The Human Race

Trinkets, necklaces, bracelets, and chains play such a prominent part in the adornment of the Turcoman women, that a dozen of them together drawing water make as much tinkling as the ringing of a small bell.

The men wear no ornament.

Fig. 106 represents a camp of nomadic Turcomans.

M. de Blocqueville, who published in 1866, in the “Tour du Monde,” the curious account entitled “Fourteen months’ captivity among the Turcomans,” describes as follows the habits of these tribes: —

“The Turcomans keep close to their tent a sheep or a goat, which they fatten and kill on special occasions. The bones are taken out and the meat is cut up and salted; some of it is dried and acquires a high flavour much liked by the Turcomans; the rest, cut into smaller pieces and placed in the animal’s paunch, is kept to make soup out of. They collect the bones and other leavings, and stew them down in a pan so as to have some broth to offer on festival occasions to their friends and neighbours. The intestines fall to the children’s share, who broil them on the coals and spend whole days in sucking and pulling about this half-cleansed offal.

106. – TURCOMAN ENCAMPMENT.

“… Women are treated with more consideration by the Turcomans than by other Mussulmans. But they work hard, and every day have to grind the corn for the family food. Besides this, they spin silk, wool, and cotton; they weave, sew, mill felt, pitch and strike the tents, draw water, sometimes do some washing, dye woollen and silk stuffs, and manufacture the carpets. They set up out of doors, in the fine weather, a very primitive loom made of four stakes firmly fixed in the ground, and, with the assistance of two large cross pieces on which they lay the woof, begin the weaving, which is done with an iron implement composed of five or six blades put together in the shape of a comb. These carpets, generally about three yards long and a yard and a half wide, are durable and well made. Every tribe or family has its own particular pattern, which is handed down from mother to daughter. The Turcoman women are necessarily endowed with a strong constitution to be able to bear all this hard work, during which, they sometimes suckle their children, and only eat a little dry bread, or a kind of boiled meat with but little nourishment in it. It is especially turning the grindstone that wears them out and injures their chest.

“In their rare intervals of leisure they have always got with them a packet, of wool or of camel’s hair, or some raw silk, that they spin whilst they are gossiping or visiting their neighbours; for they never remain quite idle like the women of some Mussulman countries.

“The man has also his own kind of work; he tills the soil, tends the crops, gets in the harvest, takes care of the domestic animals, and sometimes starts on plundering expeditions in order to bring home some booty. He manufactures hand-made woollen rope; cuts out and stitches together the harness and clothing of his horses and camels; attempts to do a little trade, and in his leisure moments makes himself caps and shoes, plays on the doutar (an instrument with two strings), sings, drinks tea, and smokes.

“These tribes are very fond of improving themselves, and of reading the few books that chance throws into their hands.

“As a rule the children do not work before their tenth or twelfth year. Their parents up to that age make them learn to read and write. Those who are obliged to avail themselves of their children’s assistance during the press of summer labour, take care that they make up for lost time in the winter.

“The schoolmaster, mollah (priest or man of letters), is content to be remunerated either in kind, with wheat, fruit or onions; or in money, according to the parents’ position. Each child possesses a small board, on which the mollah writes down the alphabet or whatever happens to be the task; this is washed off as soon as the child has learned his lesson.

“The parents satisfy themselves that their children know their lessons before they set out for school: the women in particular are vain of being able to read. The men sometimes spend whole days in trying to understand books of poetry which come from Khiva or Boukhara, where the dialect is a little different to their own.

“The Turcoman mollahs spend some years in these towns to enable themselves to study in the best schools.

“All these tribes are Mahometan and belong to the Sunnite sect. The only external difference between them and the Persians of the Schiite sect, who recognise Ali as Mahomet’s only successor, consists, as is well known, in their mode of saying their devotions and of performing their ablutions.

“Whilst at their prayers, they keep their arms crossed in front of them from the wrist upwards only, instead of keeping them by their side like the Persians.

