The artillery at practice—The horses—The Commandant—The
military school at Constantinople—The citadel—Typhus—The
swamp—The sanitary state of the city—The lake—Natron—A
substitute for soap—Stone cannon-balls—Nadir Shah's attack
upon Van—Greek and Assyrian coins—Salutes during Bairam—An
inscription on the rock—An adventurous Englishman—The
Commandant—A Kurd—Hernia—How to cure rupture—Three American
Missionaries—The English and American flags—The conflagration
at Van—Armenian inventions—The Commissioner—The troops.
The following morning I walked with the commandant to see the artillery
at practice. The drill was fairly done. The guns were horsed with
fine-looking animals from 15-3 to 16 hands high, mostly greys, and
brought from European Turkey. The officer who commanded took great pride
in his battery. A few hours after the drill was over, he accompanied me
through the stables. The steel was bright, and the harness in thorough
good order. When I remarked this to the commander, he replied:—
"Effendi, I was educated in the Military-School at Constantinople. If
the rest of our officers had been there, we should have a better army.
But, please God, for all that we shall give the Russians more to do than
they expect."
I now went to see the citadel. It stands on a rock in the middle of the
town, and is about 500 feet above the level of the lake.
Van is surrounded on three sides by a chain of hills, which are at
a distance of from three to seven miles from the town. On the fourth
side it is bounded by the lake which bears its name. There is a swamp
towards the west, and close to the houses. This makes the place very
unhealthy in the summer months—typhus and other fevers are prevalent in
the district. The military surgeon, a Hungarian, who accompanied me in
my ride to the citadel, observed that several complaints had been made
to the authorities at Constantinople as to the sanitary state of Van,
and a letter had been sent to the Medical Department recommending that
the swamp should be drained. A Pacha had died of typhus only six months
before; this had thoroughly aroused the new governor. It had acted upon
him like the death of a director, in a railway accident, acts upon the
other directors of the line. However, nothing had been done up to the
present time towards carrying the governor's and doctor's suggestions
into effect.
I now learnt that the lake contains natron. The townspeople have a very
simple manner of obtaining this substance. In the summer months they
pour water from the lake into large shallow basins; the heat of the
sun evaporates the water, and carbonate of soda is deposited at the
bottom of the vessels. It is afterwards sent to Erzeroum and Stamboul.
The inhabitants of Van use this substance for washing purposes as a
substitute for soap.
The road wound round the height on which the citadel stands. After about
a fifteen minutes' climb, our horses reached the summit. Here there were
several very old guns, some dating back more than 250 years. Large piles
of stone balls lay behind many of the pieces, the commander, pointing at
them, remarked that now-a-days they would not be of any use, although
in the last century they had struck terror into the midst of a Persian
host. The modern citadel, if it may be termed by that name, is merely a
block-house, with accommodation for about 100 soldiers. There are many
galleries cut in the solid rock, some of which were used in old days
as quarters for the troops, and others as dungeons for prisoners. Some
heavy chains were lying on the floors, or fastened to rings in the rock.
Presently we came to an enormous cavern filled with stone cannon-balls.
The commandant informed me that these had been brought there just before
Nadir Shah's attack upon Van.
"Nadir Shah besieged this town for seven years," continued the officer,
"look at the marks of some of his handiwork." With these words he showed
us a few holes in the wall which had apparently been made by artillery
fire.
Many ancient Greek and Assyrian coins had been found in the
neighbourhood of the citadel, and, according to the doctor, the place
abounds with inscriptions in characters which cannot be read by any of
the inhabitants.
There is a well of naphtha about fifty yards from the block-house. The
commandant, going with me to the spot, made a soldier draw out some of
the contents. The well was very deep, and the inhabitants of Van had
used the naphtha from time immemorial. The doctor was doubtful as to
whether it was a natural well, or merely a large cistern which had been
filled many years ago with this liquid, possibly for the use of the
garrison.
"Are the guns in the citadel ever discharged?" I inquired.
"No," said the commandant, "they are all useless with the exception of
one small piece which we keep for firing salutes during the Bairam. This
rock is much too near the town to be used as a fort," he continued. "A
hospital ought to be built here, or it would be a good site for a depôt
of stores; but as a defensive position it is useless against modern
artillery."
We came to a place in the rock where it descends abruptly for several
hundred feet. "An Englishman was let down from here by a cord some years
ago," observed the doctor. "About 200 feet below this spot there is
an inscription cut on the stone. The inscription is about Semiramis.
Formerly we all wished to know what was the meaning of the writing;
but, no one in Van was bold enough to descend the rock, or, even if
some Armenian or Turk had dared to make the attempt, he would have been
unable to decipher the characters. Well," continued the speaker, "an
Englishman came here and was lowered by cords over the precipice. If he
had fallen even from the spot where the inscription is cut, he must have
been dashed to pieces, as it is a long way above the rocks. However,
your countryman succeeded in taking an impression of the characters, and
I believe a translation of them is in the British Museum. You can see
the inscription from the town itself," he added. "The letters are very
large, they occupy a place about twelve feet long by eight wide."
