Armenian Library and Museum
of America
On Loan from
VIGEN DER MANUELIAN





!


NARRATIVE OF A TOUR
THROUGH
ARMENIA, KURDISTAN, PERSIA,
AND
MESOPOTAMIA.
KINGS
1849





THA
NARRATIVE
OWN
1849
OF
A TOUR THROUGH
AR
ARMENIA, KURDISTAN, PERSIA,
AND
MESOPOTAMIA.
WITH
OBSERVATIONS ON THE CONDITION OF MOHAMMEDANISM AND
CHRISTIANITY IN THOSE COUNTRIES.
BY THE REV. HORATIO SOUTHGATE.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.

1
W CARSTENO
PERSIAN MIRZA.
LONDON:
TILT AND BOGUE, 86, FLEET STREET.
D. APPLETON & CO., NEW YORK.
MDCCCXL.


Entered at Stationers' Hall.
LONDON:
BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.


PREFACE.
The Mission whose history is detailed in the following
pages, was performed under the direction of the Foreign
Committee of the Board of Missions of the Protestant
Episcopal Church in the United States of America.
The author has found it impossible to embrace, in a publi-
cation of ordinary size, all the information which he has
accumulated. He has, therefore, omitted the narrative of his
journey through European Turkey, as well as of two ex-
cursions in the Western part of Asia Minor. He has with-
held, moreover, 'from unwillingness unduly to extend the
size of his work, an account of the recent and present reforms
in Turkey, for which he had collected ample materials, and
has confined himself to a few incidental notices of them, which
will be found scattered in different parts of the narrative. He
has, also, been compelled, for the same reason, to confine
himself, in his survey of Mohammedanism, to the most essen-
tial points in its present character and condition, without
indulging in speculative disquisitions upon the numerous
topics of interest which they suggest, or carrying out the in-


T
iv
PREFACE.
formation detailed, in all its bearings upon the advancement
of Christianity in the regions over which his survey extended.
While the author was pursuing his inquiries among the
Mohammedans, he soon found his mind drawn, almost uncon-
sciously, to the state of the Eastern Churches, and his interest
became, at length, so deeply excited in their behalf, that he
devoted to them all the attention which the more immediate
duties of his work permitted. The information which he
collected and the views which he formed, are, so far as his
limits allowed, embraced in the following narrative.
With regard to the plan of the work, he has endeavoured
to combine, as much as possible, incident with instruction,
and to relieve the dulness of statistical information by the in-
terest of personal experience and adventure. A map of the
countries surveyed being indispensable in a work of this
nature, much time and labour have been expended upon it.
In constructing it, a valuable French map, the most accurate
of any which had come under the notice of the author, was
selected as a basis, and its authority followed in most parts
which the writer did not survey. Along his own route, how-
ever, everything is original, excepting the latitude and lon-
gitude of the principal places. These were taken, in part,
from the French map, and, in part, from the best English
authorities.
In the explanation of foreign terms, the author has followed
the course which he has always desired to see pursued in


PREFACE.
V
works upon the East. He has explained them where they
first occur, either by a brief definition in the text or by a note
in the margin, excepting a few instances, in which they are
explained by the context. In the most important cases, or
where the meaning would not readily be remembered, the
definition is repeated, or referred to, on the recurrence of the
term. In the first instance, the original word is uniformly
printed in Italics, which the reader may regard as an intima-
tion to fix the meaning firmly in his memory.
Several items of information which could not conveniently
be embraced in the narrative, are given in the Appendix, to
which have been added some other pieces, particularly rules
for the pronunciation of foreign terms, and a table of the dis-
tances travelled each day.
My acknowledgments for aid received in my work are, for
the most part, made in the course of my narrative. I cannot,
however, forbear to add in this place, the expression of my
deep gratitude to the Committee, under which I went forth, for
their hearty co-operation in all the plans and labours of my
Mission, and also to the two Secretaries, the Rev. Dr. Milnor
and the Rev. Dr. Vaughan, under the superintendence of the
first of whom the work was commenced, and during the official
term of the second, is now brought to a close. Nor may I
forget to record the extraordinary liberality of a single con-
gregation, the Church of St. Andrew, Philadelphia, by which
a thousand dollars, annually, were contributed, for the space
of three years, to the support of the Mission.
A 3


ADVERTISEMENT.
The work now offered to the English public was origi-
nally prepared with reference to its publication in this
country. Hence the reader will find the Church of
England frequently associated with the Episcopal
Church of America, to which the author belongs. The
obligations of the Reformed Churches of the West to
the Episcopal Communions of the East rest both upon
the mother and the daughter,—but not equally. The
measure of Christian responsibility being that which we
have, there must surely be demanded of the parent
Church of Great Britain efforts far superior to any that
may fairly be expected of her youthful daughter in
America. I speak not of human demands, but of that
which the Great Head of the Church Universal expects
And yet, I think, that I rightly interpret the
sentiment of the American Church, when I say, that she
is ready to follow closely in the steps of the English
of us.


viii
ADVERTISEMENT.
Church in the sublime enterprise of re-uniting the dis-
severed members of the Body of Christ in a Primitive
and Apostolic Communion. Such a consummation it is,
in part, the design of the present work to promote, and
the author gladly avails himself of the opportunity
which his journey through England (on his return to
the lands which have been the scene of his former travels
and labours) affords him of presenting the results of his
recent investigations to the English people, and especially
to the members of the Established Church.
H. S.
London, June 23, 1840.
1


CONTENTS OF VOLUME FIRST.
INTRODUCTION.
PAGE
MOHAMMED-THE KORAN-THE SUNNEH, OR ORAL LAW-MOHAMMEDAN
THEOLOGY-THE MUSSULMAN CATECHISM THE MOHAMMEDAN SECTS,
SUNNITES AND SHIAHS-HISTORY OF THEIR ORIGIN-DIFFERENCE IN
THEIR CREEDS-DOCTRINES OF THE PERSIANS RESPECTING ALI, THE
FOUNDER OF THEIR SECT-BELIEVERS IN HIS DIVINITY-MINOR DIFFER-
ENCES BETWEEN THE TWO SECTS-MUTUAL ENMITY-TURKS AND PERSIANS
CONTRASTED-OTHER SCHISMS IN MOHAMMEDANISM-PRESENT STATE
1
CHAPTER I.
FROM NEW YORK TO CONSTANTINOPLE.
FAREWELL MEETING INSTRUCTIONS-EMBARKATION-JOURNEY THROUGH
FRANCE-VOYAGE THROUGH THE MEDITERRANEAN-THE ARCHIPELAGO
SYRA-ENGLISH AND AMERICAN MISSIONS-ISLANDS THE TROAD-TURK-
ISH PEASANT—ALEXANDRIA TROASST. PAUL-STEAMERS-FIRST IM-
PRESSIONS - THE HELLESPONT-MUSSULMAN DEVOTIONS-ARRIVAL AT
CONSTANTINOPLE
51
II.-CONSTANTINOPLE.
STUDY OF THE TURKISH-ITS USE-RIGHT JUDGMENT OF EASTERN CHA-
RACTER-LODGINGS-HASSUNA D' GHIZ-TEACHERS OF TURKISH-TURK-
ISH HONESTY-PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA-SULTAN'S PORTRAITS-MOHAM-
MEDAN AVERSION TO PICTURES THE ROYAL SCHOOLS-IGNORANCE OF
FOREIGN LANGUAGES AMONG THE TURKS- COMPARISON OF ENGLISH AND
FRENCH LABOURS IN ORIENTAL LITERATURE-THE PLAGUE-ITS CHA-
RACTER-FATALITY-PRECAUTIONS AGAINST ITEFFECTS OF ITS APPEAR-
ANCE IN A FAMILY-FEELINGS OF THE TURKS RESPECTING JT- IGNORANCE
A CAUSE OF NEGLECTING PRECAUTIONS-ITS INFLUENCE ON MISSIONARY
OPERATIONS
65


х
CONTENTS.
III.-CONSTANTINOPLE.
PAGE
DROUGHT-PUBLIC PRAYER FOR RELIEF-SUPERSTITION, A FEATURE OF
MOHAMMEDANISM-RAMAZAN, OR MONTH OF FASTING-ITS INSTITUTION
-ITS OBSERVANCE-PARALLEL WITH CHRISTIAN FASTS-COMMENCEMENT
OF THE FAST, HOW DETERMINED-PENALTY FOR VIOLATING IT-OPENING
OF THE PAST IN 1836-MODE OF SPENDING THE DAY DURING RAMAZAN
-SCENES AT SUNSET-ILLUMINATIONS—ANNIVERSARY OF THE SULTAN's
BIRTH-NIGHT OF POWER-CLOSE OF THE FAST-MINOR FASTS
89
.
IV.-CONSTANTINOPLE.
MOHAMMEDAN FEASTS-TURKISH PASSOVER-THE FEAST OF SACRIFICE
PROCESSION AND PUBLIC SERVICES -FESTIVITIES_EFFECT OF THE FAST
AND FEAST ON MOHAMMEDANS — CHRISTIANITY INSULTED-MOSQUES
THOSE OF TURKEY AND PERSIA DESCRIBED AND COMPARED-DIFFERENT
CLASSES OF MOSQUES — MANY OF THEM ORIGINALLY CHURCHES-ST.
SOPHIA, THE MODEL—THE MINARETS—THE EXTERIOR—THE INTERIOR
-STRUCTURE OF THE ANCIENT CHURCHES-CANDLES-ORNAMENTS-THE
PULPIT-PREACHING-IMPRESSIVE FEATURE OF ISLAMISM
106
V.-CONSTANTINOPLE.
RETROSPECT-DISAPPOINTMENT IN COLLEAGUES-DECISION-EXCURSION IN
ASIA MINOR-DISAPPOINTMENT RELIEVEDPREPARATION FOR THE TOUR
-MY ATTENDANT-HIS CHARACTER AND TRAVELS-INCIDENT IN THE
BAZARS-TURKISH COURT OF JUSTICE-THE KADI-OATHS-BOND-FALSE
WITNESSES—THE ISSUE OPINIONS OF MOHAMMEDANS RESPECTING THE
SACRED SCRIPTURES-DOCTRINE OF THE KORAN-RESEMBLANCES AND
DISCREPANCIES BETWEEN THE KORAN AND THE BIBLE—THE LATTER,
HOW REGARDED BY TURKSHOW FAR CIRCULATED-THE BIBLE IN
PERSIA-MARTYN'S LABOURS
125
VI._FROM CONSTANTINOPLE TO TREBIZOND.
FIRMAN-ITS CHARACTER-DEPARTURE FROM CONSTANTINOPLE--PASSEN-
GERS-BLACK SEA-SINOPE-TREBIZOND-ITS EARLY HISTORY-DE-
SCRIPTION-POPULATION-OSMAN PASHA-CHANGES-FRIENDS
142
VII.-TREBIZOND TO GUMUSH KHANEH.
CARAVANS AND POST-HORSES-LEAVE TREBIZOND--LAZES-VALLEY CHIEFS
-VISIT FROM ONE-THE PEASANT-HILLS AT SUNRISE-OPPRESSION-
DEFEAT OF REFORM-SUMMITS-SNOW-STORM-STAVROS-TURKISH TRA-
VELLERS-GUMUSH KHANEH-MINES AND POVERTY-TURKISH POLITY-
POPULATION-SCHOOLS-HOSPITALITY
150
VIII.-FROM GUMUSH KHANEH TO ERZROUM.
LEAVE GUMUSH KHANEH-XENOPHON-ANCIENT FORTRESS-BALAHOR-
BAIBOUT — SINGULAR EDICT OF THE SULTAN-CAUSE OF IT-HOW FAR
OBEYED-MUSSULMANS OF BAIBOUT-PROSPECTS OF REFORM-MEDICAL
LABOURS-RELIGIOUS CHARITY—ITS OBJECTS — ITS DECLINE-SCENE
AMONG THE MOUNTAINS— ASHKALEH-WARM SPRINGS-PLAIN OF ERZ-
ROUM --GENERAL REMARKS-AGRICULTURE-PEOPLE
161


CONTENTS.
PAGE
IX.-ERZROUM. JOURNEY TOWARDS MOUSH.
ANTIQUITIES OF ERZROUM-THE MODERN TOWN-TRADE-HOUSES-CLIMATE
-POPULATION-NEW MOSQUE-PAST AND PRESENT COMPARED-CHANGE
OF PLAN-DETERMINE TO ENTER KURDISTAN-PREPARATIONS AND PRE-
CAUTIONS-CHANGE OF DRESS-UTILITY AND NECESSITY OF IT-MULE-
TEER-FIRST DAY'S JOURNEY-KURDISH GIRL-THE ARAXES-KURDISH
TENTS-RECEPTION-MANNERS OF THE PEOPLE-REPAST-THE EGYPTIAN
-PRESENTS-MOUNTAINS-PLAIN OF KHEUNNEUS-AROUS-LODGINGS-
ILLUSTRATION OF SCRIPTURE-VILLAGERS-ARMENIAN PRIESTS
172
X.-JOURNEY TO MOUSH.
DESCRIPTION OF MOUSH.
MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS-YOUNG KURD-THE EUPHRATES-FISH-PLAIN
OF MOUSH-BRIDGES-MOUSH-POSITION-INTERIOR-POPULATION-
MEDRESSEH-CURIOSITY EXCITED ARMENIANS-MIRACULOUS BOOK
MONASTERY-ARMENIAN CATHOLICS_KURDS-APPEARANCE-MANNERS-
DRESS-TRADE-PRODUCTIONS-THE PASHA- VISIT OF THE RUSSIANS
189
XI.-JOURNEY FROM MOUSH TO BITLIS.
DEPARTURE-PLAIN OF MOUSH-MARNIK-ARMENIAN PEASANTRY-VIL-
LAGES-HOUSES-PEOPLE-CHURCHES ROBBERS-RIDE TO BITLIS
KHANS-APPROACH TO THE TOWN
201
XII.-BITLIS.
ARRIVAL-INTERVIEW WITH THE GOVERNOR-MY HOST-THE BANKER
SITUATION OF THE TOWN-BUILDINGS AND STREETS-TRADE-FRUITS
EVENING SCENE-VISIT TO THE ARMENIAN BISHOP-MOSQUE-ADVENTURE
MEDRESSEH - POPULATION -MANNERS - ARMENIANS - KURDS-CHA-
RACTER OF THE MOUNTAIN KURDS-DEVIL WORSHIPPER-GOVERNMENT
-ANTIQUITIES-REGRETS-ARMENIAN HOSPITALITY
209
XIII.-FROM BITLIS TO VASTAN.
DEPARTURE-MUSICIANS MULETEER PILGRIMS FRIENDS - PEAK OF
NIMROD-FOREIGNERS IN BITLIS-ROBBERS-FIRST VIEW OF THE LAKE
OF VAN_VILLAGES-WATER-ILLNESS-ELMALEU-NIGHT OF THE 4TH
OF JULY-DIFFICULT PATH-POUGAH-KURDISH VILLAGES-PILFERING
-WANDERING KURDS-A DANCE-DIFFICULT PASSAGE OF A MOUNTAIN
COUNTRY ALONG THE SOUTHERN SHORE OF THE LAKE-ADVENTURE-
AGRICULTURE-CASCADE-VIRTUE OF COLD WATER-AKHTAMAR
224
XIV.--FROM VASTAN TO VAN.
VASTAN-KURDISH BEY-MOHAMMEDAN PIETY - RIVERS-SHANIKOUM
ILLUSTRATION OF SCRIPTURE-VIEW OF THE LAKE-ERDREMID-INTRO-
DUCTION TO THE PASHA OF VAN-CHAIRS-HOMAGELODGINGS
241
XV.–VAN.
HISTORY OF VAN-SITUATION-ANCIENT REMAINS-PARTIAL DESTRUCTION
BY TAMERLANE-GARDENS--ANCIENT INSCRIPTION-MY HOST-REPAST-
ETIQUETTE OF THE TABLE-EASTERN AND WESTERN HABITS COMPARED
SUNDAY-THE CHURCH-GOVERNMENT OF VAN-MILITARY-SCHULTZ
-THE CITY-TRADE-INHABITANTS-CHARACTER OF THE ARMENIANS-
THE STATE OF MOHAMMEDANISM IN THESE REGIONS
250


xii
CONTENTS.
PAGE
XVI.-JOURNEY FROM VAN INTO PERSIA.
PLAN OF ROUTE-MISERIES OF TRAVELLING-VILLAGE OF SHAH BAGHI-
LAKE ALTCHEK-VILLAGE-GUARD-FACE OF THE COUNTRY-EQUES-
TRIAN EXPLOITS — ARARAT -- ABLUTIONS-MODE — BATHS-LUSTRATION
BEFORE BURIAL — ABLUTION WITH EARTH-DUTY OF CONFORMITY-
VILLAGES OPPRESSED CHRISTIANITY DIVISION OF FORCES — THE
BOUNDARY-PERSIAN MULETEERS-CEREMONIAL UNCLEANNESS
268
XVII.-FAREWELL TO KURDISTAN.
RECEPTION AT A KURDISH VILLAGE-THE NESTORIAN-DEPREDATIONS-
VILLAGE MOSQUES —THE IMAM — MANNER OF HIS APPOINTMENT-HIS
OFFICIAL CHARACTER AND DUTIES— MISSIONARY LABOUR AMONG THE
KURDS-DEPARTURE FROM THE APOSTOLIC MODEL-CHARACTER OF THE
KURDS-JOURNEY TO SALMAS-FIRST RECEPTION IN PERSIA-FIRST IM-
PRESSIONS—THE MOLLAH_MESSAGE FROM A TURKISH LADY-SALMAS. 279
XVIII.--JOURNEY FROM SALMAS TO OURMIAH.
A MOHAMMEDAN CATHOLIC-MOHAMMEDAN SECTARIANS-DILMAN-ASSAS-
SINATIONS-A DAY'S JOURNEY-SLEEPING ON THE HOUSE-TOPS-PERSIAN
SCHOOL-PLAIN OF OURMIAH-MISSION-HOUSE-MISSIONARIES-POLICY
THE MISSION-APPROACHING CRISIS OUR DUTY-WORK OF THE
ENGLISH AND AMERICAN CHURCHES
290
OF
XIX.-OURMIAH.
PLAN OF THE MISSION-CLERICAL PUPILS-THE NESTORIANS-MOUNTAIN
TRIBE-CONFIDENCE IN THE MISSIONARIES-CAUSE-RELIGIOUS SERVICES
-CLIMATE-MOUNDS-PLAIN OF OURMIAH-THE GOVERNOR-PERSIAN
HABITS—THE LOST IMAM - VISIT TO A VILLAGE-POPULARITY OF THE
MISSIONARY PHYSICIAN-RECEPTION AT THE VILLAGE
300
XX.-JOURNEY FROM OURMIAH TO KHOY.
DETERMINE TO TRAVEL BY NIGHT-PLAN OF JOURNEY-DEPARTURE-
ROBBERY-CLOUDS — THE BISHOP'S FATHER LAKE OF OURMIAH-
GARDEN AT DILMAN-NIGHT-TRAVELLING-ROADS IN THE EAST-PLAIN
OF KHOY
31
XXI.--KHOY. JOURNEY TO TEBRIZ.
GARBSŁA PILGRIM-CARAVANSERAIS-MOHAMMEDAN IDEA OF CHRISTIANITY
-DANGEROUS MEDICINE-PERSIAN PREJUDICE AGAINST MEN OF OTHER
RELIGIONS -CLIMATE-BAZARS- POPULATION-MOUNTAINS-PERSIAN
HAREM-ARRIVAL AT TEBRIZ
318


INTRODUCTION.
MOHAMMED-THE KORAN-THE SUNNEH, OR ORAL LAW-MOHAMMEDAN
THEOLOGY THE MUSSULMAN CATECHISM THE MOHAMMEDAN SECTS,
SUNNITES AND SHIAHS-HISTORY
OF
THEIR ORIGIN-DIFFERENCE IN
THEIR CREEDS-DOCTRINES OF THE PERSIANS RESPECTING ALI, THE
FOUNDER OF THEIR SECT-BELIEVERS IN HIS DIVINITY-MINOR DIFFER-
ENCES BETWEEN THE TWO SECTS-MUTUAL ENMITY-TURKS AND PERSIANS
CONTRASTED-OTHER SCHISMS IN MOHAMMEDANISM-PRESENT STATE.
MOHAMMED*, the founder of the religion which it is
in part the design of these pages to delineate, was born
at Mecca, an ancient city of Arabia, about A. D. 571.
He was of the tribe of Koreish, the noblest in Arabia,
and, if credit may be given to Oriental writers, he was a
lineal descendant of Ishmael, the son of Abraham. The
Mohammedan historians record that mighty prodigies
accompanied his birth. The sacred fire of the Magi
went out, the river Tigris overflowed its banks, and the
prophet himself appeared surrounded with a light which
illumined the country round about. His first act on
entering the world was to fall upon his knees, raise his
hands and face towards heaven, and repeat the Mussul-
* The orthography which I have adopted for the name of the false
prophet is that which accords with the Eastern pronunciation and with
the usage of European scholars.
VOL. I.
B


2
INTRODUCTION.
man creed.
The histories of his life abound in such
legends as these.
His youthful years were spent in the humble occupa-
tion of a travelling merchant. At the age of 38, when
his marriage with an opulent widow had raised him to
an equality with the principal men of his city, he began
to affect solitude, and spent much of his time in a retired
cave. At the end of two years, according to the testimony
of his biographers, the angel Gabriel appeared to him,
and invested him with the high commission of an "Apostle
of God to the black and the red," or, in other words, to
all mankind. After this followed frequent pretended
revelations, which appeared as circumstances called for
them, and were always of such a character as the emer-
gency demanded.
This often rendered those of a late
date contradictory to those which had gone before. Thus,
while the weakness of his party confined him to pacific
measures, his pretended revelations breathed only the
spirit of peace and good-will : but when his followers
had become numerous and able to cope with his enemies,
there immediately appeared a command to spread his
religion by the sword.
There is good evidence, however, that his motives at
the first were not altogether unworthy of a religious re-
former. His original design, doubtless, was to destroy
the idolatry of the Pagan Arabs, and to reduce the
corrupted faith of the Judaists and Christians of Arabia
to the worship of one only God. The unity of the Deity
must therefore be regarded as the grand point of his
religion, as it was also the prime article of his creed.
With success his ambition increased while his motives
degenerated, and the successive circumstances of his
mission led him to add to his spurious revelations much
which had never before entered his imagination.


INTRODUCTION.
3
As the design of these volumes embraces only the
present state of Mohammedanism, we need not dwell
upon its early history, nor upon the endless questions to
which it has given rise, but may pass at once to such a
view of its doctrines and practices as will suffice to form
a basis for our future observations *.
The revelations which Mohammed pretended to re-
ceive from heaven were at first communicated, as has
been remarked, by parcels, as occasion served. These
were committed to writing by amanuenses on scattered
palm-leaves and skins, or were laid up in the memory
of Mohammed's followers. Thus they remained at the
time of his death. Abubekr, his successor, undertook
to gather them together and to digest them into a single
volume, which he committed to the custody of Hafsa,
one of Mohammed's wives. The book was revised by
Othman, the third Caliph, and the various copies reduced
to one standard. It has since remained unchanged, and
is generally known by the name which it bears on its
own pages, Al Koran, or The KORAN. The additions
which have been made to it by Mussulman commentators,
and which are now incorporated in the religion itself,
will presently come under notice.
Before proceeding
to these, however, the reader may be pleased to know
something more particularly of the book itself.
The appellation, Koran, is derived from an Arabic
verb signifying to read, and may itself be interpreted the
reading, or that which should be read. The import is
the same with that of the Greek Biblia and the Hebrew
Mikra, from the first of which the general title of our
• Many biographies of Mohammed have been published in Europe at
different periods. The most authentic are those by Prideaux and
Gagnier. Of the various histories of the Saracenic conquests, one of the
most approved is Ockley's History of the Saracens, published in England
A.D. 1708.
B 2


4
INTRODUCTION.
Holy Scriptures is taken, while the second, derived from
the same root with Koran, is the Jewish appellation of
the Old Testament. The book is generally designated
among the Mussulmans by some honourable title instead
of its original name. Those most commonly in use are
Kelami Scherif, Noble Discourse, and Kitabi Aziz, Holy
Book. When its scattered parts were collected by
Abubekr, they were divided into chapters which, in
some copies now rarely to be found, were subdivided
into verses after the manner of our own Scriptures.
Another division sometimes seen in them, corresponds
with that of the Psalms in the English and American
Church Service, the whole being divided into thirty sec-
tions for the convenience of readers. Copies of this
description are used in the imperial turbehs, or chapels of
Constantinople, where the remains of the sultans are de-
posited. In some of these chapels a reader may be seen
at any hour of the day, sitting upon the carpet with a
large copy of the Koran before him, reading in the low,
cantillating tone, and with the see-saw motion of the body
always observed. In this way the Koran is read through
daily by thirty readers, for the regular performance of
which devotional and meritorious act the chapels are
endowed.
The style of the Koran cannot be fairly judged by the
insipid and incoherent form which it assumes even in
the best translation. The purity, elegance, and peculiar
music of the original, at which Mohammed aimed with
the skill of one who knew well how to make his revela-
tions enter the ears for which they were intended, are
all lost when clothed in a foreign dress. To the Arab,
however, these factitious excellences are its highest
charm. He speaks of its divine language in enraptured
terms, and the melody of its rhythm is like an intoxicat-
1


INTRODUCTION.
5
ing draught to him. He appeals to it, after the example
of its author, as the grand miracle of his religion, and
like him declares it to be inimitable*. I was inclined
to regard this admiration as, in part at least, the pro-
duct of religious enthusiasm, until it was confirmed to
me by more disinterested witnesses. I have heard
Christians of Mesopotamia, with whom the Arabic is
vernacular, speak as fervently in praise of the literary
beauties of the Koran as a Mussulman could do. A
Chaldean of Mossoul described the flow of its words as
a perfect melodyt.
The attractiveness of their holy book, in respect to its
excellences of style, is better appreciated by the Arabs
than by the Turks or Persians, to the mass of whom its
language is an unknown tongue. Yet the reverence
with which it is regarded by the latter as a repository of
divine oracles, is not diminished by their ignorance of its
meaning. They hold it to be, according to its own de-
clarations, “composed by God," "sent down from the
Lord of all creatures," "a book of infinite value," "a
revelation from a wise God.” It is a copy from “the
original, written in the preserved book," or the volume
of divine decrees, kept in the seventh heavenſ. The
requisition of its author, “None shall touch it except
those who are clean," is generally, but not universally,
observed. In repeated instances, I have witnessed its
violation. Nor is it true, as has often been affirmed,
that it is never permitted to be touched by an unbe-
liever, since I have freely opened and examined nu-
* Koran, chap. xvi.
+ This same individual had been a prisoner of one of the desert tribes,
the Nasari, I believe. He informed me that their language was purely
classical Arabic, of which the Koran is the standard. Their superiority
in this respect was the theme of their constant boast, and they spoke
with deep contempt of the barbarous jargon of the cities.
# Koran, chaps. x. xli.


6
INTRODUCTION.
merous copies in mosques and medressehs (colleges),
as well as others in the possession of private individuals.
It is more difficult to procure one by purchase. In Con-
stantinople this can hardly be accomplished, except by
the aid of a Mussulman *; but in Persia, many were
offered to me without disguise. Here, however, as in
Turkey, the public knowledge of such a transaction
might subject one to danger. The reason of this scru-
ple I believe to be rather a fear, lest the book should be
desecrated in the hands of an unbeliever, or sold for
profit, like an article of merchandise, than, as might at
first appear, the groundless jealousy of religious bigotry.
The Turks, much more than the Persians, carry their
regard for the Koran to the verge of superstition. They
use it for divination, by drawing a decision from the
first passage or word to which they may open. They
inscribe its sentences upon the inner walls of their
mosques, sometimes upon the exterior of their houses,
and the ceilings of their rooms, on fountains, vestments,
swords, banners, seals, &c.
The copies of the Koran which I have seen have
been of various dimensions, from the size of the largest
foliot to a volume two inches square. They are uni-
formly in manuscript, and the penmanship is often as
regular and beautiful as the finest copper-plate engraving.
Multitudes gain their livelihood by the labour of tran-
scribing them. Some of the students in the medressehs
defray in this manner a considerable part of the expenses
of their education. I knew an old man in Tebriz, cele-
brated for his chirographical skill, who wrote a single
copy, annually, and maintained himself with the pro-
ceeds.
• The same is true, in general, of commentaries and other works on
religion.
+ See Appendix, I.


INTRODUCTION,
7
There exists, among the Turks, a strong scruple
both against printing and translating the Koran. This
feeling is still more rife among the Arabs, who look
upon its very words with superstitious reverence. In
Persia, however, I have seen copies of translations in the
language of the country. But even here the original
was retained, and the translation was interlineary. Nor
have I ever read or heard of a Mussulman translation
made in
any
other manner*.
The Koran is to the Mussulmans what the Bible is to
the. Christian-à rule of faith and practice. Terms
equivalent to these are in use among them, to signify
the two great complements of religion. Iman is faith;
and Din, though in familiar conversation used as a
generic term for religion, in its theological sense signi-
fies that part of religion contradistinguished from its
theory, that is, its duties or practice. The proper and
most commonly used term for the Mussulman religion
is, Al Islam, or Devotedness to Godt. Lest it should
not occur to me to remark upon it hereafter, I will here
say, that this comprehensive idea of religion seems to me
to explain much which at first sight surprised me in
Mussulman character. I have often, for instance, been
struck with the peculiar reverence manifested by Mussul-
mans for the tombs and memories of devout men among
the Christians. My surprise at this ceased when I be-
came better acquainted with the genius of the religion,
for, although it is essentially bigoted, a Mussulman's idea
* See Appendix, II.
+ Prideaux translates it, The Saving Religion ; Pocock, Obedience
God; and Sale, Resigning, or devoting one's self entirely to God and
his Service. From the same root with this word are derived, the
Muslim and Musliman, which Western usage has converted into Moslem
and Mussulinan.


P
8
INTRODUCTION.
of it, as embodied in its name, leads him to venerate
true devotion, wherever it exists.
It is well known that Islamism is now based upon
many other authorities than the Koran. The latter is,
as it has ever been, the only source of doctrine and reli-
gious observance; but the foundations which support
the moral, civil, and political superstructure that has
grown out of the religion, cover a far wider area. It is
important at this point of our progress to look to their
origin.
The seemingly complicated framework of the Mo-
hammedan system, when viewed as embracing civil and
political, as well as religious and moral, institutions, is, I
believe, purely an accident. The original religion was
most simple and easily understood. It is the same reli-
gion which now forms the faith and practice of the mass
of uninstructed Mussulmans, and is that to which we
shall have to look in estimating their present moral con-
dition. Its elements, both of belief and precept, are
extremely few and simple, and these it is which consti-
tute the religion as it stands in the mind of a common
Mussulman. It is by their fewness and simplicity, in
co-operation with other causes, that they so easily retain
their hold on the mind, and are so little exposed to corrup-
tion. The religion might never have presented any other
aspect, even to a learned Mussulman, if its founder had
not departed from the pacific mode of propagating it with
which he commenced. The unsheathing of a carnal
weapon gave it at once a secular character. Those who
were subjected to it by the sword became civil and poli-
tical as well as religious subjects. When it began to
overthrow kingdoms by conquest, the necessity began to
be imposed upon it of erecting a polity of its own, other-


INTRODUCTION.
9
wise it would have left the nations which it conquered
without a civil government. Thus Mohammed became
before his death a prince as well as a religious reformer,
and the office went down to his successors invested with
this double character.
The spiritual head became a ruler of nations. These
two characters might have been easily maintained with-
out the necessity of an extensive civil code, while the
religion was confined to the deserts of Arabia, where
government existed for the most part in patriarchal
simplicity. But when, under the first caliph, it went
abroad and penetrated into foreign lands, bearing the
Koran in one hand and the sword in the other, an en-
larged and complicated system became necessary. For
this emergency the Koran had not provided; and herein
is one remarkable evidence that Mohammed himself did
not distinctly contemplate that wide extension of his
religion to which it was destined. The caliphs first
attempted to govern by the aid of the Koran alone, but
this being insufficient, they extended the application of
its precepts by glosses of their own, and to these added
an entirely new set of laws, termed Sunneh, or Oral
Law. These were distinguished from the Koranic
code (which is styled Farz, as being of divine origin
and obligation), in that they were oral and traditionary.
They were, however, equally with the first, derived from
the founder of the religion, being his unwritten senti-
ments uttered in ordinary conversation, his verbal
decisions upon points proposed to him by his followers,
inferences from his acts, and even from his silence, which
it seems was then interpreted, as in modern times, to
denote assent. They were held in different estimation
according to their authenticity. Those which were
gathered from the wives of Mohammed, or from his
B3


10
INTRODUCTION.
In this way,
personal attendants, friends, and cotemporaries, were
regarded as of nearly equal obligation with the precepts
of the Koran. Those which were added at a subse-
quent period, or on doubtful authority, were less bind-
ing, and received the distinct name of Hadis, a name
which is also sometimes applied, in its literal sense of
narration or hearsay, so as to cover the whole ground
of traditionary law.
Before the traditions were collected into books, it was
esteemed a highly meritorious act to commit them to
memory or preserve them in writing.
doubtless, many were kept and handed down for future
The first individual who made an extensive col-
lection of them was Zohari, who died at Damascus,
A. H.* 124. This collection, a Mussulman writer
affirms, comprised 600,000 traditions. Another, pro-
bably made with more discrimination, contained 5266.
After these followed many others, of the authors of
which D'Herbelot records twelve principal names. Many
of these traditions, however, were so evidently drawn
from the Talmud, with which the whole system remark-
ably corresponds, that it is believed they were palmed
upon the Mohammedans by proselyted Jews. It may
serve to show the minuteness with which Mussulman
writers have treated of everything appertaining to their
use.
• These letters will be understood as denoting the year of the Mus-
sulman era, which begun with the Flight (Hijreh, commonly written
Hegira) of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina, which happened the
16th of July, A.D. 622. The years of this era are lunar, and, of course,
eleven days shorter than the solar year. I remember once to have
fallen into a discussion with a Turkish friend upon the age of the late
sultan, Mahmoud II., he affirming that he was fifty-five, while I insisted
that he was some two years younger. The question was at last settled,
as many more weighty ones might be, by a definition of terms. My
friend was calculating by the lunar year, while I was thinking only of
the solar.


INTRODUCTION.
11
religion, if I add, that at later periods several have writ-
ten books for the purpose of discriminating between the
true and false traditions ; that the celebrated Noureddin,
who flourished in the twelfth century as sultan of the
Atabek dynasty of Syria, and whose name is mingled
with the early history of the Crusades, erected a
medresseh solely for instruction in these traditions ; and
that a great number, following that saying of Moham-
med which promises a place among the first in paradise
to him who shall teach forty traditions to the faithful,
have sought this peculiar honour by writing books con-
taining the requisite number, with extended commenta-
ries upon them. .
The Koran, therefore, with this body of traditions, to
which time added vast accumulations, formed the basis
of Mussulman legislation under the first caliphs. Their
own decisions were added to the mass, forming a sort
of common law. At the same time numerous schools
were founded, in which the Koran was taught and ex-
plained by learned men. The first, however, who
attempted to reduce these endless materials to system,
and to comment upon them at large, was Abou Hanifeh,
who was born at Koufah, A.H. 80, (A.D. 699), and
died at Bagdad, A.H. 150, (A.D. 767). He was fol-
lowed by Malek, who was born at Medina about A.H.
95, and died there about A.H. 179. After him came
Al Shafer, born at Gaza, in Palestine, A.H. 150, and
died in Egypt, A.A. 204, (A.D. 819). Then followed
another, called Ebn Hanbal, born probably at Bagdad,
A.1. 164, where he died, A.H. 241, (A.D. 855). Among
all the writers on the Koran and the traditions, these
four were the most distinguished, both for the extent and
completeness of their works, as well as their strict piety.
On this account, and not by any means because they


12
INTRODUCTION,
were the only authors of their kind, they came at length
to be regarded as the standards of religion, though, in
the instance of Abou Hanifeh, this honour was denied
him until after his death.
Neither of these men formed a code of legislation; but
Al Shafeï was wont to discourse upon jurisprudence,
and wrote a book for the purpose of reducing the civil
and canonical law to system. At the time of Abou
Hanifeh the catalogue of traditions was not full, great
accessions having been made to it at subsequent periods.
His writings were, therefore, distinguished by his con-
stant appeal to reason in interpreting the Koran, and
his disciples have thence been called Rationalists. The
others, Al Shafeï in particular, relied more upon the
simple word of what they considered to be revelation,
and interpreted it more by tradition than by their own
judgment. They were great friends of tradition, and,
at their time, were the principal channels of its descent
from one age to another. D'Herbelot supposes Al Shafer
to have attended upon the instruction of Malek in
Egypt; but this is hardly possible, as Malek died,
according to the latest calculation, A.H. 179, while Al
Shafeï did not visit Egypt till A.H. 198. Doubtless,
however, he received there the traditions of Malek, which
he afterwards transferred to Hanbal, who in many things
may be considered his disciple.
The labours of these four doctors are to be regarded
as forming the basis of Mussulman legislation, and as
finally determining what had been left unrevealed by
Mohammed, or indefinitely or contradictorily expressed,
or unsettled from the want of interpretation. The num-
ber, however, of the same class of writers who appeared
during the first centuries of the Mussulman era was
very large. Some of them attained nearly equal celebrity


INTRODUCTION.
13
with those whom we have named, and the works of
many of them are still studied by Mussulman scholars.
They are sometimes divided into six classes, distinguished
by the periods in which they wrote and the nature of
their labours. The number of the chief commentators
in all these classes is about thirty. The object of their
writings, for the most part, was, to compose differences
between the first four Imams *, to decide between them
when their discrepancies could not be reconciled, to
resolve questions which they had left untouched, to
carry out their decisions to a more extended application,
and to deduce inferences from them. Their works,
which are very voluminous and minute, form, with other
treatises on religion, the chief part of Mohammedan
literature.
Distinct from these is another class who have confined
themselves to the interpretation of the Koran. They
are so numerous that the mere titles of their works
would fill a large volumet. This class includes not only
those who have explained the sense of the Koran, but
all who have written on the various collateral topics
relating to it. These of themselves form a large body.
Some have treated on particular words in the Koran,
and some on certain solitary letters which stand at the
heads of several of the chapters, and to which a cabalistic
sense is given. Others have treated on the different
versions of the book which existed when it was revised
by Othman ; others on the mode of reading it, and the
state of soul and body prerequisite to that exercise ;
others have expatiated upon its excellences; and others
still have paraphrased it. An entire book has been
made of its names and titles. Indeed, the very number
of its words have been counted, and found to be 77,639,
* See Appendix, III.
+ D'Herbelot.


1+
INTRODUCTION.
and even its letters have been enumerated, 323,015, as
well as the number of times each letter is used.
Until after the capture of Constantinople, A.D. 1454,
magistrates and doctors of the law were compelled to
plunge into this fathomless abyss of learning in order to
draw out the knowledge necessary for their several pro-
fessions. In A.D. 1470, a celebrated scholar formed
from these materials an extensive code, which was soon
superseded by another from the pen of the celebrated
Ibrahim al Halebi, a native, as his surname denotes, of
Haleb, or Aleppo. He flourished during the latter part
of the 15th and the commencement of the 16th century,
holding several important offices in the mosque of Mo-
hammed II. at Constantinople. His work, which, from
the variety, extent, and profundity of its learning, is
entitled Multeka, or, The Confluence of Seas, appeared
during the reign of Suliman I. It is a compend of all
that had been written by previous commentators, and
forms a complete religious, civil, political, criminal, and
military code. Immediately on its publication it took
the place which it still holds, as the great text-book of
Turkish jurisprudence. Later authors have done no
more than to improve the arrangement of its parts, a
matter to which Al Halebi, like most Oriental writers,
paid little attention.
The reader may think that sufficient has been said
upon this part of my subject. My design, however,
which has been not only to expose the basis of the Mo-
hammedan religion, but to show with what minuteness
its different parts have been explained, extended, and
glossed upon by Mussulmans themselves, will not be fully
answered without adverting to another class of treatises
of a less speculative and abstruse character. They hold
the same place among the Mohammedans that works on


INTRODUCTION.
15
practical religion hold among us; and, if I may judge
from extracts which have at different times been read
and explained to me by Mussulman friends, as well as
from the translations of many of them in French and
English, they are often worthy of the perusal of a Chris-
tian. The subjects of some of them are such as these :
On moral duties—a very numerous and various class ;
On a religious life; On the graces of religion, such as
humility, penitence, self-denial, and resignation ; On
spiritual or contemplative religion-presented in much
the same manner with the old Christian writers on mo-
nastic life ; Histories of the prophets, including, with
others, some of the patriarchs and prophets of the Old
Testament; On the names of God and their significa-
tion; On the divine attributes; On the dignity and du-
ties of an Imam-corresponding in some measure to our
own treatises on the duties and responsibilities of the
ministerial office. To these may be added, compilations
and abridgments of celebrated works on religion ; bio-
graphies of holy men ; short sayings, proverbs, and moral
precepts—a mode of presenting thought most congenial
to the Eastern mind; and, finally, religious manuals-
the doctrinal and preceptive parts of religion. These
last correspond very nearly to our articles of faith, ex-
cepting that they are the productions of single indivi-
duals, and have no binding authority aside from the
truths which they inculcate.
Having glanced at the sources from which Islamism
derives its support, we are now prepared to pass to a view
of its doctrines and precepts as they are therein presented.
For this purpose we cannot do better than offer entire,
one of those religious manuals in use among the Mussul-
mans. In this way the religion will be presented in


16
INTRODUCTION.
a
the most succinct manner, and without the danger of
partial or unjust judgment. Two of these compends lie
before me while I write. The following is a translation
of one of them.
THE MUSSULMAN CATECHISM.
1.-OF THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF THE RELIGION.
In the name of God most merciful !
Praised be God who has conducted us to the Faith,
and has established it as the seal of our entrance into
the celestial Paradise, and as the veil between us and an
eternal abode in the fires of Hell.
May the peace and favour of God rest upon Mo-
hammed, the most excellent among men, and the Imam
who directs his own in the right way; and not only
upon him, but also upon his family and his glorious
companions. And may that peace be perpetual to all
men, and constantly increasing for ever and ever.
Know then that Faith is the chief element of Islam,
as the Apostle Mohammed (upon whom be peace !) has
declared.
Now Religion rests upon these five foundations : The
confession of the true God, which consists in believing
and confessing that, THERE IS NO GOD BUT GOD, AND
MOHAMMED
APOSTLE
GOD *; The pre-
scribed observance of prayerst; The giving of alms";
The fast of the month Ramazan ; and, The pilgrimage
to Mecca, which is required of every one who is in a state
to undertake it.
IS
THE
OF
* See Appendix, IV.
† The observance of prayers includes the washings prerequisite to
their right performance. Although, therefore, the duty of ablution has
a distinct section devoted to it in the Catechism, it is not to be regarded
as constituting a distinct article in the Symbol.


INTRODUCTION.
17
To begin with the confession of the true God, (which
is properly that which we call Faith,) it is needful to
know that what we exact of a man who has arrived at
the age of knowledge and understanding, is to believe in
God, in his Angels, in his Apostles, in his revelations,
in the last day, and in his Decree touching good and
evil.
Now Faith does not consist merely in being inter-
nally persuaded of the truth respecting all these points,
but it is moreover necessary that the confession of the
tongue make that persuasion to appear without by ex-
ternal signs *
*
II._OF FAITH IN GOD.
Faith in God consists in knowing truly with the
heart, and confessing openly with the mouth, that the
Most High God exists; that He is True, Permanent, and
very Essence; that He is Eternal in relation to the past,
having never begun, and Eternal also in relation to the
future, since He is without the necessity of an end; that
there appertaineth to Him neither place, time, figure, nor
any outward form whatever-no motiòn, change, trans-
position, separation, division, fraction, or fatigue ; that
He is without equal and without parallel ; that He is
perfectly Pure, One, Everlasting, and Living; that
He is Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Sovereign ; that
He hears, sees, speaks t, acts, creates, sustains ; that He
produces intelligently; that He causes to live and causes
to die ; that He gives beginning to all, and makes all to
return to their original state, whenever He pleases; that
* Romans, x. 9, 10.
+ This must be interpreted consistently with what precedes. The
Doctrine of the incorporality of God is, next to that of His unity, the
most prominent feature of Mohammedanism.


18
INTRODUCTION.
He judges, decrees, directs, commands, prohibits; that
He conducts into the right way, and leads into error* ;
and that to Him belong Retribution, Reward, Punish-
ment, Favour, and Victory.
It is necessary farther to believe, that all these eternal
attributes are embraced in His essential Being, aud
subsist in Him from everlasting to everlasting, without
division or variation, yet so that it can neither be said
that these attributes are Himself, nor that they are es-
sentially different from Himself, since each of them is
conjoined with another, as, for example, Life with
Knowledge, and Knowledge with Power.
Now these attributes, such as we have described them
in action, are, in the abstract, Life, Knowledge, Power,
Will, Hearing, Seeing, Eternity (both anterior and
posterior), Action, Creation, Sustentation, Intelligent
Production, Impartation of Life, Causation of Death,
the Formation and Restoration of Things, Wisdom,
Decree, Direction to Good, Seduction to Evil, Retribu-
tion, Reward, Punishment, Favour, and Victory.
Such are the great and inestimable perfections of the
Most High God, under which He is known and adored
by the Faithful. Whoever dares to deny them, or to
call them in question, whether in whole or in part, truly
he is an Infidel.
O God, preserve Thou us from Infidelity !
III._OF THE ANGELS.
As for that which concerns the necessary
belief re-
specting Angels, our Faith will be complete, if we believe
with the heart, and confess with the mouth, that the
* See Section VII. of this Catechism.


INTRODUCTION.
19
Most High God has servants or ministers*, to whom is
given the name of Angels, who are perfectly free from
all sin, who assist continually before God, who punctu-
ally execute His commands, and never disobey Himt.
Respecting their nature we are required to believe
that their bodies are subtile, pure, and formed of light;
that they neither eat, drink, nor sleep; that they have
no sexual properties, nor carnal appetites, and are with-
out father or mother.
As they are endowed with different forms, so they
have also distinct functions. Some stand erect, others
maintain an inclined posture, others are seated, and,
with the forehead bowed down, adore the Creator.
Some chant His praise and sing hymns to His glory;
others laud and magnify Him after another manner § ;
and others still intercede with Him for the pardon of
human sins. There are those among them who record
our actions in their registers; there are others who
protect us|l; others surround; and others still bear the
Throne of God; or they are employed in yet other
duties, all alike agreeable to the Deity.
Now it is necessary to believe in these Angels, al-
though we know neither their names nor their diverse
kinds. As it is one of the absolute conditions of Faith
to love them without exception, so is it Infidelity to hate
them all or any one among them. If any one, moreover,
dares to say, that though there are Angels, they are
distinguished, like ourselves, by sexes, or, admitting that
they are without such distinction, is not careful to believe
in them and love them, let him be regarded as an Infidel.
O God, preserve Thou us from Infidelity!
* Hebrews, i. 14.
* Matt. xxii. 30.
+ Psalms, ciii. 20.
§ Ps. ciii. 20, 21. 1| Ps. xxxiv. 7.


