Transcaucasias and Ararat
James Bryce
Macmillan Co
Chapter I
The Volga and the steppe of southern Russia
North-western Russia, although it is now pretty easy of access from Western Europe, and contains two such wonderfully striking cities as Moscow and St. Petersburg, is very little visited by travellers. South-eastern Russia is hardly visited at all. Nijni Novgorod, whose great fair draws some few sight¬seers as well as men of business from Germany and the farther west, seems to be the limit of the tourist, and beyond it, all the way to Tiflis or Constantinople, one does not see a single stranger travelling for pleasure, and discovers from the attentions which the western visitor receives, how rare such a visitor is. I need, therefore, make no apology for giving some short account of the Lower Volga, and the great steppe of Southern Russia, before getting to the Caucasus and Armenia, for all four is likely to be equally unfamiliar to English readers. As this does not apply to the gathering which has made Nijni famous, there is no occasion to describe it here, especially as a full account of the fair and its …
Contents
Chapter I
The Volga and the steppe of southern Russia
Nijni Novgorod and its Fair / 2
The Volga steamers and the life on board / 5
Scenery of the Volga / 11
Navigation of the river: trade on it / 53
Kazan / 16
The Jigoulef Hills / 19
Saratof / 23
Resemblances between Russia and the United States / 24
Railway journey through the steppe to the Sea of Azof / 31
Character of the steppe: impressions of its scenery / 32
The Sea of Azof / 38
From Rostof to the foot of the Caucasus / 39
Chapter II
The Caucasus
Structure of the Caucasian chain / 43
Character of its scenery / 47
Its historical importance / 49
Peoples inhabiting the Caucasus / 51
Russian conquest of Daghestan and Circassia / 58
Present political condition of the mountain country / 60
The watering-places: Pjätigorsk / 63
Railway to Vladikavkaz / 69
Road over the main chain to Tiflis / 70
The dariel pass: the Caucasian gates / 75
Mount Kazbek / 79
Descent into Georgia: arrival at Tiflis / 86
Chapter III
Transcaucasia
General physical character of Transcaucasia: its moun tains and plains / 92
Climate and vegetation: scenery / 95
Natural productions / 98
Inhabitants: Mingrelians; Imeritians / 101
Georgians or Grusinians; Armenians / 103
Tatars: their brigandage / 109
Persians; Russians; Germans; the mountain tribes / 116
Russian government and administration / 120
Impressions of the country, social and historical / 127
Political future of Transcaucasia / 132
Supplementary note: changes in Transcaucasia since 1877 / 137
Chapter IV
Tiflis
Situation and aspect of the city / 142
Divisions of the city: the Russian quarter / 145
The Eastern town / 146
The German colony / 149
The inhabitants: mixture of races; aspect of the streets / 152
History of Tiflis / 158
Walks and excursions: the Sololaki Hill: Kajori. / 163
Chapter V
Through Armenia to Ararat
The steppe of the Kur valley / 171
Alarms of robbers: the Red Bridge / 174
Valley of the Akstafa: Delijan / 177
The Goktcha Lake: Daratchitchak / 181
Scenery of Armenia: Mount Ala Göz / 183
Erivan: aspects of Eastern life / 187
The Sardar's palace: the mosque / 191
Drive through the Araxes plain / 198
The Ford of the Araxes / 203
Aralykh at the foot of Ararat / 204
View of Ararat: ruins of Artaxata / 206
Chapter VI
Ararat
Various names of the mountain / 211
Its identification with the Mountain of the Ark in Genesis / 212
Notices of it in mediaeval books of travel / 218
Legends relating to it / 223
General structure of the two Ararats / 224
Geology: Abich's views stated / 227
Volcanic phenomena: absence of central craters / 227
Meteorology: great height of the snow-line / 236
Vegetation / 241
Animals / 245
General aspect: view of the mountin from the plains / 246
Political importance of Ararat / 248
Belief in its inaccessibility: recorded ascents / 250
Great earthquake of 184o / 254
Chapter VII
The ascent of Ararat
The start from Aralykh / 257
Ascent of the outer slopes / 259
The Cossack station and well of Sardarbulakh / 262
Kurdish shepherds at the well with their flocks / 269
Climb by night from Sardarbulakh to the foot of the cone / 273
Ascent of the great cone / 280
Cossack and Kurd refuse to ascend farther / 282
The great Cossack upper slope of rotten rock / 290
The summit / 294
View from the summit / 295
Descent to Sardarbulakh / 301
Reach Aralykh: our Cossak escort / 309
Impossibility of ascending Ararat / 310
Chapter VIII
Etchmiadzin and the Armenian people
Road from Erivan to Etchmiadzin / 311
Foundation of the Armenian Church / 314
Monastery of Etchmiadzin: the Cathedral / 317
Relics: the hand of St. Gregory / 321
The Seminary; general impressions of the monastery / 323
Sketch of Armenian history / 329
