CHAPTER XII.
THE ARMENIANS' CONDITION IN THE FIRST HALF OF THIS CENTURY.
1. The Local Governments. The nature of the Turkish Government, especially in the provinces, was until very recently somewhat like a feudal system. The local beys (noblemen), or sheikhs or pashas, had their own arbitrary rule in certain districts, and very often would fight with each other, or even with the central government. The sultans of the last two centuries, being politically impotent and devoted to sensual gratifications, abandoned the task of administration to the favorites and parasites of the palace, who had access to the sale of public function as the readiest mode of performing it, and the most profitable for themselves. Armenia was not an exception to other provinces, but was more unfortunate in being abandoned to Kurdish authorities. The Kurds, supposed to be the descendants of the ancient Parthians, are a bloody and semi-savage race, nominally governed or rather led by various local sheikhs or chiefs, and always plundering the Armenians and Nestorian Christians, with whom they lived for centuries. Most of them belong to the Persian sect of Mohametan religion, and some tribes still keep the traces of ancient pantheism and fire-worship, and even the devil-worship. While the population
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