Turkey Part 5

They invariably carry with them a _boktcha_, or bundle, containing a rug and picnic requisites, while one of the party carries a red clay pitcher, with water. Water is an indispensable requisite with Turks, and they will enjoy drinking it from the pitcher as much as from a gla.s.s.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A TURKISH LADY IN OUTDOOR DRESS.]

The rug spread out, the party will all sit cross-legged upon it, and as other groups of women also congregate in the same place, dressed in garments of variegated colours, you would imagine yourself amid beds of many-coloured tulips, while the boys and girls playing around suggest fluttering b.u.t.terflies.

The enjoyment of the women consists in smoking cigarettes, and gazing between each puff at the glorious scenery. Vendors of all sorts of eatables surround them, and, we will say, a _shekerdgi_, or dealer in sweeties, answers to their call, and places his circular tray, which he carries on his head, on the tripod-stand which he rests on the ground.

The children flock around him, puzzled what to choose in that array of Turkish delight and _shekers_ of every kind and colour. At last a choice is made, and the sweets are placed in a brown-paper bag shaped like a cone, and shared by the party. Shortly afterwards an Albanian selling _halva_ as described in Chapter II., is called to contribute his wares.

Then walnuts, pistachios, and peanuts come in for their turn, then ices, maybe, and something more solid in the shape of _simits_, or ring-cakes, as shown in the ill.u.s.tration in Chapter II. At sunset the _boktchas_ are made up, and the party wends its way home to partake of a more substantial meal.

But should the night be bright, with moonlight, the party often start out again, and prolong their enjoyment until late hours, or until a policeman or old Turk pa.s.sing by reminds them it is time to retire. It is amusing, in connection with these moonlight promenades, to see the women walking about or sitting with open sunshades to protect themselves from the lunar rays, imagining, no doubt, that they occasion lunacy.

Sometimes a too close proximity to the Bosphorus is selected for spreading the family rug, and an unusually large wash from a steamer pa.s.sing by breaks unexpectedly on the sh.o.r.e, showering clouds of spray over the women's heads. The cold douche sets them all on their feet, screaming, and the bed of tulips now looks like one dashed by a storm.

But sometimes the ladies are more enterprising; a picnic to some distant part is decided upon, and _arabas_, or carts, drawn by oxen or buffaloes, are engaged. These conveyances are springless, and about 9 feet long by 4 feet wide. Those intended for excursion purposes have highly ornamented boards of carved, gilt, and painted wood on the two long sides, and an arched awning overhead, made usually of crimson cloth, with gilt or silver fringes.

The yoke attached to the oxen's necks has also an arched projection over it, on which ta.s.sels of various colours, and sometimes bells, are suspended in two or more tiers.

The driver, in baggy trousers, short jacket (often dispensed with), and a red fez, walks leisurely alongside the oxen, with a goad in his hand to direct them.

The cart has no seats, but the occupants provide themselves with carpets and cushions. The jolting on bad roads is, of course, tremendous, but this is considered part of the fun of the excursion.

Packed as closely as possible, with the children to fill up odd corners, the cart proceeds on its way groaning and creaking, while its inmates roar with continued laughter, especially when an unusually big jolt has jostled them together.

Having arrived at their destination, the carpets are spread out, and while some prepare and lay out the appetizing viands, others disport themselves in the fields, and return laden with flowers and with great yellow marigolds stuck in their hair.

The repast may consist of such _hors-d'oeuvres_ as salted sardines, black olives, caviar, and salad of _tchiros_, or dried mackerel. This mackerel is the fish that in spring-time migrates from the Mediterranean, where it has sp.a.w.ned, into the Black Sea, and is in such an emaciated condition that the expression "thin as a _tchiros_" is used in Turkey to designate a person of extreme leanness. Nevertheless, it is caught and dried in the sun in such large quant.i.ties that the fields over which they are suspended look blue from a distance. They are sold by the pair, or "married couples," as the vendors cry out, and are grilled, shredded, and prepared into salad with oil and vinegar, and the tender leaves of the c.u.mmin (_tereot_).

