The New York Herald Newspaper, August 20, 1870, Page 11

} = 7 FROM BAGDAD TO ALEPPO. A Thousand Miles ‘Travel "Yntowgh Asiatic Turkey. yne Fleins of Shinar and Ur of ; the Chaldeos, Whe Pains and Pleasures of @ : Cayvayan Journey. HE PERILS OF THE WAYSIDE Auerpo, May 15, 1870. ‘Two months ago-I waa in Bagdad, pacing up anddown the terrace or roof-top of the house fy which I was steying, earnestly engaged Mf settling by what route f£ should return civilization. Frem India I had reached th$ City of tho Caliphs without diffioulty on ~the friendly deck of the steamboat; but to go back by the same road was, of course, not to be thought of, and each of the three routes overland from Bagdad to the Syriau coast pre- sented such tedious and terrible combinations of danger, privation and fatigue that one might well pause before making his choice from among them. First, there was the direct route across the desert to Damascus, a distance of only 600 miles, which might possibly bd accomplished in twelve or fif- teen days on the back of a fast camel. Everyone, however, pronouneed this journey to be impessi- ble for a European in mid-winter, while, in favor- able weather, it is very hagardous. The cold in the desert would be intease, and we should be unable to carry even the smallest of tents to protect ourselves from the rains, which would pro- Dbably be both frequent and heavy. Night and Gay, with perhaps a halt of three hours in the twenty-four for sleep and food, the guide and the traveller together perched onthe hump of the game animal, would have to plod wearily on in tile face of piercing winter winds or beneatha pitiless shower. Then there was a very great chance of our being captared by the Bedouin, who would treat ua as they have treaied many other unfortunate travellere—strip us to tho skin and leave us in the middle of the desert to die. A safe conduct might be purchased from the agent of Abdul Kerim, the sheikh of the most powerful of the tribes, the Shammar, but that would be of no use whatever during at leaste third of our journey. #0 peri/ous, indeed, is this road, that very few caravans now go between Bagdad and Da- Maseus; goods are sent all the way round the out- side of the desert to Aleppo. This latter was the wecond route available, and a caravan of a thonsand camels was preparing for the jour- ney at the time. It would traverse the outer ting of the desert, and, as there would be very little grass, would push on as fast as possible, and perhaps reach Aleppo im thirty- five or forty days. This was % tempting route, and had there been any prospect of au carly start would have been the one selected. Bat theleader of the caravan, after promising two or three times that he would leave in four or five duys, confensed that he might not perhaps be able te arrange his affairs for another moath—a delay altogether out of the question. Lastly, there was the route of the Turkish mait,via Morul and Diarbekir, te Aleppo— 1,090 miles in leagth and by no means perfectly safe, buf still, under the circumstances, the best that could be taken. Less than a dozen Ruropean traveilers probably traverse it in the course of the year.’ In fact, during the lavt six months only three have passed over it. It is Tor this reason, However, all the more iutercsting. One enjoys sn opportunity in such @ tour of studying Oriental manners and habits unmodified by intercourse with the Frank. Perhaps it is-as well to add that nearly the entire country through which this road passés is known as Koordisiau. PREPARATIONS FOR THH JOURNEY. From Bagdad to Mosul I hada compagnon du voyage, aa English-speaking, Polish refugee, who for the last ten years has been in the Turkish ser- vice asa telegraph inspector. This gentleman was moving himself and his effects to Diarbekir. Our united baggage aud servante made up a small caravan of a dozen mules and horses, and al though, when we atarted, we believed the road to be tolerably quiet, we procered a small escort of five mounted soldiers, so that altogether our party presented quite an imposing appearance. A atart, however, in Asia, is a very difficult operation. There isa proverb here that to get outside the city gates isa good firat day’s journey. And s0 indeed itis.’ To travel at all you must procure a special teskereh from the. Pacha,a huge manu- acript pasaport, with a big seal at the bottom, setting forth your name and profession, and call- | ing upon tho inhabitants of the villages om your route to give you gratuitous lodging and food for yourself and barley for your horses, while it com- taands the various local authorities to provide as many men as. may be hc haat for a protecting escort. The “gratuitous” part of the document fs, of course, a mere flower of rhetoric, and is simply inserted to protect you from the ex- fortionate demands of villagers, who might take some outrageous advantage of your necessi- ties if you were wholly in their power. Having got your teskereb, you make the otlier necessary provisions for your journey. You will have to earry with you nearly everything you may have occasion te use—your bed and blankets, your cooking pots and water skins; your little carpet and cushions—all the thousand and one things of which in civilized countries you could procure the loan at the poorest cottage. Rising at daylireak, we did our best t> get off as carly as possible, but it was already two o'clock when everything had been packed, and when the zabadeers, having tun away a dozen times to take a farewell kiss from their wives and to promise hulwa to their children when they returned enriched with the vacksheesh to be given them by the Frank effendis, were all in the saddle. Then came along detention at the gate by the officer of customs, who only let us pass aftér bemg pacified with a handsome douceur, For, in Turkey, there is a system of octroi duties, and one may, perhaps, in passing through the country have to pay a dozen duties on some one excisable article—a dutyin each province. The first day we stopped at Faragat, a village only five miles from Bagdad, at th@ house of the Minister of Agriculture, a Pole in the service of the Pacha, CARAVAN TRAVEL. Next day we began our journey in serious ear- nest, and settled down into the ordinary routine of caravan travel, Rising always an hour before daybreak, and sometimes ear.ier, a morsel of bread and a thimbleful of cofiee constituted breakfast. ‘Tho meal finished, the carpets on which we had heen sitting, the cups from which we had drunk, the kettle in which the water had been boiled, were gathered up, and everything declared ready for packing. Until this announce- ment ie made the caravanjeo or muleteers will Toad nothing; they might, of course, begin to pack their animals while one is breakfasting, with such things as may bo ready; but it is the eustom of the country to wait until everything is given to iliem-—a custom from which even the hope of backsheesh wiil not induos them to swerve. And what @ business thet packing is! I have watched day after day for six or seven weeke the same noisy, confused scene of kicking mules and swear. NEW YORK HERALD, SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 1870.