THE BRIDAL 
 
 AND THE BRIDLE; 
 
 OR, 
 
 OUR HONEYMOON-TRIP IN THE EAST, 
 IN 1850. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET, 
 tii rifmarj) to 
 1851.
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED BY HARRISON AND SON, 
 ST. MARTIN'S LANE.
 
 TO 
 
 THOMAS DE G z . DE FONBLANQUE, 
 
 HEB MAJESTY'S CONSUL GENERAL 
 FOE SEKVIA, 
 
 THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED, 
 
 WITH THE BEST WISHES 
 OF 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 2203462
 
 THE BRIDAL AND THE BRIDIE, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 I WAS married, gentle reader, in Belgium, 
 and proceeded to Paris, on the twenty- 
 fourth day o the month of April, in the 
 year of our Lord one thousand eight hun- 
 dred and fifty, intending to spend the 
 "month of mel" there. Tiring, however, 
 very early of the " Trois Freres " and the 
 "Opera Comique," Vaudevilles and Vol-au- 
 vents, I determined to signalize the Honey - 
 
 B
 
 THE BRIDAL 
 
 moon by penetrating a land, where, without 
 vanity, I may say very few English couples 
 have ever spent theirs. My wife, sym- 
 pathizing with my vagrant spirit and bad 
 taste, we agreed to proceed at once to 
 Turkey. 
 
 As far as I can remember, the colloquy 
 that preceded our departure from Paris was 
 pretty much as follows : 
 
 "Shall we go to Turkey, Emily V 
 " I am quite ready." 
 
 " Shall we go through Bosnia, and ride to 
 Constantinople I " 
 
 "Nothing I should like better." 
 And in two days we were off for Mar- 
 seilles, whence we soon reached Leghorn, 
 and passing rapidly through Pisa, Florence, 
 Bologna, and Padua, sailed from Venice to 
 Trieste, and inquired which was the best 
 route to the Turkish frontier. 
 
 The consul there appeared very willing
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 3 
 
 to give any information ; but, unfortunately, 
 as it happened, told us the route was per- 
 fectly safe from Ottochaz to Bosna-Serai; 
 that there had been a rebellion against the 
 Pacha of Bosnia; but that all was quiet 
 again, and the way as free from robbers as 
 the Edgware Road. 
 
 Our courier, an Italian, named Giovanni 
 Amado, had been to Constantinople, and 
 possessed a smattering of the Turkish lan- 
 guage ; but was a timid man, knew nothing 
 of geography from maps, and understood no 
 route but the one he had been by pre- 
 viously. 
 
 He credited every report he heard in 
 Trieste and Venice, about the difficulties 
 and dangers of the route, and gravely in- 
 formed us daily, that the road was long, 
 filled with robbers, impassable mountains, 
 fevers, and plague, but totally without food 
 or horses ; and he in fact menaced us with 
 
 B 2
 
 4 THE BRIDAL 
 
 fire, famine, sword, and pestilence, at every 
 step, all of which was forcibly contrasted 
 Avith the safe inglorious route by sea. 
 
 Nor was this all; for, giving no credence 
 to maps, and all to report, he assured us 
 that we should have to pass through fabu- 
 lous towns and imaginary countries, one 
 and all filled with "Gorgons, hydras, and 
 chimeras dire ;" and not content with these 
 visionary perils, he assured us that the 
 diligence to Fiume was always guarded by 
 four carabinieri ; that if we passed by the 
 way of Carlstadt, the Austrians would fire 
 on us for Turkish spies, and the Turks for 
 Austrians, the whole of Bosnia being a hot- 
 bed of revolution. 
 
 Revolutions! How I hate the word! 
 
 There never was yet a revolution in any 
 
 Oriental country, though there have been 
 
 countless rebellions, more or less successful. 
 
 However much these wild stories might
 
 AND THE BKIDLE. 5 
 
 have shaken the nerves and perturbed the 
 unadventurous spirit of the unhappy native 
 of Messina, whose hard doom it was to be 
 Sancho Panza to so Quixotic a pair, the 
 only effect of Giovanni's doleful face and 
 hobgoblin stories upon us, was that of 
 making us laugh, in a manner he considered 
 demented. We had come many miles to 
 get away from tame people, and the wilder 
 the tales of Illyrian Macheaths grew, the 
 greater was our amusement. 
 
 At last our purchases were completed, 
 and with three carpet bags, a bundle of 
 cloaks, and a heap of arms, we started from 
 the Albergo Nazionale in a rickety old post- 
 carriage with three horses, and a broken 
 door, Giovanni looking on us as on people 
 doomed to perish before reaching Fiuine. 
 
 Emerging from. Trieste, we rattled along a 
 rough stony road, up hill and down dale, 
 changing carriages at every post, and a good
 
 6 THE BEIDAL 
 
 deal astonished, at the end of one stage, to 
 nd a landau without a door, and to be 
 compelled to make a harlequin entry through 
 the window. 
 
 The costumes of the Contadini grew 
 gradually wilder and stranger : bare-footed 
 women, with long, white cloths bound round 
 their heads, and floating in the wind, and 
 with simple white chemises, or rather 
 blouses, for all other garments, toiled in the 
 fields like so many ghastly spectres, and 
 looked, in the dim grey mist, like so many 
 Ghoules tearing open graves, to furnish 
 forth their hellish banquet. Very few men 
 were seen : they were, in all probability, 
 mostly serving in the army ; and those few 
 were indolently lounging by the road-side, 
 smoking huge pipes. 
 
 The most striking part of their costumes 
 was their sandals, of classic shape, but 
 made of plaited rushes. I must say they
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 7 
 
 are a most civil people, as far as salutations 
 go, never did I see so many broad- 
 brimmed hats pulled off to a carriage 
 before. And yet I doubt if we looked 
 imposing, gazing from the glassless windows 
 of an unvarnished post caleche. 
 
 All the aged are apparently beggars. 
 We found one old man on his knees, at the 
 brow of a hill, and the children pursued us 
 in swarms, holding up their unwashed 
 hands in an imploring attitude, and scream- 
 ing at the top of their voices for "baccanal" 
 and " schuszanore," which I take to mean 
 much the same as baksheesh and carita. 
 
 The boys are comparatively clumsy men- 
 dicants ; but the girls, while running aston- 
 ishingly fast, contrive alternately to hold 
 up their joined hands in a Mary Magdalene 
 attitude of supplication, and to throw 
 somersets in the road, screaming shrilly the 
 whole time for kreutzers, in the name of the
 
 8 THE BEIDAL 
 
 Virgin. It was plain they had cultivated 
 mendicity as an art. 
 
 We rolled along among the rugged hills 
 of Illyria until evening, and just as the 
 sun was setting, we reached the barrier 
 of Fiume, where our passport was de- 
 manded, and an incredible difficulty made 
 about its being viseed the same evening. 
 Ten minutes more, and we were looking out 
 of the windows of the inn facing the sea. 
 
 A very pretty little toy town is Fiume. 
 Embosomed among purple mountains, with 
 the calm blue sea water of its gulf looking 
 like a clear azure lake, and almost shut in by 
 heathy headlands. A more perfect salt- 
 water lake can hardly be imagined, dotted 
 as it is, with the snowy-sailed brigantines 
 and white-winged feluccas of the Adriatic. 
 I see little reason why Fiume should not 
 one day rival Trieste. 
 
 Among the facchini of the inn was a
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 9 
 
 peculiarly bustling little old man, who I 
 believe to be mad, and who accosted us in 
 a mixture of Croatian and German, appa- 
 rently asking for something. He certainly 
 said that he was a robber, or some such 
 thing ; and not content with this agreeable 
 announcement, he was pleased to proclaim 
 himself a Cravat or Cravate, tugging the 
 while at his neckerchief, as if to pun upon 
 his nationality. To pacify him, we assured 
 him that we considered him an undoubted 
 Cravat, and that he had better explain him- 
 self to the courier. This, however, he 
 declined doing, saying, "because I am the 
 house-boy ! " May he be more intelligible 
 to my readers than he was to us! 
 
 We left Fiume next morning ; had a 
 severe search at the gate, and another still 
 more rigid at the frontier of Croatia, a mile 
 farther on. We passed through the striped 
 barrier, and without a regret bade adieu to 
 
 B 3
 
 10 THE BRIDAL 
 
 Illyria. A few miles off, in a bold rocky 
 pass, with a cascade boiling down it, we 
 passed a rock with a Croatian inscription on 
 it in gold letters, of which I could only dis- 
 tinguish the name of the Ban, "Jelazka" 
 I think it was written. By the bye, very 
 few people in England appear to know how 
 to pronounce the name of Jellachich, but 
 call him " Jellysitch," "Hellakick," "Yel- 
 lowcheek," and many similar euphonious 
 appellations. I have the authority of a 
 Croatian captain of cavalry for calling him 
 "Yellahsish," or "sitz." 
 
 There was a highly respectable looking 
 Turk, standing before this inscription, which 
 he was endeavouring to decipher with the 
 help of a dictionary. I never before heard 
 of a Slave Ainsworth or Donnegan. 
 
 The women of Croatia look exceedingly 
 like Albanians, or something between Be- 
 douin Arabs and Arnauts. They all wear
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 11 
 
 pure white dresses, simple and loose in 
 form, and for the most part, picturesquely 
 short. Many of them have Greek tasseled 
 caps of scarlet, or blue and red turbans ; 
 scarlet sashes are very common among both 
 sexes. Some miles from Fiume, the moun- 
 tains assume a bold and savage character, 
 their rugged sides scarcely fringed by a 
 single tree, their peaks hidden in endless 
 mist and cloud. 
 
 An old man told us it never ceased rain- 
 ing there, and was always a cold snowy 
 land. The blasts from the mountains are 
 extremely chilly and cutting, and I advise 
 no traveller with weak lungs to neglect a 
 hare-skin and worsted comforter. 
 
 The postboys are the most stupid set of 
 boors conceivable, who never lay by their 
 pipes, except to blow their horns, which 
 they cause to discourse the most eloquent 
 discord. The women are ragged, the cliil-
 
 12 THE BEIDAL 
 
 dren nearly naked ; and the men are savage- 
 looking fellows, with huge worked pouches 
 covered with deep worsted fringe, suspended 
 at their sides, and leather belts buckled 
 round their waists. There are no gentle- 
 men to be seen, with the exception of some 
 few Austrian officers. 
 
 All the farmers, who can afford it, wear 
 high boots. The houses are nothing but 
 stone cabins, very much sunlf in the earth. 
 We stopped at a post-house, where carriages 
 were not, and where we were obliged to 
 take a light two-horse cart, made of wicker- 
 work, low, open, without seats of any kind, 
 equally destitute of springs, and excessively 
 like a large clothes' basket on four wheels. 
 I may as well mention, en passant, that 
 these light waggons are the usual style of 
 equipage in Croatia. 
 
 We induced the postmaster to put a 
 Robinson Crusoe-like roof of willow poles
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 13 
 
 and straw matting over it, by a random 
 threat, thrown out bj our courier, of com- 
 plaining to the governor of the next town 
 of his conduct if he did not do so ; and 
 while it was being constructed, we went in 
 and petted his dog, a large intelligent 
 animal, and as the old woman said, very 
 like a Christian. For, when his master 
 offered him the piece of bread he begged 
 for, telling him it was " fur die Juden," 
 he rejected it with scorn and intense dis- 
 gust ; while he showed the utmost satisfac- 
 tion in eating it, when assured that it was 
 " fur die Christen." 
 
 Our thatch concluded, we bade adieu to 
 our kind host and his zealous quadruped, 
 and after a somewhat fatiguing journey, 
 reached Sevrigny, two posts from Carlstadt, 
 at about eight o'clock. Giovanni started 
 for the " Castle," where we were told the 
 Graf and the postmaster lived, in search of
 
 14 THE BRIDAL 
 
 horses, leaving us to the allurements of the 
 gens at the inn, who Siren-like, besought us 
 to enter their den. For half an hour we 
 stoutly resisted their blandishments and the 
 increasing darkness ; but at last the courier 
 returned with the postmaster, who assured 
 us the horses were in the country and not 
 to be had until the morning. We were, 
 therefore, malgre nous, housed in the best 
 rooms in the only inn ; and then, and not 
 until then, did we discover the true Croat 
 character, and how nearly a human being 
 may approach in intellect to the condition 
 of a mere animal. 
 
 Four men and two barefooted damsels 
 bounced in and out of the rooms, as if they 
 were performing in some Slavonian ballet. 
 One woman alone spoke German out of a 
 vast household. The rest all mercilessly 
 addressed us in a dialect to which any 
 gibberish would sound pure Tuscan in
 
 AND THE BEIDLE. 15 
 
 comparison. We treated them as we would 
 have done Sandwich Islanders, or any other 
 savages, making signs for all we wanted. 
 I only wonder I did not break a blood 
 vessel in laughing at their wondering and 
 unutterably stupid faces. We were assured 
 that we should have a most excellent 
 supper, as the host had, for five-and-twenty 
 years, been chef to the Graf at the Castle. 
 In proof of his dexterity, he sent us up 
 some cutlets, swimming in rancid oil, and 
 delicately sprinkled with cinders. We had 
 fortunately some tea with us, it being an 
 unknown beverage in Croatia ; and when 
 we asked for a tea-pot, a tiny jug of red 
 clay was brought, containing, perhaps, a 
 quarter of a pint. 
 
 Luckily, Giovanni found a tea-pot among 
 the basket of crockery. The host begged 
 most pathetically to be allowed to taste 
 the compound; and when Emily had mixed
 
 16 THE BRIDAL 
 
 him a cup, he told us that when he was 
 cook to the count, he had frequently en- 
 joyed the privilege of tasting this inspiring 
 liquor. 
 
 To get something to eat was not difficult, 
 but washing appears to every Croat a work 
 of supererogation. For a long time the 
 landlady protested that she knew of no 
 basins in the house ; but at length produced 
 two pie dishes with great delay, and much 
 difficulty and murmuring. 
 
 Croatian doors can rarely boast of any 
 fastening ; but we barricaded ours as well as 
 we could, in the absence of all conveniences 
 for the purpose, and went very tired to bed. 
 At about one o'clock, or half-past, Emily 
 woke me with the pleasing intelligence that 
 some one was forcing an entrance into the 
 outer room, where the much coveted tea and 
 various other things were. 
 
 Seizing my pistols, and arming Emily
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 17 
 
 with a dagger and life-preserver, I opened 
 the door between the rooms, and we entered. 
 Here we found the barricade partially dis- 
 placed, but all quiet. In about a quarter 
 of an hour the intruder returned, and we 
 did the same, apparently intimidating him, 
 as he again retired. Half an hour more, 
 and the nocturnal marauder made another 
 essay to force open the door. The attempt 
 was this time productive of great clatter ; 
 and when, our patience quite exhausted, 
 and I feeling as savage as a tiger, we rushed 
 again into the room, determined, if possible, 
 to catch the sneaking coward in the act, we 
 found the outer door half open. We 
 quickly and quietly removed the barricade, 
 and then suddenly threw open the door 
 wide, and ran out into the passage just in 
 time to see our friend disappearing down 
 the dark labyrinth beyond, and to hear him
 
 18 THE BRIDAL 
 
 quickly shut the door of the distant room 
 in which he had taken refuge. 
 
 Not wishing to be delayed on our journey 
 by any judicial inquiry, the next day we 
 left the cowardly fellow in his lair, feeling 
 quite sure he would not venture to return 
 after the fright we had given him, and the 
 unearthly noise we made at the heels of the 
 fugitive. Nor were we wrong in our con- 
 jectures; for having renewed the barricade 
 and carried every available article into our 
 inner sanctuary, we were left to undisturbed 
 repose for the few remaining hours of night. 
 
 Giovanni was robbed of some trifles the 
 same evening, but soon recovered them by 
 menacing the master of the house with the 
 all-powerful posada of the next town. I 
 suspect him personally to have been our 
 unwelcome visitor and the cruel disturber of 
 our much-needed rest. He looked a sneak-
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 19 
 
 ing cowardly fellow, who would willingly 
 attempt a midnight theft, with the hope of 
 the smallest amount of gain, yet totally 
 deficient of boldness, to insure his success. 
 
 We started in the morning, the people 
 silent and looking ashamed. The roads are 
 as good here as in many parts of England. 
 The country hedges, woods, and meadows, 
 Were strikingly like some very pretty parts 
 of our own country ; but it is not uncommon 
 to find the wildest people in the tamest 
 scenery, and here the people grew stranger 
 and less civilized, as we proceeded. 
 
 I remember, when at Venice, waiting one 
 day at the railway station, at Mestri, to start 
 for Padua, seeing beside the lagoon a lad of 
 fifteen, in the exact costume of a Poly- 
 nesian islander, which had evidently been 
 made expressly for him, and looking the 
 veriest savage that ever quitted the South 
 Seas.
 
 20 THE BRIDAL 
 
 We arrived at Carlstadt by rnid- day. The 
 town is a huge] cattle market, muddy, mean, 
 and disagreeable. There is but one very 
 bad hotel, crowded with officers and sol- 
 diers. A man must be either a grazier, or 
 a martinet, to admire Carlstadt. Here a 
 good Samaritan, named Gradinovatch, a 
 shopkeeper and Turkish agent, got hold of 
 our courier, and tried all in his power to 
 induce us to change our route for that of 
 the Danube and Black Sea. Finding this 
 impossible, he painted Bosnia in the most 
 frightful colours ; protested it was in a blaze 
 of insurrection, and that the people had 
 revolted against the Pacha and Governor of 
 Traunik, and had been fighting all the 
 summer. He called in the Judge and the 
 Colonel of the regiment to corroborate his 
 story, which he insisted on hearing sub- 
 stantiated by those officers in person. 
 
 "We found the said dignitaries sitting on
 
 AND THE BEIDLB. 21 
 
 a bench before a cafe, the Judge smoking a 
 cigar, and looking as unjudicial, and as 
 scampish as any dispenser of the laws need 
 do. They and the bystanders joined 
 vigorously in a chorus of abuse against 
 Bosnia, of declarations of the impossibility 
 of passing through the country, and of 
 recommendations in favour of the Dampf- 
 schifFs, Danube, and Black Sea. 
 
 I could hardly imagine them all share- 
 holders in the Steamboat Company; and 
 began to fancy that Bosnia really must be 
 in a state of insurrection. Gradinovatch 
 
 next introduced us to a certain Graf N , 
 
 a Captain of Austrian cavalry, and a son of 
 
 old Field Marshal N . He also assured 
 
 us that the attempt to penetrate the charmed 
 country was hopeless, and we gave it up. 
 Yet, resisting all the seductions of the Black 
 Sea, and the fascinations of the Siren
 
 22 THE BRIDAL 
 
 Darnpfschiff, we adhered to our resolution 
 of going by land. 
 
 We found it impossible to start before 
 the next day, and the Graf, with an amiable 
 communicativeness, told me his story. He 
 had served in the Hungarian war, had been 
 wounded by two grape-shot at Neline, had 
 had five horses killed under him, and, in 
 fact, had seen much service. He taught me 
 to pronounce the ineuphonious name of his 
 Ban, (which name, by the bye I saw written 
 over a small grocer's shop, in a Slavonian 
 village), and told me, besides, of his own 
 capture by the Magyars, and his ruse 
 escape. 
 
 It seems he had carried some despatches 
 to the Ban, which enabled him to fall back 
 on Vienna, and save his army from being 
 crushed by the Hungarian advance. On 
 his return, he was taken by the Magyar
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 23 
 
 cavalry, and brought before a species of Court 
 Martial, whom he persuaded that he was an 
 Italian, that he had left the army of Italy, 
 with only his horse and his uniform; and 
 that he hated the Austrians, and the Croats, 
 the Ban Jellachich, and above all, Field Mar- 
 shal N his own father ! who was a short 
 
 distance off, with the Imperialists. Finally, 
 having persuaded the Magyars that he was 
 an Ausouian Captain Dalgetty, he offered 
 to take service with them. Seeing him to 
 be an officer, and a Captain of horse, to 
 boot they promised him a regiment of 
 Hussars, and left him unguarded. The 
 military Ulysses then flew to the shed, 
 where his English charger stood, leaped on 
 his back, and grasping the halter, galloped 
 quickly off. without saddle or bridle, hotly 
 but vainly chased by the angry dragoons. 
 He rode southward for ninety English 
 miles, until his horse fell and died, near one
 
 24 THE BEIDAL 
 
 of the outposts of an Austrian corps 
 darmee. Had he been a little later in 
 mounting his horse, his fate would inevi- 
 tably have been the halter ; for, as he since 
 heard, a few hours after his departure, one 
 Giuseppe, a Magyar Croat, and an enemy 
 of his family, rode into the camp, and re- 
 vealing his real name, and the motive of his 
 journey, requested he might be hanged. It 
 appears that vendittas exist in Croatia, as 
 well as in Corsica. 
 
 We left Carlstadt in a heavy vctturino 
 carriage, and crept slowly along a bad road 
 intersected with curiously deep ruts. This 
 was the more provoking, as from Trieste 
 the roads had been little inferior to some in 
 England. Being market day, the most pic- 
 turesque groups of peasantry were to be 
 seen, sitting outside the doors of the 
 Gasthofen, while country waggons, and 
 streams of sheep, with very singular horns,
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 25 
 
 long and spirally twisted, filled the road to 
 Vojnicli. 
 
 The red-capped peasants, from the 
 Turkish frontier, formed the most striking 
 objects in the throng. Their huge pouches, 
 of fringed leather, quaint sandals, wide 
 white trousers, and above all, the long 
 Eastern pistols and daggers in their girdles, 
 suited well with their fierce looks, and 
 bronzed hardy features. The faces of most 
 of these men wore a bold and almost a 
 avage expression, as if their intercourse 
 with the wilder race of the South had givan 
 a fire to their blood, totally wanting in the 
 dull Austrian peasant. 
 
 Nor were their brass-mounted petronels 
 by any means meant for ornamental pur- 
 poses, as the little bag of powder hanging 
 from every sash testified. The women v. o:*e 
 long white veils, flowing over their shoulders; 
 and one we saw with her head covered with 
 
 c
 
 26 THE BKIDAL 
 
 a glittering net of golden coins, her for- 
 tune doubtless. Red-capped children greeted 
 us with the oriental salaam as we passed, and 
 soon after, a still more Turkish salute was 
 paid to us. 
 
 As a light waggon passed us at full speed, 
 a borderer stood up, drew his heavy horse- 
 pistols and deliberately fired both over our 
 heads. Poverty-stricken and miserable as 
 were the road-side huts, we saw several stalls 
 On which were displayed scarlet caps, most 
 Splendidly embroidered in gold and silver. 
 No one can tell who bought them. I 
 Scarcely believe a man in the country could 
 have scraped together zuansigers enough to 
 have bought the shabbiest. 
 , We found the town at Voynich half filled 
 with soldiers, and the village swarming with 
 grey paletots and bayonets. Basins are 
 exotics in Croatia, and it is very hard even 
 to get a pie-dish as a substitute. At
 
 AND THE BEIDLE. 27 
 
 Voynich they began to lay a cover for our 
 courier at dinner, a piece of socialism which 
 was persisted in throughout the east of 
 Croatia and Slavonia. 
 
 Many of the women here wear their hair 
 in pig-tails, as long and as carefully plaited 
 as any in the celestial empire. The Chinese 
 'certainly hare the good taste to omit the 
 greasy eel-skins of the Slave damsels. 
 - The whole road from Caiistadt to Sysek 
 is under military control, of which fact I 
 had a tolerably convincing proof. I had 
 walked out before breakfast along the cross- 
 -road leading to Turkey, and was hurrying 
 up a gentle eminence, in hopes of getting a 
 view of the taboo province of Bosnia, when, 
 long ere I reached the summit of the mound, 
 from whence I trusted to survey the promised 
 -land, a hoarse shout from a couple of Aus- 
 .trian officers arrested my steps. I had 
 ;observed the amiable gentlemen scowling 
 
 c2
 
 28 THE BRIDAL 
 
 sulkily as I passed them, and as they now 
 approached, I turned and informed them 
 that my German was on the half-pay esta- 
 blishment. The captain was ignorant of 
 any language but his own, the lieutenant 
 only spoke Italian ; but I contrived to make 
 him understand, in answer to his imperious 
 demand for my passport, that he should see 
 it if he would walk five hundred yards or 
 so to the inn, and that I was an English- 
 man, and not a Turkish spy, as he seemed 
 to imagine. 
 
 Nothing would satisfy the military Dog- 
 berry, however, and he poured forth ques- 
 tion after question in that peculiarly vexa- 
 tious manner, that none but a foreign police- 
 man can emulate, until my stock of patience 
 ^nd my Tuscan began equally to fail. How 
 long I should have endured the fellow's im- 
 pertinence I know not, nor what might have 
 been the consequence of losing my temper ;
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 29 
 
 but, happily, we reached the inn, where the 
 sight of the signatures of the Austrian 
 Ambassador and Consuls freed me from 
 the clutches of my worthy companions, 
 whose first care, on reaching the hostelry, 
 had been to call a wild Croat soldier to 
 mount guard over me. 
 
 An army whose officers disgrace their 
 epaulettes, by playing the part of amateur 
 constables on the highroads, ceases to deserve 
 the name, and becomes a rabble of cut- 
 throats. 
 
 There was a Turkish merchant at Voynich 
 returning into Bosnia, on his little spirited 
 mountain horse, shaggy and trapped over 
 with red housings. This man's bold bronzed 
 face, and sash filled with glittering arms, 
 bright and serviceable, made rather a striking 
 contrast to the equipment of an English 
 bagman. He had done his trafficking in a 
 Christian land, and with his bag of piastres
 
 36 THE BRIDAL 
 
 and ducats at his girdle, was about to ride 
 fearlessly over the Ottoman frontier, ttf 
 cross the blue mountains of Bosnia, and 
 wade the dangerous fords of the deep Unna. 
 Trusting to the Prophet's aid, and to the edge 
 6f his Koran-lettered yataghan, this tur- 
 baned shopkeeper was simply and tranquilly 
 returning to his home at Bihach, Gliouch, 
 savage Glamotab, or even the distant 
 Trawnik. Vainly did rough hills, and wild 
 torrents, and men wilder and ruder still, 
 essay to bar the way to this Osmanlee 
 trader. 
 
