“They are rarely to be seen walking out, they seldom leave their houses where they busy themselves with domestic occupations, and employ their leisure in reading romances, principally translated from the French.
“Although class distinctions are gradually disappearing, there are still in Athens two distinct sets of society; the Phanariot, and the Greek, properly so called; the first already quite Europeanized, the second on the high road to become so. The Phanariot ladies are well educated and speak French admirably. The others, whose information is extremely limited, have an instinctive good sense and a tact never at fault, by no means one of the least subjects of surprise to foreigners.
68. – INTERIOR OF THE AGORA AT ATHENS.
“.. I have heard it said that the price of the honesty of an English trader was a hundred pounds sterling, and that that of his Greek brother was less. Both are absurd statements. It is impossible to draw a hard and fast line in such matters; opportunity makes the thief. Strangers are everywhere the natural prey of the sharper, but not more so at Athens than in any other part of the world. The only difference is that in that city they are more easily taken in, on account of the complication of the currency, this complication being another instance of Bavarian error. Rothschild made an offer to the council of regency to effect a loan payable in coin similar to that struck at the French mint. The council decided that it was more ingenious, and above all more archaic, to shut their eyes to all known standards, and to reintroduce the drachma with its ancient weight. These badly executed coins were exported in ingots, and hopeless calculations about the smallest transaction are the result; calculations in which the Austrian coins, ugly and disagreeable to the touch, play the principal part, to be finally parted with, with a sense of relief, to the trader, to whatever nation he may happen to belong.
“To have done with the subject of Greek probity, which has been so much called into question; in the country the inhabitants are avaricious because they are poor, but they are honest. Travellers who jump to a conclusion from their experience of inn-keepers, porters, cabmen, &c., come to a wrong decision. These classes are everywhere the same. In Athens alone a remarkable self-possession, with a dignified manner, is found, instead of the familiar impudence of Italian facchini, or the deceitful suavity of German attendants. It is worthy of remark that one is never assailed in the streets with the importunity of beggars. These are few in number, for with the Greeks it is a sacred family duty to assist its impoverished members, and the few that do beg, shrink from publicity. The streets of Athens have a peculiar physiognomy. The stranger notices there neither the noisy disturbance of the highways of Naples, nor the methodical activity of those of London. They are rather to be compared with those of some of the provincial towns of France, where the leisured citizens stroll about, and retail to one another the gossip of the hour, remaining apparently permanent fixtures of the pavement. Athens has, on the whole, the appearance of a city where time dies hard; the male population encamp themselves during the day in the sunshine of the streets; the shopkeepers while away the hours, one foot within, and the other without their doorsill; and their customers intermingle the tedious arithmetic of barter with familiar conversation, or buttonhole the passer to gossip about the mutual acquaintance that has just passed. Alexander’s establishment, amongst others, is one of the principal head-quarters of news.
“Linger for an hour in front of the café of Beautiful Greece, where Hermes Street and Eolus Street intersect one another, you will see the whole Athenian world pass before you; the nearest lounger will tell you their names. Here comes the politician who is still in the market, there goes the statesman who has already obtained his price. That is Canaris, whose reputation is European, although his person is so puny: there are Chriesis, Métaxas, Mavrocordato, Rangabé, Miaouli, the celebrities of yesterday and to-day. This man, treading as gingerly as if he stepped upon eggs, and throwing uneasy glances around him, is a Chiotian. As he passes, your cicerone scowls, for the Chiotians are not exactly beloved. Popular tradition declares that the Island of Scios was formerly settled by Jews, but this is erroneous, although the Chiotians have a Jewish appearance, and, like the children of Israel, are very successful in banking and commerce. Commercial aptitude has always been, in ancient times as well as to-day, the basis of the national character of the Chiotian. ‘Two reasons,’ says M. Lacroix, ‘explain this tendency. The position of Scios, situated in the midst of the sea, between Europe and Asia, upon the great maritime highway of ancient commerce, naturally disposed its inhabitants to become traders; while the nature of their island, whose stony soil is little suited to agriculture, rendered such a means of livelihood in part a necessity to them.’
