ILLINO I S UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN PRODUCTION NOTE University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library Brittle Books Project, 2013. COPYRIGHT NOTIFICATION , In Public Domain. Published prior to 1923. This digital copy was made from the printed version held by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It was made in compliance with copyright law. Prepared for the Brittle Books Project, Main Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by Northern Micrographics Brookhaven Bindery La Crosse, Wisconsin 2013 I. . . ..-: .. . 'I4 :r -:_'":3":.:s: . ,,.._: - ~' -- _ .,., __. _ Ya ,+. - ,.7. t _ . ... .-. : .... - ,,:::. ."s; ^ _ t .. ...:- r Te "i tY F. k~4fB:lsllll~e~]BPISiTs~BI11~~ ~plbl-~ae~ I B IRA RY ' OF THE U N IVE ITY Of ILLINOIS Received by bequest from Albert H. Lybyer Professor of History University of Illinois 1916-1949 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY I ! IJRBANA-CHAMPAPGN SIACKS ADMIRAL SLADE (Mascschacr Pachw,) OTTOMAN NAVY. 9 THE SULTAN OF TURKEY. C= SLADE'S TRAVELS IN TURKEY. TURKEY AND THE TURKS, 'AND A CRUISE IN THE BLACK SEA, A RECORD OF TRAVEL, BY ADOLPHUS SLADE, ADMIRAL OF THE TURKISH , S� .. . . , - ! NEW YORK: WILLIAM TAYLOR & CO., No. 18 ANN STREET. 1854. Entered according to Act of Congress in the 1854, by WM. TAYLOR & CO., In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. PREFACE. Recent events have made the Turkish empire as interesting now, (that it is threatened by Russian hordes,) as it was in the 16th century, when a Tartar could ride with the Sultan's firman, respected all the way, from the banks of the Volga to the con- fines of Morocco-when its armies threatened Vienna, and its fleets ravaged the coast of Italy. It then excited the fears of civilized Europe-it now excites its cupidity. Our Author's long residence in the East, has made him familiar with every phase of the Turkish character, and the reader will with his assistance be able to judge, pretty accurately, of the pre- sent state of the Mossulman Empire. After a.long stay in Con- stantinople, "The Pearl of Europe"---he visited Adrianople, Philippopolis, &c., and crossing the Balkans by the Kasan pass, went to Schumla. He has given some account of that interesting people the Bulgarians--of its connection with the Russians, and its consequent disasters. Quitting Schumla, after a short stay, the author again traversed Roumelia and so returned to Constantinople, where he then re- mained some months, during which time he saw all that was re- markable in it. He has given a very interesting description of the city, together with some notices of its most eminent inhabi- tants. Finally, on leaving Constantinople, the author again went to Adrianople, and thence descending the Marizza, visited Demotica, Enos, &c. From Enos he embarked for Samothraki, and from thence sailed to Mount Athos. After residing some days in this romantic spot, visiting one or other of its numerous and interesting monasteries he went to Sa- lonica, and ultimately returned home : but only eventually to as- sume a high command in the Turkish navy. But perhaps the most interesting part of these romantic tra- vels, at the present moment, when every eye is eagerly watching the movements of the fleets in the Black Sea, is that portion of them where he describes his cruise, with the Capitan Pasha, which gave him opportunities of acquiring a knowledge of the manners and opinions of the Osmanleys, which a much longer residence in the country, otherwise, might not have afforded him. Considering the importance of the subject, its wide-spreading influence on the Turkish Empire, especially that portion of it in- habited by the Greeks, the author has devoted a few pages to the late Sultan's reforming policy. Still admitting the absolute ne- cessity of reform in Turkey, he has endeavored to show wherein Mahmoud failed; in attempting too much at once, and in com- mencing at the wrong end; so that reform, instead of being a blessing to his people, has proved in some instances, a curse. The Editor has judged it best, to give in the appendix, some ac- count of the Greek Church; as being intimately connected with the present war : of the Turkish Press--as being the greatest re- sult of Sultan Mahmoud's reforms; and finally, of Sebastopol-- as being the head-quarters of the Russians in the Black Sea. NEW YORK, March 1st., 1854. iv PRE FACE. CONTENTS. PAGE. CHAPTER I. A tivo-Passengers-Rats-Syra-Consul-Thamantis- Greeks-Scio-Tenedos-Stamboul . . . . . . . . 9 CHAPTER II. Dr. Musmezzi-Baker-Review-Baron Bolly-Khosrew Pasha-Kutchuk Husseyin-Lord Cochrane. . . . . 26 CHAPTER III. Caiques-Bosphorus-Barbarossa's Tomb-Delhi Sultana -Castles-Devil's Current-Ypsilanti-Calosso. . . . 37 CHAPTER IV. Steamboat-Selimier-Capitan Pasha-Caique---Black Sea-Supper-Jester-Fleet-Artillery-Powder Mag- azine.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 51 CHAPTER V. Chess-Cossacks-Renegades-Devotions--Manceuvres- Sidney Smith-Cochrane-Religion--Ghiaour-Nour- rey Bey-Capitan Pasha-Music-Games-Zante- Squall-Chase-Clear for Action-Bosphorus, . ... . 69 CHAPTER VI. Buyukdere-Society-Sultan-Capitan Pasha's Wives- Belgrade-Elopement-Execution, . ... . . . 87 CHAPTER VII. The Seraglio-Eunuchs-Kitchen-Library---Women- Ball-Turkish Ministers-Osmanlev Morality-Slaverv vi CONTENTS. in Turkey-Nourrey Bey-Dancing Girls, ..... 97 CHAPTER VIII. Sebastopol-Arsenal--Quarantine---Odessa--Plague-- Danube-Squall-Gulf of Bourgas-Bosphorus, .... 107 CHAPTER IX. Rodosto-Post Horses-Haide-Bouroun-Tartars-Ou- zoun Kiupri--Lodging--Marizza-Adrianople-Ara- maneh--Hass Keuy--Bulgarian Village-Philippopolis --Greek House-Charlatan,. ........ . 117 CHAPTER X. Hadgi Toozoon-Tchapan---Bastinado--Eski Saray-- Adra Bey-Mustapha-Cossack Captain--Yeni Saara --General Reuchteurn-Russ Colonel-Selimnia-Gen- eral Montresor-Poniatowsky-Wolk Llanevsky--Russ Army, .. . ......... 135 CHAPTER XI. Selimnia--Xamboli--General Timan-The Fair Scherifeh -Adrianople-,-Plag ue-Grand Vizir--Luleh Bourgas -Mahmoud Bey-Chorloo--Selybria-Constantinople --Pera, . . . .. ........ 152 CHAPTER XII. Pera-Carnival-Ambassadors-Dragomans-Adventur- ers-Mustapha-Effendi-Royal. Birth-Sultanas-Il- lumination-Ramazan-Story-Tellers-Bairam-Pro- cession-Review-Sandjack Scheriff, . ...... 165 CHAPTER XIII. Stamboul-Wall--Breach-Galleys--Charsheys- Bazaars -Osmanlie-Burnt Column---Eskisaray--Seraskier's Pillar--Panoramic View-Parallel-Hippodrome-Col- umns-St. Sophia-Cisterns--Menagerie-Women Market--'Bath, . .......... . 180 CH.APT hER XIV. Constantinople-Solamanie--Bedlamn-Mausoleum-Va- lens' Aqtaduct-Marcian's Column--Historic Column Seven Towers-Golden Gate--Breach--Scutari--Cem- etery--Howling Dervishes, . .... .... . 200 CHAPTER XV. On the Osmanleys--The Greeks--The Armenians-The Jews,...... ...... ..... 220 CHAPTER XVI. On Mossulman Women-Greek Women-Armenian Wo- men-Hebrew Women,. . ........... 235 CHAPTER XrlII. Capitan Pasha-Greek Patriarch-Nourrey Bey-Pas- sage Boat--Echoes-Rodosto--Adrianople-Kar'agatch Silk Worms-Mad Dog--Inhumanity-Greeks-Mah- mout Aga--Mosque--Grand Vizir-Bairam Pasha, . 245 CHAPTER XVIII. Marizza-Demotica-Bishop-Dungeon-Cossacks-Fe- ra-Bektashes-Enos-Vice-Consul-Petition-Mah- moud Bey--Greek Beauty--Banquet, .. ..... . 262 CHAPTER XIX. Schooner--Deserters--Samothraki-Ancient Castle- Greek Pirates-Thasco--Mehemet Ali-Mount Athos -Albanian Gardeners-Simenu Vatopede-Monkish Customs-History of Santo-Cariz--Waivode-Ku- thenisi-Priors--Libraries, . . .. ...... . 280 CHAPTER XX. Fever-Church Scene-Bigotry-Voyage-Gulf of Cas- sandra--Salonica-Banditti--Earthquake--Chaban-- Execution-Pirates-Genoa, ..... ..... 302 CONTENTS. V1i TURKEY AND THE TURKS. CHAPTER I. ATTIVO, PASSENGERS, RATS, SYRA, CONSUL, THAMANTIS, GREEKS, SCIO, TENEDOS, STAMBOUL. In the good ship Attivo, bound, God and the Sultan willing, to Odessa, I engaged a berth to Syra for thirty Spanish dollars (paying half a dollar a day for my table.) We did not, however, immediately sail, for nothing short of the fear of excommunica- tion would make a Genoese leave his Easter festivities; and then, when we at length quitted the port, two more days elapsed, owing to baffling winds, before we lost sight of the lofty Faro. The interval gave me reason to apprehend a tedious voyage. The Attivo was named in mockery; she ought rather to have been called ii canchero, on account of the side-long propensities of her course. Being lotica, i. e. flattish-bottomed, with a contrary wind her traverse lines retrograded, to the amusement of other vessels which passed us, and left us. There were two other cabin passengers-a Sclavonian, a pleasant man, going to Constanti- nople; and a Neapolitan, bound to Tino, a servile, ignorant fellow, and, to add to his amiability, often sea-sick; however, he yielded us amusement, for he was droll and antic. In the steer- age was a Genoese jeweler, with his family, emigrating to Odessa, where persons of his craft were in request. The Genoese surpass all people in their emigrating propensities. From Gibraltar to Taganrok there is not a place where they are not established and thriving; they can live where others starve; in the former place they are in considerable- numbers, and rank as its richest mer- chants. Our captain was a fat, fresh, good-natured, little man, wearing a pendant red cap, canvas troupers, check shirt, and a blue sash ; thus rigged on board--on shore he was a dandy. He smoked bad tobacco, and ate garlic; he washed when it rained, and prayed, when it blew, to a picture of the Virgin, which hung in the cabin, with a lamp constantly burning before it; and if by chance, or through malice prepense-sometimes the case-the light went out, it was ludicrous to see the trepidation with which he would cross himself, recite an Ave Maria, and put it in again, asking pardon of our Ladye. In short, our skipper was a regular Mediterranean sailor, all talk and little work; and as he, with all his crew, had a wonderful respect for the English navy, I soon found myself de facto captain of the vessel ; had I been her owner I would have sold her for fire-wood. We anchored for a couple of days under the Malora Bank, off Leghorn, for stress of weather, and then continued our voyage, which was rendered unpleasant by rats of an enormous size on board; they stormed the cabin, and made prey of small articles, such as gloves, handkerchiefs, &c. It was almost requisite to sleep in boots. In my cabin I was in a besieged place, employed every morning in repairing the breaches made by the foe in the night; but their pertinacity in attack far exceeded my diligence in defence, and their extreme voracity made us seriously think on our probable fate should provisions fail. I was somewhat consoled by perceiving that my fellow-passengers were fatter than me. This inconvenience arose from having neglected to smoke the vessel before leaving Genoa, where she had been lying two years, and where rats are very numerous. A sou a day is allowed by the Genoese admiralty for the support of a cat in each ship of war. I had often seen water rats, but I had no idea that they ever arrived to such size and ferocity. Our two cats dared not attack them; they would have discouraged Whittington's cat. In the East they tell marvellous stories of rats, such as that they kill children by sucking their blood when asleep. I cannot vouch for the truth of this bat-like propensity, though it was so firmly believed by our Neapolitan messmate, a regular Lvantine, that he never pulled his clothes off, lest he should awake minus a toe, or any thing else. After an undue share of foul weather, considering the season, 10 TURKEY AND -TIE TURKS. we made the bold and picturesque coast of Maina, and the same evening entered the Archipelago, embellished by a richly varie- gated sunset, which spread a roseate tinge over Candia's snow- clad tips. Not a sail intercepted our view of one of the Cyclades, and a light air from the north-east, aided by the stream, would have soon swept us far to the southward, had it not fortunately shifted to the south-west before morning; we gained a distant view of Suniam's " marbled steep," and in the course of the day anchored in the beautiful harbor of St. George, Syra, land-locked by Tino and Myconi. With her freedom, Syra acquired one of the plagues of civilization--a plague invented. by mankind, dependent on its fears rather than its reason-quarantine. A Russian vessel was performing it in the port, and thus exemplifying its absurdity in a general sense, because, disposed as Russians are by habitual uncleanliness to disease, the keeping a number of them shut up in a narrow space, screened from air and exercise, was an excellent way of generating infection; it would have been safer to have incurred the remote chance of their having brought plague from the coast of Turkey. Syra had also acquired one of.the comforts of civilization, though in a very uncomfortable form--an inn. The master of it was very woe-begone; his grey locks were uncombed, and his white beard long unshorn. " Ah, signore," he said to my probing, " Aime! a month since r took a young wife; the day following she was attacked by a violent small-pox, from the effects of which she remains in a deplorable state. Povero me i she was fresh and beautiful, without a stain on any part of her body--smooth as alabaster; now, rabbi. di Dio, she is an object to turn one's face from." As he was past sixty, and she scarce twenty, I thought neither of them entitled to much pity. To my inquiry as to what, at that time of life, emboldened him to enter among the shoals of matrimony, he said, " Non sa signore, davvero ? non sa che una bella donnina fala fortuna d'un oste ?" What an Italianism ! Three of my countrymen were occupying the little inn on my arrival, Messrs. P--, S-, and B -; they were officers, 11 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. employing a month's leave in visiting the Morea and the isles. Our common language was a sufficient introduction. Late in the evening another Briton came in, name unknown; he had just landed from an Ipsariote boat. He told us he had left Constan- tinople a fortnight before, that he had been there a week, had seen everything, was now taking a bird's-eye view of the islands. A bird's-eye view, indeed ! " We shall then have the pleasure of your company for a day," we said. " 0 no, off to-morrow morning for Paros and Antiparos--have not time to pass more than an hour or two at each place--have to make the tour of Sicily yet-must get it over before the hot weather sets in." It was now the middle of May ! In fact, on rising in the morning, we found that the traveling gentleman was already off. We saw the lions of Syra shortly, the island being, as all its neighbors, little better than a pile of rocks, with a feW patches of cultiva- tion. The beauty of the Archipelagian islands, so much. and justly vaunted, is outwardly; not 'that, viewed singly, they have the slightest pretensions to the picturesque; but the assemblage of so many isles of different shapes and heights, studding the sea, as a constellation of stars in the sky, produces an enchanting effect. The charm of sailing among them with a fresh gale at night, when sky and water mingle in a dubious purple haze, giving undulating softness to the mountain outlines, adding to the grace of infand sea variety the effect of ocean expanse; now staggering to the blast which sweeps through the passages, now slipping quietly along beneath some glittering white kastro, each 'headland, each inlet, creative of glowing association, is indescrib- able-necessary to be felt to be understood. We saw them, nearly all, stretched at our feet as in a map, from the summit of Syra, to which we climbed with excessive fatigue, and some risk. After three days we separated. My military acquaintance embarked in a Hydriote schooner for Napoli di Romania, and I made sail for Scio-Scio, garden of the isles, once, and that not long since, so famed for women, wine, silk, mastic, scholars, luxury and good manners, now girt with the melancholy celebrity of the massacre committed there by the Osmanleys in 1822. In 12 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. an evil hour the Sciotes forgot the cause of their singular prosperity, and took the brand of revolution from the Samiotes. Their effeminate hands could not hold it longer than sufficed to slay the feeble and confiding Turkish garrison; then, when the avengers of the latter came burning with fanaticism and hopes of plunder, grasped the cross. In that age of dethronements, parti- tions of kingdoms, sweepings away of the human race by hundreds of thousands at a time, succeeding each other in rapid sdcces- sion, it is somewhat surprising that the catastrophe of Scio should have caused such a clamor. The reason lay in the sufferers being Christians, the aggressors Mussulmans; had they been vice versa, we should not have heard a word about the affair. The Greeks told their own story uncontradicted, and as the Turks, either not knowing, or not caring, what was imputed to them, said nothing, gratuitous barbarities were ascribed to them. Had not our bark been polacca-rigged I should not have reached Scio at all, for a gust of wind took us at the entrance of the Tino passage and nearly overset us. Our Greco-Italian crew became, in consequence, so nervous, that it was some hours before I could persuade them to make sail again. It was the afternoon of the day after leaving Syra before we reached the canal of Scio. Abreast of our anchorage was a large garden, once, to judge by the relics of taste and luxury scattered aljout, theabode of opu lence. Its inviting shade made us speedily quit the unawninged deck, on which we had been frying all day in preference to stewing in the close cabin for the benefit of the insect tribe. After walk- ing about it some time undisturbed, we sat down on the steps of a half-ruined kiosk to enjoy the cool evening breeze, which wafted to us the fragrance of the coast of Asia opposite. Perceiving us intent on filling our chibouques, an elderly woman brought us char- coal, then fetched us some indifferent sherbet, while a young girl presented us roses, according to the Grecian custom. The appear- ance of our hostesses, joined to their naive politeness, was very interesting; through the garb of poverty, we perceived in the elder, tokens of another sphere, and in the sweet countenance of 13 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. the younger, that she was born to higher hopes. She was very beautiful ; her eyes black, her hair auburn, descending in braids to her middle, and her elastic, graceful form was set off by a Turco- Grecian costume, which, though coarse, appeared elegant on her. Their tale was soon told ; one of many similar. They had lost all that makes life dear-kindred and friends-their wealth had en- riched their destroyers, and in their once happy home they were now domestics. "In this paradise," exclaimed the elder, " my husband lived, my children flourished, and I was blest-fools ! why had we not followed the warnings we received, and fled in time ? O night of wo ! what cruel pity spared me ; preserved that innocent I should myself have slain! She was so young. I saved her life-alas! for what? You see her beauty, fatal gift ! Our lord has seen her; may, if unrestrained by pity, drag her from me !" Grief stopped her utterance, while her daughter threw herself in her arms, energetically exclaiming, " Never, mother ; they shall bear me to death sooner !" It was quite a scene, and made our rough skipper draw his sleeve across his eyes. It was near midnight before we left this interesting couple to return to our wooden couches; they felt a melancholy pleasure in relating and bewailing their misfortunes. We visited the houses of some of the primates; they were well urnished, and the ladies ornamented with gold chains and brace- lets. We were treated in each with conserve of roses, (best of conserves,) and a pleasant spirit distilled from the mastic, pre- sented to us by the fair hands of the mistress of the house. Making several visits the same day in the East, is a serious affair, on account of the sweetmeat ordeal. I made my salaam in due form to Pasha Yussuf, accompanied by a dragoman. He resided in the castle, which was extensive, and in good repair for a Turkish fortress, though a frigate could have levelled it in a few hours. After some conventional dis- course, he observed, " God is your friend." I bowed. 14 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. " You belong to a distant part of the world, yet you are going to Constantinople ; you will see that paradise; you may also have the happiness of seeing our lord's countenance; you will be there in time to witness the rejoicings that will follow our lord's victories over the Muscovites-happy man I" Yussuf was never more mistaken; little of pleasure led me to the East; I in no manner shared his idea of the advantage to be derived from seeing the features of his sublimity; and the vic- tories !-even the proud ignorance of the inmates of the seraglio, their fanatic confidence in Musselman invincibility-was enlight- ened by the reverse: That evening I again made sail, but before reaching the Spalmadores, vivid lightnings broke the pile of clouds in the north, and heavy squalls obliged us to bear up. We ran for the bay of Tchesmeh, so called from the mineral springs on its shore, andfamed for two great victories gained in it-that by the Romans against the fleet of Antiochus, (171 years B. c.,) and that obtained by the Russian fleet, (on board of which Rear- Admiral Elphinstone was third in command,) over the Turks, July 8th, 1770, a most disastrous epoch in Ottoman history. Frog Tchesmeh to the plain of Troy we had a most delightful sail. With light airs we coasted close along Mytilene, and in the afternoon of the second day were off Alexandria Troas. The scene from this direction is truly fine-perhaps the finest in the Archipelago-independent of the Homeric recollections. The wind failing us at sunset, we anchored off a village six miles from the Castle of Asia. Imprudently, some of us got into the boat, and landed for curiosity; we were soon surrounded by a tumultuous body of Turks, who assailed us with vociferations, in which the word Moscof was very distinct, and showed indica- tions of treating us worse. It was vain to answer that we were not Muscovites; they did not believe us, or would not understand us; and, the clamor increasing, I began to apprehend that my travels in Turkey might finish where they began. Fortunately, however, the aga was smoking under a tree in view of what passed; he sent two officers to extricate us, and to desire us to return on TtTRXEY AND THE TURRS. 15 board, as he could not answer for our safety on shore. We did not require the hint to be repeated, and we escaped-without further violence than a few stones thrown after us as we rowed from the beach. The calm continuing next day, I went to stretch my legs on Tenedos, where I did not fear a repetition of the pre- ceding evening's entertainment, since the bey and the admiral were on good terms. Tenedos possesses no antiquities beyond a few tumuli. The town is tolerable, and its bazaar is always exceedingly well stocked with provisions. The inhabltants are Greeks, well disposed to- wards the Turks, of whom there are none in the island excepting the suite of the aga, and a few cannoniers for the castle. They make some of the best wine in the Archipelago; it is strong bodied, of a good flavor, not at all unlike port, and infinitely better than the drug under that denomination sold in most of the hotels in England. The price of it was eighteen paras (three halfpence) the oq (quart) : we paid at the rate of twenty-five paras for some which had been in a cask two years. While waiting for my boat to return on board, one of the cannoniers approached me, and pointing to some rusty cannon, observed that they had belonged to Ajax. Standing where I was, it may be readily supposed that I thought of no other Ajax than him whose tumulus graced the plain of Troy before my eyes. The remark, whether in wit or ignorance, was ludicrously apropos, and singularly contrasted with the usual ignorance of Orientals on all subjects which date a few years back. Turning to my bearded cicerone with an expression of approbation, I was about to conceive a sort of respect for his understanding, but, not having the art of knowing when he had said enough, he convinced me, in another breath, that the loss of the Ajax English line-of-battle ship, burnt off Teriedos in 1807, was the sole cause of a Turk knowing one classic name. With a fresh south-west gale, the following morning we entered the noble channel which unites the Archipelago with the Popon- tis, esteeming ourselves fortunate in not having been detained at its mouth above twenty-four hours, considering that vessels often lie there windbond for months; in that case, a traveler may land 16 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. at the Dardanelles, row in a caique to Gallipoli, and then take horses to Constantinople. The outer castles of Europe and Asia, with dazzling white walls and minarets, are tine ornaments to the mouth of the Hellespont, and little more, for their separation, three-and-a-quarter miles, renders their cannon more threatening than dangerous. The former, Sertil bahr Kalesi, (padlock of the sea,) stands well on the declivity of a hill; the latter, Koum Ka- lesi, (sandy castle,) is built on a sandy tongue, near the mouth of the Simois. To each a village is attached, for the accommodation of the families of the garrisons, it being against the law that women reside in Turkish forts, or go on board Turkish ships of war. The shores of the Hellespont mutually contrast as those of the Strait of Messina ; the Asiatic shore (like the Sicilian) being diversified by wooded hills and cultivated vales, while that of Europe corre- sponds with Calabria's bold and sterile aspect. After passing several time-honored tumuli of demi-what ? gods or devils ?-in the space of ten miles, we came to a formidable thirty-six pound battery, a fleur d'eau, directly raking us--one of those thrown up by the French in 1807. A string of camels, cheered by the sound of their bells, and led by a green-turbanned Mussulman, mounted on a donkey, was winding by it. Three miles higher up, we hove too off the inner castle, to receive the visit of the Turkish officer, who boards all vessels ascending or decending ; a tiresome and useless regulation, which often puts a vessel, in the latter case, to the inconvenience of anchoring, on account of being unable to lie to against the current, when the wind is strong: in the event of non-compliance, a shot reminds her of it. An English merchantman, some years ago, anchored in consequence; but, driving fast towards the shore, was obliged to cut her cable, and make sail again down the strait : each castle, in succession, fired one shot at her as she passed, but she escaped without being struck. These castles were erected in the reign of Mahommed IV, and from their vicinity are formidable; they are separated about three-quarters of a mile, and have each about seventy pieces of cannon, from thirty to eight hundred pound calibre. The Castle of Europe, Kilidi Bahr, (the key of the sea,) 17 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. with its village and cypressed grounds, ornaments the face of a hill; that of Asia (Hissar Sultani) stands in a delightful plain, watered by a small river : adjoining it is a considerable town, the seat of a two-tailed pasha, called by the Turks Channakalis, from its noted manufactory of earthenware; and by Europeans, Dar- danelles, from being built on the site of the ancient Dardanus, known in history as the place where peace was signed between Sylla and Mithridates. In a tchiftlik (farm) not many miles from it, the preliminaries of peace were signed, January 1809, between England and Turkey. Two miles farther up, we passed, on the right hand, an elegant fountain, termed the pasha's fountain; tra- dition runs, that a sailor of an European merchant vessel, having killed his captain, apostatized to save his life; he afterwards rose to the rank of pasha, built this fountain, and was buried near it. We next approached the sites of Sestos and Abydos, that, till quite close to, appear to join and close the channel. Strong bat- teries on either side cross their fire, at the distance of little more '.than a mile, and finish the ordeal of the bold fleet that dares to --run the gauntlet-an ordeal that would prove fatal were the bat- teries ably served. We' cannot judge of the practicability by the success of Sir J. Duckworth, since in his passage up he was nearly unopposed, owing to the indecision of the enemy; and in his retreat, the velocity of his ships, produced by a strong north- easter and a rapid current, offered a severe test for their gunnery. A fleet wishing to force a passage, (most practicable in May, June, October, or November, during which months southerly kwinds prevail strongest,) would make it easy by landing a body of men after sunset, and taking the principal works on the Euro- *pean side of the Hellespont before morning. The usual self-secu- rity and laziness of the Turks would render the enterprise certain. The garrisons are not strong, (composed of regular veterans, in- ured to smoking and eating pilaff,) and the castles, in addition to the defect of being commanded, within a stone's throw by the slope on which they are built, are extremely weak in the rear; they have no drawbridge, and the crazy wooden gates would yield to a few strokes of a hatchet, unless it were preferred to cross 18 TURKEY.AND THE TURKS. them by ladders. Their height, the same as that of the wall, is about twenty-two feet; the ditch is dry and shallow. Before a sufficient force could be collected to dislodge them, the assailants would have time to open a fire on the opposite works in Asia, which are commanded by the European works; at all events, if hard pressed, to spike the guns and retreat to their advancing ships by means of the numerous boats belonging to each castle. By the simple expedient of building a tower on the hill above each castle in Europe, with two or three guns so mounted as to fire down into it, the possibility of a similar coup de'main would be completely guarded against. But the Turks never adopt pre- cautions until misfortune shows them the necessity, then perhaps too late. Allah has hitherto preserved the works of the Dardan- elles, and they trust he will continue to do so without giving them any trouble. Owing to the increasing height of the banks, which acted as a funnel, the gale sensibly freshened, so that we soon reached Galli- poli, a good town, capital of an extensive sandjacklik, famed for manufacturing the best morocco leather, and possessing a good port, in the Chersonese of Thrace. Seven mosques, an old Greek castle, and a light-house (seldom lit) grace it visibly. It has 15,000 inhabitants, and has the reputation of being the first place occupied by the Turks in Europe, then in a manner by divine aid, by an earthquake throwing down its works, and enabling young Othman, the son of Orchan, to take possession of it without trouble. Gallipoli was for the Turks what Calais was during two centuries to the English. A few miles above it we entered the sea of Marmora, and night spread her mantle round us while passing the lofty island of the same name. Pale lightnings in the north-east made us apprehend a contrary wind. The southerly breeze, however. prevailed, and we remained on deck, waiting the dawn that should reveal to our eyes the pride of fifteen centuries. It came with Oriental splendor, and with it a forest of towers and trees appeared on the waters. It gradually rose as we slowly advanced, and by an hour after sunrise the noble work of Constantine, the first Christian capital, 19 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. the rival of eternal Rome, planted triumphantly on seven hills, was fairly disclosed to view, each hill studded with cupolas and minarets, chequered with funereal bowers, dotted here and there with an ancient column, and the whole girt with a venerable crust of time, the battlements of her glory. In the vast bay, which the mingling shores of Europe and Asia seemed to form, she sat, queen of cities, seat of empire, whether Christian, Heathen, or Mahommedan, chosen spot whence genius might rule the world. Two prominent objects of the picture before our eyes were the seven towers on one side, and on the other the superb barracks of Scutari, the glittering whiteness of the latter beautifully relieving the long and broad cypress belt of the great cemetery, stretching from them over the plain towards Mount Oetos, on whose sum- mit the ruins of a Roman fortress brave time and tempest. Far to the right, we saw a scattered village on the site of Chalcedonia, and, near a meadow planted with gigantic cypresses, a faro, skirted by a boldly picturesque rock high out of the water. Continuing the same line, the Princes Isles, where blind old Dan- dolo refreshed his galleys in 1203, and where, in 1807, a British fleet lost several men, blended in one, and in the distance, over a low chain of hills, forming Mondania Gulf, the snowy ridge of the Bythynian Olympus formed a silver arch on the blue sky. As we began to open the Bosphorus, the scene changed, though still preserving its characteristic beauty; instead of one city we saw three cities, the capital, Tophana crowned by Pera, and Scu- tari, almost joining, yet distinctly separated. We then immediately edged over to point St. Stephen, near which was a pretty royal kiosk, and then skirted the sea front of Constantinople. Owing to the position of the city on a series of hills of nearly equal height, its principal edifices are seen at one view. We discerned, with our telescopes, Marcian's column among a crowd of mean habitations; to the left of it, Sultan Selim's mosque; to the right, on the fourth hill, that of the conqueror, while lower down was the mosque of Mahommed IV's mother, remarkable by the numerous adjacent mausoleums, and near it two vast cupolas, covering one of the finest public baths. Also on the 20 TURKEY AND THIE TURKS. fifth, sixth, and seventh hills, numerous mosques were discernible, though of no great merit, excepting one built by a princess of the blood, and distinguished by the absence of minarets. Passing the interval of the third and fourth hills, we saw the minarets and flag-staff of Ramis Tchiftlik, the outpost of Constantinople. Sul- tan Solyman's magnificent mosque towers on the third hill; led by its imposing appearance, we at first supposed it the principal temple, forgetting St. Sophia. A tall, ugly white tower, the model of bad taste, called the Seraskier's Tower, served as a foil to it, and' the gracefully wreathed minarets of Bajazet's arid other mosques. Glancing hastily from it, our eyes lighted on the ele- gant mosque of Osman III on the second hill, and dwelt on the porphyry column of Constantine adjoining. From this to the first hill the transition is short but striking. The summits of two obelisks, and a cluster of ten minarets at the apex of the triangle, pointed out to us the hippodrome, and the mosques of Sultan Achmet and of St. Sophia; another cluster beyond of slender gilt minarets, and a thick grove of trees, marked the seraglio. Two grand cathedrals and an imperial palace, occupying alone the space of four miles, is a collection which only Constantinople can show. Having passed these interesting objects slowly in review, we shot into mid-channel, between Scutari and the seraglio point; there, meeting the current, we did not advance, but the scene was of so rivetting a nature that I did not regard the delay. We were in a splendid panorama nearly surrounded by cities; and, as one unacquainted with the localities might have readily imagined, at the confluence of two oval mountain lakes, the Gulf of Kereas, (the port,) and the last reach of the Bosphorus; the latter not appearing, as it really is, a headlong stream, but calm, radiently blue, one of Claude Lorraine's originals. The broad quay of Tophana, strewed with ordnance of every calibre, and piles of shot from the accommodating grape to the cumbrous eight hundred pounder, was the point of union of these beauti- ful pieces of water. We admired the noble, bizarre-looking, ar- senal on it, and the symmetrical mosque of Mahommed II, with 21 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. its peculiarly elegant, slender, gilt-spired minarets, and the large handsome fountain of Tophana, as rich and appropriate or- naments to the entrance of the harbor. Finding, after some minutes, that we were retrograding rather than progressing, we edged over to the seraglio, in order to warp by the fragments of columns planted for that purpose in the quay, but the breeze freshening, spared us the trouble. We sailed close beneath the mosques of Achmet and Sophia, and the seraglio wall, in the embrasures of which, as high as our mast- heads, several bastandgis were lounging ; at its base were other features of tyranny, as low iron doors conveniently placed for those destined to a watery grave. We just caught a glimpse of the corinthian capital of an antique column in the fourth court of the seraglio, peeping out from among the trees, so difficult to hit, that many who visit Constantinople never hear of it. We then glided past the gorgeous kiosk of Sultan Mahmoud, erected between the'wall and the river, into the harbor, and looking up the northern front of the- city, saw nearly the same line of columns and mosques which we had seen from the Propontis, with other remarkable edifices, particularly Yeni Giami, the Charsheys, Validi Khan, and the vast palace of the Scheik Islam. An officer boarded us, and introduced himself to us as the cap- tain of the port. He had a smiling, adapting countenance, as became one who studied the perquisites more than the duties of office. He required a backsheish (present) for the honor he con- ferred on us in coming off, but our skipper was up to the mark, and refused him. " What is your cargo ?" he then demanded. " We have a few baskets of maccaroni." " God is bountiful ! give me one ;"--same denial-" give me then a handful to put in my pocket for my wife, who is sick." By the look of his capa- cious breeches he could have stowed away a basketful in them ; but our skipper had the firmness to resist this official beggar, who then left us in disgust, without saying a word about our an- chorage. We knew, however, where to go, and after three tacks reached it, off the Koursoumlou Mahze, (Frank custom-house.) 22 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. We soon had an opportunity of observing the progress of civi- lization; we were directed to a bureau in the custom-house to have our passports examined, a formality utterly useless, since, had we landed in any other spot, we should have been as free from interrogatories as in an English port. The half-dozen scribes who performed the inquisitorial office-grave, sad-looking Osmanleys, as if adicted to sedentary habits, with one full blown Armenian for dragoman-were comfortably arranged on a divan: at the left hand of each' a chibouque rested, and, as tobacco is more grateful when accompanied by coffee, attendants stood re- spectfully in front to present it when required. At the right hand of each, on the sofa, was a writing case, containing ink, sand mixed with gold-dust, stamps, reeds, a knife, rolls of paper, a pair of scissors to cut it into the prescribed forms, and pieces of muslin to inclose letters to persons of distinction. The forms appeared to us very simple : a raya, for example, came in, and demanded a teskereh (pass) for Gallipoli : the scribe, whom he addressed, laid down his pipe, placed a piece of paper on the palm of his left hand, and, in this awkward position, wrote it in beautiful characters. No copy was taken. The applicant paid the fee, three piastres ! (twenty cents.) Two minutes sufficed for the whole affair. The examination of my passport, which I had got from the French embassy at London, occupied their united wisdom a considerable time. An Englishman, with a French passport, appeared to them very suspicious. " Are you really an Englishman ?"-" I am." " Where is your English passport ?"-" I have not got one." " Why not ?" " Because it is not customary to have one." " Why then have you got a French passport ?"-" Because I travelled through France." " There is no sense in this: you ought to have an English passport : if your intentions were good your king would have given you a passport. Bakalum !" " Bakalum, indeed," I soon thought, seeing I had to do with fellows who had just learned enough to be ignorant. " Can you give us a reference ?"-" Not I ! I cdo not know a person in the padischah's dominions." " Wonderful !"--and they all laid down 23 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. their pipes. " What then brings you to Turkey ?"-" To see the great man Mahmoud." " A very good reason. But yon are English, and have a French passport; we do not understand that." I endeavored to explain to these infants in the noble art which Fouche perfected, that, although an Englishman is free in his own country to go where and when he pleases, in other countries he must submit to be deprived of a portion of his liberty ; the restraint on him, at the same time, being perfectly absurd, since he could obtain a passport with the same ease, whether a rogue or an honest man. This was above their com- prehension: they could not understand why there should be a distinction between a Frenchman and an Englishman, believing, as most Turks do, that all Franks belong to the same family, are governed by the same laws, and that the Bible is the rule of Christian jurisprudence, as the Kuran is of Mussulman jurispru- dence. My arguments, however, good or bad, were admitted; for our passports, after all, were only examined in affectation of Frank customs, then commencing to be in vogue; moreover, the Porte cared not who entered Turkey, not being sufficiently en- lightened to suspect every stranger of having designs against her. Freed from this embarrassment, the last which I expected to have met with in Turkey, I ascended the steep streets of Galata, a town less remarkable for the usual oriental features of wolfish curs, sturdy porters, and spectre-looking females, than for its motley Frank population, in appearance a deputation from the canaille of every country in Europe. Ionians, Sclavonians, Rus- sians, the inhabitants of every petty Italian state, here mingle manners and language with Greeks and Turks. In Galata, every nation may be said to have its representative, im every calling, from the merchant to the beggar. But Galata, as it is, is lost sight of in the recollections of Galata as it was-imperium in imperio, during nearly two cen- turies, rivalling the city of which it was only a suburb, possessed by a company of foreign merchants, who had power to impose conditions on the Emperor, audacity to wage war with the sub- 24 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. MnTURE AND TUE TURKS. is jects of a rival republic within sight of the palace of the Paleo- logi, but who were compelled to remain trembling spectators of the Moslem's triumph. " Compelled to remain" is an expression irreconcilable with the general received opinion that the perfidy of the Genoese ac- celerated the sad catastrope which renders 1453 a prominent yeai in the history of the world. I am inclined, however, to adopt it, because more consonant with reason, though opposed to the his- tory of the last siege of Constantinople ; that history, moreover, being too incorrect to be admitted as evidence, that the Genoese were so far bereft of mercantile perspicacity as to believe that the price of a hollow neutrality would exempt them from the anathema of the common foe of Christendom. Gibbon (to give an instance of the incorrectness alluded to) informs us that, not- withstanding the friendly offices (according to him) of the inhabi- tants, the walls of Galata were prudently razed immediately after the conquest. Hie assigns no adequate reason for so useless and wanton an act ; nor indeed would it be easy to imagine, why the conqueror, in the plenitude of success, should have conferred that honor exclusively on a suburb, from which pride alone forbade that he should apprehend danger. That Mahommed II did not, however, display such despicable weakness, so inconsistent with his haughty character, the actual walls and fortifications of Ga- lata bear evidence, standing where they stood six centuries since, of the same form and construction as the walls of the city, with the same coloring of time, the arms of the Genoese remaining on several parts of them, with inscriptions over some of the gates. The position of Galata, built amphiteatrically on the side of a hill, by which the inhabitants were entirely at the disposition of the Mussulman corps, encamped above them, (where now stands Pera,) is a better reason for their inactivity than a wilful indif- ference, which, though prompted by religion, was discountenanced by interest, to the fate of the last and noblest of the Constan- tines. "There is no god but God, and Mahommed is his prophet," rung in our ears from the galleries of several minarets, as w 26 TURKEY AND THIE TURKS. reached the tower of Christ, in the upper part of Galata; a tower which, according to the inscription, was built by the prtors of the most noble Genoese colony, and merits, comparing its size and solidity with the surrounding buildings, the name of, colyseum; while its obstinate survival of numerous fires save oc- casionally' its wooden conic top, renders applicable to it-- " Quamdiu stabit colyseus," &c. The muezzin's appeal informed us that it was past noon, the heat of the sun that it was time to be housed somewhere. Both the officer and the sentry of the guard bore evidence of the latter, and to the inefficiency of the former, by the sleep they were in. A few minutes' walk from the tower brought us to Pera, to the house of Dr. Musmezzi, whose brother had been my fellow-passenger from Syra. It was infi- nitely preferable to going to one of the bug-infested inns, and eastern hospitality made me feel quite comfortable. CHAPTER II. DR. MUSMEZZI, BAKER REVIEW, BARON BOLLY, KHOSREW PASHA, KUT- CHUK HUSSEYIN, LORD COCHRANE. "YEs," said my host, "the Osmanleys drink a great deal since the last sultan began to reform them; though I should not com- plain, for the habit is very favorable to the interests of medicine." He said this in reference to a young Bey, who had come in at dessert, installed himself on the sofa, and drank himself recum- bent. When it was dark, his attendants covered him with a cloak and carried him away. Alas ! that drunkenness should be the first step of civilization. That it is so cannot be denied; look at Russia.for a standing example; Turkey will soon be ano- ther. My host was a Sclavonian by birth, a physician by pro- fession, a Levantine by adoption. By a Levantine is meant a Frank who has totally abandoned his na:ive country, and fixed himself in Turkey for good. He cannot be mistaken. He is a compound of the Turk, the Gre3k, and the Frank; disfigured by the moustache of the first, the long hair of the second, the whis- kers and dress of the third ; not the dress usually worn in Europe, but a mixture of fashions for the preceding half cen- tury; no wonder that the Easterns think it unbecoming. He talks many languages-none well; he is servile with Moslems, pert with Christians-your humble servant abroad, a tyrant at home. But not a shade of this sketch of the species applies, ex- cept the name, to the worthy Musmezzi, who was the more en- titled to an Englishman's good word from having been surgeon's assistant on board an English line-of-battle ship in the Adriatic. He did not remain long in the service, for, as he said with a sigh, cockpit tricks and dry holy stoning disagreed with his tem- per and his lungs, and obliged him to abandon prospective half- pay; when, his own country offering few resources, he brought his wits to the great eastern market, where, having taken an Armenian wife, by way of introduction to society, he soon shared a brisk, though ill-remunerated trade with surgeons from all parts of Europe, all duly certified and diplomaed to practise on the credulity of the Moslems, and who often justify the say- ing of a Venitian Bail, that the Italians always carried on the crusade against the Moslems : first with arms, then with recipes. The fair hands of the doctor's lady did the honors to a guest, by sprinkling his bed with rose-water. The town enjoyed a death-like repose, only broken occasionally by the watchmen hitting their iron-shod staves on the pavement; yet, notwith- standing such auxiliaries, I could not sleep, for since leaving Genoa I had had occasion to rough it without a bed. The night, however, was not long; on looking at my watch, at breakfast, in the morning, I was dismayed to find that it was just five o'clock. What a space to get over till noon, the hour a London day commences ! What detriment to candle-makers, the custom of the East, to oppropriate the day to business, the night to sleep ! No oriental will willingly commence a task or a journey after noon; he looks at the sun, and says in excuse, " It is evening." The Frank, though he grumbles at first at this 27 TUrKREY AND THE TURKS. new division of time, soon gets used to it, and likes it, especially when, as at and about Constantinople, he sees the sun rise every morning over the most charming scenery in the world. The first day or two at Pera one feels the embarrassment of the wise men who visited the inoon. What with chibouques in one house, sherbet in another, a gaze on a beautiful scene here, a stroll-in a cool shade there, the day slips away insensibly. To- bacco is a sad time-killer. I am sure that no intellectual nation can become a nation of smokers-mind, I do not mean a cigar or two per diem as anything ; that much, no more makes a man a smoker, than a glass or two of wine makes him a hard drinker. This prostrate indolence is, I suppose, the cause that many per- sons pass their lives at Pera, without having the curiosity to visit Constantinople. I met more than one such a phenoinenon, and many who, in the course of. many years, had not been there above twice. We have only to imagine a person living at Albano or Vincennes, and never going to Rome or Paris; even the prrallel is too wide, for Pera is not more than a good rifle-shot from the capital. I had not proceeded up two of the steep streets, on my way to the Eski Saray, attracted by a review, when I was stopped by a singular exhibition peculiar to Turkish towns, a baker nailed by his ear to his door-post. I was fortunate, for the sight is suf- ficiently rare to make it a curiosity. The position of the rascal was most ludicrous, rendered more so by the perfect nonchalance with which he was caressing his beard. The operation, they say, does not hurt much ; though in this case it was done very rough- ly, and the patient was obliged to stand on his toes to keep his ear from tearing. "This is nothing," said my dragoman, observing my attention ; "a few days ago a master-baker, as handsome a young fellow as ever you saw, had his nose and ears cut off; he bore it like a brave one; he said he did not care much about his ears, his tur- ban would hide the marks-but his nose-he gave the execu- tioner a bribe to return it to him, after he had shown it to the judge, that he might have it stuck! on again." 28 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. "Poor fellow !" I thought, " that would have puzzled Mott !" "It served him right," added my dragoman: "at that time loaves were scarcer than baker's noses." The Spartan appearance of the bread in the shops was evi- dence of the scarcity which still reigned; it had been blacker a short time previous, and caused serious disturbances, especially on the part of the women, which the government could only quell by distributing rations. A regiment of Tacticos was on the ground, exercising. Re- gular troops, unless they are provided with a good staff and com- missariat, skilful leaders, &c. are more unseviceable than irregular troops; the unifomity of the former is no balance for the self-re- sources of the latter. Regulars look to others for food and cloth- ing; irregulars trust to themselves. The situation of instructors in the Turkish army was, at one time, very miserable; their sala- ries were nominal ; they were often reduced to rags and dry bread, reduced to kiss the hem of a pasha's garment to obtain a back- sheish (present.) Mossulman hauteur prevented the Osmanleys from employing Christians as officers, and therefore they ruined their country, for they had not talents to meet the exigencies which"Irose on the catastrophe of the Janizzaries. Had Peter trusted to Muscovite genius to form and lead the troops which replaced the Strelitzes, Charles XII would have quartered in the Kremlin. One of the earliest instructors was a Bavarian noble, the Baron Bolley, who died, leaving a widow, a young Greek, the daughter of his washerwoman, with not enough money to buy a coffin. The haron was known to me by name, by having created a sensation at Malta, where he stopped some days on his way from Marseilles to the East, during the time of my sojourn there. Having an introduction, and being a polished, well-spoken man, he was received into the first set--at Malta there are several. Either to make an eclat, or for some offence, I know not which, he called out a civil officer of the government, Mr. Nugent; but Mr. Nugent, deeming his request mal a propos, refered it to Gen- eral Ponsonby, who put the baron under arrest. After a day of durance vile, the baron consented to leave the island, exclaiming, TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 29 though, bitterly against such a violation, as he termed it, of the laws of hospitality, as well as of honor. Little did I then think to find him, in a few years, in a back lodging in Pera. A little ugly man, with a shining red face and a long white beard, dressed in a hussar uniform, smoking a chibouque at a win- dow of the palace which overlooked the ground, attracted our attention more than the manoeuvres. It was Khosrew, the seras- kier pasha (minister of war.) Perceiving we were Franks, he sent an officer to invite us into the shade of his verandah. I after- wards had the advantage of knowing him well. He was an in- stance of the rapid change of fortune daily witnessed in the East. By birth a Georgiap, Khosrew was bought when a child in that very city in which I then saw him the most influential per- son. His supple and jestful manners, in his quality of page, gained him the love of Selim III. He retained it in manhood, and after filling minor situations, attained the height of his ambi- tion, the reward of a life of hypocrisy, by being invested with the pashalik of Egypt at the time of its evacuation by the French and English troops. Egypt then offered a fair field for a man of genius to rise to eminence on; that man was there; and though Khosrew was not wanting in talent, especially the talent most necessary to greatness in the East, cunning and cruelty, he suc- cumbed to the fortune of his lieutenant, Mehemet Ali, command- ing a corps of Albanians. Selim III. immediately sent the capitan pasha to Alexandria with orders to remove Mehemet Ali, if possible, to another world, if not, to confirm him in the pashalik, it being a maxim of the Porte, that it is wiser to leave a rebel in peace, provided he will pay tribute, than to make war on him. Mehemet Ali avoided the snare, gave up Khosrew, and remained pasha. But though Khosrew had been egregiously outwitted, his talent at treachery was too notorious to be overlooked by Mahmoud II. when he came to the throne; who wanted such men to forward his reform. He made him his capitan pasha, which post Khosrew blackly stained by allowing himself to be exiled (pro forma) to cut off a powerful dere bey in the vicinity of 30 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. Angora. The marked bey gave him a friendly reception, and seeing an infirm old man, invited him to reside in his house till a comfortable one could be prepared for him. An exiled pasha is always treated with honor by the inhabitants of the place of his exile, not out of respect to fallen greatness, but such is the muta- tion of fortune in Turkey, that in a month he may regain his lost favor, and be able to punish the neglect of provincials. Khos- rew's frank and cheerful manners were sufficient to remove suspi- cions, had any even been entertained. Confidence was soon fully established, and the bey daily visited his guest unattended by followers. At length, sure of his victim, one day sitting on a sofa together, Khosrew drew from his bosom the fatal firman, and displayed it to the astonished bey, thus requited for his hospitality. Before he could raise his voice, the ready cordon stifled it for ever. His followers were called in to behold their lifeless master; however they might have felt, the sight of the sultan's firman disarmed their resentment. Khosrew seized his wealth, and with his head returned to Constantinople. Such a man was a treasure to Mahmoud II., and almost a solitary instance of a pasha debasing himself to such a deed, unless for the object of attaining the deceased's place. Khosrew's next exploit of notoriety was taking off Kiatib Oglou, the Governor of Smyrna, famed for his amours, and his predilection for Frank customs. As he was the son of a rebel, and had also himself retained the government against the sultan's will, it was not an easy matter to catch him ; it required consum- mate address. After a year's ensnaring, Khosrew succeeded in placing two hundred miles between the head and the body of Kiatib Oglou. We next find Khosrew distinguishing himself at Ipsara, the massacre of whose inhabitants, July 2, 1824, he directed as capitan pasha. By singular good luck, he was not capitan pasha in 1822, the year of Canaris' success. In June, 1826, Khosrew assisted his master in cutting down the Janizzaries. The year following, he .ought to have sailed, being still capitan pasha, in the ill-fated fleet that went to TURKEY. AND THEI TURK S 81L 32 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. Navarino ; but as the fleet had occasion to go first to Alexandria to be victualled, it was seen that his presence would not be agreeable to Mehemet All, whom the Porte was then caressing, especially as in his rank he would be the superior officer (nomi- nally.) Tahir Pacha, therefore, the capitan bey, assumed the command, and Khosrew remained in the capital to nurse a plot. At the breaking out of the Russian war in 1828, Khosrew was appointed seraskier pasha, in addition to being anadolu valyci. A more inefficient minister of war could not well have been found ; his only merit was personal activity, which was remarkable for his years; on the same day I have seen him inspect the castles on the Bosphorus, and review troops at Ramis Tchiftlik. Avarici- ous as he is rich, cruel as he is artful, mean as he is powerful; Khosrew's fortune, in having so long escaped poison or the bow- string, is only equalled by his crimes, which are considered super- lative, even in a country where such attributes are not held in horror. When I had had enough of the seraskier and his troops, I went down to the shore, got into a caique, and rowed up and down the beautiful harbor, the very best in the world, always sweet and clean on account of the current, and sheltered from every wind. I landed at the arsenal, and had the pleasure of seeing one of the largest ships in the world lying alongside the quay. A fine sixty gun frigate was on the stocks nearly finished. The constructor of both was a Turk; eleve of Mr. Le Brun, an architect formerly in the service of Selim III. Like our celebrated builder, Bomam Jumpsatjee, of Bombay, he knew nothing of mathematics-he worked by the eye. While I was admiring these fine specimens of naval architec- ture, with astonishment at seeing them there, the work of a bar- barian, the personification of Othello accosted me. His hue was between that of the Arab and the Moor, his beard was pointed, his vest and trousers were snow white, connected by an embroid- ered sash, finished by yellow boots, and a pair of coal-black, blood- shot eyes, glowed under a scarlet fez. He was the liman reis bey, (commissioner,) and a Very good fellow too. We sat down to smoke, and by means of a few words of various languages, estab- lished an ambiguous sort of a lingua franca, the occupation of our chibouques tending to fill up breaks in the conversation. On a serious question, the presence of the narcotic weed is invaluable; it gives time for second thoughts, and a cloud of it veils a pertur- bation of countenance. To aid our intercourse, the bey displayed a talent that not two of his countrymen possessed-that of sketch- ing; true, the animal he drew on a leaf of my pocket-book, in- tended for a gazelle, so much resembled a pig that he seemed quite ashamed-the unclean animal. Nothing could equal my surprise, I may say disappointment, for I had strung my nerves for a trial, on going to the Bagnio from his divan to find it by no means a horrible place, but a very quiet, orderly conducted prisoi. The galley slaves of Toulon, I nositively assert, are one hundred times worse off than the Bagni- otes. Their only point of resemblance is in their food, equally bad in each, consisting of a kind of hog-wash sufficiently nutri- cious to keep the bones covered, but ill calculated to create an appetite in hot weather. In all other respects they differ. The galley slaves are chained in gangs, the Bagniotes in pairs. The former must sleep on boards, the latter may sleep on beds. In Toulon dockyard no horses or steam are employed, in order that the convicts may have harder work; in Constantinople arsenal the number of sailors always on pay, whether the fleet be in com- mission or not, is so great that the convicts have scarcely any- thing to do. The former have not the advantages of religion; in the precincts of the Bagnio is a mosque, a Greek church, and a synagogue, for the different castes. In Toulon there are from 4,000 to 5,000 galley slaves; in the Bagnio the number rarely amounts to 100. In Toulon a convict remains fourteen years, or for life, according to the sentence, without a hope of commuta- tion; in the Bagnio prisoners are often released by the capitan pasha. No capitan pasha did so much for the navy as Kutchuk H It- seyin, the favorite, and son-in-law of Selim III. whose disinte- restedness and liberality ably seconded his master's projects. TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 33 Though no sailor, he had common sense to direct him in the pursuit of knowledge ; he procured architects from France, with whose aid he resuscitated the arsenals of Constantinople, of Sinope, and of Rhodes, supplying the first with two wet docks, and all other necessaries for the equipment of a large fleet ; and in a short time h had twenty sail of the line, built on the newest models, anchored before the windows of his palace. He reformed the Galiondgis, built barracks for them, and encouraged the naval school, the professor of which, when I was there, was a young Englishman named Redhouse, who had run away from a merchant- ship in the harbor, on board of which he was a cabin-boy, and then apostatized to avoid being retaken. Mustapha, that was his new name, had poor success with his lazy scholars, one of whom, however, whom I knew on board the flag-ship as signal- officer, was looked on as a prodigy because he could ascertain noon with the quadrant, never supposing that the instrument was intended to produce a more important result. After the death of Kutchuk Husseyin, the navy resumed its usual languor. The events of 1821 roused it ; but its ill success against the hasty armed merchant-vessels of Greece are notorious, and is stronger proof than words of its wretched condition. Ex- perience, however, was bought by misfortune; officers and crews were formed, who at length discovered that man should trust more to his own exertions on the sea than to the protection of Allah. After five years' struggle for the mastery of the Archipelago, they gained it, with sufficient knowledge of maritime affairs to cruise about without running foul of each other every night. With experience they had also acquired confidence, the principal step to inrprovement. In short, the Turkish navy, in 1827, was in a state of practical efficiency, which it was far from having, even under Kutchuk Husseyin, and which rendered it superior to the Russian fleet in the Euxine, as would have been apparent had not the affair of Navarino intervened. That " untoward event" destroyed the fruit of the preceding five years of toil and disasters, and again paralyzed the Turkish navy. Every effort was made to equip another fleet to meet the Russians on the Black Sea, but M TURKEY AND THE TURKS. instead of appointing the gallant Tahir Pasha to the supreme command, the post of capitan pasha was conferred, successively, on landsmen, who were ill-qualified to impart energy to those under them, or to feel it themselves. An important personage, however arrived, who expected by his presence to remove all difficulties, and to hld the scales of fate in the ensuing naval campaign. He was on board a large steamer, then anchored off the arsenal; this steamer, (the Hilton Joliffe,) had come from England to be sold to the sultan, and had eluded the scrutiny of the blockading fleet at the Dardanelles, by hoisting the red ensign at the main, signal of the ambassador (hourly expected) being on board. The Russian admiral, duped by the stratagem, not only allowed her to pass, but shoved off in his barge to compliment his excellency: The steamer did not back water for him, but emitting a denser cloud, left her black pennant miles behind her. Instead of an ambassador, Captain Hanchet, formerly R. N., came in her to assist the sultan. He modestly offered to command the Turkish fleet for the sum of �20,000, and the rank of vice- admiral. The Osmanleys would have considered his terms rather high had he even been provided with the burning glasses of Ar- chimedes. They told him that they were very willing to accept his services in their way, particularly as he was a friend of Sidney Smith; but that they would not give him the sum required, nor the post of petrona-bey, (vice-admiral,) he being a Christian. They would, however, give him the pay annexed to the office, �180, and allow him to go to sea with the fleet, to advise on its operations. This was courting honor rather too cheaply, thought the captain. However, he continued negociating some days with the reis effendi, who merely wished to gain an idea from him, and proposed, in the interim, that a fleet of gun-boats should go to the Danube. His object therein was rather vague; no benefit could have arisen from it, since the principal part of the Russian army was known to have already crossed the river, and Silistria, if it still held out, was not in a condition to be succored by gun- boats. The Osmanleys looked nearer; they met the question in TKREY AND THE TUase. 85-i ts outset, and pertinently asked how the boats were to reach the Danube, past the enemy's fleet--an obstacle that they considered insurmountable. No valid proposal being made to remove it, the gun-boats remained where they were, and the ex-captain returned the way he came, astonished that the Sublime Porte was too ava- ricious to reward*unknown merit in prospective. He had appa- rently taken a leaf out of Lord Cochrane's book, without con- sidering the difference between himself and his lordship, whose services the Greek committee deemed worth purchasing. He established, or accredited, a report that Lord Cochrane was with the Russian fleet in the Euxine; and, without reflecting on the extreme improbability of the emperor insulting Admiral Greig, covered with his orders, by placing a stranger over him, wrote it'as a fact to Sir Pulteney Malcolm, at Smyrna. Sir Pulteney immediately weighed anchor, and came to the Darda- nelles with his fleet, in order to pass the strait, should the Russian fleet, as was to be apprehended in that case, make a dash down the Bosphorus, and decide the war by a coupe de main. The conqueror of Valdivir, and of Callao, had he been there, was capable of undertaking so glorious an enterprise, provided, which is doubtful, the Russian captains would have seconded him. Ad- miral Greig never dreamed of it. The vicinity of Sir P. Mal- comb, at the Dardanelles, allowing he might have taken on him- self, or been directed by Sir R. Gordon, to assist the sultan, at such a crisis, would have been no obstacle; for the north-east gale which would have brought the Russian fleet to the Bosphorus, would have effectually prevented the English fleet from ascending the Hellespont. And though it is not necessary that Constantinople, unforti- fled as it is, should yield to a fleet which has succeeded in reach- ing it, since batteries are easily thrown up, and a city, fourteen miles in circumference, can afford delay; yet the sultan's position in 1829 was so very precarious, owing to the disaffection of his subjects, rife with the spirit of janizzaryism, added to the unpopularity of the war, that he would have been compelled to have signed a peace, in order to have prevented revolution. 36 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. CHAPTER III. CAIQUES, BOSPHORUS, BARBAROSSA'S TOMB, DELHI SULTANA, CAS- TLES, DEVIL'S CURRENT, YPSILANTI, CALOSSO. THE great lion of the East, that is the Sultan, being at Thera- pia, a village twelve miles up the stream, one fine morning, a week after my arrival, having seen les eaux douces, the royal stud, the dancing devishes, the niches for exhibiting noble heads in, in short, glanced at the minor lions, reserving a closer inspection for cooler weather-having surfeited myself on cabobs, and affron- ted cholera with iced sherbet, sold-irrisistible temptation- in every street, at two paras (one-third of a cent) a glass-I walked through the ordeal of the dogs of Tophana, 'and got into a caique. Divide an egg-shell longitudinally, take one-half, pinch in its two ends, lengthen them by slender beaks of wax, gild and paint the whole tastefully, and you have the precise model of the uniquely elegant skiffs that ply on the Golden Horn and the Bos- phorus. Europeans, resident at Pera, who have a flattering idea of the value of their persons, seldom venture into one. The sight of a large caique, leaving the shore, filled with men and women, involuntarily brings to mind the Noyades of the Loire. You no sooner step into one, than, feeling prescient of a drown- ing, you endeavor to step out again; the attempt nearly com- pletes the catastrophe. 'Sit do n ;'". cry the caiqgis, authoritatively, seeing they have to do with a greenhorn. You obey, and place yourself on what appears to be a seat, but so far from gaining steadiness, the bark reels to an inch of the tide each way. " Sit down ! down, in the bottom of the boat !" again shout the caiqgis, who half frightened, endeavor to counteract your awk- wardness by balancing their supple bodies; " sit quiet, unless you wish the boat to be over you instead of under !" 317 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. You cast a wishful glance at the beach, with an exclamation at your rashness, as you shove off, doubtful if you may land again. Reader, hast thou rolled, rivalling a porpoise, on a catamaran through the surf at Madras ? hast thou sat on a couple of hides, dancing like India-rubber balls on a wooden floor, trembling lest the wind in your body will not suffice to keep them inflated till the last wave pitches you on the beach at Coquimbo? Hast thou, in a wherry, dipped six times into the same hole on the Spit during a south-west gale ? There is yet a sharper nerve-twinger : hoist your sail, and scud down the Bosphorus in a caique; you will have your heart in your mouth one hour, half out each time you gibe, with the satisfaction of hearing " delhi" shouted at you from each caique, and point that you pass in your arrow-like pro- gress. Frail, though, as caiques are, even rowing, thousands daily ascend,'or descend, or traverse the Bosphorus, without acci- dent, the absolute necessity of caution being a safeguard; one trial gives confidence, with the knack of getting in and out. Should one overturn the passengers must be drowned ; for though one hundred caiques may be passing, none can assist, the attempt would be suicidal. The rowers are chiefly Greeks, who find it a gainful trade, and are one of the handsomest races in Turkey. They wear light garments, of dazzling white, and can row eight, nine, ten miles an hour, according to the number of oars. A few strokes-we shot into the Bosphorus, and commenced rapidly ascending between shores of unrivalled loveliness, where art and nature, taste and chance, have for once combined to fin- ish pictures worthy of paradise; the deep blue stream flowing between them, reflecting Grecian castle and Turkish kiosk, cypress grove and flower garden; gladdened by the constant flight of birds, the splash of oars, the glitter of fish. Naples fades in the comparison of this celebrated strait ; and Rio de Janeiro, the first view of which repays the tedium of an Atlantic voyage, only sur- passes it in the splendor of fhe sea approach. There the rivalry ends; Rio exhibits all at one burst, like a beautiful actress dressed for the stage ; but the Bosphorus, like one's own love, has winning charms, which fasten on the memory and tax the imagi- 38 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. nation : each time we row up it, new beauties, hitherto undis- covered, elicit fresh admiration; every reach appears a highland lake, every vale an Armida's garden, and the faint tracery of the varying perspective, a promise of Elysian scenes, veiled, as it were, from direct observation, in order that each may have its due share of admiration ; in the same manner as works of genius are viewed to more advantage, and create more pleasure, when scattered over Europe, than when collected in one gallery, where none gain, but hundreds lose, by comparison, or are not looked at. Neither is this fairy ground unappreciated by its possessors, as is usually imagined, though certainly neglected. They revel in it; their great pleasure consists in gazing on it from the windows of their kiosks and cafenehs, of which the possession of a fine view is the first qualification.' Exile from their ghiuzel Istamboul is dreaded nearly as much as death, and their poignant grief at quitting it, is only equalled by their joy at returning. The fair sex delight in spreading their shawls on the turf, and enjoying their kief for hours under the shade of cypresses on the banks of the Bosphorus, seated in circles, quiet, demure, sentimental looking groups, their veils half drawn aside to inhale the breeze, listening to a story-teller, or sipping shbrbet, or playing with their children. Often, turning an angle suddenly, does the stranger cause hasty bpshes to mantle cheeks rarely seen by man, but which are hastily screened from longer view, while a suppressed titter may inform him that modesty is more awake than anger. Nature, too, has been equally beneficent to the Bosphorus in a more substantial point of view, stocking it with fish of every de- scription, more than sufficient for the daily consumption of the vast population of Constantinople. Among these the sword fish ranks first. Notwithstanding its size, it is delicate eating, and is moreover very fashionable, as being the favorite dish of Sultan Mahmoud. It is chiefly caught in the Bosphorus and the Propontis, rarely in the Hellespont, and still more rarely in the Euxine or the Archipelago; in the latter of which seas, however, it abounded in 1812, an extensive TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 39 emigration having taken place, to the alarm of the Constantinople bons vivans, who feared that it would never return; and it was, in consequence, seriously proposed in divan to send a vessel down to catch a male and female alive, and tow them up to the Bos- phorus; but the voluntary return of the fugitives prevented this project from being carried into effect. When properly dressed, sword pointed, it is a regal looking dish, fit to crown a civic ban- quet. The palamithe, a large, and rather coarse fish, is also greatly esteemed. It is an emigrating species, and found in greatest plenty in the sea of Azof; the Cossacks salt great quan- tities of it. There is also turbot in the Bosphorus, similar to, though not quite so good, as the English turbot. It requires habit to relish it, from its back being covered with scaly carbuncles, considered a dainty by the natives, which offend the sight. There being no want of lobsters, it may be eaten en regle. Red mullet, soles, and white-bait, are in profusion; likewise the ink fish, so called from containing a bag of black liquid, perfectly adapted to write with : remove it, and the taste of the fish resembles that of skait; it is, however, generally dressed with it as sauce, and therefore few strangers have the courage to eat it, nor does it, after a trial, tempt a repetition. The Greeks make a great consumption of it in their rigorous fasts, for it does not rank as fish. Twenty-six villages skirt the shores of the Bosphorus, ten in Asia, sixteen in Europe ; the former are scattered, the latter, ex- cepting three, form a continuous street for eight miles, only broken occasionally by royal palaces. Near one of these, Beshik-tach, adjoining the village of the same name, we observed, in a small cemetery, an elegant octangu- lar building, covered by a dome, the mausoleum of Haired din Pasha, better known by the name of Barbarossa. I was some time in Turkey before I knew to whom it belongod, and few dis- coveries in that terra ignota gave me more satisfaction. I say terra ignota, for even in Constantinople a stranger may search in vain for an object which he knows exists, or inquire to no purpose about an edifice before his eyes. Few Turks, except 40 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. the Ulema, are acquainted with other facts than those which are connected with their own lives, and with the majority oblivion dates scarcely a century back. I was at the tomb in question several times before I could ascer- tain if it were the one for which I was seeking; none of the in- habitants, whom I addressed, had heard of Haired din Pasha- their Nelson. At length, an elderly man of the law satisfied my desire; he had observed me before, and in my last visit, with another gentleman, broke through habitual indifference and came to know our object. We told him, on which he sent a boy for the key, which, from the time it required to be found, and the difficulty in turning the rusty wards of the lock, appeared to be seldom used, and intro- duced us to the last dwelling of Andrew Doria's antagonist. It was simple, in accordance with Oriental taste in such matters ; the floor was covered with an Indian mat, on which rested two coffins, one of which was nine feet long, and proportionately wide. At the head of it was Barbarossa's caouk, and above it hung his particular banner. The other coffin contained his chiaja. My bearded ciceroni wished to know what gave me such a desire to see Barbarossa's tomb. " Curiosity," I replied. This answer did not satisfy him, nor indeed does it ever satisfy Orientals, who cannot understand people taking trouble for pleasure or for curiosity. In consequence, absurd reasons are often assigned for a traveler's motives; if he ride fast he is sus- pected of being a government agent; if he look about him, of being a spy, and so forth; but mine was a singular case, and therefore required a singular reason. Singular .enough was the one assigned, viz., that Barbarossa, in one of his voyages to Franguestan, had had an intrigue with a lady from whom I was descended, and that being in Turkey, I very laudably looked for the tomb of my great progenitor. I heard this afterwards from a Greek of my acquaintance, resident in the village, to whom this sapient idea was communicated. Two beings of the neuter gender, airing themselves before a 6 41 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. A2 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. palace a mile higher up the stream, denoted the vicinity of roy- alty. It was the residence of the delhi sultana, the sultan's ute- rine sister, a lady possessing charms of mind and person, and" celebrated for gallantries in the wood of Belgrade, which obliged more than one European to make a precipitate retreat from the country. She was married, when young, to Kutchuk Husseyin, the talented, generous, capitan pasha, of whom I have already spoken, and. was happy in being one of the few princesses of the house of Othman, who have not been debarred, owing to a bar- barous policy, the society of their husbands; the object of mar- rying them off being only to free them from the restraints of the seraglio, and to give them a separate establishment, which the husband supports from the proceeds of his government, usually rich and distant, where he resides without daring to profit by the Mohammedan privileges of a plurality of wives, since on the good graces of his royal bride depends his existence. So warm in the East is the affection which children by the same mother have for each other, that the lady in question has been enabled to pass her widowhood as she pleased, and her ec- centricities, in consequence, made the Osmanleys call her the delhi sultana, by which name she was universally known. Hier chief pastime was riding about in an araba, that is, in a wagon without springs, drawn by oxen ornamented with ribbons; though let it not be supposed that this mode of airing was an effect of eccentricity, for such rude equipage supplies the place of barouche or chariot to the fair of Constantinople, whose dia- monded'locks and cashmeres present a strange contrast. The delhi sultana particularly liked to frequent the places where Franks resorted, because their unambiguous mode of ex- presing admiration pleased her; never, woman-like, allowing herself to think that their meaning glanceS were directed to any of the beautiful damsels who composed her train; and if a Frank attracted her notice, she would not hesitate to speak to him, calling him Hekim, which address varnished the impropriety of her condescending to regard an infidel. One day she honored me with a salutation, and again, to my surprise, stopped her araba where I was standing; but her guards, thinking twice in one day too much familiarity, bade me walk on. A gentleman with me amused himself each time by telegraphing with one of her young attendants in the second araba, who got a sharp scolding from the old duenna, for show- ing too much of her sweet face. The sultana's suite on these occasions consisted of twelve maidens, among whom ee used to remark two very pretty Cir- cassians, about eleven years old, whom she was educating for her brother's harem; and, in consequence of their destination, which might lead one of them to be valide sultana, they sat by her side, were profusely ornamented with jewels, were treated in every re- spect like young princesses of the blood, instead of slaves, pur- chased in the market a few years since. In short, the delhi sul- tana was a rara-avis in Turkey--a woman with her own free will. She received some European ladies in her harem occasionally, and, could she have done so, would, I make no doubt, have fre- quented the Pera balls, and, though not dancing, have been amused and witty at the " dancing girls." The current tired our rowers' brawny arms and bent their ashen blades, yet we cleaved it steadily as far as Arnaoutki, where we stopped to refresh ourselves with coffee and chibouques. Two trees on a hill above the willage pointed out the tomb of the unfortunate Armenian brothers, Touz-Oglou, a few years since the first bankers of Stamboul. They abounded in wealth, but, being generous, were not envied ; they exhibited vizirial pomp, but, being modest in behavior, were liked by believers and unbe- lievers; they were young, but, being rich, could not expect to attain old age ; they were directors of the mint, a dangerous, though much sought-after post, in a country where depreciating the coin is a familiar financial resource. Mahmoud, the late reforming, innovating sultan, despising the policy of his predecessors in only gradually reducing the stand- ard of money so as not to produce too sudden a panic, as savor ing of prejudice, issued at once a hatti scheriff, commanding his subjects to bring all their gold and silver money to their respec- TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 43 tive governors, for which they should receive little more than half the value: pain of death to the refractory. Commotions naturally ensued, and in the capital proved so serious, that to ap- pease them, and throw the odium off the government, the Touz- Oglou, whose only crime was in having literally obeyed their master, were accused of having depreciated the coin of the realm for their own advantage. A victim, no matter whether guilty or innocent, always pacifies a mob, is the Turkish maxim, perhaps applicable in all countries; so the Touz-Oglou,-whose innocence was clear to all informed persons, were put to death, their pro- perty confiscated, their relations exiled, but their bodies, as a particular mark of the sultan's clemency, were allowed to be in- terred instead of being thrown into the sea according to custom. Thanks to the ignorance which causes the effects of tyranny to be less remotely felt, the less civilized the country, this stroke of the sultan's policy did not distress the nation, or profit the trea- sury, to the extent apprehended or expected. The difficult art of finance is still in its infancy in Turkey;few other modes of raising money are successfully practised, than the rude and inef- ficient ones of confiscation and monopoly. Instead of obeying the hatti scheriff, the inhabitants, wherever they were able, sold their money, the circulation of which had become illegal, to the Frank merchants, who then resold it to the Porte for sterling value. Leaving this memento of royal favor behind us, we soon rowed between two ancient castles built on the points where the shores of the Bosphorus nearest approach, within nine hundred yards, six miles from the city. The Asiatic castle was built by Bejazet, to control the navigation of the strait; the European castle, by his gandson, Mahomet, to close it, and to give the Greek empe- ror a forecast of his intentions. The latter has the singularity of representing the name of Mohammed in Arabic characters at least so it is said, though it probably requires the devotion of a Mosselman to make it out, as much as it does the fancy of an astronomer to trace the figures of certain animals in the heavens. Of late years these castles were solely used as a prison for Janiz- 44 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. zaries, and on the execution of one of that body at, or about, the capital, a gun was fired from one of them--a regulation which acted as a strong personal protection to the parties concerned, for the surest, indeed the only way to restrain tyranny, is to pub- lish its acts; the tyrant who nightly stains his dungeons with blood, would shudder if a bell tolled, or a cannon roared for every victim. Half a mile further up we shot into Scheitan Souyou, (devil's current,) so called from its rapidity and whirlpoolishness. We did not attempt to row through it, but took hold of a rope from one of the men who were waiting on the quay for the purpose of tracking boats. On turning the next angle of the strait, we opened the Bay of Buyukdere, which was then filled with the Ottoman fleet, moored in one line, comprising all rates, from the splendid three-decker to the knowing-looking steamer. It was a gaudy spectacle. The ships were all garish with new paint, and their ensigns, spread out by a fresh breeze from the Euxine, made the hills above the village in the back ground seem as though carpeted by crimson silk. The shore on our left was of an opposite char- acter, and presented evidences of a melancholy tale in the razed palaces of the Greek nobles, executed at the beginning of the revolt. A little further on we passed a small kiosk with a guard of honor by it, containing the sandjack scheriff, which had been placed there in order to be near the sultan, whose temporary pal- ace, a straggling wooden edifice, painted pale yellow, (the royal color,) was not far distant. His guards were encamped in the low hills above it in green and white bell tents pitched in circles, pro- ducing a scenic effect ; and from the broad quay before it, a crowd of his pages, of all ages from fifteen to thirty, were fishing. We could not help, owing to the current, disturbing their lines with our oars, but they contented themselves by looking invective and we rowed close under the window s of the sultan's saloon, to the landing place of Therapia. This delightful village, then for the first time honored by the 45 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. residence of royalty, was the favorite country resort of the Greek nobility and gentry before the revolution. " Oh," exclaimed the Phanariotes, "had you only seen us in those days, how happy we were ! our balls, our promenades in the sweet summer nights !" "Why then did you revolt ?" one naturally asks. And inces- santly one feels inclined to ask that question at Constantinople, seeing the comfort and luxury of the Greeks, (surpassing those of the Osmanleys,) their religious freedom, the riotous festivity of their fetes, A specimen of the luxury in which the Greek nobles lived, is seen at Therapia, in the palace and gardens, unsurpassed by any on the Bosphorus, (scarcely excepting the royal palaces,) belong- ing to the French embassy, given by Selim III. to Sebastiani, with permission to hoist the French flag on it-a permission never before or since accorded to any ambassador. The gift though cost the monarch nothing. On war breaking out with Russia, in 1807, Prince Ypsilanti (father of the Ypsilantis in the Morea) collected his treasures, or rather his spoils, and retired into Russia; on which the Porte, suspecting an insurrection among the Greeks, arrested his relations at Constantinople, among whom was his brother-in-law, who had just built a palace at Therapia, (the one in question,) and was going to inhabit it the day the news of the hospodar's defection arrived. Now, this transaction is less a sign of tyranny than bof the sel- fishness of the Greek character, so often similarly exemplified by the hospodars of Moldavia and Wallachia, many of whom have at different times fled into Austria or Russia with the plunder gained in their governments, although, in so doing, they knew that they exposed their relations at Constantinople (regarded as hostages) to the suspicions of their master. Nor can their conduct be defended-if, indeed, there be any defence for being base enough to bring evil on one's parents-on the plea that they' acted up to nature's first dictate, self-preservation. Their lives, however, were seldom in danger, and if they were. from the just complaints of the boyars being attended to, they well 46 TURKEY AND TIHE TURKS. knew how to stop the ears of an Ottoman minister. Nearly all the persecutions suffered by the Greeks have arisen from the cow- ardice or the interestedness of their leading men. The defection of the hospodars has often been occasioned by the Russian cabinet, thereby to strengthen the belief of Europe in the wretched condition of the Greeks; to show that the virtuous Greek, who has-governed a province with equity and moderation for years, dared not return to Constantinople leAt his head should be taken from him. Such is the language which has been long held and believed; but the groans of the Moldavians and Walla- chians, the frequent petitions of the boyars to be given any gover- nors rather than the Phanariote nobles, are more redolent of truth. Therapia had no inn, but I did not feel the want of one, having an invite to the house of Signor Calosso, talimgi of the pages. This gentleman, a Piedmontese by birth, a soldier by profession, a liberal by circumstances, whose hospitality made me feel quite at home, was among those who left Italy, in 1821, to travel. During some years he struggled with adversity in England, Spain, and France, oftentimes .a prey to biting want and calumny, then tried fortune in that overstocked market for military adventurers, Greece, where he failed, owing to a disagreement with MI. Fabvier, and finally brought his talents to Constantinople, at a time when they might be desirable to form the Nizam dgeditt. A recom- mendation was necessary. He naturally looked for it to the Sar- dinian ambassador, as half a word from his mouth would have sufficed; but the ambassador turned his back on him with un- worthy meanness. I say with meanness, because, two years afterwards, when the Carbonaro, whom in his distress he had scorned, was held in hon- orable consideration by the Pera society, was a guest at the tables of the different ambassadors, he changed his view of principles, and made advances to him, which were received as they deserved. Fortunately for our imigre, who otherwise might have had his wits taxed even for subsistence, General Count Guilleminot, the constant friend of the oppressed, seeing in him only un officier TURKEY AND THE TURnm. 