TN 6681 LIBE RY: Armenian Library and Museum of America On Loan from VIGEN DER MANUELIAN ! VMO 6181 18175 4.6 NARRATIVE 1849 OF A TOUR THROUGH LIB 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. II. تا کارال با سمر سمر mima Merry * CARMSTHONG PERSIAN MUSHTEHED, LONDON: TILT AND BOGUE, 86, FLEET STREET. D. APPLETON AND CO., NEW YORK. MDCCCXL. Entered at Stationers' Hall. LONDON : BRADBURY AND EVANS, FRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS. CONTENTS OF VOLUME SECOND. CHAPTER 1. TEBRIZ, PAGE ANTIQUITY OF THE CITY-CLIMATE_POSITION-GARDENS - MY HOUSE- PRESENT AND PAST CONDITION OF THE CITY COMPARED-REMAINS— ARSENAL-SHAWL MANUFACTURERS-THE TURKISH OF PERSIA-GERMAN MISSIONARIES—THEIR SYSTEM OF OPERATIONS-PERSIAN AFFABILITY- QUALIFICATIONS 1 . II.-TEBRIZ." FOREIGNERS IN THE CITY-EUROPEAN TRADE-PROVINCE OF ADERBEIJAN- ARMY-DESERTIONS-EUROPEAN COSTUME-A PERSIAN PRINCE-INTER- VIEW WITH HIM - HIS TEACHER-ANOTHER STORY THE TRUTH- EXCITABILITY OF THE PERSIANS — ILLUSTRATION INTEMPERATE AND DISHONEST SERVANT -PERSIAN MORALITY — CHARACTER OF PERSIAN SERVANTS-HOUSES, STREETS, AND BAZARS OF TEBRIZ-ITS MUSSULMANS -WINE-DRINKING-MOHAMMEDAN PREACHING-THE MUSHTEHED 11 III.-JOURNEY FROM TEBRIZ TO MIANEH. CONSIDERATION OF PLANS DECISION -DEPARTURE FROM TEBRIZ-FIRST DAY'S JOURNEY-POTATOES-CARAVANSERAI — PERSIAN FONDNESS FOR PILGRIMAGES-VILLAGE SCENES-VILLAGE FARE-TURKISH AND PERSIAN VILLAGES COMPARED - RIVERS ANCIENT REMAINS AT DIKMETASH CARAVANSERAIS-ROUTE OF THE GREAT PILGRIMAGE-PERSIAN STREAMS -PERSIAN SCHOOLS-ALIAUTS-RICE-FIELDS 25 IV._MIANEH AND THE KOFLAN KOH. MIANEH-VENOMOUS INSECT — VALLEY OF MIANEH-KOFLAN KOH-THE MAIDEN'S TOWER — KURDS — SINGULAR COUNTRY-PERSIAN VICES REMEDY-THEORY OF MISSIONARY LABOUR AMONG THE PERSIANS-OUR DUTY TO THE EASTERN CHURCHES 34 vi CONTENTS. PAGE V.-JOURNEY FROM THE KOFLAN KOH TO KAZVIN. VALLEY OF THE ZENJAN RIVER-THE KHAN-BARBARITIES OF THE PERSIAN SOLDIERY-MODE OP IRRIGATION-HAPPY PEASANTS-ZENJAN-DOMESTIC TROUBLES-PLAIN OF SULTANIEHREMAINS AT SULTANIEH-TROUBLE IN A PERSIAN VILLAGE-PILGRIMS-PERSIAN PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA-THE MOLLAH-PASTORAL LIFE IN THE EASTMOURNING AT GRAVES-AP- PROACH TO KAZVIN 41 VI.-KAZVIN. SITUATION-INTERIOR -THE PEOPLE-MEDRESSEHS-RUINED PALACE- LANGUAGE-STORY-TELLER-PERSIAN DERVISHES—THE YOUNG DERVISH - TRAVELLING TURKS-THEIR OPINIONS CONCERNING PERSIA-PREVA- LENCE OF LYING AMONG THE PERSIANS TESTIMONY OF HERODOTUS- MY OWN IMPRESSIONS-ILLUSTRATIONS-DECEPTION PRACTISED ON A FOREIGNER-SOURCE OF THE VICE 52 VII.-JOURNEY TO TEHRAN. THE CAPITAL. LEAVE KAZVIN-GRAPES AND WINE-THE PLAIN-CAMELS AND HORSES A VILLAGE-MODE OF IRRIGATION-FEVERS—THE PLAIN OF TEHRAN- ROYAL PROJECTS-ROUTE-PERSIAN PRESENTS-FIRST VIEW OF TEHRAN RECEPTION AT THE CAPITAL - LANGUAGES-ORIGIN OF TEHRAN- DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY-AMBASSADORS' RESIDENCES-THE ROYAL PALACE — DESCRIPTION OF ITS PRINCIPAL BUILDINGS AND COURTS- POPULATION OF THE CITY-ENGLISH RESIDENTS-FEVER-THE POST RUINS OF RHEY 62 VIII.-THE SHAH. EXPEDITION TO HERAT- ASSAULT UPON THE TURCOMANS-ORIGIN OF THE PRESENT DYNASTY-THE LATE SHAH–THE PRESENT SHAH'S ACCESSION TO THE THRONE-HIS CHARACTER AND VIEWS-POLITICAL STATE OF PERSIA -THE ARMY-REFORMS 76 IX.--JOURNEY FROM TEHRAN TO HAMADAN. RULES AND PRINCIPLES OF EXPLORATION-FRIDAY-ITS OBSERVANCE BY MOHAMMEDANS-SERVICES OF THE DAY-HOW ESTEEMED BY PERSIANS- THE TRUE IDEA OF THE WORSHIP OF FRIDAY-SINGULAR CHANGE IN CONSTANTINOPLE DEPARTURE FROM TEHRAN PLAIN - VILLAGE DESERT - SUNDAY-LODGINGS -MOUNTAINS DEMAVEND MOUNTAIN- PASSAGE-DOMESTIC LIFE IN A PERSIAN VILLAGE-SKETCH OF THE CHARACTER AND CONDITION OF THE PERSIAN PEASANTRY-TAKING NOTES -WEARISOME JOURNEY APPROACH TO HAMADAN 85 X-HAMADAN. LODGINGS-DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY - TRADE POPULATION -JEWS- THEIR CONDITION-VISIT TO THE TOMB OF MORDECAI AND ESTHER- TROUBLES OCCASIONED BY MY FOREIGN DRESS-MOUNT ELVEND-CLIMATE -MOSQUES--ANTIQUITIES OF HAMADAN—LIFE AMONG PERSIAN PILGRIMS --THE STATE OF MOHAMMEDANISM IN THESE REGIONS-DIFFICULTIES . IN LEAVING TREACHERY OF MULETEERS 100 CONTENTS. vii PAGE XI.--JOURNEY FROM HAMADAN TO KERMANSHAH. LEAVE HAMADAN ROYAL TRAVELLERS-SICK SERVANT-MOUNTAIN-PAS- SAGE-PLAIN OF SADABAD-KENGHEVAR-ANCIENT REMAINS-ILLNESS OF OUR PARTY-KURDISH WOMEN-THE VALE OF BISITOUN-SINGULAR PEAK-ANTIQUITIES INCREASED ILLNESS-ARRIVAL AT KERMANSHAH 115 XII.-KERMANSHAH. EMBARRASSMENTS -INHOSPITABLE MUSSULMANS - FUNDS EXHAUSTED RELIEF BY A LETTER-THE FIRE-WORSHIPPER-HIS KINDNESS-CHANGE OF LODGINGS-ARMENIAN HOUSEHOLD-FIRE-WORSHIPPERS IN PERSIA LOSS OF MY ATTENDANTRENEWED DIFFICULTIES- FINAL ARRANGE- MENTS 124 . XIII.-JOURNEY FROM KERMANSHAH TO THE BORDER OF TURKEY. DESCRIPTION OF KERMANSHAH-PERSIAN FASTS AND FEASTS-THE NEW YEAR'S FESTIVAL COMMEMORATION OF THE DEATH OF HOSSEÏN-DEPAR- TURE-FIRST VILLAGE-KURDISH FAMILY-WILD SHRUBS-KURDISH. HOSTESS-CHANGE OF COURSE-NIGHT IN A STABLE STRANGE PEOPLE THEIR RELIGION-THE MEDIAN GATES-CHANGE OF CLIMATE-PERSIAN EXPEDITION-RUINSA TURK-EMIGRATING KURDS—THE DATE-TREE- THE BOUNDARY 134 XIV.-JOURNEY TO BAGDAD. RETROSPECT-SOOFFEEISM-THE TERM DEFINED-GENERAL IDEA OF THE PHILOSOPHY-PRACTICAL RESULTS OF THE SYSTEM-STRENGTH OF THE SECTPERSIAN LIBERALITY-VILLAGES BETWEEN KERMANSHAH AND BAGDAD - FACE OF THE COUNTRY UNWELCOME ENCOUNTER - NEW TROUBLES CARAVAN TRAVELLING - SLEEPING ON HORSEBACK-THE DIALA-FERRY THE MIRAGE ARRIVAL AT BAGDAD 149 XV.-BAGDAD. RECEPTION EUROPEAN SOCIETY ISLAMISM IN BAGDADANCIENT AND MODERN STATE CONTRASTED- THE FOUR SECTS OF THE SUNNITES-SHIAHS -THEIR PLACES OF PILGRIMAGE-DERVISHES—THEIR ORIGIN-CON- VENTS-DRESS-WORSHIP- THE PERFORMANCES OF ONE OF THE ORDERS AT BAGDAD-IMMORAL CHARACTER OF SOME OF THE ORDERS-GENERALLY HOW REGARDED-WANDERING DERVISHES-POSITION OF BAGDAD-TOMB OF ZOBEIDE-DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY-THE PEOPLE-RECENT RE- VERSES 162 XVI.--BAGDAD. POPULATION-EXPLANATION OF NATIONAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL NAMES THE CHRISTIANS OF BAGDAD-PATRIARCHS--DIVISION OF THE NESTORIAN CHURCH JEWS-LANGUAGES OF BAGDAD-BOOK-STALLS-CLIMATE- PRODUCTIONS-GARDEN OF THE BRITISH RESIDENCY-COMMUNICATION WITH EUROPE-EUPHRATES EXPEDITION-TRADE OF BAGDAD-RIVER BOATS CIRCULAR BOATS-THE TIGRIS-THE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT- BANISHMENT OF PASHAS-WAHABEESMY ATTENDANT-NEW ARRANGE- MENT_TATARS-CHANGE OF DRESS 178 viii CONTENTS. PAGE XVII.-JOURNEY FROM BAGDAD TO KERKUK. DEPARTURE FROM BAGDAD-LETTERS - THE DESERT-BOU YOUROULTOU- CANALS-KHAN IN THE DESERT-THE SOIL—THE HAMRIN HILLS-KARA TEPEHCHALDEAN MUSSULMANS-KIFRI-TURKISH COURT OF JUSTICE- THE POSITION OF WOMAN UNDER MOHAMMEDANISM - INSTITUTIONS OF THE KORAN-THE MORAL STATION OF THE TURKISH FEMALE-HER RELI- GIOUS PRIVILEGES AND DUTIES -- TATARS—WANDERING DERVISH-TOUZ KHOURMATEU-MANUFACTURE OF SALT-ANTELOPES-TAOUK-SITE OP AN ANCIENT CITY - NAPHTHA, A SUBSTITUTE FOR CANDLES .194 XVIII.-JOURNEY FROM KERKUK TO MOSSOUL. KERKUK - ARTIFICIAL MOUNDS — SULPHUR HOLES — BITUMEN WELLS — ALTEUN KEUPRU--KURDISH VILLAGE-LAWLESS SOLDIERY-CITY OF ARBELA — DAY IN A CHALDEAN VILLAGE -- PATIENTS — NIGHT IN THE VILLAGE-AGRICULTURE -- FORDING THE ZABRAFTS - SCENE OF THE BATTLE BETWEEN ALEXANDER AND DARIUS SYRIAN VILLAGE - COUNTRY BETWEEN THE ZAB AND TIGRIS-RUINS OF NINEVEH-CROSSING TIGRIS-ARRIVAL AT MOSSOUL 208 XIX.-THE CHALDEAN CHURCH. SUBJECT PROPOSED-COMMENCEMENT OF THE PAPAL MISSIONS IN MESOPO- TAMIA---PROFESSED PRINCIPLE OF THE MISSIONS-ACTUAL MODE OP OPERATION-INTERFERENCE WITH THE PATRIARCHAL OFFICE-DEFEC- TION OF THE PATRIARCH-CONSEQUENCES-VIOLENT MEASURES OF THE MISSIONARIES-BITTER CONTENTIONS_SETTLEMENT OF DIFFERENCES- DEFECTION OF THE CHURCH-ITS NATURE AND EXTENT-CHANGES TRACED AND ENUMERATED-THE LITURGY-CONFESSION-HOLY WATER-SIGN OF THE CROSS-PURGATORY-THE COMMUNION SERVICE-BAPTISM-SACRA- MENTS—THE MINISTRY-PICTURE-WORSHIP-THE VIRGIN MARY-INTRO- DUCTION OF ROMISH BOOKS-THE SACRED SCRIPTURES-CONCLUSION 221 . XX.-MOSSOUL. SITUATION - LEGEND-SULPHUR-SPRINGS-MARBLE-QUARRIES-VISITATION OF THE PLAGUE-TRADE-MANUFACTURE-RIVER-TRADE-CLIMATE- CUSTOMS OF THE PEOPLE—THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CITY-INSURREC- TIONS AND CHANGES INTRODUCTION OF REFORMS-LANGUAGES-RELA- TIONS OF THE CHALDAIC AND SYRIAC-CORRUPTIONS OF THE CHALDAIC- THE LANGUAGE OF THE PEOPLE-SCHOOLS-RELIGIOUS STATE OF THE CHALDEANS 236 XXI.-MOSSOUL, CONVENTS-RABBAN HORMUZD-VILLAGE OF AL KOSH-CONVENT OF ST. MATTHEW-ST. GEORGE-ST. ELIAS-CHALDEAN CHURCHES IN MOSSOUL --MY HOST-MUSSULMANS OF MOSSOUL-MEDRESSEHS AND MOSQUES- NOVEL CUSTOM-INTIMACY BETWEEN CHRISTIANS AND MOHAMMEDANS- INSTANCES-SUPERIOR CHARACTER OF THE CHRISTIANS-PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE INCIDENT ON THE ROAD FROM BAGDAD-APPRE- HENSIONS OF DANGER-THE TATAR'S PREPARATION -- ABLUTION BEFORE PRAYER 248 CONTENTS. ix PAGE PAGE XXII. --JOURNEY FROM MOSSOUL TO MARDIN. FAREWELL TO MY HOST-OUR GUARD-CONVERSATION WITH THE TATAR's SON-REGARD OF MOHAMMEDANS FOR THE MESSIAH-MISCONCEPTIONS RESPECTING HIS DIVINITY-THE DOCTRINE OF A TRINITY NOT OFFENSIVE TO MUSSULMANS-DOCTRINE OF THE KORAN RESPECTING THE MESSIAH DESERT TRAVELLING-NIGHT IN THE DESERT_SECOND DAY'S JOURNEY- THE SINJAR MOUNTAINS-FACE OF THE DESERT-STATION OF SOLDIERS - IMPURITY OF TURKS AND PERSIANS-THIRD DAY'S JOURNEY-MORE POPULOUS REGION-THE CHARACTER OF ITS PEOPLE-CHANGE IN ITS GOVERNMENT-THE TOUR MOUNTAINS-PRINCIPAL SEAT OF THE JACOBITE POPULATION—THE ANCIENT NISIBIS-CHURCH OF ST. JAMES-PLAN OF A NEW CITY—THE PASHA OF THE PROVINCE-ANCIENT KHAN-SCENE AT SUNSET - PLUNDERING ARABS-DEXTERITY OF A YEZIDEE-DARA- APPROACH TO MARDIN-VIEW OF THE CITY-ARRIVAL 258 XXIII.-MARDIN. SITUATION AND DESCRIPTION OF MARDIN POPULATION - THE CHRISTIANS MARDIN THE CENTRE OF THE JACOBITE POPULATION CHANGES IN THE JACOBITE CHURCH--CONTENTIONS AT MOSSOUL-NEW PATRIARCH-INTER- VIEWS WITH HIM-EXTENT OF CHANGES IN THE JACOBITE CHURCH - THE CHALDEAN METROPOLITAN OF MARDIN - THE ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF BAGDAD-MOHAMMEDANS OF MARDIN-WORSHIPPERS OF THE SUN-CHANGES IN MARDIN-PRESENT STATE 273 XXIV. -JOURNEY FROM MARDIN TO DIARBEKIR. DIARBEKIR. DESCENT FROM MARDIN-FACE OF THE COUNTRY-KURDISH VILLAGE- A KURDISH CHIEF HIS FAMILY APPROACH TO DIARBEKIR-RECEPTION IN THE CITY-ANTIQUITY OF DIARBEKIR-TRADE-RECOMMENDATIONS MANNERS - BAIRAM-MOSQUES — POPULATION-CHRISTIANS-CONCLUSION 288 APPENDIX 299 . REMARKS ON THE USE OF WINE AND DISTILLED LIQUORS AMONG MOHAMMEDANS OF TURKEY AND PERSIA THE 315 . EASTERN COIN . . 330 RULES FOR THE PRONUNCIATION OF FOREIGN TERMS . 331 TABLE OF DISTANCES . 333 . TOUR THROUGH PERSIA, &c.: CHAPTER I. TEBRIZ. ANTIQUITY OF THE CITY-CLIMATE-POSITION - GARDENS MY HOUSE PRESENT AND PAST CONDITION OF THE CITY COMPARED-REMAINS- ARSENAL-SHAWL MANUFACTURERS—THE TURKISH OF PERSIA-GERMAN MISSIONARIES-THEIR SYSTEM OF OPERATIONS-PERSIAN AFFABILITY QUALIFICATIONS. I will not speculate on the long-contested and still unsettled question of the origin of Tebriz, farther than to say, that the dispute itself is an evidence of its great antiquity. The opinion of the old travellers, that it is the ancient Ecbatana, the capital of the Medes, is now generally abandoned. It is pretty clear, however, that it received its present name as late as A. D. 750, and that it was given to it on account of the salubrity of its climate, the name signifying fever-dissipating, a commen- dation which it certainly deserves, if its tendencies in this respect are compared with those of Tehran, the present capital of the country. The inhabitants still extol its healthiness, and, I believe, with good reason. VOL. II. B 2 POSITION. During my stay, in August and September, the weather was very fine, excepting when the south wind blew. At such times the sky assumed a lowering aspect, and the air seemed to have lost its vitality. I have felt the peculiarly enervating effects of this wind, in Constanti- nople, in Persia, and in Bagdad. We had strong winds almost daily at Tebriz, but, excepting that just men- tioned, they brought a refreshing coolness with them, though they 'covered the city with a cloud of dust. The position of Tebriz is remarkable. On the West there is a plain reaching, unbroken, to the lake of Ourmiah, thirty miles distant. As the traveller ap- proaches from this direction, he enters an amphitheatre of hills, none of which are of extraordinary height. The curve is towards the East, and the two arms sweep round and go off to the West. The city lies at the inner extremity of this amphitheatre, with the hills on three sides and the great plain on the other. It has a wall of sun-dried brick, with bastions, and seven or eight gates. Two of the latter are decorated with lacquered tile, which gives them rather a showy appearance. I used frequently to ride round the city, and estimated its circumference at less than four miles. A large portion of the population reside without the walls, and the plain around is covered with gardens and human habitations. As the hills in the vicinity are entirely barren and are discoloured by a green and ochreous appearance, the sight of so much vegetation in the plain below is doubly agreeable. The general aspect of the gardens, however, is much finer than when they are entered and examined in detail. Those which I visited had no re- gularity of plan, and displayed no pretensions to horti- cultural taste. They had no flower-plots, or gravelled- walks, or trimmed hedges, or gay parterres, like a TEBRIZ-PAST AND PRESENT. 4 flower seemed to shrink from the light and glare of the world. In one corner of the court was a reservoir, which, at a trifling expense, I kept filled from the public stock, for the purpose of watering the garden. All the grounds in the vicinity of the city are irrigated in the same manner, the proprietor paying a certain sum for having a stream turned through his gardens, so as to furnish a determinate quantity at regular intervals. My furniture I hired by the month, from the bazars; and Mr. Nisbet, the British agent in Tebriz, added to my Persian stock an English chair and table. The care of my larder and the superintendence of my kitchen depart- ment, I committed entirely to John, of whose honesty, in pecuniary concerns, I had already had ample proof. I was thus left at liberty to pursue my work unmolested, and for the space of nearly two months, I enjoyed tolera- ble comfort and quiet. The solitude only was irksome, for, although I found at Tebriz several very agreeable friends, one in particular, who was unwearied in his endeavours to aid me, I had never as yet felt so much the burden of loneliness as now. I thought of the man who domiciliated a spider in his prison, and I did the same with a little kitten, which, from being the shyest and wildest thing in the world, became, at length, so fami- liar as to sit upon my shoulder by day, and sleep upon my bed at night. One morning I missed it from my room, and on going into the court, I found it stretched out on the walk, stiff and dead. I gave it a decent burial among the flowers, and felt as if I had lost a friend. But to my work. Tebriz, though still an important. city, has greatly degenerated from what it was in ancient times. The traveller no longer recognises the truth of the glowing descriptions of Chardin, Tavernier and Sir Paul Lucas, Many of the edifices described by them THE CITADEL. 5 A mosque, are gone, and others, which were then within, are now without, the limits of the city. The three hundred caravanserais, the two hundred and fifty mosques, the splendid cafés, the maidan, or public place, where 30,000 men had often stood in battle-array, have disap- peared, or are reduced to far narrower limits and num- bers. The immense population of 550,000, or, as the Persians of those times estimated it, 1,100,000, is now diminished to 80,000, at the highest credible estimate*. The imposing ruins which they described as existing in their day, are no more to be seen, and buildings which were then in all their glory, are ruins now. of which Tavernier speaks as the most magnificent edifice in the city, is now only the most conspicuous remain of former times. Chardin, in his sketch of the town, has it surrounded by habitations, and quite within the limits of the city proper. It is now considerably beyond the walls, and stands solitary among the gardens. It is said to be 400 years old, and is, at present, no more than an immense mass of bricks, covered with glazed clay of various colours, and bearing numerous in- scriptions. Apart of the dome and the doorway remain. Some of the arches are fallen, and others are gradually crumbling to decay. It has been very much shaken by earthquakes, and wide fissures yawn in every part. The arkt, or citadel, is the most conspicuous building of the present city, and is enclosed in a projection of the city wall on the South. It was originally the mosque of Ali Shah, and was built 600 years ago. It consists of a lofty edifice of brick, a part of which seems to have * Chardin, i. 255. Chardin's dates are for the middle of the 17th century, and so are Tavernier's. Sir Paul Lucas travelled half a cen- tury later. † Areg, or Ark-a Persian term, corresponding to the Latin Arx. 6 CANNON FOUNDRY. fallen, and the remainder has been rent from top to bottom by earthquakes. It is still, however, a noble edifice, and, as a structure entirely of brick-work, is well worthy of notice. On the summit there are two or three small apartments and parapets, which afford a fine panoramic view of the city and gardens. Abbas Mirza, a son of the last Shah, and heir apparent to the throne, converted it into an arsenal, to which use it is still devoted. When I visited it, workmen were en- gaged in boring cannon, which was done by a simple machine turned by four oxen. The whole establishment was under the charge of an Armenian, who had con- tracted with the government to furnish a certain number of cannon, at a specified sum. It was related to me, on good authority, as illustrative of the financial state of the kingdom, that the contractor had upon his hands go- vernment-notes to the amount of 60,000 tomans, or about £30,000, which, (excepting one of 5,000 tomans, £2,500, that he had sold at a loss of 40 per cent.,) he was unable to dispose of at any rate. In the mean time, he was compelled to fulfil his part of the contract to his own ruin. The copper from which the cannon were made, was extracted from one of the royal mines. Another mine, of iron, had lately been opened near the city, and the works for extracting and smelting were in the course of erection, under the superintendence of an English gentleman. Within the walls of the citadel, the process of casting and the manufacture of carriages for the cannon, were going on. In another part were barracks, erected by Abbas Mirza, and containing, at the time of my visit, a hundred Russian soldiers. They were all deserters from their own country, and their wretched appearance seemed to show that they had not improved their condition THE TURKISH OF PERSIA. 7 by the change. In another part of the enclosure, a com- pany of workmen were engaged in the manufacture of shawls. They were from Kerman, and had been brought hither by Abbas Mirza, for this same purpose. The process was so difficult that they accomplished only half an inch daily, and six months, they said, were necessary to complete a shawl of one and a half yards in length. They said that they had been brought from their native country against their will, and, when asked about their compensation, replied that it was enough not to die upon. I have estimated the population at 80,000. Some of my informants stated it as high as 130,000, and others as low as 60,000. The great majority of the people are Mussulmans. They are called Persians, but, in truth, are chiefly Turks, as are the mass of the population throughout the province of Aderbeijan. I found the Turkish of this province very nearly the same with that of Erzroum, but much inferior to the pure and sweet dialect of Constantinople. It is, in comparison, like the rude and vulgar tongue of the country, in contrast with the refined and polished language of the city. It is not, indeed, a cultivated language in Persia. It has not, I believe, been reduced to grammar, excepting by the German missionaries lately labouring in Georgia. It is, or was, the government language of that province, but it has no literature and but few writings in it are extant. In Persia, the Persian and Arabic are the languages of literature and religion. I found some embarrassment, at first, in speaking the Turkish of Aderbeijan, on ac- count of the difference in many words, especially in those in most common use, and on account of the dissimilarity in pronunciation, and even in grammatical forms. The foundation, however, being the same, I was soon at my 8 MISSIONARIES. ease again. So general is the knowledge of this lan- guage in the north of Persia, that, although I pursued the study of Persian for two or three months in Constan- tinople, and renewed it with great diligence in Tebriz, I never found it necessary to resort to it in conversation while I was in the country. My teacher in Tebriz was a young man, who had been a pupil of the German missionaries, lately resident in the city. These faithful labourers had recently been recalled by the Basel Missionary Society, under which they acted, because their work, though of a very promis- ing kind, was not so direct and open as the Society wished to patronise. The plan which they had formed was, to establish a seminary of a high character, in Tebriz, for the purpose of training teachers for the nation. This plan they had begun to act upon. Several young Per- sians had been under their instruction; the Governor of Tebriz himself was, at one time, a pupil; Abbas Mirza, during his life-time, had patronised their undertaking ; and the present Shah had declared his warmest approba- tion of the design, and had conferred upon one of them the unsought-for honour of the Royal Order of the Lion and the Sun. The foreign languages which they had taught were English and French. They had used Martyn's translation of the New 'l'estament, as a text-book in Persian, and the same had been examined and approved by some Mollahs of the city. They had wisely avoided all controversy on doctrinal subjects, be- lieving it inexpedient and useless. They trusted rather to the gradual impartation of knowledge, for those high and holy effects which they hoped their labours would, at length, attain. They had commenced translations of European works of science, and a volume on geography had already been laid at the foot of the throne. PERSIAN CHARACTER. 9 The first day after my arrival, several of their pupils, who had been apprised of my coming, called upon me, and with great eagerness, inquired whether I would not take the place of the teachers who had left them. I was, of course, compelled to disappoint them, and it was with as deep regret on my part as on theirs. Notwith- standing the extreme duplicity of the Persian character, (and there was some manifestation of it on this occasion, as I afterwards discovered,) I could not then, nor can I now, believe that so favourable an opening should not be improved. Most of these young men were, indeed, seeking knowledge from merely worldly motives-mo- tives as pure as the multitude of aspirants of the same character have in Christian lands, but not religious mo- tives. Still, the simple fact that so many young minds were accessible and ready to receive knowledge from any motive, was one, in my view, of sufficient encourage- ment to have justified me in remaining among them, if the nature of my mission and other circumstances had permitted. It is this peculiarity of the Persian character-their great accessibleness and their love for knowledge—which is the grand encouragement to efforts for their improve- ment. In both respects, as in most others, they are the very opposite of the Turks. Instead of being diffi- cult of approach, they court the society of a foreigner. They converse with him with the utmost cordiality, they demean themselves towards him with affability and de- ference, they honour him with the same terms of respect which they address to each other, even to the salutation peace, (Selam Alečkum,) which a Turk seldom utters to a man of another religion. The Persian invites the foreigner to his house, and receives him with a cordi- ality and politeness that puts him at once at his ease. of B3 10 QUALIFICATIONS. He has no reserved topics, excepting those which Orien- tals do not converse about among themselves. He talks with his guest of trade, of government, and of religion, with a freedom and frankness that greatly surprises a new-comer from Turkey. I speak now of the Persians of the city, and of well-bred Persians generally, who are not of the religious orders. The only additional qualifi- cation which I believe my remarks require, is, that the politeness of Persians is, in numberless instances, the product of pure selfishness, induced merely by a desire to gain some favour or advantage. Their love of know- ledge, too, has a considerable drawback in their extreme volatility of character, which renders their pursuit of it liable to great fluctuations. Some of the earliest pupils of the German missionaries, who commenced their stu- dies with boundless enthusiasm, gave up in despair when they found that they could not compass the attainment of all human learning in two or three months. CHAPTER II. TEBRIZ. FOREIGNERS IN THE CITY-EUROPEAN TRADE-PROVINCE OF ADERBEIJAN ARMY-DESERTIONS-EUROPEAN COSTUME-A PERSIAN PRINCE-INTER- VIEW WITH HIM HIS TEACHER-ANOTHER STORY THE TRUTH- EXCITABILITY OF THE PERSIANS ILLUSTRATION-INTEMPERATE AND DISHONEST SERVANT PERSIAN MORALITY — CHARACTER OF PERSIAN SERVANTS-HOUSES, STREETS, AND BAZARS OF TEBRIZ-ITS MUSSULMANS -WINE-DRINKING - MOHAMMEDAN PREACHING-THE MUSHTEHED, TEBRIZ is the most eligible point in Persia for com- mencing an effort at education. It has been more fre- quently visited by foreigners than any other city, and has been more affected by the introduction of European arts and manners. There were, at the time of my resi- dence there, three or four English merchants in the place, besides two tailors, a shoemaker, a baker, and other artisans, all Europeans. I noticed two or three houses in European style, and the bazars were full of European articles. There is a Russian Consul, besides the English Agent, and a new Consul from England arrived about the time of my departure. Besides all these, there is a large fluctuating population of traders from every quar- ter. I made acquaintance with several Greeks and Armenians from Constantinople. They were all home- sick, and talked of hardly anything else than the roguery of Persian merchants. The Persians, they said, pride themselves upon their skill in overreaching the Turkish 12 TRADE. traders, and declare it lawful to cheat an infidel to the best of their abilities. The European trade with Te- briz has received a great augmentation within a few years. An English merchant informed me that the annual importation of European goods into the city was about 15,000 packages, which might be rated at an average value of thirty pounds sterling. It consists chiefly of chintz, cottons, and woollens ; and six-eighths of the whole importation is English. Sugar is also among the imports, and fancy articles of all kinds are in great demand. American tea, as it is called, is also brought into the country, the Russian being extremely dear. In return for these articles, are sent the silks of Ghilan, the great silk country of Persia, lying on the Caspian, the nut-galls of Kurdistan, the cherry-wood pipe-sticks for the Turkish markets, which are brought from the Bakhtiaree mountains in the south of Persia, the tobacco of Shiraz, besides yellow berries for dyeing, and gums of various kinds. Persian shawls are sent to Constantinople, and a few carpets to Europe, where they are sold under the name of Turkey carpets, because they are brought into Europe from that country. I had supplied myself at Constantinople with Russian ducats, upon the testimony of the merchants there, that they were the best coin which I could carry into Persia. I was obliged, however, to sell them in Tebriz, at a very considerable loss, while the little Turkish gold that I had with me, passed at its full value. The Constanti- nople merchants informed me that a large part of their returns were made in Persian ducats, which sold for a handsome profit at the royal mint in Constantinople. The Shah had forbidden this exportation of coin, and a large quantity, belonging to a Greek merchant, was actually seized at Khoy, on its way to Turkey. The ADERBEIJ AN. 13 mérchant fortunately was provided with a Russian pass- port, by which, with the intervention of the Consul, he recovered his property. Money is coined in Tebriz, Ourmiah, Erdebil, and Khoy, the principal cities of the province, the coinage being carried on by private individuals, who have a licence for the purpose from the Shah, The province of Aderbeijan, of which Tebriz is the capital, is a portion of the ancient Media. It is governed by a brother of the Shah, a young man only about twenty-one years old. The chief direction of affairs, however, seemed to be in the hands of the Emir Nizam, or Commander-in-chief of the Persian army, an older and more experienced man, who was residing in Tebriz, as Vezir, or Deputy Governor of the pro- vince. The principal places of Aderbeijan, after Tebriz, are Ourmiah, Khoy, and Erdebil. The pro- vince furnishes no revenue to the Shah, and it was reported to me, from one holding an office near the Prince, that they were then living upon the revenue of the next year, The army of the province consists, I was told, of eighteen regiments of infantry, besides 400 cavalry, and 200. artillery, but I believe the statement exaggerated. The pay of each soldier had been about L3. 10s. 8d. annually, besides food and clothing, but had lately been reduced to half that amount, and numerous desertions had taken place in consequence of it. While I was at Tebriz, three entire regiments fled, and took refuge in a sanctuary near Tehran. Another from Ourmiah had deserted not long before, and returned to their homes. When the news came to the ears of the Shah, he sent orders to the Governor of Ourmiah, to seize the fugi- tives, take from each of them thirty tomans (about 14 PERSIAN PRINCE. £15), brand him in the forehead, and destroy his house. The Shah added, in no very complimentary phrase, that if these orders were not obeyed, “he would give the Governor a kick from which he would never recover in this world.” In my rides about the city, I used frequently to see two or three companies going through their drills under the instruction of an English serjeant. They were dressed in European military coats, made by one of the Frank tailors of the city, and large trousers, of an order between pantaloons and shalvars. I could not learn that this adoption of European costume had ex- cited any prejudice, although the Persians are even more scrupulous than the Turks about the exposure of the natural figure of the body. It was first intro- duced, I was told, by Abbas Mirza, under the same impression which seems to have possessed the Sultan of Turkey, that European dress would make European soldiers. On the tenth of August, I received a message from Melik Cassam Mirza, a Persian prince, and one of the numerous uncles of the Shah. Having heard of. my arrival, and being partly informed of my design in visiting Persia, he sent, requesting to see me. I went immediately in quest of him. After having wasted the greater part of a day, in following the false direc- tions that were given me, I found him, at last, in an old dilapidated palace within the walls. The building had two courts, of which the apartments around the interior one were alone inhabitable. I found the prince in the midst of a room crowded with European articles of all kinds, from which he was making a selection of such as pleased him best, while a scribe sat by, record- ing the names and prices of those which he chose. He HIS SCHOOL. + 15 was himself seated in a chair, from which he rose upon my entrance, and saluted me with a hearty English shake of the hand, and a cordial How do you do? His English, however, soon run out, and we turned to French, which, he said, he had learned from an old French lady travelling in Persia. He spoke it with fluency and tolerable correctness. His dress, excepting the Persian cap, was in the style formerly described as prevailing in the Turkish court ; he had a handsome and intelligent face, and wore a short beard. I had long before heard of him as one of the most zealous friends of education in Persia, and I esteemed it a pro- vidential favour that he had visited the city during my stay. His own residence was in Shishevan, on the Eastern border of the lake of Ourmiah, and he had come to Tebriz for the laudable purpose of eating fruit. He turned the conversation, at once, to the subject of education, and went on to detail his past efforts and his plans for the future. He had established a school, some six months before, in his own village, in which he intended that instruction should be given in Persian, Armenian, French, and English. The principal was an Armenian, who had been educated in Bishop's College, Calcutta; but, although a man of ability and learning, his management of the school had not been altogether satisfactory. He wished now to procure a teacher from America ; he would prefer a physician, but would be content with any one competent to the duty. He had desired to see me, hoping that I might aid him in accomplishing his object. His school, he said, was only a commencement and a very humble attempt. He had not the means to accomplish all that he was ambitious to undertake. “This is a vile country," he exclaimed, 16 THE TEACHER. * there are great difficulties in the way, and I am not Shah." He was determined, he said, to make a dic- tionary of the Persian and English, as soon as he was qualified for the undertaking. The Shah had written to him, approving highly the plan of his school, and he was entertaining sanguine hopes of royal patronage. He spoke freely of missionary operations in Persia, and expressed his opinion that we should not engage in per- sonal controversy, or circulate books of a disputatious character. He said that inuch was to be feared from the Mollahs, and that the only safe course was to instruct and enlighten the people gradually. I offered to visit Shishevan and examine the state of the school, promis- ing, if I should consider the project a feasible one, that I would render him all the aid in my power. He demur- red strongly to the proposal, and seemed to entertain some secret aversion to my knowing the exact state of things. I left him, therefore, with a general expression of my interest in his efforts, and of my desire to promote the cause of education in Persia. A few days after this interview, the Prince's Armenian teacher made his appearance at my house. He intro- duced himself as a deacon of the Armenian Church, and produced very satisfactory testimonials from the late Bishop of Calcutta, and from the Principal of Bishop's College. His name was Mesrop David Taliatine. He spoke English fluently, and showed me a copy of Bishop Heber's Palestine, with a translation in Armenian verse from his own pen. He had been partly educated at the seat of the Armenian Catholicos in Etchmiadzin, and he gave me a long detail of his trials among his own coun- trymen. He came, at length, upon the history of his recent residence with the Prince Melik Cassam Mirza, at Shishevan, and told a very different story from that HIS STORY. 17 1 of the Prince himself. The pupils in the school were the Prince's own boys, and the Prince, also, had received instruction with them. He had been engaged with an express stipulation as to the salary, but, after the first two or three months, no pay had been given him. The pupils were so irregular in their attendance, that they received little or no profit from his instructions. The Prince, who was fond of hunting, always took several of them away with him in his excursions, so that, of some fifteen who were nominally his pupils, only three had attended regularly. The Prince, he said, was no Mus- sulman, because he drank wine and ate hog's flesh. The teacher affirmed that the peace of his own family was endangered by the habits of the boys, for they were all addicted to vicious courses. An Armenian female, connected with his family, had been enticed into the Prince's harem, and was detained there against her will. The Prince had written to the Shah, soon after the establishment of the school, and the Shah had sent him, in return, a letter full of sweet words, but without the more substantial accompaniment that the Prince had expected. From that time, his interest in the school began to decline. The teacher had long meditated an escape, but fearing lest the Prince should find means to detain him, he had not communicated to him his intention, and, at length, had found an opportunity of absconding privately. He declared that he would not return to the Prince until all arrears had been paid; and, as this was a hopeless condition, he was ready to try his fortunes elsewhere. I advised him to go to Constanti- nople, where his Armenian learning would be of service to him. He was pleased with the idea, but said that he could not command the means necessary for the purpose. He succeeded, however, in accomplishing his 18 PERSIAN EXCITABILITY. object, for, when I reached Constantinople the next spring, he was already there. I found good reason, afterwards, to believe that his story respecting the seminary of Melik Cassam Mirza, was, in the main, true. I had, at first, felt a lively interest in it, as being the effort of a Persian noble, and the earliest of the kind of which I had any information as having been made in Persia. I was compelled, how- ever, to conclude that the Prince had no just idea of the nature of his own undertaking, nor the stability of pur- pose necessary for its prosecution. Still, my conviction is that, in the hands of an efficient missionary, the Prince might be made the instrument of great good to his coun- try, and his school, or a better one in its stead, might become, under the same direction, the germ of a noble work in Persia. In developing the leading traits of the character of the Persians, it ought to be remarked that, although they are certainly among the most accessible and polite people on earth, they are subject to sudden and violent impulses, which sometimes lead to dangerous consequences. They have more of a mobbish spirit than any other people in the East, not even excepting the Greeks, and when roused, they are thoughtless and reckless. An instance in point, though, as it terminated, not of a very serious character, occurred at Tebriz. I was rid- ing one day with the gentleman who had accompanied me from Ourmiah, and, as we came near to the gate of the city, we passed two or three Persians reclining in the shade of a wall. Just as we had rode by, we heard an exclamation which drew our attention, and, on looking back, observed that one of the men had sud- denly fallen. We turned, and, supposing he had fainted, gave some directions to the people that were gathering ILLUSTRATION. 19 around him, and left the city. On returning an hour after, I observed a group of men who eyed us very closely as we entered the gate, and, after we had passed, put themselves in our train and followed close behind. We had not advanced many rods before we were met by another body. One of them, an old man, approaching, seized my companion's bridle, and ordered him to dis mount. He obeyed, when the old man told him that he had killed a Mussulman, and must die for it. It appeared that he alluded to the man who had fainted; but the charge was so manifestly false, that we at once suspected the mob had been excited by some other motive, which they did not choose to avow. The crowd gathering fast around us, and their turbulence increasing every moment, I advised my companion to insist upon being carried before the governor. He made the request, those who seemed to be the leaders of the party acceded to it, and the crowd moved forward towards the governor's house. No one had molested me, or appeared even to notice my presence. While Mr. S. entered, I remained without, ready to go in and offer my testimony if needed. Most of the crowd also tarried at the gate. Mr. S. had not been long absent, before I learned, from the conversation that was going on around me, a solu- tion of the whole matter. It appeared that Mr. S. had just dismissed his Persian servant, and caused him to be bastinadoed for dishonesty while in his service. Instead of complaining to the Persian authorities, he had per- suaded a foreigner in the employ of the government, to order his own servants to seize the offender and inflict the punishment. The servant had, forthwith, gone out into the bazars and published his wrongs. The people were excited by his story, and sought an opportunity for avenging him upon his master, The occasion just 20 HOUSEHOLD AFFAIRS. described offered a fair pretext, and they did not hesitate to charge him before the governor, with having caused his horse to caper and kick just as he passed the wound- ed man, who, they affirmed, was on the point of dying from the injury he had received by a blow of the horse's foot. The whole, I believe, was a gross fabrication; but a bruise, which the man had sustained in falling against the wall, gave some plausibility to the charge. The Governor referred the matter to the British Agent, and the mob proceeded thither, with Mr. S. under close escort. The agent succeeded in procuring his release for the night, for it was now dark, and the affair was finally settled by Mr. S’s paying a considerable sum to the man who had fàinted. We thought that it was happily terminated at any rate. While I was pursuing my inquiries, my household affairs went on quietly under John's superintendence. The only reform which he found it necessary to make in his department, was to dismiss the servant for in- temperance and dishonesty. He had been frequently admonished for coming home intoxicated every second or third day, and for charging, in his account, twice the price which he paid in the bazars. The first vice he had promised to abandon, for he was a Persian, and John made him ashamed by appealing to his religion ; the second he regarded as the inalienable prerogative of every Persian serving a Frank, and could not be pre- vailed upon to forego it. John forbade him, for a time, from going to the bazars, and undertook to make all our purchases himself. He soon found, however, that the same code of morality prevailed among traders as among servants, and that it was a thing never heard of in the bazars, that a Persian should not cheat a foreigner. Even when he knew and stated the price of SERVANTS. 21 an article, he could seldom prevail upon the seller to let him have it for the same that he would sell it to a native. After trying the experiment for a week, he found that it was cheaper to endure the extortions of a servant than to trade for himself. We therefore sub- mitted, with as good grace as possible, to all impositions accounted reasonable among servants, and demurred only when they became too flagrant to be overlooked. The man, however, did not abandon his habit of dram-drinking, and, as this had no support in public opinion, however much it is countenanced by Persian practice, I directed John to dismiss him upon the next offence. The occasion soon came. The servant pro- testing his innocence, John ordered him to prove it by breathing in his face. The man did so, and being con- victed, by the smell of his breath, of disobeying orders, of violating his religion, and of telling a lie, he was dismissed accordingly. If I had had more experience, I should have been more lenient, for, after changing my servants many times, I never found one more temperate or more honest than the first. The man whom we received in his place was many degrees worse, and was malignant in his temper as well as vicious. As I have been led into so long a paragraph on ser- vants, I will add, by way of completing the subject, that I doubt whether so great an oddity' as an honest one can be found in the country. I never saw or heard of one whom it was safe to trust implicitly. Cheating is a regular and well understood accompaniment of service. I have known a servant to leave his master, because, from the nature of the duties which he had to perform, he could not defraud him so much as his fellow-servants. They practise it without remorse, and apparently without any sense of its being wrong. They will be detected in 22 TEBRIZ, He never fraud without any emotion, when it is too palpable to be denied, and when it is not, they will asseverate their innocence with the most solemn oaths and the utmost apparent sincerity. After being detected in villany and dismissed for it, they will ask a recommendation, as if the villany were no fault. If their dishonesty is resisted, they will torment their masters in a thousand ways that he cannot avoid. In my days of ignorance, before I learned the wisdom of submission, I told my servant that I would not allow more than a certain price for certain articles, whose market value I knew. afterwards charged me beyond the prices stated, but the articles were always of such a quality as he could obtain at half price. Still, it must be acknowledged that a Persian servant is generally capable, active and cheerful, especially if he has a master who suffers himself to be well cheated without complaining Servants are so numerous in Per- sia—a man's importance being measured by the number which he has about him—that they form a large class of the population. They have none of the scruples universal among the Turks, against serving a foreigner. On the contrary, they rather prefer it, because they receive from him double the wages which a Persian pays. Tebriz is, in some respects, the most agreeable city which I saw in Persia. Its houses are generally more neatly built than those of the capital; its streets are superior in cleanliness and comfort, although there is nothing in them to boast of in either respect; and its- bazars are more beautiful and better furnished. The bazar called Kaiserieh, by Chardin, and which was, in his time, the richest in the city, still exists, but is now eclipsed by the new bazar of Abbas Mirza. The Mussulmans of Tebriz are, probably, the least. 24 PREACHING some knotty point of theology or some question of ceremonial law. The lectures are often worthy of a Christian moralist, but when the preacher falls upon some article of ceremonial usage, he can hardly avoid offending the least refined delicacy. Illustrations are at hand, but here, as before on the same subject, they are inadmissible. It is just, however, to say that there are Mussulmans who question the propriety of introducing such topics when females are present. A wood cut representing the usual dress of the Mus- teheds will be found on the title-page of this volume. CHAPTER III. JOURNEY FROM TEBRIZ TO MIANEH. CONSIDERATION OF PLANS DECISION -DEPARTURE FROM TEBRIZ-FIRST DAY'S JOURNEY-POTATOES—CARAVANSERAI — PERSIAN FONDNESS POR PILGRIMAGES-VILLAGE SCENES — VILLAGE FARE-TURKISH AND PERSIAN VILLAGES COMPARED - RIVERS-ANCIENT REMAINS AT DIKMETASH CARAVANSERAIS-ROUTE OF THE GREAT PILGRIMAGE-PERSIAN STREAMS -PERSIAN SCHOOLS-ALIAUTS-RICE-FIELDS. My reader may remember that when I left Constanti- nople, my course was not altogether determined. I had regarded it as doubtful how far I should be able to in- vestigate alone, or how long I could endure the solitary state to which I was condemned. I had resolved to visit Persia, because the object of my mission could not be secured without it, but I had always held my judg- ment in reserve with regard to the long tour in that country, as well as in Mesopotamia, Syria, and Egypt, which I had projected at the time when I was expecting an associate in my work. In a word, I had determined to make my journey into Persia a test of the prac- ticability of prosecuting my labours single-handed, and to abide by the judgment which I should form at Tebriz. The question now came up for decision, and, for seve- ral days, proved a severe trial of my faith and courage. I could not but foresee that, if sickness should befall me, I must be left entirely without relief, and, amidst the inces- VOL. II. с 26 RE-CONSIDERATION. sant exposures of a protracted journey through the coun- tries before me, I could not reasonably expect to escape sickness altogether. I reflected that if my life should be sacrificed, the results of my inquiries hitherto would be entirely lost, and I hesitated long upon the question, whether it would not be more prudent to return with what I had already gained, and what I might yet add to it in Persia, than to risk the loss of all, by venturing through the dangerous country which lay between Persia and Bagdad. On the other hand, I could not but feel that the test which I had proposed to myself, had issued more favourably than my most sanguine expecta- tions had presaged. I had been brought in safety through a region never before, within my knowledge, traversed by a foreigner. I had discovered new points which might be occupied to great advantage by mis- sionaries of the Cross. I had had some profitable expe- rience in intercourse with a people who present, perhaps, the purest specimen of Oriental manners; and the collo- quial use of the language most useful to the Eastern traveller had now become familiar to me. Besides, my mind had, from the first, been strongly turned to the Christians of Mesopotamia, who had not as yet been visited by Protestant missionaries, and my desire to see them had been greatly strengthened by what I had observed among the Nestorians of Persia. While I was revolving these things in my mind, I met, one day, with these words in the second epistle to the Corinthians—“ Therefore, seeing we have this min- istry, as we have received mercy, we faint not.” The whole chapter deeply affected me, and the reflections to which it led brought me to a decision. From a careful survey of the motives which at first induced me to consecrate my life to the work of missions, I could not DEPARTURE. 27 doubt that I was exercising the ministry to which I had been “moved by the Holy Ghost, and called according to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ." From the moment that I had entered upon it until now, the conviction of duty hadremained steadfast. Seeing, therefore, that I had this ministry, and having received peculiar mercy, both in being called to so holy a work, and in being sustained in it thus far, I felt that I ought not to faint nor to shrink from whatever the exercise of it might cost me. My work at this moment appeared so excellent and desirable that the prospect of being troubled, perplexed, persecuted, and cast down, seemed not only endurable, but even joyful, and the fear of suffering was completely lost in the thought that it would work out for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. I deter- mined, therefore, to commit myself once more into the hands of God and go forward. My first business was to communicate my resolution to John, who was already tired of the journey, and wished to return. He submitted however, declared that he was willing to accompany me anywhere, and proceeded to make the necessary preparations for our departure. A medical friend, attached to the English embassy in Persia, furnished me with a new stock of medicines, and with written prescriptions for their use, to which he added much salutary advice. We paid our rent, sent back our furniture to the bazars, and left the city on the 26th of September, after a residence of nearly two months. An hour's travelling through the villages without the walls, brought us to the low hills which skirt the plain on the south-east. One or two villages in the distance, marked, as Persian villages generally are, by a cluster of trees, gave extraordinary relief to the arid scene. One of the loftiest heights to the right was partially covered c2 28 PILGRIMAGES. with snow, and, on the left, rose the tall peak of the Kara Dagh, or Black Mountain, in or near which is the new iron mine. As we advanced, we opened upon a plain, over which were scattered several villages, the unusual greenness of the surrounding herbage indicating a plentiful supply of water. We stopped at one of these villages, called Vasmintch, where we saw potatoes grow- ing in standing water. The villagers said that they could not be raised in any other way, on account of the dryness of the soil and the want of rain, but I rather believe the water had only been turned among them temporarily for the purpose of irrigation. The next day we advanced over a country hilly as yesterday, but better watered, and, therefore, more ver- dant and more cultivated. We left Seidabad, apparently a large village, at some distance on the right, and, an hour farther on the road, passed an old caravanserai, attributed to Shah Abbas, like most of the works of this kind in Persia. It was an immense mass of brick, con- sisting internally of low domes supported on large co- lumns. Among these, caravans used to be accommodated, but the place seemed now deserted. From the top of a high hill just beyond this caravanserai, we observed a large extent of the plain below covered with a coat of the purest white, which glistened in the sun like new- fallen snow. On descending to it, it proved to be salt, which had been left upon the surface by the evaporation of water. The soil of the Persian plains, in every part where I traversed them, seemed impregnated with the same substance. We passed, during the day, two or three poor pilgrims going to Meshed. The Persians, although less rigid Mussulmans than the Turks, are much more infatuated with this particular species of superstition. I was never VILLAGE LIFE. 29 able to discover the cause of their peculiar mania for pilgrimages, unless it arises, first, from their vanity, and next from their love of gain. A pilgrim is always held in higher estimation for his act of devotion, and receives certain honorary titles therefor. If he has performed the pilgrimage to the tomb of the Imam Riza at Meshed, or the Imam Hosseïn at Kerbela, he is entitled to the appellation Meshedi, or Kerbelaï. But it is only when he has accomplished the great pilgrimage to Mecca, that he receives the proud title of Haji, or Pilgrim. Multi- tudes in Persia undertake these pilgrimages because they are in vogue, and a certain degree of honour accrues from them, and as many more, perhaps, make them to fall in with some scheme of traffic that they have in hand. Thus, the pilgrim to Meshed brings back, be- sides his new stock of merit, a valuable supply of Bok- hara skins. We spent our second night at the village of Haji Agha, in the fine plain of Oujan. The villagers were winnowing their grain, by throwing it into the air with wooden forks. The village itself was conspicuous at a considerable distance by the tall stacks of straw which overtopped the houses, and the conical heaps of dried dung, neatly piled upon the roofs, and intended for winter fuel. The latter were decorated with green sprigs, and, so far from appearing unseemly, gave the village an air of uncommon comfort and thrift. John procured a piece of mutton for our supper, or rather our dinner, for our practice was to eat nothing. heavier than bread and yoghourt until we had finished the journey of the day. It was only in the very poorest of the Persian villages, that I could not obtain meat; but I am unable to recal a single instance in which I could procure it in a village in Turkey. The difference, how- RIVERS. 30 ever, does not arise altogether from the superiority of the Persian to the Turkish peasant in the comforts of life, although such is in general, doubtless, the fact. But the latter is, also, more subject to extortions from tra- vellers, and these render him less disposed to hospitality. A traveller with a firman in Turkey, or a Tatar, or a man in authority, is generally sure to obtain what he needs, if it is to be had, and it is at his own option to pay for it or not, as he pleases. In Persia, he depends upon the hospitality of the people, and pays for every thing that he receives, unless, indeed, he is provided with a mehmandar, an officer who is commissioned to attend him in his journey, and to supply his wants by extortions from the villagers, while he secures enough, from the same source, to make the business profitable to himself. From our resting-place, the smoke of three or four villages was discernible upon the plain of Oujan, and . near by was a pleasant garden belonging to the Emir Nizam at Tebriz, with a summer pavilion in the midst of it. The country beyond Haji Agha was much finer than any we had yet seen since leaving Tebriz. The soil was a dark mould and abundantly watered. One of the streams was the Aji Sou, or Bitter Water, men- tioned by Chardin, under the same name, as running near Tebriz, which it does at the present day. What- ever may be the quality of its water, it furnishes an ex- cellent kind of fish, with which our table was often sup- plied at Tebriz. Chardin mentions another small stream as running through the city, which he calls the Spintcha. I heard of one under the name of Sivan, which must be the same. During the dry season it does not reach the town, being drawn off for the purpose of irrigation. Its channel, however, lies through the city, and when it is swollen, as it is in the season of rain, it is sometimes > RIVULETS. 