St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1876-12-01
81. gnhnsburu elradrmp Column,
Diarbekir.

My early home was in Diarbckir. Il
large walled city on the left bank of
the TigriS river. The city is quite Il
large one containing about 81 900 in
habltantS. mostly Mahomctams and Ar
mcnlans. 1t is of considerable impor-
tance, being the capital of IL pashalic.
and the seat of IN English Consulate.
he city Is surrounded hv Il high
thick wall of hewn stone mortared to-
gether, having four gates facins respcc-
lively, north, south. east. and west.
he wall Is quite thick, in some places
wide enough on top for four or five
carriages to stand abreast. The gates
are opened regularly ut sunrise and
| closed at sunset
Like all Turkish cities its streets are
very narrow and dirty, in many places.
81 narrow as to enable man to touch
the houses on either side 10y holding his
arms out horizontally. In winter they
become almost entirely impaSSable bv
being blocked up with SHOW, not that
the snow storms are heavy. but as all
the houSe-topS are flat and made of
mud and straw, it does not do to let the
snow remain on the roofs and soak
hi"1Gh Therefore every man goes to
the top of his house and commences tu
shovel the snow of. and. aS he does not
wish his own courtyard filled. he throws
1t all into the street. consequently for IA
few days after the storm no animal can
pass through and Il man only with dit
iicultv.
Around the city, especially on the
river side, are many very fine gardens
which are irrigated during the dry sea
son by raising the water high enough
to allow 1t t" flow through the little
canals or trenches which intersect each
other i'll every direction. The fruit
raised in these gardens iS ot an excel
lent quality. consisting of water-mcIons.
musk melons. grapes. pomegranates.
almonds. English walnuts, etc
The watermelon seeds are planted
in the bed of the river Immediately al
ter the spring floods have subsidized and
consequently have the very best soil
conducive to their growth. being the
rich deposit of the river combined with
the sand of the river bed, hence the
melons grow to bc very large. the
average being nearly aS large as IA nail
key.
The cultivation of the grape do not
know quite 81 much about. but do
know that the grapes were very nice
ones. both of the white Malaga grape
and of Il very sweet black kind. the
lunches of which were larger than any
that have ever seen in this country.
even i'll horticultural and agricultural
fairs.
For about sixty OF seventy palas Ga
para Is equal to about Il milI.) could he
purchased nearly Il haSkettnl of this
delicious fruit and for as much more.
Il Watermelon.
| we'll remember one summer, when
living II short distance out of the city,
how our man. Hooneke. would go every
other day with the large, white, and,
am >olly to say, rather vicious donkey
to market and would bring home
amongst other things IL basket of grapes
and Il watermelon and how my brother
and | would seat ourselves near the
grapes and eat until told that we must
stop or we would he sick, when we
would 90 for the melon and both
sitting aStride OF it, our legs dangling
and swinging in the air, would play |
horse until the melon got to rolling so
that we both tumbled off upon the
floor +. w. W.