they reach the Tigris from this point in eight hours, taking wheat, barley, and tobacco. Near the low, rocky ranges of hills, such as the Hamrin and others near Kifri, the soil is less productive, perhaps because cultivation is less attempted. Here, however, the verdure of the plains would render the term Desert' inapplicable; and, if the population were not few and scattered, rich harvests might reasonably be anticipated. 8. Flocks and herds abound, as might be expected among a people whose habits are essentially pastoral, such as the Arab and Kurd of these tracts. Indeed as regards fresh provisions the traveller is here better off than in India, for if he please he may have constant supplies. Fowls are almost everywhere abundant. Milk, in the pure form, or in the sour stage (Shanina'), or in more solid curds (Yoghurd'), known in India as Dai, is to be procured in every village unaffected by desertion or decay. The cheeses are somewhat void of flavour, but not to be despised. 9. Fruits of some kind are to be found in the larger villages. The most common is the small apricot, called by the Arabs Mishmish.' Ice was brought from the town of Arbeil to the Kurdish tent in which we were located, and proved highly acceptable. Wines are made both at Kerkuk and Mosul. 10. Crossing the Tigris for the first time at Jezireh, and ascending into what may be called Upper Mesopotamia, the country does not, certainly, improve in fertility. But, in spite of the absence of those vast sheets of corn which cover the valley or plains of the Tigris to the eastward of the river, a new vegetation presents itself to the eye in these rugged high-lands, which has its charms for the traveller. Before reaching Mardin we come upon a most refreshing garden-land, a land of the walnut, plum, cherry, and apple trees; of vines and of flowers; of cascades and running streams. The general characteristic is perhaps the barrenness of stunted Indian jungle, but in examining the crannies and the defiles these attractions come to light. Between Mardin and Diarbekir, even amid many hard and inhospitable-looking hills, there is to be discerned at intervals a fine rich soil; but the general appearance of fertility falls far short of the plains east of the Tigris, and rock or stone prevail. Water is ample, either from rivers, streams, or roadside fountains. These last increase in number as we approach Asia Minor. At Mardin and Diarbekir supplies of all kinds are procurable, and to almost any amount. 11. From Diarbekir to Kharput there is a good deal of cultivation for the first two stages, and up to the foot of the mountain range, of which the Argana hill is the more remarkable outwork, with sufficient water from canals. The passage of the Batman Dagh is not altogether sterile, for we found amid one of its wildest and most romantic valleys a village or two yielding a fair portion of the necessaries of life. And from hence to Kharput we have first a fertile plain, then a steep mountain called the Deva Boynun,' or Camel's Neck, and lastly the Kharput plain itself, which holds villages teeming with supplies of every description. 12. Kharput may be considered a good half-way point between Bagdad and Izmid. Taking at one glance the whole of the second half, my own experience tells of abundance in most places, of sufficiency in many, and of want in very few. I would confine those few to the right bank of the Euphrates, and when we were turning our heads again northwards to Sivas. For although the roads through Asia Minor are not strictly through unbroken fields of grain, as near Mosul, ample stores could, it is presumed, be always gathered in for the large towns of Sivas, Yuzgat, and Angureh, leaving enough for domestic consumption to the agricultural population without. Our march was a continual harvest-time, for the number of weeks occupied in travelling onwards was just the difference required to mark the respective periods at which the sickle is brought into the cultivated plateaux of Asia Minor, in contradistinction to those acknowledged in the plains of Turkish Arabia. 13. We had very little rain or bad weather. Perhaps our hottest days were passed in the Kurdish tents at the end of May and beginning of June, when the thermometer was as follows: These are the particular hours at which it chanced that a record was taken. Higher figures would doubtless have been shown had all accounts been taken at noon. In tents at Yarimja, 10 A.M. 100° Do. 14. As regards the more notable products of the soil in Asia. * Lead and silver might be added. * Minor, I regret having had no opportunity of visiting the copper or coal mines, though at no great distance from the former. The vast forests of oak and fir I was able to admire, and also to make inquiries on the cotton cultivation in parts of the country where the plant has been most cared for. A letter which I addressed on this subject to Mr. Cheetham, junior, of Staleybridge, having found its way into a recent number of the Cotton Supply Reporter, I will confine myself at present to a mere mention of the fact that the mind of the Turkish producer is not in a state to admit of his making outlay of his own accord either in the introduction of a new seed or extending the indigenous produce with marked success. He is apprehensive 2 lb.; and 5 about equal to the prospective fall would 18. 8d. to 4 d. a lb. piastres being that the price now given for the oka† of 26 piastres would immediately fall to the old figure of 6 piastres if the American War breach were healed. Very good cotton is produced near the Kizzil Irmak, but of short staple. On a specimen sent by me to Manchester it was reported questionable whether, when the long-stapled cottons should have sunk to their oldfashioned level of price, such short cottons as these would not be beaten out of the market altogether. 