31 destructive along its banks, as it was two hundred years ago. In two and a half hours after leaving Haji Agha, we passed within sight of Dikmetash, a village on our right, which receives its name, signifying pretty nearly Stone Plantation, from some monstrous blocks of stone in its vicinity, which lie in a regular position upon the ground, and have afforded matter of speculation to travellers for centuries. Two or three miles beyond it, we scrambled over the ruins of one caravanserai, called Yamuk, passed another in a state of occupancy, and halted at a third, which, though crowded with horses and mules, was little better than a ruin. It was called Davatdar. We found here some pilgrims from Shiraz, bound to Mecca, In former ages the Persian pilgrims to the Holy City pur- sued the shorter route by Bagdad, but the current has been turned from that direction by the difficulties of the journey, and now follows the circuitous route by Tebriz, Erzroum, Malatieh, Aintab, and Damascus, which the reader may trace on the map. The country presents nearly the same features as last described, until reaching Haji Ghias, a small village where we spent the fourth night. Between the cara- vanserai of Davatdar and this place, we noticed a range of mountains, called Busgutch, running parallel to our course, several miles to the North. We crossed small streams flowing from them to the Kizzil Euzen. The first ran through a meadow called, I suppose from its barren and sterile appearance, Kara Tchemen, or Black Meadow, and the other received its name of Turkman Tchai, from the village of Turkman, which lay two or three miles north of our road. Another very small stream runs close by Haji Ghias. All these were mere rivulets, such as, in another country, a traveller would drive hiş 32 SCHOOLS. -ÆLIAUTS. horse through without noticing; but, in Persia, the smallest thread of water is a blessing which is thought worthy of a reputation and a name. At Haji Ghias, the Mollah of the village, a character corresponding to the Turkish village-Imam, came to see us, and I made some inquiries respecting his school. The common schools in Turkey and Persia are nearly the same, both in the manner of conducting them and in the studies pursued. At present, I will only make a general observation with regard to those of Persia, by way of qualifying a remark which I have repeatedly met with in works on that country—a remark which is literally correct, but, as it is commonly understood, con- veys a very erroneous impression. The remark is, that two-thirds of the males in Persia can read; the truth is, that in the case of a great majority of these two-thirds, the reading is the same as is taught in the schools, and consists only in repeating the words of the Koran, with- out understanding them. Our next day's ride, between Haji Ghias and Mianeh, was extremely uninteresting. The face of the country presented the most desolate and dreary appearance, being everywhere broken into small hills, with dry and barren rocks protruding above the ground in every direction. We met with hardly any signs of cultivation or life, excepting a few tents of Eliauts. We had often descried the temporary habitations of these nomades of Persia at a distance, and we now had an opportunity of seeing something of their occupants. I could discover nothing more than is common to people of this character in the East. Their hue was several shades darker than that of the inhabitants of cities, and their females were unveiled. A number of horses were feeding near the tents, and the men themselves appeared to be profes- RICE. 33 sional horse-dealers. Some of the animals were remark- ably beautiful, and the best of them were offered to us at twelve tomans, or about six pounds sterling. As we approached Mianeh, we passed several rice-fields on the banks of the river which flows near the town. They were surrounded by low dikes of earth, and were flooded, to the depth of a foot, by water brought from the river through small canals. c3 CHAPTER IV. MIANEH AND THE KOFLAN KQH. MIANEH – VENOMOUS INSECT — VALLEY OF MIANEH-KOFLAN KOH-THE MAIDEN'S TOWER — KURDS - SINGULAR COUNTRY-PERSIAN VICES REMEDY-THEORY OF MISSIONARY LABOUR AMONG THE PERSIANS-QUR DUTY TO THE EASTERN CHURCHES. MIANEH is a dirty little Cassabah, or second-rate town, of about 2500 inhabitants. It has considerably increased of late years. Its chief production is rice. It is noto- rious, throughout the province, for a species of bug, the bite of which is said to be mortal. As I was to spend a Sunday here, we searched the place for a new house, and, at last, found one half-finished, in which we bestowed ourselves. I saw nothing of the insects for which the place is famous, excepting two or three which I hired a man to find and bring to me. They infest the crevices of the wood in old houses, and come out only in the night, when, it is said, a burning candle will keep them at a distance. Those that were shown to me were of a dusky colour, almost circular in shape, and nearly a quarter of an inch in diameter, very thin, and having the mouth beneath, without any head. The people called them meleh. They confirmed the evil reports that I had heard respecting their noxious qualities, but said that strangers only were injured by their bite, and that even to them it was not always fatal, and might be THE KOFLAN KOH. 35 rendered entirely harmless by fasting. The effect, they said, may follow in two or three days, or not till after the lapse of months. Upon the whole, I suspect the place has a worse reputation than it deserves on this account, Being, however, enclosed by heights, and having numerous rice-fields in its vicinity, it is subject to fevers, which have, doubtless, been the cause in many cases of the evils attributed to insects. Although it was now the first of October, we found the heat excessive. The town has some trade with Resht, the great mart for rice, which is nine days distant, over the mountains of the Caspian. We left Mianeh on Monday morning, and descended into the valley of the river before mentioned, which sweeps round behind the town and goes to the north- east, along the base of the Koflan Koh. The bed of the valley was covered with extensive fields of cotton and grain. The pods of the former were already open, and the grain was lying in sheaves. There were two villages to our left, on the side of the valley, one of which bore the singular name of Ghiden Ghelen, Going and Coming. We passed the main stream of the river on a fine brick bridge, paved with stone, and resting on twenty-two arches. I estimated its length, by the rate at which we crossed it, at nearly one sixth of a mile. The river beneath was, at this season, only a narrow stream two or three feet deep. The southern boundary of this valley is the great range of the Koflan Koh, which forms the barrier between Aderbeijan and the Persian Irak at the pre- sent day, as it did formerly between the countries of the Medes and Parthians. We were two hours in crossing it, from which I judge that the passage is easier than it was two centuries ago, for Chardin and 36 THE MAIDEN'S TOWER. Lucas found four and five hours necessary for the pur- pose. There are still to be seen the remains of a road which existed in their time. It appeared to have been well made and smoothly paved, but a large part of it has been destroyed by the lapse of years. In some places, the whole road had slidden down the declivities by its side, and the stones lay strewed about beneath. In others, it was still passable, and is of essential ser- vice when the heavy soil of the mountains is saturated with rain. The mountains themselves are bare of trees, and, though thrown together in rugged and confused masses, present little of the wild and majestic scenery of the Turkish ranges. As we were descending on the southern side, we descried a ruined tower, on a solitary crag to the left. Our guide called it the Maiden's Tower, and said that the story of its origin among the people of the region, was, that the daughter of an ancient king of the country, decoming enamoured of a shepherd who fed his flocks among the mountains, and being opposed by her father, fled hither and built this tower, where she lived in secret And enjoyed from time to time the society of her lover. But another obstacle was still in her way. The shep- herd, in order to reach the tower, was obliged to ford a stream which was so deep and rapid as greatly to retard his arrival. She, therefore, caused a beautiful bridge to be built over it, “which," the guide added in confirma- tion of the whole story, “you may see for yourself at the foot of the mountain.” It proved to be the bridge over the Kizzil Euzen, which washes the southern side of the range. Though partially decayed, it was still a beautiful structure of brick, sustained by three noble arches. The river is more deep and rapid than that of Mianeh, which joins it a few miles below and goes off FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 37 with it to the Caspian. The range runs, as nearly as I could judge from the compass, as it is delineated on the map, and the river has about the same direction. It may be that this range is connected with the Taurus, and, if so, there is a great natural division extending without interruption from the Mediterranean to the heart of Central Asia. In the valley of the Kizzil Euzen, we passed several tents, and, to my surprise, I found that the occupants were Kurds, who had emigrated from other quarters and were spending their summer here, cultivating rice and grain. They retain, however, so much of their old habits as to retire to their villages on the approach of winter. The appearance of the country beyond the river, as we observed it from the mountains, was very peculiar. It looked as if some convulsion of nature had caused it to melt and boil, and then suffered it to congeal while in a state of ebullition. In other words, the whole sur- face was tossed up into little mounds, which we found, when we came among them, to abound in chalk of the purest quality, and which, as our guide informed us, furnish the best flints for traffic. We passed through this region, and stopped to rest and refresh ourselves at an old caravanserai, called Jemalabat, attributed, like the causeway upon the mountains, to Shah Abbas. It stood nearly on the site of one still more ancient, of which only the last remnants appeared. A small vil- lage occupies the place. At the entrance sat a female in gaudy attire of scarlet and blue, with unveiled face, “ lying in wait at the corner I would gladly have avoided any reference to such * " * Proy, vii. 12. 38 VICES. incidents as that just stated, but it is impossible to convey a correct idea of Eastern character, without, at least, a passing allusion to this and to other vices by which it is deeply stained. In Persia, there still exists, as there has existed for centuries, a custom which prevents, in some measure, the great prevalence of more public and common vice. A man is allowed to marry pro tempore. A regular contract is made, and the conditions and duration of the connexion specified. Many of the inferior sort of Mollahs gain, in good part, their livelihood by nego- tiating these contracts. The custom is not only pre- valent among the Persians, but has been practised, to a very considerable extent, by foreigners resident in the country, the females, in this case, being generally, if not always, Armenians. Pudet hæc opprobria nobis, Et dici potuisse, et non potuisse refelli, Would that this were all that might be recorded on this painful subject! Such unhappily is not the case. The disclosures that were made to me while pursuing my investigations were shocking beyond description, and prove the almost universal prevalence of the most abandoned profligacy. Over such details, however, I gladly draw a veil. What can cleanse such pollution, unless it be the purifying influence of the religion of Christ? And through what channel shall that influence go forth, if it be not through the Church of Christ? Here is a great work for the missionary. Whatever caution may be necessary in assailing the doctrines of Mohammedanism, or in promulgating the cardinal truths of Christianity, he need use no reserve in rebuking the vices of the Persians, and in setting forth the moral law in its utmost strictness. THEIR REMEDY, 39 The boast of Mohammedanism is the morality which it inculcates, and this boast is the weapon which can be most effectually used against it. A Mussulman not only listens with patience to the strongest delineations of moral duty, but they invariably increase his respect for the teacher. Many of the Mohammedan treatises on practical religion may be read with profit, even by a Christian. They inculcate the fear and love of God, humility, patience, resignation, purity, and kindness, very much in the spirit and manner of the Old Testament. The religious state of the Mohammedans corresponds remarkably with that of the Jews at the coming of Christ; and the introduction of Christianity furnishes us with the true model of a Christian mission among the Moham- medans. Each missionary should be a John the Baptist, preaching repentance to a guilty nation, or, like the Saviour, should go about teaching the spiritual charac- ter of the Law of God. The Mohammedans, like the Jews in our Saviour's time, have departed very far even from the original spirit of their own religion. Their moral character has degenerated, and their religious practice has become a round of vain and frivolous superstitions. It stands only in meats and drinks, in divers washings and carnal ordinances. They need first of all a forerun- ner to prepare the way of the Lord. They need to feel their moral necessity of another Mediator and a better Covenant. I would not propose that missionaries should be employed for the sole purpose of preaching to the Mo- hammedans, but only that, while pursuing their work of translation or of instruction, they should avail themselves of the numberless opportunities of conversing upon the great themes of moral obligation. Whole days might often be profitably spent in this work, and no day need 40 EASTERN CHURCHES. to pass without some effort of the kind. The missionary to the Eastern Christians, also, might, in this way, greatly extend his sphere of usefulness. The influence of the German missionaries at Tebriz was most happy in this respect. The power of a holy example gained for them and for their religion a deep and abiding regard, while their instructions upon moral duty had evidently, in several individual instances, produced the effect of softening and purifying the conscience. It is in this same relation, that the work of elevating the Christian Churches, in those countries, assumes a momentous importance. Mohammedanism, as it now is, could no more stand before a purified Christianity than the mists of the morning can stand before the purging beams of the sun. But what can we expect from our religion, when its primitive character is so far departed as to allow the followers of Mohammed to boast a higher degree of moral rectitude than the disci- ples of Christ? The time will come, it is even now coming, when the Churches of the Western world will no longer endure this stain upon the escutcheons of their faith; when they will no longer be heedless to the spiritual wants of their Episcopal brethren in the East, nor regardless of the welfare of the Church of Christ in the lands whence they received the blessed boon of a spiritual and living faith, which is now, in return, asked of them. CHAPTER V. JOURNEY FROM THE KOFLAN KOH TO KAZVIN. VALLEY OF THE ZENJAN RIVER-THE KHAN-BARBARITIES OF THE PERSIAN SOLDIERY-MODE OF IRRIGATION-HAPPY PEASANTS-ZENJAN-DOMESTIC TROUBLESPLAIN OF SULTANIEHREMAINS AT SULTANIEH-TROUBLE IN A PERSIAN VILLAGE-PILGRIMS-PERSIAN PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA--THE MOLLAH-PASTORAL LIFE IN THE EAST-MOURNING AT GRAVES-AP- PROACH TO KAZVIN. a We stopped for the night, after crossing the Koflan Koh, at the inconsiderable village of Sertchem. The next day we kept along the valley of the Zenjan river, small stream emptying into the Kizzel Euzen. Its banks presented frequent fields of rice, yellow to the harvest, and others of flax. Tents of Kurds lined the banks. In one place we counted twenty-eight of them. We met on the road a Khan, who had been deputed by the Shah to convey his respects to the Russian emperor, now on a visit to his southern provinces. First came a train of camels, bearing the tents and their furniture. Next, at a distance of about eight miles, followed a troop of beautiful horses, intended as a present to the emperor. Another train conveyed the baggage of the party, and after all came the Khan himself, accompanied by a retinue of about fifty followers. He drew up and made particular inquiries when the emperor was to be at Erivan, and at what time the Emir Nizam was to leave SOLDIERS. 42 Tebriz, to escort the young prince into his presence. This prince was the eldest son of the Shah, residing at that tiine with his mother at Tebriz. He was seven or eight years old, and had been named by the Shah his successor, but was not as yet recognised by the foreign powers represented at the Persian court. The only building which we passed during the day was an old mill, which had been partly destroyed by soldiers. We heard almost daily complaints of the barbarities practised upon the peasants by marching companies of the army, in their progress from place to place. The villagers charged them with seizing their fowl and sheep by violence, tearing down the walls of their houses to procure wood for fuel, and committing many other depredations of the same character. The Persians dread a marching army more than the plague, and the wars of the Shah are infinitely more disastrous to his own country than to the enemy. We dismounted at Nikbeh, a small village with an old caravanserai, bearing an inscription which purports that it was built 200 years ago. The next day, we proceeded to Zenjan. The valley, as we approached the town, was almost covered with fields of rice and flax. The stream, in this part, has a rapid descent, which affords a good privilege for irrigat- ing the land. The process is effected by drawing off the water in small channels above the fields, and letting it run down upon them through small gaps in the dike. We saw two or three pleasant villages on the opposite side of the valley, and gardens of willows watered by the stream. On the road we met a troop of pilgrims from Yezd, on their way to Mecca. Among them were old men stooping with age, bound upon paying this last and chief act of devotion, and entertaining, perhaps, no ZENJAN. 43 rassan. higher hope for this world than to lay their bones near the holy shrine. We had but just passed this company when we met a throng of villagers, old and young, men, women, and children, some on foot, and some on donkeys. They were hurrying on in great haste, and every face in the company appeared a happy one. On inquiring the cause of their travelling in such numbers, they said that they were from the district of Maragha, near lake Ourmiah, that their sons and brothers had been serving in the army in Khorassan, two or three years, and, becoming discontented, had demanded permission to return and see their friends. The Shah replied to their importu- nities, that he would bring their friends to them, and immediately sent orders to the governor to take by force the families of these soldiers and convey them into Kho- The order was obeyed. They were torn away from their homes, and driven, like a herd of cattle, from Maragha to Zenjan. Here they had prevailed upon their conductors to suffer them to tarry until they could send a representation of their reduced and miserable condition to the Shah, with an humble petition of leave to return. The Shah had granted their prayer, they had been released that very morning, and were now scampering back to their homes. We reached Zenjan at an early hour, and passed the rest of that and the whole of the following day there, It is a walled town, governed by a Khan. During the reign of Feth Ali Shah, it was the seat of one of the princes royal, the lofty turret of whose palace and the blue dome of the principal mosque are the most conspi- cuous objects as one approaches the town. I observed in the bazar many European 'articles exposed for sale, but all of which I asked the prices were extravagantly 44 PLAIN OF SULTANIEH. dear. The other parts of the town present nothing inviting. The sum of the whole is, narrow and dirty streets, flanked on either side by continuous lines of bare mud walls; and this, I believe, is a fair though brief description of the interior aspect of all Persian towns. The population of the place, which is about 8000, is entirely Mussulman, excepting seven or eight families of Jews, and the town has some trade with Tehran, Tebriz, Resht, and Hamadan. The latter place is only five days distant, and, if we had not had the capital of Persia before us, we might have turned our faces directly towards Bagdad. John had settled into a home-sickness as uncomfortable to me as to himself. The dishonesty of our servant, and the knavery of the people, irritated him beyond measure, and he began to grow so sullen and peovish that I felt disposed to join in the wish, which he never failed to ejaculate many times a day, that he were safe back in Constantinople. We could easily have joined a caravan bound to Hamadan, and John importuned me incessantly to proceed thither directly. But the interests of my mission required me to visit Tehran. John submitted with a very ill grace, and, all the rest of the way to the capital, was more a plague than a comfort to me. Soon after leaving Zenjan, we entered upon the extensive plain of Sultanieh. In front, as far as the eye could reach, was one broad sheet of seared herbage, upon which numerous herds, appearing in the distance like black spots sprinkled over the yellow surface, were feeding. The plain was bounded on the right and left by two parallel ranges strongly marked with the com- mon features of Persian mountains, barren, dark, and presenting bold and sharp outlines, like the skeletons of RUINS. 45 near. mountains, as though nature had been interrupted while rearing them, and had left her work unfinished. We could just descry the extremity of the range on the left, breaking out boldly upon the hazy surface of the plain, like headlands into the sea. As we surmounted a slight inequality in the plain, there appeared before us what, at first, seemed like an ancient pile in the midst of trees, with a blue dome rising I fancied them to be the ruins of Sultanieh, once the renowned capital of the Empire, but, on approaching, the illusion gradually vanished, and they proved to be a large, irregular brick building, on a high and apparently artificial mound rising out of the plain. The edifice was one of the numerous summer-houses of the late Shah, but was now deserted. The straggling and half-decayed trees gave an air of desolation to the spot which they were designed to enliven. Black clouds were hanging about the opposite mountains, and shrouding them in deep gloom. Darkness was gathering over the plain, the wind was whistling through the tall, dry herbage, and drops of rain began to fall. How solemn is the dreariness of a scene where silence and desolation reign in places once gay with the pageant of royalty ! Close by the mound was a small village, surrounded by a handsome wall and containing fifteen houses. It was another memento of the vanity of human ambition. The Shah projected a royal city, which should replace and rival the ancient Sultanieh. He commenced the work, but, whether he had begun without counting the cost, or whether his royal fancy changed, it ended with this little village, which has been honoured with the regal name of Sultanabad, intended for the city, Just beyond this village, we began to enter upon the ruins of Sultanieh, which consiet of nothing more than HIYEH. 46 irregular heaps of earth, the buildings which once stood there having, doubtless, long since mingled with the soil out of which they were made. At the extremity of the ruins stands the present village of Sultanieh, containing 300 families. It was built around the edifice which had attracted our attention from afar by its blue dome, and which we now learned to be the mausoleum of the Sultan Mohammed Khodabendeh, 600 years old. Travellers have reported it one of the most perfect of ancient structures to be found in Persia ; which is certainly no extravagant assertion for a country where very few buildings of equal antiquity are to be found. It is octagonal in form, and had originally a minaret at each angle, only one of which still remains entire. The main part of the building is also complete, though rent, as if by earthquakes. The interior is vacant and in ruin. The tomb of the monarch who reared this proud memo- rial for himself, has entirely disappeared, and Time is erasing the inscriptions on the walls. I ascended with some difficulty to the top of one of the broken minarets, from which I obtained a good view of the surrounding plain. Two or three other buildings of the same cha- racter, though of humble pretensions, appeared at a distance, one of which, apparently new, my guide called the Imaret of Feth Ali Shah. The next day we advanced to Hiyeh, a village of 100 families, our whole course, a distance of more than twenty miles, lying over the plain. We passed the ruins of several villages, and went through one which was occupied. On my arrival at Hiyeh, I took lodgings in a house, which, like the guest houses of Turkey, accommodated me and my horses in the same apart- ment. John, partly from attachment to Turkish habits, and partly for the sake of economy, still retained the TROUBLES. 47 As I was same dress he had worn in Turkey. As soon as we were settled in our stable, he went abroad, and ere long made acquaintance with one of the principal men of the village, who invited him to his house. John immediately returned and extended the invitation to me. to spend the next day, which was Sunday, in the place, I gladly accepted it, and we repaired together to the house. The master met us at the gate, but appeared surprised to find that John had a companion with him. He had taken him for a Mussulman, and seemed evidently chagrined when he learned that he had invited Christians under his roof. I made a motion to return, but he recovered himself, and insisted upon our entering, crying out at the same time to the females of the house to veil themselves. He had prepared his harem, which was a handsome and well-furnished apartment, for our reception. He still appeared, however, ill at ease, and we found substantial reason on our part to be discontented also. His house was thronged with vermin, and we were not a little startled at finding, the next morning, that, among other varieties of insects, we had been molested by bugs of the same description that we had seen at Mianeh. Our host insisted that they were of a more innocent character, and as we felt no immediate bad effects from them, we were ready enough to believe him. After a few days, however, the parts that had been bitten began to swell, and other effects soon followed, which I need not here describe. When we left Tehran, more than a month afterwards, John was still unable to draw on his boots, and to the latest day of our companionship in travel, we had cause to regret having imposed upon our host at Hiyeh a ceremonial uncleanness at the expense of receiving so real and abiding an impurity in return. From Hiyeh there are two routes to Kazvin, one PILGRIMS. 48 more circuitous, over the plain, and the other across the mountains on the opposite side. The former appeared the most pleasant, for we could discover, soon after leaving Hiyeh, an almost unbroken line of gardens, extending off, through a fine valley, upon the western edge of the plain, and we heard of several flourishing villages in that direction. But our muleteer insisted that the mountain road was shorter, and that it was the only one ever travelled by men of his profession. When an Oriental comes to the argument, It is the custom, there is no more hope of convincing him to the contrary, so we submitted, and struck across the plain towards the mountains. We met, on our way, another train of pilgrims to Mecca, coming from Kazvin. In the company were two females, who were carried in covered pavilions, sus- pended from the sides of a horse. All the party were arrayed in new apparel, and appeared fresh and strong. It was curious to remark the variety of feeling which their countenances expressed. Some rode proudly for- ward, without deigning a look at us; others moved along with their faces bent down, as if in sober meditation; and some of the youngest among them were as full of anima- tion and glee as if bound upon an excursion of pleasure. One of the company was a Mollah, who entered into conversation with us. From him we learned that there were, that year, 2000 pilgrims from Kazvin to Mecca, meaning, doubtless, from the city and its villages. I made repeated inquiries at different points in Persia, to ascertain the average number of pilgrims who annually from all parts of the country to pay their devotions at the Kaabah. If my information is correct, there are not less than from 25,000 to 30,000. Making all fair allow- ance for the Persian propensity to exaggeration, the go POLITENESS. 49 number would still be very large, when we consider the difficulties and even dangers of the road, and the igno- miny to which they are compelled to submit in their journey through the country of the Sunnites, and even on the sacred ground of Mecca. I have often heard it affirmed by Turks that Persians are not allowed to enter the inclosure of the temple, and are compelled to perform their devotions without. If so, they do not drink of the well Zem-zem, nor kiss the black stone of the Kaabah, two acts of piety which are among the principal objects of the pilgrimage. I am slow, however, to believe that the assertion is correct. The Persian Manual (Jumah Abasi) gives particular directions for the due performance of the religious ceremonies on entering the inclosure and while within it, which would seem to show that no such prohibition existed formerly, if it exists at present. It is certain, however, that they are obliged to conform to the custom of the Sunnites in their religious observances at the temple, and, indeed, their own Doctors allow them to make such concessions, at all times, while travelling in Turkey. Notwithstanding so many of them are found ready to undergo the expense and hazard of the journey, they do not hold the pilgrimage to be as obligatory as the Turks are accustomed to regard it. The difficulties attending it, the large amount of means necessary, the vexations consequent on travelling through a Sunnite country, and the contumelies to which they are exposed at Mecca, justify them, in their view, in neglecting the duty for very trivial reasons. The old Mollah with whom we were conversing, offered us his kalioun. I declined it because he was not yet informed that I was a Christian, and I had no wish to inflict any more ceremonial uncleannesses. John, however, accepted the offer, and, when he had returned VOL. II. D 50 PASTORAL LIFE. the pipe, the Mollah inquired if he were a Mussulman. John confessed his faith, and saw the politeness of the Mollah end in ordering the kalioun to be washed all over before his eyes. After leaving the plain, we continued our way over the mountains on its eastern border. Their appearance, in crossing them, was rather more grateful than the distant view, for, though they were chiefly barren, we noticed here and there a watered valley and a deserted or inhabited village. The path, though uneven and rocky, was not difficult, and we reached Kereshken, a walled village, containing 100 families, just as the shepherd was driving in the village herds. The practice here, as in many other parts of the East, is for the peasants to em- ploy one of their number in tending all the cattle of the village. He drives them abroad in the morning, accom- panied by dogs, and returns with them at sunset. As they enter the village, the herds separate and go off to their respective homes, or their owners come out and drive them in. The shepherd receives a small stipend from each villager, and is also entitled to a present from the owner, for every new-born young one that he brings home. This mode of pastoral life is often alluded to in the Bible, and is, doubtless, as ancient as that holy book itself. As we descended from the hills, the next morning, a wide and pleasant prospect lay before us. side, over the dry and parched plain, appeared clusters of trees, marking the sites of villages. Near one of them we passed a burying-ground, where several Persian women were seated on new-made graves, bewailing the loss of those who were reposing beneath. The sight would be a more affecting one if it were always the over- flowing of natural grief. But it is often only the mock- On every CHAPTER VI. KAZVIN. SITUATION INTERIOR -THE PEOPLE-MEDRESSEHS-RUINED PALACE LANGUAGE-STORY-TELLER-PERSIAN DERVISHES THE YOUNG DERVISH -TRAVELLING TURKS-THEIR OPINIONS CONCERNING PERSIA-PREVA- LENCE OF LYING AMONG THE PERSIANSTESTIMONY OF HERODOTUS- MY OWN IMPRESSIONS-ILLUSTRATIONS-DECEPTION PRACTISED ON A FOREIGNER-SOURCE OF THE VICE. Kazvin is situated on the plain over which we had been travelling, and not far from the mountains. Its position is low, and nothing, excepting one or two blue domes and a tall square tower rising above the Governor's palace, can be seen without. I was surprised to find, on entering it, that it was the best-looking town I had seen in Persia, and my first impressions were confirmed in walking through its streets. Although there are as many deserted and ruined houses as occupied ones, many of its buildings are of kiln-burnt bricks, which give the walls a more agreeable aspect than the muddy hue of bricks dried in the sun. The bazars, from their irregularity perhaps, appeared to me even larger than those of Tebriz, and on the whole better constructed, large portions of them being of brick with arched roofs. Many of them, however, are partly deserted, and, alto- gether, they do not offer so much to attract the eye as those of the northern city. There are forty-eight cara- vanserais, the best of which are connected with the MOSQUES. 53 bazars by vaulted passages. The caravanserais in the cities of Persia, like those in Turkey, are not always intended for the accommodation of caravans. Nearly half of those in Kazvin are exclusively occupied by resi- dent merchants, and such are always the most comfort- able for travellers. According to the best information which I could ob- tain, there are 8000 inhabited houses in Kazvin. The population, therefore, cannot be less than 40,000. Ex- cepting a few families of Jews and Armenians, it is entirely Mohammedan. The city is distinguished for the bigotry of the people. I had some unpleasant de- monstration of it in visiting the mosques and medressehs, but succeeded in seeing everything which I wished to see. There are, in all, twenty-four mosques, some of which are in the best style of Persian temples of worship. The Mesjid-i Jumah * is a venerable relic of former days. It has two minarets which have hardly lost their blue glazing, and other portions of the building are falling to ruins. A new mosque was in the course of erection, and the strangeness of such a sight induced me to visit it. It was built by bequest of a Mushtehed of the city, who had performed the pilgrimage to Mecca, and had returned to erect this monument of devotion to his faith and to build his own mausoleum, which stood close by. The construction of the medresseh was pecu- liar. The central court, instead of being a level square, as in the other medressehs, consisted of several terraces descending to a reservoir in the middle. The mesjid, or * Mesjid-i Jumah-Mosque of the Assembly. There is generally one of this name in every Persian city, which is the principal temple of worship, and may be called the Cathedral. The great service of Friday is performed in it by the Imam-i Jumah, or Imam of the Assembly, who, in this particular, exercises, temporarily, the office of the lost Imam. 54 REMAINS. place of worship, occupied one entire side of the building above, and was a long, narrow apartment, finished with the most rigid simplicity. I have before remarked that this is the usual style of the chapels connected with the Persian medresgehs. Kazvin was formerly the seat of royalty, and the palace of the Sefi Kings still remains. It is now the residence of the Beyler Bey, who is a brother of the Shah. The entrance to it was through a court and a covered gallery. The palace itself stands on one side of an interior court, and presents, altogether, a most dilapidated appearance. The Governor is literally an inhabiter among ruins, for a part of the palace has fallen, and the reservoirs in the court are empty. A few plane-trees were the sole remaining decoration of the place, and a group of Russian soldiers, in the ser- vice of the prince, were lounging about the walks. The Governor, or some predecessor, has erected a high square tower, on the top of which is an apartment for taking the air. The coolness of those upper regions must be peculiarly refreshing after the toil of ascending to them in a hot summer-day. The approach to the great gate of the outer court is through a long and wide avenue, leading from the bazars and bordered by elms. Kazvin suffers in prosperity from the want of a plen- tiful supply of water. Feth Ali Shah had the design of bringing it down to the city from the mountains, but died before the plan was executed. The place produces nothing of importance, but is the thoroughfare of a great trade between Hamadan, Resht, Tehran, and Tebriz. Hamadan is six and Resht seven days distant. I met here, for the first time, a native who could not STORY-TELLER. 55 speak Turkish. Persian was evidently becoming more common, as we advanced towards the South. Its use seems to have increased in these Northern parts since Martyn went through the country in 1812, for he remarks that it was of very little utility to him North of Isfahan. I apprehend that, at the present day, one might hold pretty free communication with the people in that tongue as far North as the Koflan Koh. The Turkish, however, must be considered as the vernacular language of the population along the whole of the route between Tebriz and Tehran, as well as on the road to Bagdad, as far West as Hamadan. At Kazvin we had an opportunity of listening to a story-teller, who was amusing the people in the bazars. He narrated with great fluency and animation, changing his voice, from time to time, to suit different characters, and expressing as much by his looks and gestures as by his words. Seats were provided for his hearers, and two or three boys were in attendance to serve them with kaliouns. He saw that we were strangers, and managed to introduce a compliment for us, without losing the thread of his story. He continued in this way for an hour together, his hearers coming and going at their pleasure, and seldom remaining longer than a few minutes. We saw also large numbers of the Persian dervishes in the city. The character of these pretended devotees is admirably delineated in Morier’s excellent work, Haji Baba in Persia, a book which contains, perhaps, the most accurate picture of Persian life and manners that has ever been drawn. These religious mendicants resemble more the santons and fakirs of India than the dervishes of Turkey. They are not, like the lat- ter, gathered into communities, but roam over the PERSIAN DUPLICITY. 57 of his craft. The keeper of the caravanserai, however, pronounced him a young rogue, and drove him out of the court. Two of our fellow lodgers at the caravanserai, were Turks of Bagdad, who had visited Mecca and returned by the Persian route, for the purpose of seeing the coun- try of the Shiahs. They were the first, and I believe, , the last, Orientals whom I ever saw travelling for plea- sure or observation, and, as they were making pur- chases for the Bagdad market, I suspect that, even in this instance, it was not the love of knowledge alone which induced them to perform the journey. They were heartily sick of the country, and execrated it in unmeasured terms. The Persians, they said, were a nation of liars, and did not deserve the name of Mus- sulmans. John excited their wrath to the utmost, by relating a remark which he had heard from a Persian merchant in Tebriz, who had said, that he never failed to make a large pilau when a Turk came to trade with him, for he was always sure, in such a case, that no small gain was coming into his coffers. Our Turkish friends were not entirely wrong in their estimation of Persian character. Philosophers say that one of the principles of association is contrast. It must have been upon this principle that I was so often re- minded of the testimony of the Father of History, to the character of the ancient Persians : “Of wine they drink profusely." Here is association by resemblance, for the remark is as true now as it could have been in the days of Herodotus. But he says again, “ from the fifth to the twentieth year, their children are instructed in the use of the bow, horsemanship, and a strict regard to truth ;” and again, “they hold falsehood in the greatest abhorrence.” Nothing, I fear, could be farther D 3 58 PERSIAN FALSEHOOD. from the truth in these modern times. There does not, I am ready to believe, exist a country where society approaches more nearly to that, (which moralists have sometimes imagined,) of a community where truth is unknown, than in Persia; and the only reason why there does not exist a corresponding want of confidence, is, in good part, that inherent vanity of the Persians which makes them willing to be deceived. I learned for myself, long before leaving the country, that my only security was in acting upon the supposition that every man was unworthy of trust. My reader can readily imagine, that the shortest residence in such a land must be a source of incessant vexation, which would be doubly aggravated in the case of one whose object was investigation. It is felt, indeed, most deeply at first, for the old residents learn, at length, to accommodate themselves to the con- dition of society around them, so far, at least, as to become, in a tolerable measure, callous to the evil. My own stay was not sufficiently protracted to allow me to arrive at such a happy state of endurance, and my recol- lections still retain the freshness of the first impression, That impression, however, was confirmed by the opinions of those whose experience was more mature than mine. “ I have never,” said a pious and intelligent gentleman who had resided twelve successive years in the country, who had travelled over almost every part of it, and been conversant with all classes, “I have never," he said to me, one day, “seen a Persian whom I found, on good acquaintance, that I could safely trust.” It is wonderful, indeed, with what facility most Per- sians utter a falsehood. It has often seemed to me like an instinct with them. They are fully conscious of the vice, and acknowledge that it prevails everywhere among them. They perpetrate it with the utmost indifference, PERSIAN FALSEHOOD. 59 and, on being betrayed, seem to have no shame nor any sense of having done wrong. They practise it with the most astonishing hardihood. I have heard a Persian lie and persist in it even against the immediate evidence of my senses. They do it often most ungenerously, and even to their benefactors. They do it with the utmost adroitness and ingenuity. A Mirza, of Tebriz, procured for me a book which I could not conveniently obtain myself. He demanded for it a high price, and, doubtless, made his own profit by it. Two or three days after, he came to me and recounted an adventure which he pretended had just occurred. He had gone, he said, to a medresseh on some business, and while there was accosted by a man, who demanded his book. - What book ?” asked the Mirza. “ That which you purchased of me the other day.” The Mirza denied ever having seen him before. “ Well," replied the man, “I committed the book to another to sell, and he let you have it for three and a half tomans, while my price was five tomans. I demand the book or the balance.” “ I have sold the book," said the Mirza. “ To whom?" "To a Frank.” This reply drew upon him the rage of the man, who was a Mollah, for selling the book to a Christian. At that moment the Mushtehed passed on his return from the mosque, and to him the Mollah made his complaint. “To whom did you sell the book ?” asked the Mushtehed. “To a Frank," cried the Mollah. “To a servant of God," exclaimed the Mirza, “it matters little whether he is a Frank or not.” In fine, he talked so boldly in defence of my rights, as to offend the Mushtehed, who adjudged the cause to the Mollah, but, upon the earnest remonstrance of the Mirza, finally decided that he should pay five 99 60 PERSIAN FALSEHOOD. sahib krans. This,” concluded the Mirza, “ I gladly paid to get rid of the affair.” The whole of this inge- nious story, as I had abundant reason afterwards to believe, was fabricated to gain my good-will, which the Mirza happened to have an interest in securing, and to extort from me the trifling sum of 5s. Another instance was related to me by a gentleman who was a party in the case. He was attached to the English embassy, and was hastening towards Tehran, in order, if possible, to arrive before the ambassador, who was on his way thither from another quarter. While still several days distant, he made inquiries of a Persian coming from there, who assured him that the minister had arrived. The gentleman, wishing to be accurately informed concerning the matter, repeated the question. The Persian solemnly swore that he spoke the truth, went into a minute description of the minister's recep- tion, and declared that he was himself among those who witnessed the ceremonies on the occasion. The gentle- man went on his way, arrived in due time in the city, and found that the ambassador had not come, and eventually did not arrive for some days after. Instances of a graver character and bearing more immediately upon the principal objects of my inquiries, might be narrated. One or two will suffice. Soon after my arrival in Tebriz, a young Persian called upon me and expressed a strong desire to study English. Know- ing that I was a clergyman, he professed his great motive to be that he might be able to learn something of the Christian religion. To use his own words, which I recorded soon after the interview, “Men," he said, 6 must die. I also am human and cannot live for ever. I wish to learn something of religion, to compare what the Messiah has written with what Mohammed has SOURCE OF THE VICE. 61 written. My prophet, I am convinced, has uttered many things that are false. He declared himself at liberty to have more wives than other men, whereas, being a prophet, he ought not to have been attached to the things of this world. This is only one instance. Now I wish to learn the truth, and to this end am desirous of studying English that I may read and understand the truth." Unfortunately for this specious profession, I ascertained soon after, that the Mirza cared nothing for religion, and was far from being a serious man, and, at length, I obtained from himself the confession that his sole motive was worldly ambition. He had hoped that the knowledge of English would recommend him to the notice of the Shah and gain for him riches and honour. The source of this pernicious habit it is not difficult to trace. Some have attempted to explain it as a natural consequence of civil oppression. But this is not enough; for the same effect does not, in the same notable degree, flow from the same cause in Turkey. Its chief source is to be sought for in the native character of the Persians. Their imaginativeness of mind and their love of the marvellous may partly account for it in the instances of their wonderful relations. Their extreme affability and politeness, strange as it may seem, help to the same effect; for they will sometimes deceive for the mere sake of pleasing. Their vanity, also, and their love of self, are powerful auxiliaries, and their inordinate fondness for favour, gain, and emolument, leads them to make many false pretensions, and to resort to every species of trickery and fraud to secure the most trivial advantage. But that which lies beneath all these, and which is the root of all, is their want of conscientiousness, the singular weakness of their moral principle. CHAPTER VII. JOURNEY TO TEHRAN. THE CAPITAL. LEAVE KAZVIN-GRAPES AND WINE-THE PLAIN-CAMELS AND HORSES A VILLAGE-MODE OF IRRIGATION-FEVERS—THE PLAIN OF TEHRAN- ROYAL PROJECTS - ROUTE-PERSIAN PRESENTS-FIRST VIEW OF TEHRAN RECEPTION AT THE CAPITAL - LANGUAGES-ORIGIN OF TEHRAN- DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY-AMBASSADORS' RESIDENCES—THE ROYAL PALACE — DESCRIPTION OF ITS PRINCIPAL BUILDINGS AND COURTS POPULATION OF THE CITY-ENGLISH RESIDENTS-FEVER-THE POST- RUINS OF RHEY. We now proceed with our narrative. Issuing from the gate of Kazvin, opposite to that at which we had entered three days before, we found the vineyards on this side as extensive as those on the other. They appeared, indeed, to surround the city entirely to a distance of several miles from its walls. Both the grapes and wine of Kazvin have some celebrity. The latter, doubtless, is made by the few Jews and Christians in the city; a busi- ness that would not be winked at, if they were, also, the only consumers. Beyond the vineyards, the plain assumed the most desolate and barren appearance. No cultivation ap- peared. The gravelly soil gave support only to a dry, thorny herb, which seemed incapable of affording nutri- ment to any living thing. Yet herds of camels were browsing upon it as eagerly as if they had never before tasted so great a luxury. I can bear testimony to the CAMELS AND HORSES. 63 truth of some ancient writer, which Gibbon somewhere calls in question, of the antipathy existing between the horse and the camel. Whenever we passed trains of these animals, our horses invariably showed signs of terror and sheered from the road. The common travel- ling horses in Turkey and Persia differ in no respect that I could discover from the same class in the United States. They have no superior qualities, and it is very rare to find one which the traveller can ride with even tolerable comfort. They have almost uniformly the habit of stumbling, and, from the badness of the roads or some other cause, their feet are seldom entirely sound. Mules are also employed for bearing burdens, especially in Persia, where there is, besides, a superior kind used for the saddle. Camels are to be found in almost every part, but, of all the countries which I traversed, they were most numerous in Asia Minor, and European Turkey. There is no reason for supposing this useful animal to be exclusively an inhabitant of the desert. Those in European Turkey are indigenous, and are said to be of an excellent stock. We halted, the first night after leaving Kazvin, at Keushlak, a little walled village containing 100 families. Near by is a mound about twenty feet high, with a small summer-house upon it. Both the mound and the house were reared to afford lodgings to the late Shah, for a single night. Behind the village were extensive vine- yards, which were now yielding their produce, and most of the villagers were engaged in making pekmez, a syrup resembling molasses, from them. For this purpose, the grapes were first put into coarse bags and the juice extracted by treading. It was then converted into the syrup by boiling it in large kettles. The next day we advanced to Songourabad, still 64 IRRIGATION. upon the plain. The neighbouring mountains had been covered with a sheet of snow during the night, and the cool bracing air of the morning reminded me of the approach of a New England winter. The plain was better watered and more cultivated as we approached the end of our day's stage, and we noticed, in every direction, the black tents of the Æliauts and the green clusters of the trees around the distant villages. The mode of irrigating the Persian plains shows how essential irrigation is to their fertility. Sources are first found in the hills, and the water is conducted from them through the plain to any point desired. For this pur- pose wells are sunk at short intervals along the line which the stream is to follow, and subterranean passages are then dug from well to well, until the water is brought to the distant villages and fields. The earth, thrown up from the wells, forms little mounds around them, by which the eye can trace, at a glance, the direction and length of these subterranean aqueducts. We remarked some of them on the plain of Kazvin, which could not have been less than twenty miles in length. I spent a Sunday in Sougourabad, and read the Ser- vices of the Church in a quiet retreat among the trees of the gardens. The place appears to have been once a considerable village, but now contained only forty fami- lies. In almost every house some were sick with the intermittent fever, which is extremely prevalent in Persia during the hot season and the time of fruit. We found it prevailing in almost every village through which we had passed. It arises, I suppose, from the variable- ness of the temperature and the excess of the people in eating fruit. They may almost be said to live upon it while it is fresh, and they begin to eat it long before it is ripe. Foreigners, of course, are equally exposed, but PLAIN OF TEHRAN. 65 as they practise greater caution, they do not suffer in any remarkable degree from it. Some of them go so far as to abstain entirely from fruit—an abstinence which must require considerable self-denial in a country where so much delicious fruit abounds. Having learned from my medical friend at Tebriz what Calomel and Quinine were, and how and when they should be used, I spent a part of the day at Sougourabad, in administering from the little stock with which he had provided me. Beyond Sougourabad, the great plain which we had entered soon after leaving Zenjan, and on which we had been travelling six days, opens into the still broader plain of Tehran, which stretches off, on the South East, to the Great Salt Desert, and expands, on the South West, into a wide level country, the same that we afterwards traversed in going to Hamadan. On leaving Sougoura- bad, our course turned more easterly, approaching the front range of the great Elburz Mountains, which bound the plain on that side. Three hours from Sougourabad, we passed the village of Sulimanieh, another of the projected cities of the late Shah. The old King seems to have abandoned his caprices as suddenly as he formed them, but it is in the real spirit of a Persian to have magnificent schemes running wild in his imagination, which make but a poor show when they come to be executed. A little beyond, we crossed the Karatch, a small stream which descends from the mountains, and, before it has proceeded far, is entirely lost in irrigation. When we had reached the hills, we kept along their base, the plain on our right appearing more rich and populous as we advanced. As we could not reach the city before night, we stopped at Soula Khenti, a large village situated in a labyrinth of gardens. Besides the common 66 APPROACH TO TEHRAN. fruit-trees and the vine, I noticed there the poplar, the elm, the walnut, and the fig-tree. The last I did not recollect to have seen before in Persia. This was, also, the first village in which the Persian appeared to be more common than the Turkish. Some of the villagers brought in dishes filled with the most delicious fruit, and, setting them before me, told me that they were presents. Such little civilities are, at first, very gratifying to the traveller, but he soon learns enough of the nature of a Persian present to be aware that it is never bestowed without the expectation of a return of double its value. The custom of presents is probably as universal now in the East as in the days of the Patriarchs, and the design of them is the same now as it was in olden times. The stories of Abraham's presents to the relations of Rebekah, Gen. xxiv., of Jacob's to his brother Esau, Gen. xxxii., and to his son Joseph, as Governor of Egypt, Gen. xliii., are perfect illustrations of modern usage among Eastern people. Through the kindness of English friends, I was pro- vided with comfortable lodgings in Tehran, even before I arrived in the city. One of them, whom I had met at Tebriz, had offered me the use of his house, then vacant, during my stay at the Capital. Accordingly, I sent forward my servant from the last village to prepare it, while John and myself, with the muleteer, advanced more slowly towards the city. We approached it over the sloping ground which declines from the base of the mountains into the plain. The city itself did not appear until we had advanced quite near to it. Its position was even lower than the level of the plain around it, and seemed, as it really is, the most ineligible site that could have been chosen for a city in all the region about. It stands in a depressed place, in an angle of the mountains, ARRIVAL. 67 where a spur from the main range runs off to the South, and looks out upon the plain towards the South, South- West, and West. The site appears as if it had been chosen for no other reason than because it is a favour- able spot for concentrating the sun's rays and gene- rating fevers. Still the scene was a pleasing one, when the city first opened upon the view. Before us, and a little below our level, appeared the walls, the uniformity of which was relieved by bastions at regular intervals. Nothing was to be seen above them, excepting a cluster of foliage, and the gilded summit of the Royal Mosque (Mesjid-i Shah) glittering in the sun. On the right was the plain, with its scattered villages, all lying in such deep repose that a train of camels, coming in on the Hamadan road, at once riveted our attention, from their being the only moving objects on the whole broad expanse. On the opposite side, in an elevated spot near the angle of the mountains, stood a summer palace of the Shah, with a mass of rich dark foliage in front. Beyond the mountains, and towering far above them, rose the pyramidical form of the Peak of Demavend, entirely covered with a mantle of virgin snow. Immediately upon my arrival in the city I delivered my letters, and found myself very soon at home in the midst of some twenty English residents. It was a luxury which no one who has never been in similar circum- stances can easily imagine, to fall among men speaking my own language. The sound of English after I had ceased to hear it for weeks, startled me with something of that pleasant surprise that one feels on hearing an old and almost forgotten song. The very pleasure of speak- ing it was, for a day or two, a positive enjoyment in itself. With John I had made it a rule, from the first, to converse only in Turkish, excepting when some pri- DESCRIPTION. 69 domes. They are filthy, however, and less attractive in every respect than those of Tebriz. They are thronged with beasts as well as men, which makes a walk through them no easy nor pleasant matter. The streets are pecu- liarly bad, for the most part destitute of pavements, narrow, irregular, encumbered with filth, and full of dangerous holes. The houses are extraordinarily mean, even for an Eastern town, and unsightly ruins, covering, in some instances, extensive areas, frequently meet the eye. Near the gate at which weentered the city, we passed an open space, by the side of the street, on which were several apertures leading tu subterranean apartments. Some travellers have conjectured that the occupants are a remnant of an ancient race of the country, (the Trig- lodites, I believe,) who used to live under ground. It may be so, but it affects one strangely, on entering the city of the Shah, with his imagination, perhaps, full of splendid palaces and Oriental luxury, to see (almost the first thing as he enters the gate,) a herd of human beings burrowing in the earth like moles. It was, perhaps, some disappointment of this kind which made my whole impression of Tehran more unfavourable' than it would have been, deprived of the association of royalty. Be- sides, for the most of the few weeks spent there, I was suffering with the intermittent, which, in itself, is no generator of bright emotions, and which, as it prevailed all over the city, I was ready to put in the same account with the other disadvantages of the place. All these things might, with equal truth, be objected to many European cities, but here, at Tehran, are no magnificent structures or outward marks of grandeur to affect the general meanness of its appearance. The palace of the Russian Minister, (to whom I took an early occasion to pay my respects), is an extensive range ROYAL PALACE. 70 of very plain buildings. The British Residency, though unfavourably situated in a low position near the South- ern wall, is a neat edifice, with an open piazza and a range of columns in front. It has also pleasant gardens, with paved walks, both in front and rear, which make it altogether a delightful spot. But the chief attraction is the Ark, or Royal Residence. It consists of a great number of buildings, courts and gardens, covering a large area, and enclosed within a high wall, which separates it from the rest of the city. Just without the wall, on the side where I entered, is a public square, in the centre of which is a large cannon, said to have been used by Nadir Shah. It is now converted into the more pacific and sacred use of a sanctuary for criminals. Whoever takes refuge beneath it is safe. Places for this purpose are common in Persia. I have known a man, who had been guilty of the crime of highway robbery, take refuge in the house of a Mushtehed, and defy the officers of justice sent in pursuit of him. The stables of the Shah are a sanctuary of the same kind, and, in some instances, the tombs of holy men. The practice is, doubtless, an ancient one, but the choice of places for sanctuaries seems to be wholly accidental and arbitrary. I found no difficulty in gaining admission to the Ark by proper application, and entered with several English friends. In the first court to which we were admitted, we were conducted to rooms in the basement of a mean brick building, two stories high. They were filled with presents received by former Shahs from the kings of Europe. Most of the articles were of glass. Chandeliers, mirrors, dishes, vases, and trinkets of every description, were mingled in the strangest confusion, and all covered with dust. That which most attracted my notice, was a beautiful gilt vase from Napoleon. APARTMENTS. 