902 



TURKEY IN ASIA. 



6. JMineraL. Silver, copper, and lead are found in Asia Minor and Armenia, iron in Me- 

 sopotamia, and salt in various places. 



7. Animals. The Caucasian goat, which is larger than the common goat, inhabits the Cau- 

 casian Mountains and the Taurus. The Angora goat is remarkable for its hair, which curls in 

 long ringlets of 8 or 9 inches in length, and is of a silky texture, and glossy silvery whiteness. 

 Much yarn, spun from it, is exported. The camel is much used here as a beast of burden, and 

 its hair is valuable. 



8. Divisions. Asiatic Turkey is politically divided into 16 eyalets or pachalics, which are 

 subdivided into sangiacats. But many of the mountaineers and nomadic tribes are onl}'' tribu- 

 taries ; others are merely vassals, that is, they recognise the superiority of the Porte ; and some 

 are entirely independent. It is not rare for the pachas also to refuse obedience to the orders 

 of the sultan, and to resist his forces. The common geographical divisions, generally used by 

 writers, are Asia Minor or Anatolia, Georgia, Armenia, Curdistan, and Mesopotamia or Alje- 

 sira, with Irak-Arabi. Only a part of Georgia, Armenia, and Curdistan, belong to the Otto- 

 man empire. 



9. Towns. Bagdad, built upon both banks of the river Tigris, was for some centuries the 

 brilliant metropolis of the caliphate under the Saracens. This city retains few marks of its an- 

 cient grandeur. It is in the form of an irregular square, ill-built, and rudely fortified ; but the 

 convenience of its situation l%hders it one of the seats of the Turkish government, and it has still 

 a considerable trade, being annually visited by the caravans from Smyrna and Aleppo, and sup- 



Bridge of Boats across the Tigris, at Bagdad. 



plied also with the produce of Persia and India. Most of the houses have a court-yard, in the 

 middle of which is a plantation of orange trees. The bazars are handsome and spacious, and 

 filled with shops for all kinds of merchandise. These were erected by the Persians, when 

 they were in possession of the place, as were also the bagnios. The castle, which is of stone, 

 commands the river. Below the castle, by the water side, is the palace of the Turkish govern- 

 or ; and there are many summer-houses on the river, which make a fine appearance. Popu- 

 lation, 100,000. 



Bassora or Basra., which is shuated below the junction of the Tigris and the Euphrates, is 

 considered as the second city of the pachalic of Bagdad ; but it has greatly declined from its 

 former wealth and importance, though it still has a population of 60,000, who carry on an ex 

 tensive trade. The houses are meanly built ; the bazars are miserable structures ; and of 40 

 mosques only 1 is worthy of the name. The Arabs form the most numerous class of the in- 

 habitants ; but the Armenians are the chief managers of the foreign trade. For the merchan- 

 dise of British India, they chiefly exchange bullion, pearls, copper, silk, dates, and gall-nuts ; 



