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that on which Mahomet's tomb is situated. You have probably
heard of a prophecy the Turks have, relative
to the approaching dissolution of their Empire: I found
Achmet Effendi possessed with this idea: he alluded to
it in the course of the conversation but Mr. S,
seeing having by that time coming once joined us, and the discourse
taken another turn, I could not examine him on that subject as
I wished to do. He seemed little disposed to attend
to any thing I offer'd to communicate to him relative
to European customs or European learning:
indeed it was easy to perceive that the object of
the interview was on his part not to gain information
but to display importance. In this view after
proving his learning by the exhibition of this book, he
thought proper to prove his wealth by the display
of a pair of ear-rings which he sent his a servant
out for while I was turning over the book: they consisted
each of them of 3 or 4 drop pearls in
so many drops, of some size but of very bad colour
and uncouth shape. What was singular enough,
though his eyes seemed weak with age, he was so
extremely near-sighted as not to be able to read
unless the book was almost in contact with his eyes,
this proved a sad obstacle to so much of the conversation, as related
to the book, as it was absolutely impossible for him and me and the
interpreter to have our eyes on it at a time. He
invited me to smoke a pipe with him, upon finding
me decline it, and hearing that it was not much the
fashion in my country, he sent for some dried raisins
and a kind of cake they make in Turkey of grape
juice boiled down with flour, both which he said
were the produce of his own estate. I took what I
thought proper; and upon our taking leave (Mr
Scheider was at that time of the party) he insisted
upon our carrying away with us what was left. I
can not say but that I was a little disappointed by the
unexpected appearance of Mr. S: for means I
necessarily lost in some degree the command of the
conversation, and missed a number of particulars
which I was preparing to collect. At length the old
gentleman observed to me that it was time I set out
on my way to the piece of antiquity he had been
speaking of: for if I staid there till it was dark, I
might stand a chance of falling into the hands of
some evil-disposed people who might use me ill. He
accordingly sent for the man who was to be my guide:
and Mr S. though unacquainted with Greek and incurious
of antiquity, chose to bear me company. Before
I took my leave of the Effendi I asked him
whether he knew of any antiquities of the small
kind such as seals or coins or that were
to be met with in that neighbourhood: his answer
was that on the morrow he would be ready to talk
with me on that subject: but that for the present, the
hour was come and he must go to prayers. He had
informed me that besides the antique stone I should see
there
there had been another not far distant; from which a
Frank (I think he said a Frenchman) had (with
his assis consent and assistance, I think he said)
cut off so much as contained the inscription, and
carried it away. Upon reaching the promised curiosity
I found it was nothing but a large stone which
had been taken with a few others to form the
mouth or upper part of a well. It was laid on
its side, and so situated that what at present
is the bottom of the stone is worn on the outside
perfectly smooth, in such manner that two
or three of the first letters of every line are lost
beyond redemption. In the rest the hand of the
sculptor is with difficulty if at all to be distinguished
from the hand of time. Light failing &
company pressing, I had time only to copy a few
detached letters, and one entire word which however
seemed to afford some clue: the completion
of this achievement I must leave to some future
antiquary of more learning & more leisure. This
well that you may know where to find it is called
Kartal Kuiusu (pronounce Kooeoo-soo) it m
be about 1/2 a mile from the town: in
it you pass by a good part of the aqued
This aqueduct is of very rough workmans
and necessarily enough of no great an
I am ashamed to say I have learnt neither
its origin nor its termination nor its author.
I was told upon enquiry that it had no particular name; but
that it was called by the name given in that
language to Aqueducts in general, Su-yol-lu
(Soo-yol-loo) literally Street of water. It cons
of a chain of stone arches, higher or lower according
to the inflection of the ground, but none nowhere
that I saw above 10 or a dozen feet
high, bearing a kind of trough or watercourse
of the same rough workmanship &
materials. The dimensions so small as to afford
very little room for water; hardly so much as is
afforded by one of our wooden water-pipes. In
general it may be observed that these aqueducts
which in some places are monuments of elegance
and magnificence are every where monuments
of ignorance and unskillfulness: as
such I look upon them rather with disgust
than pleasure even upon the superb modern
one of Montpelier. As to the inscriptionified well
this was to have been revisited and the promised
miniature antiquities enquired after on the morrow:
but on the morrow God Almighty sent a
wind which blew us away from Fochia and our
projects with us.
Constantinople Thursday Nov. 24. 1785
The post sets off tomorrow. I must snatch a few moments to
conclude this. We anchored off this city on Sunday 20 th last the
20 th but at 4 or 5 miles distance from the port: the same day
the Captain went on shore alone. Next We had been becalmed
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Identifier: | JB/540/216/001 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 540.
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1785-11-05 |
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540 |
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216 |
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001 |
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Correspondence |
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Jeremy Bentham |
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