My companions--Kind attentions--Famine--Annihilation of a fowl--Living
upon nothing--Disturbance--Still life--Consternation--A desolate
town--Turks at prayers--Dinner--Alarming Rumours--Chorlu--The sea of
Marmora--Silivria--Street scene--A factotum--News of the day--Tartar
generosity--Negotiations.
My companions were all Turks, apparently of a very respectable class
in society. Besides the divan which afforded couches to six or seven
persons, two others had mattresses on the floor.
♦ MY COMPANIONS ♦
There was no want of fresh air in the room, as several panes of glass
were broken in the windows. Indeed one whole frame which was papered all
over fell in during the night, and had the temperature of the external
atmosphere not been peculiarly mild, one of my new acquaintances, over
whose face the morning breezes were playing, might have suffered from
the accident.
As soon as I emerged from the folds of my cloak, I became an object of
general attention to these gentlemen. One presented me immediately with
his pipe, and looked very much astonished to find that the first thing I
did on opening my eyes was not an act of conformity with the universal
custom of smoking. Instead of a chibouke, however, I ordered a napkin
and some water, which was brought to me in a pewter dish, and after
making my toilet in the best manner I could, I proceeded to write my
journal. My memory being full of the incidents of the preceding day, I
of course wrote with great rapidity, being much more anxious to set down
all the matter, than to impart to it any form of style. They followed
my movements with surprise, the more especially as my mode of writing
the characters from left to right was the reverse of their own, and they
could not conceive how it was possible for me to create any character
at all with the silver instrument which I held in my hand, and which
borrowed no assistance from the ink-bottle. They smiled at each other
as much as to say, “These Englishmen are the strangest beings in the
world, they have ways of their own for every thing.”
♦ KIND ATTENTIONS ♦
I unscrewed my pencil and showed them the mode in which it was
constructed. Simple as it was they could scarcely be made to comprehend
it. I very much regretted that I had not brought a few of these
instruments with me for the purpose of presenting them to such persons
as these, whose civility and good nature deserved every return I could
make. While I was performing my ablutions one would hold the dish,
another the napkin. A third ordered coffee for me. Then the pipe was
again and again offered. My objection to this grand luxury of Turkish
life seemed to them unaccountable. Then my suspenders became objects
of examination, as well as my moveable shirt collar, and my black silk
cravat. When I finished dressing by putting on my blue cloth cap, they
seemed to look upon my _tout ensemble_ as a complete puzzle.
♦ FAMINE ♦
After breakfasting on a bowl of boiled milk, three or four eggs, and
very good brown bread, I proceeded on my journey through the lower
ranges of the Balkans. These mountains and valleys are almost wholly
unpeopled. The few huts which we passed in the course of the day were
of the most miserable description. The country is every where so barren
that the human beings who are scattered over it, few though they be,
have scarcely any thing to live upon. We rode on until the afternoon
without being able to find any accommodation either for man or horse.
The fountains were all dried up, so that we could not obtain even a
draught of water, which would have been the more acceptable, inasmuch as
the day was inconveniently warm. At length we came to a little brook, by
the side of which we were delighted to sit down. The Tartar, though much
heated, stooped down and drank copiously from the spring with impunity.
I did not dare to follow his example until I had rested a while, when he
produced a bottle of rum. I prevailed on him and the postilion to empty
it of a portion of its contents, after which I filled it with water from
the brook. The mixture then was not only safe but truly delicious. It
renovated my appetite, which had been sickened by long fasting and hard
riding, but what was there to eat?
♦ ANNIHILATION OF A FOWL ♦
My cunning Tartar then brought forth from his haversack the
much-despised, the abhorred fowl of the previous evening, together with
a loaf of bread and a paper of salt! After a little reflection upon the
vanity of all human resolutions, I was prevailed upon to sever a wing
from the breast, and to taste the inside meat, to which I could discover
no just objection. I tried a similar experiment with the other wing,
which I was forced to admit to be equally free from any fair ground of
impeachment. Both these members being pretty well dealt with, I thought
there could be no harm in extending my acquaintance to the breast,
which disappeared in due time. The legs next became objects of curious
inquiry, and fully answered my new-born expectations. The side-bones
and “merrythought” pleasantly reminded me of the “soul,” which soon
established to my entire satisfaction the truth of the Pythagorean
doctrine, by migrating under my own superintendence into a different
body. Finally the back yielded up its treasures, and though I was in
the land of Mahomet, I could not help being Catholic enough to pay my
compliments to the “pope’s nose.” When I thought of my late cackling
friend, who sauntered about with so fine an air of self-complacency,
now reduced to such a wonderful state of disorganization, I convinced
myself that her ladyship must have been guilty of some dreadful deed
in this world or some other, which caused her to be thus decapitated,
drawn and quartered, I may say annihilated with a degree of expedition
unprecedented in the “annals of crime.”
