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Musa Dagh - Trades, Businesses and Industries

Author: Vahram L. Shemmassian 

After enduring many hardships in the aftermath of World War I, the Armenians of Musa Dagh endeavored to return to normalcy in relative peace under the French mandate. In addition to agriculture and animal husbandry, they engaged in the trades, business, sericulture, and related occupations. But while the future inspired some hope, global financial woes, shifting consumer demands, and changes in the regional political landscape kept the Armenian highlanders ill at ease and rendered their economic progress untenable in the long run. This article sheds light on the artisanship, trades, and industries in Musa Dagh, which hinged on local resources and efforts as well as outside determinants.

Trades and Businesses

Dubbed by the Musa Daghians as Kaghiuk, that is, the City, Antioch constituted the district’s administrative and commercial center, where people from the surrounding countryside acquired their cereals, legumes, sugar, fabrics and other necessities, and concurrently sold their fruit, vegetables, and other products. Armenian muleteers conducted this activity for Musa Dagh. With the construction of roads in the second half of the 1920s-early 1930s for motorized traffic, the importance of muleteers for export-import purposes diminished, [1] although they remained indispensable internally given the mountainous terrain and the lack of paved secondary access arteries.

It is true that Antioch was the main trade center in the district. Nevertheless, a number of businesses and workshops existed in Musa Dagh to satisfy some immediate needs and to allow artisans and others to ply their trades. Yoghunoluk was the only village that had a permanent marketplace, called Charshen. It ran east-to-west along a 1-kilometer stretch starting at the Gedeg neighborhood and crossing the village center. At least fourteen businesses lined both sides of this thoroughfare, as follows: 2 tinsmith/pewter/gunsmith shops; 2 barber shops; 2 grocery stores; 2 novelty stores; 1 tailoring shop; 1 comb workshop; 1 cobbler’s shop; 1 weaving shop; 1 wholesale store; and 1 unnamed store. (See Table 1). In fact, this entire commercial hub also served as space for social interaction; men would gather in their spare time to exchange news, discuss various issues, play board games, and have fun. They would also “secretly” watch unmarried women passing by for consideration as possible future wives. Because these men often used rough language, they did not allow children to gather near them. The Charchen similarly attracted gypsies, fortune tellers, magicians, and other transients, who recounted stories about ancient heroes, performed tricks, etc. [2] Nine shops additionally operated outside the marketplace, for a total of twenty-three shops. (See Table 1).

Although Yoghunoluk possessed a central marketplace, it was Bitias that boasted the most businesses by virtue of being a popular summer resort. Needless to say, some of them operated seasonally. As for the other villages, they too housed a few modest stores, workshops, and/or cafés each. (See Table 1). Because there were no cafés in Yoghunoluk, its male inhabitants frequented those of Kheder Beg. Interestingly, the customers of two of the four cafés there, all situated within or near the shade of the centrally-located gigantic plane tree, were divided along party lines: sympathizers of the Social Democrat Hnchakian Party spent time at comrade Armenag (or Menag) Kabakian’s café, whereas the adherents of the rival Armenian Revolutionary Federation socialized at comrade Nshan Boyajian’s café. [3]

Wood production

The wild forests covering large swaths of Musa Dagh determined a number of occupations. According to a newspaper report, of the 70,000 hectares (172,900 acres) of forestland in the Sanjak of Alexandretta, 4,000 hectares (9,880 acres) or about 6 percent covered Musa Dagh. [4] Hovhannes Dumanian, an Armenian agronomical engineer hailing from Hajin, beginning on 23 September 1923, served as director of agriculture and forestry in the Sanjak, increasing the government’s annual revenues from forestry alone from 1,800 Syrian liras to 20,000 liras. [5] In turn, Hagop Boyajian (“Merjumek”) of Yoghunoluk, formerly a sergeant in the French Légion d’Orient, acted as mounted ranger, having been charged by the French mandatory authorities with the patrolling of the woodlands of Musa Dagh and Kizil Dagh to the north. As such, he cited woodcutters and charcoal makers who operated without license.

