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About Google Book Search Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers discover the world’s books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web at jhttp : //books . qooqle . com/ Armenia Robert Curzon Digitized by Google ARMENIA: A YEAR AT ERZEROOM, AND ON THE FRONTIERS OF RUSSIA, TURKEY, AND PERSIA. Letu? kx.- BY THE^HON. ROBERT CURZON, ntL U AUTHOR OP * VI8ITS TO tLe MONASTERIES OF THE LEVANT.* Ruined Armenian Churoh near Erzeroom. MAP AND WOODCUTS. THIRD EDITION. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1854. Digitized by Google r D 5 us .Z-? J$ B 4 Digitized by Google 'VI if' c / •/U V PREFACE. Almost from time immemorial a border war¬ fare has been carried on between the Koordish tribes on the confines of Turkey and Persia, in the mountainous country beginning at Mount Ararat towards the north, and continuing south¬ wards to the low lands, where the Shat al Arab, the name of the mighty river formed by the junction of the Tigris and the Euphrates, pours those great volumes of water into the Persian Gulf. The consequence of the unsettled state of affairs in those wild districts was, that the roads were unsafe for travellers; merchants were afraid to trust their merchandise to the conveyance even of well-armed caravans, for they were constantly pillaged by the Koords, headed in our days by the great chieftains Beder Khan Bey, Noor UUah Bey, Khan Abdall, and Khan Mahmoud. The chains of mountains which occupy great part of the country in question are for months every year covered with snow, which even in the elevated plains lies at the depth of many yards: the bands of robbers con¬ stantly on the watch for plunder of any kind prevented the mountain paths from being kept 6 Digitized by Google iv PREFACE. open, so that those who escaped from the long lances of the Koords perished in the avalanches and the snow-drifts by hundreds every year. To put a stop, or at least a check, to so lamentable a state of things, the governments of Turkey and Persia requested the assistance of England and Russia to draw up a treaty of peace, and to come to a distinct understanding as to where the line of border ran between the two empires; for hitherto the Koordish tribes of Turkey made it a virtue to plunder a Persian village, and the Persians, on their side, consi¬ dered no action more meritorious, as well as profitable, than an inroad on the Turkish fron¬ tier, the forays on both sides being conducted on the same plan. The invading party, always on horseback, and with a number of trained led horses, which could travel one hundred miles without flagging, managed to arrive in the neighbourhood of the devoted village one hour before sunrise. The barking of the village curs was the first notice to the sleeping inhabitants that the enemy was literally at the door. The houses were fired in every direction; the people awoke from sleep, and, trying in confusion to escape, were speared on their thresholds by their invaders; the place was plundered of every¬ thing worth taking; and one hour after sunrise the invading bands were in full retreat, driving before them the flocks and herds of their victims, and the children and girls of the village Digitized by Google PREFACE. V bound on the led horses, to be sold or brought up as slaves; the rest having, young and old, men and women, been killed without mercy, to prevent their giving the alarm: their victors frequently coming down upon them from a dis¬ tance of one hundred to three hundred miles. In hopes of remedying these misfortunes a conference was appointed at Erzeroom, where a Turkish plenipotentiary, Noori Effendi; a Per¬ sian plenipotentiary, Merza Jaffer Khan; a Rus¬ sian commissioner, Colonel Dainese; and an English commissioner, Colonel Williams, of the Royal Artillery, were to meet, each with a numerous suite, to discuss the position of the boundary, and to check the border incursions of the Koordish tribes, both by argument and by force of arms, the troops of both nations being ordered to assist the deliberations of the con¬ gress at Erzeroom by every endeavour on their part to keep the country in a temporary state of tranquillity. The plenipotentiaries on the part of Turkey and Persia and the English and Rus¬ sian commissioners entered upon their arduous task at the beginning of the year 1842. Colonel Williams, to whom the duties of the English commission had been intrusted, was too unwell to proceed to Erzeroom, and I was appointed in his stead, being at that time private secretary to Sir Stratford Canning, her Majesty’s ambas¬ sador at Constantinople. Colonel Williams after¬ wards recovered so much that he was able to h 2 Digitized by ▼i PREFACE. set out, and we started together as joint commis¬ sioners, in company with Colonel (afterwards General) Dainese, on the part of Russia, a gentle¬ man of very considerable talents and attain¬ ments. The discussions between the two governments were protracted by every conceiv¬ able difficulty, which was thrown in the way of the commissioners principally by the Turks. At length, in June, 1847, a treaty was signed, in which the confines of the two empires were defined: these, however, being situated in places never surveyed, and only known by traditional maps, which had copied the names of places one from another since the invention of engraving, it was considered advisable that the true situa¬ tions of these places should be verified in a scientific manner; consequently, a new commis¬ sion was named in the year 1848, whose officers were instructed to define the actual position of the spots enumerated in the treaty above mentioned. These commissioners consisted of Dervish Pasha for Turkey, Merza Jaffer for Persia, Colonel Williams for England, and Colonel Ktchirikoff for Russia. This party left Bagdad in 1848, surveyed the whole of that hitherto unexplored region, among the Koordish and original Christian tribes, which extends to the east of Mesopotamia, till they finished their difficult and dangerous task at Mount Ararat, on the 16th of September, 1852. The results of this expedition are, I hope, to be Digitized by PREFACE. vii presented to the public by the pen of Colonel Williams, and will, I trust, throw a new and interesting light upon the manners and customs of the wild mountaineers of those districts, and give much information relating to the Chal¬ deans, Maronites, Nestorians, and other Chris¬ tian Churches converted in the earliest ages by the successors of the Apostles, of whom we know very little, no travellers hitherto having had the opportunities of investigating their actual condi¬ tion and their religious tenets which have been afforded to Colonel Williams and the little army under his command. Armenia, the cradle of the human family, in¬ offensive and worthless of itself, has for centuries, indeed from the beginning of time, been a bone of contention between conflicting powers : scarcely has it been made acquainted with the blessings of tranquillity and peace, through the mediation of Great Britain, than again it is to become the theatre of war, again to be overrun with bands of armed men seeking each other’s destruction, in a climate which may afford them burial when dead, but which is too barren and inhospitable to provide them with the necessaries of life; and this to satisfy the ambition of a distant potentate, by whose success they gain no advantage in this world or in the next. It is much to be deplored that the Emperor of Russia, by his want of principle, has brought the Christian religion into disrepute; for through- Digitized by Google PREFACE. viii out the Levant the Christians have for years been waiting an opportunity to rise against the oppressors of their fortunes and their faith. The manner in which the Czar has put himself so flagrantly in the wrong will he a check to the progress of Christianity. That the step he has now been taking has been the great object of hia reign, as well as that of all his predecessors since the time of Peter the Great, will be illustrated in the following pages. It appears that the Czar has not been neg¬ lectful in his preparations for the reception of his ancient allies in the Baltic, as well as in the Black Sea. Some years ago the Marquis of Anglesey went to Petersburg in his yacht, and subse¬ quently met the Grand Duke Constantine at a dinner at Baron Brunow’s in London; by his permission I give a fragment of an after-dinner conversation in the Marquis’s own words - “ His Imperial Highness, after reminding me of the six weeks’ very agreeable s6jour we had made at St. Petersburg, told me that the Em¬ peror had vastly increased and enlarged the works of Cronstadt since the time when I had been so much struck with their strength, when I could not resist exclaiming.— “ ‘ Mais k quoi bon, Monseigneur, tout cela ? Sa Majesty ne peut assur&nent pas craindre ni la Su&de ni le Danemare: contre qui done tous ces travaux gigantesques sont-ils destines ?’ Digitized by Google PREFACE, ix “‘Mais, contre voug—contre vous—contre vous!’ vehemently exclaimed his Imperial High¬ ness. “ This produced a good-humoured laugh, and so the conversation ended.” The accession of a Christian emperor to the throne of Constantinople will he an event of greater consequence than is generally imagined; for the Sultan of Roum is considered by all Mahometans in India, Africa, and all parts of the world, to be the vicegerent of God upon earth, and the Caliph or successor of Mohamed; his downfall, therefore, would shatter the whole fabric of the Mahometan faith, for the Sultan is the pride and glory of Islam, and the pale Crescent of the East will wane and set when Kurie Eleison is chanted again under the ancient dome of St. Sofia. What an unfortunate mistake has been made in not waiting for a real and just occasion for press¬ ing forward the ranks of the Cross against the Crescent! Then who would not have joined a righteous cause ?—who would not have given his wealth, his assistance, or his life, in the de¬ fence of his faith against the enemies of his religion ? I feel that, in laying this little book before the public, I am committing a rash act, for I am perfectly aware that it has many imperfections. I was prevented from visiting several important places in Armenia by an illness so severe, brought Digitized by Google X PREFACE. on by the unhealthy climate, that I have not been able to take an active part in life since that time. The following pages were written in a very few days, at a time when other occupations prevented me from giving them that attention which should always he afforded to a work that is intended for the perusal of the public. Nevertheless I consider that, as the countries described are so little known, and as it is not improbable that events of great importance may take place within their boundaries, I should be open to greater blame in withholding any infor¬ mation, however humble, than in presenting to the reader a meagre account of those wild and sterile regions, whose climate and manners are so different from those which are generally described in the works of oriental travellers. These sketches, slight as they are, may per¬ haps be found useful to the members of any expedition which the chances of war may occa¬ sion to be sent into those remote countries, by giving them beforehand some intimation of the preparations necessary to be made for their journey through a district where they would encounter at every step difficulties which they might not have been led to expect in a latitude considerably to the south of the Bay of Naples. Digitized by Google CONTENTS, CHAPTER I. Page The “Bad Black Sea” — Coal-field near the Bosphorus — Trebi- zond from the sea— Fish and turkeys — The bazaars — Coronas — Ancient tombs — Church of St. Sofia — Preservation of old manners and ceremonies — Toilette of a person of distinction — Russian loss in 1828-9 — Ancient prayer — Varna — Statistics of Wallachia — Visit to Abdallah Pasha — His outward appear¬ ance— His love of medical experiments — Trade of Trebizond . 1 CHAPTER n. Departure from Trebizond — A rough road — Turkish pack-horses — Value of tea — The pipe in the East — Mountain riding — Instinct of the horse — A caravan overwhelmed by an avalanche — Mountain of Hoshabounar — A ride down the mountain — Arrival at Erzeroom. ...24 CHAPTER m. The Consulate at Erzeroom — Subterranean dwellings — Snow- blindness — Effects of the severe climate — The city: its popu¬ lation, defences, and buildings — Our house and household — Armenian country houses — The ox-stable • . *34 CHAPTER IV. Narrow escape from suffocation — Death of Noori Effendi — A good shot — History of Mirza Tekee — Persian ideas of the prin¬ ciples of government — The “Blood-drinker” — Massacre at Kerbela — Sanctity of the place — History of Hossein — Attack on Kerbela, and defeat of the Persians — Good effects of com¬ missioners’ exertions * . ...... 52 Digitized by Google xii CONTENTS. CHAPTER Y. Page The boundary question — Koordish chiefs — Torture of Artin, an Armenian Christian — Improved state of society in Turkey — Execution of a Koord — Power of fatalism — Gratitude of Artin’s family . ... . 77 CHAPTER VI. The clock of Erzeroom — A Pasha’s notions of horology — Patho¬ logy of clocks — The tower and dungeon — Ingenious mode of torture — The modern prison.. 100 CHAPTER VII. Spring in Erzeroom — Coffee-house diversions — Koordish exploits — Summer employment — Preparation of tezek — Its varieties and uses.' . . 108 CHAPTER VIII. The prophet of Khoi — Climate — Effects of great elevation above the sea — The genus Homo — African gold-diggings — Sale of a family — Site of Paradise — Tradition of Khosref Purveez — Flowers — A flea-antidote — Origin of the tulip — A party at the Cave of Ferhad, and its results — Translation from Hafiz • 115 CHAPTER IX. The bear — Ruins of a Genoese castle — Lynx — Lemming — Cara guz — Gerboa — Wolves — Wild sheep — A hunting adventure — Camels — Peculiar method of feeding — Degeneration of do¬ mestic animals.133 CHAPTER X. Birds — Great variety and vast numbers of birds — Flocks of geese — Employment for the sportsman — The captive crane — Wild and tame geese — Their pious and profane ancestors — List of birds found at Erzeroom.143 Digitized by Google CONTENTS. xiii CHAPTER XI. Pag* Excursion to the Lake of Tortoom — Romantic bridge — Gloomy effect of the Lake — Singular boat — “ Evaporation” of a pistol -— Kiflirrili Pasha — Extraordinary marksman — Alarming illness of the author — An earthquake — Lives lost through intense cold — The author recovers •••••. 155 CHAPTER XH. Starts for Trebizond — Personal appearance of the author — Mountain-pass — Reception at Beyboort — Misfortunes of Mus- tapha — Pass of Zigana Dagh — Arrival at Trebizond . . 165 CHAPTER XHI. Former history of Trebizond — Ravages of the Goths — Their siege and capture of the city — Dynasties of Courtenai and the Comneni — The " Emperor ” David — Conquest of Trebizond by Mehemet H.* • • 176 CHAPTER XTV. Impassable character of the country — Dependence of Persia on the Czar — Russian aggrandisement — Delays of the Western Powers — Russian acquisitions from Turkey and Persia — Oppression of the Russian government — The conscription — Armenian emi¬ gration — The Armenian patriarch — Latent power of the Pope — Anomalous aspect of religious questions • • • • 191 CHAPTER XV. Ecclesiastical history — Supposed letter of Abgarus, King of Edessa, to our Saviour, and the answer — Promulgation and establish¬ ment of Christianity — Labours of Mesrob Maschdots — Separa¬ tion of the Armenian Church from that of Constantinople — Hierarchy and religious establishments — Superstition of the lower classes—Sacerdotal vestments—The holy books—Romish branch of the Church — Labours of Mechitar — His establish¬ ment near Venice — Diffusion of the Scriptures . . . 212 Digitized by Google CONTENTS. xiv CHAPTER XVI. Page Modem division of Armenia — Population Manners and customs of the Christians Superiority of the Mahometans . • . 231 CHAPTER XVn. Armenian manuscripts — Manus cripts at Etc hmiarin — Compara¬ tive value of manuscripts — Uncial writing — Monastic libraries — Collections in Europe — The St. Lazaro library . • • 236 CHAPTER XVIH. General history of Armenia — Former sovereigns — Tiridates I. receives his crown from Nero — Conquest of the country by the Persians, and by the Arabs — List of modem kings — Misfor¬ tunes of Leo V. ; his death at Paris • • 243 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Frontispiece : General View of Erzeroom. Title-page: Ruined Armenian Church near Erzeroom. Erzeroom. View from the house of the Britictfi Commissioners. To face page 41 Koordish Gallows ....... page 95 Fundook ... 132 Ruined Tower in the Castle of Tortoom . . .To face page 155 Quarantine Harbour, Trebizond .... ,, 175 Boat on the Lake of Tortoom .... „ 157 Map of Armenia ....... At the end. Digitized by Google ARMENIA. CHAPTER L The “ Bad Black Sea” — Coal-field neat the Bosphorus — Trebizond from the sea — Fish and turkeys — The bazaars — Coronas — Ancient tombs — Church of St. Sofia — Preservation of old manners and ceremonies — Toilette of a person of distinction — Russian loss in 1828-9 — Ancient prayer — Varna — Statistics of Wallachia—Visit to Abdallah Pasha— His outward appear* ance — His love of medical experiments — Trade of Trebizond. Fena Kara Degniz. —The Bad Black Sea. This is the character that stormy lake has ac¬ quired in the estimation of its neighbours at Constantinople. Of 1000 Turkish vessels which skim over its waters every year, 500 are said to be wrecked as a matter of course. The wind sometimes will blow from all the four quarters of heaven within two hours’ time, agitating the waters like a boiling caldron. Dense fogs obscure the air during the winter, by the assist¬ ance of which the Turkish vessels continually mistake the entrance of a valley called the False Bogaz for the entrance of the Bosphorus, and are wrecked there perpetually. I have seen dead ■ Digitized by Google ARMENIA. Chap. I. bodies floating about in that part of the sea, where I first became acquainted with the fact that the corpse of a woman floats upon its back, while that of a man floats upon its face. In short, at Constantinople they say that everything that is bad comes from the Black Sea: the plague, the Russians, the fogs, and the cold—all come from thence; and though this time we had a fine calm passage, I was glad enough to arrive at the end of the voyage at Trebizond. Before landing, however, I must give a passing tribute to the beauty of the scenery on the south coast, that is, on the north coast of Asia Minor. Rocks and hills are its usual character near the shore, with higher mountains inland. Between the Bosphorus and Seraclea are boundless fields of coal, which crops out on the side of the hills, so that no mining would be required to get the ooal; and besides this great facility in its pro¬ duction, the hills are of such an easy slope that a tramroad would convey the coal-waggons down to the ships on the sea-coast without any difficulty. No nation but the Turks would delay to make use of such a source of enormous wealth as this coal would naturally supply, when it can be had with such remarkable ease so near to the great maritime city of Con¬ stantinople. It seems to be a peculiarity in Digitized by Google Chap. I. TURKISH COAL-MINES, 3 human nature that those who are too stupid to undertake any useful work are frequently jealous of the interference of others who are more able and willing than themselves, as the old fable of the dog in the manger exemplifies. I understand that more than one English com¬ pany have been desirous of opening these im¬ mense mines of wealth, on the condition of paying a large sum or a good percentage to the Turkish Government; but they are jealous of a foreigner’s undertaking that which they are incapable of carrying out themselves. So English steamers bring English coal to Con¬ stantinople, which costs I don’t know what, by the time it arrives within a few miles of a spot* which is as well furnished with the most useful, if not the most ornamental, of minerals as New¬ castle-upon-Tyne itself. Beyond Sinope, where the flat alluvial land stretches down to the sea-shore, there are forests of such timber as we have no idea of in these northern regions. Here there are miles of trees so high, and large, and straight that they look Ijke minarets in flower. Wild boars, stags, and various kinds of game abound in these magnifi- * Since this was written, the coal-field of Eragld has been opened tinder the direction of English engineers, and the coals are sent to Constantinople. i b 2 Digitized by Google 4 ARMENIA. Chap. I. cent primaeval woods, protected by the fevers and agues which arise from the dense jungle and unhealthy swamps inland, which prevent the sportsman from following the game during great part of the year. The inhabitants of all this part of Turkey, Circassia, &c., are good shots with the short heavy rifle which is their constant companion, and they sometimes kill a deer. As their religion protects the pigs, the wild boars roam unmolested in this, for them at least, “ free and independent country.” The stag resembles the red deer in every respect, only it is considerably smaller; its venison is not particularly good. Trebizond presents an imposing appearance from the sea ; it stands upon a rocky table-land, from which peculiarity in its situation it takes its name —rpairefy being a table in Greek, if we are to believe what Dr.-used to tell us at school. There is no harbour, not even a bay, and a rolling sea comes in sometimes which looks, and I should think must be, awfully dangerous. I have seen the whole of the keel of the ships at anchor, as they rolled over from one side to the other. The view from the sea of the curious an¬ cient town, the mountains in the background, and the great chain of the Circassian mountains on the left, is magnificent in the extreme. The Digitized by Google Chap. I. TURKEYS OF TREBIZOND. 5 only thing that the Black Sea is good for, that I know of (and that, I think, may he said of some other seas), is fish. The kalkan balouk, shield-fish—a sort of turbot, with black prickles on his back—though not quite worth a voyage to Trebizond, is well worth the attention of the most experienced gastronome when he once gets there. The red mullet also is caught in great quantities; but the oddest fish is the turkey. This animal is generally considered to he a bird, of the genus poultry, and so he is in all outward appearances; hut at Trebizond the turkeys live entirely upon a diet of sprats and other little fish washed on shore by the waves, by which it comes to pass that their flesh tastes like very exceedingly bad fish, and abominably nasty it is; though, if reclaimed from these bad habits, and fed on corn and herbs, like other respectable birds, they become very good, and are worthy of being stuffed with chesnuts and roasted, and of occupying the spot upon the dinner-table from whence the remains of the kalkan balouk have been removed. On landing, the beauty of the prospect ceases, for, like many Oriental towns, the streets are lanes between blank walls, over which the branches of fig-trees, roofs of houses, and houghs of orange and lemon trees appear at intervals; Digitized by Google 6 ARMENIA. Chap. r. bo that, riding along the blind alleys, you do not know whether there are houses or gardens on each side. The bazaars are a contrast, from their life and bustle, to the narrow lanes through which they are approached. Here numbers of the real old-fashioned Turks are to be seen, with turbans as large as pumpkins, of all colours and forms, steadily smoking all manner of pipes. I do not know why Europeans persist in calling these places bazaars: charchi is the Turkish for what we call bazaar, or bezestejn for an enclosed covered place containing various shops. The word bazaar means a market, which is altogether a different kind of thing. The bazaars of Trebizond contain a good deal of rubbish, both of the human and inanimate kind. Cheese, saddles, old dangerous-looking arms, and various pedlery and provisions, were I all that was to be seen. Many ruined buildings of Byzantine architecture tottered by the sides ‘ of the more open spaces, some apparently very j ancient, and well worth examination. In the . porches of two little antiquated Greek churches ; I saw some frescoes of the 12th century, appa- I rently in excellent preservation; one of por- I traits of Byzantine kings and princes, in their ( royal robes, caught my attention, but I had not j Digitized by Google Chap. I. CORONAS. time to do more than take a hasty look at it. The tomb of Solomon, the son of David, king of Georgia or Immeretia, standing in the court¬ yard of another Greek church, under a sort of canopy of stone, is a very curious monument; and in two churches there are ancient coronas, which seemed to be of silver gilt, eight or ten feet in diameter, most precious specimens of early metal-work, which I coveted and desired exceedingly. They were both engraved with texts from Scripture, and saints and cherubims of the grimmest aspect, so old and quaint and ugly that they may be said to be really pain¬ fully curious. While on this subject I may re¬ mark that I am not aware where the authority is to be found for introducing the quantities of coronas which are now hung up in modem an¬ tique churches in England. I never saw one in any Latin church, except at Aix-la-Chapelle ; there are, I presume, others, but they certainly never were common or usual anywhere in Europe. All those I know of are Greek, and belong to the Greek ceremonial rite. I have never met with an ancient Gothic corona, and should be glad to know from whence those lately introduced into our parish churches have been copied. On the other side of the town from the land- Digitized by Google 8 ARMENIA. Chap. I. ing-place, a mile or so beyond tbe beautiful old walls of the Byzantine citadel, is a small grassy plain, with some fine single trees. This plain is situated on a terrace, with the open sea on the right hand, on a level of fifty or more feet below. The view from hence on all sides is lovely. The glorious blue sea—for it is not black here—on the right hand; the walls and towers crumbling into ruin behind you, the hills to the left, at the foot of which, built on the level grass, are several ancient tombs, whether Mahomedan or Christian I do not know; they are low, round towers, with conical roofs, like old-fashioned pigeon-houses, but rich in colour, with old brick and stone and marble. Parasitical plants, growing from rents and crevices occasioned by time, are left in peace by the Turks, who, after all, are the best con¬ servators of antiquity in the world, for they let things alone. There are no churchwardens yet in Turkey; there are no tasty architects, with contemptible and gross ignorance of anti¬ quity, architecture, and taste, to build ridiculous failures for a confiding ministry in London, or a rich gentleman in the country, who does not pretend to know anything about the matter, and falls into the error of believing that if he pays well he will be well served, and that a Digitized by Google Chap. I. ST. SOFIA. 9 man who has been brought up to build build¬ ings must know bow to do it: and this know¬ ledge is displayed in the production of the British Museum, the National Gallery, and other original edifices. The spleen aroused in writing these words is calmed by the recollection of the ruins of the fortified monastery, as it would appear to have been, before my eyes at the further end of this charming open plain; a Byzantine gatehouse stands within a ditch surrounding a considerable space, in which some broken walls give evidenoe of a stately palace or monastery which once rose there; hut there still stands towering to a great height the almost perfect church of St. Sofia— the Holy Wisdom, not the saint of that name, but the deity to whom the great cathedral of St. Sofia is dedicated at Constantinople. This church is curious and interesting in the ex¬ treme ; it is most rich in many of the pecu¬ liarities of Byzantine architecture outside, and within there are very perfect remains of frescoes, in a style of art such as I have hardly seen equalled, never in any fresco-paintings. The only ones equal to them are the illuminations in the one odd volume of the MtivoXoyla in the Vatican Library, and some in my own. There are several half-figures of emperors in brilliant B s Digitized by Google 10 ARMENIA. colours, in circular compartments, on the under sides of some arches, and numerous other paint* ings, of which the colours are so vivid that they resemble painted glass, particularly where they are broken, as the sharp outlines of what is left betoken that they would be still as bright as jewellery where they have not been destroyed by the plaster, on which they are painted, giving way. The position, beauty, and antiquity of this Christian relic in a Mahomedan land, give a singular interest to the church of St. Sofia at Tre- bizond. I longed to give this place a thorough examination. Perhaps a portrait of some old Comnenu8 would present itself to my admiring eyes. Many likenesses of bygone emperors, Caesars, and princesses born in the purple, might be recovered in all the splendour of their royal robes and almost sacred crowns and diadems, to gladden the hearts of antiquarians enthusiastic in the cause, and who, like myself, would be ten times more delighted with the possession of a portrait, or an incomprehensible work of art of undoubted Byzantine origin, than with the offer of the hand, even of the illustrious Anna Comnena herself. Her portrait, after the lapse of 600 years, would be most interesting; but I do not envy the Caesar who obtained the honour Digitized by Google Chap. I. OLD CUSTOMS PRESERVED. 11 of an alliance with that princess of the caerulean hose. At this point, feeling myself entangled with the reminiscences of Byzantine history, I must branch off into a little episode relating to the singular preservation of ancient man¬ ners and ceremonies still in use, or, at least, remaining in the year 1830 in Wallachia and Moldavia. The usages and the etiquette of those Courts, together with the names and the costumes of the great officers of state, are all derived from those of the Christian court of Constantinople before the disastrous days of Mohammed the Second. Now that those fertile lands are overrun by the descendants of the Avars, and the fierce tribes of northern barbarians, who so often in the middle ages carried fire and sword, tallow and sheepskins, almost to the walls of the city — tijv fioXlv . «r t«7* ftoXlv — from whence comes Stamboul, I may be, perhaps, excused if I put in a few lines re¬ lating to another country, hut which, I think, are interesting during the present state of the affairs of the Turkish empire, In the year 1838 I left Constantinople on my way to Vienna. I went to Varna, and from thence proceeded up the Danube in a miserable steamer, on board of whieh was a Digitized by Google 12 ARMENIA. Chap. I. personage of high distinction belonging to a neighbouring nation, whose maimers and habits afforded me great amusement. He was cour¬ teous and gentlemanlike in a remarkable degree, but his domestic ways differed from those of our own countrymen. He had a numerous suite of servants, three or four of whom seemed to he a sort of gentlemen; these attended him every night when he went to bed, in the standing bed-place of the crazy steamer. First they wound up six or seven gold watches, and the great man took off his boots, his coat, and I don’t know how many gold chains; then each night he was invested by his attendants with a different fur pelisse, which looked valuable and fusty to my humble eyes. Each morning the same gentlemen spread out all the watches, took off the fur pelisse, and insinuated their lord into a fashionable and somewhat tight coat, not the one worn yesterday; but on no occasion did I perceive anything in the nature of an ablution, or any proof that such an article as a clean shirt formed a part of the great man’s travelling wardrobe. . Tama is situated on a gentle slope a short distance from the shores of the Black- Sea, and three or four miles to the south of a range of hills, between which and the town the unfor- Digitized by Google Chip. 1. RUSSIAN LOSS IN THE WAR OF 1829. 