We rode through empty spaces, littered with ruin and refuse, haunted by miserable and filthy dogs, to a street of some width, bordered by substantial stone houses, down the incline of which we checked the pace of our mounts. It leads to the north-eastern quarter of the city—a quarter which is numerously inhabited by Christians, and where are situated the Consulates of the European Powers, notably those of Great Britain, France and Russia. The British Consulate is housed in a small but comfortable residence at the northerly extremity of the street. There we were received with emotion by the principal dragoman—an Armenian with a handsome, frank and engaging face, whose curly black hair had become tinged with grey. I had not seen the excellent Yusuf for many a long year, not since the time when he used to delight the fancy of childhood with dainty boxes, or the figures of various animals, which he would fashion with exquisite skill in a kind of silver wire—an art practised by the silversmiths of the East. What tales he would tell us in England of this distant Erzerum! We used, as children, to try and realise the features of the scenes of which he spoke—the great Mesopotamian deserts, the encampments of the Arabs, the khans on the roads to the highlands in which the traveller rested, the mountains and the snow-clad plains. Alas! for the powers of description; how different it all looked, when after many years these various landscapes were successively unfolded before the eyes! Yet they spoke to the very soul of the child grown to manhood, perhaps reviving hidden germs in the lengthy process of heredity, or recalling those early efforts to make pictures of them, or appealing in virtue of none of these causes, but by the magnetic power inherent in themselves. And here at last was Erzerum, with Yusuf standing before the door and running forward with open arms! My reader will, I feel, pardon this little personal digression, embodying, as it does, one of my most permanent memories of the northern capital.

Another link of a not less personal nature must be mentioned in order to explain the length of the sojourn which the present writer made in Erzerum. It extended from the commencement of the really cold weather to the approach of spring. Wesson and Rudolph were committed to the kind offices of the Russian Consul, M. Maximoff, who furnished them with the necessary facilities for returning home through Russian territory by way of Sarikamish and Batum. The Swiss had been experiencing the discomforts of home-sickness; and the resourceful Wesson, who would make a most excellent campaigner, was obliged for private reasons to abandon a nomad life and resume his habits as a Londoner. It was my intention to work up my material in Erzerum, and to devote a fortnight or more to this end. Our Consul, Mr. R. W. Graves, most kindly placed two rooms at my disposal, and insisted upon my being his guest. A friendship sprang up between us, born of similar age and many common tastes; and, speaking for myself, I may say that our solitude À deux in this corner of Asia formed one of the most agreeable experiences of my life. I do not remember having spent a single dull hour. His conversation, charm of manner and kindliness of disposition were a resource which was never wanting to revive one’s intelligence after long hours devoted to writing and to books. I was so happy and he so hospitable that the weeks had become months before all the excuses which waved away the round of duties in England had one by one become exhausted, and I tore myself from his side.

This lengthy stay, followed as it was by two subsequent visits, has made me feel quite at home with the subject of this chapter. And the fact that I have approached Erzerum from the three directions in which it is most accessible, from the east, from the west and from the south, enables me to speak, in so far as a civilian traveller may judge such a question, of the strategical importance of a city which is probably destined to play a leading part in any future struggle between the Russian and the Ottoman Empires. For an Englishman this side of the subject has a special interest; since the possession by Russia of this strong place would mean her control of the head waters of the Euphrates, which issues in the Persian Gulf. It is a maxim of peculiar appropriateness to such a country as Asia that he who is master of the sources of a river is master of the lands through which it flows. On the other hand, such an event would closely affect all Europe; for there would then exist no important barrier between the Asiatic provinces of Russia and the shores of the Bosphorus. Indeed Erzerum resumes in herself the importance of Turkish Armenia as a factor in the world movements of the near future. Mistress of this spot of ground, Russia is mistress of these vast provinces. It is plainly the duty of a writer who has enjoyed the advantages which I have mentioned, not indeed to pander to the feeling of blind animosity against Russia, but to place his readers in possession of the essential facts, in the hope that at least they may not be taken unawares by any advance of the northern empire in this direction.

Our large map will, I hope, make clear and preclude the necessity of minutely describing the topography of the site with its surroundings far and near. What the basin of Lake Van and the plain of Mush are to the southern districts of Turkish Armenia, that are the plains of Pasin and Erzerum to those on the north. They represent depressions of the surface of the tableland and constitute arteries of communication between east and west. The northerly is separated from the southern string of depressions by a block of elevated plateau country, which is most compact and continuous on a line between Mush and Erzerum, and more broken into irregular lines of heights with intervening plains between the northern shore of Lake Van and Pasin. An invader coming from the east and desirous of forcing his way westwards will find all his roads converging on either one or other of the two strings of depressions. The block of lofty tableland, seared by the action of ice and water, and covered for the greater part of the year with snow, causes them to be deflected as by an impassable obstacle, though it is in fact by no means impervious to an army during summer, when the principal difficulty would be the absence of supplies. The geographical position of Russia is decisively in favour of an advance by the most northerly of the two main avenues. She might detach a column to move upon Bitlis; but the objective of this force would be the lowlands of Mesopotamia rather than Asia Minor west of the Euphrates. There can be little doubt that the weight of her onset would be thrown into the northerly channel; and Pasin would fall without a blow being struck. At that moment she would be confronted by the defences of the Deveh Boyun—an impregnable barrier if only held by a sufficient force.