“As the trader of Scios can be recognised by his appearance, so the Ionian islander can be distinguished by his speech. The torrent of his eloquence is heard towering above the voices of every group. I have a great admiration for the Ionians. I do not say that human perfection is to be found in these numerous islands, but wonderful natural qualities, in unison with the healthy civilization bequeathed to them by the Italian republics, are to be seen there. It is but the other day that the ingenious combination of Mr. Gladstone gave Europe an idea of the dignity of their character, the extent of their patriotism, and the wisdom of their mind. To this Greek good sense they add the fire of the Italian. Active, intelligent, good hearted and honest in their dealings, they attract at once the sympathies of all.
69. – FÊTE OF THE TEMPLE OF JUPITER, ATHENS.
“This admixture of which the Athenian population is composed is a curious study.
“On the Sunday, everybody leaves the cross roads in front of the Beautiful Greece to frequent the esplanade of Patissia (a corruption from Pachiscliah); the men stroll about talking together, and the women, abandoning their household gods for this day only, follow a few paces behind them. The crowd walks round and round a kiosk till a military band placed there has finished playing, and then goes home; not into the house, however, but into the streets, for during the warm summer nights nearly everybody sleeps al fresco. These sleepers advertise their presence by a continual hum, which is a kind of internal monologue, an echo of the day’s conversation, for the Greeks still remain the wittiest and the most eloquent chatterers in the world.”
We place side by side with the Greeks the Albanians, whose language has some relation to Greek. Concentrated in the mountains of their country, they appear to be the lineal representatives of the ancient inhabitants of these districts. They are the descendants of the ancient Illyrians, mixed up with the Greeks and the Slavonians. Restricting themselves almost exclusively to the profession of arms, the Albanians constitute the best soldiers of the Ottoman army. Their numbers scarcely reach two millions, although Albania is of great extent and contains several rather important towns.
Albania, part of Turkey in Europe, bounded on the north by Montenegro, Bosnia, and Servia, on the east by Macedon and Thessaly, on the south by the kingdom of Greece, on the west by the Adriatic and Ionian seas, constitutes the pachaliks of Janina, Ilbessan and Scutari. It possesses three seaports, Durazzo, Avlona, and Parga. The most important towns are Scutari, Akhissar, Berat, and Arta.
Semi-barbarians, partaking more of the pirate and the brigand than of the cultivator and the labourer, the Albanians pass their lives in a state of petty warfare among themselves.
P. Sellier, p.t
Imp. Dupuy, 22, R. des Petits Hôtels
G. Regamey, lith.
GEORGEAN
ARAB
WHITE OR CAUCASIAN RACE
They professed Christianity up to the fifteenth century, but after having under Scanderbeg gloriously resisted the Turkish invasion, they were forced to submit to the victorious Ottomans, who compelled the Albanians to embrace the religion of Mahomet. In some parts of Albania the Greek church still survives. In the north, between the sea and the black Drin, the courageous tribe of the Mirdites practise the Roman Catholic religion and enjoy liberty.
70. – ALBANIAN WOMAN.
Fig. 70 represents the Albanian costume.
PORTRAIT OF AN ARMENIAN.
CHAPTER II.
ARAMEAN BRANCH
Cuvier has thought fit to give the name of Aramean (derived from the ancient appellation of Syria) to the race of people who inhabit the south-west of Asia and the north of Africa. Since primeval historic times, the Aramaic race developed itself in the south-west of Asia and the north of Africa, and it has remained there up to our own day. It also extended its settlements to the south of Europe, where it became assimilated to the inhabitants of that part of the world.
At a period when Europeans were immersed in the depths of ignorance, the Arameans successfully cultivated science and art. But later, whilst progress was making rapid strides amongst the Westerns, the Arameans on the contrary came to a halt; so that the civilization of these Asiatic races is still pretty much the same as it was two thousand years ago.
Christianity sprang up amidst the Arameans, but it made few converts. Mahometanism and Buddhism attracted nearly the whole of this numerous race.
Four leading divisions are recognised among the Arameans: the Libyans, the Semitics, the Persians, and the Georgians and Circassians.
The Libyan Family
The Libyan Family is composed of the Berbers and the Egyptians.
71. – MOORISH COFFEE-HOUSE AT SIDI-BOW-SAID, NEAR TUNIS.
