The manufactory was clean, and great order prevailed in the arrangements. Forty thousand pairs of boots had been made during the previous two months, my companion had received instructions from the authorities to forward 12,000 more to Erzeroum. The order had only just been issued, and was urgent. The result was that the leather which under ordinary circumstances would have been left in the tan for four months could only be soaked for five weeks. The major complained that he had not been supplied either with a machine to triturate the bark, or with a steam cutter's machine, which would have very much facilitated the work.
"I have written to the authorities at Constantinople about the matter," remarked the officer; "a reply has come to say that the articles in question are on their way. They will probably arrive when the war is over," added the officer despondently. "In the meantime some of our soldiers will have to march barefoot."
The thread used in the manufacture came from an English firm, Finlayson, Bousfield, and Co., of Glasgow; and the officer, as he showed me some of the packets, observed,—"that formerly he had been supplied with French thread. It was a little cheaper than the sort now employed; but after some trials he had discovered that the English article was three times as durable, and consequently far more economical in the long-run."
The boots manufactured in the establishment were made to lace high up over the ancle, and with very thick soles. They are much heavier than those furnished to English troops, and would be apt to tire the soldiers during a long day's march. In one room a number of Armenian and Turkish lads were working sewing-machines.
All the hands in the manufactory were paid by piecework. The boys could earn from one to five piastres per day, and some of the men forty. Owing to the pressure of business, the work-people were employed sixteen hours per day, fourteen hours in the manufactory, and two at drill.
I now went to the gaol. Here there were nineteen prisoners. They were made up of seventeen Mohammedans and two Christians; the latter had been arrested, one for coining money, the other for murdering his wife. Whilst walking through the building, I heard a great noise in one of the cells, and a woman's voice.
"What is she doing?" I inquired of the gaoler.
"Effendi, it is a curious case," said the man; "she has a husband, but is very much in love with a young Armenian shopkeeper. The latter is a married man, and does not return the enamoured female's affection; however, she is continually leaving her husband's house and invading the Armenian's premises. The husband became annoyed and complained—he thinks that the Armenian encourages his wife. Any how," continued the official, "the affair created a scandal, the Cadi did not like it; he has ordered the woman to be shut up for a day or two, and the Armenian as well."
"What, together?"
"No, Effendi, apart; it is rather hard upon the man," he added; "but who knows? perhaps he encouraged her."