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CHAPTEK XVII.
In Talas town—The most medieval-looking streets in Asia Minor
Rhodian masons Mangals—AH Dagh and Argaeus—King George
and Argaeus—A troglodyte chapel—An Armenian monastery
Bones of John the Baptist—Finding a pack-horse and driver—
engage Ighsan.?
Talas, which has eight or ten thousand inhabitants,
covers the face of a steep broken slope at the eastern
end of the plain of Csesarea. On level ground, at the
foot of the slope, is the Turkish quarter ; and above
it, clambering in terraces among rocks and ravines
and orchards, the Christian portion of the town
goes up five or six hundred feet to an undulating
plateau behind. The inhabitants are mainly Cappadocian
Greeks, Talas being a place to which many
of these people return and live upon gains made in
various parts of the world.
The streets and buildings of Talas are the most
medieval and picturesque in Asia Minor — partly owing
to the abrupt steep on which the town is built, but
also to outside influences ; and thereby appears an
interesting example of how such influences are conveyed
and persist. Greek masons came to Talas from
the south and western coasts of Asia Minor long ago,
and among them, it is told, were masons from Rhodes.
These Rhodian builders brought ideas derived from
structures erected by the knights of St John at
Rhodes, and put them into execution here, with the
result that the streets of Talas show a style of