(part 1-6)
Auxiliary means available to a traveler in these countries. Perhaps this attempt may at least serve as an incentive to obtain, in time, a more complete work. The author asks the public for kind indulgence the author. It cannot be denied that it seems presumptuous to pass judgment on a country and its inhabitants immediately after only a short stay there; but it also cannot be denied that a somewhat attentive observer, with his very first glances, grasps what is most striking, most prominent, and consequently what is of interest to everyone.
Moldavia and Wallachia, these beautiful lands whose fate destiny has not yet seemed to decide, are still almost entirely unknown. Whether we will ever see Sonnini’s (whose travel descriptions of Egypt and Greece are well known, who in 1811 undertook a scientific journey into these lands, and who died in Paris in 1812) remaining manuscripts arranged by someone, remains to be seen.
All older accounts of these lands are little satisfactory and filled with errors, so that a correct statistical description of them still remains a real need for the literary public.
In Moldavia, and especially in Jassy, the traveler finds himself, so to speak, at the very edge of the Orient, in a place where Asiatic luxury and oriental wealth, as far as possible, merge with European customs.
The clothing of men of rank, the household furnishings, and a multitude of social customs and practices often recall the accounts of travelers who described Turkey; but here one does not see the first ornaments of social life — the ladies, the joy of society — missing; rather, one sees them enjoying the fullest freedom and taking part in all entertainments.
It is customary in Jassy to consider oneself an Easterner, essentially an Asiatic, and all foreigners, whether they come from Germany or France, are called Europeans.
The greater, or rather the mightiest, part of the so-called nobility does not consist of native Moldavians, but of Greeks, especially of those families who inhabit the Phanar quarter in Constantinople, some of whom have managed, through endless intrigues and the great lever of all human affairs, money, and sometimes through proportionate sacrifices within their families, to monopolize the princely dignities of Moldavia and Wallachia, and in some cases to render them almost hereditary.
Since the Peace of Bucharest of July 14, 1812, nearly half of Moldavia has been ceded to Russia, so presumably the annual money tribute to be delivered to Constantinople has also been reduced. Previously, the Hospodar had to pay 1,800,000 piasters annually, while the revenues of the land were estimated at 2,475,000 piasters. Those of Wallachia amounted to more than 3 million piasters.
These Greeks — among whom are found the most illustrious names from the history of the last century of the Byzantine Empire, and who all claim to descend from families then related to the emperors, though the authenticity of this claim is very doubtful — are therefore to be regarded as the true rulers of Moldavia. They, together with a few Moldavian families such as the Paschkan, Roșznovan, Balș, Radukan, Bogdan, Casimir, Conachi, etc., form the high nobility, the so-called boyars, who alone can hold the higher offices in the Divan.
In fact, in Moldavia, as in Wallachia, there is no hereditary nobility. The distinction between families is determined more by their wealth and the offices they hold.
The Divan is the council of the prince, the highest, and in a sense also the only, judicial, administrative, ecclesiastical, and police authority.
Its usual president is the Greek archbishop of Jassy; after him comes a number of lords with Greek-Moldavian designations of their dignities, which will be mentioned later.
Love of drink, especially of brandy, stands greatly in the way of diligence and industriousness; few apply themselves to agriculture with effort, rarely more than their most indispensable needs require. On the other hand, the people show their inclination towards cattle-breeding all the more clearly. It is well known that Moldavian horses and oxen are among the finest breeds of these animal families. The annual export of cattle is estimated at 60 to 70,000, that of horses at 20 to 30,000 head. The multitude of festivals fosters idleness, which leads them to all sorts of vices. They have an excessive inclination towards the opposite sex, to which they abandon themselves from childhood; hence venereal disease is very common here, and often entire villages are affected by it.
Women and mothers are mostly recognizable by a certain sad and downcast expression; the young people behave more cheerfully, like to adorn themselves with flowers, and find much pleasure in dancing. Great care is taken that daughters are delivered to their bridegrooms as virgins, otherwise they are sent back to their parents in great disgrace; however, the signs of virginity are also artificially produced in order to deceive the bridegroom’s parents.
Cleanliness in clothing as well as in houses especially distinguishes the rural population of the mountain regions.
