Chapter XVIII: Dead Sea Fruit (3)

[72] A strong chain is advisable; for in one of the Tkhuma churches a lunatic who had been similarly tethered succeeded in wrenching the staple from the wall. The old priest entering next morning discovered him squatting on the altar, having torn up all the service books, and set the hangings on fire! He was further anxious to strangle the priest, who only just eluded him. Evidently this was a case of possession by Apollyon himself.

[73] The nearest village to these sculptures is Hinnis, upon the right bank of the river at the point where our road struck it; but they take their name from the larger village of Bavian, situated on the left bank a little lower down.

[74] There are several remains of reservoirs also, built on the southern side of the mountains by the Assyrians, and on the northern by the Urartians. In one instance (at Firek Gol, near Van) even the dam is still intact, but is no longer watertight.

[75] Abdul Hamid, for all his shortcomings, was apparently a pretty good landlord. Khalilka had to pay to him only one-third of its rice crop and one-fifth of its other produce; which is a considerably smaller proportion than local custom would justify.

[76] These trees are often "sacred trees," from which no one will dare to take fuel. For there are still "sacred trees" in this country--as there were in the days when the bas-reliefs of Nineveh were carved.

[77] The _malmudir_ of Akra supervises the taxation of about 150 villages, and about £10,000 in taxes pass annually through his hands. His salary is about £120, while that of a _kaimakam_ is £500 to £800, according to the importance of his district. These are not exactly princely (even when they are paid regularly), but it is, of course, possible to increase them by well-recognized, if not quite legitimate, means.

[78] We spent the night in equally brotherly fashion, our beds being spread out for us side by side on the floor of the room. Our host even wished us to take turn and turn about with the hubble-bubble with which he solaced his last waking moments; but we pleaded that this was a taste which we had not acquired.

[79] The prevalent opinion in Mosul was that the Tripoli, where the war was raging, was the Asiatic Tripoli. The comet which was visible about this time presaged destruction to the Italians, "because you will observe that the tail points towards Italy"--the aforesaid comet standing vertically in the north-eastern quarter of the sky.

[80] Tuesday, it may be added, is esteemed inauspicious by Christians, because on that day Judas Iscariot made his covenant with the chief priests. Wednesday is the Yezidi Sabbath; but apparently anyone may work on Thursday. Thursday will probably be early closing day when reform is inaugurated in the land.

[81] The Imaum is virtually a sort of parish clerk, leading the Responses in the public services at the mosque; and our friend was as gravely self-important as any English parish clerk could be.

[82] The Sheikh tried to purchase peace honestly; but his enemies outraged even local morality by accepting his bribes, and persisting in their machinations.

[83] They were mostly half-trained Kurdish levies, who were not quite easy in their consciences at fighting such a Holy Man as the Sheikh, and had moreover a pretty shrewd suspicion that they were being employed in Sabonji's interests and not the _Hukumet's_. The Sheikh used merely to disarm his prisoners, and then release them on parole. As he had nowhere to keep them, his only alternative would have been to kill them; and this would have meant a war of extermination, which he did not wish to provoke.

[84] This was Nazim Pasha, then Vali of Baghdad, who was subsequently Commander-in-Chief of the Ottoman army in the Balkan War, and was assassinated by the partisans of Enver Bey during the negotiations for peace. He so entirely exonerated the Sheikh as to award him £1000 indemnity--on paper: but the Sheikh had suffered heavily from the plunder of his villages, and gained nothing but prestige.

[85] The correct title to use in addressing the Sheikh is "_Corban_"--"Your Holiness."

[86] The regular oath of a Tyari Christian is: "By the head of Mar Shimun."

[87] A "_belai_" forms the top story of many of the mountain houses. It is quite open on one side (usually the northern) and forms the general family living room during the summer heats. In winter it is used as a hay barn, and thus helps to warm the room below.

[88] Except one hoof, to be accurate--such at least was the cook's report. Scott points out that the Scotch highlanders also would eat prodigious meals when they got the chance, though ordinarily their fare was very meagre.

[89] Eye disease is terribly prevalent in all the neighbouring provinces. It is originated by dust and want of cleanliness, and aggravated by persistent neglect.

