Their Complexion Is
As Fair As That Of European Women; As They Advance In Age The Sun Browns
Them A Little.
As to their morals, chastity becomes a necessary virtue
where [p.639] even a kiss, is punished with death by the father or
brother of the unhappy offender.
I could mention several instances of
the extreme severity of the Turkmans upon this subject; but one may
suffice. Three brothers taking a ride end passing through an insulated
valley, met their sister receiving the innocent caresses of her lover.
By a common impulse they all three discharged their fire-arms upon her,
and left their fallen victim upon the ground, while the lover escaped
unhurt; my host Mohammed Ali, upon being informed of the murder, sent
his servant to bring the body to his tent, in order to prevent the
jackals from devouring it: the women were undressing and washing the
body to commit it to the grave, when a slight breathing convinced them
that the vital spark was not yet extinguished; in short the girl
recovered. She was no sooner out of immediate danger, than one of Ali’s
sons repaired to the tent of his friends, the three brothers, who sat
sullen and silent round the fire, grieving over the loss of their
sister. The young man entered, and saluted them, and said, “I come to
ask you, in the name of my father, for the body of your sister; my
family wishes to bury her.” He had no sooner finished than the brothers
rose, crying: “if she was dead you would not have asked for her, you
would have taken the body without our permission.” Then seizing their
arms, they were hurrying out of the tent, in search of the still living
victim; but Mohammed Ali’s son opposed the authority of his father and
his own reputation of courage to their brutal intentions; he swore that
he would kill the first who should leave the tent, told them that they
had already sufficiently revenged the received injury, and that if their
sister was not dead it was the visible protection of the prophet that
had saved her: and thus, he at last persuaded them to grant his request.
The girl was nursed for three months in Mohammed Ali’s family, and
married after her complete recovery to the young man who had been the
cause of her misfortune. Notwithstanding such severity the young
Turkmans boast of their intrigues, and delight in all the dangers of
secret courtship; and I have been assured, upon indisputable authority,
that there are few men among them who have not enjoyed the favours of
their mistresses before the consumnnation of their nuptials. If the
woman happens to become a mother, she destroys her illegitimate
offspring as the only means of saving her own life and that of the
father.
The Turkman ladies dress in the common style of Syrian women; their
bonnet is adorned with strings of Venetian zequins, or other gold
pieces. The dress of the men is that of the Turks of Anatolia. The
horsemen wear wide riding pantaloons, or Sherwalls, of cloth; their
head-dress consists of a red cap round which they twist a turban of
cotton or silk stuff; the wealthy wear turbans of flowered stuffs, or
even Persian shawls. Twenty years ago the national head-dress was a tall
and narrow cap of white wool, in the shape of a sugar-loaf, since that
time the Ryhanlu have left off wearing it, but I remember to have seen a
headdress of this kind during my stay with the Turkmans near Tarsus. The
Turkman women are very laborious; besides the care of housekeeping, they
work the tent coverings of goats hair, and the woollen carpets, which
are inferior only to those of Persian manufacture. Their looms are of
primitive simplicity; they do not make use of the shuttle, but pass the
woof with their hands. They seem to have made great progress in the art
of dyeing; their colours [p.640] are beauitful. Indigo and cochineal,
which they purchase at Aleppo, give them their blue, and red dyes, but
the ingredients of all the others, especially of a brilliant green, are
herbs which they gather in the mountains of Armenia; the dyeing process
is kept by them as a national secret. The wool of their carpets, is of
the ordinary kind; the carpets are about seven feet long and three
broad, and sell from fifteen to one hundred piastres a piece. While the
females are employed in these labours the men pass their whole time in
indolence; except at sunset, when they feed their horses and camels,
they lounge about the whole day, without any useful employment, and
without even refreshing their leisure by some trifling occupation. To
smoke their pipes and drink coffee is to them the most agreeable
pastime; they frequently visit each other, and collecting round the
fire-place, they keep very late hours. I was told that there are some
men amongst them, who play the tamboura, a sort of guitar, but I never
heard any of them perform. If the young men would condescend to assist
in agriculture, the wealth of the families would rapidly increase, and
the whole of the plains of Antioch might in time be cultivated: at
present, as far as I could observe, there are few families growing rich;
most of them spend their whole income.
A Turkman never leaves his tent to take a ride in the neighbourhood
without being armed with his gun, pistols, and sabre. I was astonished
to see that they do not take the smallest care of their fire arms: a
great number of them were shewn to me, to know whether they were of
English manufacture; I found them covered with rust, and they complained
of their often missing fire. They have no gunsmiths amongst them; nor
any artizans at all, except some farriers, and a few makers of bridles
and of horse accoutrements[.]
There are no lawyers or Ulemas among the Ryhanlu.
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