—TRIPLE SHEKT. ing men, diversified only by the occasional break- age of a bale or @ saddle bag, until I know it by heart. It is by far the most fatiguing part of the day’s work, aad is rarely accom- plished under @ couple of bhoura. After two or three days’ travelling this mule falls Lame or that ane gets a sare back, and @ general redistribution of theburdena takes place. From that time for- ward each day witmess:a a new arrangement, each change occasioning a general debate among the muleteers, with piteous appeals to the traveller to remember that he is killing with overwork the animals of thé poorest of mon. The Turks say that caravanjees axe the greatest rogues in the country, and this is no doubt true. But it must be remembered that these men lead the hardest of all. poasible lives. Year after year they tramp along the same weary rods, from Bagdad to Samsoon, from Aleppo to Mosul, or perhaps even to Constantinople, walking generally twenty or twenty-five miles a day, breakiasting on «few cakes of bread, warmed over a fire of dried cow- dung, and dining upowa dish of hoiledvice. Their pay is very small, From Bagdad to Mosul, three hundyed miles, or twelve days’ Journey, you can hire three mules and a driver for twenty dollars, the muleteer feeding himself and his animals. That is about half 9 dollar oa day for each mote, with the mau thrown in, It is perhaps, therefore, only natural that his scent for backsbeesh should be keen, and that he should now and then perpetrate a little mild cheating. Some of the caravanjoes grow rich; they add slowly to the number of their animals until per- haps they own 100, and employ twenty or thirty drivers. The earavan business, however, grows worse and worse every year, owing to the differ- ont channels which the Eastern trade is now taking. Formerly all the Buropean trade with Bagded was done by caravans to Aleppo and Damascus; single caravans of fivo or six thou- sand camels, mules and horses, with an escort of 200 men, were not uncommon, But now the greater part of this commerco is done by the steamship lines to Bussorah, and the caravans have dwindled down to comparatively contempti- ble proportions, It is estimated that 1,000 mules or 700 camels are required to transport the cargo of a vessel of 500 tons. Packing at length finished, the mules fall into line, the travellers mount and take their place at the head of the caravan, the soldiers jump into tie saddle and the day's journey begins. The pace is frightfally slow, never exceeding three or four miles an hour, Progress, however, is steady, if not speedy. A halt is made at the completion of the half of the journey, or, rather, at the nearest water to tht point, in order to lot the auimels wash the dust out of their mouths; but that is all. The caravan crawls along, indeed, with the persistence of destiny, and a¢ one looks at it painfully traversing some long stretch of level road overy image of patience and continuous effort—the travelling tortoise, a kingdom of ants, a colony of spiders—rises spontancously in one’s mind. The distance traversed is generally about twenty-five or thirty miles a day, butts reckoned by time, not by measured length. An Arab says “itisso many hours. (not miles or leagues) to such a place.” And there ave different varieties of hours. The Turkish official hour, according to which post distances are reckoned, is almost ex- actly three miles; the Camel hour ts only alittle more than two, and the Koordish hour, as it is called, is more than four. In asking your position you must always ask also the kind of hours in which your informant is reckoning. INFLUBNCE OF THB CARAVAN UPON NATIONAL CHARACTER. Perhaps the Orieatal calm and patience and “laiznesw which all travellers have remarked, is owing chiefly to the Oriental mode of travelling. During the winter a day’s journey is necessarily fixed, not by the capacity of the animals, but by the village nearest te what ought to bea day's journey. From Bagdad to Mosul, for instance, it sometines happens that in a distance of fifty miles you will only passa single village. That village may, perhaps, he only fifteen miles from the point beaten earth, amd generally uneven, and tho heuse contained but a single chamber, bali of which was appropriated by the horses and mules | and goats and dovkeys—the live stock wealth of of departure, but you are perforce obliged to stay | there, because your beasts could not possibly push on another thirty-five. In summer, travelling is regulated even more rigidly by the position of the wells and rivers. So that you are never at liberty to go.as quickly as the animals might carry you; many days you are only abie to get over four or five hours of road, and as you still start at dawn you reach your camping place before noon, To an Asiatic this is no sources of frritation, but an American frets and chafes over the waste of time, even though the delay gives him a pleasant afternoon’s shooting. The Turk or Arab or Koord takes the matter qnictly, as a decree of destiny, and settles himself in his quarters upon his carpets and cushions, consoling himself with the never-failing balm of a nargheelah or a ehiboque, and innumerable oups of coffee, Itis only natural, isn’t it, that a people thus strictly and palpably confined by circumstances to ® particular course in one fleld of action should succumb to difficulties in other matters without struggling very violently to overcome them? But let a railroad once pierce the country, let the Asiatic oace be convinced—as the iron horse has already convinced the Wuropean—of the vast power which man can acquire over nature, and this ready submission to the appa- rently unalterable will give place to spirited and energetic effort. The statesmen of Europe have already tried unsuccessfully many remedies to restore the ‘‘sick man’? to health and vigor. Waen they become wise they will adopt the one great and unfailing measure of American national hygiene—the locomotive. The locomotive, and the locomotive alone, can regenerate Turkey. THR PLUASC#R3 OF CARAVAN TRAVEL. But I should be nagrateful if I were to report caravan travel as simply tedions and wholly disa- greeable. In spite of its slowness, inspite of many inconveniences whieh I shall detail below, in spite of the monotony of the scenery through which I have