Tzèkerghè—Bustling Departure—Turkish _Patois_—Waiting Maids
and Serving Men—Characteristic Cavalcade—Chapter of
Accidents—Train of Camels—Halt of the Caravan—Violent
Storm—Archbishop of Broussa—The Old
Palace—Reception-Room—Priestly Humility—Greek
Priests—Worldly and Monastic Clergy—Morals of the
Papas—Asiatic Pebbles—Moudania—Idleness of the
Inhabitants—Decay of the Town—Policy of the Turkish
Government—Departure for Constantinople.
When we had exhausted the “lions” of Broussa, we removed to Tzèkerghè
for the benefit of the Baths; and, after having enjoyed for a few weeks
all the luxury of sulphuric vapour, we prepared for our return to the
capital.
The confusion incident on our departure from the village was most
amusing; and, as our party was a numerous one, we were all on foot by
three o’clock in the morning. Serudjhes were shouting and quarrelling
about missing bridles, and ill-poised paniers: Greek servants, supreme
in their knowledge of the Asiatic Turkish, which is a species of
_patois_ almost unintelligible even to Constantinopolitan Turks, were
hectoring and finding fault; waiting-maids were screaming in defence of
bandboxes and dressing-cases; and all the inhabitants of the hamlet were
looking on, and favouring us with their comments. The morning
salutations were drowsy enough, for there are few things more dreary
than a daybreak dialogue; the perfumed coffee was swallowed almost in
silence; and at length the procession set forth.
Nothing could be more characteristic than the appearance of our caravan,
as we wound down the mountain path—bullock cars laden with luggage
creaked and rattled over the rocky road; led horses carrying bedding and
provisions were scattered along the wayside; and thirteen mounted
individuals, as ill-assorted to the eye as can well be imagined,
completed the party. Two Greek ladies, mounted _en cavalier_, one
wearing an ample white turban, and both having their feet enveloped in
shawls: three men servants perched on the top of great coats and cloaks,
and armed with chibouks and umbrellas; two Greek _femmes de chambre_,
mounted like their mistresses; my father, myself, and three gentlemen,
with our English, Viennese, and Tartar saddles; altogether formed a
spectacle which would not have passed unobserved in the West.
My own horse, a powerful animal, that went like the wind, was almost
blinded by crimson and gold tassels; a Turkish inhabitant of Tzèkerghè
having insisted on replacing the ill-conditioned bridle provided by the
post-master with the elaborate head gear of his own animal; while my
saddle was girt over a flaming horse-cloth of blue and scarlet. Some of
the party were less fortunate, both as regarded their horses and
accoutrements; but, once upon the road, our spirits rose with the bright
sun which was beginning to light up the glorious scene around us; and,
when we had descended into the plain, and passed the romantic fountain
of Adzem Tzèsmèssi, the most energetic among us were soon galloping
right and left among the trees, gathering the wild hollyhocks, and
scattering, as we passed, the yellow blossoms of the barberry bushes.
Our enjoyment was not uninterrupted, however, for the whole journey was
a chapter of accidents; one servant lost her turban; another her
umbrella; a third rode a lazy hack, that lay down with her three times
during the day; while, to complete the list of misfortunes, a young
Austrian gentleman, resolving that our departure from Broussa should be
signalized by some _éclat_, with a want of reflection which he
afterwards bitterly repented, threw a rocket among the burning tobacco
that he flung from his chibouk by the wayside, which exploded with a
violence that unhorsed one lady of the party, and left us for some time
in doubt whether she had not paid the penalty of his folly with her
life.
There was a general halt as soon as it could be effected, for several of
the animals were almost unmanageable from fright; when all those
domestic remedies were applied which could be commanded at such a
moment, in order to recover the sufferer from the deadly faint into
which she had fallen; and, after the delay of about half an hour, when
the serudjhe had duly emptied a bottle of water on the spot where the
accident had taken place, in order to prevent its recurrence, the
unfortunate lady was with considerable difficulty lifted once more upon
her horse; and, with an attendant at her bridle-rein, resumed her
journey.
Nor did our misadventures end here; for, just before we entered the town
of Moudania, a gentleman, who was riding along with my father and
myself, fell back a few paces to discharge his travelling pistols, when
one of them burst in his hand nearly the whole length of the barrel, but
fortunately without doing him any injury.
