acrossasiaminoro00chiluoft

276 ACROSS ASIA MINOR ON FOOT
most frequented cock-pit of the world. It has seen
Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders,
Egyptians, and many others of less fame ; for
armies it was the one south - eastern gate into or
from the great interior fastness of Asia Minor. In
etfect, an army came or went this way or not at all.
And now the pass has asserted its importance
again, and the Bagdad Railway, having been drawn
to the south, follows the defile as the one natural
and inevitable route between west and south-east.
One could wish that the railway had found another
route, for it has wrought havoc along this hitherto
unchanging historic road. Ravines were choked
with slopes of debris shot from tunnels and rockcuttings
; streams were dammed and diverted in
the same heedless fashion ; naked embankments
stretched like walls down the valley ; and in every
sheltered nook were the tents and litter—the rags,
straw, and empty tins of labourers' camps. And for
sound, as portent of all this desecration, were the
puffing and clanking and bumping of construction
engines and trucks, and the thunder of blasting far
and near. Such treatment, at German hands, has
overtaken the highway of Cyrus and Alexander and
Haroun el Rashid.
At a point not far from Chifte Khan the railway
line passed from the northern side of the ravine to
the southern, crossing the road and river by heavy
bridges. These were being built, and for some time
I stood and watched the German foremen at work.
Whenever you see German overseers in Asia Minor
they always create a strong impression of efficiency
— of almost unnecessary efficiency, for they appear
equal to much higher work than any they are upon.
They are always busy, always in sight, always ready
to answer a question with precision, and never seem
at a loss with any problem. Perhaps they are
picked men — you hope that they are—for their capability
is impressive. But behind it all is something
else, something more subtle than industry and