The following description of Shumla, by an experienced officer, will at
this moment, be particularly interesting:--
"What is properly called the town of Shumla, is nearly surrounded by a
rampart of Mount Hæmus, or the Balkan, which descends on both sides in
the form of a horse-shoe. The steep slopes of this great fence are
covered with detached rocks and close thorny bushes. The nature of the
ground makes it a most advantageous position for the Turkish soldier,
who when sheltered by these inequalities, rapid steeps and a few
intrenchments, displays all the address of the most skilful marksman.
Like some orators, who cannot express themselves unless when partly
concealed by a table or tribunal, the Turk cannot use his musket unless
he can rest it on a stone or against the trunk of a tree, but then his
aim is infallible.
"The town is about a league in length, with half that breadth, and may
contain from thirty to thirty-five thousand souls. The fortifications
are of barbarian architecture; a ditch, with a simple rampart, partly of
earth, partly of brick, flanked here and there with little towers, which
serve neither for support nor resistance, and which contain not above
seven or eight fusileers. But it is not the town itself which is to be
considered, but the vast intrenched field in the centre of which it is
placed, and which is capable of containing an immense army, with its
magazines, its utensils and equipage, without the enemy having the power
to throw a single shell into the place, or disturb it by any manoeuvre
whatever.
"The air is extremely healthy in the elevated positions of the Balkan
and in the narrow valleys which lie between its ridges.... On the other
hand, there cannot be a more unhealthy country than that which extends
from the Balkan to the borders of the Danube and Pruth. This difference
between the climate of the mountains and the plain is the most
formidable defence which nature has given Shumla. While the enemy is
encamped in wet grounds and pestilential marshes, in want of wood, of
provisions, and sometimes of men in health to take care of the sick; the
Turks breathe a keen, dry air, and have an inexhaustible supply of fuel
in the forests which surround them. In summer, Shumla is an agreeable
abode; the town is surrounded by pleasant gardens, by vineyards, and a
stream running from the mountains maintains the verdure of the fields.
In time of peace it may be entered without hindrance, and the Turks
allow the curious to walk about and survey all the posts. In this there
is perhaps a secret pride, joined with the wish to communicate to others
the conviction which they themselves feel, that the place is
inexpugnable."
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