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NIGHT-ACCOMMODATIONS.

sentiment on the tomb of those mothers who, when delivering the shield to their sons, addressed them in these words :—ǹ τàv, ǹ eπì Táv—either this, or upon this.

Ibrahim left me in a few minutes to go and attend his son. He ordered a pipe and coffee to be brought me; but, as it was past the usual hour for supper, I was obliged to do as well as I could without pilau, though I should have liked it exceedingly well, having eaten scarcely any thing for the last twenty-four hours. Joseph took a sausage out of his bag, and slipped a bit now and then into his mouth, unperceived by the Turks; he secretly offered some to the janissary, who turned away with a look of mingled pity and horror.

I made up my mind, and lay down on the divan in a corner of the room. A grated window opened upon the valley of Laconia, on which the moon threw an admirable light. Leaning on my elbow, I gazed on the sky, the valley, the summits of Taygetus, brilliant or sombre, according as they were in the light or shade. I could scarcely persuade myself that I was in the native country of Helen and Menelaus. I gave way to those reflexions which every person may make, and myself with more reason than many others, on the vicissitudes of humany destiny. How many places had already witnessed my slumbers, either peaceful or perturbed! How many times, by the radiance of the same luminaries, had I, in the forests of America, on the roads of Germany, on the moors of England, in the plains of Italy, on the bosom of the ocean, indulged in the same ideas respecting the agitations of life!

An old Turk, apparently a man of high distinction, drew me from these reflexions to convince me in a still more sensible manner that I was far from

my country. He lay at my feet on the divan: he turned, he sat up, he sighed, he called his slaves, he sent them away again, and waited for daylight with impatience. Daylight came (August 17): the Tartar, surrounded by his attendants, some kneeling, others standing, took off his turban, looked at himself in a bit of broken glass, combed his beard, curled his whiskers, and rubbed his cheeks to give them animation. Having thus finished his toilet, he majestically departed, slipshod, and giving me a look of infinite disdain.

My host entered some time afterwards, with his son in his arms. This poor child, sallow, and wasted with a fever, was stark naked. He had amulets and various kinds of spells hanging from his neck. The father set him on my knee, and I was obliged to listen to the history of his illness. The boy had taken all the bark in the Morea; he had been bled (and this was the real disease); his mother had fastened charms about him, and placed a turban over the tomb of a Santon, but all in vain.

Ibrahim concluded with asking if I knew of any remedy. I recollected that, when I was a child, I had been cured of a fever by the plant, little centaury; I recommended the use of it with all the gravity of a professional man. But what was centaury? I pretended that the virtues of centaury had been discovered by a certain physician of that neighbourhood, named Chiron, who scampered over the mountains on horseback. A Greek declared that he had known this Chiron, who resided at Calamate, and generally rode a grey horse. We were still in consultation, when we were interrupted by the entrance of a Turk, whom I knew by his green turban to be a minister of the law. He came up to us, took the child's head between both his hands, and

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A TURKISH BREAKFAST.

devoutly pronounced a prayer: such is the character of piety; it is affecting, it is respectable, even in the most mischievous religions.

I had sent the janissary to procure horses and a guide, with the intention of first visiting Amycle, and then the ruins of Sparta, where I supposed myself to be. While I awaited his return, Ibrahim sent me in breakfast in the Turkish style. I was still reclined on the divan: beside me was set an extremely low table; a slave supplied me with the necessaries for washing: a pullet hashed in rice was then brought on a wooden platter, and I helped myself with my fingers. After the pullet, a kind of ragout of mutton was sent up in a copper basin, and this was followed by figs, olives, grapes, and cheese, to which, according to Guillet, Misitra owes its Between each dish a slave poured water over my hands, and another gave me a towel of coarse but very white cloth. I declined, from courtesy, to drink any wine; and, after my coffee, I was offered soap for my mustaches.

name.*

During this repast, the chief of the law had, through the medium of Joseph, asked me several questions. He was desirous to know my motive for travelling, as I was neither a merchant nor a physician. I replied that I was travelling to see foreign nations, and especially the Greeks, who were dead. This produced a laugh. He replied, that as I had come to Turkey, I ought to have learned the Turkish language. I hit upon a reason for my travels, much more comprehensible to him, when I told him that I

✦ M. Scrofani has followed him in this opinion. If Sparta derived its name from the broom3 growing in its territory, and not from Spartus, the son of Amyclus, or Sparte, the wife of Lacedæmon, that of Misitra might certainly have been borrowed from cheese.

THE STRANGER'S APARTMENT.

101

was a pilgrim going to Jerusalem. Hadgi! hadgi!* exclaimed he, and was perfectly satisfied. Religion is a sort of universal language, understood by all mankind. This Turk was unable to conceive how I could quit my country from the mere motive of curiosity; but he thought it perfectly natural that I should undertake a long journey, with a view to offer up my prayers at a tomb, to pray to God for some blessing, or for deliverance from some affliction. Ibrahim, who, when he brought his son, had asked if I had any children, was persuaded that I was going to Jerusalem for the purpose of obtaining issue. I have seen the savages of the new world indifferent to my foreign manners, but attentive only, like the Turks, to my arms and my religion, that is to say, to the two things which protect man in his spiritual and corporeal relations. This unanimous coincidence of all nations in regard to religion, and this simplicity of ideas, have appeared to me to be worthy of remark.

For the rest, this stranger's apartment, in which I took my repast, exhibited an impressive scene, which forcibly reminds me of the ancient manners of the East. All Ibrahim's guests were not rich; very far from it: some even were actually beggars. They, nevertheless, sat upon the same divan with Turks, who had a numerous retinue of horses and slaves. Joseph and my janissary were treated like myself, except that they were not invited to my table. Ibrahim saluted all his guests with equal cordiality, spoke to all, and supplied all with refreshments. Among them were mendicants in rags, to whom the slaves respectfully carried coffee. Here we recognised the charitable precepts of the Koran, and the virtue of hospitality, which the Turks have * A pilgrim! a pilgrim!

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DEPARTURE FOR AMYCLE.

learned of the Arabs; but this fraternity of the turban steps not beyond the threshold of the door : for the slave who has drunk coffee with his host perhaps has his head cut off at his departure, by order of this same host. I have, nevertheless, read, and been informed, that in Asia there are still Turkish families who retain the manners, the simplicity, and the candour of the early ages, and I believe it, for Ibrahim is certainly one of the most venerable men I ever met with.

The janissary returned with a guide, who offered me horses not only for Amyclæ, but also for Argos. He asked a price which I agreed to give. The minister of the law who witnessed the bargain rose in a transport of anger. He told me, through my interpreter, that, since I was travelling to study the characters of people, I ought to know that I had to deal with rogues; that these fellows were robbing me; that they demanded an extraordinary price, though I had no occasion to give them any thing, since I was provided with a firman; and, finally, that I was completely their dupe. He then departed, boiling with indignation; but I could perceive that he was not so much animated by a love of justice, as shocked at my stupidity.

At eight in the morning I set out for Amyclæ, now Sclabochorion, accompanied by my new guide, and a Greek cicerone, very good tempered, but extremely ignorant. We took the road to the plain at the foot of Taygetus, following shady and very agreeable by-paths, leading between gardens, irrigated by streamlets which descended from the mountain, and planted with mulberry, fig, and sycamore trees. We also saw in them abundance of water-melons, grapes, cucumbers, and herbs of different kinds. From the beauty of the sky, and the similarity of