DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4752#0186
176 GOVERNMENT AND OFFICIALS
man is a symbol of law, and his chief duty is to
arrest and imprison the criminal, and protect the
industrious citizen. A Zaptietis view is very
different. If a crime has been committed, his
business is to wink at the criminal, to arrest the
neighbours in succession, and to put them in prison,
until they have made it worth his while to let them
out. If he arrested the criminal, his trade would
be ruined. In a large town, where I have been a
good deal, a murder was committed some years
ago : an elderly Turk was found dead in his own
house. Everybody knew who was the murderer.
It was the Turk's own son-in-law, who was tired of
waiting for his death to enter on the inheritance of
his wife. The old man's head had been cut off,
which was a sure proof that a Turkish hand had
been at work. The Turk, when he kills, always
cuts off the head : even the fowl for your archae-
ologist's soup is slaughtered by decapitation. On
the contrary, the Greek race has never been given
to mutilation of the human form ; it is true that the
Smyrniote blackguards are much addicted to the
use of the knife, and murders are frequent among
them ; but they are satisfied with simple murder,
and leave the corpse entire. But in this case most
of the Greeks in the neighbourhood were arrested,
imprisoned, and set free in the usual style; and,
when I passed that way four months after the
man is a symbol of law, and his chief duty is to
arrest and imprison the criminal, and protect the
industrious citizen. A Zaptietis view is very
different. If a crime has been committed, his
business is to wink at the criminal, to arrest the
neighbours in succession, and to put them in prison,
until they have made it worth his while to let them
out. If he arrested the criminal, his trade would
be ruined. In a large town, where I have been a
good deal, a murder was committed some years
ago : an elderly Turk was found dead in his own
house. Everybody knew who was the murderer.
It was the Turk's own son-in-law, who was tired of
waiting for his death to enter on the inheritance of
his wife. The old man's head had been cut off,
which was a sure proof that a Turkish hand had
been at work. The Turk, when he kills, always
cuts off the head : even the fowl for your archae-
ologist's soup is slaughtered by decapitation. On
the contrary, the Greek race has never been given
to mutilation of the human form ; it is true that the
Smyrniote blackguards are much addicted to the
use of the knife, and murders are frequent among
them ; but they are satisfied with simple murder,
and leave the corpse entire. But in this case most
of the Greeks in the neighbourhood were arrested,
imprisoned, and set free in the usual style; and,
when I passed that way four months after the