Show OTES FROM TURKEY the 8 we have now had lutle ifan privilege of spending a aa 0 over ver two months in this city aavo locating at ing the principles of the clespe pel of jesus christ we have bee corae acquainted with certain things of till 10 9 to this strange peo people pi e some of which k S may y interest the readers tile hund 6 NEWS since arriving here hundreds fco of 0 persons have called on w hear ua what these new preach ers might have to say they are very inquisitive and exhibit a desire to learn and to know something better than the traditions of their forefathers but the people in this district axe are hardly emancipated from the turkish yoke this fact is manifest in many ways as the influence is yet deeply impressed upon the people when it so happened that a few turks called while we had christian visitors the last nailed would cease reading and speaking and move back and when our visitors had quietly departed a sigh of relief would escape almost as much as to say this time we got away without serious harm this scare is not because of any present danger but folks here relate many pitiable tales of hardship endured in days of fanatical arule rule for example men were not allowed to wear the jes nor any head bandage to imitate the turban they were forbidden to shave and could not wear long hair if any portion of their hair could be seen below the headdress head dress they were complained of and fined and many demands made that would cause the most hardhearted hard hearted to blush with shame this should not be understood as peculiar to the turks alone because it has been amply demonstrated that the christians have done the same game or worse and are even doing it today where the government entrusts them with a petty office adana is a city of about twenty thousand inhabitants it is located on the river fihnn formerly barns in a province called inthe in the time of the romans CC cilicia ilicia 11 it is situated in tile the large chukur valley with the tarsus mountains in the background to the north this country is reckoned to be one of the most fruitful spots in the empire the whole valley is of a sandy loam interspersed in places with black rich soil and altogether it is very productive wheat barley and corn axe are in abundance when the season is good and grapes figs and other semi giop teal ical fruits are plentiful the th e natural wealth of tile the country may also be noticed by the fact that beggars are few compared to many places in turkey that the city is very old is certain from some of the old old ruins yet to be found the best beat of these are a bapple of ancient churches or have been reconstructed to answer the purpose of mosques here are some gates of very ancient and extra fine workmanship mau ship of persian design which show that the place was one of importance in the days of darius but as it has been the policy of the people le to destroy the memory of everything b ing not exactly kolanish Ko no trace or tradition as to many ruins in turkey can be found about twenty miles east of this lace in the same large valley Is elace seated the city of ofT tarsus arsua the birthplace lace of the apostle paul paul having been so highly estimated in the church of jesus christ it is only right to chronicle a few facts relating to the city it favored as being his birthplace tarsus was waa formerly a very I 1 important spot and the apostle in making ing his hia defense before the jews jewa said to the chief crap captain tain ill 1 am a man which am a jew of tarsus a city of Cill cilicia cla a citizen of no mean city the city is beautifully located on the river tarsus anciently Cyd mis 11 with about inhabitants here also are found some old mines minea the city is like a garden being well supplied with trees and orchards the tarsus ran range ge 1 of f 1 mountains which lies at the back back of this large valley or plain of over 50 miles each way renders the climate very endurable and pleasant and help to make it healthy with its fresh air and water in the city of tarsus the american mission lias has a church and a congregation but of no particular importance I 1 dare say paul be proud of it they would of course not let him honor them with a real pure gospel discourse for he would certainly expose the hollowness of their pretensions on arriving here one immediately observes the difference between the quiet let turks and the noisy arabs the the people are much heavier built and snow show that they are harder working the arabs are more slender and easygoing easy going though it is hard to conceive how any could be more indifferent than the turks are at times the women are also very different from the arab women they are inclined to be stoop shouldered especially ally the Christi christians atis who have a very careless walk as a rule while the turkish women may usually be known by their dignified walk and certain step on 0 n the other oth er handtke hand the arab woman is very erect mind and habit are shown to have great influence in the growth and development of the individual about the only difference in the dress of the people in adana and other parts of turkey is a headdress head dress drew still in use among some of the turkish ladies it seems in days past to have been a peculiar study to invent something to make life a burden to the woman and to hide her face consequently they have found out that one way to make her look hideous is to get a vece piece of stiff horse hair cloth about a bout 1 12 inches square and place it over the head in the form of a shaker haker P with a bearing toward the ground thus the poor creature can only see a few feet ahladas ahe adas the mouth and nose are carefully bandaged hence if in case of dire necess ityl she has bag to look up in order to avoid danger OT or to satisfy curiosity she presents a sight eight something like the open mouth of a rhinoceros F P F HINTZE ADANA april 1889 |