passed, the journey has been a very enjoyable one. I left Bagdad a sick mow, [have arrived at Aleppo in the best I- have ever known. A traveller who has once made x month's caravan journey, in- deed, understands perfectly the readiness with which in the middle ages people started on long pilgrimages, and uideretands farther the causes which led to the miraculons enres of disease fre- quently reported as tue result of them. After a few days the fresh air, the moderate exercise, the temperate meuls, the utter isolation from care and anxiety of every kind, bring one iwto splendid physicat coudiion. One becomes not simply cheerful, but joyous; the spirits are intoxicated with the pleasare of merely living; ple exist- ence grows into being the greatest happiness one can taste. Perhaps, aiter all, the people of the country, all of whom are forced to be nearly every day in the saddie, are not much to be pitied. They fare hardly and are poorly lodged; they age plundered by the government and in- suited and beaten by its officials; but, at least, they aro the healthiost race to be met with the wide world over. Ihave seen daily for the past two montus handgeds of men who would be very foolish to step into the shoes of eertain confirmed dyspoptic millionnaires whom it has also been my ill fortune to have encountered. There is still hope for Turkey. The digestive facaltios of the great mass of itsinterior population are at any rate in splendid condition. A PARAGRAPH ABOUT VERMIN, But where did we stop at night? Four days out of five in hovels such as Mackerelville would turn from with disgast—miserable, leaky cabins, with mad walls and flat roofs of ragged sticks covered with clay, The floor was invariably of health | | and one might advance, after the indulgence, fear- | carred home generally by the ‘pilgrims from | never happened in the memory of man, and if it the host, Fleas, bugs, ab! oven tice, infested it in countless myriads, For days together I have been ashamed to tura up my shirt sleeves, 80 horrified have I been at the reckleas way in whieh these playful vermin have battened oa my inne- vont flesh and blood, and my sensations have been in every moment of repose exactly whatI can {imagine a Scotch colly dog has to endure when transplanted to some “mild” climate, where the “useful insects” most do flourish, And I have not even had the satisfaction which he so madly enjoys of burrowing with his ose ia his animated fleece, and fiercely biting at the parasites that distarh his peace. Revenge has been placed, sometimes for a week ata time, out of myreach; I have had to smile ‘patiently at the tormenting attentions of these most industrious works of the Creator— grin and bear them. Gentle reader, come not hither in the winter or early spring, when the in- clemency of even these mild Arabian skies force you to seek the Hospitablo shelter of the dwellings of the people of the country. Travel here only in the susmer, and bring your own tent; but even that will not perfectly preserve you from the evils I have indicated. For, of course, you will still wish to pay a visit of ceromony now and then to the house of some minor pacha or mudeer. And in pachas’ houses, asin the cottages of the poorest of their subjects, vermin are the real lords of the land. No pacha could possibly so far forget him- selfas to close his door upon the hajees or pil- grims who roam the country, clad imrags and infested with every breed of vermin to be gathered from Mecca to Meshed Hasseim. So the hajee stalks calmly into the big man’s divan, crosses his legs under him upon the cushions and speedily sets all hia neighboring fellow creatures itching. Nor will a good Mussulman kill even these disagreeable creatures of @ wise God. No, if he deteets one of them crawling stealthily across his clothes to some haven of refuge inaccessible to human Angers, he quietly takes up the invater and grace- fully blows him into the middle of the room. This is no fable; Ihave seen it done a hundred times. The only way for the travetler in Turkey to escape these annoyances would be to place himself under a glass case and never emerge from it until he has puta mile of sea between him and the Turk- ish shore. And that plan is open to so many ob- jections that no visitor hitherto or perbaps ever will adopt it. HOW WE PARED. To eat there is always plenty, though of a somewhat rude and monotonous description. Fowls, fowls, fowls, eternally fowls, are the only procurable varioty of animal food, and these fowls are of a pecuilarly ftbrous, stringy, ancient and indigestible species. No cooking, whether good orbad, can convert them into enjoyable food. The usaal way is to boil them: bow to your fate aud accept them in that form. You can get no vegetables, but in their place will be served with rice or boiled wheat. The rice is generally good, and before being placed on the table ie satarated with ghee or lia butter; very frequently also some goats’ milk cheese—a mild imitation ot the well known Limburger—is boiled with the grain, and impregnates it with a flavor said to be not unpleasant—when one gets accustomed it. The boiled wheat called burgo, and 18 Vat not unpalatable. For bread you will get thin unfeavened cakes of coarse flour, about @ foot in diameter, and in thickness varying trom a sixteenth of an inch to a conyle of inc ‘Theso are known over wk past ofthe East among Europeans as slapjacks. fore heing eaten they are generally warmed. but as in. DARE laces the onigfuel in use is dried cowdung, ee: oa rule, preferred to eat them cold. Lastly, there are milk and eggs and a singular preparation of milk calledleben. Leben is milk ali soured and curdied. Thave-tried several times to find out how it is made, but with only partial success, The invariable auswer hag been that a little leben iathrown into the milk, which in a few hours also becomes leben. But how do you mansge ap ag have no leben? Ihave asked. Such a 28 ever does happen leben will probably become a thing of the past. As it is very palatable and re- fres} pric gigrcagenty pity. f am told, how- ever, that it can be dried in the sun and that in this form it may be preserved for several months, PIPES AND COVFER. But I have forgotten the two grand articles upon which the people of this country subsist—pipes and coffee. We Americans have yet to learn the proper way to smoke tobacco. Ah, if some of my untravelled readers could only for once taste tho pleasures of the nargheelah! Nargheelahs are indecd displayed in, the tobacco stores of New York in an apparently complete form; they have the glass, in which the fresh water is placed ithe long tube of rubber through which the smoke is drawn, the bow! in which the tobacco ought to be burnt. But I shudder at the thought of