We have seen at the close of the last chapter that the Deveh Boyun consists of a composite ridge, thrown across a narrow portion of the northerly depression, and dividing it into two. It is due to an outbreak of lava—a hard trachyte—which has pursued a direction almost at right angles to the general structure of the country, its elevation being nearly meridional. Similar outbreaks are readily recognisable in the northern border heights of the plain of Pasin; but those ridges are of little geographical importance, losing themselves on the confines of the plain. On the other hand the Deveh Boyun, the most westerly of the series, determines the drainage of the great basin. From its eastern slopes the waters flow to the Araxes, and from those on the west to the Euphrates. On the one hand lies Pasin, and on the other the plain of Erzerum. The height of the pass over the parapet is not more than some 500 to 800 feet above the level of the adjacent plains. But the ridge is defended by a line of modern forts; and, if these were captured, the invading army would find itself enclosed within a space which, while it can scarcely exceed a width of about four miles, can be swept by the fire from heights on the north and heights on the south. These positions, which have all been fortified since the last Russo-Turkish war, rest against the slopes of the parallel walls of mountain, confining the depression on either side.

There does exist, I believe, a narrow passage through an irregular valley between the Deveh Boyun main ridge and the northern wall. But this approach by the flank is commanded by some of the forts already mentioned. Nor would the fate of Erzerum be necessarily determined if both the ridge and the works which protect it had been occupied by the enemy after a series of frontal attacks and great loss of life. There would remain the defences of the Top Dagh, a hill mass, or, as they would say in South Africa, a series of kopjes, separated from the Deveh Boyun by the valley of a small tributary to the Euphrates derived from the wall of mountain on the south. The Top Dagh bristles with forts, of which the most conspicuous are Forts Mejidieh and Azizieh. It immediately abuts on the enceinte of the city which it screens from attack from the east. The city lies with its head upon the talus or accumulated rubble which fans out from the heights on the south. Its feet touch the floor of the plain.

Under modern conditions Erzerum is by far the most important strategical position throughout the length and breadth of the country described in this work. The heights confining the plain on the south are in fact the edge of the great block of tableland interposed between the plain of Mush and the northern capital. Although the ground mass of that lofty stage is composed of stratified and old igneous rocks, yet more recent eruptive volcanic action has played an important part in its configuration. To this agency are due the bold mountains along its northern edge which constitute such a noble background to the town. The most conspicuous peak is that of the Eyerli Dagh, or saddle mountain, so called from the shape of its summit. The loftiest is situated a few miles further east, and stands a little back from the line of heights. It has an elevation of 10,690 feet above the sea, or of 4500 feet above the city. It bears the same name as that of the steep ascent to the plateau, and is known as the PalandÖken, or saddle shifter. Between these two commanding peaks is placed a cirque or huge basin from which the detritus is emptied into the plain. It has been supposed that the peaks are only the upstanding sides of a huge broken-down crater represented by the cirque. It seems more probable, however, that this great hollow is due to erosive agencies, and it may originally have been commenced by glacial action.

Standing on the roof of your house in Erzerum, you can scarcely conceive the approach of an invader by a turning movement across those heights. It is, indeed, no easy matter to discover any natural passage; but there are in fact four. The most easterly is Aghzi Achik (his mouth is open—though I cannot agree that such is the case.) It leads over to some villages in Tekman. Further west is the valley called Abdurrahman Gazi after a holy man, reputed to have been the standard-bearer of the prophet, whose tomb is a favourite resort in summer. Next comes the PalandÖken, grazing the peak upon its western slopes after finding a way along the eastern declivities of the cirque. The fourth and most westerly is that of Kirk DeÏrmen, or the forty mills. Of these the only approach of any importance is that of PalandÖken. It constitutes the summer route to the districts on the south. The pass, just west of the peak, has an elevation of 9780 feet, and is commanded on either side by two modern forts. A metalled road, constructed during recent years, at once connects these important outposts with the city and affords tolerable gradients to caravans. As you examine the ground in this direction you observe a fortified hill on the south-west of the enceinte; it is called the Keremitlu Dagh.