Next to the _hors-d'oeuvres_ follow _dolmaz_ or rissoles of rice, raisins, and pine-nuts, seasoned with oil, and wrapped and boiled in vine-leaves. _Keftez_ or meat rissoles come next, and then the fruits of the season, such as strawberries, cherries, and plums, or, should it be autumn, grapes, peaches, melons, water-melons, figs, etc. Cheese is frequently eaten with these fruits. _Hoshaf_, or the sweetened water in which fruit has been stewed, is generally drunk during meals, and when the humble repast is over, coffee is prepared, and served round in little cups which will barely hold an ounce.

Turkish coffee owes its excellence to the beans being newly roasted and newly ground. The grinding is done with a small machine, which pulverizes the beans very finely. The coffee is prepared in a special bra.s.s pot, the bottom of which is wider than the top. A teaspoonful is put in for every cup required, and the water is gently brought to a simmer over a slow fire. The coffee is allowed to rise thrice, and after resting the pot for a minute for the grounds to settle, it is poured out into the cups and drunk while quite hot, with or without sugar. The cups containing a creamy foam are the most recherche. The dregs are not drunk. The ill.u.s.tration on the cover of this book shows a Kafedji in the act of preparing coffee.

Before and after partaking of food, hands are washed, and this is all the more necessary, as meals are eaten with the fingers, the party sitting round a low tray, and dipping into a common dish. Should the hostess desire to confer a special attention on a guest, she takes up a dainty morsel in her fingers, and exclaiming _Buyrum_ (Welcome), places it gently into the guest's mouth. It would be the grossest insult to refuse. Cigarettes invariably follow, and then comes the lounging and the sleeping, and the return home with the lingering rays of the setting sun.

Accompanying the _Arabas_ large parties of Turkish women and children may often be seen riding astride on donkeys, with donkey-drivers at their heels. No Oriental or Turkish lady would think of riding otherwise, and it is reported that quite a sensation was created when a European lady was first seen riding on a side-saddle. The conclusion was that the unfortunate creature had lost a leg, and people wondered how she could keep on with only the other.

But perhaps the pleasantest method of locomotion is by _caik_--that daintiest of all boats that float on the surface of the waters. Slender and tapering, its side view may be compared to a half-bent long-bow, and when looked upon from above to two such bows lying opposite each other, string to string. A picture of a heavy sort of _caik_, used for ferrying pa.s.sengers across the Golden Horn, may be seen in the frontispiece. A _caik_ is about 20 feet long by 4 feet broad in the middle; it is constructed with slender boards, and is only decked at the bows and the stern. The boatman sits on a seat in the middle of the boat, and its two to four pa.s.sengers on cushions in the bottom, while a servant sits cross-legged on the raised stern. The oars are long and slender, with a peculiar bulge at the upper extremity to balance them. They are fixed to the rowlock peg by leather thongs, which the boatman continually greases. He is clad in a shirt of transparent gauze, with long hanging sleeves, and bordered round the open chest with a scalloping of needlework. His feet are bare, his ample trousers are of white cotton, and his shaven head is only partially covered by a red fez with ta.s.sels of purple silk. At each stroke of the oars the arrowy boat flies and skims the waters like a thing of life. Yet, though swift and graceful, the _caik_ is not so safe nor commodious as an ordinary boat, and in this practical age the _barka_ is rapidly replacing it.

Friday, the Turkish Sunday, is _par excellence_ the day for excursions during the summer to Geuk-sou or the Heavenly Waters, a lovely spot on the Asiatic sh.o.r.es of the Bosphorus. A rivulet there discharges itself into the latter, and hundreds of boats may be seen shooting towards it from all directions. A vast concourse of people meet and sit on rugs or low stools, making _kef_ under the shade of superb Oriental plane-trees which abound on that spot, and while sipping coffee or smoking hubble-bubbles, they watch the various performances going on for their benefit. Here is a Punch and Judy show, called _cara-geuz_, or the black eye, closely resembling our own, and equally popular with the children.