20
INTRODUCTION.
IV, OF THE SACRED BOOKS.
Faith in the Sacred Books consists in being persuaded
with the heart, and confessing with the mouth, that
there are illustrious books which God has sent from
heaven to his prophets, and that they are uncreated
and eternal.
In these books are contained the commandments of
God and His prohibitions, His statutes, His promises,
and His threatenings; the declaration of that which is
permitted, and of that which is forbidden; of that which
constitutes obedience, and of that which constitutes
rebellion; and, finally, they exhibit the proofs of a retri-
bution, both by reward and punishment.
All these books are the very Word of the Most High
God, a Word which is read in the languages, written
in the volumes, and kept in the hearts of men.
But this Word of God, since it exists in God himself,
is quite distinct from the letters and words which repre-
sent it. Nevertheless these letters and these words are
metaphorically called the Word of God, since they in-
dicate the true Word; just as we are wont to call our
Word that which truly indicates our internal thoughts,
or, as one of our own poets has well expressed it,
The inmost heart preserves the Word,
While Language bears its voice abroad.
Yet it is only for man that language is necessary, for
God knows well the heart, and all that is in it.
These Sacred Books are one hundred and four in
number. Of these, Almighty God sent ten to Adam,
fifty to Seth, thirty to Idris (Enoch), ten to Abraham,
one to Moses, viz. the Law, or that which we call the


INTRODUCTION.
21
Pentateuch; one to Jesus, which is the Gospel* ; one
to David, which is the Book of Psalms; and one to
Mohammed, which is the Koran.
Whoever disavows these books, or questions the divine
character of all or any part thereof, though it be no
more than a single chapter, or a single verse, or even a
solitary word, surely such a one is an Infidel.
O God, preserve Thou us from Infidelity!
V. -OF THE APOSTLES OF GOD.
Faith, as it regards the Apostles of God, requires that
we believe with the heart, and confess with the tongue,
that the Most High God has had Prophets, or extraor-
dinary men, whom He has sent to other men. These
Prophets are true in all which they declare unto us,
and we must render them an entire belief, whether they
ordain certain things, or prohibit them, or announce to
us the orders of Heaven, or make the Celestial Constitu-
tions and Canons, or reveal to us hidden things, such as
the nature, attributes, and works of God, the imparta-
tion and restoration of life, the trial of the Sepulchre,
the Balance, the Sharp Bridge, the Fountain, the Inter-
cession, Paradise and its delights, and Hell with its
torments.
It is needful, too, to know that these prophets are
exempt from all error and grievous sins, and are all
zealous for one and the same Religion, which is Islam,
although differing among themselves so far as regards the
mode of their institutions. They are the Elect from
among all creatures, inasmuch as they have been ho-
* The Doctrine of the Koran is, that Jesus, being a prophet, received
the Gospel in like manner as other prophets received the revelations
made to them.


22
INTRODUCTION.
1
1
1
1
1
1
noured with interviews with God himself, and with the
descent of Angels unto them, while their ministry has
been authorised by manifest miracles, entirely above the
regular order of nature. Some among them have raised
the dead, and have held conversation with beasts, trees,
and other inanimate things, which, in turn, have paid
them homage. These are prerogatives to which other
men can never attain.
Furthermore, it should be known that God has estab-
lished among them a certain subordination, by which
one is exalted above another. Thus those
among
them
who have exercised the office of Apostles are superior
to those who have not exercised it, while those who have
introduced new dispensations are in rank above those
to whom this privilege has not been accorded.
The first of these prophets was Adam ; but the last
and most excellent of all was Mohammed, to whom may
God be favourable, and vouchsafe His blessing, as also
to all those who preceded him.
Among the first disciples of the Prophet, the most
excellent of all, and he who approaches most nearly to
the rank of a prophet, is Abubekr, after him Omar, next
Othman, and lastly, Ali. After these four, in order of
dignity, follow the six honourable companions of Mo-
hammed-to wit, Telha, Alzabeir, Saad, Zaid, Abdur-
rahman, and Abou Obeida : next to them, the rest of
his companions; and after these, the fortunate genera-
tion of men to whom Mohammed was sent. May God
bless the Prophet, and divine favour rest on them all!
Last of all come those who do good works, and whom
we honour with the name of Saints.
The number of prophets, according to one tradition,
is two hundred and eighty-four thousand, but according
to another, only half as many. Among these, one


INTRODUCTION,
23
hundred and thirteen have exercised the functions of
Apostles, and six have brought to man new revelations ;
namely, Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and
Mohammed. May God be propitious to one and all,
and crown them with His favour !
Faith does not absolutely require an exact knowledge
of the number of these extraordinary men, but it is
essential to salvation to love them. He who loves them
not, or who hates any one of them, must be ranked with
Infidels. In like manner, whoever denies or questions
the truth of any one of them, or rejects even one of their
declarations, is already an Infidel.
O God, preserve Thou us from Infidelity!
VI.-OF THE LAST DAY.
Faith in the last day consists in believing with the
heart, and confessing with the mouth, that there shall
indeed be a last day, even that of the Resurrection, when
Almighty God shall destroy and annihilate this world,
and shall cause to perish all men and creatures which
are found in it, excepting only certain things proper to
be preserved. Such are, for instance, the Throne of
Glory, and the Foundation on which it rests; and the
ministering Spirit; and the Table of decrees, and the pen
with which they are written ; and Paradise and Hell,
with all that they contain.
After this God shall restore all creatures which he had
annihilated; he shall awaken them with the sound of
the angelic trumpet; and, having reimparted to them
vitality and intelligence, shall gather them into one
place, where he shall examine them and demand an
account of their past lives. To each one of them shall
be given a book containing the record of his good or bad


24
INTRODUCTION.
actions, according to his character. They who receive
the first are the good, who will hold their books in the
right hand; the others are the wicked, who will hold
their books in their left hands and behind their backs.
Thereupon the Most High God will judge them in righ-
teousness and equity, weighing in the Balance all their
works, both good and bad, and rendering to every
soul
according to what he has done, whether it be good or
evil.
Through His goodness and mercy some shall enter
paradise, whilst others shall descend into hell. But no
one of the Faithful* shall abide eternally in the torment-
ing fires of hell. They shall all enter into paradise after
having undergone punishments proportioned to their
transgressions. The Faithful once introduced into
heaven shall dwell there for ever, while the Infidels pre-
cipitated into hell shall never go out therefrom.
In order that faith in the resurrection may be salutary
and complete, it is absolutely necessary that it be con-
templated with alarm. Let him, then, who shall look
upon it with indifference or a feeling of security, him,
too, who shall deny or doubt thereon, or who is impious
enough to say, either with the mouth or in the heart,
“I fear neither the resurrection nor hell, and I care
not for paradise,” let such a one be esteemed an
Infidel.
O God, save us from Infidelity!
VII.-OF THE DECREES
OF GOD.
Faith in the decrees of God requires us to believe with
the heart, and confess with the mouth, that he has
decreed not only things themselves, but also the mode
* The term in the original is exclusively applied to Mussulmans, who
alone are embraced in this saving clause.


INTRODUCTION.
25
of their existence, so that there happens nothing in the
world respecting either the situations or the operations
of beings, nothing regarding good or evil, obedience or
disobedience, faith or unbelief, sickness or health, poverty
or riches, life or death, which is not embraced in the
decree and ordinance of God, and does not emanate from
his sovereign will and righteous judgment.
It is necessary, however, to remember that God has
decreed obedience and faith in such manner that they
are subjected not only to his ordinance, will, and decree,
but also to his salutary direction, his good pleasure and
his command; while, on the contrary, he has decreed
disobedience and unbelief, and ordains, wills, and deter-
mines them, only in consistency with his disapprobation
and prohibition of them ; and this he does by abandon-
ing men in his wrath, or by permitting them to be led
away through temptation. In all this his salutary
guidance, his good pleasure and his command do not
concur.
Whoever, therefore, shall dare to say that God
rejoices neither in the good deeds nor the faith of men,
or that he has no aversion for evil and unbelief, or
that good and evil proceed from him in such sort
that he decrees and wills both with the same com-
placency, is surely an Infidel. The truth is, that God
wills what is good, but in such a manner that the good
always pleases him ; while, though he also wills evil, it
is in such a way that evil does not at all cease to be
odious to him.
O gracious God, direct our steps in the right way!
VOL. I.
c


26
INTRODUCTION.
VIII.-OF ABLUTIONS *.
Concerning the prescribed purifications it should be
known that there are seven kinds of water proper for
the purpose; viz., rain-water, sea-water, river-water,
well-water, fountain-water, snow-water, and hail-water.
We acknowledge three principal ablutions or purifi-
vations; the first, which we call Ghousl, is a kind of
Immersion; the second, called Vodou, is chiefly for the
hands and feet; and the third is the Ablution with sand,
since, in that ablution, sand or earth is used instead of
water.
1. Of the washing of the body, called Ghousl. The
principles or rules of this corporal immersion are three
in number. First, there must be the intention to render
one's self pleasing to God. Secondly, the body must
be cleansed from all its defilements, if such there be.
Thirdly, the water must be made to pass over the hair
and over all the external surface of the body.
Further, it must be remembered that our Sunneh
requires of us these five acts in performing this ablution.
First, that we repeat the accustomed formulary, Bismil-
lah, &c., In the name of God, Merciful and Gracious !
Secondly, that we wash the palms of the hands before
the vessels are emptied. Thirdly, that the purification
of the hands and feet be made before prayer, and after
the accustomed forms. Fourthly, that the skin be
rubbed with the hand to cleanse it from all filth.
Fifthly, that these acts be continued without interrup-
tion to the end.
The occasions on which this corporal purification
* The preceding sections contain the articles of belief; this and the
following sections those of observance. This distinction is generally
observed by Mussulman writers.


INTRODUCTION.
27
becomes necessary are six in number. Of these, three
are common to both sexes, and the others peculiar to
one. [Most of the occasions mentioned in the original
are of such a nature as renders them improper to be
recorded. One of the first kind is death (the law and
custom of the Mussulmans being to wash the corpse
before burial), and one of the second is the same as
was observed in like manner among the Jews *.
The
others will not bear to be repeated, or even remotely
alluded to.]
2. Of the purification called Vodou, which is for the
hands and feet t. This kind of ablution has six principles
or sacred institutions. First, it must be performed with
the intention of pleasing God. Secondly, the whole
face must be washed. Thirdly, the hands must be
washed, and the arms as high as the elbows, including
the latter. Fourthly, certain parts of the head must
be rubbed. Fifthly, the feet, including the heels, must
be washed. Sixthly, the order to be observed is that in
which the requisitions are here recorded.
To these institutions are to be added those of the
Sunnel, which are ten in number. First, the washing
must be preceded by the customary formula, Bismillah,
&c., In the name of God, Merciful and Gracious! Secondly,
the palm of the hand must be washed before the vessels
are emptied. Thirdly, the face must be washed.
Fourthly, water must be drawn through the nostrils.
Fifthly, the head and ears must be rubbed. Sixthly,
the beard, when it is thick and long, must be separated.
Seventhly, the toes must be washed in due succession,
Eighthly, the right hand must be washed before the left,
and the same order observed with the feet. Ninthly,
these several acts must be performed thrice. Tenthly,
Leviticus, chap. xü. + This is the common ablution before prayer.
#
C2


28
INTRODUCTION.
they must be continued without intermission to the
end.
There are five occasions when this kind of lustration
is required. [The first second, fourth, and fifth cannot
be mentioned. The third is when there has been a
failure of memory or of reason, either through intoxica-
tion, insanity, or sickness. The cause of requiring ablu-
tion in these cases is, that there may have been, in such
states, uncleanness contracted of which the individual
was not aware.
Next follows in the original a specification of certain
cases in which ablution is not of a religious obligation,
but in which it should be performed for the sake of
cleanliness. They are not, however, suitable for repe-
tition here.]
3. Of the purification with sand. Concerning this
mode of purification, which receives its name from its
being performed with earth or sand instead of water, it
is necessary to be informed that there are four prescrip-
tions. First, it must be performed with the intention
of pleasing God. Secondly, the face must be rubbed.
Thirdly, the same must be done to the hands, and also
to the arms as high as the elbow, including the latter.
Fourthly, the order here prescribed must be exactly
observed.
To these regulations are to be joined the requisitions
of the Sunneh, which ordain that the ceremony com-
mence with the formula, Bismillah, &c., that the right
hand and the right foot have precedence of the left, and,
lastly, that these acts be continued uninterrupted till
the ceremony is completed.


INTRODUCTION,
29
IX-OF PRAYER.
The sacred institutions regarding prayer and its
accompanying rites are thirteen in number. 1. The
intention, which precedes all. 2. The extolling of the
name of God. 3. The formulary appointed for this
purpose. [God is great, God is great. There is no God
but God. God is great, God is great. Praises are for him.]
4. The upright posture, or the most erect carriage of
the body. 5. The recitation of the first chapter of the
Koran. 6. The inclination of the body towards the
earth. 7. The return to the upright posture. 8. The
adoration, or prostration of the face to the earth. 9.
The posture of sitting. 10. The repetition of the sitting
posture. 11. The final confession respecting Moham-
med, the first (see above) having regard only to God.
12. The recitation of the formulary of that confession.
13. The observance of the order here set down.
The traditional (Sunneh) institution requires, in addi-
tion, these four things. 1. The announcement, or the
invitation of the people to prayer. 2. The second an-
nouncement, differing in form from the first. 3. The
first confession, regarding God. 4. The form of
prayer
which constitutes that first confession.
The conditions required of him who prepares himself
to perform his devotions are five in number. 1. That
the members of his body be free from all manner of
impurity. 2. That he be clad in a clean garment. 3.
That he be in a clean place, where there is no possi-
bility of contracting any species of defilement. 4. That
he know the exact times appointed for prayer, and ob-
serve them punctually. 5. That in the act of
prayer
he turn his face towards the Keblah*,
* See Appendix, V.


30
INTRODUCTION.
The
prayers to be offered each day are of five kinds.
1. The prayer of noon, which requires four inclinations
of the body. 2. The afternoon prayer, which also re-
quires four inclinations. 3. The vesper prayer, to be
offered on the approach of evening. This requires three
inclinations. 4. The night prayer, which requires four
inclinations. 5. The morning prayer, which requires
only two inclinations. In all, seventeen inclinations are
required daily.
X.-OF ALMS.
Alms must be given out of five kinds of property:
from our cattle ; from our money; from our grain ; from
our fruits; and from our merchandise.
There are three kinds of cattle from which alms
should be given, viz. camels, oxen, and sheep; and in
order that this form of charity be executed in a lawful
manner, six things are requisite. The giver must be a
Mussulman; a free man; and the lawful owner of that
which he bestows. His property in cattle must also have
increased to a certain amount ; he must have been its
owner for the space of one year; and the cattle which
he gives in charity must not be of those which labour
for the tillage of his lands and which are needful to
him, but of those which feed idly in his pastures.
[In bestowing money, the conditions required are the
same in substance with those just recited.]
The conditions for the bestowal of charity in grain,
are these; first, the grain must have grown upon land
sown by man and not in a wild state ; second, it must
have been gathered into the granary; third, the bestower
must be possessed of a certain quantity in order to be
under obligation of charity.


INTRODUCTION.
31
The required alms in fruit consists of these two kinds,
dates and grapes. [In order that they be lawfully made,
the first four of the conditions of alms in cattle are re-
quired here.]
[Alms in merchandise are subjected to the same con-
ditions with the first-mentioned.]
But it should be remembered, both with regard to all
these kinds of charity now alluded to, as well as with
regard to another kind, which is a sort of impost of
charity, or capitation tax, imposed at the termination of
the great fast of Ramazan, one of the fundamental
principles is the intention, or the inward resolution to
bestow such and such alms, as entirely due from us.
XI, OF THE FAST.
Three things are requisite to render the fast lawful
and pleasing to God. The person fasting must be a Mus-
sulman; he must have arrived at the age of puberty;
and must be in his right mind.
The fast itself is based on five divine institutions.
1. The intention of the heart. 2. Abstinence from
food during the day. 3. Abstinence from drink. 4.
Abstinence from every kind of lightness of conduct
and impurity, such as a kiss, an embrace, &c. &c.
5. Abstinence from all intention to vomit.
Ten things there are which may render the fast null.
First, when the individual intentionally causes anything
to enter the head by either of the organs of sense, such,
for instance, as water or an exquisite odour, or subtile
essences of any kind, or when any substance what-
soever is made to descend into the stomach. [The
second and third have reference to certain internal appli-
cations of medicine.] Fourth, the fast is broken when


32
INTRODUCTION.
anything is intentionally ejected by the mouth. [The
fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth, cannot be repeated in
decorous terms] Ninth, when the individual is insane.
Tenth, when he has fallen into apostasy.
XII.-OF THE PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA.
The divine institutes concerning the rites of this act
of devotion, are five in number. First of all, there is
required the intention, by which the devotee has in-
wardly resolved and religiously vowed to God to perform
this pilgrimage. Secondly, in the course of the pilgrim-
age, he must tarry one day on the mountain of Arafat.
Thirdly, he must shave or shear the hair of the head in
the valley of Mina. Fourthly, he must make the cir-
cuit of the Kaabah seven times. Fifthly, he must run
seven times from Safa to Merva.
The reader should here be apprised that the symbols of
faith presented in the Catechism are those of the Sunneh
Mussulmans, and that they do not fully represent the
creed of the other great division of Mohammedanism.
The principal point of difference, however, is that which
relates to the rightful succession of the Apostolic office.
In order, therefore, to complete our view of the articles
of the Moslem faith, it is only necessary to draw from a
catechism of the Shiah sect, so much as is necessary to
show the peculiarities of their belief respecting this single
point. For this purpose, I shall avail myself of a volume
in my possession, entitled Jumah Abasi, or The Sum-
of ABBAS. This volume, which I purchased
during my residence in Tebriz, contains a compend of
the moral theology of the Persians, who are the chief
representatives of the Shiah sect. It receives its name
MARY


INTRODUCTION.
33
mans.
from having been compiled by order of Abbas, the Great.
The author was one of the most distinguished theolo-
gians of Persia, and the writer of several celebrated
works on the Mohammedan religion. He was a Mollah,
or Doctor of the Law, and bore the magnificent title
of Sheikh Bahadin Mohammed, Jebel Ameli : Sheikh
Mohammed, the Honour of the Law, the Accumulator
of Mountains. The book contains, in seventeen chapters,
the canonical and ceremonial laws of the Shiah Mussul-
It is the same work which furnished Chardin
with the principal materials for his sketch of the reli-
gion of the Persians*.
In order, however, fully to understand the present
differences of the two great sects of Mohammedans, it
will be necessary to trace them to their origin. For rea-
sons which cannot now be ascertained, Mohammed, in
his last sickness, gave no instructions respecting his suc-
cessor; for little credit is to be vouchsafed to the Persian
legends on the subject. Ali himself acknowledged, just
before his death, that the prophet did not appoint a suc-
cessort. Some of the Sunneh writers have testified that
he requested his father-in-law, Abubekr, to conduct the
public prayers in his stead, during his illness; but the
circumstances which followed, would seem to show that
little more credit is to be attached to their testimony than
to that of the Shiahs. On the very day of his death a
violent contention arose respecting the succession, which
could hardly have taken place if Mohammed had, by
word or act, signified his own wishes concerning it. The
contest at length became so violent as to threaten a fatal
rupture in the ranks of the Moslems. It was finally
appeased by the prudence and moderation of Omar,
* Voyages du Chevalier Chardin, vol. iv. Amsterdam edition, 1735.
+ Ockley, ü. 75.
c3


34
INTRODUCTION.
himself one of the most prominent candidates. While
the strife was still warm, he advanced to Abubekr, took
his hand, and declared his allegiance to him as the Ca-
liph, or successor, of Mohammed. This pacificatory act
was followed by the others who were present, and Abu-
bekr was chosen to the office by the unanimous voice of
the company. I cannot learn that Ali was supported as
a candidate at this meeting. At least he was not present
on the occasion. But when the result was announced
to him, he did not attempt to conceal his dissatisfaction
at his own claims having been overlooked. These
claims consisted in his being, by birth, a cousin of Mo-
hammed, and his son-in-law by the marriage of his only
surviving daughter, Fatima. He was also the first, out
of Mohammed's own family, who embraced his religion.
A considerable party adhered to the cause of Ali, and,
even at this early period, the principles which have ever
been the essential grounds of difference between the
Sunnites and the Shiahs, were distinctly marked. The
party of Ali contended that the Apostolic office was here-
ditary, and that their chief was entitled to it in right of his
two-fold affinity to the prophet. Their opponents, who
constituted the great majority of the Mussulmans, held,
on the contrary, the opinion, that the succession must be
determined by the voices of the whole company of the
Faithful. It may have been the same conviction, which
seems indeed most consonant with the equalising princi-
ples of his religion, that induced Mohammed to remain
silent respecting his successor.
Some months after the occurrences just narrated, Ali
formally professed allegiance to Abubekr, but neither he
nor his party were believed to be sincere in their attach-
ment. The Caliph, when about to die, nominated Omar
his successor, and the choice was confirmed without op-


INTRODUCTION.
36
virulence, either from a natural desire to see the office
conferred upon her father, or from her jealousy of Ali's
wife, Fatima, who was a daughter of Mohammed by
his first and most beloved spouse, Kadijah. Her hos-
tility continued to the end of her life ; and, although
it did not prevent Ali from reaching the caliphate
after the death of Othman, it occasioned him much
trouble in his possession of it. Well would it have
been for the valiant and generous, though unfortunate,
Ali, if he could have avoided those dangerous honours
which, now that they were pressed upon him, he would
fain have declined. But those who feared that a wide
and incurable rupture would ensue from these frequent
dissensions, thrust the office upon him by entreaties and
even threats. The course of his reign was as stormy
as its commencement, until, at length, like his two im-
mediate predecessors, he fell by a blow from an assassin,
while engaged in his devotions at the mosque. Mussul-
man writers of both sects agree in the praise of Ali. He
was distinguished for his bravery, and the appellation of
the Lion of God, which is still often heard from the
lips of the Persians, was conferred upon him before he
attained the caliphate. He was noble and elevated in
his views, and, if he was not qualified to gain or secure
favour, the deficiency arose chiefly from his superiority
to the base intrigues by which power is often won and
sustained. He was a poet, and the most eloquent man
of his time. Some of his writings are still extant,
among which his Moral Sentences are the most distin-
gui ed. I will not detail the troubles of his reign,
which was incessantly disturbed by the rebellious move-
ments of his domestic foes. His principal enemy was
Moawiyah, of the family of Ommia, of the tribe of the
Koreish, who had held Syria under Othman, as his lieu-


INTRODUCTION,
37
tenant, and who retained the rule after Ali's accession
and in spite of his power. Ali had fixed his seat of
government at Koufah, on the Euphrates, which conse-
quently became the great centre of those who were true
to his interests. Hence it arose that while the western
provinces fell off from him, those of the east remained
faithful.
Ali was succeeded by his eldest son Hassan, a man of
too quiet and retiring a spirit for those boisterous times.
He held the reins of government only six months, and
then resigned them to Moawiyah, who by that act became
caliph and founder of the dynasty of the Ommiades.
This happened A.H. 41, or on the 6th of May, A.D,
661. From that time, for a considerable period, the
names of Ali and his descendants were publicly exe-
crated by the Ommian caliphs, as afterwards by some
of those of the dynasty of the Abassides. The remem-
brance of hostilities was kept alive by the continuance
of the party which favoured the house of Ali. Their
right to the supreme power was insisted upon, and for
two hundred years after the abdication of Hassan, there
remained a representative of that house to claim it. In
the year 225 of the Hijreh was born the last descendant
of Ali in the line which pretended to the caliphate. At
the age of about nine years he suddenly disappeared in
a manner which has never been satisfactorily accounted
for. The party, however, survived, and the rights of
the family of Ali were as warmly disputed during the
next four centuries as they had been before it became
extinct. Even Bagdad, the seat of the Abassian ca-
liphs, was distracted by the dissensions of the two par-
ties. The vezir of Mostazem, the last of that house,
was himself a Shiah ; and it was in revenge of some
indignity offered to the Shiahs by one of the royal family,


38
INTRODUCTION.
that he invited Hologou, the Mogul Emperor, to Bagdad,
and betrayed the city into his hands. The death of
Mostazem, by the order of Hologou, put an end to the
dynasty of the Abassides, A.D. 1258.
Such is the origin of the two great sects of Islam. That
of the Shiahs has always been inferior in number to the
other. It was first established in Persia as the national
faith, A.D. 1500, by Shah Ismael, himself a real or pre-
tended descendant of Ali. It has ever since maintained
its predominance there. At the present moment it em-
braces the Persians, some of the Uzbek tribes of Tar-
tary, and the Mussulmans of India; while the Sunneh
sect comprises the Turkish tribes of the regions east of
the Caspian, the Afghans, the Osmanlees, and the Arabs
of Arabia, Syria, Egypt, and the northern coast of Africa.
The Sunnites use the common prerogative of the majo-
rity, and style themselves Orthodox, while they confer
upon
the others the odious naine of Schismatics. The
word Shiah itself is an appellation bestowed by the Sun-
nites, and signifies not only a sectary, but one of an op-
probrious character. It is never heard in Persia, for
the Persians award to themselves the more honourable
titles of Friends of Ali, The Company of the Just, &c.
It will now be perceived that the original and funda-
mental difference between the Sunnites and the Shiahs
relates to the rights of the caliphate. The former hold
it to be elective, the latter hereditary. The former ad-
mit the three caliphs who preceded Ali as lawful succes-
sors of their prophet; the latter reject them as usurpers,
and execrate their memory. Both, however, start from
the same fundamental principle, which is, that there
must always be on earth a prophet of the true religion,
or a deputy of a prophet, a vicar of God, the Imam of
the Mussulmans, to exercise a jurisdiction both temporal


INTRODUCTION.
39
and spiritual. According to the Sunnites, this office is
now vested in the Sultan of Turkey, who derives his
right from Motavakkel Billah II., the last of those de-
scendants of the Abassides who retained in Egypt the
title of Caliph, with little more than the shadow of autho-
rity, and who was himself carried away prisoner by
Selim I., Sultan of Turkey, on his return from the con-
quest of Egypt, in or about 1516. The Persians, on
the contrary, declare Ali and his descendants, to the
eleventh generation, to be the only rightful successors of
Mohammed. These twelve they distinguish by the
title of the Twelve Imams. The last, whose mysterious
disappearance has been noticed, was, they say, removed
by God on account of the wickedness of men, but
will again appear in the last days, to restore the true
religion, and rule as supreme head over the Mussulmans.
In the meanwhile, there is on earth no visible Imam.
The kings of Persia rule only as his temporary substi-
tutes, and have borne, if they do not now bear, the title
of Lieutenants of the King of Persia. At the time of
my arrival in that country, in 1837, a report was in
circulation, that the twelfth Imam had reappeared. A
pretended reformer did indeed arise, boasting himself to
be somebody, but the issue of his mission was not such
as to revive the long deferred hope of the Persians.
There are some among the Shiahs who affirm that
there must always be a visible Imam, and that he is to
be found, as long as the true Imam is absent, among
the most learned and holy of the Doctors of the Law.
Though this opinion is not, I believe, extensively held
in Persia, the want of a religious chief is one cause of
the peculiar deference which is paid to men of high
repute for learning and sanctity. This feeling is carried
farther in Persia than in Turkey, although it is one of


INTRODUCTION.
40
the most prominent features of Mohammedanism in both
countries. But in Persia, more particularly, the influence
which the religious orders exerts upon the minds of the
mass is truly remarkable, and forms one of the most
important elements in a right judgment upon the prac-
ticability of introducing Christianity into the country.
In this view I shall have occasion to recur to it again.
I allude to it at present for the sake of remarking that
this doctrine of a perpetually visible Imam, although
theoretically embraced by few in Persia, seems to be
generally adopted in practice. There is always one, or
more, who claims to be the Head of the Mussulmans in
the country. There is now an aged doctor in Shiraz,
who is universally acknowledged to be the chief of the
Sooffees, while the supreme direction of the conservative
Shiahs (if so I may be permitted to distinguish those
who are not avowedly infected by the lax tenets of
Sooffeeism), is claimed by several among the learned
devotees. The most distinguished is one Seid Moham-
med Bakir, of Isfahan, whose influence is reputed supe-
rior to the authority of the Shah. The latter courts the
good-will of the man who could, by a word, shake his
throne to its foundation. The present Shah, however,
is not the first who has condescended to seek the favour
of these spiritual rulers of the people. His predecessor,
Feth Ali Shah, was wont to receive them with distin-
guished honour, and to demean himself before them in
the manner of an inferior. The leaders of the conserva-
tive and Sooffee parties maintain no friendly relations
with each other. On one occasion the latter visited
Tehran, the seat of the Shah, for the purpose of intrigu-
ing against the other. The Shah did not venture to listen
to his suggestions, but as a token of regard for the
Imam, or, perhaps, to rid himself in the easiest manner


INTRODUCTION,
41
of his importunity, dismissed him with a munificent
present. The authority which these men, and many
others of a lower grade, exert in Persia, depends upon
no official rank, but upon the weight of their personal
character; and it is one of those indications which exist
in every religion, to show that, where men are not
guided in their spiritual concerns by regularly consti-
tuted overseers, the wants of their moral nature lead
them to seek for guides who rule their followers with
the same authority, though without the safeguard of
official responsibility.
But to return. The sketch which I have given of
the original differences between the Sunnites and Shiahs
leads at once to the difference in their respective creeds.
To the first two articles of the Sunneh faith, respecting
a belief in God and Mohammed, the Persians add their
own dogma concerning Ali. Their whole creed runs
thus : THERE IS NO GOD BUT GOD; MOHAMMED IS THE
APOSTLE OF GOD; ALI IS THE VICAR OF GOD. The
third article in the catechism thus reads : “ It is neces-
sary to confess, in the third place, the excellence of the
companions of Mohammed according to their rank and
order, acknowledging the most excellent of men, after
Mohammed, to be Ali, then Hassan, then Hossein, &c.
It is needful to have a right faith concerning all the
Imams, and to esteem and honour them, even as God
has done." I have given the creed both as I find it
in the catechism, and as I used to hear it in the
Ezan, or Call to prayer, from the mosque. This
mingling of the name of Ali with those of God and
Mohammed, to the exclusion of the first three caliphs,
was peculiarly offensive to some Sunnites from Turkey,
with whom I happened to lodge for a few days in one of
the cities of Persia. Even my Christian interpreter,


42
INTRODUCTION.
a native of Constantinople, was highly incensed at such
a departure from what he had been accustomed to
regard as true Islamism. “ Do you hear the dogs?” he
said one day, as the voice of the Muezzin broke forth
immediately over the place where we sat, “ they are
calling Ali the lieutenant of God."
It is the natural effect of controversy to drive men
farther from the golden mean of truth, and to give a
monstrous proportion to some single member of its
system. Thus the Persians, by incessant contention for
the rights of Ali, have practically made their faith in
him the grand centre of their religion, and have con-
tracted views hardly less gross than those of idolatrous
pagans. By a very natural process of thought, they
have passed from a simple defence of his political rights
to panegyrics of a most hyperbolical character. They
ascribe to him the highest virtues ; a perfect sanctity,
and supernatural endowments both of body and mind.
Their books, too, are full of the most extravagant
legends concerning his excellences and his acts which
enthusiasm could create, or superstition believe. Some
have carried these extravagances beyond the bounds of
religion, as well as of reason, and, not content with
ascribing to him the highest of human endowments,
believe him to be possessed of those which are divine.
These last form a distinct party in Persia, and bear a
name implying their belief in the divinity of Ali. There
is a village of them near the city of Kazvin, and others
in the Western provinces. At Kermanshah, and among
the Kurdish tribes in that vicinity, they are numerous,
and their numbers are constantly increasing. They have
no distinct organisation as a sect, but are known by this
peculiarity in their belief. Their grand doctrine is, that
Ali is an incarnation of the Deity. They give him


INTRODUCTION.
43
divine titles, and, I was credibly informed, worship him
as God.
The common belief of the Persians falls hardly below
the same level. In the vagueness of religious enthusiasm,
they constantly use modes of expression, which are in-
applicable to any being subject to the frailties and
infirmities of man. The very formula by which they
seek to avoid the imputation of calling Ali divine, savours
of the impiety which they would avoid.
I do not believe that Ali is God,
Nor do I believe he is far from God.
These are, in literal translation, the words of the formula,
and expressions tantamount to this are often on their
lips. The name of Ali is more frequently heard than
the name of Mohammed, and it is invoked in circum-
stances where a Sunnite would use that of the Deity.
The Persian cries, Ya Ali ! O Ali! when a Turk would
exclaim, Ya Allah! O God! The same is true, with
little qualification, of the regard which they bear for the
other eleven Imams, and the manner in which they
speak of them.
It is evident, from what has been said, that the origi-
nal difference between the Sunnites and Shiahs was
political rather than religious, relating simply to the
right of succession. But a division on this point has
entailed consequences more immediately affecting reli-
gious practice. The Shiahs, in refusing to acknowledge
the first three Caliphs, reject the traditions of which
they were the authors, their interpretations of the Koran,
and also the precedents established by their judicial de-
cisions. It is, on the contrary, from their attachment
to these authorities, that the other seot have appropriated
to themselves the title of Sunnehi, or Followers of Tra-


i
44
INTRODUCTION.
dition, a title which, of right, belongs no more exclusively
to them than to the others.
The Persians acknowledge the authority of tradition,
rejecting only so much as they believe to come from
corrupt sources. Their religious usages and their juris-
prudence have, with this exception, the same basis as
those of the Turks, although they do not possess so
extensive and thoroughly digested a code. The excep-
tion, however, is the cause of certain discrepancies in
the ritual and worship of the two sects. These relate
to such matters as the mode of ablution before prayers,
and the different postures of the body during devotion;
matters, it would seem, of too trivial concern to give
occasion for discord, did we not consider that the very
essence of superstition is, to magnify unduly things of
little moment, and that no religion is more rigid in its
forms than Mohammedanism. How these differences
are in truth regarded, a single incident will serve to
show.
I engaged, in Tebriz, a Persian servant, who was
anxious to accompany me into Turkey. My interpreter,
wishing to amuse himself, told him, that if he visited
Turkey, he must wear Turkish clothing, sit cross-legged,
and eat Turkish food, after the Turkish manner. “That,"
he said, “I will do.” “ You must also,” added the
interpreter, “perform your devotions like a Turk, washing
your arms from the elbow, downward, instead of the
reverse, and folding your arms in prayer instead of
lifting them outspread.” “That,” he promptly replied,
6. I will not do!” and he was never afterwards solicitous
to go with me into Turkey.
Such, in fine, are the differences which distinguish the
two great sects of Mohammedans, and thence arises the
implacable hostility with which they regard each other.
99


INTRODUCTION.
45
With this hatred the Turks are more deeply imbued than
the Persians, not altogether because they are more
bigoted, but because also they are more sincere in their
attachment to their religion. The animosity on both
sides is chiefly sustained by the religious orders, who
anathematise each other with all the bitterness of fana-
tical zeal: nor are the Mollahs of Persia, in this respect,
one whit behind those of Turkey. The greater prejudice
of the Turk arises, not so much from regarding the Per-
sians as a hostile sect, as from a knowledge of their prac-
tical neglect of the duties enjoined by their common
religion. Whenever a Turk is heard to pour out his
indignation against the Barbarians*, it is oftener for
their neglect of prayers, their addictedness to wine, and
their want of truth, than for their sectarian views re-
specting the Caliphate, or their difference in certain
articles of ceremonial usage. They charge them not so
much with heresy in rejecting the first three successors
of Mohainmed, as of idolatry, in raising the fourth to a
superhuman elevation.
But, aside from religious animosities, the natural
differences of character between the two people are
sufficient, at least, to prevent any close advances towards
a friendly intercourse. In almost every respect they
may be described as opposites. The Turk is sedate
and grave; the Persian animated and volatile. The
Turk is remarkable for sobriety of judgment; the Per-
* The word Ajem signifies, in general, the same with Bápßapos, and is
used in precisely the same sense, as a distinctive appellation for all
foreigners. But the Turks, like the Sunnites generally, apply it par-
ticularly to the Persians. They speak of them, indeed, under no other
title, and obviously use it in the contemptuous sense which it conveys.
Persians, in company with Turks, sometimes condescend to speak of
themselves under the same invidious appellation ; but their common
national name is Irani, or People of Iran.


46
INTRODUCTION.
sian, for the extravagance of his imagination. The
Turk (out of Constantinople) is perhaps the most
honest man in the world ; the Persian is, everywhere,
the most deceptive. The Turk speaks the truth, even to
his own damage; the Persian utters falsehood, without
any apparent profit or motive. The Turk comes slowly
to a conclusion; the Persian reaches it without premises.
The Turk is full of a quick moral sense; the Persian
seems often utterly destitute of a conscience. The Turk
acts from principle; the Persian from impulse. The
Turk is satisfied with his condition; the Persian never.
The Turk has more feeling than sentiment; the Persian
more sentiment than feeling. The Turk is kind to
brutes; the Persian mercilessly cruel. The Turk loves
the approbation of himself; the Persian covets the praise
of others. The Turk, unless corrupted by power, is
unskilled in intrigue; the meanest Persian is an adept
in it. Even those things in which they appear alike
arise from differences. Both, for instance, are fatalists;
but the fatalism of the Turk is resignation; that of the
Persian is recklessness. Both, are dreadful in their
revenge ; but with the Turk it arises from the depth of
his feelings, which impart strength to his animosities ;
with the Persian it springs from a destitution of feeling,
which renders his revenge thoughtless and unrelenting.
These contrarieties of character give new strength to
religious hate, especially with the Turk, who regards
with strong aversion temperaments and habits differing
from his own. The more supple and affable Persian
conceals dislike, if he has it, and, even in his own
country, treats the Sunnite with more of outward respect
and consideration than a Christian. He acknowledges
him, at least in his presence, as a true Mussulman, and
in this character gives him a cordial welcome. He ad-


INTRODUCTION.
47
mits him to the public baths, where a Christian seeks
admittance in vain. He is even received to the house
of the Persian, and partakes of his private hospitality.
During my residence in Tebriz, my interpreter was ac-
customed to go abroad in a European dress, and was
consequently taken for what he was-a Christian. But
one day the thought struck him that he would try the
effect of a change. Putting on, therefore, the Turkish
garb, which he had worn before entering Persia, he went
into the bazars among his old acquaintances. They
rose as he saluted them, and hailed him with a cordiality
they had never before shown. They invited him to sit
upon their carpets, offered him a kalioun, and said,
“ You are a Mussulman, then, Al hamd-u-lillah! God
be praised !” When, as sometimes happened on my
journeys, we fell in company with Turks, wlio, however,
are seldom seen in Persia, it was amusing to observe
their inflexible calmness and reserve, in contrast with
the profuse politeness of the Persians. The latter are
more frequently met with in Turkey, especially in Con-
stantinople, Erzroum, and other commercial towns near
their own borders, and on the route of the great pil-
grimage; but excepting in the capital and at Bagdad,
they reside there with less of a feeling of security than a
Turk preserves in Persia. In the bigoted city of Erz-
roum, shortly before my arrival in the summer of 1837,
an excitement was raised against the Persian residents,
which had nearly terminated in the destruction of them
all. I was informed, by an English gentleman who
witnessed the commotion, that some were actually mur-
dered, and their corpses left in the streets !
Persians generally regard a journey in Turkey with
dread, nor have I ever met with a Turk in Persia who
did not feel himself a stranger in the land. It is enough,


48
INTRODUCTION.
indeed, to affect his humour, that for the most part, he
does not find there his favourite tchibouk and coffee.
A sketch of the differences between the two sects that
I have described, embraces all that is essential to a view
of the divisions now existing in the bosom of Islamism.
In former ages that bosom has, indeed, been riven with
numerous feuds and schisms, some of which have arisen
from religious controversy and others from political am-
bition. During the first centuries of its existence, and
while Mussulman learning flourished under the patron-
age of the Caliphs, religious questions were discussed by
the learned with all the proverbial virulence of theologi-
cal hatred. The chief of these questions respected the
origin of the Koran, the nature of God, predestination
and free-will, and the grounds of human salvation. The
question, whether the Koran was created or eternal,
rent, for a time, the whole body of Islamism into twain,
and gave rise to the most violent persecutions. It was
finally settled by Motavakkel, the tenth Caliph of the
Abassides, who granted a freedom of belief concerning
it. Besides these religious contentions, which divided
the Mussulmans into parties, but seldom gave birth to
sects, there have sprung up, at different periods, avowed
heresies, which flourished for a time, and, for the most
part, died with their authors. Others, stimulated by
ambition only, have reared the standard of revolt, and
under cover of some new religious dogma, propounded
only to shield a selfish design, have sought to raise
themselves to power. Most of these, whether theological
disputes, heresies, or civil rebellions cloaked under the
name of religion, arose previous to the 16th century.
They were, while they lasted, signs of remaining vitality
and energy in the religion itself; and if they have now
ceased, it is only because vitality and energy have de


INTRODUCTION:
ages
49
parted. Quiet may be harmony, or it may be death.
It is the latter, I believe, which now pervades the mass
of Islamism. I have never been struck with a more
violent contrast than, when visiting the Mussulınan
schools in the East, has presented itself in the compari-
son between the intellectual activity which they once
exhibited, and their present apathy and dulness. Those
who have studied the present condition of Mohammedan-
ism only at Constantinople, may demur to the truth
of this remark. But no one will be hardy enough to
affirm that the interest in Mussulman studies which
exists even in the colleges of the Imperial City, is equal
to such vigorous movements as characterised the earlier
of Mohammedanism. There is, in these seminaries,
a difference of views on some of the great points which
have been noticed, but their influence is confined to the
walls within which they are promulgated. Each teacher
gives to his instructions the shade of his own peculiar
opinions, but the interest in these differences does not,
as formerly, go out from the schools to agitate the
minds of the multitude.
In conversations of the learned, dogmatical and prac-
tical points are sometimes started, but I have more
frequently heard of idle speculations upon some trivial
point of ceremonial usage, and, in every case, such dis-
cussions seem to be undertaken rather to consume time
or display learning, than from personal interest in the
subjects of them.
It is unnecessary, therefore, to attempt to trace the
remnants of old divisions in the present lethargic state
of Islamism. But there is still perceptible, in one of the
two great parties that I have described, certain differ-
ences which deserve, at least, a cursory notice. The
four great doctors of the Sunneh sect are regarded by
VOL. I.
D


5
TOUR THROUGH ARMENIA,
&c.
CHAPTER I.
FROM NEW YORK TO CONSTANTINOPLE.
FAREWELL
MEETING INSTRUCTIONS-EMBARKATION-JOURNEY THROUGH
FRANCE-VOYAGE THROUGH THE MEDITERRANEAN-THE ARCHIPELAGO
SYRA-ENGLISH AND AMERICAN MISSIONS ISLANDS THE TROAD-TURK-
ISH PEASANT-ALEXANDRIA TROAS-ST. PAULSTEAMERSFIRST IM-
PRESSIONS - THE HELLESPONT — MUSSULMAN DEVOTIONS - ARRIVAL AT
CONSTANTINOPLE.
I RECEIVED the final instructions of the Foreign Com-
mittee, at a public meeting in the Church of the As-
cension, New-York, on the evening of Easter Sunday,
April 3, 1836, the Bishop of New York being present
and presiding. In these instructions I was directed to
consider Persia as the principal field of my mission,
while I was left at liberty to extend my inquiries into
Turkey, Syria, and Egypt. The course of my travels and
the plan of my work were referred to my own judgment,
from a well-grounded apprehension that specific direc-
tions upon points which must, in the main, be determined
by circumstances, would tend to embarrass rather than
to aid me.
I was instructed, however, to consider the
D 2


52
EMBARKATION.
two great objects of my inquiries to be “the actual
moral and religious state of the inhabitants of the regions
which I might visit, and the spots where missionary sta-
tions might be most advantageously established.” I was
directed to regard “personal travel and daily familiar
intercourse with the people” as the principal means for
attaining the objects of my mission, and was instructed
to keep a regular journal of my travels and observations.
The terms of intercourse with Christians of other deno-
minations were defined in the kindly and judicious
expressions of the venerable Bishop White, whose career
had not then closed. Finally, I was pointed to the ani-
mating fact that I was going forth “not at the bidding
of a private association, but as the messenger of a church
recognising the obligation of the command of her divine
Founder," and to this circumstance I was bidden to
look for the hope of united and constant prayer in my
behalf.
Thus prepared, I embarked at New-York, for France,
on the twenty-fourth of April, and, after a passage of
thirty-seven days, arrived at Havre, the thirty-first of
May. Thence I proceeded to Paris, where I spent
several days in procuring works for the study of the
Oriental languages. From Paris I continued my jour-
ney two days to Chalons on the Saône, where I took
passage
in a steamer and descended the river in twelve
hours to Lyons. There I embarked again the following
morning on the Rhône and reached Avignon before
night. Findin
Finding a coach ready to depart I secured a
seat, and travelling all night, arrived at Marseilles the
next morning
Here I was so fortunate as to find a French brig ready
to proceed to Constantinople. She had a small cabin
on her deck, and was in every respect superior to most


ENGLISH AND AMERICAN MISSIONS,
53
of the vessels of her class in the Mediterranean. I took
passage in her, and we left the harbour of Marseilles on
the morning of the second of July. On the sixth we
passed the island of Sardinia, and on the eighth were in
sight of the high and broad bluff of Cape Bon, on the
African coast. Nothing could exceed the delicious soft-
ness and purity of the atmosphere, during most of the
voyage. On the tenth we ran along the southern shore
of Sicily, and at half-past nine, on the morning of the
fifteenth, passed Cape Matapan and entered the Archi-
pelago. The four succeeding days we were beating
against a strong north wind, which increased sº much
in violence that our captain was compelled to change
his course and run into the port of Syra for safety.
The town broke suddenly upon our view as we ap-
proached it, rising in an amphitheatre of hills which
came down to the water's edge. All the islands which
we had passed in the Archipelago had appeared barren
and desolate, but on entering the harbour of Syra our
eyes were greeted with all the signs of a flourishing
commercial town. The little port was crowded with
vessels of different nations, but chiefly French, Austrian
and Greek.
The violence of the gale continuing, we were detained
in port the two following days, which I spent in a most
agreeable manner in the family of Dr. Robertson, of
the American Episcopal Mission. Dr. R. was himself
absent on a visit to the United States. Since his
departure a popular excitement had arisen against the
schools of the American and English missionaries, but
had subsided without more serious consequences than
the temporary suspension of the schools. The principal
establishment was the institution of the Rev. Mr. Hild-
ner, a missionary of the (English) Church Missionary


54
ENGLISH AND AMERICAN MISSIONS.
Society. It embraced six departments for learners of
different grades, and, previous to the recent difficulties,
had furnished instruction to 600 pupils of both sexes.
Mr. H. had just returned from Athens, whither he had
been to lay his complaints at the foot of the throne. His
representations had been graciously received, and the
reply to them had assured him of the royal favour and
protection.
The only other missionary school was one for girls,
under the superintendence of Mrs. Robertson, who had
contrived to add the charge of it to the care of a large
family. It had been re-opened since the cessation of
the disturbances, but with the number of pupils reduced
from eighty to thirty. The school was held in an old
building which had formerly been occupied as a theatre,
and some tattered remnants of finery were still hang-
ing from the walls. Mrs. R. had caused it to be divided
into three apartments by means of partitions of rough
boards, and in each of these apartments part of the
girls were sitting, some on benches and some on the
floor.
The second day of my visit I dined with the Rev. Mr.
Leeves, whose name is so widely known in connexion
with efforts for the diffusion of the sacred Scriptures in
the East. He was then engaged in a translation of the
Old Testament into modern Greek, a work which has
since been completed. A portion had already been pub-
lished, of which he showed me a copy in elegant binding,
intended as a present for the king of Greece. In the
afternoon we went out to visit the printing establishment
of the American Mission: On our way we passed the
government schools, which were originally established
by Dr. Korck, one of the earliest and most zealous
friends of education in Greece. On his departure from


SYRA.
55
the island they were transferred to the patronage of the
royal government, by which they are still sustained.
The mode of instruction is nearly the same as formerly,
and their national character is indicated by the blue and
white striped flag of Greece suspended from the wall
of the principal apartment.
I found the missionary
presses in a small low building, of a most humble exte-
rior. One of them bore an inscription purporting that
it was the gift of ladies in Hartford. The donors
would have been gratified in witnessing its employment
at the moment when I saw it. It was rapidly throwing
off printed sheets of the translation of the Bible before
mentioned. What human imagination can trace the
future history of those sheets down to their latest results?
What human foresight can predict all the consequences
of a single act of pious benevolence on the part of a few
friends of the kingdom of Christ?
The afternoon of the twentieth, word was sent me by
the captain that the brig would sail at midnight. At
nine in the evening I bade adieu to my friends in Syra,
after commending ourselves and our common cause to
God, and went on board, more depressed, I fear, for
what I lost in parting from them, than thankful for what
I had enjoyed in their company.
The removal of the American Mission from Syra
since my visit, renders it unnecessary for me to describe
a place whose central position and extensive commercial
relations, have made it the most familiarly known of all
the islands of the Archipelago. We did not finally
leave the harbour till the night of the twenty-first, and
when I awoke the following morning we were gliding
with a light breeze through the passage between Tinos
and Myconi. A town on the former was full in sight.
The tower of the church could be distinguished rising


56
ISLANDS-THE TROAD.
high above the other buildings, and I could distinctly
hear its clock striking the hour of seven. Behind the
town and on either side, the hills sloped gradually back,
disclosing the finest view that I had yet seen in the
Archipelago. Instead of the barren and dry surface
which until now had everywhere met the eye, they were
spread with verdure and the fresh brown of cultivated
fields. We passed, during the day, within sight of
Naxia, Nicaria, and Samos, and just as the sun went
down, Scio and Ipsara were in view. The wind came
round towards night and we made slow progress until
Sunday, the twenty-fourth, when we passed Mitylene and
came in sight of Lemnos and Tenedos. We were now
near the entrance of the Dardanelles, and the scene
around us the following morning reminded us of our
approach to the royal city. There were no less than
twenty square-rigged vessels within sight, all standing
towards a single point. At 9 A.M., a breeze from the
North sprang up, and freshened till noon, when the water
presented a curious and lively scene. The vessels which
had been lying motionless upon the glassy surface,
changed their places and began to beat towards the
Dardanelles. Their movements, as they tacked in dif-
ferent directions and crossed each other's track, seemed
like the complicated play of some vast piece of machinery.
At noon the coast of Asia was close upon our right.
It presented a reach of plain extending on either hand
as far as the eye could survey, beyond which rose a
range of hills running parallel with the shore. The
highest point was the green summit of Mount Ida. The
plain in front was the Troad, or the plain of Troy;
Tenedos was on our left, and over the plain to the south-
east, were visible the ruins of Alexandria Troas, distant
in appearance about two leagues.


