The San Francisco call., 1897-04-15
MEANS A DECLARATION OF WAR
Prime Minister Delyan1is Assures King
Georges Parliament That the Hellenic
Army Will Do Its Duty When
the Crisis Comes.

messed such scene of activity and ex-
citement since Xerxes with his mighty
host passed through Thessaly on his way
to Athens Situated at the head of the gulf
of the same name it has direct inland
water communication with Athens by
way of Triken Straits and Tolanta Chan
mel to the PiI8us and is connected by rail
with Larissa, some thirty miles to the
northwest, andTriksla and Slagus Kaiabak,
far up the valley of the Salem bria or Pen
eus River toward the Macedonian frontier
Almost every day for the past seven
weeks, says ILLUSTRATION, regular troops
and reserves from the Pireus and inter.
vening ports have disem parked at Volu
and taken the route for one of the three
military centers, Larissa, Trikala or Kala-
bak, and thence toward the very numer-
Gus advanced posts along the frontier,
ready to 60 either under orders or guer-
rllla fashion as soon as the melting SHOWS
make the roads passable across Mace
donia. Throughout Thessaly. attached to
Ureece only since 1881, the recollections of
former struggles against their hereditary
enemy are very lively, and every band of
troops and every warlike procession is
saluted with formidable cries of "Hurrah
for the war!" and "Hurrah for Mace
donia! The enthusiasm even runs so
high that people have been inviting their
friends to eat their Easter dinner with
them in Salonika, reconquercd by the
Greeks.
A Greek officer. on being asked what
would happen if all this effort on the part
OF Greece ended in recall, replied: "Oh,
r-oll III
the guerrilla bands into Macedonia
This little city, situated under the
somber shade of Mount Pelion and the
twenty-four villages that dot its slopes.
formed even in the time of Turkish power
kind of republican confederation, and
would not permit the Collector of Gus
toms for the Porte to come among them.
but carried their duties TO him at Almyro.
few miles down on the west side of the
bay.
The Greek troops do not stop here
only pass through on their way to the
front The general headquarters are at
Larissa. an ancient city of some SO, ,09O
people, which still bears something of the
ruinous aspect OF all cities submitted to
Ottoman domination. 1t has increased
nearly one-fourth in population since the
annexation. Some few Turks, of whom
there were formerly quite a nun ber in
this vicinity, still remain. They enjoy
perfect tranquility and even have Dep
uty of thei- religion in the Cham ber.
They distributed several hundred guns 10
the Macedonian volunteers. The city and
the plains near by are full of troops and il
is strange spectacle to see Greek bat
tallons maneuverlDg near the mosque at
the loot of the slender minarets and in
the plain, whose horizon is bounded by
the snowy masses of Mount Olympus
From Larissa to the advanced posts is
about three hours ride on horseback by
way OF Turnavo. the last important town
before reaching the frontier. There one
can best see the perfect understanding
which exists between the regular troops
and the Macedonian bands from over the
border, the latter eager to press forward
and the former holding them back. The
COM andant here is Alexandros Alexan-
drou, who fought on the French side in
1870 and received well merited decora-
tIons. With him are several chiefs very
popular in the country, among them Lizis
Lipiniotes, S. Barborus VeIalas and Nico-
laus Bias, who have been in all the cam