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inconveniently situated for the security of the whole line, but the instru ments appear to be well cared for and in good order. Mr. Williams, the intelligent American missionary here, reckons the population of this place at about 22,000, of whom one-half are Christians. Twothirds of these, again, are put down as Roman Catholics; so that 7,000 Papists and 3,500 non-Papists may be held to represent the approximate number of each division. Mardin merits a much longer and more detailed description than can be given to it in the present report, for it is a place of much historical and local interest, and there is a host of legends commemorating its importance, and relating to its immediate neighbourhood. The inhabitants are called Mardili, and the Mahomedan portion consists chiefly of Arabs and Kurds, the common language of the market being Arabic. Mr. Williams thinks there are no Roman remains here, certainly no walls. It may be that the vicinity of Dara and Nisibin gave rise to the supposition. The light cloak or Aba' of Mardin is an elegant and inexpensive article of manufacture, highly prized by those who have seen the better specimens. The government here is exercised by a Majalis' or assembly composed of mixed Mahomedan and other members, and presided over by a · Kaim Makam,' under the authority of the Pacha at Diarbekir. 29. Once a place of much commercial importance, and although not up to the mark of former prosperity its central position would seem sufficient to preserve it from decay. I learn that there are about 20,000 inhabitants, of whom nearly half are Christian. Mr. Southgate reckoned that there were about 2,700 families, of whom 1,500 were Mussulman, and this statement rather serves to corroborate that made to myself than otherwise. The town is agreeably situated on the right bank of the Tigris, and there are neat little country-houses outside the walls, which make a residence there tolerable. But the heat is very great, and, like all Asiatic towns, the streets are irregular and confined. The Telegraph Office, where we resided, enabled us to prove the climate within the walls. I was eager to escape from it, notwithstanding an intelligent host and hospitable reception. From hence there is a line of telegraph with two wires leading to Orfah and Aleppo.

Diarbekir.

30. While halting for a day at Diarbekir a native of India was brought in by the Mudir or head of the office, and presented to me as

Haji Baba, an astrologer. I did not much like his looks: he might have been a mutineer, a refugee, anything. To my thinking the face was that of a ship-lascar, or little better, but the man had a wonderful smattering of knowledge. He had no look of the higher-class native. With a dash of the Faquir there was something besides of the ordinary Munshi or teacher of Hindustani. He had a dark and unmistakeable Indian skin and complexion : his long, oiled, and curved hair was combed down behind the ears: his manner was such as I have often seen in Indians desirous to dazzle by display of general knowledge. He took occasion to show off his handwriting, and to talk of officers whom he remembered, at least by name (Roberts and Wray). I was puzzled to think who this man was, whence came his fine clothes, and when and why he had left his native country. His own history was that he lived in the Bendi Bazaar at Bombay, that he had quitted India about fourteen or fifteen years before the annexation of the Punjaub, that he constantly travelled, had visited Bokhara and Astrakhan among other places, and had heard of Colonel Stoddart, though he knew little about him. His age might be thirty-five, but it is hard to say exactly. They told me that he practised as an astrologer, but took no money; that he appeared to have a sufficiency both of money and clothes. He had seen and conversed with Mr. Taylor before he left, but that gentleman was away from Diarbekir at the period of my visit. The man spoke Arabic awkwardly, but well for an Indian; his Persian was Indian and fluent, his Hindustani was naturally faultless.

31. Though Kharput is the name given to the Telegraph Station,

Kharput.

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the real Kharput is at about three miles' distance, at the summit of a hill not far from a thousand feet in height. The Telegraph Station is where the Pacha's serai is, at Mazra, on the plains below. The derivation of the word Kharput,' or 'Harput,' was explained to me to be from two Armenian words, signifying stone castle.' Mr. Brandt and Lieutenant Glasscot estimate its height at 4,832 feet above the level of the Black Sea. The view of the Kharput plains, coming up from the Deva Boyun mountain, to the southward, is magnificent. Some idea of the extent of low country may be formed from the statement that the Murad Chai (or Upper Euphrates), one of the largest rivers of Asia Minor, appears like a minor canal or stream in the midst of the plain through which it winds.

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I observe that the population of Kharput is estimated at 1,720 families. This would not, of course, include Mazra, a place which resembles in the distance an Indian cantonment rather than a common Asiatic Turkish town. Besides the Pacha's residence and Telegraph Office, it contains also the 'Kishla,' or barracks for troops. The productions of the soil in the plains here are abundant, and the numerous villages seem rich and flourishing. The bazaars in Kharput are not remarkable. The Amerians are the bulk of the Christian inhabitants. Schools have been opened by the American missionaries, who have also a chapel for the Protestant congregation.