13 tunate Russian army was encamped during the war of the year 1829. I say unfortunate, and all will agree with me, if they take into consi¬ deration a fact which I write on undoubted authority. When the Russians invaded Turkey in 1828, they lost 50,000 men by sickness alone, by want of the necessaries of life, and neglect in the commissariat department: 50,000 Rus¬ sians died on the plains of Turkey, not one man of whom was killed in battle, for their advance was not resisted by the Turks. In the next year (1829) the Russians lost 60,000 men between the Pruth and the city of Adrianople. Some of these, however, were legitimately slain in battle. When they arrived at Adrianople the troops were in so wretched a condition from sickness and want of food, that not 7000 men were able to bear arms: how many thousands of horses and mules perished in these two years is not known. The Turkish Government was totally ignorant of this deplo¬ rable state of affairs at Adrianople till some time afterwards, when the intelligence came too late. If the Turks had known what was going on, not one single Russian would have seen his native land again; even as it was, out of 120,000 men, not 6000 ever recrossed the Russian frontier alive. Since the days of Cain, the first mur- Digitized by Google 14 ARMENIA. Chap. I. derer, among all nations, and among all reli¬ gions, he who kills his fellow-creature without just cause is looked upon with horror and dis¬ gust, and is pursued by the avenging curse of God and man. What then shall be thought of that individual who, without reason, without the slightest show of justice, right, or justifiable pretence, from his own caprice, to satisfy his own feelings, and lust of pride, and arrogance, destroys for his amusement, in two years, more than 100,000 of his fellow-creatures ? Shall not their blood cry out for vengeance ? had not each of these men a soul, immortal as their butcher’s ? had not many of them, many thousands of them perhaps, more faith, more trust in God, higher talents, than their destroyer ? Better had it been for that man had he never been born ! The following prayer is translated from one at the end of an ancient Bulgarian or Russian manuscript, written in the year 1355:—“ The Judge seated, and the apostle standing before him, and the trumpet sounding, and the fire burning, what wilt thou do, oh my soul, when thou art carried to the judgment ? for then all thy evils will appear, and all thy secret sins will be made manifest. Therefore now, beforehand, endeavour to pray to Jesus Christ our Lord— O do not thou reject me, but save me,” Digitized by Google Chap. L VARNA. 15 The fortifications of Varna are very flat and low, though they are said to be of great strength, but, as the town is built of wood, I should think there would be little difficulty in setting it on fire by the assistance of a few shells or red-hot shot, from ships at sea or batteries on the land. From all such fortresses I am de¬ lighted to escape : the bastions, ditches, and ram¬ parts keep me in, though they are intended to keep others out. There is nothing picturesque in a modem stronghold, as there are no battle¬ ments and towers, or anything pleasing to the eye; only, whichever way you turn, you are sure to be stopped by a green ditch with a frog in it; I therefore only remained long enough at Varna to see that there was nothing to be seen. The principality of Wallachia contains 1,500,000 inhabitants liable to taxation, 800 nobles, and 15,000 strangers, subjects of various Powers. It is governed by a Prince (G-ika), who reigns for life. The civil list amounts to— 50,000 Austrian ducats yearly. All the officials are paid by the Government. The revenues of the principality are derived from tribute, which amounts to ... 300,000 ducats yearly. The salt-works, which yield . . 150,000 „ Domains of the Prince . . • 30,000 „ The customs. 70,000 „ Total . 650,000 Digitized by Google 16 ARMENIA. Chap. I. The expenses are yearly— Dncata. Civil List of the Prince. 50,000 The Ottoman Porte for tribute . . . 30,000 Salaries of officials. 150,000 Troops, 4000 men. 100,000 Ten quarantine stations on the Danube . . 20,000 Hospitals.5,000 Schools.12,000 Post. 30,000 Repair of roads.8,000 Total . . 405,000 The capital of Wallachia is Bucharest, con¬ taining 12,000 houses and 80,000 inhabitants, of whom 10,000 are strangers. There is one Metropolitan, who lives at Bu¬ charest, and has a revenue of 10,000 ducats; and three bishops, of Rimnik, Argessi, and Buzeo, who have 8000 each. The salary of the first minister is 3600 ducats yearly. There are three ranks of nobles. The highest consists of sixty individuals, who have the right of electing the prince; the second numbers 300, and the third 440. The Prime Minister is called the Bano; the Commander-in-Chief Spathar; the Minister of the Interior the Great Dvomic; the Minister of Justice the Great Logothete. The greatest family is that of Brancovano, the re¬ venue of its chief being 12,000 ducats. The titles of the great officers of State, and the principal people about the Court of the Hos- podar, are derived from the institutions of the Digitized by Google Chap. L WALLACH1A. 17 Byzantine emperors. These nobles are divided into three classes. The following is the order of their precedence:— 1ST ClA88. 1. Bano . . . Marshal of the Palace. 2. Dvornio . . Lord Chamberlain. 3. Spathab . . Commander-in-Chief. 4. Logothete . Chief Secretary, 5. Postemic . . Foreign Minister. 6. Aga .... Inspector of Police. 2nd Class. 1. Clochiar . . Commissary-General. 2. Paharme . . Cupbearer. 3rd Class. 1. Sebdar . . . Commander of 1000 men. 2. Pitab . . . Inspector of the Ovens. 3. Consepist . . Registrar-General. It is in the power of the Government to raise any of these nobles a step after a service of three years. Before the year 1827 these officers were paid by contributions raised on the subjects of the Prince, who were then exempted from any other taxes. The Bano had 120 men, the Dvornic 100, the Paharme 25, and so on; from these they took as much as they could, one man averaging three ducats a year in value to his lord. The treaty of Adrianople contains an article insuring the independence of the interior ad- Digitized by ^.ooQle 18 ARMENIA. Chapt I. ministration of the country. On the 18th of May, 1838, an order was brought from Constan¬ tinople by Baron Rukman, in whioh it was stated that the general assembly are to insert a clause in the constitution, which obliges them, to have leave of the Russians before any altera¬ tion whatever is made in the regulation of the interior. The army cannot be increased, or any differences made in the administration of the quarantine, &c., without permission from Russia, which is in direct contradiction to the Treaty of Adrianople. Sentence of death is abolished by the constitution, but great offenders are sent to the mines for life. Having accomplished our little tour to Wallachia, we will recross the sea to Trebizond, and return to the inspection of that ancient city, so famous in the romance of the middle ages. ThePasha and Governor, AbdallahPasha, resides in the citadel, a large space of ruinous buildings, surrounded by romantic walls and towers, in the same style as those of Constantinople. As in duty bound, we proceeded in great state to pay a visit of ceremony to the viceroy. As our long train of horsemen wound through the narrow streets, and passed under the long dark tunnel of the Byzantine gateway, we must have looked quite in keeping with the pio Digitized by Google Chap. L VISIT TO ABDALLAH PASHA. 19 turesque appearance of that ancient fortress. From the gloomy gate we emerged into a large ruinous court or space of no particular shape, but surrounded by tumbledown houses, with wooden balconies festooned with vines. I was struck with the absence of guards and soldiers, who are usually drawn up on these occasions in a wavy line, to do honour or to impose upon the awe-stricken feelings of the Elchi Bey. We passed through another court, if I re¬ member right, till we found a number of ser¬ vants and officials waiting our arrival at an open door, and, having dismounted, with the assistance of numerous supporters we scrambled up a large, dark, crazy wooden stair, at the top of which, on a curtain being drawn aside, we were ushered into a large, lofty room, where we beheld the Pasha seated on the divan, under a range of windows, at the upper end of the selamlik, or hall of reception. Then commenced the regular exercise of formal civilities, bows, and inquiries after each other’s health, carried on in a thorough mechanical manner, neither party even pretending to look as if he meant anything he said. We smoked pipes, and drank coffee, and made a little bow to the Pasha after¬ wards in the most orthodox way, till we were bored and tired, and wished it was time to come Digitized by Google 20 ARMENIA. Chap. I. away; but this sort of visit is a serious affair, and I don’t know how long we sat there, with the crowd of kawasses and chiboukgis staring at us steadily from the lower end of the hall. What the Pasha looked like, and what manner of man he was, it was not easy to make out, seeing that to the outward eye he presented the appearance of a large green bundle, with a red fez at the top, for he was enveloped in a great furred cloak ; he seemed to have dark eyes, like everybody else in this country, and a long nose and a black heard, whereof the confines or limits were not to he ascertained, as I could not readily distinguish what was beard and what was fur. Every now and then his Excellency snuffled, as if he had got a cold, hut I think it was only a trick; however, when he lifted up his voice to speak, the depth and hollow sound was very remarkable. I have heard several Turks speak in this way, which I believe they consider dig¬ nified, and imagine that it is done in imitation of Sultan Mahmoud, who, whether it was his natural voice or not, always spoke as if his voice came out of his stomach instead of his mouth. Abdallah Pasha paid us his compliments in this awful tone, and, till I got a little used to it, I wondered out of what particular part of the heap of fur, cloth, &c., this thorough-bass pro- Digitized by Google Chap. I. ABDALLAH PASHA. 21 oeeded. I found, to my great admiration, that the Pasha knew my name, and almost as much of my own history as I did myself; where he had gained his very important information I know not, but an interest so unusual in any¬ thing relating to another person induced me to make inquiries about him, and I found he was not only a man of the highest dignity and wealth, possessing villages, square miles and acres innumerable, but he was a philosopher; if not a writer, he was a reader of books, particularly works on medicine. This was his great hobby. In the way of government he seemed to be a most patriarchal sort of king: he had no army or soldiers whatever; fifteen or sixteen cawasses' were all the guards that he supported. He smoked the pipe of tranquillity on the carpet of prudence, and the pashalic of Trebizond slum¬ bered on in the sun; the houses tumbled down occasionally, and people repaired them never; the secretary of state wrote to the Porte two or three times a year, to say that nothing parti¬ cular had happened. The only thing I won¬ dered at was, how the tribute was exacted, for transmitted it must be regularly to Constanti¬ nople. Rayahs must be squeezed: they were created, like oranges, for that purpose; but, somehow or other, Abdallah Pasha seems to Digitized by Google 22 ARMENIA* Chap. I. have carried on the process quietly, and the multitudes under his rule dozed on from year to year. That was all very well for those at a distance, but his immediate attendants suffered occasionally from the philosophical inquiries of their master. He thought of nothing but physic, and whenever he could catch a Piedmontese doctor he would buy any quantity of medicine from him, and talk learnedly on medical sub¬ jects as long as the doctor could stand it. As nobody ever tells the truth in these parts, the Pasha never believed what the doctor told him, and usually satisfied his mind by experiments in corpore vili, many of which, when the accounts were related to me, made me cry with laughter. They were mostly too medical to be narrated in any unmedical assembly. Trebizond is not defensible by land or sea, nor could it be made so from the land side, as it is commanded by the sloping hills imme- .diately behind it. From there being no bay or harbour of any kind, its approach is dangerous during the prevalence of north winds, which lash the waves against the rocks with fury. Inns are as yet unknown; there are no khans that I know of, of any size or importance as far as architecture is concerned; but large stables protect the packhorses which carry the Digitized by Google Chap. I. TREBX230ND. bales of goods imported from Constantinople for the Persian trade, the bulk of which has now passed out of the hands of the English into those of the Greek merchants. The steamer r unn ing from Constantinople is constantly laden with goods, and much more would be sent if additional steamers were ready to convey it. Our party was received under the hospitable roof of Mr. Stevens, the Yice-Consul, whose courtyard was encumbered with luggage of all sorts and kinds, over which katergis or mule¬ teers continually wrangled in setting apart dif¬ ferent articles in two heaps, each two heaps being reputed a sufficient load for one horse. This took some days to arrange, and our time was occupied with preparations for the journey through the mountains. Digitized by Google 24 ARMENIA. Chap. II. CHAPTER II. Departure from Trebizond — A rough road — Turkisk pack-horses — Value of tea — The pipe in the East — Mountain riding— Instinct of the horse — A caravan overwhelmed by an avalanche — Mountain of Hoshabounar — A ride down the mountain — Arrival at Erzeroom. At last we were ready; the Russian Commis¬ sioner travelled with us, and we sallied out of the town in a straggling line, up the hill, along the only road known in this part of the world. This wonder and miracle of art extends one mile, to the top of a little hill. It is said to have cost 19,000/. It ascends the mountain side in defiance of all obstacles, and is more convenient for rolling down than climbing up, as it is nearly as steep as a ladder in some places. When you get to the top you are safe, for there is no more road as far as Tabriz. A glorious view re¬ wards the traveller for his loss of breath" in accomplishing the ascent. From hence the road is a track, wide enough for one loaded horse, passing through streams and mud, over rocks, mountains, and precipices, such as I should hardly have imagined a goat could travel npon; certainly no sensible animal would ever try to do Digitized by Google Chap. n. A ROUGH JOURNEY. 25 so, unless upon urgent business. Pleasure and amusement must be sought on broader ways; here danger and difficulty occur at every step; nevertheless, the horses are so well used to climbing, and hopping, and floundering along, that the obstacles are gradually overoome. In looking back occasionally, you wonder how in the world you ever got to the spot you are standing on. The sure-footedness of the horses was marvellous; we often galloped for half an hour along the dry course of a mountain torrent,. for these we considered our best places, over round stones as big as a man’s head, with larger ones occasionally for a change; but the riding- horses hardly ever fell. The baggage-horses encumbered with their loads tumbled in all directions, but these unlucky animals were always kicked up again by the efforts of a posse of hard-fisted, hard-hearted muleteers, and were soon plodding on under the burthens which it seems it was their lot to bear for the remainder of their lives. If this should meet the eye of any London cab-horse—for what may we not expect in these days of march of intellect and national education ?—-let him thank his lucky star that he is not a Turkish pack-horse, made to carry something nearly as heavy as a cab 0 Digitized by Google 26 ARMENIA. Chap. II up and down rocks as inaccessible as those im¬ mortalized in the famous verse— “ Commodore Rogers was a man Exceedingly brave-—particular; And he climb’d up very high rocks, Exceedingly high—perpendicular.” Thus saith the poet; what Commodore Rogers would have said if he had been of our party I don’t know. Those ladies and gentlemen who, leaning back in easy carriages, bowl along the great roads of the Simplon, may imagine what travelling there may have been over the Alps before the roads were made, while the nature of the ground is such, in two or three places, that, unless at an incredible expense in engineering, and a prodigious daily outlay to keep them clear of snow, no road ever could he made ; yet this is the only line of communication between Con¬ stantinople and Persia. Through these awful chasms and precipices all the merchandise is carried which passes between these two great nations. The quiet Manchester stuffs, accus¬ tomed to the broad-wheel waggons of Europe and the railways and canals of England, must feel dreadfully jolted when they arrive at this portion of their journey. How the crockery bears it is easily understood by those who open the packages of this kind of ware at the end of Digitized by Google Chap. II. VALUE OF TEA. 27 the journey, when cups and saucers take the appearance of small geological specimens, though some do survive, notwithstanding the regular custom of the muleteers to set down their loads every evening by the summary process of untying with a jerk a certain cunning knot in the rope which holds the bales in their places on each side of the packhorse: these imme¬ diately come down with a crash upon the ground, from whence they are rolled along and built up into a wall, on the lee side of which a fire is lit and the muleteers sleep when there is no khan to retire to for the night. On this journey I for the first time learned the true value of tea. One of the kawasses of the Russian Commissioner had a curious little box, covered with cowskin, tied behind his saddle; about twice a-day he galloped off like mad, his arms and stirrups, &c., making a noise as he started like that of upsetting all the fire- irons in a room at home. In about half an hour we came up with him again, discovering his whereabouts by seeing his panting horse led up and down by some small boy before a hovel, into which we immediately dived. There we found the kawass kneeling by a blazing fire, with the cowskin box open on the ground be¬ side him, from whence he presently produced c s Digitized by Google ARMENIA. Chap. II. glass tumblers of delicious caravan tea,* sweet¬ ened with sugar-candy, and a thin slice of lemon floating on the top of each cup. This is the real way to drink tea, only one cannot always get caravan tea, and, when you can, it Costs a guinea a pound, more or less; but its refreshing, calming, and invigorating powers are truly remarkable. In former days, in many a long and weary march, I found a pipe of great service in quiet¬ ing the tired and excited nerves; having no love for smoking under ordinary circumstances, these were the only occasions when a long chi¬ bouk did seem to be grateful and comforting. That this is pretty universally acknowledged I gather from the habit of all the solemn old Turks in Egypt and hot climates during the fast of Ramadan, who invariably take a good whiff from their pipes the moment that sunset is announced by the firing of a gun in cities, or on the disappearance of its rays towards the west in the country. Supper does not appear to be looked forward to with the same im¬ patience as the first puff from the chibouk. No pipe* however, possesses the agreeable qualities * Caravan tea is tea which is brought by caravans, over land, from China, through the great deserts of Tartary: it is much superior to the tea which comes by sea. Digitized by Google Chap. II. MOUNTAIN RTpING, 29 of a cup of hot good tea made in this way; no other beverage or contrivance that I know of produces so soothing an effect, and that in so short a time. In a few minutes the glasses, and the little teapot, and two canisters for tea and sugar-candy, retired into the recesses of the cowskin box; the poor horses, who had had no tea, were again mounted, and on we rode over the rocks and stones, one after the other, in a long line, the regular tramp, tramp, tramp, interrupted every now and then by the crash of one of our boxes against a rock, and the exclamations of the katergis as its bearer wallowed into a hole or tumbled over some horrible place, from whence it seemed.impossible that he should ever be got up again; however, he always was, and at last we hardly took notice of one of these little accidents, and notwith¬ standing which we generally got through the mountains at the rate of about thirty miles a day. On the second day from Trebizond we ar¬ rived at the snow; the hoods with which we had provided ourselves were pulled over our heads. I tied my bridle to the pommel of my saddle, put my hands in my pockets, and nevertheless galloped along,—at least the horse did, and all the better for my not holding the bridle. In mountain travelling this is perhaps the most Digitized by Google ARMENIA. Chap. II. necessary of all the whole craft and art of horse¬ manship, not to touch the bridle on any occasion, except when you want to stop the horse; for, in difficult circumstances, a horse or a mule goes much better if he is left to his own devices. In some dreadful places, I have seen a horse smell the ground, and then, resting on his haunches, put one foot forward as gently as if it was a finger, cautiously to feel the way. They have a wonderful instinct of self-preservation, seeming quite aware of the perils of false steps, and the dangers by which they are surrounded on the ledges of bleak mountains, and in passing bogs and torrents in the valleys below. At Beyboort we were received by the governor, a Bey, who gave us a famous good dinner or sup¬ per, whereof we all eat an incredible quantity, and almost as much more at breakfast next morning. At Gumush Hane, where there are silver-mines, a goodnatured old gentleman who was sitting by the roadside gave me the most delicious pear I ever tasted. This place is famous for its pears. Being situated in a deep valley, the climate is much better than most parts of the country on this road. Here we put up in a good house, slept like tops, and waddled off next morning, as before. I had an enormous pair of boots lined with sheepskin, which were the envy and ad- Digitized by Google Chap. II. H08HAB0UNAR. 31 miration of the party: they were amazing snug certainly, and nearly came up to my middle. If they had been a little bit larger, I might have crept into one at night, which would have been a great convenience; they were of the greatest service on horseback, but on foot I had much difficulty in getting along, and was sorry I had neglected to inquire how Jack the giantkiller managed with his seven- league boots. Before arriving at Beyboort we passed the mountain of Zigana Dagh, by a place where a whole caravan accompanying the harem of the Pasha of Moush had been overwhelmed in an avalanche, over the icy blooks of which we made our way, the bodies of the unfortunate party and all the poor ladies lying buried far below. Beyond Gumush Han6 rises the moun¬ tain of Hoshabounar, which is a part of the chain that bounds the great plain of Erzeroom. This was the worst part of the whole journey : we ap¬ proached it by interminable plains of snow, along which the track appeared like a narrow black line. These plains of snow, which look so even to the sight, are not always really so; the hollows and inequalities being filled with the snow, you may fall into a hole and be smothered if you leave the path. This path is hardened by the passage of caravans, which tread down the snow into a track of ice just wide enough for a single Digitized by Google 32 ARMENIA. Chap. II. file of horses; but while you think you are on a plain, you are in fact riding on the top of a wall or ridge, from whence if your horse should chance to slip you do not know how deep you may sink down into the soft snow on either side. At the top of the mountain we met thirty horses, which the Pasha of Erzeroom had sent for our use. We had above thirty of our own, so now there were sixty horses in our train. The Russian Commissioner and I left all these behind, and rode on together with two or three guards, accompanied by the chief of the village where we were to sleep. At last we came to the brow of the hill—we could not see to the bottom from the snow that was falling—it was as steep as the roof of a house, and the road consisted of a series of holes, about six inches deep, and about eighteen inches apart, the track being about sixteen inches wide. To my surprise, the chief of the village, a man in long scarlet robes, im¬ mediately dashed at a gallop down this road, or ladder as they call it; the Russian Commissioner followed him; and I, thinking that it would not do for an Englishman to be beat by a Russian or a Turk, threw my bridle on my horse’s neck and galloped after them. Never did I see such a place to ride in! Down and down we went, plunging, sliding, scrambling in and out of the deep holes, the snow flying up like spray around Digitized by Google Chap. II. ARRIVAL AT ERZEROOM. 88 us, to meet its brother snow that was falling from the sky. It was wonderful how the horses kept their feet; they hurst out into per¬ spiration as if it had been summer. I was as hot as fire with the exertion. Still down we went, headlong as it seemed, till at last I found myself sliding and bounding on level ground, and, rushing over some horses which were stands ing in an open space, I discovered that I was in a village, and was presently helped off my pant- ing horse by the gentleman in the red pelisse, who showed the way into a cow-stable, the usual place in which we put up at night. Thus ended the most extraordinary piece of horseman¬ ship I ever joined in. It was not wonderful perhaps for the rider, but how the horses kept their feet, and how they had strength enough to undergo such a wonderful series of leaps and plunges, out of one hole into another, appeared quite astonishing to me. The next day we pro¬ ceeded to Erzeroom, and at a village about two hours’ distance we were met by all the authorities of the city on horseback. Some horses with mag¬ nificent housings were sent by the Pasha for the principal personages, and we rode into the town in a sort of procession, accompanied by perhaps 200 well - mounted cavaliers caracoling and prancing in every direction. o 3 Digitized by Google 34 ARMENIA. Chap. III. CHAPTER IIL The Consulate at Erzeroom — Subterranean dwellings — Snow- blindness —Effects of the severe climate — The city: its popu¬ lation, defences, and buildings — Our house and household — Armenian country houses — The ox-stable. We were hospitably entertained at the British Consulate till the Pasha could get a house pre¬ pared for us to occupy during our stay ; hut, as Mr. Pepys says, “ Lord, to see ! ” what a place this is at Erzeroom ! I have never seen or heard of anything the least like it. It is totally and en¬ tirely different from anything I ever saw before. As the whole view, whichever way one looked, was wrapped in interminable snow, we had not at first any very distinct idea of the nature of the ground that there might be underneath ; the tops of the houses being flat, the snow-covered city did not resemble any other town, but appeared more like a great rabbit-warren; many of the houses being wholly or partly subterranean, the doors looked like burrows. In the neighbourhood of the Consulate (very comfortable within, from the excellent arrangements of Mr. Brant) there were several large heaps and mounds of earth, and it Digitized by Google Chap. III. EFFECTS OF THE CLIMATE. 36 was difficult to the uninitiated to discriminate correctly as to which was a house and which was a heap of soil or stones. Streets, glass win¬ dows, green doors with brass knockers, areas, and chimney-pots, were things only known from the accounts of travellers from the distant regions where such things are used. Very few people were about, the bulk of the popu¬ lation hybemating at this time of the year in their strange holes and burrows. The bright colours of the Oriental dresses looked to my eye strangely out of place in the cold dirty snow; scarlet robes, jackets embroidered with gold, brilliant green and white costumes, were associated in my mind with a hot sun, a dry climate, and fine weather. A bright sky there was, with the sun shining away as if it was all right, but his rays gave no heat, and only put your eyes out with its glare upon the snow. This glare has an extraordinary effect, some¬ times bringing on a blindness called snow-blind¬ ness, and raising blisters on the face precisely like those which are produced by exposure to extreme heat. Another inconvenience has an absurd effect: the breath, out of doors, congeals upon the mustaches and beard, and speedily produces icicles, which prevent the possibility of opening the mouth. My mustaches were Digitized by ARMENIA. Chap* HI. ' converted each day into two sharp icicles, and if anything came against them it hurt horribly; and those who wore long beards were often obliged to commence the series of Turkish civilities in dumb show; their faces being fix¬ tures for the time, they were not able to speak till their beards thawed. A curious phenome¬ non might also be observed upon the door of one of the subterranean stables being opened, when, although the day was clear and fine without, the warm air within immediately con¬ gealed into a little fall of snow; this might be seen in great perfection every morning on the first opening of the outer door, when the house was warm from its having been shut up all night. Erzeroom is situated in an extensive elevated plain, about thirty miles long and about ten wide, lying between 7000 and 8000 feet above the level of the sea. It is surrounded on all sides with the tops of lofty mountains, many of which are covered with eternal snow. The city is said to contain between 30,000 and 40,000 inhabitants, but I do not myself think that it contains much more than 20,000; this I had no correct means of ascertaining. The city is said to have been, and probably was, more populous before the disasters of the last Russian war. Digitized by Google ' Chap. III. DEFENCES OF ERZEROOM. 