47 d'hussards de la grande armee, took him by the hand, and intro- duced him to the seraskier pasha, from whose service he was, for- tunately, soon after transferred to the sultan's staff, to instruct the pages in equitation and the principles of cavalry exercise; and so well did he obtain favor, that the sultan one day allowed him to kiss his foot, the honor to a Christian being unprecedented, and only enjoyed by the Ottoman grandees at the celebration of the Bairam. Notwithstanding, however, this marked favor, so great was the repugnance of Mossulmans to be seen subservient to Christians, that Calosso could obtain no authority in his new vocation, and, therefore, was not enabled to produce more effect than the other military instructors, over whom the only advantage he possessed was in having a regularly paid salary, and a good house at Pera, given to him by the sultan's order. Though wearing the uniform of the guard, and distinguished by a crescent in diamonds, he never received the slightest respect from the meanest persons of the army, nor could he demand it; but, on the contrary, was often insulted by the soldiers, even uder the windows of the palace. As he had the appearance of an officer, they seemed determined to show that he was not one; so therefore Calosso, his task over, dressed in plain clothes. But to no Franks do the Turks like to be civil in public. The chavasses of the ambassadors, paid by them, never rise when they pass, or evince the slightest respect- a neglect, by the way, which their excellencies should have long since insisted on being remedied. Travelers observe how lordly their Tartars are when in com- pany with other Turks, though when alone, or in situations which do not compromise their supposed dignity, very assiduous and at- tentive to their comforts. Many writers have ascribed this feeling to renegades only; it is common with all Mossulmans, and the farther one gets from the cities frequented by Franks, the more reserve is manifested-that is, in Turkish company. The surrogee who leads your baggage horse will not enter a town behind you. If you insist on riding 48 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. in first, he will stop till you are out of sight, or take another entrance. In all things, however, which do not mark inferiority before witnesses, Mossulmans are very respectful. Two young Osman- leys, at different periods during my residence in Turkey, offered to follow me to a Frank country as my servants ; they would sooner have starved than have been my servants in a Mossulman country. The Persians have not got this pride. We had a very pleasant dinner, in a pleasant apartment, which overlooked the harem of an aged Osmanley, the lattices of which were not always closed, nor its fair inmates insensible to admira- tion. Signor Gobbi, an attache of the Sardinian embassy, an amateur artist of great promise, who had already taken the por- traits of the sultan's children, and was then staying with Calosso, to meet the sultan's whim to take his likeness also, made our third. Presently, the songs of a party of Greek boatmen, which had enlivened our dessert, gave way to the strains of a military band, and, unexpected treat to me on the banks of the Bosphorus, we heard Rossini's music, executed in a manner very creditable to the professor, Signor Donizetti (Piedmontese.) We rose, and went down to the palace quay, on which the band was playing. I was surprised at the youth o/f the performers, and the fami- liarity with which they addressed Calosso, calling him Rustam; and still more surprised on finding that they were the royal pages, thus instructed for the sultan's amusement. Their aptitude in learning, which Donizetti informed me would have been remark- able even in Italy, showed that the Turks are naturally musical; but these young gentlemen had not time to acquire proficiency, for their destinies called them to other pursuits. As the embryo grandees of the empire, after having finished their probationary studies of the menage, the Kuran, and music, they were intended to be placed in important situations; and thus, I thought, look- ing at them, we may in a month see the flute captain of a frigate the big-drum governor of a fortress, the bugle colonel of a regi- ment of cavalry ; the last named certainly as well qualified for the TURREY AND THE TUMKS. 49 60 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. task as a favorite black eunuch, who, in 1829, was colonel of a tactico regiment of lancers. I mean to insinuate nothing against the dark gentleman, in whose company I once dined; we have the example of Narses in favor of his unfortunate class. The employment of the pages, who, as destined to set the example in a state said by its chief to be regenerating, should rather have been taught the wisdom than the trifles of civilization, gave me at once an insight into the nature of the reform so much vaunted as taking place in Turkey. Parade, dress, and debauchery undisguised, replaced, in 1826, the sober, solemn formalities of the seraglio, and came in as a farce to the numerous tragedies acted in Mahmoud's reign. Franks praised him, because he neglected the mosque, and drank wine, and wore boots, and feted Christians, (all the while hating them,) and courted their applauses, and imitated their defects. These qualities, they say, showed his fitness to be a reformer-of whom ?-of Mossulmans. Should an enthusiastic missionary, seeking to convert them, preach such doctrines, we should not be surprised to hear of his being stoned; we should certainly consider him cracked. Mlahmoud began where he should have left off. He imagined himself a second Peter, but he had a more difficult task to perform, with less talents to meet it. The two monarchs may be compared to two architects: Peter, from a rough, uncut rock, hewed a column to his free, unfettered taste; Mahmoud had to remodel a pillar of quaint architecture, already adorned or disfigured by the whims of ages, to a chaster form. They may be compared to two surgeons, one of whom practises on a healthy savage, while the other attempts to cut out a malignant cancer, reaching the vitals, from a pampered sen- sualist. TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 51 CHAPTER IV. STEAMBOAT, SELIMIER, CAPITAN PASHA, CAIQUE, BLACKSEA, SUPPER, JESTER, FLEET, ARTILLERY, POWDER MAGAZINE. ABOUT sunrise of the morning following my arrival at Thera- pia, we proceeded to Bujukdere to visit the capitan pasha, who might not have been visible later. We stopped in the way to take a cup of coffee on board the sultan's steamer, with her direc- tor, Mr. Kelly, (formerly a master in the navy,) a gentleman who succeeded, by a combination of pleasing manners and spirited conduct, in gaining the entire good will and respect of the Os- manleys. Being perfectly versed on naval subjects, he would have been of invaluable assistance to them, had their pride allowed them to profit by a Christian's counsels. The steamer being anchored to the south of the fleet, we had occasion to pull up along the whole line to reach the flag-ship, headmost but one. The hulls of the ships, by the help of paint, presented a tolerable appearance ; but the rigging indicated that the captains, according to the rule of taste, considered curved lines more graceful than straight ones. The position, also, or the masts and yards showed that they were not so hostile to crosses as usually supposed. A crowd of boats, waiting alongside the Selimier, occasioned us delay. She was a noble first-rate without a poop. From her peak a large crimson silk ensign, pierced with three crescents, trailed in the water, and the pasha's burgee at the main, likewise crescented, spread to a southerly air. Her guns looked out of the ports in all directions : some were laid to strike top-gallant masts, some to sink boats, some to fire on the bows, some to hit the davits Men in various costumes were seated on the port-sills smoking ; the legs of others were dangling over the quarters; nor were the cat-heads and bumpkins void of occupants. A steep accommodation ladder reaching from the 51 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. water to the upper deck, we climbed up it, and then stood a mo- ment on the gangway, butts to curiosity, to observe a novel scene. Achmet Papuchi, capitan pasha, reclined on a couch in the middle of the quarter deck ; he was a sickly-looking man, with an ordinary countenance, solemnized but not dignified by a long grey beard, dressed in vest, trousers, and anteri of orange- colored silk, with a richly-embroidered sash, and a slate-colored cloth pelisse. He was smoking from the amber-mouthed snake of a porcelain narghiler. A semicircle of well-attired attendants was ranged before him, in ready submission to catch the slight- est aspirations from his lips, or to move a limb, or to scratch his head, if needful. A secretary was reading papers to him, he being deficient in that vulgar accomplishment : his Greek dragoman stood obse- quious beside him; and a dozen chavasses formed a line apart, armed with pistols, ataghans, and long staves of office, equally prepared at his nod to amputate, or to bastinade. Between the guns, abaft the mizen-mast, and on the forecastle, sailors were sleeping, or playiug chess, or breaking their fast on bread and olives, or performing their monotonous devotions : the officers were scarcely distinguishable from them, at first sight, excepting one, an elderly, corpulent effendi, (second captain,) who was sitting on the booms, his shirt half off, diligently seek- ing for the obnoxious disturbers of his morning's nap. We could have laughed outright at the masquerade ; but his excellency perceived us : " Guielsin," he cried, and a passage was immediately cleared that we might approach him. He saluted us with a knowing glance, (peculiarly Osmanleyish,) and permitted my companion, whom he knew, to put his robe to his lips and forehead, an honor which I took care never to avail myself of, with him or any other Osmanley. No Frank should ever submit to it; though only meaning to pay a compliment, his intention is sure to be misconstrued. Pride is necessary-to ensure respect from the Osmanley, who as- 52 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 53 cribes even common politeness to submission. It is not uncom- mon with him, in order to ascertain the quality of a stranger, to drop something, as a handkerchief; if the stranger neglect it, he is set down as a person of ditinction, who is accustomed to be served, not to serve others ; if he pick it up, which is very natu- ral, the contrary is inferred. It is one unpleasantness of being acquainted with Osmanleys, that you must, for your own sake, disregard good breeding in many points. For example, a bey or an aga pays you a visit; you rise to receive him ; he attributes the movement to the innate respect of a Christian fo; a Mossulman. You may go into his room fifty times without receiving the same compliment, though he will pay it to a Mossulman of similar rank. The Frank, in short, in his intercourse with Osmanleys, should never abate one iota of his due as a gentleman; if he do, he is soon regarded in a menial light. Suppose he visit a pasha, and the pasha does not invite him to be seated, he should immediately sit down, unheeding the angry looks of the attendant officers, in- dignant at his audacity. The next time the pasha will desire him to sit on the sofa the moment he sees him, not to expose his rank a second time to the slight of any body daring to sit in his pre- sence unbidden. When at the divan of a man of rank, whom you may have oc- casion to visit again, coffee is brought to you without the chi- bouque, desire the attendants to bring the latter; it will be brought, although discontent visibly lour on the brow of the master. Never mind; the next time the chibouque will be pre- sented as a matter of course. I need hardly observe that the pipe is the symbol of social equality; coffee is given to everybody, the pipe to few. These little neglects are studiously acted on by Osmanleys ; if becomingly resisted, they are never repeated, and you are esteemed a person of consideration. It may be deemed presumptuous in a Frank gentleman thus to place himself on a level with the high nobles of the land, but he cannot avoid it, however modest he be, -for in the East there is no medium between equality and slavery; the choice, therefore, is not doubtful. I knew Franks in the service of the Porte lead an unpleasant life, because, with a view to flattery, they yielded on these trifling points. They soon learned their error, but a step thus lost is rarely regained. The pasha, rising from his couch, invited us to descend into his cabin. Two officers supported him under the arms, and a long train followed us. The cabin was plain, but elegant and scrupulously clean. The furniture consisted of a sofa and half a dozen chairs, with gold embroidered suns and moons on the backs. In various frames were suspended the sultan's cypher, sentences of the Kuran, and two paintings of the ship. A manuscript chart of the Euxine, never used, with compasses and rulers, lay on a small table; and beautifully emblazoned copies of the Kuran and the Sunna were placed on an ottoman. Damascus sabres, French pistols, and two Dollond's telescopes completed the decoration. Piles of lemons were in the windows to impart fragrance to the air, and the rails of the stern gallery were interwoven with fresh cut orange branches. Pages fanned the flies from us while we were discussing pipes, coffee and sherbet. Our conversation turned on the respective merits of chairs and sofas, the former of which the pasha said he had got purposely for the accommodation of his Frank visitors. He informed us that he was going that day into the Black Sea to seek the Russian fleet. The word " seek" surprised me, for his excellency had not the air of a man who would risk his masts in chase of an enemy. He remarked on the advantage that he should derive from the counsel of an English officer, and poposed that I should accompany him. Although compli- mentary, his invitation was not very enticing, considering the odds against us. However, curiosity overcame other considera- tions, and I cheerfully consented, on the express condition that I should be considered as his friend, in no ways belonging to his service. He agreed, and we !eft the ship. It was now half-past seven, A. M., and I expected to have time 54 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 55 to return to Pera to provide myself with neessaries for the cruise. The boat which brought us on board being still along- side, I jumped into her, and darted down the stream. At nine I reached Pera, and at ten was again in the same caique rowing gallantly up the Bosphorus. We outstripped the por- poises; but in vain. On turning the angle which concealed Buyukdere, I saw to my dismay the fleet under way. It had just cast, and was standing out in a novel style; some ships under their courses, some under stay-sails, some under top-gallant and royal sails only, making steady way. At any other other time it would have been a good sight ; as it was I cursed my folly in having returned to Pera, which I feared would be attributed to any motive rather than the right one. Every moment our distance increased; the wind seemed to rise on purpose to foil us, and the current, while opposing our pro- gress, to aid that of the ships. The scorching sun, added to my vexation, made me burn. Castle after castle successively disappeared behind the passing ships, and by the time that the sternmost frigate cleared the Symplegades, we were yet four miles from them. My boatmen, whose limbs no longer yielded moisture, now wished to give up the chase, and lay on their oars. " Onward !" I exclaimed, doubling my promises, and again the little skiff dashed aside the rippling foam. The next hour appeared an age, and indented every tree and every cavern of the steep shore beside us in my memory. I regarded them with the fixedness of impatience. At length we reached the Symplegades. New dilemma. The long swell of the Euxine, (yet unappeased by the young south-wester,) meet- ing and recoiling from the jagged base-worn rocks, raised such a turmoil as seriously threatened the equilibrium of our egg-shell bark. The boatmen were alarmed, and began to pray. The fleet was six miles off. I became frantic. At that moment it hauled to the wind, topsails on the caps, larboard broadsides to us, apparently waiting our arrival. 56 TURKEY iD THIIE TU RS, " We will ye~ vertake them !" I exclaimed. The men laughed at me, declaring that they would not row a stroke further-that their boat could not live in the sea. They were winding her. Nothing but the absolute necessity of keeping immovable prevented me from using force, and taking the oars myself. I entreated, I swore; they mocked me. As a last appeal, I threw a handful of dollars into the bottom of the boat, pointing at the same time to my pistols. This acre-doux sauce had the effect. We continued our course, but in a state of anxiety,- for it was necessary to measure with the greatest nicety the strength to be applied to each oar, that the coming wave might not surmount our spoon-like prow; one topple would have immersed us. The men showed admirable skill; and at half-past three we reached the Selimier, having rowed since the morning thirty-eight geo- graphical miles. Here a fresh difficulty presented itself, inas- much that we could not approach her. The vast fabric was roll- ing two strakes, imperceptible to those on board, but creating whirlpools for a caique. The men even said that I must return on shore, because the very act of getting out would overturn them.. It really appeared so. " Ropes 1" we cried. Two were thrown ; one I made fast to my bag and my cloak- up they went--the other I grasped, and with the descending wave, which allowed the caique to sink quietly from under me, sprung out, and in a minute was on deck. " Afferim !" (bravo) resounded from several voices. I looked back a moment for the caique; she was already a ca- ble's length off, dancing before the sea, the delighted caikgis waving their red caps to me. The capitan pasha was smoking on the taffrail. "Afferim ! capitan," he cheerfully exclaimed, "what kept you above water in that skiff?" " God's mercy," I replied. "God is great," he continued; " sit down by me; bring a chibouque." " The captain of the ship now came to him, and kissed his robe. He was a smart little fellow, dressed entirely in white, excepting his red slippers and his fez. He held a formidable cowskin, but did not make much use of it. Having received his orders, he leaped on the bitts, on the guns, and ran on the fore- castle. A signal was then hoisted--helm a-port--some hundreds of loose-breeched vagabonds seized the foretack; tore it down with an impetus which made the sturdy mast shake; ran the topsails up, and away we went, nine knots an hour, into the Euxine. I felt quite exhilirated; the moment that the gallant ship sprung into her bed of foam, repaid my day's toil. To be thus plough- ing the Euxine in a first-rate, was a pleasure I might have thought of, but never expected; that sea having been as closed to our ships of war as the Caspian or any other lake. The Selimier steered like a cutter, and sailed like a frigate. "What a beautiful ship !" I exclaimed to his excellency. "By God's grace," he said, "she is." A poor compliment, I thought, to the architect. "Who built her ?" I asked. "Who knows," was the answer. "She must do your Excellency honor," I continued. "Please God," he answered. Alas! I thought, man gets little credit among these people; Allah takes all. I elicited, in five minute's conversation, that it would not be his fault if we met the enemy. He had left the Bosphorus in compli- ance with the sultan's orders ; but his private opinion, backed by his officers, was, that it would be madness to engage. However, we talked on business, particularly about the Russians retaining possession of the important post of Sizeoplis, which they had taken in February.of the same year. "They must be driven from it," I observed; "let us do it." That did not enter into his ideas. "Bakalum," he replied. Bakalum (nous verrons) was his constant answer to every sug- TURKEY AND THE TURFS. 57 gestion, good or bad. I soon learned its value, and the force of Sebastiani's caustic remark to Selim III. "Your Majesty bewails destiny, in giving you Russia and Eng- land for enemies; you have three enemies yet more powerful." "God forbid," said the sultan ; "what do you mean ? Greater than the lion of the north, the queen of the seas-impossible !" " Yes," continued the general; "Inshallah, Allah Kerim, and Bakalum are your deadly foes." Discerning Sebastiani ! Bakalum is indeed the bane of the Os- manleys. By it they deliberate weeks on a subject which should be decided in a day. The opportunity is lost; the cause should be referred to Bakalum, but they press a higher power, and repeat "Allah Kerim," (God is wise.) We had run above twenty miles when the sun set, carpeting the sea, and tapestrying the sky with a rare unison of delicate green and golden hues; small, fantastically shaped clouds in the gorgeous horizon so nearly resembled a fleet, that the signal offi- cer reported one as a sail, and drew the anxious gaze of the pasha. Before we ascertained its fallacy, a real frigate was discerned to the north, and instantly multiplied in hundreds of retinas. " What.is she ?" asked the pasha of me. "The look-out of the enemy's fleet," I answered, as I supposed ; "Admiral Greig must naturally be anxious to avenge the loss of the frigate which you took the last cruize ; we may thefore expect to meet him in the morning." He hastily collected the ships, and put their heads in for the shore. I proposed that a frigate should give chase, and offered to go in her myself; but he would not consent, for he imagined that his imperative duty was to keep all his ships-line-of-battle ships, frigates, corvettes, and brigs-as near each other as possible. Poor Achmet Papudgi ! he knew he was unfit for his situation. Originally a papudgi (shoemaker) he was an instance of the rapid change of fortune, so often witnessed in the East. Only two years before I knew him, he was in the service of Izzet Mehemet Pasha, who procured for him the situation of waivode of Galata. 58 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. He made an excellent police officer, therefore the sultan thought he would make an excellent admiral--watch the seas as well as watch the streets. The night set in balmy. I was standing on the gangway watching the gleaming tracks of fish, and musing on the probable issue of the engagement to be expected next day, when the melo- dious : "Allahou ekber; eshedou inne la illahe illa Allah; eshedou inne Mouhammed resoul Allah, hoeya aless-oelat, haya oelel fellah ; Allahou ekber la illahe illa Allah," filled the air as from the voices of invisible spirits. They came from the mizzen rigging of each ship, whence Imams were calling the faithful to prayers. Everywhere this appeal is beautiful ; but thus on the sea, respond- ing from ship to ship, it was divine. The summons was promptly obeyed; every deck was covered with the prostrating crew, each man on his own capote, the officers on carpets spread under the half-deck, each person having pre- viously washed his hands and feet. The pasha was equally devout in his cabin, and on the whole it was a most impressive sight, even to a Christian. The ceremony being concluded, his excellency and myself pre- pared to sup, for which task the Black Sea air had given me a keen appetite. A small carpet was spread between two guns on the main deck outside his cabin. It was not screened off. On it we sat down, cross-legged, opposite to each other. Two agas- they were gentlemen of no less rank-knelt to us with ewers to wash our hands ; then tied napkins round our necks, and placed between us a circular'metal tray upon a low stool, provided with four saucers, containing as many kinds of conserves, slices of bread and of cake, salt, and a bowl of sallad sauce, to be eaten at discretion. Our fingers were the operating instruments. The first dish was a pile of red mullet. The pasha, of course, had the first help ; being a bit of an epicure, he pawed every one individually before choosing. I took one whose tail only had come in contact with his forceps. The next dish was a fowl. The pasha steadied it with the thumb of his left hand, and with TUREY AND THE TURKS. 59 60 TURKEY AND THE TURKS, his right hand pulled off a wing. I tried the same manoeuvre on a leg; but, owing to delicacy in not making free use of both hands, failed in dislocating it. The pasha, perceiving my awk- wardness, motioned to an officer to assist me. I would fain have declined his services, but it was too late. The fellow took it up in his brawny hands, ripped off the joints with surprising dexterity, peeled the breast with his thumb nail, tore it in thin slices, and, thus dissected, laid the bird before me with an air of superiority, saying, "Eat !" I was very hungry, or I should not have been able. The'third dish was lamb stewed with olives. On this I showed that I had fully profited by my late lesson, and, dreading the intrusion of another person's fingers on so slippery a subject, dug my own in with unblushing effrontery. I followed precisely the-pasha's mo- tions, scooping the olives out of the dish, with a piece of bread and my thumb, as adroitly as though I had never seen a fork. The attendants winked at each other, and my host's unmeaning eyes faintly radiated at the rapidity with which I adapted myself to existing circumstances. I never fully understood before the point of the saying, " Do at Rome as Rome does." Various other meats followed, which I will not enumerate; they were all diminished by a similar process; suffice it to say that they were excellent, the Turkish kitchen being in many points equal to the French kitchen, and in one article superior--the exquisitiveness of lamb drest in Turkey, far, very far, surpasses my feeble praise. About twelve dishes, of which, in compliment, I was obliged to eat more than my inclination prompted, rendered still more irk- some by the absence of wine, had been shifted with great dispatch, and a pause ensuing, I began to breathe, thinking my repletory task over, when, to my utter dismay, a huge platter of pilaff, the standing last dish, was placed between us. Never having liked rice since I was at school, the sight of the pressed greasy mess before me was positively revolting. However, there it was, and had I only been required to eat a pound of it I might have esteemed myself happy. A much severer trial awaited me. The pasha immersing his fingers deep into it, drew forth a tolerable quantity, with which he amused himself some minutes,. rolling it into a ball, while I stared, simply supposing that the delicate morsel, when it should have received the last touch, was destined for his own throat, It was lucky that I did not forsee its right destination, or the bare thought would infallibly have made me forget myself, which would have grieved me before so many witnesses, not to mention the insult of the restitution. When fairly reduced to the substance of a grape shot, the Pa- sha stretched his lean hand over the table : I involuntarily shrunk back; he stretched further and inserted it--O nausea ! into my mouth. I swallowed it with an effort of despair, but know not what power of nerves kept it down. The attendants arched the brows of wonder; a capitan pasha bestow such an exceeding mark of distinction on a stranger ! Had there been a gazette in Stamboul, the circumstance would have been published, at our return, as the most notable event of the cruise. I was delighted to find that the honor was toagreat to be repeated. The appetizers which came on with the tray were removed, and replaced by a bowl of koshub, a sweet liquid, composeR of various preserved fruits, perfumed with rose; two tortoise-shell spoons were in it. This was very good, especially as we were not re- duced to lap it up with the palms of our hands, as I might have reasonably expected, after what had passed. A glass of sherbet assisted our deglutition, and chibouques, with coffee, assured its efficacy; while enjoying the latter, an Albanian bagpipe, harsher, if possible, than a Scotch one, sup- plied the absence of conversation. I then went on deck, and, wrapping my cloak -round me, lay down to rest on the planks, surrounded by snorers. There were no beds, not even one for the pasha ; his excellency slept in a box, resembling a dog kennel in size and shape, placed abaft the mizen mast. I could not sleep much for the singing, or rather moaning, of TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 61 some sailors, as monotonous and annoying as the buzzing of mos- quitoes; and twice, at twelve and at four, I was startled out of a doze by a din loud enough to raise the dead--a dozen drummers were parading the decks fore and aft, beating with all their might to rouse the watch. In the morning we were close off the Bosphorus, nearly be- calmed. Not a strange sail was in sight, a void marvellously consoling to the crew, among whom I perceived a sad spirit of apprehension. I am not vain enough to say I did not share it, (the mere circumstance of there being no -surgeon on board was discouraging,) but at any rate I did not show it, and being fairly in for the worst, determined to make the best of it. I considered the trial of our strength only deferred. My principal aim was to encourage the chief, and, therefore, having first breakfasted on coffee thick as chocolate, without sugar, bread and honey, I re- paired to him He was undergoing the operation of having his head shaved, and looked very dismal: that done, he performed his minor ablutions, and said his prayers, I all the while smoking his nrghiler on the divan. � "What can I do ?" the pasha despondingly said, "with such men, such peanen? they know nothing." "Nor do you," I thought; but replied, " Let us do our best; allow me to exercise the guns, it will give, the men confidence : if we do meet the enemy, let us not die like dogs !" He scarcely heeded me at the moment, for his attention was suddenly attracted by the appearance of a boat coming off. He hoped it contained his jester and his pilot, who had missed their passage the day before, and whose absence considerably annoyed him. He was disappointed; it brought an order from the seras- kier pasha to steer out to sea again. His countenance fell; and we were about to fill the maintop sail, when a merchantman's boat was seen emerging from the shade of the canal's high banks, We distinguished in it a Frank and an Osmanley, the object of the pasha's solicitude. The jester skipped on deck with the confidence of one who knew that his presence would excuse his absence. He was gaily 62 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. attired in scarlet and gold, and his fez was bound by a silver band. He was dumpy in stature, but active in limb; and his countenance displayed more archness than folly. He saw the suppressed smile of the officers, and at once ran up to the pasha, who affected to look stern, and making a somerset, took hold of the hem of his robe, saying- "Thus will the Russian admiral reel before your potent thun- der, and thus will I salute him," making a sign with his foot. " Pezaveng"' said the old man, taking him good-humoredly by the ear, "I will nail this to my cabin-door." " The fool will then hear the wise man's secrets," replied the other, "and you will have to sew his mouth up. What would you do without his tongue ? Talk to him," he added, pointing to the pilot, who stood at the gangway, doubting what to do; " without his boat your highness's Tom Fool must have come off on a porpoise's back, for the Pezaveng caikgis will not take jests for piastres." This acknowledgment, which included a sarcasm on his slender emoluments, secured his companion's grace; and with this %valu- able addition we made sail. He had originally been a dervish, (a jester's profession after all,) and was much liked by all the crew, for whom he was always ready to exert his influence. The pilot was a Ragusan, extremely well acquainted with the Euxine. His office was no sinecure, since every thing relating to the navigation, heaving the log, &c. depended on him. He had been pilot of Tahir Pasha's frigate at Navarino. He deseribed it as warm work ; and said that, excepting himself and the pasha, not a man was left standing on the upper deck. Above three hundred men were killed in her. He told me an odd anecdote of Tahir Pasha, while command- ing that fleet :-One day, out at sea, two of his corvettes were slow in obeying signals, on which he hove to, and made signal for their captains and signal officers . When they came on board, he placed the latter under the canes of the chevasses, and, arming himself and his captain with rattans, administered an equal num- ber of blows to the former. Tahir acted thus in person through TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 63 a sense of propriety, for he considered it derogatory to the service, that captains should be corporally corrected by any person be- neath their own rank. "The example," added the pilot, " produced an excellent effect; the two corvettes, in future, set an example of activity to the whole fleet." Our fleet consisted of one three-decker, five two-deckers, three frigates, five corvettes, and three brigs; bearing in addition to the capitan pasha's flag, the flags of the capitan, petrowna, and reala beys (full, vice, and rear admiral.) The tivo former had commanded ships at Navarino. They were courageous men, and not despicable seamen. I often conversed with them. They could not mention the name of Mouharem Bey, the commander of the Egyptian division at Navarino, with patience. They informed me that he not only commanded his own frigate not to fire, (in fact she did not,) but also landed at the com- mencement of the action, and stopped the firing from the castle, which would otherwise have damaged the rear squadron while en- tering. This accounts for the silence of the castle, and for the personal safety of the traitor Mouharem, when his frigate was sunk, notwithstanding her neutrality, by the Asia's fire. I went on board the " Gift of Heaven," the second day we were at sea, to draw from her an approximate idea of the condi- tion of the Russian fleet. A short inspection convinced me that it was not much superior to the Turkish. Her rigging denoted the lubber. She was very dirty-but that would not impede fighting. Her powder was much superior to the Turkish; but that gave me no great concern, for I reasonably judged that any action between the fleets would be carried on within point blank, for the mutual accommodation of bad gunnery, when the inferior powder would have the advantage. It is true that the charge of good powder may be diminished according to the range, but this point is scarcely attended to even in the English navy. The principal superiority in the equipment of the Russian lay in the shot ; the Turkish shot being so extremely bad that nearly all, in the trials which I made, broke by the concussion in the bore. 64 TURKEY AND THE TURKS On the whole, I had reason to be satisfied, and I assured the officers who accompanied me, that their rivals had no real ad- vantage over them; but they chose to believe the contrary by way of vanishing their lukewarmness, insisting on everything they saw, whether understood or not, being perfection ; and had not the organ of non-combativeness been so very prominent throughout the fleet, I should no longer have had much appre- hension as to the result of an engagement with equal numbers; our numerous crews would have given us a decided advantage in boarding. The presence of an English officer, it is true, in some measures, encouraged the crew of the Selimier, but that influence did not extend beyond her. Even the Selimier would have been an easy prize to an English frigate in twenty minutes. I shall not attempt to describe the rare confusion among four- teen hundred men of twenty different tongues the first time that I exercised them at quarters. They were amused and riotous, but with all perfectly civil. The topchi bashi (master gunner, second in rank to the captain) ably seconded me, and liberally applied the rattan to the stupid. I thought this a bad plan, likely to defeat my object; I therefore begged him to spare his arm and employ his tongue in explaining to them my motives in making them work-for their good, not mine. I flattered them by appealing to their judgment on the details of the exercise, in- stead of exacting brute acquiescence. The next day they cheerfully followed my wishes, and expressed satisfaction at my being on board. I took care not to give a sus- picion that I assumed the slightest authority, although the pasha gave me full power : I was aware of Mossulman jealousy in that respect. But their willingness was so borne down by their lazi- ness that any long continuance at one time was impossible, or oftener than once a day. They could run in and out pretty well, could load too without putting the shot before the cartridges; but they never thought of stopping the vent; and, although I made them comprehend the danger in the neglect, my caution would not have been attended to in action, simply because the man, whose duty it was, could not have suffered by his negli- TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 65 66 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. gence. " Every man for himself and God for us all." What would it have signified to those at the breech whether the loader's arm was blown off or not. This was a trifle-which I did not in- sist on-compared with the main object of the exercise, levelling the guns, at which their incapacity was marvellous. Never having seen, or had an idea of, a crew of absolute landsmen, I at first attributed it to wilfulness :the only, aim of the captains of the guns was to keep clear of the recoil. Exercising without powder it was the same. I would tell them to point at the hull of a ship a-beam--a good wide mark : they would take evident pains for five or ten minutes to be correct, calling to me succes- sively to come and examine, when, out of a whole broadside, I often found not one gun any way near the object : one would be directed to the royal yards, another depressed to half the range, and so on. I thought there was a general defect of optics. It was, however, natural. We are all like children at their a, b, c, when we commence a new art, in the opinion of those who understand it, and who forget that they themselves were once as awkward. The Selimier's artillery consisted of thirty-sixes, twenty-sixes, twenties, with long twelves and nines on the upper decl, in all one hundred and twenty (French calibres.) The quarters were magnificent, with all the requisite appurtenances, except match- tubs. The matches were fastened to spiked sticks, and stuck about the decks, ready to burn any combustible article which might come in their way-cartridges or fingers. The guns had no sights, not even notches, and were yet more defective in the quoins, which, instead of being finely-sloped wedges, were clumps of wood of nearly equal thickness at both ends; in consequence, it was difficult to lay a gun horizontal; and when in that posi- tion it was liable to fall down in the bed at pach recoil, where, I plainly saw, it would remain during an action, as no one would think of replacing it. So wedded were the officers to old customs, or jealous of a Christian's interference, that I could not persuade the pasha to have others made of a more approved form. In addition to the calibres above-mentioned, there were on the middle deck four guns carrying granite balls of seventy-five pounds; and on the lower deck, four others with one hundred and ten pound granite balls. Iron balls of similar size would have weighed upwards of three hundred pounds. A party of Comboradgis was embarked to serve these enormous pieces, or rather to look at them, as I shall show. Wishing to see one of them fired, I came down on the lower deck for that purpose, which created instant commotion among the smokers and sleepers. Every man jumped on his legs. "What is the matter ?" I said; but getting no answer, passed on. Having ascertained that the piece was properly charged, I was, retiring, to allow a Comboradgi to fire it, whilst I should observe the effect from the foremost port. No Comboradgi was there nor indeed any one else within twelve yards. " Mashallah." some voices shouted to my inquiry, " that gun has never been fired." "Is that a reason why it should not be fired now ?" I asked. "It is very old," was the reply, "and will burst." It was certainly antiquated, and this warning made it appear infinitely worse than it really was. But I was in for it. "Will no one fire it," I asked; " then I will," brandishing the match in a mortal fright, (cowardice is so infectious.) " Delhi, delhi, Allah kerim ! bakalum !" Away the rascals ran, holding their breeches up with one hand, their pipes with the other, up the ladders, and left me alone on the deck with the topchi bashi, who did not quite desert me, but remained on the opposite side, peeping at me from behind the pumps. His head only was visible, and that, too, I dare say, he drew in when I touched the priming--but this he would not con- fess. 1 dropped the match, and hastily ran forward to escape the dreaded explosion. Our fear was unfounded. The ball broke in three or four pieces, and flew along a shower of grape, of which two of the pieces recocheed. We tried another with a reduced charge, and had the satisfac- 67 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. tion of seeing the ball fly, whole, fully as far. The second time, I had no occasion to fire the gun. This experiment affected the capitan pasha's nerves, so that, when I asked his permission the following morning to have the principal magazine opened for inspection, he refused. He hap- pened to be very much shook that morning with a violent fit of coughing. " Capitan," he said, " you shall see it if we come to action." "Effendi, that will be too late; you will then require me on deck-what fear? God is great." "Bakalum," was his reply; then, after some minutes' consider- ation, " well, you may go, but touch nothing-leave everything-- powder is a dangerous thing." He left off smoking, and began twirling his comboloyo rapidly. The appearanee of the magazine, solely accessible by the gun- room hatch, fully justified the old man's apprehensions. The powder lay about on shelves, or in boxes, partly filled and partly not, and so exposed that I would fain have taken off my shoes, lest their nails should raise a spark. The topchi bashi accompanied me. with four mates, each carry- ing a lanthorn, and as if the presence of so many lanthorns, not in the soundest condition, were not sufficient to make me feel, as it were, in a vapor bath, he wished to take the candles out, that I might the better admire his arrangements. My reputation in this case was an evil; for, owing to trifling knowledge being esteemed wonderful by those who possess less, the gunner and his mates thought that where I was nothing could go wrong. I thought, on the contrary, that we might very easily go in the air, and never felt, I own, much more uncomfortable than while in this depot of destruction, more .apparent to me than to anybody else on board, from having been accustomed to the positive absence of danger in an Englfsh ship's magazine. There were no fire-screens anywhere, and how, handing powder up a large hatch- way, along decks covered with burning matches, without cart- ridge boxes, the powder escaping through the ill-sewed seams, the 68 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. Turkish ships avoided blowing up, appeared to me extraordi- nary. Against accidental fire there were sufficient precautions: the Selimier had four English engines, and the other ships were pro- portionately supplied. CHAPTER V. CHESS, COSSACKS, RENEGADES, DEVOTIONS, MANOUVRES, SIDNEY SMITH, COCHRANE, RELIGION, GHIAOUR, NOURREY BEY, CAPITAN PASHA, MUSIC, GAMES, KIUCHUCK MEHEMET, ZANTE, SQUALL, CHASE, CLEAR FOR ACTION, BOSPIIORUS, SARIERY. OUR crew consisted of one thousand four hundred persons, with little discipline, though, as they were naturally docile, things went on smoothly, and order grew from the elements of disorder. They pleased themselves without much surveillance on the part of the officers. Their principal restraint was being required to live and sleep at their respective guns, in order that the ship might be always ready for action. The crew of each gun composed a mess, which spread a little carpet on the deck, and passed the time very contentedly, smok- ing and drinking coffee, for preparing which two cafenes were on each deck, and were never idle, day or night. The men frequently amused themselves at drafts or chess : at the latter game they displayed considerable skill, making a tem- porary board with chalk lines, and taking bits of wood or pebbles for the pieces, were enabled to remember throughout the game their separate names. The majority of the crew were Mossulmans; a few Greeks; a few Franks; and there were sixty Cossacks, remarkable by their fair hair and sheep-skin caps, who had left the Danube on the approach of the Russian army, and come to Cpnstantinople to TUEKEY AND THE TURKS. 69 obtain employment. They were tall, stout, quiet men, and lived apart from the others, abaft the mizen-mast, where they ate olives, bread and rice, twice a day with apparent content. They were much pleased at my being amongst them ; two of them only spoke Turkish. The decks were brilliantly illuminated at night. I reion- strated against the practice, as it was calculated to show us too clearly to the enemy; but the captain told me it was absolutely necessary, to prevent the men from engaging in a certain Oriental pastime, which, if allowed to extend, rendered them quite unsubser- vient. He viewed it only in this light, by no means as a vice. I soon found myself perfectly at home, and received gratifying and amusing attention. All-the green-coifed descendant of the prophet, the white-bearded veteran, the slashing youth who took an hour to curl his moustaches-would, as I strolled about the decks, offer me the friendly pipe, and welcome me to a corner of the carpet. More than one poor fellow was offended because I would not put him to the expense of treating me to coffee, which I generally refused on the plea of dislike, unfeigned, for the want of sugar. A trifling practice that I had of washing my hands and feet two or three times a day, on account of the heat, was a singular recommendation. They were greatly edified by it, and considered me half a Mossulman in principle; for cleanliness is a constituent part of their faith. -The only incivility that I experienced on board came from two renegades (Sciotes.) Had they been native Mossulmans, I should not have much cared, but they raised my bile., One of them was very annoying; I bore him, however, patiently till one morning, that I was sleeping under the half-deck, Jie laid down beside me, placing his head on the same cushion next to miie. Jumping up, I kicked him off the carpet, and then dragged him to the other side of the deck, ivhere the captain was smoking. The captain took down his rattan, and gave him a sound licking, nor did one person sympathize with the apostate; on the contrary, all were offended that their guest should have been insulted. 70 TURKEYCE AND THEF TURKS.S It may readily be supposed that I was an object of great curio- sity to them. They knew not what to make of me. The circum- stance of a man cruising on the fena Kara Deniz (bad Black Sea) for pleasure, without one apparent prospect than that of receiving a quietus, was beyond their conception. This was natural, for ex- treme indolence is the prominent feature of the Oriental character. My quarterdeck walk excited- their amusement, as it often did mine, to find myself the only person, among so many hundreds, who made a free use of his legs; but when they one day beheld me go to the topmast-head, to observe a Russian frigate, they set me down for a delhi. The whole crew came on deck to see a man go aloft for amusement. However, delhi or not, they took care to turn my walking propensity to good account. Whenever I bggan to pace at night-time, officers and look-out men invariably, and sometimes the helmsman, fell asleep, and left the ship to me. The only systematic duty on board, incumbent on all, was prayers, which were acted, I may say, at all hours and every hour. The muezzins summoned them three times a day, at dawn, at noon, and after twilight. Between these stated hours the scrupulous performed additionally, thus completing the prescribed five times. When the fit seized a devotee, down he went on his marrow bones, regardless where he was, in whose presence he was, or what was doing. Nothing then disturbed him; a man jostling him, a block falling from aloft, or a sail splitting; and as these, to me ludicrous, scenes often occurred in the midst of working ship, I should have suspected skulking, had I not clearly seen that no task in ordinary life, of twenty minute's duration, is so fatiguing s a Mossulman's devotions. They consist of seven adorations, each comprising three prostrations, in all touching the ground with the head twenty-one times. Aged or infirm people are often so exhausted by it in hot weather that they remain stretched on the ground unable to rise; nor is it uncommon to see one faint. Our manner of working ship was respectable; but in reefing we were awkward ; more the fault of the sails than of the men, TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 71 72 TUR KEY AND THE TURKS. the captains of the tops having to descend on the leeches each time to reeve the ear-rings, which operation was rendered yet more difficult by there being no thimbles in the cringles. I had made up my mind not to remark on trifles, seeing that it gave umbrage ; but this was a serious fault, at the same time so easily amended; and I thought to enforce my request by say- ing that any accident (such as a flaw of wind, or the ship falling off) would cause the best laid sail to flap, whereby the man on the leech might easily be shook overboard. Vain words; they had hitherto reefed that way, why should they not continue to do so ?-a triumphant interrogatory in their opinion, to which I could make no valid reply. The Raguson pilot, who often smiled at my earnestness, and who knew from experience the be- sotted prejudices of old Turks, told me afterwards that I hel used the wrong argument. A man falling overboard--" bah !"- what of that ? The general movements of the fleet were not so happy as the individual ones. We always tacked and wore in succession, whereby at night some of the vessels were sure to get foul of each other, although, it being generally fine, no great injury en- sued, except on one occasion, two 'corvettes, which were obliged to run into port, and being seen running down the Bosphorus in a dismantled state, gave rise to a report that we had all been taken or sunk. The pasha was seriously annoyed at the repeti- tion of these accidents, and asked me for a remedy. Performing the evolution in question there was of course none, with such officers" as were in the different ships; but I proposed the simple expedient of tacking together at night-time. He liked it at first sight, and allowed me to add the necessary signal to the code. Two hours afterwards, however, having well pondered over it, he sent for me to tell me that he could not follow my plan. I assured him that it was not mine, and begged to know his reason. " Because," he said, " on one tack the fleet will not be in one line." I could not dispute that view of the case, and there the matter rested; for I might have argued till doomsday before shaking his favorite prepossession that TURKEY AND THS. TURKS. T the whole mystery of naval tactics lay in keeping one line, stem and stern, the devil catch the hindmost, Besides the fourteen hundred men who comprised the crew, the pasha had a private suite on board, consisting of more than one hundred persons, officers and domestics ; the former of whom were distinct from the ship's officers, and superior to them. They occupied the ward-room, where they spread their carpets, and lived and slept with as much discomfort as the foremast men ; sick or not, no one had a bed. They were unbounded in their endeavors to entertain me, and make me feel the truth of the pro- verb, (extremely applicable to Turkey,) " the eye of the master fattens the horse," although I must do them the justice to say, that, during the whole time I remained in the country, I received the most friendly attentions from them. They took pleasure in inquiring about my country. They knew the name of Sydney Smith, and spoke of him with esteem as buyuk adam (great man.) They also knew the name of Cochrane, but held his lordship light because they interpreted his inactivity, while with the Greeks, into a fear of them. They often questioned me about the naval power of England, and when I described to them its magnitude, would lift up the fingers of incredulity. The bare, tale of Britain's power on the ocean is scarcely credited by civilized continental Europeans; I could not, therefore, be surprised if the Osmanleys gave me credit for using the traveler's privilege. My religion, too, came in for a share of their curiosity, and caused me amusement, for I had no occasion to act the hypocrite. One old gentleman very gravely demanded, among other things, if I did not believe that all Mossulmans went to heaven. " By no means," I frankly replied ; " as with the followers of other religions, it depends on their good works." After stroking his beard some time, and musing on this unor- thodox opinion, which would have caused a true believer to be stoned, he answered, " pekey" (very good;) then asked whether I thought that good Christians went to the same place as good Mossulmans ? 10 To this question, not wishing to bring on a discussion, I re- turned an ambiguous answer, which pleased old Hassan, as it al- lowed his vanity to suppose that I too might think that no place was so bright as Mahommed's paradise. He expatiated at length on the rivers of milk and wine, on the Tuba tree, on the pearl dwellings of the faithful ; but not a 'word about the houris. " Now tell me," I asked in return, " is it a part of your creed that Mossulmans are pulled into heaven by the solitary lock they preserve with such care ?" He lifted his fez, and pointed to his bald pate, laughingly said : "How am I ever to get there if that be the case ? it is an error entertained by the vulgar, but which has no foundation in our holy books." On various other occasions, I experienced the reasonableness of this odd people, so much misunderstood. One day the pasha's mignon, a spoiled, handsome boy, called me, in a pet, ghiaour. I did not heed the word, coming from that quarter; but, for experi- ment, said to old Hassan Bey, who was smoking with half-a- dozen other effendis : " Have you heard what the young ghiaour says ?" That obnoxious term, in allusion to a Mossulman, sounded strange and harsh to their ears ; but, far from being angry, think- ing I had some meaning, they good humoredly formed a court of inquiry to ascertain on what grounds I could apply an expression which, in this case, prefacing by a compliment to my understand- ing, they averred was perfectly absurd. I accepted the trial, and said: " By your own argument I use it ; does not the word ghiaour mean infidel ?" ",Confessedly." "Then," I added, "we agree ; I am an infidel in regard of your faith, it is true ; but you are also infidels in regard of my faith" --they nodded--" consequently, the term ghiaour is as applicable to you from me, as from you to me." This novel expositiou required some little consideration, but ,74 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. was so unanswerable, that in a few moments pekey, pekey, re- sounded from all within hearing, and never afterwards was insulted by the name; on the contrary, when they wished to plague me, they would call me Mossulman. One name was, of course, as indifferent to me as the other. Some of the young men would say to me, "La illahe illa Allah, Mahommed resoul Allah," and ask me to repeat the declaration. I unhesitatingly did, to enjoy the rapture with which they would clap their hands, and exclaim : " You are a Mossulman !" The elders always supported me, and rebuked the levity of their young companions. " They spoke in jest," I would say, " and I took it :in jest; a few words do not constitute faith." The conversation of a Frank is never accepted, unless an in- fringement of certain laws renders it imperative, without giving him =ample time to reflect. In Constantinople, they send, in the 'first place, to the ambassador of his nation, that it may be satis- factorily known that no force or artifice has been adopted with the convert. Pronouncing the profession of faith: is simply indi- cative of a desire to embrace the :religion, by no means conclu- sive. A word on the term ghiaour, so often misconceived. Many epithets, originally contemptuous, become in time, if not credit- able, harmless. Thus many well-disposed Turks, talking- of Christians, call them ghiaours, without the slightest allusion to its real sense; they know no 'other name by which to express a Christian, and consider it proper. This, however, does not hold good in the great trading cities where Franks abound, and where we have a right to be offended if it be applied to us ; since our proper appellation, Frank, being known, it must be intended slightingly. But in parts where we are rarely seen, a Frank would do both parties wrong to catch offence at being called ghiaour. The insult of the name is lost in its antiquity and its familiarity. Even Christians, in many provinces of Turkey, have the same idea, ignorant of its real signification-infidel. TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 75 Meet an Albanian or a Bulgarian peasant on his hills, and ask him whether he is a Mossulman ? To your astonishment he answers, "I am a ghiaour ;" and to your heightened astonish- ment, at hearing it from a Christian's mouth, adds, " Are you a ghiaour ?" In like manner, a poor Osmanley, who receives a sobriquet in his youth, in allusion to some defect or trick, preserves it, as a distinction, if he become a pasha. The common name of a Jew, in Turkey, Yahoudi, (beloved of God,) farther shows how fallacious are the readings of denomina- tions in the East. Mossulmans hold Yahoudis.in absolute con- tempt, and neglect no mode of expressing it. If they in general knew the literal meaning of Yahoudi, they would discontinue its use, and adopt cheefoot, a name sometimes applied to Jews, and hateful to them. The Jews have sufficient tact to conceal their feelings on the subject, or they would never escape it. The sixth morning of our cruise found us becalmed seventy miles from the land, to the terror of our crew, who feared that the enemy would get between us and the Bosphorus, and their appre- hension was increased by not seeing the look-out frigate, which had hitherto kept within ten miles of us. Being then ignorant of the deficiency of the Russian fleet in skill and energy, I thought the same, and accordingly counselled the pasha to go, in the first place, to Sizepolis and Varna, and even to Sebastopol; do all possible mischief to the shipping left there ; then return and force a passage. The former part of this scheme would have been accomplished in a few days, before our destination was known; and the latter part, an action off the Bosphorus, would have been to our ad- vantage, since our disabled ships would have had a port under their lee to run into; whereas the Russian disabled ships would have had difficulty in getting off shore against the indraft of the strait. Admiral Greig appears to have been impressed with this idea. His inactivity caused me a feeling of shame; the Osmanleys knew that he was an Englishman. A light breeze springing up at north-east. a corvette was TURKEY AND TEE '.CURBS. 76 sent a-head to reconnoitre, and the principal officers of the fleet were summoned on board to consider on what I had proposed. The capitan, petrowna, and reala beys salaamed their chief with the submission of slaves, putting his robe to their lips and head. He invited them to sit, but not on the same couch, and treated them with pipes and coffee. Nourrey Bey, capitan of the Scheriff Rezan, a fifty gun frigate, came with them; being also khasnadar (treasurer) of the pasha, he could not sit in his presence; he stood first of his suite, and presented him the chi- bouque. By virtue of his office, Nourrey was captain of the finest frigate in the navy, notwithstanding that only six months pre- vious had seen him a royal page. He was a pleasant looking man, fair, good-humored, and polite, twenty-eight years old; his beard denoted in him a certain spirit of independence at a time when nearly every body connected with the sultan shaved his chin in flattery to the late reforming ideas. My plan was rejected. the council broke up, and I accompanied Nourrey Bey to dine with him on board his frigate. He treated me with distinction, but overbalanced his politeness by giving me the trouble of visiting every corner of the ship. She was very clean, as were, I must say, all the ships; the Selimier's decks, for example, were washed every morning, and as Orientals never spit about, looked cleaner than the generality of Christian ships. Nourrey spoke very sensibly on the absurd custom of placing landsmen in command of ships. He felt in a great dilemma. " I can manage a horse and a sabre," he said, " and use the bow, but as for a ship, I never was in one before." It was true that he .had officers under him, somewhat versed in maritime affairs; but they could not remove the responsibility from his shoulders, or the consequent anxiety, or the restless 4e- sire of interference so natural to the captain of a ship (in all services.) The commander of an Ottoman ship-of-war, whatever duty is performing, sits on his bench on the quarter-deck, leaving the second captain to carry on the war. By the time that his chibouque wants replenishing, something may happen to disturb 77 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. him; if a squall, a sail splits; if an action, the shot come in. In either case he gets nervous, and imagines faults in his subordi- nates. He jumps into his slippers and gives orders that cannot be understood; seizes a speaking trumpet, knocks down the second captain; runs forward on the forecastle, repeats the same operation on the boatswain; then returns to smoke another pipe, exclaiming, " Mashallah." I have hitherto said little on the habits of the capitan pasha, those of most Ottoman gradees. He led a life of absolute ennui. He could neither read nor write, nor was there any body to do so, had he wished it. He did not play at chess, therefore had an en- joyment less than the sailors : neither had he any person to con- verse with, an advantage possessed by every body else on board. Between a master and his slaves there can be no conversation, since the latter must assent and smile en regle. His legs seemed made fbr no other purpose than to bend under him; his. hands to run over his comboloyo, (rosary.) A narghiler was never from his lips except while he ate, or prayed, or slept ; how he performed the first of these offices I have described; suffice for his meals, that they took place twice a day at unsettled hours. Officers continually stood before him, arms crossed, eyes cast down--a painful apprentissage, ivhich every Osmanley goes through before arriving at power-and anticipated every desire with surprising dexterity. If he wished to rise, he was lifted on his legs : if he drank, the glass was held to his lips; if he walked, he was supported by the arms ; if an ignorant fly alighted on his brow, officious fans warned the intruder not to return; even when he spat, which was not rare, he being asthmatic, there was never wanting one to hold his handkerchief for the precious token. Such servility-though perfectly natural from the effect of early education, therefore not abstractedly servile-was dis- gusting to witness, performed too by men who, in their own homes, exacted the same from their inferiors, and thus made themselves amends for their own humiliation. From the top to the bottom of the ladder is a gradation of aimilar servitude. The grand vizir kisses the sultan's foot; 'lB TURKEY AND TRE TURKS. he bows to Mahommed. The pasha kisses the grand vizir's foot; the bey, the pasha's; the aga, the beys, and so on. No Mossulman subject is so high but what he has a master, and none so low as not to have a slave; the son is slave to the father. I often saw the capitan pasha's son, a royal page, with him; but the youth never saw or tasted food in his presence. With all his deficiencies, Achmet Papudgi was a good natured man, a complete contrast to his predecessors during the last twenty years, who were all remarkable for cruelty. The quality seemed inherent to the office. In the middle of the day, he crept into the kennel abaft the mizen mast, and reposed for some hours, his example being duly followed by the officers, stretched out on the quarterdeck, and covered by flags to keep off the sun. On awaking, coffee and chibouques were served. Water was then brought, with a com- plete change of garments, and in the same narrow box, six feet by three, by two high, he washed and dressed; then came out and enjoyed the cool of the evening on his quarterdeck couch, always doing me the honor to place me beside him with a chibouque, and, no doubt, it was a droll sight to the crew, who all gathered round, the pasha and me thus cheek by jowl. His band, consisting of as many drums and cymbals as could be collected, with two clarionets and one fife, usually made a noise for our beneit. It played the hunter's chorus in Freischutz, Zitti Zitti, and Malbrook, over and over, till I fairly wished it at the bottom of the sea. I not only could not stop my ears, but was obliged to applaud liberally. Thinking, one evening, that its style was more adapted to Turkish music, at the sametime intend- ing a compliment, I asked the pasha whether it could perform any Turkish airs. " Turkish airs !" he repeated with astonishment; "Mashallah have you not been listening to them these two hours ?" I bowed, and took refuge in ignorance. He asked me one evening if I would like to sde his regular sol- diers; I had never heard of any being on board. Presently six scarecrows marched aft, preceded by a drum and fife, each carry- 79 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 80 TURKEY AND THE TURK s. ing a musket, and wearing a shabby tactico uniform. A first- rate's marines! I could scarce refrain from laughing out at the idea, although a thousand eyes were fixed on me to observe my admiration. The pasha told them seriously to do their best, for a judge of military performances was by. Accordingly, they went through the manual exercise, and the same was rendered exceedingly amusing by the drollery of the jes- ter, who swore that without him the troop would have been dis- graced. The chief entertainment of every evening was provided by the crew, who, when our orchestra closed, commenced acting gross buffoonery, such as ducking in tubs of water for money, when many a poor fellow half-drowned himself, in vain attempts to take with his lips the thin bit of silver, shining at the bottom; or playing at bear and monkey, when both the bear and monkey well deserved the piasters their beating gained them; or blind man's buff. This last game was capital. The blind man, provided with a stick, was at liberty to hit everybody within reach, only subject to the inconvenienee of trip- ping over the bodies of his prostrate fellows, or over the comings down a hatchway. The pasha's attendants received sundry blows in keeping him off the presence, and as he readily found his way amongst them, I supposed that he was purposely allowed a peep- hole, especially as his excellency enjoyed it much. A game also of men hanging in pairs to the spanker-boom, till one turned senseless or cried quarter, afforded infinite amusement. Each exhibition the deck was convulsed at the writhings of the actors; the pasha, forgetting his hauteur, would join in the laugh, and rapidly combing his beard with his fingers, throw pieces of gold at the victor. "Well," he said to me, one evening that I was more than usu- ally tired of this foolery, " does your capitan pasha amuse him- self in this way ?" I could not for the life of me flatter him; I simply answered that the English capitan pasha had always something else to do. A dead silence, and mutual looks of surprise, ensued. Such were the occupations of the third man of the empire; of one of the chiefs on whom depended the fate of Turkey. If, I thought, her others resemble him, faint indeed are her hopes. His followers were alike degenerate. Not one felt as he should have felt, except Kiuchuck Mehemet, the captain, who bitterly lamented the want of energy in his chief. We conceived a regard for each other that lasted during my stay in the East. He had commanded a ship at Navarino, and could show eleven scars, gained partly there, and partly in the war against the Greeks, with six of whose vessels he sustained, in 1822, a severe conflict, which ended by his running his brig ashore in Kieri Bay, near the town of Zante, to avoid being cap- tured. I was at Zante at the time, in the Seringapatam frigate, and perfectly recollected the circumstance. The Zantiotes flocked to the beach, with the base intention of putting the Turkish crew to death, and were only restrained by a party of English soldiers, on whom they fired in rage, wounding the officer, and killing one or two men, which barbarous act gave Sir T. Maitland a reason- able pretext for disarming the inhabitants of the island. Kiuchuck Mehemet was placed in the hospital, where, after lying six months, he recovered, and then returned to his country, retain- ing a lively sense of gratitude to the English, without whose kind- ness, as he expressed it, he should have died. He was a native of Trebizonde, which place he left eighteen years since, and in that time had only once heard of his relations. There is a slight want of post-office arrangement in Turkey. Excepting him, no officers on board knew anything of a ship; anl as officers of the wateh, they kept me in a constant state of excitement, on account of our lower-deck ports being kept up at night, an excess of incaution which I could not overcome by citing a thousand and one precedents of accidents in consequence. One morning at two o'clock, I awoke and looked over the side. Every soul was asleep, the yards were any way, the royals set; a squall was rapidly forming on the lee-bow. Rousing the officer of the watch, I bade him look to his sails and the weather. 11 81 TURKEY AND ME TURKS. "IHow should I know what to do ?" he yawned out, rubbing his eyes. How should he indeed, poor man, considering that he was not bred to the trade? There was no time to be lost in being angry, so, therefore, hastily collecting a few Greek and Frank sailors about the decks, I trimmed and shortened sail. We were just in time; the squall came with violence, paid us off before it, and threw the fleet into great disorder. I then repaired to the pasha, who was crawling out of his ken- nel in a state of nervous agitation, and told him that if more care were not observed, the ship would go to the bottom some night without his knowledge; This put him into a great rage, and he ordered the guilty officer to be thrown forthwith into the sea. They were seizing him; in another minute would have made him (in a literal sense) that which he was condemned for not being- a seaman; but I interposed, aghast at the prompt notice taken of my complaint, and begged him off: in consequence of which the fellow, who never liked me afterwards, escaped without any punishment, though certainly meriting a severe one, for neglect that might have caused the death of fifteen hundred persons. When punishments depend on the breath of one man, there is often no medium between death and immunity: it is so easy to say " kill" or " pardon." For the credit of humanity, we may hope that many an arbitrary chief regrets, when too late, the hasty obedience of his followers-would rejoice, would they give him occasionally breathing time to recover from hig passion, or afford him a plausible pretext, so as to save his pride, for contradicting himself. I make no doubt, but that if Savary had not been in such a hurry, had only waited till Bonaparte rose, to take a final order, the Due d'Enghein's life would have been spared. Napoleon him- self said so. Why should he not have spoken the truth? The greatest minds often waver about an important act, so that the slightest breath will turn the balance, especially if it come from an unexpected quarter. It is now time to close this log. The few days that I was on 8 T EEY AND THE T-RE4. board had sufficient variety to render them agreeable. Russian frigates were generally in sight, but the fleet never made its appearance. Why, I know not; it thereby lost a brilliant opportunity of bringing the Ottoman fleet to action, and destroy- ing it. At length, on the tenth morning of our voyage, the pasha yielded to my entreaties, and gave chase to a frigate and a cor- vette. They crowded sail for Sizepolis. We followed with the wind fresh at east-north-east; the Selimier under easy sail, that the dull sailors might keep up. No persuasion could induce the pasha to make sail on his own noble ship, which would have caught the fugitives in three hours. We were all excitement, in expectation of an affair with the enemy's fleet; the captain and topchi bashi busied themselves like brave men, and I endeavored to encourage the officers by decrying Muscovite courage, and by holding out the rewards that the padishchah would heap upon them, and the glory they would acquire with the world. To little purpose; the Osmanleys have an hereditary fear of the Russians, and as for rewards, my listen- ers thought they would be sweeter without fighting for them. Before sun-set, the chasees were rounding the southern point of the gulf of Bourgas, while we were still nine miles from it, and at that moment the wind unfortunately headed us. The pasha, therefore, tacked his fleet, head to the eastward, under easy sail, and expressed his intention to me of meeting the enemy, who would not fail, if in force, of getting out the same night; if not in force, we should be far enough to windward by the morning to fetch in on the other tack, and engage him at anchor. In either case, he said, he should entrust me with the command of the ship, to which arrangement, the little captain, who was present, assented with a noble absence of petty feeling. That evening there was no music, no buffoonery, the muezzins called louder than usual, and the men were more devout in their prayers. Our line was incomplete, the riala bey being' far to leeward. He had been culpably negligent all day in not carrying sail, but 8a3 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. for which we should have saved the wind, perhaps have caught the Russian corvette, who at the present moment was edging away with his mainsail off. I almost wished, for his sake, that our pasha resembled his predecessor, Izzet Mehemet, who treated heads like onions. Night set in hazy and squally, and it became a serious question on our quarter deck, whether we should bear up and form the line on him, or heave too till he gained his station, which he might find difficult to do, or might find convenient to avoid. The evolution was hazardous, lest some of the ships might fall on board each other. However, it was requisite to act, and a dozen voices spoke all differently. The jester sarcastically said that if we bore up, none of the ships would stop again. Pro- phetic fool! The chief butler opined that it was too dark to see to do any thing. The purveyor of tobacco insinuated that the rain would affect his highness's health. His highness was already dripping, and what was worse bewildered : he ran from gangway to gangway, a glass in one hand, and a speaking-trumpet in the other, two officers holding up the skirts of his robes. It would not have been safe then for any one to have trod on his toe; he might have said "Chuck him overboard," and overboard the treader would have gone. I never saw a stranger scene than that which an occasional flash of lightn'ing disclosed on our deck. One personage only was wanting to complete its incongruity-that personage was the cook; and presently he came up, and thrusting into the throng, fairly gave his advice on what ought to be done, as though he were marshalling a train of dishes. I had not pa- tience to learn what the fellow said, but, taking him by the shoulders, pushed him away with " d-n your impudence." The jester laughed outright, the captain squeezed my arm, some stifled, others drew back, while the offended artist swore loudly at the infidel. The pasha took on himself to appease him, and in so doing, had time to collect his thoughts. A tender was then sent down with peremptory orders to the absent ship, and by half past ten o'clock the fleet was collected in close order, 84 TURKEY AND THE TURKS each ship carrying a light at the peak, the small craft forming a line to leeward. The pasha still remained on deck, continually directing his glass round the horizon, and often mistaking a phosphoric curl on the water, or a rising star, for a ship's light. The consequent agitation affected his nerves. Towards midnight the squalls violently increased : he became very anxious, and begged me to go round the decks once more to see that all was right. I obeyed. Below was a noble sight. The three decks were perfectly clear, and brilliantly illuminated ; every thing was in its place, and at the large stone shot guns were picked crews, whom I expressly ordered to reserve their fire till within twenty yards of their opponent. Nothing was want- ing, save courage: officers and men gathered round me, and begged that I would advise a retreat. I never imagined such a panic. An English or American fleet could not have prayed more earnestly to meet an enemy, than this did to avoid one. I assured the pasha that he could not fail of success; then hav- ing nothing to do for the present, and being very tired, I laid down in his cabin. I had not long closed my eyes, when the noise of water rushing past awoke me; I guessed the cause; I hastened on deck, and found the fleet running twelve knots off the wind. The chief, as though relieved of a great burthen, was seated joking with his officers. What could I say?