Impressions of Turkey, during twelve years wanderings

Front matter

Impressions of Turkey WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. I. Fourth Edition. With Maps and Illustrations, 8vo, cloth, I2S. THE CHURCH IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE BEFORE A.D. 170. " Prof. W. M. Ramsay is the greatest living authority on the geography of Asia Minor, and on the historical and archæological questions associated with its study. Of these questions none are more important than those connected with the early history of the Christian Church. . . . The first part of the volume deals with St. Paul in Asia Minor, a subject in the treatment of which Prof. Ramsay is peculiarly at home, and which he treats with singular freshness of erudition. The latter part, covering the period a.d. 64-170, consists of the material originally employed for the lectures delivered at Mansfield College, but now entirely recast and con siderably enlarged. . . .

His results are of profound interest to all students of early ecclesiastical history." — Times. 11. ST. PAUL THE TRAVELLER AND THE ROMAN CITIZEN. Third Edition. 8vo, cloth, with Map, ios. 6d. " By his important work, The Church in the Roman Empire, Professor Ramsay established his reputation as an authority on questions of Christian antiquity, and in this new work, in which he follows the footsteps of St. Paul in his great missionary journey, his knowledge of Roman law and custom, and personal researches in the countries through which the Apostle travelled, enable him to throw light on many points in Luke's narrative. The book is interesting and instructive, and must be cordially commended to the attention of the New Testament student." — Scotsman. LONDON : HODDER AND STOUGHTON, 27 PATERNOSTER ROW.

Impressions of Turkey During Twelve Years' Wanderings U- BY W. M. Ramsay, D.C.L., LL.D. PROFESSOR IN ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY FORMERLY FELLOW OF EXETER AND OF LINCOLN COLLEGE, AND PROFESSOR OF CLASSICAL ARCHÆOLOGY, OXFORD LONDON HODDER AND STOUGHTON 27 PATERNOSTER ROW ABERDEEN UN1VERSITV PRESS- TO THE MANY FRIENDS OF MANY NATIONALITIES WHO HAVE HELPED MY WORK IN ASIA MINOR AND ESPECIALLY TO MR. E. PURSER AND THE OTHER OFFICIALS OP THE OTTOMAN RAILWAY

Preface

Love for Asiatic Turkey and its people, com bined with hope for its future and interest in its past history, may justify the publication of these pages, in which I have tried to record frankly the impressions left on my mind during the wanderings of twelve years, and the studies of seventeen years. I cannot hope that they will be generally acceptable to those whose minds are made up on one side or the other, for they steer a middle course and regard no person and no people as wholly in the right. The method followed is for the most part to take the reader into the heart of Turkey and let him look for himself, explaining my own impression about the facts which he sees. I began to travel with a strong belief in the imperial mission of Britain, and I end with a stronger faith in the English-speaking race. But I have learned also to appreciate the high qualities of other great nations.

PREFACE.

VIII During five years, 1880- 1884, my wife and I were resident (or rather nomadic) in Turkey, and after that date, many of my vacations, and some of hers, were devoted to travelling there. Sir Charles Wilson trained me as an explorer, during two journeys ; and to his wide knowledge of Turkey, Syria and Arabia I am deeply in debted. But he must not be held in any way responsible for, or sympathetic with, my views. Except where an authority is quoted, I have studiously avoided borrowing from the conversation and opinions of Western observers, for it seems to me both unfair and misleading to give as one's own impressions of Turkey mere fragments of the talk one has had with other Europeans. The lessons learned from Sir C. Wilson I passed on to better men than myself, who went with me as beginners in Turkish travel, Mr. A. C. Blunt in Oct. -Nov., 1881, Prof. J. R. S. Sterrett, Amherst College, Mass., in 1883, Mr. A. H. Smith, of the British Museum, in 1884, Mr. H. A. Brown, of Exeter College (who has found in Mashona-

PREFACE.

IX land a soldier's death, as one of the thirty three picked men who composed Major Wilson's ill-fated party), in 1886 and 1887, Mr. D. G. Hogarth, Fellow of Magdalen College, in 1887 and 1890, and the Rev. A. C. Headlam, Fellow of All Souls' College, in 1890. Of these Prof. Sterrett, in 1884, 1885, and Mr. Hogarth, in 1891, 1892, went on to make independent and bril liantly successful journeys in Asia Minor. Mr. Hogarth's Wandering Scholar in the Levant gives a vivid and amusing picture of some of his experiences : he has less love for the Turkish peasants than I have, and none of my belief in their capacity for development, while he admires the Turkish officials much more than I do, applying to them, on p. 140, the language which M. Waddington uses of the Roman officers of the best period.

