MY FIRST JOURNEY TO THE EAST
From the little foretaste which my theoretical studies had given me of
the immense depths of delight contained in Oriental literature, it had
become quite clear to me that in order fully to understand and
appreciate this strange and wonderful world it would be absolutely
necessary to have a more intimate knowledge of the land and its bizarre
inhabitants. When I was still in Kecskemét I had been planning a journey
to the East, and since that time the enchanting pictures which the
Oriental poets conjured up had ever been before my eyes. But how could
I, devoid of all means, and scarcely able to procure the bare
necessaries of life--how could I possibly dream of undertaking a journey
which at that time was very expensive? I pondered in vain. But now I had
saved 120 florins from my last salary as tutor. I was thoroughly weary
of teaching, and possessed by a wild desire for adventure. The time
seemed come at last to carry out my ambitious plans. I determined to
start for Constantinople _viâ_ Galatz as soon as ever I could get ready.
The means at my disposal would cover only half of my travelling
expenses, and arrived in Constantinople I should be penniless, without
recommendation, without friends, an utter stranger, with nothing but
starvation before me. But none of these things troubled me, nor did I
worry myself about the possible issue of my hazardous scheme. The
glorious Bosporus, the Golden Horn, the slender minarets, the stately
cupolas of the mosques, the turbaned Turks, and closely veiled Turkish
women, and many other marvels which I was about to behold, had entirely
captivated my imagination, and I had no thought left for the prosaic
details of travelling preparations and expenses, and the care for daily
food. "I shall manage somehow," I said to myself, and the only thing
that caused me some uneasiness was how to get a passport from the
Austrian authorities. Just then they were always very suspicious of any
one going to Turkey, for it was the favourite resort of Hungarian
emigrants, and it was thought in Vienna that rebellious schemes were
being hatched there. Without protection I could do nothing, and by good
fortune the Baron Joseph Eötvös came to my rescue. I had made the
acquaintance of this noble-minded, highly-cultured countryman of mine
some little time before. He, the distinguished and kind-hearted author
and scientist, having accidentally heard of me, had expressed a wish to
make my personal acquaintance. I was then in great want and distress.
My foot covering was in a very dilapidated condition, the soles of my
shoes were in holes, and as I did not like to come into the room from
the dirty street in the rags which covered my feet I tied pasteboard
soles under my shoes. In spite of this precaution my feet left
unmistakable traces on the carpet, much to the annoyance of the
servants, no doubt, but the noble baron only smiled at my discomfiture;
he set me at my ease and questioned me as to what had induced me to take
up the study of philology. He promised me his protection and also gave
me an introduction to the Academy library, so that I could borrow books,
which was of great service to me in my studies. When I spoke to him
about the passport he managed, not without a good deal of trouble, to
influence in my favour the then Governor, a man highly esteemed in
Government circles. The noble baron even went so far as to start a
collection for my benefit, but this failed, and when I took leave of
him, although not rich himself, he gave me some money and clothes,
requesting me to let him have news of me from time to time.
Provided with the necessary legal documents, I soon after packed up my
dictionaries, a few favourite authors, and some underclothes, and was
ready to start. Again at the recommendation of Baron Eötvös I was
provided with a ticket to Galatz at half price, and I went on board one
fine morning in the month of May, 1857, to enter the "land of romance,"
as Wieland calls it in his _Oberon_, with no one to see me off, no one
to weep, no one to grieve over me. The reader will easily imagine the
joyful exultation and rapturous delight which filled my whole being. As
my little stock of ready money had considerably diminished during the
prolonged delay, I had only taken a second-class ticket. All day I
remained on deck, entering into conversation with my fellow-travellers,
old and young, great and small, and of many different nationalities; and
as I could address them all in their mother-tongue my versatility called
forth much admiration, which sometimes expressed itself in the offer of
a drink, sometimes in an invitation to share a modest repast, which I
always gladly accepted. After a good meal my hilarity generally rose a
few degrees, and in this agreeable state of mind I was always pleased to
recite some beautiful passage or other from one of my favourite authors,
and especially from Petrarch's _Sonnets_. It was with the "Hermit of
Vaucluse" that I first gained the favour of the Italian ship's cook, who
invited me to sit down by his kitchen door, and while I was gaily
declaiming outside, the poetically inclined cook inside stirred his pans
with all the more vigour, and an occasional bravo! or _ben fatto!_ for
my benefit. Of course the practical tokens of his favour were not
wanting, for Mr. Cook handed me from time to time a plateful of the best
food his kitchen could produce. Thus I lived in plenty and comfort, and
often had to confess to myself that my adventurous sail to the East had
with this passage of the Danube commenced under the very best auspices.
I was particularly fascinated by the variety of nationalities around me.
For the first time in my life the narrow limits of a ship afforded me
the opportunity of conversing with representatives of so many different
nations, that I could now at pleasure put into practice my theoretical
and letter knowledge; and although my queer pronunciation and faulty
accentuation often made it difficult for the foreigners to understand
me, I very soon learned to understand them, and after a while I was
surprised to find how smoothly and fluently the conversation went along.
When at Widdin I first saw real live Turks, and my surprise and
astonishment knew no bounds. My first acquaintance with a Mussulman was
of special interest. It was evening, the sun was going down, and its
last rays shone on the deck swarming with natives from Servia,
Wallachia, Bulgaria, and Turkey. A venerable follower of the Prophet
stepped forth, spread his carpet in a corner of the deck, and began to
perform his "Akhsham Namazi," _i.e._, evening devotions. The sight of
this old man prostrating himself in all humility and contrition of
heart, with his head bent low, and arms limply stretched out in front of
him, made a deep impression upon me. I never took my eyes off him, and
when he rose from his prayers and rolled up his carpet, I came forward
and addressed him. I was pleased to find that he was willing to talk to
me; he told me that his name was Mehemed Aga and that he came from
Lofcha. He was now on his way to Stambul to visit his son Djewdet
Effendi, who was studying there, and who afterwards became known as
Historiographer and Minister of Justice. From Stambul he intended to go
on to Mecca. The name "Madjar" (Hungarian) stood at that time in good
repute with the Turks, who had interested themselves for the emigrating
Hungarians; and when I had shown the dear old man my Turkish reading
book, a religious work entitled _Kyrk Sual_ (the Forty Questions), and
had read something aloud out of it, his confidence increased, he invited
me to supper, and throughout the voyage proved himself a good, kind
friend to me.
Other acquaintances of a similar nature helped to clear away the black
clouds which darkened the horizon of my future in the strange land. The
sail up the Danube as far as Galatz soon came to an end, and I was
fortunate enough to secure a half deck-ticket on one of the Lloyd
steamers. I was supremely happy, as now for the first time in my life I
should see the briny ocean, so familiar to me from the descriptions of
Byron and Tegner and other master poets; and when I beheld its mighty
grandeur I was almost giddy with delight and admiration. In order to
watch the motion of the waves more closely I stationed myself, with
permission of the sailors, on a projection near to the bowsprit, and I
imagined I was riding a dolphin, with the salt waves splashing round me.
Thus I accomplished the first few miles on the dark waters of the Pontus
Euxinus. I literally bathed in a sea of delight. I sang, I shouted in my
exultation, and until far into the night my voice vied with the seagulls
and the clamour of the ship's crew behind me. At last, nearly soaked
through with the spray, I left my perch and retired to a corner of the
deck which the Turks had taken possession of, and soon fell fast asleep.
About midnight I was roused by the jerky motion of the ship, and got up.
The howling of the wind, the creaking of the planks, the jolting and
bumping of the vessel, the sighs and groans of the passengers, and
especially of the Turkish women, soon made me realise that I was to have
the good fortune of witnessing the terrible majesty of the Euxine in a
real storm. Regardless of the consternation round me, the fright, the
lamentations, the cries, and the general confusion, I steered my way
along the pitch-dark deck, and was beside myself with joy when an
occasional flash of lightning gave me a sight of the awful spectacle
around, and the black waves towering high above us. Oh! the horror and
the delight of it! My dearest wishes were realised, and as I stood
leaning against the railing which separated our quarter from the deck of
the first-class passengers, and in my rapturous excitement began to
declaim a few stanzas from the _Henriade_, I noticed that a traveller,
pacing up and down on the other side, occasionally stopped to listen;
and after a while he shouted to me in French, "Who are you; what makes
you think of the _Henriade_ just now?" After a little conversation I
found that I was talking to the Secretary of the Belgian Legation at
Constantinople. The next morning he talked for a long time with me, and
finally asked me to come and see him at Pera.