Charcoal making

Charcoal making evolved in the following manner. From spring through early fall villagers from Bitias in particular left their homes Sunday evening (returning the following Saturday evening) for the damir (sheds) built at special locations on the mountain. Here they felled oak trees, chopped wood into pieces 2 feet (61 centimeters) long, and piled them up conically around a central log, thereby forming an ojakh (kiln) up to 6 feet (1.83 meter) high with a 40-foot (12 meters) circumference (smaller heaps were called ojakhe lagiud). They then arranged rocks around the circle at a distance of 3.9 inches (10 centimeters), and covered the ojakh first with kazal (dry leaves) and then with earth for insulation. Subsequently they removed the central pivot, dropped fire into the resultant open pirun (mouth) at the top by way of an arreot (ember), and covered the opening with a small sheet of tin and earth to prevent air from penetrating and causing the wood to burn to ashes. After igniting the heap from within, the charcoal makers checked the wind direction periodically in order to add new myrtle branches in case the wind had caused openings between the rocks and the wood. They similarly inspected the heap every 4-5 hours to patch badrudz dighir (cleavages) with kazal and earth, and every 9-10 hours to lellu pirune (fill the mouth) with green wood to suffocate any flames before they could burst out (again to avoid incineration). This entire process lasted about three days, until the ojakh would finally chekmeshenno (buckle). At this stage the charcoal makers poked an iron khanterush (bar) into the buckled heap from several angles, considering the ojakh ighudz (done) upon hearing a sound resembling that of broken glass when stirred. After removing the rocks and the earth, the charcoal makers spread the qerzilen (charcoal) apart to cool it off for a few hours, and transported it in garmer orum debergir (red darned sacks) back to the village on mules (carrying double sacks) or donkeys (carrying a single sack). [6] Charcoal thus obtained in Musa Dagh in 1923 amounted to 1,600,000 okes (4,480,000 pounds/2,036 metric tons). Of these, 1,300,000 okes (3,640 pounds/1,655 tons) were exported and 300,000 okes (840,000 pounds/381 tons) were used locally as heating fuel. [7] As such, charcoal was burned in a pit dug in one corner of the living room, while students took pieces of wood and charcoal to school daily to warm up their classrooms during the winter months. [8]

Charcoal business and exports

Muleteers transported the charcoal to Antioch. Poor young women and widows in the early 1920s likewise carried loads of wood, charcoal, and potatoes on their backs to that city, returning the same day with orders of cereal for a small remuneration with which to feed their families. [9] Very soon the charcoal business became concentrated in the hands of a few entrepreneurs. Movses Renjilian of Bitias and father and son Kevork and Yesayi Shrikian of Yoghunoluk in 1921 forged a partnership to export mostly charcoal to other parts of the Levant and as far as Egypt. The enterprise ended after three years when the license was found to be illegal. [10]

In the late 1920s Ardashes Boghigian, a future deputy to the Syrian parliament from Aleppo and a political protégé of the Syrian nationalist leader Ibrahim Hanano, together with his brother, Apkar, and adopted son, Yetvart, monopolized a substantial portion of the charcoal made in Musa Dagh, utilizing the yard of Sarkis Sherbetjian’s house in Bitias as depot and distribution point. They were ultimately commissioned out of business by Jabra Kazanjian of Yoghunoluk and his son, Aram, who won the charcoal producers over with advanced credit and better pay. [11] In fact, the French authorities granted the Kazanjian brothers, Jabra and Dikran, the exclusive right to wood cutting in the entire region extending from Kizil Dagh in the north to the frontiers of the Alawite state around the coastal town of Latakia in the south. They employed some 150 cutters and muleteers from the Armenian villages of Musa Dagh, as well as the neighboring Turkmen villages of Chanakli, Sanderang, Sanderangen Amaje, Gumbajen, Arsuz, Ikizoghlu, and Chaghlakuz, with the headman of the latter place, a certain Hamid, acting as the foreman of the Turkmen workers. Dikran resided in Antioch to manage the export and marketing of fuel, charcoal, planks, electricity poles, and vine supports in various cities through a network of agents. Trucks carried the loads overland to Alexandretta (agent: Nersesian), and to Aleppo, Hama, Homs, and Damascus (agent: Artin Agha). At the same time, a special cable relay system linking Damlajik atop the mountain to the sea below loaded the merchandise onto three ships—two owned by the Kazanjians and one serviced in partnership with an Alawite—which in turn transported them to Beirut, Lebanon (agent: Agha Baba); Jaffa, Palestine (agent: Ohannes, son of Jabra Kazanjian); and Port Said, Egypt (agent: anonymous). [12]

Unfortunately, this lucrative business came to an end with the departure of the Kazanjians for Latakia and Beirut in 1938 as the crisis surrounding the Sanjak’s status worsened. [13]

Comb and spoon making

The Musa Daghians pursued two other wood-related occupations: comb and spoon making and carpentry. The first category was more widespread and profitable. The majority of men in Yoghunoluk was engaged in comb making, because agricultural opportunities were limited given the lack of adequate water in that village, These artisans made their own tools such as vises, hewing hatchets, hammers, saws, files, nails, etc. [14] Two particular trees furnished the bulk of wood: katlaba (arbute) and dosakh (boxwood), both of which grew plentifully in Musa Dagh. Animal bones, particularly camel legs, goat and bull horns, and ivory were also utilized. They were procured from markets in Aleppo, Hama, and Antioch, kept in limewater for up to a month to get rid of germs, worms, and bad odor, cut into two to three small pieces, and joined with inserted nails. [15] These kinds of combs were harder to make and were relatively expensive. [16] Whatever the type, however, the finished products were shipped in bundles of twelve for easy counting. [17] In 1923, Musa Dagh exported 500,000 wooden combs and 5,000 bone combs. At the same time, thirty artisans shipped 200,000 wooden spoons and ladles. [18] These manufactures were sold in the various towns of Syria and the desert hinterland, especially Deir al-Zor, as well as in Palestine, Iraq, Egypt, the Sudan, and Tunisia. [19] As for carpentry, it essentially entailed the making of tables, chairs, doors, windows, cabinets, cribs, etc. for local use only. [20]

