Childs traversa, juste avant la Première guerre mondiale, l'Anatolie à pied de Samsun à Iskenderun en passant par Tokat, Sivas, Kayseri, la Cappadoce, Adana... à une époque de troubles, pendant la guerre contre l'Italie. Ce moyen de transport assez aventureux était peu usité des voyageurs qui lui préféraient les chevaux.
Il permettait en particulier un meilleur contact avec la population. Le témoignage de Childs est très intéressant, même s'il n'est pas exempt de quelques préjugés.
Childs, W. J., Across Asia Minor on foot,William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London, 1917, 460 pages
Disponible sur archive.org : http://www.archive.org/details/acrossasiaminoro00chiliala
Table des matières
CHAPTER I.
A Black Sea gale - First snow of winter - I seem to have started too late - The Austrian Captain's views - The "Lord Bill " - The glamorous coast of Asia Minor - Alluring mountain-roads - I land at Samsun for the Bagdad Road .... 1
CHAPTER II.
Samsun - Ottoman Greeks and Hellenic navy - How Samsun dealt with cholera - Changed plans for the journey - Achmet - An American girl on the Bagdad Road - Country of a famous legend - Shadow of Russia - At the top of the pass - A head in the scrub - Khan at Chakallu - Turkish travelling - Caravan traffic and camps at Chakallu - Common-room at the khan ... 10
CHAPTER III.
Tipping at Chakallu khan - Goats one of the curses of mankind - A weird beggar - On the great plateau of Asia Minor - Kara Dagh and its robbers - A Roman road - An ancient and modern watering-place - A fashionable khan at Khavsa - Absence of women in Turkish travelling - Ritual of coffee-making - Gorge of the "Flowing Backwards" river - Flour mills - Difficulties with camels - A Greek fisherman - I leave the Bagdad Road - Walnut groves, vineyards, and burying-grounds at Marsovan … 26
CHAPTER IV.
Marsovan - Vineyard quarrels - The Tash Khan as a place of refuge - Armenians and Turks - Pistols - Kara Mustapha Pasha : Donkey-driver, Janissary, Grand Vizier - His plot - His defeat at Vienna - His death by bowstring … 38
CHAPTER V.
American Mission at Marsovan - The "Gilt-edged Mission" - The old compound - English nurses and hospital garden - An American walled village - "The Parting Tree" - Busy days - The " Business Manager " - Students of Anatolia College - Many nationalities - Ascendancy of Russian students - Armenian students - Revolutionaries and the College - Greek students : their ancient Greek characteristics … 49
CHAPTER VI.
Marsovan Mission Hospital - Mission doctor and robbers - " Harden Effendi" - Hospital scenes - A case of self -amputation - Magic of the "actual cautery" - The pensioned smuggler - Hospital shooting season - Hard- worked medical staff - Surgeon and nurses on the run - Running orderly and patient - In the foreign nurses' sitting-room … 58
CHAPTER VII.
On Marsovan plain - A conqueror's saying - Achmet a Bulgarian mohadji - Charcoal-burners - A singular ravine - The making of pekmez - An ominous noise - Amasia the most picturesque city in Asia Minor - Its precipices and river - Choosing a meal - Kabob - Moonrise, singing, and drums … 65
CHAPTER VIII.
Arrested in Amasia - An Armenian offers help - In a chemist's shop - "Who is Sir Edward Grey ?" - Interviewing the Governor - Achmet climbing - The castle - Treasure-trove in Asia Minor - Signalling sunset - Early morning scenes - Punishing a thief - Old buildings of Amasia - The Mirror Tomb - Land of the Amazons - Amazons of the present day - Gardens of Amasia - A German colony … 76
CHAPTER IX.
Market-folk at Amasia - Many races - Rock-dwellers - Begging children - A professional beggar - Wayside shop - A swaggering Kurd - Yeni Bazaar Ehan - Zilleh and Julius Caesar … 91
CHAPTER X.
A caravan track from Yeni Bazaar - French road -surveyors' camp - Bullock-carters defy the law - Turkhal and its flies - Basil and Gregory the Illuminator at Annesoi - Jelat Khan - The Imperial Ottoman Mail - Road of evil name - Precautions - Customs of the road - Doubtful horsemen - Entering Tokat … 97
CHAPTER XI.
Tokat - Dagger- wearing people - A pleasant khan - Armenian soldiers - On yoghourt - Achmet as kitchen-maid - A Greek visitor - Tokat Castle - Osman Pasha - Death of Henry Martyn - Achmet and the sentry - Breaking into a Turkish house - Commercial khans of Tokat - An Armenian pastor - Rumours of massacre on my road … 110
CHAPTER XII.