71 We then visited three halls of reception. The gene- ral plan of the Ark seemed to be that of a succession of courts separated from each other by high walls or ranges of buildings. The courts themselves were adorned with reservoirs, or rectangular tanks of water, paved walks bordered with plane-trees and flower-beds between. The largest of the three halls of reception was thirty- five feet by twenty-five. It stood in a range between two courts, and, on the sides looking out upon them, was entirely open from ceiling to floor, the roof being supported, on those sides, by tall wooden columns, and the room protected by ample curtains hanging from the roof, and capable of being raised or lowered at pleasure. The two extremities of the room consisted of deep re- cesses covered with small mirrors placed at an infinite variety of angles, and presenting to the beholder a thou- sand images of himself at once. Another of these rooms had its walls, on three sides, covered with mirrors, and was open on the fourth. The third room had a beautiful window of stained glass, (the most common and the most costly ornament of a Persian house,) on one side, and a large fountain, en- tirely of glass, in the centre. In one of these rooms was a royal chair with a canopy over it, and in the same apartments were clocks of curious workmanship that had been presented by foreign kings. They had automata attached to them. On one an elephant stood moving his trunk and ears and tail; on another was a peacock, alternately folding and displaying his plumage. Those who made these presents seem to have thought that the Shahs of Persia were, after all, very much like those savage kings whose favour is more easily gained by some showy trifle than by a present of substantial value--and perhaps they judged rightly. A Persian is POPULATION. 72 always more accessible through his fancy or his vanity than through his reason or his heart. The principal hall of reception, where the Shah appears on great public occasions, opens on another court, and was the best arranged room that we saw. It contains a marble throne supported by human figures of the same material, while its open front, looking upon the court, is adorned with five marble columns. We saw no more of the interior of the Ark. The sacred precincts of the harem, which alone cover a wide extent of ground, we were not permitted to enter. All that we were allowed to see conveyed no very exalted idea of Persian magnificence. The exterior of the buildings was entirely destitute of all pretensions to architectural beauty. The apartments, excepting those which I have described, were of the most ordinary character. The walks and gardens wore an air of neglect, and little appeared anywhere to indicate an abode of royalty. Just without the Ark is the royal foundry, which is under the superintendence of a Persian, who learned the art in England. He showed us the works where the various operations of smelting, casting, boring, and polishing were going on. The workmen were all men of Aderbeijan, and appeared familiar with their business. The most correct Persian estimates of the population of Tehran which I could obtain, varied from 10,000 to 12,000 families, including 150 families of Jews, and 200 of Armenians. The English residents estimated it at 60,000 souls, among which, they believed, there were not more than fifty Jewish families and as many Arme- nian. Besides the native population, there are a few European artisans and upwards of thirty foreigners connected with the British and Russian embassies. Among them were fourteen English serjeants, who RELIGIOUS SERVICES. 73 were employed in drilling the Shah's soldiers. John, who had seen some of them in his former visit to Persia, was soon on intimate terms with them, and learning that they were in want of linen, he disposed of the greater part of his own stock among them to very good advantage. From the account which he gave of their private habits, I inferred that they had some higher wants than those of the body, and I could not but regret that the British Government had not extended to their Persian embassy the advantage of a chaplaincy. It could no where be more needed, and, even in a political point of view, it would be of the highest benefit. I have more than once heard the opinion expressed by Persians, that the English had no religion, for the very plausible reason that they never heard of their being engaged in divine worship. A religion without a worship seems, indeed, an incon- gruity next only to a contradiction in terms. The British ininister in Persia had earnestly requested a chaplain for the embassy. The application having been unsuccessful, the minister undertook himself to sustain the services of the English Church. For this purpose all connected with the embassy assembled at the Resi- dency. The Ambassador read the Morning Service, and one of the officers officiated as clerk. The state of my health prevented me from assuming the duty, but it was exceedingly refreshing to my spirit, after so long a privation of the worship of the church, to join once more in her Confession, her Thanksgivings, and her Supplicationis. How oft, in my solitary jour- neyings, had the exclamation of the Psalmist been in my thoughts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.” 2 66 VOL. II. 74 FEVER. THE POST. My old friend, the Turkish envoy, with whom I left Constantinople, was at Tehran when I arrived, but as we were both suffering from the fever, we did not meet. I seldom went abroad the first two weeks, and, during that time, he was compelled to leave the city. The fever prevails through the latter part of summer and the beginning of fall, and a stranger arriving in that season seldom escapes. An English gentleman, who preceded me from Tebriz a few days, made a visit of three weeks at the capital and spent most of it in his chamber. The embassies retire from the town on the approach of the not season, and pass the summer and half the fall in tents on the plain, or in the gardens without the city. On the 24th of October the weather became cooler. A few days of rain and snow succeeded, when the sky again cleared and the air remained fresh and bracing. During my stay I received letters which had been post-marked less than three months previously, in Maine and Louisiana, the one the southernmost and the other the northernmost state of the American Union. A packet was despatched by the minister on the third of each month, which was conveyed in eleven days to Erzroum by a Persian courier, where it was met by the packet from Constantinople and forwarded thither by a Tatar, the Persian courier receiving at the same time the Tatar's letters, and returning with them to Tehran. The whole distance from Constantinople was performed, in good travelling, in twenty-one days, and, as my letters were often received in Constanti- nople in forty-five days from New York, they would, in the present instance, have reached Tehran in less than two, instead of three, months, if they had arrived in Constantinople just before the departure of the Tatar. RHEY. 75 I found an opportunity before leaving the city to ride out to the ruins of Rhey, which lie in a southerly direc- tion from the town about an hour's ride. Hardly any- thing more than incidental notices of this city are to be found in ancient history. It is the Rhages of the Apo- crypha, (See Tobit,) and must, therefore, have existed 700 years before Christ. It was also visited by Alex- ander in his expedition into Parthia. Little is now to be seen on the spot where it stood, more than a wide space of broken ground covered with fragments of tile and pottery. It was at the extremity of the short range which I have before mentioned as running out from the main body of the mountains towards the South. Near the hills stands a solitary tower of brick, in a state of decay. The exterior surface consists of angles alternately projecting and retreating, and an ancient inscription, formed by the brick, appears around the summit. Remains of walls are still seen, and their line can be distinctly traced on the side towards the mountains, running across the plain and over the rocky hills which stand out from the range. On the face of one of these rocks is the figure of a horseman with a lance couched, the whole rudely carved upon a smooth surface hewn for the purpose. On the vertical side of another rock is a much larger repre- sentation in bas-relief, which represents a hall of state, with a monarch seated and his attendants standing near him. This, however, is a modern production, having been executed by the late Shah in honour of himself. The place is unfortunately chosen, for some future traveller will, doubtless, describe it, as I had well nigh done, as a part of the ruins of Rhey in an excellent state of preservation. . E 2 FETH ALI SHAH. 77 The founder of the present dynasty of Persia was Agha Mohammed Khan, who dying without issue, left the throne to his nephew, Feth Ali Khan. The reign of this prince was long and quiet. He was more dis- posed to private enjoyment than to public enterprise, and had it not been for the ambitious spirit of his two sons, Abbas Mirza and Mohammed Ali Mirza, the first the Governor of Aderbeijan and the other of Kermanshah, his reign might have passed unmarked by any great event. He possessed most of the good and bad qualities of a Persian. He was vain and fond of flattery, imagi- native and devoted to pleasure, yet shrewd, affable, and dignified ; capable of the most arbitrary acts, yet not cruel ; excessively proud of his personal appearance ; fond of show and regal state, yet not an oppressive or tyrannical ruler. He professed to be a poet, and I remember to have seen a volume of his productions in the bazars at Tehran. A Persian related to me one day the following anecdote, as illustrative of the character of his efforts in this department of literature. He had just completed a new performance in metre, which he flat- tered himself possessed peculiar excellence. Calling, therefore, for the Court Poet, whom, after the manner of the East, he had constantly attached to his person, he read the poem before him, and demanded his opinion. The Poet, fearing lest his own emoluments should be endangered by this growing propensity of the Shah to rhyme for himself, and being also a man of uncommon honesty, expressed a very unfavourable criticism upon the piece. The Shah, enraged at the audacity with which he spoke the truth, ordered his servants to conduct him to the stable, and tie him up with the donkey. The poor Poet remained in this dolorous situation several days, when he was remanded into the royal presence, 78 MOHAMMED SHAH. and his opinion asked upon another performance which the Shah had perpetrated during his confinement. The Poet listened in silence, and when it was finished, venturing no more to express his opinion openly, he fell upon his knees before the King, and implored that he might be sent back to the stable. The present Shah owes his elevation to the throne to the intervention of foreigners. The old King had ap- pointed his son, Abbas Mirza, his successor, but the death of this prince occurring before his own, he declared in favour of his grandson, the reigning monarch, who was himself a son of Abbas Mirza. In so doing he set aside the claims of the numerous brothers of Abbas, the most eminent among them, Mohammed Ali Mirza, being now dead, and the Shah wishing that the power should de- scend in the line of his favourite son. On the decease of the King, Mohammed Mirza, the present Shah, was at Tebriz. Immediately upon the arrival of the news, the English Ambassador with his suite, appeared before him and saluted him as King. The British Minister, Sir John Campbell, had orders from his government to aid the accession of this prince to the throne. He, therefore, advanced funds to pay the troops of Ader- beijan, who were ready to desert, and marched down with them to Tehran, a British officer leading the van. One of his uncles had already seized the throne, but abdicated immediately upon hearing of the approach of the army. All opposition fell before the young Shah. He entered Tehran triumphant, and his rebellious uncle aided in the ceremony of his inauguration. Sir Henry Bethune, (late Col. Lindsay,) who had led the army to Tehran, soon afterwards marched to Shiraz, routed the malcontents who had gathered there, and finally es- tablished the Shah upon his throne. RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 79 Mohammed Shah is still a young man, being now (1840) about thirty-five years of age. It is reported, that neither his father nor his grandfather entertained very high hopes with regard to him. Abbas Mirza is said to have treated him with neglect, and to have made no effort for bringing him forward and engaging him in public service. When reminded of the imprudence of such a course, he used to reply,“ What can I do? He is good for nothing." The Persians whom I have heard speak of him, use the same language, and lament the destiny which deprived them of Abbas Mirza. Still the Shah is, in some respects, an extraordinary man. Though a reputed Souffee, he is strict in all the duties of his religion, and remarkably pure in his moral character and habits. His Souffeeism, it would seem, shows itself chiefly in his contempt for the ecclesiastics, and in his preference of Souffees for civil officers. He has few or none of the vices of his country. He has but two wives, and only one of them was resident at Tehran. His example, in this respect, is the more remarkable as following immediately upon that of Feth Ali Shah, the inmates of whose harem were sufficient in number to have composed the adult female population of a town of 6000 inhabitants. The present Shah drinks no wine, and does not even use the kalioun. Notwithstanding his contempt for the religious orders, he is himself a bigoted man. His prejudices are strong, and his mind is not of a sufficiently elevated character to rise above them. His most prominent trait is self-will and a dogged obstinacy in his opinions and plans. He is rather penurious in his own expenses, and has very little dispo- sition for regal display; yet he has been imprudently lavish in granting favours, even where no service has been rendered. I had it on good authority that, in the single 80 PRIVATE CHARACTER. province of Aderbeijan, he had bestowed pensions to the amount of 250,000 tomans, or about £125,000 sterling. He has some idea of the value of European institutions, and European learning, but he has not the character needed for a reformer. From the want of enlarged views he is satisfied with meagre results, and has not the capacity for framing a full system of reform. Still he would probably encourage any efforts for the general improvement of his people, especially if they were gra- tuitously rendered. He was so much pleased with the work on Geography laid before him by one of the Ger- man missionaries, that he invited the author to Tehran to establish a seminary in the capital. In his private character the Shah is not reputed a cruel man, nor is he an oppressive ruler. Yet his punishments are sometimes terrible, and he makes no effort to relieve the people from the tyranny and extortion of petty governors. The last vice is too deeply ingrained in the civil polity of the country ever to be eradicated by any but a strong and bold hand; but the apparent se- verity of the Persian Shahs is, I believe, misjudged by our habit of looking upon the working of a despotic government with feelings grown out of and conformed to our democratic institutions. The Shah, who is in reality only the chief minister of justice, appears, to a republican or even to a moderate monarchist, like a great public executioner. We associate the acts with the character of the individual, when we should rather regard him as merely a personification of the Law. On one occa- sion the present Shah ordered several criminals, who had been guilty of the murder of an officer in the army, to be put to death in his presence. I have heard it adduced as a proof of his cruelty, when, if it had followed upon the judgment of a jury of twelve men, it would GENEROSITY. Let me 81 have appeared simply as a just act of Law. not be misunderstood. I am not discussing principles of government, but only suggesting a distinction which ought to be borne in mind in our judgments upon the characters of (as the stereotyped 'phrase goes) “Eastern despots." The present Shah of Persia has manifested an unwonted generosity of character in entrusting the government of cities and provinces to his brothers and uncles, from whom he had most to fear. Yet he followed so far the common practice of his predecessors as to immure the uncle who had seized the throne, and several others of the sons of the old Shah with him, in the citadel of Erdebil, from which two or three of them effected their escape, while I was in Persia, and fled into the dominions of the Czar. The Shah has yet made no adequate return for the good service rendered him by his English friends in reaching the throne. The gallant officer who conducted the army from Tebriz to Tehran, and after- wards dispersed the rebels at Shiraz, and who is still in Persia, received from the Shah the most flattering promises, but they have proved empty words. When, however, we remember the delicate relations of the Shah with his northern neighbour, we may perhaps find a satisfactory explanation of his conduct without attribut- ing to him any ungenerous motives, especially as in many instances he has shown great personal kindness to English gentlemen resident at his court. Finally, I have heard Persians expatiate largely upon the literary accomplishments of the Shah, but their tes- timony was not confirmed by more disinterested witnesses. His knowledge of Geography is said to be unusually good for an Oriental, and he has, doubtless, a real predilection for the science. E 3 82 POLITICAL STATE. The political state of the country is by no means encouraging. The Persians themselves confess that the internal affairs of the kingdom are daily becoming more embarrassed, without any prospect of improvement. There are those, not a few, who predict the fall of the present dynasty, and even of the Empire, with the death of the reigning Shah. There prevails among them the same forebodings of impending evil as possess the minds of the Turks. They regard themselves as at the mercy of foreign nations, and many even regard with com- placency the prospect of their national dissolution. The empire is composed of heterogeneous and discordant materials. The native population comprises two distinct people, speaking different languages, dwelling in different parts of the country, and regarding each other with mutual aversion. The Shah is a Turk of the Kujar tribe, and his sway is therefore ungrateful to the Persians of the south. The Turkish race of the north, on the other hand, are proud of the superiority which this circumstance gives them, and regard their southern neighbours with contempt. While these elements of discord exist among the people, the army is weak and inefficient. The Persians state the whole military force at 80,000 regulars and 2000 artillery. The actually efficient force, however, offers no more than 40,000 men, and there are probably no more than seventy serviceable guns. The Persians are good materials for soldiers. They are able-bodied, capable of enduring fatigue and long marches with little food, and they learn more readily than Europeans. But the military organization of the Empire, on which its strength so much depends, is defective to the last degree. No system of reform has ever been introduced into the army. Much labour has been bestowed by foreign THE MILITARY. 83 officers in re-organizing and disciplining the forces, but as no command has been given to them, their labours have been productive of little good. The British officers pronounce the irregularity of the service a great obstacle to its efficiency. Soldiers desert by regiments, or they buy a dismission from the officers, or the officers send them away for the sake of securing their rations. Pro- bably there is no man in the Empire who has any just idea of military science, as it is understood in Europe, yet the Shah takes great pride in his army, and is full of ambition for military glory. It was currently reported that after taking Herat, he intended to march to Bag- dad and obtain possession of the city of the Caliphs, in right of its having once belonged to the Persians, and of its being the capital of the country which contains the tombs of the Saints most revered by the Shiahs. When the Shah left Tehran on his expedition to Herat, he was accompanied by several hundred military waggons which he had ordered to be made for the pur- pose, at a very cheap rate. Before they had proceeded half a mile from the city, one hundred of them had broken down. In the former expedition it was some- times found necessary when the order for march was given, to send men through the camp to whip the soldiers out of their tents, and at other times they exhibited their activity in openly plundering the royal magazines to obtain provision. I mention these facts as illustrative of the low state of the art of war, not because I suppose that a reform in this particular is the most desirable species of improve- ment, but because, in such a country as Persia, if the work of reform does not appear here, it is hardly to be expected elsewhere. Soon after the elevation of the present Shah to the throne, it was proposed to send THE PRESS. 84 several young men to England for education. The proposal pleased the Shah, and an order was given for the purpose. They were chosen and brought before him. He approved the selection, and the plan seemed to be moving on successfully. Upon inquiry being made for what profession or service the young men were to be trained, it was replied that two of them were to be can- dle-makers, it being the opinion of the Shah that candles were a very useful article. An order was afterwards given for an estimate of the expenses, which, when pre- sented to the Shah, so terrified him that the plan sunk at once out of notice and was never more heard of. The only measure which seemed to indicate improve- ment was the establishment of a Gazette at Tehran, which commenced early in 1837 under the auspices of the Shah. It was printed in Persian, and, for want of types, was lithographed. Its principal object was to laud the Shah and his measures. Still its establishment must be regarded as a step in advance, and it may yet lead to important consequences. I could not learn that there was so much as a printing-press in the country, but two have since been introduced, and are in active operation at Tebriz. CHAPTER IX. JOURNEY FROM TEHRAN TO HAMADAN. RULES AND PRINCIPLES OF EXPLORATION-FRIDAY-ITS OBSERVANCE BY MOHAMMEDANS-SERVICES OF THE DAY-HOW ESTEEMED BY PERSIANS- THE TRUE IDEA OF THE WORSHIP OF FRIDAY-SINGULAR CHANGE IN CONSTANTINOPLE DEPARTURE FROM TEHRAN - PLAIN — VILLAGE- DESERT SUNDAY-LODGINGS MOUNTAINS - DEMAVEND MOUNTAIN- PASSAGE-DOMESTIC LIFE IN A PERSIAN VILLAGE-SKETCH OF THE CHARACTER AND CONDITION OF THE PERSIAN PEASANTRY-TAKING NOTES -WEARISOME JOURNEY-APPROACH TO HAMADAN. The original plan of my tour had embraced Isfahan and Shiraz, and if my object had been simply, or even partially, that of a traveller, I should not have left the country without visiting its ancient and most venerable capital, and the chief seat of its literature. But the rule which I had laid down for myself when leaving Constantinople was, to follow uniformly the route in which I could best accomplish the great objects of my mission, and never to depart from it for the sake of gratifying any curiosity of my own. Whatever objects of interest fell in my way I allowed myself to see, when- ever sufficient time remained after the duties of my work were done, and before my departure from the place. This rule, from which I never deviated so much as in a single instance, proved in the end a source of no incon- siderable trial. Possessed from my earliest years with the most ardent love for travelling, and filled with enthusiastic desire to visit the scenes which were the originals of the first pictures that my imagination had · 86 PRINCIPLES. formed, it was a sore temptation to find myself within a few days' journey of the once proud capital of the Per- sian Shahs, and of the city where Sadi and Hafiz lived and Martyn laboured, while duty pointed in another direction. For the same reason I did not visit the ruins of Babylon, though, at Bagdad, I was within a few hours' travel of them. I saw those of Nineveh only, because my road lay through them ; but I did not return to survey them, although I tarried ten days within a few miles of them on the opposite side of the Tigris. For the same reason again, I denied myself what as a traveller would have been my highest ambition, the pleasure of going over Egypt and the Holy Land, both which I was at liberty to visit. I saw, in a word, only what lay in iny way, and if any thing communicated in these pages upon such topics possesses the common interest of a traveller's record, it can only be, I imagine, from the circumstance of my route having lain through countries unfrequented by foreigners. The reader will also bear in mind that everything of this nature has an important bearing upon the question of Christian Missions in such lands. It is important, both to the missionary and to the conductors of missions, to know the numbers and character of the population, their habits and man- ners, the relative situation and distances of places, the nature and condition of roads, the courses of trade and the means of transportation, the general features of the country, its climate and its prevalent diseases, the cha- racter of its government and its civil condition ; in a word, whatever goes to make up a picture of the people as they are. I made these matters, therefore, subjects of inquiry as falling within the compass of my mission, and with the hope that they would impart a more general interest to the results of my investigations. MOHAMMEDAN SABBATH. 87 I need not trouble the reader with my reasons for proceeding immediately towards Bagdad, as they relate solely to considerations connected with my work. It was on Friday the 10th of November, that we left Tehran. Half my tour was now completed ; but that which remained was destined to be of deeper interest and deeper suffering than the first. I had now reached the Easternmost point of my travels, and my way thence lay Westward and homeward. The thought was the more exhilarating in that the clear sky and bracing air of the morning were reminding me of a New England autumn. My muleteer was very unwilling to start on that day, as it was his Sabbath ; not, however, from any religious scruples, but because it is a day of idleness and enjoyment, and it is not esteemed fortunate by Moham- medans to commence a journey upon it. The origin of the Mussulman observance of Friday is not easily to be accounted for. Mohammed prescribed it, but for what reason is unknown. The most probable solution is, that he borrowed the idea of a holy day, as he did most other things, from the Jews and Christians, and preferred Friday to Saturday and Sunday, to avoid the appear- ance of imitation. The reason, however, is of little importance. The pretended apostle did actually enjoin for Friday the same degree of religious observance as the Christians of that time were wont to practise on the Lord's Day. “O true believers," he says, “when ye are called to prayer on the day of the assembly, hasten to the commemoration of God, and leave merchandizing. This will be better for you if ye knew it. And when prayer is ended, then disperse yourselves through the land as ye list, and seek gain of the liberality of God."* • KoRAN, chap. lại. 88 SERVICE OF FRIDAY. The day, accordingly, is not one on which abstinence from work and ordinary business is required. It is generally made a day of repose and recreation. It is regarded, however, as obligatory to listen to the Call to Prayer, as Mohammed commanded, and to be present in the mosque at the noon-services. There is no occa- sion, excepting the great feasts and fast, when the mosques are so well attended as on Friday noon. The day itself is called by a name signifying the Day of the Assembly. There is nothing peculiar in the devotions of the day, excepting that, in those mosques which are provided with a Minber* and a Khatib, the Khoutbeh is repeated in conjunction with the prayers of noon. This service consists in ascriptions of praise to the Deity, and in supplications for Mohammed, the first four Caliphs, the reigning family, and the nation. A discourse gene- rally follows the other services. The origin of the custom may, I believe, be traced back to the days of Mohammed. His practice was to conduct the prayers on this occasion himself, and afterwards to address the people. The same custom was observed by the Caliphs, and has descended to the present day. The duty now devolves upon the Sultan of Turkey, who is acknow- ledged, by a great majority of the Mussulman world, the lawful successor of Mohammed. He does it, however, only by proxy. The Khatib and the Priest who officiate on that day act as his vicars, and have a special appoint- ment under his own seal. It is the custom, however, for the Sultan himself to be present. He repairs at the appointed hour to one of the mosques of Constantinople, and takes his place in a private balcony secluded from the view of the congregation, when the service imme- * Minber--The Khatib's pulpit, described in vol. i. p. 128. FRIDAY IN PERSIA. 89 diately commences. The place of prayer is announced in the morning, and strangers generally avail themselves of this opportunity to see him. The late Sultan, on these occasions, used sometimes to be accompanied by his Pashas and body guard, and at others, when he went by boat, was followed by a retinue of splendid barges. During fourteen months that I resided in Constanti- nople, he never failed of appearing, though he generally chose a mosque not far from the palace. The Persians do not regard the obligation in the same light with the Turks. The rightful successor of the Prophet having, according to their belief, disappeared, they have no Caliph to conduct the worship of Friday, and they do not therefore regard themselves as bound to be present in the mosques on that day. They have, indeed, as before mentioned, an Imam-i Jumah, or Imam of the Assembly, who performs the service of Friday noon, but they consider his office as provisory merely, while they wait for the true Imam to appear. Still out of respect to the day and the ancient usage of their religion, their attendance on the service of Friday noon is more full than at any other time during the week. The idea attached by the devout Sunnites to the Great Assembly of Friday is a very impressive one. As, in the infancy of their religion, the little company of Moham- med's followers gathered on this day in general worship, so now the whole body of the Faithful, wherever scattered, form, at this time, one vast Congregation, whose united prayers are offered by him whom they acknowledge the successor of their Prophet, the Caliph of the Moham- medans. Within a few years a very remarkable change has taken place at Constantinople. It was formerly the 90 DEPARTURE. custom for the 'public offices to be shut and business suspended on Friday, in accordance with the general usage of Mussulmans. This custom has been transferred to Sunday, so that, at the present, the first day of the week instead of the sixth, is observed as a day of rest, by the hundreds employed in the civil and military departments. The change, I believe, originated with Mr. Rhodes, who first introduced it into the navy-yard under his superintendence, in which many Mussulmans, as well as Christians, were employed. Thence it gradu- ally extended through the arsenal and into the civil offices. Mr. Rhodes is an American, and one of the few foreigners whose unswerving integrity, no less than his superiority in his profession, has earned for him and for his country a very high reputation. But we are not yet beyond the walls of Tehran. Just as I mounted my horse a letter was put into my hands which was afterwards the instrument of saving my life. Some little hindrance had delayed our departure half an hour, at which I had become impatient. How little did I think, while I was rebuking John for it, that a merciful Providence was thus interposing to save me from a miserable death! But I will tell the story in its proper place. As we were going out of Tehran we passed through a quarter inhabited by Turcomans. Their houses were little mud-huts, in shape like an Esqui- maux snow-cabin, and we noticed that their females, who were going to and fro about their domestic employ- ments, were unveiled. Some one of our party informed us that they were hostages, retained here as securities for the good faith of their tribes, which, as such is the custom of the country, was probably true. Our course lay over the plain in a direction a little South of West. On our right hand was the road by VILLAGE. 91 which we had approached the city, and on our left at a greater distance, that to Isfahan. The plain is, as I before observed in approaching the city, an outskirt of the Great Salt Desert, which stretches to the east. The ground was here and there spotted with salt, which had effloresced and lay like hoar-frost upon the surface, and other large portions were covered with the dry, prickly shrub which we had seen in such abundance after leaving Kazvin. Still we passed numerous villages inhabited, and the ruins of several others. The cultivation by which the former were sustained seemed to be depen- dent entirely on the little stream of the Karatch, which we crossed again about fifteen miles from the city. We met no one on the road excepting a band of pilgrims returning from Kerbela in the vicinity of Bagdad, one half of whom were females. We ended our day's journey at Ravatkerim, a village with a hundred families and three or four caravanserais. The last were in so bad a condition that we refused to lodge in them, and the people not understanding why we should ask for better accommodations than other tra- vellers enjoyed, suffered us to wander about the village, until we reached the house of the Ketkhoda, (Village- Chief,) whom we prevailed upon to let us in. He put us into an outhouse; but an outhouse in an Eastern village is always to be preferred to a human habitation, and a stable with cattle is more comfortable than a family apartment with vermin. The traveller in the East soon finds that he can endure any privation with greater impunity than the want of sound rest. The next day we had a weary march through a sterile desert in which we saw no villages, nor herds, nor signs of cultivation, nothing except a ruined caravanserai, about seven miles from Ravatkerim, and a little bird 92 MOUNTAINS. of a dusty hue, feeding upon the seeds of the thorny herbage which scantily covered the gravelly soil of the plain. After five hours' travel, the latter part of which was over more uneven ground, we came to a plain which presented the pleasing prospect of numerous villages interspersed with vineyards and extensive fields, which the husbandmen were preparing for the seed. We stopped at one of the villages, called Khanabad, and there we spent the following day, which was Sunday. The chief production of the plain is cotton, which is sold in the markets of Hamadan and Tehran at two rials a bat- man, or about 5d. a pound. The water which irrigates the plain and is also drunk by the villagers is so strongly impregnated with salt that we were obliged to send an ass to a distant village to bring us a load of the fresh liquid to drink; and wood in the region is so scarce that the roofs of the houses, instead of being flat and construct- ed of layers of timber, were composed entirely of earth and consequently rounded, so that the village had some- thing of the appearance of a cluster of Indian wigwams. On Monday we started again. Our road thus far from Tehran had been chiefly over a level or slightly uneven surface, the horizon before us being bounded by low hills and behind us by the snowy line of the Elburz. We had noticed, however, immediately after leaving Tehran, another snow-crowned range beyond and above the low hills before us, and now, on leaving Khanabad, we were close upon it. We turned westerly to pass the highest points of the range and pursued our course in this manner for three hours, during which we crossed several small streams of salt water, and waded knee- deep through the mud, where they had been let out to irrigate the land. We then resumed our former direc- tion and ascended other three hours towards the hills, THE SEASON. 93 crossing in our way the road which leads directly from Tebriz to Koum, and which was once the great highway through the country. There were two caravanserais upon it within the range of our own vision. We dismounted at Kushkeuk, a little village perched so high among the hills that the snow lay in considera- ble depth under its walls. Although we were now in the season of the year esteemed the best for travelling from Tehran to Bagdad, we had found the variations in temperature since leaving the city rather uncomfortable. On starting each morning we were compelled to put on our gloves and wrap ourselves in our cloaks. Before noon we threw them aside. As soon as the sun began to decline from the meridian, we were forced to shade our faces from his rays. When we reached our lodging- place, which we generally did an hour before sunset, our cloaks had again become necessary, and as night closed in, we made a rousing fire in the centre of our apartment and heaped upon ourselves everything that we could find to defend us from the cold. From Kushkeuk we travelled two and a half hours before reaching the first summit of the range. I had hoped that it might be the last, and that when we came upon it we might look down upon a plain, for we had become very sensible of the evil effects of being elevated so high above the rest of the world. When we stood upon its summits, however, nothing appeared be- fore us but' Alps rising o'er Alps.' As we began to descend we lost sight of the Peak of Demavend. We had travelled one hundred and fifty miles from Tehran, and the Peak is a score or more of miles beyond it. Yet I had never looked back without seeing its solitary form towering still and sublime behind us. I took bearings by it at each of the three villages where we had lodged, and DOMESTIC COMFORT. 95 tic comfort. In order to understand what domestic comfort means in Persia, a little explanation is neces- sary. The most common fire-place in a Persian apart- ment is a circular hole in the ground, two or three feet deep, called a tandour. · A fire is lighted at the bottom, and when this has burned out, a fine glow of heat remains. A low wooden frame, somewhat resembling a table with its legs reduced to the length of a foot, is placed over the tandour, and upon this is spread a large coverlet, which extends several feet beyond the table on every side. The family then lie down in a circle, their bodies form- ing the radii from the tandour, which is the centre. Thus disposed they draw the coverlet up to their chins, and the beholder sees nothing but a circle of heads emerging from beneath it. Our sudden entrance produced some confu- sion among the inmates, and the master appearing at that moment, ordered the family to retire to another apartment, and invited us to take their places under the coverlet. We had had so many lessons, however, upon the imprudence of occupying family quarters in a Per- sian village, that we were content to spread our carpets in the farthest corners of the room and repose upon them. Little has been said by travellers to illustrate the con- dition and character of the Eastern peasantry. Their descriptions of the people apply chiefly and almost solely to the cities. The character of the Turks, as it is gene- rally delineated, is true only of the Turks of Constanti- nople, and often but partially true of them. Yet a fair survey of a nation can be made only by embracing the mass of the population, and the character of the govern- ment can never be thoroughly tested without consider- ing its bearings upon the agricultural classes. It may not be amiss, therefore, before leaving the borders of Persia, to say something upon the state of its peasantry. PEASANTRY. 96 A Persian village is always a collection of low mud- houses, with narrow paths running irregularly between them. A site is generally chosen near some water- course, about which trees are planted, thus giving to the scene, from a distance, a pleasant aspect. But there is seldom anything inviting within. The houses are poor and filthy, and the inhabitants often squalid and wretched in appearance. The same national characteristics are not found so strongly marked in the villages as in the towns. The habit of lying is universal, but the villagers have not the same cunning and adroitness in deception as the inha- bitants of cities. Neither have they the excellences commonly attributed to the national character of the Persians. They are exceedingly ignorant and debased in intellect, and a more stupid and witless people I have never seen in any country. The women, especially, seem to be at the lowest degree of humanity. They are, for the most part, poorly dressed, ugly and filthy, particularly the old. The children go clothed in rags, and generally without enough of these to cover their nakedness. Sometimes they are entirely destitute of clothing, and may be seen wallowing about in the dirt like little brutes. To this description there are of course some excep- tions, especially in the villages between Tebriz and Tehran. The peasantry in those parts are often in a better condition than those of Turkey, and even some of the European states. Though oppressed, they often contrive to live well. Their food, though simple, is good. They eat wheat-bread, and sometimes indulge in the luxury of a piece of meat. In some of the villages they are, for peasants, decently clothed, and the houses of the better sort are tolerably furnished, generally hav- PEASANTRY. 97 ing one room neatly plastered and carpeted ; and a good set of household vessels arranged on shelves or in cup- boards. In the villages between Tehran and Hamadan, how- ever, I found such exceptions extremely rare. The people are evidently a Turkish race, but they have no affinity with nor love for the Turks of Aderbeijan. They are poorer, apparently more oppressed, complain more of poverty, are lower in their habits, more degraded in mind, and more wretched in appearance. Their soil is less fertile, their houses meaner, their vil- lages generally unwalled, poorly constructed, and often half-ruined. The villages in other parts are sometimes walled and sometimes open, but in the last case they have often an inclosure or citadel near them to which the people may fly in case of danger, and from which they can defend themselves. There is nothing which can be called education among the Persian peasantry. There is generally a Mollah in each village who teaches the children in winter, but the sum of the instruction is, as before said, to teach them to cantillate the Koran and the prayers without under- standing them. The common employment of the men is husbandry— an art which they pursue very well after their fashion. Their agricultural implements are mostly of wood, the plough, the shovel, and ground-forks being of this mate- rial. The women weave. The work is done out of doors, the woof being stretched along the ground, and the shuttle suspended on three sticks meeting at the top, which are pushed along as the work proceeds. In this way a piece of carpeting twenty yards long and a third of a yard wide is completed in three weeks. It was my uniform custom, excepting when in actual VOL. II. F APPROACH TO HAMADAN. ול 98 danger or incapacity by illness, to make a record of each day's journey before sleeping at night. Several villagers who came into our apartment at Rahvarran to spend the evening, were thrown into great consternation by my writing, and could hardly be persuaded that it had not some connexion with their taxes, of which they had just been complaining as exorbitant. The next day we travelled nine and a half tedious hours without dismounting or stopping, and over a country which was the very picture of barrenness and desolation. I find nothing in my notes of the day but “half-ruined villages”-“ground covered with salt "- “soil in the low places clayey, on the hills discoloured and bare” course more irregular than that of a ship against the wind.” At different times we were going by the compass south, west, north-west, west, south-west, and south. The journey terminated on the border of a plain, where we stopped at a village of fifty families, called Zereh. The following day, in riding over the plain, we observed at a distance several villages with trees about them—a feature that we had almost entirely lost since leaving Tehran, and the want of which gives a peculiar dreariness to the whole country between the capital and Hamadan. We spent the last night at Bibikavar, a village of 1000 souls, and the next morning started for Hamadan in a violent storm of snow and rain. With such an accompaniment everything of course presented a cheer- less aspect, and being ourselves thoroughly drenched and chilled before we had been long on the road, the country appeared doubly disagreeable from the reflection of our own feelings. We saw Hamadan when we were still more than three hours distant. The weather had by this time cleared sufficiently for us to discover the smoke ARRIVAL. 99 of the city as we emerged from a pass through a line of hills. It lay upon the opposite side of an expanse of lower country than the ground on which we stood, and behind it was a range of mountains covered to their feet with snow, and shrouded above in awful clouds. As we approached, we discovered, as we thought, a line of lofty walls, but on coming nearer, they proved to be long and close rows of leafless, clay-coloured poplars, which had exactly the hue of the walls of earth that commonly sur- round the Persian cities. As it proved, however, they were the only wall that Hamadan could boast, for with- out passing through any gate, we entered among the houses of the town before we were aware of our proximity. F 2 CHAPTER X. HAMADAN. LODGINGS DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY -TRADE ROPULATION -JEWS- THEIR CONDITION-VISIT TO THE TOMB OF MORDECAI AND ESTHER- TROUBLES OCCASIONED BY MY FOREIGN DRESS-MOUNT ELVEND-CLIMATE -MOSQUES--ANTIQUITIES OF HAMADAN-LIFE AMONG PERSIAN PILGRIMS -THE STATE OF MOHAMMEDANISM IN THESE REGIONS-DIFFICULTIES IN LEAVING-TREACHERY OF MULETEERS. As we were to tarry a few days in Hamadan, it was of some importance to secure comfortable lodgings. We made inquiries as we rode through the streets for a house, either vacant, or occupied by one willing to entertain strangers, but we could hear of none, and were forced to take our choice among the caravanserais. We visited several, and at last alighted at one which we soon learned had the reputation of being one of the two worst of twenty-four caravanserais in the city. Their principal title to this rank was, that they were the only two which were known to be infested with the insect from whose visitations in Aderbeijan we were still suffering. Upon inquiring of the master of our caravanserai the reason of the evil being confined to these two, he replied that they were the most frequented by the pilgrims from the Kerbela, whom he affirmed to be the filthiest men living. We were not informed of all this till the next day after our arrival, when, having already determined to leave the city on the third day, we thought it better to re- HAMADAN. 101 main where we were than to undergo the trouble of removing. Hamadan has all the appearance of an old town. Heaps of ruins are seen on almost every side in walking through its streets. It appears to have been once de- fended by a wall which has now fallen to decay. Yet, upon the whole, we found it a more agreeable place than we had been led to anticipate. Its narrow and dirty streets are only what it has in common with all Persian towns. But its bazars, its numerous caravanserais and the bustling throng which fill them, gave it in our eyes importance and interest. The bazars are extensive and well-furnished, and present unusual order in the arrange- ment of the different crafts. Shoemakers, saddlers, black- smiths, silversmiths, and workers in cotton, occupy sepa- rate parts, as is the custom in the bazars of Turkey. The Shah's bazar, originally a handsome structure built by Nadir Shah, is now partly in ruins, but another which had been recently erected was equal to any which we had seen in Persia. Some of the caravanserais also were large, new, and well-made. The crowd in the public places was immense, and presented a very interesting variety. There were Kurds, Persians, Arabs, Jews, and Armenians, and all together the bustle and noise of the buyers and sellers created a very lively scene. The trade which passes through the city is large, the city itself being the great centre where the routes of traffic between Persia, Mesopotamia, and Syria, converge and meet. Caravans come from Sinneh in Kurdistan, Tebriz, Zenjan, Kazvin, Tehran, and Isfahan on the one hand, and from Kermanshah and Bagdad on the other. The principal manufacture of the place itself is that of leather. There are more than one hundred tanneries. Hides are brought from Georgia and Kurdistan, and JEWS. 103 they groan. Their state at Hamadan is pitiable indeed. I conversed repeatedly and freely with the Khakham, and others of their chief men, and was struck more deeply than ever with the terrible fulfilment of prophecy in their instance. Their common occupations at Ha- madan are as workers in silver, twisters of silk, and sellers of old coins. They are extremely ignorant, and wear that cringing and slavish demeanor which is every- where the badge of oppression. They know little even about themselves. They dress like the Persians, and when abroad speak Persian or Turkish, but at home Hebrew. I asked the Rabbi whether they had any tradition among them of the time when their ancestors came to this country. He said that they belonged to the tribe of Judah, and were descended from the Jews who were brought captive into these regions. “And where are the Ten Tribes ?" I asked. “A part of them are in Bokhara, and the rest are scattered.” “But why do you not return to the land of your fathers ?" “We are waiting for the Messiah, who will restore us with all our race.” I pointed him to Jesus of Nazareth, but the old man only hung his head and sighed. I asked him again why, if they were so oppressed as he repre- sented, they did not remove into some other country. He replied that they could not leave the city without a written permission from the Governor, which it was impossible to procure ; that, if they attempted to escape, they should be overtaken and brought back, and their misery would be greatly aggravated. They have three synagogues. A fourth had recently been erected, but was at once torn down by the Mussulmans. Their ancient burial-place was a large square in the midst of the city and near their own quarter. Several years ago, a bigoted Mohammedan of the religious 104 THE SEPULCHRE. orders rose against it and denounced it as a pollution to the city, which ought not to be tolerated. The rage of the people was excited, the stones were taken away, the graves levelled, and the cemetery converted into a public square. The only tomb which was spared was one which the Jews affirm to be the tomb of Mordecai and Esther. I inadvertently visited it, the first time, on Saturday. The mistake did not occur to me until I received a message from the keeper, saying that he could not come to open the tomb as it was the Sabbath. The next day the Rabbi came and invited me to accompany him, but I declined in my turn because it was Sunday. Monday morning he came again, and we went together to the tomb. Externally it is a very plain structure of brick, consisting of a small cylindrical tower and a dome, (the whole perhaps twenty feet high,) with small projections or wings on three sides. On the summit of the dome a stork had built her nest. The outer door was a single stone. While we were waiting for the key, a throng of young Mussulmans gathered round and began to abuse As soon as the door was opened, and we were about to enter, followed by several Jews, the crowd raised a shout and rushed upon us with sticks and stones. I turned to remonstrate, but the Rabbi checked me saying “ It is not meant for you, but for us. It is nothing strange.” We hurried into the tomb and shut the door. The first apartment was a small porch formed by one of the wings. The entrance from this into the interior was so low that we were compelled to get upon our knees. Here was the place of the dead. The apartment was perfectly plain, simply plastered and paved with glazed tiles. The structures over the spots where the dead are said to repose, are wooden frames, with inscriptions in Hebrew and flowers carved upon them. They stand side us. MOB. 105 by side in the midst of the apartment, and the Rabbi pretended to distinguish between them. The frame over the grave of Mordecai was partly destroyed, and much of the carved work had been injured. The Rabbi affirmed that this was done by the Mussulmans two years before. There was another inscription in bas- relief on the wall, besides many bits of paper with records of the names of those who had visited the tomb as pilgrims. On one side of the apartment was a recess occupying another of the wings and intended for an oratory. I wished to read the inscriptions, but the gloom of the place rendering it impossible, the Rabbi directed one of the Jews to bring a candle. On attempt- ing to go out he was driven back by the crowd, who had raised an incessant uproar from the moment that we entered*. The poor Jews were afraid to show themselves, and it was agreed that they should remain while we went out and endeavoured to disperse the mob. On issuing from the tomb we found that their number had greatly increased. We spoke to them, and they answered with a volley of stones. John rushed upon the foremost, wrested a club from his hand and began to stand on his defence. I advised him to desist, but he would not, I ordered him peremptorily to follow me, and he obeyed. * A translation of the inscription on the wall, as copied by Sir Gore Ouseley, may be found in Malcolm's History of Persia, vol. i. p. 260.- It purports that the present building was erected Anno Mundi 4474, by two devout Jews of Kashan, over the graves of Mordecai and Esther. Whether their remains were indeed sepulchred here, it is impossible perhaps to determine with certainty, but traditional testimony connected with such a monument is good evidence in favour of the supposition, for (to adopt one of Leslie's tests in his Short Method with Deists) at what time could the belief have been imposed upon a generation of Jews that Mordecai and Esther were buried here and here were their graves, if they had never before dreamed that such was the fact ? F 3 106 DRESS. taken away. I thought it madness to resist such an infuriated throng, and equally unwise to betray any signs of fear. We, therefore, walked deliberately across the cemetery, while the stones flew by us in every direction. One of them struck John upon the head and wounded him severely. He turned and gnashed his teeth upon the mob. I again ordered him to follow, and we were soon safe among the crowd in the bazars. None of the Jews appeared till the afternoon, when some of them came and informed us that they had been compelled to remain an hour in the tomb before the mob retired, and on emerging found that their shoes, which they had rever- ently put off on entering the sacred place, had been We had used the precaution to carry our own in our hands. This was not the only instance in which we were subjected to such annoyances during our short stay in Hamadan. Among the throng in the bazars we passed without much notice, but in walking through the streets of the city I found myself exposed to a good deal of unpleasant curiosity and occasionally to insult. By the advice of English friends at Tebriz, who assured me that no garb would prove so great a protection and secure so much respect as a European one, I had resumed my Western dress, and wore it constantly while I was in the country, excepting only my head-covering, which was the black lamb-skin cap almost universally worn by the natives. I now believe that I should have acted more wisely if I had adopted the course I pursued in Turkey. In a Persian dress I could doubtless have gone into every part of Hamadan, and conversed everywhere with the people, making known at the same time who I was, and whence I came, without exciting any prejudice or receiving any insult. The difficulty in the case does EL VEND, 107 not arise from being a foreigner, but from wearing a garb which, to a Persian, is both ridiculous and indecent. My experience at Hamadan added all that was necessary to settle the conviction immoveably in my mind, that it is improper, and in many circumstances foolish and rash, to travel through such countries in a European or American costume. I must say, however, that there was truth in what my friends at Tebriz affirmed with regard to the superior respectability attached to an English dress; but it was true only in the North of Persia, where Englishmen are well known, and even there I found that the greater degree of respect which it ensured, was generally bestowed from the hope of some personal advantage, and not from any particular regard for foreigners. In other words, I found myself cheated in about the same proportion that I was re- spected, while, after leaving Tehran, even this equivocal advantage failed, and my dress became such an annoy- ance that I never went abroad without concealing it as much as possible under my cloak. The position of Hamadan is an agreeable one, lying, as it does, on the sloping and uneven surface at the foot of a great range. The mountains take their name from the Peak of Elvend, which rises so near the town that its superior height can hardly be discerned from the city. The people say, that it has, upon its summit, a fountain of water possessing such extraordinary qualities, that they go all the way up for the sake of drinking it. There is also, they say, the tomb of a Mussulman saint on the top, to which the devout perform pilgrimages. The country in the neighbourhood is said to be very fertile, and is celebrated for the excellence of its grain and its sheep. Even amidst the dreariness of winter, the numerous villages and gardens scattered over the 108 MOSQUES. broken plain which skirts the base of the mountains give it an air of populousness and prosperity rarely to be seen in Persia. The climate must, I suppose, be reputed salubrious, since it was hither that the ancient monarchs of Susa used to retire from their winter palaces to spend the heat of summer. The inhabitants, however, assured me, that at that season it is excessively hot, and my own experience, for ten days in the fall (November 17-27), did not argue favourably for the mildness of the winter. A fire was always necessary, and hardly a day passed without rain or snow. From what I have already said, my reader will infer that there is little within the city to interest a traveller. There is nothing of splendid architecture or magnificent remains. The only large mosque is the Mesjid-i-Jumah, which they were rebuilding at the time of my visit. Another mosque, to have been called Mesjid-i-Shah, was begun by the late Shah on a magnificent scale. The funds necessary for its erection were deposited in the hands of a Mollah of Hamadan, and the charge of the work committed to him. It had not advanced far when the Shah died. The work suddenly stopped, and now nothing is to be seen there but a shapeless pile of earth. The Mollah put the money into his own pocket, and, to cover his venality, turned his zeal in another direction and began to persecute the Jews. Hamadan is supposed to stand on the site of the ancient Ecbatana, which was built by Deioces, the first king of the Medes, for his imperial residence. He ascended the throne A. c. 710 *, and the city must have been founded soon after. It was subsequently the royal residence of the kings who succeeded Cyrust. There is # Condillac, + See I. Esdras, vi. 23. ANTIQUITIES. 