TURKISH PEASANT.
57
We came to anchor three miles from the shore at
5 P.M. The following morning, the boat was sent to
Tenedos for provisions, and returned in a few hours with
melons, pears, eggs, and a live kid. In the afternoon it
was again lowered, and the passengers, three in number,
with the captain, embarked with the design of visiting
the ruins. On reaching the shore and ascending the
low bank which bounded the narrow strip of beach, a
scene truly Oriental met the view. Before us lay an
extensive and desert plain, upon which a large herd of
camels were feeding. Most of the females were accom-
panied by their young. We went towards them in the
hope of finding some one who could give us the neces-
sary directions for reaching the ruins. We at length
came upon a man asleep under a bush. As he was the
first Asiatic whom I had seen, his image still remains in
my memory with a freshness that only first impressions
can impart. He wore upon his shoulders a sort of tunic,
which was met at the waist by breeches of coarse cloth,
and of ample dimensions, reaching to the knee. Below
these, were tight leggins, made of plaited cord. His
head was covered with a red cap, around which were
wound several folds of white cotton. His feet were pro-
tected by a sort of sandal, formed of circular pieces of
untanned skin, and confined by a leathern thong run
through holes near the rim and gathered about the ankle.
By his side lay a pipe, the stem of which was a round
stick, the bowl of burnt clay, and the mouth-piece of a
white and inferior kind of amber. His tunic was open,
and exposed a huge neck and broad chest of the colour
of polished mahogany. His upper lip and chin were
covered with a thick, black beard. He was a Turkish
peasant of Asia Minor, a character with which I after-
wards became more familiar. We awoke him, but he
D3


ST. PAUL.
59
area through which we could easily trace the direction
of the wall. Here we soon met with more distinct marks
of ruins than we had yet seen. They consisted chiefly .
of heaps of stones and masses of rock much worn by
the action of the weather. In this part too, the lower
portion of the wall was uncovered, so that its structure
could be clearly perceived. It was composed of oblong
blocks of stone laid in cement, which had nearly attained
the consistency of the masses which it united. The
ground was everywhere strewed with fragments of brick
and earthen vessels.
The evening was now closing upon us, and we were
compelled to abandon our search for the ruins which we
had seen from the brig, and which we judged to be
farther to the south. We struck off, therefore, in a
straight line towards the sea, hoping to reach the shore
before darkness came. As we broke our way through
the wild bushes which obstructed our path, we suddenly
scared a large owl from his rest. The sight of this
inhabiter of ruins, the almost painful stillness which
reigned, and the gathering gloom of night, gave an air
of awful desolation to the spot.
My companion had undertaken the excursion in the
thought that he was visiting the ruins of Troy, which
is generally supposed by travellers to have stood at the
other extremity of the plain, thirty miles to the north.
But for me, the real interest of the place arose from its
association with the labours of the earliest missionaries
of the cross. It was here that the vision of the man of
Macedonia appeared to Paul in the night, and it was
here that he embarked for Neapolis, on the northern
coast of the Ægean, whence he carried the gospel to
Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens, and Corinth. (Acts
xvi. 8. et seq.) It is probable that he also embarked


60
ST. PAUL.
at this place on the eve of his second visit to Macedonia,
(Acts, xx. 1,) and that it was then that he had come
hither “to preach Christ's Gospel,” and found“ a door
open unto him.” (2 Cor. i. 12.) He was here a third
time on his return from Macedonia, accompanied by
seven of the most distinguished of the disciples. With
them and the Christians of the city, he celebrated the
eucharist on the night before his departure, which was
the night of the Lord's day, and continued preaching
and conversing until the dawn, interrupted only by the
accident which happened to one of his hearers, and the
miracle which followed upon it. (Acts, xx. 4 et seq.)
The interest attached to these associations was the
motive which led me to the site of the city where the
events occurred. Indeed, while standing upon the spot,
it was grateful even to recollect that it was here the
Apostle, in one of his missionary tours, left his cloak
with his books and parchments. (2 Tim. iv. 13.)* The
latter, Bishop Bull supposes to have been a kind of
common-place book, which the Apostle used for the
purpose of occasional records. They may have been
memoranda of his travels and labours.
The neces-
sity of leaving behind him a part of his clothing and
papers, is sometimes still experienced by the Eastern
traveller On reaching the shore we found the boat
waiting for us, in which we embarked and soon reached
the brig.
The two following days we were detained in the same
position by the north wind, which rendered the Darda-
nelles absolutely inaccessible for merchant vessels. At
that time there were from fifty to sixty lying near us at
anchor, waiting, like ourselves, for a change of wind.
* See Appendix, VI.


STEAMERS.-FIRST IMPRESSIONS.
61
During the summer months, the wind from the north
continues to blow with little intermission, and proves a
serious obstruction to the commerce of Constantinople.
The same difficulty is encountered in the ascent of the
Bosphorus from the city to the Black Sea, or is rather
increased by the force of the current. At the time of
my leaving Constantinople, in 1838, a small English
steamer was employed in towing vessels through the
Bosphorus, and the same advantage may ere this have
been extended to the Dardanelles. At the time of my
arrival, another English steamer was plying between
Smyrna and Constantinople. She passed us on the
morning of the thirtieth, having left Smyrna the pre-
ceding evening. We had now been detained five days
at our anchorage, without any indication of a change of
wind. I determined, therefore, with another of the
passengers, to get on board the steamer. The captain
ordered the boat to be manned, and we put off with the
French flag flying from the stern. In a few minutes
we were on board and shooting past the fleet of vessels
at anchor.
My first impression of Turkish character was received
in watching the composure of the camel-driver whom
we surprised on the plains of Troy. The second was
excited in coming upon the deck of the steamer.
As
we approached we had seen no one besides the captain
and those of the crew who were ordered to help us on
board, but on reaching the deck I found it crowded with
Turks, some stretched at their length on carpets spread
under the bulwarks, and others sitting with their legs
crossed, demurely smoking. In a retired spot was a
group of females, whose faces were veiled with the
white yashmak, which concealed all the features except
the eyes, and their persons covered with the uncomely


62
THE HELLESPONT.
ferejeh, which as effectually hid the body. No one had
risen to observe the cause of the detention of the boat;
and when we entered, no curiosity was betrayed be-
yond a calm and indifferent glance as we passed along
the deck.
The passage of the Hellespont has been so often
described, and with so many and various conjectures
respecting its ancient localities, that it will require no
apology for a new traveller to leave it without remark,
The objects which first recalled the remembrance of the
events that once transpired on its shores, were two
mounds of an oval shape on the promontory of Sigoeum,
which are believed to be the tombs of Achilles and Pa-
troclus. I saw another of the same description at the
place where I landed in visiting the ruins of Alexandria
Troas, and a fourth, partly destroyed, a mile or two
farther to the south. If I may add another to the
various explanations which have been given of the epithet
broad, applied by Homer to the Hellespont, I would say
that he may have alluded to that part immediately con-
tiguous to the seat of the events which he portrays ;
for before passing the straits formed by the Island of
Tenedos and the main, and just opposite to the site of
Ilium, the Hellespont expands, as Homer elsewhere has
it, unbounded. The true channel terminates at the pro-
montory of Sigoeum, where now stands one of the Turk-
ish forts which guard the passage of the Dardanelles.
Before noon we stopped at Tchanak Kalesi, which is
built nearly upon the site of the ancient Dardanus, and
then continued our course through the narrow and
winding passage between Sestos and Abydos. The
general appearance of the Dardanelles is that of a large
river flowing between banks everywhere pleasant, in some
parts wooded, but on the whole far inferior in beauty to


MUSSULMAN DEVOTIONS.
63
those of the Bosphorus. At five, P.M., we touched at
Gallipoli, to receive passengers.
Among those who now crowded the deck, was one
whose actions I watched with such an interest as the
first sight of a Mussulman at his prayers naturally ex-
cited. He was a middle-aged Turk, and, unlike most
of the others, wore a beard, which is not, as I once
supposed, a customary appendage of a Turkish face.
Unlike the others, also, he was noisy and turbulent. He
had spread his carpet upon a part of the deck reserved
for the cabin passengers, and persisted in remaining
there until he was removed by force. I was not then
informed of the appointed hours of Mussulman devo-
tions, but the frequency with which his own were re-
peated, seemed to me to have something supererogatory
in it. Whenever the moment for them came,
he
arose,
and taking his carpet, spread it upon the spot from
which he had been ejected, apparently in the thought
that the sacredness of his business would save him from
interruption at such a time. He then commenced his
prostrations and silent prayers, but not with that perfect
abstraction which I had been accustomed to associate
with the devotions of Mussulmans. In those parts of
the prayers where the worshipper pauses on his knees,
he looked complacently around him, as if to observe
whether he was seen of others. The time that he spent
in this manner was almost the only moment in which
his voice was not heard in vociferation, for it was lite-
rally true that he would rise from his prayers to quarrel,
and leave quarrelling to pray. Others performed their
devotions in a less ostentatious manner, excepting that
some who by change of place had lost the bearing of the
Keblah, commenced them by inquiring of the captain the
direction of the holy city.


64
ARRIVAL AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
On leaving Gallipolis we entered the sea of Marmara.
Night had set in when we reached the island of that
name, and when I came on deck the next morning, the
boat was passing the Seven Towers, which stand in the
extreme angle of the wall of Constantinople.
mainder of our course skirted the wall, and at half-past
six, on the morning of the 31st of July, the anchor was
cast in the harbour of the city.
The re-


CHAPTER II.
CONSTANTINOPLE.
STUDY OF THE TURKISH-ITS USE-RIGHT JUDGMENT OF EASTERN CHA-
RACTER-LODGINGS-HASSUNA D' GHIZ-TEACHERS OF TURKISH-TURK-
ISH HONESTY—PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA-SULTAN'S PORTRAITS—MOHAM-
MEDAN AVERSION TO PICTURES—THE ROYAL SCHOOLS—IGNORANCE OP
FOREIGN LANGUAGES AMONG THE TURKS-COMPARISON OF ENGLISH AND
FRENCH LABOURS IN ORIENTAL LITERATURE THE PLAGUE-ITS CHA-
RACTER-FATALITY-PRECAUTIONS AGAINST ITEFFECTS OF ITS APPEAR-
ANCE IN A FAMILY-FEELINGS OF THE TURKS RESPECTING IT-IGNORANCE
A CAUSE OF NEGLECTING PRECAUTIONS-ITS INFLUENCE ON MISSIONARY
OPERATIONS.
My object at Constantinople was the study of the Ori-
ental languages preparatory to my tour. My inquiries
soon satisfied me that during the time which I expected to
devote to it, I could not embrace so wide a range as I had
contemplated. The acquisition of the Arabic alone would
require months, and even years, of toil. Besides that,
its colloquial use was almost unknown in Constantinople
and in most of the countries through which I was to
travel. The Turkish, on the contrary, is everywhere
spoken throughout the vast dominions of the Sultan, by
Christians as well as Mussulmans. It is everywhere
the language of government, and generally of trade. It
is heard in the bazars even of Bagdad, of Syria, and of
Egypt, and it is the vernacular tongue of the northern
and western provinces of Persia. I chose it, therefore,
in preference to any other, and I never afterwards found


66
EASTERN CHARACTER.
reason to repent of my choice. It proved to be the only
language which was spoken by some individuals in
every town and village through which I passed. In
Mesopotamia the Arabic would have done me better
service, as would the Kurdish in Kurdistan; but in neither
of these countries, so far as I penetrated them, was I
ever at a loss to find those with whom I could commu-
nicate. The day will come, and, perhaps, is not far
distant, when missionaries in the East will devote them-
selves more than now to itinerant labours, like those of
the Apostles. The Turkish will then be found the only
language which will afford a medium of communication
with all the various kindreds of people scattered through
Asiatic and European Turkey.
My instructions had pointed me to the necessity of
daily and intimate intercourse with the people, as the
grand means of accomplishing the objects of my mission.
The necessity of such a course is apparent to all, but
the real importance of my instructions in this particular,
I did not appreciate until I found myself in the midst of
an Eastern population. At the end of my first month's
residence in Constantinople, I might have promulgated
my opinions on Turkish institutions and customs with
the utmost confidence. At the end of three months, I
began to perceive the fallacy of most of my conclusions,
and when six months had passed, I found that I knew
next to nothing of the object of my study. But one useful
lesson I had learned. I saw that my first judgments
had been inaccurate, because they had been formed
from a false position. I had begun to study the East
with a Western mind. I had applied a standard of
judgment which necessarily presented a false measure-
ment. Maturer observation showed me the incorrectness
of my results, and led me at once to the cause. I had


LODGINGS.
67
assumed the office of a judge without having learned
the rules of right judgment. I was framing opinions
upon the institutions and character of a people of whose
peculiar genius I knew nothing. My mind was in utter
confusion, which only increased as I proceeded. I was
compelled, therefore, to retrace my steps and to take the
humble position of a learner before I presumed to exer-
cise the office of a judge. From that moment my deter-
mination was fixed. I resolved to throw myself among
the people, and to retire as much as possible from the
influence of Western associations, by, departing from
Western habits and society. I determined to discard
my own prejudices, and to endeavour to penetrate be-
neath those of the people of whom I wished to learn. This
was at first a personal sacrifice which I deeply felt, but
the object that I had in view seemed to be worthy of it.
I reflected that Christian research had been almost
entirely unknown among the Mussulmans of Turkey.
Her agricultural and commercial resources had been
elaborately developed, the manners and customs of her
people had been variously and accurately delineated,
but the great question of her intellectual and moral
regeneration had never been answered or asked. I
endeavoured, therefore, to place myself in the position of
an unprejudiced inquirer, to consider that my only object
was to learn the truth, to throw off those antipathies
which the Christian world has too freely cherished
against the followers of Mohammed, and to regard them
as men and immortal.
In accordance with my general plan, I endeavoured
to obtain lodgings in a Turkish family, or at least in a
Turkish quarter, but the result of the attempt showed
how difficult a task I had undertaken. Among the few
native friends that I had made, most of whom were


68
HASSUNA D' GHIZ.
Christians, there was no one who could be induced to
act as my agent in the matter. The proposal, they
said, was utterly preposterous. My residence would not
be endured among the habitations of Turks, much
less in their households. Before my departure from
the country, two years subsequent to this date, I had
acquired friends who, I believe, would have admitted
me to this intimacy, but at the time of which I now
speak, I was a stranger and dependent on the good
offices of native Christians, who, seldom maintaining
themselves private intercourse with the Turks, are,
for the most part, neither willing nor able to introduce
others to it. I adopted, therefore, the only course that
remained to me, and retained the lodgings which I
already occupied in the Frank quarter of Pera, and in the
house of one of that numerous class in the Levant, who
are natives of the country, but, on the paternal side,
of foreign parentage. In particularizing the body, I do
not mean to question their respectability. Towards the
friend to whom I have alluded, it would be ungrateful,
as well as unjust. He had the means, which, in my
own case, he faithfully used, of aiding me to pass the
precincts within which I was determined to stand. Dur-
ing the few months which I then spent at Constantinople
I formed acquaintances with Mussulmans, which subse-
quently, in several instances, ripened into friendships,
and now form some of the most pleasant reminiscences
of my life. To one only my thoughts never revert with-
out a pang:
Hassuna d' Ghiz was an Arab by birth, but had been
partly trained in France, whose language he spoke with
fluency. There, too, he had received enough of the
light of European learning to give an enlarged and ele-
vated range to his naturally strong mind. After various


LANGUAGE.
69
reverses of fortune, he had been called to Constantinople
to assume the editorial care of the Royal Gazette, upon
the decease of its first and very able editor, Blacque.
It was in this station that I knew him. As a Mussulman,
he could hardly have fallen into a sphere of higher
usefulness. Free himself from the narrow prejudices
of his religion, he was qualified to be an able coadjutor
in recommending and defending the great work of reform
commenced by his master. He had already laboured
well and successfully in this department. Both by his
pen and his tongue he had ably advocated the royal
schemes of improvement, aiming chiefly to show them
to be consonant with the doctrines of Islamism. His
ground was a weak one, but he defended it manfully.
I have never seen an Oriental so thoroughly imbued
with a generous ambition for improvement. But it was
of short duration. While the plague was raging in the
city during the winter of 1836-37, I inquired one day
for D' Ghiz. He was ill. The next day he was in his
grave. I make this record of his fate that it may quicken
others as it quickened me; for nothing has ever more
strongly operated to deepen my desire for the salvation
of the Mussulmans than the recollection of so noble a
mind, so generous and devoted a heart, going down
amidst the darkness of Mohammedanism,
As my object required only a colloquial knowledge of
the language, I began to learn phrases before I had com-
mitted to memory the letters of the alphabet, and I had
even gone over with my teacher the principal formula-
ries of the grammar, before I was able to distinguish one
character from another. He taught me the declensions
by verbal dictation, and I recorded the examples which
he added, in English characters. In the mean time I
enlarged daily my number of phrases, which I put care-


70
TURKISH TEACHER.
fully on record, and committed to memory at leisure.
This system of instruction continued three months, when
I found myself master of the common forms of grammar
and of a little treasure of set speeches, besides the power,
still in an infant growth, of framing others. Proud of
my acquisitions, I ventured to engage a second teacher,
who was a Turk, and knew no language besides his
own. My first had been a Frank, a native of Constan-
tinople, and so far as his knowledge went, a skilful in-
structer. Most of the professional teachers of Turkish
in Constantinople, and they are but few, are of this
character. Turks seldom engage in the business, and,
indeed, are not to be sought at the outset, both be-
cause they have no language besides their own in which
to communicate with the pupil, and because, even of
their own, they possess no systematic knowledge. Ad-
mirable as is the symmetry of the Turkish language,
perfect as is the uniformity of its structure; regular, free
from anomaly, and philosophical as are its forms, it has
remained to this day in the original without a grammar.
Its order and beauty appear a pure accident. A Turk
knows it as he learns it in childhood. His pride is in
the perfectness of his pronunciation, and in his know-
ledge of those proprieties of language which form the
ceremonial of society. And well it may be, for the
speech of a Turk is never heard from the mouth of an
alien. There may be fluency and grammatical accu-
racy, but there is always a defective knowledge of
idioms, or, at the best, a difference of accent and tone
which betrays at once to a Turk a foreign tongue.
My new teacher was what was once a stranger cha-
racter among the Mussulmans than at the present day,
an intemperate and unprincipled Turk. Imagining,
from all that I had read and heard, that the word of a


TURKISH HONESTY.
71
Turk was as good as a bond, I concluded my contract
with Izzet Effendi by paying him in advance two
months' stipend, to relieve him, as he said, from the
immediate pressure of want. By dint of daily remon-
strances, I extorted, in the space of two months, the
number of lessons which should have been given in one,
when he abandoned me altogether, leaving me, how-
ever, the comfort of having learned for my future bene-
fit, that a Turk may be a rogue. The lesson was after-
wards repeated often enough to teach me, that the virtue
most commonly attributed to the Turkish character is
far from being a universal one. This, however, may
be safely affirmed, that, as a nation, they are true in
word, upright in dealings, and faithful to promises. The
exceptions are chiefly to be traced to accidental causes.
A Turk in power is generally contaminated by the cor-
rupt and mercenary system which reigns in the high
places of authority. Oppression renders the poor peasant
of the interior, false as well as indolent. Traffic, at least
in Constantinople, is polluted by contact with European
trickery and fraud, and many a Turkish tradesman in
the capital can cheat with as great dexterity as a fo-
reigner. On the whole, however, the word of a Turk is
more to be trusted than that of a native Christian. This,
too, is, I believe, an accidental circumstance, to be attri-
buted mainly to the influence of servitude and oppression
on the moral character. Nor is the honesty of the Turk
always worthy of the name of virtue. As he is seldom
acquisitive in disposition or ambitious to improve his con-
dition, he is free from the temptation of resorting to illicit
His honesty, like most of his virtues, is often
negative, an apathetic abstinence from what is wrong,
rather than a chosen and hearty practice of what is
right. Truth, however, requires me to add, that I have
means.


72
PILGRIMS.
never known a Mussulman sincere in his faith, and de-
vout and punctual in his religious duties, in whom moral
rectitude did not seem an active quality and a living
principle.
As my aim in every part and period of my mission
was to avoid old paths, and to add something to the
sum total of knowledge, respecting the countries that I
traversed, my reader will not expect me to go over the
common-places of a description of the Imperial City of
the East. To me it was only a brief resting-place in my
passage to the regions beyond. The pictures of its ro-
mantic beauty still linger in my mind, and the fascina-
tion of its novel scenes and manners is still fresh in my
imagination. Probably to every one who will follow in
these pages the steps of my pilgrimage, these are fa.
miliar themes. But the incidents and events portrayed
by each successive witness are ever new.
Upon such
of these, therefore, as, during my residence, I found
most worthy of record, I may be permitted, for a mo-
ment, to dwell.
The next day after my arrival, I witnessed the depart-
ure of a vessel crowded with pilgrims to Mecca. Her des-
tination was to some port on the coast of Syria, whence
the pilgrims would proceed to Damascus, the great
place of rendezvous for all the Asiatic devotees who visit
the Kaabah. From that city they depart in a body, at
the close of Ramazan, the month of the annual Moham-
medan fast, and reach Mecca in season for the ceremo-
nies of the pilgrimage at the Kourban Bairam*, seventy
days after. Five solar months still remained before the
time of departure from Damascus, and yet a crowd of
pilgrims were already leaving Constantinople. The so-
lution was, that some of the poorer sort were intending
* Feast of Sacrifice.


SULTAN'S PORTRAITS.
73
a
>
to make the pilgrimage, as the Koran permits
source of pecuniary, as well as religious profit, by en-
gaging in traffic on the way; while others, in the true
spirit of Orientals, were expecting to waste ten or twelve
months on what might be accomplished in half the time.
The great body of the annual pilgrims from Constanti-
nople, however, perform the journey by land. They
assemble at Scutari, on the Asiatic side of the Bospho-
rus, whither the magnificent presents annually made by
the Sultan are sent in a procession of boats from his
palace at Beshik Tash, on the European side. This
is the common order, but in the year of my own
residence at Constantinople, a steamer was employed
for the purpose. The occasion calls out a splendid
pageant, and the presents themselves are of extraordi-
nary value.
The scene of the departing pilgrims seemed to me, at
the moment, at least, a small proof of the remaining
vigour of Islamism ; but it was followed in a few days
by another, which looked more like decay. On the 4th
of August, it was announced that a portrait of the Sul-
tan was to be presented to the cavalry-barracks near Pera,
and I thought the occasion worthy of attention. A simi-
lar honour had already been conferred on several public
buildings, and it was intended that others still should
share it. Before my final departure from Constantino-
ple, in the summer of 1838, a woful misrepresentation
of the royal features was to be seen in most, if not all, the
barracks, in several of the public offices, and in the cabins
of some of the ships of war. Upon the day of which I
speak, the Sultan himself was expected to be present,
and the crowd collected to witness the ceremony was
* Chap. ii.
VOL. I.


74
SULTAN'S PORTRAITS.
immense. There were pointed out to me representatives
of twelve different nations, among whom were Turks,
Arabs, Persians, Greeks, Armenians, Jews, and Circas-
sians, distinguished by their different garbs and features.
Then came the races of Europe, homogeneous, at least
in their outward man; and here and there appeared a
solitary American. I was astonished at the throngs
of Turkish women, and to see them moving about at
liberty, excepting some of those belonging to the harems
of the great, who were seated in gaudy arabas, drawn
by grey oxen, and furnished with the richest hangings
and cushions,—as every traveller has described. I re-
member well how inconsistent this female publicity,
though it was publicity in a close veil, appeared with my
previous idea of Turkish seclusion. It is more, how-
ever, to be marked in Constantinople than in any other
city of the Empire.
After the crowd had remained for hours in the most
exemplary endurance of a hot sun and clouds of dust,
the approach of the cavalcade was announced by the
roar of cannon, and long trains of cavalry and infantry
soon appeared followed by the Serasker Pasha, the
commander-in-chief of the army. He was a short and
stout personage, with an intelligent face and a silvery
beard, the same that now holds the first place in the
councils of the new Sultan. After him came a beauti-
ful carriage drawn by four horses, moving in solemn
state in the van of the Sultan's body-guard. The crowd
bent eagerly forward to catch a glimpse of the royal
person. But he was not there. The interior was occu-
pied only by the likeness of himself, the portrait for
which all this stir and ceremony had been created, laid
carefully upon luxurious cushions, and covered with a
rich cloth. The procession entered beneath the arch


SULTAN'S PORTRAITS.
75
that led to the interior court of the barracks, where the
act of presentation was performed. It consisted simply
of a prayer offered by an Imam, at the close of which
the multitude responded with a loud AMEN.
I went away from the scene lost in reflection. 'Here,
I said to myself, is a palpable violation of the com-
mands of the Koran, and a gross outrage upon the pre-
judices of Mussulmans, perpetrated by the acknowledged
head of the religion and the avowed successor of its
founder. And it is just such as would most scandalize
serious and devout Mohammedans. It is the represen-
tation of the human form, which is of all most offensive
to them; and even that is not a work of fancy, which
would be regarded with greater indulgence, but an
actual resemblance of a living person; and to aggravate
the insult to religion as much as possible, without com-
manding adoration, this painted resemblance is con-
veyed along the public ways, with military pomp and
amidst the roar of cannon, consecrated by the sacred
forms of religion and set up before the eyes of all
Even to the subjects of a Christian prince,
such an act would appear like an aspiration to divine
honours; but to a Mussulman, it must seem downright
idolatry.'
I subsequently learned that what I anticipated was
true. This innovation of the Sultan had given serious
offence to the more rigid Mussulmans, one of whom
ventured even to utter his remonstrances in one of the
public buildings, and before the portrait itself. What
was the motive of the Sultan in thus running athwart
the prejudices of his people I will not pretend to divine,
though various and manifold were the conjectures to
which the matter gave rise in the circles of Pera. It
may be well, however, to add, that this prejudice,
men.
E 2


76
PICTURES.
founded originally on the extreme jealousy of idolatry,
which Mohammed, in imitation of the great Jewish legis-
lator, felt, or pretended to feel, is by no means common
to all Turks, and is subsiding in the minds of the multi-
tude. The number is not small who have paintings and
engravings in their possession, though they are not always
free to exhibit them. In some few instances, I have seen
them in Turkish shops and cafés. In one of the latter,
in Stamboul, which I used to visit for the sake of find-
ing a company almost exclusively Mussulman, the walls
were literally covered with pictures. Among them were
representations of mosques, battles and dervishes, while,
shame to add, others presented indecent scenes of the
most infamous description. The last were, without excep-
tion, European engravings. I can hardly credit my
own record made at the time, when I add, the keeper of
the café was an Emir and a Haji, a descendant of
Mohammed himself, and one who had performed the
great pilgrimage to the place of his birth.—I have seen
paintings exhibited for sale by a Turk in the court of one
of the imperial mosques of Constantinople. A crowd was
always gathered around them, examining them with the
most eager curiosity, for, notwithstanding religious pro-
hibitions, a Turk's delight in pictures, when he suffers
himself to look upon them, is like the extravagant fond-
ness of a child. One day, as I was standing near,
Mussulman, whose neatly and peculiarly formed turban
marked him as belonging to the religious orders, while
its colour of green distinguished him as a descendant of
his prophet, approached and commenced a violent
declamation against the pictures, pronouncing them
unlawful and commanding that they should be removed.
I passed the place the next day, but they were no more
to be seen. I have repeatedly witnessed scenes like
a


SCHOOLS.
77
this, in my solitary intrusions into places frequented
by Mussulmans; but what I have said is enough for the
subject.
From innovations like that to which I have just
alluded, and which seems at least of doubtful utility, my
attention was soon drawn to others of a different
character. After the overthrow of the Janissaries had
left the Sultan free to prosecute the work of reform
without other let or hinderance than the jealousy of the
Oulema,* he established in and around the capital six or
seven schools, intended, I believe, exclusively for the
instruction of the army. Here, as in nearly all his
changes, he aimed chiefly at military improvement. As
late as the summer of 1838, he had not attempted any
general diffusion of knowledge among his subjects. The
two principal schools, and indeed the only ones where
the European system of instruction was to a consider-
able extent introduced, were those at Dolma Baghtcheh
and Scutari, both in the immediate vicinity of the city.
In each of these there were school-rooms upon the Lan-
casterian plan and lecture-rooms. With the school at
Dolma Baghtcheh, were connected a printing and litho-
graphic press, an hospital and a book-bindery. Euro-
pean maps, with the names re-written in Turkish
characters, were suspended from the walls ; and the
apartments were furnished with globes, orreries and most
of the ordinary apparatus for instruction. On the 8th of
September, 1836, I attended, with a company of friends,
an examination of both the schools at the barracks of
Dolma Baghtcheh. It was confined to algebra, arith-
metic, drawing and penmanship, in all of which the
appearance
of the scholars was as creditable as is com-
* Oulema, plural of alim, a learned man.


SCHOOLS.
78
monly witnessed on like occasions at schools or colleges
in New-England.
I afterwards became more intimately acquainted with
the discipline and general conduct of these institutions;
but I cannot add that maturer knowledge gave me greater
confidence in their utility, as they were then conducted.
They are intended to be institutions of a superior order,
while the science of education is utterly unknown. They
are committed to native hands wholly incompetent to
the task of directing so strange an establishment.
They are modelled after European patterns, while they
are managed by men, as is every Turk, uninstructed in
European learning and destitute of European experience.
They are, therefore, without a settled organization.
They pass from hand to band, and the system of control
changes with the change of governors. There is no
trained and experienced mind to regulate the branches of
instruction, to test the competency of teachers, or to
arrange the various parts into one orderly system.
Hence changes have been hastily adopted, some depart-
ments have been so much curtailed as to be nearly
inefficient, and little, of permanent utility, has been
accomplished. Yet the design is noble and praiseworthy,
and the institutions themselves are at least omens of
good. Nor is it a cause for discouragement, that at the
first they are productive of no great results. The object
being good, the time must come when experience shall
have taught the proper means for attaining it, and suc-
cess will be ensured.
The two schools to which particular allusion has been
made, embraces a wider range of instruction than the
others. They are intended to impart what is equivalent,
to use our homely New-England phrase, to a good
English education, besides instruction in military science.


FOREIGN LANGUAGES.
79
The others are designed exclusively for the latter object,
and, excepting two of them, are devoted to the navy.
When the schools commenced, there was an almost
entire destitution of the requisite text-books. Some of
a temporary and imperfect character have been prepared
and are used in manuscript. Others have been trans-
lated, alınost exclusively from the French, and printed
at the royal presses. It is curious to observe in the books
on military science, the large admixture of French words
which are transferred unchanged, except in the charac-
ters which express them, from the original to the trans-
lation, in order to supply the extreme deficiency of
scientific terms in Turkish. In most instances these
volumes have been translated by Turks, and some of them
are of very great value.
Having alluded to the use of foreign languages, I will
here add, that there are but few among the Turks who
read or speak any language besides their own. The
knowledge of French, however, is becoming more and
more common, especially in the army. Most of those
who have visited Europe can converse in some one of its
languages. I have met with several who spoke German,
and with one who spoke English. By far the greater
part, however, acquire the French in preference to any
other, both on account of the greater facility of acqui-
sition, of its more general utility, and of the numerous
aids which the French scholars have provided in the
form of grammars, lexicons, chrestomathies, and even
phrase-books. In English, on the contrary, there is no
good grammar of the Turkish, no fit lexicon, nor any
other auxiliary to the acquisition of the language, that
I have been able to discover. In every respect, indeed,
the Oriental labours of the French far surpass those of
the English, both in extent and accuracy. In philology


80
THE PLAGUE,
a comparison can hardly be instituted. The French
geographies and maps surpass all others. Their trans-
lations from the Eastern languages are more numerous.
Their works, illustrative of the Mohammedan religion,
have been multiplied to a far greater extent.
Their
researches into Eastern antiquities have been more
patient and profound.
The English press has, indeed, excelled in books of
travels, but most of them are of such a character as
affords no ground for boast. The desire to amuse has
superseded, in such works, the desire to instruct. Truth
has been disregarded in the endeavour to interest.
Opinions have been hazarded, on the most superficial
survey. The delusions concerning the East imposed
upon the Western world by former travellers, later ones
have not had the hardihood to dispel. On the contrary,
they have increased and multiplied the evil. To sustain
and satisfy the public avidity for the romantic and the
marvellous, scenes, incidents, and events—nay, in one
or two instances within my own knowledge, narrations
of whole tours, never performed, have been fabricated,
and palmed upon the Western world.
One of the greatest obstacles to a peaceful and com-
fortable residence in Constantinople is, the frequent
visitation of the plague. That which befel the city in
the fall of 1836 was almost unprecedented in the fury
and extent of its ravages. It had commenced before
my arrival, and gradually increased till the end of
November, when it again declined, and at the time of my
departure, the following June, was supposed to be nearly
extinct. I will not undertake to speculate upon the
causes or nature of this terrible destroyer. It has some-
times been attributed to the filthiness of the city, but
Constantinople is, at all times, more cleanly than the


FATALITY OF THE PLAGUE.
82
depends upon the state of the system, as well as upon
external conditions ; that with a predisposition in the
individual it may be taken by contact, and that, with-
out such predisposition, it will not be communicated in
any way.
Its fatality is greater at some seasons than at others.
Generally, both at its commencement and its decline,
the proportion of deaths is less than when it is at its
height. No accurate estimate, therefore, can be made
of the number of deaths in a hundred cases. Certain it
is, however, there are times when hardly any who are
seized recover. About the middle of October, 1836,
the number of deaths during one week, as given in an
official report, was about 1200. In November, the
disease was at its height. There were currently re-
ported to be nearly 2000 deaths daily, and the whole
number of victims which fell during the autumn and
winter was believed, by many, to be not less than
100,000. For the truth of these popular estimates, I can-
not vouch. The scenes which daily met my eyes proved,
however, that the havoc was immense. Cemeteries of
several acres in extent were so completely turned up,
to receive new dead in the very graves where thousands
were before reposing, as to assume the appearance of
freshly-ploughed fields. I have seen, in one of the bury-
ing-grounds, a body of men engaged in digging graves,
while the coffined dead were accumulating around
them faster than they could inter them. I have watched
by the gate of Selyvria, which opens upon the great
road to Adrianople, for many minutes together, and
have seen an almost unbroken procession of coffins,
borne upon the shoulders of porters, pass out to the
cemetery on that side of the city, and so it continued
from morning till night, and day after day. The destruc-


PRECAUTIONS.
83
tiveness of the disease is doubtless owing, in great
measure, to accidental causes. The general ignorance
with regard to its nature, and consequently the want
of proper treatment—the fatalism of the Turks and
the equally unreasonable panic of Christians, the
neglect and desertion of the sick by their friends,
and the great mismanagement of the hospitals, increase,
in a manifold degree, the extent and fatality of its
ravages.
Among the respectable classes of the Franks, it seldom,
if ever, becomes prevalent. For safety's sake, they
subject themselves to the most annoying precautions. A
wooden structure, in form resembling a sentry-box, and
sufficiently capacious to admit one person standing
upright, is placed close by the entrance to the house.
Elevated a few inches from the bottom, is a wooden
grate. Before any one is admitted to the house, he
must enter the box and take his stand upon the grate.
A pan of coals, with a few sprigs of cypress, or some
other odoriferous wood, is placed beneath. The door is
shut, and the sufferer, to save himself from suffocation,
thrusts his head through a hole made in the door for the
purpose. For half a minute he undergoes the fumiga-
tion of the smoking cypress, and is then admitted into
the house. But still he is not supposed to be free from
suspicion. He finds the carpets taken up, the sofas
divested of their coverings, and the windows of their
curtains. The friend, who was wont to meet him with a
cordial shake of the hand, receives him at a cold dis-
tance, points him to a chair in the middle of the room,
and talks with him about—the plague! When he re-
tires, he is bowed out in the same ceremonious manner.
Perhaps, if an intimate friend, he is invited to dine.
There is no cloth upon the table, or if there be, the


84
PRECAUTIONS.
No one
part before him is carefully rolled back.
sits in contact with him. No napkin is laid before him,
and he is saved from the necessity of serving himself
with his fingers, only because steel, silver, and crockery
are not supposed to be contagious. A friend once called
upon me, and, during our conversation, drew from his
pocket a newspaper, which he wished me to read. For
this purpose he spread it upon a table, where I might read
without touching it. Unfortunately, however, I for-
got myself so far as to turn one of the leaves with my
thumb and fore-finger. The paper was instantly mine ;
it was suspicious ; my friend would not receive it
again.
Precautions, equally rigid, are observed in the streets.
Customers are not allowed to touch anything in the
stores capable of communicating the disease. Some-
times they are prevented from entering, by a bar across
the door-way. Cloth, and articles for dress, must be
purchased by sight. I applied to my tailor for a suit of
clothes. It was impossible to take the measure without
coming in contact with my person. · The only expedient
that could be devised was to send him an old suit,
which were first thoroughly fumigated, and then used as
a pattern. Passengers in the streets studiously avoid
contact with each other, which in the narrow and
thronged thoroughfares of Constantinople is no easy
task. Painted cloaks are sometimes worn as security,
or a cane is carried in the hand to be interposed as a
barrier, when necessary. The practice of avoiding con-
tact becomes at length so habitual, that some are able
to affirm, that they are certain of having touched no one
in the streets for two or three months. Money is received
in water or vinegar; letters and packages of all kinds are
fumigated; the clerks at the European post-offices re-


PRECAUTIONS.
85
ensues.
ceive letters with tongs. In a word, everything is turned
out of its common course. The wonted intercourse
of friends is broken up, business is interrupted, the
charities of life are almost suspended, every man
seems to have suddenly grown selfish, places of public
resort are abandoned, the theatre and the casino are
forsaken, pleasure is forgotten, and even vice abstains
from indulgence.
But when the destroyer has once entered a peaceful
family, and the dreaded plague-sore has betrayed his
presence, no words can describe the consternation which
Friends, relations, oftentimes the nearest kin-
dred, flee in terror and leave the victim to his fate. The
neighbourhood is convulsed with fear. Every one who has
lately been in contact with the sick becomes a suspected
person, and is shunned like a very personification of
the disease. The family retire to the hills without
the town, and spend in tents such time as is supposed
necessary for the disease to develop itself. Twenty,
thirty, and even forty days are passed in this way. It
used to be my practice, in my daily walks, to count the
tents on the hill sides, and conjecture from their number
the state of the plague. The diseased is carried away
to a distant and retired tent, where some poor woman is
hired to attend him, or is hurried to a more certain death
in the hospital. The house undergoes a thorough fumi-
gation. The bed and linen of the sick are burned. Every
article of clothing is washed or destroyed. Every piece
of furniture is purified, and the whole house drenched
with water from garret to cellar.
This description is applicable throughout only to the
Frank residents. It is true only in a limited extent of
the native Christians. It is still less applicable to the
Jews, and almost the very opposite of what is true of


MOHAMMEDAN INDIFFERENCE.
86
the Turks. The principle of Islamism on this subject
is contained in one simple precept of the Sunneh, into
which it was received as a traditionary saying of Moham-
med. “ If the plague is in another city, enter it not ;
but if it is in the city where you reside, flee not from it.”
The ground of this is, that the plague is a calamity from
God, which is not to be sought when absent, but is to
be endured with resignation when present. For the
most part, therefore, for there are exceptions which are
rapidly increasing, the Turks use no safeguard against
it, and appear perfectly fearless of its attacks. They
do not avoid accustomed intercourse and contact with
friends. They remain with, and minister to the sick,
with unshrinking assiduity. They pursue their wonted
avocations as though perfect health reigned around
them. The café and the bath are as thronged as ever,
and the fearful pestilence, which is wasting in every
direction, seemed to be as little thought of as it is seldom
alluded to in conversation. The Mussulmans generally
look with contempt on the pusillanimous precautions of
the Christians, for such they appear to them. They
seem to them to betoken a weak and worldly fear of
death. And in truth there is something imposing in
the unaffected calmness of Turks at such times. It is
a spirit of resignation which becoines truly noble when
it is exercised upon calamities that have already befallen
them, for then submission is a duty, and their fatalism
no longer implies a sinful and inhuman disregard of the
lives that God has given. The fidelity with which
they remain by the bedside of a friend is at least as
commendable as the almost universal readiness among
Franks to forsake it. It is wrong only in that the ex-
posure
is extended to more than is necessary. I have
known a Turkish household of twenty-two, in which
1
1


MISSIONARY OPERATIONS.
87
a
every member but one was swept off in the
space
of
few days.
The neglect of precautionary measures by the Turks
does not arise solely from their religious dogmas. They
are almost universally ignorant of the nature of the
disease, and are imperfectly aware of its contagious
qualities. In several instances intelligent Mussulmans
have been induced to use precautions, from observing
how much less the Frank population suffered from the
disease. Ignorance, no less than fatalism, makes the
multitude incautious. My landlord refused to admit my
Turkish teacher to his house unless he would submit to
the ordinary process of fumigation. It was then the
time of fast, during the month Ramazan. The teacher
had no religious scruples against submission, but he was
unwilling to be subjected to so unwonted an annoy-
ance. He demurred, therefore, on the ground that
though in itself it was not a sin, yet the smoke,
entering his nostrils, penetrated to his palate, and thus
brought him under condemnation for a violation of his
fast.
I have treated my reader thus largely upon an un-
pleasant theme because of the important bearings of the
subject on missionary operations in Turkey. The pre-
cautions that are used render the existence of the plague
a serious detriment to a mission. Schools are suspended,
and the intercourse of the missionary with the people
is cut off. It may be a question, however, whether such
a rigid system of seclusion is necessary. I did not feel
at liberty to adopt it myself, nor would the nature of my
work permit it. Others, however, and more experienced
men, may think differently. This, at least, is certain,
that the exposure to frequent suspension, and the evil
consequences following upon it, are a strong argument


88
MISSIONARY OPERATIONS.
against the establishment of common schools where it pre-
vails. It may also be a question whether, during the
seasons of the plague in the city, the missionary would
not be better employed in itinerant labours in the country
than he can be, with so much hazard to his health, in
the long and dreary confinement of the closet.