 In Bulgaria I learned from some intelli- 
 gent Turkish officers of rank the true 
 character of Bosnia and its people. The 
 Bosnians apostatized, some two centuries 
 ago, to retain their lands, and are mostly 
 now fanatical Mussulmen, though of the 
 Sclave race, and but thinly mixed with the 
 genuine Tartar blood. The people of the
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. f 31 
 
 south part of the province, touching on 
 Albania, are mostly of the Arnaut stock. 
 The soil is bad, provisions dear, the houses 
 but sheds of straw, and the people ignorant 
 and savage, though somewhat picturesque 
 robbers, in red trousers and tasseled caps. 
 Eggs and black bread are almost the sole 
 provisions to be found in Bosnia, and the 
 keep of a horse comes to eighty piastres a 
 month, while in Bulgaria it costs only thirty.
 
 32 THE BE1DAL 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 TRAWNIK is described as a cluster of 
 mud huts, and the semi-republican and 
 intensely Turkish garrison town of Bosna 
 Serail, where no Pacha is ever admitted, is 
 the only city of any pretensions. To hear 
 both Turk and Christian, Croat and Slave, 
 speak of this sterile province, you would 
 deem it an accursed land, and its sons a 
 set of outcast Pariahs ; yet the most intel- 
 ligent servant I saw in the East was a 
 Bosnian, the Kavass Bashee of the English 
 Consul at Belgrade; and the noblest and
 
 .AND THE BRIDLE. 33 
 
 most superb figure I ever saw, was that of 
 a Bosnian robber or rebel. 
 
 We left Voynich in a rickety kind of 
 old wlieel-barrow, drawn by two bad horses, 
 and with a little dirty straw, by way of a 
 cushion; poor Giovanni piteously murmur- 
 ing, that in Italy, even the prisoners were 
 allowed comfortable carts and clean straw, 
 but that here no such luxuries were to be 
 obtained, even by Forestieri, who could pay 
 for them. 
 
 The bri-.Ige, near the village, was a fine 
 specimen of primeval architecture : a number 
 of narrow loose planks had been laid across, 
 the torrent, so that at every step which the- 
 horses took, the cart bounded as if on spring 
 boards. Nor was this all; for there were 
 sundry very ugly chasms to be half-jumped 
 half-tumbled over, and no parapet to pre- 
 vent a swerve of the horses bearing the 
 whole party into the rushing water. Most 
 
 c3
 
 34 THE BRIDAL 
 
 bridges in the Danubian provinces resemble 
 this. 
 
 At the lonely post-house of Vosterna- 
 inost we had a peep at a true scene of 
 savage life. The house was built of blocks 
 and rough logs, thatched, and supported by 
 wooden buttresses. The interior consisted 
 of one huge room, or rather loft, reached 
 by a ladder, and inhabited by five-and- 
 twenty or thirty people, and a swarm of 
 poultry in baskets. Abundance of cats 
 were there, and a gipsey fire burned in the 
 centre of the earthen floor, round which 
 were squatted many of the inmates, without 
 any reluctance inhaling the smoke, which, 
 unprovided with a chimney, was left un- 
 checked to find its own way out of the 
 cabin. 
 
 The people here were indescribably wild 
 and untutored. \Ve had to change carts at 
 every post-house ; and here the old woman
 
 AND THE BEIDLE. 35 
 
 refused us any straw, and reduced Giovanni 
 to the painful necessity of stealing some; 
 and when we offered four florins for a piece 
 of straw matting worth sixpence, as a cover- 
 ing and shelter against the heat of the sun, 
 we were obligingly told that we must go to 
 Agram if we wished to find such sybaritical 
 comforts. 
 
 There was a girl here, of some eighteen 
 or twenty years of age, a most admirable 
 specimen of savage beauty, as far as large 
 black eyes, red lips, glossy braids of jet, 
 white cannibalish teeth, so glittering that 
 it almost made one shudder to look at 
 them, combined with the air and step of an 
 Indian queen, could realize the picture. 
 
 She wore a shawl cincture over her white 
 petticoat, in form like the rat of the Nubian 
 girls, fringed, and richly embroidered with 
 gold thread. She was evidently the belle 
 of the place, and moved with an untaught,
 
 36 THE BRIDAL 
 
 barbarous grace, which plainly bespoke her 
 knowledge of the distinction. 
 
 They keep the horses in pairs, literally 
 handcuffed, or, perhaps, to speak more cor- 
 rectly, hobbled or /octf-cuffed together, and 
 looking very like so many equine male- 
 factors. 
 
 A turnkey in sandals having liberated 
 two of these unhappy quadruped formats 
 from their hempen manacles, we rattled 
 away from Vosternaniost, with our umbrellas 
 up, as some defence against the fierce rays 
 of the blazing sun. Near here we saw a 
 village of huts or wigwams, on the side of 
 a hill, looking like tilted waggons. The 
 landscape was excessively English, but the 
 armed peasantry and loaded horses changed 
 the effect a little. We dined at Glina, and 
 at Petrina appropriated the horses and 
 carriage of the post commissary, which 
 functionary was a trifle behind his time,
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 37 
 
 leaving people convulsed with laughter at 
 our impudence. 
 
 At Sjsek everybody exerted themselves 
 to the utmost to send us by the steam-boat. 
 The landlord, an accomplished blackguard, 
 offered us the choice of waiting four days 
 for the Saani steamer, or taking his Vettu- 
 rino horses, with which, for some hundreds 
 of florins, he proposed, in ten days, to 
 carry us to Semlin. Every one, even the 
 postmaster himself, threw difficulties in the 
 way of our having post-horses, and assured 
 us we should find no horses, roads, food, 
 carts, or doctors, on the road to Semlin ; 
 and that, at any rate, it would take twelve 
 days, and vast amounts of florins, to reach 
 it; that the road was full of robbers, and 
 that we should, moreover, infallibly catch 
 the marsh-fever, and die in twenty-four 
 hours. 
 
 All this our courier fully credited, and
 
 38 THE BRIDAL 
 
 retailed to us in the most dismal and lugu- 
 brious tone that ever human raven croaked 
 in. We lost a day; but we secured the 
 horses, bj going ourselves to the post-house, 
 where Emily's German, and my passport, 
 converted the bear into a lamb. We tried 
 to hire a cart for the whole journey, to save 
 time in changing at the post-houses; but 
 the man asked, besides twenty-five florins 
 for the hire, forty more as a deposit for the 
 use of a peculiarly unsafe, open clothes' 
 basket upon wheels, which we therefore 
 declined; and next endeavoured to pur- 
 chase a small covered waggon. The price 
 asked was a hundred florins, the real value 
 being about thirty. A broken down old 
 cart was next offered to us at eighty, and I 
 gave up the bargain in disgust. 
 
 In the town of Koustanz, on the river, 
 the people crowded round to shake hands, 
 and ask our nation; the announcement that
 
 AND THE BKIDLE. 39 
 
 we were English was received with wild 
 shouts. "We entered on a long stage of 
 marshy ground, and should soon have been 
 benighted, had it not been for the flitting 
 light of the treacherous feu follet, and the 
 pale bright flash of the glittering fire-fly. 
 
 The road was bad and swampy, the 
 bridges frequent, the driver stupidly sulky, 
 and our progress, of course, very slow. 
 Suddenly we observed a figure in white 
 step from the bushes by the river, and 
 pursue our track. By the dim and fitful 
 light I could just distinguish that it was 
 that of a Turk of powerful frame. He 
 came nearer. 
 
 His face, shadowed by his white turban, 
 I could not see ; but his stately height and 
 exquisite symmetry would have attracted 
 attention anywhere. Every motion spoke of 
 strength, courage, and innate grace; while 
 the free play of his limbs, the noble carriage
 
 40 THE BRIDAL 
 
 of his head, and his proud air, gave him 
 the complete look of a haughty savage chief 
 in an enemy's country. Those who have 
 read " Zohrab" may alone imagine him. 
 
 His arms were gracefully folded on his 
 breast, so as half to hide the weapons 
 which glimmered in his sash; and he fol- 
 lowed us with the stealthy, noiseless step 
 of the tiger, running when we trotted, 
 creeping among the bushes at other times, 
 concealing his figure behind the trees as 
 much as his white dress would allow, and 
 then bounding after us swiftly and silently. 
 Our driver looked back once, and seemed 
 satisfied. 
 
 The Turk drew nearer, his arms still 
 folded. In vain I tried to get a glimpse of 
 his features; but although they were con- 
 cealed, there was a strange fascination even 
 in the man's form and bearing alone which 
 I cannot easily forget. I never saw any
 
 AND THE BEIDLE. 41 
 
 one who looked so thoroughly kingly, and 
 I am certain that I should always recog- 
 nize him in any crowd. 
 
 He came still nearer. The back of the 
 cart was open, and I longed to spring out; 
 but our friend had done nothing to justify 
 an assault on my part, and I contented 
 myself with noiselessly and quietly drawing 
 my sabre, to avoid the rattling of the steel, 
 and waited. He came nearer, and I 
 thought how easily he might have fired into 
 the cart without much danger to himself. 
 Suddenly, with his hand on his arms, he 
 advanced up to the cart, and coolly counted 
 our numbers, as if measuring his single 
 strength with ours, which was nothing par- 
 ticular. 
 
 Giovanni being the most unwarlike of 
 mankind, I drew out a pistol, and cocked 
 it; the click of the lock sounded clear and 
 distinct on my ear, with a kind of nervous
 
 42 THE BRIDAL 
 
 agony, a sense of pain, such, as one might 
 feel at seeing a noble stag about to fall 
 beneath the shot of. an expert marksman. 
 To kill that stately, noble-looking savage 
 seemed like slaying the tiger in his royal 
 beauty. 
 
 There was something so princely in his 
 air, that one could not treat him as a com- 
 mon wolfish beast of prey. Once I thought 
 he grasped the butt of his Turkish pistol. 
 The barrel of mine gleamed in the fitful 
 light. Three steps nearer my finger was 
 on the trigger; another and the next 
 minute would have cost the life of one at 
 least, when the will-o'the-wisp's light 
 flashed full upon the cart, showing the steel 
 hilt of my sabre and the barrel of my 
 ready weapon. The haughty savage fell 
 back, and entered the clump of trees that 
 lined the river; and I fancied I heard the 
 ^plash of oars, which bore him to the
 
 AND THE BKIDLE. 43 
 
 Turkish shore. It was eleven before we 
 reached the village, where the inhabitants 
 were all in bed, and would not be induced 
 to get up on any terms. 
 
 "We drove first to the post-house, where 
 we knocked up the postmaster, and ordered 
 horses for the morning. It being neces- 
 sary to turn, our driver lifted up the back 
 of the cart, and lifted it round by sheer 
 strength a plan which he followed several 
 times that night, and which is very popular 
 in Croatia. 
 
 We knocked at all the ale-houses in the 
 village ; but one and all refused to listen to 
 our postboy's shouts of " Veer das," and 
 our own prayers and supplications for 
 admittance. 
 
 Some people did open their windows to 
 curse us for waking them; others were 
 silent ; but all kept their doors shut ; and 
 never were casual paupers more roughly
 
 44 THE BRIDAL 
 
 rebuffed from the doors of workhouses than 
 were we from any place of rest. We were 
 the outcast Pariahs of the village ; and had 
 we had the plague, yellow fever, and leprosy 
 united, we could not have been more 
 unceremoniously rejected. 
 
 The postboy grew sulky we despaired. 
 What was to be done 1 Were we, in a 
 country of robbers, to sleep in a cart in the 
 street ? No shed, no outhouse could be 
 found. How welcome had been a barn, 
 with dry, clean straw! At last our post- 
 boy grew mutinous, and gallopped off to 
 the post-house. There we again sum- 
 moned the growling, sleepy, and half-clad 
 postmaster, and Emily's purest German 
 requested shelter for the night. It was 
 gruffly refused. 
 
 " Then give us horses immediately for 
 Jasyenovasz." 
 
 "Man travels not by night," was the 
 surly reply.
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 45 
 
 We tried again. No; the horses were 
 turned out to graze. "We offered double 
 payment, but were still refused. There was 
 a deep river ; the bridge was broken, the 
 ford was dangerous, and who was to pay 
 if his horses were drowned \ 
 
 Then, as a last resource, we asked, would 
 he himself take us in for the night 1 Again 
 were we refused, and told to go away. But 
 where, we asked, were we to go to 1 ? A 
 question which evidently seemed to puzzle 
 him; but he could not, he said, give us 
 
 a room, as they were all filled with 
 
 i .1 
 children. 
 
 By this time, however, we had made 
 good our entrance, and even succeeded in 
 walking up-stairs. This, and a last despair- 
 ing appeal that we might be permitted to 
 sleep in the kitchen, at length induced the 
 man to go and consult with his wife upon 
 the possibility of admitting us; we, in the
 
 46 THE BRIDAL 
 
 mean time, resolving that nothing but force 
 should remove us. Nor would this have 
 been wanting; for we had seen in the 
 streets four brigand-looking fellows, in grey 
 coats, wide white trousers, and caps, and 
 armed with long guns ; and these, we were 
 told, were the frontier police patrol. 
 
 At last the worthy pair consented to 
 give us house-room for the night; and, in 
 fact, once roused to Samaritanism, the good 
 folks grew marvellously civil, and provided 
 us with a comfortable sofa, plenty of eggs, 
 bread, and hot water. Tea we always 
 carried with us. 
 
 We fell asleep, with a sense of luxury, 
 enhanced by excess of fatigue and vexation. 
 
 The next morning we started early. 
 Our now mollified host gave us much useful 
 information respecting the roads, and 
 warned us of robbers near Ruma, while he 
 assured us that the only way to secure
 
 AND THE BKIDLE. 47 
 
 horses was to take out our passports, and 
 threaten the postmasters. We rolled off, 
 under a broiling sun, with the great black 
 and purple Turkish Mountains of the For- 
 bidden, the enchanted Bosnia, the land of 
 giants, looming on our right. Near here 
 we saw the first stork swooping heavily 
 through the air. They grew common after- 
 wards. The genii had repaired the broken 
 bridge in the night, and clever workmen 
 they must have been ; for it was a stately 
 structure when we passed over it; and even 
 the perilous ford was shorn of its terrors by 
 the presence of a ferry-boat, with a man 
 in an Albanian dress for a Charon. 
 Having crossed the Styx, we entered 
 Jasyenovasz, quitted the Bannat of Croatia, 
 and were soon in Slavonia. 
 
 We stopped at an inn, about eleven 
 -o'clock, to breakfast, and were uncere- 
 moniously told that it was too late to have
 
 48 THE BRIDAL 
 
 any; nor did any one offer to show us a 
 room, and we were, therefore, obliged to 
 seek one for ourselves. 
 
 Down-stairs, all were locked; but up- 
 stairs we were more fortunate, and at 
 length took possession of the bed-room 
 belonging to the landlord's daughter ; while 
 Giovanni found us some eggs and milk. 
 The fair owner of the apartment appeared 
 noways disconcerted by our appropriation, 
 but calmly, as if we had not been there, 
 proceeded to habit herself in costly array, 
 and soon after went away in state. 
 
 The roads in this part of the country are 
 only very muddy causeways, leading through 
 wet and dreary marshes. The endless 
 police stations are built on pillars of wood, 
 and having no ground-flour, present the 
 appearance of mushrooms upon stilts; and 
 most of the other houses are of the same 
 peculiar form.
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 49 
 
 The country is one huge swamp, through 
 which the horses jingle, with their one 
 tinkling bell hung round their necks; while 
 huge Indian-looking canoes, or periaquias, 
 swarm on the lagoons. 
 
 These boats are simply scooped out of 
 the trunks of large trees, and having but 
 little form or symmetry, are most primitive- 
 looking concerns. The wells of the country 
 are of great depth, and the bucket is lifted 
 by means of a ponderous lever, made of 
 the trunk of some gigantic tree, to one end 
 of which is suspended the bucket, the other 
 being weighed down by one or many heavy 
 logs. These quaint-looking windlasses we 
 afterwards found were very common in 
 Turkey. 
 
 The metal minaret-looking spires of the 
 New Gradisca have a very striking effect, 
 and give an arabesque air to the town, one 
 of the prettiest I ever saw for its size and 
 
 D
 
 50 THE BRIDAL 
 
 situation. The fair white houses and glit- 
 tering spires looked singularly cheerful, after 
 the mud huts of Jasyenovasz and other 
 villages on the road. 
 
 Slavonia is a rich tame country, highly 
 cultivated, and very different from the wild 
 Croatia with its savage race. Great corn 
 fields cover the land, while here and there 
 you see the sacred stork, seated on her 
 unmolested nest, fearless of the face of man. 
 Yet the people's wants are few and simple, 
 and no wealth would keep an alderman 
 from starving. We sometimes found no 
 food but eggs and black bread, after a 
 journey ot fifteen hours. The people are as 
 inquisitive as Yankees. 
 
 At Oriovaez the Kelverinn was a Magyar 
 girl of twenty, who praised the Hungarians 
 and Bosnians, and abused the Slaves. She 
 had just lost her husband, who had been 
 serving with the army in Italy, and she
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 51 
 
 proudly boasted to Emily, " Though your 
 husband looks young, mine, I assure you, 
 was younger." 
 
 In Slavonia it is usual to tack the upper 
 sheet round a coloured quilt, and in the 
 best inns it is customary to change the 
 linen once in three weeks, no matter who 
 had slept in it. 
 
 At Orioyaez sitting-rooms were unheard 
 of, and I was assured no native of Britain 
 had ever been seen there but two English 
 Jews ! The land here is as flat as a 
 billiard-table, and the roads swarm with 
 carts. I verily believe no Slavonian ever 
 walks, or even drives less than two horses 
 in his little waggon. The white coifed 
 women alone stalk about, wearing as aprons 
 fringed rugs made of shaggy wool. 
 
 The fair sex bathe in deep ponds by the 
 roadside as composedly as if they were on 
 the Ramsgate or Brighton sands, the sole 
 
 D 2
 
 52 THE BEIDAEr 
 
 difference between the bathers being in 
 their dress, about which mj Slavonian 
 friends did not appear in any way par- 
 ticular. 
 
 At Nugesbrod we tried hard to get per- 
 mission to cross the river and enter Bosnia 
 for a few hours' excursion ; but vainly did 
 Giovanni walk from castle to fortress, from 
 magistrate to officer, from commissary to 
 catchpole, with the passports. The answer 
 was always that it was impossible, that they 
 dare not go themselves, and that the patrol 
 on the river's bank would stop any officer 
 even who might attempt to embark for 
 Turkey. 
 
 We persevered until the colonel came 
 himself to our rooms, and with the most 
 obsequious civility and cringing politeness, 
 regretted that his orders were imperative 
 to let no one pass. Reasons were asked 
 for this trifling disregard of the law of
 
 AND THE BKIDLE. 53 
 
 nations, but reason, we were assured, had 
 nothing to do with the Austrian govern- 
 ment, and I implicitly credit the fact. We 
 ordered horses, finished our dinner, and left 
 Nugesbrod. 
 
 Further on we passed through a village 
 fete, where all the men were dressed in 
 white petticoats and frilled trousers. The 
 women, besides their ordinary dress, wore 
 very handsome ruffles round their sleeves. 
 Gold was actually refused at an inn near 
 here. It really is almost worth a journey 
 to Slavonia to see the mighty metal 
 monarch of the civilized world looked upon 
 with suspicion, and rejected as the vilest 
 dross. 
 
 An alchemist would starve in the 
 Danubian provinces. He might transmute 
 tin and copper into gold and silver, but he 
 never could turn the precious metals into 
 paper, which is the only acceptable money
 
 54 THE BRIDAL 
 
 you can offer. Dirty ten kreutzer notes 
 are what a Slavonian Midas would have 
 changed all he touched into. Truly, that 
 country can never be long bankrupt, which 
 prefers to trust the flimsy notes of an 
 insolvent government to the metal of the 
 mine. 
 
 In a large pool by the roadside we saw a 
 family party fishing with a drag-net, and 
 comprehending father, mother, two sons 
 and a daughter, the greater part being in 
 costumes of a simplicity worthy only of 
 Eden before the fall. The long hair of the 
 peasantry from Nugesbrod to Rmna is very 
 remarkable, and "gives the men a peculiar 
 ferocity of aspect. 
 
 The inns are in general small and clean; 
 but one I remember perfectly well for its 
 incredible swarms of fleas, of amazing and 
 savage voracity. The beds were quite out 
 of the question, and we slept on a row of
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 55 
 
 hard wooden chairs, with our carpet bags 
 poor substitute for down pillows. But even 
 here myriads of palga followed us, and the 
 martyrdom we suffered was such, that, 
 accustomed as I have since been to the 
 usual Turkish nights' entertainments, I look 
 back to the voracity of the fleas of that 
 village as to some marvellous and unpre- 
 cedented exploit in the annals of the blood- 
 sucking world. Add to the rapacity of 
 these countless devourers the buzz of the 
 viewless but keen lanceted mosquito, the 
 invisible surgeon of the air, and you may 
 get a clear idea of our sufferings. 
 
 On we rattled in the clumsy springless 
 charettes, over the immensely wide roads, 
 with one narrow track winding along them, 
 tolerably smooth and serviceable, the rest of 
 the broad expanse called a highway being 
 totally useless, and resembling nothing but 
 a wet ploughed field. Here, at any rate,
 
 56 THE BRIDAL 
 
 the only thieves to be apprehended were 
 the Gitanos, or gypsies of the country, as 
 the danger of Bosnian marauders from the 
 Turkish bank had ceased. 
 
 By the bye, soon after we lost sight of 
 the respectable person of Mussulman per- 
 suasion, who followed us between Koustanz 
 and Jasyenovasz, I remember a voice 
 shouted out something from the bushes 
 by the river's side, to which our Sla- 
 vonian driver answered by the one word 
 " Glamoteb," and the invisible questioner 
 forthwith held his peace. Now, Glamoteh 
 is the name of a small town in the west of 
 Bosnia, between Trawnik and Basa-Serai, 
 of which it is very probable our white-tur- 
 baned friend might have been a native. 
 At any rate, the word was used as a 
 counter-sign, and a very suspicious one, 
 inasmuch as it argues a very good under- 
 standing secretly kept up between the
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 57 
 
 people on the Austrian and Turkish banks 
 of the river for some concealed purpose. 
 Austria may find mj worthy acquaintance 
 and his Glamoteh a firebrand on her southern 
 frontier some fine night ere long. 
 
 At Csalma I was partly amused and 
 partly disgusted by a quarrel between two 
 postillions. I thought it was about Cognac, 
 but it seems " Cognee" is the Slave for a 
 horse, which was the subject in dispute, 
 They tore each other's hair, they rolled on 
 the ground, kicking and biting, and scratch- 
 ing each other like men possessed of 
 demons. They howled and screamed 
 shrilly, in their odious patois jargon, and 
 gabbled with such frightful volubility, that 
 they seemed fit candidates for Bedlam. 
 
 The men and women within hearing all 
 thought it necessary to rave and gabble in 
 chorus, and one might have deemed it the 
 saturnalia of madness. But at last the 
 
 D 3
 
 58 THE BKIDAL 
 
 duel was finished, and one of the com- 
 batants, a tall powerful man, with hair 
 down to his shoulders, and a face which a 
 painter would have chosen for Cain, got up 
 from the ground, and weeping bitterly, 
 mounted his gig, in which he rattled out 
 of the yard and drove off. The other, a 
 very short German, with hair to match in 
 length, drove us to the end of our day's 
 journey with great steadiness, and the most 
 calm and sober civility. 
 
 The questions of the postmasters and 
 others are astonishingly blunt and simple. 
 " Are you a courier, or what are you V" 
 one man asked me, with perfect composure. 
 
 The sheep with their curious spirally- 
 twisted broad horns, and the woolly dogs that 
 guard them, so like the gentle creatures they 
 protect, as even to deceive a wolf ; but of 
 such great size and strength that he would 
 infallibly catch a Tartar, were he to presume
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 59 
 
 on his mistake, are the most remarkable 
 objects in the country, 
 
 Near Ruma the people insisted that we 
 were Russians, to which we gravely assented. 
 There was a clear blue sky as we left Ruma, 
 with peculiarly still, thick, white, heavy 
 clouds, listless and immoveable, such as we 
 never see in England. A very tropical sky 
 indeed it was, and looked scorchingly hot. 
 The road wound through immeasurable fields 
 of bright gaudy flowers a wide plain en- 
 amelled with waving azure leaves and green 
 steins. At Golnbinitz the postmaster told 
 us, that only about three travellers passed 
 annually. No wonder we found such diffi- 
 culty in obtaining horses on the road. 
 
 At length from a steep hill we caught 
 sight at once of Semlin of the broad and 
 noble river, and of the Ottoman fortress and 
 Servian city of Belgrade, on the opposite 
 bank.
 
 60 THE BRIDAL 
 
 On our arrival at the hotel, in spite of a 
 pelting shower, I instantly quitted our newly- 
 found shelter, and walked to the water's 
 edge. 
 
 Behind me lay the dirty, ill-payed, 
 jingling streets of Semlin ; before me, 
 basking in the sun, which shone only on the 
 favoured side of the water, were the snowy 
 and lofty minarets the rock-planted castle 
 the flashing walls of white Belgrade. It 
 was the first Turkish the first Oriental city 
 I had ever seen, and I could hardly tear my- 
 self away from the prospect. 
 
 The Commissary of the River refused to 
 let us pass that night. We heard that the 
 worthy gentleman was by no means averse 
 to, or above, the temptation of a bribe, and 
 in consequence sent to offer him a few florins, 
 to expedite the boat's departure ; but the 
 honest official coolly answered, that it was 
 now too late, but had the offer been made
 
 THE BRIDLE. 61 
 
 an hour sooner, it would have been promptly 
 and -with pleasure accepted. 
 
 The kellnerin of the hotel was a senti- 
 mental German, who kissed Emily's hands 
 on wishing her good-night ; brought a bunch 
 of flowers to her bedside in the morning, and 
 assured us that she had never seen a French 
 or an English lady before. 
 
 The next morning we took a large boat 
 with four rowers ; had our luggage searched 
 before leaving Austria ; pulled from under 
 the shadow of the Semlin roofs, and steered 
 for the Turkish city, bidding adieu to the 
 West with light hearts and cheerful counten- 
 ances. 
 
 Not so poor Giovanni. He sat in the 
 boat drawn up into the smallest possible com- 
 pass, his head leaning on his hand, his looks 
 half averted from the Austrian shores we 
 were quitting so gaily, and his face red and 
 frightened. He seemed not pale, but scarlet
 
 62 THE BRIDAL 
 
 with fear, while remorse was strongly marked 
 on his features, and he looked altogether like 
 a burlesque picture of a criminal going by 
 water to execution. 
 