-not what I thought; for the first time since our acquaintance he did not invite me to join him. I went aft. The brave little captain was there; he sighed when he saw me. We ran our distance by the morning; but the haze scarcely permitted us to distinguish the Faro before we dashed into the Bosphorus. We swept by the castles with foaming velocity, and in twenty minutes, from passing the Symplegades, dropped our best bower at Buyukdere. Had we been a Russian fleet we should not have received twenty shot from the twelve powerful batteries which garnish the first four miles of the strait. Our ships took up their stations admirably, dropping their best TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 85 bowers exactly corresponding to their small bowers planted on the quay. The Selimier's small bower cable was bent round a large plane-tree which shaded a fashionable cafene, in the village of Sariery, adjoining Buyukdere. A first-rate tied to a tree I thus realizing the nobleman's idea, who asked Lord Anson if he tied his ship to a tree at night. I immediately went on board Captain Kelly's steamer, where I enjoyed a good English breakfast and a laugh at the expense of Ottoman tactics ; but before quitting him, the capitan pasha, with flattering expressions, offered me a handful of gold, according to the Eastern custom. I expressed astonishment. He then begged me to accept any present from him that I might choose-as arms or a horse ; I refused all, on the plea that having accompanied him as a friend I could not accept of a remuneration. He was rather offended, and much astonished ; for I believe he was the first Turk who had ever had presents refused. Seeing, however, that he was willing to oblige me, I spoke to him in behalf of four Greek slaves on board, natives of Samothraki, who had been taken in 1826. He invited me to accompany him in his next voyage; I con- sented, on condition that he would have brulots ready, and pro- ceed to Sizepolis, or wherever else the enemy might be. The sultan knew of my excursion. He expressed his approba- tion of it and inclination to see me, and his secretary intimated to me that I should have the honor of a private audience. But pressing affairs intervened to disappoint me. 86 TURKEY AND THE TURKES. CHAPTER VI BUYUIDERE, SOCIETY, SULTAN, CAPITAN PASHIA'S WIVES, BELGRADE) ELOPEMENT, EXECUTION. I RESIDED at the period of which I am speaking at Buyukdere, that pleasant village on the banks of the Bosphorus so well known as the prinicipal summer residence of the European diplo- matists. It is situated on the European bank, about fourteen miles from the city, and is constantly refreshed by cool gales from the Euxine. During the summer the thermometer seldom rises above 79 degrees, and rarely above 75 degrees; while in the city the range is from 80 to 85 degrees. The worst of the climate, in and about Constantinople, is its inequality. In a few hours the thermometer varies 20 degrees, and the changes in the barometer are more rapid than any I ever witnessed elsewhere. Nevertheless, it is not unhealthy, barring tertian fever. It is proper to avoid sleeping in the open air,,and to be well clothed. It has little more than two seasons, winter and summer; the natives say they shake hands, although each is preceded by three or four weeks of peculiarly delisious weather. The summer, which breaks in October, with heavy rains and violent gales, shifting suddenly from north-east and north to south-west, I think, is charming; cool, Euxine breezes reign nearly through it, interrupted only by an occasional murky south- wester, which, however, is of short duration, and, in oppression, no more than the breath of a drawing-room flue, compared with the oven blast of a scirocco. The winter, on the contrary, of five months' duration, is villanous ; one week frozen by Tartary gales; which whistle through the cage-like wooden houses, the neyt drenched by Archipelago clouds; two feet depth of snow is re- placed, in twenty-four-hours, by streams of water, and vice versa. TU,-WW r~ 1 8~ The cold is in some years so intense that the top of the harbor is frozen, and the snow lies in the streets six weeks at a time. The archives of the empire mention that, in 1621, the Bosphorus, between Tophana and Scutari, was frozen over, strong enough to bear; a circumstance which is also mentioned by the poet Hazmeh. Their united evidence, though, is not conclusive of the fact, that in 41 degrees latitude it has ever been sufficiently cold to chain a stream one mile wide, thirty-eight fathoms deep, running two miles and a half an hour. The poet may have used the licence of his art, or have been deceived by looking through the medium of his frost-crusted panes; and the public historian may have copied from the poet. In ordinary years the environs of Constantinople-are blest with great plenty, combined with great cheapness, though when I was there the contrary was the case. The lady of an envoye informed me that, previous to the last war, the table expenses of her family, at Buyukdere, were little more than a dollar a day. Turkeys, not unworthy of Jersey, sold usually at eight cents each; fowls, &c., accordingly; beef and mutton equally cheap. The opposite shore of Asia supplies the finest fruit and vege- tables in abundance; also game. Tolerable wine is made by the Greeks, particularly from a grape called altyn tach (golden stone), and sold at five or three cents a quart. In the autumn months wild boars come down into the vine- yards to eat the grapes, when they are easily shot; and in the same season the sun is often nearly obscured by the prodigious flights of quail which alight on the coast of the Black Sea, near the Bosphorus, and are caught by means of nets, spread on high poles planted along the cliff some yards from its edge, against which the birds, which are exhausted by their passage over the sea, bring up and fall. By this simple mode, the Mossulmans enjoy a delicacy which they otherwise could not, since they con- sider anything that dies of gunshot wounds as unclean, the blood thereby not freely escaping. This is the chief reason why they do not eat game; they hold no birds in holy dislike excepting the partridge, one of which 88 TUYRKtEY AND THE TURKgS. species betrayed, by its cackling, the hiding place of the saint Mustapha. I can best illustrate the nature of this annual migration of quails, by observing that the sultan sent orders to the capitan pasha to catch four hundred dozen for the use of the seraglio; they were collected in three days, and sent to their destination, alive, in small cages. In every respect, Buyukdere is a very agreeable residence; rendered more so, in addition to its native charms, by the society being free from the etiquette which prevails at Pera. In the one place, however, as well as the other, a traveler is perfectly well received, and may pass his time extremely pleasantly, not being restrained, as are the fixed residents, to a particular set; and be he comme il faut he will find himself in request among all classes, and must become a perfect cosmopolite, as it is difficult to be in a saloon without meeting a dozen of different nations. Along the broad quay which connects Buyukdere with the lit- tle village of Sariery, to the north, in a line of good houses, re- side during the summer, most of the members of European diplo- macy. The principal of them, while I was first there, was the Sardinian ambassador, who madehimself conspicuous by having mass performed in his house every morning, and by riding in an antiquated carriage every evening up and down the anchor- strewed quay. This nobleman had a knack of making himself disliked by per- sons. of all ranks, nations, and sects. ' In character he was proud (with the low,) avaricious, (though rich,) and a gourmand : in person he was tall, bloated, and corpulent. With the cunning of a Genoese citizen, he united the fawning of a Turinese cour. tier. His nearest neighbor was Signor Romano, the Neapolitan minister. Signor Romano had, during the last war, been em- ployed in a government office at Malta : he there married a Mal- tese lady. He spoke English perfectly ; she considered herself an English woman; therefore Englishmen were made welcome at their house. Poor Madame Romano could not bear Turkey, 12 89 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. however. The beauty of the Bosphorus could not make her for- get "il fiore del mondo" (Malta;) and her amiable daughters sighed for the pleasures of Naples. Another house was, at that time, occupied by the Senor Sou- za, Spanish charge d'affaires, and his young wife-the raven- haired, the kindling-eyed, revealing in her looks the depth of Andalusian feelings. They loved each other, and lived retired. In another house was seen that then important personage, Mr. Chabert, English head dragoman. I dare say he was a good man, though he received twelve hundred pounds a year for doing little, and that little, it was whispered, not always very consci- entiously; but he was ruled by his wife, a lady of Greek origin, whom it was impossible to like, on account of her ill treatment of her eldest daughter. Miss, at length, threw herself out of a window-into her lover's arms, went to church, and got married. The young man was highly respectable, attached to the Austrian embassy. For this rash act, Mrs. Chabert would never again speak to her daughter, would not let her husband speak to her, would not let her other children speak to her. In compensation, the young lady, as fair as she was spirited, was esteemed by all Pera. The sultan, at the time of which I am now speaking, fre- quently rode from his place at Therapia, round the head of the bay, by a path so narrow that horsemen could only proceed in single files to the kiosk of the capitan pasha, with whom, or rather in whose presence, for the old man was kept standing like a slave, he would smoke a chibouque, and then return. A company of infantry always preceded him; about a dozen courtiers on horseback accompanied him, and his train was closed by two sumpter horses, under the guidance of the cup- bearer, laden with all sorts of good things for eating and drink- ing. The latter was an essential part of his suite, since he could not touch food prepared by other than his own cooks; fear of poisoning being the cause. He was always avidly gazed on in those excursions ; his subjects bent their foreheads to the dust as he passed along, and the windows of the houses were lined with 90 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. Franks to whom, however, he never gave the slightest indication of being aware of their curiosity. The position of a sultan necessarily keeps people from being careless of his presence ; but, independent of these, it creates an indefinable sensation in the minds of free-born, civilized Euro- peans at seeing a man, made and dressed, and moving like other men, who has only got to say, " Cut this or that head off; throw that wretch into the sea; break that fellow's legs; impale that vagabond," &c.; and to think that his words will be acted on without the slightest demur. I occupied a house belonging to the baroness, adjoining hers. The situation was delightful. We inhaled the breezes of the Euxine, and we looked down a fine reach of the Bosphorus : on the opposite side of the bay, at Therapia, waved the lilies and the union on the houses of the French and English ambassadors. The capitan pasha, with whom I had sailed, had a tolerable good stud, and a part of his harem lived in a large kiosk on Buy- ukdere quay; but he seldom rode the former, and rarely visited the latter. When he did pay a visit to it, it was after dusk, for he possessed Mohammedan ideas of property, and he chose the hours that had no moon; yet was always numerously accompa- nied by officers and guards, among whom it was piteous to behold him walk feebly from his barge to the kiosk, and more piteous to imagine him ascend alone to the lighted latticed apartment of the beautiful Georgian, who expected and loathed him. This lady was not insensible to admiration, nor averse to the displaying of her charms, when a sly opportunity offered at a half-drawn lattice, or in her garden, to eyes that peeped over its wall. She was not her lord's only wife; he had another, older and plain, but who resided at Constantinople on account of the jea- lousy which prevented the two ladies from being together in a small house. Indeed, these husband shareholders generally cause so much domestic bickering that few Turks, except the very rich, venture on two wives. The pasha, however, one day sent for his older wife, perhaps influenced by a touch of used affection, or te TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 91 lady herself might have wished it. There was no amicable pre- arrangement. That night the usual tranquil kiosk changed its character; shrill voices issued whence whispers had not before escaped, and the placed stream reflected lights passing and repass- ing in rapid succession. The harem was in an uproar ; a scene of wordy female warfare, which not even the pasha's grave autho- rity-he was there-could restrain. There was but one remedy admissible-separation ; and therefore the day following this ex- periment, the intruder was sent back to the vast and solitary place overlooking the Golden Horn. * This was only a temporary mortification to the fair and proud Georgian. She had one nearer and keener in a young Circas- sian, one of her slaves, on whom her lord had presumed to look, and who was " as ladies wish to be," &c., the happy result of which would raise her from servitude, and give her the honors of a wife : from serving she would be waited on ; from standing be- fore, she would sit beside, her mistress, who was furious, unmind- ful that she, by a similar result of her master's passions, had been emancipated, and had supplanted her mistress, his first wife, and moreover a Turkish woman who cannot be a slave. However, her fears were unfounded, for the young Circassian, who was not pretty, miscarried. The capitan pasha was an old man: perhaps I have already said enough of him ; one more anecdote and I have done. I saw him often, and then he was fond of asking me about my travels and other countries, more for amusement than instruction. Many of my recitals he considered fabulous, and joked on as such; but that did not prevent him from entertaining some very marvellous beliefs of his own. Among others, he asked me one day, with a perfectly solemn visage, if I had been to the island where the people have two heads ? Before answering, I put a question to ascertain if he was serious. Perfectly. The island, according to him, was in the Indies, and had been visited by many travelers. I felt half inclined to amuse myself, and two officers who were with me, and to whom the question was equally put, by acting on his igno- 92 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. rance ; but I restrained myself by the reflection that if I did, I should certainly be cited by him as authority in future. I as- sured him that he was in error ; but I might as well have tried to convince him that the earth went round the sun. It was too favorite a conceit to dia odge. From that time he did not think my authority so good as formerly. He was wonderstruck at a small pocket microscope that I had, though he could not believe that what he saw through it was true. Such curious objects as a fly's eye, a flea's wing, a mus- quito's fangs, were rather lost on him, but a drop of dirty wa- ter excited his undivided attention ; and, fortunately for him, as a water-drinker, it impressed him with complete incredulity of the instrument. " That," he averred, " must be magic. It was impossible that water was in reality full of voracious, ugly animals, else the pro- phet, who knew everything, would never have ordained it as the sole beverage of Mossulmans." It was well that his faith in Mahommed's goodness and wisdom led him to this conclusion, or his knowledge would have embit- tered every meal, and with reason, considering how scrupulous Mossulmans are about their drink and drinking vessels. Had he convinced himself of the existence of animalcule, he would have mentioned it, I dare say, to some influential members of the ulema, by whom would have been debated in full divan the pro- priety of establishing a law to kill them-by the admission of a little rum. It would certainly have proved a formidable weapon in favor of the increasing unholy custom of wine drinking, and might be used with effect by missionaries, that is, if there shall be found any with sufficient courage to preach the Gospel to the Turk. Mr. Finlay, philhellinist, &c., caused a sensation about this time, and afforded us amusement, by taking a prominent part in a rare spectacle-an elopement. The youngest of two pretty Armenian sisters contrived to elude the vigilance of father, mother, and brother, and have a little flirtation from her win- TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 93 dow with an admirer of her bright eyes, who, by the way, could talk sweet in Greek. It is astonishing how rapid courtship is in the East; if the talisman, matrimony, be only hinted at, it is like going on a railway. After four or five evenings of intercourse, it is like, we may suppose, " The sweet south That breathes upon a bank of violets, Stealing and giving odor," the lady (en garcon) put herself under the protection of the enamored Briton, tripped with him nimbly to a caique, rowed up the Bosphorus, and found lodgings in a village near Justinian's Aqueduct, where they thought to be concealed till they could leave the country; for, as marriages between Franks and Rayas are illegal in Turkey, the officers of justice might have sepa- rated them. The morning after the elopement found her father bilious, her mother crabbed, her sister envious, her brother furious. Hav- ing sought them in vain at Pera, the latter rows up the Bos- phorus, goes on board the Blonde, sees the mutual friend of both parties, Brock-explodes. His words seemed dagger-points and pistol-balls; but-he wants to fight? Oh no !-not his trade. Only required Brock to find out Finlay-to talk :to him-to get him to restore his sister-anything to save appearances-anything but fight. Duelling not the fashion in the East. Brock accordingly buckled on his armor, and taking the centre arch of the aqueduct for a leading mark, started. Traces were fresh : he ferretted out the fugitives : he entered abruptly. The lady, still in masquerade, taking him for a chavass, jumped into a closet. Finlay looked martial. Brock laughed. He talked about honor. Finlay swore that his was trebly distilled. He talked about propriety; the lady declared that her love was the essence of platonism. So Brock left them, returned on board, and made the brother "seas over." Her parents appealed to the ambassador, who-hummed- 94 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. there was nothing to be done that could do any good at all. They threatened to appeal to the Turkish authorities; but that would have caused expense to the father, as well as misery to the young lady; and the old Armenian kept his hand in his pocket. In the meantime, the lovers quietly got on board a merchant brig and went to Syra, where they were married; but, we have since heard, Mrs. Finlay would not leave off wearing the breeches. Her successful debut in the so often enacted comedy of "A bold stroke for a husband," made a deep impression at Pera in favor of English honor; we might, any of us, after that have facilitated the descent of a fair Armenian or Greek from a window. One morning I accidentally became a witness to an execution. At the upper end of the street I observed a slight tumult, occa- sioned by an arrest, but not knowing what it related to I did not stir. Presently the guard moved towards me, and halting where I was standing, in the widest part, cleared an open space; by which manoeuvre we, the spectators, were so closely wedged that I could not get away, incited thereto by the visible and audible discontent of the Osmanleys around me at the presence of an in- fidel. It certainly was misplaced. Into this space two men stepped from the body of the guard- one old, and ugly, and meanly dressed; the other young, and handsome, and richly attired in the old costume. The office of one of them was not doubtful, by the long ata- ghan in his hand; the other, by his firm step, and the unconcerned air with which he glanced around, might have passed for the pro- vost marshal, had not his manner soon announced that he was destined to act a more important part; and he knew it,-for he at once knelt down, without prompting, and suffered his thumbs to be tied behind him with a piece of string, that he might not invo- luntarily interfere with the operation. The executioner then took off his turban, tied up Mohammed's lock, and adjusted the denounced head in the most favorable posi- tion for displaying his skill, desiring its owner to hold it steady. So peculiarly adapted is the Eastern costume, having no collars, TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 95 to the dispatch of head-cutting, as to make it probable that it was originally adopted by slavish courtiers, as symbolic of their necks being always ready. This preparation did not occupy two minutes, during which it was uncertain which of the two showed greatest coolness. Draw- ing then his ataghan, the executioner held it up in act to strike, and in this position recited-the offence-" conspiracy," &c. It was an awful picture, a moment of breathless excitement to all present excepting the two actors, the one of whom, the most interested in the event, appearing the most careless. Being close to him, malgre moi, I watched him narrowly, but could not per- ceive the slightest change in his florid countenance, or a tremor in his fine limbs. Both, at such a crisis, would have been par- donable in the boldest. Having heard his crime, he cried, in a firm voice: " Oh, Mohammed, I die innocent; to thee I consign my soul." He xepeated these words, with some others to the same purport, when the finisher of the law, impatient, demanded : "Are you ready ?" The gallant fellow, with an energy of tone which showed that his spirit already saw the " dark-eyed girls," promptly an- swered : " Ready." The moment after his head, struck off by one blow, was rolling in the dust. The blood instantaneously gushed out of the body, the neck slightly palpitated; life vanished with the rapidity of thought. The savage who performed the deed cleaned his blade on the corpse's clothes, then held it up in the rays of the sun ; but seeing some stains on it, again wiped it before resheathing it. 96 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. CHAPTER VIL CHE SERAGLIO, EUNUCIS, THE KITCHEN, LIBRARY, WOMEN, BAIL, TURKISH MINISTERS, OSMANLEY M'ORALITY, SLAVERY IN TURKEY, NOURREY BEY, DANCING GIRLS. BUILT on the site of a city, (Byzance,) the seraglio contains, in its circuit, gardens, fountains, groves, circuses, mosques, palaces, altogether strangely intermingling, yet harmonizing, European elegance by Asiatic luxury, the light by the sombre, the trivial by the magnificent, and offering, in their labyrinths, every con- venience for the pleasures of the most luxurious. court, and the ac- commodation of four thousand retainers, besides the women. The original plan consists in four spacious courts, surrounded by buildings, connecting with each other by high gates, and running in an oblong square nearly across the area ; the remainder of which is laid out in pleasure-grounds, or filled up by kiosks, the fancies of different sultans, which communicate with the main edifice one way, and command views the other, of the finest scenery in the world. When I had the pleasure of being admitted, together with some friends, we began our excursion by the most modern of these kiosks, entering it through a massy, gilded gate in the sea wall. It was built by the late sultan, and is no less distinguished for size than splendor, furnished in a style half French, half Oriental ; the former shown in cut glass chandeliers, mirrors, musical clocks, ivory ships, mosaic tables, and other trifles; the latter in velvet- covered divans, piles of brocaded cushions, highly-wrought mats, and frescos on the wainscotings. The baths were perfect specimens of their kind, almost too beautiful for use, composed of variegated marbles, wherein roux and verd antique were lavished. The gothic, richly-fretted, marble chimney-pieces, in the winter cabinets, were also highly ornamental, and excited a wish for fire. In one of these cabinets were arranged the sultan's personal arms, consisting of Damascus TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 97 sabres, French pistols, 4crsian hangars, all of exquisite work- manship, and set in jewels. By them lay a small assortment of Kurans and Sunnas, beautifully written, and highly emblazoned. Leaving this kiosk, we traversed the courts of the main fabric to the imperial gate, or sublime porte, which gives entrance to the first court from the city. In the porch-way are niches for the heads of distinguished criminals. The first court contains the mint, the armory, the imperial stables, and apartments of the kislar aga, beside others, all of ordinary appearance outside, and presenting, we were told, nothing remarkable inside; but we were not invited to judge for ourselves; a subject of disappointment, since it is well known that the armory contains many suits of Grecian armor, with other memorials of the empire. The second court is handsomer, set off by a fountain in the middle, with trees planted round it. The kitchens are on one side, occupying the entire length, of stupendous proportions, the roof supported by lofty pillars, and surmounted by ten domes, which are distinctly seen from the sea, and generally assigned to a different kind of building, since few persons place Ottoman gour- mandise in so exalted a station as to require the most noble edi- fice in the seraglio for its service. It speaks high for civilization. We found it in full activity : not less than a hundred dinners were preparing, each at a yawning cavern of flames and smoke that might have graced Vulcan's workshop, and hosts of lackeys were going or returning with full or empty dishes. The cooks, clean-fingered nimble gentry, dressed in white, like their Romish brethren, were exceedingly polite, and brought us at each compartment pezimets and other dainties, farther induced thereto by the presence of our ciceroni, who, no less a personage than the-chief artiste, did the honors of his jurisdiction with an air and manner that would have gained him the cordon bleu had he lived in France in the reign of Louis XV. He terminated his attentions by exhibiting to us, with an assur- ance beforehand of exciting our wonder, the dried, almost mum- mied, body of a merman, which, he told us, had been caught in 98 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. the Bosphorus a century back; he did not know with what bait, but he knew that no other had been caught since. As we were not bound to take this assertion on credit, we put our heads down --our hands were kept off--to examine it, and soon discovered that this merman was nothing more nor less than a large fish, somewhat mis-shapen, called palamithe, to whose shoulders some adventurer, with great dexterity, had joined a human head, and thus imposed it on Turkish credulity. However, we did not express this opinion, for charity's sake, but left them to enjoy their error, and roll up again in fine cloths the precious monster, which, in the absence of a professor of natural history on the seraglio establishment, has always been in the care of the reigning cook, he being considered, after the hekim bashi, the most scientific person in the empire; and if, before, a doubt on the authenticity of the merman was considered blame- able in any sceptical, free-thinking page, or eunuch, it will now amount to heresy-now that it has been seen and approved of by an eltehi, a capitan pasha, and a host of bey zades and bim bashas (our party) of England. Opposite to the kitchens-in conformity with the good rule that weighty deliberation should immediately succeed, or be suc- ceeded by dinner--we saw the divan, or the privy council chamber. It is of an oblong form, covered by two domes, and paved with fine marbles, divided by a low marble balustrade into two squares. In place of the usual luxurious couch, a marble bench runs round three sides, a kind of seat pleasantly cool in summer, unpleasantly so in winter, always disagreeably hard, but at the same time possessing the advantage of being preventive of long debates. The sultan rarely assists in person, but from his apart- ments a passage leads to a narrow niche, on one side of the halls where, unseen, he can hear what passes. Thus far any person may penetrate on business, but the third court is the sanctum sanctorum, trodden by few excepting the white eunuchs, a considerable number of whom were loitering about the entrance of it, and raised our attention, as much as any 99 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 100 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. other appendage of this empire of jealousy, by their complete and abhorrent ugliness, more than sufficient, we, thought, to disgust the Odalisques with every thing in the shape of man. Dull and spiritless, although young, with the yellow shrivelled appearance of decrepit old age, these white weeds of humanity gathered round us with childish curiosity as we entered the " gate of happiness," and in cracked tones complimented us on our ar- i9'al in their world; wherein, caused by the gothic overhanging style of architecture, reigned an air of gloomy magnificence, well corresponding with the mystery attached to it, and heightened to us by the idea, which one could not help entertaining, that we were gazed on, as a menagerie of strange and rare animals from distant parts, by myriads of bright eyes from the lattices. A rich marble colonnade runs round this court, connecting its various offices--the treasury, the great baths, the hall of the sand- jack scheriff, the apartments of the sultanas, of the princes of the blood, and the eunuchial quarters. Detached in the area stand two separate buildings of an original structure, somewhat between the Chinese and the Swiss, but pretty withal, shaded by deep porticos supported by porphyry columns. One of them near the gate of happiness, to which it leads by a covered gallery, is the audience chamber. Its size is not too large for a dungeon, and in gloom it is not inferior; one door gives admittance, and one window, heavily barred, giving barely enough light to distinguish a person's features in. From this, having first discussed chibouques, coffee, sherbets, and conserves, prepared for us, we were conducted with some ceremony to the other detached edifice, commonly called the im- perial library, and .regarded by the Osmanleys, I know not why, with as great respect as St. Sophia and other great trophies of their conquest. No reason can be assigned for their predilection in its favor, since it boasts of no other relics of the former lords of Constantinople, and contains only about fifteen Hundred Arabic and Turkish volumes on history and theology, not being near so good a collection as exists in three or four other libraries attached to the principal mosques. Not a ray of light breaks the darkness, not a Grecian charrc- ter adorns its shelves, not a trace of antiquity supports the long fondly cherished opinion of the learned respecting its contents. The librarian assured us that he had not one infidel book in his care; he appeared hurt at the suspicion, and invited us to re- move our doubts by examining the cobweb repositories. But this would have been a dirty job; so we even took his wore -fo his proud poverty of treasures. In recompense, he showed us, ai the pride of his heart, on a long scroll, the portraits of te' sul- tans ;-all-whether the fierce conqueror, or the wise Solyman, or the effeminate Ibrahim, or the boyish Osman (represented beardless)--equally badly executed, showing how completely the art has been at a stand, and also showing that the Othmans, not- withstanding the religious prohibition, have not been free from the kingly vanity of transmitting their looks to posterity. After our disappointment in the imperial library, we descended to the fourth and last court, in which was nothing remarkable except a marble column seventy feet high. The inscription was nearly effaced, but its Corinthian capital was perfect, and re- flected credit on its masters, for having so well preserved a rem- nant of the first Constantine's magnificence. We were next conducted through the sultan's gardens, laid out with taste, but wanting that day their most beautiful flowers, across a spacious circus for the jerreed exercise to the water gate, where a crowd of retainers were assembled to see the exit of the traveling menagerie. We delayed a few minutes to converse with two regular mutes; they were boys about fourteen years old, very genteel, and good-looking, whereby we were completely undeceived in re- gard to their species, having previously understood that a mute was a kind of animal between a dwarf and a monkey. The little urchins were exceedingly amused, and laughed and con- versed about us with great rapidity, making most expressive lan- guage with their eyes and fingers. Their quick wit is proverbial in Turkey, and in the secret deliberations in the seraglio, where TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 101 they alone are allowed to be present as domestics, nothing escapes their intelligenee. One of them is noted for having saved the celebrated grand vizir, Kuprogli, whose death-warrant, owing to the intrigues of the valide sultana and the kislar aga, to whom his economy of the public money had rendered him odious, was signed -by the weak Achmet. A mute gave him notice of the plot ; and thus timely warned, Kuprogli, who was then at Adrianople with the army, was enabled to receive the messenger of death with smiles, and to turn the tables. The kislar aga was in consequence exiled, and his secretary strangled. Here finished our visit to the seraglio. A ball was given by our ambassador on board one of our frigates -the Blonde, and the Turkish ministers were asked to meet the Frank society; a novel combination, which greatly amused the most of us, in anticipation, but rather ruffled the composure of the true believers, and of the fair Europeans in general. The ladies took it into their heads that they were only invited to dance for the amusement of the Osmanleys--a gratuitous calumny on our worthy ambassador-and declared, whether or no, that consi- dering the estimation in which Mossulmans held women, it was indelicate to exhibit before them at all. They were perfectly correct in their opinion; but when the moment came, these, and all such idle considerations, gave way to the pleasure of a ball on board ship. On the other hand, there were a few prejudices to vanquish, and the sultan's leave to be obtained. He, however, so far from refusing it, would gladly have assisted in his own sacred person, had not state etiquette prevented. The most difficult man to persuade to soil himself, by so close an approach to Christian debauchery was the .reis effendi ; but when he found that his brother ministers were going, and that the sultan wished it, consented. " Wonderful ! if they go, why should not I go ? Inshallah ! I will go." Heavy rains retarded some days this grand experiment on 102 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. Turkish morality, and undid the frigate's canopying more than once. At length, the heavens cleared, also long faces, and by nine o'clock, P. M., the distingiished three-tailed, and two-tailed, and no tailed company assembled beneath the ensigns of England and Turkey. Abaft the mizen mast a superb divan was arranged where their excellencies the pashas sat by their excelleencies the ambassadors --cashmeres vying with stars. The ladies were ranged opposite, prim and prude, to be eyed by these terrible four-wived fellows, who made themselves as perfectly at home as in their own harems, smoking chibouques, and caressing their stockingless feet, which for greater ease they took out of their slippers, and put on the sofa, according to custom ; they probably would have liked the fair Franks to have rendered them the titillating process on the cranium, that minor yet cherished luxury of the harem--though, if they had the wish, it was not expressed. Coffee was sipped, tea drunk, and the dancing then com- menced between the fore and main masts. The music was ex- cellent, and a gentle breeze brought waves of perfume from a hosquet on the forecastle. The Osmanleys left their sofas and their pipes to gloat their eyes on the mazes of the waltzers, and, but for their pelisses, might have joined them. The old capidgi bashi was in a state of ravishment, which the sameness of his harem had failed to pro- duce. " Wonderful!" he emphatically exclaimed, "I have lived fifty-seven years and seen nothing like this; now that I have seen a ballo I will die content." The capitan pasha was more moderate ; he sat himself down to learn ecarte, and succeeded in losing his money. His brother pasha--the little, lame, round-backed Khosrew-was as merry as a buffo. He looked everywhere, and caressed every body; took all his acquaintances by the ear, and tapped their cheeks : his countrymen, however, seemed to bear his advances like those of a serpent, nor could we, little as we cared for him, view them without disgust. TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 103 04 TURKEY AND THE TURKS . An important personage on board was Halil Pasha; and a: equally striking example of the fortune which often follows slavery in Turkey. By birth a Circassian, he was purchased in the slave-market of Constantinople by Khosrew Pasha, who, it is worthy of remark, was bought in the same market. Having no sons, he finished by adopting the young Halil as the " son of his soul," a common practice in the East, and raised him to the highest offices of the state. He commanded a division in the war, and in the campaign of 1828 distinguished himself by a charge of cavalry against the Russian hussars, near Kustendgi. At this period he was about to proceed to St. Petersburgh as ambassador extraordinary, with rich and rare gifts, (cloaks, with diamond embroidered collars, saddles covered with jewels, shawls fringed with pearls, and amu- lets of a thousand years' date,) to endeavor to soften the terms of the peace. The hand of the sultan's daughter, a houri of eighteen, was destined for him at his return. This good fortune of his adopted son gladdened the seraskier, and he could not help speaking of it to a Frank in a manner which developes a point in Eastern character. " It is wonderful," said the old man; " at length Halil is going. God is great. I purchased him; now behold him an eltehi. Ah! he was a sweet child, a charming boy; he cost me fifteen hundred piasters." "Only fifteen hundred !" replied the Frank; "that was not dear for such merit; surely your excellency cost more ?" " ," said the seraskier, " that is quite another thing, truly; I was worth more; I cost my master two thousand five hundred piasters." This conversation shows what fallacious ideas people entertain of slavery in the East, where it is regarded with pride rather than with shame; and in an argument against the general asser- tion of anti-slavites, that slavery is everywhere disgraceful and inhuman. Here was seen one of the first men of the empire referring with pleasure to epochs which we might suppose he would wish to bury in oblivion. TURrEY AND THE TURff. 105 In addition to pashas and their trains, the deck was griced with some bim bashis, aids-de-camp of the sultan, dressed in gold- laced hussar uniforms, among whom I must not pass over the young Avni Bey--the Hamlet of the Turkish court, the mirror of the new modes. Had" his head been covered with hair instead of a fez, he might have passed for a Frank; his clothes were well made, his neckcloth, the first ever worn by a Turk, neatly tied, and his pumps and silk stockings fitted him. He dined once with a large party at the ambassador's table, and conducted himself, notwithssanding the strangeness of the scene, with perfect ease and good breeding, graces which came natural to him from the self command and indifference to external objects-the nihil admirari--acquired by a Turkish education. He made a graceful bow, between the dignified inclination of the Osmanley, and the quick violent stoop (as if trying to crack one's breeches) of the French, and with a good master he would have danced; as it was, he attempted a waltz once or twice, (quadrilles he called insipid,) but could never get out of the middle of the room. But with all his talents he was very stupid at languages; for, though mixing a good deal with the Pereotes, and often on board the Blonde, whose officers took much notice of him, he never got further than " comment vous portez vous ?- assez bien-jolie fille," and in English, "Abaft there ! give me some wine." The entertainment went off admirably, as may be supposed, with so much variety and novelty. Even the fair prudes became disposed to take the circumstance of having bearded spectators as a joke, and did not show off the less because avidly gazed on. Supper was announced- Each noble Osmanley then took a lady under his arm, and led her down on the main deck, where it was served in perfect style, with a liberality which did honor to the representative of a great nation. The coup-d'cil was good; knives and cutlasses, forks and tomahawks, spoons and sponges, glasses and rammers, bottles and guns, napkins and aprons, flags and flounces, sparkling eyes and sparkling liquors, were all together in a narrow space, relieving, not perplexing. Champagne flowed like fountains, other liquids like rivers. The Osmanleys laid aside their gravity, and dispensed for that night with the orthodox use of their fingers, though we feared that sundry manslaughters would have taken place in consequence of their awkwardness with those " accursed contrivances," knives and forks. There was never a more jovial or a more noisy ban- quet. They pledged the sovereigns of Europe, ther pledged the ambassadresses, and they pledged each other in repeated bum- pers, and talked much nonsense. The ladies fortunately did not understand Turkish. Some of them, it must be said, by repeated doses, were brought very near the verge of inebriety. Nourrey Bey, (the capitan pasha's khasnadar, captain of the scherif resan, to whom I have before alluded,) drank immoder- ately, partly from complaisance, and partly from good taste. At length, he told me, putting down his glass, filled alternately with champagne and porter, and taking my hand, that he could drink no more; I believed him, for he had already swallowed what no one but an habitual water-drinker could have done without being speechless; but, pointing to a young belle, he discreetly express- ed another idea, in a tone which showed that he thought he was in the right sphere. I endeavored, infinitely amused, to make him comprehend the difference between dancing ladies and "dan- * cing girls." He smiled incredulously, and stroked his beard, then said: "Very good; you Franks are right to keep them for your- selves." This calumnious opinion, derived from seeing them waltz, was not confined to honest Nourrey. More than one other grave effendi thought there would be no harm in making proposals to ladies, who, they saw, allowed themselves to be embraced in pub- lic. The warmth of the seraskier's language to a beauty obliged her to appeal to an ambassador, who gently remonstrated with the old sinner. However, nothing unpleasant occurred; they were all atten- tively polite, and after supper consented to lower themselves, by walking a polonaise with the ladies. They then took leave, hav- 106 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. ing thus, in a few hours, made three giant strides in civilization; danced with females, drank publicly, and gamed; and were so much pleased that the capitan pasha expressed his intention of giving a ball on board the Selimier, and the seraskier pasha of having one at his palace; of course, neither the one nor the other took place. CHAPTER VIII. SEBASTOPOL, ARSENAL, QUARANTINE, ODESSA, PLAGUE, DANUBE, SQUALL, GULF OF BOURGAS, BOSPHORUS. THE Blonde soon replaced her divans and figured boards with guns and boats, and in a few days (the early part of November) proceeded into the Black Sea. I sailed in her by the kind invi- tation of her captain and officers. The moon was well up when we weighed anchor from Buyukdere, and made the night scene beautifully varying, as the frigate, under all sail, spread to a gentle southerly breeze, glided past the forts and batteries, on either hand, the interest being heightened by the consideration that she was the first English ship of war that had thus far fol- lowed the Argo's track. To commemorate the auspicious event, the main-brace was spliced (a dram given to each man.) A north-east gale came on the following day, and drove us within sight of the mountains of Anatolio. While it lasted, we remarked that the sea ran very long, considering the small size of its bed. It made, however, little impression on the Blonde, the most gallant lover that its dark bosom had ever heaved under; and on the fourth morning we made Cape Asia, the magnificent cliff which marks the south-west end of the Crifa, fourteen hun- dreed feet high, generally visible from ten to fifteen leagues, and in clear weather, as far as twenty-five leagues. 107 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 108 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. Near it, to the north-west, forming with it the romantic harbor of Balaclava, is Cape Phelient, low and bluff, and remarkable from the land behind it rising in three steps. To the north of it is Cape Kherson, the index of Sebastopol with a light-house on it, near one hundred feet high. Two other light-houses serve as leading marks into the harbor. The great harbor of Sebastopol is a fine sheet of water, three- and-a-half miles by one, due east and west, with good bottom all over, from twelve fathoms to four fathoms. The northern shore is broken into bays, separated by three abrupt points, formed by loose stones, each fortified by batteries pointing seawards, respec- tively eighteen, twenty-one and seven guns. A low beach confines it to the east, intersected by a rivulet, and backed by a range of high hills. On the southern shore are two creeks, which tend to render Sebastopol one of the finest harbors in the world. The inner creek penetrates considerably inland, by three-quarters of a mile wide, with depth for first-rates. On one side of it is the dockyard, extensive, but ill supplied, from the system of peculation carried on by the naval officers : it has no docks. The other creek, be- tween it and the harbor's mouth serves for the repairs of small craft. A small hill separates these creeks, on which the town is loosely scattered-a few good government houses with green roofs, the remainder huts. At its sea-base are two lines of batteries, mount- ing thirty-four guns : near the small creek is another of seventeen guns; between which and the entrance of the harbor, on the brow of a cliff, are two double tiers of batteries of twenty-one, twenty- seven guns; and on the rocky points, forming the entrance, are also batteries of thirty-three, twenty-six guns, making on the whole two hundred and four pieces of cannon that could bear successively on ships entering Sebastopol. But when we saw them they were in a bad state, and chiefly houned en barbette, which affords a poor chance against ships' broadsides. Indeed, every thing in this great depot--second in Russia-- indicated its distance from the capital, a circumstance, in countries TURKEY AND THEr TURKb. 109 where the press is not free, which singularly assists the depreda- tions of employes. The quarantine harbor is a creek outside the port. We found in it a brig, with plague on board, a cutter, and a lugger; three merchantmen and a Turkish coaster wind-bound. The establish- ment was wretched, consisting of about half-a-dozen small houses, without windows, for the accommodation of the detenus. People in this quarantine are imposed on, since supplying necessaries to it is a monopoly granted to one person. Provisions, however, are so cheap in Russia, that, though charged double, one could not grumble. Beef was two cents a pound, and the best we ever tasted; though, it may be, that our excellent appetites, occa- sioned by the sudden increase of cold, wTas one cause of its good- ness. We saw some of the inhabitants; they were stout, but not good-looking. What we saw of the country-certainly not im- proved by being covered with snow--did not lead us to agree with Clarke, who calls it a paradise. He came to it from Rus- sia; we from Turkey, whose Eden-like scenes must not be pro- faned by being compared with the harsh outlining of the Crimea, which, at the same.time, has some novel points; the hills are sin- gularly pitched by nature, ranges of them terminate in steps, the great feature of Tartary scenery, as well cut and apparently as artificial as though fashioned by Cyclopian laborers. The Crimea has little wood. None could be bought for the frigate; she was obliged to be supplied from the government stores. We remained only three days at Sebastopol, and then sailed. From a distance Cape Aia showed uncommonly fine; as also the range of mountains inland. We did not see Koslof, in running along the land, as we expected, though it is said to be remarkable for a large mosque. We saw, at the distance of twenty miles, the light-house on Cape Tarkham, which at night shines brilliantly, as do all the excellent light-houses kept up by the Russian government on the coasts of the Crimea, &nd of Bessarabia, to the great comfort of navigators. They may be said, after the English, to be the only good lights in the world; and they render unimportant the error existing in this part of the chart of the Euxine, which places Bessarabia too close to the Crimea. In the morning we made the extensive lagoons to the southward of the Dniester; and, shortly after, the low island which forms the two mouths of the river. The country about it is a flat, marshy waste. Thirty miles off shore we had twenty-five fathoms ; four miles off shore, from six to eleven fathoms. As we advanced north, the face of the country changed to the vast, woodless steppes. Several towers were erected along the cliffs; one, white, close to a large building, with a green cupola, and some trees, (rare objects,) was the light-house of Odessa, though ten miles distant from it, on account of the cape, whereon it stands, somewhat projecting. We observed the face of great part of the intervening cliff and shore to be laid out, with great expense and labor, i1 gardens, ornamented with marble statues and urns, which appeared exceedingly cold and out of place in this frigid clime. They were the property of a polish nobleman, one of the richest subjects of the emperor. The frigate sailed close, by them; and, in the afternoon, an- chored in Odessa roadstead. About twenty vessels only were lying there. The mole, on the contrary, was quite full, chiefly of Genoese vessels. Three or four hundred Genoese vessels annually come to Odessa for corn--for corn! while Sardinia, one of ancient Rome's granaries, within a day's sail of Genoa, lies uncultivated! They were loaded in a hurry, for fear of being frozen in--a cir- cumstance to be expected earlier than usual, as the winter had already commenced with severity. There are two moles at Odessa, one of which, destined for vessels in pratique, is little used, on account of the absurd regulation that obliges every vessel to un- dergo the same process, be the plague actually on board or not. Greater part of the vessels, ierefore, prefer remaining under the yellow flag their whole stay, which generally amounts to three or four months; and may, if they are frozen in, extend to double that time. In consequence, the lazzaretto is on a superb scale, con- 110 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. taining cafes, restaurateurs, and billiards, to assist the captains and mates in spending their cash. At the barrier we met two English merchants, the only ones in the place. They were decorated with badges, which we might have taken, considering their plurality and ease of attainment, for Russian orders, had they not been made of tin. The plague was in a few houses; and, therefore, as a precautionary measure, none of the inhabitants were allowed to walk about the streets, excepting those who obtained similar badges from the governor. The few vessels actually belonging to Russia, scarcely any in comparison with those of other nations, that trade on the Black Sea, does not say much for the commercial spirit of the Russians. This losing balance, however, so detrimental to the coun- try, is not, I have been informed, so much owing to the want of individual enterprise, as to the obstacles which the government throws in the way of seamen entering on board merchant-ships; either requiring them for the navy, or, apprehensive that they may, if in the habit of visiting foreign ports, imbibe strange ideas about the rights of man, and so forth ; perhaps may not be inclined to return home. The latter supposition is probable, considering the unhappy state of a great portion of the Russians. This great mart of Southern Russia is seen to advantage from the sea; it has fine buildings along the cliffs. It owes much to the Duke de Richelieu, who may be said to have been the most fortunate of the French emigres, and who enjoyed the complete confidence of Alexander. He slept only four hours at night, and studied a great deal; but he never arrived to speak Russian fluently. He loved Odessa, as being his creation ; and to such an extent carried his paternal solicitude, that at the commencement of a great plague in the town he turned all the, Jews (some thou- sands) into the country, little caring whether they spread the disease, before drawing the cordon sanitaire, lest, in a scarcity of provisions that might happen, they should become a tax on the inhabitants. He quitted it at the general peace, to return to France. After twenty-four hours' stay at Odessa, we again weighed, the TURKEY AND THE TURKS. ill 112 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. wind at north, and steered through a thick fog, keeping to south- ward and eastward, the coast being too little known to hug it during the night. In the morning we made Yelan Adasi, (Serpents' Isle,) a tron- cated block, twenty miles from the Danube, and visible from it; rounding it, pretty close to, we hauled up west towards the river which we had curiosity to view. The frigate approached within six miles of the lofty pharos, that marks the centre branch, then hove to, in shallow, discolored, almost fresh water. This principal entrance, Kili Bogasi, of the Danube, is ob- structed by a bar, which would oblige deep vessels, were there any in the trade, to partly unlade, in order to pass it. Inside the bar are six fathoms, and thence the navigation is uninterrupted as far as Ishmael, one hundred miles up, where are two fathoms. Little trouble and expense would remove this bar, with other hin- drances occurring above Ishmael. Should the inhabitants of the provinces be ever freed from the chilling influence of Russian military protection; or should Rus- sia consider their advantage hers, attention will necessarily be paid to this source of wealth. Hungary, Servia, Moldavia, and Wallachia, are situated to profit by it; and by this increased intercourse the Mossulmans on the right bank will improve. In that case, instead of the few huts, now adjoining the light- house, we may see a flourishing town, depot of the products of the rich countries in the course of the Danube and of the manu- factures of Europe, which the increasing civilization of those countries will demand, and for which the Danube is the natural channel. It will rival Odessa as a corn mart, and eclipse it in other respects, from its superior position. The country adjoining the Danube is, like that of the Dniester, muddy, marshy, misty, one of fever's head-quarters. We had not been ten minutes off it when a violent snow-squall hid the dreary prospect. We bore up. The night following was ex- tremely rude, and morning rose with an unpleasant countenance. The snow was flaking, the wind was gusting violently, yet seem- ing to sport and reserve its strength for a better occasion; wild, ragged, horse-tailed clouds were dashing from the horizon to th. zenith, as though for amusement, and thick vapor flew along the surface of the water in broad curls; altogether denoting a regular Black Sea squall, one of which we had not yet been favored with. To add to the interest of the scene, a thick mist one moment hid the frigate's extremities, and the next a dazzling gleam, dart- ing across it, showed us rocky cliffs jutting apparently close to us ; while, holding the same course with ourselves, other vessels under one sail, like wild birds on the wing, were plunging through, and dancing over the boiling waves. Suddenly, while we were pre- paring to gain an offing, a magician waved his rod. With a flap the atmosphere shook off its incubuses, the clouds disappeared, the snow ceased, the wind fell, and three miles' distant, north- west, we saw Cape Calaghriah, in a masquerade dress-the snow having interlined its red strata. A tumulous on the hills to the west, and a solitary mosque, were the only visible signs that man frequented this inclement coast-in the latitude of Leghorn with the rigor of Shetland. We entered the smooth water under its lee, and after running about twenty miles came to, in a safe anchorage, two miles off Varna. Varna formed so considerable an episode of the last war, that I may relate an anecdote concerning it. When the first news of its, capture reached Warsaw, a German trader ventured to doubt its truth, in a large coffee-house, where the company were discussing the subject, and said that it wanted confirmation. He was scarcely out of his bed the next morning, when a police officer came into his room without cere- mony, and informed him that the grand duke wanted to see him. "Why--what," exclaimed the terrified German; " what have I done ?" " You will soon hnow," replied the satellite. With unpleasant forebodings the poor man arrayed himself in his best, and obeyed the summons. "So," says Constantine to him, "you do not believe that the 15 113 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. emperor's army has taken Varna--what do you know about Varna that makes you doubt of its fall ?" "Please your highness, I am a poor ignorant man; I merely thought---" "You thought ! Then, sir, you must learn to think right." "Pardon, your highness; I meant no harm." "There is no harm done ; do not be afraid. Hold," continued Constantine, seeing the German about to prostrate himself; " a courier is this moment going to Varna, you will go in his kibitka and clear up your doubts." Away they go, click clack, day and night--the poor German in a mortal fright, under the idea that he is on the road to Sibe- ria. They arrive at Varna, and the courier addresses his com- panion for the first time since they left Warsaw. " Sir, this town is Varna ; you will have the goodness to put the question to anybody you like, and convince yourself. Now, sir, you see these troops-look at them well-examine the uni- forms. Are you satisfied that they are Russian troops ?" "I am perfectly satisfied," answered the German. "Then, sir," replied his companion, " you have no further busi- ness here. In a quarter of an hour another courier will start for Warsaw ; you will return in his kibitka, and report yourself to the grand duke." Away he goes again-jolt, jolt, jolt-in fear of dislocating half his bones; for, being free this journey from mental anxiety about Siberia, he had leisure to observe that he was made of flesh and nerves. Constantine welcomed him with a horse-laugh. " Now," he said, "you will go to that cafe where you were the last evening you were in Warsaw, and acquaint the company that the Russians are in Varna." After being detained some days at Varna with a heavy gale of wind, we ran down towards the gulf of Bourgas along a fine mountainous coast, the track of one division of the Russian army. We saw one village, and the mouth of the Kamptchik. Then rounding, close to Cape Emineh. the bold termination of the Bal- kans and the northern point-of the gulf, we approached Messem- 114 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. bria, a town strongly situated on a low rocky isthmus, joined to the main by a long spit of sand. Four miles south-west of it, we passed Ahiouli, another town situated in precisely the same way; and after experiencing some difficulty in picking our way among some shoals, of which our pilot knew nothing, reached Bourgas, at the bottom of the gulf, a town of aboit the same size as Messembria and Ahiouli, and similarly situated; farther remarkable for one very tall minaret, and one very dumpy one. The Gulf of Bourgas is a splendid thing in naval, military, and picturesque points of view. It may be described in a few words: Twenty miles in depth east-north-east, west-south-west, with good anchorage all over, in not more than fourteen fathoms, it is overlooked by the Balkans, and bordered by a luxuriant country. Its northern side presents three positions: Messembria, Ahiouli, Bourgas-capable of being rendered impregnable ; its extremity is equivalent to a harbor, being protected by shoals from the reach of the sea; and on its southern shore are two excellent ports, Carnizavolovsky and Sizepolis. Near Carnizavolovsky is a remarkable rock, the tomb of a Bul- garian hero, named Marcus, and his horse. According to tradi- tion, he was to rise on the arrival of the yellow-haired race: it came, but he remained quiet. In Bourgas Gulf the fleets of the world might ride. Sebastopol is not to be compared to it. If the porte were awake to its interest, it would make of it a great naval depot, protected by adequate works, in order that it might become in war time the rendezvous of the fleet. The fleet would then be in a most advantageously offensive attitude, with the power of acting with any wind; whereas, in the Bosphorus, its usual rendezvous, it may be, and often is, neutralized by the north-east wind three months together. From Bourgas we ran down, the following morning, the south side of the gulf to Sizepolis. The harbor is formed by a cape and two islands, is land-locked and commodious, with sufficient depth close to the shore. Two Russian line-of-battle ships and a TUEKEY AND THE TURKS. 115 frigate, one of the former bearing a vice-admiral's flag, were lying in it. The town covered the point; it had no fortifications, but on a hill commanding it was a redoubt, thrown up by the Russians when they took the place, February 1829. The Turks made no attempt to drive them from it, although the enemy, for the first fortnight, had only a few hundred men. They neglected it till the hundreds became thousands; thus furnishing a great example of the evil of procrastination, since the possession of this important post, with ten thousand men and magazines, waiting him, enabled Diebitsch to cross the Balkans fearlessly. We saluted the vice-admiral, and hove to a couple of hours, while Captain Lyons visited him; then stood out to sea between the town and the largest island, a narrow passage, with five-and- a-half fathoms in the centre. From Sizepolis to Ignada the coast is mountainous, and finely wooded. Mount Papias, near the former, is a conspicuous object. Light airs enabled us to appreciate the force of the current in this part of the Euxine. It swept us to the eastward and south- ward with a rapidity past our belief; insomuch, that when we approached the mouth of the Bosphorus, which showed very plain, we doubted its identity; our reckoning, with all due allowances for the stream, making us considerably to the northward, and looked to another opening for it, some miles to the left, thence named the false Boghaz. The bearing of the true Boghaz, how- ever, at the moment being about south-west, enabled us to see the ruined Genoese castle under the Giant's Mountain, inside the strait, and that settled the point. We accordingly made sail with a gentle breeze, that afforded us leisure to dwell on, in perfection, one of Nature's finest pictures, the entrance of the Bosphorus from the Euxine; and in the even- ing, anchored in Buyukdere Bay, after a pleasant voyage .of about three weeks, which had annoyed the Russians, puzzled the Pereotes, interested us; and shown that the dangers ascribed to the Euxine are more imaginary than real; that its bad reputation is more 116 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. owing to the ignorance of its ordinary navigators, than to any peculiar malignity. Its fogs and currents are amply compensated by many good anchorages, and by there being few hidden dangers. After all, ten or fifteen is the amount of vessels lost in it, on the average, in the course of the year; absolutely nothing, compared with the hundreds which annually strew the English coast. CHAPTER IX. RODOSTO, POST-HORSES, HAIDE-BOUROUN, TARTARS, OUZOUN KIUPRI, LODGING, MARIZZA, ADRIANOPLE, ARAMANEH, HASS KEUY, BULGA- RIAN VILLAGE, PHILIPPOPOLIS, GREEK HOUSE, CHARLATAN. I LEFT Constantinople in company with Mr. Mellish, of the Fo- reign Office. I proposed availing myself of his company as far as Philippopolis, and cross the Balkans to Schumla. We got a lift in the Blonde as far as Rodosto, and landed there early one morning with some difficulty, on account of the surf on the beach. Two hours after, we were toiling over a hilly, clayey district, whence, looking back, we saw our swift conveyance of the preceding day fleeing towards the Hellespont before the north-east gale, which was cutting us to the quick. She soon disappeared in the shade of the Isle of Marmora. Many were our denunciations during the first day against Turk- ish post-horses, nondescript animals, which by long practice ac- quire the difficult art of stumbling in all directions, and picking themselves up again without sustaining any injury. The rider also becomes in a short time an adept at keeping on ; and, if he do not. he is to be pitied, especially in the winter time, because then, laden with the necessary precaution against cold, he feels on the ground like a dismounted cuirassier, and finds it as difficult to regain his seat. 117 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. In the first place, the saddle will probably turn round on the lean carcass of his steed, an accident not easily remedied with be- numbed fingers ; in the second place, it may happen that when, after repeated trials, he succeeds in getting his right leg over, the Tartar boot belonging to it remains embedded in a strata of mud, erect as a column, and filling with snow or any other gift from heaven. But this is only one-a minor one--of the inconve- niences attending Eastern traveling, of which, to avoid repetition, I will give a reasonable list :- 1. After making a complaint to a pasha of an inferior officer, with the intention of getting him reprimanded, or, at most, bas- tinadoed, to have his head brought into you on a wooden dish, with a polite message to know if you are satisfied. 2. Crossing a bridge, to find yourself suddenly projected seve- ral yards, and on rising, if your neck be not broken, to see the animal dead lame in consequence of having stepped into an aper- ture, caused by a vacant plank, and concealed by the snow. 3. When six hours from any village, your guide, on whom you may have had occasion to exercise your tongue or whip, takes the sulks and leaves you to find your own way. 4. Traveling of a dark night, your sumpter horse slips off the path into a ravine, breaks his back, and scrunches your bag- gage. 5. After a long, cold. journey, to find the walls of the khan streaming with wet, wherein you get a room with paper windows and no doors; you endeavor to make a fire, but the wood is green, and when at length you have blown it up with your mouth, you are sick and cannot eat pilaff. 6. On rising from the floor of a coffee house where you have rolled all night, to find several holes burned in your clothes by the embers of the company's pipes. 7. On arriving late at a hamlet just occupied by irregular troops to have the option of a pigsty, or the only spare house-where the plague happens to be. 8. Crossing a river, to find your horse trying to swim, your guide having missed the ford. To the misery of feeling your ne- 118 TURKEY .AND THE TURKS. ther garments freezig to your skin, you add the reflection that there is not a dry shred in your baggage. Such, and such like, inconveniences will attend every man in a few months' traveling in Turkey, excepting the first, which how- ever has happened. In return he enjoys novelty, and that feeling of complete independence which this kind of life generates. The first evening, after riding nine hours, we halted at a village, Haide-bourounderes. We spread our carpet for the night on the bench of a cafeneh, and obtained a supper of pilaff, cabobs, pan- cakes, and honey, from the adjoining cabobgi-dukiane (cook's shop.) To this, by no means bad fare, our Tartar added excellent cafe au lait, for making which he was celebrated on the road ; his name was Veli, a good specimen of the finest race of men in Tur- key, of whose kind of life to judge fairly, a stranger at Constanti- nople should go occasionally to Scutari to see one start for, or re- turn from, a long journey. In the former case, a Tartar is the picture of animation, his face transparently clear, just from under the barber's hands ; his shining beard and mustaches trimmed to a hair ; his high calpack put on with a touch of dandyism, covered by a flowered handker- chief to tie under his chin in case the wind proved high ; his long fur riding cloak, of red or other gay-colored cloth, with unsewed sleeves brushing his horse's back; his capacious trousers and huge boots, scrupulously clean ; his brass shovel-stirrups, bright as friction can make them; his black, polished leather saddle set off by silver-hilted pistols, and by the amber mouth-piece of his chibouque-altogether a gay and gallant cavalier. In the latter case, his mother would not recognise him : pale, haggard, and dirty, he falls rather than gets off his horse, and throws himself on the ground in pain, unable even to light a pipe, an object of utter distress. Even on a journey, while fresh horses are preparing, the Tartars throw themselves down, and can scarcely lift their heads to remount. They clothe exceedingly, and never alter their dress on the frozen banks of the Danube, or on the scorching plains of Syria. They usually wear over their shirt a long robe of silk, a waist- 119 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. coat of cloth, a jacket of cloth, a jacket lined with fox's fur, an overall-jacket with open sleeves, at times a pelisse, drawers, shel- war (enormous cloth trousers,) woollen leggings, and heavy boots. To these must be added, sashes of a bulk and size to us insup- portable, their pistols, ataghan, towels, handkerchiefs, tobacco, purse, the three last contained in his bosom. In short, a mounted Tartar is a magazine, and the ease with which he supports such a weight reduces our surprise at the Crusaders having been able to bear their armor. The Tartars preserve their health by it ; for in Turkey warm clothing is as necessary in summer as in winter, on account of the frequency of mal-aria and keen winds. Euro- peans in these climates get fevers by dressing too lightly; but there is a medium between our clothing and a Tartar's Tartars in their long journeys drink a great deal of brandy and coffee, and take quantities of snuff. Their chief difficulty consists in keeping awake. The Surrogee (post-boy) is often obliged to ride by their side to keep them from falling off for the first hour after changing horses, the half hour which that takes giving them time to get into a deep sleep. The Tartars of St. Jean D'Acre are the most esteemed at pre- sent in Turkey. They usually perform the journey to Constanti- nople in twelve days and nights, which, considering that as far as Antiochia it is mountainous, is very quick. There is an elderly Tartar now at Constantinople, who used to be employed during the war by the English embassy, to convey letters to Bagdad (en route to India.) He often performed it in fourteen days. The same distance was rode once by a Tartar in nine days. It appears incredible, when the actual distance is considered-the moun- tains, the rivers in them, and the total want of roads, and of re- lays at less intervals than from ten to twenty hours ; but the fact is recorded in the archives of the empire. Tartars are well paid. The Devlet (government) Tartars in particular make a great deal of money, since the pasha or other great officer to whom they are sent, makes them presents accord- ing to the news. A Tartar who takes intelligence to a pasha of a son being born to the sultan may expect eight or ten purses: on 120 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. such occasions three or four Tartars go on the same errand--wo to the horses ! for it is a race the whole way. They make money also by conveying private letters and remittances, in which ser- vice their fidelity is at all proof; and should any money be lost, it is made up to the owner by the body corporate. In every pashalic is a regular establishment of Tartars, com- manded by a Tartar Aga, who regulates the journeys. They are every where greatly considered; and, when hard pressed, may command any horses, even to the pasha's, in a town where they pass. Tartars like accompanying travelers and. merchants, since they are well remuterated by them, and can carry on a little traf- fic; moreover, slow traveling and long halts, suit a Turk's love of indolence, which no habits of activity can, in any way, con. quer. When a Tartar arrives from a journey, he literally sits down till called upon to mount again. He is a stupid fellow, who in fifteen or. twenty years, does not make a provision for his after- life. Many die in the noviciate, or are obliged to give it up from sickness. Those however, who become inured to the life, enjoy good health, and attain old age. To our journey. At three A. 3., Veli again put before us cafe an lait with toast, by way of breakfast. The hard bench was not provocative of a second nap, and we were on our saddles by four o'clock; thus early, with the intention of reaching Adrianople that night. But on our reaching Ouzoun Kiupri at noon, the postmaster was busy billeting a large detachment of troops from Schumla, returning into Asia: as he could not therefore attend to us, we were detained for horses upwards of four hours, and when we got them their appearance denoted that they were just off a journey. We left the place by a stone bridge of about one hundred arches, spanning the wide bed of the narrow river Erkeneh, trib- utary of the Marizza; and, after wading three hours through deep mud, sought shelter from the piercing cold in a Bulgarian hamlet, every house of which had just been occupied by Turkish 16 TURIt- ' AmD THE TURRS.$8 121 soldiery, excepting one, where lay a child with a bad fever. This was offered to us, but, deeming filth better than disease, we preferred creeping under an adjoining shed, where a wood fire kept us partly warm, and completely blinded. Our host and hos- tess, the parents of the sick child, as well as those of three sturdy boys, were unremitting in their attentions; they gave us a very good soup, a dish of fried meat, (perhaps from the next dead horse,) eggs, and in all showed such a disposition to oblige us, that we gave them a gratification in the morning with more plea- sure than we would have paid for the accommodation of a -hotel. A couple of miles brought us to the Marizza, to a gay scene for the sportsman's craft. It was frozen over, and covered with flights of wild fowl ; and here and there, where the ice was broken by the pressure of a wedged up boat, magnificent fish-eagles stood watching for prey. The morning was exhilirating, and our nags, notwithstanding they had passed the night in the snow, trotted cheerily along the bank, which was strewed with dead horses, in- dices of the march of a Russian column from Demotica. Pre- sently our baggage horses, which were frisking and galloping in front without restraint, took it into their heads to cross an arm of the river. I shall not attempt to describe our agony while the passage was effecting, as we expected every moment to see them come upon their sides, and go through the ice, when adieu to the Cach- mere shawls and embroidered garments in my companion's port- manteau. However, they not only got over safe, but back too; Turkish horses having very much the property of cats in keeping on their legs. A bend of the river brought us into the plain of Adrianople, over which we had an unbounded view, broken only by four mina- rets of Sultan Selim's mosque, seen, from their angular position respecting us, in one line, at twelve miles' distance. We passed several villages, and towards noon, by byepaths, along ditches, through gardens and willow plantations, entered the second city of the empire. After two pleasant days under the hospitable roof of the Eng- 122 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. lish consul, Peter Duveluz, Esq., to whom and to his amiable accomplished lady, all travelers who pass that way are deeply in- debted, we continued our journey. Our road, or rather our direction, was along the left bank of the Marizza, over a luxuriant plain, with scarce a trace of culti- vation, the absence of which marks nearly every part of the rich country contained between the Balkans, the Macedonian Moun- tains, the Black Sea, and the Propontis; a tract unequalled in the world for natural advantages, possessing a soil capable of pro- ducing, almost without labor, nearly all the fruits of the earth, with international navigation for transporting them. The Marizza and the Toondja intersect it, one from the north-west, and the other from the north, and uniting at Adrianople, flow into the port of Enos ; a dozen minor streams, capable of being rendered navigable for barges, are tributary to them. With such resources, Roumelia, if cultivated, would become the granary of Italy ; where- as, Constantinople depends on Odessa for daily bread. The burial grounds, choked with weeds and underwood, con- stantly occurring in every traveler's route, far remote from habi- tations, are eloquent testimonials of the continued depopulation. I have often asked my guides, while passing one, concerning its origin, or the name of the town that gave it inhabitants. " Kim bilir," (who knows,) or "Allah bilir," (God knows,) was ever the careless answer-an expression in the mouth of a Turk which means that the subject it refers to is considered by him as being either above man's understanding, or as beyond all date. The living, too, are far apart : a town every fifty miles, and a village every ten miles, is close, and horsemen meeting on the highway regard each other as objects of curiosity. The causes of this depopulation are to be found in the pernicious government of the Ottomans, too evident to be mistaken, but among them I cannot reckon polygamy as one; for in Turkey, as in all other countries, there is a plurality of women sufficient for the few men who are able or willing to have a large assortment of such delicate ware. A reason may be assigned in the seclusion of the Moham- medan women, which, by keeping young people from falling in TURKEY AND THE -TURKS. 123 love, prevents marriages among the lower classes. A poor devil, with head and heart free, thinks twice before doubling his embar- rassments. At the village of Mustapha Pasha we crossed on a stone bridge to the right bank of the Marizza, and entered on an execrable route, which kept our horses in a laboring walk. That night we slept at Ebebjik, in a Turkish cafeneh, the heat of which proved extremely unpleasant for the first half hour, after having been ex- posed the whole day to severe cold; from twenty-eight to seventy- two degrees is a sudden change. However, I recommend every traveler in the winter to pass the nights in the cafenehs in prefer- ence to accepting the quarters his firman entitles him to, and he will travel all over Turkey, sleeping always on the boards, without catching a cold, or feeling a pain in a limb ; whereas, if he put up in a chilly wooden house, he will have both in a week. The healthiness of this practice I affirm from experience, and support by the practice of the Russian peasantry, who, on coming in from their out-door labor, their beards masses of ice, strip and lie over a large oven till they break out in perspiration. They never have rheumatism, the scourge of the lower classes in Eng- land, at any rate, if not in America. The next morning, in three hours, we reached Arhmaneh, a village, with signs of former importance, in a vast burial-ground, and a large khan of curious construction, with a cupola a la Chinoise, built, we are told, above two hundred years since, by Sci Ayoush, Grand Vizir of Amurath. In those times, when wars with Germany were common, all this track must have been of great resort, requiring spacious khans and cemeteries. We left it by a stone bridge over a rivulet, and having sur- mounted with toil a boggy upland, wound along the sides of a picturesque and rocky glen at the bottom of which lay a frozen stream, tributary of the Marizza; a little further on, we passed some water-mills and some fine flocks of sheep and goats, the first evident signs of returning confidence that we had seen. It came dark while we were yet a considerable distance from Hass Keuy; where we were to pass the night, and the tracks being obliterated 124 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. by the snow, we much feared not being able to find it; but, after retracing our steps, and winding in the same circles several times with increasing impatience and ill humor, the welcome bark of dogs, more delighiful music at that moment than an opera over- ture, directed us. . " Some use, these animals, after all," we said, on alighting at a very good khan, of which the Khandgi, being a friend of our Tartar, Veli, invited us to take our lodging with him. The offer was gladly accepted, for his apartment was rugged, and on one side of it an enormous chimney was blazing with nearly a cart load of wood. There were other comforts, too, attending this arrangement. In the first place, we had room to expand our limbs, and to enjoy ewers of water and clean towels; in the next place, our, supper was more recherche than usual, though our host did not partake of it, he having already supped. He was a particularly handsome man, with the most perfect beard I ever witnessed;. it would have been a crime to cut it off. He sat on a little carpet on one side of the fire, we spread ours on the other side, and Veli compl.ted the square. Thus we smoked and sipped coffee till sleep wooed us, when, arranging pillows of what there were, we lay down in the same relative position. The servants crept into the area, their heels into the fire, the crackling of which was soon varied by sundry toned snores. It is pleasant, rather than otherwise, thus traveling, not to be able to undress ; one is always ready to sleep or to rise. Whether the horses are announced at two A. M. or two P. x., it is the same thing, the servants are always up, coffee is prepared in a minute, and the chibouque as soon replenished; stand up and give a good shake, your toilet is done; draw on your Tartar boots, and throw your capote around you, you can face the bleak north-east; and, regarding the cleanliness of this mode of proceeding, when you halt for a day or two, take a Turkish bath, a process able to purify years of filth, and leave the subject cleaner than ever. When daylight broke, the two mosques of Hass Keuy were long behind us; our road this day was more interesting; occasionally 125 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. through a long range of hills we saw Mount Rhodope, before us the Balkans; and the plains to the eastward were studded with isolated hills, singularly shaped, certainly not artificial, and not quite small enough for mrolites. After riding eight hours, and passing three Christian villages,-we stopped at a fourth to bait, with little expectation, however, of finding anything, but we were mistaken. The Bulgarian cottage where we alighted was clean and com- fortable, though the floor was mud and the walls plaster; a cheer- ful fire was sparkling, by which, spreading a clean rug beside it, the matron invited us to sit. She then prepared us a repast of fried eggs and toast, with milk and wine, alleging Lent as a reason for not giving us a slice of pork. Her sons and husband were out at work, but her daughters were with her, two very pretty girls, loaded with silver bracelets and buckles, with their long hair braided-quite the national costume. We had intended sleeping at Philippopolis, but soon found that that would be very difficult, on account of the jaded state of our horses. We therefore drew up at a small hamlet of three or four houses, half unroofed, on the road side, to make a shift until morning; but this habitation, wretched as it was, was already occupied by a pasha, with a large suite, en route from Schumla to Adrianople. His Selictar, an Albanian youth, splendidly dressed, one of the handsomest I ever saw, even of that handsome race, came out and informed us there was no room, at the same time begged us, in his master's name, to alight and take coffee; but, as the sun was already on the mountains, and the temperature several degrees below freezing, we declined the civility, and proceeded towards a village which, we were told, lay two miles off the high road. Its pillars of smoke guided us from a distance; all at once they vanished, and when we arrived at their bases, the village was deserted; not a human form or voice was seen or heard, not a dog growled, or pig grunted. Yet there were certain signs of recent habitation, even supposing that our eyes had been de- ceived about the smoke. Where were the bipeds? Far from understanding the cause, we were about retiring, 126 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. after losing half an hour in looking for somebody, doubtful where to go, when it struck us that it lay in our Turkish costume, by which we had been taken for part of the pasha's retinue in the neighboring hamlet, come to collect provender for their own and their master's supper. Veli knew this reason before, but his pride kept him silent. We returned to the charge, anxious to redeem our credit, as well as to get out of the cold, and hoped to succeed by knocking at every door and telling who we were. We spoke to the stones. Veli soon got into a terrible passion at being so slighted. He swore by Allah, by Mohammed, by his father's beard, by his own head, and threatened the bastinado on man, woman and child--in vain; and thus we might have continued till morning-we sooth- ing, he swearing-had not a single wreath of smoke, escapin4 from a half-stifled fire, betrayed the inmates of one cottage, who then yielded to Veli's direct imprecations-he swore he would set fire to the house-and opened the door. What a scene ! men, woman and children, half smothered, and grim with smoke-the first salaaming, the second scolding, the last squalling, turned out to know our will, and swear, in their turn, by the Virgin and all the apostles, that they had not heard us till that moment; that, poor innocent people, they had been fast asleep ! A cow, dogs, pigs, and poultry followed them out of the smoke. Presently came up the Kiaja and the Tchorbagi of the village, protesting to the truth of the same lie, that our worthy presence was only that minute known. Veli waxed more; wroth, was about to lay club-law on the one, and told the other he would get him decapitated. " God is great ! is this the way to treat two Bejzades traveling with our Lord's firmans under my protection? Please God, I will tell the Pasha of Philippopolis to-morrow, the Grand Vizir when I see him, the Eltchi when I return to Pera, and- " he would have gone on for an hour had we not stopped him. We saw that if we staid, there would be nothing but hot water on both sides, and we feared that Veli, though really very good natured, might get outrageous; so we remounted, and rode two 1.27 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. hours further, to a menzil-khan (post-house.) The little cafeneh belon ging to it was crowded to excess, and we were about to be rejected, when two Turks very civilly turned out into the stable, and gave us their places. Veli also took up his lodging with the horses, and made himself quite comfortable, as indeed a Turk always does in every situation--equally contented, apparently, on a divan, with lamb and pilaff, or under a shed with onions and nuts. He got a pan of charcoal beside him, smoked his pipe,. and curled his moustaches, and looked as pleased as though nothing had occurred for a week to cross his temper. We passed an indifferent night, as may be supposed, sharing a bench eight feet by four, with five others. But any thought of the annoyance vanished when the first view of Philippopolis burst on us as we rode from the khan in the morning, enlivened by an atmosphere buoyant as angels' spirits, and so clear that the out- lining of the mountain scenery was traced on the blue sky as de- licately as though done with a fine pencil. We were approaching the north-west angle of the vast plain of Roumelia, still so vast that our prospect was bounded to the south and the east by the horizon : to the north, hoary-headed Hemus met us in his greatest elevation, thence drooping towards the Euxine; and Rhodope's clustered brows and picturesque peaks, merging with the clouds in the south-west, was our western limit. These two ranges nearly unite, and form "the iron portals of Trajan," which, as viewed from our direction, were exceedingly ,grand, appearing the entrance to a mighty avenue of mountains leading into Servia, its extremity lost in haze. Before us, at the distance of two miles and a-half, in the way of the iron portals, apparently at their threshold, defining by com- parison their dimensions-a point for the mind to rest on, an4c thence grasp the surrounding objects-rose from the earth a finely carved insulated rock, cleft by an earthquake in three crags, and frowning over the waste of snow, like a voleanic island over the ocean. -. The Marizza, silver-stripping the plain as far as the eye could reach, gleaming among clusters of snow-heaps, which in spring would turn out to be villages, wound by it; and resting at 128 Tr'REY ArD e E TUI s, its base, washed by the river, or clinging up its eastern side; was the city of Philippopolis. The minarets of twenty mosques, springing like needles in the frosted air, added grace to the pic- ture, while ruins, crowning the highest crag, gave it the finishing touch of antiquity. Having staid some minutes to admire the scene, we continued over the site of the Pasha of Scutari's camp, disturbing legions of dogs and vultures, harmoniously raking together. We passed the entombed remains of 5,000 of his Albanians, who died there in the space of three months, and entered the city through the great cemetery, which, from its enormous headstones, might be aptly termed the Giant's Cemetery. The streets were saddle-deep in mud, and misery was prevalent. In one corner lay an Arab tainted with plague, covered with a rug, and abandoned to his fate, simply because he was an Arab. We threw him money, but I believe it would have been more charitable to have given him poison, After one or two wrong turnings, we reached the pasha's sera- glio, where we were to show our firmans, in order to obtain quar- ters. His excellency was sitting at an open window admiring his horses, which, saddled and bridled to the number of sixty, were being paraded by the grooms round the court. He sent an officer, to conduct us to a principal Greek house in the upper part of the town. To our astonishment a scene awaited us similar with that of the preceding evening, though we had taken the precaution to give our costume a Christian-like air by" changing our fezes for foraging caps. The lady of the mansion, seeing only the Turks with us, barricaded her doors, and from an upper window refused us admittance, saying that her house had already had more than its share of Turks quartered on it, and that they might go elsewhere this time. The officer was too proud to explain ; he insisted that the door should be opened, or he would force it. A large crowd in consequence assembled, and various opinions were given by one and the other, according as the spokes- man was Mossulman or Christian. We cut the matter short by addressing the fair keeper of the fortress, and desiring her to look 17 129 TUtKEY AND THE TURKS. out of the window at us. She did so, and uttered an exclaima-- tion of joy. The doors were immediately opened, and she came with all her servants to welcome us, and to make apologies for the delay oc- casioned by her ignorance of our being Franks. What a tri- umph ! Veli was so ashamed at this second adventure that he did not get over it all day. The house which had fallen to our lot was excellent, spacious, and well furnished, belonging to a merchant engaged in trade at Vienna, where he then was. Notwithstanding the complaints of his wife about having had a party of Albanians quartered on her, an evil shared in common with every other inhabitant, Mos- sulman as well as Christian, it seemed to us that her guests must have conducted themselves extremely well, since they had injured nothing. But Philippopolis being in the great thoroughfare to Servia, and to Bosnia, and to Upper Albania, and therefore often exposed to the passage of troops, the inhabitants are very sore on this subject, as on an old grievance; each considers himself par- ticularly imposed on in the distribution of billets, and endeavors to throw the burthen off himself on to another. We were visited by the principal Greek inhabitants, to whom the arrival of Franks was (as in every town) a joyful occurrence, as thereby they obtain news. Some of the Greeks here spoke German tolerably-a language more for an European traveler, who may be puzzled though talk- ing ha!f-a-dozen. The most useful European language in Turkey is Spanish. All the Jews talk it, impurely certainly, but quite well enough for interpretation; indeed, their Spanish, as it is, is their household language, Hebrew being considered classical. Moreover, Spanish is the chief ingredient of the Lingua Franca. At our levee assisted a Charlatan soi disant, Hekim Basha of the city. He spoke French very well, though not a Frenchman. At the peace he sought means of livelihood at Algiers, but dot finding any there, came to Constantinople, where, with others, he established a brewery. That speculation failed; according to him, from the bad taste of the Mossulmans in preferring 'their 130 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. TMAREY AND THE TtURES. 