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i 




I^arbarb tlToUege Hbtax^ 

THE GIFT OF 

FREDERICK ATHERN 1.ANE, 

OF NEW YORK, N. V. 

(CUu of iS^g.) 



FROM BATUM TO BAGHDAD 




FROM BATUM TO BAGHDAD 



VIA 



TIPLIS, TABRIZ, AND PERSIAN KURDISTAN 



BY 



WALTER B. gARRIS, F.R.aS. 

AUTHOR OF 

'k JOURNBY through the YEMRy,' 'TAriLST.' 
'DAKOVITCH, AXD other stories,' ETC. 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS 



WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS 

EDINBURGH AND LONDON 

MDCCCXC VI 



AU RighU rcstrt^ 



TO 
XI. K. H. 

THE PRINCE OF WALES, 

THIS BOOK IS, BY SPECIAL PBRMISSION, 

Betitcateti 
BY THE AUTHOR. 




PREFACE. 



No words of preface are needed to this book beyond 
a few lines of acknowledgment. To Mr and Mrs 
Cecil Wood, at Tabriz ; to Colonel and Mrs Mockler, 
at Baghdad ; and to Captain Knox, at Busra, I desire 
to express my thanks for much kindness and hospi- 
tality. To Captain Martin and the officers of the 
s.s. CoUingham, on which vessel I returned from the 
Persian Gulf to Gibraltar, I am indebted for every 
kind of successful endeavour to add to my comfort 
upon a hot and trying voyage. 

For many reasons I have avoided political contro- 
versy on the vexed question of the Armenians. I 
wish my book to be merely the record of my travels, 
and on these lines I have penned it from first to last. 

W. B. H. 




CONTENTS. 



CHAP. 

I. TANGIER TO TIFLIS . 
II. TIFLIS . . . . 

III. A DRITB ACROSS TRANSCAUCASIA 
IV. JULFA TO TABRIZ 
V. TABRIZ .... 
YL TABRIZ TO XARAOHA 
VIL MARAOHA TO XITANDOB 
VHL MITANDOB TO 8UJ-BULAK . 



IX. FKB8IAN KURDISTAN AND ITS INHABITANTS 
X. TRAVKLS IN PERSIAN KURDISTAN 
XL BANA TO KERMAN8HAH 
XIL KERXAN8HAB TO BAGHDAD 

XIII. BAGHDAD IN 1895 

XIV. THE VOYAGE HOME . 



PACK 
1 

a5 

52 
85 
98 
183 
142 
162 
174 
187 



263 



320 



INDEX 



333 



/ 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS. 



KURDS DANCING . 
' TIFLI8 .... 

''the river zanga at ERIVAN . 

*^ROOM IN PERSIAN PALACE, ERIVAN 
^THE CATHEDRAL AT ECHMIAZIN 
^VIEW or ERIVAN AND MOUNT ARARAT 
' IN THE BAZAARS, TABRIZ 

THE BLUE MOSQUE, TABRIZ 
^ A " MOLLAH " NARRATING THE STORY OF THE BATTLE 

OF KERBELA IN THE BAZAAR AT TABRIZ 
/ SHEPHERDS .... 

^ VIEW OF SUJ-BULAK 

^KURDISH ENCAMPMENT NEAR SUJ-BULAK 
/ SUBJECTS OF THE SHAH . 

COURT IN THE HOUSE OF THE VEKIL ED-DOWLBH AT 

KERMANSHAH .... 

^ IN A PERSIAN CARAVANSERAI 

/ THE SHRINE OF ABDUL KADER, BAGHDAD 

Ffvm a V%tAo 6y (MfimA MotkUr. 

^ ENTRANCE TO THE BAZAAR AT AMARA . 



Frontupieu 
To face page 42 
66 
72 
76 
82 
98 
106 

118 
124 
192 
2U8 
234 

254 
272 
314 

324 



Xll 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT. 

I'AOF. 

TYPES OF GEORGIANS ...... 32 

STROLLING MUSICIANS .51 

MY LAST VIEW OF THE CAUCASUS .... 53 

TYPES OP THE CAUCASUS ..... 57 

MOSQUE OF HUSEYN AU KHAN AT ERIVAN ... 69 

ARMENIAN VILLAGE AND MOUNT ARARAT — VIEW BETWEEN 

ERIVAN AND NAKCHIVAN ..... 80 

OUR LAST PEEP OP RUSSIAN TERRITORY ... 84 

LAKE URMIYAH FROM THE ROAD TO MARAGHA 131 

VILLAGE OF ZARNAU, KURDISTAN .... 186 

KURD OF SUJ-BULAK ...... 188 

KURDISH MOUNTAINEERS OF SERDASHT .221 

CROSSING THE KALU RIVER, KURDISTAN 225 

APPROACHING SANA ...... 231 

ZARNAU-I-BIFLA, KURDISTAN ..... 233 

SAHAB, NEAR SAKIZ ...... 238 

KHAN AT SAR-I-PUL ...... 279 

BRIDGE OF BOATS OVER THE TIGRIS AT BAGHDAD 300 

KAZIMIN, NEAR BAGHDAD ..... 318 

From a Photo by CoUmel MockUr. 



MAPS. 



SKETCH MAP SHOWING AUTHOR'S ROUTE IN PERSIAN 

KURDISTAN . To foce page 187 

x'^MAP SHOWING author's ROUTE FROM BATUM TO 

BAGHDAD . . .At end 



FEOM BATUM TO BAGHDAD. 



CHAPTER I. 



TANGIER TO TIFLIS. 



After perhaps the most severe gale that has occurred 
within the memory of man in these parts, in which 
the Spanish warship Reina Regente had been lost 
with all hands, I left Tangier on March 19, bound 
for the East, with no definite plans as to where my 
travels might ultimately strand me, but with the 
intention of making a start from Batum. Fortu- 
nately the sea during the two or three days which 
had passed since the termination of the gale had 
once more become normal, and, even with the few 
facilities for embarkation that Tangier can boast, I 
had no difficulty in getting on board the Abdul 

A 



2 TANGIER TO TIFLIS. 

Kader, one of the line of " Transatlantique " steamers 
that every fortnight call at Tangier. 

It was not without regret that I bade adieu to the 
snow-white town nestling on the side of the steep 
hill, up which it verily seems to climb, for the 
winter had been one of continual rains and storms ; 
and now that March was half over, there seemed 
every promise that we were going to enjoy the fine 
weather we had been hoping for ever since the end 
of December. But the movements of a traveller are 
always uncertain ; and at the very moment when the 
flowers of my garden were beginning to show the 
blossoms that ought to have appeared a month or 
two before, at the very moment when every tree 
and every shrub began, weary with waiting for sun- 
shine, to burst forth, I found myself destined to leave, 
and to seek for a few months a roaming existence in 
new lands. 

To one accustomed to travelling, a departure, even 
if it be for a journey of long duration, means but 
little trouble, and a couple of hours at the most 
sufficed to gather my scanty belongings about me, 
to exhort my servants not to neglect house, garden, 
horses, or pets during my absence, and to gaUop 
along the sands to the town for the last time. 

Yet I was not leaving all behind me, for, as a 
souvenir of my home, as well as for more practical 



THE START. 3 

purposes, I had decided that my Riffi servant, Mo- 
hammed — the same who had trudged the last winter 
so faithfully by my side through the dreary desert 
south of the Atlas Mountains — should accompany me. 

So bidding adieu to finends, both European and 
native, on the little pier, which had suffered badly in 
the last fierce gale, we embarked in one of those rough 
heavy boats, rowed by sturdy Arabs, and pulled for 
the steamer. 

In twenty minutes we were aboard, and half an 
hour later the thud of the screw had commenced, and 
Tangier and its mountain-fringed bay were being left 
far behind. 

Three hours later we anchored at Gibraltar under 
the shadow of the great rock with its frowning forts 
and yellow town, and for an hour or two I hurried 
here and there ashore, busy with visSs for passports 
and a little shopping. 

The following day was spent at Malaga ; but there 
is little to see there, though the situation of the town 
is picturesque enough. As in duty bound, I visited 
the cathedral, one of those great churches that one 
finds so often in Spain. Whatever beauty its interior 
might boast — and there was little beyond its size — 
the bad taste of the Spaniards had entirely effaced 
by paper flowers and gilt stucco and tinsel. In the 
chancel, it is true, the stalls and organ boast some 




4 TANGIER TO TIFUS. 

fine carved wood, but the pictures are inferior and 
the architecture indifferent. Then a stroll along the 
sea-front to the east of the town, past many pretty- 
villas and gardens, above which a hill surmounted 
by a fort keeps guard. 

Besides my man Mohammed there were several 
other Arab passengers aboard, and the appearance of 
these, as they leant over the bulwarks of the steamer, 
was the signal for a shout of derisive laughter, curses, 
and stone-throwing on the part of the crowd of ill-fed 
and ill-conditioned boys who thronged the quay. For 
downright blackguardism nothing can beat the type 
of the youth of Malaga, whose expression, like their 
morals, is of as debased a type as could well be ima- 
gined. Apparently they have no occupation but to 
be rude to passers-by ; and to the police and soldiery 
they pay not the slightest attention. Howls of filthy 
language greeted the appearance of the Moors, who, 
had they disembarked, would have run a great risk of 
being torn to pieces, so great is the antipathy of the 
Spaniards to their quondam conquerors, increased ten- 
fold by the affairs of Melilla last year. The captain 
of the steamer appealed to the police, but the two re- 
presentatives of this noble body were busily employed 
in stealing figs from the cargo, and paid little or no 
attention to the fact that an infuriated crowd of the 
worst characters of Malaga — that is to say, the worst 



MALAGA. 5 

in the world — were pelting the steamer with stones 
and mud. AiSairs, however, reached a climax when 
one of the Moors, who spoke Spanish, asked after the 
health of General Margallo, the general who had been 
killed before Melilla, and then the captain was obliged 
to order them below, though the ill-conditioned crowd 
hooted and jeered until at sunset the steamer left. It 
is easy, when one sees the temper of the Southern 
Spaniard exhibited in fits such as this, to comprehend 
how it was that Sid Brisha, the Moorish envoy to 
Spain, was insulted and struck in the face, on his way 
to an audience with the Queen Regent, by a general 
in the Spanish army in the year of our Lord 1895. 

After leaving Malaga our steamer was due to have 
called at the Spanish fortress of Melilla, on the Riff 
coast, but the weather did not permit, and we pro- 
ceeded direct to Nemours, or Ghrasauats as the 
Moors call it, the most westerly seaport of Algeria. 

It is a poor enough little place, lying at the mouth 
of a small valley, with a neglected square and one or 
two streets that speak of Spain and poverty, for few 
of the inhabitants are French. Some of the pas- 
sengers landed, I amongst the number; and an 
amusing few hours we spent there, wandering up 
the valley by a good road to some large orange 
gardens, where, invited within by the hospitality 
of the wife of the Spanish owner, we sat in the shade 




6 TANGIER TO TIFUS. 

and chatted to the group of young Arabs who had 
guided us to this charming spot. Amusing bright 
fellows they were, quick with their tongues, and 
perfectly polite, a strange and pleasing contrast to 
the youth of Malaga. Everywhere we went they 
accompanied us, a score of them perhaps, and we 
made them run races for coppers, and play all manner 
of games. There is something pleasing about the 
Arab boy wherever one meets him, and our little 
contingent took us regularly under their protection, 
carrying our coats and umbrellas, and pointing out 
all the sights of the place — and they were few enough. 

Then to a cafi^ where we sat surrounded still by 
the crowd of urchins, who, though they knew well 
enough that I understood every word of their con- 
versation, discussed us sedately. We were three — 
a French lady, a young Frenchman, and myself — 
and our relationship sorely puzzled them, until after 
a long discussion it was decided that we men were 
cousins, and the lady our maternal aunt. At this 
result they were evidently fully satisfied, and the 
conversation sought new channels. 

We left Nemours at sunset, and the following 
morning at daylight were moored alongside the quay 
at Oran. 

It is true, no doubt, that the French have to 
some extent civilised Algeria, yet one cannot help 



ORAN. 7 

preferring the Arab or Moor in his wild state, 
untrammelled by the, to him, unsuitable laws of 
civilisation. The man who in Morocco, in his native 
garb, is always picturesque, becomes, when tainted 
with European ways, a very eyesore in his dirty 
boots and coat, the latter often the cast-off article 
of some poor Spaniard, and worn above the native 
clothes. 

There is nothing to see in Oran : it is all shabbily 
new, with its stucco boulevards and badly kept 
gardens and squares ; with its long steep streets 
of high houses and dusty alleys. A sort of second 
Gibraltar, preferable, indeed, to the British colony in 
its streets, but without the one charm that Gibraltar 
possesses, its lovely gardens. For Oran is a city 
given up to trade, inhabited principally by Jews, 
and it somehow reeks of commerce — not like London, 
for instance, vast commercial enterprise, but of that 
petty commerce which the Jews of North Africa 
know so well how to conduct. 

The second day of our stay, for the Abdul Kader 
remained two days at the quay, I made, in company 

with one of our passengers, the Comtesse de S , 

a charming excursion to the pSpiniire of Miserghin, 
some ten or twelve miles away. The drive was de- 
lightful, and we passed through open breezy com- 
mon, here with a peep of the sea, but more often 




8 TANGIER TO TIFUS. 

of the big salt lake, the Sebkha, inland. From the 
summit of a hill one looked down upon Miserghin 
and the rich plough-land surrounding it, here green 
with young com, there mile upon mile of vineyard ; 
and one felt that at least the French have done one 
great service, in that they have discovered the rich- 
ness of the soil, and rendered it by careful cultivation 
far more produqtive than it was in the days when a 
couple of oxen trailed a wooden plough behind them 
and the Arab was undisturbed. 

In a cloud of dust we drove into the tiny settle- 
ment of Miserghin, a French village with little or 
no trace of natives. At the auberge we lunched, 
and excellently too, poor as the place seemed, and 
then mounting once more our carriage, we drove, 
between avenues of lofty cypress and glossy-foliaged 
orange - trees, to the monastery around which the 
great gardens extend. Charming it was in the shade 
of the trees, for the day was hot, and we wandered 
here and there, watching the friars in the white 
robes tending the young trees and plants, or strol- 
ling in pairs or alone, missals in hand, amongst the 
dark foliage. The gardens are of great extent, and 
export not only their produce, but also trees, palms, 
and shrubs and plants, to almost all parts of Europe. 
Certainly Miserghin is as charming as Oran is ugly, 
for in every direction extend the long avenues, here 



MARSEILLES. 9 

between rows of stately cypress, here under forest 
trees, and here again amidst bougainvillea and blos- 
soming shrubs. A young friar took us round and 
pointed out the curious plants that they grow there 
— cacti of many sorts and strange creepers. There, 
too, are distilleries for spirits and liqueurs, and w^ine 
is made in large quantities. 

The same evening we left Oran for Marseilles, our 
company augmented by half-a-dozen oflRicers en route 
to fight in Madagascar, while the deck and third- 
class accommodation were full of soldiers. 

The Balearic Isles were passed the following day, 
but we saw only Formentera, rocky and dreary in 
appearance, and Majorca. To the latter we steamed 
quite close, and its great mountain-peaks, dotted on 
their lower slopes with white cottages, spoke of the 
beautiful scenery that must exist in the valleys of 
that island. 

Then Marseilles, noisy and smelly as usual, with 
its flourishing port and great wide streets, the whole 
dominated by the chapel and its golden Virgin. As 
we entered the harbour a steamer was just leaving 
for Madagascar fuU of soldiers, and from the quay 
arose shout after shout of " Vive la France ! vive la 
Republique 1 " The enthusiasm was infectious, and 
one and all we waved adieu as they passed us, 
bound for the seat of the war. 



• 



10 TANGIER TO TIFLIS. 

Two days at Marseilles, and on the evening of 
March 26 we drove down in the dusk and embarked 
on board the Circassie, a steamer of the " Compagnie 
Paquet," bound for the Black Sea. 

At sunrise the following morning we left the port 
and steamed between the rocky fortress - crowned 
hills that line the great harbour of Marseilles. The 
weather was fine. The first two days passed without 
incident. We were but three first-class passengers, 
and so every comfort was to be found. In the 
second class, however, where Mohammed was in- 
stalled, and on deck, one could catch a glimpse, as 
it were, of the countries we were to visit. Turks, 
Greeks, Armenians, a Russian, Frenchmen, and a 
Spaniard — and yet only eleven passengers there! a 
conglomeration of type, a Babel of tongues. 

Early on the morning of the 29th we steamed 
through the Lipari Islands, passing close amongst 
them, so close that every detail was apparent. 
Stromboli with its heavy smoke attracted most 
attention, though by no means the most picturesque. 
Every one of the islands seems to be inhabited, 
though one would choose any situation to reside in, 
it would be thought, in preference to the slopes of 
Stromboli ! Yet even here the mountain was dotted 
with houses. An Italian sailor told me that the natives 
are free of all taxation — and that in Italy seems to 



STRAITS OF MESSINA. 11 

mean that rather than pay the heavy taxes the people 
seek a precarious home on islands that may at any 
time either blow up or sink down into the sea. 

Later we entered the Straits of Messina, dotted on 
both sides with villages and vineyards, straggling 
high up the sides of the steep mountains that rise 
tier above tier on the Italian and Sicilian coast. 
Messina too, the town half hidden in filmy smoke ; 
then Etna, covered with snow, whiter almost than 
the steaming fumes that issue from its crater. So 
still, so silent did it seem, that it was almost impos- 
sible to believe that such a short time ago the moun- 
tain was casting forth fire and destruction upon the 
land. Long after we had passed out of the straits — 
until dark even — its peak was visible, and the last we 
saw of it was its dark outline against the face of the 
setting sun. 

We awoke the next morning to see, far away on 
our port-bow, the snow-capped mountains of Greece. 
Toward evening we approached nearer, and soon 
after dark passed the lighthouse on Cape Matapan. 

For the whole of the next day we were in sight of 
land, amongst the islands of the Grecian Archipelago. 
The day was hazy, and but little more than the 
looming outline of rock and mountain was visible. 
Slowing down at night, we proceeded at reduced 
speed until the Dardanelles were reached in the 




12 TANGIER TO TIFLIS. 

early morning of the last day of March , before day- 
light. At sunrise we steamed up to Chanak-keli, 
on the southern shore of the channel, and there 
anchored, for it is here pratique must be obtained 
before ships can proceed any farther in the direction 
of Constantinople. The morning was fine and warm, 
and the brilliant green of the fields, with their more 
distant background of forest, rock, and snow, formed 
a charming contrast to the wearying sight of sea. 
Chanak-keli is itself but a small place, straggling 
houses of more or less European construction, two 
or three deep, along the water's edge. A minaret 
or two give the cachet of orientalism that would 
otherwise be wanting. A few boats came oflF, one 
laden with the coarse but artistic pottery for which 
the place is celebrated, and from which it takes its 
name. I noticed that during the ten years that had 
elapsed since my former visit to Constantinople the 
decoration of the pottery had changed, and although 
one still found the strange long-neck jars and figures 
of horses, they were bedecked with crude colours 
and tinsel. 

A couple of hours were sufficient to set the ship's 
papers in order and to take on board a dozen or 
so passengers, and by half-past eight we were on 
our way up the Dardanelles. Our new passengers 
were a strange crew, — a party of moUahs or priests. 



PASSENGERS. 1 3 

some by no means poorly attired, and two or three 
wild mountaineers, fair men with blue eyes, very 
handsome, and strongly built. A soldier or two 
in dishevelled uniform and dirty boots completed 
the list. Then there was a spreading of carpets 
and rugsj and our new arrivals settled down on 
the deck and hatchways for their journey. The 
poor mountaineers, dirty and ragged, wept copi- 
ously ,-"One was in paroxysms of grief, — though it 
appeared that they were only en route to Con- 
stantinople in search of work. Yet even this jour- 
ney of only some twelve hours must have meant 
much to these wild fellows, who more than likely 
had never left their native hills, situated who knows 
where. There was more that was pitiful than ludi- 
crous in the tears of these great stalwart men, 
who were going to seek their fortune in strange 
lands. One could only hope for their success and 
their return once more, with a little wealth, to 
their native village. 

It is extraordinary how quickly the native pas- 
senger settles down to his travels, and in a quarter 
of an hour after leaving Chanak the group of 
"priests" were breakfasting, sitting on their quilts 
and rugs, with all the comfort and composure of 
old travellers. 

From the Dardanelles we were soon in the Sea 




14 TANGIER TO TIFLIS. 

of Marmora, where the mountains and hills receded 
to north and south, and but for an occasional island 
one could see none of the details of the shore, 
except where here and there a white speck betold 
the presence of a mosque. Nothing could have 
been more beautiful than our passage through the 
Sea of Marmora. Not a breath of wind stirred the 
surface of the water, which was placid as a river, 
and from which on almost all sides, far away it is 
true, rose long lines of hills. Towards sunset the 
snow of Mount Olympus, to the south, turned to 
rosy gold, the great peak dominating the surround- 
ing hills, far above which it towered clear and 
defined in the clear light. 

At nightfall the lights of Constantinople were 
visible, and we entered the port soon after nine 
o'clock. The eflFect of the bright moonlight and 
thousands upon thousands of lamps was an entran- 
cing one, and so clear was the night that every 
cypress on Seraglio Point stood out dark and clear 
from its surroundings of ivory-white buildings and 
grey domes. 

The next morning after breakfast I took Moham- 
med ashore to show him a little of the town. As 
we passed through the narrow crowded streets of 
Galata and over the rickety wooden bridge that 
leads one over the Golden Horn to Stamboul, I 



CONSTANTINOPLE. 1 5 

could not help being struck with the change that 
had taken place in Constantinople since my first 
visit nearly twelve years ago. Then there was still 
left some of the touches of orientalism that lent 
a charm to a city otherwise dirty and disagreeable. 
To-day there remains of course the beautiful Ser- 
aglio Point, with its cypress - trees and domes and 
kiosks, but elsewhere the East is fast disappearing 
under Western influence. The great mosques of 
Stamboul, with their tall minarets, still dominate 
the summit of the hill, but the foreground has 
changed : the picturesque, if tottering, buildings 
that surrounded them have given place to tall stucco 
barracks and Government offices ; long streets of 
shops are rising where once narrow alleys led one 
in entangling network amongst the booths, and even 
the bazaars destroyed in the earthquake of 1894 
are being rebuilt by a European company in Euro- 
pean style. Yet stiU, as I threaded my way along 
the narrow streets, we were able now and again 
to reach some comer, dusty and deserted, that 
spoke of the old city, where for a time the houses 
of many storeys that to-day cap the hill of Pera 
were hidden from sight. We wandered here and 
there and everywhere, — now through half -fallen 
bazaars, now along well-laid-out streets, — and drank 
coffee in a tiny caf6 outside the mosque of Saint 



i 



16 TANGIER TO TIFLIS. 

Sophia. Within the building a moUah was reading 
the Koran and explaining its precepts to a small 
crowd of Turks, mostly villagers from the country. 
A little group, late perhaps for the hour of afternoon 
prayer, rose and fell in unison in one of the side 
aisles. Here there was no change : the mosaics that 
have glittered for centuries still sparkle in portions 
of the roof; the great shields bearing the names 
of the successors of the Prophet in the Khalifate 
still look down upon one from under the great 
yellow dome. 

Thence to the mosque of Sultan Ahmed, with its 
great windows of glass and its blue tiles, brilliant and 
airy in comparison to the other. The setting sun 
shone into the building in slanting rays of golden 
light, and even the four great pillars of enormous 
dimensions that support the roof and dome seemed 
to lose their oppressive heaviness. On leaving the 
building we visited the court without, with its sur- 
rounding colonnade of domes and columns, and its 
marble fountain — the whole empty and deserted. 

The following morning we sauntered once more 
through the bazaars, pestered by guides and inter- 
preters, and worried by the demands of the shop- 
keepers; and at noon, wandering to the bridge, we 
embarked on one of the many steamers that ply 
on the Bosphorus, and steamed up to Buyukdere. 



THE BOSPHORUS. 17 

Charming it all was in the bright spring sunshine, 
and the great palaces and residences of the Sultan, 
the Pashas, and the Ambassadors, ugly as most of 
them are at near view, gained a false beauty from 
the clear atmosphere. On board we were served with 
coflFee and sweets, and the few hours' trip was 
pleasant enough, there , being always something of 
interest to see, whether it be the beauty of the 
Bosphorus itself, or the strange passengers who 
embarked or alighted at the various villages we 
called at. 

It was nearly sunset when we returned to Con- 
stantinople, and the smoke of the steamers in the 
port rendered indistinct the view of the town, which 
rose above the dusty haze an outline of pale mauve. 
It is such peeps as this, that one now and again 
obtains, that render true the saying that Constanti- 
nople is one of the most beautiful cities in the world ; 
for ashore there is little but dirt and greasiness, and 
even the crowd fails to-day to be picturesque, for 
nearly all the old costumes have died away, and 
broadcloth and patent-leather boots have taken their 
place. Twelve years ago the bridge between Galata 
and Stamboul was a sight worth seeing ; to-day it is 
but an unsavoury and dirty crowd of ill-clad poverty 
and overfed officialdom that one sees there. Even the 
poorest class seem to have adopted European costume, 

B 




18 TANGIER TO TIFLIS. 

which appears to consist of the cast-oflf clothes of the 
beggars of Europe. 

Early the following morning, April 4, we steamed 
up the Bosphorus en route for the Black Sea. The 
weather continued fine, and not a ripple rose upon the 
oily surface of the sea. The land on the south was 
in view all day, and toward nightfall we approached 
it so nearly that from the ship we could see the burn- 
ing brushwood, and the lights of a village or two. At 
early dawn we entered the harbour of Sinope to 
do our two days' quarantine, necessary before the 
northern ports of Asia Minor could be visited. The 
anchorage is in a roadstead, partly protected by the 
promontory of Tep^-Bunus, which is joined to the 
mainland by the narrow neck of sand on which the 
little town stands. From the ship we could see but 
little of the town beyond its grey walls and the 
minaret of its mosque. 

At two o'clock the quarantine doctor came on board, 
and brought us the welcome news that as cholera no 
longer existed in Constantinople, there was no need 
for us to remain, and that the unpleasant process of 
disinfection would not be required. Great was the 
content of every one on board, and the number of 
native passengers that we had taken aboard at Con- 
stantinople literally beamed with pleasure when they 
heard that, instead of two days' delay — ^to say nothing 



OUR FELLOW-PASSENGERS. 19 

of being bathed in disinfectant — we were to proceed 
at once. 

A few words as to our deck passengers, of whom we 
had some eighty aboard. Strange fellows they were 
the most of them, and stranger still their diverse 
costumes, which ranged from soiled linen and shiny 
broadcloth to pale green silk, from Circassian coats 
and boots to soft long fur-lined garments of fine 
materials. Arabs, Jews, Maltese, Greeks, Turks, 
Armenians, and Eussians there were, and a host of 
tribesmen from who knows where, with their carpets 
and quilts and bedding, their narghiles and samovars. 
Some brought their womenkind ; and for them, veiled 
from sight by their yashmaks^ they built little tents 
of rugs ; and the deck became as bright and pictur- 
esque a scene as one could fijid in the most oriental 
of bazaars. The weather was warm and fine, and 
many sang and played on tiny two-stringed guitars 
and flutes, and it was a matter of never-fEuling interest 
to wander about amongst this veritable menagerie of 
peoples, to listen to their strange languages, and 
drink a cup of tea, or take a few whiffs from the 
amber mouthpieces of their long-tubed pipes. 

The coast continued in sight all day, long lines of 
abrupt hills rising in tiers from the shore, the highest 
covered in snow. 

It was raining when the following morning we 




20 TANGIER TO TIFLIS. 

anchored in front of the town of Samsun ; but the 
weather cleared a little, though it remained cloudy 
all day, and the higher mountains behind the town 
were hidden. From the sea the appearance of Sam- 
sun is disappointing. Instead of finding, as one 
might imagine, a typical Turkish town, rows of neat 
white villas rise from the water's edge up the sides 
of the steep hills, and were it not for the presence 
of a mosque and one or two minarets, the place 
might have been anywhere on the coast of the 
south of France or Italy. However, ashore things 
are different, and one enters amongst streets and 
bazaars, lined with little bozlike shops and shaded 
by tall plane and acacia trees. The scene is pic- 
turesque enough, especially one long shady street 
leading to a large open market-place where the 
peasants were selling their wares and goods. Here, 
though European costumes were common enough, 
by far the greater portion of the population was 
dressed d la Turk. In the European quarter large 
shops filled with European goods exist — mostly, if 
not all, kept by Greeks; and every manner and 
variety of produce and manufeuiture is exhibited for 
sale, even to ready-made sailor suits for boys. 

There is but little to see beyond the crowd passing 
in the streets ; for even the mosques show no signs 
of handsome architecture, and the other buildings 



SAMSUN. 2 1 

are all more or less of European type — a few old 
wooden houses with projecting upper storeys being 
almost all that exists typically Turkish. At a caf6 
— a large clean room surrounded by a divan — we 
drank coflFee, watching the long lines of heavily built 
camels passing along the street, and the rattling 
springless carts, with their canvas covers often 
brightly decorated, with which traflRic with the in- 
terior is carried on. In the bazaars there was but 
little of interest. Few indeed are the travellers who 
visit Samsun, and there can be but little or no de- 
mand for curiosities. A few antiques were shown 
us, but either in poor condition or false — the former 
especially ; while some badly manufactured coins pre- 
tending to be of Alexander and Philip spoke to the 
fact that even in these out-of-the-way places, where 
antiquities ought to be found, false coins are not 
uncommon. 

We remained all day discharging cargo at Samsun, 
but I found three or four hours ashore amply suffi- 
cient to see everything several times over and to 
drink coflFee more than once ; so early in the after- 
noon we returned to the ship, where we found our 
deck passengers largely augmented, and a body of 
Turks amusing themselves with music and danc- 
ing. Very cheery and bright the new additions 
were, and they settled themselves down on board. 




22 TANGIER TO TIFLIS. 

spreading their carpets and quilte at once. The 
dancing, such as it was, offered neither any great 
interest nor grace. A row of men holding hands 
trod a sort of measure, now and again var3dng the 
steps, or approaching one another, crossing their 
arms, or joining in a ring. Like most oriental 
amusements, it is monotonous, though even more 
so was the whining accompaniment droned out upon 
a small three - stringed instrument, played with a 
short bow. 

More picturesque were the large number of Arme- 
nian peasants, who, fleeing from Turkish misrule, 
were en route to Batum to seek a home in Russian 
territory. Men, women, and children of all ages 
there were, and even babies in cradles. The smaller 
children were decidedly pretty in their bright-coloured 
clothes. 

Soon after sunset we left Samsun, arriving some 
hours later at Kerassimd. The situation of this 
small town is a charming one. Like Sinope, it 
stands on the neck of land that joins a promon- 
tory to the mainland. Above it, high on the rocky 
hill, stand the ruins of an old fortress. The sur- 
roundings of peaked and wooded mountains add 
much to render beautiful the little place, which from 
the sea is far more typically Turkish than Samsun. 
We did not go ashore, as a couple of hours were 



TREBIZOND. 23 

sufficient to discharge our cargo ; and shortly after 
8 A.M. we were en route for Trebizond, passing 
along a coast of broken mountain and wooded hill 
picturesque in the extreme. 

As it was to be my lot to spend only a few hours 
ashore at Trebizond, it would be absurd to attempt 
here any full description of the interesting old town, 
of which, to tell the truth, I saw very little. As 
at Sinope and Kerassund, the original founders of 
Trebizond seem to have chosen one of the few rocky 
promontories that jut out into the sea, and offer a 
little protection for shipping, as the site of their 
town. 

From the sea the place presents a charming ap- 
pearance, the town climbing up the steep hillside, 
the old ruins of the fortifications peeping up here 
and there amongst the houses. Away on one spur 
a dense cluster of cypress-trees, outlining the brow 
of the hill, mark the cemetery, from which the 
mountain behind rises precipitously. On the flat- 
topped spur of rock that juts out into the sea are 
some fortifications and modem Turkish buildings, 
apparently barracks. 

We landed at the custom-house quay, and, after a 
careful scrutiny of our passports, were allowed to 
proceed ashore. The way into the town leads by a 
steep road between rather dilapidated-looking dwell- 




24 TANGIER TO TIFLIS. 

ings into the principal street of the place, which, 
excepting the varied costumes of the country-people, 
offers no great attraction either from a picturesque 
or any other point of view. Near the centre of 
this street are some ill-kept public gardens where, 
on the afternoon I spent there, a military band 
discoursed music. 

I saw none of the " sights " of Trebizond, — ^such 
as they are, — preferring to pass the few hours ashore 
in loafing in the streets and gardens and watching 
the strange medley of peoples and races that con- 
gregated there. Poor Mohammed, in his Moorish 
clothes, attracted a large but well-behaved crowd, 
who gazed in wonder at his brown jelab. The police, 
however, interfered in our behalf, and a couple of 
good-natured stalwart "bobbies" kept us company 
for the rest of the day, showing us whatever there 
was to see, and delighted with an inconsiderable 
bakshish when we left. Decent polite fellows they 
were, and their presence a real comfort, as once or 
twice, so large was the gathering of onlookers, all 
traffic, as well as our own, was blocked. 

Toward evening we returned once more to the 
Circassie, to witness one of the loveliest of sunsets, 
for the sun went down behind the snow-peaks that 
rise above the mountains at the foot of which the 
town stands, and the whole scene was swathed in 



BATUM. 25 

purple light, rendered even more lovely by the faint 
smoke of the town. Certainly Trebizond is best 
seen from the sea. 

The sun had been risen an hour or two when we 
left the following day for Batum. 

The voyage from Trebizond to Batum was perhaps 
the pleasantest part of our whole journey by sea. 
The water, calm as the proverbial mill-pond, re- 
flected on its surface the huge peaks of snow that 
lay to the south and east of us, towering range above 
range into the blue sky. Certainly the Black Sea 
had shown us none of its terrors so feared by the 
mariners of old, for from the moment we entered it 
on leaving the Bosphorus until we steamed into the 
harbour of Batum it had presented an almost change- 
less calm. Nor were any of us sorry, for the Cir- 
cassie had discharged a large quantity of cargo at 
Constantinople and at the ports on the north coast 
of Asia Minor at which we had touched, and she was 
therefore very light. The least wind would have set 
her rolling, and even the best of sailors has no fault 
to find with a steady ship and placid sea. 

Away to the north, as we neared Batum, appeared 
the rosy peaks of the Caucasus, while ahead and to 
the south rose, almost from the very coast, moun- 
tains of forest and rock and snow. 

It was still early in the afternoon when Batum 




26 TANGIER TO TIFLIS. 

came into sight, a white line on the low promontory 
that juts out into the sea — the alluvial soil carried 
down by two rivers, the Batum and the Choruk. 
An hour later we were steaming into the harbour, 
filled with shipping, and at four o'clock made fast 
to the shore, stern on to the quay. But the arrival 
in port of the steamer by no means meant that we 
could proceed ashore at once, for the Eussian police 
and harbour authorities seldom if ever hurry them- 
selves, and we lay a full hour before there were any 
signs of either the doctor of the port or the police 
coming on board. However, at length a boat put 
off and the officials arrived. One has heard so much 
of the extreme amount of red-tapeism of the Eussians 
that, without reason perhaps, one always expects 
difficulties at their custom-houses. Yet, as had been 
my experience on a former occasion when entering 
Eussian territory, the examination of baggage was 
a mere formality, and not a single package of mine 
or even Mohammed's bundle was opened. Our pass- 
ports were returned to us at once, and within ten 
minutes or a quarter of an hour after the arrival 
of the authorities I found myself safely ashore en 
route through the well-laid-out streets to the H6tel 
de France, whose amiable proprietor, M. Charpentier, 
had been a fellow - passenger on the Circassie from 
Marseilles. Batum possesses about 19,000 inhabit- 



BATUM. 27 

ants, for the most part Russian subjects, though 
there is a considerable French colony there. The 
town, which was ceded to Russia after the Russo- 
Turkish war, was formerly little more than a small 
Turkish village, but to-day possesses all the attrac- 
tions of a large commercial place. The streets are 
wide and often planted with trees, the houses are 
well built and handsome, and there is all the bustle 
and stir of prosperity in this city situated at the 
extremity of the Black Sea. Beyond its political 
and strategical importance, it owes its prosperity 
to the large output of mineral oil, which, transferred 
across Transcaucasia by railway, is here shipped to 
Europe, India, and China. Batum literally exhales 
petroleum, and the odour is seldom absent, and when 
the wind blows from the north-east over the reser- 
voirs in which the oil is stored, the result is by 
no means pleasant. 

We were early at the station, and, thanks to the 
aid of a guide from the hotel, we found no difficulty 
in procuring our tickets and registering our luggage. 
Mohammed, who had never in his life seen a train 
before, thought the whole station — and the station at 
Batum is by no means a small one— was going to 
Tiflis, and accordingly arranged the luggage on one 
of the seats and made himself comfortable for a long 
journey in the refreshment-room. It was a great dis- 



/ 



28 TANGIER TO TIPLIS. 

appointment when he discovered that the bar with 
all its diversity of cakes and fruit was not going 
with us. 

A strange medley of peoples and races crowded the 
platform at the departure of the train, and shortly 
before leaving a very nicely dressed and tidy China- 
man stepped into the carriage in which we had settled 
ourselves. He spoke English remarkably well, and 
told me that he was the head man of a number of 
Chinese coolies who had been brought to the hills 
around Batum for the purpose of cultivating tea. 

Passing first amongst the large oil-reservoirs that 
line the north-east side of the port, we emerged into 
charming country. The railway here skirts the sea, 
which extends away to the left, while on the right 
rise the mountains. This site has been chosen by the 
richer inhabitants of Batum as a favourite suburb, 
and the foothills, amongst which one travels, are 
dotted with charming summer residences, the greater 
part built of wood and painted white. But what is 
more pleasing even than these delightful abodes are 
the gardens and scenery by which they are sur- 
rounded. Every variety of pine and fir seems to 
flourish in the park-like glades, while on every side 
huge forest trees, far older than the gardens, are to be 
seen. In many places the jungle-covered hills have 
not yet been cleared, and here one can see the dense 



VEGETATION. 29 

vegetation that abounds along the warm coast of the 
Black Sea. Such spots as these consist of jungle as 
thick as in the tropics, but the trees are acacias, holly, 
and oak, and many other varieties, while the brush- 
wood is, in spring, a blaze of rhododendrons and 
yellow azaleas, with the perfume of which latter the 
air is full. Blackberries, clematis, and bignonia, and 
many kinds of ivy and other creepers, hang in 
festoons amongst the branches of the trees, and the 
whole offers an appearance of impenetrable beauty. 
So thickly do the forests grow that in many places 
the trees are so crowded together as never to gain 
their full proportions. It is amongst hills thus 
wooded that the merchants of Batum have cleared 
tracts of land and planted themselves gardens of 
trees from the tropics and the snow-clad Caucasus — 
long avenues of pines and firs, beds of palms and 
azaleas, of New Zealand flax and tulip trees. For 
this a background of forest-clad mountains tipped 
with glistening snow, while away to the north the 
long white line of the Caucasus shows up clearly 
above the plains and the sea. 

From the hills we emerged into the plains of Min- 
grelia, rich and well cultivated, especially with maize, 
and dotted with large villages, one and all with their 
tj^ical sheds raised from the ground on high poles. 
The construction of every village house is much the 



/ 



30 TANGIER TO TIFLIS. 

same, being built of the trunks of trees in the manner 
known in America as "log" huts. A few possess 
more pretensions, being boarded and painted white, 
but with these exceptions the houses of the villages 
in the plains much resemble one another. The fer- 
tility of this plain of Mongrelia, watered by the river 
Rion, is easily judged when one sees the numerous 
patches where the forest has not yet been cleared. 
On the very edge, it may be, of a well-ploughed 
maize -field commences a dense and impenetrable 
jungle of tree and shrub and creepers, with swampy 
pools purple with irises. 

The railway stations are large and well built, and 
all appear to possess excellent refreshment-stalls, well 
supplied with food and drinks. But it is on the 
platform and not within that the centre of attraction 
for the traveller is to be found, in the strange groups 
of peasants and others who crowd down, either out 
of curiosity to see the train and its passengers, or 
else to sell their wares, — for the stations become, for 
the few minutes that the trains remain, a centre 
of busy bargaining between the peasants and the 
passengers. Pigs, lambs, fowls, turkeys, and geese, 
and higher in the mountains chestnuts, apples, and 
bread, are all brought for sale, and a demure and 
well-dressed young oflBcer in our compartment pur- 
chased for some small sum a c6uple of young sucking- 



THE OEORQIANS. 31 

pigs, which, safely stored in a sack, travelled with us 
to Tiflis under the seat. 

But even more than in the wares exposed for sale 
were we interested in the people who thronged the 
stations. Of all classes they seemed to be, though 
here the races were fewer than at Batum, and the 
Greorgians of Mingrelia largely predominated. It 
is true that the extreme beauty of this race has not 
been overrated, and even from the types that one 
came across at the various railway stations of a day's 
journey one could have picked out as fine a body of 
men as could be found anywhere. There is no 
savagery in their appearance; on the contrary, if 
there is any fault to find, it is in their over-refine- 
ment of looks. Dressed nearly all in the fine black 
cherkes^ — the close-fitting coat with its long loose 
folds almost like a skirt, which reaches below the 
knees — with an under coat of black or white silk 
or doth, its high collar of the same material, the 
whole bound at the waist by a silver belt with its 
dangling plaques and gorgeous dagger, there is a 
simplicity that shows off to advantage the Georgian 
type, of dark arched eyebrows, white skins and pink 
cheeks, and fine cynical mouths. On the head a 
small cap of loosely curled black astrachan fur is 
worn, while soft black high boots complete a costume 
of singular taste and beauty. The bearing of the 



i 



TANGIER TO TIFLIS. 



men is excellent, the head is held high, and in 
stature they are one and all tall. In fact, a typical 




Typti af Georgians. 

young Georgian, with his fine features and simple 

dress, is as handsome a man as one could ever see. 

For some hours we continued over these plains, 



THE VALLF.Y OF THE RION. 33 

which gradually narrowed as we proceeded farther 
up the valley. Both to north and south a long line 
of snow-peaks bounded the horizon, and swept in 
majestic curves to the plains, covered with dense 
forest up to the snow-level, and some to their very 
summits. Look which way one might, the same 
beautiful scenery surrounded one. 

It was not long before we were amongst the moun- 
tains, ascending along the course of the river Rion, 
through a valley which, as we proceeded, became 
narrower every minute, until at length our way 
lay through a veritable gorge, shut in with high 
forest-clad and rocky precipices, above which appeared 
the snow, no longer a great distance above us. Below 
us, now on this side and now on that, leaped the 
. river, roaring as it rushed on its downward course of 
rapid and fall. By bridges of excellent construction 
we were continually crossing the river, now skirting 
the precipice on its right bank, now on its left. The 
enormous engineering difficulties and the great 
expense of the making of this line are apparent every 
moment. A climax of both is reached when for 
nearly ten minutes' duration the train rattles one 
through the tunnel of the watershed between the 
rivers flowing to the Caspian and the Black Sea. 
This tunnel took four years to excavate (1886-1890), 
and some 2000 workmen were employed in its con- 

c 



A 



34 TANGIER TO TIFLIS. 

struction. One emerges into the valley of the Kur, 
the river on which Tiflis is situated. High mountains 
enclose the valley on every side except to the east, 
where it stretches away, widening as it proceeds, un- 
til it becomes a veritable plain. The country had 
completely changed during our passage through the 
tunnel, for in the place of the high precipices and 
mountain villages of wooden huts, and the forest-clad 
mountains, one was passing over well-cultivated level 
ground dotted with little townships, and amongst 
herds of cattle and sheep. 

Darkness came on and rain fell in heavy drops, 
until at ten o'clock the guard woke us from slumber 
by telling us Tiflis was in sight. From the window 
of my cari'iage I could see its thousands of lamps 
sparkling in the wide valley, and half an hour later 
we were rattling over the badly paved roads of the 
town en route to the H6tel de Londres. 



35 



CHAPTEE IL 

TIFLIS. 

TiFLis, the capital of Transcaucasia, with its popu- 
lation of nearly 100,000 souls, owes its name and 
probably also its site to the hot springs which exist 
in it« immediate neighbourhood. It is curious to 
notice throughout the whole oriental world how 
general is the custom of fixing upon some such nat- 
ural but uncommon feature as this for the site of a 
city. No doubt to the ancients, as to the people of 
the East to-day, hot springs were marvels that ex- 
cited not only the admiration but also the religious 
zeal of the natives, and to-day one finds in one's 
travels that almost wherever such springs do exist, 
the population of the neighbourhood, and even people 
residing at long distances, make pilgrimages to the 
spot, though as a rule the medical properties of the 
water are little understood. In the case of Tiflis, the 
natural features of the country added further ad- 




36 TIFLIS. 

vantages which, in the warlike days of the fifth cen- 
tury A.D., could not well be overlooked. For the 
river Kur, with its steep rocky banks and the high 
mountains beyond, would tend to render any attack 
upon the place, if not futile, at least extremely diflB- 
cult. And in those days of early Georgian and 
Armenian kings, when the wild Caucasian tribes 
harried them from the north, and the devastating 
hordes of Persians and Mongols from the south and 
south-east, not to mention the invasions of Greek 
and Eoman, the defences of a city were of the utmost 
importance. And so it was that near the close of 
the fifth century a.d.. King Vakhtang of Georgia built 
a town upon the site of a still earlier Persian fortress, 
utilising its ruins for his fortifications. With so 
much zeal was the building of the town undertaken 
and carried on, that only a few years later, Dachi, 
the thirty-fourth sovereign of his dynasty, who held 
the throne from 499 to 514 a.d., made Tybylysys- 
Kalake, as it was then called, his capital. 

It is beyond the scope of a work such as this to 
attempt to enumerate the various conquests and re- 
conquests that the city has seen in its centuries of 
vicissitude, — and on tradition more than on history 
are those accounts based ; yet it can be stated almost 
with certainty that in as many centuries Tiflis has 
seen utter destruction no fewer than eight times, at 



SITUATION OF TIFLIS. 37 

the hands of Mongols, Persians, Greeks, and Turks. 
The first historical mention that can be fully relied 
upon is the invasion of Iberia or Georgia, by Pompey, 
in Eoman times, when the Bagratid dynasty of 
Georgians held the throne, having seized it in the 
eighth century, and continuing to keep it in their 
line until 1801, when, wearied with the continual 
invasions of Persian hordes under Agha Mohammed 
Eiian, the last king sought the protection of Bussia^ 
and merged his kingdom into that vast empire. 

The present town of Tiflis lies on both banks of 
the river Kur, — the ofiicial and old part on the south, 
and the newer and more specially residential quarter 
on the north. It is along the former that the 
long lines of the old fortifications, massive walls and 
beetling towers, are found, looking down upon the 
handsome squares and boulevards that Russian 
enterprise and Russian capital have called into 
existence. To-day the Kur, which once formed the 
principal defence of the place on the north, serves 
only as a water-supply and for carrying off the 
drainage of the town, with the additional attraction 
that the turbid stream, rushing between its steep 
precipices of rock, is one of the most picturesque 
features of an already romantic scene. As far as the 
eye can wander in every direction the horizon is 
bounded by ranges of mountains : here the steep 



/ 



38 TIFLIS. 

hills of rock that rise in the immediate neighbour- 
hood ; there the distant snow-peaks of the great range 
of the Caucasus, faint against the blue sky. The 
actual surroundings of Tiflis, save where the Russian 
Government has caused gardens and trees to be 
planted, are dreary and wanting in vegetation, for 
the destructive habit of all orientals of deforesting 
land without ever replanting has left its indelible 
mark upon the aspect of the country, which to-day 
wears a rugged, bare, yellow appearance. 

Before entering upon any description of the city, 
some idea must be given as to the strange conglomer- 
ation of inhabitants that flock its streets, for it is to 
the crowd that much of what is interesting in Tiflis 
is owing. True, the Armenian, with his shiny broad- 
cloth and Jewish type of countenance, adds little to 
the attraction of the place, though it must be con- 
fessed that from the traveller's point of view, if from 
no other, he is most useful. Nearly all the banks 
and most of the shops are in his hands, from his 
ranks spring the guides and interpreters, and go 
where one will one finds him a ready linguist and 
polite, so long as he is paid. But from the artistic 
point of view the lazy, good-natured Georgian is 
charming, as he swaggers about with his handsome 
looks and becoming costume. True, he is a lazy, 
pleasure - seeking creature, about whose morals the 



ITS INHABITANTS. 39 

less said the better, but his appearance of good 
looks and good nature, and his dandy airs, seem 
to render him a favourite everywhere. No one 
seems to realise better than he that he has the 
reputation of coming from the purest stock in the 
world, and of being a member of its handsomest 
race. Nor is this reputation belied as he is seen, 
in his long white coat with its silver or gold cart- 
ridge or powder tubes sewn across his chest, with 
his cap of white lamb's -wool perched jauntily on 
one side of his head, to say nothing of his personal 
charm of countenance, which is often of the greatest 
beauty. Round his waist is a silver or gold girdle 
£rom which hang a handsome sword and straight 
dagger, both cased in the same precious metals. Of 
the Persians one sees but little in the European 
quarters. One must seek the narrow dirty bazaars 
near the river -bank to obtain a glimpse of these 
scowling sallow fanatics, in their dark clothes and 
tall black lambskin caps. As a matter of fact, 
though Persian subjects, they are not of Iranian 
blood, but belong to the wild Turkman tribes which 
overran Persia, and whose descendants, now known 
as Turkis, to-day hold almost the entire northern 
part of the dominions of the Shah. But to the 
traveller it is the Tatar, after the Georgian, who 
proves of the greatest interest. True, he has little 



40 TIFLIS. 

beauty either in feature, figure, or costume to recom- 
mend him, but nevertheless there is a peculiar at- 
traction, humorous rather than ornamental perhaps, 
about the squat, narrow -eyed tribesman, in his 
ragged clothes and absurd papak or enormous hat 
of ragged wool. To attempt, during a short stay in 
the country, to unravel the complicated tribal sys- 
tem of the race is an impossibility, so one must 
deal with him merely as he appears as an item 
of the crowd, in his baggy trousers, and blue cotton 
coat with its outstanding pleated skirt, and his 
ridiculous head - gear mentioned above. In Tiflis 
he is everywhere : here driving a string of lanky 
camels with their clanging bells of brass and copper ; 
here sitting silently smoking his ^aZyan — water 
pipe — in one of the painted and carved balconies 
of the many caravanserais in the oriental quarter 
of the • town ; there, again, purchasing a bundle 
of European goods to take away with him and 
trade in his native steppes. And to this picture 
of oriental peoples must be added the Russian soldier, 
stolid and upright, well-fed and well - uniformed, 
polite and religious, doffing his cap to the ikons 
at the street corners, the very picture of health 
and courage. Nor is the Russian the sole type 
of the army of the empire, for the mounted Cos- 
sacks, mud - bespattered and none too tidy, canter 



PALACE STREET. 41 

their ponies up and down the streets, setting out 
for, or arriving from, some outlying station or 
distant town — and of them, with their absolute 
indifference to food and temperature, one cannot 
form too high an opinion. Scatter these varied 
races on the streets of Tiflis, add types of all the 
wild tribes of the Caucasus, with a sprinkling of 
officers in uniform and well - dressed ladies, and 
one can obtain some idea of the appearance of 
the inhabitants of the town. 

