The gypsies are idle, false, and treacherous. They have none of the manly virtues; and on account of their known cowardice, they were never pressed into military service by the Turks until last year, when a certain number of those settled in towns and villages were sent off as recruits. It was a picture worth seeing, when a band of these wild creatures was embarked at the town of S⸺. Guarded by a detachment of soldiers headed by a drum and clarionet, and followed by the whole tribe of old men, women, and children, screaming, crying, and dragging their rags after them, these doubtful warriors marched through the town. I asked an old crone how it was that the Chenguins had to go to war. “God knows,” was her reply; “it is the Sultan’s command and must be obeyed.”
The hatred shown by the Turks to the invaders of their country was so great, and their patriotism and bravery in defending her so conspicuous, that even this degenerate race became infected with a certain degree of the same devotion, and evinced a desire to go and fight for Allah and the Sultan, although at the last moment their natural cowardice proved too strong for them. Some mutilated their hands, others feigned sickness or insanity as an excuse for remaining behind, whilst those who actually reached the seat of war gave great trouble to their officers, did no service whatever, and deserted whenever a chance presented itself.
The class of gypsies living in towns is slightly better and more respectable as a community. They generally occupy hovels built round a court, in which they take shelter during the night; but during the day, in winter or summer, they live out of doors. A great part of their time is spent lounging about the court, hammering at their forges, smoking or quarrelling, while the girls listlessly parade the streets, and the children beg or fall into any mischief that presents itself. They are never sent to school, and I do not think there is a single person of either sex who is able to write a word of any language.
The gypsies settled in the villages take to field work as far as their roving habits and thievish propensities allow them. These are either chiftjis, who work regularly, or ailikjis, who do odd jobs. They present a strong contrast to the rest of the rural population in their thriftlessness and want of care for the morrow. They are so careless of health that an aged gypsy is rarely met with. As laborers they are very unsatisfactory, and require much supervision from their employers. No gypsy ever becomes wealthy or respectable; as a class they are always in debt.
The whole tribe is a curious mixture of the human and the animal: it is endowed with the scent of the dog, the cunning of the monkey, and the form and vices, but none of the virtues apparently, of mankind.
CHAPTER VII.
TENURE OF LAND.
Three Classes of Lands in Turkey—Vakouf Lands, their Origin and Growth—Turkish Equivalent of Mortmain—Privileges of Tenants on Vakouf Land—Maladministration—Corruption of Charity Agents and Government Inspectors—General System of Embezzlement—Sultan Mahmoud’s Attempted Reform—Insufficiency of Vakouf Revenues as administered; Supplemented by State—General Decay of Vakouf Property, Mosques, Medressés, and Imarets—Misapplication of Vakouf Funds intended for the Support of the Public Water-supply—Mirié Lands, Government Grants, Military Proprietors, Growth of a Feudal System—Miserable Condition of the Rayahs—Anxiety of the Porte—Destruction of the Feudal System by Mahmoud and Abdul-Medjid—Reduction of the Bosnian and Albanian Beys—Present Condition of the Country Beys—Mirié Lands reclaimed from the Waste—Title-Inspectors—A Waste-Land Abuse—Similar Difficulties in Connection with Ordinary Mirié Tenure—Mulk or Freehold Lands—Their Small Extent—Difficulty of Establishing Safe Titles—Descent and Transfer of Land—Tenure of Land by Christians and by Foreign Subjects—Commons and Forests—The Inspectors of the Forest Department.
Regarded from a conveyancer’s point of view, land in Turkey is of three kinds: mevkoufé (or vakouf), “church” property; mirié, crown property; and mulk or memlouké, freehold.
1. Vakouf lands are those set aside for the support of the religious establishments, the mosques, medressés (or mosque-colleges) and other religious schools, and the imarets, or institutions for public almsgiving. The appropriation of a just part of a man’s wealth for purposes of religion and charity is one of the most constantly reiterated principles of Islam, and, to the credit of Moslems be it said, it is a principle very regularly reduced to practice. It is not surprising, therefore, that on the conquest of European Turkey a large share of land was set apart “for God.” But this original grant was not the only source of the present large extent of vakouf lands. Private munificence has constantly added to the original foundation. The piety of some Moslems and the vain-glory of others has ever been displayed in the erection and endowment of mosques, with their attendant medressés and imarets. In the one case it was a sure key to heaven; in the other, it was the best way to get the praises of men of one’s own generation and the admiration of posterity. Formerly ordinary people used frequently to indulge in this architectural luxury; but, during the present century, only Sultans and Grand Vizirs have found the practice convenient.
Besides the original grant and the private additions which each century contributed, vakouf lands have been greatly increased from a third source. The people of Turkey seem to have duly appreciated those privileges against which our own mortmain laws were directed. The parallel is not indeed strictly accurate, but there are strong points of resemblance. A Moslem (or, for that matter, a Christian) sells his land to a mosque for about one-tenth of its real value. The land is now the property of the mosque, but the seller has the right of lease, and may retain his tenancy on payment of a fixed rent. During his life he may sell the lease, or at his death it passes on to his heirs; but in default of direct descendants the lease reverts absolutely to the mosque.[5] By this transaction both parties are the gainers, and only the Government and its corrupt officials the losers.