acrossasiaminoro00chiluoft

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382 ACROSS ASIA MINOR ON FOOT
the way. The sight and report of German- trained
Turkish officers netrlecting fasts and prayer, drinking
alcohol and avoiding the mosque, excite more prejudice
among peasant Moslems than all pro-German
efforts can counteract. And the German attitude
and manner is ever a great handicap in German
dealings with the people at large. For time and
money expended, and skill, persistence, subtlety
even a large far-sighted wisdom if you like—German
influence among Moslems of Asia Minor has progressed
less than might have been expected.
From Baghche my next stage was a long and
hard one over the Giaour Dagh to El Oghlu, a little
village within twenty miles of Marash, a journey begun
before sunrise, when the valleys were filled with
fleecy clouds. Up to the pass our road, never more
definite than a horse- track, clung to slopes overhanging
a deep and narrow valley. Ridges behind
us covered with snow seemed to grow higher and
higher the more we climbed ; the sides of the gorge
were wooded ; here and there were small fields of
growing crops and vividly green grass ; and in the
bottom tumbled a considerable stream which often
broke into waterfalls to make the descent.
This path was the shortest way between Marash
and Baghche, and therefore frequented much by
those on foot. For this reason it had been the
scene of much killing during the Cilician massacres.
Many Armenian labourers had been caught here on
their way to the lowland harvesting when fanatical
madness swept up into the mountains from Adana.
From numerous villages around Marash the men-folk
who had gone forth in spring failed to return in the
autumn. Except that they were upon the road or
had reached the plain during that fateful week, their
friends knew little ; where the}'' fell or how could
only be surmised, or was learnt only after long interval.
On this path alone I was told that more
than two hundred, and not all of them men, were
known to have perished, cut off as helplessly as