Needless to say I was deeply impressed by the entrance of the Bosporus,
and it was not until the ship had cast anchor at the Golden Horn
opposite Galata, and the passengers crowding into the boats had gone
ashore, that I awoke from my dreams and began to realise my critical
position. I had only just enough money in my pocket to pay for the
ferryboat, without the slightest idea where to go or what to do. There I
stood, penniless, in an utterly strange town. As far as I can remember I
was about two hours climbing up the steep incline between Galata and
Pera. I was so fascinated by the absolute grotesqueness of the life
around me, the chaos of languages, gaudy costumes and strange
physiognomies, that I was obliged to stop every few minutes, rooted, as
it were, to the spot. Pushed on all sides, I felt myself suddenly seized
by the shoulder, and some one addressed me first in Italian and then in
Hungarian. I stood face to face with Mr. Püspöki, my countryman and an
emigrant. My Hungarian hat with the flying ribbons had attracted his
attention, and he began to question me as to the aim and object of my
journey. "Ah, perhaps you are the philologer of whose journey to the
East we have read in the Hungarian papers?" "Yes," I answered; "and
since you are the first countryman I have met, you must help me to find
a lodging and work to do." The good man looked at me with surprise; he
seemed to have guessed the emptiness of my pocket, and in order not to
raise my hopes too high he told me that he was not doing very well
himself, and that just at present he was looking for a cook's place, and
would gladly share his modest quarters with me. Talking about the
beloved fatherland, the absolutism of the Austrians, and the miserable
condition of Turkey, he led me through a labyrinth of dirty, narrow
passages to his abode behind the wall of the English Embassy. This
dwelling consisted of one bare room, with broken windows, and as its
only furniture a long, torn, Turkish divan, which he pulled forward,
inviting me to sit down. "Half of it is mine, and the other yours," said
kind-hearted Mr. Püspöki; "and as for food, I will show you a locanda
(eating-house), where, if you happen to have cash, you can get a good
meal very reasonably." He took me to a basement place in what is now the
Grande Rue de Pera, and which bore the pompous title of "Café Flamm de
Vienne." They sold café-au-lait and Vienna rolls, quite a novelty for
the East in those days. Here I found other compatriots lounging about,
some in Turkish military uniform, some in threadbare clothes. The
majority gave me a hearty welcome, but a few eyed me suspiciously, for
just then the emigrants dreaded to find in every fresh arrival from
Hungary an Austrian spy, sent over to report about them to the
authorities. However, the harmlessness of my personality soon reassured
them, and all suspicions were allayed when they found that I could read
Turkish and speak it a little as well. Some of them invited me to
breakfast straight away, to which meal I did full justice.
After the conclusion of the Crimean War this Café Flamm had become the
favourite haunt of disillusioned adventurers, officers out of employ,
bankrupt merchants, despairing emigrants, political enthusiasts, and
heroes of all trades and nationalities. To judge from the conversation
of these almost always hungry gentlemen, the fate of Europe and of
Turkey was to be decided in this dingy, smoky parlour; they played ball
with Sovereigns and Ministers of State to their hearts' content; they
all had their own plans and views for the amelioration of the world, and
each of them secretly believed that it was merely a question of time for
him to get to the head of affairs in Turkey. The modern Argonaut
expedition of united Europe to the northern banks of the Euxine had
created during and since the Crimean War quite a marvellous host of
knights of the Golden Fleece, and had opened the romantic East to the
romantic children of the West. The tailor's apprentice is in this
"Foreign Legion" suddenly promoted to be a first lieutenant or captain;
hotel waiters become secretaries and interpreters; journalists blossom
forth as great strategists, financiers, and diplomatists; ensigns are
for the nonce colonels and generals; and when, after the violent attack
on the Malakoff, the angel of peace appeared on the banks of the Seine,
vanished was the glitter of the golden existence in the Golden Horn; the
heroes, one and all, subsided into their former insignificance, and met
at the Café Flamm to sweeten the bitter bread of sad reality by the
concoction of still more high-flown plans for the future. The various
types I saw in this coffee-house and the hours spent there will ever
remain fresh in my memory.
In this manner the first days of my sojourn in Pera passed away. I
traversed in all directions both the European and the Turkish quarters
of the town, and always liked to enter into conversation with the Turks
lounging in the coffee-houses; I read aloud from the Turkish books I
always carried about with me, and noticed that the Mohammedans, easily
influenced and affable folks, were impressed by my knowledge of Turkish
and Persian, and regarded me as a kind of prodigy who, having arrived in
Stambul only a day or two ago, already spoke Turkish like an Effendi.
On account of the great difference between the language of the educated
classes and of the people, those who speak the former are always treated
with a certain amount of respect, especially if they are unbelievers;
and as at that time the sympathies of the Turks for the Hungarians had
reached their height, the kindness of these good Osmanli seemed quite
natural to me; and when in any of the coffee-houses I read aloud
passages from "Ashik Garib" ("The Amorous Foreigner"), or from another
popular poem, with the right accentuation and modulation, I generally
reaped a rich harvest of bread, cheese, and coffee, sometimes even Kebab
(roast beef) or Pilaf and Pastirma (dry, smoked meat). At night I
availed myself of Mr. Püspöki's hospitality, and slept excellently on my
miserable couch, in spite of the fiendish noise of the rats racing about
in the room. Their presence was at first rather objectionable to me, as
they gnawed my boots and my clothes, but afterwards, when the necessary
precautions had been taken, I did not trouble any more about them.
Favoured by fine weather, in the charm of novelty the first six weeks of
my stay in Constantinople passed away pleasantly. I never knew in the
morning where I should eat in the evening: the future did not trouble me
in the least; and as I had now changed my hat for a fez, and looked
shabby enough to pass for a wandering lecturer, I spent my days enjoying
to the full my vagabond life.
The mixed nationalities that I came into contact with on the banks of
the Bosporus, were exactly what I needed to complete my theoretical
knowledge of their languages, and ear and memory stood each other in
good stead. I soon acquired the correct accent and construction; and
imitating the different languages as closely as I could in tone and
sound, many took me for a native, and the jokes and jests caused by this
muddle of languages gave me many a delicious moment. Unfortunately my
happiness was somewhat marred by the sudden departure of Mr. Püspöki,
who had found employment as cook on one of the steamers of the
Messageries Impériales, for this made me lose my night quarters, and I
had to hunt about for a long time, until at last the secretary of the
Hungarian Association--Magyar Egylet--proposed that I should take up my
quarters in the council-room of the Society, which was likely soon to be
dissolved. In this large, empty hall I found an old sofa, on which I
stretched myself, but the evenings were cool and I could not sleep. So I
begged Mr. Frecskay, which was the secretary's name, to give me a wrap
of some kind. The good-hearted man appeared presently with a torn
tricolor in his hand, handed it to me with grave pathos, and said, "I
have nothing but this precious memento of our glorious struggle. This
flag has sent the fire of enthusiasm into the lines of our fighters for
justice and freedom; cover yourself with it, it will warm you also." Of
course I could not continue to sleep there, so I set off once more in
search of a bed, and soon found help in the person of another
compatriot, Major E. This man had unfortunately lost his watchdog, and
as his wife would not be left alone in the lonely house near Hassköi, he
invited me to take up my abode there while he was away on business in
the provinces, and until he had procured another watchdog. So I was to
occupy the vacant position of watchdog! It was not particularly
inviting; but turned out rather better than I expected. Instead of a
dog-kennel I had a comfortable room, and plenty of coffee and bread for
breakfast. So I contented myself with the exchange, and continued my old
Bohemian life.