109 evidence of its having stood on or near the present site of Hamadan, sufficient at least to create a strong proba- bility in favour of the supposition. It was upon“ a gently rising ground,” as Hamadan is *. Its position in relation to the Orontes corresponds remarkably with that of the present city to the Elvend; the site of a former edifice has been discovered, which agrees well with the situation of the ancient palace as described by Polybius ; the place of the citadel (now occupied by the ruins of a more modern fort) has been fixed upon; and, finally, the supposition agrees with the best-founded conjectures drawn from individual notices in ancient records respect- ing the position of Ecbatana. The principal vestiges of an ancient city which now remain, are the fragments of sculptured stone which may be seen in the foundations of walls and houses, or applied to some domestic purpose, and the ancient coins, stones, and medallions, which are found in great abundance. The Jews brought me several hundreds, but some of the coins were evidently new and made by themselves in imitation of ancient ones. They find these antiquities chiefly in the dried beds of torrents which descend from the mountains without the city. There were among them gold, silver, and copper coins of Mussulman origin, some Seleucian, and a few Roman- one, in particular, of the time of the republic. The stones, which were chiefly cornelians, bore curious devices, such as a winged warrior fighting a dragon, priests sacrificing at an altar, &c.; besides all which were several metallic images of men and lions. The keeper of our caravanserai spoke the truth when he said that the principal part of his guests were pilgrims. Although the building was crowded from our arrival till * Herodotus, Beloe's Translation. SHIAHS. 111 about forty years old, to perform, as he said, the holy pilgrimage before he died. On their return they were met by a party of Kurds and stripped of everything. They succeeded at length in reaching Hamadan, where they were compelled to remain from the want of means to proceed farther. None of the parties which came and went while we were there could be induced to help them, although they could easily have conveyed them home. These pilgrims, with very few exceptions, appeared to me a compound of self-complacency, arrogance, and bluster. The old keeper testified that when they were on their way to Kerbela, they could be endured, but on their return they had become so important that they were absolutely intolerable. They never addressed each other without the title of Kerbelaï, of which they seemed extravagantly proud. The poor beggars who thronged the caravanserai prefaced all their supplications for charity with the same honourable appellation, as if experience had taught them that no argument would prove more conciliatory and moving. Being among pilgrims we were constantly saluted in the same way ; and when every other plea had proved unavailing, they would stand at our door, and repeat, in supplicating tones, Kerbelaï, Kerbelaï. The people of Hamadan, and still more those of Kermanshah, are the most devoted Shiahs, or secta- rians of Ali, in the empire, and it is in these regions, as remarked in the Introduction, that the belief in his divinity most widely prevails. Thousands of pilgrims annually pass through the country, to perform their devotions at the tombs of Ali and Hosseïn in the vicinity of Bagdad. These pilgrims come back imbued with a more enthusiastic reverence for the founders of their 112 DIFFICULTIES. sect, which they diffuse among those who first receive them on their return. Besides, multitudes of the people in this region have, on account of the proximity of the sepulchres, themselves performed the pilgrimage. The poorer sort sometimes undertake it on foot. I remember one who, with only two tomans, or about five dollars, in his purse, walked the whole distance-a journey of fifteen days from the town which he left—visited all the places of pilgrimage around Bagdad, and returned with a part of his money still unexpended. We had little inducement to remain long in so inhos- pitable a city as Hamadan, and in such uncongenial society as the pilgrims from Kerbela. But the ways of Providence were not our ways. We arrived on the 17th. My work was done on the 20th, and we fully purposed to leave the city the next day. The muleteer whom we had engaged at Tehran, had promised to accompany us to Kermanshah. Immediately upon our arrival at Hamadan, his horses were seized by the Governor, to perform some service for himself—a mode of using men's property very common in Persia. I at first determined to resist the act as an infringement of my own rights, but on reflecting that the horses were very bad ones, and had several times broken down on the road from Tehran, I agreed to release the muleteer on condition of his providing another to take his place. To this he consented; his substitute soon appeared, and promised to return the following day at the hour pro- posed. We never saw him again ; and, after waiting till near evening, we engaged another, and deferred our departure till the following day. He came at the hour, but it was to tell us that he could not go. We dismissed him, and engaged a third. He failed, and another and another, and so on, until a week had passed beyond the MULETEERS. 113 intended time of our departure. How many engage- ments were made and broken in this interval I know not. We used every expedient to secure a fulfilment of the contracts. We required the muleteers to bring witnesses to their honesty, and bound them by the most solemn oaths; but to no purpose. Some never appeared again. Others came and made a thousand excuses for violating the bargain, and breaking their oaths. One's servant was suddenly taken sick; another's had run away; another would not travel by day, as in that case we must travel alone, and the roads were unsafe, the caravans all travelling by night. Another alleged that he had just heard that an English traveller once struck a muleteer with his sword, and he was therefore afraid to trust himself with us. Thus they went on with a thousand pretences, which we could no way account for, especially as they were extremely eager to make a bargain with us in the first place. We begun, at length, to suspect that some one was plotting against us, and our suspicions at once fell upon the Sheikh, who was intending to return home to Kermanshah the next week, and fearing lest he might meet robbers on the road, had used every argument to induce us to remain till bis own departure. It was very easy for him by some idle story to break up our contracts, but upon examining him we could discover no signs of guilt. At length John hit upon the expedient of requiring the next muleteer who offered his services to deposit in our hands a certain sum of money, which he should forfeit in case he did not fulfill his contract. The plan suc- ceeded, but it was too late. We had now remained ten days in the caravanserai, expecting every day since the third to depart. We had occupied all this time an apartment which was no more than a cell, about twelve 114 ILLNESS. feet square, entirely of brick, cold, damp, and dark as a subterranean dungeon. We began to suffer immediately after our arrival, and when we left, my servant, who was a Persian, could with difficulty sit upon his horse. This was the beginning of troubles. CHAPTER XI. JOURNEY FROM HAMADAN TO KERMANSHAH. LEAVE HAMADAN ROYAL TRAVELLERS-SICK SERVANT-MOUNTAIN-PAS- SAGE-PLAIN OF SADABAD-KENGHEVAR-ANCIENT REMAINS-ILLNESS OF OUR PARTY-KURDISH WOMEN-THE VALE OF BISITOUN- SINGULAR PEAK-ANTIQUITIES — INCREASED ILLNESS— ARRIVAL AT KERMANSHAH. Our last muleteer tried to escape from us, but the pledge secured him from eloping, and no excuses could induce us to release him. We left the city on the after- noon of Monday, November 27th, and proceeded as far as the village of Marianneh, an hour to the N. W. On our way we passed through an extensive burying-ground just without the city, and thence over the slope from the mountains. Marianneh is the residence of most of the Hamadan muleteers, and the place of rendezvous for the caravans going to Kermanshah. Our muleteer re- ceived us into his own house, and entertained us in a style which showed that his business was a thriving one. He had other guests whom he was conducting in another party to Kermanshah. They were a wife and two children of one of the sons of Feth Ali Shah, who was among the royal prisoners at Erdebil. They were on their return from Hamadan, where they had been receiv- ing the civilities of the Governor, who is another son of the old Shah. The ladies, of course, we did not see, but the boy was bright and intelligent, and interested 116 MOUNTAINS. me exceedingly by the affectionate manner in which he spoke of his father. My servant now gave up entirely, and declared he could go no farther. I ascertained, as well as I could, the nature of his disorder, and thought it best to give him a sweat. For this purpose I spread a bed for him on the earth-floor of the apartment, piled upon him everything that I could find, gave him a cup of tea and had a hot fire of charcoal made at his feet. The next morning he was so much relieved that we were able to pursue our journey. We continued about five miles farther to the north- west, in order to reach the pass through the mountains, and then, turning to the west and south, commenced our ascent. We had not advanced far before a furious torm of snow arose, accompanied by intense cold. We passed a train of nearly 200 pilgrims, scattered along for a distance of two or three miles. Half of them were females, who rode in rude square frames, suspended one on each side of a horse. In some of them a woman was balanced with another of equal weight ; sometimes a mother by two or three children, and sometimes a female on one side by a load of baggage on the other. The pass became more narrow as we advanced, and obstructed by large masses of rock. The falling snow had hid the path and rendered the way exceedingly treacherous. The storm increased in fury-the wind howling down through the pass with the force of a hurri- We left our horses to flounder on until we reached the summit before us, when the tempest abated, and we remained enveloped in dense clouds. It seemed that the storm had not prevailed at this height, as the ground was entirely bare. As we commenced our descent, one of those grand and beautiful scenes often witnessed I cane. KENGHEVAR. 117 among the mountains opened upon us. All around us was shrouded in thick fog, the soil was barren and stony, and a cold bleak wind howled by. Suddenly, as we cast our eyes down the mountain-side, we saw the thin edges of the mist far below, gilded with sunlight, and sweeping rapidly along upon the wind, as if it were the robe of some angel in his flight. Beneath it was revealed part of a plain with its villages and red vineyards reposing in the sun, while we were enveloped in thick gloom. Gradually the gilded veil rose and the whole plain lay disclosed before us, lying pleasantly within a circle of hills. The blue sky appeared beyond, and the distant mountains, robed like our own in a shroud of vapour. We made a rapid descent to the plain, and were soon ourselves lying in the sunlight in the village of Sadabad, looking up at the cloudy mountain-tops above us. This village is one of the most important that we passed on our route to Bagdad, having a population of about 4000, among whom are a few families of Jews. We crossed the plain on the 29th, in a southerly direction. I estimated its circumference at thirty-six miles, and from the large number of villages upon it and the abundance of water, judged it to be extremely fer- tile. We met a band of 250 pilgrims upon it, crossed the rising ground on its southern border, and came down on another plain of the same character, and, like that, imbedded among hills. Though much smaller than the first, I counted ten villages upon it, and the greater part of its surface showed marks of recent harvest. We kept along its northern edge until we came to Kenghevar, situated upon two or three hillocks and overlooking it from the north-west. I had noticed in Butler's Ancient Atlas, which was one of the books that I carried with me in my tour, the KURDS. 119 the first circumstance in my tour which reminded me of my passport that I had left in Constantinople. I at- tempted to evade the demand, because, from its very strangeness, it seemed suspicious. But the servant per- sisted, and when he had obtained my name, found him- self unable to write it. Our ride across the mountains had increased John's disorder, which had commenced at Hamadan, and he was now upon the list of the sick with Mohammed Ali, the Persian servant. Our prospect was growing darker and darker. The servant lost all energy, of which his stock at the best was small. As soon as he was attacked he sat down to mourn for his wife and children in Tehran, while John, who could endure any- thing with more cheerfulness than disease, sighed for his beloved Stamboul. I had still my own health to be thankful for, but no one who has not learned it from experience, can tell what a shock to the spirit it gives to be alone with sick companions in a barbarous land. The next morning the two invalids were barely able to travel, but there was no alternative; we could not remain where we We proceeded. Between two and three miles from Kenghevar we crossed the ruins of an old brick bridge, and travelled on two and a half hours along the bases of rocky heights, amidst a stillness of nature which the gloom of our own party rendered almost awful. Midway upon our journey we surmounted a rocky summit, from which we looked down on a congregation of peaks and short ranges rising solitarily from the vale below. In descending on the opposite side we saw traces of an ancient road, and descried, in a dell to the right, a group of Kurd- ish tents. They were the first that we had seen on this side of Kurdistan, and my heart leaped with joy were. 120 VALE OF BISITOUN. at the sight. The muleteer would not turn out of his way to visit them, and the state of our party rendered it necessary to reach our lodgings as soon as possible. But we met at the foot of the hill half-a-dozen Kurdish women, washing clothes in a brook which ran across our path. I was very agreeably moved at the sight of their cleanly appearance, their neat dress, their honest and open faces, and their frank though modest demeanor, after seeing so much of the women of the Persian vil- lages, who would always run away tittering at the sight of our strange dresses. The vale before us was covered with cotton-fields, where women and children were em- ployed in gathering the pods. They were from the village of Sahana, which lies in the vale, a poor and inconsiderable place, with a mixed population of Kurds and Persians. The former seemed to have degenerated by amalgamation with the latter, for we observed that they had all the uncleanly appearance and habits of the Persian peasantry of Irak Ajemi*. The next day we advanced to Bisitoun. Soon after leaving Sahana, the vale opened into another more beautiful and more fertile than the first. It was of the richest black mould, and descried villages upon it. The husbandmen were ploughing in every direction. Others were harrowing if such a term may be applied to the operation of levelling by means of a wooden roller. It answered, however, the same purpose, as an Eastern plough seldom does more than scratch the ground. All the villages were Kurd- ish, and I fancied the men looked happier and more thrifty than any peasantry we had seen in Persia. A river, called the Gamasou, and coming from the East, we numerous * Persian Irak-in contradistinction from Irak Arabi, or Mesopo- tamia. PEAK OF BISITOUN. 121 winds through the vale. Our way was along the base of some of the rocky peaks which we had seen yester- day. After travelling four hours, we crossed the Nou- jouverran, a smaller stream running into the Gamasou. I mention these rivers thus particularly, because I do not find thein accurately delineated in any of the maps, nor indeed given at all in most of them, although we passed no larger streams in Persia, excepting the Kizzel Euzen. At this point we came to a peak, which exhibited one of the most singular curiosities of nature that we had yet seen. The reader can imagine a range of moun- tains more than 3500 feet in height, consisting through- out of a bare mass of limestone, and presenting on their sides and summits the boldest and sharpest outlines. Imagine such a range suddenly interrupted, as it were midway, and terminating so abruptly as to form a per- fectly vertical face, in appearance as if the mountain had been cut through by the hand of man from its summit to its base. Such is the termination of the Bisitoun range on the vale which I have been describing. It presents a vertical face in the form of a triangle termi- nating at the top in a solitary pinnacle. We could form some idea of its great height from observing the crows which were sailing along its dark surface. Although they were not at half the elevation of the rock above our heads, they appeared reduced in size as when moving at their highest flight. The spot abounds in curiosities of another kind, which I will not stay long to describe. The face of the rock at its base presents a hewn surface about 100 feet high and perhaps 150 long. In front of this is a broad terrace strewn with immense cubic blocks of hewn stone. Among them we discovered a portion of a column of the VOL. II. G 122 CARAVANSERAI. same material, and itself a part of the solid base on which it stood. The conjecture naturally was that these were the remains of one of the summer palaces of the ancient kings, who, it is well known, resorted to these higher regions to escape the summer-heats of the low country of the south. The terrace commands a pleasant view of the vale and the river flowing through it. A little farther to the east, in a retreating angle of the rock, is a sculpture in bas-relief representing a man with his foot upon the neck of another prostrate before him. Two figures are in attendance behind him, and nine others approach him in front, with their bodies bent and their hands bound behind them. Just without this angle is a long inscription in Arabic, and part of another in Greek characters almost obliterated. Immediately in front of the terrace first-named is the little hamlet of Bisitoun, in the rear of a large and hand- some caravanserai. In walking through the village we noticed a chapiter of a column beautifully sculptured. The caravanserai has an apartment over the gate, which was already occupied upon our arrival by the family of the Shahzadeh. We were, therefore, compelled to take one of the rooms on the court, all of which had been tenanted by horses, and presented no mean picture of an Augean stable. By dint of hard labour, however, we managed to render one of them habitable, and took pos- session of it for the night. The next morning we arose stiff from the cold which we had contracted from lying on the damp stone floor. At the same time, a caravan coming from Kermanshah announced that the Governor was seizing all the horses he could find, for the public service. The intelligence so alarmed our muleteer that he refused to proceed, and the end was that we remained two days and two nights longer in the room which we ARRIVAL AT KERMANSHAH. 123 had occupied, for we could find no better. Before we started, John's disorder had increased to an alarming degree, and I was myself in a state which, if I had been at home, would have put me into the hands of a physician. As it was, there was no remedy but patience and trust in God, which are always enough to keep the mind in a healthful condition, and are, after all, the best medicines for a diseased body. I had never known before six such hours as we spent in going from Bisitoun to Kermanshah. John was lying on the baggage more dead than alive ; Mohammed Ali hardly said a word the whole way; while I was so racked with pain that I verily thought I should lose my wits altogether. In mercy, however, we reached the city. I ordered the muleteer to set us down at the first cara- vanserai, and he put us into just such a place as we had left at Hamadan. We took a room, the best we could find, and spread our carpets upon the cold stone pave- ment. It was about ten feet square, consisting of a sim- ple arch of brick, like those which, in our own country, are made in cellars, as the basement of chimneys, only a little larger. The doorway opened upon the outer air, but was without a door, and over it was a window, also open. This last we could not close, but we hung a rug before the door to screen us from the cold, for the nights were now severe, and the snow lay on all the heights around. Here we disposed ourselves for a fortnight's lodgings, instead of five days as we had intended. I lay upon one side of our little apartment, John upon the other, and Mohammed Ali on the baggage in one corner. Between us was a little pan of coals which we caused to be replenished as often as any one could be found to wait upon us. G 2 TROUBLE. 125 virtues which it inculcated, but, alas! they would have found nothing there like the blessed charity of our holy religion, which teaches us to exercise compassion even towards those who are of a different faith from our- selves. They were but acting too much in the spirit of what they ignorantly read, in 'refusing to contract friendship with one not of themselves *,' and in being severe towards an unbelieving Christiant.' I might have perished for any assistance which they would have rendered me, for they only laughed at me when I told them I must inevitably die if I was suffered to remain in that cold, damp, and filthy cell. They would not even suspend their reading at my door, which greatly annoyed me and irritated my disorder, but kept it up and repeated it day after day with as much diligence as if I were possessed of evil spirits and they were exor- cising them. I entreated the caravanserai-keeper, since he could not obtain lodgings for me, to procure me, from day to day, a little food fit for a sick man. But this request also failed. I could not even get a little milk warmed, and during ten days tasted nothing but the half-baked bread and fresh grapes which were brought to me from the bazars. These my palate so loathed that I sometimes passed twenty-four hours without tasting food rather than partake of them, and, at the best, I ate only so much as was necessary to sustain life. The evils of our situation were aggravated by the state of my companions. John's disease increased, and his temper grew every day more petulant. He would lie upon his carpet and pour forth the most bitter reproaches against himself for having undertaken the tour, while * Korau, chap. iii. + Koran, chap. v. 126 WANT OF FUNDS. Mohammed Ali sat crouching in the corner, like some wild animal or à crazy man. He exhibited, indeed, some symptoms of derangement on the third day, and acknowledged that his brain was a little disordered. At his request I administered two or three powerful doses of medicine, which happily relieved and improved him, so that after a few days he was able to creep about a little. In the midst of these accumulated troubles we disco- vered that our funds were exhausted, and that we must soon be left without a farthing. On leaving Tehran I had taken with me only so much money as we thought necessary to carry us to Bagdad, from the fear that whatever surplus should remain must be exchanged in the latter city at a considerable loss. Our detention at Hamadan had made a large encroachment on this sum, and the greater part of the remainder, which I had entrusted to John for the defrayment of our expenses on the road, he was so unfortunate as to lose. As the accident happened through his own negligence, he insisted that the amount should be deducted from his wages; but such an expedient was no relief of our present embar- rassment. We were in the midst of a country where we could hope for nothing from charity, and where the credit of a London Banker was worth no more than if we had been in the centre of Africa. There appeared to be no alternative for us but to perish by hunger or disease. Two or three days passed, and I gave the last piece of money in my possession to Mohammed Ali, to buy us a little bread. The want of medical aid, unpalatable food, and exposure to the cold night-air, had gradually reduced me, until I had surrendered almost the last hope of recovery. I was still in the same dress in which I THE LETTER. 127 had dismounted from my horse on reaching the caravan- serai. It had not been put off since I left Hamadan, for we found it a matter of necessity as well as of prudence, to sleep in our clothes in travelling from city to city. The Book from which I had often derived strength and comfort in the worst extremities now lay unopened at my side, for I could not collect my thoughts sufficiently to read it. Yet my mind was as undisturbed as it is now, when, once more in the light of home, my trouble ended, and my work done, I retrace the record of the past. I would not reveal too much of private feelings which I have neither disposition nor right to expose to public view, but, having alluded to trial, it becomes me, I think, to bear witness to the faithfulness of Him upon whose promise of support I had ventured forth. In the depression of illness I had forgotten that I still had in my pocket a letter which was delivered to me in Tehran, for a native merchant in Kermanshah. In casting about in my thoughts for some way of relief, I recollected this letter. As I supposed it to be simply a communication on business, I did not expect that it could create any very strong claim upon the charity of the individual to whom it was addressed, but I thought that it might, at least, serve for an introduction, and thus give me an opportunity of telling my story to one who must, in courtesy, listen to it. Fearing, however, that if I sent the letter to the merchant, he would not trouble himself to come and see me, I determined to retain it and send him word concerning it. I, therefore, despatched Mohammed Ali to find the man and give him the neces- sary . information. As he happened to be well known in the city, he was soon found, and very shortly after he made his appearance. I gave him the letter, and when he had read it told him my story from beginning to 128 THE FIRE-WORSHIPPER. end. What was my surprise to find that he listened to me with attention and interest ! After what I had experienced for ten days, this trivial act of courtesy seemed strange and unaccountable. All whom I had yet seen in Kermanshah were Mussulmans; this man was a Guebr—one of the despised and oppressed fire- worshippers of Persia. He was a good Samaritan nevertheless. He offered me his best services, and proved the sincerity of the offer by giving me a handful of silver as soon as I had told him that my first want was money. He had known several English gentlemen in Tehran, and had had some dealings with them. My being a foreigner, therefore, and, in common with other Americans in Persia, under English protection, was a good passport to his confidence and kindness. He proposed to obtain for me more comfortable lodgings. I gladly accepted the offer, but I was unable to avail myself of it immediately, as I could hardly move from the spot where I lay. He undertook then to nurse me for a few days where I was, and the next morning I enjoyed the luxury of a little warm milk. He came often to see me, attended to all my wants, and brought me nourishing food. On the third day, my strength had so far returned that I determined to attempt a removal. He brought a horse for me, with the aid of others put me upon him, and sent a servant to lead him to my new lodgings, where a room was already prepared for my reception. The keeper of the caravanserai showed me his last attentions, by refusing to let me depart until he had extorted an exorbitant sum for what he was pleased to call the trouble that I had given him. I resisted the demand, and declared that I would rather remain where I was than pay it, but my obstinacy raised such an uproar from the keeper and his servants that the NEW LODGINGS. 129 mérchant thought it best to yield, and paid the money against my remonstrances. John declined going with me to my new quarters, a movement which I did not at the moment understand, but Mohammed Ali followed, with all my earthly goods and chattels on the back of a mule. Although the house was only five minutes' walk from the caravanserai, I was quite exhausted before I reached it. It was occupied by an Armenian family, one of the five or six of that nation in the city. The room which they gave me was just large enough to allow me to spread my carpet in one corner and my servant's in another, with space between sufficient for the baggage. It opened upon a little terrace, from which a flight of stairs descended to the lower apartments of the house, which were devoted entirely to the making of wine. This occupation is pursued exclusively by the Christian and Jewish families in the city, although the gain arising from it comes chiefly from the Mussulmans, whose private habits support what their religion forbids them openly to countenance. The business is carried on in private; but thegreat jars and other vessels arranged for the reception of the liquor showed that the article was in good demand. The season of the vintage had now passed, the wine was pressed and stored in the jars, and the family seemed left without occupation, for they spent the day in gloomy silence, hovering about the tandour. Their apartment was connected with mine by a door-way through the mud-wall, (for the partitions and floors, as well as the outer walls and roof, of a Persian house, are of earth,) and as the doorway was without a door, I could not turn my head in that direction without seeing something of the private life and domestic economy of G3 130 ARMENIAN FAMILY. the household. The family, which consisted of the man, his wife, and three children, occupied only one room, which was furnished in the common style of the dwellings of the poor. The apartment was lighted, when the outer door was shut, only by a small hole in the ceiling, intended, as usual, for the double purpose of admitting light and emitting smoke. Along the sides of the room were huddled rugs and bedding, earthen vessels containing household stores, and domestic utensils of every description. In the centre was the tandour, at the bottom of which a fire was kindled when cooking was required, while the embers which remained continued, for many hours after, to give warmth to the family. At early dawn the voice of the master was always heard, repeating in low tones the prayers of his Church, while the wife was engaged in removing the beds which had been spread upon the ground for the night, and in sweeping the room. Then followed sometimes the pro- cess of cooking, the preparation for which, in heating the tandour, enveloped us for a time in a thick cloud of smoke. The only regular meal of the family was at even-tide, when their repast consisted generally of one simple dish. During the rest of the day a sound was seldom heard to proceed from the apartment, and when I ventured to look in, I generally saw the man crouched on one side of the tandour, and the woman, child in her arms and another at her side, on the other, all apparently in a dormant state. Although almost in contact with them for several days, hardly a word passed between us. It was grateful, however, to find myself among those who bore even the name of Christian; and the sound of a Christian prayer which every morn- ing arose, though in a language which I understood not, affected me even to tears. with one PIRE-WORSHIPPERS. 131 During all this time the kindness of my fire-wor- shipping friend was unremitted. It could hardly have been greater if he had been anxiously watching for the life of a son. He hired a woman to cook for me, and a little boy to attend upon me. He procured for me the most nourishing food, and often brought me some little delicacy from his own house. Day after day he came and sat by my side, and seldom went away without saying to the good woman, “ Take care of him, and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again I will repay thee.” The name of my good friend was Bahram, to which he had (from his rank, as I supposed, ainong his own people) the prefix of Mollah. There were no others of his race in Kermanshah, and he assured me that there were no more than 2300 families of them in all Persia. Of these, 2000 residè in Yezd, a city in the desert, east of Isfahan, and 300 in Kerman, near the southern border of the empire. I saw John but once after we parted at the caravan- serai, and then he came to inform me that he had deter- mined to leave me and proceed to Bagdad. He had recruited rapidly under the better treatment which we had received the last three days of our sojourn in the caravanserai, but he was still far from being in a fit state for travelling. This he was well aware of, but he despaired of any farther improvement without medical aid ; and this it was impossible to procure at Kerman- shah. He had already engaged a place in a caravan about to depart, and had made arrangements for being conveyed after the manner of women, in one of those vehicles before described in our passage over the Elvend mountains. I then thought, as I still think, that he ought to have stood by me to the last. I told him that I regarded my recovery as still doubtful, and as this did LAST DIFFICULTIES. 132 not shake his determination, I had no more to say. He left me, proinising to see me again before his departure, but I saw him no more till we met in Bagdad. The terrace before my door commanded a view of the palace of Mantchour Khan, the Governor of Ker- manshah, of the rocky range on the opposite side of the plain, of the city, and of the perpendicular height of Bisitoun, in which it terminates. The general features of these mountains I have before described. To beguile the tedious hours of convalescence, I amused myself with sketching the view from the terrace, without the shadow of a thought that it was ever to be of farther use. I recovered rapidly under the good treatment of my new friends, and as soon as I was able to go abroad I began to think of leaving the city. My worthy Guebr provided me with money for the journey, and I gave him a note made payable to his agent in Bagdad for the sum thus advanced, and for all that he had expended for me in Kermanshah. His last act of confidence was to re- deliver to me my own note to carry to Bagdad. Another difficulty still remained, which was to find a fitting mode of conveyance. As I was still in a state of extreme weakness, I did not wish to proceed with the caravans, which travelled only by night, but to go by myself, and to regulate my journey as I pleased. This it was difficult to accomplish. The road between the two cities is often infested by robbers, and has, at all times, a bad reputation. No one was willing to risk himself and his horses in travelling alone. My own opinion was that the risk was less than with a caravan, excepting only that the darkness of night would be a protection in the last case, which I should not have in travelling by day. This aside, the riches of a caravan CHAPTER XIII. JOURNEY FROM KERMANSHAH TO THE BORDER OF TURKEY. DESCRIPTION OF KERMANSHAH-PERSIAN FASTS AND FEASTS—THE NEW YEAR'S FESTIVAL-COMMEMORATION OF THE DEATH OF HOSSEÏN-DEPAR- TURE - FIRST VILLAGE-KURDISH FAMILY-WILD SHRUBS-KURDISH HOSTESS-CHANGE OF COURSE-NIGHT IN A STABLE-STRANGE PEOPLE- THEIR RELIGION-THE MEDIAN GATES-CHANGE OF CLIMATE-PERSIAN EXPEDITION-RUINSA TURK-EMIGRATING KURDS THE DATE-TREE- THE BOUNDARY. BEFORE we leave Kermanshah, the reader may be pleased to know something more particularly of the place where the scenes recorded in the last chapter transpired. It is situated, then, upon two or three small hills at the western extremity of a broad plain, and is surrounded by a wall of earth, which shows a good evidence of age. In the mountains over the plain, to the north, are some ancient excavations in the rock, together with sculptured representations, in general appearance like those of Bisitoun. Within the city, there is little worthy to be spoken of. That part of the bazars occupied by the dealers in cloth is a lofty and handsome structure of brick; the rest are of an ordinary character. The city seems less thriving than Hamadan, though the trade from Bagdad passes through it. It has only half as many caravanserais, nor is there to be seen the same throng in its bazars. The people speak of it as having greatly declined since the days of Mohammed Ali Mirza, PERSIAN FEASTS. 135 who resided here as Governor of the province. It was he who erected the great bazar already mentioned, the palace, which is by far the most conspicuous building in the city, and I believe also the Mosque of the Assembly, which is the only considerable mosque in the place. The population is about 35,000, including 60 Jewish and four Armenian families. The principal routes which centre in the city are those from Bagdad, Shuster in the desert, 12 days distant to the south, whence come cloths, from Isfahan by way of Kenghevar, from Hamadan, Sinneh, and Sulimanieh. The city has some celebrity for its manufacture of carpets; and the region around is well known for the quantity and excel- lence of its wheat, and the great number and superior qualities of its mules. The extraordinary quietness which prevailed in the city was doubtless owing, in good part, to its being the month of Ramazan, although there was hardly any other sign of fasting visible. The Persians observe both the fasts and feasts in the same manner with the Turks, but they have one or two others which the Turks have not. The festival of No Rouz, or New Year's Day, when the chief men of the empire appear before the Shah with magnificent presents, is civil rather than religious, and is a remnant of the old Paganism of the country, not an offspring of Mohammedanism. The principal religious celebration peculiar to the Persians in distinction from the Turks is that of the death of Hosseïn. It did not occur while I was in Persia, but I used frequently to hear of it, and received some account of it from intelligent witnesses*. It is observed with great pomp and ceremony. Tents are 1 * A graphic and minute description may be found in Morier’s Second Journey through Persia. 136 HOSSEÏN. raised in the public places, and the people assemble to listen to the tragedy of the martyr's death. The whole transaction is artfully represented by dialogue, and tho actors are said to perform their parts skilfully. At least the effect upon the audience is overwhelming. Sobbing and wailing are heard on every side, and it is said that the multitude are sometimes so deeply moved as to fall upon the unfortunate actor who represents the murderer of Hosseïn. On this account it is sometimes difficult to find one willing to perform the part. The whole scene was described to me by English gentlemen who had witnessed it as truly affecting. Hosseïn, it will be remembered, was the second son of Ali and brother of Hassan, who was Caliph a few months. The Persians pretend that the office should have gone down through him, although he was not in the direct line of its hereditary descent. How it has hap- pened that so great prominence is given to him in the rank of the twelve Imams I am not able to discover, unless it has arisen from the tragical representation of his death, which itself may have been contrived, in the first place, merely for a temporary purpose, and have gra- dually extended to an annual and universal observance. The effect of this frequent and touching commemoration would naturally be to excite a spirit of enthusiastic reverence for the martyr who died by the hands of his enemies. And so it is. His sepulchre at Kerbela is the principal object of religious pilgrimage. His name is heard as often from the lips of a Persian as that of Ali. There is no excellence which he is not supposed to have possessed, no virtue which he did not exemplify. This enthusiasm, if it does not arise from, is preserved and quickened by, the yearly celebration of his martyr- dom, in like manner as the simple act of commemorating 138 KURDISH HOUSEHOLD, before the cattle came in, passed through my apartment, and entered their own. The family in the next room on the other side kept up a lively talk all the evening. I have often remarked the superior importance of the Kurdish women in their families, when compared either to Turkish or Persian females. It was, indeed, one of the few things in the East which reminded me of the Western world, -I mean particularly the free and familiar manner in which they converse with their husbands, sometimes as equals, and sometimes even with an air of authority. There always appeared to me more of mutual confidence and of household sympathies among the Kurds than among their neighbours on either side of them. On leaving Maidesht I made, as was my custom, some com- pensation to my host who had so kindly entertained me. He immediately delivered it to his wife, in such a man- ner as showed that she was ordinarily the keeper of his purse. Before the first night was passed, my muleteer began to exhibit some Persian characteristics. Soon after midnight, he came to my apartment and begged me to proceed immediately. The next stage, he said, was the most dangerous one between Kermanshah and Bagdad, and he wished to accomplish a part of it before day. As I had borne the ride from Kermanshah without much fatigue, and the night was mild, I consented to indulge him on condition that he should not ask the favour again. He agreed, and we started. For several hours the darkness hid everything from our sight, but as the day dawned, I could perceive that we were enter- ing a rocky path among hills, whose sides were covered with wild bushes. Although they were no more than little, stinted oak-shrubs, stripped of their foliage, my MOUNTAINS. 139 heart leaped with joy at the sight, for they were the first trees, of a natural growth, that I had seen since entering Persia. I seemed already transported into another land. We passed two distinct ranges of hills, and then descended into a more level country, where we stopped at the village of Harounabad. A Kurdish woman, whose husband was absent, received me into her house, and when she saw my weak state, treated me with great kindness. Her house had three apartments. One contained the cattle ; another she gave to me; while she, with her four or five little children and my two servants, occupied the third. She seemed to have no question of the propriety of the arrangement, but long after we had all retired, kept up an animated conversa- tion with Mohammed Ali, upon some subject that I could not understand. The next day our course lay over a hilly country, and as we advanced, the ranges of mountains became more distinct, more lofty, and more steep. We were evidently approaching the great range which intersects the country from N. W. to S. E., and forms the natural boundary between Turkey and Persia. On leaving Harounabad, or rather just before we arrived there, we had deviated from our South-Westerly direction, and were now going towards the North-West, in order to take advantage of the valleys, which run in the same line with the ranges of the mountains. There is another route, more direct, by Mendeli, but as it lies straight across the ranges, it is more difficult, and therefore less travelled. Soon after we started a storm commenced, and we had, during the day, all the varieties of rain, snow, and hail. Before we had accomplished half the journey, I was wet to the skin, and a strong, cold wind blowing at the same time, rendered the drenching doubly uncom- 140 KERREND KURDS. fortable. Under such circumstances, I made no objec- tion to stopping at the first shelter which we could find, which proved to be a caravanserai. Instead, however, of lodging in its court, I penetrated into the stables among the muleteers. The stables in a caravanserai lie behind the ranges of rooms which open upon the court, and are entered through arched ways in the corners of the courts. They are generally as dark as midnight, but they have little recesses, where the mule- teer can spread his carpet and light his fire. We selected one of these, made our fire, and I lay down and slept by it. My slumbers, however, were frequently disturbed by the uproar of caravans departing at almost every hour of the night. Sometimes, too, a quarrel would arise among the horses, and then would follow neighing and kicking and biting, dust flying, and mule- teers bawling, while ever and anon a sober donkey, attracted by the light of the fire, would come and look in upon us with an expression of the greatest simplicity and innocence. The village of Kerrend, from which the caravanserai has its name, lies two or three miles to the North, among the mountains. It is inhabited by five or six hundred families of Nesouri Kurds, who are, if report be true, a very singular people. I gleaned all that I could with regard to them, and will give it as I received it, without vouching for its accuracy, farther than to say that much of what I am about to detail was communicated by an English gentleman at Bagdad, who had visited and resided among them. That which is most peculiar about them is their religion. They profess themselves Mus- sulmans, but they have no Mollahs nor mosques. They have no Bairam, and keep only three days' fast, which are the 14th, 15th, and 16th of Ramazan. In defence SINGULAR PEOPLE. 141 of their practice they allege, that Mohammed did not hear right when he supposed the angel to prescribe a month; that the words of the revelation were seh rouz (three days), not sih rouz (thirty days). - How they ascertained that he received his revelations in Persian, and from the mouth of an angel, I cannot say. They acknowledge, as prophets, Abraham and David. To the latter they make vows and pay religious adoration. They offer no prayers to God, but they have a kind of priest whom they call Seïd. They have a certain religious ceremony in which they sacrifice a hen or a sheep. They carefully abstain from breaking the bones of the sheep, but cut every joint, and thus cook it. The Seïd is then called in, who divides it by taking morsels of the flesh, folding them in pieces of bread, and distributing to each one present. To a woman in certain circumstances, a double portion is given. They never cut their mus- taches, but suffer them to grow and cover the mouth, and, when drinking, they strain the liquid through them. Their common name in the region is Nesouri, which I was assured, however, was only the appellation of their tribe. When their religion is spoken of, they are called Ali Illahi, a title which implies a belief in the divinity of Ali. Although this doctrine, of which I have given some account in the Introduction, is so prevalent in these regions as to be, according to common report, the belief of several entire tribes of Kurds, I could not ascertain that it was held by the people of whom I am now speaking. They hold, however, that there is always on earth an incarnation of Deity, and they have among them one, (perhaps the same that they call Seïd,) whom they believe to be the present representative of Divinity among men. The English friend to whom I have before 142 MEDIAN GATES. alluded, and who had seen this individual, told me that he was a loose, merry fellow, very fond of wine and a jovial life. It was also his opinion, that their name of Ali Illahi was merely assumed as a cloak to hide their real character. If the accounts which I received of them be true, they are very far from practising Moham- medan abstinence from wine. They maintain as close a secrecy as possible respecting their religion, so that even those who have become most intimate with them have gained very little information upon the subject. . Upon the whole, however, there can be little hesitation in classing them among those few remnants of the an- cient pagans of the country which are still to be found in Assyria and Mesopotamia. As we advanced beyond Kerrend, our way became more closely hemmed in by mountains, until, at length, we found ourselves in a narrow pass bordered by heights loftier and wilder than any we had yet seen since leaving Kerinanshah. Some of them were bare, and presented the broken edges of the layers of which they were com- posed, in regular succession from their base to their summit. Others were covered with soil and bushes. Small trees were growing here and there along the bed of a little stream that murmured through the pass. One of them was a species of oak, which bore acorns from two to three inches in length. A good part of our day's journey lay through this pass, the way being rendered difficult and tedious by the rocks and mud which ob- structed our passage. At length our course was sud- denly intercepted by high peaks rising before us in the very mouth of the gorge. Before I could discover how we were to get beyond them, we were ascending and winding among them by a path as tortuous as the trail of a snake. From the highest point which we reached THE ZAGROS. 143 our descent was effected by a good road, evidently of ancient construction, built against the side of the moun- tain. The singular defile through which we had thus worked our way was, doubtless, no other than the Zagri Pyla, or the Median Gates of the Romans. It is well worthy of a name, inasmuch as it affords an easy passage through a line of mountains which stand as a great natural barrier between kingdoms. Without having made any considerable ascent or descent, except at the termination of the gorge, we had passed from Media into Assyria, from the Persian into the Arabian Irak, and by a path which had, doubtless, often been trodden by armies. Until to-day my strength and health had been improv- ing, but the exposure of yesterday had brought back some of the symptoms of my disorder, and I expected no improvement from being compelled to clamber over mountains to-day. The ride proved extremely painful, but I congratulated myself, on reaching the level country beyond, that I had passed the Zagros, and was fairly within the limits of Chaldea. My faithful Armenian, who had thus far been unwearied in his service, comforted me by the assurance that there were no more mountains before us, and that I should now enjoy a milder climate. After leaving the hills, we continued two hours through a cultivated valley, crossed a stream, called the Elvan, by a bridge, and entered the caravanserai of Serpoul before night. The chief place of the district is Zohab, about six miles farther to the north, where, the people informed me, are some remains of an ancient city. We were able to procure nothing at the caravanserai besides a few dates and a morsel of bread; but the meanest fare has an excellent relish after a hard day's ride. The people affirmed that everything had been 144 PERSIAN EXPEDITION. consumed by the army of Mantchour Khan, the Governor of Kermanshah, which was then in the neighbourhood. The prediction of Ibrahim, or Abraham, for so my new servant called himself, proved true. Soon after starting the next morning, I was obliged to throw off my cloak, which I had constantly worn since leaving Kermanshah. The husbandmen were abroad in the fields and singing at their work. I knew by this sign. that they were Kurds. Between two and three miles from the caravanserai, we crossed a little stream running to the Elvan, whose water is said to possess a poisonous quality, derived, as the people suppose, from the wild fig-trees amidst which its fountain lies. About three miles beyond this, our guide pointed out a small artificial ridge crossing the road and running over the hills, which the inhabitants report to be the boundary between Turkey and Persia before the time of Nadir Shah. Close by were encamped, when we passed, the forces of Mantchour Khan. We had heard his cannon as we were coming through the pass the preceding day, and for some time supposed it be thunder. He was only ushering in the Bairam. The expedition in which he had been engaged was against the Gouran tribe of Kurds. The army of Persia is maintained chiefly by draughts upon the wandering and pastoral tribes, which furnish very efficient and hardy soldiers. The Gouranis had been wont to supply a quota of 2000 men. They had been ordered to Kermanshah in the spring, that they might accompany the Shah in his expedition against Herat. Before leaving the city on their march towards Tehran, they demanded the arrears of their pay already due. The Governor refused, but promised that they should receive it at the capital. Knowing the value of Persian promises, they turned about and marched off in KASR-I SHERIN. 145 a body to their homes, and the Governor, after some delay, undertook an expedition for the purpose of punish- ing them. They had escaped towards Mendeli, where they imagined themselves in security. The Khan, however, soon discovered their lurking-place, and came upon them so suddenly that the men had barely time to escape upon their horses, leaving their property and women an easy prey to the conqueror, who, in the true style of Eastern warfare, seized them and carried them away. Our lodging-place for the night was at Kasr, a little village with a handsome caravanserai of stone, standing close by the ruins of Kasr-i Sherin. We had first come upon these remains some hours before reaching the village, at a place where our road was crossed by an old aqueduct, or rather a lacduct, according to the account which our muleteer gave of its former use, as intended to carry milk, instead of water, from the distant villages to the palace. The ruins of the Kasr-i Sherin, are the remains, as the people say, of two magnificent edifices built by the great Persian monarch Khosroës Parviz, as a retreat for himself and his most beloved spouse, Sherin. I need not enter into a description of the ruins, as they offer nothing, so far as I could discover in passing, more remarkable than parts of the walls of two buildings, and of another which encloses them, the whole con- structed of small blocks of stone. There are also traces of some other buildings, which may have been the baths, &c., connected with the palace. As we arrived at the village an hour before sunset, I should have taken a stroll among the ruins, but my ill- ness had now returned with renewed strength, and I was glad to seek my couch as soon as we had dismounted. All the villages between Kermanshah and this place . VOL. II. H 146 FIRST TURK.-KURDISH EMIGRANTS. had been Kurdish, this was Turkish. A Turk, whose speech was more like that of an Osmanlee than any I had heard since leaving Trebizond, received me into his house, and I felt as if had found an honest man and a brother. He was a native of Turkey, but Fate, as he said, had thrown him here, and it was his destiny to live under the Shah. I showed him my Firman, which had never made its appearance before since we entered Persia. Great was his joy at the sight. He seized it, kissed it, put it to his forehead, and told me that, though no longer a subject of the Sultan, he would yield me his best services in obedience to it. He showed me, there- fore, every attention, gave me a corner where I could spread my carpet, provided an excellent supper for me, , and showed a real anxiety to render me comfortable. Such a manifestation was so strange that it remains to this day one of the most deeply impressed reminiscences of my tour. I felt it, recorded it, and so have told it. The next day, which was the first of 1838, we had a quiet journey, but to me a very painful one. We met a band of one hundred and fifty pilgrims from Kerbela, but this had become so common an incident that I had almost ceased to notice it. A more unusual encounter was with a party of emigrating Kurds. They had with them all their possessions, and the ease with which they carried them showed how well adapted to each other are their domestic and their wandering habits. Their tent-poles were laden on donkeys, and on the top of each load was a single kettle, containing all the kitchen furniture of a family. Their black tent-cloths were neatly folded and bound on heifers, and upon these were perched the children and poultry. The men and women walked behind, and, at a considerable distance in the rear, followed the sheep and horses with their drivers. DATE-TREES-TURKISH BORDER. 