There is no bourgeois class in Moldavia; everyone is either peasant or nobleman. The nobleman is either a boyar, that is, a great lord, or a massil, a small land nobleman, or a ressech, that is, a half-peasant. In the villages there are many families of serf Gypsies, who also practice agriculture. However, the Moldavians very rarely mix with them, and this people will probably keep its Hindustani black-yellow color and its other peculiarities until the end of the world. Their fate is complete servitude. They are divided into princely (domnesc) and boyar dependents (bojaresc); the number of the former in Moldavia and Wallachia is said to be about 1,600 persons.
There are many Jews; they dress in Turkish fashion and engage in trade. Armenians migrated from their oriental homeland into Moldavia in 1418, from where some moved on to Transylvania, Hungary, and Galicia; they wear an almost Turkish dress, speak their own language, have their own customs and traditions, engage in trade, and for this reason, and because of their selfishness, they are not liked by the native inhabitants.
(part 4)
The Russians are mostly of the sect of the Lipovans, industrious and moral people; their main occupations are fishing, beekeeping, and rope-making. Many Poles and Germans are found in the towns, most of them deserters from the Austrian conscription. By treaties of submission concluded with the Voivodes, Turks are forbidden to own land outside the rayas (fortress districts); they engage only in trade. In the towns there are special buildings, called Beiliks, where they reside; in Iași and Bucharest special Turkish judges are appointed over them.
The costume of the Moldavian peasants is remarkable. That of the men has little that is peculiar; far more striking is that of the women, which may truly be called rich and tasteful. Cleanliness, both in dress and in dwellings, most advantageously distinguishes the Moldavian peasantry. A soiled shirt is a rarity even among the poorest peasant women.
The men wear linen shirts, long trousers, and a broad leather belt; in summer, a white or dark brown coat made of a cloth woven by their wives; in winter, a sheepskin coat. The hair is cut short, and the usual head-covering is a sack-like lambskin cap. When it rains, the man takes off his cap and places it under his shirt on his stomach, where he often also keeps his food—usually mămăligă, a porridge of maize flour; then he draws the hood of his coat over his head.
The woman’s attire in summer often consists only of a shirt, a white kerchief on the head, and a light girdle. Sometimes, in place of a petticoat, a striped woollen apron, usually black, tied around the waist, is worn. A proper skirt is a garment wholly unknown here. The apron is sometimes fastened with a narrow woollen belt, often variegated, most commonly bright red. The shirt itself is the most remarkable part of the wardrobe. It is long, reaching nearly to the ankles, very narrow, and made of fairly fine linen, spun from well-twisted yarn, often interwoven with cotton or silk threads for ornament, beautifully bleached, and always, often richly, embroidered. An unembroidered woman’s shirt does not exist among the peasantry of all Moldavia: beggar women and three-year-old girls alike wear embroidered ones. The embroidery is of silk; sometimes spun gold or silver, or even glass beads, are worked into it. The principal embroidery is placed on both shoulders, always at least a hand’s breadth wide. In addition, two stripes run down the length of the shirt, and on the sleeves there are often numerous straight and diagonal patterns, frequently also red or blue flowers.
The white kerchief for the head is even finer than the shirt. It is the masterpiece of their needlework, usually white, sometimes embroidered with colours, often tastefully adorned with border ornaments. The way in which they know how to fold this kerchief on the head without mirror or pins does real credit to their taste. It envelops the head somewhat in the fashion of a nun’s veil, but without stiffness or constraint, hangs loosely, and in front is folded into many graceful pleats down to the half of the breast, the ends usually lying again on the left shoulder. Thus women and girls go to church and to town, and thus they work in the fields.
Some, especially when the weather is colder, wear a kind of sleeveless vest of light silk fabric, usually trimmed at the hem with narrow fur. Against this truly rich costume the bare feet stand out strikingly, especially when the ground is muddy. Only on feast days and in winter do the women wear boots of strong yellow Morocco leather.
(part 5)
The wives of richer peasants and estate officials wear a long, shirt-like garment of striped fabric with a colored wool belt, tastelessly wound low around the hips; over this dress, a short tunic of light-colored silk with short wide sleeves, trimmed with narrow fur. In the higher classes, ladies dress entirely according to French fashion. True treasures they possess in the so-called genuine shawls, of which they have several in their wardrobe, each valued at 150, 200, up to 500 ducats.