[90] In this connexion sometimes the phrase is unpleasantly literal. The prison at Akra, for instance, is a regular bottle-shaped dungeon like those at Alnwick and Berkeley, and in many Continental keeps.

[91] See p. 112.

[92] It is to be feared that sometimes they adopt other masculine habiliments, particularly (for instance) in winter, for convenience in getting through deep snow. We went once to rout up a workman who had failed to turn up at his job in the morning. He was still in bed, we discovered. A fact which did not tend to appease us until he faltered out his excuse. "But my wife has gone away to work, Rabbi; and has taken my only pair of trousers"--when we fear that the Rabbi's laughter brought these confidences to a sudden end.

[93] This brushwood harbours all sorts of vermin, including scorpions and serpents, which latter are rather encouraged because they are reputed to eat the rest. The proper way to get rid of them is to make up a blazing fire, and pile on to it a quantity of sheep's horns or goats' horns (cow's horns will not do). This sounds as if it ought to get rid of much worse things than serpents!

[94] The _tanura_ serves also as an oven, and when the fire has subsided into embers the thin pancakes of dough (the form in which bread is usually made in the mountains) are plastered round the hot sides of the pit.

[95] Most "old books" have now been ferreted out, and perhaps the only earths yet untried are in the Yezidi villages of the Sinjar. These villages were formerly Christian; and there is a widespread conviction (strenuously denied by the Yezidis) that old Christian books still remain there, carefully secreted in certain caves. We have heard from a Syrian priest that he himself once actually saw some spread out to dry in the sun because they had got damp in a flood. He was at once headed off when he tried to look at them; but could see from the title-page that one was "The Works of Diodorus," a famous Eastern doctor whose writings have been entirely lost.

[96] This journey was actually made in the spring of 1909, and was thus earlier in date than the events recorded in the last chapter.

[97] Alternatively _mesta_--curds; the usual form of dairy produce hereabouts--identical with Jael's "Butter in a lordly dish."

[98] Turkey has since evacuated the disputed province.

[99] See "Highlands of Asiatic Turkey," by Lord Percy. The victim was Mar Gabriel of Urmi.

[100] See the writings of Æneas Sylvius Piccolomini, quoted by Milman, "Latin Christianity," XIII, xvi. The Italian, however, entirely misunderstood the chivalrous practice.

[101] The Prophet himself never left Arabia; and even Omar--a favourite legendary hero in these parts--never came north of Jerusalem.

[102] The life of a minor official in Turkey is not a happy one. We have recently heard of the experience of a tax-collector in this seventh year of upright and constitutional government, who undertook the adventurous job of gathering the taxes from Tkhuma and Tyari, (!) at a wage of £3 per month. After two months' work he asked for an instalment of his salary. "My dear fellow, you shall have it all," said the _Mal-mudir_; "there are no more arrears in these days; you take all your salary--subject to the official deductions, of course." Accordingly he presented the applicant with a schedule of these "deductions" (which amounted to £5 10s. 9d. out of the total of £6), and the balance of 9s. 3d. in silver!

[103] From "Turkey in Europe" by "Odysseus"

[104] These truculent ruffians (when they have thoroughly earned a thrashing) will often accept it with most edifying docility. We have heard the late Dr. Browne, an old gentleman of the mildest manners and most fragile appearance, lamenting with the utmost artlessness that he had been obliged to thrash his muleteers. Consuls do not approve the habit, but have been known to practise it nevertheless.

[105] There is some real danger in exploring these caverns, for if you do not often find real _Jann_, you are always liable to stumble on a wolf!

We were once exploring a "cave-monastery," near Maragha; one feature of which was a long passage, burrowing into the rock, and expanding at intervals into cells, like balls threaded on a string.

Down this we crawled, with an antiquarian's eagerness, our guide politely allowing us to go first. When we were well in, a voice came from behind us: "_Rabbi_, there's a wolf who generally lives down here, but I don't know if he's in now!"

[106] _I.e._ by Kurds driving cattle into the building. This outrage is exceptional, but not unknown.

[107] Orientals usually attribute the Epistle to the Hebrews to St. Paul.

[108] We fear that other episodes in the career of this polite brigand are of a far darker hue. He was at least concerned in the murder of an American Missionary--the Rev. Benjamin Labaree--in 1905.

