At the end of this month, Lord Sligo, who, with Mr. B., had returned from Smyrna, was obliged to depart for Malta, for the purpose of being invested with the Order of St. Patrick, sent out to him by the king. It was with much regret that Lady Hester saw Lord Sligo depart: she always spoke of the qualities of his heart with commendation, and her friendship for him ever continued unaltered.
CHAPTER V.
The Author goes to Brusa—Situation of the city—Baths—Surrounding country—Residence at Brusa—Lady Hester mistaken for a youth—Women of Brusa—Return of the Author to Constantinople—Sudden death of Mr. Alexander, Lady Hester’s banker—Departure from Brusa—Residence at Bebec—Provisions—Excursion to the village of Belgrade—Throwing the Girýd—Fast of Ramadàn—Lady Hester resolves to winter in Egypt—Presents to the Author for professional attentions.
It was represented to Lady Hester that the sulphureous baths of Brusa, a city of Asia Minor, might be serviceable to her; and, the testimony of several persons whom I consulted on the subject being in their favour, she resolved on going thither. But the reports we heard concerning the nature of the accommodations to be met with made it expedient that I should precede her a day or two, in order to provide a place for her reception. To avoid the heat, I set off at midnight, on the first of May, in an open four-oared barge with an awning, accompanied by Aly, a janissary, and my servant: and, although the distance to Mudania, the landing-place nearest Brusa, is sixty or eighty miles, the watermen rowed it within twelve hours, including the time for allowing me to go on shore to breakfast, at a point of land at the entrance of the bay of Mudania.
A Turkish row-barge is an object more striking and picturesque than those on the Thames, and the watermen wear a costume more uniform and much more becoming. Their shirts, of a texture like Chinese crape, are open at the bosom; so that their muscular forms and brawny arms are seen to great advantage. They wear a red cloth skull-cap and white balloon trousers; the feet and legs are naked.
I landed at Mudania, a village nearly at the bottom of a gulf of the same name, about mid-day; and, as I had a firmán, or order, to be civilly treated by all persons whom it might concern, I escaped the exactions of the custom-house officer, who sat cross-legged on a bench near the beach to examine the baggage of persons landing.
Taking post-horses and a guide, I arrived in the dusk of the evening at Brusa. The distance might be about eighteen miles, through a country so fertile and so rich that I at once felt what was meant by the luxuriance of Asiatic scenery.
I had a letter of introduction to M. Arles, a French merchant established at Brusa, whose traffic consisted in raw silk for France, in skins for furriers at Constantinople, and in embroidered silks; and he received me in a very hospitable manner.
On the following morning I hired three cottages just out of the city; one, which was new, belonging to a priest, and two others, in themselves somewhat humble dwellings, but advantageously situated on the sloping foot of Olympus, commanding a view of the vale of Brusa and the adjoining baths. The snowy summit of Olympus overhung them, and from their doors began the groves which covered the vale stretched out before them. To the right, the lengthened city displayed its hundred mosques, intermingled with cypresses and lofty planes. There are several baths: the principal of them is a large building, consisting of three spacious rooms with vaulted roofs, in which are bell-glasses to admit a dim light, and to confine the heat. These baths in their structure resemble the hot baths common throughout the Turkish empire. The water which supplies them is derived from several sulphureous springs, of different degrees of temperature, which rise near each other within a square place of a few acres. The spring belonging to the principal bath issued in a volume of water a foot in diameter, and of such a heat that the hand cannot bear it. A strong smell of sulphur, which filled the sudatory, was emitted by it as it ran, and to this quality its medicinal virtues are ascribed. The same water, which in the first room yields a vapour hot enough to steam the body, in a second is received into proper cisterns, where the bather may immerse himself. These baths were not used by invalids only, but frequented generally by the inhabitants. I occasionally resorted to them, and should have done so oftener, but for the vermin with which the Turks filled the carpets and cloths.
The city of Brusa stands at the foot of Mount Olympus, one of the highest mountains in Asia Minor. Were we to speak of it in the language which we should use respecting a European town, we might say that it contains a hundred parishes, there being so many mosques. But places of worship in Mahometan countries are much more numerous than in Christian, and with such a number Brusa is perhaps not so populous as Bristol. It is divided into the old and new town: the former is inhabited by Turks alone, Armenians, Greeks, and Franks being excluded, and compelled to occupy the new town or suburbs. There is also a suburb for the Jews, who are here rather numerous, and have less of the degraded appearance so observable in their nation elsewhere in Turkey. Many of them are tall, well-made, and comely; and some of their women, whom I saw at M. Arles’s, were very handsome. Brusa, like all Turkish cities, is made up of mean streets, although it contains several splendid houses; and, seen from the mountain which overlooks it, presents a striking appearance, owing to the minarets of the mosques, and to the lofty trees which are interspersed among the houses.