As to the city itself a few words must be said. 
The principal street is the Dvartzovaya-oulytza, or 
Palace Street — a wide boulevard, in which are situ- 
ated not only the palace of the Governor -General, 
but also the handsome new opera-house, the as 
yet unfinished cathedral, and most of the best shops. 
And it is when one finds such streets as these in 
an Asiatic town that one commences to realise the 
immense organising and absorbing power of Bussian 
government, that can, in a region so far removed, 
and connected directly neither by rail nor sea with 
the fatherland, raise up a city that rivals, in this 
street at least, any capital of Europe. Nor is it 
difficult to solve the problem, for ask where one 
will and of whom one will, to whom the prosperity 
not only of Tiflis but also of the whole of Trans- 
caucasia is owing, the reply will be the same — 



i 



42 TIFLIS. 

to the Grand Duke Michael, brother of the Czar 
Nicholas II., who for eighteen years held the Vice- 
royalty of this vast province, and for whose return 
the inhabitants have never ceased to pray. Every 
reform, every road and railway, every school and hos- 
pital — in fact, all that is good in the country— owes 
its origin to this Prince of Progress and Civilisation. 

The palace is a handsome building of great size, 
which, while possessing perhaps no great archi- 
tectural beauty, is amply suited to its purpose, and 
cannot fail to impress not only the native of the 
country, but also the civilised traveller, with the 
magnificence of the Russian Court. Within it is 
gorgeously decorated : great clusters of palms, in- 
numerable glass chandeliers, and a quantity of gold 
paint, give it the most brilliant appearance, a 
fit setting for the georgeous semi - European, semi- 
oriental crowds that flock its salons on reception 
nights. Next to the palace stands the new cathe- 
dral, now nearly completed. It is built in Byzantine 
style, much gilded and bedomed, and though per- 
haps a trifle gaudy, seems exactly suited to the place 
and climate. It is a building of great size, and forms 
already the handsomest and most magnificent struc- 
ture in the town. Not far from this spot is the 
excellent museum — which, again, is entirely owing 
to Russian influence — where can be seen a remark- 



'■■ 


^JBB^^ftPtjaBMV. 


n 








^'■^HI^^^HHAIaHWY^^H 


[ 



ORIENTAL TIFLIS. 43 

able collection of things typical of Transcaucasia, 
from life-size wax groups of the types of the tribes 
to the various household utensils in use in the 
thousand and one valleys of the mountains. But 
to the sportsman the principal attraction will be 
the large collection of the stujSed animals and birds 
of the country, from the magnificent wild cattle 
from Elburz to the tigers of Lenkoran. Under Dr 
Kadde, the curator of the museum, the collection 
has largely increased, and is still increasing. 

Before one turns one's steps to explore oriental 
Tiflis, with its mazes of narrow streets and bazaars, 
there remain yet a few sights to see in the more 
modern town. Especially attractive are the public 
gardens, situated on the left bank of the Kur, some 
little way removed from the centre of the town. Here 
at times an excellent military band discourses music, 
and all the fashionable world of Tiflis parades. It is 
difficult, then, when walking under shady trees, sur- 
rounded by a well-dressed European crowd, to imagine 
oneself in an Asiatic town. Nor are these public 
gardens the sole resort that the traveller can find to 
walk in at leisure ; below the crumbling walls of the 
ruins of the Georgian and Persian fortresses the 
Government has laid out a botanical garden, where 
most of the trees and shinibs indigenous to the coun- 
try can be seen, — examples ranging from the more 



y 



44 TIFLIS. 

luxurious vegetation of the Black and Caspian sea- 
boards to the firs and pines of the higher Caucasus, 
for the elevation of Tiflis allows of the growing of 
both. These gardens, half wild, half tended, form a 
most attractive spot. Below them tumbles an affluent 
of the Kur in a series of falls and cascades, while 
above tower the ruins and the mountains beyond. 
From these gardens I climbed and scrambled by a 
mere track up to the little monastery and church of 
St David, perched almost in the face of the precipice 
high above the town. From this spot a panorama of 
Tiflis and the surrounding country is obtained, and 
the exertion of the cliflF climb is well repaid ; the view 
of the town is admirable, and stretched out before one 
is the magnificent prospect of the peaks of the Cauca- 
sus. The church is named after David, the Syrian 
Father, who resided here. The first structure was 
erected in the fourteenth century, though the present 
edifice is of more recent date. The latter owes its 
material to the barren women of the neighbourhood, 
who, in their desire for oJBFspring, bore up upon their 
shoulders all the material of which the church is built. 
In spring they still pay pilgrimages to the spot. Two 
tombs of widely dijBFerent men and dijBFerent times lie 
beneath the floor of the church, that of St David him- 
self, and the other of GryboiedojBF, the Russian author, 
who was murdered, together with all his suite, when 



CIVILISED TIFILS. 45 

filling the post of Russian Minister at Teheran in 
1828. His remains, after being exposed to the fury 
of the fanatical mob for three days, were, it is said, 
only recognisable from a scar upon one of his hands. 

Of European Tiflis there remains but little to be 
said, unless it be to avow the great comforts of that 
most excellent hostelry, the H6tel de Londres, over 
which Madame Richter and her son so ably preside, 
and which well bears out its reputation of being one 
of the most comfortable hotels, not only in Russia, 
but almost in the world. And none knows better than 
the traveller how much of his pleasure depends upon 
the quarters he finds to lodge in. One other fact, too, 
remains to be noticed, the entire absence of the Con- 
tinental system of caf6s ; search far and wide, there is 
nothing that answers to the idea of the ca/S of France 
and Europe in general. 

From the civilised part of Tiflis, with its handsome 
streets and shops, it is little more than a step to the 
maze of winding alleys and narrow byways that form 
the oriental quarter and the bazaars. It is here prob- 
ably that the traveller will find most to interest him, 
for though the bazaars ojBFer but little attraction to 
him who is conversant with those of Persia and the 
East, any one fresh from Europe cannot fail to be 
struck with their characteristics. What a bustle and 
stir of life there is there ! what mud in wet weather. 



/ 



46 TIFLIS. 

and dust in fine ! what dirt in both ! But, suflfer as 
one may from either, or from the pushing, brawling 
crowd of humanity, and the oJBFensive smells with 
which the streets are filled, no one ought to be de- 
terred from a leisurely stroll through the oriental 
town. 

Cosmopolitan as this quarter is, it possesses charac- 
teristics to be seen probably nowhere else in the world. 
The great ill-built caravanserais, with their overhang- 
ing balconies of painted and carved wood, belong 
neither to Russia nor Persia, though the samovar (urn) 
and hdyan (water pipe) hail from each respectively, 
and without a number of both no balcony, and scarcely 
a shop, is complete. Often the footpath for passen- 
gers consists of a narrow curbstone from which the 
wayfarer is hustled and bustled by the hurrjdng 
crowd, only to be hurled back again against the walls 
of the houses by a lumbering camel which usurps all 
the room and all the sound of the street by its awk- 
ward bulk and its clanging bells. Everywhere are 
strange narrow-eyed Tatars and Turkis of Northern 
Persia, hailing one another in unknown guttural 
tongues; gaily dressed Georgians and natives of 
Daghestan, gaudy with weapons ; cringing Jews and 
Armenians ; policemen yelling out orders which seem 
never to be obeyed, — a very Babel of nations and lan- 
guages, such as must delight the heart of the traveller. 



THE BAZAARS. 47 

Every now and then rattles by some open waggon, 
painted scarlet and green, with the ivoshik yelling to 
the crowd to make way, as the clumsy wheels scatter 
people and mud right and left. Then down through 
the narrow arched arcade in which the gloomy Per- 
sians, in a gloomy atmosphere, vend their wares, and 
out amongst the great tall caravanserais that stand 
on either side of one of the bridges over the Kur, 
under which the turbid yellow stream whirls and 
tumbles as if anxious to fly the dirt and noise of the 
city. Then back through the open bazaars, where 
sit the armourers, the silversmiths, the vendors of 
musical instruments and curios, of carpets and furs, 
of wines and comestibles. Everywhere there is some- 
thing to see, something to interest. Here, perhaps, 
one stands to look at the furriers' goods, from neat 
little lambskin caps for the Georgians, to the huge, 
ugly, overgrown, mushroom - like head -gear of the 
Tatars ; here, again, the armourers attract one with 
their display of a strange mixture of Eastern and 
Western goods, from Smith and Wesson revolvers — 
made in Russia — to Daghestan daggers, old flint- 
lock guns with inlaid stocks, and swords and knives 
from everywhere. Thence on to the silversmiths, 
where are the bowls from which the pleasure-seeking 
Georgian loves to quafi* his wine, and the noted niello 
work of the country with its designs in black on a 



A 



48 TIFLIS. 

silver ground. Then, again, one pauses to listen as a 
vendor of long key-boarded guitars strikes some little 
plaintive melody from the thin strings. 

I spent Easter in Tiflis, and thus had an oppor- 
tunity of witnessing the beautiful service which, in 
the Orthodox Church, marks the end of Lent. The 
ritual of the Russian Church, together with the archi- 
tecture and decoration of the churches, lends not a 
little to the impressiveness of such scenes, and the 
old Byzantine cathedral of Tiflis formed as pictur- 
esque a background to the religious ceremony as 
could well be imagined. On account of the crowd 
that throngs the midnight service which ushers in the 
great national holiday of Russia, it is necessary to 
take one's stand — for there are no seats — at an early 
hour, and I had already been in the cathedral for 
nearly three hours when the ceremony commenced. 
There is no necessity here to enter into any of the 
details of the ritual of this beautiful service of the 
Orthodox Church, for at this spot I am dealing with 
it solely as an ejBfect, a most telling reminiscence of a 
visit to Tiflis. 

The service commences in the dull gloom, for, with 
the exception of a few lights upon and in the \acinity 
of the altar, the church is unlit. But this gloom 
tends to heighten the eJBFect of the group of richly 
robed and mitred priests that throng the steps, chant- 



MIDNIGHT SERVICE AT EASTER. 49 

ing in turn with the choir of unaccompanied boys' 
and men's voices the music of the service. In con- 
trast to the group about the altar steps was the dark 
heaving crowd, half hidden in the filmy clouds of the 
incense and the dusk of the building. At length, 
as midnight approached, the priests and choir filed 
down the church and left the building by the main 
entrance, one or two alone remaining within. Then, 
as a rocket without gave the sign of midnight, a loud 
knocking commenced at the door, which was repeated 
several times. On the gate being opened the priests 
and choir hurried in, crying out again and again, 
" Christ is risen ! Christ is risen ! " Each bore in his 
hand a lighted taper, from which the nearer members 
of the crowd lit their own, passing the flame from 
candle to candle, for every one in the building bore 
a taper. It took but a minute to change the entire 
scene, and as the priests made their way to the altar, 
swinging their censers as they went, the gloom of 
the church disappeared, and the building was lit by 
thousands upon thousands of candles : where, before, 
the dusk had prevented one seeing either the church or 
the crowd, every picture and detail of the decoration 
of the building, and every figure in it, became dis- 
tinct. The seething mass of hiimanity took form 
and shape; and where, before, one recognised only 
dark figures in an incense-laden twilight, one recog- 

D 



y 



50 TIFLIS. 

nised now the officers of the Government, in unifonns 
bespangled with orders, accompanied by their wives 
and daughters, and, beyond, a vision of a thousand 
upturned faces full of reverence and attention. The 
altar, now a blaze of light, sparkled and shone with 
its treasures, and the richly jewelled mitres and cloth- 
of-gold robes of the priests dazzled the eyes. 

Then, as the congratulations of Easter were taking 
place, I pushed my way out through the crowd, into 
the brightly- illuminated streets, in time to see the 
Governor-General drive away, escorted by his body- 
guard of Cossacks, who galloped beside his carriage, 
bearing blazing torches on long poles. 

Easter Sunday was high holiday; every man, 
woman, and child in their best clothes, intent upon 
pleasure and enjoyment, and the public gardens were 
thronged, while military bands made music. What 
an echoing and re-echoing of congratulations ! what 
a bowing to the revered ikons at the church doors 
and street corners ! and, as the day progressed, what 
a number of men who had enjoyed themselves a little 
too much ! But there was no fighting, no roughness, 
and the police are lax upon this great feast, and, as 
long as no fighting takes place, do not interfere. The 
streets are full of hurrying droshkieSy with their 
burdens of officers in uniforms and ladies, paying 
their visits of congratulation, or driving to the palace. 



A FEAST-DAY. ol 

Ay I Easter Sunday in TifliB is a sight to be seen, and 
never have I witnessed, in spite of its various nation- 
alities, a better- behaved crowd — though sometimes 
far from sober — than thronged the streets and gardens 
on this feast-day. 

Such, briefly, is Tiflis ; a city presenting two en- 
tirely different characteristics — the Oriental in its 
decadence, and the Western Civilisation that Russia 
has brought with her, sweeping before her all that 
is rude and outworn, and in place thereof raising a 
city of which any country in the world might well be 
proud. 




Slrvlling ittitiatmt. 



52 



CHAPTER III. 

A DRIVE ACROSS TRANSCAUCASIA. 

On a bright hot afternoon of April I left Tiflis 
by train for Akstafa, a small station on the 
Tiflis-Baku line, which forms the terminus of the 
great road, vid Erivan, to Julfa on the Persian 
frontier. 

As one emerges from the capital of Transcaucasia 
one obtains a fine view of the city behind one,, 
with its background of rugged, dark, barren hills^ 
against which the painted houses and green iron 
roofs of the town stand out in brilliant patchea 
of colour. Away below one the river Kur rushes 
between its high walls of rock, visible only where 
it leaves the town, for its banks farther up are 
crowded with high caravanserais and buildings which 
hide it entirely from view. The domes and minarets 
of a mosque or two add a touch of orientalism ta 
the scene, while above them again the ruins of the 



RAILWAY TRAVELLING. 53 

old Georgian and Persian fortresses climb along 
the brow of a spur of the higher hills. 

The railways of Transcaucasia are comfortable, and 
every station of any size or importance boasts a 
buffet where all sorts of foods and drinks can be 
obtained, so that travelling is easy and pleasant 
enough, though the speed is by no means that 




which we are accustomed to in Great Britain. The 
line after leaving Tiflis resembles in very little 
that by which one reaches the capital from Batum, 
for instead of the intricate turnings and twistings 
through deep valleys and magnificent scener}', one 
enters the wide valley of the Kur, a level plain 
bounded north and south by ranges of hills. Be- 



54 A DRIVE ACROSS TRANSCAUCASIA. 

yond a parallel range to the north appear every 
now and again glimpses of the great snow -peaks 
of the Caucasus, towering into the sky their heads 
of glistening white. The journey to Akstafa only 
occupies some three hours, and the time passes 
quickly enough, as it is here the traveller arriving 
from Europe obtains his first view of the Turkman 
and Tatar inhabitants of the steppes in their 
homes, — for in spring the wide valley of the Kur 
is dotted with the strange black circular dweUings. 
half rushes half tent, of these wild peoples. To 
him who for the first time witnesses the pastoral 
scenes of the steppes of Transcaucasia the novelty 
cannot prove anything but interesting, and in its 
way picturesque. The dead open level is dotted 
with these movable habitations, about and amongst 
which the women and children, gay in bright reds 
and blues and greens, are seen moving, while farther 
afield graze the flocks and herds, cattle and mares, 
of the community. Here and there a mounted Turk- 
man may be espied cantering his pony from vil- 
lage to village, and once half-a-dozen of the tribes- 
men, in their blue-skirted coats and strange pajyaks^ 
or mushroom - like hats of ragged fur, galloped for 
a minute or two alongside the train, shouting and 
laughing as they rode. 

At Akstafa I alighted with my Armenian guide 



RUSSIAN POSTS. 55 

and Arab servant, and while the fonner sought 
for a carriage in which to proceed on our journey 
towards the Persian frontier, Mohammed and I 
regaled ourselves with one of the national beverages 
of Russia, tea with slices of lemon in it, served 
in large tumblers — an excellent drink that I had 
learned to appreciate when shooting some years 
ago in the neighbourhood of Archangel. 

Before commencing the description of my drive 
across Transcaucasia, a word or two must be said as 
to the excellent system of posts existing upon the 
Russian highroads, and which tend not only to facili- 
tate travelling, but to render most comfortable those 
drives of hundreds of miles that have to be under- 
taken in parts where no railways are found. 

The right of running the posts and keeping the 
post-horses and stations upon the various roads is 
let out by the Russian Government to "road com- 
panies " ; but these companies are always under the 
immediate supervision of the local officials, and little 
or no complaint can as a rule be found with the man- 
agement. The company binds itself to keep a certain 
number of horses at the different stations, and its 
charges are regulated by a scale drawn up by the 
authorities, so that extortion is practically unknown, 
and the traveller can estimate within a few roubles 
the cost of his entire journey. The charges are 




56 A DRIVE ACROSS TRANSCAUCASIA. 

levied at so much per horse per verst, no charge 
being made for the ordinary cost of the country; 
but should a carriage be preferred — and procurable — 
so much more per verst is charged for its use. The 
prices vary upon different roads, and seem always 
to be moderate, while the tips to drivers, who change 
at the stations with the horses, and to the station- 
masters, need be very small. At every post-house 
a scale of the charges is hung up, and can be referred 
to by the traveller, and a book is kept for complaints. 
I never, however, found need to refer to either, and 
neither my guide nor I experienced anywhere upon 
the long drive any difficulty or unpleasantness, with 
one exception, and I can testify to the civility of the 
servants along the entire route. 

While Mohammed and I drank our tumblers of 
hot tea at the Akstafa station my Armenian guide 
was not slow in procuring our podorqjna — or order 
for post-horses for the road — and a comfortable 
victoria with a hood, instead of the springless rattling 
tarantass of the country. The expense of taking a 
carriage is very little, and the comfort derived im- 
mense, for in the native carts one is bounced and 
bumped about until one's entire body is covered 
with bruises. 

My scanty baggage was soon strapped on behind 
the carriage, the driver in his rough cloth coat with 



AKST&FA. 



57 



flowing skirts on the box, and our four horses — 
abreast — in harness. Then with a loud crack of his 
whip and a shrill cry to his steeds we rattled away 




TyffS e/lht Cancauis. 

through the village that has grown up round the 
station. 

The town of Akstafa, such as it is, lies a couple of 
miles or so to the south of the railway. It is a 



58 A DRIVE ACROSS TRANSCAUCASIA. 

picturesque little spot, quite oriental in appearance 
with its mud-houses and gardens of tall poplar-trees, 
its forges by the roadside, and its little yellow 
mosque and minarets— for the Turkman inhabitants 
are Moslems one and all. As we left the gardens 
behind us and drove on toward the mouth of the 
Akstafa valley, a magnificent panorama lay stretched 
out behind us. The heavy clouds which had been 
gathering during the latter part of the afternoon 
cleared off from the northern horizon, leaving a long 
line of pale turquoise sky exposed, against which, 
faint in the far distance, stretched a magnificent 
array of the snow-peaks of the Caucasus and Da- 
ghestan mountains. Between us and them lay the 
valley of the Kur, purple and green, for the sun 
which illumined the snow-peaks was hidden by the 
clouds from us. It lasted but a moment this mar- 
vellous contrast of light and shade, and then down 
came the rain, and we pulled up the hood of the 
carriage. 

Just after dark we drew up at the station of Uzun- 
Talskaya, where a lamp was quickly lighted for us 
in a clean room, the only furniture in which was 
a deal table, a chair, and a couple of plank beds, 
with the head end slightly raised, but with, of course, 
no bedding. However, we were sufficiently provided 
with wraps and food, for many of the post-stations 



LAST PEEP OF THE CAUCASUS. 59 

have but little to offer, and so we were soon com- 
fortable enough with a samovar (urn) before us, and 
our own good tea, that we had brought from Tiflis, 
on the brew. There is but little to tell about these 
post - stations, which, as a rule, are houses of one 
storey in height, containing two or three rooms, one 
of which a traveller can generally obtain for his own 
party. I had been led to suppose that all the horrors 
of dirt and vermin would have to be faced ; but, as 
a matter of fact, we found very little of the former, 
and absolutely none of the latter, perhaps owing to 
the fact that the hot weather had not as yet set in. 

We were oflF at daylight the next morning, with 
the same carriage, but diflferent horses and driver, 
and a few miles after leaving the station had entered 
the valley of the Akstafa, where that stream issues 
from the mountains into the wide valley of the Kur. 

The rain, which had been falling all night, cleared 
off as soon as the sun appeared on the mountain-tops, 
and we entered the Akstafa valley in a flood of warm 
light. Already there was traffic on the road, and 
even during the night I had heard vehicles arrive 
at the station, change horses, and proceed. Great 
lumbering waggons, often gaily painted, loaded with 
passengers or cotton from Erivan, almost blocked the 
road at places ; and once we passed a victoria like our 
own, with four horses harnessed abreast, galloping as 




60 A DRIVE ACROSS TRANSCAUCASIA. 

fast as they could go, with the driver drunk and 
asleep inside^ and the reins hanging lightly on the 
seat. But all the horses knew their way well enough, 
and they passed us, making for the right side of the 
road, as the custom is. We met, too, one of the 
mail - carts, with its guard of mounted Cossacks, 
bringing the post from Erivan and Persia. 

The valley of the Akstafa river, until one has 
passed Delijan, presents to the traveller a series of 
scenes of the utmost beauty. Down the centre of 
the gorge — for such it really is — flows the river, here 
edd}dng in dark pools, here tumbling over the rocks 
in foamy and noise-giving cascades, but everywhere 
beautiful. The road, which leads principally along 
the right bank of the river, is at places cut almogt 
in the face of the precipice, and at others proceeds 
amongst the luxuriant vegetation of the valley. 
Above the trees on either hand are precipices and 
fantastic pinnacles of rock, grown to their very edges 
with forests of oaks and pines, and rising above the 
deep green foliage like great cathedral spires. Every 
now and then a peep up the valley of snow-peaks 
appears, acquaintance with which we were to make 
later on. And so the road winds on, here in forest, 
here close to the waters of the roaring Akstafa, and 
here again at the very foot of the precipices, until 
Delijan is reached after a steep climb up the hill- 



DELIJAN. 61 

side. The road is everywhere in excellent condition 
and repair, and exhibits, as each new turn comes 
into view, some vast labour of engineering skill. 
Just as one enters Delijan, half hidden in the vast 
forest that surrounds it, with its background of snow, 
one catches a glimpse far below on the river's banks 
of the handsome barracks that the Russian Govern- 
ment has built here for her Cossack troops, and 
everywhere upon the scene soldiers could be seen, 
engaged in work, or sauntering and smoking in the 
one main street of the village. How our driver 
showed off his prowess and the pace of his horses 
as, with loud shouts and cracks of his whip, he 
whirled us along the village street with its neat, 
clean white houses and quiet respectable folk, tiO 
draw up with a jerk before the clean post-house, 
its windows full of flowers, and its table spread with 
meats and refreshments. 

There is no exaggeration in what travellers have 
said and written regarding the scenery at and around 
Delijan, for anything more beautiful could scarcely 
be imagined. Snow-peaks, forests of oak and pine 
— ^to enumerate only two of the many varieties of 
trees — ^precipices of bare rock, pinnacles resembling 
the steeples of great cathedrals, are all there ; with 
the river, far down in the valley below, winding 
along its boulder-strewn bed, and sending the sound 



i 



€2 A DRIVE ACROSS TRANSCAUCASIA. 

of its music up to the village above, nestling in a 
curve of the great mountains, so that half its main 
street is at almost right angles to the other half. 
We were leaving Georgia now, the kingdom that 
was merged into the Russian empire by the last 
sovereign of the Bagratid dynasty in 1801, when 
the longest line of kings in the world disappeared — 
for this dynasty alone had held the throne for over 
a thousand years. Beyond Delijan we were to enter 
the Armenian plateau, which extends from this spot 
far into Turkey in Asia, with but little to break its 
level save the valley of the Araxes and the great 
twin peaks of Mount Ararat. 

With the change of district the country alters in 
feature ; for, above Delijan, the road winds amongst 
forest over the Kazak-Beghi Pass, until one emerges 
on to the bleak mountain-tops, at this time covered 
in places with snow, through drifts of which we 
had now and again to drive. To our left lay the 
Karabagh country, a wilderness of dreary mountain- 
tops of dark rock and white snow, over which the 
<jold biting wind of early spring blew with chill 
blasts. 

At the summit of the pass, over 7000 feet above 
the sea-level, we changed horses ; and the hot tum- 
bler of tea was indeed welcome while our fresh steeds 
were being harnessed. Only a mile or so from the 



LAKE GOKGHA. 63 

post-station Lake Sevanga, or Gokcba, as it is often 
called, bursts into view ; but the cloudy sky and 
snow-laden air added only to the depression and 
gloom of the barren scene. The lake, which is some 
forty-three miles long and twenty wide, seemed to 
reflect upon its dark waters the grey clouds above, 
from which the vast expanse of snow stood out in 
strange contrast. Yet, gloomy as the scene was, 

one could not help admiring its grandeur. Almost 

• 

the only spot on which there was a sign of human 
life was the island, which lies near the north end, 
with the monastery and churches of Sevan, said to 
have been founded by the Armenian king Tiridates, 
at the time of the introduction of Christianity into 
his country early in the fourth century A.D., on 
the site of a still earlier fortress of unknown origin. 
One of the two churches which still exists owes 
its construction to the ninth century. The road 
above the lake is cut in the actual precipice, and 
is unprotected on the water-side; and, as one is 
whirled along in a light carriage by four horses and 
a ferocious Jehu, one cannot but feel that a single 
false step would drop one some hundreds of feet 
into the lake beneath ; nor is one's frame of mind 
calmed by the driver tying his reins to the rail 
of his seat and turning round on the box to de- 
monstrate with wild gesticulations how such and 




64 A DRIVE ACROSS TRANSCAUCASIA. 

such a carriage, or sledge, precipitated its whole 
freight of human beings — to say nothing of the 
horses — into the black depths below. Accidents, 
though by no means unknown, are happily uncom- 
mon; but I confess to feeling some relief as our 
road left the lake-side to cross a long promontory, 
dotted by the houses of Molokan exiles, that juts 
far out into the water. 

A word or two must be said about the Molokan 
settlers of the Armenian plateau. It seems that a 
great deal too much sympathy is shown in England 
to the strange offshoots of religion — that in many 
cases take forms of insanity — amongst the Russian 
peasantry. There is no need to consider here the 
pro and con of the doctrines of these Molokans and 
other dissenters ; suffice it to say, that they are such 
that those who hold them refuse to serve in the army, 
and often to take the necessary oaths of allegiance to 
the Emperor. In a country where conscription is in 
use no excuse can be given for the refusal of healthy 
men to serve their Government, and any such refusal 
is justly — so long as it is law — punished. Yet in 
England we venture to assert that because a man 
holds peculiar doctrines regarding religion he should 
be exempt from the military service which his law- 
abiding brethren of other creeds are obliged to 
undergo. So be it ; yet not many years ago a certain 



SECTARIANS. 65 

member of the House of Commons was forcibly ex- 
pelled for refusing to take the oath of fealty, which 
every Russian soldier is expected to swear to. The 
fanaticism of these extraordinary Russian sects — 
many of the creeds are not only in variance to all 
laws of nature, but also horrible to even think of — 
can scarcely be imagined, and what in reality is a 
stubborn resistance to all temporal as well as spirit- 
ual laws is looked upon largely in England as martyr- 
dom. Yet if some of the acts practised by these sec- 
tarians were committed in England, our Government 
would no doubt interfere as quickly as that of Russia 
has done. 

At Elenovka, another settlement of these sectarians, 
we spent the night, and revelled in the delicious trout 
of the lake, famous all over Transcaucasia. The fol- 
lowing day we arrived early in the afternoon at 
Erivan, the chief town of the province. The scenery 
the entire way from Elenovka was dreary and deso- 
late in the extreme, nor did a snowstorm and biting 
wind tend to comfort one. Everywhere was bare rock 
and dreary marsh and snow-peaks, while every now 
and then sectarian settlements, amongst them those 
of the Skoptsy — about whose unnatural rites the less 
said the better — appear, forlorn little villages by the 
roadside, ill kept and foul, the houses half in ruins, 
and the population of a low type. 

E 




66 A DRIVE ACROSS TRANSCAUCASIA. 

Reaching the edge of this wearying plateau, the 
wide plain of the Araxes, with its villages and gardens, 
and the town of Erivan just below us, burst into sight, 
a charming contrast after the long drive over the moun- 
tain-tops ; and as if to enhance the scene, the sunshine 
burst brilliantly through the clouds. I looked long 
for the peaks of Ararat, but the horizon to the south 
did not clear, and we were destined to wait another 
day before the magnificent mountain unfolded itself 
in all its glory. 

A whole book, rather than a paragraph or two, 
could be written on the history of Erivan ; for the 
situation of the town on the borders of Georgia and 
Armenia, Persia and Russia and Turkey, has ren- 
dered it the scene of innumerable wars and innumer- 
able sieges. The early history of Rewan, as the 
Persians then, and now, called it, is vague, beyond 
the fact that it was known as a place of some iijci- 
portance as early as the seventh century a.d. The 
town lies on the northern extremity of the wide 
valley of the Araxes, here some thirty miles across, 
in an amphitheatre of the hills, where the river 
Zanga, flowing from the Akdagh, falls from the moun- 
tains above. Although the steppes rise immediately 
to the north of the town, it lies for the greater part 
upon the level, its flat roofs emphasising more than 
ever this feature. The city — for to such a title it lays 



ERIVAN. 67 

claim — contains only some 18,000 inhabitants, but ex- 
tends over a large amount of ground, for the outskirts 
form suburbs with an orchard to every house, while 
even in the more central quarters many of the private 
dwellings possess walled gardens. If it were not for 
the one wide street, the public gardens, and some 
handsome buildings in European style, Erivan would 
be almost indistinguishable from the Persian towns 
I was to visit farther on my travels, for, with the 
exception of the local improvements introduced by 
the Russians, everything remains the same as it did 
when Persia held the place, and so strong was it in 
those days that the Russian army was cut to pieces 
in 1804 during its siege, nor was it until Prince 
Paskievitch Erivanski besieged it in 1827 that the 
Persians were driven out, and in the following year 
the treaty of Turkmanchai confirmed the Russian 
possession of the city, together with the entire pro- 
vince, which extends as far as the north bank of the 
Araxes. 

By far the most picturesque scene in Erivan is the 
gorge of the Zanga, through which the river of that 
name rushes between walls of rock, here and there 
terraced for vines, and turning innumerable water- 
wheels upon its course. And from the bridge with its 
handsome arches that spans this river below the old 
fortress a fine view of the narrow valley is obtained 



/ 



68 A DRIVE ACROSS TRANSCAUCASIA. 

both up and down. Here the precipices have receded 
far enough to allow of tiny orchards with their tall 
straight poplar-trees and fruits in blossom, and here 
again the rock descends from the level of the ground 
above almost perpendicularly to the river's banks. 
Above one, a continuation of the precipice, rise the 
walls of the old Turkish fort, which in turn has 
served for a Pei'sian palace, and to-day for a military 
storehouse. But the Kussians have preserved one 
principal object of interest in the place, the reception- 
hall of the old Persian viceroys, with its pictures of 
the mythical heroes of Persia, and its stalactite walls 
and rich ceiling of thousands of little mirrors and 
carving. A deep recess, the walls and roof formed 
of tiny mirrors arranged in geometric designs, con- 
tains an alabaster fountain, and a raised dais from 
which one can gaze through a great window far down 
upon the Zanga below, as it rushes on its course into 
the open valley ; and beyond, the eye wanders away 
over the level country towards Ararat : but still the 
clouds concealed the famous peaks from view. Near 
this old palace is a tiled mosque of ancient date, with 
its arched alcove and balconies, the whole once covered 
with exquisite blue tiles of two shades, which to-day 
are sadly wanting owing to the depredations of the 
Armenians, who are ready at all times to injure any 
Mohammedan institution, provided some gain accrues 



HOSQUE OF HUSETK AU KHAN. 



to themselves. An Armenian who accompanied me 
to see this mosque showed me boastingly a large 
bare spot from which he himself had by night re^ 




moved the tiles, and afterwards sold them in Coq- 
Btantinoplfi. But by far the most beautiful building 
and tile work in Erivan is the mosque of Huseyn AU 



70 A DRIVE ACROSS TRANSCAUCASIA. 

Khan. This bmlding is constructed round a large 
quadrangle, full of magnificent specimens of the 
Arband elms, under which picturesque groups of 
Persians and Turkis sit, drinking tea and enjoying 
conversation. The dome and inaret are coverel 
with exquisite faience in blue, and the whole facing 
of the principal part of the building consists of 
beautiful designs in various colours of the same 
rare material. The combinations of colours — the 
dull pinks, primrose yellows, and various blues — are 
beyond description. For the most part the design 
consists of scrolls of more or less mythical flowers, re- 
lieved here and there by panels of inscriptions, as a 
rule in white on a dark-blue ground. On all my 
travels I saw few scenes as beautiful and as pic- 
turesque as the great court of the mosque of Husejm 
Ali. Through the tall archway that leads into the 
principal hall of the building one could watch the 
rising and falling of the pious at their prayers ; and 
so still, so peaceful was the whole scene, that one 
could not help experiencing oneself the contagion 
of the religious feeling. 

The entrance to this mosque — which, by the by. 
Christians are allowed to enter, contrary to the Persian 
custom — is ofi" the bazaars. Unlike Tiflis, the bazaars 
of Erivan are essentially Persian in character, consist- 
ing of long arched and domed arcades ; and though of 



ECHMIAZIN. 71 

no great size, they oflfer an attractive picture with their 
little box-like shops full of bright carpets, silver-work, 
and arms. The principal trade of the place is entirely 
in the hands of the Armenians, of which race by far 
the largest part of the population consists, though 
many of the smaller shops are owned by Turkis of 
Persia. 

But of all the sights of Erivan the most famous is, 
without doubt, the great monastery of Echmiazin, 
the centre of the Armenian religion, and the birth- 
place of the Gregorian Church. True, there is nothing 
to be seen there that can compare in beauty with the 
Huseyn Ali mosque, but the history attaching to the 
monastery and its surroundings renders it of the 
greatest interest. 

The road between Erivan and Echmiazin lies on 
the fertile plain of the Araxes valley. Now and again 
small villages are passed, surrounded by their walled 
gardens and poplar - trees, until after some twelve 
miles the little town, or perhaps more properly large 
village, of Vagharsabad, once the capital and residence 
of the Armenian kings, comes into sight. To-day the 
place shows no signs of any gi-andeur it may once 
have possessed, for the monastery itself was not built 
until after the kings had sought other capitals and 
the importance of the town had disappeared. To-day, 
with its dreary wide streets, there is little to be seen 



i 



72 A DRIVE ACROSS TRANSCAUCASIA. 

but shabbiness and poverty and wine-shops, though 
probably the former features were largely due to 
the Armenian refugees who had fled from Turk- 
ish territory to take refuge at the seat of their 
patriarchate. 

It is not the writer's purpose here to enter upon 
the subject of the faith and tenets of the Armenians 
more than to state a few brief facts as to their separa- 
tion from the Churches of Greece and Rome. This 
disunion dates from the Council of Chalcedon, at which 
congress the Armenian Church was not represented. 
From this fact it will be understood that the principal 
difference of the Armenian and other Christian faiths 
rests in the idea of the nature of Christ, as it was 
mainly for the discussion of this point, and the settle- 
ment of some general doctrine touching it, that the 
Council of Chalcedon met. Briefly the difference is 
this, that the Armenian recognises in Christ and God 
one personality, and holds that in the crucifixion of 
the former the latter also suffiered death. Almost 
this sole dogma separates the Greek and Armenian 
Churches, though with regard to Rome the gulf is 
wider ; for no infallible head of the Church is recog- 
nised, nor is the Virgin Mary appealed to as a 
mediator. In these latter points the tenets of the 
Greek and Armenian Churches are at one, though in 
the acceptance and use of ikons (sacred pictures), and 



SAINT GREGORY. 73 

the mixing of water with the wine at communion, 
they fiEdl apart again. 

With these few words one may pass on to the 
founding of the monastery of Echmiazin, which dates 
firom 302 a.d. — that is to say, some thirteen years 
after the introduction of Christianity into Armenia 
by St Gregory, who was anointed bishop of that 
country by Leontinus of Cappadocia. The tradition, 
still accepted, with regard to the foundation of the 
monastery, is as follows : — 

A vision appeared to St Gregory in which he per- 
ceived a figure in human form descending from 
heaven, in whose hand was a mallet, with which 
he struck the earth. From the spot arose an altar 
bearing fire, above which a pillar of smoke rolled, 
and over the smoke again appeared a luminous cross, 
while from the altar steps sprang a stream of water. 
Various other miraculous appearances followed these 
divine manifestations, and a voice from heaven cried, 
"Prostrate thyself, and at this spot build me a 
church, whereof these signs made manifest are a 
symbol." From this occurrence it was that Ech- 
miazin owes its name, for Ech means " a cross," and 
Miazin "the only begotten." On the completion of the 
church St Gregory was installed as the first patriarch 
of Armenia in 303 a.d., and rather more than twenty 
years later the monastery sprang into existence. 



/ 



74 A DRIVE ACROSS TRANSCAUCASIA. 

From the exterior the group of sacred buildings 
resembles more a fortress than a religious seat of 
learning, and no doubt during the many wars that 
have been waged in the wide valley of the Araxes 
its fortifications have stood it in good stead. A high 
wall flanked with towers surrounds the more ancient 
portion of the building, though the lately added 
schools stand in open ground. Entering by a large 
gateway, one finds oneself in a great paved square 
surrounded on all sides by buildings. These for the 
most part much resemble one another, and consist 
mainly of whitewashed rooms opening out on to a 
wide verandah, while below are further suites of 
rooms for the residence and offices of the monks. 
One side of the square is almost completely occupied 
by the dwelling of the Catholicos, or Patriarch, the 
elected head of the Gregorian Church, of whom more 
anon. In the centre of the square stands the cathe- 
dral, a strange conglomeration of the architecture of 
many periods. By far the finest portion is the tower 
of red porphyry at the west end, beneath which is an 
entrance to the building. This tower is covered with 
rich ornament in sculptured stone, and is exceedingly 
handsome both in design and colour. It dates from 
the middle of the seventeenth century, though por- 
tions of the present church are said to have been 
erected in a.d. 618. Two smaller towers, bearing 



THE CATHEDRAL. 75 

the low pointed steeples so common to Armenian 
churches, stand at the ends of the transept wings. 
For the rest the exterior of the cathedral bears little 
pretence to beauty, the restorations in debased Ar- 
menian and Russian style detracting not a little from 
the appearance of the whole. Nor within does it 
present any particular charm, for the interior is not 
only dull and gloomy but dirty as well, and a thick 
coating of dust lies over the rich but coarse decora- 
tion with which the walls and dome are covered. 
Under this dome, in the centre of the church, stands 
a gaudy altar, marking the spot where the vision 
appeared to St Gregory, and on either side, against 
the heavy pillars, are the two thrones of the Catho- 
licos, one of richly carved walnut- wood presented by 
Pope Innocent XL in the seventeenth century, and 
the other an oflfering from the Armenians of Smjrma 
about the year 1720. The latter with its rich inlaid 
mother-of-pearl and tortoise-shell is very handsome, 
but is being allowed to fall into decay simply for the 
lack of a glue-pot and five minutes' work. The same 
absence of care is noticeable on every side, and even 
the high altar is dust-laden, and wears the appearance 
of being seldom, if ever, attended to. On the north side 
of this altar a door gives access from the main portion 
of the church into the sacristy, in which the relics are 
exhibited. In spite of all that one hears from the 




76 A DRIVE ACROSS TRANSCAUCASIA. 

Armenians of Transcaucasia regarding the variety 
and value of this collection of religious and other 
curiosities, there is by no means a great deal to be 
seen. Certainly the finest and rarest articles appear 
to be the magnificent embroideries which cover the 
vestments of former Patriarchs, and some of these 
are truly splendid. But it is not upon them that the 
priests set great store, for they were continually 
calling the writer's attention to the jewelled orders 
and decorations which Czar, Sultan, and Shah have 
bestowed upon former heads of the Gregorian Church. 
These lie in glass tables together with some handsome 
jewelled crosses of the former Patriarchs. A rough 
gold circlet was pointed out to me as that with which 
the early kings of Armenia were crowned ; while in 
a silver box, securely fastened, reposes the hand of 
St Gregory himself, and with it the blessing is be- 
stowed in the enthroning service of a new Catholicos. 
From visiting the church the traveller is next taken 
to see the printing-press, where a large number of 
books, and the national and official paper, * Ararat,' 
are published and printed. Lately engraving has 
been introduced with very commendable results. 
Near by is the school, a large building arranged 
upon modern and sanitary principles, and a word 
of sincere praise must be given to those who are 
responsible for this excellent institution. Here 



SCHOOL AND LIBRARY. 77 

priests and scholars, who speak fluently many of the 
languages of Western Europe, will be met, and the 
traveller cannot fail to be struck by the excellent 
education given to the boys, as well as by the atten- 
tion paid to their health, the dormitories being such 
as would not by any means disgrace an English 
public school. An open - air gymnasium stands in 
the grounds, and is highly appreciated. A good 
mercantile, classical, and foreign education is given 
to the boys, who benefit thereby enormously in their 
future life, and find no difficulty in surpassing the 
less hard-working and less carefully taught Russian 
in whatever branch of life they take up. Not far 
from the schools is a large reservoir, ensuring a limit- 
less supply of water to the monastery, and of great 
value in irrigating the surrounding gardens and vine- 
yards, for the monks are by no means teetotallers. 

The famous library, situated in that portion of the 
monastery which foims the residence of the Catholicos, 
•contains many works of extreme antiquity, and a few 
of rarity and beauty, but space does not allow of 
any description here of the revered and much 
prized manuscripts. 

Nothing is neglected by the monks to render 
agreeable and pleasant and interesting a visit by 
stray travellers to this out-of-the-way spot. Food 
and wine are supplied in plenty, and everybody con- 




78 A DRIVE ACROSS TRANSCAUCASIA. 

cerned with the institution seems desirous of leaving 
a good impression. The chief Catholicos, Megerdich 
Khrimian, was unfortunately absent in St Petersburg 
at the time of the writer's visit to Echmiazin, but his 
place as host was taken by the third Catholicos, an 
archbishop himself; and under his guidance, and that 
of another Church dignitary, every facility was given 
for sight-seeing, and visiting the various places and 
works of interest. 

A few words must be said as to the Synod of the 
Gregorian Church and the election of its chief, as 
this matter cannot fail to be of interest as throwing 
light upon the relations of the Kussian Government 
and the Church of the Armenians. The deed regulat- 
ing the status of this Church was signed by the 
Emperor Nicholas I. in 1836. The document states 
clearly the position of things, and its perusal removes, 
in this case at least, the common accusation of want 
of toleration in Eussia. Freedom of public worship 
is allowed ; the clergy are exempt from military and 
other service of the State ; and the spiritual position 
of the Catholicos is recognised. The deed further 
specifies the manner of Synod by which the affairs of 
the Church shall be regulated, the right of presiding 
being vested in the Catholicos. The members of the 
Synod are elected by the Armenians and confirmed 
in their position by the Czar, but it is said that in 



THE CATHOUCOS. 79 

no case has any Czar ever objected to the choice 
of the people. In all civil questions the Russian 
Minister of the Interior must be consulted, and an 
agent of the Government resides at Echmiazin, 
through whom these communications take place. 

With regard to the election of the Catholicos him- 
self. On the decease of a Patriarch letters are sent 
to the Armenian dioceses all over the world, calling 
upon them to send delegates on a certain date to 
Echmiazin to select the new Patriarch. Four names 
are selected by this general assembly of representa- 
tives of the people, and of these again two are chosen. 
The two candidates are then named to the Czar, and 
he has the power of nominating which of the two 
he pleases, though as a matter of fact it has always 
been the custom for the Emperor to name the one 
who has received the larger number of votes. From 
this it will be seen that although the Czar is nomi- 
nally at the head of the Gregorian Church, he uses 
his prerogatives merely in confirming the choice of 
the Armenians themselves. The sole disadvantage 
under which Armenians exist in Russia is that the 
children of a mixed marriage must be educated in the 
Orthodox faith, and this holds good to all sectarians. 

It was on my return drive from Echmiazin to 
Erivan that, the clouds lifting, I obtained my first 
view of the great snow-peaks of Ararat, some five- 



/ 



80 A DBIVE ACROSS TRANSCAnCASIA. 

and -twenty miles away, towering in pure snowy 
whiteness above a dark bank of cloud, with a pale 
turquoise sky beyond. One ceases then to wonder 
that in early days the mountain was held as sacred, 
or that the Armenians chose it as the centre of their 
world, building their capitals in the plains at its 




Arauaian miagt ai%d MmitU Ararat — view bthiMin Erivan aiui ffaitkivati. 

foot, and weaving around its peaks of snow a 
thousand traditions and stories. 

It was dusk when we drove across the bridge over 
the Zanga and entered Erivan again. 

Of the journey from Erivan to Nakchivan — or 
Nakchichevan, as it is more properly spelled — there 
is not very much to tell. The road proceeds for the 
entire distance — nearly 150 miles — along the valley 



BAGGAGE STOLEN. 81 

of the Araxes, of which river, however, it is only 
occasionally that a glimpse is obtained. During the 
entire journey, which occupied me some two days 
and a half — for I did not hurry over the drive — ^the 
wonderful double peaks of Ararat were in full view, 
and, as one proceeds to the east, the cone-shaped 
peak of the lower, with the dome of the higher 
behind it, form as impressive a view of mountain 
as could be seen anywhere. The road is excellent, 
and, being of such vast strategical importance to 
Russia, is continually kept in good condition, so 
that the drive, more especially in a victoria with 
springs, is such that it cannot fail to please even the 
most particular of travellers. No doubt luck favoured 
me, for the weather was fine, and the constant pass- 
ing of men upon the road armed with picks and 
shovels showed clearly enough that the spring repairs 
had just been completed. 

It was between Erivan and Nakchivan that the 
only mishap that befell me in Russian territory 
occurred ; and to many the experience might have 
proved of more serious discomfort than it did to 
me, for my entire luggage, save one small bag, was, 
during the only snowstorm we experienced, cut off 
the back of my carriage near Bash Nurashin, a large 
station and a depot of the police upon the road. 
This manner of theft is not uncommon in Trans- 




82 A DRIVE ACROSS TRANSCAUCASIA. 

Caucasia, and so skilful are the thieves that they 
are able to cut the ropes and set the baggage adrift 
without detection. The one necessary they require 
is that the hood of the carriage should be up, so that 
there is no possibility of being seen. I returned at 
once to Bash Nurashin and made a statement to the 
police, who examined the carriage, and were satisfied 
that the ropes had been cut by robbers, and promised 
to do all i their power to'recover n.y property. 
Needless to say, I have never seen any of it since, 
nor have the letters written by H.B.M. Consul at 
Batum or directly by myself, asking whether there 
was any news of my lost property, been answered. 
I am doubly sorry for this mishap, as otherwise on 
my travels in Russia I have never met with any 
unpleasant experience, but always received the ut- 
most civility and assistance from the officials, and 
had hoped to leave the country without one single 
disagreeable circumstance to upset my opinion. The 
theft, it is true, was perhaps unpreventable, though 
a Cossack guard ought, I heard afterwards, to have 
been given me; but the utter silence on the part 
of the police authorities, who have not even the 
civility to answer the official correspondence of a 
British consul, is less easily comprehended. So, 
bereft of all my belongings save a change of shirts 
and socks, my brushes and combs, and, fortunately, 



NAKCHIVAN. 83 

my passport and money, I continued my journey a 
somewhat sadder but also a wiser man. Fortunately 
I lost little of any value, the entire stock stolen con- 
sisting of clothes, linen, and bedding. 