[109] Tea is considered a great luxury, and men of moderate means will actually ruin themselves by indulging in it. Not so much owing to the cost of tea as to that of the sugar, for they use about as much sugar as the tea will dissolve.

[110] Owing to Russian influence, this statement now needs some qualification as far as Urmi is concerned.

[111] It is a double church really: Mar Sergius and Mar Bacchus: these very popular saints in the East, among whose churches that at Constantinople is the most famous, were Persian martyrs of the fifth century; and the church of Mar Sergius near Urmi claims to mark the site of their martyrdom.

[112] The word has been adopted into English, as a relic, probably, of Crimean slang; and the "Ancient Society of Codgers" may claim khoja Nazr-ed-din as a member of their club. Literally, it means "eunuch" or "tutor"; but in common speech implies rather "old fellow."

[113] Persian women have a high reputation for cleverness; a repute which is exemplified in the saying that every Moslem, to be happy, requires at least four wives. A Persian because of her wit, and a Circassian because of her beauty; an Armenian to do the cookery and housework, and a Kurdish woman to thrash, as a wholesome example to the other three.

[114] At the present price of silver about 3_s._ 6_d._

[115] Heir-Apparent of Persia; Azerbaijan is his hereditary province.

[116] This was the Rev. Benjamin Labaree, of the American Presbyterian Mission, Urmi, who was murdered by the _Seyyid_ Nur-ed-din, on account of some personal grudge that he had (or fancied he had) against another member of that mission. The _Seyyid_ was little better than a madman; though, of course, not the less of a holy man or of a dangerous scoundrel on that account. It appears (though there is not absolute certainty in the matter) that Mr. Labaree was offered life if he would renounce Christianity by repeating "the _kalima_," and died as a martyr on his refusal.

[117] Even Bibles used to reach their destination with the word Armenia neatly obliterated; but we feel there was some excuse for the censor who confiscated a batch of hymn books on the ground that "Onward Christian Soldiers" was a sort of Armenian _Marseillaise_!

[118] _i.e._ Governor. The rank is intermediate between _kaimakam_ and _vali_.

[119] "I'll tell you what it is," cried an irritated British Consul to an Armenian petitioner, "if ever we did undertake the administration of your country, you fellows would have to pay your taxes." "What!" exclaimed that gentleman in dismay, "_every year?_"

[120] The criminals who were not sentenced must have been far more numerous. The _Vali_ must have felt like the old Lord of Perugia, who had to grant a general amnesty lest he should depopulate the town!

[121] The word "_Fedai_" is Persian, and comes from a root that means sacrifice, and implies "one who sacrifices himself for a cause." Thus a volunteer in a forlorn hope would be a _Fedai_; and the term was originally applied to the devoted Assassins of the "Old Man of the Mountain" in crusading days. Ottomans usually called the revolutionaries simply "brigands." A third society, the _Huntchak_, was worked on the same lines as the _Tashnak_, and was incorporated with it later.

[122] _Tashnak_ means a banner.

[123] Some were found in the writer's own residence; a Tashnakist having taken service with him for the express purpose of securing a good _cache!_ The soldiers were hugely delighted with their haul, and gave us some packets of dynamite as mementoes!

[124] Otherwise "Bashi-bazouks." This word of formidable memory means merely "rotten-heads," and is barrack slang for a civilian mob.

[125] It may be a novelty to some readers to hear that all varieties of Christianity, as well as of Islam, are established and endowed by the State in Turkey. Bishops are appointed by the State and are State paid in part; and church organizations are recognized, given power, and controlled as such. The fallacious assumption implied in the query, "_quid Christianis cum regibus?_" does not deceive the Oriental as easily as it appears to do the Western.

[126] See the Preface.

[127] Until quite lately his Beatitude maintained a court jester also--one Shlimun (Solomon), who died a few years ago. He was an amusing scamp, but his sense of humour was sometimes rather _outré_.

[128] The priest has been known to stop in the middle of service, and ask her where he is to go on; for they are simple folk, and the Use is very complex.

[129] See Benson, "Cyprian," pp. 51-57. The scandals there referred to, however, are quite absent from the modern Nestorian Church.

