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the kind with us, that it would be well worth annexing to our culinary list. It is prepared by pouring a quart of boiled milk upon the yeast of beer, and allowing it to ferment. Take of this a spoonful and a half and pour on it another quart; after a few repetitions it loses the taste of yeast, and becomes a very palatable and savory food.* The Turks have a tradition that an angel taught Abraham how to make it, and that Hagar made the first good pot of it. We were also favoured with morsels of confectionery, in which, it is supposed, the Turks are unrivalled; but, with a single exception, the great family of candies, including the species rock-lemon and hoarhound, with the minor varieties of plum, comfit, &c., are in nowise different, but if any thing rather inferior, to our own. The exception to which we allude is a delicious pasty-mass which melts away in the mouth, and leaves a fragrant flavour behind. It is, as we are informed, made by mixing honey with the inspissated juice of the fresh grape, and the Turks, who esteem it highly, call it rahat locoom, or repose to the throat, -a picturesque name to which it seems fairly entitled.

The conversation, if such it might be termed, which consisted entirely of questions on the part of our fair entertainers as to whether we were married, if our women were handsome, how many children, &c., was kept up for some minutes; and we left agreeably undeceived as to the impossibility of conversing with Turkish women. It is true that we never spoke to them upon any subsequent occasion; but the hundred groups of women, distributed about this valley, without not merely a watchful guardian, but not even a single male attendant, was enough to make us skeptical as to the jealous seclusion which travellers have unanimously represented as the fate of Turkish women.

* In order to prepare the milk for use, take a teaspoonful of the yaoort, bruise it with a spoon, and pour on it a quart of lukewarm milk, and set it aside in an earthen vessel: it will be fit for use in the course of an hour or two. It appears to be the same article mentioned by Strabo (lib. vii.) in use among the Tartars of the Crimea, and called by him oƐvɣáða«7t.

CHAPTER XIV.

Turkish Manner of House-cleaning-Greek Funeral-Turkish Interments -Rumours of Plague-Fire at the Arsenal-Another at the Seven Towers -Executions-A Persian Traveller-Cholera - Patrols Counterfeit

Money.

I was witnessing, this morning, the operation of housecleaning, which is performed by deluging the floors with water, and then the servants dance backwards and forwards on small bundles of heath-twigs; when a low chant, interrupted occasionally by a loud shriek in the streets of our little village, summoned me to the window. It was the funeral of a Greek. The deceased was dressed in his best clothes, and the body was entirely exposed to view. This practice, which is universal among the Greeks, is at all times disagreeable; but when death has ensued after smallpox, or any other loathsome disease, the spectacle becomes truly revolting. A poor woman, apparently the widow of the deceased, walked alongside of the coffin, tearing her hair, which hung dishevelled about her shoulders, and exhibiting other manifestations of the deepest wo. One was reminded of Ariadne's

Aspice demissos lugentis more capillos,
Et tunicas lacrymis sicut ab imbre graves.

As the procession moved slowly onward, the poor mourner would frequently bend over the corpse, kiss its pallid features, address it in the tenderest manner, and then break out into a wild shriek which completely drowned the dismal funeral dirge. With mingled sensations of pity and disgust I turned away from the scene; when a friend, who hap

pened to be present, dryly inquired whether this was the first Greek funeral I had ever seen, and then furnished me with the following explanation. The death of a Greek is, in some respects celebrated like an Irish wake; as it is always the signal for a regular frolic, and the ev! Prv! of the mourners is the undoubted prototype of the Irish ululu! The poor bereaved widow, as I had considered her, whose passionate grief had made such an impression upon my feelings, was, in all probability an utter stranger to the deceased, and had been engaged for the occasion at the rate of five piastres a day, with bread and rakee at discretion. I had frequent opportunities afterward of verifying the accuracy of this information, and the practice seems to be of the highest antiquity. This custom also prevailed extensively in ancient Rome; and was carried to such lengths by the real mourners, that women were forbidden by the laws of the Twelve Tables to scratch their cheeks or tear their flesh with their nails. When a Greek dies, his body is sewed up in a coarse cotton sheet, over which are placed his finest clothes. When it reaches the place of interment, the clothes are stripped off, and the body is launched into the grave without any further ceremony. If wealthy, a marble slab with the customary words, "Here lies the servant of God," &c., is placed over his grave,† and masses are said for the repose of his soul. If the deceased be poor, no further attention is bestowed upon his body or soul.