The great Armenian emigration / 333
Present condition of the Armenians / 336
Physical aspect of the Armenians: their language and literature / 340
Their sufferings under Turkish rule / 343
Chapter IX
From Erivan to the black sea
The Kurds: their character and history / J46
The journey back from Erivan to Tiflis: alarms of robbers / 350
Railways in the Caucasus / 354
By rail from Tiflis to Gori / 355
The rock city of Uphlis Tzikhé / 359
Across the watershed into Mingrelia / 365
Arrival at Poti: difficulties of embarkation / 368
Poti and its inhabitants / 371
Crossing the bar of the Phasis / 379
View from the sea off Batum / 38o
Chapter X
From poti to Constantinople by the black sea
Batum and its port / 383
Trebizond / 385
Character of the Pontic coast / 389
Samsun and Sinope / 391
The steamer and its passengers: Persians and Turkmans / 394
Turks, Greeks, and Armenians / 396
Franks; mixture of languages / 399
Condition of Asia Minor: melancholy impression it makes / 400
Sail down the Bosphorus / 405
Constantinople: first view of the city / 407
Picturesqueness of its interior / 410
Chapter XI
Some political reflections
Remarks on the state of Transcaucasia / 413
Religion as a separating influence in the East / 414
Difficulties of Russia in working her Asiatic territories / 417
Annexation injurious to Russia / 419
Impressions of Turkey: the Turks an army of occupation / 422
The Turkish Government is dying / 425
Anarchy in the provinces / 428
Is it possible to erect an Armenian state? / 430
Can the Turkish administration be reformed? / 432
Colonisation / 435
British interests: export trade to the Euxine / 436
India and the Suez Canal / 437
Influence of England in the East / 439
Feelings towards England : her true policy / 441
(XII.) Supplementary chapter
Twenty years of the Armenian question
Aspects of the recent history of the Armenian Question,
Diplomatic, Administrative, National / 446
Treaty of San Stefano / 446
Treaty of Berlin and Anglo-Turkish Convention / 447
Remarks on the British policy of 1878 / 449
Efforts of British Government to obtain reforms / 452
Cessation of these efforts: stoppage of the "European Concert" / 454
Attitude of Russia / 456
Changes in Turkish Government: policy introduced by Sultan Abdul Hamid II. / 459
His efforts to use his position as Khalif / 461
Character of the Armenian population, rural and urban / 463
The American Missionaries and their influence / 466
Revival of national feeling and educational progress among the Armenians / 468
Persecuting policy pursued by the Sultan / 471
Sufferings of the Christians: the Kurdish Hamidieh irregulars. / 472
Beginnings of a revolutionary movement / 476
Passive endurance of the Armenians: advantages which modern science gives to an oppressive Government / 482
The massacre at Sasun in 1894 / 487
Action of the British Government: "Scheme of Re forms" presented / 489
Acceptance of the scheme: massacre resolved on by the Sultan / 492
Massacres of 1895; their organisation and character / 494
Martyrdoms and forced conversions / 498
Successful resistance of Zeitun / 500
Alleged provocations to massacre / 503
Conduct of the European Powers / 508
Absence of sympathy in Continental Europe for the sufferers / 510
Massacre at Constantinople in August 1896 / 515
Effect of this massacre on opinion in Europe / 517
Results of the last eighteen years: failure of the British policy of 1878 / 519
Triumph of Russia: her motives / 520
The massacres due to European intervention, especially to Treaty of Berlin and Anglo-Turkish Convention / 523
Conclusion / 525
PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION
The journey described in this volume was undertaken at an interesting moment, on the eve of the war which, in 1877, broke out between Russia and Turkey ; and the book was published while that war was still going on, before it was known what terms Russia would exact from her vanquished enemy, or whether England might not interpose in behalf of the Turks. Since 1877 great changes have passed on the politics of Western Asia. Russia has altered her policy towards her Armenian and Georgian subjects. The Turkish Government has altered its policy towards its Christian, and especially it’s Armenian, subjects. The relations of Russia and Turkey have become very different from what they were before the war. My readers must therefore remember that what they find in the text of the book is written from the point of view of 1877, and describes the relations of races and states as they stood in that year. I have, however, in this edition adverted, in a series of footnotes enclosed in square brackets, to all the considerable changes, so far as they are known to me, which the last eighteen years have brought in their train, so as to prevent misconception as to the facts of today.