131 Boza; according to others, from the laxative qualities of his beer. Finally-the usual refuge for destitute Franks in Turkey he styled himself M. D., and settled in Philippopolis, where, to commence fair, he took a Greek wife. He stated his name to be Smidth, of Dutch extraction; but, before our dinner was over, at which he remained to assist, half per invite, half per hanging on, his affection for us so wonder- fully increased that he vowed he was born in England. His name was a witness in his favor. However, he was useful as a Cice- roni, and served to amuse me after the departure of my friend, Mellish, the next day, for Tartar Bazardjik, on his route to Bel- grade. I saw what was to be seen in and about the city, and, for vari- ety, got good humoredly pelted once with snow-balls by Turkish school-boys. Two Roman gates still existed, and my Ciceroni showed off, he thought, his antiquarian lore by pointing out to me a house as Philip's of Macedon. I did not think it worth while to lower his consequence by tellingehim the error he com- mitted, misled by the name of the place. The Mossulmans inhabited the lower part of the city, the Christians the upper part, according to the usual practice in Turkish towns, in order to prevent the latter from hojding com- munication with the enemy in case of a siege. Philippopolis is subject to earthquakes; yet, on the highest crag, almost inaccessible, were three canons for the ostensible purpose of commanding the place in case of an insurrection. In theory they answered the end proposed; in practice they could not have been sufficiently depressed to touch a single house. A fine view, scarcely ever seen by one of the natives, rewarded my trouble of climbing to them. These cannons were considered as the paladium of the liberties of the city, and when once the sultan sent orders to have them transported to Schumla, the in- habitants refused to part with them. On another commanding spot was a large clock, an indulgence enjoyed by the Christians in nearly all the towns of northern Eu- ropean Turkey. Standing by this very clock, the Charlatan, who 132- TURtKE AND THE TTRKS. had hitherto eat with me, asked me to dine with him. I unwit- tingly accepted the invitation, not reflecting on the uncertainty of pot-luck with a man whose features were given to length. I instantly saw my mistake, for he grew troubled, having only made the invitation to have it refused. However, the deed was done, and we descended the rock in silence : he probably meditating how to avoid the impending exposure, I consoling myself with the prospect of seeing his menage, which as yet had been as secluded from me as though it were a harem. We soon reached the house, lifted up the latch without speak- ing, hit my head against the low door-way, and in the little parlor surprised his lady, who, starting up, displeased at our abrupt in- trusion, opened her ruby lips in the act of levelling Ionic slang at her lord, but, on seeing a perfect stranger, smoothed them into a smile, and disappeared to arrange her toilet. Another professor was in the rQom : after a formal introduction, Charlatan whis- pered contemptuously, " he is also a tailor." " Proof of talent," I replied. " By no megns," continued Charlatan; " do not ima- gine that, because he calls himself a doctor, he knows any thing of our abstruse science; a grave air and the Hekim's cap impose on any Turk." I sat down on the sofa, after a time, gnawing with hunger, for I had been running about all day, and the sun had already given the mountain snow a vermillion tinge. Charlatan seeing me fixed, became fidgety : he brought me a chibouque, and a half- torn Journal de Medicine, containing an article on the digestive organs--no chance I thought of exercising mine. I discussed the tobacco leisurely, and the book page by page, but still no signs of eating, not even a napkin. I began to think that I had committed a real error, and how to extricate myself without offending good breeding, when Charlatan relieved my suspense by' confessing que-ce n'etait pas sa faute, mais-sacra careme-la maixdite religion Grecque ne permettait pas de man- ger de la viande que deux cent jour de l'an . . . enfin il n-y-avait rien a manger. I thought as much; and was debating what to do next, when, at that awkward moment, two servants came in bearing trays covered with good things; gifts of a fair Asmodeus, my kind hostess, who not seeing me return to dinner, conjectured that I had gone chez Mr. Smidth: she also conjectured the denouement there; and therefore, without any apologies--certainly never less necessary--sent this seasonable reinforcement to his kitchen. This quite changed the face of affairs, from despondency to con, fidence. Mr. Smidth had been too long in France not to be able to take it as an excellent joke, as it really was, and did the honors of the table a marveille. After dinner his brother quack discreetly vanished; his pretty wife then threw aside her Grecian reserve, sung sweet airs, and talked agreeable nonsense all the evening, while her worse half got d-d d-k on my cognac. When I left him at midnight, a Bey's domestic was over his prostrate form, endeavoring to rouse him into consciousness that he might go and see the Bey's child, supposed to be dying, if not already dead. I did not leave Philippopolis without visiting the archbishop. le rebuked me for not having made his house my home, and his chaplain expressed surprise that I could not translate a chapter of ancient Greek for him out of a book which he showed me, and which he could not do himself. Our conversation soon turn- ed on the usual topic, the distresses of the Greeks, the manner in which they were placed and insulted. It was certainly ludicrous to sit in the company of portly priests; on elegant silk divans, smoking from porcelain narghilers, sipping coffee from China cups with filagreed silver saucers, and talk of misery; knowing also the undeniable fact that the best house in every Turkish town, after the governor's, belongs to a Greek; that the Greek men are universally well dressed, the Greek women richly orna- mented; and that the Greek merchants journey with a luxury to which few Osmanleys pretend. But it is the fashion to paint the Greeks wretched : they made their own story, and Philhellenism amplified it. The archbishop told me that he had three hundred villages in TURKEY- AND THE TURKS. 133 his diocese, which was one of the most extensive in Turkey. I do not suppose that he was proportionably rich; for the Greeks, though extremely bigoted and devoted to their clergy, pay them very ill. It is true that Mohammed II. established a tariff in their favor; but it soon fell into disuse, and the Greek clergy have natu- rally been averse to making the porte arbiters on one subject, lest it should take it as a precedent for interfering on others. In ad- dition to their spiritual functions, the Greek bishops have always been judges in causes between Greek and Greek, unless the liti- gants preferred Turkish justice, which, strange as it may seem, often happened. The more we examine the conduct of the early Ottoman con- querors, the more are we convinced that religious tolerance is the rock on which they split in Europe. They should either have extirpated the Greek religion, which has ever been a cancer to the Mossulman power, as they could have done, or they should have made its professors dependent on the government for sala- ries, whereby they wonld have ceased to have cared so much for the affection of the people. Amurath II. adopted the former plan in Albania. He succeeded; the Christians that are now there are later settlers. After all, conversion by the sword, though it sound very horrid, is as good as any other, certainly more effica- cious. There may be doubts of the sincerity of the forced prose- lytes, but their children are certain to be born in the faith; and this assurance in the converters, of saving generations in future, counterbalances the injustice of making one generation forswear itself. 134 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. CHAPTER VII. HADGI TOOZON, TCHAPAN, BASTINADO, ESKI SARAY, ADRA BEY, MUS- TAPHA, COSSACK CAPTAIN, YENI SAARA, GENERAL REUCHTEURN, RUSS COLONEL, SELIMNIA, GENERAL MONTRESOR, PONIATOWSKY, WOLK LLANEVSKY, RUSS ARMY. TrE next morning, Hadgi Toozon, destined by the pasha to act for me as a Tartar, came to my house with horses; the weather was beautiful, I therefore took leave of my fair hostess and her fairer daughter, who had succeeded in dismissing the ga- zelle-like shyness which made her conceal herself the first day, and left the city at a gallop. Hadgi Toozoon was a merry fel- low, too merry, for he frequently applied a spirit flask to his lips -a very unbecoming practice for one who had visited Mecca; but I suppose he thought that that duty, performed, was absolu- tion for sins to come as well as for sins past. A short way from Philippopolis we stopped to admire some Osmanleys imitating the jereed game. Couching their pistols in the absence of reeds, they galloped and whirled on the sheet ice with as much confidence as though on grass. One horse at length failed in recovering himself after a fearful slide, and indicated a tremendous fall. The rider noways daunted, used his reins and stirrups with great address, elicitlng universal approbation, till finding all his efforts of no use--go he must, he fired his pistol in the air that it might hurt no one, jumped nimbly off, and with his hands eased the animal down on its side : it was an admirable specimen of horsemanship. In crossing the river, a little farther on, we made a mistake and got up to the swimming mark--all the Hadgi's fault-and in consequence, wet-my baggage soaked-we arrived late at Tchapan, a large Bulgarian village. The good people of the house assigned me by the Ayan, received the stranger with plea- sure, for he was now entering a part of the country where his religion was a bond of friendship, so different from the Greek TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 135: inhabited cities, now, as ever, focyes of religious intolerance. Two Osmanelys were seated by the fire-place : they rose and salaamed me, repeating the Russian word dobree,; then took my wet clothes, and brought me wine.' I thought I was dreaming, to receive such unpaid civilities frim true believers, of no mean condition either to judge by their muslin turbans and silver-hilted arms. The enigma was explained on the entrance of Hadgi Toozan, who had remained outside to look to the horses. They asked him if Effendi was not a Russian. He replied in the negative, that Effendi was only an Englishman. I could not refrain from smiling at their mistake, at the same time disgusted at their servility to a race they should rather have trampled on than courted. They repeated the question to make sure, and then, ashamed of having exposed their meanness, slunk away, and did not return. After an excellent supper, the pilaff seasoned to a grain of pepper, I laid down to sleep, wrapped in my host's fur ielisse, while my things were drying; but my eyes were soon re-opened by an altercation in which the Hadgi's voice predominated. He had been Christian enough, during my short nap, to get in- toxicated; and was now, Turk-like, endeavoring to turn my host and his two daughters into the street, where the snow was falling deep. Jumping up, I pulled him away from the door, which was already half open, shut it and placed my back against it. He began swearing; and the good people, fearing that ill conse- quences would ensue, begged that I would let them go out to re- store quiet. I could not thus repay their hospitality, nor had I been so inclined, should I have had time, for the Hadgi speedily settled the dispute by drawing out a pistol. He presented it at me, and-it flashed in the pan. This sobered him; at the same time my Surrogee, crouched in a corner, jumped up and assisted me to take his remaining arms from him. He offered no resist- ance; on the contrary, was all penitence. He reflected that ac- cording to the Turkish law he was liable to death for what he had done, and he begged forgiveness. 136 TURREY AND THE TURKS. I did not think it right to lelet him e morning took him before the Ayan, who, with gre ility had him seized up in my presence, and fifty blows applied to the soles of his feet. He bore the severe pain very well; and when over, slid away on on his breech, for he could not walk. I offered him his back- scheish : he took it, and said, Oughrola (bon voyage). This incident rather tired me of Turkish guards ; after all they are of no great service to a traveller, except in getting on tired horses, at which they are unrivalled. Beasts apparently unable to crawl for ten minutes longer, they induce by the magic of their whip and voice into a hobbling canter; not very agreeable certainly, but very valuable when the minarets of the nearest vil- lage are gleaming in the setting sun, yet two hours distant. Be- sides this talent they have in common with all Turks, the happy knack of making any horse go in a sort of amble, called chack- bin; it is very easy and a horse covers with it four and a half miles an hour. In vain the Frank changes horses with his Tartar or his Sur- rogee, he remains the last ; while flogging and spurring, obliged occasionally to trot, to overtake them, they jog on without effort, smoking their pipes, and the difference of fatigue in man and horse at the end of the day, is evident. It can only be obtained by riding with large Turkish shovel-stirrups, an equable titilla- tion of which kept up on the horse's flanks produces the chack- bin. We always ride on European saddles; therefore we fail: one's heel is not enough, and a spur is too much, le juste milieu lies in the shovel-stirrups. The Hadgi being thus disposed of, I left Tchapan, and entered a highly cultivated tract, called the Garden of Roumelia, renowned for its flowers and its fruit, and its wines. It extends along the foot of the Balkans forty miles, the cultivators are Bulgarians, who make a good thing by sending their roses to Adrianople, where the best attar is distilled. The air of prosperity was quite refreshing, and the contented appearance of the peasantry, who saluted me as I rode quietly through their vineyards and rose plantations--the former planted 18 TURKEY AND THE TUTRKS.- 137 low and shrubby, as in . ce-showed me that they were under a wise master, one who knew that the interests of the landlord and of the tenants are inseparable. This enlightened Osmanley, Hadgi Fayret Effendi, was Ayan of the neighboring town of Eski Saara, and hereditary possessor of large estates. I saw him that evening, when I reached Eski Saara. He re- ceived me very politely ; and a dazzling white beard, of unusual luxuriance, added greatly to the respect I already entertained for him. Later in the evening an Osmanley, a friend of the house, came in. He sat down as humble as a Raya, and took the chibouque, immediately presented to him, begging me to take a few whiffs from it first, by way of good fellowship. He then asked me if Mossulmans were allowed to reside in the Morea : " Certainly," I told him, "but under the Greeks." At this he sighed. " I lived there fourteen years, and left two children when I quit- ted it in the suite of Kourshid Pasha. I love the country, and should wish to return to it: will the Greek government," he added, " allow us to enjoy our religion ?" "Assuredly," I said. It was noon the following day, before I received any intelligence from the Ayan about my progressing. I was going to him, when one of his officers, an old gentleman named Mustapha, came and intimated to me most sulkily, with no more words than were barely necessary, that he was to take me to Yeni Saara. " Good," I said ; "let us go." This quiet Turkish reply set his tongue going. "Let us go !" he repeated emphatically, and then went on grumbling about Franks, and about Moscofs,--about what busi- ness they had there,-why they could not go another road,-why they travelled at all,-why they could not stay at home,-et cet. era. I saw it was no use to interefere, so I let his bile work off, which it did in about an hour and a half, when he fetched pme good horses from the Ayan's own stables. We had not ridden above two hours and a half, in perfect si- 138 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. lence, when Mustapha pulled up at a wretched village, Adra Bey, and proposed alighting to take a pipe. I agreed to please him, though wishing to push on. We had not half consumed our peace offering when my baggage was brought in, I looked at Mustapha -Mustapha looked at me. " What is this ? " I said. "We sleep here, " he replied. "Sleep here ! " I exclaimed, looking at the wretched habitation. " Yes : here, we will give you a good supper." "You old impostor," I said, " is this why we dismounted- why do we not go on-what shall I do here ?" " Do ! sit down and smoke your pipe." I began to get warm, particularly as I remembered the trim- ming he had given me at Eski Saara; and I gave him, in conse- quence, my whole vocabulary of abuse-a man never talks a lan- guage so well as when he is in a rage or in love-and finished by swearing by the prophets and saints of both religions, that I would go on. " God is great," said Mustapha; " we will not leave this place to-day." " Please God," I replied, "we will reach Yeni Saara to- night." "Bakalum," (we will see,) said Mustapha, and resumed his pipe. It requires a person to have been in an altercation with an Os- manley, exposed to his common-place replies, intermixed with the regular proportion of inshallahs, mashallaha, and bakalums, to understand the complete rage which it generates. Menacing to take him by the beard, I cried : " You stay where you like, I will go on. Surrogee, bring out the horses." But the Surrogee, instead of obeying me, looked for further orders from his superior, who quietly said: " Leave them alone; the Beyzade is mad." This quite transported me; my hand mechanically rested on my sash-which trifling action had the effect of disturbing the TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 139 equanimity of my tormenter, and of restoring mine. He changed his tone, and, coming up to me, begged that I would wait till the morning, as he was sickly, and did not like passing the night among strangers. He was an old man, and that was enough. Accompanied by three Cossacks, I began to ascend the narrow precipitous path of the Kassan Pass. Well it was that they were with me, otherwise I could not have overcome the natural obstacles of the way, which, being little frequented, was no better than a goat path; and which were augmented by the snow, lodged on the woods above and around us, being flaicked so violently in our faces by a high wind, as nearly to blind us. Presently the headmost Cossack stopped, and began jargoning with those behind; the cause of which lay in the path before us for about twelve yards, being an inclined plain of ice, made so by the water oozing out of the high bank, and freezing, by contact with the open air, till it formed a contiguous slope with the pre- cipice, some hundred feet deep, on our right. To cross this seem- ed utterly impossible: my feet, I knew, would not keep on it; nor did it appear probable that the horses, with all the cat-like qualities of theirs, would be smarter. After a short consultation, the Cossacks dismounted. Two set about picking up the ice with their lances, while the other tore up some sacking and bound the horses' feet with it, by way of rough shoeing; and thus sagaciously prepared, we proceeded cautiously, letting our animals go first, in order to have the first chance of a roll, and supporting ourselves alternately with the lances. It was nervous work. Soon afterwards we gained the summit of the first ridge, whence we led our horses down a rocky ravine, or more properly speaking, lept from crag to crag, to the small village of Icheri, near the source of the Kamptchik. We then climbed another precipitous hill with severe toil, crossed a second valley, saddle-deep in snow, requiring the utmost exercise of whip and spur to avoid sticking in, and two hours after succeeded in finding Bach Keuy, a large Bulgarian village, nominally six hours' distance from Selimnia, but which had cost 140 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. us ten hours to reach. I alighted at the Tchorbagis house, where a comfortable room soon restored me to animation, which the sud- den decrease of the temperature had nearly suspended. The ther- mometer in the morning, at Selimnia, had marked twenty-eight degrees; here it was at sixteen. Even my Cossacks said it was cold, and were glad to thaw their icicled moustaches, which, by ,the by, had a very pretty effect. The Bulgarian is handsome, robust, patient, stubborn, and very jealous, with primitive manners. The stranger who puts up for the night in a cottage has the best of everything, and sleeps on -the same floor with father and mother, sons and daughters. The women are tall and beautiful-the finest race that I saw in Turkey-with peculiarly small hands and feet. Their costume is elegant, consisting of a striped shift, which covers without con- cealing the bust, fastened round the throat with a heavy gold or silver clasp ; a short worked petticoat, and an embroidered pelisse, a la Polonaise, confined by a broad ornamental girdle. Their hair is dressed in long braids, and their wrists and waists adorned with solid bracelets and buckles; the poorest have them. Yet these nymphs of the Balkans are household slaves, and are to be seen in the severest weather drawing water at the fountains. No peasantry in the whole world are so well off. The lowest Bulgarian has abundance of everything; meat, ipoultry, eggs, milk, rice, cheese, wine, bread, good clothing, and a warm dwell- ing and a horse to ride. It is true he has no newspaper to inflame his passions, nor a knife and fork to eat with, nor a bedstead to lie on, and therefore may be considered by some people an object of pity. A pasha, at any rate, is equally unhappy. Where, then, it may be asked, viewing the above true statement, is the tyranny under which the Christian subjects of the porte are generally sup- posed to groan ? Not among the Bulgarians certainly. I wish that in every country a traveler could pass from one end to the other, and find a good supper, and a warm fire in every cottage, as he can in European TurkeyA--the result of its being thinly inhabited. For in the same ratio as population adds to a nation's great- TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 141 142 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. ness, it subtracts from its happiness. The soil, when over occu- pied, fattens on man; when undertenanted, man fattens on the soil : that is, in the former case, unremitting labor is requisite to make it yield barely sufficient for the sustenance of numbers; in the latter case, nature requires very little aid to afford plenty for the few. The principal grievance of the Christian peasant in Turkey, is the harratch; oftentimes he cannot pay it. What can the col- lector do ? It is useless destraining his cattle, for on the plain are others wild. It is useless taking his furniture, for there is no vent for it. It is useless ejecting him, for no other occupier will be found for his tenement, every man having already more land than he requires in a country without trade to consume the over- plus of.his produce. It is still more useless putting him in prison, for money is never gained there. He gives him the bastinado, or not, according as he believes that the man's poverty in specie is real or feigned. A few dozen blows removes the doubt, and he is undisturbed for another year. I venture to say, that many a free-born man, who boasts of libe- ral sentiments, of chartered rights, of equal laws, would gladly compound for his rent with a licking, and, instead of grumbling at his fate, bless heaven that he is not turned out on the high road with his family. At the sametime, I do not deny that the lower classes in Turkey often suffer grievous oppression under a rascally pasha or aga; but, take their position in the worst view, distorted by the film of slavery, they never see the most ruthless of tyrants-hunger. Their despots though armed with whips and screws and racks, cannot inflict any torture equal to the pang of a father who hears his children crying for bread, and crying in vain. They never feel this. Their rulers cannot check the fertility of nature-can- not prevent the beasts of the field from multiplying ; the trees of the forest from sprouting; nor the seed thrown on the ground from springing into ear. They may have the mortification of seeing many of their children die when young, for want of medi- cal aid; but they are certain that those who grow up will not be reduced to follow the career of vice--the sons on the highway, the daughters on the pave-for subsistance. They are not tantilized by the constant sight of enjoyments beyond their reach; are not tempted by easy modes of con- veyance to leave their quiet villages for the fancied pleasures of the capital; are not made discontented, by reading, with the state of life wherein destiny cast them; and, to sum up the ad- vantages which the poor have in such (barbarous!) countries, it is worthy of remark, that the punishment of death rarely falls on them. For one poor man who loses his head in Turkey, five hundred rich men lose theirs. 'Iow contrary to the practice of highly civilized states--ely- siums for the wealthy, purgatories for the indigent--where the hungry and the naked, wretches whose greatest crime was want, are the principal offerings at the shrine of justice. Far be it from me to decry civilization and commerce. He would indeed be an unworthy Englishman who undervalued the levers which have raised his country to an unexampled pitch of greatness; but, at the same time, we cannot blind ourselves to the fact, that they cause evil to a great proportion of mankind; by creating a thousand fictitious wants, which beget crimes, which build prisons and raise scaffolds ; by unequally distributing wealth, to the great deterioration of social bappiness; by drawing away the productions of countries, intended by nature for the support of the natives, to pamper strangers; vide, for example, the droves of cattle, sheep, and pigs ; the cargoes of oatmeal, eggs, and flour, daily wheeled from the shores of Erin, while her sons are starv- ing. Without the active agency of commerce, they must remain where they were produced, and, per force, be eaten there. To resume my tour : I quitted Bach Keuny early in the morn- ing. From the eminence above it we looked down into a singular valley, bound in by four steep mountains, which inclosed a flat, oval are, (a coloseum fits to exhibit mammoths in,) and in two hours reached Kasan, a town with five thousand inhabitants, beautifully situated in an elevated valley, watered by the Kampt- chik. Having breakfasted with the Tchorbagi, I continued my TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 143 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. journey, escorted by three irregular Cossacks, instead of the three regular ones who came with me from Selimnia. The apparent difference in the two classes is in the beards of the former, which, joined to their wool caps and rough horses, give them disagree- able looks. A rough exterior, however, is no criterion. They were very attentive in smoothing the difficulites of the route, which were not few, though their skill could not save us from a serious accident on an Alpine bridge : our surrogee's horse put his foot into a hole concealed by snow, and precipitated him fortunately not into the ravine. He escaped with a slight contu- sion, but the animal was so lamed that we were obliged to leave it. I would fain have had it shot ; but the surrogee covering it with cloths, and making a barrier of snow against the wind, expressed a hope that it might outlive the night. In fine, after having lost our way several times, and almost puzzled my argus-eyed attendants, we reached Osmanbazar, a Turkish village, containing two thousand five hundred inhabitants, at the north foot of the meountains. As it was very late, I esteemed myself fortunate in getting a warm room at the khan, and a good supper, in the course of which khandgi showed me some English needles, and asked if they were dear at seven paras (nearly three cents) each. Considering the place, I thought that cheap. Throughout the country English cutlery is prized, and a traveler cannot make a more agreeable present, in a small way, than a pocket knife, or a pair of scissors, even to a great man. The Turkish authorities here recommenced; in consequence, my Cossack left me in the morning to continue my road with the " Faithful." Schumla was ten hours' distance, about forty miles. The first three miles our road lay through a forest; then, entering a moun- tainous tract, we pursued, for three miles further, a defile of a tremendous description. The height and proximity of the moun- tains, which seemed nearly to unite above our heads, obscured the daylight, and a torrent dashed along under our feet, at times cov- 144 ering the entire path, greatly to the annoyance of a number of soldiers toiling through it on their return from Schumla. The severity of the weather-the thermometer at 13 degs., with a piercing easter in my teeth-compelled me to stop at Jhumha, a Tukish village 'of 3000 inhabitants, having only travelled about four hours. The Ayan, at whose house I alighted, welcomed me with great civility, and in order to thaw my blood, plied me with coffee, which is an excellent expedient, far better than spirits. His three sons were with him--fine lads, between fifteen and twenty, all wearing the turhan. I mention this cirpumstance as being the only time that I ever saw a son in Turkey sit before his father, yet a distinction was observed; they were not smoking. He assigned me the best Christian house in the village for quarters-a very good one it was--and in the evening came to sup with me for the sake of drinking; nor did his presence at all disturbe my host, who appeared to be on perfectly good terms with him. In most of these villages great harmony subsists be- tween the Mossulmans a'nd the Christians, particularly the Bul- garians. My next day's road lay over plains at the foot of the moun- tains, passing signs of Russian occupation; that is, ruined villa- ges. Towards noon we turned into the dark pile of hills where Schumla is embosomed, and pursued a dangerous path, from pre- cipice to precipice, from defile to defile, for nearly two hours. A deep ravine then opened before us: five redoubts on the op- posite bank, pierced for five, fifteen, six, and five guns, res- pectively, flanked this only pass to Schumla from the west; a narrow path, admitting one at a time. From the redoubt we had, as it were, an aeronautical view of the city, covering the surface of an elliptical valley, shooting out suburbs towards the plain, and up the slopes of the hill, checkered on one side by a large ceme- tery, by lines and redoubts on the others, and thickly studded with minarets, the chief ornaments of Mossulman cities. Having wound, or rather slid down the interior of its semicircular moun- tainous barrier, I entered it with that pleasurable feeling always 19 T'URKEY AND THE TURKS. 145 experienced at finding ourselves, for the first time, in a celebrated place. Where can one go without meeting Englishmen? The ayan informed me, on saluting him, that two of my compatriots were in the town. I soon found them out. We rode together the next day over the works. Schumla, it is needless to repeat, is situated in a cluster of hills, not unaptly compared to a horse-shoe, forming an elbow with the line of the Balkans. It fronts in an E. S. E. direction. A rugged ravine in- tersects it longitudinally, and carries the water from mountain torrents far into the plain. A fortified breastwork, with double ditch, crosses that at right angles, and embraces the whole front by connecting the horns of the shoe. Thence the plain has a slight inclination towards the Koulev- scha hills, very unequal, broken into ravines, and covered with low eminences, crowned with redoubts to the number of ten. In addition to its military importance, Schumla is one of the principal cities of European Turkey, certainly the most orthodox, on account of its numerical strength in Mossulmans. The popu- lation is about 40,000; of which 5000 are Bulgarians, 1000 be- tween Jews and Armenians, the remainder are " Faithfutl." The Mossulmans of this part of the country are a hardy ro- bust race. We saw the peasants who brought in wood from the country, sleeping at night in the streets, with their cattle round fires, intensely cold as it was; and the chief amusement of the boys of all ranks, consisted in sliding on little sledges down the steep streets, made by the frost, des montagnes Russes, a very dan- gerous exercise, but indicative of good blood in its votaries. A parcel of these young urchins, coming out of school one day at noon, pelted me with snow balls. The ayan, who was pas- sing at a little distance, saw the lark, and ordered his Chavasses to chastise them. Of course I interfered, taking it as a joke. " Not so," he said; " you are our guest; in your country I am sure that the boys would not treat me so." I did not dissent, but thought of what might happen, if he were to pass by West- 146 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. minster, or the Harrow boys, in snow-ball time, with his beard and full costume. Being so near, I determined to cross the Balkans and de- manded horses of the aga for the journey. The Ayan--he was a good fellow--told me with many expressions of regret at being unable to serve an Englishman, that it was out of his power to grant them. He referred me to the pasha. The reference was not promising. The chiaja, to whom I then addressed myself, repeated the ayan's tale, but offered to take my firman to the pasha and hear what he would say. There was my weak point, and knowing Su- leyman's characteristic hatred of Franks, I feared some embar- rassment should he read it; trusting, however, that on seeing the toura (royal stamp) he would conclude that the contents were sa- tisfactory, and so spare himself the trouble of deciphering its tor- tuous characters. No such luck. The chiaja presently returned with a short answer, that not only could I have no horses in the direction I was going, but that I had no claim to have horses at all. On this, finding I had made a mistake, I sent in my compliments to the pasha, and begged to see him, thinking to be able to explain away the informality. After some delay, a capidgi ushered me into the audience hall, in one corner of which, on the divan, a stout man about fifty, with twinkling grey eyes, reclined robed in furs. Some scribes and pages were near him, and twenty or thirty armed.attendants occupied the lower part of the hall. I made my salaam, and inquired after his excellency's health, which, to judge from his rubicund visage, was fortified with for- bidden potions. " Otour bakalum," was the reply; which means, " sit down and let us see your business." Pipes and coffee were brought. " What do you want ? My chiaja has told you that there are no horses." "Precisely what I require ; to proceed to Bourgas." " What are you doing here ?" " Curiosity brought me." TURKEY AND THE TURK(S. 147 " By what right ?" "The right of an Englishman traveling under the sultan's pro- tection." He twirled his moustaches, and took a long whiff. "Schumla is not written in your firman." "The want of the name is a mistake. In my English firman (passport) it is written." "I know nothing of your English firman; the sultan's is my law. Yotuhave no business in Schumla. I shall therefore give you horses to-morrow morning, and a guard to conduct you, by the way of Ternova, to Adrianople." This was not my intention; but seeing that the pasha was wroth, I, too, made a dense cloud before replying, and then said : " My being here is in conseqaence of the good intelligence ex- isting between our governments. I am not a suspicious person ; I am not a Russian (as he thought I was ;) my conduct is open to observation. I thank you for your offer of horses to Ternova, but decline it, as I intend leaving Schumla in the opposite direc- tion. I hope you will furnish me with the means of so doing. I consider myself under your protection." " Allah Kerim! I have nothing to do with you: you have no firman from Schumla ; therefore, I repeat, to-morrow morning I shall send you away with a guard." I trust your excellency will not use force, for with my own con- sent I shall not go." He did not reply for some moments, but smoked deeper ; then repeated his words, and finished by saying : "I have spoken my will: you will not stay at Schumla." This provoking language made me forget myself. " If, then," I exclaimed, " that is of no service," taking my fir- man from my pocket, and throwing it contemptuously before me, "I will write to Constantinople for one that may be : I will wait here till it arrives." Had a thunderbolt fallen in the room, it would not have made a much greater sensation than did this trivial (in appearance) action. The pasha laid down his -chibouque, his eyes sparkling 148 TRKEY AND THE TURKS. with fury, and his numerous followers raised themselves from their reverential attitude with a start that made their arms ring. An infidel thus treat the sultan's firman, in the pasha's presence, too! The whole peril of my situation instantly rushed upon me; but I knew enough of the Turkish character to guide me. I remained as if totally unconcerned, as if unaware of having committed a breach of etiquette, though the minute which elapsed in dead silence seemed an age; nor could I help glancing for the slight sign of the hand that was to doom my neck to the ataghan, or my feet to the bastinado. At length Suleyman, smothering his anger, motioned to an attendant, who picked up the firman and gave it me. I again breathed, and to his reiteration that I should go the next morn- ing.to Ternova, said : " Am I to consider myself a prisoner; I, an Englishman, whose sovereign is the ally of your sovereign ?" " No ;" he replied, after a pause, "you may go when and where you please; recollect, however, that I give you no assist- ance. If brigands kill you, it is not my fault. I have offered you horses one way; you know best." His allusion to brigands was not to be misunderstood. I had nothing more to say, so I took my leave, but did not feel my head quite steady till the file of attendants, collected in the gal- lery to see the audacious stranger pass, were oui of sight. I was exceedingly out of humor, as may be supposed, both with the pasha and myself ; and that-instead of gaining wisdom from my narrow escape on other subjects-made me add folly to folly by way of being revenged on him, or on fate, the same thing-one error in this life is ever the stepping stone to another. I prose- cuted a delicate adventure which, if discovered, would have given Suleyman a legal claim to my life, which he certainly would not have neglected, denying me the privilege of the usual saving clause of such denouements, had I been inclined to profit by it. I endeavored also to get some one to let or sell me horses that I might go my own way in despite of the pasha, trusting to get a TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 149 Cossack escort. His fiat, however, was known, and I might as well have tried to have made horses as to hire them. This bother was occasioned by the negligence of the dragoman at Pera, in not seeing that my firman was properly worded. Travelers cannot be too particular in that respect ; for, though the Turkish authori- ties are usually very civil to Franks, seldom looking at their fir- mans, an animal like Suleyman sometimes occurs, and, having the power, may exercise it, of sending one back some hundreds of miles. From Bagdad it would not be agreeable. I gave up my idea of going to Bourgas, being fully convinced that the pasha was too strong for me in his own den, and so pre- pared to leave Schumla, when a Chavass came from the Ayan, to to inform me that I could not have horses to go to Kasan, as he had promised, but he had written to Suleyman Pasha to know what to do. I determined, however, not to wait an hour ; and therefore, without acquainting the ayan, endeavored to hire horses from the inhabitants. Only one could be procured. Packing my baggage on him, I started on foot. It was already noon; the distance before us was computed six hours, but as it had parti- ally thawed and made a mixture of snow and mud--ancle-deep- I could not expect to accomplish it under nine hours. In short, my promenade, a la Suisse soon began to be very distressing, and made me regret that I had taken so much pains to have my own way. But I did not like to return, apprehending farther molestation on the part of Suleyman Pasha : proeeeding was nearly as un- pleasant, for the manners of my guide--an armed Turk-fore- bode no good. He was too exigeant for the place- He demand- ed my shawl, and my powder flask, with an assurance which shewed that he considered them already his.- I put him off for the present with fair words; but on our getting about half way, the sight of a new made grave, the fate of whose occnpier was not donbtful, close by which we passed, in the centre of a fine ele- vated table land, gave him an opportunity of letting me into his intentions. We came to a stand still. Though man to man, each armed nearly alike, I had a great ad- 150 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 151 vantage in case of coming to an open rupture, in having my pis- tols charged with English powder, which he knew would not miss fire. The superiority of our fire arms is so well known that a Frank is a match for two Orientals. Seeing that I did 'not give way--my powder flask was still the immediate bone of con- tention-he threatened to leave me to find my own road, which would have gained his end, as surely as by shooting me ; but I frustrated him by taking a ptstol in my hand, and bidding him walk before. Knowing the direction of Kasan, and having with me a com- pass, it was out of his power to mislead me. He perceived that, and sulkily obeyed ; and thus, in moody silence, we continued for two hours more, till we came to Chatal, a deserted village, where it was necessary to ford the Kamptchick. The river being much swollen was a Beresina to us. I would not cross it on foot, the guide said he equally feared the cold, and I thought that the horse could not carry both: after much expostulation he walked through and I rode. His courage being then somewhat cooled, I offered to give him double what I had promised at first, on reaching Kasan, provided that he would behave fairly. He acquiesced with seeming readi- ness, but not the less for that did I keep on my guard. Again we met a stream, where it formed a cataract of twelve or fifteen feet. We had mistaken the path and had conie where there was no bridge. It was too late to look for it, yet how to get over without one was a question. The ouly place at all feasible was on the ledge of the rock at the edge of the fall where the water, as if collecting itself for the leap, lay still, compared with its previous dashing course, though that any animal could keep his legs on the polished granite surface seemed impossible. The guide, however, said the horse could do it provided that we both mounted to give him stability. We did so, and got safely over; but it was trying to our nerves: verily, Turkish horses could walk up the roof of a house like a cat, although they are never rough shod ! 152 TURKEY AND TEE TURKS. CHAPTER XI. SELIMNTA, YAMBOI, GENERAL TIMAN, THE FAITR SC ERIFEH, ADRIA. NOPLE, PLAGUE, GRAND VIZIR, LULEH BOURGAS, MAHMOUD BEY, CHORLOO, SELYBRIA, CONSTANTINOPLE, PERA. AFTER experiencing considerable fatigue, we arrived at Selim,- nia, which, for size and opulence, is one of the principal towns of Roumelia. Its situation is beautiful, in a cluster of hills under the Balkans, which, rising like a wall immediately beside it, apg pear to be falling on it. Its climate is equable, neither severely cold nor oppressively hot. Numerous water courses, rushing down from the mountains, gave motion to a hundred mills, the sources of its prosperity. It had excellent wines, produced from the vines that cover the hills trained low and shrubby as in France; one of them was not unlike champagne; it was the dearest quality; for an ok (a quart) we paid about a penny. Its population consisted of about fifteen thousand Bulgarians, and ten thousand Turks, celebrated-the former for manufactur- ing cloths, the latter for fire-arms. Twice a year a great fair was held. The cloths are of a rough durable quality, and are worn all over Christian Turkey. The muskets made there are the most esteemed of any in Turkey: I heard hear of a singular colloquy which took place during the last war, between a Tuk and a Russian officer on the sub- ject of military rewards, which was curious, as showing a decided difference of opinion. " What is this ?" said the Turk, pointing to one of the three crosses dangling from the other's neck. "The cross of St. Anne," replied the Russian with pride, " given me by the emperor for my services." " Wonderful!" said the Tulk : then, producing a handsome snuff-box : "The sultan gave me this for my services-is it not better ?" 152 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. " What is this ?" he continued, touching the second cross. "St. Vladimir ;" said the Russian, rather hurt at the compari- son of his interlocutor; " also given me by the emperor for ser- vices-" "Wonderful !" again said the Turk : "and this," showing a richly-emblazoned Kuran, " was also given me by the sultan on another occasion, when I pleased him--is it not better ?" "What is this ?" he concluded, pointing to the third cross. "Ah !" exclaimed the Russian, with a renewed look of triumph, " this is the most precious token of my sovereign's regard.: this is the cross of St. George. only bestowed for courageous actions; to gain it nearly cost me my life." " God is great !" said the astonished Mossulman, "you are easily satisfied." "Behold," he added, drawing out a purse of gold, " the sultan gave me this as a reward for my services against you on such a day; friend, the sultan knows better how to recompence merit than does your emperor." This was current among the Russians as having actually oc- curred, and was told to me by many as a proof of the Mossul- man's stupidity; by some as a specimen of his wit. The Osman- leys, though phlegmatic, are often sarcastic. It was usual for them to compare the crosses, dangling from the necks of the Rus- sian officers with a jingling sound, to the coins on their children's fezes--a not unapt comparison, for the' one certainly has as child- ish an air as the other. Nothing occurring to detain me, I pursued my journey over the vast plain, towards Adrianople. At sunset one of my horses broke down, and compelled us to seek refuge in a village on the left hand, two hours' distant from the city. It had just been occupied by a body of Turkish irregu- lars, every house but one--that one of course the worst--uder which I crept, and prepared to sleep supperless, for the owner swore that he had not even a mouthful of bread to offer me. I believed him. My surrogee, however, told him a tale which changed his. 20 TVRKEY AND THE TURKS. 163 " Something," he said, " might be found in consideration of the English Bey Zade." Little cared I in whose consideration, still less at his versatility. In short, in this cabin, where poverty might have been supposed to be the ruling genius, I made a hearty supper of meat, eggs, and rice, with bread and wine ad libitum, and slept on a heap of dressed sheep skins, by a blazing fire. I only mention this little circumstance, as an additional proof to those I have already men- tioned of the plenty enjoyed by the meanest peasant of this country. From the village of Arnaout Keuy, the next morning we over- looked Adrianople--from the same spot where the Russian army halted the night previous to its capture. I envied what its feel- ings must have been while gazing on that fair city-its silvery mingling streams, its countless minarets, its turbanned cemetery -considering it only the type of a brighter conquest, happily un- realized-alas! the half of those elated troops looked on their graves. A musket placed against the wall of a house at the entrance of a city, indicated to us a sentry's post; at the sametime, the head of its owner popped out of an aperture in the paper window of a cafeneh, and demanded the whence and the where. This specimen of the Nizam Dgeditt was easily satisfied; and, resuming his pipe, waved us to proceed where we pleased. On alighting at the hodse of our worthy consul, I again had the pleasure of meeting Captain C- and Mr. P- , who had arrived the preceding evening. Our satisfaction, however, at re- tasting the comforts of civilization was somewhat damped, by the circumstance of plague being at Adrianople, and every house in consequence was a prison. Travelers in the East, from being exposed to contagion in every shape, often sleeping under the same roof with it, (in preference to making a cast of their proportions in the snow,) and invariably escaping by disbelieving in its power, as well as being a great deal in the open air, soon cease to fear it, but the European residents hold it in instinctive horror, and neglect no means of insuring 154 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. immunity. Nothing is admitted within their doors without being previously fumigated or immersed; no visiting takes place be- tween the disinfected; dogs are chained, and cats invariably destroyed on account of their fur and their wandering propensi- ties. All these precautions appear very ridiculous to a stranger, although it is fair to say, that one is scarcely justified in thus qualifying them without having witnessed the progress of this chief messenger of death, (now in danger of being superseded by cholera, when armed with sovereign sway; watched its insiduous approaches-seen quarters unpeopled, bazaars deserted and closed one after another-the dead-cart hourly grating over the grass- grown streets, filled with the corpses of neighbors and of friends -one's own house resounding with groans of anguish, or cries of mania. Such sights and sounds, common enough in the East, did not, however, this time shock humanity. The disease was mild, no- thing more than typhus; not that I think plague is ever other than an aggravated typhus, an opinion coinciding with that of many medical men who have studied it. There is often in Lon- don a typhus that would in Turkey be called a plague i and, vice versa, often a plague in Turkey that would escape in London under the mild denomination of a typhus fever. Difference of care and of medical knowledge, constitute a corresponding differ- ence in the phases of the disorder. Plague is certainly not indigenous' to European Turkey; yet, having once been there, it may be supposed to remain always shut up in some house, with old clothes or other things-a danger which is diminished by the purifying effects of the frequent con- flagrations of the large towns. The contagion or non-contagion of plague has been so often dis- cussed by able pens, that any remarks of mine would be superflu- ous. I will only observe, that, in the case of Adrianople,. it showed itself exceedingly capricious. A Greek lady of my acquain- tance escaped, though her child died with it in her arms. A Greek physician of the place attended a Mollah who had buboes ; his servant, with him on the visit, became innoculated, and died 155 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. in two days; the doctor escaped infection. The Mollah died. Plague is sometimes communicated with a rapidity-by touch or a passing breath-that would stagger the firmest anti-conta- gionist, if his observation rested there; but such only occurs from very peculiar or predisposing causes. In a general sense, -it is not so easily transmissible as is usually believed. It is a fact, that, in Constantinople, where it has made awful visits, it rarely enters the, habitations of the great, who, at the same time, adopt no precautions : their safety consisting in their large, airy apartments, and their habitual cleanliness, and in no other cause; for they frequent the bazaars, transact business, and receive visits as usual. The poorest Osmanleys have also the safeguard of ,domestic cleanliness, but that (without spacious rooms) does not avail in the confined quarters of an ill built city. I believe that a person may shake hands in the open air with an impested subject with- out danger, but not remain safely two hours in a thickly occupied house, where the disease is, even though he keep the prescribed six feet space between him and every other-a great proof of which is the fact, that, in nine cases out of ten, plague rages in the depth of winter, when doors and windows are carefully closed, and the inhabitants, wrapped in old cloaks and furs, huddle to- gether for warmth ; and it always disappears in the warm weather, when the people pass most of their time in the open air. During the existence of the plague at Adrianople a caravan of merchandize went twice a week between that city and Constanti- nople, besides travelers, Tartars, &c., yet not a single case oc- curred in the latter place (nor beyond ten hours of the former,) to the great astonishment of the contagionists of Pera, who consi- dered it miraculous that it did not come with every bale, and greatly blamed the Turkish authorities for not establishing a qua- rantine. The Turkish authorities excused themselves by saying that the plague never had come from Adrianople, therefore it would not come; anid their reasoning, however bad it might appear, spared Ifi$ TUR EY AND THE TURKS, a great deal of trouble and expense to the good citizens of Con- stantinople. The quarantine is highly requisite to a certain extent, no one can doubt; but it requires considerable revision as it at present exists in Europe, where it is applied--as a quack medicine that is puffed as a universal panacea--to everything and every person in the same quantum indiscriminately--to a human being from the salubrious shores of the Bosphorus, to a bale of cotton grown on the pestiferous banks of the Nile, to a gazelle caught on the plains of Syria, to a silk handkerchief wove in the looms of Per- sia, that has been in the pocket of a traveler exposed to sun, wind, and rain--to each forty days. It appears absurd ; yet the absurdity is practised in every part of Christian Europe, excepting Great Britain, where a happy medium is observed, and the selfish ideas of individual preserva- tion entertained by the framers of quarantine laws, who are sel- dom exposed to their inconvenience, are borne down by the great interests of commerce. Notwithstanding the panic, we penetrated the seraglio of the grand vizir, Redschid Pasha, then holding his court at Adriano- ple; he having expressed a desire to cast eyes on us; we being equally willing to salute him as one of the lions of Turkey. He had lately come from Schumla, whence his journey was a triumphant march, consequent on his dignity. The beys and agas of the towns through which he passed prostrated themselves be- fore his horse; and, as he approached the city, the pashas, Hus- seyin and Alish, met him, and, dismounting, kissed his stirrup. We had, therefore, reason to esteem ourselves honored by his in- vitation, enhanced by the gracious reception which he gave us. His residence had an air of barbaric magnificence. Saddled steeds were in the court ; crowds of Albanians, armed to the teeth, in the halls; trimly-bearded, long-robed officers, in the anti- rooms ; himself, in pelissed state, reclined in the angle of a divan at the farther end of a handsome saloon, on the floor of which were squatting some of his intimates in humble demeanor. He clapped his hands, and ordered coffee and pipes, a mark of 157 TURKEY AND THE TVURK. attention which we scarcely expected from one of his rank; at least not the pipes, that cherished symbol of equality, token of precedency, among the Osmanleys, which a son may not use in the presence of his father, or a younger brother in that of an elder one. And as this ceremony is the only picture of ostenta- tion observed in Turkish social life, occuping the place of dinners and suppers, I will briefly describe it. To preface : the chiboukgis are the most important menials of an Ottoman establishment, the favorites of the lord. He who presents the pipe to the sultan is not only a pasha, but can dis- pose of pashalicks. They must be comely persons, and well skilled in the difficult art-only obtained by long practice--of so filling a bowl, that the slightest inspiration will spread a complete igni- tion over the superficies of the tobacco, replaced at each expira- tion by a layer of delicate white ashes. The bowl should be in the form of a bell ; the reed, a Bagdad cherry branch, at least seven feet long without a joining ; the mouth-piece, of lemon or cloud-colored amber, clear, but not transparent, inviting by its tatto morbido, the lips to caress it. With such an apparatus, presented by a youth a la Ganymede, you may imagine that you are inhaling the spirit of nectar, and, while in a kind of trance, watching the odorous vapor curling above your head, that the ceiling is. studded with houris' eyes. But this perfection can only be obtained at the divan of a refined Osmanley. What, compared to it, is a cigar or a meershaum ! they may well be termed weed, while the other is a bouquet. "Sublime in hookahs, glorious in a pipe, When tipped with amber, mellow, rich, and ripe," sung Byron; but farther on he added : "But thy true lovers more admire by far Thy naked beauties; give me a cigar. Thus proving that he had not been chez a pasha of acknow- ledged taste. - Indeed his highest acquaintance among the Faith- 158 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. ful was the aga of Thebes, a drunken old sot-I knew him since at Smyrna, as chief douanier-who probably never gave him a clean turn out; for the true lover of tobacco, real discriminator of its beauties, must be a sober person, capable of being exhil- arated by the brown berry's juice. But to return to our subject. Scarcely had the vizir's laconic order, " Coffee, pipes, bring," undulated through the ante-room, than it was obeyed, Two capidgis with silver sticks, vizirial emblems, marshalled in a shoeless, noiseless train, which nearly filled the apartment. The chiboukgis advanced first, describing circles in the air with the long chibouques, and placing brass saucers on the spotless floor to receive the bowls, presented one to each guest, with a finished and graceful submission, that would have become ambas- sadors offering gifts to a queen. In the middle of the apartment, the Cavedji took his station, holding a tray covered over with a piece of gold brocade; be- side him waited the dispenser of the sober decoction; while a third person removed the covering, and disclosed the China cups, and filagreed silver saucers, (the latter in some cases are studded with jewels.) The cup-bearers then advanced to perform their duty ; and, the cups being all filled, stood one beside each gue waiting accord- ing to etiquette, till the vizir took his, to present theirs. At the same moment we were served : we sipped, returned the cups to the expectant hands, and then the room was cleared with the same quiet haste. His Highness shewed us yet farther honor. When we had skimmed the cream of our first pipes, he again clapped, and ordered fresh ones. Again the silver sticks and train entered ; this time bringing a handsomer set of chibouques, and, instead of coffee, conserve of roses. We were much pleased and enjoyed the second pipe equally. His'highness clapped a third time, and a third batch of pipes was brought in, yet hand- somer than the preceding. Sherbet was the accompaniment, and on each bowl a fragrant pastile was laid, producing a delightful TUEREY AND TtE TeRKS. 159 160 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. effect. Not content with displaying his smoking apparatus, his Highness indulged in another species of vanity,-in having his pelisse changed three times, each time for one of richer furs; yet so quietly was this little manoeuvre performed, that it might have passed unnoticed, had we not seen it in other instances; almost imperceptibly the attendant removed one from his shoulders and replaced it by another. Our visit occupied an hour, during which we conversed a good deal. Never before I believe, had a grand vizir's divan been the scene of so much clatter. We talked to him and to ourselves about anything, and he appeared to like it. One of the party spoke to him on behalf of a village some hundred miles off, that had a bad aga. "Pekey," (very good), replied the vizir; "it shall be reme- died." He probably had never heard of the village. Another pro- posed a way to save the Bulgarians. " Pekey," replied he. Another suggested the propriety of building a bridge over the Marizza. " Pekey," replied he. Another said that Adrianople ought to be fortified. "Pekey," replied he ; "bakalum." The morning fllowing this we left our worthy host, Mr. D., and continued our journey to Constantinople. The distance be- tween the cities is forty-four hours, about one hundred and fifty miles. Tartars sometimes ride it in sixteen hours, but travelers usually employ three or four days. With baggage it is difficult to make above four or five miles an hour, particularly on the great thoroughfares, where the condition of the post-horses is as wretched as their endurance is surprising. When you mount them, they appear half dead, and at the end of the stage do not seem worse ; indeed'such transformation would be difficult. No stage in Turkey is under eight hours, few under twelve, and many are sixteen and twenty hours; and, in addition, the poor animals are walked about to cool for an hour before going into the stables, where they only get barley straw to eat ; which they have not time to digest before they are brought out again, to have saddles put on their ever sore backs, and be ridden perhaps by some merciless Tartar. A Turkish poster is one degree worse off than a hackney-coach horse. The first night we passed badly at Kuleli, a mere post-house. We left it early, and took coffee at Eski Baba, a large village with a good mosque. Before the bath were two Corinthian col- umns of Egyptian granite. We changed horses at Luleh Bourgas, twelve hours from Adrianople, a good town, pleasantly situated on a plain, watered by the Erkene, and celebrated for a manufactory of pipe bowls, as the name Luleh denotes. It has signs of the magnificence of the early Sultans, in a large dome, connecting the sides of the main streets, with a handsome gateway on either hand ; one lead- ing to the mosque, the other to the Khan, both large and sightly buildings. The latter had superb stabling, with ample room for upwards of one hundred horses, under one lofty vaulted roof, supported by numerous fine granite columns. Large apertures in the wall near the roof constantly admitted the air, it being a principle with the Osmanleys to keep their stables cool, covering the horses with thick cloths. And, as no country presents more variety of climate than Turkey in Europe, no horses a the same time being so healty as Turkish horses, it follows that the mode adopted with them is good-spacious well-ventilated stabling, with plenty of body cloths. Horses in Turkey never stand on straw, but on the earth or sand, kept very clean, and always tethered. The practice of tethering is worthy of imitation everywhere; it does not distress the animal, and it prevents his kicking. No- thing is more unpleasant than being between two rows of loose heels. " Extremes meet" is exemplified in the contrary practice of the English and the Turks respecting horses, the result of each being the same-excellence. English stables are hot, Turk- ish stables are cold :-English horses are high fed, Turkish horses get little else than choppedstraw :--it requires hours to dress an 21 161 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. English horse ; as many minutes suffice for a Turkish horse:-the English snaffle would scarcely hurt a deer's mouth; the Turkish bit would break a tiger's jaw :- the hoof in England is pared to fit the shoe;. the shoe in Turkey is fashioned to the hoof. From Luleh Bourgas, a jog trot of three hours brought us to Karisteran, a Turkish village. A troop of newly mounted lan- cers were here en route to Constantinople. I knew the command- ant, which was fortunate, or we should have found difficulty about lodging. He was very civil, welcomed us with the friend- ly chibouques, turned somebody out of a clean room to make room for us, and sent his cook to assist our domestics in prepar- ing supper. The next morning we started with the troop. Our route lay still over plains, vast and uncultivated. It makes one melancho- ly while traversing these beautiful countries, to think that des- tiny should have bestowed them on such unappreciable beings. We rode with speed this morning, and reached Chorloo, eight hours from our resting place, by noon. But our haste was of no use; every horse at the post-house being taken up for the service of a pasha, who was to pass through that day on his way to his government. It was a very trifling consolation for the delay, that we saw the cavalcade from the window of the cafeneh, at which we estab- lished ourselves to while away the interim; at the same time it was a handsome sight and characteristic of olden time. His forty horses, richly caparisoned, led the way, accompanied by a guard of Albanians, two taligas, covered in with crimson cloth, contain- ing his harem, of which we could not even catch a beam of an eye; himself, the pasha, muffled to the ears in shawls, preceded and followed by pipe bearers, coffee bearers, his selicter, his cook, his kiaja, cum multis aliis. We were loth to pass the night at Chorloo, but three reasons concurred to make us :--the jaded state of the horses, the late- ness of the hoty when they were brought to us, and the severity of the weather. To a Greek house therefore assigned us as quar- ters we went; the master of which, however, proved so exceed- 162 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 163 ingly uncharitable and inhospitable that we were compelled to have recourse to the aga. Redress was of course instantly granted, and the fellow narrow- ly escaped the bastinado for his pains. It woaud have served him right, for his perverseness arose from our not being of the Greek religion. The Mossulman that came to arrange matters between us understood nothing about the difference; we were all infidels and swine eaters to him, and that one should refuse the other an asylem was absurd. Had a company of Osmanleys been in our place, the animal would have been cap in hand, and knee on ground, uttering effendi every minute, though almost cer- tain of receiving barely thanks in repayment, instead of the sul- tan's coin which we gave him. The sea of Marmora gratified our eyes the following morning as we trotted over a fine upland. The sun was rising over the Princes' Islands, and, refracted by mists, two duplicates of him- self-brilliant parhelia-rested on the blue mirror. How glad- dening to an Englishman is the view of the sea after a separation from it! Rolling in vast billows, or reposing among classic isles, or undulating on romantic shores, it is equally an old friend, recalling home more forcibly than aught else. At Selybria we intended to get a boat to go to Constantinople, but the wind suddenly shifting at once to the north made us abandon our intention. This town is still famed for fast sailing boats and hardy sailors-Greeks or Turks. Gibbon tells us that when Mohammed II. was sweeping Roume- lia, in his progress towards the capital, the Selybriotes alone showed a courage worthy of Greec6, and, launching their boats, ravaged the opposite coast of Asia Minor. In my opinion, they would have shown a more worthy spirit had they brought their arms and their barks to the Golden Horn, in the teeth of the invader; but the latter proceeding would have made no individual profit-an incentive equally required by the ancient, as by the modern Greeks, who never exhibit such deeds of daring, or patient forbearance, as when engaged in piracy or brigandage. Strange that the most lawless pursuits call forth some of the most noble energies of the mind. Extensive ruins of an extensive building, adjoining the town, led us to suppose that it was, in the time of the Lower Em- pire, a station for troops. Our road lay past it, and thence along the golden sands of the Propontis, within a few feet of the eternal margin. Some people admire a tideless sea, but to me it is monotonous in the extreme; to watch the ripples kiss the same pebbles, on the same line of sand, hour after hour, is as tiresome as hearing water drop, drop, with an unvarying cadence. IIow fine on the contrary is an ocean tide advanc- ing gallantly upon a rocky beach, till it breasts a barrier of cliff in haughty defiance. The cafeneh belonging to the menzil khan, as Buyuk Tchek- medge, six hours from Constantinople, gave us shelter for the night. In the morning we perceived the lagoons covered with wild fowl, so tame that they scarcely heeded our pistols which we discharged among them. The country equally indicated the ab- sence of man, though so near where half a million jostled. The burial grounds were the first cultivated tract that we came to; and a demand of the sentry at the Adrianople gate for back- sheish the first voice we heard. In the street some veiled women, seeing we were strangers, be- gan asking questions about their relations at Adrianople, men- tioning Mustapha, Ali, Hassan, to know how they were. Though not having the slightest acquaintance with any one of these gen- tlemen, or indeed with any of the name at that place, I gratified the fair applicants by answering that we had left them quite well, and that there was no fear about the plague. This made them quite happy, and they thanked us, as though we had conferred a real favor on them. What a state of society where people trust to a passing trave- ler-not heeding whether he be a foreigner or not-for news of their absent relations. The idea of these females thus interro- gating us was, per se, an absurdity ; but affection (probably men- tal or conjugal) caused it, and made us respect it. 164 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. It occupied us above an hour slipping and sliding along the frost-covered streets, up and down four of the seven hills, till we reached the most convenient spot, for quitting our horses, balluk bazar, on the shore of the port opposite to Pera. While our bag- gage was being stowed in a caique, we had leisure to observe the ever lovely, never-fading scene, a principal object in which was the Blonde-beautiful specimen of nautic art--her booms covered with dove-like gulls, and the elegant piades, shooting by, appear- ing more in unison with her than with the clumsy Turkish men- of-war not far off. Crossing the harbor, we landed at Maits Skellesi, (dead wharf,) Kasym Pasha. A body was there, and two others were taking possession of their landed property, as we traversed the cemetery to get to Pera, where we reposed, and caused apprehension. We had left the plague, we had sojourned with it, we might have brought some token of it. We knocked at some doors, but in vain; they looked at us from the windows, taking us for im- porters of the foul disease. Jews selling old clothes in an infected town could not have been more distrusted. The next day, how- ever. we were admitted to pratique, but no shaking hands took place for some days. CHAPTER XII. PERA, CARNIVAL, AMBASSADORS, DRAGOMANS, ADVENTURERS, MUS- TAPHA, EFFENDI, ROYAL BIRTH, SULTANAS, ILLUMINATION, RAMA- ZAN, STORY-TELLERS, BAIRAM, PROCESSION, REVIEW, SANDJACK SCHERIFF. WHEN we reached Pera, the carnival was in full career. There were balls costumed and non-costumed: one, Chez l'Embassadeur de France, exhibited Highlanders and Albanians, Crusaders and Saracens, Orsons and Valentines, a hippogriffin, and Lord D--- 165 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. decorated as K.C.B.; neither was there a want of Swiss girls and Fatimas. But on the scenes of a Pera carnival I need not dwell, the fac simile being seen in every secondary Italian town; at the same time, this little suburb presents as singular a spectacle as any in the East, viz : the assemblage of distinguished personages (representatives of the sovereigns of Christendom) crowded to- gether in a narrow, wretched street, that would not ennoble St. Giles. The principal among them, the ambassadors of France, England, Russia, and Austria, may be styled the Kings of Pera. They have no equals out of their sphere, and they exercise absolute control, respectively, over all under their protection, without reference to Turkish laws or Turkish authority. The house of each is an asy- lum that would protect even a Turkish criminal. No monarchs are more considered by their subjects; for, in the eyes of a Levan- tine, there is no state comparable with that of an ambassador; if he wish to describe greater magnificence, or authority, or pride, than usual, his highest type is an ambassador. I leave out of the question the dignity of a grand vizir, or even of a pasha; the mention only of such personages makes a Levan- tine shiver. The kings live in a feudal state of tiresome sameness: each con- fines himself very much to his castle, and to the society of his compatriots whom chance or business may bring to the capital of the East. Habits and customs, totally diverse, interdict their associating with the magnates of the land, as in other countries; and etiquette and formality stiffen mutual intercourse. Except on public nights, in rotation at each other's houses, they never meet. They are tenacious of certain usages, considered absolutely re- quisite to maintain the respect of their subjects. One is singular. When a member of the corps diplomatique leaves his house,or enters that of one of his brethren, the great bell, which is hung for the purpose at the entrance, is tolled, in strict accordance as to rank; for an ambassador three times, a minister twice, a simple charge d'affaires once ; by which means all Pera, not being 166 TURKEY AND TIHE TURKS. TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 167 very large, at once knows the importance of the functionary who is soiling his feet; and on certain days, when visiting is the esta- blished order, the tolling is as incessant as at an assize town, to the great annoyance of the Mossulmans, for they entertain a reli- gious dislike to bell metal. The kings may not ride or walk without being preceded by guards. At the balls, no dancing commences until all the four kings are assembled; whereby a considerable delay sometimes occurs, as he who arrives last is looked on as the greatest man for the evening. But these and other punctilios, are considered highly essential to the ministerial dignity, and certainly as long as they answer the end proposed, they are wise. The stranger who incautiously smiles at them is regarded by the Pereotes with the same horror as a liberal would be in the court set of St. Petersburgh. I recollect their being perfectly scandalized at the unheard of event of the British ambassador having been seen walking the streets of Stamboul without a chavass before him to clear away the dogs. Equally forgetful of his high station was he considered by them in allowing visitors to appear in his presence with black neckcloths on. The dragomans may be considered, as in truth they consider themselves, the nobility of the kings. No aristocracy, not that of the Celestial Empire, equals them in self-importance. To see the head dragoman of an embassy shuffle along the street of Pera, not bowing to those who bow them, or looking at those who look at him, stepping only out of the way of a blind beggar, or a bask- ing cur, or a puddle-three common obstructions in a Turkish town-a person may not be very fresh from the west, and take him for a Mollah. Yet, in truth, he is an important personage in others as well as in his own estimation. All the rayas and others protected by the ambassador, his em- ployer, regard him as their immediate protector-the prime minis- ter of their sovereign. All that aspire to the same enviable exemp- tion from Turkish prero ative, court his favor as the means of obtaining it: in fine, all in any way dependent on any of the em- l assies respect him because he may choose to change his employ. er, thereby becoming their immediate superior. To each embassy are attached four or five dragomans with high salaries, with more or less knowledge of the Turkish lan guag --some slender enough. Five or six jeunes des langues (as they are termed) are also attached to each--sons or nephews of the former--receiving salaries, and studying the language, in or Jer to fill the post of dragomans, to which they are eventually called. Few of the young men, however, acquire a competent knowledge of it before the time when they may be required to in- terpret at the divan of the reis effendi, for the simple reason, that in Pera Turkish is never spoken; their mother tongue is Greek; their domestics are all Greeks, and they are reduced to learn a very difficult language through the sole medium of a master, which might be nearly as well done in London. They are not submitted to any test whereby to judge of their qualifications, and therefore are careless, often to the detriment of the public service. Learned or ignorant, they are certain of a salary, so great is the influence of the body congregate. Whence these dealers in languages drew their origin would puzzle the most consummate king of arms to determine, notwith- standing that some of them have gained modern Italian count- ships or baionial honors. We may suppose, for the stock, that a few Italians with a smattering of tongues in the suite of the Ve- netian and Genoese bails, two or three centuries back, united themselves with the families of Greeks, protected for the same qualifications. Tiese married and intermarried-cousins with cousins, uncles with nieces, nephews and aunts-and increased to what they are at present, in numbers to supply the wants of all the embassies, and sufficiently bound in relationship to have the secrets of all the embassies in common to be made use of as occasion prompts. This is not supposition. Let a perfect stranger marry into the family of a dragoman, he will have a connection in every em- bassy. He would soon be au courant of affairs, concerning or not concerning him-a Pereote, brought up in the odor of drago- 1.68 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. TIidE AN]) TXE 'TRS. 169 nanerie, Machiavelian school, c n never be ignorant of theme This kind of par tnership is very convenient for the members of the large dragonman family. It enables them to hold their em- ployers in check; in many cases to defy them. The threat of an ambassador to do withot them excited mirth at its impotency. It often happens that a: ambassador dare got discharge a dra- goman with whom he is dscotented, lest, as he naturally would, he go with his secrets into the service of another government. Hlow many important negociations have failed in consequence of their being open to bribery ! How grievous it must be for an ambassador, -charged with a delicate mission, on arriving at Constantinople, (perhaps for the first time in his life,) where he is opposed to keen rivals, his actions watched, his words noted; to find itht he iust throw himself into the: arms of m whom he feels he should not trust. He may not be able to talk French whl; his dra- goman cannot talk English; thus rendering a double interpreta- tion necessary. A dragoman rarely ceases to receive the pay of a government, even after proofs of delinquency. Another serious inconvenience, arising from the employment of Pereotes as dragomans, is their fear of the porte of which they cannot divest themselves, not- withstanding the sure, never falsified, protection which they en- joy. This, aided by the nature of an oriental education, of which obsequiousness and mystification form the ground-work, renders it impossible to get plain truth, if harsh, conveyed to the ear of a Turkish minister. Let us suppose an ambishador at the divan of the ris effendi, with the intention of administering to hi a few threat or re- proaches, which the nature of the case requires, and which, if be- lieved sincere, may lead to good results. He seats himself, stiff and dignified, on the sofa, taking care not to let the reis effendi think that he yields a tittle of pre-eminence on the least trifle; takes his chibouque, and directs the dragoman to proceed, and render literally what he has told him. Instead of thus doing, the dragoman tells the effendi that the 22 eltchi hopes he is well, is his humble servant-in short, converts the severe things which he has been directed to say into as many compliments, or at least disarms them of their point. The eltchi, while this is going on, puts down his chibouque, and listens, and looks, endeavorihg to draw a conclusion ; but in vain; he does not understand Turkish : and the countenance of an Osmanley never expresses whether he has heard a pleasant or an unpleasant thing. He gets an unmeaning reply, and goes away exclaiming against Turkish stupidity, and on the impossibility of negociating with such animals, alike insensible to reproof or praise; whereas the whole fault lies in his dragoman's timidity. Every person who has to do with the Turks knows how ex- tremely difficult it is to persuade a dragoman to translate fairly, even on trifling points. He is always put off with," This is in- formal;" or " The effendi will be displeased." It is strange that so clumsy a machinery should have so long embarrassed the diplomatic relations of Pera. Its defects are, however, beginning to be understood. The head dragoman of France has been for many years a Frenchman. Russia does not care who she has, her policy with Turkey being very straight for- ward: " Do so, or I ;will deplare war." She generally keeps her" vPr ; threfore her: ambassador has only to hold up his finger to obtain all that he wishes. Austria is so well aware that interpreters are as awkward in politics as in love, that it is a sine que non with her ambassador to talk the language. This is certainly the best mode of all, for Os- manleys are by education so distrustful that they will hardly open their minds in the presence of a third person. It may not be convenient to have our ambassadors educated expressly for the Ottoman porte, but their dragomans ought cer- tainly to be Englishmen, totally unconnected with Pera. The beneficial effects of such an arrangement would shortly be visi- ble. In addition to the certainty of the ambassador being rightly interpreted, the distrust of the Turks of witnesses, un- 170 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. avoidable when those witnesses are Levantines, would be over- come, for the English character is high in the East. The saying, " an Englishman cannot speak false," is as proverbial in Turkey as in Persia. The commons of Pera--as odd a multitude as ever herded among bricks and mortar--are composed, chiefly, of that inte- resting portion of mankind called Levantines, in which all na- tions have a share, and of Greeks from the Cyclades, who come in swarms to seek employment as servants or artizans; enriched by a liberal sprinkling of adventurers, bent by the force of circumstances to exercise their wits. To these must be added, of late years, tradesmen of all kinds, allured by the new and fashionable wants of the Osmanleys---wine, Wellington boots, and close garments. Occasionally might be seen, while I washere, a dea iyeGer- man baron, or Italian count, or a colone de la grande armee, come to teach the nizam dgeditt tactics; Poles and Prussians on the same errand ; fabricators of rockets a la Congreve ; hemists, to manufacture superior gunpowder ; geologists, to examine the mountain ores; bankers, to arrange loans; portrait painters, to delineate the sultan and his court ; in fine, speculators of all de- nominations--en grand et en petit, en raisonable et en absurde-- all attracted by the report of the improving tastes of the Mos- lems, and all equally surprised and grieved to find that the Mos- lems regarded all their projects with indifference, and patronised. nobody excepting tailors and wine-merchants; only paying those because they could not help themselves. A fair English vocalist, caught by the common error, came to Pera, but soon found that the Osmanleys were insensible to sounds softer than the clash of a military band. From Paris also, about the same.time, a fashionable modeste was on the eve of coming, on the strength of paragraphs in the journals, which stated that the sultan's daughter wore stays, and accompanied him on horseback at reviews. She was excusable in giving ear to the report, absurd as it was, for she could not suppose that the Turkish ladies, if civilizing, could dress otherwise than a la Francaise. 