acrossasiaminoro00chiluoft

TURKISH OFFICERS AND MEN 291
which produces hardness of body and mind. The
average officer is a man of sedentary tastes, who
would rather spend his leisure in a cafe, smoking
and drinking coffee and gossiping with acquaintances,
than in undertaking any sort of exertion. He has
undeveloped sporting instincts, but no sports of his
own, nor has he yet adopted British sports. Therefore
you seldom see a Turkish officer who can be called
hard and muscular and powerful in build ; more often
he is on the small side, fleshy and sleekly -rounded
when young, and passes to stoutness with years.
The exceptions generally prove to be Albanians or
Circassians, or men who have risen from the ranks.
The men, on the other hand, have physical and
mental characteristics of another sort altogether.
They are lean and wiry, not big, nor even so big
as they seem at first, owing to their fondness for
under-garments, and more intelligent as soldiers than
many people suppose. As peasants they have worked
hard, gone generally afoot, and lived on fare which, if
coarse, is also plentiful. In consequence they are enduring
men, capable of long marches, satisfied with
simple food, and their faces show a quality of hardness
in striking contrast with those of their officers.
Another soldierly excellence, too, they have in high
degree : they are without nerves, and yet possess
a certain alertness and aptitude for war, combined
with a stubborn spirit.
It is the fashion just now to say that they have
always proved themselves better behind earthworks
than in the attack. It may be the truth. But the
failing, one thinks, does not lie with the men. It
lies in the training and leading, in the want of
confidence in their officers ; it is a defect altogether
attributable to the Turkish officer class. Turkish
troops trained and led by British officers, or others
like them, would be troops of another sort, wanting
nothing in dash, and nothing in stubbornness.
On the third day of our imprisonment at Ulu
Kishla a thaw^ began, and the following morning the