The wall on the north of the plain is scarcely less impenetrable, though Nature has cloven it almost through by the defile known as the Gurgi Boghaz, or Georgian gates, down which flows the infant stream of the Euphrates and is carried the road from Olti. But the portion of the Russian possessions from which it leads are mountainous and poor in supplies, and the narrows are blocked on the Turkish side by modern fortifications. In a geographical and geological sense this northern barrier corresponds to that on the south of the depression. A plateau-like character is not one of its least pronounced features—a feature which is presented with startling fidelity in the outline on the north of the plain of Pasin, where the heights are called Kargabazar (Fig. 163, p. 193). West of the Gurgi Boghaz they are broken into peaks, of which the most symmetrical is the beautiful cone of Sheikhjik—a constant source of admiration to an inhabitant of Erzerum. It consists of a mass of trachyte which has welled up from the middle of a crater.1 As these heights extend westwards they have been less subjected to eruptive disturbances; and the fine landmarks of the Akhbaba Dagh, the Jejen Dagh and the Kop Dagh are composed of non-volcanic rocks. But these eminences serve to accentuate the prevailing flatness of the outline, which remains the outline of a block of tableland. Of little comparative width, this mass declines upon the north to the valley of the Chorokh.

Erzerum, it will have been seen, is almost as difficult to get round as it should be impossible to take by direct assault from the east. If only Turkey were a naval power, able to cope with her adversary by sea, it would be a long time before this bulwark of her Asiatic empire could be broken down by a Russian attack. Herein lies the value to Turkey of help from a first-rate naval Power and the hopelessness of her position should it not be forthcoming. With her fleet in undisputed possession of the Black Sea, Russia might laugh at the irresistible defences of Erzerum. It would only be necessary to hold the garrison by an advance on the side of Pasin; and the real attack, if it were ever made, would come from the west, the vulnerable side, delivered by a column which should have been landed at the port of Trebizond, and which there would be nothing to prevent marching to Erzerum along the chaussÉe. Sevastopol and Odessa rather than Kars and Erivan are the storm centres from which will be let loose the forces that will sweep the Ottoman Empire out of Asia, when we shall be confronted with a brand-new set of barriers, precluding for the second time in history the entrance of commerce and enlightenment into these magnificent territories. In taking leave of this part of the subject, I must not omit to mention the route which a Russian army might be expected to follow in its progress westwards after the fall of Erzerum. As far as Erzinjan the course of the Euphrates would in general be followed, when the northern border heights would be crossed and the entry to Asia Minor effected by way of Karahisar. There are no difficulties to traffic along this avenue. On the other hand, an advance from Mush, the side of the southern depression, could only be undertaken by mountain paths above the course of the Murad, which have never been touched by an engineer. It is therefore probable that the tide of war would be diverted for some time to the lowlands, when it might threaten the south-eastern districts of Asia Minor from the side of Diarbekr.

On three occasions, all during the course of the present century, Erzerum has been at the mercy of Russian armies. In 1829 it was actually taken by Marshal Paskevich, whose troops penetrated as far north as GÜmÜshkhaneh and to within eighteen miles of Trebizond.2 Recovered by Turkey at the ensuing peace, it was threatened by a similar fate after the fall of Kars in November 1855. It was only saved by the Russian reverses in other quarters and by the early termination of the war (Treaty of Paris, March 1856). In 1877 the Russians forced the Deveh Boyun barrier, which in those days was unprovided with proper defences; but they met with a serious repulse in an attempt to storm the forts on the eastern flank of the enceinte. The investment was not completed until the month of January 1878; and, although the place was held by their armies as a material guarantee during the negotiations for peace, it was retained by the Sultan under the terms of the treaties of San Stefano (March 1878) and Berlin (July 1878). Since the conclusion of that campaign the advantages of the position have for the first time been turned to proper account; and, if in the future the system of forts should be found provided with the most modern ordnance and held by a sufficient garrison, Erzerum may still earn the glory of owing her preservation to the sword rather than to the pen.