His book, with its admiration for the activity and resolution of the Turkish officials, may serve as a corrective to my contempt for their sluggishness and weakness. His view re mains a marvel to me. The Turkish language I have picked up b

PREFACE.

X only in a conversational way from the peasants ; but, though I do not profess to be very familiar with it, yet, in comparison with the ordinary archæologists, I have some con siderable advantage. In 1881 I used a Greek interpreter. After 1882 I employed none, but acted as interpreter for my travelling companions. Some references are made to discussions which I have published elsewhere, in order to suggest that the brief statements sometimes made in these pages on great questions are not set down without thought. We at first intended to add a chapter on " Turkish Village Life in a Woman's View " ; but judged it better to make this into a separate little book, which will, I hope, appear in October, under the auspices of the same publishers. W. M. RAMSAY. Aberdeen, loth May, 1897. CONTENTS

Chapter I. In

A TURKISH VILLAGE OF CENTRAL ANATOLIA. 1 It is not difficult to write an interesting description of an eastern country, if you have spent only a few months in it. In that time you see the picturesque facts ; the salient features of the country, the people, and the life, impress themselves on you, and group themselves in a strong, emphatic, unified, well conceived picture. You have learned how simple oriental life and character are ; how easy it is to govern an oriental race ; how small a matter it is to understand the " Eastern Question" ; how quickly youwould clear upthetangleof the Turkish difficulty, if you had the opportunity. You can describe the whole nature of the people in broad, firm, striking outlines. You have not been troubled with con tradictory impressions, for you have had no time to receive them.

You have seen only one side, and the novelty and interest of your experiences 1 The opening paragraphs of this chapter spring from my own experience, and have been in my mind as an introduction ever since 1884, when I began to think of writing this book. They have no relation to any work except my own. I have impressed that side so strongly on you, that you are filled with the consciousness of new know ledge and the power that it gives, with the con viction of truth in your knowledge. The East, which was only a dream and a theory to you, has become a reality, and you understand all that part of the world's literature that is connected with the East in a way that you never understood it before. You feel what a great step you have made when you came in contact with Eastern men, and appre ciated the subtle charm which the oriental nature always exercises on the Western man, if at all im aginative and impressionable.

You have learned, too, how absolutely divided is the Eastern man from the Western in all his thoughts and aspira tions. You have experienced the impassable gulf that divides you from the oriental, as well as the strange attraction that he exercises on you. But when the months have grown into years of acquaintance, you don't find the Eastern nature and the "Eastern Question" so easy to understand. You have had time to see more, and you find that every one of your earliest impressions is contra dicted by some later experience, that every state ment which you formerly made without hesitation has become more doubtful. You can no longer make broad and sweeping assertions and general isations, for you feel that they are always unfair to some extent, and untrue to some of your knowledge. When you have had a wide enough experience, you can strike an average among your facts ; but even then you can no longer feel that delightful confidence which sweeps you on from fact to fact and carries the reader with you.

As I try to describe the impressions that many journeys have made on me, I feel that the question is likely to be put, — what business has an archæologist to write about modern life and modern manners in Turkey ? I have never studied the " Eastern Question ". I went out to Turkey with out any intention to do so, filled only with the intense and overmastering desire to understand the old history of the country which has always been the battle-field between the Oriental and the Western spirit. For years I had as a student at college been fascinated with the idea of that long conflict which is the epitome of all history, the battle of East and West ; and now I was going to the land that stretches like a bridge from the East to the West, connecting them at once and separat ing them. To understand and sympathise with the spirit of the land was my only thought.

It is, however, perhaps no disadvantage that I did not go out to study the " Eastern Question ". Half an hour's talk with a man who is going out for that purpose is usually enough to show you pretty clearly what answer he will bring back. According to his sympathies and prejudices will be the company in which he is plunged and the information that he receives. He will return feeling more strongly than ever that he was right from the beginning. I was saved from that fate by the fact that my sole guide and my sole criterion in all circumstances was the wish to learn about past history. I went where I could learn and forced everybody to teach me. I did not go to look for walls, and columns, temples, and statues, and coins. Many cities and monuments have been before my eyes, but I do not pose as their dis coverer.

