'General information on Persia for any future edition, 1895' [‎73v] (137/211)

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Language. —Although the language of the hulk of the population, including
Armenians and natives of the Greek Church, is Turkish, the Nusanehs or Sahians,
numbering between 15,000 and 20,000 souls, immigrants from Syria, are Arabic
speaking. As regards foreign languages, Greek is largely spoken in the towns owing
fft the trade and commerce beinsr in a great measure in the hands ot Oypnots, bciotes,
Agriculture.—In the absence of any native industry of importance, agriculture is
the direct and indirect occupation of all, and upon its success the well-being of the
inhabitants wholly depends. Crops are classed under two heads, viz., summer and
winter, the former comprising cereals, the latter cotton and sesame, the land being
sown alternately with one or the other. To insure success sufficient winter rainfall is
necessary for the former, and an absence of hot winds and sufficient spring rains for
the latter. These essential conditions are seldom fulfilled, and, consequently, failure of
crops are of frequent occurrence. ...
Unfortunately, no efforts are made to counteract such by irrigation, the contents
of the numerous rivers, which otherwise might be utilized with incalculable advantage,
being allowed to flow unheeded into the sea.
Cotton. —Adana cotton has been renowned for centuries for its superiority over
other Turkish cotton, and two centuries ago formed a considerable item of export to
England by the English factors of Aleppo.
The crop of 1889 yielded only 11,000 bales, while that of 1890 reached 65,000
bales, of an average value of 8/. per bale. Planting is done in March and picking in
August. It is of dark colour and short staple. Little goes to England, where it only
works up to No. 10 of yam. About a third of the crop goes to other Turkish
provinces, and the rest to Erance and Austria.
Last year a little American seed was tried, with success, producing longer and a
whiter staple. It, however, requires renewal every three years to prevent deteriora
tion. .
Agricultural Machines. —These are largely employed, and their number is yearly
increasing, their value becoming self-evident to the people. At present there are
11 steam threshing machines, costing about 500/. each, and 900 reaping machines
(American), costing about 30/. each. Despite drawbacks of climate, improvement and
progress in agriculture are everywhere apparent, chiefly induced by the native
Christian (chiefly Armenian) and foreign Greek elements, which are largely engaged
in agricultural enterprise, and are slowly, but surely, ousting the apathetic Moslem
element.
Peasantry. —The condition of the peasantry is far superior to that in the adjoining
Vilayet of Aleppo, where, however, agriculture is entirely in the hands of the non
progressive, ignorant, and indolent Mahommedan. The system pursued, generally, is
as follows: The owner of the land provides seed, oxen, and pays taxes; the peasant
supplying labour and cultivation, and receiving half of the produce. The peasant
class is divided into two, viz., the Nusarieh or Sabian, 15,000 to 20,000 in number,
known as “fellahs,” and the native Turkish. The former, who emigrated from Syria
(Latakia) about seventy years ago to these plains, are industrious and laborious.
They are to be found from Mersina to Tarsous and Adana, a distance of about 50 miles.
The market gardens of the towns are in their hands, and their outskirts are dotted
with the small plots and huts of the gardeners, who are remarkable for their thrift
and industry.
Extensive villages of them are also scattered all along near the coast. Their
origin enables them to withstand, with comparative impunity, the great heats of the
plains in summer, and the fevers attending them ; unlike the Turkish cultivator, who
deserts his village and flies to the adjoining hills for shelter, returning only for a
short stay to gather hurriedly his crop.
The short season of harvest, and the necessity, owing to the great heats, of cutting
and threshing as speedily as possible, have from old times brought annually into the
district from the interior large numbers of harvesters, Armenians and Kurds, said to
be over 5,000, who are employed at. good wages, relatively good in proportion to the
risks to health they run through the great heats and the accompanying fevers.
I did not, however, find that the great mortality among these harvesters, com
monly supposed to take place, actually occurs, although no doubt few escape the evil
effects of exposure.
Tithes .—During the last five years tithes have been paid in money and not in kind,
the land-owners and villagers eagerly competing, and generally successfully, for the
adjudgment of their respective tithes to themselves. This system works well both
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