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ARMENIA AND THE NEAR EAST
32
but they were given nothing to eat, though they had been
short of food for days past.
Immediately I received, on May 2nd, a telegraphic account
of this incident, I wired to the Government in Moscow asking
permission for these refugees to return to Russia. But the
Government replied that they had no knowledge of these
refugees or what sort of people they were, and therefore felt
obliged to refuse. They regarded this as a matter solely for
the Bulgarian Government, which had sent no communication
to Moscow on the subject.
Meanwhile these unfortunate refugees carried on a
wretched existence on the unsheltered beach, with very little
clothing and no provisions ; many of them would have
succumbed but for the work of Miss Anna Mitchell at the
League’s office for refugees at Constantinople. Collecting
money from kind-hearted persons in the American-European
colony in the town, and from various institutions, she managed
to keep them alive from day to day. When I arrived she
had only enough for a few more days, and did not know
where to turn next. She was very anxious for me to pay
them a visit, however, and I did so.
What misery ! They had only a small plot of ground at
their disposal close to the beach. Part of it was covered by
a sort of roof, probably an old roof erected to cover some
boats. An oblong bit of ground, six feet by two for each
person, marked out by a few bricks, did duty for a bed. A
heap of earth or stones was the pillow, and a few rags on the
bare earth served as a kind of " mattress " under the upper
part of the body. That was all. Children had come into
the world here, and one or two people had left it, and the
wonder is that more had not succumbed. There was not
room for all under the roof, so some had to sleep on the
ground outside, still colder than the others at night, and soaked
to the skin in rainy weather. The daily ration was a little
bread and a cup of thin soup. But now, as we have seen,
the money collected to pay for this was used up.
The refugees had had a little money when they came, about
seven hundred Turkish pounds in all. But the Turkish police
had confiscated this, and refused to return it because, so far
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