The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1913-01-31

4" HE FALL Of the TURKISH
| stronghold of Monast1r, III
Macedonia, came with all the
force that the news OF tne
fall of Constantinople 1tsell
might have brought with it. quaint
curious Monastir has TEMPTATION Ior
the traveller Turkish baths, oriental
dancing girls, booths, bazars, hookans
and nargilehs, the almost incredlDle
mixture of races and the constant pos
sibility of arrest as spy we're not
the least among it's varied attractions
under Turkish domination.
Tho Salonica express, which most
travellers take, for safety sake II lot
no other reason, reaches Monastir at
5:15 in the evening. A crowd OF the
usual Turkish hacks gathers around
the depot, where motley assemblage
Of porters and spectators awaits the
arrival of the train. These porters
and baggagemen have an unpleasant
habit OF jostling that reminds one or
the wedgemen of the Bowery and 1t is
no little risk to depend on one OF the
wretched hacks for conveyance to the
distant hotel
The best inn in old Monastir Is the
Hotel Belgrad. where the rooms are
neat, clean and inexpensive. Each
room is provided with a couple Of iron
beds, single chambers being an unob-
tainable luxury. In a corner there is
a closet, with a divan before it. On
the walls, next the beds, Turkish rugs
ire hung, lest one roll over against the
cold wall, and over the beds there are
canopies as in France. Cold, hungry
and tired, after a long, tedious ride,
one is not disposed to be critical, espe-
cially as the system of cheating prac-
ticed everywhere in the Balkans has
been valuable preparation for pa
tent frame of mind.
Where East Meets West.
The little dining room is lined with
pictures of all rulers except the sui.
tan. His presentment is seldom en-.
countered. There's merry company
of foreign consuls, with their wives,
at tea time, but even the most ex.
elusive of these danes adopt Turkish
manners and pick their teeth through.
out the meal. Soup, fish, meat, fowl
pudding and coffee form a satisfying
earnest of future treatment. Before
1t is served, however, the hotelier col.
lects the teskeret, or internal pass
ports, for police scrutiny, and until
its return the guest is presumed to
stay in the hotel Early retirement
to a cold bed chamber and damp bed
somewhat detracts from the pleasant
feeling induced by a good supper.
After an early breakfast the visitor
takes his way through cobbled streets
fianked by two-story, plaster-coated
houses, most of them with the second
story overhanging the street and
painted to match the red roof Of terra
Gotta. Through the main street a
creek runs, helter-skelter, shaded by
some forlorn-looking trees.
After taking the precaution to leave
q card at the consulate Of his nation
the visitor proceeds with his sightsee-
ing through the inordinately long, cob
bled streets. Many of the houses are
harems and 50 the lower half of the
windows have brown or white lattice
Of intricately beautiful design across
the outside that the houris may look
out and yet not be seen themselves
Additional protection is given by
strong iron bars outside the lattice
work.
Mysterious gardens. from which. pro
coed sounds Of laughter and female
voices, are hidden from view by thick
walls of rock in which they have cut
wooden doors with fantastic iron
knockers. Children play on the ex-
tremely narrow sidewalks. The boys
wear girlish dresses; the girls are
clothed in boomers.
The streets are muddy and every.
where refuse, garbage, even sewage. is
thrown directly into them. Hundreds
Of mongrel dogs and few cats ap-
pear, as If by magic. the instant any
thing Is dumped in the open and soon
everything eatable is gobbled up. Let
q dog Of another neighborhood invade
q street and at once all the vested in
terests set up,a howl that is startling
to the stranger. These dogs are the
scavengers Of the Turkish streets
Some are quite as fierce as wolves.
Umbrellas Always Open.
Turkish women wander up and
down, wearing handsome dresses OF
black silk. The heavily pulled silk
waists match the deep black wells that
completely cover the face Sometimes
the veil-front is varied BY a pattern
suggestive of yellow night moth.
Most Of these women carry umbrellas,
open In all kinds of weather, Younger
women are CARRIED in white.
Husband and wife are never seen
together on the highway OfteEer il
IL two or three women together, wives
of the one man, with their children
Quaint-looking Turks in fezes s.roil
about, Older n,an adcrt1a sons oiue