 Passing an island of mud with a cheerful 
 population of crows, we next skirted a line 
 of Chinese-looking junks, and saw some fine 
 fish, of twelve or fifteen pounds a-piece, 
 salmon I imagine, fast hooked on lines 
 hanging from their sides. 
 
 The fortress looked calm and hot, perfectly 
 dead, and most unhealthy; and the white 
 town glittering beneath the bright, scorching, 
 glowing sky, with mud and water around, 
 and the fierce sun glaring above, looked just 
 the spot which the plague would choose for 
 the scene of its blasting reign. But the 
 viewless hand was not stretched forth over 
 Belgrade. 
 
 The dreadful angel, Azrael, the scourge 
 and curse of the Ottoman empire, has stayed
 
 AND THE BEIDLB. 63 
 
 his once unsparing scythe, and strikes not 
 now, as formerly, thousands in a day. But 
 the sword of the pestilence still hangs over 
 Turkey. The fiery blade of her destroyer 
 yet gleams in her cloudless sky, and none 
 can say when or where the doomed thunder- 
 bolt of the awful pest may fall on the de- 
 voted sand. 
 
 When we came nearer the shore, a bustle 
 took place, and a Douanier, en House, with 
 a number of porters, advanced. I had 
 " Eothen" in ray carpet bag, and had been 
 reading the author's description of his 
 entry into Belgrade, and of the splendid 
 arms of the porters. But the weapons 
 of these gentry have faded away in bril- 
 liancy since that time, or else they could 
 only have existed in the author's most 
 fertile imagination ; for of those that graced 
 the belts and sashes of the very shabby 
 and ragged fellows on the landing-place, the
 
 64 THE BRIDAL 
 
 utmost my eyes could discern on each, was 
 a single brass-mounted pistol, old, worn, and 
 rusty, with a battered yataghan, or greasy 
 liandjar. 
 
 Every one wears a dagger, which serves 
 as dinner or pocket-knife, and razor too, may 
 be. It has generally a hilt of bone or ivory, 
 with rings of variegated colours, and swings 
 from the sash, suspended by a leathern thong. 
 Thus it may serve on occasions as knife or 
 dagger. 
 
 Some of these men were Turks, some 
 Servian Christians, but all Trere poorly and 
 meanly dressed, and did not assume any of 
 the proud and farouche air proper to good 
 Mussulmen in the presence of an Infidel. 
 They loaded each other with our luggage, 
 which, after much dispute, was finally set- 
 tled on the shoulders of a small, dark, swarthy - 
 featured Turk, and a taller and stouter 
 Greek.
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 65 
 
 The light baggage of umbrellas and cloaks 
 fell to Giovanni's care ; my heavy sabre and 
 swordstick to mine. Off we went, thec, to 
 the passport office, after a brief search of 
 bags, and then started on a very hot walk, 
 up some steep hilly streets, to the English 
 Consulate, whither, for reasons of their own, 
 the porters insisted on proceeding. 
 
 After toiling along the most badly paved 
 of lanes, under a broiling sun, to which 
 Satan's address would have been well be- 
 stowed, we gained the house, where flew, in 
 pride of power, the flag of England. Enter- 
 ing the consul's residence, breathless, heated, 
 and dusty, we hastily followed a man of 
 imposing height, and intelligent appearance, 
 dressed in a short full white petticoat, greatly 
 resembling the Highlander's kilt; with 
 greaves, jacket, and cincture, wherein were 
 displayed, and most tastily arranged, hand- 
 some pistols, dirks, and other instruments of
 
 66 THE BRIDAL 
 
 bloodshed ; and soon stood before the repre- 
 sentative of our country. We were received 
 by the consul with the kindest and most 
 polished courtesy, and with a hospitality 
 which shewed that an English gentleman, 
 like Macassar oil, is warranted to keep per- 
 fect in every clime. 
 
 We heard from him at dinner that there 
 was a rebellion of Rayahs in Bulgaria, in 
 the Pachalik of Nissa, which we should have 
 to pass. A Swiss gentleman was present, 
 who had travelled by that route. He fully 
 believed the fatigues and hardships would 
 prove too much for us ; and when the con- 
 sul said he believed the Nissian rebels to be 
 nearly quelled, replied with a bland smile 
 and incredulous expression, " Croyez vous 
 qu'ils sont domptes f in a tone which Listen 
 could not have equalled. 
 
 The consul found us a Tartar, a fine spe- 
 cimen of his tribe ; a giant in size and
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 67 
 
 strength, with a most showy and powerful 
 person, heavy, yet not ungraceful ; with a 
 dark, grim, swarthy face, whose dusty linea- 
 ments expressed a ferocious sort of good 
 humor. lovon, the Servian Tartar, was the 
 beau ideal of his roving and nomadic caste. 
 I never shall forget his appearance, nor his 
 strange air of fierce docility, as he first stood 
 before us, silent and motionless, his heavy 
 brow bent, his stately form bowed, and his 
 massive arms hanging down on each side of 
 his vast chest, waiting patiently for orders, 
 in a manner that reminded me of the unmur- 
 muring and tranquil obedience of the mighty 
 elephant. 
 
 He was a true Oriental in character; but 
 though resembling the Turks in appearance, 
 he was, in fact, a Christian of the Greek 
 Church, reasonably devout, and no lover of 
 the Moslemah. His age might have been
 
 68 THE BRIDAL 
 
 forty. I took a fancy to the man the first 
 day we had him. 
 
 We had made some rather heavy pur- 
 chases in the town. A hamal or porter had 
 brought them in, and as porters in all coun- 
 tries do, grumbled excessively on being paid 
 his proper fee. He was a tall powerful man, 
 with his handjar in his girdle, but lovon 
 happening to be in the room, took him by 
 the shoulder and pushed him along the pas- 
 sage and down the stairs like a child ; and 
 then returned smiling to us for applause, 
 his white teeth glittering like a lion's under 
 his coal-black moustache.
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 69 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 IN walking through the town, we began 
 greatly to distrust all we had heard of the 
 phlegm and want of curiosity of the eastern 
 nations when Europeans come among them. 
 Never were two owls in the daylight more 
 mobbed and worried by small birds ; never 
 were hawks more relentlessly chased across 
 the sky by flocks of unwarlike sparrows, 
 than we were harassed and tormented 
 wherever we turned our steps. The Frank 
 quarter, the Greek quarter, the Turkish 
 quarter, the Jew quarter. All, all poured
 
 70 THE BRIDAL 
 
 forth their swarins of jelling children, 
 giggling women, and staring men. 
 
 The reports of our intended journey had 
 circulated rapidly from Carlstadt along the 
 frontier, and reached Belgrade before our 
 arrival, and as Emily was the first English 
 lady who had ever attempted to perform the 
 journey on horseback, or, as I believe, ever 
 dreamed of it at all, we became the recog- 
 nized and legitimate lions of Belgrade. 
 
 We happened, when strolling through the 
 city, to see some red saddles of the genuine 
 Tartar form, hanging at a shop door. We 
 asked the price : " Sixty zwansigers a- 
 piece," responded the unblushing saddler, 
 at which the bystanders laughed loudly, and 
 we left the place without stopping to bar- 
 gain. The Tartar had his own saddle, and 
 contrived to borrow another both Euro- 
 pean. We wanted two more, but European 
 saddles were hard to find. Ere long lovon
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 71 
 
 entered with a heap of cushions, bridles, 
 shovel-stirrups, white girths, and a couple 
 of red leather saddles, bound with blue, 
 being the identical saddles we had before 
 seen, and accompanied by their owner, the 
 same saddler at whose shop we had first 
 seen them. 
 
 I once more asked the price of the saddles. 
 They had fallen in value. lovon bought 
 them for fourteen zwansigers each, with stir- 
 rups and girths complete; and the Mame- 
 luke bridles were thrown in for a few more 
 Austrian siras. 
 
 We hired a dragoman during our stay in 
 the town, a Spanish Jew named Alessandro, 
 certainly the best and most disinterested of 
 his nation I ever heard of. He made better 
 bargains for us than many Christians would 
 have done ; gave us a great deal of useful 
 advice about what, in that fatal and deadly 
 climate, we ought to " eat, drink, and avoid,"
 
 72 THE BRIDAL 
 
 and gave me a curious old handjar, with 
 stained ivory hilt, and purple blade; 
 while, marvel of marvels ! Jew as he was, 
 he was perfectly contented with the gratuity 
 I gave him. In fact, he scarcely looked 
 at it. 
 
 By his advice we laid in a small store of 
 lemons and oranges, things unattainable on 
 the road, and doubly precious, as the wine 
 of the country is sour, and pure cold water 
 reckoned unwholesome. Spirits, botli brandy 
 and rakee, every one cautions the traveller 
 against; though the Servians and Greeks 
 are habitual dram drinkers. Tea we had, and 
 coffee too, as Turkish coffee always is, black, 
 muddy, and bad; but, alas, Giovanni, one 
 day, in the plentitude of his wisdom, threw 
 ours away. Tobacco mattrasses, a chibou- 
 que, with amber mouth-piece, cherry-wood 
 stick, and red clay bowl, a Turkish yataghan 
 with its hilt of carved ivory, studded with
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 73 
 
 red stones in their gilt setting, and on the 
 azure of whose broad, carved, dark-blue blade, 
 were letters from the Koran ; holsters, crim- 
 son caps, a huge shawl girdle, a tin basin 
 like a broad-brimmed hat with a low crown ; 
 a tin cup and two glass bowls formed our 
 chief purchases. 
 
 We were very particular in only having a 
 load for one baggage-horse ; yet, besides the 
 above-mentioned, we contrived to carry 
 sugar, wax candles, and several other little 
 iudispensables for a campaign in Turkey. 
 
 The posts were all written down for us, 
 and I had my umbrellas, heavy sabre, and 
 sword-stick, all tied together, One could 
 not well ride under the broiling sun with a 
 massive scabbard of hot steel clanging against 
 one's stirrup'. Determined not to trust to 
 the sharp angle of an eastern shovel, I had 
 a pair of good English spurs, and I soon 
 found that the Tartar lovon had been 
 
 E
 
 74 THE BEIDAL 
 
 equally provident. A cap and red sash made 
 Giovanni's childish though tricky mind per- 
 fectly happy for the time present, and all 
 looked forward with glee to the anticipated 
 start. 
 
 The weather was intensely hot, and the 
 scorching sun and glaring, cloudless sky 
 looked like a blazing furnace, or a canopy 
 of heated copper. There was a metallic 
 heat that parched the very air, and fevered 
 the blood. (Emily was very far from well, 
 and I began to fear the ride would be too 
 much for her.) The consul proposed to pre- 
 sent me to the Pacha, and we accordingly 
 proceeded to the castle. 
 
 At the gate of the fortress the soldiers 
 on guard were lounging about ; under arms 
 indeed, but thrown into the most careless 
 attitudes. We reached the palace itself, 
 where, after a few words exchanged with. 
 one of the numerous attendants who were
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 75 
 
 idling about the spacious ante-chambers 
 and lofty corridors, we advanced into 
 an inner room, where stood Vlasuf 
 Pacha. This said Ylasuf Pacha, the Gover- 
 nor of Belgrade, a man popular with Turks 
 and Christians, equally a friend to the 
 Franks, and a trusty pillar of the Ottoman 
 empire, was * Pacha of the highest rank, 
 the three-tailed Bashaw of the ancients, 
 lie was a Field Marshal in the Turkish 
 army, and receives now 8000/. a-year from 
 the Sultan, and is immensely rich, besides 
 having married the daughter of a celebrated 
 and wealthy Pacha of Widdin, and being 
 himself an Asiatic Turk of high degree, and, 
 I believe, a native of the purely Osrnanlee 
 province of Anatolia. 
 
 His post was a high one, in which also 
 a thoroughly trustworthy governor was 
 necessary, as well as a man who could act 
 with becoming firmness ; as the Servians 
 
 E 2
 
 76 THE BRIDAL 
 
 occasionally refuse to pay their annual 
 tribute to the Porte; yet the life is an idle 
 one, and what is worse to a child of 
 Othman Mussulman, society is rare there. 
 The Pacha was a short, broad-made man, 
 with a heavy figure, a dark complexion, 
 grey or grizzled beard, and a face, good- 
 humoured, save the grey and 'glancing eyes, 
 which seemed as if the fire's fierceness of 
 the true Osmanlee only slept within him. 
 
 His dress consisted of a white damask 
 dressing-gown, with loose sleeves and open 
 breast, a vest of flowered silk drawn tight 
 across the chest, and fitted with close 
 sleeves ; wide white Turkish trowsers, strap- * 
 ped down over French boots ; a black stock, 
 and stand-up collar, and a dark crimson 
 cap, with a long full black tassel. His hands, I 
 noticed, were like those of most Turks, very 
 Ibroad, large, and powerful, 
 
 He received us with great courtesy and 
 kindness, shook hands with the consul,
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 77 
 
 bowed to me with his hand on his heart, and 
 led the way to the great audience chamber. 
 This was a large circular room, lofty and 
 ancient, with a chandelier of several 
 branches, bedecked with hanging lustres 
 suspended from the ceiling. 
 
 The floor was boarded only, all save a 
 narrow slip of carpet that skirted the 
 divan, which, of semi-circular form, ran half 
 
 Hv/UJ. TT . 
 
 round the room. Joirrtsift 
 
 There were two or three arm-chairs, and 
 a little table, huddled up in one corner of 
 the chamber, looking very much as if they 
 had no business there, and knew it very 
 welL 
 
 ,2foo. These were the only articles of furniture, 
 with the exception of a most splendid snake- 
 tubed narghilly, which, with its magnificent 
 cut glass, rose-water vase, and its precious 
 mouth-piece leant against the wall. 
 
 I am told that the Turks give occasionally 
 
 1-lJl ' 'V-w? A J A JL 
 
 Jirenoo sd;t dtiw efwjjrf iooifa
 
 78 THE BRIDAL 
 
 as much as 50/. for a handsome mouth- 
 piece. 
 
 One end of the room was pierced with 
 countless windows, from which I caught a 
 glorious view of the noble river, and the 
 bustling panorama of the busj city below. 
 
 Vlasuf Pacha took his place on the pile 
 of embroidered divan cushions near one of 
 the windows, and by signs invited us to be 
 seated. Then, laying his hand on his 
 heart, he bowed profoundly, and bade us 
 welcome in the Turkish language. His 
 Highness clapped his hands, and half-a- 
 dozen red-capped attendants entered, as 
 if by magic. 
 
 The interpreter was demanded, but alas 
 he was not to be found. 
 
 The Pacha apologized, and we waited ; 
 but the conversation flagged a little. Ten 
 minutes more, and no interpreter. His 
 Highness again struck his hands lightly
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 79 
 
 together, and addressed some words to the 
 crimson-turbaned servants. Touching their 
 eyes and breasts, they retired ; and soon 
 after, one of them brought in a tray of 
 sweetmeats and iced sherbets. 
 
 In five minutes, two pipe-bearers entered 
 bringing long chibouques, which, with 
 bended knee, they gracefully presented to 
 the consul and myself, placing the carved 
 bowl in a small brass stand. A piece of 
 some aromatic wood burning steadily, kept 
 the pipes constantly lighted ; and as I 
 applied the costly mouth-piece to my lips, 
 the delicious fragrance of the Sheraz tobacco 
 streamed upwards in its soft luxurious 
 clouds. 
 
 One should visit the East to understand 
 the true charm, the necessity of smoking. 
 Robbed of his tobacco, the indolent and 
 illiterate Oriental would sink under the 
 attacks of ennui ; but give him his loved
 
 SO THE BRIDAL 
 
 chibouque, or his cherished, his idolized 
 narghillj, and he bids defiance to the blue 
 devils, and drowns care, with every fresh 
 puff of the " fragrant weed." If an 
 Osmanlee were commanded to give up the 
 Koran, or his pipe, I think he would have 
 a hard struggle between devotion and habit. 
 Any lesser matter, such as a houri or two, 
 he would resign, for a single whiff. 
 
 Many a time, after a hard day's riding 
 beneath an eastern sky, burned half black 
 with the sun, tired, thirsty, and exhausted, 
 on arriving at some wretched hut, where 
 scarcely water and black bread were to be 
 found, with perhaps an egg or two, I have 
 lighted my chibouque, and in five minutes 
 been calm and resigned, even passively 
 happy. The nerves require tobacco to 
 quiet them in the Levant. 
 
 The Pacha's own pipe was brought soon 
 after, and then three Moslemites brought
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. SJ 
 
 three tiny acorn cups, of Turkish coffee, the 
 juice of the brown berry of Mocha, boiling 
 hot, and -without cream or sugar. More- 
 over, each grim Ganymede stood sentinel 
 over his victim, while he swallowed 
 the burning liquid, which greatly resem- 
 bled a draught of fire, and blistered 
 one's mouth abominably. But at last "we 
 finished our task, and gave back the cups 
 to their bearers, who, carefully covering 
 them with their hands, backed out. 
 
 Just then my pipe went out, and his 
 Highness observing it, called a page, sent 
 me his own chibouque, and took mine, with 
 a fresh coal in it. I knew the Pacha 
 meant this as a mark of attention, but I did 
 not know until afterwards what a very high 
 compliment he had paid me, according to 
 the customs and usages of the East. 
 
 The interpreter not being forthcoming, 
 we still went on, silently smoking and wait- 
 
 E 3
 
 82 THE BRIDAL 
 
 ing. I amused myself with looking round 
 the old audience chamber, and thinking 
 what barbarous and relentless sentences, 
 what deeds of blood and horror, the ancient 
 walls of that palace chamber must have 
 witnessed. Here, perhaps, was Czerny 
 George, the heroic Servian Prince, with 
 many a patriot warrior, condemned to the 
 block. The Pacha thought of these things 
 no more than Gallio. Seated on his deep- 
 cushioned divan, with one leg carelessly 
 doubled up under him, an ambrosial cloud 
 of smoke issuing from his huge amber 
 mouth-piece, he quietly contemplated me 
 as an Englishman might a picture. 
 
 My hands, in especial, seemed to attract 
 his attention, and he was perpetually com- 
 paring them with his own. Once he pointed 
 to the window, and praised the prospect, 
 and at last our quaker's meeting was ter- 
 minated by the consul's rising. The Pacha
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 83 
 
 walked with us across two rooms, a won- 
 derful thing for a Turk of rank to do, 
 then again bowed with his hand on his 
 heart, and we retired through the corridors, 
 thronged with attendants and guards, and 
 left the palace. 
 
 Cold water is not a beverage generally 
 recommended as wholesome to the traveller 
 in Turkey. Every one advises the admix- 
 ture of sherbet, lemon-juice, or the red wine 
 of the country, which is so villainously bad 
 that I frequently have been doubtful which 
 jug contained the vinegar intended for the 
 salad, and which the wine. Had the law 
 of the Koran been delivered here, there 
 would have been little need of Mahomet's 
 prohibitory precepts in respect to the bibu- 
 lous propensities of his followers. To drink 
 the blood of the Servian grape, is punish- 
 ment enough in itself, I am sure. Brandy, 
 rakee, and liquors are considered highly
 
 84 THE BRIDAL 
 
 poisonous, and all spirits are denounced as 
 evil spirits. 
 
 The evening of the day on -which we 
 were to start arrived, and we put on the 
 dresses we were to wear on the road. I 
 wore a light holland coat, a pair of scarlet 
 Turkish trousers, boots, and spurs, with a 
 turban of scarlet, twisted on a red fez cap. 
 Te tie myself up in my sashes was, every 
 day, a work of time and labour. First, I 
 rolled an immensely thick and heavy shawl 
 several times round my waist ; then I tied 
 on a crimson shawl, and buckled on a broad 
 leather belt, constructed in the oriental 
 fashion, to carry a perfect arsenal of arms, 
 stuck into which were my good Turkish 
 yataghan, pistols, and daggers. 
 
 On the present occasion, I placed my 
 pistols in their holsters. Over my belt I 
 tied a long scarf of scarlet silk, with fringed 
 ends. Emily equipped herself in a mon-
 
 AXD THE BEIDLE. 85 
 
 strous Tuscan straw hat, as a protection 
 against the sun and from her scarlet sash 
 peeped the crossed hilt of a dagger, and the 
 butts of a brace of pocket-pistols. 
 
 We saw the six horses in the court below, 
 and watched the long and clumsy operation 
 of saddling them. lovon was very busy and 
 bustling ; Giovanni, very shrill and self- 
 important ; and, at last, the baggage and 
 inattrasses were piled on the back of the 
 luckless beast who was to carry them, giving 
 
 very much the appearance of a loaded caniel 
 j ii 
 
 to that generous steed. 
 
 Meanwhile, the windows and balconies of 
 the hotel, overlooking the court-yard, were 
 crowded with officers and other well-dressed 
 people ; and ever and anon some one passed 
 our lattice, walking along the balcony, and 
 peeping in at the new lions, as if our room 
 were in reality a den for wild beasts. At 
 length we heard the horses were ready, and
 
 86 THE BRIDAL 
 
 descended the stairs of the hotel to the 
 archway between the court and the street. 
 The throng there had increased to the 
 number of some hundreds, but all were 
 grave as oysters, and preserved as solemn 
 an air as might be expected from a mob of 
 Swiss patriots, assembled to witness the exe- 
 cution of the renowned William Tell. 
 
 The officers present kept order and silence 
 in the crowd ; but it was scarcely needed : 
 they were all as mute as stock-fish, and 
 , looked like people who had come to witness 
 an incredible feat, and evidently regarded it 
 as no laughing matter. One by one, the 
 horses were brought up and mounted. 
 Emily had a European saddle ; so had the 
 Tartar. The Suridgee had the usual saddle 
 of the country a mighty tower of sheep- 
 skins and cloths, placed on a high wooden 
 framework, on the horse's back. 
 
 Giovanni, with a cloak and a number of
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 87 
 
 cushions, made one of the red saddles a 
 tolerably comfortable and endurable seat; 
 whilst I mounted a similar one, but with- 
 out the adjuncts. The Tartar flourished 
 his long pipe-stick ; the Suridgee buried the 
 sharp angles of his shovel-shaped stirrups 
 in his steed's flanks ; and forth we ambled, 
 cleaving the crowd in twain, as a vessel 
 divides the waves. 
 
 Stumbling, slipping, and sliding, in a 
 manner that would have maddened the 
 director of an insurance office, the horses 
 clambered up the steop and rocky streets, 
 and we emerged from the gates of historic 
 Belgrade. I was not long in finding my 
 little red saddle the worst of possible de- 
 vices ; I, therefore, exchanged horses with 
 the Suridgee, whose sheepskins and old sacks 
 made a comfortable seat enough. I strongly 
 advise all Eastern travellers to eschew the 
 showy little crimson saddles, which it requires
 
 88 THE BRIDAL 
 
 \*V %3.v' 
 
 the apprenticeship of a life-time to get used 
 to, and to take English saddles with them, 
 which will materially increase their comfort 
 in a long march. 
 
 To return to our journey. 
 
 We entered on the road to Constantinople ; 
 and the Tartar, who had lingered behind, 
 came up, caracoling and curvetting on his 
 black steed, whose arched neck was flaked 
 with white spots of foam. 
 
 So superb looking and stately a horseman 
 I never before saw, as he pranced on to the 
 front ; his noble form set off to advantage 
 by his tight white damask vest and huge 
 crimson embroidered trousers his swarthy 
 features glowing with animation. His boots, 
 of immense size, were characteristic of his 
 profession; his wide shawl cincture was 
 hung all over with little boxes, bags of to- 
 bacco, and handjars ; while his pistols pro- 
 jected in front, and his broad curved scimi-
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 89 
 
 tar was supported by a red cord, which was 
 passed over one shoulder, after the manner 
 of a highland scarf. 
 
 Your genuine Oriental, destitute of pockets, 
 affixes everything to his sash, and thinks 
 nothing of any weight which he can carry 
 at his waist. lovon's dress was remarkably 
 showy, and he guided our cavalcade by the 
 wave of his hand, or the flourish of his pipe- 
 stick. 
 
 From a mound we looked back on Bel- 
 grade, over which the sun was setting, gilding 
 the shining waters of the Save, and flinging 
 a blood-red gleam upon the city of the Ser- 
 vian. My horse was a tolerably good one, 
 and an amazing favourite with the Suridgee, 
 who never wearied in praising him. " Dobra, 
 dobra" ("Good, good"), he exclaimed, and 
 "Dobra" I willingly replied. "Ah, ah!" 
 was th response, " Suridgee bashi dobra." 
 
 It now grew rapidly dark, and became
 
 90 THE BRIDAL 
 
 soon necessary, by the Servian's creed, to 
 scare the demons from our path. Accord- 
 ingly, the Tartar and Suridgee, as in duty 
 bound, commenced a monotonous wailing 
 song, varied -with the most appalling and 
 unearthly shrieks, groans, and yells. 
 
 The howling was of so awful a nature as 
 most effectually to secure us against any 
 perils from disembodied assailants, they 
 might it is true, give warning to mortal 
 robbers of our approach, and they evidently 
 struck terror into the boldest demons of the 
 Servian waste. 
 
 Every now and then, as we cantered on 
 in front, we overtook a conveyance, drawn 
 by malicious-eyed bullocks, looking exces- 
 sively like evil spirits, in the dim light. Their 
 drivers always halted, and drew up to let us 
 pass. After some hours' riding, we reached 
 Grojsko, the first post station, where we were 
 to pass the night We had our mattrasses
 
 AND THE BEIDLB. 91 
 
 spread on the floor of the best room in the 
 house, and asked for some supper. I was 
 astonished to find a large and handsome 
 stable, well illuminated, lofty and airy. A 
 Turkish stable always affords a great con- 
 trast to the wretched hovels in which Croa- 
 tian horses pass their miserable lives. The 
 purveyor sent forth into the village, returned 
 with three eggs, a loaf of tough black bread 
 and an abundance of fresh cold water in a 
 large brown pitcher. 
 
 Luckily, I never felt less hungry, or more 
 thirsty. Lemons and sugar we fortunately 
 possessed, and I made innumerable glasses 
 of lemonade before I could be prevailed on 
 to lie down and rest. 
 
 The room was close and hot ; and as the 
 door opened into the street, we slept with it 
 open, for the benefit of fresh air ; and we 
 were much startled early the next morning 
 by the apparition of a cow, who was de-
 
 92 THE BRIDAL 
 
 murely making ineffectual attempts to squeeze 
 herself through the open door of our sleeping 
 apartment, which she doubtless mistook for 
 a cow-house, or shed. Well, the mistake 
 was very pardonable. 
 