The mornings were chiefly devoted to reading Turkish books, then I
cleaned out the yard and fetched water from the well some little
distance off, and towards evening I repaired to different coffee-houses
to gain a piaster or two by reciting familiar love-poems. No sooner was
I seated there on a high stool surrounded by Turks and Armenians, and
had begun to recite in a nasal sing-song tone, when the conversation
gradually dropped, and the rattling of the nargiles began to subside.
They listened to the love-sick lamentations of Wamik and Esra, of
Khossru and Shirin, where the sad fate of the lovers is recounted. My
readings and recitations were generally attended by the manifestations
of violent emotion or admiration on the part of my audience. In my
subsequent travels in Persia I have often experienced the same thing;
and even now, when I think of those times, the spell of the scene comes
over me again, and I revel in the memory of those early days, when I
could gain the ear of those regular Orientals and keep the crowds
spellbound. Truly speech, the spoken word, is a mighty instrument! By it
mountains are levelled and hearts hard as rock are softened. Differences
of faith and nationality vanish before it; and as I had the good fortune
to experience all this at the very outset of my adventurous career in
Asia, many dark outlines of the far-off future were smoothed away.
Thus the days passed swiftly until the approach of autumn, when I began
to realise the seriousness of my condition, and once more I made up my
mind to try to get lessons or a permanent appointment as private tutor,
in order to make a decent living. In the East bombastic speeches and
high-flown announcements are not at all a rarity; nevertheless the
advertisement which I had fixed up in all the booksellers' shops in
Pera, and in which I offered myself as teacher of a whole string of
Western and Eastern languages, attracted much attention. Bizarre,
absurd, and fantastic as my advertisement was, it did not fail in its
object, for before long I was summoned by a Turk in Scutari, and a Mr.
von Hübsch, General-Consul of Denmark. The former had just come in for a
large sum of money, and in order to do justice to his position of
modern dandy wanted to be able to talk a little French. He wished to
take French lessons from me, while the latter, an Easterling by birth,
wanted to learn Danish, not so much for conversation, he thought, but
rather to be able to read the Danish Court circular and newspapers. Here
was a singular and rather perplexing demand upon my Scandinavian
studies; in my wildest dreams it had never entered my brain that I might
be called upon to teach a representative of Denmark the language of that
country! And yet such was the case. For eighteen months Mr. v. Hübsch
continued my pupil, and when, at the end of that time, we had finished
Andersen's novel _Kun a Spilleman_ ("Only a Fiddler"), and he could
read the _Berlinske Tidninger_, I came to the conclusion that there is
nothing impossible in this world, and that an adventurous career
certainly brings the oddest experiences. I did not get on so well with
my Turkish scholar. As a man of fashion his object was merely to have a
French _maître_ coming to the house, but he was lazy and frivolous, and
all the learning that was done was on my side; for in his house at
Chamlidjia, on the hill above Scutari, he always entertained a company
of Effendis and Porte officials in the evenings, with whom I conversed
for hours, and made rapid progress both in Turkish society manners and
customs, and in the elegancies of the Osmanli speech. The distance
between the landing-stage at Scutari and Chamlidjia was a weary journey
to accomplish every day on foot, but it was a _gradus ad Parnassum_, and
after being in office for three months I could act the Effendi not only
in outward appearance, manners, and gesticulations, but I could hold a
conversation in Turkish with all the necessary elegance, and was well on
the way to becoming a perfect Effendi.
The Turks of the upper classes are very pleasant people, especially when
one humours their peculiarities, and takes the trouble to learn their
language, one of the most difficult in the world. No wonder, therefore,
that my circle of acquaintances perceptibly increased, and that I had
constantly fresh applications and fresh invitations as teacher of
languages. Thus far I had made Pera my headquarters, but when, through
the intervention of my countryman, Ismail Pasha (General Kmetty), I was
offered the position of private tutor in the Konak of the Hussain Daim
Pasha, in the town-quarter of Kabatash, I accepted at once, adjourned to
the Turkish quarter, and henceforth became a regular Turk. Only the name
was wanting now, and this was given me by my principal, a worthy
Cherkess, who had been educated at the court of Sultan Mahmud; he
ordered his household henceforth to address me as _Reshid_, _i.e._, the
valiant, the honest one; and on the strength of my linguistic skill to
give me the title of Effendi. So Reshid Effendi was my official name,
but neither the Pasha nor myself had ever thought of a regular
Islamising. The former, a Mohammedan of the purest water, who
afterwards became involved in an anti-reform conspiracy, thought no
doubt that my conversion would follow as a matter of course, and that,
when fully convinced of the material advantages to be derived from
joining the ruling class altogether, I should give up all idea of
returning to the West. As for myself, the very idea of conversion was
far from me. I had long been a confirmed freethinker, and Islam seemed
to open a religious world which, because of its sound foundation and
rational dogmas, was all the more dangerous to the free soaring upward
of the spirit; but with my declared animosity against positive religions
in general, it was altogether beyond me to embrace it. At the same time
I must admit that the forbearance of the upper classes in the Turkish
metropolis was most praiseworthy; for most of them saw perfectly well
through the hypocritical nature not only of my Moslemism but of that of
other European renegades, and did not pin the slightest faith to the
conversion of Europeans; they never in any way, however, disapproved of
this incognito, or resented the mere external acknowledgment of the
newly adopted faith. In this the better classes of Turkey have always
advantageously distinguished themselves from the _soi-disant_ cultured
classes of European society; for while these latter high-born gentlemen,
brought up in the trammels of prejudice, short-sightedness, and
hypocrisy, presuppose in their converts the same lack of inner
persuasion, and consider conversion to their views quite a possible
thing, the cultured Turk, be he ever so religious, recognises in Islam a
world of thought, born and bred in the blood, dependent upon education
and mental development, and absolutely impossible of adoption by a man
of Western training. They called me Reshid Effendi, they permitted me to
be present at and to join in their religious ceremonies, they discussed
in my presence frankly and unreservedly the most abstruse religious
questions, they even brought me in contact with the friars, and laughed
when I joined in the recitation of hymns, or took part in their
disputes; but the question whether I really intended to become a
Mohammedan, to marry, and to live the life of a regular Moslem, nobody
ever thought of asking; that question has been put to me only by the
uneducated.
In this manner I was enabled to move in Turkish society as Reshid
Effendi without in any way binding myself. The more I became familiar
with their social customs, and steeped in the Oriental ways of living
and thinking, the larger grew my circle of acquaintances, and the more
unreservedly all doors were opened to me, not merely of lower officials
but of the higher and even the very highest dignitaries. Turkey knows no
aristocracy of birth; the man of obscure origin can suddenly become
Marshal and Grand-Vizier; and since most of them, as self-made men,
have no genealogical scruples, so also in the foreigner they do not so
much consider his antecedents as his personal capabilities; and as my
fame as professor of the Turkish language spread, I found the doors of
the highest society open to me, and in a year's time, I was, with the
exception of Murad Effendi (Werner), who lived in the house of Kibrisli
Pasha, the only European who, without formally going over to Islam, had
become an Effendi and a _protégé_ of the Porte circle. Easy as this
transformation had been, because of the tolerance of the better classes
of Stambul, so much the greater had been the sacrifices which the lower
classes demanded from me. Servants play an important part in Turkish
households; they are looked upon as members of the family, and in the
patriarchal organisation of the house they have a considerable influence
upon the Effendi and Pasha, and especially upon the children. These
servants, transported from the interior of European and Asiatic Turkey
to the banks of the Bosporus, are generally in the very lowest stage of
education; they are extremely fanatical and suspicious as regards
Europeans, and the higher I rose in the favour of the master of the
house the higher rose their jealousy and animosity. They could not
understand that, notwithstanding my literary and religious knowledge, I
did not become a pious Moslem, and why the Pasha, Bey, or Effendi should
show me, the disguised Giaour, so much attention. In spite of all that
both religion and national custom prescribe as to the kind treatment of
guests, for the Koran says, "Ekremu ed dhaifun ve lau kana kafirun,"
_i.e._, "Honour the guest, even if he be an unbeliever," I had much
unkindness to bear, and had to put up with many a humiliation. What
amused me most was the conduct of the older house-servants; they even
played the Mentor towards the governor, his wife, and his children, and
often instructed me in rules of etiquette and general views of life. In
the eyes of these people infidel Europe was a barbarian wilderness,
rejecting the civilising influences of Islam, and it was an act of
condescension on the part of the old-stock Turk, brought up within the
small Stambul circle, to put me right, and to instruct me in the correct
way of sitting, walking, eating, talking, and general comportment.