Morning scenes at Tokat khan - On the southward road - Tobacco smuggling - A smuggling party in the act - A dangerous path-way - Musical bullock-carts- Chiftlik Khan ...122
CHAPTER XIII.
An unexpected meeting - Rumours of massacre at Yeni Khan - Crossing Chamli Bel - Villages in hiding - Turkish recruits on Chamli Bel - The affair at Yeni Khan - Prompt measures - The Moslem mood - Circassians and the Evil Eye - Roadside prayer - The corvee in operation - The "Place of Willows Khan" … 131
CHAPTER XIV.
Entering Sivas - A city of past greatness - An Armenian migration - Seljuk colleges - Sivas and Russian wars - Road and railway centre - The Crooked Bridge - The difficulties of a Vali - Forty banished pashas - British military consuls - American mission - Armenian Monastery of St Nishan - The Armenian Bishop of Sivas - The Bishop's tradition of Timur … 143
CHAPTER XV.
Selecting another araba-driver - Mehmet - Boisterous Turkish recruits - On the road for Kaisariyeh - Far-off view of Argaeus - Mehmet's peculiarities - A quarrel - Dogs, and more dogs - The coloured hills - Lazis on the road - The ancient road between Sivas and Kaisariyeh … 160
CHAPTER XVI.
In the guest-house at Kara Geul - An Armenian village - The English language in Asia Minor - Another quarrel with Mehmet - Armenians in dread of massacre - The ambitious schoolmaster - A traveller of dignity - The notable kavass - Sultan Khan - Mighty Argaeus - The geomej on Lale Bel - The sunken roads - A carpet- weaving population - A deserted Seljuk college - The wrong road at evening - At the American Mission Hospital, Talas … 169
CHAPTER XVII.
In Talas town - The most medieval-looking streets in Asia Minor- Rhodian masons - Mangals - Ali Dagh and Argaeus - King George and Argaeus - A troglodyte chapel - An Armenian monastery - Bones of John the Baptist - Finding a pack-horse and driver - I engage Ighsan … 182
CHAPTER XVIII.
Ighsan begins his duties - Fever at the khan - Seeing Kaisariyeh - Salutations - Self-conscious Turkish officers - At the Mosque of Houen - The castle - Dungeons - On the castle tower - The site of Maxaca - St Basil and Caesarea - Buying in the bazaars - " Another Englishman has come " - A dinner-party at the khan - A Jew-hater … 191
CHAPTER XIX.
The start with a pack-horse - Dull road and weather - Benighted - Tired travellers - No room in Injesu Khan - No room in the village - Billeted troops - A barber's shop receives us - The wine of Injesu - The drummer of Injesu - Ottoman drums … 204
CHAPTER XX.
I leave Injesu for the land of cave-dwellers - Ighsan disappears and returns - A strange land in sight - Ighsan shows his scars - Urgub of the Holes - Introduction to cave life - A travelling merchant - Rock-hewn houses, monasteries, stables, chapels, and tombs - Door of a stronghold … 213
CHAPTER XXI.
A fine morning in Cappadocia - A ravine of caves and gardens - The Valley of Guérémé [Göreme] - Cones standing like tents - A troglodyte café - Bishopric of Matiane - Uch Hissar village and rock - A muster of Moslems - Nevshehr - Another Greek merchant - Nar : a delightful cave-dwellers' village - Rock and village of Orta Hissar … 224
CHAPTER XXII.
Return to Injesu - A native washing-day - The drummer again - The pasha at the khan - An ancient caravanserai - Gypsies - Castles of Asia Minor - A murderer in custody at Develi Elara Hissar … 242
CHAPTER XXIII.
The caravan track to the Mediterranean - Heavy snow at last - The guest-room at Enighil - Robbers before us - Circassians at Kavluk Tepe - A Turkish burying-ground - A place of memories for Ighsan - Under Ala Dagh - The guest-house at Bayam Dere - A morning visitor challenged … 249
CHAPTER XXIV.
Southward from Bayam Dere - Pedestrian traffic - At Yelatin Khan - News of robbers - Expecting attack - Zaptiehs in search - Fundukli Khan - Bozanti - The Bagdad Railway - German aims - The store at Ak Keupru - The Cilician Pass - The wine-shop at Tosan Ali … 265
CHAPTER XXV.
Ulu Kishla - "German castles" - On the Great Plain - Rail to Konia - Shepherds - The runners at Karaman - Hotel de la Gare at Konia - Konia a Seljuk capital - Iconium of St Paul - Moslem colleges - Konia as future Ottoman capital - Return to Ulu Kishla - A blizzard - Snowed up … 279
CHAPTER XXVI.