 Our people lay down anywhere on the 
 ground outside the stable- door. At about 
 half-past six, loyon awoke us ; we made a 
 hurried toilet, drank a hasty cup of tea, and 
 were soon ready, and once more iu the 
 saddle. 
 
 To eat was impossible the intense heat 
 and fatigue took away the power. This was 
 fortunate in one respect, as eggs do not 
 abound at Grojsko ; and as for meat, you 
 might as well ask for beefsteaks in a Brah- 
 min's house, or a Banyan hospital. 
 
 We rode on to Kolar, where we dined on 
 a piece of soddened kid in water, a lettuce, 
 and some cherries. 
 
 We had a bottle of the Jew's rosoglio with
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 93 
 
 us, which proved an excellent restorative ; 
 and after riding in the fierce heat of the day, 
 was very invigorating. 
 
 Every one in Belgrade had warned us to 
 ride early and late only ; but we found it 
 impossible to avoid travelling in the hottest 
 part of the day. About noon we generally 
 managed a two or three hours' halt, when it 
 was possible ; but we were often in the 
 saddle when Apollo sent down the rays from 
 his burning quiver, as keenly as the arrows 
 which pierced the children of Niobe. 
 
 By the bye, it is an incident worth men- 
 tioning, that the morning we left Grojsko, 
 we started without lovon, but had not gone 
 far when, instead of his overtaking us, we 
 met him riding very fast up a hill, brandish- 
 ing his long pipe-stick in a menacing attitude, 
 with a white muslin handkerchief twisted 
 round his head, and the ends streaming in 
 the wind, giving him exactly the air of a
 
 94 THE BRIDAL 
 
 Bedouin Arab. He rode furiously up } 
 flourishing his pipe-stick menacingly over 
 the Suridgee's head, and violently abused 
 the father, mother, grandmother, and great- 
 grandmother of the atrocious " Pezzadink," 
 who, it seems, had taken the wrong turning, 
 and led us two miles out of our way. 
 
 We went on through a prettily-wooded 
 country, full of deep miry streams and 
 morasses, through which our horses floun- 
 dered with difficulty. The heat was intense, 
 and might make every one but a native think 
 of fevers, &c. 
 
 Game is not very plentiful, considering 
 the deeply -wooded nature of the country ; 
 but when a hare broke from her cover and 
 cantered down the road, lovon spurred out, 
 on the instant, with all the activity of a 
 genuine Arab, whose kefichs his head-dress 
 resembled, and fired his long barrelled pistol 
 full at pussy's head. A flying shot, and well
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 95 
 
 aimed; but we were doomed to make our 
 supper that night without hare soup, although 
 the Tartar lingered still among the bushes, 
 to have another shot at the long-eared 
 fugitive. 
 
 This was near Hassan Pacha Palanka, 
 which is a snug little village enough but it 
 was not easy to find a house with a spare 
 room in which to sleep, and we had to re- 
 main in the street, the centre of a crowd, 
 and the cynosure of all eyes, for several 
 minutes. 
 
 At last a room was found with an earthern 
 floor ; and for sole furniture, a kind of 
 wooden platform covered with a straw mat. 
 The windows were, as usual, glassless, and 
 closed with paper-paned shutters. The door 
 opened on the immense barn, or common 
 room, always found in Servian houses, where 
 unaccountable numbers of people, sit, smoke 
 and sleep, round a gipsy fire lighted on the
 
 96 THE BRIDAL 
 
 floor, with no chimney, or egress o any kind 
 for the smoke, excepting the window or open 
 door. 
 
 This room is free to poultry and some- 
 times even to pigs and horses. Here we 
 were installed with due formality; and here 
 were a chicken and some tea brought to us 
 in due time. Whenever we wanted anything 
 in a Servian house, we sallied[* orth and im- 
 peratively commanded the first person we 
 met to get it for us ; and I must say they 
 always executed our behests with unmurmur- 
 ing alacrity. 
 
 In the East, if you do but usurp authority, 
 the Orientals instantly, and as a matter of 
 course, obey you. It matters little that you 
 have not the shadow of any right over those 
 around you : one soon gets into imperative 
 and despotic habits there, and I never k hesi- 
 tated to beckon any one I saw, to light my 
 pipe, hold my horse, or perform any other
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 97 
 
 menial office I might require, and this 
 without payment, merely by the power of 
 an authoritative tone and gesture. 
 
 The curiosity of the people is very ex- 
 cessive. They stare at you through the 
 windows of your humble apartment, and 
 sometimes even force their way in at the 
 door; and if you stir out, they follow and 
 watch you, as they would a wild beast. 
 Strange animals we were to them. 
 
 'I soon found out, though, that when I 
 
 . 
 walked about with my lighted chibouque, 
 
 the curiosity of the natives was far less 
 
 annoying. They seemed to think a Frank, 
 
 f 
 who employed his time in so very laudable 
 
 and praiseworthy a manner, could not be so 
 
 very great and absolute a barbarian, after 
 
 .. 
 all. 
 
 I bajt 

 
 .98 THE BRIDAL 
 
 bsq 
 
 *taur< 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 
 THE Servian forest is grand and stately 
 enough, and its cool shady recesses only 
 need the soft emerald turf of England, in- 
 stead of the short parched brown herbage 
 grass of Turkey, to be the most inviting 
 places for pic-nics ever seen. Wherever 
 you go, dark sweeping glades, and vistas 
 covered with arching oaken boughs meet 
 the eye. 
 
 The shepherd's pipe, or, rather, the goat- 
 herd's, pours its wild strains in pastoral 
 cadence from the thickets. I never ex-
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 99 
 
 pected to hear such music from red-capped 
 Corydons, nor to find Sir Philip Sidney's 
 Arcadia realized by turbaned swains. 
 
 Somewhere near Batuschin, we saw num- 
 bers of bright-winged kingfishers, like flying 
 rainbows, among the trees ; and also, with 
 many other curious specimens of the fea- 
 thered tribe, a beautiful bird of a bright 
 green colour, closely resembling a parroquet. 
 Bright, gaudy-winged beetles were flitting 
 about, and showy strange insects loaded the 
 evening air. 
 
 On we went, tramping through the park- 
 like scenery, now crawling at the rate of a 
 walking funeral, now dashing onwards like a 
 charge of cavalry, as the wild hearts of our 
 attendants became exited by some passing 
 event. 
 
 The shoes of the Servian horses are nailed 
 on over a flat thick plate of block tin, 
 which, by covering the ball of the foot en- 
 
 p 2
 
 100 THE BEI DAL 
 
 tirely, prevents tlie possibility of tlieir ever 
 picking up a stone, but renders them more 
 liable to slip over the rough roads. 
 
 At Batuschin, the people were savage 
 and unfriendly. We were housed almost 
 by force, and the natives were consequently 
 in a terrible passion. At Tagodin, Giovanni 
 made us some soup, and came to us com- 
 plaining bitterly that the Tartar had done 
 his utmost to flavour it with lemons, and 
 upon his resisting the innovation, honest 
 lovon almost insisted upon substituting in- 
 stead the yolks of eggs, and could only be 
 induced to desist from his attempts by 
 Giovanni's frantic appeal to us. The Tartar 
 doubtless derived his notions from some 
 'Turkish mess, and appeared greatly crest- 
 fallen, that his well-meant, though some- 
 what bizarre attempts to please our Euro- 
 pean palates, were not appreciated. 
 
 The roads about here were terribly niiry
 
 AND THE BEIDLB. 101 
 
 and bad. We had to ford a considerable 
 river, and somewhere near Selinpeljee were 
 ferried across another, over whose swift cur- 
 rent frowned the black peaks of the mighty 
 Balkan. Far as the eye could reach, the 
 dark masses of the gloomy mountains rolled 
 away, mass upon mass, cragg looming over 
 cragg, with here and there some cloudy 
 height towering above the rest. 
 
 The postmasters were all very civil, and 
 gave us up their rooms to dine or rest in 
 with apparent willingness. All knew the 
 indefatigable lovon, who alternately bullied 
 a refractory Suridgee, and sought cherries 
 for us. 
 
 One afternoon, as we were approaching 
 the Ottoman border, I was agreeably sur- 
 prised to find myself on a really good horse, 
 a fact I first discovered by the murmurs of 
 approbation that followed him from the 
 post-house, and greeted him in the next vil-
 
 102 THE BRIDAL 
 
 lage, and which reminded me of the recep- 
 tion of the ex-race horse Peter, in " Harry 
 Lorrequer." 
 
 The Suridgee was a showily-dressed 
 young fellow, well armed with pistols and 
 brass-mounted yataghan, and evidently very 
 proud of himself. But even this was quite 
 a secondary feeling to his admiration for 
 my horse. After three or four hours' riding 
 I remarked that the Tartar called up the 
 Suridgee, spoke to him in a whispering 
 tone, took the halter of the baggage horse 
 himself, and dismissed the fellow, who, 
 striking his stirrups into the panting sides 
 of his good little grey, bounded forward, 
 and was out of sight in a moment. 
 
 When his red tarboush had fairly disap- 
 peared over the hill, I began to think there 
 was something very mysterious in this con- 
 duct. I knew the Bulgarian rebels against 
 the Pacha of Nissa were hanging somewhere 
 about the frontier.
 
 AND THE BKIDLE. 103 
 
 To interrogate lovon on such a subject 
 was useless, I knew ; but I thought I might 
 as well push on over the oak-covered hills, 
 and reconnoitre as well as the Suridgee, 
 keeping a bright look out for an ambush, 
 and trusting to my horse's heels in case of 
 meeting any of the revolted Rayas. Off 
 I went, then, at full speed, passing the 
 astonished Tartar, and hurrying up the 
 wooded slope. 
 
 I was soon out of sight, and galloped on 
 as the shadows of evening fell on the deep 
 woodland country. The ground was deep 
 and bad, and I caught no glimpse of the 
 Suridgee, who had gone off at a tremendous 
 rate. It grew dark very rapidly, and the 
 occasional gleam of a fire from some distant 
 forest grove was not very encouraging. 
 
 If the insurgent Christians were really 
 lurking near, I might have ridden into their 
 very camp without knowing it, and " Dobra
 
 104 THE BRIDAL 
 
 liahanoches" would hardly, I fear, have done 
 for a password. 
 
 After a time I halted until our own 
 cavalcade came sweeping down the gloomy 
 
 of the road now brought us to 
 the lonely farm-house, where we were to 
 sleep, and where the missing Suridgee him- 
 self received us. 
 
 On the banks of a large river we passed 
 a row of shops, entirely composed of green 
 boughs, and presenting a most singularly 
 picturesque though comfortless appearance. 
 
 The town beyond had a very Russian air, 
 and abounded in men in the European 
 i jrt wliich looked unutterably hideous, 
 by side with the flowing robes of the 
 
 last. 
 
 We were lodged in a small close room, 
 ten feet by six, and too low to stand up- 
 right in, which was only to be reached by 
 c> *
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 10 J 
 
 mounting a flight of wooden steps at the 
 farther end of a muddy yard. Our mat- 
 trasses were spread in this black hole ; but 
 being unwilling to allow our old Greek host 
 to emulate the tyrant of Calcutta, we took 
 possession of the straw matted platform or 
 covered square verandah outside, where all 
 the winds of heaven could enter, and where 
 our landlord with his family usually passed 
 the evening. Here, then, we established 
 ourselves, lovon hanging up his arms in 
 token of possession, and then leaving us, to. 
 prepare our supper and his own. 
 
 Our presence in the house was outrage 
 enough to the feelings of the proprietor, 
 but our occupation of his favourite verandah 
 was an act of lawlessness that drove him 
 well-nigh to desperation. He sent us word 
 that the air there was bad, and that we 
 should most infallibly catch the cholera, 
 unless we exchanged the fresh breeze and 
 
 P 3
 
 106 THE BRIDAL 
 
 cool platform for the stifling atmosphere of 
 our small dungeon. 
 
 All was in vain ; the host and his son, an 
 intelligent young Greek, fruitlessly brought 
 all their eloquence into play. We obsti- 
 nately disregarded their miserable faces 
 and heart-rending, passionate ejaculations, 
 and firmly held our ground. Next morning, 
 when we went away, the agony of the 
 Greeks had increased to such a towering 
 pitch of rage, that they seemed inclined 
 to vent it in pulling their own house to 
 pieces, there being nothing of ours left to 
 avenge their wrongs upon. 
 
 The horses from this post-house were 
 curiously wooden-looking animals, whose 
 joints were too stiff and clumsy to allow of 
 their going out of a foot's pace, except 
 under repeated application of whip and 
 spur, when they were impelled into a shuf- 
 fling amble, or floundering rolling canter,
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 107 
 
 while they evidently indulged in the delu- 
 sion, that they were going at racing speed. 
 We saw a number of the sacred storks that 
 day, poising themselves on their long wings 
 over the corn fields, or gravely wading in 
 the morasses, picking up frogs. 
 
 lovon was sacrilegious enough to fire off 
 his pistol at one, and the bird's utter stupe- 
 faction shewed his astonishment at this 
 sudden and unprecedented act of treachery 
 and ferocity in the human species. Gates 
 frequently cross the roads here, and the 
 trouble of opening them forcibly recalled 
 old rides among the Kentish hills to rny 
 recollection. 
 
 We had travelled for about two hours, 
 when, from the black mountain range, a 
 terrific tempest of wind and rain came 
 driving down upon us. The thunder bel- 
 lowed, and the lightning flashed fearfully 
 from the cloudy and shadowy peaks of the
 
 108 THE BRIDAL 
 
 threatening Balkan. The Tartar dashed to 
 the baggage horse, seized the umbrellas and 
 
 C2C> O p 
 
 gave them to us ; but, alas ! the fierce wind 
 turned them inside out in an instant, and 
 nearly bore us and them away together, 
 while the rain dashed in torrents in our 
 faces, aiid soon drenched us as completely 
 as if we had been dragged through a river. 
 Vainly did we lash the miserable brutes of 
 post hacks, they would not move faster 
 than about five miles an hour. The very 
 Tartar, in his oilskin capote and huge boots, 
 was dripping like a river god ; the Suridgce 
 looked like a drowned rat, Giovanni im- 
 plored his patron saint, Emily resembled a 
 Nereid, and I myself upheld a useless um- 
 brella with exceeding difficulty, while carry- 
 ing water enough in my petticoat, like 
 Turkish trousers, once scarlet, but now, 
 alas ! maroon colour, to supply a thirsty 
 Arab village.
 
 AND THE BEIDLE. 109 
 
 We rode for some hours dripping, dreiiched, 
 and chilled, until we came to a solitary and 
 dreary looking post-house, where we unloaded 
 the baggage-horse, changed our clothes, 
 haying first turned the postmaster out of 
 his only room for the purpose, got some 
 hot water with great trouble, hunted out a 
 flask of brandy from a bag, and made a 
 wholesome and invigorating repast of un- 
 ripe cherries, cucumbers, eggs, and black 
 ligneous bread. It was about the middle of 
 the next day when we arrived at Altzeuissa, 
 under as scorching a sun as ever threatened 
 to addle northern brain. 
 
 We were housed at the postmaster's, as 
 usual, during our noon- day halt, and pro- 
 vided with a dinner of eggs and cherries. 
 While seated at our repast, a highly respect- 
 able Mussulman, with a long white beard 
 and flowing robes, came in, and regarded
 
 110 THE BEIDAL 
 
 us with looks of unbounded respect and 
 admiration. 
 
 He inquired whence we had come, and 
 whether we were going to Stamboul, also if 
 Emily could write! 
 
 On being answered through an interpreter 
 in the affirmative, his wonder and delight 
 grew absolutely childish, and he went away 
 salaaming and smiling like a bearded angel. 
 
 Next in came a short, slight, well-dressed 
 old man, in a white turban, and with a 
 dark intelligent face, white hair, and a glit- 
 tering eye. He accosted us in excellent 
 English, and when I had taken a whiff or 
 two of his chibouque, informed us that he 
 was Kishld Prendrich, a celebrated Servian 
 Tartar, who had been forty or fifty times to 
 Constantinople with cabinet messengers. 
 We had heard the fame of his exploits at 
 Belgrade.
 
 AND THE BKIDLE. Ill 
 
 At his request, or rather entreaty, we 
 rode back through the town to visit his 
 house, which we found to be pretty and 
 white, built and furnished in something like 
 the European style. 
 
 He was extremely hospitable, and very 
 proud of the English books and other com- 
 forts to be found in his residence. He gave 
 us some very good coffee and sherbet, and 
 kissed our hands at parting, with all the 
 grace of a thorough-bred Oriental. His 
 horse, fitted with an English saddle, stood 
 at the gate, held by a liveried and booted 
 tiger, and all his establishment bespoke him 
 one who had amassed riches in his profes- 
 sion, and had European tastes for his hobby 
 and mania. 
 
 We rode for a good many miles among 
 the dark and frowning mountains, whose 
 misty crags seemed to menace a storm, 
 when the boding sound of muttering 
 
 o o
 
 112 THE BRIDAL 
 
 thunder fell upon our ear, and the clank of 
 the Tartar's chain bridle behind me an- 
 nounced that he was in a hurry. 
 
 Off we went, pell mell up the hill, gal- 
 loping wildly in the rapidly falling dark- 
 ness, while the growling thunder gradually 
 increased into a sullen roar, and then broke 
 into a succession of stunning peals that 
 rolled and vibrated among the mountains, 
 whose echoes answered fearfully to the 
 artillery of the sky. 
 
 Crash upon crash, roll upon roll, burst 
 from the veil of darkness, while incessant 
 flashes lit up the heavens with blood-red 
 lurid gleams of light. Streams of forked 
 lightning fell constantly on the road and 
 among the bushes at the side, and to hold 
 the plunging horses was impossible, had 
 we tried, which we did not. On the con- 
 trary, our attendants animated them with 
 the wildest cries, as we dashed furiously
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 113 
 
 through the storm; and just as the heavy 
 rain began, we caught sight of a lonely 
 police station and spurred gladly towards it. 
 
 The Jew's dagger escaped from my sash 
 as we neared our place of refuge ; but no 
 time was to be lost, and we were scarcely 
 housed beneath the sheltering roof, before 
 a very avalanche of rain, mixed with blind- 
 ing flashes of lightning, burst forth from 
 the gloomy clouds, deluged the earth in a 
 moment, and converted every mountain 
 rivulet into a roaring torrent. 
 
 To proceed under this waterspout, which 
 realized fully the notion of " the windows 
 of heaven being opened," was impossible. 
 We therefore, without leave, either asked or 
 obtained, walked into the officer's room, 
 which contained a table, two stools, and 
 two raised boarded bedsteads. Here we 
 established ourselves sans ceremonie, and 
 ordered our mattrasses to be spread.
 
 114 THE BEIDAL 
 
 The floor was of stone and very uneven, 
 while a collection of bridles and arms, 
 guns, swords, and yataghans, with enormous 
 holster-pistols hung round the walls, com- 
 pleted the furniture, useful and ornamental, 
 of the apartment. 
 
 The Ottoman frontier lay close at hand, 
 and was plainly visible from the window. 
 A high sort of double barn door crossed 
 the road : its leaves were kept shut, and 
 this, we were told, was the boundary of the 
 Sultan's empire and hereditary dominions. 
 We were in the frontier police station on 
 the Servian side ; eggs abounded, and they 
 gave us at tea two roasted thrushes, while 
 lovon brought us a duck for supper. 
 
 At night I was awakened by a noise of 
 scuffling and pattering in the room. I 
 looked round, and saw by the light of the 
 burning candle a large black rat. I hunted 
 him to the window, and drove him through
 
 AND THE BEIDLE. 115 
 
 it with a thrust of my yataghan, and 
 returned to my broken repose. 
 
 The next morning, the rain still con- 
 tinued, though with abated violence, and 
 the ground, as far as the eye could reach, 
 was one vast puddle. The soldiers, thus 
 imprisoned, amused themselves by dancing 
 a strange kind of national dance in a circle, 
 to the sound of a flageolet of reeds, to 
 while away the time. By and bye a police- 
 man took his long flint gun. and kicking 
 off his heavy shoes, crawled down among 
 the bushes that lined the road, most care- 
 fully concealing himself. Then another 
 fellow took his piece and followed his 
 companion in the same manner to the 
 ambush. I fully thought they were lying 
 in wait for some unwary traveller, bandit, 
 smuggler, or rebel; or perhaps, by the 
 precautions they took, for some wild beast, 
 when, to my amazement, as I watched their
 
 116 THE BRIDAL 
 
 red eyes gliding from bush to bush, the 
 nearest soldier fired his musket at a cluster 
 of unsuspecting birds on the ground. His 
 comrades set up a wild shout of " Victoria!" 
 from under the sheltering roof of the 
 verandah, and the conquering hero came 
 bounding along with looks of triumph, and 
 one small thrush most feloniously slaugh- 
 tered with the government powder and shot, 
 
 dangling from his hand. Thrushes, it 
 
 <N ! as?/ if oid w *k> 
 appears, arc game in Servia. 
 
 Soon after this notable piece of sport, 
 lovon carried the Jeskiri to be inspected by 
 
 j , - i'T RO 
 
 the officers on the Ottoman side of the 
 "door" and returned, followed by the 
 Suridgee, leading the Turkish post-horses, 
 which had been brought from Nissa for us 
 that morning, the Servian horses not being 
 permitted to pass the boundary. 
 
 "We mounted, notwithstanding the state 
 of the roads, and the rain, which was still
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 117 
 
 falling, and rode through the gate, passing 
 at oncd from a Christian into a Moslem 
 country, bj the ceremony of riding through 
 the open leaves of an old barn door ! That 
 
 clumsy and heavy portal seemed made to 
 
 * j r 
 
 shut out Christianity. 
 
 J 
 
 On the other side of the gate were several 
 policemen and our destined escort, an old 
 grey-bearded Mussulman soldier, with a 
 long musket slung over his back, the muzzle 
 of which was protected against the wet by 
 a sort of miniature drum-stick. He rode 
 
 an active little horse, and wore a crimson 
 \v i 
 
 cap and an old scarecrow suit of clothes, 
 
 which would have qualified him for an 
 
 1 
 
 inimitable Guy Fawkes ! 
 
 Our horses were very tolerable, but the 
 drizzling rain and the heavy wet ground, 
 fetlock deep in mud, were anything but 
 inviting. Still the journey was to be per- 
 formed ; the cattle were hired, and back to
 
 118 THE BRIDAL 
 
 Nissa they must go ; so the Suridgee 
 howled fearfully, after the fashion of his 
 tribe, and off we dashed, the horses' hoofs 
 splashing in chorus to his lugubrious music. 
 
 The rain came driving in heavy sheets 
 before the wind, and we kept our umbrellas 
 up the greater part of the ride. Away we 
 went along a road, half mud, half water; 
 crossing streams, and wading pools con- 
 siderably more than knee deep. 
 
 One marshy lagoon we waded must have 
 been half a mile in width, very deep, and 
 much too muddy to enable us to discover 
 the road below. At another time we 
 scrambled along the shingly and slippery 
 banks of a small river, where a trifling 
 slide would have plunged us headlong into 
 the boiling stream below. 
 
 In about three hours we stopped at a 
 small hamlet, where we found a motley popu- 
 lation, half black, half white, and we were
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 119 
 
 regaled, on a wooden platter, with dwarf 
 strawberries at the khan of the said village 
 
 o 
 
 We next rode over a wild heath, of con- 
 siderable extent, much such a site as Mac- 
 beth and the weird sisters must have held 
 their meeting in. For a long time we rode 
 over this swampy and slippery plain, the 
 very image of desolation and solitude; 
 until suddenly looking up, we saw, far 
 distant and dim, the domed mosques and 
 snowy minarets of Nissa, looking like a 
 number of tall, slender pencil-cases on the 
 horizon. 
 
 We saw this tov\m, as is the case with 
 most Oriental cities, for some hours ere we 
 reached it ; and the nearer we approached, 
 the wilder, more uninhabited, and barren 
 the country appeared. It is ever thus with 
 a town on whose walls waves the Orescent 
 banner. Cultivation flies from the city 
 ruled by a Turkish pacha, and the hus-
 
 120 THE BRIDAL 
 
 bandman cares not to toil where the haughty 
 conqueror, the Tartar barbarian, lias per- 
 manently fixed his camp. This sudden 
 transition from the bustling haunts of men 
 to total solitude must always strike a 
 European traveller. 
 
 "We entered the town at last, passing 
 through gates guarded by Turkish sentinels 
 and strong fortifications, through whose 
 frowning bastions our way wound. 
 Floundering, slipping, and stumbling over 
 the break-neck pavement, headed by the 
 soldier, we threaded a labyrinth of streets, 
 and came at last to a huge, crazy, wooden 
 bridge, which quivered and rocked in all its 
 rotten, rickety piers, as the noble river 
 rushed by in its strength. 
 
 The river itself, swollen and turbid, on 
 account of the recent rains, presented an 
 imposing aspect. It was a broad and 
 mighty stream . of rushing yellow water,
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 121 
 
 flaked with snow-white masses of d foam, 
 bounding and leaping madly along in huge 
 tawny wayes. The vast piles of the bridge 
 reeled and trembled as they met the swift 
 fury of the rolling torrent. The large 
 trees, lately growing in a dry meadow, but 
 now half sunk in discoloured water, shook 
 and bent like pliant willows; and the mon- 
 strous chestnut-coloured billows, crested 
 with wildly-tossed wreaths of foam, roared 
 in their rapid course like a pack of hungry 
 and furious wolves. 
 
 We crossed the bridge, and passed 
 through the Turkish quarter, with its 
 strange-looking, wooden, booth-like shops, 
 the counters of which were crowded with 
 staring smokers, in white turbans, green 
 robes, and yellow slippers, who all gazed at 
 us with the greatest curiosity and amaze- 
 .ment. 
 
 When we had passed from under the
 
 122 THE BRIDAL 
 
 roof of the bazaar, we soon made our way 
 through the Greek or Christian part of the 
 town, and dismounted at the door of a two- 
 storied red house, where a parcel of pelissed 
 and flat-capped boys thronged round, and 
 several black-bearded men came out to 
 welcome us ; one of them spoke Italian. It 
 was the house of a Greek Cardinal, but as 
 much like an inn as any house of entertain- 
 ment to be met with in the country. 
 