Of Nakchivan a few words must be said, for the 
town, small and unimportant as it is, is said by 
tradition to be the oldest in Armenia, and to have 
been founded by Noah himself after abandoning the 
ark on the summit of Ararat ; and here his grave is 
still shown. More historical, certainly, is the Median 
settlement at this spot after Cyrus had successfully 
routed them. Since then it has changed hands in 
the scramble of nations for these rich plains, besides 
forming at one time an independent State ; and was 
finally ceded to Russia, with the province of Erivan, 
by the treaty of Turkman Chai in 1828. The sole 
building of any pretensions to size or interest that 
I saw is the modern mosque, around which are the 
bazaars — the better class shops principally owned by 
Armenians, and the poorer by Persian Turkis. There 
are some public gardens on a slight hill to the north- 
west of the town, but dreary and ill kept. In feet, 
the whole place, with its streets ankle-deep in mud, 
presented an inhospitable and gloomy appearance. 

Nakchivan was the last town I was destined to 
visit in Russian territory, for a drive of some six- 
and- twenty miles the following day, for the most 



84 



A DRIVE ACROSS TRANSCAUCASIA. 



part through wild rock -strewn and barren country, 
brought me to Julfa, the frontier post, on the Araxes 
river. There is little there besides the post-station 
and the large custom-house, where my passport was 
soon visdd, and whence, after coflfee and a cigarette 
with a charming and polite official, I was rowed 
across into Persian territory. 




ft 



Our last peep of Kussian Territory. 



85 



CHAPTER IV. 



JULFA TO TABRIZ. 



The boat in which I crossed from Russian into Persian 
territory bore many passengers besides myself, for 
quite a number of Turkis, inhabitants of the province 
of Azerbaijan, returning from trade in Russia, shared 
the craft. Their exit from the territory of the Czar 
was carefully watched, and their passports and passes 
examined. A rough lot they were to look at, but 
polite enough in manner, though this I believe to 
have been more owing to the civil attention that 
was being paid to my comforts by an official or two, 
than to their own natural inclinations. The passage 
is quickly over, for even in the rough boats in use it 
occupies only some ten minutes or so, and the stream 
runs fast and helps not a little to carry one to the 
other shore. 

From the river-bed the scene around was a curious 
one. To the north the Russian custom-house stood 



/ 



86 JULFA TO TABRIZ. 

out clean and white against the dreary background 
of barren rocky mountains; while to the south the 
ground sloped up, a desert, from the river s bed to 
hills equally barren and desolate beyond. On the 
Persian bank are a few buildings, tumble-down and 
in bad repair, forming a contrast to the none too 
handsome or luxurious habitations on the Russian 
side. A house, bearing a painted Lion and Sun, 
the arms of Persia, is the most imposing building, 
behind which is an enclosed yard and the office of the 
Indo-European telegraph station, while across the 
road, if such it can be called, stands a caravanserai 
and some stables and shops, but wretched and squalid 
to a degree. But few people were to be seen on the 
Persian bank. Half-a-dozen or so men awaited the 
arrival of our boat, with horses to hire for the con- 
tinuation of the journey to Tabriz, the capital of the 
province, and the largest city in Persia, some eighty 
miles distant. 

My Armenian interpreter had not been permitted 
to cross the river, with the result that Mohammed 
and I found ourselves amongst this little group of 
yelling Turkis, without being able to comprehend a 
word of what they were shouting, and altogether in 
a sorry plight. A pretence at examining our bag- 
gage was rendered speedy by the bestowal of a min- 
ute sum of money, and shouldering our scanty traps 



THE RUSSO-PERSIAN FRONTIER. 87 

— all that remained after the theft at Bash Nurashin, 
with what we had been able to replace at Nakchivan 
— we proceeded to the telegraph office, where our 
eyes were gladdened by the sight of a European, a 
native of some outlandish Kussian frontier province, 
who spoke a jargon of Eussian and German. How- 
ever, despite his language, he and his wife made 
themselves most agreeable and put me up for the 
night. 

Of all the dismal spots that I ever saw Julfa is the 
worst, a few mud-houses in a howling wilderness, 
surrounded on three sides by mountains absolutely 
devoid of vegetation, and on the fourth by the 
Araxes, the banks of which presented here and there 
the only appearance of verdure in the scene, and 
that only stunted and dried-up leafless shrubs, that 
looked as though they hugged the earth in very 
shame at their disreputable condition. Life at this 
inhospitable spot must indeed be burdensome. Any 
oriental town is bearable that I have ever visited, 
but here not only is there a lack of vegetation, but 
even of fellow-creatures, for it would take much to 
make one interest oneself in the few dirty caravan- 
men or dirtier custom officials who form the small 
population of the place. Add to this a climate in 
which the mercury freezes in winter and almost boils 
in summer, cut off* from all the world except for the 




88 JULFA TO TABRIZ. 

long line of iron posts with their wire burdens that 
seem but a mockery of civilisation. Even the few 
little plants that the good wife of the telegraph clerk 
was trying to grow in pots seemed faded and weary 
of life. 

Thanks to the assistance of my host, a couple of 
horses were hired for the journey to Tabriz, with the 
owner to accompany us on foot, — for I preferred to 
travel in this manner, and take longer over the jour- 
ney, rather than by the usual mode of chapaVy or 
posts, by which considerably more speed can be ob- 
tained, as the horses are changed at stations along 
the road. Though the chapar offered, it is true, a 
more tempting manner of travel, I felt that on this 
journey of eighty miles I could, by hiring my horses, 
gain much experience that would prove of service to 
me eventually in the longer journey that lay before 
me in Persia. And so it was ; for in spite of the 
fact that our Turki chapadaVy as these hirers of 
caravan animals are called, spoke no known tongue, 
we obtained not a little insight into the ways of 
Persian inns and the peasantry upon our ride of two 
days and a half that proved useful in times to come. 

As to our steeds, the less said the better. Suffice 
it to mention that they were so bad that both 
Mohammed and I preferred to walk nearly the en- 
tire distance, while our Turki, who was ill, was glad 



START FOR TABRIZ. 89 

of the chance of a lift now and again. He was a 
cheery, amusing little man on the whole, but ap- 
peared to feel himself much more lonely with Mo- 
hammed and myself than we did as strangers in 
his country. His horses were, I think, the worst 
I ever saw at starting, but seemed to warm up 
to their work as they went along. Poor fellow, our 
ironical compliments on his steeds, though not un- 
derstood, seemed quite to upset him, and at one 
spot he burst into tears ; so we ceased our chaff, 
and were relieved to find his gay and jovial nature 
getting the better of him again, until he broke 
forth into the most unmelodious song that ever 
mortal ears listened to. 

We were oflF about sunrise, the usual delays having 
prevented an earlier start, as we had intended. The 
road was at first as unattractive as anything could 
well be, a dreary stony plain. Once crossed, we 
entered an almost stonier valley with a few signs 
of vegetation, up which we proceeded for some 
time, to emerge upon a plateau beyond. In the 
valley, where were a mud - house or two, we came 
across a picturesque group of natives drinking their 
morning tea. It is often the case that a traveller brings 
away with him his first experience of a new country 
as one of his most striking reminiscences, whereas 
the incident may be one that recurred again and 




90 JULFA TO TABRIZ. 

again on his further journey. And so it is in 
this case ; for in calling to mind the many and 
varied experiences of Persia, this first glimpse of 
native life flashes across me. The rocky valley, 
shut in with hills on either hand, opened out to 
the plain of Julfa, far away across the barren stretch 
of which I could see the banks of the Araxes, and 
the buildings of the Persian and Eussian custom- 
houses. Beyond these again rose the fantastic rocky 
peaks of the high mountains in Russian territory. 
In relief to this scene of monotonous colour was 
the group in the foreground — gaily dressed men 
and children seated on a patch of emerald green 
grass, near a spring, while around them grazed their 
horses, many richly caparisoned. A few carpets 
of brilliant hue lay strewn upon the grass, and on 
these reclined the chief men of the party, who had 
thrown off" their black coats and donned a lighter 
garb of coloured cloth. In front of them on a tray 
was the samovar with its china teapot stewing 
on the top of the chimney, and the usual collection 
of small glass tumblers in china saucers. A fire, 
from which the blue smoke curled into the bluer 
sky, had been lighted near by, and over it savoury 
meats were cooking. But there the attraction of 
the picture ended, for there was no kind word of 
welcome, no invitation to drink a cup of tea, no 



A PICTURESQUE GROUP. 91 

"Good-day" even, only the scowling look that the 
Turki of Northern Persia loves to shed upon the 
European. One's only consolation — and it is a 
consolation — is to smile to oneself and think what 
that scowl will cost them when Kussia steps across 
her frontier and treats them as they deserve to 
be treated, for of all the miserable curs that nature 
has put upon the face of the earth commend me 
to the townsman of Northern Persia. 

On the plateau at the end of the valley stand the 
ruins of a large caravanserai, the gateway of which, 
with its blue faience, is very fine. The place is en- 
tirely deserted now, and bears a most desolate appear- 
ance, standing alone in the plain, with little to relieve 
the monotony of the scene except barren mountain- 
tops. Toward sunset we crossed a watershed and 
descended to a wide valley, richly cultivated and 
green with rising corn. It was dark when we reached 
our resting-place at the farther side of this valley, and 
entered the groves of trees that surround the little 
town of Maraud. But our guide knew his way well 
enough, and led us now along a muddy path, now in 
the bed of a fast-flowing stream, but always under 
the branches of tall trees. We groped our way along 
in the darkness, now and then catching a glimpse of 
a light in the paper windows of the houses on our 
right and left, until, turning suddenly, we found our- 



• 



92 JULFA TO TABRIZ. 

selves in a narrow street, with little shops and cara- 
vanserais alternating with one another. We avoided 
the larger inns, our Turki leading us to the door of a 
house of a friend of his, where we sought our quarters 
for the night. It was my first experience of Persian 
lodgings, and a few words of description may there- 
fore be excused. A deep archway led us into a square 
yard, on one side of which ran an arcade serving as 
stables, the mangers being large holes in the wall. 
The flat roof of this arcade was supported on rough 
pillars. Opposite the archway by which one gained 
entrance to the place was a high wall, over the top of 
which the trees of the neighbour's garden appeared. 
The remaining two sides of the yard were occupied 
by the house, built entirely of mud, and, like all build- 
ings in this part of the world, in an execrable state of 
repair. A flight of outside steps led one to the two 
best rooms of the house, opening out of one another, 
both large and airy, the entire ends being occupied 
with the large windows that the Persians love so 
much, and which are so unsuitable to their winter 
climate. These windows in this case, as generally 
throughout the country, bore some pretensions to 
artistic merit, being formed of small pieces of wood 
arranged in geometrical patterns of intricate design. 
Paper, as usual, took the place of glass. The remain- 
ing part of the house was occupied by the owner and 



PERSIAN CATS. 93 

his family, which seemed innumerable. Fowls, eats, 
and dogs perambulated the place on all sides; but 
even though this was Persia, the cats resembled those 
of the back-slums of London. It never struck me, 
though once or twice I made inquiries, until I arrived 
in London and passed a bird-fancier s in the Brompton 
Road, where were Persian cats for sale, that they 
were the only specimens I had seen since starting on 
my travels. The truth is, Persian cats are bred in 
Ispahan and Shiraz, and are brought down to Bushire 
for shipment at the season of the exportation of 
horses. At other times it is very rare to see them 
out of the particular districts in which their breeding 
is made a matter of profit or pleasure. 

We were able to raise a decent supper at Maraud, 
followed by innumerable small cups of sweetened tea 
from a neighbouring cafL In spite of the bad horses, 
we had completed just upon forty miles since leaving 
Julfa. 

At daylight the following day we were off, and 
emerging from the gardens of the town, commenced 
a steep ascent of the hills that lie behind it. And 
here the rain caught us, drenching us to the skin, and 
rendering walking in the mud and wet most diflScult 
and disagreeable. Nor did things improve, for as we 
ascended to the summit of the pass the rain changed 
to snow, of which a considerable quantity already lay 



94 JULFA TO TABRIZ. 

upon the road. However, once across, the sun re- 
asserted his authority, the clouds cleared off, and the 
road became better. We had now crossed the water- 
sheds of the rivers that flow into the Caspian, and 
those that drain into Lake Urmiyah, of which large 
body of water I shall have more to say anon. 

We reached our next stage early in the afternoon, 
and found tolerably comfortable quarters in one of 
the two or three small caravanserais that exist at 
Sofian. The place is only a small village, merely ex- 
isting for the convenience of a post-station, though a 
few peasants cultivate the rich plain on the edge of 
which the village stands. Behind it rise the barren 
mountains, along the foot of which, on their southern 
side, the road proceeds as far as Tabriz, while on the 
right lies the great plain of the Aji-chai, extending to 
the northern banks of Lake Urmiyah on the south, to 
Tabriz on the east, and as far as the Kurdish moun- 
tains on the west. 

We spent the night at Sofian, and the following 
day reached Tabriz in safety. There is but little to 
see upon the road, except the ever-passing caravans, 
with camels and their strange drivers, and mules and 
pack-horses, until faintly at first, lying in an amphi- 
theatre of the hills, Tabriz appears, a dull haze of flat 
roofs and poplar- trees, with the old fortress or *' Ark " 
standing out high above the house-tops. 



AZERBAIJAN. 95 

Before entering upon the description of Tabriz, it 
may not be out of place to make a few general re- 
marks about the province of Persia through which 
the road from Julfa to that city passes, and of which 
Tabriz itself is the capital. From a geographical point 
of view this north-west corner of Persia belongs rather 
to the system of mountain - ranges and elevated 
plateaux that form so distinct a feature in what is 
known as Turkish Armenia and the Russian province 
of Transcaucasia. The country to the north of Tabriz 
and of Lake Urmiyah consists of parallel ranges of 
mountains split up into deep ravines, and here and 
there wide fertile valleys, the whole gradually sloping 
away to the great plain which surrounds the northern, 
and practically the eastern, side of the above-men- 
tioned lake. The general direction that these moun- 
tains take is north-east and south-west, so that their 
ridges have more than once to be crossed by the tra- 
veller between Julfa and Tabriz. It is almost impos- 
sible to obtain any correct estimate of the size or 
population of the province of Azerbaijan, for its boun- 
daries are uncertain, owing not a little to the fact 
that in oriental countries it is a common occurrence 
for the sovereign to tack a portion of a province on 
to the next district, in order to increase the territory 
of some governor, and diminish that of another less 
popular one. But Mr Curzon, whose book is cer- 



96 JULFA TO TABRIZ. 

tainly the highest authority upon all matters relating 
to Persia, estimates the extent of Azerbaijan at about 
40,000 square miles, with a population of 2,000,000 
people, including the following : — 

Turkis .... 470,000 

Kurds .... 450,000 

Nebtorians . . . 44,000 

Annenians . . . 28,000 

However, though this is probably the most correct 
estimate to be found, it is impossible to place absolute 
reliance on the figures, as a large portion of Kurdistan 
has never been travelled over, much less the popula- 
tion counted. Personally, from my experiences in 
Persian Kurdistan, I venture to think the number of 
the Kurds given above as excessive ; for during my 
journey through their lands I found the country very 
much more thinly populated than was generally sup- 
posed, and not by any means in the same ratio as on 
the rich plains of Lahijan and in the district of Solduz, 
where the Kurds are more thickly settled ; for near 
Serdasht and in the entire length of the Kalu valley 
the mountains are covered with forest, and the villages 
comparatively few and far between. 

With these few general facts as to the province 
through which the road from Julfa lies, and of which 
I was to see more on my further travels, I can revert 
to my personal experiences. 



ENTRY INTO TABRIZ. 97 

Near the city one crosses a fine brick bridge of 
many arches, which spans the Aji-chai, and enters im- 
mediately amongst the walled gardens which surround 
the town. Then on along a wide dusty road, with 
orchards first, and afterwards houses, on both sides. 
Then again amongst caravanserais and shops, in and 
out, here, there, and everywhere, until the gaping 
arches of the gloomy bazaars open out in front, and 
one passes from the bright sunlight into the dusk, to 
emerge, after wondering at the many sights that meet 
the eyes, in the quarter called Arministan, where are 
the residences of the Europeans. And there at the 
British Consulate- General I met my old friends Mr 
and Mrs Cecil Wood, and was received with all the 
kindness and hospitality which none know better 
how to bestow than our able Consul -General and 
his charming wife. 



G 




98 



CHAPTER V. 



TABRIZ. 



Tabriz, which is the capital of the large province of 
Azerbaijan, is the first commercial city of Persia, and 
boasts a population of close upon 200,000 inhabitants. 
But few Persians are to be found within its walls, and 
it may be said to be a Turki city. Though no doubt 
the inhabitants of Azerbaijan come of a finer and 
hardier race than the Persians, the city-people seem 
to have sunk even to a lower grade, and no race can 
compare with the mean, low, and fanatical standard 
of the Tabrizis. 

More even than most oriental cities has the fate of 
Tabriz been a checkered one ; for not only does nature 
seem to be bent upon its destruction by periodical 
earthquakes of most severe nature, but man also has 
done much towards her destruction upon more than 
one occasion. The town does not to-day stand upon 
the site that the original city held, for a few miles 



EARLY HISTORY. 99 

away to the south can be seen the extensive ruins of 
a large settlement, which it is now almost universally 
agreed formed the earlier city. But whether the 
enterprising Zobeida, the wife of Harun Er-Rashid, 
founded the town that at present stands is a matter 
of conjecture. Such, however, seems to be the proba- 
bility, that finding the original site unsuited to the 
magnificent ideas that this good lady seems to have 
shared with her husband, she laid the foundations of 
a new and larger city a few miles to the north of the 
place existing at that time (791 a.d.) The object 
of this change of site is easily comprehended ; for 
whereas the river flows through the present town, the 
water-supply of the earlier had to be brought in small 
and inconvenient conduits. But long before either 
Harun Er-Rashid or Zobeida visited this portion of 
their vast domains there was standing an already 
famous city of the same name, the classical Tauris, 
which as early as the third century a.d. was the 
capital of the Armenian kings. But without referring 
to times which in these oriental countries are some- 
what mythical, it is easy to see how badly Tabriz has 
fared since the date of Zobeida's founding of the 
second city; for following the Arab domination under 
the Abbaside caliphs, there came the invading hosts 
of Seljuks, Turks, Persians, and in still later years the 
Russians (1828), and during this period of eleven 




100 TABRIZ. 

hundred years we have certain infonnation of its 
total destruction by earthquake on no less than seven 
occasions. One wonders at the perseverance of a 
race that, no sooner than it was destroyed, com- 
menced once more to rebuild it ; and to-day the city, 
if it presents little or no feature of beauty or wealth, 
must at least attract the attention of the traveller to 
its commercial vitality and its great size. 

The town lies at the end of a valley which opens 
out in a triangular form, the base being the great 
plain of the Aji-chai, which extends as far a? the 
shores of Lake Urmiyah, some forty miles distant. 
The Aji river, from which the plain takes its name, 
flows from the vaUey through the centre of the town, 
emerging on to the level country, and forming a 
source of water-supply for the surrounding fields, and 
thus rendering this great flat expanse a most fertile 
and profitable granary. 

In appearance the situation of the town is pictur- 
esque. It lies, a bewildering yellow collection of low 
flat-roofed houses, in the centre of the wide valley, 
surrounded by orchards and gardens, from which the 
barren rocky hills rise to the north and south, devoid 
of all vegetation, and red and yellow in colour. There 
are but few minarets or elevated buildings to vary the 
level appearance of the house-tops, and of what there 
are I shall have opportunity of speaking anon. 



COMMERCE AND TRADE. 101 

The town is walled, but in some spots streets lead 
directly out into the open country and the suburbs, 
without the gateways, which were once of great im- 
portance, being used. There are, however, still seven 
principal entrances to the town, and recently, at the 
desire of H.B.M. Consul-General, Mr Cecil Wood, 
another has been opened in the Christian quarter — 
called Arministan — in order that such Europeans as 
possess carriages can drive straight into the country 
without the necessity of passing through the narrow 
and crooked streets and bazaars — by no means an 
easy or safe proceeding. 

A few remarks upon the commerce and trade of the 
place may here be made before continuing the narra- 
tive of my experiences. 

The reason of the commercial importance of Tabriz 
to-day is the fact that, the duties on goods crossing 
Russian territory being so exorbitant, all the trade of 
Northern Persia, with the exception of a very small 
quantity of Russian manufactured goods, arrives in 
the country by caravan from Trebizond, a port of 
Asia Minor near the eastern end of the Black Sea. 
The revenue of the province of Azerbaijan, of which 
Tabriz is the capital, amounts to £250,000, and thus 
represents a quarter of the income of the whole of 
Iran. But important as is this sum, H.B.M. Consul- 
Greneral, in his last report (1894), has to call the at- 




102 TABRIZ. 

tention of the Government to a large falling off in 
the trade. This he puts down to several reasons, the 
principal of which are as follows : — 

(1.) The fact that Tehran is supplied more cheaply 
vid the Caspian with Russian goods. 

(2.) That the caravan hire into Central Persia from 
the south is much cheaper than through Turkish 
territory. 

(3.) The low exchange upon silver, which in a single 
year (1893 to 1894) fell 30 per cent. 

It is unnecessary in a book dealing of travel as this 
does to enter fully into the commerce or other statis- 
tics of Tabriz, but some idea of the dilBSiculty of the 
trade can be imagined when, added to the utter rot- 
tenness of the local government, it is taken into con- 
sideration that all imports coming from Trebizond 
have to be carried by caravan a distance which takes 
thirty-two days in winter and often seventy in sum- 
mer to accomplish. These united causes show the 
following unsatisfactory result, that between the years 
1893 and 1894 there was a falling off of £441,500 in 
the imports, and of £189,834 in the exports. These 
few remarks will suflSce to give the reader some idea 
of the diflSculties and uncertainties of trade in such 
far-removed portions of the world as the north-west 
corner of Persia. 

A word or two must be said as to the government 



THE VALI-AHT* 103 

of Azerbaijan and Tabriz. The capital of the pro- 
vince forms to-day, as has been the custom formerly, 
the residence of the Vali-Aht, or heir-apparent to the 
throne of Persia. In no way can one see that any 
advantage can accrue from this customary banishment 
of the successor to the Shah's throne from Tehran, to 
a spot where he is unable to obtain reliable informa- 
tion as to political events, and when called upon to 
fill his father s place, he must necessarily be in great 
ignorance as to what has been passing, and in what 
state the aflfairs of his country are. But no doubt 
the astute Shah has reason for keeping the successor 
he has nominated to fill his throne after him absent 
from his neighbourhood. The present Vali-Aht is a 
man of delicate health and weak temperament, taking 
little or no interest in the affairs of the province of 
which he is nominally governor, living in a manner 
too slovenly for even a low-class European, and in- 
capable of making up his mind when one of the con- 
stantly occurring crises occur. Europeans who know 
him well compare his character most unfavourably 
with that of the Shah, who at all events is a man of 
energy and pride. The very state of repair, or rather 
disrepair, in which his Highness s palaces of cheap 
wood and inferior stucco are, shows that he must lack 
even the capability of looking after his private affairs, 
let alone the affairs of State. In fact, during my visit 



104 TABRIZ. 

to Tabriz there can be said to have existed practically 
no government of any sort, and were it not that the 
population is largely engaged in commerce, the suc- 
cess of which necessitates peace, the mob might have 
gone to any excess without the lifting of a hand to 
keep order and protect life. The ill-paved roads, even 
those on which the heir - apparent has to drive to 
reach his own tumble-down house in the suburbs, are 
a disgrace to the place, but require only a few work- 
men turned out for a few days to put everything in 
order ; but what between the meanness of the autho- 
rities and their utter noncJialance y no attempt is 
made. It is evidently the aim of some writers, by 
making much of the few good points— and they are 
few indeed— to be found in the Government and 
people of Persia, to aid our political aims in that 
country ; but it scarcely strikes one that all the awful 
corruption, cruelty, immorality, and oppression need 
be glossed over in the manner in which it sometimes 
is. Personally my experiences and what I saw in 
Persia were suflBcient for the following statement, 
that it surpasses, for a low standard of government, 
officialdom, and cruelty of every sort, any country 
into which it has been my lot to travel. Philanthro- 
pists and politicians are apt to revert, whenever it 
suits their purpose to do so, to Morocco, Turkey, and 
China; but the fact that it is considered expedient 



CORRUPTION IN PERSIA. 105 

that Persia should remain our ally, allows all its 
rottenness and horrors to be overlooked and disre- 
garded. Point out another country in the world 
where like poverty, poverty due to the unutterably 
rotten state of the Government, exists. In all my 
travels I have yet to see its equal. The ill-used and 
often squeezed Galla lives under the cruel yoke of 
Abyssinia in a state of freedom and happiness far sur- 
passing that of the peasant of the " rich province of 
Azerbaijan." If these facts are neglected or sup- 
pressed for fear that their revelation should render 
more speedy than it will otherwise be the conquest 
of North-west Persia by Russia, then all that can 
be said is, the sooner Russia takes it the better. 
If it is on political grounds that we wish to preserve 
in a part of Persia in which we have no interest a 
state of government that is a disgrace to humanity, 
we ought to be ashamed of ourselves. It is true the 
Turki peasant is a wild, unsociable, and fanatical sub- 
ject, hard to govern, given to robbery and crime, and 
as inhospitable and unsociable a creature, as far as 
Europeans are concerned, as can be met with any- 
where ; but at the same time we cannot find in this 
fact any excuse for the state of oppression and abject 
slavery in which he is held. Villages with all their 
inhabitants are given away as sources of revenue to 
private individuals, who, if they are in present need of 



y 



106 TABRIZ. 

money, do not hesitate to carry off every removable 
piece of property, unless sufficient compensation in 
coin is paid by the poor people ; and even if they 
stave over this first act of barbarism, they do so 
merely to be squeezed year by year, to see all their 
earnings and the results of their labour and toil taken 
from them. What may be the system of government 
in vogue in other portions of Persia I cannot say, but 
this I do assert, that for absolute cruelty, corruption, 
and oppression, the province of Azerbaijan stands un- 
paralleled in my experience. But enough of an un- 
pleasant subject, nor are we likely to see redress until 
the firm but just hand of Eussia has seized the reins 
of power. 

With regard to the sights to be seen in Tabriz, 
there are only three worthy of mention — ^the bazaars, 
the Blue Mosque, and the " Ark," or fortress ; for the 
dilapidated stucco villas, in the worst of possible 
combinations of bad styles of architecture, which the 
Vali-Aht calls his palaces, are beneath contempt. 

The Blue Mosque, or Kabud Musjid, is so called by 
the exquisite faience with which its walls and roofing 
were once decorated, and beautiful examples of which 
can still be seen, although the building is now a ruin. 
It was erected in the fifteenth century by Shah Jehan, 
an emperor of the Kara Koyunlu dynasty of Kurds. 
That it must in its day have been a building of the 



THE BLUE MOSQUE. 107 

greatest beauty the little that remains of it to-day 
still certifies, for not only were its proportions per- 
fect, but also the detail of the decoration that still 
remains is sufficient to give one a tolerable idea as to 
the whole. Unfortunately the genius of the architect 
and the wealth of the then Shah were wasted, for 
what it took men years to build was practically de- 
stroyed in one earthquake. The dome has fallen in, 
the roof disappeared, and the body of the mosque is 
heaped high with the debris ^ from which rise the 
pillars of a yellowish-pink brick inlaid and studded 
with designs in the most exquisite blue faience, 
here and there brightened by some touch of yellow. 
Inscriptions of white on a dark -blue ground form 
friezes to what walls are still standing, and the 
great arched entrance, to-day in tolerable preserva- 
tion, gives a very fair idea of what the whole must 
have been. At the farther end from the gateway, 
which corresponds to the chancel of a church, the 
lower portion of the walls is encircled with a dado 
of polished Maragha marble, bearing an inscription 
along the top. Curiously enough, the last slab on 
the right (south) side of the building was never com- 
pleted, for the letters are in parts only roughly carved 
and in others merely outlined with the chisel. 

Being a mosque belonging originally to the Moham- 
medans professing the Sunni doctrines, no great diflB- 



J 



108 TABRIZ. 

culties axe put in the way of Europeans entering the 
precincts, an impossibility in the case of those per- 
taining to the Sheiyas. A wooden paling with a 
gate, however, has been built across the entrance, and 
the simplest method of obtaining ingress is by clam- 
bering over one of the walls, where a pile of fallen 
ruins has rendered such a feat not only possible but 
very easy. 

One little episode which happened to the friend 
with whom I visited the mosque and myself may not 
be unworthy of mention. Near the farther end there 
is a large slab missing in the floor, through which 
steps can be seen descending into some subterranean 
chamber. Proposing to Captain S. to descend, the 
Turkis who accompanied us tried to dissuade us from 
doing so, asserting that no one ever went down, and 
that the place was a "bad place, with devils in it." 
All the more keen to descend, it was only a minute 
or two later that my friend and I found ourselves 
below in a large vaulted chamber, in which the air 
was close and particularly offensive. SuflBcient light 
not entering by the square hole at the head of the 
steps by which we had descended, we simultaneously 
struck matches. Imagine our horror when we found 
the vault full of corpses in all stages of decomposition, 
from skeletons with dry flesh sticking to the bones to 
nasty damp - looking bodies in soiled grave - clothes. 



THE ''ARK. 109 

Needless to say we fled. On pushing inquiries as to 
the reason of this collection of corpses, we were told 
that the relatives of the deceased made use of this 
vault to store their dead in until they had scraped 
together sufficient means to send them for burial to 
the holy city of Kerbela, beyond Baghdad, where the 
Imam Huseyn, murdered on the battlefield, is buried. 

This system of carrying dead bodies for interment 
in Turkish territory is a source of no little income to 
the pashalik of Baghdad ; and when, some few years 
ago, Nasr ed-Din Shah forbade his subjects any longer 
to do so, or even to make pilgrimages to the holy 
shrine, on account of exorbitant taxes and difficulties 
put in their way by the Turkish authorities, the 
Osmanli Government was not long in canying out its 
reforms, and settling by treaty the scale of taxation 
for burial and pilgrimage. But as it was to be the 
writer's lot a month or two later to follow the pilgrim 
road from Kermanshah to Baghdad, all further re- 
marks can be postponed until then, when they will be 
more appropriate than at this spot. 

The remaining antiquity of Tabriz is the " Ark," or 
fortress, an enormous pile of brick building, 130 feet 
in height. Built originally by Ali Shah, it contained 
at one time a magnificent mosque within its walls, of 
which no trace now remains. An idea of the size and 
labour of building this extraordinary structure can be 




110 TABRIZ. 

imagined when it is stated that its walls are nearly 28 
feet in thickness. In form it is not unlike one of the 
towers of an Egyptian propylon, tapering as it ascends. 
Curzon relates that faithless wives used to be hurled 
off the summit, until one of these ladies, balanced in 
the air by her inflated petticoats, descended like 
a parachute to earth. There can be little doubt 
that the tower did at one time serve this purpose, 
and there is a rumour afloat in Tabriz to-day amongst 
the Europeans that it is not many years since the 
body of a young woman was found mangled at its 
foot. Early in this century Abbas Mirza added a 
large courtyard to the building and turned it into an 
arsenal ; and if an arsenal consists of an empty court 
and a few rooms containing some small-arms, with a 
sprinkling of dirty, ill - kempt, and ill - mannered 
soldiers, it may still be said to retain its use. The 
one modern episode of interest that centres in this 
old tower-fortress is the fact that it was against its 
walls the " Bab," founder of the " Babi " sect, was 
shot in 1850. 

The view from the sxmimit of the Ark is a most 
extensive one. On the occasion of our visit, after 
a most pleasant luncheon with Mr Maclean, the local 
manager of the Imperial Bank of Persia, notice had 
been sent that we were coming, and the oflBcer in 
charge had prepared the sweet tea in tiny tumblers 



THE VIEW FROM THE " ARK. Ill 

that the Persians so much aflfect. We climbed to 
the summit up the long outside flight of steps, and 
were glad to rest in the decorated little gallery at 
the top, sheltered from the hot rays of the sun. 
Below us lay Tabriz, which, from the fact that few 
of the houses are raised to a second storey except 
in the European quarter, seemed to place us on a 
higher elevation than we really were. To the south- 
west one's eyes wandered over the plain of the Aji- 
chai, fai- away toward Lake Urmiyah ; and although 
the water itself was not visible, the promontory of 
Shahi, which rises like an island from its surface, 
was perfectly discernible, probably some forty miles 
distant. There is certainly a charm about this bird's- 
eye view of Tabriz ; for in spite of the monotony of 
the colour of its yellow mud roofs, it lies set in a 
ring of orchards and gardens that encompass the 
town almost on all sides. A few minarets rise to 
break the dead level of the houses, but none boasting 
of any particular features of interest or beauty; while 
a third of the town seems to consist of the mud 
domes which cover the miles of bazaars beneath. 

It is these bazaars that attract the traveller more 
than anything else in Tabriz ; and however much 
he may have seen of other Eastern cities, he cannot 
but be surprised at the magnitude, and admire the 
fine proportions and the picturesque appearance, of 




112 TABRIZ. 

those of Tabriz. Certainly they are a sight to be 
seen ; and one could wander for hours, as the writer 
did, and never weary of the many phases of life 
to be found under those domed arcades. These 
bazaars commence in the neighbourhood of the 
Christian quarter — Arministan, the natives call it 
— and spread out in almost every direction. People 
in the position to know told me that in all there 
were some twenty-five miles of these covered streets ; 
and often and long as I wandered about their shady 
ways I was continually finding myself in parts I 
had never seen before, and always absolutely at a 
loss as to my whereabouts, for nothing more be- 
wildering can well be imagined than the almost 
painful sameness of the Tabriz bazaars. The crowd 
in each seems just the same, for so exactly is the 
costume of the people repeated according to their 
various degrees, that, until one has become some- 
what accustomed to the type, all men seem to 
look alike. Certainly the bazaars at Tabriz, offer- 
ing though they do every variety of native life, 
present but comparatively few specimens of races 
foreign to the country; for so surrounded is the 
town by a Turki population that scarcely a Persian 
or an Arab is to be found in the entire city. 
Armenians there are in plenty, but, strange as it 
may sound, no Jews. For this there are probably 



THE BAZAARS. 113 

two reasons : firstly, and most important, the fact 
that the fanaticism of the Sheiya inhabitants does 
not permit of the security of person or property, 
and the few native Jews who have from time to 
time entered the city were hooted in the streets; 
and secondly, that the business talent, not to say 
grasping nature, of the Armenians, their money- 
lending and general usury, would render even a 
Jew's business unprofitable. 

Generally speaking, the Tabriz bazaars consist of 
long, straight, covered streets, with lofty roofs, the 
whole constructed of brick, and neatly and well built. 
The breadth of these great arcades varies as a rule 
according to the wealth of the shops that line its 
walls, though in this I am probably putting the cart 
before the horse, for it is more likely that the richest 
merchants affect the better bazaars. In places these 
long covered ways open out into great halls, of im- 
mense size, and with their roofs 50 to 60 feet from 
the ground, the whole most handsomely built, with 
domes and decorative supports. Every iiow and 
then, too, one emerges from the dark ways into great 
patches of sunlight, fine open squares^ planted with 
trees, and boasting pools of water in their centres, 
and surrounded on all sides by the handsome build- 
ings which serve as stores, shops, and more generaUy 
offices. These open spaces often wear the most 

H 



114 TABRIZ. 

picturesque appearance, from the piles of rich carpets 
laid out in the sunlight to fade to the more appreci- 
ated tints before being exported. 

There are a few streets in the bazaar that could 
scarcely fail to interest and attract the most callous 
of strangers; one, half a mile in length, in which 
every box-like shop is the store of a carpet-dealer, 
and where a perspective view of the whole presents 
a seemingly never-ending array of carpets. The col- 
ouring can be better imagined than described; and 
when between these walls of woven pictures is added 
the bustling crowd and stately merchants, and above 
is added the roofing of dome following dome and 
arch after arch, the whole is indeed a most striking 
picture. Lovely carpets there are to be seen, too, a 
collection from all parts of Persia, from coarsely 
woven ones yards square to the delicate little silk 
rugs, for which such enormous prices are demanded and 
paid. Near this bazaar is another equally attractive, 
where saddlery, commoner kinds of country rugs, 
saddle-bags, and tenting are for sale, — a wondrous 
array of brilliant-coloured articles, not only bulging 
through the fronts of the shops, but also hung up 
upon poles and nails wherever there is room. Here, 
too, the crowd diflfers from the richer and more 
respectable carpet street ; for whereas in the former 
the stately merchant, the fanatical moUah, and the 



TEMPERAMENT OF THE PEOPLE. 115 

richer portion of the population are found, here a crowd 
of countrymen, in dirty sheepskin coats and absurd 
head -gear of rough wool, congregate. Sunburnt 
hardy men they are, with eyes pointing to a Mongol 
origin, and speaking a strange Turkman dialect, very 
different in their noisy talk and quick manner from 
the graceful and stately townspeople, in their long 
robes of fine wool or silk, and their neatly folded 
turban, or black lambskin hat. 

But the one drawback to the bazaars of Tabriz is 
the fanatical temperament of the people. Pass 
which way one will, one is scowled at by the shop- 
keepers, and muttered curses meet one's ears. True, 
there is little or no open insult, but a good deal of 
the pleasure of one's excursion is lost when one feels 
that one has not a single feeling in accord with 
the natives. Very different is it in Kurdistan or 
Baghdad, or anywhere for that matter, amongst 
Arabs; for there, in spite of the innate feeling 
against Christians that exists in the hearts of all 
Moslems, the people are at least ready to make 
friends and invite one to drink coffee or sit and 
smoke in their shops. But in Tabriz I was on more 
than one occasion unable to make purchases in the 
shops, by the owner refusing to have dealings with 
an infidel. So fanatical are the natives that it is 
impossible to obtain a cup of tea or coffee, and gen- 



y 



116 TABRIZ. 

erally even a drink of water, unless one has one's 
own cup to drink it out of. Even Mohammed, my 
Arab servant, was refused coffee on account of his 
being a Sunni; but he took the law into his own 
hands, and consigning all the souls of the people 
present to a climate even warmer than that of Tabriz 
in summer, and heaping upon them every bad name 
he could think off, helped himself to what he wanted. 
Such cowards are the Tabriz is that the greater part 
fled, and the owner of the cafe^ one of the largest in 
Tabriz, called him " my lord " until we left. This 
little incident will show how strong the feeling is 
amongst the Sheiyas against the Sunni sect. 

But despise the people of Tabriz as one may, one 
cannot but acknowledge that amongst the men — one 
never sees the women — the type is an exceedingly 
fine one, and faces of great beauty are quite common 
in the bazaars. As a rule, in the case of the upper 
class the skins are very white, the noses well formed 
and slightly aquiline, the mouth firm and powerful, 
and the face oval. Added to perfectly modelled 
features are the black arched brows and fiery eyes 
beneath, the whole framed in a turban of dark-blue 
or white muslin — the sign of the seyids, or moUahs. 
In figure they are of an average height, and slightly 
built, and walk with much grace and dignity. The 
one absent charm is expression, for their pale faces 



FANATICISM. 117 

and dark eyes seldom light up into a smile or show 
any signs of vivacity. So arrogant are they in 
manners toward Europeans that I never hesitated to 
tell them laughingly that I hoped to return to Tabriz 
when, in place of the miserable, dirty, and ragged 
soldiery, the Russian Cossack would parade the 
streets ; and one and all in reply acknowledged that 
the day was coming. In conversation, whenever one 
could break through the ice of fanaticism, the Tabrizis 
seem to be by no means backward, and they show a 
much larger knowledge of aflfairs political and general 
than one would be led to expect. 

But it is not in the principal streets of the bazaars 
that the searcher after curiosities must go ; he must 
rather search out the grimy alleys of the older 
parts, where pawnbrokers and second-hand dealers 
expose their wares for sale, though as a rule any 
articles of value are carefully hidden away in the 
shopkeeper's private house. He is ready enough, 
however, to bring them out when he thinks there 
is any likelihood of obtaining a good price, and 
then the collector may chance upon finding some- 
thing really good in the way of old armour, swords, 
embroideries, or works of art. As soon as it be- 
came known in Tabriz that I was in search of 
antiquities and curiosities, there used to appear 
several times a-day at the Consulate auctioneers and 




118 TABRIZ. 

vendors of second-hand articles, who often have in 
their possession a regular collection. Nor are the 
prices in Tabriz exorbitant — in fact, in comparison 
with other oriental towns, where the markets have 
been spoiled by rich people, curiosities can be 
obtained there at exceedingly reasonable prices. 
There must always be taken into consideration, 
however, the diflBculty and risk of sending things 
home; for to send them through Russian territory 
means paying exorbitant customs duties, while the 
route across Asia Minor to Trebizond is both expen- 
sive and long. Curiosities sent from Tabriz by me 
in April reached Gibraltar at the end of August ! 

There was one scene to be witnessed now and again 
in the bazaars that was particularly interesting — ^the 
narration of the story of Ali, and the death of his son 
Huseyn at Kerbela, by a Turki mollah. A portion of 
one of the largest and most important bazaars would 
be roped oflf so as to prevent a crowd of passers-by, 
and the enclosed space carpeted. In the centre was 
a high pulpit somewhat resembling scaflfolding, and 
upon this the mollah would take up his position. A 
crowd of the better class townspeople, with here and 
there a peasant from the country, would seat them- 
selves upon the carpets, and the mollah, swaying his 
body to and fro, commence the narration of those 




ATTLK OK KEKIIELA 



THE STORY OF KERBELA. 119 

tragic acts of the history of Islam — the death of 
Ali, and the murder of his son Huseyn at Ker- 
beJa. As, with high-pitched voice, he continued his 
story, his words ringing through the whole bazaar 
and echoing and re-echoing from the domes above, a 
wild sobbing and sighing would commence from the 
crowd beneath, sometimes breaking forth into a wail 
of mourning. The scene was a most impressive one, 
even though the moment the sermon was over the 
listeners hurried back to their shops with quickly 
dried tears, intent upon their various trades ; for in 
spite of the appearance of genuine sorrow very little 
is really felt, and the tears are what are proverbially 
known as pertaining to the crocodile. But in spite 
of the fact that one knows the whole aflfair to be 
more of a pantomime than any ebullition of feeling 
of respect for their religion, one is grateful to them 
in that they give one an insight into Persian life 
and the representation of a scene as impressive as 
it is picturesque. I was not, unfortunately, in the 
country to witness the annual passion-play, in which 
the same subject is treated with all the characters 
and costumes of a theatre, but shall never regret 
having had the opportunity several times in the 
grand bazaars of Tabriz of seeing the spectacle 
described above. 




120 TABRIZ. 

The time was drawing near for a departure to be 
made for " countries new," and already I had stayed 
longer than I had intended in my hospitable quarters 
at the Consulate-General. I therefore set to work in 
earnest to procure the horses and a man necessary 
for my travels. In both cases fortune and the good 
counsel of friends aided me, and before long I found 
myself possessed of three very tolerably good steeds 
— one far above the average of horses in this part of 
Persia, notwithstanding the fact that they are, as a 
rule, sturdy willing beasts. As to servants, my Arab 
Mohammed had accompanied me from Morocco, and 
I found another in the person of a former Con- 
sulate servant — a Turki of the name of Yusef, who 
spoke, as well as his native tongue, Persian and 
English. Nor had I reason to regret my fortune in 
lighting upon either this man or the horses, for the 
latter, without an accident, brought us in safety to 
Baghdad nearly two months later ; while Yusef s will- 
ingness to do all in his power to be useful, and his 
skill as an interpreter, made up amply for his lack 
of knowledge regarding horses, and his terror of 
robbers. In both cases, however, I soon found him 
improved by his travels ; for though his fear did 
not desert him, and his complexion still turned pale 
green whenever we met anybody who might even 



PREPARATIONS FOR THE JOURNEY. 121 

be imagined to be a robber — and all the natives in 
these parts of the world bear that appearance more 
or less — he soon became, from personal experience, 
aware that the back-legs of a horse sometimes kicked, 
and that the closing of equine teeth upon one's limbs 
or elsewhere on one's body was not at all a pleasing 
sensation. Poor Yusef! I fear I lost my temper 
once or twice with him ; but he was so mild and 
gentle, and on the whole an excellent servant, and 
thoroughly honest, and we parted in Baghdad the 
best of friends — he with one of my horses to com- 
plete his pilgrimage on to Kerbela, and I with a 
pleasant recollection of his good-nature and general 
usefulness. For travelling anywhere in Persia he is 
invaluable, but he has Kurds on the brain ; nor did 
Mohammed's and my own chaff tend to render him 
less fearful of these kind and hospitable mountaineers. 
And so it was one fine hot morning early in May 
I bade adieu to my kindest of hosts and hostesses, 
Mr and Mrs Cecil Wood, at the gate of the British 
Consulate, and trotted away down the street, followed 
by my two men, all three of us mounted on comfort- 
able Kurdish saddles, carrying such scanty baggage 
as we possessed slung on behind. 

An hour later I turned back as we crossed the 
ridge of a stony hill, and took my last view at the 




122 TABRIZ. 

city of Tabriz, a yellow blot in its surroundings of 
green gardens, with the old Ark or fortress rising 
like a giant mud-heap from the centre. Then, with 
a dig of the sharp corners of my native stirrups, I 
set my horse to a gallop, and in a few minutes had 
caught up the two men. 



123 



CHAPTER VI. 



TABRIZ TO MARAGHA. 



My last glimpse of Tabriz as I rode away was from a 
stony ridge of one of the low spurs of Mount Sahend, 
near the picturesque little mud-village of Lala, nest- 
ling green amongst its trees in a hollow of an other- 
wise bare landscape. Our road continued over the 
plain of the Aji-chai, the river of Tabriz which even- 
tually empties its waters into the lake of Urmiyah. 
In the fresh May morning the scene looked w^onder- 
fully bright and cheerful. On our right lay the flat 
ground, stretching far away to the north and east, to 
where in the faint distance the mountains at the 
north end and farther side of Lake Urmiyah bounded 
the horizon. On the left rose the spurs of Mount 
Sahend, rising tier above tier to the snow summit 
of the central peak, over 11,000 feet above the sea- 
level. The plain, as we skirted its south-eastern 
comer, was well cultivated and irrigated, and showed 
all the signs of its boasted fertility. 




124 TABRIZ TO MARAGHA. 

Saaderut was the first place of any importance 
through which our road led us. It is a large village, 
through the very centre of which the caravan-road 
passes. Part of this main street is loosely roofed over, 
forming the village bazaar, which, poor as it is, wears 
a somewhat flourishing appearance, from the fact that 
most of the houses are two storeys in height. The 
bazaar presented the usual scenes of an oriental 
village — little box-like shops with their platforms in 
front of them, on which were exposed the cheap 
commodities of oriental life, varied by ropes of black 
goat's hair and hobbles for tethering the caravan 
animals, &c. One larger shop exposed to view the 
end of an oven. Here a smooth polished counter lay 
covered with the flat pancake - like bread of the 
country, while from the dark depths of the fiimace a 
couple of swarthy long-haired Turkis, stripped to the 
waist, were extracting a further supply of the same 
indigestible stuff*. But it was only for a few minutes 
that our way was varied by the village scenes, for 
the place is but a small one, and we did not linger. 
Then the open plain again, green with the rising com, 
and here and there dotted with gardens of finit and 
poplar trees. Life stirred on all sides. Ragged 
soldiery were returning from an abortive expedition 
to the Kurdish provinces, many mounted on donkeys 
and still more trudging barefoot, ill-kempt and half 



COUNTRY SCENES. 125 

starved, walking with weary faltering steps, the first 
half a mile ahead of the last, with no officers and no 
attempt at order. Flocks and herds grazed by the 
roadside, the brown fat-tailed sheep and picturesque 
scared-looking goats, while from bush to bush, or on 
the open fields, hopped grey crows, hoopoes, and 
magpies, cawing and chattering and whistling. Then 
a long strip of uninteresting plain brought our little 
caravan to the khan of Yanok, a solitary betowered 
and bewailed building, enclosing a large courtyard, 
surrounded by tiny rooms. Here we rested for the 
refireshment of man and beast. A picturesque scene 
it was within the walls of the caravanserai, for our 
little party of Turki, Arab, and Englishman were by 
no means the only travellers who were resting at this 
Government half-way house, as a number of Turki 
caravan-men, in their strange mushroom-like hats and 
dirty skirted coats of soiled cloth, were seated or lying 
asleep in the vicinity of their tethered pack-horses, 
and one entire comer was occupied by a score of 
camels with jingling bells and head-gear of red cloth, 
feathers, shells, and mirrors, the whole bedecked with 
embroidery and tassels. 

After an hour's rest we set oflf again, and as sunset 
was nearing reached a dreary caravanserai, a mile to 
the north of the little town of Mamerghan. Finding 
that, owing to having delayed in Tabriz, it would be 




126 TABRIZ TO MARAGHA. 

impossible for us to reach Gogan, we sought quarters 
in this inhospitable-looking ruin, and found to our 
relief that there was a tolerably comfortable room 
with a verandah over the arched doorway, and ample 
stabling for our horses. The whole building was 
constructed of mud, which, owing to the climate, 
is tolerably durable. The roof of our room consisted 
of mats of coarse reeds laid over poplar poles, the 
whole covered outside with a thick coating of the 
same kind of native mud as the building was made 
of. Fortunately this spot does not form a common 
resting-place for caravans, so that we had the entire 
building to ourselves, and the uninterrupted service 
of the two or three poverty-looking Turkis in charge. 
From the verandah in front of the one guest-room of 
the place a fine view was obtained of the surrounding 
country. To the east lay Mount Sahend, covered 
with snow, and to the west the mountains of the 
promontory of Shahi, or Shahu, which at this time of 
year forms an island in the lake of Urmiyah. Near 
as was this great sheet of water it was not visible, 
though its surrounding marshes of dark mud, green 
reeds, and incrustation of salt, formed a strange and 
desolate panorama iji that direction. On one of the 
spurs of Sahend to the east lay, only a few miles 
distant, the little town of Mamerghan, a blot of 
yellow mud amongst the green corn-fields. Day 



YUSEF. 127 

ended in a glorious sunset, and still more glorious 
afterglow that turned all the peaks to a colour of 
gold and roses, and then the stars and the rats came 
out, and stayed all night. 

