Transcaucasia and Ararat : being notes of a vacation tour in the autumn of 1876

Preface

. The following pages contain a record of impressions received during a journey in the autumn of 1876 through Russia, the Caucasian countries, and the Turkish empire. They are first impressions only, for' which no value can be claimed except that which belongs to impressions formed on the spot, and (as the author trusts) without a prejudice in favour of either of the states which are now contending in the regions here described. Yet even first impressions, if honestly formed, may sometimes atone for their crudity by their freshness. What most readers desire to know about a country is how it strikes a new-comer. A book that tries to give this, to present the general effect, so to speak, of the landscape, may have its function, even" though it cannot satisfy the scientific student of geography or politics.

The author, however, did not travel with the inten tion of writing a book, nor would he, sensible as he is of his imperfect knowledge, have now thought of sending these notes to the press but for two reasons. One is the unexpected importance which the outbreak of war in the countries he visited has given to them.

PREFACE.

. IV The other is the urgency of his friends, whose curi osity regarding Mount Ararat has made him think it worth while to print a narrative of what he saw, and who assure him that some account of a mountain which every one has heard of, but about which com paratively little has been written, would be more interesting to English and American readers than he had at first supposed. He is indebted to his friends Captain J. Buchan Telfer, R.N., Mr. Douglas W. Freshfield, and Pro fessor Judd, of the Royal School of Mines, for information on several points, and returns his thanks to the Editor and proprietors of the ' Cornhill Maga zine' for the permission they have given him to reprint the substance of an article which he contributed to that magazine in last May. The publication of the book has been delayed by a domestic sorrow which has destroyed such pleasure as the composition of it might have given, the loss of one whose companion he had been in mountain expe ditions from childhood, and to whom he owes what ever taste he possesses for geographical observation and for the beauties of nature. Lincoln's Inn, London • September 12, 1877. CONTENTS.

Chapter I. The Volga And The Steppe Of Southern Russia

(Pp. I-4I.) PAGE Nijni Novgorod and its Fair The Volga steamers and the life on board .. .. .. 5 Scenery of the Volga .. .. .. .. .. .. 11 Navigation of the river : trade on it.. .. .. .. 13 Kazan .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 15 The Jigoulef Hills .. .. .. .. .. -.. 19 Saratof Resemblances between Russia and the United States .. 23 Railway journey through the steppe to the Sea of Azof . . 30 Character of the steppe : impressions of its scenery .. 31 The Sea of Azof .. .. .. .. .. .. 37 From Rostof to the foot of the Caucasus .. .. .. 3S

Chapter II. The Caucasus

(Pp. 42-87.) Structure of the Caucasian chain .. .. .. .. 42 Character of its scenery .. .. .. .. .. 46 Its historical importance .. .. .. .. .. 48 Peoples inhabiting the Caucasus .. .. .. .. CONTENTS. VI PAGE Russian conquest of Daghestan and Circassia .. •• 5° Present political condition of the mountain country .. 59 The watering-places : Pjatigorsk .. .. ■• ■• °J Railway to Vladikavkaz .. .. .. •• •■ "7 Road over the main chain to Tiflis .. .. ... •• "9 The Dariel Pass : the Caucasian Gates .. .. •• 73 Mount Kazbek .. .. .. .. .. •■ •• 77 Descent into Georgia : arrival at Tiflis .. .• ■• 83

Chapter III. Transcaucasia

(Pp. 88-130.) General physical character of Transcaucasia : its mountains and plains .. .. .. .. .. .. 89 Climate and vegetation : scenery . . . . . . . . 92 Natural productions .. .. .. .. .. .. 95 Inhabitants: Mingrelians; Imeritians .. .. .. 97 Georgians or Grusinians ; Armenians .. .. .. 100 Tatars: their brigandage .. .. .. .. ..105 Persians; Russians; Germans; the mountain tribes .. m Russian government and administration .. .. .. 116 Impressions of the country, social and historical .. .. 123 Political future of Transcaucasia .. .. .. .. 125