 They gave us a room up-stairs, carpetted 
 and fitted up with a comfortably- cushioned 
 divan our sofa by day, and our couch by 
 night. We found it a great luxury to be 
 able to change our wet clothes; and 
 Giovanni cooked us a meagre meal, as 
 European as possible, but still a miserable 
 imitation of the French cuisine, to which 
 lovon, whose tastes were more Turkish, 
 insisted on adding two huge vegetable mar- 
 rows stuffed not with pearls, but with
 
 AND THE BKIDLE. 123 
 
 meat and rice ; also some cucumbers, pears, 
 cherries, and sherbet, greatly to the horror 
 of his Neapolitan fellow-servant, who 
 detested anything and everything Turkish. 
 
 Just as we were going to begin dinner, 
 however, his Eminence the Cardinal, with 
 the doctor of the 5th Regiment, paid us a 
 formal visit, attended by a pipe-bearer, car- 
 rying the Hellenic prelate's chibouque. We 
 most heartily wished the red-capped doctor, 
 with his pure Italian, and the black-robed 
 Greek ecclesiastic, with his talk about 
 ^schylus, in a place, the climate whereof is 
 considered to be seven times hotter than 
 that of Demerara or Jamaica. 
 
 Still they sat and conversed while our 
 dinner cooled, and seemed really to think 
 that the best refreshment for two wet, 
 chilled, and hungry people was their delec- 
 table company, which would have been dry 
 and unpalatable enough under any cir- 
 
 G 2
 
 124 THE BRIDAL 
 
 cumstances. At last they went away, 
 leaving us to dine and sleep in peace. 
 
 The Cardinal inhabited the room oppo- 
 site our own, the only door of which was 
 thick red curtain. Here he smoked his 
 pipe all day on the divan, and dined in 
 company with our servants! If Greek 
 Cardinals make a constant practice of 
 dining with servants, I should be curious to 
 know who the usual companions of their 
 ordinary priests can be.
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 125 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 NEXT day I went up to the fortress 
 pretty early, with the Medico as an inter- 
 preter. Passing through a crowd of guards 
 and attendants, we entered a long corridor, 
 wound our way through a labyrinth of 
 unfurnished, white-washed ante-chambers, 
 whose bare walls seemed strangely out of 
 character in a palace, and came to a small 
 room when the doctor preceded me, to 
 announce to the Pacha my intended visit. 
 He returned in a few moments, saying, that
 
 126 THE BRIDAL 
 
 his Highness would receive me at once. 
 Another minute, and we were in the pre- 
 sence of Hussein Pacha. 
 
 This functionary, the famous Viceroy of 
 Bulgaria, of whose tyrannic rule so many 
 stories are current in Belgrade, is a man of 
 perhaps sixty years, with a white beard and 
 an exceedingly swarthy complexion, such 
 as T have remarked in many Anatolian 
 Turks. His figure is broad, square-built, 
 heavy, and powerful, but of clumsy pro- 
 portions. He was attired in a frock-coat, 
 loose white trousers, black shagreen slippers, 
 a black stock, and starched collar. 
 
 Like many Turks of high rank, he has 
 large broad hands, and very small, well- 
 formed feet. His features expressed a sort 
 of good-humoured ferocity, a kind of savage 
 bonhommie; but his eye was red and fierce 
 as that of a wild bear. He was very 
 courteous and civil, although his manners
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 127 
 
 were bj no means so prepossessing as those 
 of Vlasuf Pacha. 
 
 As soon as we" were seated on the divan, 
 the Pacha clapped his hands, after the 
 fashion of the Arabian Nights, and several 
 servants appeared, to whom he growled out 
 some words from between his grim mous- 
 tache, and the obsequious attendants 
 touched their foreheads and breasts, and 
 retired, but only to return immediately 
 with sweetmeats, sherbet, pipes, and 
 coffee. The pipes were chibouques, six 
 feet in length, made of lilac stems with the 
 bark on. 
 
 After a few silent puffs, the conversation 
 was opened by the Pacha, who expressed 
 his delight at my visit to his capital. Of 
 course I replied that his Highness' honours 
 were more exalted than the stars of heaven : 
 and the old man acknowledged the com-
 
 128 THE BRIDAL 
 
 pliment with his hand on his heart by the 
 expressive word " Pekke" 
 
 The Pacha next informed me that he 
 was not, like other Turks, uneducated and 
 illiterate, but that he had travelled in 
 Wallachia, and had even once been in part 
 of Europe! He then asked the news from 
 London, spoke with great respect of Lord 
 Palmerston and Sir Stratford Canning, and 
 informed me that the Reis Effendi was his 
 cousin. I expressed due surprise and 
 admiration of the fact, and he went on to 
 say that he had long wished to see both 
 London and Paris, but was now too old to 
 travel, and was besides unable to speak 
 any European languages. 
 
 I suggested that perhaps his Highness 
 might be one day Ambassador to London, 
 and that he could easily learn a little 
 English if he wished it, or of course easily
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 129 
 
 dispense with it. if his servants spoke it. 
 " My beard is white," answered the old 
 man, stroking his grey moustache. " When 
 I was young, as you now are, I might have 
 done these things." 
 
 He was very inquisitive about the popu- 
 lation of London, and the number of car- 
 riages to be seen in Hyde Park. He was 
 also anxious to know the state of India, 
 whether I had ever seen the Turkish Elclii 
 Bey in London, and, above all, whether the 
 English Consul at Constantinople were niy 
 brother 1 On receiving a negative reply, he 
 seemed surprised, and almost ^incredulous, 
 saying, that as I was an Englishman it was- 
 very strange that we should not be related. 
 
 He gave me permission to go over his 
 palace, which was hardly worth the trouble, 
 and put his own carriage at our disposal to 
 drive round the town and visit the anti- 
 
 G 3
 
 130 THE BEIDAL 
 
 quities. He concluded his offers by the 
 promise of air ample teskeri, and a strong 
 cavalry escort to accompany us on our 
 journey. 
 
 Just then the Jewish Council arrived, in 
 their robes of state, to consult about some- 
 thing with the Pacha. They were a swarm 
 of old gentlemen in white turbans with 
 flowing blue and yellow gowns, and on their 
 entrance I took my leave of Hussein, and 
 left the palace in company with the obliging 
 doctor. 
 
 We next proceeded to the Commandant's 
 quarters. Passing a guard, and stepping over 
 a gaunt wolf-dog, we entered a low-built 
 house, in an inner room of which we found 
 the dignitary himself, surrounded by soldiers 
 and servants, in a wonderful state of desha- 
 bille, and performing the religious ablutions 
 enjoined by the Mussulmen law. When he 
 had finished he dismissed his attendants, put
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 131 
 
 on his gold-laced uniform coat, and received 
 me with cordiality. 
 
 Achmet Effendi, the Colonel of the 5th 
 Regiment, would have been called a General 
 of Brigade in most countries, as he commands 
 four thousand men, and receives five thousand 
 a-year from the Sultan. 
 
 He was the most amiable and good- 
 natured Moslem I ever conversed with. 
 His dark complexion proclaimed him a Turk 
 from Asia, and I believe he was a man of 
 high rank and birth. 
 
 We assumed our places on his divan, and 
 the Commandant clapped his hands for the 
 everlasting pipes and coffee. In came the 
 acorn cups of scalding liquid, and the long 
 cherry-wood chibouques; and puffing and 
 talking commenced, varied by occasional sips 
 of the burning hot liquid in the fairy little 
 cups of curious old china. 
 
 The Colonel had been in Syria during the
 
 132 THE BRIDAL 
 
 campaign against Egypt, and had been pre- 
 sent at the siege of Acre. I think he spoke 
 with about equal reverence of Ibrahim Pacha 
 and Sir Charles Napier. 
 
 He was very glad, he said, that we had 
 not passed through Bosnia, which he assured 
 us was a country fit only for wild animals, 
 and did not contain a single man of any 
 education or intelligence. 
 
 " I was on the Bosnian frontier once," he 
 said, "fighting against the Ban Jellachich. 
 It is a bad land ; the people, uncivilized 
 brutes, very few of whom are Moslems by 
 blood, and the soil is so poor, that the keep 
 of a horse, which comes to thirty piastres a 
 day here in Bulgaria, costs eighty in 
 Bosnia." 
 
 I asked him what he thought of the far- 
 famed city of Bosnce-Serai, the garrison and 
 stronghold of Bosnia, that military semi-re- 
 public which rejects the rule of a Pacha.
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 133 
 
 He answered, that it was a fine city, and 
 prettily situated, but the people bad and 
 turbulent. 
 
 The Bulgarian rebellion, he told me, was 
 nearly at an end, and I should find tran- 
 quillity generally restored throughout the 
 province ; and even the mountain villages 
 on our route, lie seemed to think, we should 
 find tolerably quiet. At the same time he 
 offered me any escort I pleased, either 
 infantry or cavalry, from Nissa to Sophia. 
 " Take ten men," he said ; " take twenty, 
 thirty, nay, a hundred, if you will : you shall 
 be more than welcome." 
 
 I thanked him, and expressed a wish to 
 have two or three dragoons or sewarri. 
 These were readily promised, although the 
 revolt, they thought, then existed only along 
 the banks of the Danube, near "\Yiddiu. 
 Still, though they admitted the existence of 
 abundance of rebels, the Doctor and Colonel
 
 1-34 THE BEIDAL 
 
 could by no means be induced to admit that 
 of robbers. They stoutly and unblusliingly 
 assured me, that nowhere in Turkey, not 
 even in the outcast and forbidden province 
 of Bosnia, "with its hordes of barbarians, did 
 any banditti ever make their appearance. 
 
 This denial was, I suppose, a kind of 
 bravado to establish a reputation for the 
 civilization of their own country, and to hide 
 as much as lay in their power the gaping 
 wounds of the Ottoman Empire. I after- 
 wards saw many bloody and ghastly proofs 
 of the existence of robbers in Turkey, and 
 cannot therefore credit the accuracy of the 
 evidence of my informants at Nissa, to the 
 contrary. 
 
 The number of the population of London 
 greatly puzzled our friend Achinet Effendi. 
 He spoke of the city of Tiflis as being, ac- 
 cording to his notion, one of the most popu- 
 lous in the world. At last he proposed that
 
 ANI) THE BRIDLE. 135 
 
 I should hear the band play ; and calling in 
 a tall, swarthy, fine-looking Milazim, or 
 ensign, he sent him to give directions for the 
 performance, and requested me to name an 
 hour in the morning, when, if fine, I should 
 like to see the troops on parade. He even 
 offered to expedite the arrival of some anti- 
 cipated cavalry and artillery from some 
 town in the south, and get up a review 
 expressly for my amusement. 
 
 He next sent a servant to fetch a curious 
 kind of straw mosquito fan, made at Mecca, 
 which he begged leave to present to Emily, 
 with his compliments, to keep off the 
 flies on the road to Constantinople. At 
 last the band was announced as in readiness 
 to discourse "most eloquent music," and 
 after shaking hands with the kind old 
 Achmet Effendi, who had been forty-five 
 years in the Turkish army, I took my 
 leave.
 
 136 THE BRIDAL 
 
 I walked up to the barracks, accompanied 
 by the Medico, who having been in Italy, 
 and wishing at some future time to visit 
 France and England, asked me if there were 
 not a railroad from Amsterdam to London ! 
 
 The Milazim, who met us at the gate 
 of the barracks, looked exceedingly like a 
 sergeant, garnished with a white shoulder 
 belt. The guard stood to arms, and the 
 officers buzzed around us like a swarm of 
 bees, with swords Lilted with transparent 
 horn; while queer little stars, brass cres- 
 cents, and small cartridge boxes, covered 
 the breasts of their uniforms. 
 
 I was introduced to one or two of the 
 chefs descadron, and we all sat down in 
 front of the court, where the swartlry crim- 
 son-capped band was mustered. A dusky 
 Arab, the band-master, an officer of higher 
 rank than a Captain, in the Turkish army, 
 waved his hand, and the clingy-faced musi-
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 137 
 
 cians struck up. Very well they played 
 too, and a pretty dose of music they gave 
 us. 
 
 First they played two Operas through : 
 they then rattled over Polkas and Waltzes 
 enough to set even the grim Osmanlee 
 dancing ; and next a Russian and a Polish 
 march; also a Turkish march and retreat, 
 which was very curious. 
 
 The peculiarly wild, mournful, yet martial 
 character of this their native Tartar music, 
 the wild wailing notes of the trumpet, sad 
 and plaintive beyond description, and the 
 deep short rolling of the Turkish drum, 
 have a charm to thrill the senses ; and I 
 was carried back, in idea, to the days of 
 Mohammed, the conqueror of the Greek 
 Emperors, of Suleiman the Magnificent, 
 Anmrath, and Bajazet, and other long 
 passed heroes of the haughty line of Othman. 
 The Tartar race, though less refined and gentle
 
 138 THE BRIDAL 
 
 than the elegant and accomplished Arabs, 
 were marked by even a prouder style of 
 chivalry, although it might have been, per- 
 haps, somewhat ruder in its character. 
 
 In the pauses of the music, the nearest 
 Captain constantly looked at me for ap- 
 plause, and appeared much and wondrously 
 gratified by a few words of approval ; and 
 when the band, having been ordered to play 
 me a salaam, gave a prolonged Oriental 
 flourish and filed off in a body, the swarthy 
 Arab band-master was presented to me 
 by my worthy Asmodeus, the Medico. I 
 praised his people's performances, which 
 appeared to please him greatly, and we left 
 the Parade. 
 
 But we were by this time surrounded by 
 a swarm of officers, and 1 had first to visit 
 their quarters, then the casernes of the pri- 
 vate soldiers, who were all put under arms 
 for niy inspection. I was obliged to
 
 AND THE BKIDLE. 139 
 
 examine arms, men, uniforms, paletots, 
 knapsacks, cartouch-boxes, everything. 
 
 The men were mostly short, thickset fel- 
 lows: here and there were some fine-looking 
 Osmanli soldiers, with bold, hardy, intel- 
 ligent features; but all were Mahometans, 
 no others being admitted into the army, 
 and most of them, natives of Roumelia or 
 Anatolia. 
 
 About seven JSTugroi Monsenegrins were 
 attached to every company of a hundred 
 men. There were very few Albanians, or 
 Bosnians; these warlike and gallant barba- 
 rians being mostly retained for body guards 
 to Pachas, or for a force of irregular police 
 soldiery. 
 
 The Turkish troops I consider to be well 
 drilled automatons, in perfect discipline. 
 Their uniforms are badly made, and a paltry 
 imitation of the French ; but they have been 
 wise enough to keep the crimson cap with
 
 140 THE BKIDAL 
 
 its handsome purple tassel, instead of the 
 European casquette. It was wise to retain 
 this, as, although far less picturesque than 
 the fine old turban, the red tarbousch is the 
 chosen head-dress of every Moslem in the 
 Ottoman Empire, from Sultan and Pacha 
 down to the humblest caiquegee. 
 
 It was curious to see how the Turkish 
 officers crowded round the infidel Frank, 
 and with what eager childishness they 
 showed him their accoutrements, and asked 
 if they were the same in Europe. Had I 
 been the Duke of Wellington, they could 
 not have been more anxious to gain my 
 approbation of their military perfections ; 
 and the soldiers, when I stopped before 
 them, seemed to regard me as if I were the 
 Sultan's Capidjee Bashi, the bearer of life 
 and death. 
 
 After expressing my approval of their 
 Nizam Djedeed, I went over the hospital,
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 141 
 
 whose excellent condition deserves really 
 very great praise. The utmost care is 
 taken of the sick in the Turkish service, 
 and they are provided with every care and 
 comfort. 
 
 The next thing I had to inspect was the 
 barracks for the artillery. Cannon, saddles, 
 sabres, pistols, men, and horses, all were 
 paraded before me, and I approved of all. 
 The saddles were black and heavy ; the 
 sabres short, curved and light ; the pistols, 
 rough and plain ; the guns of brass ; the 
 gunners, tall fine men, and the horses large, 
 strong, and spirited. They come from 
 Wallachia. As I was conducted round the 
 stable, the chain halters clattered and 
 rattled, and the brutes kicked, as if ani- 
 mated by the spirit of the most malicious 
 of Mussulman Fakeers. 
 
 I was then invited into the quarters of 
 the captain in command of the artillery, and
 
 142 THE BRIDAL 
 
 soon found myself on a velvet divan, the 
 centre of a group of officers, and with the 
 long snaky tube of a narghilly between my 
 lips, with the rose-water bottle of cut glass 
 in my hand, smoking fragrant puffs of the 
 most delicate Persian tobacco. 
 
 I was asked a thousand questions about 
 the English army and the state of India, 
 and I, in my turn, took the opportunity of 
 catechizing my Paynim entertainers. I 
 learned that a milazim, or ensign's pay, 
 amounted to the magnificent sum of 24/. 
 yearly, and that of a captain is 48/., while 
 a colonel in command of 4000 or 5000 
 men, has 5000/., and a Pacha even 8000/. 
 a-year. 
 
 The pay of a private soldier in the 
 Turkish army is 20 piastres, or about 45. 
 monthly. But it is an understood thing 
 that the low pay of the inferior officers and 
 privates is fully compensated for and eked
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 143 
 
 out by various perquisites and contributions 
 levied on the Christian Rayahs of the Porte 
 and other inhabitants of the Ottoman Em- 
 pire. The Sultan's treasury is all the 
 better off from this arrangement, and the 
 people, I fancy, not much the poorer. 
 
 They must be rich, those Bulgarian 
 peasants, with all their outward show of 
 poverty ; for their lands need little tilling 
 to be fruitful and productive, and their 
 wants are few and simple, so I think they 
 may well afford to spare something to the 
 " true believers," whose Crescent banner, 
 and glittering sabres protect them from 
 more unlicensed marauders. 
 
 Taking leave of my infidel hosts at last, I 
 walked with the Doctor through the Turkish 
 quarter, where a sergeant soon came to tell 
 us the Colonel wished to see me, and was 
 waiting to receive us close by. I was 
 accordingly dragged into a linendraper's
 
 144 THE BRIDAL 
 
 shop, where Achmet Effendi was seated on 
 the counter, solemn as a monarch on his 
 throne, and in the grave and undisturbed 
 possession of his chibouque. 
 
 Our arrival roused him from his dreamy 
 state his oriental reverie. Shaking hands 
 with me, he presented me with his pipe 
 until another was brought for me ; and we 
 then smoked and chatted for about twenty 
 minutes. The EfFeudi did not meet an 
 Englishman every day, and was apparently 
 determined not to spare the Frank wanderer 
 a single question that could possibly be 
 asked about his distant country, its manners 
 and customs. 
 
 But at last the Colonel's loquacity, like 
 a watch, seemed to have run itself down, 
 and I bade adieu to the kind old Moslem, 
 and walked home to the Greek quarter with 
 my red-capped Asmodeus, who resided in 
 the next house to the Cardinal's, where we 
 were for the present domiciled.
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 145 
 
 The next morning a Greek entered our 
 room at breakfast time, and read out a slip 
 of paper "written in Italian, of which lan- 
 guage he was himself totally ignorant. It 
 consisted of an invitation to us to re- 
 pair to a neighbouring chapel to be pre- 
 sent at the funeral of an old woman, accord- 
 ing to the rites of the Greek Church. 
 
 The man read out the notice in a parrot- 
 like sing-song tone, ending with the words 
 " Perclie e morta ma vecclua donna,'' and 
 finished with a loud burst of laughter, as if 
 the death of an unfortunate old woman were 
 the wittiest and drollest joke in the Joe 
 Miller world. 
 
 We obeyed the invitation, and adjourned 
 to the little chapel, embellished within and 
 without with its queer hieroglyphic paint- 
 ings of the Panagia and the saints of the 
 Greek Church, especially St. George of 
 Cappadocia, St. Michael, and St, Phemetri. 
 
 H
 
 146 THE BRIDAL 
 
 eacli of "which beatified personages had 
 " a y c o s" somebody, written under the 
 paintings of their figures. 
 
 We found no one there but some sleepy 
 vergers, getting ready a greasy store of thick 
 candles and small farthing rushlights. Emily 
 resolved to wait the arrival of the procession, 
 and I determined that all the old women in 
 Turkey, Greek or Moslem, living or dead, 
 should not interfere with my breakfast-hour. 
 I returned to my coflee, sent Giovanni to 
 the chapel to mount guard, finished my 
 " heziri," and walked back to the little 
 Greek church, which was, by this time, 
 crammed with wild-looking, wailing women, 
 and savage-looking barbarians of men, whose 
 half-shaved heads and long scalp-locks gave 
 them a look even fiercer than that of any 
 Mussulmen, and infinitely more disgusting. 
 
 Everybody held a flaring dripping candle, 
 and began singing one of the most horrible,
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 147 
 
 whining, nasal litanies conceivable, led off 
 by the priests; while our host, the veiled 
 (not prophet) cardinal, in his high cap of 
 felt, beat time from his pulpit with his gilded 
 episcopal crook. 
 
 Somebody put a candle into my hand, 
 and I elbowed my way through a crowd of 
 devotees to a pillar, against which I leaned 
 to survey the scene. On a raised truck in 
 the middle aisle, lay the dead body, with a 
 picture of the Pangia, and a breviary on the 
 breast, a huge mass of red and yellow flowers 
 surrounding the head, and covering the 
 wooden trestles of the bier. The face, of 
 course, was uncovered. And, oh, how ghastly 
 looked that stern and rigid face, from the 
 mass of blooming roses and tawdry mari- 
 golds that shadowed it, as if in hideous 
 mockery ! There it lay, upturned, grim, and 
 terrible, from the frightful and revolting con- 
 trast between the dead pallid lineaments and 
 
 H 2
 
 148 THE BRIDAL 
 
 the fresh buds of the Eastern garden. The 
 eyes were wide open, and their fixed and 
 stony glare seemed to have some strange 
 and unearthly fascination, such as the skull 
 of the Egyptian skeleton, when displayed at 
 their feasts, might be supposed to possess. 
 
 Just then honest lovon entered, crossed 
 himself devoutly, muttered a prayer or two, 
 strode across the church, and took my caudle 
 from me. I then made my way to where 
 the officiating priest stood. He wheeled 
 himself and his little moveable desk out of 
 the way, chanting and howling all the time, 
 and allowed me at last to gain Emily's side, 
 whose candle-end was just beginning to burn 
 her fingers. 
 
 The chanting being over, all the Greeks 
 in turn stepped forward to kiss the book 
 and the forehead of the old woman. This 
 ceremony took up some time; but when 
 each candidate had had his or her turn,
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 149 
 
 the bearers took up the body, and the 
 whole procession moved off with it, shriek- 
 ing out their intolerable nasal litanies. The 
 sight was by no means a pleasing one. 
 
 Two hours afterwards, we saw the truck 
 which served as a bier standing against a 
 wall for hire, with many other hand-barrows 
 of the same kind, and I speculated upon its 
 next probable destination. The women of 
 the neighbourhood had decked their coal- 
 black hair with the gay flowers they had 
 plucked from the body of the dead. The 
 idea seemed ghastly to me. 
 
 I called on the doctor, who was not at 
 home; but his servants presented me with 
 a pipe and some coffee, and I awaited his 
 return for some time on the commodious 
 divan until my patience was exhausted, 
 when I returned to our temporary home, 
 and we passed away the morning as well as 
 we could, in looking from the window at
 
 150 THE BRIDAL 
 
 the landscape, and talking over the varied 
 events of that and the preceding day. 
 
 The scenery round Nissa is very noble in 
 its mountain grandeur. Trees are scarce, 
 it is true, and sylvan glades are not fre- 
 quently to be found in Turkey, after once 
 leaving the oak forests of Servia; but a 
 magnificent range of blue heights, the haunts 
 of the wolf and the chosen strongholds of 
 the bear; a savage and undulating heath, 
 with a broad, sweeping river, make up 
 together a very passably pretty prospect. 
 
 In the evening we walked out, taking 
 lovon as a guide. His swarthy, good- 
 Immoured face, and stately figure, looked 
 particularly striking that day, and a whim 
 seized us, to carry him to England. We 
 turned, and on the impulse of the moment 
 told him our plan, and asked if he would 
 like to go with us to the land of civilization. 
 He doffed his cap, looked exceedingly
 
 AND THE BEIDLE. 151 
 
 pleased, and answered in his broken German, 
 "Ja, ja gut, gut;" whereupon we told 
 him that we intended remaining for a month 
 or two at Stamboul, and then returning to 
 England. At this he looked positively 
 enchanted, again reiterating " good, good," 
 and the affair was settled. 
 
 It must be an adventurous proceeding 
 for a native of the East to make up his 
 inind to visit Europe, the unknown land of 
 the West; and certainly an Englishman 
 would have been harder to coax from Dover 
 to Calais than honest lovon from Stamboul 
 to Southampton. 
 
 On our return I again visited the doctor. 
 He was smoking in his garden with a circle 
 of his Mussulmen friends, who all arose on 
 my appearance, and with many a low 
 salaam quitted the garden, leaving us to- 
 gether. We went up stairs, smoked a pipe, 
 drank a few glasses of Egyptian rakee, by
 
 152 THE BRIDAL 
 
 way of liqueur, and looked over the Medico's 
 store of Turkish and European arms. 
 
 He made me go through the broad-sword 
 exercise with his curved Osmanlee scimitar, 
 and then himself performed the Eastern 
 guards and cuts. I got some information 
 from him, too, of a military nature. 
 
 I learned that the Pacha had set off with 
 the Colonel, and three battalions of foot, at 
 a moment's notice, to quell the rebellion at 
 Yriddin, and command on the Danube's 
 banks. I thought with pity on the old 
 man, who had said his beard was grey, and 
 that he should never travel more, thus sent 
 from his home at the arbitrary will of his 
 superior, with no time allowed him even to 
 prepare for the sudden change, so uncon- 
 genial to his habits, and which might have 
 been spared to the white-haired old soldier. 
 Omail Pacha was to replace him in the 
 government from which he had been so
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 15-3 
 
 summarily ejected, and all Nissa was in 
 confusion and rout. 
 
 I asked what the Turks thought of the 
 renegade Bern, now the apostate Murad 
 Pacha, It seems they consider him quite 
 as a fourth rate general, and keep him at 
 Trutalui, like a sword in the sheath. 
 
 The army in general seemed to regret 
 the destruction of the Janissaries, those 
 lion-like champions of Islam. The Medico 
 said, they remembered that in the days of 
 Yanizar, the Sultan made great wars, and 
 was treated on an equality with the Christian 
 
 powers of Europe, before whom he was 
 now forced to bow. 
 
