arriero

The Young Chevalier Leon, read by John Hunter.

Muleteer by Scott Calkins.

Carlos, read by Jim Hedrick.

Notary, read by Alan Mapstone.

Slowly perhaps, but very surely he undermines with irresistible persistence the customs and habits which from time immemorial have held their own against the religious educational or military forces of stronger nations.

This particular spot has long been the battle of the east and the west now one Now the other has had temporary ascendance in the long run The East has always conquered But already we can see what a power the East Has to reckon with In the railway For one thing It attacks the Eastern in one of His vital points His conception Of time Time waited for Him when he Had but camels To load But the Railway will Not wait for him The Monster Screeches And is off Sunrise Or two hours After sunrise Is not One and the Same thing To him Relentless As the day And night He Comes and Goes And there is No cheating Him as the Eastern Cheats time But the Railway Is cheating The East Out of Its timeworn Customs and Ideas And there is A certain Sadness In the Evidences Of transition All down The line Picturesque Native costumes Are being Replaced By ugly European Clothes The men Wear terrible Fancy trouserings From Manchester The women Spend More money On dress And unfortunately It is European Dress And less On the Old fashioned Wedding feasts The turnover Of the shops In the larger Towns has increased Fourfold In the last Ten years The bazaars Are now A medley Of stalls Exhibiting Native manufacturers Side by Side With cheap Trinkets From England And loud Flannelettes From Italy The price Of wheat Has doubled And with That of Wheat The price Of other Exports Have also Risen Opium Wool Mohair Hides And salt Are among The products Of these great Plains Two short Days ride From Nicaea Has brought Us to Mekidje A station On the Anatolian Railway Halfway Between Haider Pasha And Eskisahar The single Line went As far as Konya And one Train ran Each way Every day It stopped For the right At Eskisahar Continuing The journey Next morning We arrived At the Station Some hours Before the Train Was due And sat In the Station Master's Strip of Garden For they Did not Seem Anything else To do We said Goodbye To the Zaptiers And to the Muleteers Who were Returning To Brusa And watched Them slowly Disappear Down the Road We had come Then we Heard the Low Familiar Tinkle Of camel Bells And a score Or more Of the Laden Animals Paced slowly Into the Open Ground Round the Station They have A more Discreet And cheerful Way of Announcing Their arrival Than the Monster And when They appear On the scene They do So in a More dignified Calm manner Having Arrived Also They did Not look As if they Were off Again the next Minute They looked As if they Had come To stay Forever And they Give you Time to think One by one In answer To our Word of Command They knelt Down in the Dust And the Great Baskets Holding the Goods Were unfastened And rolled About on the ground Their owners Seemed too Slack To do any More They let Them lie There While they Looked at The sun The monster Is slowly Replacing These carriers Of the east But their Day is not Yet done By a Long way For they Must feed Him From the Interior His life Is still Dependent On the Life Of those He is Working To destroy At Last We heard His distant Shriek Down upon us He came Dashing up All in a minute In such a Splutter And such a Hurry Waking us All up Officials Rushed Up and down The platform And swore At the Natives Who were Loading Our baggage Everybody Talked at Once To everybody Else And the Monster Hissed Impatiently Noisy Even when He was Standing Still There were Not many Passengers In a First class Carriage A pasha Travelled In solitary State All his harem Were delegated To a second Class carriage Where the Blinds Were pulled Down In the Third class Were a few Natives who Leaned out Of the Windows And gossiped With the Camel Owners Idle witness Of the busy Scene But that Monster Is getting Impatient He hisses Furiously And finally Gives a warning Shriek Then Off he goes And we take A last look At the Kneeling Camels Munching away As Unconcernedly As if their Destroyer Had never Invaded Their peaceful Country Mekidje Is practically At sea level Escishar Is a tableland 2000 feet High We had Therefore A steady Rise on the Whole Journey Up the valley Formed by The Karasu A river Which has Its source In the Neighbourhood Of escishar On each Side Rounded hills Shut out The horizon Save where Here and there A tributary Valley Would reveal Through Steep sided Gorges A distant View of Purple ridges With snow clad Tops It was Night when We arrived At eskisar And we groped Our way Toward the Grand Hotel Danatoli Kept by Greeks It was At this hotel That we first Met Hassan Who was Destined To play Such a large Part in our Future travels He was an Albanian Turk, and had been introduced to us by our friends in Constantinople whom he accompanied on their shooting expeditions in this district.

They had written to ask him to look after us during our brief stay at Eskisehir.

Ibrahim brought him into our room: And there he stood silently after salaaming us in the usual way.

Arton is not a clean cook, Hassan would say, and Arton would smile sadly.

He must have been slightly conscious of this defect for he never handed me a plate or a spoon without saying Temiz Clean As a forestalling measure before I'd even looked at it.

