Turkey Part 4

There is another cla.s.s of soothsayers who profess to recover lost property, and see or show the face of the thief reflected in the water of a deep well. A valuable ring was once lost in a house, and no clue or evidence could be obtained as to the culprit, so the services of a diviner were requisitioned. He arrived at night, bringing in a bag a red c.o.c.k, which he professed would crow the instant the guilty party touched it. The inmates of the house were all ordered to squat in a circle on the ground; the c.o.c.k was placed in their midst, and all lights were extinguished. "Now," said the diviner, "let everybody rest their hands on the c.o.c.k." They all apparently did so, and lights were called for, and an exhibition of hands was demanded. A red stain was visible on every hand except one--that of the guilty maid-servant, who had not touched the c.o.c.k for fear of being betrayed.

Residents in Turkey have inherited many of the superst.i.tions of the Greeks and Romans, such as augury from the flight of birds, and the entrails of newly-slaughtered animals, and faith in astrology. The Sultan keeps a royal astrologer, who publishes yearly a list of the lucky and unlucky days, and no one will think of undertaking a journey, marrying a wife, or commencing business without consulting it.

At the birth of a child a horoscope is made out for his benefit, indicating under what constellation he was born, and laying down rules accordingly for his guidance.

On a certain day in March a peculiar kind of sweet, resembling and tasting like spiced toffy, but coloured red and with a sheet of gold-leaf stuck on it, is sent round to all palace officials. The elegant bowl that contains it is fastened in bright muslin, and is tied with coloured ribbons and sealed, and has to be opened and the contents eaten at the specified moment indicated by the astrologer, in order to secure wealth and felicity during the year.

When troubled with dreams or otherwise apprehensive of impending misfortune, Turks believe that by hanging shreds of rags on the railings of the tomb of an old saint the danger may be averted. The consequence is that some of these shrines are literally covered and disfigured with rags.

Dogs are also considered excellent subjects to which disease may be transferred. The patient can effect this by feeding them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A FORTUNE-TELLER]

A popular remedy for illness of any kind is to obtain from the _imam_, or priest, a written text of the Koran and swallow it, and I have known of doctors' prescriptions being taken the same way, and doubtless with similar effect.

Another superst.i.tion is that, if a person has had a fall, water poured on the spot will prevent its repet.i.tion.

A curious method for arresting the spread of infectious disease is to surround the patient with a circle of some disinfectant, and during a cholera scare I saw it applied to a man on the Galata bridge who had an apoplectic stroke. The case was considered suspicious, and his body was removed, but a circle of whitewash, like the markings of a tennis-court, was drawn round the place where he had fallen, and the infection thus imprisoned!

Sc.r.a.ps of paper thrown in the street are held in reverence and removed by pious Moslems, because the Name of G.o.d may be written on them and profaned if trodden upon; but another version is that all sc.r.a.ps not thus collected by the Moslem will be scattered over the burning soil through which he is to pa.s.s, after death, on the way to Paradise, and will make his pa.s.sage more painful.

CHAPTER VIII

SYRIANS, DRUSES, MARONITES, AND BEDOUINS

An account of Palestine having been given in "Peeps at the Holy Land," I will not allude specially to it, although it belongs to Turkey. Arabic is the language also spoken in Syria, which lies north of Palestine, and in Mesopotamia, which is to the east.

Of the ancient towns of Tyre and Sidon, once famous as the capitals of Phoenicia, nothing now remains but ruins on which fishermen dry their nets. The inhabitants in the surrounding regions, however, still keep up many of their ancient customs and superst.i.tions, and, in a modified way, Baal and Astarte are still worshipped.

The slopes of the Lebanon adjoining Beyrout are inhabited by the Druses and the Maronites, who, since the year 1860, have obtained semi-independence, and are ruled by a Christian Governor appointed by the Sultan.

The Lebanon Ranges are very beautiful; they abound in aromatic flowers, and bees yield an enormous production of excellent honey. They are also the home of the cedar.

As already stated, a railway, starting from Beyrout, crosses the Lebanon and connects it with Damascus, one of the most ancient cities of the world. Damascus is also one of the most beautiful, the plain on which it stands being a continuous garden, over fifty miles in circuit, rich in oranges, lemons, pomegranates, mulberries, figs, plums, apricots, walnuts, pears, quinces, etc. The town, through which flows a river, contains several magnificent structures, including a splendid mosque, which was once a Christian church, but the streets of the city are squalid and dirty. One of the most interesting is that called Straight, which St. Paul traversed.

Damascus has a large manufacturing industry, and among other articles produces beautiful silks. It formerly produced those remarkable Damascus swords, inimitable for hardness, elasticity, sharpness, and tenacity, as well as for the beauty of their ornamentation. It gives its name to the plums which we call "damsons."

Damascus is a great centre for the conveyance of merchandise to Bagdad and Persia by means of camel caravans--those fleets of the desert. They are accompanied by armed escorts, as their journey lies through a long stretch of desert, inhabited by numerous Bedouins or Arab tribes, ever ready to blackmail the caravan.

These tribes inhabit the Hauran during the spring, and move to the desert in autumn. They own camels, a.s.ses, and sheep, and rear magnificent horses, which are justly considered the most beautiful in the world.

The Bedouins live in tents made of black goat's-hair, and their camp looks from a distance like a number of grazing cattle. The tent of their _sheik_, or chief, is distinguished by its greater size, and round it are those of the members of the family. Before the tent-doors the horses are tethered.

