ARMENIANS
Adjoining Kurdistan lies Armenia, but it is difficult to determine where the one begins and the other ends, as during the time of the Armenian troubles the Sultan decreed that no such place as Armenia should exist, and vast stretches of country inhabited by Armenians were officially incorporated in the villayets, or provinces, of Kurdistan and others.
So determined was the Sultan to blot out the name he hated that the censors were ordered to prohibit or deface all books having reference to Armenia, and the writer of these lines had unpleasant experiences at the Custom-house where a number of his books were mutilated; Keith Johnston's book on "Geography," for instance, had ten pages torn out.
But in spite of Imperial edicts, Armenia still exists, and will continue to do so as long as Mount Ararat stands as a monument in the land to proclaim an antiquity claimed to be coeval with Noah.
The traditions of the Deluge are still cherished by the Armenians, who yearly celebrate the exit from the Ark, and symbolize it in their national pudding, called the anoosh aboor, or sweet pudding. This consists of as many varieties of dried fruits as they can collect, which they mix together and stew, in imitation, it is alleged, of Noah, who did the same with the remnants of the provisions he had stored in the Ark. On this occasion they also sprinkle water on each other's faces, to denote the flood, and liberate captive doves and make cakes to represent birds.
Tradition also maintains that it was in Armenia, on the southern slopes of Ararat, still rich in vines and olive-yards, that Noah planted the first vineyard. A withered root of one of the plants is still exhibited to show the result of the Divine malediction on the vine which occasioned his drunkenness.
Armenia has passed through a number of vicissitudes, and frequently changed masters, and, owing to its geographical position, has often been the highway for the passage of opposing armies. It was the first country that officially embraced Christianity, their Sovereign, Tigranes, having been converted at the end of the third century by Gregory the Illuminator, and the Armenian Church has since been called the Gregorian. Armenia fell under the sword of the Moslem powers, and many of its inhabitants were compelled to turn Mahomedans, but as a whole they bravely maintained their faith and worship, notwithstanding persecutions. They have a language and an alphabet of their own, the latter consisting of thirty-eight letters, and expressing so many sounds that it is often used with advantage in writing Turkish also. The language spoken by the people principally is Turkish, while that used in the Church services is Ancient Armenian, which is not understood by the illiterate, but efforts are now made to revive the use of Modern Armenian, and it is being taught in their schools, and spoken more extensively.
Armenia is to-day portioned between Russia, Persia, and Turkey, the latter ruling over the largest share. The population of the Turkish section is probably about 1,000,000, but about as many, if not more, are spread about other portions of the Empire, and Constantinople holds 150,000.
The Armenians are of medium height, but broad-shouldered and of powerful build; their complexion is swarthy, their hair black, and they can grow magnificent beards. Their eyes are black, and their nose aquiline, or eagle-beaked. This latter characteristic is very marked, and can be traced back to the coins of Tigranes, and of their earliest sovereigns. Their habits are indolent, and years of servitude have made them timid, and until quite recently they appeared so infatuated with their masters that their highest ambition seemed to be to ape them. They have been described as "having no high feeling, no emulation, no enthusiasm, no longing for a place among nations, no aspirations after the bright and the beautiful." But now all this has changed—at least with the educated people—and ecclesiastically, as well as socially, they have aspirations for an improvement in their condition. They have great business capacities, and show some aptitude in the arts, especially in weaving and embroidery, but have little initiative. They are naturally devout and kind-hearted, especially to animals, and ill-treatment of the latter is considered as deserving ecclesiastical censure, a case being on record where a priest imposed a fast of twenty years upon a woman for killing her cat.
Villagers and Armenians from the interior are remarkable for their honesty, and have been entrusted for generations with the guardianship of merchants' offices, banks, shops, and the surveillance of public establishments.
Their inducements to faithfulness are strengthened by their conviction that honesty is the best policy, for as a result of their proverbial trustworthiness their functions have come to be regarded as hereditary, and when one servant dies or returns to his family, he is replaced by his son, or brother, or near relative. There is thus solidarity between the members of a family, and even between the citizens of a town, for there are some towns—Mush, for instance—that hold the palm for the integrity of its inhabitants.
An occupation, akin to the previous one, held by Armenians, in common with Turks of Asia Minor, is that of porterage, an institution of the greatest importance, especially in Constantinople, where the narrowness or steepness of the streets often prevents wheeled conveyance.
These porters, known under the name of hamals, carry their burden on their back by means of a leather cushion, which is strapped over their shoulders, and called a semer, or saddle (see illustration, "In the Grand Bazaar," Chapter IV.), and it is extraordinary what weight and bulk they can carry. The object to be carried, if heavy, is lifted by one or two companions, and rested on the semer, while the wearer stoops forward to receive it.
Great care is necessary to poise and balance it properly, as the secret of lifting lies in the correct adjustment—an art which with the hamals seems instinctive. A short rope is then thrown over the burden, and the ends are held by the porter so as to prevent the burden from slipping as he proceeds on his way with heavy but steady steps. Should the road be steep, he will generally find resting-stones, which have been placed at regular intervals, where he can lean his burden without removing it, and obtain a brief repose. The placing of these resting-stones is considered a meritorious act among Moslems, and finds its equivalent in the Rest-and-be-Thankful Stones to be met with in many places in this country, where the weary traveller sits and blesses the donor.
It is an interesting study to watch the muscles of the hamal's legs distend and his veins dilate as, nearly bent in two, he treads leisurely along, groaning under a weight which it would take two ordinary men to carry.
Conveying a piano, for instance, is no unusual occurrence, and on one occasion the writer had coals conveyed to his house, situated on a hill, and about three miles from the ship, at the same price as they would have been conveyed by horses, each hamal carrying half a horseload. A hamal's carrying capacity may therefore be expressed, after this experience, as equal to a half horse-power.