smok- ing Virginla or Connecticut in so sacred a means of enjoyment. Here, the only tobacco smoked is Shiraz—a peculiarly fragrant and licht variety of the weed, grown in the south of Persia. Be- fore being placed in the bowl it is carefuly washed and dried; and it is lighted, not with a match, not witha twist of paper, not with a jet of filthy gas, Dnt with a glowiug morsel of charcoal. Drawing the smoke, by inhalation, into the lungs, and ox- ¢ it without effort by the breath, there is no ifon of the mouth or the throat, so smooth and cool and soothing is the glorious vapor. Nor is there afterwards any upleasant dryness or bad taste in the mouth; the breath is indeed perfumed, lessly upon the lips of the loveliest houri in the universe. No one can say as much as that for the choicest of Havanas, the most delicate of ciga- reties, the sweetest of pipes. And the effect, the influence, the charm of the nargheelah is beyond the reach of verbal description. One does, in- deed, and in very fact dream dreams and see visions, with the magie tube lightly held between the lips; fatigue, anxiety, care, take to them- Ives wings and fly hairs Coffee, too—the coffee one gets here cannot be too highly praised. It is, of course, of the best quality, real Mocha, Meeea. The beans are roasted just at the time the beverage is to be made—that is to say, they are quickly browned in a thin copper pan over # charcoal fire. They ave thea crashed to powder, and the brown dust, still warm and fragrant, is thrown into the coflee pot—a small jug-shaped copper utensil, hoiding sbont half a pint. The water is, at this critical moment, quite boiling, and for perhaps half a minute subsequently is allowed to remain on the fire, the operator giving it a shake every few momeuts (o prevent the col sinking to ths bottom. The liquid thus manufac. tured is admimistered in tiny cups, holding a couple ofgmouthfuls. It is not drunk, however, only sippe® slowly, It is, of course, very strong, and is untempered with segar—a weakness whic every one who has ever tasted coffee pure and simple must heartily despise. What glorious nectar this Arsh coifee is! It ronses the ‘spirits more certainly than a draught of wine or asmile of bourbon; one feels the cob- webs brushed softly out of the chambers of the brain, while the whole vital functions seem re- stored to heulthy activity. Pipes and coffee !— they do, indeed mean something in Turkey ; they are almost the sole luxuries of the country. KOORD BANDITTI—TNE DANGERS OF THE ROAD. Ihave now given the general features of the journey, and [shall proceed to briefly ran over its details, From Gagdad to Mos as IT have said, is twelve deye’ journey with a caravan. We had left the City of the Caliphs a couple of days, passing through an uninteresting country, when a ridge of mountains, a spur from the chain that forms the boundary between Turkey and Persia, came into view, stretching across the, plain we were traversing. And at the same time we be- gan to hear ever thickening rumors ef the im rity of the road, of rampant robbers and slangh- tered travellers and plundered caravans. The third day these reports gseumed a definite shape. | The Hamavans, a tribe of Koords whose exploits are known all over the country, had returned to these mountains from a trip to Persia, and were stopping every one on the road. The anthorities themselves, from whom we made mquirics, spoke in frightened accents of these termble bandita, and although they promised to give us ali the zabadeers. they could spare, they seemed very doabtfal of our getting through with a whole skin; for these Hamavans are an utterly outcast race. At one time they were pretty nu- therous, but their lawlessness forced the govern ment to punish them, and since then they have heen ut constant feud with the whole world; every ; man’s hand has been against them and their hand der, for which their race has ever been conspicu: ous. The government has declared that it will show mercy to none of thom; if they are cap- tured they will certainly be hanged, and they are therefore unrost by any motive of prudence. Their style of robbery is altogether different from that of the Bedoniv. The latter will take greny rag off a man's back, but are averse to blood- shed if no ‘resistance is oftered. These Koords, however, seem to have a horrible pleasure in tak- ing human life; they have even been known to out the throats of caravanjees, wept because they haye been too poor to have any hag to be robbed of, It may cas ly be gueased that this informa- tion did not make us feel very comfortable. Guns were broughf out and carefully loaded; the curavan was kept together In a compact mass in place of str Sine slang in a demoralized line, as bad hitherto been the case; the guards wore sent forward, whenever alittle awell of ground seemed to give possible cover for the enemy, and instructions wore issued my friend the Pole that in case of actual con- ict the men were not to fire until the foc came within three or four yards of thi ans, While their courage was céntirmed by the announce- ment that the first man to turn tail and run awa: would certainly be fired at asa foe. The fourtl day, on leaving Deli Abbas, we had mustered a guard of twenty or twenty-five soldiers, and some other wavellert, who had been waiting to accom- pany some strong caravan, also joined us, so that altogether we made quite a formidable party. Three hours’ journey over a painfully stony road brought us fairly upon the surface of the ridge. ‘There is a khan here with # strong garrison, and we were told that two days before a very strong caravan had been attacked, that a sharp fight had taken place and that three of the honest nen and one of the thieves had been killed, but that the latter had in tho end been victorious. It was thought that this was a lucky thing for us, as the Hamavans had probably ran away into Persia with their booty, ‘The soldiers had beon ~ ont after them, since the fight, all over the mountains, but had beem unable to find any trace of them. A good deal cheered by this intelll- gonee, we set forward through the pass. The road was dreadfully bad, freqvently narrewin: to asingle bridle path, between not very high banka of rock, aud then passing over loug reaches of loose stones, over which the miserable horses slipped and stumbled. Every here and there a little cairn had been erected by the piety of subsequent traveilers to mark the site of the unhappy death of some victim of bandits. These heaps of stones may be seen along nearly all the pee of Turkey—in many places, indeed, where the energy of the local Pacha has in the present cleared the country of lawlessness, Hore, of course, they were very numerous. We could scarcely get along a couple of