The Mosque—The interior of the building—The lamps
of different-coloured crystal—The Turks engaged in
prayer—Comparison between Christians and Mussulmans—Daravish
Bey—A wonderful shot—_Djerrid_—A strange request—The
chase—A Bosnian lady—Her costume—A side-saddle—Even their
women go out hunting—Daravish Bey dressed for the chase—A
long shot—The price of a horse's forage—Most servants rob
their masters—A Russian officer—The Armenian schools—The
girls' school—Perhaps you would like to ask the boys some
questions?—An amateur setter of questions—Mr. Marillier of
Harrow school.—A sum—The schoolboys of Yuzgat—A half-holiday.
On taking off our shoes at the entrance, we were at once admitted into
a large building constructed in the form of a dome. Two vast circular
halls leading the one into the other, were beneath the lofty ceiling.
Stained glass windows, with infinitesimally small panes, allowed but
little light to penetrate to the interior, which was carpeted with rich
Persian rugs of many hues and fashions. Chains, descending from the
centre of the building, supported a huge circular hoop of iron. From
this were suspended a hundred lamps of different-coloured crystal. Two
enormous wax candles, each as thick as a man's leg, and about seven
feet high, were fixed in a corner of the building. They had been made
to last a year, and had cost "tchok para"—a great many paras.
The attendant evidently thought that he should impress my mind with
this announcement, and he uttered the word "tchok" in a way which no
Englishman could imitate save when he is in the extreme agonies of
sea-sickness. Forty or fifty Turks were lying on the floor, and seemed
to be in no way disturbed by the entrance of Mr. Vankovitch and myself.
"Are there always as many people here?" I inquired.
"There are very few to-day," was the reply; "but at whatever hour you
may enter, the faithful will be found praying to the All-powerful One
who rules the Universe."
This, indeed, I subsequently discovered to be the case. No matter how
early or late I might enter a mosque, there were always some men on
their knees, praying to the Almighty; and whenever a service was going
on, the mosques were invariably crowded.
"They pray more than Europeans do," said my companion, the engineer,
as we quitted the mosque. "With us," he added, "the women throng the
churches, the men are conspicuous by their absence; in Turkey you will
hardly ever meet a man who is in the habit of absenting himself from
his mosque. Indeed, a Mohammedan's superstitious feelings would not
allow him to do so, even if he felt inclined; he would think that the
Divine vengeance would at once pursue him to his destruction."
We now called upon a Turkish gentleman, Daravish Bey. Presently
he left the room, and, returning, brought an old flint-gun, marked
"London, 1802." He next suggested that we should join him in a shooting
excursion, and, calling a servant, desired the man to bring in a
falcon. This, Daravish Bey said, would be very useful, as, if we missed
the partridges, the hawk would catch them for us.
"We shall then have some game to show when we return," he continued,
"and the people will not be able to laugh at our beards."
"Vankovitch is a wonderful shot," said another Turk. "He shoots
partridges flying! Only think! flying in the air! In the name of
heaven, is it not wonderful? Can you hit a partridge, except when he is
quite still?"
"Sometimes," I said; "but, unfortunately, most of my cartridges are
wet; any how, I will try and find a few dry ones, and will go with you
to-morrow."
"There is another thing which you must see before you leave Yuzgat,"
observed Daravish Bey, "and that is our national game, Djerrid. I have
already spoken about it," he continued; "the day after to-morrow all
the best riders in the neighbourhood will assemble on the plain outside
the town. In the meantime, I hope that you will dine with me this
evening."
"But I am staying with an Armenian gentleman, and he will expect me to
dine at home."
"Bring him with you. Nay, do not disappoint me," he added. "It is many
years since an Englishman has been at Yuzgat, and we do not know how
to honour one sufficiently when he is here. England and Turkey are old
allies, and God grant that they may remain so!"
I returned to my quarters, and found the Caimacan, who had come to
pay me a visit. He was very busy, as he had to arrange for some redif
soldiers who were to be despatched at once to Constantinople. After a
few compliments and a cup of coffee, he arose and took his departure.
My host now observed,—
"Effendi, will you do me a favour?"
"What is it?" I inquired.
"Mr. Vankovitch has discharged one of his under officers, an Armenian.
The man is a friend of mine—will you ask Mr. Vankovitch to pardon my
friend, and reinstate him in his situation?"
"The officer is a thief," said the engineer, "for that reason I got rid
of him. But this remark of our host will show you what sort of people
these Armenians are. He is well aware that the fellow is a rogue. He
knows that I do not wish to take him back; to try and make me do so,
he asks you, who are ignorant of the circumstances, to intercede in the
matter."
"You will intercede?" said the host.
"How can I? Mr. Vankovitch must know the man's character better than I
do."
"But Mr. Vankovitch would do it if you asked him."
"I certainly shall not give him the opportunity of refusing," I
replied. And seeing that I was obdurate, my host left off pressing me
for the moment, but only to return to the attack on the following day.
The next morning, and soon after daybreak, we assembled for the chase.
The engineer had mounted me on a magnificent coal-black Arab. He
himself rode a little bay, with good shoulders and fine action; whilst
his wife, a Bosnian lady, who was attired in a light blue riding-habit,
a hat with a peacock's feather, and who wore on her boot a long cavalry
spur—was mounted on a chestnut.
Vankovitch had slung his gun across his shoulders. His double-breasted
shooting-coat was dotted with cartridge-cases in the Circassian
style. He was an object of great interest to a crowd of bystanders,
and was evidently the chasseur par excellence of Yuzgat. Some Turkish
women, wrapped up in long white sheets, stared through the corners of
their veils at Mrs. Vankovitch, and were very much astonished at the
proceedings, for the lady was on a side-saddle, which the engineer had
lately received from Constantinople. It was only the first or second
time that it had been seen in Yuzgat. The giaour woman balanced on a
peg on the side of the saddle was a source of considerable wonder to
the assembled crowd.