Turkish officers at Ulu Kishla - Turkish officers and men - Loulon Castle - "The Bulwark of Tarsus" - The Bagdad Railway again - The wine-shop at Tahkta Keupru - Snowed up once more - "Sportmen" arrive - A struggle - Circassian bilkers - A high-wayman - A night alarm - Arrival at Dubekji Khan … 287
CHAPTER XXVII.
Snow-bound at Dubekji Khan - A quarrel with Ighsan - His brigand friends - Brigands of Asia Minor - On the road again - Road blocked by caravans - The Cilician Gates Pass - Castles - Forts - Ibrahim Pasha - British guns - Castle of the Sclavonian Guard - The Gate of the Pass - Descending to the Mediterranean … 304
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Return to the Cilician Gates - A short stage to Yeni Khan - A sacred tree - Yeni Khan - A quarrel with knives - English country - In the myrtle scrub - Oleander and asphodel - Conscripts on the road - A scrimmage with Arabs - Rain and mud by night on the Tarsus road - Lights of the jingaan - Tarsus … 318
CHAPTER XXIX.
An old Tarsus khan - Held prisoner by rain - The roof comes down - Song of the first ironworkers - St Paul's American College -Old Tarsus - The Cydnus - The ancient traffic of Tarsus - Gate of Holy War again - The Cypriote drill-sergeant - An athletic Swiss lady - Mersina - The market-place - The Cilician Plain - Cotton - Adana … 331
CHAPTER XXX.
Adana - On a flat roof - The Bagdad Railway again - Armenians of Cilicia - Lesser Armenia - The great Adana massacre - Major Doughty-Wylie - Armenian unwisdom - Killing an Armenian pastor - Hanging of Moslems - Ibrahim, of the British Consulate - I pay off Ighsan - His successor Mustapha - The British Consul goes with me a stage … 344
CHAPTER XXXI.
Leaving Adana - At Missis Khan - Ruins of Mopsuestia - A caravanserai - Ibrahim in difficulties - The Oxford Book of English Verse - A wet day on the road - Yarzuat - Turkish dentist for the Consul - Ibrahim as cook - Travelling in mud - Toprak Kale and Alexander the Great - Mustapha goes off - Benighted in the orchards of Osmanieh - The hotel at Osmanieh - On the road to Baghche - The German official - Baghche tunnel … 358
CHAPTER XXXII.
Still at Baghche - His Excellency - His work and methods - Baron Marschall von Bieberstein - Inception of the Bagdad Railway - German diflficulties - A pro -German Turk - Pass over the Giaour Dagh - A zaptieh on patrol - A wayside burial - El Oghlu Khan - Ladder and guests at night - On Marash plain - Arrival at Marash … 376
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Marash - Fanatical Moslems - A hair of Mahomet's beard - Industrious Armenians - An American school - A German Mission and Hospital - Leo the Isaurian - The Governor of Marash - On the road to Zeitûn - Gorge of the Zeitûn Su - The slippery hills - Fighting expected at Zeitûn - Zeitûn town and scenes - The Jerusalem battalion - Zeitfan gunsmiths - Deeds of the Zeitûnlis … 388
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Marash eastward - A country of nomads - Bazaarluk - The Stambûl hamal - Aintab - A native Anglican church - Aintab southward - A rich land and pleasant road - "Khan of the Five Eyes" - Feeding camels - Killis - Disturbance in the market-place - Syrian scenes - The Rock of Azaz - The knife at Gaferuntun Khan … 404
CHAPTER XXXV.
Road into Aleppo - Hector, a British kavass - Individuality of Aleppo - An ancient eastern city - Its mystery - Old alleys and courts - The Assassins - The bazaars - Old commercial khans - The wool-cleaners - The Citadel - Aleppo and its English intercourse - "The Most Worshipful the British Levant Company" - Alexander Drummond - Influence of the passes on Aleppo and Antioch - Aleppo and future railroad construction … 414
CHAPTER XXXVI.
A strange Armenian - His story by the Antioch gate - Leaving Aleppo - The posting-house at Termanin - St Simon Stylites - Hammam - The Kentish motto - Lying perdu in a bank of asphodel - Plain of Antioch - Broken soldiers on the road - Scenes at Kirk Khan … 432
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Morning in Beilan Pass - Mountain horsemen - Overlooking the Gulf of Alexandretta - Alexander the Great at Beilan Pass - English merchant ships at Alexandretta in the eighteenth century - Jacob's Well - Scanderbeg - Alexander Drummond - Alexandretta as a German port - Jonah's Pillars - Battlefield of Issus - The overland route to India - A neglected British opportunity - The eastern end of the Mediterranean and the future - Another British opportunity - On a British steamer … 441