“Although they follow pretty regularly the precepts of their religion, they show less fanaticism and ostentatious bigotry than most other Easterns whom I have seen. For instance, they will consent to smoke and eat with Jews.

“Every Turcoman has an affection for his tribe, and will devote himself, if need be, for the common weal. Their proper and dignified manners are far beyond a comparison with those of their neighbours – even the inhabitants of Boukhara and Khiva, whose morals have become corrupted to a painful degree. I have seldom seen quarrels and disturbances amongst the Turcomans. Sometimes I have been present at very lively and animated discussions, but I never heard any low abuse or bad language as in other countries. They are less harsh towards their women, and show them more consideration and respect than do the Persians.

“When strangers are present, the women pass an end of their veil under their chin and speak in a low voice, but they are saluted and respected by the visitors, and enter into conversation with them without any harm being thought of it.

“A woman can go from one tribe to another, or make a journey along an unfrequented road, without having to fear the least insult from any one.

“When a Turcoman pays a visit he makes his appearance in one invariable manner. He lifts the door of the tent, bowing as he enters, then comes to a stop and draws himself up to his full height: after a pause of a few seconds, during which he keeps his eyes fixed on the dome of the tent, probably to give the women time to cover their chins, he quietly pronounces his salutation without making the slightest gesture. After exchanging civilities and inquiries about the health of relations and friends, the master of the tent begs the visitor to take a seat on the carpet beside him. The wife then offers him a napkin with a little bread, or bread and water, or some sour milk, or a little fruit. The stranger discreetly only takes a few mouthfuls of what is offered to him.”

107. – KIRGHIS FUNERAL RITES.

The Kirghis. – The Kirghis (fig. 107) are a nomadic tribe. They inhabit the tract of country situated on the frontiers of the Russian and Chinese empires. They wander to and fro on wide spreading plains from lake Baikal to the borders of the Siberian steppes.

They travel armed, and always prepared, either for war or for the chase. As wild beasts attack men when by themselves, they nearly always travel on horseback in troops.

For the matter of that, the Kirghis never get off their horses. All business is settled, and all merchandise is bought and sold, on horseback. There is in a town, by name Shouraïahan, where the sedentary Kirghis reside, a market-place where buyers and sellers do all their business without leaving the saddle. The Kirghis are much below the middle height. Their countenances are ugly. Having scarcely any bridge to their nose, the space between their eyes is flat and quite on a level with the rest of their face. Their eyes are long and half closed, the forehead protrudes at the lower part, and retreats at the top. Their big puffy cheeks look like two pieces of raw flesh stuck on the sides of their face. They have but little beard, their body is not at all muscular, and their complexion is a dark brown.

The Kirghis are something like the Uzbeks, a race whom we can only just mention, but the latter, living in a temperate climate, are tall and well made, while the former, under the influence of a rigorous one, are short and stunted.

Both these people possess a certain kind of civilization in spite of their nomadic habits. In the districts in which they are in the custom of travelling, they have established relays of horses, a very necessary adjunct to their mode of life.

The Nogays. – The Nogays, who once constituted a powerful nation on the shores of the Black Sea, are now scattered among other peoples. Many of them still wander in nomadic tribes, on the steppes between the banks of the Volga and the Caucasian mountains. Others who have settled down are tillers of the soil or artisans. Such are those to be met with in the Crimea or in Astracan. M. Vereschaguine came across some Nogays on the Caucasian steppes. This Russian traveller says that they are peaceful and laborious, and more capable of becoming attached to the soil than the Kalmuks, whom they resemble a great deal in their mode of life and in their habits and customs.

The Osmanlis. – The most important members of the Turkish family are now the Osmanlis. The Osmanlis were the founders of the Turkish Empire and the conquerors of Constantinople.

A tendency to a nomadic mode of life is a strong instinct with this race. It degenerated as soon as it settled down anywhere, and this perhaps is the cause of the decline of the Turkish nation, which at present inhabits south-eastern Europe and Asia Minor.

The residence in Europe and the civilization of the Osmanli Turks date from the Hegira of Mahomet in the seventh century after Christ.