 It seemed strange that any should dis- 
 approve of the extermination of that blood- 
 stained and terrible corps, to whose unbridled 
 licence and cruel ferocity every old inhabi- 
 tant of Stamboul will bear witness ; but the 
 hardy and untamed barbarians were the 
 
 H 3
 
 154 THE BRIDAL 
 
 bravest and best soldiers of the Sultan's 
 empire the thunderbolts for the faith of 
 the Prophet the dread warriors who had 
 fearlessly clambered over the gory walls of 
 reeking Stamboul, and who had fought hand 
 to hand with the heroic defenders of the 
 Cross, and battled with the devoted knights 
 upon the breach of the citadel of Malta. 
 
 When the fierce and Giaour-hating child 
 of Hadgee Beksash fell, then was the sabre 
 of the Osmanlee Sultan broken, and the 
 right arm of the Tartar snapped in two.
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 155 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE following morning we resolved to 
 leave Nissa ; and the horses were brought 
 to the door at an early hour, to be saddled 
 and bridled. When I came down, I found 
 an old woman of Bulgaria haranguing Emily 
 vociferously in her native language, and 
 seeming infinitely disappointed at receiving 
 no reply or notice of any kind. I greeted 
 her with "Dobra dochos" ("Good day"), 
 which at once won her heart, and procured 
 us a torrent of blessings as we rode out of 
 the yard.
 
 15G THE BRIDAL 
 
 The Greek girls, with their jet-black hair 
 rolled up into plaits of immense thickness, 
 and wearing coronals of scarlet cloth, span- 
 gled with brass crescents, came out in crowds 
 to stare at us. Each of our horses wore a 
 large blue amulet bead on his halter, which 
 is never taken off, or tied securely in his 
 tangled mane. This is supposed to be a 
 charm against the evil or envious eye. 
 
 One of the troopers who escorted us had 
 a beautiful pair of very long Albanian 
 pistols, completely covered with frosted 
 silver : they were about the most richly 
 prnarnented arms I ever saw. The police 
 cavalry often wear splendid yataghans and 
 pistols, and richly ornamented arms of every 
 Jdnd, which, are all booty, taken from slain 
 
 robbers, and which, of course, become the 
 perquisite of the conqueror. Turkish marau- 
 ders arc very coxcombical about the fashion 
 and adornment of their weapons.
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 157 
 
 A mile from Nissa, we passed the famous 
 tower of, I am afraid to say how many 
 thousand, Servian skulls trophies which 
 IOYOII seemed particularly to admire. The 
 tower is very perfect, and quite round ; and 
 the white grinning skulls, cemented together, 
 have a very curious effect. 
 
 We rode through much water and mud, 
 and clashed through some wet, swampy fields 
 of tall Indian corn, to escape one great 
 morass. Above us towered some cloud- 
 wrapped giant mountains, to the tallest of 
 which, lonely and isolated, Emily gave the 
 name of Peak Ivan. 
 
 The road was most singular if road it 
 might be called a mere horse-track or 
 bridle-path ; now climbing up the bed of a 
 dry torrent on the hill-side, now crossing 
 a shingly stream, intersecting a deep brook 
 or small lagoon, now leading over a mass 
 of sharp and slippery rocks. In crossing
 
 158 THE BRIDAL 
 
 one foaming water-course, we observed a 
 large tortoise sheltering himself under a 
 projecting stone from the force and fury of 
 the current. We rode back into the bed of 
 the stream ; and lovon, swinging his heavy 
 form to the ground, caught it dexterously, 
 and rode off with it in triumph. He slung 
 it in a basr on the Suridgee's horse. 
 
 o o 
 
 We saw several other specimens of the 
 tribe afterwards, one of which we caught ; 
 but it was soon thrown away, as one crusta- 
 ceous captive was a sufficient proof of the 
 productions of a tropical climate. 
 
 On we went, scrambling up and down 
 the most savage hills and stony glens, ever 
 and anon stopping to change our escort, at 
 one of the many police stations that formed 
 the only habitations on the road. Strangely 
 picturesque places they were ; windmill- 
 looking huts, accessible by a ladder, and 
 strong enough to stand a siege, while in
 
 AND THE BEIDLE. 159 
 
 front of each was a nest or perch, consisting 
 of a platform of branches, built up between 
 two trees, on which stage sat and smoked a 
 troop of gaily dressed soldiers, whose steeds 
 were neighing below. They usually talked 
 to lovon in a cheerful tone, until the fresh 
 escort mounted and rode forth. 
 
 Towards evening our horses showed signs 
 of great fatigue, and we were but little less 
 tired than the wearied animals we rode. An 
 abrupt turning in the road brought us in 
 sight of a tobacco caravan, by the side cf 
 which stood a loaded camel, the first we had 
 seen in the East. Darkness fell around us 
 long ere we reached Sarkjee. 
 
 The roads were frightfully bad, the night 
 pitchy dark ; and the exhausted horses could 
 only be kept from falling under us by the 
 constant use of lash and spur. All our 
 party, with the exception of Giovanni, who 
 always followed us, were some distance ahead,
 
 160 THE BRIDAL 
 
 the soldier acting as guide and splashing 
 through incessant pools of mud and water, 
 where we followed as best we could. My 
 whip and spurs were not idle ; but my horse 
 was the most tired of the party, although lie 
 still exerted himself to clear the trifling 
 ditches in the way, to the best of his ability. 
 
 The only light was afforded by the fitful 
 glow of the pale fire-fly, whose bright wings 
 and lustrous lamp shone the clearer for the 
 dim obscurity. It was only very rarely that 
 we could make out the towering form of the 
 Tartar in front of us, whose giant bulk made 
 him far more conspicuous than his com- 
 panions. 
 
 Had robbers or rebels planted an ambus- 
 cade on the mountain road, we might have 
 been easily surprised and cut off in detail, 
 straggling and separated as we were. And 
 had we known, as we afterwards knew, the 
 deeds of blood which were enacted that
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 161 
 
 night, we might perchance not have felt 
 especially secure. 
 
 At last, when Emily w r as so tired as to be 
 almost unable to sit her horse, having been 
 that day eleven and a half long hours in the 
 saddle, we heard the bull frogs croaking in 
 the marsh that surrounded the ruinous old 
 Turkish town of Sarkjee. 
 
 We rode into the cavalry barracks where 
 we were to be quartered, dismounted from 
 our jaded steeds, and followed the Tartar 
 up-stairs. 
 
 A grave Turkish officer, in a dressing- 
 gown, bid us welcome in broken Italian, and 
 we took possession of a room, furnished with 
 mats, arid cushions stuffed with Indian corn. 
 Never did beds seem so luxurious. Early 
 the next morning we were awakened by a 
 heavy trampling in the loft over our heads, 
 of which we afterwards discovered the cause. 
 Our toilet, as usual, was soon completed,
 
 162 THE BKIDAL 
 
 a short process where people sleep half 
 dressed, and we made Giovanni get us some 
 breakfast. The face of the worthy Neapo- 
 litan expressed mingled horror and triumph, 
 and he tried hard once more to persuade us, 
 even then, to give up our journey, and re- 
 trace our steps on account of the robbers, by 
 whom he said the roads were infested. We 
 were used to his croaking, and only laughed 
 at his fear ; and I assured him, on tha 
 colonel's authority, that no such personages 
 were in existence. 
 
 Watching until I was at a distance from 
 Emily, the Silician Calchas drew near, and 
 told me, in a tone of mystery, that the heads 
 of four robbers had been that night cut off, 
 and brought in a few hours since by some 
 mounted Arnaut troopers, and were at that 
 very time actually in the loft over our sleep- 
 ing and breakfast room. Thus was our 
 noisy reveille accounted for.
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 163 
 
 He begged me not to mention this to 
 "Madame," for fear of the shock to her 
 nerves ; but I at once told her, and made 
 him relate the whole story to us both, in 
 utter disregard of his warning, and very re- 
 luctant countenance. 
 
 It seems that a band of eight of these 
 ruffians, all Turks and Moslems of the south, 
 had attacked a party of travellers in a rocky 
 defile on the frontier, between Bulgaria and 
 Romnelia. They had bound the only man 
 of the company to a tree, and murdered 
 his mother and sister before his eyes, when 
 a party of cavalry rode up, and, alarmed 
 by the cries of the unhappy victim, charged 
 the robbers ; but these fierce marauders, far 
 from flying, defended themselves with great 
 ferocity against their assailants. A despe- 
 rate skirmish ensued ; several soldiers were 
 wounded, but four of the robbers were cap- 
 tured, and beheaded on the spot by the
 
 164 THE BRIDAL 
 
 keen sabres of the infuriated troopers. The 
 four remaining desperadoes who composed 
 the band, made their escape with wonderful 
 agility, and gained the rocky mountain fast- 
 nesses, where even the fleet-footed Alba- 
 nians were unable to follow them. 
 
 Their course was tracked to the hills of 
 the north, and the bodies of their slain 
 comrades, with their yataghans and pistols, 
 splendidly ornamented with silver, remained 
 the booty of the conquerors. But the spoil 
 was divided; the limbs of the wretches 
 were left to wolf and wild dog, eagle, or 
 vulture, and the heads were brought in to be 
 shown to the general in command of the 
 cavalry regiments at Sarkjee, before whom 
 also the rescued captive was taken in his 
 grief, that he might give his evidence. 
 
 The extirpation of the whole gang of 
 these dreaded outlaws was hoped for, as 
 they had committed many outrages, espe-
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 165 
 
 cially on Christian travellers. We asked to 
 see the heads, half doubting their reality, 
 and on Giovanni's showing evident reluct- 
 ance to obeying our wishes, we went out on 
 the verandah to insist upon their being 
 shown to us. Most reluctantly the Tartar 
 went up to the loft and brought down a 
 small sack, containing two of them. 
 
 He slowly drew out the first by its scalp 
 lock, disclosing the shaven crown of a Mus- 
 sulman, and a dark fierce looking face. The 
 dead man's black beard and glaring eyes, 
 the mingled expression of pain, cruelty, and 
 ferocity ; the sabre cut that crossed the 
 cheek, and the agonized look, gave this bloody 
 trophy a most ghastly appearance. The other 
 heads were all dreadfully mutilated by 
 sabre cuts, and the faces shockingly disfigured, 
 lovon bore back the grim proof of Turkish 
 justice, and we returned to our breakfast. 
 
 The horses soon after made their hoofs
 
 166 THE BRIDAL 
 
 ring upon the stones of the court-yard, and 
 passing through a crowd of smoking and 
 indolent Ottoman soldiers, we followed the 
 Tartar to the gate. Two troopers were 
 mounted to accompany us, and the state of 
 the road rendered an escort doubly neces- 
 sary. One was a strong young dragoon in 
 a red tarboosh, heavily armed, and with a 
 long gun slung at his back. The other was 
 a man of five-and-forty, of a very agile and 
 tiger-like figure, and a bold resolute coun- 
 tenance ; a more perfect Osmanlee never 
 yet drew sword. 
 
 He wore a small red turban, a loose 
 green jacket with crimson trousers and 
 slippers. His horse was handsome, a fiery 
 chesnut barb, as spirited as his rider, whose 
 graceful and exquisite horsemanship, his 
 frequent bounds andj starts showed off to 
 great advantage. 
 
 The Saracens of old must have been
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 167 
 
 sucli men as that, and no wonder those 
 fierce and tameless children of the Desert 
 gave some trouble even to the Frankish Cru- 
 saders, sheathed in mail and plate armour. 
 
 "We stopped at a small but very pretty 
 hamlet of two or three houses only, about 
 four hours from Sarkjee. It being early, 
 we set off by ourselves, and leaving our 
 people at the cabin where we were to sleep, 
 we scrambled up a wooded mountain, on 
 whose ridge was an old cemetery, and from 
 whose summit a fine view could be com- 
 manded, lovon shouted lustily to us not 
 to go, but we never heeded him. 
 
 "We found Turkish trousers not to be the 
 best equipment for cragsmen, and therefore 
 on descending, we crossed the village bridge, 
 and walked some way along the banks of 
 the stream. At last we sat down on a 
 mass of rough grey rocks, and looked alter- 
 nately at the rushing and swift water and
 
 168 THE BRIDAL 
 
 at the rude black hills, in whose savage and 
 but half explored wilds roamed the wolf 
 and the bear, and more terrible and bar- 
 barous still men of bloody hands and 
 merciless hearts. The ruffianly gang of 
 men whose comrades' heads we had seen in 
 the morning, lurked somewhere among 
 these very mountains, in which was hidden 
 many a pitiless barbarian, made an outlaw 
 by fanaticism, slaughter, and crime. 
 
 These Turkish robbers seldom maltreated 
 Moslem travellers, but Greeks and Jews 
 were constantly their victims, and we knew 
 as Christians what mercy we might expect 
 at the hands of these savage infidels, in 
 whose eyes an unbelieving Giaour is an 
 unclean thing. 
 
 As we sat beside the stream, a large herd 
 of cattle passed us, which were being driven 
 into the hamlet for shelter. It is a fearful 
 proof of the insecurity of life and property
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 169 
 
 in this unhappy country, that no man dares 
 to leave his cattle in the fields at night, 
 the presence of the outlawed marauders 
 
 lies like a heavy curse upon the land. 
 
 The short twilight began to wane rapidly 
 away, giving place to darkness, when two 
 women, who were passing on the rocks 
 above, caught sight of me, as I stood by the 
 grey stone, smoking my chibouque, and mis- 
 taking me for an armed Turk among the 
 stones by the stream, they took to flight in 
 great dismay. 
 
 We soon turned homewards, and were 
 about to cross a little torrent by means of the 
 stepping-stones, when we heard a deep voice 
 call out something in Turkish. Turning 
 round, we saw a man in the Moslem garb, 
 armed, appear from under the shadow of 
 some bushes. His air, his actions, his very 
 turban, all seemed of a highly suspicious 
 character, and when he rushed forward, 
 
 i
 
 170 THE BRIDAL 
 
 pistol in hand, we at once set him down for 
 an Osmanli Robin Hood. 
 
 I had left my pistols at my saddle-bow, 
 but I turned to confront him with mj 
 yataghan. Emily, too, had her dagger. Had 
 he had no fire-arms I should have cared but 
 little ; but these fellows are never without 
 them. Besides, I could not suppose that 
 any robber would have the audacity to ven- 
 ture up to a village, alone and unsupported. 
 The fellow came nearer, and I recognized 
 the elder trooper of the two Osmanli, that 
 formed our escort! 
 
 He had been out to look for us, and 
 almost immediately after he joined us, the 
 other soldier, with Giovanni and sundry 
 natives bearing lanterns, met us. 
 
 But never did man scold as that same 
 green-jacketed Turk did. He screamed, he 
 shouted, he drew his sword, he pointed to 
 his neck with a most significant gesture, and
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 171 
 
 harangued us bitterly, bursting into a torrent 
 of indignant eloquence, that forbade or 
 silenced reply. He declared that he was 
 responsible for our lives, that the mountains 
 swarined with robbers, that murders took 
 place constantly, and that our unheard-of 
 rashness in venturing among the favourite 
 haunts of the banditti deserved the severest 
 reprehension, and I thought that if it did, it 
 decidedly got its due. I have seldom seen a 
 man so angry; and as the more he scolded, 
 the more Emily, struck with the absurdity 
 of the thing, laughed at his vehemence, I 
 thought there would be no end to the 
 scene. 
 
 At last when we reached our cabin, the 
 whole population joined in the chorus of 
 vociferation, and the old soldier looked really 
 concerned, and was quite unhappy until he 
 saw us mount our ladder, and take our places 
 
 I 2
 
 n? 
 
 172 THE BllIDAL 
 
 i , , j ,. i - , bin 
 
 in the balcony or verandah which ran round 
 
 the house. 
 
 y 10 i o /^r&n 
 Still the worthy infidel trooper was dis- 
 
 contented, and walked up and down in the 
 
 gull r 
 
 road below, mounting guard over us most 
 assiduously, and menacing us from time to 
 time with his sabre and pistol, in case we 
 made another attempt to elude his vigilance. 
 At last lovon who had been absent all this 
 
 Q91ii 
 
 time preparing our supper, returned with a 
 
 large bowl of roast mutton, we were left in 
 sw nbrfaino Jiv^-t j^n/, 
 peace to eat our supper. 
 
 We occupied the whole of the little hut, 
 
 4 
 
 -which we barricaded as well as we could. 
 Our attendants, civil and military, slept on 
 a wooden platform below, very near the 
 house, and fronting the road through the 
 village. 
 
 Next day we met many straggling soldiers, 
 all horsemen belonging to the cavalry regi- 
 ment of Turkish Sewarri, whose green tents
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 173 
 
 
 and picquetted horses we had seen among 
 the turbaned tombstones of the Sarkjec 
 cemetery. 
 
 Part of our route lay through a terrific 
 mountain pass ; a narrow defile, winding 
 among giant walls of rock for the most part 
 inaccessible. 
 
 It had a shallow, but rugged torrent 
 flowing down it, which we had to cross no 
 less than eighteen times. Two or three 
 men with rifles on the heights, might have 
 picked us off with ease, and even crushed us 
 by rolling down masses of rock. For an 
 ambuscade, no better place could ever have 
 been found. 
 
 Our Osmanlee guards now and then enli- 
 vened the march by gallopping off at full 
 speed, and with wild shouts brandishing a 
 gun or pipe-stick over their heads, while 
 wheeling and turning, they performed the 
 Mameluke exercise. In this, the elder of
 
 174 THE BRIDAL 
 
 the two was very conspicuous. His graceful 
 figure and perfect horsemanship, as he swept 
 about on his chesnut barb, turning and 
 wheeling like a bird on the wing, must have 
 charmed the most careless and indifferent 
 eye. 
 
 We stopped for dinner where the houses 
 were all Turkish. We were, therefore, un- 
 able to get admittance, and our mattrasses 
 were spread under a shady verandah. It 
 was a thoroughly Mussulman hamlet, with 
 its ruinous mosques, its turban-crowned pea- 
 sants, its cool bubbling fountains and waving 
 trees. 
 
 No English village can equal a Turkish 
 one in its supply of shade and fresh water. 
 But the only trees in the country are those 
 thickly planted about the dwellings of men, 
 and filled with the nests of the sacred stork; 
 while the limpid element gushes pure and 
 fresh from twenty marble fountains, on each
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 175 
 
 of which a pious Arabic inscription, usually 
 in blue, green, and gold letters, bids the 
 devout pilgrim thank Allah and his prophet 
 for the grateful draught. 
 
 In this country of thirsty deserts, this 
 land of scorching sun, such a supply of 
 liquid crystal is indeed a precious boon to 
 the wayfarer. Many large, wolfish-looking 
 dogs prowled about the village, growling 
 fiercely at each other ; but cowed by the 
 step of a human being, became the veriest 
 curs. We rode on once more after our 
 repast of mountain mutton, the bagpipes of 
 the goatherds sounding from the pastures 
 on either hand. We saw two caravans 
 encamped, beside whose tents and tilted 
 waggons stood or knelt several hundred 
 camels. Soon after we met a party of riders, 
 driving some of these animals before them. 
 
 Horses are often afraid of camels, and 
 some of ours refused to face them. Emily's
 
 176 THE BRIDAL 
 
 steed, in particular, pranced, bounded, flung 
 up his heels, spun round and twisted him- 
 self about more like an eel than a horse, to 
 my great admiration, and to the intense 
 horror of Giovanni, who screamed like a 
 Bedlamite, and in the Neapolitan dialect 
 yelled to " that maladetto Tartar" to take 
 away the no less accursed camels. 
 
 Many a muddy ditch and deep stream, 
 many a treacherous morass and miry pool 
 were waded and leapt ere we gained the 
 summit of a hill, from which we could 
 faintly distinguish in the hazy distance the 
 white minarets of Sophia. Many a weary 
 mile did we ride across the boundless 
 maidan, or large flat plain, before we 
 reached it. 
 
 It is peculiarly worthy of notice, that 
 almost all Turkish towns are built on an 
 immense 'table-land, so that you see them 
 
 for hours ere you can gain their shelter ; 
 won .btfflf wou 
 
 r. t
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 177 
 
 and thus you toil on, now over a sandy 
 waste, now through a iniry swamp, while 
 the mosques and spires, to which you never 
 seem to get any nearer, appear actually to 
 niock you. It has the effect of a perfect 
 mirage. It was dark when we approached 
 the walls, and Emily was as tired as any 
 lady of ancient or modern times, having 
 been nearly twelve hours on horseback. 
 
 A soldier was giving lovon, beside whom 
 he rode, an animated description of a skir- 
 mish in which the troops had been some- 
 what worsted by the rebels or banditti, 
 when I saw the Suridgee plunge, as I 
 thought, off a high bank into a deep pond. 
 I found it to be the bank of a small river, 
 about four of which we waded, and were 
 then joined by a most thievish-looking 
 
 rtrrr/T 
 
 rascal, on a powerful horse. 
 
 On we went, now splashing through 
 streams, now struggling through mud, now 
 
 I 3
 
 178 THE BRIDAL 
 
 climbing up steep banks, until we crossed 
 an old bridge or two, broken and dan- 
 gerous, entered a hollow way screened by 
 tall hedges, thick and dark as Nox and 
 Erebus, and found ourselves in the most 
 gloomy and muddy lane in Heathenesse.
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 179 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE streets of Sophia are some of them 
 tolerably wide indeed. Most Turkish towns 
 are better in this respect than Constanti- 
 nople ; and those travellers who have only 
 seen Imperial Stamboul can ill judge of the 
 appearance of other Ottoman cities, deeper 
 buried in Paynim land. But these same 
 streets of Sophia abound in little hillocks 
 and quagmires, and pools of water, and 
 exhibit a sovereign contempt of level, most 
 truly Mussulman.
 
 180 THE BRIDAL 
 
 Moreoyer, hero and there are placed rows 
 of huge stone posts, set upright in the 
 ground and reaching across the street for 
 the discouragement of wheel-carriages 
 doubtless, and such like infidel machines. 
 A horse does not squeeze himself between 
 the said dwarf pillars too easily, and often 
 makes his rider's stirrup ring against them 
 in the dark. 
 
 ^xiThe roofs of Sophia also are much better 
 fitted to screen turbaned smokers from the 
 sun's rays, when established at their 
 thresholds, than to promote the comfort of 
 equestrians, whose heads bump against their 
 projecting eaves very inconveniently, and it 
 is easy to break your bones, one way or 
 other, on entering that fair city, especially 
 by night. 
 
 After ja long time spent in threading a 
 labyrinth of lanes, we stopped before the
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 381 
 
 door of a mean wooden house, and knocked 
 loudly until the gates were opened, when 
 we rode under the dark, gloomy archway, 
 and alighted. But I, to whose dreams from 
 infancy Sophia had always presented itself 
 as a stately city abounding in marble halls, 
 morisco palaces, and bubbling fountains, 
 was rather disgusted with the sight of the 
 large dismal room into which we had 
 ridden, with its earthen floor with a crazy 
 wooden bench running round it, a stable 
 opening out of it, and a miscellaneous 
 crowd of drinking cups and flagons that 
 proclaimed it a cafe. I therefore told 
 lovon that he must positively find us a 
 better resting-place. He flung himself on 
 his horse again, told 'us to wait his return, 
 and carried the whole party off with him, 
 excepting Emily and myself. 
 
 The Greeks, to whom the house belonged,
 
 182 THE BRIDAL 
 
 shut the wooden gates, and then, after 
 vainly trying to tempt us up-stairs, not 
 evidently understanding the transaction, 
 and vexed at being kept up so late, 
 harangued us in Turkish and Romaic with 
 an angry and Demosthenic eloquence that 
 made Emily laugh heartily, in spite of her 
 extreme fatigue and exhaustion. 
 
 Their indignation grew intense ; the 
 proprietor and three other Greeks walked 
 about vociferating violently and getting so 
 furious that it seemed as if they meant 
 either to eject or imprison us. It was 
 natural that they should be surprised at 
 our sitting there silently aud immovably, 
 without either going to bed, ordering any- 
 thing to drink, or taking our departure. 
 
 The more they stormed the more Emily 
 seemed struck with the ridicule of our 
 position, while the Greeks, who could see 
 nothing ludicrous in the matter, looked as
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 183 
 
 if they longed to beat her ; and I verily 
 believe they would have proceeded to violent 
 measures had I not amused them by con- 
 stantly beating the Devil's tattoo on the 
 hilt of my yataghan. One fellow stood 
 opposite to me with a great stick, and 
 seemed to be trying to screw up his courage 
 to play the bully, but Hellenes seldom 
 love danger, and I suppose he thought my 
 broad blue Koran-lettered blade was more 
 than a match for a Bulgarian club, to say 
 nothing of the difference between a Frank 
 and a Greek Rayah. 
 
 We stayed a long time, listening to the 
 tramp of horses and hearing only curs and 
 wild dogs baying in the stillness of the 
 night. At last, as we were growing rather 
 anxious, Giovanni came back with only the 
 Suridgee, and said the Tartar was gone up 
 to the house of the Governor with the
 
 184 THE BRIDAL 
 
 soldier. Another quarter of an hour, and 
 loTon's horse's hoofs rang on the pavement. 
 
 The Governor, he said, .was asleep ; 
 nobody dared to awaken him, and without 
 his order he could not get admittance to 
 any private house, as the Mussulmen at 
 Sophia were far too fanatic to admit us, 
 and all the Christians' houses were more 
 dirty and uncomfortable than the one we 
 were in. Having said this, and before 
 we could stop him, he wheeled his horse, 
 and rode off to the palace to try the 
 effect of another application, clattering 
 along the silent streets like a squadron 
 of cavalry. 
 
 But it was of no use ; the Governor 
 could not be disturbed, and as the prisoners 
 at Calcutta perished in one Black Hole 
 because an Oriental despot was asleep, so 
 were we committed to another for fear we
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 185 
 
 should break the slumbers of the Turkish 
 officer. 
 
 We were quartered in a wretched little 
 den of a matted chamber up-stairs, and 
 then came another difficulty : we asked for 
 milk and eggs, and were told there were 
 none. I went down, stormed, promised, 
 expostulated, but all to no purpose. A 
 piece of kid's flesh, that would have sick- 
 ened an Esquimaux, mouldy, tough, black 
 bread, and cold water, were all the pro- 
 visions attainable. 
 