171 TU.RKEY AND THE TURKS. 172 TURKEY AND THE TURIS. Two Cornish farmers were brought out to cultivate an estate on the left bank of the Bosphorus, belonging to Mustapha Effendi, (sultan's secretary.) They did wonders ; but Mustapha expected miracles, and because he had no returns the first month, swore that he was duped, and that he would advance no more cash. Farther, to show his adhesion to new modes, the handsome secretary ordered out some English saddles; but when they came, he objected to the price. How to get off the bargain ? At length he ascertained that they were made of pig-skin. " Allah Kerim what profanation !-a believer sit on the skin of the forbidden animal! Take them back." His ideas of religion, it is to be observed, are so lax that Ihave more than once helped him with a bottle of wine. Pera may well be termed " a refuge for the destitute." The carnival had not elapsed, when we were aroused one morn- ing by the cannon of the seraglio point, announcing that a son was born to the sultan, making the third. The fortunate mother, thus elevated to the honors of a sul- tana, was a Circassian slave. No. change is so complete as that which befals a lady of the imperial harem who bears a son: palaces, slaves, wealth, are at her command to satiety; for she may become valide Sultana, the mother of the reigning sultan. While childless, she mingled with the crowd of fair competitors; her best occupation eager rivalry for a smile. The mother of a daughter is also emancipated from the condition of odalisque, and gains a separate establishment, though far inferior to the other. Great rejoicings, in consequence of the auspicious event, took place. During a week, royal salutes were fired daily, in which the ships of war in port joined; and each night the fleet and the mosques were illuminated, displaying the unrivalled art of the Osmilwys at such exhibitions. The ships dazzled on the harbor, rigged with lines of fire; strings of lamps were wreathed round the minarets, and suspended between them in form of crescents, which seemed to float in the air, makiig each of the hills, pro- fusely studded with them, appear a mound of glory, the effect be- ing richly heightened by the visible gloon of the cypress groves. The city thus splendidly robed and diademed, beneath a sky, above a tide, of deepest dye, brightest azure, is a magical picture even in a Christian's eyes. In a Mossulman's! he may be envied. If a Teriaki, placed at his window commanding a view of it while operates the potent drug, he beholds the vault of heaven open, and his Prophet, encircled by the Faithful, suspending bright symbols of Ottoman pride over the beautiful city of Faith. Fanaticism may give bliss which knowledge cannot; but it is bliss which has a terrible counterpoise. The Teriaki in the morn- ing shivers into consciousness from his celestial dream, totters through the streets, and sees, perhaps, through the very temple which shone brightest emblematic the preceding evening, the headless body of a friend. At this very time Zebecks, (Carama- nian brigands,) obnoxious on account of Janizzary principles, were daily decapitated at Stamboul. With them,, one day, a Greek lost his head, for apostatizing a second time from Moham- medanism to Christianity. On being condemned according to law to suffer for this defection, he offered to re-embrace the Mos- sulman faith, and save his life. "Olmaz," replied the judge; "you sha!l not have the oppor- tunity of playing so foul a trick twice." He richly deserved his death ; and dying a ghiaour, the Mossul- mans thought that he went to hell. The last day of the carnival, and the first day of the ramazan, fell together. Excepting during the long days of summer, the penance of the latter is not evere-then from thirst; but did it exist in a populous country, where the great proportion live from hand to mouth, it would be insupportable. It is at once a fast- and a feast. Its observers repose all day, and revel at night. Their great privation is the chibouque; not even snuff may be taken, and, it is said, the particular made a scruple of swallowing their saliva. Unlike a Catholic fast it is strictly kept, and remissness, far from being winked at, incurs reproaches, being easily detected by the evidence of the breath; notwithstanding which I frequently saw Turkish officers, during the ramazan in question, eating vo- 173 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. raciously at the tables of Franks. But irreligion was then fash- ionable at Stamboul, military men, moreover, being nowhere very scrupulous. Truly uncomfortable during these tiresome days, the Moslems nearly rub the skin of their fingers, in their only occupation, run- ning over the ninety-nine beads of their comboloios, and endan- ger their eyes by gazing on the sun as he travels toward the west. Scarcely has its orb disappeared, than three guns, fired from Ramis Tchiftlik, announce the glad tidings to the expectant, hun- gry multitudes of Constbntinople, and give signal to cooks, and coffee bearers, and pipe-holders to make up for lost time. And now is witnessed the inconsistency of man, his indifference to an object when gained; now these same crowds, who a minute before-multiplied personifications of hunger-were watching the soul of nature with the anxiety of Guebres, relapse into accus- tomed indifference as though replete. Yet this is the Osmanley's character. He calmly discusses his pipe, sips his coffee, performs his ablu- tions with care, and then, and nat till then, commences the opera- tion of eating, over which he has being gloating in thought since the etreaks of daylight permitted a black thread to be dis- tinguished from a white thread, after when no aliment may soil a Moslem's lips, The mosques are -illumitted every night during this two-faced month, as well inside,: as out, for the namaz, which is recited an hour and a half after sunset; at which hour, beholding through the windows the risings and inclinings of the devout company, with mechanical exactness, the unbeliever almost fancies it an au- tomaton exhibition. The peculiar feature of the ramazan consists in its saturnalia, or license of the people to say and do as they please, and which they avail themselves of in the cafenehs, filling them till midnight, carousing and in all ways dispensing with their orthodox gravity. Music (rather instrumental discord) is never absent, nor their dis- gusting kara-ghez (ombres chinoises), of which the obscenity is only equalled by the gratification it affords the spectators, who 174 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 175 ate farther excited by the dialogue between the mimic actors, always lewd, often witty, at times seditious, neither sparing sultan nor ministers. -Nearly all the popular commotions and revolu- tions in Stamboul have been planned in the nights of ramazan. Story tellers, whose tales if collected would swell the thousand- and-one nights, all of the same stamp, also abound on these fes- tive nights; the most celebrated of whom, however, one Hassan, we had not the opportunity of hearing, for his tongue was tied in consequence of having at the period of the massacre of the Jan- izzaries, when all lips were sealed, ventured in his favorite resort to turn the sultan, in connexion with that body (of which Has- san was a firm partizan) into ridicule. Being seized, he would have suffered death, had not a favorite at court prevailed on the sultan to see him; on which he excused himself in a witty way, showing that his thorns concealed roses. He was consequently freed, but forbidden to exercise his vocation. The fair sex also partake of the festivities-of the season. Their harems are nightly enlivened by dancing girls, wandering singers, fortune tellers, by all classes, in short, of that numerous and profitable profession in the East, whose business is to divert ennui. It is also the season for lovers; for love in the East. though raging chiefly in fancy's domains, does occasionally escape the lattices. Cunning old Jewesses--ambassadresses of sighs, an- tidotes otherwise-convert their dingy back apartments into bow- ers of delight, where mingle the flowery intercourse which gave so intense an interest in the preceding year. Would the Deity of the Bosphorus speak, what a tale! did its waters enshrine as well as entomb, its deep bed would be variegted with beauty's moulds, victims of four centuries. Various state ceremonies likewise distinguish the month of ramazan. Some hairs of the prophet's beard are produced for the admiration of the " Faithful:" and on the 15th day of it, some remnants of his garments are immersed in water by the sul- tan's hands, which holy water is then bottled and sent to the pashas of the empire, each of whom is expected to send back a handsome present, besides the largess to the Tartar who bears the IT JUEKE Y AND THE TURKS. dose. If the pasha be in favor, a moderate gift is accepted ;.if not, a capidgi takes it back and demands a richer one,--omnious that the-pasha will be superseded. The cannon of Ramis Tchiftlik announced in the evening of March 24th, that the moon of the month chevale, to catch the first glimpse of whom an Iman, it is said, is stationed on the Bithynian Olympus, had quitted the sun's embraces, and couse- quently that all true Believers might eat again in day-light. They followed the Bairam, or feast of three days, during which the Mossulmans air their ..best garments, (on their own goodly persons, exchange presents, gladden their slaves, adorn their women, and reciprocally give the kiss of peace--tokens of good will and fraternity which are repeated at the Courbam. Bai- ram, and only then. The Mossulman year being closed, and the Mossulman people purified from their sins by the preceding penance, having re- newed a solemn compact with their prophet, the first day of the Bairam---of the new year--is ushered in by the sultan, as first man. of Islamism, going in state to one of the mosques to recite the ramaz, thus asserting his claim t. the caliphtetobe head of the church as well as the state, in Turkish phraseology, "to rule by book and sword.'t To witness the ceremony, therefore, we left our beds at four in the morning; and after a cold row through a clammy fog, up the whole length of the harbor, found ourselves at the appointed _place, in the midst of various costumed figures, and close ranks of soldiery, visible, though indistinctly, by the glare of numerous torches. More light enabled us to see that most of the Franks of Pera, ministers, secretaries, consuls, dragomans with wives and daughters, adventurers, instructors, projectors, &c., occu- pied every vantage spot, forming a singular audience to an Ot- toman pageant, and the only one that morning, for no Mossul- mans were esent excepting those in office. In one corner several Armenian and Hebrew women were iud- dled together to view the procession; biut, poor creatures, the sterns of some led-horses dispersed them long before it came; TuansY AND TEN TUR- ---- 5. 177. and, in another part, five taligas, close screened, were drawn up, containing the delhi sultana and her suite. Opposite to us, on the railings of the handsome mosque, seve- ral fakirs were clinging, wild and romantic looking objects; and above them, collected on the trees, on the minarets, and about the cupolas, multitudes of storks were exceedingly observant, in- stead of clattering as usual, as became the reputation they enjoy for predilection of Mohammedanism. Our scene wa." placed in Eyoub, a suburb of Constantinople, resting on its wall and on the shore of the harbor, celebrated from several causes, but originally from a Mohammedan chieftain of the name of Eyoub (Job,) who was killed on this spot during the siege of the city by the Saracens, in the reign of Leo. Of his history or his merits I know nothing,; but the former must have been bright, the latter in high esteem, sicie h ii., five years after he conquest, in rtasd y bilding a handsome mosque over the -spot where his bones moldered, and designing it as the place where the sultans should be girded with the sabre of Othman--a distinction tending more than the saintly warrior's relics to preserve its veneration. The investiture is given by the Scheick Melevi Dervishes, called 1Iollahjllunkiar, who resides in opulence at Cogni, enjoy- ing the office by right of his family, which, as being descended collaterally from the Abbassides, last race of the Caireen caliphs, claims spiritual pre-eminence over the Othmans, no one of whom would be considered reigning de jure in the eyes of the nation, un- less girded by the Mollah Hunkiar. The pres ent mollah sue- ceeded to the office in 1803, when two years old, by the death of his father, the old scheick, and, when seven years old, was brought to Constantinople to invest the late sultan, Mahmoud II. What an interesting spectacle ! to see his little hands tying the renowned sabre of the wise and valiant Othman on the loins of his ferocious descendant. What a contrast beneath the dome of that mosque!--on one side an innocent child, supported by the ministers of religion; on the other a despot,, surrounded by his satellites. This was 23 177 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. power stooping to opinion-a lion led by a lamb. How impres- sive the moment !-when altogether-the man and the boy, the warriors and the priests-bent their foreheads to the pavement in acknowledgement of one truth and one falsity : "there is no God but God ; Mohammed is his prophet." How sublime the voice from the minaret !-when the sultan left the mosque, amid the acclamations of his subjects, exclaiming " Mavrolanma padishaim, senden buyuk Allah var. Be not elate, my sovereign ; God is greater than thee :"-a caution which is repeated at each accession-a caution which might be dis- pensed with as ineffectual. One by one the 'torches went out, superseded by the glare of daylight; still no sultan appeared, though we had been waiting three hours, and the imperturbility of the storks and fakirs oppo- site, seemed to mock our impatience, which was beginning to be audibly expressed in Frankish dialects, when Khosrew Pasha made his appearance, splendidly dressed, his cloak thrown back, two pages holding up the skirts, so as to display the rich embroid-. ery on his breast, over which flowed a snow-white beard, and bow- ing to the spectators with courtly humility, rode down the line to the gate of the mosque, where, dismounting, he addressed the troops td the end that they should cheer the sultan.. Members of the Tlena next began to arrive, their ample robes and caouks appearing to advantage beside the uniform and fezes of the nizam dgeditt; then, after an interval, thirty or more of the royal horses, with gold and purple housings, studded with diamonds-each steed worth at least a plum ($500000)-came pawing down the street with airs of royalty. Strains of music now came on the breeze; the caimacan ad- vanced on horseback, preceded by two lines of tchiaoushes, with silver tipped staves, emblems of provizierial dignity. More led horses succeeded, yet more costly caparisoned, followed by the bostandgis and the capidgis-a numerous train-arrayed in blue and red cloaks; after whom walked the pages, in twodlines, their eyes modestly bent on the grond, their heads bearing wide spread- ing plumes, to conceal from vulgar gaze the countenance of their 178 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. master, who, mounted on a superb Arabian, rode between them, no otherwise distinguished in dress than by a diamond chelengk in his fez. Immediately behind him rode his secretary and his selictar, and other ministers of state closed the march. Not deigning to cast eyes on the infidels who had theirs eagerly directed towards him, or on his troops who salaamed to the ground, shouting: " May our sovereign live a thousand years !" he passed slowly along, through the outer court,'to the ent.-ance of the mosque, where the scheick islam assisted him to dismount, the different bands at the same moment striking up cheering airs. In twenty minutes he reappeared, and the procession retuarned in the same order. Thus simply was performed this most import- ant of Ottoman pageants, which used to be truly magnificent, the state officers then wearing their national distinctive costumes, and the led horses carrying the armory of the Greek emperors--noble trophies! Then, after the mosque service was over, the sultan used to repair in state, by water, to Dolma Backche, the nearest palace on the European shore of the Bosphorus, in the extensive gardens of which the people were entertained all the day with games and shows. In lieu thereof, the sultan reviewed for our amusement, on the plain of Ramis Tchiftlik, his regular troops, which were quarter- ed in and about Constantinople, amounting to about four thou- sand five hundred foot, and six hundred horse; though, beyond being dressed and armed uniformily, scarcely meriting the name of soldiers. The Mossulmans were as indifferent to the review as to the pro- cession, but they indulged somewhat in: the gaities due to the season. In the cemeteries crowds assembled, and the youth of both sexes amused themselves with swings suspended from the cypresses. The sexes being thus permitted to mingle (the fairer as usual veiled) is a feature of the Bairam. The sun shone out, and their bright colored garments waving among the dark foliage had a lively effect. Wrestlers, their arms oiled, were displaying their 179 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. address; and crackers, let off among the trees and crowds, were faint images of the pistols which the Janizzaries were in the habit of discharging about the streets during the three days. Then it was not prudent for Franks to walk about Stamboul; now we were everywhere permitted with good humor. CHAPTER XIII. STAMBOUL, WAtL, BREACH, GALLEYS, CHARSHEYS, AZAARS, OSMAN- LIE, BURNT COLUMN, ESKI SARAY, SERASKIER'S PILLAR, PANORAMIC VIEW, PARALLEL, HIPPODROME, COLUMNS, ST. SOPHIA, CISTERNS, MENAGERIE, WOMEN MARKET, BATH. THE origin of the name Stamboul is doubtful, and unimportant to any one excepting the Easterns, who attach weight to it. The Greeks, in accordance with their usual idea, that there is nothing in the world which did not originate with them, trace it to their language, to the words eis tin polin; whence Istambel, by an easy corruption. This theory is ingenious, but its fallacy is appa- rent; for, although it might have been the old custom to call the capital, by excellence, pol s, as we apply towin to London, the Osmanleys would have heard apo tin polin, as often as eis tin polin, and might as well have imagined it, the name of the city. The Mossulman doctors say that the word is a corruption of Isam- bol, which signifies " full of the true faith." This is more con- sonant with reason, though no Greek will admit it ; nor are there many (smanleys of sufficient reasoning power to separate Islam (true faith) bol (ful,) and perceive their connection with the other word. "Allah knows," is the usual answer one gets to much less puz- zling questions from the uneducated. Both words, however, are superseded by Stamboul. On which, ever side of the city we approach it, we are immedi- 180 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. TUJRIKEY AND THE TURK$. L:1. ately arrested by a striking memento of its former fortunes--gir- dle of its magnificence--.the wall. Its preservation is remarka- ble; for as it was six centuries since, so, to all appearance, it is now equally respected by time and Turk, excepting the breach through which the conquering Janizzaries rushed -the fragments, which then streamed with blood, still preserve their place in the ditch, scented by myrtle. The wall, which is about twenty-two feet high, flanked at equal distances by square towers, and pierced by twenty-five gates- seven towards the Propontis, thirteen towards the harbor, and five landways--circumvallates the city, enclosing a space of thir- teen miles in circumference. Various Gr'eek inscriptions, re- maining on different parts of it, shew that it was 'repi- d b Theophilus. While rowing or sailing along thePrpotis shoe the city, or riding down its land face, we hsre a elear view bf the wall; but from the harbor it is concealed bly rows of houses interven- ing between it and the water, without which obstructions, the quay, four miles in length, would be the finest promenade in the world ; having on one side the battlemented wall, with its inscrip- tions and gates; on the other the vast suburbs, comprising arsenals and cities; to the west, a rural scene in perspective; to the east, Scutari, washed by the deep Bosphorus. But, it being impossible to visit Constantinople without hav- ing Gibbon in one's thoughts, this quay, looking at the breadth of it, gives rise to another reflection-seems to inva1idafe his ,plendid account of the city by the Crusaders, wherein he tells us that the besiegers let down bridges from the tops of their ships to ..the wall, and thus "made for themselves a passage through the air ;" an enterprise unmatched by Ariosto, and which, if the space between the wall and the water (leaving vnL;,; of the ques- tion its elevation above the water) was the same then as now, we may pronounce to have been impossible. And that the space was equal, the construction of the quay which, apparently, is coeval with that of the battlements, bears evidence ; though, had it not existed --granting an improbbility for th sak'e f the argument -distance would have been equally against the aerial feat of the Venetians, for the water, where unconfined by the quay, does not flow near enough to the wall to allow even boats to approach it ; so that Dandolo's ships, the waters of Constantinople not having changed their landmarks, would have grounded as early as would ships of the same burthen in the present day, and that would be far enough off to relieve the inhabitants from any fears of an es- calade from the top. Equally inclined is the traveler to agree with the remark of Gibbon, that at the distance of three centuries and two thousand miles, it is difficult to be correct, when, in comparing his still more splendid: account of the Mohammedan conquest of Constan- tinople with the site,: he endeavors to make out by what means the galleys, which Mohammed II. introduced into the harbor over land, could have proved of such service to him as it is said they did; so much so that, according to Gibbon, without them he must have raised the siege : the historian omits to add, that the forces of the Osmanleys and the Greeks were balanced to a hair, as they must have been, if the addition of a few boats were sufficient to turn the scale. But so far from that being the case--from the Ottoman owing his success to his boats, there are many reasons for saying that' they could not have ren- dered him any service. In the first place, the breach being two miles from the harbor, screened from it by the inclination of the land, they. could not have assisted directly. In the second place, the good condition of the northwest angle of the wall, particularly exposed to missiles from the harbor, shows that they did not make a false attack.; and, in the third place, they did not intercept the communication; for it is cer- tain that people entered and quitted- the city during the assault, and that after its fall vessels sailed away with families on board. On the whole, I am inclined to think that the galley episode, if it had any foundation beyond the maginationd theimaginaon of the disomfted Greeks, who would not fail to adduce anything to save their own credit, would even have given their enemies miracles to work 182 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. with, had they not unfortunately been Mossulmans, was merely a royal freak to show power--in a Xerxes-like strain-perhaps with the idea, by its hardihood and novelty, of infusing discou- ragement among the besieged, showing them that nothing was impossible to their terrible foe. Whatever its moral effects, no doubt great, it certainly produced none physical. To enter the city from Pera, we usually land at the balluk ba- zar (fish market,) near the "new" mosque (yeni giamisi;) then, passing under a venerable gate, wind through two or three dirty lanes, ascend a street where chibouque manufacturers work, and so enter Mizir charschey; that is where the wares of Egypt and Arabia are prepared for sale, among which may be noticed the alcohol for the eyes, the henna for the finger tips, and a third powder, much used by ladies to give the hair a golden hue. Those who have dark hair cannot use it. After golden color, red hair is most admired in the East. We next lose ourselves in the lbyrin s ofthe charscheys, tra- versing in all directions, or as they are commonly, though erro- neously, termed by Franks, bazaars ; bazaar signifying market, and used in no other sense, as et bazaar (meat market,) at bazaar (horse market,) &c. ; whereas charscheys are streets, or rather, in Constantinople, long, vaulted, stone galleries, lighted by apertures in the roof, with shops on either side, where the corpo- rate trades carry on business. No cooking or smoking is allowed in them, and the iron gates, at which are always sentries, are closed before sunset, owing to which precautions they are never involved in a conflagration. Screened fromn sun, wind, and rain, adfarther attractive by the richness of the wares of all countries spread out in tempting pro- fusion, thecharshesre the favorite lounge, particularly of the fair sex, who crowd them from morning till evening, bar- gaining, and chatting and laughing with whoever will bargain, or chat, or laugh with them, infidel or not. Another amusing scene for the stranger is the bitt bazaar, or louse market, a sort of repository existing in French and Italian 183 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. cities under the similar name of pouillerie-pidocchieria, in Eng- land known by that of Monmouth street. All such places, however, whether in Paris, London, or Naples, must yield to that of Constantinople--where, too, the name is calumnious, no people under the sun being so free from the ob- noxious reptile as Mosulmans, on account of the various and tempting offers which assail you on all sides. One man holds up a fur pelisse; another, an amber mouth- piece; a third, an ataghan ; a fourth, a silver-hilted pistol, and so on; all ambulating and puffing their articles at the same time, with much address and humor, while the goodness of many of them show that they belong to men of rank; for no niman in= the East, when he wants cash, is ashamed of selling his clothes, or, indeed, of doing anything that is right-or wrong, civilization not being far enough advanced to admit of mauvaise honte, and, as it is the custom in Turkey to wear half-a-dozen garments on one's shoulders at the same time, in the shape of jackets and pelisses, a chevalier d'industrie may go often to the bitt bazaar before coming to his shirt. It is not uncommon, indeed, to see a richly dressed individual, followed by domestics, dispose of a ring, or garment, or other trifle, for ready money, then walk away quite uuconcerned. Of all tihe&kihi in- Constantinople, and they are numerous, for the acegm odation of bankers merchants, Tartars, 4d vaga- bonds, the most remarkable is the Valide Khan, less so on ac- count of its vast size and commodious arrangements, than :for having been founded by the mother of Selim III,, iat extraordi, nary woman, who had perception to note the sinking state of the Ottoman empire, and judgment to suggest remedies-in whom originated, he useful undertakings which adorned the reign of her son, and who inspired those brilliant ideas of reform which, un- skilfully acted on, led to his ruin. Fortiunately, she died before him; in another sense unfortu- nately; singe, had she lived, she might have better directed the bias she gave, and thereby have given atone to the state: Where is the country that cannot boast of paramount worth in woman? 184 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. -though born among barbarians, sold in a market, reared in a harem, toy of a despot-what a soul to burst such trammels ! Leaving the charscheys at their upper end, we find ourselves on the second hill, close to the Osmanie, the most elegant of the mosques, built, as in its name denotes, by Sultan Osman. In form, it is a square of ninety-five feet, covered by a singularly tasteful cupola, which rests on the four walls of the building. As I have other mosques of more importance in view, I just mention it, and pass on to THE FORUM OF CONSTANTINE, near it, where still remains his column, ninety-six feet in height, thirty-five in circumference, composed of eight pieces of porphyr. It was so much:damaged by the great fire in 1779 that, to pre- vent it from falling asunder, it was found 'necessary to bind the shaft with eight rings of iron; and, more especially to preserve it from damage by a similar cause, the sultan ordered the lower part to be fortified with a strong work of masonry, and prohibited houses from abutting against it. The rings and the stone work have a bad effect; at the same time our gratitude is due to Selim III. for having preserved so interesting a monument. It is called by the natives the burned column. Not far from it on the same elevation is ESKI SARAY, a large walled space containing a palace in which Mohammed II. resided before the great seraglio was built. It then was appro- priated for the reception of the women of the deceased sultan, and of:the old maids, who are now superseded by a regiment of the Nizam Dgeditt. In the middle of it rises a lofty, ill-formed, white column, one hundred feet high, with a spiral staircase leading to the summit, around which is a gallery. It is named the Seraskier's Tower, since that officer, in his capacity of governor of the city, stations himself on it to observe the progress of insurrections, or of in- cendiarism. The stranger turns it to a more agreeable purpose, and surveys from it a panorama that words cannot describe. The aquaduct of 185 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. Valens, the seven towers, Saint Sophia, the seraglio domes, the Propontis-circlet of beauty studded with ocean gems- Mount Olympus, the gloomy grand cemetery, the wide-flowing Bosphorus, the Golden Horn, covered with caiques gliding like silver fish, are a few only of the features beneath him. Long may he look before being able to trace any plan in the dense mass of habitations that cover the hills, and fill the valleys, which are so thickly planted, and so widely spread, that the countless mosques, and public baths, and numerous khans, be- sides the charscheys (of a moderate city's dimensions) are scarcely noticed for the space they occupy ; although in other respects they attracted attention, for no one can look at the seven hills, each crowned with a superb mosque, with numerous smaller ones on their sides, without being duly impressed with the piety of the Ottoman monarchs,. and of their favorites, unsurpassed, save in Rome. Their good taste has led them to imitate St. Sophia, the Turkish architects have improved on the model, and their taste and vanity combined to erect them on the most commanding spots, whereby Constantinople is embellished to a degree it could not have been in the time of the empire that is, in an external view. I sincerely hope, that wlenever the cross replaces the crescent, (which it must do,) a mistaken eal for religion will not remove the stately minarets. Another pictorial charm, which it also owes to Mossulman customs, is the union of the colors.green, white, and red-visi- ble in the cypresses, the mosques, and the dwellings. The city might be improved, but to alter these cquaintnesses, for the sake of regularity, would be profanation. I said improved; but I hardly think I am correct, certainly not as regards its outward appearance. In possession of a nation with ideas of comfort, regularity, and chaste splendor; Stamboul would lose part of the indefinable hold on the senses which it now has. Its very deformities are not dis- pleasing. The perpetual and varied contrast is food for the eye, and excitement for the mind. We leave Pera, a regular Euro- 1 86 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. pean town, and in five minutes are in scenes of the Arabian Nights. The shores of the Bosphorus realize our ideas, or recollections, of Venetian canals, or the Euphrates' bank. Women. shrouded like spectres, mingle with men, adorned like actors. The Frank's hat is seen by the Dervish's calpack; the gaudy armed chavass by the Nizam dgeditt; the servile Greek by the haughty Moslem; and the full-blown Armenian, by the spare dtebrew. The char- scheys resound with Babel's tongues, the streets are as silent as Pompeii's. We stumble over filthy dogs at the gate of a mosque, clean plumaged storks cackle at us from the domes; a pasha with a gallant train proceeds to divan, harpy vultures fan him with their wings; and in the same cemetery we see grave-diggers and lovers corpses and jesters. A lane of filth terminates with a white mar- ble fountain, and a steep narrow street conducts to a royal mos- que. In the moral sense also the parallel holds. We have an :absolute monarch, a factious people ; pashas, slaves de nomnie, despots de facto ; a religion breathing justice and moderation, a society governed by intrigue and iniquity. The Mossulman is mighty in prayer, feeble in good works; in out- ward life modesty personified, in his harem obscenity unmasked. He administers to a sick animal, bowstrings his friend ; he be- lieves in fatality, and calls in a doctor. In short every thing, and every person and every feeling, and every act is at total variance in this great capital; and a man may readily find amusement in it for some months. Your shoemaker this year may be a vizir the next; your frieid the bey who serves you with coffee and pipes, in a week, thankful for backschiesh; and, what is a worse change, your boon companion of the evening be headless in the morning. But I digress. De- scending from the Seraskier's tower, we proceed to the apex of the triangle, and find ourselves in the HIPPODROME ; or, as the Turks call it,- At-Meidan. It is an oblong square, 250 yards by 150 yards. Three monu- TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 187 ments of antiquity in it attest that the Osmanleys are not such indiscriminative destroyers as is usually believed. Were it necessary to quit Constantinople for proof of that, I would cite Athens which, notwithstanding the numerous seiges it has undergone, from Turks and Venetians and Greeks, still pos- sesses enough to interest the world. It must have required great care to preserve its ruins, more than would be shown in modern civilized warfare. Though not connosieuis of art, the Osmanleys have religiously preserved temples, columns, &c. as trophies. Those in the At-Meidan are-L An Egyptian obelisk, sixty- five feet high, covered with hierogliphics. It rests on a pedestal, on which are groups in bas relief, exceedingly fresh, among them the figures of Theodosius and the Empress. The accumulation of soil has buried the inscriptions all but the first few lines; but they were previously copied. 2. A pyramidal column, 100 feet high, composed of loose stones, apparently ready to come down with the first gale. An inscrip- tion informed us that it was originally cased with plates of brass brought from Rhodes ; quere-part of the Colossus ? 3. A spiral column of bronze, eleven feet high, four feet in cir- cumference, called the serpentine column on account of three ser- pents' heads -that. used to surmount it. Mohammed II., the day that the city fell knocked them off with his mace, to show his contempt for the emblem of collective wisdom. The square at the moment was filled with victorious Janizzaries, and "Allah hu " rent the air over the prostrate fragment. What a triumph! the youthful conqueror might have fancied himself a god. Thence he turned his horse's head north, and rode a few paces -where we will follow him-to ST. SOPHIA. Spirits of St. Helena, of Constantine! where were ye ? It is said Ithat he reproved some zealous Mossalmans, (quere; killed them ?) for breking the marble pavement. Probably he did; the pavement, in variegated beauty, still exists. The conversion of the church to a mosque was soon effected. Mohammed was invoked in it that day; and the following afternoon, from a has- 188 TURKEY AND TIIE TURKS. tily constructed minaret, the muezzin's voice was heard for the first time in Constantinople. The same minaret stands at this day, at the north-east angle, and is easily discernible from the other three by its ancient and mean appearance. Mosques, however, had been tolerated by the emperors above a century previous, for the :beefit of Mossulmans resident in the Eastern capital; and Bajazet, (Iiderim)-he who boasted that he would feed his horse with a bushel of oats on the altar of St. Peter's, at Rome-obtained leave from the emperor, Manuel II, (Paleologos,) to establish a Mekheme, and to found a royal mosque; but its imams were not permitted to call their flock to prayers. From a similar spirit, the Greeks are prohibited the use of bells in their churches, though not, I should imagine, in retaliation. What a difference between the fine tones of the human voice, and the din of bell-;metal The original St. Sophia wasbuilt by Constantine I., and over- turned by an earthquake. Constantius rebuilt it. It was again destroyed by the great fire which consumed nearly all the city, in the fifth year of Justinian. Justinian then built the present edifice. Its outward appearance is mean compared with that of the other mosques, owing to its flat dome and dwarfish minarets; also, to the vicinity of its superb neighbor, Sultan Achmet's mosque, built in and filling up the interval between it and the Hippo- drome. But the situation is very good. It is visible from every side-from the Sea of Marmora the Bosphorus, and the harbor; from the latter to most advantage, Achmetie being then concealed by the inclination of the land. It has always been difficult of access to Christians, whereas the other mosques, while I was there, were comparatively easy. The imams of some of them acted as our ciceronis, of others did not oppose us, but from St. Sophia we were warned off before even reaching the doors; in addition to which (customary) fanaticism, the superior at that time was a rigid believer, to contravene whose 189 TURKEY AND THE TURKS, will the sultan would not have dared. This inaccessibility only sharpened our curiosity. The Hon. Mr. G----was then a guest of our ambassador, and he being willing, I nothing lothe, we resolved to penetrate to gether beneath Sophia's domes. So, changing our hats for fezes, and otherwise assimilating our costume to that of the nizam dge- ditt, not entirely, for a complete disguise would have made us more guilty if discovered, we started from Pera one fine day, tak- ing with us a chavass by way of protection, our appearance ren- dering it doubtful whether we were renegade Mossulmans or appostate Christians. We passed leisurely through the gardens skirting the seraglio, then wound through the royal mausoleums, adjoining the mosque, hastily and mute, as Lot on his flight, looking neither to the right nor to the left, and so reached the outer gates unchallenged; to- tally unconscious, though, that in the meanwhile our chavass, fear- ing to embark in so unholy an enterprize, had abandoned us to" our destiny. Leaving our shoes at the threshold, we proceeded quietly along the vestibule, still unnoticed, as far as the great doors which open on the bodjy of the edifice, and :there, the difficulty being sur- mounted, we stood to admire-but, in truth, were disappointed at finding it inferior, in lisposition and the richness of its marbles, to some of the other mosqes. Nevertheless, it was St. Sophia, the most celebrated, and one of the most venerable of Christian temples-centre of memorable associations-and we were congratulating ourselves on being where so few Christians, during four centuries, have been, when a little Turkish boy came running to us, exclaiming: "Run-quick-they will kill you.:' Had we immediately profited by the kind warning, we might have got away unmolested ; but surprise detained us, to look for the danger-to ask questions. No sooner had the lad spoken than he disappeared behind a column; at the same instant, we became sensible of a movement --a confused murmur of voices, in it ghiaours only distinct---and 190 TURKEY AND THE TURKS, from the interior five Turks, one of them an imam, rushed out at us, yelling rather than speaking, and indicating by their gestures that we deserved pounding in a mortar at least. The sudden appearance of these fierce fanatics completely threw us out, and any presence of mind that remained was seriously im- paired on perceiving, for the first time, on looking round for him to screen us with his staff of office, our chavass' defection. To resist was the next thought; but fortunately, in anticipation of such a result to our expedition, we had brought no arms with us, or we should have produced them, and then-Allah Kerim ? I should not have written this. Our situation was most unenviable, not liking to remain where we were, equally fearing to turn our backs, either way expecting martyrdom, no ways consoled by the immortality which we should gain by such an unusual finale. What the feelings of my compa- nion in the pickle were I do not know, but I fairly own that I never felt much more uncomfortable, or looked, I dare say, more foolish-not long, however, remaining so; for one of our tormen- tors, a fellow in a green turban-I shall not easily forget him- soon brought the affair to a point. Having succeeded in working himself into a passion till the foam ran over his beard, he then raised his ataghan, with the apparent intention of making our swinish blood expiate our sin. But at that moment, when neither of our heads seemed worth anything like so much as a New Zealander's head when tattooed for exportation, the imam interposed, and, seizing his arm, bid us authoritatively escape. We did not require twice telling, and retreated, an eye each way, under a shower of maledictions and soma blows, which the more unceremonious bestowed. The green-turbanned savage wrestled ineffectually for a minute with the priest, then dropped his weapon, and rushed past us to the doors-to close them, we feared-when worse than death might have been our lot; but he had not the wit. He seized our shoes, and as we ran out, our steps having considerably accelerated in our passage down the ves- tibule, hurled them at us with puerile anger. 191 TURKEY AND TiHE TURKS. 192 TURKEYI ANi) TH TiR)S, Slipping into them, glad that we had not had to "eat more dirt," we quitted the precincts of St. Sophia, half disconcerted and half amused, fully determined not to enter them again on similar terms. In the next street we met our chevass, who, premising with "wonderful!'" said he thought we were dead ; then proposed we should adjourn to a cafeneh to smoke a pipe, which we did. " You must not think," naively observed a gentleman at the embassy, " that the imam was trying to save your lives; he was only w !restling with the green turban for his ataghan, that he might have the honor of killing you." However, praise be to the imam! The old capitan pasha, when I related the adventure to him, manifested greater signs of feeling than I had ever seen him on any former occasion. IHe laid down his narghilar snake, uncoiled his legs, combed his beard, twisted his moustaches, lifted off his fez to scratch his head, and, having said that God was great and the mosque was holy and we were Franks-he had too much politeness to tell me we were infidels, though he meant it--protest- ed that he was surprised that we had not been immolated, ~dding, that even his high presence, had he been there, could not have saved us. This was half hunbi of the old hypocrite. Certain h ever itisthat, when Count Orloff was in the pleni- tudd of power, he could n ot -see St. Sophia. The sultan had granted him a firman for the purpose, and fixed a day; but, on that very morning, sent his secretary to him, to beg that he would not visit it. Near St. Sophia is the church of St. John the Evangelist, now converted into a menagerie of wild beasts. There are two fine lions in. it, so tame that the keeper goes into them, and invites strangers to do the same. We declined, under the apprehension that hats would not meet the same respect as turbans. Also behind the Hippodrome is the church of St. Sergius, built in the reign of Justinian, one of those that depended on the See of Rome. The Mossulnans converted it into a mosque, and TiRREY AND THE TURS. 193 called it kutchuk Aya Sophi (little St. Sophia), from its simili- tude to the cathedral. The north side of the Hippodrome is bounded by the highly- carved cloister and balustrades of the Achmeti ; on its south side, opposite, is a massy remnant of Constantine,s palace; and a few yards hehind it is the entrance of one of the vast cisterns made by the same emperor. Itis a noble excavation. The roof is supported by 220 marble columns. Each column is marked by the letters K O S, and with a globe surmounted by a cross. It was capable of containing 1,460,00 gallons of mater,-a good supply for 10,000 people during four months:---at present it is half-fi!lled with earth, and a few poor people spin silk in it. Fifty such subterraneous lakes, therefore, would have sufficed half-a-million of inhabitants during an ordinary seige, supposing the acquaducts to have been cut off. That there were as many or more for that purpose is not doubt- ful: and the Porte would do well to look for them and clear them out, now that the city is again in danger of being attacked. A detachment from the Russian fleet, or a troop of Cossacks in ad- vance, might cut the bendts in one night awful would be the distress, for all the water used in the city and the suburbs comes from them, fifteen miles distant. Such a crisis, however, is not thought of. Only two cisterns are known, one near St. Sophia, called for excellence the Basilica, of a similiar description, only on a more gigantic scale, having about 330 marble columns, some with Cor- inthians capitals. The next object of interest in this part of the city is the AVRET BAZAAR (WOMEN 1ARKET). Slavery sounds revolting to an English ear; change the name, where is the country in which it does not exist? The laborer is chained to his plough, the mechanic to his loom, the pauper to the work-house. Slavery ever has been, and must be, a principle of society, under different names. Where the population is thin, the powerful force the weak to be their drudges, or import others ; where the contrary is the case, 25 necessity is the coercive power. Freedom in connexion with the millions who depend on daily toil for daily bread, is a sophism. Since, therefore, slavery, barefaced or masked, exists, as though a provision of nature, to all communities, barbarous or civilized, it should rather be the object of rulers to render it bearable by wise provisions, than to aim at the impossibility of abolishing it, thereby entailing greater evils on the sufferers. Mohammed fulfilled this sacred duty, as the pages of the Kuran bear testimony. Among various regulations for the good treatment of slaves, that mothers should never be separated from their children, hon- ors his memory ; and, that it has ever been strictly observed, hon- ors the Mossulman people. But a market where-horrid idea !--women are sold like,beasts. God forbid that I should defend it ! At the same time, the pret- ty creatures seem so content, that I cannot pity them. Perhaps I should follow the example of most writers, who, whenever they touch by chance on such a subject, give vent to a deal of senti- mentalism and vaporing about weeping innocence, and dishevel- led locks, and torn garments, and beaten breasts. Such exist only in imagination, and I believe that many who: describe the slave-markets in such moving terms never saw one. Occasionally I will not deny, heart-rending scenes occur, in the case of captives of war, or victims of revolt, wrenched suddenly from all that is dear ; but these are rare occurrences. The Circassians and Georgians, who form the trade supply, are only the victims of custom, willing victims; being brought up by their mercenary parents for the merchants. If born Moham- medan, they remain so r if born Christian, they are educated in no faith, in order that they may conform, when purchased, to the Mossulman faith, and therefore they suffer no sacrifice on that score. They live a secluded life, harshly treated by their relations, never seeing a stranger's face, and therefore form no ties of friendship or love, preserve no pleasing recollections of home, to make them regret their country. Their destination is constantly 194 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. before their eyes, painted in glowing colors ; and, so far from dreading it, they look for the moment of going to Anapa, or Poti, whence they are shipped for Stamboul, with as much eagerness as a parlor-boarder of a French or Italian convent for her eman- cipation. In the market they are lodged in separate apartments, carefully secluded, where, in the hours of" business-between nine and twelve-they may be visited by aspirants for possessing such de- licate ware. I need not draw a veil over what follows. Deco- rum prevails. The would-be purchaser may fix his eyes on the lady's face, and his hand may receive evidence of her bust. The waltz allows nearly as much liberty before hundreds of eyes. Of course, the merchant gives his warranty, on which, and the preceding data, the bargain is closed. The common price of a tolerable looking maid is $500. Some fetch thousands, the value depending as much onaccomplishments as on beauty ; but such are generally singled out by the Kislar Aga. A courser article, from Nubia and Abyssinia, is exposed pub- licly on platforms, beneath verandahs, before the cribs of the white china. A more white toothed, plump-cheeked, merry- eyed set I seldom witnessed, with a smile and a gibe for every one, and often an audible " Buy me." " They are sold easily, and without trouble. Ladies are the usual purchasers, for domestics. A slight inspection suffices. The girl gets up off the ground, gathers her coarse cloth round her loins, bids her companions adieu, and trips gaily, bare- footed and bare-headed, after her new mistress, who immediately dresses her a la Turque, and hides her ebony with white veils. The price of one is about $80. Males are sold in different places--always young. Boys fetch a much higher price than girls, for evident reasons : in the East, unhappily, they are also subservient to pleasure, and when grown up are farther useful in many ways ; if smart, may ar- TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 195 rive at high employments; whereas woman is only a toy with Orientals, and, like a toy, when discarded, useless. Not far from the Avret Bazaar is a colossal stone edifice-an oblong square, surmounted by two domes--the finest public bath in Stamboul, built by a certain Mustapha Pasha, and bearing his name. As bathing has a great share in eastern customs, I may be excused digressing a little on the ceremonial. The structure is the same as that of the Roman baths. One of the domes is pierced by numerous illuminators; beneath it is the bath. The other dome is open at the summit, like the Pantheon's to let the rain descend in a marble basin of water on the floor. A broad bench surrounds the apartment, supplied with couches, each couch separated by a railing ; so that the most timid person need apprehend no intrusion on the place which he takes, and where he leaves his clothes. Decorum is a natural virtue with Mossulmans, strictly, almost fastidiously enjoined by the Kuren, and religiously observed. The Frank who goes for the first time to one of those great establishments feels very awkward, and wishes to retreat, for ther company gaze on him with surprise; the appearance of a Frank being not only unusual, but, I may almost say, of no occurrence. The courtesy, however, of the hammamgi (master,) and of the others, re-assures him. He is conducted to a sofa, and presented with a chibouque, which gives him time for reflection. He observes, with pleasure, the perfect cleanliness of everything, particularly the linen ; the pavement, too, variegated with slabs of verd antique, of roux antique, and of other colored marbles; the basin in the centre, an urn of one piece; the elegant carved chimney; the position of the company, some proceeding to the bath, others coming from it; some reposing in delightful langor, and others perform- ing their devotions; for the Mossulman, when purified out- wardly, does not neglect the inward man. When ready to quit his under garments, clean wrappers are put round his body and over his shoulders; a towel is put round his head. This garb is precisely the same as the ihram, the costume 196 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. mn which the hadgis perform their ceremonies at Mecca, and doubtless the type has a very proper effect on a Mossulman : the Frank sees nothing symbolic in it, but he feels great satisfaction in being so completely covered that the most shrinking modesty could not take offence. He then steps into wooden clogs, and supported by the tellak (bather,) walks toward the bath. A narrow passage intervenes between it and the dressing room, of moderate heat, where those who dislike rushing at once into a reservoir of vapor, like a steam engine's receiver, sit a while to allow the pores to adapt them- selves gradually to the increased action of the blood. In summer, when the thermometer is at 80 to 90 degs., the pre- caution is of little consequence; but, when there are 30 or 40 degs. difference between the dressing and the bathing rooms, the sensation, on suddenly entering the latter, is suffocation. The average heat of a bath is, in summer, 102, in winter 90 degs. Our stranger then penetrates into what he may well deem Pan- demonium. He sees, imperfectly through the new medium, a number of human figures stretched on the heated marble estrade, like corpses on the table of a fashionable dissector. Wild looking forms, half naked, with long loose hair, are enact- ing sundry manoeuvres over them, rolling them about, twisting them like sticks of wax, kneading them like dough, singing wildly all the time in a strange dialect, and making the vault ring with the claps of their hands agains each other on the flesh of the prostrate. Round the sides of the hall, beneath fountains, he sees other subjects, equally passive, literally undergoing the process of drowning. By the time that he has made these by no means consolatory observations, the perspiration is streaming from every pore, and his Asmodeus, who has never left him, seeing that he is in a fit state to act upon, signs to him to lie down. The stoutest has a nervousness creep over him at this moment ; would desist from the experiment were he not withheld by shame, and by a natural de- sire to try a new thing. TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 197 He takes another survey of the scene before resolving, and then, being satisfied that no one has died under the operation, resigns his body; with dismal forboding, though, if he possesses the slightest glimmering of anatomy, of suffering rupture or disloca- tion. I pass over the minor and agreeable process of titillation and friction to that of shampooing. Our Frank now begins to be alarmed; for his joints, unlike Turkish joints, are difficult of cracking. Fingers and toes soon yield, but his elbows and knees are obstinate add excite the tel- lak's wrath, who sings in a louder strain, and applies in good ear- nest to the task. His patient, knowing that what was pleasure to one is death to another, imagines that his joints are not made to crack, and there- fore begs him to desist, assuring him that he is well satisfied ; but as he speaks in some western tongue, the swarthy demon over him merely replies by a grin, and continues his work. At length im- perfect sounds are produced, on which he addresses words of congratulation, not understood; and the other, supposing all is over, feels half mortified that the operation has not been so ter- rible. Before, however, he can raise himself, the tellak slaps him on the shoulders and turns him over on his breast with the dexterity of a cook with a pancake, seizing his arms, crosses them be- hind with a strain, as if about to draw them from their sockets, thrusts his knee into the small of the back, and with this lever pulls up the head and shoulders, letting them fall again, him- self falling with his whole weight on the crossed arms. Each time this is repeated the internal fabric appears about to give way. The patient almost screalms with apprehension, and threatens loudly; but his tormentor, no ways moved, thinking that the delhi ghiaour is only amusing himself with the chorus of a song, continues the see-saw operation until the desired cracks issue from the shoulder-blades, or till he is tired. He then drops him, and wrings his own dripping locks. Our Frank forgets his rage, on finding after a minute investiga- 198 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. TUEKEY AND THE TURKS. 19V tion that he is whole, and allows himself to be led to a fountain; he conceives his terror over, but soon finds that he has only es- caped being broken alive for drowning. During five minutes eyes, ears, nose, mouth, (he fain tries to look and speak,) are filled with soap ; a tide of hot water, during another five minutes, washes that away, and leaves him clean for the first time in his life. Thus, parboiled, faint and angry, he is lifted on his legs; dry wrappers are put round him, a turban on his head, and he is led to his sofa with a determination never to enter another Turkish bath. He is laid on, and covered with hot linen, and fresh air is allowed to blow on him. He falls into a most voluptuous doze, sips his coffee and chibouque with a pleasure hitherto undreamt, while the nadins dry him by gentle pressure through the cloths- a species of magnetism-inducing slumber. A glass of sherbet thoroughly revives him, and he gets up so elasticized in mind and body, that he resolves to come again next day. A mirror, with back of mother-of-pearl, is held before him to tie his cravat; he counts the money on it, and judges of his liberality by the tone in which hoch guieldin (welcome) is pro- nounced. A Frank deems it requisite to overpay, as he may consider him- self as an intruder. In Stamboul, a native pays fifty paras (nine cents.) The poor are admitted for twelve paras, but then they have no tellak, nor are they entitled to a sofa; but they may use hot water for hours. In the interior of Asia Minor, such a bath does not cost a poor man above one or two paras. Men and women use some of the baths on alternate days, while others are reserved expressly for the different sexes. My ignor- ance of the custom nearly led me into a serious scrape, soon after my arrival in the country, viz: into a bath, where I had been once before, filled with women. A scream, and a confused wav- ing of long hair, told me at once my error. At any other time it would have been a delicious sight, and, as it was, astonishment for a moment chained my feet; but shriek on shriek, accompanied by some choice epithets, in which the 7u0 TURKEY AND THIE TURKE. sharp notes of the old predominated over the mellow tones, and, as I thought, stifled laughter of the young, bid me think of a re- treat, unless I desired unpleasant handling. There was not, for- tunately, a single person in the street to witness my exit, nor did I wait till one should come. I hastened down to the water side, took a caique, and rowed over to Galata. CHAPTER XIV. CONSTANTINOPLE, SOLAMANIE, BEDLAM, MAUSOLEUM, VALENS' AQUA- DUCT, MARCIAN'S COLUMN, HISTORIC COLUMN, SEVEN TOWERS, GOLDEN GATE, BREACH, SCUTARI, CEMETERY, HOWI[NG DER- VISHES. WE leave the interesting region of the two first hills, and, after a gentle descent and ascent, reach the third hill, where towers pre- eminent the superb mosque of Solyman the Magnificent, built on the most elevated part of the city, after the style of St. Sophia. but surpassing it in architecture, in site, in decoration; in all, save veneration and antiquity. It is 234 feet by 227 feet. A whole cupola and two half cupolas cover the central aisle, and ten small cupolas the lateral aisles. Nearly all the mosques are similarly capped, and the assemblage of so many cupolas has a very imposing effect. A flight of broad marble steps leads up to the great doors, before which is a fagade of six gigantic Egyptian granite columns with pointed capitals. There are also various other entrances, ornamented with arabesqued arch-work of good sculpture. Before the entrance is a court 117 feet by 152 feet, surrounded by a portico or open cloister formed of rows of marble columns with Turkish capitals, which are connected by Gothic arches, and sustain twenty-four cupolas. At the angles of the court spring the minarets, two of which have each three galleries, resembling wreaths in the distance; the two others, being lower in accord- ance with the laws of perspective, have only two each. In the centre of the court is a handsome marble reservoir, which supplies water to numerous fountains for the ablution of the Faithful, all of whom, before entering a mosque, wash arms, legs and neck-in the winter, no pleasant duty. They leave their shoes at the threshold, and walk in; then im- mediately kneel, and having first placed their hands a moment before their eyes and over their ears, as symbolic of shutting out the world, commence a series of prostrations which last twenty minutes. It is impressive to behold people of all ranks thus to- tally absorbed before God, their foreheads bent on the pavement; and that the head may literally come in contact, a Mossulman unrolls his turban; for Mohammed said : " The knees and foreheads of those doomed to penance in hell shall not be scathed by the fire, because those parts touched the ground, in adoration of the Supreme Being." It is difficult to go into a mosque at any time apd not find men at prayers, or in groups on their knees round an imam, who is expounding the Kuran to them. Women are not suffered to pray in the mosques, their presence being deemed prejudicial to the current of religion in men. I do not suppose they regret it, for, on the slender chance which the Prophet gives them of heaven, it is hardly worth their while to pray. In one of his journeys to the other regions, he declares that he saw heaven filled with the poor ; hell contained many rich, and swarmed with women. Poor women! he has fairly cut them out by the houris; yet, with consideration, he ordained that any true believer who might particularly desire it, might have a beloved wife with him in paradise. The interior of Solamanie is simple, and, from its simplicity, vaster apparently than in reality. The columns supporting the galleries are of valuable marbles, brought from Alexandria I roas. It has one altar and a pulpit--that is, a narrow stair highly orna- mented with gilding, which serves the purpose, and on which the 26 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 201 imam changes his place, ascends or descends a few steps, according to his discourse. In lieu of paintings or statues, the walls are covered with sen- tences from the Kuran, and the different names of the Creator, in Arabic characters, which, from their richness and variety, have a good appearance. At evening it is lighted with colored lamps, which are attached to a circle of brass of the size of the dome, and suspended beneath it by chains--a very elegant mode, copied by the Osmanleys from the Greeks. Connected with Solamanie is a bedlam, on a corresponding scale, adorned with marble colonnades, fountains, and gardens-- luxuries which sadly contrast with the state of the unfortunate inmates, who, furious or tame, are fastened by the neck with a heavy chain. We are generally led to believe that Orientals hold people thus afflicted in a certain degree of veneration ; in Constantinople, at least, they have lost the superstition, and see in them little more than wild beasts. Behind Solamanie, in a garden, are two octangular buildings covered with cupolas; they contain the bodies of Soliman and of Roxellana. The death of this great monarch caused such intense grief, that the superficies of the third hill scarcely contained the multitude that attended his funeral. As the offering most grate- ful to his spirit, the prejudice respecting women was broken through, and his favorite laid by him. The coffins are stone, the same as in all the royal mausoleums, which are numerous; the best are those erected by the mother of Mohammed IV. The above sketch applies to the principal mosques of Stam- boul. Each is more or less adorned with spoils of antiquity, which are certainly more worthily thus employed than in build- ing and repairing private fortresses and houses, as Rome wit- nessed. The mosque of Bajazet, near the last, built 1498, has twenty columns, four of which are of porphery, ten of verd antique, six of 202 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. Egyptian granite, besides eight smaller one of verd antique, which adorn the fountain. Scherhzade Giamisi, built by Soliman I., in memory of his son Mohammed, and Ederne Kapusu Giamisi, built by Mihrumah, (moon-eyed,) daughter of the same monarch, are both very elegant. Laleli, built by Mustapha, has remarkable subterranean exca- vations, supposed to have existed in ancient times as a cistern. Kilisi Giamisi, on the eastern declivity of the fourth hill, was a church built by the Emperor Anastasius, and, after St. Sophia, the most remarkable of the churches that were converted to mosques. What is singular, it retains ocular evidence of its former destination; in the cupolas, four in number, are Mosaics, well preserved, representing the Crucifixion, the Virgin, with other sacred pictures. Why the Mossulmans neglected to remove or destroy them, I do not know. The galleries are supported by fine Corinthian marble columns, and in the court is a large urn of one piece of verd antique. The distinctive sign of a royal mosque, is having two or more minarets. In Constantinople, four of the mosques have each four minarets; that alone of Sultan Achmet has six. The wooden spires on their summits are often gilded; some of the domes also are surmounted by a gilt ball, as if to lift them; and the effect is exceedingly tasteful, beyond what could be expected from so slight an ornament. To all the royal mosques are attached pious or learned estab- lishments, supported by the mosque revenues. Three have bed- lams; four have imarets (poor hospitals) ; and each has a medresseh (college with a library). The medresseh on the foundation of Mohammed II. (built on the fourth hill, eighteen years after the conquest) is famed for having produced the most sages in Ottoman learning. The library established by Abdul Hamed, father of the late Sultan, is the best. In all are twelve libraries, containing Persian, Arabic, and Turkish literature. They are not much fre- 203 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. quented, nor much enriched by modern authors. The Mossul- man Agustan age was when the Moors ruled Spain, of which the library of the Escurial possesses the best evidence. The third and fourth hills are connected by an acquaduct of forty-one arches, built originally by the Emperor Valens, of .ruins of Chalcedonia, and since restored by Soliman. Its posi- tion is happy, uniting in an eminent degree the ornamental and the useful; for, in addition to its acqueous office it preserves the contour of the city, the valley it spans being so wide* compared with the others, that, without it, Constantinople would appear two cities. It occupies nearly the centre of the length. To go on it is rather hazardous, yet it is worth while to venture a few yards for the sake of the prospect on either hand. The water in some part filters through and constantly drops, making some mosses on adjoining fragments sprout luxuriantly. The Xdrianople street, which nearly bisects the city longitudinally, passes under the eastern extremity; following its course across the valley, we ascend the FOURTH HILL, where, near the mosque of Mohammed II. in the court-yard of a Mossulman's house (now burnt down,) is the column of the Em- peror Marcian, in excellent preservation. .The height is fifty-two feet; the shaft is granite; the capital, of the Corinthian order, is well executed, and supports a square urn, ornamented at each angle with an eagle in half relief. In the precincts of another Mossulman's habitation, where was the forum of Arcodius, is the remnant of a pedestal, supposed to be of the celebrated historic column, representing Theodosius' victories, which we are told, rose 140 feet above the pavement, and whence the murderer and usurper, Alexius Ducas, was cast down by the judgment of the Latin chiefs, 1204. Other remnants of antiquity probably remain in the vast cir- cnit of Stamboul's walls; but to find them is the difficulty; chance is one's only guide, a conflagration by laying open quar- ters, one's best map. Tiresome as is the well-conned tale of a professed ciceroni, I 204 TUT1REY AND THE TUT. have often wished for one in Constantinople. The presence is better than the absence. One is not obliged to listen, and he saves a great deal of riding or walking, which is keenly felt in a large, hilly, ill-paved city, where innocent curiosity is magnified into necromancy: the pursuits of an antiquarian interpreted as the researches of a treasure hunter. There are few natives of the East who can understand the incentives of curiosity or pleasure, uninfluenced by stronger motives. If they see a man taking observations, he is calculating a horoscope; if they see him measuring ruins, he his tracing some deposit of coin. They hate trouble, and therefore cannot reconcile it with pleasure. But in default of antiquities, there are a few modernites that are interesting by their resemblance to ancient usages. The shops are like the shops at Pompeii, open from side to side, having a parapet where the window should be, with a narrow sill by way of a doo; : they are closed at night by shutters, slinging on the top, which in the day serve for awnings : the counters are covered with slabs of marble, always beautifully clean, particularly so where preparations of creams, wheys, &c. are sold, of which the Osmanleys make great consumption. The confectioners' shops are admirable in point of elegance, and the excellence of the article; every body has heard Turkish sweetmeats praised ; I may add that one is in danger of having a tooth-ache during his stay at Constantinople. The cooking houses are very tempting; cababs, and roasted sheep's heads, are smoking in them all day long. You go in with your friend, and squat down on a clean mat: ad interim the chibouq'ue is brought. Cababs on toast are served in five minutes, with a jug of wine which you order from the nearest Greek vault; a cup of coffee terminates your luncheon, the whole about the cost of sixteen cents, paid handsomely. The Osmanleys, like the ancients, eat and drink a great deal in the open air. Venders of sherbets, of rolls, of creams, of sweet- meats, of catimeras, (sort of cake), of boza, (kind of beer), are TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 205 at every corner; whereby the cries of Constantinople are as nu- merous as those of Paris. Some of them sound ludicrous to an English ear :--az beaz (white, white) in relation to bread, makes the newly arrived Eng- lishman often turn round in mingled anger and surprise. Balluks (fish) likewise catches his ear for the first few days ; and perpetu- ally these two resound in all the streets. The Osmanleys also shew the taste of the Romans in their conntry houses, by building them on piles in the water where possible; and so far do they project over the Bosphorus, that pri- vate caiques lie under the basement floors, whence they issue ro- mantically through low arches; and the inhabitants are often seen fishing from their windows,-a mode peculiarly suitable with their indolence. Many other points of similarity might be cited between the an- cient Romans and the Osmanleys. The burial grounds of the latter are nighly ornamented, and equally rendered sulservient to social intercourse ; their love of display, I may add, in appear- ing abroad with numerous attendants; and their contempt of women. But in what relates to the decencies of life, there is not the slightest resemblance. The signs over the doors, the frescoes in the chambers of Pom- peii, have not the remotest counterpart in Turkey. In the article of cruelty too, there exists a wide difference. The exhi- bitions which delighted the Romans would disgust the possessors of their second capital. Spain alone humbly imitates them. The cloaques are also evidences of the former masters of Con- stantinople. They are indifferently kept; but connected with them is a curious anecdote of the late sultan, who, when young, had Haroun Alraschid's habit of going about the city incognito. It chanced one day that he passad by one of the cloaques that was opened for the purpose of being cleaned ; in it was a man up to his neck in abominable filth, endeavoring in vain to remove an obstruction. The sultan stopped, and looked with commiseration at a human being thus employed. At length the laborer, after long driving and tugging, lost his 206 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. patience : he threw down his guielberi, uttered an oath, and was about to abandon his work ; but, as if suddenly receiving a bright idea, took up his instrument again and thus apostrophized his im- patient spirit : " Dayan gian, yoksa seni bounden beter boku soccarim ;" which being translated, means, " Persevere my soul, or I will plunge thee in worse filth than this." At this exclamation, made by the speaker in perfect ignorance of who was listening, the sultan opened the eyes of astonishment. " Is it possible," he thought, " that there can be a worse occu- pation than this ?" He returned to the seraglio, but could not rest for thinking on what he had heard. He asked his attendants to expound the la- borer's meaning : they could not. " Go then." he at length said " and fetch him hither." "Where is the honest man who was working here this morn- ing ?" demanded a capidgi of the superintendant of cloaques. "God knows--he left off work two hours since." "Wonderful? find him instantly !" The appearance of an officer of the seraglio on such an errand aroused some of the neighbors. One exclaimed, " He went to the bath from here : a boy followed him, carrying a suit of clothes." " Which bath ?" asked the capidgi. "Run, bring him to me." The object of this research in the mean time had completely purified himself (without which salutary measure he could not have gone into a mosque to say his evening prayer), and now ap- peared quite another person, dressed in a suit of good cloth, a fur pelisse, with a caouk on his head ; he might have passed for a substantial tradesman. "Kalk, guiel,"-- Rise, come,"-exclaimed a messenger, rush- ing into the bath, where he was enjoying the restorative chi- bouque; " quick, a capidgi of the Porte wants you." " God is great," replied the other; "want me I why-for what ?" " You will know soon enough. Come." TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 207 The capidgi, having ascertained that he was the very man, bid him follow him to the seraglio. During the walk he vainly en- deavored to guess at the evil which he conceived had fallen on on his head. "Eshek," (ass,) said the sultan to the officer, on beholding a respectably dressed man, who would have done credit to a pasha's suite; " I told thee to bring me that fakyr hokulu" (stinking wretch.) " Effendimiz, this is he." The sultan then addressed the man, who was standing with his hands crossed before him, his eyes cast on the floor, in great ap- prehension : " Wast thou, some hours since, in the cloaque, in the condition of a hog ?" The fact could not be denied. "What said'st thou, dost thou remember ?" This question made him fear that in his wrath he had uttered something treasonous, which had been overheard, and he began to implore grace on the plea, that in a moment of anger a man's tongue may utter what his heart does not acknowledge. " Fear nothing," replied the sultan; "didst thou not say, 'Dayan,' &c. Explain what situation is worse; or didst thou speak in folly ?" Thus reassured, the man answered by pointing to the tchoca- dars, who were in the presence, and added : "Their situation is worse." If the sultan was before astonished, he was now still more so. " The work," continued the man, " at which I was engaged is disgusting in the eyes of God ; but it gains me sufficient in two or three hours for the day-sometimes for two days. I am then free. I purify myself from its stains, and dress becomingly : I frequent the mosques, and the cafenehs, master of my time ; where- as thy officers cannot call one moment their own, to eat or to drink. This is my meaning ; I told my spirit that if I had not courage to submit to that servitude for two hours, I should be 208 TURKEY AND THE TURKa obliged to put it in perpetual bondage, by taking a great man's bread, to be at his call the whole twenty-four hour." The sultan, far from being offended at his boldness, dismissed him with a handsome present; though, I dare say, the tchoca- dars, thus coarsely commented on, would rather have seen him get the bastinado. This circumstance, which related to me by an officer of the seraglio, gives rise to reflections on the cause of love of freedom, which this man possessed in its widest sense, simple, divested of any specious ornament. Whence- came it? He could not conceive it disgraceful to serve a great man, for an oriental education inculcates that that condition is honorable, and it confers consideration. It came from pure love of indo- lence, so dear to, so cherished by, the Osmanleys, to indulge which they are capable of enduring great privations. Does it follow that love of freedom and love of indolence are synonymous terms ? The cafenehs likewise merit a stranger's notice in Constanti- nople less on account of their number-several hundreds--their charming shady situations, and their elegant fitting up, with variegated marbles and sculpture, not to nmention highly colored, representations of ships, kioski, gardens, &c., in which the fish are as large as the ships, the men as tall as the houses, than for embracing the whole mystery of the barber's science-a science which is looked on with infinitely more respect in the East than in the West, and to which the preparation of the sober berry, far from being the stay of the concern, is quite secondary; simply in- tended with chibouques, to amuse the customers while waiting. In addition to shaving, cutting hair, trimming, dyeing and anointing, the barber bleeds, draws teeth, and applies leeches, all very adroitly. At the same time may be seen, one man holding his head to be washed and shaved, over an enormous metal basin, the operator twisting the solitary look from side to side, and brandishing his razor with inimitable grace ; a second submitting to have every hair plucked out which interferes with the prescribed line of beard and moustaches; a third having his eyebrows dyed; a tur- 27 209 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. baned urchin squalling as a bad tooth comes out; a Tartar with his sleeves up to his shoulder, getting bled after a long journey ; in the corner, a tiriaki coiled up, enjoying his dream of Paradise ; and, if in Pera, the scene is further diversified by Franks, smok- ing and chatting, waiting a turn. Oh ye ! who visit the east, put yourself under an Armenian or Turkish barber. Never shave yourselves. His shaving is am- brosial. The delicate manipulation with which he assists the steel sets you to sleep, and so exquisitely is the operation per- formed, without ruffling, in the slightest degree, the tenderest skin, that when done, and feeling your face, you start-consider- ing the country you are in--doubtful of your sex. We need go no further than the fifth hill. Thus far the breath of the seraglio vivifies the languid mass ; thus far every description of traveler, with one added to Sterne's list-the hypocondriac- may find food for amusement and reflection; but, beyond it, we wander through a wasted city, and view the effect of the silent depopulation-from executions, disease, and famine-which has reduced its 750 inhabitants, in the reign of Solyman, to half the Iumber. Our eyes wander over the Etmeidan, Janizzaries' slaughter scene, and rest on three large towers in the south-west angle of the city, which denote THE SEVEN TOWERS. How things become changed from their original purpose ! A church becomes a stable, a palace barracks, a hut, the residence of a monarch, by the vicissitudes of war; but Mohammed II. lit- tle thought, when he erected this fortress for the custody of his treasures, that it wohld be long solely used as a prison for Christian ambassadors. The apartment where they were lodged is not bad. The golden gate, or triumphal arch, raised by Theodosius to commemorate his victory over Maximus-through which for one emperor who entered it in triumph twenty ingloriously fled, there- by rendering the name a mockery-was in the present circuit of 210 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. the seven towers. Two dilapidated Corinthian columns, support- ing the remnant of a frontispiece, denote its existence. Adjoining the towers, supplying the want of the golden gate, is the gate Yedi kulu kapusu. Four other gates also give en- trance to the city from the country, viz: Ederne kapusu (anc : gate of Poliandro,) Top kapusu (ane: gate of St. Romanus,) Mevlana yeni kapusu (ane: porta quinta,) Selivri kapusu (ane : gate of - .) These gates are massive arches uniting the double wall, and connecting each with a good stone bridge over the fosse, which is twenty-five feet wide, and not so many in depth, notwithstanding the assertion of history, that it was one hundred feet deep at the time of the Mohammedan conquest; which, however, it could not have been, or we should not be able to see the ruins of the breach in it as we can. A fine paved road runs along it, from the