[38] Since excavated at the cost of the Prussian Government.
CHAPTER XIII
BACK INTO CIVILISATION—NASLI BAZAR—NYSA—GUZUL—HISSAR (MAGNESIA)—THE PLAGUE—AISALUCK (EPHESUS)—SCALA NUOVA—A STORM—SAMOS—PRIENE—CANNA—GERONTA—KNIDOS—RHODES—MR. NORTH AGAIN—SAILS FOR PATARA—CASTEL ROSSO—CACAVA—MYRA—THE SHRINE OF ST. NICOLAS—TROUBLES WITH NATIVES—A WATER SNAKE—FINICA—CAROSI—OLYMPUS—VOLCANIC FIRE—PHASELIS—FALLS IN WITH THE FREDERIKSTEEN.
"Two days' riding down the river brought us to Nasli Bazar, which is within the government of Karasman Oglu, and the fact was at once perceptible. Greeks were numerous and impudent, trade flourishing, and the bazaar full of all kinds of merchants. It is the great mart for the interior. I had to pass the night in a wretched khan. In the chamber adjoining mine was a slave merchant with two young negresses, one of whom had a child for sale, and also a fine young negro.
I followed the valley of the Meander to Sultan Hissar. On the way I went up a steep ascent to see the ruins of Nysa. They stand on an elevated plain over the river, and command a grand view and good air above the malarious bed of the Meander and its bordering marshes. There is first of all a large agora, with traces of temples in or around it. Further on, in the side of the mountain, is a very considerable theatre, with the remains of the proscenium and apartments for actors &c. on all sides. Seated in the theatre one had a glorious view of the senate house and prison, with the amphitheatre beyond, and the bridge which spans a gully in one magnificent arch. All these buildings are in a grandiose style, very impressive, and made all the more so by their absolute solitude. In Nysa was but one man, a shepherd, who had taken up his abode in one of the arches of the theatre.
After a stay there of two hours we went on down the valley. We had now quite left the desert behind us and come into civilisation, cultivation, and orderly government. Every two or three miles we passed a cafané and a guard, with an air of order and discipline. My janissary was full of admiration for Karasman Oglu, and related to me stories illustrating his character. I recollect two. A Greek merchant going to Akhissar was robbed by four Turks of 800 sequins. The poor man made his complaint to Karasman Oglu, who at once gave him the money, as recognising his responsibility for order, and that the merchant might not stand out of his money while it was being recovered. Then he despatched his police, who in a few days brought in the four Turks, and they were then and there hanged. The Turks resent his protection of the Greeks and Christians, and call it partiality. Hearing of this, Karasman called together the chief Turks of Magnesia, and when he had given them coffee, he told them that he had summoned them as he wished to raise a sum of 30,000 piastres for government purposes, and they should be repaid in a few months with the interest due. The proposition being received with dead silence, he sent for four poor Greek primates of some small villages in the neighbourhood, and made them the same proposal in the presence of the Turks. They at once assented, and the money was brought in an hour. 'Now,' said he, 'you see why I prefer the Greeks. The first of you who complains again shall lose his head.'
When we got in the evening to Guzul Hissar I found the reports I had picked up on the road exaggerated in two main particulars. I had been told that the plague was raging in the town, and that there were English corn-merchants to whom I could apply for harbourage. There was a good deal of plague, no doubt, in the town, which is extensive, but hardly enough to deter one from entering it; while the nearest thing to an English merchant was a Genoese merchant living in the house of a Sardinian doctor who enjoyed English protection. They made room for me, and were very kind and hospitable; and it was a comfort to be in a Frank house, but outside it was rather nervous work. A house close to our lodging was infected by the plague, and as I was going down the street a Greek warned me to make room for him. 'I have nothing the matter with me,' said he, 'but a few days ago my brother died of the plague.' Need I say that I complied at once. The panic that grows in a plague-stricken city, and which one cannot help imbibing, has a strange effect on characters. The woman of the neighbouring house, which, as I said, was impestata, was seen going about out of doors by my host the doctor, and he was beside himself at the sight.
The importance of Guzul Hissar as a place of commerce arises from its standing on the track of the corn trade between the interior and Scala Nuova. I came upon caravans of one hundred to one hundred and fifty camels, bringing corn from Cæsarea. Some bring it from even as far as the borders of Persia. Once here, its value is doubled or trebled; but the greed of the agas and the roguery of the Greek merchants prevent much of the profit going to the growers. Signor Mora told me that the great trouble he found was the system of constant douceurs and bribery. It makes it impossible for a merchant to make his calculations.