CHAPTER III.
CONSTANTINOPLE.
DROUGHT-PUBLIC PRAYER FOR RELIEF-SUPERSTITION, A FEATURE OF
MOHAMMEDANISM-RAMAZAN, OR MONTH OF FASTING-ITS INSTITUTION
-ITS OBSERVANCE-PARALLEL WITH CHRISTIAN FASTS-COMMENCEMENT
OF THE FAST, HOW DETERMINED-PENALTY FOR VIOLATING IT-OPENING
OF THE FAST IN 1836-MODE OF SPENDING THE DAY DURING RAMAZAN
-SCENES AT SUNSET-ILLUMINATIONS ANNIVERSARY OF THE SULTAN'S
BIRTH-NIGHT OF POWER-CLOSE OF THE FAST-MINOR FASTS,
While the population was rapidly dwindling before
the destructive sweep of the pestilence and the flight of
thousands whom terror drove from their homes, another
calamity, hardly less grievous, threatened the city. It
was now autumn, and the heavens had given no rain
since the preceding April. The reservoirs which sup-
ply the city were nearly exhausted, and some of the
public fountains were already dry. The lower classes
were beginning to suffer, for, in some quarters, water was
sold at so high a price that the daily wages of a poor
man barely sufficed for his regular supply. By an East-
ern population a deficiency of this element is accounted
a heavier calamity than the presence of the plague. It
is one, at least, to which they submit with less resigna-
tion. Of the Turk it is the most favourite, almost indeed
excepting his coffee, the only beverage. He is as choice
in the quality of his water as a Western epicure is in the
stamp and flavour of his wines. His habit of frequent


90
DROUGHT.
a
ablution, both for religious purposes and for personal com-
fort, makes it almost essential to his existence. In his
judgment, nothing so highly recommends a house or a
village as a superiority in the quality of its water. Some-
times for days before a traveller reaches a place of this
description, he will hear from his native attendants the
praises of its water, “fresh and cool as ice.” Though
free from thirst, they will turn him aside to some favour-
ite spring just to taste of the crystal stream, as
Western would quaff some delicious beverage that art
had prepared.
From all this it may be imagined what alarm the
report of a scarcity of water must create in an Eastern
city. The Turks had yielded with dogged resignation
to the pestilence that was walking in darkness, and to
the destruction that was wasting at noon-day. But the
sternest fatalism could not stand out against the new
calamity that was impending; and as soon as the evil
had become imminent, public measures were taken to
avert it. It has indeed been a custom in all ages of
Mohammedanism, founded it is said upon the precepts
and practice of Mohammed himself, to observe a public
season of humiliation and prayer in times of great na-
tional calamity. This has sometimes been done during
the ravages of the plague, but is most common in sea-
sons of severe drought. For this purpose an order of
service has been instituted according to the prescriptions
of the four great doctors of Islamism. It was not till
long after the event which I am about to describe, that
I supposed it to be anything more than an extraordi-
nary act of superstition. It had its foundation, however,
in the Sunneh, while such surreptitious additions have
been made to the original service as to furnish a happy
illustration of the degeneracy of Islamism, in many re-


PRAYER FOR RELIEF.
91
spects, from one of the most simple forms of worship to
a body of gross and ignoble superstitions. The Sunneh
prescribes that the assembly be in the open air, that there
be no public prayer conducted by an Imam, but that
each individual offer his own supplications apart; that
the observance take place by order of the sovereign, and
that Mussulmans only be allowed to join in it.
In the latter part of September, a royal order having
been issued that prayer be publicly offered for relief
from drought, fifty teachers of the common schools, fol-
lowed by their pupils, repaired to the great meadow
of the Kaät Khaneh, or, as my readers will more
readily remember it, the European valley of Sweet
Waters. Having selected a large open plat, the whole
company marched thrice round it in procession with an
Imam at their head. The teachers then seated them-
selves upon the grass, with their respective pupils around
them. Before each teacher were placed two small bags,
one of which was empty, while the other was full of
clean pebbles. The service commenced. Each one of
the fifty took a pebble from the full bag, repeated over
it a short prayer, and then breathing upon it three times,
deposited it in the empty bag. This act was performed
simultaneously by all, and at the close of each prayer
the whole company of boys responded, Amen. When
the Imam found by computation that 72,000 prayers
had been offered, he gave a signal for the ceremony to
The bags containing the pebbles over which
prayers had been said, were then collected and emp-
tied into one large leathern sack, the mouth of which
was then closed, and the whole, with a rope attached to
it, was thrown into the stream which runs through the
meadow, there to remain till the intercession should
cease.
>
prove effectual.


92
MOHAMMEDAN
SUPERSTITION.
I have known a similar ceremony to be observed on
a similar occasion by the Mussulmans of Georgia. It
is one of those cases which serve to show how far Mo-
hammedanism is from rigid simplicity and spirituality
of worship. I shall have occasion to introduce other
proofs to the reader. At present I will only add, that
these forms of superstition have, for the most part,
grown up in later centuries, and do not therefore be-
long to the original structure of the religion. They
show, however, its corruption and weakness. They
show too, that, with regard to the Christianity of the
East, it is not the fact of its being corrupted by superstition
which renders it offensive in the eyes of Mussulmans,
but that those superstitions are of a kind uncongenial
with Mohammedan prejudices. As a people, the Chris-
tians are not more superstitious than the Mussulmans,
nor are they less so. Superstition is, I believe, rather a
defect of Orientalcharacter than an appendage of any par-
ticular religion. It grows out of that fondness for the mar-
vellous and the supernatural, which is a universal trait
of Eastern mind, and is nourished, both among Chris-
tians and Mussulmans, by equally universal ignorance.
Mohammedan learning, such as it is, is not of a charac-
ter to dispel it, and in truth, no men are more credulous
than learned Turks. The studies of the medresseh
furnish no practical knowledge. They do not lay open
nature to the observer. They do not show the super-
natural reduced to laws. They occupy the mind with
abstruse questions having no bearing upon the common
relations or sciences of life. Their tendencies, therefore,
are the worst possible. By withdrawing the student from
the world around him, they prevent his acquisition of
that practical wisdom which free intercourse with men
affords, while they lead him darkling through the mists


RAMAZAN.
93
of unprofitable controversies, like those which perplexed
the European scholars of the middle ages.
From highest to lowest, therefore, Eastern minds are
subject to the most childish superstitions. The observer
finds nothing which indicates more clearly the extremely
narrow range of their knowledge. Nor is he surprised
to find religion also affected by what exerts so powerful
an influence on the mind in the common occurrences of
life. Hence, too, he sees how intimately in those lands
the impartation of human knowledge must be associated
with religious advancement.
But to return to our narrative. Autumn had now
gone, and the delicious season which it brings with it at
Constantinople, a season somewhat resembling our In-
dian summer, excepting only that it is even more mild
and bland, had passed away.
Still there were none
of the signs of winter common in the same latitude in
our own country at the same season of the year. The
fields, which in the summer had been parched and arid,
were assuming, under the influence of the autumnal
rains, the fresh green hues of spring. Amidst these
scenes of unequalled loveliness, the dreadful destroyer
was wasting with relentless fury, and the air which was
wafted from the gentle South and pressed the brow with
a soft and balmy kiss, was burdened with the plague,
The Mohammedan year, whose divisions are
formed to the changes of the moon, was now waninig
into its ninth month, which is the same that the religion,
apparently in imitation of the Christian Lent, has de-
voted to fasting and humiliation. Its authority resting
on the positive precepts of the Koran, it is regarded as
of divine obligation, and its observance is one of the
most rigid and imperative of the duties of a good Mus-
sulman. The words in which it was ordained run as
con-


94
OBSERVANCE OF THE FAST.
follows: “O true believers, a fast is ordained you, as it
was ordained unto those before you, that ye may fear
God. A certain number of days shall ye fast ; but he
among you who shall be sick, or on a journey, shall fast
an equal number of other days; and those who can
keep it and do not, must redeem their neglect by main-
taining a poor man.
But if ye fast it shall be
better for you, if ye knew it. The month of Ramazan
shall ye fast, in which the Koran was sent down from
heaven, a direction unto men, and declarations of direc-
tion, and the distinction between good and evil. There-
fore, let him among you who shall be present (at home)
in this month, fast the same month; but he who shall be
sick, or on a journey, shall fast the like number of other
days.
It is lawful for you on the night
of the fast to
. . eat and drink until
ye can plainly distinguish a white thread from a black
thread, by the day-break; then keep the fast until
night;
and be constantly present in
the places of worship. These are the prescribed bounds
of God, therefore draw not near to transgress them *."
These commands are, by the great body of Mussulmans,
rigorously obeyed. There is no point in the religion to
which there is a more punctilious conformity. Instances
are here and there found of individuals who wilfully and
habitually violate it, but, unlike the infringement of some
other laws of the religion, the violation is in secret.
General opinion is in favour of the most rigid observance.
The greater part carry it even into superstitious pre-
cision. To the multitude, the religious act consists in
entire abstinence from food and temporal comforts.
They refrain from the pipe, and from external ablutions.
* Koran, Sale's translation.


RELIGIOUS RETREAT.
95
They seal the senses against delightsome sights, and
the odour of perfumes or viands. The fast is violated
by a wistful look at food, by the inhaling of smoke,
and even by the swallowing of one's own spittle. The
more devout, however, contemplate it in a more spiri-
tual sense, and some of the manuals on practical reli-
yon affirm that the fast is not complete without a
withdrawal of the heart from licentious and worldly
thoughts, and an absorption in holy and divine contem-
plation. Such hold it to be violated by impure or
slanderous words, and all acknowledge it to be nullified
by indulgence in earthly pleasures, though in themselves
innocent.
There is even a religious retreat, to which some of
the more devout consecrate certain days of the fast.
This time is spent in the mosques.
The devotee with-
draws himself from every worldly occupation and care,
seeks to dispel from his mind every earthly thought, and
to lose himself in prayer and holy meditation. Men of
this character I have seen sitting in the mosques, with
their eyes bent upon the floor, and apparently uncon-
scious of the presence or movements of others around
them. To the multitude, however, the season is the
same as the fasts of the Churches are to the Christians;
the duty and the merit consist in the abstinence from
accustomed food. The principal difference is, that the
Mussulmans abstain entirely, while the Christians ab-
stain only from particular articles. The observance is
equally superstitious in the two cases. Accordingly,
the fasts of the Christians, and the same is true of their
festivals, are by no means repugnant to Mohammedans,
but, on the contrary, are almost universally respected.
I have not only often heard them spoken of by Mussul-
mans with the utmost deference, but have heard a


96
PARALLELS.
Mussulman upbraiding a Christian for a violation of his
fast. In travelling during Lent, I have seen Mussul-
mans subject themselves to inconvenience to avoid com-
pelling Christian families to prepare food which they
were unaccustomed to use at that season. During some
of the Christian festivals, especially at Constantinople,
the crowd of Mussulmans who join in the public diver-
sions is hardly inferior to that of the Christians. The
Easter feast is particularly well known to the Turks.
They speak of it as the Christian Bairam, corresponding
to their own festival so called, which follows close upon
Ramazan.
These pleasant parallels might be pursued much far-
ther. They will reappear, however, at other points in
our progress. For the present, I will only remark, that
they confirm what has already been said, that Islamism
is not on all points opposed to Christianity, not even to
its superstitions. When they are similar to its own,
they are approved; it is only when they differ that they
are opposed. Mohammedanism is sometimes supposed
to be a purely spiritual religion. The supposition I be-
lieve to be contrary to truth. In some points it is
more spiritual than the present Christianity of the
East. But it has superstitions of its own which Ori-
ental Christianity has not, and these superstitions are as
gross and as deeply fixed as any which pollute the
Church. The proofs of this position will accumulate as
we advance.
Still these points of resemblance which have been
noticed must be regarded as indications of good. They
are not only moral links which sustain union and check
prejudice; they are, if I may so speak, parallel openings
in the two religions, by which Christianity, when once
purified, will transmit her heavenly and renovating in-


COMMENCEMENT OF RAMAZAN.
97
fluence into the corrupted mass of Islamism. If the
day of this influence may be hastened by any foreign
mediation, it will be hastened most effectually by a
church, which, presenting the same points of resem-
blance, can present them free from corruption, which
acknowledges, in a purely religious sense, an annual fast
and feast, and keeps a spiritual Ramazan and Bairam
to the Lord.
The rigidity of old customs in the East, especially
when sanctioned by religion, is well illustrated by the
mode in which the commencement of the fast is an-
nounced. Although the Turks have almanacs in which
the changes of the moon are accurately calculated,
they do not trust to them for information respecting
the new moon of Ramazan. It is required that the
orb itself be seen by two witnesses, if the sky be clear.
If it be obscured by clouds, the testimony of a single
man will suffice. At Constantinople the witness is
brought before the Sheikh ul Islam, (Chief of Islam,)
by whom his testimony is received, and an order for
the opening of the fast immediately issued. I have
heard it reported, however, that the confidence of the
learned in the testimony of the almanac is so great,
that if the moon does not appear at the time therein
named, witnesses are suborned to testify that they have
seen the luminary, and the fast is sure to begin at
the canonical moment. For the truth of this report I
will not affirm. It is certain, however, that a vigilant
watch is kept upon the sky at the time when the new
moon is expected to appear. As soon as it is perceived
in one place, the news is spread through the adjacent
country. It often happens, however, that there will
occur a difference of one or two days in the commence-
ment of the fast at places remote from each other. The
VOL. I.
F


PENALTY FOR VIOLATION.
98
duration, however, is the same. It terminates with the
appearance of the new moon of the succeeding month.
As the first day of that month is appointed for the festi-
val of Bairam, its commencement must be attested in
the same manner as that of Ramazan, unless the new
moon of the latter month should have been clearly seen,
in which case it is sufficient to reckon the date of the
Bairam from it.
The law requires that if the whole fast shall not have
been kept in its proper season, whether from the non-
appearance of the moon, from sickness, from being on a
journey, or from other necessary causes, the deficiency
must be made up at another time. If the fast is wilfully
violated, the Koran requires that expiation be made by
alms to the poor, to which the Sunneh has added the
severer penalty of a fast of sixty-one days during some
other season of the year. This law is doubtless ob-
served by some among the more learned and devout,
but the mass of the people know nothing of such re-
strictions and penalties. To study the religion aright,
it is necessary, indeed, to make a distinction between it
as it exists among the learned and as it is found among
the multitude. Among the former, it appears involved in
an endless maze of petty usages and casuistical dis-
tinctions, which it would seem utterly impossible for any
human memory to retain. Among the latter, it appears
in the rigid simplicity of a single article of faith and a
few religious observances. It is by this last quality that
it maintains so easily its hold upon the minds of the
many. A child learns at home or from his teacher to
repeat his creed and to enumerate the five duties required
of him as a Mussulman. He is shown how to perform
his ablutions before prayers. He imbibes the spirit of his
religion from its manifestation in the society of his own


OPENING OF THE FAST.
99
people, and gathers some superficial knowledge of its
ceremonial from the vague information which is floating
through the community. With this he contents him-
self, unless he becomes a student. He violates uncon-
sciously numerous laws of the Sunneh. He keeps his
fast till Bairam comes, but he seldom repairs delinquen-
cies, whether for sickness, for travelling, or for the short-
ness of his Ramazan. Children are not required to keep
the fast, until at least they have made profession of their
faith by circumcision, nor in certain situations is it bind-
ing upon women.
About the middle of the afternoon of the 8th of
December, the approach of the Ramazan was an-
nounced by a furious cannonade from the ships lying at
their winter moorings in the harbour. It was intended
as a warning to all good Mussulmans to prepare for the
fast, though the mode of the announcement seemed
hardly compatible with the solemn nature of the object.
At sunset the first day commenced, and the season of
the fast was ushered in with the discharge of cannon
and the roll of drums. The fast itself, however, was not
to begin till the next day. The first hours belonging
to the night were, according to the prescription of the
Koran, to be devoted to a very different purpose from
humiliation. Nothing, indeed, could be farther from the
gloom and sadness which are the outward indications of
fasting, than this introduction of the Ramazan. Before
the last rays of twilight had faded from the sky, every
minaret was glittering with bands of lamps, but as fes-
tivity was not quickened by previous abstinence, no
other signs of rejoicing appeared. The next morning
at early dawn the fast begun.
The manner in which the tedious hours of the day
are spent during this month of contrition may be de-
F 2


100
MODE OF OBSERVANCE.
scribed in a word. The labourer and mechanic go from
necessity to their accustomed work. The bazars are
open and business continues, though not with its wonted
activity and vigour. New undertakings are not com-
menced. The exhausting effects of the fast and the
nature of the season repress secular activity and enter-
prise. All make it, as far as circumstances permit, a
time of physical inaction. The more devout spend much
of it in the mosque, or in reading the Koran at home.
Many, who are too scrupulous to violate their fast, but
not sufficiently serious to turn it to any good purpose,
satisfy both their conscience and their love of ease by
losing most of the day in sleep. Wakefulness returns
with the night, while abstinence and sleep have pre-
pared them to make a generous use of the nocturnal
indulgence granted by their prophet. By this happy
device not only is the rigour of the fast alleviated, but
Lent turned into Carnival. Even without such an eva-
sion, the fast is not difficult to be endured, while it falls,
as on the year now mentioned, in the winter. But the
Mohammedan months being lunar, each one runs
through all the seasons in thirty-three years. While
Ramazan occurs in summer, the fast becomes extremely
painful, especially for the poor labourer, who toils from
morning till night, without so much as a drop of water
to cool his tongue. Such a scene excites pity, even in
the winter. I remember, in one instance, having hired
a caïque, with two rowers, to visit a village several miles
distant from the city. The whole day was consumed in
the excursion, and it was evident that we could not reach
the city before nightfall. The boatmen, therefore, pro-
vided themselves at the village with a jug of water and two
or three loaves of bread, which they laid carefully away
in the boat. We were still several miles distant, when


SUNSET.
101
a gun from the Seven Towers, followed immediately by
the cries of hundreds of Muezzins from the minarets
of the city, announced the termination of the fast.
The boatmen who, though apparently quite exhausted,
had tugged at their oars with a patience that no one, in
such circumstances, knows better how to exhibit than
a Turk, now rested upon their seats, and prepared to
break their fast. With no other expression of emotion
than a placid exclamation of joy, as the voice of the
Muezzin rolled along the water, they ate and drank
just sufficient to allay the pain of abstinence, and then
resumed their oars.
In the city, also, the hour of sunset is the most inte-
resting of the day. As the sun declines the whole Mus-
sulman population seems suddenly to awaken. The
cafés, which during the day are abandoned to the
· Christians, begin to be filled with Turks, who may be
seen sitting with their tchibouks in their hands, silently
awaiting the sound of the evening gun. The streets,
in their own quarters, are thronged with them hurrying
in every direction with unusual alacrity of movement.
The bakehouses are beset with customers. The confec-
tionaries, arranged and decorated with extraordinary
care, display their choicest delicacies. A multitude of
eager inquirers are gathered before the windows of the
little apartments connected with many of the mosques,
in which clocks are set exactly indicating the hour.
Neighbour is seen gathering the same information from
his neighbour. The harbour, as indeed is usual at this
hour, is thronged with hundreds of caïques, shooting to-
wards every landing-place along the Golden Horn. All
this movement is without noise. It is only when the
suspense is broken by the distant roar of the sunset gun
that tongues are unloosed. And even then there is no


102
ILLUMINATIONS.
clamour or vociferation. Approaching by water at the
moment, one hears no other sound of festivity than a
busy hum rising from the rejoicing city.
As the twilight deepens the illumination begins. For
this purpose preparations are made before the com-
mencement of the fast, by suspending cords between
the minarets of the mosques. Upon these cords figures,
formed by lamps arranged in various shapes, are let
out. These, however, appear only on particular nights.
The common illumination consists in nothing more than
rows of lamps around the little galleries of the minarets,
from which the Muezzin calls to prayers. The 21st
of December, or rather the 13th of Ramazan, was the
birth-day of the Sultan. The solemn stillness of the
fast was broken at each hour of prayer during the day
by the roar of cannon, and at night the whole city pre-
sented a gayer scene of rejoicing than had before ap-
peared. Every ship in the fleet was gorgeously illumi-
nated by lights at the port-holes and along the rigging.
In front of the Admiralty were displayed illuminations
in the form of anchors, vessels, and other shapes apper-
taining to sea-craft. Along the bridge which had lately
been thrown across the harbour were lines of lamps,
which produced a singular and most brilliant effect when
viewed from the water. Between the minarets of the
mosques, were swinging glittering forms of various de-
scriptions. Here a huge crescent; there, among the noble
spires of the Sulimanièh, the words YA OSMAN, O
Osman, in characters of monstrous size; on the beauti-
ful temple built by the Sultan, a barge formed by lights
of different colours, and of the same shape and size with
that which ordinarily conveyed his majesty.
But all this splendour was eclipsed by the magnifi-
cence of the Bosphorus. Along both its banks, through


NIGHT OF POWER.
103
In some,
the greater part of its whole length from the city to the
Black Sea, palaces, kioshks, cafés, and private dwellings,
were bathed in glorious effulgence. The whole appeared
like one immense spectacle, and it seemed at the
moment the very fulfilment of some early dream of
Oriental magnificence. The effect of every part was
heightened by the excessive darkness of the night. The
rows of lamps around the minarets seemed to hang
like golden bands against the sky. The figures swing-
ing above the mosques appeared as if resting unsus-
tained in mid-air. The brilliant line of the bridge and
the glittering shapes of the frigates seemed, while the
objects themselves were hidden, like the work of en-
chantment. The streets were also lighted, though
more sparingly. The cafés were thronged.
story-tellers were amusing the crowd. In others, music,
though, like its sister art, forbidden by the harsh law of
Islamism, was beguiling the hours of the night. A rare
favour was granted to the population on this anniversary
of the Sultan's birth. The streets were open throughout
the night, and I availed myself of this unwonted act of
royal benignity to spend the greater part of it amidst the
scenes that I have described.
On all the nights of Ramazan, the principal streets
were dimly lighted and the interior of the mosques
brilliantly illuminated. The Mohammedan liturgy
contains a special service for Ramazan, which is per-
formed by night in the mosques. The night of the
27th of Ramazan, which fell that year on January 3,
1837, is distinguished from all the others, as that on which
the first leaves of the Koran are supposed (for it is an
unsettled question among Mohammedan Doctors) to have
descended to earth. It is called therefore, Leileh el
Kadr, or the Night of Power, and, from its occurrence


BAIRAM.
104
during Ramazan, it is supposed that Mohammed selected
this month for the fast. In the present instance, it was
celebrated with considerable display of the same kind,
but far less in degree than the monarch thought his own
introduction into the world worthy of.
This splendid season of humiliation closed at sunset
on the 7th of January, when the first day of the tenth
month, the month of Shaval, begun. The approach of
the feast was announced as the fast had been, by the
discharge of cannon several hours before evening. From
this moment universal joy began to prevail. The spa-
cious courts of the imperial mosques were thronged with
crowds of Mussulmans in greater agitation than I had
ever before seen a Turkish assemblage. Urchins were
running in every direction, crying Bairam, Bairam,
with as merry a voice and face as lads of our Western
world exhibit when just released from the imprisonment
of the school-room. The poor were enforcing their ap-
peals for charity by the magic word Bairam-one, doubt-
less, of tried potency in opening hearts and purses. The
joy had become so rife before sunset, that the fast might
have ended without any apparent increase of it, had not
such an unworthy termination been prevented by the
terrific roar which burst from all the ships of war, and
was answered from Seraglio Point and the opposite shore
of Scutari. For many minutes it continued with a
fury that shock the city to its foundations. The echo,
repeated in quick succession from side to side, as the
sound traced the windings of the harbour, and its hollow
reverberations, as it died among the distant mountains
of Asia, vied with the thunders of heaven.
subsided, the worshippers were seen entering the temples
of prayer. The multitude who were pressing for admis-
sion seemed almost countless, for there is no hour so full
As they


VOLUNTARY FASTS.
105
of joy to a Mussulman's heart as the hour of prayer on
Bairam Even.
There remains only to be added that the fast of
Ramazan is the only one required by the Mohammedan
law. Others, however, are permitted. Monday and
Thursday of each week, the last ten days of each month,
the whole of the three months Zilkideh, Zilhijjeh, and
Muharrem, are particularly recommended, but very
sel-
dom observed. Voluntary fasts are sometimes performed
in fulfilment of vows, and satisfactory or expiatory fasts
are required when that of Ramazan has been violated
either from necessity or wilfully. Those so disposed
may, indeed, devote to fasting any season or portion
of the year, provided however in the case of married
women that they have the permission of their husbands,
and excepting, both for men and women, the appointed
times of the great feasts, when fasting is positively
forbidden,
F3


CHAPTER IV.
CONSTANTINOPLE.
MOHAMMEDAN
FEASTS-TURKISH
PASSOVER-THE FEAST OF SACRIFICE-
PROCESSION AND PUBLIC SERVICES-FESTIVITIES_EFFECT OF THE FAST
AND FEAST ON MOHAMMEDANS CHRISTIANITY
INSULTED-MOSQUES-
THOSE OF TURKEY AND PERSIA DESCRIBED AND COMPARED-DIFFERENT
CLASSES OF MOSQUES - MANY OF THEM ORIGINALLY CHURCHES-ST.
SOPHIA, THE MODEL-THE MINARETS—THE EXTERIOR-THE INTERIOR
-STRUCTURE OF THE ANCIENT CHURCHES-CANDLES-ORNAMENTS-THE
PULPIT-PREACHING-IMPRESSIVE FEATURE OF ISLAMISM,
THE Mohammedan feasts are not, like the fast, of
divine obligation. No mention is made of them in the
Koran, excepting the institution of the sacrifice which
accompanies the second, and which forms the principal
part of the ceremonies during the great pilgrimage to
Mecca. They are passed unnoticed in the catechism.
We may therefore, without danger of offence, leave them
with a cursory glance. They occur, as I have said, on
the first day of the tenth, and on the tenth day of the
last month of the Mohammedan year, on the first day
of Shaval and the tenth of Zilhijjeh. The first is called
by the Turks Idi fetr, The Feast of Fast-breaking, and
more commonly Kutchuk Bairam, Little Bairam. The
second, which falls seventy days after the first, is the Idi
Azha, Feast of Sacrifice, Buyuk Bairam, Great Bairam,
or, more commonly, Kourban Bairam, which signifies, in
Turkish, the same as Idi Azha in Arabic.


PASSOVER.
107
The principal religious ceremony by which these feasts
are distinguished is the prayer of the first morning, (for
the first feast continues three and the second four days,)
when larger congregations are assembled in the mosques
than on any other occasion throughout the year.
both these services the Sultan is present, accompanied
by the principal officers of his government and sur-
rounded by a display of regal pomp and splendour
seldom witnessed even in the proudest city of the East.
The scene at the two is so nearly the same that a
description of one will suffice for both. I choose that of
the Kourban Bairam because it is superior to the other,
both in the estimation in which it is held by Mussul-
mans, and in the display with which it is celebrated.
The other is sometimes called the Turkish Passover
from its contiguity to the fast ; but the name is more
applicable to the second, which we are about to describe,
because at that time a sacrifice is actually offered imme-
diately after the prayer of the morning. This corre-
sponds most nearly with the Good Friday of the Church,
and the similitude may be made in the hands of a
skilful missionary the means of turning the thoughts of
Mussulmans from their own unmeaning ceremony to the
great sacrifice of Christianity.
Once for all, let me beg my reader's indulgence for
these frequent diversions from the thread of my narrative.
He will, perchance, bear them more patiently, if he keeps
in mind that they are necessary to my design, that my
first aim is to inform, not to amuse, and that in reading,
as in every worthy employment, the highest and almost
the only value of amusement is to relieve the mind
and prepare it for graver pursuits. If my gentle reader
will remember this, I see not what should prevent us
from travelling on quietly and happily together to the


108
PROCESSION.
on
end of our journey.
With this fair understanding, we
resume our narrative where we left it, and in the words
of the record made immediately after the event had
transpired.
Saturday, March 18, 1839.-The grand procession
of the paschal orison took place this morning within
the time prescribed by the Mohammedan law, which
permits its celebration at any hour before noon
the tenth of the month Zilhijjeh. It issued from the
principal gate of the Seraglio, soon after sunrise, and
appeared in the following order. First came the inferior
officers of the court on horse, followed by the pashas and
principal functionaries of state mounted on beautiful
steeds, whose furniture was richly decked with precious
stones. After these came a band of young men on
foot, gaily dressed in lively colours and distinguished by
their beauty and knightly bearing. They bore in their
hands long waving plumes of the most brilliant hues,
which they held high over their heads, as if to secure the
royal person whom they surrounded from the vulgar
gaze. In the midst of this bright band, his face just
discernible through the forest of bending plumes, rode
the Sultan, on a noble Arabian charger, which, from his
proud and graceful step, seemed conscious that he was
bearing the weight of majesty. His saddle-cloth and
reins were thickly studded with diamonds set in flowers,
the stirrups were of solid gold, and his gorgeous head-
piece bore a frontlet, in the centre of which was a mag-
nificent emerald surrounded with diamonds. The Sultan
himself appeared, as he always does on horse, with his
most regal look and bearing. His face wore that grave
and mild aspect that commonly sits upon it in public.
After him followed a band of musicians who closed the
procession. The whole body moved slowly towards the


DEVOTIONS.
109
mosque of Sultan Ahmed, in the vicinity of the Seraglio,
between double ranks of artillery-men and musicians.
A shout ran along their lines as the Sultan passed. They
all wore European military caps, and their entire dress
was conformable. The habiliments of the marines were
red jackets and white pantaloons, which, with the caps,
were entirely new. The latter, indeed, were now intro-
duced into the army for the first time, the common
head-gear of the soldiers being the thick woollen fez with
a huge blue silk tassel pendent behind,—the same as is
worn by the Sultan and the greater part of those in civil
employ, but which, with the unshorn heads that are
coming into vogue, are (this my own experience after-
wards taught me) insupportable on a summer march.
The Sultan and his cortege dismounted in the Atmei-
dan, a public square on which the spacious court of the
mosque of Ahmed opens, and entered the sacred temple.
The morning service immediately began, while another
assemblage was formed in the Atmeidan, of the soldiers
from the adjacent barracks ; for the companies that had
served in the pageant of the morning, contrary to many
a precept of the Koran, stood by their arms.
vice without the mosque was the same as that within.
A temporary platform was erected for the Imam, and
straw mats were spread for the assembly to kneel upon *.
I could not, at the moment, discover anything in the
various prostrations, genuflexions, and divers other pos-
tures of the worshippers different from the common
* These devotions in the open air were converted into a theme of
panegyric upon the Sultan in a number of the official gazette, issued soon
after. “ His Highness," it said, “ who attaches the highest importance
to the faithful acquittal of the duties of religion by all Mussulmans,
repeated on this occasion the order which he had given for the fast of
Shaval, to see that the army did not fail in the accustomed devotions of
the festival. A great part of the troops, therefore, were sent into the
The ser-


110
SERVICES.
devotions of the mosque, nor indeed is there anything
peculiar in this distinguished service of the Mussulman
liturgy more than some slight deviations of form from
the great prayer of Friday.
So much of the ample space of the Atmeidan as was
not occupied by the worshippers was filled with throngs
of Turkish maids and matrons, on foot and in arabas,
idle spectators of a ceremony of their religion in which
they could not participate.
The service, which was but little longer than the
ordinary service of the morning, being ended, the pro-
cession returned in the order in which it came and
disappeared within the walls of the Seraglio. What
transpired there I will not pretend to say, excepting
that an order soon came out for the marines to enter,
and the rumour was circulated among the multitude that
the Sultan had sent for them to inspect them in their
new dress. They entered, preceded by the band playing
a Greek air.
Presently a line of cavalry issued from
the gate, well mounted and wearing the new cap. As
I was crossing the harbour on my return home, I ob-
served that the ships of war were decorated with flags,
and their yards manned with marines, who saluted the
Sultan as the royal barge shot out from the quay of the
Seraglio and swept by them on its way to the palace of
Beshiktash.
Such was the pageant which accompanied the sacrifi-
cial prayer of Bairam. But the festivity which followed
vast court of the mosques of Sultan Ahmed."* If the Sultan's motives
were such as here described, it is matter for surprise that his good
intention did not extend to the soldiers on duty. The truth, doubtless,
was, that the editor of the official paper knew enough of the duties of
his station to study effect in his paragraphs.
* Le Moniteur Ottoman, April 30, 1837. (Muharrem 22, A.H. 1253.)


FESTIVITY.
111
was not confined to the court.
It extended to every
class and condition of society. On the first day the Call
to Prayer at the five canonical hours was followed by a
salute from the fleet. During the whole of the first feast
and the first three days of the second, shops were shut
and all labour suspended. The entire Mussulman popu-
lation was poured into the streets. The cafés were
thronged. Every man, woman, and child, appeared in a
new dress. The white turbans were never so clean and
neatly plaited. Turkish females, in groups of five or
six, with their children, in the gayest and richest dresses,
strolled through the streets. Friends visited friends and
wished them a happy Bairam, or embraced them as
they met without, kissing each other on both cheeks.
The inferior paid the same deference to the hand of his
patron or superior. Effendis on horseback and ladies
in arabas covered the bridge between Stamboul and
Galata. Strolling players performed with impunity in
the highways. The sellers of sweetmeats proclaimed
their delicacies, and the beggars again plied their impor-
tunities in the name of Bairam. There seemed in the
very word an incentive to mirth and light-heartedness.
Yet all was quiet. There was no boisterousness, no in-
decorum, no extravagant merriment, no loud laughter,
much less those contentions, and babblings, and wounds
without cause, which are the invariable accompaniments.
of our more civilised festivities. The reason of the
difference is to be found in the habitual moderation and
self-command of Turks, and in the absence among them
of the grand source of the woe and sorrow which gene-
rally follow our own seasons of hilarity. Special care is
exercised by the Turkish authorities during Bairam to
keep Mussulmans from the grog-shops, which, I am sorry
to add, are chiefly tenanted by Christians.
The only


112
CHRISTIANITY INSULTED.
part of the population which give free vent to their mirth
are the boys. You may see them riding double on
donkeys, racing on horses, or turning on swings, of which
there are at least four kinds in use at Constantinople.
You may see them playing and tumbling in the courts
of the mosques, firing crackers and eating sweatmeats,
as New-England boys do on the fourth of July. By
some, certain hours of the festival are devoted to more
serious purposes. The bereaved visit the graves of friends
and sit by them and turn up the sod throughout, as if
the sight of the new earth brought into fresh recollection
the hour when the loved ones that repose beneath were
shut from their eyes.
Another feature of the Bairams is too strongly indica-
tive of the present spirit of Islamism to be omitted. A
Turk is never more a Mussulman than during his feasts
and fast. He seems then to be recalled to himself and
his religion. However negligent in his devotions he may
be through the rest of the year, he seldom, if ever, neg-
lects the extraordinary services which these seasons bring
with them, or remains unaffected by the spirit which
everywhere prevails. If he has formed acquaintance
with unbelieving Franks, he is apt at these times to
keep aloof from them. If he is a bigoted Mussulman,
his bigotry is deepened. An old and respectable Chris-
tian of Constantinople informed me that until within a
few years antecedent to the time of which I write,
Christians always felt themselves in jeopardy during the
Ramazan and Bairams, and went as seldom as possible
into the streets. Those times, every one knows, are
changed. But indications of what the past has been
still remain, and are visible whenever the same occasion
calls them forth.
On the morning of the paschal procession, after the


THE ARMENIAN.
113
public prayer was ended, it belonged to the soldiers to
carry back the mats which had served them in their
devotions, to the place whence they were taken. Instead,
however, of performing the labour themselves, they dis-
persed through the crowds, and singling out the rayahs *
who happened to be there, compelled them to take the
mats
upon
their shoulders and bear them for them. The
Greeks, whose buoyancy of spirit nothing can repress,
made sport of it. The timorous and cringing Jews tamely
submitted to the indignity in silence. A soldier followed
each one to keep him from deserting his burden, now
and then administering a kick when he halted or ven-
tured to remonstrate. I saw only one Armenian seized.
He was a young man of respectable appearance, and
refused when arrested to perform the scandalous task.
Immediately some twenty soldiers set upon him and
attempted to beat him into submission. He resisted
manfully for a few minutes, while they, standing in a
circle around him, kicked him from side to side like a
foot-ball. He offered to hire a porter to carry the bur-
den, but they persisted in imposing the contumely upon
him. Some Armenians sitting in a café near at hand,
looked upon the scene in evident consternation, and soon
began to slip off in another direction. At this moment
I approached the soldiers with an American friend, who
had been with me through all the scenes of the morning.
As we came up they desisted, and, had we been able to
expostulate with them in their own tongue, the Armenian
might easily have been rescued. But when they found
that we had no power to interpose, they recommenced
their assault, and succeeded at length in imposing the
ignominy on the young man, who walked away under
* Subjects of the Sultan not Mussulman.


114
MOSQUES.
We
his burden sobbing with shame and vexation.
knew that the insult was forced upon him because he
was a Christian. I witnessed other scenes of a similar
kind during the following days of the festival. They
filled me with the deepest indignation, but the oppression
of rayahs became afterwards so familiar a sight to me,
that the first effects gradually ceased. It is only now,
when looking back upon those scenes from the favoured
home of Christianity, that I feel a return of the first glow
of indignation, and mourn, as I then sincerely mourned,
over the desolate heritage of Zion in the lands where
she held her earliest and broadest sway.
No traveller leaves Constantinople without visiting its
mosques, the proudest monuments of the religion through-
out the East. I shall not describe them, as others have
done, individually, but embrace them in one general
view with mosques in other parts of the country, and in
comparison with those of Persia. I shall thus save
myself the trouble, and my readers the tediousness, of
repeated descriptions in every city and town through
which we may have to pass.
The mosques of Turkey are of two kinds, distinguished
by the names of Jami and Mesjid, which correspond in
some respects with the terms Church and Chapel. The
latter are small and often without minarets. In the
cities they are interspersed among the larger mosques
for the accommodation of the neighbourhood in which
they stand. They are also to be found in every village,
and, for the most part, are the only places of worship
which the villages can boast. They are designed only
for the ordinary devotions of the mosque, and generally
have only one minister, who sometimes exercises the double
office of Imam and Sheikh, or, in more familiar terms, of


STYLE OF MOSQUES.
116
large town of Turkey where I did not find at least one,
and in some instances, where the traditionary recollec-
tion of the change had quite departed, their ancient
character was discernible by certain marks, such as the
form of the building or traces of pictures partly effaced.
In Persia I did not meet with a single instance of such
a desecration. History explains the difference. War
has there wrought greater revolutions than in Turkey;
and if farther explanation be needed, the different
character of the structures in the two countries completes
the solution. The temples of worship in Turkey are
generally of stone, those in Persia of earth. The Persian
churches of the early centuries must have long since
crumbled to dust. Those of Turkey still stand. Many
of them bear, in their indelible forms, the impress of
Christianity; and who shall say that their violated
altars shall not rise again, that the Shekinah shall never
return to overshadow their mercy-seats, or that their
walls shall 110 more re-echo the anthems of the ancient
Faithful !
The mosques of Turkey are almost uniformly of stone
and painted white. In some parts of Mesopotamia,
where rock is not easily procured, and in many of the
villages, they are of earth. They are generally built on
one model in every part of the country from Bagdad to
the Danube, and the originals of that model were pro-
bably the old Christian churches. In the style of archi-
tecture St. Sophia is the pattern of almost every mosque
in the land. The Great Mosque of Bayazid, in Broussa,
exhibits the widest departure from this model that I
have seen.
It has twenty domes of equal dimensions
springing from the same level, and sustained by twelve
huge columns.
The central dome is open, and the
sweet light of heaven streaming through it upon the


MINARETS.
117
sparkling fountain beneath and among the vast pillars
of the interior, produces on the imagination an effect
fitted to excite in the breast of the approaching worship-
per the higher feelings of reverence and love.
To a stranger the most remarkable feature of a Turk-
ish mosque is the minaret.
These vary in number from
one to four. The
mosque
of Sultan Ahmed in Con-
stantinople has six, and this is the only instance that
I know in the kingdom where the number exceeds
four. Springing from a square base without the mosque,
they rise in one white, straight, cylindrical shaft into
the heavens. The evenness of their surface is inter-
rupted only by the little gallery from which the Muez-
zin calls to prayer. There are sometimes two of these
galleries, sometimes even three. They are little projec-
tions of about eighteen inches from the side of the mina-
ret, with a parapet of stone on the outer edge, from four
to five feet high. They relieve the uniformity and thus
add to the beautyof the minaret. Above them the spire
tapers to a point, on which is fixed the gilded crescent.
The Muezzin ascends by a winding stair-way in the
interior. Almost his only occupation is to mount five
times a day and repeat the Call to Prayer, but as the
passage is long, narrow, steep, dark, and sometimes
offensive to the smell, the office is by no means a sine-
The Persian mosques are almost uniformly desti-
tute of this beautiful appendage. Only three or four in
the cities that I visited have minarets, which are of
brick, and covered with tile of variegated colours. They
rise from the roof of the mosque, and never to a great
height. They are intended only for ornament, and are
never I believe used for the same purpose as in Turkey,
the Call to Prayer in a Persian mosque being given
from the roof.
cure.


118
PERSIAN MOSQUES.
The Turkish mosques have generally a court in front,
surrounded by a stone wall, with grated windows in
it, or, as is true of some of the Imperial mosques, with
a colonnade supported by small marble pillars. In the
centre of the courts of the larger mosques there is a
covered fountain or reservoir, where the water is received
into a circular tank of stone and let out by cocks near
the ground. At these fountains the ablutions prepara-
tory to prayers are performed. Instead of a fountain
the country mosques are provided with a pipe enclosed
within the wall of the court, from which also the water
is emitted by cocks. Instead of the wall one side or more
of the court is often occupied by the medresseh. Especi-
ally is this true of the mosques in the interior. In the
royal mosques of Constantinople the medressehs are
generally extensive ranges of low buildings just without
the court. They are sometimes, however, entirely dis-
connected, and at a considerable distance from any
mosque. I have particularly observed this at Bagdad,
where it is evidently a remnant of the custom of the
earlier ages of Mohammedanism, when medressehs often
rose on independent foundations, and, instead of being
the mean and unsightly edifices they now are, were
master-works of the art of those times.
The Persian mosques are, in their exterior, entirely
unlike those of Turkey. Instead of being always the
most conspicuous objects in a city, the passenger may
often pass them without observing them. In repeated
instances, I have listened to a Muezzin pronouncing the
Call within a few rods of me, without being able to dis-
cover where the mosque was. They sometimes open
immediately upon the street, and present the same low,
bare, mud-wall with other buildings. The interior, in
these cases, is corresponding, a low though spacious


PERSIAN MEDRESSEHS.
119
apartment, with a level ceiling supported on plain pillars,
the whole without ornament or pretensions of any kind.
I have seen others, connected with large medressehs, in
the form of a long and narrow apartment. In these
instances, the mosque belongs to the medresseh, rather
than the medresseh to the mosque, the latter being no
more than the chapel of the college.
These medressehs of Persia are very far superior to
any edifice of the kind to be seen in Turkey. In their
general appearance they resemble the temple of Mecca.
They are quadrilateral buildings erected round a large
court, which is paved and adorned with trees, and has
in or near the centre a clear pool of water several feet
in depth. In the middle of each side of the building is
a deep alcove opening upon the court, surmounted by a
half dome and ornamented within with party-coloured
tile. A dome of this kind is sometimes to be found in
the Turkish medressehs, and the vacant area beneath
is used for a summer lecture-room. The rest of the edi-
fice, in a Persian medresseh, is low, and is occupied by
the college-rooms and the apartment for public prayers,
which, in those that I have minutely examined, was of
the character just described-a long, open room with an
arched roof, or with a flat one supported by brick pil-
lars.
The interior of a Persian mosque is simplicity itself.
A stone in the wall indicates the direction towards which
the worshipper must turn in prayer. There is no pul-
pit or furniture of any kind, excepting a straw mat and
a small seat for the preacher. There are no decorations,
often not even an inscription on the walls.
The interior of a Turkish mosque, though simple in
comparison with our own sacred edifices, is rich and
gaudy when contrasted with the Persian chapels. It is


INTERIOR ARRANGEMENTS.
120
one spacious and lofty apartment, surmounted by a broad
and high dome, which in its turn is supported by large
columns, in most cases of stone or brick. In many mosques
of ordinary size there are no columns, and the whole
apartment is embraced at a single glance. The walls
are white, and generally without any other decorations
than the names of God, Mohammed, and the first four
caliphs, and these interspersed with sentences from the
Koran. In one or two mosques I have seen the walls
fantastically painted in what seemed intended to be an
imitation of marble. The St. Sophia is the only one,
probably, in the empire, which bears a distinct represen-
tation of living creatures. Just without the dome of this
magnificent temple are two figures, left there at the gene-
ral demolition of the pictures and images of the church
after the capture of the city. They may have escaped
the notice of the purifiers of the place from their want of
determinate resemblance to any known being or thing.
They appear somewhat like six leaves standing out from
one centre. I know not the ground of the general belief
that they are representations of the seraphims described
by Isaiah*, and that the resemblances of leaves are the
six wings, two covering the face, two covering the feet,
and two sustaining the flight.
Though everything that might tempt to idolatry is
thus excluded from the Turkish temples with a rigid-
ness that rivals the strictness of the Jewish laws in this
particular, representations of the temple of Mecca, both
painted and in wood, are sometimes to be seen. The
internal arrangement of the mosques is simple through-
out. Opposite the principal entrance is the Mihrab, or
Imam's station. It is a niche in the wall, similar to
Chap. vi. 2.


ANCIENT CHURCHES.
121
those sometimes made for statues in the walls of dwell-
ing-houses in this country. Before this the Imam stands,
while conducting the public devotions, with his face to-
wards the wall. In this position he looks towards Mecca,
while the worshippers arrange themselves in straight lines
behind him. Sometimes the niche is in the depth of a
large alcove or recess, like those seen in many of our
own churches. This is uniformly true of those mosques
which were formerly Christian temples, a circumstance
which indicates something respecting the structure of
the ancient churches.
Another item of information upon the same subject
may be gathered from Turkish mosques of the cha-
racter now described. They are so situated that in
looking towards the alcove, or place of the altar, the
regards of the worshipper are turned to the East. The
circumstance indicates that it was the custom of the
early Christians to pray in that direction, and that such
was the fact is abundantly attested by the fathers. “Let
prayers be made towards the East," says Clemens Alex-
andrinus, “because the East is the representation of
our spiritual nativity*." In mosques of this description
the Imam is compelled to turn himself a little to one side
in order to look towards his own Keblah. In one in-
stance I have seen the Imam's niche cut in the wall a
little aside from the middle of the alcove, in order to
correct the slight inaccuracy of the bearing.
On either side of the Mihrab generally stands a row
of huge candles, each one being from six to eighteen
inches in diameter, and, in the candlestick, eight and
even twelve feet high. These candles are lighted only
in the night, and in many of the country mosques only
* King's Primitive Church, p. 167.
VOL. I.


PULPITS.
122
on the evenings of Ramazan. Besides these, which are,
like the candles burned in the churches, gifts of religious
charity, there are numerous lamps suspended from the
lofty ceiling by long cords or wires, and hanging at about
the same height from the floor with the chandeliers of
our churches. They are commonly glass cups, partly
filled with water and partly with oil, and, being generally
hung in concentric circles throughout the apartment,
produce, when lighted, a singular effect. Interspersed
among them are globular forms of wood, or shells of
ostrich eggs, or other rude and simple ornaments.
Standing in the centre of the building, with his face
towards the Mihrab, the spectator sees on the left of it a
platform elevated a few steps above the floor. This is
the common pulpit where the Sheikh sits and addresses
the congregation after prayers. The frequency of these
discourses and their subjects are at the option of the
preacher. I was present in St. Sophia on one occasion,
during the noon prayers, when this discourse was deli-
vered. The Sheikh, a venerable man with a grey beard,
took his seat on the platform immediately after the devo-
tions were ended. Most of the congregation remained
and gathered around him, some sitting, others standing,
and all, like the preacher, retaining, as is customary in
Mussulman worship, their turbans. He spoke about fif-
teen minutes with great earnestness. That portion of
the service peculiar to the noon-prayer of Friday is deli-
vered by a minister, called Khatib, specially devoted to
this duty. It has also a pulpit for itself, which the spec-
tator sees on the right of the Mihrab. A flight of stairs
ascend from the body of the mosque, and terminate in a
landing place against the wall. The steps are about
twenty in number, and are protected on either side by
a balustrade which is sometimes of marble beautifully


124
MUSSULMAN EQUALITY.
ful. There are no inferiors before God. There are no
mosques for exclusive portions of society. The humblest
menial may, if he please, worship daily in those magni-
ficent temples built by royal patronage. He may stand
in the front rank of worshippers, and feel, without pride,
that while he stands there, all earthly distinctions are
forgotten.


