pass them over, halting only for a moment to take a survey of one of the cave-villages of Cappadocia.

"Our route lay over plains and uplands, till we approached the Sevri Hisar hills, when we turned to the right, and entered deep and rocky ravines, at the foot of an outlying spur of the Hasan Tagh. The first we entered contained a few grottoes and caves, which kept increasing in number as we progressed, till we came to what had evidently been a very populous site, and where, superadded to the caves, were ruins of dwelling-houses, arches of stonework, &c., still standing in the valley. This place is called by the Greeks of the present day, Belistermeh. Ravines of the same character, almost without interruption to the succession of grottoes, many of which were rudely ornamented in front, led us to Gelvedery, where we were equally surprised and delighted to find a large colony of Greeks living in these caves, mostly built up in front, and occupying not only the acclivities of the hills, but also the face of the precipice to its very top, and stretching up a narrow ravine, which, towards its upper part, became choked with these semi-subterranean dwellings. We had now the pleasure of contemplating what one of these cave-villages or towns was when inhabited; and were all anxiety to get into one of the houses, but this anxiety on our part was not at all met by the natives, who were disinclined to receive us, or to hold communication with us. At length we got into a house, where was a caverned odah, but it was full of khawasses; so Mr. Rassam repaired to the house of a priest, who acted kindly, and allowed us a room for the night. These Greeks, although thus secluded from the world, were not poor, and had a goodly stone church in the vale. From what conversation we had with the priests, it appears that they claim a high antiquity to the site of Gelvedery, which there is every reason to believe corresponds with Garsabora. What interested us greatly, was to endeavour to trace the origin of Greek colonies, in such remote and sequestered spots, but upon this subject they could offer us no information; their fathers had lived in the same spot, but why it was chosen by them, and what advantages it had ever offered to them, appeared scarcely ever to have been a subject of a moment's thought. It is not many years since the Osmanli government, by a rather enlightened policy, dragged the Christians from the caves of Osiana, Tatlar, &c., and made them reside in the New City, and the troglodites of Gelvedery appear to have much horror of the same fate hanging over them; and thus our questions excited their suspicions, and awakened fears which all our expressions of kindly and brotherly feeling towards them scarcely sufficed to allay."

It is probable that the Christian Greeks of Cappadocia sought shelter in these caverned fastnesses from the successive

invasions of Persians, Syrians, and Ottomans, though perhaps the first of these dwellings were excavated by the ascetics, who introduced their corruptions into Oriental Christianity during the third and fourth centuries. The existing race of Cappadocians displays none of the moroseness which isusually supposed to be connected with a troglodyte life.

The present condition of the Cappadocian Greeks shows itself under a very favourable aspect. We have seen, that while in Gelvedery and Sowanli, they have in other places issued from these, and congregated in now flourishing and cheerful towns, as Nev Shehr and Injeh Su. In these places there is an aspect of ease, freedom, and prosperity, which never belongs to Mohammedan towns. Children are playing about, flowers are trained up the house walls, females sit at their verandahs, and trade is bustling in the market; add to this, that the Cappadocian Greeks are, generally speaking, pleasing and unreserved in their manners, and their conversation indicated a very high degree of intelligence and civilization, where there are so few books, and so little education, and consequently, little learning. In the villages, the men, marrying early, repair to Constantinople and Smyrna to trade, while to the women is left the care of the house, the flock, and the vineyard; an evil follows from this, that the females become masculine and full of violent passions, and when the men return to their homes, they are often very far from finding an echo to the subdued tones and more polished manners which they had learned to appreciate in the civilized world. The priests who remain at home might be supposed to have some counteracting influence, but they are often old, have rarely above moderate capacities, and are frequently disregarded and disrespected. But apart from these minor considerations, these Cappadocian Greeks certainly constitute a tribe themselves, distinguished by their manners, their habits, and their independent prosperity and civilization, and not so much surpassing other Greeks in Asia Minor by their progressive civilization, as excelling them in having become less changed, and less humbled and prostrated, than other Greek communities are by four centuries of Osmanli tyranny. »

The Kurds in the vicinity of Mount Taurus are a far less interesting race than their Greek neighbours, but they are still worthy of our notice, if it were only from the similarity which all travellers describe as existing between them and the Highlanders of Scotland.

« We were now rendered aware that we were in who were in the vassal, but not the subject state.

VOL. III.

a district of Kurds The ragged garb

31

of the rustic was supplanted by a handsome highland and military costume, a waistcoat of brown cloth, surmounted by a braided jacket of the same material, open, with loose sleeves. The wide trowsers of blue stuff, open to the knee but tight to the legs, were upheld by a narrow waistband, so as not to impede active or prolonged exercise, and the feet were protected by good laced boots. Every man carried his gun on his back, and his pouch by his side. The latter was made of the same coloured cloth as his jacket, and adorned by two or three black tassels. The features of the men (who as usual with the Kurds, were strong, muscular, and sinewy, any one equal to two such Osmanlis as constituted the army of Hafiz Pasha,) were regular and handsome, and more expressive of reckless daring, than of that low deceitful cupidity which so often characterizes the Arab. The women were also very good-looking, and had generally fine heads of glossy black hair. They did not cover their faces. We had an excellent opportunity of contemplating these villagers, for we rested ourselves half an hour by a fountain side, in the middle of the village, and under the shade of a great plane-tree, where we were soon surrounded by almost all the inhabitants.»