But not only is this fortress the key to Turkish Armenia; it also defends the most important of her trade routes. The principal avenue of the commerce between Europe and northern Persia passes through Erzerum. This traffic, which is conducted by means of numerous strings of camels, was originally founded by the Genoese. Its flourishing condition long after the disappearance of these great merchants is attested by the Jesuit missionaries in the latter half of the seventeenth century.3 As early as the year 1690 we hear of a British commercial agent residing in the city.4 In those days even a portion of the trade with India found its way through Erzerum. After the initiation of a service of steamers on the Black Sea in the year 1836, the land routes between the provincial capital and Constantinople or the Mediterranean ports gradually fell into disuse. On the other hand, the trade itself received a great impulse, and has continued to increase year by year to the present day. In place of the almost endless stages of land carriage through Asia Minor, European steamers discharge their goods at the port of Trebizond, whence they are conveyed on the backs of camels through Erzerum and along a series of plains to the Persian city of Tabriz. In the year 1842 it was ascertained that the number of packages disembarked at Trebizond in transit for Persia was about 32,000. In 1898 this trade had increased to over 5000 tons; and in a normal year the value of the imports into Persia is about £600,000. About two-thirds of this trade belongs to Great Britain. It is to be hoped that the trunk railway which already exists in Asia Minor will be extended to Erzerum, where it should be joined by a branch line from Rizeh or Trebizond. From Erzerum it could be continued without the intervention of any natural obstacle through Bayazid to Tabriz; and from Tabriz it would proceed through Teheran and Ispahan until it effected a junction with the Indian railways. The capital to construct this railway should be subscribed in Europe generally; and a certain percentage of interest should be guaranteed on the revenues of Turkish Armenia as a provincial unit, as well as on the revenues of Persia.

The population of Erzerum, especially the Armenian element, has undergone a remarkable oscillation during the nineteenth century. In 1827 it appears to have numbered as many as 130,000 souls.5 Another but lower estimate gives a total at that period of 16,378 families, or from 80,000 to 100,000 souls. Of these 3950 families, or from 19,000 to 24,000 people, were Armenians of the national religion.6 The Russian occupation of the city in 1829 was followed in 1830 by a general emigration of the Armenian inhabitants, who followed the Russian armies upon its evacuation. Those were the days when Russia was assisted to her conquests by Armenians and hailed by them as a deliverer. Numbers of their countrymen—it is said by Armenians not less than 40,000—had already emigrated into the Russian provinces from the frontier districts of Persia in the train of the Russian army when it retired from Tabriz at the peace of Turkomanchai (1828).7 What with the exodus of Armenians both from the city and the plain—which before those times was probably inhabited by an Armenian majority—and the various calamities of a disastrous war, the population of Erzerum had declined to a total of not more than 15,000 souls in 1835.8 Only 120 Armenian families are said to have remained behind.9 At the time of my first visit the inhabitants numbered about 40,000, exclusive of a garrison of 5000 or 6000 men. The official figures assigned some 10,500 to the Armenians, 26,500 to the Mussulmans, 1400 to the Persians and strangers, and about 500 to the Greeks. Of the Armenians some 500 succumbed in the great massacre of 1898. It is evident, however, that the town has been returning to its former condition; and there can be no doubt that with the most moderate instalment of tolerable government the older figures would be soon surpassed. I was informed by the Persian Consul that some 30,000 to 40,000 head of camel were yearly counted as having passed through the city. The money spent by their owners for provisions and sundries in Erzerum amounts to about £T90,000 or, in sterling, £81,000 a year. Such is the value to the city of the Persian trade.

The aspect of Erzerum, when seen from without, is sombre and unattractive. This impression is principally due to the colour of the stone of which it is built and to the scarcity of trees. I am tempted to offer my reader two illustrations of the place, the one taken from the higher ground on the south, and displaying the features of the great plain with the city in the foreground and in the distance the lofty outline of the northern heights (Fig. 164); the other looking south-west from the roof of the British Consulate, with the castle in relief against the slopes of the Eyerli Dagh on the right of the picture (Fig. 165). This view does not comprise the peak of PalandÖken, situated a little further to the left. The eminence in the centre is a nameless mass, intermediate between the two greater mountains and screening the cirque from the plain. A curious feature in the landscape of the city, when seen from very near, are the chimneys, which look like rows of dove-cots. The smoke escapes at the sides. It is strange that the inhabitants display so little love of verdure, for the sun is always brilliant and productive of glaring lights, while during two or three months of the year its rays are fierce. The few gardens that there are grow quantities of lilac, of a perfection of bloom and colouring and perfume which surpasses any examples I have seen elsewhere. Abundance of delicious water flows down from the heights on the north; and under happier circumstances the slopes and the plain outside the city would be dotted with dwellings embowered in trees. At the present day, when once you have passed outside the enceinte, you feel like a ship which has taken to the open sea. Not a hedgerow, no oasis of foliage diversifies and softens the naked and vast expanse. You steer your course whither you will. For at least five months in the year the ground is covered with snow—an unbroken sheet spread over mountain and plain. Little specks in the landscape are recognised as villages; and now and again a gliding object—it might be a boat on the ocean—moves swiftly towards the city and, approaching nearer, is seen to be a sledge. The climate of Erzerum has been compared to that of St. Petersburg, but the comparison is most unhappy and in many respects fallacious. Sun and sky belong essentially to the South. It is only the great altitude of over 6000 feet above sea-level that produces the rigour of winter and the crispness of the summer nights. My daily observations of temperature during the months of December and January supply the following results. In December the highest reading at 9 A.M. was 37° Fahrenheit, or 5° above freezing-point; and the lowest at the same time of the day was 8°, or 24° of frost. During January the maximum at 10 A.M. was 30° Fahrenheit, and the minimum at the same hour was -19½° centigrade, or 3° below zero of Fahrenheit. Double windows and German stoves are necessaries in such a climate; and, as you take your ride of an afternoon and gallop over the powdery snow, it is necessary to protect the ears against frost-bite. On the other hand, it is not easy to realise the severity of the weather, so brilliant are the rays of the sun. And the warmth of walking exercise completes the illusion of a snowfall in summer, while your spaniel ranges widely over the endless white surface, intent upon his forbidden pursuit of the larks.