♦ LIVING UPON NOTHING ♦
My guide, as usual, contented himself with hard eggs. How the postilion
fared it was no business of mine to inquire. I saw him at a distance,
chewing something. He had plenty of water, at all events, and so had our
horses; who, moreover, feasted on some brambles. I began to think that
Turkish horses have the peculiar faculty of living upon nothing; and as
they made no objection to going on, I thought it would be words thrown
away to attempt to persuade them of their folly in resolving to gallop
over these boundless wastes without so much as a straw in their inside.
A fresh relay at nine o’clock, which we procured at a wretched hamlet,
enabled us to pursue our journey rapidly the whole night; the moon
lighted our way until the morning came, and disclosed Adrianople in the
distance.
From the various descriptions which I had read of this city, second
only to Stamboul itself, I had expected to find it characterized by
a considerable degree of splendour. The cupolas and minarets of its
numerous mosques undoubtedly do afford to the traveller, for some time
before he enters it, ample grounds for believing that he is about to
visit an important, well-inhabited, and flourishing town. But though not
wholly disappointed, this expectation is much attenuated by the time he
reaches his khan, after riding through the principal streets, which,
beyond the usual variety of shops, supply no materials for admiration.
♦ DISTURBANCE ♦
I was feverish after my long uninterrupted ride, and mingled cold
water copiously with my coffee. The Tartar seemed to have no intention
of resting; but I insisted on being shown to a chamber, where I was
determined on remaining for five or six hours, even if I could not
sleep. By way of precaution I discarded all the pillows and cushions
which I found in the room, as they were by no means inviting; and
spreading my rug on the floor, with my carpet-bag for a pillow, I
enjoyed, for about two hours, a most delicious slumber.
A rascally boy then came to knock at my door, which I had contrived,
very much to his astonishment, to fasten on the inside. I pretended
not to hear him for a while, suspecting he was a messenger from my
more villanous Tartar. But he knocked and pushed and kicked at my
barricades, until he succeeded in forcing the door a sufficient
distance from the jamb to enable him to take a view of my person. This
was impertinent. I therefore got up and let him in. Whereupon I laid
my whip upon his shoulders until he was very glad to make his escape
by jumping down a whole flight of stairs. The chatter of customers
in a butcher’s shop immediately under my window, the noise of people
walking and talking in the street, each group of gossips seeming to
have a particular fancy for stopping in my neighbourhood, the sound of
ungreased waggon-wheels, creaking over the rough roads below, the bellow
of oxen, and the occasional shouts of children, all conspired to assure
me that further forgetfulness was, for that day, out of the question.
♦ STILL LIFE ♦
However, I continued in the attitude of repose, and as I could not keep
my eyes shut I amused myself in observing the still life of a tailor’s
shop opposite, which appeared to be the favourite lounge of all the
idlers of the town. The master and three journeymen were seated in the
Turkish fashion, which tailors have adopted in every age and clime.
Three visiters took their seats also on the board, smoking their long
pipes, and looking on with profound gravity at the perpetual passing
and repassing of the needles and threads through the cloth, which was
destined in due season to become a waistcoat or a pair of trousers.
Not a word escaped any of the party. A voluptuous, well-dressed,
fine-looking man, with a long gold-headed cane balanced in one hand, and
his immense pipe in the other, next made his appearance. He could not go
by the shop without “looking in.” Kindling his pipe, he also took his
station on the board, and while his charge of tobacco lasted, seemed the
happiest of mortals. When the last puff expired he quitted his seat,
walked down the street, paid a visit to a tinman, smoked another pipe,
came back, sat down again in the tailor’s shop, where he found the
whole party undisturbed, filled his pipe again, exhausted it, and then
seemed fairly at a loss to know what he was next to do. He looked up the
street, down the street, went out, came back, stood a few minutes at the
door in a state of listlessness, within a degree of petrification, and,
at length, resolutely disappeared.