CHAPTER V.
CONSTANTINOPLE.
RETROSPECT-DISAPPOINTMENT IN COLLEAGUES-DECISION-EXCURSION IN
MY
ASIA MINOR-DISAPPOINTMEN ELIEVED-PREPARATION FOR THE TOUR
ATTENDANT-HIS CHARACTER AND TRAVELS INCIDENT IN THE
BAZARS-TURKISH COURT OF JUSTICE-THE KADI-OATHS-BOND-FALSE
WITNESSES—THE ISSUE-OPINIONS OF MOHAMMEDANS RESPECTING THE
SACRED SCRIPTURES-DOCTRINE OF THE KORAN-RESEMBLANCES AND
DISCREPANCIES BETWEEN THE KORAN AND THE BIBLE-THE LATTER,
HOW REGARDED BY TURKS-HOW FAR CIRCULATED THE BIBLE IN
PERSIA-MARTYN'S LABOURS.
I must now go back, for a moment, to acquaint my
readers with certain events that transpired at the same
time with those which I have narrated, and which relate
more immediately to the history of my mission. At the
time of my departure from the United States, it was in
contemplation that a colleague should join me in Con-
stantinople during the fall. I had secured for this
pur-
pose a promise of the services of my excellent friend,
Dr. Savage, whose knowledge and experience in the
medical profession, it was hoped, would be of invaluable
benefit as a safeguard for ourselves in the inhospitable
regions through which the line of our tour was to pass,
and would be the surest passport to the kindness and
confidence of people almost destitute of the blessings of
the healing art. So, indeed, my own experience subse-
quently taught me it would have proved. But I was not


126
COLLEAGUES.
destined to enjoy the blessing. Some time after my em-
barkation, Dr. S. deemed it his duty to proceed to Africa
in connexion with the Protestant Episcopal Mission
about to be established on the Western shores of that
country. Almost the first information which I received
of the change in his destination, was that he was al-
ready on his way to Cape Palmas. Of the regret which
this change occasioned, I need not now speak. It was,
at the moment, considerably alleviated by the intelli-
gence which accompanied its announcement, from which
I learned that another gentleman had already been
appointed to succeed Dr. S. as my associate in the
Mission. The natural regret that I felt in the loss of a
medical colleague was also somewhat relieved by the
information, that my new companion would remain a
few months in the United States, for the pursuit of
medical studies. The delay again proved fatal to my
hopes. At the moment when I was expecting his arri-
val, the news of a providential obstacle having inter-
vened to prevent his embarkation reached my ears.
In the communication which brought it I was bidden to
expect no farther aid. The delay that had already
arisen had considerably curtailed the time that I was at
liberty to devote to the Mission. A longer detention at
Constantinople, in expectation of another colleague,
seemed, therefore, unadvisable. Such was the judgment
of the Committee, in which my own fully concurred.
This conclusion, however, placed me in a sore dilemma.
I must either go forward alone with, at the best, but a
feeble hope of living to complete the work, or I must
turn back and leave it to be a certain and signal failure.
In such circumstances there appeared no room to hesitate.
I determined to proceed to Persia, and thence to shape
my course as Providence and duty might direct.
1


CONSOLATION.
127
When I received this news I was at Smyrna, where I
had just terminated an excursion through the North-
Western part of Asia Minor. I had undertaken it to
try the extent of my acquisitions in Turkish, as well as
to improve them, and to learn by actual trial what pre-
paration would be most useful for my tour. I travelled
without an interpreter, and without any other than na-
tive means and appurtenances. I found as the result,
that the common themes of conversation were already
familiar to me, and that, with a little more practice, I
might venture upon any of the subjects of investigation
that lay before me. The prospect of being independent
of the aid of a native interpreter, who is always sensitive
concerning the estimation in which he is held, and has
always the power to direct the movements of his master,
and to fashion the information which he shall receive,
both as to quantity and quality, according to his own
convenience and fancy, and the ability of throwing
myself familiarly among those whose character, habits
and opinions it was my object to learn, were all suffi-
ciently elating.
Wise men have said that the ills of life are generally
attended by some relieving accompaniment of good. It
was certainly some abatement of my own disappoint-
ment, that I was ready for my work, and that the same
communication which had been the messenger of the
heaviest tidings that I had ever received, freed me at
the same time from the wearisomeness of
suspense.
I
had nothing farther to detain me from my tour. It was
now the first week in May. The best season for tra-
velling in the interior was passing away. I hastened,
therefore, back to Constantinople, and commenced im-
mediately the preparations for my departure.
By the first of June I was ready to start. My bag-


€
128
BAGGAGE.
gage consisted of two large Turkish bags of Russian
leather, sufficiently capacious to hold all that my wants
required, and intended to be slung upon a horse. Be-
sides this, I took two other bags of a thinner and lighter
material, designed to carry such articles as might be
needed on the way or at my lodging-places. By this
arrangement I hoped to avoid the necessity of opening
my baggage, excepting at places where I was to spend
several days. The small bags contained, therefore, a
leathern sack of ground coffee, a case of Turkish cups,
a small coffee-pot, a covering of thick, stout cloth, to be
assumed whenever overtaken by a storm on the road, a
Turkish lantern, tapers, napkins, slippers, and numerous
et ceteras, all purchased in the bazars of Constantinople.
The large bags carried my clothing, which consisted
chiefly of a few shirts and a new suit for cities, made
after the style introduced by the Sultan among his own
subjects and followed by himself, to wit, a frock coat
with standing collar and single breast, buttoning close
to the chin, pantaloons differing still less than the other
from a European garb, and a fez like that already
described. With these were a few books, to aid my
travels and inquiries, a goodly amount of stationery, a
small assortment of medicines, and a small canteen
which I caused to be made after an original pattern and
arranged with great care. This contained every thing
necessary for cooking and eating, and afterwards consti-
tuted in Tebriz all the furniture of my kitchen. Besides
this, there were numerous small articles for which there
are no English synonymes, and of which I should never
have dreamed if my own knowledge bad not been aided
by the superior wisdom and experience of my attendant.
This person, who was destined to bear an important
part in the events and fortunes of my journey, was an


MY COMPANION.
129
Armenian, and a native of Constantinople. He was of
a good family in the city, and engaged in my service
rather as a companion than a servant. He had travelled
over the East with a French Count, had visited Egypt,
Syria, Mesopotamia, and Armenia, had traversed Asia
Minor in every direction, had seen most of the islands of
the Archipelago, had been over Greece and the Ionian
Isles, and, when my acquaintance commenced with him,
had just returned from a second journey into Persia,
whither he had conducted the English ambassador.
His acquisitions were as various as his travels. He
knew more or less of eight different languages. Arme-
nian, Turkish, and Greek, were perfectly familiar to
him. He knew something of Persian and Arabic. He
was master of the Italian, could speak French with con-
siderable fluency, and stammered a little in English.
This variety of linguistic knowledge in the same indivi-
dual is not uncommon in Constantinople. It is generally
colloquial merely, and is acquired in the earliest years, so
that it is sometimes difficult to tell from a child's speech
to what nation he belongs. In some regions of the
country, as among the Greeks of the Southern sections
of Asia Minor, and the Chaldeans and Syrians of Meso-
potamia, the oral use of their national tongue is gene-
rally unknown, and Turkish or Arabic has taken its
place.
The qualifications of Hohannes, or John, for such
was the name which my attendant bore, were too pre-
eminent to be overlooked. Besides his lingual attain-
ments, he had received a partial education in the Jesuits'
College of Galata, and was both intelligent and fond of
knowledge, I hoped, therefore, that he might be of
efficient service to me in my own inquiries, and would aid
in extending my acquaintance with the countries through
G 3


INCIDENT.
130
which I was to pass. I lost no time, therefore, in
engaging him to accompany me.
A mutual pledge was
given in writing, in which he promised to abide by me,
and I, on condition of his good behaviour, to retain him
to the end of my tour. The value of his services was
eminently shown in the skill with which he superintended
the arrangements of our departure.
As we were walking one day in the bazars a singular
incident occurred. We were just issuing from a shop
under the arched way leading to one of the khans, when
a young Greek, who had been observing us for a few
minutes, stepped forward and stood in our path. His
appearance and action showed that he wished to attract
our notice, and John immediately asked what he wanted.
He replied by demanding the payment of a sum due to
him from John, saying that the latter had long escaped his
notice by having assumed the new costume of the Sultan,
in place of the Armenian dress which he formerly wore.
John was, at first, somewhat disturbed by the charge,
but promptly denied the debt, and demanded how much
the Greek supposed it to be. “ Ten piastres,” was
the reply. Upon this there followed a loud war of
words. John asseverated his innocence, and the Greek
persisted in the charge. He followed us as we pursued
our way, now and then plucking the Armenian by the
coat and vociferating his accusation in the hearing of
the multitude who thronged the bazar. The latter at
last lost all patience, and began to show an intention of
proving his innocence with his fists. Unwilling to see
him involved in a fray that might lead to consequences
prejudicial to my own interests as well as to himself, I
took him aside and remonstrated against his denying
the debt, if he had really incurred it, offering myself, in
that case, to discharge it. He persisted, however, in his


TURKISH COURT.
131
denial, and declared that he had never so much as seen
his accuser before. As I had already had strong proofs
of his integrity, I began to suspect that the whole charge
might be a fabrication, and advised him, if he could do
no better, to carry the matter before the proper autho-
rities. Immediately he turned to the Greek and called
upon him to follow.
We proceeded together to the Eski Serai (Old Palace),
the quarters of the Serasker Pasha, passed between the
sentinels stationed at the gate, crossed the spacious
court, and entered a small room. The parties advanced
and stood in the middle of the apartment, while I re-
mained at the door to watch the progress of the trial.
A middle-aged Effendi was seated opposite. The Greek
with a low selam opened his complaint, but great was
my astonishment when I heard him charge John with a
debt of seven times the amount that he had alleged in
the bazar. The Effendi turned to the Armenian and
asked him if he acknowledged the debt. Upon his reply-
ing in the negative, the judge told them that they must
go to the mehkemeh, or Kadi's Court, and immediately
ordered a servant to attend them. So good an oppor-
tunity of seeing the interior of a Turkish court of justice
could not be suffered to pass unimproved. I determined,
therefore, to follow.
We reached, at length, a low, red, wooden building, in
style and appearance like a Turkish house. The servant
conducted us up a flight of stairs into the presence of
an inferior officer, who has the first cognizance of such
The same process was repeated here as at the
palace, excepting that the officer ordered a scribe to
make a record of the case. We were then conducted
to the door of another apartment, before which hung a
heavy curtain of coarse cloth. The servant raised the
cases.


THE KADI.
132
curtain and told us to enter. Thinking that my evidence
might be of service to prove the contradiction in the
words of the Greek, I entered, and remained in the
middle of the floor with the parties. The room was a
small one, and without any other furniture than an ordi-
nary Turkish sofa opposite the door. In one corner of
this sofa sat a short and stout personage somewhat inclin-
ing to corpulency. At the moment of our entrance he
was munching a head of lettuce. We were in the pre-
sence of the Kadi, the ordinary distributor of justice in
Turkish cities, but one educated in the medresseh' and
learned in the law. The same questions as before were
asked and answered. Both parties seemed in great awe
of the superior presence in which they now stood, and
spoke with greater moderation than before.
When the Kadi observed the contradiction in their
words, he ordered a servant, who stood near the door
with his hands folded before him, to bring a book that
lay upon a small shelf in the corner of the apartment.
Upon this, an old and well-worn volume was put in the
hands of the accuser, who, holding it before him, pro-
nounced in Turkish these words : 66 By God, this man
owes me money.” John immediately took the book and
said, “ By God, I do not owe him money.” The judge
then demanded of the accuser,
" Where are your wit-
nesses ?” The Greek replied that he had friends who
would bear testimony to the debt, but wished for some
time that he might find them." Then," said the Kadi,
‘go away and return to-morrow," and calling the
attendant he required him to see that the defendant
found security for his appearance. The plaintiff and
defendant made a low obeisance, of which the Kadi took
no notice. I knew from the position which I occupied,
standing in the middle of the floor, that my own respects


FALSE WITNESSES.
133
would be received with no higher deference, and I, there-
fore, spared them. Before I had turned my back the
Kadi was engaged with his lettuce again.
John was able to secure the assent of his brother, a
respectable jeweller of the city, to stand responsible for
his re-appearance on the morrow, and we were permitted
to proceed upon our business. The kavass, or servant
who acted as constable in the case, had offered to settle
the affair for a competent present; but I advised John,
if he were truly innocent, to maintain it before the Kadi,
and he was a man of too much spirit to do otherwise.
Those who have an insight into life at Constantinople
know something of the incessant intrigues and lesser
rogueries which the love of money and of power, and
sometimes baser passions, are pursuing among the my-
riads of its population. A foreigner may spend his life
in the city without becoming conversant with them. It
is one, however, among the best known of the secrets of
the capital, that there are among the Mussulmans them-
selves professional false-witnesses, whose places of resort
are known, and who are always to be found ready to be
used as evidences to anything that their employer may
direct them to say.
The fact is familiar to every Mus-
sulman in the city, and is nowhere better known than
in the mehkemehs, where these professional characters
are recognised by their frequent appearance. The pro-
fession, however, is an easy one in a country where, in
civil cases, justice is administered in the most summary
manner, where there are no lawyers to cross-examine,
and but slight penal safeguards against perjury.
John imagined that the services of some of these
characters might be put into requisition in the present
instance, and, as the Greek had left the mehkemeh to go
in search of his witnesses, we thought it best to look into


OATHS.
134
some of the haunts of men of this sort. The result was,
that in passing a range of cafés notorious as the harbour-
ing places of such characters, we found the Greek in
earnest conversation with a Mussulman. We did not
disturb the conference farther than to make the former
aware of our presence. The confusion which the sight of
us created strengthened my conviction that the whole was
a piece of imposition. The issue of the business served
only to confirm it. The next day the father of the Greek
sent for John, made ample apology for his son's mistake,
and proposed to settle the matter by each one's making
a small present to the kavass. The Kadi, probably,
amidst the multiplicity of such cases daily presented
before him, never again thought of the trifling question
between the Armenian and the Greek.
All this may serve as an introduction to certain more
important information, which I may not have a better
opportunity to bestow upon my reader. He will have
observed the manner of the oath taken in this case, and
the fact of its having been administered upon the Gospel.
The Mussulman in like manner takes it
upon
the Koran,
and the Jew upon the Pentateuch or the Old Testa-
ment. Here is, then, an apparent recognition of the
divine authority of the religious books both of the Chris-
tians and of the Jews. The ancient form of the oath
was still more expressive. The witness, if a Jew, swore
“by that God who sent from Heaven the Bible to Moses;
and, if a Christian, "by that God who sent from Heaven
the Bible to Jesus Christ*.” It is not any change of
which has changed the terms of the oath, but
simply a regard to brevity. The Scriptures of the Old
and New Testaments are still, as they ever have been,
99
** Tableau Général de l'Empire Othoman. Par D'Ohsson. VI. 231.


THE KORAN AND THE BIBLE.
135
acknowledged as the word of God, and so to be received
by all true Mussulmans. It is at this point, if I mistake
not, that Islamism makes its nearest approach to Chris-
tianity, and it is in this connexion that we are to find
one of our highest encouragements in praying and hoping
for the conversion of the Mohammedans.
The founder of the religion expressly admitted the
divine authority of the Pentateuch, the Psalms, and the
Gospel. He regarded them as former revelations of the
same faith as he inculcated, and as confirmatory of his
own pretended revelation*. He uniformly announced
his religion as a third and final dispensation, based upon
Judaism and Christianity. In a word, he considered
these dispensations as standing in the same relation to
his
own,
that we conceive the former to hold to Chris-
tianity. He classed all true religion under the generic
term, Islam, or Devotedness to God, and claimed the
patriarchs and prophets of the Old Testament, and
Jesus Christ of the New Testament, as professors or
apostles of this one faith. He considered his own
dispensation as superior to the others, only because it
closed and completed all, but no one could consistently
receive it while rejecting those which preceded. He
made their sacred writings the model on which he
formed, and the storehouse from which he drew, his
own spurious revelations. He adopted their histories and
biographies, repeated their precepts, and in part their
doctrines, endorsed their sentiments, and borrowed even
their phraseologyt. The copy, it is true, bore only a
* See Appendix, VII.
+ The analogy between the Bible and the Koran is very fully and
accurately drawn by Forster, in his work entitled Mohammedanism
Exposed, Sect. VIII. Fifty pages are occupied with parallel passages
from the two volumes. The whole work of Forster is a masterpiece of
learned research and ingenious criticism.


136
DIFFERENCES.
partial resemblance to the original. With the inspired
narratives of Scripture were mingled the wildest legends
and the grossest absurdities.
It is still a question whether this was his own work,
or owing to the corrupt sources from which his materials
were drawn. Several spurious Gospels were then extant,
and the Talmud contained the amplest materials for
credulity and superstition to weave into a new fabric.
His departure, however, from the true text of Scripture,
and his announcement of doctrines contrary to those
contained in the sacred writings of the Jews and Chris-
tians, brought him into direct conflict with his own
professed standards. His only resort was to charge
these last with having been corrupted from the original
revelations, which he claimed to be in perfect accord-
ance with his own. Thus he separated his religion again
from that of the Bible, and put into the mouths of his
followers an argument, which to this day they have not
ceased to use. They acknowledge the divine authority
of the Bible, but it is of a supposititious book which,
if it could be found, would prove the exact counterpart
of the Koran. The first great object, therefore, to be
effected, would seem to be to prove the authenticity of
the Sacred Scriptures as now received by the Christian
Church*. But a great difficulty meets us here, in the
fact that to the mind of a Mussulman this is most satis-
factorily and conclusively disproved by the declaration
of his own prophet, which he presumes to be a sure and
undoubted revelation from Heaven. Here, therefore, as
* Professor Lee, of Cambridge, Eng., has adopted this idea, in his
translation of Henry Martyn's Controversies with the Persian Mol-
lahs, and has appended a learned Treatise to prove the Christian
Scriptures to have been preserved, in all important points, free from
corruption.


THE BIBLE AMONG MUSSULMANS.
137
I believe, on every other point, controversy would prove
useless.
A surer method would be to introduce the Scriptures
as far as practicable among the Mussulmans, and leave
them to their own examination and to the Spirit of God.
Even now, the Bible is by no means a stranger in the
hands of Mussulmans, for though those possessed by
Christians are supposed to be corrupt, they are, on the
whole, respected as the Word of God. Their connexion
with Mohammedanism, and the frequent allusions to
them in the Koran, render them an object of curiosity,
especially to the learned Mussulmans. They are fre-
quently sought after from no other motive than to learn
the nature of the doctrines which they teach. Several
instances have come to my knowledge in which men in
authority have sent requests for copies to Christians
whom they knew to possess them. The parts which
they choose and read with the greatest pleasure, are the
narrative portions, in which they often become intensely
interested.
About nine miles distant from Broussa, the first capi-
tal of the Turkish Empire, is a village inhabited by a
mixed population of Greeks and Turks. On a certain
occasion, the latter requested the priest of the village to
read the Gospel to them. He consented, and sat down
with most of the Mussulmans in the village around him,
and a copy of the New Testament, procured from an
American missionary in Broussa, in his hand. He
began and read on amidst almost breathless silence,
until the hour of meals had come. His hearers, how-
ever, had become so deeply interested in the narrative,
that they would not permit him to suspend the reading.
He continued, therefore, uninterrupted, until he came
to the closing scenes of the life of Christ. Here they


138
THE BIBLE AMONG MUSSULMANS.
stopped, for it is a doctrine of the Mohammedans that it
was not Jesus who was crucified, but some one in his
appearance and likeness *
The lives of the patriarchs and prophets are also a
favourite portion of the Scriptures to the Mussulmans.
Their own books are full of stories concerning them.
They speak of them with the deepest reverence. They
regard them all as veritable Mussulmans, as, in the
literal sense of the word, they indeed were. They adopt
their names. They respect the places of their birth, and
perform pilgrimages to their sepulchres.
The other portions of the sacred writings which Mus-
sulmans read with the highest admiration, are those
which abound in moral sentiments and precepts. Such
are the Psalms of David and the Proverbs of Solomon.
The former are replete with those expressions of adora-
tion and trust in God which are most congenial to a
devout Mussulman, and with allusions and resemblances
most familiar to the mind of an Oriental. The latter
is, throughout, an Eastern book. Its apothegmatical
and sententious style is that to which the minds of Mus-
sulmans are most accustomed in their own books on
moral truth and duty.
Not to particularise farther, I may mention the Ser-
mon on the Mount as another portion of Scripture
which I have heard Mussulmans read and expatiate
upon with evident delight. The only parts of the
sacred volume which Mohammed expressly recognised
as canonical, were the Pentateuch, the Psalms, and the
• The doctrine is thus declared in the Koran : “ They slew him not,
neither crucified him, but he was represented by one in his likeness."
This doctrine, as is well known, was one of the earliest heresies which
crept into the Church. Mohammed doubtless drew it from some of the
spurious Gospels which existed in his day.


THE BIBLE AMONG MUSSULMANS.
139
Gospel. The other parts, however, were not rejected,
but rather, under the general appellation of the Scrip-
tures, acknowledged. They are sometimes read, and
are even used to prove the divine authority of the apos-
tleship of Mohammed, for, corrupt as our Scriptures are
alleged to be, Mussulınan controversialists pretend to
find in them predictions concerning their own prophet*.
It is curious, indeed, to observe how much attention
has been given to them by Mohammedan divines.
They have been searched not only for the purpose just
mentioned, but to detect the corruptions which are sup-
posed to exist in them; and it is not a little singular that
the very passages which infidels have adduced as instances
of contradictions and inconsistencies, the followers of
Mohammed have preferred in proof of a less presumptu-
ous position. Books have also been written to show
that it is prohibited to Mussulmans to translate or cite
from the Bible, as it now exists, and, in accordance with
its supposed character, as being neither entirely pure
nor wholly spurious; tradition reports a saying of
Mohammed which forbids his followers either to believe
in or reject it.
Such prohibitions, however, do not prevent it from
being received and read. It is preserved with great
care, and is called, in common with the Koran, Kitabi
Scherif, or Noble Book. It is impossible to say how
far it has gone into circulation among the Mohammed-
It is certain that, at different times, a multitude of
copies have been distributed in Turkey. I have suffi-
cient reason to believe that in private it is attentively
perused by many individuals, and that it is sometimes
read and commented upon in companies of friends. It
ans.
* See Appendix, VIII.


140
THE BIBLE IN TURKEY.
has been sent into different parts of the kingdom, where,
besides those intended for Mussulmans, numerous copies
have been distributed among those Christians to whom
the Turkish is the vernacular tongue. It has been
openly offered for sale and read to Mussulmans at fairs,
and presents of copies have been made to governors of
towns and other men in authority. In Constantinople
from ten to fifteen copies are annually sold to Mussul-
mans from the depository of the British and Foreign
Bible Society. On one occasion, a copy of the New
Testament in each of the three great languages of the
Mussulmans-Arabic, Turkish, and Persian-was pur-
chased by officers from the mehkemeh, for the purpose
of examining whether the duties required of witnesses
were enjoined in the Scriptures of Christians*.
In Persia, the work of distribution has been much
more extensively prosecuted, and it is not uncommon to
meet with Persians who have formed some acquaint-
ance with the Scriptures. That portion which has gone
most widely into circulation is Martyn's translation of
the New Testament. By single copies it has made its
way into many houses, and I found those who were
acquainted with it in almost every city through which I
passed. Doubtless, if the search were made, they would
be found in considerable numbers, in most of the prin-
cipal places. All this is the result of a single year of
* I heard in Turkey some intimations of a Firman which had been
issued against the circulation of the Scriptures several years before, but
after the most diligent search I was unable
procure a copy. The Rev.
Dr. Walsh, late chaplain to the English Embassy in Constantinople, in
one of his volumes upon Turkey, gives a translation of a Firman on this
subject, which purports to have been issued in June 1824. It prohibits
the sale of the Scriptures in the bazars, and orders that, if found in the
hands of any Mussulman, they be “ snatched from him, cast into the
flames, and reduced to ashes."


THE BIBLE IN PERSIA.
141
missionary labour in Persia. If the heavenly mind of
him who through grace wrought these results, can now
contemplate this product of his solitary toil extending its
benign influence over the land of his sufferings and
prayers, is he not, even amidst the beatitudes of Heaven,
satisfied with his earthly travail ? The Scriptures, it is
true, have not as yet effected any marked change in
Persia. But the word of truth is there, and Persia is
not excluded from the promises of a universal blessing
through Christ. Martyn's translation of the New Tes-
tament will, doubtless, remain, as it now is, the standard
version in that language. By it, though dead, he yet
speaks. He has multiplied himself, and made his
agency coeval with the world. He has sent down an
influence through all the future ages of Persia, and,
while enjoying himself the rest for which he was so
eminently prepared, he has left on earth an agent to
prosecute his own labour to the end of time. May the
Church from which he went out, and her daughter of
the Western world, be deeply imbued with the same
faith and patience in the kingdom of Christ !


CHAPTER VI.
FROM CONSTANTINOPLE TO TREBIZOND.
PIRMAN-ITS CHARACTER-DEPARTURE FROM CONSTANTINOPLE-PASSENGERS
-BLACK SEA-SINOPE-TREBIZOND-ITS EARLY HISTORY-DESCRIPTION
- POPULATION-OSMAN PASHA-CHANGES-FRIENDS.
Our last act of preparation at Constantinople was to
procure a Firman of the Sultan, for we knew that as
soon as we left that city in an easterly direction, we
should be beyond the limits of those civilised lands where
the passports of one's own nation are a sufficient protec-
tion. The royal document which I received, through
the intervention of the American Chargé d'Affaires,
gave orders to all the magistrates and governors of cities,
towns and provinces, on the route which I intended to
travel into Persia, and upon that by which I was to re-
turn, to afford me, my interpreter, and two servants (for
I took care, by John's advice, that the protection should
be extended to all whom I might, at any time, have in
my service,) all needed aid and protection, to show me
the rites of hospitality, and to permit me to pass free
from all extortions, taxes, and hindrances whatever.
It was written, as is the custom, upon an open
sheet
of the glossy semi-pasteboard paper used for Turkish
manuscripts. At the very top was the small character
which stands as an abbreviation of Bismillah, In the
name of God; a pious phrase with which writings of all
kinds are generally prefaced in the East. Farther down


DEPARTURE.
143
was the great cipher of the Sultan; then followed the
manuscript; and after all, the signatures of the Grand
Vezir, the Reis Effendi, or Minister of Foreign Affairs,
the Register, the Scribe, and two or three other officers.
Besides this, I procured an order for post-horses, by
means of which I might be furnished with a specified
number of horses on any of the post routes, at the estab-
lished price of a piastre an hour, or about three far-
things per mile. This paper bore no signature lower
than that of the Reis Effendi. Another still was neces-
sary, which was a Custom-House pass, giving me per-
mission to leave the city and embark for Trebizond.
This was also headed by the sign of the universal Bis-
millah.
Thus prepared, I left Constantinople at ten o'clock,
on the morning of the first of June, in the same steamer
that had brought me to the city ten months before. The
deck of the boat was crowded with passengers of differ-
ent nations. There were to be seen men from the shores
of the Black Sea, from the interior of Asia Minor, from
the Caucasus, the borders of Kurdistan, and from Persia.
Among them were a Colonel of the Turkish army and
a legate from the Sultan to the court of the Shah, to
say nothing of captains and inferior officers. These were
all provided with a deck passage, and it was curious to
observe, in this instance, the almost paradoxical combi-
nation of extreme simplicity and extreme punctiliousness
in Turkish manners. The envoy was accompanied by
three or four servants, who attended upon him con-
stantly with the utmost precision of established etiquette.
Yet he seemed entirely unconscious of any derogation
from his rank in occupying a position on deck, although
he well enough knew our own distinctions in this respect.
His food for the voyage was put up in two or three fig-


144
THE TATAR.
drums, yet the place where he sat was distinguished
from all others by being close in the stern of the boat,
and a little elevated above the deck. I made, during
the passage, some acquaintance with him and the Colo-
nel, which was afterwards increased in Erzroum. Nei-
ther of them used the tchibouk, but both were inveterate
snuff-takers. The two habits are not unfrequently com-
bined in a Turk, but I believe none of them have yet
reached the civilisation of the quid. It used to be one
of my standing tales of the wonders of the West, that
people are there found who chew tobacco, and the
information was generally as astounding to my listeners
as a story of a railroad.
I must not forget another character on board who
honoured me with his acquaintance. He was a Tatar,
or Government courier; a profession with which my
reader will become more familiar, if he continue with
me to the end of my tour. The individual in question
was one of that class of Mussulmans for which this pro-
fession is distinguished, a neglecter of prayers, one who
drinks rakee, the Eastern substitute for rum, and is not
over-scrupulous in telling the truth. He wished to
accompany me from Trebizond to Erzroum. He was
just returning from Constantinople, whither he had been
to take a wife. He had another, he said, in Trebizond,
so that, as his business called him most frequently to
these two places, he might be always at home. I subse-
quently knew another Tatar, who had the full number
of wives allowed by the Koran, and these were distri-
buted along the route which he generally travelled, one
at Constantinople, another at Tocat, a third at Diar-
bekir, and a fourth at Bagdad.
Our passage of the Black Sea was easy and pleasant.
The coast was one continuous range of hills thrown


SINOPE.
145
together in singular confusion and rising into higher
eminences beyond. It appeared to be nowhere rock-
bound, nor indented with harbours, excepting that of
the ancient Sinope. This beautiful bay opens to the
East, and affords the best harbour on the Southern
shore of the Black Sea. The town still bears a simili-
tude to its ancient name, in the Turkish Sinab. The
date of its original foundation is lost in the highest anti-
quity. Its advantageous position for commerce doubt-
less pointed it out to the Milesian colony which first
settled there. In the reign of Mithridates, it was a
capital of Pontus. It was also the birth-place of Dio-
genes, to whose memory the inhabitants of the city
erected statues. Its commercial greatness had departed
before it fell into the hands of the conqueror of Constan-
tinople, and probably since that period it has had no
increase. It is still, however, in this and in every point
of view, one of the most important places on the shore
of the Black Sea. We touched there the first night
after leaving Constantinople. The next forenoon we
reached Samsoun, a pretty town lying upon the curve
of a broad bay, and at half-past twelve, noon, of the third
day, arrived at Trebizond.
This city is familiar to every reader of Eastern his-
tory as the ancient Trapezus. The Turks here, as in a
multitude of instances, have preserved some memento
of the name in their appellation of Tarabezon. Like
most of the cities of the East, it has passed through
every vicissitude of fortune. Originally founded by a
Greek colony from Sinope, it rose to greatness during
the second century of the Christian era, when the Em-
peror Hadrian constructed there an artificial port, the
remains of which are visible at the present day. It was
already celebrated for its wealth and splendour, when
VOL. I.
H


146
TREBIZOND.
it was taken and desolated by the Goths, in the third
century. It afterwards reverted to the Greeks, and,
when Constantinople fell into the hands of the Latins, it
was erected into an independent dukedom, over which
a branch of the dethroned Comnenes reigned with the
proud title of Emperor. By the last of these princes it
was surrendered to Mohammed II., the year following
his acquisition of Sinope.
It is near the south-eastern extremity of the Euxine,
and at a point favourable for commerce. Its harbour,
however, affords no secure anchorage for shipping, and
its ancient trade is long since extinct.
long since extinct. It is only within
the last ten years that there have appeared some signs
of revival. Within the five years preceding my visit,
the importation of European produce had quadrupled.
The establishment of steam communication with Con-
stantinople the year before, had given the trade a new
impulse. Could its ancient advantages be restored, and
the sources of commerce be quickened in the interior,
it might yet rival its former greatness. At present it
has little to boast, excepting the beauty of its position.
Its bazars are inferior, its houses, generally, of a poor
appearance, and some of its streets so narrow that the
passenger, walking in the middle, can almost touch both
sides with his hands. It has still a wall, which must
have stood for ages. An intelligent friend, for several
years a resident in the city, supposes it to have been
erected by the Genoese, during the period when they
had the trade of the Levant in their hands, and to have
been only the first of a line of similar fortifications still
to be seen at different points along the route from Tre-
bizond to Persia. At present it encloses but a part of
the city, and would seem to be unequal to the overflowing
population for which Trebizond was formerly distinguished.


POPULATION.
OSMAN PASHA.
147
An accurate observer informed me that there were
about 5000 families within the walls, all of which were
Turkish. This estimate would give a Mussulman po-
pulation of about 25,000; my informant believed it to
be 24,000. The Christians, of whom 2500 are Greeks,
1200 Armenians, and about 300 Armenian Catholics
and Franks, reside without the wall, beyond which the
town extends towards the East. The whole population
may then be about 27,000. Travellers and geographers,
within the last century, have variously estimated it from
100,000 to 15,000, a discrepancy which may serve, at
least, to teach us how little dependence is to be placed
upon estimates of Eastern population. My own con-
viction is that it is generally overrated for particular
places, but underrated in the estimates for large regions.
Trebizond is the chief town of the pashalic of Trebi-
zond, which has been gradually enlarged until it reaches
along the Black Sea to the Kizzil Ermak on the one
hand, and inward so as to include Gumush Khaneh on
the other. Its ruler, Osman Pasha, is a dervish and a
Mussulman of the old school. He carries out, it is
said, the principles of his religion into the most rigid
practice. He abstains even from the indulgence of the
pipe; and my informant, who was a native, added, as a
still higher proof of his moderation, he has only three
wives. His prejudices are believed to be opposed to the
new system of the Sultan, but, with all his attachment
to the ancient principles of his faith, he is politic enough
to conceal his displeasure. He has, indeed, been of most
essential service to the Sultan in subduing the indepen-
dent chiefs and lawless tribes with which his pashalic
was infested. Such a man is rarely to be found in Tur-
key at the present day, among those high in authority.
If it is ungrateful to find one who still adheres to the
H2


MUSSULMANS.
148
austere dogmas and practices of Islamism, it is at least
some abatement to know that they have saved him from
that laxness of principle and conduct which, in most
cases, follow their subversion. The present influence of
Europe upon Turkey tends most strongly to infidelity
and licentiousness,-an infidelity worse than Islamism,
and a licentiousness more to be deplored than polygamy.
Osman Pasha is a severe moralist as well as a sincere
Mussulman. He openly and strongly discountenances
vice. One instance was related to me of his having
banished a domestic from his service for a lewd ex-
pression in conversation.
Under such a ruler it were not to be expected that the
Turks themselves would exhibit any marked signs of
the changes which are so powerfully working in the
capital. These changes, indeed, are hardly yet per-
ceptible in the interior, by the same visible indication as
in Constantinople. The traveller is surprised on leaving
the city, where everything appears in a state of transi-
tion, to find himself suddenly thrown among a popula-
tion bearing the same impress that they have preserved
for
ages.
I do not mean that the influence of reform
has not been felt widely and deeply throughout the land.
But it has not yet awakened Turkish mind from its
sleep of ages.
It is working quietly and silently, but
(especially since the recent abdication of government
monopolies) it is working among the elements of na-
tional character and destiny. Trebizond has felt less the
influence of the changes in the capital, because, until
the introduction of steam navigation on the Euxine,
it has, from its retired position, been farther removed
from Constantinople than many places more remote in
the interior. Yet I was not able to learn that its Mus-
sulman population were more bigoted than in other


FRIENDS.
149
I was
parts of the Empire, or that they were peculiarly strict
in their religious observances. On the contrary, some
of the most gratifying instances of liberality of senti-
ment and freedom of inquiry that have ever come to my
knowledge were related to me at Trebizond.
told of one Mussulman who had asked for and received
a Bible from a Christian; of another who had been
brought to acknowledge the insufficiency of his religion
in its provision for the most momentous of our moral
wants, the want of a Saviour; of many who were willing
to converse freely and candidly on religious topics; and of
several who had read and commended the word of God.
I regarded Trebizond as the starting point of my
tour, for the passage of the Euxine being of the nature
of a pleasure excursion, was not proper to appear in an
account in which every item of experience was expected
to contain a fair proportion of hardship and annoyance.
I tarried there four days, under the hospitable roof
of the Rev. Mr. Jackson, an old friend and class-
mate. He was residing here as a missionary, in con-
nexion with the Rev. Mr. Johnston, but is since, I
believe, removed to a more promising sphere of labour
at Erzroum.


CHAPTER VII.
TREBIZOND TO GUMUSH KHANEH.
CARAVANS AND POST-HORSES-LEAVE TREBIZOND-LAZES-VALLEY CHIEFS
-VISIT FROM ONE-THE PEASANT-HILLS AT SUNRISE-OPPRESSION
DEFEAT OF REFORM-SUMMITS --SNOW-STORM-STAVROS-TURKISH TRA-
VELLERS-GUMUSH KHANEH-MINES AND POVERTY-TURKISH POLITY
POPULATION-SCHOOLS-HOSPITALITY.
Now that experience has so abundantly taught me the
superior pleasure and convenience of travelling with
post-horses in Turkey, I know not what could ever have
induced me to hire a muleteer, to convey me to Erzroum.
It must have been that I was thereto persuaded by
others, for of all tedious things it is the superlative to be
packed upon caravan horses like so much merchandise,
and to travel some hundreds of miles at the rate of three
per hour. These horses are the same as are used in the
trade of the country, for, as of old, the whole trade of
the East is on the backs of animals,-horses, mules,
asses, or camels.
They may belong to the muleteer
who drives them, or to a richer man who remains at
home and lets his horses, perhaps hundreds in number,
for the transportation of merchandise. It is a matter of
indifference to him of what nature the burden may be.
It may be a bale of goods or it may be a traveller. The
latter may always find these horses at his command, if
he is content to be carried at the same price and with as
much expedition and attention to comfort as if he were
the former.


DEPARTURE.
151
vere.
I engaged four such animals, at such a price, and for
such a purpose, the day before I left Trebizond, reserv-
ing only the condition, in consideration of my huma-
nity, that I should not be compelled to lodge in any open
field where the muleteer might chance to find the best
feed for his horses, but should go on by regular stages
from village to village. The condition proved too se-
While I awaited the time of my departure, the
muleteer made a bargain for less troublesome goods,
and never returned to fulfil his engagement with me,
No other caravan horses were then in the city. I was
therefore reduced to the unwelcome necessity, as I then
felt it, of travelling more comfortably on post-horses.
The Pasha obeyed the royal order which I sent him by
John, and ordered the horses to be provided immedi.
ately.
At one hour before noon, on Thursday the 8th of
June, we mounted. The baggage-horse and muleteer
were sent forward at an earlier hour, while we followed
with my American friends, who accompanied me to the
summit of the hill that rises abruptly behind the town,
where we parted, probably for ever. From this point a
beautiful scene of cultivated grounds and verdant fields
stretching away from the city along the foot of the hill,
spread itself before the eye, and seemed like a happy
augury for the long and various way before me.
We soon overtook our muleteer and followed him
down into the Deyerman Dereh, or Mill Valley, through
which runs a stream of the same name, We pursued
our way along its right bank amidst scenes of great love-
liness. The hills on either side were cultivated nearly
to their summits. The shingle-roofed houses scattered
along the steep declivities, wore a newer and neater ap-
pearance than I had ever observed before in the country


AYANS.
152
places of Turkey. These were the abodes of the La-
zes, of whom our guide said, that they were Mussul-
mans and spoke a corrupt Greek. Foot-paths alone
lead to their dwellings. Formerly they were notorious
robbers, subject only to the Lords of the Valleys who
ruled over these regions. The seat of one of those old
chieftains was pointed out about nine miles from Trebi-
zond, perched on the summit of a tall, sharp ridge, rising
boldly from the midst of the valley and dividing it into
two branches. This aerial palace was now the man-
sion of the Ayan, who rules the district around, under
the Pasha of Trebizond. These Ayans are the peace-
ful successors of the lawless chiefs who once held free
sway in these wild mountains, or, as in some instances
is the fact, they are the same chiefs reduced to the con-
dition of loyal rulers. Partly by intrigue and partly by
violence, the Pasha has succeeded in bringing them all
into subjection.
We took the right branch of the valley, and followed
it until we reached Jevizlik, a hamlet some 18 miles from
Trebizond, where we tarried for the night. Soon after
sunset we received a visit in the coffee-shop where we
had taken lodgings, from' one of the Ayans of the neigh-
bouring valleys. He was stuck round with pistols, and
appeared as wild and uncultivated as the scenery amidst
which he dwells. About twenty attendants followed at
his heels, who were even more wild and uncultivated
than himself. We had been accompanied from Trebi-
zond by a peasant who declared that one of our horses
belonged to him, and had been forcibly impressed into
our service by an officer of the Pasha. He now appealed
to the Ayan, who listened to his story, but when he heard
that the horses were given by order of the Pasha, he
declined interfering in the matter. I had been myself


SUNRISE.
153
excessively chagrined when I first heard the poor man's
complaint, which was only after I had overtaken the
muleteer and we were considerably advanced on the
road. Even then my first impulse was to turn back, but
John had experience enough to convince me that it was
impracticable to remedy the matter; and he closed a long
lecture on the proper mode of travelling in Turkey
with this sad but judicious admonition: “ If you expect
to repair every act of injustice which you may meet with
in your travels, you will soon find your time and influ-
ence wasted to no purpose."
Having closed the labours of the first day with a din-
ner of eggs and yoghourt*, we wrapped our cloaks about
us and stretched ourselves to rest, with the floor for our
bed and our saddles for pillows. The next morning we
were on horse at half-past five, when, leaving the valley
we had hitherto pursued, and crossing the little stream
that had thus far accompanied us, we turned into an-
other valley to the right, and soon began to ascend along
the side of the mountain on our left. The morning was
remarkably fine. A feathery mist hung in fleeces about
the hills. It extended, for a few minutes shrouded us
in thick fog, and then as suddenly opened, rose, became
condensed, and gathered in magnificent banks of white
clouds around the summits of the mountains, contrasting
strongly with their dark sides, and forming with their
wild scenery the most imposing prospects.
As we advanced the path became exceeding difficult
from recent rains and broken pavements, which last
rather increased than diminished the natural roughness
of the way. Cultivation now ceased, and we plunged.
into a forest of noble spruce and hard-wood trees. In
* Pronounced yo-oort—sour curd made from milk, a common article
of food both in Turkey and Persia.
A 3


154
REFORM,
the difficult passes over which our path lay, we overtook,
at short intervals, six or seven companies of peasants,
who were employed in dragging as many small field-
pieces over rugged and steep rocks which seemed insur-
mountable. Some of the ascents which we could ac-
complish only by picking a zigzag course over the rocks,
they were compelled to scale in a right and nearly ver-
tical line. The difficult nature of the work may be
understood from the fact, that there were not less than
fifty stout men attached to each gun. We afterwards
passed one on the summit of the mountain, fast fixed in
a snow-drift. Peasants with rude pipes accompanied
the parties, either to give the wearisome march a more
martial aspect or to beguile its tediousness by the charms
of music, while the conductors of the companies ran by
the side of the labourers with long sticks in their hands,
with which and with many shouts they urged them on
like so many cattle.
This too was reform. These guns were on their way
to Erzroum, and the men who were performing the ar-
duous duty of drawing them over the mountains, were
peasants taken by force and without pay from the coun-
try around. The mode of march was for the inhabitants
of each village or district to receive them from the last
and drag them forward to the next. In this simple in-
cident the observer may trace the radical error of East-
ern reform. It is of a factitious and unnatural growth,
or rather it was so at the time of which I now speak, for
later changes denote a clearer view of the true principle
of national improvement. In Turkey, and still more in
Egypt, the object in view has been military strength,
while the only sure grounds on which such strength can
rest were overlooked. It was forgotten, or rather it was
the last thought to enter the mind of an Eastern ruler,


KARA KABAN.
155
that there can be no true elevation unless the people are
elevated, and that there is no foundation for national
power of any kind, while individual industry is repressed
by innumerable discouragements, and the sources of pro-
duction are withered by oppression and misrule. Com-
pelled, by the necessity of their position, to gather around
them a large military force, Mohammed Ali and Mah-
moud II. aimed at the effects before they had the rudi-
ments of European civilisation; and hence it is that one
sees the implements of war dragged over a country with-
out roads, by peasants violently impressed, who are thus
taught to hate improvement by the new hardships which
it brings.
A more peaceful and a more grateful sight were the
long trains of caravans, with from thirty to fifty horses
in each, that came winding down the mountain path at
short intervals, each horse walking free under his burden,
and carefully smelling and choosing his own way among
the stones. Four hours' travel brought us to Kara Ka-
ban, a cluster of small buildings with dram-shops and
stables for the refreshment and repose of travellers. Hence
the whole group, like the hamlet of Jevislik, is called a
Khan, a name more commonly given to the large edifices
in cities which serve as places of entertainment for stran-
gers. Most of the buildings at Kara Kaban were new,
being constructed of stone with shingled roofs. On in-
quiring the cause, I was told, that the robbers with whom
the mountains were formerly infested destroyed or
prevented the erection of these places of entertainment,
and that their existence now was owing only to the im-
proved state of the country.
Beyond Kara Kaban the forest ceases entirely. The
heights, though still retaining their verdure, are destitute
even of shrubs, and are visited by incessant rains and


156
STAVROS.
fogs. Here we passed patches of snow lying in the hol-
lows and clothing some of the highest points. Just after
we left the Khan a violent snow-storm commenced and
followed us for about two hours over the loftiest summits.
It was accompanied by a furious wind, most bitterly cold,
which penetrated our thickest garments and benumbed
both ourselves and our horses. The mountains on every
side were suddenly covered with a white coat, and we
seemed at once transported from the heats of summer
into the midst of winter. The return was equally rapid.
Within ten minutes from the cessation of the storm, the
sun was shining out so clear and warm that our cloaks
became uncomfortable.
Descending from these heights through winding val-
leys, whose sides, composed of loose soil, afforded in some
places a very precarious footing, we arrived late in the
afternoon at the little village of Stavros (the Cross), or,
as it is spoken by the inhabitants, Stavree. A young
Greek met us on the confines of the village and con-
ducted us to a stable where we and our horses passed the
night. We had intended to spend it in better quarters
at Gumush Khaneh, the first town on our route, still
eighteen miles distant. But our horses had broken
down upon the mountains, and it was only by shifting
the baggage from one to another, and performing a good
part of the latter half of the journey on foot, that we
were able to reach a shelter before nightfall.
The next morning we started in better condition, and
were soon up among the hills again. Our company
was now increased by the addition of a Kaimakam,
the Turkish equivalent of a major, who had been to the
capital in quest of a wife, and was now returning to his
station at Erzroum, accompanied by his bride and her
mother. The general shape of the Turkish dress being


TURKISH TRAVELLERS.
157
the same for man and woman, the latter rides on horse-
back in the same manner as the former, but covered
from head to foot in the yashmak and ferejeh. This
was the first time that the young bride had been out of
Constantinople, and when the party left Trebizond in the
morning of the same day with ourselves, it was the
first time she had ever ventured on horseback. We
had overtaken them the day before in the midst of
the storm on the mountains, in a most disconsolate con-
dition. The major was separated from the rest of his
party, his horse had broken from him, and when the sky
cleared, was standing in a dejected posture on the top of
a neighbouring height. The party, however, succeeded
in reaching Stavros before night, where the major caused
a house to be cleared for the reception of his harem and
made his Selamlik* in a stable like our own. During
the evening I sent a cup of tea to his lodgings, and the
next morning we started together on more intimate
terms.
The ladies rode in advance, and as they were entirely
unaccustomed to journeying, every brook that ran across
our path, and every difficult ascent or declivity, was a
subject of alarm and exclamation. At length the younger
of the party broke forth in petulant displeasure, and
began to reproach her new spouse with having deceived
her in bringing her so long and perilous a journey.
this your country,” she exclaimed, “which you told me
was so beautiful ? There are nothing but rivers, and
mountains, and rocks. Alas, that I ever left Stamboul !"
The officer acted the part of a good husband, and en-
deavoured to appease her by kind assurances that this
was not his country, and that when they should come to
it, she would find that he had told her the truth.
* The apartment for men in a Turkish house.
66 Is


158
GUMUSH KHANEH.
We reached Gumush Khaneh about noon. As it
was now Saturday, and I intended to spend Sunday
there, our first care was to procure suitable lodgings.
For this purpose I despatched John to the governor of
the town, who, upon the sight of the firman, appointed
us a place in the house of the superintendant of the
mines for which Gumush Khaneh is celebrated. The
superintendant himself came to conduct us to our quar-
ters, which were in an elevated situation, commanding
an extensive prospect, and refreshed by the cool breezes
of the hills. The town, which lay beneath us, was built
in the form of an amphitheatre along the steep sides of
a bend in the mountains. Its appearance, both within
and without, was very unprepossessing. Its flat-roofed
houses of earth, rising one above another, appear like ex-
crescences from the parched soil of the mountains, and
the streets which run among them are dirty, irregular,
and wearisome lanes. The inhabitants, too, appeared
in good keeping with the other features of the place.
We everywhere met with women in rags, or squalid
and half-naked children begging for paras.
Before we
reached our lodgings we were accosted by nearly fifty
of this character.
The history of the place explains both its situation
and condition. The mountains in the vicinity bear ores
of different kinds in their bosomg. Hence it is that this
unfavourable position was chosen as the site for a town,
and hence too the name it bears *. These mines for-
merly yielded 600 okkas (1500lbs.) of silver annually,
and
gave support to a large number of families. They
now afford only from twenty to thirty okkas, and conse-
quently a large portion of the population are thrown out
of employment and plunged into poverty and wretchedness.
* Gumush Khaneh--Place of Silver.