During our journey across the principal plain, we came in contact with a
caravan, which had made a temporary halt by the wayside. It consisted
of between forty and fifty camels, attended by their drivers, and
accompanied by half a dozen formidable-looking dogs. I never
encountered anything more picturesque. Some of the animals were browsing
on the young shoots of the dwarf oak; others were standing lazily with
their long necks bent downwards, and their eyes closed; while the more
weary among them were lying on the earth, as though sinking under the
weight of their burthens. Their drivers, a wild, ferocious-looking
horde, were resting beneath the shade of some cloaks which they had
stretched across the bushes, and smoking their chibouks; leaving the
care of the drove to their watchful dogs. We uttered the brief but
earnest salutation of the wilderness as we passed; and, then urging on
our horses, the halt of the caravan was soon a distant object in the
landscape.
A violent storm had been slowly gathering throughout the day; and we had
scarcely taken possession of the house which had been secured for us at
Moudania, when it burst over the town. The mountains of the opposite
coast were covered with dense vapours, the sea beat violently against
the houses that fringed the shore, the thunder rattled in long continued
peals among the heights, the lightning danced along the foam-crested
billows, and the narrow street became the channel of a torrent.
The rain had only partially abated when a priest was announced, who bore
to my father and myself an invitation from the Archbishop, to whom our
arrival had been already made known; and, weary as we were, we resolved
to avail ourselves of it, accompanied by a gentleman and lady of the
party, who were kind enough to offer themselves as interpreters.
The old palace, with its noble flights of marble stairs, and paintings
in arabesque, delighted me; and there was a solemn twilight throughout
the whole suite of apartments along which we passed, lined with
serious-looking papas in attendance on His Holiness, that pleased me far
better, travel-worn and weary as I was, than the gaud and glitter so
usual in the residences of high personages in the East.
The Archbishop himself met us at the head of the last staircase; and,
when we had kissed his hand, he led us forward to his reception-room; a
vast sombre-looking apartment, richly painted and carved; surrounded on
three sides by a divan of purple cloth, and provided with a second and
lower sofa, for the convenience of those among the clergy to whom he
gave audience. The expression of his countenance was intellectual rather
than handsome, and he was singularly graceful in his movements; his
flowing beard was beginning to show traces of age; but his clear quick
eye and his placid brow almost belied the inference. He seemed eager to
obtain political information; and was much interested in the insight
which we were enabled to give him of the institutions and manufactures
of England. His library was extremely limited, and entirely theological;
and his knowledge was evidently rather the result of his shrewd sense
and great natural talents than the effect of education. I never
regretted more sincerely than on this occasion my ignorance of the Greek
language; for the necessity of an interpreter deadens the wit and
destroys the interest of a dialogue like that in which we were soon
engaged; and many a remark or sentiment, that would pass current in
common conversation, becomes mere impertinence and folly, when twice
expressed.
Nothing could exceed the courtesy of our reception; and even the sweet,
weak, milkless tea which was served to us, was kindly meant, as it was
supposed to be in the English style; although individually I suffered
severely from the mistake. But I was considerably amused by observing
that the chibouks of the gentlemen, and the tea of the ladies, were both
handed round by the young priests of the Archbishop’s household; who
obeyed the clapping of his hands as instantaneously, and much more
meekly, than an English footman answers the bell of his mistress.
Devoted from their birth to the service of the Church, the Greek Priests
are educated in obedience and humility, and have all learnt to obey ere
they are placed in a situation to command. Having taken orders, they
are in some degree the masters of their actions, from the fact that
there are two distinct classes of clergy, and that they are at liberty
to make their own selection. The first, called the monastic clergy,
cannot marry, but, entirely devoted to the duties of their profession,
are eligible to fill its highest dignities; while the second, or worldly
clergy, who are fettered by no restriction of the kind, cannot rise
beyond the rank of rectors or parish priests. These latter are
distinguished by the black handkerchief bound about their caps, which is
never worn by the monastic order.