♦ CONSTERNATION ♦
Being somewhat refreshed, I proceeded to what I should call the kitchen,
but which the Turks treat as a coffee-room, where several Adrianopolites
were assembled, sipping their universal beverage, amidst clouds of
their fragrant tobacco. Here I learned, very much to my consternation,
that the Russians were in the Bosphorus, preparing to take possession
of Constantinople. I inquired by what means this intelligence had
arrived, as when I left Vienna nothing of that kind had transpired. The
answer was, that a courier from the English embassy had just passed
through on his way to Semlin, and that it was expected that England
would immediately declare war against the emperor. As all this was
conveyed to me in broken French and Italian, I concluded at first that
I misunderstood what was said, and that they were speaking of the
events of 1833, not of the present year. But I was positively assured
that the Russian fleet and troops had arrived a few days ago in the
Bosphorus, and that unless England should in time prevent them, they
would soon be the masters, not only of the capital, but of all Turkey.
While this conversation was going on they gathered gradually around me,
and expressed themselves quite anxious to know whether I thought that
my countrymen would really come to their protection. They appeared to
despair of being able to do anything in their own defence, and even
accustomed to the idea of resigning themselves to Russian supremacy,
unless England interposed in their behalf. I expressed my confident hope
that the intelligence was at least premature; but if it were true, I
conceived that not only England but France also could hardly contemplate
such proceedings with indifference.
♦ A DESOLATE TOWN ♦
Our horses having been announced, we took our departure at noon, and
arrived at Burgas at four o’clock. This town has more of a European
aspect at a distance than any I had yet seen in Turkey. It boasts of
several mosques, and other public buildings of great extent, which give
it an appearance of grandeur. But on strolling through the streets I
found them almost a wilderness. The edifices which I had expected to see
inhabited as palaces, or used as public institutions, were abandoned
to the winds and rain. The fountains, which in a former age had been
beautifully decorated with marble, were thrown down and neglected. The
cloisters of the mosques, which in one or two instances were upon a most
magnificent scale, had become the safe abode of wild cats and dogs,
owls and ravens, whose croaking added not a little to the desolation of
the scene. The mosques were all out of repair.
♦ TURKS AT PRAYERS ♦
A boy proclaimed, from the top of a minaret, in the usual terms,[2] the
hour of evening service while I happened to be at the gate of one of
these temples. It was immediately opened. Eight or ten wretched-looking
devotees emerged from different quarters of the cloisters, washed their
feet at the ruinous fountain, and leaving their slippers outside the
door, entered the mosque. I did not deem it prudent to follow their
example, as I was alone.
But I stood unmolested at the door, which remained open. Lamps, like
those we use in illuminations, were lighted, suspended from the roof,
almost low enough to touch the head of a man standing. The thin
congregation were arranged in a semicircle, and all joined aloud in
prayers, in tones not unlike those in use among the Jews, but without
being quite so boisterous, and with every external appearance, at least,
of profound devotion to the great Father of the universe, towards whose
abode in heaven, their eyes were constantly directed.
[2] _La Allah ila Allah, Muhammed Resoul Allah_ (No God but God,
Mahomet Prophet of God).
♦ DINNER ♦
I dined on rice and haricot mutton, which, by the way, I had great
difficulty in compelling my Tartar to order, as he would have preferred
limiting my fare to eggs, which cost less money. He was a most penurious
caterer, and if by inflexible firmness I had not gained an ascendancy
over him, he would have starved me through the whole journey. I mention
these things in order that future travellers in Turkey may be prepared
to adopt the same course--the only one that will satisfactorily carry
them through the difficulties attending a journey in that country.
I think it may be assumed as a general principle, that though your
personal safety is assured in the hands of a Tartar, your digestive
organs will not have much reason to thank him, if he can help it.