Chapter IV. Tiflis

(Pp. I3I-IS6.) Situation and aspect of the city .. .. .. .. 131 Divisions of the city : the Russian quarter .. .. .. 134 The Eastern town .. .. .. .. ., 13c The German colony .. .. .. .. .. .. CONTENTS. VII PAGE The inhabitants : mixture of races ; aspect of the streets .. 141 History of Tiflis .. .. .. .. .. .. 147 Walks and excursions : the Sololaki Hill : Kajori .. 151

Chapter V Through Armenia To Ararat

(Pp. I57-I97.) The steppe of the Kur valley . . .. .. .. .. 159 Alarms of robbers : the Red Bridge . . .. .. .. 162 Valley of the Akstafa : Delijan .. .. .. .. 165 The Goktcha Lake : Daratchitchak.. .. .. .. 168 Scenery of Armenia : Mount Ala Goz .. .. .. 171 Erivan: aspects of Eastern life .. .. .. .. 175 The Sardar's palace : the mosque .. .. .. .. 179 Drive through the Araxes plain .. .. .. .. 185 The Ford of the Araxes .. .. .. .. .. 189 Aralykh at the foot of Ararat . . .. .. .. ..190 View of Ararat : ruins of Artaxata .. .. .. .. 193

Chapter VI. Ararat

(Pp. 198-241.) Various names of the mountain .. .. .. .. 198 Its identification with the Mountain of the Ark in Genesis 199 Notices of it in mediæval books of travel .. .. .. 204 Legends relating to it .. .. .. .. .. .. 208 General structure of the two Ararats .. .. .. 210 Geology: Abich's views stated .. .. .. .. 214 Volcanic phenomena : absence of central craters .. -• 217 Meteorology : great height of the snow-line .. .. .. 222 Vegetation .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 227 Animals .. .. .• .. .. .. .- .. CONTENTS. VIII PAGE General aspect : view of the mountain from the plains .. 231 Political importance of Ararat .. .. .. •■ 233 Belief in its inaccessibility : recorded ascents .. .. 235 Great earthquake of 1 840 .. .. .. .. •• 239

Chapter VII. The Ascent Of Ararat

(Pp. 242-293.) The start from Aralykh 242 Ascent of the outer slopes .. .. .. .. .. 243 The Cossack station and well of Sardarbulakh . . . . 247 Kurdish shepherds at the well with their flocks .. .. 253 Climb by night from Sardarbulakh to the foot of the cone 258 Ascent of the great cone .. .. .. .. .. 264 Cossack and Kurd refuse to ascend further .. .. .. 266 The great snow basin : upper slope of rotten rock .. 273 The Summit .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 277 View from the summit .. .. .. .. .. 279 Descent to Sardarbulakh .. .. .. .. .. 285 Reach Aralykh : our Cossack escort .. .. .. 292 Impossibility of ascending Ararat .. .. .. .. 293

Chapter VIII. Etchmiadzin And The Armenian People

(Pp. 294-326.) Road from Erivan to Etchmiadzin .. .. .. .. 294 Foundation of the Armenian church .. .. .. 297 Monastery of Etchmiadzin : the Cathedral .. .. .. 299 Relics: the hand of St. Gregory .. .. .. ., 302 The Seminary ; general impressions of the monastery .. 305 Sketch of Armenian history .. .. .. .. .. 311 The great Armenian emigration .. .. .. ..314 CONTENTS. PAGE Present condition of the Armenians .. .. .. .. 317 Physical aspect of the Armenians : their language and literature .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 321 Their sufferings under Turkish rule .. .. .. .. 324

Chapter IX. From Erivan To The Black Sea

(Pp. 327-361.) The Kurds : their character and history .. .. .. 327 The journey back from Erivan to Tiflis : alarms of robbers 330 Railways in the Caucasus .. .. .. .. .. 334 By rail from Tiflis to Gori .. .. .. .. .. 335 The rock city of Uphlis Tzikhe' .. .. .. .. 339 Across the watershed into Mingrelia .. .. .. 345 Arrival at Poti : difficulties of embarkation . . . . 348 Poti and its inhabitants .. .. .. .. 351 Crossing the bar of the Phasis .. .. .. .. 357 View from the sea off Batum .. .. .. .. .. 359