The charm of the place—and it has a charm which must appeal to all sensitive minds—consists in the grandiose scale of the surroundings—the sculpturesque beauties of the parallel lines of mountain which meet in the perspective of the west; the subtle effects of light and tint, which are those of some summit in the mountains transferred to the habitable earth. The setting of the sun and the rising of the moon reflect the originality of such conditions. The plain itself must be close upon 6000 feet high; it has a length, from west to east, of eighteen miles, and it is not less than some ten miles across.10 In its trough lies the infant stream of the Western Euphrates, which, rising on the slopes of the DÜmlÜ Dagh,11 a mountain of the northern border, is for some little distance lost in a zone of marshes, almost opposite the city but not less than about five miles away. These marshes are quite an aviary of all kinds of wildfowl, which, besides supplying eggs to the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages, afford most excellent opportunities to the sportsman.

The enceinte, or circumvallation of Erzerum was constructed during the period between the war of 1855 and that of 1877. It consists of a rampart or ramparts of earth with ditches, and resembles the enceinte of Paris. Cannons are mounted upon it at intervals. It embraces an area of about three square miles, and is furnished with four principal gates. That on the west is called the gate of Erzinjan, and the one on the east the gate of Tabriz. The gates on the north and south-west are named respectively the Olti and Kharput gates. Each gate is guarded by sentries. The space enclosed within this rampart is only partially covered by buildings, the town occupying not more than about a square mile of ground. Down to comparatively recent times Erzerum consisted of a citadel and walled city, with suburbs lying outside the walls. These walls, which dated back to the Byzantine period, were double and defended by sixty-two towers. They were further protected by a moat. Their circumference appears to have been not less than three or four miles, and no Christian was allowed to reside within them. They were provided with four gates, bearing the same names as those in the present enceinte. Texier, who visited Erzerum in 1839, records that Greek characters were to be seen upon the gates, and crosses incised in the stones of the walls. Both features were evidently of Byzantine origin. His authoritative testimony is supported by at least two of his predecessors, Hamilton (1836) and Poser (1621). The last-mentioned traveller describes a marble bas-relief and Greek inscription which he saw upon one of the gates. I have little doubt that this bas-relief is the same of which Yusuf spoke to me as having been copied by Consul Taylor in the sixties and taken to the British Museum. The document is, however, not forthcoming in our national treasure-house, and the original has disappeared. Only in the central and more southerly quarters of Erzerum did I observe a few remnants of the old walls. The citadel is still in existence, crowning the highest ground in the city, and it still contains the famous old tower. It seems to have served as a watch-tower, and was provided with a clock which the Russians carried away in 1830. In old days the captain of the Janissaries resided in the citadel; and the only occasion upon which a pasha of Erzerum would enter that sanctuary was if he came to have his head cut off.12

Not many ancient buildings remain in the city, which has not seldom been visited by severe earthquakes. One of the most violent occurred in the month of June 1859, destroying or seriously damaging 4500 houses, overturning several portions of the old walls and levelling nine minarets with the ground.13 The most pretentious edifice is the old medresseh or college, called Chifteh Minareh.Chifteh Minareh or the double minaret (Fig. 166). My illustration is from a photograph taken many years ago, before the caps of both minarets had fallen away. I was unable to obtain permission to enter the edifice, which was being used as a military store. It has been described at some length by more than one of my predecessors, and it is, I believe, an architectural solecism.14 The faÇade of hewn stone with elaborate traceries contrasts with the brickwork of the pair of circular towers which rise from stone piers on either side. The circumference of each tower is diversified by eighteen small shafts, morticed into the main mass. The space between each pair of shafts is filled by a triangular moulding, of which the edge or narrow side faces outwards. Shafts and moulding are built of reddish kiln-burnt bricks, inlaid with small blue bricks. At the base of either pier is a large panel, framing an elaborate ornament in sculptured stone. Between the uppermost sprays of a bunch of foliage or feathers rests the device of a double-headed eagle. The stalks or quills of the garland rest in the hollow of a small semicircle, which is supported by the interlaced forms of two dragons. The question is suggested whether this double-headed eagle be the well-known emblem of the Roman empire over East and West. But we know that the emblem was adopted by the Seljuk dynasty of the Ortukids and by their successors the Ayubids;15 and, indeed, if one were left to one’s own judgment, one might well suppose that this was a monument of the Seljuk period. On the other hand, a Cufic inscription, communicated to Professor Koch in the forties by the dragoman of the British Consulate, is to the effect that this building and an adjacent mosque were founded by a nameless benefactor during the caliphate of Malek Khan and in the year of the Hegira 351 (A.D. 962). The inscription is described as consisting of two portions, one on either tower.16 Personally I could not discover any trace of Cufic writing, nor, so far as I am aware, has such been observed upon this monument by any of my predecessors. Adjoining the building on the south side is a circular tomb in hewn stone, resembling the mausolea at Akhlat, which are works of the thirteenth century. Tradition ascribes the tomb to a Sultan of Persia.17