hundred yards with- out. ‘ing one, aud in specially favorable places for highway robbery there were sometimes as many asadozea. Atlast wo came to the spot where, only two ehort daya ago, the he taken place. ‘Three small heaps of stones had already begun to ap- pear, though the blood benceth them was stil visible, im spite of an attempt to cover it with earth. We also finng a few stones on the cairn, And now I may as well say at once that we luckily came through the whole of the journey without mishap, though we were subse- quently grea ed other day. After I had left my Polish friend at Mosul I had constantly all the way to Aleppo an escort of a couple and sometimes of three and fourmen. The Turkish- Asiatic roads are at present—none of them—safe; on most there are regular corps of professional bandits, and where there are not the peaceful vil- lagers take their place. A European traveller must, perforce, have guards, to show that if he is plundered the Pacha wiil do his best to reach the offenders, And if he be wise he wiil be well armed himself also, afid on any occasion where it can be done without ostentation he will display his weapons for the admiration of the indigenes. All these things in his favor, he may, perhaps, three times out of four, get through in safety. But it is less than two years singe an Irish gentleman (who is said to have sworn abont his misfor- tune for four months subsequently) was stripped absolutely naked less than aday’s journey from Bagdad. GENERAL FEATURES OF THE COUNTRY. It is scarcely worth while to give the names of the villages through which we passed until we reached Kerkook, a distance of 200 miles from Bagdad. The whole intervening country between these two points is almost destitute of inhabitants, and such of the people as are left seem to have no heart either to till the ground or work iu id other manner. Bad government has reduced tl fertile and once densely peopled region into a desolate wilderness, There are plenty of people, however, in the high chain of moontains that dl- vides Turkey from Persia who would be only too glad to descend into the more fertile plain if they could be sure of being well treated. All the pre- sent inhabitants of this region came from those same mountains. In fact the whole country from Papen to Orfe has heen settled by their hardy cbildren. They are called Koords, and are mar- kedly different from the Turks and the Arabs. High cheek bones; along, narrow head; an oval face, firm chin and mouth; 2 tail, muscular frame— these are the chief ee characteristics of the Koord. In_ intelligence ho is b; the” most bogee of the various elements of the Turkish population. His moral attri- butes, however, are somewhat paradoxical. He is reported to be hospitable, affectionate, grateful; buat, when moved by passion, ferocious to the point of brutality, In short, he is a good friend and a very bad enemy. In the mountains, which have been the home of their rate, the diffl- culty of existence has prevented the Koords be- coming very numerous; and from this cause, probably, they have never yet made an organized attack upon tempting plain that lies spread open beneath them. They have been content to occupy it with the aequiescence of its nominal lord-—the Sultan—and have peaceably pursued the cultivation of the soil, paying their taxes and ge with praiseworthy regularity to the local ish Governor. Of late years, however— within tue last half eentury—the exactions of the governmont lave been so oppressive that they have frequently revolted, and at present there can be no doubt that when Turkey comes to be dismembered the Koords will make a bold effort for independence. Kven a passing traveller will find abundant evidence, too, that French agents have indeed been, as is reported, working among them. Every Prank journeying through tho country is sounded by the Koords, who tell him that (iey long arder‘~ for the coming of tho Franzees and the lrgleze 3; that ar are tired of the Osraant, ard do no want to fail under the too rigorous rule of the Ua r. KERKOOK—A “Gi. 4 BUILT UPON A BIDL.’? Kerkook is a large town of some ten thousand people and is tho first. among those eurions “cities ailt upon a hill’ that one comes to on the way from Bagdad. From Kerkook to Orfa every now and then one encounters these singular towns, } Many handreds of years ago, after the break up of the grand old empires that once had thir se hore, the inhabitants of this vast plain of Shinar that stretches very nearly all the way from Ker- kook to Diarbekir, were forced for security to themselves into towns. ‘They generally oine swell of ground as the site of pity, and this they converted, with an expenditure of labor at which we can only wonder, into an artificial hill, such bills varying, of course, very greatly in height and extent. The top of the hill was flattened and its outer edge encireled with a wall of amd or bricks. In later times more owerful rulers adopted tae same form of defence for their cities, and in consequence the plain is now doited in countless places with these curious hills. Under the Turks, inthe old days when the Ottoman empire waa vigoruus and flourishing, the inside of the citadel, as that part of the city erected within tho walls is termed, was lusively reserved for Mussulmans, no y, Christian or fire-worshipper bemg per- mitted to enter its precincts. This rule still exists, but only in a modified form. Infidels are allowed to enter the city in the daytime, bot must not sleep there at mght. The result of this system is that the business part of the city, the bazaars and baths and coffee shops, together with the dwell- ings of the poorer el 3 of the Uy ieee are spread upon the plain, immediately beneatn the wails. At Kerkook the citadel hiflis some hun- dred feet ia height and three-cighths of a mile in dian rv; but at Erbil, forty miles further nort there is amound muchhigher, At Kerkook the are two serails, or goverument houses, one of which, the most convenient residence of the tw is simated on the plain. In this the Pacha gen rally resides, but at the first sign of revolt he mov into the one within the citadel, where alse stently reside the old Moslem families of the trict. THE TORKISH BATH. At Kerkook, after eight days’ constant travel, adoring ich time we had not had an opportunity to change our shirts, which had therefore become re populated with countless myriads of vermin not to be ntioned to eara polite, it was our high privilege to indulge ia @ bath—not a bath, however, of our simple, barbarian kind, but areal Turkish humam. Oh, what an ineflable luxury it wasto shake ourselves clear of our animated garments, and. wrapped in a couple of sheets, ove round the loins aud another round the shoulders, to slip our