Chapter X. From Poti To Constantinople By The Black Sea

(Pp. 362-389.) Batum and its port .. .. .. .. .. .. 362 Trebizond .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 363 Character of the Pontic coast .. .. .. .. .. 367 Samsun and Sinope .. .. .. .. .. .. 369 The steamer and its passengers : Persians and Turkmans 372 Turks, Greeks, and Armenians .. .. .. .. 374 Franks; mixture of languages .. .. .. .. 377 Condition of Asia Minor : melancholy impression it makes 378 Sail down the Bosphorus .. .. .. .. .. 382 Constantinople: first view of the city .. .. .. 384 Picturesqueness of its interior .. .. .. .. CONTENTS. X

Chapter XI. Some Political Reflections

(Pp. 390-420.) PAGE Remarks on the state of Transcaucasia .. .. ■■ 39° Religion as a separating influence in the East .. •• 392 Difficulties of Russia in working her Asiatic territories . . 394 Annexation injurious to Russia .. .. .. •• 396 Impressions of Turkey : the Turks an army of occupation 398 The Turkish government is dying .. .. .. .. 402 Anarchy in the provinces .. .. .. .. .. 4° 5 Is it possible to erect an Armenian state ? .. .. .. 406 Can the Turkish administration be reformed ? .. .. 408 Colonization .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 411 British interests : export trade to the Euxine .. .. 412 India and the Suez Canal .. .. .. .. .. 413 Influence of England in the East .. .. .. ..415 Feelings towards England : her true policy .. ..

Chapter I. The Volga And The Steppe Of Southern Russia

North-western Russia, although it is now pretty easy of access from Western Europe, and contains two such wonderfully striking cities as Moscow and St. Petersburg, is very little visited by travellers. South-eastern Russia is hardly visited at all. Nijni Novgorod, whose great fair draws some few sight seers as well as men of business from Germany and the farther west, seems to be' the limit of the tourist, and beyond it, all the way to Tiflis or Constantinople, one does not see a single stranger travelling for pleasure, and discovers from the attentions which the western visitor receives, how rare such a visitor is. I need, therefore, make no apology for giving some short account of the Lower Volga, and the great steppe of Southern Russia, before getting to the Caucasus and Armenia, for all four are likely to be equally unfamiliar to English readers.

As this does not apply to the gathering which has made Nijni famous, there is no occasion to describe it here, especially as a full account of the fair and its humours may be found in B a lively little book of collected letters published three years ago by Mr. Butler Johnstone. One or two observations, however, it is worth while to make by way of advice to future travellers. People are constantly told that Nijni Fair is Oriental and picturesque, that they will find in it specimens of all the peoples of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, dressed and demeaning themselves each after its several kind— that it is in fact a sort of Eastern ethnological museum. This may have been true twenty years ago ; it is not true now. The fair is picturesque, and in a certain way, which I will men tion presently, more striking than one expects, but there is no longer any great richness of costume, any great variety of national types observable.

Asiatic as well as European Russians have now, except in the peasant class, taken to Western fashions in dress, and so far as the outer man goes it is hard to tell a Sibe rian of Irkutsk from an Odessa or Riga merchant. The Finnish tribes from both sides of the Ural Moun tains, and the various Turkish or Mongol tribes of the steppe, Kirghiz, Bashkirs, Kalmucks, and such like, are not represented, or at any rate not so as to be a noticeable feature ; it is only the Persians and the few Turkmans who come from Tashkend or Bo khara that give anything of an Oriental character to the vast crowd, estimated at 100,000 people, that is gathered here every July. Nor, again, are there many beautiful articles to be seen exposed for sale. The display of jewellery was not larger or better than one might see in any two good shops in St. Petersburg ; and the other goods shewn — silks and carpets from Tiflis and Persia, furs from Siberia, ornamental work of various kinds from different places in Russia — might have been bought as good, if not as cheap, in the bazaars of Moscow or in Regent Street.

The interest of the fair lies deeper, and is matter for the economist or politician rather than for the artist. Here one stands at the great centre of Russian commerce and influence, the heart which pulsates over Eastern Europe and the half of Asia. The limits of its influence, the remotest points whence people flock to attend it, are Teheran and Bokhara to the south east, Kiakhta, on the Chinese frontier, to the east, Warsaw and Riga on the west. Over all this area Russia practically commands the markets, and here her manufactured goods, iron, pottery, cotton stuffs, and so forth, are exchanged for the caravan tea which has been brought across Siberia, carpets and silks from Persia, wool from Turkestan. The absence from the stalls of English, French, and German goods makes one realize how successful the Russian pro tective tariff has been in shutting out foreign com petition ; while the roughness and tastelessness of the home manufactures, which imitate Western patterns without Western finish, shew how little chance Russian manufacturers would as yet have against their neigh bours in a fair field.

