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PALE OF THE BRITISH EMBASSY AT PERA
PPolitics
A RESIDENCE
AT
CONSTANTINOPLE
DURING A PERIOD INCLUDING
THE COMMENCEMENT, PROGRESS,
AND TERMINATION
OF THE
GREEK AND TURKISH REVOLUTIONS:
BY
THE
BY TH
REV. R.) WALSH, LL.D.
oferte
AUTHOR OY
A JOURNEY FROM CONSTANTINOPLE," " NOTICES OF BRAZIL," ETC. ETC.
TWO VOLUMES-VOLUME II.
LONDON:
FREDERICK WESTLEY AND A, H, DAVIS,
STATIONERS'-HALL COURT.
MDCCCXXXVI.
LONDON:
Printed by W. Clowes and Sons,
Stamford Street.
DR
427
W 23
v. 2
Lilurarian
Locsley
3-13-43
474666
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Page
Mode of making Slaves-Exposure in Markets for Sale--Anecdotes of
Slaves—Infamous Treatment of Boys-Sciote Hostages-Sent to
the Porte-Unexpected Execution in the Streets-Reasons assigned-
Promise to Lord Strangford-Sympathy of the English-Escape of
many Greeks-Fugitives iu Palace Garden-Consolation of the Scrip-
ture in their own Language-Application of Torture—Various kinds
-Few escape with life-Disorganization of the Capital-Excesses of
the Populace--Avowed resolution of the Sultan-Energetic Measures
-Summary Punishments—Censorship of Books-Hospodars of Wal-
lachia and Moldavia-Greek Princes excluded-Cease to be Drago-
mans-Turks first learn European Languages
1
CHAPTER II.
Set out to visit Scio–Janissary and Italian Servant-New aspect of
Dardanelles-Gallipoli–Lampsacus-Adventure at Abydos–Tene-
dos Wine-Scriptural usage-Metelyn—Harbour of Smyrna-- Inbat
-Refraction of the Atmosphere-Curious Confirmation of Oppian's
Story-Gaiety of Smyrna-Merchants' residence-Consul Werry-
Revolting Spectacle--St. Polycarp-Amazon's Head—Homer's Grotto
Proceed to Teos Effects of Persecution of Greeks—Valonia-Ca-
prification—First Figs sent to England-Sevrihissar-Aga-Brutal
Turk-Sedijâk—Marbles of the Teian Diræ- Remnant of Greek Po-
pulation-Beauty of Teos---Country of Anacreon—Theatre, Temple,
and Mole Perfect Remains - Contrast of Present and Ancient
State of People—Robbers of Corycus-Vourla—High State of Cul-
tivation--Mole of Alexander Isle of Clazomenæ Canal of Alex-
ander-Bath of Agamemnon
35
CHAPTER III.
Aspect of Scio from the Sea-English Consular Agent-Fortress-Sus-
picions of the Pasha-State of the Town,Revolting Spectacles Ruins
a 2
iy
CONTENTS.
Page
and Human Bodies-Bishop's Palace and Cathedral -College-Fate
of Professors and Students-Utter Desolation of the Place-Visit the
Country-Similar Desolation-Consul's Garden-Sudden and inte-
resting Contrast Preservation of Human Life—Terror of Children
at the sight of our Turks-Coast of Asia Minor--Remains of Cities
-Bay of Ephesus-Swans of the Cajster-Sand at its Mouth-Mis-
taken for Ipsariotes-Attacked by Turkish Cavalry-Taken Prisoners
---Pass the Night in a Swamp-Effects of Conflagration--Phosphoric
Light from living Fishes—Released by order of the Pasha, Visit
the Ruins of Ephesus—Theatre and Temple of Diana--Present state
of Christian Population-Innocuous Effects of Malaria–Tenedos-
Provisions sent to Survivors at Scio--Strange Demand and Remarks
of our Janissary
66
CHAPTER IV.
Halet Effendi-Chief Barber and Coffee-maker-Proceedings of Janis-
saries—Change of Ministry—Deposition and Death of Halet-Tor-
ture of Hazakiel, his Jew Banker-Execution of Asomachi, his Greek
Spy-Amiable traits of the Grand Vizir, Delhi Abdalla--Supply of
Water to the City-Aqueducts and Cisterns of the Lower Empire
Improvements of the Turks- Belgrade-Destruction of the Woods to
dislodge the Robbers--Abortive attempt at improvement hy Osmyn
Aga-House of Lady M. W. Montague an object of great interest-
No trace of it--Vaccination returned for Inoculation-Migratory
Birds-Severity of Winter-Harbour frozen over-Eclipse of the
Moon-Shock of an Earthquake Turkish precautions against Fire-
Causes of its frequency-Great Conflagration in March, 1823—Anec-
dotes of it-Extent of the injury
90
CHAPTER V.
Princess' Islands Proté-Unsuccessful attempt of English to dislodge
Turks-Platé-Desolate State-Oxea-Remains of Edifices of Lower
EmpiremAntigone-Archbishop of Mount Sinai-Chalki--Remains
of Ancient Mines Picture of Last Day-Tomb of our first resi-
dent Ambassador-Prinkipo-Exorcism of Demoniacs—Anecdote of
Greek Priests General character of the Islands--Subject to sudden
Hurricanes—Prison for suspected Greeks-Hospitable Greek Ladies
-Family of Greek Musicians-Melancholy Fate--Atrocious cha-
racter of Sultan Selim's Sister-Plague at Buyukderém-Alarm at
CONTENTS.
V
1
Pago
Pera--Curious Cause Crew of suspected Ship in British Chapel
134
Terror of Plague-Return to Princess' Island
CHAPTER VI.
Voyage to Nicomedia-Libyssa-Tomb of Hannibal-Toosla-Colony
of Storks--Amusement of Turks-Cherries--Aga of Darjha--Retreat
of Early Christians--Inbat-Beauty of the Gulf-Site of City-
Conak in the Bishop's Palace-Dangerous Books--Muzzelim-De-
crees of Diocletian-Extirpation of Christianity-Baptism of Con-
stantine-Present State of Nicomedia-Travelling Retinue-- Turkish
Horses-Khan at Sabangee-Immense Cherry-tree-White Waters
of Sakâriah—PylæBeauty of Valley-Ocean of Trees-Lefkeh-
Turkish Entertainment-Effects of TeaTartar Couriers-Nicæa-
Extraordinary Appearance-Palace of Constantine-Ancient Chris-
tian Church-First Ecumenic Council Subjects discussed. Second
Council--Restoration of Image-worship-Recent Prosperity of Nicæa
-Present Desolation
161
CHAPTER VII.
Yeni Shehr-Rigid Morality-Surface of Asia Minor--Young Locusts
-Opium Harvest-Excessive indulgence not injurious-Silk Worms
-Mode of Hatching and Rearing-Mount Olympus—Splendid Ap-
pearance-Rivers of dissolved Snow-Aspect of Brusa— Past and
Present State-Visit to Muzzelim-Inconvenience of assuming Con-
sequence-Greek Family-Neapolitan Doctor-Bishop of Brusa
Hot Baths-Process of Bathing-Intense Heat of the Spring-Ingre
dients of Water--Ancient Acropolis — Hannibal's Fortress-Tomb
of Orchau-Ascent of Mount Olympus-Various Regions-Elevated
Plain-Trout Streams-Snowy Peak-Singular and beautiful Vege-
tation-Seats of the Gods-Extensive View-Moodania- Horrid Khan
- Dangerous Storm
190
CHAPTER VIII.
Vaccination at Chalki-General use of issues-Swathing infants-
Dispensary-Extraordinary cures for jaundice--Gillandjik-Nereides
-Reliance on Panaya-Effects of bastina dom-Locusts in Pera-De-
vastation of Palace Garden -- Flight to Black Sea--Final fatem
Arrival of Giraffe—Sent to visit Foreign Ambassadors-Mentioned
in Pentateuch-Propitiatory gift - Lascars-Mocha CoffeeTurkish
vi
CONTENTS.
Page
notions of Geography-Artificial Globes-Reception of them at the
Porte-Remarks of Turkish Ministers --Torture inflicted on two
Ionian Subjects-Extraordinary privileges of Dragomans-Not ac-
ceded to by British Ambassador-Patlinjam Melktem-Solemn sound
of Black Sea-Awful destruction of Ships-Sardinian Treaty-English
Sea Captain-Sudden change of temperature-Optical deception-
Proclamation of Padisha-Return of Capitan Pasha-Selictar Aga 216
CHAPTER IX.
Birth of a Child at the Seraglio announced at the British Chapel
Story-teller at Ramazan-Adventures of Tifli-Turkish Bible sold
at Customhouse--Alarm excited—Distribution prohibited-Ipsara-
Turks attack it-Gallant defence-Fall of the Island Recovered and
abandoned by the Greeks-Noses and Ears exposed—Standards dis-
played-Attack on Samos-Crowds of Fellows set out from the Capital
-Turks repulsed-Return of disappointed Marauders--Plague breaks
out in Břitish Palace - Great șAlarm—Quarantine at Belgrade
Author supposed to have taken it-Abandoned in the Mountains-
Attended by Janissary and Greek Boy–Protection used by the latter
--Ambassador proceeds to England-Departure of the Author
239
CHAPTER X.
Return to Constantinople-Political Changes—Russian War-Extinction
of Janissaries--Of Levant Company--Turkish Reforms-Expulsion
of Dogs--Toleration of Pigs Use of Wine - Military Parades-
Newspapers --Sultan's Clemency—Emancipation of Slaves--Libe-
rality to Sciotes-Indulgence to Greeks
264
CHAPTER XI.
Repair of Churches.-Cross of Constantine Singular display of Chris-
tian Standard-Sultan's conduct to Foreigners-Barbarous Usages
abolished-Seven Towers-Presents-Mode of Presentation Portrait
Painting Medical Lectures-Cure of Lunatics-Vaccination-Esta-
blishment of Quarantine--Precautions against Cholera-Resellay-
Appointment of Pashas--Administration of Justice--Confiscation of
Property-Derebeys—Ulemah-Sultan's Domestic Habits_Favour-
ite Mustapha-Voyage of beneficence Popularity-Estimation of
his Reforms
290
CONTENTS
vii
CHAPTER XII.
Page
Indication of Fire-Rapid progress-Destruction of English and other
Palaces-Extent of the Conflagration- Escape of the British Chancery
-Awful state of a Private House-Total obliteration of Streets-
Indifference of Turkish Authorities-Sultan proposes to rebuild on a
new Plan--Persevering attempts to burn Constantinople--Execution
of the Incendiaries--Awful Hail Storm Incredible size of Stones-
Effects of the Fire on Cholera-Plague again appears-Interesting
Cases-Inoculation tried-American Mission first established-Cha-
racter of Society
320
CHAPTER XIII.
Few Antiquities at Constantinople--Reasons why-Earthquakes-Im-
perfect Architecture-Iconoclasts--Crusaders—Turks -- Triple Ser-
pent-Obelisk-Colossus-Brazen Horses—Their extraordinary Mi-
grations–Marcian's Column-Daikili Tash, or Burnt Pillar-Inte-
resting connexion with Christianity-Pillar of Theodosius-Strange
use made of it-Pillar of Arcadius-Described by Gillius and others
--Present remains of it
345
CHAPTER XIV.
Account of Greek Church from a Greek MS.-First Patriarch under the
Turks received a sum of Money from Sultan-This arrangement altered
-Cause of it-Patriarch since pays the Turks-Attempts to extirpate
the Religion of the Greeks-How prevented—First Learned Men-
Greeks form a Constitution for themselves--Synods, how composed
Election of Patriarch—Turbulent Assembly-Conduct in Patriarchal
Church Revenue of Patriarch— Of the Synods-Jurisdiction of
Bishops Number at present in Greek Church-Peculiar Privileges
of some-Revenue how raised-Patriarch of Alexandria-Of Antioch
-Of Jerusalem – Dress of Ecclesiastics, once splendid-Why-
Now very simple--Convents-Mount Athos-—Thessaly --Cyprus
Mesopotamia-Mount Sinai-Holy Sepulchre
359
CHAPTER XV.
Doctrines of Greek Church-Dissent from Latin-Marriage of Priests
- Exclusion, of Images-Opinion of Apocryphal Books-Procession
of the Holy SpiritTranslation of the Scriptures—Use of Leavened
Bread in Eucharist--Elements of both kinds given to the Laity-
viii
CONTENTS.
Page
Other points of difference-Superstitious Observances-Casting Cross
into the Sea Festival of the Fishes-Judas Iscariot burnt on Good
Friday-Effigies of Christ on Easter Sunday-Paschal Eggs-Rising
Sun-Baptism of Proselytes and Adults—Exorcism-Oblations for the
Dead-Mode of Burial-Greek Liturgy-Chanting Service-Almanacs
----Academy of Ayveli-Flourishing state - Total destruction—Aca-
demy of Scio-Of Korou Chesmé-Books—Schism in Greek Litera-
ture-Criticism-Explanation of Monograms-Libraries--Population 379
CHAPTER XVI.
Christian Sects-Nestorians-Chaldean Bishop-Account of his Country
-Where situated Present state-Government and Manners—Reli-
gion and Literature--Hebed-Iesu-Scriptural Books-Xenophon's Ac-
count of the Country-Buchanan-Sect of Eutychians--Armenians-
Number at Constantinople-Clergy–Fasts-Opinions of the Eucharist
---Marriages-Nuptial Taper-Shawl-Armenian Dinner-Domestic
Habits--Discipline of Families - Cemeteries-Visits to the Dead
Singular Tombstones-Literature-Difficult Language-Lord Byron's
Opinion - Partiality for Euglish-Lancasterian Schools-Commerce
--Other sources of Wealth-Ingenious Mechanics-Value to Turks
-Schism--Persecutions and Exile -Restoration-Bulgarians-In-
different Character–Franks' Privileges-Variety of Tongues-De-
raotes-Pisani-Frank Burying-ground-Tombs Hampden. 404
CHAPTER XVII.
Jews - Numbers - Usages — Whence they came-How received by
Turks-Appearance of Messiah--Disposition to become Christians
- Proselyte exiled and restored-Arabs-Principal occupations
Rice Talisman Turks—Ulemah-Notions of testimony-Mode of
Worship-Fasting at Ramazan-Alms-giving-Charity to inferior
Animals-Circumcision-Rite performed on young Prince-Pilgrim
age to Mecca-Sets out from Scutari-Sacred Camel-Superstitions~-
Dancing and howling Dervishes-Libraries of the Seraglio-of
Rhaghib-Printing Press at Scutari-Books published Flowers
Culinary Vegetables - Coins-Inaptitude of Turks for the Arts
Anecdote-State of Women-Character Opinion of their Souls
Character of Men-Revolutions,
443
APPENDIX.
• 487
• 492
Page
I. Books printed at the Patriarchal Press at Constantinople
II. First Dragoman's Report to British Ambassador
490
III. Lord Strangford's Letter to Lord Liverpool
IV. Fetva and Warning issued from the Mosque of Santa Sophia,
February, 1823
494
V. Turkish Song sung at the Coffee-house at the Palace-gate during
the Ramazan
500
I
• 501
VI. Firman published in June, 1824
VII. Anecdotes of the Turkish Revolution
502
VIII. Capitulation, or Articles of Peace, between Great Britain and the
Ottoman Empire
525
IX. Firman for Emancipating Slaves
528
X. Catalogue of Armenian Books published at the Patriarchal Press 529
XI. Translation of a Berat by Hatta Sherif
531
XII. Extracts from a Work written by a converted Jewish Rabbin 533
XIII. List of Turkish Books printed at Scutari
XIV. Climate of Constantinople
538
IV.* Inscription at Teos, &c., (after)
542
• 537
•
*
PLATES, &C...VOL. II.
to face Title-page
46
104
142
184
184
333
British Palace, Pera
Amazon's Head, Smyrna (woodcut)
* Hydraulic Pillars (woodcut)
Tomb of British 'Ambassador (Chalki)
Ancient Mosaic in the Church at Nicæa (woodcut)
Figures in the Chapel at Nicæa (woodcut)
Hailstones
Remains of Pillar (woodcut)
Pillar of Arcadius
Greek Sacramental Bread (woodcut)
Greek Cross (woodcut)
Armenian Tombstones (woodcut)
Ditto
ditto
Frank Monumental Sculpture (woodcut)
Turkish Library
Imperial Cypher
Inscriptions at Teos, &c.
357
358
385
387
424
425
442
472
480
542
* By'a mistake of the Ergraver, the pillars represented in the perspective
are more numerous than they ought to be.
NARRATIVE
OYA
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
CHAPTER I.
Mode of making Slaves Exposure in Markets for Sale-Anecdotes of Slaves
- Infamous Treatment of Boys-Sciote Hostages-Sent to the Porte-
Unexpected Execution in the Streets—Reasons assigned-Promise to Lord
Strangford-Sympathy of the English-Escape of many Greeks-Fugitives
in Palace Garden Consolation of the Scripture in their own Language
Application of Torture-Various kinds–Few escape with life-Disorgani-
zation 'of the Capital-Excesses of the Populace-Avowed resolution of
the Sultan-Energetic Measures-Summary Punishments-Censorship of
Books—Hospodars of Wallachia and Moldavia-Greek Princes excluded
-Cease to be Dragomans-Turks first learn European Languages.)
The first news of these events was brought to Constanti-
nople by the caiquegees, hummals, and other adventurers
of the rabble, who returned with boats full of plunder and
slaves. The Oriental manner of making slaves, and securing
a property in them, is this. Any fellows who join an ex-
pedition as volunteers for plunder of this kind enter a house,
and after setting fire to it, and killing generally the adult
males, they carry off the property, with the females and boys.
They then proceed to the next custom-house, and having paid
twenty piasters, or about ten shillings, they take out a tes-
kerai, or ticket, which certifies the slavery, and then the per-
sons of the unfortunate family become the property of the
captors for ever, with all their posterity! If any of them
VOL. II,
B
2
NARRATIVE OF A
is disposed to sell the whole or part, he gives up with them
their teskerai, which transfers the property to the purchaser
in perpetuity. Forty-one thousand teskerais were granted
in this way for Sciote slaves up to the 1st of May, of which
five thousand had been taken out for those proceeding to
Constantinople alone, and generally by fellows in the lowest
grade of society.
The usual place where Circassian slaves are sold is the
Aurut Bazaar, or Womens' Market, in the vicinity of the
Burnt Column. Here decorum is no further violated than in
the act of sale. It consists of a quadrangular building, with
an open court in the middle. Round this are raised plat-
forms, on which black slaves sit: behind are latticed win-
dows lighting apartments, where the white and more costly
women are shut up till they are sold, and there is a certain
decency and propriety observed in the purchase. But the
glut of unfortunate Sciotes was such, that they were exhi-
bited for sale in any public place, even the streets. The
most usual was the Baluk Bazaar, or Fish-market. Here
the first exposure was a number of poor girls, of the age
of
twelve or fourteen, who were sold like cattle at an Eng-
lish fair. Several of them were without trousers, or the
necessary articles of dress. Terror and anxiety had so
affected them, that they exhibited the most deplorable pic-
ture of human suffering I ever beheld, and such as cannot
be described; yet they were treated by the Turks with a
contemptuous freedom, as if they did not think they ought
to show them the courtesies of decorum which a sense of
modesty generally induces a Turk to show to any other
female. They were taken and handled with the roughness
of butchers examining young cattle, and generally sold at
the rate of one hundred piastres, or 31. a head. Five hun-
dred were disposed of here in this way, and Turkish men
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
3
and women were everywhere seen leading young Christian
slaves to their houses.
The next day, June the 16th, was Sunday, and a slave-
market was established in Pera Street, leading to our palace.
A number of captives had been brought up the day before, and
some of them exposed for sale in that place, and this unchris-
tian traffic was witnessed by the Christian congregations of
the different people of Europe, as they were entering their
places of Worship, which are generally in this street, and par-
ticularly the English, who passed through them in their way
to our chapel. One of them told me, as he was going by, a poor
girl of fifteen was set up to a kind of auction, and he left them
in the act of sale. This most revolting traffic of Christians
had been hitherto confined to Constantinople, among the
Turks themselves, and in their bazars; but now it was brought
to the very doors of the Franks, and the representatives of
the different powers of Europe, who have made it felony of
death to purchase a pagan negro on the coast of Africa,
had a slave-market established at the gates of their palaces,
where human beings of the same colour and complexion-
professing the same religious faith-endued with the same
moral and intellectual qualities, and as highly cultivated
as themselves—are publicly bought and sold like cattle, and
doomed, with all their posterity, to the most degrading and
infamous bondage of body and mind that pagan barbarism
can inflict.
You have heard it said that the volatile Greek women
are not much affected by change of circumstances, and are
readily reconciled to the lot which casts them into the en-
joyments of a Turkish harem. Never believe it. The hor-
ror and repugnance felt by the free-born Greek women to
slavery among the Turks, under any modification, is invin-
cible, and they infinitely prefer death. I will mention one or
B2
4
NARRATIVE OF A
two among many instances which came under my own per-
sonal knowledge. The adventurers to Scio were in the
habit of sending girls as presents to their friends at Constan-
tinople, as people in England send game after a day's sport.
The Capitan Pasha sent a young Sciote to a Turk in the
capital. He was an elderly man, of serious deportment; and
he received the girl gravely but kindly. In a paroxysm of
despair, however, she would not submit to her lot with tran-
quillity--so she proceeded with great violence to break every
thing in the apartment within her reach. Her master sat
smoking his pipe on the divan, looking on with an impertur-
bable countenance, showing no anger, but occasionally mov-
ing his hand towards her, with the quiet intimation that she
should sit down and be composed. At length she twitched
the chibouque out of his mouth, and with the bowl of it broke
a large mirror. The Turk now rose with his usual gravity,
and drawing his yatagan, before she turned about, cut off
her head, and opening the lattice threw it and her body
into the street, not far from the wall of the palace garden.
Another was sent in the same way to a man who grew so
much attached to her that he proposed to marry her, and
place her at the head of his harem. This she declined,
and declared, if he persisted in his intention, she would kill
nim the first opportunity. Unused to restraint or control
in such matters, the Turk did not heed her reluctance, but
married her according to the forms of Turkish law. On the
wedding night she contrived to get possession of his yatagan
from his girdle, and stabbed him to the heart. Her own
death, as she expected and wished, immediately followed.
Another instance of the deep sense of degradation, not
confined to the better classes, but extending to all, occurred
within my own knowledge at Koorou Chesme, on the Bos-
phorus. A Sciote baker, who supplied some of my friends
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
5
I
with bread, served also a Turkish family, and, on coming to
the door one day he recognised the person who opened it to
be his sister, of whom he could obtain no intelligence. She
had been carried off by a boatman, and sold that day to
the Turk who owned the house. Her brother, who was
strongly attached to her, and was rejoiced to find her alive,
determined to redeem her, even by the sale of all he pos-
sessed; but she strictly prohibited him. She said she had
been so treated and degraded, she was not worth redeem-
ing, and she would only disgrace him—that she did not
wish to live, and knew she would not live long; she was
prophetic-in a few months she died.
Nor was this spirit confined to women-men and boys
showed an unsubdued mind under their misfortunes, which,
in the days of Athens and Sparta, would be recorded as
traits of the highest heroism. It was the custom at this
time to put to death the captives whom they wished to get
rid of, either because they were an incumbrance, or because
they were rebels, or for any other reason. To this end they
sometimes put them into a boat, and proceeded up the shore
of the Bosphorus. It seems a gratification to a Turk to select
a spot that pleases him for an execution, and hence it is
not confined to any particular place, but always performed
wherever the executioner fancies. At this time the shore
of the Bosphorus was a favourite place. They chose a spot,
it was said, to kill, as people would, on a party of pleasure,
to dine; they landed, cut off a head, and went on. One of
these boats which I passed had on board a boy and his father,
pinioned for execution. The day was very warm, and the
old man asked a Turk for a little water to wet his mouth,
out of an earthenware bottle which is always carried in a
caique. The Turk, as a last favour, offered his vessel to his
mouth, but the boy, with a motion of his elbow, instantly
6
NARRATIVE OF A
upset it-" No, father," said he, “I would at any time give
my life to save yours; but you shall accept no favour from
them in a short time you will not want it.” Beshiktash
was close at hand, so they were there landed and decapi-
tated.
As all the Frank merchants were more or less connected
with those of Scio, letters came pouring in, from all direc-
tions from their correspondents on the melancholy subject,
inquiring with the most intense anxiety after members of
their families who had been swept away, first to know if any
of them were left alive, and, if it was so, where they were sold
as slaves, in order, if possible, that they might be redeemed,
A Christian is not allowed by law to redeem a fellow Christian,
but the cupidity of the Turks was ready to evade it by selling
the slave to another Mahomedan on his account, who was an
intermediate person, and then liberated him. The British
merchants were particularly active in this holy cause; sub-
scriptions were entered into, and many a child was redeemed
and restored to its parent by their kind and generous zeal.
One letter that came to my hand from two brothers, young
Greek merchants at Odessa, stated, that their mother, aunt,
and three sisters were all swept away, and intreated, in the
most deep and affecting language I ever read, that inquiry
should be made after them. They were searched for, and
it was discovered where they had been sold-one at Alex-
andria, one at Smyrna, and one at Constantinople, and
from the three quarters of the world they were redeemed
from Turkish bondage, and finally restored to their friends.
Among the multitude of these domestic events which
daily occurred to us I shall mention one, the persons and
incidents of which came under my own immediate know-
ledge. It is the more interesting, perhaps, because it dis-
plays that rapid vicissitude of the extremes of fortune, which
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
7
the more organised and better regulated state of social
life rarely presents in Europe, but under the arbitrary go-
vernments of the East are so usual as to be scarcely noticed
as extraordinary. Among those whò, on the first rumour
of the landing of the Samiotes, and the partial insurrection
of the peasant Sciotes, highly disapproved of the measure,
and retired to the fortress, or prepared to leave the island,
were the mother, wife, and children of one of the most opu-
lent and respectable residents. When, however, they saw
the approach of the Capitan Pasha’s fleet, thinking them-
selves under the protection of the government, they returned
to the island, and went back to their own house. Immedi-
ately after the carnage commenced. The mother, daughter,
and grandchildren, with a nurse and young child, rushed,
nearly naked, towards the hills, as the only asylum which
suggested itself. Here a peasant who had been employed
before by the family followed them, and, with a spade,
enlarged a cavity which they found, and the whole party
remained buried in it for two days. They were discovered,
however, by some straggling Turks, who dragged them from
their concealment. They were then separated, as each
seized his share. The grandmother and daughter were sold
to different masters, and traced out, but the fate of the rest,
consisting of two fine boys, a nurse, and an infant, was un-
known.
When the slaves were about to embark on board a vessel
intended to convey them to the capital, a Turk, unknown to
them, but who appeared of some rank, addressed himself to
the daughter, whom he saw in the agonies of despair. He
asked her name, and, when informed, he wrote a billet,
which he bade her put into her bosom, and when she was
sold, and her destiny decided, to contrive to have it sent
on to its direction. This she did, and the day following a
8
NARRATIVE OF A
stranger came to the house of her purchaser, and instantly
redeemed her and her mother for seven thousand five hun-
dred piastres, about 2001. He then conveyed her to her
friends, and she was received into the house of a British
merchant, as a present residence.
The next care was to find out her children ; and after
considerable search, one of them, a boy of nine years old,
was discovered with a blacksmith in Galata. The fellow
had embarked as a volunteer in this piratical expedition,
and brought back the boy as part of his plunder. He
was found in his forge, and when the persons in search
of him entered he was blowing the bellows for his master,
and handing him a lighted pipe. He was immediately
redeemed for three thousand piastres, about 80l. When
brought to his mother, the scene was deeply affecting; she
had never hoped to meet any of her family again, and when
the little fellow leaped into her arms, she fell senseless
on the floor from excess of sensibility. The fate of the
other boy could not be traced, and he was given up as
hopeless; but he, too, by incessant and anxious inquiries,
was discovered, a slave to the reis of a Turkish boat on the
Bosphorus, who, like the blacksmith, had joined the expe-
dition, and brought back slaves and plunder. The boy was
redeemed and restored to his mother, and after a short time
the whole family were secretly embarked on board the
Sappho proceeding to Odessa. Here also an anxious trial
awaited them. Though redeemed from a state of slavery,
and restored to freedom, as far as it could be enjoyed with
such a government, they were still liable to the penalty or
death as rayas, for attempting to leave the country. The
Sappho was detained by contrary winds within the Castles for
three weeks. She lay nearly under them, with a Turkish
guard on board, while the anxious mother and her children
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE,
9
I
were concealed under a false bottom below, and hourly ex-
pecting a discovery. Providentially, however, they escaped
safe to Russia, where they joined others of their family, and
I had the pleasure of hearing frequently of them that they
were again prosperous and happy.
The fate of other boys with which I was acquainted was
also remarkable. One of them had been found, deserted
and wandering on the beach at Scio, by a hummal, or por-
ter, of Constantinople, who had been an adventurer in the
expedition. He was brought by him in a sickly state to
his house in the capital, and was sinking under grief and
ill usage. He was there seen by a Sciote girl, who was not
a slave, but in service at Pera. From a kind feeling of
compassion for a child from her own country, she resolved
to purchase him, and collected together, by her wages and
selling her clothes, three hundred piastres, which the Turk
demanded. She brought the child home, and took such
care of him that he recovered his health, and became a beau-
tiſul boy. The Turk who sold him was informed of this,
and came back and demanded one thousand piastres more,
or that the child should be restored to him. The poor girl
immediately ran with him to the French convent of St.
Louis, the nearest place where she thought she could find
an asylum for him. Here he was kept concealed, till in
the inquiries made by mothers for their lost children, he
was discovered to be the only son of one of the most respect-
able persons on the island. The poor girl was liberally
repaid, and, what she prized more, was taken to live with
the boy she had so preserved, and proceeded with the family
to Odessa.
But such was not the lot of other boys, who were reserved
for a very dismal fate. Some were brought into liarems,
some were kept at infamous public places in Galata, to which
10
NARRATIVE OF A
Turks resort, and some even were exposed in coffee-houses
on the public road. A friend of mine at this time coming
by land from Smyrna, met one of them in a khan, who
earnestly entreated him to kill him. He had been
exposed
to every surrogee and low Turk passing the road, and felt
the misery and degradation so acutely that he would not
survive it. Those whose fate was least severe were com-
pelled to turn Mahomedans. Circumcision was performed
on forty or fifty at once. I seldom passed through the
lower streets of Pera at this time, without hearing moans and
cries from the houses, and one was pointed out to me into
which we looked, and saw eight or ten Greek boys lying in
the hall who had been so treated. If any one of them was
found to relapse into Christianity after this compulsory pro-
cess, they would be immediately put to death. It is thus,
you see, the good and pious objects of our societies are
totally defeated. More converts are thus made from the
Gospel to the Koran in a day, than all our missionaries have
made from the Koran to the Gospel in a century.
The atrocious insult offered to every European power by
the public sale, brutal treatment, and forcible conversion of
so many Christians, was at length put a stop to, not by
Christian, but Mahomedan interference. The property of
the island had been vested in the Asma Sultana, one of the
sisters of the Sultan, who received out of it as a revenue two
or three hundred thousand piastres annually. She was of
an amiable and kind disposition, and encouraged the in-
dustry and ingenuity of the Sciote girls, by receiving vari-
ous articles of their elegant silk manufacture, and liberally
rewarding them. When she heard of the destruction of her
favourite island, her grief and indignation were excessive.
The Pasha who commanded the fortress and the Capitan
Pasha had selected for her fifty of the young girls, the most
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
11
beautiful in person and respectable in family, as a present
for her. But she rejected with abhorrence such a gift, and
denounced the men who offered it. Urged by her incessant
remonstrances, the vengeance of her brother fell upon the
Pasha of the fortress, who was deposed and banished, and
would have fallen still more heavily on the Capitan Pasha,
had not that of heaven anticipated it. The license for selling
Sciotes was withdrawn, and from the 19th of June no more
Christian slaves were exposed in the public streets and
markets.
But the catastrophe of the devoted Sciotes did not end
with the desolation of their island and the slavery of its
inhabitants. There yet remained an event, without which
the system of perfidy and blood would not be complete.
There were resident at this time at Constantinople the most
respectable portion of the Sciote merchants, whose families
generally were left on the island. The merchants of differ-
ent Oriental nations usually live together in large quadran-
gular edifices called khans. Here they have apartments,
offices, and samples of goods for sale, and the whole is su-
perintended by a khangee, or hotel-keeper, who guards the
gate, and, with his assistants, takes charge of the property
of sometimes fifty or sixty merchants deposited in his care.
The Sciote merchants occupied the Valadi Khan, the finest
in Constantinople, and here they continued their mercantile
occupations in perfect confidence, relying on the protection
of governmeiſt for their own security in the capital and that
of their families on the island. They lived in the rank and
style of eminent British merchants-had masters for the
different European languages and accomplishments; an
Italian who attended me told me he had eighteen pupils
among them. Their community was increased by three
respectable Sciotes, who came up as hostages to Constanti-
12
NARRATIVE OF A
nople, when their friends had committed themselves to the
fortress on the island.
On the first news of the insurrection they remained for
a few days unmolested, suffering only the common anxiety
for the fate of their families; but one morning the khangee
was directed to send ten of them, including the hostages,
over to the Porte, in order that the government might con-
fer with them on the state of the island, and they proceeded
thither without guard or suspicion. So little was the mea-
sure directed by any sense of justice, or any inquiry into the
guilt or innocence of individuals, that the order given to the
khangee was to send seven with the hostages, and these
were left to his own choice. It had been the custom of the
merchants to give him money to infornı them of everything
that was passing in the present anxious state of things, and
of which his connexions enabled him to have early informa-
tion. He selected on this occasion those who had paid him
least liberally, and among others a young man of the family
of Mavrocordato, whom he directed to go; but he having
more suspicion or sagacity than the rest, slipped some
mahmoodies into the hand of the khangee, so he substituted
another, Giovanni Galatti, in his place.
When they arrived at the Porte they were seized and
placed in close confinement in the prison of the Bostangee
Bashi. Here they were detained for near a month, and, in
addition to their personal anxiety, had the affliction to know
that such of their familics as had survived the massacre
were every day sold in the public streets and markets of Con-
stantinople. Their state, however, excited intense interest
among the Franks, with whom they were closely connected
in business, particularly with the English. The ministers
of foreign powers interfered with their mediation, and the
British Ambassador was so urgent in their behalf, that it
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
13
was said he had obtained a promise that no injury should
be offered them beyond confinement. Their friends were
apprised of this, and the general feeling was that they would
be immediately liberated.
I was going down to Galata one day, and had occasion
to call at the custom-house, to inquire after some books I
expected, and in passing along through a street in which is
a market, I struck something soft with my foot, and nearly
stumbled over it. On looking down I perceived it to be the
body of a headless man lying in the kennel. He was thrown
on his breast, and his pallid hands appeared tied with a
cord crossed over his back, the bloody neck was seen above
the opening of his long dress, and his ghastly head lay
between his thighs, with a mild, pale face turned upwards.
On contemplating the countenance for a moment, his fea-
tures became quite familiar to me, and I recognized it to
be Chianze Psecha, a Sciote gentleman, with whom I was
acquainted. His dress was a blue robe, with red trousers,
and red morocco boots and slippers, which he generally
On each side the people were buying fish as usual,
and passed over the body with as much indifference as if
it had been some offal thrown out of one of the stalls. On
turning the corner of the street I saw another body lying in
a similar situation. As this was near the quay, some Frank
sailors had stopped to look at it, but the Turks passed on
without condescending to notice it farther than to kick it
out of their way.
I now learned that the whole of the unfortunate men who
had proceeded to the Porte were that morning taken out and
inhumanly butchered in different parts of the town, seven in
Constantinople and three in Pera and Galata. They were
all men highly respectable, distinguished for the integrity
of their character. I send you the names and rank of those
lore.
14
NARRATIVE OF A
victims:--Theodore Rhalle, engaged in commerce with
England ; Pantaleon Rhodocannacchi, of the house of Rho-
docannacchi, of Leghorn ; Micheli Schelizzi, of the house
of Schelizzi Katembasi, of Leghorn; Francisco Frangheadi,
principal of the house of Contastarlo and Co., of London ;
Chianzi Stemati Psecha, principal of a house at Marseilles;
Constantine Klini, Georgis Mariolaki, Micheli Zaffetta,
Micheli Vluro, and Giovanni Galatti, who was substituted
for Mavrocordato, and executed in his place.
You will think this careless substitution of one victim for
another, and at the discretion of whomsoever it may be who
received the order, is a thing incredible in any state of so-
ciety where a law exists to distinguish between guilt and
innocence, but it seems the constant usage of the Turks ;
they require a certain number of heads, and are not very
particular as to the identity of the persons to whom they
may belong. When Yanko Calamachi, the dragoman of
the Porte, had been executed the year before, the Chouash
was directed to bring also the head of his Capi Tchocadar,
who had attended with him at the Porte. The man con-
trived to keep out of the way, and another was seized and
executed in his place. When the mistake was explained
to the Chouash, he merely said, tossing up his thumb,
Hipsi birdir"_" It is all one," and sent on the heads to
the Seraglio.
It is not easy to ascertain reasons for the cruelty exercised
by a Turk beyond the caprice of arbitrary power, but causes
were assigned for the most unexpected execution of these
gentlemen. It was the month of the Ramazan, when some
victims must be offered up to superstitious prejudices. This
of course was a reason which the Turks would not allow,
nor its existence be admitted, but I was assured by those who
knew them well, that it had some influence at this moment
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
15
of excitement on the fate of the individuals. A rumour had
also arrived of another landing of the Greeks at Scio, and of
the recovery of the depopulated island by them;. so the hand
of vengeance was to fall on the Sciotes yet left alive, whom the
Turks considered as hostages for the conduct of their coun-
trymen, and justly liable to the consequences of their de-
linquency; and this they said was the compact implied in
the term hostage, recognised by Christians as well as Turks.
They further affirmed that they had been detected in keep-
ing up a treasonable correspondence with the insurgents,
and had furnished them with many particulars of informa-
tion which they had the opportunity of acquiring, particu-
larly of the sailing of the Capitan Pasha's fleet, and the
number and strength of the ships which composed it. “ Not
one," said the Reis Effendi, to the dragoman of the Eng-
lish embassy, “has been punished with death without the
government having had previous proof, or a moral conviction
of their guilt*. This justification is a most remarkable trait
of Turkish ideas of justice. The proofs they never conde-
scend to produce, and the moral conviction is founded on
the caprice, or prejudice, or enmity of the moment, and fre-
quently amounts to nothing more than a suspicion that the
person ought to be suspected.,
With respect to the promise said to be received by Lord
Strangford, it was altogether misunderstood or misrepre-
sented. He did not stipulate for their safety, which he had
no right to demand; he merely employed his personal in-
terest, which he always did and was ready to do, in aid of
the principles of humanity. When the hostages were first
put under the care of the Bostangee Bashi, they were re-
ceived, not as his prisoners, but his moosafirs, visiters, or
guests; and Lord Strangford obtained a promise that they
* See Appendix, No. II.
16
NARRATIVE OF A
should still be treated as such as long as they were in his
care or custody, and this the Turks adhered to while they
were alive. You will say, perhaps, that the idea of safety
was necessarily included in such a promise ; for it is a
strange notion of hospitality when a host is allowed to take
out his guest and cut off his head; yet this is, and always
has been, an Oriental usage. Victims have been treated with
the greatest courtesy till the moment they were deprived
of life, and exceeding kindness is always a ground of sus-
spicion. Ali Pasha just before was stabbed to the heart
by a friendly visiter, while in the act of bowing to take
leave; and Halet Effendi, just after, was strangled on a
divan, while his host sat beside him in friendly conversa-
tion, and knew that he had the Sultan's firman for his
safety in his bosom; and these acts were perpetrated with
the knowledge and approbation of the Turkish government.
Up to the moment of their death the Sciotes enjoyed all
the rites of hospitality which the most courteous host could
bestow. To Europeans, imbued with other notions of rights
and obligations, their death was as unexpected as it was
detestable, and to no one more than the British Ambassador.
I can testify to the intense anxiety and deep concern which
it
gave him: not that he supposed that he was accountable
for the violation of a promise which he never exacted, nor
the Turks ever gave; but he was shocked on the score of
humanity, and disappointed that his exertions in its cause
had not been finally successful. He never failed, during
the whole affair connected with Scio, to make the strongest
representations to the Turkish government; and when he
was directed from home to represent the sentiments of the
King and people of England on the subject, he did so with-
out treating the feelings of the Porte with much delicacy.
They were only such as he himself had expressed before,
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
17
now confirmed by the detestation with which their cruelty
had been felt and expressed throughout that country *.
It is probable that this unequivocal and decided reproba-
tion of their acts by a friendly power had much influence
on their subsequent conduct. The future horrors perpe-
trated were of a mitigated kind, as if they wished to regain
the good opinion of their friends.
According to the Turkish axiom, that every individual is
responsible for the acts of his people, the Sciotes resident
in Constantinople were now everywhere hunted out after the
execution of the merchants, as the Moreotes had been after
that of the Patriarch. All that resided at the khan fled
and disappeared. The English residents had hitherto felt
little sympathy for the Greeks; but this last act of Turkish
atrocity seemed to come home to their business and
bosoms.” With a generous disregard to any consideration
but compassion for the hunted victims, every house afforded
them an asylum, even at the personal hazard of the pro-
prietor. Disguises were obtained, and passages secured for
them in ships, and the greater part of them were safely con-
veyed to Russia, folded up in sails, or packed up in casks.
In fact, all disinclination to be entangled in the passing
events of the country which the Frank residents had hitherto
shown was now removed, and no one hesitated, in the cause
of suffering humanity, to disregard the edicts of a govern-
ment that had itself disregarded every law which is recog-
nized in civilized society.
The principal British merchant in Pera, as kind-hearted
as he is opulent, was very active on these occasions. He had
three Sciote gentlemen concealed. He had them shaved,
and dressed with hats and coats; and when everything
was prepared, they took the arms of him and his friends,
* See Appendix, No. III,
VOL. II.
С
18
NARRATIVE OF A
and boldly walked down to the custom-house in the open
day through the Turks, on their way to the ship. One of
them was so overcome that he could hardly support him-
self, and nearly betrayed the whole party. They, however,
got safely on board, were put under a false bottom sup-
ported on casks, and arrived at Odessa. An unfortunate
young man had applied also to me for an asylum, and I
could not deny it. I dressed him in my clothes, and the next
Sunday brought him to our chapel. After service I men-
tioned the circumstance to some of my congregation. They
suffered him also to take their arms, walked quietly down
the town, and put him on board a vessel about to sail, in
which he escaped.
My amiable old friend the Padre Paolo, whom I had left
behind in the Lantern of Demosthenes at Athens, had now
arrived at Constantinople, and was appointed chaplain to
the French embassy. He resided in the Convent of St.
Louis, contiguous to the French palace, where I paid him
a visit. I found him in his little cell, with three gentlemen,
who, though in Frank dresses, had something exceedingly
awkward and uncouth in their air and manner, as if they
knew not how to adapt themselves to their clothes. Before
me no concealment was thought necessary, so I was intro-
duced to the men in their proper persons. They were Sciotes,
who had narrowly escaped the pursuit of the Turks by
rushing into the convent. Here the good old man would
sooner lay down his life than suffer them to be injured; so
he provided the Frank dresses, and, when opportunity pre-
sented, had them conveyed to places of safety.
But the asylum in which the greatest number, perhaps,
took refuge together was the British palace-garden. The
proscription extended to all classes, and the meanest man
who had the misfortune to be born on the island was
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
19
equally doomed to death with the most respectable. A
large portion of the artizans of the capital were Sciotes,
who were esteemed for their integrity, as well as ingenuity;
but the majority were gardeners. Nicolai, the palace-gar-
dener, was from the island. An order was issued that they
should all appear at the Porte, and the poor man came to
me to know what he should do. I strongly advised him
not to go, and took upon myself any responsibility for his
absence. All who did appear were seized and thrown into
confinement; and as it was generally known that death
immediately followed imprisonment, many of the rest in a
panic ran to their countryman in the English palace-gar-
den. Every bush concealed two or three unfortunate fugi-
tives, and as it was necessary to give them employment in
order to afford a pretext for their being there, they were all
engaged as labourers, digging the ground. They were of
different trades, which ill assorted to their present employ-
ment; but Lady Strangford, whose kindness and humanity
was ever accompanied by some playful fancy, made us
laugh in the midst of the peril and confusion, by directing
that the bakers should be sent among the flowers, and the
tailors among the cabbages.
Mr. Leeves had at this time received a number of copies
of the New Testament, translated into Romaic, or modern
Greek. Many of them had been' bought by the poor Sciotes,
and were now a source of comfort in their affliction. One
took the book, and a group sat round, and listened as he
road to them the sacred words in their own language, which
they heard with profound attention. On one evening I
saw several groups so engaged, and I never before wit-
nessed in so strong a degree the great consolation which the
word of God could impart. Many of the poor people ex-
pected every moment that thry would be sought out, and
C 2
20
NARRATIVE OF A
care.
demanded by the Turks, and consigned to that death which
so few of their countrymen escaped'; and under this impres-
sion they applied to the book as their only support in peril.
The Turks, however, did not demand them. By degrees
they dispersed-most escaped to the islands—and some
few returned to their employment, when the heat of perse-
cution had passed.
But the persons who suffered most acutely were the clerks
and cashiers of the merchants. It has been the practice of
the Turks at all times to seize the saraffs, or bankers of any
victim who has fallen under their suspicion or displeasure,
and compel them to discover any property confided to their
In this spirit, such of the persons in the counting-
houses of the Sciote merchants as did not escape were seized
and tortured. Now, as you seem to doubt the existence of
this practice, and say that the Turks never employ torture to
extract confession, and that the rumour of it was one of the
many exaggerations circulated of the country, I have been
at some pains to satisfy you.
The place of torture is within the walls of the Seraglio, and
called the Oven, because it had been used as such, and this
use makes still a part of the torture inflicted there. Before
the Greek insurrection, rich bankers, or saraffs, had been
those on whom torture was generally inflicted here, particu-
larly Armenians; they were employed by Vizirs, or other
great officers of state, or by the females of the Sultan's family,
and they were almost always involved in the ruin of their em-
ployers. They were the depositories of the money laid up for
themselves if they survived, or for their families if they did
not. This, for the greater secresy, was intrusted to them
without any acknowledgment. On the death or deposition,
therefore, of any public minister, the way to get at his pro-
perty was to torture his banker. He is first applied to for any
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
21
money in his hands, and as the return he makes is never
believed, and as there is no existing document to ascertain
the amount, he is frequently compelled, by the application
of torture, to surrender more than he has received, even to
the whole amount of his own property. De Tott* men-
tions the horrible inflictions suffered by an Armenian and
his partner, saraffs to Rachub Pasha, the Grand Vizir, who
had married the Sultan's sister; and Thornton states †
that he had often heard personally from the survivor him-
self the torture he had endured. The executioner would
dip his hands covered with their blood into the dish served
up for their miserable repast. His partner expired in the
act of infliction.
Among the unfortunate men arrested as a Sciote was one
who is called a Baccùl, that is, a little merchant, who sells all
sorts of goods in his shop. It appeared, however, that the
man was not a Sciote, but a Cerigote, and so, as belonging
to the Ionian Islands, was, fortunately for himself, under
English protection; and our Ambassador sent over with
great promptness and humanity to claim him as a British
subject. He was immediately restored to one of the janis-
saries attached to the palace, who brought him back in
safety, and at a critical moment. The prison in which he
was confined was that of the Bostangee Bashi. I mentioned
to you before that it is attached to the Seraglio, and is
therefore supposed to be under the eye of the Sultan. It
had been my intention to have gone over with the janissary
to this prison, which is one of those in which torture is in-
flicted, and I was greatly vexed that a circumstance occurred
to prevent me. I charged, however, another, who did
go,
to
report to me faithfully what he saw and learned on the spot,
* Vol.i. p.
144.
# Vol. i. p. 212.
22
NARRATIVE OF A
and I had the following details from him, which were ge-
nerally confirmed by others.
There were thirty-six Greeks confined there, who were
subject to various inflictions of bodily pain, some of which
he saw them undergo, by looking through an aperture in a
door, and others were told to him. One man was stripped
naked. He was then suspended by the feet, till the blood
accumulated in his head, and he was nearly smothered.
Presently two men came in with large clubs, and in that
situation they struck and goaded him till he was left
without sense or motion. Whether he died on the spot, or
lived to undergo the torture again, my informant could not
say.
Another was suspended by the ears on iron hooks, with
a weight appended to his feet, till the muscles of his face
were all displaced, and the features so distorted, that his
mouth appeared on his forehead.
A third had a sharp instrument stuck with needles ap-
plied to the ends of his fingers, till the points penetrated
through the quick, and appeared out at the back of his nails.
A fourth had a screw pressed on his wrists till the joints
were dislocated, and the back of his hands occupied the
place of the palms.
A fifth had a screw applied to his head in such a way
as to press upon the temples. This was closed by degrees,
till at length the compression was so great as to force the
eyes out of their sockets.
A sixth had a metal cap applied hot to the head. The
Greeks wear a small red cap, called a fez, on the crown,
under the turban, about the shape and size of a saucer,
which fits quite close to the scalp. This was plucked
off, and one of red-hot metal, of the same shape, size, and
colour, applied to the head in its place.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
23
But the last punishment was one which may be added to
the many existing proofs of the unchanging permanency of
customs in the East. The oven, or furnace, was made hot,
and into this the victims were thrust, till their beards and
the hair of their heads were singed, and the skin blistered
off their bodies. The punishment of the burning fiery fur-
nace, which the king of Persia inflicted on the persecuted
Jews, was the model, perhaps, which the modern Nebuchad-
nezzar within the walls of his palace inflicts on his Chris-
tian subjects, and these, too, men convicted of no offence,
but, like Shedrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the most up-
right and excellent of his people.
When I heard these details, I considered that it was not
without reason I shuddered at the cruel scowl of the white
of his eye when I found myself in his presence, though at
that time I knew nothing, and, in fact, like yourself, was
inclined to doubt the report of these practices.
The Turks seldom suffer those they torture to escape
with life, and they are exceedingly vigilant that no one
should pry into the secrets of this prison-house. There are
few, therefore, who can attest them. I have seen and con-
versed, however, with more than one who had undergone
these inflictions. The first was a Greek slave, who stood
chained, with a ring about his leg like others, at the gate
of the prison called the Bagnio. His wrists and ancles were
distorted by the application of screws, and his whole body so
crushed that he supported himself on crutches. The torture
was applied to him to extort confession and make discovery
among the first who were taken up when the insurrection
commenced. A second was known to me at the Patriarchal.
press at the Fanal. He had been stripped, and a small
cord tied round his body, across his breast, and under his
arms; by this he was suspended till it cut the flesh into
24
NARRATIVE OF A
the bone. He fainted with the agony, and was taken down
insensible. He did not know how long he had suffered,
but was informed for three days. I knew also the Greek
superintendent of the foundery. He had three sons, mere
lads. At the commencement of the insurrection they were
all cast into prison on suspicion. Some person, through
negligence, set fire to a press containing some papers, and it
was considered as a design to burn down the foundery. The
father was decapitated, and the lads tortured to confess
what they could know nothing of at the time, as they were
in confinement. After great suffering they were beheaded
also.
Thus, then, you see the application of torture to extort
confession is not yet extinct even in the fairest portion of
Europe. These people not only brought with them every
thing that was barbarous in Asiatic manners, but they will
not suffer to die whatever was so in Europe. The horrid
practices of our rude and ignorant ancestors, which every
other nation has abolished for ever as too revolting to the
lights and feelings of the present day, the Turks catch at
and engraft upon their own; and they exhibit at this mo-
ment some of the very worst features of the worst periods of
Asiatic and European barbarism.
The violation of all law and justice displayed in the case
of the Sciotes seemed to be the signal for obliterating what
remained of them among the Turks themselves. The
yamaks, janissaries, and other military, combined, with the
rabble of the city, committed every excess with impunity
They established a kind of “ black mail,” compelling people
to pay them a certain tribute for the security of their per-
sons and property. In this way they laid all the shops of
the metropolis under contributions, including those of the
Turks as well as Rayas. But the outrages that excited most
A
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
25
indignation were those offered to Turkish women. What-
ever insult or violence was practised on Christian females was
a thing too trifling to excite notice ; but now Mahomedans
were equally so treated. They entered the women's baths
hitherto held sacred; and every day females were carried
off and violated.
An atrocious conspiracy was formed
by the leaders, intended to include the whole of the city in
a general devastation. They had provided Greek dresses,
in which they proposed to disguise themselves, and on the
first day of the approaching Bairam to issue out, when the
whole population would be abroad celebrating the festival,
and, having killed some Turks, to spread the alarm that
the insurrection of the Greeks had actually taken place in
the city. They expected that an immediate rising of the
Turkish population would take place, and everything would
be involved in pillage and massacre. It was providentially
discovered by the Janissary Aga, that some of them held
their meetings at a butcher's shop; and on the day before
the execution of their projects the conspirators were seized.
Twenty-six Greek dresses were found in the house in which
they were about to disguise themselves. They were all
imprisoned, including eighteen janissaries. Such was the
partiality or apprehension which those fellows excited, that
they were about to be dismissed with a bastinado, but the
Sultan insisted on making an exemplary punishment.
Most of them, including the janissaries, were brought up
to the Castles of the Bosphorus, and there strangled. One
of their companions attached to the English palace told
me he was present at their execution, but having seen some
of them die, he could not bear to look on any longer, and
hasted away. He had no doubt himself some feeling of
what he deserved, and had a right to expect.
The Sultan, having made this vigorous effort of justice on
26
NARRATIVE OF A
his own people, determined to follow it up by the total sup-
pression of the outrages. It was generally imagined that
the state of feeling and causes of complaint between the
Turks and Russians were of that irreconcilable nature, that
it would be impossible by any negociation or intervention of
other powers to preserve the peace, and the Russians were
hourly expected to pass the Danube and advance to Con-
stantinople. This was to be the signal for a general insur-
rection, in which the surviving Greeks of the capital were
to be massacred, and their property seized and appropriated
by the conspirators. To this end they portioned out the
different districts, with the houses and properties of indivi-
duals. To such a height of careless audacity did they
arrive, that they made no secret of their intentions, and it
was a topic of conversation among the janissaries of the
palace gate, that if they were to march out against the
Russians, they would not leave a Greek alive behind them.
In this proscription of the Greeks, it was understood that
the rich Armenians and Franks were included, and, in fact,
generally all Christians.
A Divan was now assembled, in which the Sultan
avowed his energetic purpose. He declared that he was
himself a janissary, but he renounced the title, since it only
designated men stained with every crime. If the Aga
of the corps and his officers would aid him in putting down
the disorders which threatened entire destruction to the
capital, he would continue still to reside among them. If
not, he would retire with his sons to Asia, and leave the
capital to the destruction which impended over it. A hatta
sherif was immediately published, ordering that all persons
under the age of eighteen and above that of fifty should be
disarmed, and that all idle and disorderly people, who were
known to be the instigators or perpetrators of crimes, should
be apprehended and punished.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
27
his way
The disarming of persons under a certain age might
appear a circumstance of little consequence in such a state of
things, but it was an important measure. Boys were at this
time the most dangerous and intolerable to every person
they met. They went about in troops, generally in a state
of high excitement, discharging their loaded pistols in all
directions. They were the persons of whom we entertained
most apprehension when we walked out, and always avoided
them. One day I met a group of them marching with a
banner. A lad of twelve or thirteen years old ran from
among them, and putting his pistol to my breast, snapped
it; providentially it missed fire, and the janissary who was
with me came up, soothed the lad by tapping him on the
head, and prevailed on him to return to his companions. In
he discharged his pistol at a house—the ball entered
the door, and convinced me of my narrow escape.
The mode of arresting and punishing the delinquents
was very summary, and was another remarkable display of
Turkish process.
It was supposed that fifteen hundred
persons were concerned as leaders or agents in the plot. A
list of their names was made out and given to certain guards
of the Bostangee Bashi, who were acquainted with their
persons. Instead of arresting them and bringing them, as
in other countries, to trial, they had orders to execute them
wherever they met them. Patroles went about with these
lists, and when they met a man whose name was contained
in them, they seized and strangled him on the spot, and then
proceeded on in search of others, leaving the lifeless body
where it fell. Sometimes they waited for the congrega-
tion coming out of a mosque, and seizing the proscribed,
strangled them on the steps. Numbers of them were sent
in small parties of two or three at a time to the castles on
the Bosphorus, and caiques were constantly seen passing
28
NARRATIVE OF A
with them--when they once entered, they never were heard
of again. Among the individuals who suffered was a very
notorious character, who had long been the terror of the
Fanal and the Jews' quarters of Balata behind it. This
was a Hasan Bairactar, who carried his audacities so far
as, with his party, to make open resistance to the patrol.
The people whom he plundered were directed to drag his
body down to the sea, and throw it into the harbour.
In such a sweeping and indiscriminate execution, where
no other proof of guilt was sought than public report or
private information, no doubt many unfortunate persons
suffered either by mistake or malice: but in the entire dis-
organisation and long impunity of the populace, less vio-
lent or unsparing measures would perhaps have been of no
avail. About four hundred of the most dangerous and
licentious fellows of the capital were suddenly cut off by
this process, on many of whom were found large quantities
of plundered property, and a degree of calm and serenity
ensued which had not been felt for a long time before, and
proved that the Sultan, however cruel and sanguinary, was
at least impartial, and no more hesitated to take the life of
a Turk than of a Christian.
A remarkable feature was now displayed in the Turkish
character, which seemed to be a dawning of intellectual
perception, and a suspicion that knowledge had something
to do with the affairs of men. Hitherto they had made no
inquiry about books. There was no police established as
in the despotic governments of Europe who consider that
knowledge is power, to guard against the introduction of
works too liberal and enlightened for their subjects. Every
case of books passed the custom-house, and the gombrook-
gees
neither knew nor cared about the contents, nor, in-
deed, was any precaution necessary for a people of whom
few could read, and those few only read the Koran,
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
29
Mr. Leeves, as agent of the Bible Society, was sending
off a number of copies of the Scriptures in Armenian, Sy-
riac, and other Oriental languages, to Diarbekir and Mou-
soul, which were made up in small cases, or boxes, to pro-
ceed by a caravan. When he applied for a teskerai, or
permit, he was told that the books must first be examined.
On inquiring from the British dragoman to the arsenal the
cause of this, he was informed that the Porte was now begir-
ning to think that books might do harm or good according
to their contents, and they would suffer no more to pass
without a close examination, which was confided to the
Armenian Patriarch. The Armenians were of a passive
and timid character, and had showed no sympathy for their
fellow Christians the Greeks, or in any way entangled them-
selves with the insurrection. They had been even directed
by their Patriarch to decline all communication with them,
so as even to dismiss any servant or other person of that
nation employed about their house. To the Armenian Pa-
triarch, therefore, as to a loyal subject, and having some-
what more glimmering of intelligence than themselves, they
confided this censorship of the press.
At first
, it was supposed that this was a mere form, and
that the simple assurance of the British dragoman that the
books contained nothing dangerous or improper would be
sufficient-but it was not so. The Turks now suspected
every European nation, and particularly the English, as
promoters of knowledge and the power of the press, and
that an appeal to the understanding might be as formi-
dable as an appeal to brute force. The order was there-
fore acted on with great strictness: all the cases that had
been packed up with great care were again opened, and the
books taken out. An agent then arrived from the Arme-
nian Patriarch, who, having examined the books, took away
30
NARRATIVE OF A
a specimen of each to the patriarchate, where they under-
went a strict revision. They were, however, all returned,
with the censor's permission to be circulated, and then sent
out on their destination. It was remarkable that the Turks,
though now beginning to feel some apprehensions about
political, had none at all about religious opinions. Though
they began to think that one might be affected by human
reason, they had no such idea of the other. The Koran
and its doctrine they believed were altogether beyond the
puny efforts of a human understanding to shake or disturb;
they suffered Christian Bibles, therefore, to pass as books
from which they had nothing to fear. Not only books en-
tering but leaving the country were now subject to this in-
spection. A large case was lying at the palace, which I
sent off to an English gentleman, who had left it behind.
The case was ripped up, and the books inspected. As
they were all in western languages, English, French, or
Italian, they were altogether beyond the interpretation of
the censor; they were therefore suffered to pass, as he sagely
said they could do no harm, for no subject of the Porte
could lead them either.
The people of the provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia
have the privilege of electing their own governors, who are
called, in England, Vayvode, or Hospodar. The one is a
Sclavonic word, written in modern Greek Bwißwdą; the
other a corruption of the Russian word, Gospodin, Lord.
The first who assumed the title was Rhaddo Negro, or
Rodolphus the Black, and it was borne by his successors as
independent sovereigns till the time of Mahomet II. The
Wallachians, in his reign, made an ineffectual attempt to
invade his territories on the other side of the Danube, but
they were driven back, when the vayvode was deposed, and
the country became Turkish provinces. But very favour-
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
31
able stipulations were allowed them. They were to pay a
certain tribute, and in return their Vayvode was to be elected
by their bishops and boyars; no mosque was to be erected,
or Turk to enter the country as a resident, and if as a
trader, he was immediately to depart when his business was
done. These and other stipulations continue, in a great
measure, to be observed at this day, with the exception of
the election of the Vayvode, of which they were deprived
for the following reason :-
When Peter the Great advanced into the country into
1711, Constantine Besarabba, the then Vayvode, agreed to
supply him with provisions; but he was terrified by the
preparations of the Turks, and neglected to fulfil his en-
gagement. When the Russians, extricated by the inge-
nuity of the Empress Catherine, retired, he hoped the affair
was ended, but the Turks had received intimation of it, so
he was deposed and put to death, and the rank and office
of Vayvode were conferred on certain Greek families of the
Fanal, who were thence denominated Princes. When a
man served the office of dragoman, or interpreter to the
Porte, he was then eligible to be appointed Hospodar. The
Greeks enjoyed it for a century; they were now, however,
doomed to lose it, and the election again to revert to the
boyars of the country. To this end a deputation of twelve
had arrived at Constantinople, and been for some time resi-
dent there, awaiting the final arrangement.
Meantime the Russians strongly protested against this
change of the dynasty. They insisted that the original sti-
pulations should be adhered to, that the Turks should eva-
cuate the country as they were bound to do, and that Greek
princes alone should be elected as governors. The 'Turks
made a kind of compromise; they agreed to withdraw their
troops, but they were stubborn in their determination to
.
32
NARRATIVE OF A
exclude the Greeks, on whom they could no longer place
any reliance.
The 13th of July was distinguished as the remarkable
era when the Greeks, who for a century had exclusively en-
joyed the dignity and emolument of hospodars of Walla-
chia and Moldavia, were now excluded from it for eyer.
The ceremony of presenting the native boyars at the Porte
took place this day, and I proceeded with some friends to
the Bactche Capi to see it. Horses ready caparisoned, like
those for the British embassy, were in waiting, and the
boyars, to the number of twelve, mounted them. The in-
tended hospodars, Ghika and Stourdza, rode in front. They
were plain, comely, good-humoured looking men, with
broad, ruddy, unmeaning faces, the very opposite in cha-
racter and expression to the acute, intellectual visages of
their predecessors in office. Their dress was a plain cloth
dark-blue beniche, with large calpacs, lined below with a
broad band of dark-grey fur. They proceeded without any
Turkish attendant to the Porte, where we followed them.
They were treated there with very little ceremony. They
first stood in the lower apartments, mixed with the crowd,
and were at length admitted into a little cell, in which the
dragoman of the Porte sits. From hence they were con-
ducted to the Grand Vizir, in whose presence they were not
at first suffered to sit down till their appointment was con-
firmed. They were then treated with pipes and coffee,
and afterwards installed in the Patriarchate Church.
This appointment was what the people of the provinces
earnestly desired, and the refusal of the Turks to comply
with their request, and exclude the Greeks, was the original
cause of that discontent which led to the insurrection, of
which the Greeks availed themselves. It was to be pre-
sumed that native hospodars would have more feeling and
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
33
consideration for the poor oppressed people, than strangers,
whose exactions were intolerable. The whole country was
divided into twenty-two districts, called Ispravnikats, over
which were placed as many Ispravniks, who were changed
with every change of the governor, each hospodar bringing
his own friends. Every Ispravnik, therefore, was a Græculus
esuriens who had his fortune to make out of his little district,
during the short time he should remain. It was supposed
that every new hospodar brought five or six hundred such
dependents with him into the provinces, in different depart-
ments. The new appointments would exempt the peasantry
from this oppression, and the hospodars themselves from
intrigue, humiliation, and corruption in endeavouring to
obtain the situation, and anxiety, misery, and a violent
death after they were appointed. Notwithstanding this, it
was supposed, to the last hour, that one of the family of Ca-
lamachi, and another of the princes of the Fanal, would be
again named to the situation. The Turks were exceed-
ingly reluctant to part with such profitable and intelligent
governors, as “they alone,” they said, “ knew how to get
money first, and refund it gracefully afterwards."
Another place of profit and honour, from which the
Greek princes are now excluded, is that of dragoman to the
Porte, to which also, from long usage, they had a kind of
prescriptive title. On the death of the last, the Turks were
greatly embarrassed to carry their intended exclusion into
effect. They could not find an individual of themselves in
the empire, who was able to speak a foreign language. It
was one of the extraordinary features of their character
that they prided themselves on their ignorance, and if a
Turk was known to be guilty of acquiring any language but
his father's, he immediately lost caste, and was despised
as a degenerate Mussulman. In this dilemma, sooner than
VOL. II.
D
34
NARRATIVE OF A
trust again to the suspicious fidelity of the Greeks in the
present critical state of their affairs, they appointed a rene-
gade Jew, who had lately conformed to the Mahomedan
faith, and therefore had not degraded it while learning the
prohibited language; and in order to have a future supply,
a school was established at the Porte, for instructing a num-
ber of young Turks in the European tongues, the necessity
of their affairs at length conquering their deep-rooted repug-
nance to knowledge.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
35
CHAPTER II.
Set out to visit ScioJanissary and Italian Servant-New aspect of Dar-
danelles~Gallipoli–Lampsacus-Adventure at Abydos—Tenedos Wine
--Scriptural usage-Metelyn-Harbour of Smyrna-Inbat-Refraction of
the Atmosphere-Curious Confirmation of Oppian's Story~Gaiety of
Smyrna-Merchants' residence-Consul Werry Revolting Spectacle-St.
Polycarp-Amazon's Head-Homer's Grotto
Proceed to Teos Effects of
Persecution of Greeks—Valonia-Caprification–First Figs sent to Eng.
land-Sevrihissar-Aga—Brutal Turk-Sediják–Marbles of the Teian
Diræ-Remnant of Greek Population-Beauty of Teos-Country of Ana-
creon—Theatie, Temple, and Mole-Perfect Remains-Contrast of Pre-
sent and Ancient State of People-Robbers of Corycus-Vourla–High
State of Cultivation-Mole of Alexander-Isle of Clazomenæ--Canal of
Alexander-Bath of Agamemnon.
DEEPLY interested in everything that regarded Scio and
its cruel fortunes, I availed myself of the first opportunity
which presented itself of visiting the island, to be satisfied
with
my own eyes of the actual state in which it was left,
and in the hope that report had exaggerated the calamity.
To this end I proceeded with my friend Mr. Leeves to
Smyrna. We took with us a palace janissary, of the name
of Achmet, a stout man with a certain coarse and peremptory
manner, as if he had assumed additional importance from
the human sufferings his countrymen had the power of in-
flicting. We also took Giacomo, a light, flexible, talkative
Italian, the very contrast of our robust and taciturn Turk
The contrast was equally striking in other respects. The
janissary, who did nothing for us, exacted four times as
much as the Italian, who did every thing. We agreed also
with a Genoese captain of a brig, and having obtained a
firman, extending to various places in Asia Minor, we set
sail for Smyrna on the 20th of August.
D 2
36
NARRATIVE OF A
*
In passing down the Dardanelles I saw it under a new
aspect. Many circumstances struck me which I did not
before notice. The position of Gallipoli, as we entered the
strait, was very imposing. It stood out like a sentinel as
it were, to guard the pass; and even in its present dilapi-
dated state justified the name it once had acquired, of
xaritonis, the Fair City, by which it was known to Pliny
By land it was the most important pass into Thrace; and
therefore the Emperor Justinian, whose passion for archi-
tecture seemed not to have been confined to churches, nor
his views of policy to the civil code, sagaciously fortified this
place, and supplied it with magazines to support a large
garrison. The barbarous Franks, however, who seemed to
have been the precursors of the Turks in bringing desola-
tion on their fellow-Christians, destroyed these fortifications,
and the Catalans did more--they massacred all the inha-
bitants. The Greeks, when relieved from them, again
repaired the fortifications of this important place; but no-
thing could more strongly mark the imbecility into which
the empire had fallen, than the impression made by the
Turks when they took possession of this key to the capital.
As soon as Palæologus, the reigning Emperor, heard it,
he carelessly said, “What have they taken but a pitcher
of wine and a pig-stief !” alluding to the stores of provision
laid up there, and their worthlessness to the Turks, whose
law prohibited the use of such food.
The town of Lampsacus, on the opposite shore, now also
realized the ancient descriptions of it, covered with vines,
loaded with fruit, which at this season were exceedingly
luxuriant, and justified the appellation of TEOQUtov, be-
stowed on it by Diodorus 1. It is now two thousand three
* Lib.iv. cap. 2.
Αμπελοφυσον εχουσαν χωραν πολλήν εις οινον, ,
+ Cantemir, lib. ii.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
37
hundred years since it was conferred by Artaxerxes on The-
mistocles, to supply his table with wine, and the face even
of artificial cultivated nature remains the same at this day*.
This practice of making a present of a city was not confined
to the East or remote periods. There are many instances
of it in more modern times. You are aware that the
Charter is yet extant in the Record Office, by which Henry
II. conferred Dublin on his good citizens of Bristow.
As we advanced towards the Dardanelles, we saw a vessel
on shore on the Thracian coast. We found she was a brig
called the Briton; she was lying in apparently a very
hopeless situation, nearly on her beam ends. In attempting
to tack "she missed stays, and backed aground on a flat
shore. This is an accident that every day occurs in this
strait, and occasions such damage and delay, that even
already in the infancy of steam-navigation the merchants of
Constantinople are talking of establishing a steam-vessel
expressly for the purpose of towing ships from the Archi-
pelago to the Sea of Marmora.
The point of Abydos was no longer obstructed by the
wrecks of the vessels I had seen the year before. They
were all removed, and left no more trace of the ships of the
Turks than of the bridge of the Persians. Of a Turkish
ship of the line and five frigates which were drawn
up
here
to oppose Admiral Duckworth, but one escaped to bring
the news to Constantinople, the rest were destroyed on the
spot where I had seen their wrecks.
The current ran here with great impetuosity, and if Sestos
stood directly opposite, it would considerably lessen the pro-
bability of Leander's story. It stood, however, three or
four miles lower down, so that the strength of the current
would rather facilitate the passage to it. As it was a sub-
* Ut inde vinum sumeret.--Corn. Nep, in vit. Them,, lib. xi. c. 8.
38
NARRATIVE OF A
ject of some interest to swim in this celebrated spot, we
availed ourselves of the opportunity. A rigid examination
was here made of every vessel that passed, to intercept any
Greek fugitives that might attempt to escape; and having
gone through the ordeal ourselves, which was so severe a
scrutiny that we wondered how any poor Greek could evade
it, we agreed to bathe, so we let down a lad der and jumped
into the sea. My companion was an excellent swimmer,
and I, as you know, from my boyhood was amphibiou .
We found the water exceedingly buoyant, and as the wea-
ther was delightfully warm, and no danger of “getting the
ague," we seriously talked of adding to the list of fools, and
venturing across. Our time, however, was very limited ;
and after swimming about for a considerable space, we
directed our course to the ship. We were somewhat
surprised that we did not get nearer, and at length we
discovered, to our no small dismay, that the vessel had
set sail without us, leaving us to follow as we might. We
now attempted to hail, but she was at such a distance that
we could not be heard; we therefore had nothing left to do
but to exert ourselves, which we did with all our might:
Providentially there was not much wind, and the current
was strong, so we at length came up with the ship in a
very exhausted state. When alongside, we called loudly
for a rope, and Achmet, now for the first time seeing our
situation, seized the next thing he could lay his hand on.
This was a large ship's chain, which even he could hardly
lift., but taking the whole up in his arms, he threw it down
One link only striking my arm, nearly broke it;
had the whole fallen on either of our heads, we should not
have lived to thank our awkward janissary for his care of
us. When we got on board, we supposed that in measuring
with our eye the distance we had swum, it was more than
on us.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
39
across the Straits. They are in this place but seven stadia,
or eight hundred and seventy-five steps, or paces.
We
had, however, the advantage of the current, but our expe-
rience was sufficient to convince us that the thing was easily
practicable by an expert swimmer.
Our captain, when taxed with exposing us to the peril of
being drowned, pretended to know nothing of our not being
on board when he weighed anchor, which might have been,
and probably was the case, in the bustle and hurry of all
on board a ship in the act of sailing; but his countryman,
Giacomo, hinted to me that the Genoese were slippery fel-
lows. His expression recalled their character of old. It is
usual always in the East to pay before hand; we had done
so for our passage, and he would not have been very sorry,
Giacomo said, to have left us behind in any manner. If
such a fancy had entered his head, we might say to him-
Vane Ligur,
Nequicquam patrias tentasti lubricus artes.
We now passed the Castles of the Dardanelles, and Ach-
met informed us of their sonorous names. One was called
Kellidil Bahar, the Eye of the Sea, and the other Sultanie
Kalessi, the Great Town of the Sultan. The town is famous
for its pottery, and ships in passing usually bring speci-
mens as presents to friends-we did so. They were formed
of a remarkably fine clay, highly gilt, but as rude in their
structure as any other work of Turkish art. The soil that
produces the clay is very unfavourable to the people. The
site is low and marshy, and whenever the plague becomes
epidemic in the country it is here particularly mortal. It
was now the sultry and sickly season of the year, and we
were glad to leave the pestiferous atmosphere.
While lying off Tenedos a boat came alongside with wine.
40
NARRATIVE OF A
It was contained in goat skins, sewed up, and for the first
time I saw this Oriental Scripture usage. One of them had
burst from the fermentation of the wine, so we found that
the consequence of “putting new wine into old bottles” was
as common now as formerly. The wine was the growth of
the island, and it is much esteemed in the East. It is red,
with a body not so strong as port, but stronger than claret,
and is exceedingly pleasant. In the days of Homer it was
not perhaps so good, for the Greeks got their wine, I think,
from Lemnos, which was indistinctly seen on the distant
horizon; but in the days of Themistocles it was in high
esteem. When Tournefort visited the East it was consi-
dered the most delicious wine of the Levant*. Its price was
no less agreeable than its quality-it was sold at the rate of
twopence halfpenny a quart. The same wine is made along
the whole Straits of the Dardanelles, particularly in the
fertile vineyards of Lampsacus, and was probably the r
son why the king of Persia conferred that town upon his
Grecian guest.
The ridge of Mount Ida was now seen rising before us,
a most distinct and picturesque object, running in a rugged
and irregular summit to Cape Baba, the ancient Lectos.
From hence the island of Metelyn rose on our view. The first
town visible reminded us of its former state. It is called
Sigri, with little variation from its ancient appellation t;
but the name of the island itself is lost, having merged into
that of its capital city, which no longer exists, Metelyn being
an obvious corruption of it. It is the largest and finest of
the Grecian islands, with the exception of Crete, and has
lost nothing of its former populousness, for in the time of
* Le vin muscat de cette île est le plus délicieux du Levant.-Lett. xi.
vol. i.
† Erygrov, Strab.--Asyygiov, Ptolem., in extremo septentrione insulæ Lesbi
promontorium.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
41
Tournefort it contained one hundred and twenty towns' and
villages. We were anxious to learn the fate of the country
of Pittacus, Theophrastus, Alcæus, and Sappho. We found
that, when the Samiotes landed at Scio, the whole popula-
tion of the principal towns of Plumari and Ayasso, in Mete-
lyn, were in a state of fermentation; the sudden and awful
catastrophe of the former island, however, warned them to
desist in time. The Pasha was preparing to march against
them, the same populace was ready to pour in among them
from the main, and no doubt the same scenes would have
been repeated on this devoted and flourishing island also.
As the Greek and Turkish fleets were out, and we were
now just in their track, we expected to fall in with one or
both. We met with what appeared to us a large fleet, but
they were merchantmen, off Cape Bournou, standing into
the harbour of Smyrna, and we entered with them, availing
ourselves of a strong breeze which daily sets in. This is
called the Inbat, and blows with the steadiness and regu-
larity of a tropical trade-wind. It prevails more or less in
all the harbours of the Levant, though they lie in different
directions. It is supposed to arise from the rarefaction of
the air by the intense heat of the sun in the interior extre-
mities of harbours, generally surrounded by semicircular
chains of hills, and to supply the vacuum left by air so rare-
fied, and preserve the equilibrium, a continued current
rushes from without in the direction of the bay where it
takes place, and it is always strong in proportion to the
rarefying cause, as it is usually observed that the more
intense the heat and the more sultry the air, the stronger
is the inbat. It is so constant at Smyrna that vessels rely
on it as a certain means of entering the harbour every day,
and when they leave the port take care to sail every morn-
ing before it commences.
42
NARRATIVE OF A
Another curious natural phenomenon was, the extraordi-
nary power of refraction in certain states of the atmosphere,
arising perhaps from the same cause, the rarefaction of the air,
and a change in the density of the medium through which
the rays of light passed. We saw Smyrna rising before
us apparently beside the fortress, with the houses so distinct
and well defined that we supposed we were quite close to it,
and were preparing to land. As we approached, however,
the delusion dissipated, and when we arrived at where we
supposed the town lay, it seemed to have vanished from the
place; and on looking out for it we saw it scarcely and dimly
perceptible in the distant horizon, fifteen miles farther on.
The bay is also distinguished by a very curious and
interesting fact in natural history, which engaged the atten-
tion of the ancients, and is recorded by Oppian in his Ha-
lieutics. It abounds with a large muscle, called the sea
wing *, whose fish is used for food, and whose beard is ma-
nufactured into silk. There is also here the large cuttle
fish t, which makes it its prey by insinuating its feelers be-
tween the shells when it finds them open; but this is pre-
vented by a wise precaution of nature. A small crab con-
stantly dwells in the muscle's shell, “ who pays," as an old
writer quaintly says, “a good price for her lodging.” The
crab sees very sharply, and is always on the watch, so when he
perceives the enemy approaching, he notifies it to his blind
friend, who closes her ample shell, and shuts out the robber.
Curious to ascertain what foundation there was for this
pretty story, I induced a sailor to dive down and bring up
some of these shells, which we saw lying opening and closing
at the bottom. He brought up several large ones : as they
lay exposed to the sun they began to gape; immediately there
appeared at the opening a little crab with red eyes, and on
* Pinna ingens.
+ Sepia octopodia.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE,
43
approaching the finger, the crab retired and the shell closed.
In every shell we opened we found this solitary active, little
crab,.and who is for that reason called the Muscle Guar-
diàn*. It is easy to account for the retirement of one
animal from the approach of danger, and for the closing of
the shell of the other, from the puncture of its claws in the
movement; but what nature intended by placing this single
crab always in the shell of this muscle, is one of her mys-
teries. The foundation, however, for Oppian's pretty story
is not a fiction.
The approach to Smyrna was very enlivening. Of all the
cities of the Apocalypse, this is the only one which is not
desolate. There was no denunciation of the removal of
its candlestick, like that of Ephesus, and it is now per-
haps as populous and flourishing as it was in the time of
the Apostles. It happened to be the morning of the day
of St. Louis, and the French were celebrating the Christian
festival with great pomp and show.
The harbour was
crowded with ships of all nations. Six French men-of-war
and a number of merchant vessels had their yards and
rigging decorated with flags of all gay colours. Salutes of
cannon were returned from ship to ship, and visits of cere-
mony in canopied boats, attended with bands of music, were
everywhere passing, filled with company in their gayest attire,
and the whole presented a scene of hilarity and freedom
which I was not prepared to see Christians enjoy in a Turkish
port at this dismal time. The evening was concluded with a
grand ball for the better classes, while the lower were rioting
and dancing, and shouting through the streets. In effect, the
French were living in this great city in the same style now
as Sonnini found then half a century ago t. They seemed to
consider it as belonging to them, and were as much at home
** Καρκίνος έννοιει, φέρθει δε μίν ήδε φυλάσσει
Τω και πιννοφύλαξ κικλήσκεται.--Op. Hal. lib. ii.
+ Sonnini, Travels, vol. ii.
P.
329.
44
NARRATIVE OF A
at Smyrna as at Marseilles. The Turks acquiesced in all
this mirth with a passive kind of toleration. They did
not prevent it, though they afterwards complained of it.
The establishments of the merchants here are among the
most splendid and commodious in the East. The Frank
quarter where they are situated forms a marino, with a
range of edifices running along the shore. The lower part
is devoted to offices and stores, the upper consists of long
galleries, terminating in saloons which overlook the sea.
These galleries and saloons are lofty and spacious, and freely
ventilated by the daily inbat, which blows directly through
them. We first visited the Consul Werry, a venerable
patriarch of eighty, who, in the painful and perilous scenes
of the year before, displayed the vigour and intrepidity of
youth. Instead of preparing to retire from the danger on
board the ships like others, he put on his consular coat, and
marching up and down the Marino, with the skirts swag-
gering between his legs, he set the Turks at defiance in the
midst of the persecution which threatened to involve the
whole Christian population in the carnage of the Greeks.
From his fearless and uncompromising demeanour, the
Turks conferred on him the appellation of Delhi, a name
which they give to such of their own soldiers as distin-
guish themselves by their headlong intrepidity, and respected
him accordingly. We afterwards found him a very hos-
pitable and pleasant man, full of anecdote and informa-
tion. We took up our abode, however, with the Rev.
Mr. Arundell, the chaplain, in whom I discovered an old
friend.
The present town forms a semicircle of about three miles
in extent at the termination of the harbour. The northern
extremity ends in a flat marsh, the other in a ridge of hills,
on which stand many conspicuous ruins, which mark the
more healthful and eligible site of the ancient town. These
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
45
of course we proceeded to explore. As we approached, the
first thing that struck us was an intolerable odour, which
exhaled from the shore at the base of the hills. We found
it to proceed from the remains of different animals which
were thrown there, and rotting in various stages of putridity.
To add to the revolting effect of this, we were told that it
had been the spot where the Greeks were generally mas-
sacred. During the ferment in Smyrna the year before,
nearly eight hundred unfortunate victims were dragged to
this place, and assassinated in cold blood. Here, as in
Constantinople, the Turks had favourite spots for taking
away human life, and, as if to show their contempt, they
perpetrated the deed among the carcasses of dogs and
horses. Through the mouldering remains of this Golgotha
we recognized human bones mixed with those of the inferior
animals, and we hastened to leave a spot rendered frightful
by the atrocities committed, as it was dangerous from the
foul miasma generated under a burning sun. As we passed
it we met some Turks, who seemed disposed to be more
than usually rude and ferocious, addressing us in a coarse
and boisterous manner, and discharging their pistols close
beside us, as if the recollection of their cruelty had ren-
dered them more brutal in the vicinity of the place where
it had been indulged.
As we ascended the hill we found it encumbered with
the remains of walls. Neither ruins nor coins have much
interest with me unless they illustrate some event, and then,
as they are the auxiliaries of history, they become no less
interesting than important. Here are the ruins of a sta
dium, a temple, and a fortress still standing. The two
first are marked by a striking event. The church is that
of St. Polycarp. He was the disciple of St. John, and the
first bishop of Smyrna appointed by the infant Christian
tchurch, not long after the death of Christ. After living to
46
NARRATIVE OF A
the age of one hundred and four he was burnt alive in the
theatre, or stadium, contiguous to his church, in the reign
of Marcus Aurelius. The idea of a Christian bishop taken
from his place of worship, and led into a place of public
amusement to be burnt, as one of the spectacles to entertain
the audience, affords another instance of the many frightful
pictures of the ferocity of that period, as the event happened
in the most opulent city, and among the most polished people
of Asia. It was in keeping with the modern sacrifice of Chris-
tians, the remains of which we had just passed, but it: sur-
passed it as much in atrocity as the refinement of the po-
lished Romans exceeded the barbarism of the Turks. In
the wall beside the gate of the fortress stands a colossal
head of white marble. It is now greatly mutilated by the
Turks, who usually make it a butt at which to discharge
their tophecks and pistols. In this way the nose has been
obliterated and the other features injured, but there remains
sufficient of the soft features and flowing hair to designate
it to be the bust of a woman; and hence it has been con-
14:21
3 ३
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RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
47
jectured to be that of the Amazon who founded Smyrna,
and which is seen on the early medals as the emblems of
the city*.
Among the objects of curiosity which strangers visit is the
Meles, a small stream which runs beside the town. It is one
of the places that lays claim to Homer, from whence he is
called Melesigenes, and his poems Meletææ Chartæ. Various
medals of the town have his head impressed on them, and
tradition affirms that the Iliad was composed on the banks
of its river, in a grotto still to be seen. We traced the
stream from its muddy mouth a considerable way towards
its source, but could find no grotto like one where, according
to the Anthology, Apollo said he sung, and Homer copied
his verses t.. The stream is not at all romantic, and the
least calculated to inspire a poet.
Details of this celebrated city, so well known and so fre-
quently given, you will not require of me; so, after visiting
everything sight-worthy in it and its vicinity, we prepared
to visit a less known, but more interesting object of cu-
riosity.
There is a peninsula which projects from hence into the
Ægæan, which lies out of the road to any populous places,
and is therefore seldom traversed by travellers. The dis-
trict now, as in other ages, has a bad name, a range of
hills stretching through it, called Corycus, which Strabo and
Pliny say was so infamous for depredations, that Corycian
and robber were synonymous termsi. The moral qualities
of the inhabitants, like features of nature, continue un-
changed at the present day, and they are so notorious that
few venture to travel among them. We took, however, an
* Ab Amazone condita Smyrne.-Pl. lib. v. cap. 29.
+ Εγω δ' αίδων, χαρασσε δε θείος 'Ομηρος.
Corycus obsessus prædonibus, a quorum insidiis clancularios observatores
καιώρυκαιους dici.
.
48
NARRATIVE OF A
additional janissary, and two armed surrogees, and set out
with a cavalcade of nine horses. Our principal object was
to visit Teos, the town of Anacreon, which is situated near
the extremity of the peninsula. This celebrated place lies
in this solitary district, like another Tadmor in the desert,
and very few travellers have explored it. One of the first,
I believe, who published any account of its present state was
Chandler, who was sent to examine it by the Dilettanti So-
ciety, in 1734, and since then it was visited by others, whose
details of it excited our curiosity in a high degree.
A few miles from Smyrna the country was very beautiful
--the hills wooded to their summits, opening into deep
romantic glens, and sometimes expanding into fertile vales.
These seemed but a short time ago to be highly cultivated,
and we saw everywhere the remains of vines, figs, and other
fruit trees; but the branches were torn down, the enclosures
broken through and trampled. They had belonged to the
unfortunate Greeks, who had fled or were killed, and the
wild boar and the fox had already taken possession of them.
The only human beings we saw in these beautiful and cul-
tivated spots were some gipsies. A horde had pitched an
encampment here, and formed, with their dark visages,
squalid aspect, and conical tents, a little village like a Hot-
tentot kraal.
Our way from hence lay through a forest of the oak
which yields the valonia*, which forms so extensive an
article of commerce from the Levant. The part used is the
calyx of the fruit, which is of immense size, and possesses
powerful astringent qualities. It was just the time of the
valonia harvest, and they were gathering it in. Some men
were beating the branches with long poles, and others were
collecting, with hooked instruments, the acorns which co-
* Quercus Ægiloj's.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
49
vered the ground. As we looked on, the people touched the
soles of their shoes, to intimate to us that the fruit was used
for tanning leather.
This is the region of figs, and they were gathering in
the harvest of these also. We could not find that the
pro-
cess of caprification, so frequently described by writers, was
practised in this place, though we had curious evidence that
nature still carries it on unnoticed by man. The theory,
you know, is this: the parts of fructification in the fig reside
within the germen of the fruit, and covered by the rind, so
that the pollen of the male cannot be communicated by the
ordinary process which takes place in other plants. But
nature has provided a very curious mode of communication.
A gnat, or cynips, is found always on the pollen-bearing
plant, which, at a particular season, perforates the esculent
fruit for the purpose of depositing its eggs; and in so doing
bears with it the fructifying farina, and impregnates all the
pistilla within, which, without such a circumstance, could
never come in contact with it, or duly ripen the fruit; and to
facilitate this process it is usual, in some places, to plant the
barren fig on which the insect is found beside the others, or
fasten it by a thread, like a necklace, round the fruit-bearing
tree, and so artificially promote this mode of caprification.
That the process does take place I saw exemplified by fact.
In a house where figs were pressed and packed for export-
ation, I perceived the walls and ceiling covered over with
small worms busily moving about. They were the larvæ of
the cynips, which had been deposited withinside the fig, and,
becoming animated in due season, had forced their way out
of their ro
procreant cradle," and so crawled over the walls
of the house ; all the figs had small perforations from which
they had escaped. This is so constantly the case, that the
fruit ships which carry the figs to England swarm with these
* VOL. II.
E
50
NARRATIVE OF A
insects at a particular time; and a gentleman told me, who
came a passenger in one of them, that he was awoke in the
morning by an intolerable itching, and found himself and
his berth covered over with them. I am always well pleased
when I can add anything to illustrate the beautiful myste-
ries of nature in her operations. You remember Darwin's
personification of Caprifica striking her talisman, and the
progress of her airy lover, like a knight of romance, mounting
his winged steed and flying to her chamber-door*. It is a
companion for Oppian's account of the cancer and the pinna;
and the poets, you see, were not without good foundation
for their fictions.
There is another circumstance connected with the figs
here, which may interest you to know. The Turks are
remarkably fond of them, and, like the Athenians of old,
prohibited their exportation, and sycophants formed a class
as numerous among one people as the other. But Charles
II. of England, it seems, was fond of figs also : so in the
year 1676 a commercial treaty was concluded with Maho-
met IV. by our then ambassador, Sir J. Finch, by which
it was stipulated, “ that two ship loads of figs should be
allowed to be annually exported from Smyrna, for the use of
the king's kitchen.” These and currants were the only com-
mestibili legally allowed to be exported from Turkey, and
under the shadow of this treaty all England has been since
supplied with them.
From hence we entered a rich plain, terminated by a
village at each end. From its situation and fertility it was
probably very early cultivated ; and we found the remains
of ancient edifices and ancient practices. We saw pillars
which announced an ancient temple, and the ruins of an
altar, with an imperfect Greek inscription, now converted
* Botan. Gard., Canto iv. v. 439.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
51
into an apparatus for a shower-bath. The plain was en-
tirely intersected by trenches for the process of irrigation,
and carried on exactly as it was in the days of Homer. A
man stood with a mattock in his hand, and opening the
communication between the trenches, the water trickled
down the gently-inclined planes, and, as the poet says, often
overtook him in their progress.
In the evening we approached the sea, and the island of
Samos rose conspicuous on the distant horizon. Two Turkish
towns lay before us on either hand, Sevrihissar and Sedi-
jak, and as the latter was a walled town, and we should be
subject to the restraint of a fortified place in these unsettled
times, we preferred the former, and proceeded thither. We
entered the town, and were met by a Turk, who proposed to
lead us to the Aga. We passed through a court-yard, as-
cended a flight of stairs, and our conductor removing a carpet,
or veil, which always hangs before the entrance of an Orien-
tal apartment from time immemorial, we entered a saloon.
Here we found the Aga sitting smoking on his divan, with
a molha on one side and his son on the other. He treated
us with the usual pipes and coffee, and then demanded to
see our firmans. He asked if we were French; but finding
we were English, he expressed himself well pleased, the
rumour having every where gone abroad that we were well-
wishers of the Turks and hostile to their enemies.
On retiring, our conductor brought us to his own house,
and here we found he was one of the adventurers who had
proceeded for plunder and slaves to Scio. His house was
filled with both. In the apartment where we sat were two
women and two children, whom he told us with exultation
he had carried off. Among other females whom he ostenta-
tiously ordered in to attend us was one exceedingly dejected,
and the image of hopeless misery. She had been living
E 2
52
NARRATIVE OF A
happily with an English family in Smyrna, but was acci-
dentally on the island when the storm burst upon it, and
was now obliged to submit to the common lot. No distinc-
tion was made between natives or others, but every individual
found there at the time, who had the misfortune to be a
Turkish raya, or subject, was seized and carried off by the
first ruffian who could catch them. There was an unfortu-
nate papas who stood waiting on this man. As a brother
clergyman, we wished to show him some attention, and
offered him a pinch of snuff. The man's countenance
brightened up at this little show of kindness, and he stretched
out his hand to accept it, but he was paralyzed by a frown
and a growl from his master, and dropped his arm and
hung his head in a state of the most abject terror and sense
of degradation.
We now proceeded to the place appointed for us as a
conak. In a case like ours, the Aga appoints a residence
at the house of some raya, generally a Greek, who must sur-
render it to us with all its accommodation as long as we
choose to stay, and seek with his family another abode. We
were not under the painful necessity of disturbing any one
on this occasion, for the proprietor was dead. There had
been a population of about two hundred Greeks and four
priests in this place. Whenever the Samiotes or others
landed on the coast, and committed any depredations, the
Turks turned on these unfortunate people, till by degrees
they killed them all nearly, and supplied their place with
slaves from the island. One papas whom we afterwards
saw showed us a severe wound on his arm; we gave him a
Greek Bible, which seemed a great consolation to him.
We found that the Aga had sent us a present of ten fowls
and a basket of melons, so Giacomo cooked for us a good
supper. While preparing to sit down, our officious Turk
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE,
53
sent us word that he would visit us after supper; but before
we had well begun he came in, with a person he called his
dragoman. Though he said he was already done, he began
again, and devoured a considerable portion of the fowls
we had dressed, assisted by his dragoman, clawing every-
thing before him with his dirty hands. The only use
he made of his knife was connected with a revolting re-
mark which no human being but a Turk could make. After
flourishing it, he divided a fowl, and said, with much satis-
faction, that he had acquired his dexterity by practice. in
cutting off the heads of Greeks. At first he made a show of
taking nothing but water ; presently, however, he took wine
and then rum, without scruple or moderation. He conti-
nued this way for several hours, while we were exhausted
with fatigue and anxious to lie down. At length we heard
the explosion of a cannon and music in the street. We
found it was the celebration of a wedding, so our visiter
started
up, and went off without ceremony to share in the
good things there also. We seized on our good fortune,
bolted the door, and took care he should not get in again.
I mention this fellow as a representative of his tribe and of
those who depopulated Scio. He seemed to regard no re-
straint which the law of Mahomet imposes on his followers :
he affected a certain facetiousness which resembled good
humour or good nature, but he was as brutal and cruel as
he was selfish and sensual.
Next day the Aga requested to see us before our depar-
ture, and we found he did not mean to present us with his
fowls and melons for nothing. After coffee he produced a
case of silver-mounted pistols and a musket, and requested
we would send him others from England of a similar kind,
in return for his hospitality. He was very particular that I
should take down the exact dimensions, which, to satisfy him,
54
NARRATIVE OF A
I did on the back of the firman, and he exacted a promise
that we would not forget it. Thinking, however, that it
would not be right to supply either of the belligerents with
munitions of war, we satisfied our consciences for: not re-
membering it.
We set out next morning for Sedijâk, intending to make
it our head-quarters, and from it visit Teos, which is but
two miles distant; it lies on one side of a marshy flat, on
a narrow isthmus, and Teos on the other. It is a walled
town, and we entered by the east gate. We remained
for some time standing in the street, and at. length were led
by a Turk to a ruined area beside a bastion, and from
thence, ascending the rampart of the wall, and walking
along an avenue filled with the most revolting ordure and
offals, we arrived at a square tower, having a square apart-
ment, over one of the town gates, which was to be our dwell-
ing. Nothing could be more dreary than this ruined cell.
Its only look out was over the filthy passage by which we
had entered, with the smell of which the air of the room
was tainted. The rubbish of the wall was falling down and
encumbering the floor, and the rotten boards were eaten
into large holes. The only window was without glass,
and the light half excluded by thick, rusty bars of iron.
We all agreed it was the most sickening place we had ever
entered, yet it was the only accommodation the town
afforded.
Among the motives which induced us to come to this
place was, to search for inscriptions, and particularly for
one, which has long excited the attention of the learned
world. This was the Teian Diræ, or the curses uttered
by the Teians against various offences, resembling those ex-
tracted from the Old Testament, and used in our churches
on Ash Wednesday. The ancients, both in sacred and
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE,
55
profane history, used imprecations of this kind. They were
first deciphered by Chishull, a former chaplain at Smyrna,
and on which he has written a long and learned disserta-
tion. He considers them contemporary with Anacreon,
and the rarest monument that exists, except the Sigæan
Marble* This curious inscription was said by Pococke to
be at Erikui, but by Chandler at Sedijâk. The latter did
not, however, see it, because the plague was raging there, and
he could not enter the bath where the marbles were reported
to be. We proceeded therefore to this bath, and inquired after
them. The place was appropriated to females, and access
was not easy; however, after some time we were admitted
for a moment. Round a small ante-room were stone seats,
and supporting one of them were two marble slabs, each
containing a Greek inscription in three perpendicular co-
lumns. On bending down to read it, we were vexed to
perceive that the letters were inverted, and the commence-
ment of each buried in the ground; so that any effort to
decipher them, before we were again hurried out, was fruit-
less. A female bath is more sacred than a harem, and it
was dangerous, as well as hopeless, to attempt to enter
again; so all we could do was to make our janissary pro-
mise the Turk, who had the care of the bath, a large reward
if he would contrive to have the marbles removed, and for-
warded to me for the Elchi Bey, at the British palace.
This he faithfully promised to do by the first vessel which
sailed from the little port of the town.
This town was one of those which the enterprising Ge-
noese erected on this coast, on the site of the ancient Geræ,
to protect their commerce, about the same time they built
Galata, and the present inhabitants refer everything to
them. There are a few rusty cannon on the walls, and the
* Antiq. Asiat,, fol. 96.
56
NARRATIVE OF A
Turks ostentatiously thrust their linstocks above the ram-
parts, to intimate that they are ready for any attack. The
interior contains about one hundred houses, the most ruined
and dilapidated that even Turkish desolation presented any
where else. There had been a population of about forty
Greeks, but, like those of Sevrihissar, some of them were
stabbed or shot by the Turks whenever their countrymen
landed on the coast, and they were now reduced to two in-
dividuals. On coming out of the bath a female met us at.
the door: while the Turks were engaged conversing about
the marbles, she took occasion to attract my notice, by un-
covering part of her face. I leaned towards her, and she
whispered me she was a Christian, and, drawing aside her
cloak, showed me a wound in her side. The Turks now
turned about, and she again hastily covered her face, with
a look of such imploring misery as I shall never forget. I
found she was one of the two survivors of the whole Greek
population. It would have delighted us to have taken this
poor creature with us from her exquisite suffering, but we
had 110 means, and it is probable a few days terminated
them.
We now proceeded to Bodrum, the ancient Teos. Our
way led through a vale of surpassing beauty; sometimes
we rode along green avenues, lined with elms, up which
vines were creeping to their summits, and thence hanging
down, loaded with waving foliage, or, stretching from tree
to tree, formed a drapery of festoons by our side, or arches
over our heads; sometimes the prospect opened into glades,
through which single trees were scattered, covered in the
same way. We often stopped under these viny shades, to
refresh ourselves with the delicious fruit, and were asto-
nished at the inconceivable luxuriance and profusion. In-
terspersed with the vines were figs, pomegranates, and other
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
57
was his
fruits, in equal richness and abundance. Flowers of all
hues bedecked the ground—the air was fragrant, balmy,
and delicious, and we all exclaimed, that if ever a soil and
climate could afford a theme for a luxurious poet, this must
have been the one that inspired Anacreon's songs, and here
appropriate abode. As we approached the shore
we found the beautiful sea-lily*, justly supposed by some
to be the real lily of the poet +, its graceful form and exqui-
site whiteness giving it a high claim to poetical distinction,
as well as its being the only one found in this place.
From these beautiful environs we entered the city, and
were no less surprised at the evidence it afforded of former
magnificence. We first explored the amphitheatre; and
this at once, from its size and structure, proved how popu-
lous was the city, as well as how cultivated were the people
who built it. It displayed a semicircle of one hundred and
thirty yards near the bottom, which gradually widened as
it ascended, the whole forming an immense mound of ma-
sonry. The remains of the seats were still traceable, and
the arches, by which a communication was opened to the
different parts, in some places quite perfect.
was scattered over with fragments of mouldings and broken
inscriptions, some of the letters of which were still sharp and
legible. The only living beings now found in this once
crowded place were serpents, which were so abundant that
we trod among the ruins with great caution; everywhere in
the passages we saw their exuviæ left behind, and protrud-
ing from the apertures in the walls.
Below the theatre was the temple of Bacchus. This had
been celebrated by antiquity as the most superb of the
The area
* Pancration maritimum.
+ "Οπως πρέπει τα λευκά
Pódous xgiva Taxíyra.--In Puellam. Od. 34.
58
NARRATIVE OF A
Ionian edifices. Since the remains have been engraved and
its history published in the Ionian Antiquities, and' Lord
Despencer has formed a temple on its model at High Wick-
ham, any account from me would be superfluous. Among
the beautiful fragments of sculpture that remained scattered
about were tigers' heads, as emblematic of the Deity to
whom it was dedicated. Some of these appear under the
low bushes among which they had fallen, and were so per-
fect, and the expression so animated, that they actually
seemed to belong to the living animal, crouching in the.
shade, and ready to spring upon us from his lair.
Having explored various prostrate edifices, whose remains
lay everywhere about, we proceeded to the Mole, which pro-
jected into the harbour. It seemed a work of great labour.
The length of six hundred feet from the land is still seen
above the surface of the water, and we could trace it to a
considerable distance farther where it had sunk below. It
was formed of solid blocks of stone, nine feet long and two
feet broad; they were placed so that two lay lengthways
and one across, the latter projecting from the face, and per-
forated by large circular apertures, as rings to moor ships
by, which would not corrode as iron when exposed to the
action of the sea. Several of the stones had fine mouldings,
and seemed as if the upper layer formed a cornice, project-
ing over the edge along the pier. This circumstance was
a striking proof of the exquisite taste of those people, who
finished their moles and piers with as much ornamental
care as their temples.
Having for two days explored these beautiful remains,
and copied all the inscriptions we could find*, we once more
ascended to the summit of the amphitheatre, to take a part-
ing glance of this place from an eminence which commanded
* See Appendix, No. IV.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
59
it. · The view was magnificent : before us lay a rich and
beautiful valley, rising behind into hills, and terminating at
one side in the sea. The whole space between was covered
with olives, figs, pomegranates, mixed with elms and plata,
nus shaded with vines, hanging down in the richest clus-
ters. Laurel, oleander, and other fragrant flowering shrubs,
formed thickets and bushy dells, skirting the open glades.
Through these were scattered vast fragments of temples and
other edifices for a prodigious extent, covering an area of
probably seven or eight miles in circumference, giving an
idea of a city as large as it was magnificent. Among
these renrains there was nothing apparently of a modern
date to be found. They were all of the purest ages of Gre-
cian sculpture, undefiled by any base deformities of the
Lower Empire or the Turkish. It appeared as if the city
had been left unapproached since the Persian war, when
the Teians abandoned it and retired to Abdera to preserve
their liberties, and that no baser people had since inhabited
it. Age alone had disjointed the edifices, and the different
members lay about without mouldering or decay, as if the
mild and pure air was incapable of eroding them, and the
workmen had laid them there to commence building. In
fact, they are the only remains I ever saw of ancient edi-
fices which were not mutilated by time or violence, and they
seemed as if they only required to be raised again to their
situation to restore the city to its primitive splendour. We
took our final leave of this most enchanting place, where we
saw nothing of " dreary marshes, and cranes disgorging
snakes," as Chandler says, but venerable remains of ancient
art, giving the highest interest to the more rich and lovely
scenery.
When we returned to our abode at Sedijâk, the contrast
excited painful reflections. It was impossible to contem
60
NARRATIVE OF A
plate the remains we had seen, without assigning them to a
people high in all the qualities that distinguish and ennoble
the human race—the birth-place and residence of such men
as Anacreon the poet and Hecatæus the philosopher. We
now came to the place that succeeded to Teos, where every
thing was rude and barbarous in the town, and base and
brutal in the people—the coarse and filthy abode of igno-
rance and oppression-and where all that were left alive of
the descendants of the ingenious race whose town we had
just visited, were two individuals in a state of the most ab-
ject depression and degradation.
The Aga requested us to come to him before we retired to
rest, so we called on him. We found him sitting on a car-
pet in a little gallery, in a ragged house, with a glass ves-
sel of oil before him, in which floated a small wick, which shed
a dim and dismal light. We sat down on the floor beside
him, and he began to interrogate us on the ruins we had seen.
He asked us if the town had not been built by the Genoese,
and whether Sedijâk was not much better. The historical
knowledge of a Turk here never ascends higher than those
people, and every event of their limited memory is assigned
to them. He said they first ruined the harbour by filling
it with stones, and then removed to Sedijâk, as a much bet-
ter place, confounding it with a similar attempt made, by the
soldiers of Tamerlane, on the harbour of Smyrna. When
we returned to our dismal and dilapidated tower we had no
light but an obscure and dirty lantern. We could neither
write nor read, so all we could do was to stretch ourselves
on the rotten boards and try to sleep.
We next day set out on our return, and our way lay near
the mountain of Corycus. We heard from our janissaries and
surrogees terrible accounts of it. In passing along a valley
I dismounted to gather some plants, one of them rode
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
61
up to me, and throwing up his hands over his head, en-
treated me to come on, and assured me it was as much as
all our lives were worth to stop for a moment. Presently
half a dozen very savage-looking fellows with long guns
appeared, accompanied by a negro. They at first shouted
to another part.y, but after reconnoitring us, and not liking
our appearance, perhaps, they suffered us to pass unmolested,
and we proceeded in a steeple chace through the valley, as
if all the mountaineers of the Corycus were in pursuit of us.
We owed them good will, however, for some service they
had rendered humanity. Many of the marauders of Scio
had passed over to Tchesme, and were making their shortest
way in this direction to Smyrna and other places, loaded with
slaves and plunder. The mountaineers intercepted them,
and, by a kind of retributive justice, many of the robbers
were robbed and the murderers murdered near this place.
Towards evening we entered an exceedingly pretty country:
the roads assumed an English appearance, passing between
neat clipped hedges of myrtle and mastic, and the grounds
on each side were elaborated with a skill and industry that
evidently was not Turkish. This indicated an approach to
Vourla, where the ingenuity and activity of the Greeks had
given new features to the prospect. Our janissary, Achmet,
had bustled on before, and had apprised the Aga of
our approach, who had ordered a conak which he had
ready for us. We approached a very respectable house,
whose inhabitants, as usual, were to turn out and resign it
We found, however, the doors and windows carefully
After thundering at the gate, an upper window
was cautiously opened, and a terrified face appeared, to
know what we wanted. Achmet replied, we were Milordis
Ingilesis under his care, and the Aga had appointed this
house as our conak. The people then, as submitting to an
to us.
closed up
62
:
NARRATIVE OF A
inevitable necessity, admitted us. To account for their alarm,
they informed us that an attempt was made here, as in
all other towns in this region, to extirpate the Greek inha-
bitants, and one hundred had been killed in the first day of
excitement, with a view to extend the massacre of Scio over
all the opposite continent. Among them were two priests,
who fled for protection to the Gynaceum, or Women's Gal-
lery, of a church, where they were pursued and murdered.
There were eight hundred houses in the town, containing
a population of about four thousand Greeks; and when we
contemplated the effects of their handywork everywhere
about us, and the high state of improved opulence and social
comfort they had wrought, we were not more shocked at
the cruelty, than astonished at the stupidity of their bar-
barous masters, who, instead of encouraging, sought to de-
stroy so prosperous a community. We were politely re-
ceived by a large family, in an excellent apartment, not only
comfortable, but elegant; and our only regret was that we
should disturb them. We were, however, informed that there
was another house in the vicinity, which, if we had no ob-
jection, was prepared for us. We readily assented; so,
after refreshments, we removed, to it and were spared the
painful feeling of turning a whole respectable family into the
streets.
As we were now in the vicinity of some interesting histo-
rical records, we set out to view them. Alexander the Great,
when he was in this country, completed some works which
still remain behind him as monuments of his genius and
enterprise. He united islands to continents; and, as if in
imitation of Xerxes in Europe, he converted promontories into
islands in Asia. The first of these was the island of Clazo-
menæ, which lay directly before us, about one mile from the
shore. Here, says Pausanias, the inhabitants escaped from
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
63
the Persians, and were safe, for their enemies had no ships
near to follow them; but. Alexander, when he came to the
country, built for them a mound, by which they might have
free and convenient communication with the continent*.
This mound yet remains. It consists of large blocks, with
apertures, through which tiled pipes conveyed water from
the continent to the island. On this mound we passed over
on horseback, though the inbat blowing very strong covered
it in some places with high waves, and entered by a quay,
or mole, connected with the mound. The island is about
two miles in circumference, and consists of two eminences
joined by a low isthmus. On the first the fugitives built a
wall of defence, which is still traceable from sea to sea.
Behind it was a platform, where were some foundations of
edifices, and on which the new city was probably built; but
all other traces of it have disappeared, except some broken
mouldings and two blocks of marble, with Greek inscrip-
tions, which seemed originally one, and fragments of pot-
tery, which are extensively scattered about. We dug in the
vicinity, in the hope of discovering some not yet upturned, and
did obtain pieces with figures in relief. One seemed to be
part of an urn, and on cleaning it we found it to be of ex-
cellent execution, the figures quite fresh and perfect, but the
design exceedingly indecent, intimating that the inhabitants
were of loose and licentious morals, and the island another
Capreæ. The place is now entirely destitute of inhabitants.
The Clazomenians seem to have been a very migratory people,
like all their countrymen.
We discovered traces on the
continent of two other towns, which they were supposed to
inhabit. They removed from the first on the sea-coast to
* *Es hy vhooy dick broar xur à TÒ IJsgowy dsds. But Alexander, the son of Philip
-χερσονήσον Κλαζομένας έργαζεσθαι" χωματιές στην νήσον έκ της ηπειρού.-Pausan.
lib. iii.
