FROM LONDON TO PERSEPOLIS.*
TIIT only fault of this book is that there is too much of it, too many chapters, too many words in a chapter. Mr. Ussher is a sensible, observant traveller, who has eyes that can see, who has seen places but very little known, and who can relate very pleasantly what he has seen. Unfortunately his notes were origi- nally prepared without any view to publication, and accordingly they are full of little incidents, very interesting doubtless to the writer's friends, but of little value to the public, and of information which though sound is by no means novel. This kind of thing, for example, is not such an improvement upon ordinary geogra- phical dictionaries as to deserve the magnificent "get up" in which this volume appears :— " From Vienna to Presburg there is but little to be seen. The banks rising on both sides are partly cultivated and partly covered with shady forests. The Konigsberg, the hill to which the Kings of Hungary, in olden time, used to ride after their coronation, and there wave the sword of St. Stephen to the north, south, east, and west, defying all who should ever dare to attack them, is but a short distance from the city, and is seen before the latter comes into view. Presburg is a very handsome town, containing some forty thousand inhabitants, and though no longer a capital, looks prosperous and wealthy. About halfway between Presburg and Pesth stands the famed fortress of Komorn, re- nowned for having successfully resisted the utmost force of the Austrian Empire. It is the chief town of the country of that name, and contains two Protestant churches, and the only insurance office for the Danube vessels and their cargoes."
Had one half of all Mr. Ussher has written been carefully primed away the remainder would have been a valuable narrative, for he has, as we have said, good eyes, writes very simply, and is entirely free from the affectation of knowledge which makes many books of travel so insufferably wearisome. His descriptions of the Caucasus and of Armenia are well worth reading, more par- ticularly the account of the latter province, which appears to have interested him greatly. He had been told that it would be impossible to penetrate into Daghestan, the Russian jealousy of travellers being too great, but Mr. Ussher had excellent letters of introduction, Prince Bariatinsky gave him recommendations to the generals, and everywhere he found himself treated with the greatest kindness and consideration. The route into the moan-
* From London go Persepolis. By John Basher F.R.G.S. Lonion: Hurst and Blacken.
tains is by a zigzag, very deep in mud, but still passable for a telega, or long light cart without springs. The road is supplied with posting-houses, and at the top stands a great cross of wood, set up to indicate the boundary between Europe and Asia, a land- mark the Russians never seem to forget. This point is nearly 9,000 feet above the level of the sea, and of course bitterly cold and rugged, and though the climate softens as you descend, the Asiatic side is still fearfully wild and desolate :-
"Nothing could be wilder or more gloomily grand than the defile through which we now drove. The enormous granite mountains piled one over the other, and their summits capped for thousands of feet (the Kasbek being sixteen thousand feet in height) with perpetual snow, are as it were raft in twain by the river, which forms thus a passage for itself, belling and foaming at the bottom of an abyss, the walls of which are sometimes two thousand feet in perpendicular height. The road, by the edge of the stream, sometimes not fifty feet in width, is in some places excavated out of the solid rock some six feet above it, whilst in others the defile opens to half a mile in width. It always shows the same chasm-like features, and presents the same appearance of utter desolation and chaos. In some degree the pass of Dariel resembles that of the St. Gothard about the vicinity of the Devil's Bridge, but the mountains being much higher, and the scenery on a very much larger scale, it is far more imposing, and is probably nowhere surpassed in gloomy magnificence. Numerous streams, some falling in cascades from great heights, others flowing through ravines and clefts in the rooky walls, discharge their waters into the Terek, which gradually assumes the dimensions of a river."
The mountains are unclothed, and the road, cut chiefly in solid granite, was declared by the Emperor Nicholas to hiVe cost more than if it had been paved with roubles. All along the road are square fortified villages inhabited by Cossacks, who cultivate as much of the surrounding district as they please, and are exempted in consideration of military service from all taxation. This is the base of the Russian system of occupation, which would be intoler- ably expensive but that the Czar is enabled to pay his Cossacks in land. The province nevertheless absorbs a regular army estimated at 148,000 men, but really containing only about '90,000, who serve for twelve years, receive only nominal wages, and are fed upon a thin gruel composed of black bread and water, some roots, and a little fiery brandy. There is also a Georgian militia some 20,000 strong, and 50,000 Cossacks who act as irregular cavalry. Videgne, Schamyl's old abode, is now a Russian fort, and Mr. Ussher's account is far less favourable to that chief than the one usually received in Europe. His reign seems to have been a very gloomy tyranny, based chiefly upon fanaticism, his only advisers were moollahs, he flogged his own mother to show his inflexibility, and killed his son who had been educated at St. Petersburg for displaying Russian sympathies. His followers have given up military resistance, but the nature of the country still enables them to preserve a kind of independence, and, "in fact, at first the submission of the mountaineers is only nominal, and consists solely in allowing the Russians to construct forts at a few miles' distance from each other in the most com- manding positions in the country, no taxes or contributions of any sort being demanded, and no interference with the patriarchal .authority of the chiefs exercised. When their hold of the country, however, by means of these forts and roads becomes firmer, and the people more accustomed to their presence, the Russians slowly and gradually interfere with the power of the chiefs, cautiously lessening their influence with their followers ; and by appointing an officer to reside with the heads of the various tribes, whose assent is necessary to any punishments, and who assists in deciding disputes, they by degrees accustom the natives to regard them, and not their hereditary chiefs, as their real rulers. As yet the Russians have not ventured to impose taxes, and all the Caucasian provinces being exempt from conscription, that great incentive to revolt is avoided." The province will yield in the end, and may repay expenses, as it is full of minerals. The Russians are already working the coal-mines, and hope to supersede the supply now obtained from England. Mr. Ussher saw Gounib, the extra- ordinary natural fortification in which Schamyl made his last stand. It is a mountain 6,000 feet high, with a grassy plateau at the top like a cup, the plain rising towards the edges, whence the traveller looks over a sheer precipice of a thousand feet. There is only one ascent, and Schamyl had crossed this with rock walls. The Russians took it by scaling he precipice on wedges driven into the rock.