LEGISLATION.
159
As everything in the civil condition of a people has
an immediate bearing upon the question of their moral
improvement, so did I regard even the mines of Gumush
Khaneh as having an important connexion with the
great object of my investigations. The reason why so
large a portion of the population remain here, after the
means of livelihood are cut off, is to be found, I appre-
hend, in that new but most impolitic regulation of the
Turkish government, which forbids any one to remove
his residence from one town to another without a firman
from the Sultan, the procural of which by a poor subject
of the interior is next to an impossibility. The law,
however, is an admirable specimen of the shortsighted-
ness of Turkish legislation, which is practically based
upon no principles of political economy, but is a kind of
patchwork, in which each piece is put in to cover a par-
ticular spot, without considering whether it
the other parts, or conforms to the general design and
appearance of the whole.
There had been a great reduction of population in
certain parts of the empire on account of emigration to
other parts. To prevent this supposed evil the law was
made, without, apparently, its having been at all con-
sidered, that it was the interest of individuals which in-
duced the emigration, that by a change of place they be-
came greater producers, and that thus the prosperity of
the nation as well as their own was promoted. To keep
the population at its height, several hundreds of poor
must stay and starve in Gumush Khaneh, who might
be employed elsewhere in the cultivation of the ground,
or in working more profitable mines in other parts of
the empire.
As it is, the population of Gumush Khaneh is eight
hundred families, including those in the valley below the
agrees with


160
POPULATION.
one.
It was
town. Of these, four hundred are Greek, two hundred
Armenian, and as many Museulman. The Armenian
population includes eight Armenian Catholic families.
These last have a priest, but no church. The Greeks,
on the contrary, have four churches, and the Armenians
The former had lately established two new and
promising schools. Teachers of some experience had
been obtained from the capital. Ancient and modern
Greek, with penmanship, were the principal branches
taught. Several of the pupils came to see me.
a peculiar gratification to hear from them the sweet and
polished tones of the Constantinopolitan Greek, which
they had acquired in the school, while their parents
spoke a jargon which my interpreter, though well versed
in the language, could not understand.
Notwithstanding the discomforts of the place, my own
stay was very agreeable. My host gave up to me his
best apartment, and set before me his choicest cheer. I.
thought that such hospitality must be Mussulman, and.
was not a little surprised to hear my entertainer acknow-
ledge himself a Greek. He wore the yellow slippers
and the white turban of a Turk, a privilege sometimes
granted to Christians in office ; and his truly Turkish
hospitality made the deception complete.


CHAPTER VIII.
FROM GUMUSH KHANEH TO ERZROUM.
LEAVE GUMUSH KHANEH-XENOPHON-ANCIENT FORTRESS-BALAHOR-
BAIBOUT-SINGULAR EDICT OF THE SULTAN-CAUSE OF IT-HOW FAR
OBEYED-MUSSULMANS OF BAIBOUT-PROSPECTS OF REFORM-MEDICAL
LABOURS-RELIGIOUS CHARITY - ITS
OBJECTS ITS
DECLINE SCENE
AMONG THE MOUNTAINS-ASHKALEH-WARM SPRINGS-PLAIN OF ERZ-
ROUM-GENERAL REMARKS-AGRICULTURE PEOPLE.
We left Gumush Khaneh at an early hour on Monday
morning, and re-crossing the river before the town, took
a more easterly direction, following the line of the
mountains through a valley overhung by barren and
rocky heights. About nine miles from the town we
passed a small village called Tekeh, a corruption, it
may be, of the ancient name Teches, which belonged
to the adjacent mountains when Xenophon and his
disheartened Greeks descried from their summit the
waters of the Euxine. As we wound through a bend
in the valley, about six miles farther on our way, a mag-
nificent spectacle suddenly opened before us. There
rose perpendicularly from the bottom of the vale a rock
of immense height, crowned by a tower, which seemed at
first the highest pinnacle of the solid foundation on
which it stood. As we advanced, we perceived that it
was connected with an extensive fortress, which was
accessible only on the farther side where the ridge
declined to the valley.


162
BAIBOUT.
Beyond this ridge the country began to assume a new
appearance. The barren and discoloured steeps sank
into gentle hills spread over with verdure, and the dry
bottom of the valley expanded into a broad and beauti-
ful plain, covered with numerous herds of goats. Cultiva-
tion, of which we had only seen here and there a soli-
tary patch since leaving the delightful valley of the
Mill River, again appeared, and in a secluded nook lay
the little village of Balahor, the first of those villages
of round-topped houses so common throughout Armenia,
on the borders of which we now were. I shall have
more to say of them when we shall have penetrated
deeper into the country. We reposed till near midnight,
when we started again, and, after an easy ride, entered
Baibout at early dawn.
This town is singularly situated in a basin of the
mountains, which rise high and bare on every side. A
rapid stream, which has its source twenty-four miles
above, flows through the place. It has a population of
four hundred Mussulman and one hundred Armenian
families, and boasts, besides, six mosques, four mesjids,
and a church. As we are to remain here a day, and I
have nothing more to say of the place, I will take the
opportunity to discourse of other matters.
During the month of January, 1837, a royal order
was issued at Constantinople and proclaimed through
the streets, requiring all true Mussulmans to perform
their regular devotions in the mosques. It is a privi-
lege granted by the religion, that the Mussulman may
offer the stated prayers in the mosque or elsewhere at
his pleasure. The new regulation seemed to have been
made to arrest the growing neglect of this most sacred
duty. It originated undoubtedly among the Oulema,
and afforded the strongest proof of their own conviction


RELIGIOUS EDICT.
163
that there was a decline in the rigid observances of
Islam. Such I know to be a common sentiment among
Mussulmans. The general confession that the religion
is waning, has been made to me by numerous individuals
among
them in different parts of the empire. By some
the present is regarded as the approach of that season
of universal apostacy when, as the Koran, receiving the
hint from Christianity, predicts, Jesus shall reappear
on the earth and subdue all nations, not to himself,
but to Mohammed. The indication most commonly
alleged in support of this belief, is the prevailing neglect
of prayer; and this was the evil which the imperial
edict was intended to correct. · As a penalty for its
violation, those who continued still to offend were con-
ducted to the courts of the mosques and bastinadoed.
The prospect of such a punishment had its desired
effect. The lost devotion of thousands suddenly returned.
The mosques were again crowded, and the stalls of
Mussulmans in the bazars were deserted at the hour of
prayers.
On my return to Constantinope in 1838, the law was
still in force, though the multitude were gradually revert-
ing to their old habits. Yet I remember one day
seeing a kavass walking through the bazars at the hour
of prayer, with a whip in his hand, rousing the Turks as
he passed, and driving them off to the mosques. In the
mean time I was curious to know whether it had been
promulgated elsewhere, and made inquiries for it in
every part of the kingdom. I found that it had been
everywhere proclaimed, and heard various comments
upon it in different quarters. An old Turk at Baibout,
to whom I applied for information, bore a high testi-
mony to the religious character of his townsmen. “ There
is no need of such orders here," he said, “ for we all


ENDOWMENTS.
167
duty is left to each man's sense of religious obligation.
The amount, also, is referred to the judgment of the
benefactor. The Koran, however, requires that it be
made with the design of seeing the face of God*,” or,
in other words, as a claim upon his mercy in the day of
judgment. In this light it is incessantly urged in the
Koran upon all good Mussulmans. In the earlier ages
of Mohammedanism, the requisition was most rigorously
observed, as the remains of noble colleges, bridges, &c.,
abundantly attest.
But in this, as in every other respect, the religion has
greatly declined. A new public edifice is rarely to be
met with, either in Turkey or Persia. In both countries
the great objects of public beneficence are nearly the
same, mosques, medressehs, baths, bridges, and caravan-
saries. The fountains, however, which are often among
the most splendid structures in the cities of Turkey, and
at which the weary traveller in the interior often stops
to refresh himself, are almost unknown in Persia. The
decline of this kind of charity in both countries is not to
be attributed entirely to the decline of Mohammedanism,
but in part to the increase of poverty and civil oppres-
sion in later centuries. Still there remains enough to
indicate that even a corrupt religion may tend to the
advancement of public prosperity and happiness, espe-
cially when, as in the present instance, its best principles
are borrowed from Christianity.
We followed the windings of the river for more than
twenty miles, through a broad and pleasant valley and
between green hill-sides. As we approached its source
we began to ascend rapidly, and continued our upward
course until we were again on the fresh, cool summits of
* Chap. ii.


ASHKALEH.
168
the mountains and in the region of snow. From the
highest of the successive peaks which we passed, the
view was the most grand and awful that I had ever
witnessed. Before us and far below our feet extended
a vast country, traversed by ranges of hills running in
every direction and appearing like gigantic fortifications
upon an immense plain. Beyond, were lines of loftier
heights covered with snow. Behind us rose a tall, bare
peak, robed in clouds, while, from the right, huge black
masses were sailing majestically towards us, with a pale
sheet of rain, in appearance like dense vapour, let down
from the lower edge to the earth, and vivid lightnings
darting over their gloomy surface. A perfect stillness
reigned around, rendering the scene still more sublime
and terrific. While we stood contemplating it in silent
awe, suddenly a low, murmuring sound was heard, which
seemed to proceed from the approaching cloud. It
increased as the cloud advanced, until it grew to a wild
howl, when cloud and sound suddenly swept by us
with the force of a hurricane, nearly hurling us, with
our horses, to the ground. In descending, our guide
lost the path, but succeeded at length in leading us by
a tedious route to the village of Ashkaleh, where we
arrived after a march of twelve weary hours.
This village, though a little place, is worthy of men-
tion as the first stage on the great route from Erzroum
to Tocat and Constantinople, and as lying upon the head
waters of the Euphrates, here called the Kara Sou
(Black Water). It has thirty Turkish families ; the
Armenians, who once formed part of the population, hav-
ing been carried off, together with most of the Christians
in all the villages on the plain of the Kara Sou, by the
Russians, in their return from the invasion of 1829.
Here, too, I met with the first Kurd that I had ever seen.


WARM SPRINGS.
169
He seemed the only active man in the village, and his
open, well formed, though sallow face, gave me an agree-
able prepossession in favour of his people. Six or seven
Turks came in, in the evening, to smoke our tobacco and
drink our coffee. They inquired, as usual, about the
wonderful doings of the Sultan, and John repeated all
the marvels which he had recounted at Baibout. They
were most surprised by his description of a steamboat,
and interrupted his story with frequent Mashallahs*.
They had manifested a considerable desire of innovation
among themselves, having recently erected a neat little
mosque, whose square and erect form appeared very
conspicuous among the thirty mud-heaps which they
called houses.
On leaving the village we crossed the Kara Sou, which
was here rendered fordable by being divided into several
shallow channels, and continued along its course over a
fine plain which stretches away from its bank. A furious
storm of rain stopped our progress at the little hamlet
of Ilijeh. (Warm Springs.) The springs from which
it derives its name are doubtless those over which Ana-
tolius, General of the eastern armies of Theodosius the
Younger, constructed the mineral baths which St. Mar-
tint mentions as having been erected by him in the
vicinity of Erzroum. The springs are still improved
for the same purpose, though in a more humble manner;
the present baths being no more than high mud-walls
built around two of the sources. One of these inclo-
sures serves for men and the other for women. The
temperature of the water is a little above blood heat, and
its taste excited an ungrateful recollection of Epsom Salts.
* Mashallah -an exclamation of surprise or admiration, frequently
in the mouth of a Turk.
+ Mémoires Historiques et Géographiques sur l'Arménie, i. 67.
VOL. I.
I


170
AGRICULTURE.
At this village the valley of the Kara Sou expands
into the broad plain of Erzroum. Along its circum-
ference, and at the foot of the mountains which overlook
it, numerous villages are scattered. One, which was
faintly visible across the plain, appeared larger than the
rest, and white minarets were seen rising above it. It
was the city itself. The rain continued pouring all the
night, but when we started in the morning, the clouds
had retired and hung in heavy white masses about the
mountains, while every blade of grass was glistening in
the light of the sun. The road to the city was almost
impassable from mud, but our eagerness to reach the
first resting-place in our journey urged us on, and we
entered the town after a ride of one and a half hours.
Before, however, introducing my reader to the place,
I must be indulged in a few general remarks on the
country between Trebizond and Erzroum. As the peo-
ple are generally tillers of the ground, their own state
may
be learned from the condition of agriculture among
them. Cultivation is common in places where the land
is good, but the mode of cultivation is of the most pri-
mitive and rude kind. The plough is made, sometimes
of two and sometimes of three pieces of wood. In the
latter case, a piece of timber, pointed at one end, forms
the share. In the other end, an upright stake stands
for the handle, and from near their point of junction
runs a third piece over the share which serves for the
shaft. The share penetrates the earth only a few inches,
and, wherever I observed it at work, no manure was
used. On some of the steep hill-sides near Trebizond,
we saw fields of several acres entirely dug up with the
spade, and, after this had been accomplished, the whole
gone over again with the same instrument, to break and
level the clods.


PEOPLE.
171
The people themselves appear generally to be on an
even footing with their art. They are unclean, poor,
and ignorant. Their houses are so thronged with ver-
min as to make one ready to believe that the land is
afflicted with the third plague of Egypt: Exodus viii.
17, 18. The people seemed to me inferior to those in
the Western part of Asia Minor. Most of the Mussul-
mans, to use a distinction of the country, are not Os-
manlees, but Turks; for the former, though Turks in
origin and language, do not seem disposed to boast of
the fact The term Turk is an opprobrious one in
their estimation, and is applied by them to the barba-
rous tribes beyond the Caspian, and to the people of the
same race in the Eastern part of their own Empire.
:
I 2


CHAPTER IX.
ERZROUM. JOURNEY TOWARDS MOUSH.
ANTIQUITIES OF ERZROUM-THE MODERN TOWN-TRADE-HOUSES-CLIMATE
-POPULATION-NEW MOSQUE-PAST AND PRESENT COMPARED-CHANGE
OF PLAN-DETERMINE TO ENTER KURDISTAN_PREPARATIONS AND PRE-
CAUTIONS-CHANGE OF DRESS-UTILITY AND NECESSITY OF IT-MULE.
TEER—FIRST DAY'S JOURNEY-KURDISH GIRL-THE ARAXES-KURDISH
TENTS-RECEPTION-MANNERS OF THE PEOPLE-REPAST-THE EGYPTIAN
-PRESENTS-MOUNTAINS-PLAIN OF KHEUNNEUS-AROUS-LODGINGS-
ILLUSTRATION OF SCRIPTURE-VILLAGERS-ARMENIAN PRIESTS.
ER ROUM-D'Herbelot reports the name of this city
to be a corruption of the ancient Arabic name, Arz al
Roum, Country of the Romans, or, as St. Martin writes
it, Arzen erroum, Arzen of the Romans, a name which
he supposes to have been given to it, to distinguish it
from another place in Armenia, also called Arzen. He
argues that it is the same with the ancient Theodosio-
polis, built about A.D. 415 in honour of Theodosius, the
Younger. D’Herbelot adds that it was the last town of
the Lower Empire taken by the Saracens. From them
the Moguls took it in 1241, when all its inhabitants
were killed or led into slavery.
Though an old town it boasts but few antiquities.
The walls of the citadel, which embrace only a portion
of the modern city, are noble structures. The tower
of the citadel, which the Russians deprived of a large
clock that formerly rung the hours to the town, affords


ANTIQUITIES OF ERZROUM,
173
from its summit a beautiful view of the city and the
green level of the plain spreading out, in length twenty-
five miles and in breadth from twelve to fourteen. Here
and there may be seen that sweet emblem of repose,
the smoke of villages curling idly up into the summer
air ; immediately beneath the city are the vegetable
gardens which supply its market; on another side are
the wide-spread habitations of the dead; a gentle emi-
nence on either hand commands the city, while behind
and above all rise the snow-topped mountains.
Among the remains of the past the Tchifteh Minareh
(Two Minarets), presents a singular mixture of differ-
ent styles and uses. The form of the cross which it
bears internally, and the ranges of apartments on either
side, are evidence that it was once a Christian monastery.
The two Persian minarets from which it has its name,
which have never been finished or are partly fallen to
decay, indicate that it has at one time been a place of
Mussulman devotion. The door-way is of that Saracenic
style of architecture which may be found among the
mosques of the capital, and is still the favourite order of
Eastern art. The face of one of the abutments from
which the minarets rise, bears a double-headed eagle,
which speaks of no Mussulman origin that I can trace ;
while the tomb at the inner extremity is evidently a
Mohammedan structure added to the original building.
The Russians made a sacrilegious search in this part for
ancient treasure, and carried away the door of the tomb
to adorn a church in Georgia. The whole edifice is
now devoted to a most unholy use, being occupied as an
arsenal.
Not far from the Tchifteh Minareh are other remains,
which deserve a passing word. Around a large court
are ranges of vaults, now mostly in ruin. On one side


TRADE-CLIMATE.
17+
is a building in the style of the Tchifteh Minareh, show-
ing an eagle on one of the stones, and inscriptions in
Cufic about the portal. Within is a capacious dome,
under which, at the time of my visit, the Pasha was
erecting a furnace for casting cannon.
The modern town offers little worthy of notice. The
Oulou Jami, or Great Mosque, is remarkable for nothing
but its size and its gloom. Two or three of the baths
are clean and well attended, and the bazars present
a respectable appearance. But it is chiefly the posi-
tion and trade of the city which give it celebrity and
importance. It commands the great line of travel to
Constantinople from the Eastern portion of the Empire,
and is the thoroughfare of all the trade with Persia,
whether by the Black Sea or the overland route through
Tocat. Few cities of the same fame offer so little in
themselves to repay the curiosity of a visitor. Its exter-
nal appearance is very unprepossessing. The streets,
though some of them unusually wide, are, as usual,
poorly paved and filthy. The houses are low, con-
structed of earth or rough stone, with layers of timber
inserted in the walls at regular intervals, and presenting
a naked and cheerless exterior to the street.
The city stands at an elevation of 5500 feet, according
to the observations of the British Consul with the barome-
ter'; but estimates from boiling water place it as high as
7000, the water boiling at 200° Fahrenheit. So great
an elevation cannot of course enjoy much of the mild-
ness of an humbler position. The climate, indeed, is
almost proverbially severe, and even in the middle of
June we thought that more temperate nights would
have been more comfortable. From the aspect of things
we judged that one great occupation of summer was to
prepare for keeping warm in winter, for most of the


POPULATION.
175
houses had cakes of fresh dung plastered upon the
walls and spread upon the roofs to dry for fuel.
Some idea may be formed of the extent of the trade,
from the fact that there are no less than thirty-six
khans in the city, and the custom-house is one of the
largest in the Empire. The streets in every part were
thronged and bustling. There were to be seen people
from almost every quarter, Kurds, Persians, Georgians,
Armenians, and Turks. The only European residents
were those connected with the English and Russian
consulates, both of which had been established since the
date of the Russian invasion, in 1829. This concourse
of strangers gives the city the appearance of greater
populousness than the truth warrants. A regular cen-
sus (the first of which I had ever heard in Turkey),
had just been taken, which showed the whole number
of settled inhabitants to be only 35,000.
Among the curiosities of the city were the foundations
of a new mosque, which was the first and the last that
I saw in the course of erection in Asiatic or European
Turkey. This fact must, I think, on the whole, be re-
garded as another proof of the progressive decay of Mo-
hammedanism. I know that it may be said, that where
the population is, as in Turkey, at best stationary, it is
not to be expected that new edifices for worship should
be erected. But in answer to this it may be replied, that
it is at least to be expected that old ones should be re-
paired and lost ones replaced -- which is far from being
the case. The traveller finds in every part of the Em-
pire the ruins of the mosques of former ages, but he
seldom meets one newly erected or undergoing repair.
In Constantinople the mosques are generally kept in
excellent order, and one might easily form from the
fact a wrong judgment with regard to the care of Turks


176
CHANGE OF PLAN.
for their places of worship. Let the same go through
the interior, and another picture will meet his eye. He
will there see multitudes of these sanctuaries dilapidated
and falling to ruin. He will see others neglected and
dirty. He will here and there find a memorial of the
past in some noble pile crumbling under the burden of
years, and he will ask, “Where are such memorials
now rising, to convince the future traveller that the glory
of this present was equal to that of the past ?” Those
costly monuments of Moslem pride are all, or nearly all,
structures of by-gone days, and nothing new appears to
be in the future what they now are.
I have seen the
wild grass growing over the ruins of the famous college
of Orkhan, the second Sultan of the Osmanlees; I have
seen the renowned medressehs of Bagdad wasting be-
neath the touch of Time; I have seen hundreds of
Mohammedan temples desolate and forsaken ; while
I have seen no other college or temple rising to take
their place.
As I had not proposed before leaving Constantinople
so extensive investigations in Turkey as I was after-
wards led to pursue, my design was to move directly to-
wards Persia by the commonly travelled route. In the
steamer from Constantinople to Trebizond were several
Armenians, returning to their homes in Van. From
them I learned, that the route from Erzroum to that city
by the north of the lake was entirely safe, and was often
travelled by caravans. This information re-awakened
strong desire that I had formerly felt to see so celebrated
a city, and the hope that investigation there might not
be altogether useless determined me to turn my steps
thither from Erzroum. Upon my arrival at the latter
place, not only was the testimony of the Armenians
confirmed, but I was assured by inhabitants of the
a


DRESS.
178
array of a Turk, which, excepting in Persia, I never
afterwards abandoned. In this way I hoped to escape
unpleasant observation on the road, and, what was of
more importance, to pass in safety. Whilst tarrying in
towns and villages there would be no need for such
precautions, as it was only upon the march, if at all,
that danger was to be apprehended. And here I may
say, that it was my uniform custom, while sojourning
in any place, to introduce myself as an American and
a Christian, and to excite inquiries respecting my coun-
try and my faith. These were always the first topics
of conversation. During my tour, hundreds, I am sure,
heard of the New World who had never heard of it
before, and most of whom probably will never hear of
it again.
But I had a higher reason for assuming the native
dress. It was absolutely essential to the success of my
mission. The expediency of it for comfort's sake will
be at once seen by imagining a Turk to visit our shores,
and to walk through the streets of our cities in his
Oriental robes. The habits of the country also render
it necessary. In general it is the best suited to the
climate, and can be procured with the least difficulty
and expense. The traveller can replenish his wardrobe
in any city through which he may pass, whereas, if
he does not submit to this act of conformity, he must
encumber himself at the outset with all he may need
during his tour. If his outfit fails, he is reduced to an
-unpleasant dilemma, unless at last he submits to what
his habits and perhaps his prejudices have long resist-
ed. The new mode of life which he is compelled to
adopt will also soon teach him that he has acted un-
wisely. He must carry his own chairs, or he must prac-
tise the native mode of sitting, which requires garments


180
CONFORMITY.
stranger, he is discoursed with as a stranger, and he has
himself the feelings of a stranger. He is received, at
the best, as an Oriental, in his home-garb, would be
received
among us.
Such a one would, indeed, be an object of unbounded
curiosity and, to himself, of rather vexatious observation.
His looks and manners would be closely scrutinised, his
foreign speech would be listened to with admiration, but
he would be a foreigner. He would carry about with
him everywhere, in his outward person, the mark of
his foreign origin. He would never become familiar
with American institutions, he would never be admitted
into the interior of men's minds, no one would speak to
him as to one of ourselves, and, if alone, how painful
would be the incessantly recurring thought that he was
a stranger in a strange land.
A Western in Turkey, appearing as a Western, stands
on still less advantageous ground. He is not received
into such free communication with Orientals as an Ori-
ental would be with us. Religious prejudice, the natu-
rally reserved disposition of Turks, and contempt for his
ignorance of Eastern manners, would keep him much
farther aloof. If his object, then, is to learn the East,
he must become, in all lawful respects, an Eastern. He
must know the language, he must wear the dress, he
must perfect himself in the manners of an Eastern. In
fine, he must act in what is undoubtedly the true spirit
of the Apostle's words, We become all things to all
He need not deny his religion ; evidently in no
circumstances could it be lawful for him to do it. He
need not attempt to conceal that he is a foreigner; his
speech, indeed, even when he has reached his highest
attainments in the knowledge of the language, would at
once betray that. But he must not obtrude his national
men.


THE ARAXES.
183
them. Upon this a Kurdish girl appeared and stepping
lightly forward, darted away like a phantom. As she
was the first female of her race that I had seen, her
ap-
pearance excited some curiosity. Her face and feet were
bare, and her hair was hanging in long braids behind.
Her dress was a single white frock bound at the waist.
Her form was erect and slender, and her step peculiarly
light and graceful. Her face was dark, but pale and
expressive, her eyes large and full. In the meanwhile
our host conducted us to our lodging-place. In reaching
it, we first passed the apartments of the family, then
through a large stable, and afterwards through a long
alley to a dark room some one hundred feet from the en-
trance, and all the way under ground. Here we lighted
a fire, while our host spread before us a pastoral meal
of yoghourt, bread, and eggs, and then sat down to share
our coffee and pipes.
Before sunrise the next morning we had recommenced
our march. The country bore the same features with
the latter part of yesterday's ride, until two hours from
Denizli, we came to a small stream. I asked its name.
My muleteer, who had crossed it a hundred times,
replied, “ Aras.” Could it be the same Aras that flows
into the Caspian? I inquired about its course and
length, and he gave such an account of it as left it with-
out doubt that this was the head waters of the great
Araxes of the ancients.. Geographers have generally
placed the source farther East. I afterwards made
inquiries respecting the stream, which confirmed the
information of the muleteer. The breadth of the river
at the ford was thirty feet and its depth only three. Its
current at this point was rapid, and its course for a short
distance winding towards the East, after which it flowed
off through the plain to the north-east.


184
KURDISH TENTS.
The
We pursued our way for an hour near its banks, and
then turned to the South and entered a hilly country
between the Bin Gul and a range on our left called the
Terktob. After proceeding in this direction, turning
gradually eastward, for about two hours, we suddenly
descried from the top of a hill a cluster of Kurdish tents
in a valley below, looking like black spots sprinkled
upon the grass. This first picture of truly Kurdish life
that I had seen, brought vividly back the romantic
images which I had early drawn from books, and excited
a desire to scrutinise it more closely. We descended,
therefore, directly towards them and dismounted in front
of the first. Some old Kurds standing there bade us
welcome, and one invited us into the tent. A seat at the
inner extremity was offered, and when we had all sat
down, those present repeated their salutations.
tents, about twenty in number, were arranged in a line,
and all were of the same construction. The covering
was of a cloth of fine black wool, impervious to the rain.
This was supported at the corners by poles five feet high,
and in the centre by one nearly double that height,
giving to the roof a slope in every direction. The inter-
val between the lower edge of the cloth and the ground
was filled up, on three sides, by a lattice of light reeds
painted in figures. The other side was entirely open.
In one of the corners stood the arms of the master of
the tent, the curved sword, the spear, and the small round
shield.
The news of our coming soon spread among the other
tents and brought around us all the men of the party.
The boys seated themselves behind, peeping over the
shoulders of their seniors, and the women, none of whom
were veiled, surveyed us through the lattice, from the
next tent. As each one entered, he seated himself in


REPAST.
185
the circle and exchanged greetings with us. I observed
that all their ceremonies were 'Turkish, and they lavished
them with Turkish profusion. I was both surprised
and pleased with the perfect etiquette which prevailed,
for it was altogether above the demeanour of Turks of
the same rank. The more honourable among them sat
farther within the tent than the others, and special
deference was shown to them. When they spoke, all
were silent, and when one of them entered the tent, the
coinpany rose and remained standing till he was seated.
The same respect was shown to the aged. The company
were very sociable, without being noisy, and although
their curiosity was evidently excited by our appearance,
they kept it under proper restraint.
As we were about to depart, they told us that food
was preparing, and insisted upon our eating with them,
to which, as a pledge of amity and good-will, I gladly
consented. Two circular wooden sofras, or waiters,
were laid
upon the ground, around one of which we sat
with the chief men of the party, while the rest of the
company were accommodated at the other. Five or six
different dishes were brought, some of which were new
to me; all of them, however, were clean and excellently
cooked. One of the best consisted of dried mulberries
warmed in honey.
Everything about the tents and the people wore a
neater and more thrifty appearance than is often found
among the common population of the East. Their
numerous flocks were feeding on the hill, and herds of
horses in the vale. The men were large and robust,
with fine, open, and cheerful countenances. Most of
the boys and girls were comely and some of them even
handsome. Among the men I was surprised to find
one with the swarthy features of an Arab of the Seïd, or


186
MOUNTAINS.
Upper Egypt. His story was, that his father was a
native of that country, that fortune brought him to
Moush, where he married a Kurdish woman, of which
union himself was the offspring. Though of a mingled
origin, his colour and features were those of a full-
blooded negro.
Before leaving the party we distributed some small
presents among them, which, though seemingly to them
of inestimable value, were in truth only a few finger-
rings and ear-rings of pinchbeck, with bits of glass set
in them. At John's suggestion I had procured a large
supply of such ornaments before leaving Constantinople,
and I often found them of use on such occasions as the
present.
Soon after quitting this quiet encampment, we passed
the Kurdish village of Aghreven. The houses were
standing with open doors, but no one was within. All
the inhabitants were spending their summer in the
mountains. Having passed the extremity of the Terk-
tob mountains, we came upon the plain of Kheunneus.
Here we had the Terktob on the north, the Nemrout
(Nimrod), with the snowy peak of Khamourpete, on the
east and south-east, and the Bin Gul on the south-west.
On the plain, a few hours from the Bin Gul, is Kheun-
neus Kalesi, a small fort with a few houses, where the
chief of the district resides. He has under his jurisdic-
tion all the villages of the plain, twenty-eight in number,
of which twelve are Armenian and the rest Kurdish.
We crossed two small streams, passed one village, and
stopped at a second, called Arous, where I determined
to spend the morrow, which was Sunday.
I could find nothing better than a cattle-house, but,
as all the inmates spent their days in the pasture, I was
made welcome to that. In the evening the cattle came


ARMENIAN PRIESTS.
188
their persons, and extremely abject in appearance.
Their ministrations are confined to the performance of
the daily services of the Church, and the parochial care
of their parishioners, which consists in baptising, marry-
ing, and burying. They gain an uncertain and meagre
livelihood from parochial fees and the contributions of
the villagers.


CHAPTER X.
JOURNEY TO MOUSH. DESCRIPTION OF MOUSH.
MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS-YOUNG KURD--THE EUPHRATES-FISH-PLAIN
OF MOUSH-BRIDGES-MOUSH-POSITION — INTERIOR — POPULATION
MEDRESSEH-CURIOSITY EXCITED - ARMENIANS-MIRACULOUS BOOK-
MONASTERY-ARMENIAN CATHOLICS-KURDS-APPEARANCE-MANNERS-
DRESS_TRADE-PRODUCTIONS—THE PASHA-VISIT OF THE RUSSIANS.
We left Arous on Monday morning and continued to
advance Southerly over the uneven surface of the plain,
with the range of the Nimrod mountains on our left,
and those of the Thousand Lakes visible over our right
shoulders. At two and a half hours from the village we
crossed the Kizzil Tchai, or Red River, a small stream
running to the Euphrates. On its bank we met with a
party of Kurds, gaily dressed, who were on their way to
attend a marriage-festival at Kheunneus. An hour
farther on our course we stopped for our morning repast
in a green dell, where we found water.
We had hardly seated ourselves before we heard some
one hailing us from above, and a horseman immediately
descended, followed by a single attendant. The former
was a young Kurd in the full dress of his people. He
wore a red tunic, reaching to his waist, and white shal-
vars, the great nether garment of the East. His sugar-
loaf cap was bound with a turban of the gayest colours,
and in its folds the long tresses of his auburn hair were


190
THE YOUNG KURD.
twisted. He wore in his girdle a brace of pistols and a
dagger, and, hanging from it about his person, were a
ramrod, a small powder-horn for priming, a cartridge-
case, and numerous little trinkets for the care and repair
of his arms. In his right hand was a spear, with a
wooden shaft about ten feet long. One end was pointed
with iron, that it might be stuck in the ground, and the
other was ornamented with a large black ball of light
feathers, from the middle of which projected the head of
the spear about five inches in length and of a rhombic
form. At his back hung a small round shield or targe,
intended to be used in single combat with the sword. It
was studded with small pieces of brass resembling coin,
and was decorated with silken tassels of various colours
hanging from the circumference, and a larger one sus-
pended from the centre. Thrusting his spear into the
ground, he dismounted, and sitting down by us without
ceremony, drew out his bread and cheese, and offered to
join meals with us. We accepted the proposal, and
were at once good friends with him. We soon learned
from him that, though his beard was not yet grown, he
was the Bey of a village on the plain of Moush, which
we were to pass. We therefore agreed to unite our
forces for the way.
Before we started two Turks
arrived and joined themselves to our party.
As we advanced, the country became more mountain-
ous, the ranges generally running East and West. We
passed within sight of several villages perched among
the hills. As we rode along, our young Kurd amused
himself with brandishing his spear and rushing down
upon some one of the party, as if to run him through;
then looking round and laughing at his own adroitness,
he would point on the steel how deep he could make it
penetrate.


EUPHRATES.
191
The path became more rocky and difficult until we
reached the brow of a hill. Here a beautiful plain,
covered with trees, suddenly opened upon us far below.
Through the midst of it was winding the broad stream
of the Euphrates, or, as it is known in these regions, the
Mourad Tchai. The river comes down rapidly from a
valley to the N. E. and, making a detour in the plain,
receives a stream called the Tchabour, from the West,
and flows off through an opening in the hills, at first
imperceptible, in a direction West of South. Its breadth
before the junction is more than a hundred feet, and
that of the Tchabour about fifty. We descended to the
plain and forded the latter near its mouth, where it was
only four feet in depth. We judged that at this point
we had accomplished, from Arous, a distance of about
twenty miles.
We then kept along the western bank of the Eu-
phrates, through a pleasant valley, but a little broader
than the bed of the river. The banks of the stream are
low, resembling in some places the borders of a canal.
Its surface was sometimes ruffled by the rapidity of its
course, and sometimes calm and apparently as motion-
less as a lake. We travelled through the valley nearly
two hours, when we came out upon the plain of Moush,
which was before concealed from view by a solitary coni-
cal hill standing in the mouth of the valley. This hill
has the ruins of a fortress on its summit. The villagers
call it Sultan Mahmoud Kalesi, the fortress of Sultan
Mahmoud. Around this mount the river niakes a broad
bend to the East, and winding through the plain, turns
to the south and west, crosses the plain where it receives
the waters of the Kara Sou, passes through an opening
in the range of mountains which form the southern
border of the plain, and goes off to the South-West.


192
FISH.
At one of the windings where the river enters the plain,
we came to an Armenian village and there spent the
night. On the opposite side was visible another larger
village, called Ated.
As the sun went down our muleteer spread his cloak
and performed his prayers twice in succession, to make
up for the loss of his afternoon devotions-a mode of
reparation sanctioned and recommended by the Koran.
The river here is fordable in some places, and abounds in
fish, one species of which I judged by the description to
be the sturgeon. The villagers take very few of them,
not knowing, as they said, the art of doing it. They
were equally ignorant of their names. The people of
Arous were more expert, and had devised a mode of
fishing which was new to me. They knead into dough
the powder of the black kernels of a poisonous plant*,
and then throw bits of it into the water. The fish de-
vour it and soon rise to the surface dead. We found
them none the less savoury for this singular mode of
catching them.
The next morning we pursued our course over a low
rising ground running into the plain, the river lying on
our left and the plain expanding as we advanced. The
soil along the banks was of a rich black mould and un-
der partial cultivation. We stopped at a village, and
with
many expostulations and promises obtained a break-
fast. After two hours' march we came to the southern
brow of the ground over which we had been travelling.
The entire plain here opened upon us, extending far to
the East and West. What we had first come upon was
only a branch of it. Just below us appeared an ancient
bridge over which our path lay. This noble structure
* Probably the Nux Vomica, which Chardin mentions as used for the
same purpose in Persia. Voyages, tome troisième, p. 44.


19+
MOUSH,
we passed through numerous vegetable gardens and
vineyards.
The appearance of Moush, when approached from the
north, is peculiarly romantic. It stands upon the sides
of an eminence, within a deep recess of the mountains,
almost entirely encircled and hid from sight by their
projecting arms and a slight elevation in front of the
opening. The heights above were tall and bare, except-
ing where patches of snow were still lying undissolved
by the summer's sun. The red sides of the hills, within
and without the bay of the mountains, were covered
with vines, and the eminence on which the town itself
stands is crowned with a ruined fortress.
But the pleasant emotions excited by the distant view
vanish on entering the place. The streets are filthy,
irregular, and uneven, with rivulets of dirty water run-
ning through them. There are no covered bazars, and
the few stalls which bear the name are ill-furnished and
mean, without regularity or display. A brawling stream
runs down from the mountains, through a deep gorge on
the East side of the town, and goes to the Kara Sou.
The houses are of the same description with those of
Erzroum. The number of poor, insane, and diseased
persons is astonishing. Boys and girls are seen running
with a single rag, and often entirely naked, through
the streets. The Christians appeared to be the most
thriving part of the population, but all complained of
poverty.
The population of the place is nearly 5000. There
are 600 Mussulman families, 250 Armenian, and 50
Armenian Catholic. The Mussulmans do not call them-
selves Osmanlees, but Turks, and their language ap-
proaches nearer to that of Tebriz than of Constantinople.


