I was now in a part of the empire where the Turks are seen in their true colours, their natural dislike to Christians not being softened down by any intercourse with civilized foreigners, as is the case in Constantinople: for there were no more than three Frank families of the middling rank of life in all Brusa, and the resort of European travellers was but rare. The epithet of Christian dog was frequently to be heard in the streets, not indeed applied to ourselves, but to the poor rayah Christians.
The vale of Brusa is almost as much renowned for its beauty as that of Tempe: its fertility is past conception. One may ride for miles in a continued shade of walnut, chestnut, fig, cherry, and mulberry trees. These are the trees by the road-side; but, within the hedges, as being less handy to be gathered, grow peach, apricot, pear, and apple trees.[15] In every hedge flowering shrubs grew spontaneously; at every step springs gushed from the side of the mountain. Through the centre of the vale flow two rapid streams, fed by the melting of the snow; and, surrounding the vale on every side, sloping hills, covered with villages and diversified by cornfields and vineyards, bound the horizon.
That Lady Hester’s opinion was in accordance with my own, may be gathered from a letter she wrote to a friend, from which the following passages are extracted:—
“How I wish you were here to enjoy this delicious climate, and the finest country I ever beheld! Italy is nothing to it in point of magnificence. The town of Brusa is situated at the foot of the Mount Olympus; it is one of the largest towns, and may be considered the capital of Asia Minor: the houses are like all Turkish houses, bad in themselves, but so interspersed with trees and mosques that the whole has a fine effect; the view quite delightful over an immense plain more rich and beautiful than anything I ever saw, covered with trees, shrubs, and flowers of all descriptions; the rides are charming, and the horses better than any of those I have met with out of England.
“How beautiful are these Asiatic women! they go to the bath from fifty to five hundred together; and when I was bathing, the other day, the wife of a deposed pasha begged I would finish my bathing at a bath half a mile off, that she might have the pleasure of my society, but this I declined; they bathe with all their ornaments on—trinkets I mean—and, when they have finished, they bind up their hair with flowers, and eat and talk for hours; then fumble up their faces all but their eyes, and sit under trees till the evening.”
Brusa, nevertheless, was full of beggars; and the city gates used to be thronged with miserable objects, exciting compassion by the exhibition of distorted limbs, offensive sores, and filthy tatters. Add to this that, from the want of gutters in the streets, the pedestrian has to pick his way through mud and puddle every step he takes; and that the splendid supply of water, afforded them by the Almighty, is, by their neglect, rendered an absolute nuisance. As the summit of Mount Olympus is so high as to be covered with snow all the year round, a portion of it melts annually, and pours, in numerous rivulets, down the sides into the plain.
Three days after my arrival, Lady Hester, accompanied by Mr. B., reached Brusa; and they were as much enchanted with the beauty of the country as I had been. We used to ride out every day in the environs of the city. One day we came to a large piece of ground, sown with barley, which was now just in ear; and on it, tied by the leg, were grazing twenty horses belonging to a banished pasha, who lived at Brusa. Lady Hester, who was a great admirer, as well as a great judge, of horses, thought one of them so beautiful that she fancied she should like to purchase it as a present to some friend in England. It was an Arabian, and she begged the groom, an Egyptian, who was tending them, to mount and show her its action; but he declined, alleging that he had no saddle.
We were witnesses, during our stay at Brusa, to the miseries consequent on war. Several hundreds of Bulgarians, who had been driven from their homes, and whose houses and property had been burned and destroyed in the war between the Russians and the Turks, passed through Brusa, in search of a spot on which to build themselves fresh habitations. They drove before them their flocks, their mares, and their cows; whilst their wives rode in covered carts drawn by buffaloes, of which animals great use is made in this part of the world. These Bulgarians wore, for clothing, sheep-skins, with the wool turned inward in winter and outward in summer: their look was fierce and independent.
There was always a drawback on my pleasure, which there seemed to be little hope of surmounting. This was my ignorance of the Turkish language. I had now been in Turkey six months, and yet I hardly knew how to ask for water to drink. This was not owing to my aversion to the language, or to my indolence, but to the difficulty there is to a free intercourse with the people. Travelling here, I found, was not like travelling in Christendom, where a stranger goes into the society of the natives, is received with politeness by them, and can, if he chooses, take up his abode in the family of some one of the country. With Moslems this is not practised. A Turk would as soon receive a viper as an infidel into his house. The women, as they pass, cover themselves to the very tips of their fingers, lest the poisonous eyes of a Christian should bring evil upon them. The shopkeepers and artificers will, it is true, supply you with their commodities, if you pay for them; but with so ungracious an air, that one’s self-love is sorely wounded. This unwillingness to have any intercourse with Christians is a partial barrier to the quick attainment of their language, and an almost effectual one to the knowledge of their domestic customs.
I was accompanied, in all the professional visits I made, by my servant Lorenzo, who acted as interpreter. Lady Hester found in Mademoiselle Arles, the daughter of the French merchant, a young lady whose perfect knowledge of the Turkish language made her an excellent means of communication between the Turkish ladies and herself, whenever she paid visits.