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NARRATIVE OF A
an eminence inland, to avoid the pirates, and from the second
to the island to avoid the Persians. Where they went after-
wards history does not say.
We now proceeded in search of Alexander's other work.
The Bay of Clazomena at one side approaches towards the
Bay of Teos on the other, so he united them by a canal
across the isthmus*, and as he had joined an island to the
continent, he determined in the same place to make the con-
tinent an island. But the plans of Alexander were not, as
Montesquieu justly observes t, the wild and extravagant
absurdities of his imitator Charles, and the poet who con-
founds
Macedonia's madman with the Swede,
did not do him justice. There was a wisdom and utility, as
well as splendour and fascination in all his projects, which
their subsequent permanency confirmed. This canal was
not for silly ostentation or a temporary purpose, but to faci-
litate the communication between commercial places, by
affording a short and safe passage to ships, and avoid the
danger and delay of passing round the promontory of Mount
Mimas, which was as tedious and difficult to the naviga-
tion of the Greeks, as Kara Bournou, its modern name, is
now to that of the Turks. We saw the blue tops of Samos
peeping across the isthmus, but we could not find any satis-
factory remains of the canal, though we traced several ele-
vations and depressions in the direction in which it ran, and
which were probably a part of it. The materials of which
it was formed had not the permanency of those of his mound,
and the work therefore perished when the hand of man no
longer repaired it. It would be highly useful to the Turks
at this day, and facilitate the approach to Smyrna, the great
*
Super angustias, hinc Teos illinc Clazomenæ.-Velleius, lib. i. c. 3.
+ Esprit des Loix.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
65
emporium of the East; but such a thing is altogether be-
yond their comprehension or capability.
On our approach to Smyrna, we passed the Baths of Aga-
memnon, of which a curious story is told. When the king
of men ravaged Mysia, and had engaged with Telephus,
the oracle directed that his wounded soldiers should bathe in
this place. They did so, and were cured, and therefore they
hung up their helmets here as votive tabellæ. We found
some traces of very ancient edifices, which Chandler thinks
were actually erected at the time of the Trojan war. Beside
them, however, were evidences of a much less doubtful cha-
racter. These were hot springs, collected in pools along the
bed of a river, which certainly did exist at that time, and
to which it is highly probable the sick or wounded did
resort in search of health, as the Turks and Greeks do now.
Every bath was covered over with a shed of reeds, like the
tent of Achilles, and it is probable the sick and wounded
soldiers of the army had not better accommodation than
their commanders were content with.
VOL. II.
F
66
NARRATIVE OF A
CHAPTER III.
Aspect of Scio from the Sea-English Consular Agent--Fortress–Suspicions
of the Pasha-State of the Town—Revolting Spectacles Ruins and Hu.
man Bodies—Bishop's Palace and Cathedral—College-Fate of Professors
and Students—Utter Desolation of the Place—Visit the Country-Similar
Desolation-Consul's Garden - Sudden and interesting Contrast-Preser-
vation of Human Life
Terror of Children at the sight of our Turks-
Coast of Asia Minor—Remains of Cities—Bay of Ephesus Swans of the
Cajster-Sand at its Mouth-Mistaken for Ipsariotes-Attacked by Turkish
Cavalry-Taken Prisoners—Pass the Night in a Swamp-Effects of Con-
flagration—Phosphoric Light from living Fishes—Released by order of
the Pasha-- Visit the Ruins of Ephesus—Theatre and Temple of Diana-
Present state of Christian Population-Innocuous Effects of Malaria
Tenedos—Provisions sent to Survivors at Scio-Strange Demand and Re-
marks of our Janissary.
On our return to Smyrna I availed myself of a very kind
and agreeable offer of the Honourable Captain Rous, of the
Hinde frigate. He was about to proceed on a cruize, and
he proposed to visit Scio and Ephesus with us before his
return; so we embarked on board his ship. Our first visit
was to Scio, where we arrived at night, and cast anchor
within a mile of the town. When I came on deck in the
morning I saw lying before me this garden of the Archipe-
lago. Just opposite was a magnificent town, rising from
the sea, up the gentle slope of the hill. Beyond it the
country was covered with gardens and fruit-trees, through
which elegant villas everywhere appeared, giving an idea of
fertility, improvement, opulence, and population very dif-
ferent indeed from any of the bare and rugged islands I
had before seen at a similar distance. On contemplating
the lovely picture, gilded by the morning sun, we all ex-
claimed against the exaggerated reports of the ruins of Scio,
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67
and felt highly gratified that so little injury had been done
to this beautiful place. After breakfast, about ten o'clock
we proceeded on shore in the Captain's gig, and ran across
under the castle, and landed on a wooden pier, a little to
the south of it. The first objects we saw were several vessels
bilged and dry on the beach. We learned they were some
of the ships lying here loaded with the plunder of the island,
but in the alarm and confusion created by Canaris and his
fire-ships, they had run on shore, and the greater part of
their unhallowed freight was destroyed.
A crowd of Turks now came down to the pier, and we
recognised among them an old man, with powdered hair,
a large cocked hat, blue coat, faced with scarlet, and a long
sword by his side. This phenomenon among the crowd we
soon learned was Signor Giudici, our consular agent on the
island; so having made himself known to us, I presented
him with letters of introduction from our consul-general at
Constantinople, and he took us under his care. He informed
us it would first be necessary to wait on the Pasha, and we
proceeded therefore to the fortress. This is a large square
edifice of considerable extent, one side of which is washed
by the sea, and the others protected by a deep and wide
fosse. On the battlements were embrasures, from which
fifty or sixty cannon were pointed, and it was approached
by a draw-bridge. It had been built by the Venetians,
according to the best rules of fortification then known, and
seemed to us altogether impregnable by any desultory force
the Samiotes and their auxiliary insurgents could bring
against it. It is separated from the town by a large green,
or common, beyond which it is comnianded by distant emi-
nences, from whence they endeavoured to cannonade it over
the town, with such small iron guns as they had, which
made no more impression than pistol shot.
F 2
68
NARRATIVE OF A
We entered it by the draw-bridge, and passed through a
line of the most wicked-looking visages. we ever had con-
templated. They were all armed, and evidently drawn up
to receive us. As we went by, they cast upon us a scowl of
defiance, some twisting their mustachios, some clapping
their hands in a menacing manner on their yatagans or
pistols, and all seerning intended to insult that sympathy
which they knew we had for their unfortunate victims. We
now ascended some steps, and were led by the consul to the
door of the Pasha’s apartment. The usual curtain was
drawn aside, and we saw within no crowd of attendants-he
sat alone at a distant corner of the divan, in close and
earnest conference with another Turk, and we seemed to come
upon him by surprise, and sooner than he expected. He
eyed us with a look of dark suspicion, motioned us with his
hand in a rude, impatient manner to sit down, and when he
had ended his conference with the Turk, he turned towards
us. All the Pashas and Agas I had seen before had fine
and comely countenances, and an unpolished but kind
courtesy of manner. This person was altogether an excep-
tion. His visage was sharp and cadaverous, his eyes star-
ing, and when he rolled them about, the white gleamed on
us with a certain glassy expression. The Pasha who
pre-
sided at the perpetration of the massacres had been de-
posed, exiled, and, it was said, executed, as he never ap-
peared again, and this his successor was known to be of a
disposition not less sanguinary. It was supposed by the
Turks that the former had been sacrificed to European, and
particularly to English representations; and when his suc-
cessor now saw a janissary in a Tartar costume, which
always implies that he is the bearer of dispatches, accom-
panied by English officers, landing from a frigate, and
entering his apartment, his suspicions were immediately
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
69
awakened, and he took it for granted that he was the bearer
of a firman for his deposition, and perhaps commissioned as
usual to bring back his head, as he afterwards confessed.
He first asked us what complaint had been made against
him, and then demanded to see our firman. When he read
it, and matters were explained, his countenance brightened
up as much as such a countenance could, and he assigned
us a chouash to visit the town and such parts of the island
as we wished to see. In returning through the line of
Turks they stopped us rudely, and in a peremptory manner
demanded bacshish; but our chouash coming up with his
baton of office, they reluctantly suffered us to pass.
We now crossed the green and entered the town; and
here the delusion of the distant view was entirely dispersed
by the melancholy reality. The principal street is called
Anahótegex, or “ The Level.” It was long, wide, regu-
lar, and formed a fine perspective. The edifices were ge-
nerally private houses, with ornamented façades that gave
them the air of public buildings. They were built of hewn
stone, like those of Valetta, with balconies on projecting
buttresses, and sculptured armorial bearings over many of
the doors. The interior was ornamented with balustrades
of marble, of a rich vein and high polish, and the rooms
supposed of the same materials. The ceilings were curiously
carved and gilded, the halls painted in fresco and hung with
pictures, and everything indicated what we had heard, that
the inhabitants had been a rich, cultivated, and polished
people. All was now destroyed or defaced—the roofs
beaten in, the staircases upturned, the windows and door-
cases blackened with smoke. Among the rubbish lay sculls,
arms, and half-consumed bodies, amid paper, books, and
broken furniture. Everywhere in the streets were what
seemed heaps of rags, which we were sometimes obliged to
walk through. They were soft, and the pressure of our
70
NARRATIVE OF A
feet forced out the limbs and ghastly faces of the bodies that
were lying weltering under them. The feeling of this was very
horrible, and whenever our feet, got entangled in such heaps
we hastily extricated them, with a shuddering that almost
overcame us. We visited the ruins of the houses of Strati,
Rhodochannacchi, Dimenti, Rhalle, and others whose names
were well known and respected in most of the commercial
towns of Europe. I had seen the bodies of their partners
lying in the streets of Constantinople. Those that remained
on the island were hanged out of the fortress, or their limbs
were crushed among the disjointed stones of their houses.
The Turks had two passions to gratify—malice and avarice.
They supposed those rich Greeks must have money con-
cealed in their houses, so, after massacring the men and
making slaves of the women and children, they upturned
the floors and tore down the stairs and walls of their houses.
When leaving Constantinople, one of the family of Rhalle
had requested me to visit his house on the island, bring him
back some memorial of it, and faithfully report the state in
which I found it. It had been very elegant, and ornamented
with columns of Sciote marble, which was highly prized for
its rich and variegated veins, and adorned with paintings by
native artists, whom, as a liberal and intelligent gentleman,
with a fine taste for the arts, he was fond of encouraging.
On this house, as more elegant than the rest, the Turks
seemed to have exhausted their passions. Besides upturn-
ing the floors and rupturing the walls in search of money,
every ornament seemed to have been destroyed with gra-
tuitous violence. Marble mouldings were broken off and
defaced with axes—the pictures perforated, the mirrors
smashed with bullets, and the books gnawed with teeth and
torn asunder, as if by rabid dogs. I brought back with me
the remains of a burnt picture, and some other things which
I found in his saloon; and on my return had it notified to
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71
up as
him that I had executed his commission; but his sensibility
was so excited, he could not command sufficient strength of
mind to look at them.
After visiting the private houses we entered the public
edifices. Half way up the street stood the Cathedral and
the Bishop's palace. The Bishop had given himself
a hostage, and with the rest was hanged on the battlements
of the fortress. His palace and elegant cathedral were torn
to pieces; half the dome of the latter was standing, and in-
timated what it had been. In a broken part of the floor in
a room in the palace was lying the body of one of his family.
Our chouash stood over him, and striking him with the end
of his baton, told him to get up, as he had slept long
enough: then, turning to me, he said, with a coarse laugh,
" He is a lazy fellow—he won't stir.”
From the Palace we proceeded to the College, which
stood on the opposite side, higher up the street. This was
not a temporary edifice converted into a school, but large,
regular buildings, with ornamented fronts, forming a regu-
lar quadrangle like one of our colleges, containing chapel,
theatre, halls, and professors' and students' apartments : it
had supported twenty-five professors in the different sciences
and languages, and students from all parts of the Levant.
The first objects that presented themselves were the bodies
of two of the professors, lying at the entrance of one of the
quadrangles. They were partly covered with the fragments
of their gowns, but their hands and legs appeared from under
them. We entered one of the lecturers' halls : the floor
was covered with torn pieces of books; I brought one of
them away with me it was part of a Homer, having the
original text at one side, and on the other a modern Greek
commentary and paraphrase, written by the professor, and
printed at the College press. It was an excellent specimen
72
NARRATIVE OF A
of typography. Of this college nothing remains but the
scorched walls; the professors were generally and indiscri-
minately massacred when the Turks burst into it, and the stu-
dents, the rising hopes of the country, carried off as slaves.
They are now scattered over Asia and Europe, in the
lowest state of degradation as Christians, and forcibly com-
pelled to undergo the Mahomedan rite. When I was at
Smyrna I was informed that twenty-six of these lads had
been so treated there in one house.
In effect, my friend, I cannot convey to you an adequate
conception of these atrocities. You have yourself seen towns
attacked, houses destroyed, and lives wasted, but still you
cannot understand it. If you think the ruins of Scio like
any other effects of modern war, you are entirely deceived.
This is not a house destroyed or a man killed here and there,
while the survivors look terrified and melancholy. Of four
thousand houses there is not one of which the wood work
has not been burned, and the stone work, with the exception
of some outside walls, upturned from their foundation; nor of
twenty-five thousand inhabitants, which the populous town
contained, did we see a single individual, nor anything that
had life, except a solitary cat and a dog. The ruins are as
complete and desolate as those of Teos on the opposite coast,
and would appear almost as ancient, if it was not that the
numerous bodies lying about the streets and houses indicated
that they had been within a few months full of life and in-
habitants.
While I was wandering about the ruins, absorbed in me-
lancholy reflections, and separated from all my party except
the consul, I was suddenly roused by a noise of shouting
and laughing just beside me. Presently a party of Turks
turned the corner of the street, and came up to where we
stood.
They were armed with pistols, which they held in
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
73
their hands, and djerids, or blunt spears, which they were
casting at the bodies lying in the streets. They took the
consul by the whiskers, and slapped him in the face with
insulting sport. They seemed about to lay their hands
upon me, when suddenly our party appeared, with the ja-
nissary and chouash, at the end of the street. The ruffians
then passed on, and fired their pistols, not at us as we ex-
pected, but at the walls of the houses, from which the balls
rebounded at each side. They then went on dancing, tram-
pling, and kicking before them the remains of the bodies,
and displayed such a picture of wanton ferocity as readily
accounted for the effects we had just witnessed. As it might
not be quite safe, however, to meet another party of those
savages in a similar state of excitement, we left the town,
which we had now walked through, and accepted the
consul's invitation to visit his country-house.
It is situated about two hours, or six miles, from the town.
We passed through those rich and beautiful groves and
gardens whose prospect had so delighted us from the ship,
as well as that of the town ; but the distance equally de-
ceived us. We found, on nearer approach, the garden-walls
torn down, the villas rased and burned, and the bodies of
the proprietors lying about unburied. We made our way
through enclosures now unfenced, and saw vines, figs, pear,
and peach trees torn about in every direction, while the fruit
was hanging on the branches or lying on the ground in the
greatest profusion, and no one to gather them. In fact, we
met nothing that had life, in the country no more than in
the city; the very birds seemed to have been scared away
by the carnage—we neither saw nor heard them or any
other sound than the dismal yell of a solitary dog, which
seemed to be howling over the remains of his master.
In the midst of this solitude we arrived at the consul's
house; and here a scene presented itself which astonished
74
NARRATIVE OF A
!
as much as it interested us. He took me by the hand, and
suddenly led me by a short turn into his garden from the
court-yard. The whole place swarmed with a little colony.
Under the trees were tents and huts everywhere erected,
which were filled with women and children, whose husbands
and fathers had been murdered. The former had made
their escape, some naked, some with children on their backs
and arms, to this worthy man, who, at the hazard of his
own life at this perilous time, had afforded them protection
and an asylum. He erected for them such shelter as, on
the emergency of the moment, he could provide, and he sent
out every day to gather the waste fruits to feed them. Pro-
videntially for this act of humanity, the climate was mild
and the fruits abundant, so they were not only kept alive, but
in good health. As we walked among them, they brought us
nightcaps and stockings, and other little articles which they
were manufacturing. Some of these forlorn women sup-
ported their situation with a melancholy cheerfulness, cha-
racteristic of the Greek disposition; but others seemed
quite unable to bear up against the calamity. Among these
were two or three of the most respectable on the island.
Their husbands had been massacred, their children made
slaves, and they sat solitary and unmoved within their huts,
taking no notice of us, and absorbed only in their own deep
and dismal reflections.
The children, however, all gathered round us, and walked
with us everywhere, either holding by our hands or the
skirts of our coats, looking up to us with faces full of con-
fidence and pleasure, as if they knew by intuition that we
were friends, and interested for them; but while we were
distributing a few paras among them, they were seized
with some sudden terror, and all disappeared. The cause
was soon manifest. The chouash and the janissary had
just entered the garden, and these poor children fled
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
75
from the sight of a Turk with the same instinctive terror
that a kid flies from the sight of a tiger. There were in this
garden two hundred and seven women and children, which,
with the exception of a few in other consulates, were all that
remained on the island out of a population of more than
one hundred thousand souls, which six months ago formed
the enlightened and happy population of this rich and
beautiful island. We remained till it was dark, often af-
fected even to tears, in the midst of these poor people. The
consul told us they were sadly distressed for bread, and
Captain Rous, who is the kindest man living, sent them, on
his return on board, several sacks of biscuits. Even the
little midshipmen were so affected at what they saw, that
they put themselves on an allowance, and sent them the
bread of their mess.
On leaving the consul, he produced to us some forms of
certificates given him by different travellers who had visited
the place, and asked, with some diffidence, whether we
would have any objection to add our names. We certainly
had not; on the contrary, we readily testified to what we
had seen.
Some injurious reports had been spread of
this man, which we had heard, and we therefore gave
our testimony with the more good will. The sight we
had witnessed was the most interesting that could engage
the feelings of the human heart, and in which there could
be no deception. At his own personal hazard he gave an
asylum, and saved from certain destruction or intolerable
misery, more than two hundred helpless fellow-creatures, in
the most forlorn condition, and afterwards treated them, as we
saw and as they felt and acknowledged, with the kindness
of a father. Of the Greek Catholics of the island, amount-
ing to eight hundred, about three hundred were saved in
the French consulate; the rest disappeared. I do not wish
76
NARRATIVE OF A
to detract from any exertion in the holy cause or humanity,
and no doubt but the French consul, M. Digeon, is en-
titled to every praise; but while his deeds are extolled with
the most extravagant encomiums by his countrymen, who
go so far as to say that the surviving Sciotes were compen-
sated for the massacre of their friends by his benign pre-
sence on the island, the similar services of the English con-
sul were not merely not praised, but they are censured by
the English ; and when he wrote to Constantinople to say
the destruction of Scio was equal to that of Jerusalem, he
was answered by being asked, in a contemptuous manner,
what did he know of the destruction of Jerusalem.
We sailed from Scio along the coast of Asia Minor, pass-
ing the promontory of Myonesus, which exhibits the same
appearance now as it did in the time of Strabo and Livy:
rocks forming a ridge, from the summit of which one rose
like a meta or goal, having the town on a conspicuous emi-
nence, and the sides next the sea eaten into bare and ragged
surfaces ;-how unchanged is the face of Nature, after a
lapse of two thousand years! We now looked out for Le-
bedos and Colophon. We thought we discovered on the
shore the ruins of the latter; but it was in vain to look for
the former, which in the time of Horace was a ruin,
sertior Gabiis.”
The coast now took a magnificent sweep, forming a great
bay, at the bottom of which was the Plain of Ephesus.
While the ship was nearing it we took an early dinner, in
order to have time to explore it before night. At my
request, our worthy consul at Scio had procured some ge-
nuine Chian wine, made on the side of the island next
Ipsara, on the Arvisian plains, where, according to Virgil,
- Vina novum fundavit calathis Arvisia nectar.
This we
had no spirits to drink in the charnel-house of the island,
- de-
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
77
but we now produced it, and found it very good, and ex-
actly answering the character given by the ancients. It was
of a light-red colour, with a strong body, and rather an
austere taste and tonic action, assisting the digestion as a sto-
machic, and forming an agreeable mixture with the sweeter
Falernian, for all which see Horace, and, if you please, Athe-
næus*.
It was now three o'clock, and we had cast anchor within
two miles of the mouth of the Caỹster. About six miles
below us on the coast was Scala Nova, built on the side of
a hill; and just opposite was the island of Samos, divided
only by a very narrow. channel, which was not visible, for
the island seemed joined to the continent. As the Samiotes
were in the constant habit of landing here and skirmishing
with the Turks, we thought it prudent to go on shore in a
large body, so we put off in two boats, forming a company
of eighteen, generally armed with fowling-pieces. We
landed through a rolling surf on the beach in high spirits,
and having crossed the bar at the mouth of the river, pro-
ceeded up the plain.
This magnificent plain extends for eighteen miles into
the country, and is generally seven or eight miles wide.
The sides are formed by romantic hills, advancing by irre-
gular projections into the plain, and clothed with woods
and ruins. Through the centre winds the Cajster, with
such a tortuous course, that some authors have mistaken it
for the Meander, and at this day it is called by the Turks
Kutchûk Mender, the “Little Meander.” The river now,
as formerly, abounds with swans, which have been celebrated
by every author, from Honier to Virgil inclusivet.
* Deipnon. lib. i.
+Kuxvãn Kuúorgiou a je po gee Igu. Hom. Quæmin stagnis rimantur prata
Caỹstri.-Virg. Georg.
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NARRATIVE OF A
The first object we saw on entering the bay was a large
flight of these swans, cleaving their way at a great height
in the air. We proceeded up along the banks of the river
for several miles without coming to the ruins of the town,
and as it was now growing late, and Captain Rous wished
us to return on board before it was dark, he signalled us to
come back. We were at this time scattered over the plain
in all directions, and in order to collect together we began
shooting and shouting to each other. I was botanising near
the river with the First Lieutenant, when suddenly a large
herd of buffaloes, which were grazing on the plain, took
fright, and ran snorting and tossing their heads towards a
village which we saw at some distance up in the hills. Pre-
sently after we heard the tattoo of a distant drum; and I
remarked to my companion that the Turks had certainly
taken us for a party of Samiotes who had landed, as was
frequent in this place, to drive off cattle and plunder the
country, and the tattoo of the drum was a signal. We now
therefore hastened back, and coming to a ferry we found no
one near the boats. The mode of crossing the river was by
a large, flat, triangular raft; over it was passed a strong
cord from side to side of the stream, along which a short
mast, rising from one of the angles of the raft, slided. On
this we established ourselves with our fusils ; and nothing
could be more like a foraging party crossing a river in an
enemy's country. At length we arrived at the sea side
where we had disembarked.
Here we did not find the boats—they had been sent
back to the ship, that the crews might get their dinner, with
orders to return for us when they saw us on the beach. It
was now, however, twilight, and the ship was scarcely vi-
sible: so, in order to advertise our return, we fired several
shots as siguals. It was some time before these seemed to
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
79
be noticed, but at length a light was hoisted at the mast-
head, and two lights were seen in the water, which we
justly conjectured were the boats which had put off for uş.
They seemed, however, to be moving to another part of the
coast, so, in order to direct them effectually, we determined
to fire a whole volley. Mr. Leeves and I, who had no guns,
had walked up along the shore, towards the mouth of the
river ; I returned immediately to see what was next to be
done, but I had not reached our party when he overtook
me out of breath, stating that he was closely followed by a
party of horsemen, who passed over the bar at the mouth of
the river. He had scarcely time to tell this, when we were
suddenly set upon by a whole troop of horse. They rushed
on us in the dim light in perfect silence till they came
among us. They then cut at us with their sabres in all
directions, uttering some loud and barbarous pass-word
from one to the other. Some of us were trampled down by
the horses, some struck down by the sabres, and in an in-
stant, and before we had time for a moment's deliberation,
we found ourselves driven in a heap into the sea, and a
semicircle of barbarians on horseback, three or four deep,
standing over us with pistols and drawn sabres. Most pro-
videntially for us there was not a gun loaded among our
whole party—had a single shot been fired not one of us
would have been left alive.
There was, however, a moment's pause, and I pushed
forward our palace janissary, Achmet, who fortunately had
come on shore with us. He was horribly frightened; how-
ever, he threw up his hands and shouted, “ Aman, Ingi-
lesi ! Aman, Ingilesi !” “Mercy, English!” This had an
immediate effect on the horsemen, and a parley ensued.
Their Aga now came forward, and Achmet, taking Mr.
Leeves and me by the hands, led us to him. He stated
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NARRATIVE OF A
that we were “ Milordis Ingilesi, from the serai, or palace.,
at Pera, and that we were put under his care by the Padisha
or Sultan, at Constantinople, whose firman of protection
we had.” The Aga informed him that our vessel had been
seen from Scala Nova, and supposed to be an Hydriote ship
of war; that a violent commotion had taken place there in
consequence, and five hundred men were despatched in dif-
ferent directions to watch our motions, and intercept any
party that might land ; that among them was a troop of
delhis, or madmen, a body of desperate fellows, who are
śworn neither to take nor give quarter ; that if we had fallen
in with them there would have been no explanation ; but
fortunately for us they had gone to another part of the coast.
In fine, it was determined that our janissary should accom-
pany two of the Aga's troop to Scala Nova, to explain to
and satisfy the Pasha, and that we must remain prisoners
till he came back with further orders.
It was now ten o'clock, and totally dark-Scala Nova
was distant seven or eight miles, so we had no alternative
but to remain all night in the open air, in the most dismal
and unwholesome swamp in all Asia. The Turks made a
large circle, and we sat down on the sand in the centre. I
had been excessively heated by violent exercise all the even-
ing, and now felt miserably cold and chilly. In thrusting
my hand into the sand I found it warm below the surface,
so I took the hint, and, scraping a pit, I lay down in it and
covered myself with a blanket of warm sand. My com-
panions did the same, and in this way we tried to sleep. In
a short time, however, the heat escaped, and we were colder
We now requested the Turks to light a fire,
but the Aga would not permit it: he said he was afraid to
draw any other party, either of soldiers or banditti, upon
us, but the fact was he was afraid we wanted it as a signal
than ever.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
81
for our ship. At length, however, accident procured for us
what he denied. One of his men was smoking among some
reeds close by: a few embers from his pipe fell on this dry
combustible, and in a moment such a flame burst out as
quite surprised us.
The mouth of the river where we were is covered over, for
several hundred acres, with a rank vegetation of reeds and
aquatic shrubs, many of which at this season were withered
and dry. The flame when once kindled instantly seized
everything near it, and ran literally like wild-fire, crackling,
roaring, and blazing over the whole country. Its progress
was very curious: it sometimes met with masses of high
trees, round which it ran, leaving an insulated spot in a sea
of fire. Presently it seized the lower branches, then sud-
denly rising over the tops, formed great pyramids of flame.
We now assembled on the confines of the fire, and mingled
with these swarthy Asiatics, with black beards and wild
costume illumined by the blaze, we formed such groups as
Rembrandt would have delighted to see. Sometimes we
lay down on the reeds, till the fire overtaking us we were
obliged to run to another place. On these occasions I
amused myself with the number of strange insects which
the heat everywhere caused to appear. The fecundity of
nature in this hot and humid place was quite surprising,
producing the miniature embryos of all sorts of monsters,
gorgons, and hydras, and chimeras dire." One of these,
which I brought away with me, was a species of green
Mantis, three inches long, which looked, with its wings and
legs, like a moving tuft of grass, and therefore it is called
the Walking Leaf.
To add to the wild singularity of everything about us, we
were suddenly alarmed by hideous shrieks and yells, which
came from the thickets quite close to us.
We now sup-
VOL. II.
G
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NARRATIVE OF A
posed to a certainty that another party of barbarians had
discovered us, and was rushing upon us. We soon found,
however, that the sounds proceeded from another cause.
The jungles at the mouth of the Cayster are the haunts of
multitudes of jackals and other animals, who, being dis-
lodged by the fire, at length collected in packs, and yelled
on us with the most dismal howlings, exactly resembling, as
other travellers have remarked, the shrieking tones of the
human voice.
At length our janissary returned just before dawn in the
morning. He had satisfied the Pasha, and calmed the con-
sternation at Scala Nova, so the Aga was ordered to set us
at liberty. We were now escorted across the river to pro-
ceed to a place where we should find shelter and refresh-
ment; and here another phenomenon appeared, which I
thought very beautiful. The river abounded with fish, and
glowed with phosphoric light. As we passed over, the
phosphorescent matter attached itself to the bodies of the
fish, and though it was as dark as pitch, the boat was actu-
ally illuminated with shoals of moving lights, that played
round us in the most singular manner, every fish being en-
circled with a halo of glory. The grey dawn now began
to appear, and instead of proceeding up the country, our
commander determined to return to the ship, so we again
l'etraced our steps to the shore, and found the boats just
arrived, with a strong party in search of us.
heartily glad to embark, and got on board about seven in
the morning, just as the vessel was going to get under way
to proceed to Scala Nova, to demand us at the cannon's
mouth. It seems she had been visited the evening before
by a boat, and from her report, those on board had no
doubt that we were either killed or marched as prisoners up
the country.
We were
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
83
We were now preparing to weigh anchor to leave the
coast, but about ten o'clock we saw a boat with the Turkish
flag standing out to us. When it came alongside, we found
in her the Turkish port-admiral, with his dragoman and
chouash, sent by the Pasha to explain and apologise for
the mistakes of the night before. They confirmed what
we had heard of the consternation of the country, and
added that the Pasha's life was threatened in the tumult.
They offered us, in his name, every protection and accom-
modation ; so, after giving them an entertainment in the
cabin, and showing the Sultan's firman, which they kissed
with the profoundest respect and adoration, they left the
ship under a salute of ten guns, and proceeded directly to
the shore to order twenty horses for our escort. We imme-
diately followed, and rowing to the mouth of the river, we
dragged the boats over the bar, and proceeded up the
Cayster into the very heart of the Plain of Ephesus, a
mode of visiting it which, I believe, was never adopted
before. Here we disembarked at a most extensive fishery,
curiously constructed with walls of canes and reeds, and
crossed the Plain to the ruins of the ancient city.
I'will not detail to you the particulars of this magnificent
place, but refer you to Tournefort, Pococke, Chandler, &c.,
who have visited and described it. I will merely mention a
few facts, some of which I do not find noticed by them. The
city was once the emporium of Asia, and the river navigable
from the sea, though now choked with sand. Near its
mouth commences a quay, which is still traceable for miles
up the river, by the large blocks of marble which formed
its face, till it seemed to terminate in the foundations of a
bridge which here crossed the Cayster. This, it appears,
was the high road from Miletus, &c., to Smyrna, as the
ferry, which is now near its place, is at present from Scala
1
G 2
84
NARRATIVE OF A
Nova to the modern Smyrna. On this quay stand the
shafts of some columns of very white marble, but they give
no indication to what they belonged. Some miles up, on
the low grounds, and near a flexure of the river, are large
arched edifices, standing in a range like stores, which I
conjecture to have been the store-houses connected with the
port. I mention this, because to me, at least, this feature of
Ephesus was new, nor did I recollect it was celebrated as a
commercial city till I found that Strabo so called it*. I did
not know either that the town was built on a hill. The
ruins of the city run along the whole range of hills which
form the south boundary of the plain, the sides of which are
still covered with them for several miles. Among these the
Amphitheatre particularly gives you a high idea of the
wealth and population of this place. It is excavated out of
the side of a mountain, the top seats rising to the summit;
when I climbed up here and looked down into the area, it
resembled the vast crater of an extinct volcano, at the bottom
of which I could not distinguish objects without my glass.
Not far from this, on the plain below, are the remains of
the Temple of Diana of the Ephesians. This was built, as
Pliny says, here on the soft foundation to guard against the
shocks of earthquakes. The foundation, therefore, was laid
in a swamp; wool and charcoal were interposed to absorb
the wet, and the arches form a subterranean labyrinth, in
which water stagnates, all which is so at the present day.
The superstructure bears all the evidence of an edifice which
was destroyed eight times, and took two hundred and eighty
years in building and rebuilding. It now consists of several
walls of immense blocks of marble, the fronts of which are
perforated with small cavities, into which were sunk the
shanks of the brass and silver plates with which the temple
Εμποριον μεγιστον Ασιας.--Strab. .
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
85
was faced. In several places where the walls have fallen
they have exposed cornices and mouldings of a former edi-
fice, against which the newer walls had been built up. Some
of the vast porphyry pillars which formed the front portico
still lie prostrate before it, but others, as you know, or per-
haps do not know, were brought by Constantine to his new
city of Constantinople. The heathen temple was dilapi-
dated to build the Christian church of Santa Sophia, in
which these pillars are again become the great support of an
anti-Christian edifice.
But the most interesting circumstance of this building to
me is the great illustration it gives to the Acts of the Apostles.
Here is the place where St. Paul excited the commotion
among
the silver and brass smiths who worked for the temple;
and over the way was the Theatre into which the people
rushed, carrying with them Caius and Aristarchus, Paul's
companions. Hence they had a full view of the magnificent
front of the Temple, which they pointed out as that " which
all Asia worshippeth,” and in their enthusiasm they cried out,
“ Great is Diana of the Ephesians !” to whom such a temple
belonged. But that which I imagine would most interest
you is part of a street, with the pavement and edifices at
each side still remaining, contemporary, perhaps, with those
of Pompeii, and yet existing as they were without the pro-
tection of a covering of ashes. It leads down the side of the
hill, and is paved with immense, large, irregular flat stones,
and is about as wide as Ludgate-hill. On one side stands
the front of the Stadium and other public edifices, inclosed
by wide gates; on the other are the remains of large build-
ings. The street is continued down to the river by the
great storehouses I mentioned before, and was probably a
principal street. If we suppose the city to have com-
menced at the port, and to have extended as far as the
1
86
NARRATIVE OF A
ruins continue along the sides of the hills, it must have
reached for twelve or fourteen miles ! And this is not im-
possible, for it seems to have been very long and narrow.
Pliny calls it “Lumen Asiæ,” but St. John said that “its
candlestick should be removed;" and it is so. While
Smyrna yet remains a large place, the only substitute for
this magnificent city is the little village of Aysilûk, in which
reside about one hundred Turks, who cultivate part of the
rich plain, and two Greeks, a gardener and a coffee-house
keeper, who are all the Christian remains of this most
splendid of the Seven Churches of Asia. After continuing
the whole day among these very interesting remains, till
we could see no longer, we returned on board by the way
we came in our boats, bringing with us some curious but
excellent fish from the weir in the river.
And here take a note on the subject of malaria. In addi-
tion to many verbal, written, and printed warnings which I
have had on this subject, our friends at Smyrna charged us
to be on our guard against the Plain of Ephesus, the marsh
miasma of which, as all say, depopulated the city and country
more than the sword or barbarous policy of man. Now, we
not only continued on this Plain for two days, but we were
compelled to remain a whole night on the very worst and
most dangerous part of it, exposed to cold and damp, after
heat and relaxation, without covering or refreshment of any
kind, sinking in soft bog, and inhaling the dank and putrid
exhalations of rank mud and decaying vegetables. Yet
of eighteen persons so exposed not one felt any other effect
from it than increase of health, appetite, and spirits ! I
leave it, however, to your better judgment to decide how far
the extensive fires corrected the dangerous quality of the
air, and the engagement of our minds the susceptibility of
impressions on our bodies.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
87
We sailed before it was light from the Bay of Ephesus,
and after mid-day found ourselves coasting the southern
shore of Scio. We were sufficiently close inland to see that
the same devastation had been committed in every part of
the island-houses black with smoke, walls torn down,
and not a human being to be seen. In the evening we
opened the passage between Ipsara and Scio, and hoped to
land on the former. I had a great desire to visit this cele-
brated little island, and see how the Greeks conducted them-
selves in the full enjoyment of their independence. Unfor-
tunately, however, the wind was too strong in the night, and
in the morning we were to leeward. We therefore pro-
ceeded on to Tenedos, having passed close under this won-
derful little rock, and seen in its harbour the pigmy ships
which have struck such terror into the giants of Constan-
tinople.
We landed at Tenedos, where we found our worthy con-
sul and his family, who had been driven from the Darda-
nelles by the malaria of the situation. Of the island of
Tenedos I have nothing to say, except that we did not see
a fragment of any antiquity remaining on it. The Emperor
Justinian had erected here large granaries, in which the
corn brought from Egypt and the south was deposited, as
the currents and north-east winds which prevail here ten
months in the year often detained ships at the mouth of the
Dardanelles so long, that their cargoes were spoiled on
board; but even these useful and comparatively recent
edifices the Turks have so destroyed, that not a trace even
of their foundations is visible. The island is rocky, and
well calculated for concealing the Grecian fleet behind it,
though Virgil says truly it is “in conspectu Troja.” The
town of Tenedos consists of about one hundred and fifty
houses, containing six hundred Turks, including the gar-
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NARRATIVE OF A
rison, and about three hundred Greeks, who suffered less in
general than those of other places, of whom only twenty
were killed and wounded by the Turks at the commence-
ment of the troubles.
The wind had just changed to the south-west, and there
was a whole fleet of merchantmen steering for the mouth of
the Dardanelles, to avail themselves of it. We signalled
one of them to bring to, in order that we might get on board
and proceed home with the fair wind. She shortened sail,
and we were conveyed on board. It was impossible to leave
our kind and cordial friends in the Hinde without a sense
of obligation and feelings of great good will. I was quite
oppressed at the Captain's kindness, who gave me up his
own bed and accommodations with an obstinacy of hospi-
tality that it was in vain to combat. His kindness was
equally cordial to all on board; he lived with his officers
like their elder brother, and they seemed to feel for him a
similar fraternal regard. The scenes we witnessed, and in
such company, rendered this excursion one of the most
interesting I had ever taken. The ship into which we
changed was laden with wheat, damp, dirty, and slow; we
left the elegant accommodations of the Hinde, which seemed
almost capable of moving against wind and tide, for a heavy
sheer-hulk, that it seemed almost impossible to move with
both in her favour, so we requested to be put on shore, and
proceeded by land along the north coast of the Sea of Mar-
mora to Constantinople.
Our first care on our arrival was to notify the destitute
state of the poor people shut up in the garden of our consul
at Scio. An immediate subscription was entered into by
our generous merchants, and a quantity of flour and bread
was purchased for their use. These we sent by the Agenor,
Captain Hann, who undertook to deliver them, with a letter
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE,
89
from me to Captain Rous, and he was again so kind as to
interest himself about these poor people, and had our dona-
tion conveyed to them.
Our janissary, Achmet, exhibited on our return some odd
traits of the sensual and unbelieving class to which he be-
longs. He was a fat, heavy fellow, whose only motion had
been from his own house to the British palace, where he sat
all day in the coffee-house at the gate in the luxury of repose,
dozing between coffee and tobacco. From the exercise
and excitement he had been under, he lost a great part of
his corpulence, and he came back as active and as spare as
a greyhound. He had weighed himself before he set out,
and he found himself one hundred and fifty-four oke; he did
1.he same on his return, and he found himself but one hun-
dred. So he actually came back to us, and, though we had
already paid him enormously, he demanded remuneration
for the loss of fifty-four oke of flesh in our service. Some
of his companions at the gate told him that he must ex-
pect to grow thin, travelling with two papas who did nothing
but fast and pray.
No,” said he, “in that respect they
are honest men. I never saw either of them fast or pray
all the time I was out with them.” There is a large and
increasing class among the Turks, who have little respect
for their own creed, and have not adopted any other, and
Achmet we found was one of them. His whole idea of
religion was external form, and that he used to laugh at;
and because he never saw us on our journey stop at certain
hours of the day, spread our carpets on the plain, and
pray
with our faces turned to Mecca, he took it for granted
that, like himself, we had no religion at all.
90
NARRATIVE OF A
CHAPTER IV.
Halet Effendi-Chief Barber and Coffee-maker-Proceedings of Janissaries
-Change of Ministry—Deposition and Death of Halet–Torture of Haza-
kiel, his Jew Banker-Execution of Asomachi, his Greek Spy-Amiable
traits of the Grand Vizir, Delhi Abdalla-Supply of Water to the City-
Aqueducts and Cisterns of the Lower Empire-Improvements of the
Turks—Belgrade—Destruction of the Woods to dislodge the Robbers--
Abortive attempt at improvement by Osmyn Aga—House of Lady M. W.
Montague an object of great interest—No trace of it—Vaccination returned
for Inoculation-Migratory Birds-Severity of Winter--Harbour frozen
over-Eclipse of the Moon-Shock of an Earthquake-Turkish precautions
against Fire-Causes of its frequency--Great Conflagration in March, 1823
--Anecdotes of it-Extent of the injury.
On our return to the capital we found the Turks in a state
of commotion, not from the usual causes, but from one by
which their gravity is seldom disturbed-a change of mi-
nistry. The man who had hitherto directed every move-
ment of the Turkish Cabinet was Halet Effendi. He had
been ambassador at the court of France, and was one of the
very few Turks who could speak an European language.
His mind, besides, was imbued with some portion of Euro-
pean intelligence, and he could entertain the Sultan with
knowledge which he had acquired in foreign countries, and
which the Sultan was curious to hear. He was also a man
of considerable shrewdness and tact, who could avail him-
self of everything to promote his personal interests. He
occupied no office but that of Nizamgee, or Man of the Sig-
nature. There is a convoluted cypher which designates the
name and titles of the Sultan, contained in a single compli-
çated figure, which is seen on the coins of the empire, and
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
91
on all the public edifices. The duty of the Nizamgee is to
affix this to all public papers; it is a mere nominal place, of
no trust or patronage, but under its name he had exercised
a despotic control over all the measures of government, with-
out office or responsibility-dictated, generally, all public
measures of the Sultan, and was particularly odious to the
janissaries, who were determined no one should dictate to
him but themselves. I had often met and conversed with
him in French; he was near-sighted, and used an eye-glass,
and had assumed the manners and usages of a Frank in
Turkish dress. He had, besides, built a library, and fur-
nished it with books, and so wished to introduce a taste for
literature. All these things were additional grounds of offence
to the janissaries, who looked upon him as an innovator and
promoter of improvements, against which they had declared
uncompromising hostility. Associated with Halet were two
very important and influential persons. One was the chief
barber, and the other the chief coffee-maker, who had both
apartments in the Seraglio. The former was greatly in the
confidence of Mahmood, who, in this respect, resembled
Louis XI. of France. Barbers and coffee-makers in Con-
stantinople are generally influential persons. Their shops
are the great and daily resort of people, and the medium
through which news is circulated. When the barber, there-
fore, attended the Sultan, he was every morning enabled to
give him the news of the capital, and was, in fact, the only
gazette the monarch had to consult. As the creature
of Halet, his information was always in accordance with
the views of the favourite, and so his influence was strength-
ened.
The time was come, however, when his power was to ter-
minate. The janissaries, notwithstanding the severe punish-
ment inflicted on some of their refractory body, still rallied,
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NARRATIVE OF A
and began again to hold seditious meetings; and at length
commissioned a dervish to represent to Halet Effendi that
some grievances they complained of must be redressed, and
hinted to him the necessity of his retiring, and leaving the
Sultan to his own free agency. The dervish never returned
with Halet's answer. When the janissaries inquired after
him, they were informed he had gone into Persia, where the
convent to which he belonged was situated; but he never
again appeared either there or elsewhere.
The janissaries were very indignant, and they drew up a
memorial, which was presented to the Sultan when going to
the mosque, on Friday, 1st of November, and as Mahmoud
never failed to read such things, an immediate answer to
it was expected. A whole week, however, passed, and no
notice was taken of it; and it was found that the influence
of Halet had arrested it in its progress, and it never reached
the eye of his master, but was afterwards discovered in his
own bureau.
The janissaries were now determined that the Sultan
should be distinctly acquainted with their sentiments and
discontent; so they commissioned their Aga to represent
them in person. It is his duty to hold the stirrup when he
niounts or alights from his horse on entering the mosque, so
the Aga took that opportunity, on the following Friday, to
whisper into his ear some strong and energetic representa-
tions. The Sultan was alarmed, and he determined to be
satisfied of the state of the public mind, by going himself
in person to examine into it. On the evening following,
therefore, he put on his disguise, and visited many of the
barbers' shops and coffee-houses in Constantinople; and
there he learned that the reports made to him by Halet's
creatures were altogether untrue—that the spirit of dis-
content was general and inenacing, and that it must be
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
93
attended to. He inquired after the intercepted petition, and
found it contained a demand for the dismissal of seven of his
ministers. The next morning, the 10th of November, it
was announced that four of them, the Grand Vizir, the
Nizamgee, the Tophana Nazir, or Director of the Cannon
Foundry, and the Mufti, were dismissed, and it was ex-
pected that the other three would follow.
The delinquents, with the barber and coffee-maker, were
banished to Asia Minor; but the lingering affection of the
Sultan for Halet induced him to give him a firman for the
assurance of his personal safety, and a promise that, when
times were more propitious, he should return to his former
ſavour and influence. Notwithstanding this, it was an-
nounced one morning that his head, with three of the rest,
was exhibited in the court of the Seraglio; but as I had
already witnessed that of Ali Pasha, I was not disposed
again to view the spectacle, but I procured some of the
satiric songs that were made, and sung in coffee-houses, on
this unpopular favourite, whose fate resembled that of Se-
janus.
As all the officers of the Seraglio were originally slaves,
and therefore incapable of possessing property themselves, it
grew into a usage that whatever they acquired after their ele-
vation was as much their masters' as it was before, and hence
all the effects of a deposed or executed minister fall to the
Sultan as of right, and not to the family of the deceased.
On this principle, those of Halet, as usual, were confiscated,
and his unfortunate saraf, or banker, Hazakiel, was seized
on, to make him refund them. He probably assigned all he
had in deposit, but he was a Jew, known to be of a doubt-
ful character; so on the assumption that he had concealed
some of it, he was put to very cruel torture in the oven of
the Bostangee Bashi, till the wretched man disgorged the
94
NARRATIVE OF A
.
whole of his own property, as well as that of Halet, of which
the Sultan took possession.
Among others who shared the fate of their patron was
Asomachi, a Greek. It was known that the Greeks had
secret information conveyed to them from the capital, and
this man was suspected as the agent, and on his arrest he,
to save himself, made such discoveries as caused the death
of many of his countrymen. He had insinuated himself into
the favour of Halet, by betraying all who confided in him,
and had been his subtle instrument in bringing about the
ruin and death, not only of the Greeks but of the Turks,
who were Halet's enemies. On Halet's exile, he was thrown
into the prison of the Bostangee Bashi, but was treated with
some show of regard, as he frequently dined with the Bashi,
whom also he endeavoured to conciliate, by betraying every
thing intrusted to him by his former patron; and when he
was executed, he thought himself secure of impunity. As
soon, however, as he had divulged all he knew, and could tell
no more, he was informed he must die. He then broke out
into the most bitter complaints; that the Sultan was in-
debted to him for his throne, for if it was not for the secrets
he had betrayed, a revolution would have been effected at
Constantinople. A chouash, however, who stood behind
him, attached a bowstring to his neck, and he was strangled
in the act of uttering his complaints. He was a man as
notorious as his patron, and perished a miserable victim of
tyranny and treachery, detested by those he had destroyed,
and unpitied by those he had saved.
The Mufti was succeeded by Sidké Sadi, one of the body
of the Ulema, who had sat as president in all the confer-
ences with the foreign ministers. The new Vizir was Delhi
Abdalla Pasha, to whom, as well as to his predecessor, now
deposed, I introduced you at our audience. Delhi Ab-
.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE,
95
1
dalla was then Capitan Pasha, but possessing no more know-
ledge of naval affairs than he had acquired as boatman on
the Bosphorus, he was appointed Anadoli Pasha, or Asiatic
Guardian of the Bosphorus, from Scutari to the Black Sea,
and in an evil hour Kara Ali was sent first to Galaxidi and
then to Scio in his place. Had he gone to the latter, the
sad catastrophe would not have happened, as he was a man
of rough manners, but great goodnature. His first act as
Grand Vizir was indicative of his disposition. The family
of an unfortunate Greek, whom I knew something of, ter-
rified at a rumour of new massacres, had attempted to
escape from Constantinople, but were discovered, arrested,
and were about to be cast into the horrible prison of the
Bostangee Bashi, to undergo some of its inflictions. The
Delhi heard of it, and ordered them to be first brought
before himself. so I am told," said he, in his usual familiar
and eccentric way,
“ that you had left Constantinople to go
to a better place, and I have sent for you to let me know
where that is, and I will go along with you.” Not being
able to inform him, he bade them go back quietly to their
shops, and dismissed them. The poor people knew that
their shops were now occupied by others, and supposing that
they were sent in this manner merely to be executed in the
streets like others, as they went along, proceeded in a very
melancholy mood, expecting at every step their heads would
roll before them. They were agreeably surprised, however, to
find that they were suffered to proceed alive to their former
shops, which they found the Vizir had re-purchased for
them, re-stocked with every article they sold, and that he
had left, besides, a sum of money to carry on their business.
These and sundry other similar acts of kindness to unfortu-
nate persons who were guilty of some violation of the law,
contrasted with the ruthless persecution with which even
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NARRATIVE OF A
the innocent had been pursued, rendered this rude but good-
natured boatman highly esteemed as a Grand Vizir.
He did not, however, long enjoy his elevation. Finding
himself ill at ease in his high rank, or inadequate to its duties,
he was deposed by the Sultan at his own request, and greatly
to the regret of the Greeks. His deposition was attended
with a frequent display of Turkish credulity and supersti-
tion. The astrologers had predicted that some important
change would take place in the empire on a particular day.
The Sultan, therefore, fixed upon it to announce the deposi-
tion of the Delhi, and this to obviate the effects on the
minds of the people by exhibiting the accomplishment of the
prediction in the person of his Grand Vizir. Unlike his
predecessors, the genuine worth of this man procured him
safety and protection. His death did not follow as the cer-
tain consequence of his deposition, as usually happens. He
retired to Asia on a pension of two thousand piastres a
month, which he spent in acts of kindness to all about him.
As I had taken the palace garden under my care, I was re-
sponsible for its well-doing. . A part of it I wished to plant
out with trees and shrubs; and as the woods of the Black
Sea abounded, I was informed, with a great variety, and the
country was now in a state of comparative tranquillity, I took
the palace gardener with me, and proceeded to Belgrade, in
the centre of the woods.
Among the objects of curiosity that led me to this place
were the reservoirs of water, by which the ancient and modern
city was and is supplied. The only fresh water near the
city was found in the small and muddy streams of the Cydaris
and Barbyses falling into the head of the harbour, and form-
ing there what the ancients called the Marcidum Mare, or
Putrid Sea, and called for that reason, I suppose, by the
French, Les Eaux Douces, and by the English, after them,
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
97
“ The Sweet Waters," and as they flowed at such a dis-
tance below the elevation of the town that it was impos-
sible to conduct them to the city above by any know-
ledge of hydrostatics the Greeks then possessed, they were
obliged to seek another source, and they found it among
the mountains of the Euxine. It was the region of con
stant showers and perennial streams, which they con-
ducted to the capital. Wherever the rills poured down and
became confluent in a little valley, they were there arrested,
by throwing a mound across; and in this way they accumu-
lated, till they formed various triangular lakes at an eleva-
tion above the level of the city, to which they were conveyed
by pipes and aqueducts, wherever a valley interposed. Two
of the aqueducts still remain, ten or twelve miles from the
capital, one attributed to Constantine, and the other to the
indefatigable Justinian. The first has three tiers of arches,
and is about three hundred and twenty in length. The
second is more magnificent; the arches form but two tiers,
but they stretch for seven hundred and fifty feet, and ascend
to the height of one hundred and ten : a gallery runs through
it, and forms a passage across the valley, over which it carries
the water.
The water when conveyed to the city was distributed
by another system of pipes and aqueducts to different
reservoirs among the hills. Of the city aqueducts, three
are noticed by historians, one erected by Adrian for the
benefit of the Byzantines, of which no trace is now to be
A second by Theodosius, which is described as an
incredible work, which brought a river underground and
through the air*—of this also all traces are lost. The
third, erected by Valens, is most celebrated by writers. A
curious anecdote is related of its erection. The Emperor,
* Ariotov igyou ő Űrox Jovios xaì sgios nordpos.Greg. Nazian. p. 435.
seen.
VOL. II.
H
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NARRATIVE OF A
incensed at the conduct of the inhabitants of Chalcedon, who
had favoured the party of Procopius, ordered their walls to
be pulled down. Among the stones was found one with
an oracular inscription, implying, that the walls of Chalce-
don should bring a great supply of water to the city. Pro-
phecies were powerful incentives in those days, so, to ac-
complish the prediction, Valens erected his aqueduct with
the prophetic stones. This is described by all writers as
very magnificent. It was held of such importance and in
such respect by the Turks, that the reparation of it was one
of the three prayers which the Sultan Solyman hoped to
accomplish before his death. This aqueduct is the only
one that remains at this day, and it attests the accuracy of
historians who describe it. It extends across the valley,
from the Mosque of Sultan Mahomed to that of Schasabba,
and forms the most conspicuous object in Constantinople.
It consists of three ranges of arches, one above the other, and
accords exactly with the description of Douza and others*, in
conveying an aërial river far above the tops of the houses.
The streets in some places lead through it, and in others along
the side of it, and from different parts pipes descend, con-
veying water to all the neighbourhood. Vines and other
plants have established themselves in the interstices, and the
roots imbibing the humidity which oozes out in different
places, hang down in rich festoons, adorning this venerable
structure with their vegetable drapery.
The water conveyed by these aqueducts of the Lower Em-
pire was received in various excavations, so that the hills of
the city abounded in reservoirs, like those of the Black Sea.
Some of these reservoirs were open to the air, and some
covered in. Of the first, six are yet remaining, many of which
I explored. They are quadrangular enclosures of solid
* Niceph. lib. ii. c. 4. Leunclav. in Pand. Turc. Douza, p.40.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
99
walls of masonry, varying in size, and some of them eight
hundred feet in length: their extensive area induced travellers
to believe they were originally intended for Naumachia; but
as no such places are mentioned by the Byzantine histo-
rians in this Nova Roma, though those of Roma antiqua are
particularly described by its historians, it makes such a
conjecture highly improbable: besides, the harbour, as it is
justly observed, with the grounds rising about it like an am-
phitheatre, would have formed a much more magnificent
place for such an exhibition than any artificial one that
could have been fabricated. As the aqueduct was raised by
a prediction, these open cisterns were destroyed by one.
A philosopher, says Cedrenus, assured the Emperor Hera-
clius that the water would fail if they continued as cisterns,
so he ordered them to be filled up, and planted with trees.
They are described by Chrysoloras and others as being
thus treated, and so they remain at this day. They are
places which produce fruits and vegetables in abundance.
The deposits of the water had left a substratumn of very rich
mould, which is still' highly fertile, and which the Turks
cultivate. They call them Tchokour Bostan, or the Sunk
Gardens.
Of the covered reservoirs described by historians two
remain at this day: both of them are subterraneous. One
was called the Stranger's Friend, because it stood near some
inns, which, as well as the public, it supplied with water*.
It is now to be found behind the Atmeidan, under an open
space, like a field covered with grass. On walking across this
place I heard the sound as of rushing waters, and supposed
it arose from the gushing of some current filling a reservoir.
About the centre of the open space was a small aperture,
and on looking down I saw no water, but a vast cavern
* Χενοδοχεία τινα όπου και φιλοξενος έχoρεγεν το ύδωρ.-Cedrenus,
H 2
100
NARRATIVE OF A
below, supported on extensive ranges of pillars, and the bot-
tom covered with a busy crowd of people. It was a silk
manufactory, and the sound of water I had heard was the
wheels of the machinery and buzzing voices of the manufac-
turers.
The ranges of pillars extended to an apparently intermin-
able space, till they were lost in the distant twilight. We
descended and walked through them. Every single pillar
seemed as if formed of two, one standing on the other, and
each having its own capital. We were informed that another
range of columns stood below, on which these two visible ones
rested, and indeed the ground seemed evidently artificial, and
it was probable that the order of Heraclius to fill
up
the
open
cisterns had extended to this also. Near the centre is a
well, fifteen ſeet deep, which is supposed to descend to the ori-
ginal bottom, where the water still accumulates. The whole
excavation forms an irregular quadrangle of one hundred
and ninety by one hundred and sixty feet. The roof is of
arches of brick, supported on the colonnade. We calculated
that the number of pillars now standing amounted to two
hundred and twelve, and if each was to be reckoned as three,
the whole would amount to six hundred and thirty-six, and
might justify the name by which the Turks call it at pre-
sent-Bin Bir Direk, which literally means the Thousand
and One Pillars; but the Orientals apply it as a definite
number to express an indefinite one, as they call the nume-
rous Arabian tales the Thousand and One Nights. The
pillars are covered over with curious monograms, deeply
cut, and very distinct--EN-79-01-EYE --
KYNO. The whole would contain, according to Andre-
ossi's calculation, 1,237,939 cubic feet of water, which would
have supplied the inhabitants for sixty days, a most im-
portant circumstance in the latter ages of the Lower Em-
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
101
pire, when they were surrounded with barbarians almost up
to the walls of their city, who could at once cut off their
supply from the hills. Its present appropriation, however,
has advantages. The thermometer in the open air above
stood at 81°; below, the air was cool and grateful to the
workmen. When we ascended again, the atmosphere felt
like the steam of a heated oven against our faces.
The next is the great cistern of the Brothixn, which
sup-
plied water to the palace and all the district about. This
was so particularly described by Gillius as existing in
his day, that all travellers who had read his book were
anxious to see it. It had now disappeared for two centuries,
and neither Chevalier nor Clark could discover it. I had
made frequent inquiries, but could learn no trace of it. I
was one day returning down the street leading from the
Seraglio Gate, when I met a sacgee, with his leathern vessel
of water on his back, resting himself against a post. It
occurred to me, and I know not particularly why, that a
water-carrier must be the best authority for the existence of
a cistern; and I told the janissary to ask him if he knew
of any reservoir in that neighbourhood. He immediately
said I must be inquiring after the Yere Batan Serai, or
Palace Underground: so I thought, whatever that was, it
must be something curious, and the sacgee led us to a house
in an adjoining street. The family were at the mosque,
but with some difficulty and a few piastres, a Greek slave
who was at home admitted us, and led us through a yard
to an aperture under the foundation of the house, and here
I was really astonished to see a subterranean lake of im-
mense extent, stretching away before me, and a grove of
marble pillars everywhere rising out of the water, and sup-
porting the streets above. It was exactly in the state that
Gillius had described, having three hundred and thirty-six
102
NARRATIVE OF A
marble pillars, of various orders of architecture, forming a
magnificent colonnade, and a small caique, or raft, bound to
one of them, in which the master used to sail and fish in
the lake. Another circumstance identified it with that of
Gillius, and accounted for the difficulty of finding it, that
the people whose houses were built over it knew nothing
about it, nor would the proprietor of this house, but for an
accidental breach in the wall of the cistern, through which
part of his yard had fallen in. The great cistern of Valens
still continues to pour water into it, which is drawn off by
various tubes left since the time of the Lower Empire, and
never repaired by the Turks. Indeed, from the state of
ruin into which it was apparently falling, it seemed totally
neglected, or altogether unknown.
As water is a religious, as well as a natural, want to a
Turk, and he requires it for ablution as well as for drinking,
he is still more anxious to preserve it than the Greeks; and
though the mode of distributing it in the city adopted by
the latter is not adhered to, their mode of conveying it thither
has been carefully observed and improved upon. The Greek
Togaan is now called a bendt, and the number of them is
greatly increased. Several have been formed by individuals,
and retain their names. One of them is called the Valadi
Bendt, because it was formed by the Sultana Valadi, the
mother of the present Sultan. The front is an erection of
abutments of solid masonry, built in rustic, surmounted by
a balustrade, and ornamented with Turkish sculpture, among
which is a marble tablet, with a Turkish inscription, intimat-
ing that it was erected in the year of the Hegira correspond-
ing with our 1786. The walk along the summit is fine;
it is a marble terrace, of near five hundred feet in length,
flanked by balustrades. As you look over the balustrades,
you see at one side a large triangular lake, rising to the
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
103
level of your feet, and extending between the hills till it
terminates in a point up the valley. On the other side you
see a perpendicular descent of one hundred and thirty feet
into a dark ravine, along the sides of which the water is dis-
charged in pipes to its destination. Several new aqueducts
are also erected. One, bearing the name Solyman, is of
vast size, consisting of two ranges of fifty arches, extending
across a valley of sixteen hundred feet. But the most noble
and conspicuous is that which is thrown across the valley
of Buyukderé, and terminating the vista of that valley from
the Bosphorus with its white arches. They are both part
of that combination of levels which conveys the water of
the bendts to the city, the former along the western bank of
the Cydaris, through the Egri Kapoosi Gate, into Con-
stantinople; the latter along the ridge over the Bospho-
rus, by the great burying-ground into the peninsula of
Pera.
But the Turks have improved and simplified the old sys-
tem of aqueducts by a very ingenious contrivance. The
first objects that struck my notice were long ranges of rude
pyramidal columns, quite detached from each other and
from everything else. I supposed they were large monu-
ments, and looked up for some inscription, when suddenly
a gush of water issued from the top, and was projected as if
from the pipe of a water-engine. I found that these were
hydraulic pillars, called Sooteraisoo, and were constructed
in the following manner. At one side ascended a number
of pipes conveying water, which was received into a square
basin on the summit: this was divided by a partition per-
forated near the top, through which the water ran into the
other compartment, leaving any impurities behind it in the
first: from this it descended on the other side of the pil-
lar by another set of pipes, which conveyed it to the next
sooteraisoo, whose summit was a few inches lower than that
104
NARRATIVE OF A
of the former. In this manner the water is carried down an
inclined plane, formed by the tops of these columns, and
depositing its impurities in each of the reservoirs, till it
enters the city. The force with which the fluid ascends is
so great, that sometimes it forms a jet d'eau from the top,
falling in a shower all round for several yards. The prac-
tice has been found to answer so well, that it has been
applied to the aqueduct of Valens in Constantinople, where
I was surprised to find the abutments of the arches converted
into sooteraisoos. You are surprised as I was to find so in-
genious a device among the Turks—it is not their invention,
but that of the scientific Arabians.
WWW
UM
be
mas
lui
-VM
1111n
Besides these conveyances above ground, the soil below
is pierced by pits two or three hundred feet apart. These
were excavated to facilitate the construction of tunnels
through the hills to form water-courses.
These pits, with various remains of tile tubes protruding
from the ground in every direction in the lonely hills about
the city, indicate the extensive and continued care taken at
all times to supply this necessary element. From the spine
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
105
of the ridge of high ground various courses branch off to the
villages of the Bosphorus below, which are thus as well
supplied with water as the capital; and at every convenient
place is a fountain, generally faced with a marble slab, con-
taining an inscription, acknowledging the bounty of Allah,
and his providence, and frequently inviting the passenger
who participates in the refreshment to participate also in
gratefully acknowledging it. This fluid, so important to
themselves, the Turks are anxious to extend to every living
being ; bowls of water are placed for their dogs, and even
cavities are formed on tombs as reservoirs for birds, that
every animal may participate in an element which they
themselves so highly prize.
To watch over its proper distribution, a numerous body of
men are incorporated. The chief is called the Sou Nazir,
or Water Inspector. Whenever a rupture or other impedi-
ment occurs to interfere with the due and regular distribu-
tion of the water, he is empowered to compel every one in
the vicinity to assist in repairing a common injury, in which
all are equally concerned, and he is responsible with his
life that no interruption takes place in the daily current;
eren the Sultans are expected to make an annual inspection
of their limits and state of repair. Besides these corps,
there is the Sou Jolgee, or Engineers, who periodically
examine and calculate the water in the bendts. Before I
went to Belgrade, the weather had been remarkably dry,
so that, with the exception of a few passing showers, it had
not rained from the 4th of April to the 2d of November.
The sou jolgee came out while I was there, and I accom-
panied them to the bendts. They measured the water, and
found no more in the reservoirs than was sufficient to supply
the city for fifteen days, at the usual consumption, and even
that was becoming turbid and muddy. Prayers were offered
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NARRATIVE OF A
up in all the mosques, and dervishes were placed on all the
hills to discover the approach of the expected rain. One of
them I saw on the Jouchi Daghi, watching the Black Sea,
and when he saw a black cloud rising from it which indi-
cated rain, he gave immediate notice of it, and it was hailed
by the people as a providential deliverance.
The water is distributed through the houses of the city
by a numerous body of men, called sacgees. They carry on
their backs leathern vessels, broad at the bottom and nar-
rowing to the top, like our churns, and closed at the mouth
by a flap of leather. When this is filled at a fountain, it is
slung across the sacgee's back, the broad end resting on his
hip, and the narrow appearing over the opposite shoulder.
When he empties it, he opens the flap, stoops, and the water
falls into the vessel appointed to receive it. In every hall
there are usually two small circular reservoirs sunk in the
ground, and covered with stoppers, which are kept filled
every day by the sacgees. These men are generally robust
and vigorous, and they made a formidable part of the ma-
rauding expedition to Scio. I was told of some who brought
back their leathern sacks stained with blood, and stuffed
with plunder.
Belgrade, or rather Biel Gorod, is a Sclavonian word,
and signifies the White Town, or Fortress: it is situated in
the debouches of many of the valleys of the Low Balcan,
which run southerly along the shores of the Black Sea.
The present village is built near one extremity of the
Ysparan Meyann, or Great Reservoir, formed by the Greeks
of the Lower Empire, where the water was collected
from the various rills which wind through the sinuosities
of the valleys, till they meet in a considerable stream be-
tween two hills. These are part of the chain of the Low
Balcan, which is here crowned with magnificent forests of
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
107
cannon.
oak, chestnut, and other large trees. When I passed through
them they exhibited a melancholy picture of devastation.
After the discontented janissaries, and the rabble who united
with them, were suppressed by the severe executions I
have mentioned, a number of them escaped from the city.
Some passed over to Scutari, and attempted to seize on the
large barracks there, but were driven out with two pieces of
They then dispersed; some retreated to the
woods about Moudania, and some recrossed the Bosphorus,
and, joined by others, established themselves in the woods
about Belgrade, where they formed banditti in parties of
eight or ten, issuing from the forests, plundering and mur-
dering every traveller they met on the roads, and again re-
tiring to the inaccessible recesses, where they could not be
effectually pursued. After committing great depredations
with impunity, and baffling the pursuit of every detachment
sent against them, the government were obliged to have
recourse to an expedient they were very reluctant to practise.
The woods were not only the sources of water but of fire to
the inhabitants of the city; they not only supplied the rills
which filled the bendts, but the fuel used by the people, which
was here cut and transported on rafts down the Bosphorus.
But the depredations of these outlaws became so alarming,
that no expedient was left but to burn them out of their
fastnesses. Accordingly, the woods were set on fire by the
Pasha, and the blaze illumined the Euxine. The robbers
were dislodged, and numbers of them shot by various parties
who watched them as they issued from among the blazing
forests, and tranquillity and security were again restored to
the roads; but the beauty of the magnificent scenery was
entirely destroyed. About Belgrade the fire extended for
several miles square, denuding the hills and scorching the
fair face of nature. The largest and most magnificent forest-
108
NARRATIVE OF A
trees were burnt to the heart near the base; these becoming
top heavy, fell over with a crash, and lay half consumed,
encumbering the ground, and obstructing the roads in all
directions. The noble trees thus destroyed were generally
chestnut, beech, oak, walnut, lime, and platanus, of a size
and beauty unknown in England. In clambering through
them, we discovered the decaying bodies of men and wild
animals, particularly wild boars and bucks, with which these
woods abound. They had either been overtaken by the fire or
killed in attempting to escape from it; and thus the deepest
recesses of the woods, as well as the crowded streets of the
cities in this devoted country were filled with devastation
and the destruction of life.
Indeed, the hostility which seems to be declared against
everything that can improve or ameliorate the condition of
human life is everywhere displayed. The country between
Constantinople and Belgrade is susceptible of the highest
cultivation, wherever the woods do not extend; but it is not
only waste, but the remnants of cultivation show that it has
been once attempted, and abandoned as a thing utterly im-
practicable. Osmyn Aga, a director of the customs, was
one of those precocious Turks who seemed to have antici-
pated his countrymen by a century in intelligence and a
disposition to improve. He obtained a large chiflik, or
grant of land here, and commenced agricultural experiments
on a respectable scale. The face of the country was begin-
ning to assume the aspect of that of a civilized people, and
there was a distant hope that the example would extend,
and the beautiful vicinity of Constantinople assume some-
thing of that character of cultivated nature which marks
every Christian capital in Europe. In several places were
seen insulated farms, surrounded by hedge-rows of trees,
and displaying the richest verdure, like oases in the midst
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
109
of a desert ; in others the ground was already turned up
and prepared for crops. He had besides built a large house
in the midst of the solitude, in which he hoped to pass the
last years of his life with his family, surrounded by his im-
provements. The year before, however, he was arrested
and exiled into Asia, and his property confiscated. The
only crime I ever heard attributed to him was, that he
seemed growing too rich, and his improvements, imperfect
as they were, held out an incentive to the cupidity of the
government. His houses, as I passed, were neglected and
already falling to decay; the numerous tenantry he was
beginning to establish about him had abandoned his farms,
and no one had enterprise or intelligence to retake them,
and the whole was fast approaching to that state of waste and
solitude from which he was beginning to reclaim it. In a
ride of twelve miles from the capital, it was the only thing
I met like an attempt at farming or agricultural improve-
ments, with the exception of a few gardens.
The situation of the village of Belgrade is very beautiful.
The valley in which it stands is a level plain, covered with
a fine verdant sward, and flanked by romantic wooded emi-
nences, studded with beech trees, which had escaped the
conflagration. Through the middle a pure stream winds
its way, and after a course of two or three miles, empties
itself into the artificial lake formed for a reservoir. In the
year 1718 it was the favourite residence of the European
ambassadors; and Lady Mary Wortley Montague dates
some of her lively letters from it*. No trace, however, of
her description is to be found in the present aspect of the
place. She describes it as commanding a view of the sea,
and as the residence of all the opulent Franks, who met
every evening at a fountain, and in the midst of fruit trees.
* One of them to Pope.
110
NARRATIVE OF A
is
It is now abandoned by every family of opulence, with the
exception of one British merchant, in whose house I took up
my residence. I searched in vain for a glimpse of the sea-
the fountain has disappeared—and there is not a fruit-tree to
be seen, except a vine in a vineyard. It was in vain to
inquire for the house in which her Ladyship resided, as no
trace of it was left in 1794, when Dallaway was chaplain at
Constantinople, and the very tradition of it is now lost. It
ought, however, to have been preserved, for it was here she
inoculated her son, and so it was the spot from which the
greatest and most valuable improvement in medical know-
ledge was conferred upon Europe, by disarming the most
foul and loathsome disease that ever afflicted the human
race of all its virulence.
The recollection of this circumstance had greatly inte-
rested me, and I felt a strong desire to imitate it. Having
practised vaccination to a considerable extent before I left
home, I felt a conviction of its efficacy, from the personal
experience of many years. I was anxious to spread it abroad
wherever I found it was not in use, and I heard it was not
known in this village. I had just before obtained some
matter from England, and succeeded with it in inoculating
a child of Lady Strangford's. With that kindness and
desire to do good which marked her character, her Ladyship
suggested to me to take the infection from the arm of her
child, and communicate it to some other, and so introduce
and extend the practice. I did so in this place, and subse-
quently in others; and I have the pleasure to think that, if
the Lady of one British Ambassador introduced inocula-
tion to the people of the West, through the medium of her
child, the wife of another, a century after, returned the
benefit, by introducing a still further improvement through
her child to the people of the East, in places where it was
not known or practised before.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
111
Among the objects of natural history which engaged
my attention here were the flights of migratory birds, which
at this season of the year darken the air, from the Black
Sea across the woods. They frequently lighted on the
summits of the highest trees, where Greek boys climbed up,
and attaching various snares, continually brought down
numbers. I was particularly attracted by one of them. It
was a cross-bill*, about the size of a large thrush. The
colour of the male was red, inclining to brown, and of the
female green, but the formation of the bill was singular:
both mandibles were curved in the opposite direction, and
crossed. It was difficult to conceive what nature meant by
this apparently awkward and unmanageable construction:
I soon, however, saw that she had done nothing in vain. I
domesticated one of these birds, and it became as familiar as
a parrot, sat on my shoulder while I wrote, and whistled to
me for food. I discovered that it particularly frequented
Turkish cemeteries, and was most commonly met with
among the cypress trees. I collected, therefore, some of
the cypress cones, and whenever he whistled I presented him
with one.
He took it with great dexterity in one of his
claws, and holding it up, he hopped to his perch on the
other leg.
He then split open with his cross-beak the
tough divisions of the cone with a force, and got out the
seeds with a dispatch that mandibles of any other construc-
tion could never accomplish. I kept this familiar and inte-
resting bird for several months, till a rapacious kite, hover-
ing over the palace garden, made a stoop, and destroyed it.
I called it Nepoutono, its modern Greek name, and it an-
swered to the sound by a whistle.
The Turks, I found, had prohibited, under the severest
penalties, any one in this neighbourhood to dig up trees or
* Loxia curvirostra,
112
NARRATIVE OF A
sink pits, by which the water might escape or ooze out, or
plant gardens, by which it might beexhausted. I was obliged
therefore to procure an express firman for the first purpose,
and with an injunction that I should not approach the bendts.
I used my permission with due discretion, and after dis-
patching several loads of young trees to Pera, I was com-
pelled to follow them by the severity of the weather.
Before my departure I made some excursions with an
agreeable companion. Lord Strangford had proceeded to
the Congress of Vienna, and it generally fell to my lot to
accompany any gentleman who brought letters to the palace
in his absence, and show them sight-worthy objects. Among
others, Major Craddock, then Aide-de-Camp to the Duke
of Wellington, came at this time, and we made many
agreeable excursions together. I revisited with him the
Cyanean Rocks, the Basaltic Pillars at the mouth of the
Black Sea, and other places, and parted with regret from
an intelligent and agreeable companion.
The year 1833 commenced at Constantinople with an in-
clemency unknown to the oldest person, and unrecorded in
modern times. It began snowing on the Greek Christmas
Day, the 6th of January, and the flakes continued to fall in
dense masses, driven violently along by gales of wind from
the north, from Monday till Thursday, for eighty-five hours,
without the smallest intermission. The sky then cleared,
the thermometer fell to 280 Fahr., and a hard frost suc-
ceeded. To the astonishment of the Turks, the harbour
was no longer to be crossed; their caiques were arrested
in the middle of the passage by masses of floating ice,
and on the 12th of January the Golden Horn was entirely
frozen over by one solid flag from the Sweet Waters to
the Seraglio Point. Near the Arsenal, a canal was cut,
through which a few boats passed from side to side, but at
0
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE,
113
the Meit Iskelli, and other places, its hardness exceeded
all their skill, and caiques remained arrested on their
way with their passengers in a most helpless state, unable
to get on in their boats, and afraid to trust to the ice
out of them. Opposite the Fanal it exceeded two inches in
thickness, and several Greeks, more light and enterprising
than their heavy masters, walked across and returned with
perfect confidence. The gulls and cormorants which crowd
the harbour seemed now reduced to a state of torpidity.
They stood motionless on this part of the ice in great masses,
and those who passed over on it were obliged to kick them
out of their way. In the great frost which happened in
Russia in 1812, no ice had appeared on this harbour. The
only instance of anything similar to the present occurred in
1794, when a partial sheet formed near the Seraglio. On
this a fanatic dervish proposed to walk, to establish his
reputation for sanctity by a miracle, before a crowd of people,
but his infirm footing soon separated, and he was drowned
in the sight of his congregation.
Like the dervish, I had the strongest inclination to trust
to the ice, but not exactly from the same motives, or in the
same manner—I wished to do a thing which, as far as I
could learn, was never done before-to skate across the
harbour of Constantinople : so I proceeded to a blacksmith
in the neighbourhood of the Palace, and gave him directions
to make me a pair of skates. A Turkish artist is not very
expeditious in forming an implement he has seen and of
which he knows the use; but he makes slow progress, in-
deed, when he has neither of these advantages; so you will
not be surprised to hear that the ice was passed before the
skates were finished, and I lost the opportunity of immortal-
izing myself. Swimming across the Hellespont would have
been a common occurrence, compared with skating across
the Golden Horn.
VOL. II.
I
114
NARRATIVE OF A
A
The severity of this frost extended all along the shores of
the Euxine, and the harbour of Odessa was frozen to a con-
siderable distance from the shore, and ships unloaded their
cargoes, and sent them across the ice for two miles. The
sheet of ice reached as far down as the island of Serpentaria,
and blocked up the mouths of the Danube. This was a very
rare occurrence, but sometimes happened in ancient as well
as modern times. When Ovid was exiled to Tomi in this
neighbourhood, he complained of it among the calamities of
his unhappy state-
Vidimus ingentem glacie consistere pontum *
The end of the month was distinguished by a phenomenon
which marked, more, perhaps, than any other circumstance,
the exceeding and enduring ignorance of this European
people. The English almanacs had announced an eclipse
of the moon for the 26th January, and calculating the dif-
ference of time between the longitudes, we found the moon
would rise eclipsed, and we expected, as we had heard, that
the Turks would endeavour to disperse the darkness with
drums and trumpets. The moon rose obscured by dense
clouds, and I was greatly disappointed. In some time,
however, they dispersed, and she appeared curtailed of her
fair proportions, three-fourths of her disk covered with a
dismal veil. A shout ascended from the part of the town
below the Palace, in the district called Casim Pasha, and it
continued accompanied with drums and other noises till the
moon emerged from the jaws of the monster which they
supposed had endeavoured to swallow it.
On the following month the shock of an earthquake re-
minded us of those convulsions which had formerly devas-
tated the city, and obliterated many of its edifices. About
twelve o'clock on Monday, the 24th of February, a smart
shock was noticed at Pera. It was distinctly felt in the
* El., lib. iii. p. 10.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
115
upper rooms of the British Palace, and in the Prussian
Palace the bells were all set ringing. It is one of those
awful things that use does not quite familiarize us to, and
our recent experience at Zante did not much dispose us to
like a repetition of it. It, however, passed off without in-
jury, and was not repeated.
To the other calamities which afflict this devoted town was
now added that of fire. The idea you annex to this is, that
of one, or perhaps two houses burnt, leaving an unsightly
building with broken windows and charred wood, and a
paragraph in the newspapers of a particular insurance office
called on for a few thousand pounds damage. But a fire
here is a different thing—the destruction is not of houses but
of streets, and the injury is not exhausted on windows and
roofs only, but the edifices are laid prostrate, and the whole
district becomes an open space, unbroken sometimes by even
the ruins of a wall. Such an event has just now occurred.
The Turks take great precautions against fire in public,
but are altogether as negligent in their own houses. The
first night I slept in Pera I was awoke by an extraordinary
noise. It was that of something struck violently against
the stones, which, in the stillness of the night, and against
the large coarse blocks loosely laid for pavement, emitted
a very loud sound. This was accompanied by a dismal
cry uttered in a measured cadence, and repeated at every
stroke. On getting up and looking out to see what it pro-
ceeded from, I perceived a Turk wrapped up like one of
our watchmen, with a lantern in one hand and a long pole
shod with iron in the other, which he struck against the
pavement, and at every stroke stopped to utter his cry.
This person was a Passavan, and one of a numerous body
who walk the streets for the sole purpose of watching for a
fire. Whenever one is seen, the low cry is raised into a
12
116
NARRATIVE OF A
shout of Yanganvar, “ There is a fire"—and the whole
neighbourhood is alarmed. As you walk the streets by day
you see their poles piled, like soldiers' muskets, in different
places ; a considerable depôt was near our palace gate.
Besides this, there is a large tower at Galata, and another
called the Janissaries' Tower at Constantinople, which are
for the same precautionary purpose. You see them rising
to a considerable height above all the other edifices, and
commanding a complete and extensive view over the whole
of the two peninsulas. Instead of a bell, a very large drum
is kept at the summit, and guards are ever on the watch
beside it. Whenever a fire is seen, the drum is struck with
a large mallet-like wand, as a bell is tolled, and the sound
comes with a peculiar and solemn tone upon the ear.
In addition to these precautions to discover a fire, there
is a corps of firemen, the most vigorous and intrepid per-
haps in the world, to extinguish it. These are.called Trom-
badgees; their sole dress consists of trowsers and a jacket
without sleeves, leaving their arms, neck, and breast bare,
exhibiting an extraordinary degree of muscular strength.
On their heads they wear metal caps, like inverted copper
basins, and their whole aspect is something very striking
and extraordinary. Their daring corresponds with their
strength. They are frequently seen in the midst of flames,
directing one pipe against the burning house, while their
companions below direct another against them, and keep
them from being burnt or suffocated only by playing upon
them a continued and copious torrent of water. Whenever
they exert themselves their interference is most efficient, and
no house is burnt which they engage to preserve. Notwith-
standing this, the ravages of fire at Constantinople, both in
extent, frequency, and destruction, is frightful, and surpasses
all you have read or imagined on the subject.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
117
The houses are almost all built of wood, some entirely,
others a wooden edifice raised on a stone foundation. The
building with any other material is, to a certain extent, pro-
hibited, as it would reduce the consumption of timber, and
so deprive the government of the revenue derived from the
duty on it. Every fire is a gain to the state. During seve-
ral months in the year the wood is dried by an arid atmo-
sphere, and rendered highly inflammable. At this season,
too, strong gusty winds prevail, so that a small blaze is soon
fanned into an extensive conflagration. The interior of the
houses is as inflammable as the outside; the floor is covered
with a fine straw mat, and the divans and windows with light
cotton, or muslin curtains. There are no chimneys or grates.
The fire is kindled in a mongal, a pan of charcoal laid on the
mat, or sometimes under a table called a tandoor, covered
over with a cloth, under which people thrust their legs when
they sit round it, and they frequently upset it. The Orien-
tals are seldom without a pipe in their mouth, the burning
bowl of which generally rests either on the mat, or the cotton
cover of the divan, on which the burning embers fall out
when it is carelessly turned. The ashes are frequently
shaken out while yet ignited, and suffered to extinguish
themselves on the mat. There are copper pans sold in every
bazaar to lay under the pipes, and guard against accident;
but though sometimes bought, they are rarely used. I have
scarcely ever seen a mat or a divan which was not marked
with burnt holes arising from these causes; and I have more
than once seen a woman cross the room, from sitting over a
charcoal pan, or under a tandoor, with the tail of her petti-
coat in a blaze. The predestinarian opinions of the Turks,
combined with the careless habits of all, give constant
occasion to accidental fires.
To these is to be added, the disposition to incendiarism
118
NARRATIVE OF A
among the people. The mode in which a discontented
Turk shows his anger, is by setting fire to houses. It is a
notification that some dissatisfaction exists, and it is gene-
rally the precursor of inquiry and redress. It is thus, in
some measure, legitimated. A street on fire is considered
like a parochial meeting, and its remonstrance is attended
to. The substance used for incendiarism is well known; it
is called a Condac. It is a cake, varying in its size, com-
posed of rags, enveloping sulphur and other combustibles.
It is lighted by a bit of spunk, inserted in the centre, which
burns with a slow combustion, and at the expiration of
about an hour ignites, and immediately communicates fire
to wood or any inflammable substance with which it is in
contact. They are sometimes laid down by themselves,
sometimes tied to stones and thrown into windows, and a
fire is known by them to be intentional or otherwise ; when-
ever they are found in the neighbouring houses uncon-
sumed, as they often are, it is a certain proof it was not
accidental.
From all these causes there is no city in the world, per-
haps, where fires are so frequent or so extensive as at Con-
stantinople. De Tott records an awful one which occurred
in 1755. It consumed the Vizir's palace near the Seraglio,
and proceeded to the church of Santa Sophia, where the air
became so hot that the lead on the domes melted, and ran
down the spouts like water, miserably scalding all who were
assisting to extinguish the fire. By a sudden change of
wind to the east, it was carried from hence in three branches.
Two of them met and inclosed a whole orta of janissaries
who were endeavouring to pull down a house, to stop the
progress of the flames. They were all suffocated or con-
sumed. Two-thirds of the city were destroyed.
An old gentleman of Pera informed me, that he kept an
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
119
account of seventy-four fires which had occurred in four
months, and that he himself was burnt out eleven times.
Before our arrival fires had been very frequent; both the
Russian and Swedish palaces at Pera had been consumed.
In the latter was a fine cabinet of antiquities, which M.
Palin, the Swedish Minister, had been a long time collect-
ing; it was entirely destroyed with the building. But that
which I now witnessed was the most extensive and calami-
tous that had occurred for many years.
On the 1st of March, 1823, about eight o'clock in the
morning, a woman at Tophana went to the bath, and left a
tandoor, at which she was sitting, burning till her return.
Before she came back, however, the fire communicated to
the table, and when she returned the room was in a blaze.
The Turks seldom notice the conflagration of a single house
or of several; so the neighbours pursued their usual busi-
ness, leaving the fire to go out of itself, or the old woman to
extinguish it, as it pleased Allah. The house was situated
in the bottom of the valley of Tophana, near the market,
and in the most dense and crowded part of Pera, and the
fire immediately communicated to the adjoining houses.
The wind had blown very strong from the south for several
days before, and the weather was dry, so that the houses
in this quarter, which were all built of wood, were in a
very inflammable state, and the fire immediately spread
in the direction of the wind with great rapidity. In two
hours it had made such progress that all Pera was alarmed.
The view from the top of the English palace about ten
o'clock was very terrific; the whole valley of Tophana
seemed on fire. Several minarets of mosques which rose
from the midst of the flames, appeared like immense
torches stuck in the ground; their white sides remaining
untouched, while a cone of flame issued from the top.
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NARRATIVE OF A
The wind was blowing strong from the south, and directly
up the valley, so the flames were carried rapidly along in
that direction.
About eleven o'clock I proceeded to the back of the Ga-
lata Serai, to the open space which yet remained unbuilt
after a fire of last year in this place. The conflagration
was advancing rapidly up the street that led to this space.
Five fire-engines had been brought down, and a number of
trombadgees, with their naked arms and metal caps, were
sitting idly on them. The street was narrow, and but one
was brought to bear on the fire; the rest were inactive, with
the firemen smoking their pipes. The propensity of a Turk
is displayed without any regard to time or place. He is
fond of flowers, and he sticks them everywhere; I was sur-
prised to see, in the midst of fire and smoke, the engines
decorated with them. They were fresh gathered, and their
fragrance and beauty strongly contrasted with the horror
and destruction of everything around ; the idle trombad-
gees turned about every minute to smell them, and again
applied to their chibouks. Beside these were men with
long poles, terminated with iron hooks, like boat-hooks ;
with these they attempted to pull down a house next the
one on fire, but after a few boards in the front were dis-
placed they desisted, and stood with their poles erect
against the wall. Men with axes also made an effort to
cut away some timber, but in a short time they all de-
sisted, and suffered the fire quietly to proceed. The
houses here belonged to poor people, who could not give
them bacshish, and so they made no exertions.
The fire now grew so hot that I could remain no longer,
and I returned. The people from the neighbouring houses
were slowly removing what they possessed. This generally
is not much. There are no tables, chairs, beds, or any of
RESIDENGE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
121
the numerous articles with which our houses are encumbered.
Almost the whole furniture consists of the cushion of the
divan, on which an Oriental eats, sits, and sleeps with a
thick quilt thrown over him. This he takes on his back
and walks out of his house when the fire comes next door.
Among the fugitives an old woman came out of the house
adjoining the fire with her whole furniture—a stool in one
hand, a reel in the other, a large gourd under each arm,
and a cat on her shoulder; after some time the cat began to
struggle, unwilling to leave its old residence, and at length
escaped back into the burning house. The mistress quietly
followed it, and after some delay again brought it out. The
cat still struggled, and a second time made its escape.
The house was now falling fast in burning fragments, and
several persons endeavoured to dissuade her from entering
it; but she would not desert her cat-went in once more in
search of it, and was scarcely across the threshold, when
the whole fell in, and she and her cat were never seen more.
Some bustle now occurred, and on inquiring into the cause
I found it was a horrible one. A law exists that any one
found robbing at a fire is to be thrown into it. The Seras-
kier had just come up on horseback, and a man was ac-
cused before him of taking some property that did not be-
long to him. He was ordered by the Seraskier to be cast
into the flames, and the bustle I saw was the execution of
the sentence.
About two o'clock the fire had spread as far as Beshik-
tash, and the whole face of the hill looking over the Bos-
phorus, for nearly two miles, was a sheet of fire. All the,
inhabitants of the neighbourhood had brought what they
could save into the great burying.ground, and were bi-
vouacked among the trees ; so that the whole large space
was filled up with fugitives and small heaps of furniture ;
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NARRATIVE OF A
but now the fire seized on the trees, the resin of the cypress
rendered them highly inflammable, and the whole was in
a blaze. The progress of the fire was as curious as it was
beautiful. As the wind waved the slender and flexible sum-
mits of the cypress, they continually threw out from their ex-
tremities large bright sheets of flame, which floated along
unbroken to a considerable distance, like the lightning pro-
duced in theatres by throwing powdered resin against the
flame of a candle. In a short time the whole burying-
ground was covered with a canopy of this blaze, and the
poor people below, unable to bear the showers of fire which
fell on them, were compelled to seek another asylum.
On this day we dined at the Austrian Palace, and about five
o'clock the fire seemed as if it had exhausted itself for want
of fuel ; but the wind had changed, and the flames were
rolled upon a district which had hitherto escaped; and when
about nine o'clock we came out of the saloon, the aspect of
the fire was very awful. The Austrian palace lies in a val-
ley, and was now flanked by an immense amphitheatre of
fire, as if it was at the bottom of the crater of an ignited
volcano. The progress of the fire seemed very extraordi-
nary. At the distance of several hundred yards from where
it was raging, and among a dark mass of houses, a bright
and luminous spot would appear. This remained station-
ary for a short time, and then suddenly burst into a blaze,
which inclosed all the intervening houses, so that the fire
became one continued surface. From this manner of pro-
gress
it seemed almost certain that fire was intentionally
set to various distinct places at once; but it was clearly
ascertained that these communications were made by light
ignited matter carried through the air, and falling on the
dry wood, which soon bursts into a flame in the heated
atmosphere. The Turks and Franks here universally attri-
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
. 123
bute it to red hot nails, exploded from burning timber with
such force as to stick in distant houses, and so communicate
the fire. But there is no proof that nails so explode; nor
if they do, have they ever been found so communicating
the fire. Simple flakes of light inflammable stuff, which
were floating about in the direction of the wind, would easily
account for the effect.
We were now alarmed by the report of cannon, and
imagined every moment that some conflict had commenced;
and in fact a serious calamity had like to ensue. It had
been rumoured all day that the fire was planned and exe-
cuted by the Greeks, in connection with the insurgents of
the Morea, and the Turks were with difficulty restrained at
different times from taking summary vengeance on all they
could find. The fire at length reached the arsenal at To-
phana about nine at night, and instead of unloading the
guns on the wharf, which were continually kept shotted, the
Turks suffered the fire to seize the carriages, and they all ex-
ploded in succession, throwing their balls across to Scutari;
some shells also, which, they say, were overlooked on the
wharf, and, overtaken by the fire, burst, and both circum-
stances created an extraordinary sensation in Pera; but at
Constantinople it was reported to have been caused by an
attack on the Turks, whose houses had been set on fire. An
immediate soulèvement of the janissaries took place. They
raised a cry, and ran down to the water-side to get boats to
assist their friends. It would have been a tremendous addi-
tion to the calamity, if twenty or thirty thousand armed fel-
lows had thus rushed into the midst of the burning city, like
soldiers into a town taken by storm. The horrors of Scio
would have been repeated; but providentially they were
stopped. The janissary Aga had all the gates closed which
led to the water, and in the meantime prevailed on them to
124
NARRATIVE OF A
1
ascertain the fact before they went over. Messengers were
sent across, and having stated the real cause of the explosion
of the guns, the janissaries dispersed. About four in the
morning the wind had entirely subsided, and the force of
the fire with it, after it had continued to rage with incon-
ceivable fury for above twenty hours.
The Turks having no kind of statistical tables, it is im-
possible to ascertain the number of houses destroyed ; some
accounts raise it so high as thirty thousand: but it is impos-
sible. I went round the burnt district both while the fire
was raging, and after it was extinguished, and I walked
through the ruins. The extent of the fire was about two
thousand yards, not an English mile and a half, and the
greatest breadth about eight hundred yards, not quite
half a mile : in that space were thirty-four mosques, all of
which, with the houses attached to them, were destroyed,
or nearly so. The number of houses attached to a mosque
forming a Turkish parish is, as you. know, very varied, so
that I could make nothing of the data; but, supposing the
Peninsula of Pera to contain thirty thousand houses, and one
hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, which is the usual
conjecture, it will appear that about one-third has been de-
stroyed, or about ten thousand houses, and fifty thousand
people left without habitations, which is in fact a calamity
of sufficient magnitude without any exaggeration. Compa-
ratively very few lost their lives, considering the impertur-
bable character of the Turks, and their utter inaptitude to
take any precautions. About five hundred persons, con-
sisting of bed-ridden old men and women, sick and young
children, perished in the ruins.
The fire was, as usual, attributed to the discontented
janissaries, and was taken as an expression of their opinions.
It was rather remarkable that not a single house belonging
RESIDENCÉ AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
125
to à Frank, or even a Raya Christian, was consumed.
Whatever the Sultan's opinion really was, he affected to
believe it entirely accidental. A firman was immediately
issued that no Turk should, in future, leave his house with-
out carefully extinguishing any fire remaining in his mongal
or tandoor.
This great fire was followed by several smaller, con-
suming many houses both in Pera and Constantinople, till
at length another most serious one broke out, which affixed
the suspicion not to the Turks, but the Greeks. One
Sunday morning my attention was called to a great smoke,
which issued from some houses in the district called Casim
Pasha, just below the Palace; and, on looking from the
kiosk on the top of the building, I saw eight or ten houses
on fire.
This was a district hitherto untouched, and on the
side of the peninsula opposite the former. When service
was over, I proceeded to look at it from a nearer place.
The wind had fanned it into an immense flame, and borne
it directly on the arsenal. The alarm was now very great.
It was necessary to call in the aid of 3000 or 4000 men
to remove the stores and tow the ships which were laid
up into deep water; but, before this could be effected, the
fire had seized them. One of them was a ship of the line,
and she sailed out from the docks in a blaze. It was im-
possible to contemplate this novel feature of a conflagra-
tion here without feeling a new and extraordinary interest.
The little burying-ground on which I stood formed a terrace,
crowded with spectators like people assembled in an amphi-
theatre to witness some display. Immediately below us
was a surface of fire, blazing to the water's edge, from
whence issued the gallant ship, forming a vast pyramid of
flame, slowly drifting across to the otner side, to convey the
conflagration to Constantinople. From the two towers on
126
NARRATIVE OF A
each peninsula issued the deep and solemn sounds of the
great drums, booming on the wind; and every one seemed
waiting with breathless expectation till this vast brûlot
would carry the fire across and the Seven Hills would
burst out into a blaze. The Turks seemed now firmly
persuaded that the whole was designed and executed by
the Greeks, and they became very savage and dangerous.
About seven in the evening, however, the wind ceased, and
the
progress of the conflagration was suddenly arrested, and
as it grew dark exhibited the extent of the fire. It formed
a triangular area, the apex of which was near the British
Palace and the base along the edge of the water, in which
the red-hot embers of 2000 houses were glowing like a char-
coal-furnace:--detached was the hull of the man-of-war, ,
now burnt down to the water's edge. The destruction of
the arsenal, two corvettes, and this ship of the line, was the
result of this bold attempt of the Greeks. Had the wind
continued as strong and in the same quarter as when the
fire began, and the burning ships, as was intended, been
driven among the houses on the opposite side, there is little
doubt but the whole city might have been consumed, and
the most extensive destruction effected that was ever caused
by a fire-ship. Several Greeks were apprehended on sus-
picion, and some of them executed on that evidence, which
is always sufficient to satisfy a Turk. I never could learn,
however, any further particulars, though some of my friends
in the Fanal obscurely hinted at them.
This calamitous fire had been preceded by news of a very
disastrous kind from the seat of war in the Morea,--the fall
of the important fortress of Napoli di Romania, which put
the key of the peninsula into the hands of the insurgents.
It was partially interesting to me, as our frigate the Cam-
brian had been conspicuous in the transaction, and some of
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
127
my intimate friends, the officers, had acted a highly meri-
torious and laudable part, particularly the first lieutenant,
Scott, to whom I was indebted for many acts of kindness.
The Turkish garrison, having first killed, with great re-
luctance, the horses, asses, camels, and other animals shut
up
with them in the garrison, and eaten their flesh, were then
compelled to feed on such roots and weeds as they could pull
from the rubbish of the bastions, and, when that miserable
resource failed them, were reduced to the horrid necessity of
satisfying the cravings of nature on the emaciated bodies of
their companions, who had died, and were daily dying, of
disease and exhaustion. The perfidious violation of former
capitulations by the Greeks had determined them never to
trust to them again, and, with a dogged and imperturbable
resolution, some silently died of hunger, and others fed upon
the bodies. Not the most distant hope remained of their
liberation, still they continued firm in their resolution which,
for two years, shut up in the fort, they had persevered in.
An extraordinary accident, however, determined the fate of
the place. Above the fortress stood the Palamide, an out-
post which commanded it. The Turks, under the pressure
of intolerable hunger, one dark night, silently stole down
to obtain some sustenance from the town below, when the
Greeks, apprized of the circumstance, cautiously approached,
forced the gate open, and, rushing in, made themselves
masters of the place, after a feeble opposition from the few
emaciated beings left inside.
When the famished Turks returned from below, they
found the gates shut, and the fort in possession of their
enemy. The Pasha, as soon as he heard of the circum-
stance, offered 5000 piastres to every Turk who would be
concerned in retaking it; but the feeble and exhausted men
with him were utterly incapable of undertaking any offensive
128
NARRATIVE OF A
operation. In this state, the fortress, commanded from
above and attacked from below, could make no longer any
resistance, and agreed to terms of capitulation. Provi-
dentially at this time the Cambrian was in the neighbour-
hood, and our gallant ship hastened to the spot to see
the terms faithfully observed by the Greeks. Captain
Hamilton moored her so that the town and the Greeks
were under the range of her guns; and he sent my
friend
Lieutenant Scott on shore, with the marines and part of the
crew, to superintend the embarkation of the garrison, some
on board the Cambrian, and some on board ships provided
for their conveyance to Scala Nova Scott is a small man,
of few words and great good nature, but of the most deter-
mined and fearless spirit. The Greeks had a force of 8000
men, under little control from their leaders; and though
the latter were well disposed to protect the Turks, the former
seemed determined to renew again the scenes of Navarino,
Athens, and other witnesses of their cruelty and want of
faith Scott, however, forined a lane with his small force
from a gate which led down to the shore, and through this
600 Turks with their wives and children marched securely
to the ships. The bold countenance of the Lieutenant with
his little band kept in are the wild mass of armed men that
pressed about them, and who, no doubt, would have fallen
upon the feeble and unresisting Turks did they not know
who it was that protected them. The whole garrison, to
the amount of 900 persons, were embarked in seven Ipsariot
vessels and brought to Scala Nova, the Greeks retaining
hostages that their ships should be allowed to return in
safety after landing them. A considerable number of sick
and feeble were embarked on board the Cambrian and
brought to Smyrna, but not before forty of them died of ex-
haustion, notwithstanding every care was humanely bestowed
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
129
on them. A singular circumstance related by some of these
men was, that almost the only part of their emaciated
companions, who died in the fortress, capable of affording a
meal was their hearts. While all the rest of the body was
attenuated so that scarcely a fibre of flesh covered the bones,
the muscles of the heart remained as plump and full as
during health, and was always the part sought by those
who fed on the body.
The surrender of this important place was by far the
most decisive event that had yet happened in the revolu-
tionary war; and the sanguine Greeks of the Fanal sup-
posed the independence of their countrymen now established
without a possibility of reverse, particularly so as the
surrender was made on the Greek festival of St. Andrew,
the tutelary saint of the Morea, and was a decided proof
of his protection. It certainly was a most important epocha
in the events of the Revolution—it disengaged the largest
force the Greeks were ever able to collect together, and
rendered them available for other enterprises; it raised the
spirits of the insurgents to the highest degree, and gave
them a confidence in their military skill they never had
before : but the most important advantage was, that it
established a character for them with European powers,
which they greatly wanted. They showed themselves, for
the first time, capable of good faith and the usages of
civilized warfare ; and it was a proud boast to British
officers, and our friends of the Cambrian frigate, that they
were the first who taught them this important lesson.
Whenever anything extraordinary happens, and the weak
and superstitious fancy of a Turk is excited, it is sure to be
accompanied or followed by some preternatural warning or
communication ; and an extraordinary circumstance of this
kind now occurred, which excited the conversation of all
VOL, JI.
K
130
NARRATIVE OF A
Pera. In the month of February, a Sheik arrived at Con-
stantinople with some pilgrims from Mecca, and proceeding,
to the Seraglio, he demanded, with an air of authority, a
private audience with the Sultan. He was at first refused
admittance, and rather rudely repulsed ; but, on his solemn
declaration that he had something of great importance to
communicate from the prophet himself, by whom he was
despatched from Mecca to the Sultan, he was admitted.
He then informed him, that while he kept watch on a
Friday by the sacred Sepulchre, on the right-hand side,
in the still hour of midnight, while he was yet awake, and
in the full possession of all his senses, he heard a monitory
voice, giving him various warnings about the state of things,
which he detai.ed to the Sultan. When the voice had
ceased, he looked attentively at the tomb, and he perceived
a visionary arm thrust out, holding a scroll between the
fingers and thumb; this paper he took, and the arm was
again withdrawn. The Sheik then put his hand into
his bosom, drew out what he said was the actual mys-
terious scroll presented to him, gave it to the Sultan, and
withdrew. The Ulemah were immediately assembled, and the
whole affair submitted to them, to decide on its authenticity,
that it might be committed to the Archives of the Empire.
Meantime copies of it were circulated, and it was translated
into every European language spoken by the several missions
at the Porte.
This is not the first monitory warning which the Sultan
of the Faithful has received from the prophet. In 1791 a
similar communication was made, and the circumstance
circulated at Pera. On the present occasion it was sup-
posed by some to be a diplomatic ruse, and as the talent
and ingenuity of the English Ambassador were well known,
his diplomatic brethren attributed the contrivance and
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
131
composition to him. I can assure you, however, on his
own authority, that he was not himself the author, nor does
he know who was. Such a communication certainly was
made to the Sultan, and a firman was issued that every
mussulman should have a copy of it, and wear it next his
heart. However an infidel might doubt or scoff at it, the
true believer received it with implicit credit. I found,
on inquiry, that it was issued from all the mosques as a
solemn and preternatural communication, so I took a
janissary with me, and proceeded to Santa Sophia, where
he obtained for me a copy from one of the Imauns of the
temple. It was a beautifully illuminated little scroll, and
the fac simile of that which the prophet thrust out of the
tomb. I had it carefully translated, and I send you a
copy*. Whatever opinion you may entertain of its authen-
ticity, it is at least so far valuable that you may rely on it
as containing the genuine opinion of a Turk of the present
day, on sundry articles of his faith. You see he still
believes he shall have “ two damsels, one on the right hand
and the other on the left, and meet the day of judgment
looking in their faces.” · Fair houris and sensual gratifi-
cations still make an essential part of a Turk’s belief in a
future state.
Did the Turks confine their religious opinions to specu-
lative points, the mere absurdity of their belief would be
the only subject of censure; but their practical fanaticism is,
with little abatement, as cruel as ever; and of this two
instances came to my knowledge about this time. One of
them was a Greek of Smyrna, who had abjured Christianity
and conformed to Mahomedanism. Tortured by remorse,
and perhaps roused to a new sense of his degradation by
the successes of his countrymen, he determined to abjure
---
* See Appendix, No. 4.
K 2
132
NARRATIVE OF A
the religion he had embraced, and return to that he had
abandoned. When the circumstance was known, he was
seized by the Turkish authorities, and examined as to the
fact. In a fit of enthusiasm he declared his determination,
and his head was instantly struck off. No other charge
was brought against him.
Another was the case of a Jew, who in a similar manner
had abandoned his own religion, and adopted that of the
Turks. He, too, was affected with qualms of conscience,-
went himself voluntarily before the Cadi, and declared his
conscience would not permit him any longer to profess the
religion of the prophet. The Cadi was unwilling to bring
scandal on the faith by acknowledging this second instance
of apostacy, so he told the man he was insane, to go away,
and return again when he was sound in his mind. The
Jew, like the Christian, became enthusiastic, and treated
the prophet and his religion with such disrespect, that the
Cadi ordered his head to be struck off also. In both cases
the friends of the parties steeped pieces of cotton in the blood
of the martyrs, which were carefully preserved as precious
relics by Jews and Christians.
When I heard of these circumstances, I made particular
inquiries about the fate of the unfortunate Northcote--well
known as a barrister and a clever and ingenious man, but
of more pretence than talent. He was the author of " The
Metropolis," and other clever satirical poems, which made a
noise at the time, and he was well received at the Castle of
Dublin, where he strongly recommended himself to the
witty Duchess of Gordon, when she visited the Irish me-
tropolis, and at whose parties, it is said, he lost large sums
at picquet. He at length became deeply involved, and was
compelled to leave Ireland. He received an appointment
at Malta through the influence of some persons to whom
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
133
his talents and agreeable qualities had recommended him;
but falling here, too, under the suspicions of improper
practices, he proceeded to Constantinople, where he turned
Turk, soon acquired the language, and had a post in some
department bestowed upon him. Mr. Wood, one of the
dragomans of our mission, was well acquainted with him,
and to him he confided some feelings of remorse for his
conduct and apostacy, and his determination to return again
to the religion in which he was born. Mr. Wood told me
he warned him not to let his intentions transpire, if he valued
his life. He, however, incautiously made some declaration
of it before a Turk, and he was immediately put to death,
just before our arrival at Constantinople. The fanaticism
of a Turk is, you see, still unabated in this particular. It
is true he does not march with the sword in one hand and
the koran in the other, leaving the vanquished the alter-
native of death or Mahomet, but it has come to my know-
ledge, since my arrival in the country, that he has compelled
many of his Christian captives to undergo the Mahomedan
rite, and punished with death those who apostatised from ita
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NARRATIVE OF A
CHAPTER V.
Princess' Islands-Proté-Unsuccessful attempt of English to dislodge Turks
--Platé-Desolate State-Oxea-Remains of Edifices of Lower Empire
Antigone-Archbishop of Mount Sinai-Chalki.- Remains of Ancient
Mines-Picture of Last Day-Tomb of our first resident Ambassador-
Prinkipo—Exorcism of Demoniacs-Anecdote of Greek Priests ---General
character of the Islands--Subject of sudden Hurricanes...Prison for sus-
pected Greeks—Hospitable Greek Ladies—Family of Greek Musicians--
Melancholy Fate-Atrocious character of Sultan Selim's Sister--Plague at
Buykdere—Alarm at Pera-Curious Cause--Crew of suspected Ship in
British Chapel—Terror of Plague-Return to Princess' Islands.
There is an archipelago of islands lying about nine miles
from Constantinople, in the Sea of Marmora, very plea-
santly situated a short distance from the Asiatic coast, and
from their amenity and fertility, and the purity of the air,
are now, and have been since the time of the Greek empire,
the constant resort of opulent Greeks. They were formerly
called Demonesia, the Island of Spirits, as some translate the
word*. Four are fertile and inhabited, five are more sterile,
and though there are found on them the remains of former
edifices, are at this day altogether abandoned. They are
each denominated from some local circumstance, and still
retain their ancient Greek names. I visited at different times,
and with various friends, each of them in succession, and I
shall describe them to you in the order in which they stand.
The nearest is called Protét, from being the first met with
after leaving the Bosphorus. It lies seven and a half miles
from Constantinople, and is about three in circumference.
Aspornoiu. Est et contra Nicomediam Demonessus.—Plin. lib. v., ch. 31.
+ Ilgotn—Quod prima occurrit venientibus Byzantio et Chalcedone.Gil.
de Bosph. p. 373.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
135
On its eastern side is a small village. The social propensities
of the Greeks are such, that there are few or no detached
houses on any of the islands, but the inhabitants all congre-
gate together in particular spots. The appearance of the
island is remarkable. It consists of two distinct and equal
heads joined together by a valley. On one of them is a
monastery, from which the English suffered some annoy-
ance and loss in the unsuccessful expedition of Admiral
Duckworth. A party of sixty Turks landed on the island
from Kadi Kui, and established themselves in the monas-
tery. The English fleet lay near the shore, and were in
the habit of sending there for water or other things un-
molested, but they now found themselves suddenly at-
tacked from this commanding position, and the people daily
wounded. It was considered therefore necessary to dis-
lodge the Turks, and a strong party of marines was landed
for the purpose. They, however, conducted themselves so
imprudently, that they suffered severe loss. They ascended
the hill, which is quite denuded, without a single shrub to
afford any covering, and were completely exposed to the fire
of the Turks from the windows of the convent; and, after
losing their commander and a considerable part of their
detachment, before they had advanced more than half way,
they were obliged to retreat to their ships, which soon after
precipitately retired.
The next we visited in the order of succession was Plate*,
so called from its flatness. It was about half a mile in circum-
ference, and covered with a thick matting of marine plants,
which, when bruised by being trampled on, or broken by
forcing our way through them, emitted a very strong and
overpowering odour. These plants are the cover of innume-
rable sea-fowl, particularly gulls. We everywhere trod
* INUTM.
136
NARRATIVE OF A
upon their eggs and young, while the parent birds flew
screaming and hovering over our heads, frequently stooping
on us, and brushing our hats with their wings. It strongly
reminded me of some of those solitary islands in arctic and
other remote regions seldom visited by man, of which birds
alone keep an undisturbed possession ; but this was within
a few miles of an immense city, the noise of whose popula-
tion could be heard, if it was not drowned in the screams of
those birds. We left this island, from which we were in
some measure driven by its wild inhabitants, feeling it an-
other evidence of the exceeding solitude and depopulation of
every place around this great Turkish capital.
From hence we proceeded to Oxea*, which its name well
designates. It rises so high, that it is more distinctly seen
from the capital than the rest, out-topping, as Gillius says,
the seven hills on which it is built, and it is surrounded
on all sides by sharp, steep precipices. On approaching
the east side, the view was very picturesque. A semicircular
bend formed a fine bay, around which the rocks rose abruptly,
very rugged and romantic. We made our way up the sides,
and were surprised to find a considerable portion of the
precipices was formed by the ruins of edifices, tottering on
almost inaccessible projections. Among the lowest were
the remains of cisterns, into which the rain-water, falling on
the summit and trickling down the sides, was continually
deposited. The want of springs in this archipelago was its
greatest defect, and here were formed reservoirs which sup-
plied them.
