If you please to hear me, I’ll tell you another story of a Bird: I have, among my other Birds, a Balearic Crane, which differs from the ordinary sort of Cranes by a white Plume of Feathers, that grows hanging down from both her Ears; and besides, all the fore-part of her Neck-Feathers were black, and the Turks adorn their Turbants with it; and there is some Difference in their Bigness. This Balearic Bird was mightily affected with a Spanish Soldier, whom I had redeemed out of his Chains; when he walked abroad, the Bird would walk with him, though for many Hours together; when he stood still, so did the Crane; when he sat down, she would stand by him, and suffer him to handle her, and stroke down her Feathers, whereas she would not suffer any body else so much as to touch her; whenever he was gone from Home, she would come to his Chamber-door and knock against it with her Beak; if any body open’d it, she would look all about, to see whether he were in the Room; and, not finding him, she would traverse it about, making such a shrill Din and Noise, that nothing living could endure it; so that we were forced to shut her up, that her Noise might not offend us. But when he returned, as soon as ever she fixed her Eyes on him, she would make to him, clapping her Wings with such an antick Posture of her Body as Dancers in a Jig use to do; or as if she had been to prepare herself for Combat with a Pygmy. In fine, she at last used to lie under his Bed at Night, where she laid him an Egg. Thus I have given the story of the Loves of brute Animals towards Man, now prepare your Ears for another Story of a contrary Import, viz. the Cruelty and Ingratitude of another Brute towards Man. I had a Hart, that lived very quiet and tame with me for many Months; but, when her rutting or coupling Time came, she grew on a sudden so wild, that, forgetting all our Respects, she flew upon every body that she met, as if she would have killed them with her Horns, so that we were compelled, for our own Security, to hamper her, and to shut her up in a walled Place; but one Night, she broke from her Prison, and ran amongst all the Horses, which, as I told you, in Turkey, use to stand all Night in the Yard, and where she made such a Tumult amongst them, that she forced the Grooms to drive her to her Hold; she wounded many of them, which set them into a Rage, so that at last they drove her into a large Stable, and there I gave them leave, with what Weapons came next to hand, to destroy her: She defended her self stoutly at first; but they, being forty to one, at last felled her, and made her pay for her breach of Hospitality. When she was dead, I cut her in pieces, and made a Feast for the Ambassadors that then resided at Constantinople. It was a Hart or Stag, of a huge Bulk, such as use to come in the beginning of Autumn, out of Hungary into Austria, at rutting Times. I bought him of some Beggars, that made a Gain of that Trade; they used to carry him about, and where they ask’d Alms for God’s Sake, at the name of God they used to bow their Heads, and the Stag by Custom had learned to do so too; so that the Vulgar did admire the Beast, as if he had some Sense of a Deity, and therefore he got a deal of Gain to his Keepers. This Stag, by reason of his Talness, I also designed as a Present to Cæsar.
Having made mention of Turkish Beggars, give me leave to acquaint you with the nature of those kind of People in this Country. There are fewer Beggars here than amongst us, and they are commonly Pilgrims that travel up and down, pretending some appearance of Piety or religious Profession. Some of them, besides their Poverty, pretend Distraction and Simplicity; and this sort is very much esteemed among them, for the Turks count all Madmen and Fools to be certainly designed for Heaven; and therefore they look upon them as Demi-Gods here on Earth. Some of those Wanderers are Arabians, who carry Banners before them, wherewith, as they say, their Ancestors fought against the Christians, for the Propagation of the Mussulman Religion. Those that are of this Rank are not ordinary Beggars, neither do they ask Alms of all Passengers, but in the Evening they offer you a Tallow-Candle, a Lemon or a Pomegranate, and force it upon you; but you must give them double or treble the Worth; and by this means they seem rather to sell than to receive gratis. For the rest, they which beg amongst Christians are set to do servile Offices amongst the Turks. If a Slave become lame, his Master is bound to maintain him, and yet the veriest Cripple amongst them brings in his Master some Profit. I remember, once I redeemed a Spanish Officer, bought by a Turk, who was maimed in all his Limbs, by reason of his Wounds, and yet his Master found means how to make him get his Living; he sent him over into Asia, to look to the Flocks of Geese which he kept there; and by his Care in feeding them, he brought in sufficient Gain to his Matter.
Now we talk of Slaves, give me leave to digress a little, and to propose a Quære, whether he did well or ill with Christendom, who first brought up the use of Slaves among them? I know there are many Inconveniencies that attend the Condition of Slaves, but they are over-balanced by the Advantages accruing thereby; especially if a just and merciful Slavery were allowed by some public Law, as was of old among the Romans; for then, perhaps, we should not need so many Gallows’s and Gibbets as we have among us, to restrain those, who set an high Price on their Life and Liberty; to maintain which, their Poverty prompts them to the most audacious Attempts: Liberty, without an Estate to maintain it, is none of the best Counsellors. All Men cannot bear Poverty and Freedom; Mankind, in general, is not so form’d by Nature, as to rightly to govern himself. No, he stands in need of a better and wiser Conduct than his own; otherwise, there will be no end of his Transgressing; for so some Beasts will always be terrible to Men, unless their Fierceness be restrain’d by Manacles and Bonds. But in this case of Slavery, the weaker Mind of the Slave is govern’d and steer’d by the Authority of his Patron or Master; and, on the other side, the Master is maintained by the Labour of his Slave. The Truth is, both publickly and privately, the Turks make a very great Advantage of their Slaves; if any Houshold-work be to be done, the Slave is ready to perform it; and, therefore, they have a Proverb among them, He can never be poor, that hath but one Slave. But then for Works without Doors, if there be any Rubbish to be carried out, or Preparation made for any great Building, the assiduity of Slaves quickly performs what is enjoined them. This I take to be one Reason, why our present Buildings do not arrive to the Magnificence of the Ancients; we want Hands (or Slaves) to carry on the Work. I might instance also, that servile Hands and Heads have been great helps to the Learned, to attain their so much celebrated Learning and Knowledge. What I have hitherto discoursed about Slaves, you will look upon as an Amusement; and so, pray, take it.