Here you have under your eyes, in the substantial form of long islands covered with Siberian or Uralian iron, of fleets laden with fish from Astrakhan, of a whole suburb built with bales of caravan tea, the evi- B 7. dence of those movements and relations of trade which the imagination usually finds it so hard to realize, and which are such mighty factors in social as well as political history. The scene speaks not only of the vastness of the scale on which this trade goes on, but also of the rude and undeveloped condition of the countries that support it, where the mechanism of exchange and distribution is still so imperfectly organized that men are obliged to see one another and to bring their wares to this central spot to be dis played, instead of trusting to agencies and correspondence.

This concourse of merchants, and many details of the business done, which can only be understood when they are actually seen, do therefore present enough that is interesting and curious to repay the trouble of a journey hither. And there is one view, at least, too striking to be forgotten by any one who has enjoyed it, I mean the coup d'œil over the whole fair from the Mouravief Tower. To the east, one sees Nijni town, whose ancient kremlin (citadel) and greendomed cathedral crowns the lofty southern bank of the Oka ; in front are the two great tranquil streams — Volga and Oka — each a quarter of a mile wide, bearing on their bosoms thousands of vessels from every part of the vast water system of Russia ; be tween them lies the Fair itself, long streets of brick warehouses, booths, and tents, bubbling and throbbing with the busy crowd, which pours to and fro, on foot and in carriages, across the bridge of boats that joins the Fair to the city ; while round all lies a boundless green plain, along which the straining eye follows the three shining lines of water till they sink below the far horizon.

We steamed away from Nijni on the morning of August 24th, threading our way through an endless crowd of vessels laden with iron, fish, and wood. As the last masts and domes vanished behind us, we felt as if entering a new world, borne along by the strong majestic stream to the mysterious East — the East which discovery has so spared that it is now less known and more mysterious than the West. One thing, however, remained to remind one forcibly, almost ludicrously, of the West, I mean the steamboat that carried us, which was built exactly on the pattern of those that ply on the Hudson or the Mississippi. Of her three decks, one was almost level with the water, and occupied by the third class pas sengers ; a second, raised above the last, contained the first and second class saloons ; and a third, which was open, formed the roof of the saloons, and supplied a pleasant promenade.

She was a swift as well as light and handsome boat, drawing, when half loaded, only four feet of water, and a jolly old Russian admiral who was on board, and seemed, from the authority he assumed, to be a director of the com pany that owned her, insisted on showing us over every nook and cranny of her, with an air that seemed to doubt whether England could produce her like. Every thing seemed clean and trim and comfortable enough during the day ; the saloon especially, opening imme diately on the deck, with windows which commanded a view of both banks, was a better sitting-room than one often finds in an English vessel. But at night we could not help regretting the snug berths of an American steamer. For in Russia there are (speaking generally) only two classes of travellers, those to whom expense incurred for comfort and propriety is nothing, and those to whom comfort and propriety are scarcely known.

The former carry their own bedding about with them ; the latter do not go to bed at all, but coil themselves up in their sheepskins and go to sleep wherever it may happen. The large and respectable middle class of Germany or France, who want comfort, but cannot afford luxury or lordly independence, do not exist. Hence, in all hotels, except the very best, and everywhere in the steamers, you get no blankets and sheets except by special arrangement, and have always a sort of sense of bivouacking in your rug or great-coat. That was what had to be done here in the little sofa cabins round the saloon. As regards food there was nothing to complain of. Russia is eminently a land of good cooking ; even the simple stchi, or cabbage broth, on which one often has to fall back, is usually tasty and nourishing, and here, with sterlet and sturgeon swimming about him, and cooks who know how to make the most of their materials, an epicure might have been content.

