Kemach—Its population—Barley is very cheap—An English
traveller—Conversation about the impending war—If we
beat Russia, will England permit us to take back the
Caucasus?—Yakoob Khan—The Poles to be freed—Germany to
have the Baltic Provinces—What about the Crimea?—We ought
to cripple Russia—The floggers of women—Crossing the
Euphrates—Radford is poorly—Erzingan—The intendant of Issek
Pacha—Pretty Armenian women—An intelligent Turk—Iron, silver,
gold—Coal—Lead-mines worked by the Kurds—The peasantry and
coal—The Government and the mines—A relation of the Pacha of
Sivas—The old doctor—Firing a patient for gout.
There are 800 houses or about 4000 inhabitants in Kemach, and barley is
very plentiful throughout the district, the price for the maintenance
of my five horses not exceeding sevenpence per day.
This town had been visited by an English traveller about five years
previous; whereas no Englishman, so far as I could learn, had been in
Divriki or Arabkir in the memory of the oldest inhabitant.
The Caimacan, who informed me about my compatriot having been in Kemach,
was very curious to learn my opinion about the impending war; and when
I told him that I believed England would remain neutral, remarked,—
"Yes; but if we beat Russia, will England permit us to take back the
Caucasus?"
"I really do not know, but I should hope so."
"Well," continued the governor, "if we beat Russia this time, we ought
to cripple her. We must take back the districts she has conquered in
Central Asia, and give them to the original possessors, or else form
one Mohammedan empire in Central Asia, under Yakoob Khan, who nominally
acknowledges the Sultan. We ought to free the Poles in Poland, and give
Germany the Baltic Provinces."
"You seem to know a little about political geography," I observed.
"Yes," said the Caimacan, "I take an interest in the subject, and I love
my country. Until we can hem Russia in on every side, she will always
be a thorn, not only in our side, but also in that of Europe."
"Well, what should you do about the Crimea?" I inquired.
"That we should keep ourselves. Russia would then have to be more or
less an inland power, and Moscow would become her capital."
"Do you like the Russian system of Government?" inquired the Caimacan.
"No."
"I am not surprised," said the official. "Foreigners say that there is
no liberty in Turkey, but I should like to know which Government is the
most liberal. Mohammedans tolerate every religion, whilst the Russians
make converts by force, and flog women and children to induce them
to change their faith.[1] The Russian faith is very different to the
English religion, is it not?" he added.
"Yes, we do not worship idols, or venerate mummified bodies."
"What do you worship?"
"The one true God, and Jesus Christ His Son."
"We worship the one true God, and worship Him through Mohammed His
Prophet. But Mohammedans dislike idols and all that sort of thing, quite
as much as you do."
The following morning the Caimacan was up at daybreak to see me off.
He accompanied us a little way on the road. The moon was throwing her
pale beams on the old citadel as we rode beneath the turrets. In a
few minutes we crossed the Euphrates on a narrow wooden bridge, and,
continuing for a short distance over mountains, came again upon the
valley of the river. Here there were green fields in abundance. The
country in summer-time is said to be rich in corn and barley. Hundreds
of cattle and sheep, grazing on some rich pasture-lands, testified to
the wealth of the inhabitants.
It was an eleven hours' march to Erzingan. By the time we neared that
city our horses showed symptoms of being thoroughly exhausted. Indeed,
there was no reason to be surprised at this. They had marched a thousand
miles since we left Constantinople. The last two hundred miles had
been exceptionally fatiguing, not only on account of the snow and
constant mountain-climbing, but also owing to our high elevation and
the rarefied nature of the atmosphere. Radford was weak, and from being
a fourteen-stone man had come down to about eleven. His clothes hung on
his wasted limbs. Some rest would be absolutely necessary to enable him
to reach Erzeroum.
The road became much better as we entered the suburbs of Erzingan,
and, to my surprise, I was met by a man in a four-wheeled chaise. He
announced that he was the intendant of Issek Pacha, the governor of
Sivas. The governor had written to him to say that I had promised to
reside in his house during my stay at Erzingan. A servant advanced and
took my horse; I dismounted, and getting into the vehicle, drove to the
Pacha's residence.