147 Some of the low hills over which we passed were covered with fresh-springing grass, upon which numerous flocks, with their young, were feeding. It was now the season of yeaning, and the shepherds were carrying the new- born lambs in their arms, and gently leading those that were with young. The country, since leaving the mountains, had pre- sented an uneven and even hilly surface, for the most part bare and uninteresting. It was the outskirts of the great desert, which we were rapidly approaching. The village at which we spent the night of New Year's day, was the first where date-trees appeared, but between this and Bagdad all the villages were marked by groves of them, their forests of long green leaves giving great relief to the bare and dreary aspect of the plain. This village, which bears the name of Haji Kara, is also the first within the borders of Turkey, the line pass- ing within a few minutes' ride of it on the northern side. Our course had turned again to the south-west, immediately after crossing the mountains, and from that point continued in a direct line to Bagdad. The appear- ance of the village would have made it very evident, without any other information, that we had passed the boundary. We saw no more of the busy and bustling Persian, in his straight close dress and lamb-skin cap, but all the men were grave and sedate, and moved with a slow step. They appeared, too, more heavily moulded, owing, perhaps, to their loose flowing cloaks, and ample white turbans. A little stream ran by the village, and there were wooden platforms projecting over it, where men could sit and smoke. I had seen nothing of the kind in Persia, while nothing is more common in Turkey. These little differences are what first strike the eye. In spite of my illness and dejected spirits, I was con- H 2 148 FIRST SIGHT OF TURKEY. siderably elated in observing the change, chiefly, I believe, because it afforded a visible and tangible evi- dence that I was advancing towards the end of my tour. At least, it was with much satisfaction that I put my black cap into the bag and placed the red fez on my head again ; a change which I effected before we left Haji Kara. CHAPTER XIV. JOURNEY TO BAGDAD. RETROSPECT-SOOFFEEISM-THE TERM DEFINED-GENERAL IDEA OF THE PHILOSOPHY-PRACTICAL RESULTS OF THE SYSTEM-STRENGTH OF THE SECT-PERSIAN LIBERALITY-VILLAGES BETWEEN KERMANSHAH AND BAGDAD - FACE OF THE COUNTRY -UNWELCOME ENCOUNTER - NEW TROUBLES —CARAVAN TRAVELLING - SLEEPING ON HORSEBACK-THE DIALA-FERRY-THE MIRAGE-ARRIVAL AT BAGDAD. ERE we start anew, good reader, on the soil of Turkey, let us pause and sit down here on the border-line, and consider whether anything that I had intended to say about Persia has been left unsaid ; for when we shall have once lost sight of its soil, we shall find enough in the present to occupy our attention, and little time or room for retrospective glances. Of manners, of habits, of government, of trade, and other common topics of interest, I never intended to say much, because others have said enough concerning them, and they are only secondary in my own design. My object has been a different one, and I have pursued it in my narrative as I have found fitting occasion and opportunity. Many topics I have touched but lightly, and others I have been fain to omit altogether. If I had not done so, something more important must have been neglected elsewhere. But now, as we look back from this boundary-line, and survey the whole field that we have trodden in the land 150 SOOFFEEISM. of the Shiahs, I can discern nothing of moment that I have left unnoticed, unless it be that I have said nothing of that religious philosophy of the Persians wont to be called Sooffeeism. This, indeed, must not be left with- out a word, and I must say it now, or it will not be said at all. But I must speak briefly. Whence the term Sooffee is derived, I must confess I do not know; whether from a tribe in Arabia, among whom some affirm that the founder of the sect origin- ated; or from Sou, a village near Aleppo, and fee, in, (the village being one where they make such woollen and goat's-hair garments as men of this sect are supposed to wear;) or from Al Soufee, a great Mohammedan Doctor of the third century of the Mussulman Era ; or from Saf, which means order or rank (the Sooffees claiming to be pre-eminent in knowledge among religious men); or from Sophos, which in Greek means a sage ; or from Safa, signifying purity (a quality to which Sooſfees make high pretensions); or from Souf, which means wool, and is supposed to allude to the garments from this material, worn by men who profess great sanctity, as Sooffees are supposed to do. do. The reader may take his choice among all these conjectures, but the last three have the most opinions in their favour, and the last more than the others*. The general ideas of the Sooffees respecting God are very similar to those of the Pythagorean philosophy. The radical principle of their system is the doctrine of the manifestation of the Infinite in the Finite, and the differences which are observable among their doctors are chiefly different explanations of the mode of this mani- festation. Thus, according to the theory of one or 1 1 1 * Chardin, tome iv. 1 SOOFFEEISM. 151 another of these teachers, the Infinite is expressed in the Finite as a reflection from a mirror, or it is diffused through it as a higher life, or it is transferred to it, as when each individual soul is supposed to be a particle from the divine essence. In all these, the generic idea is still retained. Deity is in some way manifested in humanity, and the principal question is as to the mode of the manifestation. The common belief of the Sooffee is that every man is an incarnation of Deity, or that, at least, all are par- takers of the divine principle. This generic idea may, I believe, be traced in all their writings, and will be found to run through all their sects. It is the source, too, of most that is good and evil in the system. It tends to liberality, because a Sooffee regards every human being as a representative of Deity. “I hold," said one of them, when rebuked for his intimacy with Christians," I hold that all men are of God, and are, therefore, pure. I regard none as unclean." Another of its tendencies is to a laxness of morals; for it is, I believe, in this fundamental principle that many who profess to be Sooffees find a cover for the grossest delin- quencies of conduct. By holding all things to be from God, they break up the foundations of morality and religion, and declare good and evil, virtue and vice, to be alike of divine origin. In others, the very same belief assumes an entirely different aspect. Regarding themselves as the offspring of God, they insist upon the possibility and duty of reuniting ourselves to the divine essence from which we have sprung. The great means to this end is to abstract the soul from worldly things, and to absorb it in divine contemplation. This, in their view, takes the place of external worship, which they contemn as subjecting the soul to the bondage of arbi- 2 152 SOOFFEEISM. trary forms. They discourse largely and eloquently on the love of God, the dignity of virtue, and the divine pleasures of a union with the Deity. The Mesnevi, their principal book, is full of the most impassioned sentiments of this kind, in no way inferior to the spiritual reveries of Christian recluses. It is their disregard of outward worship which makes them most obnoxious to rigid Mussulmans, and especially to the Mollahs, who easily perceive that their own influ- ence and office are endangered by such a doctrine. As my object in alluding to Sooffeeism is simply a practical one, I will not attempt to trace the origin of the philosophy to which it belongs. It is enough to say, that it is to be found in the Shastras of Hindooism, in the ancient systems of Greece, especially in that already alluded to, in the old Arabian philosophers, who, perhaps, derived it from Greece, or more probably from India, and in some of the modern writings of Germany. The resemblance in the last-mentioned case is so great, that one may often read the meditations of a Sooffee, without being able to say whether they originated in the centre of Asia or in the middle of Europe. In both countries it is, probably, an outgrowth of the native mind. It is certainly so in Persia. I have called those who hold it, a sect. But the term, I fear, will convey an incorrect impression. In truth, every Persian is a Sooffee ; for these religious vagaries which characterise the sect are the most natural modes of thought to a Persian mind. In speaking of a sect, therefore, I would be understood as alluding only to those who hold these sentiments as classified into a system, while, in fact, Persians generally have the elements of the philosophy floating in their minds as the natural production of their singularly 154 VILLAGES. received any impression. It is this which renders con- troversy with him useless, and demands an immediate appeal to the conscience and the heart. Mirza Said Ali, the coadjutor of Martyn in the work of translating the New Testament, is still living at Shiraz, an old and respected man, though, in worldly circumstances, con- siderably reduced. Nearly thirty years have now passed away since that which he spent in the society of Martyn. He is still, as he then was, a professed inquirer for the truth, dissatisfied with his own religion, and unprepared to embrace Christianity; and yet he is doubtless more sincere in his desire for a settled faith than the thou- sands of his countrymen who are drifting idly about upon the fathomless and shoreless sea of a vainglorious scepticism. Here we leave Persia. As we went out of Haji Kara, we crossed the Elvan, which we had already crossed at Serpoul, and touched at Kasr-i Sherin. Close upon the opposite side is Khanakee, a larger village than Haji Kara. I may here say that all the villages between Kermanshah and the boundary of Persia were hamlets of the meanest kind, erected only for the service of the caravanserais around or near which they stand. On entering Turkey, the change was very apparent. Haji Kara was a village of 500 inhabitants, and had a little bazar of its own. Its people were better dressed, and in every way more respectable. Most of the villages be- tween this and Bagdad were large and thriving, con- taining populations varying from 500 to 2000 souls. The face of the country assumed, at the same point, a more level and desert-like appearance. From Haji Kara to Bagdad, a distance of about 100 miles, was one continuous plain, unbroken by any considerable elevation, excepting a low range of hills which we passed the same SUSPICIOUS CHARACTERS. 155 day that we left Haji Kara, and the Hamrin Hills, which we crossed the next day. I travelled from stage to stage with extreme difficulty. Soon after leaving Haji Kara, we were met by a party of Kurds well mounted and armed to the teeth. The muleteer at once pronounced them robbers, and the manner in which they accosted us served only to con- firm the suspicion. They insisted upon knowing what property we had upon our horses and about our persons, and put many other questions to us that honest men should not ask. They then left us, rode on in advance, and were soon out of sight. Presently we passed them again, drawn up by the side of the road. We went by with very sober faces, fully expecting an attack ; but they did not move nor utter a word. We proceeded slowly until we were out of their sight, when the mule- teer, who always directed our rate of travelling, gave notice that we must run for it. I was in a poor condi- tion for running, but in a still worse one for defending myself; so I submitted, and we moved forward at a brisk pace. I had already given up my saddle to Mo- hammed Ali, and taken his place on one of the baggage- horses. Here I was not compelled to sit erect, (which I had not strength sufficient to do,) but the jolting of our rapid march was intolerable, and produced such ex- cruciating pains, that I went on, involuntarily emitting a groan with every step of my horse. Thus we con- tinued until we reached the summit of the hills before us, when, on looking back, we could see nothing of our pursuers. The muleteer, who had been quite beside himself with fear, now assumed a more intrepid air, fired off his pistol in defiance, and rode down the hill, singing as he rode. We were soon at Kasr Abad, where we were but just fairly settled when the Kurds came into NIGHT JOURNEY. 156 the village. We now found that our labour had indeed been only vanity and vexation of spirit; for they proved, upon inquiry, to be servants of the Pasha of Bagdad, sent out, in company with a Kavass, to receive the annual taxes of the villages, and, for aught that we could say to the contrary, as honest men as ourselves. The incident, however, had so wrought upon the imagination of the muleteer, that he insisted peremp- torily on travelling by night with a caravan. Notwith- standing his engagement at Kermanshah, he had been labouring all the way to violate it, and now sent a mes- sage to my lodgings, to the effect that, if I would not travel by night, he would go on without me. This message I refused to receive. Another soon came, in more respectful terms, representing that he was running great risks in travelling by day, that I might deem it of little importance if I was robbed of all my baggage, which was rot, perhaps, worth ten tomans, (five pounds sterling,) but that he could not so well afford to lose his four horses, each one of which was worth sixty tomans, (£30 !) To this I yielded, or rather to his importu- nities, which, I thought, if continued, would prove a greater annoyance than travelling by night. We started soon after midnight in company with a large caravan. It was a memorable night. I thought that I had never before known what pain was. Every part of my body, every fibre and nerve, seemed the seat of unutterable torture. No one paid any regard to me, or even spoke to me. Nor was it of I was as comfortably provided for as circumstances would permit. My great Turkish bags, as they hung, one upon each side of a horse, on a level with his back, formed a broad surface where I could recline with tolerable comfort, so long as the animal beneath stood still. But as soon any use. SCENES AT A FERRY. 159 pools through which we waded. Soon after sunrise, we passed through the very large village of Bakouba and came to the Diala, which we crossed by a ferry. A multitude of pilgrims were crowding for a passage. There was only one boat, which was moved across by the slow process of running along a line, while hun- dreds of passengers were waiting to be transported. I was now unable to stand, and Abraham, spreading my cloak in the sun, and taking me from my mule, laid me upon it. We waited two full hours, when, finding the crowd fill up as fast as it diminished, we made an attempt to get on board. Abraham took me in his arms and descended the steep bank towards the boat. Some of the pilgrims improved the opportunity to make sport of me. Abraham bore it for a while, but when he saw their impudence increasing with their impunity, he laid me down upon the bank, seized my Tatar whip, and began to deal it manfully to the right and left. The administration had its desired effect. Abraham re- sumed his burden, and went on board without any farther insult. The charge to each passenger was one sahib-kran, or about ls. sterling -- a tax of which the Persian pilgrims make great complaint. Mohammed Ali showed the only. spirit on the occasion that he had manifested since leaving Kermanshah. He informed the ferry- man that I was the British Ambassador, and insisted on the fare being remitted for me and my two servants in honour of my rank. The boatman assented, and we paid nothing. I need not say, however, that the trick was kept from me until we reached Bagdad, where in settling accounts with Abraham and Mohammed Ali, I found that they charged nothing for the ferry, and consequently the whole story came out. CHAPTER XV. BAGDAD. RECEPTION EUROPEAN SOCIETY-ISLAMISM IN BAGDAD ANCIENT AND MODERN STATE CONTRASTED-THE FOUR SECTS OF THE SUNNITES—SHIAHS THEIR PLACES OF PILGRIMAGE-DERVISHES—THEIR ORIGIN-CON- VENTS-DRESS-WORSHIP-THE PERFORMANCES OF ONE OF THE ORDERS AT BAGDAD-IMMORAL CHARACTER OF SOME OF THE ORDERS-GENERALLY HOW REGARDED_WANDERING DERVISHES-POSITION OF BAGDAD-TOMB OF ZOBEIDE-DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY- THE PEOPLE-RECENT RE- VERSES. I ROSE, the first morning at Bagdad, greatly refreshed by sleep, and not a little exhilarated in spirit at the pro- spect of not being compelled to mount upon a mule and pursue a painful day's journey over a wearisome plain. Before I was dressed, the physician of the British Resi- dency, Dr. Ross, came to my room, having been informed that a foreigner had arrived at the khan ill. For once I was glad to see a doctor; and it was still more grateful, though at first a little startling, to hear the sound of English, of which I had not heard so much as a word, unless it might be of my own soliloquizing, for the space of two months. I was able to call at the Residency the same forenoon and deliver my letters. Col. Taylor, the British Resi- dent, received me cordially; it was only the first of many acts of kindness never, I trust, to be forgotten. I be- came an inmateof the Residency, and needed only health SOCIETY AT BAGDAD. 163 and spirits to make me entirely comfortable and happy. The party at the house happened at the time to be large. Besides the family of Col. T. and three other gentlemen connected with the Residency or with the British ser- vice in Mesopotamia, there was an officer of the Indian service, an English amateur artist, another of the same profession, with his lady, from Germany, besides an English lady with her brother, who had lately arrived from England. The German artist and his wife had come from Trebizond, by way of Persia, and had reached Bagdad by the same route that I had followed. The last-named party had come by way of Diarbekir and Mossoul, by which I afterwards continued my journey to Constantinople. All, excepting myself, were going to India, and before I left, the last of them had departed, having descended the Tigris in the river-boats to Busra*, where, or at Bushire, they expected to take passage for Bombay. In such society I should soon have forgotten the hardships of the way, if I had not had an incessant memento of them in my still enfeebled health, which, moreover, quite incapacitated me for enjoying my new blessings, and thus rendered them, in some sense, like the pleasures of Tantalus. However, the month spent at Bagdad now appears, in the past, like a rich oasis in the lonely desert of my solitary wanderings. With what feelings had I not contemplated the pros- pect of standing in the glorious city of the East, of which my recollections ran back to the days of my childhood, when I had pored over the wonderful tales of caliphs and genii and enchantments, in that vade mecum of the * This word, often written Bassora, is pronounced in two syllables, and the u not according to the general rule of pronunciation which I have followed in my orthography of Eastern names, but short, like the same letter in our English word bustle. ISLAMISM IN BAGDAD. 164 boy's library, the Arabian Nights' Entertainments ! How had it been associated, too, with my later studies, and with what ardour had I cherished the hope of sur- veying Islamism in this once proud city of its reign, whose common appellation, in the days of its glory, had been, “The City of Peace and the Tower of the Saints !" And even now that the heat of desire and the enthusiasm of imagination have given place to the sober realities of memory, my mind almost revolts from the thought of bringing down the same feelings, cherished, perchance, in the heart of my reader, to the dry details of statistics. Yet so it must needs be. The traces of the ancient glory of this renowned seat of the Caliphs are still, indeed, visible, but they are the traces of a glory that is past. The proud temples of former days are gone, the far-famed retreats of learning have long since been deserted. They are now, for the most part, in ruins, or have entirely passed away. The celebrated medresseh of the Caliph Mostanser still stands at the eastern extremity of the bridge across the Tigris, and a broad inscription upon its walls still informs the traveller that it was erected in the year 630 of the Hijreh, or about the middle of the thirteenth century of the Christian era. But it is no longer a sanctuary of learning. Its noble array of professors and its throng of students have departed, and the edifice itself is now desecrated to the ignoble use of a custom-house. The great convent of dervishes founded by Abdul Kadir, though still occu- pied, has been partly destroyed by an inundation, and probably will never be repaired. This I have upon the testimony of others, for I did not myself visit it. The present number of mosques is about fifty, and many of these are in so ruinous a condition that prayer is no longer offered in them. The endowments of such 166 SECTS. number is greatly reduced. They do not reside in the colleges, and a great part of them are not regular in their attendance upon instruction. Many of them indeed have other trades or professions, which they leave for an hour, to hear an occasional lecture. Such a state of things cannot I think find its parallel in any other city of the empire. It arises, doubtless, in the present instance from the illegal usurpation of govern- ment, which has taken the administration out of the proper hands, and cares for little but to appropriate to its own use as much of the revenues as it can find any pretext for retaining. It was chiefly at Bagdad that I made inquiries re- specting the four great sects of the Sunnites to which I have alluded in the Introduction *, expecting, from the variety of the population, that the differences between them might be more distinctly marked than elsewhere. As is everywhere true in Turkey, the mass of the Mus- sulmans are Hanifites. The followers of Malek are but few, and are altogether Arabs from Nejd. The Kurds in the city are Shafeïtes, as, I have been assured, are all the Kurds of the order of the Sunneh. the common population are disciples of Hanbal. The Shiahs, who are numerous in the city, are chiefly Persian residents, but many among the Arabs also are of this persuasion-a fact which derives peculiar interest from the consideration that the Arabs were at the first the most faithful adherents of Ali. This sect have a Mushtehed resident in Bagdad—a kind of spiritual legate, as it would seem, to this region, of all on earth most dear to a Shiah. It was at Koufah, which stood where the Euphrates and Tigris mingle A few among * See vol. i. p. 49. PLACES OF PILGRIMAGE. 167 their waters, that Ali established his seat of government. It was in this region that he lost his life by the hands of an assassin. It was here that the great struggle between the contending factions continued to rage for centuries after his death. It was here that many of his house fell victims to this dire contention. It was this soil which drank their blood, and now covers their remains. Hence it is holy ground in the eyes of Persians. They revere it almost equally with the sacred soil of Mecca. Hither they come on pilgrim ages to the tombs of the martyrs, and bring with them their coffined dead, to lay them in the same earth which covers the bones of those whose memory they cherish with a deep though superstitious enthusiasm. There are in particular four places to which the pilgrims resort. The principal and most frequented is Kerbela, or Meshed Hosseïn, where they pretend that Hosseïn, the second son of Ali, was buried. Near this is Meshed Ali, which they affirm to be the resting-place of the caliph from whom their sect derives its origin; but it is more than probable that his remains do not repose there. Next is Kathem, or Kazmin, distant only about three miles from the centre of Bagdad. Here is the mausoleum of the seventh Imam, Mousa el Kathem, or the Patient, who was put to death by one of the caliphs on suspicion of being engaged in a conspiracy against his throne. A splendid mosque has been raised on the spot, and others hardly less magni- ficent at Kerbela and Meshed Ali. The fourth place of pilgrimage is, if I was rightly informed, a cave not far from Bagdad, where the twelfth Imam, as was nar- rated in the Introduction, (p. 33,) mysteriously dis- appeared. The mosques at the first three places mentioned have 168 DERVISHES. been enriched, to a wonderful degree, by the gifts of pilgrims, and costly presents from India and Persia. That at Kerbela, however, was stripped of all its trea- sures by the Wahabees, while that of Meshed Ali was emptied by the Pasha of Bagdad to save it from the same fate. Perhaps, however, it has met with no better a one, in that its riches have fallen into the hands of a Turkish ruler instead of the lawless plunderers of the desert, for, although the fear of the Wahabees has long since passed away, I could not learn that any movement had been made towards restoring the treasures to their former place. They may, however, be replaced in another way, if such events as one that happened in Bagdad during my visit, are of frequent occurrence. In January, an offering from an Indian Prince, recently, as it was reported, converted to Mohammedanism, arrived in the city. It was a pavilion, intended to cover the tomb of Hosseïn at Kerbela. It consisted of a canopy of cloth covered with emeralds, and sustained by four pillars of solid gold set with diamonds. Between the pillars hung festoons of the fairest pearls. I heard its value estimated at £21,500. We turn now to dervishes, another kind of devotees very common in Bagdad. Time would fail me to say the half about them that I find scattered in my notes. Every reader must have heard of the principal order among them, called Mevlevi, a term which has commonly been anglicised under one of the three sobriquets, Turn- ing, Whirling, or Dancing. These are the best known at Constantinople, where any one, Mussulman or Chris- tian, may see them turn, whirl, or dance, every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, with music accompany- ing, and a prayer following, the exercise. This, however, is only one of many orders in Constantinople, and which 170 THE SADIS. their registers, who do not wear the costumes of the order, nor are present at their worship. Some permit even the inmates of the convents to pursue worldly ocupations, but this is not common. They may, how- ever, at any moment, leave the order, and return to the world. The chief distinction in the costumes of the different orders is in the head-dress, and sometimes it is the only mark by which they are distinguished from one another. They generally wear beards, when they are old enough to have them, for males of all ages are admitted. Several of the orders have public exercises, at stated times, and many, in private, give themselves to fasting and penance. The general idea which runs through their worship is that of producing and exhibiting divine inspiration. This is 'effected by various strange and often grotesque movements. In the case of the Mevlevi, it is by an incessant turning for several minutes together; in that of the Sadis, whom travellers sometimes call the Howling, and sometimes the Grunting, Dervishes, it is by the quick and long-continued repetition of one or two of the names of God, which are uttered with a sudden explosion of the voice that sounds enough like a grunt. The utterance is accompanied with a violent motion of the body to and fro, which increases gradually, the voice all the while becoming more loud and sudden, until the man is wrought up to a holy frenzy, jerks his head with a violence that, it would seem, must dislocate the neck, breaks forth into perspiration, and, as I have witnessed in several instances, at last throws himself upon the floor, rolls up like a ball, and turns over and over to the end of the room. Here he lies as dead, until the Sheikh comes to him, and rubs his hand over his face and DERVISHES IN BAGDAD. 171 breast; when signs of life begin to appear, a violent shudder commences in his limbs, he foams at the mouth, breathes hard, and growls horribly. All at length passes away, he takes his place in the line with the other worshippers, and re-commences the same ludicrous pantomime. The performances of another sect I witnessed at Bagdad. They assemble on Fridays, in a small open square, which was overlooked by the terraces of the Residency. A little circle of spectators was formed, and the service began with a prayer by an Imam, standing in the centre. This ended, a row of players beat their small drums, and the exercises commenced. First there stepped into the circle a man, bareheaded and naked from the waist upward. He carried in his hands two irons, in the shape of cows' horns. Another followed, with the upper part of his person exposed like the first, but carrying a sword in his right hand. A third bore two rods of iron, sharpened, like the horns, at one end, and terminated, at the other, by wooden balls. These revolved upon the rods, and, as they revolved, little bits of iron which hung about them, swung out, and bristled on every side. As the music played, these devotees became excited, or, as they would say, inspired. They began to dance. The first struck the sharp ends of the horns with great apparent violence into his side. The second seized the blade of his sword with his left hand, holding the handle in the right, and beat the edge with all his might against his stomach. The third brandished his rods, made the balls revolve, and then struck the projecting irons with great violence against his temples He would then thrust the pointed extremi. ties of the rods into his cheeks, and walk about with the balls elevated in the air. and eyes. I 2 172 THE CALENDERS AND BEKTASHIS.. After the man with the sword had beat himself for a few minutes, he pressed the weapon upon his stomach with great force, and, at the same time, stooping for- ward, the flesh closed over it, so that he appeared, as he pretended to be, half cut in two. In this posture he advanced to an Imam seated in the circle, who laid hold of it by the two extremities and carefully drew it out, the worshipper, at the same time, gradually straight- ening himself, and presenting, when he was again erect, a body entirely uninjured, while, all the time, the people stared and gazed and wondered. During the perform- ance of these juggleries, they cried out with each blow, Allah, while the officiating Imam ever and anon called, at the top of his voice, to the people to pray to the prophet. The solution of the whole was that these pretenders professed to be inspired with divine fury, whilst their sanctity rendered them invulnerable. God and the prophet were invoked to save them from hårm, of which, in truth, there was no danger, as the sword had no edge and the other instruments no points, and they took care, in using them, that the force of the blow should be arrested just as it reached the body. It is no matter for surprise that such gross supersti- tions should be regarded by many serious and devout Mussulmans with deep aversion, especially by the Oulema and the regular officers of religion, who look upon the institution as a departure from the rigid simplicity of Islamism. Some of the practices which it sanctions are even repugnant to the principles of the religion, and the private habits of some of the orders are very far from indicating any peculiar sanctity of character. The reader of the Arabian Nights will remember the Calen- ders who supped with Zobeide. The same order still exists, and its reputation does not improve with time. WANDERING DERVISHES. 173 I have elsewhere alluded to the Bektashis. They have been suppressed, at least in Constantinople, on account of the great friendship which they entertained for the Janissaries. The historiographer of the late Sultan, in his history of the destruction of the Janissaries, records that, when their convents in the capital were searched, there were found in them jars of wine, stopped with leaves of the Koran. Yet, by the common people, the institution of der- vishes appears to be generally respected, and many of the Sheikhs, or Heads of the convents, possess a high reputation for sanctity, and are regarded with a vene- ration akin to that which the holy men of Persia enjoy. I have always found these men remarkably urbane and cheerful in their dispositions, especially among the Mev- levis. One of them, at Constantinople, was said to be a great favourite of the Sultan, who was known to attend occasionally the public exercises at his convent. Generally the dervishes of Turkey do not practise men- dicity, in which respect, as in most others, they differ widely from the dervishes of Persia and other countries east of the Tigris. One of their orders, however, is founded entirely upon the principle of living by charity. Yet even these are rather superior to the wandering dervishes of Persia, who live chiefly by trickery and fraud. Many of this latter sort were to be seen in the streets of Bagdad. They had come from Afghanistan and Bokhara, and might be seen in their strange caps, with their hair dishevelled and their bodies covered with rags and filth, marching through the bazars to a doleful song, and soliciting charity from the passengers. Bagdad is situated upon both banks of the Tigris, but the principal part of the city is on the eastern side. The two are united by a rude bridge of boats, which 174 INTERIOR OF BAGDAD. being the only thoroughfare between them, is constantly thronged with foot-passengers and beasts of burden. The western portion has its own bazars and mosques, and forms by itself a considerable town. A little be- yond the walls on this side stands the tomb of Zobeide, the favourite wife of the Caliph Haroun al Reshid. It is a small circular building, with a conical summit; and though a mere ruin, still retains some vestiges of its former beauty. Within are traces of several other graves besides that of the heroine. The base of the cone being smaller than the circumference of the building, leaves room for a narrow terrace, to which the visiter can mount by a flight of stairs in the interior, and enjoy an extensive view of the surrounding country. On one side is the town concealed by its gardens of date-trees. On another are seen the gilded dome and the four minarets of the great mosque of Kazmin, while behind, on the horizon of the desert, rises the pile of Aggerkuf, a tall mass of sun-dried brick, which Niebuhr*, very plausibly conjectures to have been the site of a royal kiöshk, or summer-house. The position of the city upon the level banks of the river prevents any good view of it from without. It is surrounded by a strong wall of earth, which was con- siderably injured in a recent assault upon the city, of which I shall speak by and by. The houses are built almost solely of kiln-burned brick, which, however, in- stead of being red, are of a light yellowish hue, that has, when fresh, an agreeable appearance. This style of building gives the city a much more pleasing aspect than the muddy colour of Persian towns, and is, indeed, equal to anything in Turkey. As common, however, in Oriental cities, those of the Osmanlees excepted, * Voyage en Arabie, Tome Second, 249. FEMALE GARBS. 175 nothing is seen in the streets but naked walls. The roofs of the houses are flat, and afford a pleasant retreat from the bustle and dirt of the highways. The town, when viewed from the highest of them, presents on every side a long succession of brick walls, interspersed here and there with the broad-topped date and the minarets of the mosques. The western part, when surveyed from the opposite side, seems like a vast forest of date-trees, so completely are the buildings concealed among them. The bazars — the glory of an Eastern city—are, of all those which I have seen, second only to Constanti- nople. The principal parts are occupied by the cloth- merchants. These are of brick and vaulted, and present a good appearance, though offering little of the display which a traveller is ready to expect in so famous a city. Most of the other bazars, though very extensive, are common in appearance and structure. Large portions of them are in a dilapidated state. Here and there may be seen a fallen arch, or a long range of shops, with no other roof than mats laid upon rafters and covered with earth. In the costume, habits, and manners of the people, there is less of difference from the common features of a Turkish town than I had anticipated. The half-Euro- pean dress of the soldiers, mingled with the broad robes and ample turbans of the old class, the coffee-houses, with their seats outside, and their little companies of loungers meditating or talking over the water-pipe and the tchibouk; the large heavy forms, the sedate aspect and the slow motion of the Mussulman, are the same as one sees everywhere. The street-dress of the female is something different. It consists of a dark blue cloak, of a material corresponding to the quality of the wearer. THE DATE-MARK. 176 The finest are of silk inwrought with gold on the borders. The face is hidden, rather than veiled, by a covering of horse-hair cloth, which projects stiffly from the forehead, at an angle of about forty-five degrees, thus permitting the eyes beneath to see the ground several paces in advance, without allowing the passer-by to discover any part of the face. The upper edge of the veil lies beneath that of the cloak, which is drawn over the top of the head nearly to the forehead ; and is sometimes worn without the veil, in which case, it is brought together so as to cover everything excepting one eye. The women, especially among the lower classes, wear very commonly ornaments in the nose, which does not appear so con- venient a place as the ears, because they are more in danger of interfering with the mouth. The children that I saw in the streets appeared to me squalid and unhealthy, and their faces were often disfigured by the unsightly date-mark. This singular defect arises from a sore, which at first appears as a pimple on the skin, but afterwards forms and discharges successive scabs. It continues sometimes months, and even a year; and, when it is healed, leaves a scar which greatly disfigures the face, if the sore happens to form there. I could not discover its cause, nor whether its name is given it because it has anything to do with dates. It is peculiar to the country, and, if I am rightly informed, is common in the places on the Western bor- der of the desert, in the Northern part of Syria. A foreigner who resides long in the city never escapes it; but he is subject to it only once, and sometimes it does not appear till months have elapsed after his arrival. Animals, as well as men, are exposed to it. In many respects, former descriptions of Bagdad are inapplicable now, a single calamity, of recent occurrence, REVERSES. 177 having wrought changes which the ordinary lapse of many years could not have produced. In the fall of 1831 the city was visited by the plague, which, in the short space of a few months, swept off, according to the estimate of the British Resident, two-thirds of the popu- lation. The desolation was described as dreadful be- yond the power of words to portray, or the imagination to conceive. Business was suspended. The bazars and streets were deserted. None were found to bury the dead, and the last survivors of whole families stood at their doors and cursed the solitary passenger who now and then went by, for living while all their friends were dead. At this time, or soon after, probably in the following spring, another calamity befel the devoted city. The river suddenly rose to an extraordinary height, overflowed its banks, and inundated the country for many miles around. Houses bordering upon the stream were under- mined and ruined. So sudden and rapid was the rise, that many lives were lost, and, to this day, skeletons are found, in digging the gardens near the river. To these calamities was superadded a scarcity of pro- visions, which increased, in a wonderful degree, the dis- tresses of the inhabitants, and threatened the whole population with famine. The changes which these re- verses effected were proportioned to the cause. Not only was the city, in good part, depopulated, but every- thing was thrown out of its accustomed course. Med- ressehs were left without professors, mosques without their Imams, and the altars of Christianity without ministers. The former splendour of the court was swept away, and the whole city became the melancholy abode of a diminished and bereaved population. 13 CHAPTER XVI. BAGDAD. POPULATION-EXPLANATION OF NATIONAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL NAMES- THE CHRISTIANS OF BAGDAD PATRIARCHS-DIVISION OF THE NESTORIAN CHURCH - JEWS-LANGUAGES OF BAGDAD-BOOK-STALLS-CLIMATE- PRODUCTIONS-GARDEN OF THE BRITISH RESIDENCY-COMMUNICATION WITH EUROPE-EUPHRATES EXPEDITION-TRADE OF BAGDAD-RIVER BOATS--CIRCULAR BOATS—THE TIGRIS—THE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT- BANISHMENT OF PASHAS-WAHABEES—MY ATTENDANT-NEW ARRANGE- MENT_TATARS-CHANGE OF DRESS. At the time of my visit, Bagdad was slowly recovering from the reverses mentioned in the last chapter. The bazars were filling up, though a multitude of stalls were still deserted, and trade was reviving, though much was left to irretrievable ruin. The most common answer to my inquiries was, that everything had changed, and nothing certain was now known. The population, which had formerly been between 100,000 and 120,000, was now no more than 40,000 at the highest estimate. Among these are included from 1200 to 1300 Christians and about 15,000 Jews. The Christians form, at least, four different communions, viz.: Armenian, Armenian Catholic, Chaldean and Syrian Catholic. The first two terms are already familiar to the reader. The last two require some explanation. The Church of Rome has given the name of Chaldeans to her proselytes from the Nestorian Church, and of Syrians to those from the Jacobite Church. The appropriation is unjust, since the POPULATION. 180 appropriate, for there is no longer any distinction to be observed. The whole body of the Nestorian Church is now a branch of the Church of Rome, and with a sad propriety may the papal Nestorians assume the national name of Chaldeans. I shall yield it to them ; but in speaking of the other Church, I shall, for the sake of distinguishing the two parties, call the one Jacobites, (as I have only to speak of them ecclesiastically,) and the other Syrian Catholic. Whenever I use the term Syrian by itself, I shall be understood as speaking of the na- tion, which embraces the two parties of Jacobites and Seceders. One word more of terminology, and we will resume our course. Nasrani is an Arabic term, applied, when used in Mescpotamia, to Christians generally, and mean- ing apparently the same with Nazarene, or followers of the Nazarene. In Persia, on the contrary, I had been accustomed to hear it constantly as the distinctive title of the Nestorians. Upon my arrival in Mesopotamia, therefore, I began, at first, to apply it in the same sense; but, as I inquired for a particular communion of Chris- tians under that name, no one understood me. I will only add, that the other terms to which I have alluded are thus pronounced among the Christians of Mesopo- tamia, Nestoriani, Chaldani, Syriani, Yacobi, and Catolik; the vowels having the same sounds as are assigned to them in the rules of orthography which I have adopted. Having thus defined my terms, the reader will under- stand me when I say, that there are in Bagdad 125 Armenian families, 25 families of Armenian Catholics, and 100 of Chaldeans and Syrian Catholics. The Armenians have a Church, but no Bishop. The Arme- nian Catholics worship by themselves in a house. The SCHISM. 181 Chaldeans and Syrian Catholics, with the ten or twelve Roman Catholic (European) families in the city, worship in one Church, but at different times, and according to their different usages. A Missionary of the Church of Rome was residing in the city, and had recently been consecrated to the Episcopate. He bore the title of Bishop of Babylon and Persia, and, according to his own statement, his jurisdiction extended over Mesopotamia, Persia, Armenia, and Kurdistan. It was well under- stood in Bagdad that new and unprecedented efforts were about to be put forth at Rome, for the extension of Papal Missions among the Eastern Christians. While I was in the city, the Bishop of Babylon was contem- plating a visitation of his diocese in the spring, in which he was to be accompanied by the Bishop of Khosrova in Persia, who had come to Bagdad for this and similar purposes. The venerable Patriarch of the Chaldeans, Mar Elia, was also in the city at this time. He had come to attend the consecration of the Latin Bishop, and was still remaining, an inmate in his house. He holds the Patriarchate of one portion of the ancient Nestorian Church, the other being under the jurisdiction of Mar Shimon, who resides, as before remarked, in Julamerik, among the Kurdish mountains. The division of the Nestorian Church into these two branches arose, according to Assemanni, A. D. 1551. The Patriarchate being vacant at that time, one Simeon Bar Mama was the regular successor, according to the institutions of the Nestorian Church, by which the office descended from uncle to nephew. But it so happened that Bar Mama was obnoxious to some of the bishops, who determined, therefore, to resist his succession. They assembled at Mossoul, elected one John Sulaka to the office, and sent him to Rome for consecration. 182 JEWS. the mean time, Bar Mama was elected by the conserva- tive party, and after his death was succeeded by Elias. At this time the other Patriarchate was vested in the person of one Simeon Denha, the third in that line from Sulaka. Mar Elias, having doubtless the strength of the Church with him, succeeded in compelling his antagonist to abandon Assyria. He crossed the moun- tains and settled in Ourmiah, while Mar Elias removed and resided in Bagdad. The schism has remained to this day, and the two Churches have no connexion or communion with each other. Each succeeding Patri- arch has retained the name which was borne by those with whom the separation was effected—on one side that of Mar Shimon, (or Simeon,) and on the other that of Mar Elia (or Elias). The former has under his juris- diction the Nestorians of Persia and of the Kurdish mountains in that vicinity. The latter is the Patriarch of the Chaldeans, on the southern side of the moun- tains, who reside chiefly in Mossoul, and the neighbour- ing region north of that city. It is to these last that our attention is now to be directed. It is they of whom I speak under the name of Chaldeans. It is their divi- sion of the Nestorian Church which has become, norni- nally at least, a branch of the Church of Rome, while the others, among whom the missionaries at Ourmiah are labouring, have remained to this day, for the most part, unchanged. Next to the Mussulmans, the 'Jews of Bagdad form the largest and most respectable portion of the popula- tion. No contrast can be greater than that between their condition here and in Persia. In Bagdad, they are seen as merchants in the richest bazars and in the best khans, while the business of bankerage is almost entirely in their hands. By this, however, I do not deny that CLIMATE. 184 benefit which I had anticipated. Whether the state of my health rendered me more susceptible, or it arose from some peculiarity in the atmosphere, I know not, but I found the cold more uncomfortable and penetrating than I had ever known among the snows of New England. There was no snow in Bagdad during the winter, but water occasionally froze to the thickness of an eighth of an inch. Sometimes the south wind blew with great fury, when the temperature rose, but the air became very enervating. The atmosphere was thick and hazy, and all the visiters at the Residency began to complain of languor, headache, and loss of spirits. The cold season at Bagdad continues from the middle of December to the middle of February, when the warm weather begins, and gradually increases to the dreadful heats of summer. From April till October, the inhabitants spend the days in their serdabs, or subterraneous apart- ments, with which every house is provided for this purpose, and the nights upon the roofs. During the hot season, the heat is sometimes as high as 120° Fahrenheit, in the shade. The spring was already opening before I left. Almond-trees were in blossom on the 6th of February, and other fruit-trees were put- ting forth their buds. The most common vegetables in the market, were beets, carrots, onions, and turnips. Fresh fruit was not abundant, excepting a species of sour orange and sweet limes. Apples and pears were few, and of an inferior quality. Although it was now the season for the common orange, they were rarely to be found in the bazars, and the few that I saw were not good. They are cultivated chiefly in the private gardens of the rich, and are, therefore, seldom exposed for sale. Col. Taylor had given considerable attention to them, and his grounds FOREIGN COMMUNICATION. 185 produced a small species of an excellent flavour. I found the garden connected with the Residency one of the greatest curiosities in the city. The Resident has devoted much time and labour to the introduction of foreign fruits and plants, and, notwithstanding the great. difficulty of obtaining anything in a sound state where the mode of transportation is so rude, he had succeeded in procuring a very large variety of fruit-trees, flowers, and useful plants. Among the first were almonds, apples, pears, the quince, grape, and apricot. I noticed, with much interest, a small and singular kind of willow, which, when set out, was a slip taken from a tree grow- ing upon the ruins of Babylon. My first thought on seeing it, was of the willows that grew by the rivers of Babylon, on which the mournful daughters of Zion hung their harps. In the kitchen-garden was a more familiar acquaintance--the potato, which was one of the exotics introduced by Col. Taylor, and I was very glad to hear a good account of so old and valuable a friend. It was only the second year of its cultivation, but it was pro- mising to do well. While I sojourned at Bagdad, news arrived in forty-five days from England. There was a regular communica- tion by post with Beyrout, on the coast of Syria, passing through Hit and Damascus, and the great desert lying between them. The journey from Bagdad to Damascus was easily performed in eleven days, and once, while I was in the city, the courier arrived in eight days. Be. tween Damascus and the coast, the journey, if I was rightly informed, is only two days, and the route is con- nected at that point with a line of steamers, which touches at Alexandria and Malta, and thence continues to England. As the carriers between Damascus and Bagdad are Arabs, accustomed to desert-travelling, they 186 THE TATAR, perform the journey without difficulty. In two or three instances, however, they had been stopped by their wandering brethren and searched, but as they had nothing about them of any value to the nomades of the desert, they were suffered to pass without serious mo- lestation. The communication between Bagdad and India was not so regular. Of the Euphrates expedition, which had excited so much attention a little while before, I heard nothing. The only remaining steamer was aground in the Tigris, forty miles above Bagdad, waiting for the spring-flood in order to get off. The communication with Constantinople is chiefly by Tatars, who go when- ever their services are needed by government, or private individuals. They perform the journey, when sent with despatches, in fifteen or twenty days, and sometimes in twelve or thirteen. The Tatar who was my companion on the road, used to tell a story of one of his brethren who had accomplished the journey, on an important occasion, in eight days. When he arrived at Constanti- nople, he proceeded, according to custom, immediately to the palace of the Grand Vezir, and laid the despatches at his feet. The Vezir, surprised at the proximity of the date of the papers with the time then present, inquired when he left Bagdad. On being informed, be asked, “Well, how many horses have you killed ?” The poor Tatar, expecting a munificent compensation for his zeal in the public service, promptly replied, “Ninety-nine.” “Very well,” returned the Vezir, “you will make up the hundred," and forthwith ordered his head to be taken off. Once Bagdad was as celebrated for its commerce as for its learning ; but the first, like the last, has greatly declined. At present, the chief courses of trade are with BOATS. 187 Persia by two routes, one passing through Kermanshah, and the other through Sulimanieh, with Constantinople by Mossoul, and with Busra by the Tigris. In the river trade, boats are used, which go down in ten and even eight days to Busra, but seldom return in less than twice that number, as the passage can be effected only by wind and tracking. The boatmen are ignorant and timid, and seldom go up or down without running on the sand-banks. If the wind is strong, they stop and fasten to the bank of the river. They generally come in companies. I witnessed one day, from the terrace of the Residency, which stands close upon the river, a little fleet of them approaching, with a fair breeze. A gun was fired from each boat as it rounded the point below the city, and then it came swiftly up before the south wind, with a flowing sail and a waving flag. The men in each boat were celebrating their escape from all the perils of the voyage, by rude music and singing, to which half-a-dozen rough fellows in the bows of the boat were stepping after a most ludicrous fashion. The boats were of a singular shape, blunt, or slightly rounded at the stern, and tapering gradually to the prow, which was long and sharp. They carry one mast raking forward, on which slides a spar hung obliquely, and carrying a large lateen, or, as it is some- times called from its shape, leg-of-mutton sail. In the after part of the boat there is a small cabin. The rest of the vessel is without any deck, and the merchandise lies exposed to the open air. . There is another boat of a still more extraordinary shape and appearance, but very small, and used only about the town. It is circular, like a large-bottomed bowl inclining inward at the top. It is of wicker-work, made of the date-leaf and sheathed with pitch. It has 188 THE TIGRIS. no prow nor stern, but, when left to itself, whirls round and round at pleasure. It is paddled by two men stand- ing one on each side, with sometimes a third, steering with an oar behind. These boats are strong and entirely safe. They have the advantage of always going head to the wind, and never upset. Herodotus, it seems, saw something of the same kind on the Euphrates, and accounted them second in wonder only to the great city of Nebuchadnezzar. 6 Of all that I saw in this country,” he says, “next to Babylon itself, what ap- peared to me the greatest curiosity were the boats. These which are used by those who come to the city, are of a circular form, and made of skins. They are constructed in Armenia, in the parts above Assyria, where the sides of the vessel being formed of willow, are covered externally with skins ; and having no distinc- tion of head and stern, are modelled in the shape of a shield*." Of things concerning the Tigris, I have only to add, that the river has a regular annual rise early in the spring, which is caused by the melting of the snows in the mountains of Kurdistan. Its common rise is about sixteen feet above its lowest level. Neibuhr states it at twenty, which, I presume, would not be considered extra- ordinary at the present time. The most rapid rate of its current is from five to six knots an hour. Finally, with regard to Bagdad, there is little appear- ance there of those reforms which have drawn so much attention to Turkey of late years, and have awakened 80 many hopes in her behalf. The present Pasha, however, is entirely loyal, and submissive in all things to the Sultan, whose authority, throughout this exten- * Herodotus, Beloe's translation, WAHABEES. 189 sive province, has been greatly strengthened since the destruction of the Janissaries. The late Pasha was deposed at the same time that the calamities of inun- dation and famine befel the city. He had manifested some symptoms of insubordination, which induced the Sultan to send the present ruler, who at that time governed the province of Aleppo, against him. The city was desolated by the plague. The army of the Pasha, in which he had taken great pride, was swept away. He could do no more than shut the gates of the city and patiently wait the result. Ali Pasha, with the forces of the Sultan, sat down before it and battered the walls until an entrance was effected. Daoud Pasha was seized and conveyed to Constantinople, where, in 1838, he still remained in nominal banishment, but actually enjoying much of the private favour and confi- dence of the monarch. It was one of the happiest and most benign features of the late Sultan's reforms, that he abolished, in good part, the ancient system of beheading refractory rulers, and substituted banishment in its stead. There were several Pashas in Broussa and Amasieh in Asia Minor, who had been sent thither for political offences, and were enjoying, in retired life, probably greater happiness and comfort than they had ever known in the danger- ous seats of power. In some few instances, however, offenders have been sent into exile for no other purpose than to remove them to a convenient place, where they might be privately despatched by the bowstring or by poison. I endeavoured to gain in Bagdad some knowledge of the Wahabees. This singular sect arose during the last century in Arabia, and began with proclaiming a reformation of Mohammedanism. Their professed object 190 MY ATTENDANTS. was to restore the religion to its primitive simplicity and purity, and the design was not an unworthy one. They extended their cause by the sword, and, at last, grew so strong as to subjugate the greater part of Arabia. During the present century their power has been broken by the Pasha of Egypt, but they still exist as a sect, at least along the western shore of the Persian Gulf. I did not see John after his unceremonious departure from Kermanshah, until I had been a week in Bagdad, when, on awaking one morning, he was sitting by my bedside. He was so much reduced that, for a moment, I did not recognise him. He had been deceived by his muleteer, and, instead of coming by the same route which I pursued, had been brought by way of Mendeli, over a very rough and difficult country. His disorder had increased upon the road, and had not ameliorated since his arrival in the city. He had been received into the house of a Turk from Constantinople, and treated with the greatest attention. He was convinced, however, that some settled disease was upon him, and spoke dis- couragingly of the prospects before him. He consented to receive the advice of Dr. Ross, who had the kindness to visit him in my room, and who soon discovered that the cause of the illness was an internal rupture. John at once traced it back to the time when it occurred, at the little village of Zereh before reaching Hamadan, from a violent effort in lifting the baggage. The doctor left a truss for him, but he preferred to consult the physician of the Pasha, who was at that time absen from the city on an expedition against an Arab Sheikh. The Sheikh had opened his port on the Persian Gulf to a free trade, thus injuring the commerce of Bagdad, and rebelling against the Pasha, to whose province he LOSS OF ATTENDANT. 