Others, again, were malevolent and fanatical, made me the butt of their
ill-chosen jokes, worried me, and once it even happened that a
scoundrel, who had risen to be the tyrant of the house, threw his boot
at my head because I had not polished it enough to his liking. I had to
take all this into the bargain; it was a new school--the school of
Oriental life--which I had to pass through, and the fee had to be paid.
After the servants it was the harem, _i.e._, the Turkish female world,
which caused me a good deal of trouble. Turkish women, the fair sex in
general, are distinctly conservative, and they could not understand how
the Pasha or Effendi could tolerate the presence of a Giaour in the
Selamlik, _i.e._, in close proximity to the harem, and above all, how he
could have come upon the idea of entrusting the education of his
children to an infidel. Even now Turkish ladies are much more fanatical
than the men; but at that time, the beginning of the reform period, they
evinced an ungovernable hatred and aversion against everything
Christian. They showed me their dislike in all sorts of teasing ways.
Communication between the harem and the outer world is carried on by
means of the Dolab, a round, revolving sort of cupboard. Everything
intended for the Selamlik is placed in this Dolab, and when the women
want to speak with any one outside they do so through the Dolab. When I
heard the sound of a woman's voice, and shouted the customary "Buyurun"
("At your service") into the Dolab, I either received no answer at all
or else some rude rejoinder; and it was not till later, when I had
trained myself to make exquisitely polite speeches and poetic
compliments, that they vouchsafed to give me a short answer. After
months of effort I succeeded at last in breaking the ice. My youthful
fire could not fail to take effect, and the ladies, most of them very
beautiful Circassians, who were much neglected by the old invalid master
of the house, gradually began to praise my willingness to oblige them
and my linguistic proficiency, and proofs of their favour were also
forthcoming. In six months' time the Böyük Hanim (chief wife) entrusted
me with the charge of one of the Odalisks, long past the spring of life,
who suffered from severe toothache, and had to be taken to a dentist at
Pera. The long and difficult road up the steep incline to Pera
necessitated a rest midway, and with the afflicted lady I stopped at the
house of a Hungarian countryman of mine. The kind hospitality she met
with seemed to have pleased the Turkish woman extremely, for soon
afterwards more ladies of the harem, some of them quite young, were
suddenly seized with toothache, and I had to take them in turns to Pera
for dental operations. My intercourse with the inmates of the harem was
very strained; it was so difficult to keep to the strict rules of
etiquette. I could not accustom myself to cast down my eyes when in the
presence of a lady, as Turkish custom demands. It is no small matter at
twenty-four to tear one's gaze away from the fiery orbs of a beautiful
Circassian. There were other difficulties which it cost me much trouble
to overcome.
But, true to my principle to persevere and to bear all things, and
hardened by early sufferings, I found strength to pursue the end I had
in view. Rising, step by step, I first came into the house of the Chief
Chancellor of the Imperial Divan, Afif Bey, whose son-in-law, Kiamil
Bey, I taught for about twelve months, and where I had daily intercourse
with the _élite_ of Porte society. Our house, opposite the mausoleum of
Sultan Mahmud II., not far from the High Porte, was the rendezvous of
men of wit and genius, celebrated authors, and high society generally.
Here I made the acquaintance of Midhat Pasha, afterwards celebrated in
Europe as the father of the Turkish constitution. He was then Midhat
Effendi, and occupied the position of secretary to my Pasha. Midhat was
a lively young man of a restless and fanciful turn of mind; he was
studying French at that time, and as he had not the patience, while
reading, to look up words in the dictionary, he began to read with me
for a few hours every day, in return for which he helped me to decipher
difficult Turkish texts, as, for instance, in the historical works of
Saaddesdin of Kemalpashazade, or he corrected my compositions and
introduced me into the Medrissa (college) for Osmanlis, where I was
allowed to attend the lectures of celebrated exegetists, grammarians,
and lawyers of the time, in company with the Softas (students of
divinity). Here, crouching before the Rahle (Koran-desk) at the feet of
the thickly turbaned Khodjas (teachers), I was introduced into the
practical knowledge of Islam, and the instruction which my
fellow-students accepted with religious enthusiasm was to me all the
more interesting as, rising higher and higher in the estimation of the
Turks in general, I gained possession of the talisman which has been my
guide in all my subsequent journeys and wanderings. Amongst the many
Europeans who have formally gone over to Islam, I was the first to be
educated at a Medresse (university), and the study seemed the easier to
me as the ruling spirit here strongly reminded me of the Orthodox Jewish
schools. Here, as there, discussions and disputations are carried on
with great religious zeal; they go carefully into the minutest details
of ritualistic ordinances, they criticise and speak for and against; and
whoever can hold out longest with his arguments is reckoned to be the
best scholar. As Muhtedi, _i.e._, One brought to the truth, or properly,
converted, they were particularly obliging to me, and all my remarks
were applauded.
In the year 1859 I could take part in single disputes, and as my name
was often mentioned in society, I soon received an appointment at the
house of Rifaat Pasha, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, as
teacher of history, geography, and French. This house not only ranked as
the richest in the Turkish capital at that time, but it was also the
rendezvous of Turkish _literati_, who, as fanatical adherents to old
Asiatic culture, always gave the preference to Turkish compositions and
literature; and when the young master of the house, Reouf Bey, gathered
round him in the evening the celebrated Kiatibs (writers) and led the
conversation to selections of Turkish authors, I literally revelled in
the enjoyment of the marvellous metaphors and gems of oratory in the
Osmanli language. History, philosophy, and similar themes were not
introduced into this circle, and as for politics the conversation was
limited to the discussion of some elevation to a higher rank, or some
official grant, on which occasions the high dignitaries then in office
were always sharply criticised, for every one endeavoured to show up
their faults by witty epigrams, or to prove their unfitness, corruption,
and injustice in elaborate flowery language. So far the decorous evening
assemblies. As for the merry gatherings, the so-called pot-evenings, of
which I have spoken at large in my _Sketches of the East_, under the
title of "Drinking Bouts," they were always objectionable and abominable
to me, for I have never had a liking for spirituous drinks, and I have
often had to sit for hours with an empty stomach, waiting until the
grand gentlemen had finished intoxicating themselves with their Mastika
(a kind of brandy) before the evening meal was served. The conversation
on these occasions was coarse and vile in the extreme, and things were
discussed freely and openly before young people which would have brought
a flush of shame to the cheek in the most degraded of European society.
In this it becomes apparent to the stranger of Western lands how
beneficial is the influence of women on society in general, and that
social amenity is incompatible with the rigorous separation of the
sexes, as it is in the East, and must ultimately lead to moral
corruption. To be nailed to one's chair for hours together, without
daring to move--for to show any restlessness is a breach of good
manners--and to be obliged to listen to all sorts of disgusting stories,
generally bearing upon sexual intercourse, and to trivial, childish, and
absurd conversations, is of all things about the most terrible penance
which can be inflicted upon a young, enthusiastic European striving
after higher ideals. As long as the language still offered fresh charms,
this torture was bearable, but afterwards these gatherings became a
veritable infernal pain to me, and I was glad indeed when the winter was
over and we adjourned to the summer residence on the banks of the
Bosphorus, in the villa of Kanlidjia, where, at any rate, I was able to
escape from the smoke-filled room and enjoy to my heart's content the
fresh summer evening air on the Bosphorus, the loveliest spot on all the
earth.