There goes a _Pomak_ with a huge Olympian bear, fastened through the nose with a ring; it has been trained to dance at the sound of a tambourine played by its master, and then to go round with it for coppers. Children are always delighted with the bear-show, but the street-dogs set up a tremendous barking, and their cry of alarm is so peculiar and distinctive that one can always tell from the sound when a bear is in sight.

There is frequently also on these occasions an open-air theatrical performance on an improvised stage, but the acting is coa.r.s.e and vulgar, and admission is generally limited to men.

Of course at this, as at every open-air gathering, vendors of eatables and temperance drinks abound.

Among them I may enumerate _yiaourtgis_ or sellers of that curdled milk, resembling curds, which is now so largely advocated in this country for promoting longevity. It is sold in little bowls, carried in two wooden trays, which are suspended like a pair of scales on either side of a yoke thrown over the shoulders. _Dondulmagis_ or ice-cream vendors, who also carry their burden over the shoulders, one side containing the ice-cream box wrapped in folds and folds of snow-white sheeting, and the other a polished bra.s.s receptacle for spoons, cups, and saucers, and water to wash them after use.

A brazier with live coal may also be seen, on which heads of Indian corn are roasted, and greedily munched by the purchasers. _Hoshaf_ and _sherbet_, or syrup vendors, are also there, with a stand for bottles and gla.s.ses, and an ingenious contrivance for revolving, by means of dropping water, a small wheel or paddle, the flaps of which strike against a gla.s.s and produce a merry jingling sound which draws attention.

The charm of this concourse of people is the primitive orderly enjoyment of outdoor life, without the disgraceful accompaniments of drunkenness.

CHAPTER X

THE FAITH OF ISLAM

A peep at Turkey cannot be complete without a pa.s.sing reference to the religious beliefs of its people, but s.p.a.ce will only allow me to mention those of Mahomedans.

Broadly speaking, without counting Arabia, there are 13,000,000 Mahomedans or Moslems, as they are also called; 12,000,000 Christians; and 1,000,000 Jews and members of other persuasions. In Asiatic Turkey, Mahomedans form the majority, but only the minority in European Turkey.

Moslems are the followers of Mahomet, who was born in Mecca, Arabia, in the year 569 of our era, and declared himself to be the Prophet of G.o.d, sent to introduce a fuller revelation of Him, which was to supersede Judaism and Christianity.

The Koran, which was the great book of his faith, was declared to have been revealed to him by the Archangel Gabriel. The Koran claims to be the completion of the Law and the Gospel, and it proclaims Mahomet to be the last and greatest of the line of prophets, among whom is included Jesus Christ, but whose divinity is denied.

[Ill.u.s.tration: INTERIOR OF THE MOSQUE OF SULTAN AHMED I.]

The new faith, which received the name of Islam, implying submission to G.o.d, was a protest against the heathenish practices of his countrymen in Arabia, and the worship of the Saints and the Virgin Mary among the Christians. The corner-stone was the unity of G.o.d, and its leading dogma was expressed in the formula, "_La illah il Allah_" ("There is no G.o.d but G.o.d"), to which was added, "_Mohamet Resoul Allah_" ("Mahomet is the Prophet of G.o.d").

In addition to the unity of G.o.d, Moslems believe in the existence of good and evil spirits, in the efficacy of prayer, and in a future life with its rewards or punishments.

Prayer with them is homage which the worshippers are required to offer five times a day, according to a fixed ritual, with prescribed genuflections, prostrations, and touching of the ground with the forehead.

When the hour of prayer arrives they will suspend their occupations, spread a rug facing Mecca, and pray wherever they happen to be, shaming Christians by their disregard of ridicule.

The summons to pray or to attend the mosque is made by the _muezzim_ or crier, who ascends the minaret or tower, attached to the mosque (see frontispiece), and from its balcony proclaims the Unity of G.o.d, and invites believers to prayer, as follows: "Come to prayers, come to prayers. G.o.d is great. There is no G.o.d but G.o.d." To which, at dawn of day, the exhortation is added: "Prayer is better than sleep, prayer is better than sleep."

