THE RED CASTLE OF THE HAIMANEH. BY T. M. RUSSELL, OF THE KURDISTAN EXPEDITION. SOUTH of the city and plain of Ancyra, east of the River Sangarius, north of the Sevrihisar range of mountains, and west of the valley of the more southerly bend of the Halys and the Great Salt Lake, from which it is fenced by successive ridges of hills of considerable height, there is situate an upland of peculiar character, termed the Haimaneh. At an elevation of 3000 feet above the level of the sea, yet hemmed in upon three sides by mountain barriers, varying from 600 to 1000 feet, above it again, that plain presents one of those remarkable plateaus so frequently recognized under circumstances of similar physical construction— perfect sterility and desolation succeeded with almost miraculous suddenness by fecundity in nearly every one of nature's marvellous developements. On the rocky mountain side the juniper shakes off the wintery incumbrance of snow as it were for the mere purpose of putting forth its nascent berries; as the same white pall is withdrawn from the ground, flowers, just springing into existence, are discovered, instead of the lifeless tracts which in other lands would be there found extended. On the plain a few days are sufficient to manifest the cultivation of each valley, by calling up the tender blades of wheat in every direction; while upon the extensive, apparently unlimited, pastures, and upon a thousand hills, cattle and flocks are perceived in nearly countless numbers, where lately animal life itself appeared incompatible with stern winter's solitude. A district thus constituted in respect to variation of climate, is subjected to as sudden a succession of nomadic tillers and feeders of flocks; of the former, however, there are some, chiefly Turcomans, who dwell entirely in the Haimaneh, and have appropriated the more fertile districts; but the Kurd appears as regularly as any of the products of the vegetable kingdom at the vernal equinox; the tract not engrossed by the stalwart Turcoman is subjected to his rude plough-a mere crooked stick, drawn by the patient ox, which has borne it for miles to these summer quarters-while at the same time his herds of goats and sheep, and droves of horses are scattered over the now luxuriant pasture. It was at this season of fitful change from inanity to universal life and gladsomeness, from solitude to numbers, that our expedition, ascending the Shabanuse hills, first came in sight of the undulating country I am about to describe. There were in our company three veritable Khawasses, or guards, lent by Zaid Pacha, who would not otherwise allow us to proceed through this land of ill fame; and those Khawasses chose that opportunity, even when halting upon that Pisgah which afforded us view of the land we had promised ourselves such pleasure in traversing-for we were the first Franks who had ever essayed the journey-to enforce upon us for the twentieth time their twenty reasons why we should not descend into the vales beneath. I will not pretend to give all those reasons-three will, I suppose, suffice, and they appeared powerful and feasible enough. In the first place, the Turcomans repudiated all firmans which empowered us to a change of horses; secondly, the plague was for certain raging in the few villages scattered over the district; thirdly, for certain the Kurds were in possession of nearly all the pastures, hill or dale, and would most assuredly rob-probably murder. These three excellent reasons, however, did not serve their turn. The motives of our Khawass protectors were well known to us, the increasing, namely, their expected backsheish by magnifying the danger to be encountered. The Turcomans, we told them, they must manage as well as they could; the Kurds were the sole cause of Khawasses, being attached to our party, and therefore it would be folly to turn back for that reason; and as for the plague, the only actual risk I believe we ran, why we resolved upon encountering that danger, too, upon true Mahommedan principles of predestination. Their affected scruples being for the time overruled, and their remonstrances silenced, we commenced the descent of the hill side by a devious slippery bridle-path, not inappropriately termed the Father of mud; and at nightfall came upon fertile tracts of land contiguous to a large village named Spear Town, among whose collected spearmen we dismounted, and at the invitation of the Vaivode of those pastoral Turcomans, took up our quarters in his somewhat dirty dwelling. As the Rubicon was now passed and the dread confines of Haimaneh entered upon, our guides, or guards as they supposed themselves, set themselves to work to descant upon the principal wonders of that unknown district, interspersing their accounts with dire relation of the evils from man and malady which beset our path. There was the summit of a hill, whereon were thermal springs, inclosed by the great desiderata, ancient ruins (eski tash); but, ah! the villages at either base of the hill were devastated by the plague; still, if we chose to venture, he, Mustapha Khawass-bashi, would not fail us-save the Sultan, for whom better could he die? There were the stupendous excavations near Chicluk, wherein was a church, wherein were cells and habitations innumerable, wonders never yet explored. "Was it the same excavation," asked somebody, "which had subterraneous communication with Ancyra?"