feet into a pair of wooden clogs and clank into the genial warmth and steamy atmosphere of the heated chamber! Tnere we smoked a narg&eelah, and as the per- «ration streamed from every pore of owr bodies has heen against every man. They have now been reduced to only twenty or twenty-five men, in whom seems to be concentrated all the desperate courage, the reckless ferocity, the greed of plun i i ee eee were perfectly happy; Then came the ope- rator, a good-natured Arab, who forthwith took pomcates of ua. and rubbed end punched our bodies and cracked our joints until the stiffaess aud wogoifortable feeling of physical constraint engendered by @ two hun Ired mi le ride over a | bad road us. came the =e art of the process. A jw copper basin, filled with lather, was bronght in, and the operator, by means of a bunch of soft coco fibre, washed onr bodies, as mine, atany rate, had never been washed before. Our hair, too, was cut short and dopegetesen. nd our scanty seraped es ES in bookt about an bon, patna Aa easant roduced recess be- ow show isdn xen we wae eavenped in an abundance of sheets and brought out into the cold avd laid upon a divan, For half an hour, we stayed there in a state Ethic!) arr bly delightful repose, smoking a narg! and sipping coftee and chatting, And then we errres inte vlean garments and felt once more like bu- man beings—the sole masters of our bodies. ‘This is the Purlcivh bath as it existe in the land of its origin, and no words can describe how t an alleviation it is of the inevitable ills of Turkish travel. Nearly every town of any importance whatever boasts a humam, and’ hencetorth | availed myself of every opportunity to thus reca- perate myself. CAMITLE EPYENDI. At Kerkook we stayed over a day to rest the horses. We stopped at the bins, poe office, the chief of which is a Turk of good family, named Camille Effendi. His fhther was at one time a Christian, bot was circumcised and became a Mos- Tem aud at the same time a colonel in the irregular service. Perhaps I am uttering a very heterodox sentiment—one which would shock my good friends of the American mission—when I say that Camille is probably @ mein more bospitable and pleasant host on account of his hiving been bred a Mussulmen, But euch is, I think, the fret, not only in his case, bat all over the country. The wise traveller will always, in Torkey, avoid as muchas he can the Cre rage = of Rastern Christians, who are, beyow! all doubt, the most extortionate, thievish, tying, roguish section of the Population, Stay at # Mursulmen village you will be certain to get the best lodging procurable and whatever can be got to eat, as well as the most frank and kindly hos- pitatity. But siey with Christian “dogs” aud you will find that they indeed deserve the epithets of abuse and contempt showered upon them by the Turks. And it should beremembered that to the Turks on English-speaking man is a Christian of a reapesiabls type. The Turks know, and praise us for the fact, that we do not worship a female god, nor bow down to idols of stone and silver and wood, nor prostrate ourselves before pic- tures, as do the See Christians who are sub- ject to the Sultan. © Turks, indeed, look upon us as almost Mussulian’s; for they also believe io Jesus Christ. as a great prophets and acknowledge the sacred character of the Bible, A TORKISH SVREE. The night we were at Camille Effendi’s I shall remember all my life as oue of the most amusing revels I have ever enjoyed. The Pacha’s son, who is his father’s Lieutenant Governor, came to dine with the Frank gentlemen who had honored Kerkook with a visit. He was accompanied by a bear leader iu the shape of a hajee (a man who some years ago made the pilgrimage to Mecca, and was, therefore, necessarily a worthy guide aud instructor of youth) and an Italian doctor who has settled at Kerkook. A Turkish dinner is an awful ordeaJ. An hour or so before the time of eating a hugs bottle of arrak, a sweet strong spirit, was brought in, together with some half a dozen little trays, filled with almonds, and bits of dried moat oud chopped apples, and balls of flour and salt wnd spice, all of which are ne josed to do wonders In the way of exciting thirst. ‘or an hour and a half we toffod steadily on at the liquid and solid cheer. 1 should not like to hazard @ guess as to how many glasaes of arrack found their way down the hajee's throat, good ious man that he is; but he was the acknow- ledged conqueror in the contest we engaged in for the honor of first drinker in the company. An hour and a halfspent in drinking raw spirits every fow minutes, on an empty stomach, too, may be easily imagined to have had a rather sensible effeet upon us. We were, indeed, already drunk when the din- ner began. Of what we had to eat I have no ter clear idea. I remember the repast began will eggs and spinach and wound up with a gigantic pilaf. The intervening dishes comprised aweeta, sours and meats and birds, of d wonderful descriptions. Each dish wi Ercugh on separately. We had plenty of ‘wine of a red vintage, peculiar to Kerkook, which was really very good, thongh somewhat too sweet for a dinner Wine. The hajeo and the Pacha’s son, Mussulmana though they were, made no bones whatever of drinking the fermented juice of the grape; in fact, I think they excelled even our- selves in that direction. Hipoon eran to the dinger Ihave no very clear recoliectton of what happened, except that there was constant lauga- ter and an earnest proposal to me from the Pacha’s son to turn Mussulman and marry jn the country— @ course which for the moment I had a great mind to accept. I also remember that ut the close of the evening the hajee said it was time to go, and attempted for some haif an hour vainly to in- duce the Pacha’s son to rise. At laat, however, they got under way for the door, but the two untortu- nate gentlemen tumbled ignominiously in a heap upon the floor. But the rest of us, with infinite difficulty, succeeded uitimately ia conveying both of them to the serail. ALTOUN KUPRI. The day after we left Kerkool we stayed at Altoun Kupri, or Golden Bridge. The river Zap, which was crossed by the Ten Thousand on their retreat from Persia, and also-by Alexander the Great on his way to India, fiows around the town, being crossed by @ couple of briiges of very sin- gular construction, The bridges are very old, and date probably back to the time of Ualiph Haroun er Raschid. They are built of stone, with one wide arch, supported on each side by two smaller ones. In shape they are very curious being nearly a semi-circle. Crossing them one might almost imagine he was Boing up and down stuirs, 80 steep are they ; in fact, it is impossible to ride over them; every one has to dismount and lead his horse. ‘the