A prominent feature of the Oriental character is an extraordinary
serenity and an easy-going, contemplative turn of mind. This same
feature also evinces itself in family life. Being a stranger, I had
access only to the Selamlik, _i.e._, the men's part of the house, and I
often felt very lonely in the daytime, and had plenty of time and
leisure for my studies. The four years I spent in Turkish households
were in many respects like life in a monastery, and it was not till
later, when I had become acquainted with many prominent members of high
society, that I could break the monotony by making frequent calls, and
bring some variety into my studies. Always welcome in one house as
teacher, in another as friend and guest, I often used to spend two or
three days a week outside the family where I really belonged. I had in
these various houses my own Gedjelik, or night requisites; also a bed at
my disposal, consisting of a cover and bolster and the use of a divan;
and when I arrived anywhere at night it was taken for granted that I
stayed the night and shared the evening meal. The hospitality of the
Orientals, and especially of the Turks, is unbounded, and it is to them
not only a pleasure but also a means of fulfilling one of the most
sacred duties of their religion. Whether one or two more people sit down
at his table makes very little difference to him, for there is always
plenty to satisfy a few unexpected guests, and whether he be rich or
poor, the Turk is always supremely happy when he has plenty of company
at his table. But what struck me especially was the total absence of
aristocratic pride and class distinction in social life. Vizier,
marshal, minister, or son-in-law of the Sultan, all gave me an equally
hearty reception, nobody asked after my antecedents, nobody inquired as
to my circumstances, and I, who at home in the mother country had been
an obscure Jewish teacher, living in absolute retirement, became now in
the very short time of two years the confidential friend of the most
distinguished and wealthiest dignitaries. As friend and guest initiated
into all the mysteries of private and official concerns, I soon became
as learned and knowing as any Effendi born in Stambul and brought up
under the Porte. Of necessity this privileged position in Turkish
society brought me often in contact with European intelligence and the
diplomatic circle at Pera. Besides the Austrian internunciature, where
Baron Schlechta, whom I knew at Vienna, introduced me, I came into
contact with the Prussian, Italian, and English Embassies. At the
Prussian legation I taught Turkish to Count Kayserling, and at the hotel
of the English Embassy I was introduced by Count Pisani, the first
interpreter, to the then powerful Lord Stratford Canning, and I often
acted as interpreter to him when he paid private calls at the house of
Mahmud Nedim Pasha at Bebek. This man of the iron mien was not a little
astonished when he heard me, the supposed Effendi, talk English
fluently. My Turkish appearance, and the fame I enjoyed among the Turks
of a thorough knowledge of their language, soon became the talk of the
diplomatic circles at Pera. I was invited to _soirées_ and public
dinners, and thus received the first impressions of the social life of
the West, the rigorous etiquette and stiffness of which was, honestly
speaking, very objectionable to me at first.
The free access I had to all circles of Turkish society, where even
native Armenians and Greeks comported themselves with a certain amount
of restraint, gave me a deeper insight into the political and social
condition of Turkey in the fifties than perhaps any other European. And
this was the more interesting as it revealed the first stage of the
transformation from Eastern to Western civilisation. In the house, in
the school, in the harem, in religion, and in government, everywhere a
partly spontaneous, partly forced change became apparent, and, alas! it
was this very first phase of the transformation which gave the
thoughtful spectator but little hope as to the ultimate result of the
metamorphosis, the assimilation of the East of Western ways. There was
no sound basis to work upon, and the introduction of modern civilisation
was forced on far too hastily, for the evident purpose of satisfying the
craving impatience of the West. Wherever one looked, the eye met the
deceptive, forced, and unreal evidences of the reform movement; it was
merely obedience to the word spoken from high places; and even there,
where the necessity of assimilation was acknowledged, a transition from
East to West would eventually have failed. In my constant intercourse
with the leading men of this movement I have often touched upon this
theme, and, pointing out the tremendous difference between Asiatic and
European civilisation, I have always advocated the necessity of a
gradual progress, based on historical, religious and social
developments.
But I was always met with the answer, "We are forcibly pushed on; they
despise our centuries of old Oriental culture, they want to change us,
like a _Deus ex machinâ_, into Europeans; if they would only give us
time, our transformation would be slower, but more effectual in the
end."
And now, in view of recent events in Japan, these words are explained as
a mere pretext for the laziness and the spirit of procrastination of the
Moslem East. The fact is lost sight of that the Shinto faith of the
Japanese, never at any time prudish like Islam, has never resisted the
influences of European civilisation in the same degree as the triumphant
doctrine of Mohammed has done. And what is more, one cannot or will not
see that the intensely autocratic government of Moslem sovereigns
hinders the work of modernisation as much as the liberal institutions of
Japan further it.
When I think of those nightly assemblies at the house of my Pasha, where
the most varied arguments were brought forward, for and against the new
movement, I am particularly struck with the struggle which was going on
between self-abnegation and the forcible ignoring of all the glorious
past, which was inevitably connected with an acknowledgment of the
advantages of Western civilisation. No nation likes to acknowledge of
itself, "All that we have is bad, and all that others have is good." The
number of Turks familiar with our languages and sciences was far too
small to turn the scale in favour of a more correct view of the matter,
and among the few who, on account of their modern culture, were capable
of a better opinion, personal ambition and rivalry frustrated many a
good proposal. Reshid Pasha, who stood at the head, was a thoroughly
well-bred, fair, and patriotic man; a statesman full of energy and
perseverance, not hindered or hampered by any prejudices or
prepossessions, honoured with the full confidence of his sovereign, and
one who could have accomplished great things if his own pupils and
assistants had not secretly opposed him, and thus frustrated many of his
plans. The very able Ali Pasha, of whom Mr. Thouvenel, the ambassador of
Napoleon III., said that he wrote better French than many a French
diplomatist, was the paragon of Oriental intriguers and dissimulators.
He was a small, weakly-looking man, with a disproportionately large
head: hence his stooping posture; and in slow, hardly audible words he
used to fling out the hardest criticisms against the politics of his
master and patron, without being able to improve matters. When I was of
the company, either at table or in the drawing-room, he used to steal
furtive glances at me, and only after he had made quite sure of my
discretion and considered me harmless, used he to speak somewhat louder
to those immediately around him; but not until I had borrowed some
Tchagataic books from his well-stocked library did he express himself
without any restraint in my presence, in the full conviction that I, the
philologist, took no interest whatever in politics. Yes, the hours
spent in the villa of Kanlidjia, with the more than once Grand-Vizier
and Minister of the Exterior, were most instructive to me; they gave me
the first insight into the reform movement and the life and aspirations
of the officials of the higher Porte in those days.
After Ali Pasha the personality of Fuad Pasha interested me especially.
This tall, stately man, with refined, thoroughly European manners, who,
with his sparkling wit and humorous _aperçus_, was more like a Frenchman
than a Turk, and, as was generally known, had risen from being a simple
military doctor to the highest State dignity, was now one of the three
first reformers. Although fair and patriotic, he does not appear to have
taken his position very much in earnest. He was complacency itself, but
his sarcasm did not even spare the sacred person of his sovereign; and
once, on the occasion of an illumination, when I happened to be in his
suite, I heard him say, "Yes, it is light everywhere; darkness only
reigns in our State cassa."
Many of his _bon-mots_ are still in circulation; as, for instance, his
remark to an inquisitive diplomatist, who, in going through the house,
wanted to open the door of the harem: "Monsieur, vous n'êtes accredité
qu'à a Porte--au delà vous n'avez pas de droit." It is told of him that
when he was Ambassador Extraordinary at Madrid, and sat at table next to
the Queen, who drew his attention to the emblem of friendship displayed
on the Spanish-Turkish flag on the ham, he said, "Madame! je reconnais
volontièrement l'emblème de l'amitié--mais comme Musulman, je ne peux
pas reconnaître la neutralité du terrain." In those days I managed to
make quite a collection of his Turkish and French _aperçus_ and poems,
for he had inherited the poetic vein from his father, the celebrated
Tzzet-Molla, who had had the audacity to write a satire against Sultan
Mahmud, and for punishment had been banished to Köchük Tchekmedje. There
he wrote his beautiful poem, "Mihnetkeshan" ("The Sorrowful"), in which
the affectionate father recommends his two sons with rhyming names, Fuad
and Reshad, to God's special protection. Fuad also gave his sons names
that rhyme, for they were called Nazim and Kiazim. Fuad remained the
lifelong, faithful friend of Ali, whose intellectual superiority he
gladly acknowledged, without, however, altogether sparing him the darts
of his sarcasm. Towards me Fuad Pasha was always most gracious, only he
thought that my thirst for knowledge, without showing any practical
results, rather resembled the craving of a hungry man for a glass of
water, and he often quoted to me the Persian lines:
"Kushishi bi faide, vesme ber abrui kur,"
(_I.e._, "It is vain labour to adorn the eye of the blind.")