Two yet remain, and the Greeks still use
those cisterns of their progenitors. Our boatmen brought
with them vessels, which we let down and filled, and found
the water below good, though perhaps some of it had re-
* Očkid--Insula in acutum verticem fastigiata undique præceps et præruptą,
-Gil., p. 373.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
137
mained there without being drawn off for several centuries.
On ascending higher we stood on a platform, which seemed
the ruins of a chamber, one half of which had fallen over
the precipice on which it was built, and the other remained
forming a semicircular section. Of this we took possession,
and in this remnant of the palace of the emperors we pre-
pared our breakfast, and made our tea with the water of
their cistern. From hence we ascended by a steep path,
winding spirally round the island, and everywhere made
our way through walls built of flat bricks, cemented with a
mortar made of lime and pounded tiles. Through all the
ruins were dispersed small cisterns; one so called stood
like a chimney, on the highest point of the island, and
resembled an inverted tundish, the broad part which should
expand above to receive the rain being below. Shading the
ruins, we saw what we supposed to be trees, but on ap-
proaching them, found they were plants of the giant fennel*,
which on this rugged rock shot up to the height of ten or
twelve feet, with expanding branches, forming considerable-
sized trees, and their umbels a shady foliage. On cutting
the stem, a milky juice exuded, which hardened into a
gum resembling in appearance, and having in a degree
the odour and flavour of asafoetida. I found this plant no-
where in the East but on this rock. Tournefort describes
it as abounding in a similar way in the island of Skinos.
We descended from this rock of ruins, which it seems was
the prison as well as the retreat of the Greek emperors, and
to which many a victim of jealousy and ambition, when he
was deprived of sight, was sent for the remainder of his life,
and we passed over to the little island of Pitya t, so called,
from the abundance of pine which once covered it, though
now nearly denuded; and from thence to Antigone, distant.
* Ferula gigantea.
+ Ilitus – Pinus Maritimus.
1
138
NARRATIVE OF A
about one mile. Zonaras says it was formerly called Panor.
mus, but does not tell why it was changed to Antigone. It
rises on a single eminence, on which stood a monastery in
the time of Gillius, which yet remains. It is about three
miles in circumference, with a village on the east side, sur-
rounded by vineyards. Here we found the learned and
excellent Archbishop of Mount Sinai, who received us very
cordially. As a man eminent among his countrymen, and
distinguished for many high qualities, he had become an
object of jealousy and suspicion to the Turks. He was
therefore placed here under surveillance, and in this little
island was as completely incarcerated as if he had been
shut up in the prison of the Bostangee Bashi. Here he had
full leisure to pursue those literary and theological studies
to which he had devoted himself. Among the former he
had written a statistical work on Constantinople in modern
Greek, containing an account of its ancient and present state,
for the benefit of his countrymen; but this, though a simple
detail of facts, and perfectly harmless as a political work,
was now a subject of much suspicion to the Turks, as they
looked with a jealous eye on any allusion to the time when
the capital was in possession of the Greeks. He had there-
fore sent the work to Venice to be printed, and awaited a
more favourable time for its publication. Among the latter
he had been engaged in collating and correcting the trans-
lation of the Scriptures into modern Greek, of which he was
an active promoter. In this sacred study he was engaged
when we visited him, and we found him, like St. John in
his Patmos, preparing a Revelation for his countrymen,
which, generally speaking, they had before no access to.
Though the income of his see was suspended, and he was,
as we afterwards found, in much pecuniary embarrassment,
he declined to accept from the Bible Society any remunera-
1
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
139
tion for his time and trouble in correcting the translation.
He affirmed that promoting their sacred object was his
first duty, and his occupation in doing so was his great
consolation in his present perilous position. The Turks
had offered him the Patriarchate, which he declined, as
likely to impose on him a still more anxious and dangerous
situation than that in which he lived, and not likely to be
so useful, though he confessed to us he expected in every
boat that landed on the island the Turkish caique that was
to carry him to the capital, to undergo the fate of his reve-
rend brethren.
From hence we proceeded to Calcitis, or as it is called by
the modern Greeks, Chalki, from xarxos, brass, in which
it formerly abounded. It is described by Aristotle under
the name of Demonessus, from the name of a man,
he
says,
and hence it is probable that the whole archipelago was
called Demonesia. He further affirms that it was celebrated
for chrysokolla, gold which is a remedy for the eyes, and
brass brought up by divers*, of which was made a statue in
the temple of Apollo at Sicyon. The island bears evident
marks of this metallic state. We met heaps of pebbles:
stained with various tints of green and blue, apparently from
some copper oxide, and which appeared to be the cyanus
mentioned by ancient writers. In one of the valleys, where
the sea forms a delightful bay, are evident marks that mines
were once worked. Large heaps of waste thrown out from the
shafts and scoriæ from furnaces are found still in the state in
which they were left by the Greeks of the Lower Empire.
Here it was that Gillius gathered what he calls cæruleum
and chrysokolla ; and in fact everything in this spot is ex-
actly in the state in which he describes it, and attests the
::
* Χαλκος κολυμβητης. .
140
NARRATIVE OF A
general accuracy of all his accounts*. The scrobes or heaps
he mentions consist of stones with copper incrustations of
various shades of blue, and slags in different stages of
calcination and vitrification. He also adds that, if the bay
were explored, there would still be found abundance of
Aristotle's brass; for this we made frequent searches and
inquiries, but could find no trace or tradition of it existing.
Some wells in the valley are strongly impregnated with a
metallic taste and of an azure hue, and are used only for
the purposes of irrigation.
The contour of the island is very remarkable. It forms
a triceps, or three distinct heads. On the summit of one of
them is the Monastery of the Triades, or Trinity, once very
extensive, but the greater part of it burnt down. The side
containing the church is perfect. In the porch is a large
and curious picture of the Last Day. On the summit is
the Deity dressed in sumptuous robes, and crowned like a
king. Before him is the book opened by cherubims, like a
long music-book, extending from side to side of the picture,
containing the final sentence of every individual. On his
right, below, is a garden, formed into little compartments of
boxes, like one of our tea-gardens, each containing some
distinguished individual. In one is Abraham, with Laza-
rus in his bosom, like a child in a nurse's arms; in another
is the penitent thief, with his cross on his shoulder, looking
very
cold and miserable. On his left is a representation of
hell, depicted by the mouth of a great beast, who is swal-
lowing the wicked by thousands, as the devils throw them
down to him from above. Among them are the traitors
* Circa hunc Sinum existunt aggeres scrobium pleni ruderibus rejectis ex
effusione æris et chrysokolla et cærulei atque inter ipsa rudera collegi exi-
mium cæruleum et absolutam chrysokollam.-Gil., 376.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
141
nance,
and persecutors of Christianity. The most conspicuous of
the first is Judas, with his bag, struggling in the crowd;
and of the second, Diocletian, with remorse in his counte-
It was intimated to us, that Mahmood, the present
Sultan, would be joined with him when it will be safe to do
só. The artist has copied the satire of Leonardo da Vinci
in his Last Supper, and inserted an individual who was per-
sonally hostile to himself, for he has introduced among the
damned a dragoman of the Porte, with his calpac and other
designations, with whom he had a quarrel. I notice the
particulars of this picture because my attention was directed
to it at Constantinople as a chef-d'auvre of art, and one of
the most distinguished to be found in the whole of the
Greek church. The name of the artist, and the time in
which he flourished, the caloyers* could not inform us. The
church itself is dedicated to St. George, who is represented
on horseback, piercing the dragon with his spear exactly as
he is with us. Beside the monastery is a kiosk commanding
a magnificent prospect of the whole archipelago. This is a
general appendage of all such religious establishments.
It is a kind of coffeehouse, where strangers are served with
pipes and coffee by the monks, which they pay for as in any
other. The costume of this convent, as generally of all
the rest, is a thin loose robe of light blue cotton.
On the opposite hill is another convent dedicated to the
Panayat, or Virgin. We ascended to it by a broad road,
the only one that had any pretensions to the name that I
had seen in Turkey. As we wound up it towards the sum-
mit, it presented us with varying and beautiful pictures of
the surrounding scenery. The road was skirted with copses
of myrtle and arbutus, interspersed with groves of young
pines, and from the centre of them issued the building of
* Kudos y govtás, good old men. + IIav árid, All Holy.
142
NARRATIVE OF A
the monastery. This was not distinguished by a picture,
but by a much more interesting object. Our first resident
ambassador, Sir Edward Barton, had retired to this island
for the restoration of his health, and having died here, he
was buried; and a tomb, with an inscription, erected over
him. The tomb was still standing in the time of Dallaway,
in 1797; in process of time it had been dilapidated, and
the stone containing the inscription carried off. It was his
Excellency Lord-Strangford's wish to have it found, and
the tomb re-erected in a suitable manner, and surrounded
with iron railing, in the place where it originally stood, over
the spot where the remains of the deceased were deposited;
and he commissioned me to ascertain the one, and to make
inquiry after the other. The caloyers showed them both
to us. The first was in the pine grove beside the monas-
tery, and they pointed out to me the second in the archway
of the gate of entrance, immediately over the door. In
repairing the edifice, they took the first stones that came
to their hands, and this afforded a convenient one. It is
inserted in the wall on its side, but the letters are still
perfect and very legible. It is as follows:
EDVARDO. BARTON. ILLUSTRISSIMO. SERVANTISSIMO. AVGVSTISSIMO. AN
GLOR. REGINE. ORATORI: VIRO. PRÆSTANTISSIMO. QVI. POST. REDITVM.
A.BEL, YNGARICO. QVO. CVM. INVICTO. TVRCÆ. IMPERATORE. P. PRO-
.
FECTVS. FVERAT. DIEM. OBIIT. PIETATIS. ERGO. ÆTATIS. AN. XXX. SALVT.
VERO. ANNO. MDXCVII. XVIII. KAL, MA.
- I thought nothing more would be necessary than to give
directions to have it replaced in its former site; but I found,
as it had now become part and parcel of the convent, it
would be necessary to have the Sultan's firman to have it
taken down, as not a stone can be displaced in any religious
edifice of the Greeks without such permission, and paying a

ROL
TEATEELETTISTE ASTEASSADOR
EDVRDO BARTON
ICINSTRISS 240 SEA
VINTISSIMO
GLOR REGINE,
ATORI VIRO PRI
SANTISSIMO RV
POSTREDITVM
BEDONGARIC
COQOVCVMSIN
VICTO TYROR
IMPERATORE P
PROFECTVS FVER
AT-DIEM OBTITS
PIETATIS
SERGO
ATATIS A XXX
SALYT VERO
ANNOYDXCVII
NTCALM
1 Paternost Low
Engravedl Printed by Saracco
OF
CH .
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
143
large sum for it; not being prepared for either, I was
obliged to defer it till another opportunity.
Two long avenues of magnificent cypress, terminating at
an angle, and diverging in right lines, lead to a princely re-
sidence on the sea-shore, near the town. This was formerly
the palace, we were informed, of Mavroyeni, a Greek prince,
who had a situation in the army of the Grand Vizir in the
last Russian war.
He was decapitated by the Vizir for
some alleged delinquency, which so exasperated the Sultan
that he decapitated the Vizir and his son as a sacrifice to
his manes.
The palace and its gardens remain magnifi-
cent monuments of the liberal and splendid manner in which
the Greeks formerly lived. The house, however, had lat-
terly belonged to a family of the name of Affendooli, a Greek
gentleman put to death at the commencement of the present
troubles. The Turks then came and gutted it of all its
splendid furniture, which filled four or five saccolevas, or
large boats, and in their generosity left the family of the
unfortunate man the naked walls, which they could not
It was now occupied as a summer residence by
Baron Ottenfels, the Austrian internuncio.
From Chalki we crossed over to Prinkipo, the largest
and most populous of the islands, and from which they take
their modern appellation. It is the most distant from the
capital. The Emperor Nicephoras banished to this island
Irene, the widow of Flavius Leo, with whom she had been
crowned Empress in 749. She was left a widow, with a
son, for whom she managed the government, but when he
arrived at an age to take it upon himself, she put out his
eyes, to render him incapable. After this horrid act she
was sent herself into exile to these islands, and built a
monastery as an atonement for her unnatural barbarity, in
remove.
144
NARRATIVE OF A.
which she ended her days *. From her the whole group
was called the Princess Islands, and the largest Prinkipo.
It is about eight miles in circumference, with a town in
its east side, containing about three hundred inhabitants.
Along the shore are the remains of a very extensive convent,
which once contained fifty nuns. On one of the hills is an-
other, but in a great state of disrepair. It is dedicated to
the Transfiguration , and contains but a single monk. On
the highest eminence of the island is another, dedicated to
St. George, in high repute for its sanctity.
The practice of exorcising demoniacs is still in use in
the Greek church. In many of them are bolt-rings sunk in
the floor before the altar, with chains passed through them.
To these the maniacs are led and chained, and the service
of exorcism is performed over them. When we visited the
island, an extraordinary event occurred from this practice.
The monks were Moreotes, and because they were natives
of the Morea they fell under the same suspicion as the Pa-
triarch, though the poor men had not been from home, or
scarcely out of the island, for the last fifteen years. The
Turkish officers arrived and seized four of them, who were
sent to Constantinople, to abide their unhappy destiny.
Another was a man more shrewd than the simple and retired
persons who had at once submitted to their fate. So when
he saw the Turks ascending the hill, he was fully aware of
their object, and determined to defeat it. There were at this
time an old and a young man and a young woman who were
supposed to be labouring under demoniacal possession, and
were lying chained to the floor of the chapel undergoing the
process of exorcism. The monk immediately ran into the
* Zonaras-Cedrenus, quoted by Du Cange.
* Μεταμορφωσις.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
145
chapel, and slipping the chain from the neck of one of the
patients, put it about his own, and lay there grovelling and
shrieking, when the Turks entered in search of him. From
the habitual respect they bear to all deranged persons, they
made no examination, but, turning round with a feeling of
awe, they committed themselves to the care of Allah, and
silently retired with the rest of their prisoners. The inge-
nious priest immediately disguised himself and escaped to
Pera, where he took a passage on board an English vessel
bound to Taganrock; as a Frank. The vessel was becalmed
under the Castles for a considerable time, and visited by
the Turks. The same sagacity, however, which had de
ceived them in the first instance now eluded their detection.
All his companions, they informed us, were executed.
Beside Prinkipo are two islands, attending like satellites
on a great planet. One is called Neandros, and the other
Antirovithi. They are uninhabited, and remarkable for
nothing, except that the latter is called the Island of Rab-
bits, with which it once abounded.
These islands, lying between the Asiatic and European
shore, and at the distance of eight or ten miles from either,
are exceedingly healthful and beautiful, and much fre-
quented as a summer residence. The softness and balminess
of the air are still further increased by the vegetable pro-
ductions. They are generally wooded with arbutus, which
bears rich and large berries in great abundance; they are
constantly eaten as strawberries, which they nearly resemble
in colour, size, and shape. Different kinds of oak also
abound, particularly the kermes*, which grows round the
convent of the Panaya at Chalki. But besides these are
others which impregnate the air with their odours; various
species of pine, particularly the sea firt, the myrtle, one
* Quercus coccifera.
† Pinus Maritima.
VOL. II.
L
146.
NARRATIVE OF A
variety of which has large white berries, and the Cyprus
turpentine *. In making our way through any thicket of
these, we were obliged to brush against or bruise them,
and they emitted a strong and grateful scent. The plant,
however, which most abounds is the cistust, of various
gummiferous kinds, which sometimes colour the hills with
their blossoms. As we walked among them we found our.
boots and pantaloons covered with the gummy exudations
we had brushed away, while the odoriferous particles
ascended and formed an aromatic atmosphere of almost
palpable fragrance around us. This is, perhaps, one of the
causes that conferred upon the islands the luxurious cha-
racter they have acquired. There is something of the
effeminacy of a Sybarite in breathing such perfumed air.
In the time of Lord Sandwich the Turks of the., capital
retired here to indulge in those excesses which would not:
be permitted in the capital, and to which the peculiar
constitution of the air invited them. The islands were then,
like Capreæ, the scenes of retired debaucheries.
The water that surrounds them is no less pure than the
air that covers them is balmy. It is generally supposed
that, like most clusters of islands, they had been originally
all united, and separated by some convulsion. There runs
from Prinkipo a promontory towards Chalki, which it is
highly probable once joined it, and similar indications exist
in other islands. The channels between are not shoaly and
intercepted, but very deep, faced with steep sides, as if one
large rocky island had been rent, asunder into several parts,
divided from each other by deep chasms. The British fleet
under Admiral Duckworth lay between them in perfect
security. The water is so clear, that the bottom can be
frequently seen at a considerable depth; and the inducement
# Pistacia Terebinthus. + Particularly the Cistus Creticus.
:
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
147
to bathe in it so great, that groups of Greek ladies' remain
in the water for an hour together, as I afterwards saw.
They abound in fruit and vegetables, particularly gourds,
melons, and grapes. Fish swarms round the coasts, in all
the bays and channels, which are taken at night by Greek
fishermen by means of lighted faggots, projected in a fur-
nace from the bows or sterns of their boats, so that these
lights are continually seen all night moving round the
islands. The Greeks are very fond of this mode of fishing,
not only as a profit, but as a pastime. Poultry is very
plentiful, and also meat, but not such as is sold in Leaden-
hall Market. When the Aga heard we were on one of the
islands, he sent us a present of a sheep, and we sent him
back a bacshish of about five shillings, which was certainly
more than the
poor animal was worth.
The islands all labour under the disadvantage of want
of fresh water. There are springs both at Chalki and
Prinkipo, but they are disagreeable and unwholesome, from.
metallic impregnations. The only water consumable as
drink is rain, preserved in cisterns, which is so guarded
that every one has an iron door, or stopper, kept carefully
shut by a lock and key. In dry seasons it is fetched from
Constantinople.
Another disadvantage is frequent hurricanes to which
they are subject, which come suddenly on in the midst of
the most calm and beautiful weather. They are preceded
by a death-like stillness in the air, and then indicated by a
dark circumscribed spot, of a lurid appearance, near the
horizon, on tủe point from which the wind rushes. The
first night we slept among the islands we experienced one
of those. I was awoke by an unusual bustle among the
boatmen in the harbour just under my windows. They were
securing their boats with an anxiety, I thought, very unac-
L 2
148
NARRATIVE OF A
countable, for the night was calm and beautiful. My atten-
tion, however, was attracted by a hazy appearance between
the moon, which was now setting, and the horizon, which
seemed to grow more dense and circumscribed every mo-
ment, till it became a black spot about the apparent size of
my hat, with some faint prismatic colours round it. While
I was watching its progress, it seemed to burst, and an ex-
plosion of wind rushed from it like a hurricane. The window
out of which I was looking was forced in, along with all the
rest on that side of the house. The boats were all dashed
together, and blown up on the beach; the calm sea was in
an instant covered with white foam, which was raised up and
driven against the houses in great broad flakes; the whole
village was roused from their beds, apprehensive that the
houses would all be carried away, and everything, which just
before was in the most profound repose, was now in alarm
and commotion. In little more than ten minutes the whole
again subsided; the cause, as if it had rapidly passed along
with the storm, was no longer visible, and the sky was calm
and perfectly clear again. The effects are generally as
local as they are sudden. They are sometimes scarcely
felt at all at Constantinople. The operation of this, how-
ever, I found was more extensive. The people of the British
Palace were alarmed by the bursting open of all the doors
and windows at midnight; and one of the tall minarets of the
mosque at Scutari was snapped across like a pipe-stopper,
by the sudden and rapid rush of the current of air.
It was formerly the custom to fly to these islands when-
ever the plague visited Constantinople. Here breathing a
pure atmosphere, and out of contact with contagion, the
people felt a sense of security, and were generally exempted
from attack, and at that time they were crowded with inha-
bitants, particularly Greeks. By a kind of prescription, no
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
149
Turk is permitted to reside here; so that, with the exception
of four or five who are sent officially, they are never seen.
The whole population is Greek, with a few Franks, amounting
to about eight hundred, including those of Prinkipo, whom
I have mentioned. The islands were now crowded with
Greeks, but from a different cause. They were made a
kind of prison, where all the suspected were sent from the
Fanal, and whence they could not escape. They were shut
up here, as they said themselves, like fowls in' a hen-coop,
where they were always to be found, and from whence they
were daily taken to be killed.
When we first landed on Chalki we had with us a ja-
nissary. In passing near the vicinity of the village, we saw
crowds of Greeks of a rank above the common, distinguished
by their calpacs. They were sitting under all the trees in
different groups, playing checks or dominos, and quite ab-
sorbed and interested in their game, as if they were living
in a state of perfect security. At the sight of the janissary,
however, a visible alarm was communicated; like the child-
ren in the consul's garden at Scio, they seemed to shrink
instinctively from him, and in fact did apprehend he came
to select some of them for execution. When apprized that
he was merely our attendant, their confidence at once re-
turned, and they resumed their games with as much eager-
ness and loquacity as if they were in their own houses in
the Fanal in the most secure times. In fact, every day a
caique, with a chouash, arrived, bearing an order to send
some of them to the capital. They were carried off from
under the tree where they sat, and in the midst of their
game, and were never seen by their friends again, who,
nevertheless, continued their play, expecting next day to
be carried off themselves.
All the houses not inhabited were sealed up by the
150
NARRATIVE OF A
Porte. We saw on several, bits of sheep-skin nailed across
the opening of the doors, and were informed that it was
the Turkish mode of sealing up a house. We wished to
occupy one which was the property of a British merchant:
we found it thus closed, and so were shut out, for we had
brought with us only the keys and the owner's permission.
As we could not enter the house which we proposed,
and it was too late to return to Constantinople, we felt
considerable embarrassment how we should bestow our-
selves for the night. The Greeks were strictly prohibited
from holding any communication with Franks, much less
to receive them into their houses, and we were likely to
pass the night under a tree, when we received intimation
that we could be accommodated. We followed our guide,
and were admitted in rather a mysterious manner into
a respectable-looking residence. We saw no one except an
attendant, who prepared refreshments for us, and then con-
ducted us to apartments upstairs. On preparing for bed,
I turned down the divan, and perceived a pair of small
ornamented slippers, and from them and other things it was
evident the apartment belonged to some ladies. The next
morning, as we were going away, we inquired to whom we
were indebted, and found we had a kind hostess in a Greek
widow lady, who, with her two daughters, resigned to us
their own apartments.
Her name was Mansoor. Her
husband had been a distinguished man in the island of
Cyprus, and was agent for his nation at Constantinople, a
place of great trust and distinction. He was besides a gen-
tleman of amiable disposition, a kind heart, polished man-
ners, and cultivated mind, and highly esteemed by the
Greeks, as we afterwards learned. He had gone to Cyprus
only a few days before the disturbances commenced, and
he was one of the first Greeks seized on and executed. His
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
151
property was confiscated, and his widow and her daughters
sent as prisoners to the islands to abide any future pro-
ceedings the Turks might think it. right to pursue against
them. We were greatly embarrassed for having thus
obtruded on them, occupied the apartment in which they
slept themselves, and exposed them, perhaps, to further
peril and persecution by breaking a strict law, which en-
joined that all the Greeks at their doors should even retire
within their houses when they saw a Frank approach, and
this we perceived was the case in several instances. But
all this did not prevent these amiable ladies from exercising
the rites of hospitality when it was required. We after,
wards saw and thanked our kind hosts very sincerely. The
family consisted of a grandmother, à venerable old lady,
a mother, and two very intelligent and interesting girls, her
daughters, whose room it appeared we had occupied. They
were all dressed in deep mourning, and greatly interested
us. Knowing the state of pecuniary embarrassment to
which they were reduced, we wished, in some way, to make
them a remuneration, but we found such a thing could not
even - be mentioned without wounding their feelings. You
have heard that the Greeks are a mercenary people--I
found them always the contrary.
: The state in which the Greeks live here was strongly
exemplified by an incident that occurred while we were on
the island of Prinkipo. Near the village is an extensive
promenade, constantly crowded with Greeks, whom we saw
walking about, laughing and talking in the most heedless
manner, though some of them were daily taken away for
execution, like those at Chalki, and none of them could tell
the moment it would be their own fate. In the rear of the
promenade was a fine house, with a walled garden on the
side of the hill, which people visited as a curiosity. It
152
NARRATIVE OF A
belonged to a Greek of consequence, named Nicolai. He
was a man who had some musical talents, which he had
improved in Italy; and the Sultan, having been told of his
proficiency, wished to hear him. He was so pleased with
his performance, that he begged him to instruct singing-girls
intended for the Seraglio. He also established a choir of
musicians by teaching some of his friends and children to
play on different instruments, so as to form a pleasing band,
and the Sultan frequently sent for them to amuse him. He
was respected and esteemed on the island, and was one of
the gentlemen to whom we were introduced. He invited
us to visit his garden, where he received us like a patriarch,
surrounded by about twenty children and grandchildren.
It was on Saturday, the commencement of the Bairam ;
and while we were there a boat arrived at Prinkipo from
the Seraglio to carry him and his musicians across to play
at the festival. They hastened to put on their gala-clothes,
and they embarked, in high spirits, to the number of ten
persons, including himself and his eldest son. The boat
did not return at the usual hour; and, in these times of
treachery and suspicion, his family became alarmed. To
appease their anxiety, his second son, a fine lad of nineteen
proposed to go to a coffee-house at the water-side and in-
quire about his father and friends. While he was there a
Greek entered and asked for the lad. The master of the
coffee-house pointed him out, and the Greek, who proved
to be a Turk in disguise, told him he must come with him,
as he had orders to carry him over to his father. He
begged to be permitted to speak to his mother, but not a
moment was allowed him, and he was immediately carried
off. When the rumour of this reached the unfortunate
mother, she rushed down to the water to obtain a boat to
follow her husband and children; but the boatmen were
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
153
ordered, under the severest punishment, to take no Greek
from the island. She ran back in a frantic state, hastily
disguised the remainder of her children and grandchildren,
and then, abandoning the house, went to conceal them
among the hills of the island.
For two days nothing was known concerning the fate
of the absent, and we continued anxious and doubly
interested in the event. On the third day, a caique
arrived with their clothes, which were returned as a mark
of the Sultan's especial favour:the persons to whom they
had belonged were dead. We now learned the particulars
of this atrocious affair. The sister of the late Sultan Selim
was a woman notorious for her gallantry. Her person was
exceedingly forbidding, but her libidinous propensities were
uncontrolable; and any unfortunate man with whom she
wished to gratify them was sure to be the victim, whether
he complied with her wishes or not. If the first, he was to
be sacrificed by her relations; if the second, by herself.
In one of the visits of the musicians to the Seraglio,
some time before, she cast her eye upon a comely person
among them, and had her wishes, as usual, notified to him.
Knowing her disposition and his danger, he thought it
even safer to acquiesce than refuse, and an intrigue com-
menced, which, however, had terminated several years
before. No attempt was made to renew it, his apprehen-
sion subsided, and he went to the Seraglio as usual in
perfect security. On this day, however, the caique, instead
of proceeding to the Seraglio, was rowed to the kiosk at
Beshiktash. The Sultan was waiting for it, standing at
one of the windows, and the musicians, supposing they
were sent for to amuse him there, were preparing their
instruments to play, when they were all seized on.
The
unfortunate paramour was first strangled and cast into the
1
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NARRATIVE OF A
sea, while the Sultan looked on, after him, some of the rest
were treated in the same manner, including Nicolai and his
two sons, the lad who first went with him and the lad who
was sent for and afterwards brought over. An elderly man
of the band, when he saw. the execution of his com-
panions, immediately lost his senses, and became fatuitous.
In that state the Turks respected him, and would not lay
their hands on one whom Allah had already visited. This
circumstance saved the lives of the rest, whom they were
about to strangle. They were brought to the prison of the
Bostangee Bashi, and, after suffering some infliction there,
sent into exile.
When their fate was thus known, the scene that ensued
was very afflicting. The females of the family rushed down,
with their hair dishevelled, with an intent to cast themselves
into the sea, and were hardly prevented. As the family
was not only esteemed but extensively connected, the whole
island was filled with shrieks and lamentations. On this
occasion, the story of the unfortunate women of the Seraglio
was revived; and a Greek told me it recalled to his mind
the shrieks he had heard several years before, when they
were committing them to the deep close to the islands. In
the midst of these distressing scenes, the Turks deliberately
proceeded to Nicolai's house, which they began immediately
to strip of all its valuables. They said not a word. either
in sympathy or anger, but with perfect gravity plundered
everything they could lay their hands on. They did no
injury to the walls, but carried off everything contained with-
in them, and gave us to understand that Hunker, as they
always call the Sultan, and now with great propriety, had
sent back the men's clothes, and not torn down his house.
We left what remained of the unfortunate family within the
bare walls of the house, and prostrate on the floor. The
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
155
:
up by
reason assigned for these atrocious murders was, that the
woman had made advances to some other of the band
which were not attended to, and so the first affair was
divulged to the Sultan, who sacrificed these innocent victims
to his wounded pride and the detestable passions of his
relative.
Attracted by the salubrity and beauty of these islands, I
agreed with my friend, Mr. Leeves, to take apartments in
the convent of the Panaya, in the island of Chalki, for the
summer. One wing of the building had been fitted
the family.of Prince Ypselantes. It consisted of a large
saloon, with two recesses, and four chambers opening into
it. Nothing could exceed the beauty of the situation, or
the views which the apartments commanded of the islands
and the sea of Marmora in every direction. Regular
Greek boats constantly ply between the islands and the
capital; leaving the former every morning at five o'clock,
and returning every evening at three. I proceeded to
Pera on Saturday to attend to my duties the next day,
and returned again on Monday. The very voyages were
delightful. We generally stripped in the boat, jumped
into the sea, and swam a part of the way. Nothing could
be more pleasant or salubrious than this mode of proceed-
ing: the buoyancy of the swell, eight or ten miles from the
shore, the lucid transparency of the water, the bracing effect
of the cool element, and the beauty of the prospect, con-
tributed materially to support our health and spirits in the
midst of carnage, conflagration, and pestilence that sur-
rounded us.
This latter had now made its appearance in the capital
in an alarming form. It had raged with violence at Buyk-
dere and Therapia, and all along the Bosphorus. It broke
out among the troops quartered there, and as you passed
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NARRATIVE OF A
you saw the dying and dead lying together, in small tents,
not larger than sentry boxes, under the same canvass, and
a few 'emaciated creatures that had escaped walking about
them like spectres. The Turks did not show the slightest
disposition to separate the infected ' from the healthy,
though they made some effort at conquering their stubborn
predestination, by hanging the clothes of those who died
outside the tent to air, before they put them on themselves;
even this was considered an extraordinary effort at precau-
tion. Among the unfortunate Greeks, who neglected no
precaution, the disease had been still more fatal. After all
the executions and exiles there still remained about 300 in
the village of Buykdere. Of these 140 died in a month,
as one of their priests informed me. Among them was the
Reis, or Pilot of the Spanish Ambassador's State Barge.
The poor man, alarmed at the mortality about him, asked
permission to occupy a house in the Palace Garden, which
M. Zea, with his usual kindness, allowed him to do. He
was seized, however, with the disease, and with all his
family fell victims to it in a few days. Lord Strangford
had brought with him to the Congress of Vienna a Greek
servant from this place. His wife and children were all
swept away before his return.
But all Pera were now alarmed by another circumstance
which occurred in the heart of the town. The Catholic
clergyman of Buykdere had just returned from that place,
to the convent of St. Antonio, to which he belonged. He
complained of illness, and in thirty-six hours was dead.
As the circumstances of his death were alarming, the
plague doctors were sent for ; but, on due examination, no
mark was found to indicate pestilence. The body was then
laid out in the chapel, with his naked hand extended, and
as he was a man of celebrated sanctity, thousands came to
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
157
kiss it. One of the persons while performing this ceremony,
thought he perceived something suspicious on his arm; so
it was rumoured about, and it was thought necessary to
examine the body a second time; and then buboes and
carbuncles were actually discovered. The notion entertained
of the plague at Constantinople is, that it is not communi-
cated by atmospheric infection, but inevitably so by contact
with the body dead or alive. The alarm was excessive;
there was scarcely a Frank house in Pera to which the
pestilence had not been carried home in this way, and the
whole city was considered as tainted. The convent of St.
Antonio was closed up, and put in quarantine for forty
days; barriers were placed at the gates of all the palaces ;
no person in a long dress was allowed to pass; an appa-
ratus for fumigation was erected at the door, where every
person in a short dress was obliged to enter, and remain
till he was nearly suffocated, before he was allowed to
proceed farther.
In this state of alarm I was the unconscious cause of great
uneasiness. I was rather sceptical on the subject of inevi-
table contagion, in which I was confirmed by my intelligent
friend Doctor Macguffog, the Physician to the British
Embassy, who would not hesitate to visit patients in that
disorder, were he not deterred by the prejudices of the
people: if he were known to enter a house where the plague
existed he would be excluded from every other. I found
that there was generally a number of English sailors in the
harbour who were not aware of the existence of a place of
Protestant worship, or supposed that the Ambassador's
chapel was not intended for them. So after obtaining his
Excellency's permission, I was in the habit of going or
sending to the harbour, whenever an English ship arrived,
and inviting the crew to our chapel. I did so at this time
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NARRATIVE OF A
usual; but was afterwards told that the pestilence had
burst out among the shipping, and that the vessel I had
visited had brought a foul bill of health from Egypt, and
the crew was particularly infected; so I sent to the captain
of the Porte to say I would dispense with their attend-
ance, and I thought no more of it. Just as I began
service on the following Sunday, I saw the captain and all
his infected crew march into our chapel. The day was
very warm, the little chapel was crowded to excess,
and when I looked and beheld a sickly man wedged in
between every two of my healthy congregation, where he
sat compressed like a spunge, and giving out infection at
every pore, I hope I did not sin when I wished them back
again in the Red Sea, or anywhere but where they were.
I expected that my congregation would start up and leave
the church, that one-half would sicken with apprehension,
and the other never enter the chapel again. They had,
however, more good sense and a better feeling; some knew,
and others said nothing about it; we all escaped, and the
ship soon after left the harbour.
It is impossible to give you an adequate idea of the alarm
which this disease excites here. Its ravages have been so
great, that it is looked upon, even by enlightened Europeans,
with the same hopeless terrors as in the darkest ages of
ignorance and superstition. When any person is seized
with it he is abandoned to his fate even by his nearest
relatives: no medical man will dare to approach him, on
pain of being himself shunned and ruined. All rational
mode of cure is neglected as useless, and every aid of
medicine given up in despair. The only object is, not to
save the diseased, but to protect those that are not so; and
to this selfish feeling everything is sacrificed. That sym-
pathy which our common nature yields the sick is here
m
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
159
denied :--the sick of the plague are put out of the pale of
pity, and looked upon as some noxious things, which it ought,
to be not only allowable, but meritorious to destroy; and
so the disorder proceeds, rending asunder the ties of families;
extinguishing the charities of life, till at length it has
become here the most dreadful moral as well as physical
evil,--at once the scourge and scorn of humanity. An
example now and then occurs, when the parent does not
desert the child, nor the child its parent; but these are
considered rare instances indeed of a devotion at once fearful
and extraordinary. I was glad to leave a place where this
state of feeling predominated. Indeed I had 'committed
myself in such a way as to make me feel I was looked upon
with some alarm. I had been detected in parts of the
town where the plague was raging, and I walked along
with such culpable carelessness through the streets, that I
was seen to suffer the skirts of my coat to touch a man in
a long dress. So I retired with double pleasure to the
islands, when duty did not require my presence at Pera.
In the boat one day was a young woman, who became
very sick on the passage. It was generally attributed to
sea-sickness, and I frequently held her up over the side
whenever the disposition to vomit came on. A few days
after, I was called on to visit a person very unwell : I
found it was the same young woman.
Her sickness in the
boat was an attack of the plague, which she had caught
at Constantinople. She was servant to a Greek family
on the island, and when she found herself growing very
unwell, she was afraid to tell the circumstance, lest she
should be abandoned to her fate. She therefore continued
to wash and work in the ordinary way, though labouring
under the pestilence, till she sunk down. On examination
she was found to have buboes, and the worst symptoms of
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NARRATIVE OF A
the disease. She died next day, and her sister who slept
with her became also infected, and died in a few days
after. These two poor women fell victims to the malady,
and their deaths were probably accelerated by the terror
and apprehension of a discovery that they had the disorder.
It was communicated to no other person on the island.
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CHAPTER VI.
Voyage to Nicomedia-Libyssa—Tomb of Hannibal-Toosla-Colony of
Storks-Amusement of Turks-Cherries—Aga of Darjha-Retreat of Early
Christians--Inbat-Beauty of the Gulf-Site of City-Conak in the
Bishop's Palace-Dangerous Books-Muzzelim-Decrees of Diocletian-
Extirpation of Christianity-Baptism of Constantine-Present State of
Nicomedia-Travelling Retinue-- Turkish Horses--Khan at Sabangee-
Immense Cherry-tree-White Waters of Sakâriah-Pylæ-Beauty of Valley
Ocean of Trees-Lefkeh-Turkish Entertainment-Effects of Tea-
Tartar. Couriers-Nicæa---Extraordinary Appearance-Palace of Constan-
tine-Ancient Christian Church--First Ecumenic Council-Subjects dis-
cussed—Second Council–Restoration of Image-worship-Recent Prospe-
rity of Nicæa-Present Desolation.
The islands lie nearly opposite the mouth of the Gulf of
Nicomedia, and within a reasonable compass were many
objects of interest and curiosity. The towns of Nicomedia,
Nicæa, and Brusa, with all their historical recollections,
-stood in our mind's eye; while Olympus rose before us,
an object of our external sense, covered with snow, and
inviting us to cool ourselves on its summit. We therefore
hired a large Greek caique with her crew, and having laid
in some sea store, set out on a voyage of discovery up the
gulf
. We first landed at Libyssa, where Hannibal poi-
soned himself, to escape the persecution of the Romans.
He was buried under a large tumulus, or conical mound of
earth, exactly like that of Achilles on the plains of Troy * :
it still exists, and we meditated excavating it and seeing
what it contained. I am particularly interested about it
The Carthaginians, we are informed, spoke Irish, at least
so General Valancey said, and who knows but I may find
some valuable Irish MS. in Hannibal's tomb to support the
tottering credit of the worthy antiquarian? We did now,
* Εν Βιθυνη τόπος έστι δινω δε άπο θαλάσσης και ταφος αυτω κόμη τις ου μεγάλη
Aißuoou xaneitun,-Plutar. Paral in Flam.
VOL. 1l.
M
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NARRATIVE OF A
however, no more than pay our passing respects to the
memory of this illustrious Irishman, and proceed on our
voyage of discovery.
We next landed at Toosla, or salt-town, a wretched vil-
lage in a fine country, containing about 300 Greeks and
Turks. Over a fountain was a grove of platanus, which
exhibited a curious appearance. It formed a colony of
storks, who were as numerous as crows in an English
rookery; their nests were of an enormous size, as large
as pigsties, and nearly resembled small houses. Among
the materials innumerable smaller birds had built their
nests, and lived safe under the kindly protection of the
parental storks. These colonists sometimes take flight in
a body, and visit the Princes' Island, where they wheel
round the tops of the hills and again return. I was one
day covered by a cloud of them, which expanded over
me like a vast canopy. We have an early prejudice in
England, that this bird is the inhabitant only of a country
under a republican form of government, taking our notions
from the vast numbers in Holland : it does not appear,
however, that they have much preference for such a thing,
when they are contented with the government of Turkey.
As it was the feast of the Bairam, the Turks were all in
their holiday clothes, and amusing themselves; their re-
creation was a swing-swong, a cord attached to two trees,
in the loop of which they sat, and were swung backwards
and forwards by one at each side. On a bank was a num-
ber of others knitting stockings, and waiting for their turn
to swing. In their employment, amusement, and expression
of delight, they resembled a party of girls, though some of
them were grave men with white beards,—and it was not the
first time I had occasion to remark the childishness and effe-
minacy of their habits and enjoyments. We found the vene-
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163
rable Aga sitting under a tree, where the people, as of old,
came to him for judgment. He had a napkin of cherries
spread out before him, and was looking kindly at the sports
of the rest, as a mother enjoys the playing of her children.
Hearing we were going to Nicomedia, he said he could
send letters by us; and in the meantime he recommended
to us to go into some of the cherry-orchards and eat the
fruit. Toosla is remarkable for the size and excellence of
its cherries. You remember that cherries were first brought
by Lucullus to Rome, and thence reached England, from
Cerasus on this coast*, where after an interval of more than
2000 years, so unchanged is nature, that they retain their
primitive excellence, and are still called by us from a corrup-
tion of their original name. It is one of the odd customs of
the Turks, which their contact with Europeans has not yet
broken them of, that any stranger may enter a man's garden
and eat as much as he pleases, provided he takes none away
with him. So availing ourselves of this right, we walked
into the first romantic garden we met, and ate such cherries
as really surprised me,-they were as large as walnuts, and
of the most delicious flavour. When coming away, we
bought some for sea store,--two okes for ten paras, that is,
five pounds and a half for about three halfpence.
We next passed a promontory called by the Turks
Elghenkia, but by Sonnini Cape Blanco, a name which it
well deserves, as it consists of a very white sandstone, and
forms a conspicuous object at a distance; and in the evening
we landed at Aretzui, where we proposed to sleep. The
place is called by the Turks Darjha, corrupted into Tragea
by some travellers, and consists of about 350 Greek and
60 Turkish families. We sent our Tartar to the Aga, but
Is (Lucullus) primum vexit e Ponto annisque cxx. trang Oceanum in
Britanniam usque pervenere ---Plin. lib. xv. cap. 25.
M 2
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NARRATIVE OF A.
he returned without being able to find him, so we went
ourselves to his palace. Here we learned that the worthy
magistrate, for some reason unexplained to us, had run to
hide the moment he heard of our approach, and shut him-
self up in the women's apartment as the place most inac-
cessible to us. We were lodged at a wine-house, and supped
on a fish called kephalos by the Greeks, from the size of its
head, which we had purchased at a large weir in the gulf.
It resembled a bream, but was a much more palatable fish.
We left early in the morning, and passed the ruins of an
extensive fortress on a hill, called palæocastra, a name given
to all old edifices.
This was comparatively modern, a
fortress of the Lower Empire. The gulf is here about four
miles wide, and the shores on each side very beautiful. On
the west it slopes to the sea, and is highly cultivated;
but it soon breaks into various romantic hills and deep-
wooded glers, with high mountains in the background,
occupying all the space to the Gulf of Moodania. The
east shore, which we coasted, is remarkably bold and steep,
and the water, within an oar's length of it, several fathoms
deep. We now arrived at Maloon-iskelli, a small port,
where some Turkish craft were lying, the first symptoms
of navigation we saw in this fine gulf
. This little place is
remarkable as the ferry of the only road from Constanti-
nople.
Proceeding on our voyage we were attracted by some
singular-looking rocks, like human habitations, on the steep
and apparently inaccessible side of a mountain that over-
hung the gulf, and we landed to explore them. We were
informed by an old man who kept a kind of solitary coffee-
house in a cave below, that the places above were the habi-
tations of the primitive Christians, who flying from the
persecutions of Diocletian, which particularly devastated
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
165
this province of Bithynia, had formed a little town in this
inaccessible place. With great difficulty we climbed up to
it, and found it to consist of the remains of rude edifices
hollowed in the rocks; one of which had part of a wall still
standing in the front, and, from the marks of a cross, was
probably the little church in which this persecuted remnant
performed their sacred mysteries. By a singular transition,
this place, in which a spark of Christianity was preserved
from total extinction, afterwards became the haunts of
Arabian robbers, who, at a later period, were notorious for
their rapine and cruelty. I confess I was greatly interested
in these remains, though they were little more than heaps
of shapeless rock. Diocletian was the most bitter enemy of
Christianity that ever lived, and after immolating 150,000
Christians by different kinds of cruel deaths in this province
alone, he boasted that he had totally extirpated them and
their religion. To contemplate one of the little spots that
had eluded his vigilance, in which the expiring flame of
Christianity was kept alive till it again illumined the world,
was no small gratification. I procured at this place a coin
of Diocletian, among many of the Lower Empire which
they brought us for sale. It is said the Roman coins
are particularly valuable for preserving the likeness of the
emperors. If this has any merit in this way, the head
depicts a character of singular atrocity. Yet he is repre-
sented by historians, notwithstanding the cruel deeds to
which he gave his assent, as a man of mild, philosophic
character.
The wind now changed to the inbat, which we found
blew in this harbour, as well as in that of Smyrna, though
running in a different direction. Indeed, we were waiting
on shore till it set in, and now embarked hastily to avail
ourselves of it. The Gulf here suddenly narrowed to half
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NARRATIVE OF A
its former breadth, and we glided along through shores ex-
ceedingly beautiful and highly improved, resembling the pas-
toral scenes of England, swelling into gentle hills and culti-
vated over their summits. On the sloping face of one of these,
at the head of the Gulf, appeared before us the celebrated
city of Nicomedia or Ismid, rising from the water and em-
bosomed in the dense woods with which the hills were
covered. While contemplating the fine site chosen for this
first capital of Bithynia, we were curious to see the present
state of a city, which had now stood for 2400 years on
this beautiful spot. It was evening when we proceeded to
land; and, while floating over the calm bosom of the water,
it strongly recalled to me the scenery of some of the lakes
of Cumberland. Round the bay were lofty mountains, with
many broken and abrupt ridges, throwing over it a great
mass of shade. From these arose wreaths of mist, which
floated along the sides in fantastic forms, giving to the
whole landscape something very picturesque and romantic.
As this is considered a port, our first duty was to proceed
to the custom-house. Here we found that the only trading-
vessel which had arrived for some time was a small bark,
commanded by an Italian in a Frank dress, and who was
there unloading his cargo of wood and hoops. We found
the Gombrookgee, or head of the custom-house, was a Jew,
as is usual in other parts of the empire, the Turks having
a high idea of the commercial talent of that people, in
which they find themselves so deficient; and in fact, they
are obliged to search for a man who is not a Turk to fill
any
employment which requires common ability. We explained
to him what our object was in coming to Ismid; but he had
caught the feeling of his employers, and could not conceive
what couis induce the English to run about the country
for no motive but to visit ruins and collect old stones. He,
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
167
;
however, was very civil,-entertained us with pipes and
coffee till our janissary, who had brought our firman to the
Muzzelim, as the governor here is called, returned with an
order for our conak. The Muzzelim immediately sent his
chouash, who conducted us to a private house assigned
for our use as long as we pleased to remain. This was a
pleasant, spacious edifice on the sea-shore; and, after we
had taken possession and made it our own, we found we
had got into the bishop's palace. The unfortunate Bishop
of Nicomedia with four others were at that moment in
the horrible house of torture, the prison of the Bostangee
Bashi at Constantinople, and with the most perfect in-
difference the Turks gave us his palace. While we
remained we were attended by his chaplains, who did
everything to make our residence agreeable. And here a
circumstance occurred which strongly marks the state of
apprehension in which these poor people live. Several of
the tracts on moral and religious subjects which have been
printed in English for distribution among poorer
classes, have been translated into Romaic by different
religious societies, and sent out here for similar distribution
among the Greeks. We had some of these with us, and
gave them to such of the children as could read. Next
day, one of the priests brought them back, and said they
were dangerous books. We begged of him to point out any
dangerous passage, and he marked one, namely,-- What
is your duty to your brother ?" Answer: “ To love him
and to assist him."__"Now," said he," if that was pointed
out to the Turks, they would immediately conclude that it
meant our brothers in the Morea, and so it would bring
destruction on us all.” It happened that I had received
the proclamation which the new government of the in-
surgent Greeks had published just as I was setting out,
and so, not having time to read it, I took it with me to
among the
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NARRATIVE OF A
amuse us in the boat. If, therefore, the suspicions of the
Turks had been excited by this tract, and they had then
found the insurgent proclamation in my pocket, no doubt but
all the Greek priests would be hanged on the spot, and the
least we could expect' would be, to be sent to keep company
with the bishop in the torture-prison of the Bostangee
Bashi. We therefore did not attempt the distribution of
any more tracts on our journey.
Our Greek friends informed us there were many in-
scriptions yet remaining, but they were afraid to accom-
pany us to point them out, so we the next day visited the
Muzzelim, who exhibited a more perfect picture of Turkish
state than we had yet seen out of the capital. On four
sides of a spacious apartment sat four corpulent figures
opposite each other, in their robes, in the centre of the divan,
which each of them alone occupied. They were smoking
with their long pipes projected into the middle of the
room, and were as taciturn, grave, and motionless as statues.
The Muzzelim himself, a goodly large man about forty,
received us with a courteous smiling countenance, and
immediately assigned us a chouash to conduct us to what-
ever part of the city we wished to visit. We found in one
of the streets a sarcophagus converted into a reservoir of a
fountain; an inscription in good and legible preservation,
which intimated that Sergeius Demetrius had erected it to
his wife. Beside it was a pedestal with the usual dedica-
tion to good fortune; and in a garden a long inscription,
on what appeared the base of a statue which had been
erected on it by the citizens, to some individual. A few
words were legible, but in a very mutilated and unintel-
ligible state. One line mentioned a statue, and near the
conclusion were two lines, containing the words
ΠΑΡΑΤΩΝΚΥΡΙΩΝ ΜΟΥ ΦΙΛΑΝΘΡOΠΩΝΠΟΛΙΤΩΝ.
While we copied them the Turks were very assiduous
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
169
to assist us; one brought wet grass to wash the stones :
another cleared out the letters with the point of his yata-
gan. We were first at a loss to find why they took such
interest in a thing so foreign to their habits and think-
ing ; but we learned that they thought the inscription
pointed out some hidden money which they expected to
share, if they helped to discover it. These, with a few
other fragments, were all that remained, as far as we could
find, to commemorate what probably was the ancient state
of the town; but that which more interested us was, the
events that took place at a comparatively modern period.
We were anxious to see the traces of Diocletian's palace,
from whence issued those terrible decrees which were to
extirpate Christianity, and we were shown what tradition
pointed out as the site. Diocletian was passing the winter
in this town, when his ferocious colleague Galerius per-
suaded him to summon a council of the most distinguished
civil and military officers, and submit to them the question
whether Christians should be suffered to live. The council
met, and the Christians of the city waited in fear and
anxious expectation for the terrible result, which was to
put to death every man who professed the religion of the
Gospel. The council agreed that Christianity ought to be
extirpated; and Diocletian sent forth those tremendous
decrees which have stigmatised his memory with having
sanctioned the most cruel and atrocious acts in the records
of mankind. Orders were first given to burn the books of
the Christians, shut up their churches, punish all who
observed the Lord's day, and put to death all who fre-
quented secret assemblies. The time fixed was the feast
of the terminalia, which historians remark was to put a
period to the religion of Christ; and at the dawn of the
morning the officers of the Prætorian guard commenced
170
NARRATIVE OF A
the
persecution by entering the principal Christian church
of the town, first burning the Scriptures, and then regu-
larly sacking and destroying the edifices. This commence-
ment was the signal, and the massacre followed, which
deluged the whole empire with blood, till at length coins
were struck, and pillars with inscriptions erected, intimating
the extirpation of Christianity. The coins I have seen-
they represent Diocletian as Jupiter, brandishing his
thunderbolt over prostrate Christianity, whom he had just
struck down, as Jupiter formerly struck down the Titans,
who had equally but as vainly strove to dispossess him of
heaven. The inscriptions are still more expressive, for they
declare that the Christian superstition was now ex-
tinguished, and the worship of the gods restored by
Diocletian and Galerius*."
But the city that thus witnessed the attempt to extir-
pate the religion of the Gospel, was also to witness its final
establishment as the recognised religion of the civilized
world, and the place where the first Christian Monarch
was baptized. The last event of Constantine's life occurred
at Nicomedia, and was as remarkable as it was interesting.
Though he had embraced Christianity, he had deferred his
baptism; warnings of sickness and debility reminded him of
its necessity. He had been in a declining state of health,
and had proceeded to the warm baths in the Gulf of
Nicomedia; but after some time passed in vain trials of
* The coins are described by Baudurius, Vaillant, and others. Vaillant
has the following remark :-Diocletianum exhibere voluisse suum Jovem
fulmina vibrantem in Christianos veluti olim pinxere Poetæ in gigantes, quum
Christiani bella movent in Jovem inque reliquam deorum turbam.-Num.
Imp. Rom., fol. tom. iii., p. 51.--The inscriptions on the pillars are preserved
by Baronius, Occo, and Gruterus. One of them is DIOCLESIAN. CÆS.
AVG. GALERIO IN ORIENTE SVPERSTITIONE CHRIST. VBIQVE
DELETO ET CVLTV DEOR. PROPAGATO.-Grut., p. 280, n. 4.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
171
their efficacy, he caused himself to be removed to the
pleasant suburbs of the city, and as the Feast of the Pen-
tecost was now at hand, he expressed a strong desire to
have it performed. He therefore called the Christian bishops
about his couch, and made to them an affecting address :
“ The time,” said he, “ demands that I should now par-
take of this Seal of Salvation. It had been my intention
to have proceeded to Bethabara, and receive this solemn
rite in the waters of the Jordan, in public imitation of my
Lord; but God knows best what is expedient, and let his
will be done." Every preparation was therefore made
for the ceremony, and it was performed by the Bishop of
Nicomedia. He appeared deeply impressed with it, and
caused himself to be clad in a white robe, as emblematic of
the purity it conferred; and in this robe he died. As coins
had been struck to commemorate the destruction of Chris-
tianity at this place, it was not likely that so important an
event as the baptism of the first Christian sovereign here
would pass without a similar recognition. Accordingly
coins were struck on the occasion, which have come down
to the present day. One of them 1 have seen, representing
the Emperor, with the Legend importing that he was
“regeneráted by baptismt."
We passed some days at Nicomedia, and were greatly
struck with its modern beauties, though so little remains
of its antiquities. We applauded. the judgment of the
first Nicomedes, who, when he had talent to establish an
* Euseb. vit. Const., lib. iv., 63.
+ This coin is given by Occo, Bergerus, Mediobarbus, and Du Cange, who
all concur in the opinion that it commemorates this event. The Legend,
however, on the coin, BAPNAT, I am aware has been differently read and
interpreted by others.
172
NARRATIVE OF A
independent kingdom, had judgment to erect his capital in
such a spot. He seemed to have imparted his independent
spirit to his successors, for they maintained themselves in
this newly-erected empire for two centuries, till the last of
the name surrendered it into the hands of the Romans,
and it became one of the provinces of that all-grasping
people. It is better built than most Turkish towns:
a deep ravine divides the hill on which it stands, from
whence it slopes down to the sea and expands into a broad
valley. Nothing can be more exuberant than this beautiful
place, filled with gardens abounding in all kinds of fruit,
trees and flowers, and vocal with nightingales, who seem
to occupy every branch and shrub. The valley is said to be
subject to a bad malaria, though the inhabitants look
healthy, and seem highly to enjoy its more than Asiatic
luxuriance. The town contains 22,700 inhabitants, of
which 20,000 are Turks, and 2500 Greek and Armenian
Christians, and about 200 Jews.
From Nicomedia we proceeded by land. We had a
firman for the purpose, and so were provided with menzil
cattle, that is, the sultan supplied us with horses for which
we paid nothing but a bacshish, or present to the menzilghee
or man of the stables. Whenever I made an excursion
from Finglas, my mode of conveyance was a stick in my
hand, my luggage a shirt in my pocket, and my whole
retinue a chance dog. I set out from Nicomedia in the
following order :-two surrogees, or guides, and guards
with pistols and yatagans rode in front; then followed
our baggage and sumpter horses, carrying beds, utensils,
and provisions; then came our Tartar janissary, an
Arabian Turk from Aleppo, dressed in full costume, and
armed to the teeth,then succeeded ourselves, three gentle-
RESIDENCE AT. CONSTANTINOPLE.
173
men,--then our servants, and, last, led horses,-forming a
cavalcade in all of fourteen horses. The consequence of
the
person is generally estimated by the speed at which he
drives, so we left Nicomedia in a gallop, which the janissary
thought it necessary, for our credit's sake, to keep up the
whole way. Our road lay through an extensive plain, at
the head of the Gulf. There are generally no other roads
in Turkey but what travellers make for themselves; they are
in some places half a mile wide, and in others narrow tracks
where only a single horse can go at a time. We sometimes,
therefore, were scattered over the plain like a cloud of care-
less Tartars on the steppes of the Ukraine, and sometimes
moved in a long file like a cautious squadron of German
cavalry: at length night came on us in a wood, and we
were very glad, for we could gallop no longer in such a
place. The horses of the country are a surprising race of
animals;nothing can be more miserable than their ap-
pearance, yet nothing can exceed their speed and per-
severance. They set out in the morning in a gallop, and
continue it sometimes the whole day, with scarcely any rest
or food. At night they get some chopped straw, which
appears to have about as much nutrition as carpenters'
shavings, and the next day they are ready for the same
exertion. Sometimes they go day and night with Tartar
despatches: thousands of the poor creatures are killed every
year, but they die as they lived, in a gallop.
We arrived this night at a Turkish town called Sabandgee,
near a large lake; and, as we were too late to get a conak,
we were obliged to content ourselves with a khan. Here,
in a room over the stable, which, in an English inn, would
be the hayloft, but, in Turkey, having no hay, they need no
such place, we took up our comfortless abode. They give
174
NARRATIVE OF A
no refreshment in these khans, which are like “good dry
lodgings” in Ireland, but much worse, as they give no beds
either; however, we managed as well as people can who are
obliged to fast on a bare floor, and with no other accom-
modation than they bring with them. While despatching
our supper, a poor Greek climbed to our loft, and having
heard that we had the Scriptures in his own language to
distribute, expressed himself highly delighted with the
prospect of his countrymen acquiring them. There was a
population, he said, of 1000 Greeks in a village at some
distance, to whom they would be of inestimable value. He
drew from his bosom, where he had concealed it, a Testa-
ment printed at Venice; and, though it was in ancient
Greek, which he imperfectly read, he prized it so highly,
that he had it bound in red morocco and richly gilt,
willing, as he said, to do every honour in his power to such
a precious book. Mr. Leeves
Mr. Leeves gave him a copy of one in
Romaic, which he declared he would carry to his country-
men, who would consider the Scriptures thus sent to them in
their own language as a second Evangelism, as he expressed
himself --glad tidings almost as important as the first.
The next morning we set out at daylight. We found our-
selves in an elevated valley, embosomed in higher hills, with a
magnificent lake below us. The hills were clothed with trees
of an infinite variety of foliage, covered with fruit or flowers,
-chestnut, walnut, plum, cherry, fig, apple, quince, pear,
and mespilus,---in such incredible profusion as to be sufficient
to supply the whole population of England, yet here there
was no one to gather them. You may think it an exaggera-
tion 'to say that these fruit-trees formed large forest wood,
but the luxuriance of vegetation in this country is such, that
dwarf plants with us grow to the size of giants. About
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
175
mid-day we stopped at a Derven, or pass in the forest,
where there is generally a small Turkish guard; attached
to this was, as usual, a coffee-house, where we lighted our
chiboques and had some coffee. The coffee-house was
under the shade of a large tree, covered with yellow fruit,
which, as I had not seen anything like it before, I was
curious to ascertain. Against the stem of the tree I saw
a very long hanging ladder, which I climbed up; and
after ascending forty steps, each one foot perpendicular,
found I had not yet got so high as the middle of the
tree. It was a cherry-treè, producing an immense profu-
sion of fruit, of a beautiful transparent amber colour, and of
the richest fravour. I brought down my hat full, and they
sent us a basket full, for which we paid the value of about
a penny to the man for the trouble of gathering. I took
away with me some of the stones to try and propagate the
kind at Constantinople, where it is unknown, as well on
account of the delicious flavour of the fruit as the beauty
and magnitude of the tree, which could not be less than
100 feet high. I alsó sent some to the Horticultural
Society of London to try a similar experiment.
We now fell in with a large river, which had also a
striking peculiarity of this curious country-the water was
as white as milk. Herds of buffaloes had buried them-
selves in the mud, and their black heads appearing above
the surface formed a curious contrast with the colour of the
water. This was the river Sangarius, now Sakariah, noticed
by ancient geographers as one of the largest rivers in Asia
Minor, and ex inclytis one of the most celebrated. I
cannot find, however, that any of them have mentioned this
singularity of its stream, which does not resemble their
golden Pactolus, but the waters were literally as pure, white,
and opaque as milk. The Turks very properly call it " Ak
176
NARRATIVE OF A
sou," or white water. We at first supposed the hue
might be occasioned by the solution of the snow in the
mountains where it takes its rise; but we afterwards found
that rivers augmented by dissolved snow were not so
coloured. It passes across Bithynia, and divides it, as to
length, into two equal parts. On the east side it is moun-
tainous, and abounds in magnificent forests. The river is
about 600 feet wide.
Having pursued the course of this river for several miles,
we came to one of those pyla so celebrated formerly in the
East. Pyla literally mean gatés, and they were the great
fortifications by which the entrances into countries were
defended The mountains here approached so close to
the river at each side, that we conjectured Hannibal had
availed himself of the situation to defend his friend and
host Prusias from the invasion of the Romans, though the
pusillanimous king made but a bad return to his illustrious
guest. From the face of the rock on each side to the edge
of the water are the remains of two immense walls, parallel
to each other, and with a space of ten feet between. On
both were the ruins of ponderous arches, intended for gate-
ways; so that no pass was left but through them, between
the precipice and the bed of the river, which is here very
deep, wide, and rapid. The present solitude and mag-
nificence of the scenery, with these remains of ancient tinies
connected with such an interesting period of history, makes
this place an object of great curiosity, though, as no modern
traveller has taken exactly this route, I do not find it
noticed in any book of travels. About sunset we came to
another pass which was not fortified, and here we crossed
the river on a raft and emerged from this great valley,
having travelled for thirty miles through a forest of fruit-
trees without the smallest interruption. This valley is
1
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE,
177
perhaps one of the richest and most beautiful in the world.
The mountains approached and receded in the most curious
and picturesque manner-sometimes narrowing the pass so as
almost to exclude the light, and sometimes expanding into
pastoral lawns and glades. The sides were clothed with the
noblest trees, displaying a vast variety of shapes and foliage,
from which the rugged summits of the mountains ascended
in broken ridges and splintered pinnacles, and frequently
rent across into deep ravines. The trees, in general, were
not less useful than ornamental. They consisted of fruit-
bearing kinds, all of immense size, and were either in fruit
or blossom. The chestnut particularly was clothed in long
spikes of white flowers in such abundance as to chequer the
whole face of the hills. To these were added oaks of several
kinds, platanus, poplars, and downy lime-trees, giving shades
of six different degrees of green and other vivid hues, in as
great a variety as all the fading and changing tints of our
autumnal forests. This is a detached portion of that almost
illimitable forest which the Turks call - The Ocean of
Trees.” It extends from the other side of the Sangarius to
the confines of the ancient Galatia, covering a surface of
180 miles in circumference.
After passing villages where we could procure no food,
and miserable khans where we could get no rest, we at
length arrived at a town called Lefkeh, where we were more
fortunate. Here the Muzzelim conacked us at his own
palace; and for the first time we were admitted to the inside
of a Turkish house. As it does not fall to every traveller's
lot to pass the night in a Turkish family, you may be curious
to know how we were entertained. We were shown into a
large room with a divan or sofa continued all round the
walls, and here we stretched ourselves. They brought us
the usual entertainment of pipes and coffee, and after some
VOL. II.
N
178
NARRATIVE OF A
time the Muzzelim's son and his uncle entered the room,
seated themselves on the divan opposite, and smoked their
pipes without saying a word. After passing an hour in this
silent way, preparations were made for supper. The young
man stood up, took a cloth from a servant, and with a dexterous
fling spread it in a circle on the floor; in the centre of this
he placed a joint stool, and on the stool a large metal tray.
We were now motioned to approach, and having sat cross-
legged on the floor round the stool, we drew the skirts of the
cloth over our knees, while servants brought embroidered
napkins and laid one on each of our shoulders. When all
the company were seated, including our Janissary, the first
dish was brought in and laid on the tray; round the edge
of the tray were placed long slices of brown bread, with a
horn spoon between each so as to project over and form a
complete border, and in the middle was set a large pewter
basin of peas-soup: having all dipped in our spoons and
taken a few mouthfuls, it was removed, and immediately
succeeded by another filled with sausages. Into this the
Muzzelim's son dipped his hand, and we all followed his
example. This was also removed, and replaced by one of
youart, a kind of sour milk, with balls of forced-meat
floating in it; next succeeded balls of meat wrapped up in
vine leaves, then mutton boiled to rags on homos *, a kind
of pea like a ram's head, which they are very fond of in this
country—and last, a pilaff, or dish of boiled rice, with which
all Turkish entertainments conclude. A glass of pure water
was handed round, of which we all drank, and then fol-
lowed servants with a ewer and basin, in which we washed.
The whole apparatus was now removed, and we resumed
our pipes and seats on the divan, having dispatched our
supper with such silent celerity, that the whole occupied
* Cicer arietinum.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
179
but nine minutes and a half! Our entertainer may be
considered as a Turkish Lord Mayor of a town. An
English Lord Mayor does not entertain his friends after
so frugal a fashion-a dinner of nine minutes and a half,
and a glass of water !
As we had brought apparatus with us, we now procured
some hot water, and entertained our hosts with a cup of tea,
which they had heard of, but never tasted. We sweetened
a cup in the most approved manner with sugar, and softened
it with milk, and then presented it. A Turk never takes any-
thing of this kind but coffee, without milk or sugar, which
is as black, thick, and bitter as soot; when, therefore, he
filled his mouth with the mawkish mixture we made for him,
his distress was quite ridiculous. He could not swallow it,
and he would not spit it out, for a Turk never spits in com-
pany--so he kept it churning in his mouth, till he could
keep it no longer. He then made a pretext for going out,
which he did as fast as a Turk can move, and got rid of it
over the stairs. When he returned, however, he said the
ladies of the Harem requested to taste our tea also, so we
sent them in a specimen; we heard them burst into loud
fits of laughing at the extraordinary stuff, and we were in-
formed they liked it as little as the men: we sent them,
however, a present of dry tea, to make after their own fashion
of coffee. Our bed and bed-chamber were the divan and
room where we sat, so in due time we stretched ourselves to
sleep. Early the next morning we were awoke by the sound
of some sweet bells, very unusual in a Turkish town. On
looking out at the window, I perceived it to be a large cara-
van proceeding to Aleppo, and the bells were those worn
by the camels. The gait of the animals, slow and measured,
caused them to toll in a pensive but very musical cadence,
and the whole long procession was truly picturesque and
N2
180
NARRATIVE OF A
shoot us.
oriental. We left the house of our taciturn but simple and
civil Turks, who were up to take leave of us, and proceeded
on our journey to Nicæa.
We were scarcely out of the town, when we encountered
a number of horsemen scattered over the plain, and driving
with the most desperate speed. Our Janissary called on us
with the greatest earnestness to get out of the way—he had
good reason, for, as we afterwards found, if we had stopped
any of them, they would not hesitate to draw a pistol and
It was now the conclusion of the great Turkish
Bairam, when all the Pashas are appointed over the Turkish
empire for one, two, or three years. Several thousand horses
are always kept ready saddled and bridled at Constan-
tinople, and the moment the nominations are made out at
the Porte, Tartar couriers mount, dash off at the top of
their speed, and bear them to the most distant parts of Asia.
From 2000 to 3000 Tartars are thus dispatched every year
at nearly the same moment from the capital. These fellows
that we met, carried with them either the appointment of
new Pashas, or the deposition or confirmation of old ones-
in either case those who first arrived were liberally rewarded;
and as the dispatch was intrusted sometimes to two or three,
there was a contest who should be foremost, and the same
Tartar that brought the appointment of one Pasha, often re-
turned with the head of another. These harbingers of life
and death, therefore, drive along like the Fates and Furies.
If their unfortunate horses sink under any of them, as they
constantly do, they dismount the next travellers they meet,
and pursue on their cattle their journey day and night, till
their object is accomplished. In the course of the morning
we met more than fifty of these fellows, driving along with
the most desperate speed.
From hence we ascended a steep pass through a chain of
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
181
ridges, and having descended at the other side, we found our-
selves in a large plain surrounded by hills; at one end was
a very extensive lake, and on the shores of the lake a large
and magnificent city. We stopped at a distance to admire
the beauty of the scene. The walls of the city were eight
miles in circumference, with parapets, and battlements, and
high towers. We approached the gates next us by a fine
aqueduct, which conveyed a river of pure water on arches
into the walls. The entrance was by three gates, one inside
the other, ornamented with marble figures in sculptured
relief. The centre, or second gate was of magnificent size
and workmanship, with frieze, cornices, and all the orna-
ments which mark the pure age of architecture, and in per-
fect order and preservation. Over the gate on the frieze
was an inscription in brazen letters, intimating that it had
been erected by the Emperor Adrian; and the whole exterior
had the appearance of being a rich, large, and populous
city, far exceeding anything we had seen in all the east,
either in Europe or Asia. We were at first surprised that
we met no one going in or out, as is usual in a large
town; but when we passed the inside gate, our astonish-
ment cannot be expressed. There was neither street, nor
house, nor inhabitant, nor the remains of such things; the
whole space inside these extensive and magnificent walls
was a wide, desolate field, as far as the eye could reach,
as if the earth had opened and closed over the houses and
inhabitants, and left the walls of the city perfect and un-
injured. After wandering about this dreary plain for some
time, we at length came to a few Greek houses in a corner
of the walls, and in one of them we conacked.
We were now in the famous city of Nicæa, or, as it
is at present called, Isnik. The town was originally
named Antigonia, from Antigonus, son of Philip of Ma-
cedon, who built it, and it was contemporary with the
182
NARRATIVE OF A
was
numerous Greek cities erected about that time by Alex-
ander and his enterprising captains. The name
changed shortly after to Nicæa, in honour of the daughter
of Lysimachus. It is surrounded on the south and east by
mountains that are distant about three miles. The approach
is through a plain of exceeding richness and beauty which
extends in length for a considerable space. At one extre-
mity is the Lake of Ascanius, expanding in various branches
into the recesses of the hills, which screen it on three
sides, with some wooded promontories projecting into it,
giving it a highly picturesque character, not so sublime, but
full as beautiful and more extensive than any of the lakes
of Cumberland. Between this picturesque lake and this
fertile valley stands the town of Nicæa, on the edge of the
water, slumbering in solitary magnificence, and now silent
and desolate as Tadmor in the Desert. The walls are
twenty-five feet high and fourteen feet thick at the base,
having round or elliptic towers at small intervals along the
whole extent. They are still so perfect and undecayed, that
we found a broad walk between the parapets, and continued
in an uninterrupted course round the city. Along this we
pursued our way, looking down on the enclosure below,
where nothing presented itself to our view but an immense
empty space, in which not a trace or vestige of the streets
or magnificent edifices that once filled it was to be seen.
Such depopulation of ancient cities is very common in the
Turkish empire; but this is perhaps the only city in the
world where the walls remain nearly as perfect and entire
as when they were raised, and the edifices which they en-
closed have totally disappeared. The only traces we could
discover of any remnant of an ancient building, were large
fragments of solid masonry near the middle of the area, but
* The beauty of this plain is mentioned by Strabo, who calls it redior
μέγα και σφόδρα ευδαιμον. Lib. xii.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
183
so misshapen, as to afford no grounds even for conjecture
to what they had belonged. The stones comprising them
were solid blocks of twelve or fourteen feet in length, and
laid together without any cement. They were generally
marked with monograms, in which the letter K was frequent.
One of them was С A K, probably the initials of Cebaotos
Αυτοκρατωρ Κωνσταντινος. A tradition existed, that this
was a remnant of the palace in which he held the council,
and the letters of his name on the stones rendered it
probable.
The only other architectural remains here that had any
claim to antiquity was a small chapel, in which the Greek
population of the little village had service performed. The
exterior is modern, but the body belongs to the first ages of
Christianity. On the wall of this chapel and on the ceiling
was tracery of mosaic in small cubic blocks of red and
gilded glass, resembling that in the church of Santa Sophia.
In this were figures and inscriptions worked like embroidery,
in which the word KWVOTANTIVOS often occurred. Of these,
two were more distinct than the rest.
One in the pronaos,
or porch, represented a virgin and child in the centre, on
the left a female, and on the right, a man holding a labarum,
exactly similar to that on the coins of Constantine, with an
inscription, of which the following part was legible-
ANAEKPATAIOC
AECNOTECKWNCTAN
MOIHNOPONOIACASI
WNTINENZAAE
AWPONAIAOCIEY
KAEEINATPIKIW
B8л
The other was on the ceiling of the agiobema, or place be-
hind the altar, of which the following is a representation,
184
NARRATIVE OF A
TWOCKCU COYOPENEI.ARIA.CMAEICMAKPIOTH TAMMHPWN
CONCIEKT PloteTEC
АрҳедNAMIQ
probably intended for the Angels adoring the Child. It is
remarkable that the Angels are designated as if they were
the artificers of nature, a function which some heretic sects
of that day assigned them.
Inim
TATT
The place in which we were could not but remind us
of the events so important to the Christian church which
occurred here. The disputes of the Arian heresy had
begun to disturb it, and the first Christian Emperor deter-
mined to put an end to them, and collect together for the
first time * all the heads of the church of the vast Roman
empire, which now extended over a great part of the civilized
world. To this end summonses were issued, and in the
year
of our Lord 315, they assembled from Asia, Africa, and
Europe, to this grand synod. There came together on this
occasion three hundred and seventy-six bishops, besides a
vast crowd of presbyters, deacons, and akolouths. Among
* It is by some considered, however, that the first General or Ecumenic
Council was that held at Jerusalem to discuss the question of Circumcision,
when “ the Apostles and Elders came together to consider of this matter."-
Acts xv. 6.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE,
185
them were several distinguished by their talents. Eusta-
thius, Bishop of Antioch; Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria ;
Spiridion, Bishop of Cyprus; and the venerable Paphnutius,
Bishop of Thebaid, who had been maimed and deprived of
his eyes in the persecution of Maximian; but having sur-
vived the inflictions, he had now come a mutilated spectacle
to this assembly, to raise his voice in the cause of that truth,
for which he had unshrinkingly suffered such tortures.
Besides these there were Eusebius, the learned Bishop of
Nicomedia, Theognes of Nicæa, and Mores of Chalcedon,
who were strongly embued with the doctrines of Arius.
When this numerous and venerable body of ecclesiastics
had assembled in the immense hall in the interior of the
palace, the Emperor entered, clad in purple and gold, and sat
on a golden throne, at the upper end. The bishops ranged
themselves on benches at each side, and the rest of the as-
sembly filled the space below, when the controversy began.
Eusebius first addressed the Emperor in Greek, in a florid
speech, and he replied in Latin, exhorting the assembly to
remove all cause of future disputation, by a reference to the
authority of the Scriptures themselves. A work of Eusebius
was then read, in which the divinity of Christ was denied,
by asserting that he was not of the same substance as the
Father. The effect of this upon the assembly was very
strong. They first stopped their ears that they might not
hear; they then burst out into exclamations of horror at the
blasphemy it was supposed to contain, and finally the book
was seized on and torn to pieces before all the people, and
in the presence of Eusebius himself.
A very severe and turbulent controversy now ensued be-
tween the supporters of their respective opinions, in which
the Emperor was obliged to interpose frequently, imploring
them to observe temperance and moderation. At length
186
NARRATIVE OF A
the opponents of Arius prevailed, and a symbol was drawn
up, containing the heads of the most important doctrines of
Christianity, in which the opcovolov was inserted, declaring
the identity of the substance of the Father and the Son.
This formula, which we now call the Nicene Creed, and
which we read after the Communion Service of our churches,
was subscribed by all present, and among the rest by Euse-
bius and his adherents. A decree of the Emperor con-
demned the Arians, under the name of Porphyrians, and
threatened the punishment of death to every person with
whom any of the heretical books of Arius might be found.
Nor was this the only important discussion which took
place at this synod. A controversy existed about the period
of celebrating Easter—some affirming that it should be ob-
served at the time of the Jewish Passover ; but it was de-
cided that the festival should be kept, not on that particular
day, but on the Lord's day next following it—as Sunday, or
the first day of the week, was that on which Christ (sacri-
ficed as the Christian's Passover) was raised from the dead,
and so it is now observed in every part of the Christian
church.
Another question of debate was a very important one, and
the decision deeply interesting to the Reformation--whether
any man who was married and had taken priest's orders
should retain his wife after ordination. It was proposed
that he should separate from her; but this, which Socrates
calls a "new law," was not carried. Paphnutius, who was
himself an unmarried and a continent man, exclaimed that
marriage was honourable in all, and those whom God had
joined no man should put asunder. It was therefore decreed
that married persons should retain their wives after ordina-
tion; but that single men should not contract matrimony
after they became priests, and so it has continued to this
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
187
---
day among the secular clergy of the Greek church. The
priest of the small congregation here had availed himself of
this decision of the council. We found him a married man,
were introduced to his wife, and consulted about the health
of his daughter. It was during the discussion of this ques-
tion that Constantine himself made the extraordinary decla-
ration, that the errors of a clergy condemned to celibacy
ought to be concealed, so that no scandal might be brought
upon the church *
.
After an interval of more than 400 years a second Ecu-
menic Council was called here to settle another dispute,
which had also shaken the whole Christian church. The
worship of images had been carried to such an excess, that
a general feeling was manifested against it, as inconsistent
with the commands of God; and the Emperor Leo Isaurus,
availing himself of public opinion, issued a decree against it
in 726, and a sect called Iconoclasts, or image-breakers, went
about everywhere destroying them. The example of Leo
was followed by his son Constantine V., whom the Latin
writers abuse by calling him several opprobrious names,
Copronimus, Caballinus, and others, for certain propensities
in his infancy, which they considered ominous of his future
defilement of the church. When Constantine VI., however,
came to the throne, he was instigated by his mother Irene
to re-establish image-worship, and to this end he called
another general council at Nicæa, in 787. There assembled
on this occasion three hundred and fifty bishops, and they
decreed that sacred representations of the Cross of Christ,
of the Mother of God, and of angels and holy men, should
be replaced on vestments and vases, and be exhibited in
* Si suis oculis Episcopum alienæ uxori struprum inferre forte videret,
facinus illud nefandum suo paludamento se obtecturum.-Baron. An. 325.
xyi. .
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NARRATIVE OF A
pictures, but the letter of the Decalogue was observed in ex-
cluding graven images, which is still rigidly observed in the
Greek churches. It was impossible that we could look with
indifference on these decisions of the early councils of the
primitive church, on the spot where they were decreed.
From the time of those important councils, Nicæa con-
tinued to be not only a celebrated, but also a large and po-
pulous city, till the invasion of the Greek empire by the
Latin crusaders. It was then besieged and taken, and be-
came the centre and capital of a dynasty established by the
Lascaris family, and so continued till the expulsion of the
Latins and the invasion of the Turks. Even so late as the
year 1677, it was a flourishing and populous town. It then
contained a population of 10,000 Christian Greeks, and many
precious remains of antiquity to attest its former splendour.
But the desolating hand of the Turks has since effaced every
trace of this, and it is a subject of melancholy contemplation
now to behold it, the shadowy phantom of a magnificent
city, on a beautiful and fertile spot, where bountiful nature
has provided everything necessary for human life; an ex-
tensive plain exuberant with fertility, sloping lawns verdant
with pasture, wooded hills covered with the finest timber,
expanded waters teeming with fish, and a climate the most
bland and delicious that ever refreshed a mortal frame.
Yet here human life is actually extinguished, human habi-
tations totally obliterated, and the solitude rendered more
striking by the irrefragable testimonies of its former splen-
dour, and the visible evidences of what it recently was and
what it still might be.
In a corner of this solitary city where we conacked: the
humble Greek family with whom we took up our abode
gained a livelihood by feeding silk-worms, and the greater
part of their house was full of them. A small part of the
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
189
area within the walls of the town was devoted to mulberry-
trees to feed them, and a few patches more to raising tobacco,
which was struggling up through rubbish and broken tiles.
We passed three or four days in this vacuity in endeavouring
to make out some remnants of inscriptions still to be seen on
the town walls and half-buried stones among the scanty
crops. This employment we varied by bathing every morn-
ing in the lake, and afterwards dining on the finest carp and
tench, which we took out of it, and which are so abundant,
that they can almost be caught by stretching out the hand.
Our last day was Sunday, which we observed by performing
the service of the Protestant church, perhaps for the first
time that it ever was celebrated at Nicæa and repeating in
the church the Creed, on the very spot where it was com-
posed. The next morning at daylight we left this most in-
teresting but melancholy spot, where there is a lovely and
fertile plain fifteen miles long, and no one to cultivate it,
a lake like an inland sea, full of fish, and no one to eat
them, and the magnificent walls of a city more than eight
miles in circumference, and no one to inhabit it.
1
190
NARRATIVE OF A
:
CHAPTER VII.
Yeni Shehr-Rigid Morality_Surface of Asia Minor--Young Locusts
Opium Harvest--Excessive indulgence not injurious-Silk Worms_Mode
of Hatching and Rearing—Mount Olympus-Splendid Appearance-Rivers
of dissolved Snow—Aspect of Brusa—Past and Present State-Visit to
Muzzelim-Inconvenience of assuming Consequence-Greek Family
Neapolitan Doctor-Bishop of Brusa-Hot Baths-Process of Bathing
Intense Heat of the Spring-Ingredients of Water-Ancient Acropolis“
Hannibal's Fortress-Tomb of Orchan-Ascent of Mount Olympus-
Various Regions–Elevated Plain—Trout Streams-Snowy Peak—Sin-
gular and beautiful Vegetation-Seats of the Gods-Extensive View-
Moodania-Horrid Khan-Dangerous Storm.
On leaving Nicæa we stood much upon our consequence :
our Janissary had represented us as being greater people
than the Muzzelim himself. Notwithstanding this, the Men-
zilgee supplied us with only thirteen horses, that is, one less
than our complement. This was no great inconvenience, as
it was only a Yedek, or led horse, which we never used:
we would not, however, stir till we had got this appendage
to our rank, which was at length sent, with an apology for
the delay, and we departed. From the town our way lay
over the side of one of the hills which bounded the lake,
which we ascended by a winding path; it was covered with
arbutus, myrtle, and other aromatic shrubs, and the varying
views of the lake as we wound our way through them were
very beautiful. On the summit of a hill we arrived at an-
other Derven pass, where we found a coffee-house and
Turkish guard, and from hence descended into a highly cul-
tivated plain, and arrived in the evening at Yeni Shehr,
containing about 200 Turkish and 60 Armenian houses; and
here we were witness to the rigid morality of this part of
Asia.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
191
An un-
We met as we entered the town several men led as pri-
soners by a guard, and we soon learned the cause.
fortunate Greek woman had arrived here a short time before,
and was found out to be a person of loose character. The
Cadi had her closely watched, and it was discovered that
men had secretly visited her. Eight Turks and Armenians
were seized and sent off to Brusa in chains, who were the
culprits we had seen; nor did the vengeance against violated
morality stop here. All those who resided in the neighbour-
hood of the house were seized and severely bastinadoed,
because it was supposed they were or might be cognizant of
the fact, and did not denounce it to the proper authorities.
The wretched woman, as the causa teterrima of all, was in
custody waiting her fate. The Koran enjoins that the
parties offending, if convicted by four witnesses, shall be
imprisoned in separate apartments till death relieve them *.
They talked of more summary vengeance against this unfor-
tunate Greek delinquent; and there was a rumour before
we left, that she would be sacked and drowned in the ad-
joining river.
On leaving the town next morning, the Tartar, before
we were mounted, shouted with his usual barbarous exulta-
tion, “Haidé Baccallum," and the horses, used to the
sound, started off, while yet I had my foot in the stirrup.
The whole cavalcade nearly rode over me in the narrow
street, but I escaped with a crushed leg. I was now as
little able as inclined to proceed at our usual rate under a
burning sun, and I thought passing many interesting ob-
jects without staying a moment to examine them not alto-
gether compensated by the silly gratification of exhibiting
* Chap. 4.- In the 24th chape, the parties are to be punished with 100
stripes before the witness of some true believers, and no compassion is to
interfere with the judgment of God.
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NARRATIVE OF A
my.consequence before a gaping Turk, and so I retained
with me a servant and a surrogee, and taking my awkward
and ponderous saddle to pieces, I left the wooden part on
the road for the next Turk who chose to avail himself of it,
and reserved only the pad; and with this humble, though
more comfortable equipment, I jogged on at the rate of three
miles an hour, while my companions, with the Janissary,
set of, à la Tartare, and swept along as usual, at the rate
of six. I now examined things at my leisure, got off to
gather a curious plant, and stopped to copy an inscription.
Our way lay through an extensive plain. The face of Asia
Minor here is formed of long chains of hills or single moun-
tains, and between them flat rich levels; there is nothing
like the undulations of the ground in Europe, but it is either
perpendicular or horizontal. I saw a part of the surface of
this plain at a distance, moving like waves in an extraordinary
manner. On coming to the place, I perceived it was caused
by insects; and on alighting to examine them, I found them
young locusts. The year before, a flight had passed here
and deposited their eggs, which had just now been hatched
by the heat of the sun, and the larvæ covered the ground in
incredible numbers. The whole surface, for an area of two
miles in circumference, was hidden with them. Their wings
were not yet grown; they could only spring, which they did
with a perpetual motion. The mass in some places ascended
as high as the saddle girths, and I felt a resistance to my feet
in passing through them, as if I was fording a river. I had
no definite notion before of the wonderful fecundity of insect
nature, nor of the ravages they were capable of committing,
till I saw them afterwards in an adult state, when they
moved to another place.
Having passed the plain of locusts, I came to a plain of
poppies. The greatest part of the opium used in Europe is
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
193
$
brought from this place, and poppies are everywhere culti-
vated. It was now just the opium harvest, and the people were
all in the fields gathering it. I went in among them and
saw the process, which is very simple. When the flower
falls off and the capsule or seed-vessel is formed, they go in
the evening into the plantation, and with a hooked knife
they make a circular incision round the capsule; from this
there exudes a white milky juice, which being exposed next
day to the heat of the sun, concretes into a dark brown
mass, which is the crude opium of our shops. On the next
and several succeeding evenings they come and scrape this
off, as long as the plant continues to exude it: this is called
by the Turks measlac, and by the Greeks čov, which
literally signifies juice, and hence our name of opium. The
opium sent to Europe is always adulterated. They boil
down the poppy heads with other narcotic plants, and hav-
ing inspissated the juice, wrap it up in poppy leaves, and so
send the impure mass in cakes for our use.
measlac, gathered as I saw it, they generally keep for their
own use, when they intend to make kef. The word kef im-
plies an undefinable sensation of pleasure, and so is intrans-
latable. When a Turk wishes to produce it, he takes a
drachm of opium as an Irishman takes a dram of whiskey ;
he then adds a drink of water, and, throwing himself
on his divan, he is in a few minutes rapt in Elysium.
The effects, as described by De Tott, are here unknown,
though perhaps the use is as general as ever.
Indeed
our host at Yeni Shehr had affirmed, that as the people
were prohibited the use of saraf and raki (wine and spirits),
it was but reasonable they should indulge in something else;
and he informed us of one boy who took a Turkish drachm
every hour without any apparent injury, a quantity which
no European constitution could bear; and if his report be
The pure
VOL. II.
o
194
NARRATIVE OF A
true, there must be something in the constitution of an
Asiatic Turk which resists its deleterious effects. The people
here, who use it to what we should consider a fearful excess,
are certainly a remarkably healthy, well-looking race.
Besides opium, this is the great country of silk; and
among the poppy-fields were everywhere plantations of mul-
berries for the silkworms. In some villages where we stopped,
we could not be accommodated because all the houses,
even the bed-rooms, were filled with silkworms. I could
not conceive how this could be, till I saw the process and
heard its details. In March or April the silkworms' eggs
are brought and sold in the markets of Brusa and other
places. Here the women come and purchase a drachm, or
more, according to their means. These they wrap in cloth
and lay in their bosoms, or under their arm-pits, where the
warmth in a few days hatches them. They then strew the
floor of their rooms with mulberry branches, and lay the
young worms on them, first on a linen cloth, nourishing
them with the tender short leaves cut with scissars; then,
as they increase in size, on the branches themselves, feeding
them with the larger leaves. As they are very voracious, they
require fresh branches every day, which are laid over the old
ones; into these the worms ascend after they have devoured
all the leaves below, and thus the pile rises to near the ceiling.
At the end of ten or twelve days they appear to fall asleep, and
continue so for three or four, when they awake and begin to eat
again ; and thus they continue sleeping and eating for about
six weeks, when they begin to climb. The quantity of leaves
consumed by the insects which issue from a drachm of eggs
amounts to four great packages. Dried oak branches, which
are trimmed and prepared for the purpose of this new
operation, are stuck perpendicularly into the top of the
pile. Into these the worms now climb; and, attaching
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
195
themselves to the leaves and branches, spin their silken
cones in which they undergo their wonderful change. Those
cones intended for use are taken and exposed on a cloth to
the heat of the sun, which in a few days destroys the prin-
ciple of life in the animal inside. Those intended for seed
are suffered to remain for twenty days, when they are laid
on a cloth, on which the moth, which comes forth, lays its
eggs and dies. These eggs are preserved in a cool place
till the next spring, when they are hatched.
The plain was terminated by a gorge, through which was
indistinctly seen the great contour of Mount Olympus. I
rode along the side of a low ridge of hills which seemed
branching from the base of it, and having passed the gorge,
arrived at the village of Tymbro, on the summit of a low hill,
from whence the uninterrupted view of the mountain burst
upon me, with great magnificence. Round its summit lay
large masses of undissolved snow, from which the sunbeams
were strongly reflected, and formed an object só clear and
distinct on the blue sky, that it seemed almost within the
reach of my hand to touch it. Among the several moun-
tains called by the ancients by this name, I think it pro-
bable that this, in the immediate vicinity of the plains of
Troy, was the one intended by Homer, though that in
Macedonia is the one usually assigned. The appellation
of Olympus seemed to be given to every mountain that
formed a particularly bright and conspicuous object,* and
certainly nothing could be more agreeable to the name
than the splendid appearance it now presented. Pope gives
it the epithet of " cloudy” which Homer does not, and it
must strike a spectator who views the place how very in-
appropriate it is. The epithet in the original, which he thus
* Quasi 02.05, totus, et auprw, lucco. Schol.
02
196
NARRATIVE OF A
translates, is “many-necked*,” peculiarly descriptive of the
actual object. The vast contour branched out into a variety
of ridges from which issued the single “summit” on which
Jupiter called the council of the gods, and from which he
inhibited them from entering the field of battle just below
them. This also presented that “prominence" to which
he proposed to bind the chain suspending from it the
nether world. If poets take their descriptions from natural
objects, as Homer is supposed to have done, it struck me
that here was everything of resemblance and locality at
this day to identify them.
I now descended to the other side, and having entered
the lower regions along the base of the ridge, the heat sud-
denly became intense and insupportable, a burning sun
above, and not a breath of air below. While panting and
sinking under the intolerable oppression, we were suddenly
relieved by the most agreeable sight. As the snow dissolved
on the mountain, a thousand rills came trickling down
the sides, glittering and gurgling, everywhere crossing
our path, cooling the air, and refreshing our senses till we
entered the magnificent plain of Brusa. It was terminated
at one end by a lake, the shores of which were highly wooded
and cultivated as far as the eye could reach. On the right
hand lay this beautiful plain and on the left the ridges of
Olympus, pouring down their limpid currents, one of which
was so full and strong at this burning and arid season, that
it reached to the girths of the horses, so that by a good
providence it appears that, as the heat increases, the snow is
dissolved, and the plain refreshed by the solution. It was
* 'Ακροτάτη κορυφή πολυδειράδος 'Ολυμποιο. 11. viii. 3.
+ Σειρήν μεν κέν έπειτα περί ριον Ολυμποι
Anonimu.--!1. viii. 25.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
197
quite delightful to plunge the hand in this refrigerating fluid;
it seemed to have acquired no accession of heat by its de-
scent, but felt as cold as if it was still in a state of congela-
tion on the mountains. We now passed a noble wood of
walnuts which had attained to a gigantic size, the more con-
spicuous as there was no underwood to interrupt the view.
Through this was scattered a numerous caravan of camels
and buffaloes reposing in the shade, to the sweet but
drowsy tinkling of the bells which the animals carried.
From hence we ascended by the bed of one of the streams
to the city of Brusa.
My companions had arrived some time before me, and I
found them established in a khan with a worthy Armenian
silk-merchant from Aleppo. The khans of Brusa are much
superior to those of other places. They consist of a large
quadrangle, the area of which is planted with trees, and in
the centre is a fountain, continually spouting water : round
this pleasant place are apartments, neatly fitted up, occupied
by rich merchants, with the family of one of whom we were
domesticated. I had heard much of this Asiatic capital of
the Turks, but the reality far exceeded the picture of my
imagination. Conceive a city on the side of a mountain, em-
bosomed in a forest, having one of the richest plains in
nature before it, and a vast ridge of snow behind it: con-
ceive this snow continually dissolving, and sending down
innumerable streams of the purest water through every
street in the town; conceive not only the mosques and public
buildings, but every coffee-house and barber’s-shop supplied
with a marble fountain, spouting this crystal water, cold and
clear, in a climate where the heat in summer is 96º; con-
ceive this water, after thus refreshing the town, meandering
in ten thousand rills in the plains below, and giving it the
richest verdure and luxuriance when every other plain is
198
NARRATIVE OF A
1
burnt up; conceive besides these rivers of cold, fountains
of hot water bursting everywhere from the sides of the
mountain; conceive these fountains of hot water turned into
noble reservoirs under colonnades and domes of marble,
forming the most magnificent hot baths in the world, and
conceive a population of Turks, whose religion consists in
ablutions, making this place the capital of their empire in
Asia, and covering the face of the hill with mosques and
minarets, and you will have a general idea of Brusa.
This celebrated city was built, as Pliny says, by Hanni-
bal* for his host Prusias, about 220 years before the birth
of Christ, and called after the name of the worthless king
of Bithynia, of which the present name of Bursa or Brusa is
evidently a corruption. It was here the Gauls were after-
wards defeated, but it is remarkable that historians make
no mention of this city as existing at the time. It was
taken, however, by the Lieutenants of Lucullus in the Mith-
ridatic war, and continued an appendage to the Roman power
and the Greek empire till the sack of Constantinople by the
Crusaders, when it was seized, with other towns in Bithynia,
by Lascaris. As soon as the Turks began to expand then-
selves in this region, they laid siege to this city and compelled
it" by famine to surrender in 1327, when Othman made it
the capital of the infant Turkish empire. Among the uses
to which he converted the noble and fertile plain of the
city, was the pasturage of numerous herds and flocks, the
Turks still retaining their nomadic character. Multitudes
were still on the plain, and we were told they were the pro-
perty of the Sultan at Constantinople, and the lineal descen-
dants of those that Othman had located there. Brusa con-
tinued to be the capital till the Turks pushed their conquests
* A Cio intus in Bithynia Prusa ab Annibale sub Olympo condita ---Plin.
lib. v. 32.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
199
beyond the Hellespont and established themselves in Europe,
and finally transferred the seat of government to the capital
of the Greek empire. It is still, however, a famed residence,
and perhaps increased in splendour and opulence far beyond
the simple state in which it was left at that period of Turk-
ish history. Its circumference is estimated at nearly eight
miles. It contains a population of 75,000 people, of which
9000 are Greek and Armenian Christians, and 1800 Jews.
The most striking objects of the town are the mosques, the
minarets of which bristle over the face of the hill in a very
striking manner. So numerous did they appear, that Tour-
nefort calculated the number at 300. I made inquiries and
found they amounted to 180, which in some points of view
can all be seen at once, and are sufficient to give the town
a curious and characteristic appearance, without any ex-
aggeration. The Greeks have only two churches and the
Armenians one, with a school taught on the Lancasterian
system, containing 100 boys. The Jews have two syna-
gogues, but lie under an extraordinary prohibition to which
no other sect is liable: they are not allowed to feed silk-
worms nor enter a particular bath which is open to all the
rest. I could not learn the origin of this curious exclusion.
The great staple of the country is silk, and rearing the
worms and manufacturing the fabric the great employment
of the people. The cultivation of mulberry-trees for this
purpose engages a number of nurseries in the plain. They
plant out seedlings in September, and so rapid is vegetation,
that they are of a reasonable size in November. They are
then transplanted, and when they attain the age of two
years, are brought to the Priuch Khan on certain days and
sold to the rearers of worms, who plant them out for food.
When we had established ourselves at our khan, our first
visit was to the Muzzelim. We sent to apprize him of our
200
NARRATIVE OF A
intention, and we were informed he would see us at five when
he came forth from his harem. At that hour we repaired
to the palace, and here we experienced the inconvenience
of assuming state and rank. One of our party had adopted
the Turkish dress, and our Tartar represented him as a
Padisha, the son of a king, and us Europeans as Milordis
Ingelis, persons of not inferior consequence. The atten-
dants therefore at the palace thought themselves entitled to
a proportionable bakshish, and when they received only the
usual mite, nothing could exceed their anger and disappoint-
ment. After a violent altercation in Arabic, we escaped
into the palace and left our Tartar in their hands to be
dealt with as they thought fit for his boasting. The pomp
and state of this place was in accordance with its former
consequence. After waiting for some time among a crowd
of officers, we at length heard the loud voice of a herald
proclaiming, for the information of all Brusa, that his high-
ness, whom God preserve, had left his harem. There was
now a general rush and commotion through the hall, and at
length the Muzzelim entered and placed himself on the
divan. He was a remarkably handsome man, robust, and
dignified, with more of Oriental assumption than we had
seen before. He received us, however, with friendly con-
descension and assigned us his chouashes to conduct us where
we pleased through the city. On issuing from the audience
we found our Tartar still in durance and altercation. We
thought to escape, but were mistaken. A party headed by
a large black-looking Turk, armed with a large club, pursued
us, and seemed disposed to proceed to violence, to compel
us to support our dignity as we ought; nor was it till he
extracted from us twenty piastres more that we could ex-
tricate ourselves. The pride of our Tartar, however, was
so deeply wounded for our letting down his dignity, and not
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
201
paying in proportion to his boasts, that he remained silent
and sulky for two days.
In the evening we visited the family of a Greek gentleman.
In the centre of an open apartment, supported by pillars,
was a marble fountain of very cold and limpid water, thrown
up with a continued bubbling. Over this was placed the
table, round which the family sat at their evening meal,
with their feet on the edge of the water which here per-
formed the operation of cooling in summer, as the tandour
does of warming in winter. The greatest inconvenience
Brusa suffers is the intensity of the heat. Just before it
had been so great, that the lead was melted on one of the
mosques, and two imauns had dropped dead on coming forth
from it.
Our host was a remarkably corpulent man, of indefati-
gable good humour, and more than French vivacity. He sat
cross-legged on the divan, with one little foot appearing,
thrust out from under him; and when he told a good story
he was all in action, his foot moving in unison with his
tongue. Among the company was a Neapolitan doctor
who had married a Greek lady. He wore a white hat,
which our facetious host seized on, and putting his turban
on the Doctor's head and the hat on his own, he sent his
hat round to the company to exhibit themselves in it as
an excellent joke. He then sang several songs which he
insisted that we all should join in. Greek music is at
best but miserable sounds, but this I thought the most
discordant and intolerable I had yet heard. Notwith-
standing this apparent levity and indifference to every
thing but present enjoyment, he with all about him
were deeply interested in the affairs of their countrymen.
He came over several times, and sat beside us, inquiring
anxiously about the probability of their success, and con-
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NARRATIVE OF A
vinced us how widely extended was the sympathy of every
Greek in the cause, be his situation ever so remote or his
disposition ever so careless.
The Doctor, for whom he had a great regard, we found
had been himself a suffering patriot. He had been concerned
in revolutionary movements in Naples, and was obliged
to fly when the Austrians had entered the city, and, like the
patriots of old, had sought refuge in Asia among the bar-
barians. His talents soon recommended him to the Muz-
zelim, who appointed him his physician, and on all occasions
he employed his influence with him for the benefit of those
around him. I felt great sympathy and friendship for this
worthy and intelligent man, who was here an exile, distin-
guished for those qualities which had led to his expulsion
from his own country. He afterwards died of the plague,
caught in attending a pestiferous patient, a very unusual
exercise of professional duty.
After an abundance of refreshments of pipes, coffee, con-
serve of roses, wine, snow-water, plums, pudding, and sundry
other good things which were handed round in ceaseless
succession, we took leave of our friendly host at midnight,
struck with the strong contrast in the same country be-
tween the lively and social Greeks and the taciturn and
formal Turks, by whom we had been entertained a few
evenings before.
We next morning proceeded to visit the Greek and Ar-
menian bishops. We found the former sitting on his divan
smoking, and we sat down familiarly beside him. He
declared himself well inclined to circulate the scriptures in
Romaic, and had already dispersed several copies sent to
him through his diocese. He was, however, personally
indisposed to and indeed incapable of any activity. Cor-
pulent and enervated by the climate, he was a Turk in in-
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
203
dolence, smoked one half the day and slept the rest, We
hoped he could inform us of many local circumstances of
Nicæa, which is in his diocese, but in reply to our queries, he
dispatched one of his chaplains for the Geography of Miletius,
and turning to the place, read out the little that was there
said of it, but knew no more. He sent his chaplains with
us to visit his schools. We found two, in each of which were
about thirty boys learning Romaic and Hellenic. One of
them was reading Demosthenes, and we discovered here, as
elsewhere, a disposition among the modern Greeks to revive
the ancient language.
Returning to our khan we found horses ready to take us
to the hot baths, so we set out, accompanied by our worthy
Aleppine friend. Our way lay along a road over which, on
one side, towered the battlements of the ancient city, mantled
with ivy, and on the other was a noble view of the plain of
Brusa just below us : every little coffee-house and barber's-
shop had a kiosk attached to it where the people sat to enjoy
the prospect. After a ride of two miles we arrived at Eski
Kaplizza, or the old baths, which were standing when Oth-
man laid siege to the city, and here were the head-quarters
of his son Orchan. The baths were now in a state of great
dilapidation and neglect.
About half a mile from them were the Jeni Kaplizza, one
of the new and splendid edifices. We entered a large hall,
round which sat or reclined on benches several persons un-
dergoing different processes of the bath. We procured for
ourselves a separate room and prepared for the enjoyment.
A large shawl was spread before each of us as we sat on
the diyan, and in this were carefully deposited our clothes;
it was then tied up at the corners and laid by. We next
had a blue apron fastened round our waists, a napkin
covered our shoulders, another was wrapt about our heads,
1
204
NARRATIVE OF A
and our feet were thrust into wooden sandals. Thus
equipped, we walked across the hall and entered the vesti-
bule of the bath. This is a very large and lofty dome, paved
and faced with polished marble. The air was consider-
ably hotter than in the hall, but cooler than the water, and
therefore was considered a good gradation of temperature,
which an Oriental thinks essential to safety. The bath itself
is a large circular marble basin, fifteen yards in circumference
and five feet deep, with steps descending into it all round.
It is supplied by a continued current of hot water, entering
at one side and issuing at the other, so that it is constantly
renewed. The temperature of the air filled with steam was
nearly suffocating, and that of the water scarcely endur-
able; in a little time, however, we were quite accus-
tomed to the sensation, and swam about in the noble basin
with great pleasure. After remaining a quarter of an hour
in the water, we were apprized by an attendant that our
time was expired, and we removed to another room, the
temperature of which was so comparatively cold, that we sat
shivering like ghosts on the banks of the Styx, till our at-
tendants came to rub us. We
e were led to certain recesses
with small reservoirs in each, where we were laid on our
backs, and a Turk as naked as ourselves, thrusting his
hands into gloves without fingers, made of a very coarse
stuff, continued to rub and champoo us till flakes of inspis-
sated perspiration, like dough, peeled off from every part of
our body.
After this operation we were again plunged in the bath,
and on coming out, another Turk, with soap and a brush,
beginning with our heads, immersed the whole body in a thick
lather. He then took a large pewter vessel and continued
to inundate us with nearly boiling water, till the suds passed
all away, and we were so exhausted with heat and a sense
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
205
of suffocation that we nearly fainted. It was remarkable
that habit had so accustomed the bodies of the operators
to this temperature, that they were quite cool, and whenever
their naked flesh touched our burning skin, it felt as cold
and clammy as monumental marble. After this operation,
we were reconducted to the divan where we had undressed,
wrapped in coarse shawls and lay down to repose. Coffee
and refreshments of lemonade and cold water were brought
to us, and after reposing for half an hour we were finally
rubbed dry, dressed, and dismissed quite cool and reno-
vated, notwithstanding the very distressing debility which
ensued during part of the operation. I have been more
particular in detailing the process to you, because these are
the most celebrated baths in the Turkish empire, and the
great resort of all ranks for health or luxury.
From these we visited another establishment built on the
model of the former, but on a more extensive and magnificent
scale. In the centre of the dome is a large fountain of cold
water, the dissolved snow of the mountain above, scatter-
ing its cool and limpid spray all around on those who chose
to partake of the refreshment of this noble shower-bath.
The whole edifice is lined with beautiful white marble, in-
laid in various places with coloured mosaic. These baths
would be, perhaps, the most remarkable monuments of Orien-
tal magnificence in the world were they not deformed by the
extremes of meanness. The adjoining rooms were foul and
tattered, dirty rags of cloth were hanging every where about,
and the attendants were the most squalid and sickly-look-
ing creatures I ever contemplated. In fact, there was that
striking display of splendour and meanness so characteristic
of all half-civilized barbarians.
Outside this bath was the source from whence the water
springs. It was gushing from the brow of a rock, and I
206
NARRATIVE OF A
wished to ascertain its temperature. We had a thermo-
meter, but the owner was afraid it would be cracked by the
èxperiment, and would not suffer it to be used, so I was
obliged to apply the test of sensation. I was apprized it was
too hot to bear, and Tournefort, I remembered, had said
people could not endure to dip the tip of the finger in it*.
Notwithstanding, I tried, and suffered for it. I merely passed
my finger hastily through the spouting stream, and the
effect was as if I had poured water on it from the spout of
a boiling kettle. A blister immediately rose on the part,
which did not heal for a week.
We were afterwards visited by a Dr. Julius Kelli, a
native of Leghorn, who had come to Brusa in the year
1787 as a merchant, but changed his profession to that of
a physician, and so continued to practise here ever since.
He drew up a detail of the memorable things of Brusa for
Latour Maubourg, the French ambassador at Constanti-
nople, which he was so good as to let me see. He found
here forty-eight simple and twelve mineral baths, either for
the public or in private houses. On analysis he discovered
the general ingredients were sulphur, iron, muriate of soda,
and a small quantity of copper; two, those of Kurkuithé
and Kara Mustapha, had a very large proportion of sulphur.
The degree of heat in the baths was from 40 to 42 Reaum.
and in one 44; near the source it hardened an egg in two
minutes. The waters are used for syphilitic, rheumatic,
and pustular complaints, and are in the highest repute in
May and September. The time for a patient varies from five
minutes to one hour: women are admitted three times a week
on days when men are excluded. Warm springs, though re-
marked at the time of the Trojan war, were not applied to
medical uses. Pliny remarks that Homer does not mention
* Ainsi l'on n'y sçauroit souffrir le bout du doigt.-Let. 21.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
207
them*-nor does he himself, among those he enumerates,
notice those of Brusa. It does not appear, I believe, that
they were used as medical waters, till the time of the lower
empire, when Stephen the Byzantine notes them as imperial
establishmentst. The Turks would not let such means of
ablution fall into decay or disuse, so Mahomet I. re-esta-
blished them and put them into their present state.
From the baths we ascended to the Acropolis, which we
saw on our return towering over our heads. The walls on
each side the gate were formed of materials older than them-
selves, as we perceived among the stones some with Greek
inscriptions, having the letters inverted, but in such a de-
cayed state as to be illegible. Within the precincts of this
gate no Greek is allowed to live. From hence we entered
the ancient and original Acropolis, the walls and stones of
which stood on one side, close to the edge of a very steep
precipice, which hangs over the lower town. It contains an
area of about two acres, now a garden under cultivation.
On the walls at the entrance were forms in relief sculptured
in stone and nearly obliterated, and beside them rude
figures of eagles in brick work, probably the work of the
lower empire. What traces remained of the first indicated
a much better style of the arts, and were of an older and
more cultivated period.
We now stood on the undoubted remains of a work of the
greatest proficient in the art of war that ever lived, and we
could perceive, without much skill in the science, that how-
ever efficient it might have been in ancient warfare, it would
be of little use at the present day. High as it was, it was
completely commanded at no great distance by the still
• Homerum calidorum fontium mentionem non fecisse demiror.--Hist.
Nat. lxxxi. c. 6.
* Τα δ' εν Περουση βασιλικα λεγομενα.
208
NARRATIVE OF A
higher ground of Olympus, and the few old guns on the
ramparts were so elevated, as to render it impossible to bring
them to bear on any object below; so, as far as our skill
went, Hannibal's fortress was neither fit for offensive nor
defensive warfare.
Within this enclosure is the mosque in which is the tomb
of Orchan. We were anxious to see the place which con-
tained the ashes of this first barbarian who passed the
Hellespont. They suffered us without scruple to enter the
mosque, and showed us every thing we required. The walls
were lined with different-coloured marble, placed in singular
angles; much of it, however, had fallen away, and its place
was supplied with painted mortar. They pointed out to us
several slabs on which were sculptured the cross, intimating
that they had formerly belonged to an edifice of infidels;
yet the Turks suffered those emblems of Christianity to
remain desecrating their mosques. The tomb of Orchan is of
colossal size, and crowned at its highest point with a large
turban. The body of the edifice is filled with smaller
tombs, which they told us were those of his wife and chil-
dren. We inquired for the large drum kept here, which,
by some internal mechanism, emitted a loud sound when it
was slightly touched, and which Dr. Kelli informed us had
been used by the Greeks to call the congregation to prayers.
We learned, however, that this curiosity had been de-
stroyed by a great fire which occurred in Brusa twenty
years before.
After seeing every sight worthy in the town, we pre-
pared to ascend to the top of the mountain. This is a lion
as formidable almost as ascending to the top of Mont Blanc.
The property of this vast mountain is vested in the Sultan,
who retains a monopoly of all its snow, which is more valu-
able than gold-mines in this country; so we had to wait on
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
209
the Pasha for permission to ascend. He received us, as
usual, very graciously; but, as usual, expressed the astonish-
ment of a Turk at European restlessness,“ running about
the country to look at old walls and climb difficult moun-
tains.” It was impossible to explain to a Turk a gratifica-
tion which he could no more conceive than that of a sixth
sense; so.we merely asked him for a guard and a guide,
which he readily sent. Next morning before five o'clock we
were on horseback, and proceeded up the mountain from the
rear of the town.
