Το Σιδηρόκαστρο στο βιβλίο "Ένας Αγγλος στη Μακεδονία του 1900 (Τζωρτζ Φρέντερικ Αμποτ)" Αγγλικά
Η πλύστρα του Βασιλια Φιλιππου πατέρα του Μ. Αλεξάνδρου στο Σιδηρόκαστρο, Ο Δόντσος και άλλες πληροφορίες για το Σιδηρόκαστρο το 1903.
CHAPTER XI
DEMIR-HISSAR
Mr. G. fortunately was able to accompany me part of
the way on business of his own, and so we ordered a
chariot to come round for us on the following day. It
arrived full two hours before the time, the charioteer
protesting loudly, with much rolling of eyes and twirl-
ing of moustache, and with many parenthetic appeals
to Allah and his Prophet, that it was not a bit too
early. When he realised the impossibility of convin-
cing us, he promptly squatted on the door-step, left off
rolling his eyes, but instead rolled a cigarette between
his finger and thumb, and waited. Time is no object
in the East.
At the last moment we were joined by the versatile
schoolmaster of fiddle fame. During the past few days
I had seen a good deal of this wonderful individual, for
he was a great favourite with the G.s, and the more I saw
of him the more deeply interested I grew in his person-
ality. He was a most instructive study of a character
not uncommon in these parts. He was, as I said before,
a teacher in a village school, but teaching, I soon found,
was only a relaxation with him : politics were the-
serious occupation of his life. In that village, as in
many others in Central Macedonia, the feud between
Bulgarians and Greeks raged fiercely, and our school-
master had thrown himself into the conflict with a zest
to be found only in Greeks and Irishmen. The result
94 A TOUR IN MACEDONIA
was that he came to be regarded by both parties in the
light of au unmitigated nuisance, and he was deposed.
At the time when I made his acquaintance he was
bringing all the resources of his fertile genius to bear
upon one object — his restoration. He said that he was
travelling on business, meaning thereby political busi-
ness, as it afterwards transpired, and that he would be
glad of a lift ; so we gave him a place in our chariot,
and merrily rode out of town.
We found the railway station crowded with invalid
soldiers on their way to Salonica, and pitiful they were
to look at. Their shrunk, livid cheeks, and deep-set,
lustreless eyes betokened intense suffering. Many of
them were barefooted, others shod with peasant sandals.
Their tattered uniforms — two - thirds of a coat and
trousers to match — bore eloquent testimony to a long
and weary service. And yet there was not the slightest
indication of discontent. Were they called upon to
march to battle on the morrow, they would obey the
summons without a murmur, ay, and fight for their
God and His representative on earth better than many
a well-fed and well-clad soldier of the West. This is
the greatness of Islam. Resignation, which in time of
peace turns man into a block of wood, makes a hero of
him at the sound of the trumpet-call to battle.
The train was due at 8.30 — Turkish time — and, by
the grace of Allah and the engine-driver, it arrived at
9.20. We booked to Demir-Hissar, which was to be
our starting-point north, and took our seats. Our
travelling companions were a party of young Turkish
officers in print shirt-sleeves and boisterous spirits.
They continually smoked, jested, and roared at each
other's stories of gallantry, some of which would have
made a green tomato turn red with shame — so said
DEMIR-HISSAR 95
the witty schoolmaster, and he evidently was an
authority on tomatoes, as on most other subjects.
One of these merry blades was in command of a
company theoretically engaged in the extermination
of brigandage, which, nevertheless, appeared to be
flourishing in the district. The name of one chief
was especially mentioned with fear, not unmixed with
admiration and envy. Dontsos was said to be at the
head of a Bulgarian band, which had defied the autho-
rities and terrorised the countryside north of Serres
for no less than twenty-five years. This success, how-
ever, in justice to the authorities be it said, was not
entirely due to his own prowess, any more than were
the profits of his career exclusively confined to his
own pockets. The authorities had a full share of both
the glory and the gain. The only real sufi"erers had
hitherto been the hapless peasants, some two hundred
of whom were said to have perished at different times,
partly for refusing to supply Dontsos with provisions,
and partly for complying with his demands. The
peasant in this part of Macedonia stands between
Dontsos and the Turkish devil :
Both are mighty ;
Each can torture if derided ;
Each claims worship undivided.
The young spark already mentioned was alone believed
to have, during his short career, squeezed over ^T.300
from various natives under the pretext that they had
been aiding and abetting the brigands.
At 10.20 we reached Demir-Hissar station, and
after a lively argument we chartered one of the three
quaint things on wheels, which stood outside. It was
a hearse-like fabric drawn by three quadrupeds abreast,
g6 A TOUR IN MACEDONIA
small creatures, probably related to the equine genus,
and not burdened with more than the minimum of
flesh or harness. The other two vehicles, filled with
the Turkish officers, followed behind. We moved off
at a mournful pace, stumbling against stones, jerked
over deep ruts, and splashing through pools of stagnant
water, to the knell of the rusty brass bells which
dangled from the horses' necks.
