Some Families Of
Consequence Carry With Them A Faqui Or Travelling Imam, To Teach Their
Children To Read And To Pray, And Who In Case Of Need Performs Likewise
The Duties Of A Menial Servant, Much Like The Young German Baron’S
Governor.
These Faqui are for the greater part natives of Albostan,
educated there in mosques:
They follow the Turkmans to participate in
the pious alms which the Koran prescribes. They are generally ignorant,
even of the Turkish law: they are often consulted however by the chiefs,
and their sentence is generally confirmed by the chief whenever there is
no precedent or customary law in point to the contrary.
I did not see any books amongst the Turkmans, and I am certain that out
of fifty hardly one knows how to read or write. Even few of them know
the text of their prayers (which are throughout the Mohammedan countries
in the sacred language, the Arabic), and therefore perform the
prescribed prostrations silently and without the usual ejaculations. The
married people, men as well as women, are tolerably exact in the
performance of their devotions, but the young men never trouble
themselves about them.
I did not stay long enough among the Turkmans to be able to judge
correctly of their character, especially as I was ignorant of their
language. I saw enough, however, to convince me that they possess most
of the vices of nomade nations, without their good qualities. The
Turkmans are, like the Arabs and Kurds, a people of robbers, that is to
say, [p.641] every thing which they can lay hold of in the open country
is their lawful prize, provided it does not belong to their acknowledged
friends. The Arabs make amends in some measure for their robberies by
the hospitality and liberality with which they receive friends and
strangers. In this respect I soon found that I had been led to form a
very erroneous opinion of the Turkman character. I was introduced at
Aleppo to Mohammed Ali Aga, a man of considerable influence amongst the
Ryhanlu, as a physician who was travelling in search of herbs, and I
succeeded in supporting my assumed character during near a fortnight’s
stay under his tent. Before my departure from Aleppo, I made him a
present of coffee and sweetmeats, to the amount of sixty piastres, and I
promised him another present, when he should have brought me back in
safety to Aleppo. Notwithstanding these precautions, my reception in his
tent was rather cool, and I soon found that I was among men who had no
other idea than that of getting as much out of me as they could. They
were not under the least restraint, but calculated in my presence how
much my visit was worth to them, as I sufficiently understood, from
their animated tone and gestures, added to the few Turkish words, which
I learnt. To spare my dinner my host took me out a visiting almost every
day, just before the dinner hour; and that he might know how far it
would be prudent to incur expence on my account, he permitted one of his
friends to search my pockets, and was cruelly disappointed when he found
that my purse did not contain more than four or five piastres. My horse,
for the maintenance of which I had agreed with my host, was fed with
straw, until I told them that I should take care of it myself, when they
were obliged to deliver its daily portion of barley into my own hands.
Such was the liberality which I experienced in return for the medical
advice and medicines which they received without hesitation from me upon
demanding them. Their minds seemed intent only upon money, except among
the lovers there was no other subject of conversation, and instead of
the Arab virtues, of honour, frankness, and hospitality, there appeared
to be no other motive of action among them than the pursuit of gain. The
person of a Frank may be safe among them, but his baggage will be
exposed to close search, and whatever strikes the fancy of a powerful
man, will be asked of him in such a manner, that it is adviseable to
give up the object at once. I had fortunately hidden my compass in my
girdle, but a thermometer which they found in my pocket, attracted
general notice; if I had explained to them the use I meant to make of
it, it would have confirmed the suspicion already hinted to me by one of
them, that I intended to poison their springs. I pretended that the
thermometer was a surgical instrument, which being put into the blood of
an open wound served to shew whether the wound was dangerous or not. It
is not more from the behaviour of the Turkmans towards myself, that I
formed my opinion of their character, than from their conduct towards
each other. They are constantly upon their guard against robbers and
thieves of their own tribe; they cheat each other in the most trifling
affairs, and like most of the Aleppo merchants, make use of the most
awful oaths and imprecations to conceal their falsehood. If they have
one good quality it is their tolerance in religious matters, which
proves, on the other hand, how little they care about them.
[p.642] The men marry at fourteen or fifteen, the girls at thirteen.
Excepting Hayder Aga, and some of his brothers, there are very few who
have more than one wife. They celebrate their marriage feasts with great
pomp. The young men play upon those occasions at a running game much
resembling the “jeu de barre,” known on the continent of Europe. Their
music then consists in drums and trumpets, only, for the Turkmans, are
not so fond of music as the Aleppines and the Arabs, nor did I ever meet
among them with any of the story-tellers, who are so frequent amongst
the Arabs of the desert.
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