KURDISH LITERATURE.
195
They have five mosques, ten medressehs, and three
schools. One of the mosques was formerly a Christian
Church, and bears over the door the date of its conver-
sion to Islamism, 979 of the Hijreh. The principal
mosque, though small, has a good external appearance,
and is the finest building in the town. I was permitted
to enter without scruple. Several worshippers were
engaged at their devotions, though it was not the hour
for prayers.
An old Mussulman, in answer to my inquiries, as-
sured me that books in Kurdish were to be found in the
medressehs, and I visited the principal one in quest of
them. I did not then know that the Kurdish was an
unwritten language, and hoped to add something to my
stock of information by the search. None, of course,
were to be found. The muderiss, or professor, informed
me that all their text-books were in Arabic, from which
he translated into Turkish and Kurdish, a part of the
students being Kurds. There is no professional scribe
nor seller of books in the town, and the chief medresseh
has only two professors. Many of the Turks wear the
Kurdish dress. I lodged, during my stay, in the house
of one of the most respectable among them, and my room
was constantly thronged with Mussulman visitors.
Our coming excited a great stir in the town. Our
dresses being after the fashion of the capital, every one
knew us to be from Stamboul. Crowds collected as we
passed through the streets, and gazed after us until we
were out of sight. Various conjectures were started to
account for our visit. Some imagined that we were
officers of the Sultan in search of recruits; others thought
that our visit had some political design ; and others that
it was likely to affect the trade of the place. Either
character was an unpropitious one, and I hastened to
K2


MONASTERY --PAPISTS.-KURDS.
197
sion, and draw from it those spiritual truths which heal
and purify the soul !
Six hours south-west from Moush, among the moun-
tains, is the monastery of Tchangeuree, a famous place
of pilgrimage to the Armenians. It is the same with
that which St. Martin speaks of as existing in this region,
under the name of The Monastery of S. Garabied or
St. John the Baptist. It is at present the seat of a
Bishop, and the brotherhood number one priest and
eight monks.
The Armenian Catholics, or Papal Armenians, through-
out this region, are called Franks, from their connexion,
doubtless, with a foreign Church. They have in Moush
a priest, but the Church in which they formerly wor-
shipped has been destroyed through the influence of
the Armenians. Three of the villages on the plain of
Moush are also peopled by them, in one of which
they have three priests, in another two, and in another
one.
No Kurds are resident in the town, but great num-
bers of them are found in the streets. They come chiefly
from the region of Diarbekir as summer approaches, and
spend the warm season in the mountains around Moush,
gaining a poor subsistence from their flocks, and a scanty
para by bringing yoghourt and wood to the town for
sale. Their women are poorly clad, and their small
children, for the most part, are quite naked. The men
appear
in the streets armed with a sword and the small
round shield which they constantly wear about them,
and followed by their women and girls bearing burdens.
Nothing can present a more wretched picture than these
females. They are poorly dressed and filthy. They
go bending beneath their loads, and their faces, always
unveiled, wear the deepest impress of misery, The


198
TRADE.
1
countenances of the men were the most ferocious and
brutal that I have ever seen. They were mostly of a
middle stature, with stout and broad frames. Their
faces were thin and dark, the nose hooked, and the eye
black and merciless. I have never beheld so fiend-like
an expression of countenance as they assumed when we
appeared among them. They seemed to regard us as
having come with soine evil intent, instead of a friendly
and benevolent purpose.
Several of a more gentle stock came to see me.
I
was much struck with the strong resemblance of features
which prevailed among them—the long, regularly formed,
and rather unexpressive face, the dull eye, the yellow,
gipsy complexion. Their features and their speech
were soft and mild, and nothing indicative of energy
appeared. One, a son of a Pasha, came twice, sat long,
smoked, and said nothing. Another, a merchant from
Diarbekir, complained of the movements of the Sultan
against his people, and could not be pursuaded that he
designed their good.
The common dress of the Kurds of better rank whom
I saw at Moush, consisted of the red tunic, the large
white shalvars, and the tall cap of felt, bound with party-
coloured shawls.
The trade of Moush is with Bitlis, Erzroum, and Diar-
bekir; the latter place being distant four days by a road
over the mountains, which, I was told by several who
had travelled it, could be passed without much hazard,
and ten days by the circuitous but safer route through
Palou and Kharpout. Five hundred caravan horses are
owned in the town, but are employed chiefly in trade
originating elsewhere. The place has no manufactures
of importance. Its staple is tobacco, which has some
celebrity in the immediate region, but is, in truth, of
1


THE PASHA.
199
inferior quality. Fruits are quite abundant, though not
of a superior kind. Such are pears, apples, peaches, and
cherries of different sorts. Grapes are the principal
fruit, and some wine is made by the Christians. There
is but one bath in the town, which is dark, filthy, and
so thronged with vermin, that we found ourselves in a
much worse condition when we issued from it than when
we entered. There is only a single khan, which is
also small and mean. Winter continues five months,
and the summer is hot. During the two days which I
spent there, the heat was so intense at mid-day that I
could not venture abroad. Fuel for the winter is brought
from the mountains; and the bodies of small trees stripped
of their bark, which are used for rafters, are a consider-
able article of traffic between the town and the villages,
each one selling at the time of my visit at about 4s.
sterling. I found current in the city the coin stamped
by the Pasha of Bagdad, of which the smallest piece was
half the value of a para, cr a minute fraction of 1d.
The Sanjak, or province, of Moush includes 600 vil-
lages, of which 75 or 80 belong to the same district with
the town. The whole number of Kurdish families in
the province is said to be 5000. The province itself is
ruled by a Pasha of the second rank, who holds his place
under the Pasha of Erzroum. The office, however, has
been hereditary in the same family, and that a Kurdish
one, for two centuries. The present incumbent, Emin
Pasha, was spending the warm season in the mountains,
and I therefore lost the opportunity of seeing him. He
has, for his summer and winter residences, two palaces
situated without the town, both guarded by well-made
walls with small bastions.
During the season of the Russian invasion, a detach-
ment of the army came hither and sat down before the


200
RUSSIANS.
town. A party of the officers entered and surveyed
the city without resistance. The inhabitants, however,
suffered no injury or ill-treatment. Everything that was
needed was amply paid for, and the people seemed to
have retained a grateful recollection of their invaders.
1


CHAPTER XI.
JOURNEY FROM MOUSH TO BITLIS,
DEPARTURE-PLAIN OF MOUSH-MARNIK-ARMENIAN PEASANTRY-VILLAGES
-HOUSES-PEOPLE-CHURCHES
ROBBERS-RIDE TO BITLIS KHANS
-APPROACH TO THE TOWN.
We left Moush on the morning of the 29th of June,
and turning from the southerly direction which we had
hitherto pursued, moved eastward along the base of the
lofty range which bounds the plain on this side. For
the first three miles the declivities on our right were
covered with rich vineyards, while the soil on the heights
above them appeared barren and dry. Three hours
distant from the city their character changed, and the
summits and sides appeared clothed with the verdure of
unbroken forests.
Our way lay the whole day over the plain, which was
itself the greatest wonder of the scene. Although we
started far from its western extremity, we did not reach
its eastern border till the next day. Its length cannot
be less than forty miles, and the whole distance is an
almost perfect level. It supports not much less than a
hundred villages, most of which are Armenian and
within a day's ride from Moush. In this respect the
town is one of the most advantageous positions for a
missionary station that can anywhere be found, especially
K3


MARNIK.
202
when we consider that there are besides, numerous
villages scattered in other directions among the moun-
tains. Those of the plain harbour during the winter a
large number of Kurds, who come down and live upon
the Armenians. Some of them are large, thriving, and
unusually clean. One, called Hass Keui, through
which we passed at a distance of about nine miles from
Moush, has three churches, and was one of the most
neat and flourishing villages I remember to have seen
in Turkey.
Although the population of the plain is large, it ap-
peared capable of sustaining a much larger one. Exten-
sive tracts lay uncultivated. The soil appeared fertile,
and the less productive portions might furnish pasturage
to even more numerous herds than we saw scattered
in every direction over its surface. Four hours from
Moush we forded the Kara Sou, here, as before, a muddy
stream about four feet deep. It runs through no valley,
but has worn its devious way through the easy soil of
the plain, and, from the unstable character of its banks,
is constantly changing its channel.
We alighted at 3 P.M. at Marnik, an inconsiderable
Armenian village. The Kiahya, or village chief, was
abroad tending his flocks, and his Kizir, or deputy,
showed little disposition to help us to a lodging-place.
We undertook therefore to search for ourselves, and walk-
ing among the houses, soon lighted upon a vacant one
belonging to the Kiahya himself. We immediately
took possession, and before the owner arrived had it
swept and furnished, a process which consumed but little
time, as it consisted of only one apartment, and the
furniture with which we provided it was no more than a
few handfuls of fresh grass with our cloaks thrown over
it. The Kiahy could not turn us out of our lodgings,


ARMENIAN VILLAGES.
203
but seemed determined that we should not be comfort-
able in them. In vain we assured him that it was our
custom to pay for all we had. These poor, oppressed
villagers are never so incredulous as when one talks
of being kind to them. No one would do anything for
us until the compensation was actually in his hands.
There was no water in the village, and we were com-
pelled to hire a man to bring some from the river. Firë
to prepare our coffee, and a dish of yoghourt with bread
for our supper, were obtained only after as much negoti-
ation and delay, as if the demand were going to exhaust
all the resources in the village. When, however, our
coffee was ready, the Kiahya and half the population
evinced no reluctance to partake of it.
This is the last Armenian village before reaching
Bitlis, all the rest being Kurdish. It may not be amiss,
therefore, to say something here of the general character
of the Armenian peasantry along this route. Their
villages may be described in nearly the same words
which Xenophon used respecting them 2200 years ago.
“Their houses were under ground. In them were goats,
sheep, cows, and fowls with their young;" and, if it had
not been summer, I might have added as he does, “ All
the cattle were maintained within doors with fodder.
The houses, however, are not properly subterranean, in,
the common sense of the term. They are generally
made by excavating the earth and raising a wall of
loose stones to the required height. Trunks of trees are
then laid across for rafters and covered with branches.
Then the earth is piled on until the whole is covered,
and the fabric attains a semi-globular shape. Some-
times the whole is built upon the surface, but, in both
cases the external appearance is that of a bare mound
of earth. As the traveller approaches one of these vil-


204
VILLAGERS.
lages, he discerns nothing at first but an apparent un-
evenness in the ground. Soon the rounded tops become
distinguished. These in summer are covered with cakes
of manure formed by the hand and drying for the
winter fire, a feature which gives the whole at a distance
the appearance of a magnificent collection of dung-heaps.
The houses have generally two apartments, one for
the family, and another more interior for the cattle.
These are almost entirely without furniture, and are not
remarkable for cleanliness. Sometimes there is a rude
fire-place, or a hole in the ground which answers the
same purpose, the smoke being of too little importance
to have special provision made for its egress, excepting a
small aperture through the centre of the roof, where, at
the same time, a few rays of light seize the opportunity
to struggle in. On the plain of Moush many of the
houses have a pole on the top, which supports the nest
of a stork.
The villagers are mostly herdsmen. They have the
buffalo, but of a species unknown in America, the cow,
horse, ass, and goat. They subject the cow to burdens.
A man's property is estimated by his herds. The pro-
duce, yoghourt, cheese, and milk, furnish the chief arti-
cles of food. The villagers are poorly clad, timid and
servile in demeanour, and their faces are unintelligent
and spiritless. They do not appear the same race with
the same people in Constantinople, or even in the cities
of the interior. In some of the villages which suffer
most from the Kurds they wear the aspect of deep misery,
and one often wonders at the degradation which can en-
dure such a position without an effort to change it. They
are extremely ignorant, and unclean in their persons and
their houses. The women are especially ugly and filthy,
and their domestic condition is as evil as can well be ima-


ROBBERS.
205
gined. They are servilely treated, brutish, idealess, of
peevish, complaining tempers, and doing no service
without a murmur. They have in many of the villages
the care of the herds besides their domestic labours. Both
men and women are generally unwilling to give lodging
or food, or do it in so slow and sullen a manner as to
render their hospitality hardly endurable. There are
some exceptions to this picture, especially in the large
villages. In some I have been cheered by the sight of
domestic industry, cleanliness, and thrift ; in some I
have been cordially received. But such exceptions are
rare.
In all the villages the church is the most prominent
building, and the only one erected above ground in a
regular manner. Generally they are small and simple
edifices, constructed of square stone with a sloping roof.
They are often venerably old, and mantled with wild
weeds growing from the chinks. They stand amidst
moss-clad grave-stones, the last and only memorials of
those who once worshipped within their walls.
As we were partaking of our hard-earned meal at
Marnik, the Kiahya came in, and standing silently be-
fore us, drew a sigh so long and deep as to attract our
attention and induce us to ask the cause. He looked
timidly around him, and then informed us that one of
the villagers, having gone into the mountains in the
morning, had been found by the Kurds and basely
murdered. This information tended in no degree to
allay the apprehensions which the uncertain character of
the country through which we were travelling had
excited. An incident also had happened during the day
which rendered us more than usually sensitive to evil
reports. Several hours from Moush, and in a desolate
place, we were stopped by a party of these fierce moun-


KHANS.
We kept
207
villagers with a blow, We started, however, in tolera-
bly good-humour. In a quarter of an hour we again
forded the Kara Sou, and six miles farther on came to
its source, a little pond of clear and excellent water issu-
ing from a circular hole in the centre, which our mule-
teer affirmed to be unfathomable. The plain terminates
at this extremity in a low rising ground, where we
passed a large Kurdish village called Noshem, pleas-
antly situated in the midst of trees. Here resides the
Ayan of all the Kurdish villages in the vicinity, of
which we had already passed several. No habitations
appeared beyond. Our way was over uneven ground,
winding gradually round to the South and descending at
length into a deep valley, on the osposite side of which
the mountains rose in tall and bald peaks, preserving
still the general direction of East and West.
along the edge of this valley, until we met a caravan
drawn up in a convenient spot, where we dismounted,
and were soon seated with the drivers at a joint-stock
dinner, our coffee being accepted in return for bread and
cheese.
In the course of the day we passed four old and
deserted khans of an ancient and solid architecture. The
principal one was built of hewn stone, with round towers
or abutments at the angles and sides. It was in the
Saracenic style, and had doubtless been erected many
ages back, for Time had now decorated its walls with
green tresses waving from every gaping chink. A stone
fountain, which still furnished refreshing water, stood
before it, and a merry cascade played near by. We
penetrated deeper and deeper among the mountains as
we advanced, and in one place passed through a narrow
passage cut twenty feet deep in the rock. Nothing
was visible but the barren and desolate peaks which


ARRIVAL.
208
rose in gloomy majesty around us, when the sight of
verdure suddenly burst upon us.
As we descended yet
deeper into the ravine, trees and gardens appeared, and
we entered, before we were aware of it, the beautiful
city of Bitlis.


CHAPTER XII.
BITLIS.
ARRIVAL-INTERVIEW WITH THE GOVERNOR-MY HOST -THE BANKER
SITUATION OF THE TOWN-BUILDINGS AND STREETS-TRADE-FRUITS
EVENING SCENE-VISIT TO THE ARMENIAN BISHOP-MOSQUE-ADVENTURE
-MEDRESSEH POPULATION-MANNERS ARMENIANS - KURDS-CHA-
RACTER OF THE MOUNTAIN KURDS - DEVIL WORSHIPPER-GOVERNMENT
-ANTIQUITIES_REGRETS-ARMENIAN HOSPITALITY.
The kindness of the British Consul at Erzroum had
provided me with a letter to a wealthy Armenian of Bit-
lis; and on entering the town I made my way directly to
one of the principal khans, with the hope of finding him
there. The crowd which pressed upon us as we dis-
mounted was so great, that we could not stir to the
right hand nor to the left. I inquired for the merchant,
and he soon appeared; but when he heard that the letter
which I had brought was an introduction to his hospi-
tality, he professed to know nothing of the friend from
whom I came recommended. Finding the crowd in-
crease, and their curiosity becoming rather troublesome,
I returned the letter to my pocket and asked to be con-
ducted to the Bey of the city, who, I accidentally heard,
was in one of the rooms of the khans. In a few minutes
I was in his presence. He sat in one corner of the room,
gaily dressed in the Kurdish costume. His whole ap-
parel was white, and his peaked cap was bound with
shawls of the liveliest colours. He was young, with a


210
BEY OF BITLIS.
sure.
fine open face and a good form. He saluted me grace-
fully as I entered, and pointed to a seat near him. Pipes
and coffee were brought, and he began by asking some
common-place questions as to my country, name, &c.
He was more curious, however, to know my real design
in travelling, and pressed the question with considerable
importunity. I told him in plain terms that my object
was to see different people and countries, and to observe
manners, characters, and religions. He could not un-
derstand it-an Oriental never can understand the
motive of one who travels either for information or plea-
I have sometimes heard Turks speak of the loco-
motive propensity of the English as a species of insanity.
The Bey was not satisfied, and asked what had brought
me into so strange a place as Kurdistan. I replied that
its very strangeness was my motive, that I wished to see
what nobody else had seen. He was not contented, and
grew suspicious. Finding that nothing else would avail,
I intimated that I was travelling with proper credentials,
and directed John to exhibit the Firman of the Sultan.
It was received by his secretary, who opened it and offer-
ed it to the Bey, pronouncing at the same time the single
word, “Mahmoud.” The Bey, instead of receiving it
with the customary demonstrations of respect, waved his
hand contemptuously in token of refusal. I then drew
forth the bouyouroultou of the Pasha of Erzroum, and
handed it to the scribe. When the Bey heard what it
was, he ordered it to be read, and at the close, drawing
himself
up,
made some remark in Kurdish to the crowd
who had gathered about the entrance. The meaning
of course I could not understand, but the tone and expres-
sion of face which accompanied it, showed that it was of
a bold character. The bouyouroultou, however, had its
desired effect. The Bey added in Turkish that I must


THE BANKER.
211
be provided for, and looking round upon the crowd who
thronged the entrance, added, “ We must assign him to
some one who is able to show him proper attention ;
and then, as his eye fell on the Armenian to whom I
had brought the letter, “M, will you receive him
as a guest ?” My Armenian, laying his hand upon his
heart, professed himself all zeal to comply with the
wishes of the Bey, and, turning to me with an equivocal
smile of welcome, requested me to follow him. I did so,
with a secret feeling of vexation at being thus unceremo-
niously thrust upon his reluctant hospitality, but I en-
deavoured to console myself with the thought that I was
an instrument of justice to punish him for his parsimony.
When we had arrived at his house, he conducted me to
a balcony looking out upon a garden, and shaded with
magnificent fruit trees. Here carpets and cushions were
spread for us, and we were invited to repose. The mo-
tive for forgetfulness being now removed, my host's
memory suddenly revived, and I delivered him the letter
which I had brought for him. Though in Armenian,
he could not read it himself, but, with the aid of his son,
contrived to make out a lame interpretation, which
gratified him so much that he afterwards showed the
letter to all his friends.
In the evening, another Armenian, the banker of the
Bey, came in to make our acquaintance. He welcomed
us to Bitlis with the warmest cordiality, lavished upon
us compliments in overwhelming profusion, made the
most unbounded offer of his services, and concluded by
insisting upon our being his guests on the morrow. I
hardly knew to what to attribute this profuse kindness,
but I was very grateful to meet with so warm a friend,
and began to feel quite at home. The next morning he
called again, but, alas, how changed! There was no


THE CITY.
212
welcome, no compliment, and the invitation for the day
seemed entirely forgotten. The melancholy truth at
last came out, that our new friend had come to us the
evening before from the midst of his nightly potations,
and it was under their influence that he had made all
the fair speeches which the soberness of the morning
had dissipated.
Bitlis cannot fail to interest and surprise a stranger at
first sight.
Its picturesque situation among the moun-
tains, and the singular internal appearance which the
peculiar construction of its buildings gives it, make it
entirely unlike most other Eastern towns.
The moun-
tains form three deep valleys, which come down from
the north, south-east, and west, to a junction where the
city stands, extending its arms up into each of them.
Three little streams, following the same course, descend,
unite, and flow off together in one river emptying into the
Tigris, which is said to be twenty-four hours distant. The
streets of the town run in terraces along the steep sides
of the valleys, and the passenger in looking up is often
surprised to see houses and walls above his head. Most
of the houses have gardens attached to them, which give
to the city, from some points of view, the appearance of
a paradise in the midst of bare and verdureless moun-
tains. The mosques, houses, garden walls, and every
other structure about the city, are built of a fine kind of
sand-stone, with which the region abounds. It is cut
into cubic blocks for building, and imparts to the city an
air of remarkable regularity and solidity.
In some
houses the interior as well as the exterior walls are of
this same stone. The streets of the city are ill-paved,
though something better might be expected where so
cheap and excellent materials for paving abound. The
position of the town renders many of the streets steep and


TRADE,
213
difficult. In riding through them I was sometimes com-
pelled to dismount, in order to make an ascent. The
bazars are extensive, covered, and well filled. They
are built of stone, and the different parts of the interior
show some management in the separate disposition of
the various kinds of merchandise and trades.
The trade of the city is with Persia through Van, with
Erzroum, Diarbekir, Mossoul, and Bagdad. The road
to Mossoul is a dangerous one of eighty hours, or fifteen
days. Jizireh is distant forty-eight hours, Diarbekir
the same, Bagdad 220, and Busra 300. These are the
estimates which I received from good authority in the
place, but I cannot vouch for correctness in a matter
where it is so difficult to procure authentic information,
Raw cotton is brought from Persia, and cotton cloths are
manufactured in the town. The other principal articles
of trade are woollens, tobacco, and gall-nuts. There are
large dye-houses and as many tanneries in the place.
Rakee is distilled only for the consumption of the city,
which amounts to sixty okkas, or about 150 pounds,
daily*. Fish are brought in considerable quantity from
the lake of Van and salted. Gum Arabic is a large
article of trade, 15,000 okkas, intended chiefly for the
European markets, being annually carried away. The
city has seven khans, two of which are exclusively for
merchants, and the trade employs 200 caravan horses
owned in the place, besides a large number owned else-
where. The streams which run through the valleys supply
no less than thirty-two grist-mills, and are crossed by as
many bridges of stone.
I met in Persia with a gentle-
man who had once passed through Bitlis, as bearer of
despatches from the ambassador at Tehran to the Turk-
* In the East, liquids as well as solids are sold by weight,


220
THE YEZIDEE.
con-
Bitlis, and from Van to Salmas, are more or less exposed
to them. They are generally looked upon by the inha-
bitants of the cities with great aversion.
Another strange character whom I met at Bitlis, was
a Yezidee, or devil-worshipper, of Mesopotamia. He
was a farrier, and being in the employ of my host, occa-
sionally made me a visit, and sometimes ate with me.
I endeavoured to glean something from him respecting
his religion, but, although he received my inquiries with
good-humour, he could be induced to make no
fessions. I observed nothing singular in his habits,
besides a practice of holding his little cup of wine with
both hands. I did not, at the time, suppose it to be
anything more than an awkward habit of his own, but I
afterwards found in Mesopotamia, that the same was a
universal practice of the Yezidees. Their great reve-
rence for everything Christian is well known, and this
custom may have arisen from a superstitious fear of
spilling upon the ground a liquid used in a Christian
sacrament.
The Bey of Bitlis is himself a Kurd, and a brother
of the Pasha of Moush, within whose province the city
falls. The manner in which he received me shows with
how free a spirit he holds his authority. He seemed,
indeed, more like an independent chieftain, ruling in
his own hereditary right, than a governor deriving his
power from another. The same spirit prevails among
the people. The name of the Sultan seldom reaches
Retired within their own mountains, they
think of no other country or ruler but the city they live
in and the Bey who governs it. This indeed, to some
degree, is Eastern feeling everywhere. The Turk has
no name for patriotism. His local attachments seldom
reach beyond his own village or town. One of the
their ears.


ANTIQUITY,
221
greatest evils of the late Sultan's reform was the ruth-
less manner in which these attachments were violated,
and peaceful villagers were hurried away to recruit regi-
ments in distant parts of the empire.
Bitlis offers some interesting proofs of its own anti-
quity. Fragments of stone, with remains of sculpture
upon them, are seen in the walls of houses and gardens.
One which I saw bore the figures of two lions rampant.
The stranger is shown an ancient and deserted medres-
seh in the old style of Mussulman architecture, the work
evidently of the same ages in which the khans before
spoken of were built. But the most imposing remains
are the ruins of an extensive castle near the centre of
the town. It is built on the craggy sides of a rock
which forms the angle between two of the valleys, and
the passenger, as he walks through the street, is surprised
to see its walls towering above him to the height of
several hundred feet. Some inscriptions in Arabic are
found in the interior, which was occupied only by a few
poor families, who had taken refuge there. The inscrip-
tions add another proof to the style of the remains within
and without the city, that it has anciently been a strong
hold of some Saracenic ruler.
So pleasant were the hours which I spent in Bitlis,
that I sincerely regretted the approach of that of my
departure. I was loath to launch out from this quiet
haven upon a way which threatened greater dangers
than we had yet encountered, and there were hours
when I thought that I could hardly expect to find any
sphere, in which I could spend my life with higher hopes
of usefulness than among this interesting people. But
the greater part of my work was still before me, and my
motto must still be, Onward. The pain of departure
was, however, considerably alleviated by the manifest


222
ARMENIAN HOSPITALITY.
desire of my host for its arrival. He had not ceased to
complain of my presence as an intrusion, and went so
far on one occasion as to inquire of me, whether it was
the custom in Frank countries to thrust guests upon a
private man uninvited. I described to him our comfort-
able hotels. He sighed a regret that there were no such
establishments in Bitlis. I, from my heart, sighed too.
He seemed determined that we should profit little by his
hospitality. Our fare would have disgraced the meanest
village. No article but rakee was offered us in abun-
dance-a circumstance from which John inferred that
rakee must be cheap in Bitlis. I was even indebted for
my pleasant resting-place upon the balcony, to his deter-
mination not to receive me into his house. The hours
which I passed there were, however, none the less de-
lightful on this account. In calm repose, during the
heats of noon-tide, and in the hushed stillness of the
evening, I found many a moment for quiet and pleasing
meditation. The soft airs of the night made my slum-
bers light and sweet, and I was awaked in the morning
by the early matins of numerous birds singing in the
branches above me.
The evening before my departure I was invited to
spend at the house of one of the principal Armenians of
the place. I went at sunset, and found several guests
already arrived. They were seated in two rows on
opposite sides of the room, and the master sat below
them all. They all rose as I entered, while the host
conducted me to a seat in the recess of the window at
the head of the apartment. When all were again seated,
sherbet, followed by rakee and sweetmeats, was sent
round--a ceremony which was often repeated before
dinner. This important meal was at length announced.
Two waiters of great size were placed upon stools,


CHAPTER XIII.
FROM BITLIS TO VASTAN.
DEPARTURE
MUSICIANS
MULETEER - PILGRIMS
FRIENDSPEAK OF
NIMROD-FOREIGNERS IN BITLIS-ROBBERS-FIRST VIEW OF THE LAKE
OF VAN-VILLAGES-WATER-ILLNESS-ELMALEU-NIGHT OF THE 4TH
OF JULY-DIFFICULT PATH-POUGAH-KURDISH VILLAGES-PILFERING
-WANDERING KURDSMA DANCE— DIFFICULT PASSAGE OF A MOUNTAIN
COUNTRY ALONG THE SOUTHERN SHORE OF THE LAKE-ADVENTURE-
AGRICULTURE-CASCADE- VIRTUE OF COLD WATER-AKHTAMAR.
We left Bitlis on the morning of the 4th of July. Just
before we started, several musicians in the service of the
Bey came with their instruments, and regaled us with
music while we ate our breakfast. We thought it at
first an honour done us by the Bey himself, but it proved
to be a voluntary act of the players for the sake of a
present. I had thought it the safest course to put myself
under a Kurd, and my host, who showed a wonderful
alacrity to serve me when I began to speak of departing,
readily undertook to provide one for me. The bargain
was struck, and the man promised to be at my lodgings
early in the morning, but did not appear till the forenoon
was half-spent. He was dressed in the Kurdish fashion,
with the felt cap and striped pantaloons, the latter differ-
ing from the European garment of the same name only
in being somewhat more capacious. I was surprised


PILGRIMS.
225
when I first saw such a mark of civilisation among
the mountains of Kurdistan, but I soon found that it
was quite a common habiliment.
Our landlord was very profuse in his well-wishes
when the moment of parting came.
He refused all
compensation, and I distributed the sum which I in-
tended for him among his children and domestics.
Another musician, a strolling player, met us at the
door as we mounted, and marched before us through
the streets blowing harsh discord, nor could we prevail
upon him to desist until we answered him with silver
sounds. The streets were thronged with multitudes,
both of men and women, who had come together, not
to witness our departure, but to greet the arrival of a
band of pilgrims from Mecca, whose approach had just
been announced. A Western crowd, on such an occa-
sion, would be all on foot and in motion, but here all
were seated by the road-side quietly talking and smoking.
In most parts of Turkey, native Christians would
sedulously keep aloof from all participation in the fes-
tivity of such an occasion, and it is just at such times
that Mussulmans are least disposed to see them pre-
sent. But here there were quite as many Christians as
Mussulmans, a circumstance which added another proof
to the many which I saw, of the great intimacy existing
between the two classes in Bitlis. I espied among them
several of the friends that we had made in the city.
They rose as we passed, and exchanged with us those
Eastern greetings than which nothing can be more
expressive, when uttered sincerely. As departing friends,
we cried out to them, “ To God we commend you.”
They replied, “ God give you prosperity.” Even the
little boys wished us “ a safe road." These expressions
of good-will affected me at the moment, and seemed a
3


FOREIGNERS.
227
the other, towards the western border of the Lake of
Van. My guide informed me that on the summit of
this peak is a fountain of unknown depth, which is said
to communicate with the little lake in which the Kara
Sou rises. It may be the same source which St. Martin,
on the authority of ancient Armenian writers, mentions
às existing in this region*.
At Bitlis, when inquiring what European travellers
had ever visited the city, we were told that a German
had been there several years before, and had copied all
the ancient inscriptions which he could find in the town.
I conjectured this to be the unfortunate Schultz, of
whom I afterwards heard more particularly at Van, but
I have no positive information of his having visited
Bitlis. I have since learned that two or three English
travellers have passed through the city, but, besides the
German just mentioned, the old inhabitants of whom I
made inquiry, knew of no foreigner who had been in the
country excepting a Russian, who was murdered while
approaching the town, and when only a few hours dis-
tant. We passed the spot where the event was said to
have happened, just after turning off from the Moush
road.
While surveying it I was suddenly startled at seeing
two horses, fully equipped, feeding in a little hollow
close by the side of our path. I was, at the moment,
lagging a little behind the party. My guide, who
seemed singularly affected by the sight, suddenly mo-
tioned to me to ride up. We advanced only a few
paces when we espied the masters of the horses, sitting
close under the bank, and so well concealed that we
did not discover them until we were within a few feet of
* St. Martin, vol. i.


LAKE OF VAN.
229
as
the deep azure of the sky. Its gentle repose mingled
in most impressive harmony with the awful grandeur of
the mountains, and the hush of stillness reigned over all
like the presence of a spirit.
We were standing on the brow of a steep declivity,
between the foot of which and the lake was a slope
covered with fruit-trees, like a garden. This slope was
about two-thirds of a mile broad and two or three miles
long, forming the south-western bend of the lake. Near
its eastern extremity stood a village called Ourtab, and
at its western end another called Tadvan*. The
latter has a little inlet which serves a harbour,
and is commanded by a semi-globular mound with ruins,
like those of a castle upon it.
We wound our way
down the declivity and reached Ourtab in half an
hour.
Looking from this point, the general direction of the
southern shore of the lake is South of East, and the
western shore a little East of North East. We stopped
two hours at the village, and then struck down to the
lake, which we reached in a quarter of an hour. As we
stood by its edge I noticed that the water for a hundred
yards from the shore was of a milky whiteness. A light
wind had arisen, and the ripples were breaking with a
low murmur on the sand. A row of birds, in size and
appearance like gulls, were looking gravely into the
water. I dismounted to taste of it. It must have
changed its quality since olden times, or the ancient
writers, both Armenian and Greek, have greatly erred
in pronouncing it salt.
It is brackish, but not very
disagreeable to the taste. I have often quenched my
thirst with worse.
Close by where we came to the lake, was a field of red
* See Appendix, IX.


VILLAGERS.
230
clover in full luxuriance of growth. Here my Kurd in-
sisted upon stopping to say his prayers, but, as he had
not said them at noon, the most meritorious hour of the
five, as it was not now a canonical hour, and as I never
knew him to say them afterwards, during the whole
journey, I am inclined to believe, what John suggested
at the moment, that his sudden devotion was excited by
the thought that the time necessary for it would afford
his horses a fine opportunity to regale themselves on
clover. The delay was probably more beneficial to them
than to me. I had felt, before leaving the village, con-
siderable indisposition, which had now increased to a
fever. While we stopped, my position on my horse
became so irksome that I dismounted and flung myself
upon the grass. It was fresh and moist, and doubtless
added to my disorder, for I journeyed on the rest of the
afternoon with great difficulty. Our course skirted the
lake and lay over rugged hill sides which descended to
its brink. Most of the ground was covered with dwarf
oaks, but here and there we passed through open groves
of fruit-trees apparently growing without culture amidst
the wilder vegetation.
We reached, a little past six, the Armenian village of
Elmaleu, nestling amidst a grove of fruit trees at the
head of a little cove, itself completely sheltered by the
surrounding rocks and trees. The scene was so retired
and quiet that it seemed the very home of peace. The
women were uncovered, as they generally are in the
villages, and were spinning cotton before their doors.
They appeared more neat and thrifty than I had been
accustomed to see. But, what was best and strangest of
all, they were kind to me. I wished to spend the night
in the open air, but they dissuaded me from it by say-
ing that the vicinity of the lake rendered it damp. The
1


PILFERING.
233
sun.
The Kurds of Pougah received us well and set before
us an excellent breakfast. They took us, from our dress,
to be Turkish officers, but we did not judge it best
to give them any information with regard to ourselves.
One of them, however, came forward and offered us a
fine little boy for the service of the Sultan.
My fever had returned soon after leaving Elmaleu, but
subsided a little when I had gained a shelter from the
It left me, however, so weak that I found myself
obliged to seek refreshment by sleep before starting again.
I therefore directed John to sit upon the watch while I
took a nap, and stretching myself upon my cloak, cov-
ered
my
face with my handkerchief to screen it from the
light, and lay still endeavouring to compose myself to
sleep.
Before many minutes had passed, I overheard John
communicating to our Kurdish guide the same order I
had given to him, and soon after heard from him certain
nasal sounds which afforded indubitable evidence that
he was not in a condition to be very vigilant. The guide
himself soon grew weary of his watch, and at length,
but insensibly doubtless, followed John's example. Our
Turk was away tending the horses. While all this was
passing, a crowd of the villagers sat around us in silent
observation. Presently I observed that the conversation
which they had been carrying on with us in Turkish
suddenly changed to Kurdish, and soon after I felt a
hand in my pocket twitching at something within. I
immediately threw off the handkerchief from my face,
deliberately sat up and looked round to detect the offen-
der. He was a Turk who had overtaken us on the road,
and made us very flattering offers of service. I did not
at first like his appearance, for he had a malicious and
sinister look. I had made several attempts to part


KURDISH DANCE.
234
company with him, but if we rode fast he was better
mounted and would ride faster, and if we slackened our
pace, he reduced his in equal proportion. He appeared
a little confused at being caught, but soon recovered
himself. Some of the villagers had stolen away. Others
were still sitting by and doubtless were accessary to the
act, for, with all their good qualities, the village Kurds
have an incurable love of pilfering. I immediately called
up John, and, rebuking him for his negligence, told
him I was ready to mount. I did not endeavour to con-
ceal from the villagers that I was offended by what had
been done, but having remunerated the family who
had entertained me, rode away without bidding them
adieu.
I was still too feeble to ride far, and my guide promised
to stop at the village of Geullu, one hour and a half
distant, a large village as he informed me, inhabited by
Armenians. Our road lay over a rich plain, embosomed
in the mountains, many acres of which were covered
with grain. Here we descried a line of black tents in-
habited by wandering Kurds, a kind distinct from those
of the villages, and leading a sort of gipsy life.
They
were amusing themselves with dancing when we first
observed them, but as soon as they saw us, they broke
from their ranks, and ran towards us, dancing as they
came. One, who appeared to be the chief among them,
seized John's horse and demanded a present. John as-
sented, on condition of a dance from the whole company.
Forthwith they begun, young and old, men with grey
hairs, and little children, women with infants at their
breasts, and maidens, all moving to the music of the
tambourine. When the dance had ceased, they rushed
forward for their expected presents. One of the girls
seized my bridle with one hand, while, with the other,


MOUNTAIN PASSAGE.
235
she dexterously attempted to pick my pockets, uttering
all the time the only word of Turkish she seemed to
know-Bakshish *. Others performed the same service
for the rest of the party, chuckling all the time with the
greatest good-nature imaginable. Notwithstanding this
troublesome propensity, I could not but admire their
open
faces full of mirth. From old to young they ap-
peared a comely race. Some of the girls especially,
slightly formed and with nut-brown complexions glowing
with health and exercise, would have been accounted
beautiful in more civilised lands than the hills of Kur-
distan,
Geullu was in sight when we left this party, but my
guide deceived me by telling me that it was another vil-
lage, and that our lodging-place was a little in advance.
Almost before I was aware we had reached the extre-
mity of the plain and had begun to ascend. There
was no village in sight but the one in our rear, and no-
thing before us but a rough and steep mountain-side. I
began to suspect that all was not right, but the Kurd
persisted in advancing and I was too exhausted to resist.
We could ascend only by keeping a zig-zag course.
The path was composed of loose rocks which rolled in-
cessantly from beneath our feet, and so steep that I was
able to retain my saddle only by clinging to my horse's
mane.
Such passages, however, are not remarkable in Eastern
travelling, and the present one might have passed with-
out notice, if it had not been for the suffering which it
cost me.
I had become so weak that I was unable to
hold up my head, and the effort of riding was so painful
that I was several times on the point of suffering myself
* Bakshish-Present.


236
BORDER COUNTRY.
to fall from my horse. The heat of the sun seemed to
be penetrating me and drying up my blood. I thought
I could feel every ray enter my flesh like burning iron.
My brain was heated and the pulsations in my temples
were painfully distinct. I looked up to the sun and its
aspect seemed so merciless that my heart sank within
me. Then I thought that God made it and that it was
by his order that it consumed me. I remembered that
I was in Christ's work, that he had told his disciples
they must expect to suffer, and the thought that I was
suffering for his sake, stole so sweetly into my spirit as
to overmaster all my pain and make me rejoice in it,
We reached the top of the hill, descended and crossed
over many others, until four long hours after passing
Geullu, we reached the village of Narnigas. John helped
me to dismount and laid me upon the grass, whilst he
prepared a couch of straw for me in a stable.
The whole of this region which lies along the south-
ern border of the lake may be described in a word.
Nearly parallel to the lake and about six miles distant,
is a continuous range of mountains extremely rugged in
appearance. They looked at the distance from which
I viewed them, like bare rocks whose edges and peaks
were sharp and pointed, as if cut into the angular and
pyramidal forms which they bore. Snow rested on their
highest summits.
Between this range and the lake is
an assemblage of lower mountains, covered with oak
bushes and interspersed with plains of great richness,
from which beautiful slopes run up among the hills.
Beyond the range, as the inhabitants informed me, the
country is more level and inhabited by Kurds of the most
ferocious character. Between the range and the lake
are numerous villages of Armenians and Kurds. The
former, I was told, have many convents in the mountains.


INTRUDERS.
237
We passed within sight of two or three of them in our
ride from Geullu to Narnigas. The latter village was
small and mean, inhabited by a mixed population of the
two races who possess the land.
When my couch was prepared, John assisted me to
it, and helped me to lie down, for I was now incapable
of any effort. Though in a stable, only a few feet removed
from a herd of cattle, and lying on a bed of straw spread
upon the bare ground, the sense of repose was a more
perfect luxury than, in better times, the couch of a king
could have afforded. It was destined, however, to be
soon interrupted. About sunset, a party of Kurds
came to the door and demanded admittance. I saw at
once that they were of the wild mountain stock, and the
Armenians of the village said they were strangers. John
told them that they might find some other stable, but
that the one we occupied was our own for the night, and
we wished for no company. He told them, moreover,
that he knew very well their custom was to spend the
night in the open air, and that they were not asking
admittance for the sake of a shelter. They persisted,
however, in their demand, and the strife grew warm.
At length they asked that one of their number should
be admitted, but this of course only strengthened our
suspicion of some evil design. When this demand also
was refused, they became furious, and pressed forward to
enter. John, who possessed great muscular strength, and
was, when occasion demanded, as bold as a lion, sprang
at once to his feet, and seizing the foremost of them,
hurled him with great violence out of the door, and shut
it upon them. He then fastened it as well as he could,
and, planting himself before it, threatened to offer
effectual resistance to the first man who should attempt
to enter. They returned the threats with abundant


AGRICULTURE.
238
interest, but no one ventured to carry them into effect.
After loading us with all manner of abuse, they departed
and left us to our repose.
We had come down to the lake an hour before reach-
ing Narnigas, but had immediately left it again,and on
quitting the village, the following morning, we still pur-
sued our way at a considerable distance from it. The
hills now presented a new appearance. They were
more verdant and of a more regular form than before.
Our course led us through a fertile valley, well cultivated,
and watered by a little stream with a mill upon it. After
four hours' travelling, we turned out of the valley into
an extensive plain which conducted us once more to the
shore of the lake. The Kurdish husbandmen were at
work. In one place they were cutting grass with a
sickle. I never before or afterwards, in the East, saw
grass cut for fodder, excepting in the northern parts of
European Turkey, nor did I ever, in any other instance,
see an agricultural implement in form like the sickle.
The food commonly given to cattle in Turkey is barley-
straw, and the most common provender is barley. This
is the most extensive product of agriculture in the
empire. Wheat is next. Oats and rye I have seldom
seen, and corn is abundant only in European Turkey,
where the meal is made into bread equal to the brown
loaves of New England. The grain that was growing on
the border of the lake of Van was now ripe and nearly
six feet high. In another part of the plain a party were
ploughing, and singing right merrily at their work. An
Eastern peasant singing at his work! This too was
strange. I never heard it elsewhere, in those lands,
than among the Kurds.
On the southern side of this plain, away from the
lake, was a singular natural curiosity. From the top of


COLD WATER.
239
a high mountain-peak, a little stream descended in full
view, and by a declivity so steep that from top to bottom
the stream appeared a line of foam, looking in the dis-
tance like a silver thread stretched up and down the
mountain side. We had travelled about sixteen miles
when we reached a Kurdish village, where I found a
tree, and reposed under it for several hours. I had been
riding in incessant pain all the morning, and my strength
was now so entirely exhausted, that when I was called
to mount again I was unable to rise. I wished to spend
the night in the village, but the Kurd declared it to be
a dangerous place, and that nothing would induce him
to remain. John, too, was out of patience, and inso-
lently asked me if I was going to die. After expostulat-
ing with them for some time, I happened to recollect
what I had read in the memoir of Henry Martyn, of the
relief which he received in a similar situation from the
application of cold water. I determined to try its
virtue, and ordered John to pour a jar of it on the back
of
my
head. The effect was instantaneous. The blood
ceased to throb in my temples ; my strength returned ;
I rose and mounted
my
horse.
Our way now lay close along the shore.
refreshed by a gentle breeze from the lake, and by the
sight of its blue surface with its little isles. One of
them, a few miles from the shore, was Akhtamar, re-
nowned in Armenian history as the seat of a Catholicos
of that church. Though it lay without the precincts of
my work, I should certainly have made a visit thither
had not the state of my health warned me to hasten for-
ward to Van. I was told that I could find a boat at
some of the villages which would convey me to the island,
although the intercourse of the people with the shore is
infrequent. The island appeared of a round form, and
We were


240
AKHTAMAR.
barren and rocky. It has a monastery upon it, but I
could not with certainty distinguish it from the shore.
I learned at Van that it was on an extensive scale, but
the Armenians themselves knew little of the affairs of
the island.


CHAPTER XIV.
FROM VASTAN TO VAN.
VASTAN — KURDISH BEY - MOHAMMEDAN PIETY RIVERS -SHANIKOUM-
ILLUSTRATION OF SCRIPTURE-VIEW OF THE LAKE-ERDREMID-INTRO-
DUCTION TO THE PASHA OF VAN-CHAIRS HOMAGE-LODGINGS.
The ride from the last village to Vastan, was only
about ten miles. Vastan itself is a name of great anti-
quity, but the place has departed. It stood at the south-
east corner of the lake, in an enchanting position, on a
plain like that at the south-west extremity. There are
now but five or six houses in the vicinity of the lake, but
I was told that there were more in the gardens at the
inner extremity of the plain, and that there are some
slight traces of the ancient city remaining. The gardens
themselves were in full view. They are the residence
of several Kurdish Beys, or, as the Turks of this region
and of Persia pronounce it, Begs. The residence of the
ruler of the place is on the top of a conical hill, over-
looking the plain, and wears the air of a castle.
Besides the few houses near the lake, were an old
mosque and medresseh, the first I had seen since leaving
Bitlis. One of the houses was the residence of a Bey,
of whom we asked shelter for the night. We were
received into a comfortable building adjoining the house,
and evidently intended for the reception of guests. It
had in the middle a platform or stage, with a balustrade
around it, where we could repose without danger of
VOL. I.
M


MUSSULMAN PIETY.
243
when they appeared to have some spiritual sense of its
nature and importance. I have sometimes found them
entertaining elevated views of moral duty, and looking
with contempt on the pleasures of the world. These
are, indeed, rare characters, but I should do injustice to
my own conviction, if I did not confess that I have found
them. In these instances I have uniformly been struck
with a strong resemblance to patriarchal piety. That
reverence for God, that spirit of simple trust and resigna-
tion to his will, that disposition to observe the operations
of his hand in the works of nature, and that kindly and
beneficent feeling towards all which are the prominent
characteristics of the faith of prophets and holy men of
old, are also the peculiar traits of Islamism, whenever it
assumes anything of a spiritual character.
And why
should it not be so? It is essentially a transcript of
the religion of the Old Testament, corrupted no more
than that was corrupted when Mohammedanism arose.
I would not appear as the panegyrist of the religion, nor
would I deny to it what I sincerely believe to be its due.
On the contrary, I exalt the religion of the Bible when I
show that even its corruptions may sometimes have a
beneficent tendency.
These thoughts are suggested by my recollections of
the Kurdish patriarch. When we sat down to eat, he
implored a blessing with great solemnity, and rendered
his thanks when we arose. Before he left us, he spread
his carpet and offered his evening devotions with appa-
rent meekness and humility; and I could not but feel
how impressive are some of the Oriental forms of wor-
ship, when I saw his aged head bowed to the earth in
religious homage. ' I have not scrupled to adopt the
same form when necessitated to perform the same duty
in the presence of Mussulmans, avoiding, of course, their
M2


244
RIVERS.
various and oft-repeated prostrations. The very posture
helps to create a feeling of lowliness and humility, and
has been, I think, wisely adopted, or rather preserved as
an ancient Oriental usage, among the Mesopotamian
Christians.
We saw nothing of our venerable host the next morn-
ing, but sent him our selam before we left. Our way
continued along the water's brink and soon turned the
south-western extremity, and changed its direction from
an easterly to a nearly north-westerly course. We passed
at this point the most considerable stream that we found
running into the lake. Its length, we were told, does
not exceed five or six miles, and its width where we
crossed it was about twenty feet. We had before passed
several shallow rivulets, but nothing worthy of notice.
Still the lake, embosomed as it is in mountains, must
receive annually large supplies from tributary streams.
Yet it has no outlet, and is never known to rise above a
certain height. I was compelled to stop at an Arme-
nian village called Shanikoum, and finding there a
retired garden, I determined to spend the day. We en-
tered it without permission, for none of the inhabitants
would receive us into their houses or show us any
civility. No one, however, disturbed our repose in the
garden, and I enjoyed for the first time since leaving
Bitlis, a few hours of retirement.
We left with the declining sun, and rode two and a
half hours over an uninteresting country. Excepting a
few fields of grain standing in sheaves, all was a stony
and barren soil. As we passed one of the fields, a little
girl took up a sheaf, and came and placed it before our
horses. This was to indicate that it was an offering,
and we were expected to recognise the courtesy by a
small present.
This is a very prevalent custom in


ERDREMID.
245
Turkey. Lambs are often presented in the same way.
Another custom is, for the traveller to invoke a blessing
upon the grain while it is still growing in the field. The
same is, doubtless, alluded to in Psalm cxxix., where
those who hate Zion are likened to the useless grass
upon the house-tops, to which they who go by do not
bay, The blessing of the Lord be upon you.
The view from this point was very fine, and the whole
scene was remarkably impressive. We were directly
opposite the point at which we first approached the lake,
and the whole breadth of its motionless surface stretched
before us until lost in the misty distance. Beyond it
the sun was going down. To the N. W. was the ma-
jestic form of Subhan. “And there,” said the Turk as
we turned a point, “is Van.” It appeared across a bay,
upon a plain extending from the same range of moun-
tains before noticed, which come down near the lake
behind Vastan, and sweeping round, still preserving their
parallel direction, run off to the north and form the great
boundary between Turkey and Persia. The town
appeared like a mass of parched earth, with vineyards in
front and a high rock towering behind it. For announc-
ing this addition to the scene, the Turk demanded a
bakshish.
As it was too late to reach the city before night, and
I wished, on my first entrance, to present myself before
the Pasha, we stopped at Erdremid, an Armenian village
containing 100 families. It was built upon the steep
side of a hill, and the houses were well constructed of
stone and above ground. Below it were gardens cover-
ing at least a hundred acres. These are inhabited
by Mussulmans, and contain, the villagers told me, a
thousand houses. The place is probably the site of an
ancient city, as there are still to be seen there some


THE PASHA.
247
its outer court to another lying upon a garden. I stopped
just without it to divest myself of my
boots and assume
a pair of Turkish slippers, and then entered. On the
opposite side of the court was a pavilion built in stone,
open on three sides, and connected by the other with the
palace. There sat the Pasha. As he was still some
forty feet distant, he had a good opportunity to observe
me as I approached, and measure the etiquette with
which he should receive me. My dress, worn and stained
with travel, and myself broken with illness and looking
as forlorn and dejected as one of his own rayahs, I
could not have presented a very formidable appearance.
However, he received me civilly and with much more of
respect than my outer man would indicate that I was
entitled to.
The pavilion in which the Pasha sat was built of
stone, and supported on three sides by columns. Ample
curtains were suspended from above, which could be
raised or lowered at pleasure. One fountain played in
the middle of the pavilion, and another in the court
without. The Pasha was a middle-aged man, with a fine
Osmanlee face.
He had put on, for the occasion, a cloak in the same
style with that worn by the late Sultan, when abroad,
with a gold-laced collar, and a golden clasp. He had
also set a chair for me. I suppose he had never seen any
other, and the sight of it made me ashamed of my own
habits. What an idea of Western customs, I thought,
must that tall, straight-backed, narrow-seated, body-
bearer give to an Oriental ! I felt, too, how much less
I was at my ease than the Pasha was, when I found
myself perched upon it, and compelled, by its unyielding
perpendicularity, to eit up straight. My reader will not
understand the true nature of the position, without being


248
HOMAGE.
informed, that the chair was one of those articles of
Malta manufacture, made expressly for the Eastern
market, and only, one would imagine, for a people who
were not able to discriminate the proper qualities of
such conveniences. Its back was as vertical as can be
found in the most venerable remnant of Saxon antiquity,
its seat, of twisted flag, yielding to the weight of the
occupant, and sinking so low that the legs swung over
the front as upon a fulcrum, the feet the while seeking
in vain to reach the floor, and the nether extremities
tingling from lack of circulation. How much more
natural and comfortable, I thought within myself, is the
Eastern mode of sitting. The sofa, our most luxurious
article, is only an approximation to a Turkish divan.
The Pasha asked many questions on America, and my
object in visiting his country, to all which I answered
discreetly. He then sent for John, who made a low
obeisance as he entered, and, at the Pasha's bidding,
knelt at the foot of his carpet. His examination ended,
the Kurd was called. He went a degree farther in his
respects than John, for he approached, knelt, kissed the
border of the carpet, and then rising to his feet, stond
with his hands folded before him. Upon being ques-
tioned, he had the assurance to say that he had been
deputed by the Bey of Bitlis, in whose service he
professed to be, to convey us into the presence of the
Pasha. The whole story was a fabrication, and his
conduct had been an incessant torment to me, from the
moment of our leaving Bitlis. The Pasha, however,
believed him and, according to custom, ordered a present
of fifty piastres to be made to him by his treasurer.
The Pasha offered me a room in the palace, which
looked out on the pavilion and court, and at noon sent
me a rich breakfast from his own table. Finding myself


LODGINGS.
249
however, exposed to constant observation, and feeling
the need of retirement and repose, I begged the Pasha
to assign to me a place of residence in the midst of the
gardens. He readily complied with my request, and,
as it was Saturday, I retired to my new lodgings before
night.
M3


