Low roofs, minaret chimneys and a wooden harem
Editorial contextSeen from the garden, the Khans' palace was a low building, in parts only one storey, with white roofs and chimneys shaped like little minarets. The harem was a square building of three lofty rooms with verandas and small wooden-grated windows, behind a high wall. The palace of the Crimean Khans, in other words, was modest in scale.
This harem is a square building, with verandas, having only three rooms: these are large and lofty … Each room has a double range of small windows, with wooden gratings … The appearance of the exterior of the palace, as seen from the garden, is that of a low building, in some parts only one story. Its roof is white, and the chimnies appear like so many minarets
About Crimean Khans (Giray dynasty)
Domed tombs of the Khans
Editorial contextBeside the palace mosque, the Khans lay in a small burial ground of Turkish-style tombs, some of marble, and in two domed octagonal mausoleums about thirty feet across. Inside were wooden coffins draped in black cloth and topped with the turbans of the dead. Webster also describes the town's one-storey houses and streets of shops grouped by trade.
There are two large octagons, with domes, of about thirty feet diameter, which contain the bodies and monuments of many Khans. In the first are ten or twelve wooden coffins, covered with black cloth, and having at the top the turbans of the deceased.
About Crimean Khans (Giray dynasty)
Inside a spotless Tatar house
Editorial contextAfter rejecting a filthy Russian post-house, Webster's party lodged with a Tatar family and were 'much surprised' by the cleanliness: double carpets, a row of cushions along the wall to sleep on, an open hearth in a big chimney, cushions piled to the roof and pots ranged on the rafters, all whitewashed. On the next page the host hints he hopes to be paid, unlike some Russian officers who answered with blows.
On entering, we were much surprised at the perfect cleanliness of the house. The room was doubly carpeted, and along the wall was a row of cushions, of sufficient breadth to admit of a traveller's stretching himself with perfect comfort. The fire was on the ground, in a large open chimney.
About Crimean Tatars
Graves dug for pilgrims to Mecca
Editorial contextIn Alushta Webster watched villagers dig two holes near the mosque for the two oldest men, about to leave on pilgrimage to Mecca. If they did not return, their upright gravestones topped with turbans would be set up there. The whole village was to share a feast paid for by voluntary gifts.
The two oldest, and for whom this ceremony was acting, were to set out, in two days, on a pilgrimage to Mecca, and, should they not return, their monuments, upright stones, surmounted by turbans, would be placed on the spot where the holes were dug.
About Crimean Tatars
Four hundred ungreased wheels
Editorial contextAt the entrance to the Crimea Webster met a Tatar caravan of about a hundred wagons, drawn by oxen and camels, whose ungreased wheels made an 'excruciating' noise. The Tatars in their black lambskin caps, the camels and the bustards on the plain struck him as a novel eastern scene.
These people never grease the wheels. The creaking of one is sufficiently offensive; but the noise of four hundred was absolutely excruciating. The Tartars, too, were singing, which, with them, is another term for howling … The Tartars, in their black lamb-skin caps and eastern dresses, the camels grazing on each side of the road
About Crimean Tatar carters
Keep in mind
Mocking tone about Tatar song.
OCR normalized; a dash in the original replaced by a comma.
Dervishes 'snorting' in the Khans' mosque
Editorial contextFor a few rubles, Webster's party had thirteen men, five of them dervishes, perform their ritual (a zikr) in the Khans' mosque. He describes the rhythmic bowing and rasping breath in comic, hostile terms, yet on the next page concedes the rite was 'civilization' next to the flagellations he had seen in Rome.
They first snorted with great fury, then bellowed as furiously; the bellow consisting of three notes, like that of a calf, or a bull. Each time they bent forward with a violent motion. The rite altogether is absolutely terrific, and must be most fatiguing.
About Crimean Tatar dervishes
Keep in mind
A paid performance for tourists, described with open ridicule.
The happiest peasantry possible
Editorial contextWebster ends his Crimean chapters defending Tatar 'laziness' against Russian complaints: the Tatar sits on his roof under his grandfather's walnut tree and wants nothing more. He honestly adds that, not speaking their language, a traveller may mistake the look of happiness for the real thing.
The Russians exclaim against the laziness of the Tartars: but wherefore should they work? They are the happiest peasantry possible without it … not understanding their language, we may mistake the appearance of happiness for its reality.
About Crimean Tatars
Keep in mind
A romantic generalisation, which Webster himself qualifies.
The bride inside the Red Rock
Editorial contextWebster records a legend 'implicitly believed by the Tartars': a girl forced to marry against her will prayed to Allah to bury her alive inside the red rock of Keesil-tash, and at every full moon at midnight the rock opens and she walks out in her bridal clothes. The next page adds a Tatar's dry joke about why a Russian count failed to see her.
She besought Allah to hide her from the world, and to bury her alive in the centre of the Keesil-tash. This prayer was granted, and she was snatched away by an invisible hand. She is said to inhabit the rock, but at every full moon, at midnight, the rock, as it is declared, opens, and the lady walks forth in her
About Crimean Tatars
Keep in mind
Local legend as told to Webster; the sentence ends 'bridal garments' on the next page.