 Few continental towns are very bril- 
 liantly lighted, and as for Sophia, I am 
 willing to make affidavit that only two lights 
 were visible in the entire city of mud huts, 
 wood houses, stone mosques, and marble 
 minarets ; which cluster of buildings I will 
 back for any reasonable wager to rival 
 the African metropolis of Timbuctoo, in
 
 186 THE BRIDAL 
 
 their look of squalid, yellow, dusty bar- 
 barism. 
 
 Oxen, with dingy black hides, plentifully 
 besmeared with mud ; broad twisted horns 
 laid back in the most remarkable and un- 
 common manner ; singular, drooping ears 
 and an expression of face which an humble 
 artist might assign to the author of malig- 
 nant evil, even Old Nick himself, stand 
 in droves in the streets. 
 
 Packs of ferocious-looking, tawny-coloured 
 dogs rove about the thoroughfares ; savage- 
 featured Moslems smoke before suspicious- 
 looking cafes; and ragged Dervishes and 
 Faqueers, a strange mixture of saint, ruffian, 
 thief, and beggar, wander about, singing 
 verses of the Koran in a strange nasal key. 
 Glass panes are rare in the windows 
 wooden cross-bars for the day, and paper 
 shutters for the night, being the more popular 
 substitutes.
 
 AND THE BKIDLE. 187 
 
 We left the town the evening after we 
 arrived, riding slowly through the crowded 
 streets, and emerging through the gate that 
 opens into one of the four great burial- 
 grounds through which the road winds for 
 some distance. We also saw several small 
 private ones in the distance, dotted about 
 the plain. 
 
 These Turkish cemeteries present a most 
 dismal and quaint appearance to the stranger, 
 and, being often of immense extent, look 
 like very Necropolies. The grim forests of 
 turbaned tombstones and jagged pillars of 
 white marble and brown-grey stone, can be 
 compared to nothing but the irregular and 
 broken teeth of an ancient village dame ; 
 while the few dusty cypresses, Moslem se- 
 pulchres, wave over lazy packs of dogs, lean 
 as jackals and gaunt as wolves. 
 
 The tombs and sculptured turbans are
 
 188 THE BRIDAL 
 
 frequently adorned with red, blue, or green 
 paint, and are usually covered with Arabic 
 inscriptions. Some few, that cover rich 
 devotees, are splendidly gilt and Koran- 
 lettered; and here and there a superb mau- 
 soleum of pure and snowy marble, fenced 
 off by a gilt-knobbed iron railing, marks 
 the spot 
 
 " Where sleeps as true an Osmanlee, 
 As ere at Mecca bent the knee." 
 
 ,iTfi(I jiol 
 They are sadly mournful spots, with a 
 
 few black goats and wretched sheep brows- 
 ing on the stunted herbage, while ravens 
 and crows are perched like a crest on the 
 stone fezzes of the monuments. 
 
 We continued our march over the great 
 Maidan of Sophia, a huge sable mountain 
 on our right hand, on whose ridge glittered 
 wreaths of unsullied and defying snow,
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 189 
 
 whose sparkling purity was the only refresh- 
 ing thing in the landscape. Precious stones 
 are said to be found in the recesses of this 
 mountain ; but its ravines hid many a band 
 of daring freebooters, and the eagle and 
 vulture screamed wildly around its inacces- 
 sible peaks. 
 
 The heat had been intense ; but evening 
 was now rapidly advancing, and a storm 
 of thunder and lightning raged in the hills 
 that lay to our left. Darkness fell like a 
 mantle over the land; and before long, we 
 could see little except the ground under our 
 horses' feet, and the red fires that marked 
 the numerous caravans which had encamped 
 on the vast plain. 
 
 An hour more brought us to a broad and 
 
 rapid river, as wide, perhaps, as the Thames 
 
 m 
 near Reading. Here we halted and sought, 
 
 as far as the darkness would permit, for a
 
 190 THE BRIDAL 
 
 ford. The stream was swollen and the 
 regular ford considered perilous. The sol- 
 dier rode in a little way, but his heart 
 failed him, and he returned shaking his 
 head. 
 
 The scene was picturesque enough. The 
 rushing river with its turbid waters and its 
 fringe of dark trees, the ruddy camp-fires, the 
 gloomy mountains, and our own party, were 
 all seen by the broad bright flashes that lit up 
 the night for a moment, to double the darkness 
 by contrast when they disappeared. A shout 
 or two came occasionally down the breeze, 
 and we could now and then catch a glimpse 
 of a grey horse and another steed careering 
 the Maidan at a distance behind us; but 
 whether mounted or not no one could tell. 
 
 We turned to the left, and forced our 
 way through a deep osier copse, bursting 
 with difficulty through the tangled branches,
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 191 
 
 and gaining a beaten path or track which 
 led to another ford. Here was an aruba, or 
 bullock-cart, drawn by four oxen, waiting 
 to cross the stream. The ford was a 
 dangerous one, and it was a long time 
 before the Suridgee would try it. But at 
 last the Tartar got very angry, and he rode 
 in, and returned to announce that it was 
 practicable, if the exact line were preserved 
 with due precision, it being difficult to avoid 
 the deep holes and irregularities of the 
 river. 
 
 I tried to cross the first ; but the whole 
 gang of Turks made such a diabolical row, 
 that I gave it up in despair. Nobody 
 seemed willing to take the lead, until at 
 last the post of danger was assigned to the 
 unfortunate driver of bullocks, who was 
 most unwillingly forced to head the party. 
 
 But, before we commenced wading, the 
 Suridgee jumped off his horse and began un-
 
 192 THE BRIDAL 
 
 buckling the halter of Emily's steed, in 
 order to lead her across, while the soldier 
 approached to push her feet more firmly 
 into the broad-shovel stirrups, that she 
 might have a firm seat, in case the horses 
 should have to swim. A series of well- 
 applied kicks dislodged the military hero 
 from his place at the lady's feet ; but the 
 Suridgee was less easily got rid of. 
 
 Up came the Tartar, too, while I remained, 
 too much amused to expostulate, addressing 
 her in the coaxing terms by which men 
 soothe a refractory child ; and ejaculating in 
 his pretty broken German, "No, good 
 madam ; no, good madam," tried in his turn 
 to lead her steed. But in vain ; for, 
 flourishing her long lashed whip threaten- 
 ingly, she exclaimed, with the utmost energy, 
 " Ich will nicht, ich will nicht ;" at the 
 same time jerking the rope of her horse's
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 193 
 
 halter so indignantly out of the hands of 
 the exceedingly well-meaning but officious 
 Suridgee, that he gave up his attempt in 
 wondering despair, and evidently would 
 as soon have tried to lead an enraged 
 lioness, as renew his attack upon Emily's 
 freedom. 
 
 No further impediment offering itself, we 
 at length dashed in, like a flock of wild 
 geese, in line. The lightning-flashes at in- 
 tervals showed our position, and flung a 
 glare upon the turbid and darkly-stained 
 water which we were struggling through, 
 half wading, half swimming. 
 
 The river was broad and the night was 
 dark ; the stream was swift as a mill-race, 
 so that the horses were swept down the 
 current below the landing-place in spite of 
 all their struggling, and it needed their 
 whole strength, with much careful guiding, 
 
 K
 
 194 THE BRIDAL 
 
 to prevent them from being borne away 
 altogether. 
 
 I tried once to take a line of my own ; 
 but they, one and all, screamed out some- 
 thing about deep water, and I prudently 
 remembered that Turkish trowsers would be 
 heavy odds against swimming. Our people 
 kept up the most appalling yells and cries 
 imaginable, which we could only hope were 
 useful in keeping off all water sprites and 
 evil spirits : they certainly mingled well 
 with the rushing ripple of the angry stream, 
 and the frequent bellowing of the crashing 
 thunder. 
 
 The river was crossed, the opposite bank 
 surmounted, and we were speedily in the 
 hamlet where we intended to sleep. An 
 empty house was hastily swept and assigned 
 to us ; the verandah outside was appropriated 
 by lovon, and a loft by Giovanni, while
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 195 
 
 the soldier and Suridgee were quartered 
 elsewhere. 
 
 Giovanni, honest man ! had picked up 
 three words or so of Turkish or Servian, 
 "Eymer" (some), "Neenar" (none), and 
 " Napole" (out of doors) ; and he ran about 
 among the natives, repeating over and over 
 again his eternal three words, meaningless 
 enough in the way ho used them, but which 
 he evidently found a most amusing occupa- 
 tion, laughing always immoderately at his 
 own wit. The natives evidently took him 
 either for a fool or a madman, and respected 
 his infirmity accordingly. I fancy they were 
 not very far wrong in their supposition, 
 lovon as usual slept like a gigantic watch- 
 dog beneath our window, a bundle of hay 
 forming his pillow, and his arms hanging 
 within his reach. 
 
 In the morning, a crowd of savage-look- 
 
 K 2
 
 196 THE BRIDAL 
 
 ing women and girls blocked our door, and 
 darkened our window with their faces, staring 
 at us unrebuked, while we performed our 
 hasty toilette and swallowed our frugal repast. 
 We were gazed at like wild beasts in their 
 den at feeding time. These things can only 
 be laughed at. Venetian blinds are unknown 
 here! 
 
 We gave a bottle of unutterably nasty 
 pink rosolio, bought at Sophia, to the most 
 thoroughly savage of the I cannot any fair 
 bevy, and she returned with a bouquet of 
 marigolds as a recompense. 
 
 In the middle of the day we stopped at a 
 place called Glioubian, where there was a fair 
 going on. Great crowds of people, mostly 
 Christian peasants, with a thin sprinkling of 
 Moslems, were assembled, and the scene 
 was one of a very animated character. 
 Buying and selling I saw but little of ; but
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 197 
 
 of the true old-fashioned boorish dance on 
 the green there was enough to gladden the 
 heart of a lover of May-day games. 
 
 Some hundreds of country people, bar- 
 barous and wild in manners, strange and 
 uncouth in speech, but happy and good- 
 humoured, had formed large rings by linking 
 hands, and were dancing merrily and 
 vigorously to the rudest and most primitive 
 music that quaint guitars, mandolins, and 
 shrill bagpipes could utter. The men wore 
 usually a coarse blue dress, heavy sandals, 
 and an eternal black fur cap, or muchka, 
 resembling nothing so much as a huge dirty 
 sponge. 
 
 The women had a far more showy as well 
 as costly attire. It in some measure re- 
 sembled the Tyrolese dress, and consisted of 
 a white and red under-petticoat, a black 
 boddice and shirt, scarlet and white loose
 
 198 THE BRIDAL 
 
 hanging sleeves, red apron and shoes to 
 match, and a broad belt with immensely 
 large and heavy silver or gilt clasps and 
 plates to fasten it. They wore strings of 
 beads round their necks, and sometimes 
 sequins replaced the beads. 
 
 A golden sequin was often suspended by 
 a single thread wire between their eyes, in 
 the centre of their foreheads ; their hair in 
 front was most care fully plaited, and adorned 
 with huge crowns of scarlet cloth and silver 
 or gilt brass plates, made in a crescent form, 
 and wreathed with red and yellow flowers, 
 whose bright tints and gaudy hues contrasted 
 strongly with the wearers' swarthy features. 
 
 Down their backs streamed two broad 
 tails of plaited hair, reaching usually to their 
 feet, eked out with ribbon to match the hair, 
 when that was too short, and the whole 
 covered, literally from head to foot, with
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 199 
 
 silver coins of every size, from the Spanish 
 dollar to the Turkish piastre. This of course 
 depended on the wealth of the wearer, as 
 every girl carries her dowry thus on her 
 hair, and the value and weight of many of 
 these appendages must have been consider- 
 able. One belle, in particular, had two 
 enormous tails that blazed with silver coins 
 of the largest size, and she even exhibited a 
 few golden ones besides. An expert London 
 pickpocket, with a pair of scissors as sharp 
 as himself, might have reaped a glorious a 
 golden harvest at Glioubian. 
 
 We could not help observing how much 
 better the men danced than the women, in 
 spite of their clumsy appearance. Here and 
 there stood a red-capped or white-turbaned 
 Moslem calmly smoking his chibouque, un- 
 heeding the rude strains of the discordant 
 clang which called itself music, or the
 
 200 THE BRIDAL 
 
 rfltf Ifffij; 
 
 boisterous merriment of the dancers. The 
 haughty infidel stood amid the black-bon- 
 neted peasants a conqueror among slaves. 
 
 We saw all this from the verandah of the 
 police-station, where we dined, waited on by 
 lovon and a handsome young Albanian in a 
 white kilt, with silver-covered pistols and 
 bandeliers, and were regaled with chickens 
 and eggs, execrable Turkish coffee, and pure 
 water. Salads are very common at a Moslem 
 repast, and I am sure the Osmanlee look 
 upon a cucumber or a lettuce as we do on a 
 melon or a pine-apple. 
 
 The soldiers many of them finely made 
 Turks, and superbly armed smoked at the 
 other end of the verandah, and regarded us 
 with grave composure and polite curiosity. 
 Presently, in came a black-bearded dignitary, 
 a Spahi, doubtless, or feudal proprietor, fol- 
 lowed by half-a-dozen horsemen, all armed
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 201 
 
 to the teeth. He wore a high shawl turban 
 and a red hood, and was a remarkably 
 fierce looking fellow, quite a Moslem Don 
 
 r\ 
 
 Quixote. 
 
 He bowed very civilly to us, gave his horse 
 to a servant of his retinue, came up-stairs, 
 where the Turkish soldiers came to welcome 
 him, sat down, stared at us, smoked a pipe, 
 drank a cup of coffee, and then bowed again 
 very gravely and rode off at the head of his 
 train of vassals. Such are the country 
 gentlemen of Turkey. 
 
 When we went away after giving a fruit 
 and money scramble to the children the 
 dances were suspended, and the people 
 crowded to see us mount. Poor Giovanni 
 was involved in a string of dancers, which he 
 dared not break ; he therefore remained in 
 the charmed circle until the all-powerful 
 magician, lovon, rescued him. We slept at 
 
 K 3
 
 202 THE BRIDAL 
 
 Tuterman, and the next day set out tolerably 
 early. 
 
 The Suridgee was an old white-bearded 
 Osmanlee, with a venerable face and an 
 awful turban, that looked as if its owner 
 deserved some much more dignified employ- 
 ment than leading a baggage-horse. But 
 the Turkish peasants, whenever you meet 
 them, driving sheep or employed in field 
 labour, look most completely out of place, 
 with their loose, showy, picturesque garb, 
 and fine, bold, noble faces. Besides, they 
 always look as if they felt degraded, as a 
 nomadic and warrior people, by the toils of 
 agriculture. 
 
 The Suridgees are often Zingaree, Man- 
 graubins, or Turkish gipsies a swarthy, 
 thievish, intelligent, turbaned race, who 
 differ much in animation and cowardice from 
 the brave but indolent Osmanlees. They
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 203 
 
 affect to be Mussulmen, and speak a dialect 
 of bad Turkish or Tartar ; thus preserving 
 fewer national characteristics of the Gitano 
 among the intolerant Mussulmen than among 
 the milder Christians. I have vainly spoken 
 to them in pure Hindustani and in the 
 Dakkhani dialect a language most of their 
 tribe in Europe can partially understand. 
 
 A mounted Bulgarian peasant, with three 
 loose horses in charge, added himself unasked 
 to the party, grinning with delight at finding 
 good company and protection where he least 
 expected it. The road was one of the worst 
 in Turkey, being simply the clefts chan- 
 nelled by the water of various torrents in 
 the living rock now ascending, now de- 
 scending. We passed over some rugged and 
 difficult mountains, whose range divides the 
 fruitful but barbarous province of Bulgaria 
 from the imperial, but sandy and barren, 
 district of Roumelia.
 
 204 THE BRIDAL 
 
 These watercourses were narrow, and 
 steep, and slippery, with the shallow, thread- 
 like streams that trickled down them too 
 narrow for two horses to pass along them 
 abreast, and often filled with huge masses of 
 broken rock which had to be scrambled and 
 climbed over, while the boughs of the thorny 
 trees and acacias overhead arched them in 
 a manner which sometimes rendered them 
 nearly dark.
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 205 
 
 foicf 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 OUR journey -was a most fatiguing one 
 until we reached the summit of the moun- 
 tain. On the way we had passed a party 
 of straggling troopers of the police cavalry, 
 and we now came to a station of these 
 soldiers, perched, like an eagle's eyrie, on a 
 projecting crag, where, on showing our 
 talismans, two Arnauts on foot, and one on 
 horseback, joined us. 
 
 Down the pass we went, slowly tracing 
 our course over the slippery rocks and loose
 
 206 THE BHIDAL 
 
 stones, and entering the jaws of a terrific 
 gorge of great depth and thickly wooded, at 
 the bottom of which murmured a sullen 
 stream. Presently our escort passed us, 
 laughing gaily and good-humouredly, and 
 bounded down the rocky defile with the 
 light-footed agility of Alpine goats. 
 
 Two were foot-soldiers in the showy 
 Albanian garb, with blue jackets which had 
 Maltese crosses in embroidery, so inge- 
 niously worked as, I suppose, to be unper- 
 ceived by their Mussulman wearers; volu- 
 minous sashes, white kilts, scarlet greaves, 
 and high red caps, with purple tassels. A 
 long musquet slung at the back, a richly 
 mounted yataghan, a dagger, silver bande- 
 liers, and a pair of long pistols, blazing 
 with frosted silver, completed their equip- 
 ment. 
 
 The white-petticoated horseman was a
 
 AND THE BKIDLE. 207 
 
 tall, dark, gloomy man, armed to the teeth, 
 and iii the manner which marks the petty 
 officers of this irregular corps. He had a 
 long-barrelled, slender, beautifully enamelled 
 gun slung across his shoulder; a brass- 
 mounted and a silver-mounted yataghan 
 lay in his sash, from which hung a dangling 
 handjar by its thong, in company with 
 some bones of chased silver, for ammunition 
 and tobacco. Two very large and superb 
 pistols, heavily plated with frosted silver, 
 graced his belt, which would probably 
 have been worth some twenty pounds in 
 Stamboul, and a brass-mounted pair 
 shewed their glancing butts from his holsters. 
 He bowed respectfully in passing, then dis- 
 mounted, and led his charger down the 
 steep rock, preceded by his foot comrades. 
 
 The soldiers were very willing to escort 
 MS, but they pointed significantly to their
 
 208 THE BRIDAL 
 
 pipes when the peasant, with his three 
 horses, availed himself of their protection; 
 and the man, understanding the signal, gave 
 them some small coin, that he mioht not 
 
 O 
 
 be driven from the shadow of our wing; 
 this being a tribute, by the way, which the 
 Turkish soldiers invariably levy in money 
 
 or tobacco, on every Christian boor they 
 
 . 
 chance to meet. 
 
 In this glen it was that the skirmish had 
 lo 
 ensued in which the four robbers had fallen, 
 
 whose heads we had seen at Sarkjee; and 
 here the soldiers had interrupted the ban- 
 ditti in the midst of their bloody massacre. 
 The four remaining ruffians had escaped 
 up the sides of the wooded denies, where 
 pursuit must have been nearly hopeless. 
 
 At the foot of the hill, our petticoated 
 warriors left us, fully satisfied with what 
 appeared to them a liberal backsheesh of a
 
 80S. 
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 209 
 
 piastre a-piece ; and a bearded Turk, heavily 
 armed, took their place as our protector. 
 
 The Albanians were the most active 
 troops I had seen in the Ottoman Empire ; 
 but they are said to be most undisciplined 
 and disorderly soldiers, hardly amenable to 
 any law whatever. 
 
 We were refused shelter from the mid-day 
 sun in a little Turkish village further on, 
 where all the people were followers of 
 Mahomet ; but we could not help stopping 
 to dine at the first Christian hut we reached, 
 poor and miserable though it was. We at 
 length reached our sleeping-place, a small 
 hamlet of houses like beehives, lying within 
 hedged and dog-guarded patches of garden- 
 ground. 
 
 lovon fixed upon a house, showed his 
 teskiri, and summoned the owners to make 
 rendition in virtue of the pleasure of the
 
 210 THE BRIDAL 
 
 Pacha of Nissa, backed by the edict of the 
 Governor of Sophia. But the house was 
 garrisoned by two ladies of a certain age, 
 grim of look, fiery of eye, unrivalled in 
 power and activity of tongue; and no 
 dragon ever sallied forth more fiercely from 
 his mountain-home on the Drachenfels, to 
 oppose the invasion of crested Rhinegrave 
 or mail-clad Paladin, than did these female 
 furies issue from their den to oppose our 
 incursion. The clatter and storm of words 
 they raised was more than the valour of 
 mere mortal man could cope with. lovon 
 and the turbaned soldier, bold enough, 
 doubtless, amid leaden bullets and steel 
 sword-blades, were, however, mere " men of 
 mould" after all, and could not hope to face 
 such weapons as women's tongues, far, far 
 more dreadful than the yataghan and the 
 petronels.
 
 AND THE BKIDLE. 211 
 
 We retreated in vast confusion, harrassed 
 by the enemy, and at last found a house 
 where the people were sullen, but passive, 
 and where the organs of speech of the fair 
 sex were gifted with less volubility of 
 utterance. The room we occupied was not 
 lofty, it is true, for a man of ordinary 
 stature could not stand upright beneath its 
 roof, and the door was certainly not four 
 feet high; but it was embellished with 
 fantastic daubs of paintings, representing 
 various Greek saints, also with fringes and 
 tassels of Indian corn, and, as usual, various 
 articles of dress and arms. The window 
 was about a foot square, and closed with a 
 wooden slide. 
 
 Our dinner consisted, as usual, of a 
 couple of wretched fowls, more than half 
 starved, and a great piece of coarse black 
 bread. The Turks can always give you
 
 212 THE BRIDAL 
 
 salt and red pepper ; but they are too often 
 pleased to mix alum, or some other most 
 intolerably bitter drug, with the one, and 
 the bark of some tree, rasped into powder, 
 with the other, which is not cayenne. 
 
 We walked out, bayed at every step we 
 took by a number of great dogs, who 
 showed the most cowardly ferocity; while 
 the soldier, who thought it his duty to fol- 
 low us, cursed the whole canine race with 
 uncalled-for officiousness. 
 
 The women of the Tillage kept perpe- 
 tually crowding our door-way, and staring 
 at us like so many savages. The only 
 mode of getting rid of them was by pushing 
 them unceremoniously away. 
 
 Near Tatar Bazarclchick we saw numbers 
 of those circular mounds of earth, called 
 burrows in England, which hide thejbones 
 of many a heathen warrior. What reason
 
 AND THE BEIDLE. 213 
 
 to give for such cairns or tumuli existing in 
 the midst of the plains of Thrace, is a less 
 easy matter ; but as we are told that the 
 Norse, Saxon, and Danish Vi-Kings fre- 
 quently visited the Levant on their pira- 
 tical expeditions, we may suppose a body of 
 these fair-haired rovers of the North to have 
 sailed up the river to Adrianople, and to 
 have fought a battle here on their march 
 towards Sophia, which caused some of these 
 martial exiles to lay their bones beneath the 
 Thracian sands. 
 
 In good truth I pitied them heartily, 
 those blue-eyed wanderers of the Northern 
 seas, for finding a last sleeping-place in the 
 arid soil of Turkey, unfanned by the fresh 
 breeze that sweeps along the straits of Elsi- 
 nore, or whistles by the Strager Rack. 
 Doubtless, their ghosts, as Ossian would say, 
 cannot rest in their narrow houses in Rou-
 
 214 THE BRIDAL 
 
 melia, but wrap themselves often in the 
 grey mantle of the storm, and follow the 
 sinking snn in viewless inarch to Lochlin's 
 cloudy lakes, and hills of wind. 
 
 Tatar Bazardchick is a holy city in mi- 
 niature, crested with numbers of slender 
 minarets, and studded with the round- 
 doomed snowy mosque of the Moslem wor- 
 ship. We were housed in a very large 
 ruinous old Khan, with a painting of St. 
 George or St. Michael over the outer gate. 
 It was pretty full of people, and being built 
 in a semi-circular form, was a fine specimen 
 of the old Caravanserai of the Arabian 
 Nights. 
 
 We had a very tolerable room, with a 
 wooden divan on which we spread our mat- 
 trasses, six windows, and a stone pitcher of 
 water. I had almost forgotten the only
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 215 
 
 article of furniture, which was a table about 
 the size of a music-stool. 
 
 We had a tolerably good dinner ; but 
 were very much annoyed by some Greek 
 children, in a house whose window com- 
 manded ours, and who finished their agres- 
 sion by throwing a brickbat through the 
 window with unerring aim, and much to the 
 disparagement of the dinner equipage. 
 
 lovon rushed out into the street, fury in 
 
 
 
 his eyes and a long stick in his hand ; but 
 caught no luckless offender to wreak his 
 vengeance upon. 
 
 At night we walked about the corridor 
 enjoying the scene, which was both pic- 
 turesque and oriental. The court-yard 
 below was enveloped in perfect darkness, 
 save where, here and there, was seen the 
 red gleam of a watch-fire, round which 
 soldiers or travelling merchants reposed.
 
 216 THE BRIDAL 
 
 and the gallery was a strange mixture of 
 darkness and lig] 
 
 One venerable old Turk, dressed in flow- 
 ing dark robes, with a very large grey 
 beard and a very ponderous white turban, 
 was seated in front of a brazier ofl ive coals, 
 and seemed to occupy himself in some gold- 
 smith's work. Another, a rich, irreligious 
 old dog of a Mussulman, was seated on a 
 divan amid a blaze of light, a band of 
 Ryah musicians making an ear-splitting 
 noise for his especial delectation, his nar- 
 ghilly tube in one hand and, alas ! alas ! a 
 flagon of the forbidden beverage of the 
 infidel in the other. A huge pitcher of red 
 wine stood beside him, stuff to which, as 
 Thackeray well remarks, small beer would 
 be nectar ; so acid and yet so muddy, that 
 it might have disgusted a swine, and yet 
 the old sinner's eyes gleamed with delight
 
 AND THE BKIDLE. 217 
 
 at bis unhallowed revels. These were all ID 
 the gallery up-stairs. 
 
 All the gens of the Khan waited upon 
 this worthy gentleman with great attention 
 and servility, while we walked along the 
 half-lit passages, gazed on the groups who 
 sat or lay in our path, clad in all the vary- 
 ing picturesqueuess of the flowing Oriental 
 garb, musing on the mysterious youth of 
 the East, and thinking of the caliph of 
 caliphs, the defender of the people, the 
 ubiquitous merchant of Moussul, Haroun 
 Alraschicl the Good. 
 
