CIRCASSIANS, LAZES, AND KURDS
Passing over to Asia Minor, we come across groups of a very interesting race called the Circassian.
Inhabiting originally the belt of lofty mountains which run from the Black Sea to the Caspian, they were conquered in 1864 by the Russians, after nearly a century of resistance, and no less than half a million were expelled, and received hospitality in Turkey.
This welcome was extended, not only because the exiles were Moslems, but also because that country, remarkable for the beauty of its women, had hitherto supplied the Turkish slave-market with wives for the Palace and the Grandees. The vendors were their own fathers or guardians, who by this method secured, not only a substantial profit for themselves, but also provided comfortable homes and even royalty for their daughters.
With so much Circassian blood in their veins, it was natural that the Turks should show themselves sympathetic toward these poor fugitives, and find settlements for them in various parts of their dominion. Moreover, in doing so they kept up the market for wives; for although slavery is officially abolished in Turkey, there is still an underhand commerce with the Circassian colonists for the disposal of their daughters as aforesaid. However revolting this transaction may appear to us, it is consistent with the customs prevalent in Circassia itself, where a suitor is expected to buy his intended from her father. But there, at least, he must further arrange to run away with her, an undertaking which is not so easy if the young lady does not consent.
The characteristics of Circassians are their small and beautifully shaped hands and feet, the grace and agility of their movements, and their clear complexion.
They are temperate in their habits, and frugal, their national meal consisting of millet boiled in mutton fat.
The Circassians are splendid horsemen, but are rather lax about their perception of what is mine or thine; indeed, their Tartar name, tcherkes, implies a "robber." They are entirely uneducated.
The following pretty Circassian custom came under my personal notice. It was an application made by one of their chiefs to my father for intervention on his behalf with Government for the extension of a grant of land. The letter in question was addressed to "Pasta Baba"—i.e., the father of bread—a name by which my father was known through distributing charitable subscriptions raised in Great Britain; it was sent by a special messenger, and was attached to the wings of a snow-white pigeon. A gift of a few geese of spotless purity accompanied it. The petition was duly transmitted to Government, and the request granted.
There is a Turkish saying that the Almighty assigned the sovereignty of the land to the Moslem, but that of the sea to the Giaours, or Infidels.
But among the subject races of Turkey there is one which has distinguished itself for its intrepidity on the water and the fearlessness with which it navigates the Black Sea—a sea well deserving its sinister epithet. The Lazes occupy the eastern and south-eastern shores of the Black Sea, and their sailing-boats and ships do the coasting trade between these regions and Constantinople. Like all mariners of olden days, they cease navigating the seas during the winter, and draw up their lighter boats on the beach, and anchor their heavier ones in harbours. The lighter boats are styled tchektermes, and are from 30 to 50 feet in length, with sharp, beaky prow and stern. They carry a long bowsprit, with one or two jib-sails hoisted from a short mast, placed nearer the bows than the stern. A long boom, attached obliquely to the mast, serves to support an enormous sail, which, when the boat is on the tack, bellies out to such a remarkable extent that it resembles the section of a balloon. Yet notwithstanding this departure from the principles of sailing, tchektermes can run close up to the eye of the wind, and are very swift in their movements. A faint idea of this sort of sail is given in the picture of the lighter in the illustration of "The Bridge from Galata" in the frontispiece.
