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FROM CONSTANTINOPLE TO BATUM 43
There are extensive coal-seams here, some of them right on
the surface, mostly in limestone rock on a slope. Recently
coal of moderate quality has been worked in quite a number
of mines, which are chiefly French undertakings. On landing
our passports were tåken away from us, and only returned
when \ve went on board again. This was doubtless to
prevent us from escaping into the interior of Anatolia. The
Turks regard all foreigners with suspicious eyes, and not
withstanding all modem tendencies their authorities keep a
close watch to prevent foreigners from penetrating into their
country, whence, in accordance with their traditions, they
have now expelled such alien races as the Armenians and
Greeks, though Jews, and to some extent Frenchmen, are
treated with more tolerance.
I went for a walk on the heights above the town. There
were no woods and few bushes, the vegetation consisting
mainly of the bracken which everywhere covered the ground,
a few rhododendrons, here and there some stunted oaks and
other foliaceous trees, and a few fruit trees. Wc saw a little
maize and a small field of oats ; otherwise there was a strange
absence of cultivated land. Farther inland the country was
high and mountainous, ridge upon ridge with valleys
between and rich green valley-slopes. But curiously little
sign of any inhabitants. It seemed to be a beautiful and
fertile country of neglected possibilities, devastated, no doubt,
by the scourge of war.
The inhabitants are Muhammedans, and the women are
still veiled, like wandering black spectres of the night, although
new customs are supposed to be in vogue. It is strange that
the notion can be so ingrained that they must not show their
fair countenances, however old and lined, to any strange
rnan—least of all to a heretic. On one little plot some half
grown children were at work with a woman who looked like
their mother. Wc stopped on the path above to watch them
at work, but as soon as wc drew near the woman, who had
left behind her veil, got up and obstinately turned so as
to keep her face away from us. Wherever wc moved she
turned her back to us, although there were no witnesses near.
When wc passed on wc saw from a distance that she was
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