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THE DIARY OF A TURK

[Illustration: PRINCES IN LANCERS' UNIFORM.]




  THE DIARY OF A
  TURK

  BY

  HALIL HALID, M.A., M.R.A.S.

  CONTAINING EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS

  LONDON

  ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK

  1903

  TO THE MEMORY OF

  E. F. W. GIBB

  ORIENTAL SCHOLAR, AND THE AUTHOR OF "A HISTORY OF OTTOMAN POETRY"




PREFACE


ALTHOUGH no Western Power has ever played a greater part in the
problems of the Ottoman Empire than Great Britain, yet in no other
country in Western Europe is Turkey more grossly misunderstood. I have
been many times asked by my English acquaintances to write a book on
Turkey from a Turkish point of view, and two ways of writing were
suggested to me: the one was to compile a detailed work, the other
to write a small and light book. To take the former advice was not
possible to me, as I found myself incapable of producing a great and
technical work. Besides, I thought that after all a small and lightly
written volume would have a larger circle of readers, and by its help I
could to some extent correct some of the mistaken ideas prevailing in
England about Turkey. Therefore I began to write this little volume in
the form of a book of travel, and I now bring it out under the title of
_The Diary of a Turk_. By this means I have been able to talk a little
on many matters connected with Turkey. Let the critic find other points
in this book on which to express his opinion, but do not let him charge
me with ignorance of the fact that the somewhat unexciting experiences
of an unknown man may be only of slight interest to the public.

In the chapter on women's affairs I have quoted a few paragraphs from
two articles which I contributed some time ago to two London weeklies,
the _Queen_ and the _Lady_, I render my thanks to the Editors of these
papers for kindly permitting me to reproduce them here.

H. H.




  CONTENTS

    CHAP.                                        PAG.

       I. MY HOME IN ASIA MINOR                     1

      II. AT SCHOOL AND IN THE HAREM               23

     III. THE HAREM AND WOMEN IN THE EAST          46

      IV. I GO TO CONSTANTINOPLE AND PURSUE MY
            STUDIES                                75

       V. A NEW PROFESSION AND THE QUESTION OF
            CONSCRIPTION                           97

      VI. TURKEY'S INTERNAL DANGERS               118

     VII. A NEW COSTUME AND A NEW CAREER          134

    VIII. THE SUBLIME PORTE AND YILDIZ KIOSK      150

      IX. THE CEREMONY OF THE SELAMLIK            164

       X. THE SULTAN'S POLICY                     175

      XI. THE STRUGGLE WITH YOUNG-TURKEY          186

     XII. ENGLAND AND THE CALIPHATE               200

    XIII. A LAST VISIT TO ASIA MINOR              211

     XIV. A SPY IN A BATH                         225

      XV. FLIGHT TO ENGLAND                       238

     XVI. A RETURN AND A SECOND FLIGHT            253




ILLUSTRATIONS


  PRINCES IN LANCERS' UNIFORM             Frontispiece

  A PICKNICKING RESORT                To face page  54

  A VILLAGE WEDDING PROCESSION           "     "    70

  A TURKISH CEMETERY                     "     "    84

  OFFICERS OF LANCERS                    "     "   114

  HAMIDIEH MOSQUE                        "     "   172

  AN OLD SERAGLIO                        "     "   184

  A WRESTLING MATCH IN OLDEN DAYS        "     "   220




THE DIARY OF A TURK




CHAPTER I.

MY HOME IN ASIA MINOR.


  My Asiatic origin--My great-grandfather's religious
  order--His miracles--My grandfather and Sultan Mahmud
  II.--An ordeal by wine--My father's charitable
  extravagance--His death--Primitive surgery in Asia
  Minor--The original home of vaccination--My mother's
  European ancestors--Writing a forbidden accomplishment
  for women.

I was born in the ancient town of Angora, Asia Minor, famous not alone
for its silky-haired cats and goats, but also for its historical and
archæological importance, and with it my memories of early days,