West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1915-11-11

With the shifting OF the centet OF
the European storm and its gatheting
in intensity toward the Balkans, Tur-
key-in-Europe. and the near East,
those islands which dot the course
between Europe and Asia, battle
grounds in the $500 years OF strug-
gle between the Orient and Occident
for supremacy. are forming once more
part OF the area where the future
| of the west is to be decided. There
are no lands I'm the world whose stor-
les are more absorbing than those of
these islands. A bulletin just issued
by the National Geographic Society
gives sketch OF the islands as pre-
| scented In a communication to the So
ciety by Ernest Lloyd Harris. 1t is
as follows:
Where a broken fringe of islands
parallels the coast OF Asia Minor, be-
ginning with famed Rhodes. in the
south; running northward, narrowly
separated from the mainland, past the
peninsula OF Gallioli, and ending near
the present Aegean coast OF Bulgaria,
is the dividing line between the occi-
| dent and Orient. These islands are
the Euroean marches, where Asia and
| Europe have FLASHED throughout all
history.
Here we find Persian pitted against
| Greek. Roman against Pontian, BY
zantine against Moslem, Crusader
against Saracen. Turk against Mogal,
and. today. Europe divided against
itself. and against the east
Not only has Asia Minor and the
Islands facing its shores been the
stage upon which have been enacted
some of the most gigantic events in
human history, but IL is at the present
time one OF the most interesting and
picturesque regions in the world. 1t
has been termed the quintessence of
the east. For nowhere else will you
ind, thrown togther in close asso-
citation, so many things of the east
the camel caravan; the groves OF cy-
press, olive, plane and valonia trees
the mosque and lowering minaret;
latticed windows and yelled women.
and a background made up OF the
remnants OF an ancient civilization.
Rhodes, whose history is one chap
ter after another of fascinating ro-
nance from days of remote antiquity.
through its reign as a cultural center
during the age of Roman occupation,
and its golden period as the strong
hold of chivalry during the occupa-
ton OF the island by the order of the
Knights of st. John, once dominated
the eastern Mediterranean; as a vest
pocket England off the coast of Asia
Minor.
Cicero and Caesar finished their
educations at Rhodes, but Imperial
Rome and Byzantium finally absorbed
the schools of Rhodes. Next the
knights OF st. John, founded in the
eleventh century at Jerusalem, after
many hardships, frightened again the
annals of the island by making II their
home. They assumed the name OF
the knights of Rhodes, and after in
Vulnerable wars, were at last forced
to retire, in 1922, before the Turks to
Malta. At the present time the is
land is being held by Italy, which took
possession in 1912, in the course OF
her war with Tripoli. -
Chios, $50 miles to the north. once
one of the richest members of the
lonian union, subject, in turn, to
Athenian, Roman, Italian and Turkish
denomination, has long been a bone
OF contention between the Turk and
Creek, and was first reunited to its
parent country, Greece, in 1913. after
separation of more than two thou
sand three hundred years.
The Chians Joined their brother
Greeks in the wars of liberation which
begun in the first years OF the last
century. In 1922 the Turks slaugh-
tered 10000 Chians in the space of
TWO months, and sold $4,000 others
into slavery, and the land was thor
oughly devastated.
Samos, at the mouth of the bay
upon which stood ancient Ephesus.
The magnificent, formed one of the
Oldest settlements Of the Ionians I'm
the Mediterranean. Samos was the
birthplace Of the philosopher Pytha-
goras, and here, too, was the won
derful Temple of Hera, a boast of the
Grecian world,
The Islands of the Aegean, taken
together, constitute one of the most
historic and interesting insular reg
ions in the world. Besides the TWEEN
ty principal ones, which have lent
much to history, there are innumer-
able smaller ones. The larger islands
have a number OF fertile and we'll
watered valleys and plains, the prin-
cipal product OF which are wheat.
wine, oil, mastic, cotton, silk, raisins.
honey and wax. Coral and sponge
fisheries are numerous. and I'm most
OF the islands the ancient Greek type
perseyeres among the people.
1 k-