Ramsay, William Mitchell: Impressions of Turkey during twelve years' wanderings (London, 1897)

TIIK ARMENIAN'S 2O9

most exposed to Kurdish incursions, that incidents
of that class have always been too common to
attract notice. They were, in most cases, not even
special acts of revenge aimed at a special family by
enemies ; they were an ordinary thing, an amuse-
ment of the district, which could be prevented
among the poor only by concealing the marriage.
The only difference from the Macedonian incident
is that the Armenian bride was usually carried
away for several days and made the property of
the Kurdish village. That was the permanent
condition, from which escape could be obtained
only by money or by death.

It has been asserted by persons who could readily
procure evidence, if they wished to find it, before
making assertions, that this state of things belongs
orily to the last few years, and is the punishment
for the intrigues and plotting of the Armenians,
"ut in the districts where the Kurds have been
dominant, such things were the rule long ago ; they
were talked about, and were the subject of consular
reports and ambassadorial intervention, when I first
Saw Turkey and began to learn what was the con-

'tion of the country. It was in the recoil from a
condition like this, under the stimulating hope of

5r'tish consular interference, and through the
^rowing knowledge of European and American
orn) that the secret societies began to become
'4