The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-22
GREEKS OF BRUssA VALLEY.
Christians VINO Have Been settled for Two
Centuries in Turkey.

leNlil i ~ ~ 'SA' ~ ~ tAS
thousands Of tourists visit Brussa, prinei-
nalIy to try the famous hot mineral water
hstbs. to see the sights Of Brissa and to
enjoy the exquisitely lovely views of the
valley.
This year one OF the quaint Oriental
dehts will be lacking. because the bazaars
ba We been destroyed by fire. The famous
beautiful Green Mosque, however, is still
an view. and OF itself would repay a visit
Ia the ancient capital OF Gilman; and Mount
olynpus-the Anatolian %one-still frowns
boon the city.
The ordinary tourists who visit the
lovely and fertile valley Of Brussa see only
A small portion Of it's beauties and learn
nothing Of the history Of its inhabitants,
and yet these inhabitants are a study Of
themselves. Irefer specially to the Moraitic
Greek settlers.
The proSenitors OF these Peloponnesians
were brought TO turkey some two hundred
years ago, to Tend the Sultan's fiocks Of
sheep, and pasture them either in the valleys
Of Brussa and Mihalitz, or on the mountains
Of the Olympian range, wherever good
pasturage could be found. In due course
these shepherds ook unto themselves wives;
and Greek families grew apace. They,
being under the special protection Of the
sovereign. lived in perfect security.
This race Of Greeks has remained In
Brussa valley ever since. They bear all the
characteristics in speech, manners, feature
and religion of their ancestors. Thus you
will find in every one Of their villa ges an
Orthodox Greek church. fully equipped
With priest, candle lighter, psalter, school
master and church wardens (ephori).
The priest and schoolmaster are paid
BY tithes on the produce Of the fields, and
as a rule the priest carries on some other
business to make ends meet. In fact. liv-
ings in this district are not fat, and as Gold
smith would say, They would be passing
rich on forty pounds a year"
The priests christen, marry and bury
the members of their flock. Beyond that
they are also charged with the blessing Of
the harvests and fooks; and one curious
sight which I witnessed is worthy Of note
here. Fairly n Sunday morning all the
sheep, goats, COWS and mares belonging
10 the villagers were assembled in a field
close by. The priest, in full ~canonicals.
came down. and with q bunch of hyssop
and holy water besprinkled and blessed
each individual animal.
These Greeks have kept themselves en-
irely apart from the Mussulmans and
they were aided in 80 doing, as also in re-
tanning their national characteristics, by
the fact that the Sultan apportioned a large
tract Of splendidly fertile land in the valley
TO his shepherds and their families. By
imperial charter their affairs were under
their own management, in fact a modified
form Of home rule.
These lands are etill held entirely by the
descendants Of the original Moraitio shep-
herds, and in this district there sprang up
seven goodly villages known as the Pistica
Horia believers villages. The village OF
G%ouroukli, which is the first Of these settle
ments out of Brussa. has a history Of its own
and boasts among other things that up to q
very few years q no Turk was known to
enter the village.
Some Of the villagers were always on
guard and if a Turk was seen approaching
too, near-well, his earthly journey soon
came to an end and he was started IN a
heavenly one. Even to this day the Gour-
oukhots do not look with favor on their
Mussulman fellow subjects and strongly
object to their pottering about the village.
The result Of these somewhat drastic
measures has been to preserve their an
cient language; and to-day the women Of
Gouroukli cannot speak any Turkish. At
the next Christian village, Balukli, close by,
where such strict watch n ward was not
kept. the women folk speak nothing but
Turkish, go much 80 that the services In
the Orthodox Greek church are carried on
In Turkish. As a rule. in these villages Of
the Believers the language is Greek, but 1t
IL spoken with such an accent n inter-
mixed with so much ancient Greek that 1t
IA difficult to understand.
After these shepherds had settled they
seem to have abandoned their pastoral
habits and started agriculture and vine
culture; but now the greater part Of the
district is planted with the large leaved
mulberry tree, and the people devote them
selves to sericulture, which is principally
carried on by the women, Inc the primitive
manners of these worthy women carry
ones Imagination back to bygone ages
From the beginning of May to the end OF
June every house is vacated by its usual
occupants and given up to the silk worms.
the people sleeping out Of doors until the
worms finish spinning their cocoons.
A night spent at Tchatal Agil-han during
the time of transporting these cocoons
would be highly interesting to tourists.
Tchatal Agil is the village midway from
Brussa to Mihalitz, and the carts conveying
the oocoons stop here about midnight for
two or three hours to rest the horses, and
then drive on in companies. for security's
sake, to Brussa. I have seen an many as
200 Of these carts, each carrying about
two ~hundredweight Of coooons, pass
through Tchatal in one night. The hustle
and confusion at the Hans-there are only
two at Tchatal-can better be imagined
than described.
That no serious disturbances a place
speaks volumes for the people, especially
when one takes into consideration the fact
that police are as scarce at Tohatal as they
are In the suburbs OF London or New York
when particularly wanted,
To return to our subject. The CO.
coons, arriving at Brussa, are at once sold,
and with all despatch are sent to the spin
ming factories, where they are Immediately
put into hot ovens, and the chrysalis in the
cocoon is killed before it has time to bore
Its way out Of it's silken pr ison to come
forth In the shape Of moth.
Some Of these spinning mills are worth a