What I hope is, with the help of many men and many minds, to have thought over them, till I have gained a true idea of the people who built them and the society which needed them. But for my purposes it was necessary that new evidence, in other words unknown monuments, should be discovered ; and the practical problem of discovery in Asia Minor always presents itself as a study in human nature. You come in contact with all classes of the native population, Moslem and Christian, Jews and Kizil-Bash, and you must observe and adapt yourself to the character and prejudices of every one, if you want to make many discoveries. If you go into a village, and ask point blank whether there are any " written stones " {yasili tashlar) or " marbles " {mermer, distinguished from common stones, kara-tash) or " old money" (eski para), every man is ready to swear that there is nothing of the kind : in other villages at a distance, three or five or ten hours away, they know that there is abundance of such things, but here there is nothing whatsoever.

You may point to a " written marble" in the fountain beside which you have halted ; but you are told that it has been brought from far away, and there are no others like it in the village. In the estimation of the villagers, wise from long and sad experience, every stranger who asks questions and whose business is not obvious, must be an agent of the Government, and therefore an enemy ; and their wish and hope and prayer is to get rid of him as quickly and cheaply as possible. It is a lesson in the " Eastern Ques tion " to see the dislike and fear with which every village regards the Government. You are more struck with this in the Mohammedan villages, for, in the Greek villages at least, the Christian people are quicker witted, and can distinguish more readily between the Government agent and the travelling scholar.

Your archæologist takes a less direct, but a more fruitful method. Among Mohammedans he does not declare at once his business, for no one would believe in his sincerity (except in some sophisticated villages, where those strange beings that are mad after " written stones " have become familiar in recent years). He stops his horse in the first open space, usually near a fountain or a mosque, a glance at which gives him some idea of the "stone-pro ducing " capacity of the place. In three minutes he is surrounded by the entire male population. Unless it is the harvest season, when the men con descend to do a little work, they have been sitting in some shady place, usually beside or in the " guest room " {Musafir-Odd), talking little, and only at rare intervals, those who can muster up a little tobacco smoking cigarettes, which they are very generous in sharing with one another.

If there is any man of wealth in the village, he has an Oda of his own, where he entertains all comers ; and the more respectable and respected part of the male population is usually congregated there ; the great man smokes his narghile, the rest cigarettes, and the droning sound of the rich man's hubble-bubble adds to the soporific effect of the warm summer weather and the quiet and lazy surroundings. As the news spreads that a stranger has arrived and is asking for the Musafir-Oda, unwonted bustle reigns in the village. A pleasing, mild excitement affects the population. The loungers in the Oda rise, go to the door, look in the heap of old slippers, down at heel and usually full of holes, for their own property, which they recognise with marvellous intelligence among many that seem to your eyes undistinguishable, slowly slip their feet into them, and then as slowly shuffle their way to where the archæologist is sitting on his horse.

All are eager to ask the traditional series of questions, like the Cyclops in the Odyssey, " Where do you come from ? What is your business ? Where are you going to?" You do not too hastily gratify their curiosity, but leave them in pleasant anticipation while you inquire for the Oda. If there is a rich man who keeps his own Oda, you have already contrived to pick up this information from some casual wayfarer, who has arrested his wandering step at sight of the strangers ; and you flatter the local swell by asking for his Oda, showing your familiarity with his name and his reputation for hospitality. The whole company then goes away to the Oda ; the archæologists leave their horses to their ser vants, go in and sit down in the place of honour, the host or headman of the village does the same, and each salutes the other.

If you are prudent, you throw your waterproof on the mats or cushions before you take up your position ; for the cushions and carpets are always full of dust and fleas, and vermin loathe waterproof, while it also prevents the dust from rising. After every one has sat down and saluted, and there is a general atmo sphere of expectation, the questions as to your origin and destination are repeated ; and you pro ceed by degrees to gratify the general curiosity. Your business is to amuse and interest the people. Their life is spent in an atmosphere of monotony, amid a regular alternation of the annual incidents of winter, sowing time and harvest, where the occasional visit of an official is the only great trouble, and the rare visit of a stranger furnishes the only entertainment. If you want to get from them the information which you desire, you must pay for it by giving them as much pleasure and excitement as you can ; and it is important to study the best ways of catching the interest and sympathy of your villagers.

You tell them you come from England, from London (fnghilterra-dann, Lo?idra dann); and you answer as seems best the almost invariable question, " Whether is England in Lon don, or London in England?" You tell that London is the principal city of Inghilterra, but there are other cities there besides ; and there is a little buzz of stage-whispering, as each imparts to his neighbour the news that you come from Lon dra, the head city, and must therefore be a man of real consequence. No one but a " tenderfoot " will say that he comes from any second-rate place, like Oxford : if he does, he sets himself down as a mere villager like themselves, and sinks correspond ingly in their estimation. During the conversation you pass round a supply of tobacco, and every villager rolls himself a cig arette.