[130] This advice applies even more forcibly to travellers in the remoter villages. There almost the only food obtainable is the local pancake bread. The sole delicacies are "butter (_i.e._ curds) and honey," as they were in the days of Isaiah. Eggs may be got occasionally; but the pampered European who lusts for flesh meat had better bring it with him in tins. Life is too hard in the mountains to yield more than the barest necessaries; and the slaughter of a sheep for a banquet is a very exceptional extravagance indeed.

[131] The churches serve as refuges for the women and children whenever the villages are raided, and are thus built with an eye to security. Often they are planted in almost impregnable sites, like the little church of Shwawutha in our illustration.

[132] Attached to the church are a couple of anchorites' cells, and within the last twenty-five years one of these was actually inhabited by a venerable hermit--the _rabban_ Yonan. The incumbent is entitled to reside there still--if he likes.

[133] See additional note, p. 283.

[134] Fasting as a religious observance is most strictly enforced among the Syrians. We have known a priest refuse to proceed with a marriage service (which, of course, is ranked as a Sacrament) because he discovered that the best man had been smoking that morning! It was only after thrashing the delinquent that he relented and finished the service.

Smoking breaks a fast. And this fact was exemplified in a ludicrous sequel to an ugly attack on an Englishman which occurred in these parts in 1912. The Englishman had evaded his assailants, and found shelter for the night in a village: but it was quite likely he would be pursued; and at daybreak next morning every one's nerves were very much on edge. The sun's rays had just touched the hill-top opposite, and the shadows were rapidly sinking into the valley, when over the ridge, running as hard as he could leg it, there swooped a solitary Kurd. None could doubt the nature of his tidings; and they watched with their hearts in their mouths as he tore down the slope towards them, leapt the stream, flung himself on the grass beside it, and--_lit a cigarette_.

It was _Ramazan_: and he only wished to reach a spot where the sun had not yet risen, in order to enjoy a last smoke!

[135] Tyari men would not have eaten her at all; not for that reason, but because they have scruples about touching beef. "Our Fathers did not do so."

[136] The Baz men are hereditary builders, and migrate in a body to Mosul in winter in order to undertake such work.

[137] _i.e._ "Prophet."

[138] A comb is one of the mystic symbols which are carved on the Yezidi temple at Sheikh Adi.

[139] See note at end of chapter.

[140] See Tylor, "Anthropology," ch. xvi.

[141] Reshid's personal reputation may be gleaned from the fact that natives travelling in our company have begged us to pocket their cash for them while passing through his borders. Even our inviolable "shadow" was not quite good enough there!

[142] _Châl_ in Turkish means Thieve!--habitually, and preferably with violence. But this, though admirably apposite, is not an accredited derivation.

[143] The writer was recounting this anecdote at a meeting after his return to England when an old gentleman in the audience was overheard to remark, in a scandalized voice: "Tut, tut, tut; why didn't he give him in charge?"

[144] There are no coroner's inquests in the mountains; but we never killed any one as far as we know.

[145] "Books of remedies" and collections of charms like the one referred to are often found among the Nestorians, and the substance of them is often of almost incredible antiquity. The writer once translated some specimens he had selected to a friend learned in Assyriology and found that they were essentially identical with the charms on the oldest of the Babylonian tablets. A substratum of the oldest faith of the land has survived all the changes of seven thousand years.

[146] The incident occurred in 1901 or 1902. The officer concerned was Captain Maunsell, R.A., then British Vice-Consul at Van. The English "Apostles" do not usually carry arms. It might answer if they could be sure of disabling an assailant; for then he would come to be doctored, and amicable relations would be re-established. But to kill him would start a blood feud, and to miss him would be worst of all. The _vacuus viator_ is safer than one who carries such a valuable prize as an English gun.

[147] The lady is usually allowed very little choice. We were consulted once in a knotty case where a girl had been betrothed to one man by her father and another by her mother; and we mildly suggested that she might at least be allowed a casting vote. "What can it matter to her, Rabbi?" said the Bishop of Berwar who was acting as arbitrator; "one husband is as good as another!"

[148] "And satyrs shall dance there" is the final touch in Isaiah's picture of the desolation of Babylon. This is doubtless the identical beast.

[149] He entirely confirmed Mr. Bram Stoker's evidence that the King of the Vampires is Dracula.

