The Irish standard., 1896-01-04

Adam was in the Garden of Eden his
body was covered with nails, like those
we have on our fingers andy5oes. THESE
naiis overlapped each Other like the scales
of fish. thus giving him an invulner-
able armor. After the fall the nails ali
dropped off except from the ends OF his
fingers and toes, where they remain to
this day to remind man of his lost I'M
mortality The Armenians say that when
God made Adam Of clay he had a little
piece left over He threw this upon the
ground, and as it fell it became gold and
formed all the gold Of the world. The
Armenians believe in the Bible and they
are naturally religious people.
The condition of the women Of Armenia
in now terrible. They have no refuge
from the Turks, and outlsages OF all de-
scriptions are perpetrated, ending in
DEATH In some of the Armenian cities
during the late massacres the girls were
collected into the churches and were kept
there for days at the pleasure OF the sol
diers before they were killed. One state
mem describes how sixty young brides
were 50 treated and how the blood ran
out under the church doors at the time
of their murders. These Armenian Jwo-
men are among the most attractive Of
the far east. [ saw a number of them
during my trip through Asia Minor. They
have large. dark, luminous eyes, with
long eyelashes, and their complexion is
that Of rich cream. Many of them have
rosy cheeks and luscious red lips. They
are tall and straight, becoming fat soon
after marriage. They are very i;teili-
gent and not "a few of them are married
to Turks. These women have dress of
their own. They wear red fez caps with
long tassels, much like some of the coun-
try girls OF Greece. The richer ladies
wear loose jackets, lined with fur, and
long plain skirts of silk CT fins wool. In
the province of Van, where some of the
outrages have occurred, the girls wear
trousers under their skirts, which are
tied at the ankles. Some have long,
sleeveless Jackets, or cloaks, reaching al
most to the feet and open at the sides
UP to the waists, and others wear gor-
geous head dresses, covering the front of
their caps with gold coins, which hang
down over their foreheads. Girls often
wear their whole dowry on their per-
soDs, and in massacres like those which
have occurred rings are torn from their
ears, arms are cut off for bracelets and
y
The poorer women are hard workers.
Nearly every household has some kind
of labor by which it adds to its income.
Some of the finest embroideries we get
from Turkey are made by Armenian wo-
men, the best of the work being done by
hand in novels.
The real causes of these Ol1trages is, to
a large extent, religious fanaticis1n. The
better classes of the Turks and the more
intelligent of the Mohammedans would
probably stop them if they could. The
sultan has, I am told, tried to do so, but
he is afraid of his life. He realizes that
if the common people get the idea that
he is false to his religion he is almost
sure OF assassination. The imans and the
sheiks OF, in other words, the Mohamme-
dan priests, to a large extent rule Tur.
key today. They are. in most cases, ig
norant and intolerant. AIT the head of
them is the Sheik-ul Islam, or grand
mufti. He is appointed by the sultan,
and the sultan cannot kill him so long AS
he holds his title, though he can depose
him. The sultan himself cannot be de-
posed unless the grand multi SO DEGREES.
He is a sort of a supreme judge in aadi-
tion to his religious character. Among
the Mohamnledams fanatics there are
large number known as Gervishes, who
roam about from country to country III
citing trouble. They are walking dele
gates, as it were, for the killing of Chris
tians. They stimulate the religious zeal
of the people and make Violent speeches
against unbelievers They fast much aid
they have curious methods OF worship.
One class is known as the wheeling der
wishes, whom you may see any Friday
going through their Worship in Cc1l:tan-
tinople they dressed in long white robes,
Fastened at the wrist with black belts,
and on their heads they wear high sugar
loaf hats. They sing the koran as they
whirl about in the mosques AS they go
on the chief priest makes prayers They
whirl faster and faster, until at last their
long skirts stand out like those of bal
let dancer. They become red in the face,
and some finally drop to the ground in
fits.
Another class of these fanatics are the
howlers. There is a great organization
made up of these in Turkey and they
have probably been largely concerned in
melting feeling against the Armenians.
have visited ther mosques, but de-
spair of adequately describing their re-
Mgious gymnastics They work them
selves into a. frenzy by gasping and
bowling out the name of God, and the
dervishes Of the interior parts of Turkey
often take knives and cut themselves and
each other in religious ecstacy. They go
into epileptic fits and foam at the mouth,
and the most of them think that the
killing of Christian is a sure passport 10
heaven. would say, however, that these
people are. the cranks of MohammedaJ-
ism, and that they are not a fair sample
OF the Aohammetian world.