Lemnos has an area of some 175 square miles and, before the war, boasted of a population of some 27,000, of which number 3,000 or 4,000 were Turks, and the remainder Greeks. In ancient times, it was part of the Athenian Empire. The 15th Century saw it occupied by the Turks, in whose possession it remained practically up to the close of the Balkan War of 1913. On the outbreak of hostilities in 1914, the question of ownership was still under consideration by the Great Powers, but early in 1915 the Greek Premier, Venizelos, offered the island to the Allies as an intermediate base for their operations in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The island has many rugged barren hills—the highest near to where the Australians were camped being Mt. Therma, which attained to 1,130 feet. In wandering about the valleys and villages, the West Australians noted the quiet demeanour of the inhabitants. The males had a somewhat brigandish appearance in their dress of top boots, divided skirts, sheepskin coats, and astrakan caps. With so many strangers about, it would seem that great care was taken of the younger women. Very few of those between the ages of 16 and 30 were seen. The few that were visible had rather fine eyes, but otherwise were quite unattractive. Their usual dress was European, but made up of cheap prints with a shawl or coloured material tied round their heads as a covering.
The houses are square-built of stone, with no verandahs and little window balconies in some of those of two stories. In a few cases, the exterior walls were plastered and whitewashed or else painted with colour of a violent blue. The windows and doors are small and the rooms scarcely high enough to permit of one standing upright. The building stone is granitic and of several colours, which, combined with the tint of the moss on the roof tiles, gives an unusual effect to the general appearance of the dwellings. In Kastro, the streets are of the width of a Perth right-of-way and have shops on either side. These business houses vary in size from half that of a street coffee stall to the dimensions of the little grocery shops on the corners in our suburbs. Here, besides fruit, might be bought a lot of cheaply made English and German goods at prohibitive prices. Local wine and brandy were procurable, also "Black and White" whiskey, which had been made in Greece and bore a spurious label. This last was brought under the notice of the military police, who compelled its withdrawal.
The products of the island seemed to be grapes and a few other fruits, walnuts, wheat, barley, and a little cotton. Poultry were reared in some numbers, and the eggs mainly went to the monasteries on the mainland, at Mt. Athos, where the rules of the Order resident there forbade the admission of females of any species. At one time the authorities on the island derived a considerable revenue from the sale and export of a certain red earth which, with much religious ceremony, was dug out at stated times of the year and sealed in small packets. This, applied internally and externally, was regarded as an antidote to poison and a cure for snake bite.
A few flocks of long-wooled sheep roamed the hillsides. Many of these were black. For tilling, primitive wooden ploughs, fitted with an iron share, were used. These were drawn by oxen or, sometimes, by an ox and a donkey, both animals usually in a very decrepit condition. The ordinary means of conveyance was a curious old covered cart—also drawn by donkeys.
Dotted about on the lower hills were windmills, with long wooden arms, carrying the sails. The internal fittings and cog wheels were also wood. These mills were used for grinding the corn that was not exported to the mainland.
The island seemed to be well watered. One or two streams ran into the Bay, and springs were plentiful. Some of these latter were built over and provided with appliances for filling the carrying vessels. The villages also had their wells, but the water in these was reported to be polluted and to be the cause of outbreaks of fever.
There was almost a complete absence of trees, the natives having to secure their fuel from the neighbouring islands. Animal life seemed to consist of black and grey crows, jackdaws, a few hares, and moles, whose mounds were numerous.
Like unto Egypt, each little village on the island had its cafés, where the menfolk gathered and drank the thick sweet coffee. The 28th men frequented these when desiring a rest in their walks. Sometimes they visited the Greek churches—mostly old places, whitewashed, poorly furnished, and with a good deal of tawdry decoration in the way of pictures and tinsel. To the building at Portianos was an annexe half filled with human skulls and leg and arm bones. Some of these were ranged on shelves, whilst others were tied up in cloths, like bundles for the laundry. The general impression was that these were the remains of victims of Turkish massacres, but close inquiry revealed the fact that they were the relics of the priests of the church—the custom being to disinter the bones from the cemetery three years after the burial of the body.
But the excursion most in favour with the Australian was to the hot springs, on the slope of Mt. Therma. Round these had been built a rest house. The springs fed into two marble baths about three feet deep and six feet long. The water left the rocks at a temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and to the man who had not had a decent wash for nearly four months, the opportunity was revelled in. They used the baths in twos and threes, covered themselves in soap and washed it off, and repeated the process until the proprietor of the establishment knocked loudly at the door to announce that other customers were waiting.