Physically speaking, their outlines would seem to ally them to the Caucasian race. This was the reason that they were so long classified among the White or Caucasian race; but most modern anthropologists place them in the Yellow Race.

The head of the Osmanli Turks is nearly round. The forehead is high and broad: the nose is straight, without any depression at its bridge or widening at the nostrils.

The Turkish head does not resemble the European head. It has a peculiar abrupt elevation of the occiput. Its proportions, however, are very good. Mongol descent can be traced in its shape, but scarcely in a perceptible manner, if the features of the face alone are to be taken into account.

The Turks, in general, are tall, well made, robust men, with a rough but often noble physiognomy, a slightly tawny complexion, and brown or black hair. Their carriage is dignified, and their natural gravity is still further increased by the ample folds of their dress, by their beard, by their moustachios, and by that imposing head-dress, the turban. They are the most recent of all the races of Asian descent who have become Europeanized, and they still preserve, especially in Turkey in Asia, the habits, the costumes, and the belief that distinguished them three centuries ago.

Now, as then, the Turks, like Easterns in general, restrict themselves to a frugal and principally vegetable diet. They drink no wine. Bodily exercises, such as riding on horseback and the use of arms, develop their strength. Their hospitality is dignified and ceremonious. They are small talkers, are much given to devotion, at least to its outward and visible signs; and they dwell in quiet unpretending houses surrounded by gardens. The Turk is a stranger to the feverish life of our European capitals. Lazily reclining on his cushions, he smokes his Syrian tobacco, sips his Arabian coffee, and seeks from a few grains of opium an introduction into the land of dreams.

Such is Turkish life among the higher classes. The common people and the labourers have none of these refinements of existence. Yet the lower classes are less unhappy in Turkey, and in the East in general, than are those of European nations. Eastern hospitality is not an empty word. A wealthy Mussulman never sends empty away the wretched who seek his assistance. Besides, it takes so little to support these temperate healthy people, and the earth so plentifully supplies vegetable produce in the East, that poor people can always find food and a roof to cover them. The Caravanserai are public inns where travellers and workmen are lodged for nothing; and the hospitality shown to the unfortunate wayfarer by the country land-owners is really patriarchal.

Polygamy is less in vogue in Turkey and in the East than is supposed. A Turkish woman being a very expensive luxury, that is to say, being in the habit of doing nothing and of spending a great deal, it is only very rich Mussulmans that can allow themselves the pleasure of supporting more than one wife. Sometimes, indeed, the bride’s parents insert a clause in the marriage contract, by which the husband gives up his right as a Mahometan to possess four wives.

Besides their legitimate wives, the wealthy and the great keep a collection of Georgian and Circassian slaves in the lonely sets of rooms, closed by Eastern jealousy to all prying eyes, which are called harems and not seraglios. It is only within these isolated apartments that Turkish women, whether wives or concubines, allow their faces and arms to be seen. Out of doors they are always wrapped up in a triple set of veils, which conceal their features from the keenest eye.

Mahomet permitted women to abstain from taking part in public prayer in the mosques. It is therefore only in the interior of the harem that any gathering of Mussulman women can take place. It is there, too, that they give one another parties and entertainments.

108. – A HAREM.

An erroneous impression of the Turkish woman’s position is prevalent in Europe. Many European women would be glad to exchange their lot in life and their liberty for the supposed slavery of the Turkish women. Of course we are only alluding here to their material position, and not speaking from a moral point of view.

The Turkish lady is born to total and complete idleness. A young girl who, at fourteen years of age, can not only sew fairly, but can actually read, is considered a very well educated person. If she can also write, and is acquainted with the first one or two rules of arithmetic, she is quite learned. The woman of the middle classes never condescends to trade, she is always idle. Even the poor woman rarely works, and then only when it suits her.

The Turkish woman then, to whatever class she may happen to belong, is a votary of the far niente. To drive away ennui, the wealthier make or receive visits or frequent parties. In the harems of the rich, each lady receives her friends in her own room. There they talk, sing, or tell one another stories. They listen to music, they go to pantomimes, to dances, and walk in the gardens. They pass the long hours agreeably by taking baths together, by swinging in hammocks, by smoking the narguilhé, and by giving elegant little dinner parties.