Some pretty Armenian women were standing on the roofs of their
houses. They were not so particular about veiling themselves as their
compatriots in Sivas. They stared at the procession with wondering eyes.
The Pacha's carriage was not often seen in the streets of Erzingan. It
was the only vehicle of the kind within an area of 150 miles. It was
only brought out on state occasions, religious ceremonies, or when some
very important visitor arrived. This was quite enough to set the ladies
in Erzingan on the _qui-vive_; the European dresses of my servant and
self whetted their curiosity still more.
Erzingan is different to either Egin or Arabkir, both of which towns are
built upon the sides of a mountain. Erzingan stands in the middle of a
large plain, the Kara Su—Black Water—as the Euphrates is here called,
running through the plain a few miles south of the city.
I now made the acquaintance of a very intelligent Turk. He was an
officer with the rank of major, but employed as the superintendent of
a large manufactory, which had been established to supply the troops in
Asia Minor with boots. He had spent three years in France, where he had
studied everything connected with the trade in question. In addition to
this he was a fair chemist and mineralogist.
He informed me that there were ebony forests in the neighbourhood
of Erzeroum. A great deal of this wood used formerly to be bought by
Armenian merchants and despatched to France. Of late years this branch
of industry has been neglected. Iron, silver, and gold, could be found
here, but the people were much too idle to search for these metals.
The lead-mines were worked to a small extent by the Kurds. These
mountaineers required this substance for bullets and shot. The lead in
the towns of Asia Minor was all brought from Constantinople. It was,
consequently, very dear; this had led the Kurds to make use of the
metal beneath their feet. According to my informant, there is coal of
a good quality in the neighbourhood of Kemach. However, the peasantry
do not like the idea, that this mineral may some day replace wood as
an article of fuel. Cutting down trees is easy work in comparison with
mining. The villagers do their best to keep the people in the towns from
burning coal; and they make their livelihood by bringing firewood from
the mountains, and selling it at a large profit to the citizens.
The Government take twenty per cent. of the net produce of all mines
which are worked in Anatolia, and only two-and-a-half per cent. from the
price fetched by sheep, oxen, and horses in the market. The result is
that the people think it more profitable, and less laborious to breed
cattle, than to dig in the earth for treasure.
I called upon a relation of the Pacha at Sivas. He was a stout,
middle-aged man, and at that time ill in bed. I was shown into his
room. During my conversation with him, an Italian doctor came to see
the patient. The medical gentleman was the only European in Erzingan,
he had been there half a century; his age, according to himself, being
ninety-two years. The old man's appearance belied his assertion. He at
once commenced talking with me in his native tongue.
"What is the matter with the invalid?" I inquired.
"Drink, my good sir, drink!" said the old gentleman. "He is forty, and
I am over ninety, but, please God, as the Turks say, I shall outlive
him. If the upper classes of Mohammedans were only sober, they would
live for ever in this delightful climate. But what with their women, and
what with their wine, they shorten their existence by at least thirty
years. This man would have been dead ten years ago if he had lived in
Constantinople."
"Why so?"
"Because of the climate. He would have drunk himself into a dropsy."
"What are you talking about?" said the sick man.
"I was saying, Bey Effendi," said the doctor, "how very popular you are
in the neighbourhood, and how much every one loves you!"
The sick man smiled benignantly, and the old gentleman continued,—
"I should have been sorry if he had divined the topic of our
conversation. He would never have employed me again, and might have
called in the Turkish practitioner, an ignorant ass, who does not know
so much about anatomy as a butcher in the market, and who treats cases
of inflammation by firing his patient."
"What! would he fire the Bey's foot?" I inquired.
"God knows! but he is quite capable of doing so, if the Bey would let
him."
The doctor now felt his patient's pulse, and administered a few words of
consolation; then, promising to send some medicine, he left the room.