37 It stands on a small lull, or several hills, at the foot of a mountain with a double top, called Deve Dagh, the Camel Mountain. The original eity is nearly a square, and is surrounded by a double wall with peculiarly-shaped towers, a sort of pentagon, about 20 towers on each side, except on the south side, where a great part of the walls have fallen down. Within these walls, on an elevated mound, is the smaller square of the citadel, where there are some curious ancient buildings and a prison, which I must describe afterwards; a ditch, where it is not filled up with rubbish and neglect, surrounds the walls of the city; and beyond this are the suburbs, where the greater part of the population reside. Beyond this an immense work was accomplished as a defence against the Russian invaders. This is an enormous fosse, so large and deep and wide as to resemble a ravine in many places. It was some time before I was aware that this was an artificial work ; as there are no ramparts, walls, or breastworks on the inner side of that immense excavation, it can have been of no more use than if it had never existed, and did not, I be¬ lieve, stop any of the Russians for five minutes. They probably marched down one side and up the other, supposing it to be a pleasing natural valley, useful as a promenade in fine weather, Digitized by Google AR MEN IA. Chap. III. and the prodigious labour employed in such a work must have been entirely thrown away. The palace of the Pasha, that of the Cadi and other functionaries, are within the walls of the town; the doorways are the only parts of the houses on which any architectural ornaments are displayed; many of these are of carved stone, with inscriptions in Turkish beautifully cut above them. There are said to he seventeen baths, but none of them are particularly hand¬ some, though the principal apartment is covered with a dome, like those in finer towns. The mosques amount, it is said, to forty-five: I never saw half so many myself. Many of them are insignificant edifices; the principal one, or cathedral, as it may be called, is of great size, its flat turf-covered roof supported by various thick piers and pointed arches. The finest buildings are several ancient tombs: these are circular towers, from twenty to thirty feet in diameter, with conical stone roofs beautifully built and ornamented. There must be twenty or thirty of these very singular edifices, whose dates I was unable to ascertain ; they probably vary from the twelfth to the sixteenth century, judging from a comparison of their ornamental work with Saracenic buildings in other parts of the world. Digitized by Google Chap. III. BUILDINGS OF ERZEROOM. 39 The most beautiful buildings of Erzeroom are two ancient medresses or colleges, or perhaps they may be considered more as a kind of alms¬ houses, built for the accommodation of a certain number of Mollahs, whose duty it was to pray around the tomb of the founder, adjoining to which they are erected. One of these stands immediately to the left hand on entering the principal gateway of the town ; above its elabo¬ rately-sculptured door are two most beautiful minarets, known by the name of the iki chifteh. These are built of an exceedingly fine brick, and are fluted like Ionic columns, the edges of the flutings being composed of turquoise-blue bricks, which produces on the capitals or galle¬ ries, as well as on the shafts, the appearance of a bright azure pattern on a dark-coloured ground. The roof of this very beautiful building has fallen in, but the delicacy of the arabesques, cut in many places in alto-relief in a very hard stone, would excite admiration in India, and equals the most famous works of Italy. The other medresse is in a still worse condition, a great cannon-foundry having been erected in the middle of it. The whole building is broken, smoked, and injured ; still what remains shows how fine it must have been. There are one or two Greek churches and Digitized by Google 40 ARMENIA. Chap. III. two Armenian churches here, both very small, dark, cramped places, with immensely thick walls and hewn-stone roofs. They appear to be of great antiquity, hut can boast of no other merit. Adjoining the principal one, in which is a famous miraculous picture of St. George, they were building a large and handsome church, which is now completed, in the Basilica form, with an arched stone roof. Cut stone being very expensive, and indeed, from the want of good masons, very difficult to procure, the priests bethought themselves of a happy expedient to secure square hewn stone for the comers, door¬ way, windows, &c., of the new cathedral. They told their flock that, as the ancient tomb¬ stones were of no use to the departed, it would be a meritorious act in the living to bring them to assist in the erection of the church. They managed this so well, that every one brought on his own back, or at his own expense, the tombstones of his ancestors, and those were grieved and offended who could not gain ad¬ mission for the tombstones of their families to complete a window or support a wall. The work advanced rapidly during the summer, and any large, flat slabs of stone were reserved for the covering of the roof. It promised to he, and I hear now is, a handsome church, strong and solid Digitized by Google Digitized by Digitized by Google Chap. III. OUR OWN HOUSE. 41 enough to resist the awful climate, and the snow which lies there for months every year. The Armenian inscriptions and emblems on the stones have a singular effect; but I think, under the circumstances, the priests were quite right to build up with the tombstones of the dead, a house of prayer for those about to die. In course of time a house was ready for our reception: though not so large as those of some of the great authorities, it was one of the largest class of houses in Erzeroom, and a de¬ scription of its arrangements will convey an idea of what most of the others were. It was situated in a very good position on the top of a hill, close to the house of the Russian Commis¬ sioner, and on the same side of the town as those of the English and Russian consuls. From its small, doubly - glazed windows we looked, over a narrow valley covered with houses, on the walls and tower of the citadel, which stood on the hill directly opposite. The walls and towers, and the principal gateway of the town, with its two graceful minarets, to the left hand, and a distant prospect of the great plain and the river Euphrates, and the mountains over which we had travelled, to the right, completed our view, which was perhaps the best, enjoyed by any house in the place. Digitized by Google 42 ARMENIA. Chap. III. I Our house, like most of the others, was built with great solidity, of rough stone with large p blocks at the corners; the roof was flat, and covered with green turf. The windows were- small, like port-holes, but the door was a large arch, through which we rode into the gloomy sepulchral-looking hall, out of which opened the stables on the right hand, the kitchen and offices and some other rooms on the left, while in front a dark staircase of square stones and heavy beams looked as if it had tumbled through the ceiling, and gave access to the upper floor. There was a little garden or yard under the windows, where we planted vegetables, and in one part of which several English dogs, two Persian greyhounds, and an Armenian turnspit, walked about in the daytime. The railing be¬ tween this and the garden part of the yard was a triumph of art, accomplished by a Turkish guard, who turned his sword into a ploughshare when not wanted to look terrific. We had also nineteen lambs, who grazed on the top of the highest part of the house, where they were carried up every morning, except occasionally when there was such a wind that they would be in danger of being blown away. We had I know not how many sheep with large tails; these took a walk every day with a shepherd, Digitized by Google Chap. III. OUR HOUSEHOLD. 43 who led out all the sheep belonging to the inhabitants of that part of the town. Every house having a few, they are marked, and all come home every evening to their respective houses, and go out again the next morning, and eat what they can get upon the mountains. Our household contained, besides ourselves and servants, one white Persian cat, with a spot on his back, and his tail painted pink with hennah (this race, with long silky hair falling to the ground as it walks along, comes from Yan) ; five pigeons, and one hen, the rest having fallen vic¬ tims to the rapacity of mankind; and a lem¬ ming,* who lived in a brass foot-tub and eat biscuits. This last beast was sadly frightened by a mouse which I put into his habitation one day, and which made use of his back to jump out, after receiving a severe bite n the tail. He generally slept all day, and took a small walk in the tub in the evening. All the building except the hall and stable had a garden on the roof, that part only being two stories high. The kitchen and some of the other rooms were lit by a skylight, the earth at the back of them being on a level with their * Those who take an interest in natural history, should read the accounts of the extraordinary migrations of the lemmings, which occur periodically in Norway, after a fixed number of years. Digitized by Google 44 ARMENIA. . Cbap. III. ceilings. The walls of the upper floor were not exactly over those below, but were supported by immense beams, some of which had given way, and the principal room leant over to the left frightfully. Those rooms which are lit by windows have two rows of them one above the other, except the dining room and ante-room, which had only one row, too high from the floor to look out of, but very convenient for looking into, from the upper garden and the terrace of the next house. The rooms had all whitewashed walls, wooden flat ceilings curi¬ ously carved and painted. On the floors there was blue cloth instead of carpets, and divans of red cloth. A few chairs, and some lumber¬ ing deal tables, with covers on them, at which we wrote, concluded our list of furniture and “ genuine effects.” The great difficulty was the eating and drinking part of the arrange¬ ments. Everything except bread and meat came on horses from Constantinople, and about one- third of the bottles brought from thence were usually broken. Glass, for the windows, was a curious and expensive luxury, oiled paper being generally used, with a little bit of real glass to peep out of in each, or sometimes only in one window. Wood also was very dear, as there were no trees within a distance of thirty hours. Digitized by Google camp. III. ARMENIAN (COUNTRY HOUSES. 45 The climate is not too cold for the growth of timber, I should think, for there were a few poplars in the yards near the houses, but the people are too improvident to plant trees, and, except some prodigiously large cabbages, horti¬ culture is not much practised near the town. The country houses of Armenia are con¬ structed somewhat differently from those of the towns. When a man wishes—I cannot call it to build a house, or erect a house, or set up a house, as none of these terms are applicable—but when a house is to be constructed, the following is the way in which it is set about. A space of ground is marked out, perhaps nearly an English acre in extent; then the whole space is excavated to the depth of about five feet: one part of the ex¬ cavation is set apart for the great cow-stable; this may be fifty or one hundred feet long, and nearly as wide. Having got so far, some trees are the next requisite; these trees being cut down, the trunks are chopped into lengths of eight or nine feet, the general height of the rooms, and are placed in two or four rows to be used as columns down the great stable; the larger branches, without being squared or shaped, are laid across from pillar to pillar as beams; the smaller branches are laid across these, the twigs on the topj till the entire frees are used up; the Digitized by Google 46 ARMENIA. Chap. III. twigs are sometimes tied up in fagots, sometimes not: over this is spread some of the earth that was excavated from below; this is well trodden down, then more earth is added, and on the top of all is laid the turf which formed the surface of the soil before it was moved. Bound the stable, in no particular order, smaller rooms are formed ; if they are large, their roofs are supported by columns like the stable. In a large house there are often two stables. The space of ground taken up by a rich man’s house is prodigious, the turfed roof forming a small field. The lesser rooms in this subterranean habitation are divided from the stable and from each other by rough stone walls well filled up with clay or mud; their ceilings are contrived by laying beams across each other, two along and two across, in the form of a low pyramid, so that the ceiling is a kind of low square dome: the smaller rooms form store-rooms and apart¬ ments for the women. Each room has a rough stone fireplace opposite the door; and in the roof, generally over the door, there is one window about eighteen inches square, glazed with a piece of oiled paper. Outside, these windows look like large molehills, with a bit of plaster on one side surrounding the oiled paper, or glass, which transmits the light. Inside, the window is per- Digitized by Google Chap. III. ARMENIAN COUNTRY HOUSES. 47 ceived at the end of a funnel, widening greatly towards the room, and contrived so as to throw the light to the centre of the apartment opposite the fireplace, where a fire of tezelc, or dried cow- dung and chopped straw, is constantly smoulder¬ ing. Over the chimney-piece hangs an iron lamp of simple construction, which with the help of the fire produces a dim light in the long nights of winter. There is a divan, usually covered with most beautiful Koordish carpets which last for ever, on each side of the fireplace; and large wooden pegs, projecting from the walls, serve to hang up guns, pistols, cloaks, and anything else. Some of these rooms are rather roughly pretty in appearance; the floors are covered with tekkfe, a thick grey felt, and, among smart people, Persian carpets are laid over the felt, their beautiful colours producing a rich and comfortable effect. About half way up the chimney is a wooden door or damper, which is opened and shut by means of a string; and when it is very cold weather, and they want to be snug and fusty down below, this door is shut, and the room becomes as hot as an oven; the chimney does not rise more than two feet above ground, and has a large flat stone on the top to keep the snow from falling in, as well as the lambs and children; the smoke escapes by apertures on Digitized by Google 48 ARMENIA. Chap. in. the sides just below the coping-stone. The chimneys look like toadstools from the outside, rising a little above the snow or the grass which grows upon the roof. These subterranean habitations are constructed, not on the side of a hill, but on the side of a gentle slope ; and all the earth excavated for the house is thrown back again upon the roof in such a manner that on three sides there is often no sign of any dwelling existing underneath. The entrance is on the lower side of the slope, and there the mound is often visible, as it is raised four or five feet above the level of the hill-side. There are no fences to keep people off the roof, which has no appearance different from the rest of the country. It is often only the dirt opposite the doors, the cattle, and people standing about, which gives information of a small village being present; particularly during the eight months of snow and ice and intense cold, when no one stirs abroad* except for matters of importance. When a house is ruined and deserted, these holes are sometimes rather dangerous, as the horse you are riding may put his foot into an old chimney and break his leg, there being very frequently no appearance of a habitation below, while you are passing through the open desolate country, of which the roof seems to Digitized by Google Chap. III. ARMENIAN COUNTRY HOUSES. 49 be a part. There are stories, perhaps founded on fact, of hungry thieves lifting the flat stone off the top of the chimney and fishing up the kettle in which the supper was stewing over the fire below, with a hooked stick—a feat which would not be at all difficult if the cook was thinking of something else, as sometimes will happen even in the best regulated families. The most curious and remarkable part of the house is the great ox-stable, which often holds some scores of cattle. Out of this stable they frequently do not stir during the whole winter season, and it is the breath and heat of these animals which warm the house; besides which, they manufacture all the fuel for the establishment: they are fed upon straw, bruised to small bits by the sledge which is driven round , the threshing-floor to separate the corn from the husk after harvest-time. In one corner of this huge dim stable, near the entrance door, a wooden platform is raised three feet from the ground : two sides of it are bounded by the stone wall of the house, in one of which opposite the door is the fireplace; the other two sides of the square platform have open wooden rails to keep off the cows. This original contrivance is the salemlik, or reception-room, where the master sits, and where he entertains his guests, who, as Digitized by Google so ARMENIA. Chap. IU. they stumble into the obscure den from the glare of the sim shining on the snow outside, are received with a yell by all the dogs, who live under the platform. This place is fitted up with divans and carpets; arms and saddles hang against the walls; the horses of the chief are tethered nearest to the rails, the donkeys and cows further off. Among the horses there is always an immense fat tame sheep; this is an universal custom in every stable in Turkey, under or above ground. Among some of the Koordish tribes, a young wild boar is kept in the stable with the horses-—a remarkable custom among Mahomedans, who consider the whole race of swine as unclean beasts; this is the only case in which they are tolerated. A small flock of other sheep are sometimes scampering about, or kept from doing so, among the cows; chickens peck in the litter, and several grave cats have their allotted places on the divans of the chief, his wife, and others of his family. A vacant, that is, cowless space is left between the steps lead¬ ing up to the platform and the entrance door of the house ; this part answers to the entrance- hall, as man and beast pass through it on coming in or going out, immediately before the eyes of the master of the house. Prom hence a sloping passage about six feet wide leads to Digitized by Google ctap. in. A RMEN IAN COUNTRY HOUSES. 51 the open air; it has an outer door at the upper end, and an inner door below : this passage may be from ten to twenty feet long. The outef door is a common strong wooden one, but the inner doors all over the house are as singular as the rest of the arrangements^ The house door is of the usual size for the cows and horses to pass through, the others are not more than five feet high; they are constructed in the following manner: the bare wooden valve is first covered with ketch4 or felt, and on the inside the skin of a sheep with its legs and arms on, just in the shape in which it came off the animal when it was skinned, being dyed red, is nailed over the felt* . On the other side of the door, down the middle, is a long square pipe or box, in which hangs a heavy log of wood attached to a cord fixed to the upper part of the door-case, which keeps the door shut, as it swings to again after it has been opened, and keeps out the drafts, and keeps in the warm air generated by cows, fires, and lamps, so that the atmosphere is always temperate within, while the cold is such without, that men are frozen to death if they stand still even for a short time in the rigorous climate of an Arme* nian winter-. D 2 Digitized by Google 62 ARMENIA. Chap. IV. CHAPTER IV. Narrow escape from suffocation — Death of Noori Effendi — A good shot — History of Mirza Tekee — Persian ideas of the principles of government—The “Blood-drinker” — Massacre at Kerbela — Sanctity of the place — History of Hossein — Attack on Kerbela, and defeat of the Persians—Good effects of Commis¬ sioner’s exertions. The first aspect of affairs at Erzeroom was not very satisfactory in any way. The cold and dismal weather was enough to prevent all enjoy¬ ment out-of-doors, and in-doors we had little cause of rejoicing. On first taking possession of our house, my companions had the narrowest possible escape of death from suffocation. The grooms in the stable below the drawing-room had lit an immense fire of charcoal, not for any particular object beyond that common to all servants of all countries, that of wasting their masters’ goods, which they had not to pay for themselves. The fumes from the charcoal penetrated the ceiling, when most fortunately the Russian Commissioner came in, and, finding his two English friends in a half-stupefied state, helped them out of the room on to the terrace, where they both fell down fainting on the snow, and were only recovered after Digitized t?G00gle Chap. IV. DEATH OF NOORI EFFENDI. 53 some time and difficulty. If the Russian Com¬ missioner had not arrived so opportunely they would soon have perished. I did not participate in this risk, because I was laid up at the Con¬ sulate with an attack of fever, which effectually prevented my moving to my own house. V. nother misfortune occurred almost at the same period. Noori Effendi, the Turkish Pleni¬ potentiary, died suddenly of apoplexy in his bath; he had been ambassador in London and at Vienna. All prospect of getting on with our affairs was put off by this unfortunate circum¬ stance. Subsequently, Enveri Effendi, formerly secretary to Noori, was appointed in his place, but he did not arrive for some time after the death of his former chief. Mirza Jaffer, an old acquaintance of mine when he was ambassador from Persia to the Porte, was too unwell to leave Tabriz, and Mirza Tekee was appointed Persian Plenipotentiary instead. On his arrival within sight of Erzeroom from Persia, all the great people, except the Pasha and the commissioners, went out on horse¬ back to meet him, and accompany him on his entry into the town. There was a great con¬ course and a prodigious firing of guns at full gallop, which, as the guns are generally loaded with ball cartridge, bought ready-made in the Digitized by Google 54 ARMENIA. Chap. IV. bazaar, though intended as an honour, is a some¬ what dangerous display. Unable to resist so pic¬ turesque a sight, I had ridden out on the Persian road, though I did not join the escort, and, having returned, I was walking up and down on the roof of the house watching the crowds passing in the valley below, and looking at the great guns of the citadel, which the soldiers were firing as a salute. They fired very well, in very good time, but I observed several petty officers and a number of men busily employed at one gun, the last to the left hand near the comer of the battery. At length this gun was loaded, A prodigious deal of peeping and pointing took place out of the embrasure, and, just as I was turning in my walk, bang went the cannon, and I was covered with dust from some¬ thing which struck the ground in the yard in a line below my feet. On looking down to see what this could be, I saw a ball stuck in the earth: the soldiers had all disappeared from the ramparts of the citadel, and I found they had been taking a shot at the British Commissioner.- A very good shot it was too, exactly in the line, but the ball not being ieavy enough had fallen a little short, so I was missed. They had manu¬ factured a ball with a large stone, wound round with rope to make it fit the gun, to shoot at the Digitized by Google Chap. IV. MIRZA TEKEE. 55 Prank, and that was the occasion of all the peep¬ ing and crowding of the men round the gun which I had observed. As Mirza Tekee is now no more, and he was beyond all comparison the most interesting of those assembled at the congress of Erzeroom, I will give a short account of his- history. Mirza Tekee was the son of the, cook of Bahman Meerza, brother of Mahomed Shah, and governor of the province of Tabriz. The cook’s little boy was brought up with the chil¬ dren of his master and educated with them; being a clever boy, as soon as he was old enough he was put into the office of accounts, under the commander-in-chief, the famous Emir Nizam, who was employed in drilling the Persian army in the European style. Tekee became Vizir ul Nizam or Adjutant-General in course of time, under the old Emir Nizam, and also amassed great wealth; and as the Shah did not like the idea of paying the expenses of his Pleni¬ potentiary—“ base is the slave that pays”—■ he sent Mirza Tekee to Erzeroom with many flattering speeches and promises, none of which he intended to fulfil. The cunning old prime minister, Hadji Meerza Agassi, who was sedu¬ lously employed in feathering his own nest, was jealous of Mirza Tekee, and very glad to Digitized by Google 66 ARMENIA. Chap. IV. get him safe out of the way. The Turks and Persians, as everybody knows, hate each other religiously, which seems always to be the worst sort of hatred. The Soonis and the Shiahs are as it were Protestants and Papists in the Ma- homedan faith; and if these two countries are ever reconciled for a time, the smouldering flame is sure to break out again at the first convenient opportunity, and it will do so to the end of time. In 1845 the Turks, who disliked Mirza Tekee with more than common aversion, from his digni¬ fied bearing and stately manners, gave out vari¬ ous accusations against him and some members of his household. A fanatical mob of many thousand indignant Soonis surrounded all that quarter of the town, attacked the Persian Pleni¬ potentiary’s house, which was besieged for some hours, and volleys after volleys of rifle-shots were fired at the windows, while from within Mirza Tekee only permitted his party to fire blank cartridges. Izzet Pasha, a drunken old gentleman of eighty, who had succeeded Kiamili Pasha as governor of Erzeroom through the intrigues of Enveri Effendi, sat on horseback and looked on, and took no part in the dis¬ turbance, though he had all his troops, amount¬ ing to several thousand men, under arms. For this conduct he was turned out of his govern- Digitized by Google Chap. IV. MIRZA TEHEE. 57 ment, and was succeeded by Bahri Pasha, who in 1847 was shot dead by one of his own servants, of the name of Delhi Ibrahim—accidentally or not, does not appear. Colonel Williams did everything in his power to assist Mirza Tekee, and risked his life in the affray; but he received no assistance from the Pasha or any of the authorities, who made no attempt to quell the riot. The Turks swore they would have blood, and that one of the Persians must be given up to them as a sacrifice.* A poor man, who had called that morning to say that he was going to Tabriz, and would be happy to carry any letters or messages there, was thrown out of the window and tom to pieces by the mob. Another Persian, a gentleman, secretary to Mirza Tekee, was killed by a butcher the same day, in another part of the town, where he was walking in ignorance of the disturbance that was going on, The Mirza’s house was pillaged, the roof and doors broken in, and everything destroyed that the mob could get hold of. He himself was only saved by barricading a strong room in a back part of the house, where he and his ser¬ vants defended themselves for many hours, till the Turks dispersed of their own accord. The Sultan afterwards sent him 8000/. in D 3 Digitized by Google 58 ARMENIA. Chap. IV. repayment of his losses in this disgraceful outrage. In June 1847, after he had signed the treaty of peace and commerce between Turkey and Persia with Enveri Effendi and the British and Russian Commissioners, he returned to Tabreez. On the death of the Emir Nizam, he succeeded to his office of commander-in-chief. During the last illness of Mohammed Shah, Bahman Meerza had been intriguing in hopes of succeeding to the throne; but being unsuccessful, and being also found out, he escaped to Teflis, where he still resides, and is protected by the Czar, who keeps him in terrorem over the present Shah, who may be dethroned any day, in which case Bahman Meerza is all ready to reign in his stead. When Mohammed Shah, who had done nothing all his life but shoot sparrows with a pistol, departed from this world, Mirza Tekee marched the Persian army to Teheran, and seated the young Prinoe Noor Eddin upon the throne, Noor Eddin Shah gave him his sister in mar¬ riage : she is said to have been much attached to her husband, who also succeeded to the immense territorial possessions of Hadji Meerza Agassi, \ the late prime minister of Persia, The Hadji ! had been tutor to Mohammed Shah, and be¬ came one of the most famous of the Grand Digitized by Gooole Chap. IV. mirza tekee: 59 Yizirs of that most blundering of dynasties. As a matter of course, when be became rich enough he was robbed by his master, having been himself the greatest extortioner on record for many years. The Shah had allowed him to keep an enormous treasure in gold, silver, and jewels, with which he retired to Kerbela, where he died in the odour of sanctity in 1850. Mirza Tekee was now seated on the highest pinnacle of the temple of prosperity. The ex¬ tent of the possessions which the Shah had handed over to him from the plunder of the Hadji was so great as to he hardly credible, and by a judicious squeezing, the towns, villages, and domains would have yielded the revenue of a petty king. However, all prime ministers are detested—that is in human nature ; first, there is the opposite party in politics, some of whom think differently as to the form and manner in which the taxes should he levied in Europe, the villages racked in Persia, All—whatever they may think on political subjects—feel sure they ought to be in place, rather than the party then in power; if to these are added all thieves, rogues, revolutionists, and those sorts of people, who have a natural antipathy to all government, law, or possession of wealth in the hands of any man exoept the one individual himself, he being Digitized by Google 60 • ARMENIA. Chap. IV. more jealous of his friend than of any other person, a great mass of the population are not only opposed to the minister for the time being, hut are in constant readiness to pull down whatever is above them, good, indifferent, or had. It is said that the great enemy of Mirza Tekee at Court was the Shah’s mother, a lady who in Persia and Turkey enjoys an extraordinary de¬ gree of power, wealth, and dignity. In Turkey, the Sultana Valide has the right to build a royal mosque, and to use a caique like that of her son; she is above the law, and can do anything she likes. If she likes to do good, she can do much good; if she likes to do evil, she can do much evil. Between those who were jealous of the power and who hated the strong^govern- ment of Mirza Tekee, a powerful party was created who got hold of the weak mind of the young Shah, who owed everything in this world to his Minister; his destruction was agreed upon, and he was given leave to go to Koom, where he had an estate. So secretly were affairs managed that his suspicions do not seem to have been aroused; his young wife followed him, with all her train, looking for¬ ward to the pleasure of living with her husband for a while in the quiet and retirement of a beautiful country; but when she arrived within Digitized by Google Chap. IV. MURDER OF MIRZA TEKEE. 