CHAPTER XX.The gipsies—A fearful instrument—The musicians—The dancers—The chief of the gipsy women—Her attire—Vankovitch's wife—A glass of raki—The fat woman—The man with the bagpipes—The dance—The two girls—The old lady accompanies them—The castanets—What is the good of dancing?—The Lord Chamberlain, who is he?—The marriage festivals in a harem—The old woman dances apas seul—Osman's interview with Vankovitch—Oh, Osman! thou descendant of a line of thieves!—What is the meaning of this?—The Effendi's horses—The people at the Khans—An undulating country—Mostaphas—Unwillingness to fight their country's battles—Several inhabitants killed in Servia—Industrious insects—A country like the Saxon Switzerland—A district abounding with pine forests—The telegraph wire to Sivas—Sawmills—Gogderi Soo—A house with two rooms—The stable—The fire—The harem—My host and his wives—Two shots in the air—The ladies—Their legs—The discomfort of the proprietor.Some gipsy men now entered, and, squatting down on the carpet, began to tune their lutes. One of their party carried a fearful instrument. It was rather like the bagpipes. He at once commenceda wild and discordant blast. The musicians were followed by the dancers.The chief of the gipsy women was provided with a tambourine. She was attired in a blue jacket, underneath this was a purple waistcoat, slashed with gold embroidery, a pair of very loose, yellow trousers covered her extremities. Massive gold earrings had stretched the lobes of her ears, they reached nearly to the shoulders, and by way of making herself thoroughly beautiful, and doing fit honour to the occasion, she had stained her teeth and finger-nails with some red dye. Her eyebrows had been made to meet by a line drawn with a piece of charcoal. Gold spangles were fastened to her black locks. Massive brass rings encircled her ankles, the metal jingling as she walked, or rather waddled round the room.The two girls who accompanied her were in similar costumes, but without the gold spangles for their hair, which hung in long tresses below their waists. The girls, advancing, took the hand of Vankovitch's wife, and placed it on their heads as a sort of deferential salute. The Pole poured out a glass of raki for the fat woman, who, though a Mohammedan, was not adverse to alcohol. She smacked her lips loudly; the man with the bagpipes gave vent to his feelings in a more awfulsound than before; the lutes struck up in different keys, and the ball began.The two girls whirled round each other, first slowly, and then increased their pace till their long black tresses stood out at right angles from their bodies. The perspiration poured down their cheeks. The old lady, who was seated on a divan, now uncrossed her legs, beating her brass ankle-rings the one against the other, she added yet another noise to the din which prevailed. The girls snapped their castanets, and commenced wriggling their bodies around each other with such velocity that it was impossible to recognize the one from the other. All of a sudden, the music stopped. The panting dancers threw themselves down on the laps of the musicians."What do you think of the performance?" said Vankovitch to me, as he poured out another glass of raki for the dancers. "It is real hard work, is it not?" Then, without waiting for an answer, he continued, "The Mohammedans who read of European balls, and who have never been out of Turkey, cannot understand people taking any pleasure in dancing. What is the good of it when I can hire some one else to dance for me?" is the remark."They are not very wrong," I here observed;"that is, if they form an idea of European dances from their own. Our Lord Chamberlain would soon put a stop to these sort of performances in England.""The Lord Chamberlain, who is he?" inquired an Armenian who was present, and who spoke French."He is an official who looks after public morals.""And do you mean to say that he would object to this sort of a dance?""Yes.""But this is nothing," said Vankovitch. "When there is a marriage festival in a harem, the women arrange their costumes so that one article of attire may fall off after another during the dance. The performers are finally left in very much the same garb as our first parents before the fall. We shall be spared this spectacle, for my wife is here. The gipsies will respect her presence because they know that she is a European."Now the girls, calling upon the old woman, insisted that she too should dance. The raki had mounted into the old dame's head. Nothing loath, she acceded to their request; rising to her feet, she commenced apas seulin front of the engineer. First shrugging her shoulders, andthen wriggling from head to toe, as if she were suffering from St. Vitus's dance, she finally concluded by kneeling before my hostess, and making a movement as if she would kiss her feet.The following