No signs of Khoi—At last we arrive—The Turkish Consul—Russian
intrigues—Persian soldiers have attacked a Turkish
village—Kashka Beulah—A Turkish Usebashe and seven men brought
prisoners to Khoi—The Ambassador at Teheran—Retaliation—The
exchange of prisoners—The origin of the disturbance—The Shah's
uncle—Russian agents in Teheran—Kurdish girls make the best
wives—They do not care about fine clothes—How to make use
of your mother-in-law—The women in your country—A fortune on
dress—My last wife cost ten liras—Persian women—The Persians
are very cruel—Odd customs—The fortifications of Khoi—Soldiers
gambling.
Village after village were left behind us, still there were no signs
of Khoi. We had been told that it was only an eight hours' march from
Melhamee, two more sped by ere the walls of the city were in sight. Soon
afterwards we rode through a narrow gate which gives access to the town,
and presently pulled up at a house belonging to the Turkish Consul,
who is the only diplomatic agent to be found in this city. He had been
educated in Constantinople, and spoke a little French. For the last two
years he had been established in Khoi, and he greatly bewailed his thus
being cut off from all European society.
I now learnt that Russian intrigues had been the means of very
nearly creating a war between Persia and Turkey. There is a Turkish
border-hamlet, called Kashka Beulah, about nine miles from Khoi. Some
Persian soldiers had recently attacked this village, and had robbed the
inhabitants of everything they possessed.
Whilst the Persians were engaged in their work of pillage, some Turkish
soldiers, under a Usebashe, arrived from an adjacent guard-house. But
the Persians were more numerous. They captured the captain and seven
of his men, and brought them prisoners to Khoi. A Turkish lieutenant
in the guard-house heard of the fate of his Usebashe, and arrested two
Persian merchants who happened to be in the neighbourhood. He sent them
as prisoners to Van. The Consul, on hearing of this, telegraphed to his
Ambassador at Teheran, for instructions how to act. The latter official
sent back an answer that the Persian merchants were to be immediately
released. The Consul then wrote to the governor at Van, informing him of
the order he had received. The governor, however, declared that he could
not comply with it without authority from Constantinople. After several
weeks' delay, during which time the Turkish captain and his men had been
kept in chains in the prison at Khoi, and had been treated like the
commonest of malefactors, orders came from Teheran and Constantinople
for the mutual exchange of prisoners.
A day was fixed. At the appointed time the Turkish Consul, with
the prisoners and three hundred Persian soldiers, started for the
frontier. Here he was met by the Persian Consul from Van. The latter
was accompanied by the Persian captives and by an escort of Turks. The
troops then retired to a short distance. The Consuls remained alone with
their prisoners. The exchange was effected.
"What was the origin of the disturbance?" I inquired of the Consul.
"That is exactly what I wished to discover," replied that official. "I
went to the governor of Khoi, who, by the way, is the Shah's uncle, and
asked him why his regular troops had first of all attacked our village.
The reply was, 'My orders came from some one of higher rank than I am.'
Later on, it turned out that Russian agents at Teheran were the origin
of the affair."
"I am very dull here," now remarked the Consul. "My wife died six months
ago. I have not been able to find any one to replace her."
"Why do you not take a Kurdish girl?" observed the Usebashe. "They
make the best of wives," he continued; "if their husbands have money
they do not ask for any, if the husbands have no money the wives never
bother their heads about the matter. In addition to this, they do not
care about fine clothes. A long piece of calico and a pair of slippers
content each one of them as well as all the silks and satins in the
bazaar at Erzeroum."
"My late wife was a Kurd," replied the Consul sorrowfully. "She cost me
very little."
A servant entered the room and lit the speaker's pipe.
"This man is my father-in-law," he added. "My mother-in-law cooks for
me downstairs. When I married their daughter I wanted some servants; my
wife proposed that we should engage her father and mother. I did so, and
have found them hard-working people. When my poor wife died, I allowed
them to remain with me. When I marry again, my new lady will probably
wish her own relations to come here: I shall be obliged to get rid of
my present servants."
"It is a very economical way of providing for a wife's relatives," I
observed.
"Yes," said the Consul, laughing. "You could not make use of your
mother-in-law as a cook in either Constantinople or London. Besides
that, the women in your country cost their husbands a fortune in dress."
"Yes," I replied, "some of the women's dresses cost from 50 to 60 liras
a piece, and, after having been worn once or twice, they are thrown away
or given to the servants."
"Allah!" said the Usebashe, "50 or 60 liras! Only think of it!"
"The Inglis speaks the truth," said the Consul. "I have heard of this
before, when I was at Constantinople. My last wife cost 10 liras," he
continued; "I could buy five or six wives for the same price as a great
English lady gives for her dress!"
"Why do you not marry a Persian woman?" I now remarked. "By all account
they are very pretty, and you would have an opportunity of learning the
language"—the Consul having previously bewailed to me his ignorance of
that tongue.
"Marry a Persian, indeed!" interrupted the Usebashe. "The Persians
will not give their daughters in marriage to us Turks. They are very
selfish," he added. "We make no objections to our daughters marrying
Persians. But the latter are most particular about this subject."
"You are both Mohammedan nations," I remarked.
"Yes, we are," said the Consul; "and the Armenians and yourselves
are both Christian nations, but your forms of Christianity are very
different. There is as much difference between a Persian and a Turk as
between an Armenian and yourself."
"The Persians are very cruel," observed the Usebashe. "If a man commits
a crime, and is detected, the authorities are not satisfied by taking
the culprit's life, but often torture him first—sometimes by taking out
his eyes, and at others by mutilation.
"The inhabitants do very odd things," said the Consul. "For instance,
a short time ago there was an official in this town who was extremely
unpopular. He died, and you would have thought that the matter was over;
but no, six months after the man's decease, some of the townspeople
went to the cemetery, exhumed the body, and hacked it to pieces. This
was done by way of revenging themselves upon the official. There was
a robbery in the bazaar," continued the speaker. "A man was taken up
on suspicion of being implicated in the theft; he swore that he was
innocent, but accused another man. The latter had nothing whatever
to do with the robbery, but was unpopular in the town. Some people
belonging to the bazaar went to the governor, and said to him, 'The man
last arrested is the thief; you must order the executioner to cut his
throat.' The governor was weak enough to consent, the innocent person
was put to death. Soon afterwards the governor repented of what he had
done. However, he was in need of money at the time, he determined to
turn his repentance to some account. He ordered fifty of the richest
people amongst those who had pressed him to execute the innocent man,
to be imprisoned, and he kept them in gaol until such time as they had
paid him a large sum of money."
I now walked round the fortifications of the town. They consist of
a wall about thirty-five feet high, built of clay, with a brick
foundation, and a dry ditch, which can be filled with water if
necessary. There were sixteen old cannon on the ramparts. The Kurds
and the inhabitants think that the place is impregnable. A battery of
nine-pounders would be quite sufficient to destroy the fortifications,
which are much out of repair. Any properly equipped force ought to take
the city, which contains 7000 houses, in about half an hour.
The soldiers in the different guard-houses ran outside the buildings.
They presented arms to the Consul as he walked with me through the
streets. Presently we came to a place where two sentries had been
posted. The men had put their flint muskets on the ground, and were
engaged in gambling with each other—small balls of dried clay, something
like marbles, taking the place of dice.