Before prayer Turks wash their hands, feet, and faces, and remove the shoes from off their feet. Lines of fountains are found outside the mosques for these ablutions. The head of the worshipper remains covered.

Among the observances enjoined upon Moslems are those of charity, fasting, and pilgrimage.

They are bidden to lay aside one-tenth of their income for religious or charitable purposes. Their fasting takes place during the holy month of Ramazan, and lasts from morning twilight to sunset. Abstinence from food, drink, and smoking must be total. At sunset a gun announces that the day is over, and feasting commences and lasts all night. The day is thus transformed to night, and the night to day.

The pilgrimage enjoined is to Mecca, and has to be performed by every Moslem at least once in his lifetime, either in person or by proxy. He then acquires the t.i.tle of _Hadji_, or Pilgrim, which he prefixes to his name. The shrine or temple visited at Mecca is called the _Caaba_, and tradition records that it was there Hagar discovered the well Zem Zem, which saved Ishmael's life, and that the latter, a.s.sisted by Abraham, built a tabernacle. An angel brought the corner-stone, which all pilgrims go and kiss. It was originally of crystalline whiteness, but is now coal-black, owing to its absorption of the sins of worshipping pilgrims. On the Day of Judgment it will testify in favour of those who kissed it, whether men or women.

The first mosque was built by Mahomet in Medina, and was of a very simple structure. But as his successors grew wealthier and more powerful, they vied with one another in the magnificence of the buildings erected for G.o.d's worship. They were more or less on the model of the Greek churches around them, lofty, and surmounted with a circular dome imitating the canopy of the sky. The dome is covered with lead and on the spike that crowns it is a gilt crescent. The apex of each minaret is also covered with lead and tipped with gold. The dome and the minarets standing side by side remind one of the umbrella pine-tree and the cypress--so characteristic of an Eastern landscape.

The interior of a mosque is a mixture of simplicity and grandeur. The dome is supported by columns, which, in the case of the mosque of Sultan Achmet, represented in the ill.u.s.tration facing this chapter, are inlaid with coloured tiles, and decorated with verses from the Koran. The sunlight streams in from the numerous windows encircling the dome, or from those on the walls of the mosque, many of which are of beautiful stained gla.s.s, but without figures of any kind, as Moslems consider this would be breaking the commandment relating to images.

All mosques point toward Mecca, and at the Mecca end stands a _mihrab_, or niche, from which the _imam_ conducts the devotions. Beside it, supported by pillars, is a terrace for the choir, which consists entirely of men. They chant, seated cross-legged on rugs. South of the _mihrab_ is the _minber_, or pulpit, from which prayers and addresses are delivered on Fridays. The pulpit in Sultan Achmet's mosque (see ill.u.s.tration) is a masterpiece in marble, and a copy of that in Mecca.

Stands for Korans, shaped like the letter X, and inlaid with tortoisesh.e.l.l and mother-of-pearl, are placed about the building for public reading, and from the roof hang chandeliers on which are attached numerous lamps fed with olive oil. Interspersed among the lamps are ostrich-eggs and gla.s.s-ball ornaments.

Mosques are not seated, but mats and carpets are laid on the stone floor for the use of the faithful. "The luxurious inhabitant of the East, who in his _selamlik_ is wont to recline on cushions, does not pa.s.s into the House of G.o.d to tenant a crimson-lined and well-padded pew; he takes his place among the crowd--the _effendi_ stands beside the water-carrier, the _bey_ near the charcoal-vendor--he is but one item among many; he arrogates to himself no honour in the temple where all men are as one family."

There is a mistaken idea that Moslems consider that women have no souls, and need not perform devotions. The Koran is explicit to the contrary.

They may not worship in the mosques with the men, but groups of them are met, worshipping apart, and during the Ramazan special services are held for women.

Among the various Orders of Dervishes, or Moslem Monks, are those of the Ruffai Order, or Howlers, ill.u.s.trated in Chapter XI. They are the most fanatical, and meet in a rectangular building to perform their devotions, the idea being to produce such an ecstasy of the soul as will separate it from the body and enable it to contemplate G.o.d.