Pro- pontis to the harbor, a distance of three miles and a half, bor- dered on the left hand, for a considerable way, by a vast ceme- tery. The great age of some of the cypresses, and the antique fashion of many of the tombs, led me to conclude that this was the re- ceptacle of those who fell in the storm-a striking evidence of which event is seen in the prostrate condition of a tower, and of eighty feet of wall to the ditch, about one-third of the distance from the sea of Marmora to the harbor near the gate of St. Ro- manus. The Mohammedans considering them a trophy, and believing that Constantinople had seen its last siege, have suffered these in- teresting ruins to remain where they fell ; and time has orna- mented them with a profusion of wild creepers. No! beautiful, and romantic, and classic, as is Constantinople and its environs in every part, it has no spot so truly interesting, so riveting to the imagination as this-the breach, where closed the career of the last and the noblest of the Constantines. One more suburb of Constantinople remains to be mentioned : the city of Scutari, on the opposite side, in Asia.. It was anciently called Chrysopolis, (city of gold,) the cause of TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 211 which name still exists, in its being the depot for the caravans from Arabia, from Syria, and from all parts of Asia Minor. In consequence, its inhabitants are chiefly employed in manufactur- ing saddlery, with all kinds of horse and traveling equipage. One mile from it is the site of the city of Chalcedonia, now oc- cupied by the village Kady Koju; and, about a cable's length of it, in the fair way of the Bosphorus, on a rock just above water, is a square white tower, called the Europeans Leander's Tower (without any reason,) by the natives Kiz Kulesi (Maiden's Tower,) built by Manuel Comnenus for the purpose of extending a chain from it across the strait. It is admirably situated for assailing hostile ships : some heavy cannon are mounted, and in the rock is a spring of pure water. Between it and the shore is a passage for vessels not drawing above fourteen feet. The inhabitants of Scutari being entirely true believers (ex- cepting some Hebrews,) the mosques, royal and private, are nu- merous, and handsome. That built by a daughter. of Solyman's is the most elegant. There is also a superb pile of barracks, built by Selim III. for the Nizam dgeditt, and near the city is a seraglio where the sul- tans used to reside for a while when they intended to follow the armies to a Persian war. From the outskirts of Scutari the great cemetery stretches three miles over the plain, where repose the half of the genera- tions of Stamboul, undisturbed by axe or spade. A more striking memento of human nothingness, a more im- posing tribute of human piety, a more sincere attestation of faith in resurrection, elsewhere is not to be seen. The graves are never disturbed, being barricaded by supersti- tion as well as by law : for it is the Mossulman faith that some part of the body (the os-sacrum, generally believed) remains un- decayed, on which, at the last day, to effect regeneration. Some Mossulman divines assert that the dead suffer torments while actually in the grave; that they do until laid there is uni- versally orthodox; for which reason the breath is scarcely out of a man than he is hurried to his last home without ceremony, 212 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. the bearers running as fast as they can, giving a funeral a gro- tesque appearance. All Mossulmans believe that the dead undergo an examination in the grave, before Monkir and Nekir, sometime during the first three days, in order to decide whether the patient shall go straight to heaven, or perform a little preparatory penance in hell. On this account the grave is constructed so as to allow the body to sit up and answer, questions. I have often witnessed a Turkish burial; as soon as the pro- cession reaches the spot fixed on, breathless, two of the party set about digging a grave, while the remainder sit round the coffin in a circle, apparently unconcerned. Women cannot attend. The coffin is then taken to pieces, and the body being laid in the ground, a kind of vault is raised over it with the planks, on which the earth is heaped. No service whatever is performed. This accomodation is of course very temporary, but it lasts suffi- ciently long for the dark inquisitorial angels to arrive. The tombs, or monuments, are very beautiful; they are of white marble, covered with verses of the Kuran, durably and massively gilded on a dark-blue ground. The Osmanleys carry the art of gilding to perfection, and the Arabic character is peculiarly effec- tive for its display. The name of the deceased only is inscribed, without any record of virtues, such as deface Christian tombs- deface, I say, since in nine cases out of ten, the record is false. The nature of the carved turban denotes the rank which the deceased held in society. Women's monuments are distinguished by a lotus leaf painted on them. Some graves are covered with marble troughs, filled with soil, to grow flowers in, the odor of which is grateful to the spirit when he revisits his earthly tenement ; neither is it uncommon, in the cities, to see private burial plots covered over with wire trellis work in which to keep birds, whose notes are also supposed to solace the spirit. All erroneous as it is, this idea is very beautiful, and the possessors of it are enviable; it is the most in- tellectual part of the Mossulman faith, and shows that Moham- med had a soul for poetry. TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 213 How soothing to' affection the belief, that it can afford plea- sure to the soul of a departed friend--can still converse with it; how assuaging to the pang of separation! It is touching some- times to witness the solicitude of Turkish females about these hallowed spots, where they pass some part of nearly every day. Once in a romantic burying ground, on the banks of the Bos- phorus, I accidentally saw a young female, unveiled, with her hair loose, plucking the stones from a new-made grave, and casting them from her with maniac gestures. She did not perceive me, but continued her sad task till not a stone or a weed defaced it; then threw herself on it. There she remained till her women, who were observing her from a distance, came and roused her from her trance of wo. In Europe such grief would be deemed a mockery; but with Eastern women, whose passions grow in solitude, who have few worldly amusements to divert the current of their thoughts, and whose joy generally centres in one object, with whom, perhaps, hope dies, it is too often real. The deep solemnity of this vast forest of cypresses, impene- trable alike to sun or gale, cannot be imagined. Paved roads in- tersect it in various directions, hourly traversed by man and beast. On which ever side you approach Constantinople or its suburbs, it is through a burial ground; you cannot pass from one quarter to another but through a burial ground; you look out of a win- dow on a burial ground; your only promenades are in the burial grounds. Mossulmans, at least, have the awful lesson constantly before their eyes. At night the dogs troop in them, to the annoyance of all that have to pass them ; and, without being provided with a good stick and a lantern, a man has a chance of being found in the morning ready laid for burial; for, though a most cowardly species, they have wolfish blood, and acquire artificial courage at night-time. Yet to see one crouching behind every tomb-one darting at you at every angle-to hear their continued bark-adds an indescrib- able interest to these gloomy solitudes. Thus, amidst the ruins 214 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. of Ephesus, how exciting is the long howling of the jackals in every direction ! How greatly would it enhance the scene, on entering the Baalbec, to meet an hyena! What a train of association it caused me, one day at Sardis, the sight of p Turcoman boring one of the three remaining columns of the Temple of Apollo, for the purpose of blasting it ! It is not that an hyena, or a jackal, or a Turcoman, abstractedly viewed, adds much to the picture, but connectively each speaks volumes. They are the postscripts of time-the seals of deso- lation. An extent of ruins signifies no farther than that a city once stood there; there may be another within five miles; tenant it with savage beasts, and we conclude that equal ruin has befallen the surrounding country. The Turcoman boring the column was a sorry spectacle; but what a tale of fallen grandeur ! in the once proud capital of Croesus, the tumuli of Alyattes and his wives in sight ; 'what evidence of the reign of barbarism ! Thus, also, in the cemeteries which environ Stamboul, we involuntarily think, as the pack yells round us, that we are in a desert. Ten paces on we enter a populous quarter. They never disturb the dead, (which would be easy, on account of the shallowness of the graves,) or the Turks would soon destroy them. I do not even think that they like human flesh. Lord Byron says, in the notes to the Siege of Corinth, that he has seen them gnawing bodies washed up under the seraglio walls. That should be conclusive; but I suppose his lordship wrote from memory, and mistook the place. The water beneath the seraglio wall is bound by a pier two feet above its surface, past which the current rushes without the slightest eddy, at the rate of two-and- a-half miles per hour. Nothing thrown into the Bosphorus lower down than Buyukdere Bay, or the Propontis, can turn up--that is, come to shore, within several miles of Constantipople. Indeed, it is contrary to reason to suppose that the Turks, who have such superstitious veneration for the dead, would tolerate these disgust- ing animals, were they in the habit of violating them. Adjoining this paradise of worms is the college of dervishes TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 215 kadi, or the howling dervishes, in contradistinction to the dancing dervishes at Pera. We found them in full cry. They were extremely civil; were flattered at our curiosity, and gave us pro- minent seats. The apartment was octangular, surrounded by a, low railing, to keep off the spectators. The superior gave the time with his hand and head, while about twenty brethren moaned, half sung a kind of hymn, in which the names Allah, Mohammed, Mustapha, (a saint, founder of the order,) continually recurred. At inter- vals some howled suddenly. others danced round as mad, and all by turns approached and kissed the hand of the superior, who sat aside on a carpet. During the performance, sick people were carried in and laid at the superior's feet to be cured. He whispered in their ears, stroked their breasts, and then bid them rise. They obeyed: some tottered off; others, faith lighting up their sunken eyes, joined the holy troop, and sung and danced with equal fervor. Presently, the scene changed to one of a more lively descrip- tion. To the notes ya-la-ye-ip, sung to a merry tune, the fanatics twisted their bodies in rapid contortions, jerked themselves vio- lently forward and backward, to either side, their heads twirling and their eyes rolling in a frightful manner, making the specta- tors giddy and expect every moment that some would fall into fits. Occasionally, seized by a sudden impulse, they howled in concert. For upwards of thirty minutes this bedlamite game had lasted, and we began to think that the actors were endowed with perpe- tual motion, when the superior, extending his hand, pronounced the word " Allah." Immediately after, as if they felt the hand of the Almighty as well as heard his name, they stood each still as a statue, eyes fixed, head firm. This was the grand coup de theatre, and exceed- ingly well done it was-quite sublime. The sport recommenced with greater ardor. In a state, appa- rently, of complete phrenzy, they seized each others' hands, and they danced, and they sang, and they leaped in concert. Then, 216 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. dividing in two lines, they rushed from side to side, and they charged, head down like goats, only separating to meet again with greater impetus, all the while making the dome resound with dis- cordant howls. Finally, closing in a heap, confusedly embraced, with disorder- ed garments and swollen veins, they stamped and rolled round the hall, till three, overcome with the violence of the exercise, foamed and fell into convulsions. This was the triumph of devotion; and thus terminated, after two hours' continuance, as singular a scene of folly, grafted on superstition, as one could wish to see. It is worth seeing once, and only once. Under the head of Scutari, I should mention that from the heights behind it, is a fine, by some said to be the finest, view of Constantinople. Whether it is, I will not pretend to decide, since the impression made on me was the same from which ever side I received it. One is in danger of becoming surfeited with the profusion of beauties which nature has here amassed in a nar- row compass. I would recommend the epicure in such things, on his arrival, to take horse and ride to Buyukdere, by which he will prolong his enjoyment. There let him embark in a caique, and descend the Bosphorus. I will not dwell on the enchantment. Who once makes this excursion will be tempted to repeat it often. Nor is the ride devoid of interest. During the first two or three miles, let him occasionally turn round, and look on the glorious scene he is leaving. Each time he will doubt the evidence of his senses, comparing the proud. capital--billows on billows of city--within cannon range, with the barren, almost trackless, heath he is traversing, where man neither sows nor reaps. To the civilized European the contrast is truly painful. To find himself, on leaving Palmyra, at once in a sandy desert, would only excite his surprise at the individual folly which could build in such a spot; at the same time, the triumph of art over nature would reconcile him to the anomaly, and flatter human pride. Here it is the triumph of ignorant, indolent despotism, 28 PURREY AND THE TURKS. 217 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. over a soil which scarcely needs the spade to burst into fertility, yet remains profitless. Luxury alone might have prompted the ornamental. Ascending the heights of Kiris Bournoo, the fortifications of the Bosphorus and the distant Euxine open on him-a scene that may be dwelt on. There is another view to which I would draw attention. It is from the tombs of the Armenian cemetery on the borders of a deep ravine. The spectator looks down between two hills nearly united at their bases, only separated by a narrow rivulet, thickly studded with habitations; that on the right being the Greek vil- lage of St. Demetrius, notorious for the lax morals of its inhabi- tants; on the left is Pera. Emerging from the shadow of the hills are seen the capitan pasha's palace, and the arsenal gates on the one hand ; on the other, his divan bane and the quarters of Kasym Pasha. Beyond them the harbor intervenes with admirable effect, to break the monotony of architeoture-masts and yards mingling with doors and windows, caiques appearing and disappearing among cypresses and domes-not an expanded sheet, but a nar- row triangular lake, of insufficient dimensions, apparently, to allow the guard frigate anchored in it to swing round, her broad, red ensign wanting space to display its ample folds. From the base of the triangle, on the farther side, Stamboul rises, and expands to the east and west, with the configuration of the hills, till two-thirds of its extent are visible. Valens' aquaduct occu- pies the centre of the picture, and over its deep arches, lying par- allel with them, defined on either side by the domes of a mosque, the soft blue line of the Propontis, like the pencil stroke of a drawing which represents distant water, faintly traces the horizon. When the sun is setting, and gilding the columns and minarets: or on gala nights, when the frigate and the mosques are covered with lamps: or, still more magnificent, when the devouring ele- ment, as I have seen it. careers over the seven-hilled city, the above feebly indicated scene is capable of arresting the attention 218 of a gourmand whose dinner is waiting. The masses of dwellings thus brought together in a coup d'ccil, from the nature of the site, and the fore-shortening of the picture, are striking in another sense; they prompt the question : "How do their inhabitants exist ?" a question which every stranger puts to himself as well as to others-a question which is difficult to answer; for Constantinople does not offer the same resources as the great Christian capitals, for those who live on their wits. Vice, the great alimenter of idleness, is kept under by the strong arm of religious law. There is little commerce; there are few arts; there is no great influx of travelers; the rich men of the provinces do not congregate in it. There are no cultivated lands to speak of within twenty miles, in some directions not with- in fifty miles. The commonest necessaries of life come from distant parts the corn for daily bread from Odessa; the cattle and sheep from beyond Adrianople, or from Asia Minor; the rice, of which such a vast consumption is made, from the neighborhood of, Philippopolis; the poultry chiefly from Bulgaria; the fruit and vegetables from Nicomedia and Mondania. Thus a constant drain of money is occasioned, without any visible return except to the treasury or from the property of the Ulema. The places above mentioied may be considered as foreign parts; their inhabitants never visit the capital, and thereby re- store the equilibrium. But though I cannot precisely solve the problem of the means of the Constantinopolitans, I may give a rough sketch of them, which may serve as a specimen of the in- habitants of European Turkey in general; not of the Asiatic Turks, who are a different people; more open and hospitable, less treacherous and avaricious; but far more fanatic and igno- rant. 219 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. CHAPTER XVI. ON THE OSMANLEYS, THE GREEKS, THE ARMENIANS, THE JEWS. WE proceed to give a sketch of the Constantinopolitans, among whom irank foremost, of course, the Osmanleys. As they value beauty, even in men, more tha talent, it is right to commence saying a word on that subject ; the more necessary because they have been so often described as a very handsome race, and the im- pression thereby made is so strong, that it requires to be among them some time before allowing one's self to doubt. All, how- ever, who have visited Constantinople since the catastrophe of the Janizzaries, agree that they are not in general good looking, the disuse of turbans and long robes being the cause of their altered appearance. Excepting Russian troops, I never saw a worse fa- vored body of men than the Nizamdgeditt. The magical effects of a turban are well known. It gives depth to light eyes, expression to dark eyes; it softens harsh fea- tures, relieves delicate ones ; it hides mis-shapen ears, or a " villan. ous low forehead;" it adds gravity to a simple countenance, dig- nity to a sensible one; and it little matters whether a man be hump-backed or bandy-legged, crooked or parrot-footed, when clothed in ample robes, which, besides concealing defects, impart a theatrical assurance to his step. Midway between the savage and the civilized man in regard of mental resources, not yielding however to the latter in physical enjoyments, the vices of the Osmanleys have been overrated, because they have been chiefly drawn at periods of fanatic ex- citement, which should only be considered as episodes. The most favored nations, at times, with all the advantage of educa- tion and example, commit wholesale the excesses of Ashantees and Cherokees; yet, when the crisis is over, resume their places in the front ranks of civilization. The prominent feature of his character, and which, far more 220 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. than his religion, acts as a bar to improvement, is an exceeding love of indolence, which he carries to an extent scarcely creditable : shop-keepers, in hot weather, rather than rise off their cushions to reach you what you want, will desire you to go to another shop. The " dolce far niente," joined to the pensar niente, is the Os- manley's felicity ; and while he could flatter himself that he was as far above the rest of the human species as his prophet above him, he constantly enjoyed it; but late reverses have broken the charm, and placed him in the condition of a parylatic invalid, who wakes from a dream of health to a sense of his helpless- ness. He is not revengeful, that is, if interest be in the Scale against passion, unlike the Albanian, with whom blood must atone blood. He will forgive a personal insult, and embrace the murderer of his friend ; will fight with ardor for his patron, and the moment after be equally faithful to his fortunate rival; coming at the sight of the firman of death, to the very executioner of a kind master. Provided with this authority, a man might stab a pasha in his divan (if he cduld get at him,) and it would almost save him from the immediate fury of his attendants; certainly it would save him were they in an adjoining chamber. But the Osmanley's treachery is terrible : for, as the Spartan boys were taught to consider theft meritorious, so does he con- sider the art of successfully dissembling the highest effort of the human mind. The command that he exercises over his tongue and features is perfect--by us unattainable. The most cutting reproach, or the most sudden surprise, or the most joyful news, is no ways betrayed by one or the other, unless he be in a situa- tion not to need observation, when he will foam. His entire ed- ucation tends to the acquirement of this talent. Through life he is no better than an automaton while in the pre- sence of a superior ; with eyes cast down and hands crossed before him, he stands unless bidden to sit-is mute unless invited to speak. The more I have witnessed of this command over what may be termed the involuntary emotions, the more I have been 221 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. astonished; but it requires a painful apprenticeship to arrive at such perfection. Individually, he is courageous; and he is skilful in the use of arms, drawing his ataghan in particular with an electric effect, so that at one moment he can unsheath it, and almost sever his opponent. No inconvenience, however, arises from this aptitude, for it is death by the law to use a weapon unless by command of a superior. Severe as this law is, heat of blood not being even admitted in excuse, it is invariably acted on, otherwise no man's life would be safe among an armed population; and in conse- quence, no country is so free from manslaughter. Once, and only once, did I know of a fight; it took place one afternoon on the quay of Buyukdere; between two of the capitan pasha's guards, one of whom half intoxicated, had just taken a loaf from a Greek's shop, for which offence the patrol, which hap- pened to be passing at the time, seized him and were driving him towards the pasha's kiosk, that the soles of his feet might pay the penalty of the palms of his hands. Irritated, at length, by the abuse and the blows of the chevass bashi, the fellow turned sharp round, drew out his own sabre from the hands of the chevass who was carrying it, and made a cut at the bashi. The bashi parried it, also a second blow, but, then finding himself hard pressed, dropped his stick and drew his ataghan. They were now on a par, both much enraged, and ths affair seemed likely to be sanguinary. Their countrymen did not interfere, probably fear- ing a bye blow otherwise than by calling on Allah to witness their madness; nor did we. and for the same reason. Still, however, the parties kept a respectful distance apart, preluding by some pretty flourishes, which made the air whiz as though they were using switches. At length, with one accord, they advanced a pace, and made a cut. Neither thought of guarding. The blades, directly hori- zontal, passed each other like flashes, and took effect--the sabre dividing the skin of its opponent's neck, while the ataghan, not being so long, only reached the other's nose, making a neat inci- 222 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. sion across it--at the moment we thought that one of their heads was off. The sight of blood cooled instead of inflaming the antagonists, who instantly sheathed their weapons; and he who had first drawn, recollecting then the enormity of his fault, rushed, with presence of mind, into the house of a diplomatist, relying on the respect usually accorded to such. Thence he was conveyed to the flagship. The pasha ordered him to be strangled at sunset ; but, in con- sideration of his temporary asylum, sent him to the bagnio in- stead. The Osmanley is avaricious from the nature of his country, which combines uncertainty of employment and insecurity of pro- perty. At the same time he is inconsistent ; for, though he may be said to adore gold, ostentation makes him spend it. He will give rich presents to a stranger, while an intimate friend may expect in vain for a token of liberality. He has a richly dressed train of domestics and a beautiful stud, neither of which can he employ, while his domestic expenditure is so trifling that, expecting on parade days, when it is lavish, one dollar will pay for the dinner of a pasha's household. Simplicity guides most of his tastes; perfumes, and the sound of falling water, and rushing wind--harmless pleasures which are easily procured by artificial means-are necessary to his comrn- fort ; to which add the chibouque, and a tolerable supply of cof- fee, and he requires no more to enable him to get through the day with patience. At evening he may honor the ladies with his pre- sence. We will not draw the harem curtains; a description of the bizarre and multiplied sensualities behind it, would ratlfer of- fend than amuse. Yet this monotonous life is capable of being exchanged for one of violent action, and with a surprising facility. After lolling half a year in Sybarite indolence, only using his legs to convey him from one sofa to another, he will gird his loins, and ride twelve hours a day for a month. He is not the unsocial animal so perpetually described ; on the TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 223 24 TURKEY AND TITE TURKS" contrary, he is very partial to the company of his likenesses, as the constant occupation of the coffee houses prove. True, whether in town or country, his verbal intercourse is confined to " selam aleykum, aleykum selam, ne var," and other ordinary ques- tions and answers, followed by a long silence; but what can they say ? deprive the most loquacious people of books, of gazettes, of scandal, their conversation will soon drop to monosyllables. The Osmanley'shospitality haabeen too much extolled on prin- ciple, for in a country which offers few resources for travelers, hospitality becomes not only a bounden duty, but a point of self- interest in order to obtain the same upon occasion; besides, the arrival of a traveler in a family is as good as a half a year's news- papers. Neither is his charity, wide-flowing though it be, so very meri- torious, because it springs from the selfish idea of smoothing with it the individual way to heaven, not out of" kindness to all men ;" and is, therefore, in appearance cold, bitter cold, as any one will say who has seen a pious Osmanley give away his quantum of pa- ras in his morning stroll, one by one, according as he is solicited, then stop at a baker's shop, buy a loaf, break it in pieces, and distribute them to the expectant dogs; after which stated duty, a friend's son, or a friend's hound in distress, would scarcely attract his notice. Such arises from his religion, which consists chiefly of appea- rances-abbutions; alms, prayers-by which, obliging his follow- ers to attest their faith daily in public, by acts that could not be misinterpreted or slurred over, making the infraction a crime, lit- tle caring whether the heart were in unison with the tongue or not, Mohammed provided his creed with a firm bulwark against the most dangerous of heresies-visible indifference; and by a due observance of which, though uninfluenced by one proper feel- ing, a Mossulman feels assured of exchanging his kiosk for " a hollow pearl," his favorite palm-tree for a branch of the tuba, his sherbet for draughts from the rivers of milk and wine, and, above all, of obtaining a sight of Him, "one look at whom," said Ma- hammed, " is joy past imagining However, this injunction to his followers to practice charity is not the only boon the poor Mossulmans owe to their prophet, who was infinitely too well acquainted with mankind to suppose that simple exhortations on such a subject would operate on the mass, and he therefore saved the really charitable from the une- qual duty which the callous would have imposed on them--do im- pose on them in all countries--by establishing poor laws. Poor laws--our boast--which to this day only exist in one cor- ner of Christendom-have been sacred among Mossulman na- tions for 1200 years. By them a Mossulman is bound to give to the poor two per cent. of all he has; and where the religion maintains its wonted sway over the minds of the people, the law is strictly observed ; but in the cities--the principal ones of Eu- ropean Turkey for example-where religious indifference-herald, according to the missionaries, the introduction of Christianity --is making progress, charity, it is mortifying to observe, is ra- pidly waning. But the virtue which chiefly characterizes the Osmanley (as well as all Mossulmans) is cleanliness, which he carries to fas- tidiousness. I cannot comprehend how some travelers have disputed it; they must have formed their opinion from their Tartar and their surrogee, although these, the journey over, thoroughly purify themselves in a bath.- For my part, I do not know so clean a people, and I have seen them in all grades of so- ciety. In addition to his daily ablutions, he takes a bath-such a bath ! at least once a week. Equally incorrect is the saying that he does not frequently change his linen ; perhaps they who assert it judge from his show- ing no shirt collar, which in civilized Europe would certainly be an admissible argument. The sailors and soldiers, for ex- ample, used to wash their linen twice a week. His house, and everything relating thereto, his food, &c., are scrupulously clean; and in every Mossulman dwelling is seen a neat temple to the worship of Cloacina-a piety no where else practised out of Great Britain. No people have a keener sense of propriety. We in vain 29 TURKEY AND THE TURXS. 225 seek in the streets of a Mossulman town for sights which in pol- ished European cities make a woman turn her head, and necessi- tate the magistrates to affix in conspicuous places " ici ii est de- fendu de depose," &c. When they bathe in the sea they never appear in naturalibus, however remote the spot, lest by chance a female might be shocked ; even boys of the tenderest age retain a cloth. For those who love to trace ancient customs in modern times, it may not be uninteresting to observe that in Turkish camps the same practice, in necessity, is strictly observed as was prescribed to the Hebrews, though more out of respect to man than to God. The Greeks occupy the second place in importance among the inhabitants of European Turkey, and more particularly deserve notice on account of the influence which they have exercised over its destinies; an influence which has tended more than any other cause to undermine the Ottoman power, by acting on it like a perverse mind on a pampered body. The Osmanleys, viewing conquest only as the means of obtain- ing repose, had gained their object with the powerful aid of the Kuran as long as the nations whom they subjugated were of the same caste as themselves; but on obtaining possession of all the Grecian provinces--their dominions in Europe having been too narrow, while Adrian6ple was their capital to affect their general policy--they perceived that other arts would be necessary to rule their new subjects, and reap the fruit of their labor. They were, therefore, delighted to find in the Fa- narioites the requisite knowledge, with a ready pliability of tem- per, which saved them the necessity of hateful study. Policy should have shown them their error, but indolence was in the op- posite scale; they employed them in affairs of state, and from that moment began to decline in learning. With another character the Greeks might have reformed their masters and taught them how to govern, but their treachery was so unvarying that the Osmanleys could never regard any scheme of theirs, although really beneficial to the empire, but as in- jurious to it. Had they been commonly honest, they would 226 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. TURKERY AND TI1 T'URKS. long since have been emancipated; in proof of which I cite Kuprogli's Greek secretary, who, by his artifices, caused the fall of Candia in 1669. He received royal rewards during his lifetime, and after his death was honored by a public funeral; but we in vain search the annals of Turkish history for another Greek in high office who did not betray his employer ; and, considering the number of pashas who have lost their Greek agents, it is surprising that they were so long trusted: The Greeks naturally turned their powers to their own advan- tage. The hardest terms of their servitude gradually disappeared. They were forbidden at the conquest to build or repair churches ; they have done both. They were forbidden to celebrate their re- ,ligious festivals, burials, &c., openly; they have long since given them the greatest publicity. The odious tribute of every fifth child was discontinued two and a half centuries since. In the capital they soon became of sufficient importance, as dragomans of the Porte and of the fleet, to rival the courtiers in wealth and display ; to vie with pashas out of it by obtaining the Hospodarships of Moldavia and Wallachia. It may be said that this is the fair side of the picture, that in the provinces on the contrary they are exposed to the wills of pashas, of agas. ,This is partly true in the Morea; in Albania quite incorrect; and in Roumelia the Greeks, aware of the dif- ference, early abandoned country occupations to the Bulgarians, and congregated in the cities where they enjoyed equal protection with the Mossulmans. The great hardship of the peasantry has consisted in the diffi- culty of procuring money to pay the kharatch, often multiplied in the course of the year, but in the towns this difficulty never existed. At the same time it must be recollected that pashas in Europe have seldom had unlimited power. It is only in the great pashalicks of Asia where tyranny is practised on a broad scale, and in them live few or no Greeks. The Greeks have been and are, without contradiction, the most favored subjects of the Ottoman Porte, which superiority they owe to their union and their hierarchy. The latter preserved the former, and prevented them from losing their distinction as a nation. The modern Greeks, as the ancient, have ever been impatient of the rule of the stranger. They constantly dreamed of the empire and its pride, of St, Sophia and the cross, which recollections joined to .the torpitude of their masters, made them often rebel. The Osmanleys on these occasions generally wiped off all scores at once by an indiscriminate vengeance, affecting guilty and inno- cent. The Greeks naturally cried out tyranny! oppression! and the cry re-echoed throughout Europe; and as the Greeks alone of the Porte's subjects thus repeatedly complained, Europe rationally concluded that they were peculiarly oppressed. Tyranny is comparative. What is cruelty, folly, and bigotry in one country, is justice, reason, and religion in another. If one portion of the inhabitants of an empire have privileges which the others have not, the government, though abstractedly bad, can- not be accused of tyranny towards that priviledged part; nor can any reasoning persuade it of the fact, because it draws a comparison with the rest of its subjects. It is unreasonable to suppose that it will regulate itself by other nations. I by no means pretend that the Ottoman government is not perverse and horrible ; the desolate state of the fairest portion of the globe is evidence of this fact before a volume of arguments drawn from the retrograding effects of its faith; but I must say that the Greeks have suffered least by it, have least reason to com- plain. Visit any part of Grecian Turkey, the peasant is well clothed and well fed, his property is protected, his wife and daugh- ters are sacred : (I exclude periods of revolt.) His great hard- ship is being obliged to lodge and feed troops on their march, and to receive government officers; the Turkish peasants are equally exposed. In every sense the condition of the Greeks is superior to that of every other class in the empire. The Armenians, though not more oppressed, are infinitely less considered, on account of their 228 TURtEXL AND THEE TUMC9, TITVikIY ANP TIn TtRI9.. 229 not being so completely a nation. The Jews are absolutely de- spised. The Fellahs of Syria are slaves in comparison of them: and the Fellahs of Egypt are in a state, disgraceful to humanity. It is easy to account for this remarkable difference between the Christians and the Mossulmans of the Ottoman empire inversely to what we should expect to find it. The Christians have one common misfortune, that of being gov- erned by strangers in every sense of the word; and one common sentiment, that of being oppressed. These two causes, existing among any people, would produce a spontaneous united opposi- tion to the government, which no concession on the part of the latter could dissipate, because the root of the evil is the being of the government. All its acts would be regarded with jealousy; if conciliatory, after purposes would be imagined; if arbitrary, indications of discontent would be manifested. In this contention the people must have the advantage, because their endeavors tend to one point alone: religion and sympathy are embarked in the cause, and every loop-hole left is immediately occupied. On the contrary, the government has many things to distract its attention from this imperceptible encroachment. State difficulties, the weakness or good nature of the monarch, the carelessness or corruption of ministers, are all arms for the people. By this proceeding, all their own merit, the Greeks en- tirely changed their condition, but, not content with the prospect this afforded them of gradually rising to the condition of the Osmanleys, too confident in their own strength, and in the blind- ness of their rulers, they often immaturely revolted and drew on themselves the punishment they had reason to expect, and thus lost ground. If other proofs were wanting of the superior condition of the Greeks, comparatively, I would cite the frequency of their revolts. A people ground to misery by watchful tyranny rarely shake their chains. It is when physical wants are satisfied that moral absti- nence is felt ; that the mind has leisure to dwell on fancied supe- riority, to desire change of government, a constitution, free press, equality of property, and so on, on the scale marked by intellect. The cool pride of the Osmanleys, the superiority he constantly assumed, and marked by distinction of dress, tended as much as any thing else to make the Greek discontented with him. So sorely has he felt on this point, that, I verily believe, had the Os- manley with wise policy, permitted him to wear yellow slippers, and a white turban, and an ataghan (though with a wooden blade,) he would not have cared much about changing masters. Now let us consider, by the side of the Christians, the Mossul- mans; the causes of whose inferior condition may be summed in the few words, that they have no legitimate cause of complaint. They are ruled by their lawful sovereign, whom their religion teaches them to consider as such by divine right. They are taught that he has a just title to the lives and property of his sub- jects, and that for mere whim he may cut off from ten to twenty heads per diem, being moved thereto by divine inspiration. To question these prerogatives is impiety, and they therefore have no refuge from tyranny but in sullenness, and in passive resistance, which the peasantry in parts of Asia Minor display by not culti- vating more land than is requisite for their villages, so that the towns, and troops on the march, may suffer; farther seceding from occupationif hard pressed, and trusting to their flocks and herds, which they can drive away, for subsistence. The Greek, as an animal, is handsomer than the Osmanley. As a man he is distinguished by knowledge ; not that he has much; nor is much necessary, for between a very little and wilful igno- rance is a wide gulf. His manners from long contact are similar ; his tastes are not more refined ; his constant air of cunning, and ready adaptation of phrases and features to the occasion, evince habitual servitude. His moral character is sufficiently notorious. Say the Philhellenists (whose number is fast diminishing,) what can be expected after four centuries of slavery ? They forget the centuries of crime and bigotry that disgraced the empire previous to the Mohammedan cooquest. Many fondly hope that the Greeks will be again what they were. Is a similar hope ever entertained for the Italians ? The European merchants in Turkey fly into an opposite extreme, and assert that the Greek is a dishonest as the 230 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 231 Osmanley is honest. They judge from their mercantile transac- tions, in which it is true the latter display more fair dealing. We must seek the cause. The Osmanley despises trade : he rarely follows it; and when he does, pride-the pride of the lord--keeps him from practising the knavery of the slave. But where is his faith when his object is the head of a pasha, or the spoils of a banker ! In a word we may say that where the Osmanley is honest it is through pride : where the Greek, through fear. Were a sufficient number of Grecian skulls to be examined, they: would afford a strong argument for or against craniology. They should all have the bump of vanity. The Greeks have always been and are the vainest of the vain on all subjects, from politics to dancing. They still consider and call their country the " fountain of philosophers;" the " mother of heroes ;" the " shin- ing Greece." Here they stop. Of late years, however, it has been so much the fashion in Eu- rope the saying " We owe every thing to the Greeks," that the modern Greeks begin to believe it : certes, it is too flattering to them to be rejected. A Fanariote noble very seriously told me that had it not been for his ancestors, Europe would still be barbarous. His ancestors ! It would puzzle any Fanariote (except perhaps the Argyropouli) to trace his descent higher than the Mohammedan conquest : could he do so, he would have more trouble in tracing any of the noble stocks of Attica and the Morea among the schismatizing popu- lation which disgraced New Rome so many centuries. Then, as now, the appellation Greek was a religious, not a na- tional distinction. "Are you a Greek ?" you demand of an inhabitant of the Morea or the Cyclades. " No, thank God, I am a Catholic :" and vice versa. A Frank ignorant of this often gives an insult when he means a compli- ment. After all, what do we owe the Greeks? - Poetry! Without them we should have had Shakespeare, though Pope would not have acquired so much renown. Painting I We have only notices of theirs. Music! They were unacquainted with harmony. Sculpture-architecture ! We, at least, have not profited much by their unrivalled productions. History! Theirs teaches us to admire cruelty and duplicity. What are all the acquirements of all the ancients to the won- ders of printing, of the compass, of steam, which overturns em- pires and creeds, discovers worlds, and almost sets worlds in motion. Yet there are people who still love to repeat, "We owe every thing to the Greeks." The Armenians occupy the third rank 'at Constantinople. They are good-looking, affable, and pliant--peaceable and loyal. They are divided into two classes, catholics and schismatics, as I have already mentioned in another chapter. These sects are in open enmity, and are both hated by the orthodox Greeks, whose principal article of faith appears to consist in hating every one who does not pray, fast and feast, to a tittle, as they do. The Armenians are the chief bankers of European Turkey, having supplanted the Jews in that dangerous but lucrative em- ployment, in consequence of possessing superior honesty, or rather inferior knavery. They are greatly protected by the Ottoman grandees, often against the sultan himself. In return, they per- form eminent services. If a pasha requires a million of piastres to buy or take posses- sion of a pashalick, an Armenian banker provides them; be trusts to his creditor's talents at spoiliation for repayment, and if he have sufficient art to remain long in office, his fortune is assured. On the other hand, should the pasha be impeached and beheaded, the banker is seized, and made to disgorge his patron's wealth and his own. The Hebrews form the fourth tribe of the Constantinopolitans. They are, as is well known, descended from the Spanish exiles, victims of a cruel policy. It is not surprising that these turned their steps to Turkey, considering the protection that their an- cestors had enjoyed under the Moorish kings. In addition, they 232 . TUKEY AND TIE TURKR. neared Jerusalem, the place-the valley of Jehoshaphat-where every Jew wishes his bones to rest. Numbers in every part of the empire realize their property in their old age, and retire to the holy city to die there. When I was at Salonica, three hundred embarked for that laudable pur- pose. Their position in Turkey is ambiguous. They are termed musafirsi, (At but are treated as guests who have outstaid their welcome. Nothing can equal the contempt which is heaped on them. If an object of popular hatred has to be insulted, who are constrained to do it ? Jews. If a malefactor or other is to be dragged through the streets, who perform the degrading task? Jews. If a pasha cannot get a volunteer executioner, on whom is the odious office imposed ? Jews. They have the peculiar marked countenance of the nation-eye of care, sallow complexion, scanty beard, which is not remarkable in the Jews of England. Indeed, the Jews of the East and of the West appear to be distinct families. What in Turkey particu- larly distinguishes them from the other inhabitants, independent of costume, is their uncleanliness : owing to it the Turkish troops will not quarter in their houses. They never, by any chance, follow agricultural pursuits. Their household language is Spanish, rather a vile dialect of it; at the same time, they are well acquainted with the Hebrew and Turkish languages. The various people above mentioned, however different in most points, have one common characteristic-a total want of con- science. Examine them as we may, we never meet with a trace of it. We are taught to believe that conscience is implanted by nature, but, we learn by experience, that education is its parent. Still, in civilized Europe it is seldom entirely eradicated from the bosom of any man, or its, place is supplied by honor, the reputation of a good name, &c., sufficient to answer the purpose of society. But every subject of the porte, of whatever sect, acts perfectly unrestrained by it or by its substitutes. A pasha slays his confiding guest; a kadi bastinadoes an innocent man; a 30 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 233 234 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. banker cheats his patron; a servant robs his master-all swear- ing on the Kuran, or on the Talmud, or on the Testament, to their respective faith. What is more surprising, this train of evil goes on in the most regular manner, nowise out of the prescribed course of events. The pasha washes his guest's blood off his hands, and eats his dinner and sleeps as souud as on the preceding day. The banker and the merchant, each in their respective calling, place more merit in fraud than in honesty, and deem a fortune sweeter earned by the former than by the latter; solace their leisure hours by talking of their dexterity in overcoming Frankish caution. Be the object to encompass a man for his blood or his money, the air of friendship, the winning softness of manners assumed, the oaths put in requisition, the awful denunciations invoked on their own heads in case of treachery, are not only sufficient, one hundredfold, to deceive the uninitiated, but even the initiated, in Oriental manners. Should the latter not yield, he cannot help thinking himself the most suspicious, stony-hearted being alive. Not only strangers or provincials, but even Constantinopoli- tans, who breathe from birth the air of dissimulation, are fre- quently taken in : witness the readiness with which pashas, beys, &c., fall into the snares spread for their lives, notwithstanding the experience of ages, of every day, of their own experience. These men have spread similar snares for others; they know all the coils, every mesh of the net, yet they are caught. The fact is, they cannot believe that there are men equally bad as themselves, who are capable of calling on the most High, on his prophet, on the bones of their parents-for what? To mask crime. Amongst such a people, it is difficult at all times to divest one- self of an involuntary emotion, similar to that which is experi- enced, when viewing, for the first time, the ponderous movements of a steam engine, which appear immutable, subject to no ordi- nary control. So we cannot help feeling, that if it be the interest of our host, our seeming friend, to slay us, no moral tie, no human affection would restrain him. TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 235 CHAPTER XVI. ON MOSSULMAN WOMEN, GREEK WOMEN, ARMENIAN WOMEN, HEBREW WOMEN. OF the more interesting portion of the inhabitants of the Turk- ish capital, the Mossalman women occupy the first place. What, however, can be said of women who have no balls, routes, plays, masquerades, concerts, panoramas, pic-nics, fancy fairs, nor even tea parties? If no other than that, they are happier than half the women in the world-Lady M. W. Montagu for a witness- that is something. Love or desire, as you will, is the idol to which they are devoted from childhood-at whose altar their ideas are formed-to whose service their education tends. The principal care of a mother is to instruct her daughter in the art of pleasing the first man who sees her--her husband; and as his tastes are not refined, the nature of her lessons may be supposed. The Turkish bride is a self-contradiction. Their beauty ! who can be so presumptious as to decide on the appearance of those whose walking garbh-" equalizing tomb of elegance and defor- mity"-is purposely made to screen them from the gaze of the monster-man? All is not hid. Eyes belying the Prophet's anti-female soul doctrine-large, softly lustrous; voice toned like a silver lute, making music of every word that leaves the lips; hands small, taper-fingered, indicate favorably of the remainder of Nature's handywork. Different from the Italian and Spanish black, their eyes, in particular, are unrivalled, with an expressive impression, impossible to look on without admiration-a peculiar charm which they owe to the necessity of concealing their faces, since, deprived- of the aid of smiles and blushes, their feelings, when excited, concentrate in the organs of mute eloquence. "Of the higher classes of women in Turkey-for the lower ordere 235 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. lead nearly the same life in all, countries, nursing children, cook- ing food, and matrimonial bickering being the changes they ring -rank first the inmates of the seraglio, who are divided into two classes : the sultan's ladies, and the maidens of the valide sultana. The former are purchased slaves, since no Turkish woman, being free-born, can be a mistress even of the sovereign. The latter are also in part slaves, and part daughters of pashas who have been placed there for honor, or on the death of their fathers. They are all instructed in the Arabic and Persian tongues, in dancing and singing. The resources of each other's company, the luxury of their existence, and the absence of cares, it being certain that no man but the sultan ever sees these secluded birds render them happy : there are few ladies brought up in the serag- lio, who do not look back on it with a kind of regret, comparing its society with that of the uneducated females of the provincial towns where their residence may be. After a sister or a daughter, the sultan cannot evince greater favor for a pasha than by giving him in marriage one of his un- known women ; an equal honor, perhaps dearer, is a wife from the house of the valide sultana. The lady, in either case is placed at the head of her husband's harem, with absolute authority, since on her interest at court depends his advancement, More pashalicks are gained by petticoat interest than is supposed. In virtue of her influence she prevents her lord's affections from being disputed by another wife. Should he be old or disagreeable, she must exercise patience, and wait till his death, by the bow- string or otherwise, when she may please her taste by marrying one of his officers who has won her regard. The state of a lady in her harem is the same as that of a pasha in his selamlik. She has a train of female slaves, more or less numerous, more or less beautiful, more or less ornamented, accord- ing to her fancy, distinguished, as are the officers of her lord, by the titles of kiaja, selicter, cavedgi, &c. : they watch her eyes, lis- ten for the clap of her hands, leave her alone, dance to her, sing, act the buffoon, anything to please her whims. None sit in hlea presence. She smokes, chews mastic, sips coffee, and drinks sher- 236 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. bet; voila her life, tiresome enough the Frank belle thinks; but habit reconciles us to every thing, and, "ignorance is bliss." The Turkish lady knows no other mode of existence, nor has she any books to enable her to define the vague wishes which rise in her bosom in moments of langor. The condition of her slaves is unpleasant: exposed to all the caprices of their mistress, with scarcely a prospect of obtaining liberty, their only hope lying in attracting the notice of their mas- ter, they may be said to live in convent. Viewing their situation, people are apt to judge all Mohammedan women equally deserving of commiseration : than which nothing can be more erroneous, since Turkish women, as I have before remarked, being free-born, respected by the laws to such a degree that the shadow of slavery may not dim them, restrained even from living with the other sex unless under the bond of marriage-an honorable consideration unpralleled in other countries-are as far above them as European ladies in the West Indies are removed from their negro slaves. Turkish ladies have a singular amusement for consolation. Two, for example, declare themselves lovers, one of the other ; plans of intrigue are formed, confidents are established, secresy ensured, billet doux, i. e. flowers, are mutually exchanged, all the petites ruses de guerre are employed to elude discovery, and in this way a harmless courtship is continued for years. The Kuran, while it gives great power to the husband, does not leave a wife defenceless : it gives her a title to an equal share in her lord's affections, his attentions once a week ; in default redress may be had of the cadi. But these important privileges may be regarded as null, since there are few women who would make a similar complaint. Facility of divorce is their great ally. Writers on Mohammedan customs have not sufficiently dwelt on this subject; indeed it is generally considered an evil rather than a blessing for the weaker sex, and its difficulty is placed among the advantages of Christian women. Divorce among Mossulmans supposes no guilt, simple volition on the part of the hasband being a sufficient cause. If in a moment of anger he say the ords, "I will live with thee no longer," that suffices. The 237 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. parties go before the cadi and the act of separation is drawn out, paying a trifling fee. The lady receives her dowry and the divorce is no impediment to her remarrying. What an advantage ! suppose her husband was a disagreeable fellow she is at once rid of him, and if without children she has nothing to regret. But in consequence of this tie, parties who have been divorced for trifling causes only-for passing ill-humor -come together again. No formality is requisite : as mutual will separatedthem so mutual will reunites them. The cadi takes his fee and the affair is settled. Mohammed, however, aware of the numerous inconveniences which might arise from the abuse of this licence, wisely ordained that after a third divorce a man could not have back his lady, unless she were previously married to another for the space of twenty-four hours. It is natural to suppose that few Orientals would put their af- fections to so painful an ordeal. However, whether from love or habit or other cause, the hooleh sometimes takes place. It also occurs that parties thus joined (in intention temporarily to ac- complish the law) become so pleased with each other before the expiration of the term that they refuse to be re-separated. The prior husband has no relief, he must devour his chagrin. But to avoid this unexpected result, the uxorious man has ge- nerally recourse to a respectable member of the law; he presents him with a sum of money (the laborer deserves his hire,) and en- gages him to perform the condition strictly. He thus makes sure of not being imposed on by his agent; but he cannot impose on himself--the marriage must be consummated. Friendship cannot qualify this unpleasant office, and the mollah would esteem him- self an unworthy Mossulman did he fail in this particular. Turkish women have another remarkable privilege in the rapin (conventional marriage.) We will suppose an inhabitant of Bag- dad or Aleppo come to Stamboul on commercial or other busi- ness withl the intention of remaining several months. He has left a wife behind him, and, being used to domestic happiness, 238 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. feels uneasy. He addresses himself to the imam of some mosque whom he may know : " Effendi, being a stranger in this city and likely to remain some time, it would be wrong to remain single. Our holy Prophet enforced matrimony by precept and example; I would not wish to be remiss. In your parish there may be some well-disposed young -woman--you will not find me ungrateful." "Good," replies the imam, "there are many women in my neighborhood who would not turn their eyes from a comely man like yourself : what condition would you choose ?" The applicant answers : " As I am not very rich, besides having a family elsewhere, I should prefer a widow who has a respectable house." The imam bids him return another day, and in the mean time finds a lady according to order. He describes her suitor as pos- sessed of a thousand good qualities, and as smitten with her charms." " Oh," exclaims the fair, " I know nothing of him; he may be a bad man, may beat me, may not let me smoke or go to the bath." The imam guarantees his client. The parties then go to the Mekhemeh and the rapin is drawn out, that is, a certificate of marriage for a certain length of time, at the expiration of which it is null and the parties are free. Merchants find this arrangement very convenient, as thereby they often get a comfortable home during their residence in a strange place. In no large towns of Turkey are there wanting accommo- dating imams. Turkish women are entitled to the credit of being the best of mothers. To be childless is considered the greatest misfortune; and yet, by a strange contradiction, after having got two or three children--as many as suits their fancy to have--they are adicted to the evil practice of procuring miscarriages, at which they or their accoucheuses (Jewesses) are exceedingly expert,. not pro- ducing constitutional injury. Wet-nurses are unknown among them ; and the custom of the TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 239 240 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. Franks, established in the Levant, of sending their children to Eu- rope for education, is also regarded by them as unnatural. They never lose their influence with their sons, which repays them in some measure for their want of importance in the eyes of their husbands. The chief care of a Turk, on arriving at wealth and power, is to place his mother comfortably; to which amiable treat in his character, which counterbalances a multitude of faults, we are in- clined on first acquaintance to add that of strong paternal ten- derness. It is interesting to see the Osmanleys along the quays of the Bosphorus dancing their children in their arms, and dropping their gravity to play with them: the poorest will deny him- self to deck his child; but the feeling is purely selfish, derived from a plaything, an exhibition of animal instinct; as they in- crease in size, it diminishes, and when they are grown up they are never thought much of, unless fortune raise them high in the world. Valueless therefore to the Osmanleys must be that promise in the Kuran, that "their sons (daughters are not to be produced, since they would interfere with the rights of the houries,) if they wish any in paradise, shall be born and grow up in the space of an hour ;" a promise which, ridiculous as though it may appear, is at the same time a striking proof of Mohammed's admirable tact in adapting his religion to the pecu- liar tastes of his people. Among the Arabs it must have been the first and most natural wish of a father to have his sons capable of bearing arms, and of sharing the fatigues of a wandering and predatory life-until that age they were a complete burthen to him, instead of being a solace. As prodigal of displaying their charms, leaving little for the fancy to do, as the Mossulman women are reserved, the Grecian sex rank next on the list, inferior also in brilliancy, and less hand- some comparatively than their men. Still they are good looking, with a dreamy voluptuous style of countenance, common in the East, and fine eyes--though fine eyes are so universal among them that the absence is a defect rather than the presence a beauty ; and were they set off by stays and milliners, they would not yield Sihe palm to the Genoese--fairest of the Italian sex--whom they resemble in a remarkable manner, considering that four centuries have elapsed since the union of Genoa and Galata. But their dress vulgarizes them ; it consists of an unsightly as- semblage of jackets and petticoats, hung about rather than put on their persons, with open bosoms and loose sleeves; and their coiffeurs, a turban of prodigious width, the wider the more fashionable, composed of their own luxuriant hair interwoven with flowers and gauze, elegant as it certainly is, gives them a courtesan-like air. It might not have this effect elsewhere, but, compared with the modest apparel @f their neighbors, it appears indecorous, and Mossulman women consider it a scandal thus -to appear in publie. To this exceeding love of display, most inconsiderate in coun- tries where licentiousness is not always restrained by the law, the Greeks may attribute many disagreeable consequences. In quiet times their women are as sacred as Mohammedan women, as free from insult from every quarter; but in revolts, which give scope to their masters' passions, it has happened that a fa- mily, which would otherwise have escaped notice, has been plunged in misery because one of its female members in her walks, gaily dressed and unveiled, attracted, perhaps used to coquet for, the notice of a pasha or other great man, who takes advantage of the crisis. Similar examples are not rare, yet the Greeks never profited by them. They should have applied to themselves a story told of one of the early caliphs, who, meeting a beauti- ful woman one day in Bagdad, caused her to be conveyed to the seraglio. The injured husband immediately repaired to the caliph and ex- postulated with him on his injustice. After a struggle between his reason and his passion, the monarch restored the man his wife, accompanied by a caution not to let her go abroad again unveiled. "Men," he observed, "are not insensible to beauty; they 31 TURRET AND THE TURS, 241 should not therefore be tempted : take warning by .this; you will not find all men so moderate." This reasoning is doubtless inapplicable in countries where the laws are sufficient to restrain unprincipled men. To the want of such laws only must be referred the custom in the East of veiling the women-a custom established ages before the coming of Mohammed-acustom which did not originate in the jealousy of the men, though degenerated to such, but as the surest way of preserving their women from insults. The chief feature in the character of Grecian women is, I should say, covetousness of money. It would be difficult, except perhaps among mountain tribes, to find a model for one of the thousand heroines of song and tale about Grecian love and devo- tedness. In no country is mariage de convenance so much a law of soci- ety as among the higher classes of Greeks; and among the lower classes mothers do not hesitate to bargain away their daughters' honor, which practice is so much more reprehensible, as they are never reduced to it by want; want, in our acceptation of the word, being almost unknown in these countries. No lover need think of advancing in the affections of his mis- tress unless provided with Cashmere shawls ; necklaces and brace- lets are also in request ; but Cashmere shawls-the more the bet- ter-are the things-the height of female ambition, the test of gentility. She must be low indeed who would think of going to church or to the promenade without one. A counterfeit Cash- mere ! the reproach would be ineffaceable. Divorce is nearly, if not quite, as easy in the Greek religion as in the Mossulman, but less to the advantage of the fair sex, because a fault is supposed. The license is much abused, and the bishops, each of whom has the power, grant it on the slightest pretext. There are, however, three legitimate causes of divorce, viz : in- fidelity, inebriety, and a b-Ad breath : in justice there should be a gasometer to decide on the state of the latter, which should not be left to the olfactory powers of the bishop and his clerk. A 242 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. claim of divorce may also be preferred on account of hymeneal mysteries, for which reason the bride's relatives visit the nuptial chamber to possess themselves of the evidence of her honor. The antiquity of this custom is shown in Deuteronomy. The Armenian women come next. They may be considered as Christian sisters of their Turkish neighbors, for they very nearly resemble them in dress and manner; rendering themselves, how- ever, less handsome by an immoderate use of cosmetics. They bring their eye-brows nearly into the form of semicircles, marking the interval between them, with the idea of showing the straight outline of the nose, with a perpendicular stroke of black paint : and they spoil their plump satin cheeks by an ill-judged display of rouge. They also coral-tip their fingers, and tinge their eyelids in the manner of Turkish women. Their national characteristic is insipidity ; " ghiuzel Ermeneh" (pretty Armenian) is proverbial in Turkey for a tame beauy. Owing to divorce not being permitted among them, whether of the Catholic or schismatic persuasion, their situation is more triste than that of any other class in the empire; for they live nearly as secluded as Mossulman women, and are completely domestic slaves. A bride, for example, may not speak except in answer, or sit in the presence of her husband, until she has born him a child-a species of indignity from which Turkish women are exempt. This corroborates what I observed of the Mohammedan reli- gion respecting women--that it is not peculiarly oppressive. We are in the habit of comparing it with the Christian religion in the West, and drawing our inference therefrom ; but this is not fair : we should compare it with the Christian religion in the East- its cradle-where seclusion of women has ever been in vogue among the natives, whether Jews, Pagans, Christians, or Mossul- mans. The Hindoo who told Bishop Heber that they owed the custom to their Mohammedan conquerors, deceived him. The conquest of a few may alter the government, the laws of a country, but it never changes the manners of a numerous people. The Tartars among the Chinese is an example, the Normans 243 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. among the English, and the Osmanleys among the Greeks still more striking ones. In comparing also, in other respects, the precepts of the Kuran with the customs of the early Arabians, we find a great similarity, for Mohammed was infinitely too wise to touch prejudices which had the sanction of antiquity, except- ing such as revolted nature. He put a stop to the inhuman practice of the Arabs, which exists to this day in parts of India, of destroying female children; but circumcision he passed over in silence, not choosing-fortified therein, maybe, by his hatred of the Jews-to recommend an absurdity, harmless but cherished, but not daring to forbid a practice which had been handed down to the Arabs from Abra- ham. The Hebrew women close the fair list at Constantinople, and require no comment; for their manners, customs, and duties are the same in the nineteenth century as they are described in the Bible--sufficiently minutely, I am sure, to satisfy the most curi- ous investigator. A local practice, however, prevails, in order to restrain the facility of divorce which the law of Moses permits, and whoever considers the character of the nation is not surprised to find that it is very effectual: a bride's dowry is named at three times its real amount, which the husband is obliged to give her, in case he divorce her. A word now on the relative beauty of women of the East, and the West. The former have been extolled by the divinest poets, copied by the finest sculptors and painters : yet, when in the East, we are disappointed. Why? Because our expectations have been too much raised; and, principally, because our ideas on beauty have been formed in a different school, so that habit has silenced reason. We know it is unnatural-the female form stayed with cord and whalebone-that the variety of shape, so much admired in Europe, is as much owing to art as nature; still, how we are wedded to the effect-how graceless in our eyes are the vague 244 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. lines of nature ! Dress up the Venus de Medicis, what a dowdy she would be--a "dumpy woman." We cannot help occasionally, while in the East, drawing a com- parison between the native fair and our own, led by the presumed superiority of the former; but we always decide in a general sense in favor of the latter. It is true, that in the East we are now and then arrested by a face that might be dreamed, the likeness of which is never seen in other climes; but we say this is only one, surpassingly divine certainly; at home we have myriads, if not quite so fair, nearly so; never reflecting that many pass us every day without notice, who, were they set off as in Europe, by dress, would claim ardent regards. CHAPTER XVII. CAPITAN PASHA, GREEK PATRIARCH, NOURREY BEY, PASSAGE BOAT, ECHOES, RODOSTO, ADRIANOPLE, KAR' AGATCH, SILK WORMS, MAD DOG, INHUMANITY, GREEKS, MAHMOUT AGA, MOSQUE, GRAND VIZIR, BAIRAM PASHA. I SAW about this time, for the last time, my old friend Achmet Papudgi, capitan pasha. Reclined on a sofa in his divan hane (council chamber,) his glassy eyes and clear hollow cheeks told me that he was at length dying of his old complaint, ossification of the heart. His officers eyed me wistfully, as much as to say- Can he live? I shook my head. Little, however, did the object of their solicitude-less out of love than interest--think that he was soon to be confronted with Monkir and Nekir; for, after saying that he was going in two months to the white sea (Archipelago) in the new first-rate, he invited me to accompany him. It was painful to hear him thus talk. He was smoking a narghiler at this time--his bane, yet, like TUEKEY AND THE TURKS. 245 opium, so fascinating that he never could leave it off; but, on its producing severe coughing, old Hassan, his purveyor of tobacco, handed him a chibouque instead. This also, after holding it a minute between his pale thin lips, he laid down, and looked out of the window with an air of pleasure, as the English frigate swung in the line of his vision. Her topgallant masts catching his attention, he put a question to me about them,'and then directed an order to be taken to the arsenal, to fit his ships in the same way. " Because," he said, " we may meet the English capitan pasha in the White Sea." Poor man! a dark sea was opening before him. Presently a dish of bottled herbs, his only diet, was brought in and laid on a stool before him. Dipping his attenuated fingers into it, he contrived to swallow a couple of mouthsful; but then, as if exhausted by the effort, he called for a glass of water, and sunk back on the cushions. My chibouque being now finished, I rose and wished him well; when, as if a different feeling suddenly crossed his mind, he drew a ring from his finger, and gave it to me as a memorial. The next day I went to Brussa, and, on my return, found him dead. He had died in the same comfortless state, surrounded by mercenaries only, notwithstanding that his wives were in his palace, and his son was sultan's page. But though his ladies were not grieved, they felt the loss; for, being of ignoble birth, they required reflection, and therefore, attributing his death to the surgeon of a French vessel of war who had attended him, they showed their spite by emptying the contents of a vase on his head, as he passed under their windows on the following morning. The remains of the shoemaker admiral were interred at Eyoub his effects sold by auction to pay his debts, and Halil Pasha (then ambassador at St. Petersburgh, afterwards the late sultan's son- in-law,) who knew nothing more of the sea than that it was salt, and full of fish, succeeded him; thus disappointing the expecta- 246 TURKEY, AND THE TURKS. tions of many, that the sultan would have discontinued the absurd practice of appointing landsmen to that high post. Were the duties solely ministerial, the defect, though great, of having any other than a seaman at the head of the naval depart- ment would not very materially signify; but the capitan pasha always sails with the fleet: true, he has officers under him who know something of the profession, but their judgment can have little weight against his obstinacy, nor is their firmness to be depended on in the presence of a'chief who has power to dispose of their heads. The weather at this season was most delightful, propitious for traveling; so, having made another agreeable excursion on board the Blonde to Niconmedia, I took leave of my esteemed friends, her captain and officers-the frigate proceeding to Artaki, and then prepared to quit Constantinople; with a lively sense, though, of the civilities which I had received from many of its inhabitants, Franks and natives, during a residence among them of several months. My friends, the Turkish naval officers, overwhelmed me with polite demonstrations. I had to smoke twenty chibouques, at least, with them on taking leave, and drink as many cups of coffee; and my hand was nearly wrung off by their unsophistica- ted way of shaking it. Little Mehemet, captain of the Selimier, embraced me, and all expressed a hope of seeing me again. As Mount Athos lay in my projected tour, I visited the Greek patriarch in order to obtain a letter of recommendation to the monasteries. His residence, which is in the Fanar, close to the metropolitan church, and screened from the danger of fire by a high wall, appeared to us to be very little different from a Turk- ish palace, excepting that instead of the crowd of chevasses which encumbered the halls of the latter, we saw an equally lazy crowd of priests. In the saloons of the first and second floors were antique chairs of state, with high backs, curiously inwrought with pearl; time, also, we should have had, to examine a picture gallery, had there been one, for the siesta of his Holine ss kept us waiting an hour: TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 247 24S TURKEY AND TH TURKs when without any ceremony, we were introduced, and found the Eastern Pope-at whose almost apostolic simplicity his brother of Rome would have sneered--seated a la Turque, on a silken di- van, with a writing case and a quantity of papers beside him. His apartme~t, which overlooked the golden horn, though plainly decorated, evinced the presence of taste in some frescos of birds on the walls, exceedingly well executed, the work of an Italian. Having heard the purport of my visit, the patriarch expressed himself glad of the opportunity of serving an Englishman, and further complimented us by saying, that he should have been offended had we not asked him; then, directing his secretary in the mean time to write a circular, in warm terms, to the superi- ors of the monasteries, he invited us to refresh ourselves with ehibouques; which, on our bowing thanks, for the honor was not to be expected, were served in due form by deacons with coffee and sherbet. While enjoying them, I could not avoid remarking the dejec- tion of the patriarch's countenance, which gave him the air of an Osmanley: he must, I thought, have known severe trials to> extinguish Greek gaiety, which generally survives every thing, even honor; and his eye and voice became yet more melancholy, as we discoursed on Greece : it would have done some Philhellen- ists good to have been there. Unsparing in his censures on their conduct--of the mercenary interestedness of their leaders, whether Fanariotes or Capitani, he lamented more the moral than the physical degradation of his countrymen, and asserted that King Otho would always experience great trouble in governing Greece, saying that he had already encountered infinite risk in govern- ing the Moreotes, " the most treacherous of the Greeks," to use his own words. The letter being now ready, he signed it, previously reading it to me, and added : "c You will not find such good fare in the monasteries as travel- ers used to meet Nith, for they were all pillaged during the civil war." He spoke knowing, as well as feelingly, for Agathangoulos (the patriarch's name) hid been a caloyer. His age was fifty- three : his beard said older, 'ut a beard is a deceitful index. If prematurely white, and worn st. " ages a fresh countenance; if dyed, it smooths wrinkles. Thanlking him for the document, which was acceptable as a curiosity, leaving aside its prospective merits, which, however, proved great, we took our leave, hoping that he might long keep in the pontifical chair; but our hopes were of no avail, for within two months he was superseded, owing, as usually the reason, to the intrigues of the archbishops all striving for the same place. My next care was to visit the Waivode of Galata, who hap- pened to be my old friend Nourrey Bey, he having obtained the situation a short time since, on his predecessor being deprived of his head, in order that he might secure me a good berth on the' morrow in the Rodosto passage boat. We afterwards had a long conversation together, over a part- ing chibouque, principally about my braces, which, the fashion of them pleasing his fancy and an Oriental being like a child in the way of asking, I was obliged to give to him. By way of retort, I put him some an ti-Mossulman questions concerning his young wife, to whom he had been married only a short time; but as Nourrey was anxious to be thought civilized, he answered per- tinently, instead of running sulky, as most Osmanleys would have done. Thus my arrangements being completed, I embarked at the custom-house, Galata, and a gentle breeze at north-east, aided by the stream, soon carried us past the seraglio wall into the Pro- pontis. My compagnons de voyage consisted of three Osmanleys; five Turkish, and three Armenian, females; the latter of which par- ties had already been the cause of a disturbance, by one of the three, a very pretty girl be it said, having presumed to seat her- self in the best place of the lumbered deck, which had been re- served for me through the offices of Nourrey Bey. The intrusion would not have been noticed by me but for the 31 "URREY AND THE TtURKS. 249 Turkish ladies, who, being outrageous that a raya should dare to sit above them, set about endeavoring to dislodge her by a battery of abusive epithets: on which, actuated by the feeling which makes co-religionists in the East, where the line of demarcation is so strongly marked, regard each,other as of the same party; I asserted my claim to the disputed spot, supported therein by the reis, and bid the fair Armenian keep it. In proportion as her conscious looks spoke gratitude, the black eyes of her aggressors shot fire at me. , Nevertheless I was inclined to think two of them were pretty, though I could not be certain on account of the jealous yakmashes. What however persuasion could not have done, a short pitch of a sea soon effected, producing that inde- scribable sensation-consummation of temporary misery-which usually causes propriety to be disregarded. The yakmashes fell, and disclosed two youthful sets of handsome features. Poor things ! they were in great distress, and their countrymen being occupied or careless, I tendered them the little assistance a sailor knows how to give. The dark portentious eyes now changed their expression, and looked almost as bewitching as I thought eyes ever could look. Peace was accordingly re-established, and we continued in great harmony during our little voyage. The sun was setting as we coasted by Kutchuktchekdmege. Constantinople was still distinctly in view ; long and lingeringly I gazed on its declining minarets, and when they sunk in th& waters, I could not help feeling, as Adam felt on quitting Eden, that there was no place so beautiful. It is not surprising that the natives adore it, and regard banishment from it with nearly as much horror as death. An exile, on leaving Constantinople, dismounts several times while in sight, and looks at it, and embraces the ground. Night closed in and we thought of rest. It was a confined space for so many. the majority of whom were women. I coiled myself literally as a dog for want of room, my position being rendered still more distressing by the proximity of the fair Arme- nian. At one, the following morning we were of Selybria, in a alm, 250 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. which obliged us to have recourse to our oars: all that day we rowed under a schorching sun, accompanied by other inconveni. ences, for trusting to a northerly wind, we had a scarcity of pro- visions. The women too, with children, where of necessity troublesome, at the same time their maternal solcitude was admi- rable. For my part, I was in a dilemma. Towards evening we passed Heraclea point, in which are some Roman remains. Some caverns in the cliff gave a stupendous echo to our voices, to the great amusenient of the girls who had never heard the like. Peals of laughter followed each effort of the invisible vocalist, whether in Turkish, Greek, or English, in all three languages he was invoked. That night, after a frugal supper on black olives, we resumed our recumbent canine position, and at three A. M. cast anchor at Rodosto. At five we landed, and while horses were being brought from grass I discussed a pint of cafe au laitt, with some good bread and caimac, almost the first sustenance that I had taken for sixty hours. The country for the first six miles appeared in tolerable culti- vation, but after that we rode over the usual Turkish waste. The sun was oppressively hot, with a trifling south wind, equally trying to man and horse, and made me therefore greatly enjoy the luxury of iced sherbet on changing horses at Haide-bol, thirty miles from Rodosto. "Where do you obtain your snow from ?" Iasked. "Allah left it here last winter," was the prompt reply. We again changed at Ouzoun-kiupri, thirty miles further, and stopped at a small village on the Marizza. I supped on omelet and pilaff, then tried to sleep, but could not close an eye for the unqualified torment of moskitoes. Though firmly believing that God made nothing in vain, I cannot understand that he made everything for man's use, as is usually preached : apparently he made man for the use of insects. We may tame tigers and boa- constrictors, but no human ingenuity and patience could render moskitoes subservient to our will ; they were not among Job's trials, or he would have given in earlier. TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 251 In the morning I again trotted along the Marizza. The scene was changed from what it had been when I rode along it a few months before--a frozen sheet, eagles, bare trees, flights of wild fowl--for a rapid stream, boats scudding down it, embowering banks, and stately storks. At the entrance of Adrianople I had a specimen of the Ni- zam dgeditt. Some individuals of the guard insolently accosted me for money, and one seized my horse's bridle. A blow on his knuckles, however, from my whip-handle, made him let go, and I spurred on regardless of their shouts. In ten years, or less, these soldiers will be as lawless as were the Janizzaries : they are now boys; what will they be when their passions unrestrained deve- lope themselves ? The consul being at his country house at Kar'agatch, a Greek village three miles distant, I did not alight, but, taking a Jew boy for a guide, rode on through the city; we crossed the Toond ja on a fine stone bridge, on one side of which the guard, sentries and all, were asleep, and soon reached the Marizza, where, how- ever, indefinite delay seemed inevitable, for about twenty wagons, beside men, camels, and horses, were waiting at the ferry; as many were on the opposite bank, while only four punts were in the transport service. It being the season for silk worms, was the cause of this great assemblage of wagons; they were laden with mulberry leaves. We forced our way with difficulty through the dense crowd, as it was evident that our turn otherwise would not come for hours, and a few paras in addition to the toll attoned for the irregula- rity. Presently a punt struck the'landing place with a jerk that threw men and cattle on their knees, and then a strange scene of confusion ensued--those on striving to get out, those out en- deavoring to get in. The toll guards now exerted themselves in earnest, stunning the men with thick sticks, kicking the women, driving back the camels, and forcing the arabagis to back up the steep to make room for the boat to be cleared. A few more pa- ras adroitly bestowed saved me and mine from this rude saluta- 252 TURKEY AND THE TURKG. tion. At length the punt's cargo was discharged, and now be- gan to flow the tide of war from our side. We had been standing attentively for some time, each holding his bridle ready for a spring, and when the scramble for places began down we rushed, surrounded by all kinds of animals, down the steep bank dragging our horses after us, kicking on those be- fore us, those behind paying us the same compliment; the spongy foot of a camel nearly pressed mine into a similar substance, and my servant's horse almost kicked himself overboard, thereby so disturbing the equanimity of a full-blown Osmanley, who had boldly ridden in and was stoically smoking, that the offending Greek was glad to place me between them. Nothing serious en- sued, and we landed safely at a bank on the opposite side, a few degrees only removed from the perpendicular. I established myself with my much esteemed friends, Mr. and Mrs. D-, to my perfect content, and, I may say, to theirs. Their house was delightful, surrounded by gardens literally filled with bulbuls whose melody at times was almost overpowering. The little village was in a state of excitement from a dog hav- ing bitten an old woman ; it afterwards bit two cows, a donkey, and a Hanoverian trader. The old woman was dying-from old age, but the country people insisted that she was mad, and proved it by continually applying water to her lips, which she refused, be- cause she preferred wine. The owner of the cows killed them, and sold the flesh. The donkey was doomed to labor on, but to prevent madness was previously made to walk three times over the ashes of the dog. The last subject was in mortal apprehension : he often ap- plied to the test-water, but without effect ; he could not loathe it. His fears augmented by the alarming accounts circulated about the old woman, and settled into despair when a y oung Eng- lishman gravely told him (as a joke) that she was mad. The poor trader was now not far off himself, and hastily sending for a doc- tor caused himself to be bled under the tongue, the Greek remedy for insanity. In short, as there was never any danger, he as well as the donkey recovered; but the old woman died, not of TURKEY AND TIE TVIRtS. 