DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4752#0056
46 TURKISH VILLAGE LIFE IN ASIA MINOR
he could procure milk, a fowl, etc. He never knew
what to do or to say beyond his ordinary round of
duties ; he could never learn to distinguish between
a stone without letters and a " written stone " ; he
never could see why I looked at such things, and
much as he tried, never could feel the faintest
interest in them (even though he knew bakshish
rewarded every discovery).
But the Turks are not by any means absolutely
uniform in character. In 1884 we had a man from
a village east of Kaisari in Cappadocia. His name
was Omar ; and he usually answered to the name
of Hadji. But his pilgrimage had not been to
Mecca; he had merely visited some Armenian
sacred place, which I forget; and that in itself is
a remarkable fact. There is a certain awe attached
even among the Moslem peasantry to the old holy
places of the Christians ;* and they believe that
some supernatural power resides in them, and some
merit is gained by visiting them. Such a belief is
quite generally recognised as regards Jerusalem,
and many Turks have mentioned it to me ; but, as
regards other places, the respect felt seems to be
merely a local superstition, which would not be
generally approved.
Hadji Omar was the ablest and most useful man
whom I ever had with me. He was moderately
1 Chapter xi.
he could procure milk, a fowl, etc. He never knew
what to do or to say beyond his ordinary round of
duties ; he could never learn to distinguish between
a stone without letters and a " written stone " ; he
never could see why I looked at such things, and
much as he tried, never could feel the faintest
interest in them (even though he knew bakshish
rewarded every discovery).
But the Turks are not by any means absolutely
uniform in character. In 1884 we had a man from
a village east of Kaisari in Cappadocia. His name
was Omar ; and he usually answered to the name
of Hadji. But his pilgrimage had not been to
Mecca; he had merely visited some Armenian
sacred place, which I forget; and that in itself is
a remarkable fact. There is a certain awe attached
even among the Moslem peasantry to the old holy
places of the Christians ;* and they believe that
some supernatural power resides in them, and some
merit is gained by visiting them. Such a belief is
quite generally recognised as regards Jerusalem,
and many Turks have mentioned it to me ; but, as
regards other places, the respect felt seems to be
merely a local superstition, which would not be
generally approved.
Hadji Omar was the ablest and most useful man
whom I ever had with me. He was moderately
1 Chapter xi.