The Berbers. – The Berbers are the race which from very ancient times inhabited the mountains of the Atlas chain, or wandered amidst the deserts of the Sahara. The Berbers are split up into a great number of tribes, of whom the four principal are, the Kabyles, the Shellas, the Touariks and the Tibbous.
The traveller in Kabylia is struck with admiration, for its lofty mountains, the gentle and pleasing undulations of its plains, and its valleys interlaced with the windings of countless streams. Its inhabitants are pastoral, agricultural, and laborious. The headdress of their women is fashioned to suit their habit of carrying on their head jars of great weight. They balance these by rigidly straightening their waists, round which they wind, some score of times, a girdle of coarse woollen cords. Their garment is simply a piece of woollen cloth fastened together by a couple of pins over the bosom.
The Kaybles are not, like the real Arabs, nomadic. They remain, on the contrary, faithful to one spot. Whilst the Arab inhabits a tent, removable at will, and in accordance with the requirements of his family, the Kabyle lives in a stone dwelling, and his homestead is a regular village. In truth, the Kabyle is not an Arab; he is of African origin, a Berber, somewhat modified by the different races that have in turn settled on the African shores of the Mediterranean, but whose customs and physical characteristics have always remained the same.
The Roman armies subdued the Kabyles dwelling on the Mediterranean coasts, and drove them into the mountains. The principal aim of the successive Roman governors in Africa, was to drain the country of its resources to supply the insatiable requirements of Rome, and the extravagant liberality continually lavished on its citizens by the Emperors of this capital of the world. Rome thus accepted from Africa but slaves and labourers. Those of the conquered, who were unwilling to pass under the heavy yoke of the Roman governors, abandoned the plains and retired to the mountains, inaccessible retreats, whose ravines and forests offered innumerable obstacles to the cruelty of centurions, and the rapacity of prætors. At a future period, led by enterprising chieftains, they sallied forth from these natural fortresses to assail and ultimately to definitively repulse the Roman power.
To give an idea of the Kabylia of to-day, and of its organization, we will quote a few details from “An Excursion to great Kabylia,” published in 1867, in “Le Tour du Monde,” from the pen of Commandant Duhousset, an officer in the French army.
“In Kabylia,” he says, “the household composed of the members of one family is termed kharouba; each kharouba forming part of the village or déhera, elects one of its members as a dhaman to represent it at the municipal council, and to defend its interests: in a word, to be responsible for it.
“The different déheras are further united together under the name of arch.
“In each village authority is administered by an amin, elected by turns from each kharouba. It is the duty of this official to watch over the execution of the written laws, drawn up under the name of khanoun, and which are merely the recital of the customs handed down from time immemorial in Kabylia.
“The amin can pronounce no judgment, inflict no fine, without consulting the assembly (djemaa) of his assistants or dhamans, always chosen from the notabilities of the village. This tribunal chooses a secretary (khodja) intrusted with the duty of keeping a public register of its deliberations, and of carrying on all correspondence with the French authorities. The labours of the khodja are remunerated with perquisites of figs, olives, &c.
“The supreme command of the tribe is delegated by the French to an amin-el-oumena, whose principal duty is the superintendence of his tribe in all matters concerning public order. He is not allowed to interfere in the internal policy of the villages, which govern themselves, each according to its own interpretation of the khanoun.
“The djemaa possesses a municipal fund, kept in the hands of an ouhil (manager). This fund is supplied by the fines inflicted by the municipal council and the native officials, and by the rates levied on marriages, births, and deaths.
“Each village is divided into two factions, or soff, generally hereditary foes. It is easy to imagine the serious nature of the outrages on public tranquillity, committed by these irreconcilable neighbours, when their mutual interests are at stake.”
The elections are a constant source of disturbance in the Kabyle villages.
The way in which these villages are laid out, their dwellings overlooking one another, makes these struggles very sanguinary ones. Some of the more lofty houses have crenelated parapets, the remainder are loopholed, and the djama (mosque) becomes, on account of the military importance of its upper storey, a regular fortress, assuring the victory to its fortunate possessors.