The following day, May 13, we were off early 
across the plain, both Yusef and Mohammed singing 
the airs of their respective countries as they rode 
along, all of us rejoicing in the fresh sunny morning. 
Arriving at a stream of delicious clear water we let 
our horses drink, and here I gained my first insight 
into the character of Yusef as regards his knowledge 
of horses and their ways, for he at once took off the 
bridle and let the youngest and most skittish of my 
horses loose. Off it scampered across the plain, kick- 
ing as it went, full tilt into a caravan of pack-horses 
that were grazing with their loads on their backs in 
the immediate vicinity. Whereupon a shouting of 
the Turki caravan-men, the air filled with guttural 
curses, Yusef crying on the bank of a stream, Mo- 
hammed yelling in Arabic, a language I was the only 
one present to comprehend, — and then a chase. It 
took an hour of hard running and gentle wheedling to 
catch the horse : how long it took the caravan-men 
to replace the packs, &c., that their beasts had kicked 
off in the general stampede I did not wait to see. 
The place was getting sultry, so I said good-bye 
from a. distance, gave Yusef a piece of my mind, and 



> 



128 TABRIZ TO MARAGHA. 

rode on again. An hour or more of the cool morning 
was lost, and I saw in advance the mid-day rest for 
man and beast curtailed. 

At Gogan we turned aside from the main street of 
the village and entered a large caravanserai, with a 
most picturesque entrance, a high deep archway 
crossed half-way up by a wooden bridge joining two 
galleries that led to little rooms on each side of the 
arch. Like all the other buildings in this part of 
Persia, the entire place was constructed of sun-dried 
brick plastered with mud. Within, a gallery sur- 
rounded this square courtyard on the first floor, and 
here a comfortable and tolerably clean little room was 
found for our accommodation, while tea was prepared 
and our horses shod. Here, too, the caravanserai was 
full of mules, horses, and camels, the former princi- 
pally belonging to a large caravan of pilgrims return- 
ing from their long journey to the holy shrines in the 
vicinity of Baghdad. Tired and bedraggled these 
pilgrims seemed to be after their march of nearly a 
thousand miles ; but Tabriz was their destination, and 
on the morrow they hoped to arrive, and receive the 
welcome and homage which the Sheiya world of 
Persia pays to the pilgrim from Kerbela, who here- 
after has the right to style himself " Kerbelai," in the 
same manner as the pilgrims to Mecca become 
"Hajis." 



GOGAN. 129 

Gogan is surrounded by walled gardens of fruit- 
trees and poplars and walnuts, and at this time of 
year, when all were in leaf, the little mud-built town 
presented quite a charming appearance of freshness 
and fertility. It was amongst these gardens that we 
had forded the Masragh Chai, a small river, just 
before arriving at the place. 

Beyond the caravanserai is an open space on to 
which the village mosque looks, a picturesque build- 
ing with its great glassless arched windows filled in 
with trellis-work, that gave a deliciously cool appear- 
ance to the interior. A small stream bisects this open 
square crossed by a stone bridge of one span, but 
sufficient with the surroundings to add an appear- 
ance of charm to the scene. 

From here a long street with shops and caravan- 
serais on either side leads one out of the little town, 
and a picturesque street it is, lined with overhanging 
wooden balconies on which the travellers and caravan- 
men sat smoking their kcdyanSy or water pipes with 
straight stems, dressed in every colour, and presenting 
€very variety of Persian, Turkish, Turkman, and 
Kurdish type of countenance and head -gear, — for 
Gogan is a large station on the road, and nearly all 
caravans stop here. Emerging from the village, the 
road proceeds beneath the slopes of a cemetery, in 
which were some curious old gravestones — particu- 

I 



130 TABRIZ TO MARAGHA. 

larly a ram and a lion, roughly hewn out of grey 
stone, each almost, if not quite, life-size. So primi- 
tive are they in character that they much resemble 
the curious carvings over the kings of the early 
dynasties in China. We had left the plain at Gogan, 
and now began to travel over undulating country, 
alternately crossing hills and open flat valleys, through 
which the streams from the snows of Mount Sahend 
find their way to the lake. Every now and then 
where the road ascended we could catch a charming 
glimpse of Lake Urmiyah on our west, the great ex- 
panse of blue water lying unruffled by the least breeze, 
bounded by the Kurdish snow-peaks beyond the town 
of Urmi on its farther side. 

Like Southern Russia and Turkey, Persia is pos- 
sessed of one of those three large sheets of water 
that form so noticeable a feature in the formation 
of this portion of the world — Lakes Gokcha and 
Van, in Russian and Turkish territory respectively ; 
while Urmiyah, in Azerbaijan, takes their place on 
this side of the frontier. The lake which is usually 
known to Europeans as Urmiyah, from the town of 
Urmi, situated not far from its western shore, is 
called generally by the natives Daria-i-Shahi, or Royal 
Sea. While the waters of the other two are fresh, 
those of Lake Urmiyah are the saltest known in 
any part of the world, and contain over 20 per 



LAKE DBMIYAH. 181 

cent of that mineral and a proportionately large 
quantity of iodine, thus excelling in this feature 
the Dead Sea. But it is by no means only from 
this point of view that Lake Unniyah deserrea 
notice, for in size it forma an important feature. 
Its length is eighty - five miles, with an avenge 
breadth of twenty - five, and it lies at an elevation 
of over 4000 feet above the sea-level. The edge of 




tail Urmiyah /rem Iki read le Maragka. 

the lake, to which I have already briefly referred, 
consists of low marshy land, the immediate prox- 
imity of the water being covered with a coating of 
white salt, giving much the appearance of ice. The 
depth varies but little, being extremely shallow at 
all parts, while the extreme saltness of the water 
prevents the existence of any life with the excep- 
tion of that of a minute jelly-fish. The surface is, 
however, largely the resort of aquatic birds, which 



132 TABRIZ TO MAEAGHA. 

seem, while building their nests in its vicinity, to 
go farther afield for food, and at Suj - bulak, and 
even nearly as far as Serdasht, I saw quantities of 
sea-gulls. 

Toward the southern end of Lake Urmiyah are 
scattered a number of small islands, of which the 
great part are mere rocks, though several allow of 
their being utilised as grazing-ground for sheep in 
winter ; and on one of these Hulaku is said to have 
built a treasury, though what evidence there is for 
this report it is dijB&cult to say, for Hulaku's treas- 
uries appear to exist in many places throughout the 
country, if one is to believe current tradition. In 
spite of the advantages that the lake of Urmiyah 
oflfers for navigation, only three half-decked sailing- 
boats ply upon its waters, which are in the hands 
of Vali-Aht, but are sublet to a local official, the 
governor of Maragha, who, after paying an extor- 
tionate price for the monopoly, is able to draw a 
substantial income. How advantageous a fleet of 
sailing-boats would be is appreciable when the char- 
acter of the country surrounding the lake is taken 
into consideration; for the rich plains at the south 
and south-east extremity produce an enormous quan- 
tity of grain, of which the carriage by caravan 
materially raises the price in the districts of Tabriz, 
whereas were boats available for its transport it 



SOLDIERY. 133 

could be sold at a large profit to the growers and 
a great reduction to the consumers ; but then the 
governor of Maragha and the contractor would lose 
their profits, which in the eyes of officialdom in 
Persia is of far greater moment. 

At a miserable hovel by the roadside we drank 
a cup of sweet Persian tea out of the small glass 
tumblers in use in the country. Poor stuff, and a 
poor little place altogether it was, but it gave us 
an opportunity of a talk with the old bundle of rags 
who kept the caf^. He was a native of Khoneya, 
a large village a mile or two to the west off the 
main road, and he eked out a small existence by 
selling tea to the wayfarers. While seated here 
half-a-dozen miserable soldiers came up, half-starved 
and in rags. They were part of the army(!) re- 
turning from an expedition which had been sent 
from Tabriz to Kurdistan on account of some diflS- 
culties there. They had, after great trouble, arrived 
at their destination, though nothing, however, had 
come of it, and no fighting had taken place ; so 
their officers in command returned and left the 
totally unprovided - for troops to find their way 
back as best they could, which they did by begging 
food and shelter from village to village. They are 
curious people these Persian soldiers of Azerbaijan, 
and ill-treated as they are, said they had nothing 



A 



134 TABRIZ TO MARAGHA. 

to complain of, their pride not allowing them to 
do so to a European. They received, they said, 
7 tomans a-year — at the present rate of exchange a 
toman equals something over 3s. — and two suits of 
uniform. 

A few miles farther on is a guard-house, situated 
on a desolate part of the road, and protected by a 
guard of Kurdish soldiers, the most terrifying brigands 
to look at, but full of laughter and good-nature, who 
insisted on my coming in and drinking tea with them, 
though they readily accepted a small bakshish in re- 
turn, a proceeding they would not have ventured to 
do in their own country. The road here is unin- 
habited and desolate, and not unfrequently caravans 
are robbed at this spot, though I was told that it was 
not until after the baggage of some important official 
had been stolen that the almost daily complaints of 
robberies were attended to, and the guard -house 
built and the half-dozen soldiers quartered there. 

From this spot the road descends by a winding 
course to the plains of Ajebshehr, in which are 
situated the famous marble springs and pits of 
Maragha, which take their name from the town some 
fifteen or twenty miles beyond. 

There are quite a number of these strange pheno- 
mena all situated within a small area. The water, 
which emerges from the ground, contains large quan- 



THE MARBLE SPRINGS. 135 

tities of lime and oxide, apparently, of iron. A 
precipitation like rock-salt is continually being formed 
around the springs, which gradually solidifies and 
hardens into solid blocks of from 6 to 8 inches in 
thickness, which, while hard enough to be durable, 
can be sawn into plates of the thickness required. 
The marble is very handsome, much resembling 
alabaster, but with the addition of streaks of colour 
and opalesque tints. The supply, however, appears 
to be limited, for the natives told me that the forma- 
tion is very much slower now than formerly, and 
there is a tradition that the water was once boiling. 
Two or three smaller springs, but of the same nature, 
are to be found in the very middle of the Tabriz- 
Maragha road, between the guard-house on the hill 
I mentioned and the plain below, about half-way 
down the slope. Here I drank some of the water, 
which is gaseous, tasting much like ordinary soda- 
water. At these small springs, of which no use is 
made, one can see the curious formation of the little 
cones of precipitated lime, resembling miniature 
volcanoes, only a very few inches in height. The 
supply of water is intermittent, and one spring threw 
a little jet of water about a foot above the level of 
the ground regularly every nine seconds. Sufficient 
water is given off by these tiny sources in the road 
to form a small stream, the banks and beds of which 




136 TABRIZ TO MARAGHA. 

are covered with the crystalline sediment. A few 
miles more of plain and we reached the large village 
of Ajebshehr. After half an hour of road between 
walled gardens of fruit-trees, walnuts, and poplars, 
we entered the village, near a rather handsome brick 
mosque with the usual great trellised windows. 

There is a custom all over North and West Persia, 
and I daresay also in other parts of the country, of 
seeking a night s lodgings with private individuals. 
For instance, a man owns a house in which there is 
a certain amount of accommodation and perhaps a 
stable. He does not in the least think it infra dig. 
to take in lodgers for the night; nor is there any 
difficulty in finding such lodging, for even the 
passers-by in the street will direct one to such a 
place. For a small party travelling without tents, 
bedding, or luggage, as we were, this means far 
greater comfort, quiet, and cleanliness than in the 
overcrowded khans and caravanserais, and wherever 
possible we availed ourselves of this means of obtain- 
ing food and shelter. The payment is very small, 
the owner of the house merely adding up the items 
of food, and one paying a small bakshish over and 
above for the accommodation. I doubt if this food 
for myself and three servants, barley for our three 
horses, and our lodging, with use of cooking utensils 
and samovar for our tea, ever cost us above the 



QUARTERS FOR THE NIGHT. 137 

equivalent of 3s. to 4s. any night of the entire 
journey, and yet I never left the house of one of 
our humble hosts without hearing poured on my 
head really sincere words and blessings of gratitude. 
So mean are the people amongst themselves, that in 
these uncivilised and little-travelled districts of Persia 
the slightest generosity — the payment of 2d. above 
the absolutely necessary price — is a surprise and a 
pleasure. This not only renders travelling very 
cheap, but also leaves behind a pleasant recollection 
of the traveller, — as eminently satisfactory a state 
of affairs as one could desire. 

The quarters we found for ourselves in Ajebshehr 
consisted of a couple of rooms on the first floor of a 
house overlooking a yard, in which was stabling for 
our horses. The rooms were simple and poor enough, 
but the warm nights and balmy air did not necessi- 
tate much in the way of windows or doors — in fact 
I preferred, on account of the probable vicinity of 
vermin, to seek my rest on the open roof. Our host 
was an old Turki moUah, and a horrid old fanatic to 
look at, with his eyelashes blackened with antimony 
and his white beard died yellow. But as soon as 
night set in, and there was no chance of his neigh- 
bours looking on, I found him ready enough to come 
and sit with us and share the humble supper and tea 
which my men and I always took together ; for no 




138 TABRIZ TO MARAGHA. 

Sheiya in Persia will, as a rule, touch food with 
a European, much less a moUah, whose position 
answers somewhat to that of a parish priest. 

The gardens of Ajebshehr are very luxuriant, and 
walnut-trees, the jujube, filbert, almond, and other 
fruit-trees flourish. Much planting, too, was going 
on in the neighbourhood, showing that there is profit 
in such things. The vineyards are excellently kept, 
the vines being grown upon high narrow banks of 
earth divided from one another by deep ditches so 
as to allow of irrigation in the dry seasons. In fact 
all the cultivation of this part of Persia is entirely 
dependent upon artificial means for nourishment. 
The proximity of Mount Sahend, and the streams 
it is continually pouring down from its snow-peaks, 
give an unlimited supply of water, which is greedily 
drawn aside by the tillers of the soil, and it is this 
never-ceasing supply that causes the richness and 
fertility of the east side of Lake Urmiyah. 

But while the better class and land-owning peasant 
is able to gain a livelihood from his gardens and his 
fields, the labourer has a bad time, as the following 
fact shows that the natives of this portion of Persia, 
and even from far beyond, make yearly journeys 
into Russian territory — 150 miles distant to the 
frontier alone — to earn higher wages by harvesting. 
We passed every day long strings of these poor 



EMIGRATION. 139 

fellows trudging along the dusty roads toward 
Tabriz, on their way to seek their fortune from the 
despised Christians. Immediately the harvest is 
completed and gathered they return, bringing their 
hardly-won earnings with them. 

The next morning we were off at sunrise, for 
having no luggage save a small bundle each, tied on 
behind our saddles, there was no delay. The road 
lies for two farsakhs (seven to eight miles) across 
the plain as far as Al-Goh, a poverty-stricken village 
at the foot of some low hills. A large round tower 
of mud bricks stands at the north side of the place, 
of which the original use seems forgotten, though its 
present purpose is well enough known to the natives, 
for here the tax-collector resides on his annual visit 
at harvest-time. While resting under the shade of 
a wall — for there was no other protection from the 
sun — in the courtyard of the wretched caravanserai, 
a number of Turki pilgrims arrived on their way to 
Kerbela, with their veiled women and children, and 
the scene was rendered bright by the clanging of the 
great copper bells on the horses' necks and the voices 
of the little party. Poor as the village was, the 
gardens in the neighbourhood were rich and luxuri- 
ant ; but probably most of the profit of the produce 
finds its way into the capacious and rapacious claws 
of the officials. 




140 TABRIZ TO MARAGHA. 

Two and a half hours of hilly road and suddenly, 
turning a corner, a most charming view met our gaze 
— the town of Maragha, nestling in an endless suc- 
cession of gardens, amidst streams of dancing water 
and in vegetation almost tropical in its luxuriance. 
Everywhere native industry has dug little canals, 
cariying the streams here, there, and everywhere; 
and wherever the water reaches vegetation springs 
up. The road winds down amongst these lovely 
gardens of fruit and forest trees, now past clear pools 
of still water, now along the banks of splashing 
channels, till the bed of the Safi Chai, the river of 
Maragha, is reached. 

A handsome bridge of brick gives entrance to the 
town, and the scene here was charming indeed : the 
fast -flowing river, with its clear wide stream and 
banks of trees and gardens, amongst which a number 
of handsome Persian tents were pitched ; the fine 
brick bridge, and the old tower and dome of a 
half-ruined building at the entrance to the town, 
with a background of woods and mountains, — ^formed 
as charming a picture as I saw anywhere in Persia. 

Passing the handsome ruin mentioned above, with 
its walls of red brick inlaid with beautiful examples 
of blue faience, we rode into the town, a crowd 
collecting round us and accompanying us on our 
way, for it is very seldom indeed that a European 



ARRIVAL AT MARAGHA. 141 

enters Maragha. A large mosque, with trees in 
front of it, was passed, and then on into the bazaars, 
with their roofs of matting laid over poplar poles, 
until we found quarters for our stay in a large new 
and clean caravanserai, with stables near at hand. 
The building in which our quarters were situated 
was separated from the courtyard, and consisted 
of shops and stores, neatly built in the form of 
an octagon round a paved court, with a fountain 
of none too clean water in the centre. Here 
we soon made ourselves comfortable, thanks to 
the assiduous care of the owner of the place, and 
after having watered and fed our horses and seen 
them comfortably housed, we lay down to pass the 
heat of the afternoon in sleep. 




142 



CHAPTER VII. 



MARAGHA TO MIYANDOB. 



Maragha to-day boasts little of the appearance it 
must have borne when it formed one of the resi- 
dences of the Mongol Emperor Hulaku ; for now, 
in spite of the fact that the place is a flourishing 
one for its size, it presents but few architectural 
features beyond the ordinary type of modern Persian 
architecture. Yet there are still to be seen a few 
remains of its once famous antiquities; for at one 
time, during the residence of Hulaku, it was a 
centre of learning and art, and here that prince 
built for Nasr ed-Din, the astronomer, the famous 
observatory in which the Alkhani Tables were com- 
piled. I was unable in my visit to discover any 
remains of the observatory, though buildings dating 
from the period of Hulaku undoubtedly do remain, 
— such, for instance, as the beautiful octagonal tower 
of delicate and intricate brickwork, with its half- 



HULAKU. 143 

ruined dome and its inlaid work of exquisite 
faience. I was told that tradition states this tower 
to have been the tomb of Hulaku himself, who died 
in 1265 A.D. ; but it appears that the famous Mongol 
general and emperor was interred on the Shahi 
promontory, overlooking Lake Urmiyah. That the 
tower was a tomb at all cannot be stated for certain, 
for it contains three storeys of domed chambers lit 
with windows, and the ground-floor, built of well- 
cut stone, is entered by an arched doorway, and 
bears within no traces or appearance of ever having 
served the purpose that tradition has accredited to 
it. From its situation, on the slope of a hill, and 
the absence of any signs of surrounding tombs, and 
from the beautiful views to be obtained from its 
windows, it does not seem improbable that the 
place was once one of those summer - houses in 
which the oriental all the world over loves to re- 
cline during the heat of the day, fanned by every 
breeze that may blow. No doubt the question could 
be easily solved by the deciphering of the inscrip- 
tion of blue faience that surrounds the building just 
below the dome ; but unfortunately the fact that 
my visit was made late in the afternoon, and the 
height of the tower, prevented my being able to 
spell out the intricate and decorative Arabic in- 
scription. 




144 MARAGHA TO MIYANDOB. 

I entered the lower chamber of the tower and 
found it to be a vaulted and arched room, well built 
and faced of square blocks of stone. The present 
heir-apparent of Persia, the Vali-Aht, Viceroy of the 
province of Azerbaijan, in which district Maragha 
is situated, had on his visit here a few years ago 
done his best to destroy the building by attempting 
to remove the stones of the walls and foundations 
in a search for treasure ; but so eflfete is the Persian 
of to-day that he failed to more than move the solidly 
placed stones. He desired, I was told, to resort to 
powder in order to continue his search, but the owners 
of the neighbouring houses clamoured out so loudly 
that he was persuaded to desist. From the stories 
current about his Royal Highness, this is the only 
energetic work I ever heard of his engaging upon 
— to destroy one of the few beautiful buildings in 
his province ; but even here his weak character won 
the day and, happily, he failed. 

The one other building of importance in Maragha 
is the bridge over the river by which we had entered 
the town. This structure, however, does not boast 
of any great antiquity, having been built in 1809. 
It is a handsome piece of work with six arches, and 
possesses the same peculiarity that the bridge over the 
Aji-chai at Tabriz does, that it is not straight. The 
northern part of the bridge points up the stream, 



POPULATION. 145 

and when half has been crossed the rest takes a turn 
to the right, forming an obtuse angle in the centre. 
Whether this is supposed to be a means of defence, 
or merely a strengthening of the structure against 
floods, I was unable to discover. 

Nor do the bazaars at Maragha present any feature 
of difference from those of other small Persian towns. 
They appear to be well supplied with the necessities 
of life — which are here very cheap — and a quantity 
of imported manufactures, principally printed cottons. 
The only native manufacture seems to be that of 
glass, and this only for the flat, narrow, circular 
bottles in common use in the country for oil and 
wine. Of the latter the Armenian, Nestorian, and 
Jewish population make considerable quantities, and 
seem to be one and all addicted to the use of the 
juice of the grape. 

It is impossible to give any valuable or reliable 
statement as to the population of Maragha. Prob- 
ably the town contains in all some 15,000 souls, of 
which a third are Jews, Armenians, and Nestorians. 
Of the latter there are very few, but the Christian 
quarter seems the richest and best populated. It is 
needless to say there are no European inhabitants, 
though now and again the members of the American 
Mission pay a visit to the charming little town, 
where, under a certain converted Nestorian, a Protes- 

K 



146 MARAGHA TO MIYANDOB. 

tant school for native Christians has been instituted, 
and seems doing good work. 

To this Nestorian gentleman I owe a debt of grati- 
tude, for he not only entertained me at a sumptuous 
tea in his picturesque house, but kindly volunteered 
to show me such sights as Maragha possesses, and it 
was under his guidance that I visited the bazaars 
and the tower of which I have spoken above. 

This may not be an unsuitable spot to introduce a 
few words regarding the Nestorians, or Chaldaeans, as 
another division of their sect is called. Personally I 
came but very little into contact with these people, 
for their strongholds lie to the west and north of 
Lake Urmiyah, and my journey led me to the east 
and south, but nevertheless some mention must be 
made of this curious people. 

In the fifth century a.d. Nestorius, Patriarch of 
Constantinople, was excommunicated for heresy. 
His doctrine, it appeai-s, was with regard to the in- 
carnation of Christ, who, he asserted, possessed two 
separate natures and a dual personality. Banished 
by the third General Council of the Church of 
Ephesus, he fled with a following to Persia. Here 
the new religion prospered, converts were made far 
and near throughout the surrounding countries, mis- 
sionaries full of zeal carried the faith into distant 
regions, and the followers of Nestorius found them- 



THE NESTORIANS. 147 

selves in a comparatively short time both numerically 
and politically powerful. So strong, indeed, did the 
sect become, that we hear of no less than twenty-five 
bishoprics being established, the influence of which 
extended from the western portions of China to 
Abyssinia, where Prester John, the king, was con- 
verted. But meanwhile there was springing up a 
new power, which was gradually surging over the 
whole of Asia, and in the fourteenth century burst 
with fury over the country which was the centre of 
the Christian doctrine. This was the invasion of the 
Tatars under Timur, or Tamerlane, and with them 
commenced a series of persecutions that, except for 
the refugees who fled to the highlands of Kurdistan, 
wiped out the Nestorian religion. It is there nowa- 
days that one must look for the Nestorians. Some, it 
is true, have gradually sought the more productive 
plains of the west shores of Lake Urmiyah, and some 
wandered into Mesopotamia as far as Mosul. In all, 
the followers of the Nestorian doctrine number per- 
haps 180,000 to-day, of which nearly 50,000 live in 
Persia. 

So long a period has passed since their foundation 
that the present representatives of their sect possess 
but little knowledge with regard to its ancient 
history. The name of Nestorius is almost unknown 
amongst them, and they themselves claim to be the 




148 MARAGHA TO MIYANDOB. 

followers of St Paul and St Jude. But not only do 
the Nestorians form a sect apart, but are a separate 
race to any of the many peoples residing in this 
portion of the country. Their language, a form of 
Syriac, is so like to Arabic that when read aloud I 
was able to comprehend the general gist of what was 
being said, though in conversation I could under- 
stand but little, the old language having to-day de- 
generated into a patois, full of words and expressions 
borrowed from the Kurds, Persians, and Turks. 

It would be too long a matter to trace out here the 
various disputes and divisions that have at times 
split up the followers of the Nestorian doctrines, who 
for political purposes and motives of private jealousy 
have separated and quarrelled. Let it suffice to say 
that to-day there exist three principal branches of the 
faith — (1) the old Nestorians under Mar Shimun, the 
hereditary Patriarch ; (2) the Chaldseans under the 
Patriarch of Babylon, resident in Baghdad ; and (3) 
the Chaldseans under the Patriarch of Mosul, who are 
practically Roman Catholics in doctrine, with a diver- 
gence of opinion regarding the infallibility of the Pope 
and his right to interfere with their concerns. 

The larger portion of the Nestorians in Persian 
territory come under the first of these headings, and 
are followers of Mar Shimun, the present Patriarchy 
who appears to be an astute old gentleman, subsidised 



MISSIONS. 149 

by the Turks, and no doubt on some understanding 
with Russia. Meanwhile other factors are at work, 
and missions of the American Episcopalian Church, 
the Church of England, and the Roman Catholics are 
after them, — a combination that has unfortunately 
caused some friction, though not as much as might 
have been expected. The efforts of these three 
missions have done much for the education, and par- 
ticularly the technical education, of the people, and 
many converts have been made by each of the sects 
in question. Yet in spite of this success, the moral 
standard of the Nestorians and their Church is still 
hopelessly low, and little or no raising of the people 
has been generally brought about. The characteristics 
of the Nestorians are easily summed up. They are 
extremely religious in form, keeping most strictly 
the Sabbath, their fast-days, &c. ; still more extremely 
immoral in domestic life ; and hopelessly mendicant 
and avaricious. In fact their craving for education 
may be said entirely to exist for the purpose of being 
able to better their worldly affairs, and even to prey 
upon their less fortunate brethren. 

While the Catholic and American Missions are in- 
tent upon making converts, that of the Church of 
England is carried out on much wider and broader 
principles — merely the moral raising of the people 
and the setting of an old Church upon its feet again. 



150 MARAGHA TO MIYANDOB. 

Now and again — generally in regard to the Ar- 
menian question — the oppression of the Nestorians 
is brought before the public ; but, as a matter of 
fact, very little exists, and their position in Persia 
at least is better than that of the lower-class Moslem 
population. The wilder mountain Nestorians boast 
to-day that they pay no taxes, and are fully armed 
to repel either the Kurds or the official tax-collec- 
tor. In fact, between the lawlessness of this wilder 
division of their people and the Kurds there is 
little to choose, as both are robbers and brigands, 
and independent. 

These few words about the remnants of an ancient 
and once powerful division of the Christian religion 
will suffice for a book the object of which is simply 
the narration of travel. 

I failed to procure any antiquities of any value at 
Maragha. One or two moderate sword -blades and 
some Greek coins, for which the most exorbitant 
prices were asked, were brought to me, and the 
owners seemed quite surprised and annoyed that I 
was not prepared to give ten times the value of 
the articles in question. 

Certainly the principal charm of Maragha is owing 
to its delightful surroundings of gardens; for the 
valley, wide as it is, is literally covered with an 
abundance of fruit, walnut, and poplar trees, while 



BEGGARS. 151 

every stream is shaded by the willow and the sweet- 
smelling jujube-tree, with its soft yellow blossoms ; 
and in these groves we spent the cool of the after- 
noon, after having exhausted the few sights of the 
little town. Our walk would have been pleasanter 
certainly had we been able to free ourselves of the 
dozen or so Armenian boys who followed us about 
begging for money, though all well dressed, and 
offering to show us all sorts of imaginary ruins 
and curiosities for "a consideration." But Moham- 
med, my Arab servant, proved too much for their 
never-ceasing demands at last, and, with the aid of 
a cAapar-whip and a few well-directed stones, dis- 
persed the crowd and rid us of the annoying 
attention of these detestably grasping urchins. 

Then back to our caravanserai to feed our horses 
and sketch the old part of the building, where a 
caravan of gaudy Kurds had arrived, who, unlike 
the Turki population, treated us with no concern 
except to wish us a hearty good evening. But the 
Turkis — shopkeepers and caravan -men — who fre- 
quented the khan, refused to aid us in any way to 
water, feed, or tether our steeds, or put their hands 
to any work, until the wild country Kurds came to 
our rescue and helped us to see to our horses' needs 
and comforts — no easy task in the crowded yard of 
a caravanserai, in a country where every horse fights 




152 MARAGHA TO MIYANDOB. . 

and kicks at everything and everybody within reach 
of his heels. 

We left Maragha at dawn the next day, passing 
down a wide road planted with an avenue of trees, 
and faced at one end by a rather handsome mosque 
of brick. Then on along a level track with walled 
gardens of poplars and fruit-trees, amongst vineyards 
and almond-plantations, until, an hour after leaving 
the town, we reached a brick bridge near the village 
of Khamiat. So rough and slippery looked its pave- 
ment of blocks of stone that we preferred to ford 
the stream, which, being low, oflfered no difficulties. 

The horses of Northern Persia — and I daresay those 
too of other parts of the country — are trained to 
amble, by which a steady pace of about four to five 
miles an hour can be maintained on good roads and 
level country. The motion is a pleasant one, and 
not in the least tiring, as is the uncertain and 
little-practised trot of these country steeds. In the 
early morning, before the heat of the day, we sped 
along at an excellent rate, enjoying the freshness of 
the breeze and the charming surroundings. 

Here, too, we began to find ourselves amongst new 
scenes and new experiences. Everywhere the land 
was cultivated and green with the young corn, except 
where away to our left rose the snow-peaks of Mount 
Sahend. It was here for the first time that we 



ILIYATS. 153 

witnessed the strange spectacle of the nomad popula- 
tion of Northern Persia, the Iliyats, changing from 
their winter to their summer quarters, for such is not 
the practice of the Kurds alone. There were perhaps 
in this first cavalcade that we met a hundred men, 
women, and children, and it is impossible to say how 
large a number of camels, mares, horses, donkeys, 
sheep, cattle, and goats. The procession must have 
been at least a mile in length, for to move so large 
a number of beasts, and see that they did not tres- 
pass to any great extent into the adjacent fields, 
necessitates no little manoeuvring. Probably the 
people themselves had but little idea of what a 
picture they and their belongings formed. Some of 
the men were riding the lumbering baggage-camels, 
swaying backwards and forwards to the step of their 
awkward mounts. They were typical Turkis of the 
wilds of North-West Persia, with blue cotton frocked 
and skirted coats, dirty wide trousers of white linen, 
sleeveless sheepskin jackets, and gigantic mushroom- 
like hats of coarse wool of brown and grey. The 
women and children for the most part walked, and a 
bright addition the former made to the scene in their 
skirts of dark blue or red cotton, and their gaudy 
shapeless jackets and bright head-gear. Some carried 
their young children in their arms, while the re- 
mainder of the rising generation trotted along, play- 



> 



154 MARAGHA TO MIYANDOB. 

ing with the savage-looking dogs that would stop to 
bark at us as we passed. The long-necked camels, gay 
with scarlet and embroidered head-stalls and tassels, 
the whole decorated with shells and little mirrors, 
clanged the big brass bells that were tied round their 
necks, groaning under the heavy load of brown and 
black goat's -hair tents, the summer residences — 
and often the winter ones too — of these wild tribes- 
people. Nor were the camels and donkeys the only 
beasts of burden ; for many a bullock and cow bore 
in coarse bags over its back a load of the household 
cooking utensils, poles for the tents, and all kinds of 
odds and ends, now and again a young lamb or kid 
bleating for its mother, or a little child in bead- 
bedecked cap of scarlet cloth. Few were armed 
beyond the dagger worn in the sash or belt, but 
one or two carried European-made rifles or an old 
flintlock or primeval muzzle-loader. A couple of 
mollahs, distinguishable by their fur-lined caps of 
cloth, accompanied the rest. And amidst this 
strange cavalcade were thousands of sheep and 
goats, bleating as they went, and kicking up the 
dust on the way. 

Kegarding the movements of these Iliyats, or 
nomad tribes, a word or two must be written. 
There are said to exist in Persia seventeen distinct 
tribes which come under this category, each speaking 



'*kishlak" and "yailak." 155 

a dialect of its own. The most of them have their 
regular winter and summer quarters, the former 
known as "Kishlak," and the latter as **Yailak." 
Although they pay a varying tax to the Shah, the 
Grovernment interferes very little in their tribal 
affairs, all matters being in the hands of Rish- 
Sufeds — grey-beards — i.e., elders. The various tribes 
seldom intermarry with each other. Regular customs 
are in use regarding the striking of their camps. 
They leave their winter quarters regularly one month 
after Nao Roz (when the sun enters Aries), and seek 
the Sar-hadd, or boundary of heat and cold, usually 
situated half-way up the mountain, on the summit of 
which their summer grazing-lands lie. Here they 
remain a month or more, proceeding, as soon as the 
weather permits, to the Yailak, where they remain 
until driven back to the Kishlak by the early snows 
of winter. 

Two hours from Maragha we crossed the water- 
shed of two of the rivers flowing from Sahend to 
Lake Urmiyah, the Safi Chai and the Murdi Chai. 
We followed a stream to its junction with the latter, 
just where it emerges from the valley and its gardens 
and enters the plain. This was a charming spot, 
green with damp sward and trees, and even young 
plantations of poplars, no doubt planted for building 
purposes. Just below where we forded the river is a 



i 



156 MARAGHA TO MIYANDOB. 

fine red-brick bridge, but as we were shown a shorter 
cut, and the water was low, we preferred to ford and 
give our horses the opportunity of drinking. Half a 
mile beyond the river we reached the large village of 
Kalajeh, and as we had covered over fifteen miles in 
three hours, and my horses had a matter of a thou- 
sand miles more or less of travel before them, I 
thought it advisable to rest here. There is no cara- 
vanserai at Kalajeh, and so we were obliged to search 
for lodging in a private house — no very easy matter, 
as all the men of the place seemed to be absent 
working in the fields. However, after half an hour 
of aimless marching up and down the streets between 
mud hovels, we happily fell in with the guardian of 
an oflBcial house, on which I had already set my eyes 
with envy, and before long, by the aid of a little 
politeness and a small gift, we found ourselves com- 
fortably installed in a charming little residence, 
situated in an overgrown garden of fruit-trees. Our 
house consisted of a suite of large apartments on the 
ground floor, minus their windows and doors, and 
two pleasant little rooms above, with prettily latticed 
windows, consisting of small pieces of wood arranged 
to form the geometric design so popular in the East. 
Here we unpacked our saddle-bags, and arranging for 
our meals to be sent to us from a neighbouring house, 
settled ourselves in. Excellent stabling existed in 



KALAJEH. 157 

the yard without, and we were really fortunate in 
finding so comfortable a lodging. 

The view from the window of the upper room was 
charming. One s eyes wandered a mile or two across 
the plain, over a foreground of flat yellow mud roofs, 
to the hills and gardens near the bridge where we 
had forded the Murdi Chai. A few words must be 
written about the usual habitation of the Turki 
peasants of Azerbaijan. They consist entirely of 
mud, except for the poplar poles that support the 
roof. Usually entrance to the dwelling is gained 
through a yard surrounded by a high rough mud 
wall, in which the cattle are housed of a night. 
Within, one or more rooms open on to the yard. 
These chambers are not usually lit by. windows, and 
are very dirty, with low ceilings, and black with 
smoke. Little or no furniture or comfort of any sort 
is to be found within. A hole in the centre of the 
floor, kept covered by a wooden plank, or often form- 
ing a dangerous trap by being hidden under matting 
only, serves in the cold winter as a fireplace. Often 
a rough handloom and a few coarse boxes are all the 
rooms contain, though now and then a cradle and a 
carpet are found. A few coarse copper pots and pans 
sufiice for cooking utensils and for milk, on which 
latter the natives largely subsist. In one corner 
stands a cane framework covered with mud, like an 



158 MARAGHA TO MIYANDOB. 

enormous beehive in shape, in which the grain is 
stored for the year's use. Unattractive and full of 
vermin are these hovels in Persia; but for the 
traveller who, like myself, prefers to see native life 
as it is, and to travel unhampered by tents or 
baggage, there is generally no other accommodation. 
So it was that at Kalajeh we had every reason for 
being highly satisfied with our quarters, which were 
clean and fresh, and open to the breeze. 

Nor were we fated to pass our afternoon without 
incident ; for first we were visited by a Turki 
musician, a wild hunchbacked creature in rags, 
with long straight hair hanging on his shoulders, 
and a tambourine three sizes too big for him. As 
far as playing this simple instrument can be said 
to be artistic, he excelled, and it was really mar- 
vellous the extraordinary facility of moving his 
fingers that constant practice had given him ; but 
any merit his skill on the tambourine possessed 
was cancelled by his rasping voice, which grated 
in a key he failed to reach, rising every now and 
then to a broken chromatic scale and dying away 
in a squeak. As his airs were all love-songs of the 
ultra-pathetic type, the effect of the words was lost ; 
nor did I dream that he was singing anything but 
vastly comic songs, mixed up with bad imitations of 
the " Battle of Prague," until Yusef commenced to 



AN OFFICIAL. 159 

translate his pathetic words to me — all about bulbuls 
and roses and the moon, and a lot of other reiterated 
sentimentality. 

Our second event was the arrival of a small 
Persian functionary from Maragha on his way to 
"try" some murder case in the neighbourhood. A 
band of soldiers preceded him, who with no com- 
punction entered my room and roughly ordered me 
to quit, as a man vastly my superior required the 
accommodation. I was equally ready to bid them 
to quit ; and though Yusef — an awful coward — almost 
screamed with terror in the corner of the room, my 
Arab and I had them out and down the narrow 
stairs in double-quick time. They literally fled when 
Mohammed let loose a little gentle Arabic and a 
couple of sturdy fists. My victory was too tempo- 
rary not to follow it up, so I appeared two minutes 
later in the yard, shouting for my horse to be saddled. 
The soldiers had by now become thoroughly fright- 
<3ned; for molesting Europeans is a serious offence 
in Persia, and my piece of bluff* answered well. 
"Where was I going?" they asked. **To meet the 
official on the road and complain of their ruffianly 
conduct." I soon allowed myself to be pacified, and 
the soldiers did not know how to be polite enough, 
— they groomed my horses, brushed my saddles, 
cooked tea for me, and invited me to supper ; and so 



A 



160 MARAGHA TO MIYANDOB. 

the incident passed over. The deputy governor of 
Maragha arrived ; we exchanged visits and drank 
tea and sherbet with each other, supped in his 
apartments down -stairs, and parted the best of 
friends — but I didn't give up my rooms. 

We heard many complaints at Kalaj^h of the 
misery brought upon the place by the Kurdish 
rebellion under Sheikh Obeidullah in 1880. Of this 
event I shall have more to say anon ; and whether 
it was owing to that or to other sources, certainly 
the large village wore a most poverty-stricken ap- 
pearance, quite unaccountable to natural circum- 
stances, for the country round is very fertile and 
rich. Most of the windows and doors of the house 
I was in had been burnt as firewood by the wild 
Kurdish tribes. 

Eain fell in the night, and a cloudy morning made 
travelling delightful, though our road was in places 
abominable — through a deep sticky marsh of black 
peat — and our horses were often up to their girths 
in slime and water. However, with patience we 
managed to pull through and reach better ground 
beyond. 

We were still traversing the succession of wide 
valleys and plains that line the east bank of Lake 
Urmiyah, and our elevation above the sea had altered 
but little, as I found the barometer at Kalajdh to 



MI YANDOB. 161 

stand at 4250 feet — that is to say, about 200 feet 
above the level of the lake, which from this spot 
was not visible, though the snow -peaks beyond 
showed up every now and again white against the 
blue sky. 

After spluttering about in the marsh, and not with- 
out a few falls, for the mud was the most slippery I 
had ever come across, we reached grass again, and 
clearing the soil from our horses' shoes, we trotted 
on over the undulating plain, dotted with villages 
and gardens. A succession of deep narrow canals for 
irrigating purposes caused us no little delay, for there 
was no one near to show us the fords ; but at length 
the vision of a wide fast-flowing river, with large 
gardens beyond and here and there the peep of a 
house, showed us that w^e were nearing Miyandob. 




162 



CHAPTER VIII. 



MIYANDOB TO SUJ-BULAK. 



At the banks of the Jiratu, or Jirati, as it seems to 
be more often called, we were obliged to wait our 
turn to be carried across by the boat which answers 
the purpose of a ferry. This short delay, however, 
did not inconvenience one in the least, for there was 
plenty to see the while. A cavalcade of the Iliyat 
population were crossing at the time, and the boat 
was full of gaily - dressed women and children, of 
whom, too, a great number, together with men, cattle, 
camels, and horses, had already been ferried across. 
On the bank they had, while waiting for the rest of 
their gipsy relations, pitched their brown goat's-hair 
tents and lit their fires, and the cooking of the mid- 
day meal was in full swing. A prettier or more 
picturesque scene could not be imagined in the bright 
sunlight on the green river-bank. The cattle, camels, 
and horses browsed and grazed amongst the tents. 



A FORD. 163 

while many of the smaller children, to prevent their 
straying or falling down the steep clay banks into the 
river, were tethered, together with the lambs and 
kids, to the tent poles. Every one was active, save 
only the shepherd-boys who guarded the great flocks 
and herds that stood panting in the heat. For a 
background to this panorama of human beings, tents, 
fires, and kind, lay the river, and beyond the gardens 
of Miyandob and the hills farther away. But it was 
not long before it came to our turn to cross, for the 
Iliyats were coming from the farther shore, and the 
boat had to return empty. With a great deal of 
shouting and laughter, and no little danger from 
being kicked, we jumped our horses into the three- 
cornered boat of rough planks and set out. Before, 
however, we reached the farther bank we were nearly 
being capsized ; for with that want of forethought 
which fighting horses always show as to situation and 
danger, a wild battle -royal commenced in the frail 
craft between my three steeds. Our fellow-passengers, 
some women and children, began to scream, and for a 
moment or two affairs looked very serious ; for we 
were rocking like a steamer in mid-ocean, and the 
current was whirling us down - stream the while. 
However, Mohammed and I managed to mount our 
horses, and from the elevated position of our saddles 
to keep them quiet, a state we could not have other- 



/ 



164 MIYANDOB TO SUJ-BULAK. 

wise brought them to, mixed up as we were with the 
dozen or so other passengers who crowded the frail 
craft. As it was, the third horse jumped overboard 
before we reached the bank and swam ashore, to be 
soon caught by the skilful Iliyat Turkis, who are 
masters of horsecraft, like their near relations the 
Turkmans. A wild lot these men were, armed with 
daggers, blunderbusses, pistols, and as often as not 
European manufactured rifles. Half an hour of cross- 
ing canals and threading our way between gardens 
and we entered Miyandob at noon on May 16. 

Our road from Tabriz to this spot, with the excep- 
tion of turning aside to visit Maragha, had been nearly 
north and south ; but at this point we had reached 
the south-east corner of Lake Urmiyah, which was 
distant about twenty miles, and were now to turn 
more to the west, in order to pursue our route tioward 
Kurdistan and the Perso-Turkish frontier. 

Miyandob may once have been a flourishing place, 
but to-day it is more than half in ruins. The rebellion 
of the Kurds and their invasion of this portion of 
Azerbaijan wrought such havoc in the place that it 
will take years before it can regain its former import- 
ance. Nor, for the matter of that, is it ever likely to 
do so under Persian rule ; for decay has set its seal 
upon everything in that benighted country, and while 
a thousand towns are sinking into poverty and obli- 



OUR QUARTERS. 165 

vion, scarcely one is rising in importance or wealth. 
We wandered about the deserted streets — ^for such of 
the inhabitants as were not at work in the fields or the 
gardens had sought the coolness of their houses from 
the burning sun — before we could obtain quarters. 
Fortune, however, again favoured us in the end, and 
a lodging for our few hours' stay was offered by a 
handsome young member of the Ali lUahi sect, who 
had at one time been in the service of the Imperial 
Bank of Persia at Tehran. A cool room, plentiful 
bowls of curdled milk and buffalo cream, and trays 
of food, were soon brought, and we rested for three 
hours stretched upon clean carpets and pillows. The 
room in the house put at our disposal much resembled 
all those I saw in Northern Persia. It was of some 
size and oblong, a large and decorative window filling 
up almost the whole of one of its ends ; the other 
three walls contained two tiers of the square niches 
answering to cupboards, which one finds all over the 
country. A rough fireplace with an open grate stood 
in the centre of the wall opposite the window. Kur- 
distan rugs, one or two of by no means poor design 
or manufacture, covered the floor, and mattresses and 
pillows lined the walls. Leading out of the room in 
which we were was a second, rougher in build and 
unwhitewashed, where the women of the household 
congregated, and which served also as a kitchen and 



y 



166 MIYANDOB TO SUJ-BULAK. 

nursery. The ladies of his family did not cover their 
faces within doors, but brought us in our food on 
great copper trays, exhibiting such charms as they 
possessed. One or two showed some signs of beauty, 
but a general effect of untidiness and want of soap 
detracted much from their personal appearance. All 
wore necklaces of coral, amber, and silver, and the 
jackets of one or two were sewn with silver buttons 
and coins. 

While our horses were being saddled for our de- 
parture I visited the covered bazaar, but there was 
little of any interest to be seen. Then presenting 
my hosts with a small present of money, enough to 
cover their expenses and a little over, w^e started once 
more on our journey. 

A few words must be said about the Kurdish 
invasion under Sheikh Obeidullah, which wrought 
such havoc not only in Miyandob, but in other 
parts of the country surrounding Lake Urmiyah 
also. The leader of this rebellion was the son of 
a certain Sheikh Tahar, who was a noted chief in 
one of the mountain districts near Lake Van in 
Turkish territory. The father having died, the son, 
on account of his powerful personal character, ob- 
tained a great reputation for sanctity and political 
work, and entertained in magnificent style in his 
mountain home. Eventually in 1880 he and his 



THE KURDISH REBELLION. 167 

horde crossed the frontier and seized both Suj- 
bulak and Maragha. At Suj-bulak the inhabitants 
were Kurds themselves, and accordingly suffered but 
little, but unhappy Miyandob lost some 3000 in- 
habitants in a terrible massacre. The population 
of Maragha, taking warning, fled. Urmi, on the 
western side of the lake, was also besieged, but 
spared by the exertions, it is said, of the three 
or four European missionaries who happened to be 
there at the time, and whose influence with the 
Kmxls was evidently of good account. But the 
intertribal jealousy of the Kurdish chiefs and their 
followers began to tell, and when Tabriz — their ob- 
jective — was in sight, they fell away and dispersed, 
much to the delight of the Shah, who nearly lost 
his rich province of Azerbaijan and its capital. 
The leader, eventually arrested by the Turks, died 
in Mecca three years later. Never did the admini- 
strative rottenness or the cowardice of the Persian 
and Turki population show up worse. The people 
fled without striking a blow, and there is little doubt 
that had Sheikh Obeidullah continued his march 
into Tabriz, the city would have surrendered with- 
out a blow and the inhabitants fled, leaving an easy 
and rich loot to the mountaineers. 

It was still early in the afternoon, and the sun 
was very hot, when we left Miyandob to continue 




168 MIYANDOB TO SUJ-BULAK. 

our journey. Proceeding through gardens rich in 
vines and fruit-trees and poplars, we entered the 
open plain, and shortly afterwards crossed the Ta- 
taivi Chai by a handsome brick bridge, decorated 
with the domed pillars so common in Persian archi- 
tecture. Near this spot we came across one of 
those sad scenes which are so common in Eastern 
countries — a forlorn little hovel all alone in the 
plain, the home of the local lepers. Poor creatures, 
such as could run or walk hurried down to the 
track, crying for alms, and exhibiting their suflfer- 
ings and sores to our gaze. Banished from the 
towns and villages, the lepers take up their abode 
in the vicinity of the main roads, where they build 
themselves these little huts and beg their living, 
suffering greatly from the summer heat and the 
intense cold and snows of winter. Then on again 
across the plain, which is here very extensive, until 
the foothills were reached; and ascending amongst 
green corn-fields, we reached the dozen or so miser- 
able half- excavated and half-built hovels which form 
the village of Amirabad. It was no promising spot 
to spend the night in ; but sunset was near, and we 
could proceed with safety no farther, and the natives 
were cheery and ready enough to do their best 
for us. 

Here for the first time we came across the Kurds. 



AMIRABAD. 169 

I had seen, it is true, perhaps half-a-dozen shy- 
looking members of this race in Tabriz, but in 
Amirabad the entire population consisted of them. 
A wild dirty lot they were too, veritable savages 
in appearance ; but their position at Amirabad 
renders them an easy prey to the tax - collector, 
and thus they accounted for their condition. On 
my telling them that they were the first Kurds I 
had seen, and that I was on my way to travel 
amongst their tribes, they replied that I must not 
judge of the race from them ; that they were poor 
and down-trodden and oppressed, but that I should 
see the real Kurds in the mountains near the fron- 
tier: and so it was. 