Our way lay along the edge of an im-
mense chasm, which at some remote period seemed to have
split the mountain to its centre. This chasm in
This chasm in process of
time had been filled up with trees, which, in the course of
centuries, attained a prodigious size: for five or six miles we
ascended along the precipice, looking down into this forest,
till we arrived at a region where all trees gradually disap-
peared, except firs, leaving a belt of pines round the moun-
tain. Among these the silver fir was exceedingly beautiful;
lichens, of uncommon luxuriance, in a parasitical manner
had attached themselves to the branches, covering the whole
tree with a long green beard.
Having emerged from the wood of pines, we found our-
selves at one extremity of a level plain, the other end of
which was terminated by a ridge of snow, forming a chain
of pinnacles which ascended perpendicularly like an im-
mense battlemented wall. This plain, which is six miles
broad, is at a great elevation and sensibly cold : it is covered
with a thick green sward, and watered by innumerable rills
meandering through it, from the snows constantly dissolving
on the ridge. A number of herdsmen and women had
ascended here with their cattle to feed on the rich herbage
during the summer, and had just pitched their tents.
Where the streams meet with depressed spots they form
VOL. II.
Р
210
NARRATIVE OF A
lakes, which abound with fish that are found only in cold
northern climates. We bought here, from a man who was
fishing, a dish of excellent trout, a fish utterly unknown at
Constantinople or in any part of the Turkish dominions, I
believe, except in this spot; they are sometimes carried
down by torrents into the beds of the rivers below, where
they immediately die from the heat.
We met here a drove of sixteen mules with their bells,
descending from the snowy peaks, loaded with ice. It was
cut into cuneiforın blocks, and wrapped up in thick folds of
felt, and so packed on the back; each mule carried what
sold for five piastres. The produce of the whole mountain
is farmed to a man at Brusa, who has a monopoly of it; he
is obliged to send a boat-load every day by Moodania to the
seraglio at Constantinople; the promontory from whence
it departs is called Booz Bournou, or the Icy Cape. It is so
abundant at all times that the poorest person in Brusa cools
his sherbet with it. The mountain is never uncovered, but
it continues, during the most intense heat of summer, to
give the usual supply, till the winter again replenishes it.
We now arrived at the base of the snowy ridge, and
not able to proceed any farther on horses we left them
to our guide : it was here, near one of the lakes, that
Tournefort, who attempted to ascend the mountain, was
obliged to stop, and returned. Our way lay across acres of
snow, which we found sufficiently consistent to dig our feet
in, and so make steps of stairs. Having clambered in this
way for about two miles, sometimes on firm ground and
sometimes sinking so deep that we apprehended we should
be swallowed up in some covered cavern, we at length
reached the upper edge of the last belt of snow, where the
cone of the highest precipice emerges. We had now passed
five distinct regions, viz.—the region of cultivation, the
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
211
region of forest-trees, the region of pines, the region of rivers
and fish, and the region of snows; but we now came to a
sixth, more beautiful and curious than all the rest the
region of saxifrages, of which I have collected several different
species above that elevation where all vegetation becomes
extinct in other mountains, except that of lichens. The
pointed summit of the cone being very steep and exposed
to the rays of the sun, the snow had gradually melted
and slipped down; as it receded, it left a moist soil, from
which sprang up innumerable plants of the saxifrage tribe,
some of them of surpassing beauty. It was curious to see
those lovely little flowers raising their rich scarlet heads
along the edges of the snow, and bending their stems as if
to hide their blushing faces when the modest veil that
covered them was drawn aside. As some were to me quite
new species, I took great pains to bring them to Pera
alive; I succeeded, but they soon languished, and died out
of the air of their native mountains.
We now sat upon that pinnacle which Jupiter often oc-
cupied when he called the gods around him, and he cer-
tainly could not have chosen a better place to see what was
going on in the world below. On the summit was a circle
of stones placed, with one near the centre; on reckoning
them we found there were just twelve, which we assigned of
course to the dii majores, as their seats when they formed
the council. They exactly resembled the Druidical remains
found on our mountains; they were scratched over with
names of other adventurers who had ascended here. We
were on the highest point of a mountain not more, in this
place, than a few yards in circumference, though it rises from
a base of seventy miles; we were 10,500 feet above the level
of the sea, a height nearly equal to that of the Pic of Tene-
riffe. We could see Europe and Asia, with the seas that
P 2
212
NARRATIVE OF A
.
divide them, viz. the Euxine, Bosphorus, Propontis, Hel-
lespont, and Ægean, and just below us were the plains of
Asia, dotted with towns, lakes, and forests. The thermome-
ter, which at Brusa stood at 86°, here fell to 46°, so that we
made a sudden transition from suffocating heat to what ap-
peared, by the contrast, intense cold; but the most distressing
sensation we felt was that described by Saussure in his
ascent to Mont Blanc, a great difficulty of breathing on the
smallest exertion. This arose from the rarefaction of the
air; we also found the thirst he mentions, which, however,
we easily appeased by a mouthful of snow. In some places
the layer of snow was forty feet thick ; this was visible at the
edges of the precipices, where the strata reposed with
their faces cut down by a perpendicular section. In one
place the bed formed a roof to a fissure, which descended
almost to the bottom of the mountain. We had the
curiosity to creep under this arch, and look down into the
chasm; it was as regular as if it was made by art, of Parian
marble: vast icicles were suspended from the sides, and
from behind rushed a river of melted snow, which tumbled
with an immense cataract into the chasm below. We did
not remain long in this sublime recess of nature, we trembled
so with cold or fear that we soon scrambled out again. The
snow was everywhere giving way, and we'all thought at
once, if the arch fell in, while we were under it, what would
be our fate?
We found that the basis of the mountain was granite,
which is seen in different places bursting from its sides in
large round masses. The snowy peaks were quartz, and
bore a general analogy to the remark, that conical hills
of this stone usually repose on beds of the other.
We now prepared to descend, and came down the snow
much faster than we went up; where the inclination was not
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
213
too abrupt and we were not afraid of shooting over a preci-
pice without being able to stop ourselves, we slid along the
surface as if we were skating, and in this way
I came down
an inclined plane in ten minutes, which took me half an
hour to climb across. We found our horses, and having
taken some refreshment which we brought with us, we re-
turned to Brusa. In re-crossing the elevated plain we were
all and simultaneously seized with an invincible propensity
to sleep on our horses, similar to the effects which others
have felt in cold mountains. We urged them on, that the
accelerated motion might keep us awake, watching each
other to take up whoever should drop. We arrived at our
khan at six o'clock, having been eight hours in ascending
the mountain in nearly a right line, and five hours in
returning. It was an excursion not very difficult; neither
Tournefort, however, nor Kinnaird, nor any other traveller
whose works we had read, had reached the summit, though
some attempted it.
One of my companions was so ill however the next day,
that we could not leave Brusa as we intended, nor proceed
to Apollonia, which we had marked out to visit. I was
greatly anxious lest he should have taken any of the fatal
disorders which cut off travellers in these countries, and I had
melancholy forebodings of those accounts where a friend is
suddenly arrested by death on the road, and the solitary
survivor, after seeing him shut up for ever in his narrow
prison, pursues his way alone. Thank God, however, it was
not my fate-my excellent friend recovered in a few days,
so as to be able to travel in a Tartaravan. This is a litter
like a long sedan chair, supported between two poles, which,
instead of being carried by men, are suspended in a hori-
zontal position by mules, who stand between the shafts;
it has curtains at the sides and cushions at the bottom, and
214
NARRATIVE OF A
the invalid reclines quite at his ease: into this my friend
got, and we turned homewards.
We proceeded to Moodania, a sea-port town on a gulf of
the same name, and here we were thrust into the most hor-
rible khan to be found in all Asia. The only room for our
accommodation was not simply ragged, and naked, and filled
with vermin below, but above, the ceiling was covered with a
net-work of cobwebs, interwoven in the most complicated
manner, and at least a foot thick; here thousands of taran-
tula spiders as big as walnuts had taken up their abode,
ready to drop on us every minute, and the crevices of the
walls were filled with centipedes and scorpions, and all that
tribe of horrid insects which heat and filth engender in this
climate. We made our escape from this place as fast as
from the snow-cavern, and went in search of the Greek
priest of the town; by his means we got established in a
house of community of Greek ecclesiastics, who were very
kind to us.
Next morning we hired a boat, and proceeded to sea;
and here we had nearly made a fatal end of our excursion.
The sea of Marmora at this season is subject to sudden
squalls, which come on without a moment's warning. It
was a calm and lovely evening, without a breath of wind;
we were so near our island that we were pointing to our
boatmen where to land us, when suddenly the air became
very sultry, and there appeared on the horizon the usual dark
leaden-coloured spot. After a few minutes this seemed as it
were to burst, and a most tremendous hurricane to issue
from it; in this extremity, all that vessels can do is to try
and run before it: this we did, and our little skiff shot over
the immense dark waves like a sea-gull. At length a blast
came whistling behind us, which carried away our mast and
sail—they entangled in the sea—the boat was unmanageable
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
215
and began to fill with water, and the Greek boatmen said it
was “for their sins;” threw themselves on their faces and
gave
themselves up to despair-and so almost did we. In an open
boat filling with water, in a wild sea of a dark evening, and
no one to manage it, we did not see how we could float
much longer. As we were good swimmers, however, our
first impulse was to pull off our coats, and be ready when the
boat sunk under us; but when we contemplated the agitated
waters about us, and no friendly shore which we could hope to
reach, we sat with our boots half drawn off in the bottom of
the boat, desisting from what we thought would be an utterly
useless effort. At this moment a large Turkish vessel came
driving before the gale, and a gleam of hope shot across us
that succour was at hand; but we were assured, from the
state of deadly hostility existing between the people, that the
Turks would be glad of the opportunity of running down
and sinking a Greek boat, rather than saving it. She how-
ever was as helpless as ourselves : she drove wildly before the
gale with her sails flapping, and passed us rapidly in the
greatest distress. We drifted hopeless, but without sinking,
to the coast of Asia, and were thrown in the dark, wet and
exhausted, among the rocks. Hence we made our way to a
little town filled with people infected with the plague, who
had fled from another where it was raging; this evil, how-
ever, we also happily escaped, and the next day reached our
convent.
216
NARRATIVE OF A
CHAPTER VIII.
Vaccination at Chalki-General use of issues-Swathing infants-Dispen.
sary-Extraordinary cures for jaundice-Gillandjik-Nereides-Reliance
on Panaya-Effects of bastinado-Locusts in Pera-Devastation of Palace
Garden-Flight to Black Sea-Final fate-Arrival of Giraffe-Sent to
visit Foreign Ambassadors–Mentioned in Pentateuch—Propitiatory gift
-Lascars-Mocha Coffee-Turkish notions of Geography-Artificial
Globes-Reception of them at the Porte-Remarks of Turkish Ministers
- Torture inflicted on two Ionian Subjects—Extraordinary privileges of
Dragomans--Not acceded to by British Ambassador-Patlingjam Melktem
-Solemn sound of Black Sea--Awful destruction of Ships—Sardinian
Treaty-English Sea Captain-Sudden charge of temperature-Optical
deception Proclamation of Padisha—Return of Capitan Pasha-Selictar
Aga.
BEFORE We left Chalki, we carried into effect a practice for
which the people were very desirous. About thirteen
years before, the small-pox had made dreadful ravages
among the children of the islands, so we proposed to intro-
duce vaccination, which they had heard of, but never seen
practised. I obtained some matter from subjects I had
vaccinated at Pera, and the people sent their children in
crowds from all the islands. I inoculated, on an average,
about twenty persons a-week, and continued the practice
for two months. I began with infants, and when all the
children had gone through the operation, the adults came
forward. At first boys and girls of ten or twelve, and at
length men and women of all ages, up to forty, who had
never had the disorder, nor had used any prophylactic, but
now availed themselves of it. The adults beyond that age
thought themselves secure. When all those who had not
had the disease were thus protected in Chalki, we pro-
ceeded to Antigone, where, under the auspices of the good
Archbishop of Mount Sinai, we protected the people there
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
217
also. In the progress of our practice, I discovered a usage
among
the Greeks which I had no idea any people could
carry to such an extent. In one arm of almost every
adult I found an issue either actually running, or an escar
to mark one that had run dry. They insert them for erup-
tions on the skin, inflammations in the eyes, and various
other complaints; in fact, it seemed to be considered as a
kind of specific. As I always vaccinated for security both
arms, whenever I missed the issue on the first, I was generally
sure to find it on the second. This practice was not confined
to one sex, but equally extended to both. It was almost
always attended with a visible emaciation of the part, and
the person who appeared stout and well made, when divested
of his coat exhibited the deformity of a withered arm.
Another circumstance was the multitude of bandages in
which the infant was wrapped up. The swathing con-
sisted of several yards of cotton or flannel, which began at
the feet, and was rolled up to the head, and so tight as
almost to impede circulation, and deprive the child of all
motion, except in its eyes. It was quite a tedious process
to get out an arm to vaccinate.
To our vaccine institution we added a dispensary, and so
came to the knowledge of various modes of cure practised
on the islands. Jaundice is a frequent disease, and two
rather extraordinary means of healing were adopted. The
squirting cucumber* is very common on the island. The
pod is covered over with a rough cuticle, full of sharp
tubercles. This is rubbed to the nose of the patient till he
sneezes three times, and is thus repeated till the cure is
effected. Another is more complex and scientific. Two
needles are set, in the form of a cross, at the bottom of a
pipkin. The vessel is then filled up with clear water, and
* Momordica elaterium
218
NARRATIVE OF A
the patient, taking it up in his hand, looks intently on the
needles, which are visible through the fluid. If the needles
continue visible, the patient will not recover ; but if they
gradually disappear to his eyes, he is sure to be healed.
The theory is, that the colouring matter.of the distemper is
attracted by the cross into the water, and so the morbid
cause is drawn from the body. I found the water was
prepared for the purpose, holding some earth in solution,
which, by the addition of an alkali, is deposited, and so
gradually obscures the needles. Like all diseases which
are modified by nervous influence, this effect on the imagi-
nation perhaps assists the cure—a stimulus is given—absorp-
tion is promoted, and the discolouration disappears. It is
certain the Greeks apply to it constantly, and, as they think,
with a success which a less credulous or imaginative people
would not experience.
I was often called on by patients labouring under the
Gillandjik. This is affirmed to be a disease peculiar to
the place. Its symptoms are an anasarcous swelling, con-
fined to the face and abdomen, but attended with emacia-
tion in other parts of the body. It was supposed to be the
infliction of some invisible agent, and its first cure was
always attempted by spells and incantations. It was only
when these failed that they applied to our dispensary; and,
I am sorry to say, our practice in the complaint was not
much more successful.
Another disease, which was ascribed to a supernatural
cause, was Nereides. This was an enteritis, or inflammation
of the bowels, attended with very painful and alarming
symptoms. The cause assigned for it was this: the spirit of
a departed man walks about the islands like the wraith in the
Hebrides. He is everywhere to be met with, particularly
near the burying ground, where his body is deposited. He is
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
219
particularly susceptible of insult, however unintentional, and
he avenges it with great severity. People therefore are cau-
tious what places they use for necessary occasions, lest they
should by any chance defile this invisible being. Should
they do so, the offence is instantly followed by a violent com-
plaint in their bowels. Whenever this disease can be referred
to such an act, the first attempt at cure is to appease
the
offended person by spells and offerings. When these failed,
they applied to us for medicine as a forlorn hope. In some
cases the application was too late in a disease which is often
so brief and fatal; but certainly some did recover, and so
baffle the malice of this angry being.
But their great reliance in disease was placed on exor-
cism, and the prayers of the church. The feast of the
Assumption is held in as great reverence by the Greeks as
it is by the Latins, though they do not believe that the
body of the Panaya was taken up into heaven. It is called
by them the repose or death of the mother of God.* It
occurred while we were on the island. The boats were
crowded with people from the Fanal, who came to be pre-
sent at the celebration, and the church of our convent was
covered with its most splendid decorations of scarlet velvet
and gold. The ceremony began at nine in the evening,
and lasted all night, without the smallest intermission, till
five in the morning. A considerable part of the congrega-
tion, and those who seemed most deeply interested, were
persons diseased, particularly females and children, who
came to be healed. They crowded to the shrine of the
Virgin, and having placed the patients in beds laid on the
flags round the altar, they kneeled or sat beside them all
night in act of prayer
One mother had brought a child
almost in the agonies of death, yet she hung over it with an
* Κοίμησις της Θεοτόκε.
220
NARRATIVE OF A
eagerness of faith and hope, now looking at the picture of
the Virgin, and now at her child, as if she expected every
moment to see a miracle performed on it. In a smaller chapel
were some men, who were affected with similar feelings;
people surrounded them, and others pressed to look in upon
them. They lay gazing on the altar with intense interest
and anxiety, waiting for the command "to take up their bed
and walk.” I never saw a number of persons on any occa-
sion, particularly the women, who seemed to be so filled with
an energy of belief and devotion. We heard next day of
sundry cures accomplished, and no doubt a strong imagi-
nation and a firm persuasion had their effects in modifying
morbid feelings.
On going to Pera a few days after, as soon as we landed
at the Custom-house quay, all the crew of the boat was
seized and led into a square, surrounded with Turks, where
several other Greek boatmen from the islands stood as pri-
Here sat a cadi, who ordered them all to be basti-
nadoed; they had transgressed some regulation, and were
to expiate it by this punishment. Each of them was seized
in turn, and thrown to the ground on their backs. Their
bare feet were then secured between poles held on each side
by two men, so as to present the soles, while others with rods
as thick as walking-canes struck as hard as they could lay
on, till the cadi motioned them to stop. The unfortunate
sufferers shrieked and seemed in great agony ; some fainted
and lay on the ground senseless when the punishment was
over; others could not walk, and were borne away on the
shoulders of their friends, and those who suffered least
tottered along as if in great agony. On my return to the
islands some of these poor people came to our dispensary
in a state of lameness; the lower extremities of one man
were frightfully swelled, as high as his hips, and from the
soners.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
221
discolouration of the skin and other symptoms, we thought
a mortification would ensue. By fomentation, however,
and such means, they all recovered.
In the exhibition of medicine, we found that the Greeks
required a much larger dose than that usually given in Eng-
land. On consulting the apothecary at Pera, he informed
me, that they never took less than two ounces of sulphate of
soda, and that a drachm of aloes was the usual dose.
This latter was the quantity prescribed by Dioscorides, who
complained however that the drug was adulterated in his day,
and its strength reduced, which may probably be the case at
present. Castor oil also was taken in a singular manner.
The seeds were swallowed like pills. This also is following
the prescription of the ancient Greek physicians. Dioscorides
directs the immense quantity of thirty seeds as a dose.*
On my return to Pera, the first objects that struck.me
were the locusts that I had left in the plains of Asia Minor,
which had arrived at the capital before me. There had
appeared, coming from the south, an extraordinary looking
cloud, obscuring the sun like a veil of gauze. When it
arrived over Pera it resembled a mass of sand, diffused in
myriads of grains through the air, which presently began to
fall, and showers of locusts everywhere filled the streets.
A large division of them lighted on the cypress trees of the
little cemetery and the vicinity, and the rest passed on to-
wards the Black Sea. When I entered the palace garden,
I found it filled with them, and nearly in the same state,
but more grown and capable of flight than when I left them
on the plains of Asia. The whole surface of the walks was
in a state of undulation, so that when any one attempted to
pass among them, they rose about him everywhere, as high
* Diosc. cap. clviii. In some editions, however, thirty is reduced to three
-τρεις κοκκοί τον αριθμoν.
222
NARRATIVE OF A
as his head, and he waded through them. In this state
they appeared very beautiful. Their bodies were generally
red and green, so that when they expanded their wings and
turned to the sun, they reflected various bright and vivid
colours. They were pursued by flocks of birds, who lighted
among them and devoured immense quantities, yet it did
not seem to diminish their numbers.
They did not appear to have attained their full size even
yet. They were generally about two inches long. Their
wings had not been capable of sustaining them in a long
flight. They were probably borne along by the wind so
far, and stopped here till they were more able to continue
their progress. Everything green in the garden soon began
to disappear, till its denuded appearance resembled the
depth of winter. The exceeding hardness and horny strength
of their mandibles enabled them to feed on the shoots, and
even the bark, when the leaves were consumed, and the noise
they made in cranching resembled the crackling of fire among
bushes or stubble. One morning they were seized with a
sudden and simultaneous impulse ; they all rose together,
like a flock of birds alarmed by the sound of a gun, pur-
sued their way, with a light breeze in their favour, to the
Black Sea. Here they were met by an adverse wind, which
they did not seem able to stem, and they were driven back
into the mouth of the Bosphorus, and were found in all the
villages about, crawling up the walls and clinging to every-
thing they could lay hold on, in a state of great debility;
and here I afterwards saw them in thousands dying and
dead. But the great mass perished in the waters, and were
borne by the stream back again to Pera. Here their bodies
formed a long and broad line extending for more than a
mile in the still water occasioned by the currents of the
harbour and the Bosphorus, till it was cut across and
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
223
broken in various places by the passing of caiques, and they
were finally dispersed and lost in the sea of Marmora. The
smell of their putrid bodies was very offensive, and likely to
produce in warm countries, and in the vast abundance in
which some writers represent them to have lain on the
ground, an epidemic sickness. It is thus the insect produces
first famine, and then pestilence; and we can readily conceive
what a fearful scourge it must have been in the hand of the
Almighty, when he was pleased to use it to afflict the Egyp-
tians. As far as I could learn from inquiry, they were the first
fight of locusts that had been seen at Pera by the oldest per-
son, though scattered insects were often observed in the fields.
In fact, these did leave their larva behind them, and the next
summer I met with considerable numbers in the hedges ;
but they also disappeared, as if there was something in the
air and climate uncongenial to their propagation.
In September we were surprised by another visiter as
rare as the locusts. A slave in Egypt, having committed
an offence, escaped to the desert; and after wandering about
for some time, took refuge in a thicket. Here he discovered
the haunt of an immense animal, which greatly terrified
him; but finding the creature more timid than himself, he
followed it for some time, till he came upon its den, and
there he found two young ones, with which he soon became
familiar. Supposing he had now obtained the means of his
pardon, he contrived to entice them after him, and finally
presented them to his master as an atonement for his offence.
He was forgiven; and his master, who had incurred the
anger of Ali Pasha, presented them to him from the same
motive. Ali, who had begun to excite the suspicion of the
Sultan by his equivocal conduct, determined also to make
them a propitiatory gift. One of them died, but the other
was taken care of, and in due time despatched to Constan-
224
NARRATIVE OF A
tinople. It was embarked at Alexandria, but the vessel
ran aground on the coast of Asia Minor, where the animal
was landed and walked to Scutari, from whence it was con-
veyed to the Seraglio. On its arrival it was found to be a
giraffe or cameleopard.
The Turks, whose curiosity, like that of children, is
strongly excited by anything unusual, were greatly de-
lighted with this creature. On the day of its arrival, no
business was done at the Porte, for all the ministers had
gone to see it. It was then sent to visit the people of rank
at Constantinople, and after being paraded about the streets
for some weeks, the British Ambassador and other foreign
Ministers received a notification that it would be sent over
to Pera to visit them, on any day which they appointed. A
day was fixed, and the animal arrived and proceeded to the
Galata Serai, close by the English palace. In walking up
the narrow Pera street, the windows were crowded with
people, who held in their hands various confections, and
such things as they thought the animal would like. It was
exceedingly curious to see it turning its head from side to
side to the people in the upper windows, and gently taking
from them whatever they offered him. When arrived at
the place of his destination, the whole of the corps diplo-
matique, with all their suites, went in a kind of state to
visit him. We were first entertained with refreshments,
and then proceeded to the court-yard, to a platform erected
for the purpose, where the animal was brought into the area
below. He was led round by two grooms, who held a
collar on each side, so he moved majestically between them.
Nothing could be more curious or strange than his first
appearance; the smallness of his head, the astonishing
length of his neck, the rotundity of his body, the height of
his fore-quarter, and the shortness of his hinder parts,
RESIDENCE AT .CONSTANTINOPLE.
225
giving an extraordinary slope and descent to its back, but,
above all, the loose and awkward motions of its limbs,
not diagonally, but those on the same side at the same time,
made it exactly resemble men clothed in skins to 'repre-
sent a camel on the stage. In fact, it looked like some
artificial thing dressed up for exhibition.
But its most extraordinary attitude was when it attempted
to eat. Some plates of rice and raisins were presented to
it, of which it only tasted. It was more attracted by an
acacia which happened to be growing in the area. It threw
up and back its head; then, taking the pinnate leaves in
the curl of its tongue, it stripped the branches bare in a
moment. It was then invited by some grass growing out
of the interstices of the stones, but seemed greatly distressed
to get at it. It made several attempts, but the height of
its fore-quarters was too great even for its long neck; it
continued to persevere, however, stretching out its limbs
wider and wider after every effort, till its chest seemed so
strained as to be in danger of splitting open ; but it could
not succeed in cropping the grass, notwithstanding the most
extravagant expansion of its legs. The position, which
seemed to be the most painful and awkward, nature pro-
bably never intended it should be placed in. Its residence
being a sandy soil, where there is no grass, and its food
being the leaves of trees, it is formed to stretch up to their
branches. When it drinks in its native state, it is probable
it wades into the water, so as to bring the surface within an
accessible distance of its mouth; the keepers always lifted
up the vessel to accommodate it. The shape of the animal
seemed altogether to accord with this opinion. I measured
its dimensions; from the hoof of the fore foot to the tip of
the ear was eleven feet nine inches, while from the hoof of
the hind leg to the insertion of the tail was not four. The
VOL. II.
Q
226
NARRATIVE OF A
splendid body cloths, when thrown over its back, imme-
diately slipped off behind, till fastened on by bandages
round the neck. The head was profusely decorated with
amulets of blue beads, to protect it against the influence of
an evil eye. The gentleness, familiarity, and docility of this
immense creature were quite delightful. It recognised its
Arab attendants with great affection, and it came among us
like a spaniel, put out its head to be caressed, and seemed
quite pleased with being stroked and patted. Its nature is
so very mild, that when one was shot by Mr. Gordon, in
Africa, it died in the act of licking his hand.
The appearance of an animal of this kind is of rare oc-
currence in Europe. Pliny says it was first seen at the
Circensian games exhibited by Caesar*. In the time of
Horace, it was publicly exhibited on the theatre, where it.
appears to have attracted great applause t. It is described
by Dion, who mentions it as being shown about I, and by
Varro, who says its name was derived from having the form
of a camel and the spots of a panther . But the figures
represented on the Prænestine pavement leave no doubt that
it was the same animal as that now called a giraffe; and
it became so common at Rome, that a herd of ten of them
were exhibited together in the reign of the Emperor Philip :
though it afterwards became so scarce in modern times,
that when Le Vaillant, about half a century ago, sent the
skin of one of them from South Africa, the naturalists of
France believed it to be a fabrication till they examined its
texture with a magnifying glass.
Much has been said of its being the animal mentioned in
the Bible, under the name of 101, zomar. The learned
* Plin. Hist. Nat., lib. viii., c. 28. + Hor. Epist., lib. ii. i., 1. 198.
I Dion, lib. xliii.
§ Varro de Ling. Lat., lib. iv.
|| Deut. xiv. 5.Shaw's Travels, vol. ii., p. 283.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
227
Bochart affirms that it is not; while Shaw has assigned
good reasons for supposing that it is. The Septuagint
and the Vulgate translate it cameleopardalis; but our
version has it chamois, though such an animal is not a
native of either Egypt or Syria. He thinks that the Israel-
ites, while in Egypt, had many opportunities of being ac-
quainted with the animal, and certainly the translators who
so rendered the word had also; further, that it is a clean
animal according to the Levitical law; and above all, that
it is rendered zuraffa, or zeraffa, in the Arabic version, from
whence it is now called giraffe. Though considered at
Constantinople the first of the kind that ever was seen there,
yet it appears from Busbequius that, shortly before his
arrival, one had been exhibited, but had died, and was
buried. He had the bones taken up and examined, and
from these he gives an accurate description of the animal*.
It appears also to have been an instrument of propitiation
on other occasions besides the present. When Tamerlane,
or Timour, conceived the project of annexing Africa to his
empire, and from thence invading Europe, by the straits
of Gibraltar, his design was averted by a giraffe. The
soldan of Egypt obtained one of these animals, which was
found in the interior of the country, and sent it to Samar-
cand as a present to the Tartar. He received it as a great
curiosity, and was so gratified by the gift that he suspended
his intentiont.
A third arrival at this time presented a strange appear-
ance at Constantinople. Some people were seen wandering
about the streets, whose appearance greatly excited the
surprise of the Turks. They wore turbans and long dresses
* Ossa tamen quæ sub terra condebantur eruenda curavi ut inspicerem.---
Busb. Ep. i., 71.
+ Gibbon, chap. Ixv.
Q 2
228
NARRATIVE OF A
like themselves; but their sallow tawny faces and their
white robes were objects for which the people could not ac-
count, and various conjectures were made as to who and
what they were. At length it was found they were Lascars,
who had come with a cargo of coffee from Mocha. One of
our Indiamen stopped there on her way home, took in some
coffee, and, on passing the Straits of Gibraltar, thought that
it would be a better speculation to send it to Constantinople
than to London. A considerable part of that consumed by
the Turks comes from our West India plantations, and
Arabian coffee is rarer and dearer than in England. It
was sold on the spot for eight piastres thirty paras the oke,
which at the then rate of exchange was about two shillings
per pound. It was considered a great luxury, and all the
coffee-houses that could procure some were crowded while
it lasted. The Turks in general had no conception whence
or how it came; some few, however, of the more intelligent,
who had travelled on a pilgrimage to Mecca, had themselves
acquired some knowledge of the countries through which they
had passed, and to whom, as to favoured persons, Allah had
imparted more, affirmed that the ship which brought it had
passed from the Red Sea directly into the Mediterranean.
Some time after Lord Strangford sent the Porte a valuable
present. He had brought with him a pair of very large
globes from England; and as the Turks had latterly
shown some disposition to learn languages, he thought
it would be a good opportunity to teach them something
else, and he determined to send them over to the Porte, and
asked me to go with them and explain their object; so
I undertook the arduous task of giving the Turkish minis-
ters the first lecture on the use of the globes which I
believe they had ever received. They were not altogether
unacquainted with such things, however. There had been
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
229
an artificial globe formerly seen, and they called it carpoos.
Now carpoos is the Turkish name for the only species
of gourd* they have which is perfectly spherical, so they
called the globe of the earth a water-melon for the same
reason.
This important present was brought over with becoming
respect. A chouash went first with his baton of office;
then followed two janissaries, like Atlases, bearing worlds
on their shoulders ; then myself, attended by our principal
dragoman in full costume; and, finally, a train of janissaries
and attendants. When arrived at the Porte we were intro-
duced to the Reis Effendi, or minister for foreign affairs,
who, with other ministers, were waiting for us.
When
I had the globes put together on their frames, they came
round us with great interest, and the Reis Effendi, who
thought, ex officio, he ought to know something of geo-
graphy, put on his spectacles and began to examine them.
The first thing that struck them was the compass in the
stand. When they observed the needle always kept the
same position, they expressed great surprise, and thought it
was done by some interior mechanism. It was midday,
and the shadow of the frame of the window was on the
floor. I endeavoured to explain to them that the needle was
always found nearly in that direction, pointing to the north;
I could only make them comprehend that it always turned
towards the sun. The Reis Effendi then asked me to
show him England. When I pointed out the small com-
parative spot on the great globe, he turned to the rest,
and said " Kutchûk," little; and they repeated all round
Kutchak,” in various tones of contempt; but when I showed
them the dependencies of the empire, and particularly the
respectable size of India, they said “ Buyûk,” big, with
66
* Cucurbita citrullus.
230
NARRATIVE OF A
some marks of respect. I also took occasion to show them
the only mode of coming from thence to Constantinople by
sea, and that a ship could not sail with a cargo of coffee
from Mocha across the isthmus of Suez.
The newly
appointed dragoman of the Porte, who had been a Jew, and
was imbued with a slighter tincture of information, was pre-
sent; so after explaining to him as much as I could make
him comprehend, I left to him the task of further instruct-
ing the ministers in this new science. Indeed it appeared
to me as if none of them had ever seen an artificial globe
before, or even a mariner's compass.
There is a small prison beside the English palace gate,
where British subjects taken in any act of delinquency in
the country are confined, after they are handed over to their
own ambassador. I was one day about this time sent for by
some unfortunate prisoners confined in this place, and paid
them a visit. They were from the Ionian Islands : one
named Johan. Rovit, a native of Corfu; the other Pan.
Scourta, from Cephalonia. They were tailors by trade, and
lived at Galata. Rovit was a young man about twenty-
five, with very dark hair and complexion, the other a fat
comely man about thirty. They were dressed in Frank
clothes, and had been taken up under the following circum-
stances. A Sciote boy was brought a slave to Constan-
tinople, and after a time made his escape with some pro-
perty of his master's. He was retaken, brought back, and
to save himself he turned Turk, and then informed against
a coffee-house man and the two tailors as the persons who
instigated him to escape, and who received some of the
property he had stolen. They were all brought to the
prison of the Bostangee Bashi and put to the torture, the
particulars of which the Ionians minutely described.
Rovit had first a cord drawn so tight round his forehead
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
231
that his eyes were forced out of their sockets. He de-
scribed the agony of this as intense, and indeed he had a
staring look like a man still suffering under such an inflic-
tion; his eyes seemed protruded forward as if by some
force, and it was probable that they never would again
return to their former position. Next day his hands were
tied by the wrists; they were then drawn backwards over
his head, and down toward the small of his back, in such a
way that his joints were dislocated, and the extremities of
the bones, twisted from their places, protruded from their
sockets. The cords were drawn so tight that they entered a
considerable way into his wrists, and the wretched man had
the evidence of this torture also in the distortion left by the
dislocation, and the deep sores that remained after the cord.
Scourta was not so severely treated ; he was merely tied up
by the middle of his naked body, and in that state, sus-
pended in the air, was beaten with clubs. What became of
the coffee-house man they could not tell; but torture ex-
torted no confession from them of a crime, of which they
declared to me they were entirely innocent. Fortunately
for them they were claimed by the ambassador as British
subjects, and so protected from any further infliction. It
was another fact, however, establishing incontestably that
the application of torture is still a part of Turkish justice.
An affair occurred at this time at Pera illustrating a cer-
tain feudal right claimed by our dragomans to make re-
prisals on their adversaries, and exercise a lex talionis on their
own authority: Two ladies had taken a plot of ground in
joint tenancy, on which they proposed to build. Before the
respective boundaries of each were ascertained, one of them
began her house, but the other was dissatisfied, as she said
it encroached on her premises. The matter was referred to
the Turkish authorities, and an order was obtained to prevent
232
NARRATIVE OF A
the parties from proceeding with the edifice. With this the
lady promised to comply; but in the night she hired an ad-
ditional number of workmen, and instead of the offending
part being pulled down as was supposed, the whole was
finished. A second complaint was made, and the Turks
proceeeded, not against the delinquent who had disobeyed
their injunction, but against the unfortunate carpenter, who
acted by her orders, and the man was thrown into the horrid
prison of the Bostangee Bashi. And now commenced the
system of reprisals. The offending lady was sister to the wife
of the principal dragoman of the English mission. He
took up the cause, and had the servant of the other lady
arrested, for no reason but because he was her servant;
and not content with this, he proceeded to the house of one
of her tenants in Pera. This man sold ices and confec-
tionary, and paid her, not a fixed rent, but half the profits
of his business. To stop his business, therefore, would be an
effectual way of distressing the enemy, so he arrested the
man without the smallest pretext or authority, threw him
into prison, put a seal on his house, and the key in his
pocket. The affair now became serious and a matter of
universal interest. As these arbitrary and tyrannical acts
were done apparently under British sanction, the English
were exceedingly indignant, and the ambassador interfered.
It was in vain that he was assured it was a right always
allowed and exercised by the dragoman of the mission, and
confirmed by long prescription; he insisted on the liberation
of the men. The dragoman was at first contumacious, and
felt the indignity as a Scotch baron of the middle ages would
have done whose feudal rights were invaded. He thought
it however much better to comply than be dismissed from
his very lucrative situation, though he assured me it was
an indignity he never would forget or forgive.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
233
Shortly after another very disagreeable incident occurred
to him. I was examining with the ambassador some objects
in a large compound microscope of considerable magnifying
power. The dragoman came in to make his report at the
moment; and as he had never seen a microscope before, I
thought it would gratify him to show him an object, so
I presented him with some mites. He was astonished
at the extraordinary creatures, which appeared, he said,
like young pigs, and requested to know what they were.
When I showed him the decayed cheese he became violently
affected. He was remarkably fond of English cheese in
that state; and when he found he had been cranching alive
such large animals, like the Gentoo merchant he was greatly
shocked, and would have crushed the instrument that dis-
covered it to him. It deprived him of a favourite food.
Some time after he dined at the palace, and pushed it away
from him with great disgust.
As the end of the year approaches in Constantinople, the
Black Sea becomes an object of great interest to the people.
One evening in autumn as we were walking on the shores of
the Bosphorus, near the great cemeteries, a dismal sound
came to us in the air, like the moaning of people in distress.
There was something exceedingly solemn in the noise, as if a
warning of woe to all who heard it. This we found was the
moaning of the Black Sea. There is a season called Pat-
linjam Melktem : it is the time in autumn when a gourd of
a particular kind appears in the market; and simultaneous
with its appearance a north-east wind sets in. The Black
Sea, driven against its western shores, emits an awful
sound, as its waves lash the rocks at the mouth of the
Bosphorus, and it is prophetic of death and destruction to
any ships who may be at that time attempting to enter the
Boghaz. The passage is so narrow that it is difficult
234
NARRATIVE OF A
to find, at any time, by the unskilful mariners who usually
navigate this sea; but when fogs fill the air at this season of
the year, and fall upon this coast, obliterating all trace of it,
and presenting one uniform mass of dense obscurity, the
destruction is sometimes fearful. It is for this reason that
ships hasten their departure and arrival before the melktem
commences.
In a few days after we had heard this ominous sound, all
the mercantile world of Pera were in alarm, and accounts
were hourly arriving to the different houses of the loss of
their ships from Odessa and other ports; and the merchants
were hastening to look after them, Induced by the ac-
counts I had heard, I accompanied a gentleman who set
out to save any part that he could of the crew or cargo of
a stranded ship in which he was concerned. The scene of
desolation was more dismal than even my imagination pre-
sented. A considerable length of coast from the Phana-
raki point to Domosdere is a flat shoal, running to a very
great extent into the sea. This dismal uniform waste of
white sand appeared at a distance dotted over with dark
spots. On coming among them we found them to consist of
fragments of ships and their cargoes, with the bodies of the
crews strewed about over an astonishing space, exhibiting
an appalling picture of destruction. When the melktem
sets in, and occasionally at other times, vessels are either
irresistibly driven on this shore, or mistaking it in the
obscurity for the mouth of the Bosphorus and anxious for a
place of security, run voluntarily upon it, and are soon dashed
to pieces by the tremendous surge which at these times
beats over it. The native vessels which trade in the Black
Sea are particularly ill calculated for such a navigation.
They are remarkably tall and ponderous, rising very high at
the stern, seeming quite unstable in the water in the calmest
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
235
without upset-
weather, presenting such a lofty surface of side to the wind
that it seems impossible for them to bear
up
ting; when caught on a lee-shore, therefore, they are im-
mediately driven on it. While I contemplated the waste of
life and property before me, and added it to those other
scenes of destruction I had witnessed from pestilence, confla-
gration, and civil commotion, I could readily account for that
ruin and depopulation which mark the Turkish empire for
their own.
The danger and obstruction to which the Turkish ships
are exposed in this sea are not equally participated in by
other nations who are more skilful. The Genoese, who once
braved so successfully all its dangers, and were for a long
time shut out from it, were at this time again re-admitted.
The right of navigating it by the Sardinian flag, which had
for fifty years been a subject of discussion at the Ottoman
Porte, was now conceded to that state by the Turks, through
the intercession of the British ambassador, and the bold and
enterprising ships of Genoa, now no longer an independent
republic but an appurtenance of Sardinia, were in right of
this treaty again navigating a sea where every promontory
bore testimony of their former power. On this occasion his
Sardinian majesty testified his gratitude by letters to the
king of England, and his representative at the Porte, for the
favour procured for him. He proposed to confer upon the
latter some distinction d'honneur, but regretting that the
règlemens d'Angleterre would not permit him to accept it,
he begged him to keep his portrait which he sent. On this
occasion a singular laxity of a nice sense of honour was dis-
played. It was necessary that the British ambassador,
acting for the king of Sardinia, should have powers from
under his hand to show that he did so. He expected to
receive them at the congress of Verona, but departed with-
236
NARRATIVE OF A
out them. They were now written for, and daily expected;
but as their arrival occasioned some delay, it was suggested
by a diplomatist that their arrival should be anticipated by
substituting others, imitating the hand of his majesty. This
to be sure could make no actual difference, as the genuine
letters were on their way and daily expected; but it inti-
mated a sad ignorance of the moral feeling of the British
government, to suppose for a moment their ambassador
would attempt to impose upon the court where he resided
a forged document.
Among the ships which passed into the Black Sea this
season, was one which excited much speculation. She
entered the Bosphorus from the sea of Marmora under
English colours, and, without stopping at Constantinople,
proceeded on her way. When arrived at the Castles in the
Boghaz, she was hailed and brought to; but pretending to
lower sail, she got into the current, shot into the Black Sea,
and disappeared. No one could tell or find out what this
mysterious vessel was, but she was generally supposed to
be one of the Greek prizes which had escaped from the
Capitan Pasha, and by adopting the use of English colours
had got safe to Russia. In a short time, however, the
mystery was solved : she was an English merchantman;
and the following letter, characteristic of the style and
phraseology of a sea captain, was sent to the British consul
and transmitted to the ambassador:-“ Mr. Yeames Sir-
in the Brig bowes from London Addressed to Messr Lander
on the 27th Nov. I came in to the Charnel of the Dardnels
wear I was borded By the Turk Admiral but receivd no pas
and on the 10th ult I past the citty of Cunstantopple But
ignorant that any such as A pas wose requerd more then what
I had having A bill of Elth and Medetraneaun pas from
london those I have Deliverd to the Curonteen oficer dear sir
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
237
I hop thear will be no Detenchon and if their bee any fees to
Pay to Cunstnopel it may be Dun from odesca no mor at
present from yr obedent sert-Odesca 24 Nov. 1823.” This
classic epistle was communicated to the Porte, and the Turks
were satisfied.
After the melktem had passed, a south wind set in, and
an intense cold accompanied it. This unusual phenomenon
was easily accounted for. Mount Olympus had been for a
few days obscured by the drift which had swept along; but
it now emerged with more than usual majesty, entirely
covered with snow, presenting a most brilliant and dazzling
spectacle, and seeming to impend almost over the city. It
stood like a great refrigerating mass close beside us, and the
wind that blew from it made us shiver. The thermometer
in my room suddenly fell from 66 at midday to 34.
This phenomenon was attended by another which alarmed
all persons. Immediately after dark in the evening, on
looking through the windows of the palace, we saw the whole
horizon over Constantinople in a blaze. As this seemed by
far the most extensive fire that had occurred, involving the
whole of the city from the Blachern to the Seven Towers,
we gazed at it with great interest, supposing the whole of
the devoted city must soon be reduced to ashes, and we ran
up to the kiosk on the top of the palace to witness it from a
greater elevation; but the light suddenly faded away, and
all was dark. We now found it to be nothing more than an
optical delusion. The rays of the sun, after he had set below
the horizon, were reflected by some strata of clouds, which
threw down upon the city the strongest glare of a general
conflagration.
The next Sunday, just before divine service, a crier stood
beside the palace gate, and made a long proclamation. He
held in his hand a baton shod with iron, which he struck
238
NARRATIVE OF A
three times sonorously on the pavement; and when he had
thus collected a crowd in the streets and windows, like one
of our bellmen, he lifted up his voice and said,—" The
Padisha, taking into his consideration the vain superfluities
of female apparel, strictly enjoins every woman whose
ferrigee touched the ground to cut it off as high as her
ancles; and every woman whose head-dress extends too
far from her head, is ordered to restrain it within due
limits.” The windows and doors of all the streets about the
palace were filled with women listening to this important
proclamation as the crier went along. The Greek women
were in the habit of enlarging their head-dress with gauze
and tinsel to an enormous expansion ; and in those perilous
times no kokona felt her head safe on her shoulders, till
she reduced it to a size the Padisha thought reasonable.
The year 1823 concluded with the return of the Capitan
Pasha. It was intended that his entrance should be on the
day of the accouchement of the sultana, who was on the eve
of her confinement; but that event did not take place. He
passed the seraglio point with a fine breeze; and it was ex-
pected that the usual number of Greeks hanging to his rig-
ging would dignify his arrival. He had but one solitary
body suspended from his bowsprit under a standard, with
the cross inverted; sixteen had been prepared in the sea of
Marmora for the exhibition, but they were required for some
other purpose.
Immediately on his return the grand vizir was deposed,
and other changes made in the ministry. Among them
a new selictar aga, or sword-bearer, was appointed; he had
been a barber, and he continued still to exercise his func-
tions on the head of the sultan.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
239
CHAPTER IX.
Birth of a Child at the Seraglio announced at the British Chapel-Story-
teller at Ramazan-Adventures of Tifflim-Turkish Bible sold at Custom-
house-Alarm excited-Distribution prohibited Ipsara—Turks attack it
-Gallant defence-Fall of the Island Recovered and abandoned by the
Greeks—Noses and Ears exposed_Standards displayed-Attack on Samos
-Crowds of Fellows set out from the Capital-Turks repulsed-Return of
disappointed Marauders - Plague breaks out in British Palace - Great
Alarm—Quarantine at Belgrade—Author supposed to have taken it-
Abandoned in the Mountains-Attended by Janissary and Greek Boya
Protection used by the latter-Ambassador proceeds to England-Depar-
ture of the Author.
The commencement of the year 1834 was distinguished by
the birth of a child to the sultan. We were one Sunday,
just as I had begun my sermon, startled by an explosion of
sound of a most discordant kind just within the chapel door.
This we found proceeded from a band of Turkish musicians,
who, with wind-instruments of most harsh and braying tones,
had come from the sultan to announce to the English am-
bassador the birth of another child. From hence they went
to the other mission; between every explosion of the mu-
sicians an orator made a speech, declaring the name and sex
of the child, and congratulating the ambassador on the
event. This was accompanied by a discharge of artillery
at daybreak, midday, and sunset, which shook the whole of
Pera. By this announcement we learned that the sultan
had two sons and five daughters living. He had four
others who died young.
The Ramazan began this year in May; and its com-
mencement was marked by a display which I had never
witnessed before. Returning home from a friend's house
240
NARRATIVE OF A
about nine o'clock, I perceived the area before the palace
gates filled with people. There is a large coffee-house
beside it, which is much frequented by janissaries and
others. Before this a number of joint-stools were placed in
semicircles, and occupied by Turks and Armenians, who
were all helped to coffee and pipes, after which they sat
silent like an audience in a theatre, and then a man
ascended to a platform before an open window. He was a
medak, or story-teller. I found he was the most distin-
guished of his profession, and was esteemed as the Mathews
of Constantinople. He was called by the Turks Kiz
Achmet, or Achmet the Girl, from certain effeminacies
which mark him. He keeps a coffee-house himself, where
he entertains his company on ordinary occasions; but
while the Ramazan continues he is engaged to attend at
others of more note and better frequented. During the
present festival his engagement was at the coffee-house of
the English serai for eight hundred piastres, to exhibit
himself a certain number of nights. The sultan had on one
occasion heard him, and was particularly delighted with
him. He frequently afterwards sent for him to the seraglio,
and intends to give him an appointment, with a salary
and apartments in his own medak, and so revive an ap-
pendage to Turkish royalty, which, like that of our fools,
had been long discontinued. The medak's stories are
sometimes exceedingly gross, and he affects a familiarity in
telling them which no man but himself would dare use
in the presence of the sovereign.
On the present occasion he showed infinite tact and
talent. He first clapped his hands three distinct times to
intimate he was going to begin; and then, in engaging
the deep attention, and exciting the various passions of
his audience, I never saw a man who possessed more power,
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
241
sive risus essent movendi sive lachrymce, though the latter
occurred but rarely. His voice was loud, distinct, and
very flexible. He spoke with wonderful ease and fluency,
imitating the peculiarities of the tone and manner of the
characters he represented, and acting the several parts and
situations with a drollery and versatility which was quite
surprising and unexpected in the monotonous gravity of a
Turk. There was one ruse in which he was particularly
clever and successful. When he had wound
up
the attention
of his audience to a high degree, and they were listening with
breathless expectation of what was to come, he suddenly
stopped, and stepped down among them with a coffee-cup
in his hand, to make a collection; everyone knew the
sooner it was filled with paras the sooner the story would go
on, so they hastened to do so. He then returned to his
place with his overflowing cup, and resumed the thread
of his story where he had broken it off. I took a stool
among his audience, put paras into his coffee-cup, and,
in fact, felt as much interest and amusement as I could
have done at the representation of one of our best actors.
I had an interpreter beside me who explained the heads of
the story; and though I could not follow it in detail,
his pantomime was so excellent and true to nature, that
I could perfectly comprehend his characters without under-
standing all they said. One story was the adventures
of Tiffli, who was entertained by sultan Murad as his fool
or buffoon, and seemed the hero of many a tale; it was
as follows:-
Tiffli was sent by the sultan into Persia on an errand to
the schah, by whom he was sumptuously entertained and
lodged; but the weather was very cold, and he almost
perished by having the honour of living in a palace ; hi
attempts to warm himself, his struggles to support the
VOL. II.
R
242
NARRATIVE OF A
dignity of such a residence, and his uncomfortable sensa-
tions, were exceedingly droll and laughable. From the
schah he received a precious apple, half emerald and half
agate, which he wished to send as a present to his own
sultan; so he selected for his messenger a rude ignorant
fellow, who spoke barbarous Turkish. When this envoy
arrived at Constantinople, he inquired where the sultan's
house was; the different people he met, and the conversa-
tion that ensued, formed a very amusing part of the narra-
tive. At length he finds his way to the seraglio; and
unacquainted with form or etiquette, he pushes straight
forward into the courts, while the janissaries and chouashes
beat him back with their staves. He gets a glimpse, how-
ever, of the sultan at a distance, and waving his shawl, he
shouts out to him, and shows the apple, which he holds up.
At length he attracts his notice, and is sent for ; the
curious apple is examined and joyfully received, and he is
presented as a reward with two thousand piastres.
He now becomes a great man, falls in with various gay
company in the capital, and at length gets entangled with a
party who are accused of improper practices, and all sent to
the Bagnio. Here he meets with a Greek and a Jew;
and the discrimination shown in the peculiarity of them
both, in endeavouring to speak and pronounce Turkish,.
admirable.
The lisping organs of the Jew made his
attempts at Turkish as imperfect as they are at English.
At length it is found that the accusation was false, the men
innocent, and the vizir, throwing himself at the feet of the
sultan, obtains their liberation. There were just forty in
all, including Tiffli's messenger; but the Jew, in order to
get out along with them, covers him up with sand while he is
asleep, and introducing himself among the rest, the number
forty is counted, and the Turks attending only to so many
was
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
.243
without caring much about their personal identity, the
other is liberated in his place. At length he awakes, and
finding his companions gone and himself left behind, he
makes a piteous outcry with his mouth full of sand, the
sound of which is imitated with infinite humour. He,
however, gets out also, and proceeding along the streets,
he perceives a man stretched at his ease, so he stretches
himself beside him, takes out his chibouque, and begins to
smoke; wishing, however, to enter into conversation with
his companion, he asks him some questions, and receiving
no answer, he attempts to rouse him. He perceives, for the
first time, that he has no head, and, in looking for it, sees
it stuck in between his legs. He takes it, and endeavours
to set it on its place. At this moment the sultan passes by,
and the other is so engaged in fitting the man's head to the
shoulders, that he does not perceive, or takes no notice of
him. The sovereign, enraged at this disrespect, imme-
diately orders the delinquent to be beheaded and cast
beside the dead man; just as the sentence is about to be
executed, the chouashes discover who he is, so he again
escapes.
He now meets with a deryish who is remarkable for an
enormous cowl stuck on one side of his head, and they
embark in a caique for a village on the Bosphorus. On
leaving the caique he gives the caiquegee a piastre, and
demands twenty paras in change; he has no change, and
cannot procure it, but will not return the piastre; and here
a discussion ensues between him, the caiquegee, and the
dervish, in which their various peculiarities are happily imi-
tated and well kept up. He now lands, and determines
not to have any more to do with caiquegees; he hires a
horse which is very refractory, and his awkwardness and
embarrassment exactly resemble those of the tailor of
R 2
244
NARRATIVE OF A
She soon
Brentford. He leaves his unmanageable horse, of whom he
can make nothing, and then proceeds to a coffee-house to
refresh himself after his fatigues, and then to a bath ; after
which he takes a pill of opium to make kef, which affects
him in a very laughable manner. At length he determines
to settle himself and marry; so he employs a black slave,
one of those who have great influence in Turkish houses
on such occasions, to look out for a wife for him.
finds one; but the parents of the girl wish her to marry an
Arnaut soldier; the dexterous management of the slave,
however, procures her for her employer. After some time
he complains that his wife has the dropsy, and brings her
out into the street that the neighbours may see her. The
women all come forward and examine her, and give their
different opinions ; but one of them finds a child moving,
and communicates the discovery to the rest. It is at length
decided that she is in the family way; so he brings her
home quite satisfied, and the story ends. It had continued
from nine o'clock till midnight, sustained with unabated
humour on the side of the narrator, and listened to with
untiring interest on the side of the audience. Every suc-
cessive evening, new adventures and new characters were
introduced.
The intervals between the parts of the story were some-
times filled up by singing, like music between the acts in
our theatres. Three musicians sat with guitars on the
divan within, and accompanied songs which were sung
either by themselves or others. One of them I thought
particularly pleasing. I send it you arranged in the divi-
sions in which the lines were sung. *
The Turks, who had shown some sensibility to the in-
fluence of the press in political matters, now displayed it
* See Appendix, No. V.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
245
in religious matters also in a remarkable manner. In the
year 1666 two translations of the Bible into Turkish had
been effected: one by Seaman into Tartaro-Turkish,
printed afterwards at Oxford; the other by Ali Bey, a
Mahomedan. He had been a Pole, who was stolen while
a child by the Tartars, and sold to the Turks, among whom
he rose to the rank of dragoman to the Porte. He was
acquainted with seventeen different languages, and was par-
ticularly attached to the English, in which he had made the
greatest progress. At the instigation of Lewin Warner, the
Dutch ambassador, he undertook to translate the whole
Bible into Turkish, which he completed; and when ready
for the press, it was sent by Warner to Leyden for the pur-
pose of having it printed. This, however, was not effected,
and the manuscript remained in the library of the college
till the year 1814, when, by the direction of the British and
Foreign Bible Society, it was searched for and found by
Mr. Pinkerton, who obtained a loan of it from the curators
of the library, for the purpose of having it revised, copied,
and edited; and in the year 1818 it was completed and
printed.
In consequence, however, of some inaccuracy of the trans-
lation which was overlooked in the revision, a few only of
the copies were issued, and the circulation of the rest sus-
pended; but in the meantime some of them had made their
way to Constantinople. They were intended, not for the
Turks, but for the Greeks resident in Asia Minor, who from
disuse had forgotten their own language, and adopted that
of their masters. The few sent out were well received, and
no objection made by the Turks to the distribution of that
which they thought not worth their notice.
In June, 1824, some of them were in possession of a
Greek merchant, who had them for sale. He became a
246
NARRATIVE OF A
bankrupt, and his goods were sold to pay his debts, and
these books among the rest. The sale took place at the
custom-house; and the gombrookgee, or head of the de-
partment, seeing some books in his own language about to
be disposed of, purchased the whole lot, kept one for him-
self, and distributed the rest among his friends. The books
thus made their way though several families, began to be
read and talked of, and at length they attracted the atten-
tion of the imauns in their domestic visits. A report of the
fact was made to the mufti, and a sudden alarm was imme-
diately communicated at this progress of the Christian
Bible. An order was immediately issued at the custom-
house, that no more should be imported or distributed, and
in conformity with a hatta sheriff of the sultan, a firman
was published and read in the mosques and public places,
denouncing the book, cautioning all good Musulmen against
reading it, prohibiting the sale of it in any of the book
bazaars, and ordering the authorities “to snatch them from
the hands of all with whom they shall be found, cast them
into the flames, and reduce them to ashes."* Copies of
this firman were dispatched to all the Turkish provinces,
and the noble kadis of Constantinople, Scutari and Eyub
were ordered to see them executed.
Notwithstanding these proceedings I was informed that
few of the copies in circulation were given up or destroyed.
A glimmering of light was breaking in on the people, and
the new-born sensation began to please them. The very
importance given to the book excited their interest, and
made those who had got it reluctant to part with it. The
Turks, who profess to tolerate, as in fact they do, every reli-
gious opinion, wished to make it appear that the objection
was to the temporal tendency of the book only. The
* See Appendix, No. VI.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
247
Greeks, as I mentioned to you before, among the islands had
begun to apply the 15th and 17th chapters of the Reve-
lations to their situation and circumstances, and the Turks
found themselves denounced in their own language as the
beast over whom their enemies were to be victorious.
But à circumstance now occurred which raised the spirits
of the Turks. An account arrived at Constantinople in July,
announcing the capture of Ipsara. This little rock, which
we had seen the year before in the glory of its independence,
formed so distinguished a feature in the Greek revolution,
that perhaps you may wish for some account of it. It is
mentioned in the Odyssey*, and then by Strabo, and others,
as lying near Chios, and distant about six miles. It is
scarcely noticed by modern writers. Sonnini calls it a
small rocky island, possessing neither the means of com-
merce nor agriculture; yet this was the spot that at one
time set at defiance the whole naval power of the Turkish
empire.
When the Greeks began to recover by their industry and
activity from the calamities which the Russians had formerly
entailed on them, the greater part of the trade of Anatolia
and Roumelia fell into the hands of the islanders, and
covered the barren and desolate rock of Ipsara with hardy
and enterprising sailors. To protect them against the pirates
which infested the Cyclades, they purchased permission
from the Porte to arm their vessels with cannon, and thus
give themselves that protection which the government they
lived under could not afford. When the insurrection began,
Ipsara contained a population of 4000 persons, with a town
Η καθυπέρθε Χιοιο νεόιμεθα πάιπαλοεσσής
Νήσου επι Ψύριης. Οd. γ. 171.
By the Scholiast on the passage, it is called Νησιδιών λυπρόν άπεχον σταδίους
T'Toll Xlo. See Strabo, lib. xiv.
248
NARRATIVE OF A
having 700 houses. It was among the first places that
declared for independence-immediately sent ten armed
ships to join the common fleet, and commenced operations
by one of the first captures that had been made against the
Turks. They took a vessel filled with pilgrims and soldiers;
the latter they killed, but they spared the former to sell
them as slaves to their countrymen in the Morea; and their
emissaries were the most numerous and active agents to
rouse the other islands in the common cause.
As this little rock was a sharp thorn in the side of the
Turks, they determined to destroy it, so the Capitan Pasha
collected all his fleet at Metelyn, which seemed so numerous
as to stretch across the Archipelago, as if they had bridged
the sea from the point of assembling to the devoted island.
In this state of things news arrived at Constantinople that
the island was taken and destroyed; but as the particulars
were not given, and for a week no further details arrived,
the sanguine Greeks affirmed that the Turks were repulsed
with vast loss, and the security of the place confirmed.
While in this suspense we were visited one night at the con-
vent at Chalki by a Greek merchant of the island, who de-
tailed to us the following particulars :-
On the 1st of July, 1824, the Turkish fleet appeared
before the island, accompanied by a French schooner, who
bore a flag of truce. She had on board some Greek priests,
who brought with them proposals for an amnesty of the fullest
kind for the past. The insurgents replied that the Capitan
Pasha might lose his head for his lenity, and then they
would be entirely at the mercy of his despotic master. The
pasha then sent them the sultan's hatta sheriff, with his
sign manual. They finally declared they were now convinced
of his weakness; then tearing the paper, they scattered the
fragments in the air, some of which the breeze bore on board
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE,
249
the pasha's ship as their answer. They gave him, however,
to understand that, as his offer was humane, they would not
destroy him and his ships, provided they would surrender.
The Ipsariotes had never thought of fortifying their island
when they first joined the confederacy, nor was it till after
their first cruise that they put it into a state of defence.
They then erected four batteries on different points. These
were mounted with the cannon taken from their ships, and
manned by their crews; but the chief force on which they
relied was 3,000 Albanians, who defended their principal
battery. Before the pasha had sailed from Metelyn, he had
opened a communication with these men by means of a spy,
and he prepared them to surrender the fortress they guarded
as soon as it was attacked. The Turks, after reconnoitring
the island, and having made some slight attempts on dif-
ferent parts, lay the first night close to the shore; but by
a precaution which they had never adopted before, they
suspended lanterns to their masts and yard-arms, so that
the island was surrounded by an inmense fleet of illumi-
náted ships. The Greeks directed several shots at these
lights, but without any effect. The next morning, before it
was well day, the Turks prepared to land, and their
first movement was directed against the battery manned by
the Albanians. A detachment of 4000 men, in climbing
the rocks, was completely exposed to their fire, but they
never attempted to molest them. They proposed, as had
been agreed on, to capitulate, but the Turks rushed sud-
denly in among them, put them all to the sword, and paid
them in this way the reward of their treachery.
When the rumour of this was spread through the island,
terror seized on all the people of the town. They rushed
down to the harbour, and with the women and children
filled the dismantled vessels they found lying there. As
250
NARRATIVE OF A
the Turkish fleet was engaged elsewhere, this point was left
unguarded; so the crowded ships were immediately hauled
out into the open sea, and there they found that the rudders
had all been taken from them, so as to remove any hope of
escape or safety except in the defence of the island. Thirty-
one ships in this state, crowded with people, were at the
mercy of the elements, wherever the winds and waves should
drive them. The great majority drifted to the coast of the
Morea, and the people on board were saved. One however
fell in with a Turkish ship, but rather than surrender even
in that hopeless state, they blew their ship into the air.
Mean time the armed Greeks still made a vigorous stand
at the other batteries. At that of St. Nicholai, their prin-
cipal dependence, the wind blew directly on the shore,
and carried all the smoke of the Turkish guns as well as
of their own into the faces of the garrison, who were
obliged to fire at random, directed only by the sound of their
adversaries' guns. Still they kept their ground, till the
fortress crumbled away from under them, and they retired
to their last refuge to make their last stand, in the hope
that the succour they were promised and expecting from
their countrymen would arrive. Here they held out for
some time, and it was in this interval that there was no
confirmation of the news that the island had fallen, but
the Greeks of Constantinople were sanguine that the Turks
had been repulsed. This last hold the Turks now attacked
by sea and land with all their forces; and the defenders,
finding it crumbling away from under their feet, and know-
ing they had no other retreat, prepared for the last sacrifice.
They made a show as if all resistance had been silenced,
and the Turks rushed in to avail themselves of it. When
the fortress was crowded to excess with both combatants, a
white flag, with the words “ Liberty or Death!” was dis-
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
251.
I
played on the ramparts above, and a match, previously
prepared, was applied to a large magazine of powder in
the caverns of the fortress below. The whole was instantly
blown into the air; and, when the explosion subsided,
nothing was seen but fragments of rock and mangled bodies.
On this occasion 7,000 persons perished, comprising nearly
an equal number of Turks and Greeks.
As this little spot was of vast importance to the insurgents,
the eyes of all men had been directed to it; and from the
suddenness and apparent facility of its fall, it was said the
defence was feeble, and altogether unworthy of the cause.
But without adverting to the tremendous means of attack and
the feeble means of defence, it is to be considered that, of
the four fortresses hastily erected, one fell by treachery, two
were crumbled into ruins, and the fourth was blown up in
the air ;-that of the Turks 10,000 men were destroyed,
and of the Greeks the whole male population, with the
exception of some of the primates, who escaped ;---and that
the island, when taken possession of, presented no other
object than that of a barren rock covered over with
mangled bodies.
As soon as the dismantled ships were drifted across the
Archipelago, and the news of the attack was thus conveyed,
the confederate fleets prepared, but too late, to do their
duty. Among the other injuries which loans and reliance
on foreigners had done to the cause of the Greeks, is to be
included the loss of this island. The government were in
daily expectation of receiving promised remittances, and the
individuals who had been at the expense of fitting out the
ships detained them till in this way they should be re-
imbursed their expenses. But the young men of Hydra
and Spezzia, indignant at the sordid motives of delay, now
hastened on board themselves. Eight thousand of them
252
NARRATIVE OF A
assembled in the different churches, and simultaneously
received the sacrament, under a vow to retake Ipsara or
never to return. They hoped to arrive in time to assist the
islanders, but they arrived too late ;—the island had fallen,
and their friends were dead! The Capitan Pasha had just
sailed for Metelyn to refit, leaving 2000 Turks behind him
to repair the dismantled fortresses. The Greeks suddenly
landed, soon overpowered the Turks in their unprepared
state, and, putting the garrison to the sword, retook
pos-
session of the place, with several Turkish ships in the
harbour filled with plunder. As the rock was now al-
together untenable, they embarked all the cannon and
other effects worth taking away, but not one countryman
was alive to embark with them. The Capitan Pasha, having
had information of this by a small ship that escaped, hastily
returned, but the Greeks had departed before his arrival;
so he again withdrew to his station, finally abandoning this
memorable spot, which, the week before, swarmed with
people, but was now more desolate than Scio, without a single
being that had life on its surface.
Though I had already seen a display of ears and noses,
I had no wish to contemplate such a sight again, yet I felt
an irrepressible curiosity to witness the other trophies of
the gallant little island which accompanied them; so I
took Ismael, one of the palace janissaries, with a servant,
and proceeded across to the Seraglio. The mutilated faces
were lying in heaps as before, but in a state of putridity
highly offensive, particularly so as the day was very warm ;
and a circle of dogs, attracted perhaps by the odour,
remained crouched in a large circle round them, waiting
for an opportunity to begin the repast. The Turks who
passed in and out of the Seraglio did not show the smallest
sensibility either of exultation or disgust;--they seemed
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
253
neither to have sight nor smell, but passed through them
as if they were ordinary objects in the street. Behind the
heaps was placed, on the wall, a yafta, detailing the fall
of Ipsara, which several Turks were reading, and beneath
them were some painted figures of Christ and the Panaya,
which, either by accident or design, were lying on the
ground, so that all who came to read the yafta must trample
upon them.
a
The standards were displayed along the wall to
considerable extent. They consisted of banners of different
forms and sizes. Some few were not much injured, but
the greater number were torn to ribands and stained with
smoke and blood, as if they had been dragged from some
deadly struggle. Many of them were similar to those I
had already seen among the prizes of Galaxidi, —white
cloth, with devices worked on them, having an inverted
crescent surmounted by a cross, with the inscription of the
Spartan mother. Some had axes and Turks' heads,-a few
were painted, representing various passages in the life of
Christ, and one contained a large figure of his resurrection,
holding in his hand a banner, with the word ANACTACIC
in large letters. But the standard which most attracted
my attention, and which in fact I came over to see, was that
which had been raised over the fortress as a signal for the
explosion. This was pointed out to me by Ishmael : it was of
immense size, made of white cotton bordered with red. It
had on it a crescent, a cross, and an anchor with a serpent
issuing from the eye of it and gaping for a bird that was
flying into its mouth; across it were the letters HAAHOT.
The emblems were afterwards explained to me by a learned
Greek to imply, the Greeks enticing the Turks into the for-
tress, and the inscription Elevbepix si qvatos,' 'liberty or
death.' This flag, though greatly scorched and torn, was
254
NARRATIVE OF A
quite new, and looked as if it had just been made. It was
impossible to contemplate it, still waving over the mutilated
remains of those who unfurled it, without recalling to mind
that desperate devotion which in all ages has distinguished
the Greeks,
The Turks, inspired with new energy by the destruction of
this formidable little island, determined to follow up their
advantage by attacking in detail all the others. Their next
object was Samos. This was a particular mark for Turkish
vengeance, not only from the early, decided, and successful
part it had taken in the revolution, but from the annoyance
it continually gave them. It had furnished no part of the
Grecian fleet; but from its contiguity to the coast of Asia,
divided only by a narrow strait, predatory parties were
continually passing over, plundering the Turks, liberating
their own countrymen, and carrying off their masters as
slaves, with all their cattle and other property. They were
besides the most active emissaries in instigating others to
revolt, and were generally too successful. The Turkish
admiral was ordered therefore immediately to proceed to
Samos to join the Egyptian fleet, which was expected
there to meet and co-operate with him. Negib Effendi
had been sent to Mehemet Ali Pasha to hasten the de-
parture of this fleet, and had just returned to Constan-
tinople with an account that he had sailed in it from Alex-
andria with 20,000 troops, of whom 4,000 were cavalry.
When this news was expanded over the capital, an im-
mediate excitement took place among the populace. They
looked forward to a repetition of the scenes of Scio, and
every fellow who could command a pistol and a yatagan
pressed to join the expedition. Crowds therefore crossed
over to Scutari to proceed along the coast, and others
embarked in scampa vias to proceed thither by water. A
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
255
multitude of fellows of the same description swarmed to the
coast from all parts of Asia, and this united mass collected
about Scala Nova, and finally covered Mount Mycale to
the amount of 50,000 men, on the same spot and at the
same time of the year as the Persians had assembled 2300
years before to witness the destruction of the Grecian fleet.
Hither the Turks proceeded from Metelyn, followed by
the Greeks, who were determined that no supineness on
their part should again afford the enemy any advantage.
It is highly probable that, had the Capitan Pasha sailed
directly from Ipsara to Samos and availed himself of the
sudden terror excited by the destruction of the former,
and before the Grecian fleet could have arrived, that it
would have fallen an easy conquest; but instead of this,
he said he had done enough for one time, and with
true Turkish indolence returned to Metelyn to repose and
repair his energies for another effort. When he did arrive,
everything was prepared to meet him. The Samiotes had
removed their property and provisions with their wives and
children to the mountains in the interior of the island, while
they stood armed on the coast ready to encounter any Turks
who should land.
The Capitan Pasha's first care was to transport the
troops assembled on Mount Mycale across to the island.
For this purpose his transports and small craft were
stretched over the narrow part of the Boghaz, nearly form-
ing a bridge from the island to the opposite coast, on which
the assembled multitude began to move across.
The
Greeks had divided their fleet: Miaulis with a part of it
had proceeded to meet the Egyptians, and anticipate their
junction with the Turks, while Sactoori, who was left be-
hind, immediately bore down upon the chain of transports.
These were soon sunk or dispersed, while the Turkish fleet
256
NARRATIVE OF A
.
looked on, lying in the broad part of the channel, and afraid
to venture into the narrow strait. After various attempts
of this kind to carry the multitude across, which were
frustrated in the same manner by the Greeks, the Capitan
Pasha determined himself to attack their fleet. His
ponderous and unwieldy ships were soon out-mancuvred
by his more light and active enemy. They were driven
out to sea; and after various encounters, in which a
Turkish frigate and two African ships-of-war were blown up
by the Grecian fire-ships, the alarmed Turks retired from
the island, and were pursued by their victorious enemies.
Meantime, the assembled multitude of marauders, having
witnessed the total ruin and dispersion of their only means
of getting across, began to retire; and the Samiotes,
who eyed them as they would an angry tempest ready
to burst upon their devoted heads, now saw them dis-
persing like a harmless cloud, till in a few days they all
disappeared.
It was with no small apprehension and anxiety the
Greeks of the Fanal watched the event of this expedition,
and waited the return of the fellows who had left the ca-
pital, expecting to see them coming back as before stained
with blood and loaded with slaves and plunder: their
pleasure was of course equal to their surprise when they
saw them return as they had set out. Some of them who
had just landed at Tophana were pointed out to me.
In-
stead of boat-loads of boys and women and valuables, in the
midst of which they had disembarked before, and in their
best clothes, they looked destitute, dirty, and disappointed.
Some of them were very sulky and surly, and indeed their
ill temper was communicated to all about them. In com-
pliance with the popular humour, the Sultan had at first
despatched orders to the Capitan Pasha to return and take
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
257
the island at the hazard of his life; he however joined the
Egyptians and proceeded to the Morea.
About this time the plague, which had appeared in vari-
ous ways, and alarmed us by distant rumours, now entered
our own precincts, and broke out within the walls of our
palace. You cannot appreciate such a thing unless you
were to witness the alarm it excites, and the terror with
which the boldest persons fly from it, and this I now had
an opportunity of knowing in my own person.
A young man, who had the care of Lord Strangford's
son, came to me one morning, and complained of violent
pain in his back. He said he had been helping the printers,
who had a press in the palace, to lift a large flag, on
which the types stand, and he supposed he had strained
his back. On examining him I found nothing to justify
such a thing ; but I sent him to bed, and said I would
excuse his attendance. When I visited him there he com-
plained of a disturbance in his head, and great debility and
sickness. I again examined the seat of pain, and found an
incipient tumour. The alarm of pestilence is so great, that
I was reluctant to communicate it till there was no doubt of
the disease, so I called on my friend Dr. Macguffog, and
we again visited the young man.
A decided bubo was
formed, so it was absolutely necessary to acquaint the am-
bassador. I had seen the terror and alarm the disease
excited abroad, but I had no definite idea of what it was
till I now saw it in a house. As soon as it was announced,
the whole of the establishment was in a state of commotion,
flying in different directions. Many people had been
in actual contact with the patient, and the impression of
the nature of contagion was, that no one who had touched
him could escape.
But the persons most compromised were
myself and Lord Strangford's son. I had more than once
VOL. 11.
S
258
NARRATIVE OF A
handled the very seat of his disease, and the child, who was
fond of the young man, had frequently taken his hand,
and affectionately soothed him when he saw he was sick. I
therefore was a doomed man; and as there is no respect of
persons, the child was proscribed along with me, so we pre-
pared to set out to keep quarantine at Belgrade, in the
mountains.
Meantime everything that we, and others who had touched
the infected, had touched ourselves, was excluded from the
Palace; the beds and furniture were dragged out with
tongs--a general crusade was commenced against the cats,
who were shot without mercy through the house and gar-
den, as supposed media through which contagion was
conveyed, and sundry other miserable expedients, suggested
by fear and folly, were resorted to. But the more import-
ant and rational one of removing the infected was not for-
gotten. There is a certain number of native physicians,
who have no apprehension of the disease, and visit without
scruple any pestiferous patient. They are generally Turks,
Jews, or Armenians, and are a kind of forlorn hope in so-
ciety sent on desperate expeditions. They carry about with
them a staff having a large black head, with a circle of
white ivory inserted in the centre, and when this is seen
every one in the street gets out of their way. One of these
plague-doctors was sent for, and I met the dismal mån with
his attendants entering, for the first time I believe, the pre-
cincts of the English Palace. I accompanied him to the
apartment of the patient. He fearlessly stripped off the
bed-clothes, passed his hands over every part of his body,
and having ascertained the existence of certain character-
istic symptoms, he pronounced it to be a case of decided
and dangerous pestilence. He now motioned his attend-
ants to approach. In the midst of the Christian terror that
1
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
259
surrounded them these infidels showed no alarm: they
lifted the young man like a child, dressed him, and took
him in their arms down stairs, and then one of them getting
into a vehicle like a sedan-chair along with him, he was
conveyed to an apartment in a lonely house at the outskirts
of the town.
When he was removed there was a general expulsion
from the Palace of all who were known to have touched
him, and they proceeded to different places to keep quaran-
tine. I with others went to Belgrade, to the house of Mr.
Black, a British merchant, who was so good as to offer it
for our accommodation. The generous man told me he had
no concern but about us, though our occupation of it might
eventually cause the abandonment of the house and the de-
struction of all its costly furniture. On my way I called at
Buyukderé on Baron Miltitz, the Prussian Ambassador,
a friendly man, and intimate with Lord Strangford; and
as it was not improbable that I might carry the infection
with me, I agreed with him to send my young charge to
him, in the event of my taking ill.
For two days we all continued well, and the alarm was be-
ginning to subside. Tartars were attending on horseback, ,
and bulletins of health were constantly dispatched back-
wards and forwards from Belgrade to Pera; but on the
third day I felt nausea and headache, with other febrile
symptoms, which I thought suspicious, so I despatched a
Tartar to Baron Miltitz to inform him of the fact. When
this transpired, the alarm, which before, though great, was
vague, was now brought home to the bosoms of all the
compromised party. One of us was supposed to have ac-
tually taken the complaint, and the rest hourly expected it.
Again they became fugitives from the dreadful disorder, and
attempted to fly from that which they apprehended they
s 2
260
NARRATIVE OF A
carried about them. My first anxiety was to send away my
dear young friend. Seeing me ill, he affectionately followed
me, and wished to take my hand, but I felt intense anxiety
at the thoughts of touching him, so I availed myself of the
flight of my companions to have him conducted to Buyuk-
deré. It will hardly be believed that the child was aban-
doned on the road to the care of a janissary, who brought
him at near midnight to the residence of the Prussian Am-
bassador.
I now found myself utterly alone, deserted by all the
world, in a solitary spot among woods and mountains. In
this state of dismal desolation I thought of those unfor-
tunate persons who, on the first appearance of certain
diseases in the time of darkness and ignorance, were shut
out in some lonely place, and left to perish or recover by
themselves. I had once felt what it was to suppose I was
doomed to die by an earthquake, and I now felt a no less
awful sensation of dying of the plague, and being found
dead by the next person who came near me. While these
thoughts crowded on my mind I felt a delirium and stupor
coming over me, and, after vain attempts to rouse myself
and bear up against it, I fell on the grass in a state of in-
sensibility.
I know not how long I continued in this condition, but
the first returning sensation was caused by the sound of
a horse's hoofs clattering along. I found it proceeded from
that of a janissary whom Lord Strangford had despatched
with all speed to look after me, when he heard I was aban-
doned and alone; had it not been for him I should have
remained all night where I lay, exposed to the inclemency
of the weather. He took me in his arms like a child,
brought me in, and laid me in bed. He was followed by a
Greek lad, who undertook to attend me. He had had the
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
261
plague already, which is thought a protection against its
return; but he had provided himself with a better. When
a bubo suppurates, there sometimes protrudes from it a
quantity of fungous flesh, to which the Greeks attach a sin-
gular virtue. They imagine whoever wears a portion of it
about his person, particularly if it be extracted from the
king pest, will never take the plague, and hence it is
carefully cut out, and the disgusting antidote is sold as a
precious charm.
I continued two or three days very un-
well with the febrile symptoms generally attendant on the
first stages of pestilential disease, but they gradually sub-
sided without any of the characteristic symptoms of the
disorder supervening, except a slight swelling of the axillary
gland, which, however, soon dispersed. Before I left home
I had been much exposed to the infection of typhus fever
for two or three years, both in hospitals and the cabins of
poor. On leaving infected places I have had frequently
such attacks, which medical friends said were the attempts of
contagion to establish itself in a constitution not susceptible
of it. Whether such a thing be possible I presume not to
say, but it occurred to me that this was a fact of a similar
kind.
With respect to the young man, the fons et origo mali,
he was carefully attended by the Oriental doctor and his
assistants. The practice of the native hakims is to exclude
all medicine, to poultice the bubo with fish, and allow fish
as the only diet to the patient, giving different kinds in suc-
cession in a sort of graduated scale. The young man re-
covered from a very violent and dangerous attack, to which
he himself thinks a strong dose of salts contributed, and
which he procured unknown to his doctor, who pronounced
such a thing to be inevitably fatal. What seemed remark-
able in this case was, the countenance it gave to the non-
the poor.
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NARRATIVE OF A
contagionists. The Palace was in strict quarantine at the
time, and no servant allowed out. I interrogated him as
well as others strictly, and he assured me he had not been
beyond the gate, or in any place where it was possible he
could take the disease by contagion. Yet he did take it ;
while a number of persons who had been in personal con-
tact with himself escaped, and among the rest his doctor,
who every day scooped out the pestilential suppuration of
the bubo with his naked finger.
The time had now arrived when the Ambassador was to
return to England, having fulfilled a very arduous and diffi-
cult task with great tact and dexterity. We had been living
for nearly four years in the constant expectation of the arrival
of the Russians. The hostile armies stood looking at each
other on the opposite sides of the Danube; and such were
the causes of mutual complaint, exasperated by hatred on
one side, and ambition on the other, that it was supposed
to be altogether a hopeless attempt to keep the peace be-
tween them. European Ambassadors had come and gone
without being able to effect anything. Mons. Latour
Maubourg had arrived from France. He was a remarkably
fine and comely man, and he proceeded to his audience
with a most brilliant cortege. It did not seem probable
that, with all this imposing apparatus, he could prevent, hosti-
lities, so he retired. Others had appeared and disappeared
on the theatre of negociation in a similar manner, and the
whole weight and onus was finally thrown on the British
Ambassador. By one simple and straightforward line
of conduct he obtained considerable influence at the Porte.
The Turks said “ He never deceived them,” even by the
slightest misrepresentation, so he gained over them an ascen-
dency which all his European colleagues equally assented
and submitted to. He persuaded both parties to make con-
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
263
cessions which they were very unwilling to grant; if he could
not succeed at one time, he renewed his application at an-
other more favourable, and by always availing himself of the
mollia tempora fandi, he gradually removed the grounds of
hostility. He finally induced the Turks to withdraw their
forces from the provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia, and
the Russians to send an envoy. M. Menziaki had arrived,
and an ambassador was expected immediately to follow;
and having thus re-established the relations of peace and
amity between the hostile and angry powers, and so pre-
served the repose of Europe, he himself prepared to return
and enjoy a similar repose. I had no conception of the cares
and anxieties of diplomacy till I witnessed them in his person.
He seemed to enjoy no respite, no cessation of toil. His
health was seriously affected, and he laboured under a con-
siderable indisposition in his chest. His sleeping apartment
was next to mine: the last sound I heard at midnight, and
the first at grey dawn, was his short and distressing cough,
and I frequently found he had been all night, as well as all
day, anxiously engaged in business. Lady Strangford had
already departed, and on the 8th of October, 1834, his
Lordship embarked for Trieste, and proceeded from thence
through Vienna to England. I had written for leave of
absence before : it arrived shortly after his departure, and
I set out in the following month to make way by land across
the Balcan mountains.
264
NARRATIVE OF A
CHAPTER X.
Return to Constantinople—Political Changes-Russian War--Extinction of
Janissaries-- Of Levant Company—Turkish Reforms-m-Expulsion of Dogs
-Toleration of Pigs—Use of Wine — Military Parades-Newspapers —
Sultan's Clemency — Emancipation of Slaves — Liberality to Sciotes,
Indulgence to Greeks.
AFTER an interval of six years, during which I had visited
Russia, Brazil, and other parts of the world on professional
duties, I again returned to Constantinople, and resumed
my station as chaplain to the British Embassy. Three im-
portant events had taken place in the interval. The Rus-
sians, who had been hitherto restrained and deprived of all
pretext for advancing to effect what seemed the great object
of their ambitious policy, by the dexterous negociation of
the British Minister, had availed themselves of events to
declare open hostility, crossed the supposed impassable bar-
rier of the Balcan Mountains, and advanced to the second
city of the empire; but when all the world expected they
would now realize the plan which for centuries seemed
their leading object, they suddenly retraced their steps,
and by a moderation or a policy as unexpected as it is
inexplicable, declined to take possession of the capital
when it was within their grasp; and why Diebitsch did not
advance from Adrianople to Constantinople, I found on
my arrival as much a vexata quæstio as why Hannibal did
not advance to Rome from Cannæ.
The next event was the destruction of the Janissaries,
which changed the whole face and system of Turkish pre-
judice and policy. As long as this truculent body existed
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
265
their influence was paramount in the country. Their prin-
ciple was, that the laws of the Turks were like those of the
Medes and Persians, never to be changed. They had put
to death with unsparing ferocity every man who attempted
at any time to innovate on their barbarous usages, and at
length they themselves fell victims in defending them. In-
deed it was a doubt whether the Turkish state under their
control ought to be suffered to exist, at least among the
civilized people of Europe. A nation so ignorant, so brutal,
so hopeless of improvement as they continued to be, amid
the amelioration of human condition that was every day
taking place around them, seemed a blot upon the fair face
of nature, and an impediment to the designs of a good Provi-
dence that ought to be removed. Happily it was removed
by the extirpation of these men, and a correspondent im-
provement of the people immediately followed. The details
of this important event you are already acquainted with;
I will only add that no accounts you have heard or read
could have been an exaggeration of the reality. I have
made diligent inquiry into the circumstances from those
who were eye-witnesses of the events, and had opportunities
of knowing the results, and their testimony goes to establish
- the fact that twenty thousand janissaries or their adherents
were exterminated during the bloody struggle, and with
circumstances truly oriental. A Greek informed me that
he had got entangled with a party, and was driven with
them into an area, where they were disarmed and confined
as prisoners. Next day an armed body entered and mas-
sacred every man in cold blood, and he only was left alive
after he had been wounded, by making himself known to
the commander of the party, with whom he had some con-
nexion; and Mr. Wood, our dragoman, assured me that,
on going over to the Porte on some official duty, he had to
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NARRATIVE OF A
pass through two ranges of bleeding bodies, extending the
whole length of a street. They had been brought there
just before and decapitated where they stood. What think
you
of streets lined with headless men, to do honour to the
Sultan as he passed ? With respect to the persons con-
cerned in it, their names and character I believe have not
reached you. As I knew some of them personally, I send
you sketches of them, that you may appreciate at their just
value men who have contributed probably to effect a total
revolution in the supposed unchangeable state of Oriental
feelings and usages *
The last event was the extinction of the Levant Com-
pany, who had hitherto held such a distinguished rank
among the merchants of the world. Till the reign of Eli-
zabeth the English were supplied with the produce of the
East through the medium of the Venetians, then at the
height of their commercial prosperity. They sent an annual
vessel, called Argosie, so named from Ragusa, the port in
the Gulf of Venice from whence they were first dispatched,
to Southampton, in Hampshire, the appointed depôt for
Oriental merchandise. One of them was lost on the Good-
win Sands, with all her crew and cargo, and the Venetians
were deterred from sending another. This event was re-
cent and of much importance to the English in the time of
Shakspeare, and he has alluded to it in one of his plays t.
From that time the English themselves established a com-
mercial intercourse with the East, and Elizabeth formed a
treaty with the Grand Turk. Her letter on the subject is
given in Hakluyt. It is written in Latin, which she seems to
have « brushed up" for the occasion. The more to ingratiate
herself with the Mahomedan, she alludes to the Reformation
* See Appendix, No. VII.
+ Merchant of Venice, Act ii. Scene 1.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
· 267
in England, and professes herself the invincible and most
powerful opponent of idolatry *. The first English Am-
bassador was Mr. Harebone, and the first treaty was a
leave to trade for five years. On this occasion certain capi-
tulations, as they are called, were entered into, which now
form the basis of our intercourse with the Turksf. The
Levant Company, formed on this commencement, became
the most valuable body of merchants perhaps in the world.
They consisted at one time of eight hundred members.
They had a fleet of twenty-four large vessels, carrying thirty
guns each, trading in the different ports of the Turkish
dominions. They appointed and paid the ambassador,
secretaries, chaplains, physicians, and consuls, not only in
the capital, but in the principal ports of the Turkish em-
pire in Asia and Africa, with dragomans, janissaries, and
all the exterior appendages of such establishments, amount-
ing to 15,000l. per annum.
But the march of mind was
against their existence. The inutility and worse than useless
effects of trading companies was a subject that had long
exercised the pens of intelligent men. So early as the year
1669, Sir Josiah Child had exposed their injurious ten-
dency, and his opinions were adopted and followed up by
others. In 1803 an important change took place in the
Levant Company. Government assumed to themselves the
appointment and payment of the ambassador, and his Ma-
jesty's representative was no longer the creature of a trading
company. In 1821 a further change took place.
became the great theatre of political contest, and the whole
establishment of consuls 'and dragomans was taken from
Turkey
* Fidei Christianæ contra omnes omnium inter Christianos degentium et
Christi nomen falso profitentium idolatrias invectissima et potentissima de-
fensatrix.—Hackluyt, vol. ii. p. 157.
+ See Appendix, No. VIII.
268
NARRATIVE OF A
them, and placed in the appointment and control of Goverul-
ment alone. It was finally determined to abolish the ex-
clusive monopolies of the Company altogether; and cur-
tailed as they were of their most important privileges and
patronage, little was left them to regret. On the 11th of
February, 1825, a special general court was held to take
into consideration a letter of Mr. Canning on the subject,
and the society quietly dissolved itself by surrendering its
charter, having existed as a body for two hundred and forty-
four years. On the year of their dissolution they had ex-
ported produce from England to the amount of nearly seven-
teen millions, and had imported silks, opium, and other
Oriental produce to the amount of twenty thousand tons,
and they generously handed over to Government the sum
of 70,0001., a balance remaining in their hands. Lord
Elgin was, I believe, the last Ambassador they had ap-
pointed, and I was the last chaplain. Their officers not
only supported the proper character of their stations, but
many
of them contributed eminently to promote the cause
of humanity, literature, and the fine arts. As a body they
were generous and indulgent, and as individuals kind and
friendly to all appointed under them. I am glad of an
opportunity of adding my testimony of the worth of de-
parted friends-το γάρ έστι γέρας θανοντών.
My second appointment was by his Majesty's Govern-
ment, and I brought with me some of my family. Sir
Robert Gordon was our Ambassador, and he was so good
as to appoint us as a residence an excellent house, which
communicated with the palace garden. Here I sat down
to write the changes that had taken place in consequence of
the revolution that had occurred since my former visit.
The first thing that struck me, on landing at Tophana,
was the absence of those packs of dogs which used to forage
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
269
in the heaps of offal in that neighbourhood and the ad-
joining streets. I learned that the expulsion of those hate-
ful animals was one of the Sultan's first reformations. Che-
rished by the ill-directed humanity of the Turks, they had
increased to such a degree as to become a perfect nuisance.
During the dismal period of the insurrection, they were the
horrid consummators of Turkish law, by lacerating the
bodies of its victims, when the executioner had done. They
had acquired such a taste for human blood, that they be-
came highly dangerous. They were the great engines of
annoyance when a Mussulmani used to attack a Giaour,
whom they hunted sometimes as they would a hare. Re-
presentations had been made by the Franks of this griev-
ance; but it was one of those prepossessions endeared to a
Turk by usage and sanctioned by prescription, in which the
Sultan himself dared not interfere. When he had removed,
however, the great barrier to improvement, the janissaries,
he commenced his reformation by a fearless attack on this
sacred nuisance. They sell at the bacculs' shops a kind of
sausage, of which the dogs are immoderately fond. А.
quantity of this was poisoned, and certain places appointed
in every district where it was thrown to them. The effects
were immediate and extensive; and a friend informed me
he saw them every day dying and dead in the streets, till
their bodies were cast into the water. The Turks, how-
ever, had not all conquered their prejudices on the subject,
though the Sultan had; so they began to murmur at this
cruel destruction of their favourites, and as they were the
great scavengers in a city where there are no sewers, they
were really of some value. The Sultan, therefore, directed
that all that were left alive after the first execution, parti-
cularly those that had whelps, should be spared, and, with
their families, sent across the Bosphorus to Scutari, where
270
NARRATIVE OF A
the remnant of the race was preserved, and a certain quan-
tity of bread was daily exported for their support. Meet-
ing a dog, therefore, in the old haunts which they so much
infested was a rare occurrence, and a Frank might walk
from Tophana to Pera without the apprehension of leaving
the calf of his leg behind him.
But when the dogs had disappeared, by a metamorphosis
altogether incredible in Turkey, pigs had begun to supply
their place. The use of swine's flesh as food is as strictly
prohibited to Turks as to Jews, and the precept against it
constantly occurs in the Koran. It was not, however, so
much a law framed by Mahomet, as one adopted from the
country where he was born. In Arabia it is difficult to
breed or feed pigs, and therefore the people were not in the
habit of eating them; and as the Prophet generally adapted
his precepts to the usages and feelings of the people, he did
so in this instance. As a reason was necessary to justify
the precept, one was found, and sufficiently satisfactory.
Their sacred book, called Taalim, declared that the pig was
originally engendered from the excrement of the elephant,
and it was in evidence of the fact that they delight in ordure
of every kind, and repose in filth and mud. From this
exposition of the Taalim it was that the abhorrence of a
Mussulman to pork was even greater than that of a Jew.
An injunction amounting to a capital punishment existed
against exposing that meat for sale.
The woods in the neighbourhood of the Black Sea abound
with wild boars, and one of the glens is called Domosderé,
or the Boars' Valley, from the multitude found there. One
cause why they multiplied was, that no Raya was per-
mitted to kill them for food; and to such a nuisance did
they grow in the neighbourhood of Trebisond from the
same cause, that a crusade was proclaimed against them.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
271
The whole population of the district turned out, and five
hundred were killed in one morning, and their bodies
thrown into the sea.
By a very old prescription, the Christian Rayas were al-
lowed to import in the spring of the year five hundred pigs
from the Black Sea for their use; but for each of them they
must have a particular teskerai, and a severe penalty was
exacted from the man who was found to have a pig more than
his permitted number. When in the city and suburbs they
were carefully shut up from sight; and the Turkish per-
mission about pork was, like that in some Christian countries
conceded by one sect to another, of having places of public
worship, stipulating that the abominations should not be
seen, and so not give public scandal.
The flesh of wild pigs which feed on the beech-mast and
acorns of the woods near the Black Sea is highly delicious,
and greatly prized by the Franks; but so jealous were the
Turks in indulging them in this prohibited luxury, that
.
though the capitulations exempt them from excise on animal
• food, it was necessary, I was informed, for the different mis-
sions to have particular firmans to permit them to purchase
swines' flesh, or the peasantry to sell it.
During the whole of my former sojourn in Turkey I
never saw a pig, and on my journey back I was particularly
struck with their appearance in the Bulgarian village of
Fakih as an unusual sight, to which I had been long un-
accustomed, and a proof that I had passed the confines of a
Mahomedan, and entered those of a Christian people. A
few days after my last arrival in Turkey I visited Therapia,
and the first sound I heard on landing at the ferry was the
grunting of a pig. On my way up the town I met several
in the lanes foraging about, and on the high grounds above
the town was a whole herd of them, close beside a flock of
272
NARRATIVE OF A
sheep. I further found that their flesh was publicly
sold along with the mutton in the butchers' shops, and our
cook purchased it freely whenever we wished for it. The
Turks, having conquered their first repugnance to the sight
of the unclean animal, soon began to relax in their taste.
When it was exposed for sale, many purchased it for food,
without affecting to know or mark the difference between
it and mutton, and in this the upper classes set the example.
At an entertainment given at the French palace, several
Turks of rank were present, and a friend of mine saw two
of them very busy regaling themselves with some ham.
Supposing they did not know in that disguised form the
animal to which it belonged, he made it a scruple of con-
science to tell them that they were eating the flesh of an
unclean animal. They only replied, with great good
humour, that it was a pity such good food should ever be
thought unclean or prohibited, and they went on eating till
they were satisfied. You may think this a trifle scarcely
worth noticing among the revolutionary events of Turkey :
but if you consider it as casting down one great barrier
which prejudice, and that prejudice a religious one, had set
up to prevent the Mahomedan from amalgamating with the
Christian people of Europe, it is of much importance. If
the Jews could be induced to say of pork : “What God
hath purified call not thou common or unclean," it would
be considered, I imagine, no unimportant step to their
conversion.
But the most marked change observed in their domestic
usages was their beginning to drink wine. The prohibition
against its use was not like that against swine's flesh, a
precept accommodated to the usages of the people, but
some have considered Mahomet as departing from his usual
sagacity in interdicting to his followers a liquor so exceed-
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
273
ingly fascinating, and which in his day was accounted a
specific remedy for many diseases. But it is again to be
remarked that his precepts were given to the Arabians, a
people of a quick and ardent temperament, on which the
stimulus of wine would produce the most violent and unma-
nageable effects; that they require no such constitutionally,
and that, in prohibiting the use of wine, he permitted that
of women, compensating his restriction by a more than
equivalent indulgence. Many reasons are assigned by the
Turks for this prohibition. Busbequius mentions one given
to him. Mahomet was travelling, and entered a house
where wine was drunk, and when he saw the exuberant good
will it produced, the people shaking hands, embracing, and
showing every token of love to each other, he thought it an
admirable liquor that could produce such effects, and he
blessed it at his departure; but on his return the following
day, when he saw in the same house the marks of a violent
dispute, wounds, broken limbs, and other effects of ferocious
excitement, and found that these were the consequences of
the same liquor, he retracted his blessing, and pronounced
upon it ever after his malediction*
The reason assigned by the Taalim is somewhat inore
fanciful. Two angels, named Arot and Marot, were travel-
ling among the human race, and, like Jupiter and Mercury,
were hospitably entertained at a mortal's house by a man
and his wife. Among other refreshments they had excel-
lent wine, which produced such an effect on them, that they
repaid the hospitality they received by attempting the chas-
tity of their hostess, who was a very beautiful woman. She
gave them a favourable answer, provided they would teach
her the words whereby they were enabled to ascend at pla-
sure. They did so, and the woman availed herself of her
* Busbeq., Ep. III. p. 256.
VOL, It
T
274
NARRATIVE OF A
knowledge by transporting herself to the throne of Allah, and
there reporting the conduct of the angels. She was trans-
formed into a bright star for her purity and sagacity, and
the offending angels were bound to the bottomless pit, called
Babil, with iron chains, there to await their doom at the
day of judgment, while the peccant liquor, which had pro-
duced such a demoralising effect on angelic natures, was, by
Allah's orders to his Prophet, strictly prohibited to man.
It
is not only forbidden, therefore, by the Koran, but many rigid
Mussulmans, particularly hadgees, who have made a pilgri-
mage to Mecca, will not even suffer grapes to be pressed,
holding the making wine to be an unlawful calling, as the
primitive Christians did the making images.
Among the Turks, however, the temptations to the indul-
gence were much greater than among the Arabs. The cli-
mate of the country was more humid and less arid, and so
more favourable to the cultivation of the grape; and the
opinions of the Turks were divided on the subject. Some
held it lawſul to taste it, and even the doctors of the law
affirm that it was only the excess that was forbidden, and a
Mussulman might use it, provided he did not intoxicate him-
self. The first sultan on record, I believe, who indulged
himself in the use of it, was Amurath IV. He was accus-
tomed to go about in disguise, as is usual with Oriental so-
vereigns, and on one occasion he met a cobbler in a state of
supreme happiness, who persuaded him to try the elixir that
had produced it. Having felt the same effects he conti-
nued to drink it till he fell asleep; but the next morning,
awaking very sick, he sent for his companion with the inten-
tion of putting him to death for giving him poison, but he
was persuaded by him again to try the same liquor, as a
remedy for the sickness it had caused. He did so, and
became a confirmed drunkard, making, as is usual in the
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
275
East, the cobbler who instructed him one of his ministers.
By an odd coincidence the name of this person who thus
introduced the habit of intoxication was Beer Mustapha.
Other sultans at various times were obliged to publish
strict edicts against the practice. Solyman the Magnifi-
cent, in the year 1530, ordered all the vines in the vicinity
of Constantinople to be torn up, and enacted the seve-
rest laws against the use of wine, as I mentioned before.
Mahomet IV., in 1760, ordered all the houses that sold
wine to be torn down, as well in the capital as in Galata,
Scutari, and all the villages of the Bosphorus. But the
growing avidity of the Turks for it was so great, that when
a march of troops was ordered, strict directions were issued
that all the houses in the line through which they passed
which sold wine should be searched and the liquor de-
stroyed. During my first visit this was the case, and the
Greeks and Franks who vended it had a difficult task to
comply with the law, for the edict was very feebly obeyed,
and the Turks as they passed were more eager to get it
than they were to dispose of it, though both were equally
punished, the sellers and the drinkers.
But now the practice is altogether unrestrained, and
the Sultan himself, though formerly a very temperate man,
has adopted the use of wine as one of the European cus-
toms to which he has made such approximations. I have
been informed by those who have seen him in his domestic
habits that he drinks wine freely. He is particularly fond
of champagne, a bottle of which is set beside him every day
at dinner. His ministers follow his example; his secretary
and favourite Mustapha is a notorious bon vivant, and in-
dulges in the use so copiously, that his master is obliged to
rebuke him, not for the practice but the excess. Official
men, when present at entertainments given by the Euro-
T 2
276
NARRATIVE OF A
pean Ambassadors, drink as freely as any of the company.
They always prefer a large goblet to our wine-glass, and
never think of mixing water with its contents, holding for a
maxim that a little wine only sharpens the desire for it, ex-
citing without subduing the appetite, but a copious libation
removes every want and satisfies every desire.
Another circumstance of novelty that immediately struck
me was the parading of soldiers. Formerly a soldier was
never seen or recognised; the troops were generally shut up
in barracks, from whence they issued to execute any order
of despotism, and when they had filled a place with blood
and carnage they again disappeared, like some mysterious
and preternatural agents, whose existence was only known
by the destruction they had caused. Wherever I have met
a moving detachment on a road, they went straggling like a
common mob, each man dressed in some dirty drab jacket
of different colours, and distinguished only as soldiers by
their tophecs, or muskets. Among the first objects that
presented themselves to me at landing, were regularly
mounted sentinels dressed in uniforms, and among the first
sounds very sweet martial music. I proceeded to Dolma
Bactché, which I learned was one of the appointed parades,
and here I found two regiments drawn up and going
through their evolutions with all the precision of discip-
lined troops. Regimental bands were playing European
tunes remarkably well, and crowds of company were walk-
ing about to enjoy it, as at a parade at the Horse-Guards.
The officers were dressed in Wellington coats, pantaloons,
and boots, and their rank distinguished, not by an epaulette,
but by a star on their breast, like one of our noblemen.
The men were yet in their transit from barbarism to dis-
cipline. Though they were formed with astonishing regu-
larity from the rabble I had been accustomed to see, they
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE,
277
were yet like grubs undergoing a transformation, but not yet
arrived at a perfect state. Their caps were red cloth night-
caps. There was formerly placed on the crown of the head
a red patch of cloth about the size of a saucer, called a Fez,
round which the turban was folded. When this latter Orien-
tal impediment to discipline was removed, the fez was left
behind, but as it would not remain on the head by itself, its
border was enlarged till it came down below the ears, and
so it remained, the most unsightly and unmilitary covering
for the head that ever was invented.
The topgees, or corps of artillery, alone wore caps like
hussars, which had something of a military air, and the
Sultan proposed as an improvement that a small leaf should
project in front to keep their eyes from the sun. This,
however, was found to involve a question of religion. Every
Mussulman is enjoined in his prostrations to press his
forehead to the ground, and no dress was admissible that
impeded this ceremony.
The mufti, therefore, and the
ulemah decided that a rim to the bonnet was an impious
innovation, and the Sultan was compelled to abandon his
regulation cap.
The Turkish shirts are of a dingy brown silk, and without
collars, nor have any yet been added to them. This, in their
former costume, was not remarked, as it was in keeping with
the rest; but when the bare neck was thrust out of an Euro-
pean uniform coat, with a standing red collar, the soldier
looked as dirty and shabby as a shirtless man could look.
They had changed their slippers for shoes; but many of
them, unaccustomed to the quarters, and galled by the pres-
sure of the leather, wore them, like slippers, down at the
heels. Instead of being black and polished, they were
covered with mud, and seemed as if a brush had never been
laid on them; to account for this, I was informed that
278
NARRATIVE OF A
they had all got brushes along with other European ac-
coutrements, but finding they were made of hog's bristles,
many of them, who had not yet conquered their repugnance
to this unclean animal, refused to touch anything that be-
longed to it. Their very exercise had something peculiar
in it; they shouldered their muskets by placing the lock
inside, and supported it by suffering the guard of the trigger
to rest on the bend of the arm, turning the musket, as it
were, inside out, as if they still retained a lingering indispo-
sition to do anything like a European.
There seemed nothing to which a Turk was more attached
than to his very awkward and inconvenient saddle, and he
did certainly acquire a dexterity in its management that
no one but a Turk, who seems formed for that left-handed
aptitude which led him to do everything in opposition to
us, could attain. The Sultan, however, determined to change
this attachment, as necessary to the military discipline he
proposed to introduce, set himself the example by actually
mounting upon a bare-backed horse. The sudden transi-
tion from a lofty seat, where the limbs were confined and
fixed to the horse by a wooden frame, and the foot sup-
ported by a firm pressure on a broad stirrup like a fire-
shovel, to the sharp spine of a beast without either saddle or
stirrup, was scarcely tolerable, and the Sultan was several
times in danger of breaking his neck from the experiment.
He persevered, however, in his attempts, regardless of suf-
fering and personal risk, and he not only has become himself
an admirable European horseman, but he has inspired his
Oriental subjects with a strong desire to imitate him. The
cavalry, which formerly resembled a horde of Tartars, had
now the appearance of regular squadrons, though, like the
infantry, they had much personal difficulty to overcome. A
short stirrup is congenial and in keeping with the other
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
279
habits of a Turk. When he sits, his legs are not pendant,
but turned under him, and his old saddle nearly preserved
him in the same position as he occupied at his ease on his
divan; besides it was nearly impossible for him to lose
his seat, as his legs were retained as firmly as in stocks, and
he could only fall when his horse fell under him. His first
sensations, therefore, in his new position, with his legs
stretched down, were those of discomfort and insecurity;
he looked as awkward as a tailor riding to Brentford, and
as alarmed as if he was every moment falling off.
But by far the most important and extraordinary innova-
tion on Turkish ignorance and approach to the feelings
and habits of a European people, was the establishment of
a newspaper in Constantinople. It was a proof that public
opinion was even there becoming a rule of direction to the
government, and that mystery and deception, the springs by
which despotism and ignorance were moved, had at length
given way to a free and general communication to the people,
on subjects in which their own interests were most concerned.
It had been the practice in former times to record, at the
end of every thirty years, all the events which had occurred
in the interval, and to make them public, and thus the works
of Naima, Raaschid, and other historiographers, appeared ;
but nothing like a gazette, announcing at the moment
events that were passing or contemplated, had ever been
seen in the Turkish empire till the commencement of the
Greek revolution. Then it was that the Σαλπιγξ "Ελληνικη,
or “Grecian Trumpet," was blown, and the first sound of a
European gazette was heard among the vassals of the Sul-
tan. This was followed by a newspaper set up at Smyrna,
apparently in opposition to it, and to advocate the cause of
the Turks. This was called “Le Spectateur Oriental,"
280
NARRATIVE OF A
and was first published in March, 1821. It was edited by
a M. Tricot, who had formerly been attached to the French
consulate at Constantinople, but was then a clerk in a mer-
chant's office at Smyrna. This miserable gazette contained,
besides vapid enigmas and other trifles, abuse and misre-
presentation of the cause of the Greeks, and most exagge-
rated details of the wisdom, humanity, justice, and success
of the Turks. It was considered the organ of the Holy
Alliance, and a feeble engine set up by them to extinguish
the cause of the Greeks in the East. As the cause ad-
vanced, however, its adversary retrograded, till at length it
ceased, and was succeeded in 1824 by a somewhat better
paper, called “Le Smyrneen," edited by M. Roux, who had
been a schoolmaster, and was better qualified by education
than his predecessor.
He sometimes ventured on para-
graphs more liberal and intelligent; but whenever anything
of the kind appeared, the corps diplomatique at Constanti-
nople took the alarm, and the editor was reprimanded ac-
cordingly.
The influence on public opinion in the East even of this
paper determined the Turkish government to adopt the
extraordinary expedient of publishing one for themselves,
and a M. Blaque, then the editor, was sent for to conduct
a similar paper in the capital. The precursor of the news-
paper was a bulletin, containing an account of an expedition
of Daud Pasha of Bagdad, and this, I believe, was the
first printed detail of passing events ever issued by the
government of Turkey for the information of the people.
On the 13th of October, 1831, a prospectus of the in-
tended newspaper was issued, printed both in French and
Turkish. It stated, so that it was the sincere desire of the
Suitan to assure the public tranquillity, and deliver his
1
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
281
people from those suspicions and vain fears which false
reports and idle speculations always engender; that igno-
rance was the cause of distrust and opposition, for men
were ever disposed to set themselves against that of whose
cause or object they were not informed, and ready to attri-
bute measures to motives entirely different from those which
actuated the government.” After this extraordinary and most
unexpected concession to public opinion, it goes on to state,
that a conference had been held to take the matter into con-
sideration, and that it was determined that the people
should be henceforth informed in a pronipt and efficient
manner of all circumstances, domestic and foreign, which
related to the Turkish government, and the political com-
munications should be accompanied by whatever intelligence
could enlighten the public mind, new inventions, commer-
cial transactions, and all other objects of public utility.
In order to reconcile a multitude of persons who earn a
livelihood by copying the Koran, and afford them an addi-
tional means of subsistence, it was at first supposed that the
infant gazette would be published in manuscript, as all the
Turkish edicts and placards are; but the exceeding labour
and inconvenience of such a thing soon caused the idea to
be abandoned, and a printing-office was established in the
neighbourhood of the Seraskier's palace, expressly and
exclusively for the newspaper. Sheikzade Esseid Mehmet
Effendi, a learned mollah of Mecca, and the historian and
poet of the empire, was appointed to superintend and direct
it. All the political news was every day sent to him by the
ministers of the Porte, and all military details by the Seras-
kier
On Saturday the 5th of November, 1831, this pheno-
menon, called Taakvimi Veekai, or the “ Tablet of Events,"
282
NARRATIVE OF A
first appeared in the Turkish capital, and has ever since
been regularly published. In order to give it more exten-
sive circulation, every pasha in the empire is obliged to
subscribe for a certain number of copies for the information
of the people of his pashalik, among whom they are dis-
tributed. It is printed in two folio sheets, in Turkish and
in French; the latter is called the “ Moniteur Oriental." ”
The one is read by the natives and rayas, and the other
by the Franks. It is issued with great exactness, and
every Saturday morning it is sent up with our breakfast
as regularly as a weekly paper in London. The Sultan
takes great interest in it, reads it regularly, and is him-
self a contributor to it, writing sometimes the leading
article.
