'General information on Persia for any future edition, 1895' [‎74v] (139/211)

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propaganda and the dissemination of opinions and ideas incompatible with due
allegiance to the Porte, is as apparent here as in Aleppo and Syria, and applications of
recent years for such permission is almost invariably refused or delayed. These
difficulties, however, created by the Porte, and sustained half-heartedly by the local
authorities, are generally overcome, or circumvented, by the practice adopted by the
missions of hiring houses as private residences, opening schools on these premises, and
converting the most eligible apartment into a chapel for divine service, pending
permission to erect suitable edifices.
Railway .—The small (English) line from Mersina to Tarsous and Adana, a distance
of 42 miles, was opened in March 1886 at a cost of 160,000/.; paid no dividend during
the first three years, owing to failure of crops and consequent curtailment of traffic.
Things are now looking better; last year expenses were paid, and this year a dividend
will be available. The shortness of the line, excessive cost, militate against any hope
of its being a financial success, but efforts are being made to obtain leave of extension
to Osmanie.
Ports .—With the exception of Yamourtalik, close to Ayass, a land-locked ana
magnificent natural port but little used, no harbour exists on the coast of the vilayet.
The ports of Mersina (which holds the chief place for exports and imports), Caradash,
Selefki, Celendri, and Anamour are open roadsteads unprotected from the south-west
winds, which, however, rarely blow heavily enough to cause disaster to shipping.
Despite the bar of the River Cadmus, which flows past Adana, sailing-barges in
summer come up to the city for corn, which they convey to ships in Mersina roads.
Public Security. —A remarkable absence of crime against the person and property
obtains throughout the vilayet, and which, I was informed, dates from very old times.
This is not ascribed to police efficiency, but to the character of the people. I was much
struck with the facility with which journeys by carriage and wfftbout escort or guards
of any kind was habitually performed by natives and foreigners from Adana to
Kaisseriah, Koniah, Adalia, and Smyrna, and dangers from robbers or foot-pads were
never dreamt of.
Police .—In Adana a force of gendarmes of fifty men is maintained, of which
fifteen are horse and thirty-five foot. The men, chiefly Nusariah, are all regularly
paid. Eight police agents are also employed, one for every quarter of the town,
attached to the police stations, under the orders of a Commissary of the Police of the
Second Class.
In the smaller towns a similar force is employed in diminished numbers. The
usual complaints of abuses obtain.
Military Forces .—The military forces of the vilayet form part of the 5th Corps
d’Armee, head-quarters at Damascus. They comprise three battalions of infantry, two
of which are stationed at Adana, and the "other at Eekki, in the Kozan Dagh. The
Adana battalions furnish small garrisons of twenty to thirty men each to Mersina,
Tarsous, and Selefki. At Adana is stationed a Siwa Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. in charge of the head
quarters of the Reserves.
Circassians .—The history and present condition of the Circassian and Tartar
immigrants, sent as colonists by the Turkish Government to the Vilayet of Adana,
are sad. Having seen much of the Circassian Colonies in the Vilayets of Aleppo
and Syria, I was prepared for the state of things in the Adana Vilayet.
A few years after the Crimean War large numbers of the Nogais Tartars were
persuaded to leave their homes under promise of better things in Turkey, and about
30,000 arrived in Adana, of which the bulk were planted in the extremely fertile, but
unhealthy, virgin plains of Osmanie, chiefly at Yerswat, a few being scattered in the
villages about Mersina and Tarsous. Of this large number only about 4,000 now
remain; marsh and other fevers incidental to the disturbance of virgin soil, together
with the excessive heat in summer, having accounted for the remainder, with the
exception of a few who went to Koniah and other parts of the interior.
Uncleanliness, and inability to withstand the great heat of the plains, which tries
the constitution of the strongest native, who, however, generally seeks refuge in the
hills when possible, caused great mortality among them, and a remnant only is left.
After the Russo-Turkish War a large number of well-to-do Bulgarian peasants
arrived, but, finding the climate and country unsuited, left for other parts of the
interior, and now only about fifteen to twenty families remain. At the same time,
10,000 to 12,000 Nogais Tartars also arrived, and were scattered among the villages of
Mersina and Tarsous, but many died shortly after arrival, and after three to four
months they dispersed, the bulk going to Yerswat and other Nogais Colonies in the
Osmanid plains.