CHAPTER II.
The Mohammedan school—The Governor—The Schoolmaster—His impertinence—An Armenian song—The Russians at Tiflis—Are the Russians so very degraded?—The Hodja, or Schoolmaster—He is put in prison—The fanatics amongst the Turks—A school required for Hodjas—Qualified teachers wanted—Do the Turks insult your religion?—Malattia—A cross tied to the tail of a dog—We want newspapers—Even they contradict each other—The streets are slippery—The precipices—Shephe—The Kurds—Few Zaptiehs in the province—Hara Bazar—The village of Ashoot—Arab horses—Deserters—The Usebashe—God is evidently on our side.
From the barracks we rode to the Mohammedan school. Here there were about thirty boys, all squatting on the floor, and engaged in spelling verses of the Koran. A few badly-drawn maps of the different quarters of the world were hung round the whitewashed walls. The governor accompanied me to the school-room. On his entrance the boys at once stood up and salaamed. The Hodja schoolmaster made a gesture, as if he too would rise; but then, seeing me, his countenance changed. He sank back into a sitting position.
"This is done to show his contempt of you as a giaour," whispered an Armenian. "This is how he insults us Christians."
The Caimacan turned a little red when he saw the schoolmaster thus seated in his presence. However, he did not make any remark, but accompanied me to the Armenian school.
There were about a hundred boys in the establishment. The moment I arrived they commenced an Armenian song, headed by one of the masters—an elderly gentleman, who sang through his nose. A performer on an ancient harpsichord, which from its signs of age might have belonged to Queen Anne, accompanied the vocalists. The words, I was informed, were about the glories of Armenia, what a fine nation the Armenians were, and how some day Armenia will lift up her head once more. My host interpreted to me these verses.
"Do you think that Armenia will ever be independent?" I inquired.
He shook his head.
"Russia will very likely be here in a year or two, and then we shall be much more oppressed than we are at present. Why, the Russian Government will not allow this song to be sung in our schools at Tiflis. Everything is done to make my fellow-countrymen in the Caucasus forget their own language and nationality, and to thoroughly Russify them. If the Russians were to come here, our religion would soon disappear," he continued.
"But some of your priests rather like the Russians?"