morning, and just before my departure, the Pole, who had come to say good-bye to me, called Osman to his side."The Effendi is paying two medjidis a day for his horses," remarked Vankovitch, "and six piastres for a chicken! Oh! Osman! thou descendant of a line of thieves! What is the meaning of this?"The Turk changed colour for a moment; but then, collecting himself, replied,—"The Effendi's horses are not like other horses, they eat more, and work more. We and he, too, we all like large chickens. The Effendi is rich, and he pays; he is big, and he eats a great deal. He is not giving more money for barley now than he gave when he was in Constantinople. The people at the Khans tell me the price, I give them what they ask. It would not do for me to be mean with my lord's gold. In future I shall know better. I will find out the proper value of everything, and will only pay what is just."I interrupted him."Osman," I said, "you are a thief! However, as we leave Yuzgat to-day, there is no time for me to get another servant. Only, beware! for if I find you deceiving me any more, not all the hairs in the Prophet's beard shall save you from being discharged.""The Effendi knows what is best," said Osman coolly. "He has brain, and I—I am the dust in his sight. Another time we will not give so much for our barley, we will tighten our purse-strings to the chicken-sellers. We have all been deceived, we will be so no longer."We rode through an undulating country, in the direction of Sivas. The track was firm and good; there was an abundant supply of water throughout the district, numerous flocks and herds were grazing by the side of the path.After marching for six hours and a half, we halted at a Turkoman village, called Kulhurdook, which contained forty-five mud hovels. With much difficulty I obtained accommodation in a filthily dirty barn. Here our horses were also sheltered; side by side with them stood several cows and oxen. A small piece of carpet covered the ground in one corner of the building. The proprietor, bringing me a pillow, which once had been white, but was now black with dirt,placed it under my head, Radford and Osman lying down by the side of the horses.There were several mostaphas, or men belonging to the last army reserve, in this village. They eagerly inquired if there would be war, but did not express any wish to fight their country's battles. This struck me as the more remarkable, for elsewhere I had observed great martial ardour amongst the rural classes. I afterwards learnt that several men who had been enlisted from this village had been killed in Servia, hence the unwillingness of the mostaphas to go to what they considered certain death.I tried to sleep: this was impossible; some little insects, which the manager of the Crystal Palace advertises as "industrious," proved their industry by making fierce onslaughts on my body. Repeated groans from Osman made me aware that even his skin was not proof against the attack; whilst my English servant, who had given up all idea of sleeping, was walking about with a pipe in his mouth, and probably doing anything but bless his master who had brought him to such an out-of-the-way region."Can you not sleep, Radford?" I inquired."Sleep, sir! No! They are running up my legs like coach 'osses. Hosman's skin is like anironclad, but they give him no peace; they worry awful, that they do. I have been trying to smoke them off me, but 'bacca is nothing to these fleas. We shall be eaten alive if we stay here much longer—I know we shall!"Having come to much the same conclusion, I ordered him to saddle the horses, and, to the astonishment of the proprietor of the hovel, we left our quarters three hours before daybreak.Presently the country became more mountainous. It reminded me a good deal of the Saxon Switzerland, the scenery being very picturesque as our path wound round some wooded slopes.We were in a country abounding with pine forests. The telegraph-wire to Sivas was stretched not far from our track. Many saw-mills, turned by the mountain streams, showed where the telegraph-posts had been made; they had then been dragged by oxen to their destination.Our road ran through a pleasant valley, and by the side of a mountain stream known as the Gogderi Soo. In a few hours we arrived at a river, called the Tchekar Ermak. It is crossed by a weak stone bridge, the stream being about thirty yards wide by four deep. We halted for the nightat the village of Tchirklik, a two days' march, or thirteen hours from Kulhurdook.I was accommodated in a house which actually possessed two rooms. They were not constructed in the side of a hill, as the other dwellings in the neighbourhood, but of wood—one room being reserved for the proprietor's cattle, sheep, and camels, the other for himself and harem.I was permitted to sleep in the stable. Osman, with Radford and