Photograph from Janet M. Cummings AN AMERICAN WARSHIP IN THE HARBOR AND ST RUCTURAL STEEL ON THE DOCKS AT BIERUT, SYRIA Beautifully situated on the south side of St. George's Bay, Beirut is the chief commercial city in Syria, and, since the construction of water- Not many Americans have seen the quaint, narrow streets of the residence section of the Turkish capital. The photograph presents an every-day scene. The street leads from St. Sophia's Mosque to the Bosphorus, and each house shown has its harem. At the bay windows on the fronts of the houses the odalisques stand and gaze into the street at passers-by. The lattices effectually prevent any person on the outside from seeing the inmates. The ever-present American oil-cans in the Near and Far East are to be seen in the right foreground. It is also interesting to note that a touch of appetite makes Turkish youth and Southern darky kin-observe the gusto with which these Mohammedan boys are attacking slices of melon. present Ottoman Empire, not including mountains and valleys, where the people Arabia. The boundaries are the Black Sea and Caucasus on the north, Egypt on the south, the Ægean and Mediterranean seas on the west, and the Syrian Desert and Persia on the east. Turkey in Europe is almost a negligible area, as the Balkan war stripped the Turks of all their European possessions except Constantinople and a narrow territory along the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, some 40 miles in width; so that when the Turkish Empire is now referred to Asiatic Turkey is all that the term embraces except the city of Constantinople and a small amount of adjacent territory. Roughly speaking, Turkey is divided into five great provinces, or districtsAnatolia, Armenia, Kurdistan, Mesopotamia, and Syria. Anatolia (the name is from a Turkish word meaning "the dawn") lies between the Black and Mediterranean seas. This district is the home of the greater part of the Turkish population, perhaps 7,000,ooo in all. Here is a case where the people can be distinguished from the government. Even the so-called subject races have suffered but little more at the hands of the governing officials than the common Turkish people. ALL GOVERNMENT IN THE HANDS OF 300 MEN When one remembers that all government of the Empire lies solely in the hands of a group of not more than 300 men, and that they impose their selfish will on Turk and Christian alike, one readily understands how a distinction can be made between people and government. In spite of a constitution having been proclaimed and a parliament summoned, the people, whether of Turkish or other race, have absolutely no voice in the affairs of the nation. Armenia, east of Anatolia, extending to the region of the Caucasus and the Persian border, is the site of the ancient Kingdom of Armenia. The population is not wholly Armenian-in fact, even before the war the majority of the people were Turks and Kurds-but here the bulk of the Armenian race was found. It is a rugged land, a succession of have had to contend with nature for the establishment and maintenance of their homes; but, like all highland countries, it has been the means of producing a religious, freedom-loving people. They were the first nation to embrace Christianity when, in the latter half of the third century, their king, Tiradates, accepted the new faith, and most of the nation followed him. Throughout all the succeeding centuries they have remained steadfast against wave after wave of persecution, until this last storm of hate and fanaticism has swept the greater part from their homes and has destroyed at least a million-two-thirds of the entire people. THE LAND OF SALADIN, THE KURD Kurdistan, a hill country north of the Tigris River, is the home of a brave, virile, largely illiterate series of tribes and clans known as the Kurds. They are the descendants of the Cardushi, who gave Xenophon and his ten thousand so much difficulty on their march across these same hills on their way to the sea. Nominally they are Moslem in religion, but they have retained many elements of heathen worship. Some of their tribes are "Yesdi," or devil worshipers. They are home-loving, frugal, and capable of enduring great hardships. They practice strict monogamy and their women occupy an equal place with their men in the family life. The Kurds have furnished at least one great man to history, for Saladin, the chivalrous leader of the Saracen hosts, the compeer of Richard Coeur de Lion, was from this people. Mesopotamia, Upper and Lower, vies with Egypt in claiming the honor of being the home of ancient civilization. It comprises the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Here flourished the Chaldean, Babylonian, and Assyrian empires. The city of Bagdad, with all its glamour of mystery and magic, is in the heart of Mesopotamia. ONCE THE RICHEST LAND IN THE WORLD This was the richest land in the world, the granary of the ancients; yet, in spite of all that it has been, it today lies largely THE WALLS OF NINEVEH: MESOPOTAMIA, TURKEY IN ASIA Out of the past of this land, now ruled by the Turk, speaks a glory of military power, material wealth, literature and art, philosophy