Our way lay mostly through an uncultivated waste,
broken by four dry water- courses, across the gravelly
beds of which we drove gingerly. At rare intervals
we passed a hedge of dusty pomegranates enclosing a
maize-field. A high ridge of mountains behind, a
range of bare hills close on the left, and another far
away on the right, embraced a valley which, but for a
few Bulgarian and Turkish hamlets scattered here and
there, would have presented as perfect a picture of the
Valley of the Shadow of Death as can be found in a
country not utterly devoid of a human population.
As we drew near the town a few tobacco planta-
tions in blossom greeted our eyes, but failed to
obliterate the general impression of desolation. For,
not far from them there stood a vast Mohammedan
cemetery, its headstones lying about in fragments, its
straggling tombs overgrown with weeds, and offering
an easy prey to numerous flocks of carrion crows.
One of these at the sound of our wheels rose from
amidst the habitations of the dead like a huge black
pall — an ugly and revolting sight to us, but one to
which the inhabitants are only too well accustomed.
Two sheer rocks — one of them capped by the
crumbling ruins of an obsolete fortress — with a broad,
rapid brook foaming down the middle, form a ravine
between the narrow flanks of which is wedged the
DEMIR-HISSAR 97
town of Demir-Hissar, the " Iron Castle," so called
by the Turks on account of the difficulty which they
experienced in reducing it to submission five centuries
ago. As we entered, a tribe of mountain goats, under
the leadership of a long-bearded, long-horned, solemn
old patriarch, crossed our path and saluted our nostrils
with the rank, pungent odour to which the word
hircine owes its particularly untranslatable meaning.
Having engaged two bedrooms in the best inn
of the town, we strolled into a chemist's shop next
door which was kept by a friend of the versatile
schoolmaster. The chemist was a tall and fragile
individual with a long face, the cadaverous pallor of
which seemed to indicate a regular diet on the con-
tents of his own shop, and was accentuated by an
enormous pair of despondently drooping black mous-
taches. He received us with funereal cordiality
and did the honours of his establishment in the way
characteristic of the East, namely by offering us cigar-
ettes and ordering coffee. In that shop I met another
severed limb of the scholastic body : a second Greek
master on the look-out for a post, which, however,
being an unambitious and unversatile youth, with no
taste or talent for a parliamentary career, he easily
found a few days later. In the company of these two
devotees of the Muses, who politely offered to act as
my guides, I climbed the steep cliff on which stand
the ruins mentioned before. These consist of a gate-
way and one or two stone walls. The ascent wound
through the narrow and filthy lanes of the Gipsy
quarter, but the view from the plateau, when once
gained, was superb.
Immediately below and a little to the left lay the
Turkish mahallah, spreading over one side of the
G
98 A TOUR IN MACEDONIA
ravine, and forming by far the larger portion of
the town. On the opposite slope stood the Greek
quarter, numbering some two hundred houses — a
colony from Melenik, to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction
of which it belongs — with a sprinkling of Bulgarians,
"just enough to make life worth living," as one of
my guides pleasantly remarked. Between the two
quarters rushes the brook, aptly symbolising the gulf
which separates the Cross from the Crescent, two
forces existing side by side, and yet never meeting.
From this height the stream could be seen meander-
ing over the valley until it joined the Struma, which
glittered like a long silver thread at the foot of the
distant blue mountains in the south. The sun had
just sunk behind the western wall of the valley,
transforming the sky above into a sheet of gold,
edged with pale green enamel, the glow whereof was
faintly reflected upon the bosom of Lake Butkovo at
the base of the ridge.
An interesting reminiscence of King Philip of
Macedon still lingers on these rocks. On the slope of
one of them there are two smooth slabs to which the in-
habitants apply the quaint name of the ** The Princesses'
Washing-boards," narrating how in olden times the
daughters of King Philip used to bleach their clothes
on those slabs, just as the maids of Macedonia do at
the present day. A big stone jar, discovered among
the ruins of the fortress, goes by the name of " King
Philip's Treasury," and to that king are also attributed
by popular tradition the ruins of the fortress. When
one considers the waves of barbarism which have swept
over the country during the last twenty centuries, these
memorials of the great king's fame, slight and fabulous
as they are, have an interest none the less real because
DEMIR-HISSAR 99
it is not antiquarian. They show that national con-
sciousness is not dead. The glorious past still shines,
though with a dim and fitful light, through the misery
of the present.
Darkness grew apace, and soon the lights of the
town began to twinkle in the depths of the ravine.