Besides this trio of reformers--Reshid, Ali, Fuad--only very few have
distinguished themselves since that time in the field of home and
foreign politics. The only exceptions are Mehemmed Kibrizli Pasha and
Mehemmed Rushdi Pasha. The former, a Cypriote by birth, who had long
been ambassador in London, was as enthusiastic about England as the
latter was about France. Kibrizli's wife was an Englishwoman, and it
would seem that he concluded this marriage anticipating the future
annexation of his native island by the British Empire. In his politics
he has given many proofs of independence, and was not nearly so amenable
at court as his successor in the Grand-Vizierate. Rushdi Pasha,
generally called Müterdjim (the interpreter), showed himself a Liberal
even in my days, and afterwards, in concert with Midhat Pasha, took a
prominent part in the dethronement of Sultan Aziz. I had access to the
Konak of both, but because of my frequent attendance at the houses of
Fuad and Ali they observed a certain degree of reserve with regard to
me, without, however, being able to hide the tendency of the ruling
spirit there. Of some importance were, even at that time, Aarifi
Effendi, Safvet Effendi, and Server Effendi, who properly belonged to
Ali's clique, and afterwards attained to the highest dignities. They
were all zealous adherents of the reform party, fairly well advanced in
Western civilisation, but none of them made of the stuff of which
political leaders are formed. To the political amphibia belonged the
then Minister of Finance, Hassib Pasha--a blind tool of the court
faction who allowed Sultan Abdul Medjid large sums of money far beyond
the fixed Civil List; and when Fuad Pasha called him to book about this
he replied, "The bank-note press was just in operation, and I thought a
few millions more or less would make no difference." Then there was the
War Minister, Riza Pasha, I might say, next to Fethi Pasha, the Grand
Master of Artillery, the most powerful and influential man of his time,
as he was related to the court, and moreover extremely rich, for he is
said to have purloined enormous sums of money. Last, but not least,
there was Mahmud Nedim Pasha, afterwards called Nedimoff because of his
Russian sympathies. In his house I occupied for two years the position
of French master to his son-in-law, slept there three nights a week, and
even in those days took a dislike to this man who afterwards caused such
harm to Turkey. He was a genuine specimen of the true Oriental, minus
the goodly qualities which characterise the Turks. During his
drinking-bouts, which lasted till long after midnight, he practised
composing Sharkis (love-songs), and while he wrote down his verses under
the inspiration of the Castalian Raki, his Mewlewi-Dervish had to play a
suitable accompaniment on the flute. These songs were afterwards much
liked by the ladies of the Imperial harem, and have probably contributed
to his later influential position. As a politician he was nowhere, for
his ignorance of Western affairs was boundless; and when once I had to
be interpreter on the occasion of a visit from Lord Stratford Canning to
the villa at Bebek, where he was acting as substitute for the Minister
of Foreign Affairs, I positively blushed when I had to translate his
ignorant geographical remarks about the Suez Canal--the point under
discussion. No wonder that Ignatieff could afterwards so easily gain
this monster over to assist Russia in the overthrow of Modern Turkey.
Besides the above, I enjoyed the confidence and hospitality of Damad
Kiamil Pasha, a worthy Turk of the old stamp, immensely rich, who,
notwithstanding his hesitation between West and East, applied himself in
his advanced age to the study of French, and was fond of me because in
his attempts to translate Fénelon's _Télémaque_ I had served him instead
of a dictionary. He led a contemplative life in his villa on the bay of
Bebek, and took great delight in my recitations of Turkish poems.
It would lead me too far to mention all the Turkish statesmen with whom
I had personal intercourse and whose friendship I enjoyed. I had also
made the acquaintance of the _literati_ of the day--the historians
Shinassi Effendi, Djevdet Effendi, and Khairullah Effendi, who very
kindly assisted me, perhaps not so much on my own account as because of
the high repute which the house of Rifat Pasha, and, later, of his son
Reouf Bey, of which I was then a member, enjoyed with the Porte. I love
to think of those days. In spite of the threatening clouds of State
bankruptcy and the general impoverishment, chiefly caused by the last
Turko-Russian war, the Turkey of the fifties enjoyed a certain
reputation in Europe; and as in our financial world the youngest member
in the European Concert had received loan upon loan, Turkish society was
rich, and on the strength of foreign money luxury grew apace. It was a
period of childish carelessness and abandonment, in which both nation
and ruler were plunged. Sultan Abdul Medjid, the true prototype of those
days, was a kindly monarch, who gladly relinquished the cares of the
State to his dignitaries, while he himself enjoyed all the pleasures of
court life, and was a willing tool in the hands of the reform trio
already mentioned, honestly trying, in outward form at any rate, to copy
the European sovereigns. When at diplomatic dinners he handed his
Havannah cigars to the European ambassadors, or offered his arm to a
European princess who happened to be his guest, or when at solemn
audiences he shook hands with the foreign representatives, he did so
with all the grace of a perfect gentleman, and one could scarcely credit
that only two generations ago the European ambassadors entered the
audience chamber clad in a long kaftan, with a servant walking at each
side of them holding their hands. His father, Sultan Mahmud, still wore
on State occasions a richly braided coat of Hungarian make, such as may
still be seen among the costumes in the treasure-house. But Sultan Abdul
Medjid dressed in a simple black suit made by Dusetoy in Paris, and when
he appeared on horseback in the streets of the city, graciously
acknowledging the greetings of the multitude with his white-gloved hand,
no one would have recognised in him the earthly representative of
Mohammed, the Khalif of all true believers, and the mighty autocrat of
an empire still extending over three continents. In spite of all his
refined manners, however, he remained the Oriental despot and autocrat.
Whenever he showed himself in this light before Fuad or Ali Pasha the
two statesmen made private comments about it in their own intimate
circle. The Sultan's angry outbursts were faithfully reported, and once
Fuad Pasha told how, when he had gently remonstrated with him in regard
to advances from the public exchequer, the Sultan had accosted him with,
"Am I not the true Osmanli ruler of this land, and owner of all its
possessions?" Of course foreigners had not to fear such
outbursts--towards strangers Abdul Medjid was always most courteous, and
I like to remember the audience I once attended when, by order of the
Grand-Vizier, Kibrizli Pasha, I acted as interpreter to an Englishman
and an Italian, who came to offer for sale a supposed autograph letter
of the Prophet, which had been found in Upper Egypt, and for which
questionable relic they received a large sum of money. The Sultan was
seated at about five feet distance; he spoke in a low voice, and asked
me whether all Hungarians could speak Turkish so easily. Most touching
was his intercourse with Lord Stratford. He called him Baba (father),
and was always willing to follow his advice.
A detailed narrative of all my experiences in Constantinople would fill
several volumes. Suffice it to say that I had the satisfaction of
knowing that in the diplomatic circles of Pera I was recognised as the
only foreigner familiarly acquainted with the Porte and with Turkish
family life. So I might well be satisfied with my lot. My income had
considerably increased, and after the everlasting struggle with poverty,
misery, and loneliness I had a proportionate degree of wealth, comfort,
and fame; but, strange to say, I could not make up my mind as to my
future career, and did not know in which direction I really wanted to
go. For some time it had been my great desire to be an interpreter at
one of the European embassies: to be an interpreter like those whom I
saw honoured and feared at the Porte, riding on a high horse attended by
servitors, and enjoying a certain amount of distinction in the Pera
circles. But I never tried very hard to realise this ambition, for I
knew that such a position could only be obtained through official
connections with the Governments concerned. It would have been far
easier for me to get an appointment with the Porte itself, especially as
I had been employed for some considerable time in the translation bureau
of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and through my connection with the
highest dignitaries might have accomplished something, like, for
instance, my former colleague, Murad Effendi (Werner), who, as is well
known, ended his career as Ottoman ambassador at the Hague. I cannot
tell why, but an official career in Turkey, an appointment in a State
which was merely tolerated in Europe, had no attractions whatever for
me. State officials are irregularly paid there, and absolutely dependent
upon the whims of their superiors; advancement is not in any way
dependent upon personal merit, and altogether such State service had no
charm for me.
