GREEKS AND VLACHS
In our account of the races ruled over by the Turks we must not forget the Greeks, those enterprising colonists who, long before the Christian era, settled along the coast of the Black Sea, and all along the sea-line which now fringes the Ottoman Empire, as well as in its islands, and who also founded commercial stations in the interior. In earliest times we find them connected with such expeditions as the Argonautic, in quest of the Golden Fleece, and returning, not only with rich trophies, but with wonderful legends regarding the lands they visited. I could entertain you at great length on their adventures in the countries I am describing, but this is not the object of this book, and my reference to the past must only be to show you that the present Greeks in Turkey are much the same people as their ancestors, with the same love for commerce, the same love for the beautiful and the same glowing imagination. Yet they differ in this respect, that they are now a subject instead of an independent people. They also differ in not calling themselves Hellenes, but Romei—i.e., Romans—an appellation which, strange to say, applies only to members of the Greek Church. Roman Catholics contemptuously refuse to be called Romei, and style themselves Latins.
Intermarriages have somewhat tainted the purity of their blood, and in many cases they have lost the use of their mother-tongue, and can only speak Turkish, but still they are Greeks to all intents and purposes, and mostly members of the Greek or Orthodox Church.
The Greek type of face is much the same as what we see in the statuary in our museums. The forehead is broad but rather low, the nose and profile straight, the eyes large, the lips full, the chin firm, and the neck rounded. They are tall and stately, and graceful in their movements, and have small hands and feet.
In character they are highly imaginative, superficial, and shrewd, but make excellent husbands and wives, and inspire their children with a love for home and respect for their parents.
In education the wealthier classes are advanced, but the peasantry are still backward. The Greek spoken by the latter is very corrupt, and has a large admixture of Turkish and Italian, but the efforts of School Boards and of the local newspapers are tending to purify and elevate it. At present even the New Testament Greek is above the average man's comprehension.
The Greeks, as of yore, have much of the heroic in their character, and their ballads are full of the noble deeds, both of men and of women, in their defence against their oppressors.
Their usual method of vindicating their rights and protecting themselves consisted in forming bands of Armatolæ, or Kleptæ, and occupying strongholds in the mountains, from which they would sweep down unexpectedly and avenge themselves, or carry away some wealthy Pacha as captive until he was ransomed.
These bands were looked up to by the people as heroes and deliverers—the Jephthas and Gideons of their captivity.
But unfortunately their exploits were not resorted to for the cause of freedom and justice alone, and have often degenerated into sheer acts of brigandage. A series of them were recently enacted in Macedonia, and on one occasion an Englishman was surprised, surrounded, and carried to the mountains. A messenger was sent down with a demand for his ransom, and with a threat that unless this was produced within a stated time, or if pursuit was made, his life would be forfeited. The sum fixed upon was the captives' weight in gold, and as he unfortunately happened to be a heavy man, the amount represented £12,000. The ransom was duly paid, but the money afterwards recovered from the Turkish Government.
As an instance of the strange mixture of superstition and depravity among some of these brigand bands, it is related that on one occasion a band plundered a church, and then, seizing the priest, the Kleptæ put a sword to his throat until he absolved them from the offence.
Acts of brigandage are not, however, limited to Greeks, though they are the chief offenders, but are shared with Albanians and Turks. Nor have Macedonia and Greece had the monopoly, but Smyrna and the hill-country near Constantinople have given scope for their activities. Their spies and agents in these towns supplied them with information, and the villagers and shepherds about their districts being in full sympathy, kept them in supplies and ammunition.
From the bandit it is pleasant to turn to the agricultural and pastoral life of the Greeks in Turkey, and describe the assistance that boys and girls give to their parents.
When the wheat or barley has been harvested, the sheaves are spread on the threshing-floor, which has previously been carefully prepared with clay and stones beaten down into a smooth surface. A broad wooden sledge is then provided, with sharp flint-stones firmly embedded into the under portion. One or two horses are attached to the sledge and a boy or girl, seated on a stool on the sledge, seizes the reins, and whip in hand, drives the horses at full gallop round and round the threshing-floor. The sharp flints, acting as knives, soon cut up the long stalks into straw, and separate the grain. Then a windy day is selected, and with long wooden forks the straw is tossed up into the air, the wind carrying the chaff and straw to a short distance, and leaving the heavier grain at the winnower's feet. The winnowed grain is then shovelled up into a heap, and there it must remain until the tax-gatherer has come and removed one-tenth on behalf of the Government. The harvest-festival follows, when, attired in their best clothes and with flowers on their heads and sheaves of golden grain in their hands, the harvesters proceed to the towns, and dance and sing before the doors of their patrons.
One of their favourite dances is the old classical syrto, or long-drawn dance, performed on the village green. The youths and maidens don their picturesque gala costumes, and prepare for the dance, while the elderly men group themselves round the coffee-house, smoking their pipes and sipping coffee, and the matrons, with little ones, sit under the trees and gossip. A musician, with fiddle, pipe, or viol, sits on a barrel, while each youth produces his coloured handkerchief, and, holding it by one corner, presents the other to the girl at his side. She in her turn presents her own to the dancer next to her; a long line or circle is formed, and the dance is proceeded with, the youths and maidens responding to each other in the words of a song.
The dress of the girls differs very much according to the locality where they reside. That of the villages near Constantinople consists of a loose, bright-coloured bodice, worn over a blouse open at the neck, and a coloured kerchief twisted round the head, from under the folds of which the hair hangs down the back in rich plaited tresses. The trousers are loose, baggy, and voluminous, and are fastened with a cord round the waist.