On their side the entertainers prepare coffee : x one of their number makes a little fire on the hearth, produces some coffee beans from some receptacle in the room or from the person of the local magnate, roasts them, grinds them, boils the water in a little high narrow tin pot with a long handle, pours in the fine-ground powder, allows the coffee to come twice to the boiling point, and then pours it into two or three small cups, which are offered first to the guests. If there is a lady among the guests, sometimes one of the Turks who has seen more of the world directs the bearer to offer to the lady first ; if not it is wise to sign to him your self to do so. The unusual order imparts more interest in the general esteem : it is much for them to see a stranger of quaint dress and manners ; it is an even greater novelty that a lady should travel and talk and sit in the company of men ; but, when the male guest, a person attended by servants, and obviously possessing wealth beyond the dreams of 1 It is said that true oriental etiquette requires that no ques tions should be put to the stranger till coffee has been offered to him.

That has not been my experience among villagers ; in more cultivated society coffee is offered at once, but it takes a long time to get it ready in a village. avarice, orders the lady to be served first, it be comes clear to the least instructed villager that she must be a very great person indeed, far above the ordinary restraints of her sex, probably a near rela tive of the Sultan of Inghilterra. Then some one brings forth a tale which he has heard somewhere, that it is the custom in Inghilterra to have a woman as supreme ruler ; and the question is propounded, whether this is really true. A short sketch of the British constitution, adapted to the comprehension of the audience, is useful and effective at this stage. Then you begin to talk about themselves, for to every man the most interesting subject is himself, and it is the greatest of consolations to him to talk freely about his grievances.

You inquire about the prospects of the coming harvest or the last visit of the tax-gatherer, and sympathise with the invariable tale of rapacity, injustice and cruelty on the part of the officials. You hear how old men have been ill treated or imprisoned, how many peasants have had their oxen for ploughing seized and sold, how much the taxes have increased in recent years. Now comes the archæologist's opportunity, when mutual confidence is established. He introduces the subject of " old stones " and " antikas ". The guileless villagers rush headlong into the harmless trap ; every one is eager to tell what he knows ; and we sally forth in a body. Even the local great man is sometimes roused to such unwonted activity as to rise and walk round with the rest ; if you have any distance to go, you are wise to offer him the use of one of your servants' horses, and the stirrups will require no adjustment to suit him ; for all Turks tall or little ride with the same stirrup.

One man has got a " written stone " at the side of his fire-place, another in the wall of his house, a third has seen one in a field outside the town. You pay with prudently ostentatious liber ality for the first, before you copy it ; and the general eagerness to find inscriptions is increased tenfold. After that the men of the village are ready to dig up every tombstone in the cemeteries (which usually occupy more space than the dwell ing-houses), if there be any prospect of finding letters on one. But the women are not so easy to deal with, and, if news is carried out to the fields that some infidel dogs are desecrating the cemetery, they sometimes rush in, hot and wild with excitement, and the scene becomes lively. Do not be too much impressed with their pious respect for the graves of their ancestors, for other motives co operate with that praiseworthy feeling in their minds.

Either they have not heard or they have not believed that the Giaours are paying in good silver for looking at the stones. Moreover they know that your real object is to get the gold that is concealed within those stones ; and, if the men are silly enough to sell gold for silver, they are resolved to know the reason why, even though the usual restraints of the sex have to be for a time thrown off. The men are convinced by them, for the Mohammedan mind can never fully believe that a man travels for any other object than gold : if Christianity had done nothing else in the East, it would be a great achievement that it has enabled simple villagers to believe that men can travel from mere desire of knowledge, and work for mere ideals. When matters in the village get to this stage, and every one makes up his mind that you are searching for gold, relations are sometimes imperilled ; and, as it is useless further to deny that gold is your aim, the best way is to promise to give to all a fair share of whatever is found, and to urge them to co-operate and to keep strict watch on their neighbours and on yourself.

Many are the exclamations of wonder, Mash allahf "What God wills!" as the archæological note book is produced, and the letters copied into it. If the inscription is upside down, as it is in the majority of cases, your contortions as you struggle to get into a position to see it, cause much interest ; and, really, it is no wonder that the natives believe all Ingleez to be mad, as they see you trying to stand on your head and write in a book at the same time, especially as you have tried to make them believe that you do this for no advantage to yourself, but purely for pleasure. If the inscription is important enough to deserve an impression, that is a great time for the village, as you demand water, dip in the impression paper ; this is obviously a spell to facilitate the discovery of the treasure hid within the stone, and every one gazes in breathless attention.

