DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4752#0076
66 AN EXCURSION IN PHRYGIA
which belong to Christians, like that described on
p. 132, but occasionally on estates owned by Turks.
At Buldur, a large town on Lake Askania, I met a
very intelligent young Turk in 1884, who had some
education, spoke a little French, was the son of a
once well-known Pasha of liberal tendencies, and held
some official position in a sort of honorary banish-
ment from Constantinople. He told me of ruins
on his estate, six hours to the south ; and on his
invitation I went there for a day, and was struck
with the air of activity, and the higher standard of
comfort and equipment,pervading the establishment.
But, as a rule, the tchiftliks owned by Turks are
of a very different character (except in the case of
the old-fashioned proprietors who live on their own
estate among their tenants). The people cultivate
the soil on the metayer system, their houses are
given them by the lord of the manor, and every-
thing and every person wears an air of depression
and squalor. This statement, which results from
years of observation in Asia Minor, agrees exactly
with what an authority of far greater experience,
" A Consul's Daughter and Wife," says about the
tchiftliks of Macedonia j1 there is only this difference
that in Macedonia " the tenants are with few ex-
ceptions Christians," in Asia Minor they are Turks
(so far as my experience goes).
1 See The Pcopl 1 of Turkey, i., p. 205 ff.
which belong to Christians, like that described on
p. 132, but occasionally on estates owned by Turks.
At Buldur, a large town on Lake Askania, I met a
very intelligent young Turk in 1884, who had some
education, spoke a little French, was the son of a
once well-known Pasha of liberal tendencies, and held
some official position in a sort of honorary banish-
ment from Constantinople. He told me of ruins
on his estate, six hours to the south ; and on his
invitation I went there for a day, and was struck
with the air of activity, and the higher standard of
comfort and equipment,pervading the establishment.
But, as a rule, the tchiftliks owned by Turks are
of a very different character (except in the case of
the old-fashioned proprietors who live on their own
estate among their tenants). The people cultivate
the soil on the metayer system, their houses are
given them by the lord of the manor, and every-
thing and every person wears an air of depression
and squalor. This statement, which results from
years of observation in Asia Minor, agrees exactly
with what an authority of far greater experience,
" A Consul's Daughter and Wife," says about the
tchiftliks of Macedonia j1 there is only this difference
that in Macedonia " the tenants are with few ex-
ceptions Christians," in Asia Minor they are Turks
(so far as my experience goes).
1 See The Pcopl 1 of Turkey, i., p. 205 ff.