-a city thirty miles distant. “Doubtless,” said Mustapha. "In the days of the Romans (Rûm), I expect it was by this very path that the monks contrived to pass from convent to convent without ever going abroad, which their vows forbade them to do." A subterraneous church and convent, a tunnel thirty miles in length ! We had heard of such things in the city itself, but were incredulous. Two days' ride, we were assured, would enable us to set the matter beyond doubt; nay, he was not sure we could not, if disposed, traverse the tunnel partially, if not the whole length; but those subterraneous caverns were the resort of very, very bloodthirsty robbers. It was impossible to number the violent deaths those ruthless banditti had occasioned; but some idea upon the subject might be formed from the number of rayahs' graves in every direction in the neighbourhood of those gloomy caverns-still, if we were determined to venture, his and his two followers' lives should be risked in our defence. Then, again, there was Kuziljah Kaleh, the Red Castle, beyond Heaven Gate Spring, at the foot of the Black Mountain: that was a fine old edifice, of immense extent, and strangely situate at the extremity of a jagged rock, which hung frowningly over a rich valley that terminates the Haimaneh in the south-east. Even Mustapha, Osmanli as he was, and, as such, supposed to be inaccessible to such a feeling as curiosity, expressed great desire himself to view things so interestingly described by report, and so melo-dramatically named-the Red Castle at the foot of the Black Mountain, near Heaven Gate Spring; but, ah! that valley was peopled by Kurds of still worse character than those who haunted the caverns, while the plague raged in their huts and tents yet more dreadfully than it did near the thermal springs on the mountain top-but what of that? "With thee I tarry, or with thee I go," was the maxim of the gallant Mustapha and his satellites; they did but mention the dangers but to show their readiness to partake them for our sakes; while all the time the truth was, as will presently appear, they grossly exaggerated the accounts both of the curiosities to be visited and the dangers incurred in visiting them, solely for the purpose of giving to their attendance and protection an appearance of value they certainly did not possess in themselves. From the village of the Spearmen, or Spear Town, as the name Jagharli literally signifies, we departed early in the ensuing day; but not ere we had had plenty of time to observe indications of very considerable agricultural and pastoral wealth. There were many camels waiting to be engaged in the transport of wheat, and long lines of mules, the property of Christians, engaged in an unreserved deportation of corn that would have done Mr. Cobden's heart good. This did not look as if the Haimaneh was an impenetrable country. While engaged in contemplation of these matters, forth from a wretched hut, that could scarcely be equalled for moss-grown mud walls and filthy precincts in the Gem of the Sea itself, stepped the Vaivode, or head man of the district, a gigantic Turcoman, his huge head surmounted by a huge crimson turban, his wide expanse of breast covered by folds of scarlet silk, a purple robe, also gaudily lined, of size equal to a Turcoman's tent, floating around the Turcoman's person, while, to complete his state, two black slaves-one bearing a spear, sufficiently peculiar in its length to have given the name of Spear Town to the village-followed him as he strode majestically to review his flocks and herds, and traffic in the produce of his lands. And why, it may be asked, is the Turcoman always as ready to make an ostentatious display of his opulence and resources as the no less industrious Christian is anxious to conceal his? The reply may be made by the adducement of two several characteristic facts. In the first place, indomitable, but in this place surely harmless, pride prevents the Turcoman from withholding the display the other's cupidity prevents him from venturing; and, secondly, the reliance the former has in feudal strength, by which he is enabled, after paying the capitation tax-by no means so heavy as generally supposed to look with indifference, not to say contempt, upon the high fantastic tricks by which the Osmanli rulers despoil, or, to use their own words, "burn the hearts" of the rayahs and the poorer subjects even of their own nation. As to the Kurds, their maxim in respect to fiscal is the same as in respect to all other matters. When sufficiently strong they will hold out and withhold payment of tribute as long as possible. If the season be suitable they will make a sudden migration, and probably elude the property tax in that way, but if compelled to await the calls of the Publican, as a Pacha may be justly styled, they will prefer, like the rayah, to affect poverty rather than assume the manly port of independence which distinguishes the gorgeous Turcoman. But the rich and well cultivated land round the Spear Town formed but an occasional oasis in the Haimaneh, with whose real characteristics we became better acquainted after some two hours' ride. We then found ourselves upon an upland, whose soil bore on its surface no other variety save wormwood and turf; turf and wormwood: nor tree, nor broken ground was perceptible for above twenty miles. At the end of that plain a range of hills, perforated by a bright stream, which watering a valley of inconsiderable width, immediately assured us of a change of scene. Here, accordingly, villages were perceptible. Alif, or letter A, was the first we entered, and here we found ourselves amidst tombs and columns of the latter days of the Byzantine Empire; inscriptions were rare and of little interest, being for the most part descriptive of some