Ulu Jami.The large mosque of Ulu Jami is not more than a few steps distant from the entrance to Chifteh Minareh. It has rather a vast interior with several vaulted aisles; but it is devoid of architectural pretensions. I was shown an ancient paper belonging to this mosque, in which it was stated that it had been built by the Head of the Government and Religion, Mohammed el-Fateh, in A.H. 575 or A.D. 1179.

The most pleasing situation in the city is that which is presented by the disposition of the buildings as you make your way southwards up an irregular ravine or gully, down which trickles a little stream. On your right hand the high ground is crowned by the bastions of the citadel; while to your front, on the same heights a little south of these grim walls, rise the slender towers of Chifteh Minareh. The slopes on the east are much gentler, and are covered with houses, terraced up the incline. Here and there you may discern a pile of stones, or a block of masonry abutting on a house. These fragments are the Relics of the old walls.relics of the old walls, which formerly separated the great mosque, the Chifteh Minareh and the citadel from the suburbs with which these buildings are now continuous. One may turn aside among the houses to visit a Holy well.holy well, which is frequented by both Mussulmans and Armenians. The former assert that it is situated on the spot where the successor of Sheikh Abdul Kader of Baghdad is said to have met his death. The latter attribute its origin to a miracle, by which the water welled up from the ground upon which was shed the blood of two of their martyrs, the brothers Isaac and Joseph. They met their fate in A.D. 796.18 The spring rises from the mud floor of a humble little house, and is quite tepid to the touch.

Churches.I need not detain my reader with any description of the churches, because Erzerum has always differed from other Armenian centres in not possessing any remarkable Armenian temples. The early travellers speak of two insignificant chapels, and one of these still remains. During the forties the Armenian inhabitants set about building a more spacious edifice; and Curzon tells an interesting story in connection with the enterprise, which may explain the origin of the number of old sculptured stones which are such a feature in the walls of many an Armenian church. The priests, he says, urged their flock to bring in the tombstones of their ancestors; and the response was so warm that there was quite a rush of able-bodied Armenians, carrying tombstones from the graves of their families on their backs. Many were unable to obtain a place in the walls or windows for their contribution to the structure of the house of God.19 I do not know whether the edifice of which this traveller speaks is the same as the present cathedral. In addition to the little chapel of which I have spoken, this is the only church of the Gregorian community of Erzerum. The city is the centre of one of their dioceses and was inhabited by a bishop at the time of my stay. Monsignor Shishmanean—such was the name and title under which I was introduced to this prelate—received me with some show of state, being attended by all the members of his lay council. He conversed quite fluently in the French language.

Sanasarean school.The popular basis of the Armenian Church is one of its most remarkable features, and, with the rapid spread of education which is now in process among the community, ought before long to be productive of far-reaching reforms. This lay council consists of notables chosen by the people; and, in a vacancy of the see, the patriarch at Constantinople submits to them the names of candidates among whom to choose a successor to their late bishop. In Erzerum this lay body is an operative factor in the life of the community; but I doubt whether its counterpart could be discovered in such centres as Bitlis or Mush. It exercises considerable influence in the government of the Sanasarean school, to a brief account of which I now proceed.