The contents of the paper are usually as follow :-They
commence with Constantinople, and the concerns of the
Turkish empire. The principal details are those of the
army and navy, their movements and the change of officers,
with bulletins of actions by land or sea, fairly given, without
much pompous orientalism. Then follow civil affairs,
events of the provinces, with always a favourable view of
things, and an eulogium on the Sultan's measures for the
good of the people. Then succeed news of other countries,
with sometimes extracts from the debates of the French
Chamber of Deputies and the English Parliament, in which
latter Mr. O'Connell cuts a conspicuous figure. One could
hardly imagine that violent democratic language would be
permitted in a Turkish paper; as yet, however, it is harmless,
for the people don ot understand it. But the most extraordi-
nary communication is a kind of budget, in which the receipts
of public money are given, the expenditure accounted for,
with an accuracy of detail in piastres and paras, that would
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
283
1
please Mr. Hume. This is a thing before unheard of in
Tuskish policy, where public money was a mystery, and
everything concerning it kept secret, both in its collection
and expenditure. These subjects are varied with accounts
of useful inventions, elementary sketches of the arts and
sciences, and sometimes pleasing and instructive stories.
The Turks, when this newspaper first appeared, had no
conception of any amusement to be derived from such a
thing; but, like children, when their curiosity was once
excited, it knew no bounds. The publication of the news of
the empire in this way soon became of universal attraction.
The paper made its way to the coffeehouses, and the same
Turk that I had noticed before dozing, half stupified with
coffee and tobacco, I now saw actually awake, with the paper
in his hand, eagerly spelling out the news. But the most
usual mode of communicating it are news-rooms, and a place
is taken where those who wish to hear it assemble. A stool is
placed in the centre, on which the man who can read sits, and
others form a circle round him and listen. The attention
paid is very different from that which I saw them give to a
story-teller. There was no mirth or laughter excited, but
all seemed to listen with profound attention, interrupted only
sometimes by a grave ejaculation of " Inshallah,” or “Allah
Keerim.” The first thing a Turk of any consequence is
anxious to know is, whether he has been mentioned, and
what is said of him, and in this he shows a sensitiveness even
superior to a Londoner or a Parisian, because, as the Sultan
is the virtual editor, his opinion of a man is of some import-
ance.
The rayas of the empire soon caught the spirit of such
a publication, and were delighted with the permission to
imitate it. The Greek Patriarch I found was my vene-
rable friend the Archbishop of Mount Sinai, whom I had
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NARRATIVE OF A
left at his Patmos in the island of Antigone, expecting every
moment to be led from thence to execution. By one of
those sudden and common transitions of fortune in the East,
he was taken from his obscurity and placed on the Patri-
archal throne, where he sat when I visited him on my
arrival, and found him no ways altered in simplicity of man-
ner or kindness of disposition. As he was a man of letters,
and anxious to promote literature in any way, he gladly
entered upon the undertaking, and addressed a circular to
the clergy and laity of the orthodox church on the subject,
stating that a journal calculated to ameliorate and improve
the social condition had already appeared in the capital,
putting it in the power of every man to acquaint hirself
accurately with passing events, and that the Sultan had
per-
mitted to the Greeks the same indulgence. This was fol-
lowed by a similar address from the Armenian Patriarch;
and in a short time four journals appeared every week in
the capital from the different nations which compose its
population, Turks, Greeks, Armenians, and Franks, written
in their respective languages.
But the most important and extraordinary revolution
which had taken place since my former visit was that which
was effected in the Sultan himself. As a Turk does every
thing different from a European, so was the change of this
man's character. The sovereigns of ancient Rome gene-
rally commenced their reigns by a fair and flattering pro-
spect of moderation and virtue, and they terminated by be-
coming monsters of cruelty and injustice. From the details
I have given you of the former life of the Sultan, you will
suppose he commenced as the Romans terminated, and from
what I am now about to tell you you will conclude that he
will end as they began. I give things as they happen, and
at the time they occur, and such has been the rapid muta-
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
285
tions here, that you hardly recognise the past and present
picture of the same persons or things. The French for-
merly said, Dans l'ori enton ne change jarnais, they now
say, Tout cela est changé.
A ruthless and unsparing cruelty seemed the most pro-
minent feature in his former character; he now gives every
day proofs of a humane and kindly disposition. On my
last arrival at Constantinople the Turks were greatly
alarmed at the progress of an insurrection in Albania, where
it spread so rapidly that the insurgents had advanced to-
wards the capital as far as Sophia and Adrianople, to co-
operate with the discontented of the city. By a sudden
change in the fortunes of war, Izzid Hussein Pasha set
fire to the fortress of Scutari, and Mustapha, the unfortunate
Pasha of Scodra, who had raised the insurrection, fell into
his hands, and was sent to Constantinople to meet his fate.
As this insurrection was supposed to be connected with the
janissaries, and had excited considerable apprehension, which
had not yet subsided, it was expected the Pasha would be
made an awful example of. After some days he was ordered
to attend the Sultan at his palace of Beshiktash. He was
accompanied by a large escort of cavalry, and attended by
other pashas; but as the Turks, when they intend a man's
destruction, treat him with more than usual show of kind-
ness, it was considered that all this display was a certain
announcement of the man's immediate execution. The hall
was open to the public, and when he entered a crowd en-
tered with him and ranged along the walls. He came for-
ward holding his little son, a fine boy about six years old,
by the hand. He appeared a large and comely man, and
seemed to excite a good deal of sympathy, particularly so
as he was accompanied by the executioner with his drawn
scimitar. The Sultan was known to be above, looking on
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NARRATIVE OF A
from a balcony; his secretary, Mustapha, sat below at a
desk; and in the midst stood the delinquent pasha, with his
arms folded across his breast, and it was every moment
expected that a horizontal movement of the hand of the
Sultan would cause his head to roll on the floor. The sign
was not given, and he was invited to sit on the divan, which
is generally the position in which a man is strangled. He
was presented with coffee, but his hand so shook that he
spilled it over his robe and dropped the cup. A chouash
now advanced, and all eyes were fixed on him but, instead
of producing a bow-string, he drew from his bosom a gold
watch and chain, and presented it to the boy as a present from
the Sultan. The child placed it in his girdle, and looked
exceedingly delighted when he showed it to his father. He
was now informed by Mustapha that the Sultan wished to
attach him as a friend rather than punish him as an enemy,
and that, as he had no residence at Constantinople, a suitable
one was provided for him. He then retired to a splendid
caique waiting on him in the Bosphorus, and left the hall
with his head on, very much to his own and the astonish-
ment of the spectators, and to the disappointment of the
executioner, who complained that he was defrauded of his
due. Similar clemency was shown at the same time to
Daud, the rebellious pasha of Bagdad, and they were the
subjects of conversation as the almost incredible deeds of
the hitherto ruthless man.
He had shown a determination to support slavery in its
most unmitigated form, and had authorised the making and
selling of slaves in a manner almost unknown in Turkish
history. He now endeavoured to atone for it in a way
equally unprecedented. In the year 1830 he issued a de-
cree which, in its future importance, may be considered as
the first step to the abolition of slavery in Turkey. It de-
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
287
clared that all Greeks who had become bondsmen in conse-
quence of the insurrection should be restored to liberty; and
in order that they might be enabled to return home, that their
masters should supply them with money for the purpose.
This decree, so novel in its character from any thing known,
I believe, in Turkish annals, is still marked by one of those
clauses which indicate that the Sultan has not yet been
able to emancipate himself from the control of national
prejudice. From the slaves so liberated are excepted all
who had embraced the Mahomedan religion. It directs that
they shall be carefully watched in order that they do not
escape, and severely punished by the laws of the empire
if they should attempt it.” It was known that the majority
of those poor slaves had been compelled to submit to Turkish
rites, and yet the vengeance of Turkish law is denounced
against them if they apostatize from this compulsory conver-
sion*,
Another distinguishing trait in his character was his
insatiable avarice. He seized without scruple or remorse
on the property of all those who had fallen under his dis-
pleasure, and several executions were said to be perpetrated
for no purpose or reason but that of confiscation. Incidents
now daily occurred which displayed a very different cha-
racter indeed. After the massacre and destruction of the
island of Scio all the property was confiscated to the crown,
and was producing a revenue of two hundred and twenty
thousand piastres, as the island slowly recovered from its
desolation ; but on the representation of the people the
Sultan agreed to receive a thousand purses as an indemnity,
and restore the land to the surviving proprietors. When
the money was brought he confirmed the lands by a public
decree to the possessors, in order to substantiate their own
* See Appendix, No. IX.
.
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NARRATIVE OF A
claims, and, in the event of their death, those of their children.
He then restored to them the purchase-money, telling them
to lay it out in the improvement of the land as they should
think best. On this occasion the scattered Sciotes returned
to their island. Many of them assembled at Constanti-
nople in January, 1832, and in conformity with the new
order of things in the empire, gave a public dinner, to which
the Patriarch and other eminent persons, both Greeks and
Turks, were invited. It was conducted like a public dinner
in England on a similar occasion. When the cloth was
removed a round of healths succeeded, which were duly
taken down. They commenced with the Sultan as we do
with the King, and a report of the whole proceeding was
next day published in the newspapers of the capital.
The implacable animosity with which he pursued the
revolted Greeks was unrestrained by reason or principle,
and it was imagined that no security would ever after exist
for any part of that nation that remained in his power.
When their pardon was sealed, and he proposed a recon-
ciliation with them, he strictly adhered to it without reser-
vation. He showed no lingering ill-will, and never availed
himself of any pretext to persecute them. Those who had
rendered themselves independent were as much favoured as
if they had never been revolted Turkish subjects. When I
left Constantinople the unfortunate Greeks were in a state of
miserable alarm and depression, seldom appearing abroad,
and when they did they seemed to shrink from notice, and
walked along with that look of suspicion and alarm which
intimated very truly the state of insecurity and suspicion
under which they laboured. On my return I found them
as noisy, active, and gay as ever. There was a careless
confidence about them, as if they felt a perfect assurance of
protection, and in many instances they seemed to beard the
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
289
Turks, and stand upon a right of taking the wall of them in
the streets. Shortly after my arrival was the festival of the
appearance of Constantine’s Cross. I had never before seen
them make any great display on this occasion. They were
now dancing through the streets in their best clothes, every
group preceded by music. They then retired to the wine-
houses, which they filled with shouting and laughter. The
contrast of the state in which I left and found them was
very striking
U
VOL. II.
290
NARRATIVE OF A
CHAPTER XI.
Repair of Churches—Cross of Constantine--Singular display of Christian
Standard-Sultan's conduct to Foreigners—Barbarous Usages abolished—
Seven Towers--Presents—Mode of Presentation Portrait Painting-Me-
dical Lectures—Cure of Lunatics—Vaccination-Establishment of Quaran-
tine-Precautions against Cholera-Resellay-Appointment of Pashas-
Administration of Justice-Confiscation of Property-Derebeys—Ulema-
Sultan's Domestic Habits-_-Favourite Mustapha-Voyage of beneficence-
Popularity-Estimation of his Reforms.
ON a representation to the Sultan of the dilapidated state
in which the Greek churches had been left since the com-
mencement of the insurrection, he issued a firman, 1831,
which contained the following passage :S" It is our con-
stant desire that all the Rayas that repose under the shade
of Islamism and our sense of justice, should enjoy perfect
protection, free from all interruption and disquietude : our
good will is, in this respect, not limited to narrow bounds,
and our solicitude is always that they should feel perfect
tranquillity, and advance in prosperity.” This declaration
was followed up by substantial proofs of sincerity.
The difficulty of repairing Christian churches under the
old regime was very great. It was necessary first to memo-
rial the Mufti, who afterwards reported to the Sultan, who
then granted the required permission. Should any Chris-
tian Raya presume to repair a church without it, he was
subject to the severest penalties. The intolerable exactions
and oppressions of this system caused many of the religious
edifices to fall into ruins. The churches dilapidated by the
Turks remained in the same state, no permission could be
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
291
obtained to repair them. I could not remove the tomb of
our first ambassador at Chalki, because it was in the wall of
a convent, and so, constituting a part of a Christian edifice,
could not be stirred. A poor priest of Galata at the time of
the plague whitewashed his cell, as a precaution against
infection. A Turk of his acquaintance, having heard of this
unauthorised proceeding, paid him a visit. He sat down
purposely with his back to the wall, and when he found it
marked with the whitewash, he accused the poor priest of
violating the law, and obliged him to pay five hundred
piastres to avoid the prison of the Bostangee Bashi. The
Archbishop of Mount Sinai has a convent at the Fanal,
where he wished to put up a few stakes to support a trailing
vine, and they were erected. The Turks came to a know-
ledge of this; and he told me he was obliged to pay four
hundred piastres for daring to prop his vine. In another
religious house the monks were washing some linen, and
the water, whitened with soap and starch, left a stain.
The cadi was informed of the fact : he immediately came,
insisted the monks had been using lime without a firman,
and fined them five thousand piastres. The Sultan not only
put an end to those oppressions and exactions, but he at
once issued a firman giving orders for the immediate repair
of
every
Christian church that stood in need of it, amounting
to thirty-six Armenian and twenty-nine Greek places of
worship. In fact, as if to compensate for his former seve-
rity, he showed a degree of kindness and attachment to the
Christian Rayas that gave rise to strange rumours.
affirmed that, like another Constantine, he was about to em-
brace the religion of the persecuted sect, and an odd cir-
cumstance gave countenance to the report.
The appearance of the Cross of Constantine is held in high
veneration by the Greek church, which has appointed the
It was
U 2
292
NARRATIVE OF A
19th of May in their calendar asa solemn festival to comme-
morate it*. The Latin church has also adopted the belief,
notwithstanding their repugnance to any Oriental miracle.
It is true that Basnage and some incredulous persons deny
it, and Fabricius and others attempt to account for it by
natural causes; but an Irishman of the name of Cullen, a
member of tlie Propaganda at Rome, in one of his two hun-
dred and twenty-four theses, has refuted all these objec-
tions, and concludes by observing, “ Maximè falluntur
qui negant Constantinum crucis signum coelitus objectum
vidisse.”
When I was in France in the year 1826 a curious phe-
nomenon appeared at Migné, in the vicinity of Poitiers. On
Sunday, the 17th of December, while the clergy were in the
exercise of the jubilee preceding Christmas, a splendid cross
appeared in the sky, over the parish church, and was wit-
nessed by above three thousand persons, who were assen-
bled from the neighbouring parishes. A representation was
made, commissioners were sent down from Paris to inquire
into the fact, and they reported, on due examination of wit-
nesses, that a cross one hundred and forty feet in length,
and exactly similar to that of Constantine, did appear in the
heavens, and continued so long and so distinctly visible that
there could be no deception in it;~and no doubt some me-
teoric phenomenon did assume that appearance in the sky.
The Greeks of Constantinople, in January, 1832, revived
the story. A report was made to the Patriarch that a cross
similar to that of Constantine was seen in the sky by a
number of persons at the same moment, suspended just over
the dome of Santa Sophia, and it caused considerable ex-
citement. I could never find out a person who actually
* It is called,"Η ανάμνησις του έν ουραν ω φανέντος σημείου του Αγίου Σταυρού έπι
Κωνσταντινου ενέπει 346.
.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
293
saw it himself, but numbers assured me that they had
conversed with those who had seen it, and were firmly con-
vinced of the fact; and I have myself seen such optical
deceptions from atmospheric changes at Constantinople,
that I have no doubt such a thing did appear, which the
heated imaginations of the Greeks readily converted into
the object to which it bore some resemblance. But its
moral effects were still more striking. The Greeks believed
it to be one of those particular appearances that shadowed
out coming events. They eagerly propagated a report that
the Sultan was actually about to read his recantation and
become a Christian, and they adopted an extraordinary ex-
pedient to give a colour to it.
In one of those naval excursions which the Sultan was in
the habit of making at this time, he was attracted by a
steam-boat, which had been sent for sale to Constantinople,
but which he thought too dear ; Casas Aretine, an Arme-
nian, who succeeded to the situation of Mint-master after
the execution of the Dusoglus, paid the price of eight
hundred thousand piastres out of his own pocket, and the
Sultan was agreeably surprised next morning to find the
steam-boat moored opposite the Seraglio, waiting his orders.
It was commanded by Captain Kelly, an intelligent Scotch-
man, I believe, who undertook to sail in it, and instruct the
Turks in its management. To give an appropriate splen-
dour to the thing, a large flag was made for the occasion,
which was displayed at the moment of sailing. A Turk of
rank on board came to Captain Kelly in great alarm, drew
him on deck, and pointed out to him a singular circum-
stance. Above floated the broad flag; in the centre was
worked a large sun, the emblem of the Turkish empire,
but instead of the disc being vacant in the usual way, a
large cross was worked on it, from whence rays were issuing
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NARRATIVE OF A
at all sides to enlighten the world. Immediately below
stood the Sultan, and crowds who lined the shore to see
him depart, gazed on him thus exhibited with a Christian
banner waving directly over his head, as if he had now
publicly adopted it, like another Constantine, as the laba-
rum, or future standard of the empire. The great devia-
tions of the Sultan from its ancient usages, and his recent
good will evinced to his Christian Rayas, caused his ene-
mies to believe, or affect to believe, that he was about to
change the religion of the state also, and this display was
now supposed to be a confirmation of it. When the un-
conscious Sultan, however, retired below, Captain Kelly
immediately ordered the flag to be pulled down, and inquiries
to be made as to how and by whom it had been hoisted
there. It then appeared that it had been made at the Arsenal
by some Greeks, who, with their usual recklessness, had
thought it a good occasion to display their ingenuity, and
having enlarged the face of the sun they inserted the
The dangerous emblem was immediately ripped
out and the flag again hoisted; and when the Sultan stood
under it, he was no longer an object of horror and suspicion
to his subjects. This trifling circumstance might have been
attended with the most serious consequences. In the irri-
table state of the Turkish populace, the rumour of such a
thing as his turning Christian, would be a ready engine in
the hands of the discontented to rouse the whole Mahome-
dan population against him. A report certainly did pre-
vail that his inclinations tended that way, which I found cir-
culated wherever I went.
Nor was his faith less inviolate to Franks than to his
Rayas. The Turks were greatly exasperated, particularly
at the conduct of the English at the battle of Navarino,
and serious apprehensions were naturally entertained that
Cross.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
295
some reprisals would be made on such of that nation
as were found in Turkey, as a fair retaliation for the un-
toward event, and in fact it was a measure which the
civilized nations of Europe had not at times scrupled to
adopt; but no such thing occurred, and the merchants who
remained behind assured me they never were molested, and
lived, as they had done, with a feeling of perfect security,
even when the Russians were advancing on the city and
their own ambassador had left it. One of them experienced
this protection in a remarkable manner. He set out to
travel to England by land, and he was obliged to make a
detour by Sophia, to avoid detachments of the hostile armies.
He and his party had been provided with a safe escort from
post to post by the authorities, and when arrived near the
frontier, and all danger of stragglers was past, he told the
Pasha he would dispense with any further protection, as he
had now no fear. “ If you have not,” said the Pasha, “I
have. My life is responsible to the Padisha for yours as
long as you continue in my pashalik," so he gave them a
safe convoy across the frontiers. When it is considered
that the Sultan was at this time sore beset, and it might be
supposed he had as little the means of affording protection
in so distant a place as they had a right to expect it at his
hands; the feeling that dictated it to him is highly credi-
table.
It ought to be remembered that he has abolished the bar-
barous practice of sending the ambassadors of foreign states
to the Seven Towers when any disagreement occurred be-
tween them. This usage, by which one sovereign committed
to prison the representative of another, and the person of an
ambassador, held sacred by the most barbarous people, was
violated, had been a distinctive characteristic of Turkish
pride and assumption. The first sultan who had courage
i
296
NARRATIVE OF A
to break through this exercise of Oriental insolence was
Selim, the predecessor and, it is said, the instructor of Mah-
mood while confined together in the Seraglio. He refused
to send Italinski to this prison in 1807, and his example was
followed up by his cousin. He suffered Strogonoff to de-
part at the commencement of the Greek revolution, and
dismissed with protections ever after such of the ambas-
sadors of the sovereigns of Europe as chose to depart from
his capital, when he certainly had very strong provocation
to act otherwise.
He has also abolished the barbarous practice of exacting
presents from every ambassador. The usage of giving gifts
to conciliate favour is of the earliest antiquity in the East.
Jacob took a present to his brother Esau, for he said, “I
will appease him with a present *." The omission of a
present was the cause of suspicion of enmity t. Among
the modern Oriental nations the Turks were distinguished
for their avidity in this way, as avarice is among their pre-
dominant passions, but the pride of their Sultan caused the
presents offered to be entered in the archives as tribute.
With this custom Elizabeth complied when she sent out Sir
E. Barton, as it is recorded in the words of the capitulation
that “ the queen had sent a noble person with presents to
this victorious Porte, which is the refuge and retreat of the
kings of the world.” From that time the custom was con-
tinued by every successive European ambassador, either in
gifts or money. Mr. Adair, in 1809, brought presents to the
amount of 12,1301., 6 and it became an actual tax on Eng-
* Gen. xxii. 13.
+ 2 Kings xvii. 4.
The presents consisted of the following articles: A snuff-box for the
Grand Vizir, 2,4701.; ditto, Capitan Pasha, 1,2801.; ditto for two Plenipoten-
tiaries, 2,1001. ; ditto for two Dragomans, 1,1001.; a watch, 4201. ; ditto,
2601. ; a dagger, 4,5001. ;
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
297
land, producing on an average 5,000 or 6,0001. to the Turkish
government on every change of embassy. The manner in
which these presents were disposed of was a proof of the esti-
mation in which they were held. They consisted of jewels,
snuff-boxes, and other articles presented to the Sultan, Grand
Vizir, Reis Effendi, and other officers. These things were
made by Rundle and Bridge, jewellers to the king, who had
an agent at Constantinople to repurchase them. Instead of
being retained by the persons to whom they were presented as
honorary distinctions, which they would be fond to keep and
display, the agent was immediately sent for, and frequently,
on the very day on which they were given, a bargain was
made, and the article was bought and sent back to London,
where it was a little altered in the setting, repurchased by
government, and again presented by the next ambassador;
so that the same article has gone through this process several
times.
This disgraceful tribute the Sultan consented to
abolish. The British minister at the Porte proposed it, it
was met in a free and liberal spirit, and an Oriental usage
which existed from the remotest ages, and which was sup-
posed to be indispensable in the intercourse with other
nations, was at once given up without any objection, and the
profit as well as the assumption of superiority for ever aban-
doned.
I stated to you the manner of the presentation of ambas-
sadors, and detailed particulars, because I thought it was
likely to be the last of its kind. My anticipation has been
realised. On the late arrival of Sir Stratford Canning every-
thing was conducted as in Europe. The Sultan was dressed
in his red ſez, a military cloak thrown over his shoulders
and buttoned at the neck, with pantaloons and military
boots, and he held in his hand a sabre. The gentlemen of
the Ambassador's suite were presented and received as in
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NARRATIVE OF A
Europe. One of their names happening to sound like a
Turkish word of no very delicate meaning, the Sultan was
much amused, and repeated it several times as a good joke.
This play upon words he is fond of, and punning is another
extraordinary approximation of a Turk to European propen-
sities. The very coffee had undergone a metamorphose.
It was not served in a little cup, with the grounds like
stewed soot, but poured clear from a silver pot, and presented
with a basin of lump sugar, and a tongs to help it. When
you contrast the urbanity and cheerful ease of the Sultan, and
the polished and civilized ceremony on this, with the trucu-
lent manner of the man and the gloomy barbarism of his
display on the former occasion, you will admit that a sur-
prising revolution has been effected in the course of a very
few years.
His encouragement of the arts is another revolutionary
rait in his character. There had been in the Seraglio a
series of portraits of all the Sultans, which Selim for the first
time had permitted to be copied. The drawings were sent
to London to the Turkish agent, Ramadeni, who caused
engravings to be made from them by an English artist. It
was Selim's intention to give them as presents to his friends,
but his death prevented the execution of the project. His
successor, Mustapha, exacted that they should all be given
up; and it was reported they were destroyed, lest the ido-
latrous exhibition of the human face should offend the or-
thodox janissaries. Mahmood has altogether conquered his
reluctance to violate the commandment in this way, and has
had his own likeness several times represented by different
artists. He was very difficult to please, but a Neapolitan
succeeded so well that he had several copies of the portrait
made, which he presented to the different ambassadors.
He sat with great patience for several hours at a time.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
299
He continually asked the artist, was he at his nose, or
lips, or beard, and when he was informed, he always
endeavoured to put the features in the best position. A
young Armenian was present, who acted as interpreter, and
through him he conversed freely with the artist, asked him
the news, and when he informed him the Poles had beaten
the Russians, he expressed much pleasure. The boy grew
fatigued with standing, and retired behind to lean against
the wall; the Sultan cast several suspicious glances at him,
and directed him to stand in front, but seeing him tired, he
good-naturedly ordered him a seat. This was an urbanity
and act of kindness, which I believe no other sovereign in
Europe would have condescended to show to a tired attend-
ant. The Mufti, it was said, was at first strongly opposed
to this portrait painting as an innovation on the laws of
Islamism, but the Sultan was peremptory, and the opposi-
tion was withdrawn; and it was reported he was about to
appoint the artist painter to the Seraglio, and establish it as
a permanent office of state.
This senseless repugnance to copy the human figure
had been a great impediment to improvement in more
important matters. Turkish prejudice is so strong against
dissection that the law says, if a man swallowed a precious
jewel, and he died with it in his stomach, it would not be
allowable to extract it, even though it was the property of
another, and the person had swallowed it to conceal it. The
only mode therefore of conveying any knowledge of anatomy
was by plates, but these also were prohibited as parts of the
human form. But the Sultan not only permitted, but sanc-
tioned, at his press at Scutari, just before my arrival, the
printing of a treatise on anatomy, illustrated with plates,
depicting with tolerable accuracy the different members
and parts of the human body, for the use of students in
300
NARRATIVE OF A
anatomy; and in order that it might be applied immedi-
ately to a useful purpose, he founded a school of surgery
and medicine which had long occupied his mind.
Dr. Sat Desgalliers, a Frenchman, who had acquired
some reputation in his profession, was appointed professor,
and the school was opened for medical students on the 8th
of January, 1832, forming a memorable era in the annals
of Turkey. The manner in which it was conducted was
highly characteristic of the state of the science
among
the
people. There could not be found in the empire a native
hakim who could deliver a lecture upon the subject of his
own profession, and the foreign professor could not speak
Turkish. I was curious to see how he managed, and as he
was of my acquaintance, I accompanied him one day to hear
his lecture. I found about two hundred pupils in attend-
ance, and among them was the Hakim Bashi, or chief phy-
sician to the Seraglio, who came also to take a lesson by
the Sultan's orders. The professor addressed them in
French, of which not one of them understood a word, but
Namik Bey, a Turkish officer, who understood and could
speak the language perfectly, undertook to be interpreter,
and followed the lecturer in Turkish with great facility and
fluency. The subject was descriptive anatomy, which he
explained by plates. He informed me the Sultan had no
objection to the dissection of human subjects ; that it had
been performed in private, and would become a part of the
public course when the prejudices of the people were suf-
ficiently reconciled to it. His lectures also embraced in the
season the materia medica, surgical treatment of wounds, ,
and medical treatment of diseases, and concluded with
clinical lectures, and the practical application of his direc-
tions to actual patients. The students were principally in-
tended as medical officers to the army.
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301
The Lunatics had attracted the Sultan's notice and excited
his sympathy in a high degree. He visited the Timar Hannai,
and saw the awful state in which human beings were kept
in that asylum, and at once directed that they should be no
longer considered as under the sacred hand of God, but
susceptible of treatment like any other beings affected with
distemper. The institution was put under the care of the
new school of medicine, and the Hakim Bashi was ordered
to carry their directions into immediate effect. An Hunga-
rian physician, well acquainted with the improved treatment
of lunatics in Europe, was appointed to superintend it, and
three pupils of medicine and surgery were ordered to attend
it three times a week, and treat the patients according to
the best European system of concession and kindness. It
remains to be seen whether the improved treatment in this
disease will be more successful with a Turkish lunatic, than
that of the fearful coercion to which the patients were before
subject.
But perhaps the most decided evidence of his bursting
through the restraints of superstition and religious prejudice
are the precautions that he has taken with respect to infec-
tious or contagious diseases, and the strongest proof of the
almost hopeless attempt at reforming the Turks was that
they had so long and so inveterately opposed them. The
Turks were decidedly hostile to vaccination, on the principle
that it was impious to take any precaution against whatever
disorder it pleased Allah to send, and among the number of
Greeks whom I vaccinated I never could persuade a Turk
to submit his child to the operation. But in April, 1825,
Abdul Hamed, the eldest son of the Sultan, died of the
small-pox. The janissaries had an intention to depose his
father and set him on the throne at a competent age, and
when their object was disappointed by his premature death,
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they spread a report that he was poisoned by his own father
to anticipate their intentions. The anxious parent, however,
immediately sent for a Frank physician and had the re-
mainder of his children vaccinated by him, and so by his
example introduced it among the people. To aid his views
he endeavoured to persuade them that the process is not a
prophylactic but a therapeutic, not intended as a preventive
to a coming disease, but as a cure to one which always exists
in the human constitution, and the Turks are satisfied with
the argument, and are beginning to submit to the operation.
The next conquest over religious prejudices was taking
precautions against the plague. They had carried their
convictions of its sinfulness to such an extreme that, in the
year 1812, when the disorder ravaged the city, they would
not suffer prayers to be offered up in the mosques to stay
it, till one thousand persons were carried daily out of the
Top Kapousi Gate to be buried, deeming even that a mur-
muring against Providence, and a want of due submission to
its decrees. But after the late Russian campaign they
began seriously to consider the absurdity of those opinions,
and attend to the regulations enjoined by the Sultan. An
energetic pasha, seeing the plague break out in his district,
drew a cordon round a village where it was raging, and
suffered no one to pass either in or out on any pretence.
After some time everything was silent, and on examination
it was found that the whole population was dead in their
houses, but the disease never extended beyond the spot
where this frightful precautionary sacrifice was made.
Availing himself of the impression which these and simi-
lar occurrences had made on the people, the Sultan caused
application to be made to the British Minister at Constan-
tinople for a plan of a lazaretto to be established in Turkey
on European principles, with a view to prevent the intro-
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
303
duction of the disease from abroad. This application was
despatched to England, and orders were sent to Malta, that
a plan of the Lazaretto of that place should be forwarded
to the Turkish Government. This institution, however, was
liable to many objections. It had been erected by the
Knights at a time when the island had no commerce, and
when the thing was imperfectly understood, so it was de-
termined to draw up a new plan on the most improved
system, in which all that was excellent should be embodied.
The direction of the whole was given to Captain Schembri,
a native of Malta, who had been particularly active and
efficient when the plague had ravaged the island in 1813,
and had continued to superintend the quarantine for twenty
years since that period. With this intelligent man and on
his benevolent mission I sailed from Malta, and we arrived
at Pera on the 1st of May, 1831. His plan was submitted
to the Sultan, and highly approved of. It embraced the
establishment of quarantine offices and lazarettos on the
Dardanelles and Bosphorus, and all the maritime towns on
the coasts of Asia and Europe, with a board of health to
organise a sanatory police, to watch the introduction and
appearance of the disease, and take immediate precautions.
The lazaretto to be built for the capital is intended to be a
noble edifice, seven hundred feet in length, in an airy and
pleasant situation on the shores of the Bosphorus, and on
such a plan that it will present to the view an elegant and
cheerful abode, calculated rather to inspire pleasing thoughts
than those dismal and depressing reflections, excited by
other gloomy lazarettos, which, by sinking the mind, pre-
dispose the body to any complaint. The expense of the
establishment is estimated at 20,000/. When this is finished
it will probably be the completest institution of the kind
that ever was in the world, and it is not impossible that
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NARRATIVE OF A
European nations may hereafter adopt this quarantine esta-
blishment of the Sultan for their model, and so take their
plans for the future prevention of the plague from a people
who for centuries obstinately persisted in allowing no precau-
tions to be taken. The value of this most important innova-
tion will be appreciated, by considering that at present the
European nations have drawn a vast cordon of perhaps ten
thousand miles by sea and land round the Turkish empire,
forming a barrier through which no one is allowed immedi-
ately to pass, under the penalty of death; but when precau-
tions similar to those of Europe are adopted in this country
also, the Turks will no longer be an excluded people, but the
intercourse will become as free as between one European
nation and another, a great obstacle will thus be removed to
their amalgamation with us, and they will no longer continue
to be a distinct and separate people.
The cholera was another of those diseases which called
forth the energy of the Sultan to break through Turkish
ignorance and prejudice. During my first residence at
Constantinople this disease had travelled from India as far
as Bagdad, and we were daily expecting, with undefined
sensations of alarm, that it would take us in its way. An
English gentleman had died of it there, and his books and
other effects came to Constantinople, and there was a general
apprehension that this frightful disease had come along with
them. It, however, took another direction, and proceeded
by the Volga to Russia, and it was not till eight or nine
years afterwards that it visited Turkey from that country.
Shortly after my arrival I was called on to attend a sailor who
had been brought sick from Odessa. He died in a few days,
and I went to bury him. While following the coffin at his
funeral I came by a fountain where a number of sacgees were
filling their leather vessels with water. Just as I passed,
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
305
one of them, a robust man, while lifting his sack, was seized
with a sudden spasm, fell against me, with his knees drawn
up to his chin in a strange manner, and in writhing on the
ground entangled his feet in mine. The Turks stared as at
some extraordinary sight they could not account for. He was
taken up, brought into a coffeehouse, where he died in a few
hours. It was said that the man I had buried had died of
cholera, which he brought with him from Russia, and it was
rumoured afterwards that his passing body had suddenly
communicated infection to the Turk. Be this as it may, he
was, I believe, the first Turk that had been seized with the
disease, and his case was therefore the first explosion of it in
the city. From this day it spread rapidly; the shipping in
the harbour were generally infected; the Franks, who enjoyed
a kind of exception from the plague, felt no security against
this, and the alarm was universal.
The Sultan on this occasion was not inactive. He im-
mediately directed the Hakim Bashi, Bethzet Effendi, after
consulting with the Frank doctors, to draw up certain direc-
tions, both of prevention and cure, for the use of the Turks.
These were published in a pamphlet book printed at the
Imperial Press, and several thousand copies were distributed
to the different functionaries and others in all quarters of
the city and its vicinity. This treatise, called “ Resellay,' '
was issued on the Ist of August, 1831, and a copy of it
was put into my hand immediately after, which I had
translated. It begins with a history of the disease, proceeds
to its symptoms, and ends with precautionary measures,
and mode of treatment. Among the first are, to avoid all
contact with persons known or suspected to have it, and
among the second to bleed instantly and copiously. In
fact, it is a popular, well-written, rational tract, not inferior
in intelligence and good sense to any which have appeared
VOL. II.
X
306
NARRATIVE OF A
in the other capitals of Europe on a similar occasion. The
manner in which it was attended to, is a curious picture of
the state of intellect of the people to whom it was addressed.
Quarantine stations were marked out, and officers appointed
to carry into effect the regulations. Some friends of mine
arrived from Smyrna, but were allowed to land without any
delay. Next day an officer of the establishment called on
them, and told them they niust return and perform their
quarantine. It was in vain they represented to him that
any evil was already past remedy, for, if they had brought
the disease, they had already communicated it over the city
—they were obliged to return; but, after a few hours deten-
tion, were again dismissed. The inhabitants of several villages
on the Bosphorus passed from the extreme of the apathy of
fatalism to the highest excitement of alarm. At Buyukderé
I met a man in the streets who, I found, was reported to
have the cholera. Tlie Turks ran into their houses, shut
the doors, and the solitary and awful man stalked through
the deserted streets, nor did any one appear while he re-
mained. At Kadikui, people affected with the smallest
ailment, even a toothache, were compelled to leave the town,
and the hummals or porters who removed their furniture
were tied by the arms, and dragged through the sea till they
were nearly drowned, to wash off the contagion they were
supposed to contract.
His political reforms were more difficult, because he had
power to contend with, as well as prejudice and ignorance.
His first innovation was in the divan. It had been the
usage for the Sultan to abstain from all personal contact
with his subjects, as being too familiar, and weakening that
awful and mysterious respect which some remote and invi-
sible being should possess. The Sultan, therefore, always
sent in his opinion and dictation in writing, never conde-
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
307
1
scending to a personal communication ; but Mahmood now
sits in council with the members, gives his opinion, and
encourages others to do the same, and thus approximates to
a certain form of debate and freedom of opinion and lan-
guage.
Among the grievances of Turkish government was the
frequent removal of pashas. At the Beiram it was usual to
make those alterations, so that every year the whole provin-
cial government was changed. The cause of this was cupi-
dity, as every governor purchased his place, and the conse-
quence was an intolerable system of extortion and oppres-
sion, that the governor might remunerate himself during the
short period of his authority. But the Sultan put an effec-
tual check to this, by refusing himself any fees on a new
appointment, and sternly inhibiting all his attendants from
receiving them. Those clouds of Tartars that I had met in
Asia, the harbingers of life and death every year to distant
pashas, are no longer seen on their mortal errands. A
pasha is now removed only on a serious and well-proved case
of his unfitness or delinquency in his office, and he is re.
placed, not by him that gives most, but by him that appears
best to deserve it.
Formerly every governor was a feudal baron, who had
absolute power of jurisdiction over the life and death of all
in his pashalik, and the wave of his hand was sufficient to
decide the fate of any man.
One of the first acts of the
Sultan, when he found himself a free agent, was a firman
directed to the muzzellims, agas and pashas, that they should
not presume to inflict themselves the punishment of death
on any man, whether Raya or Turk, unless authorised by a
legal sentence pronounced by the cadi, and regularly signed
by the judge. Even then an appeal is allowed to the cri-
minal to one of the Cadiliskars of Asia or Europe, and finally
x 2
308
NARRATIVE OF A
to the Sultan himself, if the criminal chooses to persist in his
appeal.
By the ancient laws of the empire, the officers of the
Seraglio were the slaves of the Sultan, and to whatever rank
they attained, they were still considered to exist in that rela-
tion; to be incapable of acquiring personal property; and
their wives, children, and fortune, as well as themselves,
were at all times at the disposal of their master. Though
the strict interpretation of this relative connexion was no
longer recognised, and men undertook offices who were not
and never had been slaves, yet the origin of the notion
still continued to operate; the functionary was put to death
the moment he displeased his master, and his property was
taken possession of by the Sultan, as if the man was still
his bondsman. But Mahmood has relinquished those
claims. He no longer declares himself the heir of executed
men in office, and so is no longer influenced by a sordid
motive to put them to death. He has thus made a per-
sonal sacrifice both of power and interest, and voluntarily
destroyed the foundation of that monstrous despotism, which
supposed him the absolute master of the lives and proper-
ties of all his subjects.
The Turkish system is so far republican in spirit, that
rank and title are merely personal, and no man has any
hereditary claim to them ; and this is carried so far, that
when a man is raised by his merit, he carries with him the
name of his trade, and the late Bey of Constantinople was
called Achmet Papoosgee, because he had been a maker of
slippers; yet there were some exceptions to those rules, par-
ticularly in the Asiatic portion of the empire. Here there
were certain privileged noblemen, called Derebeys, which
literally means "Lords of the Valleys.” They had submit-
ted to Turkish rule on terms, and held their districts by
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
309
feudal tenure. One or two of these lords of the valleys were
estimable men, and continued by inheritance a kind of here-
ditary excellence from father to son. The family of Car
Osman Oglu was long known in Asia Minor, and all tra-
vellers speak of them as improvers of the country, and
conferring a blessing on the district over which they presided.
The rest were, like all the offspring of such a system, petty
despots, abusing the power conferred upon them by the
most cruel and arbitrary acts, which human nature always
indulges in when it has perfect impunity, and is not respon-
sible to any tribunal but its own will. To break down the
power, and render amenable to the general laws of the
empire those feudal tyrants, was a difficult task, which
none but a man of the Sultan's energy could attempt, or of
his sagacity could accomplish. While yet the terror of his
destruction of the janissaries filled every mind, he availed
himself of it to limit the authority of those independent
vassals. Some of them had the means of assembling, in a
short time, an army of ten thousand cavalry, which held
feudal tenures under them; but they submitted quietly to
the new order of things, and their power is annihilated as
completely as that of the janissaries. In rendering harmless
those dangerous and influential men, they were not put to
death, and so extirpated : the Sultan invited the most dis-
tinguished to the capital, and appointed them to places of
honour and profit. Here they engaged in projects useful to
the state. One of the family of Car Osman Oglu made
considerable progress in the study of mechanics, particularly
naval architecture, and expended large sums in completing
a ship of war.
But the body of all others that he found most difficult
to contend with was the Ulema. The civil and religious
code of the Turks is blended together, like that of the ancient
310
NARRATIVE OF A
/
Jews, and the precepts of the Koran are as inviolable as
those of the Pentateuch, for both are founded on Divine
authority. The Ulema are the great body emanating from
this union, and combine in their own persons the priest-
hood and the magistracy. Among other immunities which
they enjoy, their goods are exempted from confiscation, and
themselves from capital punishment, and they keep alive
that much abused ecclesiastical privilege in Turkey, so long
exploded in every European country. By an obsolete law,
however, any of the Ulema, and even the Mufti, could be
put to death by being pounded in a mortar. Such an imple-
ment of punishment did actually exist in Turkey, and Sultan
Osman found no method effectual to bring them to order,
but by digging up the mortar which had been buried and
disused for some time, and the sight of this instrument soon
reduced both the head and body of the Ulema to reason.
It was at one time reported that Mahmood intended to fol-
low his example, and that the actual mortar was to be seen
exposed in the court of the Seraglio ; but when I prepared to
go over and witness myself this extraordinary sight, I learned
that it was not to be seen, and perhaps had not been exhi-
bited, though the character of the Sultan rendered it highly
probable.
The ascendency which this powerful body has over the
minds and opinions of the Turks, from a feeling that they
possess something of a Divine authority, has hitherto given
them a powerful influence, which they are unwilling to
weaken by having any new information communicated to the
people; they therefore have always set themselves against
any innovation which might inform them. They were in
strict league with the janissaries, who were on all occa-
sions their instruments to repress any idea of change.
They were always on the watch to find out any intended
improvement, and they set on the janissaries to oppose it.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
311
The janissaries in their first formation had been Christian
slaves, furnished by the conquered people, and kept up by
a conscription of every seventh child. The practice, how-
ever, fell into disuse, and then the janissaries were enrolled
from the people. They had no tie to bind them particularly
to the reigning sovereign. The veneration for his person
which was formerly felt, faded away into the feeling of an
attachment to the people from whom they were taken, and of
whom they were still a part, and their weak and shallow
minds were ready on all occasions to be directed by the
more cunning and designing Ulema, whenever it was ne-
cessary to oppose an intended improvement. They had
become, from this constant excitement, a turbulent and in-
tractable body, under no restraint even to their own Aga,
inefficient as soldiers, but most powerful and dangerous as
demagogues to inflame and direct the whole body of the
people. To cut off at a blow this right hand of the Ulema
was an indispensable preliminary to the introduction of any
reform, and it was therefore the first energetic act of the
Sultan. He has thus demolished, as it were, the outworks
of ignorance and intolerance, and he is now proceeding to
blow
ир
the fortress.
I had an opportunity of knowing much of the habits and
private life of Mahmood from one who was in constant
intercourse with him, and it is nearly as follows. He takes
two meals a day, one at eleven in the morning and the other
He has exchanged the Turkish stool and tray for
a chair and table, which is laid out exactly in the European
fashion. The table is furnished with a cloth and knives
and forks, which are English, the knives being round at the
ends, and not pointed like the French; to these are added
golden spoons and a decanter of wine. The wine is usually
chanıpagne, which he is fond of, and is greatly amused when
at sunset.
312
NARRATIVE OF A
the cork explodes and the wine flies up to the ceiling. He
always sits alone at his meals. The dishes are brought in
one at a time in succession, to the number of fifty or sixty,
and are all covered and sealed. He breaks the seal himself
and tastes the dish; if he does not like it, he again covers it
and sends it away. When he at length comes to one which
he fancies good, he keeps it and dines sparingly upon it.
The introduction of wine has not induced hin, notwith-
standing what his enemies say, to innovate on his temperate
habits-he uses his privilege without abusing it.
In his domestic habits he is mild and amiable to a degree
quite astonishing in a character marked by such fierce and
unsparing rigour. He is a cordial friend, and a gentle
master to his domestics, He is remarkably fond of his
children, enters into all the sports of his sons, and suffers
them to take great liberties with him, so as sometimes to
climb up and ride on his back. He is himself a proficient
in manly exercises, particularly in archery, which is one of
his great amusements. There is a large elevated plain
behind the village of Tatavola, or St. Demetri, called the
Ocmeidan, or Place of the Arrow. Here he frequently
exercises, and the distance to which he sends an arrow is
marked by small pillars. His excellence in this exercise is
so great as to have inspired the poet laureat of the court,
who has written and published a poem on the flight of an
arrow which he sent to the incredible distance of fifteen
hundred yards. He is sometimes fond of retiring by himself
or with his children to some solitary eminence, on the shores
of the Bosphorus, where he sits conversing and amusing
himself in their company, On this occasion chouashes
are stationed in a wide circle around, who turn people in
another direction when they are approaching where he is.
I was one day botanising, and so engaged that I passed the
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE,
313
chouash without knowing it, and stumbled upon the Sultan
in his retreat ; he was sitting under a little tent, playing
with one of his children, and though I passed close to him
he did not, or did not seem to take any notice of me. There
were times when a man's life would fall a sacrifice to such
an accidental intrusion ; and impressed at this period with
the fierce and unrelenting character of the man, I did not
feel my head safe till I again got beyond the circumference
of the prohibited circle.
He has always had some favourite to whom he is
attached. The person who at present occupies the place of
Halet Effendi is a young man about the age of twenty-eight.
He is the son of a Caffegee, or coffeehouse-keeper at Bey bec,
on the Bosphorus, and is well remembered by many per-
sons as having handed them coffee and a pipe when he was
a boy, plying in his father's shop. He was remarkably
handsome, and the Sultan, in his visits to Beybec, saw him,
and was struck with his beauty, and immediately took him
into his service as a page. In this capacity he so ingra-
tiated himself with him, that he is now the supreme director
of the Sultan's household. This favourite, like most
others, has no friend to give him a good word. He is
represented as frivolous, dissipated, and avaricious, turning
everything into money, and squandering it profusely on his
indulgences.
Among other speculations Mustapha was induced to
establish a tannery for the fabrication of leather by the
European process, to substitute for the miserable article
they manufacture in Turkey. To this end a Mr. Glewis, a
Cornishman, was invited to Constantinople, and under his
direction a large tannery was set up in the Valley of Hun-
kairiskelessi, and oil and other materials for dressing the
leather were sent out from England. The Bosphorus, how-
314
NARRATIVE OF A
ever, abounds with shoals of porpoises, whose bodies are every
day cast on shore, and lie weltering in oil and fat, devoured
by the gulls and other birds. The prejudice of the Turks
never allowed them to take these fish, or their indolence or
ignorance to make any use of them; but it was now sug-
gested to establish a porpoise, like a whale-fishery, and to
use their oil in this and similar factories in dressing the
leather. The Sultan, who is well pleased at such under-
takings, highly approved of and encouraged his favourite
Mustapha in the project, and when the building was com-
pleted he came down to visit and examine it. When he
arrived, however, instead of the noise of curriers and tanners
exercising their trade, as he expected, he heard nothing but
the sound of music and the rattling of dice in the building-
It appeared that the steam-boat which had accompanied the
Barham ship-of-war was being painted, and the officers, turned
out of their berths, had taken up their residence in the factory
till they could return to them. When the Sultan was informed
of this he only laughed at the oddity of the circumstance,
and the employment of those who were engaged, he thought,
in the manufacture of leather ; with his usual urbanity, he
insisted that the officers should not be disturbed till their
ship was entirely ready, and so he departed. When his
pre-
sence, however, was made known, the Barham's yards were
manned, and he was received in passing with a royal salute,
with which he was highly gratified, and accepted it as a full
compensation for his disappointment.
I was curious to know in what estimation he was held by
the people, and therefore repaired to see him in his public pas-
sage on riding to the mosque. He appeared on horseback, in
European dress, boots and pantaloons, with a military cloak
buttoned under his chin, and, instead of the awkward and
contracted position in which I had seen him before, covered
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
315
with a long dress like a woman, he had a manly and firm
seat with long stirrups ; and the only thing which prevented
a total metamorphosis of his person was the fez, or red cap,
which came down over his ears. This deformity he was
obliged to substitute when he laid aside the turban in com-
pliance with the prejudices of the people, as it is still a part
of the former covering of the head, but a little enlarged, and
he means, it is said, soon to lay it by also for a hat. As
there is something solemn on this occasion, and Friday, on
which it happens, is the Turkish Sabbath, there was no
indication of popular feeling. He passed freely, as before,
through a line of people who had assembled to gaze on him,
and he was salaamed with the same silent respect as usual.
There were some ladies of our party who also bowed their
heads, which he returned with a slight smile and a placid
countenance.
I had afterwards, however, a better opportunity of ascer-
taining the popular feeling. He has adopted the custom of
visiting different parts of the empire, not in the terrors of
military array like his predecessors, but in the garb of peace,
and attended only by a few of his functionaries, for the
purpose of inspecting into the wants of the people and
applying the best remedies. On the 22d of the moon Zil-
hitze, 1246, that is, June 3, 1831, it was announced that he
left Constantinople in the Turkish frigate Cherif Rezam,
accompanied by a squadron of others. He was attended
by the sons of some of the influential men, whom, it was
said, he took as hostages for the good conduct of their
fathers in his absence. It was rumoured that he invited
the Mufti to accompany him, that he might make a visita-
tion through his vast diocese, and ascertain the spiritual
state of his numerous flock, but the wily head of the Ulema
chose to stay behind. The Sultan proceeded to Gallipoli,
316
NARRATIVE OF A
from thence to the Dardanelles, and so to Adrianople. Here
he was met by deputations of the different religious com-
munities, the Turks headed by their molhas, the Greeks by
their late patriarch, who resides there, the Armenians by
their vertabiets, or archbishops, and the Jews by their haham
bashi, or high priest. Among those he distributed large
sums of money to be expended in schools and other useful
objects. He then proceeded to inspect the state of the
town, directed a stone bridge to be built across the Maritza,
instead of the decayed and dangerous wooden one. He paid
particular attention to the hospitals, in which he ordered
sundry improvements, and told the superintendents that he
would hold them responsible for any deficiency in their
comforts and convenience, as he would supply the means
to provide everything. From hence he returned through the
plains of Thrace, and he was struck, for the first time, with
their desolate appearance. He saw the land beautiful, and
susceptible of high improvement; and in some places crops
lying waste without any hands to gather them. He imme-
diately ordered that peasants should be collected from other
places, and sent in to gather the harvest, and that hamlets
should be built for their future residence, where their in-
dustry should be promoted by encouragement and security.
This exhibited a Turkish picture of depopulation and neglect
as striking as it was true, and which had existed for centuries
under the eyes of his predecessors, but which no Sultan
before himself ever condescended to think worth his consi-
deration.
From hence he arrived at Selyvria, on the sea-coast, where
he again embarked for Constantinople. The rumour of his
return was spread, and I went to see him land, and hear
what the people said of him. I found the shores crowded
as far as Beshiktash, where he proposed to disembark.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
317
Among the rest were the children of all the schools which
he had established, who began to collect at an early hour
from different quarters under their respective masters,
and, uniting together, formed a most interesting procession,
similar and not inferior to that which takes place in London,
when the children of the different schools proceed to St.
Paul's; with this difference, that the children of only one pro-
fession appear on that day in London, but here all the varied
shades of Turk, Jew, and Christian were blended together,
equally fostered, and the benefits of education and encourage-
ment alike extended to all. When I consider how long
it took to conquer the prejudices and antipathies of dif-
ferent religious sects among us, and to what an extent they
still continue, I could not help admiring this tolerant Turk,
who, among all the opposition and difficulties which he has
to encounter, has shown himself so liberal and enlightened.
He afterwards distributed one hundred thousand piastres
among these different schools, not even omitting those of
the Greek and Armenian Catholics.
As he approached there was a universal excitement visible.
Every one seemed to take a deep interest in him. The
Turks never express their feelings by shouts and huzzas on
any public occasion, but they do it more emphatically by
certain grave ejaculations, which seem to come from the
deepest recesses of their minds. As he passed there was a
universal bowing of the head, and a low and solemn mur-
mur of applause, that I thought more expressive of respect
and approbation than any display of popular sentiment I
had ever witnessed.
Two circumstances, independent of its object and benefits,
made this tour memorable--one, that it was celebrated by
the historian of the empire as an event as extraordinary as
it was surprising in Turkish annals, and the account was
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NARRATIVE OF A
printed and published at the government press. The other
was that a new coinage was struck at Adrianople to com-
memorate it. The former emblem of the city was a rose, to
indicate, I believe, the manufacture of otto of roses, for
which the vicinity of that town is celebrated. For this a
star was substituted on the new coin, as complimentary to
the appearance of the Sultan there. It so happened that
the impression was defective, and some of the rays of the
star were deficient, while those that were more distinct. gave
the form of a cross. This circumstance was also seized
on by the sanguine Greeks, who declared that it was ano-
ther indication of his disposition to embrace Christianity.
He had just at the time completed a new palace near Ista-
vros, on the Bosphorus, and they did not fail to remark that
he had chosen for his residence “ the City of the Cross.”
This remarkable tour of a Turkish sovereign was marked
by consideration and benevolence, not like those of any
former Sultan, whose progress was traced by oppression
and desolation. Here was no extortion of the peasant, no
bastinadoing of Rayas, no strangling and decapitation of
suspected pashas. Wherever he went he left behind him
traces of beneficence.
Many of the reforms or changes I have detailed to you
may appear too frivolous and absurd to deserve a notice,
but you will recollect they refer to the reformation of a
Turk, who was hitherto incapable of estimating the compa-
rative value of anything, except that the more light and
frivolous the object was to which he was attached, with
more pertinacity did he adhere to it. Much energy, you say,
was wasted on his reformation of dress, but Oriental dress
was one great barrier which separated the people from Euro-
peans, and besides was so interwoven with other prejudices,
that it was actually necessary to remove the one before he
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
319
could come at the other. The English parliament did not
think it beneath their legislation to pass an act for regulat-
ing the breeches of a Highlander, in order to break down
his peculiarities and amalgamate him with the rest of the
people. You will further consider that he was not a man
of an enlightened nation, endeavouring to improve others
who were less so than himself; but he was a Turk, born
and educated in the Seraglio, and so originally imbued with
a more than usual share of the pride and prejudices of his
people; that he never was out of the country to inform his
ignorance by the lights, or dissipate his prejudices by the
comparison of other people, but his efforts were directed by
the spontaneous effusions of his own mind, and he has fol-
lowed them up by the intuitive knowledge only of a superior
understanding; and that so far from meeting with the co-
operation of his subjects, he has been opposed at every step
by the most deadly animosity, and carried every measure at
the imminent peril of his life. He has been compared to
Peter the Great, but you will think me extravagant if I say
that the comparison does not do hiin justice. Both were
born in ignorance and despotism-both had a barbarous
and intractable people to manage, and both resorted to the
fearful energies of cruelty and blood ; but Peter was the
unnatural father who put to death his only son, and he
continued to the time of his death the furious man who
never could restrain his passion. Mahmood, in the wildest
excitements of his provocation, never forgot the ties of nature
and the tenderness of a father; and after subduing his sub-
jects, he achieved a still more difficult conquest of subduing
himself.
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CHAPTER XII.
Indication of Fire-Rapid progress-Destruction of English and other
Palaces-Extent of the Conflagration-Escape of the British Chancery—
Awful state of a Private House-Total obliteration of Streets-Indiffer-
ence of Turkish Authorities-Sultan proposes to rebuild on a new Plan-
Persevering attempts to burn Constantinople-Execution of the Incendiaries
-Awful Hail Storm Incredible size of Stones—Effects of the Fire on
Cholera--Plague again appears—Interesting Cases--Innoculation tried-
American Mission first established-Character of Society.
Sir Robert Gordon had given a grand fête on the Giant's
Mountain, and all the domestics of the Palace had repaired
thither. I was obliged to attend a funeral, and so could
not avail myself of his kind invitation, but I remained at
Pera. On the morning of the 22d of August I proceeded,
about ten o'clock, to the Frank burying-ground, and in passing
through the palace-garden perceived some tufts of dry grass
smoking in more than one place. On pointing this out to
the capigee, or porter at the gate, he ran, with the greatest
alarm, to extinguish it, and then informed me it was caused
by the explosion of red-hot nails from some great fire
but he knew not where it was. I searched for the nails
and could find no trace of them, but the projection of the
fire from some undefined distance was certainly a subject of
great alarm. On proceeding to the Frank burying-ground
I perceived a few people standing on the brow of a hill that
overlooked the valley of St. Demetri, and on going thither,
they pointed out to me four or five houses on fire at a place
called Sakiz Aghats; but the district was so remote, and
the fire at the time so trifling, that I thought there could be
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321
no possible danger to the town, though the distance to
which the inflammable matter had been carried was an
alarming circumstance, as the palace was nearly half a
mile from the burning houses.
The wind which had prevailed for some time was strong
and arid, and had dried up every substance capable of com-
bustion, so as to render it highly inflammable. The interval
between the place and the palace was a steep hill, which
presented a face of wooden houses almost like a pile of dry
timber. Against this the flame was driven, and it ascended
with incredible activity. On my return from the funeral I
could hardly believe the progress it had made in less than
three quarters of an hour. As I had left my daughter at
home, I felt an undefined sense of alarm particularly for
her safety, so I hastened back. On my return I was a
good deal obstructed by the crowds which were hurrying up
with their effects from all the streets in the vicinity of
Sakiz Aghats, so that with all the diligence I could use I
found the fire had travelled so fast that it had arrived at the
palace-gate before me, having nearly consumed all the
intermediate houses in its way.
It was generally supposed that the English palace, in the
middle of an open area, could not be reached by the fire.
I met the consul-general, however, in the garden. We
entered the palace, where he gave some precautionary direc-
tions. In a short time the flanes spread round three sides
of the garden, so as nearly to inclose it in a circumference
of fire, and the whole area was canopied with sheets of flame
and smoke. Several persons had dragged their furniture
into the precincts of the palace as to a place of security from
the fire; but the heat became now so intense, and the air
so filled with showers of burning embers that the piled up
VOL. 11.
Y
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NARRATIVE OF A
furniture began to smoke, and seemed ready to burst into a
blaze, though the fire was yet at a considerable distance.
I was at this time within the palace, endeavouring with
others to render any assistance, if the fire should actually
seize the building; but I found it filled with a crowd of
fugitives in a state of terror and irremediable confusion,
with not one person present who belonged to the establish-
ment, or who could direct or control any useful operation.
A large pile of fire-wood stood close beside, and to remove
this inflammable heap seemed the most obvious and import-
ant thing to be done, but no one had thought of doing it till
some of the officers of the Acteon who happened to enter
suggested its necessity; we therefore ordered it to be re-
moved as a necessary measure of precaution, and when I saw
this in the act of being done, I retired to look after my own
house. Some of my furniture had been brought out into
the garden, and my daughter and a servant were standing
beside it. They presented a fearful sight. A smoke was
beginning to ascend from them, and they seemed as if they
were all about to burst into a blaze. Terrified at the ap-
prehension of my daughter's clothes thus taking fire, I hur-
ried her out of the garden into the open space of the bury-
ing-ground: but before we could reach it a fierce and sudden
gust of wind seemed to drive the whole body of fire directly
on the palace. It came on roaring like a vast furnace, and
enveloped us all in a dark and lurid-looking flame. When
the obscurity dispersed all the trees of the garden and the
edifice itself burst into a rast and sudden blaze. Accompa-
nied by one of the officers of the Acteon I now ran back to the
palace, in the hope of saving the archives, which, as there
was no authorised person on the spot, and the fire, it was
hoped, would not seize the palace, no one had ventured to
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
323
remove,
There was now, however, no delicacy to be ob-
served, so we hastened to the room where I knew they were
deposited, and attempted to enter, but it was fast locked.
We made several attempts by rushing against it to burst it
open, but it resisted all our efforts. The flames were now
roaring out of the windows, and having no hope of being
able to render any service in this way, I hastily left the pa-
lace to look after an object even more precious to me than
the archives of an empire. I had scarcely found her, terri-
fied and alone, when the roof of the palace fell in with a
crash. A vast column of smoke and flame ascended from
the centre, and in twenty minutes from the time the fire
seized it, the noble palace was no more.
My own house
immediately after followed. When the sheet of flame fell
on it, it blazed up like a handful of shavings in a carpenter's
yard. The blaze subsided again, and nothing remained of
it and all it contained but a heap of ashes.
From hence the fire took the direction of Pera, con-
suming every thing with incredible and irresistible force.
On all former occasions stone houses had not only escaped,
but they stopped the progress of the conflagration, and a
person who had one interposed between his own and the
fire thought himself safe. A great part of Pera Street
consisted of edifices of this kind, inhabited either by Euro-
pean ministers or merchants. But those fire-proof edifices
afforded now no more impediment to the progress of the
flames than the wooden sheds. All the palaces of the
French, Dutch, Sardinian, Russian, and Prussian diplo-
matists were prostrated before it, with all the equally strong
houses of the merchants, and in six hours not one of them
remained. The Austrian and Swedish alone escaped, as
being out of the direct line. The latter had been burned
before, and little remained but the gate-house. The former
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NARRATIVE OF A
had belonged to the Venetians, and seemed to bear a charmed
life. It had stood almost since the time of the crusades,
and all the fires seemed to turn aside from it, as if they
knew it to be incombustible. The blaze continued to extend
in different directions down to Casim Pasha till nine in the
evening, when the wind subsided, and its progress was
stopped after extending over an area of about three miles in
circumference, and consuming all those buildings which
former fires had spared.
The next morning presented a dismal spectacle. The
people, driven from their houses, had no place of retirement
but the burying-ground. Here I saw them in thousands
stretched upon the earth, with no covering but the sky, and
no bed but the graves. The Sultan caused an immediate
return to be made of the number of houses destroyed and
people burnt out. The former amounted to ten thousand,
and the latter to eighty thousand, as the population was
dense. He ordered all the barracks to be fitted up
to receive them, and distributed eight hundred thousand
piastres among them for their immediate necessities. Sir
Robert Gordon suggested to me the propriety of making a
subscription for such English subjects as had suffered,
which was done, he himself, though a very severe sufferer
by the fire, setting a liberal example.
Many persons lost all their property by an imprudent
sense of security. In the stone houses there was generally
a fire-proof magazine below the foundation, where any pro-
perty was placed as in a state of perfect security. The
dragomans of our mission had deposited all their effects in
such places and fled. They found next day the iron trap-
doors melted, and all the property below reduced to tinder,
and the whole corps had nothing left, they told me, but the
beniches, or long gowns, they happened to have on their
very dense.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
325
backs. Almost the only house that effectually resisted the
fire was the British chancery. It is an arched cell of brick
and stone alternately with iron window-shutters, which the
people of the office hastily closed, plastered up with mud,
and ran off, leaving everything behind them. The next day
it was standing, but it had been made red-hot, and it was
supposed that every thing within was calcined like the MSS.
in Herculaneum. Among other documents deposited there
were the registers of the British chaplaincy. In order to
avoid the consequences of fire, I had, when I was here
before, a larger folio made, and I directed that all the entries
of the existing one, both past and future, should be copied
into it: so that one should always remain in the palace
and the other in the chancery. It had happened that they
both were in the latter place to copy some entries when the
fire took place, and I was extremely anxious lest the power
of ascertaining the births, marriages, and deaths of all the
English at Pera were now for ever obliterated. For several
days they were afraid to open the doors, lest the air rushing
in should inflame what was not already destroyed. At
length, however, the door was opened, and everything was
found safe. Next door to the chancery was a very large
and strong house, which the pious founder had placed under
a protection which he thought was more effectual than
Greek arches and iron shutters. An inscription indicated
that he had put it under the care of St. Mary and Joseph*,
and under their care it had stood for more than a century
untouched among all the conflagrations that surrounded it.
The present fire, however, held it in no respect, for, not-
withstanding this precaution, the house was burned down to
the ground, leaving nothing standing but part of the front
* The inscription was as follows :-"Mariæ et Josepho protectoribus,
hanc domum et omnia sua credidit Fredericus Chiricho," A.D. 1708.
326
NARRATIVE OF A
wall and the votive tablet. We had begun to build a new
church beside the palace, which was just roofed, and not-
withstanding its exposed situation and inflammable state,
it had singularly remained uninjured, though unattended to
in the midst of the fire.
Another house had escaped in a manner which the pious
inmates considered miraculous. Some Peraote ladies of my
acquaintance inhabited a stone house nearly opposite the
Galata Serai. Reluctant to leave their property behind
them, they did not escape on the first alarm, but the flames
came on so rapidly they were completely surrounded and
their retreat cut off. They looked out of the windows and
saw their house standing alone, insulated in a sea of fire.
It was furnished with iron window-shutters, which they
immediately closed, and in that state, shut up in darkness,
they awaited the appalling event of being burnt alive.
Perhaps there never was a more awful situation. The iron
shutters soon became red hot, and the lurid glare cast into
the apartment was their only light. The house, however, did
not blaze or fall, and the inmates escaped death. It exhi-
bited afterwards an extraordinary spectacle. It stood alone
like the burnt pillar, the stones calcined and vitrified, a
slender, solitary edifice, in a waste of smoking ashes.
So complete was the obliteration of all that marked the
former streets of Pera, and so sudden was the change, that
people could not find their way through them. It is not
like a fire in England, where the roofs fall in and leave the
walls standing to mark the direction of the street. Here every
thing was prostrated, and the open space presented no more
direction than a rugged common. An Englishman, who
had not been long in Pera, left for Odessa on business, and
returned in little more than a week. When arrived at To-
phana he took his bag, and proceeded up to Josephine's
.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
327
Locanda, where he had lodged before. He heard nothing
of the fire from the taciturn Turks, and when he came to
where he thought his inn ought to stand, he found an open
space, encumbered with heaps of rubbish. He thought he
had wandered into some other district where he never had
been before, so he returned to a friend's house in Galata,
and then he first learned the catastrophe, and that nothing
remained of his inn or the street in which it had stood.
Among the calamities of a fire here is to be reckoned the
depredations committed. A number of Greeks and Ionians,
who had been klepts or robbers during the revolutionary war,
came, when it was over, to Pera, to exercise their vocation
under another form. Assuming the pretence of being hum-
mals, or porters, they flock to a fire, are employed to carry
away goods, and disappear with them. Half of the little I
saved was taken off by these fellows, and I never saw it
again. This was carried to such an extent, that orders were
issued next day to stop all persons in the streets bringing
away any property, and if any suspicions arose to deposit it
at certain houses appointed for the purpose. A friend of
mine, who had lost his trunk in this way, went to the
Tersanha, one of the depôts, to look after it. Here he
saw displayed before him five or six hundred trunks. On
looking over them he discovered his own, which he brought
away. If the hummal happened to be a Turk, the property
was perfectly secure. Another friend lost a valuable cabi-
net which was thus carried off by a hummal, and disap-
peared. He made fruitless inquiries for several days with-
out effect, and gave it over for lost. Some time after he
was accosted by a Turk in the street, of whom he had no
recollection, who motioned him to follow him. He did so to
a house in Galata, where the honest Turk showed him his
cabinet perfectly safe. He was the hummal whom he had
328
NARRATIVE OF A
employed; he lost sight of him in the crowd, and knew not
where to find him till this accidental encounter.
A remarkable degree of supineness, and which indeed ap-
peared to be studied neglect, was displayed in the conduct
of the authorities in protecting the houses of the Franks. The
Galata Nazir proceeded on horseback through the places on
fire, attended by his chouashes, like our Lord Mayor upon
a similar occasion. He rode into the palace garden, and
when I thought he was about to give some effectual direc-
tions, he rode out again without saying or doing anything.
He then entered the house of a 'British merchant in Pera
Street, inquired after the health of the family, said there
was no danger, and began to smoke his .pipe, till the fire
surrounded the house and he was compelled to make his
escape.
Wherever money had been properly, and in sufficient
quantity given to the trombagees, they showed how effectual
they were. A British merchant told me his stores were on
fire, and he saw just in front some of these fellows sitting
upon their idle engines. He applied to them to exert
themselves, but they demanded three thousand piastres.
He offered one thousand, when the director, taking his pipe
deliberately from his mouth, said he would split the differ-
ence, and take fifteen hundred. To this he assented, the
trombagee took down the agreement, and then exerted the
engine so effectually that the stores were saved, though the
iron window-shutters were red hot at the time.. Other
instances of this kind occurred to prove the efficiency of
these mercenary fellows when they please to exert them-
selves.
The Sultan sent next day messages of condolence to the
different missions whose palaces were burnt. He apolo-
gised for the apparent want of exertion among the autho-
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
329
rities, by stating that the Seraskier was confined by illness,
and sent along with his apology presents of fruit and certain
flowers, as emblematic symbols of his sympathy.
He wished to give a stronger proof of the interest he took,
by rebuilding Pera on another plan more according with
the habits and feelings of Europeans, and as a model for
similar alterations where fires gave him an opportunity ; but
in this he found himself opposed by an invincible obstinacy
which had always resisted such an improvement, and a
sturdy assertion of right which had superseded and set at
defiance all the power of former governments or individuals.
In 1755, the palace of the Grand Vizir was burned by a
fire communicated from a contiguous dwelling; he there-
fore wished to remove it, to prevent the recurrence of a simi-
lar accident. But it belonged to an aged woman, who con-
sidered it an inheritance, and she said, “The Lord keep
me from giving the inheritance of my fathers to thee;" and,
more fortunate than Naboth, her right was respected. Even
Rayas will not surrender their houses, and Jews have been
known to refuse theirs for the site of a mosque. The Sultan
now found the same spirit opposed to him, and after having
had a plan drawn up, and suspending the rebuilding of the
street till it could be carried into effect, he was so assailed
by numerous petitions that he was compelled to permit the
proprietors of houses to rebuild them as they were before,
and he who exterminated twenty thousand citizens in one
day was unable, or unwilling, to deprive an individual of
an inch of property. They even encroached upon the streets
beyond their former foundation. The avenue to the British
palace had been very dark and narrow, and it was intended
in the new plan to have a wide approach, but the houses
were run up so as almost to meet at the top, and render the
passage more dark and narrow than before, and finding the
330
NARRATIVE OF A
inefficacy of stone to resist fire, the proprietors rebuilt them
of wood.
Meantime events transpired which proved that the fire
was not accidental, but a desperate and expiring attempt of
the adherents of the janissaries. After a few days another
fire broke out at Constantinople, which consumed four hun-
dred houses, and on the night following another, which de-
stroyed three hundred more. The next day followed the
destruction of the Capitan Pasha's palace and part of the
Tersanha, or Arsenal. Scarcely was one extinguished when
another appeared, till at length one morning the whole city
of Constantinople was seen from Galata in a blaze. The
fire burst out near the Seven Towers in several places at
once, and proceeded rapidly to the centre of the city, and
the blaze was seen to extend för a mile in length and nearly
as much in breadth. The fugitives who fled before it were
hastening with their effects to the district of Balata, at the
other side of the city, but the flames were seen to burst out
here also, and drive them back again. In a short time six
fires were kindled in Constantinople, which consumed about
eleven thousand houses, which, added to those destroyed in
Pera, gave the number of twenty-one thousand totally de-
stroyed in little more than a week.
This terrible and persevering destruction seriously alarmed
every one, and it was rumoured that a place would be alto-
gether abandoned where life and property were so insecure,
and the Turkish government set about an investigation
when the mischief was done. Several fellows were caught
with condacs, or fire-balls, in their possession, which they
intended to use as long as a house remained standing on
either peninsula. They were executed on the spot, and
were seen lying in the streets with their heads between their
legs, having a condac, or bunch of matches in their mouths,
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
331
to indicate the occasion of their punishment. No clew, how-
ever, could be found to lead to the higher agents in this affair,
till a woman of more respectable appearance was one day
detected with a condac in her possession. She declared that
a tchelebi, or gentleman, had met her in the streets and put
it into her hand with five hundred piastres. On describing
his person, he was recognised as one of the ulema of consi-
derable influence. He was seized and put to the torture,
and implicated many others. From these clews they dis-
covered three hundred persons of the military, and many of
them outz bashis, or captains, had engaged in a plot to
destroy the city with the rebels of Albania and the adhe-
rents of the janissaries, and in the confusion to depose the
Sultan and restore the old order of things. All these were
executed in a manner peculiarly characteristic of the people.
The great fête at this time took place of circumcising the
young prince, Abdul Metzed Effendi, heir-apparent to the
throne. On this occasion the great meadow between Scu-
tari and Kadi Kui was selected for the occasion. Splendid
tents were erected, amusements of all kinds were enjoyed,
and a vast concourse of people assembled from every part of
the country and capital to witness the ceremony, which was
attended by the Sultan and all the officers of state. Among
the rest some regiments had their green tents pitched on
the high grounds. After three days of fêtes and rejoicing,
the officers of the regiments encamped were invited to a
concluding entertainment in a large tent prepared for the
occasion. Here they were strangled. They were found, or
suspected, to be concerned in burning down the city, and
they were disposed of in this manner. The Sultan, how-
ever inclined to the slow process of justice on other occa-
sions, is merciless, like his great prototype Peter, when his
reforms are opposed. The manner in which they were
1
332
NARRATIVE OF A
executed was described to me. The original cord used for the
occasion was a real string of a bow, when that weapon had
been used by the Turkish army. The present is a common
cord, having a piece of wood or cane attached to it, which
serves as a lever to draw it tight when thrown round the
culprit's neck. When he is all but dead, the cord is relaxed,
for the purpose of letting his soul out of his body. The
unfortunate man then makes a last expiration, and people
affirm that they then see a dense breath issue from the
mouth, as if something corporeal was conveyed in it. The
cord is then finally closed till the person is entirely dead.
The conflagration of the city was followed by an awful
phenomenon. As there was no house left in Pera where
we could take shelter, we hastily got into a caique, left the
burning city, and proceeded to Buyukderé. Here with the
family of the worthy American missionary, Mr. Gooddell,
we occupied a large house on the sea-shore which had
belonged to a Greek of rank, named Scanavi, and was after-
wards occupied as the country residence of the Austrian
internuncio. This large edifice was like a vast lantern full
of windows. On the 14th of October the weather was in-
tensely and unnaturally sultry for the season of the year;
the thermometer rose to 86° in the shade, and we felt the
relaxation and lassitude of the hottest days in August. The
next morning the atmosphere was clear and fine, but still
sultry, and the wind south, when about seven o'clock, as we
were preparing as usual to walk up the mountains, a deep
muttering was heard as of distant thunder, and soon after a
dark dense cloud was seen to approach as if from Constan-
tinople; presently the sea in that direction appeared to boil
up, as if violently agitated from some extraordinary cause,
the ebullition resembling that of a cauldron. As this ap-
proached, several large bodies were seen to fall into the sea

Shape and Size of the HAILSTONES which fell at
Buyukdere , immediately after the great fire
on the 14th October 1832.
N
U
OF
mio
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
333
at considerable intervals, and the splash they made was like
that of a large stone plumping into the water. Presently
after the windows were dashed in with a tremendous crash,
and the house was struck with a volley of hailstones, or
rather lumps of ice, which, in force, size, and violence, had
some resemblance to the discharge of a battery of can-
non. They smashed the windows in a moment to pieces.
Some of them struck the floor, bounded against the opposite
wall, and rebounded again through the glass, smashing one
pane coming in and another going out, and in a moment the
room was filled with these huge balls, springing about with
surprising elasticity, and driving us to other places for shel-
ter. They perforated the tiles of the roof with equal force
and facility; and such was their weight and the velocity
and impulse with which they descended from the sky, that
it seemed certain that they would soon batter down the
house.
This awful assault, however, of "heaven's artillery” lasted
only twelve or fifteen minutes, and when we were expecting
every moment that our large but slight-built edifice would
give way, the din and tumult subsided, the stones by degrees
decreased in size, and finally they terminated in a shower
of heavy rain, which entered through the apertures of the
roof, perforated like a cullender, and, pouring from the ceil-
ings, inundated the whole house, and ran down the stairs
like a cataract.
On collecting some of these extraordinary stones after the
shower, they appeared very hard and solid lumps of ice,
generally of an irregular spheroidal form, about five inches
in circumference. Some were of a transparent blue, others
more white and opaque. Some seemed an agglomeration
of smaller stones, congealed together, covered with protu-
berances like the large tuberous roots of plants. Some
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NARRATIVE OF A
were of a triangular shape, and the sides resembled columnar
crystallisations. Some were formed of concentric layers, like
the coats of an onion, and when partly dissolved on one side
presented a nucleus in the centre, surrounded with re-
gular rings, enlarging to the circumference. They were
intensely cold to the touch, so as hardly to be borne
in the hand, producing a burning sensation, as if they were
hot metal. Yet they soon dissolved, leaving behind them
globes of water. Some of those found on the mountains
above Buyukderé were represented as of a most enormous
size and weight. One of them was brought as a specimen
to our apothecary, who found its weight one hundred and
ten drachms, or more than three quarters of a pound, and
it measured fourteen inches in circumference.
This tremendous shower passed over Pera and Constan-
tinople, and proceeded from the Sea of Marmora to the
Black Sea, nearly in the line of the Bosphorus, shattering
everything in its way. It was, however, very circumscribed
in its breadth. All the houses on the European side along
the shore suffered most severely, and the gardens and vine-
yards were torn to pieces. They exhibited a dilapidated and
ruined appearance the whole way, as if some devastating
army had passed along that side, while the opposite con-
tinued smiling in security, and not even a window was
broken.
Some caiques were caught on the water during the storm.
The terrified boatmen threw themselves on their faces, and
remained praying while it lasted. Some were severely
contused by the blows they received. The passengers put
up umbrellas at first, but they were torn to pieces in an
instant, and those who held them threw themselves also for
some shelter on their faces. Commodore Porter, the Ame-
rican Minister, had set out from Buyukdere in his caique to
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
335
proceed to the Porte, when the shower fell on him. He
declared to me that the awe and alarm he felt were greater
than any thing he had ever experienced during a long life
of peril and warfare, storm, shipwreck, earthquake, or battle
which he had encountered. He felt the impression as of
some mysterious and preternatural phenomenon; as if the
cope
of heaven had been frozen into a dense canopy of ice,
which was suddenly burst, and the large fragments tumbled
on their heads to crush them. He apprehended some of
them would drive through the bottom of the caique, and she
would instantly go down. But few stones, however, struck
the boat. One of them shattered a man's hand, who, in
his motionless terror, still held the oar.
It was very providential that the intervals between these
large stones was considerable—they fell several yards asun-
der. This was one cause why so comparatively few accidents
occurred. Many persons were severely bruised before they
could find shelter, and as it was early the usual crowd of
people were not abroad. In Galata they were not yet risen,
and some started from their beds in alarm, supposing the
discontented adherents of the janissaries had burst upon
them to destroy whatever the fires had spared. Few lives
were lost. On the high grounds above Buyukderé two
vinedressers were killed in a vineyard in an exposed situation,
where they could not find shelter. Below, the only lives lost
were those of a flock of geese. They were feeding beside
the sea, and when the storm began they stretched out their
necks, and never thought of running under cover, and the
people who saw them were afraid to venture out to drive
them. In a few minutes the whole flock was struck dead.
During the storm and immediately after, the thermometer
fell below 60°, and the sensation of the sudden transit from
heat to cold was painfully disagreeable. For several days
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it continued to increase, and was attended with deluges of
rain. All the carpenters and glaziers were put in requisi-
tion to repair the Sultan's kiosks and those of his officers,
so that the rest of the people continued exposed in shattered
houses, without roofs or windows, which was very severely
felt, as all the dwellings which the fire had spared were now
nearly rendered uninhabitable by this portentous hail. For
me, I was driven again from my residence, and knew not
where to go, till apartments were assigned to me at the resi-
dence of the embassy at Therapia, by the kindness of Mr.
Mandeville, the British Minister. Here we again removed,
doomed in this unstable country soon again to seek another
residence.
There was a remarkable coincidence between the hail
that fell here and that which I had seen at Zante ten years
before. The size and consistence of these lumps of ice were
nearly the same, and the precursors of them had some
resemblance. The one immediately followed an earthquake,
the other an immense conflagration. Whether either of them
had influence in producing those atmospheric changes that
caused those enormous and preternatural hailstones, I pre-
sume not to say; but certainly the fire appeared to have a
very decided effect in other things. The cholera, which had
been raging violently just before, received a sudden check.
It was imagined at first that fatigue, anxiety, exposure, and
privation would greatly increase the disease, but the effects
were otherwise. Many persons died from terror and ex-
haustion during and after the fire, and among the rest the
capigee, or palace porter, and his wife; but the alarming
epidemic which was rapidly spreading immediately disap-
feared, and the great fire of Constantinople was supposed,
like that of London, to have extinguished a mortal malady.
But it did not extinguish the plague, which burst out
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
337
with great violence when the other epidemics subsided. In
a house near ours, a family was seized with a complaint
which had some symptoms in common with cholera, and
was supposed at first a return of that disease; it soon,
however, developed itself as true pestilence. The whole
family, consisting of several persons, fell victims to it in a
few days ; and at length Dr. Visconti, the physician who
attended, was seized with it. He at first affirmed that the
disease was not plague, in order, I was informed, to justify
his visiting the patients; but he was soon compelled to
acknowledge the fact by the characteristic symptoms ap-
pearing upon himself. Though he had fearlessly attended
those who were seized with the complaint, he was abandoned
by every one. His senses remained perfect, and he thought
that leeches might relieve the acute pain he felt; but he could
not prevail on any person to procure them, though he offered
a large sum of money. When at length they were brought
he was obliged to apply them himself—they proved ineffec-
tual, for he died the next day.
His fate excited great
commiseration. He was a young Italian of much promise,
and his fearless devotion to his profession held out a prospect
that the terror of the disease might, by his and similar
examples, be mitigated, and some rational mode of cure
attempted by competent men. His death only increased
the alarm, and effectually deterred others from following his
example.
Circumstances continually occurred intimating the power-
ful influence of mental affections in resisting the attacks of
this disease. Among the many which I knew, one was
very remarkable. The wife of my friend Mr. Wood, one of
the dragomans of the English mission, was seized with a
complaint, the nature of which was not at first supposed to
be alarming. Symptoms of plague soon developed them-
VOL. II.
Z
338
NARRATIVE OF A
selves, when she was instantly abandoned by every person
except her own father, who, as a singular instance of attach-
ment, remained with her, and could not be prevailed on to
leave her. The disease soon assumed a mortal character,
and she died in his arms. He was for a considerable tine
in contact with a contagion of the worst kind, imbibing the
perspiration and inhaling the effluvia of the patient, but he
did not catch the infection. Some time after the death of
his wife, Mr. Wood himself was seized with the complaint;
he, too, was abandoned by every person except his own son,
who could not be prevailed on to leave his father, to whom
he was greatly attached. The father died and the son
escaped the contagion. Here were two instances in the
same family of the powerful effects of mental affection over
physical. Terror, which is a depressing and so a debilitat-
ing passion, is known at all times to invite the access of
infectious disorders, and every day proofs were exhibited of
its melancholy effects, while the strong feelings of pious
affection in the father and the son, overcoming those of fear,
under Providence, protected them.
I went one day to the office of an English merchant at
Pera, who was in the act of making a bargain. It is usual
here as elsewhere to strike hands, in order to confirm it,
but personal contact was at this time deemed highly danger-
ous, and no man would touch his neighbour; but the bargain
must be ratified, so a stick was brought, and each of the
contracting parties holding the ends of it, the affair was
concluded. I was here informed of the graduated scale on
which infection proceeds, and the comparative danger of vari-
ous substances. Besides those which were usually admitted
as susceptible, all kinds of woollen and cotton clothes, there
was an infinite variety in the gradations of hazard in other
things. Cats and rats were conductors, but dogs and horses
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
339
were not. Several culinary articles were dangerous when
hot, such as bread and cakes, though when cold were eaten
with security; but the most absurd distinction seemed to be
made in metals. Money was generally immersed in vinegar,
or some other acid, but the metals of which it was composed,
formed into spoons and other utensils, were supposed inca-
pable of communicating contagion. Hence people who
would not șit on the same divan, had no hesitation in taking
several meats with the same spoon out of the same plate.
But the most insusceptible of all substances was supposed to
be amber, and it is one reason why such value is attached to
it as a mouthpiece for a chibouque. It is the usual practice
for the servant who brings pipes to visiters, to light the tobacco
by first smoking it himself, and he hands it immediately
from his mouth to that of the guest. This at any time is
sufficiently revolting, but in times of pestilential contagion
it is worse.
I have seen the pipe presented with the saliva
of the attendant still wet on it, to people who shrunk from
all personal contact, and who carelessly put it into their
mouths in that state without even wiping it.
Notwithstanding the awful impression left by the disease,
and the motives to acquire some knowledge of it, and apply
some rational means to prevent or cure it, it seems as little
understood in the present light of science as in the darkest
ages of ignorance. Among the natives of Europe who had
investigated this disease, none, perhaps, had done so to a
greater extent than the English, under the auspices of the
Levant Company. Dr. Russell, then physician at Aleppo,
examined it, and published the result of his experience
for three years, including from 1760 to 1762, in an im-
mense quarto of seven hundred and forty pages, containing
the greatest body of information and the most numerous
facts that had yet been submitted to the world, but produc-
z 2
340
NARRATIVE OF A
ing no satisfactory results, either as to the nature or cure of
the disease. He was followed by Dr. Whyte, who pro-
ceeded to Constantinople in 1801, from whence he went to
Egypt. A notion had at this time prevailed in Europe,
that inoculation would be a prophylactic, and a singular
opinion prevalent in the East gave countenance to it. There
is sometimes a blain, or boil, which is different from the
glandular swellings, but which appears on the body at the
same time, and proceeds with them to a suppuration. This
is called the “King Pest,” and it is supposed to arise on
the spot where the disease first enters the system, and that
they on whom it appears seldom die of the first attack, and
are never susceptible of it again. The inoculation of the
matter taken from this mysterious boil was imagined to be
an effectual preservative. Dr. Whyte undertook to try the
experiment, by introducing into his arms and rubbing into
his thigh the matter of pestilential ulcers. In the first ex-
periment he escaped, and no disease ensued. The second
was followed by decided infection, to which he fell a victim.
But the man who most distinguished himself was Dr.
Maclean. He proceeded to Constantinople under the
direction of the Levant Company, and instead of flying from
a disease which every one else looked on with such hopeless
terror, he shut himself up in the hospital along with infected
patients. There are two plague-hospitals: one near the
Seven Towers in Constantinople, in a low, unhealthy situa-
tion: the other on an elevated site in Pera, on the high
grounds above the Bosphorus. It was into the former the
Doctor entered, with a firm impression on his mind that the
disease was not contagious, and a design to convince others
of the truth of his theory. His experiment was unfortunate
he caught the disease in the hospital. He escaped death,
but, with an extraordinary pertinacity of opinion, he per-
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
341
sisted to affirm that it was not contagious, but communi-
cated to him by the marsh miasma in the vicinity of the
hospital. Whatever opinion be entertained of the result
of these experiments, there can be but one as to their mo-
tives. A more intrepid or disinterested devotion of self in
the cause of humanity is not to be found in history. No-
thing could abate his conviction of non-contagion and the
absurdity of quarantines. I met him with a broken con-
stitution, hastening to his last home, but he was still as
sanguine as ever that he would live to benefit the world, by
some extraordinary improvement in the management of this
terrible distemper, and he died, I was informed, in this firm
conviction. Whether any other person will have courage
to follow in the footsteps of my philanthropic, but rather
eccentric friend, remains to be seen. There is no cause in
which humanity is more deeply interested. I was a witness
to its breaking out seven times in the course of my residence
at Constantinople, and every time it created the same terror,
confusion, irrational precaution, and unchecked mortality.
A new accession was now made to the diplomatists of
Pera by the establishment of an American mission. The
existence of an American continent was a thing scarcely
known to the Turks in general. It was a place rather too
remote for their comprehension, and was veiled in a cloud
of obscurity, like some distant undefinable object, which
might furnish a theme for a story-teller, but was not alto-
gether a place to whose existence a true believer was bound
to attach much credit. But though America was thus
slightly known to the Turks, Turkey was well known to the
Americans, and the active and intelligent people of the west-
ern continent had been long endeavouring to establish
diplomatic and commercial relations with it. This attempt
was made during the administration of Washington. Mr.
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King, the American agent in London, employed an English
gentleman well acquainted with the Turks to negociate a
treaty, but he and his instructions fell into the hands of the
French, and all traces of them were lost in the prisons of
Verdun. A variety of attempts were afterwards made
through other channels, but they all failed through the
jealousies of other powers, who supposed that the profits of
the Turkey trade were little enough for themselves, and
they seemed to unite in excluding so active and enterprising
a people from any share in it.
At length Mr. Rhind, the American consul at Odessa,
undertook it, and the manner in which he conducted it ex-
hibits a remarkable trait of those jealousies and intrigues
which are continually in movement at the Turkish capital.
He came only as an individual on his own private affairs,
and he commenced his operation during the Ramazan, a
period when the Turks were never known before to transact
any
business. He intrusted the secret to none but himself and
the Reis Effendi, and by a judicious and liberal application
of funds at his disposal he completely effected his object.
To the astonishment of the diplomatic world of Pera, when
the Ramazan was over, they found a new people recognised
among them, and received on the terms of the
favoured nations.” It further appeared that the tact and
sagacity of Mr. Rhind converted what he had made out as
an important concession to the Turks, into a valuable benefit
to his own country. By a secret article they were allowed
to have ships built in America; and thus, while we of the
old world were destroying the fleet of our ancient allies at
Navarino, those new-comers had supplied them with a new
one, by clearing away the useless forests which only encum-
bered their own soil.
The calamity of the fire had thrown us into the society of
66 most
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
343
those strangers. We escaped from the flames in the same
caique, and took refuge in the same house at Buyukderé,
where I had the pleasure of a long and intimate acquaint-
ance with them; and whatever prejudice I might have im-
bibed of American society from imperfect or unfavourable
representation, it was entirely removed by experience. They
were uniformly persons not only of education, pleasing and
gentlemanly manners and moral conduct, but also pious
and serious even beyond those of the same class in England.
Among our inmates was Mr. Rhind, who had effected the
treaty, and Dr. Dekay, who was indefatigable in acquiring
a knowledge of the country, and who has since published
the result in a volume full of information. With these
gentlemen and others of their country I made many excur-
sions, was happy to communicate anything my longer resi-
dence in the country gave me a better opportunity of know-
ing, and was more than repaid by their free and open
munication of whatever came to their knowledge.
The envoy appointed to carry the treaty into effect was
Commodore Porter. The impressions of this gentleman in
England were very unfavourable. He had published an
exceptionable book when he was a sailor, which had excited
much animadversion, and I confess I had no wish for any
intimacy with its author. Almost his first act on establish-
ing himself was to send for the worthy American mission-
ary, the Rev. Mr. Gooddell, with his wife and family, to
reside with him as his chaplain. Divine service was regu-
larly performed in his house, and his demeanour was cor-
respondent. I passed much time with him, and feel in-
debted to his kindness and hospitality, as well as gratified
by his pleasant conversation. They all seemed interested
in promoting the ends of the American Education Society
for instructing the Greeks, and subscribed liberally towards
com-
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NARRATIVE OF A
them. Several large schools of this kind on the Lancasterian
plan were formed by their means in the villages of the
Bosphorus, in each of which from fifty to one hundred Greek
children were educated.
I state these things not only as a tribute of justice to
individuals, but to remove, as far as my experience enables
me, those prejudices which have too long prevailed among
us. Ought we not, my friend, to be delighted to hear that
our brethren, speaking the same language, professing the
same religion, having the same institutions, and descended
from the same fathers, should emulate us in the career of
utility, and share with us the esteem of foreign countries ?
It is time for us to give up the petty jealousies that sepa-
rated us, and to recollect that, however seas and circumstances
may now divide us, still the voice of nature proclaims, “We
are one;" and everything good and praiseworthy in America
reflects back its lustre upon England.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
345
CHAPTER XIII.
Few Antiquities at Constantinople--Reasons why--Earthquakes--Imperfect
Architecture-Iconoclasts-Crusaders--Turks-Triple Serpent–Obelisk
-Colossus---Brazen Horses-Their extraordinary Migrations–Marcian's
Column-Daikili Tash, or Burnt Pillar-Interesting connexion with
Christianity—Pillar of Theodosius-Strange use made of it-Pillar of
Arcadius--Described by Gillius and others—Present remains of it.
BEFORE I finally leave this city, you wish me to give you some
account of its antiquities and its inhabitants, particularly its
Christian population. The first affords but scanty materials.
Nothing can be a stronger contrast than that which Roma
Antiqua and Roma Nova exhibit in this respect. In the
former, though so much more ancient, edifices, columns,
and other magnificent architectural objects, remain entire.
The Pantheon, the Pillar of Trajan, and the Arch of Con-
stantine, are at this day nearly as they were left by the
artists that finished them. But there are no such in the
new city, and it may be said of almost the whole that for-
merly decorated it, Etium periêre ruine.
To this remarkable difference many local causes contri-
buted. First, the liability of the country to earthquakes.
The city of Constantinople has been shaken at different
times by violent concussions, and the edifices built on the
Seven Hills of the new city have been shattered by a cause,
from which those of the old have been exempt. Another
reason is, the want of durability in the structure of the edi-
fices. At the time when the seat of empire was transferred
from the Tiber to the Bosphorus, all the arts of life were
346
NARRATIVE OF A
declining, and they continued to deteriorate till their archi-
tecture became as feeble as it was rude, and as transient as
it was barbarous. A third was, the fanaticism of some of
the Christian sects. The Iconoclasts, in the reign of Leo
Isaurus, like Cromwell's Puritans, destroyed every image
they met.
Like them, their ignorance was equal to their
fanaticism. They had neither taste to feel nor judgment
to discriminate, and they pulled down everything which to
them had the semblance of idolatry. The Byzantine his-
torians greatly regret those ravages, and declare that many
ancient statues and precious remains of sculpture were de-
stroyed and disappeared through their folly *. To them
succeeded a fourth cause, the Crusaders, still more igno-
rant and barbarous. They were in possession of the capital
for fifty-seven years, and the rabble of Peter the Hermit,
whom the Greeks represent as illiterate barbarians who did
not even know their alphabet, destroyed whatever their
predecessors the Greek fanatics had spared. The fifth and
last cause seemed to consummate the devastation of this
devoted city. The Turks were disposed to obliterate every
trace of what had been spared by their predecessors. The
Sultan when he entered set the example, by striking with
his mace the head of the brazen serpent, which the barba-
rians considered as one of the idols or talismans of the city.
This headless monument remains at this day, to attest the
commencement of those ravages with which the Turks com-
memorated their entrance into Constantinople. In fact,
almost every monument above ground was rased, with the
exception of Santa Sophia, which the Turks retained for
their own use; and the only edifices which escaped were
* Επί Λέοντος του Ισαυριου πολλά θέαματα αρχαία παρηλυθήσαν και ήφανισ-
βήσαν δια το παντελώς αλογιστον αυτού.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
347
those which the earth concealed, the magnificent Cisterns,
whose existence the barbarians do not seem to be well ac-
quainted with to this day.
But
you
ask me where are the Pillars of Theodosius and
Arcadius, built to rival those of Trajan and Antoninus,
which still adorn ancient Rome, though erected so many
centuries before? In fact, a few pillars are almost the only
things remaining to attest the former splendour of this
eastern capital of the world, and those few have been so
minutely described by others, that a brief sketch of their
present state will suffice.
By far the most'ancient and interesting is that called the
Brazen Serpent, which has been with so much ingenuity of
research, and almost certainty of conclusion, traced up to
the Persian war, and supposed to be the stand on which the
golden tripod was supported, which was consecrated in the
temple of Delphi by the victorious Greeks, and which both
Pagan and Christian historians agree was removed to his
new city by Constantine. It still stands in the Hippodrome,
where it was placed by him. It consists of three colossal
serpents of brass, twined together, having once had three
heads issuing from the summit, forming a support for a
patera or tripod. The Sultan Mahomet, at the taking of the
city, struck off one of the jaws with his battle-axe. About
the year 1700 the other two heads were destroyed in the
night, and since then the Turks have gradually proceeded
with the mutilation. It is now entirely truncated, standing
without heads or necks, about ten feet high. It is gene-
rally a butt for Turkish boys to pelt with stones, an amuse-
ment they sometimes vary by pelting Christians in the same
place, as I have experienced. A large hole is broken into
the side of one of the serpents, and the cavity of the body
filled up with the missiles that had been thrown at it. I
348
NARRATIVE OF A
have often thought of and suggested the removal of this very
interesting remnant of antiquity to some European museum,
where it might be preserved. It affords a testimony of the
most interesting period of Grecian history, supported by a
train of evidence which Gibbon truly says “the guardians
of the most holy relics would rejoice if they were able to
produce."
Besides the brazen serpents, there stands in the Hip-
podrome an obelisk in high preservation, brought from
the Thebaid in Egypt. It is supported on a sculptured
pedestal, with inscriptions, half buried in the ground, but still
very legible, commemorating its erection by Theodosius, in
Greek and Latin. The sculpture in relief on four sides
exhibits the Emperor with his sons Arcadius and Ho-
norius, and other figures; but perhaps the most interesting
part is that which represents the erection of the obelisk,
and the mechanical powers employed at that day for the
purpose, forming a diagram from which modern architects
might take some instruction.
Opposite to it is the square column called the Colossus,
erected by Constantine Porphyrogenitus. A Greek inscrip-
tion assigns the reason why it was called Colossus *, because
it was a wonderful erection of brass, like that at Rhodes.
No part of the brass which gave it the astonishing cha-
racter ascribed to it now remains. It consisted of plates
covering the front, which the Turks have picked away, and
nothing is to be seen but a tall, unsightly, four-sided column
of rude masonry.
Of the objects which once dignified this spot, and which
have entirely disappeared, are the Brazen Horses, which stood
here in the Hippodrome, as in their most apposite place, and
* και ο ΓΑΡ ΚΟΛΟΣΣΟΣ ΘΑΜΒΟΣ ΗΝ ΕΝ ΤΩ ΡΟΔΩ
ΚΑΙ ΧΑΛΚΟΣ ΟΥΤΟΣ ΘΑΜΒΟΣ ΕΣΤΙΝ ΕΝΘΑΔΕ. .
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
349
whose travellings through the world have been more extended
than those of any other horses on record. According to Mu-
ratori they were originally fabricated in Persia, and when
the Romans made a conquest of that country were brought
to Rome, where they were in such high esteem that they
were commemorated by being placed on the reverse of coins
and medals *. From Rome they were brought by Constan-
tine to decorate his new city. Other accounts state that
they were the work of Lysippus, and others that they were
made in Corinth of the celebrated Corinthian brass, after
the sack of that city by Memmius; that they were brought
to Rome to grace the triumph of Nero and then of Trajan,
and were finally placed in the Temple of the Sun, and
thence brought to the new city. A fourth account states,
that they were taken from Chios by Theodosius the younger,
and by him placed in the Hippodrome. Whatever was their
early history, their subsequent adventures are well ascer-
tained. They were conveyed from Constantinople by Mor-
risoni to Venice. In the passage one of the horses' legs
was broken, which he repaired, and then set them up
before
the Church of St. Mark. From hence they were taken by
the French in 1797, and transferred to Paris, where I saw
them on the summit of the arch at the entrance to the Place
de Carousel, the objects of admiration and subjects of calem-
bourgst. In 1815 they again travelled back to Venice,
where they now are.
It is not without reason, therefore,
that a modern Greek historian calls them, οι σολυθρυλλητοι
και πολυτύχοι ίπποι. .
Among the columns which exist outside the Hippodrome
* Muratori, Rer. Ital. Script., tom. xxii. p. 34.
f It was supposed that Napoleon intended to place a statue of himself in
the vacant chariot, and one of the calembourgs circulated at the time was
le char l'attendre le charlatan,
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NARRATIVE OF A
the most perfect perhaps is that of Marcian, standing in a
private garden, called commonly Kiztash, or the Virgin's
Stone, by the Turks, from a tradition of a pillar erected to
Venus in this place by Constantine ; but this name I found
was not confined to one pillar. It is of the Corinthian
order, with an effaced Latin inscription on the pedestal.
Another is named by the Turks Daikili Tash, or the
Burnt Stone, because it has suffered severely from the con-
flagrations which consumed the houses in its vicinity; and
to keep it from separating into many fragments, into which
it was split by the heat, it was judiciously bound together
by metal rings*. It is composed of a base of marble and
eight blocks of red porphyry, each ten feet high, and twelve
in diameter, ascending originally to the height of one hun-
dred and twenty feet; the joints are concealed by bands of
laurel leaves, and the whole resembles one solid block. The
circumstances of its erection gave it an interest to the Greeks
of the Lower Empire, and does so to the Greeks of the pre-
sent day, which far exceeds that of every other remnant of
antiquity.
When Constantine had abjured Paganism, and made
Constantinople the capital of the Christian world, he erected
this pillar to commemorate the event, and inscribed on its
base that his new city was placed under the protection of
Christ f. To give it the greater solemnity he deposited be-
neath within its foundation relics at that time deemed most
precious: one of the nails which had fastened our Saviour
13
* Vicinis incendiis ustulata multis locis agit rimas, et ne desiliat, crebris
circulis ferreis revincitur.—Busbeq., p. 69.
+ ΣΟΙ ΧΡΙΣΤΕ ΚΟΣΜΟΥ ΚΟΙΡΑΝΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΔΕΣΠΟΤΗΣ
ΣΟΙ ΝΥΝ ΠΡΟΣΕΞΑ ΤΗΝΔΕ ΤΗΝ ΔΟΥΛΗΝ ΠΟΛΙΝ !
ΚΑΙ ΣΚΗΙΙΤΡΑ ΤΑΔΕ ΚΑΙ ΤΟ ΤΗΣ ΡΩΜΗΣ ΚΡΑΤΟΣ
1
ΦΥΛΑΣΣΕ ΤΕ ΑΥΤΗΝ ΣΩΣΕ ΕΚ ΠΑΣΗΣ ΒΛΑΒΗΣ. .
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE,
351
to the Cross, which had just then been discovered by his
mother Helena, and a fragment of the bread which was
preserved after the miracle of the five barley loaves, with
which He had fed five thousand persons. The Emperor
and his people always descended from their horses, and
made a profound reverence in passing the pillar, and
hence it was called legov, and held in the highest respect, as
well from the cause of its erection as from the sacred things
it contained within its base. The column was surmounted
by a splendid figure of Apollo, the tutelary deity of the Em-
peror before he embraced Christianity, whom he has com-
memorated on many of his coins, and after whom he called
the Christian Sabbath Dies Solis, an example which we fol-
low at this day by naming it Sunday.
The pillar was some time after struck by lightning, and
the statue with its first joint cast down. In this state it
continued till the time of the Comneni, one of whom erected
a cross where the heathen statue had stood, and added an-
other inscription, implying that he had repaired it*. About
forty years ago a great fire in the neighbourhood consumed
all the houses about it, and did the pillar further injury. It
stands in a quarter of the town called Taoukbazar, which for-
merly was the residence of European Ambassadors, and was
just opposite the hotel where Busbequius lodged f. It is
now a narrow, dark, and dirty spot. The pillar is encircled
by a wall, so that it is not easy to approach. It is not sur-
mounted by any cross, but presents the appearance of a
ferruginous, dingy stump, to which the action of the fire, as
well as the colour of the stone, contributes, while the bands
ΤΟ ΘΕΙΟΝ ΕΡΓΟΝ ΕΝΘΑΔΕ ΦΘΑΡΕΝ ΧΡΟΝΩ
ΚΑΙΝΕΙ ΜΑΝΟΥΗΛ ΕΥΣΕΒΗΣ ΑΥΤΟΚΡΑΤΩΡ. .
+Sita est ex adverso diversorii in quo Cæsareos oratores hospitari mos est.-
Busb., p. 68.
352
NARRATIVE OF A
round it give it the semblance of a tall barrel, the staves of
which were kept together by iron hoops.
But in order to satisfy your inquiries with respect to the
Pillars of Theodosius and Arcadius, I have searched the
city and ransacked its chronicles, and the following is the
result.
There were two celebrated marble columns in the city of
Constantinople when it was taken by the Turks, one called
the Pillar of Theodosius, and the other the Pillar of Arca-
dius, built after the model of the former.
The Pillar of Theodosius stood in the Forum of Taurus,
in the Seventh Region of the city, which extends to the Sea
of Marmora*. It was formed of blocks of marble, was hol-
low within, and had winding stairs ascending to the summit,
on which was placed the statue of Theodosius f. As this
part of the city was much shaken by earthquakes, the column
suffered in common with it, so that it was much shattered,
and the statue thrown down in the year that ancient Rome
was takeng. This loss, however, was afterwards supplied
by Anastatius Dicorus, who erected his own in its placell,
but this was also dislocated like the former. When the Franks
took possession of Constantinople, they led Murzulphus
the Tyrant to the summit of the pillar, and cast him down
as a punishment for his crimes. It was also made use of
* Hæc acl mare seipsum inclinat.-Vet.
+ Τον του ταυρου έστησαν ο μέγας Θεοδοσιος έχει δε ούτος ένδοθεν και άδον άνω φε-
powody.—Cedienus.
Incepit regnare Theodosius A.D. 379.
: Επέσε δε και η στήλη του μεγάλου Θεοδοσιου εις τον κιόνα του ταυρου.-Cedr.
§ Cecidit terræ motu eo anno quo Roma antiq. capta est.-Gil.
|| Εστησε δε οικείαν εκ χαλκου.--Zonaras.
Incepit regnare Anastatius Dicorus A.D. 491.
T E qua præcipitem Murzulphum Tyrannum egisse Francos nostros.-- Du
Cange.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
353
for a purpose not uncommon in the early ages of Christi-
anity. A solitary man, in a fit of religious enthusiasm,
fixed his abode on the top, like Simeon Stylites*, who, deny-
ing himself an earthly habitation, nor yet being able to attain
to an heavenly one, remained, as it were, between both, an
hermit in a desert in the midst of a populous city t. It
appears also that it was called the Historical Pillar, from the
sculptures in basso relievo on the base and shaft; and the
Prophetic Pillar, because these sculptures were said to in-
dicate the future fortunes of the city I.
The second pillar was in the Twelfth Region, on the
Seventh Hill, which includes within it the district of the
Seven Towers. It was erected by Arcadius 8, on the model
of the former ), and contained stairs within and sculpture on
the surface. On the summit stood the statue of Arcadius,
which, like that of Theodosius, was also thrown down, and
the pillar much shattered by an earthquake 1.
When Busbequius visited Constantinople, two pillars were
standing**; one of them was opposite the Caravansera in
* Siineon Stylites, dictus a columna xl cubitorum in qua cellulam sibi con-
struxit. Vixit lvi annos quorum xxx in columna exegit montis jugo impo-
sita.Kartholt de Sæculo v.
+ In cujus summitate solitarium latibulum habuisse, qui terrenam sibi
habitationem negans, nedum cælestem attingens, quasi inter utrumque medius,
Eremum sibi fecerat in medio celeberrimæ civitatis.-Guạtherus.
Etoixeiwdzīs seu fatidicus.
Τας έσχατας ιστοριας της πόλεως έχουσαν έν ιστορίας εγγεγραμμένας.---Collinus. .
§ Incepit regnare Arcadius Theod. filius, A.D. 383. Columna Arcadii in
Septimo colle in duodecimâ regione maris confinio-portam auream in se
continente.-Gillius.
The Porta Aurea is part of the Seven Towers.
| Εργον Αρκαδιου ομοιον κατα παντα τω ταυρω.-Cedrenus.
4 Σεϊσμος επισκέπτει το Βυζαντιον μεθ' όν Αρκαδιου ανδριας ερριπτο.-Nicephorus.
** Duo visuntur memorabiles columnæ, &c. One of these was the burnt
column. Busbequius was sent Ambassador to Constantinople in 1554. His
" Itinera” were published in 1582.
VOL. II.
2 A
354
NARRATIVE OF A
which he lodged, and the other in the quarter of the town
called the Aurath-bazar, or Woman's Market, and which
he calls the Pillar of Arcadius*.
In the time of Gillius but one remained ; that of Theodo-
sius had been taken down, and the remains of it removed
about forty years beforet by Bajazet, to make room for a bath
which he erected on its site ; but the Pillar of Arcadius re-
mained entiref, with the exception of the statue, and Gil-
lius gives a minute description of it.
It was formed of marble blocks laid one over the other,
and so well jointed that, if it had not been for the shocks of
earthquakes and lapse of time which had displaced some
of them, the whole would appear but as one single stoneſ.
The shaft consisted of twenty-one blocks, the pedestal of five,
and a compartment above the capital of two, making in all
twenty-nine blocks of marble. The upper was thirteen
feet in height, the next six, and the remainder five and
four feet, making the height of the whole pillar one hundred
and thirty-eight feet. These blocks formed a series of joints,
like the vertebræ of the human spine ||, hollow within, and
containing steps leading from the base to the summit. These
steps corresponded with the form of the parts of the pillar,
* Ei ab imo ad summam insculpta Historia cujusdam expeditionis Ar-
cadii. Cochlidem dixeris propter structuram graduum quibus intus ad sum-
mam ascenditur.—Busbeq.
t Columnam Theodosii Baizites rex, ut commodius Balneum construeret,
ante 40 annos quam ego Byzantium venissem, everterat.-Gillius.
Gillius came to Constantinople before Busbequius, and died at Rome in
1555, the year after Busbequius was sent there. The second pillar mentioned
by Busbequius could not have been that of Theodosius.
I Columna Arcadii quæ etiamnum extat iu Septimo colle.--Gil.
§ Omnibus adeo inter se conjunctis ut si vel terræmotu vel vetustate nun-
quam concussa fuisset, ex uno eodemque lapide tota columna constare vide-
retur.--Gil.
Il Conjuncti tanquam sponduli.--Gil.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
355
those in the pedestal making a square staircase turning at
right angles, those in the shaft a circular one, ascending in
a spiral form round a central pillar, making in all two hun-
dred and thirty steps of both kinds. The stairs were lighted
by fifty-six apertures, like little windows, penetrating the
outside wall, or crust of the blocks. The whole rested on
three steps, the lowest formed of several stones, but the
highest of a single flag, thirty feet square. These steps led
to the entrance in the base of the pedestal, which was by a
door on the north side.
