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We left Silivri at about 12, after 3/4 on an hours stay, about
1/2 of which delay was owing to my having stepped
aside to take a peep at the above-mentioned old castle, to
the great discomposure of the careful Ahmet, in whose vocabulary
curiosity is synonymous to folly. Here and there a
fragments of white marble pillars, with capitals of
Corinthian architecture, or at least like Corinthian, betoken
better days. The castle is comparatively modern, being crowded
with embrasures for cannon. I saw no appearance of a
garrison.
Coming out of Silivri we crossed a bridge of 32 arches with
a long causeway at each end: the architecture too good for Turkish
but too fresh for Grecian or Roman.
At 20 min. after 3 we came through a small town the
name of which I understood to be Kenich: about 1/2 an hour
before we had for the last time lost sight of the sea of
Marmore, the coast insensibly trending to the left, and our
course to the right. From Ponte Piccolo our course had
been all along near the Sea, and in some places close
to it on the very sand. I think it is at Silivri that the
straight over which the bridge is thrown joins the sea with a
salt-la water lake, which seemed not less than 4 or 5
miles square.
At 5 minutes after 4 we came abreast of a conical hillock
which from its steepness and regularity seemed to be artificial:
if such, it must have been no inconsiderable work
Qu ? to what use? It wanted trenches to give it the appearance
of a camp. It seemed to be about 3/4 of a mile
from the road on the right hand: a part of it, scooped
out facing the road, affords a retreat for cattle.
At 20 minutes after 6 we arrived at Chorli, where we
eat and took up our quarters for the night. I say eat: for
it seems the Turks like the Greeks of old make eating but once in
the 24 hours, and that is in the evening. This suits me
very well with the addition of a few dishes of coffee at
the first halt, which I accompany with a good luncheon
of bread. The abstemious Ahmet refuses every thing but
a single dish I should say thimble-full of coffee without
bread. It would take at least 2 1/2 of these thimble-fulls
to make a reasonable English cup: he is much
scandalised at seeing me drink 4 or 5 of them together:
he says I shall hurt myself, & recommends wine in preference.
If in this particular he does not follow his own prescription,
his abstinence is the result of taste and not of a
religion; for now & then he takes a moderate glass of brandy
without scruple or grimace. In truth this honest Mahometan
seems to have no more religion about him than a Christian:
the Captain of the Turkish Caik was everlastingly at
his prayers: this man never.
At Tchorli or Chorli our apartment consisted of a small
room looking into the stable, provided with a mat and over
that some ragged carpeting a couple of still more meagre
sophas and a fire-place: instead of glass the windows were
of oiled paper. In this dog-hole we had a magnificent
supper consisting of Dolman, Yahani Queue-esta,
Pourusa and Uzum-turchise. Of the 3 first two were
a kind of hashes; the other a kind of forced-meatballs
with a little onion: the graininess of some of them was
corrected by a lemon which Ahmet squeezd into all
of
of them alike. Uzum-turchise is a dish composed of
grapes stript off the stalks, and drenched in a liquid composed
of water, sugar, a little vinegar, and something
which gives it a kind of pungency like pepper: I imagine
it to be the Capsicum: the grapes being plumped
up by the fluid are improved in consistence if not in
flavour. The table-apparatus which is much the same at
one Inn as another, I must continue when defer the description of till I am more at
leisure.
Next morning, Monday Decr 12th, we left Tchorli, at 40
minutes after 5. A little after 6 we passed crossed a bridge called
Tchorlisi-Quenesili consisting of 5 arches, with two smaller
ones over them: these last I suppose are to give vent
to the water in case of a high flood: the stream at present
is small and shallow. so much so that we forded it. Between each pair of arches
is a jettee: the architecture though fresh seems too well contrived too
neatly executed for Turkish. At 10 min. past 8 we crossed
a bridge of 6 arches called Arganae. The architecture neat
& regular like the other: this too is furnished with jetties.
The masonry seemed particularly the mortar:
the stone very spongeyseemed composed in great measure if
not entirely of shells.
At 15 minutes after ten, 10 we came abreast of Carasteran.
The road does not enter the town, but leaves
it about 1/2 of a mile to the right. Close by the road
between it and the town is an area encompassed with
a mud-wall little more than breast-high and near
circular. Here In this inclosure we found entertainment
such as it was, for man and beast: hay
coffee, both which we partook of in company with
4 or 5 other travellers. In one town between the
road and the town stand 3 pretty neat quadrangular
truncated pyramids: whether they have any thing to do with
the conveyance of water I could not learn.
I could discover but one minaret in the town. About
an hour's ride short of the town I observed a number
of mushrooms in appearance like the English.
At 1/2 after 12 I observed at a distance on the left, such
another conical hillock as that above-mentioned. On a nearer
approach, the Janisary made me take notice of it, and called
it Pilou- lepefu: I imagine therefore there is some tale that
hangs by these hillocks. Does "lepefu" mean hill? Pilou is
the same word by which they call the Turkish dish made of
rice &c. About 2, we came abreast of three other such
hillocks which we left to the right. He called them or
one of them, Un-quiene stepera.
At 15 minutes after 2 we reached Bourgas or Bulgas, where
we slept. Having heard this spoken of as a place where the
pipe-bowls of red clay somewhat like Wedgwoods which are so
universally made use of by the Turks are manufactured, Dr Bartholozzi
at my request had desired with the Janisary to remember
to show me the manufactory: I took care to remind him of
it, accordingly he was ready enough to make me observe what
I could not have avoided observing, the shops in which they
were exposed to sale. But all my contrivance was insufficient
to make him understand that what I wanted to see was
not the places where they were sold, but the places where they
were made. At one time I thought I had succeeded for having
amongst other signs described a wheel as one of the machines
which I supposed might be employ'd in such a manufacture
a shopman to whom I addressed myself made signs that he
understood me, and that if I would stay a while till he went somewhere
my curiosity should be satisfied. When at last he appeared
again, and I expected him to beckon me to follow him to the manufactory
I found to my no small surprise and disappointment that his
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Identifier: | JB/540/226/002 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 540.
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1785-12-10 |
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540 |
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226 |
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002 |
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Journal |
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Jeremy Bentham |
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