We found Erzerum in a condition verging upon famine. During my residence several people died of inanition, and the poorer classes were only just alive. I was informed that there was no lack of grain in the place; but it was all in the hands of merchants, and they refused to sell except at famine prices. A short harvest in 1892 had been followed by insufficient sowing, owing to the consumption of the seed for food. Grain was said to be lying at Trebizond on Government account; but the officials pleaded that they were unable to obtain transport. Some of them, if not all, were no doubt confederates of the Corn Ring. The same state of things was prevalent at Van; and throughout our journey we had great difficulty in obtaining barley for our horses, even when offering exorbitant prices. One may present some conception of the acuteness of the sufferings of the townspeople by recording some particulars of prices and wages. Wheat was selling at 50 piasters a kilÉ, or about 2½ piasters an oke (2¾ lbs.). The price of bread was 2 piasters an oke. A healthy man requires at least three-quarters of an oke of bread a day, in addition to his ration of sheep’s tail or meat sausage, of which the working classes lay in a provision in the autumn. The wages of a carpenter or skilled labourer are in good times 8 piasters a day. But hundreds of workmen were seeking employment at 1½ piasters, and the best paid among the makers of cigarettes for the rÉgie were receiving a daily wage of 2 piasters. Rice at Erzerum is quite a luxury, and potatoes are so little grown that they may be left out of account. How was a man to pay for his lodging, provide food for his family and himself, and obtain tezek, or cow-dung cakes, for his fire upon the current wages? I was shown the kind of bread upon which the majority were living; it looked like a thin pancake, and its staple consisted of a black grain or seed. But the principal ingredient was mud and chopped straw. The cruelty of the situation was accentuated by the fact that all kinds of comestibles were spread out upon the booths of the bazar. One regretted the absence of the glass windows of our shops. Here the temptation might be touched as well as seen. There is no poor-law, and no poor-houses. People starve in the streets. A Mussulman girl of great beauty came to our house, and begged piteously for food, showing her face. We endeavoured to obtain for her a place as servant in the residence of some Turkish ladies. But it was well known that there was many a brute in Erzerum who, like the Spectre of Hunger in the pregnant lines of Alfred de Musset, demanded kisses as the price of a piece of bread.

The economical condition of the surrounding country is woeful in the extreme. The great plains from Pasin to Lake Van were being raided by bands of Kurds. I shall describe in a future chapter how this predatory people came to be established in the agricultural centres. Erzerum was full of accounts of their open attacks upon the industrious peasantry; and even the Mussulmans, as, for instance, at Hasan Kala in Pasin, were petitioning Government for protection. It is true they did not dare to call their assailants to book as Kurds, but described them merely as brigands. It was well known that these bands were led by officers in Hamidiyeh regiments—tenekelis, or tin-plate men, as they are called by the populace, from the brass badges they wear in their caps. The frightened officials, obliged to report such occurrences, take refuge behind the amusing euphemism of such a phrase as “brigands, disguised as soldiers.” The scourge had almost exhausted the Armenian population, and was now commencing to sit heavy upon the Mussulmans. The Armenians were emigrating as fast as they could. The Russian Consul informed me that he had been obliged to issue no less than 3500 passports to Armenians during the current year. The Russians did not want them; but what were they to do? I learnt from another source that in the caza of Khinis alone 1000 Armenians had left their homes, the majority in abject poverty, and had taken refuge across the frontier.

With a famine in the provincial capital and the adjacent territory stripped by marauders, the inhabitants of any other country would have risen in revolt against the Government. But the population of Asiatic Turkey, in spite of religious differences, are the most easily governed in the world. All the talk about Mussulmans and Christians flying at each other’s throat is talk, and moreover very idle talk. During my subsequent visits to Erzerum it was admitted to me by Turkish officials that the massacres of 1898 were perpetrated in these districts by bands of imported ruffians. The still unavenged guilt of these abominable orgies does not lie upon the Mussulman population. Only on one occasion during my residence did the famished townspeople of the dominant religion come near to measures of insubordination. They sent their women—a method of petition which is neither usual nor lightly to be dismissed—in a body to Government House. Thence the petitioners proceeded to the residence of an official of the Treasury at Constantinople, who had been despatched to Erzerum to make enquiries into the scarcity. The indignant matrons assailed his ears with the pertinent question: neye geldin, whereto didst thou come? Dissatisfied with the answer they received, they smashed the windows of the functionary; but nothing came of the demonstration.

All through that anxious time the civil government was in abeyance; and nothing was set up in its place. The Vali was recently dead; his successor had not been chosen; the deputy Governor was at once a puppet and an imbecile. An honest man with a few policemen at his back could restore not only order but prosperity. There is only one essential of any importance: to reorganise the territorial boundaries of the provinces, select good governors and invest them with extensive powers. If my reader be inclined to smile at the choice of my epithet when applied to a Turkish official, I can only say that I much regret my inability to introduce him personally to the present holder of the office of Vali of Erzerum. I was privileged to make the acquaintance of Raouf Pasha on the occasion of my second visit. His career through a long life has been one of much distinction; he is honest, just, capable, humane. If such a man could only be freed from the leading-strings of the capital, he would go far towards a happy settlement of the Armenian question, and of the still more important question, the continuance of the Ottoman Empire.