61 sight of the town of Koom, a messenger came out to meet her, and the news that he brought was that Mirza Tekee had been killed by the order of her brother the Shah, whose emissaries had seized him unexpectedly in the bath. He made a desperate resistance, hut he was over¬ powered ; they opened his veins and held him down till the Grand Vizir bled to death. No crime whatever was alleged against him: he was murdered foully by the Shah, who thus de¬ stroyed one of his best and most honest subjects at the instigation of some of the most infamous and worst. This happened in the year 1851. There is nothing, however, very unusual in this termination of the life and fortunes of the prime minister of Persia, only it is usually done under more extenuating circumstances. The singular ideas which they entertain of the principles of government are summed up in the notion that it is better to be in the hands of one furious ogre than at the mercy of a hundred tyrants. For this reason the tribes of the Kuz- zulbash admire a truculent Shah such as Aga Mahomed Shah, and they like a Grand Vizir who lets nobody rob and plunder except him¬ self. When he is fat and fit for killing, the blood-drinker on the throne cuts off his head, or strangles him, as the case may be, and then Digitized by Google 62 ARMENIA. Chap. IV. takes possession of his property, throwing a sop to the mob occasionally by allowing them to sack the great man’s house. I do not use the above-mentioned epithet as a term of reprehen¬ sion or abuse, for Hunkiar is one of the recog¬ nized titles of the Sultan of Turkey and of other Eastern sovereigns, The treaty of Hunkiar Skellessi, which made so great a sensation in its day, was so called from the name of a place on the Asiatic shores of the Bosphorus. The name means the “Blood-drinker’s Stairs”—an appellation at this time equally suited to either of the “ high contracting Powers.” The Plenipotentiaries and Commissioners being assembled, everything was in the greatest danger of falling to pieces on the outset, by the very first despatches which we received, as these related to a frightful massacre which had just taken place at Kerbela, where 22,000 Persians were reported to have been killed by the Turks. Kerbela, in the pashalic of Bagdad, is a Turkish fortified place, containing the tomb of Hossein, the brother of Hassan, and son of All, the great saint of the Shiah, or Persian form of the Ma» homedan religion. Not only do an immense number of Persians habitually reside there, but every one who has the power strives to retire there in his latter days, that he may lay his t Digitized by Google Chap. IV. KERBELA. 63 bones in the neighbourhood of the golden dome which covers the ashes of Hossein, Those who die at a distance are so anxious at least to be buried at Kerbela, that the great article of commerce in that direction consists of the dead bodies of Persian men and women, whioh are brought by thousands every year from all parts of the dominions of the Shah by endless cara¬ vans of horses, mules, and camels, many bun* dreds of whioh unlucky animals pass their whole lives from year to year in carrying these horrid burthens, whioh infect the air in all the villages through which they pass. So great is the sanctity of Kerbela, that in the estimation of the sect of Ali it even may be said to surpass that of Mecca, for they among Mahomedans are those who “ by their tradi¬ tions have made the law of none effect.” The history of the death of Hossein is so inter-* esting an episode in the history of this country, that I am tempted to give a short account of it, for the benefit of those who may not be well acquainted with the history of the successors of Mahomet, and upon whose fortunes so much of the welfare and also the policy of the various nations of the East, from the seventh century to the present time, depends—premising that the principal cause of the rancorous hatred Digitized by Google 64 ARMENIA. Chap. IV. which always has existed and still exists in full force between the Sooni Turks, and the Shiah Persians, is principally founded upon events connected with the death of the Imaum Hossein, and the feeling is kept up in full vigour in Persia by a sort of drama, representing the fol¬ lowing history, which is enacted before the Shah, and in every town in Persia, every year, at the annual feast of Noo Rooz, which con¬ tinues for ten days. In one of the acts of this most curious ceremony, a Frank ambassador is brought before the audience, who intercedes for the life of Hossein and his followers with the general of the army of Yezid. Who he can have been there is no means of knowing, but he may possibly represent an ambassador from the Greek Emperor of Constantinople, who may have been passing on his way to the court of the Caliph. However this may be, his presence produces a kindly feeling towards Europeans in the minds of the Persian populace. On the death of Ali (a.d, 661) his eldest sor, Hassan was proclaimed Caliph and Imaum in Irdk; the former title he was forced to resign to Moawiyah; the latter, or spiritual dignity, his followers regarded as inalienable. His rival granted him a pension, and permitted him to retire into private life. After nine years, passed Digitized by Google Chap. IV. HISTORY OF HOSSEIN. 65 for the most part in devotional exercise, he was poisoned by his wife Jaadah, who was bribed to perpetrate this execrable crime by Yezid, the son of Moawiyah. On the death of Moawiyah (a.d. 679), his son Yezid, who succeeded, having provoked public indignation by his luxury, debauchery, and impiety, Hossein was persuaded by the dis¬ contented people of Ir&k to make an attempt for the recovery of his hereditary rights. The in¬ habitants of Cufa and Bassorah were foremost in their professions of zeal for the house of Ali, and sent Hossein a list of more than 124,000 persons, who, they said, were ready to take up arms in his cause. Hossein did not take warning from the in¬ constancy and treachery which these very per¬ sons had shown in their conduct towards his father and brother. Assembling a small troop of his personal friends, and accompanied by a part of his family, he departed from Medina, the place of his residence, and was soon engaged in crossing the desert. But whilst he was on his journey, Yezid’s governor in Irdk discovered the meditated revolt, capitally punished the leaders of the conspiracy, and so terrified the rest that they were afraid to move. When Hossein ar¬ rived near the banks of the Euphrates, instead Digitized by Google 66 ARMENIA. Chap. IV. of finding an army of his devoted adherents, he discovered that his further progress was checked by the overwhelming forces of the enemy. De¬ termined, however, to persevere, he gave per¬ mission to all who pleased to retreat while there was yet time; to their disgrace, many of his followers left him to his fate, and he continued his route to Cufa, accompanied only by seventy- two persons. But every step increased his diffi¬ culties, and he attempted to return when it was too late. At length he was surrounded by the troops of the Caliph in the arid plains of Ker- bela, his followers were cut off from their supply of water, and, when he offered to negotiate, he was told that no terms would be made, but that he should surrender at discretion. Twenty-four hours were granted him for deliberation. Hossein’s choice was soon made: he deemed death preferable to submission, blit he coun¬ selled his friends to provide for their safety either by surrender or escape. All replied that they preferred dying with their beloved leader. The only matter now to be considered was, how they could sell their lives most dearly; they fortified their little encampment with a trench, and then tranquilly awaited the event. That night Hossein slept soundly, using for a pillow the pommel of his sword. During his Digitized by Google Chap, IV. HISTORY OF HOSSEIN. 67 sleep lie dreamed that Mahomet appeared to him, and predicted that they should meet the next day in Paradise. When morning dawned he related his dream to his aster Zeinab, who had accompanied him on his fatal expedition. She burst into a passion of tears, and ex¬ claimed, “ Alas ! alas! my brother! What a destiny is ours! My father is dead! my mother is dead! my brother Hassan is dead! and the measure of our calamities is not yet full! ” Hossein tried to console her. “ Why should you weep ? ” he said; “ did we not come on earth to die ? My father was more worthy than I; my mother was more worthy than I; my brother was more worthy than I. They are all dead; why should not we be ready to follow their example ? ” He then strictly enjoined his family to make no lamentation for his approaching martyrdom, telling them that a patient submis¬ sion to the divine decrees was the oonduct most pleasing to God and his Prophet. When morning appeared, Hossein, having washed and perfumed himself, as if preparing for a banquet, mounted his steed, and addressed his followers in terms of endearing affection that drew tears from the eyes of the gallant warriors. Then, opening the Koran, he read the following verse; “ 0 God, be thou my refuge Digitized by Google 68 ARMENIA. Chap. IV. in suffering, and my hope in affliction.” But the soldiers of Yezid were reluctant to assail the favourite grandson of the Prophet; they de¬ manded of their generals to allow him to draw water from the Euphrates, a permission which would not have been refused to beasts and in¬ fidels. “ Let us be cautious,” they exclaimed, “of raising our hands against him who was carried in the arms of God’s apostle. It would be, in fact, to fight against God himself.” So strong were their feelings that thirty cavaliers deserted to Hossein, resolved to share with him the glories of martyrdom. But Yezid’s generals shared not in these senti¬ ments. They affected to regard Hossein as an enemy of Isl&m. They forced their soldiers for¬ ward with blows, and exclaimed, “War to those who abandon the true religion, and separate themselves from the council of the faithful! ” Hossein replied, “ It is you who have abandoned the true religion; it is you who have severed yourselves from the assembly of the faithful. Ah! when your souls shall be separated from your bodies, you will learn too late which party has incurred the penalty of eternal condemna¬ tion.” Notwithstanding their vast superiority, the Caliph’s forces hesitated to engage men de¬ termined on death ; they poured in their arrows Digitized d by Google Chap. IV. HISTORY OF HOSSEIN. I 69 from a distance, and soon dismounted the little troop of Hossein’s cavalry. When the hour of noon arrived, Hossein solicited a suspension of arms during the time appointed for the meridian prayers. This boon was conceded with difficulty, the generals of Tezid asking, “how a wretch like him could venture to address the Deity ? ” and adding the vilest reproaches, to which Hossein made no reply. The Persian traditions relate a fabulous circumstance, designed to exalt the character of Hossein, though fiction itself cannot increase the deep interest of his history. They tell us that whilst he was upon his knees the King of the Genii appeared to him, and offered, for the Sake of his father Ali, to disperse his enemies in a moment. “No,” replied the generous Hossein, “ what use is there in fighting any longer ? I am but a guest of one breath in this transitory world; my relatives and companions are all gone, and what will it profit me to remain be¬ hind ? I long for nothing now, save my mar¬ tyrdom; therefore depart thou, and may the Lord recompense and bless thee! ” The genius was so deeply affected by the reply that his soul exhibited human weakness, and he departed weeping and lamenting. Wheh the hour of prayer was past, the Digitized by 70 ABM9NIA. Chup, IT, combat was renewed. One of Hossein’s sons, and several of his nephews, lay dead around him; the rest of his followers were either killed or grievously wounded. Hitherto he had escaped unhurt, for every one dreaded to raise a hand against the grandson of Mohammed; at length a soldier, more daring than the rest, gave him a severe wound in the head. Faint with the loss of blood, he staggered to the door of his tent, and with a burst of parental affection, which at such a moment must have been mingled with unspeakable bitterness, took up his infant son, and began to caress him. Whilst the little child was lisping out an inquiry as to the cause of his father’s emotion, it was struck dead by an arrow in Hossein’s arms. When the blood of the innocent, bubbling over his bosom, disclosed this new calamity, Hossein held up the body towards heaven, exclaiming, “ 0 liord! if thou refusest us thy succour, at least spare those who have not yet sinned, and turn thy wrath upon the heads of the guilty.” Parched by a burning thirst, Hossein made a desperate effort to reach the banks of the Eu¬ phrates, but, when he stooped to drink, he was struck by an arrow in the mouth, and at the same moment one of his nephews, who came to embrace him for the last time, had his hand cut Digitized by Google flap. IT. MURDER OF HOSSEIN. 71 off by the blow of a sabre. Hossein, now the sole survivor of his party, threw himself into the midst of the enemy, and fell beneath a thou¬ sand weapons. The officers of Yezid barbarously mangled the corpse of the unfortunate prince; they cut off his head, and sent it to the Caliph. The escort who guarded it on its way to the Court of Yezid, halting for the night in the city of Mosul, placed the box which contained it in a mosque; one of the sentinels, in the middle of the night hearing a noise within, looked through a chink in the door, and saw a gigantic figure, with a venerable white beard, take the head of Hossein out of its box, kiss it with reverence, and weep over it, a crowd of venerable per¬ sonages following his example, and weeping bitterly at the same time. Fearing that some of his partizans had gained admittance, and that they would carry away the head which he was guarding, he unlocked the door and entered the mosque, upon which one of the figures he had seen, approached, and, giving him a blow upon the cheek, exclaimed, “ The prophets have come to pay obeisance to the head of the martyr: whither dost thou venture with such disrespect?” In the morning he related what had happened to Digitized by Google 72 ARMENIA. Chap. IV. his commander, the impression of the hand and fingers of the ancient prophet being still visible on his cheek. The head of Hossein, and that of his brother Hassan, repose under a mosque of the highest sanctity at Cairo: it is called the mosque of Hassanen. Another mosque in the same city covers with its dome the remains of Sitt4, or the lady Zeinab, their sister, who was famous for her beauty: her shrine is now visited with great devotion by the ladies and women of her faith. The headless body of Hossein was buried upon the spot where he fell, while above it afterwards arose the present place of pilgrimage, so much resorted to by the Shiah sect. The Persian fanatics of Kerbela had long declined paying the accustomed taxes to the Turkish government. Their insolent behaviour had been a constant source of anger and difficulty to successive Pashas of Bagdad. At last the present Pasha was determined to enforce the law: after sending various letters to the town requesting payment of taxes and arrears, which were treated with ridicule and contempt, he gave orders to a general called Aboullabout Pasha, who appears to have been a Sooni of the most orthodox kind, to march an army of several Digitized by Google Chap. IV. ATTACK OK KERBELA. 73 thousand men, to compel the people of Kerbela to acknowledge the rule of the Sultan. Aboul- labout Pasha arrived accordingly, and pitched his camp in a grove of palms not far from the walls of the city. He brought four guns with him, and a number of topgis, or gunners, to work these instruments of destruction, if the Persians in the town did not choose to obey his commands. These impertinent fanatics treated the Turkish Pasha and his army with derision; rode out in the cool of the evening to look at the encampment, called the Turks grandsons and great-grandsons of dogs, whom they would soon pack off to their kennels at Bagdad and Constan¬ tinople. It seems that, trusting in the sanctity of the golden dome, they did not imagine that the Turks would dare to advance to extremities, par¬ ticularly as several royal princesses and members of the family of the Shah had taken up their abode in the vicinity of the tomb of the Imaum. However the four guns and the topgis advanced to a position near the walls, and the Pasha sent a civil note to the insurgents within, to say that he would trouble them to pay his little bill; at the very notion of which the Persians were seized with fits of laughter, they were so much amused at the idea of paying away their money to 8 Digitized by Google 74 ARMENIA, Chap. IV. the Turks. After several demands for their surrender, the town was blockaded, and the Persians made various sallies on the Turkish lines, in which they were always repulsed, and, all warnings being disregarded, the four guns at last proceeded to business. The wall tumbled down immediately, the Turks walked in, the Persians ran away, making very little effectual resistance, and fire and the sword, plunder and outrage of all kinds, took place in every quarter of the devoted city. When the Turkish troops entered the town, Aboullabout Pasha, who took it all in a religious point of view, had his carpet spread upon a bastion close above the breach, and having cursed Hassan, and H ossein, Sitti Zeinab, and Ali, offered ten shillings a piece for the heads of any of their followers; and then went quietly to prayers for the rest of the morning, without making any effort to stop the horrors and excesses which occur when a city has been taken by storm. The accounts of the shocking out¬ rages and barbarities committed by the brutal soldiery are not fit to be repeated. When the town was pillaged, and everything had been seized that they could lay their hands upon, those who had not been fortunate in lighting upon any treasure, or anything worth taking Digitized by Google Chap, IV. MASSACRE IN KERBELA. 75 away, bethought themselves of the manner in which profit and amusement might be combined, by cutting off every one’s head that they could meet with, and taking it up to the pious old Pasha, who continued praying on his carpet, on the bastion. When Persian heads became diffi¬ cult to find, not being particular, a great many Turks were shot and decapitated by their fellow- soldiers, for the sake of their heads; the fraternal feeling of nationality and Sooniism not being calculated to resist the offer of one ducat per head. If this had been suffered to continue, it is probable that the state of affairs would have resembled that of the celebrated battle between the two Kilkenny cats, who eat each other up entirely, with the exception of a small piece of fluff. When the massacre was stopped, 22,000 persons were reported to have been slain. This was very much exaggerated no doubt, and it does not appear that a very correct account could be made out. A most curious and interesting report was afterwards drawn up on this subject by Colonel Farrant, who was deputed by the British Government to proceed to Kerbela, for the purpose of pacifying the contending parties and inquiring into the truth and extent of this terrible disaster. This was the first subject which the congress E 2 Digitized by Google 76 ARMENIA, Chap. IV. assembled to discuss measures of amity and mutual confidence between Turkey and Persia had brought before them: one not precisely calculated to ensure that calmness of debate and general goodwill, which all wanted to es¬ tablish. In course of time matters calmed down; things were what is called explained. We were all wonderfully civil to each other, and the Turkish and Persian followers of their respective plenipo¬ tentiaries did not express their private opinions of each other’s merits, till they got home and shut the door. Gradually they became more used to one-an- other’s ways, and the CommissionerB worked like special constables to keep the peace—and very hard work they had, and it is wholly and entirely owing to their exertions that the Koordish tribes upon the frontiers, and the wild spirits on both sides who were ready to back them up, were kept down for more than ten years; during which time commerce has been enlarged, the roads have been safe, and the Christian and agricultural population from Bussora to Mount Ararat have enjoyed a tranquillity and prosperity unknown in the memory of man. Digitized by Google Chap. V* KOORDISH CHIEFTAINS* 77 CHAPTER y* The boundary question—Koordish chiefs — Torture of Artin, an Armenian Christian—Improved state of society in Turkey — Execution of a Koord—Power of fatalism—Gratitude of Artin’s family. One of the most important of the affairs which were to be settled at Erzeroom was the geogra¬ phical position of the boundaries between the two empires, for along the whole line there ran a broad belt of a kind of debateable land, upon which every man felt it his duty to shoot at every other man whom he did not get near enough to run through with his long spear, or knock upon the head with his mace, these ancient style of weapons being still in use among the Koords. For the purpose of gaining local information, many of the chiefs and principal persons of the wild districts in question were brought up to Erzeroom to be examined before the Plenipo¬ tentiaries and Commissioners. Some of these were most original individuals. The following extract from a letter, written upon the spot, will give a faint idea of two or three of these singular chieftains. Digitized by Google 78 ARMENIA. Chap. V. Extract of a Letter. “ Erzeroom, August 11th, 1843. “ One day passes much like another at Erze¬ room, and though there seldom occurs anything new to me, perhaps, as it would he all new to you, you may like to hear how I pass my time, so I will give you a sort of journal of the pro¬ ceedings of yesterday, that you may see how I occupy myself in this outlandish place. First of all, I got up in the morning, eat my breakfast, and then walked about the terrace on the top of the house. At eleven o’clock a messenger came from Enveri Effendi, to ask us to go to his house at one. So at one o’clock we went; the Russian Commissioner with his suite came also. At the door of Enveri Effendi’s house I saw a fine mare, with very peculiar housings. It was held by a negro, and a Bedouin Arab was sitting on the ground near it. The headstall was made of a red silk garter, which went over its head, and was attached to the bit by a piece of green leather strap; the saddle was a common Arab saddle, but the housings, made of wadded red silk, ended in two immense tassels, one on each side of the horse’s tail, and almost as large; the shovel- stirrups were beautifully embossed and inlaid Digitized by Google Chap. V. KOORDISH CHIEFTAINS. 79 with silver, and there was a heavy mace of the same workmanship under the right flap of the saddle. This curious horse belonged to Sheikh Thamir, the chief of the Chaab tribe and ex¬ sovereign of all the land at the mouths of the Euphrates. All the time that I was examining the horse and talking about its accoutrements, the Turkish guard were presenting arms, and they looked very much relieved when I turned round, and went into the house. “ The staircase of this palace is like a chicken- ladder, and the hall at the top, where the servants wait, like a little barn or stable in England. Here, as I was kicking off my goloshes, I was seized by Enveri Effendi himself, who had come up behind me. This was considered as an ex¬ cellent good joke by the Chaoushes, servants, &c., who stood in a row to receive us; so we went into the selamlik (or reception room) together, and there I was introduced to three of the most picturesque people I have ever seen. The first was Osman Pasha, late Governor of Zohab; the second, Sheikh Thamir, whose horse I had been looking at outside; the third was yclept Abdul Kader Effendi, chief secretary to the Government of Bussorah. These persons were dressed in flowing robes of various colours; they had long beards, and enormous turbans of Digitized by Google 80 ARMENIA. Chap. V- Cashmere shawl. All three were remarkably ugly, strange-looking men, and I cannot describe to ,you the peculiar way in which their clothes were put on, and the wild and almost magnificent appearance they presented. There were, besides these and ourselves, B-Pasha and four other gentlemen, in the modem Turkish dress. The three Commissioners and their two dragomans sat on the divan under the window, all, except myself, with their legs sticking out, like people waiting for an operation in a hospital. Enveri Effendi sat on a cushion on the floor, in the right-hand comer, and the others were ranged on the two sides of the room. As we were fourteen people, on a sudden fourteen servants mshed into the room with pipes; then one brought coffee on a tray, the brocade covering of which was thrown over his left shoulder; and then came a man bringing to each of us a cup, well frothed up, and in a zarf, or outer cup, of a different kind, according to the rank of the person to whom it was presented. Enveri Effendi and the three Commissioners had cups of enamelled gold, the rest of the Pashas, &c., of silver. When this ceremony was concluded, the door was shut, the servants disappeared, a curtain was drawn across the door, and two chaoushes, with muskets, put to guard it outside. Digitized by Google Chap. V. KOORDISH CHIEFTAINS. 81 Then Enveri Effendi lifted up his voice, and, after swinging himself about, and grunting two or three times, he told us that the gentlemen in the turbans had brought up a number of old firmans, teskeres, and other papers relating to the lands between Zohab and the Persian Gulf; that he had examined them, and that now he begged the Commissioners to put any questions they chose to the worthies before them respecting the lands, &c. “ Then we all looked at each other for a little time, then they all looked at me. Then I took up my parable, and desired the dragoman to ask Osman Pasha who he was. ‘ I am Osman Pasha,’ said he; ‘ and I and my family have been sovereigns (or hereditary governors rather) of Zohah for seven generations.’ Having asked him a great many questions, and written down his answers, which made him somewhat nervous, I turned to Sheikh Thamir. * What is your fortunate name?’ said I, upon which Sheikh Thamir opened his eyes, then he opened his mouth, then he looked at Abdel Kader, then he shut his mouth again, and said nothing. So I asked him ag»in who he had the honour to he. Upon this, Abdel Kader, who appeared to be his mentor or adviser, came and sat down by him, and said, ‘ He is Sheikh Thamir.’ Sheikh k3 Digitized by Google 82 ARMENIA. Chap. V. Thamir upon this shouted out, at the top of his voice, * Yes; I am Sheikh Thamir, the son of Q-ashban, who was the son of Osman, who was the son of -’ ‘Thank you,’ I said, ‘ I only wanted to know from your own lips who you were, but am not particular as to the names of all your respected ancestors.’ How¬ ever, Sheikh Thamir was not to be stopped in that way when he had once begun, so he shouted out a long string of names, and when he got to the end he said he was Sheikh of the Sheikhs of the great tribe of Chaab, and commander of the district of Ghoban, which his ancestors had held ' before him for one or two hundred years—or more, or less, as I pleased. In answer to other questions, which Abdel Kader always accom¬ panied with his Own notes and commentaries, he said, ‘ I have no papers; we do not understand such things. What do I know ? I am an old man. I am forty-five years of age; let me alone.’ In course of time I did let him alone, and a difficult thing it was to draw out any informa¬ tion from this wild desert chief. Every now and then somebody else put in a word. At about four o’clock the meeting broke up. We returned home and dined, and in the evening went out riding. Passing some tents, which the Pasha has set up at the other side of the town near a Digitized by Google Chap. V. KOOBDISH CHIEFTAINS. 83 tank—the only place where there are any trees near Erzeroom, and they are only about a dozen poplars—I saw a number of people, so I went up to the tents, and found Sabri Pasha, the com¬ mander of the troops, an Egyptian Pasha, who is come to buy horses for Mahomed Ali,—he has bought some hundreds; Bekir Pasha, some other military Pashas, Namik Effendi, &c., two little sons of Sabri Pasha, dressed in a very odd way, with petticoats of different coloured silks in stripes; he said it was the dress of the girls in Albania, but I never saw anything like it in that country. Here we stayed and chatted with the Turks. The tents are superb; the principal one was 100 feet long, with an open colonnade round it, and lined inside with silk; rich Persian carpets were spread on the ground. I have never seen so beautiful a tent. When the moon rose, I went away, a man carrying a meshaleh, a thing like a beacon, on the top of a pole, with old cotton dipped in pitch burning in it; it is the best light there is for out-of-doors, as it never blows out, and gives much more light than any torches or lanthoms. “ When I got home I paid my respects to the kid, who came out to meet me; and to the little cow,. 18 inches high, who sat in the door and would not get out of the way ; and having drank tea I went to bed.” Digitized by Google 84 ARMENIA. Chap. V, On another occasion certain men represented to me that a Christian oda bashi, or chamber- lain of a khan or inn, had been unjustly seized and tortured by the authorities, to make him confess to a robbery that had taken place in his khan, which in reality had been per¬ petrated by two Turkish soldiers; but the * oda bashi being a Christian, neither his evi¬ dence nor that of any other Christian could be taken in opposition to that of a Mahomedan, according to Turkish law. The case was brought before me, and I took some interest in it. I had no authority whatever to deal with such questions as these, and it was only by representations to the Pasha, that I was enabled to obtain justice for the unlucky oda bashi. Finding the case taken down at the time, from the word of mouth of some of those who moved in it, I thought it might be interesting as a picture of manners in an out-of-the-way country, and I subjoin it without making any alterations in the language of this piece of justiciary business. Case of Artin, Oda Bashi, an Armenian. ft Erzeroom, August 2nd and 12th, 1843. “ A merchant, named Mehemed, brought his merchandize to the Khan Gheng6 Aga Khan, Digitized by Google Chap. V. AFFAIR OF ARTIN, ODA BASHI. 