to me to have about him far more of the European
than of the Asiatic character. I have always sus-
pected him of being a Kurd, rather than a Turk ;
and another man whom I had with me and who
hated the Hadji with a desperate hatred, a Turk
from Bosnia and a good man himself, always de-
clared that Omar was no Turk and a sham Hadji.
Good luck to the Hadji ; and when next I travel,
may I find another like him.
Yet, if I ever come to be in a really dangerous
situation, it would be the rather stupid but abso-
lutely honest Koniali, and not the much abler
Kaisarli, that I should wish to have beside me—if I
could not have both. There lies the reason why I
have always such affection for the Turkish villager.
A nation, to be great and self-sufficient, must consist
of more than faithful watchdogs ; but those who
have known the need of them will never undervalue
the watchdogs.
on him, and he never grumbled at any fatigue.
That it was all done from regard for his own ulti-
mate advantage is doubtless true ; but it was an
enlightened self-interest that ruled his action. If
a flower could be found within a mile of the camp,
he had a nosegay ready for my wife every morning.
He had undoubtedly in him the capacity for
cruelty; and it would go hard with any man who
stood between him and his advantage. He seemed
to me to have about him far more of the European
than of the Asiatic character. I have always sus-
pected him of being a Kurd, rather than a Turk ;
and another man whom I had with me and who
hated the Hadji with a desperate hatred, a Turk
from Bosnia and a good man himself, always de-
clared that Omar was no Turk and a sham Hadji.
Good luck to the Hadji ; and when next I travel,
may I find another like him.
Yet, if I ever come to be in a really dangerous
situation, it would be the rather stupid but abso-
lutely honest Koniali, and not the much abler
Kaisarli, that I should wish to have beside me—if I
could not have both. There lies the reason why I
have always such affection for the Turkish villager.
A nation, to be great and self-sufficient, must consist
of more than faithful watchdogs ; but those who
have known the need of them will never undervalue
the watchdogs.