and religion. Centuries before the Christian era, a regularly appointed librarian had charge of the library of Nineveh's King Ashurbanipal. That institution was open to the public, for Ashurbanipal himself recorded: "I wrote upon the tablets; I placed them in my palace for the instruction of my people." waste, the desert sands have encroached upon the fertile fields, while the clogged canals have turned other portions into swamps and marshes. What population there is not more than one million-is of Arab origin and the Arabic language is spoken through out. There is, in fact, a very distinct dividing line between the Arabic and the Turkish-speaking portions of the Ottoman Empire. This boundary corresponds with the line of the Bagdad Railway from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf. It is for the exploitation of this rich land of Mesopotamia that the famous Bagdad line was built. Syria, the region extending from the Taurus Mountains to Egypt and from the desert to "the Great Sea,” needs no identification. It is the land of the patriarchs and prophets and apostles "the Holy Land" Its population numbers about three and a half millions, of Semitic origin, speaking the Arabic language, and yet with so many races intermingled through the centuries of the various conquests and occupations that the people cannot claim any one race as their own. Greek, Roman, and European Crusader have all blended with the ancient Semitic stock to produce the Syrians of today, whom Lord Cromer, in his Memoirs, termed "the cream of the East." In Syria was the one green spot of Turkey-the Lebanon Mountains. In 1860, because of massacres, the European Powers insisted that these mountains be made autonomous. And since that date this little district has been a living demonstration of what good government will produce and of what the people of the land are capable of becoming. The steep mountain sides have been terraced to a height of 4,000 feet and planted to olives, figs, and vines. Taxes have been low, safety to person and property secured, good roads built and kept in repair. The people have constructed more comfortable homes and have sent their sons to schools and college. The story of the achievements of the Lebanon and its sons during these sixty years of autonomy would be a thrilling narrative in itself. Now that autonomy has been taken away, the Lebanon is prostrate in famine. NATURAL FEATURES Practically the whole Turkish Empire is of the same surface configuration high mountain ranges along the sea-coast, with elevated plain and plateau in the interior. These inner plains are generally fertile, being constantly renewed by soil washed from the surrounding mountains. Where rain is sufficient, or where water can be obtained for irrigation, they produce fine crops of grain. In ancient times the mountains were everywhere covered with forests. The cedars of Lebanon not only furnished timber for the building of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, but the kings of Egypt annually floated large rafts of logs from the Syrian coast to supply the demands of the cities of the Nile. This constant demand from foreign lands, together with the lack of any system of reforestation, has practically denuded the mountains of the whole land. Once more to cover the mountains and hills with pine and cedar and oak would be a simple task if carried on systematically. The chief enemy today of reforestation by nature is the herds of goats, which every spring roam over the whole country and devour every green thing. The little seedling trees suffer especially. POPULATION OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE The population of the Ottoman Empire, not including Arabia, is about 18,000,000, or was before the war. In giving statistics on any subject regarding Turkey one speaks in approximate terms, for only estimates can be given, as no thorough census is taken or other statistics systematically gathered. Among the various races this total was distributed as follows: Turks, 7,000,000; Syrians and Arabs, 4,500,000; Kurds, 2,000,000; Armenians, 2,000,000; Greeks, 1,500,000; Jews, 500,000; other races, 500,000. All of these peoples can trace their history back to the period when fable and legend blend with the beginnings of historic facts. And all, except the Turks, have inhabited, from time immemorial, the districts in which they are now found. These races represent the three great monotheistic religions, which have also originated within the boundaries of the Turkish Empire. About two-thirds of the entire population are Mohammedan, but of different sects. The Christians, also, are divided into many sects, representing nearly all the great divisions of the church. The Christian races are the most progressive part of the population; they have been most responsive to education and have made some progress in establishing schools of their own. The Turks are the most backward of all; yet under proper encouragement and facilities they are capable of good progress. In competition with Greeks, Armenians, and Syrians, however, they invariably fall behind. It should be noted that of 48 Grand Viziers who have risen to prominence |