Among the middle nobility, matrons of strict morals keep for themselves and their daughters a very odd head covering. The hair is tightly combed back from the forehead, powdered, and braided into a plait at the back. The head is covered by a small round cap, like that which every Turk and Moldavian constantly wears, with the only difference that men’s caps are always dark red, while women’s are always white. Where the edge of this cap rests on the head, a small muslin band, only about two fingers wide, is wrapped around and tied at the back in a simple knot. The rest of the clothing follows French cut, which contrasts even more with the original headgear. Costly shawls are also not rare in this class.
The costume of high-ranking men is extremely luxurious and entirely oriental. The Moldavian or Greek wears his head shaved smooth, first covered with a red Turkish cap. His undergarment is made of precious silks, and the wide caftan, with open sleeves reaching only to the elbows, of the finest English cloth or valuable Persian woolens and silks.
Over this undergarment he wears a genuine shawl worth 100–200 ducats as a belt, and often owns dozens of them to change. The head is covered with a light fur cap of gray lambskin, resembling a Turkish turban, or very often simply a shawl wound turban-like around the head, so that at least from a distance he may be taken for a Turk. Scarlet Turkish trousers and yellow Morocco leather slippers with soles of the same leather complete the costume.
The love of splendid dress seems great, and a noble boyar may appear in two or three different upper and lower garments in a single day, each outshining the other in richness. Costly furs, mostly sable, are worn by the wealthy only in winter; however, nobles of the second class wear all year round an oriental silk upper garment with short sleeves, lined with ermine and with a very wide collar.
The right to grow a beard is an exclusive privilege of the boyars, that is, the nobility of the first rank, and they guard it jealously. Only clergy and Jews may also make use of this not very enviable right. Only those who wear a beard may, even if they do not hold an actual position in the Divan, appear in the council chamber and take a seat. Whoever has no beard must remain standing near the door and may not take a step toward the center of the hall. The beard makes the Moldavian or Greek admissible to the prince’s audience.
Village schools are not to be found anywhere in Moldavia, and even in the basic principles of religion the peasant’s mind and heart remain empty. But theft, robbery, and murder are as frequent here as hardly in any other country. It is estimated that on average about 20,000 oxen and horses are stolen every year, and every town has under the name “Prias” a special income, derived solely from the sale of livestock seized from suspicious persons and not reclaimed.
Nowhere is the peasant in a better economic situation than in Moldavia. Twelve days of corvée per year and the tithe are all that he owes his landlord, according to the law still valid in Moldavia and even in Bukovina, established by Prince Ghika. The Moldavian peasant seems to commit his thefts and plundering out of mere boredom and mischief. Unfortunately, it is by no means rare to find receivers, accomplices, and promoters of such excesses among estate leaseholders (Moldavian and Armenian upstarts), village judges, and even among the clergy — a class of men who are generally extremely ignorant, coarse, and immoral. Even in Bukovina, where since the times of Joseph II a special clerical school was founded for them, they have in general risen but little above the lowest level of human education. In general, the Moldavian, even of the “higher estates,” is not reputed for strict honesty; as for the Greeks, they too bear the reputation of hypocrisy. Yet, in defense of the entire Greek nation, it may be said that their character has been blurred and corrupted by their oppressors, before whom they were forced to dissemble their true sentiments.
The female sex in Moldavia has a fiery and lively temperament; they are very sensitive to the impressions of love and cling with the most ardent passion to the beloved object; no sacrifice is too great to preserve their tenderness. Yet it would be a grave error to think that this high energy of feeling leads to sensual aberrations or excess. On the contrary, these tender and passionate beings possess an extraordinary degree of restraint. Even when their soul is most deeply shaken, their outward appearance always retains an air of calmness and dignity, and the most anxious modesty guides all their actions. But when they are alone with their beloved, they abandon themselves all the more vehemently to the storm of their long-restrained passion.
In the highest circles one encounters people of the finest manners. The French language is commonly spoken by both men and women; many also speak German, and more than one boyar possesses considerable libraries. The education of the youth is still in the hands of French tutors and governesses (often unfortunate “demoiselles”). During the Russian occupation of Moldavia, some public, though privately founded, educational institutions were established in Jassy, which the Divan supported with significant financial aid.
It is very remarkable, and may be seen as a proof of Roman descent, that there is no hereditary nobility in Moldavia. There are only patrician families, considered as nobility because for a long time several of their members held high offices.
The nobility is only personal and is granted by the prince through the conferment of a title, which sometimes has real significance, but often denotes only dignity without burdens, since the court office to which it corresponds no longer exists. The conferment takes place by draping upon the ennobled, for a few minutes, an old gold-brocade overcoat, called a caftan, and in this attire he is presented, together with the name of his title, before the assembled Divan. This caftan ceremony may be repeated three times, and only the third time gives the wearer the right to grow a beard. In this way, the nobility is divided into three classes.