our horses, were lodged in a hovel at the other end of the village.In the middle of the night I awoke with a feeling of suffocation, my throat was dry and parched, my eyes began to smart; a crackling noise overhead could be heard. It gradually dawned upon me that the house was on fire. I now discovered that the flames from the fireplace had ignited some boards in the chimney: they, in their turn, had set fire to the roof. If the proprietor, who was sleeping in the next room, were not immediately aroused, his house would in all probability be destroyed. The building was surrounded by a courtyard with high mud walls. The space outside the dwelling was infested by dogs. They at once came smelling around me.Shutting the door, to prevent the flames from bursting out inside, I went to the harem. Theentrance was barred from within. The proprietor and his wives were fast asleep, they paid no attention to the noise which I made at the door.It is of no use standing upon any ceremony with a man when his house is being burnt down: drawing my revolver, I fired two shots in the air; thinking that the sound of the reports would arouse the sleeping inmates. The effect was instantaneous: the whole family awoke, the man, greatly alarmed, thinking that an attack was being made on the village by a tribe of Kurds; slowly drawing the bolt, he looked through a crack in the door."Come!" I said, "your house is on fire! Be quick, or it will be burned down, and your camels and oxen be suffocated!"The proprietor bounded out of the room. He was followed by the harem; the ladies, in the confusion, did not think of covering their faces, and were very scantily attired. They ran to a well in the yard and brought some pitchers of water. The proprietor by this time had climbed to the roof of his house. It was a windy night. The gusts were a source of considerable inconvenience, to the water-bearers; their hands being occupied with the pitchers, they could not arrange theirgarments. The latter fluttered above the ladies' heads, to the great discomfort of the proprietor, who, much enraged at his house being on fire, was equally annoyed at his wives' legs being exposed to the view of an unbeliever.To relieve his mind, I clambered on to the roof. From this position the ladies' limbs could no longer be seen. After pouring several buckets of water on the charred rafters, we managed to extinguish the flames.
The gipsies—A fearful instrument—The musicians—The dancers—The chief of the gipsy women—Her attire—Vankovitch's wife—A glass of raki—The fat woman—The man with the bagpipes—The dance—The two girls—The old lady accompanies them—The castanets—What is the good of dancing?—The Lord Chamberlain, who is he?—The marriage festivals in a harem—The old woman dances apas seul—Osman's interview with Vankovitch—Oh, Osman! thou descendant of a line of thieves!—What is the meaning of this?—The Effendi's horses—The people at the Khans—An undulating country—Mostaphas—Unwillingness to fight their country's battles—Several inhabitants killed in Servia—Industrious insects—A country like the Saxon Switzerland—A district abounding with pine forests—The telegraph wire to Sivas—Sawmills—Gogderi Soo—A house with two rooms—The stable—The fire—The harem—My host and his wives—Two shots in the air—The ladies—Their legs—The discomfort of the proprietor.
Some gipsy men now entered, and, squatting down on the carpet, began to tune their lutes. One of their party carried a fearful instrument. It was rather like the bagpipes. He at once commenceda wild and discordant blast. The musicians were followed by the dancers.
The chief of the gipsy women was provided with a tambourine. She was attired in a blue jacket, underneath this was a purple waistcoat, slashed with gold embroidery, a pair of very loose, yellow trousers covered her extremities. Massive gold earrings had stretched the lobes of her ears, they reached nearly to the shoulders, and by way of making herself thoroughly beautiful, and doing fit honour to the occasion, she had stained her teeth and finger-nails with some red dye. Her eyebrows had been made to meet by a line drawn with a piece of charcoal. Gold spangles were fastened to her black locks. Massive brass rings encircled her ankles, the metal jingling as she walked, or rather waddled round the room.
The two girls who accompanied her were in similar costumes, but without the gold spangles for their hair, which hung in long tresses below their waists. The girls, advancing, took the hand of Vankovitch's wife, and placed it on their heads as a sort of deferential salute. The Pole poured out a glass of raki for the fat woman, who, though a Mohammedan, was not adverse to alcohol. She smacked her lips loudly; the man with the bagpipes gave vent to his feelings in a more awfulsound than before; the lutes struck up in different keys, and the ball began.
