A servant having announced that the Patriarch awaited us in another department, we followed him to a spacious saloon in the opposite wing of the palace, where we found the magnificent Prelate seated in a cushioned chair raised a few steps from the floor. He had exchanged his party-coloured raiment for a flowing robe of violet silk with a falling collar of velvet, and wore about his neck a massive gold chain, from which was suspended a star of brilliants. On his right hand were two baskets of variegated wicker-work; the one containing eggs of a crimson colour richly gilt, and the other filled with eggs of white and gold; while on his left-hand, a larger basket was upheaped with others simply stained with logwood, like those which I had seen on the breakfast table.
He received us with much politeness; and, through the medium of our young friend, who made an admirable Dragoman, he asked me several questions on the impressions which I had received in the East: appeared gratified at the admiration that I expressed of the gorgeous ceremonial to which I had so lately been a witness; and regretted that the exhaustion under which he was then suffering from the fatigues of the last two days rendered him unable to converse with me, as he had been desirous of doing.
Coffee and sweetmeats were shortly afterwards served; and, as I was aware that the anti-room was thronged with persons who were waiting to pay their compliments to him, I rose to depart; when he presented to me a couple of the gilded eggs, which he accompanied by a flattering expression of the pleasure that my visit had afforded to him, and a hope that he should again see me when his health was re-established. I made as handsome a reply as I was capable of doing; pressed to my lips the holy fingers which were extended towards me, and took my leave.
I was not aware, as I received the eggs, of the extent of the compliment that had been paid to me, which I only learnt accidentally, on inquiring the origin and meaning of so singular an offering. The custom, as I was informed, is of so ancient a date, that no reason, save its antiquity, can now be adduced for its observance; but great ceremony is kept up in the distribution. To the principal persons of the nation the Patriarch gives two of those eggs which are gilt, to the next in rank one gilt and one plain—then follows one gilt—then two plain—and finally one—but, to each person who is admitted to the presence of the Patriarch, he is under the necessity of making the offering, be the guest who he may; and a day is set apart during the week, on which the whole of the male Greek population of Constantinople have the right to receive it at his hands, until extreme fatigue obliges him to resign the office to the Grand-Vicar.
On returning to the house of our friends, we partook of coffee, and the delicious Easter cake peculiar to the Greeks; and immediately afterwards embarked in our caïque, which was to convey us to the Echelles des Morts, in order to witness the festivities of the Armenians in the great cemetery.
CHAPTER XXI.
High Street of Pera—Dangers and Donkeys—Travelling in an Araba—Fondness of the Orientals for their Cemeteries—Singular Spectacle—Moral Supineness of the Armenians—M. Nubar—The Fair—Armenian Dance—Anti-Exclusives—Water Venders—Being à la Franka—Wrestling Rings—The Battle of the Sects.
The araba was already at the door when we arrived at home; and, weary with mounting the steep ascent to Pera, I gladly threw myself upon the crimson mattress, and among the yielding cushions, and prepared to become a spectator of this new festival in luxurious inaction.