dollars is stamped, there are all manner of surrounding tribes, doubtless owning kindred with the nations of Xerxes' army, each in their national dress; and since the Oriental taste has a strong leaning towards gaudy colours, you will hardly see any one description of costume like its fellow. So given up is the eity to its commercial pursuits that in fact almost the only thing not to be found, is a bookseller's shop containing works of real information." A y M'Culloch's Commercial Dictionary (edition 1850, p. 1212) says, that in 1840 England imported 17,863 cwts. of figs from Turkey. The arrivals of English ships at Smyrna are about 130 annually, and of all nations 1000, manned by ten thousand sailors.

TOUCHING THE FIG-TRADE, Albert Smith, who passed through Smyrna in August, 1849, gives the following description (p. 33) in his Month at Constantinople" I saw nearly two hundred people at Smyrna packing figs in drums for the English market, in a court at the end of a long alley of acacia and fig trees, under the shade of which the packers took their seats. They first carried them from the warehouses, on the floor of which I saw hundreds of bushels brought in on camels, from the country. They were then pulled into shapethis task being confided to females, and after that sent on to the men who packed them. They gathered six or seven one after the other in their hand, and then wedged them into the drum, putting a few superior ones on the top, as we have seen done with strawberries. Each packer had a basin of I believe sea-water at his side, with some leaves floating in it. When the drum was full, three or four of these leaves were placed on the top, and a little boy took it away to be fastened up. A man gave me some of the figs to eat; they were between ripe and dry, and had none of the saccharine efflorescence about them that we see on our dessert figs in England. The people at work were Greeks, and the girls were mostly very handsome."

CHARACTER OF THE TURKS.—I shrink not from avowing that my opinion of my fellow creatures has been raised by my intercourse with the Turks (Urquhart). The feature in the character of the people which first presents itself to the stranger among them is hospitality. Their honesty next strikes the traveller. (Sir C Fellows' Asia Minor, p. 295). It was my constant habit to leave on the outside of my tent saddles, bridles, cooking apparatus when I and my servant slept within, and although persons were passing by and gratifying their curiosity by examining my property, I never lost even a piece of string! Truth, the twin sister of honesty, is equally conspicuous in them, and here the Greek apologizes for them thus, "The Mahometan dares not lie; his religion forbids it.".

* *|

HISTORY OF THE TURKS.-See appendix to Formby's Visit to the East, and Blackwood's Magazine for August, 1842. Timour the Tartar (Tamerlane, i. e. Timour-lenk) took Smyrna from Bajazet, A.D. 1402.

GREATNESS OF THE GREEKS.-It cost nothing to the ancient Greeks to be a great people; they were their own historians, and the modern Greeks will tell as wonderful tales, if they have wit enough to write for posterity.-(Bulwer's Autumn in Greece, p. 73). -,

LIFE IN SMYRNA. Thus writes Counsellor Kinglake, the learned author of Eothen, in his fifth chapter:-"Smyrna, or Giaour Ismeer (Infidel Smyrna), as the Mussulmans call it, is the main point of commercial contact between Europe and Asia; you are there surrounded by the people, and the confused customs of many and various nations. You see the fussy European adopting the East, and calming his restlessness with the long Turkish pipe of tranquillity. You see Jews offering services, and receiving blows. On one side you have a fellow whose dress and beard would give you a good idea of the true Oriental, were it not for the gobe-mouche expression of countenance with which he is swallowing an article in the National; and there just by is a genuine Osmanli, ruthlessly run down by an English midshipman, who has set sail on a Smyrna NO. 7.-VOL. XXI. 3 с

hack." Another writer has said,-" The streets of Smyrna present a motley scene, very similar to a masquerade; and as all the ladies who own an Ottoman lord may be truly said to wear masks, there is less difference between the two than might otherwise be supposed. The Turkish ladies of Smyrna wear a black face-cover, like a harlequin's mask. And the Armenians are also muffled up." (equiz.