The pillar was of the Tuscan order. The pedestal was
surmounted by a cornice, the principal ornament of which
was a torus, or circular moulding, formed of laurel leaves,
bound with flexible fillets*. The surface was covered with
sculpture exceedingly well executed, representing various
battles, and ascending to the summit, like Trajan's Pillar
at Rome.
When Spon and Wheler † visited Constantinople this
pillar was extant and in good preservation. It is described
as standing near the middle of the city, and erected in
honour of Arcadius and Honorius. It had stairs within, and
was covered without by basso-relievo figures of the emperors
crowned with victory, and of women crowned with battle-
ments, who represented the cities which these princes had
taken. On different parts was the Labarum, or the cypher
* Torus laureatus alligatus vittis flexuosis.--Gil.
† Spon and Wheler visited Constantinople in the years 1675 and 1676.
They say the figures on the lower part of the pillar were badly treated by the
Turks, from an opinion that God will punish all those who presume to make
figures of any animal. « Chacune de ces figures viendra lui demander son
ame, à faute de quoi elles l'accuseront devant Dieu de leur avoir donné ce
corps sans avoir pu en même temps un esprit pour les animer, et Dieu leur
donnera une ame en punissant ceux qui auront eu la témérité de les faire.'
-Voyage de l'Archip. et de Const., vol. i. 136.
2 A 2
356
NARRATIVE OF A
formed of the two first letters of the name of Christ, which
the piety of the Roman emperors had now substituted for
the Roman eagle. It is also mentioned by Tournefort, who
calls it the Historic Pillar, erected by Arcadius, with the
conquered cities represented by women crowned with towers,
and the Labarum with the monogram IXNIKA. He
says the bas-reliefs were of a good taste, but the Emperor
was represented in a chair, with robes like a doctor of laws;
that it was formed of white marble, and the height one hun-
dred and forty-seven feet. He attributes the injury done
to the figures to fire, and says nothing of earthquakes*.
The pillar thus described by Gillius and subsequent
writers has also disappeared, but I had heard from a janis-
sary that in the place where he lived, towards the Seven
Towers, there was an old thing which he described in such
a way as induced me to think it might be the stump of a
fallen column, and as it was in the direction in which the
Pillar of Arcadius stood, I thought it might possibly be the
remains of it. So I took Mustapha, and with a friend went
one day in search of it. We came to what presented the
appearance of a rude mass of mishapen masonry, called in
the neighbourhood the Kiztash, or the Woman's Stone. It
was surrounded by a boarded partition, into which we were
admitted, and found it formed a Turkish habitation, of which
the Kiztash was a part. We entered it by a square door,
and found inside a staircase, by which we ascended to the
summit, both exactly resembling those of Trajan's and An-
tonine's Pillars at Rome. It was the square pedestal and
part of the circular shaft of a column formed of large blocks
* Elle est estimable par sa hauteur, qui est de 167 pieds, et par les bas-
reliefs qui sont d'un assez bon goût pour ce temps-là ; c'est dommage que le
feu les ait maltraité.--Voyage du Levant, vol. ii., Letter xii. 231.
Tournefort visited Constantinople in the year 1701.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
357
of marble, five and six feet high, and admirably joined
where they have not been displaced by violence. The
pedestal is ascended by steps which form a square staircase,
turning at right angles, and terminating in a circular stair-
case, winding round a central shaft. The stairs are lighted
by square apertures, forming little windows; below is a
square chamber, through which perhaps was the original
entrance, and passing from it within is another, at the first
ascent of the stairs. On the roof of this last is some sculp-
ture, which seems of an inferior kind, and was probably added
at some period subsequent to the erection of the column.
The only part of the exterior which retains traces of its
origin is a portion of a broad moulding immediately below
the commencement of the circular stairs; it stands at the
base of what was the shaft, and is exactly similar to the
torus, or circular moulding described by Gillins, consisting
of laurel leaves, bound by flexible fillets. There are besides
a few imperfect remains on the surface, which seem to
hiny
Timonsin
tubundium
elemy
Erol
DADD
358
NARRATIVE OF A
be broken mouldings and the limbs and fragments of sculp-
ture, representing human bodies.
The sketch of the perfect pillar annexed is taken from
Du Cange, who had it from a canon of St. Geneviève at
Paris *. It exhibits on the base the Emperor on his
throne, surrounded by women with turreted caps, who re-
present his provinces and cities. The shaft contains his
triumphal entry into his capital. It is of the Tuscan order,
and has a torus of laurel leaves, bound with a flexible fillet.
Du Cange gives it as a representation of what the pillar
formerly was, and similar to one in the Campus Martius at
Romet.
It is probable, then, that this pillar which had women on
the base, and stood in the Twelfth Region of the city, towards
the Seven Towers, and that these remains of a column
which stand in the same place, and are still called the
Woman's Stone, indicate the same monument which is
described by historians as the Pillar of Arcadius, and which
was standing in the time of Gillius, Busbequius, Wheler,
and Tournefort.
* Suppeditavit vir doctiss. Claud. Riolinetus ex monasterii Bibliothecâ.
+ Et similem ei, quantum ex picturâ conjicere possum, quæ Romæ in Campo
Martio posita est.

Ergos de Printed by R Staz Paternoster Rom
PILLAR OF ARCADIUS
GNL
OF
3,
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
359
+
CHAPTER XIV.
Account of Greek Church from a Greek MS._First Patriarch under the Turks
received a sum of Money from Sultan—This arrangement altered--Cause of
it-Patriarch since pays the Turks-Attempts to extirpate the Religion of
the Greeks-How prevented-First Learned Men-Greeks form a Constitu-
tion for themselves-Synods, how composed_Election of Patriarch-Tur-
bulent Assembly-Conduct in Patriarchal Church - Revenue of Patriarch-
Of the Synods-Jurisdiction of Bishops Number at present in Greek
Church-Peculiar Privileges of someo-Revenue how raised-Patriarch of
Alexandria-Of Antioch Of Jerusalem - Dress of Ecclesiastics, once
splendid—Why-Now very simple-Convents-Mount Athos-Thessaly-
Cyprus Mesopotamia — Mount Sinai-Holy Sepulchre.
The Greeks of Constantinople have attracted so much
notice, and been so long objects of public attention, that
you will think the subject exhausted. Some particulars,
however, have come to my knowledge which do not appear
to me to have been yet made public. I obtained a manuscript
account of the actual state of the Greek church in 1809,
drawn up by the learned Ignatius, the Metropolitan of
Arta, in the Sea of Marmora, which I know to be the most
minute and correct, as well as the most curious, that has
yet been written. The following contains some of the prin-
cipal facts in a condensed form.
When Mahomet II. had suffered the Turks to glut their
cupidity and gratify their worst passions, on their first burst
into the devoted city of Constantinople, he proclaimed an
amnesty for all who were left alive ; and in order to conci-
liate them and ensure their protection, he sent for Genna-
dius Scholarius, who had been the superintendent of the
public schools, and invested him with the office of patri-
arch. He presented him with a large staff of ebony as
the ensign of his office, clothed him in a splendid pelisse,
360
NARRATIVE OF A
set him on a horse richly caparisoned, and assigned him the
church of the Holy Apostles as his residence. He then
made him a present of one thousand ducats of gold, assured
to him the free exercise of his functions, and to his people of
their religion. Shortly after an obscure monk appeared
at Constantinople; and knowing the cupidity of the Turks,
he
presented to the Sultan one thousand ducats of gold, and
supplanted Gennadius; a second monk, by doubling the
sum, supplanted the former, and so the usage was esta-
blished. Instead of the sovereign conferring on the Patri-
arch a sum of money to defray his expenses on his appoint-
nent, a rule which Mahomet intended to establish, every
succeeding patriarch was compelled to pay a certain sum on
his advancement, and the patriarchate became a matter of
purchase, and continues so to this day.
The Mussulmans became soon after jealous of the favour
shown to Christians, and sought an opportunity of ruining
them. The church of the Apostles granted as the patri-
archate was taken from them and converted into a mosque,
and an obscure convent of the Panaya assigned in its stead ;
and it was thus the intention to withdraw by degrees all the
recognised places of Christian worship, and convert them
into Mahomedan ; but this process appearing too slow, the
Sultan, urged by the Mufti, issued an order to the Patriarch,
that all the Greeks subject to his spiritual authority should
conform to the religion of Mahomet. The Patriarch de-
clared he could not, consistent with his duty, comply with-
out first urging his reasons for not doing so before the Divan.
This was deemed reasonable, and no obstacle to the project,
and a full assembly was convened for the purpose, before
whom the Patriarch spoke as follows :-
" When Constantinople was taken by the great grand-
father of the present Sultan, a part of the city which the
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
361
most noble of the Greeks defended, surrendered only on
the following condition. That at every return of Easter
the gates of the Fortress should be open for three days,
that the Greeks who lived outside the enclosure might avail
themselves of the opportunity of going to their church.”
The Turks admitted no proof but the evidence of living
witnesses, and the judges demanded of the patriarch if he
had any to prove the fact. Knowing the law, he had already
prepared them.
He selected some of the oldest and most
venerable janissaries, to whom he had given large sums of
money, and they came forward and gravely deposed they
were present when these terms of capitulation were agreed
to. The Turks were satisfied, though some of the witnesses
were not born at the period; and the extirpation of Christi-
anity was for that time averted.
The Greeks had hitherto neglected the arts and sciences,
and everything like a regular organization of their civil
or religious affairs : holding their lives at the will and
caprice of their masters, they lived only for the day,
expecting that on the next a period would be put to
their scarcely-tolerated existence. They preserved, how-
ever, a strong and enduring attachment to the faith of their
fathers, and neither threats nor entreaties could induce
them to amalgamate it with that of their conquerors, as
others of the vanquished people had done. They wished,
after this vain attempt to extirpate them, to instruct them-
selves, and the Turks made no opposition ; but the ambas-
sadors of foreign powers at Constantinople, who had been
indebted to their ancestors for their sources of information,
interposed with the Divan to prevent them. Instruction was
strictly forbidden, their worship was again menaced, and
the orthodox faith of the Oriental church about to be extin-
guished to gratify its enemies.
362
NARRATIVE OF A
At this critical time appeared some enlightened men who
averted this threatened destruction. Theophilus and Mile-
tius, Metropolitans of Arta; Chrysanthes Noturas, Patri-
arch of Jerusalem, and Alexander Mavrocordato, were the
first persons since the subjugation of the Greeks who had
shown any superior intelligence. They had travelled
through the enlightened countries of Europe, and brought
.
back the information they had acquired to enlighten their
countrymen; and the first effect of the knowledge diffused
by their means was to give some organization to the state of
their civil and ecclesiastical affairs, to restrain the unlimited
power of the Patriarch, to submit the clergy to certain rules,
to give to the body of the people representatives to conduct
their affairs and manage their pecuniary resources; and
they obtained permission from their masters for this pur-
pose, as it furnished the best means of raising such a reve-
nue as would
appease
the anger or conciliate the favour of
the Turkish government.
A synod, formed of all the metropolitans and arch-
bishops dwelling in the capital, was the basis of this organi-
zation. It was composed of eight resident ecclesiastics and
the archbishops of Chalcedon and Darias, who, though non-
residents, were near, and generally in the capital. This
synod, with representatives from the nobility, the citizens,
and the trades, formed a general assembly, invested with
the right of electing the patriarch. All fiscal matters were
regulated by a committee of twelve, formed of four repre-
sentatives from each of the estates, and renewed every year,
and, before their separation, bound to return an account of
the receipts and expenditure to the Kovov, or General As-
sembly. A seal was made by which all acts were impressed.
It was divided into four pieces, which were consigned to as
many metropolitans. The patriarch had a key which united
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
363
ceses.
them, so that to give validity to every act, the concurrence
of the patriarch and four metropolitans was necessary in
sealing it.
The patriarch, in right of his office, is judge of all civil
and criminal cases, as bishops are in their respective dio-
He is assisted by a particular synod, composed of
ecclesiastics and laymen in his immediate employment,
This tribunal is opened twice a week with great ceremony,
and the patriarch administers justice in it with the same
formalities as the Grand Vizir, having a guard of janissaries
to execute his orders. The code of laws adopted is that of
Justinian, and the judge has the power of sending the con-
victed to the galleys, to the prison of the Bagnio, to the
fortresses, to a prison of his own, or into exile, as he shall
decree, without being responsible to any one for his sentence.
An extraordinary privilege is granted to this tribunal.
When a Christian is under capital condemnation by the
Porte, the guards of the patriarch may seize him and save
his life, by sending him to the galleys. Such was the repu-
tation of this court of justice before the insurrection, that
Turks and Jews preferred appealing to it in preference to
their own.
Besides these there is a grand synod, composed of the
patriarch and metropolitans only, which possesses a kind of
absolute authority, as well in ecclesiastical as in temporal
matters. To this are referred all the sentences pronounced
by the bishops in their respective dioceses, and to this all the
firmans of the Turkish government are directed. On every
Sunday and festival the metropolitans assist at divine ser-
vice, after which they retire to the sanctuary, from whence
they are summoned by the patriarch to a grand hall, where
they transact business. All affairs of the Greeks in the
last resort are referred to this synod, and it frequently sends
364
NARRATIVE OF A
memorials to obtain firmans of the Porte to carry its decrees
into execution. These firmans are founded on the recog-
nised privileges of Christians, whether from assent, usage,
reason, or justice, and the Porte never refuses.
The patriarch is entitled “ Archbishop of Constantinople,
or New Rome," and “Ecumenic Patriarch," and addressed
as "Most Holy' and “Despot.” He celebrates divine ser-
vice three times in the year in the patriarchal church, viz.,
Christmas, the First Sunday in Lent, and Easter.
It had been the practice of the Greek emperors fre-
quently to displace the patriarch, and allow him to retain
his power but a short time, as they dreaded the spiritual
influence he might acquire. This custom the Turks were
glad to adopt, in order to obtain the sum paid on every new
appointment; but they do it by indirect means, leaving the
semblance of deposition to the synod. When it is decided
on, an officer is sent by the Porte, who conducts the patri-
arch to some place appointed for his exile. A corps of
janissaries is then despatched, who take possession of the
patriarchate till another is elected by the synod. He is
then conducted to the Porte, wrapped in a white robe em-
broidered with yellow flowers, presented to him by the
Grand Vizir. He then pays visits of ceremony to all the
Turkish officers, and is finally conducted to the patriarchate.
The new patriarch is generally an old and feeble man;
yet he is presented with horses richly caparisoned, and
escorted by soldiers with military honours.
Four patriarchs had been deposed and elected during
my first residence in Turkey. On the execution of Gregory,
Eugenius was appointed in his place. He was led into the
palace under the hanging body of his predecessor; and a
short time after some Turkish rabble broke into the patri- !
archate, destroyed his chair of state, and attempted to murder
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
365
himself. His calpac was cut through with the blow of a sabre,
but the thick covering saved his life. He never recovered
from the shock, and he died in the following year under the
impression of terror. He was not permitted to be buried at
Arnaut Kui, because he must pass the palace of the Sultan at
Beshiktash, so he was interred at Haskui, and laid beside the
Jews who had treated his predecessor with such indignity.
On Friday following a firman was issued for electing
a new one, and Petropolo, the Megalos Logothetos, was
directed to inform the synod they might choose whom they
pleased, even any of the six bishops then confined in the
prison of the Bostangee Bashi. On the next day the synod
assembled, and I proceeded to witness the ceremony. The
hall of election was a large square apartment, with a divan
running round it. Here eight bishops and five hundred dele-
gates of the esnafs, or trades, assembled. On the divan were
seated the ecclesiastics and the most respectable of the dele-
gates. The common people occupied the middle of the room;
they seemed to be of the lowest and meanest class, and
there was a rudeness and want of order in the proceedings
of the assembly that reminded me of the exxłegią of their
turbulent ancestors. In this assembly three candidates were
proposed, the archbishop of Thessalonika and the bishops
Syra and Chalcedon. The first of these was the choice of
the clergy, but the last was the choice of the people. He
was one of those confined in prison, and there seemed to be
much sympathy for his fate. Five qualities were required
of the candidate, experience, prudence, ability, science,
and, above all, fealty to the Turkish government. The
people cried out that he possessed them all. A short and
turbulent debate ensued on the respective merits of the
others, when the people shouted with one voice, “ Halke-
dhony Anthemis," and having overcome all opposition, An-
366
NARRATIVE OF A
themis, bishop of Chalcedon, was elected by acclamation.
Among the persons most active on this occasion was a
Greek tchelebi, or gentleman, named Georgio Katembasi,
of my acquaintance. He had been a proscribed man, and
a short time before I saw him in disguise in close conceal-
ment. But on this occasion he could not be restrained; he
came forth to exercise his franchise at all hazards, and no
ancient Greek could be more tenacious of it or zealous in
supporting it, though it might cost him his life. By his
exertions principally the patriarch was elected.
The fate of this patriarch was singularly diversified. He
was a native of Constantinople, and appointed, early, bishop
of Smyrna. On the first burst of the insurrection he was
arrested there and cast into prison, On the death of the
bishop of Chalcedon he was appointed to his see by the late
patriarch, and his appointment confirmed by the Turks,
who knew and cared so little for the bishops, that they were
not aware he was then in prison. He was liberated, how-
ever, and was but ten days at large in his new see, when he
was again arrested and cast into the prison of the Bostangee
Bashi, from whence he was now taken and placed at the
head of the Eastern church.
The next day, Sunday, a deputation proceeded to the prison
of the Bostangee Bashi, brought their patriarch forth, and
conducted him to the cathedral. He had proceeded to the
Porte, where he was presented with a white horse, a black
cowl, a caftan of flowered silk, and the ebony pastoral staff,
according to usage. A Greek priest had been despatched
to the palace to bring us over to the ceremony, and we
found stalls prepared for us.
When the patriarchal pro-
cession arrived at the church, they lighted their tapers, and
entered. The crowd crushed in after him, and became
ungovernable. All sanctity of the place or day was for-
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
367
gotten, and the tumult was like that of a mob at a fair. He
was accompanied by a janissary with a baton, who thumped
the people on each side with the point, apparently breaking
their ribs. It was with much difficulty he at length con-
ducted the patriarch to the altar, whose robe was frequently
torn from his back by the number of hands that had seized
it in order that it might be kissed. It would naturally be
supposed that the sufferings of the Greeks at this time had
left such an impression of terror as would render them tract-
able-their behaviour was a strong proof of the excitability
of their character. One fellow clambered on a large appa-
ratus erected in the church for the ceremony, and nearly
dragged it down on the heads of the people; and when the
janissary attempted to dislodge him he kicked him in the
mouth, till I thought the Turk would have sheathed his
yatagan in his belly; but he merely walked out of the
church with an air as if his dignity was offended, and left
the impracticable rabble to themselves.
The patriarch now turned round to the people, holding
in one hand a scroll, and in the other a lighted taper,
twisted into three heads to represent the Trinity, and mov-
ing this over their heads, the stormy wave of the multitude
was instantly lulled, and they listened with profound atten-
tion to the contents of the scroll, which consisted of some
exhortations on moral and religious duties, and they an-
swered with a deep and spontaneous response-Amen.
From hence the patriarch was conducted to his throne, and
the repos xepuž, or the preacher appointed for the occasion,
ascended the pulpit. He was an eloquent man, and de-
livered his address without notes. He strongly inculcated
the necessity of Christian duties to the constituted autho.
rities, and particularly to the Sultan as supreme, whom he
called Vasilevs (Bavihevo). This was succeeded by another
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NARRATIVE OF A
address of the patriarch from his place. He stated that
his elevation was most unexpected, from a prison to a throne,
and not being able to account for it by human means, he
attributed it entirely to Providence. He stated that autho-
rities were ordained of God, and exhorted the people to obe-
dience, in the words and after the manner the Apostles
exhorted the primitive Christians to obey the Romans. He
then laid aside his crown and held out his hand to be kissed.
The tumult which had subsided during the address began
with increased clamour, every one pressed forward, climbing
over each other's back, and his hand was seized by so many
at once that he was nearly dragged out of his throne.
Those who could not reach it caught his robe, and pulled
it in different directions, till it was nearly torn to pieces.
It was necessary again to call in the guards to keep order.
Some chouashes returned with large thong whips: they
laid without mercy on the heads and faces of the crowd.
In vain the patriarch interposed. He was at length com-
pelled to make his escape from his unruly flock, which he
effected with much difficulty by the aid of his Turkish
guards.
When he returned to his palace we paid him a visit of
ceremony. We found him in the synod chamber, sitting
cross-legged on the corner of his divan. The patriarch
of Jerusalem and eighteen archbishops and bishops were
ranged along the sides of the apartment, and a crowd of visit-
ers filled the lower end. We were disposed to kiss his hand
in the usual form, but he would not permit us. He placed
us sitting close beside us, and when apprized that I was the
chaplain to the British embassy he seemed highly gratified.
He said it was chiefly through the interference of the Elchi
Bey that the election had taken place, and the patriarchal
chair had not remained unfilled ; and requested me to
return him thanks for his nation in general, and his own
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
369
obligation in particular. After sitting in familiar conversa-
tion with him for some time, objects of gaze and wonder to
the distant crowd of visiters, we retired, the worthy man
rising and blessing us at our departure.
In order to support the patriarchal dignity, and provide a
fund to answer the demands made on the Greek church,
various sources of revenue are adopted. The patriarch, as
bishop of Constantinople, has the power of confirming the
last will and testament of all Greeks who die within the
extent of his jurisdiction, on which arises a fee proportioned to
the value of the property, varying from fifty to one thousand
piastres; the right of nominating to all cure of souls in his
diocese, each nomination producing from five to seven thou-
sand piastres ; the right of inheriting all the property left
by monks in his diocese ; fees upon the administration of
civil justice, and which bear a strong oriental stamp, being
given in the form of presents by all who gain their causes,
or acquire by his decree possession of any property; the fees
of his chancery; presents made by archbishops and me-
tropolitans who are nominated to vacant offices, each person
never offering less than one or more than seven thousand
piastres; besides which every one who comes to the metropolis
on his affairs sends a douceur, varying from five hundred to
one thousand piastres, a usage which extends to laymen as
well as ecclesiastics; acts of confirmation of the privileges
of monasteries, with the first fruits arising from every
bishopric in his diocese, and a gift varying from fifty to
five hundred piastres from every other bishop. The revenue
arising from all these sources is very considerable, which
the patriarch expends in succouring the poor, supporting a
respectability conformable to his estate, and providing for
himself a fund to live on, should he be suffered to live, after
his deposition.
VOL. II.
2 B
370
NARRATIVE OF A
Besides this income of the patriarch, which is exclusively his
own, there is another which belongs to the church, both fixed
and fluctuating. The first is an annual tax paid by all bishops
and metropolitans, producing about one hundred thousand
piastres annually. The second is that which is paid on their
consecration; this is proportioned to the value of their sees, the
poorest paying ten thousand, and the richest a sum amount-
ing even to two hundred and fifty thousand piastres. This
money, which they have not yet received, is borrowed from
certain banks in Constantinople, and the loan is charged on
the income of their diocese, and gradually discharged. From
this revenue the synod pays the Turkish government forty
thousand piastres annually, as compensation for the tribute
owed by each prelate to the Sultan-gives a rich present to
every new minister on his appointment-satisfies or appeases
the wrath of the divan, when they make complaint for some
real or supposed delinquency of Greeks, who are suspected
of favouring Christians in their wars with the Turks. Any
surplus is expended on the support of the patriarchate.
The draughts on this chest generally so exceed its income,
that it is always in great distress.
The bishops of the several dioceses are secured in their
privileges and the exercise of their functions, civil and
ecclesiastical, by a written diploma given to each by the
Porte, and registered in the archives. They are declared
free and independent in everything which relates to the
exercise of the Greek religion, and in the administration of
civil justice. They preserve the rights accorded to the
Greeks by the government, and no local authority in the
country can interfere with them. They pay no tax or duties
on their incomes or rents. They are allowed a prison to
confine delinquents. They are permitted to dress with the
same magnificence, and to be attended with the same cortege
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
371
as the grandees of the Turkish empire, a privilege inter-
dicted to every other class of persons in Turkey; and finally,
they cannot be called before any tribunal except the divan
of the Sultan.
Under the Lower Empire the number of prelates was
unlimited and uncertain ; they are now restricted to one
hundred and fifty, of whom sixty are suffragan bishops.
Three of them claimed the right of independence on any
superior authority, the bishops of Ockri and Pekia, in Al-
bania, and of the isle of Cyprus. The two first have lately
recognized the power of the synod of Constantinople, as a
protection against Turkish tyranny, which their nominal
independence could not afford them; the last preserves a
show of independence, still wears a robe of purple, holds a
sceptre instead of a crosier, writes with red ink, and assumes
the title of Marapotatos, or “ Most Blessed.” The civil go-
vernment of the island is confided to him, and even the
military Turkish governor must consult him. These privi-
leges were found very fanciful and an inefficient protection
when the Greek insurrection broke out, and the island was
visited with Turkish vengeance.
The Christian ecclesiastics were deprived of their income
by the conquerors, which was conferred on mosques, imarets,
and other Mahomedan establishments; and by this means
two-thirds of their revenues under the Lower Empire are
now directed into this channel, and the bishops of the Greek
church have no permanent property: yet the Turkish go-
vernment deemed it necessary that they should support a
certain rank and dignity, as essential to the efficiency of the
government they wished them to exercise under them, and
they therefore assigned to them other means of support.
Every family is obliged to pay a certain capitation annually,
amounting to the third part of a Turkish piastre, to the
2 B 2
372
NARRATIVE OF A
bishop; and as this is afterwards commuted for produce of
the land, it is now valued at ten piastres each : besides
which, every priest in his diocese assigns to him two ducats ;
every layman pays one piastre for his first marriage, for his
second, twelve, and so in proportion for every future one;
the heirs of every person buried give a certain sum, varying
from ten to one hundred piastres ; every monastery and
every church a fixed sum, varying according to their means;
and the bishop becomes the heir of all monks and nuns, and
receives besides liberal contributions from the pious while
living, and considerable property left by the deceased. The
income arising from these sources generally enables the
bishop to live with respectability, answer the demands on
him for charity, pay his contributions to the public chest of
the synod, and satisfy Turkish rapacity, when from any
pretext it is excited and exercised.
Every bishop presides over a synod in his diocese, com-
posed of ecclesiastics and respectable laymen, who form toge-
ther a tribunal for civil and criminal matters; and in cities
not episcopal is a similar synod, over which a vicar-general
of the diocese presides. The title of archbishop is “ Despot,"
and of a bishop, “ Well-beloved of God.” They are
elected by the synod of. Constantinople, and are usually
selected from those ecclesiastics who have served from their
youth in the patriarchal church, or are recommended by
such as are Evergetes, or benefactors of the Greek nation.
When the Turks, as they often do, interfere to set aside such
an election, they are always appeased by a sum of money.
Besides the patriarch of Constantinople, there are three
others recognized in the Greek church, the chief of whom
is the patriarch of Alexandria. Under the Greek emperors
he had a number of suffragan bishops; but the Christian
population of Africa having become almost extinct, there
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
373
now remain to the patriarch only three titular bishops, who
compose his court.
But though he has lost the reality of
power and influence, he has lost nothing of his titles. He
is still called “Pope and Patriarch of all Egypt,” “Father
of Fathers,” «Shepherd of Shepherds,”? “ Pontiff of Pontiffs,"
“ The Thirteenth from the Apostles," "Judge of the Uni-
verse," “ Most Blessed Despot.” The great majority of
Christians in Egypt are Roman Catholics, or Copths; and
as the few who follow the doctrines of the Greek church
are altogether unable to support his dignity, the others are
obliged by the Porte to contribute something towards it.
The patriarch of Antioch has no suffragan bishops, yet
he assumes, besides other titles, that of “ Pope and Patri-
arch of all the East.” His principal income is derived
from the Roman Catholics, who are compelled, like those
of Egypt, to pay a certain tribute ordered by the Porte,
having but few Greeks resident in his district, and even
those few unacquainted with their own language. It was
here that the atrocious outrage on humanity was principally
perpetrated by the Turks. They cut out the tongues of the
parents, that their children might have no means of acquir-
ing their own language, and thus be compelled to learn that
of their conquerors. So efficient has this barbarous expe-
dient been, that the Greeks of those countries at this day
speak only Turkish, and it was principally with a view to
their instruction that the Turkish Bible was published.
Neither the patriarchs of Alexandria nor Antioch have any
influence or jurisdiction in these districts, and they generally
reside at Constantinople.
The patriarch of Jerusalem is nominated and elected by
his predecessor. He is addressed, among other titles, as
Pope and Bishop of Palestine.” He has no revenue, but
the church of the Holy Sepulchre supports him, and fifteen
374
NARRATIVE OF A
titular bishops, who reside in the monastery attached to
it. He has a synod composed of bishops and archiman-
drites, and participates in that high respect that is paid to
the sacred place of his district.
Under the Greek emperors the clergy were not re-
markable by any particular dress, and retained the same
simplicity under the Ottoman. But a circumstance occur-
red which compelled them to distinguish their order. The
Sultan Solyman was preparing for the invasion of Hungary,
and assembled his forces at Adrianople. The patriarch, at
the head of his clergy and an immense suite, proceeded
thither to pay their respects. The Turks seeing this nume-
rous body approach their camp, took the alarm, and sup-
posing it to be the advance of an enemy, proceeded to
meet them. Before
any
hostile attack was made the mis-
take was discovered, and to prevent a similar one in future
the Sultan ordered the dignitaries of the Greek church to
adopt a costume, by which they could be recognized at a
distance. They therefore wore hats of bright scarlet velvet,
adorned with rich crosses embroidered in gold. But this
appearing not to accord with the simplicity of Christian
prelates, they were allowed in time to alter it, and assume
one more humble. Their present dress is singularly so. It
was adopted from the monks of Mount Athos. It consists of
a black crape veil thrown over a plain black cap, and falling
down on the shoulders, and when the patriarch throws off
the gaudy pelisse with which the Turks still clothe him at
his election, he emerges as simply and plainly clad as the
humblest ecclesiastic of any Christian sect.
As the revenues of the secular clergy were applied by the
Turks to support mosques and imarets, so that of the monas-
teries was appropriated to the establishment of tekés, or
monastic establishments for dervishes, and the comparatively
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
375
few that remain are under the jurisdiction of the patriarchs
and bishops in their respective dioceses. They are much
more numerous in the islands than on the continent, and are
preserved there as a refuge to the people against the constant
inroads of pirates. Wherever we landed we found one or
more built with such massive strength that they resembled
fortresses. The most remarkable of those now existing are as
follow : Mount Athos, near the Gulf of Thessalonica, contains
twenty-three, and it is therefore called the Sacred Mount.
The rules of the convent are very rigorous, and preserve
much of their primitive simplicity. They are the deposito-
ries of many valuable relics, particularly large pieces of the
true cross, in one of which is still to be seen the hole made
by one of the nails which fastened the hand or foot of Christ.
The books of the church are all in manuscript, nor is there,
I believe, yet introduced a printed copy. The discipline is
so rigid that the females of all animals are excluded, and
are not permitted to enter their enclosures. The ecclesiastics
never eat meat, though they procure it for strangers who
visit them. The administration is confided to a body of
monks, of whom the president is a Turk of the imperial
guard, chosen by themselves and approved by the Porte.
Notwithstanding the security of this protection, they are
plundered of those gifts which the pious pour in upon them;
and though they have lands in Macedonia and Thessaly,
the pashas, under some pretext, seize on almost the whole
of the revenue.
When the insurrection spread into the promontory of
Cassandra, the unfortunate monks of Mount Athos were
induced to partake in it, or suspected to do so. Their con-
vents, supplied with cannon, situated on precipices, and so
inaccessible that some have no doors below, and the inmates,
on their return from abroad, are drawn up by cords and
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NARRATIVE OF A
baskets, were considered as excellent places of defence, and
crowds retired thither with much valuable effects. When
Abdullabood, the Turkish pasha, had reduced Cassandra,
he entered the peninsula of Mount Athos, and the timid
monks at once submitted. The pasha exacted a contribu-
tion of three thousand purses, and, not content with this, he
stripped the churches of their chalices and all their valuable
plate. He spared the lives of the poor monks, but he exe-
cuted without pity every stranger whom he found within
their walls.
In other parts of Thessaly are similar monasteries built
on the summit of lofty pyramidal mountains, and called
“ Meteor.” They possessed considerable property, but were
plundered of the greater part of it by Ali Pasha, of Yanina.
Two of them are better protected. The abbot of Thensi
had rendered some essential services to the Turks at one
period, and he is still allowed to enjoy all his original pri-
vileges. Another at Ockri had the good fortune to be dedi-
cated to a Saint Naum, whom the Turks also claim as a
holy man of their religion. Whether he contrived to be
both a Mahomedan and a Christian at the same time, does
not appear, but the Turks respect even the infidel establish-
ment consecrated to him, and they abstain from all exaction
and oppression of its inmates.
In the island of Cyprus is the monastery of Kieas, which
is celebrated for possessing the actual and identical portrait
of our Saviour, painted in encaustic by St. Luke. The
sacred picture is covered with a veil, and never shown except
to those who make a pilgrimage to the Holy City. Hence
it is that all Christians, on their return from Jerusalem, are
enjoined to take Cyprus in their way, and visit this convent.
There still exists in Mesopotamia a convent of the Greek
church. The Emperor Murad, when he proceeded to the
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
377
siege of Babylon, stopped there and was hospitably enter-
tained by the monks. He therefore accorded to it great
privileges, which are still respected, though the poverty of
the monks and paucity of Christians in this remote district
have suffered the edifices to fall into decay.
But the most interesting is that which exists in Arabia,
on Mount Sinai, built by the Emperor Justinian, on the
spot where Moses saw the burning bush. When Mahomet
began to be formidable in Arabia, the monks sent him
ambassadors to claim his friendship and protection. He
accorded them all they demanded, called some of his attend-
ants to be witnesses of his promise, and signed a deed drawn
up for the purpose, not with his name, but with his hand,
the impression of which was left on the paper. When the Ma-
homedans afterwards took possession of all Egypt, the monks
presented this paper as their protection. The document
was admitted as good evidence, and they were left uninjured.
It was also presented to Sultan Selim, who acknowledged
its authenticity, placed it among the archives of the empire,
and
gave
the monks a copy, which they at present possess.
The monks amount to sixty, and live with great simplicity.
They possess a number of Arab slaves, whom they have
converted to Christianity, and who live on the mountain
around the monastery, protected from their countrymen.
Some monks of this establishment are externs, and reside
at Grand Cairo. They are all respected by the Turks for
their simplicity and blameless lives, and exempted from any
tribute. They elect an archbishop, who is consecrated by
the patriarch of Constantinople, where he generally resides
on a pension allowed by the convent. He was one of the
most intimate and respected friends I knew in the Greek
church, and is perhaps the most learned and accomplished
of their ecclesiastics. His merit raised him to the patri-
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NARRATIVE OF A
archate, in the enjoyment of which dignity I left him on
my last departure from Constantinople.
The last and most respected in the Greek church is that
of the Holy Sepulchre. Every year pious Christians and
those who visit Jerusalem send large sums to this convent,
and the most opulent Greeks make it a point to leave on
their deaths some legacy to it, either in money or property
of houses and lands. The treasure it possesses is supposed to
be immense, but its amount is never known, not even to the
patriarch. The grand treasurer, who is the sole depository
of the secret, is a simple canon. He selects a successor
among the most taciturn and faithful of his brethren, to
whom at dying he confides the secret, and so the spot
where these immense and accumulated treasures are con-
cealed has never yet transpired, though the Turkish govern-
ment have often employed both threats and entreaties to
discover it.
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CHAPTER XV.
Doctrines of Greek Church–Dissent from Latin-Marriage of Priests
Exclusion of Images-Opinion of Apocryphal Books—Procession of the
Holy Spirit-Translation of the Scriptures—Use of Leavened Bread in
Eucharist--Elements of both kinds given to the Laity--Other points of
difference - Superstitious Observances Casting Cross into the Sea-
Festival of the Fishes-_Judas Iscariot burnt on Good Friday-Effigies
of Christ on Easter Sunday—Paschal Eggs-Rising Sun—Baptism of
Proselytes and Adults—Exorcism-Oblations for the Dead-Mode of Burial
-Greek Liturgy-Chanting Service-Almanacs—Academy of Ayveli-
Flourishing state-Total destruction Academy of Scio - Of Korou
Chesmé-Books_Schism in Greek Literature-Criticism—Explanation of
Monograms-Libraries-Population.
The doctrines of the Oriental church were first distinctly
defined and published by Peter Mogislaus, a bishop of
Kiow, in a provincial council held in that city. These were
adopted by Parthenius, patriarch of Constantinople, in the
year 1643, as the doctrines of the Greek church, translated
into Greek, and distributed among the different dioceses.
It made the scriptures alone the foundation of faith, as ex-
plained by the decrees of the first seven General Councils, and
prohibited any private person from expounding them accord-
ing to his own fancy. Their opinions, however, had at all
times contained such a dissent from the doctrines of the
church of Rome, and so near an approach in many points
to those of the Reformation, that the Lutherans made an
attempt to form an union with the Greek church, and to this
end Melancthon sent to the patriarch a copy of the Con-
fession of Augsburgh, translated into Greek.
followed by similar applications, and in the year 1559 an
ecclesiastic was sent by the patriarch into Germany, to
This was
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NARRATIVE OF A
make himself acquainted with the exact doctrines of the new
sect. The attempts, however, were at the time fruitless :
the Greeks were so attached to the opinions and institutions
of their forefathers, that though the different applications
were received in a spirit of kindness and benevolence, the
amalgamation was considered as impracticable.
Various efforts were made to effect a reformation in the
Greek church similar to that in the Latin, and with more
success, for though no sectarians have actually separated
from it, and established a rule of faith and practice for them-
selves, yet the doctrines of the whole have been modified,
and the Eastern church at the present day is reformed from
many usages and opinions which the Latins still retain. I
shall mention a few of them.
The earliest took place at the council of Nicæa, in the year
315, when it was proposed that the married clergy should
put away their wives. It was ruled otherwise by the council,
and the secular clergy at this day take wives, though the
regulars do not.
In the year 717 another important reformation was effected.
The excess of images in the Greek church became a subject
of deep concern to those who thought them idolatrous, and
a violation of the commands of God. The Emperor Leo
Isaurus assembled a council of bishops and senators, who
concurred with him in removing all images of the Deity, or
any inferior being, from the sanctuaries and altars of the
churches, as unfit objects of adoration. This attempt was
violently opposed by the Roman Pontiff Gregory II., who
instigated the Latin people to revolt, and Germanus, the
patriarch of Constantinople, to resist his sovereign's autho-
rity. Leo exiled the patriarch, and persisted in his reforma-
tion, which was marked by that violence and intemperate
zeal, which distinguished the reformers of the western church,
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLL.
381
and from the same cause, an uncompromising animosity
against what they thought a breach of God's commands.
Efforts were afterwards made to restore the images to their
places, and Theodora, the mother of Michael, during the
minority of her son, to a certain extent succeeded; but the
sentiments of reform which the people had imbibed were
opposed to it, and at this day all graven images of wood,
or any other material, are excluded as abominations from
the Greek churches.
In the year 1621, Cyril Lucar was raised to the patri-
archal chair at Constantinople. He was a native of the
island of Candia, was brought up in Italy, at the universities
of Venice and Padua, and whatever bias his early education
gave him was certainly in favour of the tenets of the Latin
church. Several dogmas of the Oriental church were in a
very unsettled state, and he drew up a Confession of Faith
to settle these points, and published it as the orthodox
belief of the church of which he was the head, and had it
printed at the patriarchal press, then first established.
The Confession consists of eighteen articles, and four an-
swers to supposed questions, and commences with the fol-
lowing exordium :-“ Cyril, patriarch of Constantinople, to
those who inquire concerning the faith and religion of the
Greeks, or Eastern church, what it thinks, to wit, of the
orthodox faith, in the name of all Christians in general,
gives this abridged testimony before God and man, in good
conscience, and without any dissimulation.” The opinions
are supported by copious references to the scriptures alone,
and one of the most remarkable articles is that which distin-
guishes between the authenticity of the canonical and apo-
cryphal books, declaring those only which the Council of
Laodicæa, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, puts forth as the
former, and the latter such as had not the inspiration of the
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NARRATIVE OF A
Holy Spirit *. The books enumerated as canonical are
those exactly which the reformed church acknowledges.
Though several articles of this Confession were afterwards
dissented from by the successors of Cyril, who fell a victim
to the intrigues of his enemies, this one remained unre-
voked, and in all the editions of the Bible printed at Venice
by Glyky, for the use of the Greek church, the apocryphal
books are called ecclesiastical, and distinguished from the
canonical as they are in our Bible. Interested to know
whether such was the opinion of the present day, I con-
sulted my venerable friend the archbishop of Mount Sinai,
the present patriarch, and the highest authority in the Greek
church, and he informed me that the Greeks make the same
distinction as we do, not holding the apocryphal, or as
they call them, ecclesiastical books, in the same authority
as the canonical.
The Confessions of Cyril were, as might be supposed,
violently reprobated by the see of Rome, and he and his
adherents were charged with all manner of delinquencies.
Father Taferner, a jesuit, came to Constantinople in the
year 1667, as chaplain to Walter Count Leslie, ambassador
of Leopold I. to the Sultan. He published a curious
account in Latin of the state of the Greek church and its
patriarchs in the Turkish empire. He speaks of Cyril as a
wicked man, who destroyed whatever remained of orthodoxy
in the Greek church, in order that his doctrines might
correspond with his life. That the patriarch of Jerusalem
Ταυτα δε τα κανονικά βιβλία τοσαύτα τον αριθμών είναι πιστευομεν όσα έν λαο-
δικεία συνόδος απεφήνατο και η του Χρίστου καθολικη και ορθοδοξος εκκλησία υπο του
παναγίου πνεύματος φωτισθείσα μεχρι του παραντοη ύπαγορευι. Απερ δε αποκρυφα
λεγομεν δια τούτο το επωνύμου ούτως έχουσιν ότι το κυρος παρα του παναγίου πνευ-
ματος ουκ έχουσιν, ώς τα κυριως και αναμφιβόλώς κανονικα βιβλια.-Εροτησις. ε.
Then follows an enumeration of the canonical books, the same as the reformed
church receives.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
383
declared himself on his death-bed to be a Jew, had always
continued one, and “would be buried after the manner of
his stinking race," and that he then drew from his breast a
declaration of Jewish faith, as infamous as that of Cyril, and
ordered it to be handed to the Rabbins. The worthy jesuit
then concludes triumphantly in these words: “ Let the
Greek church, rendered infamous by so many portents, now
go and dare to evince itself superior to the Latin church in
the purity of its faith*."
The Greek church was not indisposed to have the scrip-
tures translated into the modern tongue, and the project was
warmly patronised by the excellent patriarch Gregory, and
his predecessor. The execution was intrusted to Hilarion,
afterwards bishop of Tornova, and the printing commenced
at the patriarchal press, where it would probably have been
completed, had not the insurrection broken out, which caused
the death of the good patriarch, and the destruction of the
establishment. For some time the disturbed state of things
suspended all such proceedings. The patriarch who suc-
ceeded was a timid man, and refused all interference without
the sanction of the Porte. In 1823 Lord Strangford inter-
fered, and part of the translation was sent to the dragoman
of the Porte, who was well versed in Greek, and on his
favourable report a formal permission was obtained, and the
patriarch consented. It was deferred, however, under various
pretences. He was a superstitious as well as a timid man,
and some about him worked upon his fears by telling him
that his two predecessors, who had sanctioned the measure,
had met untimely deaths, and the same would be his fate
if he engaged in the ill-omened measure; he therefore
* Velleque a contribularibus more patrio male olidæ gentis tumulari—Et
nunc et præter morem ausit ecclesia Græca tot recentibus portentis infamata
vincere tamen Latinam fidel-Tafern., Par. iii. p. 109.
384
NARRATIVE OF A
of
finally declined it altogether, but it did not protect him
from a premature death immediately after. When the mea-
sure was again revived, a division took place in the synod
on the subject. The bishops of Cyzicum and Derkon op-
posed it, and threatened its supporters with a charge
Calvinism. This seems, since the fate of Cyril, to have been
the most serious imputation that one party could urge
against another. It intimidated or silenced the advocates
of the measure; even the zealous Hilarion, who had pub-
lished an eloquent apology in its defence, declined any
further interference, and the types prepared at the patri-
archal press for the purpose were finally sent to Corfu.
The divisions of the eastern and western churches is
often marked by minute and scarcely perceptible things.
At the installation of the patriarch I observed that he held
the triple taper, which represented the Trinity, by two
branches only; and in giving a benediction he bent one
finger, so as to separate the little finger from the first and
second. Those trifles which I thought were accidental and
indifferent, I learned were carefully intended, and I found
on every future occasion they were strictly adhered to, in
order to mark the opinions of the Greek church on the
subject of the Holy Spirit. You will recollect the contro-
versy that arose in the seventh century on this subject, and
the violence with which the disputants prosecuted it. The
Greeks maintained that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the
Father alone, and that the Latins interpolated the words
filioque in the symbol of Constantinople. The spirit of the
controversy is as strong as ever, and the Greeks avail them-
selves of the most trifling action to display it.
The divisions which occurred in the Christian churches in
the eleventh century, with respect to the elements of the
Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, still continue as marked
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
385
as ever. Michael Cerularius, patriarch of Constantinople,
drew up several charges against the Latin church, one of
which was, that they used a wafer, or unleavened bread, in
the Eucharist. Legates were sent by Pope Leo IX. to
reconcile this difference; but, instead of doing so, they
excommunicated publicly in the church of Santa Sophia the
Greek patriarch and all his adherents. The patriarch
excommunicated the legate, and from that time the schism
continued incurable; and the Greeks would rather be sub-
dued by the infidel Turks, than defended by Christian
Azymites.
The distinction is at this day strongly marked, and the
use of leavened bread in the Sacrament is the same as in
the reformed churches of Europe. The bread is that in
common use, but on the upper surface of the loaf is im-
pressed a circle, containing within it monograms and figures.
The first stand for IHEOE XPIETOE NIKA; and the
second are representations of Christ and the Virgin, holding
between them a cross.
IC/XC
NIKA
The elements also of the Sacrament are given in both
kinds to the laity, which they affirm was the practice of the
primitive church, and which they are bound to observe. On
the authority of the Fathers, Justin Martyn says, in detail-
2c
VOL. II.
386
NARRATIVE OF A
ing the usage of giving the Eucharist, the deacons distri- .
bute the bread and wine to each of the persons present, that
all
may partake of the Eucharist *.
Besides these differences there are others which I wit-
nessed in various ways. They have no such ceremony as
the Elevation of the Host, and pay the Elements no reli-
gious homage. They think, in common with all the Oriental
Christians, that the intermediate state of the soul is not one
of purgation by fire or other means, but a quiescent state of
undisturbed repose; and their prayers and offerings are
not for the remission of their punishment there, but of their
sins in this life. They do not allow works of supereroga-
tion, or grant indulgences and dispensations.
Notwithstanding these approaches to the Reformation,
the Greek church is marked by many superstitious practices
and strange ceremonies. The morning of the Epiphany is
distinguished by casting the cross into the sea, and on the
4th of January, O.S., I was witness of the ceremony. This
singular usage took place at Therapia, Buyukderé, and all
the villages on the Bosphorus. Before light in the morning
the clergy and laity assembled in the churches, and after
service a procession was formed, conducted by lanterns on
poles, banners with emblematic paintings, crosiers, and boys
bearing censers, and headed by the principal clergy in their
vestments. They proceeded, attended by a vast crowd,
through the different streets, till they arrived at the sea-
shore, where they stopped, and the service of the church was
again performed at great length. In the meantime a part
of the crowd had embarked in boats, forming a large semi-
circle before the spot, leaving an open space between. Seve-
* Διακονοι διδοσιν έκαση των παρόντων μεταλαβείν άπο του "Ευχαρισθεντος άρτου
xud õrvov.--Just. Mart., Ap. 2-93.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE,
387
ral athletic men stripped themselves, and awaited the con-
clusion of the service. When it was over, a priest in his
vestments advanced with a wooden cross about one foot
long, of the Greek construction, highly gilt, in his hand.
The Greek cross is formed of three, representing that of our
Saviour in the middle, and those of the thieves at each
side.
၃
57
ܩܸܐܵܘ
He advanced to the edge of the water, and instantly the
whole of the spectators were in the highest state of excite-
ment. Seven naked men stood at a distance, shivering in
the water, watching the motions of the priest. At length he
hurled the cross with all his force into the sea, then it was
that the clamour began. The naked swimmers plunged after
it. They were cheered by shouts and plaudits by the mul-
titude. Several reached the floating cross at the same time,
and a fierce contest ensued. They struggled and scuffled,
and at length all sunk together. One of them rose with the
cross in his hand, and was received with great applause.
He swam to the shore, where his prize was reverently taken,
passed from hand to hand, and kissed with much devotion
and many genuflexions. It was then returned to the fortu-
nate man, who having by this time dressed himself, put it
into his bosom, where he pressed it with eagerness, and
brought it home. In the course of the morning a large
silver dish was brought round, and a collection made for the
2 c 2
388
NARRATIVE OF A
possessor of the cross, and the wine-houses were filled with
groups of company all day, celebrating his triumph. I
inquired from several what was the origin of this strange
religious ceremony, which was attended with such a mixture
of levity and devotion, but I could get no satisfactory ac-
count. It was called by some the “ Baptism of the Cross."
On the 29th of April is the great festival of Balukli, or
the Church of Fishes, founded on the legend I before men-
tioned. I met a vast crowd of Turks as well as Christians,
as if the whole population of Constantinople had poured
out to the plain before the Selyvria Gate, from whence to
the church was one dense crowd. It resembled an English
fair, where trinkets and refreshments were sold, and all
manner of amusements were practised. Bulgarian minstrels
walked about with enormous bagpipes, and groups of dancers
went through the mazes of the Romaic, united together
by .
a chain of white handkerchiefs. The crowd about the
ruined church was more seriously engaged. They were
eagerly receiving the water in vessels from the reservoir
below, which contained the miraculous fishes. They then
poured it upon their heads and bosoms with an enthusiasm
of devotion, while those who were not favoured with this
ablution, eagerly catched the precious drops on their ex-
tended hands, and applied them reverently to their faces
and breasts. Anong the crowd were various impotent folk,
who were placed beside the water like those at the Pool of
Bethesda, brought to be healed. They lay on carpets and
blankets, which the pious and charitable had covered with
paras. In different parts of the edifice were priests in their
vestments, with relics displayed on shrines. They generally
held large silver plates for the contributions of the people.
One accosted me, and I promised him a liberal donation if
he would show us the vivacious and half-broiled fishes. He
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
389
1
shook his head gravely, and said he was sorry the crowd
had frightened them away. This church was the first that
was dilapidated by the Turks at the commencement of the
revolution, and the terrified Greeks were afraid for some
time to observe the anniversary of the day. The Sultan,
however, had issued strict orders that they should not be dis-
turbed, and they now celebrated their favourite festival with
a zeal and interest increased by its temporary suspension.
On Good Friday the effigies of Judas, dressed up like a
modern Jew of Constantinople, is carried about the streets,
and the procession stops at every door, reciting the service
of his treason. Every one gives money or provisions, gene-
rally paschal eggs. The first is to buy wood to burn him,
and the latter to feast on at his death.
In the churches on that day a figure is borne on a bier
round the aisles, to represent the funeral of Christ, and the
congregation show extraordinary sympathy, weeping and
lamenting; some of the women in particular follow it close
behind with deep and unfeigned sorrow, and shed real tears
in great abundance. One female who represented the Vir-
gin seemed as deeply affected as she could have been at the
funeral of her own child. On this day also, and for some
time before and after, paschal eggs are distributed. I could
not find, on inquiring from the most learned Greeks, in
what this custom originated, but several fanciful reasons
were assigned. The Romans celebrated at the same season
of the year games, and the prizes were eggs, because the
circus was oval; the heathen Greeks dedicated eggs to
Castor and Pollux, in memory of the eggs of their mother
Leda; the Jews at their Passover dedicated a hard egg
to the bird Zin. The Christians, both of the western and
eastern church, adopt this usage. Pope Paul V. drew up
a ritual for the use of the British island, in which tlżey are
390
NARRATIVE OF A
blessed on account of the Resurrection, and it continued
long the custom in England, and is so at present in Ireland,
to give presents of eggs on Easter Monday. The paschal
eggs of the Greeks are stained red, to designate the blood
of Christ, and chips of logwood and other dyes are sold in
the streets for that purpose.
Whenever we visited an
ecclesiastic at Easter, from the patriarch down to the hum-
blest papas, we found a basket of red eggs beside him, which
he distributed to all visiters, and none but red eggs boiled
hard were to be bought in the market, and in that state they
were sent up for our breakfast.
It was the custom of the primitive church to rise before
day, particularly on this festival, and celebrate their orisons
till cock-crow. This is still the practice of the eastern church
supposing it to be the hour when Christ rose. They salute
the dawn with the explosion of guns, and their first address
to those they meet in the morning is “ Christ is risen." I
have seen them watching on the sea-shore to see the sun
dance on the edge of the horizon, and so indicate his joy
at his rising on this glad morning, a superstition which
prevails very strongly in Ireland at this day.
On the 6th of October is the Greek festival of the Mayro-
panaya, or Black Virgin, and a day in the Calendar is dedi-
cated to her, under the name of Mαρια της Αιγυπτιας. Ι
saw it celebrated with great solemnity in a large chapel
beside the British palace. Among other pictures of the
Virgin was one with a black face and hands, and a black
infant in her arms. This was enclosed in a shrine, with an
altar, in one of the aisles. Before it beds and cushions were
laid, on which were stretched men, women, and children,
labouring under different diseases, and who waited for mi-
raculous cures.
The Greeks do not hold the baptism of any other Chris-
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
391
tian priest to be lawful: so that, if the ceremony be performed,
they always repeat it again, with exorcism, on admission to
their church, holding the opinions of the African church as
delivered at the council of Carthage, that all heretics and
schismatics should not be admitted till they were exorcised
and baptized*. A Greek lady, the wife of a British mer-
chant, whose infant I baptized, availed herself of the absence
of her husband, to have it rebaptized by her own pastor,
and had rather thus confirm the Raya subjection of her
child to the Turkish government, than dispense with the
ceremony of her own priest. The patriarch Kirlo, about fifty
years ago, carried this still farther. He insisted that baptism
should be performed by total immersion of the adult; and
he issued an anathema against the Pope and the members of
the Latin church, for not doing so, and many of his own flock
were rebaptized in this manner.
Exorcism is generally practised by the priest against every
thing that is evil. No house is considered an exception
from the destructive effects of supernatural interposition, and
this is evinced by the various persons and things which they
suppose to suffer from the fascination of an evil eye, to be
bound by some spell of enchantment, or driven by some
demoniacal impression; to obviate this, there is a service
used in the Greek Liturgy against the prevailing evil. The
season of silk-worm spinning is very important to the Greek
villages of Asia Minor. When we passed through them we
found it was the practice to call in the priest, and exorcise
all baneful influence which might impede or render abortive
their profitable work. In the same way I met one day a
papas of the neighbouring church in the palace garden.
* Censeo omnes bereticos et schismaticos qui ad ecclesiam volunt venire,
non ante ingredi nisi exorcizati et baptizati prius fuerint.--Ap. Cyprian.
p. 445.
392
NARRATIVE OF A
He was reading a formula from his breviary, and I found
he was exorcising the slugs and caterpillars, who had begun
their ravages; and Nicolai, the Sciote gardener, adopted this
as the only effectual mode of getting rid of them. The
insect, however, most destructive is a small speckled moth,
very pretty *. It forms a dense opaque web, as thick as
gauze, which completely covers the trees, in which myriads
of caterpillars are seen suspended and twining. When the
web is removed, vegetation appears quite destroyed, and the
trees dead, though they generally revive on the following
year. This practice of exorcism, however, is usual in the
Latin church. Horace Walpole, you will recollect, had
a silver bell, which he said had been used by the Popes to
anathematise destructive insects, and till very lately it was
the practice of the French in Canada. The turtle doves are
very destructive to the crops, and the bishop of Quebec every
year solemnly excommunicates them.
On another occasion I was witness of the ceremony per-
formed on a new house. The papas with his censer first
purified the rooms; then, after reading the service to expel
whatever might have entered, he dipped a brush of loose hair
in a vessel of consecrated water, crossed every door, window,
,
and aperture through which an evil spirit could again make
its way, and when these precautions were taken, and not till
then, the mortal inhabitants were allowed to dwell in it.
The ceremony called Enegra is a solemn service of the
Greek church, in which prayers and oblations are offered
for the dead. It is practised at the end of nine and forty
days, and six and twelve months, and particularly in the first
week in Lent, when I saw it performed at the church of
S. Demetri. It consisted of a dish of boiled barley and
sugar, mixed with raisins, having the form of a cross drawn
* A species of Ermenea.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
393
through them. All was done in solitude and obscurity.
No one was in the church but the priest who made the
offering. He kneeled several times before the altar-screen,
depositing the plate, and murmuring the prayer for the
dead. The dish was then taken out, and distributed to
some people outside, who did not venture to enter the church
during the service. This resemblance between this cere-
mony and the similar pagan one struck me. The materials
were the same: sugar, for the peningntov, honey; and bar-
ley, for the angita Neuxa, meal.
The Greeks bury their dead in their best clothes, without
covering, on an open bier, and the corpse resembles a man
reclining on a couch. I seldom went out that I did not meet
one so carried through the streets of Pera, attended by two
or more priests and boys holding lighted candles. I joined
one procession. When arrived at the grave, the body was
taken out, stripped, and no covering left but the shirt, cap,
and stockings. It was then deposited in the pit, with its
hands crossed on its breast, and the priest took a tile,
scratched on it a cross with the point of a knife, with the
letters I C X P at the angles, and deposited it on the hands
of the corpse. While the ground was filling in, the priest
stood at a distance, and received contributions from the com-
pany, which he carefully reckoned. After each he recited a
prayer for the state of the dead, and it was long or short in
proportion to the donation.
The stones placed over the grave, like those I saw in
Greece, resemble ours. The inscription commences in the
same words, but the emblems, instead of being the cross
or other Christian symbols, represent the implements of
the deceased's trade-a scissors for a tailor, and a rule and
compass for a carpenter.
The Liturgy used in the Greek church comprises three
1
394
NARRATIVE OF A
formulæ: that of St. Chrysostom, which is used on ordi-
nary occasions, in which I found the prayer which we use
in our morning and evening service; that of St. Gregory,
used every Wednesday and Friday in Lent; and that of
St. Basil, on the first day of the year and Good Friday. A
quarto prayer-book was printed and published at Constan-
tinople during my first visit. The types were cast on the
spot, the engravings executed by a Sciote artist, and the
paper was brought from Venice. Annexed to it were the
formula of consecration of the different orders of the Greek
clergy. They are not indisposed to adopt our sermons,
for which they express much approbation. I was applied
to for some to have translated into Greek for the use of the
clergy, and I gave the Second Homily, which was prepared
and used in the churches, as I was afterwards informed.
The men are separated from the women; the former
occupying niches, like small stalls, along the aisles; the
latter are concealed behind lattices in a gallery. This is
the usage of the patriarchal and other churches of the me-
tropolis; but when there is no gallery, the women sit on
the floor in the body of the church. There are no pews or
seats. The service is sometimes exceedingly tedious, par-
ticularly on the eve of festivals. It sometimes begins before
day, as was the practice in the time of Pliny*, and some-
times continues all night, strongly reminding me of the
usage of St. Paul, who preached to the disciples till mid-
night on the first day of the week, and communed with
them till the dawning of the dayt: On the eve of the
feast of the Assumption the service began at nine o'clock
in the evening, and was continued, with various ceremonies,
till five in the morning, without the smallest intermission.
A considerable part of the service consists in chaunting,
* Epist. ad Trajan.
Í Acts xx. 7.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
395
unaccompanied by any instrument, and this is the universal
practice of the Greek church in Russia. The instruments
used by the Jews, mentioned in the 100th Psalm, were,
they say, emblems, and shadowed out the organs of human
speech. This they conceive to have been the practice of the
primitive church, in which, according to Clemens Alexandri-
nus, the mouth represented the harp, the tongue the psaltery,
and the lips striking together the sounding cymbals*. But
certainly their music at present wants all the characters
ascribed to it by the ancient church. The modern Greeks
seem to have no conception of counterpoint; two or three
chaunt the recitative in unison, though not in tune, and in a
tenor voice, and several accompanying in a uniform bass
tone, in which there is no variation, exactly resembling the
drone of a Scotch bagpipe. In fact, nothing can be more
monotonous, and at the same time more dissonant, than
modern Greek music, both sacred and profane.
The Greek church still adheres to the old style in their
Calendar, continuing their hostility to any papal innovation
even longer than the church of England. In consequence of
this difference the same festivals are not held on the same
days by the Latins and Greeks of the Levant. They some-
times, however, correspond. The ominous day on which
the patriarch was executed was the festival of Easter Sun-
day in all the Christian churches of Constantinople, and the
same coincidence of Easter took place in 1832. Their
months and the number of days correspond with ours, and
each has a double name in their almanacs, ancient and
modern, as ιανουαριος, γαμελιον, and leap year is marked ετος
* “Η γλωσσα ψαλτερίον-κιθάρα το στόμα-κυμβαλον του στοματος την γλώσσαν
asysã coñs xgovoje évous &TÀXI xeíaco.-Clem. Alex., Pædag., lib. ii.
Η Ευρυθμώς και εμμελώς και εμμετρώς και συμoφνώς,-Origen de Oratione,
vi., p. 7.
396
NARRATIVE OF A
B.Gextos. Their week-days are denominated with more pro-
p riety than our barbarous mixture of pagan and Scandinavian
mythology. Monday is deuregala; the second day, and the
four next according to their number. Friday is wagaoxun,
the preparation ; Saturday, cablata, the Sabbath; and
Sunday, nulega xugiou, the Lord's Day. They never call it, I
believe, nuega Halou, the Day of the Sun, as the primitive
fathers of their church did after Constantine.
About the commencement of the present century the
Greeks began to obey that literary impulse which the rest
of Europe had imparted, and in obedience to it they esta-
blished a college at Ayveli. This place, situated opposite
the island of Metelyn, about seventy miles from Smyrna,
had been a poor fishing village, inhabited by about three
hundred Turks and Greeks, till the year 1740, when a
young Greek of the village, named Johannes Oeconomus,
conceived the idea of giving importance to his native town.
He left it for a season, visited the countries of Western
Europe, and returned with the lights and information he
had collected. Among his other acquirements he was a
proficient in the Turkish language: so he first proceeded to
the capital, had influence or eloquence enough to persuade
the Porte of the great advantage of converting his town into a
Greek city, and returned home with full powers for the pur-
pose. He invited his countrymen, and to induce them to
come, he drew up the constitution of a free government for
them, and this was so congenial to the feelings of his nation,
that crowds flocked to him from all quarters, till they in-
creased to the number of forty thousand citizens. The town
consisted of five thousand houses, built in a superior manner
of solid stone. It contained thirty-six mills for the extracting
of oil, twenty-four manufactories of soap, three large khans
for the accommodation of merchants, two good hospitals, and
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
397
ten large churches, with a cathedral and bishop's palace.
In fact, it was a free republic of active and intelligent Greeks,
equal to any that formerly existed among their ſonian
ancestors, in opulence, spirit, and a feeling of independence.
Like them also they became jealous of their founder and
benefactor. He was accused of wishing to subvert the free
government he had established, and died in exile, a victim
to his country's ingratitude.
As this was the most flourishing and enterprising of all
the Greek communities, it was resolved in 1803 to establish
here a college for the education of the rising youth of
Greece. An edifice for the purpose was erected in a com-
manding situation on the sea-shore, and in its extent and
arrangements was not inferior to similar establishments in
Europe. Professors were appointed, who lectured not only on
the languages and polite literature, but on ethics, physics,
logic, rhetoric, and mathematics, and three hundred students
from all parts of Greece were the number generally on the
college books. Such was the state of Ayveli at the breaking
out of the Greek revolution, and I was just preparing to
visit it when I heard of its fate. It was too important a
place not to be excited in the common cause, so it was
resolved to proceed to it for that purpose, and on the 13th
of June, 1821, the Greek fleet appeared before it. The
Turks, apprized of their intention, had collected all the
forces in the neighbourhood, and rushed into the town, where
the fleet began to bombard them. The buildings were set on
fire by both parties; the Turks retired, after massacring the
inhabitants and pillaging their houses, and the Greeks,
landing from their ships, completed the destruction of what
the Turks had spared. The remnant of the inhabitants who
survived embarked on board the Greek fleet, and were
veyed to other places; and thus in one day this flourishing
398
NARRATIVE OF A
republic, with its college and all its mass of property, was
swept away, and nothing now remains to attest what it had
been, but ruins as desolate as any of those of its Ionian prede-
cessors. About three hundred of its unfortunate inhabitants,
including some of the students, were brought to Smyrna
and sold as slaves for twenty piastres apiece, where some
were afterwards pointed out to me.
Another university had been established at Scio, and was
equally flourishing with the former when the Greek revolu-
tion commenced. On the year following it shared the same
fate, and I have already detailed to you the picture of utter
desolation it presented when I visited the island.
A third college had been established at Korou Chesme,
on the Bosphorus. It contained, besides a library, various
mathematical and scientific instruments, brought from Eng-
land to assist the professors' lectures. When I visited it, it
was not reduced to the state of desolation of the former, but
it had felt the rude shock of the revolution, and was closed
up and abandoned. It had left behind it, however, one
memorial of its activity and efficiency which will hereafter
benefit the Greeks. Under the direction of its active presi-
dent, Demetrius Morousi, it compiled and published by far
the most important work of modern Greek literature, a
Greek Lexicon, called Kißwtos. J. Blastos, a physician of
Crete, had been engaged in compiling a Lexicon. He was
sent for by Prince Morousi, and his book examined, and,
being approved of, it was determined by the academy to en-
large it, having for its foundation the Thesaurus of H. Ste-
phens. Several glossaries had been begun at this time of
Greek excitement by individuals. These were all sought
after and collected, together with MSS. in different monas-
teries, a conimission of the college of Korou Chesme, con-
sisting of four professors, was appointed to complete it, and
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
399
or
after ten years' labour they compiled the most copious Greek
Lexicon, perhaps, in existence. It was called Κιβωτος, ,
“ the Ark," for a fanciful reason; for, “as in that of Noah
every form of existing animal was collected, enclosed, pre-
served, and afterwards scattered over the earth, so in this
the forms of existing words were collected, preserved, and
scattered over all Greece.” The work is in large folio, in
three parallel columns to a page. The definitions of words
are illustrated by copious quotations from the ancient classics.
The first volume contains seven hundred and sixty-three
pages, and proceeds duly as far as the letter A. The first
sheets of the second were at press when the Turks broke
into the patriarchate in 1821, and the work has never since
been resumed. It is highly creditable to the industry of the
Greeks, and proves their intimate knowledge of the ancient
classical language of their country.
Another work forming a remarkable circumstance in the
literature of the Greeks of the capital, is a history of ancien.
and modern Constantinople *, compiled by the present patri-
arch when bishop of Mount Sinai, which he had written,
but was afraid to publish, during the revolutionary move-
ments of his countrymen. Availing himself of the toleration
and security afterwards granted by the Sultan, the work
was issued, and I found it everywhere circulated on my
return to Constantinople. It contains a chart of the Bos-
phorus and plates of public edifices, and is an excellent
guide for strangers who visit the metropolis.
The Greeks are beginning to adopt Lancasterian schools,
and already above thirty have been established. The Greek
clergy, however, are said to regard them with an unfavourable
eye.
When the churches in liberated Greece renounced all
* Κωνσταντινιας παλαία τε και νεωτέρα ήτοι περιγραφη Κωνσταντινούπωλεώς. .
400
NARRATIVE OF A
connexion with those in Turkey, and threw off the juris-
diction of the patriarch of Constantinople, it was attri-
buted to the influence of these schools ; and the Papas are
in hourly apprehension of a similar emancipation from their
authority. Indeed, many reformations are meditated by
the laity. Among others it is proposed to curtail the num-
ber of saints' festivals, which Demetrius Morousi, had he
lived, would have accomplished.
There are two schisms in Greek literature on the subject
of improving their language. . The one proposes to adopt
as the standard of propriety that which is at present spoken
in the Fanal, and that which all the well-educated Greeks
employ. The other wishes to make the nearest possible
approach to the ancient language, by rejecting such words
as are of Turkish or Frank introduction, and substituting
genuine Greek words in their place. At the head of the
first are generally the clergy, the Greek princes, and the
upper class of the Fanal: the leader of the second is Korai,
a learned physician, resident at Paris, and author of several
works in the Romaic language.
You will judge of the critical accuracy of the modern
Greeks by the following circumstance. The Prayer and
Homily Society sent me some polyglot liturgies of the
church of England, to present copies to the dignitaries of
the Greek church. My object, among others, was to give
them some idea of the prayers and doctrines of our church,
with which they were entirely unacquainted, and so the
better dispose them to forward the translations of the Scrip-
tures, to which some opposition had been shown. I called,
among others, on Chrypanto, bishop of Seres, who was
afterwards elected patriarch, and presented him with one
in ancient Greek. His critical eye at once detected many
errors. The first was in the rubric of the General Con-
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
401
fession. “ Here," said he, “are two faults; the first is del
όλον τον ομιλον; it should be ολον τον λαον.''
” I recollected
that this was a literal translation of our rubric, 6 the whole
congregation,” and told him so ; " then," said he, “orov is
superfluous, for it is contained in oudov." Again,” said
he, “μεταξυ τιθεντων is not Greek.” I said μεταξυ governed
a genitive case. “Yes," said he,“ but Ti Jevtwy is the ge-
nitive absolute, and has the force of metaču." I now hap-
pened to open at the prayer of St. Chrysostom, which he ran
his eye over, and said, Here is another error: χαρισομενος
should be XagSouevos, not the future but the present tense.”
I said, I believe the first was the word of St. Chrysostom
himself. The bishop took up his own liturgy, and referred
to the prayer—it was gæst Sollevos. It should thus appear
that the modern Greeks study their ancient language with
the same care, and still retain some of that critical acumen
for which their ancestors were so distinguished.
Nor is their knowledge confined to the literature of
the classical ages of their ancestors, but they are well
acquainted with the more barbarous and obscure remains
of the Lower Empire, enigmas and monograms of all
kinds, in which it was the pedantry of the middle ages
to wrap up their meaning. On the remains of public edifices
and various columns are to be found those obscurities which
are not worth the trouble of decyphering, but which some
of the learned have attempted in vain. The pillars of the
cisternis exhibit those monograms, the meaning of which was,
to me and the friends who accompanied me, utterly impe-
netrable. On applying, however, to my friend the Logo-
thetes of the patriarch for a solution of one of these mysterious
convolutions
“ The Gordian knot of it he did unloose,
Familiar as his garter."
VOL. II.
2 D
402
NARRATIVE OF A
Κωνσταντινος, ,
You wished to know the import of those I copied from the
cistern for you * ; it is as follows : KN stand for UnaTOS
os Constantine the Supreme.”
79-01 for
EOTUYE CINoževe, "Well done, Oh! Philoxenos”-Philoxenos, or
Stranger's Friend, was the name of the cistern. KYNO-EP
Κωνστα
ταντινος υπατος νεαν ολβιαν εκτισε Ρωμην, , Constantine.
the Supreme built or created the rich city of New Rome.”
Besides the private libraries of the Greek princes and
of other gentlemen, which I mentioned to you were sold by
weight in the streets at the commencement of the revolution,
there are a few attached to religious houses. The most
remarkable is that of the convent of the patriarch of Jeru-
salem. I presented him with a copy of our Polyglot
Liturgy, which he directed to be deposited in the library,
and I accompanied his chaplain to see it. It was a strong
stone edifice, very dark and gloomy, erected in the year
1710. It contained four hundred and eighty-four printed
books and three hundred and sixty MSS. in Hellenic and
Romaic. The MSS. were all on paper, and of a modern
date. The most valuable books were copies of all the By-
zantine historians; but that which was prized most in the
convent, was an account of the Holy City, containing a list
of all the patriarchs, to the number of one hundred and
twenty-five, from the time of the Apostles.
The number of Greeks resident at the Fanal, and in the
villages of the Bosphorus, amounted to about fifty thousand
on my first arrival at Constantinople. The upper classes con-
sisted, besides the dignitaries of the Greek church, of eight
families, who were dignified with the title of Princes, from
whom the hospodars and voivodes of Wallachia and Mol-
davia were selected before the revolution. These were Ma-
vrocordato, Morousi, Ypselantes, Calimachi, Suzzo, Caradja,
* See page 100.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
403
Hantcherli, and Mavroyeni. In addition to these, there were
about three hundred eminent merchants, who had mercantile
establishments at Constantinople and Pera, and correspond-
ents in London, Paris, Vienna, and all the principal towns in
Europe, and who paid ten millions of piastres annually to
the Turkish Gombrook, or Custom-honse. During my first
residence the dignitaries of the church were ignominiously
executed; the princes were extirpated, and their families
nearly so, the few that remained alive were pining in exile
abroad or poverty at home; the mercantile houses were
reduced to four or five, and these had borrowed English
names and the receipts of their customs were almost nothing,
while the active and flourishing population was so dimi-
nished by death, flight, and exile that not above twenty thou-
sand remained behind. On my return, however, their condition
was ameliorated. The insecurity of the new government of
Greece, and the protection and encouragement of the Sultan,
induced many to abandon the land of liberty, and return to
the security of despotism; and it is probable that a short
time will restore them to their former state of prosperity.
...
2 2 2
404
NARRATIVE OF A
CHAPTER XVI.
Christian Sects-Nestorians-Chaldean Bishop-Account of his Country-
Where situated—Present state--Government and Manners-Religion and
Literature-Hebed-Iesu—Scriptural Books-Xenophon's Account of the
Country-Buchanan-Sect of Eutychians-Armenians-Number at Con-
stantinople — Clergy-Fasts~Opinions of the Eucharist- Marriages--
Nuptial Taper-Shawl-Armenian Dinner-Domestic Habits-Discipline
of Families -- Cemeteries — Visits to the Dead-Singular Tombstones-
Literature-Difficult Language--Lord Byron's Opinion - Partiality for
English-Lancasterian Schools-Commerce-Other sources of Wealth-
Ingenious Mechanics_Value 'to Turks-Schism---Persecutions and Exile
Restoration-Bulgarians—Indifferent Character-Franks' Privileges
Variety of Tongues--Peraotes Pisani---Frank Burying-ground-Tombs-
Hampden.
BESIDES the Christian doctrines of the Greek church, there
are others still held at Constantinople. Among the various
heretical opinions which early appeared in the East, and
which are now forgotten in Europe, there are some which
still hold their ground, and flourish with the same vigour as
when they were originally devised. The principal of those
are the doctrines of Nestorius and Eutyches.
The first appeared in the fifth century of the church. He
was a Syrian bishop of Constantinople, and spread his opi-
nions among the Christians of the metropolis. He held
that there were two distinct natures in Jesus Christ, neither
of which underwent any change; that the human nature
alone suffered; and that the Virgin ought not to be called
€otoxos, or “ Mother of God," as the Greeks denominated
her, but XPLOTOTOXOS, or “ Mother of Christ,” in his mere
human relation, because no inferior creature could impart
that perfection to another which it had not itself to bestow.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE,
405
This new opinion was the cause, like that of every other,
of much violent contest; and when those who professed it
were driven from Constantinople, they were received by the
Christians of Persia. A school of theology had been founded
at Nisibis, of which Barsumas the bishop was a great patron.
Here the opinions of Nestorius were received with devotion,
and propagated with zeal, and in the vicinity of which they
are cherished at this very day by a distinct and separate
race of Christians, called Chaldeans.
I was informed one Sunday, on my return from chapel,
that a person wished to see me. I found in my apartments
a venerable man, about sixty-five years old, with a long
beard, turning from black to grey. His dress consisted of
a blue cotton cassock, and over it a brown cloth ferridgé, or
cloak, with hanging sleeves. His head was covered with a
black cotton shawl rolled into a turban, and round his waist
was a girdle of similar quality and colour. He addressed
me in imperfect Italian. He gave me to understand he
was a Chaldean, that his name was Simon Pietri Schevris,
and that he was Christian Bishop Dgesiris among his people.
He had been at Rome, and was now on his return to Chal-
dea, through Constantinople, accompanied by a Persian
converted to Christianity, who had studied in Italy, and
spoke Latin fluently, to whom he also introduced me. They
were bringing back with them a Roman missal and several
traditionary legends, translated and printed in the Chaldean
language, to be distributed among the people of the country.
From this introduction I afterwards became intimate with
the bishop. I found him a man of very amiable charac-
ter, his disposition kind and good-natured, his manners
gentle and cheerful, and as artless and simple as those of a
child. He had suffered much peril and persecution from
the Turks. He had been kindly received into the family of
406
NARRATIVE OF A
Dus Oglu, the great Armenian mint-masters, who were
executed for some alleged delinquency in their department,
and this simple and inoffensive man, from the accident of
being in their house, was cast into prison, and likely to share
their fate. Finding, however, he had nothing to lose,
though a bishop, he was at length liberated, and his poverty
saved his life. He introduced me to some of his country-
men, among the rest to his brother, who had just come to
Pera from his native land, and was seized with a dangerous
complaint. I visited him during his illness, and was par-
ticularly struck with the affectionate attachment that sub-
sisted between them, and the little attentions which, like
loving children, they showed each other. As this Christian
nation was very obscurely known, and I had now an oppor-
tunity of inquiring from many respectable sources, I availed
myself of it to become better acquainted with it. The fol-
lowing is the result of their communication : --
A Nestorian sect of Christians, called by themselves
Chaldeans, has, from the earliest ages of the gospel, inha-
bited the country on each side of the Tigris, at the foot and
on the sides and summits of the great chain of mountains
which lie to the east of that river. Shut out from inter-
course with the rest of the world by the nature of the place,
they are seldom visited by travellers. The face of the
country is partly plain and partly mountainous, but the
mountain tract is by far the most extensive, and so very
healthy that the plague, which sometimes rages in the re-
gions all round, has never been known to infect this district.
The population consists of about five hundred thousand
persons, who are all Christians. They are free and inde-
pendent of the Arabs, Turks, Persians, or Tartars, in the
midst of whom they are situated ; and though several at-
tempts have been made in different ages to subdue them,
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
407
they successfully repulsed them all. The last great effort
was made by the Turks in the beginning of the nineteenth
century, in which they lost one hundred thousand men and
five pashas, and have never since attempted to invade them.
The Chaldeans constantly live with arms in their hands, to
preserve their independence, and they do not lay them aside
even when they assemble in their churches for divine service
on Sundays.
Their government is of a republican form, at the head of
which is a patriarch, who exercises both a spiritual and civil
jurisdiction. Their capital is Jolemark. It is situated in the
mountainous region on the banks of the river Zabat, which
rises in this high land, and runs from thence into the Tigris,
where it is about four hundred feet broad. The city con-
sists of one great street, passing through the centre, with
several others branching from it, and rising up the moun-
tains at each side. It is surrounded by a strong wall, pro-
tected by European cannon, which were some time
ago
fur-
nished to the patriarch by French engineers. It contains
in winter about twelve thousand inhabitants, the greater part
of whom in summer emigrate to numerous villages which
are scattered on the neighbouring hills. The distance of
the city from the junction of the Zabat with the Tigris is
about four days journey, or something more than one hun-
dred miles. The patriarch does not reside at the capital,
but at Kosharis, a smaller town situated higher up on the
banks of the Zabat.
Besides these they possess Amedia, and several other towns
in the mountains, rendered impregnable as well by art as
by the difficult nature of the situations. In the low country
their principal city is Djeziras, situated in an island on the
Tigris, on the confines of Diarbekir. It is distant about
thirty days' journey, or nearly nine hundred miles, from the
408
NARRATIVE OF A
great city of Bagdad by land, but not more than half that
distance by water. There are no other than occasional
wooden bridges in this district, which are often swept away,
and when the inhabitants have occasion to pass from one
side of the river to the other, they sometimes use rafts
formed of inflated or stuffed skins for the purpose.
The
mountains in some places approach so close to the Tigris as
to hang abruptly over it, and leave no passage between them
and the river. This town was formerly as independent as
the rest, and exclusively within the jurisdiction of the patri-
arch. Lying, however, in a low, exposed situation on the
confines of Turkey, it has latterly: been obliged to receive a
Turkish pasha as a governor. In the other towns a few
Turks only occasionally reside. The exercise of their reli-
gion is tolerated, but not openly; they have therefore no
minarets, and the muezzan is never heard calling the people
to prayer; and if any Turk is seen in the street on Sunday
during divine service he is immediately put to death.
They have no schools for the general education of their
children, and no printed books among them; their know-
ledge, therefore, is very limited, and very few, eren the
better classes, learn to read. Instruction is confined to
the clergy, as the only persons in the community who re-
quire it; and when a man is disposed to study, he must
become a priest. He is then supplied with such manuscript
works as they possess in the different churches and convents.
Among these are the Holy Scriptures, translated into their
language, which, though not printed, are sufficiently com-
mon in written copies.
They do not know themselves at what time Christianity
was first preached among them, or by whom. They pay
no particular respect to St. Gregory, the great Apostle of
the East, whom the Armenians revere; and it is remarkable
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
409
that the Armenians and Chaldeans, though living in coun-
tries in the East nearly contiguous, insulated among Asiatic
nations, and separated from the rest of Christendom, should
yet be so separated from each other as entirely to differ, not
only in language, but in the doctrines and discipline of
their churches. Their patriarchs and bishops have not the
smallest connexion. The Chaldeans at an early period
adopted the opinions of Nestorius. Removed by their situ-
ation from the control of the Greek church, they retained
the heresy in its primitive form, and are perhaps the only
sect of Christians at the present day among whom it pre-
vails. But though they were not influenced by the synods
of the Greek church, they have not all rejected the authority
of the Latin. Very early, missionaries from the college
“ De Propaganda Fide,” at Rome, found their way among
them; and at present they are divided into two hostile par-
ties--primitive Nestorians, who hold themselves independent
of any other church; and converted Catholics, who acknow-
ledge a dependence on the see of Rome. Their church is
governed by three patriarchs, Simon, of Jolemark, a Nesto-
rian; Joseph, of Diarbekir, and Mar Elias, Roman Ca-
tholics.
The two latter, though acknowledged by the Chaldeans,
are not properly of that nation, but reside in the Turkish
provinces; but the former is strictly so, and in fact the
Chaldeans of the mountains, who are the vast majority, have
hitherto rejected all submission to the church of Rome,
which denominates them heretics, as they still retain the
discipline and doctrines of their church in their primitive
independence. Among the remarkable events of their his-
tory is one which they speak of at this day with considerable
interest. At a very early period a part of their tribe emi-
grated from their mountains and proceeded to India, where
410
NARRATIVE OF A
they settled upon the sea-coast of the hither peninsula.
They brought with them the original purity of Christian
doctrine and discipline, before it had been corrupted by
heresy; and this purity, they assert, they still retain in their
remote situation.
Though the state of literature is very low at present among
the Chaldeans, they have produced many authors who have
written works on various subjects in their language. Among
these the most celebrated is Hebed-Iesu, Nestorian bishop
of Soba. About the year 1550, he was induced, when far
advanced in years, to visit Rome, under the pontificate of
Julius III. Here he abjured the tenets of the Nestorians,
acknowledged the supremacy of the see of Rome, and was
appointed patriarch of the Eastern Assyrians, in the room
of Simon Salachi, who had been put to death by the Turks.
Among other works Hebed-Iesu wrote an account of all
the books in the Chaldean language down to his time, a
copy of which the bishop gave me. He commences with
these words : “ By the aid of your memory, O God! and
by the prayers of every illustrious just man, and by the
Mother of exalted power, I will attempt to write an admir-
able tract, containing divine books; and I will propound to
the readers all ecclesiastical and profane compositions of all
former and later writers; trusting therefore in God, I will
begin with Moses.” The catalogue contains the titles of
two hundred and twenty books, with some account of their
contents and authors, either originals or translations; among
the latter are the sacred writings, and Josephus; the former
are generally ecclesiastical or controversial. The catalogue
also contains history, poetry, tragedy, and other subjects.
A few are philological, and contain an account of the Chal-
dean language, particularly a dissertation on “ Alphabe-
tical Appositions." This states, that “ some languages,
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
411
such as the Hebrew, Persian, Syriac, Cufite, Elamite, Mi-
dianite, Phoenician, Arabic, and Chaldee, not having a suffi-
cient number of letters in their alphabet, were obliged to use
points, or appositions, to explain the sense, which, without
them, would be only a subject of conjecture or tradition.
These points in Chaldee are two, placed sometimes above
and sometimes below the word, and hence called siome, or
appositions, serving the use of vowels.” It should appear
from this passage that the Phænician, and other Oriental
languages, so entirely lost to us, were known to Hebed-
Iesu.
Chaldee is read from right to left, like Hebrew, and has
a greater affinity with Syriac than any other Oriental tongue.
The following are the sacred books enumerated by Hebed-
Iesu as the canonical scriptures of the Chaldeans, and trans-
lated into their language :
-Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel,
Kings, Paraleipomena, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes,
Song of Songs, Wisdom, Barascra or Ecclesiasticus, Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Baruch, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos,
Abdeah, Jonah, Micheah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Sophonias,
Aggaus, Zecharias, Malachias, Ezra, Tobias and Tobit,
Judith, Esther, Daniel Minor, that is, Susanna, Maccabæus ;
Mathew, from the Hebrew ; Mark, from the Latin; Luke
and John, from the Greek; Acts, Epistles General of
James, Peter, John, and Jude; fourteen Epistles of St.
Paul, and Apocalypse. There is also extant among them,
a Gospel, compiled by Ammonius, or Titianus, and called
Diatesseron.
The account which the Chaldeans give of themselves is
curiously confirmed in some particulars by other testimonies.
The Ten Thousand Greeks, in their retreat from Persia,
passed through their country, and Xenophon particularly
412
NARRATIVE OF A
decribes it*. The face of nature, the names of places, the
habits and manners of the people, are detailed in the same
manner by the Greek historian and by the bishop, and his
countrymen, after a lapse of two thousand years; it is pro-
bable that not one of the latter had ever read or heard of
Xenophon. It is to be observed, however, that there were
two people of that name. One in the south, inhabiting the
shores of the Persian Gulf, who are frequently mentioned
in Scripture † as great soothsayers, who were called in to
interpret Nebuchadnezzar's dream I, and whose skill was
celebrated by Ciceros. The other dwelling in the north, in
the mountains approaching the Euxine Sea, about Trebi-
sond ||, who, as well from locality as character, are the pre-
sent Christian Chaldeans.
The emigration of their ancestors to the hither peninsula
is also confirmed by undoubted testimony. It is well known
that Buchanan found near the coast in that country, among
the Ghauts, a race of Christians who had emigrated from
Syria, or rather Assyria, at a very early period. They had
preserved the purity of the faith as it was delivered to the
primitive churches, without any of the corruptions after-
wards introduced, and they held, by his account, nearly the
doctrine and discipline adopted at the Reformation. Hence
they were considered as heretics by the Portuguese, who
came to this coast so many ages after them; and several
attempts were made by the Inquisition at Goa to convert
them without success. They still hoid, like their parent
tribe at the present day, their spiritual independence among
similar mountains.
The bishop, shortly after my introduction to him, left
Constantinople to return to his see. Through his mediation
Anabasis, lib. vii.
+ Isaiah xxiii. 13; xlviii. 20.
Dan. iv. 7 ; ii. 4. § De Divinat., lib. i. c. 1. ll Strabo, lib. xvi.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
413
Mr. Lees had opened a communication with Simon, the
Nestorian patriarch of Kosharis, and sent him, on behalf of
the Bible Society, a number of copies of the Syriac version
of the Scriptures, which, though not the language of the
people, had such an affinity to it as to be legible. Instead,
therefore, of idle legends, which were the only printed books
they had hitherto access to, the pure and simple word of God
was distributed among them. As these people had no
church at Constantinople, I could not learn the number
resident there. The bishop told me about five or six hun-
dred. Some frequented the Roman Catholic places of
worship and some the Armenian; some were servants, one
or two of whom I knew personally resident in the families
of Franks, others were keepers of baccul, or hucksters' shops.
All I met had the same characteristics--mild manners,
simple habits, and cheerful dispositions, dark complexions,
black hair and eyes, and rather prominent cheek-bones,
and seemed to have a strong mixture of the Tartar.
Among the persons who had opposed the opinions of
Nestorius was Eutyches, superior of a convent of Caloyers
at Constantinople. He ran into the opposite extreme, and
affirmed there was but one nature in Christ--that his human
was altogether absorbed in his divine nature, and that his
humanity was a mere external appearance. Persecuted like
the Nestorians, the proselytes to his opinions retired, like
them, into the remote regions of the East, and spread their
opinions among the Christians they found there. They
were adopted principally by the Armenians residing in the
mountains, near the sources of the Tigris and Euphrates,
who still continue to cherish them; and the opinions of
Eutyches, with some modifications, are maintained at this
day by all the various bodies of Armenians of the primitive
church, to whatever part of the world they have emigrated.
414
NARRATIVE OF A
By far the most numerous and important colony of this
people is that which was brought to Constantinople by the
Turks, after they had subdued the country. I was interested
to ascertain the numbers actually resident, and applied to
their patriarch for information. He sent me, by one of his
chaplains, returns of the families resident in the capital, and
in each of the villages of the Bosphorus; and, allowing
eight persons to a family, which he considered a fair ave-
rage, the result gave two hundred and forty thousand indi-
viduals, from the Euxine to the Sea of Marmora, on both
sides of the Bosphorus. Of these about six thousand, he said,
had conformed to the Roman Catholic form of worship, and
acknowledged the supremacy of the see of Rome. The re-
mainder adhere to the doctrine and discipline of the primi-
tive Asiatic churches, and acknowledge no spiritual head
but their own patriarch.
The Armenians were first converted to Christianity by
Gregory of Nazianzum, a town in Cappadocia, who, in the
reign of Theodosius, was elected patriarch of Constantinople.
He, however, preferred a mission to heathen nations yet
unconverted, and proceeded eastward to the mountains of
Armenia, where he was the first to preach the Gospel. At
his death he was canonized as the Patron Saint of the nation,
under the name of Surp-loo-Savorich, or “The Holy Illu-
mination;" and, still more to evince their respect and reve-
rence for him, they commenced their era from the time of
his death, which happened, according to their account, in
the year 551 after Christ; so that their epochas, like the
Turkish Hegeira, form dates distinct from other classes of the
people. The return made me of the population was dated
1273, which corresponded with our 1824. After his death
they adopted the opinions of Eutyches.
From the time of St. Gregory, Christianity made ä rapid
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
415
progress in the East; and at the period of the Turkish inva-
sion, the capital of the country contained three hundred
churches; but the inroads of the Mahomedans, with the
Koran in one hand and the exterminating sword in the
other, have swept away those monuments of the Gospel,
and, like Ephesus, and the churches in other parts of
Asia, and from the same cause, they have now left little
more than the name behind them. They are governed,
however, by six patriarchs, who exercise jurisdiction over
the communities scattered in different countries, of which
that of Etchmeasin, in Persia, which St. Gregory founded,
is the chief. It is held in such respect, that the Turks
allow it a privilege not conferred on any other place of
worship: that is, a ring of bells. The patriarchs of Jeru-
salem and Constantinople are held in least repute, and
hardly admitted as orthodox, as they were established by the
Turks. The latter particularly is the mere creature of the
Porte, constantly changed for the money paid on every new
appointment, and the passive instrument to collect the
haratch, or capitation-tax.
The priesthood are divided into two classes, secular and
regular. The first are not only allowed to marry, but it is en-
joined to them as a necessary qualification for holy orders; but
if a priest's wife die, and he take another, he is degraded from
his sacerdotal functions. The regular clergy are not allowed
to take wives, and as all their dignitaries are appointed
from them, no patriarch or bishop can be a married man.
Besides the usual orders of bishops, priests, and deacons,
there is one peculiar to the Armenian church. They are
called Vertabiets, or “ Doctors.” They are considered the
most learned men of the nation, and are allowed a privilege
not extended to bishops, that of preaching their sermons
sitting. Their opinions are the standards of orthodoxy,
416
NARRATIVE OF A
and they are the great opponents of the Roman missionaries,
whom they represent as the real heretics.
Like all the Orientals, the Armenians attribute great
merit to fasting. Among a people so comparatively mode-
rate and simple in their diet, restraints cannot be felt in the
same degree as by nations who are less temperate; but they
are actually so severe, and so rigidly observed, that they
evince an extraordinary degree of sincerity and self-denial.
Their first great period of fasting corresponds with ours-
the forty days preceding Easter Sunday. Many commence
this fast by abstaining from all kinds of food for three or
four days, and during its continuance eat nothing till three
o'clock in the day, in imitation of Cornelius, who fasted till
that hour. When they do eat they are interdicted from
food allowed to other churches. They must not eat fish
with blood, which is permitted to the Latin ; nor with shells,
which the Greek allows. They are restricted to bread and
oil; and, because olive oil is too nourishing and too great a
luxury, they use that which is expressed from a seed called
sousan, of a taste and odour very offensive. I could not
learn the grain from which it was extracted; but certainly
if a human being wanted to mortify himself, he could not
select a more disgusting diet. In this way they observe
certain periods before Christmas, besides every Wednesday
and Friday, so that the whole year is a succession of fasts.
As they are severe in their discipline, they are rigid in
their doctrine. They admit of infant baptism, but insist on
the necessity of total immersion of the body; and the part
held by the priest they consider it necessary to wash, that
no portion of the person may be deprived of the ablution.
They also use a chrism, or anointing with oil, as a conclu-
sion of the ceremony. The sacrament of the Eucharist, or,
as they call it, Surpusium, is administered, on Sundays and
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
417
at once.
܀
festivals in a manner peculiar to themselves. They use
unleavened bread, which the priest steeps in the wine, then
takes up with his fingers, and in this way gives both elements
You wished me to ascertain their real opinion of
the elements after consecration, and I was inclined to think,
from what I had heard, that they applied literally the
expression of “this is my body.” Among other persons I
consulted a learned Armenian, who superintended a large
school attached to the patriarchate. He spoke Italian, and
entered freely upon the subject. He affirmed that the
opinion of transubstantiation was introduced into the church
about seventy years before, but till that period the doctrine
on the subject was the same as that entertained by the reformed
churches of the West. I asked him what those were, and he
replied in the following words :-“ No change does, or can,
take place in the substance of the elements, which continue
bread and wine as they were before; but they become after
consecration animated with the spirit of Christ, in the same
manner as a human body is animated with the spirit of life,
and they confer on the worthy communicant a vivifying
spirit of Christianity. This is the belief entertained by the
great body of the orthodox Armenians, both clergy and
laity of the present day, and those who hold any other are
considered as apostatising to the church of Rome.” Was
this merely the opinion of a private individual, I would not
think it deserved recording, and attach no more import-
ance to it than to that of any single person, but it was the
belief of a man set over a public seminary sanctioned by the
patriarch, which he was allowed to teach to the rising youth
under his care, and which was assented to by many persons
present. He gave me a catechism printed at the patriarchal
press, for the use and instruction of Armenian children. I
had it translated, and the following is the answer to the
2 E
VOL. II.
418
NARRATIVE OF A
question, What is the Eucharist? “ It is the body and
blood of Jesus Christ—the spiritual food which at length
gives to us eternal life.” Many strict Armenians, however,
attach such solemnity to the elements, that, as long as they
suppose they exist unchanged in the stomach, they never
spit, nor suffer any impure thing to come near them.
In their marriages they are very precise, enforcing not.
only the canon of consanguinity which our church enjoins,
but many others which our church does not. A second
marriage is allowed to the laity, but a third brings with it a
scandal that no Armenian will venture to incur. They are
anxious to maintain the fitness and propriety of things.
Widows are enjoined to unite themselves with widowers
only, and bachelors with spinsters. As the nation is really
Asiatic, their notions of female propriety are all founded on
Oriental feelings. Their women are kept in a state of
severe seclusion. They are more rarely seen abroad than
even Turkish women; and a match is generally made, not
by the young parties from a previous attachment, for they
seldom meet before marriage, but by some woman, who
lives by making matches as a profession. When a girl is
marriageable, one of these is sent for, who is charged to
look out for a suitable husband, and manage all the preli-
minaries between the parties.
I was invited to the wedding of a young lady of one of
the first Armenian families in Pera, whose match was made
in this way, and who, I was assured, had never seen the
man she was going to marry. I accompanied Lady Strang-
ford to the ceremony. We went about eight o'clock in the
evening, and found the house lighted up, and full of the lady's
friends, among whom were the priest who was to perform
the service, and his wife, both very plain and simple-looking
persons. We passed through several ante-rooms full of
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
419
people, and were finally ushered into an inner and secluded
chamber round which was a divan. On this sat cross-legged
a number of Armenian ladies, two or three deep, and at the
far corner was a motionless figure, like a bust in a niche,
covered with a rich veil, glittering with gold, which hung down
on all sides, so as entirely to conceal her figure beneath it.
The bust was the bride. Across the room was a line of
men, two or three deep, who stood gazing on her in silence.
In compliment to our Frank customs, chairs were procured
for us in the neighbourhood, on which we sat, and continued
gazing on her in silence in the same way. To gratify us,
the bride permitted her veil to be raised a little; it was
instantly dropped again, but the glimpse we had showed us
a slight figure and pale face, with a countenance exceed-
ingly pensive and joyless. Her companions, however, were
of a different character. They were all unveiled, and dis-
played faces radiant with beauty and cheerfulness. Some
of them were exceedingly lovely, crowned with coronets of
gold, and their long hair floated about them in extraordinary
profusion down to the divan, like the veil of the bride.
Though seemingly in high spirits, they spoke in whispers,
and all their motions were tempered by gentleness and
modesty
After some refreshments and music, an open space was
cleared before the bride, on which two embroidered mats
were laid. On them were placed two.enormous candle-
sticks, containing wax tapers of a proportionable size, and
between them was a third, of still greater magnitude, with-
out a stand, but bound upright to the other two by ribands.
This mysterious emblem was called “ the nuptial taper.”
It represented the maiden state of the girl, and was to burn
till that state expired. It was then extinguished, and kept
as a relic by the family. The snuff of the wick became the
2 2
420
NARRATIVE OF A
perquisite of the priest, who attributed to it many conjugal
virtues.
The priest was now called on to perform another import-
ant ceremony. A low table was placed near the nuptial
taper, covered with a white cloth. The priest took from his
bosom a small crucifix, and waving it several times in the
air over the table, he uttered a benediction, and concluded
with a psalm. We were curious to see what mystery was
under this cloth. It was slowly lifted up, and there ap-
peared a rich shawl, which was taken up and wrapped about
the bride. This ceremony was deemed one of the most
important parts of the marriage service, and is called
Blessing the nuptial shawl.”
When these and other rites were over we expected to
see the bridegroom, but he never appeared. He was down
in Galata enjoying himself with his friends; nor was it till
the end of three days that the bride was carried to him
wrapped up in her shawl, like a child in swaddling clothes,
when the husband saw her for the first time, and the final
ceremony was performed.
Notwithstanding this very unpromising mode of courtship,
marriage is generally a happy, or at least a tranquil state
among the Armenians, and instances of conjugal infidelity
are utterly unknown. As a religious people they consider
it a most solemn engagement. They call it “one of the
Seven Mysteries, which binds man and woman together in
an indissoluble chain for their eternal salvation." The dis-
position of the females, besides, as well by nature as edu-
cation, is so gentle, docile, and domestic, that her inclina-
tions never stray beyond her house, her husband, and her
children.
I had many opportunities of witnessing this, but one was
particularly interesting. Mr. Leeves had the New Testa-
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
421
ment translated into Armenian for the use of the laity, and
it was published by an Armenian family, who had a print-
ing establishment in one of the villages of the Bosphorus.
When it was completed we were invited to the house of the
worthy people to celebrate the event. A caique was sent
for us, and we arrived about two o'clock. We were received
by an aged man, with a long white beard, and strong marked
features. Next in succession came his three sons, who were
all men advanced in life; then his aged wife; and last, his
three daughters-in-law, two of whom were young and very
beautiful. Of these the mother alone was suffered to sit
on a remote corner of the divan, while the others stood
below the step at the bottom of the room, waiting sub-
missively for orders. From this apartment we proceeded
to another, where dinner was served. The men sat down
to table, but the women stood round respectfully to attend
them. There was one lady of our party who took her seat
beside her husband, but the Armenian women stared at
her with surprise, as if they considered her forwardness a
great scandal. The dinner, which consisted of the usual
Oriental fare, was concluded with a dish of caymac, or sweet
hard cream, overlaid with jelly. The ladies then were at
hand, each assiduously presenting us with a basin, ewer, and
embroidered towel; and having helped us to wash, we
retired to the reception-room. Here an Armenian bishop,
among other company, was introduced. He was, we were
informed, of that class who have no local sees, but live an
ambulatory life, moving from place to place. Their duty is
to pay domiciliary visits to the different families, like the
elders appointed at the annual meetings of Quakers in
England to reform or correct any laxity of religion or mo-
rality which they may hear or see. So far from these visiters
being deemed obtrusive, they are, like those aniong the
422
NARRATIVE OF A
Friends in England, always received with esteem and respect,
and, indeed, in many other particulars they so resemble them,
that the Armenians are called the Quakers of the East.
The younger parts of the family were now admitted. They
consisted of eight or ten boys and girls of different ages.
We wished to be familiar with these beautiful children, and
two of the boys were permitted to approach us.
Their
manners were remarkably pleasing and gentle, without any
awkward embarrassment. We gave them some little pre-
sents, which, after consulting the looks of their parents, they
thankfully accepted, kissed our hands, pressed them to their
foreheads, and retired to their places. The room formed a
striking picture of the discipline of an Armenian family.
The upper end was occupied exclusively by us strangers, as
honoured guests. On our right hand sat the venerable elder
and the bishop; on the left, his sons with other Armenian
visiters; below the step stood the women and children,
silent, regular, and motionless. As the Armenians retire
very early to rest, we took our leave at sunset, greatly struck
with the manner of these people, where three generations
lived together in harmony and love, and with a reverence to
years and condition that reminded us of the patriarchal
ages.
Nor does the attachment of families cease with their lives,
for long after death they endeavour to hold a visionary
communication with their departed parents and children.
The Turks reserve the cypress for themselves, and permit
no other people to have it in their burying-grounds; but the
Armenians, on the death of a relative, plant a pistacia, a
tree equally yielding a resinous and aromatic gum, which
fills the air, corrects the effluvia of the graves, and affords a
still more abundant shade. They grow to a large size, and
form very picturesque objects in a landscape. Their large
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
423
cemetery over the Bosphorus is covered with these trees, and
from its elevated situation, the view it commands, and the
view it presents, is perhaps the most interesting grove in
the world. Here I have often seen whole Armenian fami-
lies, for two or three generations together, sitting round
the tombs of their departed friends, and conversing with
the dead.
The Armenians hold that there is an intermediate state,
which they call Gayank. It is not purgatory, for the dead
suffer nothing ; nor are their offences believed to be “ burnt
or purged away" by fire, for they are supposed to feel neither
pain nor pleasure, though they retain a perfect consciousness
of the past. From this passive state they are delivered by
the alms and prayers of their surviving friends, and Easter
Monday is the great day appointed for this purpose. Fa-
mily groups assemble, accompanied by their priests, who
proceed to their respective tombs. Solemn service for the
departed is read round each, in which all the family join.
They then sit down in groups or singly by favourite graves,
and by the aid of a strong imagination, really seem to hold
sweet converse with those they loved in life. This pious
and pensive duty being performed to the dead, they retire to
some pleasant spot in the neighbourhood, where provisions
were brought, and dine together. These family visits to the
mansions of the departed are a favourite enjoyment of this
people. I have frequently joined their groups without being
considered an intruder, and always returned pleased and
even edified by this pious practice, though not according
with my own opinions of orthodoxy.
Some of the mausoleums here are of pure marble, from the
neighbouring island of Marmora, and well sculptured. Like
all the Orientals, they make small excavations on the face
of their tombstones, as cups to receive rain-water for the
>
424
NARRATIVE OF A
birds who build in the trees of their cemetery. Like the
Greeks, they engrave on the stone implements of trade to
designate the business of the person interred; but the most
extraordinary circumstance is, that they are fond of dis-
playing how he came by his death. You therefore see on
their tombs the effigies of men executed in various ways
as criminals. I could not at first account for this singular
propensity for exhibiting the infamous death of their
friends, till they informed me that no Armenian is ever
executed for a real crime; but when he has acquired such a
fortune as to become an object of cupidity to the Turks, he
is, on some pretext, put to death in this way, in order that
his property may be confiscated. An executed man, there-
fore, with them only implied a man of wealth and conse-
quence. One Armenian of my acquaintance pointed out to
me the tomb of an individual of his family, on which he was
represented hanging against the wall of his own house.
Will
B
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
425
Another showed me his grandfather, who was seized and
his head cut off, as he was entering his own gate. The
representations here given are perfect fac-similes of the
sculpture on their tombs.
immi
U
mum
He also translated for me, though with fear and trembling,
their epitaphs, looking round to see if any Turk observed
That under the latter was as follows:
us.
You see my place of burial in this verdant field,
I give my goods to the robbers,
My soul to the regions of death,
The world I leave to God;
And my blood I shed in the Holy Spirit.
You who may meet my tomb,
Say for me,
Lord, I have sinned.
1197.
The Armenians, though fond of religious books, have
426
NARRATIVE OF A
little taste for, or acquaintance with, general literature.
They purchase with great avidity all the Bibles furnished
by the British and Foreign Bible Society. Their patriarch
sanctioned and encouraged Mr. Leeves to publish a new
edition of the New Testament, the completion of which
we celebrated at the house of the worthy printer's, and
I was requested to have a translation made into their lan-
guage of some of the Homilies of our church, which I left
in progress. They have a printing-office at the patriarchate,
another at Korou Chesmé, and a third at the convent of
St. Lazaro, at Venice. I obtained a list of all the books
published at the patriarchal press, from its establishment to
the present day. It conveys a better idea of their literary
taste and progress than any other document could do.
. In
the space of about one hundred and thirty years, fifty-two
books only were printed, including several editions of each.
Forty-seven were Commentaries on the Bible, Lives of
Saints, Psalters, and a panegyric on Angels. The five
not on sacred subjects were, an “Armenian Grammar," a
“ History of Etchmiazin,” a “ Treatise on Good Beha-
viour,” a “ Tract on Precious Stones," and a “Romance
of the City of Brass*.” They also publish an annual Alma-
nac, in which, like the other branches of the Eastern church,
they adhere to the old style. Their era commences, as I
mentioned, five hundred and fifty-one years after ours, and
their Christmas Day is marked for the 6th of January,
adhering, as they say, to the period observed in the primi-
tive church, till St. Chrysostom wrote a homily to prove
that it ought to be celebrated on the 25th of December,
which the Greeks then adopted.
The Armenian language has this singular peculiarity, that,
different from all other languages of the East, it is read from
* See Appendix, No. X.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
427
left to right. This is accounted for by supposing it to be a
language of modern structure, and the mode of writing intro-
duced among the people after their intercourse with Euro-
peans.
There is no such found on coins or other ancient
monuments of the country. The characters, they say, were
invented by St. Chrysostom, bishop of Chalcedon. They con-
sist almost entirely of sharp angles and straight down strokes,
so very like each other, that they resemble the writing you
have seen in old English records, where the word minimum
is expressed by fifteen unconnected parallel lines. Indeed,
it is so difficult, that I have met intelligent Armenians who
could read and write Turkish and Italian, but who could
not translate for me their own books. It was one of the
difficulties which you recollect Lord Byron undertook to
conquer.
He found, he said, that “ his mind wanted
something craggy to break upon," so when he was in Venice
in 1816 hę daily passed over to the monastery of St. Lazaro,
“ to hobble Armenian with the friars,” and help them with
an English and Armenian grammar, which one of them was
publishing. Some time before, the French wished to esta-
blish an Armenian professorship, and twenty pupils pre-
sented themselves on Monday morning to qualify, “but be-
fore Thursday fifteen out of that number succumbed to the
twenty-fifth letter of the alphabet." Since that time, how-
ever, not only a grammar, but a dictionary of English and
Armenian have been published at this press, and are now
in use at Constantinople.
The Armenians seem more disposed to amalgamate with
the English, I think, than with any other Frank, or, indeed,
Oriental people at Pera. A remarkably handsome and
amiable young man of that nation called on me one day,
and expressed a wish to become a member of our church,
and to that end to learn the English language. He was
428
NARRATIVE OF A
the son of a respectable merchant, who had a store at the
Great Bazaar in Constantinople, at whose house I passed
two or three nights, and was received with great kindness
and hospitality.
He was an intelligent man, well acquainted with the
doctrine of our church, and was perfectly satisfied with his
son's choice of a religion. He generally passed Sunday
with us, came to service, and in due time he received the
Sacrament in our church. His name was Cachadore Oska-
nian, which he Anglicised into Christopher Hoskins. Among
other tasks I set him to translate for me a work of great
celebrity among his countrymen, called “ The City of
Brass, which is a Picture of the World.” The following
is the first page of his translation, as a specimen of the
works of fiction which delight the people :
" There was once in Bagdat a caliph, called Abdho Malak.
One day he went forth into the street, collected together
his chief men, and asked them about Solomon, and how he
had power over the genii. His vizir came before him and
said, “Oh, great and mighty caliph! Know that there was
once a man, the son of a merchant, and he spoke as follows:
I was on a voyage to an island, and I lost my path in the
mighty sea for forty days; but we reached land, and then
we ascended a high mountain. We had no knowledge
of the country, but at length we saw some dark-coloured
men, of strange form, who saluted us, and brought us home
to their abode, and with them we remained three days.
After that they arose, and went down to the sea to fish,
bringing us along with them. They cast out their nets, and
took much fish, and with them they brought up a vase, sealed
with the leaden signet of Solomon. When the vase was
opened there came therefrom a black smoke, which ascended
to the sky, and was terrible to behold : and while we looked
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
429
and trembled, a voice issued from the midst of the smoke,
and cried, Solomon, Solomon, son of the prophet David !
I have sinned, and will not again do as I have done, but am
under your command'—for the demon knew that Solomon
was still alive."
The caliph's curiosity is excited by the story; he be-
comes anxious to get possession of this vase, and sends
Dalib, the son of Lepilla, in search of it, whose ad-
ventures through the world form the subject of the story,
which contains many incidents resembling those in the
“ Arabian Nights,” like that at the commencement.