superior of an ecclesiastical foundation, whose name and memory has long since departed. As it did not want much of noon, the packhorse, which bore the instruments, was relieved for a time of the sextant and artificial horizon, and the necessary preparations made for taking a mid-day observation. The simple villagers crowded round, and appeared, as usual, impressed with the idea, when the observer knelt with his instrument in hand before the reflection of the orb of day in the bright liquid quicksilver, that he was engaged in an act of devotion. But though, perhaps, unable to comprehend how the latitude of their homely huts was to be ascertained from deductions of the observed double altitude of the sun, they manifested a knowledge of the uses of mercury that we never dreamed of. A few ounces being accidentally spilt the Moolah begged particularly to be allowed to keep it. The request was granted, and some enquiry made as to the use it was intended for, upon which he intimated the proposed destruction therewith of certain domestic insect agitators in his family, which it is generally, at least in England, thought better to prevent than eradicate by such means. From Letter A village we made our way through the narrow valley wherein it was located, entered again upon the desert of the Haimaneh, which reminded me of Bagshot heath, or, rather. what Bagshot heath might have been in the days of Smollett; caught ere sunset the welcome view of another vale, indicated by straggling trees and slips of cultivated ground; the village of that spot of cultivation called Kadi Keui, the Judges' Town, received us ere dark. But nowithstanding the free and engaging manners of the cadets of the place, there was a noticeable gloom shadowing the manly countenances of the elders; they were hurried in their gestures, yet constrained in their conversation; the eye was restless though the tongue was slow either in question or response; signs of mourning were frequent, signs of trepidation universal. The plague was upon them. Two villagers who sickened, they said, even after we had entered the oda of the hut set apart for travellers, died ere morning, and, as we were in the act of mounting at daybreak, the corpses were severally hurried past us to a hasty funeral on the rocky hill side. Of these, one was a young man, perhaps a mere youth, whose rude obsequies were attended by but two or three persons beside the bearers; they maintained the appearance of great resignation, certainly of perfect self-command, for their voices were never raised above such a whispering communication as is commonly used with us on such melancholy occasions. Not so, however, with the interment of the second corpse, that of a man advanced in years, but taken off, we were told, in the full possession of apparent health and strength. Cries, nay positively yells, from a cottage first announced the lifting of the corpse, as it is termed in Scotland. A rush was made through and from the doorway amidst the piercing cries, as if they were forcibly bearing away all that rendered life dear to the persons within. These, the females of the family, suddenly made their appearance on the roof, and then their exclamations, hitherto discordant, became attuned to a more dirge-like but still a shrill lament. Their gesticulations were exceedingly violent, and the right arm was at times held with the hand fully extended in the direction of the corpse, perhaps for the space of thirty seconds, after which both arms were thrown frantically, yet by no means in a repulsive manner, into the air. The mourners' faces being, as is the custom with the Turcoman, uncovered, the sounds were readily recognized by those who could follow them; of one of our sourigees I, by aid of an interpreter, subsequently obtained the following version, which I perhaps should not venture to reduce into the present form but for the curious similarity I imagine to be perceptible between it and the dirge in Cymbeline, "Fear no more the heat of the sun." "Father of faithful sons! Death was not dreadful to thee! Baba Osman! Osman Baba! Thunders no more shall wake or harm thee, Baba Osman! Osman Baba!" &c., &c. The warm baths upon the hilltop was the first of the three peculiar objects to be visited, and we accordingly sent the baggage and interpreter, accompanied by two lusty Khawasses, by the way of the plain, while A. and I, with the Bashi, commenced the ascent. Early as it was in the spring the ride was very beautiful. The prevalence of the evergreen oak made the landscape very generally cheerful, while the juniper was hastening every where to put forth tender sprigs of the brightest green as acknowledgment of the returning season. It was some time before we came amongst ruins, which we found occupied either brow as well as the once castellated crown of the hill. The first ruins, indeed those near the top of both acclivities, were evidently those of former abodes of comfort, perhaps even the splendid luxury of the Byzantine Greeks. By such it is more than probable these baths were as aristocratic a resort as Leamington, or Bath itself. For miles the ruins of majestic mansions, each situate within what was once an extensive garden, the whole surrounded on every side by the vestiges of walls of some strength, and bastions in better condition, faced for the most part with well-dressed stones. Proceeding further we came to an open space just on the slope towards the morning sun, which, from the scattered tombstones formed of columns, cornices, and other relics of ancient architecture of no mean pretensions, we easily recognized as the |