DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5541#0451
418
TRADE OF ANGORA.
[Chap. xxiv.
CHAPTER XXIV.
Angora—Its wool—Population—The Kaiinakan—Temple of Augustus—Greek
inscriptions—Convent of Schismatic Armenians—The gardens—Subterranean
passages—Electricity—Catholic Armenians—Turks—'Political considerations.
The antiquities and monuments of Angora have been
so frequently described by former travellers, particularly
by Pococke and Macdonald Kinneir, that I shall not be
tempted to enter into much detail respecting them. The
trade of Angora, which in the days of Pococke supported
a European factory, consisting chiefly of English merchants,
has of late years been entirely destroyed. Its staple com-
modity was the silky wool or hair of the Angora goat, which,
either raw or manufactured, was exported in considerable
quantities; OAving, however, to the influence of jealous feel-
ings or mistaken views on the part of the government, the
Armenian portion of the population, who for a long time had
carefully cultivated the growth and production of this wool,
were prohibited from keeping the goats any longer, in order
that the whole benefit of the trade might be monopolized
by their Mahometan masters. The consequence of such a
measure was naturally a very considerable falling off in the
production and consequent exportation of the article called
" tchiftik" by the Turks. The present Pacha has lately re-
laxed this regulation, but the number of goats is still very
limited, compared with what might be maintained on the ex-
tensive hills and downs on which they feed. Only 20,000 okes
of wool are now exported, besides a small proportion manu-
factured in Angora, and made up into fine and well-dyed
schalis, which are sent chiefly to Constantinople. The
other exports of the place are wax, and the yellow berries
called "tchekri," which produce the beautiful green dye.
TRADE OF ANGORA.
[Chap. xxiv.
CHAPTER XXIV.
Angora—Its wool—Population—The Kaiinakan—Temple of Augustus—Greek
inscriptions—Convent of Schismatic Armenians—The gardens—Subterranean
passages—Electricity—Catholic Armenians—Turks—'Political considerations.
The antiquities and monuments of Angora have been
so frequently described by former travellers, particularly
by Pococke and Macdonald Kinneir, that I shall not be
tempted to enter into much detail respecting them. The
trade of Angora, which in the days of Pococke supported
a European factory, consisting chiefly of English merchants,
has of late years been entirely destroyed. Its staple com-
modity was the silky wool or hair of the Angora goat, which,
either raw or manufactured, was exported in considerable
quantities; OAving, however, to the influence of jealous feel-
ings or mistaken views on the part of the government, the
Armenian portion of the population, who for a long time had
carefully cultivated the growth and production of this wool,
were prohibited from keeping the goats any longer, in order
that the whole benefit of the trade might be monopolized
by their Mahometan masters. The consequence of such a
measure was naturally a very considerable falling off in the
production and consequent exportation of the article called
" tchiftik" by the Turks. The present Pacha has lately re-
laxed this regulation, but the number of goats is still very
limited, compared with what might be maintained on the ex-
tensive hills and downs on which they feed. Only 20,000 okes
of wool are now exported, besides a small proportion manu-
factured in Angora, and made up into fine and well-dyed
schalis, which are sent chiefly to Constantinople. The
other exports of the place are wax, and the yellow berries
called "tchekri," which produce the beautiful green dye.