DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5541#0457
424
SCHISMATIC ARMENIANS.
[Chap. xxiv.
recourse to an Armenian house to read a long inscription on
the wall of the opposite castle by means of a telescope from
the window. I was generally accompanied by a German
physician of the name of Riga, in the service of the
Pacha, who had been many years settled in Angora, and
was married to an Armenian ; but his pay from the Pacha
was only 500 piastres a month. It is contrary to all the
habits and practices of Turkish society or domestic life to
pay an inferior; he is merely lodged and fed, and occa-
sionally receives a present. The usual mode by which a
Pacha, Agha, or Governor remunerates his followers, is
by sending them to some neighbouring town or district,
to convey an order, to receive taxes, or to settle a dis-
pute ; in these cases the town, village, or district is charged
with the payment of a certain sum to the bearei-, according
to the distance and importance of the business, the amount
being generally written on the order. This explains how
the Turkish governors are enabled to support so many and
such large establishments.
The doctor and another gentleman accompanied me one
day to visit the Convent of Schismatic Armenians, situated
a few miles to the north of Angora; and thence to a spot
called the Gardens, in a picturesque glen, and watered
by a small stream, the whole of which is absorbed in
fertilizing the lower part of the ravine. At the Convent
we found five or six monks, who seemed to lead a comfort-
able and tranquil life; but their manners were rude and
coarse, and their information on all points most limited. The
bishop was absent; the authority of the convent is said to
extend over a large part of Asia Minor as far as Tocat; but
it is impossible to feel respect for men who had recourse to
the vilest intrigues, in order to procure the banishment of
their Catholic countrymen from Constantinople in 1829
and 1830. Their church is neat, and rather handsomely
decorated with gilding, paintings, and coloured tiles,
which I was told are made at Kiutahiyah. All European
merchants who die at Angora are buried in the cemetery
SCHISMATIC ARMENIANS.
[Chap. xxiv.
recourse to an Armenian house to read a long inscription on
the wall of the opposite castle by means of a telescope from
the window. I was generally accompanied by a German
physician of the name of Riga, in the service of the
Pacha, who had been many years settled in Angora, and
was married to an Armenian ; but his pay from the Pacha
was only 500 piastres a month. It is contrary to all the
habits and practices of Turkish society or domestic life to
pay an inferior; he is merely lodged and fed, and occa-
sionally receives a present. The usual mode by which a
Pacha, Agha, or Governor remunerates his followers, is
by sending them to some neighbouring town or district,
to convey an order, to receive taxes, or to settle a dis-
pute ; in these cases the town, village, or district is charged
with the payment of a certain sum to the bearei-, according
to the distance and importance of the business, the amount
being generally written on the order. This explains how
the Turkish governors are enabled to support so many and
such large establishments.
The doctor and another gentleman accompanied me one
day to visit the Convent of Schismatic Armenians, situated
a few miles to the north of Angora; and thence to a spot
called the Gardens, in a picturesque glen, and watered
by a small stream, the whole of which is absorbed in
fertilizing the lower part of the ravine. At the Convent
we found five or six monks, who seemed to lead a comfort-
able and tranquil life; but their manners were rude and
coarse, and their information on all points most limited. The
bishop was absent; the authority of the convent is said to
extend over a large part of Asia Minor as far as Tocat; but
it is impossible to feel respect for men who had recourse to
the vilest intrigues, in order to procure the banishment of
their Catholic countrymen from Constantinople in 1829
and 1830. Their church is neat, and rather handsomely
decorated with gilding, paintings, and coloured tiles,
which I was told are made at Kiutahiyah. All European
merchants who die at Angora are buried in the cemetery