252
REMAINS.
the indentures and irregularities of a natural surface.
The Northern or sloping side is covered with earth and
vegetation.
Art, however, has worked upon its surface and pene-
trated its bowels. Nearly in the centre of the vertical
face, is a large and close inscription in the arrow-headed
character. As it was too far up to be deciphered from
the town, Schultz caused himself to be let down from
above, and copied the whole. The citadel which crowns
the summit, has a wall running along the Northern slope
and meeting the wall of the town at its extremities. The
garrison consisted of an old Turk, who refused us admit-
tance, until he received a written order from the Pasha.
The interior was in a neglected and desolate condition.
Most of the buildings were in ruins, among others the
mosque—an almost invariable accompaniment of Turk-
ish fortresses. The ordnance consisted of a few old can-
non, mounted on broken carriages.
At the Eastern end of the citadel are ranges of subter-
ranean, or rather subrupean, apartments. The first is
entered by a large door-way in the vertical face of the
rock, which here forms, by a retreating angle, a broad
platform on the very brink of the precipice. The rock
about the door is smoothed so as to resemble the front of
a house. The apartment is about forty feet long, from
twenty to thirty wide, and of a corresponding height.
It had no opening for light besides the door, and was
partly filled with rubbish and stones. At its inner ex-
tremity was another opening leading to a second apart-
ment, and beyond this, I was told, was still a third of
the same character. On the other side of the angle made
by the platform, was a second range of rooms, succeeding
each other in like manner, but on a very small scale.
They appeared to be intended either for store-houses or


REMAINS.
253
as receptacles for the dead. A late Pasha, whose tyran-
nical acts are still narrated by the inhabitants, used to
send his victims hither for private execution. This at
least was the story of our guide, and it received some
corroboration from the great number of human bones
which we found scattered about.
One day as I was wandering in the garden of an Agha
of the city, on whom I had called to gather some in-
formation respecting the state of the medressehs, and
whose gardens lay at the foot of the rock, near its West-
ern extremity, I observed some distinct traces of a flight
of stairs, which had led from the town up the face of the
rock, out of which they were cut. They were evidently
intended to conduct to apartments above. The doors of
the apartments themselves were visible, looking out of
the solid surface of the rock, and inaccessible, also, ex-
cepting by ropes, either from above or below. In their
vicinity whole apartments have evidently been destroyed,
since what were once their interior faces now appear
without. The ruin seems to have been the work of
man, and is doubtless the same which Tamerlane is
said to have effected, after taking the city. History
records that he found here certain structures of great
solidity, which he determined to destroy. Bands of his
soldiers, practised in the work of extermination, laboured
for months under his direction, but the task exceeded
their power, and they were compelled to leave it partially
accomplished.
The remains which now exist are to be regarded,
therefore, as a portion only, and perhaps a sınall portion,
of more extensive works. The whole are attributed to
Semiramis. Hither, we may imagine, this powerful
and voluptuous queen retired, amidst the heats of sum-
mer, to rooms decorated with all the magnificence of


MY HOST.
255
sent forward to apprise him of my coming. He received
me at the outer gate with as unconstrained a welcome
as if he had invited me thither himself. A room was
already prepared for me in the most elevated part of the
house, overlooking, on three sides, the forest of gardens
beneath, and commanding a distant view of the city and
the lake. The grounds belonging to the house, though
but a speck in the midst of the gardens, themselves
covered many acres, and were cultivated by no less than
thirty-six labourers. My host was still a young man,
but had passed through some interesting vicissitudes of
fortune. His father had been the banker of the tyran-
nical Pasha before mentioned, who had put him to death
with the design of seizing his riches. The son, however,
anticipating the event, had gathered his father's wealth
and fled to a place of security, where he remained until
his enemy was removed or dead. The catastrophe, he
said, had been a warning to him to avoid public stations.
He had, therefore, returned and purchased an estate
among the gardens, where he could spend his life in
retirement and quiet.
Near the house was a kiöshk, or summer pavilion,
where my host sometimes entertained a party of friends.
On one occasion I was invited to be present. The pavi-
lion was embowered among trees and opened, upon one
side, on a square tank or reservoir, like those often seen
in the courts of Persian houses. The floor was covered
with carpets and cushions, where the guests, twelve in
number, could repose at their ease. Around the reser-
voir musicians were seated, who played while we ate.
Some of the instruments were new to me.
ticular attracted my attention. It was in form like the
body of a piano, though so small that it could be lifted
with ease by the player. Its construction and notes also
One in par-


256
ETIQUETTE.
resembled those of the piano, but its cords were struck
by two pieces of wood or cork attached to sticks held in
the hands of the performer.
Two large sofas were placed for the party. When
we had seated ourselves, a narrow cloth, sufficiently long
to extend around the table, was spread in our laps, and
a napkin richly embroidered was thrown ever the left
shoulder of each guest. Previously, however, servants
came in with napkins, on their shoulders, a ewer con-
taining water in one hand and a basin in the other.
The ewer is generally metallic, and somewhat re-
sembling in form an old-fashioned teapot. The nose,
however, is so small that only a slender stream of water
is emitted, which is poured upon the hands of the guest
by the servant kneeling before him, while the basin
receives it below. To avoid the offence which the sight
of the foul water might give the guest, the basin has a
metallic cover perforated with holes, through which the
water
passes
and is concealed beneath. From the centre
of this cover rises a cylindrical post three or four inches
high, on which the soap is laid. The guest, having
performed his ablution, takes the napkin from the
servant's shoulder, wipes his hands, replaces it, and the
servant passes to the next. By this process fingers are
made as fit to be thrust into a dish as knives and forks
can be.
Generally a kind of soup is first served, into which
each guest, the most respectable taking the lead, dips
his spoon. Pieces of bread are placed in profusion
around the sofa. There is no clashing of knives and
forks, no changing of plates. Each dish is placed in the
centre of the table, and they follow one another in rapid
succession. Each one takes a portion from the side
nearest him, so that the numerous fingers thrust in


262
POPULATION.
united in extolling the salubrity and healthiness of the
climate.
Tavernier, who travelled in the 17th century, reports
that the majority of the inhabitants were Armenians.
According to the best information which I could obtain,
the same is not now true. There are between four and
five thousand Mussulman families, who are chiefly, if
not altogether, Turkish, and two thousand families of
Armenians. A fourth part of the latter reside within
the walls, and these are generally the poorest portion of
the population. The city is the seat of a Bishop, who
resides in a monastery two or three hours distant, and
the churches, though few in number, are served by forty
priests. I could not learn that the Catholicos of Akhta-
mar exercises any authority over them, nor that he pos-
sesses any more than an ordinary episcopal jurisdiction.
The Mussulmans have fifteen mosques and four me-
dressehs, but all of an inferior order. They have also
four schools of the ordinary kind, and the Armenians
two.
I was very favourably impressed with the character
both of the Mussulmans and the Armenians of Van.
It appeared to me more like that of the same people in
Constantinople, than I had seen since leaving Trebizond.
On mentioning my impression to John, I found that he
had been struck with the same resemblance; which he
attributed to the fact that the intercourse of Van with
the capital is much more intimate than that of any in-
termediate city. Large numbers of the people visit
Constantinople in quest of employment, and as the laws
of the Empire will not permit them to remove their fami-
lies, they return after a few years to their native place.
John assured me that servants from Van were the most
esteemed among the Armenians of Constantinople. My


ARMENIANS.
263
intercourse with this people was of a most gratifying
character. The more respectable among them I found
unusually intelligent, and consequently better able to
appreciate justly any efforts for the improvement of their
nation.
That part of Armenia which I traversed between
Erzroum and Van presents, doubtless, a wider and more
promising field for missionary labour among the Arme-
nians, than is to be found elsewhere within the ancient
borders of their empire. They have here been less
disturbed by the changes of war, and less oppressed by
Mussulman bigotry. They have, in the cities, more of
independence and equal privileges with the Mohamme-
dans than I had before witnessed in any other part of
the interior of Turkey, and, as a natural consequence,
they are more intelligent and high-minded.
The picture which I have presented of the villagers is,
indeed, not so favourable, but its shades are no darker
than those in which the character of the Armenian
peasantry throughout Asiatic Turkey must be drawn.
And here let me say, once for all, that in describing them
as in some respects inferior to the Mussulmans, I discard
altogether the inference that Christianity, as it is now
corrupted in the East, is less beneficent in its influence
on character than the religion of Mohammed. The infe-
riority of the Christians, wherever it appears, is owing
to civil, not to religious causes. They are degraded by
long ages of oppression. From a people more elevated
than their masters now are, they have become slaves.
Generous and manly feeling has been long since crushed
by the iron hand of tyranny, and they have become
churlish and inhospitable. Accustomed to seek every
expedient to escape the incessant extortions of petty
rulers, they have learned both to cringe and to deceive.


LIBERALITY.
265
-a tradi-
required, I have frequently seen them stop in the midst
of their prayers to give directions to servants, or to join
the conversation which was going on around them, and
then resume their devotions. This became, at length, so
common, that I almost ceased to notice it. They were
also in the habit of praying without having performed
the prescribed ablutions, evidently unaware that there
was no point of religious practice on which the Mussul-
man precepts are more rigid and imperative.
Irregularities of this kind made it apparent, that the
whole extent of their acquaintance with Islamism, was
confined to the creed, which every Mussulman invariably
knows, and to a few imperfect rites. In this form,
doubtless, it is handed down from father to son-
tional knowledge, imbibed with the first impressions of
childhood, and remaining unenlarged in riper years.
The
very
few educated in the medressehs
are,
of
course,
better informed, but, after conversation with several of
them, I could not discover any systematic acquaintance
with the doctrines of the religion. The medressehs
themselves are few, and only the lower studies are pur-
sued in them.
The people have less of exclusiveness and prejudice
against Christians than the Osmanlees. They are more
free and unreserved in conversation, and their inter-
course with the native Christians is remarkably intimate
and cordial. I had never before heard Mussulmans
speaking the language of rayahs, and, as yet, I had
nowhere seen rayahs so much respected by their Mo-
hammedan neighbours. If I may judge from my own
reception, they are also more courteous towards Franks
than Mussulmans generally are. This difference is,
perhaps, owing in part to the fact, that their prejudices
VOL, I,
N


266
IGNORANCE.
have never been called out by contact with foreigners,
for, with shame and sorrow be it said, the character of
the great mass of foreigners who visit Turkey, is not
such as to commend either themselves or their religion
to the favour of Mussulmans.
I have only to add, that the Turks of these regions
are, for the most part, in the lowest state of ignorance.
With regard to the most common matters of information,
their ideas are like those of a child. It is this, doubtless,
which makes their religion a mere superstition, devoid
of all spiritual conception. Their minds are not suffi-
ciently elevated, nor their moral nature sufficiently
enlarged, to receive any other than a low and gross
thought. This, indeed, is true of the common classes of
Turks everywhere. With such, Islamism appears to be
nothing more than a purely superstitious observance of
certain external rites, and, saving the formulary of the
unity of the Godhead, hardly to be distinguished from
Paganism. It is the performing of certain washings in
a certain way, the repeating of certain prayers, not one
word of which is understood, with certain genuflections
and prostrations, the abstaining from certain meats and
drinks, and the refraining from food during certain
hours of the day, at a certain season of the year. No-
thing of all this is objectionable in itself, excepting the
prayers in an unknown tongue. Some Mussulmans, I
know, associate these practices with spiritual ideas. But
the multitude rest in the practices themselves, without
any thought beyond them. The merit is in doing these
prescribed things in a prescribed manner. This is their
religion, that which is to save them. They tremble for
themselves when they neglect them, while, at the same
time, they may, without remorse, be impure in their


SUPERSTITION.
267
thoughts, deceitful, and vindictive. They are confident
in proportion as they scrupulously perform them, while,
in truth, their confidence is no more than a Pharisaic
pride. It is Islamism appearing under this form, of
which I speak when I say, that it is essentially hea-
thenism.
N 2


SPORTS.
271
early hour. Our journey for the day lay over a country
more hilly than that of yesterday, but diversified by
frequent valleys and plains. The ground was every-
where covered with verdure, but destitute of trees and
cultivation, nor did we see any signs of habitation, ex-
cepting a deserted village which we passed about noon.
Some of the meadows were covered with long wild grass,
affording rich pasturage to the caravans. We met, dur-
ing the day, several troops of Kurds, darker and wilder
in appearance than any we had yet seen. Another
peculiarity which I observed among them, was that their
horses' tails were completely sheared, leaving nothing
but the bare stump. They underwent a severe scrutiny
from our guard, but no evidence of their having been
engaged in unlawful business was found upon them.
When there was no other object to attract their atten-
tion, the guard beguiled the tediousness of the way by
practising their field manoeuvres. One would suddenly
break out of the rank and start off over the plain at full
gallop. Another would instantly seize his spear and
dart away in pursuit. Then followed the contest of
agility and skill. The pursued, leaning to his saddle-
bow and striking his shovel-shaped stirrup-irons into his
horse's side, would scour the plain with the speed of the
wind. The pursuer, holding his spear high in air and
shaking it till the two ends quivered violently, would
follow hard behind. If the horse of the latter were the
swifter, the other would resort to every expedient for
escape. Now, suddenly checking his steed, he would
wheel, shoot by his pursuer and go off in another direc-
tion. Now he would turn in his saddle while his horse
was at full speed, and taking deliberate aim, would dis-
charge his pistol against his foe; and now, when escape
seemed impossible, he would suddenly wheel his horse


ARARAT.
272
round, fall upon his pursuer, rush in beneath his spear
before he had time to use it, and finish the struggle with
his sword. While all eyes were fixed upon the mimio
contest, a third horseman would ride softly up to his
neighbour and crack off his pistol close to his ear; then
would follow another pursuit and skirmish, and soon all,
excepting the leader of the party, would be engaged.
He would restore them to order when it became neces-
sary, and sometimes keep them in a steady march for
one or two hours. At other times, he would despatch a
party of two or three in pursuit of a distant company of
Kurds, or would himself ascend the adjoining hills to
survey the country around.
As we were moving along in this way, I descried, on
a sudden, a solitary peak, in shape like the top of a man's
finger, peering above the summits of the mountains
which bounded our view on the north, and distinguished
from them by its white cap of snow. It was Ararat, old
Ararat, and this was the first and last glimpse I had of
it. At the middle of the afternoon, the leader called
a halt to allow the men space for prayers. For this
purpose he selected a spot near a running stream, in
which they all performed their ablutions. The Easterns,
or at least the Turks, perform all their purifications in
running water. It is the same in the bath, at the table,
in the mosque and abroad. The reason is that the
impurities detached by the operation may be at once
carried away. The idea is a good one, and might perhaps
be practised upon in the Western world to good advan-
tage. In this way the cleansing would be much more
effectual than in water standing in a basin or a bathing-
tub.
I may here add, that the different kinds of ablutions
enumerated in the Catechism are all of religious obliga-


NESTORIANS.
274
until the day of judgment. For this purpose, small
houses, or kiöshks, are sometimes erected in the burying
grounds, as is particularly observable in Constantinople.
The third ablution-with earth or sand-appears at
first sight a singular mode of producing cleanliness. It
is, however, prescribed in the Koran, but is intended to
be used only where water cannot be had, as in travelling,
or where sickness renders its application injudicious.
The purification is performed, in this instance, by
placing the palm of the hand to the earth and rubbing
it over the prescribed parts.
The second kind of ablution is that commonly prac-
tised before prayer. I shall speak of it elsewhere. Dur
Kurds stripped themselves of their armour and performed
it by the side of the stream. I was strongly tempted to
follow their example, so far as to engage in my own
devotions at the same time, knowing how common it is
for Mussulmans to imagine that Franks never pray,
because they are never seen to engage in the exercise.
My repugnance, however, to publicity in such duties was
not as yet overcome, but subsequent experience con-
vinced me that a most salutary influence may be exerted
on the minds of Mussulmans by sometimes sacrificing,
in this respect, the scruples of education and habit to a
desire to do good.
The spot where our party offered their prayers, was
within sight of the village where we were to spend the
night. Before reaching it, however, we passed a larger
one entirely deserted. The inhabitants, who were Nes-
torians, had decamped in a body and gone into Persia.
Our lodging-place was inhabited by people of the same
name, the first of the race which I saw. They are,
here and in Persia, styled Nasrani. Those in Arab
Souik, as the village was called, had a church, but were


RETURN OF GUARD.
275
without a priest. They appeared degraded and misera-
ble, and I could not but observe, with bitterness of spirit,
how much they dreaded the approach of our Mussul-
man company.
Poor and despised, they linger here
upon the soil of their fathers, exposed to the incursions
of hostile Kurds and the hardly less cruel oppression
of Mohammedan masters. While surveying the low
estate of the Churches of the East and the iron bondage
under which they groan, I have often thought that I
could imagine and excuse the zeal which inspired Peter,
the Hermit, to invoke the power of Christian Europe in
their behalf.
The next morning, the chief of our escort came to
me and represented that we had now reached the last
village in Turkey, and that it was unnecessary for all
the men that accompanied us, to cross the mountains into
Ajemistan*, that two or three, being known as repre-
sentatives of the Pasha, would be of equal service with
a dozen, and finally that it was his wish to draw off with
four of the party and go in search of the Kurds who
had committed the recent depredations. I told him, in
reply, that I was entrusted to his care, and that he was
responsible for my safety, but that, if he could take the
course he desired conscious of his responsibility, he was
free to do so. He assured me, in return, that he should
not dare to leave me if he were not entirely satisfied that
I should still be under sufficient protection, and I knew
the nature and responsibility of his service well enough
to be assured of the same.
I therefore made no oppo-
sition to his request, and we prepared to separate. He
selected from his party two of his best men and assigned
them to me, with instructions to see me safe under the
* The country of Barbarians—The Turkish name for Persia.


276
THE BOUNDARY.
protection of the Governor of Salmas. They promised
by Allah faithfully to perform the commission, and,
having made a handsome present to the leader, we
mounted and rode
away.
Before we were out of hear-
ing, he had ordered his men to horse.
Our course had thus far been N. E. We now turned
towards the S. E. and pursued that direction until we
reached Salmas. About an hour after leaving Arab
Souik, we were among the mountains, (the same that
we had been tracing all the way from Bitlis,) and cross-
ing the boundary between the two great Mohammedan
Empires of the East. I remember still, as though it
were yesterday, with what joy I thought of exchanging
Turkish rudeness and reserve for Persian politeness and
affability. Little did I know what was to be my expe-
rience on this score. But I will not anticipate. The
mountains which stand as the great barrier between the
hostile sects of Islamism, present, on the side of Turkey,
an abrupt and bold range, and we almost expected,
when we reached its first summits, to look down upon
the far-stretching plains of Persia. But when we
arrived at the appointed height, nothing appeared before
us but a boundless region of mountain-tops bristling in
every direction. Our path lay among them during the
whole day. Sometimes we were compelled to dismount
in order to scramble up the steep acclivities, and some-
times our horses found it most convenient to set their
feet firm and slide down the almost precipitous descents.
The asperities of the road increased, rather than dimi-
nished, as we advanced. Upon the summit of the loftiest
peak which we scaled, we passed a burying ground of the
Kurds, who inhabit these elevated regions in the summer,
but we saw nothing of the people themselves.
We stopped but once during the march, and then to
1
4


MUSSULMAN CEREMONIAL.
one.
277
snatch a hasty meal. Our bags furnished nothing but
a flap* of the coarse bread of Arab Souik, and we
applied to some Persian muleteers, who had alighted for
the same purpose near us, for a little water. They had
nothing but a jug, which they refused to loan unless we
were provided with a drinking cup. Happily we had
I asked my guard the explanation of this untimely
delicacy. He said that they feared that the touch of
our lips, if applied to their vessel, would pollute it.
The interpretation, perhaps, was just, but it was not
confirmed by what followed, for the leader of the caravan
did not scruple to drink a portion of our coffee from our
own cups. Whether the temptation of so rare a bever-
age disarmed his doubts, I am not able to affirm. I
must, however, forewarn the reader that, on all points
relating to ceremonial cleanness, the Persians are much
more punctilious than the Turks, and carry their super-
stitition much farther. The Jumah Abasi reckons
infidels (that is, all who are not Mussulmans,) among
those impure things whose touch pollutes. The pollution,
moreover, is too deeply seated to be eradicated by any
external process. Conversion alone can cleanse them.
It is a disputed question among the Persian doctors,
whether an infidel falling into a reservoir of water would
pollute it equally with a dead dog.
It is in respect to these things that Mohammedanism
bears one of its strongest resemblances to Islamism.
The former too is corrupted in the Sunneh very much
as the latter is in the Talmud. The Persian manuals
of religion are particularly minute on these points. The
* The bread most commonly found in the interior of Turkey is
made in thin flexible sheets, which a man can roll up and put in his
pocket.


UNCLEAN THINGS.
278
Jumah Abasi contains protracted prescriptions concerning
them, drawn out to the most wearisome and disgusting
minuteness. It details also a list of animals and things
whose touch is to be reputed unclean.
to be reputed unclean. The chief of
these are dogs and swine, intoxicating liquids, dead
animals of all kinds and men of other religions. The
books, indeed, are so punctilious on these points, that
they have immense difficulty in so arranging them that
a Mussulman shall not be in incessant danger of pollu-
tion. The devices for this purpose are sufficiently curious.
The sun is made to dry up the impurities to which the
ground is subjected, as well as all the accidental ones
which befal garments and carpets. Blood pollutes, but
not the blood of insects. By this happy reservation, the
whole host of those inferior animals which fall under
this category and which swarm in every Eastern house,
are saved from molestation. Such little creatures as
musquitos, gnats, fleas, and many others of a kindred
character, are pronounced clean, because, as it is sagely
said, the blood does not circulate in them.


CHAPTER XVII.
FAREWELL TO KURDISTAN.
RECEPTION AT A KURDISH
VILLAGE-THE
NESTORIAN-DEPREDATIONS-
VILLAGE MOSQUES —THE JMAM — MANNER OF HIS APPOINTMENT-HIS
OFFICIAL CHARACTER AND DUTIES-MISSIONARY LABOUR AMONG THE
KURDS-DEPARTURE FROM THE APOSTOLIC MODEL-CHARACTER OF THE
KURDS-JOURNEY TO SALMAS-FIRST RECEPTION IN PERSIA-FIRST IM-
PRESSIONS—THE MOLLAH-MESSAGE FROM A TURKISH LADY-SALMAS.
Our guide had promised to convey us to Salmas on the
third night after leaving Van. But when the sun went
down, Salmas was still fifteen miles distant, and our
horses, which had borne us from Van, were ready to fall
with fatigue. We, therefore, made a halt, and debated
the matter in general council. My first desire was to
proceed and reach Salmas that night, both because I
wished to finish my week's work on Saturday, and
because the mountains over which we were travelling
did not bear so unblemished a reputation that I should
be willing to spend a night among them. I was, how-
ever, overruled both by voices and necessity. Most of
the party declaimed against night travelling in such a
region, and the condition of our horses settled the ques-
tion without appeal. We, therefore, sent forward one of
the guard to a village not far distant, to prepare lodgings
for us.
When we arrived, the villagers hailed us with a cor-
diality that we were not wont to see. They spread


ROBBERIES.
281
one.
at once drawn to him by the simple fact that he was
I could not forbear asking him how he could en-
dure to abide among men of a strange faith. He replied
that he had formerly belonged to the deserted village
which we passed yesterday, that all the inhabitants,
wearied by the incessant extortions practised upon them
by the Pasha, had withdrawn and fled into Persia.
Most of them had gone farther to the North, and had
established a new village. “I," he continued, “ am an
old man, I have but a few days to live ; it matters not
where they are spent."
This was the first and last time that I was refused
the rites of hospitality in a Kurdish village, and, doubt-
less, in this instance, it was owing to that contracted and
selfish spirit which is begotten by long oppression. The
villagers lived in constant terror from the Kurds, who,
if their own statements are to be credited, never failed
to come down upon them as soon as they are recovered
from the consequences of the last depredation. I inquired
how these robberies were effected. “ The Kurds," they
said, “come upon us suddenly, before we have time to
escape, and in such numbers that resistance is useless,
and then proceed to collect and pack upon their ani-
mals whatever they find in our houses, and, at last,
depart, driving away before them the best part of our
herds. They seldom commit murder or use much vio-
lence, unless resisted, but, if any opposition is made, they
slaughter without mercy.” Such was the story of the
villagers, and, doubtless, it is in its main features correct.
We saw evidence that they had provided for their secu-
rity as well as circumstances would permit. Near the
village they had built a solitary tower, as a place of
refuge in case of need. A watch was also kept up in
the village throughout the night. Men armed to the


KURDS.
285
can endure to contemplate. If the idea of encountering
these dangers appears chimerical, is it not because the
standard of our faith has fallen far below the elevation
which it held among the early followers of Christ?
However this may be, we know that the grand scope
of the commission given to the ministry of the Church
must, if the church itself is unchanged, of necessity,
embrace now the same design which it embraced at first
.“ all the world and every creature.”
We know too
that the first ministers of Christ, whose example, in this
respect, must be regarded as a practical avowal of the
understanding which they put upon the commission under
which they acted, - we know, I say, that they carried the
tidings of salvation through Christ, to men as barbarous
as now inhabit the fastnesses of Kurdistan, and at the
cost of as great sufferings as the bearers of the same
tidings to the Kurds would be called to endure. Why
is it, then, that we contemplate such an enterprise with
terror, or reject the idea of it as the product of a visionary
zeal? Is it not, because we have lost the true, original
idea of the ministerial commission; because we distrust
the faithfulness of the promise conjoined with it; be-
cause, in a word, the Church of Christ has left her first
love?
The Kurds have no literature, nor is their language a
written tongue. It is, I believe, cognate with the Per-
sian. On my return from Persia, where I devoted con-
siderable time to the acquisition of the last-mentioned
language, I could often understand something of the
conversation of Kurds, by the great number of Persian
words which I heard in it. A few books of poetry in
their own tongue, but written in the Arabic character,
compose all their literature of which I have any know-
ledge. As a people, however, I believe them to be


286
JOURNEY.
superior to any other in the East. Living between the
Turks and the Persians, they are neither sullen and
heavy, like the former, nor soft and guileful, like the
latter. The ferocious and degraded race who wander
from place to place among the mountains, the settled
Kurds do not acknowledge as belonging to themselves.
The latter are generally of a different stamp. Their
openness, manly independence, frank and generous
feelings, and their liveliness and quickness of mind, will
present nothing hostile to the reception of Christianity,
and indicate, moreover, that, when subdued by it, they
must become, indeed, a noble and peculiar people.
The following day was Sunday, and I debated long
with myself whether I should remain at Broushoran or
proceed to Salmas. With some hesitation I adopted the.
latter course, after reflecting that my situation at the
village was a dangerous one, that the day, if spent there,
would be interrupted by incessant visits from the vil-
lagers, while, the ride to Salmas being short, I might
arrive there in season to pass most of it in some retired
corner in a caravanserai. I gave orders, therefore, to
mount, and we proceeded on our way. Our course was
a constant descent, at first by a craggy path, cut out, as
it were, from the bold face of a precipice, in some parts so
narrow that a single false step of our horses would have
plunged us into the abyss below, and afterwards through
long and winding valleys.
We passed several villages. Near one, called Derik,
inhabited by Persians, were several warm mineral springs
of sulphur and iron. Two of them were inclosed, and
used by the villagers for bathing. Another was an Ar-
menian village entirely deserted. Its lonely church still
crowned the top of the hill on which the village stood.
The sight of it brought vividly to mind the sanctuaries


THE MESSAGE.
289
for I should not have relished his hospitality if imparted
upon such a supposition.
Immediately upon hearing that the Khan was absent,
I had despatched one of the Kurds who accompanied us
to Dilman, with a letter from the Pasha of Van, commend-
ing us to his hospitality. The messenger did not return
till evening, and then brought the intelligence that the
Khan had left Dilman, and was spending a few weeks
in one of the villages. He was accompanied, however,
by a servant from the house of a Turkish Effendi, resi-
dent in Dilman, who announced to us that his master
having gone to Tebriz, and left his house in charge of
his wife, she had sent for us to be her guests. The com-
munication filled me with surprise, but the servant being
a Turk, and the Kurd testifying to his veracity, I could
not doubt the authenticity of the message. It being
Sunday, however, I determined to remain where I was
till the next day, and, in the mean time, sent back the
servant to make my selam to his mistress, and inform
her that I would be her guest on the morrow.
Salmas was formerly the chief town of the district in
which it lies, but the residence of the Khan is now re-
moved to Dilman, and Salmas, deserted by the greater
part of its population, who were Armenians, and emi-
grated to Russia after the last war with that country,
is now no more than a village. Some remains in the
vicinity of the town attest its antiquity and its former
importance.
VOL. I.


292
EVIL TIDINGS.
Nestorians of Persia. They have a Bishop at Khosrova,
who is a zealous and efficient promoter of the Papal
interests. The bazars of Dilman are small, and the
place, upon the whole, is one of humble pretensions.
During the year that I had spent in Turkey, I had heard
of only one assassination, and this one was perpetrated
by a servant upon his master, who had discarded him.
It was done in the mosque of St. Sophia, while the
master was bowed in prayer, and was followed within
a few hours by the death of the murderer. During the
day which I spent in Dilman, an act of the same kind
was perpetrated in the dead of night, and a few days
after, two more in the city of Ourmiah. I heard of no
others in Persia. The singularity of these instances is,
doubtless, to be attributed to the well-known brutality
of the Mussulmans in the districts of Salmas and
Ourmiah.
We left Dilman before day. The full moon, declining
in the west, shed her light over the plain, and on the
distant lake. Our course lay southerly, through ripe
fields of grain, which diffused around the fragrance of
harvest-time. At early dawn we observed husbandmen
at work. It was now the 18th of July, and they were
gathering in their crops. The sun came up gloriously
in the east, just as we entered the mountains. At a
village where we stopped for breakfast, we were greeted
with the tidings, that an English traveller had been
robbed a few days before in the neighbourhood. We
had been congratulating ourselves that danger was past
when we left the region of the Kurds, and were, there-
fore, by no means agreeably moved when one of the
villagers informed us, that we might reasonably expect
a similar rencontre before night. Nothing, however,
occurred to verify the prediction. The country appeared


ANTICIPATIONS.
296
that their Church has, in some respects, departed from
the purity of Apostolic faith and practice. A spirit of
inquiry may rise, and this may be followed by a disposi-
tion to reform whatever is corrupt. That time will be
a day of trial, when those who are now labouring for the
welfare of the Nestorians, will need a double portion of
the spirit of wisdom and love. They will not then be
found, we confidently believe, either aiming at or coun-
tenancing any attempt to mar whatever is now sound.
The Episcopal ministry and the liturgy of the Nestorian
Church, are no part of its corruptions. The former
they hold, like all the Churches of the East, from the
Apostles ; so they and we believe. The latter, if it is
the same among the Nestorians of Persia as among
those of Mesopotamia, is regarded as having been, in
part at least, framed by the Apostles themselves*.
With such institutions it were worse than impolitic, it
were, in our view, sin to interfere. A blow struck at
either would be more disastrous to the mission than to
the Church. We do not fear that it will be struck on
the plain of Ourmiah. We firmly believe that the mis-
sionaries will ever, as now, refrain from all interference
with the constitution and government of the Nestorian
Church.
But we fear that the time may come when this will
not be enough, when missionaries among the Eastern
Churches must not only abstain from the introduction of
schism themselves, but, if they do their whole duty,
must lend their aid to prevent its originating within the
bosom of the Churches. The revival of spiritual religion
we can hardly hope to see effected, without agitation.
* The oldest member of the mission in Ourmiah assured me, that
there was very little, if anything, in the liturgy of the Nestorians which
he wished to see changed.


CATHOLIC MODE.
297
Minds impelled by the ardour of new religious feeling,
will be ready to break away from the body which, from
their new point of vision, appears to them a mass of
corruption. Other minds, upon which no change has
passed, will cling to their old superstitions, and will
be prompt to persecute those who depart from them.
Then, if no preventive be used, will arise commotion and
conflict. Horrid schism will lift up itself from beneath,
and rend and scatter the quivering members of the body
of Christ. Who can contemplate such a scene without
a deep revulsion of every pious feeling? Who would not
rather see, if possible, the good accomplished, without,
in itself, so pernicious an accompaniment as separation,
secession, and division ?
The only mode in which reformation may be made
to go hand in hand with peace and unity, is by carry-
ing forward the work equally in all its parts. Preserva-
tion must be made an end as well as purity. Mission-
aries must not only abstain from recommending inno-
vations themselves, they must train such as are submitted
to their instructions, in the love of the Churches to which
they belong. They must curb, by prudent counsels, the
ardent spirit of those who may come to the knowledge
of the truth as it is in Christ. They must teach them
to reverence their bishops, to abide where they are in
the bosom of their Church, to submit whenever they
can with a good conscience, to labour quietly to extend
the spiritual dominion of Christ among their brethren,
and to abstain from bold and hasty denunciations, even
of what is wrong.
It is here, we fear, our brethren of other denomina-
tions will fall short of what we hold to be the catholic
rule. If they content themselves with merely a neu-
tral position, they will, we believe, overlook the very
03


ITS WORK.
299
first, be, in truth, the last to come up to an enterprise
of love peculiarly their own? Will the Churches of
England and America always sleep at the post of duty ?
No, we will not, we cannot believe it. They will yet
arise, and go forth in the strength of the Lord of Hosts.
They will extend the helping hand of charity to the
oppressed, though erring, Churches of the East. They
will lead them on, with a kind and gentle guidance, to
knowledge and truth. They will gather them, with the
Divine blessing, into the spiritual fold of Christ.


302
THE NESTORIANS.
of Ourmiah. There are but few of them in the city
itself, but they form a large part of the population of
the villages in the vicinity. They belong to the same
branch of the Nestorian Church with the independent
and hardy population who reside among the mountains
of Kurdistan The seat of their Patriarch, Mar Shi-
mon, is at Julamerik, a few days' journey from Ourmiah,
in the heart of the Kurdish country. The missionaries
have had some correspondence with the Patriarch, but,
on account of the dangerous character of the country
which intervenes, have never visited the region where
he resides. The route lies through the territory of the
Hakkari Kurds, the most ferocious and warlike of the
mountain-tribes. It can only be travelled at great risk
of life, and the missionaries have acted wisely in pursu-
ing their work quietly upon the plain.
Great advantages, doubtless, would accrue, if a com-
munication could be opened with the Nestorians of the
interior. Julamerik is the great centre of their popula-
tion, and probably there is to be found there the richest
treasure of old Syriac learning now extant. The cha-
racter of the people is also very superior, in some respects,
to that of the Nestorians on the plain. These last,
although possessing many interesting qualities, are bowed
to the earth by oppression and misrule, a bondage which
invariably debases both the intellectual and the moral
character. Those of the interior, on the contrary, have
many of those noble and generous traits peculiar to an
independent mountain race. They are superior even to
the Kurds about them, who hold them in great respect
and fear. In the villages of the plain, the missionaries
had established already fifteen schools, which were taught
by natives, who had themselves received a partial train-
ing. The provision was regarded as only a temporary


RESPECT FOR MISSIONARIES.
303
one, until other more competent teachers should be pre-
pared to take their place.
The missionaries are compelled to observe no restric-
tions in imparting religious instruction. In their freedom
of access to the people, in the great confidence and love
which is entertained for them, in the personal influence
which they possess, both among the Christians and the
Mohammedans, in the eagerness with which their in-
structions are received by the simple-minded Nestorians,
they stand upon a more favourable footing than has been
attained, in any other instance, among the Eastern
Christians.
The reverence which is felt for them is
very
remark-
able. I have no doubt, however, that it arises, in part,
from the novelty and singularity of their work in the
eyes of the Nestorians. Conceive a people, like those of
Ourmiah, bowed down by oppression through long ages,
until the remembrance of a better state has faded from
their minds, accustomed to look on all around with
distrust, and upon themselves as below the hope of
kindness, and then imagine a company of men coming
to them from the most distant parts of the earth, with a
purely benevolent design for their welfare ; proving the
sincerity of their motives by sitting down among them,
opening schools for their instruction, receiving them into
their houses, healing their sick and counselling them in
language of kindness never heard before, and all this
without any other earthly reward than the pleasure of
seeing them improve under their instruction; and it is
easy to believe that such a people will look upon such
benefactors with mingled emotions of astonishment,
gratitude, and love. The missionaries themselves, pro-
bably, will not be surprised if these emotions should
decline with increasing familiarity. It is a common


304
SUNDAY SCHOOL.
infirmity of our nature to lose our sense of favours
constantly bestowed upon us, as our poor return of
gratitude for the ordinary mercies of Providence abun-
dantly shows.
I observed nothing at Ourmiah with a deeper interest
than the scenes of Saturday evening and Sunday. In
the evening, after the sun had gone down, the inmates
of the mission families assembled with the missionaries,
to examine the lesson for the Sunday School. One of
the missionaries expounded and the bishop commented.
I remember his raising an interesting question on the
passage—“He that is least in the kingdom of heaven
is greater than he.” St. Matt. xi.—At an early hour
on Sunday morning, the exercises of the school com-
menced with a prayer by one of the priests. The school
was held in the out-building occupied by the boys. The
bishop and priests were the teachers. The classes were
seated in circles upon the ground, the teachers sitting in
the centre or standing without. I have seldom witnessed
a more interesting spectacle than these boys presented,
leaning forward over their books with the most eager
attention. The lesson, as before intimated, was from
the New Testament. The teachers appeared, by their
fluency of utterance and their earnestness of manner,
to be both well acquainted with the lesson and interested
in it. The exercises were closed with the Episcopal
benediction.
In the forenoon, the missionaries had a service in
English for their own families. It was not at first
expected that any of the Nestorians would be present
at these services, but, at their own request, they were
admitted. Though few of them were able to understand
anything that was said, they gave a fixed attention to
the exercises. In the afternoon, a Bible class met in
1
1


HABITS.
307
upon the qualities of the tea.
The Persian sits upon
his heels in the same manner that a servant does in
Turkey. I endeavoured to imitate it, but found it less
easy and less comfortable than the cross-legged posture
of the Turks. I endured it, however, with the utmost
civility, until I found that circulation had ceased, when
I contrived to slip off my heels and sit upon the floor,
avoiding, at the same time, the indecorum of showing
my feet, by covering them with the skirts of my coat.
The sketch which is introduced in the title-page of this
volume represents the costume of a Persian, as well as
his posture in sitting.
One of the first questions which the governor asked
me was with regard to the pretended prophet that had
arisen in Georgia*. I had never heard of him before.
He was supposed to be the lost Imam, who was to
reappear and become the head of the Mussulmans. A
Mollah present had in his bosom a manuscript, which,
he said, was the proclamation of the new prophet. He
read it aloud to the company. It was in Persian, and
proved to be full of Oriental hyperbole and moral disqui-
sitions. The Mollah was of opinion that the pretensions
of the man were not to be slightly rejected ; he might
after all be the expected Imam. The company concurred
in the wisdom of the opinion.
I may as well add here what I afterwards learned
respecting this Mohammedan reformer. The Mussul-
mans of Tebriz reported wonderful things of him. He
had made a tree which had been dead fifty years blossom
in one hour, and the next, bear fruit. He had also
per-
formed miraculous cures of diseases, and had restored
sight to the blind. The Russians seized him, and,
* See Introduction, p. 39,


VISIT TO A VILLAGE.
309
troop. “Their numbers were such, "continued my in-
formant, "that, as one of the officers present assured me,
if they had made any attempt at resistance, it would
have been impracticable to have taken their leader.”
Just before leaving the city, I rode out one evening
with Mr. Perkins to a village about an hour distant. Our
coming had been announced, and we were met at the
entrance of the village by a troop of people who seemed
overjoyed at the honour of a visit from Mr. P. I had
often been struck with the great reverence with which
the Nestorians regard the missionaries. The Hekim
Sahib (Sir Physician), Dr. Grant, had already won
considerable fame among the mountains of Kurdistan,
and he related to me an instance in which he was saved
from robbery by simply announcing himself under the
name above given, by which he was generally known in
the country round. His personal influence, gained by
cures hardly less marvellous than miracles among a
people almost entirely ignorant of the healing art, was
very great. Kurds had come from the interior to get
his aid, and had carried back his fame into the moun-
tains, while the respect won by his professional skill
among the Mussulmans of Ourmiah had been of incal-
culable benefit to the mission.
On the whole, his experience had been a remarkable
proof of the utility of the medical profession in con-
nexion with missionary operations. I need not say that
his services were gratuitous, and that he esteemed the
influence which they gave him, chiefly, for the advan-
tages arising from it for accomplishing a better work
upon the minds and hearts of the people. Being a lay-
man, he had also the chief care of the secular concerns
of the mission, a charge which always proves burden-
some to missionaries themselves, and encroaches greatly


CHAPTER XX.
JOURNEY FROM OURMIAH TO KHOY.
DETERMINE TO TRAVEL BY NIGHT-PLAN OP JOURNEY-DEPARTURE
ROBBERY – CLOUDS — THE BISHOP'S FATHER - LAKE OF QURMIAH-
GARDEN AT DILMAN-NIGHT-TRAVELLING-ROADS IN THE EAST-PLAIN
OF KHOY.
I had thus far persevered in travelling by day, though
I had suffered by it an attack of fever in Kurdistan, and
my face and hands had been burned to a blister. Having
now accomplished my tour in that country, and en-
tered among scenes which had been often described by
others, I determined to proceed the rest of the way to
Tebriz by night, although I should thus be precluded
from gaining any knowledge of the face of the country,
or, as I must sleep by day, any additional acquaintance
with the people. My wish was to go round the southern
extremity of the lake of Ourmiah and visit Maragha,
on its eastern shore. But the Kurds along its border
being at that time in a troubled state, and thinking
that all the observations which I could make at night
would poorly compensate for the danger of the road, I
concluded to retrace my steps as far as Dilman, and to
make a diversion from the route around the north end of
the lake, so as to visit Khoy, the first city in entering
Persia by the common route from Erzroum, and the only
place along that route which I was desirous to see.
1


NIGHT-TRAVELLING.
315
had, at least, the happy effect to keep us wakeful. We
ended our stage at Dilman. To avoid the heat of the
town, we obtained permission to spend the day in one of
the gardens without, but we did not know till just before
we left it, that it belonged to a sister of the Effendi, at
whose house we had met so hospitable a reception. The
Effendi was still absent from home, and, as ceremony
did not require us to call upon his wife, or permit us to
speak of her, we contented ourselves with sending our
selam, after the usual form, to the "house" in general.
The gardens of Persia are commonly without the towns,
and enclosed by walls of earth. The one in which we
reposed was several acres in extent and contained, besides
the fruit-trees, a grove of poplars, whose slender forms
afforded a very inadequate shelter from the sun.
We resumed our march one hour after sunset, just as
the shadows of evening were closing over the plain.
We had heard, during the day, of a new robbery which
had just been committed on the very road that we were
to travel during the night, and we put ourselves in the
best state of defence that our circumstances permitted.
We escaped with difficulty the numerous canals which
intersected the plain, and continued our way over a low
ground for one or two hours to the north-west, as nearly
as I could judge by the stars, and afterwards to the
north-east. The coolness was peculiarly refreshing,
after the great heat of the day. The sky was clear and
the stars seemed more brilliant than I had ever seen
them before. The perfect stillness, disturbed only at
long intervals by the baying of dogs as we passed near
some village, had a soporific as well as a meditative
effect. I conversed with my companion until every
common topic of interest was exhausted. I smoked a
pipe, and counted every familiar star that shone over
1


PLAIN OF KHOY.
1
317
the state in which nature left it. Sometimes, among
the mountains, the difficulties of the way have been
relieved by the labour of man, where they would other-
wise have proved impassable, but seldom is this effected
to such a degree as to make a commodious path. It is
singular to meet on such roads as these, excellent
bridges of stone or brick. Often, however, they are
wanting, and the traveller is compelled to make his way
by fording, which, at certain seasons of the year, is not
always an easy or a safe task.
The road across the plain of Khoy was bordered by
willows, which must once have been beautiful, but are
now in a sadly neglected state. At short distances the
road was cut through by canals, over which there was
no passage but little pathways, three or four feet wide.
The plain itself, which is of nearly a circular form, and,
as I judged by the eye, about twelve miles in diameter,
is pronounced by Morier, who traversed the greater part
of Persia, the finest in the country. Morier, however,
did not visit the plain of Ourmiah, which far surpasses
it, both in natural beauty and in the variety of its pro-
ducts.
P 2


320
ILLNESS.
the country. I described to him, as well as I could, the
character of the English church, and pointed out the
difference between Eastern and Western Christianity.
He expressed himself much pleased to hear that certain
corruptions which he had been accustomed to associate
with Christianity, were no essential parts of it, but
accidental appendages which Western Christians had cast
off. He had never before heard that picture-worship did
not belong to our religion, as he had always understood
it to be practised by Eastern Christians. When he had
finished his inquiries, I began and asked him if he had
ever read the New Testament. He had read, he replied,
Martyn's translation, and spoke highly of it. He had
also heard of Martyn himself, and said that he was a
good man. Much more conversation of the same
character passed between us, and I went away more
pleased than ever with the accessibleness and affability
of Persians.
Before we left Ourmiah, Mar Yohanna had endea-
voured to dissuade us from visiting Khoy, and, when
he could not prevail, he shook hands with us at parting,
and predicted that we should not be a day in the place
without an attack of fever and ague. I was so fortunate
as to escape, but Sunday had not passed before Mr. S.
was prostrated. I spread a carpet for him in the elevated
apartment before mentioned, and he retired thither to
be sick. He undertook to prescribe for himself, and
asked for a dose of calomel. I had procured from an
apothecary in Pera, a few simple medicines before leaving
Constantinople, and among these was a vial purporting,
on the label, to contain the article required. I took out
a portion and was about to administer it, when Mr. S.
happened to observe that it was a solid substance, instead
of a powder, and refused to receive it. I reasoned with


324
MOUNTAINS AT NIGHT.
moping gait, and went off the same night, with a good
load, to Dilman.
Mr. S., though still feeble, was able to leave on Tues-
day evening, and we started at sunset. The distance to
Tebriz is about ninety miles, which we performed in
three nights. After leaving the plain, we ascended
among the mountains, which run down to the head of
the lake of Ourmiah, and which travellers have described
as of difficult and dangerous passage, even by day. The
darkness hid the danger from our eyes, but only increased
the difficulty. As we could not see the path, nor each
other, our horses were left to their own guidance, and,
doubtless, conveyed us more safely than if we had
attempted to guide them ourselves. The lake is discern-
ible from the heights, but we had reached the plain on
the opposite side before the day broke.
From these mountains to Tebriz, the country seemed
one uninterrupted level. We stopped, the second morn-
ing, in Dizeh Halil, at the house of one of the most re-
spectable men of the village, who caused his harem to be
vacated for our reception. The occupants decamped in
such haste as to leave every thing in its customary state
and place, and I had the gratification of seeing, for the
first time, a Persian harem, though an humble one. It
consisted of one large room with two smaller ones adja-
cent, the latter being intended as receptacles for the beds
which at night are spread upon the ground. The prin-
cipal apartment was neatly plastered, and the whole fur-
niture consisted of the Persian carpets which covered the
floor. The room was lighted by one large latticed win-
dow, which occupied the whole side of the room, looking
upon the court. The doorways were screened by large
heavy curtains hanging before them. In the centre of
the ceiling overhead, was an inscription taken from the