191 belonged. The expedition had been entirely successful. The Sheikh had escaped, but the Pasha had subverted his government and put another ruler in his place. He was now on his return, and had halted at a distance of several days' march from Bagdad. John left me, after his second visit to my room, half determined to go to the camp, and seek the aid of the Hekim Bashi of the Pasha. I presume that he did so, for I never saw him afterwards. As I knew not the name of the Effendi who had entertained him, I had no means of learning whether he had left the city, but the following summer, in Constantinople, I received infor- mation that a young Armenian had entered the service of the Pasha of Bagdad as interpreter, and, as John himself informed me that his desire of consulting the Pasha's physician, arose in part from a hope that he might find employment in that quarter after I was gone, I concluded that it could be no other than himself, who had thus been promoted, from following in my own humble train, to stand before princes and rulers. Having thus lost the attendant who had served me so long, and, for the most part so faithfully, I began to look about for one to supply his place. The Armenian who had accompanied me from Kermanshah was willing to continue in my service, but my experience had taught me, that there were some disadvantages in having a native Christian in my company, and, as my whole mind was now bent on studying Turkish character and man- ners, I deemed it a duty to have no hindrance in my way to the most free and intimate intercourse with Mus- sulmans that it was possible for me, as a foreigner and a Christian, to have. Providentially, in this crisis, I found a Tatar, who had come from Constantinople with his son, and was now ready to return. The son offered 192 TATARS. to act as my servant, and the father promised to convey me safely to the capital. We made a definite arrange- ment, in which it was agreed that I should travel at my own discretion, and that the whole duty of providing horses, food, and lodgings, should devolve upon him. These Tatars, I may here add, are Government- couriers, and their profession is one which is not only useful, but necessary, in such a country as Turkey, where there are no posts, and where the means of intercourse between different parts of the land are slow and uncer- tain. Their business is to carry despatches and orders of government, and to accompany the transmission of the public revenues from the provinces to the capital. They are also at liberty to attend travellers in their journeys. They are celebrated for their power of endur- ance. They often ride many days and nights together, without lying down or sleeping, excepting as they can catch a nap on their horses. The Tatar whom I have just introduced to the reader, had, on an urgent occasion, travelled in this way from Constantinople to Bagdad, and was only eleven days on the road. They go night and day, over the most dangerous roads, in all seasons and in every kind of weather. From their rough mode of life, most of them contract a roughness of speech and Often they are loose in their habits, neglectful of religious duties, and addicted to intemperance. As a body, however, they are honest and trustworthy. This last quality is promoted, in part, by the fact, that they are under the surveillance of government, and their names are all entered in a public registry. They are required to perform an apprenticeship of three or four years before being enrolled, excepting in the case of those who are the sons of Tatars. These are supposed to be Tatars born, and are obliged to serve as apprentices manner. CHAPTER XVII. JOURNEY FROM BAGDAD TO KERKUK. DEPARTURE FROM BAGDAD-LETTERS-THE DESERT-BOU YOUROULTOU- CANALS-KHAN IN THE DESERT- THE SOIL-THE HAMRIN HILLS-KARA TEPEHCHALDEAN MUSSULMANSKIFRI-TURKISH COURT OF JUSTICE- THE POSITION OF WOMAN UNDER MOHAMMEDANISM-INSTITUTIONS OF THE KORAN-THE MORAL STATION OF THE TURKISH FEMALE-HER RELI- GIOUS PRIVILEGES AND DUTIESTATARS—WANDERING DERVISH--TOUZ KHOURMATEU_MANUFACTURE OF SALT-ANTELOPES-TAOUK-SITE OF AN ANCIENT CITY-NAPHTHA, A SUBSTITUTE FOR CANDLES. I was ready to depart on the 7th of February; but it being Wednesday, which is an unlucky day in the esti- mation of Mohammedans, I tarried till Thursday to gratify Mohammed Agha. I finally bade adieu to my friends at the Residency, on the 8th, and started soon after noon. As we rode through the streets towards the Northern Gate, the Tatar was hailed, at every turn, by persons who wished to send letters by him. The Tatars of Turkey are the only substitutes for a post which the country affords, and, as their own journeys are very irre- gular, the transmission of letters is very uncertain. During the month which I spent at Bagdad, I found no opportunity of forwarding a letter to Constantinople, and my correspondents in America remained unadvised of the progress of my journey from Tehran to Constan- tinople, until my arrival in the last-mentioned city. The ARAB VILLAGE. 195 Tatars seldom, if ever, refuse the letters offered to them, and as seldom receive any compensation for taking them. In the present instance, however, Mohammed Agha was paid in showers of kind wishes for a good journey, which he mischievously interpreted to be intended more for the letters than for himself. On emerging from the Gate, we were at once again in the desert. On the left, forests of date-trees stretched along for many miles, and above them rose conspicuous the gilded dome and minarets of Kazmin. On the right and before us, was the boundless reach of the plain. We observed upon the road a line of mounds composed of brick and earth, which are said to be the remains of fortifications raised during one of the Persian invasions. We struck the Tigris again at about ten or twelve miles from Bagdad. Its channel was narrower, and its course more rapid, than where it flows by the city. Lines of embankments had been thrown up to protect the plain from its overflow, for it was at this point that it broke over in the flood of 1831, when it inundated the country to the very walls of the city. We passed a khan near this point, and kept along the bank through a grove of date-trees for another hour, when we reached the village of Howeish. The only lodgings that we could obtain were in an outhouse which had no door. But we contrived to render ourselves com- fortable for the night, by hanging one of our carpets before the opening, and kindling a large fire in the middle of the apartment. In travelling with a Tatar, one has no need of a Firman, to procure for him the best that a village affords. It is necessary, however, in order to obtain comfortable quarters in the towns and cities. The time for which my own Firman was good had now expired, for, by some oversight, or regulation K 2 THE DESERT. 196 of government, it was limited to seven months. I had procured, therefore, before leaving Bagdad, a Bouyou- roultou, or Pasha's Firman, which answers as a substi- tute, but is of service only for the province in which it is given. The next day we kept along the bank of the river for some time, and then left it, not to see it again until we should cross it at Mossoul. Two hours on our road, we passed a khan, where we met a party of friends from Bagdad, who had left the Residency the day before, on an excursion to the Steamer. Three or four miles far- ther, we changed horses at the village of Yenijeh, and proceeded to the khan of Deli Abbas before night. The part of the plain which we passed in the morning was under good cultivation, the ground being well watered by numerous canals, which, to our great dis- comfort, were destitute of bridges. One of these canals, called Khalis, might have been entitled to the name of a river, if it had not been running out of a stream, instead of flowing into it. It comes from the Diala, and when not absorbed for irrigation, goes to the Tigris. Canals of this kind once intersected the coun- try in every direction, and it was easy to imagine, from the cultivation which the Khalis promoted, how abund- ant a fertility they must have created. Other parts of the plain were entirely barren, or covered with a dry brush-wood, which furnishes fuel to the villages. At different points over the plain we could descry the sites of numerous villages, by the clusters of date-trees which surrounded them; and we saw here and there, a soli- tary Imam, or Saint's Tomb, which the devout Mussul- mans of the vicinity honour with their pilgrimages. Deli Abbas itself is a lonely khan in the midst of the desert. A troop of large dogs guarded its entrance, 1 HAMRIN HILLS. 197 and obstinately resisted our approach, until the master came out and called them in. We found two families on the premises and an abundant stock of good provi- sions. Close by the khan is a substantial brick bridge over the Khalis. On leaving Deli Abbas, our course assumed a North- erly direction, until we reached the Hamrin Hills, about five miles distant. The plain between presented the beautiful appearance of a fresh green-sward, extending on either hand as far as the eye could survey. It is from no want of fertility, nor of verdure in the season of it, that these level regions are styled Desert, but only from their being a perfectly plain country with few habitations. The soil is alluvial, has great produc- tive power, and is capable of sustaining a large popula- tion. We started game of various kinds in great num- bers—upon the plain, antelopes, jackals, and partridges; and fowls resembling in form and flight the teal and plover of America, in the pools formed by the recent rains. The day before my eye had been fixed upon a range of snow-capped heights, which I had supposed to be the Hamrin Hills. But I now found that they were the mountains on the other side of the Diala, and that the Hills were a very inconsiderable range, of an average altitude of about 500 feet. The passage over them was circuitous, but by no means difficult, winding first among rocks, and afterwards over hills of a gravelly soil, pre- senting numerous miniature peaks. We were two hours in effecting the passage, and an hour more in reaching a river called Narinj, which we crossed by a good bridge of brick. Another hour and a half brought us to the village of Kara Tepeh, (Black Mount,) which seems to have received its name from a mound close by. A 198 VILLAGE POPULATION. recent traveller * caused this mound to be opened, and found that it contained urns filled with human bones. He conjectured that it was originally a burial-place of the ancient fire-worshippers, but it is now used, as it was when he visited it, by the Mussulmans as a place of public prayer in their great festivals. The village, like all which we had passed, was a miserable collection of mud-houses partly in ruins; and here, as before, all the people were Mussulmans. The Patriarch of the Jacobites, in one of my interviews with him at Constantinople, (of which more hereafter,) informed me that the greater part of the Mussulmans called Arabs between Bagdad and Diarbekir, are de- scendants of Christians proselyted from their religion by oppression; and one of the metropolitan Bishops of Mossoul bore the same testimony. A large part of the Mohammedan population between Bagdad and Mossoul is not, however, originally Arab or Chaldean, but Turk- ish. Their language is Turkish, and they call them- selves Turcomans. May they not be remnants of those Tartar hordes which poured into this country in the invasion of Hologou? From Kara Tepeh we continued our course over another range of low hills parallel to those of yesterday. . In one and a half hours we came to a reedy brook, and crossed it by a little bridge in ruins. Here another plain opened before us. The rain which had been threatening all the morning began to fall. We scoured the plain at full gallop, continued our flight without drawing rein over another range beyond, until we came in sight of Kifri, lying under a rocky ridge on the opposite side of * Claudius James Rich, Esq., late British resident in Bagdad-to whose invaluable labours I shall have frequent occasion to refer. THE BEY OF KIFRI. 199 a plain of great beauty. Here we slackened our pace, while the Tatar went forward to prepare for our recep- tion at the Menzil Khaneh (Post-House). Villages appeared at short intervals over the plain, each marked by a small tower indicating the sites of mills. We found an excellent post-house in the village, and the rain continuing through the day, we remained there till the next morning. The post-master was governor of Kifri and of seven other villages on the plain. He came in and spent the afternoon with us, and his pre- sence gave me a rare entertainment. Every half-hour some one entered to present a complaint against his neighbour, which was was always done in the most voci- ferous tones. The Bey settled their difficulties in the most summary manner, the complainant seldom staying more than five minutes. One case was of a more deli- cate nature than the others, but it was despatched with almost equal celerity. A man, having divorced one wife and married another, wished to take the first again, retaining the second. The former having the liberty of refusal, declined the re-union, and the man had urged his suit with unbecoming pertinacity. The offended woman had now come to claim protection from the governor, and standing without, unseen, screamed forth her complaint. When her story was ended, the Bey replied, “The man has one wife, why does he want another?" The question seemed a strange one to come from a Mohammedan judge, but in truth it was not so strange as it appeared, for everywhere in Turkey poly- gamy is rare among the Mussulmans, and not, as I had been accustomed to suppose, a common thing. Upon this, as upon many other topics relating to the domestic condition of the Turks, my opinions underwent an essential change, and so gross did I find many of my 200 THE MOHAMMEDAN FEMALE. former errors to be, that it seems to me now hardly less than a duty to acknowledge them, and to avow those which have arisen in their stead. I cannot, however, pretend, that my present information is by any means perfect. It is a subject upon which I hope yet to learn much, but whoever knows the difficulty of gaining any- thing authentic on such topics, will preserve even his gleanings with the most assiduous care. A part of what I have gathered I will now offer to the reader. The student of Islamism will often find occasion to remark that it holds a middle place between Christianity and Paganism. This is not only true of its doctrines, which, in some points, approach the eminent spirituality of the Bible, and, in others, border upon the fantastic follies of heathenish superstition, but its precepts also partake throughout of the same mingled character. Thus it is with the rank and duties which it assigns to It neither exhibits the elevating influence of Christianity, nor the degrading tendencies of Idolatry. It raises her aboye the rank which any other system, excepting our own, has ever assigned to her, but it leaves room for much higher improvement. The institutions of Mohammed in this particular are worthy only of praise. The remark may create surprise, but I do not utter it incautiously. We are not to judge of the false prophet of Islamism by our standard, but by that which he had before his own eyes. He was an Arab, born a pagan. The religion in which he was nurtured was as unfavourable in its influences upon woman as any form of heathenism that ever existed. It was, through- out, debasing and polluting. He undertook its reform. He raised the Arab female from her degradation. He made distinct provision for her relief from many of the wicked prejudices to which she had been subjected. The woman. PRECEPTS OF THE KORAN. 201 evils which he could not remove he suffered to remain. They reappear on the pages of the Koran, but they are not original there. They are only copies transferred from the immemorial usages of his people. He tolerated them, but he did not create them. On the contrary, in most instances he impliedly condemns while he allows them. Thus he gives permission to husbands to chastise their wives, if disobedient, but he recommends, at the same time, that they avoid all causes of quarrel. Divorce, too, though allowed, is strongly disapproved. Recon- ciliation is pronounced preferable to separation, and mediation is set before chastisement. Even here is improvement, the design being to abate evils which probably could not be removed. If now we turn to the other side of the picture, and observe the positive institutions of the Koran, we shall find still higher reasons to free its author from censure, however much its precepts may fall below the benign institutions of Christianity. Its prescripts with regard to the female right to inherit property, and the safeguards for female honour and happiness which it raised in the institution of dowries, were, doubtless, a great advance upon the barbarous usages of the ancient Arabs, which recognised no rights nor privileges whatever. These dowries were to be bestowed by the husband, and must be relinquished to the wife in case of divorce, unless the request for a separation came from her. It was intended to operate as a penalty for divorces, and thus to prevent an evil which it could not absolutely remove. Besides this, the general precepts of the Koran with regard to the treatment of females are more than could be looked for in the system of a man himself acquainted only with the gross manners of pagan ignorance. Husbands are forbidden to maltreat their wives in order to compel them K3 202 PRESCRIPTIONS OF THE SUNNEH. to take the first step towards a divorce, and they are required to cherish them with kindness and love. “If ye hate them,” saith the prophet, “it may happen that ye shall hate that in which God has placed much good.” The place which the Mohammedan system assigns to woman in the other world, has often been wrongfully represented. It is not true, as has sometimes been re- ported, that Mohammedan teachers deny her admission to the felicities of Paradise. The doctrine of the Koran is, most plainly, that her destiny is to be determined in like manner with that of every accountable being, and according to the judgment passed upon her is her reward, although nothing definite is said of the place which she is to occupy in Paradise. Mohammed speaks repeatedly of “believing women," commends them, and promises them the recompense which their good deeds deserve. The regulations of the Sunneh are in accordance with the precepts of the Koran. So far is woman from being regarded in these institutions as a creature without a soul, that special allusion is frequently made to her, and particular directions given for her religious conduct. Respecting her observance of Ramazan, her ablutions, and many other matters, her duty is taught with a minuteness that borders on indecorous precision. She repeats the creed in dying, and, like other Mussulmans, says, “In this faith I have lived, in this faith I die, and in this faith I hope to rise again.” She is required to do everything of religious obligation equally with men. The command to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca extends to her. In my journeys, I often met with women on their way to the Holy City. They may even undertake this journey without the consent of their husbands, whose authority in religious matters extends only to those acts of devotion which are not obligatory, of which I WOMEN IN THE MOSQUES. 203 have formerly instanced one in the case of voluntary fasts. Women are not, indeed, allowed to be present in the mosques at the time of public prayers ; but the reason is not that they are regarded, like pagan females, as insusceptible of religious sentiments, but because the meeting of the two sexes in a sacred place is supposed to be unfavourable to devotion. This, however, is an Oriental, not a Mohammedan prejudice. The custom is nearly the same among the Christians as among the Mussulmans. In the Greek Churches, the females are separated from the males and concealed behind a lattice, and something of the same kind I have observed among the Christians of Mesopotamia. It would not be unlaw- ful for Mohammedan females to be admitted to the mosques in this manner. The requisition, according to the Jumah Abasi, is, that no woman be present during the worship of men, public or private, unless she be behind the worshipper, or separated by a partition, or, if before his eyes, that she be sixty feet distant. With regard to these and many other evils, as they appear to us, which are charged to Mohammedanism, it ought to be remembered that they existed long before its rise. They are the distinctive features of Oriental usages, which, in many instances, may be traced in the domestic customs of the ancient Jews, and even as far back as the patriarchal ages of our race. They are features unpleas- ing to us, because they belong to a different order of society, and yet not more unpleasing than are some of our own peculiarities to the primitive simplicity of an Oriental. In the intervals between the public prayers, Turkish females are allowed to enter the mosques and perform their devotions, if no man is present. They are also TATARS. 204 permitted to hear the discourses of the preacher, though often of a character unfit for modest ears. A Turkish woman may act as Imam of an assembly of women at their prayers. Her usual place of worship is the harem. There, in the midst of her maidens, she reads the Koran, and performs her devotions at the regular hours. I am aware that some Mohammedan writers have given a less favourable prospect to the future state of woman. They teach that she will hold the same place in Paradise that she now holds on earth, that her em- ployment there, as here, will be to wait upon the pleasure of her lord. One writer reports as a traditional saying of Mohammed, that when he once looked down into hell, he saw the greater part of the wretches confined there to be women. That opinions like these have been promulgated, the writings of learned Mussulmans suffi- ciently prove; that individuals may be found who believe that females will be annihilated with the brutes, I know; but that such views are authorised by the Koran, sanc- tioned by the Sunneh, or widely embraced among the people, is not true. In Kifri, which was formerly a place of importance, there are, at present, only one hundred families, and the town is but the ruins of what it once was. At night- fall, eighteen Tatars arrived from Constantinople in a body, on their way to the Pasha of Bagdad, to announce the renewal of his office the current year. This mony is repeated annually, on occasion of the re-ap- pointment of the Pashas at the close of the first Bairam. The number sent is according to the rank of the Pasha, or to the honour which the Sultan deems it politic to show him. The present year, twelve had gone to Erz- roum, and sixty to Egypt. The party spent the night at Kifri, and went off early the next morning. When cere- CRAZY DERVISH. 205 we were ready to start, we found that they had taken two of the fresh horses which we had engaged for our- selves, and had left us two of their jaded ones in return. At Kifri the road suddenly changes and takes a North-Westerly course, along a ridge of hills impregnated with sulphur. Their very colour was sulphureous, but whether it was imparted by the mineral I will not pre- tend to say. As we were skirting the plain of Kifri, near the base of these hills, we saw a dervish coming towards us, playing fantastic tricks as he approached. When he came near, we perceived that he was crazy. He had nothing on him but a cloth over his shoulders, and another round his waist. He annnounced himself as belonging to the order of the Kadris, and asked charity in the name of the Saint Abdul Kadir. The Tatar reverently kissed his hand and filled it with coin, and the poor dervish went on his way singing. From what I had already seen of Mohammed Agha's habits, I inferred that his charity must have some other motive than benevolence, and I ventured to ask him why he bestowed it. He replied, that the man was inspired, and he gave for the sake of his prayers. It is a common opinion among Mussulmans, that idiots are peculiarly favậured with divine influence, and Mohammed Agha was exceedingly shocked when I said, that such a man in America would be in danger of the almshouse. In five hours from Kifri, we passed a stream which Rich calls the Ak Sou, (White Water,) but the only name under which I heard of it was that of the village just beyond. In crossing it, we lost the ford, but hap- pily we were above it, so that, after swimming a short distance, our horses struck it, and we landed in safety. We were detained all the day in Touz Khourmateu, on the opposite side, for the want of horses. This was the BURNING NAPHTHA. 207 and, on entering, we discovered evident traces of ancient remains. The proper name of the place is Takouk, Taouk being only a corruption in common use. These coincidences led me to suppose it to be the site of Dakoka, mentioned by Assemanni * as the see of a Chaldean Bishop. A little more than two hours before reaching Tissin, we passed near Tazeh Khourmateu, lying on our left, under a solitary mound. The first part of its name means fresh, which seems to have been prefixed for the purpose of distinguishing it from the Salt Khour- mateu that we had left in the morning. At Tissin we noticed, as we had in every village, that the light which illuminated our apartment was burning naphtha, or naft, as it is called in the region. For this purpose, the liquid is first put into an open vessel, re- sembling in shape an old Roman lamp. In this, one end of a large piece of twisted cloth is merged, and the other end, resting on the nose of the vessel, is set on fire. * Bibliotheca Orientalis. BURNING SOIL. 209 in a Mirza of Kermanshah, in his invasion of this country, sat down for ten days before Kerkuk, and then went away despairing of taking it. I did not ascend to the citadel, but the part of the town below contains about 15,000 souls, among whom is a large number of Jews. There are also about fifty families of Chaldeans in the place, who were the first of which I had heard since leav- ing Bagdad. We rode through the bazars, of which only that for the sellers of cloth was covered, and resuming our Northerly direction, went off over the hills—the sulphur hills before-mentioned. At the end of an hour's ride, we turned from our road again to visit a spot where, I had long since been informed, fire might be seen issuing from the ground in several places. After a few minutes ride we surmounted a slight elevation, and saw, little hollow before us, flames bursting from a dozen small holes in the earth. The holes were about six inches in depth, and evidently excavated by the hand of man. The flame, as we at once discovered by the appearance and the smell, was burning sulphur. On turning up the ground in other spots, the whole soil seemed deeply impregnated with it, and, on opening holes near the burning ones, new flames at once burst forth. The fire was doubtless kindled in the first place by accident, and is kept burning above the surface only by opening fresh holes. There were many old excava- tions, where the sulphur had burned out, and the residue appeared to be pure lime. We had hardly regained the road, before we came upon another spot, where were several bitumen wells, very celebrated in these regions. They were five in number, upon a hill-side, each about twenty feet deep, and the black liquid lay at the bottom like water in a ALTEUN KEUPRU. 210 well. The workmen, for a small present, brought out two or three buckets full, and pouring it upon the sur- face of a little pool, set it on fire. The liquid spread upon the water like oil, the red flames rolled up to a great height, sending out a scorching heat, and going off in dense black masses of smoke. After leaving these wells, our course lay more Easterly until we had come to the last ridge of the sulphur hills and could look off to the country beyond. Here the mountains of Kurdistan again appeared to the North- East. Those which were first visible were the snowy summits of Ravendouz, from which issued, several years before, the famous Bey of that name, whose forays in the low countries of the plains had carried the terror of his arms even to Constantinople. We descended from the ridge into a level country of great fertility, and there pursued our way until we reached the town of Alteun Keupru, standing on an island in the Lesser Zab, now called the Alteun Keupru Sou, or Golden Bridge River. This name, borne equally by the stream and the town, is said to have been given on account of the great costliness of the bridges which connect the island with the main land. There is, however, no great evidence of the justness of the appel- lation in the appearance of the structures themselves. They are built of brick and paved, and are raised to so sharp an angle in the middle, being each only a single arch, that it is difficult gaining the summit on one side, and rather dangerous descending on the other. The island is a small one, and the town, which nearly covers it, had only one hundred families, the rest having been swept off by the plague. It has no bazars, except- ing twenty-five petty stalls, and nothing that would detain a traveller half-an-hour. I had intended to spend OPPRESSION OF VILLAGERS. 211 the night here, but two or three hours of the day re- inaining, and being assured that there was a village not far distant, we changed horses, drank our coffee and proceeded. Night overtook us long before we reached our resting-place, and I journeyed on exhausted by extreme fatigue and soreness, for my strength was yet only partially restored. At length we heard the baying of dogs, and soon entered the Kurdish village of Koush Tepeh, having, since morning, seen two towns, visited two natural curiosities, and travelled nearly sixty miles. We easily procured an apartment for ourselves and horses, and lighted a fire, around which half-a-dozen Kurds helped us to form a circle. They were talkative, as usual, and most of them said their prayers, which Kurds who profess to be Mussulmans are more punctual in doing than Turks. They complained of the indignities which they suffered from the irregular soldiery of the Pasha-a lawless set of men who wander about the country in the service of their master, and torment the villagers wherever they go. A body of this kind is kept by most of the Pashas in the distant provinces, and are used for any service on which their masters may choose to send them. It is a feature of the old system not yet done away, and is a source of great vexation and suffer- ing to the poor villagers, who have to harbour them whenever they come, and provide for them everything which they demand. It is one of the brightest features of the new reforms, that soldiers on the march are not allowed to extort anything from the peasantry, but are required to pay for all that they receive. There were many benignant acts of this kind in the changes wrought by the late Sultan, which have already proved of incal- culable benefit to the country. The villagers of Koush Tepeh had fled from their former homes, and selected 212 ARBELA. the spot where we found them, at a distance from the high road, for the purpose of avoiding the evils from which they had suffered. But they had not escaped, and they begged me to intercede with the Pasha for their relief. When I lay down to sleep, Mohammed Agha stationed one of them at my head and another at the door. The rest he sent away. From Koush Tepeh to Erbil, a distance of about ten miles, the country is open, rich, and undulating. I have written the name of the town according to the original orthography, but it is commonly pronounced by the people, Evril. It is the same with the ancient Arbela, near which the great and decisive battle between Alexander and Darius was fought. I will not fight it over again in these pages, but I may have a word to say with regard to it when I come nearer to the actual scene of the conflict. The present city of Arbela stands, like Kerkuk, on a round flat-topped hill, some 150 feet high. The wall, however, which runs round the brow is better than that of Kerkuk. It encloses 1000 houses, and there are 500 more at the foot of the hill, which, from the depression of the ground, are not all visible as you approach the place. There is a considerable number of Jews in the town, but no Christians. The bazars, which are below, had a very picturesque appear- ance from their being covered with branches, which gave them an airiness and lightness more agreeable, though less imposing, than solid arches of brick or stone. Three-fourths of an hour North-West of the town lies Enkeva, a village of Chaldeans. As my desire was to see as much as possible of this people, I determined to proceed thither, after tarrying an hour at Erbil, and spend the rest of the day among them. We arrived CHALDEAN VILLAGE. 213 see. there at noon, and I entered the village with a heart bounding at the thought of spending half a day among a Christian people. I soon found a place in a family, and felt myself entirely at home. Everything appeared different from what I had so long been accustomed to There was none of the distance and arrogance of Mussulmans. The women, with unveiled faces, were attending to their domestic duties. The husbands were aiding in the care of the children, and conversing freely and kindly with their wives. It seemed something like Christianity, and, though but a slight token, I could not help feeling it deeply. There were several Kurdish families in the village, and about sixty Christian. The latter had a Church, which I visited just at the close of the evening service, shortly before sunset. Two of the three priests of the village were present, who showed me the interior. It was very plain, and I observed no pictures. The building was more than a century old, and altogether respectable for a village Church. It was surrounded by a high wall, the door to which was so low that it could not be entered without almost getting upon one's knees. I was surprised to find that a large number of the villagers were blind, or had diseased eyes. Having some sulphate of zinc with me, I prepared it, and delivered it to the Kiahya of the village, with orders to administer it to all who might make application. This gave me at once the name of Hekim Bashi, and patients began to flock in. One of them was the third priest, whom I had not as yet seen. His complaint was, according to his own description, of a very novel character. He had been carried away by Ravendouz Bey, in one of his excursions a year and a half before. At that time he LODGINGS. 214 had been affected with a great trepidation, and ever since, he added, on every alternate day, he had been seized by a violent shivering just as when he was taken. Upon further inquiry, I found that the fits had all the symptoms of the fever and ague, and administered accordingly. The people of the village spoke a corrupt dialect of their ancient tongue, and many of them knew Turkish. They appeared contented, and described their situation as every way easy and comfortable, excepting occasional visits from the lawless soldiers of the Pasha. I noticed in them the same cheerful, open, and frank disposition which had so much impressed me among the Nestorians of Persia. There were two families in the house where I lodged, and we all occupied one apartment. I was amused at the distribution which was made of us when we came to seek our quarters for the night. The two families were stationed at the inner extremity of the apartment, Mohammed Agha, with his son Ahmed, in the middle, and myself on the outside. The Tatar, solely, as he protested, on my account, entered frequent complaints of the crying of the babies, but to no purpose, for one family had hardly become quiet before the children in the other corner began, so that we gained little sleep the whole night. The soil appeared of a rich, dark mould, as we pur- sued our way the next morning towards the Great Zab. The dark mountains of Kurdistan were on our right, and the country over which we travelled was slightly undulating. It was everywhere, however, destitute of trees. Husbandmen were ploughing on all sides, and so great was the industry prevailing, or the want of the proper animals for agricultural labour, that all kinds of CROSSING THE ZAB. 215 beasts were put into requisition. In one place we saw a donkey and a heifer pulling in the same yoke. We were four hours in reaching the ford of the Great Zab, from Enkeva. The people call it simply the Zab. On the bank of the stream, close to the ford, stands a little village, which bears the very appropriate name of Kellek, (Raft,) all the men in its forty families being employed in rafting travellers and merchandise across the river. The rafts in use were about ten feet square, and composed of a layer of goat-skins set close together and inflated with wind, and upon these another layer of branches and withes. Those which Xenophon describes on the Tigris, in the retreat of the Ten Thousand, seem to have been of the same construction. On one of these rafts, Ahmed was first embarked with the baggage. As it was pushed off from the shore, four boys followed, each leading a horse with one hand, and holding an inflated skin in the other. When they had reached a convenient depth, they sprang upon the skins, and the horses, familiar doubtless with the business, followed without resistance. The raft was propelled by two men with paddles. The force of the current carried them swiftly down, but they were soon all landed in safety on the opposite side. The raft was then drawn up along the shore to the starting-place, and another party, wait- ing to be transported, embarked and came over. I then followed with Mohammed Agha, who committed himself to the raft uttering his Bismillah, which he employed on all occasions. I observed that the Yezidees used none of these expression, so common to Mussulmans*. We were less than five minutes in crossing, but the whole process of transportation cost us an hour's delay. I * For an account of this singular people, see Appendix, XII. THE BATTLE OF ARBELA. 216 judged the river to be about 400 feet wide at the ford, which is the same as when Xenophon retreated through the country After leaving the Zab, we crossed a sterile and uncul- tivated tract, and came, in one hour and a half, to the Hazer River, which we forded without difficulty. This is undoubtedly the Bumadus, on which the great battle between Alexander and Darius was fought, B. c. 331. It is called the battle of Arbela, from that city having been the only place of note in the vicinity. But it was actually fought at a village called Gaugamela, between the Lycus (Great Zab), and the Bumadus. There is no other river than the Hazer to answer to the latter, but it would seem that the battle must have taken place farther up than where the present route crosses the two streams, for the historians of the battle, Quintus Curtius and Arrian, make the distance between the Lycus and the Bumadus eighty stadia, or more than nine miles. But where my road crossed them, it cannot be more than five miles. They also state the distance of the field of battle from Arbela to be 500 or 600 stadia, or about from fifty-seven to sixty-nine miles; while the distance of the Hazer from Erbil on the route that I travelled, cannot be more than twenty-five miles. With these data we are able to determine with considerable accuracy where the battle was, by a simple measurement on the map, which those who are curious in such things can easily make. Beyond the Hazer, we entered gradually into a fine plain country, upon which numerous villages were in sight. We stopped at one called Batoli, which, though still very large and containing at least a thousand in- habitants, must have been greatly reduced since former times, when, according to Assemanni, it was an Epis- VILLAGES AND MONASTERIES. 217 copal see of the Jacobites. It suffered greatly during the recent plague, and many of its houses are in ruins. Its population is about equally divided between the Ja- cobites and the Syrian Catholics. We found its people very hospitable. They gave us excellent accommoda- tions, and such a supper as it is seldom the lot of the traveller to find in an Eastern village. Among other things was a dish of olives. The Tatar commenced a fierce attack upon them, when his son suggested that the vinegar in which they were preserved was nothing else than sour wine. “True," said the old man, and he pushed them from him with disgust. It was Mohammed Agha’s favourite boast, that, amidst all the lapses of his long life, he had never been guilty of the sin of drinking wine, and that now, in his old age, he did not even know the taste of the forbidden liquor. Batoli stands in the midst of a highly productive and interesting country. Kermelis, a Chaldean village, lay upon our left, as we approached Batoli. Farther to the south is Karagoush, which, though almost ruined by the plague, has seven Syrian Catholic and one Jacobite Church. Three hours from that place is the Jacobite monastery of Mar Benam, now, I believe, deserted. In other parts of this extensive tract, lying between the Zab and the Tigris, are several Kurdish villages, and one, at least, of Yezidees. We had also passed one inhabited by Turks. I was creditably informed that the eastern bank of the Tigris, for a distance of twelve miles above and forty below Mossoul, was settled entirely by people of this race, doubtless of the same stock with those farther south, whom I have already noticed. From the opposite side of the Zab, two peaks had attracted our attention. As we advanced, one was covered by the other, but at Batoli both were visible, and bore VOL. II. 218 RUINS OF NINEVEH. nearly north from the village. On the first, called Karatchuk, was discerned the old Church or Monastery of Mar Daniel. On the second, which bears the name Makloub, stands the celebrated convent of Mar Mattai, or St. Matthew. To complete the circle of interesting objects, on the east, only three hours' ride from Batoli, are the Ruins of Nineveh. We first came in sight of them on the brow of a hill just behind the plain on which they stand. The first object which caught my eye, was the supposed tomb of Jonah. Beyond it was a distinct view of Mos- soul, and, on either side, distant glimpses of the Tigris. On approaching nearer, we observed that a low range of hills seemed to run quite round the site of Nineveh, which was an extensive plain close upon the Tigris. In different parts of this plain, especially near the hill on which the tomb of Jonah stands, were lines of mounds, which Rich found, on excavating them, to contain remains of ancient structures. The hill itself may have been the place of the citadel or palace. It is evidently artificial like those of Kerkuk and Arbela, but seems to have been reduced by the lapse of time. There is now a Mussulman village on its sides. The Moham- medans have appropriated the tomb to themselves. They call it the sepulchre of Nebbi Yonan, or the Prophet Jonah, and such the Jews and Christians also believe it to be. It is now within the inclosure of a mosque, which is said to have been once a church, and whose white dome is visible above. This is all that the passing traveller now sees of Nine- veh, but, doubtless, if its soil were excavated throughout, interesting relics would everywhere be found. The mode of building in these countries, where everything is constructed chiefly of earth, prevents any such durable THE TIGRIS. 219 nezzar. remains as are found in other lands. A few mounds are all that is still to be seen of Babylon, and the chief remuneration which the traveller derives from visiting the place where it once was, is in the reflection that he has stood upon the soil of the mighty city of Nebuchad- Nineveh must have occupied a much larger surface than the plain before-mentioned, unless we are to understand by the “three days' journey” of Jonah*, the measurement of its wall, and not its diameter, as would seem from the expression that he entered into the city a day's journey.” The breadth of the plain between the hills and the Tigris cannot be more than one mile and a half, but its length along the river is very great. Descending from the eminence where we had over- looked the plain, we passed close to the right of the hill of Jonah, and soon reached the Tigris. I was at first surprised to see the river which had appeared, at Bag- dad, so large and noble a stream, now reduced to half its former breadth. . The manner in which we passed it shows the barbarous inattention of the Turks to such matters. Where we came down to the river were the remains of a stone bridge, of which the piers, for half the distance across, were still standing. We went out on the shore to the very edge of the water, and then mounted by a slight platform to the top of a broken pier. Be- tween this and the next a frail covering of wood was thrown across. The second and third were connected in the same manner, and so on to the end of the ruins. Between the last pier and the opposite shore, half the breadth of the river, was a bridge of boats, which, how- ever, like those at Bagdad, have very little resemblance to anything that is used on sea or land, being great * Jonah, iii. 3, 4. L 2 CHAPTER XIX. THE CHALDEAN CHURCH. SUBJECT PROPOSED-COMMENCEMENT OF THE PAPAL MISSIONS IN MESOPO- TAMIA-PROFESSED PRINCIPLE OF THE MISSIONS-ACTUAL MODE OF OPERATION-INTERFERENCE WITH THE PATRIARCHAL OFFICE-DEFEC- TION OF THE PATRIARCH-CONSEQUENCES-VIOLENT MEASURES OF THE MISSIONARIES- BITTER CONTENTIONS-SETTLEMENT OF DIFFERENCES- DEFECTION OF THE CHURCH ITS NATURE AND EXTENT_CHANGES TRACED AND ENUMERATED THE LITURGY-CONFESSION-HOLY WATER-SIGN OF THE CROSS-PURGATORY-THE COMMUNION SERVICE-BAPTISM - SACRA- MENTS—THE MINISTRY-PICTURE-WORSHIP-THE VIRGIN MARY-INTRO- DUCTION OF ROMISH BOOKS—THE SACRED SCRIPTURES-CONCLUSION. Ar Mossoul we are in the midst of the Chaldean popu- lation, and at the best point for extending our survey over their ancient and venerable church. I do not pro- pose to indulge in ecclesiastical reminiscences. The rise of the Nestorian heresy, if such it must be reputed, is familiar to every one at all read in the history of the Church, and can easily be traced by others who are not. My object in the present chapter is of a more practical nature. I wish to trace, so far information enables me to do it, the rise and progress of the change to which I have already adverted as having taken place in the Nestorian Church within the last century, to show to what extent it has advanced, how far it is radical, and how far it is merely nominal. In so doing, as I mean as my 222 PAPAL MISSIONS. to extenuate naught, so I trust I shall set down nought in malice. It is a painful story, but it is one which must be told. The statements which I shall now offer are the substance of the best information which I was able to obtain, and (with the exception of dates, in which Oriental people are seldom correct) may, I think, be safely relied upon. Whatever did not come to me well authenticated I have withheld. At what time the Papal missions among the Mesopo- tamian Christians commenced I am unable to say. They appear to have begun in the province of Diarbekir, where numerous proselytes had been made, and a Patriarch set over them by the Pope, before converts had been gained, or any considerable effort attempted in Mossoul*. The earliest arrival of Romish missionaries of which the peo. ple of this city have any recollection was about ninety years ago. One at first appeared among them in the character of a physician, but it was soon discovered that he was a priest, and had other designs in hand than administering to bodily maladies. At that time there was resident in Mossoul a wealthy and influential layman of the Romish Church, who, though a Spaniard by birth, had connected himself in marriage with a Chaldean lady of Mossoul, and had settled in that city. His influence and intrigues aided greatly in promoting the interests of the Church of Rome, whose missionaries increased within a few years to three or four. By the employment of threats in some cases and promises in others, by specious representations * The first Patriarch of the Romish Proselytes from the Nestorian Church was instituted by Pope Innocent XI., in May, 1681. He was stationed at Diarbekir, with the rank of Metropolitan Bishop, and bore the title of Joseph, Patriarch of the Chaldeans. Assemanni Bibliotheca Orientalis, Tom. tert. Pars prima, p. 623. INCIPIENT EFFORTS. 223 of the character and designs of the Papal Church, a few converts were gradually made. The flattering pro- posal from Rome was to bring all the Oriental churches into union with herself, and it was explicitly declared, that, for the sake of such a union, she was willing to leave untouched all that was peculiar in the constitution, rites, and offices of those churches. My host at Mossoul showed me one day a copy of a Syrian breviary, published at Rome, with certain additions, in the preface to which, which was in Latin, it was said, that “the Church of Rome most vehemently desires to embrace, to cherish, and to nourish in her maternal bosom all the churches of the East.” The Latin Bishop at Bagdad was wont to hold out the same Catholic scheme, as the simple and entire design of the church which he represented. Notwithstanding these plausible pretensions, the Pope had already set a Patriarch over the Nestorians who had seceded from their Church, and had bestowed upon the converts the national name of Chaldeans. A schismatic Patriarch still resided at Diarbekir, and bore the name of Mar Yousouf, which had descended from the first Patriarch to his successors, in the same manner with those of Mar Elia and Mar Shimon among the Nesto- rians. The work of proselytism, however, made no considerable progress in Mossoul, until a bolder scheme was attempted, and but too effectually executed. The present venerable Patriarch was then a youth of fifteen or sixteen years of age. He was residing at Al Kosh near Mossoul, the seat of the Nestorian Patriarchs, and having already attained the rank of Mutran, or Metro- politan Bishop, he was awaiting only the death of his uncle to enter by right of succession the Patriarchal office. While matters were in this position, the Papists by some means obtained possession of the royal firman, 224 DEFECTION OF THE PATRIARCH. by which the descent of the office was confirmed accord- ing to the usage of the Nestorian Church, (or, as it appears to me more probable, they seized upon the special firman which came after the death of the uncle, approving and ratifying the succession of Mar Yohanna*,) and employed it as an instrument for his conversion, by threatening to withhold this title to the Patriarchate, unless he would acknowledge allegiance to the Bishop of Rome. The stratagem succeeded, and Mar Yohanna sent in his adhesion to the Pope. The effect of this change was widely and deeply felt. It caused extreme grief among the Nestorians, who appear, with few exceptions, to have been still true to their Church. It was related to me by one informant, that the mother of Mar Yohanna, overcome with sor- row at this defection of her consecrated son, threw her- self from a precipice at Al Kosh and was maimed for life. The death of the former Patriarch at length arrived, about the year 1775, according to my best informants, though some placed it as early as 1760. Mar Yohanna now found that, instead of stepping quietly into the Patriarchal seat, it was alleged that his conversion had transferred the entire Church to the Pope, and with it, the right of appointing a patri- arch. It was argued that, by the submission of Mar Yohanna, the whole Nestorian Church had virtually changed, and had therefore passed over to the juris- diction of the schismatic Patriarch of Diarbekir. The result was that the diocese of Mossoul was given to Mar Yohanna, and Mar Yousouf remained sole Patri- * The present Patriarch is still generally called by this, which is his own name, instead of Mar Elia, which, as before observed, is the official title of all the Chaldean patriarchs of Mesopotamia, as is Mar Shimon of those of Persia. ALTERCATIONS. 225 arch. His actual power, however, was almost entirely confined as before to the province of Diarbekir, for the Nestorians of Mossoul neither accepted nor relished the change. Nor did Mar Yohanna himself silently submit to this violent destruction of the long-established insti- tution of his church. He openly consecrated bishops in some of the villages of his diocese, for churches which had refused to acknowledge allegiance to the Pope, and still remained true to their ancient faith. The act ex- cited deep indignation at Rome. A bull of excommu- nication was issued against him, and the diocese of Mossoul given to another, called Mutran Shimon. It was also, I suppose, at this time that Mar Yohanna was thrown into prison by the intrigues of Mar Yousouf and the Papal missionaries, with the Pasha of Mossoul. That such an event did occur, and through the influence mentioned, is a fact of the most common notoriety in Mesopotamia ; the precise time only is doubtful. These acts of violent interference and usurpation effectually roused the Chaldeans of Mossoul against the Pope, and a long and bitter controversy ensued. The number of Romish missionaries at that time resi- dent in the city were three, two Dominicans and one Jesuit. These emissaries thundered their anathemas against all who dared to resist the will of the Pope. But such expedients had lost their power. The spirit of the people was too thoroughly roused to respect them, and the missionaries soon after left the city, whether from fear or from some other motive I am unable to say. Two of them were afterwards waylaid and mur- dered by a party of predatory Kurds near Amadieh, whither the missionaries had gone. The act, however, was then, and is still, believed to have been committed at the instigation of the Chaldeans. 13 226 DEFECTION OF THE CHURCH. In the mean time, the new Metropolitan of Mossoul had established himself there, but was prevented, by the excitement which prevailed, from entering upon the duties of his office. The enraged Chaldeans threat- ened to put him to death if he appeared abroad, and he remained a prisoner in his own house. The opposi- tion of the people at length effected its object. By an order from Rome, Mutran Shimon was removed, and Mar Yohanna resumed his office. The question between him and Mar Yousouf was finally settled by the same authority, but in what manner I have not been able positively to determine. A Chaldean, whom I subse- quently met at Constantinople, informed me that it was by assigning the towns to the jurisdiction of Mar Yohanna, and the villages to Mar Yousouf, and giving the former the precedence in rank. This arrangement, he added, was effected about 1810, and continued in force till 1826, when Mar Yousouf died, and, no suc- cessor being appointed, Mar Yohanna remained, as he still is, in undisputed possession of the patriarchal office. I have it, however, from the same informant, that he had not been formally recognised by the Pope till within four or five years. The profession of subjection which he made in his youth has gradually, however, had the effect of bringing the entire Church into an acknowledgment of the same allegiance. Its members began to call themselves Ca- tholic, without, for the most part, knowing anything more of the matter than that they were now under the Papa, as they styled the Head of the Latin Church. After diligent inquiry, I was not able to learn that any had protested against the change. The only Nes- torians remaining, I was told, were a people of another sect inhabiting the mountains of Kurdistan, for in this NATURE OF THE CHANGE. 227 vague way they spoke of the followers of Mar Shimon. In a single instance I received some intimation, that there were certain villages of the Nestorians of Mar Elia, to the east of Amadieh, which still remained true to their old Church, and it is easy to believe that, in those wild and almost impenetrable recesses, such a community may be found. As might be expected from the nature of the conver- sion of the Nestorians, by the act of their Patriarch and not by individual proselytism, it is rather formal and nominal, than minute and practical. Nothing can be more vague than their own conceptions of the change which has passed upon them. They uniformly acknow- ledge an attachment to the Papal Church, but in all my conversations, I met with no one, even among the clergy, who could give a definite account of the differ- ence between his present and past belief. The natural process of conversion seems, in their case, to have been reversed. They verbally acknowledge the doctrines and practices of the Church of Rome, because they have become Roman Catholics, instead of becoming adhe- rents of that Church because they had first embraced its peculiarities. I found in no one instance an avowed attachment to anything distinctively Roman Catholic, but uniformly a general, uninformed assent. There is little, if any, of the virulent hatred against Protestants, often so strong and deep among European Papists. They know nothing of the contentions, divisions, and changes which have been working in the Western world, and, excepting a few who have visited Europe, they have no idea that their connexion with the Papacy puts them in opposition to any other religious communion. I made no scruple of speaking freely of my own Church, and I never found that it abated aught from the 228 CHANGE IN THE LITURGY. cordiality with which I was treated, nor did they seem to imagine that there was any ground of difference between us. But to turn to a more definite view of the changes which their conversion implies, they may be traced article by article from a comparison of what has been with what is. First, then, there has been no change in articles of faith, no renunciation of the Nestorian heresy, no introduction of a new creed, no tangible and formal act of reception of the doctrines and usages of the Romish Church. There has been no alteration of the Liturgy, nor of any of the books containing the ser- vices of the Church, excepting, as I had it from one informant, that in the Guzza, or Treasure, which con- tains the services for Saints' Days, the name of Nesto- rius has been expunged, and that of Cyril inserted in its stead. If this be indeed, as I fully believe, the only change, which has been introduced into the religious books of the Nestorians, it is a consoling reflection that they have still their comparatively pure and scriptural standard to guide them back, when the day of restitu- tion comes, if the same seducing spirit which has led them away from the truth shall not at length corrupt what it has not yet ventured to touch. The Chaldeans hold their principal church book, which is the Khouthra, or Index, in high veneration for its great antiquity, and an attempt made by the Latin missionaries to introduce some changes into it was so vehemently opposed that they were compelled to desist. The principal changes, therefore, have been in the practices of the Church, and not in its standards. The rite of Confession remains very much as of old. It is recognised in practice, but not required, excepting be- fore the Holy Communion. By many, however, it is HOLY WATER. -PURGATORY. 229 ner. voluntarily practised at other seasons. It is performed in the church, the person confessing kneeling before the priest, and in the presence of each other. The absolution is pronounced in the name of God, and not as if forgiveness proceeded from the confessor. If my information is correct, the form is not essen- tially different from that of the American Episcopal Church. The use of Holy Water has been introduced into the Churches both of the Syrian Catholic and Chaldean. It is a complete innovation, and its introduction was at first opposed in a singular and very unscrupulous man- Some of the unbelieving secretly poured a mix- ture of oil and soot into the dish, with which the people unwittingly made a visible and permanent cross upon their foreheads. The Chaldeans still retain their old form of making the sign of the cross, which is, I believe, different from that of the Roman Catholics. To us this may appear a matter of the least importance; but it is regarded as of great moment among the Eastern Christians. The Chaldeans make it, as of old, from top to bottom, and from left to right, or, in other words (when it is not made on the forehead alone), by touch- ing successively the forehead, the breast, the left shoulder and the right. The reason for this peculiar mode is, that Christ came down from heaven to earth, and has brought us out of darkness, represented by the left hand, the place of the goats, into light, which is signified by the right hand, the place of the sheep. The Nestorians seem to have had very vague notions with regard to the intermediate state of souls, the com- mon belief being that the good were carried to the abode of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, while the wicked were sent to dwell with Pharaoh and his hosts, or with 230 COMMUNION-SERVICE. -BAPTISM. Arius, or with some other blasphemer, persecutor, or heretic. The best-informed among the Chaldeans now acknowledge a Purgatory, and by such, prayers are offered for the dead. The Communion Service in the Chaldean liturgy re- mains unchanged, but a very singular alteration in the act of administration has been introduced in, at least, a part of the Churches. The practice of the Nestorian Church, following the primitive mode, has been to ad- minister to the people in both kinds, and the Order of service was composed accordingly. At present, in many of the Churches, for I do not believe the change to have generally prevailed, the entire service is read, while the bread only is given, in conformity with the usage of the Church of Rome, thus introducing a strange and absurd discrepancy between the language of the service and the act. It may be well to add here, that this holy sacra- ment is administered in a much more simple, and doubt- less more primitive manner, among both Chaldeans and Syrians, than in the Latin Church. The rite of Baptism is practised as formerly among the Chaldeans. The Nestorian Church regarded it and the Holy Communion as Sacraments, but did not recog- nise the other five so held by the Church of Rome. They are even distinguished by name, the first two being called Razi, or Mysteries, and the others simply Takhsa, Rites or Orders. Those Chaldeans who understand most of the Church of Rome now acknowledge the whole seven as Sacraments, but no alterations have in consequence been introduced into the Church books, since nothing is there said in the way of creed on the subject. The Nes- torian Church having been separated from the Greek before the corruption of the latter had become deep and wide-spread, there is no allusion in their sacred books to THE MINISTRY. -- PICTURES. 