Possibly similar motives would have made me object to service in Europe
also, for we too suffer from the same disease which has thrown Turkey on
its deathbed; but because of my origin and lack of means I had never
dared to think of any diplomatic appointment at home; and besides, I
should probably soon have tired of even the greatest success in this
department, for in the first place my unbounded sense of freedom could
not in the long run have brooked any interference or subordination, and
in the second place I was, and ever shall be, an incorrigible enthusiast
and visionary, only delighting in the extraordinary; a man who, running
helter-skelter after empty phantoms, does not come to his senses and
never knows what he really wants or can do. Perhaps some will say that
these are the very people called upon to accomplish extraordinary
things, and that with more reflection I might have shrunk back from many
a mad enterprise. True; but one must not overlook the faults and
mistakes of such ill-weighed, badly arranged steps; and the effects of
these faults and mistakes I have often experienced during my travels and
during my after-life!
The only consolation and refuge in all my complicated ambitions and
aimless endeavours was, and remained always, a steady progress in my
studies and the conviction that, true to my principle, accepted in early
life, "Nulla dies sine linea," I had not one lost day to record. While I
was perfecting myself in the acquisition of certain peculiar linguistic
niceties, which only practice on the spot and constant intercourse can
teach, and thus gradually becoming an accomplished Effendi, I had from
the very commencement of my sojourn in Turkish houses set myself to the
reading of Turkish manuscripts, and I had thus overcome the great
difficulty of deciphering such manuscripts and also made rapid progress
in the knowledge of Ottoman history. I had access to the libraries, and
in the historical works which formerly I knew only by name I found so
much that had reference to the history of Hungary that I intended to
begin my literary career by translating these. Besides this I made a
study of the conversational language, and a Germano-Turkish pocket
dictionary containing about 14,000 words, which was published in Pera,
1858, by Georg Köhler, was the first work with which I appeared before
the public. It was also the first German book printed in Constantinople.
To this purely scientific occupation I soon added public writing, as my
constant and intimate intercourse with the political circles of the high
Porte enabled me to obtain accurate information about the political
questions of the day. Stambul, although only separated from Pera by the
Golden Horn, is quite cut off from this centre of European life on
account of the strong line of demarcation between the Turkish circles
and Pera; and when on my daily visits to the European quarter I came
into contact with politicians and journalists, I was looked upon and
sought after as a source of information for the latest news and
disclosures. I was surprised to see how little the Pera world knew of
what was going on in Stambul; I hastened to enlighten the world by
correct information, and became in this manner, without seeking or
desiring it, reporter and journalist. I gained my first journalistic
spurs with the _Augsburger Algemeine Zeitung_, through its
correspondent, a Prussian officer named Reiner. I sent in a few notes,
which he inserted in his Correspondence. Later on I wrote letters under
my Turkish name, "Reshid," for the _Pesti Naplo_ in Budapest, and
instead of an honorarium I received only patriotic acknowledgments. When
Vienna's attention had been drawn towards the originality of my
Hungarian correspondence the _Wanderer_ appointed me as regular
correspondent. Amongst these many-sided occupations of teacher,
historian, Softa, and linguist my studies regarding the origin of the
Magyars were always uppermost. The mysterious origin of the Magyar
nation and language, which to this day has not yet been explained, was a
subject which ever since I began my linguistic studies had particularly
interested me. It had taken hold of my youthful fancy also, because at
school many tales and legends had been told us in explanation of it. The
campaign of the warlike ancestors of the present Hungarians had at all
times awakened in the hearts of the Magyars a peculiar interest in and
sense of the poetic charm of lands of the interior of Asia, and behind
the curtain which as yet hid the Steppe region of Central Asia (the
supposed cradle of the Ural-Altaians at the time of the great migration
to Europe) from the gaze of Europeans, the most wonderful pictures of
national romance and inspiration were faintly discerned. When I beheld
the grotesque Orientals of the interior of Asia this curiosity became
naturally still more lively. The beautiful colouring of their ample
robes, the stores of ammunition in their girdles, and their proud,
dignified bearing must necessarily increase the desire to claim
relationship with these old-world types; and when I realised that the
similarity between the Magyar and Turkish languages increases as we
advance farther into the interior of Asia I could not help being
convinced in my innermost mind that the _terra incognita_ of Central
Asia held quite unexpected surprises for me.
The real impulse for inquiring into the ancient history of the Magyar
nation dates back to my boyhood. It was in the year 1849. I was sitting
with my playfellows in a maize-field. It was harvest-time and shortly
after the surrender of Fort Komárom. Some straggling Honvéds, mournful
and of broken-down appearance, were on their way home after the
conclusion of the War of Independence, and stopped their march in the
field where we were, to tell us of their struggles, and their stories
made us all feel very sad. An old peasant, the owner of the field,
comforted us and said, "It will all come right. Whenever our nation is
in trouble the old Magyars from Asia come to our rescue, for we descend
from them; they will not fail us this time, you may be sure." "So there
are old Magyars," I thought to myself, and ever since that time the idea
has stuck to me. Whether it was an old tradition or a later historical
legend is impossible to say, but it is a very remarkable fact that this
old-world story after many centuries still lives in the national mind;
the peasant who told it to us could neither read nor write and could
only speak from hearsay.
It followed as a matter of course that as an outcome of my studies in
comparative philology I hoped to find in Central Asia a few rays of
light to guide me through the dark regions of primitive Hungarian
history. The language of Central Asia, _i.e._, Chagataic or East
Turkish, was in those days known to us in the West only by the works of
the French Orientalist, Quatremère. Judging from the relationship
between the written and the spoken language of the Osmanlis, I hoped and
expected to find among the idioms of the Steppes and of the
town-dwellers on the other side of the Oxus linguistic elements which
would show a pregnant resemblance and relationship with the Magyar
language, and that in consequence I could not fail to make important
discoveries and considerably help the solution of the origin question.
The idea of a journey to Central Asia had been in my mind for many
years; I thought of it incessantly and always tried to get into contact
with the Mecca pilgrims who came to Stambul from the various khanates of
Central Asia. On the other hand, I greedily devoured every scrap of
Chagataic writing; and when I was admitted to the private library of the
celebrated Ali Pasha, which was rich in this subject, my joy knew no
bounds. The Turks themselves looked upon this curiosity of mine as a
kind of literary madness. They could not understand how I, without
position and without means, living from hand to mouth, could be so
enthusiastic about such an abstract, useless, ridiculous thing, and as
the witty Fuad Pasha tried to cool my ardour by the remark already
mentioned, other Turks kept reiterating, "Allah akillar versin," _i.e._,
"God grant wisdom," in order that I who have none may also obtain a
little. The Turks, whose national feeling has only begun quite lately to
show itself, content themselves with a queer mixture of Arabic and
Persian. Real Turkish does not suit them at all; it is even considered
plebeian, and of the relationship between their Turkish mother-tongue
and the sister dialects of inner Asia they have but a very faint notion,
if any at all. Curious as my study of the Turkish language seemed to
them, my desire to travel in these remote and unsafe parts in order to
gain more knowledge was absolutely incomprehensible to them. They simply
thought me a maniac who, instead of soliciting the favour of influential
and great men, so as to lead a pleasant and comfortable life, preferred
to throw myself into the greatest dangers and privations, and who would
certainly not escape them. Many shook their heads and looked
compassionately at me; they even began to fight shy of me, and when my
friends saw me in company with the ragged, half-naked pilgrims from
Central Asia who often came to Stambul they turned away from me and
declared that I was irretrievably lost.