85 where he slept. Two soldiers slept near him. In the morning his goods were gone; he accused the soldiers (who were the only people who had been near him) of the robbery; they denied it, and were let off by the judge at the mekemm4, before whom they had been taken. A Turkish woman, named Zeilha, saw the two soldiers bury something, upon which she told the merchant that his goods were buried at such a place by the soldiers. He went there, and found half the goods; the soldiers, therefore, were again taken up, when they confessed to the theft of half the goods, but said that the oda bashi, an Armenian, named Artin, had taken the other half. Artin was accordingly taken before the tribunal of the Kiaya; the Pasha ordered him to be tortured, on his declaring himself ignorant of the theft. A tass (metal drinking-cup) of hot brass was put upon his head; afterwards a cord was tied round his head, two sheep’s knuckle-bones were placed upon his temples, and the cord tightened till his eyes nearly came out. As he would not confess, his front teeth were then drawn one at a time ; pieces of cane were run up under his toe-nails and his finger-nails. Various tortures have been inflicted on him in this way for the last twelve days, and he is now hung up by the hands, in the prison of the Seraskier, where he will be Digitized by Google 86 ARMENIA. Chap. V. kept and tormented till lie confesses or dies. This is the deposition of his wife Mariam, who begs me to interpose to save her husband, who, she declares, slept at home, and not in the khan, on the night when the robbery took place.” According to the Turkish law, two witnesses of unimpeachable character are sufficient to convict any man of any crime, on their accusing him before the cadi. Only in the case of adultery four male witnesses are required. A woman’s evidence is never taken, nor is that of a Christian or a foreigner held good m any case against a Mahomedan. These two soldiers, however, being convicted thieves, their evidence was not valid according to the law, and the oda bashi seems to have been taken up and tortured by an entirely arbitrary act of the Pasha. I went to the palace, and these are the words of Kiamili Pasha, the Governor and Viceroy of Erzeroom. “ You are mistaken, the man has not been tortured; I have proof that he was at the khan that night; he has been found guilty by the Court (mekemm^) on proper evidence, and sent to me to receive the punishment due to his offence. As I wished to recover the goods stolen for the benefit of their owner, the mer- Digitized by Google Chap. y. AFFAIR OF ABTEf, ODA BASHI. 87 chant Mehemet, I threatened the oda bashi that if he did not tell what he had done with his share of the property, it was in my power to inflict these tortures upon him. “ After this he desired to be allowed to speak to the two soldiers who had possession of the other half of the goods. I consented, and sent him to the prison at Selim Pasha’s palace, where they were confined. As I would not trust to the report of Selim Pasha’s people, I sent a con¬ fidential man of my own, who was put in a place where he overheard all that passed. The oda bashi said to the soldiers, ‘ If you will say I am innocent, I will share my portion of the stolen goods with you, and you will gain by this, as your share has been taken from you, and I shall get off freely. Do this and nobody will know.’ “ The oda bashi was brought back to his prison : when I asked him what he had said to the soldiers, he told me quite another story. Then I spoke to him in his own words, whereat he was astonished, but he kept silence. He is still in prison, and I am thinking what to do with him; but he has not been tortured in any way, and as you seem to take an interest in his case, I will set him free, and give him to you to show my friendship for you.” Digitized by Google 88 ARMENIA. Chap. V. I replied, “ I am glad to hear that the man has not been tortured, for in England we consider torture to be an act of unnecessary cruelty, hut your story alters the case. The man is certainly guilty, and as I only asked for justice in this case, and I wish in all things to see justice done, I will not have the man, let him be punished according to the law, only do not torture him. “ The other day you hung a Koord opposite my windows; he was a murderer, and you did right: it is by acts like these that a country such as this can be kept in order, and that protection is assured to those who do well.” “Iam sorry,” said the Pasha, “ that they hung the Koord before your windows. I told them not to hang him before the house of the Persian Pleni¬ potentiary, where there is a gibbet; but to take him to any place where the Koords resorted, and as there are many coffee-houses near you, that is the reason probably why they hung him there. His story is a curious one : I have been looking after him for the last three years; he has robbed and murdered many people, though he was so young a man, but he had always escaped my agents. At last, a few days ago, he stole a horse, in a valley near here, from a man who was travelling, and whom he beat about the head and left for dead. He brought the horse to Digitized by Google Chap. V. AFFAIR OF ARTCR, ODA BASHL 89 Erzeroom and offered it for sale, when the owner, who had recovered, saw him selling the horse, and gave him up to the guard. He was brought up for judgment before me, when I said to him, Who are you ? After a silence, the man said, * There is fate in this, it cannot be denied. I am * * * * whom you have been searching for these three years. My fate brought me to Erzeroom, and now I am taken up for stealing one poor horse. I felt when I took that horse that I was fated to die for it. My time is come. It is fate.’ And he went to be hung without any complaint.” I said he deserved it, and hoped others would take warning by his death. “ I hope they will,” the Pasha said, “ but among the Koords of this country there are so few who do not deserve punishment, that if you see two persons you may be sure that one has stolen something. You cannot see two people to¬ gether here, but that at least one has been a thief.” “ Well,” I answered, “ the British Commis¬ sioners are two people whom your Excellency has often seen together, but I hope, in our case, when we leave the Pashalic of Erzeroom, we may be convicted of having stolen nothing but your good opinion;” and so I took my leave. Digitized by Google 90 ARMENIA. Chap. V. In the evening, hearing that the wife of the oda bashi was in my house, I said to Paolo Cadelli, my servant, that my desire to liberate the Armenian was changed, that he had not been tortured, but he was a thief. “ How,” said Paolo, in a great state of excitement, “ a thief he may be, but tortured he certainly was, for in the morning did I not go forth into the bazaar, to get wrappers (pestimal) of Persian silk ? I went to the Bezestein, and there did I not see the chief of the criers of the Bit Bazaar ? he is my friend. Did I not get from him the embroidery, the cloth of gold which you have, which is in your room ? And we went, did we not go together to the court of the palace of the Pasha ? It is opposite, is it not opposite to the entrance of the Bezestein? Do not the soldiers present arms there to you when you go in ? Yes. There I went, and I saw the Arme¬ nian, a poor devil—quite a poor devil—sitting down like a monkey, altogether quite stupid with fear and martyrdom. They had martyred him, they had drawn his teeth, his finger-ends and toes were black, by reason of the canes they had run into them; his thighs had been tom by pincers; he was half dead. He said to the people, ‘ What can I do ? Iam innocent; kill me ; but I cannot restore goods which I have not got.’ Digitized by Coogle Chap. V. AFFAIR OF AKTIN, ODA BASHI. 91 Ah! he is a Christian. Is he not a Christian— an Armenian ?—That is what these Turks do. They have not tortured the soldiers who are guilty. Certainly they have not, but this man has been tortured because he is an Armenian. They are Turks, my master (padrone) ; are they not Turks ? They are all Turks; that is what they doand with many ejaculations Paolo went away to cool down his indignation in the open air. I was surprised at this account. Yesterday, August 5, * * * Pasha came to breakfast, and I begged him to find out the truth. In the afternoon I was at Enveri Effendi’s house, * * * Pasha was there, and he said the man had not been tortured, that the account given me by Kiamili Pasha was correct, that the man was out of prison, but that the Pasha would seek for him and send him to me. I heard that, after I went to the Pasha, the Pasha sent for the Kiaya, and finding the oda bashi had been tortured, he found great fault with him, and ordered the man to be released the next day. He is sentenced, as he understands, to pay the half of the value of the goods stolen. While I was with the Pasha, the Tophenkyi Bashi was enraged with this poor victim for getting the assistance of the Franks, as he thought that we were come to the Pasha on Digitized by Google 92 ARMENIA. Chap. V. his account, whereas our visit was on public business in no way connected with this affair. It appears that while we were sitting on the divan in the Pasha’s hall of audience, the Tophenkyi Bashi was employed during the same time in inflicting additional torments on the un¬ fortunate oda bashi; he snapped his pistol at his head, and informed him that the Pasha had given orders that he was to be hanged in the course of the day. The oda bashi, after we had rescued him from his various tormentors, presented him¬ self before me. He was a good-looking man, about thirty-five years of age, with a black beard, and respectably dressed in blue, in the style usually adopted by the Armenian Christ¬ ians. He said he had been tortured by the order of the Kiaya Bey; the bones were put to his temples, some of his teeth drawn, his nails pierced, his left thigh tom with pincers; he was hung up by the arms by ropes, but the hot cup was not placed upon his head. He showed me the marks of the pincers and other scars about his body—evident proofs of the truth of his assertion. The two soldiers who were convicted of having stolen the goods (the oda bashi being entirely ignorant of the whole transaction) were to be brought before the Council on the following Monday. They Digitized by Google Chap. V. IMPROVED STATE OF SOCIETY. 93 are now in prison, and will be sentenced to pay the other half of the value of the stolen goods. This information the oda bashi received from the merchant Mehemed, the owner of the lost property. He has not heard any other parti¬ culars about the soldiers. From the above account it appears that much injustice may probably be carried on by the in¬ ferior officers of the Government which never gets to the ears of the Pasha, small officials being notoriously more tyrannical than greater men. The Pasha himself appears to be a kind-hearted, well-intentioned man in a general way; but, in cases where his own interest is not directly con¬ cerned, he does not look into the affairs of the pashalic with sufficient keenness to prevent his subordinate officers from practising various acts of oppression and extortion, according to the fashion of the good old times, when Turkey, like the United States of America, was a land of liberty, where every free and independent citizen had the right to beat his own nigger; for, according to some doctors of the law, pashas, vizirs, &c., might cut off a few heads every day, for no given reason, but just for amusement. The Sultan had the privilege of destroying fourteen lives per day of his faithful subjects, who might have committed no crime; Digitized by Google 04 ARMENIA. Chap. V. after that number some reason was expected to be shown for the further use of the sword and bowstring on that day. Now the case is altered : fewer crimes are committed in Turkey than in London, and the Turkish pashas endeavour to stop such practices as are considered discreditable on the part of the inferior officers ; though they have to contend with great difficulties in a country where it is hardly possible to get at the truth, and where the inferior officers have for generations been accustomed to plunder those below them, directly they are out of sight of the higher authorities; trusting to the want of com¬ munication, the slight knowledge of writing, and the many obstacles in the way which prevent the poor man’s story-getting to the ears of the Pasha or the Sultan, who, in these days at least, are anxious to remedy such abuses, and to dis¬ tribute justice with a tolerably impartial hand. I had great satisfaction in hearing afterwards that, owing to my exertions in this and other cases—the good cause being taken up warmly by Colonel Williams, after I was gone—all tor¬ ture was authoritatively abolished in the pasha- lic of Erzeroom ; and I am in hopes that, except in some snug little dungeon in the rocky castle of a half-independent Koordish chief, this hor¬ rible custom is almost extinct. Digitized by Google •Chap. V. EXECUTION OF A KOORD. 95 The Koord above mentioned was hanged in so original a manner that I must shortly describe it, as it took place immediately under my win¬ dow. What we called at school a cat-gallows was erected close to a bridge over the little stream which ran down the horse-market, be¬ tween my house and the bottom of the hill of the citadel. The culprit stood under this; the cross-beam was not two feet above his head; a kawass, having tied a rope to one end of the beam, passed a slip-knot round the neck of the Koord, a young and very handsome man, with long black hair ; he then drew the rope over the other end of the beam, and pulled away till the poor man’s feet were just off the ground, when he tied the rope in a knot, leaving the dead Digitized by Google 96 ARMENIA. Chap. V. body banging, supported by two ropes in the form of the letter V. Hardly any one was looking on, and in the afternoon the body was taken down and buried. I shall always consider this case as a remark¬ able instance of the power of fatalism over the mind of an ignorant and superstitious man. This Koord was entirely the cause of his own execution : no one knew him by sight at Erze- room, and there was not the slightest necessity for his declaring bis name to the Pasha, and confessing that he had committed murders and outrages of all kinds among the villages of Koordistaun. His punishment for stealing a horse would not have been very severe, and,' but for his voluntary admission that he was a notorious malefactor, for whom the police had long been on the look out, he might have been alive to this day to rob and murder, till some¬ body shot him, or he became too old for the exertion. Fatalism, in other cases, has a power¬ ful influence over the true believers in the armies of Islam. The soldier goes to battle with the firm belief that, if his hour is not come, the cannon of the enemy can have no power over him; and that if his hour is arrived, the angel of death will call him, whether he may be seated on his divan, or walking in full health in his Digitized by Google Chap. V. TURKS AND CHRISTIANS. $7 garden at home: just as readily does he bow his head to fate in one place as in another. By this institution of the Koran, the wonderful genius of Mohamed has gained many a victory by the hands of his trusting and believing fol¬ lowers for the caliphs and sultans of his creed. Some of the reforms of Sultan Mahmoud, by treating lightly many of the ancient prejudices of the Osmanlis, have shaken the throne under his feet. The progress of infidelity, which has begun at Constantinople, is the greatest tem¬ poral danger to the power of the Turkish em¬ pire. The Turk implicitly believes the tenets of his religion; he keeps its precepts and obeys its laws; he is proud of his faith, and prays in public when the hour of prayer arrives. How different, alas! is the manner in which the divine laws of Christianity are kept! The Christian seems ashamed of his religion; as for obeying the doctrines of the Gospel, they have no perceptible effect upon the mass of the people, among whom drunkenness, dishonesty, and im¬ morality prevail almost unchecked, except by the fear of punishment in this world; while in Turkey not one-tenth part of the crime exists which is annually committed in Christendom. A few days after this occurrence, as I was sitting in the summer chamber at the top of the F Digitized zed by Google a xm&u* Ohap. Tl house, I beard a most extraordinary shuffling and screeching behind the curtain which hung over the door; the curtain shook about, and numerous subdued voices and noises were heard, which sounded like cocks and hens suffering from strangulation. I shouted out to know what in the world was going on; after a while the kawasa drew aside the curtain, and along the floor advanoed a most strange and incomprehensible prooesaion of several women and men, crawling on their hands and knees, each with a cock or a hen in their hands, whose fluttering, and screaming, and crowing now broke forth in full ehorus; one or two got away, and flew about the room, as its owner, making use of hear hands to walk with, was unable to hold the terrified fowl. This procession ad¬ vanced to the divan, and, without saying a word, the foremost woman sewed hold of one of my legs, which, was inadvertently sticking out, and, holding on to my ancle, kissed my foot, and burst out into a string of exclamations in Armenian, no one word of which made any impression on my understanding. Being horribly alarmed, I kicked as well as I could, and, having escaped into the remotest corner of the divan, I begged to know what all this portended; and on the chickens being caught, and comparative silence Digitized by Google Chap. V. GRATITUDE OF Alois’s FAMILY. 09 obtained, I found that these were the family of the poor oda bashi, who had brought the chickens as a present, and came with tears to thank me for saving their father, brother, or husband. They were really pained, poor people, when I would not accept the cocks and hens, for, though of little value, it looked like receiving a bribe for justice; and, after a long explanation of my strange notions, they walked off in smiles, upon their hind legs, the cocks crowing triumphantly on their way down stairs. v2 Digitized by Google 100 ARMENIA* Chap. VI. CHAPTER VI. The clock of Erzeroom — A Pasha’s notions of horology — Patho¬ logy of clocks — The tower and dungeon — Ingenious mode of torture —* The modem prison* Isr the citadel — a place which might, with great ease, be rendered very strong, but which now is deserted and disused, having, I believe, been knocked to pieces in the Russian war— there are still two or three curious ancient tombs and some other incomprehensible old buildings. The building containing the prison, which was in constant use in the good old times, and the tower, from whence the flag of Turkey is dis¬ played, possessed an old clock, which had been out of order for many years before the Rus¬ sians carried it away, but which was the wonder and admiration of all Koords, Armenians, and strangers from the mountains, to whom time was “ no object,” and who considered this old clock with its dial and hands as some sort of talisman beyond the comprehension of ordinary folks. Erzeroom was indeed lifted up in the estimation of those unsophisticated herdsmen Digitized by Google Chap. VI. CLOCK-OF ERZEfeOOM. iOl and robbers, as the only place they ever heard of where anything in the nature of a clock was to be seen. It might happen that some few of those who not only were possessed of such an out¬ landish article as a watch, but who were in some measure initiated into the uses of that strange, production, would expatiate learnedly in the coffee-houses on the wondrous properties of the great talisman in the tower of the citadel, which, in all probability, from its great size and exalted position, was considered as the father of all the little watches of the sheikhs and chiefs among the tribes. As for the clock not going, that signified but little. Talleyrand said that speech was accorded to man for the purpose of en¬ abling him to conceal his sentiments. The big clock had doubtless his reasons for holding his tongue, and telling no lies; I believe his reputation was increased by his silence, as is the case among many other distinguished characters besides the clock of Erzeroom. Now it came to pass, once upon a time, that the great Pasha or viceroy of the wide realms of this great pashalic chanced to be a philosopher; he knew that clocks, though they might have been made to sell, besides this very primary quality, also ought to go, but no artificer in the land of Armenia was competent to accomplish this de- Digitized by >ogle 102 ARMENIA. Chap. VI. sirable end. Whenever a Frank traveller—not that there ever were any travellers hy profes¬ sion in those days — bnt whenever a Frank doctor or hakim made his appearance in those regions, he was always received with distin¬ guished civility by the Pasha, who, after the preliminaries of coffee, Kef enis ayi—“ may your powers of enjoyment be in good order!”—always ended with an expression of his desire that the Frank would immediately set about the repairs of the clock. “Sir, your Excellency,” said the poor man, “ I am a doctor; I am not a watchmaker or a mechanic. I don't understand clocks; it is not in my power to set the clock right; it is not in my line of business. I am very sorry, but, 0 Effendim, I fear I am unable to meet your wishes in this point.” “ Dog of a Frank,” quoth the Pasha, “ great¬ grandfather's uncle to all dogs, more particu¬ larly those of Frangistaun, is it not thy base profession to meddle with the bowels of man¬ kind? canst thou not expel ginns and evil spirits and other things, which have taken up their abode in the innermost recesses of the bodies of true believers, which thine eye cannot penetrate, while nevertheless thou tumest their livers upside down and their souls inside out; Digitized by Google C»utp. vi. PATHOLOGY OF CLOCKS. 103 and all this by the accursed aid of thy wretched Frankish incantations { shooting thine arrows at them, or rather sending down their throats certain wicked and diabolical contrivances, which are known by the barbarians of thy benighted oountiy by the name of pills. Dost thou pretend to see all that is going on in the stomach of a follower of the Prophet, and -wilt thou tell me with the same breath that thou Canst not ad¬ minister to the disorganized Constitution of a clock ? Hath not a clock a pulse, when he is alive and in good health? Go thoU, feel his pulse, and see whether it is fast or slow; what* ever thou mayest want thou shalt have; my hakim bashi shall assist you, only cure the clock. All Franks make clocks: I have it from authority: do not pretend that thoti canst not set the clock going again, for surely thoU canst restore it to life, and make it strike, and do all that it ought to do. Behold! thou art a Frank. Guards, take the Frank up into the tower, and make him mend the dock; and, if the unbe¬ lieving dog will not mend the clook, then put him into the dungeon down below, till he con¬ fesses that he is ready to do as he is commanded by the Pasha of the true believers.” In this way every audience concluded. The Digitized by Google 104 ARMENIA* Chap. VI. unlucky Frank, having been exalted to the top of the tower and exhorted to repair the rickety old clock, which had lost half its works, was debased into the dungeon, there to remain till further notice. Having often heard this story of the good old times, I one day proceeded to the citadel to see the tower where the clock had been, and to examine the dungeon, where I should have been sent if I had arrived at Er- zeroom fifty or sixty years ago. This dungeon really was a dungeon: anything so terrible as an abode for a human being I never saw before. The pozzi at Venice were rather pleasant and agreeable places of retirement, compared with the abode of many a poor Frank, in whose edu¬ cation the art and craft of clockology had been unfortunately omitted. At the foot of that which had been the clock- tower was a range of small low rooms, of which two were particularly belonging to the prison: the outer room of the two was larger than the other; this was appropriated to the guards, who kept watch and ward, and who fed, or did not feed, the wretched prisoners under their care. The inner room was small and low, and had one window, through which the light and air had to struggle with the opposition of heavy Digitized by Google Chap. VI. THE DUNGEON. 1Q5 crossed and re-crossed iron bars. The window looked into the castle-yard, but the room was so dark that I could hardly see my way. “ A horrible place for the poor prisoners,” said I to my guides; “ little chance of their escape from these thick walls and heavy bars, and low strong roof; they must have been safe enough here.” “ 0 Effendim,” said the kawasses, “ this is not the prison. Here is the prison, at your feet down below.” “ Where ? ” said I. “ Look down,” they replied, “ on the middle of the floor ; there is the entrance; you cannot see the dungeon itself, for it is, perhaps, a little dark.” In the centre of the floor of this dismal cell was a heavy wrought-iron grating, square, made of great bars, about six inches apart, seemingly of enormous weight, lying on the ground, and fastened down with two or three huge rusty padlocks on one side and some lum- 1 bering old hinges on the other. This iron k grate was opened and raised up for my special edification, and there appeared under it the mouth of a narrow well cut in the rock, perhaps two feet and a half in diameter, which sank down into the darkness far below. “ Now,” said my ' F 3 Digitized by Google 106 ABMEHIA. Chap. YT* informants, “ if yon stand on this side, and look steadily till your eye is accustomed to the gloom, you will be able to distinguish something white a good way down; that is a square stone, like a table, in the middle of the vault, upon which the gaolers let down the provisions for the prisoners, as they can see on that stone when the things arrive at the bottom.” This was the old dungeon, the common prison not many years ago; hut, I believe, since the reign of Hadji Kiamili Pasha, few or none had been consigned to this horrible abode. The shape of it below, I understood, was that of the inside of a bottle ; it was between twenty and thirty feet deep; vermin, dirt and filth, and foul air, formed its only furniture; and into this awful hole many and many an innocent man had been let down : some to be brought up again to pay a ransom of all that they possessed, some to linger there for years, and some to die and rot unnoticed if no food was provided for them by Government, when their bones, if not their flesh, gave token to the next inhabitants of what they were to expect, unless their interest or their wealth was greater than that of the poor wretch whose re¬ mains lay there before them. An ingenious and horrible species of torture was sometimes added to the discomforts of this Digitized by Google Chap. VI. MODERN PRISON. 107 dread abode: a large piece of raw flesh was thrown down into the dungeon; the vermin, and the effluvia which it produced, added to other miseries, made the existence of the wretched prisoner almost intolerable. The modem prison is bad enough: it consists of a number' of cells opening on to a small paved court-yard. The prisoners, being just shoved through the doer, have to shift for themselves inside, where a kind of Pandemonium exists; the stronger Eootds bullying and tyrannising Over the weaker felons, who have neither fire nOr candle during the intense cold of a great part of the year: so I was told; but I was not there in tile winter, and hope these unhappy wrefehes may be allowed a little tezek occasionally to keep their dirty bodies and souls together. Digitized by Google ARMENIA. Chap. VII. 108 CHAPTER VII. Spring in Erzeroom — Coffee-house diversions — Koordish Exploits — Summer employment — Preparation of Tezek — Its varieties and uses. When the snows of winter have melted, and the air becomes more temperate, the population of Erzeroom begin to revive; the women and children, who, like the bears, lemmings, and marmottes, have hybemated all the winter, now peep with red eyes out of their subterranean habitations ; those streets situated upon hills, as most of them are, become torrents of melted snow, which cut deep ravines through the frozen mass which is piled up many feet on each side; narrow paths are gradually dug out from the low doors of the Armenian man-burrows towards the central river of the street; the winking children creep out to blink their eyes at the sun, and enjoy the fresh air; fusty cows who have been buried for eight months come slowly staring out; every now and then a more adventurous infant is carried away by the stream, and its body quickly devoured by the ravenous dogs at the outskirts of the town; wolves it is said, Digitized by Google Chap. VII. KOORDISH EXPLOITS. 