Some, in their panic, leaped out into the shallow water and sunk
in the mire. The rest retired.
For years the Turkish soldiers attempted to drive the Comitajis
out of the swamp. First they surrounded it, watching all possible
landing places, but the outlaws had supplies smuggled in to them
by the peasants. Then the Turks began bombarding with heavy cannon,
which, of course, was futile, since they could not distinguish
the points at which they were firing. And finally they gave up
molesting the Comitajis, who continued making the swamps their
headquarters until the Young Turks came into power. Then, believing
that a constitutional Macedonia was finally to be granted them,
all the Comitajis laid down their arms.
It is a peculiar fact that Saloniki, one of the largest cities
on the peninsula, with a population considerably over a hundred
thousand, should represent none of the national elements of the
country. For though Bulgars, Turks, Greeks, and Serbs may be found
there, an overwhelming majority, nearly 90,000 of the people, are
Spanish Jews.
Walking along the streets, it would be easy to imagine oneself in
Spain or in Mexico; on all sides the shouts of peddlers, the cries
of cabmen, the conversation of pedestrians, are in Spanish. With
a knowledge of that language the stranger may make his way about
as easily as in his own native country. These are the descendants
of the Jews who were driven out of Spain by Torquemada and his
Spanish Inquisition and were so hospitably received by the Sultan
of Turkey.
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