The land of the Hittites : $b An account of recent explorations and discoveries in Asia Minor, with descriptions of the Hittite monumentsGarstang, John
History
The land of the Hittites : $b An account of recent explorations and discoveries in Asia Minor, with descriptions of the Hittite monuments
Garstang, John
Hittites; Turkey -- Antiquities
Even without such temporary dangers, the unwary traveller in such a
country, trying maybe to force a march when unacquainted with the village
tracks and local landmarks, will surely come to grief; and though within
an hour or two of some village where loyal, if frugal, hospitality awaits
him, will find himself lost, with little means of knowing how to direct
his footsteps. For the village which he would gain lies hidden out of
sight in some sheltered nook, or behind a bend in the river, or beyond a
rise of ground. Yet even though he reach the village by night, whether
as an armed party or as a benighted wanderer, his welcome is secure,
and his life is sacred. No questions will be asked him, nor will any
demand the reason of his coming. Warm milk and home-made bread-cakes,
and sometimes honey, will be offered him as refreshment; and after a
few simple courtesies the best room will be put at his disposal. In the
morning the ‘swash-swish’ of the churn, an inflated goatskin, will tell
him that the housewife is busied with his breakfast: soon the door is
opened and he recognises in his attendant, who lays the round tray before
him, none other than his host, the headman of the village. His horse is
fed and saddled, and the chief’s son is his guide.
In the main valley, however, we have not found that which we seek.
Pushing on then up one of the sources of the river we reach Kartal, in
a green dell begirt with wooded hills. Though off the beaten track this
place is only one day’s journey by mountain-path from Aintab. Perhaps
on this account the people here are freer. Their simplicity of life is
the same, but their curiosity is greater and their restraint is less.
Here we are soon friends; and have opportunity to study their manners
and their features. Their houses are partly hollowed in the hillside as
in many parts of Asia Minor, alike for economy in construction, and for
better protection against rain and cold. The roofs are built of timber,
and so covered with earth that it is difficult in descending from above
to distinguish them from the surface of the ground with which they are
continuous. The chief industry of the villagers, in addition to the
tending of their fields and flocks, is the making of butter and dairy
produce, which is sent to the market at Aintab. They are said to be
Turkomans, descendants of wanderers from the East who settled here many
generations back, and now an element of the Turkish people. But there
is something in their faces reminiscent of Hittite portraits, suggested
generally in the women, and marked strongly in some of the men, though
in others not at all. This glimmer seems to be due to mixture in past
times with a pre-existing population; for in the hills above there are
settlements of woodmen whom even these villagers regard as a somewhat
strange and different people. Here, at last, we come face to face with
that remarkable type portrayed so clearly on Egyptian sculptures, and
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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