231 those departures from primitive practice which after- wards became imbedded in the usages of the Greek and Latin Churches, and which our own Articles of Faith particularly mention and protest against. The acknow- ledgment of seven Sacraments at present made among the Chaldeans, is, therefore, merely individual, not ecclesiastical. No attempt, so far as I could learn, has been made to introduce changes into the ministry of the Chaldean Church, either as to its offices or its duties, with the exception of the encroachments on the patriarchal office already mentioned. The ministry is distinctly divided into the three orders of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons ; but these are again subdivided into other orders, two of which correspond in some respects with the dignities of Archbishop and Archdeacon in the Church of Eng- land*. The arrangement, in the former case as in the latter, is one of convenience, and not a distinction of institutions deemed essential to the existence of a Church. It has not been attempted, or, if attempted, the effort has not been successful, to introduce celibacy among the priesthood of the Chaldean Church. The clergy are generally married, and their being so is regarded as entirely lawful, with the exception of the Patriarch and the Metropolitan Bishops, who, according to the ancient institutions of the Church, are required to remain in a single state-a practice which prevails also among the Jacobites. The Chaldeans seem to have had the custom from an early time of placing pictures in their churches, but they appear to have been merely for ornament. In this * See Appendix, XIII. 232 THE VIRGIN MARY. I was respect, only a partial change has been effected. I saw no pictures in any of the Chaldean churches of Mossoul, excepting in a solitary instance, where there was an old one in a dark corner, and so impaired by time that I could not discover whether it was the Virgin or some other saint, and the priest could not inform me. told that in some of the churches were pictures of the Virgin over the altar, but I visited almost every church in the city and did not observe them. In one church, however, was an engraving sent from Rome, which repre- sented the Virgin holding in her arms the infant Saviour, and before this, I am sorry to say, the people pray with the rosary. A new church of the Chaldeans in Diar- bekir, erected under the supervision of two Jesuits, pre- sented an odd mixture of Eastern and Western style. The clear floor and the latticed gallery for females were Oriental, while the numerous pictures and images of the Virgin, with lamps burning before them, were the same as one may see in the centre of Europe. An image of a child, in wax, was brought from Rome some twenty years ago, and set up in a glass case on the altar of one of the churches in Mossoul. No worship or reverence was paid to it, but it was an object of great curiosity to all the little boys in the city, who stole in, at irregular hours, to examine it. In their hands it was, at length, broken. First the arms disappeared, then the legs, and at last the head, after which it was thought proper to take it away. The Nestorian Church rejects the doctrine that Mary is the Mother of God, or perhaps I shall speak more accurately if I say, it rejects the phrase, and calls her the Mother of Christ. In the service of the Church, she is extolled with the praise in the Gospel, “ Blessed art thou among women," &c., but she is not addressed in ROMISH WORKS. THE SCRIPTURES. 233 prayer. She is believed, however, to have the power of intercession, in common with all saints, and this belief is alluded to in certain of the prayers of the Church, in which the unworthiness of the suppliants is acknowledged, and it is urged that the saints will intercede for them. The proselyted Nestorians confess her to be the Mother of God, and printed books in Arabic have been introduced from Rome, from which prayers are offered to the Virgin, especially in private families. A large number of Roman Catholic works, in Latin, Syriac, Chaldaic, and Arabic, have been sent into Mesopotamia, but chiefly in Arabic. Among those which I saw at the house of the Syrian Catholic Archbishop of Mossoul, were the works of Ephraem, with a Latin translation, and the breviary in Syriac before mentioned, which is published with some ad- ditions. The Liturgy of the Chaldean Church has also been published. Besides these, numerous volumes of Romish prayers, and works setting forth and defending the doctrines and practices of the Latin Church, have been sent into the country, and one, at least, aimed directly against what is called the Nestorian heresy. All this must be regarded as a violation of those Ca- tholic proposals with which the Church of Rome has incessantly presented herself before the Christian com- munions of the East. The Sacred Scriptures exist among the Chaldeans, either in whole or in part, in several languages. In Mossoul the entire New Testament, and parts of the Old Testament in Strangheli, are to be found in families, but I saw none of them, and they are difficult to be obtained In Chaldaic the whole Bible is said to exist in private hands, but I made most diligent search for a copy and RESTORATION. 235 ancient Church, so long beguiled and deluded with the fallacious hope of a Catholic union, may return to their own higher standards, and, if need be, beyond them, to the light and purity of the Primitive and Apostolic Church ! CHAPTER XX. 1 MOSSOUL. SITUATION - LEGEND - SULPHUR-SPRINGS-MARBLE-QUARRIES-VISITATION OF THE PLAGUE-TRADE-MANUFACTURE-RIVER-TRADE-CLIMATE- CUSTOMS OF THE PEOPLE-THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CITY-INSURREC- TIONS AND CHANGES-INTRODUCTION OF REFORMS-LANGUAGES-RELA- TIONS OF THE CHALDAIC AND SYRIAC-CORRUPTIONS OF THE CHALDAIC- THE LANGUAGE OF THE PEOPLE-SCHOOLS-RELIGIOUS STATE OF THE CHALDEANS. Mossoul is pleasantly situated on the Tigris, at the point where the river turns from its easterly course and goes towards the south. Two sides of the city, there- fore, lie upon the stream. The town rises to a consi- derable elevation in the middle, and is surrounded by a wall, which is one of the best that I remember to have seen in the East. The north-easternmost bastion is the place where an old tradition reports that the Virgin Mary appeared to deliver the city, when besieged by a Persian army nearly one hundred years ago. The Pasha, being reduced to the last extremity, tried the expedient of applying to a Christian saint for relief, and accordingly vowed that, if the city were delivered, he would erect two churches to the Blessed Virgin. The following night, a female appeared to him in a dream, and said, “ Fear not, for I will deliver you from the hands of your enemies." The next morning, tidings were brought that the Persians had raised the siege and INTERIOR OF MOSSOUL. 237 were retiring in dismay, having seen at early dawn a female sitting on the afore-mentioned bastion, whose superhuman appearance filled them with dread. The Pasha was faithful to his word, and erected two churches to the Virgin, in that part of the city, where they still stand. One of them is occupied by the Chaldeans and the other by the Syrians, among whom the legend is preserved as an indubitable fact. On the same side of the town, just without the walls, are several warm sulphur springs, one of which is in- closed so as to form a pool, whither the people resort in summer to bathe. Not far from this spot are extensive quarries of marble, of so soft a quality that it can be cut and hewn like wood. It is brought to the city and used very extensively in building, for door-posts, window-sills, arches and pavements, while the layer of rough stone which lies above it in the quarry, furnishes abundant materials for the walls. Lime is also obtained from them, which is mixed with earth and used as a plaster for the exterior of the houses. Some parts of the city acquire, in this way, a very neat appearance. The houses are constructed entirely of stone, the ceilings being vaulted. The roofs are terraced and plastered without in the same manner with the walls, and being surrounded with parapets, they afford delightful retreats and comfortable sleeping-places in summer. One is struck with the extent of the city, when view- ing it from an elevated position, and is no less surprised at the extent of the ruins, when walking through the streets. This last feature is attributed to a dreadful calamity which befel the city two years before the great plague at Bagdad. The crops of grain having been destroyed by locusts, famine ensued, and many died of it. When relief came, the plague followed, and, in the 238 TRADE. space of two and a half months made such havoc, that the city was left almost a desert. I was assured by very respectable authorities, that no less than 100,000 were cut off, and many stated the number still higher. After such a catastrophe, it is difficult to estimate the remain- ing population, but from all the accounts which I re- ceived, I judged it to be about the same with that of Bagdad, 40,000 souls. Among these are 1500 Jacobite Christians, about the same number of Syrian Catholics, and more than 3000 Chaldeans. There are also about 1000 Jews. The rest are Mussulmans, partly of the Arab stock, with a considerable intermixture of Turks and Kurds. The city seems to have declined in commerce, as well as in population. At present, its bazars are small and inferior in appearance, its streets were thronged with poor, and there was little of the bustle to be observed at Bagdad and in the great cities of Persia. In point of trade, it is chiefly a thoroughfare for the traffic between Bagdad, Syria, and Constantinople. It has, however, considerable commercial intercourse with the interior of Kurdistan, and is, undoubtedly, the best point from which to penetrate into that country from the southern border. The caravans from the north, however, in going to Bagdad, strike the great route at Erbil, Ker- kuk, and Kifri. The principal manufactures of the city are napkins and other cotton stuffs, such as chintz, shawls for turbans, and calicoes. The place was for- merly celebrated for its manufacture of muslin, (French mousseline,) which is supposed to have been invented here, and to have received its name from the city. These manufactures were once carried to a great extent, and long supplied most of the markets in the interior of Turkey, besides a large portion of the European de- 240 PAST AND PRESENT STATE. paint the under lip of a clayey blue, and spot each cheek with the same colour. They wear the blue cloak and the horse-hair veil of the Southern city, but many among the lower classes go uncovered. The children are decked with ear-rings, nose-rings, ankle-rings of silver, with little bells, or other jingling metal attached, braided hair with small knobs pendent, and close caps covered with medals and coins. Among the singular customs of the place, was one which I never observed elsewhere-the mode of selling houses. At a certain hour each day, a crier mounts to the roof, and proclaims, at the top of his voice, that the house is for sale. He publishes the qualities and the price, and whoever wishes to buy, goes and treats with the owner. The civil state of Mossoul has been greatly and favourably changed within a few years. Until recently, it had long been ruled by a race of Pashas descended from a Christian ancestry. Abdoul Jellul lived in the city more than a century ago. He was a Nestorian, and his tomb is still to be seen in the Church of St. Peter, in the city. He had two sons, one of whom be- came a Mussulman, and afterwards rose to the dignity of Pasha. From him the government of the city became hereditary in that family, and descended in unbroken succession till within a few years, when it was violently interrupted by an insurrection, which introduced a train of miseries that have but just now ceased. The people, esteeming themselves oppressed by their ruler, determined to free their city from him and the race altogether. Several Pashas of the family, who at- tempted to regain the government, were murdered, and the last of the name having added to the hate of the people, the ill-will of the Sultan, was sent into banish- mient near Constantinople. 242 LANGUAGES. fair specimen of the feeling with which it was met, at the outset, in every part of the Empire. As soon as it was announced that the Pasha was about to make his first enlistment of soldiers, the city was thrown into an indescribable panic. Officers were walking through the streets in search of men. Thousands fled and hid themselves in secret places in the city, or escaped to the mountains. The Pasha ordered every gate to be closed, excepting one, through which none were allowed to go out without a passport. The bazars were closed, and deserted by all but a few old men, and the streets ap- peared as if the pestilence were abroad. As I passed along, I heard the cries and lamentations of women in the houses from which one or more had been taken. Fathers and mothers were to be seen about the palace imploring for their children who had been seized. The cause of all this terror was only the vague appre- hensions of the people, arising from the novelty of the thing, and the reckless manner in which the impressment was carried on. The indiscriminate and merciless mode of conscription practised since the overthrow of the Janissaries, has been the most fatal mistake which has marred the royal work of reform. Happily, how- ever, and at the moment while these pages are written, the evil is in course of removal, under the vigorous measures which characterise the first year of the reign of the young Sultan. The language universally and almost exclusively spoken in Mossoul, is Arabic. There are those, however, who can speak Turkish, Kurdish, and the modern dialects of the languages of the Christians. The ancient language of the Chaldeans is Strangheli, which, they say, differs from the Chaldaic only in the form of its characters. · Manuscripts of various kinds are said to exist in it, but 244 THE CHALDAIC AND SYRIAC. A great dissimilarity, however, is found to exist in the Chaldaic, as it is spoken in different places. Every region has its peculiar dialect, according to the greater or less degree of intercourse with people of other tongues. Thus, for instance, in Mossoul the Chaldaic is much corrupted by Arabic. In the villages north of Mossoul, where Arabic is not known, it is corrupted with Kurd- ish. In other places, where the Chaldeans live almost entirely secluded, it is nearly pure, and the speech of the Nestorians of Julamerick, who dwell in the heart of Kurdistan, retired from all other people, is probably the purest Chaldaic spoken. Some of this hardy race, whose name is a terror even to the Kurds, visit Mossoul at times for purposes of trade, and their language is. only imperfectly understood by the Chaldeans of the city, on account of its great purity. Those, however, who know the classical Chaldaic, the language of the books, are able to converse with them without difficulty. The knowledge of their own tongue, both among the Chaldeans and Syrians, is taught only to a very limited extent. By most of the Christians of Mossoul, the Ara- bic is the only language ever spoken, or which they are able to speak. The Chaldaic and Syriac are taught in the boys' schools, but the instruction is confined to teaching them to read without understanding, to repeat the words by rote, like empty sounds, without knowing anything of their meaning, the object of the instruction being simply to qualify them to read and respond in the services of the church, in precisely the same manner that Turkish children are taught to read the Koran and commit to memory the Arabic prayers, without ever taking the sense which they convey. Among the Christians of Mossoul, the Arabic, on the contrary, because it is the language in constant use, the lan- 246 RELIGIOUS STATE. them, in which they are only taught to sew. If they receive any instruction beyond this, it is given, as is sometimes the case, by their relations. Such an advan- tage, however, is of so rare occurrence that a female is seldom found who is able to read. Before closing my remarks upon this interesting peo- ple, I will freely state the impressions which I received concerning their religious views. As a Church they are, doubtless, with the Nestorians of Persia, the least con- taminated by superstitions and unscriptural doctrines and practices, of all the Churches of the East. The reason of this may be, under the preserving care of the Great Head of the Church, that they were cut off from the body of the Christian Communion in the East, before it was pervaded, as now, with manifold impuri- ties. Thrust away with all the proverbial bitterness of theological hatred, gathered in a remote country from which few of them ever go out, and where a corrupting influence could not easily reach them, they remained probably as pure in doctrine as at the moment of their excision, until the Church of Rome undertook to add what they had, for so many ages, been saved from. But the change which has passed upon them is not so deep as essentially to modify the character and prac- tices of the mass of nominal converts. In profession they hold all the great doctrines of Christianity. They acknowledge faith in Christ to be all essential to salva- tion, and that it must show itself by works. They speak of a dead faith as existing in him who believes intellectually, but whose conduct is not consistent with his belief. But they do not distinguish the renewal of the heart as a specific and well-defined change, nor do they use any terms implying renovation in the sense of the word most common among ourselves. They con- WANT OF SPIRITUALITY. 247 sider themselves Christians because they have been bap- tised and profess the faith of Christianity. Every one who is strict in the external duties of religion, is re- spected and venerated. They acknowledge the value of prayer and the obligation of charity, temperance, and integrity. From all that I could learn, their own morals are outwardly correct, and the grosser vices and crimes are quite unknown. If any exception should be made, it is in respect to the use of wine and rakee, which are often drunk to excess, even among the priests. They set an inestimable value on the name of Christian, and appear to place their confidence in baptism and outward profession, as securing a title to the salvation which is through Jesus Christ. In a word these Christians seem to be almost entirely destitute of a spiritual idea of religion. They have no distinct conception of our need of divine aid for the re- newal of the heart and for the maintenance of a religious life. They have little of a feeling of the deep corruption and desperate wickedness of the natural mind, little of an inward sense of their need of a Saviour from sin, little of bright hopes of Heaven, little of a knowledge of or sym- pathy with its bliss of holiness. Their fears, their hopes, and their religious views cluster around the externals of religion and rest there. They have the form, and, among the Churches of the East, a remarkably pure form of Christianity, and I am not prepared to say that there are not among them some truly spiritual, though feeble and uninstructed believers in Christ; but after all the con- versations which I had, and after all which I saw of their devotions and practices, I could not avoid being deeply impressed with the conviction, that Christianity was, with most of them, a form without a power. CHAPTER XXI. MOSSOUL. CONVENTS_RABBAN HORMUZD-VILLAGE OF AL KOSH-CONVENT OF ST. MATTHEW-ST. GEORGE-ST. ELIAS-CHALDEAN CHURCHES IN MOSSOUL- MY HOST-MUSSULMANS OF MOSSOUL-MEDRESSEHS AND MOSQUES-NOVEL CUSTOM - INTIMACY BETWEEN. CHRISTIANS AND MOHAMMEDANS-IN- STANCES-SUPERIOR CHARACTER OF THE CHRISTIANS-PREPARATION FOR DEPARTURE-INCIDENT ON THE ROAD FROM BAGDAD-APPREHENSIONS OP DANGER-THE TATAR'S PREPARATION ABLUTION BEFORE PRAYER. Mossoul was once the great metropolis of the Meso- potamian Christians, whose numbers, now reduced by proselytism, wars, civil oppression, and anarchy, were formerly very great. In those tiines they had numerous convents, some of which are still inhabited, while of others only the name and ruins remain. The chief and most celebrated of those of the Chaldeans was Rabban Hormuzd, situated in the mountains, about a day's ride north of Mossoul. The name is derived, as the Chal- deans affirm, from the son of a king of Persia, who embraced Christianity, and suffered martyrdom for his faith. He is esteemed a great saint among them, and his body is said to have been buried on the site of the convent, which is reported by Assemanni to have been erected by Tomarsa, Patriarch of the Chaldeans, in the latter part of the fourth century. The monastery has at one time been deserted, but about the commencement of the present century, it was revived by a zealous monk from Mardin, who went him- THE METROPOLITAN. 251 the Patriarch when he was in the city, but they are now fallen to ruin. All the Churches were poor, old, and neglected, and the furniture of the sanctuary was time-worn and mean. The interior was dark, and des- titute of the least appearance of ornament or beauty of any kind. In all these respects they were much inferior to the Churches of the Syrians. The Metropolitan with whom I lodged (Mutran Isai) was a man of middle age, with a face full of good-nature, and an agreeable disposition. He lived in the most unostentatious and temperate manner, as became, in the eyes of his people, the sanctity of his office. Some of his priests apologised repeatedly for my humble accommodations, and reminded me that I must not expect more in the house of a Bishop. The house it- self, which he held rent-free, had but three rooms. In one of them the Bishop lodged, another was occu- pied by a servant, and the third was assigned to me. Mutran Isai suggested, immediately upon my arrival, that I should procure my food, and have it cooked without, as he had not the means of providing for me within. His domestic establishment was indeed of the most humble order. A few metallic plates, a fork and spoon, a drinking-glass, and a napkin, constituted the entire furniture of his table. He spent the day in his room, excepting the hours of morning and evening prayers. When these approached, he put on a neatly arranged turban and an ample cloak, and taking the crosier, a simple silver-tipped staff, in his hand, walked slowly to the church, and commenced the services. His room was open to all, and I seldom found him alone. The poorest of his flock came and knelt before him, and kissed his hand, and the aggrieved brought their complaints. I had access MOHAMMEDANS AND CHRISTIANS. 253 The poor of this kind. They are built by the proprietor of the house, who appoints and pays the professor. They are then open to all who may choose to come. often resort to them for instruction, and strangers come in from abroad. Food is provided by the proprietor, and a quantity is sent each day sufficient for the pupils then present. The institution is transferred with the house, when the latter passes into other hands, and the successor receives it the more willingly, as it is believed to bring blessings upon the household. In my walks and rides about the city, I was some- times accompanied by one or another of the Chaldean or Syrian priests, and I always observed with surprise, the cordial and respectful manner in which they were everywhere saluted by the Mussulmans. The intimacy existing between the two classes became apparent before I had been many hours in the city, and it was so strange an occurrence that I immediately began to inquire into I believe that it results from several causes combined, from the fact that the Christians have in former times rendered most eminent services in defend- ing the city in war; from its having been so long under governors who, being the descendants of Christians, and preserving the memory of their ancestor, by visiting his tomb and keeping it in repair, as they were wont to do, probably exercised a more equitable rule over those of the same faith than has been common elsewhere in Turkey; from the circumstance that most of the useful professions are in the hands of Christians, which must aid in giving them influence and respectability; and finally from the fact that a large part of the Mussulmans are probably of Christian descent, as they themselves are often heard to acknowledge. It may be owing to this last circumstance, that the the cause. A FRIGHT. 255 which appear to be native qualities with them. I received from them much of unaffected and cordial-hearted kindness, while I saw little of that reserved and timid demeanour so common among the rayahs of Turkey. They are, in this respect, superior to the Nestorians of Persia, in whom the same qualities are blunted and crushed by the contempt and civil oppression which they endure. Both at Mossoul and afterwards at Mardin, most of those with whom I had intercourse, were men of active and intelligent minds. Among the clergy, in particular, there appeared an unusual degree of dignity and propriety of deportment. In fine, throughout my travels in Turkey and Persia, I met with no people in whom I became so deeply interested, none among whom I would so gladly spend my days. I had now been engaged ten days in my interesting labours at Mossoul, and the day of departure had come. Upon leaving the city, we were to enter upon the great Arabian desert, which stretches up, in this direction, to the banks of the Tigris. Mohammed Agha had been peculiarly apprehensive with regard to this part of our journey, and had talked about it all the way from Bag- dad. In one instance, he had already led me a fearful race over the rocky ridges of the Sulphur Hills, just after we left the bitumen wells. It was a place, he said, which had been notoriously unfortunate to Tatars, many of whom had been robbed and murdered on the spot, and he always thought, when passing it, that his evil star was in the ascendant. To add to his appre- hensions, in the present instance, he saw, or imagined he saw, a man on the look-out, on the top of one of the hills. He immediately put himself behind me, and with- out waiting for permission, gave my horse two or three lashes with his long whip. Instantly we were all at full ABLUTION. 257 somewhat of a spiritul character, as a sign and memento of the inward purity of spirit which is neccessary in approaching God, but to the multitude it is a mere outward and superstitious observance. It would be tedious to enumerate, as it must be impossible for any but a learned Mussulman to remember, the numerous prescriptions of the Sunneh upon this subject. They show most clearly the degraded state into which Moham- medanism has fallen, and how very far it is from being a spiritual worship of the only true and living God. The mass of Mussulmans, however, know nothing of these minute injunctions, and perform the ablution in a negli- gent and superficial manner, although in general they are extremely punctilious to perform it in some way and thoroughly, so far as their knowledge goes. Among other things, it is enjoined by the Sunneh, that the wor- shipper, while engaged in the act, be entirely abstracted from everything around him, and have no thoughts but those which belong to the exercise. CHAPTER XXII. JOURNEY FROM MOSSOUL TO MARDIN. FAREWELL TO MY HOST- LOUR GUARD-CONVERSATION WITH THE TATAR's SON--- REGARD OF MOHAMMEDANS FOR THE MESSIAH-MISCONCEPTION RESPECTING HIS DIVINITY-THE DOCTRINE OF A TRINITY NOT OFFENSIVE TO MUSSULMANS-DOCTRINE OF THE KORAN RESPECTING THE MESSIAH- DESERT TRAVELLING-NIGHT IN THE DESERT_SECOND DAY'S JOURNEY- THE SINJAR MOUNTAINS-FACE OF THE DESERT-STATION OF SOLDIERS- IMPURITY OF TURKS AND PERSIANS-THIRD DAY'S JOURNEY-MORE POPULOUS. REGION_THE CHARACTER OF ITS PEOPLE-CHANGE IN ITS GOVERNMENT_THE TOUR MOUNTAINS-PRINCIPAL SEAT OF THE JACOBITE POPULATION-THE ANCIENT NISIBIS-CHURCH OF ST. JAMES-PLAN OF A NEW CITY—THE PASHA OF THE PROVINCE-ANCIENT KHAN-SCENE AT SUNSET - PLUNDERING ARABS — DEXTERITY OF A YEZIDEE-DARA APPROACH TO MARDIN-VIEW OF THE CITY-ARRIVAL. My intercourse with my host, the Syrian Catholic Archbishop of Mossoul, had been of the most friendly and gratifying character, and when the hour of parting came it was a painful one. How gladly would I have re- mained with him, as he repeatedly invited me to do, and have commenced at once those efforts for the improve- ment of his people, in which he said I should have his cordial approval and co-operation. But my work was that of a pioneer, and I had yet other fields to explore. Happy, indeed, shall I be and but too high honoured of God, if others more worthy than myself shall enter into my labours. Mutran Isai came into the court before his house, to bid me farewell, and when I was about to mount, threw his arms around me, affectionately pressed THE MESSIAH. 259 both cheeks to mine, and sent me away with his bless- ing. Our horsemen joined us at the serai, and we rode out of the city. We marched about seven miles, over a hilly and stony ground, when we came near the river Tigris, and striking off again, kept a course nearly parallel to it, the rest of the day. We passed the ruins of three villages. One of our guard, an old man, informed me that twenty years ago this country, now a sterile waste, was inhabited and cultivated. The men of our guard all wore the old dress, and were armed with swords, pistols and spears. They were a rude and vile set, full of low jokes and indecent talk. We had not proceeded far before I began to regret that I was not compelled to cross the desert alone, rather than to traverse it in such company. I was glad to have my attention diverted from them by my young friend Ahmed, the Tatar's son, who quietly rode up to my side and began to question me about the Christian belief concern- ing Christ. He called him Hazreti Isai, the Noble Jesus, which is a common appellation of the Messiah among the Turks. I gave him the information which he wanted, and this drew on a conversation which made me quite forget my evil companions, and the troubles of the way. There is no subject upon which a Mohammedan is more apt to converse with a Christian than the nature of Christ. Among the Persians especially, it is even difficult to avoid it, for it is to them the great stone of stumbling and rock of offence. They almost always con- trive to turn the conversation to it, and they are never weary of disputing about spiritual entities and meta- physical abstractions. I never heard a Mohammedan speak irreverently of Christ. They acknowledge that they receive him as we receive Moses, a true prophet from God, but of a past 260 THE TRINITY. men. * " dispensation. They use his name with titles of respect, as for their own prophet. They hardly ever fail, when speaking of him, to fall upon his divinity, which is exceed- ingly offensive to them. The only thing, however, which makes it so, is their own misunderstanding of the doctrine. They suppose, as Mohammed did, that it involves the idea of a natural sonship, like that among That such was the misconception of the false Apostle is evident from many parts of the Koran ; and that the same idea was prevalent among the early Mus- sulmans is plain from a letter of Omar, the second Caliph, to Heraclius, the Greek Emperor, which begins thus :-“Praise be to God, Lord of this and the other world; who has neither female consort nor son At the present day, the Mohammedans, particularly the Persians, in disputing upon the doctrines of the Trinity, use language involving the most obscene and shocking ideas. The doctrine, however, is one which, if it were rightly understood, would be peculiarly congenial to the Persian mind. The incarnation of Deity, or its manifestation in the Finite, is, as I have elsewhere remarked, the fundamental principle of the Sooffee philosophy, as it is also of that of the Hindoos, and, generally, of the religious metaphysics of the East. One can hardly read some of the spiritual reveries of Oriental sages without being struck with the appropriateness of much of their language to the illustration of the manifestation of God in the person of Jesus Christ. The Christian doctrine of the Trinity, therefore, is not so repugnant to Mo- hammedans as may be commonly supposed. That which they so zealously contend against is a creation of their * Ockley's History of the Saracens, i. 279. 264 THE DESERT. large lots of clothing intended for themselves, for the custom was, as I suppose it still is, to make up the clothing of the army in Constantinople, and send it by caravans into the distant provinces. Mohammed Agha averred, with an expression of the greatest horror, that there were also found no less than twenty Tatars' saddles. When the work was done, the mountains were given up to plunder. Thirty thousand sheep were carried away, with other property of every description, and girls. The last were sent through the country for sale, and some of them were carried as far as Constantinople, where they did not prove very acceptable, being regarded as nothing else than young devil-worshippers. One individual, who seized two, informed me that he sold them in Mardin, one for six hundred and fifty Turkish piastres, or something near £5 sterling, the other for a hundred piastres (or not quite £1 sterling) The mountains, when I crossed the desert, were entirely quiet. The population had all been registered as tributaries of the Sultan, and the men began to be seen in the bazars of Mossoul and Mardin, where they had formerly seldom ventured to appear. As the day dawned on the desert of Sinjar, we descried the snowy heights of Kurdistan on the other side of the Tigris, and soon after caught sight of a troop of wild asses several miles distant from us. As soon as they saw us, they started off at full gallop, with their heads erect, snuffing the breeze. The surface of the desert was, at this early season (the 27th of February), covered with a sward of fresh green, which had a beautiful appearance from the tops of the mounds scattered here and there over the plain. This delicate verdure soon passes away under the scorching heat of the sun, which, more. CHANGES. 265 as the season advances, becomes so intense as to render day-travelling quite impracticable. We continued our course till the middle of the afternoon, when we reached the hill of Roumili, and refreshed ourselves at a little stream which runs close by. Our guard had resorted to every expedient to while away the tediousness of the march, now telling obscene stories, now practising jokes upon each other, and now engaging in feats of horseman- ship. One of the last was to pick up a stick from the ground without dismounting or stopping. We reached Tcheullak, a small Kurdish village on the plain, before night. As we entered it we passed near a large tract of cultivated ground, and the guard amused themselves with galloping their horses over the newly-springing grain. Formerly, horses taken at Mossoul proceeded as far as. Mardin ; but now the Pasha of the country had established a post at Tcheullak, and three others between that and Mardin. His design was also to restore the villages along the route, and have a regular line of post- houses extending to Mossoul. He had already stationed one hundred men of the army of the Sultan at Tcheullak, for the protection of the country. I was glad to find that we were to continue our journey under an escort from the company, and that our foul-mouthed compa- nions from Mossoul were to return the next day. I will say here, what I may not have another opportunity of saying, that I believe there are no languages in the world which abound more in lewd and abominable terms than the Turkish and Persian, and that there are no people in the world more free in the use of such terms than those to whom these two languages belong. We started in the morning from Tcheullak, with the soldiers, mounted and armed with pikes and swords. VOL. II. N 266 JACOBITES OF THE PLAIN. They marched in regular order, with an officer at their head, and their discipline appeared to me the more excel- lent from its contrast with the behaviour of the lawless crew who had just left us. But the most agreeable difference was that our companions of yesterday had compelled us to march as they pleased, while those of to-day consulted our own comfort in the matter. We passed small streams, at the distance of six and ten miles from Tcheullak, and we noticed, as we advanced, that the desert began to assume an appearance of popu- lousness and cultivation. We were compelled to stop at Haznaour, for the want of horses, and there we remained till the next day. The place was a village of forty families, containing a mingled population of Jacobite Christians and Kurds. The Chief of the villages upon the plain resided here, and I was his guest for the day,—a circumstance which gave me an opportunity of learning something respecting the popu- lation of the surrounding country. In the region watered by the little streams which cross the route and run towards the Euphrates, between the mound of Roumili and Nisibin on the one hand, and the mountains of Sinjar and Tour on the other, there are fifty-four villages, of which nine are inhabited by Yezidees, eighteen by Mussulmans, probably both Arabs and Kurds, and the remaining twenty-seven by Jacobite Syrians. The Mus- sulman villages are also peopled in part by Jacobites, as at Haznaour. Besides these, there is a much larger number of ruined villages, which have within a few years been depopulated by the ravages of war. From Haz- naour, which stands itself on a similar elevation, the artificial mounds that mark the former sites of villages are to be seen in every direction over the plain. In former times, all these villages were ruled by a Bey, CHANGES. 267 who acknowledged no authority besides his own, paid no tribute, and lived by exactions on travellers and caravans, which he called the price of his protection, but which they esteemed only another and more polite form of robbery. About four years before I passed through the country, the Pasha of Bagdad, to whose province this region as far as Mardin nominally belonged, sent an army hither which subdued the country by devastating it, and driving the people to the mountains and the cities. Close upon this came the depredations of Ravendouz Bey, who crossed the Tigris, north of Mossoul, and enacted the same scenes as on the other side. Next followed an invasion from Constantinople. The Sultan, determined to reduce this whole country to sub- jection, transferred it to Reshid Pasha, ruler of the province of Sivas, a man of great energy and of little principle, who soon succeeded in seizing Ravendouz Bey, and sending him to Constantinople, as well as a famous Arab chief, the terror of the country, whom he enticed into his snare by fraud. The country was now regaining its quiet under the new order of things, and the whole land, on both sides of the Tigris, with the exception of Amadieh, was believed to be in quiet subjection to the Sultan. The villages in the fertile region about Haz- naour were fast filling up, and the great majority of the population in them were Jacobites. Yet there was only one church in all the plain, and the same was visible in a distant village, north of Haznaour. In advancing over the desert the preceding day, we had observed a long and dusky range of mountains before us, running out from the Tigris, and apparently intercepting our path, As we advanced, our course wound gradually round to the west, to avoid them, and continued nearly parallel to them until we came near N 2 268 NISIBIN. Mardin. This was the range of the Jebel Tour, or the Tour Dagh, both which mean the Tour mountain. It is the country of the Jacobites, as the mountains of central Kurdistan are of the Nestorians. Their villages are from sixty to seventy in number, and contain populations varying from fifty to six hundred families. According to the estimate of their patriarch, the whole Jacobite population of the mountains is about 6000 families *. They were formerly free from the capitation tax, which Christians in Turkey generally pay for the free exercise of their religion, and lived an independent life, maintain- ing a constant hostility with the Mohammedans, and sustaining themselves by force of arms. These things have passed away, and they are now subjected to the same rule which has recently been extended over all these countries. But their character, as a mountain people, still remains, and they doubtless possess, in an eminent degree, those manly and noble qualities for which the Christians of Kurdistan are said to be distin- guished. Some of their villages contain several churches, and, I need not add, they have hitherto been preserved free from the curse of schism. Thus may they ever remain ! The next day we proceeded to Nisibin. We were now so near the mountains that we could discover some of the villages, and could see extensive vineyards upon the declivities of the hills. Nisibin is no other than the ancient Nisibis, so celebrated in ecclesiastical history. It lies upon the plain, which is here, in the vicinity of the mountains, rather irregular in its surface; and the country around is most exuberant in fertility. As we entered the place, we forded the Jaghjagh, the largest stream that we had seen since leaving the Tigris. Close * See Appendix, XIV. 270 NEW CITY. There is little else to be noticed at Nisibin. It is the head-quarters of the troops in the service of the desert. There were five or six hundred at Nisibin, besides a company at Haznaour, at Tcheullak, and at Amoudieh, nearer Mardin. At Nisibin, they were erecting bar- racks, and the Pasha, as he afterwards informed me, had the design of erecting a city on the spot. When I passed, the plan of the city had been formed, and the site of the bazars, maidan, and principal buildings selected. The advantages for a city are superior, the land being good, water abundant, and stone, in any quantity, to be had from the neighbouring mountains. The heats of summer must be dreadfully oppressive in so low a position, but there has been a city here once, "and," added the Pasha, when he had mentioned the fact, “ if God please, there shall be another.” I pre- sume, however, that the city has made little progress since that time, inasmuch as the Pasha was even then commencing his preparations for the invasion of Syria, which began and terminated so unfortunately in the summer of 1839. He was the same who then led the Turkish army, and suffered the inglorious defeat at Nizab. Whatever may be the other consequences of that short-lived war, it is certainly to be regretted that disgrace should have befallen one who was attempting so much for the order and prosperity of his immense province, a region extending to within a short distance of the Black Sea on the one hand, and of Mossoul on the other. We left Nisibin, after resting an hour, and advanced before night to Amoudieh, a village of a hundred fami- lies. On our way, the lofty peak on which Mardin stands first became visible, rising solitarily out of the range, between two deep hollows. We passed the ruins 272 APPROACH TO MARDIN. had come by Amoudieh, because we were to change horses there, and our course, after leaving it, lay directly towards the peak, in a direction nearly North-West. As we came near it, the town appeared, lying along the face of the upper half of the mountain, and surmounted, at one extremity, by a tall, rugged, and solitary crag, on which was perched the citadel, almost among the clouds. The whole city was full in view as we approached, first the line of the wall running along the face of the moun- tain, then the houses, rising one above another in successive tiers, each fully exposed with its large, round- topped windows and arched recess opening upon the court, and above all the crag and citadel, as I have described. What was my surprise, on entering the narrow pass between the hills, which stood out like giant sentinels at the foot of the mountain, to find an excellent carriage-road, newly made, and evidently with great labour. We followed it, winding back and forth on the steep declivity, until we reached its termination, where a large body of workmen were engaged in carrying it forward, by cutting down the solid rock to the necessary width and then raising a pavement upon it. We clam- bered up the rest of the way with great difficulty, and, after we had entered the town, continued still to ascend through narrow and winding streets, until we reached the house of Mutran Antoun, the Syrian Catholic Metropolitan of Mardin, who came out and received me with much kindness when he learned that I came re- commended to him by letter from his Episcopal brother, Mutran Isai of Mossoul. CHAPTER XXIII. MARDIN. SITUATION AND DESCRIPTION OF MARDIN-POPULATION THE CHRISTIANS- MARDIN THE CENTRE OF THE JACOBITE POPULATION - CHANGES IN THE JACOBITE CHURCH-CONTENTIONS AT MOSSOUL-NEW PATRIARCH — INTER- VIEWS WITH HIM-EXTENT OF CHANGES IN THE JACOBITE CHURCH THE CHALDEAN METROPOLITAN OF MARDIN -THE ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF BAGDAD-MOHAMMEDANS OF MARDIN-WORSHIPPERS OF THE SUN-CHANGES IN MARDIN-PRESENT STATE, THE rock on which Mardin stands is a mass of lime- stone, which furnishes abundant and excellent building material for the city. The stone is cut into cubic blocks, after the style of Bitlis, and in the best houses and public buildings is hewn. Almost every terrace or roof com- mands an extensive view. Immediately beneath, are the hills which guard the mountain. Beyond them spreads out the broad surface of the plain, varied with frequent patches of cultivation. On the south-east, the view is terminated by the Sinjar mountains, and on the south-west by the Abd-el-Aziz, another and similar range, three days distant towards the Euphrates. Be- tween these two, the sight extends as far as it can survey, until the view is lost in the dim and hazy outline of the horizon. This elevated position gives to the town a clear and cool atmosphere, and relieves it, in a good measure, from the scorching heats of the plain. It is distinguished for the salubrity and healthfulness of its climate, and N 3 274 POPULATION. the people for their comely and hale appearance. While Mossoul was suffering under the devastations of the plague, very few cases occurred at Mardin. It is not, therefore, like the former city, encumbered with the ruins of deserted and decaying houses. The few of this character which I saw were aged tenements, shaken down by the thunder of the cannon, or the explosion of mines, in a recent siege. A part of the old bazar suffered the same fate at the same time. Those which are now standing are constructed of stone, and are quite extensive, including large bezestens *, cafés and all the different trades and crafts, arranged in separate departments. The population of the town may be computed at three thousand families, of which five hundred are Armenian Catholic, four hundred Jacobite, two hundred and fifty Syrian Catholic, one hundred Chaldean, ten Jewish, and the rest Mussulman. The Chaldeans, Syrian Catholics, and Armenians, have each a church. That of the Syrian Catholics adjoins the Bishop's house, and was erected under the name of Praying-Place—a term of convenience by which the Turkish government evades the Mohammedan institution, forbidding Christians to erect new churches on new sites, and permits them to fit ụp places of prayer in private houses, which are the same thing under another name. The Jacobites in Mardin have their churches, and there were also three Bishops of their church residing at a monastery about an hour's ride from the city. I did not visit the monas- tery, but I was informed by a priest who belonged to it, that it contained the largest library to be found among the Syrians, having books in twelve different languages. * Large buildings of stone, arched and fire-proof, occupied by sellers of fine cloths and other valuable merchandise. THE FIRMAN. 277 no share whatever in the uproar. The Pasha replied, that he knew no difference between them : they all be- longed to the same unbelieving race. His mercy, how- ever, was at length moved by a large sum of money, which the chief Christians of the city contributed for the release of the priests—a mode of exciting compassion or procuring justice which is generally effectual with a Turkish ruler, and proved so in the present instance. The priests were dismissed, and the lesson which they had received prevented any outbreakings for the future. It was not, however, sufficient to allay ill-will and the strife of tongues, which continued as violent as before. The dispute was at last settled by an expedient of the most extraordinary character. By the same influ- ence as before, a firman was obtained from Constanti- nople, which directed that every church should be divided in the middle by a wall, and that each party should take a half. The work was executed immediately, during the year 1837, and while I was in Mossoul, I could hear, when attending service on one side, the people engaged at their worship on the other. The effect of this firman was very apparent. It seemed to set the Government upon the side of the seceders, while the Jacobites saw, in the proceedings of the French Ambassador, the influence of one of the most powerful nations on earth arrayed against them. I will pass no judgment upon the character of a zeal which could en- list the agency of a Mohammedan power to advance its cause, and that in a matter in which its interference was unauthorized by any moral or civil right, and, therefore, arbitrary and oppressive. The effect was, as might have been expected, to increase the number of proselytes in an unprecedented degree, and to fill the hearts of the 278 THE JACOBITE PATRIARCH. oppressed Jacobites with gloomy fears and sad fore- bodings. The first firman, which recognsied the Patriarch residing at Aleppo as the head of the Syrian Catho- lics, left the Jacobites without a patriarch, for until now they had not renounced subjection to the schismatic Patriarch of Syria. Such a course, however, had at length become necessary, and, accordingly, in a con- vention of the principal ecclesiastics of the Jacobite Church, the Metropolitan of Mardin, Mutran Yacoub, was elevated to the patriarchal office, and his seat was fixed at Mardin. After his election, he proceeded to Constantinople, to procure a firman confirming his appointment. He was still there on my arrival from Mesopotamia in the spring of 1838, and I succeeded in obtaining an interview with him, which I had only one opportunity of repeating before he left the city on his return to Mardin. He received me with the greatest cordiality, and, on both occasions, I spent several hours in conversation with him on numerous topics relating to the Christians of Mesopotamia. Much of the informa- tion which he gave me I have elsewhere detailed. He spoke without disguise on every subject which I intro- duced, and often expressed his regret that he had not been in Mardin at the time of my visit, when he might have rendered me more effectual service. We conversed at length on the state of his people, and he acknowledged, with apparent sincerity and feeling, the deep ignorance which prevailed among them. We discussed, with the utmost freedom, the means necessary for their improve- ment, and he assented to the views which I advanced. He closed our first interview by inviting me to visit Mardin again after his return, when we could converse upon these subjects to better advantage. THE JACOBITE PATRIARCH. 279 The second time that I saw him, he inquired particu- larly with regard to the American Episcopal Church, as a clergymnan of which I had introduced myself. He asked about the orders of our ministry, our mode of ordination, and many other things relating to the con- stitution and rites of the church. Never shall I forget the delight which he expressed, as we traced, one after another, the resemblances in external institutions between our respective churches. He inquired into such minute particulars as the time of administering the Holy Com- munion in ordination. Here he discovered a slight dif- ference. He said that it was the custom in the Jacobite Church to administer it before ordination, which is the reverse of the practice in the American Church, and he thought the former preferable as a preparation for the holy ordinance. He then inquired the name of our Patriarch, and I told him of our venerable presiding bishop. He requested his name and place of residence, which he directed his interpreter to write in Arabic, and place among his papers, remarking, playfully, that the time might come when he should wish to address him a fraternal epistle. I offered to be the bearer of such a communication, but he thought that the correspondence would better begin on the other side. He inquired respecting the marriage of our clergy, and made no objection to that of bishops, but, on the contrary, helped me to an argument in favour of it, by quoting the text, 1 Cor. ix. 5. - Have we not power to lead about a sister or wife as well as other Apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord and Cephas.” I alluded to 1 Tim. iii. 2. "A bishop, then, must be blameless, the husband of one wife," for the sake of observing how he would interpret the ori- ginal term translated bishop in our version. A priest, THE SYRIAN CATHOLICS. 281 of bigotry. He conversed freely, and even appeared desirous to inform me concerning the changes which had been effected, as were also Mutran Antoun and several priests, deacons, and laymen, whom I saw at Mossoul, Mardin, and Diarbekir. To trace these changes in detail, would be to repeat, in great part, what has been said respecting the Chaldeans. There are, however, some points of difference, which must not be passed unnoticed. The adherents of the Church of Rome among the Syrians, have all been themselves converted individually, and not in the gross, as among the Chal- deans ; or they are the children of parents who have thus been converted. They are, therefore, more zealously and more intelligently attached to their new faith. They are better informed concerning the peculiarities of the Church of Rome, and more vehement in their renuncia- tion of the heresy of the Jacobites, respecting the person of Christ. Still another cause operates to awaken their zeal. Their numbers are small in comparison with those of the pure Syrians, and they live in constant contention with them. Through the Syrian Catholics of Aleppo they are brought into close contact with the Latin Catholics, and have received more of the gifts of the Roman Church in books, rosaries, and pictures. In Syria, conformity is carried to a far greater extent than in Mesopotamia. Some of the priests in that country have even kept themselves in a state of celibacy, although the right of marriage has not yet been denied them. The reverence for the Church of Rome is much deeper among the Syrian Catholics than among the Chaldeans, and the disposition to assimilate much stronger. I speak of the body, for there are individuals among the Chaldeans who are zealous partisans of the Latin Church, 282 THE SYRIAN CATHOLICS. and these are chiefly of the clergy, whose influence being, of course, preponderant, gives a much more sectarian character to their whole Church than one would imagine from learning only the state of the people. Notwithstanding the fact that the work of proselytism among the Syrians has been gradual and individual, a considerable portion of the converts, especially among the common people, are no better informed of the change which they have undergone than the Chaldeans. The Archbishop of Mossoul acknowledged to me that the most successful instrument of conversion had been the firmans which had been issued in favour of the Syrian Catholics, and the vague fear which they had inspired. The character of the Church of Rome, as being without the jurisdiction of the Sultan, had excited, in many, the thought that they should be safer under its protection. They fancied that they should receive, in some measure, the privileges of Franks, and that, protected by a foreign ambassador, as the subjects of a foreign Church, their civil condition would also be improved. Nor can it be doubted, that these anticipations have, in part, been realised. The Syrian Papists feel that they are superior to those from whom they have seceded, and act with confidence. The Jacobites, on the contrary, are filled with vague apprehensions of contending against a Frank influence, and are depressed and timid. Ignorant them- selves of the nature of this influence, they form the most extravagant conceptions respecting it, and fear to stand forward boldly for the preservation of their Church. Under such circumstances, the future appears dark for them, and, unless there be some efficient interposition in their behalf, the triumph of their enemies seems almost inevitable. I saw at Mardin the Chaldean prelate of the city, on the evening of my arrival. He came, attended by two THE CHALDEAN PRELATE. 