Those cordons and quarantine, together with the extraordinary precautions, taken by the hitherto immovable Turk, with regard to cholera that was still far away and in an entirely different direction, were a mystery to all, although every person knew that the ostensible purpose was not the real one. Now that the tidings from Moosh have come in, the mystery of the series of cordons between here and Harpoot is explained. There is very strong evidence that a general massacre or a series of massacres of Christians has been understood by the local governments to be the order of the day. It is not likely that a definite order to that effect has been given out from the Capitol, but multitudes of recent events go to show that the everlasting persecutions and annoyances, and the methods used in past times to grind down the Christians, have come to be regarded as insufficient. Everywhere there is an activity, a watchfulness, and an energy displayed by the government in the recent efforts to encompass the Christians and to cut off their name and existence, that point to a newly formed plan to be put into execution with as little waste of time as possible. Woe to the poor remnant in this land if the European and American governments disregard recent events in Turkey! Christian nations in that case, even if they do not directly participate in what will certainly follow sooner or later, cannot be held guiltless of the blood of their fellow-men....
Another case in which I was concerned has gone the same way. Last spring a Protestant woman in Y. was assaulted and violated by three Turks. They were tried in F. and found guilty; but that infamous court in S., under the influence of the still more infamous Mutesarif (Governor), having recently reviewed the case, reversed the original judgment and released the guilty. There is no remedy. No appeal can be made. The only thing that can be done is to prosecute the court in S., but that, in the present state of things, would be utterly useless. The result will be that such crimes will become more frequent than ever—the perpetrators feeling confident that there is very little likelihood of punishment being meted out to them.
The government pretends to look with special suspicion on H. just now. The Vali (Governor-General) claims there are secret societies here. I told him there is nothing of the kind in H. now. The poor people are afraid to open their mouths or to go out of their houses. You can scarcely conceive the change that has come over the people within the past few months. Terror and amazement have taken hold of them to such an extent as to become manifest in their countenances even. All arms and weapons are being taken from the people here these days.
The Kaimakam (local Governor) and other officers walk the streets and the K. road every night. Attempts have been made by officers and soldiers to draw Christians into a quarrel, but they have hitherto failed. One night this week, the Commissaire (Chief of Police) without any provocation fired three times at a Christian, but the other offered no resistance. Moslem officers are taking possession of the property of Christians and doing just as they please without regard to law or justice....
The church and school in O. have been closed and for two months now the people have not been allowed to come together for worship. They are forbidden even to have prayers offered in their houses.
CHAPTER II.
GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT EASTERN TURKEY.
In order that the ordinary reader may grasp the situation in Armenia, information is given at this point in regard to the country itself, its administration, the elements that compose the population, and their relations to one another.
The massacre took place in the mountainous Sassoun district just south of Moosh, two days’ ride west of Bitlis, a large city where the Provincial-Governor and a permanent military force reside. It is near the western end of Lake Van, about eight hundred miles east of Constantinople, two hundred and fifty miles south of Trebizond on the Black Sea, and only one hundred and fifty miles from the Russian and Persian frontiers of Asiatic Turkey. These distances do not seem great until the difficulties of travel are considered. The roads are, in most cases, bridle paths, impassable for vehicles, without bridges, infested with highwaymen, and unprovided with lodging-places. It is, therefore, necessary to go to the expense of hiring government guards, and to burden oneself with all articles likely to be needed on the way—tents, food supplies, cooking utensils, beds, etc., which also imply cooks, baggage horses, and grooms. Thus equipped, it is possible, after obtaining the necessary government permits, often a matter of vexatious delay, to move about the country. The ordinary rate is from twenty to thirty miles a day. With a good horse and no baggage I have gone three hundred and fifty miles, from Harpoot to Van, in eight days, but that was quite exceptional. In spring, swollen streams and mud; in summer, oppressive heat; and in winter, storms, are serious impediments. In the neighborhood of Bitlis the telegraph poles are sometimes buried, and horses cannot be taken out of the stables on account of the snow. The mails are often weeks behind, both in arriving and departing, and even Turkish lightning seems to be yavash, and crawl sluggishly along the wires.
Turkish Armenia—by the way, “Armenia” is a name prohibited in Turkey—is a large plateau quadrangular in shape, and sixty thousand square miles in area, about the size of Iowa. It is bounded on the north by the Russian frontier, a line from the Black Sea to Mount Ararat, by Persia on the east, the Mesopotamian plain on the south, and Asia Minor on the west. It contains about six hundred thousand Armenians, which is only one fourth the number found in all Turkey. The surface is rough, consisting of valleys and plains from four to six thousand feet above sea-level, broken and shut in by bristling peaks and mountain ranges, from ten to seventeen thousand feet high, as in the case of Ararat. Ancient Armenia greatly varied in extent at different epochs, reaching to the Caspian at one time, and even bordering on the Mediterranean Sea during the Crusades. It included the Southern Caucasus, which now contains a large, growing, prosperous, and happy Armenian population under the Czar, whose government allows them the free exercise of their ancestral religion, and admits them to many high civil and military positions. The Armenians now number about four million, of whom two million five hundred thousand are in Turkey, one million two hundred and fifty thousand in Russia, one hundred and fifty thousand in Persia and other parts of Asia, one hundred thousand scattered through Europe, and five thousand in the United States.
The scenery, while harsh, owing to the lack of verdure, is on a grand scale. Around the shores of the great Van Lake are many views of entrancing beauty. The climate is temperate and the atmosphere brilliant and stimulating. It is a dry, treeless region, but fertile under irrigation, and abounding in mineral wealth, including coal. Owing to primitive methods of agriculture, and to danger while reaping and even planting crops, only a small part is under cultivation, and frequent famines are the result. The mineral resources are entirely untouched, because the Turks lack both capital and brains to develop them, and prevent foreigners from doing it lest this might open the door for further European inspection and interference with their methods of administering the country.