Everybody knows that the French conquered Kabylia in 1857. What most contributed to the submission of the Kabyles, was the promise made to them to respect their customs and their communal elections. This promise was kept, and the respect shown to their local usages not a little contributed to consolidate the French conquest.
The Kabyle villages, seen from a distance, look picturesque, but on mixing with their inhabitants and entering their houses, the charm vanishes. The question immediately suggests itself how it is possible for any human beings to dwell in the midst of such universal neglect, and of such hideous filth.
“Every Kabyle,” says M. Duhousset, “is revoltingly dirty: there are no baths to be found in the whole of Kabylia of the Djujina. The children receive no care. The result of this neglect is frequent ophthalmia, sometimes complete blindness; they are also often subject to cutaneous diseases, or worse hereditary affections, which these mountaineers hand down from generation to generation, continuing to exist in spite of them… the women, good mothers who suckle their children up to three or four years of age.. the men, industrious workmen and good agriculturists.”
The Kabyles are independent in disposition, observant by nature, and fond of labour: but they are inclined to be avaricious, revengeful, and quarrelsome. Some of their villages, as we have shown, are divided into two hostile camps, and in many cases, part of the communal land is set apart for warlike encounters, where all differences are settled by the yataghan and the matchlock. Divorce is one of the sores of Kabyle society.
It is well known that Kabylia is a rich, tranquil country, addicted to industry, and possessing a numerous population. But a few statistics will here have a peculiar interest.
There are in France eight departments with a smaller population than Kabylia; these are, according to M. Duhousset, the Basses-Alpes, the Hautes-Alpes, the Cantal, Corsica, Lozére, the Basses-Pyreneés, the Hautes-Pyreneés, and Tarn-et-Garonne. Three departments are smaller in extent; the Rhône, the Seine, and Vaucluse.
The average population of France is 67963⁄1000 inhabitants to every square kilometre; that of Kabylia is 67723⁄1000. Looking, however, at the average population to every kilometre in each separate department, it appears that twenty-eight have a larger average than Kabylia, one an equal, and fifty-seven a smaller one. The agricultural productions of Kabylia are the ordinary fruits of African culture, especially the fig and the olive, to which must be added large crops of wheat. Figs are the principal article of food of the inhabitants, and olives the staple of their agricultural industry.
During harvest-time the Kabyles cover their heads with an immense straw hat of a pointed shape, with a huge brim, fourteen inches in width, shading their face. A shirt, leaving the arms and legs bare, and a leather apron, similar to that worn by our blacksmiths, constitute their dress. They reap their corn and barley in small handfuls at a time, and very close to the ground, with a sickle. The thrashing and winnowing is roughly done by oxen. M. Duhousset, who witnessed the harvest and the grinding of the corn, gives the accompanying sketch (fig. 72) of the Kabyle flour-mills. Their olive-mill is very similar to that used in the south of France, only their grindstones are turned by women, who fill the part assigned by us to horses or to a steam-engine.
In Kabylia particular care is bestowed on the cultivation of the fig, the principal article of food of the whole country. M. Duhousset took particular notice of the artificial fecundation of the fig-tree, a curious operation totally unknown in France.
The fig-tree, as well as the date-tree, is artificially fecundated in Kabylia; in the case of the latter the male flower is merely superimposed on the female blossoms to impregnate them; but with the former it is insects that carry the fertilizing dust. This process is termed caprification.
“Caprification,” says M. Duhousset, “has been practised from time immemorial by all the inhabitants on the Mediterranean coast. This curious and important process seemed to me to deserve a special investigation. I have, therefore, collected a quantity of more or less plausible details and explanations of the manner in which it is carried out, and the advantages derived from this mode of cultivation.
“The dokhar is the fruit of the wild fig-tree. It is small, flavourless, and bitter. It is not a very eatable species, and is not cultivated for the sake of food. It is precocious, and becomes ripe when the other figs, still green, have not yet attained their maturity. The tree which produces them – the caper fig-tree – yields two or three crops in the year; but it is only the first that is generally made use of.
72. – GRINDING WHEAT IN THE KABYLIA.
“When quite ripe, the dokhar is gathered, and arranged in small bunches (moulak) on a string. These strings are suspended to the boughs of the female fig-tree, towards the end of June in the plains, towards the end of July on the mountains. From the stem of each dokhar, when dry, issue a quantity of small winged insects, which introduce themselves into the fruit on the tree, instil a new life into it, and prevent it from falling.