From the cultivation of silkworms to the production of silk

Because the tediousness of sericulture required multiple helping hands, even youngsters were employed in some capacity. During the first half of the 1920s, when cocoon production enjoyed its heyday, the academic calendar was adjusted accordingly. In 1923 Krikor Aroyian, the principal of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) Sisvan Schools network in Musa Dagh, postponed classes from 1 till 15 May so that students could assist their parents in silk chores, provided lost instructional time would be recovered in June. [21] Similarly, during 1923-24 students in Haji Habibli, Kabusiye, and Vakef attended school from 6 August 1923-10 May 1924, while their counterparts in Bitias, Yoghunoluk, and Kheder Beg studied from 5-10 September 1923-10 June 1924. This arrangement, made in deference to the villagers’ wishes, would allow pupils to harvest olives and bay berries at their peak season as well as help parents in sericulture. [22]

The nurturing of silkworms took place in special houses built in mulberry orchards situated mainly on the village peripheries. After disinfecting the rooms—which had to be kept at a certain temperature—with chemicals to kill germs and keep mice and other harmful insects at bay, cultivators constructed scaffolds and placed long wooden trays on the shelves to be able to feed the silkworms several times daily with fresh, shredded mulberry leaves. [23]

After undergoing four molting stages and reaching maturation, the moths were transferred onto avils (brooms) made of bushes to be able to spin their cocoons. [24] As a native observed:

"Gathering the cocoons and scraping their loose threads was usually a community affair. Neighbors and relatives worked together before the silk moth tore a hole and emerged thereby making the silk thread worthless. People wanted to complete this task by dusk and transfer the responsibility of caring for the cocoons to the merchants who traveled from household to household weighing, loading and transporting the cargo to the markets in Antioch. Once the owner was paid for the cocoons, people were relieved from this intensive chore and ready for a celebration. The households who pocketed the profits supplied trays of halva [a delight] and tonir [earthen oven] bread for the villagers. More halva was consumed in Bitias during those few days than for the rest of the year". [25]

The sericulture output in 1923 amounted to 55,000 okes (154,000 pounds/70 metric tons) of cocoons and 800 okes (2,240 pounds/1 metric ton) of raw silk, [26] the latter increasing by 48 percent (to about 1.5 metric tons) the following year. [27] In the mid-1920s those engaged in sericulture in the six villages annually nurtured a total of 1,810 round boxes (each the size of a La vache qui rit or The Laughing Cow cheese box) of silkworm seeds as follows: Kabusiye, 450 boxes; Bitias, 420 boxes; Haji Habibli, 380 boxes; Yoghunoluk, 350 boxes; Kheder Beg, 150 boxes; and Vakef, 60 boxes. Each box yielded an average of 5 Ottoman gold liras, for a total of 9,050 liras. [28]

Large-scale silk farms and dealers in sericulture

Although the majority of Musa Daghians engaged in sericulture, the village notables, constituting less than 3 percent of the population, controlled the industry with their large farms and/or means to collect the crops from ordinary peasants. [29] The Kazanjians of Yoghun Oluk were a case in point. Their fortunes in this realm rose further with the acquisition of significant real estate originally owned by Kerovpe M. Aslanian, a rich Armenian proprietor from Constantinople and the maternal uncle of the renowned satirist Yervant Odian. At the time of his death in or before 1926 Aslanian possessed a silk farm at the village of Mughayrun on the Svedia plain adjacent to Musa Dagh. The farm, situated as it was on the two banks of a river (the Orontes or a tributary) that powered two mills, included seventeen silk houses plus another structure for “awakening” silkworms, all managed by forty Alawite families, who worked as sharecroppers earning 50 percent of the profits. The business yielded fifty-five boxes of silkworm seeds with a growth potential of an additional ten boxes. Each mulberry grove that “fed” one box was worth 50 gold liras, for a total of more than 3,000 liras. Aslanian bequeathed his estate to his nephew, Ardavan Hovian, who in turn sold it to the Kazanjian brothers. [30] The latter appointed Mihran Ashkarian of Kheder Beg to manage their affairs at Mughayrun. [31]

The Armenian notables were not the only large-scale dealers in sericulture. Mention is also made of Greek Orthodox (Horom/Hurum) merchants from Antioch and Levshiye, the administrative-trade center of Svedia sub-district. In the early 1920s, during the period of anarchy, Christian merchants living on the Svedia plain received protection from armed Armenian men and transported their cocoon bales ready for shipment to the nearest Armenian village of Vakef for safety until the arrival of vessels. [32]

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