An evening party in a harem (la Kalva) is rather a rare occurrence, for night festivities are not among Mussulman habits. No man is present at these parties. As the guests arrive, the lady of the house begs them to be seated, and places them side by side on a divan with their legs crossed under them, or leaning on one knee. Coffee and a tchibouk with an amber mouthpiece are handed round. Small portions of fruit jelly are served on a silver embossed dish. Each guest, after a little ceremonious hesitation, helps herself with the only spoon in the dish, and which everybody uses. Each then puts her lips to a large tumbler of water which follows the jelly.

General and animated conversation then begins. The maids of the lady of the house seat themselves so that every one can see them, and begin to sing, accompanying themselves on the harp, on the mandolin, on little kettledrums, or on tambourines. Afterwards other young girls go through a kind of pantomimic dance. When the music and the dances are over, they play games of cards, and the party winds up with a supper (fig. 109).

Pleasure out of doors has other attractions. The Turkish ladies of the middle class frequent the bazaars and pay one another visits.

There are three kinds of these visits: visits that have been announced beforehand, unexpected visits, and chance visits. The last are the most curious. Several ladies collect together and go about in the different quarters of the town, paying visits to people whom they have never seen (fig. 110).

109. – A HAREM SUPPER.

Walking parties in Constantinople are regular picnics. On Sundays and Fridays people leave town provided with all sorts of refreshments. The sultans have constructed on some of the public walks overhanging terraces, which overlook pieces of water and form level plots of ground. Tumblers and conjurors, musicians and dancers give performances on these terraces. Picturesque knots of women clad in their white yaschmacs, which cover the whole face and only reveal the nose, are to be seen there. Long flowing overdresses of a thousand different hues envelope the rest of their figure.

The Turk may be lazy, but he is not at all unsociable, and many of his characteristics indicate a great deal of gentleness. Like the Indians and the ancient Egyptians, the Turks, and Easterns in general, have a great repugnance to the killing of animals. Dogs and cats abound and swarm in the streets of the large towns, but no measures are ever taken to prevent the multiplication and the running wild of these animals. In Constantinople flocks of pigeons fly hither and thither and levy, on the barges laden with wheat, a species of black mail that no one disputes with them. The banks of the canals are thickly peopled with aquatic animals, and their nests are safe even from the hands of children, in our country such cruel enemies to their broods. This forbearance is extended even to trees. If it is true that in China the law requires every land owner who fells a tree to plant one in its stead in another spot, it is equally true in Turkey that custom forbids an avaricious land owner from depriving either town or country of useful and wholesome shade. The wealthy townsmen make it a point of honour to embellish the public promenades with fountains and with resting places, both of which, on account of the frequency of ablutions and of prayers required by the Mahometan religion, are indispensable. Those who can only perceive in the Turkish nation coarseness, ignorance, and ferocity, have been deceived by the pride natural to a Mussulman, which is made the more offensive by his silent and sometimes abrupt manners; but the basis of the Mussulman character contains nothing to offend. The Turks are only what it is possible for them to be with their lamentable institutions and their faulty laws.

110. – TURKISH LADIES VISITING.

Their law we know is simply despotism, which is carried out from the sultan down to the lowest official, unchecked by any guarantee of equity or of justice to individuals. The sultan (padishah, meaning great lord) appoints and dismisses at pleasure every dignitary and every official: he is the master of their fortunes and of their life. But anarchy is rife in the kingdom, and the sultan’s authority is not always obeyed. Pachas have attacked and annihilated the troops sent to drive them from their governorships; others have been known to dispatch to Constantinople the head of the general sent to crush and degrade them.

The pachas are the governors of the provinces. Their rank is reckoned by the number of their standards or tails. They unite under one head the military and civil power, and by a still greater abuse, they are deputed to collect the taxes. They would be absolute sultans in their own provinces if the law did not leave the judicial authority in the hands of the cadis and the naïbs.