It will be easily understood that the number of married priests is very
limited. Few men sacrifice their ambition to their affections,
particularly among the Greeks, who are all essentially ambitious; and to
many of whom the road to advancement is so frequently made straight by
intrigue and cabal. Added to this consideration, the ideas and practice
of morality among the Greek clergy being notoriously more lax than
altogether accords with the holiness of their profession, they prefer
the equivocal liberty of celibacy; while, in the few instances wherein
they make their fortunes subservient to their domestic comfort, they
universally select the most beautiful women of their nation; as there
scarcely exists a family who would refuse their daughter to a priest,
should he demand her for his wife.
After having passed two pleasant hours with the amiable Prelate, and
reluctantly declined his polite invitation to avail ourselves of his
table during our detention at Moudania, we returned home, only to
witness the renewed gathering of the storm-clouds, and to listen to the
dash of the billows against the foundations of the house.
One little incident alone served to divert us for a time from our ennui.
The waiting maid of the lady whom I have mentioned as having been thrown
from her horse during the journey to the coast, had profited by our
arrival at Moudania to get herself exorcised by a priest; so terrified
had she been at the accident of her mistress, which she attributed
entirely to the influence of the Evil Eye. Secure in the impunity that
she had thus purchased for a few piastres, she was pursuing her
avocations somewhat more vivaciously than her wont, when she fell from
the top of the stairs to the bottom, with a force which shook the frail
wooden tenement to its foundations. Merriment succeeded to our alarm,
however, when, on raising herself from the floor, she began to exclaim
vehemently against the inefficacy of the ceremony that she had so lately
undergone; nor was our amusement diminished when, in reply to our
raillery, she declared that, even if she _had_ thrown away her money,
she was in no worse plight than her lady, who had paid much more dearly
for the same privilege before she left Broussa, though it had availed
her still less. Shouts of laughter followed the announcement of this
hitherto carefully-guarded secret; and I do not think that I shall ever
hear of an Exorcist again, without having before my eyes the portly
person of Madame ——, extended on the earth; and a party of routed
equestrians galloping hither and thither over the vast plain of Broussa,
wherever their affrighted horses were for the first few minutes disposed
to carry them.
The following day was less unfavourable, but the wind was so high and
the sky so wild that no boat could put to sea. In this dilemma, we
amused ourselves by wandering along the beach, and collecting jaspers,
agates, and pebbles: and in making a tour of the town, which is
miserable enough, and stamped with all the marks of premature decay.
The inhabitants of Moudania are celebrated for their slothfulness. The
town is seated on the edge of a gulf, which would alone suffice to the
sustenance of the whole of its population; and they are the worst
fishermen in Turkey. The surrounding country is fertile and rich: Nature
has been lavish in her gifts, and yet their agriculture is conducted in
the most slovenly and inefficient manner. It is a continual struggle
between the luxuriance of the soil, and the idleness of the husbandman;
and, fortunately for the latter, Nature, after all, has the best of it,
for the lofty hills are feathered to their very summits with vegetation:
olive trees and vines clothe the valleys; sparkling streams descend from
the mountains; rich pasturages afford sustenance to the numerous flocks;
and goodly forest trees provide fuel for their owners. But Moudania and
its environs instantly reminded me of Cowper’s expressive line:—
“God made the country, but man made the town,”
for man, left to himself, never more fully displayed his insufficiency
than here. The commerce in oil is very considerable, not less than a
hundred and fifty thousand okes being produced yearly—silk-worms are
reared in almost every house in the place—wine is plentiful—and there
is a continual intercourse with the European coast—and yet,
notwithstanding all these advantages, Moudania is falling to decay. In
vain has the Turkish Government, with a consideration and good policy by
which it is not usually distinguished, lightened, and indeed almost
entirely removed, all the local imposts; the same slowly progressing
ruin still wears its way. On every side the houses are perishing for
want of repair, the streets are encumbered with filth, the shops are
almost empty, and the whole town is in a state of stagnation. The
departure of half a dozen caïques for Constantinople suffices to bring
all the inhabitants to their windows, or to the beach; and, had you not
already received proof to the contrary, you would then imagine by the
shouting, running, and confusion, that the population of Moudania was
one of the most energetic under heaven; but when once the sails are set
and the boats departed, the crowd separates lazily, the noise dies away,
and the genius of desolation once more broods over the perishing little
town.
In this miserable place we were detained three days; and on the morning
of the fourth, our party embarked on board three of their beautiful
boats, and bade adieu, probably for ever, to the shores of Moudania.