[150] Armenians aver that this happened on the summit of Sipan Dagh, near Van. Noah, on feeling the bump, ejaculated "_Sipan Allah!_" (Praise God!) and this gave its name to the mountain. He must have been the only mariner on record to feel delight at such an event.

[151] These were the gorges that drove Xenophon to take to the mountains in the Anabasis. He could march up the left bank of the river about as high as Jezireh; but there the ravine grew too narrow and difficult for troops.

[152] Herodotus seems to have confused the _keleg_ and the _ghufa_ in his notes; for both existed, on the evidence of the sculptures, in his day. He speaks of "circular craft, covered with skins and caulked with bitumen," and made on wooden frames. He adds that at the journey's end the wood was sold, and the skins carried back "to Armenia" on the back of a donkey that had made the voyage down on the vessel. All his details are right, as regards one or other of the two types, save only the voyaging donkey. An experienced jackass will jump readily into a _ghufa_ and be ferried across, or some way down, the river; but he does not, in these days at any rate, come all the way down from Diarbekr to Baghdad. However, there is no reason why he should not.

[153] Under these was in each case a small chamber, just large enough to contain the miniature image of the "guardian of the threshold" that was invariably placed there.

[154] See p. 191.

[155] This is not precisely the epithet that is usually applied to Nineveh in Scripture; but a touch of national prejudice changes the point of view. The Assyrian Tyrtæus was a refugee from Serai, near Van.

[156] See pp. 311 _et seq._

[157] See p. 317.

[158] See pp. 76-78, 251, etc.

[159] See pp. 136 _et seq._

[160] See pp. 171-73.

[161] The _Yaila_ of Shina lies amid the mountains which are shown in the illustration facing p. 176. It would be near the extreme left of the picture, facing the precipices of Ghara Dagh.

[162] The Tal gorge debouches upon the Zab from the left, near the further end of the reach shown in the frontispiece. See also p. 288.

[163] This must have been a col in the distant mountain range, shown in the illustration facing p. 257.

[164] See pp. 127, 159, etc.

[165] See p. 216.

[166] The Kitab ul Fakhri on the Tartar sack of Baghdad.

[167] See pp. 256-69. Firebrand as he was, Aram on this occasion did all he could to avert disorder, exhorting the Armenians to suffer anything rather than give a pretext for "repression."

[168] The delay was partly owing to the "Sykes-Picot Treaty" which left Mosul in the French sphere. The French could not work this treaty, and for long would not consent to its abrogation, and the fact tied British hands.

[169] A quaint episode marked the campaign. After storming--and plundering--a Kurdish village, some exultant mountain warriors came to their C.O. to announce that they had secured the most valuable loot they could hope to win. They presented to the amused officer an enormous MS. tome of Church services! It was a copy of their "Khudra"--_i.e._, the collection of the variable parts of the offices on all Sundays and ferials of the "circle" (khudra) of the year, an enormously enlarged equivalent to the Collects and occasional prayers of the Book of Common Prayer. They begged for a mule from the transport train to carry this sacred trophy at the head of the column on the march, and it gives some idea of the size of the book when we say that the mule was actually necessary to carry it, though, as the companion volume of the "Gezza" (Treasury, containing the prayers for saints' days) was not there, it was not more than half a load for the beast. For the rest of the campaign the book was the palladium and standard of the corps, and was given a voluntary guard of honour every night. Subsequently, it was presented to the Patriarch, and is now in use in his church.

[170] Pp. 321 _et seq._

[171] The Ottoman Government had, during the war, some notion of hanging the writer "because he had built a house to serve as a British fort." He escaped by a clerical error, heartlessly described by Sir A. Wilson as "one of those errors of routine inevitable in even the best administrations!" His name, in the list of civil prisoners, was transliterated one way; on the list of criminals, in another. We hope that this posthumous justification of the sentence is as satisfactory to the judges as it is to the criminal!

[172] See p. 118.

