We next came to Adrianople, a large commercial town, very populous, and situated on a great river called the Mariza, six days' journey from Constantinople. This is the strongest town possessed by the Turk in Greece, and here he chiefly resides. The lieutenant or governor of Greece lives here also; and many merchants from Venice, Catalonia, Genoa, and Florence are likewise residents. The country from Constantinople hither is good and well watered, but thinly peopled, having fertile valleys that produce every thing but wood. The Turk was at Lessère[492], a large town in Pyrre, near to Pharsalia, where the decisive battle was fought between Cæsar and Pompey, and Sir Benedict took the road thither to wait on him. We crossed the Mariza in a boat, and shortly after met fifty women of the Turk's seraglio, attended by about sixteen eunuchs, who told us they were escorting them to Adrianople, whither their master proposed soon following them.
We came to Dymodique[493], a good town, inclosed with a double wall. It is defended on one side by a river, and on the other by a large and strong castle, constructed on an elevation which is almost round, and which may contain within its extent three hundred houses. In the castle is a dungeon, wherein I was told the Turk keeps his treasure. From Demetica we came to Ypsala[494]; it has been a tolerable town, but is totally destroyed. I crossed the Mariza a second time. It is two days' journey from Adrianople, and the country throughout was marshy, and difficult for the horses.
Ayne[495], beyond Ypsala, is on the sea-shore, and at the mouth of the Mariza, which at this place is full two miles wide. When Troy flourished this was a powerful city, and had a king; at present its lord is brother to the lord of Matelin, and tributary to the Turk. On the circular hillock is the tomb of Polydore, the youngest of the sons of Priam. The father had sent this son during the siege of Troy, to the king of Eno, with much treasure; but, after the destruction of Troy, the king, as much through fear of the Greeks as the wish to possess this treasure, put the young prince to death.
At Eno, I crossed the Mariza in a large vessel and came to Macri, another maritime town to the westward of the first, and inhabited by Turks and Greeks. It is near to the island of Samandra[496], which belongs to the lord of Eno, and seems to have been formerly considerable; at present the whole of it is in ruins excepting a part of the castle. Caumissin, whither we came next, after having traversed a mountain, has good walls, which make it sufficiently strong although it is small. It is situated on a brook, in a fine flat country, inclosed by mountains to the westward; and this plain extends for five or six days' journey, to Lessère. Missy was equally strong, and well fortified, but part of its walls are thrown down and every thing within is destroyed; it is uninhabited.
Peritoq, an ancient town, and formerly considerable, is seated on a gulf which runs inland about forty miles, beginning at Monte Santo, where are such numbers of monks. The inhabitants are Greeks, and it is defended by good walls, which have, however, many breaches in them. Thence to Lessère, the road leads over an extensive plain. It was near Lessère, they say, that the grand battle of Pharsalia was fought.
We did not proceed to this last town; for hearing the Turk was on the road we waited for him at Yamgbatsar, a village constructed by his subjects. When he travels, his escort consists of four or five hundred horse; but, as he is passionately fond of hawking, the greater part of his troop was composed of falconers and goshawk-trainers, a people that are great favourites with him; and it is said that he keeps more than two thousand of them. Having this passion, he travels very short days' journeys, which are to him more an object of amusement and pleasure. He entered Yamgbatsar in a shower of rain, having only fifty horsemen attending him and a dozen archers, his slaves, walking on foot before him. His dress was a robe of crimson velvet, lined with sable, and on his head he wore, like the Turks, a red hat; to save himself from the rain, he had thrown over this robe another, in the manner of a mantle, after the fashion of the country.
He was encamped in a pavilion which had been brought with him; for lodgings are nowhere to be met with, nor any provision, except in the large towns, so that travellers are obliged to carry all things with them. He had numbers of camels and other beasts of burden. In the afternoon he came out of his pavilion to go to the bath, and I saw him at my ease. He was on horseback, with the same hat and crimson robe, attended by six persons on foot. I heard him speak to his attendants, and he seemed to have a deep-toned voice. He is about twenty-eight or thirty years old, and is already very fat.
The ambassador sent one of his attendants to ask him if he could have an audience, and present him the gifts he had brought. He made answer, that, being now occupied with his pleasures, he would not listen to any matters of business; that, besides, his bashaws were absent; that the ambassador must wait for them, or return to Adrianople. Sir Benedict accepted the latter proposal, and consequently we returned to Caumissin, whence, having repassed the mountain I have spoken of, we entered a road formed between two high rocks, and through them flows a river. A strong castle, called Coloung, had been built on one of these rocks for its defence, but it is now in ruins. The mountain is partly covered with wood, and is inhabited by a wicked race of assassins.
At length we arrived at Trajanopoly, a town built by the emperor Trajan, who did many things worthy of record. He was the son of the founder of Adrianople; and the Saracens say that he had an ear like to that of a sheep[497]. This town was very large, near to the sea and the Mariza; but now nothing is seen but ruins, with a few inhabitants. A mountain rises to the east of it, and the sea lies on the south. One of its baths bears the name of Holy Water. Further on is Vyra, an ancient castle, demolished in many places. A Greek told me the church had three hundred canons attached to it. The choir is still remaining, but the Turks have converted it into a mosque. They have also surrounded the castle with a considerable town, inhabited by them and Greeks. It is seated on a mountain, near the Mariza.
On leaving Vyra, we met the lieutenant of Greece, whom the Turk had sent for, and he was on his road to him with a troop of one hundred and twenty horse. He is a handsome man, a native of Bulgaria, and had been the slave of his master; but as he has the talent of drinking hard, the prince gave him the government of Greece, with a revenue of fifty thousand ducats. Demetica, on my return, appeared much larger and handsomer than I thought it the first time; and, if it be true that the Turk has there deposited his treasure, he is certainly in the right to do so.