He spent a good deal of time rubbing smeary plates with a blackish cloth murmuring Temiz Temiz He had a sincere desire to please us But he always imagined this object was attained by the vigorous assertion Of any fact That seemed necessary For our pleasure Taze Fresh He would say Every time he handed Me an egg And when I cut Off the top And an explosion followed Taze He would say again Heat it yourself then I would suggest Handing it back To him After putting His great nose Right into it Taze He would say But he never ate It He kept it For omelettes His nose Was his chief Feature One saw The nose first And then The man behind It On cold days When we All wrapped Our heads And faces Entirely In kefirs Arton Would always Be distinguishable From the others By this Protrusion He had A jet Black Drooping Moustache Which he Was always Wiping Furtively With a Jet-black Pocket handkerchief For Arton Was a Greedy Man And the Only Person Who loved The taste Of his own Cookery I like To see Him getting Fat X would Say He looked Half starved When he Came to Us But Hassan And I Were Not So charitable Look Hassan Would say The door Of the Tent Is shut That Pig Arton Is stealing The food And he Would go And kick At the tent Until Arton Looked Out Guiltily wiping His moustache You are Cold I suppose Says Hassan With lofty Sarcasm Arton mops His perspiring Brow He was Always Perspiring How cold He answers With well Feigned Surprise Because You Shut The tent Door Answers Hassan Aman Rejoins Arton What am I To do If the Muleteers See me Cooking They come And ask For food They Are such Greedy Men The muleteers Hassan Returns to US Snorting Arton says The muleteers Are greedy men Mashallah Greedy men We know who Is the Greedy man And he Slaps his Thigh Vehemently Arton's Notion of Cookery Were As i Have said Limited His staple Dish was A mixture Of mutton Potatoes onions And rice Which were All cooked Up together In the same Pot Each ingredient Been thrown In according To the Length of Time it took To cook It certainly tasted Very good And i would Suggest the Method to those In england Who dislike Washing many Saucepans His other Idea of cooking Mutton was Less satisfactory In results Though Simpler in method And i have no Hesitation in Not recommending It to english Housewives Although i Append the recipe As a matter Of interest From its Originality Take a Piece of Sheep And with an Axe Cut it Into chunks Regardless Of bones Or gristle Take a chunk And throw it Onto red Hot charcoal In a brazier When there is A distinct Smell of burning And the Hissing has Nearly ceased Turn it over On the Other side When it Resembles a piece Of burnt Charcoal Remove it And serve at Once Swallow whole As if you Try to bite It your teeth Will remind You of it For a Considerable time And in Any case You will be Conscious of Its resting Place for the Remainder of the Day When staying At a consulate In the Middle of our Tour The consul's Wife Horrified at our fare Offered to let Her cook Teach arton A few Simple dishes Which would Considerably Add to our Comfort Arton Acquiesced With very Good grace And was Inducted Amongst other Things In the Art Of making Cutlets On our Departure Our kind Hostess Moreover Provided us With a piece Of meat Suitable for Cutlets The first Evening There was an Undercurrent Of excitement In the Air There were to be Cutlets for dinner Arton Had an important Self-conscious Bustle About him And looked Mysterious The zaptiyehs seemed awed and asked questions under their breath.

The greedy muleteers were distinctly interested.

The Young Chevalier Leon, read by John Hunter.

Muleteer by Scott

Calkins.

Carlos, read by Jim Hedrick.

The Ass and the Mule.

A Muleteer set forth on a journey, driving before him an Ass and a Mule, both well laden.

The Ass, as long as he traveled along the plain, carried his load with ease: but when he began to ascend the steep path of the mountain, felt his load to be more than he could bear.

He entreated his companion to relieve him of a small portion, that he might carry home the rest; but the Mule paid no attention to the request.

The Ass shortly afterward fell down dead under his burden.

Not knowing what else to do in so wild a region, the Muleteer placed upon the Mule the load carried by the Ass, in addition to his own, and at the top of all placed the hide of the Ass after he had skinned him.

The Mule, groaning beneath his heavy burden, said to himself, "I am treated according to my deserts.

If I had only been willing to assist the Ass a little in his need

The Ass and the Mule.

A Muleteer set forth on a journey, driving before him an Ass and a Mule, both well-laden.

The Ass, as long as he traveled along the plain, carried his load with ease, but when he began to ascend the steep path of the mountain, felt his load to be more than he could bear.

He entreated his companion to relieve him of a small portion, that he might carry home the rest.

But the Mule paid no attention to the request.

The Ass shortly afterward fell down dead under his burden.

Not knowing what else to do in so wild a region, the Muleteer placed upon the Mule the load carried by the Ass in addition to his own, and at the top of all placed the hide of the Ass after he had skinned him.

The Mule, groaning beneath his heavy burden, said to himself, "I am treated according to my deserts.

Bandits, avalanches, and the sheer physical toll of the journey made it a gauntlet.

Muleteers would lead teams of animals loaded with goods, and they developed their own language, their own customs, their own way of life.

It was a brutal job, but it was essential.

Some historians estimate that by the late Middle Ages, a thousand mules might pass through the Gothard in a single day during peak seasons.

The Young Chevalier Leon, read by John Hunter.

Muleteer by Scott

Calkins.

Carlos,

The Ass and the Mule.

A Muleteer set forth on a journey, driving before him an Ass and a Mule, both well-laden.

The Ass, as long as he traveled along the plain, carried his load with ease; but when he began to ascend the steep path of the mountain, felt his load to be more than he could bear.

He entreated his companion to relieve him of a small portion, that he might carry home the rest.

But the Mule paid no attention to the request.

The Ass shortly afterward fell down dead under his burden.

Not knowing what else to do in so wild a region, the Muleteer placed upon the Mule the load carried by the Ass in addition to his own, and at the top of all placed the hide of the Ass after he had skinned him.

The Mule, groaning beneath his heavy burden, said to himself, "I am treated according to my deserts.

The Young Chevalier Leon, read by John Hunter.

Muleteer by Scott Calkins.

Carlos, read by Jim Hedrick.

Notary, read by Alan Mapstone.