410 VISIT TO THE CAPOUDAN PACHA. 



<( What," said I, " does this mean ? I have been endeavouring to 

 persuade this rascal to go on for this last half hour, and just now he 

 was talking of taking me before the Cadhi for overloading him." 



" Oh," said S , " he knows me ; and, moreover, do you see 



those two solemn looking gentlemen with white sticks in their hands ? 

 Moustapha is very well acquainted with their summary method of 

 settling disputes of this kind. Let us go into Kafphene and make 

 our kejf, and then, if you like, as I am going to the morning drill, at 

 which the Pasha is always present, I will present you to him." 



I very gladly assented to his proposal, and after having passed 

 under the hands of an Armenian barber, we adjourned to a coffee- 

 house. Here were a number of Osmanlis reclining on cushions arid 

 otherwise enjoying themselves; that is, smoking their pipes, drinking 

 coffee, stroking their beards, playing with their beards, and maintain- 

 ing a profound silence. On our entrance, one meagre sallow-looking 

 fellow, clad in a loose drab coloured benesh or gown, and wearing a 

 curiously stamped felt cap, in shape exactly resembling a gigantic 

 extinguisher, got up, spat upon the floor, and rushed out of the 

 apartment. I afterwards ascertained, that he had a great character 

 for sanctity, and belonged to a Mehdreseh* of spinning Dervishes, 

 gentlemen who, on stated days, entertain the public by turning round 

 with a wonderful rapidity, " a qui mieux" for hours together, or, till 

 they actually faint away, a most execrable din being kept up the 

 whole time by tomtoms and other abominable instruments ; the greater 

 the spinner the greater the saint. 



We took our places in the divan, and S commenced a con- 

 versation with an aged respectable looking Turk who sat next him. 



" Is your keff f good ?" " So so ; and the keff of your worship ? " 

 " Very pretty keff." 



" This gentleman," said S , pointing to me, " brings news that 



the Roumelie Giaours have been cut into cababs J by the wonderful 

 Reschid." 



The old Turk laid down his pipe, raised himself on his knees, and 

 slapping both thighs, exclaimed, " Praise be to Allah ! how many 

 heads have they taken ?" 



As this was the first I had heard of the victory, I was rather 



puzzled for a reply, but my inventive friend S extricated me 



from the difficulty, by saying that the slain were so numerous they 

 could only take the ears, some bushels of which were on their way 

 to Constantinople, and would be found, in all probability, nailed to 

 the walls of the Sultanum Serai on the following day. This news 



immediately set the whole conclave in motion, and S being 



pestered with questions, found it prudent to beat a retreat, pleading 



* Medreseh is a college or monastery. The one here mentioned, is a 

 beautiful building in Galata, said to be richly endowed. On Fridays, one of 

 the spinning days, infidels are admitted on condition of taking off their shoes. 



f Keff may, perhaps, be translated " comfort." A Turk who has not had his 

 pipe and coffee in the morning, under which circumstances he is very ill-tem- 

 pered, is excused, because*Ac has not made his keff. 



$ Cababs are pieces of roast meat, cubes of about an inch square. 