Mr. Ussher visited Kars, where the fortifications thrown up by Major Lake stand unrepaired, and saw Ani, the ruined capital of Armenia, where churches and monasteries stand untouched and uninhabited, as they were left after Timour sold the inhabitants into slavery :-
"Making a long circuit, we entered the deserted city by the centre gate, there being three great entrances in the double walls, which were built of large blocks of hewn stone. Over the outer gate was an Armenian
inscription, over the inner a leopard was sculptured in bold relief ; while near it, on the towers, were carved crosses, ornamented with decorations and tracery of a very delicate nature. We found the ground in the interior covered with fragments of sculptured stones, broken columns, capitals, and carvings. Clambering over the masses of ruins we entered a few of the churches, three or four of which seemed, with the exception that their doors had been carried away, quite as perfect as when just out of the hands of the builder. One of them in particular, which stood just above the bridge that spanned the abyss below, was in complete preservation, the fresco paintings on the interior of the dome retaining their bright colour and hues uninjured by time, the subjects being Christ riding into Jerusalem, the Virgin at the sepulchre, &c. These churches stand solitary among the ruins, in which, save a few pigeons, no living creatures seemed to exist. In the centre of the city were two lofty octagon towers, on which were small turrets; and not far from them was an isolated steep rock, near the edge of the precipice. This was also covered with scattered fragments of what had once been buildings—the citadel of the fortress city. The walls of the palace yet remain, and are of great extent and solidity. The masonry is perfect, the huge stones are squared and put together with the greatest care, and the whole is covered with the most elaborate carvings, decorations, and mosaics, all of exceedingly delicate workmanship. There were also two mosques; one built-on the edge of the precipice, the interior of the dome of which was covered with perfectly preserved arabesques, re- sembling in character and finish of design those of the Alhambra."
He saw but did not ascend Ararat, the terrible mountain which rears itself a black mass capped with snow in the solitary grandeur of 16,000 feet above the plain of Erivan. He visited the Catholicos or Patriarch of Armenia, whose seat is at Etchmiadzin, and whom he found a handsome and dignified old man, with fine profile and heavy beard. He is the possessor of a spiritual throne first set up by Pope Sylvester at the commencement of the fourth century, and is elected by the synod, the seven eldest Bishops, and some lay deputies. The Russian Government protects the election by its influence at Constantinople, and makes it a policy to defend Armenians throughout the Turkish Empire. In return Armenians almost everywhere are pro-Russian. They number according to this book nearly ten millions—surely a grave exag- geration ?—but are scattered as widely as the Jews, prospering everywhere except at home. In their own land they live a life almost unique, being based on both the European and Abiatic theories.
"It would appear that nowhere is the patriarchal system carried to a greater extent than among the Armenians. Dining the lifetime of the father, all the sons and their descendants live together in one common dwelling; and thus houses may be found which, from the number of their inhabitants, resemble beehives, often comprising three and four generations. All the property is held in common by the descendants of the head of the house. Brothers and sisters inherit equally, but until the death of the head no one can possess anything separate from all the others. Until marriage the Armenian girls go about as they like ; they are unveiled, and enjoy as much freedom as they could do in European countries, flirting, love-making, and marrying to please themselves, as in more civilized lands. But once married, and all is changed. From that time until she bears a child, she never speaks to any one except her husband ; and then only in private. After she becomes a mother, she may speak to her mother-in-law first, and after the lapse of certain periods, to her own mother, her sisters-in-law, and her own sisters. She is always veiled, even in her own house ; she never speaks to male strangers, and she seldom or never leaves the house. Her finery, jewellery, and ornaments can be shown only to those of her own sex ; and in every way her seclusion is as complete as that of the Turkish women. On the other hand, the Armenian women seldom do any hard work; they remain at home while their husbands labour in the fields, and they enjoy, probably on account of their acquaintance prior to marriage, much more respect and confidence from their husbands than falls to the share of the Turkish wife, who, moreover, has to divide with two or three rivals the little affection or respect which her husband deigns to bestow on her. As the Armenian woman can only talk in her own house below her breath, that none of her male relatives may hear what she says, it follows that the con- sequence which usually results fret:lithe residence of so many woman in one house, incessant quarrelling, is quite avoided. Custom, the strongest of all laws' forbidding them to speak above a whisper, a war of words could only be carried on under great difficulties ; and as yet, at least, speaking on the fingers, which would also require a knowledge of spelling, an accomplishment very few of them possess, is not intro- duced to facilitate the interchange of hostilities between those ancient enemies, mothers and daughters-in-law. Yet it is not easy to realize the idea of a large family circle in which all the ladies sit mute, or only convene among themselves in whispers."
Mr. Ussher continued his travels through Kurdistan and Persia, but the extracts we have given sufficiently indicate the quality of the book, which forms an immense octavo, beautifully printed and bound, and faulty only in its unnecessary mass.
Previous page