The practice of the Turks differs from this in several particulars. The body is scrupulously washed and cleansed after death; and conformably to their well-known resignation to the decrees of Providence, all outward demonstrations of sorrow are abstained from, as not only unmanly, but

* Consider and call for the mourning women, that they may make haste and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears and our eyelids gush out with waters. Jer. ix. 17. See also Amos v. 16.

+ Ενθάδε κειται ο δουλος του Θεού. κ.τ.λ.

impious. The corpse is buried within a few hours after death; the imaum, or parish-clerk, and a few only of the nearest friends or relatives accompany it to the grave. I have frequently on the Bosphorus met with boats transporting corpses to the Asiatic side, to be interred at Scutari; and the poetic fable of Charon and Styx appeared to be realized in the noiseless progress of the solitary boatman, and the very form of the caik, which seemed to be an exact copy of the identical skiff of old Charon himself, as it has reached us on antique vases.

It is usually stated by travellers that there is a very prevalent idea among the Turks that sooner or later their empire in Europe must cease; and hence, that those who are able to afford it are desirous of being buried on the shore of Asia. That this may operate upon the minds of a few we would not attempt to deny; but we may suppose other feelings associated with it, less mingled with calculations of what the future may bring forth, and connected with the purer and more exalted feelings of our nature. The Osmanli, however gorged with the wealth or satiated with the luxuries of Europe, always looks back with a yearning heart to the cloudless sky, the fruitful soil, and genial climes of Asia,-the scene of the chivalrous deeds of his ancestors, at once their cradle and their grave. With these heroic chiefs he may naturally be supposed to wish to mingle his dust, far removed from the contaminating presence of his European enemies.

The graves of the Turks are generally shallower than ours, and their coffins are plain unpainted boxes. No other ceremony accompanies the deposite of the coffin in its narrow cell than a simultaneous silent prayer; after which the grave is filled up and water sprinkled over it by the nearest relatives. This last ceremony is connected with the poetical association that, like a plant, the soul of man will rise to immortality. Pots of flowers are placed near and over the grave; and in those which are covered with marble

S

a small aperture is left, in which the pots are imbedded, and the care necessary to watch and preserve these plants forms for many months, and even years, the mournful occupation of the bereaved relatives. It is scarcely worth while to notice the absurd stories that the Turks are buried with their faces downward, and that their nails are allowed to grow as long as possible in order that they may be the better enabled to scratch their way into Paradise. It is with such childish fables that too many travellers in the East have chosen to disfigure their works; and it would seem that his popularity is the greatest who has accumulated the greatest number of these silly inventions.

Sunday. We had divine service this morning in the palace of the American minister, Commodore Porter. It was the first time that an American congregation had ever been assembled upon the banks of the Bosphorus, and this was alluded to by the Rev. Mr. Goodel in a very appropriate and impressive manner. Although our congregation was small, yet we had almost as many sects among us as there were individuals present; but all united in one common thanksgiving for our high privileges, and joined fervently with the preacher in aspirations for the continued prosperity of our native land. Old Hundred was chanted with all the fervour of a national anthem; for it was associated with thoughts of that beloved home where thousands of our countrymen were, perhaps, in the very same words, offering up their homage of thanksgiving and praise.

Wednesday. We have had rumours of plague for several days past, and the consternation and anxiety are excessive. It is truly surprising that people who have been from their childhood accustomed to the presence of this disease should yet live in such continual terror. The first question asked is, "Are there any new accidents to-day?" for by this polite periphrasis do the ignorant and timid European residents here designate one of the greatest scourges of humanity. I have noticed, for several days past, that people of all

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