But in spite of the poverty and dirt in which these 
wild people lived, they were untiring in their hospi- 
tality, and quarters were soon prepared for me in one 
of the houses. It was a poor enough place, the whole 
dwelling, — shared by three generations and all the 
cattle, — consisting merely of a stable-like apartment, 
more dug out of the earth than raised above its sur- 
face. The light was admitted by a hole in the roof, 
and there was just sufficient of it to illumine the 
grimy blackness of one's surroundings — two babies 
tied into primitive cradles, and a fowl sitting on her 
eggs in the farther corner. A piece of clean matting 
was spread for me against the farther wall, and a 




170 MIYANDOB TO SUJ-BULAK. 

candle I had in my saddle-bags stuck to a stone and 
lit. Vermin there were in plenty, though only fleas, 
but of them myriads. The family consisted of an 
elderly father, still strong and hale, two very good- 
looking youths, each with a wife, and the babies of the 
latter; but the remainder of the village seemed to use 
the house as a meeting-place, and men, women, and 
children, to say nothing of cows and calves, kept 
trooping in and out. Bowls of new milk and cream 
were soon brought, but our hosts apologised for the 
absence of the rich buffalo cream we had been eating 
since leaving Tabriz, for in their poverty they pos- 
sessed none of these beasts. 

About nine o'clock a rifle was fired a few hundred 
yards away from the village, and suddenly the men, 
who had appeared to be sleeping, sprang to their feet, 
and by the light of my one candle dug out their rifles 
from under a pile of old saddles and sacking, while 
the women handed them belts stuffed full of cartridges. 
By this time a shouting had commenced outside, and 
a moment later my three hosts disappeared through 
the door, bidding me stay where I was. Yusef was 
praying hard, his face as white as a sheet, but neither 
Mohammed nor I was scared in the least, as these 
night alarms are almost always owing to attempted 
thefts of the village cattle, and end in nothing. A 
few stray shots were fired, the sheep that were being 



KURDISH WOMEN. 171 

stolen were recovered, and the night passed without 
more ado. 

The Kurdish women at Amirabad, though living in 
a district inhabited principally by Turkis, do not 
cover their faces, and the wife of one of my younger 
hosts was possessed of remarkably good looks, a fact 
that her husband pointed out to me in the most naive 
way. Whether it is owing to the fact that the women 
do not go veiled, or to some better character of the 
Kurds themselves, immorality scarcely exists in the 
country districts, where, by the by, infidelity is sum- 
marily punished by the death of the two offenders. 
Whatever the reason may be, I found no unwarrant- 
able restraint exercised by the Kurds over their 
womenfolk, and both the husbands and the ladies in 
question seemed much to appreciate the inane com- 
pliments I soon learned to shower upon their good 
looks. Whatever may be the result of this trust in 
their womankind to the natives themselves, it is cer- 
tainly an attraction to the traveller, for one mixes 
more freely with people. Were this not the case, one 
would be prevented from finding quarters anywhere, 
as most of the houses consist of only one room. 

We were off early, the thanks and blessings of my 
hosts following me as we rode away into the grey 
dawn. Our road lay over undulating hills for an 
hour or so, and then across a wide open valley in 




172 MIYANDOB TO SUJ-BULAK. 

which are one or two rock-hewn tombs, until, cross- 
ing a spur, we looked down upon the rich plain of 
the valley of the Sanak, with its large Kurdish 
villages and gardens and corn-fields, a charming 
scene upon this bright May morning. Crossing a 
spur of a hill on the east side of the valley, Suj- 
bulak, the Kurdish town, came into view, lying along 
the edge of the river on a slight hill, and half hidden 
by the gardens that almost surround it. All around 
rise the mountains, green with grass, while to the 
west the horizon is bounded by jagged peaks of rock 
and snow — in all a charming scene. 

We had now entered Kurdish lands, and from 
henceforth for some weeks we were to see few or 
no other people than members of these wild tribes, 
of which so little is known. 

Continuing up the valley, on its east side, we 
passed over the graveyard of the town, and a few 
minutes later found ourselves within its walls, 
amongst a people differing entirely from any we had 
seen as yet. That short journey of not much over 
twenty miles between Miyandob and Suj-bulak had 
sufficed to bring us, as it were, into a new world, 
so great is the transition from the Turki population 
to the Kurds. With many a good day wished us 
as we rode down the streets of the town, and more 
than one Kurd ready to direct us to the best cara- 



ARRIVAL AT SUJ-BULAK. 173 

vanserai, we proceeded to the khan in question, 
where with every sign of welcome and politeness 
I was requested to dismount and rest, while a couple 
of the towns -people held my horse, and another 
brought us a bowl of sherbet with a sort of apology 
of " thinking we must be hot." And this kindness 
we were to find everywhere throughout our travels 
amongst this charming and hospitable race of people. 
In the parts inhabited by Turkis our presence had 
caused no feeling beyond the possibility of extracting 
money, but here real kindness was shown, and we 
were never pestered for alms or gifts. The owner 
of the caravanserai soon arrived, rooms were swept 
for us on the first floor, leading on to a little gallery 
that surrounded the building, and bowls of cool 
curdled milk, and sherbet, and a tray of bread 
brought for our refreahment. 

Such were my first experiences of the Kurds. 




174 



CHAPTER IX. 

PERSIAN KURDISTAN AND ITS INHABITANTS. 

Persian Kurdistan may be said to extend be- 
tween lat. 38"* N. and lat. 34° N., and from the 
Turkish frontier on the west to a straight line drawn 
from Suj-bulak to half-way between Kermanshah 
and Hamadan on the east, though the Persians 
themselves do not make this geographical distinc- 
tion between the country inhabited by Kurds and 
that of the Persian Turki tribes. In the eyes of 
the native Government Kurdistan is divided up 
between two provinces, Azerbaijan and Ardelan, 
and, if Kermanshah may be called a province of 
itself, there is a third. But from a racial point 
of view the rough-and-ready boundary I have men- 
tioned above practically divides the Kurds — with 
the exception of the migrated tribes in Khorassan — 
from the other peoples of Persia. 

These lines leave a space some 300 miles in length, 



FEATURES OF KURDISTAN. 175 

and averaging perhaps 160 miles in width. It is 
true that to the north of the Lake of Urmiyah the 
mountains near the frontier are largely inhabited 
by Kurds ; but they share these fastnesses with 
Turkis, and more especially the hill Nestorians, and 
are not by any means sole masters of the soil, as 
they are with but little exception in the country 
which I have called Persian Kurdistan more to the 
south. 

The principal physical features of their territory 
are — (1) Lake Urmiyah, of which enough has already 
been said ; (2) the long chains of mountains on 
which for the most part they reside. These ranges, 
known to the northern parts as Kiindilan and Azmir 
Dagh, separate the basins of two tributaries of the 
Tigris, the Diala and the Zab. To the south the 
chain is known as Zagros, and it is through and 
over a pass at this portion of the range that the 
road from Kermanshah, and Persia in general, pro- 
ceeds to Baghdad. Another spur of the same range 
strikes to the east at the south end of Lake Urmiyah, 
and continues across Northern Persia, where it is 
known as Elburz ; while east of Sinna, the capital 
of Persian Kurdistan, is Mount Elvend, another 
noticeable system. 

The principal rivers of the country are the Kalu, 
which afterwards becomes the Lesser Zab, and flows 



J 



176 PERSIAN KURDISTAN AND ITS INHABITANTS. 

into the Tigris about half-way between Mosul and 
Baghdad ; the Jirati, which rises in the mountains 
a little to the east of Bana, and flows eventually 
into Lake Urmiyah ; the higher waters of the Diala, 
which spring from near Sinna and the mountains 
to the south of that town, uniting into one river 
near the Turkish frontier, and reaching the Tigris 
below Baghdad; and the Klzil-Uzen, which flows 
from the frontier hills between Sakiz and Sinna 
and eventually finds its way to the Caspian Sea, 
where it is known as the Sefid Kud. 

With its rivers rising in a comparatively small 
space, and draining into three distinct directions, it 
can be easily imagined how broken up is the surface 
of the territory of the Persian Kurds. To the travel- 
ler the country presents a bewildering succession of 
ranges, the principal direction of which is N.N.W. 
And S.S.E. 

From this short account of the geographical boun- 
daries and features of Persian Kurdistan we may now 
pass on to the people themselves, and turn for a 
minute or two to their history and general character- 
istics. 

Regarding the former there is a great deal of con- 
troversy, and it is unlikely that amongst a people 
who possess no literature any satisfactory result will 
ever be arrived at. Even the question of whether 



ANTIQUITY OF KURDISH RACE. 177 

they boast of Iranian or Turanian descent has never 
been satisfactorily settled. Some suppose that they 
are the descendants of the Medes, others of the Par- 
thians, while a more favoured and more probable 
solution is found in tracing their descent to the Gardu 
or Kurdu of the Hittite times, and that they only be- 
came Aryanised as the Aryan people migrated toward 
their country. However, as Mr Curzon argues in his 
book on Persia, it is safe to grant them a respectable 
antiquity, for that they are the Carduchi of Xenophon 
who harassed and tormented the retreating Ten 
Thousand there can be no question. Their lot has 
never been a peaceful one ; for while their formation 
into a complex system of tribes has always, as it does 
to-day, withstood their ever being united into a 
kingdom, still their hand has been against every man*s 
hand, and no nation that has sent its troops during 
many centuries of history into Asia Minor has failed 
to suffer from the raids of these hardy and brave 
mountaineers. Although the Kurds have never shone 
as a literary nation, several are well known to history 
by name ; for not only was Salah Ed - Din of the 
Crusades a Kurd, but also Edrisi the famous Arab 
geographer ; while in later days Mohammed Agha, 
otherwise known as "Turkchi Bilm^is," at the begin- 
ning of this century, was a Turkish general, whose 
ability and cruelties, particularly in the Yemen, are 

M 



y 



178 PERSIAN KURDISTAN AND ITS INHABITANTS. 

today remembered and spoken of with horror. Nor 
probably, were a search to be made in the histories of 
men who have risen to distinction in Constantinople 
and other parts of the Mohammedan world, would 
the Kurds be unrepresented. For in spite of the fact 
that they possess no literature and but few traditions, 
they are a people of quick thought and considerable 
wit, that need but a good Government and a system 
of education to bring forth their good qualities. With 
regard to their religion thej^ are Sunnis — that is to 
say, they belong to the orthodox division of Islam, 
while the Persians and Turkis of Persia are almost 
without exception Sheiyas. Regarding the sect of 
the Ali Illahis I shall have a few words to say anon. 
Curiously, not only is this strange and as yet little 
known doctrine found existing amongst people who 
like the Kurds are Sunnis by tradition, but also is not 
unknown amongst the Turkis of Azerbaijan, and I 
came across more than one member of the Ali lUahi 
sect in Tabriz and several of their villages near the 
eastern shores of Lake Urmiyah. The difference of 
doctrine between the Kurds and the Persians is the 
cause of the occasionally occurring depredations of 
the mountaineers on the peoples of the plains ; and 
to-day there can still be seen, as in the districts of 
Solduz and Miyandob, the never repaired devastation 
wrought by their hands. 



RELIGION AND LANGUAGE. 179 

With regard to the language of the Kurds, Ker- 
manji is the name given to their tongue, which, 
though it diJ0Fers in dialect, is practically comprehen- 
sible to all the tribes alike, with the exception, the 
Kurds themselves informed me, of a variation of the 
language spoken by the Zarzar tribe near Urmi, which 
is quite incomprehensible to the people of Serdasht 
and Bana, for instance. In the province of Ardelan, 
to the south of Azerbaijan, the Guran dialect of Ker- 
manji is spoken, which appears to be a relic of the 
older and purer tongue, though much more adulter- 
ated with Persian ; and on the frontier of the Arab- 
speaking tribes, near Zagros, I found that a still more 
impure dialect was used, containing as well as Persian 
many Arabic words and expressions. 

Regarding the life led by the Kurds, the tribes 
inhabiting the Pei-sian side of the frontier can be 
divided into two parts, and this division is recognised 
by themselves — (1) the sedentary Kurds, and (2) 
those who migrate, or rather change their quarters 
for winter and summer. The first of these two sec- 
tions are considered to be of a lower class than the 
second, and in feature and manner and garb generally 
distinguishable from their more independent brothers. 
They till the soil in the valleys, and now and again on 
the hillsides, and sow large croi)s of barley. (.)ften 
these manual labourers live in a state of feudalism, 




180 PERSIAN KURDISTAN AND ITS INHABITANTS. 

being, as it were, serfs to the richer and more aristo- 
cratic families. The shepherd class, as they call 
themselves, are by far the more interesting to the 
stranger, and the more troublesome to the Govern- 
ments of the countries that attempt, never very 
successfully, to hold them in check. About the well- 
bred Kurd there is an air of conceit and self-satisfac- 
tion that is delightful. In his opinion the whole 
world belongs to him, and he can well aJ0Ford to snap 
his fingers at the Shah of Persia. Rich in cattle, 
which his servants graze, he spends his winters in 
the warm houses, often more dug out of the hillside 
than built, on account of warmth, and his summers 
in his brown tents away up on the slopes and plateaux 
of the great mountain-chains by which his country is 
threaded. Of these villages, both of fixed abodes and 
tents, I shall be able to speak more fully anon ; for 
every night of our stay in Kurdistan was spent at 
either one or the other, as in the month of May the 
migration is taking place, and while many of the 
tribesmen had already sought their summer quarters, 
a number yet remained in the valleys. Regarding 
these migrations there is but little that need be said 
here. These are, of course, necessitated by the climate 
of the country, for the terrific cold of winter and the 
terrible hurricanes that sweep over the mountains 
would render life, except in the valleys, impossible in 
that season ; just as these same valleys in summer, 



KURDISH CHARACTER. 181 

rendered swampy by the melting snows, become hot- 
beds of fever. 

Mr Curzon, in the few pages that he gives to the 
Kurds, states that they are a remarkably stupid and 
extraordinarily ignorant race. This was scarcely my 
experience of them. It is true that the agricultural 
Kurd is little better than a working machine, and bad 
even at that ; but I found amongst the higher class 
of migratory Kurds that they possessed a general 
knowledge of the world, and a tendency to broad 
views that surprised one very much. In fact the 
usual questions that I was asked were regarding 
Russia and England, especially in the former case 
to India, and in the latter to Transcaucasia. This, it 
is true, is no proof of superior understanding ; for in 
every village in Persia, just as in England, you find 
some few who take a superficial interest in politics. 
But what did surprise me amongst the Kurds was 
their general knowledge of manufactures and trade, 
their interest in listening to accounts of places and 
people, and the manner in which they would spend 
hours discussing their religion, their manners and 
customs, and their country, and comparing them to 
my reports of other peoples. The Kurd has a preju- 
dice against travel ; nor is this difficult to understand, 
as he is surrounded on all sides by the two worst 
Governments in the world, those of Turkey and 
Persia, the officials of which are by no means anxious 



182 PEKSIAN KURDISTAN AND ITS INHABITANTS. 

to allow the Kurd to see more of the outside world than 
is necessary, nor themselves willing to show hospi- 
tality to members of tribes from whose depredations 
they have suj0Fered from time immemorial. In all 
the time I was in Persian Kurdistan, with the ex- 
ception of Sakiz and Sinna, I saw no Persians or 
Turkis, though there are a few at Suj-bulak, and one 
or two at Serdasht — and these have, in travelling to 
and fro for purposes of trade, to take the protection 
of Kurdish chiefs and form caravans sufficiently 
numerous to render them immune from attack. But 
though the Kurd is ready, no doubt, to murder and 
rob the Persian or Turki, his reason is more a 
religious one than desire of plunder alone ; for the 
few Armenian merchants who trade with the more 
remote spots of Persian Kurdistan seldom meet with 
violence or molestation at the hands of the moun- 
taineers. But of so long standing is the feud between 
Sunni and Sheiya, that neither loses an opportunity 
of paying off old scores on the other ; and though I 
myself was treated with a respect and hospitality I 
have never seen equalled in any of my travels, my 
Turki servant, Yusef, was the butt of all the wit and 
humour of the village ; while to my Moroccan Arab 
servant, a Sunni like themselves, they were always 
most polite and kind, never allowing him even to 
tether or feed my horses, work that was always per- 
formed by the villagers themselves, generally with 



THE TRIBES. 183 

the aid of Yusef, whose painful endeavours and 
failures when any question of horses or saddlery was 
concerned, used to send the good-natured, laughter- 
loving Kurds into convulsions. Poor Yusef, annoyed 
at the good-natured chaff, dared not retaliate, as he 
was perpetually in fear of his life, and saw a robber 
in every one we met. Nor were the Kurds slow to 
tell him — seeing what a coward he was — that had I 
not been there as their guest to protect him, they 
would have made short work with his throat ; where- 
upon he would grow a shade whiter still, and insist 
upon sleeping between Mohammed and myself. 

I was able to collect during my travels what I 
believe to be a tolerably correct list of the Kurdish 
tribes in Persia. At present the most complete list 
existing is that given by Curzon, but in one or two 
cases, especially in his list of those of the Salmas 
plain, he is at fault, for he has included as Kurds the 
Turkman tribes who, after the treaty of Turkman 
Chai in 1828, preferred to leave their country, near 
Erivan, which was acquired by Russia, and settle in 
the government of a Moslem sovereign. Lahijan and 
the Salmas plain were cliosen by the then Shah as a 
suitable place to settle these immigrants in, and 
accordingly much of the land in that part was 
divided amongst them. Though to-day in rare 
cases intermarrying with the Kurds, they still 
hold themselves much apart on account of the 




184 PERSIAN KURDISTAN AND ITS INHABITANTS. 

religious dij0Ferences between Sheiya and Sunni ; for 
while the new arrivals professed the former doctrine, 
the Kurds are, with very few exceptions, all Sunnis, 
for in this portion of their country the Ali Illahis 
are rarely found. The very names of some of these 
tribes, which are mentioned in Curzon's work as 
Kurds, show their origin. For instance, Karapapak 
cannot be anything but Turkman. As a matter of 
fact, I came across members of this very tribe at 
Suj-bulak, and they gave me the information stated 
above. The remaining lists of Kurds given by 
Curzon correspond very much to my own, though 
his geographical distribution of them is scarcely 
satisfactory, as many tribes, either entirely or par- 
tially, are nomads; and in several parts of the 
country more than one tribe is found inhabiting the 
same district, sometimes owning alternate villages — 
a state of affairs that leads to considerable bloodshed 
and intertribal warfare. I have therefore, in the list 
which 1 have here appended, instead of attempting 
to give each tribe its geographical position, placed 
them according to their nearest centres and markets, 
taking the few towns of Persian Kurdistan as such. 
The difficulties of any other system will be apparent 
when it is stated that the Jaf. for instance, is a tribe 
belonging to Turkey, which spends its summers in 
the mountains near Sakiz, nearly 100 miles within 
the Persian frontier. In my list I have named only 



LIST OF TRIBEa 



185 



such tribes as can be said to be distinctly Persian 
Kurds, although in many cases on the frontier they 
cross from side to side. 

The subjoined list I took every care to compile 
and correct at almost every spot I rested at, and have 
little doubt of its being, on the whole, accurate. 

A LIST OF THE KURDISH TRIBES IN PERSIAN KURDISTAN. 





In the vicinity of Sina, 




Telaku. 


ManiimL ShamsurL 


Jafakobadi. 


Beliloan. 


PorpashaL Sheikh IsmaiL 


Braz. 


Galbari. 


TaIL Gurgei. 


Sagam. 


KnmassL 


Zan. DurajL 


Sagwan. 


Orami. 


MerakL Petiariwan. 


Lakh. 


Merivan. 


BurakaiL Khoileshkari. 





Taijani. 



In the vicinity of Bana. 
Dashtat&lL Ikhtiari DinL [Huseyn Beg]. 



In the vicinity of Sakiz. 
Horhora. EldL 

The Jaf and many other Turkish Kurd tribes come almost to 
iz to graze their flocks and herds in summer. 

In the vicinity of Suj-ltdak, 

Mangur. MalkSri. Allani Dulikan. EaluiL 

Govrik. Darmai. Baski Eolastan. 

I do not think it necessary to add here any further 
notes to these brief remarks on the Persian Kurds, 
but to leave such traits of character, &c., as struck 
me on my journey to appear in the narration of my 
travels; for as often as not, in a country split up 




186 PERSIAN KURDISTAN AND ITS INHABITANTS. 

B3 this is into tribal districts not unseldom at war 
with one another, and where accordingly intercourse 
is not frequent, character or custom noticed at one 
particular spot fails to be applicable to the entire 
country. 

With this short description of the people and the 
country we were now entering, a return may be made 
to where the story of my travels was interrupted 
at the end of the last chapter. 





} 



187 



CHAPTER X. 

TRAVELS IN PERSIAN KURDISTAN. 

After resting we set out for a walk through Suj- 
bulak, up and down the cool arched arcades of the 
bazaars, amongst a crowd of wild mountaineers, armed 
to the teeth, who made way for one to pass in true 
politeness, and never breathed a word of insult or 
scorn such as meet one's ears at every turn in Tabriz, 
— ^and doubtless many of these same hillsmen had 
never seen a European before, for none reside in 
Suj-bulak, or anywhere, for the matter of that, in 
Persian Kurdistan, and the travellers who seek this 
out-of-the-way corner of the world are very few and 
far between. 

But before proceeding further with the narrative 
of my travels in Kurdistan, I must give some descrip- 
tion of what a Kurd is like. In colour they are 
usually no darker, and often not nearly so dark, as 
southern Europeans. The eyebrows and lashes and 



i 



TRAVELS IN PERSIAN KURDISTAN. 



eyes are generally black, tlie nose aquiline and fine, 
and tlie mouth well formed. The face is loug and 
oval, while in stature a medium height seems to be 
The chin is shaved, the moustache alone 
being left, and over 
it no end of trouble 
is taken with comb 
and wax. The hair 
is usually shaved 
along the top of 
the crown, but left 
long on either side, 
though little or 
nothing of it is 
visible owing to the 
peculiar and char- 
acteristic manner in 
which the men deck 
their heads. Alto- 
gether the Kurdish 
hillsman has a re- 
fined and somewhat 




Kurd ef Snj-bulai. 



delicate appearance, were it not for the flash of hia 
dark eyes and his quick movements, which speak at 
once of pluck and spirit. In dress the Kurd resembles 
no other tribesman I have ever come across. His 
costume is distinctly his own, and eseept in the south. 



APPEARANCE. 189 

where he has come more or less under Persian influ- 
ence, he never abandons it. To begin with the head- 
dress. A high silk pointed cap crowns the head, 
round which is woven a number of silk scarves and 
handkerchiefs in skilfully arranged disorder. The fa- 
vourite colours for these turbans are dark claret and 
gold, with here and there a narrow stripe of some 
brilliant hue. The rough fringes are left hanging 
down, as often as not covering the eyes and ears of 
the wearer, and adding not a little to his fantastic 
appearance. Over a white linen shirt, with sleeves 
that end in points fully a yard long, so that they 
touch the ground, a silk coat is worn, crushed straw- 
berry being the favourite colour, though cherry colour 
and white satin were almost equally common : these 
coats are made collarless and open at the neck, and 
fold across the breast, being held in place by a wide 
silk sash skilfully folded and intertwined. In this 
sash the long pipe and curved dagger are thrust. 
Over this silk coat again is worn a short sleeveless 
jacket of thick black, white, or brown felt, open 
down the front. So thick is this material that it 
will not fold, and where the joins are in the sewing, 
the stuff* is cut and fastened together by long open 
stitches, the appearance when worn being like plates 
of armour, and as such it is no doubt intended. 
From under the silk coat, which reaches nearly to 



r 



190 TRAVELS IN PERSIAN KURDISTAN. 

the knees, protrude the trousers of white linen, enor- 
mously loose and baggy, but drawn in tight at the 
ankle. Socks of skilfully woven coloured wools appear 
above the pointed and turned -up slippers of red 
leather or embroidered cloth. With a costume as 
brilliant in colour and as diverse as this, it can little 
be wondered that a body of Kurds of the better 
class, on horseback or on foot, form a striking and 
handsome picture. 

The peasant's dress is much the same, only his 
jacket of felt is worn usually over the linen shirt, 
and his trousers are of fine home-woven goat's hair. 

I was not long before I called upon the Vali of 
the town with a request for a guide to proceed with 
me towards the Turkish frontier, a demand that was 
immediately refused. I had no authority, he said, 
to travel in Persian Kurdistan, and I must return 
the way I came. This of course I had no intention 
of doing, and having made my purpose known to 
him, bowed myself out. It was not long either 
before a guide was forthcoming in the person of the 
wildest ruffian that man ever set his eyes on, a Kara- 
papa Tatar whose mother was a Kurd. About 6 
feet 4 inches in height, he was a remarkably hand- 
some man, with tangled black hair that protruded 
in long locks from under his turban in all directions, 
but for ferocious appearance and mild disposition he 



OUR GUIDE. 191 

surpassed anything I ever saw. Before I had made 
his acquaintance a few hours he had told me all his 
family history. His people had come from Erivan 
on the conquest of southern Transcaucasia by Russia, 
and his tribe had been magnanimously settled by 
the Shah on some one else's land at the south end 
of Lake Urmiyah. Then he continued his family 
history, till, with tears in his eyes, he rushed oflF to 
bring me his only child, a baby girl of some three 
years of age, to admire. A sweet pretty little thing 
she was, too. The sight of this veritable savage 
nursing the smiling child was a strange one. But 
he answered my purpose well, for he possessed a 
horse, and was only too ready for a little adventure, 
or failing that an outing, while the fact that he 
spoke both Kermanji, or Kurdish, and Turki made 
him doubly useful. 

Under the leadership of this guide we left Suj- 
bulak early the next afternoon, in the direction 
of the Turkish frontier. A stony hill crossed, we 
descended on the farther side to the ruins of what 
once must have been a fine bridge, and forded the 
river a few hundred yards above this spot. The 
road led us along the banks of the Mangur Chai, 
through a wide valley, wooded near the river-bed. 
On either side the mountains rose to a considerable 
elevation, in places sparsely covered with brushwood. 




192 TRAVELS IN PERSIAN KURDISTAN. 

in others precipitous. Between the foot of these 
mountains and the river were fields of waving green 
corn, amongst which here and there appeared the 
black tents of the Kurds, whose flocks and herds 
could be seen grazing upon the steep hillsides, while 
along the river-bank, here in the open and there 
amongst trees, strayed the mares and foals. The 
scenery was charming ; a fresh breeze cooled the sun- 
laden air, and the verdure of the country added not 
a little to increase the pleasure of our ride. But 
few signs of habitations were visible beyond the 
tents. At one spot on the right bank of the river, 
where the steep mountains reached almost to its 
banks, we passed a half-built, half-excavated collec- 
tion of cave-hovels, entirely deserted now, for the 
inhabitants had sought, with their flocks and herds 
and all their worldly belongings, the open grazing- 
lands of the higher mountains, glimpses of which, 
peaks of rock and snow, we now and again obtained. 

It was still early when our guide, pointing ahead 
to where a small tributary joined the river, told us 
that we must seek quarters for the night at that 
spot, as there were no other fixed villages that we 
could reach before night would be upon us, and 
travelling after dark in this part of the country was 
out of the question, as the Mangur tribe of Kurds are 
well known as highwaymen and robbers. So, turn- 




VIF.W OF SUJ-1!lJI-\ 



MOHAMMED A6HA. 193 

ing aside from the main valley, we entered a gorge 
to the south, at the mouth of which we met the 
chief man of the village, at whose house it was the 
Karapapa's intention to ask for lodging and shelter. 
Mohammed Aghd, for such was his name, was a 
typical Kurdish chief, decked out in all the finery 
with which they so love to decorate their persons. 
The same cleanliness of clothes and the same inten- 
tional untidiness of turban was as noticeable here as 
it had been in Suj-bulak. The Karapapa having 
made known my presence, which he galloped on 
ahead to do, Mohammed Aghd and his band of three 
or four followers turned their horses' heads in my 
direction, and cantered over the greensward to meet 
me. Ten minutes later we were passing through the 
streets, if such they can be called, of his village, en 
route to a large two-storeyed house that rose high 
above the low hovels of the place. The situation of 
Diabakri, for so the village is called, is picturesque 
but unhealthy, for it is almost entirely enclosed by 
high walls of rock, and this no doubt accounts for 
the fever from which the inhabitants suffer so largely 
in summer. The same politeness was noticeable 
here as we had seen in Suj-bulak, and as Mohammed 
Aghd passed in and out amongst the houses on his 
way to his own residence, every man rose to his feet 
and stood erect. Arrived at the two-storeyed gate- 

N 




194 TRAVELS IN PERSIAN KURDISTAN. 

way leading into the courtyard of the house, we dis- 
mounted, and while our horses were promptly led 
away to where water and food awaited them, Mo- 
hammed Aghd beckoned us within. 

There was nothing very noticeable about the 
AghA's residence, nor was it built in any degree 
according to the typical Kurdish style, of which I 
shall have more to say when narrating my travels 
in the more distant parts of Persian Kurdistan ; 
suffice it to say that we were shown into a most 
comfortable upper room, carpeted and bedded with 
mattresses, where, a few minutes after our arrival, 
amidst a profuse declaration of welcome on the part 
of the Aghd. and his secretary, a young Turki of 
Tabriz, big bowls of cool milk and cream, cheese and 
bread, and the paraphernalia of tea, were brought us. 
Meanwhile the unusual arrival of a European was 
causing some little stir in the village, and all the 
men whose position allowed of their being on terms 
of intimacy with their Aghd, came and called, one 
and all welcoming me to their country. On making 
inquiries, I was told that, in the memory of the 
Aghd., who was perhaps forty to forty-five years of 
age, only five Europeans had visited this secluded 
spot. Refreshed after our ride, we sauntered out 
under the guidance of some of the Aghd's friends, 
and climbed the high hill that rises almost precipit- 



CAVES OF DIABAKRI. 195 

ously to the south of the village. We crossed first 
the little stream, clear as crystal, that runs through 
the grove of trees opposite the Aghd's residence, and 
then by a mere sheep-track scrambled to the summit, 
some 300 or 400 feet above. Near the top is a large 
natural cave, into which the sheep and goats are 
driven in winter for protection from the cold and the 
wolves. From the outer hall of the cave a narrow 
passage, in places a yard in height, leads one by a 
circuitous route to a second and still larger chamber. 
The lights we had were dim, and one could only 
gain a very faint idea of the size and height of this 
rock chamber, but it appeared to be of very consid- 
erable dimensions. Emerging wet and muddy, we 
climbed to the rocky summit of the hill, and there 
sat down to rest and admire the surrounding scenery 
of gorge and mountain-top. Returning to the Aghd's 
house, dinner was served in great trays, bearing 
savoury dishes of eggs, fowl, mutton, and delicious 
little sauces of pickles, the whole succeeded by the 
bowls of cream and milk that we were now becjin- 
ning to look upon as our staple article of food. The 
evening was passed pleasantly enough with the 
Aghd, his secretary, a regular Turki dandy, and one 
or two of the Aghd's Kurdish friends, nearly as 
gorgeous in appearance as himself. Until we lay 
down to sleep, two huge warriors guarded the door 



196 TRAVELS IN PERSIAN KURDISTAN. 

on the inside, standing one at each lintel, rifle in 
hand, and begirt with many cartridge-belts ; and when 
at length we sought rest upon the mattresses that 
formed divans all round the room, these guards 
merely stepped without, and took up their position 
on the landing at the head of the stairs. But my 
evening brought me disappointment in one respect, 
in that Mohammed Aghd. advised me very strongly 
to abandon my journey toward the Turkish frontier 
in that direction, as the Mangur tribe were at war 
amongst themselves, and I should find not only the 
villages empty of men, but also very probably armed 
bands of lawless robbers in every direction. This 
advice I listened to readily enough, for not only had 
the AghA no object in wishing to persuade me to 
turn back, but he was also, from the high position 
he held, thoroughly aware of what was passing near 
the frontier ; and his recommendation that I should 
skirt the southern limits of the Mangur tribelands 
and make for Serdasht, some three days' journey to 
the south, seemed in every way to be worth con- 
sideration. 

To the traveller there is nothing more depressing 
than having to retrace his steps ; but rather than 
wander uselessly into dangerous country I preferred 
to abandon the risk, and continue my journey in 
the direction which Mohammed Aghd advised me 



RETURN TO SUJ-BULAK. 197 

to follow. So it was that the following day I found 
myself once more in Suj-bulak. During the few 
hours' ride from Diabakri to that town I took ad- 
vantage of the proximity of a large encampment 
of Kurds to visit their tents, in approaching which 
we were able to obtain evidence that the Aghd's 
statement as to the disturbed state of the country was 
not far wrong ; for no sooner were we four horsemen 
seen cantering towards the encampment than a small 
commotion commenced, and from almost every one 
of the tents men armed to the teeth appeared, 
one and all busy loading their Martini rifles. How- 
ever, a shout from our Karapapa friend soon put 
matters right, and the men who only a few minutes 
previously were a band of armed ruflians, on our 
arrival had resumed their more peaceful appearance 
of shepherds, and in place of rifles bowls of fresh 
milk and leben — the delicious sour milk of the 
country — were in their hands. 

The tents of the Kurds, in which they seek the 
pasturage of the mountains in summer, vary very 
much in size, though in appearance and shape they 
conform throughout to one plan. The covering of 
the tents consists of long narrow strips of black 
goat s - hair material sewn together lengthways. 
Along the centre of the tent this roofing is sup- 
ported on three to five poles according to the 




198 TRAVELS IN PERSIAN KURDISTAN. 

size, and stretched out by ropes which, made fast 
to the edge of the roofing, are pegged securely 
to the ground. The poles within the tent being 
of some height, usually 8 to 10 feet, the edge of 
the tenting does not nearly reach the ground; but 
walls are formed of matting of reeds, held together 
by black goat's-hair thread, which is often so ar- 
ranged as to form patterns on the yellow mats. 
Nothing could have been kinder than our reception 
by these wild Kurds, and it was only with diflSculty 
that we could escape their pressing invitation to 
pass the remainder of the day and the night in 
their tents, and prevent them killing a sheep in 
our honour. Although in the streets of Suj-bulak 
we had seen a number of Kurdish women, it was 
here that we first came across them in their peasant 
life and peasant dress ; and picturesque enough they 
were, in spite of the fact that the proximity of 
the clear flowing river did not appear to tempt 
them to overmuch use of its water. Above the 
loose trousers of dark blue or red cotton they wore 
jackets of the same material or of cloth, richly 
decorated with silver buttons and coins, while most 
of them wore long strings of Persian silver money 
bound round their foreheads. 

It was my object, after the result of my inter- 
view with the officials at Suj-bulak, to attract as 



FRESH QUARTERS. 199 

little attention as possible, and accordingly, under 
the guidance of the Karapapa, we entered the town 
by a back-way, and winding through a few dusty 
streets, with poor mud- houses on either hand, drew 
rein at the large wooden doorway of one of rather 
more promising appearance, and a minute or two 
later had taken up our quarters within. This cus- 
tom of lodging in private houses exists all through 
Kurdistan, and is one that renders travelling in 
those parts far easier and more interesting than 
it would be were one to lodge in caravanserais or 
seek the seclusion of a tent. Certainly it has draw- 
backs : there is a want of privacy and no want 
of vermin ; but taking into consideration the ad- 
vantages and the disadvantages, I have no hesitation 
in stating that the former largely outnumber the 
latter. One obtains far more insight into the 
manners and customs and life of the people ; one 
is able to gather a fund of information that would 
otherwise be lost ; and all superfluous baggage is 
unnecessary, for the cooking will be done willingly 
enough by the owners of the house, while the ap- 
pliances for making tea, &c., are found everywhere. 
We tethered our horses in the yard, and sought 
the seclusion of a smoke - begrimed room within, 
which, with the exception of its blackened walls 
and ceiling, was clean enough. 



200 TRAVELS IN PERSIAN KURDISTAN. 

The family with whom we had taken up our 
lodging consisted of the two wives of an absent hus- 
band and his two young sons, the elder of whom, a 
handsome youth of some sixteen years of age, was 
carrying on a most reprehensible flirtation with his 
young stepmother, his father s lately annexed bride. 
It was a case of the cat being away, for the good 
father, trudging to Mecca on the pilgrimage, had 
been absent over a year and five months. It was to 
be our lot, however, to witness his home-coming, for 
about midnight a loud banging at the outer door 
awoke us all, and on the heavy beam which held it 
closed being removed, the faithful Haj appeared, 
travel - stained and weary. What rejoicings there 
were ! Every one laughed and sang ; only the youth 
and his pretty stepmother seemed disappointed, for 
here at last was the end of their flirtation ! Dawn 
broke, and we seemed no nearer making a start than 
we had been the evening before, for no guide was 
forthcoming, and none of us three — Englishman, 
Turki, and Arab — spoke Kermanji. But it was the 
home -returning pilgrim who rescued us from our 
dilemma. In spite of the fact that for nearly a year 
he had been trudging overland from Mecca — he had 
come vid Syria and Asia Minor and Mosul — he volun- 
teered at once to guide us to Serdasht on foot, an 
offer I was not slow to accept. So saying farewell to 



OFF AGAIN. 201 

his family, with whom he had only just been reunited 
after nearly eighteen months' absence, he took his 
staflf in hand, and mounting our horses we set out. I 
am not sure, but I rather fancy I detected a smile 
and a wink on the part of the younger wife, as she 
broke the news to her handsome young stepson. 
tempora ! O mores ! 

Our road led us first along a grassy valley, watered 
by a tiny stream that has an almost due southerly 
direction from Suj-bulak, but it was not long before 
we had reached its higher end and were climbing the 
steep grassy hills beyond. A pass of 3400 feet above 
the sea-level was crossed, and a steep descent on the 
farther side brought us to the valley of the river 
Ghrenna, a fast-running stream flowing between hills 
of long grass. In spite of the want of vegetation, the 
scenery was by no means to be despised, for spring 
was at its full, and wild-flowers were in bloom every- 
where — such wild-flowers as we know in England, 
amongst othei-s the blue forget-me-not. Storks and 
sea-gulls — the latter no doubt from the salt lake of 
Urmiyah — sought their food on the grassy banks of 
the stream, and the sheep and goats that grazed, led 
here and there by the Kurdish children, looked fat and 
happy and contented. During the afternoon a soli- 
tary village was passed, deserted by its inhabitants, 
who had sought their summer pastures. There was 



• 



202 TRAVELS IN PERSIAN KURDISTAN. 

something sad and depressing about these abandoned 
villages of Kurdistan, and one could not help fancying 
that some plague or war had carried off the villagers. 
The manner in which the houses are left, too, adds to 
this impression, for the doors are wide open and the 
rooms bare, as if there had not been time even to 
close them up. Towards sunset, after ascending by a 
winding path the high mountains which we had seen 
in front of us for a long time, we drew rein at a group 
of shepherds' tents, at an altitude of nearly 6000 feet 
above the sea -level. The dozen or so tents that 
formed the little village were pitched in a small 
gorge leading into the narrow valley we were ascend- 
ing, only. a few hundred yards off the road. They 
were poor enough, these Kurds of the mountain-tops, 
merely the shepherds, in fact, tending the flocks of one 
of the rich chieftains, whose village we were to visit the 
following day ; but they welcomed us to such hospi- 
tality as it was in their means to show us, and led our 
horses down to graze at the edge of the stream, while 
they spread our carpets in the best of the tents. The 
usual milk and butter and cheese were brought, and 
a very small sum of money added a couple of fowls 
to our supper, and the evening passed pleasantly 
enough. The tent in which we passed the night was 
divided into two parts by a division of reed matting, 
one-half forming the living-room of the shepherd, his 



A NIGHT WITH SHEPHERDS. 203 

wife and family, while the remainder sheltered the 
young lambs and kids, too young as yet to go a-graz- 
ing with their mothers. What a bleating there was 
as the herds and flocks were driven to the encamp- 
ment for the night, and the little lambs turned out 
to seek their evening meal ! What a searching of 
mothers for their young, and of the young for their 
mothers ! 

Daylight found us well on our road, ascending 
toward the head of the pass, where we found an 
altitude of over 6000 feet. From the summit an 
extensive panorama lay before us, range after range 
of mountain, green with the grass of spring, except 
where in places the precipices were too steep for 
verdure, or the snows of winter yet lay unmelted. 
Continuing our road along the brow of the mountain, 
we reached, an hour or so later, a deep gorge, by 
which we descended once more to lower altitudes. 
Very pretty and picturesque it was, with its stream 
of crystal water tumbling and leaping in foaming 
waterfalls throucrh the midst ; its banks covered with 
low shrubs and gorgeous wild -flowers, of which a 
brilliant scarlet tulip seemed almost the most com- 
mon. At the foot of the gor^e we reached the 
valley of the Sheh Chai, a considerable stream run- 
ning almost east and west, amongst grassy hills, 
which here and there were cultivated with grain. 



r 



204 TRAVELS IN PERSIAN KURDISTAN. 

A mile up the valley we came across the large tent 
encampment of Ba'iz Aghd, the nephew and repre- 
sentative of the great Kurdish chief Gader Aghi. 
The Aghd had chosen a natural amphitheatre on the 
north bank of the river for his summer quarters, and 
in this, on the hillside, his tents formed a crescent, 
between the points of which, and in the centre, stood 
a tent larger and handsomer than all. Quantities of 
flocks and herds, cattle and mares, fed in the valley, 
and the encampment was bright with saddled horses 
and gaily-dressed Kurds. Towards this central tent 
we proceeded. Arrived about 100 yards away from 
it, a number of the Kurds, one and all with their 
rifles on their backs, and their waists and shoulders 
bedecked with cartridge-belts, hurried forward to 
hold our horses, and leading us toward the tent, bade 
us dismount. In a minute our bridles and saddle- 
bags were off*, the heavy stirrups tied up to the 
pommel of the saddle, and our steeds were led away 
to graze on the banks of the stream in the long fresh 
grass. With many protestations of welcome I was 
led into the great tent of Baiz Aghd. 

Before I speak of this young chief and the other 
hosts who so kindly entertained me, a few words 
must be said as to his reception-tent. This, like all 
the tents of Kurdistan, consisted of the usual black 
woven goat s-hair material supported on high poles, 



BAlZ A6HA. 205 

the whole surrounded with walls of canvas. In this 
case the tent was some 35 feet in length by 13 wide, 
and was carpeted all round the walls with thick 
brown felting and carpets. The centre was left un- 
covered, and here the floor consisted of beaten clay, 
worked almost as hard and as polished as stone, 
and scrupulously clean, as was everything within. 
In this clay floor a hole answered as a fireplace ; 
for the nights at this altitude, even in May, are 
often very cold. On either side of the entrance, 
and just within the tent, stood guards, wild-looking 
Kurds in typical peasant costume, each bearing a 
Martini rifle, and wearing three or four cartridge-belts 
stuffed full of cartridges, and with the curved dagger 
of the country stuck in their wide sashes. But 
it was not these wild ruffians of tribal soldiery that 
attracted one's attention as one entered, for within, 
seated on a carpet at the right of the entrance, 
sat a man who, from his personal appearance and 
the manner in which he was dressed, made one 
oblivious of all else. In Baiz Aghd, for it was he, 
all that was best of the Kurd was apparent. Bom 
of the greatest of all the Kurdish families of Persia, 
there flows in his veins as pure a blood as could 
be found anywhere ; and this fact is apparent the 
moment that one sees his face. His skin is pale 
and fair, a tinge of colour being just apparent on 




206 TRAVELS IN PERSIAN KURDISTAN. 

either cheek, and the lips red. The face in form 
is oval and rather long, the nose slightly arched 
and very fine. His eyes, of deep black, point slightly 
up at the extremities, and are surrounded by dark 
eyelashes ; while the eyebrows, if anything darker, 
are arched, and nearly meet over the nose. The 
mouth is delicate and rather more than ordinarily 
pink, the lips showing the shape of the bow. A 
fine, almost imperceptible, moustache shaded his 
upper lip. In fact, it was a face of delicate refinement, 
lacking if anything in manliness, though this no 
doubt was owing somewhat to the fact that while 
the majority of the Kurds who surrounded him were 
sunburnt, his skin showed from its delicate pink and 
whiteness that he seldom exposed himself to the sun. 
To add to his handsome appearance, he wore upon 
his head a tall pointed cap of canary-yellow silk 
woven with a gold thread, while wound round it 
were the many - coloured silk scarves with which 
the Kurds delight to decorate themselves. In his 
case, as generally with the better-class Kurds, these 
consisted of handkerchiefs of dark claret-coloured silk, 
with here and there a narrow strip of colour or gold. 
A long coat of ** crushed strawberry" satin, crossed 
over the breast, reached to his knees, bound at the 
waist by a wide sash of gold and white brocade. At 
the neck a finely edged cambric shirt was visible, and 



BAlZ AGHA. 207 

the sleeves of the same protruded from those of 
the satin coat, and hung in long points a yard or 
more upon the ground. In his belt were a dagger 
and a pipe. His legs were encased as far as the 
ankles in the huge baggy white trousers of the 
country, while his feet were bare, a pair of richly 
embroidered cloth slippers resting before him. Such 
was Baiz Aghd, a young man of perhaps five-and- 
twenty years of age, a chief of one of the most 
powerful tribes of all Persian Kurdistan. Space does 
not allow here of my describing the other notables by 
whom the AghA was surrounded ; suffice it to say 
that a finer, handsomer, and better ordered group 
I never saw. One and all were scrupulously clean ; 
the rifles in the tent showed not a speck of rust, nor 
was a grain of dust appreciable anywhere. 

The desire of continuing my journey with as little 
delay as possible made it necessary for me to refuse 
the Aghd's kind invitation to spend the night in his 
camp; so, after partaking of refreshments, and resting 
ourselves and our horses a couple of hours, I set out 
once more on the road to Serdasht. Keeping to the 
bank of the Sheh Chai for an hour or so, we eventually 
turned off to the south, and following the course of a 
small tributary of the river, proceeded up its course 
until, the stream h*ft behind, we reached the head of 
the pass at an altitude of only a little un»ler 7000 feet. 




208 TRAVELS IN PERSIAN KURDISTAN. 

Here it was that we first caught a glimpse of wild 
Kurdistan, for a view lay stretched out before us than 
which it would be difficult to imagine anything more 
beautiful. From our very feet sprang up a forest of 
oak-trees : here clinging to the rocky peaks and preci- 
pices that surrounded us ; here, farther below, rolling 
away in undulating curves along the lower hills that 
lay on each side of the river in the valley far beneath ; 
and rocky peaks beyond. The sudden change from 
mountains on which little but grass existed to this 
rich forest-land was delightful. At our feet, far, far 
down below us, rolled the river Kalu, here wooded to 
its very banks, there turning and twisting in circuit- 
ous route amidst fields of young grain. Almost from 
the river-banks rose the foothills, partly swathed in 
forest, partly vivid green with crops or grass, but 
everywhere beautiful; and these foothills in turn 
gave place to densely wooded mountains, rising high 
into the clear blue sky, and ending in peaks of jagged 
rock and glistening snow. But it was not only the 
tout ensemble of this twenty miles or more of valley 
that lay before us that attracted all one's attention, 
for around us, peeping from the shade of the trees, 
were glades and flowers and flowering shrubs, pink 
and white and yellow with blossom. Tangled masses 
of roses and wild vines hung in festoons from the 
branches of the oaks, or trailed in jungle-like con- 



BEAUTIFUL SCENERY. 209 

fusion along the ground. Here and there wide grassy 
glades opened out, sparsely wooded, and reminding 
one more of some grand English park than of any 
scenery it had ever been my lot to see. Through 
these woods our path led us, descending steeply the 
while. At one moment the view was hid by boulders 
of spire-like rocks or by the dense growth of trees and 
shrubs, the next it would open out again, and the 
whole expanse of forest and valley and river, with 
the snow-peaks beyond, burst upon one. Once or 
twice a small band of Kurds were passed, gorgeous in 
coloured raiment, covered with arms, and singing the 
while, wishing a hearty welcome to the first European 
they had ever seen, as they were constantly assuring 
me that I was ; for we had not chosen the more regu- 
lar route from Suj-bulak to Serdasht, but had, under 
the guidance of our cheerful Haj, come straight across 
the mountain-tops, and struck the valley of the Kalu 
some twenty miles above the spot where the caravan- 
route crosses that river. 

Half-way down the steep mountain-side we reached 
the deserted village of Parast, a large enough place, 
but with gaping doors and windows, inhabited now 
by only a few stray jackals. Under a grove of trees 
on the right of the road lies the graveyard, with its 
curiously carved headstones bearing strange pictures 
and devices — daggers and triangles and combinations 

o 




210 TRAVELS IN PERSIAN KURDISTAN. 

of circles ; a few white flags on long poles waved above 
some more recent graves. But in spite of the fact 
that Parast was abandoned, and its inhabitants had 
sought their summer quarters, a considerable quantity 
of the surrounding soil was under cultivation, and a 
mile or two farther on we passed a picturesque little 
village, with a stream tumbling through its midst, 
and turning many a water-wheel, where these culti- 
vators of the soil resided. It is no difiicult matter to 
distinguish at a glance amongst the Kurds who are 
the cultivators and who the shepherds, for the latter 
are the original tribesmen, bearing themselves like 
the robbers and warriors they are, while a sedentary 
life seems to have coarsened the features of the culti- 
vator, and his activity and spirit are lost. 

At the large village of Mamazina we stopped, at 
the invitation of the local sheikh — Maruf Aghd — and 
in the wide verandah of his house drank tea, while 
quite a little crowd collected without to see the 
strange sight of a European. Of the fifteen or 
twenty men who rose as I entered, in the polite 
Kurdish fashion, and who bade me welcome, there 
was not one who had seen a European before. 