river itself is very deep, and of a deep green hue. Its bauks are formed of a soft conglomerate of mud and shells, and have been worn away by freshets into huge caverns, The river abounds with fish. Tu spite of ite many advantages, however—for the Zap runs juto the Tigris—and in spite of its foriner greatness, Altoun. Kupri is at present a miserable little town of seven or eight hundred people. When Mr. Buck- ingham, the English traveller, passed here, in the beginning of the century, the population, he says, was three or four thousand. atis a great aie ference ; but perhaps the same terrible dec has taken place all over Asiatic Turkey. AN ABAD DINNER. At Altoun Kupri our dinner was a striking con- trast to the one we had been at the day before. ‘This also was # sort of State dinner, given by our host in honor of a young aud very rich Arab sheikh, whose tribe have settled near by. The sheikh was extremely handsome, and was dressed in a very costly Arab costume. His cloak was of the finest camlet, embroidered with gold thread; i turban was of silk; his dagger hilt was of solid silver, many au Tease ere scrupmlonsly clean and very ; the nails even w cent of dirt. dinner was an Arab dint dishes were placed on the table together. squatted round on our crossed legs, instead of on chairs, as had been the case the previous evening, and were forced to cat solely with our fingers. At Kerkook we had been indulged with a fork and spoon, though the Pacia’s son and the others, like our present companions, used only such forks as nature had provided them with. The sheikh, who wus very attentive to us, constantly placed deli- cate morsels upon the cake of bread which cou- stituted our plates. iis dinner, though there was plenty of everything, was very uncomforta- We all y bie, owing to the dreadful hurry every one was in | to finish, and I rose with my hunger only haif satiat Of course we had neither arrack nor wine. Our host was very religious, by the way. Both before and after diancr he apread his devo- tional carpet and said his prayers in a very loud and imposing voice. PRTROLEUM WELLS. Between Kerkook and Erbil, at which place we | stopped the day after Let Poe upri, the country is broken op by small rocky hills, and in these are found springs of bitumen, which all throngh this part i# used aa an ilnminating fluid. ihero are said also to be springs of petroleum, but 1 was unable to get any one to ‘show me any. I was told, however, that a French Jew had come here some two or three years ago, had procured aspecial charter from the Pacha and had com- menced distilling sume improved kind of burning flaid. But the speculation did, not pay, and there was @ good deal ot trouble with the natives, and finally the Jew went home again, ERBEL—THE ANCIENT ARDEL Erbil, aa [ have aircady sgid, is another “city built npon a hill. re hill 18150 feet in height, and its extreuie edge is surrounded by a high and handsome atone wall, The houses are built flush up to the city wall n fact, the latter forms one side of many d ngs. ‘The te, which is approached by a winding path of stone steps, is very massive and imposing, with huge doors of ivon, flanked by little pepper-caster turrets. Outside the eity walls, on a plain, there is a considerable city, and a yet more extensive graveyard, A litde river runs nearly round the cily, passing through its suburbs, at Erbil there are a few signs of life aud activity; a ne khan has been lately built, and a handsome te graph office and a few houses. ‘The people, how- ever, complain bitterly of the oppression of the government. A great part of the trading and working population are Jews. Prbii, by the way, ie the ancient Arbela, where Alexarder the Great finally vanquished Darius. Of course, all travel- lers Will powt themselves up on such subjects, too, more wonderful than all | —that is to say, all the | nh there is nat ace ima newspa y letter to enteg into the of such mater AN ASTATIC FERBY, From Erbil to Mosul, two days’ journey overs flat bahar tain, we met — Salsas greatly worth mentioning, except ol! @ river aud a convesmabon with @ Turkbh school- master, We lad crossed several small rivers before bnt none of them too deep to-be forded. This one, however, had to be crossed in a ferry- boat, a huge, shaky, leaky, crazy, flat-bottomed boat, with the bow towering up some twelve or fifieen fect from the water, while the stern almost level with tho river. They are constructed in this fashion so that the horses after entering the craft should uot be scared by seeing water ou both sides of them. The ferry, as do all ferries im this country, belouged to the local Pacha, and the, charge for transportation of course, ver heavy, wheu the cheapness of In the country is taken into xo arter of a dollar for each animal. We gut over safely, however, which was a great deal more than we! expected. The current carries the hoat acros,' the men steering with two heavy paddles, NEWS PROM BOgTON. We met the schoolmaster just after crossing the tiver. He was riding along on a sot i donkey, with a red woollen bridle, the road the Moslem salutations are given, even to the poorest caravanjee—“Salam alakoome,” if both parties are Muasutman’ ‘Marh of them is a Giaour, We ventured, of course, ouly on the latter, and were soon engaged with him in conversation, though we had to push our horses hard to keep ap with his fast ambling ass. He soon found out that 1 had come trom India, and that America would be the end of my pil grimage. ‘‘Awmerica,” said he, “why thatis tha ace where the big schools are !"" He knew even hat there were such places aa New York, Boston, Chicago and St. Louis, but expressed great in< eredulity when | told him that New York w several times as large as Boston. He, im fact, "hi been told, he said, exactly the ss by the 2 gentleman who had inform him about America, and who was also himself a Bostonian. Oh, Bostonians! when you find yourselves in ul or Aleppo, cun not you he content to boast simply of your big organ and the Common and the transcendentaliste? Why take aoa the taps ng rae inhabitants of tabasco the sole ry we can hope to posses a larger > lution and greater store of material wealth? In other respects this Arab schooluaater’s iuforma- tion upon most subjects was strictly correct. He had a very good general idea of geography; he knew the relative positions of the tive continents aad had even heard of Napoleon Bonaparte aud the wial by jury. He himself lus a sehool in Mosul of fifty youths of noble tamily. 