VILLAGES NEAR SMYRNA. Seddi-Keny and Kooklujah are not so often 'visited as Boujah and Bour'n-abad. These four are the four chief villages in the immediate vicinity of Smyrna, and the most distant on the plain is Hajjilar, which is worth visiting. The ride out is most interesting. The best way for sailors to Bour'n-abad is in the ship's boat to the Bour'n-abad scala, or landing place, in the bay beyond Windmill Point, and thence walk up to the village, or bestride an estreck, a donkey, which animals stand at the scala on hire. At Bour'n-abad is a handsome mosque, with some splendid plane trees in the court. There is also a Bazaar, or Tcharshee. Near the village is a mound called the "Tomb of Tantalus," once King of Lydia, and no other than the royal gentleman who is represented by the Poets as punished in bell with an insatiable thirst, and placed up to the chin in the midst of a pool of water, which, however, flows away as soon as he attempts to taste it. After refreshing at the tavern, (bostaria or meikhane,) the Baths of Diana are generally visited before arriving at the Khiarvan Keuprissy, or Caravan Bridge of Smyrna. In visiting Boujah, the Plain of Paradise and the aqueducts deserve attention.

DISTANCES FROM SMYRNA.-Syra is 150 miles from Smyrna. The Dardanelles may be called the half-way house between Constantinople and Smyrna. The steamers take forty hours from Smyrna to Constantinople, a distance of eighty leagues.

HORTICULTURE.— -Madden, in his Travels in Turkey, vol. 1, p. 153, says that the gardens about Smyrna are better laid out than elsewhere in Turkey. Olives, oranges, and pomegranates grow in abundance. The hedges are formed of a very strong ivy, and a species of caprificus. The ranunculi are particularly large, violets are esteemed, and the hyacinth (Soumboul) is in request for love affairs among the Turks. When a karenfil, or carnation, is exchanged for a soumboul, the answer is considered favourable to the lover's suit. ng t Saffron is abundant.

In

HORSES AND ATTENDANTS.Arundell, in 1826, paid nine piastres a day for his horses; Knight, in 1837, paid 280 piastres, (about £2 18s. 4d. English money,) for four horses for three days and nights, forage included, as well as the services of a Suridjee, i. e., a man acting as guide and groom. travelling, says Urquhart, in his Spirit of the East, vol. 1, p. 7, the average rate with the same horses may be 20 to 25 miles a day, but with post-horses, changing, 60 miles a-day. Twelve hundred miles in ten days is a feat, but not

an uncommon one.

WELSH MERCHANTMEN AT SMYRNA. These vessels bring out to Ionian Smyrna much coal for the steamers, and many Welshmen regard the Greeks as brothers See the Carnarvon and Denbigh Herald of 13th Sept., 1851, where one Mr. Solomon Gibson is reported to have said, at the Eisteddfodd, that "the Greek language comprised three dialects, and one of those, the Ionic, was Welsh." After referring to the 10th chapter of Genesis, he added that Gomer, the son of Japheth, was brother to the founder of the Greeks, consequently there was a family affinity between the founders of the Welsh and the founders of the Greek languages. It was an impossibility to obtain a knowledge of the ethnology of Lacedæmon, without applying to the Welsh, as recorded in the ancient writings of a distinguished native of Brittany in France. The Welsh language was also of essential service to Dr Layard, for the restoration of the antiquities of Nineveh. Major Rawlinson has found in Asia Minor a monument "to the valiant Cimbri," or Welsh.