The house of Maruf Aghd being a typical residence 
of this part of Kurdistan, a few words of description 
may not be out of place. The material used in con- 
struction was, near the ground, stone loosely cemented 



KURDISH HOUSES. 211 

by clay, while above large sun-dried mud bricks, 
coated without with clay, formed the walls. An 
excellent surface is obtained by the skilful laying 
on of this outer lining of much - puddled clay, and 
in places, such as round the windows, and in the 
many niches which take the place of cupboards in 
the rooms within, it bears a polished smooth appear- 
ance. The house was square and of one storey in 
height, though being built upon the slope of the 
hill, and the floor laid level with the highest portion 
of the ground, steps were necessary to reach the 
rooms from without at the front. The centre of this 
side of the house consisted of a deep verandah, with 
rooms at either end ; a small stairway, some 3 or 4 
feet in height, gave access to this verandah, which 
in turn opened into the rooms at either end and be- 
hind. All these rooms apparently possessed windows, 
though but little light was admitted, as the window- 
frames were carefully pasted over with paper, the 
substitute for glass, so necessary in the intense cold 
of winter. In summer the verandah, open in front 
to the air, seemed to be the sole part of the house 
in use, with the exception of a kitchen, and a room 
or two where the women attended to their household 
duties. The floor of the verandah was of puddled 
clay, hard and clean, and strewn with matting and 
rugs of thick felt. In the centre was the recess 




212 TRAVELS IN PERSIAN KURDISTAN. 

in which the fire is lit, a few embers generally 
being kept red-hot for the brewing of tea in the 
samovars and the lighting of pipes. Usually only 
the residence of the head-man of the village possesses 
a verandah of such extent as that we found in the 
house of Maruf Aghd, which must have measured 
some 40 feet in length by 15 in breadth. The tra- 
veller could find no more welcome shelter anywhere 
than in the shade of these enclosed balconies, for the 
hot sun never penetrates within, the roof projecting 
several feet beyond the stout wooden poles that 
support it, and all through my travels in Kurdi- 
stan hospitality and rest were never refused by the 
owners of these better-class residences. The remain- 
der of the houses of the village seldom boast such 
luxuries as are enumerated above, though many are 
of considerable size. Adjoining each is an enclosure 
of wattle, the fence being often 8 or 10 feet in 
height, into which the flocks and herds are driven 
of a night as protection against the wolves which 
abound throughout these mountain districts. 

An hour or twos rest with Maruf Aghd, and 
we descended once again by the steep path to the 
valley of the Kalu below us. The snows of the 
mountains were fast melting at the approach of 
summer, and we found the wide river rushing past 
in a manner by no means reassuring ; but quite 



ACROSS THE KALU. 213 

a number of Kurds had been sent down by their 
chief to help us across. These, stripped naked, 
seized our horses by the bridles, dragging them over 
to a stony island in the centre of the stream. Then 
began the difficult work, and one and all undressed, 
despatching our clothing and scanty baggage across 
first in charge of the vigorous mountaineers, who, 
by crossing three at a time, and steadying one 
another, were able to breast the current. Our 
saddles were then taken over in the same manner; 
and lastly, mounting our bare-backed horses, we 
dashed into the stream, to reach, after many a 
struggle and many a stumble, the other bank in 
safety. Mohammed, my Arab, like myself enjoyed 
the sport, as the naked Kurds with shouts and 
blows drove our horses before them, laughing and 
yelling the while; but Yusef, my Tabriz Turki, 
clung to the mane of his steed, mumbling his 
prayers and white with fear, as abject a picture 
of terror as ever I saw, and a mark for ribald 
sarcasm on the part of our hardy mountaineer 
guides. Arrived on the farther shore, we were not 
long in saddling our horses and dressing, ourselves, 
and, bidding farewell to Maruf Aghds men, we 
proceeded on our way. 

No words of mine can describe the beauty of 
that afternoon's ride along the bank of the Kalu 



214 TRAVELS IN PERSIAN KURDISTAN. 

river. The wide valley lay before us, its lower 
slopes here green with rising grain, there clustered 
with groves of trees. One minute we were pro- 
ceeding through open fields, amongst hedges of roses, 
the next under the deep shade of forest trees, 
whose branches, interwoven over our heads, allowed 
only fitful rays of sunlight to reach the soil below. 
Everywhere clusters of creepers, roses, and wild- 
vines hung from the trunks and branches above, 
or trailed along the ground in dense undergrowth. 
Here and there the whole hillside was yellow with 
lemon -coloured dog-roses, or pink and white with 
the same sweet flowers, while every glade, every 
bank, was gay with a thousand blossoms. To our 
left, slightly below us, the river flowed, its wide 
open channel turning and twisting amongst green 
fields and groves of trees. As a background to 
this sylvan scene rose the mountains of dense forest, 
towering far into the afternoon sky, to end here 
in peaks of jagged precipices and rocks, there in 
wooded domes, and beyond in the unmelted snows 
of the past winter. Nor was life wanting to add 
a charm to the already perfect scene, for cattle 
lowed as they grazed on the hillsides ; and the 
bleating of herds and flocks, and the soft pipes 
of the shepherd-boy, broke upon the air. Here and 
there a peasant was ploughing, goading on his oxen 



A LOVELY RIDE. 215 

with deep cries, which distance rendered soft and 
low. Birds sang everywhere, and great butterflies 
passed idly to and fro upon the wing — less gorgeous 
perhaps than the bodies of horsemen who passed 
us now and again, decked out in coloured silks, 
and their horses in tassels and cords of brilliant 
wools. A cheery welcome one and all had for us 
as they cantered past, their many belts of cartridges 
and the barrels of their rifles flashing in the sunlight. 
Toward sunset, under the direction of the Haj 
from Suj-bulak, we turned aside up one of the many 
wooded gorges that opened into the main valley, and 
half an hour later were seated in the wide verandah 
of the mosque of Benavila, with a stream of crystal- 
clear water tumbling at our feet, and a view of forest 
and valley and mountain that it would be difficult to 
surpass. But what was perhaps the most enjoyable 
of all was the hearty reception that met us. No shy- 
ness, no holding back ; a dozen men to undo our 
saddle-bags, a dozen more bringing fresh green grass 
for our horses. Trays of food and bowls of milk 
from this house, a big platter of bread and butter 
from that, and a welcome from every one — all gaiety 
and laughter and pleasure, for the Kurd is the happi- 
est and most contented creature in the world, in 
these high mountains of Persian Kurdistan, where the 
Shah's rule is purely nominal, and the old tribal 



A 



216 TRAVELS. IN PERSIAN KURDISTAN. 

system exists to-day as it did amongst the same 
people who held these mountains when Babylon was 
built. No European had ever been seen here before, 
though some of the villagers had seen a traveller or 
two at Serdasht, the little town we were on our way 
to visit ; yet there was no curiosity, no wearying 
questions, though all the village, male and female, 
collected to look, standing open-eyed outside the 
rail of the balcony of the mosque while we sat chat- 
ting within to the head-men of the village. Good, 
cheery, handsome fellows they were, ready to answer 
all my questions as to their country, their ways and 
customs, hiding nothing, proud of their freedom, 
despising the Persian rule, good Moslems, but free 
from all fanaticism, and merry withal. When I 
think of the long dreary evenings I have spent after 
hard days of travel in other lands, I look back with 
unmingled pleasure and regret to those moonlit 
nights which I passed in the least accessible portion 
of Persian Kurdistan, in country that the Persian 
authorities had refused me permission to visit on 
account of its dangers ! 

As we were supping, the shrill sound of wooden 
pipes was heard, and my hosts told me that I was to 
witness the native dancing, a little festival having 
been arranged in my honour. So with a lantern we 
wandered to the centre of the village, where the 



A VILLAGE DANCE. 217 

voices and laughter of the young men and girls told 
us the dance was to take place. 

The performers had already drawn themselves up in 
line when I arrived, and a minute later the shrill notes 
of the pipe gave the signal for the dancing to com- 
mence. Some score of young men and women stood 
shoulder to shoulder, clasping hands, the line forming 
a crescent. At the given signal, the clapping of his 
hands by a youth who stood in front of the semi- 
circle of performers, the dance commenced, the entire 
line of men and women stepping slowly forward and 
then back again, each pace being taken a little to the 
right, so that a rotating movement was given to the 
string of dancers. As the music quickened so did 
the pace, and at each step the body from the waist 
upwards was bent forward and drawn back. Nor 
were the steps themselves the same, for the youth 
who gave the time ran up and down the line clapping 
his hands and singing and shouting out directions 
and changes. The principal feature of the dance 
seemed to be the bringing down of the right foot 
smartly upon the ground at intervals, when hand in 
hand the whole company remained with their bodies 
bent for a second or two, to spring back into position 
again at a fresh blow of the pipes. Meanwhile the 
slow rotating movement was maintained, so tliat the 
entire body were circling round the musicians. Wliat 



218 TRAVELS IN PERSIAN KURDISTAN. 

laughter and fun there was ! Men and girls giving 
themselves up to the enjoyment of their national 
dance, which, graceful and exhilarating, bore no trace 
of the sensual movements which usually mark the 
art of dancing in the East. One cannot speak too 
highly of the freedom allowed to the women of 
Kurdistan — a freedom that seems seldom if ever to 
be abused, for amongst these wild mountain people 
the moral standard is very high ; only in the towns 
do they seem to have sunk to the level of the Persian 
and the Turk. Here in these far-removed districts 
the old severe penalties have not disappeared, and 
adultery is still to-day punished by death. 

An hour's ride in the early morning* along the 
lovely valley of the ELalu until a gorge was reached, 
where, turning to the west, we commenced to ascend 
the mountains on the right bank of the river. A 
lovely road it was, though steep and difficult enough. 
Below us lay the gorge with its walls of rock and 
shrubs, while, wherever the soil allowed, green barley 
grew on the banked-up terraces, or walnut and fruit 
trees formed little orchards. Down the centre of the 
narrow valley tumbled the little stream of Boli-marsas, 
that gives its name to the valley itself. Above us rose 
the forest-covered peaks, while away behind, seen be- 
tween walls of rocks and trees, lay the wide valley of 
the Kalu, with its background of snow-peaks beyond. 



ARRIVAL AT SERDASHT. 219 

At the little village of Baskadu we rested for half an 
hour, for the steep climb had covered our horses with 
foam ; and pleasant it was under the shade of the 
great walnut-trees. A streamlet turned a mill near 
by, the monotonous sound of the wheel of which 
blended harmoniously with the splash of the water 
and the song of the birds. Everywhere the hedges 
were pink and yellow and white with roses, and the 
fruit-trees were full of bloom. Then on again, past 
another and larger stream, the clear shallow pools of 
which lay sheltered under the great trees above, until 
the plateau of Serdasht was reached, at an elevation 
of over 4700 feet above the sea-level, near the summit 
of the mountains that form the western side of the 
Kalu valley. 

At first there is nothing to be seen of the little 
town, the plateau being apparently devoid of any 
houses, though the number of people moving to and 
fro spoke of the proximity of human habitations. It 
is not, in fact, until one has approached closely that 
one can distinguish the place ; for so low are the 
houses, and to such an extent are the mud roofs 
grown over with grass, that Serdasht, at 200 yards' 
distance, resembles merely a succession of green 
mounds. But when one has entered its few poor 
streets, one finds that, small as it is, the place seems 
a tolerably flourishing little township, with its two 




220 TRAVELS IN PERSIAN KURDISTAN. 

squares of shops, and its Government House with its 
guard of soldiers. As in all the other parts of outlying 
Kurdistan, the officials are Kurds, for the Shah knows 
well enough that any attempt to force a Persian 
governor upon these wild hillsmen would end un- 
satisfactorily for himself, and still more for the 
governor in question, whose life would not be worth 
an hour or two's purchase. But the mountaineers 
are willing enough to be placed under the governor- 
ship of one of their hereditary Aghds, who in turn 
owns allegiance and pays a small sum in lieu of taxes 
to the imperial coflFers at Tehran. No doubt the great 
hatred existing between the Kurds on one part and 
the Persians and Turkis of Persia is a religious one, for 
the simple Sunni creed of the former is antagonistic 
on every point to the Sheiya belief of the latter: 
and in this the Kurd is infinitely to be preferred ; 
for while the fanatical and despicable Persian or Turki 
refuses even a drink of water to a European, the Kurd 
receives him as a fellow-man, entertains him, takes him 
into his house, and even puts him up in his mosques. 
Quarters were soon found for me in the town, 
and while the room was being swept out and cleaned, 
and I was waiting without, I was called away to 
breakfast with a group of Kurdish merchants on the 
little platform in front of their shops, shaded with 
vines and trellis. It was but one more instance of 



( 



diat unbounded hospitality that is shown to the 
stranger throughout this delightful country. 




There is but littlp to sec in Senlasht beyond the 
picturesfiue figures in its streets, for liere the Kurd is 



222 TRAVELS IN PERSIAN KURDISTAN. 

found at his best; handsome in feature and dress, 
armed to the teeth with rifle, pistol, and dagger, en- 
circled with three, and sometimes four, belts of rifle- 
cartridges, and gay in coloured silks. Lazy, good- 
natured fellows these clansmen seem to be, sauntering 
to and fro, laughing and chatting with every one, 
amused at little, and happy and contented at their lot 
in the high mountains and forests of Kurdistan, be- 
lieving that there is no country like their own, and 
no people like themselves ; seldom, if ever, travelling, 
suspicious of wandering even a score of miles from 
their villages, and home - sick even then ; thinking 
every man their enemy out of Kurdisten, and receiv- 
ing every man as a friend within its boundaries; 
hospitable to the few Europeans they ever see, but 
strong in the belief that they would be murdered if 
they ever went to Europe. Half villains, half chil- 
dren, confiding and simple in their manners and 
conversation, brave and vindictive in their warfare ; 
a race of men who, since the days when Herodotus 
wrote of them, have changed in nothing but their 
religion ; and cheery, delightful fellows withal, mak- 
ing night merry with their songs and laughter, and 
passing the day in idleness or sport. Such are the 
Kurds of Persian Kurdistan. 

I was fortunate enough to be at Serdasht while the 
wedding-feast of one of the governor's lieutenants 



A FlfeTE. 223 

was taking place, and all the shops were closed and 
the people a-merry-making, music and dancing being 
the order of the day. The festivities took place upon 
a green glade only a minute or two's walk from the 
entrance of the little town, and a gorgeous throng of 
people it was that I found collected there in the 
afternoon, for men and women were in holiday attire, 
rich in silks and brocades. The girls in their long 
gowns of gold-threaded silk, with bright handker- 
chiefs on their heads, the long plaits of black hair 
falling over their shoulders and down their backs, 
their necks and foreheads hung with coins and orna- 
ments, were scarcely more brilliant than the men, 
who, with loose baggy white trousers and coats of 
brilliantly striped silks, with their jackets of white 
felt and gorgeous silk turbans and peak caps, their 
skilfully wound sashes of many colours, and their 
embroidered shoes, were pictures of oriental dandy- 
ism. How they all laughed and shouted as they 
danced to the music of the pipes and drums in the 
bright afternoon sunlight ! 

With regard to the feast that was taking place, one 
amusing incident was brought to my notice. One of 
my horses had lost a shoe, and I sent Yusef to find 
the smith. He returned shortly to state that the only 
shoesmith in the place was in prison, because he had 
forbidden his wife to go and dance with the rest of 



224 TRAVELS IN PERSIAN KURDISTAN. 

the merry-makers. On his release a few hours later, 
he came to shoe the horse. He was an elderly, ill- 
visaged man, and his wife, I heard, young and beau- 
tiful; and so great was his jealousy that he had for- 
bidden her to join her fellow-townspeople in their 
innocent diversions. But the report had reached the 
governor s ears, and he soon turned the tables upon 
the ill-conditioned husband by securely putting him 
under lock and key in the town jail, while his 
wife danced to her heart's content upon the village 
green. 

I had hoped from Serdasht to have been able to 
cross the Turkish frontier, which lies within a few 
miles of this spot, and obtain some insight into the 
manners and customs of the Kurds under Turkish 
jurisdiction ; but so unpromising were the reports I 
obtained as to aflFairs in the strip of country that 
owns neither Persian nor Turkish influence that I was 
obliged to decide not to attempt it. With but purely 
nominal authority on oither side of these frontier 
mountains, it is little to be wondered at that the 
tribes who inhabit the rocky ranges engage in every 
kind of pillage and tribal warfare, for should the Turks 
take it into their head to interfere, they have always 
Persian territory at hand to seek refuge in, and vice 
versa. Only a few days before, a small caravan had 
been pillaged of all its merchandise, and the men 



DEPABTDRE FHOM SSRDA8HT. 226 

stripped of even their scanty clothing, and now all 
Serdasht was preparing for a foray of revenge. Under 
these circumstances it would have been madness to 
proceed ; so after a day's rest in the pleasant little 
town, I turned my horses' heads away from the fron- 
tier, descending by a gorge even more lovely than 
that we had climbed up to Serdasht, and a few hours 




Creising thi Katii Hivtr, Kurjiiitan, 



later reached the Kalu river, some twenty miles below 
where we had forded it a few days previously. Here 
our difficulties began, for the river is larger and swifter 
at this spot than where we had forded it ; and al- 
though a small raft, supported on inflated skins, is 
there to carry ooe and one's baggage over the rapids, 
it is by no means a safe or a sure method of making 
the passage, nor, on account of its frail construction, 



226 TRAVELS IN PERSIAN KURDISTAN. 

can one's horses be tied to it to swim the river. 
Unsaddling in mid-stream on a stony island to which 
we had been able with some difi&culty to ford, we 
drove the three horses into the water, while we packed 
ourselves and our belongings on to the tiny raft, which 
made its first journey in safety, landing Mohammed 
and Yusef and some of our scanty baggage on the 
farther side, and then returned for me and the saddles. 
Meanwhile the horses, delighted with their baths, took 
to fighting, and instead of swimming across to the 
farther bank, • recrossed the portion of the river we 
had already manoeuvred, and quietly took to grazing 
on the bank This exasperating situation was event- 
ually, however, bettered by our good Haj of Suj- 
bulak, who, although he had been so long absent upon 
his pUgrimage, had so far refused to leave us. Owing 
to his exertions, the three steeds were eventually 
driven across, and after a couple of hours' delay 
caught and saddled on the farther bank. 

A butterfly youth in a pink silk coat and gorgeous 
turban, with about half a hundredweight of cart- 
ridges about his person, had been sent by the Gover- 
nor of Serdasht to show us the way, and strode on 
with light and airy step before our little cavalcade. 
Poor Yusef, my Tabriz Turki servant, who had 
entered Kurdistan in fear and trembling, had by this 
period become a sort of jelly with terror; for a more 



YUSEP'S FEAR. 227 

cowardly set of people than the inhabitants of Tabriz 
it would be difficult to conceive. Every Kurd he 
imagined to be a robber, and every rifle was on the 
point of being aimed at him ! Continually mumbling 
his prayers, he rode along gazing to right and left, 
and seeking a place of refuge behind Mohammed or 
myself at every imaginary danger. To the Persians 
and Turkis the Kurd is a sort of ** bogey-man," used 
for frightening children and even grown-up people ; 
but were the two former races to adopt a few of the 
traits of the latter a better state of things would exist, 
for in place of the immoral, cowardly, lying, and 
corrupt state in which Persians and Turkis exist 
to-day, a little truth -telling and manliness, a little 
patriotism and morality, would appear, where not a 
grain of any is to be found to-day. 

The river safely crossed, our road ascended on its 
eastern bank, leading us through a well-populated 
district, with many picturesque villages perched on 
the hillsides or in some deep ravine, where generally 
was to be found a stream of rushing water. As we 
proceeded, we entered upon a plateau formed by the 
summits of the hills on the immediate bank of the 
river, which stretched away to the eastward to where 
the high-peaked mountains rose up in formidable piles 
of rock and forest. Nothing more beautiful than this 
undulating plateau could be imagined. It called to 



228 TRAVELS IN PERSIAN KURDISTAN. 

mind some stately English park, for it stretched away 
in greensward and forest-trees to where the higher 
mountains bounded the horizon. Here long glades 
opened out to right and left ; here, again, the forest- 
trees shaded the road for a quarter of a mile together 
from the fierce sunlight. Early in the afternoon a 
deep gorge had to be crossed, and at this spot we en- 
countered the most difficult and fatiguing piece of 
road we had as yet come across. Riding was out of 
the question, and we dismounted to lead our horses 
down the zigzag track that takes one to the bottom 
of the ravine. The descent was of some 1300 feet, 
for the most part over slippery soil of loose shales, 
which gave under the horses' feet. Often we had 
to hurry our steeds across long slides of this soft 
material, which seemed to have slipped from higher 
up the mountain-side. But in spite of the fact that 
great care was necessitated in successfully accomplish- 
ing the descent, one had ample opportunity to admire 
the grandeur of the scenery. Except where the shale- 
falls were heaviest, the whole sides of the ravine were 
thickly overgrown with forest, principally oak-trees, 
and their stout trunks and grasping roots gave us far 
more secure foothold than we should otherwise have 
found. It was wonderful to see our guide, bom and 
bred upon such roads as these, as he skipped from 
boulder to boulder, singing the while, and twisting his 



A STEEP CLIMB. 229 

rifle above his head, or throwing it into the air to 
catch it again as it fell. Arrived at the bottom, we 
refreshed our dry throats at the stream that poured 
down between the almost perpendicular walls of forest 
and rock, and rested for a while in the shade of the 
luxuriant vegetation that lined the little river's 
banks. In many places creepers, roses, and vines 
stretched from tree to tree over the clear pools and 
tiny rapids of the rivulet. 

Then the ascent: as steep as where we had de- 
scended, a climb of a couple of hours through forest 
and over rocks and shale — tiring and hot, it is true, 
but repaying in every step all the fatigue we suffered, 
for every moment between the trees there opened up 
some new and lovely prospect of the gorge and the 
great rock and snow peaks beyond, where it joined 
the valley of the Kalu. On we toiled, till once more 
we reached open country at the summit — park-like 
glades, such as we had been passing through before 
we reached the deep ravine. Here, too, a scene of 
great interest and beauty awaited us, for in one of 
the deepest groves of forest-trees we came across a 
numerous band of Kurds migratinfir to their summer 
quarters. They were resting under the spreading 
branches of the great trees. The men were seated, 
smoking and talking or cutting firewood ; while the 
women attended to the cooking of the food, and the 




230 TRAVELS IN PERSIAN KURDISTAN. 

children tended the grazing flocks and herds, cattle 
and mares. A more purely pastoral scene one could 
not imagine. The donkeys and cattle, tired with the 
burden of the black tents they had been carrying, 
were lying with closed eyes in the shade ; the goats 
and sheep browsed lazily along the banks of a tiny 
stream, knee - deep in delicious sweet grass and 
flowers ; the blue smoke of the wood fires curled in 
fanciful wreaths amongst the oak-trees; and every- 
where were the gaily-dressed men and women and 
children, all laughing and singing and resting after 
their weary trudge. 

An hour farther on we reached the large village 
of Siama, lying in the centre of a large declivity in 
the hills which was probably once a lake. Here I 
was housed in the mosque, and treated with all the 
courtesy and hospitality that the Kurds know so 
w^ell how to dispense. No European, they told me, 
had ever been here before, and yet from their kind- 
ness and attention one would have imagined that 
they were accustomed to entertain the "Ferangi." 
Two large mounds in the vicinity mark, so the 
natives say, the site of two old cities ; and there 
seems to be some truth in what they state, for I was 
able to purchase a small number of coins and en- 
graved stones and seals in the village. The people 
set no value at all upon antiquities, and protracted 



ttavel in these mouDtain districts of Kurdistan 
would, I feel sure, well repay the antiquary. 

Were I to describe folly each day of our four 
weeks' journey in Kurdistan, I should use up all the 
available space at my disposal, and yet fail by a long 




A f preaching Bana. 

Spell to bring my narrative to the end of my journey. 
The day of leaving Siama we reached Bana, a pic- 
turesque little town nestling at the foot of high 
mountains in a circular valley. Here the same hos- 
pitality as 1 have recorded elsewhere was shown me, 
and under the guidance of the governor, a pleasant 



/' 



232 TRAVELS IN PERSIAN KURDISTAN. 

young Kurd, some sports were got up for my amuse- 
ment, and the afternoon was given up to dancing, 
partridge -fighting, and shooting at targets, at the 
latter of which the natives are most proficient. But 
what to me was the most curious of all the sights of 
Bana were the gunsmiths, who from raw iron im- 
ported from Russia, and without any machinery, can 
turn out by hand really excellent Martini rifles, 
firing regulation ammunition ; and these they can 
sell at from £2, 10s. to £4 sterling ! I sat for a long 
time watching these men at work, and one could not 
help admiring their dexterity and the skill with 
which they manufactured and fitted all the parts of 
the rifle, which when completed bore not only every 
resemblance to the real article, but even the stamps 
of the Prussian and Turkish firms that manufacture 
them. This art is entirely self-taught, and origin- 
ated absolutely from copying the genuine article. 
That the rifled barrels are capable of good direction 
I can answer myself, as I was witness to some really 
excellent shooting at 200 to 400 yards with these 
same hand-made weapons. 

Here, again, at Bana all idea of pushing into 
Turkish Kurdistan was quickly at an end, for at the 
time of my stay in the little town a large body of 
influential Kurds were there from over the frontier 
to try and arrange a settlement of the interminable 



ZARHAU-I-STFLA. 



283 



feuds that existed amongst the tribes, and they 
pointed out to me once for all how dangerous any 
attempt to push through daring the absence of the 
chief men would be. There remained only to once 
more abandon my idea, and proceed on my travels 
farther into Persian territory. 



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Zariiaa-i-Si/la, Kutdislan 



234 



CHAPTER XL 



SANA TO KERMANSHAH. 



I HAyE divided my travels in Persian Kurdistan into 
two portions, not only because as one chapter its 
length would have been excessive, but also because 
after leaving Bana, although our travels were still 
for some time to be amongst Kurds, we left the 
independent tribes behind, and entered upon an 
entirely difierent class of people. The Kurd seems 
greatly susceptible to extraneous influences, and in 
the case of Persia the influences of the reigning 
Power are by no means elevating ones. The short 
journey of a couple of days between Bana and 
Sakiz showed us the transition between the Kurd 
of the highlands, an independent, hospitable, and 
kindly warrior, and his brother of the country more 
accessible to Persian of&cials. Here we found a class 
of people debased in life, ideas, and morality, aping 
the Persian in dress and character, and sufiering 
hardships at the hands of Persian officialdom. 



A MOUNTAIN PASS. 235 

Half an hour across the plain from Bana brought 
our little cavalcade, augmented by a gay Kurd on 
foot as guide and guard, into a wide valley, at a 
village of which — Sabatu — our zaptieh was changed, 
the first returning to Bana and the second continuing 
the journey with us. Ascending the valley, we soon 
commenced a steep climb, and by three in the after- 
noon had reached the summit of the pass, at an 
altitude of only a few feet short of 7000 above the 
sea-level. Here we were to leave behind the lovely 
forest countiy through which so much of our travel- 
ling of late had been, and to enter upon bare hill- 
sides and cultivated fields. Snow lay thickly at this 
high altitude, although the afternoon was almost 
oppressively hot ; but it was the last snow we were 
to cross upon our journey, though often on the road 
to Kermanshah we were to catch glimpses of the 
white frontier peaks away to the west. A descent 
almost as steep as the climb up brought us, first by 
narrow gorges, then through wild picturesque little 
cailons, to the more open land of the valley, where 
fields of rising grain lined the banks of the stream. 
Passing several mud villages, near one of which a 
group of dancing Kurds proved so tempting to our 
guide that in spite of his long walk he went and 
merrily joined the throng, until we heartlessly called 
him away, we found quarters for the night at 



236 SANA TO KERMANSHAH. 

Miradeh, the residence of an Aghd, a Kurdish chief. 
Here Persian civilisation was visible for the first 
time for a long while in a well-built red-brick house, 
faced with large windows, and rather resembling a 
railway station on some retired line in England. 
However, we were not dissatisfied in spite of its 
unpicturesque appearance, for a room was soon pre- 
pared for us, and supper brought. Quite a number 
of the Kurdish villagers — especially the attendants 
of the young Aghd, together with more than one 
member of his family — shared our meal and our 
room with us. A pleasant jovial crowd they were — 
nearly all speaking Persian or Turki, and showing 
in their costume their proximity to people other 
than the Kurds. 

Two hours in the early morning along the river- 
bank brought us to the village of yet another AghA, 
where Persian proclivities were even more apparent 
than at Miradeh ; for here the female folk, while 
not keeping within doors or veiling their faces, had 
adopted Persian costume. Anything more hideous 
than the result can scarcely be imagined. The dress 
of the women of Northern Persia is such that one 
is really grateful to the men for keeping their wives 
and daughters in seclusion. Over cotton "tights" 
hangs a small skirt of many pleats, exactly resem- 
bling the dress of a second-rate ballet-girl in a second- 



women's dress. 237 

rate theatre. The fact that this skirt, which stands 
out stiffly all round, and does not reach as low as 
the knees, is usually soiled and tinsel-bedecked, does 
not add anything to its attractiveness. A bodice, 
cut square and generally dirty, decorated with in- 
ferior gold braid, exposing the neck and arms, and 
often a portion of the body between its lower ends 
and the top of the skirt, completes the disfiguring 
garb of a female of Northern Persia. Incongruous, 
indeed, it seemed in this Kurdish village, which ap- 
peared altogether like a scene in a low and second- 
rate opera-bouffe, with its mud houses and skipping 
carps de ballet^ who oiie and all turned out to see 
the European. On their heads they wore large 
black turbans, into which plaits of their hair, after 
hanging over their shoulders in large loops, were 
fastened. One who had some pretensions to good 
looks, and who, I was told, was a newly wedded 
wife of the fat old Aghd, wore a quantity of gold 
coins — English sovereigns, napoleons, and Turkish 
pounds — in her turban and round her neck. She 
must have carried at least a hundred pounds worth 
of gold coin about with her ; and judging from the 
state of her costume, which was ultra-short, she 
apparently slept with the whole concern of tights, 
skirt, bodice, turban, and coins on her. 

The Aghd's residence was a respectable building 



238 



BANA TO EEBHANSHAH. 



of mud, just outside which stood the mosque, with 
a gallery and small verandah, from which the mued' 
din called the hour to prayer. For the rest the vil- 
lage displayed little else but infeiior mud hovels. 

After breakfast for ourselves and our horses we 
started once more on our way. 




The approach to Sakiz is a most picturesque one, 
for the town lies at the end of the valley, a mile 
or two beyond where the river leaves the hills to 
flow into the open plain. The town does not stand 
on the immediate banks of the stream, but half a mile 
or so away, on a low ridge of hills, which slope down 



8AKIZ. 239 

to the water's edge in a series of gardens. But the 
charm of the scene is lost as soon as one enters the 
place, which is poor enough, with shabby bazaars 
and narrow streets. At a large caravanserai, more 
or less in ruins, we took up our abode, and were 
fortunate in being able to obtain a decent room and 
tolerable privacy, though the efforts of a handful 
of Armenians to enforce their company upon us 
required all our united stratagems to defeat. They 
were good fellows in their way, and thought perhaps 
they were doing us a service in coming to inquire 
after my wants ; but soon their politeness could not 
conceal their desire to make money, and as soon as 
curios were mentioned they came and went per- 
petually, bringing all the rubbish of the town for 
my inspection. One man, however, Haj Fatha Said 
by name, has a by no means poor collection of Baby- 
lonian and Assyrian seals and cylinders, and it is 
to him that the peasants bring their " finds " for sale. 
The prices he asked, however, and the value placed 
upon the objects, put all ideas of purchase out of 
the question ; and his manner, as soon as he found 
I would not give anything approaching what he 
asked, entirely changed, and he became offensive 
and rude. 

Our caravanserai was full of Kurdish tribesmen, 
smoking their thick-stemmed short pipes and tend- 




240 BAN A TO KERMANSHAH. 

ing their animals. A genial lot of men they were, 
and, unasked, lent a hand in the tethering and feed- 
ing of my horses. 

Two days' ride over an elevated plateau, with con- 
stant views of ranges of mountains on our right, 
and one or two rivers to cross, brought us to Sinna, 
the capital of Persian Kurdistan. Our last stopping- 
place was Huseynabad, a poor enough spot, but with 
picturesque surroundings of rugged mountains. After 
a long ascent I found the altitude above the sea- 
level to be 6800 feet, and from this spot we de- 
scended to the banks of a river, where rice was 
growing in marshy fields. Another hour's ride 
brought us to the summit of one of the spurs 
of the range on our right, and thence we obtained 
a fine view of that most charming town Sinna, lying 
nestling in the hills, and surrounded on almost all 
sides by gardens. A quarter of an hour's trot and 
we had crossed the large graveyard and were enter- 
ing the town. 

The heat was intense, and to add to our discomfort 
we found it impossible to obtain quarters at either of 
the two best caravanserais, and were at last driven to 
be satisfied with a small and none too clean a room in 
a half-ruined khan. But the aid of a plentiful supply 
of water and a broom, followed by an excellent break- 
fast from a neighbouring cook-shop for ourselves, and 



ARRIVAL AT SINN A. 241 

a good feed of new hay for our horses, restored once 
more our peace of mind. Nor were we destined to 
remain long in our shabby abode, for amongst a 
crowd of people who came out of curiosity to see 
us was a Nestorian of the Chaldsean sect, who in- 
vited us to take up our residence in his house. This 
we were glad enough to do, and an hour later we 
found ourselves comfortably installed in his abode, 
reclining on carpets and cushions, with every want 
attended to. 

A few words must be said about my host. He 
was a man of middle age, handsome features, and 
pleasant manner. A most devout Catholic — for he 
belonged to the division of the Nestorian Church 
which has gone over to Rome — he never missed an 
opportunity of crossing himself and saying long 
graces over his food. He boasted that he had never 
once neglected attending his church on the Sabbath 
or a saint's day for fourteen years. Yet he was, 
I think, about the most immoral man I ever met. 
It took about ten minutes to take stock of his house, 
and when taken, it presented such a surprise that, 
were one not used to seeing strange things in Eastern 
lands, one would have been too shocked to remain. 
But my experiences of such characters did not deter 
me from remaining as his guest, as a luxurious lodg- 
ing in the house of an immoral man is better than 

Q 



J 



242 BAN A TO KERMANSHAH. 

a dirty room in a ruined caravanserai. Besides, his 
private doings had nothing to do with me. Yet 
he was, to all outward appearances, a charming com- 
panion, and attended to my every want with the 
utmost zeal, and the four days I spent at Sinna 
were the most comfortable I had known since leaving 
Tabriz. My host was evidently a man of means, 
for the comparatively rich furnishing of his apart- 
ment bespoke luxury and ease. The house was 
built round three sides of a square, the fourth side 
consisting of the division-wall of his and his neigh- 
bour's gardens. A huge mulberry-tree stood in the 
centre of the yard, and threw delicious shade over 
a large portion of the open court. The room we 
occupied was on the first floor of the house — for 
the building was of two storeys — and consisted, like 
almost all rooms in this part of Persia, of a long 
narrow chamber with recesses in the walls for cup- 
boards, and a huge window at one end and fireplace 
at the other. The framework of the window, filled 
with glass instead of the usual paper, slid to one 
side, and a pile of soft mattresses and pillows formed 
a most luxurious seat, whence I could see my horses 
tethered in the court beneath, and across the wall 
of the garden obtain a view of a portion of the town 
and the hills beyond. 

Of the attractions of Sinna I cannot speak too 



SITUATION OF SINNA. 243 

highly. Whether I am biassed in its favour by 
the comfort I experienced there after so much hard 
travelling I do not know, but certainly the impression 
left upon me by four days' stay in the town is a most 
pleasant one. 

As to its situation, Sinna lies nestled in hills, 
above a stream of clean running water that tumbles 
in a deep gully below the very houses. This little 
valley, with its thickly wooded slopes, is a charming 
spot, and one much frequented by the townspeople ; 
for not only do the dandies of the place come here 
to drink tea in one of the many ca/5&, but the youth 
and beauty of the other sex seek it as a suitable 
spot to do their washing in, and bandy words with 
their " young men " — or some one else's, as the case 
may be. Whatever fault may be found with this 
system, it certainly adds not a little to the attrac- 
tiveness of the picture, the charm of which is not 
a little owing to the gay groups of youths and 
maidens one is constantly coming across. 

In the centre of the town stands, high above the 
houses, the palace of the governors of the place, a 
hereditary post held by one of the old Kurdish 
princely families. This group of buildings, with its 
ancient towers and more modern palace, forms a 
feature in the scene, from whichever way one looks 
at it. At the foot of this hill, crowned by its fortress. 




244 BAN A TO KERMANSHAH. 

are the bazaars, stretching in every direction, new and 
neatly laid out, every street almost at right angles or 
parallel to the next. Here and there an opening in 
these domed arcades gives one a glimpse of some 
great caravanserai with its handsome windows and 
domes, its immense paved courtyard, and its fountain. 
Several of these caravanserais are really fine buildings 
of most pleasing appearance and highly decorative 
architecture. In them the principal portion of the 
trade of the place is carried on. 

But it is no doubt to the natives of Sinna that 
much of its attractiveness is owing ; for whether it be 
in the great bazaars, or in the ca/&, or away in the 
gardens of the suburbs, one is always treated with a 
civility and deference that contrasts with the manners 
of the Turkis and Persians, much to the disparagement 
of the latter. But then the inhabitants of Sinna are 
Kurds, and that in itself is enough to explain to a 
great degree their behaviour. Any traveller knows 
what a difi'erence the treatment he receives makes to 
his impressions of a place. Where one is received 
politely and with no show of fanaticism, everything 
seems to go smoothly and well, and an immense ad- 
dition is made to the pleasure of one's stay. And so 
it was in Sinna. In the long bazaars, my constant 
resort on prowls for curiosities, nothing could have 
exceeded the kindness of every one with whom I came 



THE SUBURBS. 245 

in contact. The dealer of second-hand rubbish would 
turn over his stores on the chance of finding some 
object that might please me, and the weaver would 
cease his weaving to show me how his loom worked. 
From the cafis more than one voice would hail me to 
come and drink a cup of tea within, and the owner of 
the clean tiled eating-shop, with its array of tempting 
cooked dishes, invited me to partake of his wares. 
Everywhere a smile and a greeting, ever5'^where a 
polite word. 

And if the town of Sinna proved attractive, the 
suburbs did so almost more ; for amongst the gardens, 
with their hedges of roses, one can wander at one's 
ease in the shade, listening to the songs of the 
pleasure - loving Kurds and the babbling of the 
stream hidden in dense trees below. The bloom was 
still on the sicnjit — jujube — trees, and the air full of 
its fragrance ; while the roses, white and pink and 
lemon - yellow, trailed in untrained luxuriance over 
every hedge and up the very trunks of the trees, to 
hang in festoons from their branches. It is beyond 
these gardens that the official whose duty it is to look 
after foreigners resides, in a charming house on the 
summit of a wooded hill. The fact that there arc no 
foreigners in Sinna does not make his Excellency's 
post a very laborious one, and so he had ample oppor- 
tunity to look after me. He vised my passix)rt some 




246 BAN A TO KERMANSHAH. 

half-dozen times — at a small fee — and gave me letters 
of introduction to half the officials in Persia — fee still 
smaller ; but there wasn't any room on my passport 
for further visSs. Then he sent me a lot of sweets, 
came a dozen times to call, and finally, in spite of 
his gorgeous uniform of white cloth and gold lace, 
accepted half a sovereign as a " tip." He was 
worth much more than that, for he was a delight- 
ful little creature, all smiles and courtesy, and I felt 
a real affection for him, so naive and ingenuous he 
was. 

There was one particular spot on the hill opposite 
the town that I, in company with my Nestorian host, 
used to frequent. It was a cafe, a mere hut, with a 
terrace in front of it, from which a splendid view of 
the town was to be obtained. Many of the better- 
class townspeople seemed to appreciate the charming 
situation, for there was always a brightly coloured 
merry little band of them, drinking tea and talking 
and singing. Under the shade of the big trees that 
overhung the little terrace they formed a charming 
picture, in their gay clothes of silk and fine linen. 

With the exception of the palace on its hill there 
is but one building of any great beauty or importance 
in Sinna — an old mosque, almost on the outskirts of 
the town, on its north-west side. This edifice is still 
in excellent repair, and presents a fa9ade of such tile- 



THE MOSQUE. 247 

work and faience as I saw nowhere else in Persia. 
No words could describe the exquisite blending of 
colours and design, the shades of blues and dull 
pinks, the contrasts of black and white and soft 
yellows, that cover the entire front of the fajade. 
Great panels of mythical flowers of every hue, long 
friezes of inscriptions in white on a dark-blue ground, 
follow one upon the other, the whole blending in the 
most perfect manner. The remainder of the mosque 
presents no features of any great interest, for besides 
the fajade the minarets alone are faced with tiles, in 
this case principally shades of blue. 

After four days' rest we set out once more upon 
our travels under the guidance of an aged soldier, 
mounted upon an aged horse, supplied by his Excel- 
lency of Foreign Affairs (included in the ten-shilling 
tip). This soldier made so much of the fact that he 
knew every inch of the road that I was not in the 
least surprised to find that by ten o'clock — for we 
were travelling by night — he had not the least idea 
as to our whereabouts, except that we were on the 
edge of a precipice with apparently no road either up 
or down. However, an hour or so of scrambling and 
danger brought us to a river-bed, which the old idiot 
confessed he had never seen before, and which might 
have been a thousand miles away from our road for 
all he knew. There was nothing for it, so we un- 



248 BANA.TO KERMANSHAH. 

saddled and tethered our horses, and sat down for 
the rest of the night by the banks of the stream. 
I talked to that soldier for about three hours in a 
language of which he knew not one word ; but all the 
same, he wept profusely at the thought of getting no 
bakshish at the other end, and a possibility of im- 
prisonment — at least I imagine that to have been the 
train of his thoughts, for whenever he spoke he did 
so in Kermanji, a language of which I knew some 
dozen words — and he never seemed to use any of 
these. 

Morning came at last, and we found our road, far 
from which we had wandered, and proceeded to mid- 
day quarters at a dreary village, where we rested until 
evening. 

As sunset was approaching we started once again^ 
crossing parallel ranges of hills and more than one 
small river. Just at dark we emerged upon a plain, 
across which a distant view of mountains could be 
obtained. Needless to say, our soldier-guide lost the 
way amongst the bewildering sheep-tracks that cross 
this level piece of ground, and we groped about use- 
lessly in the dark. At length, exasperated by the 
manner in which we were travelling round in a series 
of circles, I spied, to my delight, some fires a long 
way ahead, and proposed that we should ride to them 
and inquire. The soldier and Yusef both attempted 



A KURDISH ENCAMPMENT. 249 

to dissuade me, stating that the place was infested 
with Kurdish robbers ; but as I knew Yusef had 
never been here before, and I had grave doubts as 
to whether the soldier ever had, Mohammed and I 
started oflf without more ado, followed by the loudly 
expostulating couple. 

It was farther than I thought ; but the sight which 
met our eyes when we did arrive repaid the long trot 
over the plain, for we cantered straight into the 
middle of a large Kurdish encampment, before which 
the embers of a few fires still sparkled. The place 
was wrapped in darkness, only in the starlight we 
could make out the outline of the huge tents. My 
cry of " Warra ! warra ! " — the call used by the Kurds 
to attract attention — was quickly answered, and 
before a minute had elapsed we were completely sur- 
rounded by a band of armed men, one or two of whom 
seized my bridle. Mohammed was with me, but 
Yusef and the soldier kept at a safe distance, lost to 
sight in the darkness. As soon as it was discovered 
that we were strangers and meant no harm, lights 
were struck, little oil-wicks lit in the tents, and we 
were invited within, where milk and cream were 
brought. Meanwhile our two cowards, seeing that 
no harm had come to us, arrived, and through them 
we were able to make ourselves understood, and to 
learn that we had missed the main track two or three 



250 BANA TO KERMANSHAH. 

miles to the left. After half an hour's rest and a 
smoke with our kind hosts in the great tent of the 
Aghd. of the tribe, we set out once more. 

But this half-hour was one I shall never forget. 
The camp-fires had been raked up, fresh grass and 
thorn-bush thrown on, and in the glare of the flames 
we sat under the tent, an Englishman, an Arab, 
a Turki, and a score of Kurds. The dancing flames 
flashed on the barrels of their rifles, illuming their 
wild features, half-covered by loosely folded turbans. 
Without was inky darkness except for a myriad stars, 
which appeared to increase in brightness and dwindle 
again as the flames of the camp-fires rose and fell. It 
was the last peep of wild Kurdish life we were to see ; 
for on the morrow we reached Kermanshah, and 
thence to Baghdad we proceeded by a regular caravan- 
road, which boasts tolerable civilisation. 

Half-a-dozen young Kurds were sent with us to 
put us on the right road, and at the entrance to the 
valley, having shaken hands all round and wished 
each other every good luck, they turned back. Then 
hour after hour along the flat wide valley, — in dark- 
ness all the while, — with its high cliffs of precipitous 
rock on either hand, throwing fantastic shadows 
across our path, when they came between us and the 
now risen moon. At dawn we reached the end of 
the gorge, near half-a-dozen mud villages, and cross- 



ARRIVAL AT KERMANSHAH. 251 

ing the plain^ emerged into the wide valley of the 
Kara Su. We stopped but once, to drink and to bathe 
our tired faces at a deep pool beneath a precipice of 
rock, into which the water tumbled from a subter- 
ranean channel. Then on again, fording the Kara Su, 
with the town of Kermanshah looming up before us 
on the opposite hills, a low line of building on a spur 
of the range. And at last, after some twelve hours 
continuously on horseback, we reached the suburbs 
and gardens of the town, and passing through some 
streets of houses of poor appearance, we entered 
Kermanshah, or Kermanshahan as the town ought 
more properly to be called, to distinguish it from the 
province, one of the richest in Persia. The town 
possesses a population of something over 30,000 in- 
habitants, though only some ten years ago it was 
said to contain a very much larger number. But 
bad government has driven many of its population 
to seek existence elsewhere. It lies on the southern 
side of the wide valley of the Kara Su (Kurdish for 
Black River), and slightly raised on hills above the 
surrounding plain. The town is walled, but the 
fortifications are in a state of miserable repair, as 
in fact is the whole place, the entire town pre- 
senting the appearance of fast falling into decay. 
The climate, though not severe, is said to be very 
feverish at times, and generally unhealthy. 




252 SANA TO KERMANSHAH. 

Kermanshahan was founded by Varahran IV., who 
had been Viceroy of Kerman previously, and was on 
this account known as Kerman Shah. But what 
little the place possesses of interest, besides the an- 
tiquities in the neighbourhood, of which more anon, 
is due to the extravagance of Mohammed Ali Mirza 
and his son Imam Kuleh Mirza, to whom are owing 
the principal bazaars, mosques, and the picturesque 
betowered palace in the town, and the several large 
and now half -ruined residences strewn over the 
valley amongst large gardens, for which the neigh- 
bourhood is so famous. But even these badly built 
buildings, which in their time must have presented 
handsome examples of contemporary architecture, 
are to-day little more than ruins, though not a cen- 
tury has elapsed since they were raised. One garden 
alone in the town, with the remains of a series of 
fountains and a handsome summer-house containing 
two floors of large rooms, is still in tolerable repair, 
and the garden shows some signs of attention ; but 
this is more probably owing to the fact that the spot 
is the resort of the wealthier class of the Kerman- 
shahan merchants, and not to the generosity of the 
native Government. There are practically no Euro- 
pean residents in the place, though at the time of 
my visit a missionary and his wife were there attend- 
ing to the medical mission and the schools, and these 



APPEARANCE OP DECAY. 253 

were the first Europeans I had come across since 
leaving Tabriz. 

The fact that Kermanshah lies on the highroad 
from Baghdad into Persia, and is the first place of 
importance over the frontier, formerly, when the 
large portion of the trade of the country came by 
that route, gave the town a position of activity and 
wealth that is only noticeable to-day by its entire 
absence. In place of the long strings of mules and 
horses bearing merchandise, almost the only cara- 
vans of importance that pass through are those of 
pilgrims on their way to Kerbela and the holy 
shrines, and the gruesome strings of animals bearing 
the dead bodies of the faithful on their last journey 
for sepulture at the same revered spots. The reason 
of the decrease of the trade is not far to seek. Persia 
is to-day supplied almost entirely vid Trebizond, or 
vtd Ispahan and the Persian Gulf, and in all pro- 
bability the further utilising of the Karun river 
will open anew the extremely ancient route through 
the Bakhtiari country. In any case there seems 
but little hope of any great amount of its former 
trade returning to Kermanshah, and the city already 
wears the appearance of its fast decay and quickly 
•decreasing population. 

Yet in spite of the fact that there is but little of 
interest in the place itself, my stay there of three or 



254 BAN A TO KERMANSHAH. 

four days was pleasant enough. On my arrival in 
the town I had proceeded straight to the house of a 
certain Haj abd er-Rahim, a son of the Vekil ed- 
Dowleh, who was during his life a well-known char- 
acter in Persia. Haj Agha Mohammed Hassan was 
his name, and he originally came into Persia with 
Sir Henry Rawlinson, where his knowledge of things 
oriental and his usefulness to our authorities there 
caused his being made a British subject. Taking up 
his residence at Kermanshah — he was a native of 
Baghdad — he entered upon trade on a large scale 
and amassed a considerable fortune. He died at an 
advanced age a few years ago, his son, Haj Abd er- 
Rahim succeeding to the larger part of his lands and 
possessions. I found this gentleman absent from 
Kermanshah on a visit to Tehran ; but the repre- 
sentatives that he had left in charge of his house 
insisted on my staying there, and it was not long 
before I found myself comfortably installed in a 
better-class Persian residence. 

The place resembled nearly all large houses in the 
East. One enters by a dilapidated doorway into a 
dark passage, from which a second door opens into a 
small courtyard, with rooms opposite to one another 
on two of the sides. A general appearance of decay 
lay over ever3rthing ; the paved floor was sadly in need 
of its stones being relaid, the coloured tiles inlaid in 




COURT IN THK HOL'SK Oh TUt VKKII, KDllOWl.El! AT KERNEANSHAH. 