283 monks from Rabban Hormuzd. In external appear- ance, he was one of the most noble and dignified men I have ever seen. He spoke Arabic, and Mutran Antoun, who had learned Turkish in travelling, interpreted for him. He confirmed many of the details respecting his people which I have already given, and propounded a multitude of questions concerning the New World. He disrelished strongly the idea of a republic, and could not be made to believe that a people might ever become fit to govern themselves. He inquired whether it were true that the new sovereign of England was a woman, nd, when informed of the fact, commented upon it in a manner which showed that he felt like an Oriental upon the subject. Both the prelates pressed me closely with questions respecting the character and conduct of the Latin Bishop at Bagdad. I replied that I had formed no intimate acquaintance with him, and could not answer from per- sonal knowledge. They thought this an evasion, and wished to know what was said of him in Bagdad. I declined repeating what I had heard, on the ground that I could not be responsible for its correctness- I would fain hope that the hundredth part of it was not true. 6+ Well,” said Mutran Antoun, “is he not a little crazy?" His conduct had been such, they said, that a deputation had been sent from Rome to investigate the complaints against him, and their belief was that he would be recalled. They informed me, as I had before been assured at Mossoul, that he had no jurisdiction in the native Churches. The opinion had at first surprised me, after what I had heard in Bagdad of the claims set forth by the Bishop on that score, but neither Mutran Isai, Mutran Antoun, nor Mutran Anatios, the Chal- dean Archbishop of Mardin, was aware of his having 284 WORSHIPPERS OF THE SUN. any other authority than as Bishop of the Roman Catholics in Bagdad. The Museulman population of Mardin is a mixture of Arabs and Kurds, but the latter form the greater part of it. The language of the city is Arabic. Turkish appeared to be spoken by only a few. The Mussulmans have eight mosques and two medressehs, some of which are handsome buildings of stone. There is still another class in Mardin, which, as they are known to exist only in this place, excepting a few families at Diarbekir, are worthy of notice. They are called Shemsieh, or, as the word signifies, Worshippers of the Sun. They resided formerly in a village near to Mardin, and were then in the free practice of their religion. About seventy-five years ago the Pasha of Mardin sent men to inquire into the character of their faith and worship. They returned answer that they were Shemsieh, to which the Pasha replied, “ We know no such religion as this of yours. Be Mussulmans, Christians, or Jews. We acknowledge no worshippers of the sun." A few of them embraced Islamism, and were permitted to remain in quiet. The rest were brought to the city by order of the Pasha, who threatened them with death unless they abandoned their idolatrous faith. By the interference of the Syrian Bishop, a little delay was effected, and he succeeded at length in inducing them to declare themselves Jacobite Christians, among whom they have since been classed, yet remaining still a distinct people. They attend the worship of their Church, observe its feasts and fasts, baptize their children, wear the dress of Christians, associate with them, and are married by Jacobite priests. They do not, however, intermarry with the Syrians, or with any out of their own number, call themselves by their old name, Shemsieh, while they PRESENT STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 287 Since the death of the late Sultan, the peace of the country has again been disturbed by the rebellion of the Kurds, who seized the opportunity created by the confusion consequent on the defeat of the Turkish army at Nizab and the almost simultaneous demise of the sovereign, to return to a state of insubordination. Their feelings had long been irritated by the indiscreet violence of the government in forcing them from their mountain- homes into the ranks of the army. But there seems no reason to apprehend that the country will relapse into its former state of anarchy, or that the present condi- tion of things will continue any longer than till the new government be firmly established, and the long-ve Egyptian question be definitively settled. CHAPTER XXIV. JOURNEY FROM MARDIN TO DIARBEKIR. DIARBEKIR. ESCENT FROM MARDIN-FACE OF THE COUNTRY-KURDISH VILLAGE - A KURDISH CHIEF-HIS FAMILY-APPROACH TO DIARBEKIR-RECEPTION IN THE CITY-ANTIQUITY OF DIARBEKIR-TRADE-RECOMMENDATIONS- MANNERS-BAIRAM-MOSQUES-POPULATION-CHRISTIANS-CONCLUSION. MUTRAN ANTOUN entertained me most hospitably dur- ing my short stay beneath his roof, and accompanied my departure with a kind wish that we might meet again. We left Mardin by the north-west gate, about noon, on the 3rd of March, and wound our way down the mountain by a rough and difficult path. The declivity, on this side, is covered with vineyards and orchards of fig, pear, apple, walnut, and other trees, wherever the rocks afforded sufficient soil for their growth. No change could be greater than that in our route after having so long traversed the wide-spread plains of Mesopotamia and the country beyond the Tigris. The region which now lay before us, as we looked off from the heights of Mardin, presented a wild and confused assemblage of rocky hills, over which our way was to carry us. toiled among them for three hours, when we came down from a lofty height into a beautiful valley, through which flowed a stream of the purest crystal, called by the significant name of Heaven-water. Before night we reached the Kurdish village of We DIARBEKIR. 291 infidel prince. The city, however, has other and more indubitable proofs of its antiquity. In the cemetery just beyond its walls, I observed some massive grave-stones with ancient inscriptions upon them that I could not decipher, nor was I able to conjecture to what language they belonged. Upon the wall, near the principal gate, are other inscriptions in Cufic, with figures of animals and birds. I noticed also an inscription in Greek, of which I could make nothing, close by the gate of Con- stantinople, besides fragments of sculptured stone in the walls of the houses. The wall of the city itself is worthy of admiration, being constructed of rectangular blocks of a black, porous stone, regularly laid, and of a great height. The best houses are built of the same material, which is quarried near the city. It is sometimes inter- mingled in building with a white limestone, which is brought from the Karajah mountains. Some of the mosques are variegated in this way, the building being constructed of the black stone, and the minarets of the white. A part of the bazars and several fine khans are also built of the first-mentioned material. Most of the houses, however, are made of rough stone, overlaid with a plaster of mud and straw, which gives the city some- what of the appearance of a Persian town. Though in geographical position one of the most cen- tral points of Asiatic Turkey, the trade of Diarbekir is not so extensive as I had supposed. Formerly the traffic by caravans between Syria and the cities to the East, Mardin, Mossoul, and Bagdad, passed in great part here; but since the routes over the desert have become more practicable, it has lost much of the advantage of this Some of the richest merchants have removed to other places, and the trade is considerably diminished. I was surprised to find that it had no direct communi- commerce. o 2 292 THE CITY. cation with Cæsarea and the country beyond, while, on the other side, are the inhospitable regions of Kurdistan. Its chief advantage, therefore, seems to be in its lying upon the great line of communication between Constan- tinople and Bagdad. The position of the city, upon a high bank overlooking the Tigris, with an expanse of open country behind, does not seem unfavourable for health, but the heat in summer is said to be excessive, and fevers extremely prevalent. While I was in the place, the weather was delightful ; vegetation was in its early freshness, and cultivation had commenced. I saw little of the signs of poverty and wretchedness so common in Turkish towns. The city is well supplied with the comforts of life, and with not a few of its luxuries. Ice is made in the winter, and is preserved in the open air, by piling it in conical heaps and covering them with straw. In the summer it is sold so cheaply in the market, that the poorest man may cool his drink with it. A fine aqueduct on arches enters the city near the gate of Constantinople, and the place is abundantly provided with water. Between the base of the eminence on which the city stands and the Tigris, is a meadow ground, which is one extensive gar- den, watered and tilled with the greatest care, and fertilised with the richest manure. It supplies the city with a variety of excellent fruit, among which the melons are particularly celebrated. The land on which they are cultivated is enriched with pigeon-dung, for which pur- pose immense numbers of pigeons are kept in a village not far from the city. The delicious melons of Persia are raised in the same manner. The Arab population almost entirely ceases at Diar- bekir. The Mussulmans are chiefly Turks and Kurds, and here the Turkish language begins to prevail. BAIRAM. 293 This, with the stone fountains in the streets, the white head-dresses of the females, and the manners of the peo- ple, first reminded me that I was again approaching the country of the Osmanlees. Here, too, the Turkish takes the place of the Arabic as the vernacular language of the Christians, to whom their own tongue is generally un- known. The feast of the Courban Bairam occurred while I was in the city. It was the miniature of what I have already described at Constantinople. Mohammed Agha provided a sheep for the sacrifice, and joined a com- pany of friends in feasting upon it, after the duty of the morning was performed. One of them proposed that I should be invited to partake with them, but the Tatar, who, with all his good-heartedness, was of the straitest sect of his religion in such matters, would not listen to it. This sacrifice of Bairam is one of the principal objects of the pilgrimage to Mecca, and, like almost all the ceremonies performed there, is of heathen origin. The Kaabah itself, or another building on the same spot, existed long before the time of Mohammed, and, in instituting the pilgrimage to it, the false Apostle only confirmed a custom which had prevailed for ages. Some of the rites connected with this pilgrimage have also been preserved, but, though significant among the pagan Arabs, their observance is idle and unmeaning as a part of Mohammedanism. They seem to have all had reference to traditionary recollections of Ishmael, the progenitor of the Arabs. The Kaabah itself was built by Abraham, the father of Ishmael. The well Zemzem was the same that was opened for the relief of Hagar. The running between two stations, called Safa and Merva, was in commemoration of Hagar's wandering CHURCHES. 296 Mussulman, five hundred Armenian, three hundred Jacobite, including fifteen families of the Shemsieh, one hundred and fifty Armenian Catholic, about one hundred Chaldean, fifty Jewish, twenty-five Syrian Catholic, and twenty Greek. This great variety of population, for the Mussulmans are also to be subdivided into three classes, Turks, Kurds, and Arabs, may arise from the central position of the city. It is on the border of Asia Minor, the land of the Turks and the Greeks, on the confines of Arabia, the country of the Syrians, Chaldeans, and Arabs, and at the south-west corner of Kurdistan. Armenians and Jews are to be found everywhere. I visited several of the churches. The Jacobites worship in a very old one, while the Chaldeans have one newly erected, large, handsome, and profusely orna- mented with foreign paintings. The Syrian Catholics are accommodated as in Mardin, but they have a large proportion of the wealth of the place in their twenty-five families. In the Greek church I saw once more the high, straight, and narrow-seated chairs fixed against the wall, and the pictures of Saints, with the arms and feet of silver, attached to the canvass, thus forming half an image and half a painting. Both these are, I believe, peculiarities of the Greek churches. I left Diarbekir on the eighth of March, and here, where I pass the border of Mesopotamia, I must also bid adieu to the reader. The rest of the route to Constan- tinople I hope soon to go over again, and where I have an opportunity of forming second impressions, it seems both more honest and more safe to withhold my first ones. The principal point to be noticed on the route, is the crossing of the Taurus, the second day after leaving Diarbekir, where I witnessed scenery never surpassed in my travels, excepting on the Balkan in European 298 CONCLUSION. cautiously in a single path, on either side of which was an abyss of snow, in which they could sink to the depth of twenty feet, in some parts, without reaching the bot- tom. Even Sivas, which appeared a disagreeable and dirty city of 22,000 Mussulmans and 8000 Armenians, was not yet free from snow. But when we had de scended to Tocat, which we did through a ravine of about ten miles in length, and declining so rapidly that it seemed penetrating into the bowels of the earth, we not only found the snow gone and the grass growing, but the early fruit-trees were in blossom. From Tocat we proceeded in two days to Amasieh, another delightful town, celebrated for the beauty of its people, the excel- lence of its fruits, and the cheapness of its market, and in three days more to the Black Sea, where I met the steamer from Trebizond, and returned in it to Constan- tinople. Subsequently I made a second excursion in the north- western part of Asia Minor, during which I visited Nice, the place of the Third Council, and Nicomedia, where the persecution under Dioclesian commenced. Finally, on leaving the East, I traversed European Turkey, and surveyed it with considerable care. I then crossed the Continent, embarked at Havre, and ended my wander- ings at New-York, on the evening of the 30th of De- cember, 1838. APPENDIX. 301 character. In this sense, it is peculiarly applicable to the four great doctors of Mohammedan law, whose works are the guides of the Sunneh Mussulmans. The Persians use it only according to the second signification, in which sense they confine it to Ali and his descendants, whom they regard as, after him, the rightful successor of Mohammed.-In all these various applications, the idea of one preceding, or leading, is retained. 1: IV.—The MOHAMMEDAN CREED.—Vol. i. p. 16. The passage in the text bears a remarkable resemblance to one in the New Testament, John xvii. 3. “ And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.” The one may have suggested the other. That in the Catechism is to be regarded as the Mussulman creed, and as such is constantly in the mouths of Mohammedans. The formula there given is a literal translation of that in most common use ; La ilahi ill Allah, ve Mohammed resoul oullah. Its repetition is peculiarly meritorious in the eyes of the Mussulmans, who regard it as com- prising all that is necessary to be believed. It is used on numerous occasions, and often without much regard to appropriateness. I have heard it repeated to express emotions of surprise, regret, and disap- probation. A Mussulman whose word is called in question, confirms it by pronouncing this attestion of his faith, as if he would say, “I am a true Mussulman, and ought not to be suspected of a lie.” It is, indeed, the great test of a Mohammedan. It is the formula by which proselytes are required to affirm their adherence to Islamism, and the simple repetition of it constitutes an unbeliever one of the Faithful. During the Saracenic conquests, Christian captives often saved themselves from slavery or death by this act of apostacy ; and instances of recent occurrence were sometimes related to me, during my travels, in which Christians, exposed to the fury of Mussulman revenge, rescued themselves, in the last extremity, by crying aloud, “ There is no God but God, and Mohammed the Prophet of God." A European officer, in the service of the late Pasha of Bagdad, had rendered himself obnoxious to the soldiery by certain infirmities of character, which would have been patiently endured in a Mussul- man superior, but could not be borne in a Frank. The ill-will of the soldiers at length arose to so great a height, that it could not be restrained. One day, while he was drilling a party of them in the parade-ground, some violent expressions which fell from him threw the incensed soldiers into such a frenzy that they rushed upon him with one accord, crying out against his life. The officer, seeing no way of escape, and expecting instant death, exclaimed aloud, La ilahi $ 1 302 APPENDIX. ill' Allah, &c. Instantly every arm was dropped, and the soldiers sullenly fell back, as if disappointed of their victim. The same day the officer was conducted to the house of the Mufti, to be instructed in the elements of his new faith. But ere he had made much progress, dly message was received from the Pasha, representing the circumstances of the officer's conversion, and how improbable it was that he would ever become a sincere Mussulman, and ending with the intimation that it would be as well to dismiss him. The Mufti yielded to the wishes, if not to the arguments of the Pasha, and the proselyte was secretly hurried out of the city, and conveyed into Persia. It hardly need be added that his attach- ment to his new religion ceased as soon as he found himself again in a place of safety. V.-THE KEBLAH.-Vol. i. p. 29. The Keblah is, literally, the place in front, or towards which the eyes are turned; hence the point towards which prayers are addressed, which, for the Mussulmans, is Mecca. The different prescriptions of the Koran on this point afford a glaring instance of the contra- dictions which abound in it. It was first declared by Mohammed to be an indifferent matter : “ To God belongeth the East and the West ; therefore, whithersoever ye turn yourselves to pray, there is the face of God *.” It is related in the Mussulman histories of his life, that he afterwards ordained the Temple of Jerusalem to be the Keblah to his followers ; his object, doubtless, being to gain favour with the Jews. Failing in this, a new revelation came at a convenient moment : “ Turn thy face towards the holy Temple of Mecca ; and wherever ye be, turn your faces towards that place.” The imme- diate consequence of this contrariety in his revelations was, that many of his disciples abandoned him +. At present, however, the requisition is uniformly and punctiliously obeyed by the Mohammedans. Both Turks and Persians often carry in their journeys small compasses, for the purpose of determining the direction of the Keblah. One, now in my possession, is of a singular construction. It is composed of two magnets, crossing each other at right angles, and fashioned into the shape of a bird ; the extremi- ties of one forming the head and tail, and of the other the two wings extended. Each magnet seeking to assume a polar direction, is pre- vented by the same tendency in the other. The result is, that the * Koran, chap. ii. † To avert this evil another revelation was necessary. Forthwith it came : “ Praise be unto God, who hath sent down unto his servant the book of the Koran, and hath not inserted therein any crookedness, but hath made it a straight rule."--Koran, chap. xviii. APPENDIX. 303 poles of the same name are directed to opposite sides of the same cardinal point, and at equal distances from it. Thus the Southern poles, instead of pointing South, stand towards the South-East and South-West. That towards the latter point is the head of the bird, and indicates the direction of the Keblah, which bears South-West from the city where the compass was made. VI.-ALEXANDRIA TROAS.—Vol. i. p. 60. It has been deemed of some importance by Episcopal writers upon the constitution of the Apostolic Church, to show that Timothy was at Ephesus when the second Epistle of Paul was addressed to him, as this would serve essentially to strengthen the proof of his being the Diocesan Bishop of the Churches in that city. It has been objected, on the other hand, that if he were resident in Ephesus, Paul could hardly have requested him to bring his cloak, books, and parchments from Troas, as that city must have been far out of his way from Ephesus to Rome. It may be of some service to remark that, by the present slow and tedious mode of land-travelling in Turkey, Troas is only four days distant from Ephesus ; and if the traveller embarks at Smyrna and proceeds by sea, the journey is considerably shorter. Besides, the fact that Paul thrice made it the place of his departure in his voyages from Asia to Europe, or of arrival on his return, renders it probable that it was the chief con- necting point between foreign countries and the Eastern coast of the Ægæan. The same is now true of Smyrna. A traveller from a town four days to the south of that city, would be obliged to proceed thither, in order to embark for a voyage through the Mediterranean. VII.–TESTIMONY OF THE KORAN TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. Vol. i. p. 135. The texts in the Koran in which the divine origin of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures is acknowledged or implied, abound in every part. Their general tenor and import may be learned from a few of them taken at random. “O children of Israel, believe in the revelation (the Koran), which I have sent down confirming that which is with you” (the Old Testament).-Sale's Trans., chap. ü. “ We formerly delivered the Book of the Law unto Moses.”_ Chap. ii. “Say to them who have received the Scriptures, We believe in the revelation which hath been sent down unto us, and also in that which hath been sent down unto you.”—Chap. xxix. 6 We heretofore delivered the Book of the Law unto Moses ; APPENDIX 305 upon an ass, and the camel being the principal animal in the country of the latter, they form appropriate types of the two religions. The forty-second chapter of Isaiah is supposed to be throughout a prophecy of Mohammed, on account, as it would seem, of the allu- sions to the destruction of idolatry, in the eighth and seventeenth verses, and to the Arabian tribe of Kedar, in the eleventh. The first six verses of the sixty-third chapter are also claimed by the Mussulman controversialists as prophetic of Mohammed, becaụse they speak of war and blood, with which the religion of the Koran is acknowledged to be more familiar than the pacific dispensation of Christ. The passage in the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of St. John's Gospel, which speak of the Comforter, are interpreted by the Mus- sulmans to allude to Mohammed. Here, they say, is one instance of the corruption of the Christian copies of the Gospel. The original word παράκλητος, they affirm should be περικλυτός, 8 word which, like Mohammed in Arabic, signifies illustrious, or noble. These texts will suffice, at least, to show that Mussulman scholars have exercised no little research and ingenuity in drawing arguments for their religion from the Sacred Scriptures of the Christians. IX.-LAKE OF VAN.-Vol. i. p. 229. Tavernier, who travelled two centuries ago, says of Tadvan, that “it is about a gun-shot distant from the lake, in a place where nature has formed a good harbour secure from every wind, being guarded by high rocks on every side, while its entrance, though narrow, is very easy. It can contain," he adds, “twenty or thirty large vessels. When the merchants see that the weather is fine, they cause their merchandise to be embarked here for Van. The voyage is made in about twenty-four hours, and the navigation is not dangerous, while, by land, the journey from this place to Van requires nearly eight days*.” : It would appear from this, that the trade in those days was much more extensive than at present. At that time the land-route from Tadvan to Van passed round the Western side of the lake, the course which my own jour took being then, doubtless, impracti- cable. It may be owing to this circumstance that no remains of khans are to be found on the Eastern route, for, during my journey from Bitlis to Van, I was struck with the fact, that I saw none after reaching the lake. A search on the Western shore might be more successful. The existence of these remains is another proof that * Les six Voyages de Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, en Turquie, en Perse et aux Indes, i. 306. APPENDIX. 307 here at Erdremid are traces of another city than that of Van ; and the argument, I think, is rendered conclusive by the similarity of the names, Erdremid, and Artemita, XI.—THE CHRISTIANS OF PERSIA.— Vol. i. p. 306. I gained at Ourmiah considerable information respecting the taxes imposed upon the Nestorians. I gathered it for the purpose of comparing their civil condition with that of the Mussulmans, and, in this view, it may not be uninteresting to the reader. The Christians pay in Persia, as well as in Turkey, the Kharatch, or capitation-tax, which is regarded by the Mohammedan law as an annual tribute for the free exercise of their religion. The Koran, Tribute, or the Sword, was the earliest watchword of the Saracenic wars. Islamism is no longer able to wield the sword, or to enforce submission to the Koran, but it still extorts from oppressed Christianity an invidious and de- • grading tribute for her life. Neither in Turkey nor Persia does the law require that the Kharatch should be exacted from any others than males who have attained the age of manhood, but, in point of fact, it is extorted, in both countries, from boys as well as men. It is im- posed about the age of ten or twelve, but the sum required of a boy is only half of that demanded of men. The latter is in Persia five Sahib Krans, or about 5s. per annum. In Turkey I have known it to vary, in different places, from twenty to sixty groush (from about 4s. to 12s.), according to the character of local rulers. In seasons of distress, the Christians of particular villages are sometimes released from it. Many individuals in the service of government, and the labourers in the mines, who are chiefly Christians, are also exempted. With the exception of the Kharatch, the legal taxes of the Christians and Mussulmans in Persia are the same. According to my informa- tion, in the city and villages of Ourmiah, they are imposed upon houses, cattle, and the produce of the earth. A house pays five sahib krans (58.) annually ; vineyards and gardens are taxed at the rate of twelve and a half shais, or 6d., for each square of sixteen Persian yards ; the Persian yard, called Tannas, being equal to one and a quarter yards English. Cotton-fields pay in the same proportion. Of the wheat and all other grains, a fifth belongs to the royal revenue ; under the last Shah, a fourth was required. The stock, as well as the grain, is taxed ; a Kalvar (about six hundred and twenty-five lbs.) of wheat-straw pays two and a half sahib krans, or about 2s. 6d. In Persia, wheat, instead of barley, is the principal grain, and the Persian bread is generally much superior to the Turkish. Here, as in Turkey, straw is the common fodder of cattle, the extreme aridness of the country preventing, for the most part, the culture of grass. Cattle are taxed according to their value ; for a female buffalo two APPENDIX. 309 out Naalat Sheätan, Satan be cursed ! But when a Christian or Turk happens to fall among the Yezidees, he dares not so much as to pro- nounce the word Nal, which means a horse-shoe, lest he should be understood as uttering a malediction against the devil, for which they would, on the instant, kill him.” Thus much is a free translation from the old and invaluable work of Thomas Hyde, Historia Religionis veterum Persarum, which was printed at Oxford in 1700. Something of the same kind, with regard to the jests practised on the Yezidees, and with regard to the danger of a disrespectful allusion to Satan when in their power, was related to me while travelling through their country. Hyde, with a famili- arity more common to his own times than ours, describes a certain national assembly held by this people, during the month of January, in which there is a general resemblance to that of the Shemsieh described on page 285, Vol. ü. But the concluding rites of the meeting, as described by Hyde, are more like the reputed abomina- tions of the Eleusinian mysteries. I was able to gather but little information on which I could depend respecting this singular people. Mohammed Agha, who hated them most heartily, prevented, as much as possible, any communication with them, and those with whom I conversed appeared extremely reserved upon the subject of their religion. Most of my information respecting them, therefore, was gathered from the Mussulmans and Christians, whose own knowledge is vague and indefinite. They have very little intercourse with them ; the Yezidees seldom appear in the cities, and, when they do, they conceal as much as possible their peculiarities, while the people of the cities, on the other hand, keep equally aloof from the habitations of these reputed worshippers of Satan. It is said that they receive their name from Yezid I., the second Caliph of the Ommiades, and the great enemy of the house of Ali. The appellation, however, is considered as one of reproach by the people themselves, and is used only by the Mohammedans and Christians. Their religion appears to be a mixture of the ancient and modern religions of Mesopotamia. They have an order of der- vishes, after the manner of the Mussulmans, and they practise cir- cumcision, and adopt, for the most part, Mohammedan names. These, however, are not very strong features of resemblance to Islamism. The names used by the Mohammedans are generally the same with those of the Arabs and Jews, before Mohammedanism existed ; circumcision was only retained by Mohammed, having been practised by the Arabs ever since the days of their father Ishmael ; and the institution of dervishes is common (though under different names) to Christians, Mohammedans, and Pagans. The inveterate hatred which the Yezidees bear towards the Mussulmans, and which is 310 APPENDIX. fully reciprocrated by the latter, appears like a traditional enmity, and almost precludes the supposition that the one have drawn their religion in any degree from the other. We shall doubtless come nearer the truth, if we suppose them to be a remnant of the original Pagans of the country, whose religion has been partially modified by Christianity. Their names, their dervishes, and their circumcision are, on this supposition, only re- maining traces of the old Arabs, which they have retained, in common with the Mohammedans. Some features of their religion, however, are evidently borrowed from the Christians. I was not myself in- formed that they baptize their children, but Rich affirms that they do*. They entertain also great reverence for Christian Saints. Garzoni, a papal misionary, who spent nearly twenty years in Kurd- istan, says, that they regard these men as distinguished from others in having been, in a peculiar manner, the abodes of Satan, for, ac- cording to their theology, it is God who decrees, but the Devil who executes his purposest. They respect the churches and tombs of the Christians, and kiss the door and walls when they enter them, but they never visit the mosques of the Mussulmans. They drink wine too without scruple, a circumstance that must also be regarded as a point of resemblance to Christianity. These resemblances, however, are accidental and unimportant. Their religion, in its main features, is evidently that of the ancient fire-worshippers. They hold, like them, the two Principles of good and evil, and like them respect the latter as well as the former. It is only the Mohammedans and Christians who suppose this last to stand for Satan, and stigmatise them with the epithet of Devil-wor- shippers. They never use themselves the name Satan (Sheïtan), but call the Evil Principle by a title which signifies the Great Chief. They respect and fear him, but do not profess to love him. They will have no evil said of him, because they tremble at his great power, They pay homage to the sun by prostrating themselves towards it at its rising. They have no public worship, no fasts, feasts, or sacrifices. Like the fire-worshippers, they will not spit in the fire, or extinguish a candle with their breath. Like the Ali Illahis of Kurdistan, they do not cut their mustaches. Even their baptism, which I have supposed to be derived from Christianity, may be a remnant of their old religion, inasmuch as a rite resembling baptism was practised by the Sabeans.. Their name, too, instead of having, as the Mussulmans suppose, a Mohammedan origin, in favour of which supposition there appears no reason beyond the coincidence * Rich's Residence, &c.—-ii., 69. † Description du Pachalik de Bagdad, p. 194. # Hyde, p. 406. 312 APPENDIX. copa, or Deputy-Bishop. The office among the Chaldeans is nearly equivalent to that of Archdeacon in the English Church. Next are the common Bishops, called Episcopa, who may be married like the Priests. This office, so far as I could learn, has entirely ceased in the Chaldean Church, that is, there are none at present holding it. The reason of this seems to be, that the number of Churches is now so small as to require no other Episcopal super- vision than that of the Metropolitan. This latter office has some requisitions peculiar to itself and that of the Patriarch. Not every one can pass from the lower grades of the ministry to it, but those only who have been consecrated to it from the beginning of their existence. The mother who has devoted her child to this office eats no meat between his conception and his birth, nor can the child eat any during his whole life, neither can he enter into the matrimonial relation. The Diocesan Bishop is called Metropolites, or more com- monly, in an abridged or corrupted form, Mutran. The head of the Church is called Patriarka, and the title of Mar, which is also applied to Saints, belongs officially to him, the Metropolitan, and the Bishop, although, in common use, it is prefixed only to the name of the Patriarch. These different offices are regarded as merely subdivisions of three regular orders. The Patriarch, Metropolitan, and Bishop, belong to the first, or Episcopal Order ; the Sub-Bishop and Priest to the order of the Priesthood; and the other three to the order of Deacon. The Chaldean Church-books are all written in ancient Chaldaic. The first and principal is the Khouthra (Index or Liturgy), which contains the services for the principal feasts and for Lent, and also a service for a fast of three days, between Epiphany and Lent, called the Fast of Nineveh, and having allusion apparently to that recorded in Jonah, chap. iii. The same volume contains hymns in Chaldaic, for every day which has an appointed order of service. The book has the reputation of great antiquity, and is held in high veneration by the Chaldeans. Next to it is the Guzza (Treasure), which con- tains the services for Saints' Days. In this the name of Nestorius has been expunged, and that of Cyril inserted in its stead. Next comes the Kashkoul (Common), containing the Order for Daily Morning and Evening Service. This, and all which follow, have undergone no change. The Ktham woud watha (Before and after) does not seem to con- stitute a regular part of the Church Service, but to be a kind of supplement for occasional use. The Resh Ainah, or Head Spring, is so called because composed at a monastery of that name. It con- tains supplications like those at the end of the Communion Service of the American Church, intended to conclude the Services on any occasion. It is the production of a single individual, and if the APPENDIX. 313 idea which I have received of it be correct, it is of a highly spiritual character. The Takhsa d'Amatha (Service of Baptism), the Takhsa d'Koodasha ( Communion Service.) The Takhsa d'Anithi (Service of the departed, or Burial Service), and the Takhsa d' Zoo- wagha (Service of Marriage), are explained by their titles. XIV.—THE POPULATION OF THE SYRIAN CHRISTIANS. Vol. č. p. 268. The Patriarch of the Jacobites gave me the following statement of the population of his own people, and of the Syrian Catholics, in Mesopotamia and the neighbouring countries. It includes, so far as he was informed, all the Christians of the Syrian nation to be found in the world, with the exception of those in the Southern part of Hindostan, whom some of the Chaldeans of Mossoul claimed as be- longing to themselves. 1 POPULATION OF THE JACOBITES IN FAMILIES. Families. Mossoul 500 Mardin and adjacent Villages 1500 Diarbekir 700 Orfa 300 Kharpout and adjacent Villages 800 Hamah, in Syria . 40 Hems 200 Damascus, 15 Two Villages near Damascus 130 Bitlis and Villages in the neighbouring parts of Kurdistan 300 The Tour Mountains 6000 10,455 The following are in the vicinity of Jacobite monasteries. Families Monastery of Mar Gurwaghis, near Sert, in Kurdistan 500 Monastery of Mariamana, in the District of Zerghi . 300 Monastery of Mar Mousa,* two days North of Da- mascus . 1000 Monastery of Mar Kriakos, in the District of Bishehri, eighteen hours East from Diarbekir 500 . 2300 * I have reason to believe, from the information of a friend who has travelled extensively in Syria, that the population in the vicinity of this monastery has VOL. II. P 314 APPENDIX. RECAPITULATION. Population in Towns and Villages Population in the neighbourhood of monasteries Families. 10,455 2300 Whole population of the Jacobites, 12,755 families, or about 64,000 souls. POPULATION OF THE SYRIAN CATHOLICS. Families. 50 220 220 25 800 50 Bagdad Mossoul and neighbourhood Mardin Diarbekir Aleppo Damascus . . 1365 To these may be added, on other authority, the village of Rashaya, in Syria, twelve hours S. W. from Damascus, which contains thirty families. The whole population of the Syrian Catholics is, then, thirteen hundred and ninety-five families, or about seven thousand souls. Doubtless, there is some inaccuracy in these estimates. The Patriarch himself did not pretend to be exactly informed upon the subject, and said expressly, that he omitted some villages of the Jacobites, because he did not know how large a population they contained. I am satisfied, also, that he under-rated the number of the Syrian Catholics, in some instances, but I believe it arose from his having based his estimates upon the population as it was when he left Mesopotamia, whereas, during the year which he had spent in Constantinople, considerable accessions were made to their number in Mossoul, and, probably, also in Mardin ; for this was the year in which the Jacobite Churches of Mossoul were divided. altogether disappeared, excepting the two villages before-mentioned, between Damascus and Hems, and one other, not enumerated by the Patriarch, called Nebk, and containing about twenty families, but whether Jacobite or Syrian Catholic, my friend was not informed. The monastery, at present, contains only a few inmates. 1 REMARKS ON THE USE OF WINE AND DISTILLED LIQUORS AMONG THE MOHAMMEDANS OF TURKEY AND PERSIA, WHEN Mohammed commenced his arch-work of imposture, nearly 600 years after the birth of Christ, he began by issuing, at irregular intervals, pretended revelations brought down, as he affirmed, by the angel Gabriel. These revelations, as I have formerly remarked, were generally observed to have reference to the circumstances in which he happened to be placed at the moment when they appeared, and, as these circumstances were at different times diametrically opposite, the revelations partook of the same unsettled character. Thus, at one time he seems to give an indirect compliment to the juice of the grape, when he pronounces it to be good for nourish- ment*, and at another interdicts it altogether, by the declaration that there is great sin in itt, or, as he elsewhere expresses it, that it is an abomination of the work of Satan. The circumstances which gave rise to this absolute prohibition are now lost, but the deficiency of authentic information has been abundantly supplied by conjecture. It is well known, that those among the Arabians who pretended to great strictness of life, abstained entirely from the use of wine, long before the time of Mohammed, and it may be that, in promulgating his interdiction, he merely followed the example of devout men among his own country- In Persia, also, the use of wine was forbidden, while the religion of the country was still a species of Paganism. men. * Koran, chap. xvi. † Chap. ii.-The chapters of the Koran, it is well known, are not arranged in the order in which they were promulgated. # Chap. v. P 2 316 USE OF WINE. The Mohammedan writers, however, are extravagantly fond of illustrating by anecdote, and they have not failed to discover, as they pretend, the precise occasion which gave rise to the severe interdict of their prophet. They differ, however, among themselves as to the fact. Some pretend that it was on account of his life having been in danger at a feast which was given to him by the Jews, where the company became heated by a too free use of the beverage*. Others describe the occasion to have been of another character, the circum- stances of which I cannot better give than in the quaint language of an old, but intelligent traveller. “ The prophet,” he says, “ being once invited by a friend to an entertainment at his house, chanced, in his way thither to be detained a while at a nuptial feast, where the guests, raised by the cheerful spirits of the wine, were merry, embracing, and in a kind temper, each towards other ; which pleasing humour Mahomet attributing to the effect of the wine, blessed it as a sacred thing, and so departed. But it happening that in the evening, returning again and expecting to see the love and caresses he had before blessed to be augmented, he found the house, to the contrary, full of brawls and noise, fightings, and all confusion, which he also having understood to be another effect of the wine, changed his former blessing into a curse, and for ever after made it Haram, or an abomination to his disciplest.” Others still affirm that the occasion of the prohibition was none such as these, but simply that Mohammed once observed a disciple unable to say his evening prayers, through a too liberal use of the liquorț. All these explana- tions agree in one respect, in which, doubtless, lay the true cause of the anathema, namely, as it is expressed by Sale, “because the ill qualities of wine surpass its good ones, the common effects thereof being quarrels and disturbances in company, and neglect, or at least indecencies, in the performance of religious dutiesg.” I can find no historical evidence in favour of the supposition of an eminent German writer, that the motive of the interdiction was to distinguish more widely Mohammedanism from Christianity. The requisitions of the Koran have been explained, extended, and glossed upon by innumerable commentators, whose writings are only of less authority than the Koran itself. The simple precepts of the book which they interpret, have been infinitely ramified, and made to embrace a thousand particulars which could never have entered the mind of Mohammed. Multitudes of new duties have been created by * Histoire des Arabes, par L'Abbé de Marigny, i. 219. | Rycaut's Present State of the Ottoman Empire, 1670. + D'Ohssons Tableau de l'Empire Ottoman. $ Sale's Koran, Preliminary Discourse, sect. v 318 STATUTE LAW. washing it ten times with pure water. On one occasion, the opinion of the Sheikh ul Islam, or Chief of the Religion, being asked, he pronounced that wine might lawfully be administered as medicine to a beast, but that, in such a case, the flesh of the animal could not be eaten, unless several days were allowed to intervene before it was killed, in order that the wine might have passed entirely out of the system. He added, however, that so far was this indulgence from being allowable to men, that the mere setting of the eyes wistfully upon a flask of wine was a grievous sin*. The fact may already be familiar to my readers, that the civil polity of Mohammedan nations is based upon their religion. The laws are drawn from the Koran and the commentaries upon it. The civilian receives the same education with the minister of religion, and their offices are interchangeable. The civil code of Turkey is a compend of the writings of the principal interpreters and expounders of the Koran. From this peculiarity it arises, that a religious offence is, under Mohammedan governments, a crime against the state. The sin of wine-drinking is as much a subject of legislation as murder, and is equally subjected to the cognizance of the judicial tribunals. The provisions of the statutes with regard to the subject now under consideration are, therefore, worthy of a passing notice. In order to a verdict of drunkenness, the Turkish code requires one of three conditions : Either there must be two witnesses, who are able to bear testimony to the fact of the culprit's having voluntarily drunk wine, or the confession of the accused himself, or actual in- toxication when brought before the judge. In every case, however, the breath of the offender must retain the smell of wine, excepting only when the distance between the place where he was seized and the magistrate is so great as to afford time for the fumes to evaporate. To convict of the crime, it is enough for the offender to have taken a single drop of wine ; but if he is charged with having swallowed any other inebriating liquor, actual intoxication is required ! the distinction being founded upon the fact that, while wine is expressly forbidden in the Koran, the prohibition of other intoxicating drinks is only implied. The penalty in both cases is the bastinade, eighty blows for a freeman and forty for a slave. In one instance only, the punishment is more severe. Drinking wine openly during the fast of Ramazan is a capital crime, and the penalty death. In this case the offence is trebly aggravated. By drinking wine, the law is broken; by drinking it during Ramazan, the fast is violated; and by drinking it openly, a great scandal is created. It has been a vexed question among Mohammedan casuists, in * D'Ohsson. HISTORICAL SKETCH. 319 what actual intoxication consists. The statute defines it as existing whenever there is an apparent want of sense in the words or actions of the accused, and as placed beyond all doubt, when he is unable to repeat a certain chapter of the Koran. One of the most distinguished of the Mohammedan commentators, however, is of opinion, that a state of intoxication is not established unless the mind is so confused that the offender cannot distinguish a man from a woman or heaven from earth*. Thus much will suffice to convey a general idea of the rigidness of the Mohammedan Law upon the matter in question. Having surveyed the foundation, we are now ready to pass to history, and to discover, if may be, how far the practice of Mussulmans in different ages has conformed to the theory of their religion. It is altogether probable that, while the bounds of the Saracenic dominion were confined to the deserts of Arabia, the laws of Mohammed were observed by his followers with exemplary strictness. As soon, however, as the spirit of foreign conquest had seized upon their minds, and fairer lands began to be added to their own arid domains, they gradually imbibed a taste for luxuries unknown before. The fertile regions of Syria and the Holy Land were conquered by Omar, the second Caliph. Here his hardy soldiers, suddenly introduced to the luxury and vo- kuptuousness which then prevailed throughout the Lower Empire, began to relax the severity of their ancient habits, and to yield to the enervating delights everywhere offered to their senses. To such a degree did the defection prevail, that the General of the Saracen army, in reporting to the Caliph a victory lately gained, was compelled to add to his despatch the information, that the Mus- sulmans had learned to drink wine in Syriat. It is an undoubted truth of history, that several of the Caliphs themselves were notorious drunkards. It is recorded of Mohammed I., who reigned in the second century of the Mussulman era, that his example was in this way most disastrous to the morals of the Saracenst. From the Caliphs the vice descended to the Ottomans, whose Sultans are regarded as the present possessors of the Caliphate. Bayazid I., the fourth Sultan of the Turks, was an abandoned sots. When Suliman I., the greatest of the Turkish Sultans, ascended the throne in 1555, intemperance had made such extensive progress among the Mussulmans, that it could be arrested only by the most severe and sanguinary edicts. All the vessels which entered the harbour of Constantinople laden with wine were seized and burned, * Hanifeh. + Ockley's History of the Saracens, i. 148. $ D'Herbelot, Bib. Ori. $ D'Ohsson, iv. 52. SULTAN OF TURKEY-SHAH OF PERSIA. 321 Mohammedan monarch, the laws of the Koran enforced with such severity, that, during his reign, no one of his subjects dared so much as to pronounce the name of wine* ; under another we behold the people plunged into the same vices with the prince, and bacchanalian songs, written by Mussulmans, sung throughout the land +. In turning, therefore, from the past to the present, our first survey is naturally directed to the habits of the royal courts in the two great empires over which our view extends. The late Sultan of Turkey, Mahmoud II., was undoubtedly a great lover of wine. It used to be currently reported in Constantinople, during my residence in that city in 1837 and '38, that he celebrated the anniversaries of his birth and accession to the throne by powerful potations of champagne, which rumour affirmed to be his favourite wine. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of these reports. The privacy of the Turkish Sultans is too strictly guarded to be penetrated by the most scrutinising eye, and the public demeanour of Mahmoud never betrayed any evidence of their truth. Probably, however, they would not have become current without some foundation. On one occasion he made an excur- sion to Nicomedia, about sixty miles distant from Constantinople, in an English steamer. The captain caused to be set before him his best port. The sultan partook bountifully with his Pashas, commended the qualities of the liquor, and requested his entertainer to procure for him a few dozen of the same. I had the story from an eye-witness whose veracity was beyond question. It serves, at least, to show that the Sultan was familiar with the taste of the beverage, and had none of the scruples of some of his great predecessors in the Caliphate. I have sometimes questioned Mussulmans themselves respecting the habits of the Sultan in this particular, and have found that they entertained the same belief which was common among the Franks. Of the disposition of the young Sultan little is certainly known. The story of his destruction of the wines and drinking-vessels of his father, proves little, if it be true, as he is still a boy, and rules by the counsels of others. The present Shah of Persia, who has ascended the throne since 1830, and is still a young man, is remarkable for his great temper- ance. He does not even use the kalioun, or water-pipe, so universal in Persia ; and his apparent indifference pleasures of every kind would be accounted remarkable in the case of any private man of moderate fortune in Persia. Men in authority in Turkey are very many of them accustomed * This was true in the reign of Shamseddin, during the fourth century of the Hijreh. D'Herbelot, Bib. Ori. in art. A Mohammedan biographer of Selim II. of Turkey records this fact as indi- cative of the state of the public morals during his reign. P 3 322 MANUFACTURE OF WINE. to indulge in the use of wine, though in most cases, for fear of scandal, at their private repasts. This is especially true of the minis- ters of state in Constantinople. The Pashas of the provinces are, in many instances, addicted to wine; and, in two or three instances, to my personal knowledge, they practise deeper and stronger potations. There are others, on the contrary, who are entirely pure in this respect, and punctilious in the performance of every religious duty required of a true Mussulman. This freedom is especially to be remarked in those parts of Turkey most distant from Constantinople, and consequently most separated from European influence. In Persia, men in office are almost uniformly notorious transgressors of the law of the religion in this particular. At the most charitable calculation I believe there is not one in ten of them who should be exempted from the charge. In passing from the rulers to the people, I remark, first, that the interdiction of the Koran is of sufficient influence, at the present day, at least to prevent Mussulmans from engaging in the manufacture of wine. I have never been able to learn that they do it even secretly, but, in numberless instances, they raise the grapes from which it is made. The produce of their vines they sell to the Christians, or put into the market, or they express themselves the juice, and convert it by boiling into a kind of syrup resembling molasses in colour, but more agreeable to the taste. Whatever they sell to the Christians, is used for wine, besides immense quanti- ties that the Christians raise themselves. The native Christians then, and, in some instances, the Jews, are the great producers of wine, both in Turkey and Persia. In some places, the Christian population seemed to be supported chiefly by this business. The produce of grapes in different parts of the East is immense. In the vicinity of Constantinople and Smyrna, in the islands of the Archipelago, throughout the interior of Turkey, among the impene- trable mountains of Kurdistan, and in the neighbourhood of the chief cities of Persia, the culture of the vine is carried to a wonder- ful extent. I remember, in one instance, in approaching a city in Persia*, we travelled four miles through uninterrupted vineyards, and, on leaving it on the opposite side, we found them extending to an equal distance in that direction. No kind of cultivation is carried to a higher state of perfection. In the bazars of one cityt there were ten or twelve varieties of the grape exposed for sale during a few weeks that I spent there, and the grounds about that city have sometimes produced sixty different species in a season. * Kazvin. | Tebriz, EVIL EFFECT OF THE MUSSULMAN LAW. 327 physician, declaring it necessary for them to take a little wine for their stomachs' sake. I knew a Persian of high rank, who, under cover of such a testimonial, was in the habit of drinking himself into a state of insensibility at every evening's repast. In Persia, even the religious orders are not altogether free from the vice, and some among them have, at least, the reputation of being perfect adepts in the practice. In Turkey, the contrary is true. Those who are devoted to the public service of religion are almost uniformly rigid in their abstinence, and the same may be said of almost every Turk who is strict in the performance of his other religious duties. There are multitudes among them who know not even the taste of the forbidden liquor, and some carry their scruples so far that they will not even use the vinegar into which the wines degenerate after two or three years. Another and very singular effect of the Mohammedan temperance laws has been to reverse the natural order of criminality, and to make that in the estimation of Mussulmans the most sinful, which is, in fact, the least injurious. The Koran confines its prohibition to wine, and the interdiction of more potent liquors is, as before said, made out by implication from the supposed design of Mohammed in forbidding wine. But as an inference is not so strong as a positive enactment, Mussulman commentators generally have regarded the use of ardent spirits as less sinful than that of wine, the latter being expressly forbidden and the former only by implication. The Turkish code, therefore, makes a distinction between the different species of transgressors, in favour of him who only drinks brandy, or rum, or something equivalent thereto, and against the more hardened sinner who dares to pollute himself with wine. Some com- mentators, indeed, have totally denied the justice of the inference by which the drinkers of distilled liquors are brought under condemna- tion, and maintain that the use of such articles is entirely lawful. They hold to a literal interpretation of the Koran, and go no farther. The consequence is, that the confirmed sot, who swallows the strongest potations, is held in better repute than his more moderate neighbour who satisfies himself upon wine. Another consequence is, that among the Turks, who are more scrupulous in observing their law than the Persians, there are far more who indulge in the use of ardent spirits than of the juice of the grape, and the effect of the law is to patronize drunkenness in the highest degree, while it condemns it in its mildest and least exceptionable form. A Turk, therefore, as he becomes a more confirmed sot, becomes, in the same ratio, a better Mussulman ; for when he has reached that stage in which wine is too weak for his palate, he has only to grow conscientious and reform upon brandy. 332 PRONUNCIATION OF FOREIGN TERMS. buildings in the East where travellers and caravans lodge, Khans. Every English reader pronounces it hans or kans. It is neither.- The vowels are still more difficult. The English in Persia write the principal city of its northern province, Tabreez. The reader does not know whether the a should be pronounced as in father, in fate, in fat, or in fall. Some of the Oriental vowel-sounds cannot be ex- pressed by any of our own. There are, among others, the sounds of the French u and the German o, both unknown in English. Once more, many of the Eastern words have a settled orthography in English which is certainly wrong, but is too firmly established to be exchanged. Every one writes Bagdad; it should be Baghdad. In like manner Caliph ought to be written Khalif. A great diversity of orthography is also occasioned by travellers, unacquainted with any Eastern language, giving sounds as they are caught by the ear. The oi thography of the best English maps is grossly inaccurate on this account. These are some of the difficulties in the way of fixing a standard orthography for Oriental words. After numerous attempts to devise some system for my own use, the simplest, though imperfect, seems to me the best for the present work. I have generally adopted the mode of writing terms as they are pronounced, not as they are written ; I have followed the Turkish pronunciation in preference to any other, because the Turkish is the most prevalent of the three great Eastern languages. Words that have a settled orthography, I have written after the common form, though in some instances, it is incorrect. To avoid the inconvenience of arbitrary accents or points, in order to express the different vowel-sounds, I have fixed a certain sound as the general one, which is in every instance so near an approximation to the different sounds of the whole class of vowels embraced under it, that the word would be readily under- stood by a Turk, if pronounced according to the rules laid down. RULES. Consonants. The simple consonants are pronounced as in English. Of the compound consonants, Kh may be pronounced like h strongly aspirated. Its proper sound is nearly that of the German ch in noch. Tch, like ch in Church. Gh, like g hard. The proper sound is that of Gamma in modern Greek, Vowels. A, like a in father. 1, like i in marine. At the end of words, this sound is often represented by ee. TABLE. PLACE. HOURS. MILES. 6 104 6 10 5} 12 5} l} 10 18 26 15 30 16 42 18 5 35 11 38 9 30 . DATE. 1837 June 8 Trebizond to Jevizlik 9 Stavros 10 Gumush Khaneh 12 Balabor 13 Baibout. 14 Ashkaleh 15 Ilijeh . 16 | ERZROUM 23 ERZROUM to Denizli 24 The Aras, 2 hours The Peïg, 10 hours The Arous, 10% hours Arous village . - 26 The Kizzil Tchai, or Red River, 2 hours The Mourad Tchai, or Euphrates, 6 hs. The fortress of Mahmoud, 8 hours Armenian village 27 Bridge over the Euphrates, 18 hours The Kara Sou, or Black Water, 18 hs. Moush 29 Hass Keui, 3 hours The Kara Sou, 4 hours Marnik. 30 The Kara Sou, 15 minutes Head of the Kara Sou, 24 hours Bitlis July 4 Lake of Van, 4 hours Elmaleu. 5 Narnigas 6 Vastan. 7 Enghil River, 18 hours Erdremid, (Artemita,) 44 hours VAN (entered July 8) 13 Lake Altchek, about 4 hours Altchek village 14 Arab Sonik 11 16 62 28 7} 25 7 83 83 23 25 25 7 24 51 7:1 18 23