TURKISH FREEMASONS.-The Farmasoun, or Freemason, is thus referred to in Urquhart's Spirit of the East, vol. 1, p. 165: We recognised the Turkish Freemason, or Bektashee, by the polished piece of stalagmite, from the cave of Hajji Bektash, suspended round his neck. There is a Turkish proverb, A Christian may become a Mussulman; a Turk a Jew; but a Bektashee is a Bektashee for ever." The Janissaries, who were extirpated AD. 1826, were originally consecrated by Hajji Bektash about ninety years before Constantinople was taken by the Turks, so that, existing till 1826, they flourished as a body for some 460 years. 122344

THE DERVISHES OF TURKEY.-For an account of the "Turning or Dancing Dervishes," see Auldjo's Constantinople, p. 73; for the Howlers," see Knight's Oriental Outlines, p 195 and p. 278; and Jeremy Collier's Dictionary, (A.D.-1701,) article Dervis. In the court-yard of the Howler's Tekeh, at Smyrna, are coloured representations of the Seven Sleeper's dog, the Prophet's Mouhammed and Saleh's camels, and the ram sacrificed by Abraham. Dervishes fast every Thursday till sunset. They regard the nai, cr flute, as sanctified by Jacob and other patriarchal shepherds. Dervishes, under pretence of preaching their faith everywhere, are often employed as Government spies.

ZOOLOGY OF SMYRNA -The neighbourhood of Seddi-Keuy, a league from Smyrna, abounds with jackalls; wild boars are also numerous; and a few years back lynxes were seen and an hyæna killed, between that village and Boujah. A lion has been met as near as Nymphæum, and wolves are frequently encountered. Reddish brown and black bears are common in the adjacent mountain of Tatarlee, or Takhtalee, (Mastasia,) and a leopard has been slain by a shepherd near Seddi-Keuy.-(Arundell's Seven Churches, p. 302.) The Turkish names for these animals are as follows:

Hyæna
Lion
Wolf

Vashak

Syrtlan

Arslan

Kourd

Aiou

Kara Aiou

Pelenk

Kaplan

1

JANUARY.

DAOUD DERVISH'S DICTIONARY OF DATES.

5, 1809-Peace ratified between England and Turkey.
-Christmas Day of the Armenian Church,

6,

23, 1838-Earthquake at Constantinople.

26,

-Romanist Festival of St, Polycarp at Smyrna. 31, 1825-Capture of Pirates in the Doro Passage,

31, 1828-Kara-busa (Candia) attacked by Sir T. Staines. FEBRUARY.

7, 1817-Odessa exempted from taxation for 30 years. 81830-Birthday of Abd-ul-Aziz, present heir to the Turkish throne." 119, 1807-Forcing of the Dardanelles by Admiral Duckworth,

23, -Greek Festival of St. Polycarp at Smyrnace, yurisì 8227 and MARCH

3, 1807-Retreat of Duckworth through the Dardanelles. 26, 1838-Sir C. Fellows visits Abydos. Snow prevails.

Death of the Governor of Widdin, (A.D. 1819,) Hussein Pacha, the last Aga of the Janissaries.

APRIL.

11, 1822-Massacre of the Greeks at Scio.

20, 1823-Birthday of Abd-ul-Medjid, the present Sultan,

20, 1841-General Thomas Gordon, after 20 years service in Greece, died near Aberdeen.

22, 1821-Greek Patriarch hanged at Constantinople.

MAY.

1,

-First steamer arrived at Constantinople A.D. 1828. Nine years afterwards the French established a line from Marseilles to the Bosphorus.

-Armenian holiday at the Caravan Bridge, Smyrna.

3, 1810-Lord Byron swam from Sestos to Abydos.

5, 1842-The brig Petit Matelot attacked by pirates at Scala Nova.

14, 1810-Lord Byron first landed at Constantinople.

15, 1837-Dr. Bulard located himself in the Greek Plague Hospital at Smyrna. 28, 1807-Insurrection of the Janissaries; Selim III. deposed, and Mustapha IV. raised to the throne.

1836--Mr. Churchill bastinadoed at Southampton.

JUNE.

15, 1826-Final revolt, and massacre of the Janissaries at Constantinople by Mahmoud II. (See Knight's Oriental Outlines.)

18, 1822-The Kapou-an Pasha, and a Turkish liner, burnt by two Greek fire-ships at Scio.

JULY.

I, 1839-Death of Sultan Mahmoud II. at Constantinople, after a reign of thirty-one years.