"How odd these giaours are!" said a Turk to his neighbour. "Why, even
their women go out hunting! What a thing to ride on! Look, she has
only one foot in the stirrup, and her other leg is across a peg in the
saddle."
"How could you sit cross-legged if you had on that very thin, long
dressing-gown which she is wearing?" said another bystander. "But here
come Daravish Bey and his brother. They are actually going with the
Frank to the chase!"
The attention of the crowd was now taken up by the new arrivals.
The two Turkish gentlemen were both dressed alike in black cloaks lined
with fur, and which descended to their heels. Gold necklaces passing
through diamond rings encircled each man's neck. Red waistcoats,
buttoned up high in front, exposed to view an inch or two of limp,
unstarched shirt-front; loose black trousers covered their legs, and a
blue and white shabrach their highly-gilded saddles.
An attendant on a pony bore a falcon on his arm. Some pointers and a
greyhound brought up the rear of the procession. Radford carried my
double-barrelled gun, and a few cartridges, which on careful inspection
seemed not to have been damaged by the wetting in the river. He was
also a source of wonder to the crowd. It was whispered about that the
gun which he carried was like the Pole's fire-arm, and that it would
sometimes shoot partridges on the wing.
We rode over a mountain, covered with pebbles. Presently one of the
pointers began to sniff. Vankovitch thought that there was some game
close at hand. He dismounted from his horse, accompanied by Daravish
Bey, who was armed with the old English flint-gun. A crowd of men
and urchins, who had followed us on foot from Yuzgat, watched the
proceedings with the greatest interest. Suddenly a covey of partridges
rose about a hundred and fifty yards from the Pole. Two reports sounded
in rapid succession, the birds flew away untouched. The attendant
released the falcon, and in a few seconds a partridge was in its claws.
A hare broke from behind an adjacent rock. In a moment we were in
headlong pursuit, the Bosnian lady riding foremost of the flight, her
horse taking the boulders and loose rocks which strewed the path in a
way that showed he was well accustomed to this style of hunting.
A well-known sound made me turn my head. To my surprise I saw a young
Turk galloping after me on Osman's horse—the roarer. I had given orders
that the animal was to be left in the stable, so that he might recover
from the effect of our forced marches the week before.
"What are you doing with that horse?"
"Effendi, I am galloping him," was the quiet reply. "Osman lent him
to me, and said that he was his property. Have I done wrong in riding
him?"
"Yes," I said; "take him back at once."
"Sir," interrupted Radford, "that is just like Osman's himpudence,
a-lending things which don't belong to him, and he is not that
particular in returning them either. He is always asking me to lend
him some tobacco, and very little I ever see of it again, except in the
smoke which comes out of his mouth."
"How much are you paying for the forage of your horses?" now inquired
Vankovitch, who had returned with the hare in his hand.
"About seven shillings a day."
The Pole began to laugh.
"Seven shillings! Do you know, my dear sir, that your Turkish servant
is robbing you?"
"Very likely," I replied. "Most servants rob their masters. But what is
the price of a horse's forage for a day?"
"About one-and-a-half piastres, or at the present rate of exchange
about twopence of your money. And chickens," continued Vankovitch,
"what has he made you pay for them in the different villages on your
route?"
"A shilling a piece."
"He is a thief," said the Pole, "you have been awfully cheated! why,
the price in the town is only three halfpence for a fat chicken!
When we return to Yuzgat, send for your man, and let me ask him a few
questions. You shall not be robbed any more if I can help it. It is a
bad thing for other European travellers, and it gives the inhabitants
a lesson in robbery. There was a Russian officer here a few years ago.
He had been paying as much as a medjidi a day for each of his horses.
However, he was a Russian, and it did not so much matter."
The following day I went to see the Armenian schools. In one of them I
found 200 girls who, for Turkey, were receiving a fair education. Most
of them could read and write. A class for learning embroidery was well
attended, some of the elder girls' work being very neatly finished.
There were two Mohammedan children in a sewing class. I was informed
that many of the Mussulmans had expressed a wish to send their children
to the school.
"Perhaps you would like to ask the boys some questions," said a priest
who accompanied me through the building.
Now if there is one thing I dislike it is being turned into an
examiner. There is always a chance of the boys knowing a great deal
more than the amateur setter of questions. But, as the clergyman
pressed me, I tried to remember some of the sums which I had once
learned under the tuition of my highly esteemed old master Mr.
Marillier of Harrow.
The herring and a half sum would have been too easy; I bethought myself
of another.
"Well," said the priest, a little impatiently, "they are waiting for
you."
There was a dead pause, and I gave the worthy divine the following
question: "If one man can mow a field in three days, and another man in
four, how long will they be doing the work, if they are both mowing it
together?"
"Come," said the divine, "you have set them a very easy sum," and he
duly translated it into Armenian.
"It is hardly worth doing," said one of the schoolmasters, "for of
course the answer is three days and a half."
"Of course, three and a half," said the priest.
"No," I replied.
The engineer began to laugh, and we soon afterwards left the school,
neither masters nor pupils being at all certain in their minds as to
how they ought to set about doing the sum.
I breathed more freely on arriving in the open air, and blessed my old
master, who had once set me this catch question, for my reputation as
a profound mathematician is established for ever amidst this generation
of school-boys in Yuzgat. After saying good-bye to the senior pedagogue
who had accompanied me to the steps of the threshold, I asked him to
give the lads a half-holiday. He very kindly acceded to my request;
and a cheer from the boys inside, when the good news was imparted to
them, made me aware that they, if not their masters, were in no way
dissatisfied by my visit.