Sun. 23. [23 April 1905] Slept little. Up at 1 and we begun the packing
up which lasted till 3.30. I found the horses had been given nothing but
tibu and myself fed them on corn. So off under the moon which was
mist veiled. At 4.30 in the first grey dawn we came to Missis [Misis]
which is Mopsuesta. It is a squalid little place with a fine bridge over
the Jihan [Ceyhan], Roman I think in part. At the W end we rode
through the city walls and the traces of a great gate. So out onto the
endless Cilician plain, all covered with corn. We met a long train of
camels carrying soap from Antioch [Antakya (Hatay)] and found that
they were the same we had seen on the road the day we left Antioch.
The drivers were men from Kaisariyeh [Kayseri (Caesarea Mazaca)]
which was Khalil's town - great conversations. We passed a long low
crest with a weli on it and 2 curious mounds by the roadside probably
watch towers or to mark the way. It seemed endless along the flat
stretch to the town. We got in at 9.30. The only picturesque thing in
Adana [(Seyhan, Ataniya)] is the entrance with the bridge across the
Seihan [Seyhan]. We rode all through the squalid town to the house
of the Vice Consul's Vakil, a rich Greek called {Dmitri} Trepani. He
was most polite and ready to do all I wanted. He sent a man with me
to show me the best hotel, which is close to the bridge, on the edge of
the river. Lunch a bath and sleep. At 2 Mr Dmitri came for me and we
went to see the Vali, Bahri Pasha, an obliging old Kurd who talked
nothing but Turkish. He has been at Adana 6 years. Dimitri says he
is no good but at any rate he keeps the town remarkably well paved.
He is said to send lots of money to C'ple [Istanbul (Constantinople)]
from his province. He was formerly in the Sultan's household at C'ple.
Found Mr Lloyd in the hotel, to my great joy, and we spent the whole
afternoon and evening talking.