Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 December 1894 — A SCHOLASTIC ISLAND. [ARTICLE]

A SCHOLASTIC ISLAND.

The Island of Chalki, Its- Schools and Hermits. An island almost entirely given up to education is about the last thing one would, expect to find in the Levant: nevertheless in the Sea of Marmora, abou t ten miles from Constantinople and within sight of its many minarets, such an anomaly exists and flourishes exceedingly. The island is called “Chalki” by the Greeks, and “Saddlebags” by the Turks, from its resemblance to those indispensable adjuncts to Eastern travel when suspend ed from the back of a mule. Chalki is one of the Princes Islands, close to that unfortunate rock on which Henry Bulwer wrecked his diplomatic career, and this curious development of educational establishments upon it is due to the fact that these Princes Islands have for centuries enjoyed comparative tranquility, and immunity from those political catastrophes which have well nigh ruined the rest of Turkey. They have in their sea-girt strength been a haven for peach-loving Greeks and other nationalities ever since Mohammed 11. gave them a species of home rule which still exists; that is to say. they govern themselves by municipal bodies of their own, they are exceedingly lightly taxed, and they carry out their own improvements after a western fashion which appears quite out of character in the Levant. These favorable circumstances have combined to make Prinkipo, the largest of the group, the favorite retreat of the merchants of Constantinople, and hence a perfect insular Babel, as may be judged from the fact that in fourteen adjoining villas fourteen different tongues are spoken. These well-to-do men have combined to make their island comfortable in every way; they have just constructed a road eight miles long, which goes the circuit of their island, and their villas have all the modern improvements, from electric bells to fashionable wall papers; whereas Chalki, the second island in point of size, is entirely given up to educ ition, and possesses two celebrated institutions, namely, the commercial and theological colleges, which provide for the young Greeks of Constantinople the best education that can be got in Turkey.