The Armenian inhabitants of the provincial capital are undergoing a state of transition from their ancestral customs to the less straitened manners of the West. But these customs die a hard death, and the emancipated Armenian who has studied in Europe must feel their fetters upon his return to his native land. Let us suppose that he wishes to marry; he must have recourse to his mother, or, if she be dead, to a female relation. A bride is chosen for him, whom, as likely as not, he does not see until the marriage ceremony has been performed. If the parents of the bridegroom be still alive, the newly-married couple reside with them; and it is the custom that, while sons and daughters are permitted to speak to their parents, a similar license is not usually accorded to the sons’ wives. Thus a maiden quits a home where freedom of intercourse and speech is allowed her to enter one where she is not permitted to open her mouth. A son may not smoke in the presence of his father; and great are the agonies endured by the younger generation in this respect alone. The earnings of the sons are handed over to the father, who rules the family quite in the patriarchal style.

A single family comprises a very large number of members, all living in the same house. In one house in which I visited there were not less than thirty. I photographed a group of five generations in this family, each person being in direct lineal descent. The infant is the son of the pretty young lady on the left of the picture, and it reposes on the lap of her great-grandmother (Fig. 169).

To Erzerum belongs an antiquity which, if not remote, is at least respectable; and her history, or rather the glimpses which we obtain of that history, illustrate the time-honoured struggle between East and West. Founded during the reign of the second Theodosius (A.D. 408–450), at the instance of one of the greatest of the early Armenian patriarchs, and upon the site of a village which dated from ancient times,20 the new city received the name of Theodosiopolis, and was designed to constitute an outer bulwark to the Roman Empire of the East. In the description of this event which we receive from Moses of Khorene the traveller recognises the familiar surroundings of the present town. The emissary of the emperor had journeyed over an extensive tract of country in search of a suitable site. His choice at length fell upon a position in the province of Karin, at the foot of a mountain in which several rivulets had their origin. At no great distance were situated the sources of the Euphrates, which, collecting into a sluggish stream, formed a large marsh, supporting abundance of wildfowl, on the eggs of which the inhabitants lived. The province lay in the centre of the country. Upon this site were laid the foundations of a fortified city, defended by moat and walls and towers. Baths of solid masonry were erected in the vicinity over the hot springs which welled from the ground.21

Seized in the year 502 by the Sasanian king of Persia at the inception of his war with Rome, this remote stronghold was shortly afterwards recovered by the Emperor Anastasius and restored to its former fame.22 The fortifications were enlarged and increased by Justinian;23 but at the close of the sixth century it again fell into Persian hands.24 I do not know that we are able to follow its fortunes during the campaigns of Heraclius, who is said to have assembled there a council of Armenian bishops (A.D. 629?).25 In the year 647 Theodosiopolis became the prize of the Arabs; and more than a century elapsed before it was regained by the CÆsars under Constantine the Fifth (755).26 That monarch razed the walls, reduced the inhabitants to slavery, and transported a great number of Armenians of the Paulician sect to Constantinople and to Thrace.27 Shortly after this event it appears to have been rebuilt by the Mussulmans; and it played an important part during the wars of Leo (886–911) and his son Constantine Porphyrogenitus (911–959) with the Arabs in the neighbouring province of Pasin.28 But the waves of Mussulman conquest were closing in upon the Eastern Empire. About the commencement of the thirteenth century we find the place in the possession of a prince who bears the Turkish name of Toghrul Ben Kilijarslan. From his hands it passed into the dominions of the Sultan of Iconium.29 The Seljuk Sultan was known as the lord of Erzerum, just as his Ottoman successors bore the title of lords of Kars.30 The rule of the Seljuks was followed by that of their Tartar conquerors. In the first half of the fifteenth century Erzerum was in the keeping of the Turkomans, from whom it was wrested by the Ottomans under Mohammed II.31

The name Erzerum dates from Mussulman times, but its exact derivation is obscure. It may either signify the land (Ard in Arabic, Arz in Turkish) of Rum, or of the Roman Empire; or it may be compounded of this last name and of the name of an unfortified town in the vicinity which was known as Artze or Artsn. It is quite probable that this town was at an early date called Artze of Rum to distinguish it from another Artze in the south of Armenia which lay within the Persian sphere.32 Local tradition places the site of the first of these Artzes close to the present city and on or near the banks of the Kara Su. We know that the place was sacked by the Turks in the middle of the eleventh century;33 and according to Saint Martin the survivors took refuge within the walls of Theodosiopolis, to which they transferred the name of their own populous town.34 However this may be, the ancient Armenian name of Karin is still applied to the present city.35 The monuments of the Eastern Empire have been seen in Erzerum by modern travellers; and the chain of history has not been broken in a manner to disparage the identity of the Roman fortress with this key to the Asiatic dominions of the Ottoman Turks.