A considerable advance has been made within these three
years in the education of their children, now instructed on the
Lancasterian system. In one school which I visited in the Ar-
menian quarter at Constantinople were four hundred boys in
a large edifice, which opened into a garden, and everything
was conducted with great regularity. The books read were
elementary works in their own language, which has thus
become an object of regular study. Attached to it was
another, where forty lads were taught Italian and other
modern languages, a singular instance of that growing de-
sire for knowledge which has now everywhere pervaded the
Turkish empire. The mode of instruction, howerer, in these
schools was yet Oriental. The pupils sat round the room
on broad cushions, like mattresses, laid on the floor, and
before each was a small box, about a foot long and half as
high, which served them for a desk, over which they bent
in an awkward and unhealthy attitude. I was informed,
however, that they intended to provide European desks and
forms. No school has yet been opened for females, and I
understood that few females, even of the better classes, had
yet learned to read or write.
The Armenians are not, like the Greeks, engaged in
430
NARRATIVE OF A
European commerce, and covering the Archipelago with their
ships. They have little or no trade with the West, pos-
sess no ships of their own, and seldom trust themselves to
those of others. But they are extensively engaged in the
commerce of the East, and the whole interior of Asia is
intersected by their various journeys. They set out them-
selves with their merchandise, and accompany their caravans
to Bagdat, Ispahanı, and other great cities, and they engross
almost the whole of this inland trade. Since the war of the
Persians with the Turks and Russians, their usual routes
have been greatly disturbed, their goods plundered by bands
of robbers that infest the frontiers, and the timid merchants
themselves deterred from prosecuting their usual journeys.
But their great source of revenue is derived from being
almost exclusively sarafs, or bankers, to Turkish pashas.
There are about eighty pashalics in the empire, and when-
ever a new pasha receives an appointment he must depend
entirely on his Armenian for the means to avail himself of
it. He is usually a man raised from the lowest rank in life,
and possessing no personal property: his first care, there-
fore, is to send for an Armenian, who supplies him with his
outfit of daggers, pistols, shawls, and all the indispensables
of a pasha. He then becomes his security with the Porte
for payment of the tribute of the pashalic, which is assigned
to him to collect, and as this is generally taken in kind, the
Armenian becomes a merchant as well as à banker, and
disposes of it to a profitable advantage. On all purchases
for the pasha he is allowed ten per cent. agency, and on all
money advanced two per cent. per month; so that I have
heard it said that one-third of the revenue of a pashalic
settles in the Armenian's pocket. They sometimes suffer
sudden and utter destruction of person and property. When
an emergency for money presses the Porte, and it is sup-
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
431
posed that any saraf has become so rich as to make him
worth the sacrifice, himself is hanged or decapitated, his
property seized, and his family reduced to utter destitution;
and all this suddenly falls on him like a bolt from heaven.
Latterly, however, they have enjoyed a greater degree of
security. A banker whom I visited on the Bosphorus was
singled out as a victim, seized in his house, and brought
over to Asia Minor, where he was detained. Meantime,
his friends were active in negociating his enlargement, and
having ascertained the lowest sum that would gratify cupi-
dity, it was handed over, and the Armenian suffered to
return to his house. He expected to find it ransacked, and
all his papers seized and examined for proofs of his guilt,
but he found everything undisturbed. The pretext of accu-
sation is now understood to mean a demand for a certain
sum, which is paid, and the affair is finished.
These people are the great artificers of Turkey, and the
few factories established in the empire are generally con-
ducted by them. The large factory for printed cottons at
Scutari is theirs; and, though averse to war, they make no
scruple of making warlike instruments. There is an extensive
establishment called Tophenkhana, on the harbour near the
Fanal, for the manufacture of muskets and bayonets, entirely
managed by them, and the workmen, to the amount of five
hundred, are almost all of that nation. It was in full acti-
vity when I visited it with the Armenian superintendent in
1832. In one department they bored muskets; in another,
fabricated bayonets; in a third, ramrods, to which they
were very particular in giving a high polish. Their mode
of forming the hammer of the lock was very ingenious. A
piece of red-hot hammered iron was put into a mould, on
which a heavy weight was suspended. This was let to fall,
and by the pressure the hammer is as completely formed
432
NARRATIVE OF A
as if made of cast iron. Beside this was a dock-yard for
building steam-boats, the whole machinery of which was
cast and put together by the Armenians. It may be said,
therefore, of this people, that of all the Rayas they are the
most valuable to the Turkish government. They never
embarrass it by revolt against its authority, and they im-
prove its resources by their industry and ingenuity. It is a
singular fact, that no Armenian ever showed the slightest
sympathy or common feeling with their Christian brethren
the Greeks. No Armenian was ever yet found to join
their cause, or aid it in any way by money or influence, and
they were the fabricators of the warlike implements the
Turks used against them. So important are their services
considered as subjects, that the crafty Russians having got
possession of a portion of the country, by the treaty of Tur-
komansha, in 1828, stipulated with Persia that all the Ar-
menians who wished to emigrate into it should be allowed
to do so, and they induced forty thousand of those indus-
trious people to leave the territories of the Shah and be-
come Russian subjects.
The converts made by the church of Rome, though com-
paratively few in number, are the cause of great commotions
and divisions among the people, and they become objects of
occasional punishment. The converts call their fellow coun-
trymen whom they left schismatics, though, as far as the
term may be applied to separation from the original church,
it is they themselves who come under the denomination.
They have at various times been subject to great and unme-
rited persecution. Just before our arrival, in the year 1820,
one of these took place.
A rumour had gone abroad that there was an intention
of effecting an entire union between the patriarchal and
papal churches, and the patriarch himself was suspected of
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
433
favouring the project. Nothing marks more strongly the
utter
repugnance of the people to such a measure than the
feelings manifested on the occasion. Their passive and
timid character was stimulated to what appeared an unna-
tural excitement. They lost all the respect and veneration
which they were wont to show to the head of their church.
They commenced with menaces, and then proceeded to
actual violence against him and all they suspected as his
partizans, till at length the Turkish government, which
certainly never interferes in the local and personal disputes
of its rayas, was compelled to reduce the disaffected to order
with a strong arm. Many of the insurgents were arrested;
some were thrust out of the city, and some of the most tur-
bulent executed on the spot by summary process of Turkish
justice. The authority of the patriarch was at length re-
stored, 'after he had given assurance that he had never
sanctioned such a measure, nor was it ever in agitation.
Just before my second return to Constantinople these
disturbances were renewed, and the Porte took a decided
part in them, by excluding one body of the litigants from
the city. In the misunderstanding which then existed,
and the state of hostility which ensued between the Turks
and the other European powers, they suspected, or pre-
tended to suspect, that the Roman Catholic Armenians
were subject to foreign influence. The number of orthodox
Armenians who had migrated just before into the provinces
conquered by the Russians, gave a pretext for proceeding
against the schismatic Catholics, who were supposed to be
similarly affected to the Christianis of the Latin church.
The toleration granted to them was withdrawn, and the
Divan issued a decree like the revocation of the Edict of
Nantz, and several thousand of those persons who had esta-
blishments and resided at Pera were compelled to abandon
VOL. II.
2 F
434
NARRATIVE OF A
ܪ
their homes. There had been settled at Angora, in Asia
Minor, a considerable body of those people, and the residents
of the capital were supposed to belong to this colony; they
were therefore violating the ancient laws of the empire,
which prohibited Rayas from changing their abode; and on
this pretext they were expelled the city by a public firman.
It was the depth of winter, and some of the unfortunate
exiles, it was said, perished on the road by the severity of
the weather. They were allowed but ten days to dispose of
their property, and many, not being able in that short time
to do so, were compelled to leave it behind them. This was
particularly the case with houses, some of which were very
splendid. The Porte, on such occasions as the present,
generally gratified European ministers, by offering them
some confiscated mansion as a summer residence. That of
Prince Ypselantes had been accepted of by the French, and
it is now the abode of the embassy; that of Prince Mo-
rousi had been proffered to the English embassy, but was
declined at the time. One of the houses of these exiled Ar-
menians at Therapia, however, was subsequently accepted
of, and it is at present, since the burning of the palace at
Pera, the only abode of the embassy. Though delightful
as a summer abode, nothing could be more dreary than
the first winter it was necessary to pass in it. The roofs of
Oriental houses are very imperfectly covered, and I was
obliged, even in the palace of Pera, on the solution of snow
or the fall of heavy rain, to sit at the fire in my apartment
with an umbrella over my head; but here there was no fire-
place, and I have often paced the long saloon with a cloak
about me, till Mr. Mandeville had chimneys built to the
house, and one room was made comfortable both for dinner
and divine service.
It is among the considerate acts of justice of the Sultan
to have restored these persecuted exiles to their homes. At
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
435
the interference of the British and French ambassadors, he
not only recalled them to the capital, but he took effectual
precautions to prevent a similar persecution. He appointed
for them a patriarch of their own, and so recognised them
as a separate and independent community. On the 5th of
January, 1801, a berat by Hatta Sherif was delivered to
the new Roman Catholic Armenian patriarch, stating, that
the people had been formerly, under the jurisdiction of the
Greek and Armenian patriarchs, obliged to attend the
places of worship of the Franks, and have all their mar-
riages and other religious functions performed by strangers
which was humiliating: the berat directs that they shall now
be performed by their own priests, under the direction of
their own patriarch, who shall be allowed to bear the ensigns
of his office, and have his patriarchate establishment without
let or hindrance from others; that he shall receive all lega-
cies or donations for charity for the benefit of his church;
and receive all gifts of the produce of vineyards, new wine,
honey, butter, or other things, for himself*. In fact, it was
that concession to the increasing wants of the people, in
accordance with the principle of reform in other parts of
Europe. It recognized a new society, and appointed a new
patriarch, of which there are three now at Constantinople;
but it still retained the usual feature of Turkish toleration,
by stipulating that he should pay immediately fifty thou-
sand, and annually three hundred and thirty-eight thou-
sand aspers for his appointment. The Sultan, however,
repaid a considerable portion of this to his flock. He
included them among those who had suffered by the fire,
and he made liberal donations to their schools on his return
from his voyage.
Another Christian community here, differing in character
* See Appendix, No. XI.
2 F2
436
NARRATIVE OF A
from the rest, are the Bulgarians. They were originally a
race of Tartars, who inhabited the shores of the Mootis and
Euxine Seas. Attracted by the reports of Roman wealth
and luxury, they, like other barbarians, made inroads into
the territories of the Eastern empire, and their ravages are
represented to be more ferocious and sanguinary than those
of any other tribe, and carried terror to the walls of Constan-
tinople, till repulsed by Belisarius, in the reign of Justinian,
and finally settled in the fertile country lying between the
Danube and the Balcan mountains, formerly called Moesia.
They became Christians, and members of the Oriental
church; but on one occasion, in the reign of Isaak, pro-
fessed to recognize the supremacy of the Pope, who sent
them an archbishop. They now, I believe, universally ac-
knowledge the patriarch of Constantinople, and adhere to
the rites of the Greek church. They have lost entirely their
warlike character, and are distinguished for their pastoral
habits and peaceable demeanour. They principally inha-
bit the suburbs and villages of Constantinople, where they
are the gardeners and almost exclusively the vine-dressers;
and every spring an immigration of them takes place to the
capital from their native mountains, for the purpose. At
this time parties are seen in the streets, dancing in groups
to the music of their native pipes, which is then heard on
every hill about the Bosphorus. They are particularly dis-
tinguished by their honest and good-humoured countenances.
To their management, generally, is intrusted the cattle of
the city, which they graze on the hills about, and supply from
them milk to the inhabitants. They have the care of the
Sultan's horses, and in the month of May every year lead
them to the meadows at the head of the harbour, on which
occasion fêtes are celebrated, and festivity of all kinds is
enjoyed by Turkish ladies, who assemble on the banks of
the Sweet Waters along with the horses.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE,
437
The Bulgarians of the capital, however, corrupted per-
haps by evil communication, are much deteriorated, and
they lie under the imputation of many crimes. Murders
are frequently committed during the season of vine-dressing,
which are laid to their account, and they are charged with
practices which have stigmatized their name all over
Europe*. The number of these people who are constant or
occasional residents in the city is uncertain, but may amount
to about two or three thousand, The language they speak
among themselves is a dialect of Sclavonic, though many
of them can converse in Greek and Turkish. They are
almost wholly illiterate, and a very few have learned to read
Greek, which has been introduced into some schools esta-
blished among them. Their own language is entirely oral,
never having been reduced to grammatical rules. They
are distinguished by their dress, which consists of jackets of
brown cloth, caps of brown sheep's-skin, with the wool on,
and sandals of raw hide drawn under the sole, and tied
over the instep.
The individuals of all nations of Western Europe who
inhabit the Turkish empire are called Franks. This was
a name given by Greeks of the Lower Empire, and by the
Arabians, to all the people living in remote regions on the
shores of the Atlantic, and generally to all Christians of the
Latin church, and the Turks, who adopted the appellations
they found in use, still retain it. The Franks themselves
think it still more dignified—they say it implies freemen,
and distinguishes them from the Rayas, or slavish subjects
of the Sultan. They consist of Germans, Swedes, Danes,
Dutch, Russians, Swiss, French, Spaniards, Portuguese,
It was a charge made against the Manichæans, a sect very numerous
among the Bulgarians. Matthew Paris, alluding to it, says, “ De quorum
errore malo tacere quam loqui."--Mat. Paris, Au. 1224.
438
NARRATIVE OF A
Italians, and English, who form, with the crews of the
ships in port, a body of about six thousand persons, who
are not subject to Turkish law; but, in consequence of capi-
tulations, are amenable only to the jurisdiction of the resi-
dent minister of the country to which they belong.
This privilege was sometimes greatly abused. A berat,
or a protection, could be procured from the Porte, which
extended the privilege to any Christian subject of Turkey
who was any way employed by a foreign minister, and a
traffic was made of it. Berats were sold to adventurers
by every ambassador; and it was supposed that it produced
30001. per annum at one time to the British resident. It
is to the credit of Sir Robert Liston that he abolished this
abuse, as far as related to England, in the year 1795; but I
have been informed it is still carried on by other nations.
Indeed, it is a thing so understood, that I was more than
once applied to, to use my influence for people, and pro-
mised considerable sums if I succeeded. It is unnecessary
I never tried.
The advantages of being considered a Frank are very im-
portant. Among others, a man is exempted from the haratch,
or capitation-tax, and is not interdicted from leaving the
Turkish territories. Wherever these privileges were not pre-
served, a Frank marrying a Raya woman ceased to be free,
and his children and property became liable to the law of
Turkish bondage. Various circumstances of this kind oc-
curred to English subjects who had married Greeks. On the
death of the husband, when the widow and children proposed
to remove with their property to the land of their father,
they were seized, and the executors thrown into prison, and
threatened with torture to extort a confession of the property.
Inquisitions were frequently held by the Turks, to ascertain
such marriages ; and in the year 1685, not less than fifty
to say
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
439
merchants and others were found to be in this predicament.
I married a British merchant to a Greek lady, and at the
time I left Constantinople it was still a doubt whether his
wife, children, and property were not liable to the laws of
Turkish subjects.
In the collision of tongues which takes place among so
heterogeneous a mass of people, some persons acquire an
extraordinary facility in speaking various languages. Hear-
ing them from an early age indiscriminately spoken, the
ductile organs are impressed with all sounds alike, acquire
the knowledge without effort, and comprehend and utter all
with equal readiness. The first example of this kind that
struck me on my arrival was that of a pretty, intelligent
child, the daughter of one of our dragomans. I saw her in
company with people of five different nations—she con-
versed with them all with equal readiness, and changed
without effort from Greek to Armenian, from Armenian to
Italian, from Italian to Turkish, and from Turkish to French,
without the smallest embarrassment, as if they were all the
same language, and that her native tongue. I found after-
wards that this was a very common faculty, and from the
exercise of it arose the lingua Franca, in which a person used
the first word in any language which occurred to him, and
so formed a barbarous admixture of all terms, and that Babel
of tongues in which a stranger hears himself addressed by
an individual on his arrival at a port in the Levant.
Associated with the Franks are the Peraotes, or natives
of the peninsula of Pera, the descendants of the Genoese,
who once exclusively occupied Galata. It is from this class
that the dragomans, or interpreters to the different missions,
are generally selected, for which their perfect knowledge of the
Oriental languages always qualifies them. Among those at-
tached to our mission was the family of Pisani, a branch of
440
NARRATIVE OF A
the distinguished family of that name in Italy, and which had,
at an early day, emigrated to Galata. To one of them I
am particularly indebted. He had been many years inter-
preter to our embassy, but retired to make
way
for younger,
though not more capable men. He had formed for me an
attachment which he evinced in various acts of courtesy and
kindness, and on all occasions, when I wished for informa-
tion, he was ready and pleased to give it. A residence of
almost seventy years, and an intimate and personal ac-
quaintance with the events and circumstances of the country,
rendered it highly valuable. He was also an instance of
the facility of tongues acquired from the local circumstances
of the people. He wrote and spoke English with perfect
ease and propriety, and his autograph was formed with the
precision of engraving, which accomplishments were the
more remarkable, as of all languages English is the most
rarely spoken, because considered the most difficult and
hopeless of all others. He was also distinguished by a
remarkable courtesy of manners, arising not less from a
natural urbanity of disposition than from long intercourse
with his Majesty's representatives. He was visited in his
last illness by the British ambassador, when he was on the
threshold of eternity; yet even then he did not forget his
courtier-like manners. He saluted his Excellency by taking
off his night-cap, and died while seeming to say—
“ If where I'm going I can serve you, Sir."
The Frank burying-ground stands on a hill over the
Bosphorus. Before, and just under it, is the great cemetery
of the Turks, and beside it that of the Armenians, the
one embosomed in cypress, and the others in the resin-
yielding terebinth. But that of the Franks is open and
denuded, without a tree or shrub to mark it. Yet here the
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE,
441
dead of all the European nations repose together, and the
tombstones mark English, French, Dutch, Germans, &c.,
scattered through it. The earliest on record is that of the
Jesuits who fell victims to the plague. It is inscribed “ Hic
jacent patres societatis Jesu pesti perempti," &c., beginning
with Ludovicus Chizzolo, who died in 1585, and terminating
with Petrus Cleiget, in 1756, by which it appears that those
zealous men had exposed themselves here as elsewhere to
peril, from the time of their establishment to that of their
extinction, nearly two centuries. The next, I believe, is that
of Ricardus King, “Pastor Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ,” who died
in 1618. He was the first British chaplain, and the only
one whose death is commemorated. The next is that of a
Russian girl, who was carried into slavery by Tartars,
“ Christiano insidiantes sanguine," and redeemed by the
Dutch ambassador. She died at the age of seventeen, in
the year 1621.
But you remind me of a strange story of Hampden : that
the body of the patriot had been conveyed from the field of
battle, near Oxford, and deposited on the shores of the Bos-
phorus. I had heard such an absurd rumour at Pera, and
almost
my
first search was for the tomb in the Frank ceme-
tery. I soon found it, and discovered that it was not the
monument of John, but of Richard Hampden, who was not
killed in battle, in 1643, but who died a merchant at Pera,
by too close application to business, in 1689*.
* The following is the inscription in full:~" Memoriæ sacrum viri desi-
deratissimi Ricardi Hampden, ab antiqua Hampdenorum Buckinghamen-
sium stirpe oriundi, qui cum minor natu esset more generis Angliæ familiis
usitato Constantinopolin juvenis mercaturæ gratia profectus, ubi per xiv.
annos ita in negotiis est versatus ut familiaribus charus, integra fama et
facultatibus auctus, felix rerum successu gauderet in presenti florens nec de
futuro solicitus; dum vere uimis assiduus suique negligens rebus agendis invi-
442
NARRATIVE OF A
Among the modern tombs there are some of the citizens
of the French Republic, who commemorated the revolution,
and surmounted their tombs with a cap of liberty even at
that time in Constantinople. One of them, Henry Du Bois,
a native of Lyons, died on the 16th Nivose, in the year 9, and
concludes the inscription, not in the usual way, recommend-
ing his soul to God, but “en adressant ses veux au ciel
pour la prospérité de la République Française."
But the most striking stone iş one with a spirited sculp-
țure, without a name. It represents among the cypress of
a cemetery, four horses drawing a chariot, or bier, out of
which is issuing the skeleton arm of Death. holding a
scythe. The horses seem taking fright at the apparition,
and start off with terror, one looking behind, and the other
straining forward, as if to fly from the fearful image. The
sculpture, though rude, is very spirited. It is without any
kind of inscription, and no one from whom I inquired could
tell me its age or designation.
gilat, gracile corpus mentisque vigor impar lenta febris invadit, qua cum per
1x dies temperamento omnibus medicamentis fortiore conflictatus esset, eo
demum inconcusso mentis æquilibrio quo vitam egit mortem amplexus est,
felici indole qua et inter mundi tumultus inturbatus vixit et inter fortunæ
crescentes blanditias contentus occubuit. Ob. ii die Feb., Anno Dom,
Ætatis suæ. xxxvi. Quem amisimus jam nosti viator ; qua-
lem si quæris obversa marmoris facies indicabit."
VIII.
MDCLXXX
IX.
wordt
US
M
Frank Monumental Sculpture.
[To be inserted after p. 442, vol. ii.]
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
443
CHAPTER XVII
Jews-Numbers--Usages-Whence they came—How received by Turks--
Appearance of Messiah-Disposition to become Christians—Proselytes
exiled and restored-Arabs—Principal occupations Rice Talisman-
Turks—Ulemah-Notions of testimony-Mode of Worship-Fasting at
Ramazan-Alms-giving--Charity to inferior Animals-Circumcision-Rite
performed on young Prince-Pilgrimage to Mecca--Sets out from Scutari
-Sacred Camel-Superstitions-Dancing and howling Dervishes-Libra-
ries—of the Seraglio.—of Rhaghib—Printing Press at Scutari-Books
published—Flowers-Culinary Vegetables-Coins-Inaptitude of Turks
for the Arts—Anecdote-State of Women-Character-Opinion of their
Souls-Character of Men Revolutions,
THE Jews form a very numerous class, and occupy large
districts. They originally came, not from the east, but
the west, and were the remnant of that people who were
expelled from Spain, and brought the Spanish language
with them, which they universally speak, with a small
scattering of Hebrew words. It is calculated that there are
one hundred and fifty thousand in Balata, Haskui, Galata,
Ortakui, Fanal, Arnautkui, Kouskounguik, and Ginbalee
districts in the city, and on the Bosphorus. For this popu-
lation there are fifty synagogues, to each of which there is
a priest and a singer, whose music is very striking. Their
singers try to imitate the different instruments mentioned in
the Psalms with their voices. When the passage expresses
the sound of a trumpet, they raise their hand formed into a
tube to their mouths, and emit an interrupted sound, which
is not a bad imitation, and the congregation is sometimes so
excited that they all join. Tempests and the terrific objects
of nature are also expressed ; and I have heard " The
444
NARRATIVE OF A
Lord thundered out of heaven hailstones and fire," and
other sublime passages of Scripture, delivered with great
effect. Their chaunting the service in this way certainly
forms a strong and favourable contrast to the tedious and
dismal monotony of the Greek church.
They are governed by a chief-priest, or rabbi, who appoints
ten or twelve others, as it may be, for Constantinople, and
they administer the laws, and are called “the Wise Men
of Binding and Loosing.” From them there is an appeal to
three superiors, who decide in difficult cases, and are called
“ The Wise Men of the House of Judgment.” Besides
which every village has its rabbi governor. By these justice
is executed, and in all cases they are permitted to use
their own jurisprudence, unless when, by choice, the parties
appeal to the Turkish cadi.
The Jews, here as elsewhere, never enlist as soldiers or
engage as farmers. They accompany the armies and fleets
as tailors and other mechanics, and some have gardens, in
which they raise culinary vegetables for the markets, and
you occasionally meet a Jew working in another man's
ground; but for war and agriculture they have a decided in-
aptitude. Their great pursuit is commerce, and this extends
to merchandize of all kinds, from the most extensive traffic
to the meanest and humblest trade. They are sarafs, or
bankers, to the upper class of Turks ; they are brokers and
agents to European merchants, and they are almost exclu-
sively the hucksters and pedlars of broken furniture and cast-
off clothes. Some of the former class that I have met in
Galata were large and comely men, with an air of decision
and independence superior to other Rayas : some of the
latter were the most creeping and despised objects I ever
saw in human form. They generally attend at the iskelessi,
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
445
or slip, where caiques land, and proffer their services to a
stranger for any work in which they can be useful to him.
They are called by the Turks, Moosafir, or Visiters,
because they were strangers, who claimed their hospitality,
and they originally received them as their guests. The
similarity also of their religious profession and practices give
them a certain identity with the Turks; and I think, on the
whole, they are treated with more consideration than any
sect of Oriental Christians. Their business gives them con-
stant access to Turkish houses, and their dexterity in its
details assures them an ascendency over the dull stupidity
of their employers. I am not aware that the Jews, as a
sect, have ever been persecuted in Turkey as they have been
in Christian countries. It is true that the lower orders
are despised, as they are elsewhere, for their dirt, meanness,
and poverty ; but the better classes are held in more con-
sideration by the Turks than they are in any European
Christian state.
Various impostors rise up among them and impose on
their superstitious credulity. A most remarkable one ap-
peared in the year 1666. A Jew, called Sabbathi Levi,
proclaimed himself King of the Jews, and professed to per-
form miracles, to establish his divine mission. He foretold
the death of several persons, which came to pass; he ordered
a large fire to be lighted in the market-place, which he
passed through without singeing his garments; and having
proved by these signs and wonders that he acted in the
power of God, and not his own, he gained a wonderful
ascendency over both Jews and Turks. He was joined by
four prophets from Gaza, and went forth with a retinue
like a sovereign. Some incredulous Turks, however, seized
and brought him before the cadi, who sent him to the
pasha, as Pilate sent Jesus to Herod. He ordered a massacre
446
NARRATIVE OF A
Among
of the Jews next day, to put a stop to the superstition; but
Elias appeared to him in a dream, warning him, like Pilate's
wife, to have nothing to do with the just man or his fol-
lowers--so he too became a convert by this supernatural
warning:
The king now proceeded to Constantinople, where he
predicted various things which came to pass.
others, a portentous shower of hail, which soon after fell as
large as eggs, committing great destruction, and killing
many people, so that the enormous hail which astonished
us was not unprecedented, no more than the Turkish pro-
phecy which predicted its fall. His fame now became so
established by preternatural events, that the Sultan, who was
disposed to take severe measures against him, was convinced
of his divine mission. He had his private warnings by
dreams and visions; and instead of ordering him to be put
to death, he sent an ambassador to his brother-king, invited
him to a conference, and set him at his right hand. The
whole East was now filled with rumours of changes. The
tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh were expected
to arrive at Gaza, as one of the prophets from that place had
foretold, and the Sultan was reported to have said he could
restore the Jews to their city, and re-establish their nation
in Palestine. So firmly was this believed, that the rich
Jews of Constantinople ieft off business, sold their posses-
sions, and prepared to proceed to Palestine to rebuild the
Temple. In the midst of these preparations the Messiah
died, and the delusion subsided. These things are not the
fabrications of fiction, nor the exaggerations of credulity-
they actually happened. Mons. Chaumont, the French
ambassador to the Porte, was in Constantinople at the time,
and wrote a circumstantial account of the affair to his
go-
vernment, and it was communicated by various private
letters from residents in the East to their friends in Europe.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
447
1
Notwithstanding this inveterate conviction of thë coming
of a future Messiah which still subsists, a strong disposition
has been lately shown among them to embrace the doctrines
of Christianity. Shortly after my first arrival I was visited
by a person who had some mysterious communication to
make to me.
He informed me, with great caution, that a
Jew wished to be baptized, but was apprehensive of perse-
cution even to death by his own people if it was known.
He was introduced to me, and after several interviews, in
which, through the medium of an interpreter, I explained to
him the nature of the ceremony, we fixed upon the festival
of the Conversion of St. Paul as the day for performing
it. The English and Prussian ambassadors attended as
part of the congregation at our chapel to witness it; and
at the particular request of the person, the gates of the
palace “were shut, for fear of the Jews.” He was deeply
affected by the ceremony, and when the water touched his
forehead he seemed almost convulsed with agitation. He
was a respectable merchant, but was afraid to continue at
Constantinople, and the next day set off for Poland.
After this a considerable commotion was excited among
them. The Scriptures were translated into their barbarous
dialect and published by my friend Mr. Leeves. Many
individuals embraced Christianity, and the proselytes joined
the various sects of Christians as their connexions and con-
victions led them. Two were baptized in the Protestant
faith, fourteen in the Armenian, four in the Roman Ca-
tholic, and two in the Greek. An immediate and impla-
cable persecution was commenced against them by their own
people. They were, under various pretexts, incarcerated
in different Turkish prisons; they were threatened with
death, and treated with a cruelty amounting almost to tor-
ture. They remained unshaken in their convictions, and
448
NARRATIVE OF A
the Jews, fearing the effects of their example, procured a
firman, by which they were exiled to Cæsarea, in Asia
Minor. The firman stated that the government never in-
terfered with the religious opinions of others, and cared
nothing for their conversion; but that they were represented
as bad subjects, and so expelled from the city. On my
return to Constantinople, some Armenians visited me one
night, and requested me to accompany them. I did so,
and was admitted, with some caution, into a house at Pera.
Here I found an assembly who were engaged in considering
how these poor exiles might be restored to their abodes and
employments, as they were in the lowest state of poverty
and distress in their exile. I was requested to state their
case to the English ambassador, in the hope that he would
intercede for them; but such was the alarm among the
people assembled, that they were all afraid themselves
personally to be known to interfere. I readily undertook
the commission, and made a representation to our minister
on the subject. Some time after I had the pleasure to find
they were restored by the Sultan's firman as publicly as
they had been banished, and their restoration was another
of those considerate acts of mercy by which he has endea-
voured to atone for his former severity. Some of them are
engaged with the good Armenians in various employments,
and some have actually qualified themselves to be mission-
aries to their countrymen. Giovanni Evangelista, as he
wishes to be called, is occupied with the Rev. Mr. Lewis in
Smyrna, and another proceeded to England, to prepare
himself for the same purpose.
Many Jews have also conformed to Mahomedanism by a
transition much less violent, as some of their opinions and
practices are similar. When this is the case the proselytes
always adhere in private to their own usages. Circumcision
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
449
is not deferred to adolescency, as with the Turks, but it is
privately performed, according to the Mosaic direction, on the
eighth day. They also admit rabbins, who celebrate for the
family in secret the rites of their own religion. The Turks
are well aware of their practices, and call such insincere
converts Donatheri or apostates, and hold them in lower
estimation than the rest of their nation. They are divided
into three sects, who entertain a strong aversion to each
other, and never associate.
You say that the Jews of Constantinople who dragged
the body of the patriarch were compelled to do so contrary
to their inclination. I wished much to agree with you, and
therefore made diligent inquiry; but I am sorry to assure
you, on the authority of one of themselves, that it was a
voluntary act on their part, and they were glad in this way
to evince that undying hostility which the Oriental Jews
still feel for Christians, and which Christians have returned
with such atrocious retaliation. You also inquire from me
some further particulars of that extraordinary book pub-
lished by the Greeks, and charging them with using Chris-
tians' blood : I send you some further extracts from it to
satisfy your curiosity*, premising to you, that the same
authority which admitted their willingness to insult the body
of the patriarch has denied the truth of many statements
in this book. You will observe it is written by a Jewish
proselyte, and it is the natural tendency of all such to con-
demn the sect they have abandoned as an excuse for their
apostacy. The Jews that I knew at Constantinople were
respectable men, generally brokers to merchants, who con-
sidered them as honourable and trustworthy as those of any
other persuasion. One family were the conductors of a
printing press in the British palace for the occasions of the
* See Appendix, No. XII.
VOL. II,
2G
450
NARRATIVE OF A
embassy. They were intelligent and worthy men. They
assisted in translating the Scriptures into their own language,
and they undertook to print for me an abridgment of the
New Testament, which they began, but which I never
finished. They have a printing press of their own for the
publication of Judeo-Spanish books, which are generally
translations of religious books from the Hebrew Their
genuine Hebrew books are printed at Salonichi and other
places, where large colonies are established.
The Arabs form a small portion of the inhabitants of the
capital. They are generally distinguished by their sallow
visages, dark hair, and spare persons. I saw one day a group
of such figures, some of them wrapped in scarlet robes, wait-
ing to preseut a petition to the Sultan coming from the mosque
on Friday. They were Arabian deputies resident at the ca-
pital, appointed by their people of the Desert to complain of
some injury inflicted on their tribe. The petition was gra-
ciously received, and the grievance, as I heard, immediately
redressed. A large community of them are called Leblebbi-
gees, from their selling about the streets a kind of pea
called Leblebbi. They have a particular talent for parch-
ing it, and the sale is almost exclusively confined to them.
It is one of the commonest cries heard through the streets
of Constantinople and Pera, and the venders are so nume-
rous, that I am told they form an esnaf, or corporation.
The Arabs also distinguish themselves by their dexterity
in managing other grain. A person in Frank dress called
on me one day with a great curiosity. He drew forth a grain
of rice from a small case in which it was kept. I could
discover nothing remarkable on it, till he produced a mag-
nifier of high powers, and placed the grain in a certain
position. I then perceived some beautiful Arabic charac-
ters perfectly formed. It was a verse from the Koran ; the
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
451
translation of it into English, which I regret I have lost, ex-
tended to twenty words. He informed me he was an Alep-
pine; that the grain of rice was a family possession, and had
talismanic virtues, and as he had heard the English Elchi
Bey was a collector of such curiosities, he brought it for his
inspection. He demanded, however, for his talisman of rice
one hundred thousand piastres, and his Excellency declined
the purchase. He came afterwards to consult me on the
speculation of going to England to exhibit it, as he was in-
formed that so great was the avidity of the people for things
of the kind, that he would soon realise a fortune. I could
hardly promise him such success from his grain of rice, and
did not much encourage him. He left me, however, with
a determination to try his fortune. I thought it a curiosity
not more for the perfect writing on so minute an object,
than for the process which preserved a perishable substance
from decay. He told me his ancestor who had formed the
talisman was several years occupied in preparing it.
I have already said so much of the Turks, and their state
and condition have been so copiously and so frequently
detailed by others, that little is left me to say here; I will
add a few gleanings.
Nothing, perhaps, marks the extraordinary nature of
the Turkish government more than that its head is actually
called Hun-Kair, or the Man-killer, and the exercise of his
prerogative in destroying his subjects is his distinguishing
appellative; and such is the profound veneration for the
life of him who thus takes the life of others, that in all the
bloody changes that have taken place, and in the deluges
of human blood that have been shed, there is no instance of
a private person raised to the Ottoman throne, or the blood-
stained line of Turkish dynasty broken. It is from this
feeling of veneration that the Sultan has absolute power in
2 G 2
-452
NARRATIVE OF A
certain cases over the property as well as the lives of his
subjects, and the possessions of all who die without heirs, or
in public employments, fall of right to the Sultan. He is
the source of all honours and the concentration of all dig-
nity. No Turk can be heir to an hereditary distinction but
himself, and while a purely republican equality exists
among the people, the sovereign is the whole body of an
aristocracy in his own person.
The civil and ecclesiastical authority are combined, and
the ulemah are both priests and judges. Ulemah literally
means “ learned men,” and the term is applied by way of
eminence to that body who cultivate the most important
sciences recognized among the Turks. They are educated
in medresis, or seminaries, attached to mosques.
From
these seminaries are taken the Naibs, or substitutes for
judges; the Cadis, or judges of small towns; the Molhas,
or judges of large ones; the Istambool Effendi, or judge
of Constantinople; the Cadi Asker, or judge of Roumelia
and Anadolia ; the Mufti, Sheik Islam, or the orthodox pre-
late, and the Fetva Sahibi, or giver of judgment.
In decisions in their courts the testimony of a Mussul-
man, however infamous or degraded, is preferred to that of
a Christian, however respectable. Unlike our courts, the
successful suitor has the costs to pay, a circumstance which
induces Turks to sue at law Armenians, who are liable to
litigious persecutions, as the Quakers were formerly in Eng-
land, because they are a passive and scrupulous people.
Witnesses, when by rare chance they are convicted of false
testimony, are subject to no such penalties as perjurers in
England: they are merely dismissed with a reprimand.
From this impunity they abound. Everything depends on
their evidence, and it is sometimes the most gross and pal-
pable. A merchant of Pera informed me he had freighted
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE,
453
a ship with Russian corn, the exportation of which was, at
the time, prohibited. He bribed, however, the inspecting
officer, and told him his cargo was tallow. The officer
looked down into the hatchway, and saw the corn in bulk ·
filling the hold below. «. What do I see ?" said the officer.
rTallow," said the merchant. “Oh, is that tallow?" said
the man--so he reported the corn was tallow accordingly.
I mentioned to you how the Christian religion was pre-
served by the testimony of janissaries, who deposed to
things that happened before they were born, which, how-
ever, did not invalidate their evidence.
The Sultan, as successor of the Prophet, is head of his
church, and exercises supreme dominion over it, and hence
magistrates, whose power is delegated by him, have autho-
rity over the inferior priesthood, as Christian bishops over
their diocesan clergy; and as the secular and temporal power
are united in the same body, these magistrates may officiate
as priests. There are four orders attached to each mosque
—the Imaun, who recites the prayer ; the Sheik, who
preaches; the Kiatib, or reader of the Koran ; and the
Muezzim, who performs the duty of a bell, and calls the
people to prayers from the minaret. The office of a priest
is not confined to ecclesiastical duties, but supposed to be
compatible with other pursuits. Friday is the Turkish
Sabbath, and a priest shuts up his shop and proceeds to the
mosque. After the service, he sometimes returns, opens
his shop, and is seen cross-legged on his board at his ordi-
nary business. Generally, however, business is suspended
and houses closed the whole of Friday.
I have often stood by mosques, and observed the conduct
of those who entered, as far as I was permitted. They first
lay aside all gorgeous dress, so unsuited to the humility they
should feel, and they all approach in decent, but plain attire,
454
NARRATIVE OF A
There is generally a tank, or reservoir, of water to perform
the wodû, a necessary preliminary to prayer, where they
wash, to purify themselves from external defilement. Ma-
homet says, that the practice of religion is founded in
cleanliness, and that it is the key of prayer. They then
proceed with a serious, and indeed solemn air to the porch,
seldom interchanging a word, but apparently meditating
on what they are about to do. At the door they drop their
slippers and enter barefoot, conformably to God's direction
to Moses, “ put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place
whereon thou treadest is holy ground.” When entered,
they turn to a niche, called al Mehrâb, which points out the
direction of Mecca; and then kneeling, they prostrate
themselves with the profoundest devotion, and seem wholly
absorbed in the communication they are then holding with
God. There is no wandering of the eye, no turning of the
head, as we see in our places of Worship, to indicate any
abstraction of thought; but there is something sublime in
that profound and intense adoration in which I have some-
times seen them fixed. There are in various places beside
the highways, square enclosures of stone, called Namasgiak,
with the ground inside as high as the top of the walls; an-
nexed to them are fountains for ablution, and here daily
prayers are offered up by passengers. When there are
none such, the kebla, or direction of Mecca, is pointed out
by a table, which every Mussulman carries about him. A
small carpet is spread, and the person, turning his face to
the Holy City, prostrates himself, with his forehead touch-
ing the ground, occasionally rising on his knees, and again
laying his face to the ground during his prayer. When
done he folds up his carpet, and proceeds on his way. I
never walked out at the hour of prayer that I did not see
men so engaged.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
455
The Turks recognise the fundamental truths and eminent
persons of our Scriptures. They acknowledge two Prophets,
Moses and Christ; but the Paraclete, or Comforter, pro-
mised by the latter, they suppose to be Mahomet. Not-
withstanding, therefore, the coincidences between them and
the Jews in many particulars, they do not hold the Jewish
proselytes to be sincere converts, unless, in acknowledging a
faith in Mahomet, they believe in Jesus also. -
Next to prayer, fasting is a most important duty of Islam-
ism. Their great fast is in the month of Ramazan, for it
was then that Mahomet published the Koran which he had
received from heaven, and hence it is always commemorated
by a solemn fast, which lasts during the whole of its continu-
ance; and lest any part of it should be profaned, certain
sons are set to watch the moment when it is to commence and
terminate. The most important station for the purpose is the
summit of the principal mosque at Brusa; but as the Turks
have not yet adopted telegraphic communications, others
are placed in elevated situations at Constantinople and dif-
ferent towns. The Turkish months are lunar, and the com-
mencement is ascertained by the appearance of the new
moon. When, therefore, the moon Chaban disappears, the
watchmen take their stand, and anxiously look out for a
glimpse of the moon Ramazan, and the first who catches
it runs off to the next mosque to announce it. It is then
published through the city, and the period of abstinence
commences. The sunset of the day is proclaimed by an
explosion of cannon, at the sound of which a general illu-
mination bursts from the minarets of the mosques and the
rigging of the shipping, so that the whole surface of land
and sea, as far as the eye can reach, is one glow of artificial
light.
The restraint which a Turk imposes on himself is not
456
NARRATIVE OF A
like that of a Christian on such occasions, interdicting a
particular kind of food, and indulging in others. It is a total
abstinence from all refreshment of the body, even that of water,
and this is sometimes a privation so severe that nature almost
sinks under it. The Koran directs that the fast shall com-
ience in the morning, as soon as
on a black thread can be
distinguished from a white” at day-dawn, and the fast is con-
sidered broken if they let any thing enter their body, smell
to perfumes, inhale tobacco smoke, swallow their spittle, or
even open their mouths to speak, and so inhale the air. The
Turkish year consists of three hundred and fifty-four days,
divided into twelve lunar months, having alternately twenty-
nine and thirty days. Now, as this year is eleven days
shorter than the solar, and their months have no connexion
with the seasons, they pass through them all in succession,
and the same month sometimes falls in winter and some-
times in summer. When the Ramazan occurs in the latter
it is exceedingly distressing. The fast is from sunrise to
sunset, and hummals are seen reeking under heavy burdens
beneath a burning sun, and abstaining even from a drop of
water to moisten their parched lips.
We took a boat early one morning in June in the Rama-
zan, and proceeded to the Black Sea. It was a sultry day,
without a breath of air, and our caiquegees seemed to suffer
severely. We had refreshments in the boat, and of course
offered them some, but they gravely pushed towards us the
palm of their uplifted hand, and declined in silence. The
taciturnity of a Turk is confirmed at this time, and they
thought that even the indulgence of words would break their
rigorous abstinence. We returned in the evening, and in
passing the castles the gun announced the hour of sunset.
At this sound the boatmen let go their oars, and, crossing
their hands on their breast, continued a moment in silent
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE,
457
prayer. Then the reis, taking up a flap, or soft loaf of
bread, divided and distributed it among the rest.
He next
took a pitcher of water, drank freely, and sent it round;
having done this they resumed their oars. We had set out
before five in the morning, and it was now eight in the
evening; and these patient and enduring men had conti-
nued in our company for nearly eighteen hours, and never
were tempted to indulge in the refreshment they brought
with them, though suffering so severely from the privation.
While they were labouring against the current, we lay at
our ease at the bottom of the caique, protected by the shade
of green umbrellas from the sun, and refreshing ourselves
every moment with fruit and sherbet, yet we hardly found it
tolerable. There is something exceedingly interesting and
even affecting in the silent and quiet endurance of a Turk,
and an active benevolence is often mixed up with his pas-
sive piety. He thinks he may redeem a fast of three days
by feeding during the same period six poor people.
The next qualification required of a religious Turk is
alms-giving, according to the Mahomedan precept, that
prayers conduct half-way to heaven-fasting brings to the
gate, but alms alone procure entrance." The Koran says,
that what a man covetously reserves for himself shall be
bound like a cord, or twisted like a serpent, round his neck
at the day of the resurrection. The persons to whom they
think themselves bound by their religion to give alms are, the
needy, the reconciled to Mahomedanism, the redeemers of
captives, the insolvent debtor, and the traveller ; on all
these they exercise their charity. A Turkish beggar is seldon
met with in the streets, but there are crowds of needy round
the mosques, to 'whom I have seen the congregation, as
they enter or come out after service, give liberal alms.
Connected with this feeling is their tenderness to inferior
458
NARRATIVE OF A
animals, which they not only do not injure, but for whose
wants they think themselves bound to provide. The Koran
says,
“ there is no beast on earth nor fowl on the wing but
the same is a people like unto you, and to the Lord they
shall return and stand in judgment.” The Turks therefore
think the irrational as well as the rational creation ob-
jects of their good will and charity, which are extended
not only to dogs, but to every animal that is not used for
food. The roofs of all the buildings that surround the har-
bour are constantly covered over with cormorants and gulls,
which fly down among the boats, and frequently light on
the gunwales, where they sit screaming for food till some
bread is thrown to them. I found them sometimes so per-
severing that they could hardly be driven away, and the
Turkish boatmen would not hurt them. The protection
afforded to storks is not confined to Turks, but perhaps it
is more conspicuous among them than other nations. A
Turk builds a frame-work round his chimney, and invites
these birds to occupy the edifice he has prepared for
them; and to the various stories told of their kindly qua-
lities they add one which I never heard elsewhere. There
is a remarkable coincidence between the migration of the
stork and of small birds called becca ficas. They have
been frequently seen and sliot in great numbers near Smyrna
and other places in the evening; a flight of storks has been
observed to pass over, and the next morning not one becca
fica is to be found. The Turks believe this to be another
trait of benevolence in the storks, who take up in passing
as many of those small birds as they can carry on their
backs, and so enable them to migrate to a distance to which
their own feeble wing would never carry them. There is
certainly a strong attachment subsisting between them, for
I have seen storks' nests in Asia Minor in which whole tribes
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
459
you of
of small birds had formed colonies. The vast flocks of
halcyons, or, as the Turks call them, yengooan, that fly up
and down the stream, are never molested. De Tott, in his
lively manner, tells a story of the danger he incurred from a
bostangee guardian of the Bosphorus, for daring to shoot
one of them. Even the shoals of porpoises that are so
numerous as to make the water appear as a living surface
enjoy perfect impunity. An abatement, however, of this
excessive tenderness for the inferior creation was one among
the first symptoms of Turkish reforms. I have told
the persecution of the dogs. I saw frequently soldiers in
the Turkish ships of war exercising their tophecs on the
halcyons; and a crusade was talked of against the por.
poises, to procure their oil. The man who would dare such
things on my first arrival would do so at the hazard of his
life.
The rite of soonat, or circumcision, is not practised on
the eighth day, as among the Jews, but at an adult age,
as among the Ishmaelites, who deferred it till the time at
which their father underwent it. A Turk performs the
operation on his son between six and sixteen, and it is there-
fore called by some a marriage, because the youth is then
espoused to the law of Mahomet, and is supposed to be of
a competent age to begin his religious duties. The birth-
day of Mahomet is generally selected for the purpose.
At this time I have frequently met groups of boys dressed in
their gayest attire, and accompanied by their parents, who
paraded them through the streets with proud ostentation.
It is one of the most indispensable rites of the Mahomedan
church, and practised as the initiation of converts.
When the Sultans circumcise their children it is a splendid
ceremony. The young prince is brought to a magnificent
tent erected for the purpose. He is then placed on the knee
460
NARRATIVE OF A
the purpose.
of the Kisler Aga, his arms are held by the Grand Vizir and
Caimacan while the rite is performed. This ceremony
was always attended by a multitude of other boys, who were
reserved by their parents for this occasion and it some-
times lasted fifteen days. A splendid display of this kind
was made by Mahomet IV. at Adrianople, in 1675, but it
fell from that time rather into neglect as a public spectacle,
till the present Sultan revived it.
On the 13th Rebielachir, that is 19th of September,
1831, the rite was performed on the young prince, Abdoul
Metzid Effendi, and the great meadow lying between Scu-
tari and Cadi Kui, called Haider Pasha, was selected for
Application had been made by some of the
foreign missions to be admitted to the ceremony; they were
informed it was strictly private, but they and their suite
might attend along with the public as individuals. I took
a caique with some friends, and proceeded across the Bos-
phorus. From a very early hour in the morning the water
was covered with boats, and when we arrived at the other
side, the plain was covered with people, particularly parents,
who brought their children to have the rite performed. Plays
and games of all kinds were acted in the meadows, and
military parades were held by several regiments encamped
on the high grounds about. The Sultan and his son arrived
in a splendid caique. When they landed a procession was
formed of the principal officers, which proceeded to a large
and gorgeous tent pitched for the occasion, which we were
not permitted to enter. In the centre was a throne; on one
side were ranged the Caimacan and the principal officers of
the empire; on the other, the mufti, with the chief of the
Ulemah. The Sultan advanced without pomp or state
through the lane of these officers, and sat on the throne, when
the young prince humbly followed, kissed his father's feet,
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
461
and sat down on a cushion next the Mufti, He then
commenced his religious education by reading aloud passages
from the Koran and other Mahomedan books. When he
.
appeared thus qualified for the rite, it was performed, and
the whole concluded with a solemn prayer. The fete lasted
four or five days, and every night the sky was in a blaze
with fire-works. It was circulated among the surmises of
Pera, that the Sultan was induced to make this extraordi-
nary display of the principal rite of Islamism in conse-
quence of the rumours of his tendency to Christianity.
The last ceremony which a Turk considers an incumbent
religious duty is a journey to Mecca. This is enjoined by
the Koran to every man whose means enable him, and even
women are not exempt. They assemble from all parts at
certain places near Mecca, put on there the Ihrâm, or
sacred dress, and while clad in it they are enjoined not to
deprive any animal of life, even the insects that infest their
own bodies. When the pilgrimage is performed the person
is called a Hadgee, and looked up to with great respect.
In the spring of the year the pilgrims from Constanti-
nople and the vicinity assemble on the large plain of Scu-
tari; and, as it was a sight worth contemplating, I crossed
the Bosphorus with some friends to see it. The whole of this
extensive space seemed to be covered with a vast multitude,
as if all the inhabitants of the city were about to proceed
on their pilgrimage. After some time the wave of the mula
titude subsided, and they assumed a regular order. First
appeared the Emir Hadgee or leader of the pilgrims, car-
ried in a litter, or tartaravan, between stately mules, and
accompanied by several others. Then the crowd arranged
themselves according to their several companies, or corpo-
rations, each preceded by a banner, with some device to
mark it, and attended by a train of camels bearing cradles,
462
NARRATIVE OF A
or litters, to accommodate and carry on the sick who might
faint by the way. They were accompanied by the Imaun,
or officiating minister, to perform the functions of his office
to all that needed, and crowds of antics, or jesters, who
threw themselves into ridiculous postures to amuse them.
Some were of another cast. They seemed like maniacs—
they cried, and howled, and foamed at the mouth, and
were supposed to be under the influence of a demon, to be
expelled only by this pilgrimage. Then followed troops of
armed horsemen, and, finally, droves of camels loaded with
provisions and furniture, and among them torches to en-
lighten their march when they proceeded in the night.
But the most remarkable object was the camel that bore
the Mahmel, or covering of the Prophet's tomb. This
seems to be essential to all tombs of his descendants, as
those of the Sultans in their mausoleums at Constantinople
are covered with them. This for Mecca consisted of bales
of velvet, embossed with characters in gold, and containing
sundry sentences from the Koran. The camel which bore
it was white, and was considered so sacred as never to be
employed for any other purpose, but exempt from all labour.
He was adorned with plumes of red feathers, had bells sus-
pended from him, and was caparisoned with rich housings.
The people pressed eagerly to touch the holy animal, and
those who could not come near unbound their turbans,
and cast one end of it towards him, if haply any part of
their dress might be sanctified by such contact. Even the
air through which he passed had valuable qualities com-
municated to it. The multitude seemed to grasp it by
handfuls and thrust it into their bosoms, or place it on their
bare heads under their turbans. I found it was the general
belief that this was the actual camel that bore Mahomet in
his hegeira, or flight, and so it was not without reason they
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE,
463
attributed extraordinary properties to the animal on whom
Allah had conferred such a miraculous longevity. We
returned to Pera with a crowd of spectators like ourselves,
meditating on this display of folly and fanaticism, which
the light of common sense had extinguished in Europe for
centuries, but which still lingers in all its primitive force,
with many similar ones, among this slowly improving people.
Besides the apprehension of the effects of an Evil Eye,
which the Turks entertain in common with all the other
people at Constantinople of every persuasion, and to avert
which
you see everywhere displayed such precautions, there
are others no less obvious. The practice of suspending votive
tablets, so much used by the polished Greeks and Romans,
and still found among the most barbarous people in the
centre of Africa, is very common among the Turks. Their
holy places, particularly the tombs and shrines of dervishes,
are covered over with rags and remnants of cloth, which
once composed part of the dress of the persons who sup-
posed themselves healed or aided by the saint to whom the
shrine belonged. This custom the Turks seem to have bor-
rowed from the Greeks, whose aiasmata, or holy wells, are
also covered with votive rags. Every morning becomes
the announcement of a new miracle. One day the Turks
declare that placing stones in water in the mosque of Santą
Sophia produced a seasonable rain. Another, the Christians
affirm that a bald man went into a barber's shop, and de-
clared that he would believe some miracle if his hair
grew,
when straightway, to the astonishment of the barber and
conviction of the man, his head was suddenly covered with
an unnatural crop of shaggy locks, hanging down like a lion's
mane. But, in fact, this place is the hotbed of supersti-
tion. It would make one smile, if it did not excite more
serious reflections, to hear the manner in which every man
464
NARRATIVE OF A
:
extols the miracles of his own saints, tombs, or relics, and
laughs at the pretensions of others; I have heard individuals
of all professions, Turks, Jews, Armenians, Greeks, and
Franks do so, and, in the very spirit of the Roman Satirist*,
Condemn their neighbour's wonder-working block
And laud their own, though made of the same stock.
· It appears as if the Sultan sometimes turned these super-
stitions to advantage, by exciting and keeping alive pre-
judices against his enemies. In this way the memory of the
devoted janissaries is still held up to public execration. It
was gravely stated in the government newspaper, a few months
after its establishment, that a town in Roumelia was haunted
by their phantoms; that their bodies had become vampires,
which every night escaped from their graves, and drank
the blood of the inhabitants. The graves, therefore, of all
that had been buried there were opened, and their remains
pinned to the ground, by having stakes driven through them.
Here, then, is another of those barbarous superstitions long
since driven from Europe, but which a Turk still clings to.
Among the fanatics, the dervishes still hold a great ascen-
dency over the minds of the people. Their colleges are called
Teké, and there are several in the capital distinguished
by a trait of Turkish benevolence. The distribution of water
is a favourite exercise of charity, as besides the provision of
this important element made by bendts and their apparatus,
every
little rill found in the vicinity of the city is carefully
received into a marble reservoir, with a cup to use it. In
the city every teké has a window fronting the street, along
which stand a range of gilt metal cups, always filled with
pure water for the passenger, and when any of them is used
a dervish stands inside to replenish it.
The inmates of these colleges are everywhere seen la-
* Juvenal, Sat, XV.
1
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
465
bouring in their vocation. They are distinguished by coni-
cal caps and woollen gowns of a whitish cloth, an iron-
shod pole in one hand, and generally a long horn in the
other. Between the burying-grounds on the Bosphorus are
some large coffeehouses much frequented by Turks in sum-
mer, and I have taken a stool and a chibouque, and sat
among them on the green platform before the door. A
dervish generally appeared, who, standing in the midst, ex-
horted the company, and then went round with his long
horn to collect their contributions.
But the most distinguished of the fraternity are those who
perform their rites by dancing and howling. The first of
these are named Mevelevis, from their founder, and they
have their principal college at Koniah, in Asia Minor.
They are generally humble, modest, and charitable. They
fast on every Thursday till sunset, and on Tuesday and
Friday the superiors expound to them some texts of the
Koran. A part of their devotion consists in turning round,
because, they say, their founder did so for fifteen days with-
out intermission, while his friend Haraze played the flute;
and they have a tradition that it is the same instrument
whose music delighted Jacob and the Patriarchs. They
manufacture it at Koniah, and a flute made there al-
ways brings the highest price: in the time of Ricaut it
sold for twenty crowns.
Like the order of St. Francis, they
make vows of chastity, obedience, and pover.y, which last,
in fact, the word dervish implies. They have a college at
Pera, at a place called Kioutopkane, where there is no
exclusion, as in regular Mahomedan mosques, but persons
of all religious persuasions are permitted to enter. I
thought the ceremony so curious that I frequently attended
it. Their temple is an octagonal building, resembling, in
this respect, the Temple of the Winds, where they used
VOL. II.
2 H
466
NARRATIVE OF A.
to perform their service at Athens. A gallery runs nearly
round it, in which were placed a band of Turkish musi-
cians. The principal instrument was the flute, which the
minstrel sometimes inspired by breathing into it through
his nose.
The centre of the edifice below was railed in,
and the congregation, having deposited their shoes at the
door, ranged themselves between the inclosure and wall.
The chief dervish sat on a red cushion, placed on a carpet.
He was clad in a green robe, with the white conical cap of
his order, but enveloped in a green veil. Beside him were
several others, seated in different places. The floor was of
dark wood, and so highly polished as to reflect figures;
round the room were hung various black labels, having
passages of the Koran inscribed on them.
The service commenced by one of the dervishes reading,
or rather chaunting, several passages in a low, but solemn
voice. The flutes of the gallery commenced whenever he
ceased, while the dervishes kept their eyes fixed on the
ground, and appeared rapt in mute devotion. There
was something, I thought, exceedingly solemn in the sight
and sound, and all the spectators present seemed to sympa-
thize in the feeling. When this was ended, cymbals and
drums struck out a more lively sound, and the dervishes,
rising from the ground, walked round in procession, each
saluting with a profound reverence the chief as they passed
him. The foremost then placed himself in the centre, and
began to turn round with a slow movement. The skirts
of his long woollen garment seemed loaded below, so that
as he turned they expanded, forming a large circle around
him. He was followed by all the rest in succession, till
the whole floor was covered with moving figures. Each
person first turned round without changing his place, but
presently he glided about some other, still revolving on his
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
467
own axis, till they formed a most curious mazy dance. I
could not but admire the exceeding ease and dexterity with
which these convolutions were conducted. Though crowded
into a space apparently too small for the number, their
dilated garments never impeded each other, but they passed
with more ease, lightness, and elegance than I thought it
possible for an awkward Turk. After the first feeling of
admiration and pleasure at such a novel object was over, it
was succeeded by one less agreeable. The sight of so many
figures twirling round with such a rapid and incessant mo-
tion made the heads of the spectators giddy, and some of
my companions, with others of the congregation, were
obliged to go into the open air. It seemed, however, to have
no such effect on the performers, who continued their move-
ments with unabated rapidity, till, on a signal from the chief,
they suddenly stopped. These movements were renewed at
brief intervals, generally continuing for ten or twelve minutes,
accelerated or retarded as the music was quick or slow.
The ceremony lasted about one hour, when the dervishes
resumed their seats, and the congregation dispersed. There
was nothing in the service that seemed to be considered at
all ludicrous or trifling; on the contrary, the impression
left on all seemed to be of a serious cast, as at any other
religious solemnity. I could not forget, that, however it
might appear an act of levity with us, it was always held a
serious act of devotion by Oriental nations. It was also
considered so by the Jews. The Psalms direct that "the
Lord be praised with the timbrel and dance ;” and David,
in bringing the Ark from Obad Edim, “ danced before the
Lord ;” and in the thirteenth century the practice was
adopted by some sects of Christians, who exhibited this
rite in various towns in Flanders. It is performed by
the Mevelevis once å week, but not on Friday, so
i
2 h 2
468
NARRATIVE OF A
that it does not interfere with the regular service of the
mosques.
The howling dervishes are of a very different character.
They are called Kadris, from their founder. He was in
the habit of repeating, during his acts of devotion, the word
Hai, one of the attributes of God, so loudly and violently,
that he burst a vessel in his lungs, and the blood dashed
with such force against the wall as to leave the mark of it
behind him, which always assumed the characters that
formed the word he uttered; and this circumstance is at
this day the foundation of their mode of worship. They
formerly had tekes in Constantinople, but had retired
from the capital to Scutari, so we took a caique and
crossed the Bosphorus. These dervishes had no regular
edifice, but occupied a house hired for the purpose, and
a certain sum was exacted from every one that entered,
as if it were a public show. The room was hung round
with different implements to inflict bodily pain, and the
performers were the most fierce and squalid-looking beings
I ever beheld. Their hair was matted and shaggy, their
countenances cadaverous, and their dress filthy; they looked
like demoniacs whose residence was in tombs, ready to rush
upon and tear any man who passed near them. Several of
them advanced to the middle of the room where we were
assembled, and began their rites by throwing their hands
forward, and causing the word “Hai,” with certain guttural
sounds, to issue with an explosion from their lungs. They
continued to repeat this, increasing the quickness of their
motions and the loudness of their tones, till large drops of
perspiration rolled down their faces, their mouths and lips
were covered with foam, and they were worked up to a state
of nervous excitement that was painful to look upon. They
continued this longer than I thought it possible for human
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
469
1
nature to support, and at length retired, apparently feeble
and exhausted. After a repetition of this most revolting
spectacle, many of them came forward and began to exhibit
like some of our showmen. They took down the implements
from the wall, and some applied them red hot to their
naked flesh, while others seemed to pierce and wound them-
selves in various ways. They appeared to be what one would
conceive of the priests of Baal, “cutting themselves with
knives and lancets,” and rendering their grim deity propi-
tious by personal inflictions. I left this exhibition of de-
ception and fanaticism with insuperable disgust, and was
well pleased to find, on my return a second time to Con-
stantinople, that the good sense of the Sultan had discounte-
nanced it, so that it was altogether discontinued.
Though the Turks have made but little progress in litera-
ture, their Sultans seemed well disposed to promote it. So
early as the year 1353, Orcan founded a new mosque at
Brusa, to which he attached an academy for the culture of
literature and the liberal arts, which drew many students
from Persia and Arabia *. After this example, several
Sultans endeavoured to imbue their subjects with a love of
literature. Whenever Amurat II. conquered a town, he
established in it a mosque, a khan for travellers, an imaret,
or khan for pilgrims and schoolmasters, and a medresie, or
academyt. But the Augustus of the Turkish sultans was
Mahomet II., who, among his fierce and atrocious qualities,
cherished the very incompatible one of a love of literature,
and he was called from the midst of his books to fill a
throne. When he got possession of Constantinople, and
converted Santa Sophia into a mosque, he attached to it a
splendid academy, with apartments for students and pro-
fessors, and assigned a large income for its support. Since
that time various sultans distinguished themselves by simi-
* Cantemir, v. ii. 1. 1.
† D'Herbelot.
470
NARRATIVE OF A
lar attentions to promote literature; and Bajazet, Selim,
Solyman, Achmet, and Mustapha are memorable for found-
ing academies which still exist and bear their names.
Among the last who distinguished themselves in this way
was Abdul Hamed Khan, the father of the present Sultan,
who, shortly before his son's birth, erected an academy near
the mosque of the Sultana mother, hence called the College
of the Valadé. The science of balloons had at this time ex-
cited a considerable interest in Europe, and an attempt was
made to construct a balloon at Constantinople, and by a Turk.
Abdelrahman was a pupil of the academy, and, in concert
with a Persian physician, and with the aid of some bostan-
gees, he constructed a balloon to carry three persons, in
which they ascended from the gardens of the Seraglio, in the
presence of the Sultan. The balloon was carried towards
Mount Olympus, and they descended at its base, near
Brusa. They also made another, which they despatched
from the meadows of Buyukderê. It was a subject of deep
and novel interest at the time, sufficient to stir the apathy
even of a Turk, and Abdelrahman composed a poem on this
new and wonderful conquest of man over the element of the
air, as he had before subdued the land and the water. The
poet, however, died before his epic was completed.
Besides these academies of higher instruction there are
inferior schools, called Mechteb, where children are taught
to read, write, and learn a short catechism of Mahomedan
doctrine. When advanced, they generally become softa,
that is, students of the medresie.
The professors or masters of those seminaries are called
Muderi. A few days before the commencement of the Ra-
mazan, it was their custom to assemble before the Sultan in
classes of ten or twelve, and exhibit their capabilities by dis-
putations on literary subjects, and those who distinguished
themselves were rewarded by a purse. There were, before
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
471
the late revolution, about five hundred medresies, twelve
hundred mechtebs, and four hundred muderis. Since
that time these institutions are beginning to change their
character, and five or six schools on the Lancasterian system
have been formed.
There are thirteen public libraries in the capital, containing
each about two thousand volumes of Turkish books. The
library of the Seraglio, about the books of which so much inte-
rest has been excited, and so little learned that is satisfac-
tory, was supposed to contain all the literature accumulated
by the Greek emperors, and it was hoped that all the lost
parts of classic works would be found among them. In the
year 1728 the Abbé Sevin arrived at Constantinople to col-
lect Greek MSS. for the library of the king of France, but
he found the Seraglio inaccessible. He was assured that
no Greek books remained there, for Amurat II. had burned
them all. Another, however, gives a different account. Bau-
din describes the books of the library, and affirms that there
were a hundred and twenty immense folio volumes remain-
ing of the old library of the Constantines, which had escaped
the sack of the city, and it was rumoured that the works of
Livy were translated into Turkish, and that they were com-
plete in all their parts.
The Abbé Toderini, who was at Constantinople in 1789,
procured a page of the palace to take down a list of the
books, which he effected, he says, at great hazard in forty
days, by noting twenty or thirty a day. The Abbé wished to
verify the accuracy of this catalogue, by having another taken
by a different hand, but he could not succeed, and was obliged
to be content with the report of the page. The catalogue
contains one thousand one hundred and fifty books, all in
Turkish, Arabic, and Persian, and not a single one in Greek
or Latin. He supposes, and with probability, that the greater
472
NARRATIVE OF A
number had been brought by the fugitive Greeks to the libra-
ries of Venice, Florence, and Rome. Dr. Hunt and Mr. Car-
lyle were equally unsuccessful. When the houses of the Greek
princes were ransacked at the commencement of the revolu-
tion, all the books found there were exposed for sale. Among
about thirty thousand volumes there was not found a single
MS. or classical book that was not a recent imprint in either
France or England. The oldest I could meet with was an
edition of Barnes' Homer, printed at Cambridge in 1711.
It has the name of Alexander Morousi written on it. It is
highly probable that neither this mysterious library of the Se-
raglio nor any other at Constantinople contains any classical
works but such as have been sent from the press in Europe.
I visited many of the other libraries, to which there is free
access, but it would be tedious to particularize them. I
shall mention but one, as the most remarkable. Raghib
Pasha was the celebrated Vizir of Osman IV. and Mus-
tapha, and about 1760 he erected a splendid library. Baron
de Tott, who calls him Rachub, says his library was the first
ever instituted in Constantinople, and that before it no other
existed; but in this he was mistaken. I made inquiries, and
found the Baron was erroneous in his assertion, but the library
still existed as he described it; and my intelligent old friend,
B. Pisani, was so good as to accompany me to see it. It is
situated in a remote part of Constantinople. We arrived
about twelve, and were immediately admitted. Beside the
gateway was a school on the same foundation, containing
about fifty scholars. They sat on cushions on the ground
along the walls, with forms before them on which were their
books. None were allowed but extracts from the Koran
;
they were all therefore in MS., as this book is yet considered
too sacred to be subject to the process of printing. The
master was fast asleep when we entered. Opposite the school

SEN
ARE
RU
மன்பாம்
Engraved Erinted by B. Sents
55. Facernoster B
TURKISH LIBRARY
N
mio.
OF
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
473
were the tombs of Raghib and his wife the Sultan's sister,
and his daughter. It is usual for a Turk to annex a library
to his mausoleum. Halet Effendi did so afterwards at the
teké of dancing dervishes at Pera.
In the middle stood the library. It was a large square edi-
fice, with a dome in the centre and four smaller at the angles.
The book-room was a spacious apartment, having in the
centre four handsome columns, from whose capitals sprung
the arches which supported the dome, with lateral ones
forming a colonnade walk between. Within the square in-
closure under the dome was wire-work, inclosing cases filled
with books. They were ranged horizontally, presenting the
ends; each was inclosed in its own case, covered at the ex-
posed end with a flap containing the title. When a volume
was wanted the case was taken out, and, by means of a cord,
the book was made to issue from it. They were both printed
and MS., but the latter were much more numerous. I in-
quired particularly for Sydenham's works, translated into
Arabic, which was said by Toderini to be in this library.
A work was shown us, called the “ New Physician," which
was in such high repute, that the Hakim Bashi of the
Seraglio came constantly to consult it. Though not entered
into the catalogue under the name of Sydenham, they did
not know but it might have been the same work. There
were two thousand books in the cases, but none written in
the European languages. Several were the works of Hafiz
and other Persian poets, and they were highly ornamented
and beautifully transcribed. Round the room were cushions,
and forms before them, and we found ten or twelve persons
reading or copying, and among others some dervishes. The
room was lighted by windows opened below to admit the
air, and others above of ground glass, which shed a pleasing
subdued light, and from the ceiling were suspended lamps.
474
NARRATIVE OF A
We came here impressed with an idea that the Turks
were exceedingly jealous and indisposed to suffer Euro-
pean Christians to inspect their books. Both Toderini
and Sestini were compelled to take refuge in the house of
an Armenian, for attempting to look into a Turkish book in
a bazaar; and Spon and Wheler complained of the same
treatment. We found no such feeling here. The librarian
was civil and attentive, showed every book we wished to see,
and freely suffered us to examine them; and finding I was
an imaun attached to the Elchi Bey, he even invited me to
come and read whenever I was disposed.
These libraries have received accessions of printed books
from the press introduced into Constantinople in 1727.
Three attempts were made to establish it. The first pro-
duced eighteen books in twenty-eight years; the second,
six in ten years; and the third, more successful, made by
Abdul Hamed, father of the present Sultan, at Scutari,
about forty books in as many years. The early efforts of
the press were expended on military works, in which it was
aided by one set up by the French embassy at Pera, from
which issued translations into Turkish of some of the most
celebrated European works, not only on military but naval
tactics, which it is probable gave the first incentive to that
alteration in the Turkish system which led to the destruc-
tion of the janissaries. The types of the first press were
nearly worn out, and the printing bad; but a new set
was obtained for that at Scutari, which produced many neat
and perfect impressions. I visited this printing office in
1822, and obtained copies of several works executed there.
The superintendent gave me a catalogue of books then
published, including three in French, printed in Roman
characters, which I send you * Many important ones
* See Appendix, No. XIII.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
475
have since appeared. In the list you will see one called
" Kamus," a very large dictionary of Turkish and Arabic.
Now Kamus signifies “ the ocean," and implies that the
work abounds in words as the sea does i'n fish. It is re-
markable that the Greeks called their dictionary, published
about the same time, Kibotos, or “ the Ark," for a similar
fanciful reason.
In connexion with this was a glossary pub-
lished in rhyme, that the precepts might be more easily
recollected, proving that verse has been used in all ages and
countries as aids to memory. The most remarkable book,
however, in this way is one called “ Lutfigee.” It is a mass
of information on various scientific, moral and occult subjects,
including astrology, sorcery, &c., written in rhyme; and to
show the power of his memory, as well as the extent of his
knowledge, the author declares that he composed it in
seven days, and while he was sick.
But the Turks do not confine their poetry to the mere
use of a memoria technica, they employ it for various
other purposes, and are, like Orientals in general, a people
who think in metaphor and speak in song. Collections of
poems, called “ Diwan," including those called “Kassida,"
Gazela,” are numerous in the bazaars. Indeed it
appears that the correspondence between Grand Vizirs
and Sultans on important subjects was often carried on
in rhyme; ambassadors sent home their despatches in
metre, and several officers of state have been as much dis-
tinguished for their poetical as their political talents. In
the schools lately established by the Sultan for the educa-
tion of accomplished functionaries, the whole art of poetry
forms a conspicuous part. Instructions are given for the
use of metaphorical images, how to clothe them in metre,
and in what manner to select poetic expressions. Among
the models of composition are usually considered the poems
77
and
476
NARRATIVE OF A
of Galib, who seems to have been the Hafiz of the Turks.
Copies of his works are in every book bazaar, and passages
from his fanciful poem of “ Love and Beauty” are in every
one's mouth. He was born at Constantinople, flourished at
the end of the last century, and adorned the reigns of Abdul
Hamed and Selim.
Great accessions have been made since the press has
been revived at Constantinople, and, besides the periodicals,
new works are constantly announced. A most important
one was published by Ishaak Effendi, formerly dragoman
of the Porte, but now first professor of the academy of en-
gineers. It is a Cyclopædia of Mathematical Science, in
four volumes, including arithmetic, algebra, trigonometry,
conic sections, mechanics, hydraulics, optics, electricity, as-
tronomy, and chemistry. This phenomenon excited much
interest among the Turks at the time. There are as yet no
booksellers' shops where it may be had, but it is sold by the
author for thirty piastres a volume. Another circumstance,
which formed an epocha in Turkish literature, was a pro-
spectus for publishing works by subscription. In 1832, an
announcement appeared in the newspapers of the capital, of
an intended publication called Ankudes Sewakis, which sig-
nifies « Blossoms of Grapes." It is a philological work, on
which the publisher passes a high eulogium, and proves
that the art of puffing has been introduced into the infant
literature of the Turks as an early European improvement.
Since that time others have been similarly announced.
A circumstance which retarded the art of printing was
the number of persons who obtained their living by tran-
scribing. This was aided by the inhibition laid on the
press as to the character of the works. In the permission
granted originally all religious subjects were expressly pro-
hibited by Achmet III. Since then the order has been
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
477
relaxed, and several doctrinal books, commenting on the
Turkish creed, conditions of prayer, and others, have been
printed. The Koran, however, has never yet passed
through the press; and as it is the book still most used by
the Turks, and the only one which many yet allow them-
selves to read, the scribes have even now abundance of em-
ployment.
The Turks are remarkably fond of flowers, and their poets
sometimes assume the name of a favourite one as their desig-
nation. Wehbi, “ the gifted,” is better known by the name
Sunbulisade, “ Child of a Hyacinth,” from his admiration
of that flower. This taste originated with Kara Mustapha,
the Vizir of Mahomet IV. The Sultan was a man of re-
tired habits, fond of the country and all its pleasures. This
propensity the Vizir encouraged, and among other rural
pursuits he endeavoured to inspire him with a love of flowers
and their culture. To this end he sent to all the Pashas of
the empire to search for whatever was rare and beautiful in
their pashalics. They collected therefore the seeds and
roots of all the most beautiful flowers of the islands and
continent of the Turkish empire, and sent them to Constan-
tinople, where, by careful culture, they produced those fine
specimens which individuals of the different European mis-
sions have at different times sent to their respective countries.
One of the most interesting places in the capital is the
Flower Bazaar. It is held every Monday morning for
trees, roots, and plants, in a long street beside the Drug
Bazaar, which in fact opens into it; so that the vegetable
kingdom is here displayed in all its stages. I was fond of
visiting this place, and was as much pleased with the
mag-
nificent specimens there exhibited, as surprised that so
coarse and ignorant a people could cultivate so elegant a
pursuit, and with so much skill. Not only the ranunculus,
478)
NARRATIVE OF A
anemone, and tulip were superior to anything I had ever
seen; but the, habitats of all that were rare and curious
in their native plants were searched out, and the ophrys, the
orchis, and all that curious tribe, were collected there in
great variety. Whenever I visited it I met crowds of Turks
returning, loaded with the produce of this bazaar. This
taste seems to pervade all classes. The Tchiraghan, or
" Festival of Illuminated Tulips,” is among the high en-
joyments of the Seraglio; the various characters of blossoms
afford to the lover and the poet the most expressive em-
blems; and the rude and brutal janissaries and trombagees
seemed to receive from them uncommon gratification. In
every coffeehouse I have seen pots of fragrant herbs, which
a Turk sits beside, and while he holds his chibouque with
one hand, he passes the other over the plant, and applies
it to his nose, so as to enjoy at once the scent of the flower
and the flavour of the tobacco. The trombagees stick them
in their fire-engines; and I have seen them sitting quietly
beside them, and enjoying the smell, in the midst of the
most fearful conflagrations.
Among the esculents which a Turk cultivates are cavac
and cavum, gourds and melons, of which there are above
thirty species and varieties exposed for sale, forming piles in
the markets like hay-ricks. The first are used in soups, and
boiled with meat. Sometimes the pulp is pushed out, and
the cavity filled with rice or forced meat; it is then called
dolma. The melons are eaten raw, and in vast quantities.
The most highly prized is that from Cassaba, in Asia Minor;
and one species from Angora is so skillfully managed, that
the seeds were sent to me in bottles, carefully sealed, lest the
fine essential spirit should evaporate.
The carpoos, or
water-melon, is the great refreshment of the working classes
in warm weather. I have met hummals in the dog-days,
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
479
labouring up the steep streets from Galata with an incre-
dible weight on their heads and a carpoos under their arm.
When exhausted with exertion, they stop, cut a slice of the
carpoos, and, suffering it to dissolve in their mouths, they
move on quite refreshed. It is to a Turkish porter what
tea is to a Chinese, or whiskey to an Irishman.
Tobacco was first introduced into Turkey in the reign of
Achmet I., about the year 1604, when the Dutch began
to trade there. As soon as the use of it was becoming ge-
neral, the Mufti, influenced by the complaints of some scru-
pulous people, issued a fetva against it, as contrary to the
principles of the Koran, which forbid the use of wine and
spirits, because of their intoxicating qualities, and as tobacco
caused a similar effect, the Prophet, he affirmed, meant to
include it also. To this it was replied, that the Prophet only
forbade such things as left dregs in the stomach, the fumes
of which rose from thence to the head, and not only caused
intoxication but diseases; that tobacco produced a vapour
which caused a pleasant sensation, and left no dregs behind.
This discussion was cut short by Nassat, the Grand Vizir,
who had acquired a fondness for it. He ordered it to be
distributed to the janissaries as rations, and from that time
the use was universally established. A Turk never chews
it, I believe, and seldom snuffs. The smoke of tobacco,
however, seems to be essential to his existence; and it is no
exaggeration to say, he continues to inhale it for twelve hours
a-day, when there is nothing to interfere with his indul-
gence.
The coins in circulation in Turkey are the para, piastre,
and mahmoodie, with pieces comprising a less or greater
number of each. The piastre is the standard, containing
forty paras. The actual value of this is regulated by the
480
NARRATIVE OF A
exchange. When I first went to Constantinople there were
twenty in 1l. sterling, so one was worth ls.; when I left it
for the last time there were eighty in 1l., so its value was
but 3d. The asper, the rhubia, and the fonduk had
become extinct. The para, which is now the fortieth part
of 3d., or not one-third of a farthing, was once a respectable
coin. It contained four aspers, and an old gentleman told
me he remembered the time when he could dine for a para,
and get an asper change. It is a minute piece of base
metal, so small and thin that it can be taken up singly only
by wetting the tip of the finger, to which it sticks, and it is
measured out on a board, and spouted into a bag. A Turkish
coin as yet admits of no similitude of the sovereign's head,
but he is represented in another manner. On one side is
the year of the Hegeira in which he began his reign, and
the year of his reign in which the coin was struck. On
the other is his nizam, or cypher. The reverse of that
Bay
above implies “ 23, coined at Constantinople, 1223.” The
obverse when explicated forms the letters which express
“ Sultan Mahmood Khan, son of Sultan Abdul Hamed
Khan, ever victorious.” An officer of high rank, called
Nizamgee, is appointed to impress this cypher officially
on all public documents, as the Sultan's signature.
The asper, which is but the twelfth part of a farthing,
exhibits an extraordinary instance of great events from little
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
481
causes. The janissaries were entitled by ancient prescrip-
tion to a certain number of aspers (called essames), in ad-
dition to their pay. Among the first reforms of the Sultan
was depriving them of this gratuity, of which they loudly
complained, and their discontent on this account was among
the principal causes of the events that followed. Our wits
of the palace said the revolution was the consequence of
their being exasperated.
The arts can have made but little progress among a
people to whom statuary and painting are prohibited by their
religion. Even if it were not so, there is a gaucherie, a want
of flexibility, about the hand of a Turk, as if all his fingers
were thumbs, which seems to disqualify him, even if he were
disposed' to manual dexterity. A friend of mine attributed
their honesty to this cause. A Turk sometimes robs, but he
never privately steals from a man's person, because he
has not expertness enough to pick a pocket. Their locks
are of the rudest construction, and what amused me very
much was the misapplication of materials. What think
you of a wooden lock on an iron gate? The khans have
doors of that metal to stop the progress of fire, but they
are fastened by a wooden lock, with a square keyhole.
Turkish mechanics always work together in finishing a
house. The painter does not wait till the carpenter is done,
but he follows him with a long brush: he begins at a board
before the other has finished with it; and I have frequently
seen him daub the carpenter's knuckles, while he was ham-
mering the nails. You sometimes see half of a house
finished, and the other half scarce begun. The glacier
makes his putty of whiting and water; he mixes it up
on the pane of glass, and lays it in with his thumb. If you
attempt to clean the glass, you push out the pane, and the
first shower of rain washes it out, In fact, most of their
VOL. II.
21
482
NARRATIVE OF A
tools, and the manner in which they work with them, are on
principles opposite to ours. Among the schools which the
present Sultan has established to correct the ignorance of
his subjects is one for the study of architecture. The in-
structions given are generally translations from European
works; so that it is to be hoped the reformation will extend
even to hammers and saws.
When the simple mechanical arts are so low, you can-
not expect that those of a higher order can have made
much progress.
A story is told of a Turk who had lost a
tooth, and he applied to a Frank dentist in Pera to put in
another. It was well done, and supplied the place of
that which he had lost. A friend of his lost an eye, and
he applied to a Frank oculist, who supplied artificial ones.
He put in one of enamel, so natural that the difference
could hardly be perceived. The Turk, however, returned
the next day to complain that he could not see with his
artificial eye as well as his neighbour could eat with his
artificial tooth. The oculist assured him it was merely
because he was not used to it, but in a short time his sight
would be as clear through it as the other. The Turk de-
parted satisfied; but the oculist thought it prudent to
depart before he paid him another visit. Every Turk of
respectability carries a watch, which is always made in
Europe and repaired by some Frank or Armenian watch-
maker at Pera. The Turks begin to reckon their hours at
sun-set and sun-rise, the length of which are continually
varying, those of the day being longer in summer, and those
of the night in winter. A Turk complained to a friend of
mine of the stupidity of Frank watchmakers, who could not
make the hands move with the sun, and be always the
same hour when he sets; he was continually regulating his
watch by that of a Frank, and I could not understand how
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
483
he managed when he had not one to apply to. I do not
know that there is or ever was a Turkish watchmaker in
Constantinople.
You wish to know what is the actual opinion entertained
of women in Turkey, and in what estimation they are held.
The injunctions of the Koran are very explicit on this subject.
It recognizes the Mosaic account that God created one man,
and out of him his wife, and that these two had multiplied
men and women. It directs a man to respect a woman, for
she bore him, and to take not more than four wives; but if
he cannot act justly to so many, to take only one. Over those
he takes, however, he is allowed much authority, even to shut
them up and chastise them. Generally, a Turk has but a
single wife; I never knew one personally who had more, though
no married man ever scrupled to purchase female slaves
without restriction of number, particularly Greeks during
the insurrection, and live with them without scandal. It
did not appear that this contributed to their domestic har-
mony, for some wives did not hesitate openly to express
their discontent, and often compelled their husbands to sell
them again. One of the houses that overlooked the palace-
garden was inhabited by a respectable Turk, who excited
great commotion in his family by introducing some of these
females. Every day, and sometimes all day long, we heard
the shrill sound of his wife's voice, scolding either him or
the slaves; and we availed ourselves of the circumstance to
repurchase one of them at a bargain, and restore her to her
friends.
Turkish women in general are not shut up in harenis,
but walk about to the markets and bazaars as freely as men.
They, however, always group together, and males and
females are never seen mixed in the public places as with
The
upper classes are more secluded, and they do not
go abroad except in long arrhubas, like waggons, where
Us.
2 1 2
484
NARRATIVE OF A
eight or ten sit together on the floor, inclosed round with
silk curtains. They are not seen except when the wheels
jolt over the irregular pavement and displace the curtains,
when the mass of heads is observed just over the edge of
the arrhuba, in which no features can be distinguished but
their noses ; indeed, it seems to be very prominent in a
Turkish woman, perhaps because it is the only part of the
face that is protruded beyond the veil.
They are generally of a kind and affectionate disposition
to strangers of their own sex. Frequently in walking out-
side the town with my daughter, they would stop to speak
to her, and finding the degree of relationship between us,
would evince for her great courtesy, stroking her affection-
ately with their hands, and present her with fruit or flowers,
or any thing they held. She often availed herself of the
invitation of a neighbour, and went in to visit her, acconi-
panied by her Greek female attendant, and she was always
received and treated with great kindness and courtesy.
Their feelings on the subject of Islamism seem less into-
lerant than that of the men. A Turk with whom I had
frequent intercourse wished to become a Christian and leave
Turkey, and often spoke to me on the subject. He had a
wife who adhered to her own faith, and it was a serious
thing to separate him from her. I found, however, that she
had no objection; not that she wished it herself, for they
lived happily together, but she thought it quite reasonable
that he should follow the dictates of his conscience on such
a subject, and he could not do so in Turkey but at the
hazard of his life. There was some property which they
proposed to divide, and I left Constantinople before a final
arrangement could be made on the subject.
With respect to their souls I can say nothing decided.
Ricaut* and others affirm that they themselves, as well as
* Hist, of the Ottom. Emp., Book 2.
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
485
the men, believe they have no such thing; but I cannot find
that the Koran deprives them of this immortal part. It is
true that the houris promised to the faithful are not to be
those whose society they enjoyed in this life, but it is not
reasonable to suppose that the Prophet intended to deny
that to the fair sex which he has conferred on inferior ani-
mals. I have asked several Turks their opinion, and they
certainly seemed to think that women had no souls, and
would not rise at the resurrection to interfere with their
promised happiness; and a janissary at the palace gate
affirmed to me that his wife's soul would die with her
body. In their cemeteries the tomb of a man is always sur-
mounted with a respectable head, with a turban indicating
by its folds the rank the man held in life. The stone that
marks the grave of a woman has no head, but a flat top
like a nail; and certainly, as far as the soul is connected
with the intellect, it would imply that, in their opinion, a
woman had neither one nor the other.
But you ask me, have the Turkish men no redeeming
qualities among those fierce and brutal ones which, for so
many years, I saw them displaying? I answer, they have
many which might serve as models to more enlightened
people. Their unfeigned and ardent piety—their strict but
unaffected regard to the laws which their religion imposes
-their devoted submission to the will of their sovereign, as
the descendant of their Prophet, and holding his crown
by divine right-the respect they pay to their superiors
who are set in authority, though raised from the same
rank as themselves—their noble pride in estimating only
personal merit, and retaining, as a matter to boast of,
the name of the humble trade to which they were born-
their charity to all who are distressed—their exceeding
sobriety and moderation in all their appetites—their im-
moveable integrity, and their being the carriers of untold
486
RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
ners.
gold to our merchants, who trust them with the most im-
plicit confidence, and never yet had occasion to withdraw it
—the gravity of their deportment, and the moral solidity of
their character, are general qualities in which few Turks, of
whatever rank they may be, are found deficient. I know
nothing more grateful or pleasing than the simple and un-
affected kindness of a Turk. There is a natural courtesy
about him that is altogether independent of factitious man-
He addresses his equals by the name of brother, his
elder he calls master, and his junior son, and in general
regulates his deportment towards them by the feelings that
would arise from such relations. Such qualities must make
the people in whom they are found, and their transition
from ignorance to knowledge, highly interesting.
In May, 1832, I again left Constantinople, where it had
been my lot to witness the rise and progress of two great
revolutions—one the emancipation of the Greeks from the
dominion of the Turks; the other, of the Turks themselves
from the more hopeless dominion of prejudice and igno-
rance. On my first going out I saw Athens in a state of
miserable degradation--it is now the seat of government
of a free and independent people; I saw Constantinople
immersed in darkness and ferocity—it is now the abode of
an improving population. The destiny of Greece is fixed--
that of Turkey remains in the womb of time—whether, en-
lightened by that literature and civilization which have
dawned on it, it will finally adopt the religion and free
institutions of the West, and so become a member of the
great European family; or, falling under the power of a
neighbour, it will merge into a province of a state half
Asiatic, add other millions to the slaves already in bondage,
and improvement end in engrafting European vices on
Oriental ignorance.
APPENDIX.
.
No. Ι.
Booles printed at the Patriarchai Press at Constantinople, with
notices of the Authors.
'Ακολουθία της Αγίας Ματρώνης και του Αγιου 'Αρτεμιού.
'Εραστής σoρίας, ή Κατήχησις Σεργίου Μακραίου.
Γεναδίου του Σχολαρίου σερί συγγνωστών και θανασίμων
αμαρτημάτων.
'Εξήγησις Ψαλτήρος, ο πρώτος τόμος.
Γραμματική Ματθαίου, εις δύω τόμους.
Λόγος εις την γενικής Ιστορίαν Βόσσουέτου.
Φαρμακοποιία Πύρρου.
Ιστορία και πρόοδος της Ιατρικής.
'Ακολουθία του Αγίου Μελετίου.
'Απανθίσματα εκ των λόγων 'Ιωάννου του Χρυσοστόμου.
“Ο Αιθίοψ υπηρέτης.
Επιτομή των λόγων του Δόκτορος Ουάττς.
Βίος Γουλιέλμου Κέλλυ.
Επιτομή περί του πώς δεί διαλέγεσθαι μετα των Θεϊστών.
Λόγοι του Χρυσοστόμου τουρκίστι.
Λειτουργίαι Αρχιερατικαί.
Λειτουγίαι Ιερατικαί.
'Ακολουθία του Οσίου Δαβιδ.
Ευχολόγιον.
'Ακολουθία του Αγίου Λουκά.
Λόγοι Εκκλησιαστικοί, τουρκιστί.
Κυριακοδρόμιον Θεοτόκη, τουρκιστί.
Γραμματική, Αριάδνη.
Θύρα μετανοίας, τουρκιστι.
Φυσιογνωμικά Αριστοτέλους.
Ακολουθία του Αγίου Ελευθεριου.
Ακολουθία του Αγίου Διονυσιου.
'Αλφαβητάριον των παίδων.
* Ακολουθία Στολιάνου.
Κιβωτός της Ελληνικής γλωσσης, ο πρωτος τόμος.
488
APPENDIX.
AMBROSIUS ARGENTIS.This young author, when the patri-
archal press was destroyed, was scarcely nineteen years of
age.
He is a native of Scio, and was educated there. Before he was
seventeen he printed and published a Treatise on Navigation,
in which he warmly recommends to his countrymen in general,
but particularly to his fellow-citizens of Scio, to apply them-
selves to maritime commerce as an inexhaustible fund of wealth
and prosperity. This treatise was extensively circulated, and
from the wonderful exertions of the Hydriotes, Spezziotes, and
Ipsariotes, it seems to have had an extraordinary effect.
KOUMAS.—This gentleman is a didaskalos, or professor, at
Smyrna. He has recently published elementary instructions in
philosophy, to which is prefixed a short view of the labours of
the Germans in this branch of learning. This work was printed
at Vienna, and received with great enthusiasm.
SERGIUS JOHANNES.--This gentleman is a physician of Con-
stantinople. He has written a history of medicine, from the
earliest ages to the present day, the first volume of which was
published at the patriarchal press in the year 1818.
JOHANNES AMYROS, a merchant of Scio, wrote the history of
Artemios and his mother, who were natives of Scio, and much
respected there.
SERGIUS MAKRI wrote several works of repute among the
modern Greeks, among the rest Eραστης σοφιας ακολουθια. He
was a philosopher of Yanina, but latterly resided at Constanti-
nople, in the Convent of Jerusalem, where he died some years
ago, at the age of eighty.
GENADIUS was the celebrated patriarch made by Mahomet II.
when he took Constantinople. He wrote σερι συγγνωστων και
θανασιμών αμαρτηματων. .
Εξηγησις Ψαλτηρίου. This interpretation of the Psalms of
David was made and compiled from different authors.
ALEXANDER, a young man of the Fanal, translated the Hoyos
εις την γενικής Ιστοριου Βοσσουετου (General History of Bossuet).
The Office, or Service of St. Miletius.
Translation of Dr. Watts was made in England, and sent to
Constantinople. It was very badly done, but corrected by Argy-
ramo, superintendent of the press.
Johannes Chrysostom. The same.
Life of W. Kelly. The same.
CHATZE YANGEDAN, a schoolmaster of Boulderloo, in Asia
Minor, translated into Turkish the Sayings of St. Chrysostom.
APPENDIX.
489
NEOPHYTOS of Athens, now bishop of Talantion, in the Morea,
composed the Service of St. David, an anchoret of Negropont.
CYRIL composed the service of St. Louka. Cyril had been
patriarch of Constantinople before Gregory, and had established
the present printing-office at the Fanal, and given his assent to
the printing and distributing the Scriptures in modern Greek.
After his deposition he resided at Adrianople, on a pension
allowed him by the community of the Greeks, and which is always
assigned by them to ex-patriarchs, who can never again descend
to the enjoyment of a bishopric. He had been archbishop of
Adrianople before he was elected patriarch, and therefore pre-
ferred it as a residence. He was accused by the Turks of holding
communication with the rebels, and hanged there at the com-
mencement of the insurrection. He was about fifty years old,
and was a man highly esteemed for his learning, and respected
for his probity by his countrymen.
ANASTATIUS, a native of Cæsarea, translated the Physics of
Aristotle into modern Greek and Turkish.
GREGORY the patriarch ordered the Ακολουθια Στολιανου to be
printed for the use of the monks of Mount Athos.
DEMETRIUS MOROUSI was a Greek of the first talents, and
possessed an energy of character and intrepidity of mind that
commanded the respect of, and held in awe, the Turks them-
selves. He was the great promoter of everything that was useful
and likely to raise the character of his nation. But particularly
he was the patron of education, founded the academy of Korou
Chesmé, supported the press, and by his means the Kißwtos, or
Greek Lexicon, was undertaken and carried on. He was one of
those rare characters among modern Greeks who united the
energy, ability, and literary taste of the ancient republican cha-
racter, and, had he lived, would perhaps have been a conspicuous
leader in the revolution; but the Turks, dreading his talents, had
him basely assassinated at Shumla, some years before it com-
menced. In an Epigram in the Preface of the Kißwtos his
services and death are thus noticed and lamented by the Lexicon:
'Ει μη Μουρούζης Δημήτριος ήεν ο κλεινός,
ούκεν εγώ νυν φώς είδαν εμερτον αεί.
'Αλλά με πένθος άτειρές έχει, ότι παντας ιδούσα,
Μούνον εκείνον ιδείν δύσμορος ου δύναμαι.
490
APPENDIX
No. II.
The first Dragoman's Report to the British Ambassador of his
Conversation with the Reis Effendi on the subject of the Sciote
Hostages.
" In every place," said the. Reis Effendi, “where our victo-
rious arms are carried, they have constantly been preceded by
the renewed offer of a full and entire amnesty. But what recep-
tion have those found who were the bearers of the words of
peace ?
They have been inhumanly massacred, and their message
turned
into derision. Even at Scio, in that unhappy island, which has
become the bloody theatre of the most frightful disorders, the
Capitan Pasha had reiterated many times the offer of clemency
of the sovereign, but the rebels only answered it by new outrages,
new massacres, in immolating, without pity, to their blind raġe,
the unfortunate Mussulmans who had fallen into the hands of
these barbarous Christians. Can one be astonished at the ter-
rible reactions which have been the natural consequence of the
disgusting horrors commenced by the rebels? However, the
deplorable fate of Scio has not less penetrated with the most
profound sorrow the magnanimous soul of our august sovereign,
who enjoys some consolation in being able to say to himself,
that it did not depend on him to turn this torrent of calami-
ties, after that the rebels had audaciously repulsed: an offer
which had been guaranteed to them by the seal and the sacred
word of his Highness. If Scio had remained faithful, it had
never been molested; it would have continued tranquil and flou-
rishing, like Syra and the other loyal islands.
“ The ambassador, our friend, has often addressed to us,
through his first dragoman, representations on the sorrowful fate
of Scio; but he never yet has shown the appearance of pity for
the equally sorrowful fate of the unhappy Mussulmans slaughtered
at Tripolizza, at Navarino, at Corinth, and, lastly, at Athens,
after being delivered up to their implacable enemies upon the
good faith of the most solemn capitulations. We cannot doubt
an instant that our friend the ambassador has not participated in
our indignation, on learning the enormity of these atrocious and
multiplied crimes; and we ask him, if the perpetration of the
like horrors does not explain the exasperation and the thirst for
vengeance which must be the inevitable result amongst our
people? It would be necessary that our brother Mussulmans were
either more or less than men to resist the like provocations.
“ Not one single individual has been punished with death,
APPENDIX.
491
except when the government had previously obtained the proofs
or the moral conviction of his guilt."
Here I could not prevent myself from interrupting the Reis
Effendi in only pronouncing the words “ Hostages of Scio."
Surely these were hostages,” replied the Reis Effendi, “that
is to say, guarantees for the loyalty and good conduct of their
fellow-citizens. These latter knew the danger to which their
sureties were exposed, and they easily could have preserved them
from it. In all times and in all countries, hostages have been
given, and this wise precaution has never been considered a
simple formality. Suppose a Christian chief received hostages
to warrant the execution of the capitulation of a strong place, or
any other contract, whether civil or military, and that the capi-
tulation was violated, or the agreement not executed--what would
he do with these hostages ? No doubt that every Christian
would cause them to pay with life the forfeit of violated good faith.
“ But still more, these hostages were themselves personally
guilty. Without reflecting upon the danger of their situation,
and only occupied in braving us, many of them have served as
spies to their accomplices, in clandestinely sending to them in-
formation, which we have intercepted, about the number and
strength of the ships of the Capitan Pasha, who was then pre-
paring to sail.
" The ambassador has thought it his duty to address to us
remonstrances upon what we do with the slaves; but is he igno-
rant that our laws and religion authorize us ? And, besides, is
there not; even at the present day, many Christian states who
make a traffic of slaves, not rebels conquered and legally reduced
to bondage, but unhappy creatures which they drag from nations
with whom they have never been at war? We know that it is
not a very long time since, and not without many difficulties and
objections, that the other powers have decided to look upon slavery
as a revolting and odious circumstance. On the other hand,
the ambassador ought to be informed that at this moment thou-
sands of our brother Mussulmans groan under the weight of the
chains with which our enemies the Greeks have loaded them.
And we are induced to hope that our friend will be too impartial
not to admit the striking contrast between the kindness and
humanity with which we treat those whom the fate of war, or the
senseless rebellion of their kindred and allies, have placed in our
hands, and the atrocious cruelties that the Greeks wantonly
exercise upon the unfortunate old men, the unhappy females, and
even upon the poor innocent children, whom the inscrutable laws
of Divine Providence have caused to fall into captivity.
“ I am, perhaps, too diffuse on this subject," pursued the Reis
Effendi, but as it is one of those which gives occasion in Europe
to many declamations, exaggerations, and tales invented at leisure,
492
APPENDIX.
I have thought it necessary to go more deeply into the question
with our friend the ambassador. It now only remains for me to
add, that if you wish for still more proofs of our readiness and
willingness to make a just distinction between the innocent and
the guilty (which I repeat would be almost to offer us an affront),
I have to beg you to reinember the measures taken by the differ-
ent authorities, and of which yourself even have been a witness
during the last four weeks. Hundreds of Mussulman subjects
have been punished with death, and what was the crime of most
part of them ?—that of having, through pure malice, attacked
the lives and property of the poor innocent and peaceable Rayas.
“ You see, then, that the Sultan truly renders an impartial
and distributive justice, and that his Highness is always equally
ready to protect the innocent Raya and punish the guilty Mussul-
man."
No. III.
Lord Strangford's Letter to Lord Liverpool, on the subject of
Scio.
Constantinople, 26th August, 1822.
“ MY LORD,
"I was honoured on the 11th instant with your Lordship's
despatch, No. 6, respecting the late most unhappy transactions at
Scio.
“ I felt no ordinary satisfaction in receiving his Majesty's com-
mands upon this subject, because they were in entire conformity
with the representations already made by me to the Porte, of the
general horror and disgust which the proceedings at Scio had
excited throughout the British empire.
“I did not perceive any necessity for treating the feelings of the
Turkish ministers with much delicacy upon the occasion, and I
accordingly directed Mr. Hamilton to prepare a literal version of
your Lordship’s despatch, which was communicated in extenso
to the Porte on the 17th instant, by my first interpreter.
" The Reis Effendi, who, in common with many of his col-
leagues, deplores the conduct of the Turkish troops at Scio, and
who, I can conscientiously assert, feels ashamed of the disgrace
it has brought upon his country, appeared to be greatly affected
by the unreserved expression of his Majesty's sentiments upon
the subject. But he endeavoured to justify his government by
urging the unremitting cruelties which the Greeks had perpe-
trated in the Morea, the massacre of the Turkish garrisons at
Corinth, Tripolizza, Navarino, and Athens; the unprovoked
APPENDIX.
493
murder of the officers sent to Scio by the Capitan Pasha with
the proposed amnesty; the insults offered to the mosques in that
island, and all the various circumstances of atrocity in which I
lament to say that the Greek war has been but too abundant.
“ Almost all the arguments employed by the Reis Effendi,
when I mentioned the affair of Scio at my last conference, were
again produced upon this occasion; and as your Lordship will
have perceived, from my report of that conference, they consisted
in little more than a series of attempts to justify one system of
barbarity by the existence of another, and to prove that the right
of making slaves was founded on the Mussulman law, and was
certainly not in opposition at this day to the avowed or secret
practice of some Christian states.
My dragoman was perfectly able and, what is more, perfectly
willing to meet the Reis Effendi upon this ground, and from his
report of what passed it appears that the Reis Effendi was obliged
at last to rest his justification of the enormities committed at Scio
on the treason of the inhabitants, and on the fact of the descent
upon that island not having been a spontaneous and sudden move-
ment on the part of the Samiotes, but the result of a concerted
plan, and of an urgent invitation to the insurgents at Samos
from their brethren at Scio. The Reis Effendi said that he could
prove, from documents in his possession, that this correspondence
had been carried on for several months. Unfortunately it did
not occur to Mr. Chabert to ask why, if that was the case, the
Turkish government did not take measures to prevent the descent,
of which, by their own confession, they were forewarned, instead
of leaving the island absolutely without defence, and at the mercy
of the first invader.
“ On the subject of the Sciote hostages the same accusations
were urged against them which the Reis Effendi introduced on
the occasion of my last conference.
" I feel assured that the manner in which this affair has been
taken up, and the unequivocal and downright manner in which
I have expressed his Majesty's sentiments respecting it, cannot
have failed to produce the strongest effect upon the minds of the
Turkish ministers, and that these effects will be perceptible in
the future conduct of the Porte towards her revolted subjects.
They are now no strangers to the detestation with which their
cruelty has been viewed throughout that country, which they
look upon to be their most sincere and disinterested friend, and
whose good opinion I cannot help flattering myself that they
will now make an effort to recover.
I hope that I may be permitted to avow the pride which I
feel in reflecting, that the only government which has hitherto
branded the transactions at Scio with the indignant and fearless
expression of its abhorrence is that of Great Britain.
(Signed)
- STRANGFORD.
494
APPENDIX.
No. IV.
Fetva and Warning issued from the Mosque of Santa Sophiu and
others at Constantinople, in February, 1823.
THE envoy of God, on whom be his benediction, commands
that any person who shall bear about the one hundred and four
names of the Lord God, or shall read them, if stones shall rain
down from heaven on the earth, the Lord God shall preserve
him from all evil ; moreover, he shall be secure against the evil
tongues of the malicious, against fraud, against sudden death,
and against the worm of hell: and if with sincere faith he car-
ries them, neither arrow nor sword nor spear can hurt him, my
son; and he shall be protected from enemies, from accusers, from
assassins, and from the malignity of the demons,—from ser-
pents, venomous animals, and scorpions; and if he shall journey
into distant countries, he shall return safe and unharmed to his
own house, and, before lords and princes and judges, he shall
be honoured and respected, and in every place his word shall
prevail.
[Here follow one hundred and four epithets of God in Arabic.]
Whoever shall cause to be written this prayer, and give one
asper, shall be accepted, as if his prayers were offered up;
who-
ever shall cause it to be written, and give two aspers, shall be
accepted, as if his fast was completed; whoever shall cause it to
be written, and give three aspers, shall make his life in this
world unchangeable; whoever shall cause it to be written, and
give four aspers, shall make his temporal state secure ; whoever
shall cause it to be written, and give five aspers, shall cause his
son to live; whoever shall cause it to be written, and give six
aspers, shall be free from the seven hells; whoever shall cause
it to be written, and give seven aspers, shall cause the seven gates
of hell to be shut; whoever shall cause it to be written, and give
eight aspers, shall open the eight gates of paradise; whoever shall
cause it to be written, and give nine aspers, shall give abundance
to his wealth and possessions, and secure himself against any
kind of evil.
[Here follow the one hundred and four names of God, with-
out the epithets.]
The envoy of God, on whom be his blessing, was sitting in his
chamber of prayer: the angel Gabriel, on whom be peace and
health, came to him and said, “Oh Mahomet, the Lord God has
sent you his salutation.” Then Gabriel said, “Whoever shall
read this prayer, and carry it about him, the seas, the waters,
the trees shall move themselves in reverence, and, at the point
of death, the Lord God with his power shall free his soul from
the sentence pronounced against the wicked; he shall not see pur-
APPENDIX.
495
>>
gatory, and in the tomb the Lord God shall give him two DAMSELS,
one on his right hand, and the other on his left, so that, looking
in the face of both, he shall meet the last day of judgment.
Then Gabriel said, “ Whoever shall read this on the 15th of the
month Ramazan, at the hour of the namaz, shall find a remedy
for all his wants."
[Here follow the one hundred and four names of God, with the
epithets.]
The envoy of God, on whom be his blessing, was passing
from this perishing world to another life, when Fatima his
daughter was lamenting, with great grief and affliction. The
envoy of God said to her, “ My dear Fatima, why do you
lament?” The woman said, “ Oh, prophet of God, I am de-
prived of the sight of your blessed countenance, and therefore I
lament. The envoy of God said, “Whoever shall regard my
daughter shall see my face ; and whoever shall respect my
daughter shall see my presence, and shall be happy and pros-
perous from day to day, and shall be secure from the evils of this
world of death, and in the last day of judgment he shall pass
with my light, and shall not deserve the fire of hell.”
[Here follow seven Talismans, containing Arabic sentences,
which are to be worn on the wrist, arm, head, inside the turban,
and other parts of the body, to guard the wearer against sabre,
pistol, yatigan, evil-eye, or other accidents : Ist circle, against a
sword ; 2nd, against the colic; 3rd, against pain in the breast;
4th, against an evil-eye; 5th, to cause his word to be respected;
6th, to cause prosperity; 7th, for happiness.]
[Here follow verses from the first and third chapters of the
Koran, against evils : Ist, against fever; 2nd, against head-
ache; 3rd, against colic; 4th, against sore eyes; 5th, against
lumbago.]
[Here follows a remedy against seven kinds of diseases, which
attack the head, teeth, eyes, throat, neck, shoulders, ears, breast,
navel, belly, hands, and feet.]
[Here follows a remedy against the infernal worm, and seventy-
seven kinds of maladies.]
[Here follows a remedy against three hundred and sixty-six
diseases.]
[Here follows a charm, consisting of the Turkish alphabet,
corresponding with the numbers. ]
[Here follows a remedy against every kind of disease.]
Merciful and pitiful Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Lord,
Lord, Lord, Lord, Mahomet Ali.
Sheik Ahmed, keeper of the sepulchre of the prophet, on
whom be the benediction of God and peace, thus declares, “ On
the night of Friday I remained reading the Koran at the right
side of the sepulchre. I was absolutely alone. At midnight,
496
APPENDIX.
while I was in the full possession of all my senses, I heard a
secret voice, and it appeared to me that the prophet, the mag-
nificence and glory of ages, on whom be salvation, thus spoke,
Oh, Sheik Ahmed! do you know the state in which I am, and
what I suffer for my people ?' These were his words: I was
confounded with astonishment, but at length, coming to myself,
I sprung upon my feet, and held myself in an attitude the most
attentive. The voice proceeded in these terms, Seventy thou-
sand souls of my refractory people have passed to the other
world—of these seven alone have been found faithful! Oh, dis-
honour and excess of infamy! Oh, Sheik Ahmed, I have no
longer courage to appear in the presence of God, I blush for
the scored pages of the angel ; people no longer respect their
own parents; the rich take no care of the poor, they attend only
to their pastime; their hearts are become black, they no longer
read the Koran, but frequent amusing assemblies; they no more
hold the Ulemah in esteem, they prefer retirement to scientific
society; they do not fly from sin. Oh, Sheik Ahmed! I have
already sent in time past two warnings, without any effect; I
have no longer the face to present myself before God. Your
people,' he says to me, do not, perhaps, dread my anger; they
are obstinate in sin; I swear I will deal with them according to
their deeds, I have destined them for the salvation of the world;
my wrath will be equal to my mercy. I will send one more
warning, and if they do not repent, you shall be responsible.'
Oh, Sheik Ahmed, may you be always under the protection of
the Most High; give this warning to my unfaithful people, to
the end that they may be converted and fear God. Let them
take heed how they break his commandments, and be ashamed,
because their sins are evident, and a late repentance is no longer
acceptable. The day of judgment is nigh at hand; let them
amend their lives; let them lament, and let them not depart
from this world without faith ; let them not come with a black
face, but let them repent of their sins before the gate of pardon
be shut to them; that Mussulmans only in name, acting like the
unfaithful, may not render themselves worthy of torments; that,
in obedience to my warnings, they submit themselves to the ordi-
nances of God, and not appear in his presence with a black face,
because, as I said, the day of judgment is at hand. In the year
1220 few operations will be seen; in 1230 there will be a famine,
for want of rain; in 1240, women will go forth through the
market-places without the permission of their husbands, and
some villages will be swallowed up; in 1250 some countries will
be disjointed, and they shall see signs; in 1260 hail will fall as
large as eggs, and destroy many places ; in 1270 the sun will
rise no more; in 1280 the Koran will disappear; and in the
year 1300 will come the Antichrist. A green paper is plunged
·APPENDIX.
49
in the sea, but there it will appear before the prophet. I swear
by the Most High God that I do not tell a falsehood !"
