Tues 9. [9 May 1905] Drove off at 8 with Fattuh to Sille. On the way we
saw in full Bedouin dress one of the prisoners who has recently
arrived from Busra. He is I believe a relation of Ibn er Rashid. I
measured and planned the church and returned to lunch where I found
my friend of last night and another (agent of an English firm too,
Nowell of Sheffield) and {Kesloffsky who is controller of this section}
no the station master a Greek a cheerful bird. He talked much of the
improvement in the country. They run in harvest time regularly and
sometimes at other seasons special freight trains. They have about
500 wagons on the whole line, 50 for passengers and 450 for
merchandize. They carry animals divided into the classes 1. Horses
and cows and buffaloes. 2 Donkeys pigs 3 Sheep and goats. They
make special prices so that the ..... costs about £17. They run from
here daily 4 passenger wagons 3 3rd class and 1 2nd and 1st. No
one travels in the first but the employÈs of the line. The train to Eski
Shehir [Eskisehir (Dorylaeum)] costs them about £400 and they get
£10 to £20 in fares. They all agree that Faik Pasha is no good at all.
After lunch came the consul's kavass and I visited 2 mosques, very
lovely but in ruins: Darende with a tall minaret (also called Laranda
Energe and Sala bn Atta) and Sirchale, very much ruined, only the
mihrab remains. At Darende there is a very lovely mazar with
exquisite tiles very well preserved. Went back to Kara Tai and saw
the tomb of Tellal ed Din Konawi, no tiles but an old Kuran
contemporary with the tomb apparently. One came and talked Arabic
with me. Tea with Frau Loytved and back to the hotel. Dined with the
Loytveds. Husne Bey was there and proved a very pleasant man.
He is a great authority on Kufic which he writes. He showed me a
pattern for a carpet he was drawing with the Emperor's name in Kufic
as the design. After dinner there came in the manager of the Ottoman
bank, a Syrian from Beirut [Beyrouth] and a great Anglophile. We had
some talk in Arabic. My servants with my horses fetched me and I
rode bareback home through the delicious night.