[173] "Sandy McPherson," said Lord Justice Braxton to the "panel" before him, "ye are a vera ingenious chiel, but ye'll be nane the waur of a haanging." And one is reminded of this verdict by the character of that sporting and alluring rascal, Agha Petros. The man is a good fighter, who under other circumstances might have earned high rank; but whose lot has been cast in places that have developed that "kink" in his nature that will prevent him from ever being chevalier of a higher order than that of "Industrie." He declared to the writer--with a frankness that does him credit--that he had read the earlier edition of this book, and that all said of him therein (see pp. 218-19) was true; but he added that he had become a changed man since.

It is certainly the fact that this hawk has since learned to fly at higher game, but he still must be classified among "raptores." Alas that so many good fellows are rascals!

[174] See note on p. 401.

[175] When the Assyrians made their attack, an officer in the train judged it better to get out on the side remote from the action, "lest he should see things that it might be his duty to report."

[176] See p. 267.

[177] Surma _Khanim_ spent several months, in the years 1919-20, in England, where she was the guest of the "Sisters of Bethany," who have an interest in her people of long standing. The object of her visit was to put the claims and position of her people before the British Home Authorities, and, if possible, before those of Europe at large. She at least secured a courteous hearing from British Cabinet Ministers, and though she was unable to extract any definite promises from men who did not themselves know what they wanted, she left the impression of a very striking personality on the minds of those who had been accustomed to think of Assyrians as a mere barbarian nuisance.

[178] See illustration facing p. 128.

[179] See pp. 311 _et seq._ Reshid had been "reconciled" the previous autumn; his formidable "Castle" at Deir Sherish being razed so flat that (as reported by the gleeful Assyrians) "You wouldn't think it had ever been there!"

[180] Some of the heroes of this Odyssey retired into Mosul Gaol for a while in consequence of it, and were still there at the following Easter. Then a pitiful petition was sent in on their behalf (or, at least, on behalf of the "Old Churchmen" among them) to the effect: "Please let those out for Easter who have been keeping their fast so properly in prison. Never mind about the Protestants--_they_ have been eating the good prison food and don't matter."

Unfortunately, even this pathetic plea did not move the Gallio who then sat in the seat of authority! However, all were released soon after.

Gaol has become, as a result of British rule, quite unpopular in Mosul. You can no longer sit in the prison and take your ease there, sending out for your food and tobacco, as under the Turk. Instead, you have to wear "an unbecoming frock" like the gentleman in the Bab ballads, and work on the roads. So "wearing the cap" is disliked in Mosul, the more as it is no longer possible, when weary of captivity, to hire a substitute to take your place there and make up the tale of captives!

[181] It was proposed to raise some companies of Yezidis for the levy also, and they would serve British officers most loyally. However, up to the time of writing this has not been done, though they offer good military material, and their home in Jebel Sinjar lies conveniently on the flank of the one line of advance possible to the one enemy. The only difficulty (given separate companies of Yezidis, as of Assyrians) seems to lie in the British words of command used throughout the "Mosul levy," and which Orientals who know no English pick up with marvellous quickness. For any sound resembling "Sheitan" is blasphemy to the ears of a Yezidi. How then is it possible to address to them the mystic adjuration "'Shun"?

[182] Petros was ill-advised enough to try and blackmail the High Commissioner! He claimed present payment of Rs. 38,000, alleged to have been spent by him out of his own funds on the expedition to Gawar! Failing immediate payment of this, he would denounce Sir P. Cox's dealings with his people to the League of Nations, the French Republic, and the Pope. To his amazement he was told that he might go to all three, and the devil as well if he liked (the connection with the Pope was not so obvious to Petros as to the angry A.D.C.), and had better begin by leaving the office.

* * * * *

Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber:

Selencia=> Seleucia {pg 5}

admittted=> admitted {pg 100}

bridgroom=> bridegroom {pg 161}

left a one=> left alone {pg 178}

France or Amercia=> France or America {pg 259}

inacessible=> inaccessible {pg 264}

callousnesss=> callousness {pg 378}

faily well=> fairly well {pg 287}

is a good as ever=> is as good as ever {pg 291}

mattter=> matter {pg 301}

Hand him over over to us=> Hand him over to us {pg 301}

did not minish=> did not deminish {pg 382}

cavavan=> caravan {pg 409}

deserted by Patriach, 364;=> deserted by Patriarch, 364; {pg 427}

shrin of Mar Abd' Ishu, 306-7;=> shrine of Mar Abd' Ishu, 306-7; {pg 429}