He then placed in my hand, on the right side of the altar,
this great warning, saying, “ He that transcribes it, and
causes it to pass from city to city, from village to village, and
from house to house, shall be able to drink of my cup and be my
neighbour ; may my intercession be profitable for him, and may
he enter pure with me under the shadow of the throne of the
Most High. He that will not listen to this warning is no Mus-
sulman, and my intercession is not for him ; in case of sickness,
it is not permitted to inform him of the state of his health, and
on his account I have not the face to present myself before God.
I utter no falsehood in this warning. When I become false may
my face become black, in this and the other world. Those
who cause not this to be read and published from city to city,
from village to village, and from house to house, shall not
see the face of God, says the Most High. He who, regard-
ing not this warning, causes it not to be published, has no
faith, and is not one of my chosen people.”
REMARKS.
The Worm of Hell.--Among the signs of the approach of
the day of judgment is the appearance of a monster which seems
some modification of the beast in the Revelations. A compo-
sition of various animals, having a tail resembling a serpent,
with which she will strike the face of all men, impressing on the
foreheads of the good the word Mumen or Believer, and on the
wicked the word Kafir or Infidel. Some suppose, however, that
the worm against which this charm is to protect, is the tape-
worm to which the Turks have a great horror.
Seven Hells.-The Mahomedan place of punishment is divided
into seven stages or floors, for different classes of delinquents :
the first called Gehennah, from the Hebrew, designed for men
who, though they believe, are wicked. From this purgatory,
however, after a certain period of punishment for their acts, they
are released, and rewarded for their faith ; the second, named
Sadha, is for the Jews; the third, Al Hotamah, for Christians;
the fourth, Al Sair, for the descendants of the wicked Saba or
Sabæans; the fifth, Sakir, for Magicians or Persian Magi; the
sixth, Al Jahim, for Idolaters; the last and lowest, Al Hawyat,
for hypocrites. In order that none of these delinquents may
escape, all the dead are obliged to pass over a bridge called Al
Sirat, the path across which is finer than a hair and sharper
than a sword. The good and faithful are enabled to go over,
but the wicked and unbelievers inevitably fall at either side into
the receptacle appointed for them, where they pray in vain for
annihilation as a mercy; their only mitigation of punishment
VOL. II,
2 K
498
APPENDIX.
will be to go to a cistern and drink scalding water to cool their
tongues.
Ēight Gates of Paradise. Each of these gates leads to a dif-
ferent abode of happiness, graduated according to the deserts of
the person : the first, or highest degree, for the prophets; the
next for the doctors and teachers of the Word; the next for
martyrs; the rest for different classes of the righteous, according
to their deserts. At each gate beautiful youths meet the happy,
and run before to apprise the Hur-al-Oyun of their arrival,
while two attendant angels invest them with the pelisse of Para-
dise, and lead them to their expecting damsels.
Gabriel.—He was the angel who Mahomet said revealed the
Koran to him, and caused it to sink into the heart of the be-
liever. He appeared to the prophet in a human form, to accom-
modate himself to his imperfect earthly senses, and is acknow-
ledged in the Koran as the angel that appeared to Zacharias,
when he was foretold of the birth of John. He is called the
angel of Revelations.
Damsels.—The place of future happiness is called Jannah, a
garden corresponding to the Greek word Paradise, to which is
annexed a variety of epithets, the most usual of which is Jannat-
al-Nain, the garden of voluptuousness : its situation is above the
seventh heaven, and next under the throne of God. To indicate
the richness of the soil, they say it is of the finest wheat flour,
musk, and saffron. The pleasures of it are entirely sensual. It is
watered, says the Koran, with streams, all of which consist of some
delightful beverage, in some places with unchangeable milk, some
with clarified honey, and some with wine. But the highest delight
is to be derived from the society of girls with black eyes, who are,
for that reason, called Hur-al-Oyun, and by the Persians Hurani
beshest, which we corrupt into Houri. Their persons are so
pure, that they are not formed of clay, but musk, and their resi-
dence is in pavilions of hollow pearls, one of which is sixty miles
long. Tradition has added many circumstances of these Hur-al-
Oyun, but their existence is also recognized by the Koran, which
declares that the faithful shall be received by those beautiful
damsels, having complexions like rubies and pearls, whom no
man or even genius had ever before caressed. The Koran adds
another remarkable circumstance, “ Virgines semper manent, et
quoties vir cum illis cubat, toties virginitatis florem carpit.
Ramazan.- The month of fasting.
Namaz.- The Koran directs that there shall be certain
periods devoted to prayer, five times each day within the twenty-
four hours, just before sunrise, just after noon, at four o'clock
in the evening, after sunset, and just before daybreak. It is at
these times the muezzin's voice is heard from the minarets all
over the city, inviting the faithful : the distant sounds issuing
APPENDIX.
499
from on high, and mingling together in the air, give a solemnity
to the call exceedingly impressive, much more so than bells.
Fatima.-Mahomet had many children, but they all died
before him except Fatima, his favourite daughter, who after-
wards married Ali, his successor. Many eulogies are passed on
her by Mahomedan writers. They say, among men, there are
numbers who are perfect, but among women but four, --Asi, the
wife of Pharaoh ; Mary, the mother of Jesus; Kodijah the
wife, and Fatima, the daughter of Mahomet. Her charity in
feeding the hungry was boundless, and exercised by depriving
herself of food. The angel Gabriel bore despatches from Allah,
to congratulate the prophet on such a daughter, and brought
with him the 76th chapter of the Koran, in which those quali-
ties of Fatima are recorded.
Sepulchre of the Prophet. This is at Medina, but the great
place to which pilgrims resort is the Al Kaba, and that called
Beet Alla, " the House of God,” which Mahomet himself ap-
pointed in the Koran as the great place of prayer for the faith-
ful. God covenanted with Abraham and Ishmael that they
should sweep and keep it clean. Among the sacred things are the
white stone and the black stone : the first is the tomb of Ish-
mael, and is now a reservoir to receive the sacred rain from the
roof of the Kaba, through a golden spout; the last fell from
heaven, when Adam was driven from Paradise, and was deposited
here for pilgrims to kiss, which every Moslem is engaged to do,
if he have the means, once in his life.
Surre Emine, or leader of the pilgrims, is a personage of high
consideration. Whenever a body sets out for the tomb of the
prophet, the leader is invested with great authority, and is paid
implicit obedience.
Friday, or Joohmah, is the Turkish sabbath; they call it the
most excellent day on which the sun rises, and say it will be the
day of final judgment. Transgressions of the sabbath are omi-
nously reproved, of which the Koran records an instance. In a
city on the coast of the Red Sea, whenever the inhabitants
strictly observed it, the fish came of themselves for their use out
of the water; when they neglected it, none appeared.
Seventy Thousand.- This is a remarkable number with Ma-
homedans. Among the greater signs that will mark the ap-
proach of the day of judgment will be a war with the Greeks,
and the taking of Constantinople by seventy thousand men, the
descendants of Isaac, before whom the walls will fall down, like
those of Jericho; while dividing the spoil, however, news will
arrive that Antichrist is coming, so they will leave the spoil and
retire. The number seven, with all its derivatives, is frequently
used by Oriental writers, even in our Scriptures, as an indefinite
expression.
2 K 2
500
APPENDIX.
Mussulmans.- In the original it is Moslem, which signifies
resigned, a title the faithful take to themselves, and Europeans
corrupt into Mussulman. The word Islam, which the prophet
says is the only true religion acknowledged by God, and which
all the prophets taught, signifies the same thing.
A Blackć Face...Ă black or a white face are expressions to
denote good or bad habits.
In the year 1220.—The Turks affirm that some of the events here
mentioned came to pass, and about the periods predicted, and that
the rest must follow. The Turkish era commenced A.D. 585, the
year of the Hegeira, or flight of Mahomet. About the
bread was so scarce in Turkey, that they were obliged to mix horse-
dung with the flour to make it go further; and the quantity now
sold for eight paras, cost then one hundred and eighty. Women
frequenting bazaars and markets became a great scandal. Earth-
quakes became quite common-witness those of Zante, Aleppo,
and other places; hail-stones have fallen as large and larger
than eggs; nature became dislocated, and the whole Turkish
empire was out of joint; and such is the Sultan's supposed ten-
dency to Christianity, that the Bible is expected soon to super-
sede the Koran.
year 1810
No. V.
Turkish Song sung at the Coffeehouse at the Palace-gate during
the Ramazan.
Murghi deel tcheshm shehbûzy
Nev shikar oldy.
With the hawk of thy eyes
Thou hast caught the bird of
my heart:
Nakshi bendi mooy zulfun.
Musk char oldy.
Lehler zulal ghioturur melal.
Tchesni helal.
Dganum effendim.
Boo shey itchoon gherdanin dun.
The nosegay bound in thy hair
Emits the perfume with which
thy curls are bedewed.
The luscious balm of thy lips
Makes me long for sipping it,
Oh my sweetheart!
To obtain this favour I have
addressed a petition to thy
neck.
My eyes, instead of tears,
Did formerly strain blood;
But my friend declining to
surrender,
Those
very tears have drained
dry.
Arsohal ettim.
Ghiozlerimden yasl yériné.
Kanalar iken beer zéman..
Nazlanoob yarem kibi olmaz.
APPENDIX,
501
Odâ shimdi revan.
Sooz hedyroondem bedem.
Every breath of my flame in
my delirium
Itmelede der baghrum kebab.
Hatceré ghelmez huny.
Adgeb roozy heesab.
Nay hesabi ba sévab,
Scorches my bowels.
0, cruel fair, do you never
call to mind
The formidable doomsday ?
(Answer) What doom is for
the righteous ?
Is it not better to meditate at
the beautiful moonlight!
Mahi tabi mustetab.
No. VI.
Firman published in June, 1824, at Constantinople, prohibiting
the buying or selling of the Turkish Bible.
We are informed that the Bible, the Psalms of David, the
New Testament, with the Acts of the Apostles, and, in fine, a
pamphlet in the Persian language, have been lately printed in
Europe, and three thousand impressions taken of each of those
works. One or two hundred of the first, and five or six hundred
of the second, have lately arrived at Constantinople. This in-
novation brings with it a crowd of inconveniences. It cannot
but disturb and lead astray the people in the principles of their
religion; and consequently the introduction of such works ought
at all times to be prohibited in the empire.
Therefore the above-named books shall be sent back to
Europe, and if others arrive, they shall be stopped at the custom-
house, and a report of it shall be made to the government.
These books must no longer be bought or sold in the book
bazaars of the capital. If Mussulmans happen to purchase
them in any other place, they shall be seized in the hands of
those with whom they are found and cast into the fire. The will
of the Sultan himself is opposed to any persons buying or pro-
curing these books; and to this end, in conformity to an im-
perial hatta sheriff of his Highness, worthy successor of the
califs, firmans have been despatched to the different Mussulman
provinces, and the prohibition recominended to the noble kadis
of Constantinople, Scutari, and Eyoub, in sending to each of
them a circular of this commandment of his Highness.
Therefore you will employ all your care, and exert all your
efforts, to cause to be executed the will of the Sultan. To this
end you will issue the severest prohibitions against any Mussul-
man buying or selling these books, and you will snatch them
from the hands of whomsoever they shall be found with, to cast
them into the flames, and reduce them to ashes.
502
APPENDIX.
No. VII.
Anecdotes of the Turkish Revolution, and of the principal Per-
sons concerned in it.
HUSSEIN PASHA was born at Bender; his parents were in the
lowest state of poverty, and he soon abandoned his home and
came to Constantinople to seek his fortune. His first care was
to proceed to a coffee-shop, and offer himself as taby or waiter,
the usual resource of all who are destitute of any other means of
support. This shop was frequented by the lowest dregs of the
populace, with whom Hussein associated, and entering readily
and with facility into all their irregularities, he soon became as
one of themselves. At the age of sixteen he became joldasch of
an orta, and felt proud and fierce at being a janissary. As,
having a disposition most daring and turbulent, he soon acquired
an ascendency over his companions, and was received as an
officer, cará coloukgee. When he took up his abode in his bar-
racks, he became the terror and annoyance of all his more grave
and less enterprising companions; he did not hesitate to get
drunk, quarrel, and then to fight with any one near him; there
was no outrage committed by the fellows with whom he chose to
associate in which he was not the ringleader. Always at the
head of some desperate gang, he was looked on with terror and
respect by the mob of the city; and though scarce above the age
of a boy, he was a kind of popular leader of the rabble of his
neighbourhood. He was always ready to draw his yatigan and
support his companions whenever they were compromised in any
quarrel, and so became the champion of every lawless fellow.
He showed an early predilection for blood, never hesitating to
cut and stab in a moment whoever excited his anger; and
though he was not actually a professed robber, he entered openly
the shops of the rayas, took without scruple whatever he wanted,
promising to pay for it another time, which other time never
came, nor did the baccal ever dare to remind him of it. He
had, besides, various ways of extracting money from them under
different pretences, and this he squandered profusely among his
comrades, and acquired much popularity : such was the state of
the janissary corps at this time, composed of all the rabble and
refuse of society, and living in open and turbulent violation of
law and justice. His reckless audacity soon drew on him the
notice of his officers, the bashi cara-coloukgees or serjeant-
majors of the regiment, who pushed him gradually forward, and
in a short time he became the terror of the capital.
When it was determined to extirpate the corps of janissaries,
it was the sagacious policy of the Sultan to select as his instru-
ments some of the most daring and desperate among themselves,
APPENDIX.
503
and whose lawless conduct had acquired the confidence and
respect of the rest, as persons most attached to their corps, and
most determined to support it in all its impunities. As Hussein
had at this time acquired the most atrocious character, he was
fixed on as the most fitting instrument : he was intimately ac-
quainted with all the plots, cabals, and projects of his com-
panions, and an active and unflinching agent in promoting them;
by the express desire, therefore, of the Sultan, lie was raised to
the rank of Yenitchery Aghassi, or generalissimo of the corps of
janissaries.
The Sultan now sent for him, and had with him a personal
interview. He sounded him on the subject of his project, and
found Hussein no way attached to the system he had hitherto so
strenuously upheld. He then at once explained to him his de-
sign, and Hussein warmly entered into it: from that time he kept
up a constant and secret communication with him. They met
always at night in the dark, and without witnesses. The Sultan
reposed in him entire confidence, received Hussein's reports of the
plans and projects of the janissaries, and gave him instructions
how to act on every emergency that arose ; and he found this
turbulent and lawless leader his most attached and active instru-
ment in destroying his own companions.
Hussein's first care was to dispose of the oustas or officers who
were least agreeable to him. On some alleged pretext he caused
nine of them to be arrested one morning, and when they were
brought into his presence, he made the usual slight motion with
his hand, and, without further process or inquiry, they were
strangled before him. From this time he threw off the mask,
and at once seized every man of influence whom he found active
in the cabals of the corps : he however proceeded with more deli-
beration; he had them first examined in his house, extracted from
them all they knew of plots and accomplices, and when he had
obtained all the information that could be useful, they too were
strangled without mercy. Many of those whose names he thus
discovered he sounded ; if they were disposed to aid his plans,
he secured their co-operation with money, if not, they were put
to death.
Having thus weeded from the corps the obnoxious officers, he
turned his attention to the common men. Numerous complaints
were daily made of the outrages and robberies committed on the
unfortunate rayas, the truth of which Hussein was but too well
acquainted with. Patrols were sent out, with strict orders to
seize every person so offending, either seen by themselves or com-
plained of by the sufferers. Lists of names were taken down,
the perpetrators were everywhere searched for, seized during the
night, and executed.
Having thus removed the most refractory and untractable from
504
APPENDIX.
among the officers and men, he now proposed to carry into effect the
main object, by inducing the remainder to adopt the new discipline
of the nizam geddite. His plan was to withdraw, by degrees, por-
tions of his old comrades whom he could influence, and enrol
them in regular corps. This particularly pleased the Sultan,
and, to attach Hussein still more to him, and give him still more
weight with his party, he made him a pasha of three tails, gave
him as a residence the magnificent palace of the Duz Oglus, at
Yeni Kui, on the Bosphorus; appointed him boghas nazir, or
civil and military governor of the fortresses on the Black Sea,
both in Europe and Asia, with unlimited power, together with
the revenue of the Sangiakât of Houdavendiquier, in the pasha-
lik of Brusa, and the command of a large army of observation,
to watch and control the garrison of the fortresses, if they
should give any opposition to their future proceedings. These
troops occupied all the villages on both sides of the Bosphorus,
from the sea of Marmora to the Black Sea. The command
of them was confided to Derendeli Izet Mehmed Pasha, who,
at the commencement of the Greek revolution, had the same
situation, to watch the population of the Greek villages; to him
was joined the Bey Cozou Hasan Pasha, formerly a janissary, and
the creature of Hussein, on whom he knew he could place full confi-
dence. These precautions were deemed absolutely necessary to re-
strain the soldiers of these fortresses, as it was by their means the
former attempt of Selim III., to establish his new discipline, had
been effectually defeated. Hasan executed his commission with
ability. His spies were everywhere mixing, not only with the sol-
diers of the garrisons, but with the inhabitants of the villages, in
coffee-houses, and wine-houses. Where any person became sus-
pected he instantly disappeared, and was never heard of again;
and the very secrecy and mystery with which the executions were
conducted, struck such terror into the people, that many came
forward and became themselves informers, merely to anticipate
what they expected their associates would do them.
When the Bosphorus was thus cared for, and all designs
anticipated and provided for without, Hussein next turned his
attention to things within the city. He held communications
with every person of influence, both in the corps and out of it;
was indefatigable in visiting, publicly and privately, all who were
worth influencing; and, when he had by this means apparently
gained over a majority, he, as a final consummation to his plans,
took a precaution at once most efficacious and extraordinary.
Notwithstanding all his care, he still mistrusted the greater
number of those he influenced; their prejudices and preposses-
sions in favour of the old system were so inveterate and in-
vincible, that he thought it highly probable they would turn
against him when things came to a final issue ; he therefore
APPENDIX.
505
formed a secret corps to use on emergency, to compel or
destroy those who wavered in the hour of trial, and to surprise
those numerous corps of janissaries, who took care to guard all
the streets, lanes, and alleys of the city and the suburbs, so as to
have them completely under their control. Among the persons
whom he engaged for the purpose was a man known for his
ferocity and reckless audacity, called Delhi Mehemet Aga, a
Delhi distinguished among Delhis; and then this man gained
over a numerous party of the lowest rabble of the janissaries, by
money profusely but properly distributed.
To him was added another of his cast and character, Kara
Gehenem, called the “black infernal,” for his unsparing and dia-
bolical cruelty. Besides these and similar characters, many of the
more respectable and honourable of the profession were engaged
in the plans; among them Liman Aga Topgee Bashi, and with
him the officers of the artillery at Tophana. The Bostangees, or
guards of the seraglio garden, to the number of seven thousand
men, were gained over by their bashi, Tartar Osman; he had
been a janissary tartar, or common courier, sent with despatches,
and, like most of the Turkish officers, possessed influence in pro-
portion as he was raised from among his associates. The caique-
gees, or boatmen, on the Bosphorus and harbour, were also a
numerous and formidable body, strongly impregnated with the
ancient prejudices of Turks : these were gained over or neu-
tralized by the influence of Papoutchgee Mehemet, governor of
the arsenal (on the Bosphorus).
To these measures of military activity, others of a more moral
influence and peaceable tendency were added. The persons en-
gaged in the plans had directions everywhere to recommend them
in conversation, in coffee-houses and other places, that men's
minds might be familiar with them, and their feelings of prejudice
weakened at least by contemplating the probability of a thing,
which they once supposed impossible. To this end Hussein, and
all whom he had engaged, never failed to insist on the utility
and necessity of such a reformation, to point out the advantages
which the very inferior but disciplined Egyptians had over the
undisciplined Turks in Greece, and the vast advantages of fusils
of a similar size with bayonets screwed on them, over the imper-
fect and irregular topheks then in use. To support these repre-
sentations, the press was resorted to, and Mahmood, who was
supposed to have not only no taste, but even a prejudice against
literature, now used it as a powerful engine to promote his plans.
When Selim attempted the same reform, he engaged a Tchelebi
Effendi, an old functionary, who had filled the highest offices of
the state, to draw up a plan of the new reforms, with answers to
all the objections that had or could be made to them. This very
506
APPENDIX.
curious document was circulated in MS. before the attempt of
Selim ; but when the janissaries prevailed, it was considered dan-
gerous to have it, and it disappeared or was forgotten*. It was
now, however, recorded in a more extensive publication, and more
universally distributed. The Sultan caused a complete treatise to
be drawn up on the former model, which was called the “Foun-
dation of Victory.” This was not confined to a MS. circulation,
but printed at the printing press at Scutari, in one portable
volume, and dispersed widely through the troops.
When everything was thus prepared, and every contingency
provided for, it was resolved to make one more attempt to obtain
the consent of the janissaries by persuasion, without having re-
course to the measures of coercion in their power. To this end
Hussein Pasha, and the grand Vizir Selim Mehmed Pasha, were
provided with a hatta sheriff, or imperial order of the Sultan, and
on the 29th of May, 1826, they presented themselves at the
place of the janissaries with their commission. They were
received' with every mark of respect and distinction by a vast
crowd of janissaries collected on the occasion, and when the
Grand Vizir observed this favourable impression, he immediately
availed himself of it. He told them he was come to lay before
them the commands of their sovereign; that the plan he pro-
posed was only a moderate and necessary reform, and not at
all repugnant to the principles of the Koran; that they must
revive and observe the military regulations hitherto much neg-
lected, by which they were to be disciplined twice a-week, in
exercising with their muskets in some public place, either in or
out of the city. He then caused two fusils and two sabres to be
brought of the new construction for their inspection, and an order
that those only of a similar calibre and form should be used in
future. He next explained the change required in their dress,
and contrasted the convenience of the new with the incumbrance
of the old; and having thus quietly and mildly entered into
several particulars, without shocking suddenly their prejudices,
he obtained from them an acquiescence to these points, and had
it signed and regularly sealed with one hundred and seventy sig-
natures. The terms proposed were as follow:--The dress of the
janissary was to consist of a cap of red cloth larger than the
ancient fez, with a blue silk tassel hanging from the apex; a
jacket and waistcoat of fine cloth; a larger jacket, resembling a
spencer, of a strong cloth called abâ, the manufacture of the
country; trousers of the same abâ; a girdle of woollen, and a
pair of red morocco leather shoes. They were to receive, as
* This was not to be had in MS. when I inquired after it, but it is found in
a translation in the Appendix to a work on Wallachia, by Mr. Wilkinson,
British Cousul at Bucharest.
APPENDIX:
507
It was
rations, one pound and a half of good meat, with rice, for a
pilaff, half a pound of butter, and two large loaves each man per
day; their pay was to be, from that period, 673 piastres per
three months for each common soldier.
There existed a great abuse among the corps, which this ad-
vanced but defined pay was intended to correct; this was the
essames, a very ancient denomination of stipend which the janis-
saries received in so many aspers per day; this was always
remaining over, and demanded by the parents of a deceased
janissary, by persons who had been expelled or had quitted the
corps, or by others to whom they had assigned it. The janis-
saries are paid on certain days in the seraglio, and at these times
the tefderdar or treasurer found enormous sums demanded for the
dead, for children in the cradle, and other persons on whom he
never calculated, to an immense and indefinite amount, which
fear of the janissaries compelled him not to refuse. These
essames were to cease, and the proceeds to pass into the treasury.
It was also determined that no situation in the corps should in
future be bought or sold, and the aga of the janissaries was to be
bound by a solemn oath neither to sell posts, extort money by
military advances, exact the essames, or in any way make a
profit of his situation, but be content with his annual salary, now
fixed at two hundred thousand piastres per annum.
finally agreed that twenty thousand men should be enrolled on
these terms, who were to be exercised twice a week, and be ready
to march when they were required.
The commissioners now returned to the Sultan with the news
of their complete success; a report of it was instantly sent off to
the Sheik-ul-Islam, or grand master, and to all the members of
the council, civil and ecclesiastical. That there might be no re-
traction on their part, they were required to sanction all that was
done. An act called hodgety sheriff was accordingly drawn up
and signed by the two kadilaskers.
On the 4th of June a general council was called at the resi-
dence of the mufti, where Hussein, in his coarse, energetic way,
made a violent speech, that a law should pass, making the
acquiescence of the janissaries in the proposal of the commis-
sioners, the fundamental law of the empire. In doing this, great
care was observed to avoid any phrase that might alarm or
shock the still inveterate prejudices of the great body of the
janissaries. All mention of the nizam geddite, or “ new regu-
lations," which had been so fatal to the projects of Selim III.,
was carefully avoided, and the expression “military regulations"
was adopted, as intended to mean only the formation of a corps
of men who should be instructed in a few points of discipline;
and as it was the wish of all to effect the intended reformation
by degrees, and with as little bloodshed as possible, new and dif-
508
APPENDIX.
ferent names were given to everything connected with the former
attempt, which it was hoped would remove all objections; and
finally the corps was sanctified in the name of the Prophet, under
the appellation of Tophenkli Askier, or “corps of musketeers.”
The act thus drawn up was remitted from the council, sanctioned
with all the signatures of the ulemah; but when everything was
supposed to be quietly accomplished, Hussein hastened in the
night to the seraglio, threw himself at the feet of the Sultan, and
informed him that it would be actually necessary to shed much
blood, or abandon the proposed reformation.
The janissaries, when they began to think of the enormous
amount of the money they had given up, in agreeing to sur-
render the peculation of their essames, became quite discon-
tented; they no longer saw the large sums of money held up for
them in the divan, and every man carrying off a load to his
orta : and as this distribution was generally made when foreign
ministers had an audience at the Porte, out of display and vanity
in the government, they were indignant that they were deprived
of this ostentatious exhibition of their wealth and consequence.
The discontent on this subject now expanded in an alarming
degree, first among the lowest ranks of the janissaries, and then
spreading among the ulemah of the second grade, called mnderie
softa, students of the law, and the commentators on the Koran.
Many of the most prominent in displaying their discontent were
immediately arrested, and some secretly put to death; and as the
janissaries only became more insolent and ferocious on the next
day, the remainder, to a considerable number, were publicly
executed.
This unsparing severity was attended with an apparent good
effect; a sudden calm succeeded to complaint and outrage, and
nothing more was heard of the turbulent janissaries, no more
than if the corps had already ceased to exist; but this death-like
state only the more alarmed the sagacious Hussein: experience
of their habits and feelings had convinced him that some deep
and desperate stroke was meditating, so he immediately hastened
to the Sultan and apprised him of his apprehensions. It was
then resolved that the Grand Vizir, with Hussein, should im-
mediately call together the ministry, and all who favoured the
new order of things among the pashas, with the ulemah of dis-
tinction; and, as it was now no time for temporising, at once to
decide whether the reformation should be abandoned, or every-
thing risked to establish it. To this end Hussein presented him-
self at the Etmeidan, or place of meat,” on the 12th of June,
and summoned all the corps of the janissaries to meet him there.
The janissaries, in great numbers, accepted the invitation, and
the new regulations, with all their solemn sanctions, were pro-
claimed with great pomp and ceremony. The Pashas then re-
CC
APPENDIX.
509
quired that the new exercise should be performed by them. In
order to prepare for it, Mehmed Ali Pasha had sent from Egypt four
officers expert in the European discipline, which had been intro-
duced into his own army, to instruct the new-formed corps of the
janissaries. The volunteers came forward with apparent readi-
ness, and took the oath required of them. Solemn services of
religion were performed by the mufti, assisted by the ulemah:
the day passed off with perfect harmony and mutual satisfaction,
and the janissaries dispersed to their own homes in the most
orderly and submissive manner.
It was now supposed by the ministry, and by all persons who
had considered the subject with anxiety, that the affair was
entirely arranged. A solemn recognition of the new system was
procured at the Etmeidan, that formidable place where the janis-
saries had hitherto been omnipotent, and where no opposition
their plans or prejudices had ever been attempted or thought of
before. Even Hussein himself, who well knew the temper and
disposition of his former associates, was satisfied with the ap-
pearance of things, and thought that all opposition was now
given up as hopeless by those who were most implacable against
the proposed innovations, and had been most daring in opposing
them. A deep-rooted but cautiously-concealed hatred of them
still existed among the great mass of the janissaries. They dis-
trusted all the promises of Hussein, and they were excited to a
deadly vengeance at the destruction of their oustas or officers,
whom they considered as their protectors, so they determined,
on the first favourable occasion that offered, to burst out into an
irresistible torrent of reaction that would at once overwhelm their
enemies.
On the 13th of June they assembled as usual to practise their
new exercise ; one of the Egyptian officers, who had ten recruits
to instruct, was vexed at the real or affected awkwardness of a
surly fellow among them, and struck him a blow to correct his
inattention. The fellow immediately appealed to his com-
rades, and so worked upon their excitable feelings, that they
swore to destroy every person who had been instruments
in introducing the new system. Sixty, therefore, of the most
implacable and determined, secretly assembled on the night of
the 14th of June, armed with pistols, topheks, and yatigans, and,
headed by the man who had been struck, marched out at mid-
night, and proceeded to attack the palace of the Yenitchery
Aghassi : they found the gates closed, but they soon burst them
open, and then rushed in and sacrificed on the spot every one
they met with. They then demanded the chief of the janissaries,
Delhi Mehmet Aga, to cut him to pieces, as they openly de-
clared was their intention. They were informed that he was in
the harem with his females, a place hitherto held sacred by every
510
APPENDIX.
Turk, however rude and brutal; but these men seemed now
determined to hold nothing sacred; they burst open the doors of
these hallowed chambers, and rushed in among the astonished
and terrified women, who were suddenly roused from their beds,
and ran about nearly in a state of nudity among those ferocious
men. The chief was nowhere to be found; on the first alarm he
had fled by a secret door and a ladder provided for such emer-
gency, and so, by a few minutes, escaped the yatigans of the
assassins.
The rumour of this insurrection having now gone abroad,
the insurgents were joined by several others, who rushed from
all points to assist them. They first plundered and pilfered
everything valuable in the palace, violated many of the females,
and then, having elected the man who was struck, as their leader,
they proceeded, to the number of two thousand, to attack the
residence of Negib Effendi, chief inspector of the powder ma-
gazine, and Basha Kapou Kihayassi, or agent of the Vice-
roy of Egypt, and a particular favourite of the Sultan, as one
particularly active in introducing the new order of things.
Their intention was to sacrifice him also, but fortunately he had
retired to the country the day before ; and not finding him, they
pillaged and destroyed his residence from top to bottom, putting
to death every one they found within who offered the least resist-
The party of the janissaries, now increased by consider-
able additions from all quarters, they rushed en masse on the
palace of the Porte, where the Grand Vizir had his residence,
assassinated all they met with, and soon made themselves masters
of the treasures there deposited. They then retired to the
Etmeidan, where they were received by a vast crowd, and their
number was now estimated at thirty thousand, completely armed,
supported by all their remaining oustas or officers, and by the Sey-
men Bashi, who breathed vengeance against all their opponents.
He immediately ordered the kettles of the corps to be brought
forward, upturned in the midst of the Etmeidan, and gave to the
insurrection the character and consequence of a formal and
general movement of the whole body. Meantime the chief of the
janissaries, who had so narrowly escaped from his palace, made
his way to that of the Grand Vizir at the Porte, but not finding
him at home, he at once resolved to make his way to the Sultan,
and report to him the state of things. When arrived at the
palace of Top Kapou, where the Sultan was, he found Papoutchi
Mehmed already there, as if by a miracle, with his troops.
This unexpected force gave them courage; they immediately
convoked, in the name of the Sultan, all the pashas of the
capital and the Bosphorus, who had been appointed to act, if the
crisis which they had provided against should arrive. The effects
of these prudent measures of precaution were soon visible; they
ance.
APPENDIX.
511
all assembled speedily with their troops, the Grand Vizir Hus-
sein soon joined them, and the Sultan saw himself surrounded by
a body more than sufficient to destroy his adversaries.
The janissaries
, however, were now confident of success; the
whole effective force had solemnly assembled round their inverted
kettles, in the hallowed spot of the Etmeidan, from whence they
had, on all former occasions, dictated to their sovereign, who
had now dared even to hesitate in complying with their demands.
They therefore immediately appointed a deputation of their most
influential persons to proceed to the Sultan with their peremptory
and absolute order, which insisted on the abolition of all the pro-
posed innovations, and the giving up to their vengeance all those
who had advised or favoured them: and the deputation set out
to execute their commission. It so happened that Kara Ge-
henem had just before arrived, and having notice of this deputa-
tion, immediately proceeded to meet it with a corps of flying
horse-artillery; he met them in the streets as they were ad-
vancing, without the slightest suspicion of any hostile encounter,
and instantly attacked them; the whole of this deputation, with
a numerous body that accompanied it, were nearly destroyed on
the spot, scarcely one having escaped. Immediately after, Liman
Aga Topgee Bashi arrived with a numerous park of artillery,
and the Sultan at once convoked an assembly of the ministers,
the men of rank, and the military, who were now assembled at
the seraglio, to deliberate, not on the means of persuading the
janissaries to adopt the new regulations, but to extirpate the
corps altogether. A reinforcement of ten field-pieces, with am-
munition and artillerymen, were sent immediately to Kara Gehe-
nem, who, in penetrating to the middle of the city with his small
corps, had exposed himself to the imminent danger of being
entirely cut off.
A last expedient was now resorted to, which at once decided
the fate of the insurgents. The sangiak sheriff, or sacred stand-
ard of Mahomet, was brought forth with great pomp from its
depository, to the enclosure of Sultan Achmet, surrounded by an
immense concourse of people. Here the Sultan advanced, and,
from the foot of the standard, he issued a solemn proclamation,
detailing the faithless conduct of the janissaries, their solemn
engagements under their hands and seals ten days before, and
their perjured violation of them.
Meantime the janissaries, no whit dismayed by the fate of
their first deputation, sent another, escorted by five thousand
men, and headed by the Seymen Bashi and Yasigee Effendi, first
secretary of their department. They announced their former
terms, that no janissary would receive the new regulations, and
that the body insisted that ten of those most instrumental in im-
posing the hateful innovations should be immediately delivered
512
APLENDIX.
up to them to be put to death. This deputation surrounded
the seraglio, and expected that it would be immediately delivered
up to them, with every man in it; but in consequence of the
previous arrangements, it was now well guarded, and the insur-
gents found themselves shut out. In the meantime Kara Gehe-
nem had returned from scouring the streets, and finding that the
gate of the Babi Hummayoun was beset by a mass of the insur-
gents, he hastily gathered together his detachment, and by secret
passes round the walls of the seraglio, he came to the garden-
gate, which he entered with his men. He then proceeded through
the courts inside to the great gate, followed by his field-pieces
charged with grape-shot, and sternly demanded what the crowd
he saw there wanted. When informed, he told them their insolent
proposals were totally rejected, and ordered them instantly to dis-
perse, or he would at once open on them a fire of grape-shot.
Intimidated by this threat, they soon retired, but they were pur-
sued by the detachment of Kara Gehenem, and put to a total
rout. The fugitives regained their quarters at the Etmeidan,
but a great number were battered down by the artillery which
thundered after them in their retreat, and the streets were strewed
with their bodies.
About three in the day, the numbers assembled round the
sacred standard amounted to sixty thousand men; and the
Sultan, now finding himself above all apprehension as to the final
result, thought it right to endeavour to persuade the insurgents to
lay down their arms and disperse. To this end more than one
deputation was despatched to them, to state their hopeless oppo-
sition, and promise their lives to all who submitted ; but the
janissaries, as ignorant of what was going on outside their
Etmeidan as if it was in another country, attributed these pro-
posals to fear, and insolently rejected them, reiterating their
former demands with menaces of vengeance. It was then re-
solved to resort to the last expedient, and reduce them with
grape-shot. As a fit instrument for this purpose, Hussein, whose
unpitying nature was already displayed, was appointed seraskier,
or generalissimo, and the absolute command of the city and all
its forces entrusted to him, to act against the insurgents. This
commission was backed by a fetva, or ecclesiastical sentence of
the mufti, and confirmed by a commission signed in haste by the
Sultan on the spot. The seraskier advanced with his artillery
against the Etmeidan, where the janissaries were crowded together
in blind confidence on their numbers, and total ignorance of the
state of their opponents. Indeed the gross neglect and imbecility
of the janissaries on this trying occasion, when it might be ex-
pected that all the talent, knowledge, and energy of the body
would be put forth, is a proof what worthless and inefficient
soldiers they must have been, and how necessary was the pro-
APPENDIX.
513
posed changes. They made no disposition to occupy favourable
places, to seize the city gates behind them, and keep their com-
munication open with the country, but they quietly suffered
themselves to be surrounded on all sides, and their retreat cut off
in every quarter. It was said, indeed, that the great mass were
still persuaded that no soldiers would dare to oppose them; and
when the crisis actually arrived, that any body of troops which
advanced to the Etmeidan would do so only to join their standards.
Those who were in the middle of the crowd still spoke with a
blind and insolent exultation, and made no movement, as if they
thought none was necessary; but those who were nearest the
street and observed the topgees with their artillery close on them,
and ready to discharge their guns, made a sudden and simul-
taneous rush through the different avenues which led from the
Etmeidan. The topgees seeing the dense mass approach, and
feeling perhaps the yearnings which were supposed to be very
general among the Turks for this corps, and those com-
punctions which every Mahomedan has in drawing his sword
against his brethren of the same creed, were now observed to hesi-
tate, and there was a probability that the blind security and con-
fidence of the rabble in the sympathy of their brethren would
be justified. It was the intention of the janissaries to seize the
guns and turn them on their adversaries. The topgees drew
back with their linstocks, and in a few minutes more their own
artillery would have been thundering down the street after them.
In this emergency Kara Gehenem rushed forward, and having
no other means to ignite the powder, he discharged his pistol
into the touch-hole of one of the pieces. The hands of the
foremost janissaries were nearly on the muzzle of the gun
when
the discharge took place,—the carnage was terrible,--the street
was crowded from side to side by a dense mass pushing one
another on, and nearly the whole were in a moment struck down;
the remainder hesitated, then turned back, and rushed again to
the Etmeidan, where they were immediately followed by the artil-
lery. They now dispersed in different directions, and finally
took refuge in their kishlas or barracks.
And now Hussein, who for the first time, it is said, felt the
smallest desire to show mercy to his former associates, sent a
despatch to the Sultan to report the state of things, and take his
further orders, before he proceeded to the last extremity. The
Sultan immediately returned a hatta sheriff, directing him to
surround the barracks, set fire to the buildings, and destroy
with grape-shot all who had taken refuge within. The topgees,
the bostangees, and the seymans were appointed for this service.
The janissaries entrenched behind the walls of their barracks,
and, animated by despair, made here a fierce resistance. Their
implacable and relentless enemy, the “ Dark Infernal," was
2 L
VOL. II.
514
APPENDIX.
2
brought down by a shot through the thigh : while he lay. welter-
ing on the ground, struggling to rise, a janissary officer rushed
at him with his carbine to shoot him through the head, but as
he presented his piece, Kara Gehenem drew his pistol, as he lay
on the ground, and shot him through the belly: he was then
borne off by his companions, and yet lives in high favour with
the Sultan. All mercy was now withdrawn,-no quarter was
given,--the artillery continued to play on the blazing buildings;
every one who attempted to escape was driven back, or massacred
on the spot, and six thousand mangled and scorched bodies were
next day found among the smoking ruins.
Every care had been taken to guard strongly the gates of the
city, as well to cut off all communication with the janissaries with-
out, as to prevent those within from escaping the vigilance of the
police, who were everywhere on the alert to apprehend them. It
was then the more horrible work of destruction began, because
it was a massacre in cold blood ; domiciliary visits were made in
every place, and whenever a janissary was met in the streets, or
found in a house, he was instantly put to death without pity or
remorse, and his body cast into the kennel; and before the
middle of the next day, besides the five thousand mangled carcasses
lying among the burnt kishlas, there were as many more wel-
tering in the streets of every part of the city, so as in some
places to stop up the passage.
When the issue of this awful struggle was no longer doubt-
ful, the Seraskier Hussein, with some of the leaders of the
Sultan's party, quitted the Etmeidan and its environs floating
with blood, and proceeded to the place of Sultan Achmet, where
the Grand Vizir, with the ministry, and all the other function-
aries were assembled round the sacred banner. Hussein had
immediately thirty thousand men at his disposal, and he was
appointed to the department of the Aga Kapoussi, to keep a
strict guard over the police, and to sacrifice without pity every
janissary he could find still alive. Izet Pasha had one thousand
to form patrols, to arrest and examine every suspicious per-
son, to discover their abodes, and to execute the secret orders of
the Grand Vizir. So rigidly did he do so, by his unpitying
executions, that by next day a perfect tranquillity reigned in the
city. Among the refinements of terror practised was one which
Turks alone would think of: when a man was seized, he was
ordered to take the body of some companion lying in the street
and carry it down to the water; here, when he had done so, he
himself was stabbed, and thrown after his comrade.
All the officers who were taken were brought up to Sultan
Achmet, to be examined by the Grand Vizir himself, under the
sacred hanner. All those of the rank of tchorbagees, monte-
wellis, or oustas, were taken into a neighbouring apartment,
APPENDIX.
515
where they were strangled, and their bodies then carried out and
heaped together in the hippodrome. Such of the common janis-
saries as were here identified were sent to the Aga Kapoussi, to
the unpitying Hussein, when they were strangled as soon as they
arrived, and their bodies dragged down to the sea.
While Hussein was employed in this examination he dis-
covered seventy Greeks disguised as janissaries, who all shared
the fate of those they personated. As he closely examined the
person of another, he recognised him as a Kara Coloukgee, who
had been one of the early companions of his debaucheries and
irregularities, when first enrolled in the janissary corps ; he im-
mediately addressed him as an old acquaintance, and then
informed him that he would spare his life provided he could find
out for him a Nakilgee Mustapha, a sergeant whom they both
knew in the seventy-first orta. The man replied he had a cer-
tain knowledge of him and all his proceedings; that he was at
that moment engaged in a project, with twenty-seven others, to
take advantage of the present confusion; first, to enter the
houses of the rich Armenians who inhabit the quarter of Yeni
Kapou, Ypsomathia, Koum Kapou, and Alta Mermer, parts of
the city remote from the public places, and having murdered the
peaceable inmates, to carry off the jewels and precious articles with
which it was known these houses abounded. Among their in-
tended victims was Casas Aretine, the head of the Mint, and
chief jeweller to the Sultan. If their first attempt was success-
ful, they were to be joined by a vast number of other desperadoes,
and with them to enter the houses of the Turks and those of the
Frank merchants of Galata, and having obtained in this way
a large booty, to organize a band of assassins to kill the Grand
Vizir, Seraskier, and other influential persons, and then establish
a new system of government. Hopeless and desperate as this
project was, Hussein had received certain information from others
of its existence and intended immediate execution: he therefore
at once confided in this accomplice, and despatched him instantly
with a guard of sixty of his patrol to bring these twenty-seven
conspirators before him, dead or alive. They were found, like
the Cato-street conspirators, in the very act of commencing
their operations. Six of them were killed in arresting them,
and the remaining twenty-one, with their leader Nakilgee,
were brought before the Seraskier, and were literally cut to
pieces in his presence. The Kara Coloukgee who gave the infor-
mation, and conducted the patrol, was not only spared, but libe-
rally rewarded, and once more became the bosom companion of
his early friend Hussein.
On the 17th of June, 1826, the Sultan ordered, by an impe-
rial decree publicly read, that the sacred standard which had
hitherto floated at the place of Sultan Achmet should be re-
2 L 2
516
APPENDIX.
moved to the court of the seraglio: it was borne with great
pomp through the Baby Scadet, or gate of felicity, and planted
before the Divan. Here a number of splendid tents for the dif-
ferent functionaries were pitched, as in a camp in time of war,
and in these the public business was transacted by the minis-
ters. This measure was resorted to, because it was intended as a
mark of respect to the sacred standard, that the affairs of the
nation should now be conducted under its shadow, and itself placed
under the care of the Grand Vizir, who is its proper guardian
and protector. But another, and perhaps the real reason was,
that all the former offices had been burnt down by the Sublime
Porte, when they were sacked in the first movement of the insur-
gents. In fact the government did not feel even yet secure, and
this camp they thought a measure of indispensable precaution
against the further machinations of the janissaries. It was also
said that they recollected with apprehension the fate of Mus-
tapha Bairactar, who was burnt alive in his house, and the minis-
ters wished not to incur a similar danger in the present unsettled
state of things.
While the government continued encamped here, the inqui-
sition went on against the janissaries, and new victims were sacri-
ficed every day, till the most sanguinary were glutted with blood,
and at length it was thought advisable to stay the executions.
There was an immense population in the capital who were con-
sidered as belonging to the corps of janissaries, but who were
known to be peaceable citizens, pursuing their ordinary occupa-
tions, and taking no share in the turbulence of their companions,
and no other crime could be objected to them than that their
names appeared in the Great Book. In the first indiscriminating
fury, many of these unfortunate persons had suffered; but to
continue the cold-blooded slaughter against so many harmless
citizens was too revolting even to the 'Dark Infernal.' As
the determination was to extirpate the very name of this de-
voted corps, and not leave a man behind who bore it, it was
now resolved not to kill but to banish the survivors, and to
send out at the same time every useless or suspected person.
A number of people had latterly left their residence in Asia, and
had flocked to the capital to seek employment, the great body of
the hummals or porters, the trombagees or firemen, the caique-
gees or boatmen, the Albanians who attended the public baths,
the common bakers, and sundry others, were of this description.
These men were taken up, and sent by detachments of one hun-
dred at a time, across to Scutari, and so to different towns in
Asia, with strict orders to the pashas that they should never grant
them a teskerai, or permit, again to return to the city. For six
weeks these detachments were sent off every day, till at length,
in this way, no less than ten thousand persons, including the
APPENDIX.
517
families of the exiles, were compelled to leave the city. It is
supposed that about ten thousand persons in all were killed
in the conflict, and that the suppression of the janissaries caused
a loss of population to the city of twenty thousand individuals
in about six weeks.
From this time the attention of the Sultan was directed unin-
terruptedly to the establishment of a new military corps, and
secretly to the reform of the ulemah, which required it as much
as the janissaries : the great obstacle to this was now removed,
by the destruction or expulsion from the capital of these despe-
rate and fanatic spirits that were always ready and excitable
instruments in their hands; meantime he rewarded with emolu-
ments and dignities all who had been instrumental in promoting
his plans. The magnificent palace of the Aga Kapoussi was
assigned to the Mufti and his successors as their abode, and the
Eski Serai, or former palace of the sovereigns, was assigned to
the present and future seraskiers.
Hussein, however, finding himself unequal to the task of dis-
ciplining the new troops, requested permission to exchange his
situation with one more competent; Hussereff Mehmed Pasha
was therefore appointed to discipline the troops, and Hussein re-
sumed his former appointment of boghaz nazir, which he had
before filled with such sagacity.
When the war broke out with the Russians, Hussein was
despatched with a large detachment of seymans not yet disci-
plined, for which, in fact, there had been no time. The result
was another proof of the utter imbecility of such soldiers : the
courage and energy of Hussein could do nothing with them,
even had he been seconded, which he was not, by the cordial co-
operation of other pashas; the seeds of disaffection and distrust
were extensively scattered through them; and the Russians, who
had basely taken advantage of the disorganized state of Turkey,
when one force was suppressed and not yet supplied by another,
proved that these calculations were well founded. Notwithstand-
ing his bold and able defence of Shumla, he was not able to pre-
vent the Russians from passing the Balkan mountains. His ser-
vices were not forgotten, however, and the Sultan rewarded him
on his return with distinguished respect and power, decorated
him with his own hands with a collar of diamonds, and confirmed
him in all his former appointments. He was deeply engaged
in laying and executing plans for the destruction of the ulemah,
as for that of the janissaries, when the insurrection of Mustapha
Pasha of Scroda called the attention of the Porte, and he was
sent to Adrianople, and from thence to Roumelia. After the
submission of the Pasha of Albania on one side, the revolt of
the Pasha of Egypt on the other engaged all the care of the
Turkish government; and Hussein, as the most able man in the
empire, was sent against him ; but notwithstanding his zeal for
518
APPENDIX.
the new order of things, his old janissary habits still adhered to
him. He was out-maneuvred and twice beaten by Ibrahim
Pasha, aided by the rebellious Dere Beys, who, traitors to
their own sovereign, joined the invaders. Notwithstanding his
second ill success he was kindly received by his master on his
return, and finally appointed Pasha of Widin. Hussein is now
a man past fifty ; his person is as coarse as you would expect
from the class of society whence he sprung, and his face is
marked with the early effects of one of those prejudices which
his master has contributed to remove,- it is seamed or pitted with
the small-pox; his countenance, notwithstanding, particularly
his eyes, mark him as a man of superior energy and intelligence:
he has a certain twitching of the muscles, which they say is a
nervous effect produced by opium, to which he has latterly ad-
dicted himself. Notwithstanding the forbidding aspect of the
father, his son is remarkably handsome, and is one of the most
beautiful Turkish boys I have seen, where all are comely.
PAPOUTCHGEE MEHMED PASHA was born at Trebisond, of parents
in the lowest rank of life, and in great poverty; he came, like
others, to the capital to seek his fortune, and was bound to a
shoemaker, employed in making papoutches or slippers, and
hence he retained the surname of Papoutchgee ever after he
gained the favour of his master by his good behaviour, who gave
him his daughter in marriage, and left him his business and his
shop, and he was enrolled as a janissary. Mehmed was of a good
figure, and an active, enterprising man, so he availed himself of
an opportunity of changing his sedentary employment for one to
which he was better adapted. He obtained the post of chouash,
or sergeant of the Admiralty, and here he soon ingratiated him-
self with all his superiors, by his untiring activity in executing
their orders. His disposition was naturally good and humane,
and he undertook to serve, as far as his limited means allowed,
all poor persons in the department who required his aid;
among the rest the widows and orphans, of whom he became the
humble protector. His courtesy and kindness in this way pro-
cured him many friends, and he was raised to the rank of chouash-
bashi of the corps. It is a remarkable proof how exceedingly
illiterate the Turks are, that he was raised to this post without
knowing how to read or write; nor did that prevent his utility, for
he was found as efficient in restraining the turbulent as in assist-
ing the distressed. The river police of the Admiralty was in-
trusted to his care, and those who were favourable to the plans
against the janissaries looked upon him as an agent who would
be likely to prove of essential service. He was soon after nomi-
nated wekil, or sub-lieutenant of the general police, and had
Galata, Pera, Tatavola, and all the suburbs of the populous
and rabble district of Casim Pasha placed under his inspection,
APPENDIX.
519
and then made tersanha kyayassi, or intendant of the correc-
tional police of the Admiralty. In ordinary times, even this
would not have been a post which could for a moment attract
the attention of the Sultan, but he made everything subservient
to the plans he had long meditated, and personally knew and
made appointments of all the sub-agents even in the lowest situa-
tions. The janissaries were become, at this time, in a state of law-
less insubordination, and it was the Kyayassi's charge to ingra-
tiate himself with their influential men: for this object he feigned
à concurrence in their plans, and distributed money, intrusted to
him for that purpose by the Sultan, among the lower orders,
till he gained over a large party, who looked upon him as a secret
but most firm partisan of all their measures. Of all the janis-
saries the hummals or porters, and the caiquégées or boatmen,
were the most numerous and most sanguinary; many of them
had left Constantinople to join in the fatal expedition against
Scio; and after gorging themselves with blood and plunder, had re-
turned to the capital rich in slaves and booty : these, with all the
vagabonds of other trades enrolled in the janissary corps, he col-
lected round him. His situation, as intendant of police, gave
him an opportunity of knowing their character and conduct, and
when a man was a distinguished ruffian, and a fit object for
public justice, he was sure to gain his confidence and attach him
to his party. He exacted from each of these fellows separately
a solemn oath to follow implicitly the directions he received from
him, and not to divulge them, or the formation of his secret as-
sociation; persuading them, at the same time, that his intention
was to lead them to glory, and establish, on a foundation that
could not be shaken, the authority and immunities of the janis-
saries; and they were all firmly persuaded that it was for that
purpose, and for that alone, that they were enrolled by him.
When the crisis arrived, on the 15th of June, 1826, Papoutch-
gee, who had secret intelligence of everything, sént a trusty meš-
senger to the Sultan, who was then at the winter palace of Top
Kapou, at the seraglio point, to announce to him that his corps
of vagabonds were all ready, and would come to his immediate
assistance if required. The Sultan was well assured of the
fidelity, sagacity, and determination of his agent, and therefore
placed in him such implicit confidence that he immediately in-
vited him across the harbour; and presently Papoutchgee with his
band passed over, landed at the Yali Kiosk, and was admitted
through the gate of the garden into the centre of the seraglio, and
here the. Sultan saw himself surrounded by an armed rabble of
janissaries, of that very class who were his most bigoted, tur-
bulent, and lawless opponents. Meantime he had summoned the
ministry to attend him; and when they arrived, they were
astonished and alarmed to see these desperate fellows, com-
manded by a simple individual, in possession of the heart of the
520
APPENDIX.
palace. Papoutchgee now addressed them, and for the first time
explained to them his views; he told them he did not lead them
there to enlarge the number of the desperate and bad subjects,
but to point out to them the path of honour and distinction; to
guard the sacred standard, and to be the support of their
sovereign; that at the moment he spoke to them the corps
of janissaries were no more, that their kishlas were destroyed
along with themselves, and that he had led them here, as
well to save them from that destruction which had over-
taken their companions, as to give them an opportunity of
seeing their sovereign and enjoying his good will to reward
their services. To this he added promises of money, rank,
places, and all other rewards, and told them they were now
called on to renew the oath they had taken to him, by swearing
the same fidelity to the Sultan. This address was received with
acclamation; they immediately took the oath demanded of them,
and cried out to be led under the shadow of the sacred banner.
The great gate of Babi Houmayoun was immediately opened,
and they marched out to the place of Sultan Achmet, where the
standard was then floating. This is among the extraordinary
features of this revolution: by the untutored sagacity of one
humble and illiterate man, himself a janissary, was the most
lawless and dangerous part of the corps not only rendered harm-
less, but engaged as firm supporters of the means used to exter-
minate their own body. When the design was accomplished, and
the government firmly fixed on its new principle, Papoutchgee was
liberally rewarded: besides the decoration of the chain and bril-
liants, he was appointed Nazir of Galata, governor-general, and
civil and military director of the imperial chouashes of the
marine; he was finally elevated to the rank of Capitan Pasha
of the Ottoman fleet stationed at Buyukdere, a post which,
though utterly ignorant before of naval affairs, he filled with
great skill and prudence, but he did not live long to enjoy it; he
soon after fell a victim to disease : he had long suffered se-
verely from water in the chest, which in a short time proved
fatal to him. He left behind him the character of being,
though an entirely illiterate and uneducated man, the most
upright and honest of all who had engaged in effecting the revo-
lution.
RESCHID MEHMED PASHA was born in Circassia, and brought
up a slave to Constantinople : he was exposed in the public
market and purchased by a boatman, who had plied on the Bos-
phorus, but had then retired to live in the neighbourhood of
Eyoub.
Reschid, with the restless impatience which distinguishes his
tribe, could not accommodate himself to the monotonous life of the
boatman, but soon fled from his master's house, and presented him-
APPENDIX.
521
self at the palace of Kuchuk Hasan Pasha, then high admiral,
and who, in consequence of the favour and indulgence of Sultan
Selim, kept a splendid court. He was led by mere accident to
the apartments of Hadgee Mustapha, secretary of the Admi-
ralty, who asked him who he was and what he wanted; he re-
plied, with great freedom, that he was then the slave of a poor
boatman, but he had a strong desire to serve a man of some con-
sequence, who would employ him in a manner more suitable to
his abilities, and appreciate his services. His boldness and
easy
address pleased the secretary, who, having obtained from him his
master's direction, sent for him. The boatman repaired to the
palace, and was surprised to find his poor slave surrounded by
men of rank and consequence, who were admiring his free and
determined manners, and he was easily persuaded to part with a
lad who seemed so little calculated for his quiet service. A bar-
gain was made, and he received for him eight thousand five
hundred piastres, or about 2001. sterling, at the then value of the
piastres, and sent back his pengik, or certificate of the sale of a
slave in Turkey. Reschid from this time was put under com-
petent masters, and profited by his education.
Hussereff, who was at this time mouhourdar, or keeper of the
signet to Hussein, saw every day some high qualities develope
themselves in the young slave, and was fond of talking to him:
he took the small-pox, and was attended by him with affection
and regard, which Hussereff never forgot. In a short time
Reschid again wished to change his master, and, at his own
desire, was sold to Hadgee Schakir Aga Silihdar, or chief sword-
bearer to the Admiral; and here he changed his pen for more
congenial pursuits; he learned to ride, to throw the djerid, and
acquired all the qualifications necessary for a page. Hussereff was
now advanced from grade to grade, till he was made Pasha of
Egypt, and in this situation he remembered the qualities of the
young slave, who had rendered him many little attentions while he
laboured under the small-pox; he therefore wrote to his agent at
Constantinople to endeavour to procure for him, at any price,
young Reschid. His master, the Silihdar, had been deprived
of his employment, and he wished to conciliate the good-will
of the Pasha of Egypt, so he sold him the slave at a high
price.
Hussereff was delighted to see again his affectionate
young
friend; he immediately gave him his freedom and his pengik,
and raised him from place to place. Hussereff was directed to
cut off the head of the Pasha of Tokie, and he employed Reschid
in this service; he acquitted himself so well that he was raised
to the rank of Pasha of two tails, and then left Egypt. He
was afterwards appointed governor of the fortress of Tulzin, near
the Danube, and then Pasha of the important place of Widdin.
When the Greek revolution broke out he was removed from
522
APPENDIX.
Widdin, and was created Roumeli Valissi, Commandant-General
of Roumelia. He then marched against the Greeks, and acted
with Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt, both in the Morea and at Mis-
solonghi. He finally took his share in the destruction of the
janissaries, and was Grand Vizir in 1830.
Izet MEHMED PASHA was born at Derende in Asia, and hence
is called Derendely. He commenced his public career by being
mouhourdar to one Hadgee Bekir Pasha, and, on his death, was
recommended to Spartali Ibrahim Pasha, and became his kyhaya
bey or lieutenant. Ibrahim was at the time governor of the San-
giakat of Brusa ; but on the breaking out of the Greek revolution
he was named Mouhafiz of the Bosphorus, and pitched his camp
in the great meadow of Buyukdere, within the circle of the vast
platanus. In this expedition he was accompanied by Izet, who
conducted himself with such expertness that he was appointed his
Capigee Bashi, or chamberlain. When Hussein was appointed
Nazir Boghaz he pitched upon Izet as a shrewd and active officer,
and he was sent to occupy the plains of Beikos, the large
meadows opposite Therapia, on the Asiatic coast, to watch over
the turbulent in the fortresses on that side. Here he managed
so entirely to the satisfaction of his employers, that he was ap-
pointed a Pasha of two tails, and fixed upon as an efficient and
devoted agent in the plan of extirpating the janissaries. He was
at this time very young: among the prominent features of his
character was much personal vanity. The Sultan, with his
usual sagacity; laid hold of him, admitted him to his presence,
conferred on him splendid dresses, gave him a fine horše, set him
upon his back, and admired his horsemanship. This appeal to
“the ruling passion” bound Izet to the Sultan for ever. He was
shortly after made Anadoli Valissi, or Governor-General of
Asia, and raised to the dignity of Pasha of three tails, and soon
after Capitan Pasha, though he had never been on board a ship,
and was utterly ignorant of maritime affairs. This employment,
however, was momentary, and merely with a view of secretly car-
rying on the Sultan's plan. When the hour arrived, Izet was found
a most efficient instrument, and, as head of the active police, he
contributed greatly to the total extirpation of the corps when the
first encounter was over.
On the breaking out of the war with Russia he was appointed,
by the Grand Vizir, to the command of the important fortress of
Varna, which, however, he was obliged to surrender by capitula-
tion ; but his conduct was so approved of at Constantinople,
that he was soon after appointed Grand Vizir, in the room of
Selim Mehmed Pasha, his known enemy, who it was supposed,
from personal pique, had left him without provision, money, or
any other necessary to preserve the garrison. When the command
upon the new Vizir, he found it in a most deplorable
devolved upon
APPENDIX
523
state of disorganization: it wanted every thing, was ignorant of
every thing, and neglected every order sent to it. The only part
of the army which showed any firmness was that of Halil
Pasha, which had received some instruction in European dis-
cipline; the ignorance and inefficacy of the rest were now at-
tributed to the new Vizir Izet, who was certainly much more
capable of conducting a body of police in finding out janissaries.
He was therefore soon deposed, and sent in exile to Řadosto, in
obscurity, with the simple title of Capigee Bashi.
HALIL RAFAAT PASHA was a Circassian slave, purchased at an
early age by Hussereff Mehmed Pasha, who for thirty years was
constantly engaged in buying up children in Georgia and Cir-
cassia, to educate them for different offices of the Turkish
empire. Young Halil showed considerable talents; he acquired,
in a short time, not only a facility in reading and writing
Turkish, Arabic, and Persian, and in acquiring an extensive
knowledge of Oriental history and literature, but he also made
considerable progress in French and Italian, and cultivated a
taste for drawing. These pursuits did not render him inattentive
to the more active exercises, and he became the most expert horse-
man of his age; these qualifications, with a mild and amiable
disposition, and å fine and handsome person, rendered him a
great favourite with his patron, who, being childless, loved him
as his own son. The Greek insurrection had now commenced ;
his patron, Hussereff, was at that time Capitan Pasha of the
fleet, and he took with him Halil in his cruises as a volunteer:
he accompanied him, among other expeditions, against Ipsera,
and on this occasion showed an astonishing courage. He ac-
quired such a knowledge of naval affairs that, at a very early
age, and without any distinct employment, he was considered
one of the most expert and intelligent persons in the Turkish
fleet.
The efficacy of European discipline had at this time just begun
to conquer the prejudices of the Turks, and Hussereff also
endeavoured to introduce it into his fleet, particularly among the
marines. Halil requested him to assign him ten men to practise
on, who were sent to him. To instruct them more effectually he
found out a Frenchman in the streets of Smyrna of the name of
Gaillard, who had been a sergeant in the army of Buonaparte in
Egypt, but was now wandering about the world. He discerned
in this man the intelligence he wanted, and made him an offer
which he gladly accepted, and with him he began to discipline
his ten men after the European fashion. Halil was now ap-
pointed On Bashi, or corporal, which was his first rank. From
this nucleus discipline soon spread through the fleet. When it
arrived at Constantinople, after its cruise, the Sultan paid it a
524
APPENDIX.
visit of ceremony, and a display was reserved for him which he did
not expect: Halil selected forty of the most expert marines,
landed before the Sultan on the Koum Meidan, and put his troop
in exercise before him; his youthful and engaging person, and
the expertness of his soldiers, delighted the Sultan, who imme-
diately appointed him Hasnadar Aga, or grand treasurer to the
Admiral. From that time he rapidly rose in rank. He became
an enthusiast in the new discipline, and was so successful, that
the Sultan finally appointed him Pasha of three tails, the ulti-
mate object of a Turk's ambition.
Whenever a new corps was formed, Halil mixed familiarly
with them, heard their complaints, redressed their grievances,
visited them when sick, and, when it was deemed necessary to
inflict a punishment, he was the mediator with the Seraskier to
have it remitted. This conduct made him the idol of the recruits,
and they submitted to a discipline practised by him which they
would have spurned at from any other. Halil carefully culti-
vated the acquaintance of every European who could instruct
him, examined plans, and read European books on tactics.
When the janissaries were annihilated, and the war with Rus-
sia broke out, Halil bore a distinguished command; but the
leaven of the old janissaries remained among the bulk of the
troops, and counteracted all his plans of discipline. He foresaw
and foretold what would be the event, and the confusion and
anarchy which marred the cause of the Turks in the end justified
his sagacity. The other prejudiced and bigoted Pashas would
not second, but secretly counteracted all his efforts.
When Izet Mehmed Pasha was deprived of his place as vizir
of the army, the Sultan appointed Halil Caimakan. Halil
then returned to Constantinople, and the Sultan was so pleased
with his services, that he sent him his ambassador to Russia,
charged with various presents to the Emperor; among the rest
were two hundred and forty talismans of rare virtue, containing
sundry mysterious characters engraven on different stones, to be
worn as bracelets and other ornaments about the person whom
they were to protect from all evil. They were purchased at high
prices from people in different parts of the empire who had ex-
perienced their efficacy. On his return from his embassy he
was appointed Capitan Pasha of the Turkish fleet, and destined
to marry the eldest daughter of the Sultan, in the nineteenth
year of her age. Halil is considered the most accomplished and
intelligent Turk of the present day.
The following is a list of the gifts or tribute which the Sultan
sent by Halil to conciliate the Autocrat of Russia :-
“ Bales of shawls from eight to ten thousand piasters each;
ditto from three to five thousand; thirty-six snuff-boxes set with
brilliants; forty-eight ditto with diamonds; gold enamelled ditto
APPENDIX.
525
of French and English manufacture; ditto watches; two large
pearls perfectly spherical, mounted as ear-rings; collars in pearls
and brilliants; chaplets called tespees, of all sizes ; bracelets in
pearls, diamonds, and Turkish filigree; rings of emerald and
sapphire, with Turkish perouses, very rare ; amber mouth-
pieces for pipes, with nargillays and cherry-tree tubes from An-
beb; zarfs to support coffee cups, ornamented with brilliants;
a quantity of wood of aloes and musk of the best perfume,
from the imperial treasury ; cases of odoriferous pastiles ;
India silks for harem dresses ; ditto from Aleppo, and stuffs
of gold and silver ; selemies and petensi from Brusa and
Bagdad; Brusa silks called hakers, rayed and flowered; Stam-
boul ischalessi worked in small flowers and vivid colours ;
muslin of India, with Istamboul borders of great price; con-
fectionery of many kinds, which the Tchorbagee Bashi fur-
nished to the harem of the seraglio; sofs and chalys of Angora
goats' hair; embroidered sandals worn in baths; four hundred
handkerchiefs worked in rare patterns; Zulfikiars or Damas-
cus sabres, with pistols and carbines; bridles and saddles,
with brilliants, for the emperor's horse; caftanleks loaded with
gold; ladies' slippers embroidered ; carpets from Smyrna; oil of
roses from Moschat; cushions for sofas; splendid comb for the
toilette of the empress : but the most highly-prized of all were
two hundred and forty talismans of various materials, some of
amber, having mystic engravings, portending the future peace of
the two empires.
>
No. VIII.
Capitulations, or Articles of Peace, between Great Britain and
the Ottoman Empire, agreed upon and altered at different
periods. The Capitulations commence in these words >
“ Sultan Mahmood-may he live for ever! Let everything
be observed in conformity to these capitulations, and contrary
thereto let nothing be done.
“The commands, under the sublime and lofty signet which
imparts sublimity to every place, and under the imperial and
noble cypher, whose glory is renowned throughout all the world,
by the Emperor and Conqueror of the Earth, achieved with the
assistance of the Omnipotent, and by the special grace of God,
are these
“We, who, by divine grace, assistance, will, and benevolence
of God, now are king of kings of the world, the prince of emperors
of every age, the dispenser of crowns to monarchs, and the cham-
526
APPENDIX.
pion, Sultan Mahmood, son of Sultan Ibrahim Khan, son of
Sultan Ahmed Khan, son of Sultan Mahomet Khan, son of
Sultan Murad Khan, son of Sultan Selim Khan, son of Sultan
Solyman Khan, son of Sultan Selim Khan,--the most glorious
among the princes professing the faith of Jesus, and the most
conspicuous among the potentates of the nations of the Messiah,
and the umpire of public differences that exist between Christian
nations, clothed with the mantle of magnificence and majesty,
Charles II. king of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, whose
end may it terminate in bliss, having sent an ambassador to
the Sublime Porte in the time of our grandfather, Sultan Murad,
whose tomb be ever resplendent, of glorious memory, and full of
Divine mercy and pity, &c. He represented, in the reign of our
grandfather, Sultan Mahmood Khan, whose tomb be ever re-
splendent, to our just and overshadowing Porte, his cordial
esteem, &c. As such privileges, therefore, had been granted to
the kings and sovereigns of France, Venice, and Poland, &c., so
was the same true friendship granted to the said king; and it is
permitted that his subjects and their interpreters might safely
and securely come and trade in these our sacred dominions.
5. The capitulatious of our sublime dignity and our noble com-
mands having been, through friendship, thus granted to the
kings aforesaid, and the queen of the above-mentioned kingdom
having heretofore also sent a noble personage with presents to
this victorious Porte, which is the refuge and retreat of the kings
of the world, and the asylum of the emperors of the universe,
which gifts were graciously accepted ; and she having earnestly
implored the privilege in question, her entreaties were acceded
>
to.
The capitulations similar to those granted to the French and
Venetians were conceded at different times to the English, to
Elizabeth, James I., Charles II., by Sir Sackville Crowe and Sir
Thomas Bendish; Charles II., by the Earl of Winchelsea, and
Sir Heneage Finch, Viscount Maidstone, Baron Fitzherbert, and
finally by treaty of peace concluded at the Dardanelles, on the
19th of the Moon Zelkaide (5th Jan.) 1809, by the Hon. Robert
Adair.
These capitulations include privileges, duties, authority, and
protection of ambassadors and consuls,
suits, debts, offerings, and
wills. The extent of trade is defined, that their merchants, inter-
preters, brokers, and others connected with them, may come
both by sea and land, and trade with perfect security in the
sacred dominions, and load their ships with every kind of mer-
chandize, arms and gunpowder excepted: that they are to pay
customs only at one place, and be exempt from all molestation
when paid ; that they pay no scala duty, or for transportation of
specie; that they shall pay three hundred aspers for anchorage,
APPENDIX.
527
and not an asper more; that they may remain in harbour and
depart, buy provisions, and take in water, without let or moles-
tation; that their ships be searched at the Castles and in the
ports only; that they are to have all aid rendered them in storms,
and all property
, plundered by the corsairs of Tunis, Barbary,
Coron, or Modon restored; that the beglerbegs shall not permit
it to be sold, but shall punish those who took it.
That the residents in Turkey shall be exempt from all tribute,
whether married or single, merchant, or artizan; that if found
to have been made slaves by any means, and demanded by
the ambassador or consul, they shall be immediately released,
and delivered up to them; that they shall not be subject to ex-
cise on animal food, nor prohibited from making wine in their
own houses for their own use; that two shiploads of figs and
raisins may be purchased at Smyrna, or any other Turkish port,
in abundant years, on paying a duty of three per cent., for the
use of his Britannic Majesty's kitchen.
That the ambassador shall be allowed to choose his own janis-
saries and dragomans, and that no dragoman shall be respon-
sible for the contents of any letter or memorial with which he
may be charged, and shall not be punished for any offence by a
Turkish judge, or imprisoned without the knowledge of his ambas-
sador or consul; that the ambassador or consul shall decide all
suits between English subjects, without the intervention of Turkish
authorities; and if an Englishman be calumniated and charged
with injuring another, and false witnesses of the fact be provided
before a Turkish cadi, he shall not give ear to them, but refer
the matter to the English ambassador; that all suits between an
English and Turkish subject, or case of homicide or other crime,
shail not be heard before a Turkish tribunal, unless the ambas-
sador, consul, or their dragoman be present; and all suits ex-
ceeding the value of four thousand aspers be heard at the Sub-
lime Porte, and nowhere else, and no more than two per cent.
charged by the chouash on the money received.
That if an English subject turn Mahomedan, and possess any
property of another who is not so, it shall be taken from him,
and restored by the ambassador to the .owner; and no English-
man shall be held responsible for the flight or evasion of another,
unless he had become surety for him ; that the property of Eng-
lish subjects dying in Turkey shall not be seized or violently
appropriated by any Turk, but secured and delivered up according
to the will of the defunct; and if he die intestate, it shall be
delivered up to the ambassador; and if none be resident, received
and kept tiſl claimed by the friends of the party; that the same
law shall apply to the dragoman, if he be English; or if he be a
subject of the Porte, the property shall be distributed among his
heirs, without the interference of fiscal officers.
528
APPENDIX.
Articles added by the Treaty of the Dardanelles.
That the berat, or certificate of protection to dragomans shall
be, as usual, granted to them, but not to tradesmen, bankers,
shopkeepers, or manufacturers, unless they exercise the office
of interpreter; that no subject of the Sublime Porte shall be
named English consul; that no patents of protection shall be
granted to dependents or merchants who are subjects of the Sub-
lime Porte, or passport delivered to them by ambassador or con-
sul, without having obtained previous permission; that the
ancient regulation which prevented the ships of war of other
powers from entering the Dardanelles, or Canal of Constanti-
nople to the Black Sea, shall be observed in future.
The capitulations conclude in these words :-“We do hereby
promise and swear by the One Omnipotent God, the Creator of
heaven and earth, and of all beings, that we will permit nothing
to be done or transacted contrary to the tenour of the articles
and stipulation heretofore made, and these imperial capitulations.
Accordingly, every one is to yield implicit faith and obedience to
this our imperial signet affixed in the middle of the Moon Ga-
maziel, in the year 1086 (A.D. 1675).”
No. IX.
Firman for Emancipating Slaves.
To the Judges, Naibs, Muzzelims, Ayans, and other Governors of the Towns
and Villages of the Turkish Empire.
“When seditious subjects revolted, and declared themselves
rebels against their sovereign lord and benefactor, the chief of
the Sublime Ottoman Porte, a sentence in accordance with the
sacred law was issued by the Mufti against the rebels, so that
those who persevered in their treason and in their insolent sedi-
tion should be punished. The Turkish army which marched
against them punished and chastised them as long as they per-
sisted in their rebellion, and their wives and children were made
prisoners and reduced to slavery. But, always magnificent and
merciful to those who demand pardon and protection, our sove-
reign, although much irritated, is disposed, from feelings of com-
miseration, to grant their pardon, in order to secure their tran-
quillity, and restore them to their homes. Therefore, consider-
ing that among the slaves there are some who, after having
been purchased and sold, have been disposed to receive the lights
of Mahomet, and have had the happiness to be admitted into the
APPENDIX.
529
true faith-that others have remained in the Christian belief,
and have expressed a desire to return home, and by their conti-
nual attempts to escape can be of no utility to their masters;
considering, moreover, that now peace and order reign under the
protecting shadow of his imperial majesty, who tolerates no fraud
nor. violence, the said slaves, who have served a long time, looking
continually towards their homes, have remained stedfast in their
faith, and are only kept in slavery by force; that if they gained their
freedom and were sent home, the empire will gain in population,
and their masters who freed them will have enduring claims upon
their gratitude. Therefore, you will take care to cause to be pub-
lished, and to explain the present decree, and see that it be exe-
cuted. That is to say, you will cause to be freed all the male
and female slaves who have not embraced the Mahomedan reli-
gion. In order to do so, you will cause to appear
before
you
all
the slaves and their masters, and give them to understand that
they do themselves little credit, and deprive themselves of public
esteem, by compelling slaves who refuse to renounce their faith
to serve them by force. You will observe, especially, that this
decree does not extend to those who have embraced Islamism.
Watch carefully that these do not escape, and punish them ac-
cording to law if they make the attempt.
" As to those who have remained Christians you will cause
them to be freed-you will furnish them with the money necessary
to return to their homes; and you will cause to be transmitted to
the Porte a list of all who have been liberated by this present
decree.
No. X.
A Catalogue of all the Armenian Books published at the Patri-
archal Press, Constantinople, from its establishment in 1697
to 1823.
Ecclesiastical Calendar.
Sacred Canons of the Armenian Church,
A Psalter, in large characters.
Ditto ditto.
Ditto, in small characters.
Ditto, in gilt leaves.
Narec, or Book of Prayer, by St. Gregory of Narec, a convent
in Armenia.
Ditto, in small characters.
A Homily on the Sacred Cross.
An Epistolary, or Mode of Letter Writing,
VOL. II.
2 M
530
APPENDIX
Acts of the Apostles, on fine paper.
Ditto, on coarse paper.
Romance of the Seven Wise Men.
St. Cyprian.
A Sermon on the Passion of Christ.
A Ritual on the Mode of Administering the Sacraments.
An Armenian Alphabet.
A Spelling-Book.
A Book of Hymns.
Ditto, on Turkish paper.
A Psalter, in Turkish and Armenian characters.
Ditto, on coarse paper.
A Panegyric on the Angels.
Ditto on the Patriarchal Church of Etchmiazin.
A Collection of Sacred Tracts.
A Treatise on Precious Stones.
Little Narec, a Book of Prayers and Sermons.
A Catechism in Turkish in Armenian characters.
On the Women who brought Unguents to anoint Christ.
Divine Offices, on coarse paper.
Ditto, on gilt.
Ditto, on fine paper.
Ditto, on gilt.
Catechism in Armenian.
Romance of the City of Brass.
Prayers of St. Ephraim.
A Book on Good Behaviour.
The Proverbs of Solomon, in Turkish and Armenian.
The New Testament at large.
Father Masidoz.
Book of Hymns at large.
Divine Offices, at large.
Spiritual Armour.
Extracts from the Old and New Testaments.
Book of Prayers.
Life of Saint Marianne.
Ditto of Saint Erepsima.
Ditto of St. Gregory the Illuminator, in Turkish and Arme'
nian.
Armenian Grammar, by Mesrop.
Sacred Songs, by Balthossar.
Ditto, by Caba Sakal, or Great Beard.
A Book of Prayer necessary for all Classes.
Liturgy of the Armenian Church.
APPENDIX.
531
No. XI.
Translation of a Berat by Hatta Sherif, delivered to the Patriarch
or Prelate of the Armenian Catholics, and bearing the date of
the 5th January, 1831.
The Catholics who form a part of the Rayas of my Sublime
Porte and of my everlasting empire had no patriarch, and they
were from ancient times under the authority of the Greek and
Armenian patriarchs, and under that of their sub-delegates.
Seeing, however, that it has been proved that, though the Catho-
lics were under the authority of the Greek and Armenian prelates
or patriarchs, they could not always fulfil completely the duties of
their religion, because that their religious precepts did not agree
with those of the Greeks and Armenians, and they were obliged
to frequent the churches of the Franks, to exercise the religious
functions, and to obtain the nuptial benediction from others than
those of their own nation, which was as humiliating as grievous
to them.
Seeing that the Catholics are of the number of these Rayas of
my Sublime Porte which were found for some ages under my
protection, royal and full of justice, it is the duty of sovereignty,
a necessary consequence of paternal cares, to give to the Rayas
some powers, still more as the means of assuring their well-being
and their repose, in freeing the Catholics from this state of hu-
miliation and constraint, by enabling them to practise their reli-
gion in churches destined for them, without going to those of the
Franks.
In consequence, the prelacy for all the persons who profess
the Catholic religion, and are found either at Constantinople
or in other parts of my empire, has been conferred on the best
of Christians, the bearer of the present imperial diploma, Don-
Agob, son of Emmanuel-may his end be happy! whom the
Çatholics themselves have elected the 21st of Redgeb, 1246 (5th
January, 1831), by power of a hatta sherif, as Raya of my Sub-
lime Porte, son, grandson, and great-grandson of the Rayas,
provided that he casts into the public treasury fifty thousand
aspers, as a gratuity to the king's treasure, and that he pays
annually to the treasury the fixed sum of thirty-eight thousand
aspers.
I have granted, then, the imperial berat, and I enjoin what
follows:
The Catholics, whether they belong to an upper class, or
that they appertain to a lower, ought henceforth to acknowledge
for their prelate Don-Agob-adhere in spirituals to what he
shall tell them, and no one shall molest him in the exercise of
his functions,
2 M 2
532
APPENDIX.
When the prelate shall wish to suspend, conformably to
ecclesiastical laws, priests from their functions for having me-
rited it, and shall invest others with them who are worthy of it,
no one must meddle in it; but, without a representation on his
part, it will not be lawful for him to suspend a priest, or to con-
fer any dignity on him.
The priest may not marry the infidel (kafir), if the prelate shall
have taken no part in his marriage, and not permitted it, these
marriages not being in their jurisdiction.
If a Raya woman leave her husband, or else if a Raya wish
to divorce his wife, or to contract marriage, no one shall have
power to intervene, if it be not the priest delegated by the pre-
late.
The prelate alone shall take cognizance of matrimonial ques-
tions and divorces. He will judge also the differences which
may arise between two Rayas, if the parties consent to it; and
in this case persons assuming arbitrary power must not hinder
him from reconciling them, or administering the oath in the
church, according to the ecclesiastical laws, nor exact from him
any pecuniary fine.
When the prelate shall wish to collect, on account of the
fisc, the succession of the priests, or of the monks who have died,
without leaving an heir, neither those employed by the fisc nor
the cassem, nor the agents of arbitrary power, may hinder him
from doing it.
As to the legacies that these priests, or these monks, or the
other Catholic Řayas, may leave to the prelate, for the benefit of
the poor of their church, from motives of religion, they will be
admissible, and examined by the laws.
The priests who shall be charged on the part of the prelate
with the collection of the fixed revenues and the alms, shall not
be molested by any one in the places where they shall appear
for this purpose, and no one shall put any hindrance to it.
No one shall meddle with the staff of office that the pre-
late shall hold, nor with his equipment, nor with his people,
nor their vestments, no more than with the transporting into his
house, for his own supply, either the produce of vineyards, or
the honey, butter, or oil, or any thing else which shall be given
to him under the title of alms.
Ten men belonging to the prelate, among those whom he
shall send on affairs to the Porte, or amongst those who shall be
in his own service, shall be exempt from the haratch avariz and
tekialif.
The processes that wicked men shall institute shall be judged
no where but at the Arz-dassy (Chamber of Audience).
The archbishop shall take possession of the vineyards, gardens,
or other goods or lands which shall be left to the poor of the
APPENDIX.
533
churches, and he shall administer these legacies without any
person interfering in it.
If the Catholic priests shall run from quarter to quarter, with-
out the permission of the prelate, and shall cause disorders
there, the prelate shall hinder them, and punish them.
The Greek and Armenian prelates or patriarchs, their sub-
delegates, or any one else, shall not molest in any manner the
Catholics, be it spiritually or temporally.
Here is what all must know, in giving credit to the noble
cypher of the present imperial diploma, issued this 29th day of
the month Redgeb, in the year 1246.
No. XII.
Extracts from a Work written by a converted Jewish Rabbin, and
published in Greek at Yassi.
[The work is entitled “A Confutation of the Religion of the
Jews, and of their Customs, with Proofs from the SS. of the
Old and New Testaments.” By Neophytus, a Greek Monk,
formerly a Jewish Rabbin. Written originally in the Mol-
davian language, and printed in the year 1803; then trans-
lated into modern Greek, and printed at Yassi in 1818.]
The first chapter is entitled μυστηριοι κεκρυμμενοι νυν δε αποκε-
xanupévol. The subject is the blood which the Jews take from
Christians, and the uses to which they apply it.
It states, that the fact of the Jews putting Christians to death
and taking their blood has been often denounced to the world,
but that he has never seen written in any book either why
they did it or the uses to which they applied it.
The thing is a great mystery even among the Jews themselves,
and it is not known to all, but confined particularly to certain Rab-
bins, xaxapides, scribes and pharisees, who are called by them
Chasidim, and who keep it secret with the greatest care. The
author having been himself a rabbin, and initiated into all their
secrets, determined to expose them, though he would thereby expose
himself to the revenge of his former fellow-countrymen, who would
take his life if it were in their power. It is said that the Jews of
Moldavia, having heard that such a work was being printed, ob-
tained from Morousi, the then Hospodar of Moldavia, the sup-
pression of the work, for a large sum of money. The edition, in
consequence, was not circulated, but a copy was procured, which,
being translated into modern Greek, was published in 1818.
Three reasons are assigned for the horrid practice of Jews
534
APPENDIX.
murdering Christians. The first is, the excessive hatred they
bear them as followers of Christ, supposing that, in putting
them to death, they do God a service; the second is, the many
superstitious practices to which they apply the blood; and third,
because they are still in doubt whether Jesus, the Son of Mary,
might not have been the true Messiah; and if this should
happen to be the case, that, being sprinkled with the blood of a
Christian, they might thus be saved.
With respect to the first reason, the Jews call the Christian
church Toomah, that is defiled, and the priests call it Macak,
that is – a jakes
a jakes; a Christian they call Goc — impious ; a
Christian male child, Skeyitz-a creeping worm; and a female,
Siskela—a female creeping worm; priests and monks they term
Galech-sacrificers to idols.
For the two days when the Greek church celebrates the birth
of Christ and the Epiphany, the Jews put away their books, and
do not open them during the festivals, but play at cards all night,
uttering at the same time all sorts of blasphemies against Christ,
the Virgin Mary, and all the saints.
Jewish children, before they are taught their alphabet, are in-
structed to sing, whenever they pass by a Christian church, these
words, “ Saketz tesadgine tesavenike cheirim ein," which means,
"Most defiled of things, most impure of impure things, be thou
accursed.”
And it is written in the Talmud, that if a Jew has
passed a Christian church, and neglected to blaspheme, though
he be ten paces from it, he must return and utter the impreca-
tion; but if he remember it after he has proceeded farther, it
will be sufficient to utter it where he stands.
When a Jew sees a Christian corpse carried to burial he is
under an obligation to say “Sagoud khad temoukhor trye,” that
is, “ To-day I have seen one dead infidel, to-morrow may I see
two.” These sayings the smallest child must learn.
When a Christian visits a Jew, the latter must say to himself
at his departure, “ May every disease, and every distress, and all
the evil dreams that I, or any of my house have dreamed, be
upon the head of this Christian who has just left my roof."
With respect to the second reason, the Jews believe that the
curse invoked upon the nation by their forefathers, in the pre-
sence of Pilate, “his blood be upon us and our children,” re-
mains still upon the Jews, and that four times in the year, viz.,
at the solstices and equinoxes, a little blood settles from the air
upon their eatables, those at least which are not dressed, as milk,
butter, pot-herbs, cabbages, cucumbers, &c., which blood is by
themselves called Tekepha. If any Jew eat of these articles he
dies, but a Christian receives no injury. The rabbins, therefore,
have found out a remedy for this evil, and prevent the blood from
falling, by anointing an iron fork with the blood of a Christian
APPENDIX.
535
and placing it upon the eatables. The Jewish Calendar sets
down the moment when the blood is to fall, and the xaxaut, or
priest, goes about from house to house an hour before, and gives
notice of it.
In Jewish marriages it is the custom for the bride and bride-
groom to fast from morning till evening, when the ceremony
takes place; after which the rabbin gives to the married couple
a hard egg, with a little dust sprinkled on it; the dust is the
ashes of a cloth dipped in Christian blood, and burnt in the fire.
While they are eating this, the rabbin privately utters some in-
cantations, importing that they may find favour with Christians,
and so be able to deceive and despoil them, and eat of the sweat
of their brow.
With respect to the third reason, their rabbins and learned
men at the present day, like their forefathers, reading the pro-
phecies and the Old Testament, cannot divest themselves of
doubts and fears that Jesus, whom they crucified, is the true
Messiah ; and that, blinding themselves against the proof of
this great truth, they are led into the greater blindness and
wickedness of imagining that, should this possibly be the case,
the blood of a Christian is an efficacious specific for their salva-
tion, in the various instances in which they employ it.
At the circumcision of a child, the xaxapides mix in a
cup of wine a drop of Christian blood, and dipping their little
finger into the cup, place it twice in the mouth of the child,
saying “And I say unto thee in thy blood, Live,” Ezek. xvi. 6.
The rabbins doubt whether the prophecy spoke of the blood of
the infant, or of Christ; they therefore take both the blood of
the child, and of some Christian put to death by tortures as
Christ was, thinking that, whichsoever was the sense of the pro-
phet, they thus secure the child's salvation by the use of both.
On the 9th of July, when they make their lamentation for
Jerusalem, sitting on the ground they rub their forehead with
some of the dust before-mentioned, viz., the cloth dipped in
Christian blood and burnt in the fire, and eat hard-boiled
eggs
scida amaphscikes
When they prepare the unleavened bread for their Passover,
which they do with many ceremonies indicating their hatred to
Christianity, they make one loaf, in which they mix a portion of
this dust; and on the evening when the Passover commences every
Jew is obliged to eat a morsel, about the size of an olive, of this
loaf which contains Christian blood. This unleavened bread is
called “Ephecaemon.”
Whenever a Jew dies, the hahan, or priest, takes the white of
an egg, which, having mixed with a little Christian blood, he
sprinkles upon the heart of the corpse, saying—"I shall sprinkle
536
APPENDIX:
clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your
filthiness.”—Ezek. xxxvi. 25.
At the Feast of Purim, which they celebrate on the 14th of
February, in commemoration of Mordecai and Esther, who
delivered the Jewish nation out of the hands of Haaman, they
put to death many Christians, instead of Haaman, in their syna-
gogues, and the same day they blaspheme Christ. When they
have made this sacrifice, the rabbins make triangular cakes, in
which they mix up some of the blood of the victims, and these
cakes are distributed among all the Jews, who send them as pre-
sents to their friends of other persuasions, even to Christians.
The distribution of these cakes is called “ Mestoiach Mounés."
By these practices are fulfilled, says the author, the prophecies
Jer. ii. 34; Ezek. xxxiii. 25.
On this evening all the Jews are, as it were, beside them-
selves, and steal many Christian children, whom they shut up
and conceal until the Passover, which follows soon after the
Purim, in order that they may have Christian blood to mix with
their unleavened bread, as well as Christian children to torment
and put to death in the same manner as Christ suffered. And
for this latter purpose they prepare young children, both because
they can easily torment them, and because Christ lived and died
unmourned.
The reason why they make triangular cakes at the Purim is
to ridicule Christians who believe in the Trinity.
“ All these things prove," says the author, " that in the Jews
is fulfilled the prophecy Is. vi. 9—10.”
“ Thus," says he, ci have I revealed the unwritten mystery of
the Jews; for this their practice of putting Christians to death,
and taking their blood, is not written in any book, but is only
delivered by word of mouth by fathers and rabbins to their
children, who adjure them by the most awful curses, that, when
they are married, they should not reveal it to their young and
simple children, nor to Christians, even should they be sub-
jected to the greatest danger and torments. Even as it was re-
vealed to me, I testify it, in the fear of God.
“ And in truth I have been in great peril, and am still, for
my revelation of this secret. I exclaim, however, with the holy
Apostle Paul, saying, “Who shall separate me from the love of
Christ-shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine,
or nakedness, or the sword ?' or any sort of punishment? No
circumstances shall do it, for my hope is the Father, my refuge
the Son, my defence the Holy Spirit.-Holy Trinity, glory be
to thee!"
APPENDIX.
537
No. XIII.
List of Turkish Books printed in the Printing Office at Sculari,
opposite to Constantinople, since the reign of Sultan Abdul
Hamed, to July, 1822.
1. Vaan-Kuly, a large dictionary in folio, of Arabic words, ex-
plained in Turkish. Two vols.
2. Burhaan-z-Caty, a ditto ditto of Persian words, explained into
Turkish. One vol.
3. Galatat-z-meshhuray, a Vocabulary, explaining the true ety-
mology of certain words used in a different sense in conver-
sation.
4. Lugat-z-Leghè, a Dictionary, Turkish, Arabic, and Persian,
a modern work of much use. One vol.
5. Berghoy-Mitny, a law book in Arabic, translated into Turkish.
6. Berghoy-Sherhy, a Commentary on ditto.
7. Amentu-Sherhy, Commentary on the Turkish Creed.
8. Tarih-i-Subhy, History of the Ottoman Empire, by Subhy.
9. Tarih-z-Izzy, History of ditto, by Izzy.
10. Tarih-i-Vassif, History of ditto, by Vassif.
11. Tarih-i-Atlas, a Geographical Grammar, by Kiatib Tchelebi.
12. Kiafie Zinhy Zaday, a Grammar, explaining the formation
and derivation of Arabic verbs.
13. Izhar, by ditto ditto, Arabic Syntax.
14. Izhar Sherhy, Commentary on ditto ditto.
15. Giamy hashiesi, by Muharem Effendi, Observations on ditto
ditto.
16. Selkuty Alis Mutavvel, a Treatise on Logic.
17. Ghelen Cely, a ditto.
18. Ilm-z-hendese mezmuasi, a Compilation of Geometrical
Rules.
19. Ussul Ilm-2-hendese, Elements of Geometry.
20. Iklidis, Euclides in Turkish.
21. Imtihan an Ilmi hendese, Experimental Geometry.
22. Deria kitabi, a Tour by Sea.
23. Sù rissalesi, a Treatise on Hydraulics, by Ashir Efendi.
24. Ligoratma, Logarithms.
25. Tuhfei Vehby, Vocabulary, Turkish and Persian, by Vehby.
26. Hayati Effendi, Translation of Vehby's Vocabulary into
Arabic.
27. Nuhbe-z-Lugat, a Collection of Choice Words in Arabic.
28. Sebhay sibian, a Vocabulary, Turkish, Persian, and Arabic,
author unknown.
29. Avamil Gedid, a new Treatise on Arabic Syntax.
30. Kamus Tergiumesi, Dictionary translated from the Arabic
into Turkish, in two large folio volumes.
31. Rishhat Tergiumesi, the Life of some Saints.
538
APPENDIX.
32. Teshrih-fi-Tibb, Treatise on Anatomy, with figures.
33. Sarf Giumlesi, Arabic Grammar, in extenso.
34. Nahf Giumlesi, Treatise on Arabic Syntax, complete.
35. Behgetul-Fetva, a Collection of Fetvaas in Turkish, a law
book.
36. Sherh-z-Hahaty Gedid, a new edition of Hayati's Vocabu-
lary, in Turkish and Arabic.
37. Tableau de Nouveaux Réglemens, par Mahmood.
38. Tarif Douans.
39. Diatribe de l'Inginéur.
No. XIV.
Climate of Constantinople,
I kept an Account of the Weather for Three Years, and the
following Table is the result of the average. The scale of the
Thermometer was Farenheit's, and the Degrees marked at mid-
day in the shade:
Months.
Variation of Ther-
mometer.
Days cloudy.
Hazy or misty
Clear or Sunshine.
Fog.
Frost or hoar frost.
Rain.
Snow or Sleet.
Wind S., S.W., or
S.E.
N., N.W., or N E.
Calm.
Breezy or Gusty.
Strong Gales.
January. 28 to 62 15
3
9
4
6
2 2 14 | 17 | 13
10
8
February 33 to 60 15
4 | 12
1
6
115
7 | 21
8
12.8
March ..1 40 to 64 | 12
2
14
0 1 2
6
3 | 10 | 21 | 12
16
3
April
45 to 76
15
2
13
0
0
30
9 | 2i
12
13.5
5 2 24
0
0
5010 21
18
12
0
May. 52 to 77
Juné.... 76 to 84
40
26
0
0
2010
20
7
16 17
July.... 78 to 86
2
N.
1 | 27
27 0 10
00
9
22
12 18
1
August . 75 to 83
2
0
29
00
0
0
S
23
3 | 21
7
Septemb. 7] to 80
5
4 21
0
0
9
015
15
8
10 12
October . 65 to 72 | 10
5
600
7
0
7 24 149
8
Novemb. 41 to 60 | 15
1
10
5
0
610
6 1 24
18
io | 2
December 28 to 61 | 20 | 5
4 1 2
2
83
2 29
29 13
8 10
APPENDIX
539
The climate of Constantinople is generally favourable to
health and enjoyment, though very variable. The greatest
changes take place in the spring, autumn, and winter. The
summer months are uniformly hot, and the increase of tem-
perature sometimes exceedingly oppressive, from a burning sun
shining out in a cloudless sky. During one year of my resi-
dence the intense blue was not stained by a single cloud for
eleven weeks, but this is of rare occurrence. When it does
happen; the sense of heat is little varied, and the morning and
evening bring no remission of it. In the autumn months morn-
ing fogs are very frequent, and obscure the sliores of the Bos-
phorus till the sun absorbs them. They are sometimes so dense
as to seem impenetrable, and lie in such defined strata that they
present a face like a wall.
The varieties of the atmosphere sometimes cause very strange
and beautiful appearances. Mount Olympus is in general but
indistinctly seen; sometimes, however, it emerges as it were from
the atmosphere, its vast contour seems to impend over the city,
and so close as if it could be almost touched with the hand.
Sometimes the Princess Islands, and the coast of Asia opposite
them, are seen with a distinctness quite preternatural, and pre-
sent all the curious phenomena described in Arctic regions,
towers and battlements illumined by the setting sun, and in such
defined and regular forms that you can hardly believe them to be
optical deceptions.
The prevailing wind is also very remarkable; it blows from
some point of the north for two-thirds of the year, and sometimes
for several months together, so that ships cannot ascend either of
the canals, and accumulate in fleets at the mouths of the Darda-
nelles and Bosphorus.
The seasons are marked by various circumstances, and the
Oriental Almanacs, particularly the Armenian, distinguish
them by names taken from natural phenomena. The 8th of
February they denominate “ Gemrei evvel behava," or the day
on which the heat of the sun descends into the atmosphere
from the higher regions, and terrestrial animals first feel the
effects of its rays. The 25th of February they call “ Gemrei
sane beab,” or that in which it descends into the water,
and fishes are aware of its influence. The 4th of March is
named “Gemrei salis filtoorah," or that in which it penetrates the
earth, and plants are first invigorated by it. There is sometimes
à considerable increase of cold in the beginning of March, and
the sensation of it is painful; it regularly lasts for seven days:
these are called “Berduil adjus," or the cold of the old woman, as
people advanced in years particularly feel it; and they affirm that
some old woman is burnt every year in trying to warm herself.
It frequently comes on with a southerly wind, which at other
540
APPENDIX.
times brings an increase of temperature, but now for the first
time sweeps across the undissolved snows of Mount Olympus
and arrives laden with all their cold. This cold is often followed
by an unnatural degree of heat. On the 22nd of March, 1822,
the thermometer rose to 72, and the weather was so sultry as to
be quite oppressive.
It often happens that this untimely heat brings on a precocious
vegetation, which is immediately cut off by the severe weather
that follows. The trees put forth their blossoms, and almonds,
peaches, plums, and cherries are in the highest bloom; suddenly
a N. E. wind sets in, sweeping the snows of Russia before it,
which continue to fall at Constantinople for two or three days
with little intermission, till the gardens are buried three or four
feet deep in it. It is a curious sight then to see the extremes of
winter and summer exhibited in the same spot; trees standing
out of a waste of snow, their stems buried in the drift, and their
branches covered with a profusion of blossoms.
Other natural phenomena mark, in an interesting manner,
the progress of the year. About the 24th of March, kites and
vultures appear over the city, wheeling and hovering in the air,
sometimes in such great flocks, as to form almost a canopy, parti-
cularly where offal attracts them. They descend into the gardens,
where there is generally some foul and offensive heap of animal
matter accumulated for manure. The vultures in the palace
garden were so bold and tame that they used to strut about like
turkeys, scarcely moving out of the way, and one of them al-
ways announced his coming by entering my apartments. The
kites were continually stooping and carrying off chickens, so
it was necessary to set snares for them. A snap rat-trap was
sometimes used for this purpose. When a depredator was
caught, he flew off with it hanging to his leg, screaming and
shrieking till every one of his kindred in the neighbourhood col-
lected about him, and the whole roof of the palace was covered
with them.
The month of April is distinguished by the Turks. A severe
law exists against killing lamb before the twenty-third, and
on that day it appears for the first time in the market. As this
is St. George's Day, it is always kept a festival at the British
palace, and the resident merchants generally dine there, and
are treated for the first time in the year with the luxury of
lamb. It was this food that lured Ali Pasha to his destruc-
tion: he was suspicious and cautious of trusting the promises of
the Sultan, till the Pasha of the Morea promised him the grati-
fication of lamb before the allowed season; and when this extra-
ordinary favour was granted to him, his suspicions, it is said,
were laid asleep.
A very beautiful phenomenon announces the progress of May.
APPENDIX:
541
About the 20th of the month a sudden illumination bursts out
from the bottom of the gardens as soon as it begins to grow dark,
and the whole of the walks between the trees are glittering with
many lights. This arises from the fire-flies, which fill the air
in vast multitudes. The light which issues from these insects is
exceedingly beautiful ; it is very bright, of a character so mild
and bland as to be grateful to look on. It issues in intermitted
pulsations from between the rings of the tail, which seem to open
and close at the will of the insect. The female is without wings,
and is often detected under a leaf by the glittering beaux that are
hovering round her. They seem also to be invited by the blos-
soms of the nasturtium and the cenothera. The yellow petals
of those flowers emit faint flashes of light in the evening, as has
been elsewhere remarked; and these luminous insects are appa-
rently attracted by the congenial blaze of this “ electric lustre.”
By enclosing several under a glass, I could see to read at night
as by a dim candle : they sometimes retain a faint luminous ap-
pearance after death, which renders it probable that their light
is phosphoric. They continue to illuminate the twilight air with
their beautiful scintillations till the end of June, when they all
disappear.
The month of June is generally distinguished by violent and
sudden explosions of wind : their approach is indicated by sultry
heat, and a dark and lurid patch in the sky, which seems to
burst, and a violent gale issues from it, which lasts two or three
hours. The doors and windows are suddenly burst open, and a
din and clatter of everything follows. These explosions generally
take place in the night, and rouse the people from their beds.
Not only are trees swept away and houses unroofed, but minarets
of mosques are snapped across and leave only a stump behind
them. If a luckless barque to the Princess Islands is caught in
the gale, she often goes down with all the passengers.
July is marked by very vivid lightning and loud thunder,
which often lasts for several hours, and sometimes illumines the
quarter of the sky in which it appears for a whole night, as if it
opened and closed in rapid succession: it is infinitely louder and
more awful than that in England : accidents never or very rarely
occur from it.
In August, about the 9th of the month, the wind called the
Melk-tem sets in and blows down the Bosphorus from sunrise
till sunset, generally with great violence. It is sometimes at-
tended by a dense haze, so thick, that objects appear as if they
were viewed through a veil of gauze: it is called Patlingam,
from a particular gourd which appears in the market about the
time it begins to blow. During its continuance the Black Sea,
dashed against the rocks at the mouth of the Bosphorus, begins
to bellow, and the sound carried by the wind to the city is dis-
542
APPENDIX.
tinctly heard. It continues even after the gale ceases, and in the
still evening it is heard in the burying-grounds over the Bos-
phorus with an exceedingly dismal and melancholy sound, which
the people consider a prophetic warning of shipwreck.
In September the autumnal rains set in, and a second spring
commences even more beautiful than the first. The ground,
which the heat and dryness of the summer had parched up till
everything green had disappeared, and the land resembled a
sandy desert, now puts on a new livery of verdure; a second
vegetation of buds and blossoms takes place in the trees; and for
the remaining part of the year everything, with the exception of
an occasional fog or gale, is exceedingly beautiful, and the tem-
perature of the air most wholesome and agreeable.
THE IND,
APPENDIX.-No. IV.*
INSCRIPTIONS
FOUND AT
SEVRI-HISSAR, SEDIJAK, TEOS, AND CLAZOMENÆ,
1822.
* Referred to in Vol. ii, p. 58.
[To be inserted after p. 542, Vol. ii.]
No. 1.- On the Road-side, forming the Wall of a Bath. Sevri- Hissar.
Η ΒΟΥΛΗ KAIOA
ΙΜΗΣΑΝ ••ΥΡ
O
ΘΥ
NK
ΧΗΝΤΗ
ΚΕΝ ΚΑΘ
ΤΛΙΓΗ ΒΟΥΛΗ
បចោ
No. 2.- Detached Stone at Sevri-Hissar.
ΧΑΙΡΕ
ΠΡΟΚΛΕΙΔΗΔΡΟ
No. 3.- In the Wull of a House where we conached at Sevri-Hissar.
OL
ΠΟΥ ΤΕΙΔΙ
YON EOΛΑ - ΙΑΠΟΣΤΟΛ
ΕΛ (ΟΙ ΠΕΙΡΗΣ ΡΙΤΗΣΕΝ
ΜΥΡΗΤΑΝΙΑ ΚΑΙ ΔΙΑΤΑΣΤΟΥ
ΚΕΝΟΥΣΑΥΤΟΥΣEIΣΤΗΝΠΑΤ
-,.
No. 4.- Forming a Fountain belween Sevri- Hissar and Sediják.
Υ ΑΥΤΟΥ
ΙΛΙΣΤΟΥ
No. 5.- In the Wall of a House al Sediják.
νη.
... In now
3
C.
ΛΕΥΚΙΕKANOPIE
ΧΡΗΣΤΕ ΧΑΙΡΕ
11UΏΙΙΙΙΙΙ
MIMMIGOumuamual: Jangan luun suurunen
22
No. 6.-Tablet in the Wall of a House in a Street al Sediják.
तु
aulu
s
hud
ΣATIAC ΑΠΟΛΛΩΝΙΟΥ
KATECKEYACETOM
ΕΙOΝΕΑΥΤΗ ΚΑΙ
Ο κε ΚΗΔΕΥΜΕΝΟ
ΟΛΛΙΝΤΟΝΑ
Μω EXOYCHOK
ΧΗΝ ΤΕΘΗΝΑΙ
οι TW PIACE
Ε ΜΟΥ ΕΑΝΔΕ
AMHCHMETA
ΤΗΝ ΤΗΛΕΥ
itine
λοι:: ΠΙΙΙΙΙΙ
ΠΙΠΙΙΙΙΙτατιταττΠεΙΙΗΙΙ:
...ΑΛ.
ιιι »
all415
INV40 TON
No. 7.-- In the City Wall, east angle, at Teos.
No. 8.- In the Ruins of a Temple, Tens.
ΟΔΗ
ΌΙΣΤΡΑ
ΟΙΣΥΝ
.ΜΟΣ
ΤΗ ΓΟΙΟ.)
ΕΦΗ ΟΙΟΙΥ
ΚΡΑΤώ
ΣΥΝΕΎΠΟ
ΠΟΓΥΜΝΑ
NA
ΔΕΜ ΟΙ
ΣΙΑΡΧΟΝΤΗ
ΜΙΣΕΖΟΥΕΙΣ
ΥΠΑΤΟΝΤΟΒΑΝ
Η ΚΑΤΟΔΗΜΟΣΟΤΙ
ΟΓΔΙΟΥΛΙΟΥΔΙΟ
ΧΑΡΧΟΝΤΟΣΚΑΙ
ΤΗΣ ΠΟΛΕΩΣ
Μην
110
Nu. 9.–Buse of u Slatue, or an Altur, in the Temple of Bacchus, Teos.
Murnu!
μπαΙιημα
illulHillllllli:
μάχη» η..
ΟΙ
Δ.
αν
No. 10.-In the Temple of Bacchus, Teos.
НВОУХНІКА
ETEIM1
KΛΤΡΥΦAIN ANN
AΣIAΣ KAΠEPE
ΠΕΩΣΘΕΟΥΔ
ΘΥΓΑΤΕΡΑΦΗΣΕΙ Η
ΣΤΡΑΤΟNEI KHΣΑΡ
ΑΣΙΑΣΑΝΑΣΤΗΣΑ
ΑΝΔΡΙΑΝΤΑΚΑΛΩ
ΠΕΙΣΩΝΙΝΟΥΤΩΝΥ
No. 11.- In the Area of the Theatre, Teos.
un?
ΟΠΣ
ΙΔΙΑΝ ΤΟΥΣTEIΛIΑΙ
ΕΠΙΤΟΥΣΑΓΩNAΣAΓΩΙΑ
ΤOΙΔΙΟΝΕΚΑΣΤΟΝΑΘΛΟΝ
NOYNAYTON KATATOTE
€OΥΨΗΦΙΣΜΑΙΝΑΠΑΣΙΑ
ΠΟΤΩΝΙΞ ΡΟΝΗ ΙΚΩΣ
ΩΣΕΎ ΕΡΓΕΤΙ
No. 12.-Road-side, Teos.
1.111:
ΛΙΤΕ ΜΑ
ΟΥΦΟΥ
I ΟΛΛΩΝΙΟΥ
ΝΔΗΕΟΣ
Η
ΟΔΟΥ
No. 13.-Half-buried in a Field, Teos.
ATYPHN
AM
ΠΟΣΑΝΑΞΙΩΝΘΡΑΣΥΚΛΕΙΔΟΥ
Η]
ΜΥΤΙΛΗΝΑΙΟΣ ΥΠΕ
ΣΒΑΚΧΙΟΥΔΡΑΜΑΤΙΛΕΡΣΑΙΣ ΑΡΙΣ
ΥΠΕΚΡΙΝΕΤΟΑΣ ΚΛΗΠΙΑΔΗΣ
Η PA ΚΛΕΙΔΟΥ ΧΑΛΚΙΔΕΥΣ
Ν
SHIrini,
No. 14.--Inverted Pedestal, Island of Clazomenæ.
GITT,VT WOTWI
WWVHS NOLVW
1 λΘΝΗ ΝΟΙΚΙ
Od VWVYNOL
NOILNOWVIVY
HXLIHAVV
ΑΛΜΑ
νθη
Α
No. 15.— Found beside the former, and seemingly a part of it.
OΛICT
EAYTHCKO
CTHN KATE
ΝΕΥΕΡΓ
.
πιιιιηιιιι
JATKCHNER
.:!ι.
ΛΜ,
ERRAT A.
VOL. I.
Page
2
9
27
31
62
80
82
129
146
193
244
268
280
376
450
Line
For
Read
2
as many men
as many more.
8
sat out
set out,
last μετάρυ
μεταξυ. .
last
ducant
ducunt.
21
Risacoli
Ricasoli,
last add The inscription is surmounted by the following
passage from Psalm cxviii.:-
HIITAHTOTKTPIOTAIKAIOETOYCEICEAOONTACENATTH.
24
to relieve Ali
to reduce Ali,
7
eighteen or twenty about forty.
8 (Contents) Mycene
Mycone.
18
Raftopulto
Raftopulo.
4
Teruova
Tornova.
13
Sultan's sister Selim's sister.
26
expedition of
expedition against.
10
Rhubius
Rhubias.
26
is a college
was a college.
VOL. II.
Page
10
126
156
213
248
265
281
330
Line
for
read
14
he would be
they would be
32
partially interesting particularly interesting.
13
Buykdere
Buyukderé.
29
Tartaravan
Tacktaravan.
24
Who bore
Which bore.
23
after
exterminated add or expelled.
last
Vakai
Takvaroo.
20. | after fire kindled at Constantinople, add and at Eyoub,
and some of the villages on the Bosphorus.
33
after him
after them.
8
μεθαξυ
μεταξυ. .
4
εστυγε
ευγε. .
8
who had now done who had done.
366
401
402
511
LONDON:
Printed by W. Clowes and SONS,
Stamford Street.
4
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
DATE DUE
AUG 31 1998
MAY 1 u 1998
...