The Whole Ryhanlu Tribe Is Tributary To Tshapan Oglu, The
Powerful Governor Of The Eastern Part Of Anatolia, Who Resides At
Yuzgat.
They pay him an annual tribute of six thousand two hundred and
fifteen piastres, in horses, cattle, &c. He claims also the right of
nominating to the vacant places of chieftains; but his influence over
the Turkman Ryhanlu having of late much diminished, this right is at
present merely nominal.
The predecessors of Hayder Aga used to receive
their Firmahn of nomination, or rather of confirmation, from the Porte.
When the tribute for Tshapan Oglu is collected, Hayder Aga generally
gives in an account of disbursements incurred during the preceding year
for the public service, such as presents to officers of the Porte
passing through the camp, expenses of entertaining strangers of rank,
&c. &c. The tribute, as well as Hayder Aga’s demands, are levied from
the tribes according to the repartition of the minor Agas; and each
chief takes that opportunity of adding to the sum to which his tribe is
assessed, four or five hundred piastres, which make up his only income
as chief. The Turkmans do not pay any Miri, or general land tax to the
Grand Signor, for the ground they occupy. Families, if disgusted with
their chief, often pass from one tribe to another without any one daring
to prevent their departure.
The Ryhanlu, like most of the larger Turkman nations, are a nomade
people. They appear in their winter quarters in the plain of Antioch at
the end of September, and depart from thence towards the middle of
April, when the flies of the plain begin to torment their horses and
cattle. They then direct their march towards Marash, and remain in the
neighbourhood of that place about one month; from thence they reach the
mountains of Gurun and Albostan. The mountains which they occupy are
called Keukduli, Sungulu, and Kara Dorouk, (upon Kara Dorouk, they say,
are some fine ruins). Here they pass the hottest summer months; in
autumn they repass the plains of Albostan, and return by the same route
towards Antioch.
The winter habitations of the Turkmans in the hilly districts are, as I
have mentioned before, erected on the declivity of the hills, so as to
be by their position somewhat sheltered from the northerly winds.
Sometimes five or six families live together on one spot in as many
tents, but for the greater part tents of single families are met with at
one or two miles distance from each other. In proportion to the arable
land, which the hilly parts contain, these districts are better peopled
than the plain, where a thousand tents are scattered over an [p.636]
extent, of the most fertile country, of at least five hundred square
miles. The structure of the habitations of these nomades is of course
extremely simple: an oblong square wall of loose stones, about four feet
high, is covered over with a black cloth made of goats hair, which is
supported by a dozen or more posts, so that in the middle of the tent
the covering is elevated about nine feet from the ground.
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