To Malatia we carried money to the people from their relatives in America which had been entrusted to Dr. Barnum at Harpoot. We also left in the hands of a responsible committee a fund for artisans’ tools, and a smaller sum for food and supplies in special needy cases. The feeling of security among the people in Malatia was entirely absent. They had seen terrible slaughter. They were possessed with fear to such an extent that we could meet very few of them; and had we not known, that it was Doctor Gates’ Plan to visit the place soon with assistants and means from Harpoot it would have pained us still more to leave them in their terrible condition, for we could not remain to carry on the work, and an unwise or untimely effort often fails of its end or only aggravates the conditions it seeks to relieve.
The sun is extremely hot during the summer in the interior, hence when the moon was favorable we traveled by night, leaving the saddle long enough to sleep in the “Araba” (a sort of small, springless, covered wagon used where there are roads) so as to have the day to work in while our horses rested. When we could do so in our journey we left funds for specified purposes, but frequently the sufferers felt safer without such assistance and declined to receive it. At Sivas we gave a fund for farmers’ tools. Here the grain crop was later than in the valleys further south. We also left here with the Rev. Messrs. Perry and Hubbard, a horse, in order to facilitate their relief work. From Malatia several families and individuals placed themselves under the protection of the Red Cross and its guards in order to go in safety to the coast. A portion of this road is infested with brigands and a strong guard is necessary, in fact it is needed throughout the whole region. The government took particular care of us by giving us a brigand as a special guard through the dangerous part of the road, saying that we should be safer with him than with the regular military guard. A few weeks before a rich caravan was robbed on this road, and when we passed we had the interesting pleasure of taking tea and journeying for a while with the chief of these brigands who had two days before been enlisted in government service. With the ample government protection we have at all times had, we seldom felt concern for our personal safety, notwithstanding that in places where we visited there was often a great deal of anxiety and fear on the part of the people for their own safety and that of their friends, or their property if they had any.
Tokat and Amasia were on our homeward route—the latter place being the site of the ancient castle of Mithridates, King of Pontus.
At Samsoun we had two saddle horses to dispose of, and our consular agent, Mr. Stephapopale, having a stable, kindly offered to sell them to the best profit for us, and to see that the proceeds were used in aiding the refugees who crowd to the coast in the hope of getting farther on, but only find themselves stranded and unable to return, becoming thereby veritable sufferers.
On the sixteenth of July we reached the Bosphorus, four months and six days from the time we started out from Constantinople for the interior, glad of the privilege and power we have enjoyed as messengers to carry some of the gifts that have been entrusted to your care by the people of America for the innocent, unfortunate sufferers of Anatolia.
Wherever we have met the missionaries, Protestant or Catholic, we have found them devoting most, if not all, of their time to the work of relieving the suffering about them, regardless of sect or nationality; but in all cases their fields of work have been greater than their strength or their means. With them we have worked always harmoniously and without consciousness of difference of place or creed; and to them and to many others we are indebted for courtesies and for hospitalities that will always be remembered with gratitude.
The real work of the relief expedition was greatly aided by the hearty co-operation of every European and American resident with whom we came in contact. Each did all in his power for our aid, and we regret that space forbids our telling how each gave his support and help.
At Egin we will ever remember the generous hospitality during our short stay with the families of Nicoghos Agha Jangochyan and Alexander Effendi Kasabyan, noblemen, who by their energy and liberality saved the city and people from destruction, while the country round about was being plundered and burned, and who gave us great assistance in furnishing tools and implements to this section of the country.
Not long after leaving Egin we learned the sad news that these gentlemen with nearly a thousand others had been killed. These families were the centre of a large community of the most charming and cultivated people we had met.
