CHAPTER IV.

BAKTCHÉSERAI AND TCHOUFOUT KALEH.

Description of Baktchéserai—The palace of the Khans—Pouschkin’s fountain—The great council-room—The hareem—The cemetery—The tomb of Dilara Bikéh—The gorge of Tchoufout Kaleh—Acheláma—Tchoufout Kaleh—The Karaim Jews, or those who reject the Talmud—Their very ancient origin—Probable descendants of Sadducees—Their high character—Tomb of the beautiful Nenekedjàn—The crypt town of Kirkor.

A good road leads from Sympherópol to the town of Baktchéserai, which is half-way from the former place to Sevastopol. Baktchéserai was the capital of the Tatars during their occupation of Crimea, and like Karasóubazar retains much of its Eastern character, owing to the ukase of Catherine II., which is still in force, and by which the Tatars are allowed to retain exclusive possession of these two cities.

The distance from Sympherópol to Baktchéserai is 30 versts,[52] and the road runs along a waste Steppe, with the exception of a mile and a half of the distance, during which it passes through the pretty valley of the upper Alma. The town is situated in a deep gorge in the chalk formation, and the traveller does not see it till he has arrived at the end of his journey, and suddenly looks down upon it snugly ensconced at his feet between two walls of rock. There he sees the irregular Tatar habitations, interspersed with delicate minarets and tall poplar-trees stretching in two long lines on each side of the muddy stream of the Djourouk Sou. A steep road leads down to it, which passes the modest triumphal arch erected in honour of the visit of the Empress Catherine II. to the capital of her new conquest in the last century, and which bears the simple inscription, “1787.” The town has completely retained its Oriental character, and in passing down the long street, nearly three-quarters of a mile in length, the little open shops of the tailors, the shoemakers, the bakers, the locksmiths, and the kalpac-makers, are seen, with their proprietors sitting cross-legged, in Eastern fashion, and working and selling at the same time.

Baktchéserai is celebrated for the number of its fountains and the purity of its water, which one writer pretends is the lightest in all Tatary and Turkey.[53] There are no less than 119 fountains for a population of 9547 inhabitants. At the end of the long street, just across the little river, is the great sight of Baktchéserai, the ancient palace of the khans, which all travellers stop to visit.

Now that Turkey is becoming so much Europeanized, this palace, as a specimen of the old architecture of the Turk race, goes on increasing in interest. The great men at Constantinople are sacrificing the ancient peculiarities of their palaces to modern conveniences, but this venerable monument is kept up by the sovereigns of Russia precisely in its ancient condition. I was much struck with it when the brightly painted gateway first opened upon me. This divides in two a long line of buildings, of only one story in height, with all the windows filled up with carved woodwork, and ornamented with rude arabesques painted in bright colours.

Right and left on entering are ranges of apartments, which all open on a long gallery, whence there is a good view of the interior court and the groups of fantastic buildings raised irregularly around it.

At the entrance of the second court on the left is the gate called the Iron Gate, leading to the principal apartments, on which is an inscription declaring it to have been built by Mengli Geray Khan, who conquered the Crimea in 1480, and was acknowledged as its sovereign by the Turks.

A staircase leads into the richly-ornamented hall, in which there are two fountains, one of which is called Selsibíl, or the fountain of Mary, on which the Russian poet Pouschkin has written some beautiful verses.[54]

Beyond this hall is that of the divan, the great council-room, placed in the midst of a terraced garden. This is one of those magic buildings in which the climate of the East can really be enjoyed. Its floor is of marble, and its fretted ceiling tastefully gilt, while the centre is occupied by a marble basin, into which the water is perpetually trickling from a fountain with fifteen jets. The only light that is admitted is toned down through painted glass, and the softest divans invite repose from the heats of summer. The terraces of the garden outside are planted with roses; and the clearest streams of water fall in small cascades from one marble basin to another.

From the first hall is a doorway leading to the principal apartments of the khan himself, where is the hall of audience and a long suite of rooms leading down to the banks of the river, whence the great man, behind a lattice, could, unperceived, see what was passing in the town. Behind the Pavilion of the Waters, carefully hidden by high trees, is a little secluded court, where the sacred precincts of the hareem terminated with a high tower or kiosk, whence the ladies used to witness the fêtes and martial games that were celebrated in the great court, and whence there is a most charming view of the town and all the surrounding country.

