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Journal of a Visit to Constantinople and Some of the Greek Islands in the Spring and Summer of 1833
RESIDENCE OF THE BRITISH EMBASSY. Tuesday, 7th.– Went up this morning to Terapia to pay a visit at the palace, and learned that Count Orloff had arrived from Odessa as ambassador extraordinary and commander-in-chief of the Russian force, with a carte blanche from his sovereign as to the treaties and measures he might think fit to adopt. I went over the palace, which is but just large enough to accommodate the family of our ambassador, and the attaché is obliged to live in a house higher up the hill, but within the walls of the government property. Returned in the evening to Pera, more than ever captivated with the beauties of the Bosphorus; though the cold weather still retards the progress of vegetation, and the leaves are but slowly making their appearance. Indeed so late a spring, and such inclement weather, have rarely been experienced at Constantinople before.
FUNERAL OF A FRANK PHYSICIAN. Wednesday, 8th.– The funeral of the Sultan's French physician passed our lodgings, on its way to the burying-ground. It was accompanied by about 100 officers and soldiers without arms; and, this being the first time any Turks had appeared at a Christian ceremony, a great sensation was excited in Pera. The man was much esteemed by the Sultan, and was a favourite with all classes, both Turks and Christians. The following was the order of the funeral. First came the soldiers, divided into two bodies, one occupying either side of the street, with the officers in the centre; then followed a number of Capuchin monks, with priests and servitors of the Greek church; lastly appeared the body, carried upon a bier, and covered with a black silk pall, with a yellow cross, its four orange tassels being held by supporters. A crowd of Franks, Turks, and Armenians, wearing crape upon their arms, closed the procession. The bearers were distinguished by large fur caps, decorated with red cloth, resembling the calpac of the Armenians, and every individual carried in his hand a long thin wax taper.
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1
As we sailed through the strait formed by it and the mainland, – and a very beautiful scene it affords, – I was informed by those on board, that a shoal is marked down upon the ship's chart as being in the centre. Having never before heard the slightest allusion to this fact, I intend to ascertain its accuracy, by actual inspection, at some more favourable opportunity.
2
"The ridge of the Somma forms a semicircle, the curve of which lies north-east, its two extremities stretching out south-east. The front, which faces the south-west and the cone of Vesuvius, is almost perpendicular; but the side towards the north is a sloping plain, cut lengthwise by deep ravines, and covered with vineyards, except a few hundred feet near the summit, which are clothed with small chestnut and oak trees." —Sketches of Vesuvius, p. 2.
3
Wingless Victory.
4
"About 170 yards distant from the warm springs of the Scamander, towards the west, the cold sources are found, throwing out a considerable quantity of water from many openings in the rock. It has been discovered, by the help of a thermometer, which was thrust into a fissure as far as the arm would permit it to go, that this spring is equally warm with the former. The pool, however, which contains the water being of so considerable a size as to suffer it immediately to acquire the temperature of the atmosphere, it must undoubtedly have appeared cold before the invention of an instrument for ascertaining the real degree of heat. It would, therefore, have been thought cold in the days of Homer; and the poet is not incorrect who describes places and things as they appear to the generality of mankind. Several other sources contribute to swell this division of the stream of the Scamander before its junction with the rivulets which proceeds from the warm springs." —Sir W. Gell's Topography of Troy, p. 76.
5
"The women of Bounarbashi yet frequent the spring, as their predecessors, the Trojan virgins, did before the invasion by the Greeks. The convenience afforded by the blocks of marble and granite to the women of the country, who always beat their linen on stones or boards during the time they are washing, added to the sensible warmth of the water, has, in all probability, continued the practice of resorting to this spring in preference to any other. The Count de Choiseul Gouffier was informed by the Aga of Bounarbashi, that the water threw up a very perceptible steam in the winter; and later experiments, made with the thermometer, prove beyond doubt that this is a warm source." —Ibid.
6
There, on the green and village cotted hill, is(Flank'd by the Hellespont, and by the sea,)Entombed the bravest of the brave – Achilles, —They say so – (Bryant says the contrary);And further downward, tall and towering still, isThe tumulus – of whom? Heaven knows: 't may bePatroclus, Ajax, or Protesilaus, —All heroes, who, if living still, would slay us.7
Celebrated in history as being the place where the crusaders, under Godfrey of Bulloigne, were encamped.
8
These pretty diminutive coins are called dust by the common people; a name not at all inapplicable, as in size they resemble the following mark ◯, and are thin as a gum wafer. A handful of them scarcely equals a shilling in value.
9
Balouk, a fish in Turkish.