A strong breeze from the valley wafted to us the notes of
numberless frogs and crickets, softened and sweetened
by distance. My two companions had all this time
been sitting on the corpse of a gun which lay dead
and deserted on the very edge of the plateau. They
were absorbed in a political discussion in which the
words patriarch and exarch, Greek and Bulgarian,
orthodoxy and schism were frequently and emphati-
cally pronounced. I interrupted the debate with the
suggestion that it was perhaps time we should descend
to lower levels. They offered no opposition as they
could continue the argument on the way down, which
in fact they did, ay, and long after we reached the inn,
until they separated for the night. Even then it was
easy to see that the subject was not dropped, but only
postponed to the next meeting. No other evidence of
their Hellenic origin was needed.
Our dinner that night consisted of some cutlets,
which we owed to Mrs, G.'s forethought, reinforced by
what the inn could offer — a flat loaf of brown bread,
eggs, cheese, grapes, and vinegar, which in this district
is called wine. This banquet was eaten from plates of
tin and with forks of lead, both of which luxuries had
to be specially ordered, and ordered more than once.
For the officers who had travelled with us and stopped
at the same inn, being Turks, naturally engrossed all
mine host's attentions. I say naturally, for whether
he neglected us or no he was certain to get his money,
100 A TOUR IN MACEDONIA
and nothing but money from us ; whereas, had he not
devoted himself heart and soul, kitchen and cellar, to
his Turkish guests, he might have lost his money or
got it substituted by something that he had not bar-
gained for.
Dinner over, we went down to the stables to hire a
horse for myself. Mr. G. had his own horse waiting
for him here, and as for the versatile schoolmaster, he
could not make up his mind whether he was going
with us or staying behind. The ways of genius are
many and uncertain.
The usual practice is to engage horses for the
journey only. The Keradji, or muleteer, accompanies
you, and at the end of the journey you pay him off.
My Keradji turned out to be a very reasonable man.
For a sum corresponding to little over four shillings he
agreed to let me have a horse as far as Melenik. I was
to form one of a caravan bound for that town, and
*' personally conducted " by himself and another mule-
teer.
This business satisfactorily arranged, we retired for
the night. I secured my bedroom door, placed my
revolver and note-book under my pillow, put the light
out and myself into bed, fully resolved to go to sleep.
But, alas for the futility of human resolves ! Le
voyageur propose, mais le KJiandji dispose. The
pallet on which I lay was as hard as the " Princesses'
Washing-boards," only not quite so smooth. It consisted
of two planks resting on three packing-cases, and sup-
porting a straw mattress covered with a coarse sheet,
which among its virtues did not count immaculate
purity. But the hardness of my couch would scarcely
have prevented me, weary as I was, from carrying out
my resolve, were it not for the legions of *' nocturnal
DEMIR-HISSAR loi
enemies " of all arms by which I felt my body invaded.
I then realised for the first time the meaning of a
certain Hindoo form of self-mortification. Oh that I
were a Brahman, to send my soul forth on a heavenly
tour, leaving my senseless carcass behind, a prey to the
enemy ! But it was not to be. Resignation was my
only resource. Allah's will be done in bed as it is on
the battlefield !
In addition to those insidious but inaudible
enemies, there were noisy rats holding a race-meet-
ing inside the hollow wall close to my ear, while
from the stables under the window came an incessant
concert of jingling harness, neighings and brayings,
punctuated now and again by a thundering kick
against the wooden partition. The whole animal
kingdom had evidently conspired to drive me to
despair.
However, notwithstanding the strenuous efi'orts
of mine enemies, fatigue, my great ally, finally pre-
vailed, and I sank into a deep, dreamless sleep from
which I was roused at dawn by the shrill crowings
of many cocks. I opened my eyes and lo ! rosy-
fingered morn was smiling at me from over the
shoulder of yon blue mountain.
It was 11.40 — Turkish time. I got up and per-
formed my matutinal ablutions in a tin basin which,
after a long and laborious exploration, I discovered
in the hinterland of the premises.
" Dans la guerre comme dans la guerre^^ was Mr.
G.'s cheery comment, when, on emerging from his
own room, he witnessed my primitive attempt at a
toilet.
Our breakfast was not a very elaborate afi'air
either. A glass of hot milk — real milk, not the spuri-
102 A TOUR IN MACEDONIA
ous concoction with which the civilised world would
fain deceive itself — formed the main part of the meal,
followed by a small cup of black coffee and the in-
evitable cigarette.
Having paid our bill, which altogether amounted to
some five shillings, and given mine host a gratuitous
lecture on the treatment of guests, we descended the
stairs, or rather ladder, leading to the street. Mine host
accompanied us to the door with many apologies : —
" They are Turks, sir ; they are Turks," he
whispered, jerking his head in the direction of the
room in which the officers still lay asleep, and there
was a world of meaning in those simple ethnological
terms.
We mounted our horses, which waited ready
saddled in the street, and retraced our steps to the
station. In three-quarters of an hour we managed
to cover the distance which had taken us well over
an hour the evening before, and found the rest of
the caravan prepared to start.
Here I parted from Mr. G. and the versatile school-
master, who were both going to Petritz, with a promise
to meet them there in the course of a few days, and
I joined the party bound for Melenik.
