THE

COSTUME OF TURKEY,

ILLUSTRATED BY A SERIES OF

ENGRAVINGS;

WITH

DESCRIPTIONS IN ENGLISH AND FRENCH.

Plate XXXII

AN ARMENIAN.

Click for a larger image.

Previous     Next

Armenian man.

THE Turks are not the only nation who live at Constantinople. Its inhabitants consist also of Greeks, Jews, and Armenians, and hence there results a great variety in manners, language, and religion. The Armenians form about one twelfth part of the population. They reside both in the interior of the city and in the suburbs, particularly in Pera. They are almost all merchants, and some of them to an immense extent, and possess warehouses and correspondents in almost every part of Asia. Their manners are in general very correct, and their engagements may be depended upon, although they are esteemed avaricious. The Armenian is very exact in the performance of every thing relative to religion ; and this body of men may be esteemed as containing some of the most useful subjects of the Ottoman empire. These are now almost the only remains of that once powerful and flourishing nation, so noted for the wealth and luxury of its monarchs. The country of Armenia itself no longer retains any vestiges of its former splendour ; and the inhabitants, under the pressure of a foreign yoke, are forced to fly far from their native homes, to escape a tyranny, they have labored under for more than three hundered years.