I need hardly say that these deplorable signs of ignorance and absolute
lack of higher ideals did not in the least disturb me. My adopted
Turkdom, my pseudo-Oriental character and nature were, after all
confined to external things; in my inmost being I was filled through and
through with the spirit of the West, and the deeper I penetrated into
the life and thoughts of Asiatic society the more passionately and
warmly did I cling to Western ideas, for there alone did I find the
aspirations worthy of mankind, there alone could I see what was really
noble and exalted. My resolve to tear myself away from the life at
Stambul, which threatened to emasculate me, remained immovably fixed,
and my plans were only somewhat delayed until the necessary travelling
means should have been procured. The Hungarian Academy of Sciences had
at that time, in acknowledgment of my literary work, made me a
corresponding member of the institution; and when, after an absence of
four years, I returned to Pest in 1861 to deliver my entrance address to
the Academy, I told Count E. Dessewffy, the president, of my plans, and
asked him whether the Academy would be able to give me some assistance
for the journey. The Hungarian Academy was at that time not particularly
well off, but fortunately one thousand florins had been put aside for
scientific travels, and Count Dessewffy, an energetic, unprejudiced man,
decided at once that I should have them on condition that I went into
the interior of Asia to investigate the relationships of the Magyar
language. His decision was at first objected to by some of the members
on account of my bodily defects and delicate looks, also perhaps because
of the small sum at my disposal. They opposed in public session, but the
Count remained firm; and when an enthusiastic craniologist wanted to
commission me to bring some Tartar skulls for comparison with Magyar
skulls, the Count replied, "Before all things we would ask our
fellow-member to bring his own skull home again; thereby he will best
fulfil the charge entrusted to him."
Little as was known in Europe of Central Asia in those days, my learned
compatriots had not the remotest conception of these distant parts;
finally, however, the national side of the undertaking carried the
victory, and although most of the members considered it a great risk,
they consented to it. They took leave of me with the warmest
protestations of friendship, and in order to protect me against any
danger they gave me the following letter of safe-conduct written in
Latin:--
"_Magyar Academia._
Academia Scientiarum Hungarica sub Auspiciis Potentissimi et
Inclitissimi Principis Francisci Josephi II. Austriae Imperatoris
et Hungariae Regis vigens.
_Lecturis Salutem._
Socius noster Vir ingenuus honestissimusque Arminius Vambéry
Hungarus eo fine per nos ad oras Asiae Tartaricas mittitur; ut
ibidem studio et disquisitioni linguae et dialectorum
Turcico-Tartaricarum incumbat et sic nova perscrutandae linguae
nostrae popularis Hungaricae, familiae altaicae cognatae adminicula
scientifica procuret.
Omnes igitur Viros Illustres, qui literas has nostras viderint,
quive, vel Rei Publicae administrandae in Imperiis Summorum
Principum Turciae et Persarum praesunt, vel Legationibus Principum
Europaeorum funguntur, aut secus amore literarum tenentur, rogamus
obtestamurque, ut eidem Socio nostro Arminio Vambéry in rebus
quibuscunque, quae ad promovendum eius scopum literarum pertinent,
gratiose opitulari eumque benevola protectione sua fulcire velint.
Datae Pestini in Hungarica, die 1 Augusti anno mdccclxi.
BARO JOSEPHUS EÖTVÖS
(_Acad. Sci. Hung. V. Praeses_).
DR. FRANCISCUS TOLDY,
(_Acad. Sci. Hung. Secretarius perpetuus_)."
_Seal._
The good gentlemen at home hoped that I should find this letter of
commendation useful with the Khans in Turkestan and the Turkoman chiefs.
It would have meant at least the gallows or the executioner's sword if I
had shown this infidel writing either in the Steppe or on the Oxus!
Full of glorious expectations, I left Pest in 1861 to go to
Constantinople for the second time. There I wanted to make the necessary
preparations to enable me to start in the early spring on my wanderings
through Asia Minor and Persia. The rate of exchange being so
preposterously high, the thousand florins in Austrian bank-notes had
dwindled down to seven hundred, and a stay of several more months in
Constantinople further reduced my little stock of ready money. When in
March, 1862, I went on board the Lloyd steamer _Progresso_ to Trebizond,
the girdle which I wore next to my skin contained only enough to take me
as far as Teheran. Truly a risky undertaking, perhaps a mad trick, the
danger of which I hardly realised just then. It was somewhat hard to
part with all my kind Turkish friends in Stambul. These noble people did
all they could to help me, and to postpone my certain destruction, as
they thought, as long as possible. They advised me to go for the present
only to Persia; and as the plenipotentiary and Turkish ambassador at the
court of Teheran was at that time Haidar Effendi, an intimate friend of
my patron, Reouf Bey, I received, besides the official commendation of
Ali Pasha, also a collective letter from several distinguished officials
of the Porte, in which they commended me, the poor demented one, to his
kind care. Of my European descent, of the aim and object of my journey,
not one word. I had to be Reshid Effendi only, and comport myself so as
to tally exactly with my letter of introduction. I durst not do
anything else, for it was imperative that I should pass for a real Turk,
an Effendi from Constantinople.
As for my state of mind when the critical moment of departure arrived, I
was so excited that I hardly knew what I was doing. The dreams of my
childhood, the visions of my youth, the Fata Morgana which had played
before my eyes through all my rambles in the literatures of Eastern and
Western lands--all were now nearing realisation, and my eyes were to
behold all these wonders in bodily form. Anticipation drowned the voice
of reason and common sense within me. What indeed could have made me
afraid? After all, the dangers before me were but of a material
nature--privation, fighting the elements, risk of health, sickness.
Failure and death never entered into my speculations. And what were all
these sufferings to me, who had had my measure full of them in my early
years? Hunger I suffered in Europe till my eighteenth year. Insufficient
clothing had been my portion from earliest youth. And as for sneering
and scoffing, the poor little Jew boy had had to bear plenty of that
with many other insults from his Christian playmates. Where was the
difference between their derisive "Hep! Heps!" and throwing of stones,
and the insults of the fanatical Shiites, or the suspicion of the
Central Asiatics?
Human whims and weaknesses were indeed well known to me, and experience
taught me that, whether in the rough garb of the Asiatic or in the
refined dress of the Westerner, men are much the same everywhere; nay,
more, I have found more compassion and kindness of heart with the former
than with the latter, and the terrible pictures which literature gives
us of barbarian customs and dealings need not have discouraged me too
much. There is only one thing which strikes me as rather remarkable in
my firm decision to carry out my intention, and this is, that having
once emerged from the school of misery and wretchedness, and having
tasted the pleasures of good cheer and comfort, I should voluntarily
return to the former. For in Constantinople, as already mentioned, I was
getting on well the last few years--very well, in fact. I had a
comfortable home, plenty to eat, even a horse at my disposal; and now I
was going to exchange all that, of my own free will, for a beggar's
staff. This perhaps is the only thing that can be counted to my credit.
But to what can not the sting of ambition spur us! And what is our life
worth where this impetus, this source of all energy, does not exist or
has become weakened? Material comforts, distinctions and dignities are
but particoloured toys which fascinate us only for a time. True
satisfaction lies in the consciousness of having rendered if only the
smallest service to mankind in general; and what in all the world is
more glorious than the hope of being able to enrich the book of
intellectual life which lies open before us, if only with one single
letter! Such were my thoughts and feelings, and I found strength therein
to face a thousand times greater dangers, difficulties, and privations
than had hitherto fallen to my lot. I have often asked myself the
question whether, apart from these higher, ideal aims, the thought of
material advantages, _i.e._, my future welfare, never crossed my mind.
There would certainly have been no harm in this, but if material welfare
had been my object its realisation would have been far less difficult
and more certain of success if I had followed an official career at
Constantinople, where I had influential patrons, and where I could have
settled down in quiet pastures. No; my scheme was the outcome of my
heated fancy, a mighty longing for the unknown and an insatiable thirst
for adventure.
My Second Journey to the East