32. We descended into the

Sivas.

plains on which Sivas is situated, from a considerable height, crossed a bridge over the Kizzil Irmak, built by Sultan Murad, and entered the city. Its aspect from without is pleasing. Dotted here and there with trees, at times in large extended clusters the houses and citadel occupy a considerable space, and are much scattered. Dr. West, the American physician resident here with the missionaries, a gentleman of unusual experience in these parts, reckons the population at about 40,000 to 50,000 souls, and the Armenians to have more than 2,000 houses, which might represent a fifth part of the whole. The climate is delightful in the hot weather. We were here in the middle of July, and the thermometer was 78°. There are many interesting monuments at Sivas. We visited what are called (generally) the tombs of the Seljuki. Germanize the pronunciation and we may read 'Seleucidæ,' according to Mr. Latham's ingenious and not unlikely theory. These are truly fine buildings, but from the inscriptions appear to have been erected at no earlier date than 670 of the Hejra, about A.D. 1271-2. The actual tombs may, I think, be traceable to an earlier period. They are stated to be those of Kai Khosrou and Kai Kobad, but the inscriptions above the door gave, so far as I could decipher, Kai Khosrou only; and may not this be a mere title? The main buildings are two quadrangles, one facing the other, in a narrow street, with remarkably fine gates, the largest of which may be seventy feet in height, with two cupolas or minars of forty feet. There is another building of a similar kind at a little distance, but all seem to have been comprised within one set of strong stone walls, probably the ancient Sebaste. The oue quadrangle contains the Medresseh and Turbet, the other may have been the mosque. Sivas was un

doubtedly at one time under Persian occupation. Marco Polo writing in 1213, describes the Greater and Lesser Armenia, and places Sebaste,

as the king's residence, in the latter. nearly so palatable as that of Kharbut.

Wine is made here, but not

I met another Indian at this

place. He is said to be a petty trader, but is treated with much more regard by the Turks than his appearance would warrant.

33. The town of Paswan Oghlu who, according to good authority, held an independent dominion over all the east of Asia Minor. Yuzgat

Yuzgat.

is still an important place, and may have its 10,000 or 15,000 inhabitants. There is something very desolate and dreary in the approach to it through the hilly country on the Sivas side, but its mass of houses, interspersed with mosques and minarets, breaks upon the traveller with much of Oriental beauty and effect. The Telegraph Office is situate in the heart of the town, and nothing can be worse or more slovenly than the mode in which the wires find their way out to the posts on the Angureh road. I attended one Sunday at Yuzgat the Protestant service at the American Mission Chapel. The missionary, Mr. Farnsworth, performed the whole in Turkish, and preached with great ease and fluency. There were about a hundred present. I myself counted thirty men and fifty boys, and I was told that there were more females than enough to make up the three figures. These are separated from the rest of the congregation by a wooden trellised wall. They can be seen, and their children heard, but that is all. The arrangement is a good one for an Eastern country. There were three or four good faces among the boys, but on the whole the congregation looked not only poor, but untidy and far from clean. I may add that one or two exceptions were notable, and it was an agreeable surprise to me to find that after the service some half-dozen very respectable-looking men came up spontaneously to shake me by the hand as a newcomer. Many boys were tired, some unsteady; but as a whole this Armenian Protestant congregation was very orderly and attentive.

34. The Turkish pronounciation of this word, which we sometimes miscall' Angóra,' is one which would induce me to spell it Engureh.' It is a place of great interest, both from

Angureh.

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its very remarkable Roman remains and its own picturesque beauty.

Its historical associations are, moreover, such as to ensure for it the attention of all inquiring travellers. I could do little more than ride round the base of the hill, and admire the landscape. The southern aspect of the citadel was that which struck me the most, when the fort was divested, as it were, of the town, and stood out alone in real grandeur. I never saw a much more picturesque effect of the kind : it was not unlike what many of us must have often admired in the Castle at Edinburgh. The morning after arrival I was able to pay a hurried visit to the Roman hall, where the monuments and inscriptions are still in excellent preservation, but the necessity for my early departure, in answer to a telegram from Constantinople, prevented me from attempting any researches. Murray estimates the population at 20,000, of whom a third are Armenians. This certainly does not appear an

overstatement.

35. The famous goats, producing a wool renowned over Europe, are exquisite little animals, and abound in the vicinity of the town from which they derive their name. It is said that they are only found within certain circumscribed limits, which may be defined as between the west bank of the Kizzil Irmak and Sevri Hissar, the latter place marking the most southerly point, and the Black Sea being the northern boundary. A space of five hundred geographical square miles may here be assigned, from which removal would cause deterioration. It is a known fact that if transferred to the east bank of the Kizzil Irmak they suffer from the mal du pays. Many are lost from exposure, but the losses are made up for by breeding with common goats, and caste is supposed to be recovered in the third generation. The Angureh goat gives one oka, or forty-four ounces avoirdupois, of wool; and the quantity supplied throughout the wool region is estimated at from 350,000 to 400,000 okas, i.e., 962,500 lb. to 1,100,000 lb. From the same authority it appears that 40,000 okas (110,000 lb.) are expended in thread manufacture in Asia Minor itself, of which more than half is sent to Holland, and 8,000 to 10,000 okas (17,500 lb.) are converted into home-made shawls and stuffs.

36. That the present report is necessarily rambling and meagre will, I trust, be excused from the circumstance that I have no office, and few references besides my own diary and notes. These, if I were to draw on them too freely, would lead me into questions foreign to

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