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A MUSTER OF MOSLEMS 231
houses and you find rooms going out of it behind ;
and in passing along the narrow alleys, you are often
uncertain whether you are on solid ground or on the
made roof of a building.
I was always in doubt what these underground
dwellers were in blood and faith. Some say that
living underground is sure sign of a non-Moslem
population, for the reason that Moslems have never
required subterranean safety, and that no people
would voluntarily adopt this mode of life. Before
reaching Uch Hissar I had asked Ighsan whether the
inhabitants were Moslems, and he asserted that they
were. But when we came in sight of the village I
could see no minarets, and therefore remarked that
the people of Uch Hissar were Greek and not Moslem.
The argument posed him at the time, but he took it
to heart and bided his opportunity to refute me, for
when in the village he pointed out a small mosque
and minaret. Nor was he satisfied with this justification,
but said he would show me Moslems of the
place. So under the plea of visiting a friend, while
I waited on the flat roof of a house, he went away
and presently returned with a score of men, who were
foUov/ed by others in a little time. Then various
Selims, Mustaphas, Mehmets, Mahmuds, Ahmets, and
Sulimans, several of each name, were brought forward
as the Moslems of Uch Hissar. With dignified
triumph in tone and manner Ighsan announced their
names : here were three brothers, here two, this
Mustapha's father had gone to Nevshehr, that youth
Selim had four brothers serving in the army, and
80 on, accounting in all for a considerable total. I
reckoned there might be a couple of hundred Moslems
here, out of a population of perhaps 2000. The
others were of that mingled blood which calls itself
Greek on the strength of belonging to the Greek
Orthodox Church.
Any one who goes among these cave - dwellers
notices at once how unlike other Greeks they are
in appearance, or indeed any other inhabitants of the