While I was engaged at my humble meal, several persons, as usual,
came to witness my operations. A meat dinner appears to be in Turkey
a public exhibition; but I must do my spectators the justice to say,
that the chief attraction of the scene was the national character of
the principal performer, whom they treated with the utmost respect. I
began to feel myself somebody of distinction, and to have doubts of
my personal identity, as all my habits and tastes were formed amid the
shades of life, wherever I could find them. But here I was invested with
a character which seemed, in the opinion of the Turks, to place me at an
immeasurable distance above themselves on the scale of existence. They
saw in me--a simple, dusty-coated, jack-booted, unshaven, travel-stained
equestrian--nothing but my country, of whose power to accomplish
whatever she resolves to do in any quarter of the world, they appeared
to entertain the most entire conviction.
♦ ALARMING RUMOURS ♦
The report of the Russians being at Constantinople was here repeated
by every tongue. It was added, that a conspiracy had broken out there
about a fortnight before; that there had been much fighting in the
streets; that Pera had been again laid waste by flames; that the sultan
was a prisoner in the seraglio; and that the imperial flag of Russia
was waving over the seven towers. These additional circumstances
seriously affected the obstinacy with which I had hitherto treated the
whole story as a fabrication; I even began to think whether I ought to
proceed any further, as, if the news thus thickening upon me were true,
a solitary Briton would have little chance of safety within the walls
of Constantinople. However, I resolved to go on. As I was mounting my
horse, several of my new friends pressed their hands on my shoulder in
a warm and even affectionate manner, exclaiming, in energetic terms,
“England and the Sultan at Stamboul--the Russians _in the sea_!” There
was a slight “hurra!” when we rode off; and one of the Turks accompanied
me through the streets, pressing his hand upon my knee. The excitement
of this scene rendered me extremely anxious to learn the real state
of affairs at the capital. My host had procured for me, without any
solicitation on my part, the best horse he could find at Burgas--a fine
Arabian, as gentle as a child, as fleet as the wind, and almost as
indefatigable.
♦ CHORLU ♦
We rode, without cessation, through the bright night for eight hours,
and arrived about three o’clock in the morning at Chorlu, where I was
shown into a filthy room in an outhouse, as I had no fancy for sleeping
in a stable. I lay down upon a mat on the floor, and slept soundly until
seven, when, after a good breakfast on eggs, brown bread, syllabub, and
grapes, which I found here remarkably fine, we resumed our journey with
fresh horses, very much inferior to those we had during the night.
♦ SILIVRIA ♦
The morning was misty, but the sun soon shone out, and my heart bounded
with delight, when, on galloping along the ridge of an eminence, I
beheld, glittering in the distance, on my right, the waters of the
sea of Marmora. They appeared through the refraction of the misty
air as if they were in the sky, but the white sails stealing over
their surface convinced me that I was under no delusion. Those waters
would soon mingle with the Mediterranean, the Mediterranean with the
Atlantic, which washed my native shores. Some of those sails were most
probably lately from England, or now returning thither. These are
the associations which make an Englishman feel every where, when he
approaches the sea, as if he were once more at home!
Our horses being very sorry animals, we were obliged, after the first
hour or two, to ride at a snail’s pace. Silivria, with its picturesque
castle and fortifications reposing on the vast blue lake of Marmora, was
in sight all day, but we did not arrive there until two o’clock in the
afternoon. The town was filled with Turkish soldiers, dressed in the
new uniform of the country--blue round jacket, vest, and trousers, the
red Greek cap with blue silk tassel, strong square-toed shoes, and white
cotton stockings. They presented a most unmilitary appearance, and I
concluded at once, from the reports with which my mind had been filled,
that they were flying in dismay from Constantinople.
♦ STREET SCENE ♦
On dismounting at a caravanserai, which was midway down the principal
street, I was conducted to an open balcony, where mats were spread. The
scene before me was not magnificent. The street was shaded by a few
large trees, planted on each side. You may imagine how it was paved, if
you have ever seen a street in London when the pavement is _taken up_.
A stream of muddy water ran through the middle, leaving in its course a
pool near a dunghill, on the top of which an old pelican was strutting,
apparently the master of that position, much to the envy of a poor hen,
who was looking up at him wistfully, and also of a cat, who seemed to
be thinking how she could best dislodge the usurper. But he was on his
guard against both his enemies, now looking down on one, now on the
other, fiercely.
