Absorbed as I was by the Turks, I had, as may be readily understood,
but little time left in which to study the characteristics of the
three other nationalities--Armenian, Greek, and Hebrew--which go to
make up the population of Constantinople--a study requiring a certain
amount of time, too, since all of these people, while preserving to a
certain extent their national character, have outwardly conformed to
the prevailing Mussulman coloring around them, now in its turn fading
into a uniform tint of European civilization. Thus it is as difficult
to catch a vivid impression of any one of the three as it would be of a
view that was constantly changing. This is true in a special sense of
the Armenians, “Christians in spirit and faith, Asiatic Mussulmans by
birth and carnal nature,” whom it is not only hard to study intimately,
but even to distinguish at sight, since those among them who have not
adopted the European costume dress like Turks in all except some very
minor points. All of them have abandoned the ancient felt cap which
was formerly, with certain special colors, the distinctive sign of
their nation. In appearance they closely resemble the Turks, being
for the most part tall, robust, and corpulent, with a grave, sedate
carriage, but their complexion is light, and the two striking points
of their national character can usually be read in their faces--the
one, a quick, open, industrious, and persevering spirit, which fits
them in a peculiar way to commercial enterprises; and the other
that adaptability, called by some servility, which enables them to
gain a foothold among whatever people they may be thrown with from
Hungary to China, and renders them particularly acceptable to the
Turks, whose confidence they readily succeed in winning, making them
faithful subjects and obsequious friends. There is nothing heroic
or bellicose either about their appearance or disposition: formerly
this may have been otherwise. Those parts of Asia whence they came
are at present inhabited by a people, descendants of a common stock,
who, it is said, resemble them but little. Certainly those members of
the race who have been transplanted to the shores of the Bosphorus
are a prudent and managing people, moderate in their manner of life,
intent only upon their trade, and more sincerely religious, it is
affirmed, than any other nation which inhabits Constantinople. They
are called by the Turks the “camels of the Empire,” and the Franks
assert that every Armenian is born an accountant. These two sayings
are, to a great extent justified by the facts, since, thanks to
their great physical strength and their quickness and intelligence,
they furnish, in addition to a large proportion of her architects,
engineers, doctors, and clever and painstaking mechanics, the greater
part of Constantinople’s bankers and porters, the former amassing
fabulous fortunes, and the latter carrying enormous loads. At first
sight, though, one would hardly be aware that there was an Armenian
population in Constantinople, so completely has the plant, so to
speak, assumed the color of the soil. Their women, on whose account
the house of the Armenian is almost as rigorously closed to strangers
as that of the Mussulman, have likewise adopted the Turkish dress,
and none but the most expert eye could distinguish them among their
Mohammedan neighbors. They are generally fair and stout, with the
aquiline Oriental profile, large eyes and long lashes; many of them are
tall, with matronly figures, and, surmounted by turbans, might well be
mistaken for handsome sheiks. They are universally modest and dignified
in their bearing, and if anything is lacking it is the intelligence
which beams from the eyes of their Greek sisters.