Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-12


| them. He was very much more disposed
to discuss theology and politics than to
tell me about the books, and learned
by close questioning that he was quite
as ignorant on that subject as the rest
OF the mullahS about the mosque. He was
so garrulous that It was difficult to stop
him long enough for Michel Naskidof,
my interpreter, to tell me what he was
talking about.
Never Outside Constantinople.
His name is Selim Abdullah. He was
born and brought up in Constantinople,
and was never outside of this city in his
life. He gave us a few other facts in his
biography, and to make sure that we did
not report him unfavorably to the minis
ter of education, who gave us permit
to visit the library, he explained that he
had always been in favor of constitutional
government and had never been a fanatic
| in religion. but until recently people in
Turkey had not been allowed to say what
was in their minds.
| Here we stopped him long enough to
examine what he said were the rarest
books In the collection. They are kept
| In a wonderful old chest. which is model
| ed after a mosque and heavily veneered
with mother-of-pearl. That chest would bs
prize in any museum and the old mar
told me that 1t was more than 200t
years old. Nine of the most precious
volumes are kept there under lock and
key, and he brought them all out for us
He told that they are worth more
| than 10000 piasters each, and were writ
ten more than 5000 years ago. They are
| the original manuscripts in the hand
| writing of the authors in the classica
| language, which was spoken by the earl!
| Turks in Turkestan. No one could rea(
that language now he said, in Turkey. al
least. although certain famous scholars in
khiva are familiar with the text.
Bound in Gold Covers.
| He showed us, among others. an ex.
quisite specimen of penmanship, bound il
| gold covers, about ten by fourteen inches
| in size, which. he said, was an ancien,
| Tartar poem. called "Divan." written il
| the year oil. by Hussein Biacara one
| of the most famous of all Tartar poets
! This volume was presented to one of the
! Sultans of Turkey about con years ago by
! one Of the ShaMS of Persia. The tex
| each page is illuminated with a border
! about two inches wide. of geometric de-
| signs, and worked out in mosaic witt
| goldeaf and bright colored paper The
| colors are as brilliant they were wher
| the book was written, and the mosaic
| was made by cutting the colored paper
and gold leaf into little bits and pastins
them on according to design. The
| NO'uiic tOItdiHS RAVES ana III
pages, all so illuminated with a title page
| that is a mass Of color. The binding
| it Is not particularly artistic, but It's very
| rich and costly.
When told we had recently returned
from visit to Turkestan, he inquired
eagerly what the Russians are doing III
| there and whether they are prosecuting
! the Mohammedans. He said the Rus
slams are the worst people in the world &c
prosecute believers in other religions and
| are trying to force the Mohammedans and
Jews to accept the orthodox Greek faith
Large numbers of Jews have done so tc
avoid persecution and to preserve THEN
property but no Mohammedan under an,
circumstances, had ever renounced his be.
| lief in the prophet. The only nations
who do not prosecute the Mohammedans
| the old man said are the English and
| the French.
His View Of Americans.
| medans?' 1 asked.
Il do not know that 1 ever heard that
| they did," he replied, but the Americans
are just the same as the English. and
most of them live in England. because
| they can make more money there All the
| Americans want is money. They don't
care for art. or science or religion
| have heard that they dig up the bones OF
| their ancestors from the cemeteries and
sell them to the farmers for fertilizers
| They are SO greedy to get money, but
| never saw any Of them do it. I never
| saw an American to know him. but sup.
| pose they look like other people,
We assured him that we were Amer
| leans and that he had been misinformed
about their prosecuting Mohammedans
I asked him if he knew how much Amer.
lean money had been expended to educate
Mohammedans and to give them hospitals
and how much had been devoted to the
| relief of people of the Turkish empire who
| had suffered in droughts and epidemics
and massacres. He confessed he did not
| know; he was not aware that the Amer
| leans had ever contributed any money for
| such purposes and admitted, reluctantly,
that he did not read the newspapers, for
the reason that he did not consider them
reliable. He had known so many cases
where people had been deceived by news
paper publications, and he had never read
anything about American contributions
for the benefit of Turkey I told him
about the recent Kennedy legacy of
50. 500,0O to Robert College and of the