We returned towards the barrack. On the way I took the opportunity
of looking at the characters on the rock. They are cut on four square
blocks, each block being placed by the side of its fellow. Imagine four
gigantic sheets of the _Times_, placed one alongside the other, and
covered with huge quaintly-formed letters; you will then be able to form
an idea of the appearance of the inscription. As you look at the writing
from the ground, it appears that in the third square from the right the
letters are a little defaced, but in the others the characters stand out
as clear as on the day when they were first chiselled. Several Armenian
children were playing at soldiers in the street, their fathers and
brothers were being instructed in drill in the barrack-yard. Some little
military enthusiasm existed in the town even amongst the Christians,
and the governor had promulgated the Sultan's edict that every one of
his subjects was to be taught the use of arms.
I paid the commandant a visit. His apartments adjoined mine, whilst I
was with him several men arrived—some wishing to be soldiers, others
desirous of being released from the conscription. A fine-looking Kurd
was amongst the last-mentioned applicants. He was dressed in the usual
picturesque costume of his race, but, in addition, wore a sort of white
muslin shawl, which enveloped him from head to foot.
"You will make a capital soldier," said the commandant. "You had better
serve."
"Bey Effendi," replied the man, "I am ruptured."
"Really," said the doctor, who was present in the room; "on which side?"
"The right," replied the man, pointing to his groin.
"Then you will do very well for the infantry," observed the Hungarian.
"A man must be ruptured on both sides to be freed from service in that
branch of the army."
The Kurd went away rather crestfallen. I then learnt that it is a
common practice amongst those mountaineers who do not wish to serve, to
purposely rupture themselves. This they do by pressing with their finger
and thumb on the lower part of the stomach until a swelling arises. The
operation hurts. After a man has ruptured himself on one side he does
not feel inclined to repeat the process on the other. The doctor, who
gave me the information, observed that the Kurds have a way of curing
ruptures which is not generally known to the medical faculty. They burn
the skin around the ruptured spot with a hot iron, the muscles will then
contract, and this often effects a cure.
Three American missionaries called: they were living at a village about
an hour's ride from Van. They had been there for some years, but had
not succeeded in making many converts.
They described the country as being in a very unsettled state, and said
that they had lately heard from some other missionaries near Bitlis that
a Kurdish sheik in that neighbourhood had recommended them not to go
to the mountains, as they were in the habit of doing during the summer
months, for he could not guarantee their safety.
The missionaries at Van were eager to know what part England was likely
to take in the event of a war. Although Americans, they are looked upon
by the inhabitants as Englishmen, and the English flag is much more
respected in Asia Minor than that of the United States.
The commissioner who had been sent from Constantinople, to inquire
about the recent disturbances at Van, and the burning of the Armenian
bazaar, entered the room. He informed me that immediately after the
conflagration had occurred, fabulous reports as to the amount of the
property destroyed had been published in the Armenian papers. It was
first stated that 1,000,000 liras would not cover the loss experienced
by the merchants in Van. Subsequently it was said that 200,000 liras in
specie had been stolen by the Turkish soldiery, and that goods to the
value of 300,000 liras had been destroyed by the flames.
When the commissioner arrived at Van, his first act was to make a list
of all the merchants who had shops in the bazaar. Then, sending for each
man separately, he asked him what was the nature of his merchandise,
and at how much he valued his losses. When the commissioner added up
the sums claimed by all the merchants in Van, he found that the total
amount did not exceed 96,000 liras. In addition to this the Armenians
acknowledged having saved goods to the value of 10,000 liras.
In the official's opinion 23,000 liras would cover the entire loss; and
from what I afterwards saw of the ruins of the bazaar, and judging from
the small area over which they extended, I am inclined to believe that
he had fairly estimated the damage.
The Armenian newspapers, probably instigated by Russian agents, had
declared that the Turkish troops stationed in Van had first set fire to
the bazaar, and then pillaged it in the confusion. The commissioner,
after the most searching inquiries, was unable to discover that the
troops were in any way implicated in the affair. Several Armenians kept
petroleum and lucifer matches in their warehouses: his idea was that
the fire originated either by spontaneous combustion, or through some
one accidentally dropping a lighted match.
The soldiers had been called out to help to extinguish the fire.
Thinking that the men might have stolen something during the
conflagration, the commissioner asked the commander to issue an order
for all the garrison to march to Erzeroum on the following morning. This
was done. Shortly afterwards the different battalions left the town. The
commissioner, accompanied by some Armenian merchants, met the troops
on the road. The soldiers' baggage was then searched, and each man in
succession. Nothing was found which could in any way connect the troops
with the robbery.