Note 54 — I A CHAPTER OF GEOGRAPHY

We do not attempt to distinguish any but the types that recall the various Hittite representations in contemporary sculptures, particularly those which decorate the walls of Egyptian temples. Such resemblance may be accidental, but it is of interest. In the deeper inquiry, there is a wonderful field of material for a trained ethnographist. Probably no ‘nation’ on earth to-day is composed of so many and varying elements as is that of the Turks. A walk through any market town, where the people are brought together, or even a glance out of the carriage window at the people on the platform of a busy railway station, will bring forth visions of Tartars and Mongols, Greeks and Jews, even occasionally Hindoos and Arabs, as well as the dominant Turkoman, Circassian and Armenian types, all of which under Nature’s gentle and wonderful influence seem to blend quite fittingly together. There is nothing, moreover, that astonishes the reason; for this country was not only the battlefield of nations, but the natural pathway between two continents. Cf. Pls. XV., LXXXV.-LXXXVII.