“These insects, agents of this fecundation, are produced and developed in the fruit of the wild fig-tree, and leave it, as soon as arrived at maturity, to attach themselves to the female fig-tree. Their body is hairy, like that of the bee, which is known to fulfil an analogous mission towards certain flowers.
“These insects are of two kinds, black and red. The first, smaller than the second, do not carry like the latter a sting in their abdomen. The natives assert that the black insect alone plays a useful part in the caprification of the fig – the part played by the wind, the bird, or the hand of man in the instance of the date. A long experience attributes to it the privilege of preserving the figs from perishing and falling before they have become ripe. This custom has given rise to the well-known Kabyle proverb, ‘He who is without dokhar is without figs.’ The abundance of figs in every locality and under every difference of climate depends upon that of the dokhar. Sometimes, however, the latter, although plentiful, gives birth to but a small number of these preserving insects, as in 1863, when the crop was poor, the dokhar having produced but few insects.
“The Kabyles are convinced that one of these insects can preserve ninety-nine figs, but that the hundredth becomes its tomb. This is possibly only a popular prejudice; but it is as well to cite it. Truth among primitive people becomes sometimes crystallized in the shape of a superstition, and the inexplicable pervades everything.
“Caprification takes place at least once a year. When the dokhar is abundant it is prudent to repeat the process several times at short intervals, and it is most important that it should be performed at the proper moment, either in the autumn or in the spring, or the crop may become seriously endangered and partly lost.
“A rule generally observed in the villages where the dokhar flourishes, is, that no one may sell it, under a penalty of a fine of two pounds, to a stranger, or even to an ally, before the gardens of his own locality have been copiously provided with the precious preservative.
“Previous to our rule the Kabyle tribes were continually at enmity with one another, and the sale of the dokhar was then suspended and forbidden between them. As the fig is the principal and indispensable food of the inhabitants, this prohibitory measure was the surest means of starving the enemy, or at least of occasioning him serious inconvenience. It is, therefore, probable that the different tribes frequently came to open blows in order to procure by bloodshed what they were unable to obtain by purchase.”
Copper and iron are rather abundantly found in Kabylia, and its inhabitants are expert in extracting these metals from their ores. However, they are beginning to import metal goods from Europe.
73. – KABYLE JEWELLERS.
With tools of their own manufacture, or with those of foreign importation, the Kabyles make a great many useful and important articles. Jewellers and armourers are frequently found in their villages.
Fig. 73, from a sketch by M. Duhousset, represents the workshop of a Kabyle jeweller. The lathe of the Kabyle workman is used to make the wooden vases and the numerous utensils sold by the Kabyles all along the African coast. It is sufficiently noteworthy that the Kabyle turner only uses the vertical lathe, and seems ignorant of the horizontal one so convenient and so generally used in Europe.
The Shellas dwell to the west of the Atlas, while the Kabyles are found to the east of these mountains. The former are tillers of the soil, laborious and poor. They are generally independent.
The Touariks are a people distinct from the two preceding ones. They are nomadic. They wander in the desert of Sahara, and make continual raids into Egypt to carry off slaves. M. Henri Duveyrier, who has published a detailed account of the Touariks of the North, declares that they are hospitable and humane. They are generally considered to consist of rather formidable tribes, accustomed to scour the desert, stop caravans and plunder the laggards. At any rate, it is a known fact that an ill-starred traveller, Miss Tinné, who had courageously explored parts of Asia and Africa, was assassinated in the desert in 1869 by some Touariks.
In French Africa the generic name of Moor is given to the Mussulman population (the Turks excepted) inhabiting Barbary and Sahara; but in reality this name is only rightly applicable to two particular classes. The first of these is partly composed of the inhabitants of the towns, often supposed to be the descendants of the ancient natives of the country, that is to say of the Libyan family, but seeming on the contrary to be principally of Arab origin. The second comprises the tribes, most of them nomadic, who dwell in the south-west of Sahara, and who belong to either the Berber or the Arab race.