The sterlet soup, of which the Russians are so fond of talking, quite answers its reputation, and other dishes whose names I forget are hardly less famous. Our only difficulty about dinner was how to order it, for table d'hote is the rare exception in Russia, and none of the steward's staff spoke anything but Russian or Tatar.1 The waiters in Russian inns and steamers are usually Tatars ; most of them come from Riazan or Penza, and are good-looking fellows enough, but some are downright Kalmucks in face. So when six o'clock arrived, we had to hunt up and down the boat for some good-natured passenger who talked French or German, and through him convey our wishes. Fortu nately the good-nature of Russians is boundless, and here, where a traveller is so rare, he is an object of special interest and goodwill, who is talked to about the country and its prospects as if he were an ambas sador, or even a special correspondent.

This friendli ness was all the pleasanter because we had hardly expected it. Everyone had said to us in St. Peters burg, " You have come at a bad time. Our people are greatly exasperated against England. They regard you as the abettors of the Turks, as the ac complices in the Bulgarian massacres." (This was just after the great massacres of May had become known in Russia and before the English indignation meetings in September.) " They think that you prefer Mohammedans to Christians, and for your own selfish purposes — heaven knows what they are — are ready to support and justify all the oppressions and cruelties of the Turks. So when you get away from this cosmo politan town up to Moscow and the interior of our country, you must be prepared to meet with rudeness, perhaps even with insults." 1 The spelling "Tatar," instead of the old and admittedly erroneous "Tartar," seems to be now sufficiently well established for an un scientific writer to adopt it.

Nothing of the kind. I am bound to say that we never fell into talk with a Russian without being reproached with our sympathy for the Turks. It was always assumed that we, as Englishmen, of course stood over the massacres, and we were asked how we could be so unchristian. Indeed to most people's minds England appeared scarcely less guilty than the Porte, for was it not England that by rejecting the Berlin Memorandum had stopped the joint action of the Six Powers ? Was it not the English fleet at Besika Bay and the English envoy at Constantinople that encouraged Turkey to harden her heart ? But even the reproaches were made with perfect courtesy. Whether one would have been better treated two years before, I cannot say, but considering the pro digious excitement that reigned — an excitement that pervaded all classes, and which seemed to us to have little to do with Panslavic theories, and still less with schemes of territorial aggression — it was a wonder to me that, being generally recognized as Englishmen, we were treated so well.

Except a few Persians and Turkmans from Bokhara, who performed their devotions towards Mecca with exemplary regularity, the passengers seemed to be all Russian subjects, though several were Germans, natives either of Germany or of the Baltic Provinces. Two or three of the others, as well as the captain, who was an officer in the imperial navy, spoke French or a little English, so that one was not ill off for opportunities of talk. But it is quite a mistake to suppose, as is com monly believed in England, and as the Russians themselves are always telling you, that in Russia everybody in the better classes speaks one or more foreign languages. The high nobility do, no doubt, speak French as well as the Parisians themselves, though the growth of national spirit and of what are called Slavophil principles makes them use it less than formerly ; many of their daughters, who are often educated by English governesses, speak English also, while scientific and literary people, professors, engineers, and such like, must of course know German.

But the ordinary Russian, not merely the shopkeeper, merchant, and priest or monk, but the officer, civil servant, or lower noble, is confined to his mother tongue. One meets in travelling with enormous numbers of officers — they are all in uniform and seem to form half the population of the country — and most of them shake their heads when you accost them in either French or German. In fact I do not believe that a knowledge of foreign languages is any more common than in England, or as common as it is in Germany. The difference rather is that those who do speak French or German speak it more fluently than we. And the popular notion on the subject seems to have arisen partly from this fact, partly because most Englishmen form their impressions from the high society, or from the commercial society, of the capital (which is itself quite an exceptional place, no more typical of Russia than New York is of America), and partly from the abundance of Germans scattered all over the country and filling so many civil and military, educational and scientific posts.

It is upon these Germans that he who travels without a courier or a knowledge of Russian has chiefly to rely ; and it will go hard with him if on a steamer, or at a railway station, or in a baker's or druggist's shop in one of the bigger towns, he cannot find such an one willing to interpret for the nonce. Failing these, he is indeed badly off. For there are so few words common to the Slavonic languages with the Teutonic or Romance, and the alphabet is at first so puzzling, that it is hard to remember even the common names of things, or to decipher a railway time-table. There was an oddly miscellaneous little library on board, consisting apparently of the leavings of many travellers, mainly Russian, but with several French novels and about as many solid German treatises, and two books in English.