353 the bite, but of age, accelerated by shameful neglect. She had existed for several years in an outhouse of Mr. Marciani, a Greek, Austrian vice consul, originally a slave, then a beggar, then a usurer : requiring the narrow spot which was occupied by her for his silkworms, he actually turned the poor creature into the field without covering, saying that she would soon be dead whether or no ! As a climax of cruelty hq prevented her daughter, who was in his service, from attending on her. When we beheld her, a crowd of her countrymen and women were round her laughing and joking at her grimaces. Will it be believed? not one offered her assistance; they left her where she lay. Mr. D - 's charity smoothed her exit. Mr. Marciani will never see this; it is therefore of little use mentioning his name, a disgrace to humanity. It is not fair to judge of a nation by the conduct of one vil- lage, yet I have seen other examples, nearly as bad, and feel justi- fied in saying that a more mercenary, cold-hearted race than the Greeks does not exist. Notorious instances of ingratitude and baseness within the last few years, since they have been free agents, I could cite-cui bono ? One other instance I will mention relating to Adrianople. At the commencement of the revolution, when the Greeks were con- sidered fair game and keenly hunted according to their wealth, one Vernazzo, a Greek, Dutch vice consul, denounced the richest among his countrymen to the Turks, for which he was rewarded. When a Greek gets a shadow of authority, his arrogance knows no bounds; if he obtains a titular office under a European go- vernment, which screens him from Turkish laws, he assumes the airs of an Osmanley with his countrymen, and reproaches them with their abject condition. They are cunning advocates. I remember once in Greek so- ciety the conversation turned on a young Greek who had slain his brother and uncle. To my surprise, one of the company took the part of the murderer, and said that he saw no reason why the blood of relations, if bad or avaricious, should be held sa- cred more than any other person's; that after all it was a 254 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. case of simple homicide-the youth had been much exasperated. I expressed unqualified horror at the sentiment, not at all par- ticipated in by my hearers, one of whom sharply said in reply: " You Englishmen at least should have nothing to say on the subject of the excesses of other people : we do not kill people in cold blood to sell them to the surgeons." I never was more taken a-back, as sailors say, and the justice of the attack added poignancy to it.. That the horrid tale should have reached so far 1 I put a salve on my conscience, and stoutly declared that it was not true-that it was a calumny invented by our rivals. If ever falsehood were commendable, it was then : I could not for the life of me have supported by my silence so dark a stigma on my country, among a superstitious people, too, who regard the crime of burking ten thousand times blacker than we do-who consider violating the dead a far more barbarous act than torturing the living--who give decent interment to their bitterest foes. Enough of Greeks. Silk-worms were the sole topic of conver- sation in and about Adrianople, and I soon became as much in- terested in their prosperity as the natives. Jt is interesting to watch the progress of these little artizans when one has not the care of them, to observe, as the Oriental says, the change of mulberry-leaves into silk. Towards the ter- mination of their eating phaze, which lasts about forty days, the anxiety of an owner of a large number becomes intense, since food may fail from various causes-by sudden blight fastening on his trees, in which case nobody will help him; he must destroy his worms, destroying at the same time his yearly revenue. Silk is the staple commodity of Adrianople : it goes chiefly to England in the raw state. A failure is a catastrophe to the in- habitants. It pays five per cent. to the pasha. It is rather inferior to the Brussa and 'Damascus silk, yet su- perior to the Italian silk. The superiority of the Turkish over the Italian silk must be attributed to the manner of feeding. In Turkey (as well as in India and China) they give the worms the leaves on the branches : in Italy they pluck the leaves off. In the 255 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 25. TURKEY AND THE TURKS. Grecian isles they also pluck the leaves, and their silk is inferior to the silk of Roumelia and of Asia Minor. When the worm has done spinning, which is known by its shaking in the cocon like a nut in a shell, the next object is to destroy it. This is done in Turkey by exposure to the sun; two days in general suffice ; but it may happen, does sometimes, that owing to cold winds, or clouds, there is not sufficient heat, in which case the worm becomes. a moth, eats out of its silken ca- vern, thereby rendering it nearly useless. In Italy they manage better. They place the cocons, wrapped in cloths, in a gradu- ated oven, which in a few hours destroys the worms ; but this requires some experience, since an improper heat will tarnish the silk. Kar'agatch being scarcely three miles from the city, we rode in nearly every day. One day we made a visit to Mahmoud Aga, physician in ordinary to the grand vizir; we found him busily en- gaged over a jug of wine, with fbur German brethren of the lan- cet. 'Presently afterwards a captain of Nizam-dgeditt came in, a fine-looking young man, and drank off a tumbler of wine without flinching; he then chewed some orange peel to remove the smell, lest a good Mossulman should accost him. Mahmoud Aga, whom we had thus discovered in unholy prac- tices, was of a good family of Cobourg, and had been known, till within a few years, by the name of Augustus Fromain. He received his education at Yena ; and then, disliking a quiet life, he entered the Austrian service as regimental surgeon. In course of time he obtained a brevet as medicin d'on corps d'armee, in which capacity his merits made him known to some member of the Imperial family--better for him they had not ! for in 1815, yielding, I suppose, to bribery, he undertook to convey a letter from Napoleon, who was then about to quit Elba, to Maria Louisa. He accomplished his mission, but not without being observed by a spying waiting-lady, on whose information our hero was seized and incarcerated in Inglespatch, whence, however, after eight years' confinement, he contrived to escape, and fled to Mar- seilles; but there, not deeming the white flag a sufficient security, he embarked and came to Turkey. In Turkey, however, he ran still greater risk, for as the Porte rarely protects the subjects of foreign powers, he would have been given up to the Austrian ambassador, on being claimed; so, therefore, Fromain, after some months of doubt, relieved himself from all apprehension of In- glespach, or of any other Christian fortress, by embracing the Mossulman faith. His subsequent life has been that of most ren- egades-vagabond and unpleasant. The reason why renegades are usually despised in Turkey is not because they have abjured their religion, but because most of them are idle dissolute characters, and have embraced the Mossul- man faith for some apparent vile motive. Without talents or in- dastry(seldom acquiring the language well) they remain miserable. But if a respectable character changes, he finds merit in the eyes of zealous Mossulman's, since he gives proof, in the clear ex- ercise of his judgment, of considering Mahommedanism superior to Christianity; the child born in a faith has no merit: with tact and recklessness he will rise; since birth not being regarded by the Ottomau government, the European renegade has an equal chance with the enfranchised Georgian, or Circassian. Mons. Bonneval became a pasha, (brevet,) he hever had a pash- alic; and Mr Campbell rose to the rank of topchi bashi. It is quite natural that the more bigotted a people, the more readily should renegades, if men of character, be credited. They are even well received in the most enlightened countries. Let a Hebrew embrace the Christian faith in England, lie will be ca- ressed by the wise and rich; he will get profitable employment; and he may aspire to contract an alliance with one of the first families. The neglect of outward and visible signs by renegades in the East-more necessary, the more fanatic the people, in no country to be despised-is another reason why they do not in general pros- per. I saw a Jew, in England, give a respectable company a high opinion of his merits and faith by dining off pork (nicely 33 257 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 258 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. roasted with apple sauce) the day of his conversion: by which little masticatory exercise he gave more certain proof, in. the opinion of some, of being fairly inoculated with the Holy Spirit, than he would have done by years of preaching, amid privation and penury. Let the embracer of Mahommedanism profit by the hint. If he spit on the unclean animal, throw away his brushes made of its bristles, have ' Allah " constantly on his lips, knock his head in mock humility against the ground, his new brethren will assure him of Houris, and the tuba-tree, although he commit murder and rape once a year while he is able. A renegade should never attempt to pass for a native Mossul- man, unless perfect in his part; because he may be suspected of being a Christian in disguise, which would lead to unpleasant consequences. There is nothing so difficult as to personate a Mossulman. They are all as one family. They walk alike, they eat alike, they smoke alike-they do the most trivial, absurd things alike; consequently, the slightest deviation by one person is observable. One Mossulman's house is a specimen of the whole nation. The Spaniard, who traveled under the name of Ali Bey, came to his end by neglect of a trifling custom. Ali Bey not only passed for a true-born and accomplished Mossulman, but as a de- scendent, indirectly, of the Abbassides. He visited Mecca and Medina, and never caused the least suspicion of his real faith; for he had perfectly acquired the habits of the people, among whom he had resided from youth upwards. It chanced, however, one day at Morocco, that an idle person observed him, while at the office, make use of his right hand instead of his left, which is an abomination, according to the Kuran, since a man eats his food with his right hand. This at once showed that he was not a Mossulman. He was shortly after assassinated. The strict, unvarying decorum of Mossulmans caused Ali Bey to be off his guard on this point, not having had the advantage of example before his eyes. The language is the least bar to stim- ulation; for the Turkish, like the Italian, has so many very dis- tinct dialects, that it requires no great proficiency to pass for a native of an opposite part of the country to that where you happen to be; and if the memory be tolerably well stored with proverbs, a mollah may be duped. We went to the mosque of Sultan Selim, one of the finest of the empire. Its minarets are too high; a fault from a distance. The inside is vast and grand, tastefully adorned with Arabic in- scriptions, but wanting the antique marble columns, the chief beauty of the Stamboul mosques. The imam was very civil; indeed, I may observe that, except- ing in Constantinople and Jerusalem, there is no difficulty in see- ing any mosque in Turkey. He was a humorous fellow, and told us as a wonder, that, a fortnight previous, the Sardinian ambassa- dor, a Lambert-like man, had actually climed up one of the mina- rets, to the alarm of the whole establishment, who dreaded the effect of an earthquake. The imam returned an answer to Die- bitch, who sent a polite message to know if he might be permitted to visit the mosque, " That the general had certainly no occasion to ask permission, when his officers came in all day, and every day, in their dirty boots." The grand vizir, Redschid, still held his court at Adrianople. He was mustering troops and gold for a campaign. He was dis- tributing justice and injustice--withal was a popular man. Want- ing horses to mount a regiment of cavalry, he sent to the mea- dows where the Turkish gentry of the neighborhood had their steeds at grass, it being the season, and selected the requisite number-a plans worthy of imitation by European sovereigns, since it is just as reasonable to make a conscription of horses as of men. He detected Bairam Pasha, or at least suspected him-the same thing-of embezzling public money, and therefore ordered him five hundred blows on the feet. The cruel punishment was about to be inflicted when the tefterdar, khasnader, and other great officers interceded, and obtained its remission. But his tails were taken from him, and he was reduced to beggary by the seizure of his property. To keep him from starvation, the vizir gave him a menial situation in his household, whence, by another 259 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. change, he may again rise to power. What a stroke in one day ! The master of thousands penniless-the lord of slaves a domestic ! his horses-his pipes sold. Yet, attributing all to Hismet, he gave no signs of mortification. We went to the seraglio to see his highness. As he was busily engaged with his chiaja bey, we were ushered in attendance into the apartment of the khasnadar, (treasurer,) who was one of the best looking men that I ever saw in a fez. Several clerks were busy in counting money and making up accounts; they were all smoking in absolute silence. Bags of money were piled on the floor, like shot in a battery, packed for traveling, in strong rope netting. Presently, there was a stir in the ante-room, and the vizir's second son, a lad about ten years old, walked in. All made a low salaam; and the khasnadar, jumping nimbly off the sofa, handed him into the place of honor, which he took with the solemnity of a judge. It was ludicrous to see a pale, sickly boy assume such airs, and so well had he conned the Turkish art (nonchalance) that we, strange animals as we were, did not excite in him any curiosity. He barely glanced at us, with a slight inclination. An attendant took off his violet colored cloak, and showed that he was dressed a la nouvelle mode, in a scarlet hussar jacket and trousers: A fine diamond glittered on his finger. A chibouque twice his length was presented to him, which he took, as well as a cup of coffee, without making the slightest acknowledg- ment to the two handsome armed Arnaouts who served them. He played with the amber mouthpiece for a few minutes, then threw it down and walked out without ceremony: This was a trait of the education of the young Turkish nobility; and the all- sufficient pride, the calm superiority, joined, I must say, to perfect good breeding, which sit so easy on them, are natural conse- quences. He had lost his mother, and, a rare exception, his father had no harem. After some time, an officer informed us that his highness was too busy to see us. He appointed the following morning-when, the consul being taken unwell, I proceeded alone to the vizirial 260 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. residence; the halls of which, however, being crowded to excess by expectants for the vizir's sortie made me hesitate, doubting whether I should be able to thread my way through them. Luckily, however, one of the Albanian's on duty, Sadig, who had formerly belonged to Achmet Capitan Pasha's ward, recognized me ; and he speedily made a great man of me, by clearing a passage through the crowd to the curtain, where stood the capidgis waiting for the clap of their lord's hands. I was announced, and instantly ad- mitted into a most luxurious room paved with variegated marbles, cooled by a jet d'eau which rose from the centre of .it, falling again into a large marble basin, and open to the fragrance of a flower garden, whose branches intruded through the sashes. Here, on a crimson divan, sat the sultan's deputy. He instantly remem- bered me. "tHoch guieldin, safa guieldin-cafe, chibouque, guietir ! Wel- come, welcome ; bring coffee and pipes." He was occupied. The couch was strewed with papers, and secretaries came and went during the hour I remained with him. Apparently full of anxiety, he took quantities of snuff. Once he stood up on the sofa, as if unconscious of my presence, stretched out his arms towards the kybla, then closed them on his breast, and sunk down again in deep dejection. If he was then revolving in his mind the black treachery which he afterwards adopted to the Albanian beys, I am not surprised if his spirit for a moment quailed. He told me that he was going to Betolia; that I could join him there if I pleased, after having made my excursion to Ayon- oros, and go with him into Albania, or he would give me a bou- yourdu, if I preferred going alone. This pleasant offer I accepted, but severe illness prevented me from profiting by it. 261 TURKEY AND THE TURKS, 262~~~~ ~ .TRE N TETRS CHAPTER XVIII. MARIZZA, DEMOTICA, BISHOP, DUNGEON, COSSACKS, FERA, BEKTASHES, ENOS, VICE-CONSUL, PETITION, MAHMOUD BEY, GREEK BEAUTY, BANQUET. AFTER ten days agreeably past, I took leave of my amiable host and hostess to proceed to Enos, in a Greek boat, which came from Smyrna with lemons. I embarked at the Custom House, on the Toondja, and at the distance of half a mile, entered the Marizza. At the point of con- fluence, under some noble trees, a party of Osmanleys were pic- nicking on carpets spread on the grass--men of consideration, by the richly dressed attendants who stood round in respectful solici- tude, and by the beauty of the horses picketed apart. I rejoiced that I had not delayed my departure, for the river was already so low that we grounded often the first ten miles, obliging my boatmen to get out. The navigation at all times is so intricate with sandbanks, that the smallest boats take pilots. It is farther obstructed by hedges planted in it transversely, to throw the stream against the mills on the banks. Boats, in con- sequence, cannot run at night-time. The banks, for the first six miles, were embowered in willows ; but after passing Tartar Keuy, a small village, were flat and uninteresting. At sunset, we struck our boat-hooks into the bank, and made fast for the night. I then indulged in a cup of tea, and my boatmen, who preferred my Cognac to the Chinese herb, amused me by singing. Early next morning, we reached the mouth of the rivulet Kusil- dere, on the right bank of the Marizza. It being too shallow to row up far, we landed and walked through mulberry groves to Demotica, which stands on the side of a hill, on the left bank of the rivulet, one mile from the river. In many maps Demotica is placed on the left bank of the 262 .TURKEY AND THE TURKS. TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 263 Marizza. Within and without the walls, it contains nine thou- sand inhabitants, between Mossulmans and Christians. The apex of the hill is crowned by the ruins of an extensive for- tress, commanding all sides, so that Demotica might be made im- pregnable. The appearance of the walls and castle led me to suppose that they were erected by the French nobleman to whom the lordship of Demotica was assigned on the division of the em- pire by the Latins, 1203. There were inscriptions on the gates, but the Russians, in 1829, hewed them out, and carried them off or destroyed them. They also removed all the cannon of the place, consisting of two pieces -a broken one, however, with great generosity, they left. I ascended to the bishop's house. His reverence, whose name was Calinico, a native of Candia, was surprised at seeing me, at the same time much gratified, for I was the only Frank traveler who had been there for ten years. We smoked the friendly pipe together, whilst my servant got brealfast ready. As one of a long string of grievances, which took an hour to go through, the bishop told me that the kharatch weighed heavy that year, being forty-eight, twenty-four, and twelve piastres for men, young men and youths respectively. His diocese contained sixty villages; his revenues though did not exceed 9,000 piastres (about $6 50), two-thirds of which, he said, went to the patriarch ; but then his table cost nothing. Among various questions, he asked me why the Greeks had a foreigner to govern them (King Otho ?) "At least," he said, "he should be baptized and matry a Greek." " Paris vaut bien une messe," dit Henri IV.; but I doubt if the Morea does. Near his house was a loathsome dungeon, wherein many of the French who had been captured in Egypt had been confined. In order to get to it, we descended to the bottom of a dry deep well, where on one side was a low door through which we crept, and thence along, always descending, a narrow passage, and so found ourselves all at once in a large circular vault.. Its chill-damp struck to my spirit as well as to my bones, thinking of the fate of its various occupants. On the walls were remains of writing, of which I distingushed the following sentences separated by effacements--ici deux offi- ciers, et vingt sous--officiers de la sixieme . . . sont enfermes . . malheureux . . . sont morts ici. There were four etchings done with charcoal representing-- Napoleon on horseback, not a bad likeness-a piece of artillery in movement--a hussar sabring a Mamaluke--a party of grena- diers. What became of these malhteureux I conld not learn; perhaps they died there. It may be wrong taste, but I own that these touching memo- rials of men of our own century interested me more than would have done an autograph of Jugurtha round the ring that confined his chain to the wall. We were about to leave it, when some human voices under my feet startled and detained me; they came up an aperture made to admit the air, and a lamp being lowered down it, we distinguished two Turks and one Greek in a dungeon fifteen feet below the one we were standing in. I wished to go down, but the key of the iron trap could not be found; so instead, I sent them some money in the basket which conveyed them their scanty food. They screamed out thanks for the unexpected and unpre- cedented gift, and called to the jailer to fetch them some bread. The deacon, my ciceroni, next conducted me to a small chapel of great sanctity hewed in the rock near the castle. Hle dated its existence above a thousand years, and attached some miracles to two mouldering pictures on wood, of Christ and of the Virgin, which he devoutly kissed. From the eminence the view was pleasant, and the country seemed better cultivated than most other parts where I had been. The inhabitants gain a comfortable livelihood by their silk. The deacon next led me to view the metropolitan church ; a poor building, over the entrance of which was a remarkable spe- cimen of Greek superstition, in a picture done in a sort of Chi- nese style: It wvas divided into two compartments. In the upper 264 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 'T raRRV AND THE TCRIS. 265 one was represented the Almighty with a long black beard ; near him were grouped Christ, Moses, and a crowd of saints; below him stood an angel with expanded wings, holding the scales of good and evil. On one side of the lower compartments were the gates of Para- dise, made of iron flanked by twisted columns, towards which were advancing a troop of white headed men, the foremost of whom had already got his hand on the knocker : angels guarded them, and with long lances spitted the devils, who from the oppo- site side endeavored to seize their charge. The opposite side was hell, represented in a novel form. A hugb monster with the head of a whale and the scales of a drag- on rested on a.sea-shore, its mouth wide open, glowing like a furnace of flames, and on the forked tongue sat the proto-thiavo- los (words of the priest) grinning and receiving sinners, strings of whom, chained neck to neck, were being dragged on by a huge devil, while little devils most ludicrously drawn accelerated their progress by kicking them, at the same time holding them back by the ears with their long monkey arms. Behind the monster were similar monsters sporting on the waves with live cargoes which they had embarked from the stern of the other this transmigration could not be seen because the tail of the first monster was under water, but I had the priest's word for its taking effect, and so on, from fish to fish to all eternity-a very ingenious mode of torment- There were other conceits, such as Elijah's ascent :--the pro- phet had reached God's footstool, and was holding on by his mantle. A man was waiting for me at the bishop's with medals. Though no connoisseur I bought the best :--Birmingham ware could hardly have found their way to Deinotica, I thought, nor w-as I apprehensive of the tricks of Paestum where I once saw a man literally sowing antiques. Having, as well as my servant, received the kiss of peace from Bishop Calinico, I re-embarked in the afternoon and continued nmy voyage." The naked monotony of the banks soon changed on the right for low, wooded, wavy hills, and the stream flowed in a narrower bed, consequently faster ; but the heat was so oppressive that I could not enjoy myself till evening. I then prepared to eat, squatted a la Turque, at the bottom of the boat. I had cold lamb and tongue, with some excellent Adrianople wine, wich the kind Mrs. D- had taken care, unknown to me, to have placed in my boat'; a dish of cherries, presented from the bishop, was cooling in a tub of water ; from the prow came the fragrance of coffee roasting, and behind me the reis perfumed the air smoking my exquisite seraglio tobacco. The sun had just declined behind the groves by which we were gliding, myriads of bulbuls saluted us, and the splashing of the oars made pleasing accompaniment to their notes. I scarcely re- member to have had a more quick epicurean selfish hour. We passed Sofli on the right bank, and at eight tied ourselves for the night to a stake on the left bank. While the boatmen were cooking fish for their supper, (it be- ing Lent,) and my man preparing some tea, I strolled inwards to where I supposed was a village by the clattering of storks-- birds for which I have a great respect, for the noise they make with their bills resembles that of the well-known instru- ment carried by the white-coated, big-sticked worthies who used to preambulate London streets. I was not mistaken: it was Daykeuy, a Mossulman village of ope hundred houses. The inhabitants gathered round me with civil eagerness; not even the dogs barked at my Frank costume. They brought me some milk and honey, and invited me to sit down and smoke. They were a comely race. Their lands were in perfect order, di- vided by hedge rows, and in few countries have I seen more com- fort-a sign that, in iddition to a good aga, they were never troubled by the passage of troops. I returned to my boat, and fell asleep to the cadence of a water-mill. Let me however caution my reader, if he ever find himself in a similar situation, to prefer passing the night in a pigstye to the luxury of sleeping in the open air : to the three nights that I 266 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. slept on the Marizza I attribute the seeds of the fever which af- terwards nearly cost me my life. Early the next morning we reached the first of the Cossack villages-three in number, at intervals, on the left bank. The appearance of the inhabitants at once denotes their origin, and their flaxen hair is a proof how carefully they have preserved their blood uninfluenced by climate, or by the charms of the Gre- cian and Bulgarian women. As like the Cossacks of the Don of the present day, as though of the same family, they are descended from the tribes that emi- grated rather than submit to Catharine; had they prescience of conscription ? Their fidelity to the Porte met with an exemplary reward. Though Christians, they were put on the footing of Mossulmans, and allowed to carry arms. At first, all of them settled on the right bank of the Danube ; but in a few years a portion came farther south, and obtained lands on the Marizza, where their descendants remain, with all the privileges, undisputed, of Osmanleys, distinguished by their national costume and by their northern skins. Their principal occupation, as everywhere else, is fishing; they cure the fish and supply the whole country, by which traffic they have become opulent. I have frequently met them trading be- yond Adrianople, and was surprised, till I knew the reason, at beholding Christian subjects of the Porte armed. They have never betrayed its confidence, and, in fact, the best resistance made during the war to the Russians was by some Cos- sack tribes on the Danube. The Porte would do well to extend the privilege to its Bulga- rian subjects, who, having no ideas of independence, no recollec- tion of a separate existence, would prove equally faithful, and would, with the Cossacks, form a good aefence for its northern frontier. At noon we passed Ipsala, a flourishing Mossulman village of eight hundred houses, two miles from the left bank, and two hours farther on pulled up to the right bank at the nearest spot to Fera, a Turkish town, two miles from the river. I procured TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 267 horses and rode to it, to ascertain if there were any remains of antiquity, it being conjectured to be on the site of Trajanopolis. I found none, but saw a good mosque and the ruins of a spacious khan, showing that the town had been of much importance. Thence we rode to the summit of an adjoining hill to see some ruins, which, according to my informant at Adrianople, were of an old castle. Ruins there were, certainly, though not such as I expected to find-time-hallowed, recalling crusading scenes-but recent, betraying wanton destruction. Yet among them was an edifice, entire, low, and solid, resem- bling a powder magazine or a dungeon, and singular, attracting curiosity, as having escaped the surrounding wreck :. stooping under a low arch, I entered it, and started on finding myself in a chamber containing the coffins of five dervishes, as the peculiar caps, decaying at the head of each, and the tattered garments, hung round, indicated. An elderly Osmanley was on the hill; him I questioned, and learned that it was the tomb of Ibrahim Baba, a holy dervish of the order of Bektash, and that the adjoining ruins had been houses for the accommodation of pilgrims. In reference to the size of two of the coffins, which were upwards of nine feeet long, he said that they held evel zemam adam, (men of the olden times.) He rqcommended me to go five miles further, where was the tomb of Nefez Baba, one of the most celebrated saints of the same order, who had come from Gallipoli with the Osmanleys when they conquered the country: and in commemoration he, Nefez, being rich, Fez Padischa Oglou (son of a Barbary Prince,) had founded a monastery. A similar spectacle awaited me- a ruined village and a tomb. Two of the coffins were of enor- mous size, made so to impose the on vulgar. There, also, a direction was given to me to the tomb of another saint, Rustum Baba, some miles farther, but I did not profit by it, thinking two sufficient for a moderate curiosity; at the same time I was greatly pleased at finding myself among the tombs of the Bektashes-as celebrated in the East as the Jesuits were in 268 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 269 the west. But our friend Hadgi Bektash's was not one: he, as every one knows, was the founder not of the order, but of its fame, by sanctifying the corps of Janizzaries at Adriafiople, 2389, at Amurath's request. Holding his sleeve over the foremost file, he said, " Let them be called Yenicheri : may their countenances be for ever bright; their hands victorious; may their spears hang over the heads of their enemies; and wheresoever they go may they return with a white face !" How well they answered his invocation, the battle fields from St. Sophia's domes to Vienna bear evidence. Thus the cowl became the scarf of the sabre, the dervish's sleeve the plume of the soldier. Thenceforward the names of the Janizzaries and the Bektashes were nearly synonimous ; their interests were indissolubly linked, and. they supported each other, respectively, by deeds and pray- ers. The order was immensely rich, spread over the empire, com- manding the veneration of high and low; and not to visit the tombs of the principal saints was considered a serious omission. The blow struck at the Janiizzaries rebounded on the Bektashes. Sultan Mahmoud instantly proclaimed their dissolution, and sent officers to this part of the country to level the houses of ac- commodation and the tombs. The former part of the sentence was carried into effect, but the discontent of the people averted the latter. Hadgi Bektash lies near Cesarieh, whither, I shouid imagine, the Sultan's anathema did not penetrate : the Asiatics have not hitherto shown much docility to his will, and still less would they respect it regarding the violation of their favorite saint. To judge by the pilgrimage to the inferior luminaries, that to the Hadgi's tomb should be numerousljattended. Probably it still exists, and it is worth a traveler's while, whose route lies that way, to make enquiries concerning this interesting character -interesting for certainly no man since the prophet has more per- manently influenced the affairs of the East. Poor Hadgi Bektash ! he little dreamed in the days of his 270 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. sanctity, when he breathed soul into that body, so long the terror of Europe, that his name would ever become a curse with the sovereign of Turkey. Wherever I went, existed a strong feeling against the sultan for his wanton enmity to the dead. That night I passed like the others in my boat, slowly progress- ing as there were no dams to obstruct us, and early in the morning reached Enos, where I was hospitably received in the house of M. Limonjoglou, an Armenian merchant, whom I had known at Adrianople as dragoman to the consulate-a clever worthy man, with a very pretty amiable Greek lady for a wife ; her father was beheaded at the commencement of the civil war. I had scarcely breakfasted when officers came on the part of thh aga and kadi to compliment me on my arrival. The British agent also called, a native of Syra, a man notorious for a disrepu- table appearance and life, and for unworthy practices: I was ashamed to see such offal bearing so respectable a title. People out of Turkey cannot conceive the injury caused by- such representatives; wherever they reside Franks are not respec- ted. Born rayas, they seldom surmount their timidity of the Os- manleys : and when they do, their tone towards the agas with whom they have to deal, becomes insolence ; the more insupport- able, because connected gederally, with incapacity and ignorance of the laws and peculiar privileges of Europeans in the Levant. Besides, they always engage in trade, often contraband, to in- crease which they scruple not to compromise the nation they rep- resent. The Ionians are spread all over Turkey, as traders. as doctors, as pedlars, as tradesmen; and, when in trouble, invariably style themselves Englishmen (not otherwise,) to the great injury of the name ; they commit more disorders in Turkey than any other claes. I have met some with passports wherein they were styled Eng- glishmen, a licence which should not be permitted to them, be- cause they only discredit it. Nor are the Osmanleys aware of the distinction. One day at Buyukdere, the Capitan Pasha sent to inform me that an English sailor on board one of the ships was mutinous, and committing great disorders. It was a trait of delicacy on his part, letting me know of it, instead of ordering the man a few hundred blows on the soles of his feet. I had never heard of an Englishman being in the fleet, but I felt gratified for the in- formation, and inmmediately went to him. He wus a Cephaloniote, I was so vexed that I threatened to let the worst come to him for having assumed our name to screen his misconduct. I took care, however, to explain to his excellency the distinction between an Englishman and an Ionian. A few years since an Englishman was vice-consul at Enos, he there married the bishop's niece. This alliance cost him his situ- ation; for the then Mr. Stratford Canning, now Lord de Redcliffe would.not, in consequence, permit him to retain it, it being con- trary to Turkish laws, intermarriages between Franks and rayas. The publicity thus given, in virtue of the ambassador's proceed- ings, aroused the authorities, who separated the parties and placed the lady under confinement. The husband, not being able to gain any redress at Constantinople, retired to the Morea in distress, where he soon died. His widow was then restored to her friends. Now this act of the ambassador was cruel, because totally unne- cessary: for although the Turks sometimes interfere to prevent these matches, they never oppose them after the ceremony. At Constantinople and at Smyrna, in proof of this assertion, are Englishmen and other Franks married to rayas. At Adrianople a Corfuyote physician of my acquaintance paid his addresses to a Greek lady during three years, but could not ob- 'tain permission to marry her; moreover, Alish Pasha, a vulgar tyrant of low origin, fearing that his commands might be ineffec.- tual with the lovers, sent for her parents and threatened their heads if the marriage took place. A similar menance is too easily carriel into effect so be despised : therefore the consuma- tion of their - shes seemed hopeless. They were, however ulti- mately united, and continued to live undisturbed. There was one other agent at Euos when I was there, besides the British agent, his brother-in-law; but more fortunate, he was TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 271 agent for several nations. Seven coats of arms were in his hlall, and consequently he was seven times a rogue. His reign, how- ever, was drawing to a close. The morning that I arrived, the aga, kadi, and the principal inhabitants--Mosssulman, Greek, and Frank---signed a petition against him to be presented at the Porte. I saw the petition, and a curious document it was, on account of" the signatures which were various : some were done with reed or pen, others with a signer, others by the bulb of the fore-finger of the signer dipped in ink and pressed on the parchment. One of the marks I observed made with the back of the fore-finger, contained between the second and third joints. This custom is of high antiquity The Kuran informs us that the prophet signed papers of importance by laying his whole hand, smeared with ink, on. them. Enos is situated on a rocky isthmus, so nearly surrounded by water that a cut of two hundred yards would make it an island. In the hands of Franks it might be rendered a second Gibraltar ; nothing commands it. It has an old castle of Italian structure; there were thirty-six pieces of cannon in it, which the Russians carried off or sunk, together with all he ammunition. It surrendered at first sum- mons to General Severs, at the head of a brigade of cavalry, with a few field pieces. In the foundations of the towns are quantities of oyster shells, and on the plain outside are some remarkable rocks, encrusted a foot deep with similar marine productions. It is natural to sup- pose that they were formerly under water, in which case Enos was an island, although, at first sight, the extreme flatness of the plain towards Adrianople seems to contradiet this supposition, on the ground that the sea in flowing over them would have encroached farther in land than facts justify. But a rise of one inch in fifty feet, which is imperceptible, gives in five miles and a-half as many feet elevation; and the inhabitants assured me, from tradition, that several villages, now four and five iiles 272 TURKEiY AND TIHE TURKE. TURKEY AND T HE TURKS. 273 inland, were formerly on the sea coast. It is manifest that the alluvial deposit of the Marizza is forming a delta. Another of Enos' curiosities is the infinite number of storks, called by the Turks lekleks, from the noise they make with their bills. They cover every house and chimney, and, for a stranger to attempt sleeping of a morning, after they commence lekleking, is useless. They are forid of their young: when they have occasion to bring food to them from a long distance, they swallow it for the convenience of carriage, and restore it on reaching the nest. They are an emigrating species. At the commencement of winter, they assemble and fly off in long caravans to the south, returning in the spring-the same birds to the old quarters, as I was credibly informed. They are lovers of tranquility, though such noisy creatures themselves, on the same principle that great talkers like silent people; and from this disposition arises the vulgar opinion that they shun the vici- nity of the Christian quarters of Turkish towns. Constantinople, for example, swarms with them, excluding the less quiet suburbs of Pera and Galata. Their position at Enos, however, an entire Greek town, exonerates them from entering into the religious an- tipathies of Mossulmans. I returned the inquiries of the aga, Mahmoud Bey, in person. I found him a handsome, polished young man, and, as I had known some of his brother pages at Constantinople, we soon became good friends, and exchanged trifling presents. He invited me and my party to dine with him next day at a kiosk in the country. We then visited the cadi and the archbishop, and in the even- ing, it being Sunday, mingled with the fashion of the town on the promenade, by the sea-shore. The whole female population was out, partly on land, partly on the water in small boats, and made a gay spectacle in their rich costume, consisting of loose robes a la Turque, of finest bright colored silks, and all seemed superlatively happy, though under the Turkish rule. We sat down by a windmill to listen to their 35 songs and observe their landing. It was pleasantly cool. The sun was setting behind a mountain range, terminating with Cape Macri; Samothraki expanded in the clear atmosphere, and the jagged cone of the holy mountain, appearing single on the water as an island, was distinctly visible. Presently, a fair-freighted bark, object of our attention on account of a sweet voice in it, came to the beach near where we sat. A dozen ladies disembarked ; among them was one of real beauty--that beauty which we are taught to expect in Greece, but which we rarely find-a model for the sculptor. There was the virgin front, the pencilled arches, the large, saintly eyes, the straight profile, the satin cheeks, the just-parted delicate lips, the chin nor oval nor round, the blue-veined neck, the falling shoulders : there were all these-all in perfection ; but where were the charms of figure? The bust, the slender waist, the swelling hips, the well turned ancle--charms unpossessed out of modish Europe. The fair Enosiotes, in my opinion the best looking of the Grecian women, surpassing the vaunted Smyrni- otes, conceal their forms nature has given them under a mass of clothing, and their toilette makes girls appear encientes. The next morning we made a light breakfast, in anticipation of the surfeit we were doomed to undergo chez le bey. It is one effect of civilization, that a man is not forced to eat more than he wishes; but the Osmanleys have not yet reached that point. At two o'clock the bey sent horses for us. We were four in number : my host; his partner, a freed rayah; and a Neapolitan trader, his guest, waiting for a passage to Syria; and myself. The place of rendezvous was a kiosk near the salt-pans, one mile and a-half from the town. We had occasion, to get to it, to cross an inlet of the sea up to our horses' bellies, in doing which poor Aleccho (Limonjoglou), who preferred riding on a donkey, got a wetting. However, it wals a fine day, and he dried before the bey, who followed soon afterwards, accompanied by the cadi and the yombrodgi (douanier), arrived. In the meantime, we galloped about the plain, and played awkwardly at the jerreed with some Osmanleys. 274 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. These three personages, in small towns, are seldom apart, from the necessity of playing into each others hands, and for society; they may be compared, under the latter article, to the parson, the apothecary, and the schoolmaster of an English village fifty years back. The bey was, in every respect, the superior of the triade, with, too, a perfect freedom from Eastern nonchalance, so trying to a stranger, and only to be met by counterfeiting a similar deport- ment. The cadi was a usual specimen of the favored law class, distin- guished over Turkey by superior knowledge and superior sensua- lity; his smooth and polished manner, soft as his lady-like hand, a beauty much esteemed in the East, was opposed by the lurking treachery of his eyes, glancing from the corners of their half- closed lids. The extraordinary self-command of these adepts in duplicity, equally serene, whether signing a death-warrant or accepting a bribe, makes one experience in their intimacy the sensation of the Hindoo while caressing a cobra capella. The yombrokgi was a vulgar, low Asiatic, tolerated by his superiors on account of his gross buffooneries ; for, however supe- rior an Osmanley is, he cannot get over the innate love of behold- ing others expose themselves to ridicule. I already knew these worthies; therefore, without ceremony, we took possession of the divan, and began, as usual, to smoke. The bey kicked off his Wellington boots, which annoyed him in his tailor-like position, and asked my opinion about fortifying the town, of which we had a full view. Not knowing more of fortifying than men of my profession in general do, I might have been embarrassed without the comfort- able reflection that, know ever so little, I could not well know less than an Osmanley. I completed my task off-hand, and assured him that if he followed my plan, Enos would be the strongest place in the empire; much was not requisite to gaiigor it that pre-eminence. He expressed himself delighted, though, I knew, inly deter- TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 275 mined to do nothing that would require money, and the freed rayahs burst out into rapture at my demonstration, with, "Voila 1' avantage des mathematiques." As this was his constant expression, his retreat, I may say, when anything was said or done of which he was ignorant, I could not take it as a substantial compliment: however, it had the effect of giving a change. The bey and cadi began a whispering conversation; the yom- brokgi, displeased at being neglected, applied himself assiduously to a narghiler; and my Frank companions, who never saw news- papers, drew me into their favorite subject, politics, of which I remember no other than that the Neapolitan was extremely anxi- ous to know the views of the hautes potences (as, by a natural translation of his own word, potenza, he expressed puissances.) The repetition of the expression was amusing, and the idea of how sharply an Italian policeman would have caught it up, still more so. But the equivoque was harmless; there was nothing in his broad, good-humored countenance, that indicated a savor of Car- bonarism. By the frequent changing of our chibouques, it became evident that we should not eat before late, and we therefore ceased look- ing impatiently towards the hill over which the viands were to be brought from the town. To amuse us, in the meanwhile, English beer and cucumbers were brought in, of which we partook mode- rately, and the Osmanleys voraciously. The natives of Turkey, of every sect, are greedily fond of cucumbers, and, in the season, are seldom seen without a whole one in their hands, devour- ing it. We then walked out to view the pans. The bey, in a facetious humor, called for some of the salt and tasted it; all his country- men present were, of course, obliged to follow his example, and praise it; nor dared they spit it out, not even the yombrokgi, who made wry faces. It appeared good and white. It forms a principallource of the aga's revenue-Adrianople, with the sur- rounding country, being supplied with it. At our return to the kiosk, I hoped to find dinner-but no 276 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 277 such luck. As a necessary prelude, for it was now evident that we were destined the honor of a regular Bacchanalian repast, an enormous bowl of punch was ready, and musicians were in waiting. The Osmanleys made a few facons, but drank deep, excepting the bey, who constrained himself for appearance sake, and in order to make the yombrokgi intoxicated. The yombrokgi acted his part well. He began by protesting that he was a true. Mossulman--that he would not violate his religion by drinking before Frank--then begged submissively (as if the victim of his politeness) not to be made the jest of the company--entreated that we would at least turn our heads, and finished by swallowing an ok (quart.) The music then struck up with songs that will not admit trans- lation. The company warmed to the subject and joined in the chorus-the cadi, in an under tone, with a subdued expression of satisfaction, the yombrokgi furiously striking the floor with hands and feet. The bey was infinitely delighted, and urged him to play the fool still more. Presently dancing boys came in, and began in a moderate man- ner to keep time with their attitudes. This would not suffice the yombrogki; he rose, fast inflaming, reeling joined the dance, and excited them to shew all their skill: but, it not being the inten- tion of the epicurean company to exhaust all at once their means of entertainment, he was compelled to sit down and console him- self with punch, while the boys continued in their own fashion to exhibit lascivious sleepy gestures. We were all good friends--hats and turbans'-the cadi, next to me, testified great solicitude, for my entertainment, and kept me in a state of suffocation by making his own chibouque assidu- ously serve me. It was now six o'clock, and what with beer, cu- cumbers, punch, and an infinity of tobacco, I began to fear that I should not be able, much longer, to preserve my equilibriufm ; when, with the joy that a famished army knows, hailing its long expected convoy, we perceived a train of domestics bearing dish- es over the water. Our flagging spirits revived ; the dancers re- tired, the music ceased, the yombrokgi went out to make restitu- tion, and Albanians came in to arrange the cushions for eating commodiously. But one of the guests, Ali Effendi, was not yet arrived. While I was wishing him at Mecca, behold he rides into the water, and crosses it in an orthodox manner, smoking a long pipe. The musicians came up again to welcome him, and punch was again brought in, in order to assimilate him to the rest of the party. His white beard seemed older than his florid countenance, and a bright mellow eye inferred how little he heeded the Kuran. "We Osmanleys," he whispered to. me, " seldom drink, but when we do we can empty a cask." At length all being arranged, the guests merry, we disposed ourselves round the tray--the bey in the angle of the sofa, the cadi on his right hand (place of honor,) myself on the left, and the rest of the company alternately--nine in all. There was also an inferior tray, which received our leavings, for the attendants and some low Franks who came to the feast like Myconians. The first dish was as usual lamb roasted whole, stuffed with rice and raisins. An Albanian first took it up and twisted of a shoulder for the second table, an etiquette which is observed in order to lesson the sense of inferiority. It was excellent, as well as the multitude of dishes which rapidly followed. I complimented the bey on his cook, but he reminded me that he was son of a pasha, therefore it was not surprising. Between every dish wine was handed round in large goblets. I was com- pelled to drink deep, for Ali Effendi wishing to recover lost time, pledged me repeatedly until the bey checked him, saying. "I desire that my guest follow his will." But his politeness in other ways was as disconcerting as this was acceptable, for he carried it to the length, showing me the greatest honor that can be shown in the East, of helping me with his fingers to the choicest morsels of every dish, sopping them in the gravy. The repast I thought would never terminate--an ordinary re past is over in ten minutes, but one of this description is indefi. nite and requires energy. The Turks on such occasions loose 278 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. their sashes and to it; nor was our company, Christian or Mossul- man, wanting in due exertion. The Neapolitan forgot his dear maccaroni in the lnxuries before him ; the cadi eat like an accom- plished gourmand, savoring all, allowing only a slight remark occasionally to escape his lips; the yombrokgi was voracious, tearing the meats with both hands (he was not on my side,) ap- plying a rum bottle to his mouthful; Ali Effendi was very loqua- cious, at the same time not neglecting the more serious business of the day. Finally, to our great relief the saffron pilaff made its appear- ance with creams and kourskoub. These were replaced by a large bowl of punch, in the composition of which water had a very small share. In virtue of it our orgies were pushed to ex- cess, and the scene--what with the music, the songs, and the dan- cing boys, became rather bedlamite. Some of the guests tore off their upper garments--fire in their eyes, froth on their beards-joined the dancers, their turbans half unrolled, flying out as they reeled round the apartment, and but for the presence of the bey, scandalous displays would have ensued. One grey-beard actually seized a handsome lad belonging to the cadi with felonious" intent. The struggle was sharp between them, and the company stifled with laughter at beholding the grimaces of the drunken old satyr. The lad's eye at length caught mine : blushing till his very ears tingled, he broke away, letting the other fall on his face. Tranquility followed this burst. Coffee composed the actors, and the bey hoped that I would make no remark on what I saw, adding that such took place only once in a way. I assured him that I had been sufficiently long acquainted with the Osmanleys to be aware of their general propriety, and that he might depend on my discretiQn. At ten o'clock we remounted, forming a cavalcade of fifteen persons. Footmen accompanied us with torches, the long streams of light flowing from which on the placid tide, joined to the at- mospheric splashing of our horses, was exceedingly pretty, and 279 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 280 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. made, by their dazzling, vibrating effect, some of the party reel in their saddles. No derangement, however, occurred to any one, excepting the Neapolitan, who hastily sprung off, exclaiming : "Faccia che vuole alla giumenta almeno mi lascia tranquillo." Beyond this nothing discomposed us. Ali Effendi reigned in his neighing charger, laughing at the joke, and in ten minutes we gained the town, the streets of which we paraded till past mid- night, accompanied by barking dogs and discordant music, to the entertainment of the inhabitants, male and female, who stood at their windows with candles, to admire us or be admired. We gradually dispersed, nor did I again join the bons vivans of Enos. CHAPTER XIX. SCHOONER, DESERTERS, SAMOTHRAKI, ANCIENT CASTLE, GREEIS PI- RATES, THASCO, MEHEMET ALI, MOUNT ATHOS, ALBANIAN GARDEN- ERS, SIMENU VATOPEDE, MONKISH CUSTOMS, HISTORY OF SANTO, CARIEZ, WAIVODE, KUTHENISI, PRIORS, LIBRARIES. I ROSE with a headache, which, however, an unusual incident soon dispelled. A Genoese schooner had just dropped anchor in the port, from Salonica, freighted with a hundred Albanians-- deserters and vagabonds--to be sent to the grand vizir at Ad- rianople. Every shop was closed, and the inhabitants, in alarm, kept their houses. The bey was on the beach, in doubt what to do. " God is great !" he said, "and those fellows are villains. The Pasha of Salonica has sent them here to be quit of them. Please God I will send them away too; but I have no troops, and they may choose to quarter on Enos." He sent a messenger on board to order them to land anywhere but in the town. They beat the messenger, and did the contrary; came on shore like wild beasts, in a mood to break open the first shop, or fire the first house, crying out for food. A large magazine was speedily cleared: bread, caimac, and cheese placed in it; and tey rushed in, like a crowd into a theatre on the doors being opened. Guards were placed over them. This manoeuvre gave time for consideration on what was to be done with them next--not provide them with supper also, cer- tainly. Our counsel being asked, we advised that they should be called out singly, under any pretence, and handcuffed. It suc- ceeded admirably, and in a few hours they were on the march to Fera, with a bouryourdou to the aga to feed and forward them. I simply mention this as a specimen of how they manage things in Turkey. At' midnight I embarked in a large boat, which I had hired, and the next forenoon beached in a little cove in the rocky shore of Samothraki. A distressing walk over rocks and briars, up-hill for two hours, brought me te a deep ravine, on the sides of which was suspend- ed the village, resembling piles of rocks, from the houses being built of large loose stones. Magnificent ruins of an ancient cas- tle, rendered yet more picturesque by the contrast of three Turks smoking their chibouques in the shade of them, towered on the precipice above. On the walls were several inscriptions, the most perfect of which I copied, after having visited the aga, a rough Albanian. He demanded my firman; but not finding it at the moment, I presented him my post-horse order instead, making sure that it would answer the same purpose, as, in fact, it did. He affected to read it attentively, then returned it, saying that it was good, and directed the Greek tchorbagi to take care of me. The tchorbagi's house commanded a view of Mount Athos, which is a stupendous object viewed from afar, though not four TURKEYAND THE TURKS. 281 282 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. thousand feet high, on account of its insolation, and the absence of comparative heights. One knows not whether to admire the Titanian idea, or laugh at the extravagance, of Dinocrates, when he proposed to shape it into a statue of Alexander, holding a city in one hand, a lake in the other. The monarch's answer, that the adjacent country could not furnish provisions for the inhabitants of the city, was keenly ironical; for the length of a hand to a figure four thousand feet high, could not, if in proportion, exceed three hundred and forty feet. In a more elevated part of the island, near a small lake, are the remains of a fine amphitheatre. Theatres, in ancient days, were not such direct evidences of wealth and population as now, that men are more devoted to business; therefore vestiges of them, even though superb, are not always conclusive of a former state of high prosperity, although, in this case, they may be so considered; for we know that Samothrace was celebrated, while governed by its own laws; and the extent of the castle renders it apparent that it continued of importance after Vespasian re- duced it, with all the Egean isles, to the condition of a province. Samothraki is chiefly composed of granite rock. On the south side, however, there is a large portion of plain, with good pastur- age, though utterly neglected, on which a town might be built and the inhabitants enjoy plenty. But the Greek pirates are ob- stacles to such a scheme : during the last eight years, they have brought desolation on the island by frequently landing, and car- rying off cattle and other moveables. When it is considered, that of the population, six hundred fam- ilies, six only are Mossulmans, the patriotic Hellenists can hardly claim the credit of taking to the trade of piracy solely to distress their natural enemy. We made sail next day for Ayonoros, (Mount Athos,) and in the course of the day, the wind constraining us, passed near Thas- co, an island now interesting as the birth-place of the late Me- hemet Ali of Egypt. In the small town of Cavalla near it, on the main, is still seen the cafeneh where he once served in humble capacity. The mas- ter of the cafeneh afterwards went to Egypt, in the hope that the pasha would favor him : effectively he was inclined to do so ; but the cavedgi marred his prospects by reminding him of their for- mer intimacy. " Never let me see or hear of that man again," said the pasha -to his secretary, Boghoz. Men who surmount the obstacles of low birth and poverty gen- erally excite our curiosity, because we suppose them gifted with extraordinary minds. In civilized countries, the sight is rare, and justifies our expectations ; but in Turkey, on the contrary, it is very common, and usually disappoints us. The possessor of greatness, in the East, in nineteen cases out of twenty, rises from nothing. Why ? because crime or vice is there the high, the only road to power ; consequently, men who are in easy circumstances will not, unless goaded by unusual am- bition, enter it; they shudder at its first steps, and having the comforts of life, with peace of mind, care not for the baubles as the price of it. But the poor man, who has nothing to lose, and is urged on by the desire of being avenged on fortune, will, for less than the dis- tant chance of a pashalick, soil his conscience. Repetition of crime cleanses it-strange peculiarity of this said conscience. Late in the evening we made for a small bay in the promon- tory of the mountain, at the bottom of which appeared, as I thought, a dismantled fortress. My boatman knew it for the monastery of Simenu. We landed, and endeavored to obtain admittance by knocking at the gates; but no answer was returned. We then walked round the walls till we came to a spacious garden, where several Albanians were employed as gardners and as guardians, to judge by the opposite description of their implements. Laying down their spades, and bringing their tephenks up to their shoulders, they interrogated us in a manner which showed that unity of re- ligion would not have been a sufficient passport; for the times were troublesome, and a formidable band of klephtes was near. 283 TUEKEY AND THE TURKS. 284 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. Being satisfied, however, at length, of our pacific intentions, they showed us a postern-gate which admitted us through the walls. The caloyers were at prayers ; but nevertheless the superior came out to meet us. He took the patriarch's letter with great respect, patuit to his forehead, kissed it, read it, then invited us to enter the church. It was small, but rich and clean. Fifteen caloyers were present, and the service was performed with a monotonous carelessnees that did not astonish me. When finished, I was conducted to the best apartment, and the superior supped with me off bread and boiled herbs--the monk- ish fare-seasoned with excellent wine-" dove si trovano frati la si trova buon vino"-a proof that art has more to do with the quality than climate. Throughout Mount Athos the wine is ex- cellent. The monastry, where chance threw me, was one of the smallest, and bore marks of the Tutkish occupation during the last eight years. At the commencement of the revolution, the Greek patriots had the intention to occupy the mountain, and garrison the forti- fied convents, whence they could have made incursions into Mace- donia, and raised the province; but with a foresight that rarely belongs to them, the Turks threw troops into all the convents in time, with the farther view of preventing the caloyers from send- ing their riches away. The infliction lasted till March 1830, when a firman from the Porte relieved them. During the occupation, the convents were obliged to support the troops, and to pay a contribution, besides being exposed to in- dividual exactions. The monthly sum levied on the whole mountain was ten thousand piastres (eight hundred dollars.) The larger establishments. being rich, were enabled to pay their un- welcome guests for good behavior ; but the smaller ones suffered grievously in the furniture and decorations of the apartments. The chief instrument of the Porte in bleeding the caloyers was Aboulloubout Pasha, who, at the commencement of the revolu- tion, was summoned from Jerusalem, whence he had made him- self odious, to practice his art at Salonica. After various atroc- ities, among others, decimating the inhabitants of Neyousta, he came to the mountain to endeavor to get gold in exchange for bastinadoes and threats. He was forbidden to take the life of a single caloyer. He then went to Demotica, and thence--but it is needless to enume e the halting-places of this barbarian : his crimes are probably ex- aggerated by the caloyers, who use his name as a curse. " Where is he now ?" I asked. "In hell," was the emphatic reply. Hadca devout Catholic Greek been by he would have mentally added, " in the hands of the caloyers." But they erred: .Aboulloubout was still alive, though unem- ployed. The next afternoon, re-embarking, we beat up a few miles to the eastward, and landed at Vatopee, the largest and richest of the convents. Several young caloyers were already on the beach waiting to greet us, the arrival of a stranger upon the mountain having been reported at Simenu. With much ceremony, they conducted me us the slope to the building, which, to all appearance, was a fortress, having high battlements, a moat, with drawbridge and iron gates; cannon, too, there had been, but the Turks had removed them. There the rest of the brotherhood welcomed me ; and, having first conducted me to a chapel to return thanks for my prosperous arrival, installed me in the best " guest's apartment." Pipes and coffee were imme- diately brought. To this Eastern refreshment the caloyers add raki. Afterwards a supper -of fish, vegetables, and dried fruits, was served, at which the principal caloyers, in the absence of the ugoumenos (prior) at Cariez, did me the honor to assist. That evening my room was crowded with caloyers, all eager to obtain news on various subjects-the destinies of Greece, the late war, &c. One among them, a Bulgarian, asked me if it were true the misery that the Russians were reported to have brought on his countrymen ? Of course I did not disguise the truth. Through- TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 285 out the mountain, as in every other part of Grecian Turkey, I found the same marked discontent with tha Russians. That night I lay on a comfortable sofa, and in the morning ap- preciated the beauty of the situation from my windows, which manded a view, over the sea, of the hills of Macedonia, of 'sco, and of Samothraki. Mount Athos is, properly speaking, an elevated cone of rock, at the extremity of a long mountainous promontory, forty miles by nine, the highest point of which it doubly exceeds, connected by a low narrow isthmus to Macedonia. This is the geographical distinction; but Ayonorus, Holy Mountain, is applied to both cone and promontory, along either shores of which, in small bays, the monasteries are situated ; and considering their isolation, the climate, the prospect, the pleasant country, the gardens, more 4elightfui spots do not elsewhere exist for religious and philosophical retirement; with too many com- forts, elegant lodgings, books, and society-such as it is. The monasteries are twenty-two in number, as follows :- Zilantari-built by Simeon, a Prince of Servia,.who became a Caloyer. Zographo--built by two brothers of Justinian. In these two monasteries the service is performed in the Bulgarian tongue, the caloyers being Bulgarians. Simenu-built by the Empress Pulcheria. Vatopede--built by Constantine originally, and rebuilt by Theodisous. Pantocratorous--by Manuel Comnenus. Kuthenisi--by Alexins Comnenus, of Trebizonde. Protaton-built originally by Constantine, rabuilt by Theodso- sius. Ipkiron-built by Theopania, wife, of Romanos, son of Leon Sophos; restored by a Prince of Iberia, (Georgia,) about A. D. 600 : added to by his son, a caloyer. Stavronikita--by the patriarch Jeremiah. Philotheu-built by a wealthy Roman, (name unremembered,) since restored by a Georgian prince. 286 TURKEY AND THIE TURKS Karacula-by Caracallos, governor of Bessarabia. Lsvra-- built by Niceforas. St. Anna-a monastery without a wall, called a skidt. St. Paul--built by an emperor's son, who became a ealoyer. Dionisius--by Alexius Comnenus, of Trebizonde. St. Gregory-by a Servian prince. " Simopetra-by John, a Servian prince. Ziropotpotamo--built by Andronicus II. (the old;) shook down by an earthquake the beginning of the 16th century, and restored by Selim I. Rusikon--founded by Catharine for Russian caloyers. Zenophu-built by the Logythete of an Emperor. Dochcjariju-- Kustamonitu-built by Constantine; rebuilt by Constantius, rebuilt by a Servian prince. There are visible some ruins of Amalfenu, a Latin monastery, built in the short interval of peace that existed between the east- ern and western churches, and destroyed by the Greeks nine hun- dred years since. Before the Greek revolution there were nearly two thousand caloyers on the mountain. When I was on it there were about nine hundred, many having fled to the convents of Megga Spilion and others. They were expected, however, to return since the Osmanleys had taken leave. The description of one convent may serve for all. Vatopede is in form a heptagon, of which the fagade is equal in length to three of the other sides. At the acute angle is a high tower, built by Arcadius, commanding a view of the whole establishment. Round the interior of the walls are corridors, supported on arches, containing cells, about two hundred-and-fifty in number which are neatly furnished with divans, tables, and chairs. On the walls aud turrets, overhanging them, have been erected various kiosks, that give the monastery, from a disiance, the appearance of a village built on white rocks: these aerial dwellings are musaphir odasi (" guest's apartments.") The area of the figure is occupied by the church, the refectory, 287 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. the magazines, the distillery, the staples, and some chapels, At the gates are apartments for the wardens. i'he church is singularly rich and elegant, partly in imitation St. Sophia. The dome is sustained by four porphyry col- ns, brought from Rome by Theodoseus the Great. he pavement is variegated with roux and verd antique. The walls are adorned with frescos of saints, and martyrdoms, and of the chief benefactors, Imperial eagles are in every corner- The praying desks, the chairs, the stools, the batons, are inlaid with pearl. The candlesticks, the chalices, urns, &c., are of mas- sy silver. The bibles. are clasped with gold. In the sanctum sanctorum I was shown various relics: a pic- ture of the Virgin and Child--the countenance was of the real Jewish caste, but black with age, the gift of Theodora, who mar- ried Orchan; a piece of the real Cross, presented by Stephen, a Servian prince; a piece of the Virgin's shawl, by John Cantacu- zene-with it is kept a pearl necklace of high price, a votive offering; a jasper vase set in gold, a beautiful specimen given by Constantine Manuel Paleologos; the tapestry on which Androni- cus knelt-in the centre of it a two-headed eagle worked in gold --in each corner a crowned griffin with the emperor's cypher; a picture of Peter and Paul, given by the same; a manuscript volume, written by the Emperor Leon, being a history of Jesus and of Mary, and a disquisition on the writings of the apostles. All these relics are carefully preserved in silver boxes; the wood of the cross is set with jewels. They showed me, as a curiosity, a marble tablet of bas reliefs very ancient, depicting in tivelve compartments the history of our Saviour, commencing with the scene of the angel's first conversa- tion with Mary. The execution is far from good, but singular ; in the stable two donkeys are represented regarding the infant with awe. In another part of the church was a marble coffin, with a lamp burnihg over it, containing the bones of Andronicus Paleologos, Manuel Paleologos, and John Cantacuzene. These three empe- rors died in the monastery, the first as a caloyer. For greater 288 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. TURKEY AND THIE TURKS. 289 secarity, their bones were taken from their respective tombs, and enlosed together. Every Latin and Greek establishment has its miracle; nor w this an excpiion. After several crossings before a tattered cure tain, my conductors threw it aside, and disclosed a picture of tL Virgin, black with time. One of her cheeks was marked witW scar and a bloodstain--the prodigy occasioned by a caloyer, what for some unknown reason, struck her with a knife; blood flowed with the blow; the arms of the impious wretch instantly dropped off, and he died in agony the following day. He was buried in the spot where the sacrilege was committed: whence, on the an- niversary, for several succeeding years, cries issued, while the blood flowed anew on Mary's cheek : in confirmation whereof, they showed me the bones of the offending arm kept in a case. The curtain that divides the body of the church from the great altar, was formerly of sculptured marble, but the frivolous taste of the caloyers, sixty years ago, changed it for carved gilded wooden work-a change that the present inhabitants, with better taste, lament. The great doors are of richly carved brass, the gift of Theodo- sius. Near them is preserved, with care, an ancient marble slab, although nothing concerning its history is known. It is worthy of remark, that the Osmanleys never took anything from the churches, not even in the convents, which pecam'e too poor latterly to satisfy their demands. "What restrained him," I asked, "from laying hands on these objects of cupidity ?" pointing to the above-mentioned picture of the Virgin. The caloyers answered, that they dreaded her vengeance. A poor restraint, I thought, judging from the treatment the French gave the Italian churches. They further assured me, that the Osmanleys never disturbed them at their devotions, at which they often attended as spectators. I well understood that, be- cause the church service at Ayonoros resembles the mosque ser- vice, consisting chielty of a series of prostrations, and other visible 37 290 TURKEIY AND TIIE TURKS. signs, with the constant cry of Kyrie Eleison. This point of re. semblance pleased them. Moreover, the Mossulmans respect the Christian religion: they revere Christ next to Mohammed, and rank the Virgin among efour perfect, (Asia, the princess who saved the infant Moses ; Virgin Mary; Khadijah, the prophet's first wife; Fatima, his ldaughter.) They regard no part of our faith with horror excepting that --that Christ is the Son of God (I will not mention their reason- ing on this subject)--they regard it as a complete blasphemy. Had Mohammed asserted that his wife was the daughter of God, it could not be a greater blasphemy to our ears. They doubly hate the Jews, because the latter do not believe in Jesus. The conversion of a Jew would not be considered sin- cere, because the Mossulmans say, that, unless a man believe in Christ, he cannot believe in Mohammed. One is a consequence of the other. The outside, however, of the churches of the different convents rather suffered from the prejudices of the Osmanleys. They are covered with frescos representing the most atrocious martyrdoms, and hell, and purgatory, in every variety that human fancy has devised; more than I, poor ignorant Protestant, had any previ- ous idea of. Paradise is not portrayed, excepting here and there its gates, whereat companies of old men are obtaining admit- tance. The dismal abodes, on the contrary, are entirely filled with young men; women are nowhere seen-a greater illiberality than is displayed by Mohammedanism, which does admit some of them to a future state. I remarked to an old caloyer, who took pleasure in explaining the pictures to me, on the discrepancy in the judgment allowed to the old and young. His politeness prevented him from saying anything; but he made a very significant reply by stroking his own long, white beard, and complacently smiling. Likewise were embodied the reveries of the Apocalypse, exag- gerated into manifold absurdities. The seven-headed beast was seven hundred times repeated at least, generally in the form of a giraffe, with sevan necks, like boa constrictors, with as many heads, unlike those of any animal in Buffon. The Osmanleys very willingly respected the pictures of Christ, and of Mary, and of saints; but saw no reason why they sho respect such monstrosities, and therefore amused themselves by picking out all its eyes, wherever they found it, with the points of their ataghans, making it tenfold more ridiculous. I could not sympathise with the caloyers in their complaints on such vandalism, though I thought that the perpetrators of the said barbarous acts were wrongly actuated; they certainly could not complain that that part of the Kuran was infringed, which forbids the representation of any of God's creatures. Having completed our survey of the church, the day after my arrival, the prior's secretary, my immediate entertainer, with some others, conducted me to the garden, where we seated our- selves in an open kiosk. The gardener, an old caloyer, brought us some fresh cucumbers and a bottle of raki. Each of my companions ate two of the former, and drank five or six glasses of the latter. On the bench, not far from us, a tall and spare caloyer was walking up and down with an irregular pace, occasionally stop- ping, and regarding the sea earnestly. His deportment re- minded me of the " giaour," and I was ready to imagine him also a victim of passion, when suddenly he threw aside his cowl, rushed into the water, and, casting out a small net, enclosed some fish. He was appointed to catch fish for my supper that night. It would not have required much fancy to have traced a me- lancholy tale in the pale countenance of some of the caloyers ; but there was no truth in them; they had never known the world, therefore no causes, beyond vague ones, of regret. Brought to the mountain as children, they grow up with perfect freedom from work or study--to read is all they learn. On reaching the age when they must quit the mountain, or em- brace the order, they usually choose the latter, their choice con- TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 291 firmed by habits of indolence, and by a feeling of security. No temptations afterwards cross their minds. Women are not admitted in any part of the mountain, in a circuit of one hun- dred miles, and few strangers (of late) visit their abodes: during the last twelve years a chance fishing-boat for water, or a pirate seeking a blesssing, has been their only variety. This absence of excitement, joined to rigid fasting and watch- ing, soon tames the natural heat of their blood, so that at thirty their pulses beat like men's at seventy. I felt several for curio- sity, and was astonished. My visit afforded them great pleasure, and, I fear, did no good to the younger members, who nightly crowded my supper table, and remained with me till the midnight church bell tolled, seeking information about the world, of which, it appeared, the rogue, my servant, told them I had seen much. One Papas Gregorios evinced a strong natural taste for earthly vanities: daily he put on my uniform more than once, and strut- ted about with great satisfaction, regardless of the sneers of the aged. He was very inquisitive about everything outside the mountain, particularly regarding women, whom he had heard of, but never seen, that is since he was four years old. For charity's sake I discouraged his inquiries, and bade him thank heaven that he was safe from their dangerous allurements. He would willingly have dropped his cowl, and accompanied me; but what could I have done with a caloyer ? The life of the caloyers is monotonous, their dress coarse, and their food simple. Their time is occupied between praying, eat- ing, and sleeping. At midnight they rise and go to church, remaining there four hours, after which they retire to a chapel, and pass two hours more in silent meditation on the Scriptures-they may then sleep. At nine they rise, and breakfast on what they please (of monastic fare.) At noon, church until four o'clock: at five they dine, singly or in company, only eating altogether in the refectory on fes- tival days. This routine is enough to blanch their cheeks. Be- sides, they have domestic and out-door employments. On occasions of fasts and festivals the churchings are considera- 292 TURKEY AND THIE TURiS. bly increased. During the Easter week, they are fifteen hours of each twenty-four. On set days they visit holy spots in the neigh- borhood to pray. At the panagia they walk processionally a circuit of several miles in their robes of ceremony, preceded by the banner of Con- stantine, which is a large flag representing on one side the emperor and his mother Helena, supporting a huge cross; on the reverse the Virgin kneeliug, an angel hovering over her. They have other ceremonies innumerable, the due observance of all of which pre- serves the members of the communities from corpulency. Meat is entirely excluded from their diet. Fish, vegetables, fruit, milk, eggs, they may eat, excepting during their Lents, to the rigor of which the laity as well as the clergy are subjected. Wine and spirits may be drank at all times; indeed, they are ne- cessary after their indigestible food. They felt the privation of milk, they told me, in Lent more than of any other thing. With all, they enjoy excellent health, although there is not a doctor on the mountain, or a particle of medicine, as I found after- wards to my cost, and they attain longevity. In Vatopede, I con- versed with three caloyers above one hundred years old, the eldest of whom was one hundred and seven; they were fresh and vigor- ous, and able to attend the night church, only suffering a little from chalk stones in the hands. By their appearance they might live twenty years longer. The government of the monasteries is paternal, independent of each other, and of external influence. They pay no tribute, or owe any direct obedience to the patriarch, although, as head of the religion, his wishes have weighed, and his approval (never withheld) is necessary to confirm the election of a new prior, which is performed by the caloyers in their respective monaste- ries. The prior has the power of solitary confining, and of fla- gellation. The cultivation of the monastery lands is performed by caloy- ers, assisted by Albanian laborers. During prosperous times the produce was sufficient to supply all the monasteries with bread, wine, and vegetables; but the incursions of the klephtes since TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 293 1821, and the presence of Osmanleys, caused such a stagnation of agriculture that the greater part of their corn, when I was there, was imported, and only enough wine made for the sick and the aged. Of raki, however, they distilled sufficient quantities for a libe- ral consumption by the brethren, who drink it at least twice a day, and are no ways restrained; even with this indulgence, I should say that a more mortified body of men than the caloyers of Mount Athos does not exist. Numerous cottages are scattered in the valleys of the mountain, for the accommodation of the farmer caloyers, who principally like their mode of life, because it relieves them from their reli- gious duties; although, it is true, they are enjoined to be equally exact when alone, as when in the monasteries--a fervor not to be expected; for a man, after a hard day's toil, will hardly awake at midnight to pray for four hours, even were he innately devout, which the caloyers certainly are not; thereby showing that reli- gion, though delightful when prompted by godliness, is irksome, like most obligations of this life, when enforced as a duty. I was surprised one night, attending the church, to find very few present; but the secretary confidentially told me, that it was in consequence of the prior's absence at Cairez. He, too, gladly availed himself of his temporary office, doing the honors to a guest, to excuse himself from night service. The religious history of Monte Sauto commenced with Con- stantine and Helena, who founded several monasteries. Julian, the apostate, levelled them, and dispersed the monks. After his death, however, they returned to their old haunts; but did not again prosper till the reign of Theodosius the Great, who, moved by a miracle, which I will relate, rebuilt Vatopede, the principal monastery. The emperor, in a voyage from Italy to Constantinople, was surprised by a violent gale off the mountain, during which his fleet received great damage, and, in the course of the night, a wave washed his infant son, Arcadius, overboard. Instead of drowning, as any other child would have done, he was saved by 294 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. the Virgin, who, seeing the accident, descended on a cloud, and bore him to a wood, near a ruined monastery, on the sea shore. The disconsolate emperor vowed not to continue his voyage without the body of his son; therefore, stationing his ships round the promontory, he landed to search the inlets, and, heaven direct- ed, proceeded straight to the very tree, (the caloyers still show it) under which the young Arcadius was sleeping. Confessing the prodigy, he showed his gratitude by rebuilding the monastery, and, in commemoration of the event, named ik Vatopede, from vatos, wood; pethe, son. In a short time, from this impulse, the mountain surpassed its pristine magnificence. Succeeding emperors, with other Christian princes, built vari- ous monasteries adorning its shores and romantic glens; and the continuance of such high favor preserved its sanctity from becoming dim-its treasuries from diminishing. .Several royal heads retired to it to enjoy repose; and three emperors, as I have mentioned, were buried in it. There is a tradition, that the Latins, in one of their crusades, landed on the mountains, and pillaged the convents. Direct proof of this outrage is wanting; but the crusaders were just the gen- try to commit it, came they in the way. On the other hand, in their favor, it may be said, that a Greek would not lose an oppor- tunity of vituperating a Catholic. The mountain escaped the catastrophe attendant on the Mo- hammedan conquest by the shrewdness of the caloyers, who, in- spired by divine grace, as their successors modestly allow, foresaw that, with Constantinople, every land where Greek was spoken would fall into the hands of the Osmanleys; and therefore, with- out waiting their turn to yield to force, sent deputies to congra- tulate the conqueror, and to declare themselves his obedient sub- jects. Mohammed pleased with the unclaimed submission, granted their prayer, and gave them a firman, exempting them from the desolation he designed the Greek church ; empowering them to retain possession of their monasteries, and all the lands appertaining to them, with the right to use bells and other sym- bols of their faith ; to repair their monasteries, and to build TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 295 29P TU RKKY ANT? TH{E TURKS. others. He only claimed the kharatch. These privileges have never been contested. The caloyers retain them, with the im- portant firman-their charter-to this day; nor have they ever received so severe a visitation from their masters, as the one they were just freed from on my arrival. The revenues of the monasteries were derived in part from pil- grims, who resorted to them in great numbers, from Greece, Tur- key and Russia. It is considered a party of pleasure, a voyage to the mountain." The pilgrims receive great hospitality. Some visit all the monasteries; others are contented with seeing three or four. They generally give money; and the names of donors are inscribed in a large book, at each convent, however small the amount. In the great book at Iphiron, I saw the names of Peter the Great and of Catharine the Second. The monasteries also derive revenues from their estates in Wal- lachia, Moldavia, and in Russia, where they have dependait*es- tablishments, as in Constantinople, and the principal towns of Roumelia. Members of the mountain reside in them to receive the rents, and the offerings of the pious. By this medium, which closely connects the Russians, the Bulgarians, and the Greeks, Russia can exercise a great influence with the Christian subjects of the Porte : in fact it is a secret police for her all over Turkey. After three days, I quitted Vatopede. My conveyance was mules, remarkably fine animals. The bells of the monastery were set ringing, not excluding the great gong that summons to church ; and the whole fraternity accompanied me to some distance out- side the gates, where we took an affecting parting. My path struck into the nut woods that cover the mountain, and from which vessels every year embark cargoes gratis. The way was rough, but highly picturesque: at times fine rocks girt us close to the edge of steep precipices; at times we passed under natural arches, formed by large oaks growing from the banks above us, and crossing with others springing up from beneath our feet: when a glade occurred, we looked down on the sea, and oc- casionally, from a summit devoid of trees, we saw the grey head of the cone. All the promontory is of the same description, cool and varied. The sun cannot penetrate its thick foliage, and the caloyers have furnished it with a ready supply of excellent water, collected in numerous fountains, and carried for many miles from hill to hill, diverging in split trunks of trees, hollowed out : the murmur of these little streams, dropping from branch to branch, joined to the continued fragrance of myrtle, is extremely agreeable to the traveler. The promenades at Castel-a-Mare are a miniature of the sequestered shades of Ayonoros. Art has only to prune nature to make them yet more delightful. I met several caloyers, who bestowed blessings on me, so gratifying--was the noble sight of a Frank traveler to them. In three hours I reached Cariez, a village embosomed in woods and hills, with an old fort, built by Justinian. Six priors re- ceived me, and conducted me to a house already prepared for me, having had previous notice of mpyarrival. It is not surprising the extraordinary honor I received at Ayonoros, when it is considered that I was the bearer of a patri- archal letter, and the first milordos who had been there for four- teen years. The rarity of the animal was a sufficient reason for curiosity (of which he was an unbounded object) and hospitality, even were the caloyers not inclined that way. My apartment was not so commodious as the one at Vatopede ; but it commanded a finer prospect, from its elevated situation. Several priors kept me company till late, and undeceived me in regard to their supposed acquirements. The brethren at Vato- pede had told me that I should gain any information I wanted about the monasteries for them; they referred me back to the monasteries. The ignorance of the monks makes them regard with wonder anybody who displays the learning of a schoolboy. "If you conversed with our priests," I said, " then you might indeed exclaim, ' Sophos !'" 