THE RESIDENCE OP THE VEKIL ED-DO WLEH. 255 

the brick walls were tumbling out, and neither doors 
nor windows fitted properly. But this, after all, is 
only the state of things found everywhere throughout 
Persia. A staircase led from this court to a gallery 
above, and still higher up was a sort of glass-room on 
the roof, from which an extensive view of the plain 
and the mountains opposite could be obtained. Be- 
yond the square courtyard that I have mentioned 
above is another, containing a few plants and a foun- 
tain, and built in much more decorative style than 
the former. On one side of this open space is a large 
room reserved for guests, while opposite are the rooms 
of the host himself. The whole presents by no means 
a poor appearance, though here again the bad mate- 
rial of which everything is built cannot but be notice- 
able. Some of the highly coloured tilework let into 
the arches of the doors and windows is bright and 
effective. It was in this little courtyard that I took 
up my residence, and had it not been that I was 
never free for one moment from the attentions of my 
host's servants, who in his absence had no intention 
of allowing a European to pass through without ex- 
tortion, my stay would have been as pleasant as pos- 
sible. But Haj Abd er-Rahim's retinue continued all 
day long to pour into my ear such pitiful untruths 
as to their master's meanness and their own wants, 
and such pointed demands for bakshish, that I was 




256 BANA TO KERMANSHAH. 

obliged at length to pretend to be about to leave the 
house in order to escape their petitions; and when at 
the end of my short visit I distributed amongst them 
a much handsomer present than I had any need, or 
any right, to do, they commenced to grumble at the 
amount. Had the host himself been present I have 
no doubt none of this would have happened ; but I 
state it here in warning to any unsuspecting traveller 
who, like myself a bearer of a letter of introduction 
to the family of the Vekil ed-Dowleh, may suflFer as I 
did, and scarcely find a moment's peace from the nar- 
ration of scurrilous scandal and the demanding of 
bakshish. There was but one exception in the house- 
hold, the old cook, who had been at the British Lega- 
tion at Tehran, and who all through never once gave 
me cause of complaint. 

Sight -seeing in Kermanshah is very simple, for 
there is little or nothing to see. The long tunnelled 
bazaars are picturesque enough, and yielded after a 
diligent search a few curiosities of arms and armour, 
but with this exception there is very little worth 
purchasing. 

My pleasantest recollection of the place, with the 
exception, perhaps, of my visit to the rock sculptures 
at Tak-i-Bostan, was an afternoon spent with the 
young Turkish Consul -General, who, educated in 
Constantinople, was as pleased to meet a civilised 



TAK-I-BOSTAN. 257 

being as I was to meet him. I called on him, in the 
first place, to get my papers put in order for proceeding 
to Baghdad, a very simple process, and stayed smok- 
ing his excellent cigarettes and drinking coflFee the 
whole afternoon, in a charming great cool room in his 
house, furnished half in European and half in oriental 
style. The Consul spoke French like a native, and 
some little Arabic, but had not as yet mastered Per- 
sian. He bemoaned his lot at being sent to such an 
outlandish and far-away spot as this, but congratu- 
lated himself that money was to be made, on account 
of the enormous number of Persians passing through 
Eermanshah on their way to the holy shrines, one 
and all of whom require passports. Altogether my 
recollection of my visit to this polished and charming 
gentleman has left a most pleasant impression on my 
mind. 

On one afternoon of my stay an excursion was 
made to Tak-i-Bostan to see the famous sculptures 
on the rocks. A large carriage, with a pair of horses 
and a postilion, awaited us near the entrance to the 
town, for the streets are too narrow to allow of driv- 
ing with any ease or safety within, and with a body 
of mounted men we set out for our picnic. 

My hosts consisted of two Persian merchants of 
Ispahan, who had undertaken to entertain me, to- 
gether with a dozen or more of the retinue of the 

R 



258 BAN A TO RERMANSHAH. 

Haj Abd er-Rahim. My two Ispahan hosts, polite to 
an extreme, and with all the delightful manner of the 
best class of oriental, were, however, very shy, and it 
was with no little difficulty at first that I could draw 
them into conversation. Probably the fact of their 
being Sheiyas prevented their feeling anything like 
pleasure at driving in a carriage with a European ; 
but their dignified manner concealed any such idea, 
and nothing could have been kinder or more con- 
siderate than was their manner. We crossed the 
Kura Su by a rickety bridge, and after being shown 
over a modern country house, possessing no claim to 
any beauty, belonging to the Haj Abd er-Rahim, we 
proceeded the remaining part of the distance to our 
destination. 

The sculptures at Tak-i-Bostan — the "garden arch" 
— are numbered amongst the most celebrated rock 
carvings of Persia. This collection of sculptures forms 
two arches in the rock, the back and sides of which, 
as well as the rock encircling the entrance, are 
covered with carvings of the greatest interest if of 
no particular artistic beauty. 

The largest and most important of these grottoes 
measures some 32 feet in height by 24 wide, and over 
20 in depth. On the face of the clifi* without, on 
either side of the entrance, are two angel figures in 
relief, each bearing a wreath, while in the centre is a 



THE GROTTOES. 259 

crescent. Below the angels are entablatures of hand- 
some scroll design. Within, the right-hand wall 
represents a hunting-party under Chosroes II., who 
is himself presented in the picture mounted on a 
horse under an umbrella, and again, lower down, a 
similar figure seems to represent him at a gallop. 
This wall was never completed, only portions being 
finely cut, the rest left rough, just as it must have 
been ready for the finishing touches and the polish- 
ing. The relief is low, but protection from the damp 
and rain has preserved the sculptures in excellent 
condition. On the opposite (left) wall the royal 
huntsmen are engaged in driving wild boar, many of 
the men being in boats amongst high rushes. As in 
the other, elephants are represented. Here again 
Chosroes II. is twice present, both times in a boat, in 
one case drawing his bow and in the other receiving 
a dart or arrow. 

At the back of the grotto are the larger and more 
pretentious sculptures. This portion of the arch is 
divided into two parts, the upper possessing three 
figures, and the lower a gigantic representation of 
the king on horseback. The three figures at the top 
are Chosroes II. again, gorgeously apparelled, with a 
figure on either hand doing him homage. The eques- 
trian figure below is certainly the finest piece of work, 
and though much damaged and defaced, shows signs 



A 



260 BANA TO KERMANSHAH. 

of axtistic skill and excellent workmanship. Both the 
king and his steed are enveloped in coats of mail, 
while in his majesty's hand is a gigantic lance, which 
he holds poised over his horse's head. Above the 
sculpture, on the left side of the arch, is a group 
representing Mohammed Ali Shah, gorgeously painted 
and gilded. He was the possessor of these gardens 
with their arches and palace early in this century. 
The second arch is smaller, and has suffered much 
from the pious destruction and mutilations of the 
Moslems. Near by, upon the face of the same cliff, is 
a panel of the Sassanian dynasty, supposed to repre- 
sent Shapur I. being invested as viceroy by his father. 
The sculptures altogether are of a kind that appeal 
more to the antiquarian than to the artist, though as 
a matter of fact they only date back to the reign of 
Chosroes Parviz (591-628 a.d.), and are modern com- 
pared to the antiquities of Egypt and Babylonia, &c 
But whoever might fail to find an interest in the 
actual carvings could not but be impressed by the sur- 
roundings, for from under the rock bursts forth a clear 
cold stream of water, immediately above which stands 
the country palace of Mohammed Ali Shah, now in 
the possession of Hadj Abd er-Rahim, the son of the 
old Vekil ed-Dowleh. From the small tank into which 
the water first bursts it finds an exit into a large and 
deep reservoir, surrounded with an avenue of trees. 



A PICNIC. 261 

A charming place to spend a few quiet hours it is ; 
and in what would answer to the basement of the 
palace there is an open room, the building above 
being supported on pillars, in which the spring finds 
its exit from its pent-up sources in the cliflF behind. 

The carriage was able to bring us close up to the 
house, within a hundred yards or so of the caves, and 
in the room in which the spring emerges we found 
tea and a repast of green lettuces, sherbets, and 
sweets awaiting us. Here, after we had seen the 
sights of the place, we sat and rested — chairs, rugs, 
and pillows having been brought for the occasion. 
A young Kurd, one of our party, and myself amused 
ourselves and our hosts by swimming and diving in 
the great reservoir opposite the house, and delicious 
and cool the water was. The surprise of our hosts 
was ridiculous. ** It will kill you," they said plead- 
ingly ; ** the water is cold, very cold. No one ever 
swims here : it is deep ; much deeper than you are 
high; you will drown." However, as soon as they 
saw that I apparently had no intention of drowning, 
and that the young Kurd was going to keep me 
company in the water, and save me if need be, they 
ceased these objections. 

It was night before we got back to Kermanshah, 
and the latter part of our drive was delicious ; for the 
afterglow mixed strangely with the moonlight, and 



A 



262 BAN A TO KERMANSHAH. 

wrapped the plain and its gardens and the town and 
hills beyond in a filmy mist of rosy silver. 

But the days were slipping away, and both we and 
our horses were refreshed enough by our rest to make 
a start upon the last stage of the journey by land, 
and accordingly on the 7th June we left Kermanshah 
in the afternoon on our way to Baghdad. 



263 



CHAPTER XII. 

KERMANSHAH TO BAGHDAD. 

Op my journey from Kermanshah to Baghdad, I 
have, I fear, not much of interest to say. Summer 
was by this time well on, and summer in the plains, 
and even in the mountains, in this portion of the 
globe, means intense heat ; and intense heat means 
travelling at night. And so it was that on the 
220 miles that separate these two towns I saw 
but little of the road, except such romantic glimpses 
as could be obtained under the influence of a bright 
moon. Nor is there much to see, for as soon as 
the Persian mountains are left behind and one de- 
scends to the vast plain that surrounds the bed 
of the Tigris, all scenery is left behind, and in 
its place one passes for days and nights over a 
dreary waste of desert. But all travelling in the 
daytime was out of the question, and even the nights 
as we neared Baghdad were stifling and hot. 



i 



264 KERMANSHAH TO BAGHDAD. 

It was a broiling afternoon as we rode away from 
the doors of the house of the Vekil ed-Dowleh, 
and the wind was blowing great gusts of dust that 
nearly blinded both man and horse. The usual 
delays had made us much later in starting than I 
had intended, and at the last moment, when every- 
thing was ready, I found my horse had been pricked 
by a nail in being shod and was dead lame. Through 
the dust-storm I led him back to the farrier's and 
had the shoe replaced. These annoyances, added 
to the now perfectly exasperating demands of the 
servants of the house for bakshish, altogether upset 
the equilibrium of my temper, and I fumed inwardly. 
At length, a couple of hours after I had intended, 
we made a start, and proceeding through the long 
tunnel-like bazaars, emerged from the town. Here 
fate had still another annoyance in store for me, 
and at the local custom-house the guards wanted 
to search us and make us pay duty on our scanty 
baggage. I had hired a mule to carry our saddle- 
bags as far as Baghdad, using the owner, a wily 
old Arab, who accompanied us, as a guide, — and 
these two, mule and man, the guards absolutely 
refused to let pass without my bestowing a perfectly 
illegal and illogical bakshish. This I stoutly re- 
fused to do; and knowing that in the East a show 
of temper is of no avail, I swallowed my wrath 



ANNOYANCES. 265 

and argued, coolly and collectedly, with the soldiers, 
with the result that they confessed they had no 
right to touch either me or any animal of mine, 
but that the mule and rider were both Arabs, and 
therefore I could not interfere. This was all I 
wanted, and I solved the matter in a minute. I 
put the Arab on my horse and I rode his mule ! 
There was no question about it then ; the guards, 
on their own confession, could stop neither me nor 
my horse, and we rode quietly on, amidst the 
laughter of the men at being outwitted, to change 
our mounts again 50 yards past the custom-house : 
and in spite of wind, heat, dust, and the impertinent 
soldiery, I never once swore ! This fact so convinced 
me of my inestimable self-control, and so satisfied 
was I with my conduct that I quickly forgot all the 
delays and discomforts, and jogged along the road 
as though no annoyances had been heaped one upon 
the other ever since we had commenced to super- 
intend our departure six hours or so before ; but 
when Yusef quietly informed me half an hour later 
that he had forgotten to bring any provisions for 
the road — a fact I thought I had sufficiently drummed 
into his head — my inestimable self-control burst all 
its bounds, and all for no purpose too, as Mohammed 
had our bag of bread tied on to the back of the 
saddle, and it was Ytisef himself who had put it 



266 KERMANSHAH TO BAGHDAD. 

there. I really wished it had been forgotten, to 
give me some excuse for the choice expressions I 
made use of; but they were wasted, one and all, 
for the bread was there right enough. 

But the afternoon cooled down, and with the 
change of temperature came some relief. The wind 
dropped; no longer the dust blew in clouds into 
our eyes and mouths, and as sunset approached 
travelling became pleasant enough. 

It had been dark about an hour when we reached 
the large caravanserai of Mahidasht, lying in the 
centre of a level valley. The moon was, however, 
sufficiently bright to make travelling tolerably easy, 
and to allow us to gather some sort of an idea of 
the lie of the land. The scene at the gate of the 
great enclosed khan, which, surrounded by the 
village of the same name, gives protection to 
passing caravans, was a picturesque one. A great 
dark archway, pointed at the top, gives entrance 
to the enclosed square, in which were a number 
of horses and mules, one and all busily feeding, 
while their masters smoked or sipped their sweet 
tea out of little tumblers. In front of the gate- 
way was an open space on which were quite a 
number of cafes, some extemporised out of the 
boughs of trees and thatch, while others again were 
more solidly built of mud. From within the latter 



A NIGHT RIDE. 267 

sounds of music proceeded, mingled with talking and 
laughter. 

We rested at Mahidasht for an hour and a half, 
seeking one of the secluded archways which sur- 
rounded the great court of the khan, where, the night 
being still, we managed to light a candle to eat 
our suppers in comfort, while our horses chewed 
the barley in their nose-bags. Then Yusef brought 
us a few cups of sweet tea, after which, and a 
cigarette apiece, we mounted and were off again. 
Our road led us from the village to a bridge over 
the river, and this crossed, we continued our way 
over the level valley beyond. At length, however, 
the Chardzubar hills were reached, and we ascended 
in the pale moonlight by an execrable road, for 
the most part over a smooth surface of rock. 
Riding was out of the question, and even while 
we led our horses their falls were by no means few 
and far between, for they could obtain no foothold 
on the slippery stone. The night was warm and the 
moonlight bright, and travelling pleasant enough ; 
but by 5 A.M., when, after crossing an apparently 
endless succession of hills and vallevs, we arrived 
at Harunabad, or Haruniyeh, as it is sometimes 
called, we were, men and horses, dead tired. We 
had been on the march since half-j>ast four the 
evening before, and had rested only an hour and 



268 KERMANSHAH TO BAGHDAD. 

a half at Mahidasht, and again to drink a hurried 
cup of tea and smoke a cigarette at a wayside cafi 
situated on the Haj Aghd Chai, half-way between 
the caravanserai and our halting-place. However, 
just as the sun had risen and cheered our tired and 
weary spirits, we descended to the wide open valley 
of Zobeida, and turning to the right along the edge 
of the hills across which we had arrived, we soon 
espied at no great distance in front of us the collec- 
tion of buildings that mark the site of the former 
town of Harunabad. 

But little remains to-day of the city founded here 
by Harun er-Rashid, from whom it took its name. 
The great caravanserai of the place, which must at 
one time have been a fine building, is now nearly a 
ruin and deserted. It is true a few modern houses 
are to be seen, one of which, the highest and most 
pretentious, forms a sort of general warehouse, in 
which a few traders have their shops. Just opposite 
this building are the roofed bazaars, one miserable 
narrow and short street, begrimed and dirty, with the 
usual type of little shops on each side. Through the 
village, surrounded on both sides by filthy black mud, 
flows a stream of water, which, above, quite pure and 
sparkling, becomes on entering the village foul and 
evil-smelling. On the bank, at a little distance from 
the stream, are a number of mud-built houses, the 



HARUNIYEH. 269 

fronts of which are turned in summer into verandahs 
in order to entice the passer-by to rest. The shade 
certainly looks enticing, and the small raised plat- 
forms that stretch along the street, with their roofs 
of boughs, and carpeted with clean matting, are 
pleasant enough. But far less satisfactory was the 
struggle made by the owners for our patronage ; for 
no sooner did we approach than we were beset by a 
horde of men yelling and shouting in Kermanji, Per- 
sian, Turki, and Arabic. They seized the bridles of 
our horses, and attempted by main force to drag us to 
their several abodes, until it was only by free use of 
our long-lashed chapar whips that we escaped their 
clutches, and even then not until two of our bridles 
had been broken in the struggle. Refusing the prof- 
fered hospitality of all who had joined in the row, I 
wended my way to the last house of all, no member 
of which had interfered with us, and there we dis- 
mounted. Nor was I wrong, for not only was our 
welcome sincere, and everything done that was within 
the reach of the poor people to render our stay com- 
fortable, but I found that the house belonged to a 
widow with a large family, who, unable to join in 
these wholesale struggles to obtain customers, plied 
but little trade. Here we rested for the day, tired 
and worn out with our long ride, while our horses 
were enabled to lie down and sleep in a cool stable. 



270 KERMANSHAH TO BAGHDAD. 

It was not long before the heat drove us from the 
shady verandah to seek cooler quarters within doors, 
and our few goods and chattels being moved, we re- 
mained within until the afternoon. 

Before sunset we made a start, and hot as the after- 
noon was, we travelled fast, though we seemed to be 
alone upon the road, most caravans preferring to wait 
until after sunset to make a start. Our road led us 
for some way along the valley, and then proceeded 
over undulating ground to Kirrind, a picturesque 
little town lying in the very mouth of a precipitous 
gap in the mountains, through which the Kirrind 
Chai — further on known as the Kura Su — flows. 
This place is the capital of the Kirrind Kurds, who, 
however, are by no means an interesting people to- 
day, for so far have they adopted Persian manners 
and customs that little remains of their better Kurdish 
characters. Even in dress they mimic the Persian, 
though most of them still wear a low felt cap and 
gaudy turban, showing their Kurdish origin. Extor- 
tion, and the fact that through their territory runs 
this important caravan-route, has no doubt tended to 
denationalise them, — ^and even in religion they have 
left the simple Sunni doctrine for the most mystic 
cult of the Sheiyas. This district, too, is a stronghold 
of the Ali Illahis. 

Regarding this sect of the Ali Illahis but little is 



THE A LI ILLAHIS. 2Vl 

known, for their doctrine forms a cult that is kept 
secret and never revealed. The people themselves 
refuse to speak of it, and the ignorance and bigotry 
of their neighbours prevent one obtaining any infor- 
mation beyond the general remark that they practise 
unlawful rites, though I believe for this statement 
the only evidence that can be adduced is that during 
certain mystic meetings men and women mix freely, 
and the outside world is debarred from entering. The 
main point of their religion, however, is the belief 
that Ali was but a form taken by the Deity, one of 
the many incarnations He affected, of which Benjamin, 
David, and Jesus Christ may be mentioned. These 
incarnations of God they reckon as 1001 in number, 
— this, no doubt, having a vague connection with the 
101 attributes of God in the Moslem belief to-day, 
the figures 101 and 1001 — and also 99 — being con- 
sidered as signs of infinity, as it were, a recurring 
decimal. Mixed up in this assortment of Judaism 
and Islam appear signs of pagan origin in the persons 
of the Haft Tun, or seven spiritual directors of man- 
kind. In my journey through the Yemen in 1891 I 
came across a sect very similar to this, the Makarama, 
of the highlands near Menakha, who shared amongst 
the Moslem population the same evil reputation of 
practising incest. The followers of this belief live at 
perfect peace and in happy accord with their neigh- 



272 KERMANSHAH TO BAGHDAD. 

bours, nor is any difference nqticeable either in their 
everyday lives or general habits, and on more than 
one occasion it was not until after leaving a village of 
these people that I was told that they were of the 
sect of Ali Illahis. 

We saw but little of Kirrind beyond its outline in 
the moonlight, for we turned aside to enter an extem- 
porised zareba, where our horses were picketed, while 
we supped under an arbour of boughs of trees sup- 
ported on poles. The scene was a picturesque one, as 
any bivouac in the East generally is, for a number of 
Arab and Kurdish caravan-men had lit fires in the 
large enclosed square, and were cooking their supper 
and warming themselves by the fitful glare of the 
flames. Beyond, the leafy tops of the trees showed 
up in dark patches against the sky, brilliant with 
clear moonlight and a myriad stars. Every now and 
then some songster in the party would raise his voice, 
pouring out one of those strange sad melodies that 
one hears so often in Kurdistan. 

At eleven o'clock the same night we started again, 
but riding was for a time impossible, so thickly, was 
the track strewn with stones. As we proceeded the 
country became wilder, and we passed through a 
valley with steep rocky cliffs on either side of us. 
Nothing could have been worse than the road, which 
in this part proceeded along the river-bed, over 



A LONG VALLEY. 2V3 

boulders and stones amongst dense bushes of olean- 
ders. For hours we toiled on, often enough losing 
the path altogether, and wandering afield until called 
back to the right track by the bells of the camels 
or mules of some passing caravan. It was a weary 
march, for riding, except in a few places, was impos- 
sible, and we were obliged to walk and lead our 
horses. At length dawn appeared, and the dark 
valley in which we were travelling became visible, for 
the moon had sunk some time before below the high 
precipitous clififs that bounded us on the right and 
left. It seemed as though the end of that valley 
would never be reached, for though the distance is 
by no means very great, so many obstacles strew the 
way and so rough is the road that any but the slow- 
est of travelling is out of the question. As the sky 
showed signs of coming day, in spite of weariness 
one could not but admire the scene. The track fol- 
lows the river-bed in the centre of the valley, from the 
stony banks of which rise up densely-wooded slopes, 
ending in precipices of pointed rock far above. Sun- 
rise found us at Mian-Lek, at an altitude of over 4000 
feet above the level of the sea, showing that we had 
already during the night descended some 1200 or 
1300 feet fjx)m Kirrind. The village of Mian-Lek is 
a picturesque little spot, standing at the end of the 
valley amongst a little cultivated land gorgeous at 

s 



274 KERMANSHAH TO BAGHDAD. 

this period with wild hollyhocks. Trees flourish in the 
vicinity, and I hoped as we approached that this 
would be our resting-place ; but the Arab who accom- 
panied us pressed me so much to continue, in order 
to regulate the length of our marches beyond, that I 
felt constrained to do so, although Yusef had already 
fallen no less than three times from his horse through 
going to sleep, fortunately without much damage. 
Mohammed, however, was wide awake and in shouts 
of laughter at Yusef s swaying figure, as, overcome 
with fatigue, he rolled to and fro in the saddle until 
the climax arrived in a fall, and his horse standing 
still that he might mount again. I myself must plead 
guilty to having felt extremely weary and sleepy. 
My experience of night travelling — and it is by no 
means a small one — has made me arrive at the follow- 
ing conclusions : That fatigue begins to be felt about 
1 A.M. and lasts until sunrise, when the coming of 
the day, the necessary change in the appearance of 
everything, and the awaking of life, dispels all feeling 
of lassitude, which again, however, begins to assert 
its sway a couple of hours or so later. 

So we did not rest at Mian-Lek, but continued our 
road amongst sparsely -grown woods until, reaching 
the head of the famous pass — the Gate of Zagros — 
we commenced the long descent. The road winds 
down first along the head of the valley and then on 



THE GATE OF ZAGROS. 275 

its northern face, turning and twisting so as to render 
as easy as possible for traffic the descent of 1 000 feet. 
For the greater portion of the way the road is roughly 
paved, a memorial of the vast work of early days, 
when the very path existing to-day formed the great 
highway from Media into Babylonia. How many 
great armies and great kings of the olden times have 
passed up and down it would be impossible to enu- 
merate. About a third of the way down on the right 
of the road is a white marble arch, extremely plain in 
feature, and in tolerable preservation. Several tradi- 
tions are current as to its origin, but on none can 
much reliance be placed. In spite of the fact that 
more than one writer claims for this antique arch a 
reputation of beauty and architectural effect, it seemed 
to me an exceedingly ordinary building, much the 
same in design as those that play no little part in 
children's boxes of bricks. In all probability a statue 
or inscription stood within the archway, for the back 
is walled up, and by no possibility could the road at 
any time have passed under it. The only ornament 
discernible to-day is along the frieze, and most of this 
now lies on the roadside nearly. Strange as it seems 
in oriental countries, a large gang of men were at 
work repairing the road, and building at one spot, 
where it follows the edge of the precipice, a low wall 
to prevent accidents, which in the case of a crowd of 



276 KERMANSHAH TO BAGHDAD. 

caravan animals are common enough. Apart from 
the interest of this being an ancient highway there is 
but little to admire in the way of scenery, for although 
some of the mountains are more or less covered with 
trees and brushwood, the general appearance of the 
country is desolate and barren. More especially is 
this so in looking down the valley, for here one's eye 
wanders on to the commencement of the plains of 
Babylonia, rolling away in rocky ridges of no great 
altitude and extreme aridity into the hazy distance. 
It was no difficult matter to see that by this descent 
we were leaving behind the elevated plateau of Persia 
and descending towards the bed of the Tigris, and it 
was with a sigh that I turned back to look at our last 
glimpse of the mountains and the trees preparatory to 
entering upon the dreary desert, where, as we were 
already beginning to feel, the cruel heat of June 
would try our bodies, our tempers, and our horses. 
The river does not flow through the same valley as 
the road descends by, but has cut its way through 
a deep romantic gorge a mile or two to the south, 
where it rushes down in falls and cataracts and deep 
pools between high precipices of rock. 

Near the foot of the pass we reached the wretched 
Kurdish village of Pat-i-Tak, more miserable than 
usual at this time, for almost the entire population 
had sought their summer grazing-lands in the moun- 



A DESERTED VILLAGE. 277 

tains. No doubt the long line of Kurds — men, women, 
and children, with their tents and goods and chattels 
on the backs of donkeys and cattle, with their ferocious 
half-starved dogs and great flocks and herds — that we 
had met near the head of the pass consisted of the 
inhabitants of this inhospitable village. A few people, 
however, remained, and these had deserted their 
hovels, on account of the vermin with which these 
dens are swarming in summer, for roughly built 
arbours, before one of which we dismounted at 8.30 
A.M., having been sixteen hours on the road, with 
only one rest of two hours at Kirrind. The heat 
under the thin covering of brushwood was terrific, 
nor was there any shelter for our horses, who stood, 
poor beasts, dripping with foam in the fierce sunlight 
Of all our many days of travel on this long journey 
this was the most trying. Sleep was out of the ques- 
tion, for the heat was too intense ; flies and vermin 
worried one in their fierce onslaughts ; food was scarce 
and bad, and even the water was too hot to drink. 
What the thermometer must have stood at in that 
scanty shelter at the bottom of the hot and barren 
valley I cannot say, but this I know, that when 
later on in the Persian Gulf the mercury reached 
lOS*" and over, it was cool compared to that day 
at Pat-i-Tak. The poor peasants who were our hosts 
did everything they could for our comfort by build- 



A 



278 KERMANSHAH TO BAGHDAD. 

ing up walls of matting to keep the heat out, but 
even they were suffering intensely from the furnace- 
like blast. 

At four o'clock we left, and though the temperature 
had fallen little, if at all, it was a relief to be on horse- 
back, and knowing at all events that we were pro- 
gressing toward our destination. 

Our road led us through dreary country, now across 
a valley where some cultivation was possible, and then 
again over bare rock and burning clay. A rift in a 
line of rocky hills leads one into a second valley, and 
near the entrance there are some remains of a build- 
ing, a cave, and a sculptured tablet. In the cave, 
known as ** David's Forge," the psalmist is still sup- 
posed by the Ali Illahis to reside, and this spot is 
accordingly the scene of many pilgrimages on the 
part of that curious sect that have through centuries 
managed to keep their cult a secret. A mile or two 
beyond one arrives at Sar-i-pul, and as the sun was 
just setting and the moon would not rise for some 
hours, we decided to rest there a while. The village 
of Sar-i-pul is a place of some size, situated on the 
Hainan river, for the most part on its right bank. 
Crossing a rather handsome brick bridge and passing 
between rows of houses, for the most part serving as 
caravanserais or cafh^ we proceeded to the handsome 
khan of the place, one of the largest and in best con- 



dition on the road between Kermanshah and Baghdad. 
A high domed archway gives entrance to the large 
courtyard, round which are recesees in all the walls, 
with raised platforms within, on which the traveller 
spreads his rug — if he has one. Feeding our horses 
and tethering them before us, we selected one of these 
arched recesses to repose in, but found, even though 




the suD had now set, that the heat radiated from the 
bricks was so intense as to render resting there im- 
possible. So we preferred the bare soil, and there 
cooked our supper, Yusef bringing us a tray of tea 
and big bowls of curdled milk from a cafe near by, 
while Mohammed and I plucked a fowl and cooked it, 
and the Arab who had accompanied us from Kerman- 



280 KERMANSHAH TO BAGHDAD. 

shah looked after the wants of our three horses and 
his own mule — especially the latter. 

A great crowd of pilgrims were here, some 300 or 
400 in all, returning from the holy shrines near 
Baghdad. They were nearly aU Turkis of Hamadan, 
Tehran, and Tabriz; but even as far away as this, 
most of the mule -drivers were Turkmans. In the 
centre of the courtyard of the khan stands a tiny 
mosque, merely a small square room, and here the 
mueddin called the hour to prayer, and the pious 
Sheiyas cried their salutations to Ali. What added a 
certain charm to the already picturesque ensemble of 
pilgrims, horses and mules, and sparkling fires, were 
a quantity of fireflies that flitted here and there in 
the air like tiny stars. My Moor, Mohammed, had 
never in his life seen such wonderful things before, 
and was lost in astonishment. Otherwise up till now 
he had never shown much enthusiasm at anything, 
except at the unbounded hospitality of the Kurds, 
which delighted his Axab soul. Even Ararat with its 
glistening snow had failed to attract him ; the railway 
from Batum to Tiflis had missed its usual efiect upon 
one who had never seen such a thing as a train before; 
the bazaars at Tabriz had created no impression; but 
here at last he sat open-mouthed and delighted — at 
the fireflies ! 

As soon as the moon rose we started afresh. The 



KASR-I-SHIRIN. 281 

night was hot, but travelling pleasant enough, though 
our road over rough rocky hills was dreary in the 
extreme. At dawn we reached Kasr - i - Shirin — 
" Shirin's Castle " — and found quarters in a tolerably 
decent khan near the further end of the village. The 
place is a large one and seems in tolerably flourishing 
circumstances, the bazaars being well supplied and by 
far the largest we had come across since leaving Ker- 
manshah. A descent brings one into a large street, 
lined on either side by arches, under which the people 
sell their country and other produce. The Hainan 
Chai flows at the lower end of the little town, below 
a high mound which is crowned with a large building, 
once, it is said, the home of a plundering Kurdish 
chief, whose raids in the neighbourhood rendered 
traffic on the road impracticable. At the east end of 
Kasr-i-Shirin are the high walls of a once important 
town, together with the ruins of other strong and 
large buildings. 

Of these ruins I saw but little. We had travelled 
all night and passed them at dawn, when, tired and 
weary, I made no attempt at exploring them, nor 
during the day was such a course possible owing to 
the heat. But I cannot pass on without a word as to 
the tradition regarding the aqueduct near by, for no 
one can travel in Persia without hearing a dozen times 
at least the favourite story of Ferhad of Shirin. 



282 KERMANSHAH TO BAGHDAD. 

Ferhad was a famous sculptor in the reign of 
Chosroes 11. (Parviz), who lived about the middle of 
the third century a.d., and to him are attributed the 
sculptures at Tak-i-Bostan, near Kermanshah. How- 
ever, -that is beside the question. Now Chosroes 
Parviz was suspected of Christianity, and is said to 
have wedded a beautiful Christian girl of the name of 
Shirin, or Sira ; but whatever her religion may have 
been, she became apparently deeply enamoured of 
Ferhad and he of her. Evidently in those more 
enlightened days the kings did not cut off the heads 
of their young women who preferred others to them- 
selves, and so Shirin was promised to Ferhad if he 
could cut in the solid rock an aqueduct that would 
bring the water to the palace, the ruins of which have 
given the name of " Kasr Shirin " to this spot. This, 
after several years of labour, he did, and then the 
king changed his mind about parting with the lady, 
and just as Ferhad was cutting the last sod, sent his 
apologies and said he regretted greatly, but the lady 
was dead. Ferhad, like an idiot, believed him, and 
jumped over the precipice and was dashed to pieces, 
and Shirin was inconsolable — or consoled herself with 
some one else, it doesn't much matter which. Such 
is the romantic tale of Ferhad and Shirin. 

There is but little to remark about the scene of 
this tradition as it remains to-day, for, in spite of its 



OUR GUARDS. 283 

market, the town is poor enough, and of no importance 
practically, except from the fact that coming from 
Baghdad it is the first Persian place across the fron- 
tier, which lies only a few miles away to the west. 

A guard of four soldiers was sent to escort us on 
the next stage of our road, but as I had been told by 
the head of the police (!) that only two were coming, 
I soon got rid of a couple of them by stating that I 
should only pay the same bakshish to four as to two, 
whereupon the two who had a right to be there packed 
the others off upon their business. These Persian 
ruffians — Kurds by birth — answer to the zaptiehs on 
the Turkish side, for from the frontier to Baghdad we 
were always accompanied by one or two, — a necessary 
precaution, as the country is infested with mounted 
Arabs, and they make no hesitation in plundering a 
traveller, but are scared of the zaptiehs, who, from 
their local knowledge, are as likely as not to recognise 
the marauder or his horse. 

Crossing the Haluan at the foot of the hill on which 
the Kurdish robber-castle stands, we passed some 
gardens and proceeded out into the open country an 
hour or so before sunset. Again our escort tried ex- 
tortion by declaring that they were to be changed at 
a village half-way to the frontier, and that others 
would come on from there, whereupon I was again 
obliged to give them notice that I intended only to 



284 KERMANSHAH TO BAGHDAD. 

pay a certain sum as far as the frontier, and that the 
more guards there were the smaller the share of each 
would be. Then they laughed and came all the way. 
The night was dark by this time, for the moon had 
not yet risen, when suddenly a halt was called on the 
summit of a low hill. Then one of my escort rode a 
hundred yards ahead and hailed some one or some- 
thing — it was too dark to see what. Then from the 
far away a voice replied, and my guards bidding us 
ride slowly on, pocketed their bakshish and turned 
back. In the darkness it was almost impossible to 
keep the track, so implicitly had we followed our 
guards up to now, and Yusef was already mumbling 
prayers and warnings as I led our little party on. 
Then a man hailed us and showed a light, and ten 
minutes later, after scrambling up a rocky path, we 
arrived at the frontier tower of Turkish territory, and 
were warmly welcomed by the Kurdish conmiander of 
the picket, who ordered tea, while our horses were led 
away to feed in a stable near by ; for, as the headman 
told us, it would not be safe to continue our journey 
until after moonrise. 

The hour or two passed pleasantly enough, and as 
the moon appeared over the hill our new zaptiehs 
mounted and led the way, we following. At midnight 
a long dark line on the level plain was pointed out to 
us as Khanikin, where we were to rest for the follow- 



ACROSS THE FRONTIER. 285 

ing day, and half an hour later, after passing between 
some walled gardens, we drew up at the gate of a 
large caravanserai. The zaptiehs by beating the door 
managed to awake the guard within, and we rode 
into the great square khan in the bright moonlight. 
The owner, awakened and led forth by our escort, 
did all in his power to make us comfortable, and 
in a short time, having seen our horses watered and 
fed, we lay down to sleep on the flat roof of the 
arcade which surrounded the building. 

The only importance that the little town of Khani- 
kin can claim is owing to the fact that it stands so 
near the frontier, and forms the customs and quaran- 
tine station of all traffic of the highroad between 
Persia and Baghdad. 

With regard to this frontier of Turkey and Persia 
a few words must be said. In 1843, in order to pre- 
vent a war between these two countries, the British 
and Russian Governments held a frontier commission 
at Erzerum, in Turkish Kurdistan, in order that the 
questions at issue might be discussed. This conference 
ended in the Treaty of Erzerum in 1847, and two 
years later the actual delimitation commenced. Two 
events, however, prevented any very satisfactory 
results being arrived at — first, the seizure of Kotur 
by the Turks, and the driving out of the Persian 
garrison of that place, a small town to the north-west 



286 KERMANSHAU TO BAGHDAD. 

of Lake Urmiyah ; and second, the breaking out of the 
Crimean war. With various attempts at a settlement, 
and many intervening quarrels, the matter again came 
to the fore at the Conference of Berlin in 1878. How- 
ever, in spite of the fact that the question was settled 
upon paper at that date, the greatest ill-feeling still 
exists upon the subject, and the two countries are 
always ready to fly at one another's throats. Prob- 
ably they would scarcely ever reach one another, as 
the wild Kurds, released for a time from their present 
state of an appearance of law and order, would merely 
loot on their own account. The Kurds of Persia, on 
account of their being Sunnis, would join the Turks, 
for even in Persian Kurdistan they recognise the 
Sultan Abdul Hamid as their Caliph. Anyhow, there 
would be such an upset that no good could possibly 
accrue to either side, and so matters have been allowed 
to remain as they are — that is to say, a vague frontier 
not in the least recognised by the Kurds who dwell 
near it, and who are to all intents and purposes not 
only robbers, but absolutely independent of either 
Sultan or Shah, and who would escape, were punish- 
ment for violence threatened by either ruler, by 
asserting that they were the subjects of the rival 
In civilised countries such frontier questions would 
have to be cleared up, but between two decaying 
Powers like those in question the present state of 



KHANIKIN. 287 

affairs seems to be somewhat of a safeguard against 
war. 

It was almost a relief to be told that there was 
nothing to be seen in Khanikin, nevertheless the heat 
by day necessitated our resting there until the even- 
ing, when travelling would again be possible. Some 
small formalities, too, had to be gone through with 
the quarantine officials; but they were carried out 
with great ease and facility, and without even any 
attempt to extort bakshish. 

The caravanserai in which we had taken up our 
quarters was a large building, with a number of small 
rooms over its high-arched gateway, while the great 
court was surrounded by a roofed arcade. All around 
were gardens of date-palms, the first we had seen on 
our whole journey, for the climate of north-west 
Persia is not sufficiently mild to allow of their being 
grown there. Here, however, no extreme of cold is 
ever felt, for we had descended to an altitude of about 
1000 feet above the sea-level. 

Leaving the caravanserai before sunset, we crossed 
a handsome bridge on the Hainan river, which flows 
through the centre of the town, and passing through 
one or two streets, with well-to-do-looking houses on 
both sides, soon emerged into the desert again. Three 
hours' good going brought us to Kalaa, where our 
zaptiehs were changed, the two returning to Khanikin, 



288 KERMANSHAH TO BAGHDAD. 

while two fresh ones accompanied us on the remainder 
of our night's march. We reached Kizil- Rabat at 
eleven that night, passing amongst walled gardens, 
the palms showing up in clear relief against the moon- 
lit sky. For a while our way led through a vast but 
shallow pool of water, but whether from rain or the 
overflow of some stream or conduit it was impos- 
sible to discover in the darkness. At this spot we 
passed a large caravan of camels, splashing through 
the otherwise perfectly still water, and creating a 
thousand diamond -like drops at every step, while 
ever -widening circles of reflected moonlight sprang 
into existence to die away again in the watery ex- 
panse. The clanging bells and voices of the caravan- 
men added to form as oriental a scene as imagination 
could invent. 

We rested an hour at Eizil-Rabat, at a cafi there , 
where some supper was prepared for us, and where we 
fed the horses, and then started once more. At sun- 
rise, having changed our zaptiehs again at a spot 
where a guard had been quartered in tents on account 
of many recent robberies, we reached Shaharaban at 
sunrise, having been exactly twelve hours on the road, 
with little more than one hour s rest. Here the heat 
was extreme, and even in the deepest recesses of the 
arcade of the caravanserai where we rested, little or 
no relaxation could be found, nor were the flies less 



SHAH ARAB AN. 289 

troublesome. However, before the heat became too 
oppressive, I sauntered out with Mohammed and 
sought an Arab cafi near by, where we sat for a while 
on clean armed and backed divans of wood, sipping 
our black coffee from little cups. The owner of the 
place was here, there, and everywhere with his copper- 
brass coffee-pot, replenishing now one customer s cup, 
now another. There were many types of Arabs to 
be seen, but of these I shall have more to say in my 
description of Baghdad. 

The bazaar of Shaharaban is a poor place, the 
roof of matting supported on palm trunks, and I 
noticed only one curiosity in them, and that was 
the matches, the boxes of which, one and all, bore 
the inscription "Made in Japan." And very good 
they were too, in spite of the fact that they can 
be bought at this remote quarter of the globe, 
after the long journey by sea and river to Baghdad 
and thence by caravan, for ^d. a box. 

In looking through my notes on my journey, I 
find jotted down the account of our morning's 
marketing, and at the risk of stirring up the envy 
of every housekeeper into whose hands this book 
may fall, I copy out the items here : 6 oranges, 
\ lb. rice, 2 cups of tea, 3 onions, and 2 lb. meat ; 
total equivalent to 4d. in English money. 

From Shaharaban to Bakuba the road offered no 



290 KERMANSHAH TO BAGHDAD. 

features worthy of notice, except that there exists 
a cafi half-way between the two, where refreshment 
can be obtained for man and horse, and that at 
times on the road we passed and crossed little 
canals carrying water to irrigate the various culti- 
vated spots scattered about upon these rich plains, 
which years of neglect have turned into a howling 
wilderness. Including the hour or so we spent at 
the half-way caravanserai, we took eleven hours to 
come the distance between Shaharaban and Bakuba, 
arriving at the latter place at dawn. 

Bakuba is surrounded on almost all sides by 
luxuriant gardens, the tops of palm, orange, pome- 
granate, fig, and mulberry trees appearing above 
their walls, and of the latter fruit we obtained a 
quantity. The town is a poor enough little place, 
but we were able to engage a decent upper room 
in a caravanserai, from the window of which a 
view of the main street and the entrance to the 
bazaar was obtainable. The latter seems to consist 
almost entirely of cafis^ and in fact the little im- 
portance the place can lay claim to is owing to the 
passing of caravans. 

The heat again by day was terrific. June was 
nearing its close now, and the time for travelling 
in comfort was long past. Even sleep was impos- 
sible, so stifling was the air and so noisome the 



THE LAST MARCH. 291 

flies. It was a relief when at last the time came 
to make a start. 

Riding through the bazaar, we emerged from 
Bakuba on to the bank of the Diala river, which 
is crossed by an old pontoon bridge, rather shaky 
and dilapidated, but better than any ferry. A few 
gardens stand on the farther bank of the river, 
but the barren plain is reached almost at once, 
with nothing to break the landscape but telegraph 
poles and the banks of long-forgotten canals. 

Half-way between Bakuba and Baghdad we 
stopped to drink coffee and rest ourselves and our 
horses before setting off on our final stage. 



292 



CHAPTER XIII. 



BAGHDAD IN 1896. 



A STEANGE grey light hung over the plain — that 
luminous effect which is produced when dawn ap- 
proaches, and the moon is still high in the heavens. 
Then it is that one can watch one's shadow, thrown 
by the moon, gradually grow more and more indistinct, 
until at length it dies away altogether, to reappear 
on the other side as dawn brightens the eastern sky. 

This last night was the crowning one of our march, 
for, as dawn lit up the east, we descried — dimly at 
first, but clearer and more clearly as we proceeded — 
the minarets of a city before us. Then the walls 
became visible, and at length, shortly before sunrise, 
our jaded cavalcade of three men and three horses 
crawled through one of the city gates into Baghdad, 
the City of the Caliphs. 

A sentry at the entrance of the town sought to 
examine the scanty baggage our horses bore strapped 



ARRIVAL AT BAGHDAD. 293 

to our saddles, but desisted when he discovered that 
we were too weary either to aid him in unfastening 
our saddle-bags or to find him bakshish, and with a 
half-muttered curse he stepped back into the little 
guard-room under the tower of the gate. 

Within, a wide open space, half covered with 
graves and half with vast heaps of rubbish, had to 
be crossed before the intricate streets and byways 
that lead to the more civilised quarters of Baghdad 
were reached. Already life was astir. Soldiers in 
gay blue cotton uniforms and red fezzes passed us 
in little bands, on their way to a review that was 
to be held without the walls at sunrise ; quite a 
crowd of citizens, too, anxious to see the sight, grave 
in gait and demeanour; and half -naked urchins 
shouldering sticks and marching, impertinently imi- 
tating the passing troops ; oflBcers on horseback, — 
all sorts and conditions of men. But our hearts 
were set on other things, and we pressed on in 
silence, longing, as only travellers, after the weary 
marches of nights and days of travel, can long, for 
rest, and quiet, and sleep. 

Then through the narrow alley-ways, with high 
houses on each hand, and on into the long colonnades 
of the bazaars, arched, and domed, and gloomy, now 
and again stopping to ask our way, until, after 
retracing our steps perhaps a dozen times, and seek- 



294 BAGHDAD IN 1895. 

ing in a new direction our destination, we arrived, 
guided by a merry soldier - youth whom a little 
bakshish had persuaded to risk being late at the 
review, at the one small hotel that Baghdad boasts 
for the entertainment of the traveller. But it was 
long before stabling was found for our steeds, though 
we had the satisfaction of seeing them watered and 
fed before our thoughts turned to our own sorry 
plight and the refreshment of our bodies. 

I had travelled from North-Western Persia with 
no luggage, save what our own horses could carry 
strapped on behind the saddle, but to my joy I was 
able to purchase a shirt and a suit of clean white 
clothes at the hotel, and, these treasures obtained, 
we sought out a great Turkish bath in the near 
neighbourhood, where hot water and soap, the skilful 
hands of a masseur, and afterwards an hour's dozing 
over coffee and cigarettes, restored us to a frame of 
equanimity and peace with all men, and then sleep- 
in a real bed — hours and hours of dreamless sleep— 
and then again a real meal, with knives and forks I 
• •••••• 

There are no doubt many people who imagine that 
Baghdad to-day bears many traces of the lavish hand 
of Harun er-Rashid and the succession of wealthy 
Abbaside caliphs who held the throne after him. 
One might almost expect, so remotely is the city 



APPEARANCE OF BAGHDAD. 295 

situated, that much that rendered it once one of 
the most important and wealthiest centres of trade 
and art would still be extant. So of the old world 
does the name of Baghdad sound in one's ears that 
its very mention calls up in one's mind a vague 
remembrance of the thousand and one tales of the 
' Arabian Nights' Entertainment/ glimpses of palaces 
of gold and jewels, visions of genii and magic carpets. 
Those who have not already discovered that such is 
a delusion and a snare had better close these pages 
here, for, alas! the writer has but little to tell of 
except the commonplaces of oriental life. Yet even 
the most casual traveller, be he a lover of the East 
and its strange half-remembered traditions and its 
curious trains of thought, can find in the dust and 
ashes and ruins a certain charm that may never have 
existed in the old days, and can refashion for himself 
the glories of that period of art and enlightenment 
according to the desires of his own imagination ; for 
still to-day, as then, the great Tigris sends its turbid 
yellow waters along its ancient course^ the palm- 
groves fringe the river's banks, and even here and 
there some half- ruined minaret or airy dome of 
iridescent faience, suffice for the threads on which 
to embroider one's mental tapestries. But when one 
turns one's eyes, however hastily, to the history of 
this great city, one ceases once for all to wonder that 



296 BAGHDAD IN 1895. 

to-day decay and ruin reign supreme, for few places 
in the world have seen the vicissitude of life that 
Baghdad has done, alternate prosperity and devasta- 
tion — until one wonders that the courage of man has 
been sufficient ever to rebuild where man has so 
often overturned. And where human agency has 
failed Time has laid his indelible seal, for the city 
is built of brick and clay, and, excellent as the 
climate is to preserve, the durability of such material 
is not great, for the natives never seem to have 
known that secret of clay and bitumen which has left 
Ctesiphon, the palace of the Arsacidse and Sassanian 
monarchs, some twenty miles away down the river, 
to rebuke the ephemeral efforts of Persian and Arab. 
Some idea of what Baghdad has suffered can be 
gathered from the few lines which follow regarding 
its unhappy history. 

Founded by the Caliph el-Mansur in a.d. 764-767, 
Baghdad remained for nearly five hundred years the 
principal seat of learning, trade, and art in the East, 
and a succession of wealthy caliphs added each some 
new glory to its already abundant works of art. The 
first to initiate the scheme for rendering this city 
the capital of the world was Harun er-Rashid, who 
reigned from A.D. 786 to 809. But in A.D. 1258 
there swept over Persia and Mesopotamia an invasion 
of wild Mongol tribes, led by the Emperor Hulaku, 



HISTORY OF THE CITY. 297 

grandson of the famous Yenghis Khan, and the 
palaces and public buildings which it had taken the 
dynasty of Abbaside rulers five centuries to erect, 
were destroyed by fire and axe, and the long line of 
caliphs cut oflf. This destruction by the Mongols was 
destined to be followed by another even more terrible, 
for like a second wave this portion of Asia was over- 
swept by the wild Turkmans under Timur — or 
Tamerlane — and in a.d. 1400 the city was taken, 
and the reigning sultan driven out. Seventeen years 
later it was again besieged by Turkmans, this time 
under Kara Yusef, chief of the tribe of Kara 
Koyunlu. For sixty years the family of this chief- 
tain held the throne, until in fact they in turn were 
driven out by Usum Kasim in 1477, whose reign of 
thirty-nine years was cut short by Shah Ismail I., 
who founded the royal house of Sefe in 1516 a.d. 
Sultan Suleiman I. of Turkey was the next aggressor, 
and added the city to his already vast domains in 
1544 A.D., but in 1602 it reverted to Persia after its 
capture by the troops of the famous Shah Abbas. 
But disturbances at home rendered it open to further 
reconquest, and the Turks, under Murad IV., regained 
its possession in 1638. Since that period, with many 
vicissitudes, it has nominally remained under the 
jurisdiction of the Osmanli Sultans, and its govern- 
ment was reorganised and its position in the empire 



298 BAGHDAD IN 1895. 

made clear after the termination of the Russo-Turkish 
war. 