109 though I never saw one, prowl about, and eat the dog that eat the child, that came out to see the weather so mild, in the street by the house that (not) Jack built. Women now scream to each other in shrill voices, as they pitch down large wooden spadefuls of half-melted snow upon the heads of those who are passing in the street; knots of Tartars, Circassians, and Lazes and Koords, in iron-heeled boots and white woollen trousers, tell lies to each other at the doors of the coffee-houses, which are answered with dignified exclamations of Wullah! Billah ! nobody believing his neighbour’s lie, but con¬ sidering straightway how he can invent a de¬ liberate falsehood to lay before the other liars in his turn. Every now and then one of these stories is true, when a cadaverous-looking Koord, hung round with arms and leaning on his lance, with the black ostrich-feathers at the top, being a practical man with very little imagination, coolly relates the history of the sacking of a defenceless village, where murder unresisted, rapine, sacrilege in the burning of the mosque, and spearing the children who run shrieking from the flames of their homes, bear with it the impress of truth, with the conviction on the part of any honest man (if there should be one in the party), that, although the rest are Digitized by Google 110 XEKBNU. Chap. VII. liars, the only truthfal narrator is a brute of that atrocious kind, that the* falsehoods of the rest are trifles, like chaff before the wind, in comparison with the real and true experiences of this infernal child of hell. Such as this are the Koords; their only virtue is that they are not cowards; but although they subscribe to a nominal adherence to the Mahomedan religion, the most liberal Imaum would he ashamed to own them. The Yezedis, who worship the devil, are angels in comparison. Yet they are superstitious to a carious degree, as the foregoing anecdoteof the Koord, who was hung through giving evidence about himself testifies. At the commencement of the summer the whole city of Erzeroom is engaged, even to desperation, in making tezek; you hear, smell, and see nothing else. How are you off for tezek ? Tezek katch, ehok tezek, tezek var bourda chok, ehok, evet, tezek Effendim, katch gooroosh: m short no one cares for anything except tezek, and he who has most tezek is the greatest maxi, and be who has but little tezek he is nought—no one cares for him, or indeed for anything else except the one absorbing topic of tezek. The cows, and bulls; and oxen, having re¬ appeared on upper earth, the Augean stable is cleared out. Tezek, the only fuel of Erzeroom, consists of the production into which the said Digitized by Google Chap, m PBEPABATKJS Off TEZEK. Ill oxen have converted their food for many months; it is trodden down hard, and is dug out by zealous Armenians, and brought exultingly to the tops of the houses; it is mixed with a good deal of the chopped straw, with which horses, and oxen, and sheep are fed, while in the subter¬ ranean stables, more chopped straw is added, mixed -with water, and except the higher class of grandees, such as the Pasha, the Oommander-in- Chief, and the author, all true men were em¬ ployed on the tops of their houses, treading the chopped straw into the tezek with their naked feet; their full Turkish trousers being pulled up and tied-with a belt round their waists. With a stick to lean upon, they are there all day, trotting about, up to their knees in tezek, shouting to each other; Mohammed bringing some more water to pour upon it; Bassan staggering up the ladder -with more tezek of the genuine un¬ adulterated kind from the recesses of the stable; Bekir with a great basket of chopped straw; and then all set to with a will, and tread steadily for an hour or' two, as: sailors do round a capstan, for the dear life; and when they get very hot they wipe their brow with a tezeky sleeve, and their sleeve with a fold of a tezeky trouser, so that they become altogether tezekious before the sun sets upon their labours, and veils his Digitized by Google 112 ARMENIA, Chap, vir^ nose, if not his eyes, under the clouds which hang over the eternal snows in the dreaded passes of the mountains of Hoshabounar. The tezek being trodden into a stiff clayey state, about six or seven inches thick, is left alone for a day or two to dry; amateurs, however, scrambling up to the top of the house to see how it is going on, to pick a bit off and look at it cunningly and smell it, to find whether it has the true flavour. There are Armenians who are knowing in tezek, who understand the thing; and over a remarkably good batch a knot of the fancy will sit on little stools, and smoke their pipes, and discuss the question scientifically; telling tales of former celebrated heaps, and of Hadji such a one, who was famous in that line, and of one Bokchi Bashi, who had an astonishing talent in the preparation of inimitable tezek. When it is all ready, it is dug out in square blocks and carried down the ladders again care¬ fully in open baskets, and piled up in the inner treasuries below, and stored for the fuel of the future winter. It is better for being old ; when it resembles peat turf. It gets somewhat dusty in a year or so, and then rivals that sort of snuff called Irish blackguard in its capacity for making you sneeze, if you venture to move a clod of it to put upon the fire; it then burns clear and. Digitized by Google ch»p, vii< TEZEK. 113 clean, without flame, and is very hot; hut when more fresh—though that is not the word—more new, X may say—it produces a thick stifling smoke, very odoriferous, and not generally ap¬ preciated by those who do not love tezek for itself, or who are not at that time manoeuvring to make you purchase an astounding bargain of the precious fuel of their own particular manu¬ facture. Erzeroom is not alone in the production of this article of merchandise. From thence through the whole of Tartary as we call it, or Turkistaun as they call it, this fuel is in universal use as far as the Great Wall of China. Great care is taken sometimes in the production of it for various artistic purposes. In Thibet it is called arghol, and in the very remarkable travels of M. Hue, it is related that that which comes from sheep and goats is more valuable for the purpose of smelting iron and other metals, as it gives a greater heat, and, instead of leaving any ash, melts into a vitreous mass of a bluish green colour. I never saw any of this myself, though it may have been used at Erzeroom, for this place was lately famous for the workman¬ ship in iron and steel by seven brothers, whose productions are valuable under the name of Yedi Kartasch, as Manton added a value to those Digitized by Google 114 ARMENIA. Chap. Vir. guns to which his name was affixed. The tezek of oxen and cows ranks next; that of hones and donkeys last, from the quantity of smoke pro¬ duced by it; that of the oxen, with the slightest possible flavour of donkey, was certainly most fashionable at Erzeroom. Digitized by Google Chap. VIII. EARTHQUAKE AT KHOI. 11 6 CHAPTER VIIL The prophet of Khoi — Climate — Effects of great elevation above the sea — The genus Homo — African gold-diggings — Sale of a family—Site of Paradise-—Tradition of Khosref Purveez — Flowere — A flea-antidote—Origin of the tulip — A party at the Cave of Ferhad, and its results — Translation from Hafiz. The atmospheric peculiarities of this climate are such, that the weather, as a general rule, may be considered as on the way from bad to worse. Earthquakes more or less severe are often felt. A severe one occurred in the year 1843, and in the same year the town of Khoi was almost entirely destroyed by one of these awful con¬ vulsions of nature. A circumstance occurred on that occasion which was very remarkable, if true. A dervish or fakir of distinguished sanctity, felt himself about to die, and, calling his friends and disciples around the couch of skins on which he lay, he prophesied that a terrible disaster was about to fall upon the town of Khoi; that the lives of many would fall into the hands of Monkir and Nakir on that day; but that those faithful believers who accompanied his body to ligitized by Google 116 ARMENIA. Chap. VIII. the tomb would be permitted to escape from the sword of the avenging angel for bis sake. The old man died, and, being held in universal re¬ verence, the greater part of the inhabitants of Khoi followed his corpse to the burial-ground, which was situated at some distance from the town. While absent on this pious errand, a tremendous earthquake suddenly reduced the city to ruin. So complete was the destruction that hardly a house was left standing, and many of those who had remained at home perished in the fall of their habitations; while those who had accompanied the body of the dervish to the grave were saved from the disaster, as he had prophesied. This is a wonderful story; I heard it at the time, and was very much struck with the pecu¬ liar circumstances of the case. Its accuracy would be difficult either to prove or to disprove, but the history as I have narrated it was current at the time when the earthquake happened. Pillars of dust, like those of sand seen in the deserts of Africa and Arabia, are supposed to be the works of evil spirits, and often stalk like giants across the plain. The deep narrow valleys and ravines which slope down from the elevated plateau of Erzeroom, are unhealthy and pestilential in the extreme, while the inhabitants Digitized by Google Chap. VIII. CLIMATE. 117 of the upper country enjoy good health enough. Here the com returns about five-fold to the labour of the sower: one being retained for seed, four bushels is the extent of the profit of the husbandman for one which he had sown. The summer, though very short, is hot and parching, the thermometer being usually about 84, though it rises occasionally I think to nearly 90. The cold in winter is commonly 16 degrees below zero of Fahrenheit, and is often colder. The mercury in my thermometer, which was not calculated for such a climate, quietly retired into the ball in the autumn, and never came out again while I remained at Erzeroom. The great height of the town above the sea was exemplified in a practical manner to me on my first arrival. I was in a state of constant wrath about the tea: the tea was excellent, of the very first quality, but the decoction thereof was always a failure. Jn vain was the kettle placed upon the fire by my side; in vain did the semavar, the best of tea-urns, boil and steam. Double, double, toil and trouble! the fire burnt and the caldron bubbled, but the tea was vapid. As for the eggs, I don’t know how long it took to boil them till the white was fixed. . The reason of all this only occurred to me one day when I put my. finger into some almost boiling water, which by no Digitized by Google 118 AXUENU. Chip. yin. means scalded me—for water boiled at 196* of Fahrenheit as we were between 7000 and 8000 feet above the level of the sea; and, consequently* though boiling and steaming away, it was not hot enough to produce the effects of water boil¬ ing at the heat of 212°, which is the temperature at which it boils in London. Nature has provided a kettle of her own, in a hot spring at EHj^, near which place I was informed that there was a rock against which iron stuck of its own accord—a rock of load¬ stone ; but I never had an opportunity of verify¬ ing this report. The natural history of the highlands of Ar¬ menia is particularly interesting, and rich in flowers hardly known to Europeans, and in the prodigious quantities of birds which breed on the plain of Erzeroom and in the valleys and watercourses of the neighbourhood. The quadrupeds are not numerous; the cli¬ mate is too rigorous for those not provided with thick furs to protect them from the tremendous cold. The fish consist only of a sort of barbel, which is found in the high waters of the Euphrates* and of three kinds of trout, swarming in the lesser streams and rivulets which flow down from the snowy mountain-tops. Digitized by Google Chap. VUL THE auras HOMO. 119 To commence with the highest order of mam-, malia; some extraordinary specimens of the genus Homo are to be met with in many parts of the East, generally in the character of Frank doctors. Erzeroom was not wanting in produo* tiona of this kind. The character of these adven¬ turers is in every instance precisely alike: they are all sharp and so-called clever men, speaking Several languages correctly, with a smattering of general knowledge, but understanding no¬ thing perfectly, and all wanting in the same two quahtiee™ywcfym were so extraor¬ dinary and uncommon that a history of them would fill a volume. After this man’s death it appeared that ho was not himself, but somebody else; and his true name being the same as that of a person I had met, many years before, at Wadi Haifa, or at Assouan, high up the Nile, made me suspect that these two persons were the same. One ha lf of this character certainly died in a khan at Erzeroom; but as I do not know whether the Digitized by Google ISO ARMENIA. Chap. VIII. other half is dead, or whether the two were really one or not, I must forbear the strange • | narration of their lives, for fear something might < meet the eyes of their friends or relations—if they had any—who, perhaps, may he under the pleasing delusion that their respected relative was an honour to their name. I must however relate a little anecdote of the Egyptian half of my acquaintance. At Assouan, below the cataracts, I saw an extraordinary looking boat, built of bits of hard wood, like iron-wood, each about two feet long, caulked or cemented in the seams with reeds and mud, pre¬ cisely in the manner in which the ancient boats are represented in the hieroglyphics. This strange vessel was of large size, and was navi¬ gated by a crew of blacks, of a tribe with which I was not acquainted. The proprietor of the ship was dressed in a much worn and old fashioned Turkish dress; his cabin was carpeted with lion- skins ; his cushions were the skins of some small deer, stuffed. He was very civil, and spoke in the French language to me, while he gave his , orders to his servants in a dialect which bore j little resemblance to Arabic, but which belonged to some distant region of the interior of Africa, where he had been living many years. His personal servants were the handsomest negroes' | Digitized by Google Chap. VIII. AFRICAN “ DIGGINGS.” 121 I had ever seen: though they were dressed as men, I found they were girls; one, who was beautiful, was his wife. He was an interesting personage, and appeared on friendly terms with his black attendants, who looked forward with great glee to the wondrous sights which they were to see at Cairo. After listening to some curious stories of the manners and customs of the black nations of the interior, unknown to Europeans, he showed me three or four strongly- made iron-bound chests, which, on being opened, proved to be full of gold, to the amount of some thousands of pounds; some was in nuggets, but most part of it was in the form of rings the size of bracelets, and others the size of large heavy finger-rings, all of pure gold. These rings were passed as money, and were of the exact form of those used for the same purpose by the ancient Egyptians, and of the rings found in Celtic and British tombs. Independent of their intrinsic value, they were exceedingly curious; and he said gold might be procured in great quantities in the mountains beyond Darfoor. Here then is an opening for some future diggings, and an object to promote discoveries in the centre of Africa. My informant was an European, of the same nation and the same name as the person whom I met at Erzeroom, but I now doubt whether a Digitized by Google 122 ARMENIA. Chap. VIII. the two were or were not the same. Some time afterwards I made inquiries at Cairo about this singular adventurer, when I heard that he had sold his strange vessel, his wife, his servants, and his crew, to their astonishment and dismay, for they did not consider themselves as slaves, and he had taken his departure for Europe with his gold rings and the produce of the sale of his confiding- family. It may not be generally known that Erzeroom is supposed to be the site of the terrestrial para¬ dise. The reason of this supposition is deduced from the fact of so many great and famous rivers taking their rise in this exalted region. About three hours from Erzeroom, passing the ancient monastery of Kuzzul Yank, on the way to Tortoom and Kars, a rocky top of a mountain rises about 2000 feet above the plain, and conse¬ quently about 10,000 feet above the level of the sea. Standing on one spot upon this mountain, the traveller can see the sources, beneath his feet of the Euphrates, the Araxes, and the river which falls into the Black Sea in the pestilential neighbourhood of Batoum; one river falling into the Persian Gulf, one into the Caspian, and one into the Black Sea. The traditions of the country relate that the flowers of paradise bloomed in luxuriant splendour in this now Digitized by Google Chap. VIII. KH08EEI PUEVEEZ. 128 barren region till the days of Khosref Purveez. This mighty Persian monarch, “the Great King,” was encamped npon the banks of the Euphrates, on the plains of Erzeroom, when a messenger arrived from the prophet Mohamed, then an insignificant pretender, offering this magnificent sovereign protection if he would give up the religion of his fathers and embrace the faith of Islam. Khosref Purveez, in derision, threw the letter from the prophet into the waters of the river, when Nature, in dismay^ withered all her trees and flowers, and the bounteous stream, which formerly bestowed wealth and abundance to the country on its shores, shrank into its bed, and, refusing to fer¬ tilize the earth, cold and frost and barrenness have been ever since the consequence of the impiety of the Persian king: not only this, but the days of his ancient empire were numbered; and in the days of Yesdijird, a few years after this event, the blacksmith’s apron, the victorious standard of Persia, fell into the hands of the Mahomedan general, at the great battle of Kud- seah, where the sun of Persia set to rise no more. Among the rocks, not far from Erzeroom, is an artificial cavern, hewn out of the moun¬ tain-side by Ferhad, the successful rival of G 2 Digitized by Google 124 ABMEXIA. Chap. Vin. Khosref in the affections of the beautiful Shi- reen. It was here—or others say at Beysittoon •—that Ferhad threw himself from the precipice on hearing the false intelligence that Shireen was dead; and that famous beauty herself died on seeing the remains of the mighty Khosref, who had been murdered by his own son Schi- roueh out of jealousy and love for her. From the tops of the mountains surrounding Erzeroom the snowy summit of Mount Ararat can be seen—another monument in the history of the cradle of the human race, and at its feet the town of Nackchevan was built by Noah, on his descent from the ark. This was the first city built by man after the Flood, according to Armenian, and I think also Mahomedan, tra¬ dition. Some slight remains of paradise are left, even to our days, in the form of the most lovely flowers, which I gathered on the very hill from whence the three rivers take their departure to their distant seas. Though one of them has a Latin scientific name, no plant of it has ever been in Europe, and by no manner of con¬ trivance could we succeed in carrying one away. This most beautiful production was called in Turkish, Yedi kartash kan4 (Seven brothers’ blood), in Latin, Ravanea, or Philipea coccinea, Digitized fcfy Google Chap. VIII. FLOWERS. 125 a parasite on absinthe, or wormwood. This is the most beautiful flower conceivable: it is in the form of a lily, about nine to twelve inches long, including the stalk; the flower and stalk, and all parts of it resembling crimson velvet; it has no leaves; it is found on the sides of the mountains near Erzeroom, often in company with the Morena Orientalis, a remarkable kind of thistle, with flowers all up the stalk, looking and smelling like the honeysuckle. Another beautiful flower found here has not been de¬ scribed. It grows among rocks, and has a tough carroty root, two feet or more in length; the leaves are long grassy filaments, forming a low bush, like a tussock of coarse grass; under the leaves appear the flowers. Each plant has twelve or twenty of them,, like large white-heart cherries on a stalk,—in the form of a hunch of grapes, eight or ten inches long; these flowers are merely coloured bladders holding the seed. An iris, of a most brilliant flaming yel¬ low, is found among the rocks, and it, as well as all the more remarkable flowers of this country, blooms in the spring soon after the melting of the snow, that is to say about June. Pir4 otou, a herb, which is sold here in powder (Anthemis rosea, aut camea), in¬ stantly kills fleas and other insects, and would Digitized by Google 126 ARMENIA. Chap. Till. be invaluable to travellers in warm climates. We possessed a certain little dog, called Fun- dook (a nut), who held the important posi¬ tion of turnspit in our kitchen; he was a wise dog, with a look of dignity about him like a dog in office, and one that had something on his mind and knew more than he would say. He turned out his elbows and turned in his toes, and sat at the door in a solemn attitude when not employed on the business of the nation. In the pursuit of his vocation he became sadly vexed with fleas, and his dignity suffered from the necessity of scratching with his hind leg, just like a common, vulgar dog. Commiserating his condition, one of the grooms went to the expense of five paras (one farthing sterling), with which he purchased two good handfuls of powdered leaves of Pird otou, the effect of which was magical: in one minute every flea was dead, and Fundook swaggered into the kitchen quite a renovated dog. It may not be generally known that the tulip owes it origin to the blood of Ferhad, which was sprinkled on the ground when he threw himself from the rocks in despair, on hearing of the death of his glorious Shireen. In this story we see how one beautiful idea is copied and admired by mankind in the most distant regions, Digitized by Google Ch«p. VIII. A PARTY AT THE CAVE OF FERHAD. 127 times, and circumstances, for this is the same tradition as that of the Anemone, which in classic lore arose from the blood of Adonis, while Venus was weeping for his loss. Upon a day we gave a party at the cave of Ferhad; this was a rare function; parties were not common at Erzeroom. “When the Orient sun arose and shed his golden beams o’er the snowy peaks of the mountains of the East, Apollo on that day must have reined in his steeds in wonder at the unwonted stir that was taking place at Erzeroom, as Aurora withdrew the purple veil of night from the features of fair mother earth, refreshed with the slumbers she had enjoyed under the guardianship of Endymion. She of the rosy fingers doubtless started up in beautiful surprise at the bustle and the activity displayed beneath her gaze. Phoebus, not resisting the pleasure of curiosity, gazed down in all his glory on the Armenian plain, where horses neighed and cattle lowed, and hasty marmitons, laded ox-eyed oxen with bright coppers from the kitchen shelves; wains were there laden with wide tubs of cooling snow; cooks in a perspiration swore deep oaths; the voice official of Fundook was heard yelping and barking in the morning breeze, and under Sol’s first rays a Caravan set forth in long dark Digitized by Google 128 ARMENIA. Chap. VIII. outline winding o’er the plain of Erzeroom.”— For the rest see Homer, unpublished edition, cap. x. All the rank and fashion of the place were present; the rank rode on horseback, the fashion followed in a cart drawn by four oxen—this would sound better if it were called an araba —and therein was contained all the beauty of the city of Erzeroom. The distance may have been ten miles; some of the party got there in three-quarters of an hour, and others arrived in an hour and three-quarters. Among the dis¬ tinguished guests were two philosophers, one of whom, having lately arrived in these unknown regions, was remarkable for the glorious colours of his waistcoat. This effulgent garment having been admired, the answer was returned in the following mysterious sentence as I well re¬ member, in a language unknown, as far as my knowledge is experienced, in any nation upon earth. “ Z4st mon vamme, gui ma tonn4 ze chilet.” Our admiration of the chilet gave way before the announcement that the carriage and four was approaching the cave, and all sallied forth to receive the lovely damsels that it bore. Through many a quag, o’er many a rock, and many a jolt had those oxen drawn the araha for many a weary hour before they lay down in Digitized by Google Chap. VIII. CAREFUL PACKING. 129 front of our cave; and now it was the happy lot of those who got there first to hand out of their carriage the admired beauties of Armenia. The carriage stopped, and we were in readiness, our feelings of politeness screwed up to the most perfect tone,— When the pie was opened The birds began to sing: Wasn’t that a dainty dish To set before a king ? But the birds did not come out—here was much to be done before that desired object was con¬ cluded : first out came a cushion, then a feather-' bed, and then a pretty girl, then another cushion, then another lovely damsel, then three or four more cushions, and another feather-bed, and then the prettiest little Armenian of all jumped upon the ground, half laughing and half smothered; for such dainty goods would have broken all to bits on those rough roads, if they had not been packed so carefully. The mother of the three graces accompanied them, and the party being assembled, the great business of life commenced in earnest. Dolmas and kieuft4 and cabobs soon graced the board; not that there was any board, but it sounds well. “ Viands,” that is chickens, lamb stewed with quinces, and all manner of good things, appeared and disappeared, to the wonder of certain hungry Koords who happened e 3 Digitized by Google 130 ARMENIA. Chap. VIII. to be passing, and who would have been run through with the spits, if not devoured by Fundook, our brave ally, if they had made a row. Corks from foreign bottles of champagne, popped in brisk salute. Cooks and kawasses, grooms, arabagis, eiwasses, and heiwans followed the good example set them by their lords, and, “ fruges consumere nati, ” did their best to follow the end of their creation. Then and on that occasion only, did many a lanthom-jawed, hooknosed Koord, imbibe the unknown potations of Frangistaun. Then in glorious generosity did the trusty marmiton dispense the bones of slaughtered lamb, drumsticks of fowl, and crust of pie, whereof repletion dire denied the power to partake. By staggering chiboukgis pipes were next produced, and fragrant coffee, served on salvers bright; and on soft Persian carpets now reclined, the party enjoyed the scene before them, passing an agreeable after¬ noon in each other’s society; accompanied I thought with some little flirtations between some of the company, which I suspect left pleasing recollections on their minds, for though I cannot boast that anything came of it that day, yet not long afterwards two marriages were declared between some of those who assisted at the dinner in the cave of Ferhad; and the most Digitized by Google Chap. VIII. TRANSLATION FROM HAFIZ. 131 anxious chaperon will acknowledge that that was as much as could be expected under the circum¬ stances, seeing that there were but two un¬ married ladies of the company. Afterwards I found among my papere the fol¬ lowing doleful ditty, purporting to be a transla¬ tion of Hafiz, on the fertile Persian subject of Ferhad and Shireen; and as the reader is not obliged to read it unless he likes to do so, I subjoin it in memory of the day that I for my part passed so pleasantly with many agreeable companions in this unfrequented spot. The accompaniment to the air having been kindly undertaken by Fundook, the minstrel thus begins:— Hafiz, who passed his sunny hours By the sweet stream of Mosellay, Singing of vineyards and of flowers To pass the fleeting time away, Tells how the blood of Ferhad’s wound Had stained fair Nature’s mantle green, Sprinkling with ruddy spots the ground Before the feet of fair Shireen. The tulip from his blood arose Beside her path in that sad hour, Displaying how its leaves enclose A goblet in each opening flower. Then to the lips the-goblet press, Whose rim contains forgetfulness* The vine, the glorious vine, arose, Unscathed by crime, unchanged by woes, Exulting in her charms, Waving her tendrils in the breeze, And clasping the rough rugged trees In her encircling arms. Digitized by Google 132 ARMENIA. Chap. VIII. With clustering grapes upon her brow, Still as she binds each willing bough Their welcome aid she gains; On them she leans, but they confess The power of her loveliness, And glory in their chains. Fill up the bright and sparkling bowl. That cures the body, heals the soul. No—be it not refused— Hail to the vine! whose purple juice Was sent on earth for mortals’ use, But not to be abused. Still to the lips the goblet press, Whose rim contains forgetfulness. Forgetfulness, alas ! *tis this That mortals hold the height of bliss In this sad world of care; For Memory through life retains A catalogue of griefs and pains, But little else is there. Then to the lips the goblet press, Whose rim contains forgetfulness.— Hafiz. Digitized by Google CHAPTER IX. The bear — Ruins of a Genoese castle — Lynx — Lemming — Cara guz — Gerboa — Wolves — Wild sheep — A hunting adventure — Camels — Peculiar method of feeding — Degeneration of do¬ mestic animals. Op four-footed beasts the most illustrious is the bear, of which there are a good many in the wooded sides of the mountains in the neigh¬ bourhood of Kars. Near the strange, unearthly lake of Tortoom, I saw the fresh footprint of a real Ursa Major—a thundering old hear he must have been. He had only just departed, and the mark of one of his paws was large enough to hold more than both of mine. In another place I came upon the ruins of one of the string of Genoese castles, which, in former days, reared up their lordly towers at distances of not more than eight or ten hours apart the whole way from Trebizond to Teflis. Their splendid ruins have been my admiration on many an imposing rock, frowning over an unknown valley. Even the names of most of these are lost, while we only Digitized by Google 134 ARMENIA. Cfesp. IX. know of the history of their founders that once upon a time there were such merchant princes. In the bottom of a broken turret a bear had taken lodgings, but he was not at home when I called. Others, not far off on another hill, had given a small party, and had been amusing themselves by rolling about a piece of rock about five feet in diameter,—a game of roulette, on a large scale, which showed their wondrous strength. The mud from their paws upon the stone was wet when I came up to join the party, but, perhaps luckily for me, they declined the honour of my acquaintance, and the society had broken up. Some sturdy peasants of Lazistaun, hearing of my partiality for strange creatures, brought me two young bears one day, who lived in our house for some time, they were very sensible, the she-bear keeping her brother in remarkable order; they became very tame. They were, in some respects, different from the European bear, and of a light cinnamon colour. I sent them to England. They were great favourites with the sailors on board ship, and arrived safely at the Tower-Stairs, when some white paint being left out for the beautification of the vessel, the poor bears eat it all up, and not only died of the unwholesome feast, but the poison was so strong as to bring the fur off their Digitized by Google Chap. IX. LYNX—LEMMING—CARA GUZ. 135 skins, so that they could not he stuffed and im¬ mortalized in a glass case. After the bear the next animal is the lynx, the fur of whose belly is of the highest value in Turkey, while that of the back is worth very much less. These animals are not rare in Ar¬ menia, and Enveri Effendi prided himself on a splendid robe of this valuable fur, which he paid for by selling the skins of the backs of the lynxes at Constantinople for more than he had given for the precious under-fur at Erzeroom. The lynx is famed for the quickness of his sight, but Enveri Effendi had a sharper eye than he in all affairs relating to his own benefit. In the spring of the year, soon after the women and children, the lemmings come out, and sit upon their hind legs, and wipe their eyes with their fore-paws, and seem to wonder quietly at those who pass by, taking a header, or somerset, down their holes if you stop sud- t denly to look at these curious little beasts. A soft, cozy, fat little quadruped, called cara guz (black eyes), about the size of a young guinea-pig, and much of the same shape—only his colour is grey, and he has a most wonder- y fully soft coat—comes out too about this time. He is so fat that he cannot walk very fast, and is easily taken, and in his- captivity prefers Digitized by Google 136 ARMENIA. Chap. IX. almonds and raisins to any other bill of fare which I was able to put before him. This little fellow eats his breakfast, luncheon, dinner, and supper slowly and respectably, without testifying any alarm for mankind. I could not make out his scientific name; he is probably some kind of little marmotte, and he falls readily into the manners and habits of the society in which Providence has placed him. After cara guz, the gerboa comes out of his hole, and hops about on his long tail and hind legs; a miniature kangaroo, in whose acquaint¬ ance I have rejoiced in the burning deserts of Africa as well as in the frozen regions of the high¬ lands of Erzeroom. In this country the number of quadrupeds is very limited; the fox is occar sionally seen, as well as the grey beaver (kon- dooz), badgers, and wolves. At the melting of the snow the wolves come even into the towns, and devour the dogs with which every town is amply supplied. There are awful stories of their carry¬ ing off the little, peeping, blear-eyed children, who creep out of their holes in the beginning of spring, and who are occasionally washed away in the torrents of melted snow—the only washing attended to hereabouts. Wolves are not very unfrequently started out of the inside of one of the numerous dead horses, whose overworked Digitized by Google Chap. IX. WILD SHEEP. 