This I can a assure you of, that the Turks, in their way, do make a huge Advantage of Slaves; for if an ordinary Turk bring home one or two Slaves, whom he hath taken Prisoners in War, he accounts he hath made a good Campaign of it, and his Prize is worth his Labour. An ordinary Slave is sold among them for 40 or 50 Crowns; but if he be young, beautiful, and have Skill in some Trade besides, then they rate him at twice as much. By this you may know, how advantageous the Turkish Depredations are to them, when many times, from one Expedition, they bring home five or six thousand Prisoners.
The Romans of old, were not ignorant of this gainful Trade; which made them set an high Rate on 20 or 30 thousand Persons, which they sometimes took at the sacking of Cities, as their Writings shew. But a Turk, upon the like Sack, would make ten times five hundred Crowns of his Prize, though by the rules of their Religion they are not to make Slaves of any of their own Sect; nor to disfranchize them, or set any Price on their Heads.
But to return from this large Digression: I formerly acquainted you with my Sport in Hunting; it follows, in course, that I must say something of my Fowling. The Turks are favourable to all Beasts, as also to Birds; and especially to Kites, because, they say, they eat up the Carrion, and keep the Streets clean and wholsome; and, therefore, abundance of these Birds fly up and down the Town, as fearless of Gin or Snare, so that they are almost tame; and when you whistle to them, they come about you; throw them up Meat in the Air, they’ll catch it with their Claws. Once I caused a Sheep to be killed, and called the Kites to prey upon the Entrails. I cut them in pieces, and threw them up into the Air; by and by came ten or twelve or twenty Kites, and a while after so many of them, that they almost shaded the House; and they are so bold, withal, that if you hold out a piece of Flesh, they will be ready to snatch it out of your Hands. In the mean time, I stood with my Cross-Bow behind the Pillar, and sometimes when I shot, I made the Tail or Feathers of one or other of them to fly off, and sometimes I gave one or two a mortal Wound, and made them tumble down; but this I did privately, when the Doors were shut, that so I might not provoke the Turks to Indignation.
I must tell you, I have Partridges too (to acquaint you with my whole Stock of pleasurable Recreations). You would wonder, as I my self did at first, how tame they are. They were brought from Chios with red Feet and Beaks; they were so troublesome to me, by standing at my Feet, and picking the Dust out of my Velvet Pantofle, with their Beaks, that they might dust themselves therewith, that, to be rid of the Molestation, I was forced to shut them up in a Chamber, where, in a short time, they grew over-fat and died, as my Servants told me; yet Pliny says, in a certain Place, that Hares and Partridges never grow fat. You have yet but small ground for your Wonderment; but, pray, prepare your Ears for what follows.
The Isle of Chios is full of these Birds, and they live with the Inhabitants in their Houses; every Country-man, almost, keeps more or less of them under his Roof, as their Estates are, or their Minds serve them. A public Keeper whistles them out in a Morning, and they run to him in the Highway, and follow him into the Field (as Flocks of Sheep do their Shepherds with us): There they stay all Day to feed and bask themselves, and in the Evening he whistles for them again, and then they covey together, and return to their old Lodgings. The Custom arose from hence, as they say: As soon as ever the Partridges are hatch’d, the Country-men take them up and put them in their Bosoms, between their Skin and their Shirts; thus they carry them about a day or two, ever and anon moist’ning their Mouths with their own Spittle. This Courtesy doth so oblige the young Birds (for Partridges, as well as other Birds, are mindful of human Civilities, if I may so speak) that they cannot forget their Fosterers; and yet Care is to be taken, that they stay not out in the Field all Night; if they do so two or three times, they quickly forget human Hospitality, and return to their own natural free Life in the open Field. I have taken a great deal of Pains to procure such a Fosterer of Partridges to send him to Cæsar, to teach Emperors that aviary Discipline. ’Tis true, I never saw this done with my own Eyes; yet so many credible Witnesses have affirm’d the Truth thereof, and I believe it as well as if I had seen it. And I give equal Credit to the Story, I am now about to tell you.
It is so known a Truth in this Country, that he were an absurd Man that would offer to deny it. They that come to Constantinople from Egypt, (as many do continually) affirm it for certain, that Chicken are not hatched, as with us, by a Hen sitting abrood upon them, but there are some appointed Officers, that, in Spring-time, gather all the Eggs of the Neighbourhood and put them in a certain kind of Oven, which they make of Dung and Trash heaped up together, and by the heat of the Sun and the hot putrid Vapours, the Chicken in due time, are animated and break their Shells; and then the Owners come to claim the Chickens, which the Overseers of the Work deliver out to them, not by Tale, for that would be too tedious, but by Admeasurement. I mention this the rather, because I read of such a Passage in Vopiscus, where the Emperor Adrian, being angry with the Egyptians, inveighs against them with this Sarcasm; I wish them, says he, no greater Curse, than that they may always feed on their own Chicken, which, how they are hatch’d, I am asham’d to tell. So that, without Question, this was an old Custom among the Egyptians; and, therefore, Adrian upbraided them with their Food, which he looked upon as obscene, being begotten by Dung and Dirt. You may think, perhaps, that I am mistaken; but I leave the Matter with you, and shall now hasten to acquaint you with the rest of my Diversions.