297 TURKEY AND TIE TURS. Cariez is situated about the centre of the monastic district. The Turkish waivode resides in it--a personage with little real authority, who may be considered in the light of a referendee, or of a gate that a man puts up in his own road, to establish his claim thereto. The caloyers have, in general, sufficient influence to obtain the removal of an obnoxious waivode. Cariez has a bazaar for supplying the monasteries with articles of importation, as cheese, salt fish, caviar, coffee, spices, tobacco, clothes, &c. Four times a year the priors assemble there to wait on the waivode, and to deliberate on their prosperity or ad- versity. Each monastery has a lodging in the village for its prior. While together, the priors live sociably, meeting twice or thrice a day to drink coffee, smoke, and eat sweatmeats. Church service is performed only once a day. After a week or ten days they return home, excepting two, who remain at Cariez the whole year to transact business with the waivode, and with the bishop, and with the tradespeople. A caloyer also, with the rank of prior, resides'at Constanti- nople, as their agent with the Porte. He informs them of its commands respecting them, receives their kharatch, and other con- tributions that may be levied, and pays them into the treasury. He is also their great protection against an ill-tempered waivode, who is further restrained by the Pasha of Salonica, in whose jurisdiction he is. But, independent of these checks, as the com- munity support him and his attendants, and gives him a salary, it is his interest to be civil. In the morning I waited on him, accompanied by nine priors, and seldom met a merrier Turk. When I gave him my firman, he put the signature to his head and lips--the first and only time I saw that respect paid. " What then brings you here ?" he laughingly asked. "You will find nothing but monks and vegetables : I have been here six years, and have not seen a woman." The priors looked at each.other with becoming confusion, and a beautiful Albanian youth, in the room, smiled significantly. 298 TURKEY AND THE TURIS. TUAREY AND THE TURKr 299 "You have a fine climate" I observed, "to make amends." " Yes, we have good air, good water, and " winking at the priors, "excellent wine ;" to which I added my testimony. We next visited the monastery of Protaton, in the village, the most ancient on the mountain : only twelve caloyers remained in it. It possessed nothing remarkable, save a bible with a curious- ly embossed binding. - From thence, still attended -by my priorly train, who did not bless me for taking them out in the noon-day sun, I walked about a mile to Kuthenisi, a small convent, with an elegant church, con- taining inestimable relics; viz. the leg of St. Anna, and the Vir- gin's mother, preserved in a rich silver case of the same form, the gift of the founder Alexius Comnenus of Trebizonde; the chin of St. Girolamus; a piece of the real cross ; the skull of the martyrized caloyer. My companions kissed devoutly these precious fragments of mortality. I did the same, to please them, and pleased myself by thinking they were authentic. Why not ? we are bound to believe so many things. It is not at all improbable that pieces of the real cross are po- ssessed by the caloyers. The cross must have been somewhere preserved; and as it is generally supposed to have been brought to Constantinople, portions of it might have easily come to Ayo- noros, as rare offerings; and Ayonoros has escaped the terrible sackings which befel Rome and Constantinople at different periods. In the evening I left Cariez ; but previously to mounting could not avoid walking processionally through the town, accompanied by all the clergy. The waviode, who was enjoying a chibouque on a couch in the street, lifted up the finger of astonishment, as h9 had never before witnessed so grotesque a cerimonial; perhaps, too, some- what mortified at such honor, to a tithe of which he could not aspire, being shown to an infidel. " Oughrolo," (bon voyage,) he said. The priors then blessed me, and I proceeded with two Albani- ans, for honor, down hill towards Iphiron along a rugged roman- tic path skirting some beautiful glens, adorned here and there with large wooden crosses, which gave evidence of the modera- tion of the Osmanleys towards a hostile faith during their nine years' occupation of the mountain. Flourishing their tophenks over their heads, and singing wild airs, my martial guides bound- ad merrily before me with the agility of chamois, till a turn of the path disclosed the battlements of Iphiron, when they stopped, and discharged their pieces-a preconcerted signal, which set every bell ringing. Another turn of the rock, and we came abruptly in front of the great gates, before which, to my surprise, the whole brother- hood were drawn up to welcome me. Having severally saluted, and been saluted, they ushered me into the building under a deaf- ening peal, through a formidable apparatus of iron gates, which might have led a stranger to suppose that he was entering a feu- dal castle rather than a peaceful monastery : and in the first place, as a primary duty, conducting me to a small chapel of peculiar sanctity, introduced me with great form to a picture of the Virgin, to which, although unable to distinguish her features, owing to their native darkness, and 'the obscurity of the place, I was not wanting in due adoration, crossing myself so devoutly, as greatly edified the caloyers, who returned me the compliment by showing themselves equally fervid, at my supper-table, in devotions to the rosy god, pouring out copious libations according to custom. On Mount Athos wine is doubly attractive, since at its shrine are offered up the vows which in other places, would be more willing- ly paid to its fair rival. After supper I went down to enjoy the baneful luxury of noc- turnal bathing ; then returned to roll on my couch, a prey to that cruel, pitiless foe of mankind, mosquitoes. Their stings, pungent as they are, might be endurable were it not for the constant buzz which heralds their approach, and appears to triumph at their success. What a satire on man, that an insect, scarcely larger then a fly's young, shofild be capable of chasing repose from the couch of prince or peasant! More than wonderfl--exquisite specimen 00 TURKEY AcND THE TURKS. of divine mechanism--is the force residing in the wings of these diminutive .creatures ; the buzz of one alone pervades a spacious room, and the undulation of the air, caused by its flight, affects the flame of a candle at the distance of feet. The midnight bell led me to the church in the hopes of getting an appetite for sleep. Had example been contagious, they would soon have been realized, for in less than half-an-hour, nearly all the caloyers were oblivious; and the officiating priests, scarcely visible in the flickering glare of a few lamps, resembled so many sleep-walkers. The name Iphiron is derived from Iberia, (Georgia,) the con- vent having been much benefited by the princes of that country. It is one of the four large monastic establishments, (Lavra, Vato- pede, Iphiron, Ziropotamo;) but, besides, this distinction has not much to boast of, not even a relic in the church, which however is elegant, and paved with beautiful variegated marbles. Nor did its library, though extensive, in the least repay my trouble in rummaging among its cobweb shelves, which apparently had long been undisturbed by the hand of man, for manuscripts. There were no Greek or Latin, but a great many Georgian ones, very ancient and bound in wood. though on what subject they treat I cannot say, for the caloyers, no more than I, had an idea of the language. The library at Vatopede was much larger, but owing to the key of it having been mislaid, I could only look at it through the bars. Most of the convents have large libraries, and, therefore, it is not improbable that'Greek manuscripts exist in them. I had intended making a search among them, but severe illness pre- vented me. I slept one night at Iphiron. The next evening, embarking in a small boat belonging to the establishment, a fresh northerly breeze carried us swiftly past a romantic shore, its prominent points adorned with chapels, to a tiny harbor, capable of afford- ing shelter to a dozen large boats, formed by a shelf of rocks and a rude breakwater at the foot of the cone, just beneath the mon- astery of Lavra, to which I was welcomed with the same ringing, TURKEY AND THIIE TURKS. 301 and the same good will, as at the other convents, though-and ill luck it proved to be-its accommodations, in consequence of hav- ing had ruder occupants, were far inferior. Not an entire pane of glass remained, and the furniture was in a woful condition, from the Osmanleys having been in the habit of firing at marks in-doors. Add to this a biting scarcity of pro- visions, and it may be readily supposed that the inhabitants, ninety in number, the remnant of two hundred and forty, looked, as they expressed themselves, in a deplorable state. They hoped, however, for better times; and two elderly caloyers were about to go to the monasteries of Mount Olympus and Pelion, and to Mega Spilion, to invite back the refugees, who, in the first months of the revolution, had fled, carrying with them, it is said, good part of the riches of the convent. CHAPTER XX.' FEVER, CHURCH SCENE, BIGOTRY, VOYAGE, GULF OF CASSANDRA, SALONICA, BANDITTI, EARTHQUAKE, CHABAN, EXECUTION, PIRATES, GENOA. AT Lavra, my monasterial tour terminated, much to my regret. At a small chapel situated near the summit of the cone, to which I climbed the morning after my arrival, the fever, which had been lurking in my veins since leaving Adrianople, fostered by a fool- ish want of precaution, and by excessive fatigue, suddenly pulled me to the ground. I was carried back to the convent, where, during five days, I inhaled the grave. My pulse ran 160. Nothing was in the con- vent which could avail me, and all my resources were comprised in a determination to get through it, despite the prophecy, which now struck me as singular, of an old wizard at Constantinople, that I should die on a mountain, and by a pair of lancets. TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 302 TUtRKEY AND THE TiURK. 303 One of the caloyers professing to be able to use the latter, I made him, inuch against his will, bleed me copiously seven times. But it was of slight relief; every basin of blood he took from me seemed only to make room for a hotter tide to flow in my veins. Hot baths I tried also, till I was like a boiled lobster, and with as little effect; not as much moisture could be attracted to my skin as would have damped a grain of sand. I required calomel. Those who have felt the stifling heat of a violent fever stifling even with "all appliances to boot"-may have an idea how I suf- fered, rolling about in a room which had glassless windows on two sides, without even a curtain to exclude the sun, which glared on me half the day, with an intensity to have made the most devoted fire-worshipper in my place, curse him, or a shutter to keep out the malaria, which rose every evening like a wave from the valley, undulating on a level with my windows. But these inconveniences were trifles compared with what followed after night-fall, when the reign of mosquitoes set in. Then, every faculty sharpened by pain and anxiety, every sense was resolved into that of hearing, and my apartment in conse- quence seemed pervaded by the blasts of a thousand trumpets. Such an effect had this visitation upon me, that for months after, even when surrounded by the blest contrivance, a mosquito curtain, the humming of one of those insects would make me start from sleep in dismay. Insensible as forest ponies to such an in- fliction, the caloyers ridiculed my complaints on the subject, and thought me, I believe, madder when I seriously grieved about it than when delirium, from time to time, overcame me. Thirst too tormented me; for though I had no disposition to canine madness, I positively loathed the" only beverage I could get-water. What would I not then have given for a shaddock -a lemon-the cast-away peel of one ! The middle of the fourth night I rose and cast a sheet round me. My appearance, I suppose, was strange, for the caloyer ap- pointed to guard me ran away. I followed him along the corri- dor-he ran still faster, till on reaching the gallery, which overlooked the body of the church, I turned into it, disturbing at the same time two centurians, who were mumbling their prayers. They started at the apparition, crossed themselves, and drew close into their respective corners to make room for me between them. It being the eve of a saint's festival, the whole fraternity was present in mournful guise, acting holy parts with becoming fervor. I recollect gazing earnestly down on the solemn scene till it became unreal to my disordered imagination, till a change came over its fair proportions-till the monks in their black robes, and crape cowls, prostrating themselves on the pavement, flitting about spectrally, blending in the dim light with the martyrized figures on the frescoed walls, crying, and the roof echoing the cry, " kyrie eleison," seemed to me the souls of the wicked, whose torments, in my idea, my fever was supplying. An eternity flashed across my mind. Scarcely for the realiza- tion. of my fondest wishes would I consent to re-experience the same intensity of feeling. How long I remained in the gallery I do not know, or how I left it ; but as the dawn was breaking I found myself lying on my rug. The disorder seemed to be coming to a close my skin felt as though drawn over a frame of red hot iron; my head as though an anvil under a dozen hammers ; and for the first time it struck me seriously that I was about to die. What a place to die in! without even hearing my native tongue, sweetest of all sweet music at such a moment. I motioned for pen and paper, that I might write to a friend, but, in vain I tried, I could not form a letter. In this extremity a number of coloyers, drest as I had seen them in the church, and preceded by the cross, entered my chamber in processional array. I absolutely recoiled, thinking them-I may be excused, considering my state-dark watchers for my soul, struggling to escape from its burning tenement. Heedless of my repulsive gestures, they gathered round me, and began talking of the inestimable advantage of leaving the world in the true faith. How I answered I scarcely know, but not very courteously, I believe. Moreover earthly wants still pressed on me, and made 304 �I'U'RI~r Alb T11t TURX8.s me beg for some lemonade. They had none to give me; but in- stead reiterated their proposition in full chorus, until, at length, weary with their importunity, I bade them leave me to die in my own way. They obeyed, and went away shaking their garments, saying, " that I should go to hell." They were mistaken, at least for the present, for, after a few hours of unconciousness, into which I had fallen on their departure, I came to my senses in a violent fit of vomiting, &c. The fever had changed its malignant for an intermittent form: and then I knew that I was out of im- mediate danger, though so extremely weak, that my idea was to get away to any place where I might procure assistance. With this view, I sent to Cariez for mules or horses, that I might pro- ceed to Salonica in a litter: ride I could not. But the waviode would not hear of it, because the road was infested with klephtes ; and my having a firman, made him, in some measure, feel himself responsible for my safety. A boat in the meantime arrived at Lavra, manned by three suspicious looking Greeks, who offered to convey me and my servant to Salonica. The caloyers, who now, forgetting whither they had consigned my soul, and attributing my recovery to their prayers, were very assiduous about my wel- fare-warned me against them: but what could I do? remaining on Mount Athos in my state, was, I thought, suicidal--leaving it, even in a pirate boat, my only chance of recovery; besides, at the worst, they were but three, and we were two. Embarking, therefore, one evening, as the sun set,we left the holy mountain, to my great joy, one effect of a violent illness being to make a man loathe for the time the place where he had it; but before midnight, other considerations assailed me, for I could not help feeling that, however strictly I might keep on my guard, I was completely at the mercy of the helmsman, he being seated behind me on a level with my shoulders. To have continued in that way would hive been preposterous ; but to my request that he would tranquilize me by placing his arms heside me, the fellow strongly objected, calling on God to witness that he was the honestest man living, and appealing to 39 305 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 306 TUR ~Y AND THE TURKS. his comrades of the truth of his modest assertion. His eager- ness appeared to condemn him. To have believed him would have been folly on my part; to have desisted from my attempt would have been worse; so I fair- ly told him my mind ; on which, affecting a sort of proud consid- eration for my nervous state, he yielded the point, perhaps think- ing it would be all the same when I should be asleep. Sleep ! I could have slept, for my eyelids were like pieces of lead; but the idea of having escaped the fangs of the fever only to fall into the hand of such fellows, was unbearable. Perhaps I was wrong, and they were well inclined at first. We prygressed slowly, on account of a light, scant wind, till early the second morning, when we altered our course, and steered for the gulf of Cassandra. It was well that I remembered the coast. The helmsman swore that it was the gulf of Salonica, that we had passed the gulf of Cassandra in the night without my know- ledge; nor could I, without a very warm altercation, and pointing out indisputable land-marks, convince him of his error. He affected to treat me lightly.and said that he would not be dictated to; that he knew the coast better than I did-I was cer- tain of that-that he was a palicari, that I had treated him un- justly, as a villain ; that I might do as I pleased ; in short, that he would have his own way. Of course, my only answer to all this rhodomontade was by in- sisting on our hauling to the wind again. My friend's purpose was evident. The gulf of Cassandra, from time immemorial, has been noted for consistent pirates :every boat that leaves the in- lets of its coasts is a free-trader if occasion offer ; if not a fishing- boat. Had we met one of these convenient navigators my tra- vels were finished ; I should not even have adorned a tale. In the gulf of Salonica, the pirates are obliged to act with more caution, because there are often ships of war there; and from the vicinity of consuls of various nations, notice of a piracy is more prompt, as well as pursuit more vigorous. The third day, being fairly in the gulf of Salonica, therefore, comparatively sure, I sent my servant on shore to find me some fruit; and the next morning early we landed at Salonica, where I was hospitably received by the British consul. I had need of repose for the intermittent fever on me, recur- ring every twenty-four hours, had quite exhausted me; and, ad- ded to that, my long exposure in an open boat, with the necessity of keeping so much awake, brought on a violent ophthalmia. The neighborhood of Salonica, at my arrival, was infested with brigands, who carried their audacity so far, as to pillage within a mile of the city, and even threatened to enter it and levy a contribution. Under ground was also in commotion; one day, while lying in bed very ill, I was surprised at seeing the doors and windows of my room banging to and fro, without the aid of hands, and feel- ing the house roll like a ship. Wooden houses are difficult to overthrow. The remarkables of Salonica are-its ancient walls, which stand the severe test of time as well as Constantinople walls-- a triumphal arch with bassi relievi, erected by Constantine to commemorate his victory at Cassandria-and the pulpit whence St. Paul preached to the Thessalonians. It then stood in the street near the church of S. S. Apostles, and I make no doubt, from its form, was oftener used to get on a horse, or a cart, than for a display of eloquence. The Mossulmans have a respect for it, in the light of a trophy, and keep it in the mosque of Aya Sophie. It is worthy of remark, that the Turk,; when they converted churches into mosques, never renamed those that bore the title of St. Sophia. This pulpit is formed of one block of marble, of a species of verde antique, and consists of three steps, with a platform the parapet of which reaches to the knee. Its height is five feet, its length eight feet-as near as I could guess; for the imam showed impatience at my wishing to measure it. As many Turks almost regard Franks in the light of necro- mancers, the good priest might have thought that if he allowed me to measure it, I should make a corresponding aperture in the roof, and so convey it away at night. It would be seen to much TURKEY AND ~TIE tURkS. 307 more advantage in London ; and I dare say that the sultan would give it to an ambassador, if asked. He certainly does not know of it. A trifling gift afterwards to the pasha, and the Greek bishop of Salonica, would cause it to be embarked without oppo- sition from the people. I passed on to Smyrna, where at length a Sardinian frigate L'Eurydice, arrived from Syria, and I gladly accepted a proposal of her officers, whose acquaintance, I had made at Genoa, to ac- company them to that port. The obstinate nature of the complaint in my eyes rendered it advisable to try a change of climate, and I could not have under- taken a voyage in a vessel without a competent surgeon. What I suffered from ophthalmia, during three months at Smyr- na, relapse after relapse, I shall not attempt to describe; it was at times the excess of agony only to'be calmed by opium. It is a most frightful disease, almost an excuse for suicide. Having been so long at Smyrna, I may be supposed capable of saying a word on our numerous countrymen resident in it, how their customs are affected by long contact with Turks, Greeks, Armenians, and Levantines. In good earnest to speak generally, an Englishman may be there a long time without knowing any of his countrymen beyond some shop-keepers. Thus far the reputable body of fruit merchants deserve credit for their consistency, in which I believe, they were never grossly wanting but once, and then the individual in whose favor the rule was infringed, repaid them by quizzing them in print. In no town of Turkey-is a traveler put more to his shifts than he may be at Smyrna : in every other he presents himself to the governor, who quarters him on the best Greek house, the owner of which, far from being displeased with the distinction, is glad of the opportunity of gaining news ; but at Smyrna, the pasha would with astonishment refer him to his consul to procure him accommodation among his countrymen-who would admire his simplicity, and in return refer him to some paltry inn, as full, perhaps, of bipeds as of centipedes. I do not pretend to say that travelers have the least right to 308 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 309 complain of the lukewarmness of their compatriots at Smyrna; it is a matter of opinion : but their inattention to the navy is as inexcusable as it is singular, and so marked as to excite the sur- prise of all foreigners. The officers of foreign ships of war invariably find a ready wel- come in the houses of their respective consuls and merchants, who are, the latter, to the English, in point of wealth and num- bers, as one to ten. The English officers rarely see more, than the outsides of their merchant's houses : every English man-of-war that has been at Smyrna can testify the same. There is seldom more than a cor- vette and a brig lying there at the same time, therefore numbers is not the obstacle. A merchant said, (I suppose jokingly,) "It would be a clever stroke, indeed, to invite the naval officers to our houses, to corrupt our wives and daughters, while we are at our bureaux." It is a new thing to be told that the navy abounds with Don Juans. But however cheap the author of that sensible remark holds the virtue of Frank ladies at Smyrna, he may be assured that it is on as fair a scale as in any other confined society, where scan- dal, the guardian, as well as the vituperator of female fame, has her eyes over open, her tongue ever ready. No one will be so inconsiderate as to say, that the English navy has no claim on the gratitude of English merchants. Where is there a navy that shows such disinterested zeal under all cir- cumstances, the most trying and responsible, in the protection of its country's commercial interests ? It is its duty-true; but there are two ways of doing that duty, the difference between which would make a material corresponding difference in the re- ceipts of trade. I embarked in L'Eurydice. Her first destination was Ourlaq, a capacious and safe anchorage on the south shore of the Gulf of Smyrna, eighteen miles from the city, much frequented by ships of war since 1821, on account of its excellent water. It takes its name from a large village two miles distant, near 310 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. which are mineral springs, reputed efficacious, but not much used from a want of convenience for patients--a defect which renders unavailing nearly all the mineral waters throughout Turkey, ex- cepting those of Brussa, where are accommodations on a superb scale. . On an island near the main, formerly connected with it by a causeway which is still visible under water, are ruins of Glazo- mene, described by Chandler. One of thislands which screen the anchorage of Ourlaq is named English Island, probably from some of our early crusaders, who landed on it: though this is conjectural, the origin of the name being unknown : it abunnds in rabbits. We soon completed the frigate's water, and then left the Gulf of Smyrna on our home-ward voyage to Genoa, Several memo- rials of Syria, off which coast the frigate had been for some months, were on board, among others, some melodious bulbuls and a gazelle. The latter was a beautiful little creature, and tamer than a pet lamb. A peculiarity of its nature struck my attention as being very remarkable, and this was its extreme fond- ness for tobacco, which it ate like hay. Buffon says that a gazelle will eat anything ; but anything does not mean a pound of tobacco at a time. Whenever we smoked, it would come bounding towards us attracted by the fumes, and if we did not immediately satisfy its wishes, would put its little nose to the pipe-bowls to inhale the odor nearer. We usually gave it a handful every morning, which it devoured with avidity and came for more. It did not much relish cigars, but was particularly garteful for snuff, licking it off our fingers with great gout. Foul and squally weather detained us some days at the en- trance of the archipelago, during which an English frigate, equal- ly with ourselves bound out, doubled us by working through the Cervi passage, and was out of sight next morning. This little circumstance was not alluded to by the officers, nor through deli- cacy touched on by me, though it would be hypocrasy to say that I was not pleased by this proof of our national superiority. However, it is fair to observe that L'Eurydice was a sweet TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 311 frigate, and her officers proficients in their art, moreover versed in the various knowledge and accomplishments of gentlemen-merit peculiarly their own, since in a naval career, such must be self- taught. They were alive to the inconvenience of belonging to a diminu- tive state, where sous are counted, and officers' talents estimated by the scale of their economy. " Our captains cannot venture to do what yours do," one ob- served to me; " for our admiralty makes as much fuss if we carry away a topsail-yard, as yours does if you lose a frigate." There was truth in what he said, showing the excellent policy of not being too severe on officers for loss of ships, (unless where stupidity is the cause.) Too much responsibility creates timidity. What might not be lost by a captain of a ship of war being afraid, through long habits of caution, to carry sail, or attempt hazardous navigation in night or hazy weather ! a dispatch, invol- ving the destiny of nations, might be detained weeks in conse- quence of lying to six hours for day-light, for in that short delay a gale of wind might come on, and drive him far to leeward. At length a south-east wind took us and carried us to within a few miles of Catania. Thence, meeting the north-east wind blow- ing down the strait of Messina, through which we had hoped to pass with a flowing sheet, and there being little probability of its changing, and it making little difference by which side of Sicily a vessel passes going to Genoa, we bore up for the Malta channel where, after lying a day becalmed, the friendly south-easter again overtook us, and accompanied us with little intermission to the Gulf of Spezzia, in a snug cove of which, half a cable from the lazzaretto, we moored, to ride our quarantine of twenty-eight days duration; the minimum, in the opinion of the sapient coun- cil of sanita at Genoa, that could with safety be given to a ship of war, which had not one sick person on board, and had been twenty days in her voyage from Smyrna, where had not been known a symptom of plague for thirteen years. But instead of grumbling at our fate, I thought it rather our duty to be thankful for not having a longer time inflicted on us, which might well have happened, considering that we were at the mercy of the fears of a set of men (quere old women ?) who knew nothing of the subject of contagion from experience, or from reading, or from inquiry; who founded their reasons about it, and their sanatory regulations, on the fright, and consequent laws oc- casioned by the great plague at Marseilles in 1720, without taking into consideration the immeasurable advance of medical science since, and their superior habits of the lower classes of Christen- dom, which tend very much to diminish the spread of contagion. What was prudence in 1720 is imbecility now. The first night of our arrival it blew hard, and a vessel laden with corn from Odessa nearly ran on board of us, exciting our unqualified apprehensions had a portion of her canvass touched one of our catheads, or spars, or davits, we should infallibly have been condemned to share her quarantine, (forty-five days,) on ac- count of the cholera morbus raging in the south of Russia; as if cholera morbus were a personage who remains shut up in a cask or a bale, or, rat-like,.revels in a cargo of wheat. I am aware that, in the opinion of many sensible people, to question the expediency of the most rigorous quarantine, is little short of counselling murder. If we were to yield implicit faith to some alarmists, we should close communication with all countries inhabited by Mossulmans, on the theory that England might, through her cotton manufactures, be inocculated with plague as fast as goods travel from town to town. In no one particular is the good sense of England so visible as in her quarantine regulations, which are quite sufficient to ensure public health, without adding one unnecessary shackle to com- merce. A distinction is made between a vessel laden with fruit, and a vessel laden with cotton ; between a vessel that has been ten days at sea, and a vessel after seventy days voyage. So natural and necessary must this distinction appear, so impossible to avoid making without incurring the charge of folly, that any person who has never troubled himself about the subject, must deem the assertion that it is not made in any other country, a mistatement. 312 TURKEY AND TIHE TURKS. TURKEY AND THE TURKS, 313 In the ports of France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, and Russia it is never made. A prisoner in Bedlam has the advantage over a prisoner in a lazzaretto, inasmuch that his lodging is gratis. There is no re- gulation, made by civilized societies, so subjected to caprice and interested motives as this. For example : two vessels leave the coast of Turkey together, laden with unsusceptible cargoes, bound respectively for South- ampton and Havre de Grace. Both anchor the same day. Three days after, the passengers from the English vessel may cross over to France in a steamer with their trunks, and look, in liberty, at their French consort, who is condemned to thirty days in quaran- tine. A traveler, for another example, leaves Constantinople rides to Roumelia, with his baggage, sleeping every night in the cottages of the peasantry, or in the cafenehs, where disease may or may not be, and arrives at Semlin, twenty minutes distant from the Turk- ish frontier, where he has only four or five days' quarantine to perform, and is then at liberty to continue his journey wheresoever listeth him. Another traveler leaves Constantinople at the same time in his yacht, and after thirty days' voyage without communicating with any place or vessel, refreshed by cool mountain and sea breezes, reaches TrieSte, in the same empire, where he must perform twen- ty-eight days quarantine. Were common sense to decide which of these travellers least merited the least quarantine, she would give it in favor of the lat- ter; but unfortunately, her presence never yet graced a board of health in a Mediterranean port, except occasionally of late years at Malta, where, however, she is generally overruled by the sup- posed (but erroneous) necessity of following the example of Marseilles. But boards of health show more inconsistency in drawing no line of distinction (none to speak of:) between ships of war, and merchantmen; between vessels carrying no cargoes, cleaned throughout every day, with surgeons and discipline on board; and vessels full of cotton, packed for aught any one knows in a season of plague, devoid of discipline or cleanliness. Formerly the passage of a ship of war was reckoned as part of her quarantine; for as all writers on contagion agree that a given number of days, fourteen, or twenty-one or thirty, is suffici- ent to let the disease appear in the living subject, after which no danger can be apprehended, so it was rationally concluded, that the end was equally obtained, whether the probation were passed at sea, or in port, provided that the observance of it, in the for- mer case, were satisfactorily proved. For this purpose, the words of the captain and the surgeon-of a ship of war, regarding the length of voyage from a suspected place, and the health of the crew, used to be considered a sufficient guarantee. But the privilege lasted a very short time after the peace, when the conti- nental nations ceased to care-not requiring our aid-about con- ciliating our prejudices. On the other hand, boards of health, leavying out of the ques- tion considerations of reason and justice, as irrelevent, might say with plausability, " The public health being entrusted to our care, it is our sacred duty to prevent the possibility of its being trifled with, or of our being imposed on by a false oath; we therefore cannot admit of any quarantine which is not performed under our eyes." Good; but so far from acting up to this maxim, they take the word of a guardian of sanita, that is, the Maltese, or a Neapoli- tan, or a Livornese, or a Genoese, who works but for twenty cents a day, as to the duration and circumstances of a vessel's voyage; take the word of such scum, before the united testimony of the officers of an English line-of-battle ship-of an admiral himself, were one on board. It is scarcely creditable, that governments allow themselves to be thus insulted in the persons of their offi- cers, Suppose a frigate 'and a merchantman to leave Alexandria to- gether, bound to Genoa, or to any other Italian port, and that they anchor in their way at Messina : that the latter embarks a guardian sanita, and pursues her voyage, followed by the frigate 314 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. Th a couple of days. Both arrive at Genoa the same day. The guardian makes his declaration, that he embarked on the mer- chantman such a day ; from that day the quarantine commeoces. The captain of the frigate equally asserts, that he anchored at the same time, and demands a similar grace. " That may be," replies the spectacled, sharp-nosed, cadaverous looking health officer, who comes alongside ; but as you neglected to take a guardian, we cannot answer for your having had no communication with any vessel since leaving Messina ; you must be content to ride the whole quarantine. That such a circumstance may happen, disjunctively does occur cannot be contradicted. What a balance ! on one side we have the word of a captain of a frigate, backed if requisite by his offi- cers; on the other that of a Sicilian, who works for a carline a day, and who would, if resembling the generality of his country- men, sell his wife or daughter, much less his conscience, for five dollars, or less. There are certain abuses and prejudices in the world, against which it is idle to preach : the wisest way is to take advantage of their discrepancies, while existing, and in virtue of which, in question, English ships of war may reduce their quarantine, with- out contravening one regulation. A guardian on the quarantine establishment at Malta, receives twenty cents per diem, the pay of an A. B. Let therefore'each ship in the Levant station bear a seaman less on her books ; and in lieu embark one of these gentry, still preserving the title and uniform of guardian. From the day that the ship leaves Smyrna, or any other sus- pected place, to return to Malta, her quarantine will commence on the faith of her guardian's word. By this arrangement every body will be pleased, without incur- ring any expense to the public ; the admiral has the ship at his disposal earlier; the officers and crew escape ten days' imprison- ment, more or less; and the guardian finds it to his account by gaining his provisions in addition to his daily twenty cents. There is no one privation of this world so impatiently submit- ted to as quarantine, and no person conversant with it who does TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 315 not consider it perfectly gratuitous, when applied to the living subject, except where disease actually exists. View it on all sides, its supposed advantages and its certain inconveniences, it may be confidently stated in opposition to the former, that a plague, or other similar wide-spreading disorder, does not visit any country in healthy latitudes, so often as once in a century, and therefore it may be asked, "Is it not better to run the risk of that chance which no hu- man prudence may avert, than to impose on ourselves the eternal plague of quarantine, which, in its strictest sense, enforced by fines, imprisonment, and death, can never be totally effective, can never stop clandestine intercourse, or contraband traffic ?" On the contrary, it favors the latter, as was clearly proved in that which was carried on between Sicily and Malta during the time they were separated by quarantine. Sparonaroes then car- ried our manufactures, virtually prohibited in the Sicilies by en- ormous duties, to the opposite coast, where, during the fourteen days quarantine, in which the boats were of necessity unmolested by doganieri, they were quietly landed. Since free pratique has existed between the two islands, this species of intercourse, so profitable to us, has entirely ceased, for a sparonaro no sooner ap- pears off the coast than she is boarded by the doganieri, who quickly probe her cargo. The morning that our quarantine should have terminated, a seaman died suddenly. Of all the little contrairities of life, I never saw one more bothering than that. He might have had symptoms of fever in him--a black spot under his arm-a twist in his bowels-and then another month's quarantine, We sent the corpse to the lazzaretto to be inspected, and wait- ed with auxiety the result, which was that appoplexy was the cause of the death; anl therefore, on the evening of the next day, the members of the sanita, having maturely deliberated on the subject, consented to admit us to pratique : the extra twenty- four hours was stated to have been inflicted on us by way of ob- 316 TURKEY AND THE TURKS. TURKEY AND THE TURKS. 317 servation ; though why that observation was necessary, they who ordained it only know. They could hardly have supposed that apoplexy was catching ; if they did, they would equally have observed us in the case of a man falling from aloft, and breaking his neck, lest the contagion, spreading, should have made the bricklayers do the same off their scaffolds. Next day, I landed from L'Eurydice in " superb" Genoa, where I had embarked nearly two years previous, and soon afterwards, proceeded to England, with the intention however, of again re- turning to Stamboul, where I had had a high command in the Turkish navy offered to me. 318 APPENDIX. THE GREEK CHURCH. IN considering the present momentous conflict in the East, and the relative positions of Russia and Turkey--the ambitious views of the former and the resisting force of the latter-it is not half so important to contrast extent of empire, population, military strength, or other material national element, as it is to calculate the influences of religion, and ascertain the nature and character of the means on which Russia has principally relied, and still re- lies, for the accomplishment of its aggrandising object--the vir- tual conquest of Turkey. From the time of Catharine to this date, the Russian govern- ment has been quite aware that the other great states of Europe would notiook on with indifference, nor permit the extension of its empire in the direction of Constantinople. It therefore cover- ed its designs with mystery, and adopted the crooked policy it has so long pursued, in order to acquire, by fraudulent and false pretences, what it well knew could not be accomplished by phy- sical aggression. Under these circumstances, the state of the Greek Church, and of the people who belong to that persuasion throughout the world, becomes a subject of inquiry of the most interesting and essential description. It offers, indeed, the primary key to much that has been done in this quarter during the last eighty years, (if not during a much longer period)---especially to what is doing-and to the agitation which is distinctly chalked out as the ground for future divisions and revolutions. We have, for these reasons, thought it expedient to make a somewhat historical and compre- hensive analysis of the case, and its bearings on the issues of peace or war, the balance of power, and the probable fate of mil- lions of mankind. The foundations of the Greek Church, and the modification of its doctrines, are more directly apostolic than those of any other Christian communion; that is to say, the preaching of the apostles, and especially of Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles, is more strictly interpreted in its canons, and forms -a more promi- nent portion of its faith, than it does in the Romish or Protestant Churches. This originated in the general conversion of the Greeks by the earliest apostles, inasmuch that within the first and second centuries of Christianity the terms Grecian and Christian were almost convertible. The spirit was farther fostered and established by the Grecian emperors, even to the epoch when the Mossulmans overthrew that gorgeous throne. In process of time manifold corruptions and heresies crept into the Christian Church. The fiercest contentions raged upon the most trivial points-the definition of a mystery, or the meaning of a word. In the midst of these, Saint Basil, the great patron saint of the Eastern Christians, arose, and was the first author and founder of its monkish system. Mount Athos and its numerous monasteries belong to it, but maintain opinions differing from those of the orthodox believers. Many other splits of sectarians distract the Greek in the same manner as they distract other religions. The Maronites hold dogmata peculiar to themselves. The Monophysites or Jacobites, would die or persecute for the principle that Christ had only one nature-the divine (into which Eutyches held the human to be absorbed,) and not two-the human and divine. The Nestorians and Chaldeans, on the other hand, are equally stern to the persuasion that the Saviour was a being of two dis- tinct persons or natures. Many other sects, such as Macrosians, &c., are dissenters on minor matters; and some of them adhere to heresies almost iden- tical with those of the Chinese insurgents. Even Manicheans, APPENDIX . 319 Sabeans, and Jordeeans, or Devil Worshippers, have been and are to be found scattered among these professed Christians. The great body of the Greek Christians, which we may class as the orthodox church, is divided into three separate govern- ments : 1st. Those who agree entirely in doctrine with the Patriarch of Constantinople, and submit implicitly to his authority, reject- ing the supremacy of the Ronan Pontiff-this is the main stem, and includes the population of the Danubian Principalities. 2d. Those who differ in certain points, both from the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Pope of Rome, and live under the rule of their own bishops. 3d. The smallest section, who acknowledge themselves subject to the Romish jurisdiction. Belonging to the second of these divisions ar, the Russians (whose bishops have, however, been superseded by their emperors,) Georgians, Mingrelians, and Servians. The history of the Greek and Latin Churches for bundreds of years, exhibits nothing but obstinacy and violence, each constru- ing the Scriptures according to its own will and pleasure, and branding the other with the foulest epithets for rejecting what it chose to believe. Eight hundred years the disputes ran so high, that the Western Christians excommunicated those of the East and their church; whilst the Eastern Christians retorted, with genhine polemic fury, by excommunicating the Romanists ! Once or twice, attempts were made to bring about a anion, but they failed : as did also a similar attempt of Melancthon to effect a conciliation between the Greeks and Lutherans. These facts are so far remarkable, as they prove that the diver- sity of tenets rests more in ideal than real differences; and that the mortal quarrels which led to final separation, in the former case, were rather the result of inflamed passions than of substan- tial contradictions. By this light the present mission of the Protestant Bishop of Jerusalem, Gobat, may be deemed more likely of success in the 320 A PrU'NDX . conversion of the Greeks; and it is, indeed, well ascertained that the progress of proselytism among the Greek Christians in the Turkish empire is so prevalent as to constitute the chief religious motive for the interference of the Russian zealots. As for a union between the Greek and Latin Churches, it may now be set down as impossible; for persecution has widened the breach beyond repair; and argument, instead of convincing, has only confirmed every disputant more incorrigibly in his own opi- nion, and even exaggerated it-as is almost always the result of polemical controversies. A brief retrospect of the causes which led to this great schism will be instructive in illustrating the existing condition of things, and, in particular, the rival pretensions in regard to the Holy Shrines in Palestine. In the olden times, in order to enlarge and consolidate their own power, the great Emperor Charlemagne, King Pepin, and their successors, lavished wealth and aid upon the Roman See, in a cordial alliance, and with the spiritual help of which they look- ed for the successful promotion of their mutually ambitious views. Jealous of this interest, the Greek emperors naturally sought to check and counterbalance it, by raising the Greek patriarchate into equal authority and influence. Leo, the Isaurian, and his son, Constantine Copronymus, incensed by the zeal which'e regory II. and III. diplayed for the worship of images, not only confis- cated the treasures and lands which the Church of Rome possessed in Sicily, Calabria, and Apulia, but withdrew the bishops of these countries, and also the various provinces of Illyrium, from the jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiffs, and subjected them to the do- minion of the Bishop of Constantinople. Hence arose the virulent contest between these churches, which was lamentable in every way, and pernicious to the interests and advancement of true Christianity. Image worship was the first grand source of defiant controversy. Council after council was convened to decide upon it; and the second Nicene Council, by determining in its favor, excited the 41 APPENDIX. x.21 fury of the combatants to the utmost pitch of hate and ven- geance. In Constantinople, the partisans of either tenet alternately triumphed. The perfidious Irene poisoned her husband, Leo IV., and the new idolatrous cause getting into power, abrogated the decree of the Council of Constantinople, enforced the worship of images and the cross, and inflicted the severest punishments on those who maintained that God was the only object of religious adora- tion ! Anon this condition of things were reversed, and the Ico- doclast principle of the Greek Church was not only re-established forever, but even .among the Latins, in several parts, the images and crosses were cast out of the churches and burnt. On went the strife, and was augmented by such vital and amus- ing accusations of corrupt doctrine and heresy as Photius, a Con- stantinopolitan bishop, brought against the Church of Rome, viz : That the Romans fasted on the Sabbath or seventh day of the week-that they permitted the use of milk and cheese in the first week of Lent--that they maintained the right of the bishops alone to annoint baptised persons with the holy chrism (an ungu- ent of sacred character in the Greek ritual and practice)-and that they had adulterated the creed of Constantinople, by adding to it the word filioque, i.e. from the Son, and was, therefore, of opinion that the Holy Spirit did not proceed from the Father only, (the Greek Christian belief,) but also from the Son. Our readers, probably, will not think that these were very im- portant matters; but they and other new controversies, ever added to the old, served to confirm the total and irremediable separation between the Greek and Latin Churches; for which, however, the questions of idolatry, and the unnatural and socially prohibition of priests to marry, were perfectly valid and quite sufficient grounds. We have seen, besides, that political inducements led to the religous rivalry, as sovereigns sought support ; and we may also add that the disputes for pre-eminence between the Bishops of Rome and Constantinople had no slight influence in determining the elements of creeds upon which millions of their fellow-crea- 322 APPENDIX. APPENDIX. 323 tures have been so taught that they have been ready to martyr others, or suffer martyrdom themselves, in defence of any shadowy particle of an incomprehensible dogma, or the form of a sacrament, or the costume of a ceremony. True religion has but little place in either church, and incredi- ble corruption tainted every part of either system, as it degene- rated from perfect purity into a gulf of the grossest immorality-- vice and crime. Torn to pieces by heresies, the fulness of time had come for a Mohammed to arise, and fonnd a new faith in Arabia, whence to proceed, and, by the conquest achieved by himself and his successors, establish the empire we now witness, commingling Mossulman with the Greek, under a despotic sceptre. And it is a remarkable fact that he, the Prophet, far more shrewd and suc- cessful than Manes the Persian, set the example of toleration which the Sultan has recently seemed bent on following; though, on the rulers between their founder and him, the lesson was un- fortunately lost. But there is yet extant a testamentary diploma of Mohammed, in which he promises and bequeaths to the Christians in his dominions, the quiet and undisturbed enjoyment of their religion, together with their temporal advantages and possessions. The genuineness of this testament has been questioned, but the argu- ments are more in its favor than against it; and it is certain that Mohammed, at his first setting out, prohibited, in the strongest manner, the commission of all sorts of injuries against the Chris- tians, and especially the Nestorians. It is also observable that when the Turks took Constantinople, in 1453--one part of the city by force of arms, and the other upon terms of surrender- though the public profession of the gospel was prohibited, and every vestige of Christianity effaced in the former, the inhabitants of the latter were. permitted to retain their churches and monas- teries, and to worship God according to the precepts of the gospel, the Greek forms, and dictates of their conscience. From this it is but fair to infer that the Sultan will keep faith with every pledge given to his Christian subjects, as he has al- ready done much to improve their conditions. Such as it was, the Greek Church flourished during centuries when the Sclavonians and Russians were immersed in paganism. It was about the end of the ninth century that the Sclavonians, Arentani, and certain provinces of Dalmatia sent a solemn em- bassy to Constantinople, to declare their resolution of submitting to the emperor, and embracing, at the lame time, the Christian religion, which caused great rejoicing, and missionaries were despatched to convert the people. A bishop was also sent; and thus such was the beginning and first dawn of Christianity among the rude and warlike Russians who inhabited the Ukraine, and then, as now, threatened the peace and independence of the Gre- dian empire. Poland came next in the wake; and in 987, Wlodimir, Duke of Russia and Muscovy, who had six years before married Anne, the sister of the Grecian Emperor Basilius the second, was per- saaded by her to be baptized, and his subjects followed the exam- ple of their prince ; and this is the true date of the establishment of Christianity among that people, who have sainted Wlodimir and his Duchess, and continue to worship them, particularly at Kiova, where they are interred. From this date to 1589, the Russian-Greek Christian Church and people remained under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople, when Jeremiah, the ruling authority in a compe- tition for the office against another candidate, Metrophanes (for it was usually carried by intrigue and bribery,) in order to obtain the assistance and pecuniary succors of his Russian brethren, conceded the independence of the Patriarchate of Moscovy to Job, the Bishop of Rostow; still reserving a sort of paramount right to an initiatory suffrage, and a tribute of 500 gold ducats. Very shortly after, these obligations were annulled. Here then was the first emancipation of the Russian from the superiority of the Turkish head, amounting indeed to all but an equality, but to nothing more; and we must see how the Emperor Nicholas can found his claim to supremacy on such a ground, or any other afterwards seized by its civil rulers. Descending to more modern times, we find, accordingly, that 8,24 APPENDIX, APP~ NfIX. 325 the next great move in the established Russian Church (the only one now worth mentioning as not being m-bject to the Patriarch of Constantinople the others being sunk in ignorance and barbar- ity) was made by Peter the Great, who introduced many much- needed reforms, relaxed the cruel persecution of the severe schismatic sect the Roskolniki, and endeavored to bring learning and information into the episcopal bench and arrng the rest of of the clergy. Besides all this, a notable change was introduced into the man- ner of governing the Church. The splendid dignity of Patriarch which approached too near the lustre and prerogatives of majesty not to be offensive to the Emperor, was suppressed, or rather as- sumed, by this politic monarch, who declared himself the supreme Pontiff and Head of the Russian Church. To carry this out, a council was assembled at Petersburg, which -was called the holy Synod, over which one of the most em- inent Archbishops presided. The other orders of the clergy continued in their respective ranks and offices, but both their revenues and authority were considerably diminished. It was re- solved at first to abolish all monasteries and co nvents, as prejudi- cial to the community; but this design was not put in execution, on the contrary, Peter himself erected the magnificent monastery at Moscow in honor of Alexander Newski, the mighty hero of Russian legend. In spite of this reformation, immense multitudes of this rugged people are still attached to the brutish superstitions of their an- cestors, and their fanaticism knows no bounds. Nevertheless, the Revolution placed the Emperor, like Henry VIII., of England, on an independent height, as the supreme of his National church ; but there he stops, and the pretension of a right to be received as the head of all churches of Greek Christians in Turkey and throughout the world, is as baseless and lawless a claim as ever was set up by boundless ambition. It is an attempt without even the show of dexterous plausibility ; and simply the betrayal of the secret means by which Russia hopes to accomplish her ends in the subjugation and possession of the enviable dominions of Turkey--a step to universal em- pire. The Greek Church properly in communion with the Patriarch of Constantinople, consists of the four extensive districts or pro- vinces-Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem- over every one of which a Bishop presides with the title of Pa- triarch, whom the inferior bishops, abbots, and monastic orders unanimously respect as their common father : he of Constantino- ple being the supreme chief of all. His spiritual Government is, indeed, wonderfully extensive; he is elected by a synod of bishops, with the privilege of confir- mation vested in the Sultan. The ceremonial of approval used to be, and we believe is, the presentation of a white horse, a man- to or black cow, pastoral staff, and a caftan or figured vest. In no other church are the laity so prostrate under the sway of the priesthood. Their dread of the keys, of excommunication, and of ecclesiastical censures is extreme-to use a common phrase, they literally dare not call their souls their own; and this we think is the reason that predisposes them to conversion, and offers a tempting field for Protestant missionary labors. As yet their perfect obedience and submission is heriditary and habitual. They never dream of questioning a priestly dictum, nor depart- ing from traditionary ceremony. They continue to be as super- stitious as in the dark ages, and as subservient to their humble and ignorant Papas, raised from out the inferior ranks, as the most bigotted Irish peasant is to his teachers of similar extrac- tion. Among the mercantile and upper classes there is less blind truckling, and infidelity ; and the known Greek fondness for dis- putation is notoriously manifested by eternal theological contests, maintained with prodigious heat and fury. Greedy after gain, they can hardly find leisure for the ostentatious and everlasting rites, and would rather appropriate the enormous riches invested in garments, shrines, sacred vessels, and other adornments in their churches and monasteries, than go through all the tedious praying 326 APPENDIX. and posture-making which are enacted in the midst of these gor- geous paraphernalia. The precepts and rules agreeably to the Oriental confession are nine. 1st, Prayer at stated times. 2nd, Observance of fasts and feasts. 3rd, Obedience and honor towards their spiritual pastors and teachers. 4th, Confession of sins four times a year to a priest lawfully constituted and ordained (the common people only once before Lent.) 5th, Prohibition to read the Books of heretics. 6th, Prayers for kings, patriarchs, metropolites, bishops, and also for souls departed in the Catholic faith, and heretics and schismatics, that they may return thereto before they die. 7th, Unlimited obedience to the church. 8th Reverence for church properties. 8th, Not to marry in Lent, frequent theatres, nor imitate the customs of barbarians and infidels. There are four principal fasts, and a number of feasts. On the eighth day infants are presented at the church porch to receive the blessing of, the priest, who signs them on the forehead, mouth and breast, with the sign of the cross, as a seal of divine grace, and a disposition to receive the holy baptism. Baptism is thrice performed by dipping or plunging into the water, with a prayer at every plunge, before which the priest blows three times on the child, to dispossess the devil of his seat: Oil is poured on the" water, that it (the oil) may be the chrism against all filthiness, and the conversion of.the body from all dia- bolical works : and at the same time conferring the equivalent to Protestant more mature confirmation. The sacrament is administered by the priest in a spoon, the bread and wine being mixed; and upon the efficacy of all these rites the efficacy of salvation through the priest is made to de- pend. Offertories for the dead and for the living are introduced wlth APPENDIX. 327 solemn formalities; and the invocation of the Virgin Mary, John the Baptist, Moses, Aaron, Elias; Peter, Paul and the twelve Apostles; St. Basil, Gregory the divine, John Chrysostom, Cyril Athanasius, Archdeacon Stephen, and the holy Martyrs; the holy Confessors, Antonius, Euthymius; Sabba. and Onuphrits: and the miraculous Anargyri, Cosma, Damianus, Cyrus; and Joachim, and Anna, the progenitors of the holy Virgin, and many others, from the bare enumeration of whom it may be con- ceived how vast a host of superstitions are embodied in the tenets and worship of the Greek Church. The power of the Keys for losing or binding sins is the grand instrument, and almost equal to the Romish confessional, for sub- jecting the people to the absolute dominion of the priests, of whom there are various orders, with various appointments and du- ties. Penances are enjoined, as in the Romish Church: and, as, in that, confession is made another potent engine, though not to the same extent, to keep the laity in due subjection. Their saint legends are also as numerous and as extraordinary as the Latins; and among others the famous St. George and the Dragon holds a dignified place: and St. John the Evangelist is held to have been taken up into heaven before death, and placed in the mansion of Enoch and Elias. There prevails also a strange idea, founded on ancient phrophecies--that the Muscovites are designed by God for their avengers and deliverers from the Ma- hommedan yoke. This is an element sedulously cultivated by the emmisaries of Russia, who are spread over every province in Europe, Asia, and Africa. The Greeks do not believe in purgatory, but put up, as noticed prayers for the dead. In their churches they make use of pic- tures for ornament, history and worship. They burn lamps be- fore them, and perfume them with incense; and perform many bowings, crossings, and genuflexions, as they pray before the re- presentation of their saints; but all carved images they abhor. Idols they declare to be figures of man's invention; but pictures the representation of some true and sacred transaction. Yet the 328 APPENDIX . distinction is not altogether very obvious ; and there is a good deal of hair-splitting about it. Their fights with the Latins for sole custody of the Holy Sepul- chre at Jerusalem has ended in the recognition of equal rights ; but we need not follow their faith and the modes adopted to sustain it, farther into detail, and shall only add to the subject here by quoting their sentence of excommunication, which will show that they are not far behind Rome in vehemence, as veritably reported in "Tristam Shandy :" "If they restore not that to him which is his own, and possess him peacebly of it, but suffer him to remain injured and damnifi- ed ; let them be separated from the Lord God Creator, and be accursed and unpardoned, and indissoluble after death in this world, and in the other which is to come. Let wood, stones, and iron be dissolved, but not they; may they inherit the leprosy of Gehazi, and the confusion of Judas; may the earth be divided and devour them like Dathan and Abiram; may they sigh and tremble on earth like Cain, and the wrath of God be upon their heads and countenances ; may they see nothing of that for which they labor, and beg their bread all the days of their lives; may their works, possessions, labors, and services be accursed; always without effect or success, and blown away like dust; may they have the curse of the holy and righteous Patriarchs, Abram, Isaac, and Jacob; of the 318 Saints who were the divine fathers of the Synod of Nice, and of all other holy synods; and, being without the church of Christ, let no man administer unto them the things of the Church, or bless them, or offer sacrifice for them, or give them the blessed bread, or eat, or drink, or work with them, or converse with them; and, after death, let no man bury them, in penalty of being under the same penalty of excom- munication; and so let them remain until they have performed what is here written." It is believed that the corpse cannot return to its first priici- ples till these anathemas are taken off, but is preserved uncorrup- ted by an evil spirit, as the soul animates the living body, and that it feeds in the night like ghouls; and so many stories of 42 329 APPENDIX. 330 APPEND IX. the sort are credibly told by eye-witnesses, that it is no wonder the ignorant population submit in terror to the authority which possesses such appalling power. It is to attain the wielding thereof that the Czar is straining every nerve and resorting to every fraud and falsehood. He is only working out-the ambition of his race. The present crusade is but another method of endeavoring to effect the same purpose which Ypsilanti was put forward to accomplish in 1821. He proclaimed the erection of a Greek Empire, and was defeat- ed in consequence of allowing the secret to transpire that "a great power was at the bottom of his enterprise, and was about to invade Turkey." True, the Emperor Alexander disavowed the assertion, just as the Emperor Nicholas disclaims any desire to attack the independence of that Empire. Credat Judcus. The game is precisely the same, only differently and now more openly played. But in this precis of history we have demonstrated that Rus- sia has not the shadow of a pretence for the protection (i.e. the Patriarchial authority) of the universal Greek Church. On the contrary, the Russo-Greek division was originally subordinate to the Partriarch of Constantinople-obtained co-ordinate indepen- dence by a transaction of bargain and sale-had its civil ruler invested with spiritual authority merely by his own sic volo, and extending no farther than over his own subjects: and whereon, then, can he invent the ghost of a basis to support his infamous aggression upon the Turkish Empire ! There is no such thing ; and, were he himself a true believer, he would recoil from the attempt, lest the curse we have recited should fall upon his guilty head. THE TURKISH PRESS. Although shortly after the discovery of the art, there were several Hebrew, Greek, and Armenian printing establishments in Constantinople, yet it was not until the reign of Sultan Achmed III., on the 5th July 1327, and after a long contest with the Ule- mas, a Turkish printing office was founded in the Capital of the Mossulman Empire. But however recent the introduction of printing in Turkish may be, that of newspapers among the Turks is of a still more modern origin. Indeed journalism in Turkey is only some twenty-five years old. Alexander Blacque, a Frenchman, commenced, in 1825 in Smyrna, le Spectateur de l'Orient. This paper, which soon after took the title of Le Courrier de Smyrne, was the first periodical political sheet ever published in Turkey, and exercised a great in- fluence over the struggle in Greece, which took place from 1825 to 1828. At a time when the whole of *e European press strongly sup- ported the independence of Greece, and preached up a crusade against the Turks; Le Courrier de Smyrne, alone defended the rights and supported the interests of the Porte, and by its ener- getic opposition to the Hellenic government, assisted not a little the overthrow and perhaps the murder of Capo d'Istria. In 1831, the Sultan summoned Blacque to Constantinople, where he founded the Moniteur Ottoman, the official organ of the Porte. It was published in French. On the 14th of May, in the following year, appeared the Taqvimi veqna'i,(the Table of Events) in some respects a mere reproduction of the Moniteur Ottoman, in the Turkish language. This paper was very carefully edited. Several of the foreign Ambassadors at Pera, regarded this cir- cumstance with considerable uneasiness-some because they feared the increasing enlightenment of Turkey, and others from a jea- lousy of French influence. Diplomatic notes were consequently sent to the Porte; but Sultan Mahmoud persisted in allowing the APPENDIX. 331 332 APPENDIX. Moniteur Ottoman to pursue its course, in spite of the disagree- able position it placed him in, with respect to the foreign embas- sies. In 1836, however, Blacque suddenly died in Malta, as he was travelling on a secret mission of the Sultan's to France. Two other persons, namely, Francheschi, formerly Danish Consul, and a certain Egyptian, succeeded Blacque as editors, but also sud- denly died in the course of the following4two years. The editor- ship of the Moniteur Ottoman then devolved on Lucien Rovet, who held it until 1848, when he became chancellor of the French Legation at Constantinople. When Blacque retired from Le Courrier de Smyrne he was succeeded by Bousquet Deschamps, who gave it the name of, the Journal de Smyrne. The city of Smyrna possessed, one after the other, five newspapers. The second one was the Echo de l' Orient, started by the Tuscan Consul General Bargigli, and afterwards edited by Conturier, a French merchant. This paper, too, was published in French. The third one was commenced by an assistant of Deschamps, of the name of Edwards, and called, L'Impartial de Smyrne. It made its first appearance in annglish dress, but afterwards was printed in French. It is the only French paper that has remained at Smyrna. The Journal de Smyrne and the Echo de l' Orient were soon re- moved to Constantinople, where they coalesced, and since 1846, have been published under the title of Journal de Constantinople, Echo de l'Orient. After their removal to the capital four other new journals appeared in Smyrna-two in modern Greek, the Amalthea and the Journal of Smyrne ; one in the Armenian lan- guage, the Arehalonis, or Aurora ; and finally a fourth, the Chakbar Misra, or Aurora of the East, in Hebrew. Even as new ideas and new interests became apparent to the Empire the number of newspapers in Constantinople increased. At the present time the city possesses thirteen periodical sheets, printed in the different languages of the country. Two appear in the Turkish : one of them is the Taqvimi-veqna'i a weekly paper but one that issues a duplicate in the Armenian language. This sheet has an official character. Then there is the Djeridei-Icavandis, (The News Register) also a weekly sheet, and which, like the government organ, does not pay much attention to foreign politics. Four other papers ap- pear in the French language, namely, the Journal de Constanti- nople which comes out on the 4th, 9th, 14th, 19th, 24th and 29th of each month : while the Courrier de Constantinople appears on the 4th, 14th, and 24th of the month; and, lastly, there is the Gajette Medicale published monthly. There are also four journals printed in Italian. The Umnibus twice a week, Tuesdays and Saturdays, the Indicator Byzantino a weekly, devoted to the interests of the mercantile classes, the Album Byzantino also a weekly. In the Romaic there are two, one a legal paper, and the Telegraphos tou Bosporou, both appear- ing once a week. An Armenian, a Bulgarian and one in Russian, the Novina Bulgarska, complete the list. The Taqvimi-veqna'i is got up at the expense of the govern- ment. Most of the other papers, especially the political ones. such as the Djeridei, the Journal de Constantinople, the Courri- er, the Telegraph. and even the Impartial de Smyrne, receive from the government a yearly subsidy of 30,000 piastres ($1,311.) The Journal de Constantinople receives double this amount, owing to its connection with the Echo de l'Orient. Several other journals appear in the provinces, some in French and some in the language of the country; thus, for instance, there are seven in Belgrade and five in Bucharest, while only one is published in Alexandria. Such, as far as we have been able to ascertain, is the present position of the public press in Turkey, and knowing what a high moral power it is, since it quickens mind everywhere, and puts in force those principles which tend to lesson public and private evils, and to exalt and dignify our common humanity, we shall be glad to see it advance in future as rapidly has it as already done during the last quarter of a century. APPENDIX. 333 SEBASTOPOL. The famous stronghold of the Russians in the Black Sea is one of the most modern creations in the rapidly growing empire of the Czars, its site, until 1786, having been occupied by nothing more pretentious than a miserable village of Tartar huts, named Akhtier. The splendid natural advantages of its harbor for a first rate naval port, however, attracted the keen notice of Catha- rine II., and in 1780 the first stone of the new fortress and arse- nal was laid, and from that period it has rapidly increased in strength and importance. Sebastopol is situated on the west- ern coast of the peninsula of the Crimea, in an amphitheatre to the south of the harbor, extending along a point of land which separates the bay of Yujnaia-Bukhta, which forms the port, from Artillery Bay, a small indentation on the other side. The town stands on a chalky stratum, which rises from a height of thirty feet at the extremity of the point to an ele- vation of one hundred and ninety feet above the sea in the upper part. This elevation, with the steep coast opposite, which also consists of a calcareous rock, perfectly defends the bay, which, from the summit of the heights, appears to lie at the bottom of a deep cavity, and, indeed, at a very short distance from the shore inland, it is impossible to perceive the tops of the high- est masts. The town is composed of parallel streets running up the steep acclivity, and is divided into quarters by a few traverse streets. Near the extremity of the point of land stands the house built in 1787, for the reception of Empress Catharine II. Be- hind are situate the admiralty, the arsenal, and the houses of the naval officials, while higher up are the dwellings of the inhabitants of the town, the market, and the Greek church, besides which there is a Russian church for the use of the sailors belonging to the Black Sea fleet. The seamen's hospitals and barracks, and the magazines, are mostly situate on the other side of the harbor, and, together with the barracks of the garrison, built a short dis- 334 APPENDIX. APPE NDIX. 35 tance from the former, compose a sort of suburb. Outside the town, towards Artillery Bay, are the quarters of the artillery corps, a few private houses, the quarantine station, and scattered here and there on the shore opposite the roadstead, the counting houses and gardens of the officers of the dock-yard and arsenal. The town of Sebastopol itself is not much above a mile in length, and is nowhere more than four hundred yards wide ; but neither the regimental barracks, erected about a half mile from the upper part of the town, nor those for the sailors, opposite the town it- self, nor the hospitals, are included within this space. The harbor, as being the most important feature of Sebastopol, and which has been compared to that of Malta, merits a more minute description. The principal bay is about three miles and a half in depth, with a width of three quarters of a mile at the mouth, widening to nearly a mile, and then narrowing to six hun- dred or seven hundred yards at the head. The average depth at the mouth is not above ten or eleven fathoms; as far as the an- cient village of Akhtier, where the naval magazines now are, it is about nine fathoms ; and from there diminishes gradually towards the two ports to three fathoms. There is not a rock or shoal in the whole harbor, except opposite the Severnaia Kossa, or north- ern point, where there is a small sandbank, which ships entering the bay have to avoid, and where the sailors find abundance of fish. At the further end of the port the water becomes gradually shallower, in the direction of Inkerman, and near the little river Byjugusen is not more than a yard or half a yard in depth, with .a muddy bottom. The entrance of the harbor is defended by strong batteries placed at the extremities of the two points of land that form the bay. Besides these, there is another fronting the town, and two more on the double point on which the town stands, with a re- doubt higher up. One of these batteries, which is semi-circular, also defends Artillery bay. The large harbor, as wel as well as the less- er, is perfectly protected from all winds by the chalk rocks which surround it, and which rise to a greater height more inland, so that it is only on the rare occurrence of a tempest from the west, that 336 APPENDIX. any danger can be occasioned in the shipping in the bay. About a mile from the mouth of the bay the grand port for vessels of war forms a sort of small arm, running in a southwest direction. This arm, which the Tartars used to call Kartali-Kosh, (Vulture bay) is now called Yujuaia-Bukhta, or Southport. It is upwards of a mile and a half in length, with a width of four hundred at the entrance, and has a little narrow creek of about six hundred yards in length, in which ships can be laid up in ordinary with perfect safety. On the other side of the town, in Artillery bay, is a similar creek, used to careen vessels of war, for the purpose of cleansing and schorching their bottoms. The sea worm, teredo navalis, which pierces submerged wood, exists in large numbers in the Black Sea, especially along the shores of the Crimea, and in the harbor of Sebastopol. In less than two years, if a vessel is not copper sheathed, these worms pierce through the whole of the outer timbers. Hence it is found necessary to counteract their operations by careening the vessel every two years, and scorching the outside of the bottom with pitch and juniper wood. The situation of Sebastopol on a dry soil causes it to be ex- tremely healthy, the air being tempered in summer by cooling winds, and softened in winter by the shelter of lofty hills to the north and east. The greatest heat in summer does not exceed twenty-six degrees of Reaumur (77 1-2 F.)' Land and sea breezes alternate successively, morning and evening, cooling the air, at the same time favoring the entrance and departure of vessels, while at sea, outside the harbor, the prevalent winds are northeast and northwest. THE END. This book is a preservation facsimile produced for the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. It is made in compliance with copyright law and produced on acid-free archival 60# book weight paper which meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (permanence of paper). Preservation facsimile printing and binding by Northern Micrographics Brookhaven Bindery La Crosse, Wisconsin 2013