15. An hour's halt at the dwelling-house of the managers of the Salt-works between Ulach and Sivas enabled me to make inquiry on a not unimportant item of the revenues in Asia Minor. This place bears the name of Tuzlu Prinwar, the fountain or spring of salt, but its actual realization in coin is set down at no higher sum than 40,000 piastres (about £364) per annum. They explained, however, that it was the total revenue of the Asia Minor salt-springs which was considerable, and that this once formed but a part of the whole system. My informants were managers on the part of Government, receiving a fixed salary to make the most of their charge, but under no contract for a stipulated sum. 16. Asia Minor abounds in hot springs, sometimes hot and cold combined. Among those described in the vicinity of my route were the following: 1. At the Yelduz Su, about fifteen miles west of Sivas. 2. At Kohineh, near Yuzgat. 3. At or near Amasieh, called Kaoza Chermik.' 4. At Kizzilji Kui. The first I spent a whole morning in visiting. Having ascended a rocky eminence about three or four hundred feet above the level of the surrounding plateau, I came upon a deep fissure in the backbone of a narrow isolated ridge choked up for the most part with wild flowers and grasses. This led the way to large and small pits or holes which had once evidently been active springs, and eventually to live springs themselves rising in oval or circular basins of tepid water, the largest of which may have been forty feet in circumference. The ridges average perhaps fifteen feet in height; the slopes are gentle, the backbone is sharp. In one place only, among the extinct springs, was the trough of any breadth or extent. Where the springs were active the water was trickling down in all directions. They rise in little globules just about the surface of the basins, and it is difficult to count them. One rises almost in the other, in appearance, from under the water. The neighbouring ground is hard stone and sand. People bathe here, and the waters have healing properties, though I could detect in them no sulphurous smell. I reserved the experiment for Kohineh, where an excellent public bath has been constructed, into which the waters of a hot and cold spring are led in a manner that the supply can be regulated by the bather. III. The inhabitants, with some account of the larger towns, and matters of general or political interest. 17. Appended is a list of stages from Bagdad to Angureh. For eight out of the first fourteen marches, or up to the Zab Su (ancient Zabates), my bivouac was in a Kurd or Arab tent, and far preferable was this to being quartered in the mosque, konak, out-house, or stable, of a so-called town. In the one fresh air and comparative freedom from filth and vermin were at least obtainable, in the other nothing could compensate for the confinement and uncleanliness. Beyond the Zab we came upon Christian villages, and these continued more or less in the neighbourhood of our road to Mosul up to the banks of the Tigris. We met with others again on moving upwards to Jezireh, and between Jezireh and Mardin there are a considerable number. It was pleasant to feel amid a Christian community, but I am sorry to acknowledge something like disappointment at the first impressions obtained at the Chaldean village of Tell Keif, one day's march from Mosul. Not that there was positive lack of hospitality, but the welcome, such as it was, could scarcely be genial or unmixed with suspicion. However, it must be borne in mind that we were accompanied by Mahomedan officials, a circumstance sufficient of itself to account for shortcomings. The best method of discriminating between the sects I found to be to consider the two great divisions, called in the country Chaldeans (Caldani) and Syrians Suriani), as no other than Nestorians and Jacobites, the former of these designations being their own, and the latter that applied to them by the Romish section of the Oriental Church, which holds them as schismatics. 18. Of the Arabs we saw little after passing Mardin, or of the Kurds after leaving the banks of the Euphrates. To our hosts among both I have every reason to feel grateful. Their hospitality was plain and straightforward, simple, and void of all ostentation. It was as much the instinct of their nature as the dictate of their religion that it should be offered to the traveller, whatever his rank or creed, and there was no arrière pensée of remuneration. No doubt that it is just as well to give on parting a sum of money equal to, if not in excess of, the probable cost of entertainment, but I would add, if opportunity offer, a trifling token of good-will, such as a silk kerchief, or nick-nack for a woman or child. I found this arrangement tell with excellent effect at the villages of Bayat and Izz Oghlu. In the former a poor infant was immediately adorned with the trophy, in the latter it became part and parcel of the new-born hope of a Kurdish family. The appreciation of the gift was so hearty and sincere that I regretted I had no larger supply wherewith to mark our progress westward. But it is not only as furnishing me with a night's or day's lodging and shelter that I remember the Kurds. It sometimes fell to our lot to halt for an hour or so in the midst of a long hot march, and seek refreshment at their hands both for ourselves and cattle. The bread-cake, curds, and omelette, all these were soon got ready and placed at our disposal. These good folks never appeared to be put out or in hesitation while giving us the best of their domestic fare. 19. We had heard of the Yezidis, and passed two or three of their encampments, but it was not our fate to be quartered upon their hospitality. Not so, however, in the case of the Kizzilbashes. Of this class we came upon several villages between the Euphrates and Sivas. To judge from the character given to them by the Turkish telegraph officials, their morals are of the worst description, and they have practices such as are acknowleged by the Yezidis; but I do not put implicit faith in these assertions. Recent inquiries lead me rather to the belief that the fact of their being Shias is the great reason why the Sunni Turks shun and keep separate from them. Among the lower order of Asiatics a distinction of this kind is quite sufficient to account for scandal and defamation up to any amount of invention and falsehood. |