CHAPTER XXIV.
Balouclè—The New Church—Delightful Road—Eyoub—The Cemetery—The Rebel’s Grave—The Mosque of Blood—The Hill of Graves—The Seven Towers—The Palace of Belisarius—The City Walls—Easter Festivities—The Turkish Araba—The Armenian Carriage—Travellers—Turkish Women—Seridjhes—Persians—Irregular Troops—The Plain of Balouclè—Laughable Mistake—Extraordinary Discretion—The Church of Balouclè—The Holy Well—Absurd Tradition—The Chapel Vault—Enthusiasm of the Greeks—A Pleasant Draught—Greek Substitute for a Bell—Violent Storm.
Our next expedition was to Balouclè, where the Greeks have recently built a small, but elegant church, upon the spot once occupied by a very spacious edifice, which had gone to ruin. The ride, though long and somewhat fatiguing, was most delightful; the road leading us across the hills, to the fair Valley of the Sweet Waters, along the banks of the sparkling Barbyses, past the Imperial kiosks; and onward to the beautiful village of Eyoub, the stronghold of the Constantinopolitan Turks, wherein they allow no Giaour to reside; and the marble floor of whose thrice-holy mosque no infidel foot has ever trodden.
The situation of Eyoub is eminently picturesque. It is backed by gently-swelling hills, clothed with trees, where the delicate acacia and the majestic maple are mingled with the scented lime and the dark and rigid cypress, whose blended shadows fall over a thousand graves, and turn away the sunlight from the lettered tombs of many a lordly Musselmaun. Eyoub possesses also a melancholy interest from the fact, that in its beautiful cemetery stands the rude mausoleum of the rebel Ali of Tepeleni who revolted in Albania, wherein are deposited the heads of himself, his three sons, and his grandson. Nor is this all; for a small mosque, almost buried amid tall trees, may be distinguished at the point where the main street sweeps downward to the water’s edge, whose modest minaret is painted a dull red from its base to its spire, and which bears the thrilling designation of the “Mosque of Blood.”
I have elsewhere mentioned that the Osmanlis do not permit their temples to be desecrated by the admission of the dead beneath their roofs; and this humble pile earned its awful appellation at the siege of Constantinople, when its doors were forced by the combatants, and its narrow floor cumbered with slain. Since that period, its single minaret has been painted as I have described; and it possesses an additional interest from its vicinity to the bleak, naked, treeless hill, whereon were interred all the True Believers who perished at that memorable period, and whose ashes still remain undisturbed.
Nothing can be more romantic than the appearance of the Seven Towers, the remains of the Palace of Belisarius, and the crumbling walls of the city, extending along the whole line of road to Balouclè, like a succession of ruined castles; and overtopped by forest trees, whose bright foliage forms a striking contrast from the grey and mouldering rampart. At intervals, towers thickly overgrown with ivy, and tottering to their fall, raise their fantastic outline against the sky; while the moat is in many places entirely concealed by the wild fig trees, and the dense underwood, that have sprung in wild luxuriance from the rich soil.
At the period of our visit, the Easter festivities were at their height, and the road was covered with groups of travellers, all hurrying towards the same point. There was the gilded araba of the Turkish lady, with its covering of crimson cloth, and its carved lattices; followed by a mounted negro. Then came the bullock-carriage of an Armenian family, gaily painted and cushioned, its oxen half covered with worsted tassels and finery, and glittering about the head with foil and gold leaf; while a long curved stick, extending backward from each yoke as far as the carriage, was painted in stripes of blue and yellow, and adorned with pendent tassels of coloured worsted. Both animals wore their charm against the Evil Eye; and the whole equipage was sufficiently well-appointed to have done honour to the harem of a Pasha, while the bright dark eyes and delicate hands of its occupants would have been an equal triumph for his taste. But at the first glance you saw that the carriage was not that of a Turk, for the painted hoops were plainly covered by a white awning, the symbol of the raïah. The haughty Osmanli has reserved to himself the privilege of seating his wives beneath draperies of crimson, blue, or purple, fringed with gold; while the Armenian, the Greek, and the Jew, when making use of this popular conveyance, are obliged to content themselves with a simple awning of white linen. Here galloped a reckless Greek, urging his good hack to the top of its speed; there moved along a stately Turk, with the hand of his groom resting on the flank of his well-fed horse, and his pipe-bearer walking five paces behind him. Now it was a party of Franks, booted, spurred, and looking in silent scorn upon the incongruous trappings of the natives, and now a group of foot-passengers, walking at a pace which I never saw equalled in England.
As we approached Balouclè, the features of the scene became still more striking. The low wall that skirted the road was covered with Turkish women, squatted upon their rugs and carpets, with the arabas in which they had travelled ranged along behind them. Seridjhes were walking droves of horses to and fro, and waiting for customers to hire them; travelling merchants were retailing yahourt and mohalibè to the hungry and the weary; Bulgarians were playing their awkward antics to attract the attention of the idle, and the piastres of the profuse; and the halt and the blind were seated by the wayside, to invoke the paras of the charitable. Parties of Persians, with large white turbans, silken robes, and eyes as black as midnight, were walking their well-trained horses through the crowd; and a detachment of the Irregular Troops, with their jester at their head, in a cap made of sheepskin, adorned with three fox-tails, and a vest of undressed leather, drove back the people on either side, as they made their way through the throng with a sort of short run. They had precisely the appearance of banditti, each being dressed and armed according to his own means or fancy; while their huge mustachioes, and the elf locks that escaped from beneath their turbans, added to the ferocious character of their aspect.
The plain on which the Church is situated is thickly wooded in its immediate neighbourhood, and on this occasion was covered with a dense crowd of merry human beings. The same amusements as I have described at the Armenian festival were in full career; but the heavy meaningless dance of the Champs des Morts was here exchanged for the graceful romaïka, which was going forward in every direction.
For every other female whom I saw on the ground, I remarked at least a hundred and fifty Turkish women; and the astonishment excited by the appearance of the Greek lady by whom I was accompanied, and myself among these latter, was most amusing. As the greater number of them had never before seen a Frank lady on horseback, they concluded that we had each lost a leg; and the “Mashallahs!” with which they contemplated our gaiety were innumerable. But as a Turkish woman never scruples to address a stranger in the street; and as our being actually crippled was a matter of uncertainty; they were resolved to satisfy their minds on this very important point; and several of them accordingly addressed themselves to the gentlemen of our party, in order to resolve the doubt; exclaiming with an energy worthy of the occasion: “For the love of God, tell us if your wives have lost a leg, or not!”