The two girls whirled round each other, first slowly, and then increased their pace till their long black tresses stood out at right angles from their bodies. The perspiration poured down their cheeks. The old lady, who was seated on a divan, now uncrossed her legs, beating her brass ankle-rings the one against the other, she added yet another noise to the din which prevailed. The girls snapped their castanets, and commenced wriggling their bodies around each other with such velocity that it was impossible to recognize the one from the other. All of a sudden, the music stopped. The panting dancers threw themselves down on the laps of the musicians.
"What do you think of the performance?" said Vankovitch to me, as he poured out another glass of raki for the dancers. "It is real hard work, is it not?" Then, without waiting for an answer, he continued, "The Mohammedans who read of European balls, and who have never been out of Turkey, cannot understand people taking any pleasure in dancing. What is the good of it when I can hire some one else to dance for me?" is the remark.
"They are not very wrong," I here observed;"that is, if they form an idea of European dances from their own. Our Lord Chamberlain would soon put a stop to these sort of performances in England."
"The Lord Chamberlain, who is he?" inquired an Armenian who was present, and who spoke French.
"He is an official who looks after public morals."
"And do you mean to say that he would object to this sort of a dance?"
"Yes."
"But this is nothing," said Vankovitch. "When there is a marriage festival in a harem, the women arrange their costumes so that one article of attire may fall off after another during the dance. The performers are finally left in very much the same garb as our first parents before the fall. We shall be spared this spectacle, for my wife is here. The gipsies will respect her presence because they know that she is a European."
Now the girls, calling upon the old woman, insisted that she too should dance. The raki had mounted into the old dame's head. Nothing loath, she acceded to their request; rising to her feet, she commenced apas seulin front of the engineer. First shrugging her shoulders, andthen wriggling from head to toe, as if she were suffering from St. Vitus's dance, she finally concluded by kneeling before my hostess, and making a movement as if she would kiss her feet.
The following morning, and just before my departure, the Pole, who had come to say good-bye to me, called Osman to his side.
"The Effendi is paying two medjidis a day for his horses," remarked Vankovitch, "and six piastres for a chicken! Oh! Osman! thou descendant of a line of thieves! What is the meaning of this?"
The Turk changed colour for a moment; but then, collecting himself, replied,—
"The Effendi's horses are not like other horses, they eat more, and work more. We and he, too, we all like large chickens. The Effendi is rich, and he pays; he is big, and he eats a great deal. He is not giving more money for barley now than he gave when he was in Constantinople. The people at the Khans tell me the price, I give them what they ask. It would not do for me to be mean with my lord's gold. In future I shall know better. I will find out the proper value of everything, and will only pay what is just."
I interrupted him.
"Osman," I said, "you are a thief! However, as we leave Yuzgat to-day, there is no time for me to get another servant. Only, beware! for if I find you deceiving me any more, not all the hairs in the Prophet's beard shall save you from being discharged."
"The Effendi knows what is best," said Osman coolly. "He has brain, and I—I am the dust in his sight. Another time we will not give so much for our barley, we will tighten our purse-strings to the chicken-sellers. We have all been deceived, we will be so no longer."
We rode through an undulating country, in the direction of Sivas. The track was firm and good; there was an abundant supply of water throughout the district, numerous flocks and herds were grazing by the side of the path.
After marching for six hours and a half, we halted at a Turkoman village, called Kulhurdook, which contained forty-five mud hovels. With much difficulty I obtained accommodation in a filthily dirty barn. Here our horses were also sheltered; side by side with them stood several cows and oxen. A small piece of carpet covered the ground in one corner of the building. The proprietor, bringing me a pillow, which once had been white, but was now black with dirt,placed it under my head, Radford and Osman lying down by the side of the horses.