The titles of the first, namely the lowest, class are: Shatrar (keeper of the court tent); Suldjer (bearer of the princely train); Kluitser/Klutscher (keeper of the court keys); Zhitnitcher (overseer of the court granary), etc. Those of the second class: Paharnik (cupbearer); Kaminar (overseer of measures and weights), etc.
Finally, those of the third class: Ban (commander); Spătar (sword-bearer); Postelnic (chief chamberlain, or master of ceremonies), etc. The son of a nobleman of the first two classes returns, after his father’s death, to the status of a townsman, and only the sons of the lords of the third class retain the title Commis, which originally meant a princely master of the stables, but in general designated the son of a patrician family.
To the state officials who have a seat in the Divan — such as the Grand Logothete (minister of justice), the Vornic de Aprozi (executor of wills), the Vornic de Obște (general curator of all orphans and inheritances), the Grand Vistier (treasurer and minister of the interior), the four Vornici mari (judicial councillors), and the president of the Department of Foreign Affairs — only boyars of the third class are usually chosen; while secretaries, clerks, protocol writers, chancery directors, and ispravnici (district chiefs) come from the first and second classes.
All state revenues, with the exception of the contribution (general tax), are annually leased out to the highest bidder, but always to boyars, and the one who offers the most becomes the head of the leased branch for the duration of the year.
Thus, the lessee of the salt mines fulfills the office of Cămăraș, the lessee of the wine tax that of Vădrărits, etc., and they fill the lesser posts with their companions or clients.
The border inspector, police director, hatman (judge of the first instance in the suburbs of Iași), and the aga, or chief of police of Iași, are likewise chosen from the distinguished third class of boyars and are changed every year.
The customs and ways of life of the wealthy, and especially of the highest nobility in Jassy, are, apart from the most striking features of Orientalism, essentially modeled on European manners.
Splendid and, in general, peculiar carriages are exceedingly numerous. The fashion of resplendent liveries has, however, found no acceptance as yet, and half of the numerous servants are, in the strictest sense, habitually shabby and ragged. French and German cooks are not uncommon, and one dines well. The furnishing of the rooms is always partly in the Turkish taste. A broad and very comfortable sofa usually occupies three walls of the room, or at least the rear wall and the side walls halfway. This kind of furniture is clearly designed more for silent gatherings than for those who delight in lively conversation; indeed, the ladies are anything but talkative, and men of rank strive, with every effort, to display a gravity similar to that of the Turks. Loud and hearty laughter would here be considered a breach of decorum.
In general, it seemed to me noteworthy how extraordinarily the high nobility, Greek as well as Moldavian, endeavored to imitate their master, the Turk, in everything as much as possible.
Like the ever-temperate Turk, they smoke all day long, drink coffee and sherbet, have candied fruits passed around to nibble on, and usually play with one hand with a string of beads, letting them fall one by one or two at a time.
All men smoke excellent Turkish tobacco through long, precious cherry-wood pipes, to which are attached mouthpieces of considerable length made of amber, often inlaid with gold or carved pieces of coral. In a great house, the master must be provided with a hundred or more such costly smoking implements, since exceedingly numerous gatherings often assemble at his residence—an enormous expense, as even a mediocre pipe of this kind costs eight to ten ducats. The pipe bowls are invariably made of red sealing clay and of no particular value, yet the Turk smokes from no other, and thus neither does the Greek nor the Moldavian.
Sherbet is customary only on festive occasions, but coffee, as is well known, is always served with the grounds and is excellent. The usual etiquette requires that, as soon as a company has assembled, sweetmeats (here called dultschesche), mostly preserved rose petals, are at once offered in silver vessels, together with water for drinking in a silver bowl. Immediately thereafter, burning pipes are brought to the men. The imitation of the Turk extends even to the smallest details: for example, the head is shaved completely smooth as the Turk wears it; one sits cross-legged on the sofa; one never calls the servants by name but merely claps one’s hands.
The signature of a Turk is, as is well known, nothing but a confused tangle of strokes; and the boyars would have no reason to sign so illegibly, since they write from left to right and employ Slavic characters, which lack the dots found in Turkish letters. Nevertheless, the signature of a boyar resembles that of a Turk almost to a hair.
