The Armenian newspapers, probably instigated by Russian agents, had declared that the Turkish troops stationed in Van had first set fire to the bazaar, and then pillaged it in the confusion. The commissioner, after the most searching inquiries, was unable to discover that the troops were in any way implicated in the affair. Several Armenians kept petroleum and lucifer matches in their warehouses: his idea was that the fire originated either by spontaneous combustion, or through some one accidentally dropping a lighted match.
The soldiers had been called out to help to extinguish the fire. Thinking that the men might have stolen something during the conflagration, the commissioner asked the commander to issue an order for all the garrison to march to Erzeroum on the following morning. This was done. Shortly afterwards the different battalions left the town. The commissioner, accompanied by some Armenian merchants, met the troops on the road. The soldiers' baggage was then searched, and each man in succession. Nothing was found which could in any way connect the troops with the robbery.
CHAPTER XXVII.
An extempore market—Carbonate of soda—The population—The Pacha's salary—The Commander's pay—The Hungarian doctor's contract—The Armenian church—An inscription—A heathen temple—The Armenian clergy—Their different grades—The monks—The two Patriarchs—The Catolicos—The meira—The miraculous power of the Catolicos—The miracle turned into £ s. d.—Baptismal and burial fees—Prayers for the dead—A curious tradition—King Abgar the leper—The journey from Van—The mirage—Gull—Paz—Tishikoomlekui—Ardisch—A Kurdish girl—A strange custom.
I now walked to an extempore market which the Armenians are making use of until the old one is reconstructed. With the exception of quantities of rough silk brought from Persia, raw cotton, and carbonate of soda, which had been taken from the lake, there was literally nothing to see.
It was said that there were 20,000 inhabitants in the town; I am inclined to believe that the number has been exaggerated. The market-place which had been destroyed by fire stood on a very small area of ground. The impression conveyed to my mind was that the whole town did not contain above 16,000 inhabitants. The Pacha receives a yearly salary of 2200 liras, and is paid in gold. The other officials are not so fortunate; the pay of the commander of the garrison only amounted to 20l. a month, and was always several months in arrear; in addition to this he was paid in Turkish banknotes. The Hungarian had a contract with the Government; his pay amounted to 17l. per month, and had to be given him in gold; in consequence of this, he was quite as well off as the commander.
From the market-place I went to the Armenian church, which stands in the middle of the town. It consists of several rooms, one of them being very much like a wooden barn, the others are built of stone with arched roofs. There was nothing to be seen in the building save a few tawdry pictures of saints; it was carpeted in the same way as the Turkish mosques. The priest who accompanied us, raising a curtain, showed me an inscription in cuneiform characters cut in the stone.
"This part of the building is very old," he said; "it was formerly a heathen temple."
"How old?" I inquired.