There were several mostaphas, or men belonging to the last army reserve, in this village. They eagerly inquired if there would be war, but did not express any wish to fight their country's battles. This struck me as the more remarkable, for elsewhere I had observed great martial ardour amongst the rural classes. I afterwards learnt that several men who had been enlisted from this village had been killed in Servia, hence the unwillingness of the mostaphas to go to what they considered certain death.
I tried to sleep: this was impossible; some little insects, which the manager of the Crystal Palace advertises as "industrious," proved their industry by making fierce onslaughts on my body. Repeated groans from Osman made me aware that even his skin was not proof against the attack; whilst my English servant, who had given up all idea of sleeping, was walking about with a pipe in his mouth, and probably doing anything but bless his master who had brought him to such an out-of-the-way region.
"Can you not sleep, Radford?" I inquired.
"Sleep, sir! No! They are running up my legs like coach 'osses. Hosman's skin is like anironclad, but they give him no peace; they worry awful, that they do. I have been trying to smoke them off me, but 'bacca is nothing to these fleas. We shall be eaten alive if we stay here much longer—I know we shall!"
Having come to much the same conclusion, I ordered him to saddle the horses, and, to the astonishment of the proprietor of the hovel, we left our quarters three hours before daybreak.
Presently the country became more mountainous. It reminded me a good deal of the Saxon Switzerland, the scenery being very picturesque as our path wound round some wooded slopes.
We were in a country abounding with pine forests. The telegraph-wire to Sivas was stretched not far from our track. Many saw-mills, turned by the mountain streams, showed where the telegraph-posts had been made; they had then been dragged by oxen to their destination.
Our road ran through a pleasant valley, and by the side of a mountain stream known as the Gogderi Soo. In a few hours we arrived at a river, called the Tchekar Ermak. It is crossed by a weak stone bridge, the stream being about thirty yards wide by four deep. We halted for the nightat the village of Tchirklik, a two days' march, or thirteen hours from Kulhurdook.
I was accommodated in a house which actually possessed two rooms. They were not constructed in the side of a hill, as the other dwellings in the neighbourhood, but of wood—one room being reserved for the proprietor's cattle, sheep, and camels, the other for himself and harem.
I was permitted to sleep in the stable. Osman, with Radford and our horses, were lodged in a hovel at the other end of the village.
In the middle of the night I awoke with a feeling of suffocation, my throat was dry and parched, my eyes began to smart; a crackling noise overhead could be heard. It gradually dawned upon me that the house was on fire. I now discovered that the flames from the fireplace had ignited some boards in the chimney: they, in their turn, had set fire to the roof. If the proprietor, who was sleeping in the next room, were not immediately aroused, his house would in all probability be destroyed. The building was surrounded by a courtyard with high mud walls. The space outside the dwelling was infested by dogs. They at once came smelling around me.
Shutting the door, to prevent the flames from bursting out inside, I went to the harem. Theentrance was barred from within. The proprietor and his wives were fast asleep, they paid no attention to the noise which I made at the door.
It is of no use standing upon any ceremony with a man when his house is being burnt down: drawing my revolver, I fired two shots in the air; thinking that the sound of the reports would arouse the sleeping inmates. The effect was instantaneous: the whole family awoke, the man, greatly alarmed, thinking that an attack was being made on the village by a tribe of Kurds; slowly drawing the bolt, he looked through a crack in the door.
"Come!" I said, "your house is on fire! Be quick, or it will be burned down, and your camels and oxen be suffocated!"
The proprietor bounded out of the room. He was followed by the harem; the ladies, in the confusion, did not think of covering their faces, and were very scantily attired. They ran to a well in the yard and brought some pitchers of water. The proprietor by this time had climbed to the roof of his house. It was a windy night. The gusts were a source of considerable inconvenience, to the water-bearers; their hands being occupied with the pitchers, they could not arrange theirgarments. The latter fluttered above the ladies' heads, to the great discomfort of the proprietor, who, much enraged at his house being on fire, was equally annoyed at his wives' legs being exposed to the view of an unbeliever.
To relieve his mind, I clambered on to the roof. From this position the ladies' limbs could no longer be seen. After pouring several buckets of water on the charred rafters, we managed to extinguish the flames.