To the philologist these ancient Greek communities are veritable treasure grounds, especially when found in mountainous districts. Archaic forms of speech are in current use among their inhabitants. In many, the purity of the ancient Greek dialects of Asia Minor has been preserved with but slight contamination from later literary influences. The very names of those who speak these vernaculars show interesting connection with the classical period of Hellenism. Socrates or Pericles will cook daily for the traveler, and Themistocles supply him with tobacco. More than that, they all make themselves intelligible in the style--and the spirit, too--of inscriptional language. But the old Hellenic dialects should not be confused with the still unknown Lycian, Lydian and Carian languages found in inscriptions. There is reason to believe that these primitive speeches of the Anatolian plateau represent exceedingly early stages in the development of Indo-European forms. Many of the Greek communities owe their survival to the proficiency of their members in a particular industry. The settlements of Greek miners scattered in the Pontic and Tauric mining districts are instances in point. The Turkish conquest of the Byzantine Empire was accomplished by Asiatic barbarians who knew how to fight but included no artisans in their ranks. They were therefore obliged to rely upon the populations of the conquered lands for the maintenance of industrial and commercial activity. This notorious incompetence of the Turk for any pursuit other than that of soldiering is, at bottom, the prime cause of the survival of Christian communities within Ottoman boundaries. THE TURKS