It is not to be marvelled that a city which in the 
course of a few centuries has been the scene of so 
much pillage, warfare, and destruction, should to-day 
boast little of what once gave it a title to being, 
perhaps, the greatest capital in Asia, and certainly 
the greatest emporium of trade in the world. 

Nor to-day, in spite of the inefficiency of its 
Government, is the trade of Baghdad an unimport- 
ant one, for difficult as it is to collect any satisfactory 
information regarding its statistics where either Turk 
or Persian is concerned, a rough estimate of the 
value of the exports and imports that pass through 
Baghdad annually for transportation by caravan into 
or from Persia, gives a result of about half a miUion 
of pounds (Turkish), and it is stated that from 24,000 
to 28,000 mules and pack-horses are employed as 
beasts of burden upon this route. The merchandise, 
on arriving, is discharged from the large steamers at 
Busra, and conveyed for the intervening 300 miles 
by river-steamers, of which two companies exist, one 
English and the other Turkish. The transhipment 
at Busra is made direct, and the customs dues, 8 
per cent ad valorem^ are levied at Baghdad, of which 
on goods proceeding into Persia 7 per cent is repaid 
at Khanikin, near the frontier. 



POPULATION. 299 

But it is neither with the trade nor the history of 
Baghdad that the writer is concerned here, for in the 
many excellent books of reference that to-day enable 
the public to gain information on these and like 
subjects full particulars can be found. Rather it 
is his object to attempt to conjure up in the eyes of 
the reader some idea of Baghdad as it exists to-day, 
a city of narrow alleys and shady bazaars, of tiled 
mosques and crumbling houses. 

Probably the population of Baghdad does not reach 
to-day much over 100,000 persons, but here again 
no satisfactory statistics are forthcoming ; but, what- 
ever the actual number may be, it can be safely 
stated that almost all the nationalities of the world 
can be found living within its walls. Arabs, Persians, 
Turks, Europeans, Jews, oriental Christians of many 
races and denominations, Afghans, Indians, Africans, 
Turkmans, and Kurds are met daily in the bazaars, 
engaged in trade or manual labour, or visiting the 
neighbouring shrine of some long defunct saint. 

Before, however, entering upon the description of 
any particular portion of the city, some general idea 
must be gathered of its situation. Baghdad, the 
capital of the vast pashalik of the same name, lies on 
both banks of the Tigris, about 500 miles from the 
mouth of that river in the Persian Gulf, and some 
300 above Busra, which is to all intents and purposes 




300 



BAGHDAD IN 1895. 



its port. The main part of the city is built on the 
left bank of the Tigris, the quarter on the west side 
being to-day little more than a suburb, though in 
all probability at one time the more important. 
Both portions are walled, but the condition of these 
walls is one of decay, sufficient perhaps to withstand 
attack from badly armed and ill-trained Arab hordes, 




Bridge of Boats over the Tigris at Baghdcul, 

but scarcely worthy of consideration as a defence 
from a well-organised foe armed with artillery. It is 
on the eastern side that the foremost buildings, the 
bazaars and principal mosques, are to be found ; and 
here too, along the bank of the river, are most of the 
residences of the European Consuls and merchants. 
A bridge of boats connects the two towns, a rough 



THE TIGRIS. 301 

wooden causeway upheld upon pontoons, of which 
there are some five - and - thirty. It is from this 
bridge that the most promising view of Baghdad is 
obtained, for one's eyes wander both up and down 
the stream of the Tigris, here some 300 yards in 
width. Certainly there is no other point of vantage 
whence Baghdad presents an appearance so imposing, 
for not only does the great river add an immense 
charm to the scene, but also the finest residences the 
town can boast, and the most picturesque, stand 
upon the left bank. On one's right, as he turns 
his sight down -stream, lies the old city, its dull 
yellow buildings indistinct in outline from the 
irregularity of their building and their monotony of 
colour, stretching out great latticed windows towards 
the still yellow river. Amongst the houses, both 
above and below the bridge, are the great forests of 
date-palms that Une both banks of the Tigris in the 
vicinity of the city ; and here and there one obtains 
peeps of orange and pomegranate trees, often only 
their heads visible over the high garden walls. 
Above the town, both to east and west, rise the 
domes and minarets of the mosques, breaking the flat 
outline of the level roofs of the terraced houses. Nor 
is the stream itself devoid of interest, for some way 
down below the bridge lie the steamers that ply upon 
its waters between this spot and Busra, while nearer 



A 



302 BAGHDAD IN 1895. 

at hand are the sailing -boats with their elevated 
sterns and enormous rudders, and here, there, and 
everywhere dodge the kufas^ those strange basket- 
and-pitch coracles peculiar to the Tigris. The utility 
of these strange craft is soon appreciated, for the 
river flows at a speed of from four to seven knots an 
hour, a rate that renders impossible, or at least most 
diflficult, the manoeuvring of ordinary row-boats. 
But these flat -bottomed light basket craft draw so 
little water that the skilful native boatmen can 
obtain quite a creditable speed against the swiftest 
current. With the exception of the dug-out canoes 
of other portions of the world, these kufas can 
probably boast an origin as early as any, for they 
are found represented in ancient sculptures and bas- 
reliefe in exactly the same form as they exist to-day. 
Their construction is simple enough — merely a basket 
of pomegranate twigs covered with a thick coating 
of bitumen, of which there are springs in the neigh- 
bourhood of the river-banks. - - 

A short walk from the east end of the bridge takes 
one to the bazaars, and these the lovers of study of 
Eastern people's ways and customs will find the 
great attraction of Baghdad, for so private is the 
home life of the people that it is practically impos- 
sible to gain any idea of what sort of an existence 
is lived within doors. It is therefore to the bazaars 



THE BAZAARS. 303 

that the traveller must resort in order to gain any 
insight into the character of the inhabitants of Bagh- 
dad. There are miles of the great covered arcades, 
miles of the arches and domes, under which all the 
native trade of the city is carried on. Some of these 
bazaars are new and in tolerably good repair, others 
are begrimed with the dust of ages, while others 
again never boasted a roofing of brick at all, and are 
dependent for shade upon a covering of mats and 
palm thatch supported on the trunks of date-trees, 
for no other timber exists, all doors and woodwork 
for building purposes being imported. As in nearly 
all oriental cities, each trade has its own bazaar, the 
largest and best being given up to the vendors of 
manufactured goods — largely European and Indian — 
and the sellers of old wares, second-hand clothes, and 
crockery. 

It is easy enough in almost all quarters of the 
globe to make friends with the little tradesmen who 
own shops in the bazaar, and I have found in all 
my travels that, so long as there is a language in 
common, the middle -class townsman is as ready to 
listen to the story of one's travels, and hear of the 
sights seen, as one is to gain information from 
him in turn ; and by a little gentle pressure the 
usual reticence of the oriental is soon overcome, and 
he seems for the time being to take as great an 



J 



304 BAGHDAD IN 1895. 

interest as oneself in what is going on before one's 
eyes. So it was in Baghdad that I used, by making 
some small purchase and sending for a couple of 
cups of coflFee, and oflFering a cigarette, to find myself 
of a morning squatting in one of the boxlike shops, 
amongst a heap of old swords or pistols, or sur- 
rounded by neatly - folded rolls of cotton goods, 
asking questions and being asked others in return, 
and nowhere meeting with incivility. From such a 
coign of vantage as this the whole world of Baghdad 
could be seen passing before one. Rich town mer- 
chants in long garments of silk, half-concealed by 
their sashes of cashmere and the folds of the abha, 
or sleeveless cloak, which is so typical of this part 
of the East; Seyids and mollahs, with proud, un- 
relenting features and white complexions, robed in 
silks, and wearing turbans of neatly - folded white 
or dark -blue muslin ; Turkish oflBcers in broadcloth 
and gold-lace, with jingling spurs and swords ; rough 
Kurdish hammala, porters, and carriers of he^vy 
cases of merchandise; half- nude, laughing street 
urchins; private soldiers in their neat blue cotton 
uniforms and red fezzes, swaggering along hand in 
hand; African negroes ; cringing Jews and Armenians, 
so diflficult to tell apart, either in looks or character ; 
Arabs from the country, with their soiled linen 
and faded abhas of brown or brown -and -white 



THE POPULATION. 305 

stripes, their heads covered in coloured hfiyehSy the 
points of which hang over the back and shoulders, 
held in place by roUs of soft camel's hair ; beggars, 
singing as they pass, often a long string of them, and 
blind ; donkeys driven along with loud cries, bearing 
on their backs the freshly-filled skins of water ; Arab 
Sheikhs on Arab horses, gay with bridles studded 
with silver plaques, and mounted on gaudy saddles, 
their belts full of arms ; youths from the country, 
rich with some unlawful plunder, washed, and clean, 
and laughing, planning how best they can ill-spend 
their 01 -gotten gains, intent upon the pleasures of 
the city; auctioneers vending all kinds of wares, 
from old embroidered clothes to modern revolvers, 
from brass candlesticks to cotton quilts, — all going 
to and fro, screaming, laughing, yelling, and quar- 
relling ! And seen against a background of boxlike 
shops, gorgeous with brilliant goods, in the half-light 
of the arched and domed arcades, the bazaar is a sight 
indeed. Then, when one thinks he has seen all the 
^orld pass before him, there comes a long caravan of 
lumbering camels, grunting under their heavy loads, 
drowning the din with the clanging of the great bells 
that hang, half-hidden in trappings of wool and shells 
and tiny mirrors, round their necks ; or a string of 
weary Persian pilgrims, some mounted on sturdy 
ponies driven by narrow-eyed Turkis from Northern 

u 




306 BAGHDAD IN 1895. 

Persia, recognisable anywhere by their mushroom-like 
hats of strange shape and stranger dimensions, fol- 
lowed by a string of mules bearing in kajavehs^ or 
wooden panniers, the women and children of the 
party, one and all intent upon their visit to Kerbela, 
and their pilgrimage to the shrine of their beloved 
Ali at Nejef. 

Beyond the bazaars, past the great barracks and 
the mosque that overlooks the Maidan, with its 
minarets and domes of exquisite faience, is the open 
space where the daily horse -market takes place, in 
summer before sunrise, at which hour the temper- 
ature in the open air is bearable. Here, along a 
wide road bounded on both sides by houses and 
great half- open cafes, and at one spot by the wall 
of a mosque, are arranged the wooden armed and 
backed couches on which the natives so love to re- 
cline. Eows and rows of these seats there are, 
whence one can witness the sale of horses ; for the 
delalSy or auctioneers, mounted on the steed they 
wish to sell, pass and repass, showing the paces of 
their respective animals. What a crowd there is, 
too, of a morning, of horse-dealers and Arabs from 
the country, of Turkish soldiers and townsmen, some 
intent upon buying or selling, but the greater part 
mere onlookers ! Here, too, one can catch a glimpse 
now and again of some fine Arab horse, not for sale. 



HORSE-MARKET. 307 

it is true, for the better breeds never appear in the 
open market, but purposely ridden through the crowd 
by the servant of some rich Turk or Arab, so that 
the bystanders may see it and admire its arching 
neck and fine legs after its morning gallop outside 
the city walls. Mules, camels, and donkeys can be 
purchased at this spot, too, the latter sometimes very 
fair specimens of the white Baghdad breed. It was 
here that I sold the horses that had carried my Arab 
servants and myself so well from Tabriz, and which 
we had purchased the previous April in that city. 
Poor little steeds, you did your work well, and may 
you reap the home you deserve so far away from 
your native land ! Heartily sorry I was to part 
with them after they had carried us safely through 
so much of Persia and Persian Kurdistan, and the 
tear I choked in my throat beamed in poor Moham- 
med's eyes as for the last time he took their Kurdish 
saddles and bridles off, and we saw them led away 
captive by their new owners. 

Then back to the town again, seeking some new 
bazaar or new street that we had not seen before, or 
perhaps wandering through the narrow smoke-filled 
alleys that twist and twine in a very labyrinth. On 
the little platform on each side of which the jewellers 
beat strange shapes out of gold and silver plates, 
there is little to see in their shops beyond the fires 




308 BAGHDAD IN 1895. 

and anvils on which they work; but a word or a 
questioning look will cause the owner to dive to the 
depths of some old carved box or unlock some de- 
crepid safe and litter the seat in front of him with 
heavy necklets, bracelets, and anklets of gold or 
silver, or display a set of tiny coflfee-cups of the 
latter metal. Seen through the blue smoke, stirred 
from the grey embers of the fires by the little blow- 
pipes that they use, this bazaar is quaintly attractive. 
Here some jeweller is tempting a would-be bride- 
groom from the country with a pair of heavy silver 
bracelets ; here a woman enveloped from head to foot 
in a black or checked silk sheet, with a thick gauze 
covering for her face, is bargaining with an old Arab 
for some gold earrings she has brought for sale. A 
ray or two of sunlight piercing the half-timbered roof 
strikes brightly upon a glass-case of trinkets or the 
bright clothes of a shopman, forming a patch of 
brilliant colour in a scene the rest of which is a 
monotone of dull greys and browns. * 

Then back to spend the heat of the day at the one 
hostelry of Baghdad, stopping en route to admire the 
faience border of the gate of some medresseh or 
mosque, or to decipher some Arabic or Kufic inscrip- 
tion at the entrance of a tomb, or to soothe one's 
limbs, weary with travel, in one of the many great 
baths that Baghdad boasts, where, after leaving the 



THE HOTEL. 309 

octagonal chambers in which fountains of hot water 
are playing, one lies down upon cool slabs while the 
hands of a skilled masseur bring comfort to one's 
body; and finally the hour of rest, when, wrapped 
in the lightest of cotton sheets, one dawdles on 
carpeted divans over coflfee and cigarettes, and con- 
versation with one's neighbours. 

The little hotel in Baghdad possesses a tiny garden 
and terrace that overhang the river, and here in such 
coolness as could be found in shady comers the 
curio- vendors would collect to show one their wares 
—modem armour from Ispahan, inferior carpets from 
anywhere in Persia or Kurdistan, pottery fix>m China 
and Japan, and a host of rubbish ; for it is difficult 
indeed for the collector to succeed in finding any- 
thing of great beauty or value in Baghdad nowadays. 
True, one is flooded with antiques, beads and seals 
and cylinders, bricks and inscriptions, from Babylon 
and the surrounding ruins, and stiU more often from 
the forgers' workshops. But such tempt only the 
connoisseur in matters Babylonian, and not the 
casual traveller. From the terrace of the hotel one 
could, too, envy the bronze-skinned youths and boys 
who splash and swim in the cool river. Expert they 
are, for often a whole shoal of them would cross from 
bank to bank, scarcely carried at all down the stream, 
though the current mns at a great pace. 



310 BAGHDAD IN 1895. 

The climate of Baghdad, though healthy enough, 
can scarcely be called an enjoyable one, for the ter- 
rible extreme of heat in summer is equalled by the 
damp and cold of winter, when the clay roads become 
seas of mud, and the old Arab houses fail to keep out 
the hurricanes of draughts. Then the European is 
confined to his house, for there is no temptation to 
wander over one's ankles in filth through chilly 
streets. But summer, too, has its disadvantages, 
when nothing will induce the thermometer to go 
below a hundred for days together. The sole relief 
then is in the serdabsy the cellar-like underground 
chamber, one of which every better -class house 
in Baghdad possesses. Damp, vault -like, gloomy 
rooms they are, with walls of brick and windows 
near the roof — cool, it is true, but with a churchyard 
coolness, that even the ever-swinging punkah fails 
to render fresh. But, severe as the heat is in sum- 
mer, the European residents appear to sufier firom 
it to no great extent, and maintain good health. 
There is one exception, however, to the general rule — 
the ill-favoured Baghdad boil or button, that is said, 
sooner or later, to attack all residents, and often even 
passers-by. Europeans, as a rule, are generally 
afiected upon the arms or legs, and thus spared 
the facial disfigurement which follows the cousin 
of this complaint, the Aleppo button ; but I saw 



HOUSES. 311 

many cases of natives whose features were much 
marked. The sore often lasts a period of a year, 
but causes little or no pain. Its origin, like its 
cure, has never been discovered. 

The ordinary form in which the houses of Baghdad 
are constructed is round an open courtyard, which 
is sometimes planted with trees. A gallery usually 
surrounds the court on the upper storey, the roof 
being supported on pillars of wood with carved 
capitals. On to this gallery all the upper rooms 
open, and generally not more than one room possesses 
windows looking into the street. In the case of the 
larger residences there is sometimes a series of these 
courtyards, and often one or more small gardens as 
welL In this case the rooms are rendered more 
healthy and light by large windows filled in with 
various forces of musherihiyeh or simpler trellis- work. 
Certainly the finest house I saw in Baghdad is the 
official residence of H.B.M. Consul -General, which 
served at one time as the palace of a wealthy Arab, 
and is now, I believe, the property of a native of 
India. It is a straggling building, consisting of sev- 
eral houses of various sizes, some connected with one 
another, and others entirely separate, in a garden, 
the terrace of which overlooks the Tigris. One court- 
yard, which in the days of its Moslem owners served 
as the harem, possesses some beautiful rooms, the 



312 BAGHDAD IN 1895. 

decoration of which has fortunately been allowed to 
remain. Here one can obtain some idea of the mag- 
nificence and art of the early Arab and Perso- Arabic 
work. The walls of most of the rooms contain niches 
of various designs, answering to cupboards in our 
modem life, the contents of which were no doubt 
hidden by small curtains of brocade and embroidery. 
Above these recesses, which are always small, runs 
a frieze in various styles of decoration, sometimes 
in bold designs of flowers in clear colours, at others 
of minute inlaid mirrors. The plaster ceilings are 
often beautifully moulded and picked out with like 
designs in these gem-like atoms of glass, the effect 
of the whole somewhat resembling the scales of a 
snake. No description can convey even an approxi- 
mate idea of the delicacy and design of this style of 
decoration, which must be seen to be appreciated. 
It speaks much for the original workmen that this 
exquisite and fine work remains to-day intact. Cer- 
tainly in artistic respects the old Arab house which 
serves as the British Consulate -General is a gem, 
and my recollections of its many attractions are en- 
hanced by the pleasant and kind hospitality shown 
me during my visit by its inmates, Colonel and Mrs 
Mockler, for after busy days of wandering and sight- 
seeing in an oriental city, evenings in the company 
of charming people are delightful indeed. After 



HOSPITALITY. 313 

dinner we would resort to a raised terrace above the 
river, and enjoy the coolness of the night air. Away 
across the Tigris sparkled a few solitary lights from 
old Baghdad, on one occasion giving place to a most 
briUiant array of illumination, when a wealthy and 
important pasha gave an entertainment in his new 
palatial abode, which he has built on the right bank 
of the river. That evening was enlivened by the 
none too dulcet tones of a Turkish military band, 
which discoursed by no means sweet music on the 
pasha's terrace opposite. There we would sit, talking 
of many things and many places, until late at night, 
• when, guided by a kavas with a lantern, I would 
seek my own quarters. 

It would be but a wearing task for the reader 
were I to attempt to describe the many mosques 
that Baghdad possesses, for though each has some 
particular feature which may catch the eye of and 
attract the traveller, it would be but repetition to 
particularise. I visited several during my stay, but 
saw none more interesting than that raised over the 
tomb of Abdul Kader el Jilani, a saint who departed 
this life in the thirteenth century, and which dates 
from A.D. 1252. Nor does this much -reverenced 
shrine depend entirely upon its architectural features 
for its attraction, as it is a goal of pilgrimage for 
many a wild tribesman of Afghanistan and other 



314 BAGHDAD IN 1895. 

distant regions — ^for Abdul Kader is held in great 
reverence from Central Asia to Morocco — and within 
its precincts are to be seen strange long-haired figures, 
talking strange guttural tongues, and hailing from 
heaven knows where. The mosque being a Sunni 
shrine — ^that is to say, belonging to the orthodox 
and less fanatical division of Islam — ^Europeans are 
allowed to enter the great courtyard which surrounds 
the central building with its immense dome, though 
I noticed that my presence did not seem altogether 
to be appreciated by some of the scowling tribesmen. 
A covered arcade surrounds the great courtyard, at 
the corners of which rise minarets of yellow brick, 
the galleries and cupolas of which are decorated in 
exquisite faience. Although the larger of the two 
domes consists of undecorated cement, a smaller one 
boasts, as far as colouring and design, the best tile- 
work and faience in Baghdad, as does also the cir- 
cular building which supports it. Exquisite in every 
way are the encircling patterns, from the white in- 
scriptions on a deep blue ground to flowing coloured 
designs beneath. I was informed by one of the 
relations of the present Sheikh of Abdul Kader's 
shrine, that the reason of the great dome being left 
imdecorated is because its size will not allow of its 
bearing the weight of the tiles. So beautiful is the 
glaze upon the surface of the smaller dome that in 



SHEIKH ABDUL KADER. 315 

viewing it against the brilliant blue of the sky it 
appears to be almost transparent, to such an extent 
does it catch the reflection of the heavens above, 
and so delicate are its own tints. The property 
pertaining to this wealthy mosque covers a great 
extent of ground, and all the money accruing from 
this source, as well as the ofierings of the many 
pilgrims who frequent it, are utilised for keeping 
up the repairs of the buildings, the residue finding 
its way into the pockets of the lineal descendants 
of the great saint, who reside in a handsome house 
near by, where I was permitted to visit them. This 
mosque lies a long way from the bazaars and richer 
portion of the city, and to reach it one is obliged 
to thread the narrow alley-ways of streets that seem 
to be built for the sole purpose of perplexing the 
passer-by, so exactly do they resemble one another, 
and so often do they lead nowhere in particular, or 
end in a bare wall. 

But even here there is much to interest and attract 
— sometimes a peep through an open doorway into the 
interior of a house, sometimes a pair of dark eyes 
imcovered for a moment at a latticed window. In 
the heat of the day it is seldom that one passes any 
one in these narrow byways, and when one does, it 
takes but a little imagination to believe that it is 
Harun er-Rashid in disguise, seeking information of 



316 BAGHDAD IN 1895. 

the welfare of his people. Poor Harun, you would 
return to weep at home, for the hand of the oppressor 
is heavy upon them, and poverty and misery have 
usurped your throne. Poor Harun er-Rashid ! Decay 
and desolation have set their seal upon these out- 
skirts of Baghdad, and crumbling walls and sightless 
windows meet one's gaze in every direction. Only 
one monument of very early days remains intact^ 
for the minaret of the Eski mosque is in sad disrepair 
— the old Talismanic gate overlooking the fosse, which 
still bears an inscription, and the Arabic date corre- 
sponding to 1220 A.D. But it has long since ceased 
to serve its original purpose of a city gate, for Murad 
IV. walled it up after his conquest of the town in 
1638 A.D., and to-day a tall flagstaff proclaims it to 
be a powder-magazine. 

Without the walls of Baghdad there are but few 
excursions to be made in the near vicinity. To drive 
from the northern gate of the Eastern city to Imam 
Jawad, where there is a handsome Sunni mosque, to 
cross the Tigris there by a bridge of boats, and to 
return by tramway from Kazimin, is almost all that 
there is to tempt one to leave the city, with the 
exception of the longer excursion to Ctesiphon, which 
necessitates a whole day, — and in summer the heat 
renders this out of the question, as, even if the tra- 
veller could bear the sun, his horse could scarcely 



KAZIMIN. 317 

do 80 for the thirty-six-mile ride there and back. 
But nothing could be pleasanter or better worth the 
time and trouble than a few hours spent at Imam 
Jawad and Kazirain, as the latter possesses one of 
the most magnificent and gorgeously decorated 
mosques in the East, though far inferior in wealth 
of colour and gilding to the more famous shrine 
at Eerbela. 

A rickety vehicle, not unlike a small omnibus, took 
us from the gate of Baghdad to the little open square 
of Imam Jawad, where, as seems to be the custom 
whenever a cafi is passed, my native servant and I 
drank the favoured beverage. It is a pretty spot, 
surrounded by walled gardens, above the trees of 
which the minarets of the mosque that rises above 
the bones of the Imam Jawad stands out. Then on 
into its quiet courts, for the unfanatical Sunni allows 
the European to enter, admiring the lovely tilework 
of the dome, and the arcade which surrounds its 
square. Then down shady lanes which thread the 
gardens that line the banks of the Tigris, across the 
rickety bridge of boats, with the golden domes and 
minarets of Kazimin ever before one, glistening and 
glittering in the fierce afternoon sunlight. 

Round the shrine of the Imam Musa a little town 
has sprung up, which, on account of the saint being 
particularly venerated by the followers of the Sheiya 



318 



BAGHDAD IN 189S. 



division of Islam, containa a large population of 
Persians. In fact it is said that of the 6000 inhab- 
itants at least 5000 hail from Persia. The town 
offers no attractions in itself, much resembling the 
poorer quarters of Baghdad. The one object for 
which it is celebrated, besides its shrine and mosque, 




is the tramway-line which the only excellent pasha 
that Baghdad has seen for many years, Midbat, 
caused to be laid in 1870. In the centre of the 
town stands the wonderful mosque, with its gold- 
plated domes and minarets. A high wall encircles 
the great courtyard in which the building stands, 
large gateways of rich tile and carved woodwork 



THE MOSQUE. 319 

giving entrance. Through these doorways one is 
able to obtain a good general idea of the mosque 
within, though it must be only a passing glimpse, 
as a moment's delay will call down upon one's head 
a threat and a curse, or even a blow, from some 
Sheiya fanatic. From the view I obtained, now 
through one gate, now through another, the mosque 
appears to be one of great beauty, the walls of the 
principal building being entirely covered in magni- 
ficent examples of tilework and faience of every 
hue and colour, yet blended with the most perfect 
taste. 

From Kazimin one drives back by the tramway 
to old Baghdad, passing first through gardens of 
palms, and then across the open plain, where stands 
the solitary octagonal tower over the tomb of Zob- 
eida, the favourite wife of Harun er-Rashid. 

Then leaving the tramway, one continues through 
the narrow tortuous streets of old Baghdad, and 
across the creaky bridge of boats to the more civil- 
ised portion of the town. 



320 



CHAPTER XIV. 



THE VOYAGE HOME. 



It was not until after considerable delays that the 
steamer eventually left the quay at Baghdad. These 
delays, like the discomfort I was to suffer on the 
journey, were owing to the presence of a distin- 
guished official, who held the post of Admiral of 
the Tigris, and by whom I found, in spite of asser- 
tions to the contrary, all the first-class accommodation 
had been engaged. There are two lines of river- 
steamers that ply upon the Tigris between Baghdad 
and Busra, of which far and away the best is the 
English ; but the dates of departure did not suit 
me, and I found myself in for three days and three 
nights in the second-class accommodation of a dirty 
Turkish boat. As a matter of fact, I didn't care 
much. What, after the long journey we had made, 
mattered a few days more or less of dirt and dis- 
comfort? I had, however, been able to take one 



CTESIPHON. 321 

precaution, and that was to bring with me a young 
Greek servant of Baghdad, who could attend to 
my wants upon the journey, and even cook my 
food, for there is no regular food supply upon the 
boats. Luckily I had been warned of this, and 
came on board fuUy prepared with a large basket 
of meat, vegetables, bread, fruit, and wine, the 
perishable articles to be replaced at the various 
little towns of call upon the journey. 

The cabin put aside for my use was small and dirty, 
and contained two berths ; but I found the captain 
and crew of the steamer willing, good-natured fellows, 
and a bucket of soap-suds and water soon improved 
the appearance of things. My bedding was quickly 
unpacked, and I settled in. 

At dawn we passed the ruins of Ctesiphon^ called 
by the natives Tak-i-Kesra, of which the remains 
of a grand fa9ade and vaulted hall alone exist to 
tell of the marvellous building of the Arsacid and 
Sassanian monarchs. Nothing but a few mud-heaps 
are visible, however, on the site of the once so famous 
city which surrounded it ; nor from the river can 
much be distinguished of the remains of the town 
of Seleucia, on the opposite bank. The great pile 
of yellow building, solitary on the vast plain, bears a 
most melancholy appearance, even though the morn- 
ing sunlight showed everything at its best. 

X 



322 THE VOYAGE HOME. 

Anything more dreary than the scenery of the 
Tigris between Baghdad and Busra could not be 
imagined. To right and left stretch barren plains 
of baked clay, except where here and there vast 
fever-swamps, with gigantic rushes, take their place. 
Yet even both these types of desolation support 
life, human and otherwise, and on the banks, pitched 
in the blazing shimmering heat, stand the brown 
tents of the Arabs. Even on the steamer, where 
was shade and movement, the heat was terrific, 
and what it must have been within the scanty 
shelter of the dirty tents, heaven only knows. A 
few weary-looking cattle and flocks and herds browsed 
here and there, and buffaloes, up to their shoulders 
in water, stood and watched the steamer pass. The 
Suez Canal is a paradise compared to this part of the 
Tigris in summer. Great deep cracks break the day 
soil in every direction, and even the thick yellow 
river wears the appearance of molten metal. 

These river plains extend far away to the west, 
in the upper portion forming the southern end of 
Mesopotamia, the country lying above the junction 
of the Tigris and Euphrates; and below where 
these rivers unite and form the Shatt El-Arab — 
as it is called — mile upon mile of dreary marsh 
takes their place. In the marshes all communication 
from village to village — for even here the Arabs 



THE BANKS OF THE TIGRIS. 323 

build themselves huts of reeds wherever soil appears 
— is by rush-boats, which they punt with long poles. 
What between mosquitoes and fever it is marvellous 
that life can be supported, and it must be allowed 
that the inhabitants do not appear robust. 

On the left (east) bank of the river the view often 
extends over the plain as far as the horizon, a dull 
dead level ; but in parts there is visible the yellow 
barren hills of Luristan, the frontier of Turkish and 
Persian territory. 

Once or twice during the morning we passed small 
mud huts, and here and there the pretence of a fort, 
usually a round tower built of clay. The whole 
garrison turned out regularly, — for the honour of 
the Admiral on board our steamer, — and generally 
numbered five men, in untidy uniforms, who gravely 
saluted as we passed. 

We reached Kut el-Amara after dark, and stayed 
only for an hour or so ; but my Greek servant went 
on shore and replenished our stores. On the whole, 
I was tolerably comfortable on board. The accom- 
modation was wretched and the heat terrific; but 
the cook excellent, which made up for a great deal, 
for during the last four months or so we had lived 
on milk and water, with now and then a tough old 
fowl, and one relished — ^greedy as it may be to do 
so — well -cooked food. There was, too, on board 



324 THE VOYAGE HOME. 

a regular coflfee-sliop, where coflfee was always on 
the brew, and I doubt if the man in charge knew 
any more than I did how many cups I had ordered 
between Baghdad and Busra ; but I gave my servants 
"unlimited tick," and there were many others on 
board not loth to have their coflfee paid for. So 
on the whole I fared better than could be expected 
in the second-class accommodation of a Turkish river- 
steamer. 

Kut el-Amara is a thriving spot, large shipments 
in grain being made from it. However, instead of 
having to wait while the cargo was put on board, 
we took a couple of lighters in tow instead, an 
infinitely preferable plan, as we were not long de- 
layed. It seems strange that these apparently arid 
plains should be capable of yielding so large a supply 
of grain, but such is the fact; and it only wanta 
a decent Government and a little engineering skill 
to render, as was in olden days the case, the entire 
district one immense corn-field. But the old canals 
with which water was carried to long distances 
have fallen into disrepair, and the Turks take no 
trouble, nor do they seem desirous of doing so, 
of renewing them. Yet even as it is, the yield of 
grain is very large, for it is from these districts that 
the vast quantity shipped annually from Busra 
principally comes. 




'":am 



KNTKAKCE TO THE BAZAAR AT AMAHA. 



THE GARDEN OF EDEN. 325 

At Amara, the next town at which we stopped, 
I made a short excursion ashore, as the steamer 
lies close under the bank, alongside the entrance 
of the bazaar, in which it was cooler than ashore. 
There is, however, nothing to see, though the place 
is interesting as being largely inhabited by the 
Christian sect of Sabseans, natives who profess to 
be the followers of St John the Baptist, but the 
tenets of whose religion seem to contain both Jewish 
and Moslem doctrines, as well as those of Christian- 
ity. There is nothing to distinguish them in ap- 
pearance from the other natives of the place. They 
seem to be principally engaged in trade, there being 
a renowned manufacture of silver objects in a kind 
of niello at this spot. 

At Gurna, some five hours above Busra, the Eu- 
phrates and Tigris unite. Here, the natives say, 
was situated the Garden of Eden, and I was hurried 
ashore — in terrific heat and a very bad temper — ^to 
see " the tree " ; but not being a genuine apple-tree, 
I am still sceptical as to the site. There is a little 
town on the very junction of the rivers ; but descrip- 
tion of mud houses and palm-groves, the latter of 
which here begin to appear, would only weary. 
Besides, I am thankful to say I saw so little of the 
place that I could venture on no details. 

We reached Busra in a few hours under three days 



326 THE VOYAGE HOME. 

after leaving Baghdad, — a quick passage, — and 
thankful indeed I was to get free of the river-steamer 
and its crowd of native passengers ; though I would 
be ungrateful if I did not acknowledge here that 
everything that could be done for my comfort was 
carried out, without request, by the captain and the 
crew, with all of whom I parted on most intimate 
and friendly terms, every sailor on board — ^a dozen 
or so — ^insisting on shaking hands, — and even then 
I had to return to drink a last cup of coflFee with the 
cook and the coflFee-shop man, both gloating over 
a very moderate bakshish. 

I found the steamer in which, through the kindness 
of the owners, I was oflFered a passage for self and 
servant as far as Gibraltar, already arrived. With 
the exception of the ships that call for grain and 
date cargoes, Busra is in poor communication with 
England, as the British India Company's steamships 
— the comfort of which I know from past experiences 
on the Indian coast — call at all the Persian Gulf ports 
en routCy and proceed to Bombay, where a change has 
to be made to some home -going boat, a process of 
much time and considerable expense. But although 
the S.S. Collingham was already in the river, I was 
destined to wait in Busra over a fortnight before I 
could depart; for delays with her cargo occurred, 
and owing to her being of deep draught, she was 



BUSRA. 327 

obliged to proceed to the bar of the river, about a 
hundred miles down, to complete her loading, the 
cargo being sent down in a steam-lighter. 

This delay at Busra would have proved almost 
unbearable had it not been for the kindness and 
hospitality of Captain Knox, H.B.M. Consul at that 
town, who received me as a guest in his house, and 
there 1 remained until my departure, in ease and 
comfort. It is this genial hospitality with which one 
meets abroad that renders so pleasant the traveller's 
life ; for when one is weary after a long journey and 
a hot climate, the little luxuries of life are most ac- 
ceptable, not least amongst them the companionship 
of a friend. And so it was that in Busra I spent the 
long hot days in the shady verandah of the consulate, 
with the Tigris flowing past the end of the little 
garden, and a floating panorama of ships and boats 
ever before my eyes. The delights of having com- 
pleted my journey, of being able to go to bed without 
the knowledge that a twelve hours' ride must be made 
the next day, were indeed great. For enjoyable 
as had been my travels from first to last, a change 
is never to be despised, and a traveller after months 
of wandering knows well how to appreciate rest and 
peace. And rest and peace there were in my quarters 
at Busra ; nothing to do but lie in a cane chair and 
smoke and read novels and watch the river before 



328 THE VOYAGE HOME. 

one, every want attended to by the kindest of hosts 
and an excellent staff of servants. 

Of Basra itself there is little to tell. Probably the 
reader is weary of wading through these long pages 
of travel, just as the writer was weary after his 
experiences ; yet a page or two more or less can do no 
harm, and Busra with its creeks and boats merits a 
few words of description. 

The town does not lie on the river's banks, but 
nearly a mile inland, and so cut up is the entire 
neighbourhood by little canals and creeks that all 
communication takes place by water, in a comfortable 
build of boat known as a bcUdm, in which one sits on 
the floor on a carpet and cushion, shaded from the sun 
by a light awning. The baldm is progressed by means 
of long poles, skilfully wielded by a couple of boys 
or men, one at the stem and the other at the bow, 
bronze-skinned and half-nude creatures, picturesque 
in the extreme. 

A long creek, fringed with palm-gardens, leads one 
from the European settlement on the bank of the 
Tigris to Busra, and no scene more bright in colour 
or more pleasing could be pictured than this creek 
at early morning. The palm-trees rise from close 
to the water's edge until lost to sight in the forest 
of straight stems beyond, while along the very edge 
of the creek shrubs and bushes grow luxuriantly. 



\ 




THE RETDRN VOYAGE. 331 

the Steamers waiting for their cargoes, to be sold in 
the shops and street-stalls of London and elsewhere. 

With these few words as to Bnsra I can pass on 
to my return voyage. It was slow and hot, at times 
almost unbearably hot. We spent two days in 
Bushire, the principal Persian port in the Gulf, a 
few hours at Aden, and again a few at Port Said. 
The time passed pleasantly enough on board, thanks 
to the kindness and amiability of Captain Martin 
and his officers ; but for me it was a weary journey, 
for my Arab servant Mohammed, who had stood our 
long ride ably and well, broke down entirely in 
strength and lay day after day moaning and stricken 
with fever, accompanied by quinzy and a kind of 
scurvy, that gave him, for over a month, not an hour 
without pain and suffering. Poor fellow, he fell 
away to a shadow, and we bad the greatest difficulty 
in nursing and nourishing him. 

But at length one night the light on Europa Point 
at Gibraltar came into sight, and the following morn- 
ing we bade adieu to the captain and our friends on 
board, and the same evening found ourselves at home 
again in Tangier, rejoicing that at last our journey 
was completed. It was well on in August now, and 
the weather hot, but the care of his own people and 
le excitement of getting home from a journey such 
iw of his fellow-countrymen ever took, to say 



330 THE VOYAGE HOME. 

none of their picturesqueness. The streets and 
bazaars are poor, and the shops absolutely of no 
interest, and once seen, there can be no enticement 
for the traveller to leave his quarters on the river- 
banks to visifc the native town a second time. 

It is for its extraordinary output of dates that 
Busra is so celebrated, and look which way one will, 
whether up or down or across the river, an apparently 
never-ending date-forest meets the eye. So impor- 
tant an item does this trade prove in the welfare 
of Busra that some mention must be made of the 
manner of harvesting the fruit. 

As soon as the dates are ripe the plucking begins, 
men being employed to climb the trees and cut and 
shake the dates from the stem on which they grow. 
The fruit is then collected into old boxes and carried 
to the shadokj or enclosure, where women are em- 
ployed in sorting and packing them. The boxes in 
which they are shipped come from Northern Europe 
already sawn into shape, and require only to be 
nailed together. The harvesting oflFers work to a 
multitude of the country people, who flock to Busra 
in the autumn, though the wages seem small enough, 
for a kran — at the rate of exchange in July last about 
4d. — is paid for packing a box, and a woman can 
pack three in a day. The boxes when filled are 
carried down in boats to the river and shipped upon 



THE RETURN VOYAGE. 331 

the steamers waiting for their cargoes, to be sold in 
the shops and street-stalls of London and elsewhere. 

With these few words as to Busra I can pass on 
to my return voyage. It was slow and hot, at times 
almost unbearably hot. We spent two days in 
Bushire, the principal Persian port in the Gulf, a 
few hours at Aden, and again a few at Port Said. 
The time passed pleasantly enough on board, thanks 
to the kindness and amiability of Captain Martin 
and his officers ; but for me it was a weary journey, 
for my Arab servant Mohammed, who had stood our 
long ride ably and well, broke down entirely in 
strength and lay day after day moaning and stricken 
with fever, accompanied by quinzy and a kind of 
scurvy, that gave him, for over a month, not an hour 
without pain and suffering. Poor fellow, he fell 
away to a shadow, and we had the greatest difficulty 
in nursing and nourishing him. 

But at length one night the light on Europa Point 
at Gibraltar came into sight, and the following morn- 
ing we bade adieu to the captain and our friends on 
board, and the same evening found ourselves at home 
again in Tangier, rejoicing that at last our journey 
was completed. It was well on in August now, and 
the weather hot, but the care of his own people and 
the excitement of getting home from a journey such 
as few of his fellow-countrymen ever took, to say 



332 THE VOYAGE HOME. 

nothing of fresh nourishing food, soon pulled him 
round, and now, as I pen these very words, he brings 
me in my coffee, the picture of health and happiness. 
I tell him that I am writing the last words of my 
book, and he says, "Say Good-bye for me too"; and 
so I do — for both of us — " Good-bye." 



INDEX. 



Abdul Kader el Jilani, 313. 311— the British Consulate, 311, 

Ajebshehr, cheap lodgings at, 136, 312 — mosques, 313 — outdcirts, 

137, 138. 316 et m^.— signs of decay, 317. 

Akstafa, the railway journey from Baiz AghA, the Kurdish chief, hos- 

Tiflis to, 52 ei 9eq.—the town of, piUlity of, 204. 

57. Bakuba, 290. 

Algeria, the effect of French influ- Bana, hospitality of the Kurds at, 

ence in, 6. 231. 

All Illahis, the mystic cult of the, Batnm, the custom-house at, 26 — 

178, 271. description of, 27 — a suburb of, 

Amara, 325. 28, 29. 

Amirabad, primitive accommodation Bazaars, description of, at Tiflis, 

at, I69el»eq. 46 et se^. — at Erivan, 70 — at 

Ararat, 80, 81. Tabriz, 111. 

** Ark," description of the, at Tabriz, Blue Mosque, the, at Tabriz, 106. 

109. Bosphorus, the beauty of the, 17. 

Armenian exiles, flight of, to Batum, Brisha, Sid, insulted in Spain, 5. 

22. Bnsra, the port of Baghdad, 298» 
Armenians, the religious tenets of 299, 326, 328 et $eq. 

the, 72 — the Church government 

of the, 78. Chanak-keli, 12. 

Azerbaijan, the extent and popula- Constantinople, disappearance of 

tion of, 95, 96 — cruelty and cor- oriental fashions in, 15 — account 

ruption in, 106 — the soldiers of, of a visit to, 15 «< se^. 

133. Cossacks, powers of endurance of, 

41. 

Baghdad, modem appearance of, Curzon, Mr George, estimate regard- 

295 et seq. — history of the city, ing Azerbaijan by, 96 ; 181, 183, 

296 et «e^.— commerce, 298— pop- 184. 
ulation, 299 — situation, ib, et 

8tq, — bazaars, 302 ei »eq. — the Dates, the importation of, from 

horse -market, 306 — curio -ven- Busra, 330. 

don, 309— climate, 310 — houses, Uelijan, the scenery at, 61. 



334 



INDEX. 



Diabakri, 193 e< setj. 

Easter celebration, description of, 

at Tiflis, 48 et seq, 
Kchmiazin, the great Armenian 

monastery of, 71 — story of its 

foundation by St Gregory, 73 — 

description of, 74 et scq. 
Eden, a Garden of, 325. 
Elenovka, 65. 
Erivan, eventful history of, 66 et 

uq. 
Erzerum, the Treaty of, 285. 
Etna, 11. 

Ferhad of Shirin, the story of, 282. 

Gate of Lagros, the, 274. 
Georgians, the beauty of the, 31, 

32, 39— the long dynasty of the 

kings of the, 62. 
Gibraltar, 3. 
Gogan, 128, 129. 
Gokcha, Lake, 63. 
<:i}regorian Church, the relations of 

Russia to the, 78. 
Gregory, St, the first Armenian 

patriiuroh, 73. 
OryboiedofF, murder of, at Teheran, 

44. 
Ouma, the reputed Grarden of Eden, 

325. 

Harun Er-Rashid, 99, 296, 316. 
Harunabad, decay of the town of, 

268. 
Hulaku, the Mongol Emperor, 142, 

143. 
Huseyn Ali, the mosque of, at Eri- 

van, 69. 

Hiyats, the migration of the, 153 

et seg., 162. 
Imam Jawad, 317. 

Julfa, 84, 86, 87. 

Kalaj^b, 156 et seq. 
Kasr-i-Shirin, 281. 
Kadmin, 317. 
Kerassund, 22. 



Kerbela, the story of, publicly re- 
cited at Tabriz, 118; 128, 306, 

317. 

Kermanshah, history of, 252— decay 
of, 253 — residence in, 254 et aeq. — 
sight-seeing in, 256— the Turkish 
Consul -General, id.— rock -sculp- 
tures near, 257. 

Khanikin, 287. 

Kirrind, the Kurds of, 270. 

KizU-Rabat, 288. 

Knox, Captain, 327. 

Kurdistan, Persian, definition of, 
174 — ^physical features of, 175 — 
rivers of, 176. 

Kurds, first impressions of, 173 — 
antiquity of, 177 — language of, 
179 — nature of life of, f6.— char- 
acter of, 181, 222 — enmity of, 
to Persians and Turkis, 182 — ^list 
of tribes of, 185 — personal ap- 
pearance of, 187 ef aeq, — hospi- 
tality of, 191 et 9eq. — description 
of a house of the, 210 — a village 
dance of the, 217 — morality of 
the, 218 — superiority of, to Per- 
sians and Turkis, 227. 

Kut el-Amara, 324. 

Mahidasht, description of the cara- 
vanserai at, 266. 
Majorca, 9. 
Makarama, the secret cult of the, 

271, 278. 
Malaga, the cathedral at, 3 — the 

people of, 4. 
Mamerghan, 125, 126. 
Maragha, description of, 140 et 9eq., 

150— population, 145, 167. 
Marble springs, 134. 
Margallo, General, death of, at 

MeUlla, 5. 
Marseilles, 9. 
Maruf Aghd, a Kurdish chief, the 

house of, 210. 
MeUlla, 4. 
Messina, 11. 
Mian-Lek, 273. 
Michael, Grand Duke, energy of 

the, in Tiflis, 42. 
Mingrelia, the fertility of the plain 



INDEX. 



335 



of, 29 — the Qeorgians of, 31, 

39. 
Miaerghin, an excursion to, 7 tt atq, 
Miyandob, 164, 167. 
Mockler, Colonel, 312. 
Molokans, mistaken sympathy of 

England with the, 64. 
Moors, Spanish hostility to, 4, 5. 

Nakchivan, 83. 

Kemoors, the poverty of, 5. 

Nestorians, acconnt of the, 146 e< 

Hq. — missions at work among, 

149. 

Obeidnllah, Sheikh, the rebellion of, 

in 1880, 160, 166 et seq, 
Oran, description of, 7. 

Pat- i-Tak, a squalid Kurdish village, 
276. 

Persia, evil character of the people 
of Northern, 91 — description of 
lodgings in, 92 — scarcity of Per- 
sian cats in, 93 — cruelty and mb- 
government prevalent in, 104 — 
ianaticiim in, 115. 

Persian frontier, the question of the, 
285. 

Jieiua RtgtiiUt foundering of the 
Spanish war-ship, 1. 

Rion valley, the scenery of the, 33. 

Russia, the organiilng power of, as 
shown in Tiflis, 41 — sectarian 
fanaticism in, 65 — toleration of, 
towards Annenianism, 79. 

Saaderut, 124. 

Sabeans, the Christian sect of, 325. 

Saladin, a Kurd, 177. 

Samsun, 20, 21. 

Sar.i-pul, 278 ti «eq. 

Serdasht, 219— a f6te at, 223. 

Shaharaban, 288. 

Shirin, Ferhad of, the story of, 

282. 
Siama, hospitality of the Kurds at, 

230. 
Sinna, pleasant quarters at, 241 tt 

uq, — situation of, 24S--ooorteons 



inhabitants of, 244 — suburbs of, 
245 — the mosque at, 247. 

Sinope, 18. 

Skoptsy, the sectarian settlement of 
the, 65. 

Stromboli, habitations on, 10. 

Suj-bulak, Ylltiuq,, 197. 

Suleiman, 297. 

Tabriz, low character of the inhabi- 
tants of, 98 — eventful hbtory of, 
ib, ti 9tq, — description of, 100 — 
commercial importance of, 101 — 
the government of, 102 — the chief 
sights in, 106 «< de^. — the Blue 
Mosque at, 106- the '* Ark/* 109 
— bazaars at. 111 — fanaticbm of 
the inhabitants of, 115. 

Tak-i-Bostan, famous rock-sculp- 
tures at, 257 tt 8tq, 

Tamerlane, 147» 297. 

Tangier, 1, 2, 331. 

Tatars, picturesque dress of the, 40. 

Tauris, the ancient Armenian capi- 
tal, 99. 

Tiflis, hot springs at, 35— eventful 
history of, 36— the Kur valley 
at, 37 — the inhabitants of, 38 tt 
9tq, — Russian enterprise in, 41 — 
the sights of the modem town, 
42 tt 9tq. — the H6tel de Londres 
at, 45 — description of the oriental 
quarter and bazaars, ib. ti tq. — 
Easter service in, 48 e/ teq, 

Tigris, poor scenery of the, between 
Baghdad and Busra, 322. 

Transcaucasia, description of a drive 
across, 57 ti ttq. 

Trebizond, 23, 24. 

Urmiyah, Lake, the saltnees of, 1.10 
— description of, 131. 

Vagharsabad, the ancient Armenian 
capital, 71. 

Wood, Mr C«:U, 97. 

Zagros, Gate of, 274. 
Zobeida, wife of Harun Er-RAshid, 
99, 319. 



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