♦ A FACTOTUM ♦
Two little pug-dogs were busy at a game of romps, running here and
there, grappling with each other, rolling each other over, biting the
back of each other’s neck, leg, or tail, without hurting it, barking in
well-feigned passion, the fugitive turning on the pursuer, who, in his
turn, affected a retreat. Some sturdy cocks were gadding about, crowing
at intervals, to remind the world of their importance. Geese and ducks
frequented the pool, and every time a cock crew they gabbled in chorus.
The sound made the pelican tremble on his throne.
Seated on a stone near a gateway was a genteel, well-dressed Turkish
boy, afflicted by a nervous affection in the face, which every two or
three minutes drew up the right corner of his mouth close to his ear.
His whole occupation was looking at me, an occupation which detained
him on his stone three hours without a moment’s interruption. A little
way down the street was the tomb of a saint, a circular edifice, roofed
with wood, and railed all round; upon an elevated platform within, the
holy man was laid out in the dress in which he died a century ago. He
presented as yet no visible signs of decay, which proved his title to
canonization!
An Italian, half idiot, half knave, wretchedly attired, the factotum
of the caravanserai, introduced himself to my acquaintance, and asked
me if I were not much fatigued, offering at the same time his services
to procure me some seawater, which he strongly recommended as an
application of sovereign power to any part of my frame that might have
been affected by the saddle. Although somewhat jaded I had no occasion
to accept his advice, though I should have been extremely glad to dip in
a warm sea-bath if such a thing were to be found in Silivria. Nothing of
the sort was to be had, but there was a vapour-bath, in which I might be
shampooed if I thought fit. But the sense of suffocation with which that
operation is attended, forbade the experiment.
♦ NEWS OF THE DAY ♦
I inquired the news from Constantinople. “All quiet.”--“What! no
revolution?”--“Revolution! Oh yes; that was all over.”--“And the
Russians have come to Constantinople!”--“Yes; the Russians came, and
have gone again, Signor!”--“How long is it since they went away?”--“A
year ago, Signor.”--“A year ago! what do you mean?”--“I mean two
years ago, Signor.”--“What are all these soldiers about?”--“Some are
getting shaved, Signor.”--“Poh! I mean, where are they going?”--“I saw
two of them just now going to bed, Signor.”--“But whither are they
marching?”--“Nowhere, Signor, for they are all boys and have not learned
to march yet?”--“Where have they come from?”--“Stamboul.”--“Oh! I see
you are a Turk, though you have not put on the turban.”--“Sometimes
a Turk, Signor, sometimes nothing at all.”--“What are these soldiers
about?”--“Do you see these men coming up the street, Signor, one of them
with half a sheep on his back?”--“I do.”--“Well, Signor, those men are
about to get their supper.”
♦ TARTAR GENEROSITY ♦
Finding that I had no prospect of extorting any political information
from this addlepated Italian, I engaged his services in the culinary
line, desiring him to proceed forthwith to the cook’s-shop and get me
some stewed mutton for dinner. He fled, delighted with his mission,
already contemplating with such an eye as his mind possessed, the
probability of there being fragments which might fall to his share. He
returned immediately, however, rather downcast, followed by my Tartar,
who with an effrontery too ridiculous for anger, assured me that not a
morsel of mutton, or of meat of any kind was to be had in the town, the
troops having consumed the whole stock of that article in the trade.
I directed their attention to a butcher’s stall opposite, where two
men were engaged cutting up or rather cutting _down_, a sheep with a
sabre, and to another shop in the lower part of the street where similar
operations were in progress. “Those sheep,” said the Tartar, “are all
bought up for the army, which is going to Adrianople: I can get nothing
for you but some eggs.”
♦ NEGOTIATIONS ♦
I rose from my mat, and bade them attend me to one of the shops which
I had noticed, where, through the medium of the Italian, no unwilling
interpreter on the occasion, a negotiation was immediately concluded
upon the subject of a leg of the said mutton, which being separated from
the other members by a sabre, was taken possession of by my accomplice,
who triumphantly posted away with it to the cook’s-shop at the further
end of the street.