The Egyptians. We now proceed to speak of the Egyptians, that unchanging race which seems to slumber on, embalmed on a conservative soil, a vast hypogeum, where, for thirty centuries, generations, both of human beings and of domestic animals, have succeeded generations without any perceptible alteration. The work of Herodotus, the dialogues of Lucian, and the writings of Ammianus Marcellinus, teach us that the ancient Egyptians, similar in all respects to those of our own day, had a brown coloured skin. Two contracts of sale, dating back from the time of Ptolemy, give us particulars of the parties to it. The vendor is called μελαγχρως (dark brown), and the buyer μελιχρως (honey coloured). From all the documents and evidence we possess, it appears that several varieties in the colour of the skin existed among the ancient Egyptians, but that there was always one predominant hue. Paintings are found in the temples and the tombs, where the persons represented have a copper coloured, reddish, or light chocolate complexion. The faces of the women are sometimes of a yellower tint, merging into fawn colour.
Another faithful representation of the features of the ancient Egyptians is found in those of their paintings and sculptures that have descended to our own time. Their physiognomy shows a peculiar and remarkable type, as does also the shape of their bodies. According to Denon (Travels in Egypt), the ancient inhabitants of the kingdom of the Pharaohs had full but refined and voluptuous figures, calm and serene faces, soft and rounded features, long almond shaped eyes, half closed, languishing, and raised at the outer corner, as if the glare and heat of the sun habitually fatigued them. Round cheeks, thick and prominent lips, a large but smiling mouth, and a dark reddish copper tinted complexion, completed the peculiar expression of their countenance.
Blumenbach, after examining a large number of mummies, and comparing them with the productions of ancient art, established three leading types of ancient Egyptians, including, with more or less deviation, all individual casts of face; the Ethiopian, the Indian, and the Berber type. The first is distinguished by a prominent jaw and a thick lip, by a broad flat nose, and by protruding eyes. This type coincides with the description given by Herodotus and other Greek writers, who assign to the Egyptian a black complexion and woolly hair. The second type is widely different. The nose is long and narrow, the eyelids are thin, long, and slanting obliquely from the top of the nose towards the temples; the ears are set high in the head, the body is short and slight, and the legs are very long. This picture resembles the Hindoos from beyond the Ganges.
Such were the ancient people of Egypt. Its inhabitants of to-day are difficult to class from an ethnographic point of view. They must not be confounded, as is often done, with the Arab race. The present Egyptians are the old indigenous or Berber race, modified by its fusion with new elements. This old indigenous race is still to be met with in the country, sparsely strewn, but quite recognizable. It is this small part of the population which bears the name of Kopts.
The Kopts, a race preserved by their religion from miscegenation, but feebly represent the primitive Egyptians; for ancient Egypt was conquered and subjugated, first by the Arabs, then by the Persians, then by the Greeks and Romans, and lastly by the Mussulmans.
The Kopts (fig. 74) are generally above the middle height; they are robust in stature, and the colour of their skin is a dull red. They have a broad forehead, a rounded chin, full cheeks, a straight nose with strongly curved nostrils, large brown eyes, a narrow mouth with thick lips and white teeth, high projecting ears, and extremely black beards and eyebrows. The striking resemblance of the Kopts to ancient Egyptian sculpture is a sufficient proof that this group of mankind is really the remnant of the ancient stock of Egypt, slightly altered by mixture with the other races that have successively occupied their country.
The Kopts became Christians in the second century. In the seventh century, at the time of the conquest of Egypt by the Arabs, the Kopts numbered 600,000. To-day they only amount to 150,000, of whom 10,000 reside in Cairo. They venerate St. Mark as their principal patron. They go to communion regularly every Friday, lead a very austere life, and allow their priests to marry.
The Kopts have black eyes, and, in general, curly hair. Morose, taciturn, and dissimulating, they cringe to their superiors, hate their equals, and are arrogant to their inferiors. They excel as accountants in all kinds of business. They carry on exclusively certain industries, such as the manufacture of mills, of apparatus for irrigation, and of jewellery.
The Koptic language is the ancient language of the Pharaohs, mixed with words from the Greek and other tongues. It is written in the Greek character. It is no longer grammatically taught, and is but little spoken. It is, however, still used in their form of worship.