The common language of the land is Moldavian, also called Wallachian, and in Wallachia sometimes referred to as “Romanian,” because it is quite ingenuously regarded as a wayward daughter of the old Latin tongue. Many words, with only minor changes, are indeed practically Latin. Yet the true history of how a language is formed is by itself so obscure that it would be futile to attempt to determine under what circumstances, in what time, and by what principles the present-day Moldavian tongue gradually assumed its distinctive shape.
It is a peculiar mixture of a Slavic dialect with Latin and Italian, not without richness, not without euphony, especially due to its many diphthongs; it is both written and printed. The language of the court and of the higher classes, however, is entirely Greek, and it would be a mistake to think that at the princely courts of Moldavia and Wallachia one could manage with the native tongue. Among the higher estates it is nearly despised, and many Greeks, as well as the present prince of Moldavia, Callimachi, and the Wallachian ruler in Bucharest, Prince Caradja, do not speak it at all.
The state of industry and trade in Moldavia could be extremely advantageous under different forms of administration, since the natural wealth of this land in products is so great. The livestock trade brings much ready money into the country. Wine, hare skins, honey, saltpeter, and salt are significant exports. The wine tax revenues are auctioned annually to the highest bidder, amounting in Moldavia to at least 380 sacks or 190,000 piastres. Each barrel of must (10 mas) is taxed in autumn at the levy of the wine duty (Vinarit). According to the above figure, this amounts to 1,900,000 barrels. But since the boyars who farm this tax do not outbid each other, and the clergy, owning many vineyards, are wholly exempt, knowledgeable men assure that in an average year more than 4,000,000 barrels of wine are produced in Moldavia.
Honey is purchased by Turkish merchants and mostly transported to Constantinople and Venice. The bee tax usually yields about 60,000 piastres annually.
According to the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca of July 21, 1774, Russia and Austria were granted the right to maintain consuls in Moldavia and Wallachia. For several years now, France has also maintained such representatives. A special trade treaty secures the privileges of foreign merchants.
The mountains of this province probably contain the most precious and useful minerals; yet the discovery of gold and silver mines would likely render its inhabitants as unhappy as the Peruvians were through the mines of Potosí. It is presumed that the fear of their Turkish overlords, who would condemn the population to the harshest labor and heaviest taxes should such mines be found, is the reason why no trace of mining, apart from salt works, exists here. In the Golden Bistrița some gold is washed, collected by the Gypsies.
Among combustible minerals, there are resins. Two types are found: black and red. The red is a kind of asphalt, also called “Jewish pitch,” which possesses healing power even without preparation, especially in animal diseases. The ancient Egyptians used it for embalming corpses.
There is plenty of coal, mostly near the salt springs, but nobody makes use of it.
Moldavia has vast salt mountains, though little exploited; the salt works at Ocna are famous and supply southern Poland and Russia with salt. There blocks of salt weighing about one centner are cut. (39) At Ocna there are two categories of workers: free men, whose craft passes from father to son, and criminals sentenced to hard labor.
Few countries produce as much saltpeter as Moldavia and Wallachia. Especially near the Dniester at Soroca, large quantities are obtained with little work and expense. Before Soroca became Russian, the Hospodar of Moldavia was obliged to deliver annually 2,000 oka (1 oka = 24 pounds) of saltpeter to Constantinople.
The current coinage consists of Dutch and Imperial ducats, Russian rubles, Turkish piastres, silver and copper paras. All other coins are calculated according to the para:
40 paras make one piastre, also called a leu, and 7 piastres make one Dutch ducat.
A great number of Turkish gold and silver coins are in circulation.
The leu of 40 paras is called in Turkish “Egorosh”; the Russian ruble: “Altmuslik”. In convention money, the leu is valued at most at 40 kreutzers.
Large sums are reckoned in purses. One purse contains 500 piastres.
The measures for grain are: Kille, Mirze, Demerlik, Oka, Litra. A litra equals a Transylvanian seitel. An oka contains 4 litras (one mas). A demerlik equals 12 okas. A mirze equals 10 demerliks or 1½ Transylvanian kubels. A kille contains 2 mirzes or 3 kubels.
Liquids are measured by the Watra (Eimera — 10 mas or okas) and litra as above.
Other solid goods are weighed with the Schnellwaage (scales), in okas, litras, drams; the oka is taken as equal to 24 ounces of our weight.