The natives, how ever, are sadly disappointed when, after some hours or days of work, the archæologist departs no richer that he came ; but the marvel grows with time, and the next traveller who comes a few years later, will probably hear that you departed with several camels' load of treasure. Several times a servant of mine, arriving before me at a village, has heard wonderful tales of this kind about a traveller ; and on my arrival I have been recognised as the hero of these fables. The process, as thus described, seems tedious ; and it is not every one who will go through it. But the first lesson one has to learn in the East is that time has no value ; and, if you are in a hurry, you will never get on so well with the Orientals. Prof. Sterrett had great power of suiting himself to the natives, and true sympathy with them ; and I did not appreciate how much he had done for me by these qualities, till I observed some other explorers, who with many admirable and splendid qualities as travellers, had not the sympathy and the patience that are required for scenes like this.

But I would urge upon all archæological travellers how im portant it is to study the natives, to learn about them direct and not from report of others, to ob serve and study small things, to give some time and care to the people through whom alone the best discoveries are likely to be made. As reward for a little patience and sympathy and kindliness, you learn something of the thoughts and life of a very simple-minded and interesting people, and you may go away rich in historic treasure, better able to interpret the monuments that you have discovered, ready to write a new page of history, or to give fresh colour and clearness to the tale of St. Paul's wanderings.

Chapter II. Turkish Village Life In Asia Minor

It is then a useful part of the archæologist's education that he should learn to interest and amuse the simple-minded audiences which surround and gaze upon him in a Turkish village. You find by experience some little jokes, which suit the native wit ; and you may be sure that the remark which proves effective in one Turkish village will be equally suitable in all. Every one must learn what suits his own style. One little remark which I first made in sheer despair, proved immensely effective ; and, when well introduced afterwards on many an occasion, never failed to " bring down the house ". After a considerable conversation, in which I had been inquiring about the roads, the distances, the course of the streams, and other geographical points, in respect of which I possessed a certain ease and fluency in Turkish, a native took the lead, and began to question me in a more thorough-going way than is usual.

He soon exhausted my small stock of Turkish ; and at last, being quite nonplussed by a long explanatory question, I exclaimed, " Turktche bilmaiorim" (I don't know Turkish). Every one saw through this barefaced excuse : that a man who had been talking with perfect fluency for a quarter of an hour, so long as he was the questioner, and had been draining them of information about the natural features and lie of the country, should try to evade their questions by pretending not to know Turkish ! they were too acute to be taken in by chaff like this : every one, proud of his own per spicacity, turned to his neighbour, nudged him in the ribs to attract his attention, imparted to him the information that the stranger was a deep and artful dodger, but they were too smart for him, and saw through his stratagems.

Pleased with their own acuteness, they become pleased with you. Another unfailing way of delighting the natives is to draw a pointed and judicious contrast between the English and the Turkish character. You take your text from the wonder which they always feel that a millionaire like yourself should go through so much fatigue as you submit to every day ; and you explain that in Inghilterra, when a man possesses money he goes away to travel and visits many lands and peoples, while the poor man stays at home ; but in Turkey, when a man is rich, he sits in his house, and only the poor man goes forth to work. Your remarks, if well put to them, rouse intense interest, sometimes almost laughter (your Turk does not often laugh) at your picture of Turkish nature ; and occasionally it is clear that you have succeeded in making them think a little.

In 1883 Prof. Sterrett and I went to Orkistos, on the frontier of Galatia, to look for a great inscription, which had been apparently lost. It had been seen and copied unsatisfactorily by several old travellers, last of all by Hamilton. In 1861 the Berlin Academy instructed Dr. Mordtmann to recopy it ; but he failed to discover it. As Mordtmann was familiar with the Turkish language and an ex perienced traveller, the discovery was obviously no easy matter ; and some care was needed. We arranged our journey so as to sleep at a village some hours distant, and next morning came on to Alikel (earlier travellers call the place Alekian). Here we found ourselves at a Turkmen Yaila, in a splendid situation, with fertile lands, abundance of water and grass, and a profusion of inscribed stones. We avoided showing any interest in these, but intimated our intention of inviting all the leading men to dinner, and proceeded to purchase a sheep which was to be cooked entire by the villagers for their own benefit.