 The road from Tatar Bazardchick is 
 tolerably practicable for carriages of an in- 
 frangible nature, and we accordingly hired 
 a vetturiuo. But never was such a Lohn- 
 Kutcher turned out before from Paris, Vi- 
 enna, or Florence, and such a vehicle who 
 ever beheld ? 
 
 L
 
 218 THE BRIDAL 
 
 The driver, old Hussein, or Suleiman, 
 whichever his name might have been, was a 
 man of a large bulky form, with a set of 
 features formed to express the sentiments of 
 fear and wonder only. His beard would 
 have been in perfect keeping on the portrait 
 of a patriarch. His waist was encircled by 
 a heavy shawl, whose immense rolls were in 
 turn clasped round by a huge black leather 
 belt, two feet broad in front, and dwindling 
 to a mere thong behind. In this were stuck 
 a knife and an enormous Turkish pistol, 
 about the calibre of a small carabine. The 
 fellow's turban was one of the most curious 
 superstructures ever laid upon a human head. 
 A white cotton skull-cap came first, drawn 
 tightly over the shaven crown and single 
 grim scalp-lock that marked the Moslem ; 
 then two round crimson caps of coarse thick 
 felt, and over them the great blue and white
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 219 
 
 shawl, wreathed and twisted into snaky 
 folds. 
 
 As for the aruba, it was a kind of light 
 tilted waggon a covered country vehicle 
 they called a zelica, without springs, and 
 clumsy wheels, without any iron to guard 
 their edges. The roof was of straw matting, 
 covered with an awning of white canvass, 
 adorned with Arabesque sentences. 
 
 The carpet-bags and saddles were put at 
 the back of the zelica. Giovanni was ex- 
 tremely anxious, doubtless from purely dis- 
 interested motives, to leave the latter behind, 
 on economical principles; but I could not, 
 for the life of me, see how placing two real 
 Turkish machines of leather and lath behind 
 a waggon could possibly occasion any one 
 to "faire une dtpense" as the worthy indi- 
 vidual himself would say. 
 
 Our mattrasses were spread on the floor 
 
 L2
 
 220 THE BRIDAL 
 
 of the cart. Giovanni seated himself beside 
 the Mohammedan driver, and away we went, 
 at about three miles and a half an hour, 
 lovon still rode with a Suridgee beside him. 
 From habit, the Tartar becomes so absolute 
 a centaur, that it is as difficult to divorce 
 him from his saddle as from his wife per- 
 haps more so. 
 
 We did not find the road equal to an 
 English highway, certainly ; and the passage 
 of a small river seemed likely to be as fatal 
 to us, as that of Inachus to the Argive king. 
 The opposite bank was steep and slippery ; 
 the mud, as well as the water, deep ; and 
 the strong grey horses vainly strove and 
 toiled to drag the zelica on dry land. 
 
 Some reapers peasants in sheepskin 
 caps who were working in the marsh, were 
 called on to aid us : they refused to come, 
 but lovon galloped among them, gesticulating
 
 ANI> THE BRIDLE. 221 
 
 furiously ; and, as they were Christians, his 
 long-lashed whip and grim looks forced the 
 frightened agriculturists to lay down their 
 sickles and leave their work, to help us. 
 Giovanni had got to the bank, out of harm's 
 way. 
 
 We sat in silent grandeur and dignity, 
 awaiting the moment when we should either 
 be safe on terra firma, or smothered beneath 
 the aruba, in the thick, black, slimy mud of 
 which the river's bed consisted. Never did 
 Moslemah sit with more composure under 
 the fire of a Giaour battery. 
 
 The bipeds who had been pressed into 
 our service took off their sandals, and trudged 
 very sulkily into the water, labouring to- 
 gether to lift the ponderous machine the 
 driver uttering the most piteous shrieks to 
 his steeds, whom he encouraged by the names 
 of " Ibrahim" and " Suleiman," in the tone
 
 222 THE BRIDAL. 
 
 of a stage father declaiming to and imploring 
 his unnatural and wayward children. The 
 reapers yelled dismally ; the horses floun- 
 dered and splashed, and tugged and kicked, 
 and plunged and sat down in the water, to 
 admiration ; and, in short, went through 
 evolutions not to be surpassed by any horses 
 ever trained by Ducrow, Franconi, or their 
 English rival, Batty. 
 
 Many times we were nearly capsized, and 
 as often the waggon was in the most im- 
 minent peril of being separated into its 
 component elements, when at length, with a 
 dislocating jolt, we flew over the bank, and 
 were on firm, solid earth again. 
 
 We reached Philippopoli early. The 
 situation of this town, built as it is upon 
 the side of a rocky eminence, is very beau- 
 tiful and striking; and its white buildings 
 and graceful minarets are very elegant and
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 223 
 
 refreshing to the eye, wearied with gazing 
 on the great parched maidan, whose desert 
 wastes reach from the mountain frontier of 
 fruitful Bulgaria to the Golden Gate of the 
 Imperial Stamboul. 
 
 But the rice plantations and swamps 
 make Philippopoli, with all its beauty, a 
 dangerous place for strangers, and one of 
 the towns that enjoy the most perilous 
 climate of this fatal region. Before we had 
 been there long, Giovanni complained of 
 a violent headache, and went to lie 
 down. 
 
 We were lodged in the house of a mad 
 Greek, where we had a very comfortable 
 carpeted room, with a well-cushioned divan 
 round it. The English Vice-Consul, a 
 Corfiote or Zandiote Greek, named Zuccolo, 
 and, as we afterwards discovered, a con- 
 summate swindler, came to call on us, with
 
 224 THE BEIDAL 
 
 a number of other "Englishmen," as they 
 called themselves. They were all subjects 
 of Britain, doubtless; but it is startling to 
 hear a man in a red fez, without having a 
 drop of English blood in his veins, or 
 knowing a syllable of the language, claim 
 one for a countryman. 
 
 There was a doctor among them, who 
 pronounced Giovanni to have caught the 
 fever of the country. I thought the poor 
 fellow would have died of fright when he 
 heard it. His teeth chattered, and his 
 face assumed the ghastly expression of one 
 already defunct, and who had been a great 
 coward in life and died of terror. His 
 attack of fever was a trifle when compared 
 with one I afterwards had at Constanti- 
 nople; but his fears magnified it beyond 
 description. 
 
 He went to bed; the doctor promised to
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 225 
 
 cure him bj next day, and lovon got us 
 our dinner from a Turkish restaurant, and 
 grinned with intense delight to see that we 
 did not partake of the antipathies of those 
 delicately-sensitive travellers, who complain 
 of the horrors of eating a dish of smoking 
 hot kabobs without forks. Certainly, no 
 man in Turkey is born with a silver spoon 
 in his mouth; but many may lay claim to 
 the wooden one. 
 
 What a pity that we do not know how 
 to make sherbet in the West; nothing 
 equals its refreshing and snowy coolness in 
 hot weather. 
 
 The reports of the roads were not en- 
 couraging; every part of the maidan was 
 scoured by parties of four or five robbers, 
 mounted in the plains, but on foot among 
 the hills; and the terrible Zohrab Khan, 
 he redoubted robber-chief, lent the eclat of 
 
 L 3
 
 226 THE BRIDAL 
 
 his name to the tales of marauding ban- 
 ditti. The heads of two freebooters had 
 been cut off, and paraded on spears about 
 the town of Philippopoli a few days before, 
 and examples were very common. 
 
 In Roumelia, I saw round every fire there 
 were lying a number of small iron tongs, of 
 peculiar shape; these are to pick out live 
 coals, to illumine a chibouque. If any one 
 wished to light a pipe in the street, he has 
 only to hold it up to some shop or cafegee's 
 window, and a piece of burning charcoal is 
 dropped into the bowl at once. In Turkey, 
 people light each other's pipes, much as in 
 Muscovy they rub each other's noses.
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 227 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE next day it was agreed that we 
 should leave Giovanni in the doctor's hands, 
 to be cured and sent on with a Suridgee or 
 a caravan, and go on ourselves at once. 
 Our mad host presented us with a bottle of 
 fine lettar-gul, and seemed delighted with a 
 gold breast-pin we gave him ; and we rolled 
 away. 
 
 In the street, holding the hand of a 
 Turkish woman, all yellow slippers, wrap- 
 pings, and yashmach, was a little sylph-like 
 girl, of about ten, a lovely little Eastern
 
 228 THE BRIDAL 
 
 fairy. The child was dressed in white and 
 silver, with wide white hanging sleeves and 
 rich laced ruffles ; the whole dress gorgeous 
 with silver embroidery. Her shawl was of 
 a thin, gauzy, transparent stuff, and her 
 head-dress was very strange and showy, 
 being of Persian shawl, pink silk, roses, 
 white and red, and a coronet or wreath of 
 silver plates, like the diadem of an Indian 
 Princess. 
 
 The road was rather better now, but still 
 very rough. We dined one day in a cavalry 
 barracks, from which a couple of superbly 
 mounted soldiers, on chesnut barbs of pure 
 desert or Turcoman blood, joined us. AVe 
 passed through one exclusively Turkish vil- 
 lage, which appeared quite deserted. Every 
 one was asleep, and all the inhabitants were 
 Mahometans. We could not expect any 
 shelter from the sun. I insisted, however,
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 229 
 
 in going over a large round mosque, at a 
 short distance. 
 
 It was but little decayed, and yet in a sad 
 state of neglect ; the door closed up with a 
 mass of nettles and rank grass, and with 
 the owl, the spider, the snake and the 
 scorpion, for dwellers in its deserted walls, 
 save when marauders may hide their booty 
 in its vaults, or their future crimes within 
 the chambers of this desecrated place of 
 Mussulman worship. 
 
 "We went on to another village, where a 
 tolerant true believer actually admitted us. 
 More than that, the Turk brought us coffee, 
 and with his hand on his heart presented it 
 with one of those graceful bows which none 
 but a native of the East can give. A 
 French dancing-master might practise for 
 years, without attaining the inborn grace of 
 the humblest and meanest Oriental.
 
 230 THE BRIDAL 
 
 In the barrack where we slept the next 
 night, we stood in the gallery in front of 
 our room, and when it was dark, looked 
 down upon the huge court-yard filled with 
 camp-fires, round which lay groups of pic- 
 turesque hardy soldiers, smoking, eating, 
 singing, drinking coffee, or telling stories. 
 Horses neighed or stamped around, parties 
 of cavalry rode in frequently from their 
 patrols or man-hunting expeditions, and 
 there was much in the scene to charm a 
 painter's eye. 
 
 The showy garb, and glittering arms of 
 the turbaned soldiers, their bronzed, dark, 
 bearded faces, their swarthy lineaments 
 working with emotion at the tale or song 
 going on, seen by the red glare of the watch- 
 fire, were highly imposing. Most of the 
 troopers were superbly armed, their weapons 
 blazing with gold and silver, and the con-
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 231 
 
 trast was pleasing between the white kilt 
 and high scarlet cap with its purple tassel 
 of the Albanian klepht, and the extra- 
 vagantly wide red trousers and heavy Turk- 
 ish turban of the Osmanlee warrior. The 
 Arnaut dress is probably the most elegant 
 and handsome in the world, and is as pecu- 
 liar to the West of Turkey as the petticoat 
 trousers are to the East. 
 
 The journey over that immense inaidan 
 was very wearying ; but there was a sandy 
 grandeur in its very monotony. Boundless 
 and unbroken, the sandy desert stretched 
 away, producing only here and there some 
 parched brown grass, and now and then a 
 few shrubs of the wild laurestinus. There 
 are great plantations of thistles, however, 
 many acres in extent, and that would make 
 a donkey's paradise. Great numbers of
 
 232 THE BRIDAL 
 
 streams intersect it, but it was summer, and 
 their beds were dry. 
 
 We met a troop of fierce and scowling 
 horsemen, four or five savage looking fel- 
 lows, poorly and shabbily dressed ; gaunt, 
 grim, and hungry as wolves, but loaded with 
 arms. The quantity of weapons these 
 gentry wore was amazing. Every man had 
 two swords or yataghans, a pair of long pis- 
 tols, with a goodly store of daggers and 
 smaller knives, and often a gun or a spear 
 besides. 
 
 Here was no disguise of profession, no 
 hypocritical pretence of honesty, no mask of 
 the civilized thief: no, these men were 
 " Naiducks," one and all, robbers of the 
 desert. We knew it well, and they knew 
 it, and in their savage hardihood they were 
 not ashamed to confess it. Here was none
 
 AND THE BEIDLE. 233 
 
 of that shuddering, cowering homage of 
 conscious guilt that vice pays to virtue 
 among us, none whatever. These out- 
 lawed and desperate robbers, men of bloody 
 hands and merciless hearts, lifted their har- 
 dened brows and scowling eyes boldly to 
 ours, glaring at us like savages on the war 
 path. 
 
 They were always in troops of four and 
 five : we were four men simply ; two on 
 horseback, one besides myself in the cart. 
 They were better armed than we were ; 
 stronger in every respect, the Turkish driver 
 being little better than a frightened old 
 woman, the Suridgee but slightly armed ; 
 indeed, in the event of a row, I meant to 
 have taken his long pistol from the driver's 
 side, and given it to Emily, who would cer- 
 tainly have made a better use of it than the
 
 234 THE BRIDAL 
 
 poor frightened idiot himself could have 
 done. 
 
 loYon and I could scarcely hope to beat 
 five men, although nay trusty Tartar was a 
 giant, hardy, powerful, and brave as a lion ; 
 but I fancy the robbers reflected that it was 
 but bad policy to fight, and lose men, when 
 the Jews and Greek Rayahs were so easy a 
 prey. They must have counted, too, on the 
 certainty of their Pacha taking the most 
 ample vengeance for the murder of a Euro- 
 pean ; and they were besides amused by 
 the unwonted sight of Franks in the heart 
 of their country, entertaining as they do a 
 strange and superstitious fear of their 
 strength and courage. 
 
 ^ We met once a couple of lancers, bearing 
 in triumph the black fur caps of two de- 
 feated marauders on their glittering spears.
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 235 
 
 When we approached Adrianople, we 
 could almost have taken it for a shady forest 
 village, embosomed as it is by cool and shel- 
 tering clusters of trees. 
 
 We passed over an immensely long bridge 
 with its many arches of white stone, and the 
 gleaming minarets and flashing roofs of the 
 rnorisco-gilded domes burst upon our view. 
 A thousand columns, white, slender, and 
 graceful, rose above the city of Adrian, the 
 stately rival of the Bride of the Bosphorus. 
 
 Sparkling minarets of pure and snowy 
 marble, brightly polished and tapering, stood 
 like palm trees beside the many splendid 
 and vast domes of the imperial mosques, 
 fretted, embossed, and studded with gold, 
 now doubly gilded by the glorious sun. 
 Some of the largest houses in Adrianople 
 arc huge wooden edifices, painted in the 
 gaudiest and most glaring colours ; a mix-
 
 236 THE BEIDAL 
 
 ture of blue, red, green and yellow, pink and 
 white, like a gigantic wild beast show, but 
 such is Turkish taste. The streets are in- 
 famously pared, but bright with gay and rich 
 costumes. 
 
 Melons and cucumbers, pumpkins and 
 gourds, lie about, piled like shot in an ord- 
 nance yard. The people eat cucumbers as 
 the English peasant would an apple, evi- 
 dently considering them as fruit ; and it is 
 curious to see how often the little donkey, 
 laden with these cool green vegetables, is 
 stopped by eager customers. 
 
 The Khan was a great dusty, freshly- 
 painted place, with a handsome cafe oppo- 
 site, before which sat crowds of richly-dressed 
 Turkish merchants, Osmanlee officers, and 
 Greeks in European dress, smoking splendid 
 narghillys with rich tubes, costly amber 
 mouth-pieces and magnificent cut glass
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 237 
 
 water bottles, in which bubbled the cool 
 and fragrant rose-water. 
 
 Our dinner that day, from the nearest 
 Turkish restaurant, was very elegant and 
 savoury. The Ottoman cuisine is any thing 
 but despicable; and its "kabobs" (pro- 
 nounced tchabob), and rissoles match any 
 French dishes that Verrey's or the Trois 
 Freres can offer. 
 
 They were shoeing oxen in front of the 
 Khan. The approved mode is to throw the 
 great vicious-looking black brute on his back, 
 with a wooden frame-work fastened on his 
 four feet, so as to keep them steadily in the 
 air, while the iron shoes are fastened on, in 
 spite of the bellowing of the poor beast, who 
 usually spends the time in roariDg, like ten 
 thousand bulls of Bashan. 
 
 The consul called and informed us that
 
 238 THE BRIDAL 
 
 the roads were very unsafe, in spite of the 
 vigorous and energetic proceedings of the 
 new Pacha, who had cut off fifty robbers' 
 heads in the course of his government of 
 seven weeks. He said that as far as he was 
 concerned, he would not ride three hours' 
 journey from the gates with any treasure, 
 were he not well escorted. As usual, the 
 dread of the desert country seemed to be 
 the terrible Zohrab Khan, the king of the 
 wild maidan. 
 
 Soon after we left Adrianople, at a village 
 a few miles off, we saw some prisoners 
 brought in by some cavalry, and went down 
 to look at them. They sat on a wooden 
 platform, heavily laden with clanking chains. 
 They were four Rayahs, or Christian pea- 
 sants, all young men, in black sheep-skin 
 caps and coarse blue garb. A set of more 
 wolfish, craven, savage-looking scoundrels, I
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 239 
 
 never saw. Their faces expressed a mean, 
 brutal, cowardly ferocity. 
 
 One lad of eighteen, with long wild hair 
 and a dark face, looked more courageous 
 than the others, but with an expression of 
 hardened guilt and reckless crime enough to 
 make one shudder. They were all going to 
 certain execution, we were told, as the 
 Pacha would order them to be executed 
 the instant they arrived at Adrianople, as 
 men taken red-handed and in the fact. 
 
 They had been captured but a few miles 
 off, but they looked dusty and weary 
 enough. One was playing with the padlock 
 that fastened his chain, and examining it 
 with as much interest and curiosity as 
 though he had never seen such a toy before. 
 Perhaps he never had. The peasantry are 
 very ignorant here; it would have been 
 better for him had he never beheld one.
 
 240 THE BEIDAL 
 
 The soldier who had taken them, a tall 
 handsome Albanian, with a fine figure, a 
 dark eagle's face, and the eye of a hawk, 
 sat watching them as he smoked his pipe, 
 with as much composure and satisfaction as 
 a hunter who has bagged his two brace of 
 hares. A strong cavalry guard was near ; 
 but as he smoked his chibouque and patted 
 his prancing barb, he seemed fully able to 
 have captured the whole gang single- 
 handed. The police cavalry are generally 
 picked soldiers, brave men and good horse- 
 men, and they often ride out alone to hunt 
 down the Rayah banditti. 
 
 The weather was exceedingly hot, and 
 we stopped constantly to drink at the 
 numerous stone fountains that Mahometan 
 piety had erected in the desert waste. 
 These fountains are of inestimable value on 
 a long and weary march.
 
 AND THE BK1DLE. 241 
 
 Between Karestan and Eska-baba I took 
 a short cut across the plain on foot, and 
 was surprised to see the clouds of locusts 
 and grasshoppers that rose at every step. 
 Turks never walk when they can ride, and 
 regard it as an act of utter madness to use 
 one's own limbs for purposes of volition, 
 when those of any quadruped can be pressed 
 into the service. 
 
 Old Suleiman, accordingly, did not at all 
 comprehend niy sudden start across the 
 country, under a sun that would soon have 
 cooked a beefsteak : he turned to Emily 
 and piteously shook his grey beard with a 
 most compassionate look, as much as to 
 say, " Ah, poor thing, what will you do 
 now i. The Frank Bezzarda is possessed by 
 some evil spirit that is driving him into the 
 
 sea." 
 
 I found a gigantic locust up my sleeve, 
 
 M
 
 242 THE BRIDAL 
 
 when \ve reached our halting place, and 
 could easily understand how St. John ma- 
 naged to live on such vast insects. 
 
 Eska-baba is one of the prettiest towns, 
 Turkish or Christian, that I ever saw. The 
 vines of the purple south, trellised up the 
 sides of the houses, arch over the streets 
 with their cool green foliage : from noble 
 old trees, great and shady -like forest patri- 
 archs, are heard the flapping wings and 
 clashing bills of the sacred storks, great 
 numbers of which privileged birds fly around 
 the mosques, hover over their minarets, or 
 perch on the gilded pinnacles of their rich 
 domes, fretted and gold-embossed. The 
 costumes of the people are picturesque and 
 gaudy, and the environs are interesting. 
 
 It was early in Ramazan. Musket shots 
 pealed frequent and loud without the walls, 
 and cries and chanted songs came swelling
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 243 
 
 on the evening breeze. We stood beneath 
 a mighty tree, whose leafy branches swarmed 
 with storks, who alternately settled on the 
 pinnacles of the mosque or perched there* 
 while above us rose the lofty minaret, grace- 
 ful and slender as a poplar or cedar-tree, 
 yet with its capital illuminated and flashing 
 with bright lamps, clear and brilliant. The 
 sun was not quite obscured; and the gold- 
 embossed roof of the mosque glowed in its 
 last rays. If I should be doomed to live 
 in a Turkish town, commend me to Eska- 
 baba. 
 
 The country south of Eska-baba was full 
 of well-mounted Turkish troopers, straggling 
 about, their bridles covered with a load of 
 red worsted tassels; strange wild horsemen, 
 with arsenals of weapons, and very shabby 
 clothes. 
 
 The noise the Mussulmen make all night, 
 
 M 2
 
 244 THE BRIDAL 
 
 during Ramazan, is something perfectly 
 awful. Shouting, screaming, "singing, howl- 
 ing forth barbarous chants, and firing mus- 
 ket shots, are amusements of which they 
 never tire. 
 
 We felt excessively exhausted and languid 
 every morning, from the hardness of the 
 couches we had to repose upon "after a long 
 day's work. If people really wish to know 
 what fatigue is, let them ride through Tur- 
 key, and they will have a good idea of it. 
 
 At Tchourlou or Eska-baba, I forget 
 which, we bought some curiously-gilded pipe- 
 heads of fawn-colour and gold, made in the 
 town. I never saw the like at Constanti- 
 nople, though gilded pipes are common. 
 
 Our breakfast equipage would have cre- 
 ated a sensation in the West End. It waa 
 simply a black pot of milk, a tin jar of 
 Turkish coffee, a tin bottle, a tin cup of
 
 ^ 
 AND THE BKIDLE. 245 
 
 water, one tea and one table-spoon, a paper 
 of sugar, a wooden tray of black rye bread, 
 and a paper of coarse red pepper, bark, and 
 salt. 
 
 We were always amused in tlie little 
 towns by the huge cushions which the 
 Jewesses wore on their heads, like bustles in 
 the wrong place. Ravens, hawks, kites, 
 and vultures, abound in the desert inaidan ; 
 skeletons bestrew the ground, and the wolf 
 and the wild dog howl over it at night. 
 
 But the most horrible sight is that of the 
 carcass of a dead horse, from whose bones 
 the dogs are tearing the flesh ; and this 
 revolting exhibition is constantly met with 
 to the south of Adrianople. To add to the 
 desolation, at every mile or two, come up 
 the scourges of the land, the most ruthless 
 robbers any land can be cursed with, a group 
 of heavy-armed, wild Turkish riders, with 
 
 M 3
 
 246 THE BHIDAL 
 
 long guns at their backs ; grim, ferocious 
 Moslems, who glare at an armed party, and 
 pass them by, as a tiger would at a lion or 
 leopard, but who treat a defenceless prey 
 with outrage and cruelty. 
 
 Once we met a couple of fierce-looking 
 Rayahs, mounted and armed to the teeth. 
 They were Christian bandits, wearing black 
 fur caps, and bristling all over with swords, 
 yataghans, knives, daggers, and three pair 
 of long Turkish pistols each. One scoundrel 
 liad a gun also. 
 
 They halted their horses; spoke to each 
 other, then hesitated ; and one fellow drew 
 his pistol from his girdle. However, they 
 rode slowly on, weapon in hand, glaring 
 savagely and suspiciously at us, with two 
 pair of wolfish eyes, that seemed rather to 
 suit wild beasts than men. 
 
 The Turks, in their zeal for Ramazan,
 
 AMU THE BRIDLE. 247 
 
 made us fast as well as themselves; for 
 they always refused us food until after 
 sunset, during Ramazan. 
 
 There is a valley near Siliori that realizes 
 the idea of the " Valley of the Shadow of 
 Death" better than any one I ever saw. 
 It is a huge, dark, gloomy, shadowy 
 dell, sown thickly with carved tomb- 
 stones and turbaned pillars with Arabic 
 inscriptions. 
 
 There is a vast quantity of corn grown 
 in the country; but principally black, not 
 golden, grain waves over the Thracian 
 plains. 
 
 For some distance the road winds along 
 the sea-shore, with vineyards sloping down 
 to the yellow, smooth sand. When first we 
 came within sight of the dark blue waves of 
 the Sea of Marmora, old Suleiman and 1 
 exclaimed at once, " El bahr !"
 
 248 THE BRIDAL 
 
 In the niaidan we had often travelled for 
 four or five hours, without seeing a tree or 
 a house of any kind in the desert country, 
 or anything but stone fountains ; and it was 
 very refreshing to see the purple waters, the 
 black, frowning mountains of Asia, and the 
 mighty Mysian Olympus, with its snow- 
 crowned peak. 
 
 A very long bridge crosses an arm of the 
 sea near Siliori. lovon, now and then, 
 caught a tortoise crawling on the sand, where 
 a number of sharp-pro wed caiques were 
 hauled up. 
 
 Slowly we toiled up a range of rough 
 craggy hills : on the summit we paused. 
 The Sea of Marmora, the mountain-land of 
 Asia, the Bosphorus, the azure and bright 
 Golden Horn all sparkled before our eyes, 
 as we looked eagerly over the great plain 
 towards Imperial Stamboul.
 
 AND THE BRIDLE. 249 
 
 And there was now neither doubt nor 
 disappointment ; for in the sinking sun 
 glittered the snowy minarets, the flashing 
 alabaster pillars and columns, the golden 
 domes and lofty palaces, in the glorious city 
 of the Sultan the goal of our long and 
 Aveary pilgrimage the Queen of the East 
 the capital of the Moslem the city that 
 stands like Venus arisen from ocean, or like 
 ti pearl in its open shell the far-famed 
 Constantinople. 
 
 THE END.
 
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