137 bodies have been frozen into the consistency of flint during the winter, and which form savoury banquets for the famished wolves when the snow and ice recede, and display these dainty morsels to their haggard eyes. The wild sheep frequent the inaccessible rocks of the lower mountains, where a scanty her¬ bage may be browsed beneath the line of per¬ petual snow. No two animals can be more different, both in appearance and habits, than the wild and tame sheep. The wild sheep of Armenia (Ovis gemelii) is in size, shape, and colour like the doe of the fallow-deer, only it has two short horns bending back¬ wards, like those of a goat. The strength and agility of this most nimble creature are aston- , ishing; they are more difficult of approach than the chamois of the Alps. I have usually seen them in pairs, but was never able to get a shot. I brought three skins and several heads of this rare animal to Europe, out of which one stuffed > specimen was made up in the British Museum; it is, I believe, the only one extant. The method employed to hunt this sheep is to climb to the highest summit of a mountain, and then cau¬ tiously approaching the edges of the cliffs, to peep down with a telescope into the gorges and ravines below, where, if you have luck, you Digitized by Google ARMENIA. Chap.IX. 138 may see the sheep capering about on the ledges of the precipice, jumping, standing on a stone on their hind legs to reach a little toft of herb* age, and playing the most curious antics, for no perceptible reason, unless it is that they find their digestion improved by taking a consider¬ able deal of exercise. In these gymnastics the hunter must participate to a great extent in fol¬ lowing the tracks of the jumpingest creatures (excepting fleas) that he can ever have to deal with. It requires much activity, and a good head for looking over a height, to attempt to come up with them, and many a sad accident has occurred to the adventurous sportsman in this pursuit. I myself have been in some awk¬ ward situations: once particularly, having let myself down by the roots of a kind of juniper on to the ledge of a tremendous precipice, I found there was no way further down, and, what was of more consequence, no way up again, for the roots of the stunted tree were above my reach. A hunter—a Laz, or a native of Lazistaun—was with me, and when we had done watching the two sheep scampering off out of shot below, we looked at the place we were on, and then in each other’s faces in blank dismay. We were in the same scrape as the Emperor Maximilian got into in the Tyrol, near Digitized by Google Chap. IX. A HUNTING ADVENTURE. 139 . . . . only there being no angels about in the mountains of Lazistaun, we had no expecta¬ tion of being assisted by a spirited or a spiritual goatherd, as he was. After a good deal of pan¬ tomime, which would have puzzled any bird who might be wondering at our manoeuvres—for we did not understand each other’s language—we took off our boots, all our outer clothes, and our arms and rifles, and tied them in a bundle; then I planted myBelf firmly, with my face to the wall of the cliff, sticking my rifle into a crevice to give me more steadiness, and the hunter climbed carefully up my back on to my shoulders till he got hold of the roots of the tree; the tree shook, and plenty of stones and dirt fell upon my head, while the hunter scrambled into the trunk, and he was safe. He sat down awhile to rest, and then hauled up the clothes and guns with our shawls that we had taken off from round our waists; a gentle qualm came over me at this moment, for fear he should be off with my to him very valuable spoils, and leave me in peace upon the shelf. But he was a true man, as a hunter generally is; so, after a variety of signs and gesticulations to each other, as to how it was to be done, he lugged me up, first by the shawls, and then by hand, until I could reach the roots of the tree. Here there Digitized by Google 140 ARMENIA. * Chap. IX. was only room for one, so he climbed higher, and, after some wonderful positions, struggles, kicks, and scrambling, I got hack amongst the roots, then up the trunk of the old gnarled juniper, or whatever it was, and at last upon a slope, par¬ taking much of that character which, in the States of the free and independent slave-dealers over the water, is called slantindicular. Here we both lay down. As for me, I was quite faint with giddiness and hard kicking, with no¬ thing under me to kick at; hut soon we picked up our effects, put on our boots, &c., scrambled, slid, and climbed about again after some more sheep; hut by reason of their having two pair of legs each, and each pair better adapted to present circumstances than our one pair each, they always got away, and we came down the mountain muttonless and hungry for that day, not sorry to find a famous good supper in the tent, in our encampment by the trout stream, in the valley of Tortoom. One more quadruped nearly concludes the short catalogue of the mammalia of Erzeroom-— the capricorn, many specimens of whose enor¬ mous horns are nailed up over the doors of houses in the city; but I never saw this last animal at Erzeroom, alive or dead. Innumerable camels accompany the caravans Digitized by Google Chap. IX. DEGENERATION OF ANIMALS. 141 from hence to Persia, looking very much out of place in the deep snow. They are the Arabian camel with one hump, and I had no notion that my old acquaintance of Arabia could hear the tremendous cold of Erzeroom. G-reat quantities of com and meal are brought here from the more prolific countries of the neighbourhood. This is the staple merchandise of the city, which is the only place on the road between Persia and Turkey where caravans can recruit their thousands of jaded horses, and procure pro¬ visions for their journey. In this consists the political importance of an otherwise worthless and infertile spot. The number of camels, horses, mules, and beasts of burthen assembled sometimes at Erzeroom is immense, and they have here a peculiar method of feeding the camels by opening their mouths with the left hand, and with the other shoving down the poor beast’s throat a ball of dough about the size of a cricket ball. One peculiarity of the domestic animals in this fearful climate is, that they are dwarfed and dwindled in size to an extraordinary degree. A bull used to run about the lower regions of my house, which was barely eighteen inches high; the sheep were so small that grown up mutton looked like lamb. The same occurred with the Digitized by Google 142 ARMENIA* Chap. IX. fruit; none at all grew at Erzeroom, but we had from villages some miles off, on the edges of the plain, plums the size of damsons, and apricots the size of walnuts, and other fruits in pro¬ portion. Digitized by Google Chap. X. BIRDS. 143 CHAPTER X. Birds — Great variety and vast numbers of birds — Flocks of geese — Employment for the sportsman — The captive crane—Wild and tame geese — Their pious and profane ancestors—List of birds found at Erzeroom. I now enter upon a subject, to which I fear I have neither time nor power to do justice. The number of various kinds of birds which breed on the great plain of Erzeroom, is so prodigious as to be almost incredible to those who have not seen them, as I often have, covering the earth for miles and miles so completely, that the colour of the ground could not be seen; par¬ ticularly at one period, when the whole country had a rosy appearance, from the countless flocks of a sort of red goose, which I take to be the ruddy sheldrake—a splendid bird, though not good to eat. It is about the size of a small goose or a muscovy duck; almost entirely clothed in various shades of red. Troops of the two varieties of the wild grey goose form whitish spots in the animated landscape, their Digitized by Google 144 ARMENIA. Chap. X. wild cries and noises sounding in every direction. So closely covered was the plain with this pro¬ digious multitude of every kind of wild fowl, that I have galloped among them for some distance, the birds getting up about one hundred yards in a circle round my horse, and settling again behind me with loud cries, while the air rustled with the beating of innumerable wings of those birds which had been disturbed by my approach. The sportsman may imagine what shooting there is at Erzeroom, for when one genus has reared its young and flown away to far and distant lands, another takes its place. Quails are at one time almost as thick as flies; and numerous varieties of small birds, among which the homed lark and the red winged finch flew in clouds. That beautiful variety, the rosy starling, has been often shot, as well as the merops, and so many other little fowls of varied plumage, that I must refer the reader to the accompanying list, for it would fill a hook to give even a slight description of them all. On the banks of the river I used to shoot all sorts of waders, particu¬ larly spoonbills, and that most delicate of birds, the egret or white heron, famous for its plumes. I must own to being a bad shot, having been more accustomed to the rifle, but these white . herons afforded me great practice; as they flapped Digitized by Google Chap. X. SUCCESSFUL SPORT. 146 along I shot numbers of them, as well as many and many a quaint fellow with long legs whom I brought home merely to make out who he was, and to write down his name. Later in the year I risked my neck by riding as hard as I could tear over the rocky or rather stony plains at the foot of the mountains after the great bustard. I have more than once knocked some of the feathers out of these glorious huge birds, as they ran at a terrible pace, half flying and scrambling before my straining horse, but I never succeeded in killing one, though I have constantly partaken of those which had fallen before more patient gunners, who stalk them as you would a deer, and knock them over with a rifle or swan-shot from behind a stone or bank. I had more success with the great cinereous crane, which runs much faster than a horse. I shot one at full gallop with a rifle, in a place overgrown with reeds. This was a mighty triumph, for, though my game was about five feet high, he was so very long in the legs and neck, that the body offered but a small mark to be brought down under such circumstances, and the pace he was going at the time, and I after him, was, as they say, “ a caution.” This is a bird with whom it is requisite to be wary: if he is down, and not killed outright, like the H Digitized by Google 146 ARMENIA. Chap. X heron and the stork he makes a dart with his sharp long hill at the eyes of his enemy, and its strength is such, that it might easily, I should think, penetrate the brain; at any rate the eye would be picked out at once, and that would suffice for that time. A man brought in a crane, which he had winged, and we turned him out in the yard with the poultry, where he stalked up and down with a proud indignant air. He soon became pretty quiet, and eat his com with the rest, while he had a deep bucket of water for his own use, into which he used to poke his head con¬ tinually. One day a stupid heavy servant went into the yard, and, not knowing that the bucket was placed there for the stork, he took it up to carry it away, when the bird flew at him, and pecked at his face, but, missing his eye, seized him tightly by the nose, and there he held him for a good while. The poor man halloed loud enough, but those who came to his assistance could not help him at first for laughing; and though he kept beating at the crane with the bucket, which he held in his hand, his long neck enabled him to keep so far off, that he. escaped all the frantic attempts of his prisoner to reach him. The man’s nose was swelled and very sore for some time, and he never got over Digitized by Google Chap. X. THE CAPTIVE CRANE. 147 the ridicule which attached to him for his perilous adventure with the crane. It was touching to watch this crane: when the time for its emi¬ gration arrived, a flock of its magnificent com¬ panions every day used to fly high up in the air, in a wheeling circle, above its head. This circle of flying birds has a very striking effect. The cranes above called to their friend to join them for their distant journey to a happier cli¬ mate, and the poor helpless crane below, stretch¬ ing its long neck up towards the sky, answered the appeal in a singularly mournful cry. Various kinds of partridge exist, and the lesser bustard, called in Turkish Mesmeldek, is an excellent bird for the table. They have a curious method of catching the mesmeldek in some of the steppes in Southern Russia. At the com¬ mencement of winter, parties of horsemen gallop out upon the plains, before sunrise, at which hour the wings of these birds are frozen to their sides, and, the hunters stretching out their horses ill a line, the birds are driven by them into the villages and secured, before the warmth of the sun - releases their wings and restores their powers of flight. Great flocks of the lesser bustard have been driven in this manner occasionally into Odessa. Hawks and stately falcons hover over h 2 Digitized by Google 148 ARMENIA. Chap. X. head, and prey upon their defenceless brethren at their ease. Storks build upon the chimneys; and among the sticks of which their huge nest is formed, the sparrows make their nests, stealing, when they can, any food which the old birds bring for their young. Here, as in all other parts of the world, this impertinent race of little birds dispute possession of the house with mice and other intruders; hut at Erzeroom they are hardly put to it sometimes for want of twigs to perch upon, and they sit usually, instead, upon the iron bars of the windows in the town. Here I have often watched them chirping in the cold, as they sat by the dozen on the bars of my window, dressing their feathers, and jabbering to each other, like true Koordish sparrows, about the corn that they stole from my chickens yesterday, and how, with case-hard¬ ened consciences, they intend to steal as much more as they can get to-day. This is a subject on which I could dilate to any length, hut at present I must conclude with the following list of the various tribes of birds who, in thousands and millions, would reward the toil of the sportsman and the naturalist on the plains and mountains of the high lands of Digitized by Google Chap. X. PIOUS AND PROFANE GEESE. 149 Armenia; merely adding to this brief notice of the birds of this country the following veracious anecdote, as perhaps hitherto naturalists may not all of them be aware of the origin of the separa¬ tion of the wild and tame goose:— In former days, two geese agreed to take a long journey together: the evening before they were to set out, one said to the other, “ Mind you are ready, my friend, for, Inshallah, I shall set out to-morrow morning.” “And so will I,” replied he, “ whether it pleases God or not.” The sun rose the next day, and the pious goose, having eat his breakfast and quenched his thirst in the waters of the stream, rose lightly on the wing, and soared away to a distant land. The impious bird also prepared to follow him, but, after hop¬ ping and fluttering for a long while, he found himself totally unable to rise from the ground; and his evolutions having been observed by a fowler who happened to be passing that way, he was presently caught and reduced to servitude, in whi$h his race have ever since continued, while the descendants of the religious goose still enjoy that freedom in which they were originally created. LIST OP BIRDS. Digitized by Google 160 ARMENIA, Chap. X, LIST OF BIRDS FOUND AT ERZEROOM. Raftobes (bibds of pbet). Vultur fulvus . . . . . . Fulvous vulture. Aquila fulvos . . . . . . Fulvous eagle. Aqoila pennata . . . . . • Booted eagle. Accipiter fringillarios . . . . Sparrow-hawk. Falco tinnunculua . . . . . Kestril. „ aesalon.... . . • Merlin. „ subbuteo . • • . . . Hobby. „ rufipes .... . . . Orange-legged hobby. „ peregrinus . . . . . Peregrine falcon. peregrinus . . . . . Falcon. Milvusater .... . . . Black kite. Buteo vulgaris (?) . . . . . Common buzzard (?). „ ater .... • . . Marsh buzzard. Circus pallidus . . . . . . White hen harrier. „ rufus .... . . . Marsh hen harrier. Noctv.a Indica . . • . . . Small Indian owl. Strix Indica .... . . . Another owl. Insessobes (ob Perchers). Dentirostres. Lanius excubitor . . . . . Great shrike (or butcher-bird). „ collurio . . . . . . Red-backed shrike. Collurio minor . . . . . . Small grey shrike. Muscicapa grisola . . . . . Spotted flycatcher* „ luctuosa . . . . . Pied flycatcher. Turdus merula . . . . . . Blackbird. „ torquatus . , . . . Ring-ouzel. „ pilaris . • . . . . Fieldfare. „ musicus. . . . . . Song-thrush. Petrooincla saxatilis . . . . Rock-thrush. Cinclus aquaticus . • . . . Water-ouzel (or dipper). Oriolus galbula . . . . . . Golden oriole. Motacilla alba . . . . . . White wagtail. „ flava . . . . . . Yellow wagtail. Saxicola rubicola • • • . . Stonechat. „ rubetra . . . . . Whinchat. „ GBnanthe • . . . . Wheatear. Sylvia troeliilus. . . . . . Willow wren. Digitized by Google Chap. X. LIST OF BIRDS. 151 Sylvia hippolais.Melodious willow wren. Salicaria phragmitis . . . . Sedge-warbler. „ oetti (?).Cetti’s warbler (?). Curruca cinerea.White throat. „ atricapilla.Blackcap. Phoenicura ruticilla .... Redstart. ,, tithys.Black redstart. „ suecica.Bluebreast. Erythaca rubecula.Redbreast. Troglodytes Europasus . . . Wren. Budytes melanocephala . . . Black-headed wagtail. Anthus arboreus ..... Tree-pipit. „ pratensis.Meadow pipit. „ rufescens.Red pipit. Fmirostres. Hirando riparia.Sand martin. „ rustica.Swallow: Cypselus murarius.Swift. Caprimulgus Europaeus . . . Goat-sucker. Conirostres. Alauda arvensis.Skylark. „ arborea.Woodlark. „ calandra.Calandra. „ brachydactyla.... Short-toed lark. „ penicillata.Homed lark. „ rupestris.Rock lark. „ rupestris (?).... (An Albino variety). „ rupestris.Albino lark. Parus major.Great titmouse. „ coeruleus.Blue titmouse. Emberiza citrinella.Yellowhammer. „ hortulana .... Ortolan. „ miliaria.Common bunting. „ cia.Meadow bunting. Fringilla ccelebs...... Chaffinch. „ montifringilla . . . Mountain-finch (or brambling). „ nivalis (?) .... Snow-finch (?). „ sanguinea.Bloody-finch. Pyrgita domestics.House-sparrow. „ petronea.Stone-sparrow. Garduelis communis .... Goldfinch. Pyrrhula communis (?)... (A variety of the bullfinch). Digitized by Google 162 ARMENIA. Chap. X. Linaria montana . . „ cannabina . . Coccothraustes chloris. „ vulgaris Loxia curvirostra . . Stumus vulgaris . . Pastor roseus . . . Corvus monedula . . „ frugilegus . . „ comix . . . Pica caudata .... Gamilus melanocephalus Coracias gamila. . . Mountain linnet (or twite). Greater redpole. Greenfinch. Hawfinch. Crossbill. Common starling. Rosy-pastor. Jackdaw. Rook. Hooded or Royston crow. Magpie. Black-headed jay. Roller. Upupa epops. Merops apiaster Alcedo ispida Tenuirostres . . . Hoopoe. . . Bee-eater. . • Kingfisher. SOAN8OBE8 (OB CLIMBEB 8 ). Yunx torquilla.Wryneck. Cuculus canorus.Cuckoo. Cuculus (?).Cuckoo. Rasobes (gallinaceous bibds). Otis tarda . . yy tetrax . . Pterocles arenarius Perdix saxatilis . „ cinerea . Cotumix vulgaris Columba oenas . „ turtur (?) Great bustard. Little bustard. Sand-grouse. Red or Greek partridge. Grey or English partridge. Quail. Stockdove. Turtle-dove (?). Gballs (ob Waders). Charadrius morinellus „ minor . „ hiaticula (Edicnemus crepitans Vanellus cristatus . „ keptuschka Gras cinerea. . • Dotterel. Small ring-plover. Ring-plover. Stone-curlew. Crested lapwing. Keptuschka lapwing. Common grey crane. Digitized by Google Chap. X. LIST OF BIRDS. 153 Ardea alba. . . White heron. „ cinerea .... . . Grey heron (two sorts very large). „ cinerea .... . . Night heron. „ cinerea .... • • Black heron. „ cinerea .... . . Blaok and grey heron. Botaurns stellaris • . . . . Bittern. Nycticorax Europeans . • . . Night heron. Ciconia alba. . . White stork. Platalea leucorodia. . . . . White spoonbill. Soolopax rusticola . • . . . Woodcock. » major .... . . Double or great snipe. Gailinago media . . . . . Common snipe. „ minima . • . . . Jack-snipe. Ibis falcineilus .... . . Glossy ibis. „ falcineilus (?)... . . Marone ibis. Limosa melanura . . . • • Black-tailed godwit. Tringa subarquata . . . . . Curlew tringa. „ minuta .... • . Little sandpiper. „ variabilis • . • . . Dunlin. i) pugnax .... • • Buff and reeve. Totanus hypoleucos . . . . Common sandpiper. „ ochropus . . . . . Green sandpiper. „ glottis .... . . Green-shank piper. „ calidris . • . * . Red-shank piper. Himantopus melanopterus . . Long-legged plover. Octygometra crex . . . . . Corn-crake. „ crex. . • Corn-crake. ff crex ..... . . Corn-crake. Zapomia pusilla. . . • . . Little crake. Fulica atra. . . Coot. Gallinula cbloropus . • . . Waterhen. Glareola limbata . . • . . Pratincole. „ torquata • . . , . Austrian pratincole. Palmipedes (web-footed birds). Podiceps cri status . . . . . Crested grebe. „ rubricollis • • • . . Red-necked grebe. „ auritus . . . . . Eared grebe. Lams ridibundns . . . • . Laughing gull. „ argentatus (?) • . . . Herring gull (?). Sterna hirundo • • • • . . Common tern. Sterna leucoptera . . . ‘. . White-winged tern. H 3 > Digitized by Google 154 ARMENIA* Chap. X. Sterna nigra . • . Pelicanus onocratalna Phalacrocorax carbo Anflu boschas „ bosch&s Cygnua ferua Anser ferns „ albifrons Fuligula ferina „ rufina „ cristata Querquedula cineret „ crecca Dafila caudacuta Chauliodus strepera Rynchaspis clypeata Tadoma rutila . • „ vulpanser . Mergus albellus . . Black tern. Pelican. Cormorant. Wild duck. Wild duck. Wild swan. Grey lag goose. White-fronted goose. Red-beaded pochard. Common pochard. Tufted duck. Summer teal. Common teal. Pintail duck. Gadwall. Shoveller. Ruddy sheldrake. Common sheldrake. Smew. For this list of birds I am indebted to the kindness of my friend Mr. Calvert of Erzeroom, to whom I take this opportunity of expressing my best thanks for a communication so interest¬ ing to lovers of natural history. Digitized by Google Digitized by Googl Chap. XI. EXCURSIONS. 155 CHAPTER XL Excursion to the Lake of Tortoom — Romantic bridge 4 -Gloomy effect of the lake — Singular boat — “ Evaporation ” of a pistol — Kiamili Pasha — Extraordinary marksman — Alarming illness of the author — An earthquake — Lives lost through intense cold — The author recovers. Between the days of arrival and departure of the tatars, or couriers, to Constantinople, and the struggles to keep the peace and explain the simplest transaction with our colleagues, we found time for various expeditions to the neigh¬ bouring countries on all sides. The most re¬ markable of these was that to the deep un¬ fathomable lake of Tortoom, about three days’ journey off. Our main object in going there was to fish, and we encamped for that purpose on the upper streams of the Batoum river and other places. In the valley of the castle of Tortoom the trout abounded, and were of that unsophisticated nature that, fishing one hour in the dawn and one ho r before sunset with two fly-rods, we caught every day enough to feed our camp, and to send a horse-load (no small Digitized by Google 156 ARMENIA. Chap. XI. N \ . . V quantity) in the evening to our friends at Er- ‘ zeroom. This was one day’s march, and the horses travelling all night brought the fish, though in the hot weather, in great perfection to the city in the cool of the morning. We were not aware, till it was too late, of the deadly nature of the malaria in these rocky valleys, where the precipice shot up clear and straight to the height, sometimes we used to judge, of above a thousand feet. On our way through one of these romantic dells we all rode, bag and baggage, over a bridge to be compared only to the bridge of A1 Serat, over which the souls of the judged will have to pass from the Temple of Jerusalem, over the Valley of Jehosbaphat, till they reach the other world; which bridge is as narrow as the edge of the scimitar of Moham¬ med. The fright I was in is not to be described, when I saw the first horseman, who was at the time filling his pipe, walk his horse uncon¬ cernedly over this bridge, which was composed of two pine-trees thrown over a torrent which roared and tumbled thirty feet below. However, being afraid to show I was afraid, I rode over too, and certainly thought myself a bold fellow when I got safe to the other side. To ride safely over such a bridge a horse ought to be brought up to practise on a tight-rope. I would Digitized by Google Digitized by Google Chap. XI. SINGULAR BOAT. 157 not attempt to walk over such a place nowa¬ days in England. We passed a village in one lovely valley, in a grove of peach-trees, where we found that every soul, or rather every body, was dead; only one man survived the fever which had killed the rest. Of all the strange and gloomy scenes that I have witnessed, none have left a deeper impres¬ sion on my mind than that of the black un¬ fathomable lake of Tortoom. Mountains of dark rock fall sheer down in awful precipices right into these deep still waters on each side. No fish are to be found in this Dead Sea, though perhaps they may retreat there in the winter from the mountain-rills. If the lake was a strange place, the boat which we discovered on the shore was in character with the scene. It was the only vessel on its waters, and its builder probably never studied naval architecture in the dockyards of the maritime powers. It was formed out of the trunks of two trees: but as no descrip¬ tion would so well convey a notion of its form, I refer the curious to the accompanying sketch. The standing figure in it represents a valorous kawass, who fired his pistol in the air for the sake of the echo, and, on the smoke clearing off, he found that the entire pistol had evaporated too; nothing visible remained in his hand; it Digitized by Google 158 ARMENIA. Chap. XI. had burst all to pieces. But fortunately neither he nor any of the party were hurt by the frag¬ ments, which fell into the waters of the dark and silent lake. October 1, 1843.—This day I was riding on the road towards Bayazeed and Persia. Hear¬ ing some shots, I turned towards the hills lying between the town of Erzeroom and the moun¬ tains, and there I saw two or three tents pitched, and a number of officers, servants, and people attending on Kiamili Pasha, who was shooting at a mark with a pistol. He is the most wonderful shot I ever heard of: he always fired at a distance of about 250 paces, or yards. Any one who will take the trouble to step this distance in a field or park will see how far it is to shoot with a rifle, and how entirely out of all usual calculations in pistol practice. I went into the Pasha’s tent: he received me, as usual, with great kindness, and, after pipes and coffee, I begged him to go on with his shooting. The way he set about it was this: he sat on one of the low square rush-bottomed stools which are always found in Turkish coffee-houses, but which must have been brought from Constantinople probably by the Pasha, as those kind of stools are not usually met with in Erzeroom. He did not rest his elbow on his knee, but pressed it Digitized by Google Chap. XI, EXTRAORDINARY SHOOTING. 159 steadily against his side, took a deliberate but not very slow aim, and sent the ball through a brown pottery vase filled with water, about fifteen inches high, which stood on the other side of a valley, on a level with the tent, and full 250 yards off. I think the Pasha broke two while I sat with him, and made a hole which let the water out of another. His pistols were a pair of very slightly rifled duelling-pistols, about nine inches in the barrel, made by Egg, Great George Street, London. I was so much asto¬ nished at the Pasha’s shooting, that I asked him to give me one of the pieces of the vase, which I took home with me, and talked to my friends about it. I felt perfectly well when we went to dinner, when suddenly it appeared to me that what I was eating was burning hot, and had a strange odd taste. I believe I got up and stag¬ gered across the room, but here my senses failed me, and I remained insensible for twenty-seven days. An attack of brain-fever had come upon me like a blow, as sudden and overwhelming as a flash of lightning. On the 27th of October I awoke in the morn¬ ing, but, as I suppose, went to sleep for a while; in the afternoon I fairly came to my senses, and saw my servant sitting on the scarlet- cloth divan under the window looking at me. Digitized by Google 160 AummwTA. Chap. XI. I felt something strange and still and gloomy in the air, and was rather bewildered with the sen¬ sation. This was soon to be accounted for: the servant, seeing that I was alive, came forward towards the bed, while a low rumbling noise made itself heard. This noise became louder: flakes of plaster fell from the ceiling; the room trembled, and was filled with a fine dust, with which I was nearly choked. My man exclaimed, “ The earth moves—are you not afraid ? ” As he spoke the noise which we had heard increased, and an immense beam, made of the trunk of a whole tree, which was immediately above my bed, split, with a report like a cannon. The earth¬ quake shook the house terribly; it creaked and trembled like a ship in a heavy gale of wind; the noise increased to a roar, not like thunder, but howling and bellowing, with a low rumbling sound, while the air was as still as if nature was paralysed with dread; every now and then a tremendous crash gave notice of a falling house. The one opposite our house, belonging to a poor widow, was entirely destroyed; and, in the midst of a most fearful uproar, the two rooms, one on each side of my bed-room, fell in; while the air was darkened altogether, as in an eclipse, with clouds of dust. So great was the noise of the earthquake all around, that neither my attendant Digitized by Google Chap. XI. AN EARTHQUAKE. 