It is my good fortune to have two friends who know Transcaucasia well as it is at this moment, and the information supplied by them has been very helpful.
Those parts of the book which treat of the physical phenomena of the countries traversed need no similar modifications to make them applicable now; while those which treat of ethnography and economic resources need comparatively few. I have, however, while revising the book throughout, added new footnotes mentioning the chief recent developments of industry and commerce, and the opening of additional railways.
One topic has required to be dealt with quite anew, and in some detail. In 1877 Europe had not yet awakened to know that there was an Armenian Question; and that question did not receive recognition as a matter of international concern until 1878, when it was dealt with in the Treaty of Berlin. Since then it has yearly grown in gravity, till the massacres of 1895 and 1896 have made it the most urgent and terrible difficulty that has appeared in the East for centuries. To understand its true character it is necessary to know something of the history of Turkey during the years that have passed since 1878; and so far as I know, no history of these years exists. I have, therefore, while leaving untouched the chapter which, in the three earlier editions of this book, dealt with this subject, composed a new supplementary chapter, which contains a sketch of the history of the Armenians in their relations to the Turks, and of the Sultan in his relations to Great Britain and to Russia during those eighteen years. Such a historical sketch can, of course, be only provisional, for many facts have not yet become known, even to those who have done their best to inquire into them, and some of the causes of the facts that are known remain obscure. Nor am I myself able at this moment either to make public all that I happen to know, or to adduce the evidence for some of the facts which, having satisfied myself that they are true, I have set forth. To name some of my informants might expose them to danger. Nevertheless I venture to believe that even an incomplete account, proceeding from one who has watched the progress of events closely during the whole period described, and has taken a part in them, may be of some service not only to the future historian, but also to those who now look with anxious and compassionate eyes for a solution of this melancholy problem.
October 19th, 1896.
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
The following pages contain a record of impressions received during a journey in the autumn of 1876 through Russia, the Caucasian countries, and the Turkish Empire. They are first impressions only, for which no value can be claimed except that which belongs to impressions formed on the spot, and (as the author trusts) without a prejudice in favour of either of the states which are now contending in the regions here described. Yet even first impressions, if honestly formed, may sometimes atone for their crudity by their freshness. What most readers desire to know about a country is how it strikes a new-comer. A book that tries to give this, to present the general effect, so to speak, of the landscape, may have its function, and may at the same time interest, though it cannot satisfy, the scientific student of geography or politics.
The author, however, did not travel with the intention of writing a book, and might not, sensible as he is of his imperfect knowledge, have now thought of sending these notes to the press but for two reasons. One is the unexpected importance which the outbreak of war in the countries he visited has given to them. The other is the curiosity which he has found (since his return) to exist in England regarding Mount Ararat, a mountain of which every one has heard, but about which comparatively little has been written.
He is indebted to his friends Captain J. Buchan Telfer, R.N., Mr. Douglas W. Freshfield, and Professor Judd, of the Royal School of Mines, for information on several points.
The publication of the book has been delayed by a domestic sorrow which has destroyed such pleasure as the composition of it might have given the loss of one whose companion he had been in mountain expeditions from childhood, and to whom he owes whatever taste he possesses for geographical observation and for the beauties of nature.
Lincoln's inn, London
September 12th, 1877.
By the same author
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Macmillan and co., ltd., London.
James Bryce
Transcaucasias and Ararat
Macmillan Co.
Macmillan and Co., ltd.
Transcaucasia and Ararat
Being notes of a vacation tour in the autumn of 1876
By James Bryce
Author of The Holy Roman Empire; 'The American Commonwealth' etc.
With engraving and coloured map
Fourth edition revised with a supplementary chapter on the recent
History of the Armenian question
London
Macmillan and Co., ltd.
New York: The Macmillan Co.
1896
All rights reserved.
First edition, September 1877
Second edition, November 1877
Third edition, 1878
Fourth edition, 1896
To
Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, D.D.
Dran of Westminster
In remembrance of a long friendship
And many acts of kindness
