With them is kept what purports to be the original fragment of the robe of Ali; which is a valuable possession in itself, for water in which it has been dipped is a specific for most diseases for all faiths. The piece of stuff has some unusual qualities certainly, if it is genuine; for it is said to have lasted undecayed through some thirteen centuries of soaking and drying again. As for the cures it works, they are genuine enough, provided that the patient has sufficient faith!
Gradually, however, the comfortable state of things referred to, from which both Ottomans and Armenians profited, changed and took a bad turn. The Ottoman Government grew worse itself absolutely; and much worse relatively to the progress made by other nations in Europe. Turks saw one Christian nation after another (Greek, Bulgar, and Serb) slip from their control, and grew more and more suspicious of those that remained; while these became more and more aware and resentful of their sufferings. The old oppression and corruption grew worse; while the old laziness and good nature that had tempered things helped less. The latter qualities, however, are not quite extinct even yet, as a case from the writer's own knowledge may illustrate.
An unfortunate Assyrian _qasha_ was arrested on some charge or other; and after he had endured some months of close confinement in a very foul prison, was tried and fully acquitted--and then sent back to prison again indefinitely, because he could not pay to the jailer the fees he had incurred during his avowedly illegal confinement! One must admit that the same thing used to happen in England during the eighteenth century; but perhaps the English official would not have been as kindly as was the Ottoman _Vali_, who replied to the intercession of the writer by saying, "Well it is a hard case. Look here, _Effendim_, you can have him out any Sunday for service, if you will promise to send him back on the Monday!"
That official's successor, by the way, had the idea of doing things more in order; and signalized his departure from the old slack ways by inviting any folk who had the misfortune to be under sentence of death in his province, to come in and be executed without more delay. When the order had gone out, he set about inquiring how many he might expect to surrender themselves; and found that the number of gentlemen who were under sentence of outlawry in his jurisdiction, and liable to death or imprisonment for life on arrest, amounted to between seven and eight hundred, and included every Kurdish Agha of any note in the _vilayet_![120] The decree caused much inconvenience; for naturally there was some delicacy felt about coming to pay your respects to the new governor under the circumstances.