While the right side of the palace was devoted to all that could contribute to the sensual enjoyment of life, on the left rose the mosque and the cemetery; the former built in a good style, and completed by two tall minarets of fine workmanship. The khan ascended to his tribune by a staircase shaded by a poplar-tree, and here strangers are taken to witness the Mussulman service and the dance of the dervishes. The cemetery adjoins it, in which two large domes contain the monuments of nearly all the khans since 1654.[55]

The gardens, and the reservoirs that feed the fountains of the palace, extend behind it, and above these, on one of the sides of the narrow valley, is seen a part of the town, and an immense cemetery, which is approached from the court of the palace by an allée of monuments. One graceful dome, placed just without the precincts of the palace-garden, immediately attracts attention. Below, an octagonal building, with interlacing arches and slender pilasters, supports it, and rich arabesques decorate every part, in the midst of which the cross is seen most conspicuous. This is the tomb of a beautiful Georgian, called Dilara Bikéh, who was the wife of Krim Geray, and greatly beloved by her husband, who was one of the best khans that ever governed Crimea.[56]

The Georgians are all Christians of the Greek Church, and Dilara Bikéh steadily refused to change her religion, and reposes here on sufferance, at the edge of the Mussulman cemetery, as she was not admitted into the burial-ground of the house of Geray.

Many a pilgrimage is made to this tomb, as to that of Marie Potocka, another beautiful Christian who gained the heart of a Mussulman prince. She was a Pole, of an illustrious family, and inspired one of the last khans of Crimea with so violent a passion, that he carried her off and married her. Neither the splendour of her position, nor the tenderness of her husband, could, however, reconcile her to being the wife of an infidel, and she died prematurely, worn out by remorse.

The pleasure of a visit to Baktchéserai depends upon the frame of mind of the traveller. It is true there is something grotesque, irregular, and barbarous, about the whole: that the workmanship of the palace is rough, the joints ill fitted, and the colouring what some would call gaudy; but there is at the same time originality in the design, vivid fancy in the colouring, and a sense of the picturesque in the grouping together of the parts. As an accomplished French lady has remarked, in her interesting Travels in the Crimea, “It is no easy task to describe the charms of a mysterious and splendid abode, in which the voluptuous khans forgot all the cares of life; it is not to be done, as in the case of one of our palaces, by analysing the style, arrangement, and details of the rich architecture, and reading the artist’s thoughts in the regularity, grace, and noble simplicity of the edifice,—one must be something of a poet to appreciate a Turkish palace; its charms must be sought not in what one sees, but in what one feels. The positive cast of minds are disabled from seeing beauty in anything but rich materials, well-defined forms, and highly-finished workmanship, and Baktchéserai must be to them only a group of shabby houses, adorned with paltry ornaments, fit only for the habitations of miserable Tatars.”[57]

The entrance into the gorge of Baktchéserai from the side of the Tauric chain of mountains on the south is much grander than the approach from the steppe. The rocks open like an immense portal gate into the narrow valley, and on every side ruins are scattered, even to the summits of the mountains. This gorge, like the others in the neighbourhood, was originally closed by a wall, a fort, and a crypt town, which faced the interior of the mountains, and therefore evidently belonged to the inhabitants of the hills, who defended themselves against the nomades of the steppes.[58]

These remains of the most ancient times of the Tauro-Scythians are mingled with ruins of recent date. The garden and palace of Acheláma, built by the Khan Krim Geray, occupied all the valley, and in the midst was a lake, where the ladies of the hareem used to bathe, and a kiosk, where the khan used to repose himself. The word “Acheláma” means “a graft” in Turkish, and the name was given because of the many kinds of fruit-trees which were grafted in these gardens, of which no vestige now remains.

To the left of this ruined garden, perched on an isolated rock, with houses overlooking the precipice, is the little town of Tchoufout Kaleh, which has been inhabited for centuries by a colony of Jews. A road cut in the rock, and joining the one which leads to the southern coast, is the only communication to this singular little establishment, which is surrounded by a strong wall, entered by gates, which are carefully closed every evening.

These Keraim Jews are all merchants, who have their shops in Baktchéserai, and bear the highest character for honesty. They reject the superstitious fables of the Talmud, and their separation from its followers dates, according to some learned men, several centuries before the birth of Christ, although the Rabbinists pretend that they did not form a separate sect until the eighth century.[59] Peyssonel relates that they claim an origin from Bokhara, and says that they followed the Mongols and Tatars from Asia in the thirteenth century, and as these latter gradually left Tchoufout Kaleh for Baktchéserai, the Jews established themselves in their place. They always enjoyed special privileges, and were exempt from some contributions that were imposed on the Greeks and Armenians; as, for instance, the obligation to find a certain quantity of labour for fortifications, mosques, fountains, and other public buildings.

The Jews pretend that their privileges were granted them for services rendered in ancient times to the Khans of the Tatars; but Peyssonel attributes the real origin of them to the services of a Jewish doctor, who, having been fortunate enough to cure an Ouloukháneh, or one of the great female dignitaries, as his reward obtained for his countrymen the exemptions noticed above. The capitation-tax of the Jews was henceforward attached to the dignity of Ouloukháneh, and the Jews, in gratitude, always supplied the palace of the Princess with wood, coal, coffee, and other necessaries. Their houses are very clean, and they dress like the Tatars, and use a dialect of the Tatar language, to which they give the name of Djagaltai.[60]

Mr. Henderson, who visited them in company with Mr. Glen, the well-known Oriental scholar and missionary in Persia, questioned them closely as to the tradition of their Eastern origin, and even corresponded with them upon the subject, and from their accounts it appears that they have no written documents to prove at what time they occupied this fort, or whence they came before arriving in the Crimea. They also stated that they had no tradition of any bond of union ever having existed between their ancestors and the Jews of Bokhara, in which country there are no Karaim. The only traditionary account current among them is that their ancestors came from Damascus and settled here about five hundred years ago, under the protection of the Khans of Crimea.