One of these last was a record of spiritual manifestations in America, whose presence there surprised a Russian acquaintance of ours, for all spiritualistic writings are strictly prohibited by the police, and this, instead of lying about on the cabin table, ought to have been seized at the frontier, and reserved for the private enjoyment of the censor. There is a very comprehensive Index Expurgatorius in Russia, and people often told me they found their best Western books carried off by the custom-house, never to reappear. But, as every body knows, Alex ander Herzen's revolutionary ' Kolokol ' found its way everywhere, and was read by all the officials up to the Emperor himself; and the same is said to be the case with the less brilliant socialist writers of to-day. The other book was ' Scenes of Clerical Life,' whose pictures of an English country town, with its gossips, quarrels, and sorrows, lit up by a noble life like that of Mr. Tryon in ' Janet's Repentance,' had never seemed so vivid as when read in this far-off land, and set side by side with the parallel, yet wonderfully dissimilar, glimpses of Russian life which were given us in the pages of a scarcely less wonderful genius, Ivan Turgenef.

Of all modes of travelling, a river steamboat is probably the pleasantest. It is exhilarating to rush through the air at a pace of eighteen miles an hour, the swift current adding several miles to what the strong engines can accomplish. One moves freely about, reads or writes when so inclined, sits down and chats with a fellow passenger, enjoys to perfection the bracing freshness of the air and the changing hues of sunset. All this is to be had on the Volga steamers, plus the delightful sense of novelty ; and although the scenery is not striking, it may be called pleasing, quite good enough to see once. Mr. Mackenzie Wallace (whose very interesting book I assume to be known to any one who reads this one1) thinks the Volga tame, but I cannot help fancying this is because the Russians, who are eager to make the most of everything their country can shew, had talked too much to him about it.

We, who expected only a muddy stream between dull, flat banks, were agreeably surprised by the reality. Of course, it is not so grand as the Danube is above the Iron Gate, or the Douro between the wine 1 It may be proper to say that this chapter was written before I had read more than a very little of Mr. Wallace's book. country and Oporto, nor comparable in point of beauty with the richly wooded Upper Mississippi, or the Rhine, or the Upper Elbe. It is altogether in a less ambitious style than any of these, so that one is not even reminded of them. But in its own quiet way it is enjoyable, and the more so from the contrast between the two shores. All the way down from Yaroslaf till near the Caspian the right bank is high, from 1 20 to 160 or even 200 feet above the stream, generally steep, often prettily wooded, or cut down by picturesque little gullies filled with brushwood.

On this side one sees no cultivation, though here and there a village nestles between the hill and the shore, or crowns the top of the slope with the green cupola of its church glittering afar off under the sun ; and might fancy that one was sailing down through a half-occupied pastoral land. But up behind, on the table-land of which this steep bank is the edge, there is a well peopled country, full of farms and villages, with a soil which, away down southward beyond Kazan, becomes exceedingly fertile. The opposite, the left or north-eastern bank, is perfectly flat ; first a belt of sand covered by the stream in the floods of spring, then willows and alders, then pastures and cornfields with patches of wood between, and here and there a low ridge, hardly to be called an eminence, stretching away farther than the eye can reach.

Be tween this boundless plain and this bold hill the Volga sweeps along in majestic curves and reaches, and the contrast between the two, the varying aspects which the promontories take as one approaches and recedes from them, give a pleasing variety to the landscape. Except at one point, you cannot call it beautiful, but it is all so green and so peaceful, the air is so exquisitely clear, there is such a sense of expanse in the wide plain and the sky vaulted over it, the stream down which one speeds is so wide, and calm, and strong, that there is a pleasure in the voyage it is easier to feel than describe. The ship touches but seldom at the banks, for there are few towns, and when she does stop, it is rather for the sake of taking in wood than of passengers or cargo. A gang of women is usually waiting for us at the wharf, who carry on board bundles of chopped wood ; while all the spare population of the villages comes down in its sheepskins and stands looking on, munch ing its cucumbers the while.