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APPENDIX. No. I.
are beauitful. Indigo and cochineal, which they purchase at Aleppo, give them their blue,
and red dyes, but the ingredients of all the others, especially of a brilliant green, are herbs
which they gather in the mountains of Armenia ; the dyeing process is kept by them as a national ¬
secret. The wool of their carpets, is of the ordinary kind; the carpets are about seven
feet long and three broad, and sell from fifteen to one hundred piastres a piece. While the
females are employed in these labours the men pass their whole time in indolence ; except at
sunset, when they feed their horses and camels, they lounge about the whole day, without any
useful employment, and without even refreshing their leisure by some trifling occupation. To
smoke their pipes and drink coffee is to them the most agreeable pastime ; they frequently
visit each other, and collecting round the fire-place, they keep very late hours. I was told
that there are some men amongst them, who play the tamboura, a sort of guitar, but I never
heard any of them perform. If the young men would condescend to assist in agriculture,
the wealth of the families would rapidly increase, and the whole of the plains of Antioch
might in time be cultivated: at present, as far as I could observe, there are few families
growing rich ; most of them spend their whole income.
A Turkman never leaves his tent to take a ride in the neighbourhood without being armed
with his gun, pistols, and sabre. I was astonished to see that they do not take the smallest
care of their fire arms : a great number of them were shewn to me, to know whether they
were of English manufacture ; I found them covered with rust, and they complained of their
often missing fire. They have no gunsmiths amongst them ; nor any artizans at all, except
some farriers, and a few makers of bridles and of horse accoutrements
There are no lawyers or Ulemas among the Ryhanlu. Some families of consequence
carry with them a Faqui or travelling Imam, to teach their children to read and to pray,
and who in case of need performs likewise the duties of a menial servant, much like the young
German baron’s governor. These Faqui are for the greater part natives of Albostan, educated
there in mosques : they follow the Turkmans to participate in the pious alms which the Koran
prescribes. They are generally ignorant, even of the Turkish law: they are often consulted
however by the chiefs, and their sentence is generally confirmed by the chief whenever there
is no precedent or customary law in point to the contrary.
I did not see any books amongst the Turkmans, and I am certain that out of fifty hardly one
knows how to read or write. Even few of them know the text of their prayers (which are
throughout the Mohammedan countries in the sacred language, the Arabic), and therefore
perform the prescribed prostrations silently and without the usual ejaculations. The married
people, men as well as women, are tolerably exact in the performance of their devotions, but
the young men never trouble themselves about them.
I did not stay long enough among the Turkmans to be able to judge correctly of their
character, especially as I was ignorant of their language. I saw enough, however, to convince -
me that they possess most of the vices of nomade nations, without their good qualities. ¬
The Turkmans are, like the Arabs and Kurds, a people of robbers, that is to say,
