The extensive zone traversed by this railway comprises the fertile and well settled valleys of the Sakaria and the Pursak, practically the whole of the interior plateau to the foot of its surrounding mountains and the eastern section of the Mesopotamian valley. Within this belt the most populous inland towns of the peninsula succeed each other at regular intervals. This circumstance indicates their former importance as stages on the long journey between the Bosporus and the Persian Gulf. Casual inspection of their crowded bazars would dispel doubt on this score. Attention must be called here to the geographical significance of these bazars in the Orient. Every urban center is provided with one. It is usually a roofed inclosure within which the city’s business is carried on. Caravans proceeding from remote sections of the continent have their rendezvous outside their gates. The size of these bazars and the activity displayed in each is the measure of an eastern city’s intercourse with the rest of the world. In the geographer’s mind their significance is the same as that of railroad stations. By acquiring this trunk line the Germans succeeded in taking a first mortgage on Turkey. It was the first signal success of the policy of directing Teutonic ambitions into eastern channels which Bismarck had adopted immediately after the consolidation of the German Empire. He had a vision of an all-German line of traffic starting at Hamburg and crossing the Bosporus towards the Far East. In one direction German calculations miscarried. Germany was unable to finance the undertaking without the support of British and French capitalists. The international character of the line became more and more pronounced between the years 1908 and 1911. During this period a number of agreements were signed between Great Britain, France, Germany and Turkey in which a notable percentage of German interests passed over to the two rival countries, the Germans emerging out of the transaction with a bare control. The project of an all-German route received another setback when England was awarded the final section of the Bagdad line. This successful stroke of British diplomacy consolidated British influence in the Persian Gulf. Koweit and the environing districts ruled by petty Arabian chiefs became British protectorates and the long-planned German through line merely butted against a solid wall raised by British ability. The French have invested twice as much capital as the English in Turkish railroads. The lines they manage and own directly are the Syrian railroads and the Smyrna-Kassaba line. They are also interested in the construction of roads in the northeastern districts of the country where concessions have been awarded to Russians. Muscovite inability to provide capital is responsible for the transfer of the building and operating grants to Frenchmen.