Their language also, as exhibited in their ancient books, approximates more to the Osmanli than to the Oriental Turkish, and it appears from the Travels of Rabbi Petachia, that there were Karaites in the Crimea about the year 1180, which was considerably prior to the arrival of the Tatars.

With respect to the sect in general, it claims a very high antiquity, and seems originally to have been the same with that of the Sadducees, one of the three principal sects which divided the Jewish nation about two hundred years before the birth of our Lord. One of the distinguishing tenets of the Sadducees was their strict adherence to the letter of the law, to the entire exclusion of traditional interpretation; and some authors of note have conjectured that the errors which that sect taught in the time of our Lord formed no part of their primitive creed, and that it was the adoption of them by Sadok which made the sect divide into Sadducees and those afterwards called Karaim, whom Prideaux[61] takes to be the Scribes so frequently mentioned in the New Testament.

According to Mordecai, one of their own writers, they are sprung from Judah Ben Tabbai, and were originally denominated, after him, the Society of J. B. T., but afterwards changed their name to that of Karaim,[62] or Karaites. If the accounts that obtain among themselves may be credited, the first place where a Karaim synagogue was established, after the destruction of Jerusalem, was Grand Cairo, in which city they have always kept up a separate community, and where, according to the most recent accounts, they still exist. They are also found in most of the countries between India and Poland.

The principal point of difference between them and the Rabbinical or Pharisaical Jews consists in their rejection of the oral law, and their rigid appeal to the text of Scripture, as the exclusive and only infallible source and test of religious truth. They therefore glory in the name of Karaites, or Scripturists, although, as is the case with the epithets by which most sects and systems of opinion have been characterized, it was at first given them by their enemies. They, however, consult the Talmud and other Jewish writings, and the answer of the principal Rabbi in Tchoufout Kaleh to Mr. Henderson was singularly marked by good sense and moderation: “We do not admit,” said he, “that the Talmud has any binding authority over our consciences, and there are many things in it which we cannot approve, but shall we on this account reject what is good in it, and not avail ourselves of such statements as are consonant with the text of Scripture?”

In the middle of the town, near the ancient gate, is a mausoleum, with an elegant portico, in which are said to repose the remains of Nenekedjàn Khánum, daughter of the famous Tóktamish Khan, the successor of Tamerlane.[63] She fell in love with a handsome Genoese nobleman according to some, or a Tatar Mirza according to others. As her father would not consent to the marriage, she fled with her lover to the impregnable walls of Tchoufout Kaleh. He was treacherously inveigled out of his place of safety, and Nenekedjàn, knowing the fate that would await him, threw herself down the precipice. Her father, repentant when too late, built this beautiful tomb to her memory, which is covered with Arab inscriptions from the Koran.

Tchoufout Kaleh[64] means, in Turkish, “the fortress of the Jews,” and this name is not found applied to it till two hundred years ago. The ancient name was Kirkor, which was the capital of the Khans, before they removed to Baktchéserai.[65] From the earliest times this spot must have been a residence of men, for there is a crypt town built at the entrance of the gorge, in the strata of the chalk, with the isolated hill of Tchoufout Kaleh behind it, which served as a place of refuge, fortified by nature. All the other crypt towns in Crimea, as those at Inkerman, Mangoup, Katchikaléw, and Tepekerman, are built in similar localities, and date from the time of the Tauro-Scythians, many centuries before Christ.[66]

This subterranean town is cut under the fortress, in the sides of the little valley. There are in one place alone as many as fifty of these grottoes, and a path with steps is cut in the rocks leading from them up to the fortress. On the opposite side one of them is converted into the Monastery of the Assumption, and inhabited by the monks, and a visit to it enables the traveller to judge how the old crypt towns looked before they were deserted. Many white crosses mark the tombs of rich Greeks, whose bodies have been brought from various parts, to be buried in this sacred ground.

All the higher part of the valley, beyond a magnificent group of oaks, has been used for ages as a burying-ground by the Jews, and is called the Valley of Jehoshaphat. The tombs, great numbers of which are cut in the white chalk, are ranged under fine trees, and along the sides of the paths. The effect of it is very striking, as the extent is enormous, and the whole place is carefully kept up. Some of the monuments go as far back as the middle of the thirteenth century, and the most ancient are also the simplest, and resemble long stone coffins.[67]