3, 1845-Fire at Smyrna.

3, 1822-Turks surrendered Napoli di Malvasia to the Greeks. 10, 1690-Napoli di Malvasia surrendered to Venice.

16, -Annual opening at Lemnos of the pit of Terra Sigilata. 1851-Town of Mitylene nearly destroyed by fire.

21, ....-U. S. steamer Mississipi ashore at Sandjak Kalè, Smyrna. SEPTEMBER.

5, 1851-William and Maria, merchantman, fired at by the Turkish castle in the Dardanelles.

7, 1851-Kossuth left the Dardanelles in the U.S. steamer Mississipi, for

Southampton.

12, 1683-Sobieski, with 70,000 Poles and Germans, totally routed 150,000

Turks.

15, 1843-Revolution at Athens, headed by Kalergos.

OCTOBER.

5, 1836-English merchant-brig, Hellespont, taken by Greek pirates in the Dardanelles.

9, 1831-President Capo D'Istria assassinated. 20, 1827-Battle of Navarin, Western Greece. 25, 1851-First day of the year 1268, A.H. 26,

-Annual return to port of the Turkish Fleet.

NOVEMBER.

10, 1848-Death in Egypt of Ibrahim Pasha, son of Mehemet Ali.

14, 1808—Insurrection of the Janissaries. Sultan Mustapha IV. killed.

Succeeded by Mahmoud II., father of the present Sultan,
Abd-ul-Medjid.

27, 1848-First day of the Mouhammedan New Year, A.D. 1265.
DECEMBER,

20, 1832-Battle of Konieh, Asia Minor.

22, 1841-Pisani v. Lawson, reported in the Times.

We have said, at the commencement of the present chapter, that a conversation was going on in the cabin of the Flat-Fish. Mr. Chatterton was there, seated at the head of his hospitable table, faced by his sailing-master, Mr. Jellicoe Jewitt, a privilege which the latter had been denied in most of the yachts he had hitherto been employed in, owing to the etiquette of clubs, which usually draws a line more broad between the yacht-owner and his skipper, than that existing in the Royal Navy between the lieutenants and midshipmen, and the commanding officer. But Mr. Chatterton knew himself to be now three thousand miles from Cowes; and however he might bow to such an exclusive rule in the vicinity of the Medina, he certainly eschewed it altogether at the mouth of the Meles.

Master Nicolas Collier and Mr. Jellicoe Jewitt had, as might be expected, soon become very sociable; and the supercargo of the Saucy Fanny, the consignee, and Tomkinson, and "Chatty Jack," (as the Smyrniotes had christened the owner of the Flat-Fish,) completed, with these two worthies, as hearty a half-dozen as probably ever met together for merriment.

"We've no stern windows here," said Chatterton; "the Saucy Fanny cuts us all out in that respect."

"But you've a famous skylight," answered the supercargo.

"And a cabin double the size of ours,” added Master Nicolas Collier. "You've air enough, without stern windows."

"We're best as we are," observed Mr. Jellicoe Jewitt, "we lie so low in the water; and we, moreover, knock about in all weathers, and in such queer places, that the less glass we show in our stern the better."

"There's reason in that," said the consignee.

"Yachts don't want stern-windows that I can see," said Tomkinson; "especially when under 200 tons."

"Two hundred tons is above my size,” replied Chatterton. "I find 120 tons, o.M., quite big enough for the Mediterranean."

"As for that matter," said Jewitt, "our English yachts make long passages enough, altho' under 100 tons."

"Do they?" demanded the consignee.

"Let me see now;

"Of course they do," returned Chatterton. there's the Iris and Albatross, each but of 75 tons, O.M., and the Oberon, 43 tons, made the passage out to Australia and back; and whoever doubts the fact may apply to Ratsey of Cowes, the shipbuilder, who knows the whole circumstances. And I could give you a score of cases. But never mind that at present.'

Here the mate of the Flat-Fish entered the cabin, with the intelligence that two yachts were standing into the anchorage.