Our travellers had hoped that their progress would be facilitated by the presence of a Turkish army on the Syrian frontier, not anticipating the ease with which it would be routed by Ibrahim Pasha at Nizib. They proceeded, therefore, towards the camp, and saw on the road some signal proofs of the wretchedness of the arrangements made by an Oriental commissariat.

The carcasses of camels and horses, some newly dead, but others emitting most noxious effluvia, were encountered in numbers, and fully showed how severe were the tasks to which the animals were put in order to supply the wants of an army. Nor was the loss on the part of the Egyptians less in this department; for on a subsequent journey, made some time after the battle, from Aleppo to Birebjik, I saw the skeletons of nearly a hundred camels on various parts of the road. When soldiers, occupied in the commissariat, had a horse drop upon the road, they ripped up the skin and cutting a bit, carried it to the camp, as a proof that the animal was really dead. We saw a party engaged in this operation; the animal was panting with thirst, heat, and exhaustion, unable to proceed or to die, and writhing under the knife. Parties driving their loads to the camp, others hastening with unladen horses for further supplies, a few craven laggards slowly progressing to join the martial band, khawasses on their way to hurry tardy peasants or construct rafts up the river, tatars bound to the mute-sellims of distant towns, and the aghas of districts, and officers upon various duties, gleamed

through the sun's misty glare, and leut life to the great open furnace in which we all moved. n

It was the good or evil fortune of the travellers to witness the battle of Nizib, for while on one hand they were gratified by the display of an unusual and picturesque system of tactics, on the other hand they were exposed to much danger from a disorganized mass, not at all unlikely to attribute their defeat to the presence of infidels in their lines, especially when their fanaticism was stimulated by their rapacity. The preliminary skirmishing of the irregular cavalry on both sides presented a novel spectacle to those who were accustomed to the movements of European troops.

"A horseman gallops, as if towards the foe, an opponent advances to the rencounter; when sufficiently near they discharge their pistols at one another; Kurd followed Kurd, and Anazeh, Anazeh: and the second pistol of the first Kurd was fired with the first pistol of the second Anazeh, while the second pistol of the first Anazeḥ was fired at the first pistol of the second Kurd, and so on in succession; horsemen continually relieving one another, and each cavalier sweeping round, so that by the time his pistols were unloaded he was in the rear to load again. Success in these manœuvres depends considerably upon the horse, which must be very quick in turning round, or else the cavalier would come unarmed upon a third opponent; and also upon the horseman in the rear, who must be quick enough to take new opponents off the hands of an old antagonist. The horses were, indeed, so well trained, that they often performed their part of the service after they had lost their rider, who had been shot on the first or second rencounter, but the relief from behind was frequently uncertain and ill regulated. »

Even more curious was the appearance of the martial dervishes, half idiots and half hypocrites, whom the Turks regard with superstitious reverence, pardoning their roguery for the grimace of devotion with which it is accompanied.

There was a martial dervish in the camp who wore a sword, and being tolerated for his many oddities used to take great liberties with the Pasha; to-day he afforded us no small merriment by his prowess. Drawing his sabre he rushed forward, as if to the enemy, but took care to turn round before reaching the scene of action; he then came galloping up to the Serasker brandishing his weapon, and proclaiming that he had challenged Ibrahim Pasha, as the enemy of God, the prophet Mohammed, and his viceregent the Sultan, but that no one had dared to fight him. He performed a variety of

other equally ridiculous antics. There was also another more harmless idiot in the camp, who was deformed, and subject to religious hallucinations; this man had followed the soldiers from Malatiyeh, he was a great favourite with them, and had received a good Nizam dress. He was admitted into the Serasker's tent, where one of his frequent amusements was to come and stroke me behind when engaged in conversation, on which occasions I could scarcely preserve my gravity, but the Mohammedans considered this a token of favour and success. I never saw either of these camp oddities after the battle, and almost doubt if they effected their escape.»

In the end, the Turks were routed, and the travellers, finding it impossible to enter into Mesopotamia by the route which they had first chosen, returned to Constantinople. After some delay they again started, and with little difficulty reached Mosul, the present capital of Mesopotamia. As the recent appointment of a British vice-consul to that city confers upon it some commercial importance, we shall extract Mr. Ainsworth's notice of its trading capabilities.

While busy in improving the offensive and defensive capabilities of this place, surrounded as it is on all sides by lawless tribes, the Kurds of Rawanduz and Amadiyeh to the east, the Bahdinan Kurds and Mosul Ashirat of Arabs to the north, the Izedis of Sinjar to the west, and the Shammar Bedwins to the south, the Pasha has been draining the resources of the town and province to the utmost, so much so, that many would have left to seek a home where industry and the necessaries of life were less insupportably taxed, but for a precaution taken by the Pasha, to allow of no one to pass the gates of the town without permission. Without these prominent evils, and with a tranquil state of the surrounding country, Mosul presents mercantile advantages of no common order. It is immediately connected with the great gall districts, and the expenses of the customs at Aleppo may be avoided by sending the galls direct to the port of Iskenderun, while there are several roads open to Persia, across the mountains, a transit of from five to seven days, and by which, considering the short distance and good roads from Mosul to Iskenderun, British manufactures might be distributed into the heart of Persia, in a time and at an expense, which the line of Trebizond, Erzrum, and Tabriz, that of Bushire and Baghdad, or the Russian line of Astrakhan, Bakhu, and Mezenderan, can never rival. Mosul is frequently devastated by plague; the period at which the natives place the re-occurence of that calamity is every thirty-one years. The city has also suffered occasionally from famine, generally caused by fire spreading in dry weather over the fields. Several catastrophes of this kind occurred during our residence here. The fire spread