Family life among them is patriarchal, the sheik being priest, judge, and ruler. With some tribes women occupy a high social position, and menial work is done mostly by the men.

The Arabs subsist chiefly on dates, which they gather and store in October, but when in the desert they live to some extent on the produce of the chase, which comprises an abundance of gazelles, hares, and quails.

These they hunt with greyhounds or with trained hawks. The latter, when they see their quarry, swoop upon it, and pick at its eyes until the hunter arrives.

The Bedouins live also on bread, which they bake in thin flat cakes, and on milk, specially in its fermented condition, which they call _leben_.

Their b.u.t.ter they have to keep in summer in jars, as, owing to the heat, it is then as liquid as oil.

The great province of Mesopotamia, where formerly stood Babylon and Nineveh, forms the south-eastern limit of the Turkish Empire. Watered by the Euphrates and the Tigris, it was once a magnificent agricultural district, but the incompetency of its rulers has allowed the network of ca.n.a.ls, which distributed the waters of these rivers, to dry up, and the country is now largely a wilderness.

Its population, the remnant of the Chaldeans, has also decreased, and is poor. The houses are made with sun-dried bricks, cemented with bitumen.

The roofs are flat, and the lower rooms are underground, and are used during the summer months as bedrooms, owing to the excessive heat.

The navigation of the upper reaches of the Euphrates is by means of rafts, underneath which are inflated skins of oxen. On this raft the traveller's tent is pitched, and he drifts leisurely down the river, while the boatmen help it along with long poles.

CHAPTER IX

TURKS

Having summarized the customs of some of the people under Ottoman rule, I must say something of the Turks themselves.

When a Turkish baby comes to this world no dainty embroidered linen and warm bath await it, but it is dressed in a plain cotton shirt and a cotton, quilted dressing-gown. Its limbs are then tightly wrapped in a long shroud, so that it cannot move them. Frequently a cushion is put between its legs before shrouding, and this probably accounts for so many children being bandy-legged. The child is then rolled into a quilted blanket, which is strapped up into a shapeless bundle, from which a little head appears, wearing a red cap, copiously studded with blue beads and seed pearls, as a protection from the evil-eye. The baby is then laid in a wooden rocking-cradle, which has a bar connecting its two raised ends, by means of which the cradle is lifted. Some of these cradles are very beautiful, and are inlaid with ivory and mother-of-pearl, and they bear appropriate inscriptions, carved in Arabic characters on the woodwork, such as "Under the Shadow of the Almighty," etc.

Among poorer people a canvas hammock takes the place of the cradle, and in it the baby is carried out of doors, and the hammock swung between two trees, while the mother attends to her duties.

On the third day after birth it is washed and presented to its father, who shouts thrice in its ear the name by which it is to be known.

A festive reception is then held by the mother in her room, and streams of women-visitors come to compliment her and peep at the infant. But the poor little thing does not receive the baby-worship and adulation bestowed in this country. On the contrary, it is addressed in insulting language, and called ugly, and a wretch, and a monster, and is deliberately spat upon--and all this in order to ward off the influence of the evil-eye.

It is quite exceptional for a babe to be brought up in the East on the bottle; should its mother be unable to nurse it a wet-nurse is procured.

Both mothers and nurses are singularly ignorant in the question of upbringing, and many an infant dies through injudicious feeding after it is weaned.

The love of Turkish parents for their children is excessive to a fault.

A characteristic story is related of a Turk who was so distressed at the indisposition of his grandchild that he would neglect his business and hasten constantly to the patient's room to inquire as to his condition; and when the doctor ordered strict diet for a fortnight the anxious grandfather compelled his whole household, including himself, to submit to the same fare, for fear that the patient might be disappointed in not sharing the food of the family.

To such extent do Turks carry their love for children that they will adopt those of others, and bring them up with the same tenderness as their own, and will provide for them in after-life.

Children, on the other hand, are exemplary in their respect for their parents, and kiss their hands, and will not sit down, unless invited, in their presence. Even when they have reached mature age their mother is consulted, confided in, and listened to with respect. "My wives die,"

says the Osmanlee, "and I replace them; my children perish, and others are born to me; but who shall restore to me the mother who has pa.s.sed away?"

Nor is this regard limited to the humbler cla.s.ses; it is conspicuous in the case of the Sultan, who, on his accession to the throne, elevates his mother to the rank of Valide Sultana, or Queen-Mother, and requires all persons belonging to his harem to swear allegiance to her. Her rule is absolute, and even the Sultan's wives cannot leave their apartments, or go out for drives, or shopping, without her permission.

The early childhood of both boys and girls among Turks is spent in the harem--that is, the section of the house reserved for the women--but until the age of twelve, girls are not subject to the restraints of grown-up women, nor required to wear the veil, and they often accompany their fathers in excursions or join the boys in their play. They even attend the same elementary school, and, sitting cross-legged with them on a mat, repeat the alphabet, or recite texts from the Koran given out to them by the _imam_, or priest, of the mosque with which the school is connected. These recitations are carried on in a monotonous drawling tone, and the body is swung forwards and backwards, the _imam_ himself setting the time by his own rhythmical nodding.

On their return home they frequently join their mothers and other inmates of the harem in an afternoon's stroll. The Turks are great lovers of Nature, and have a keen appreciation of the beautiful, but prefer sitting down to walking, and generally spend their afternoons resting under the shade of a great tree, or near the water's edge, making _kef_, or, in other words, doing nothing.