161 nor I distinguished the particular crash when the two rooms adjoining us fell in. Some of the minarets, and many of the houses of the city, were demolished: parts of the ancient castellated walls fell down. The top of one of the two beautiful minarets of the old medresse, the glory of Erzeroom, called usually Eki Chifteh, disap¬ peared. Those who were out, and able to witness the devastation, and to hear the awful roaring noise, said they had never seen or heard anything more tremendous than the scene before their eyes. It is difficult to express in words the strange, awful sensation produced by the seeming im¬ possible contradiction of a dead stilness in the midst of the crash of falling buildings, the sullen, low bellowing, which perhaps sounded from be¬ neath the ground, and the tremendous uproar that arose on all sides during the earthquake. I have not met with an account of this strange phenomenon in the descriptions of other earth¬ quakes, and do not know whether it is a usual accompaniment to these terrible convulsions of nature. The earthquake accomplished its mission : in the midst of terror and destruction, it restored one poor creature to life. I regained my senses and my faculties on the 27th, as suddenly as I had lost them on the 1st day of this month. Digitized by Google 1G2 ARMENIA, Chap. El. God give me grace to make a good use of the life •which was restored to me under such awful circumstances! On that day the doctor, who had some diffi¬ culty in getting to my room through the ruins of the ante-room, took the ice off my head, and in a few days I recovered sufficient strength to move my limbs, which I could not do at first. As soon as it appeared that there was any probability of my recovery, my kind friends agreed that the best chance of regaining my health lay in removing, as soon as I could bear the journey, to a better climate. During great part of the year, and naturally in the winter, the cold was so severe that any one standing still for even a very short time was frozen to death. Dead frozen bodies were fre¬ quently brought into the city; and it is common in the summer, on the melting of the snow, to find numerous corpses of men, and bodies of horses, who had perished in the preceding win¬ ter. So usual an event is this, that there is a custom, or law, in the mountains of Armenia, that every summer the villagers go out to the more dangerous passes and bury the dead whom they are sure to find. They have a legal right to their clothes, arms, and the accoutrements of the horses, on condition of forwarding all bales Digitized by Google Chap. XI. LOSS OF LIFE THROUGH COLD. 163 of merchandize, letters, and parcels to the places to which they are directed. During the whole month of December the Pasha had caused four mules to be exercised every day with a takterawan, or litter, which he provided for my conveyance to Trebizond. Two mules, led by one man, carried the litter; the other two followed tamely, led by another man, close behind, to he ready to take the places of the others if they were tired or dis¬ abled. From morning to night the men and the mules, and the takterawan, stumped along through the snow, till they dared to face the storm and the intense cold, and could climb up and down the icy rocks like goats. As soon as I was able I was sent out in the litter to try how I could hear it, and to settle various contrivances for keeping out the cold, and enabling me to hear the motion of the mules. One day Colonel Williams rode out on the Persian road, to see whether it was passable for Dr. Wolf, who was then staying at Erzeroom, and who wished to continue his journey to Bok¬ hara, when he met a number of horses, each laden with two frozen bodies of Persian travellers, one tied on each side of the packhorse. An unfor¬ tunate Piedmontese doctor had been lost in a snow-storm a short time before, and his body was Digitized by Google 164 ARMENIA. Chap. XI. found afterwards near a small monastery, three or four miles from Erzeroom, where he had wandered, bewildered with the falling snow; and a whole party, with one or two ox-carts, who left a village in the morning on their way to another a short distance off, never arrived there"; they were found huddled together, oxen, horses, men, and women, in a snow-drift, dead, and frozen hard and stiff, some weeks after¬ wards. The cold was so tremendous at this time that the mountains were impassable, and no one was able to move beyond a short distance from the town. Digitized by Google Chap. XII. fiTTART FOR TREBIZOND. 166 CHAPTER XII. Start for Trebizond —Personal appearance of the author — Moun¬ tain-pass — Reception at Beyboort—Misfortunes of Mustapha — Pass of Zigana Dagh — Arrival at Trebizond. On the 27th of December, all preparations being completed, I started on my journey over the mountains to Trebizond. Kiamili Pasha had prepared an order to all and sundry, great and small, upon the road, to give me every assistance, and, with this and a powerful firman from the Sultan, I had authority to do whatever I pleased in that part of the world. About twenty attendants accompanied me, besides a certain levy from every village I passed, who were to march to the next village every day to dear the roads, move the snow, and pick us out of it when we tumbled in, &c. These villagers were all armed with the peculiar dagger of Cir¬ cassia, called a cama, a most efficient tool as well *as weapon, and a short heavy rifle, generally 'beautifully made, with which they hit objects at very long distances, 400 yards not being con¬ sidered out of shot. My personal appearance Digitized by Google 166 AttlfiraiA, Chap. XII. most have been remarkable: I had alo ng beard, and so thin a face that my nose was translucent, if not transparent. I had a Persian cap upon my head, and over other garments a toilette of my own invention, which vested me with a dig¬ nity peculiar to myself: this was a large eider¬ down quilt, of bright green silk, in the middle of which I had caused a hole to be made, through which I put my head; the two ends of the quilt hung down before and behind, like a chasuble or a poncho; round it I tied a girdle: my general appearance must have been rather striking to the beholder, and was probably considered by the natives on the road as the official costume of an Elchi Bey. I was so weak that when I was bundled into the takterawan I could not turn round, and was nearly smothered in my own feathers, till somebody turned me the right side upwards, when I was able to bid adieu to all the principal Europeans and others who had kindly assembled to see me off. A number of people accompanied me for some distance out of the town; and Colonel Williams came as far as Elije, about three hours in the snow, which ended my first day’s march. On the next day, December 28th, we got to Meymansoor, a village at the foot of the first mountain-pass, called Hoshapoonah, a terrible Digitized by Google Chap. XII. MOUNTAIN PASS. 167 place at all times, but frightful in the depth of winter and under the circumstances I was in. Only two or three days before it had been ren¬ dered practicable by driving a thousand horses belonging to the caravans which were snowed up at the foot of the pass up and down the road to make a track. This road is what is called a scala—that is, a series of holes, each about a foot deep, sometimes two feet, about eighteen inches in diameter, and the same in distance from one another. From long practice the horses put their feet very cleverly into these holes without tripping over the intervening ridges of hardened, snow. Men on foot usually step on the ridges, which is like walking on the rounds of a ladder for a few hundred miles, the probabilities of not breaking your leg if you slip into the hole before or behind you being very slight. As in many places this road was slantindicular, going up and down at an angle of 45°, I was reclining in the litter alternately on my head and on my heels— mostly on my head going up hill. My mules were held upon their feet by as many men as could stand on each side where the road was wide enough ; most of it was a ledge on a preci¬ pice, about eighteen inches wide, when the men supported my equipage with ropes, a strong body hopping and stumbling behind and before. Digitized by Google 168 ARMENIA. Chap. XII. at the rate of about one mile an hour. My glass windows were smashed with the least possible delay, but we repaired them the next day with oiled paper. At the top of the pass we came upon a party of Persians, who were going the other way towards Erzeroom; they were seated in a row, on the ledge of the precipice, looking despairingly at a number of their baggage- horses which had tumbled over, and were wal¬ lowing in the snow many hundred feet below; they did not seem to be killed, as far as I could see, as the snow had broken their fall; the drift covered the precipitous rock from the bottom to within twenty or thirty feet of the top, and they slid down this till they popped into a deep hole in the snow, like a well, in the valley below. It did not appear that there was any probability of their getting up again. The poor Persians crammed themselves into nooks and little hollows on the ledge to make room for us to pass. I presume their horses were frozen to death before we had left them very long. This was an awful spot alto* gether; we had started before light in the morn¬ ing, and arrived in a dreary mountain valley, at a hovel called Zaza Khan, in the evening. During one part of the day the danger to the takterawan was so great that I was plucked out, and a tall, good-natured man, called Beyragdar Digitized by Google Chap. XII. RECEPTION AT BEYBOORT. 169 (the standard-bearer), carried me like a baby in his arms, one or two others supporting him, across a tremendous ledge. I was light enough to carry, but was such a great bundle of fluff that he could not see over me, and another man helped him along, and showed him where to put his feet. We were very fortunate in a fine sunny day for our journey over this tremendous mountain. On the last day of the year 1843 we arrived at the town of Beyboort: though I had sent two horsemen on to say that I was coming, no one came out of the town to meet me, and on proceeding to the palace or house of the Bey, the Governor of the place, I was refused admittance, though he had received orders be¬ fore to pay me every attention. I at last was taken in by the Cadi, in whose comfortable house I was kindly entertained. The next day we met a tatar, a Government courier, on the road from Trehizond; I sent letters by him to Erzeroom, complaining of my reception by the Bey of Beyboort, and so rapidly were matters conducted by my friend the Pasha, that the Bey was turned out of his government, and another Bey appointed to succeed him, before I and my party arrived at Trehizond. This was sharp practice, and doubtless had a good effect. The chiefs of the other villages, and the one town Digitized by Google 170 ARMENIA. Chap. XII. of Grumush Khann&, treated me always with great kindness and civility. On the 2nd of January, at a hovel called Khaderach Khan, I met a rich Persian merchant coming from Constantinople with his wife and family. He had been eighteen days on the road from Trebi- zond, which is thirty-two hours of tatar-posting : from hence, at this rate, he would be six months on his journey to Teheran, to which place he was bound. He was a remarkably gentleman-like man, as most Persian gentlemen are; he had a great train of servants and attendants, well dressed and well armed, each with a silver tass, or drinking-cup, slung over his shoulder, and a handsome cama dangling by a narrow strap from the front of his girdle, and his waist squeezed till be could hardly shut his mouth, in true Circassian style. He had numbers of curious contrivances for comfort and conveni¬ ence : little fireplaces, hanging to the stirrup, for hot coals, to light the caleoons, &c. His son, a smart youth, spoke French, and we passed a very pleasant hour together, though I had turned him out of the best hole in the hovel, into which Beyragdar laid me down softly in the comer, and I was so much exhausted that I knew nothing of the confusion I had made till I had had a cup of blazing hot Bussian tea, with Digitized by Google Chap. XII. MUSTAFHA’s MISFORTUNES. 171 a slice of lemon in it instead of cream, and liad taken the diversion of wondering at an odd sort of partridge which one of my men had knocked over with a stone, for which act I presented him with the sum of 5 Jd. sterling. At Kal^ Khan I had given leave to one Mus- tapha, my kawass bashi, or captain of the ka- wasses, to go and see his family, who lived in a village a short distance off the road; he had not seen them for a long time, and went on his way rejoicing. At a place called Porda Bakchelari, where I was resting on the 3rd, he made his appearance again; he was so altered in looks that I did not know him at first; so much so, that I asked him who he was, and what he wanted with me. His history, poor fellow! was as follows :— When he arrived at his village he rode up to the door of his own house, thinking to give a happy surprise to his wife and children, whose names he called out as he stopped his horse in the little street. No one answered, when he called again, and knocked loudly at the door several times. At last an old woman put her head out of the door of another house, and screamed to him to know what he was making such a noise about. “ I want such a one,” said he, naming his wife. “ What, Eyesha ? ” said the old woman ; i 2 Digitized by Google 172 ARMENIA. Chap. XII. “ who are you ? You must be a stranger to this place not to know that she died of the fever and was buried two weeks ago.” “ And where is Hassan ? ” said the poor ka- wass, asking for his eldest son. “ Oh, he died three months ago.” “ And the two little ones ? ” he asked. “ They were buried, I forget how long it is since,” said the old woman; “ the fever got into that house ; the people are all dead. You had better not go in, stranger, for it has been locked up by the cadi, and the owner, Mustapha Aga, lives a long way off at Erzeroom. Inshalla! he will come some day, and the cadi will deliver the key to him.” Mustapha kawass never dismounted from his horse in his native village; he turned slowly away, and rode back to the track of the mules and horses of my followers till he caught us up at Bakchelari Khan. “ Allahkerim!” (God is merciful!) said his companions, when he had told us this sad his¬ tory. His family was swept from the face of the earth ; there was not a servant left, not one old well-remembered face to greet him in his visit to the village where he had passed his childish days. He had heard nothing of the fever or of the infliction which had fallen upon his house, Digitized by Google Chap. XIr. PASS OF ZIGANA DAGH. 173 and suddenly he found himself alone in the wide world. We were all grieved for him, but what could we do? every one looked grave as we plodded on again through the snow and ice, and smoked the pipe of reflection in silence, on our weary way. On the 7th we got into a fix near a place called Madem Khanlari, in the pass of Zigana Dagh, a worse place than even Hoshabounar : we had been all day scrambling about in rocky ledges, and crossing torrents and snow-drifts, each of which seemed impassable till we went at it with a will: a number of villagers, with axes and ropes, came with us, and worked valiantly in clearing the ice off the narrow shelves of rock, and leading the horses through the most difficult places, where they could hardly stand; some¬ times the horses were almost lifted by the men. By the greatest care and exertion none as yet fell over the precipices. My takter- awan was surrounded by a posse of zealous active mountaineers, clinging to each other, and putting the mules’ feet into the holes which they cut for them with their axes. At last we got to a place where there was a sudden turn at the narrow edge of a gorge or cleft of rock: the length of the litter, with one mule before and another behind, made it impossible to turn with- Digitized by Google 174 ARnraim, Chap. XII. out going over. Somehow, by the help of a number of men, the front mule was carried by main force round the comer, till we were in such a position that the hinder mule was being dragged over the precipice by the poles of the takterawan, to which it was harnessed. With¬ out a drawing it is difficult to describe the position we had got into; but it may be partly understood by the fact that, out of whichever side of the takterawan I looked, there was nothing under me, for perhaps 200 feet, till you arrived at a brawling torrent, which kept itself alive by violent exercise, in jumping, leaping, and tumbling over the rocks and cas¬ cades at the bottom of the ravine, so that it was the only thing not frozen hard and still in the dead landscape of thick ice and snow and shat¬ tered rock, and the clean smooth precipice towered up from the little merry stream to hundreds of feet above our heads, where an edge of snow and a fringe of icicles shone in the bright sky upon the topmost margin of the cliffs. Some of the men now sat down, with their legs hanging over the precipice; they were supported by other men, while, in their turn, they held the legs of the mules, who were beginning to get frightened, or perhaps choked, and gave utterance to curious exclamations. My friend Beyragdar made a Digitized by Google Digitized by Google quarantine harbour, trebizond. Chap. XII. ARRIVAL AT TREBIZOND. 175 bridge of his long body, by leaning over from the inner angle of the road to the side of the takterawan. As for me, beyond peeping like an old rat out of a cage, I could not move, so I lay still till I was pulled out by two men over Beyr- agdar’s back, handed like a bundle over the foremost mule, and stuck upon a horse a little farther on. The mules were, somehow or other, saved and released from the shafts of the taktera¬ wan, which I never saw again; they could get it no further, and the rest of the journey I made on horseback, supported by a man on each side when the road was wide enough, by one when it was too narrow for two, and, when there was only room for the horse alone, Beyragdar carried me in his arms till we got to the Strada Reale, good two feet wide, when I was put upon a horse •again. In this way, by slow degrees, we scrambled on our way, till, on the 10th of January, after fifteen days’ journey through the intense cold of the mountains, I arrived, in better health and strength than when I started, at the edge of the table-land, from whence I saw the blue waters of the sea, and at 11 o’clock a.m. I was seated in my room in the quarantine station at Trebizond. Digitized by Google 176 ARMENIA. Chap. XIII. CHAPTER XIII. Former history of Trebizond — Ravages of the Goths—Their siege and capture of the city — Dynasties of Courtenai and the Comneni — The “ Emperor” David—Conquest of Trebizond by Mehe- met II. Trebizond, so famous in the middle ages as the residence of magicians, enchanters, and redoubted heroes of chivalry, is better known in the pages of romance than for any facts of historical importance which occurred there during many centuries. The only person who might probably have been able to throw much light upon the ancient history of this Byzantine city was that veracious chronicler the Cid Hamet Bengenelli, who, in his account of the renowned and valorous Knight of the Rueful Countenance, records of Don Quixote that “ the poor gentleman already imagined himself at least crowned Emperor of Trebizond by the valour of his arm; and wrapped up in these agreeable delusions, and hurried on by the strange pleasure he took in romances of chivalry, he prepared to execute what he so much de¬ sired.” Digitized by Google Chap. XIIL HISTORICAL SKETCH OF TREBIZOND. 177 Two real events, however, occurred at Trebi- zond which I shall endeavour to describe,—the only ones which stand out with any promi¬ nence in the records of the dukes, counts, and governors who held this province in their lan¬ guid rule. In the third century the Goths, a band of desperate barbarians, who came originally from Prussia, were established in a curious out-of-the- way kingdom situated on the Cimmerian Bos¬ phorus, the inlet which gives access to the Sea of Azoph from the Black Sea. Trebizond, the capital of a Roman province, had been founded in the days of Xenophon by a Grecian colony, and now owed its wealth and splendour to the munificence of the Emperor Hadrian, who had constructed an artificial harbour for its shipping, while the town was defended on the land side by a double line of walls and towers, some part of which probably exist at the present time among the fortifications afterwards erected by the Christian emperors and the Turks. In those troublous times the country was in disorder, and the wealthy patricians had sent their treasures into the town for greater security, the garrison having been reinforced by an additional body of 10,000 men! A numerous fleet of ships was in the harbour, which, perhaps, were timidly seeking i 3 Digitized by Google 178 ARMENIA. Chap. XIII. refuge from the pirates of the Euxine within the encircling quays of the harbour of Hadrian. The riches of the inhabitants, the balmy climate, and the soft manners of the Greeks had ener¬ vated the spirits of the commanders of the troops; the fashionable triflers were sunk in luxury and ease; feeling secure within the im¬ pregnable walls of the imperial fortress, they gave themselves up to feelings of indolent dis¬ dain of foreign enemies; and the brilliant officers and scornful senators, in flowing robes, passed their days in feasting and attending upon the ladies, to the neglect of discipline and vigi¬ lance, trusting that the lofty walls and mighty towers were sufficient bulwarks to keep off the barbarians whom they despised. About the year 260 of our era, the Goths, who had made several roving expeditions on the shores of Circassia, had plundered, with various success, the temples and cities on the coasts of the Black Sea. These indomitable savages embarked on board a fleet of small flat- bottomed boats, each containing only a few men, who inhabited a sort of house with a shelving roof, built of wood, in the centre of the boat. An innumerable shoal of these floating houses spread over the surface of the waves, trusting to the winds for the course they should pursue. Digitized by Google Chap. XIII. THE GOTHS BEFORE TREBIZOND. 179 and to the ravage of the villages on shore for food. This swarm of rapacious pirates arrived in the course of one of their forays in the neighbourhood of Trebizond; they landed in numbers under the walls, from the summits of which the fair damsels and silken warriors looked down with pitying scorn on the uncouth behaviour, badly-made garments, and coarse appearance of the roving Goths, and, having satisfied their curiosity and expressed their con¬ tempt for the horde of barbarians who had arrived in the strange fleet of little boats, they retired to the arcades surrounding the courts of the palaces; some went to the forum in the centre of the town, to hear the news and laugh at the uncouth appearance of the Goths. The ladies and gentlemen, changing their morning dresses for a lighter and richer evening costume, assembled in the marble halls of many palaces, charmed with the excitement of a new subject for ridicule in the persons and dresses of the Goths, and a new theme for conversation in the refined assemblies of the polished nobles and. lovely damsels of the luxurious city of Trebizond. I pan imagine the conversation of a pleasant little party assembled in the triclinium of the prefect of the city. The gentlemen, in studied attitudes, reclining on the divans or couches Digitized by Google 180 ARMENIA. Chap. XIII. placed against the wall, behind the marble tables; the ladies, in graceful robes, seated at their feet; while pages, with wreaths of flowers round their heads, in short tunics of white silk, brought up dishes of blackbirds stewed in wine; tarts sweetened with honey, which could be eaten with impunity by natives, while strangers lost their senses if they ventured on the dan¬ gerous condiment. “ Eudocia, dearest, did you go up those horrid steps upon the wall, to look at those people out¬ side ? did you ever see such creatures ? ” “ Oh, yes, Lais, I did. Poor barbarians ! why do they tie their legs up with leather thongs in that funny way ? and what skimpy tunics they wear; I think they must be made of sheepskin! There was one of them—a great personage, no doubt, in his own nasty little country—who had made himself a toga of a blanket. Did not you see him, Xenophon ? you were with us.” “ "Well—aw—why, yes, I think I did,” says Xenophon; “ but what heavy axes they carry! what long, straight swords they wear! They say their hilts are gold; I dare swear they are brass. Our legionaries would make short work of them.” “ Well,” says Lais, “ I wish you would send those ugly people away, for one cannot take a Digitized by Google Chap. XIII. AN IMAGINARY CONVERSATION. 181 drive in the Hippodrome since they have been here these two days, and the new silver harness for my white oxen is so pretty. But, Eudocia, did you see the lady ? I hear she is a princess —a princess, who travels in a punt! Dear me, a great lady she must be! ” “ I never heard of her,” says Eudocia; “ do tell me all about her. What is she like ? Is she tall or short; pretty or ugly ? or what ? Let us have a description of your barbarian lady.” “ Why,” answers Lais, “ she is awfully tall, and she has light hair, plaited in two long tails like ropes, and much of the same colour, which hang down on each side of her face in front, and reach to her knees. She is dressed in a long and very full gown, with innumerable plaits, coming high up round her throat. Her gown is confined round her waist by a girdle of gold and jewels, and she has a golden fillet round her head. This gown was light blue, and was so long I could not see her feet; but those of the maidens with her were of such a size, Eudocia, that four of our feet might walk about in their shoes, which were of gold stuff, coming up to the ankle, and worked with pearls—as heavy as lead, I should imagine.” “But was the princess pretty?” again in¬ quires Eudocia. Digitized by- Google 183 ARMENIA. Chap. XIII. “ Xenophon says she is, but I don’t believe him. She has strange-coloured eyes, I was told —the colour of her gown, and is not pale and smooth as marble, but with rosy cheeks and a throat as white as snow; but she looked very stupid, and solemn, and proud. What she can have to be proud of, poor creature! I cannot conceive; she has not the black eyes and bright smile of our girls.” “ That is a curious wool the men wear on their caps,” saith Xenophon; “it is curly, and of a light bluish-grey colour. The barbarians seem to think it is very fine. I have not seen anything like it: it is made of the skin of a peculiar breed of lambs, to be met with nowhere out of their country.” “ What in the world can they want so many fagots for ? ” asks another young lady. “ I am sure the days are hot enough in the summer; perhaps they have no firewood in their own miserable regions; they have been doing no¬ thing hut cut bushes and make fagots of them on the hill-side above the citadel -ever since they have been here.” “Ah,” says Xenophon, “except the amuse¬ ment of burning a few villages, though that could hardly repay them the trouble, for all the goods worth carrying away have been brought Digitized by Google Chap. XIII. ASSAULT AND CAPTURE OF TREBIZOND. 183 within the walls. However, here comes the little cupbearer with the Chian and Falemian wine; never mind these outer barbarians let us go to supper.” So they went to supper, and, affecting classic tastes, sang verses on heroic themes from Homer, accompanied by music on the lyre and the double pipe. The G-oths went to supper too outside, under the trees, and eat great pieces of beef cut from oxen roasted whole. The night was very dark, but the guards and the citizens lit up their rooms gaily within the city, which resounded with laughter, songs, and merriment. The night advanced, and so did the Goths; each man bore a fagot, which he threw into the ditch below the wall. Thousands were piled upon those below, others were thrown on them; the heap of fagots rose, the upper ones were level with the battlements. Where were the city guards ? Where were the legionaries and the 10,000 auxiliary troops ? They were sleeping off the fatigues of the evening feast; they were anywhere but where they should be—upon the walls. Down from the towers and the bastions poured a stream of fierce determined warriors; they closed the gates on that side, for fear the garrison Digitized by 184 ARMENIA. Chap. XIII. should get out; but the alarm was spread; the legionaries, who were awakened by the cry, made off through the opposite side of the fortifications and escaped into the country. Those who were not quick enough were stabbed in the back and slain in heaps; fire and the sword commenced their fearful reign, blood ran in the streets, the massacre was horrible. The most holy temples, says the historian, the most splendid edifices, were involved in a common destruction. The booty that fell into the hands of the Goths was immense. The wealth of the adjacent countries, which had been deposited in Trebizond as a secure place of refuge, was added to the spoil. The number of captives was incredible; those who were left alive were gathered together by the Goths. Lais and Eudocia became the hand¬ maids of the Gothic princess. Zenophon and 2000 atyg-bodied dandies were driven down to the port by 200 Goths, who made them chain each other to the oars of the galleys, on board of which the enormous plunder of Trebizond was embarked by the forced labour of the citizens, one or two being cut in half with a sweep of the long Gothic sword, to encourage the others if they did not hurry in their work under the burning rays of the sun. The Cimmerian Bosphorus received the fleet of galleys laden Digitized by Google Chap. XIII. THE 00URTENAI AND COMNENI. 185 with the treasures, and rowed by the slaves, of the noble city of Trebizond, now smouldering in a heap of smoking mills. Thus ended the first episode in the history of Trebizond. For more than a thousand years the history of Trebizond remains enveloped in the mists of obscurity and insignificance; various dukes, princes, and counts, succeeded each other in a long line of inglorious pride. In the thirteenth century the chivalrous house of Courtenai, by the assistance of the heroes of the Crusades, mounted the throne of Constan¬ tinople, and the ancestors of the Earl of Devon produced three emperors, who reigned in succes¬ sion over the Oriental portion of the Eoman empire. The ancient dynasty of the Comneni, being expelled from the dominions over which they had presided for ..centuries, fled