2B PLALN OF SHINAR. Mosul [ have described in another letter ; there I parted with my companion and went on alone. From Mosul the plain of Shinar, thet part of it, rather, peopled by the older patriarchs tairly commences, and the latest antiquarian diseover: in that the ark rested on the mountains whi form the eastern boundary ef the volley. Here also one begins to get fairly among the Eastern Chriatiaus of the Chaldean and Nestorian churches. The Christians and Mussulmans, how- however, live strictly apart. In one viliage the only faith known is that of Islam ; in another, that of Jesus Christ. For three days after leaving Mosul I noticed nothing worth mentioning, except, ® geveral improvement in the charaeter of the country, which seemed to be nearly all under cultivation, whereas tilled ground had been the exception between Bagdad and Mosul. The landscape, however, remained mae the same—a noting plain, absolutely destitute trees, and bounded on the right by the snow cap- ped mountains that form the Persian frontier, xeueral insecurity was still the rule; the people, for safety, are forced to live in villages, moat of which are sitoated on little hills aneb as I have al, ready described. ‘Cheir fields are frequently four or five miles from their dwellings, and they ride out to thelr labor on their doukeye, fully armed, with ancient matchlocks aud heavy clubs and huge curved daggers. “AcHO. After leaving a little place calied Talkejan, we siruck through a pass piercing another spur of the reat mountain cbatu on our right and reached @ ttle town Which used at one time to be of com siderable importance, and which stiil has ao im- posing serail, called Zucho. Here the reigni caimaknm received us with military honors. One of our zabadeers had been sent forward to give notice of our coming, and when we arrived doubie line of soldiers presented arms in a very civilized aud pleasing fashion. The ima ku himself received us most hospitably. | wanted a bath, and forthwith al the women, to whom the’ humam is abandoned during the afternoon, received orders to quit, am as soon as they vould huddle on their clothes, I was escorted tu the building by a guard of haf a dozen suldiers, I had a d dinner, too, that uight, and nares a pleasant chat, through my dragoman, with my hoxpitable hot, whose name was Reschid Efendi. He also took me over the serraii, which, thirty years ago, suffered a siege at the hands of Lbraneem Pacha, It is a large, haudsome buitding, of smoothly bewn stone, built onthe river bank. The wine dows have the weil kuown Saraconic pointed are! and some of the arabesque work over the rhea is exquisitely beautiful. JBZTREA TO MARDIN. ‘Two days’ journey from Zacho brought ue ta Jeziveh, where we crossed the Tigris for the last time, aud entered Mesopotamia. Jezireh is now aiuply aheap of rulus, but any one interested in antiquities could pass some very pleasant day there, The old wali is buiit of a’ peculiar isind °| black stone, hewn out into square, regular blocks, but is now in a very dilapidated condinon, Jezivell still boasts a pacha of two tall4, and the Secre tary of State is a Chiistian, with a great fondness for heavy drinking. The river bank on the west ern side is very steep and high, and lately a good road” has been constructed ug to the level of the Mesopotamian plain by somo Polish engineers, « boon which seemse to be fully appreciated. trom Jezireh to Mar din, four days’ journey, I met with nothing of special interest, pt that the weather grew perceptibly colder, a biting north wind aweeping down the plain, At Nursabunc, tive days’ jour ney from Mardia, the apostle St. dames was nar | tyred, but there ave no visivbie vestiges of hie labors or death. Mardin is a handsome and flourishing tow! built of a bvowish gray stone, on the side of the mountain. Jt has ome 12,000 inhabitants, three or four humus, a good khan, and large an¢ raetiray inissions, both Catholic and Aumerican, t is the first place one meets on the road from Bagdad which shows unequivocal signs of pros perity. The American mission numbers thre¢ clergymen and five ladies, who are meeting with very fair aud solid success, though the Cathelia mission is apparently far more flourishing. The greater part of the population of Mardin are Christians and Jews. A good road has beer inade trom Mardin nearly all the way to Diarbe kir, a distance of titty aniles. This road, too, which used formerly to be one of the most unsaf¢ {n the country, is now perfectly secure. Diarbe- kir I shall leave for auother letter. A DANGEROUS MOUNRAIN PASS, And now 1 must hurry briefly through the rea of the journey, as this letter is beginning to assume gisento proportions, Lstayed at Diarbekir three days to rest my horses, aud then set out throng? the mountain pass of Carabakje for Urfa. The pass was filed with snow and the air was bitterls cold, Frequently our horses were up to the aie in snow, and just as we had reached the highe: point of the pass we were overuken by a wil storm which atone time threatened to be oa death. But by dint of steady effort and a little presence of mind we managed to get down inte the plain. Many uofortunate travellers have, how: ever, paid with their lives for veaturing throng this puss in inid winte URPA—THE SOLDIERS OF ABRATAM. From Carabakje to Uria is four days’ journey through a somewhat perilous country. The road is now safer than it used to ha: buf owing to the nature of the ground, which im some places forces the road to pass through narrow ravines, it will always be more ot less infested with highwaymen. U or Un of the Chaldees, isa large city of 20,000 people, It is well built with stone, and the streets are tol- erably clean. ‘There isa French consul here who hasa soap factory, and is called Lord of the Forests on account of his owning several little jantations of tiiber, which he burns to obtain ye. The great sight of Urfa, however, is the mosque and pools of Ibraheem, or ax we know him better, Abraham. All kinds of absurd stories are told of the great patr h of which only I shall reeount. ols here, fed by some Warm springs, an¢ with of carp which are said to be the soldiers with which the patriarch engag battle of the four kings against five, lasted of being allowed to die and go to heaven, these war- riers were for some unexplaiued reason trans- formed to fishes, and have lived in the pools ever since. According to tradition they never either inerease or decrease in numbers, not can they, it is raid, be cooked by means of fire as ordinary fish are, as they resist altugetier the action of heat. And because ci oe this mgr ee pature all rsons are forbidden, on pain of iv} es, Seek andl attempt to cook them. tho te thing is a mystery uot to be rasily investigated, Thave met several persons who they have eaten them; but, of course, the Moslonse believe this a giaour invention. Perhaps it ia—this is a strange country, ALEPPO. J was five days comiag from Urfa to Aleppo though the usual tive In nevens Two days Pa