A pacha with three tails has, like the sultan, the power of life and death over all the agents he employs, and even over all who threaten public safety. He keeps up a military force, and marches at their head when called on by the sultan. A pacha has under his orders several beys, or lieutenant-governors.

The interior organization of Turkey may be described as a military despotism. The Turkish nation continues to administer its conquest as if it were a country taken by assault; it leads the life of an army encamped in the midst of a conquered state. Everybody and everything is the property of the sultan. Christians, Jews, and Armenians are merely the slaves of the victorious Ottoman. The sultan graciously allows them to live, but even this concession they are obliged to purchase by paying a tribute, the receipt for which bears these words: “In purchase of the head.”

The same principle is carried out in regard to land. The Turks have no proprietary rights; they merely enjoy the usufruct of their possessions. When they die without leaving a male child, the sultan inherits their property. Sons can only claim a tenth part of their paternal inheritance, and the fiscal officials are ordered to put an arbitrary value on this tenth part. The officers of the State do not even enjoy this incomplete right; at their death everything reverts to the sultan.

Under such laws, it is not to be wondered at if nobody cares to undertake expensive and lasting works. Instead of building, people collect jewels and wealth easy to carry off or to conceal.

The sultan, like a man embarrassed with such an abuse of power, shifts the cares of government on to the shoulders of the grand vizier.

The grand vizier is the lieutenant of the sultan. He is the commander-in-chief of the army, he manages the finances, and fills up all civil and military appointments.

But if the power of the grand vizier is limitless, his responsibility and the dangers he incurs are equally great. He must answer for all the State’s misfortunes and for all public calamities. The sword is always suspended over his head. Surrounded by snares, exposed to all the tricks of hatred and envy, he pays with the price of his life the misfortune of having displeased either the populace or the highest officials. The grand vizier has to govern the country, with the assistance of a state council (divan) composed of the principal ministers. The reiss effendi is the high chancellor of the empire, and the head of the corporation of the kodja, or men of letters. This corporation, which has managed to acquire a great political influence, contains at the present time some of the best informed men of the nation. The duty of watching over the preservation of the fundamental laws of the empire is entrusted to the ulema, or corporation of theological and legal doctors.

These laws are very short: they consist only of the Koran, and of the commentaries on the Koran drawn up by ancient pundits. The members of this corporation bear the title of ulemas, or effendis. They unite judicial to religious authority; they are at the same time the interpreters of religion, and the judges in all civil and criminal matters.

The mufti is the supreme head of the ulema. He is the head of the church. He represents the sultan’s vicar, as caliph or successor to Mahomet. The sultan can promulgate no law, make no declaration of war, institute no tax, without having obtained a fetfa, or approval from the mufti.

The mufti presents every year to the sultan the candidates for the leading judicial magistracies; these candidates are chosen from the members of the ulema. The post of mufti would be an excellent counterpoise to the authority of the sultan, if the latter had it not in his power to dismiss the mufti, to send him into exile, and even to condemn him to death.

The foregoing political and judicial organization seems at first sight very reasonable, and would appear to yield some guarantee to the subjects of the Porte. Dishonesty unfortunately prevents the regular progress of these administrative institutions. The venality of officials, their greed and their immorality, are such, that not the smallest post, not the slightest service, can be obtained without making them a present. Places, the judges’ decisions, and the witnesses’ evidence are all bought. False witnesses abound in no country in the shameless way they do in the Turkish empire, where the consequences of their perjury are the more frightful, since the cadi’s decision is without appeal. Justice is meted out in Turkey as it was meted out three hundred years ago among the nomadic tribes of the Osmanlis. After a few contradictory pieces of evidence, after a few oaths made on both sides, without any preliminary inquiry, and without any advocates, the cadi or simply the naïb, gives a decision, based upon some passage of the Koran. The penal code of this ignorant and hasty tribunal merely consists in fining the wealthy, in inflicting the bastinado on the common people, and in hanging criminals right out of hand.