Laurent's Tour through Greece, Turkey and llaLi/. 



590 



aud perhaps, his life; but having rocog- 

 ni.>ied in him the author of Orlando, 

 tijey threw themselves at his feet, in- 

 tpeated pardon for their intended in- 



i'ury, and, singing his verses, guarded 

 lim to a plaee of greater security. 



,„, NAUTICAL POLITENESS. 



^; , Our schooner was manned by Illyrian 

 sailors ; they were very dirty, certainly 

 morecivil,but I doubt wliether so skilful 

 as tiie seamen of northern kingdoms ; 

 those tempests of long duration, to 

 which the Atlantic sailor is often ex- 

 posed, are unknown in more confined 

 seas, where, in every part, a secure 

 harbour is at hand, to shield the bat- 

 tere<l vessel from tlie rage of the sea. In a 

 summer voyage, they have little more 

 to do than to eat auc! drink, tell horrid 

 tales of pirate's cruelty, and hail each 

 ship that passes; this last practice is 

 never neglected, and the mode of exe- 

 cuting it proves forcibly that some 

 portion of that proncness to compliment 

 which characterises Italy aud all other 

 nations swayed by despotic govern- 

 meats, mivy transfuse itself even into 

 the dominions of Neptune. An English 

 ship hails in a manner rough and 

 abrupt — '• Ho the ship — whither bound 



^where from:"" in the Mediterranean, 



all communication must be preceded 

 by the hoisting of the colours, and the 

 compliment : " Buon giorno Signor 

 Capitano e tntta la compagnia, buon 

 giorno ,•" while every question is ended 

 by a '' (It grazia,'''' whicli is made to 

 reverberate for several seconds in the 

 speaking trumpets. 



TURKISH CHURCH-YARD AT SCIO. 



Near the town on the sea shore, is 

 seen avast burial ground. appropriated 

 to the Turks ; the cause of its being so 

 extensive is, that their religion forbids 

 the burial of more than one person on 

 the same spot of ground ; the graves 

 are indicated by stones, inscribed with 

 gilt Arabic characters; they are shaded 

 with cypress, aloes, and the other trees 

 by most nations regarded as expressive 

 of grief. Viziers aud other great men 

 have a /cu66e, that is a tower and mo- 

 nument beautifully b\iilt, placed over 

 their graves. Petiple of a middle sta- 

 tion have two stones placed upright, 

 one at the head, the other at the feet. 

 One of these stones has ilje naiiie of the 

 deceased, elegantly written; to which 

 is added, sometimes ia prose, sometimes 

 in verse, a prayer of this or the like 

 form, at the direction of the heir ; 

 Ddma AUaho halahi rahmataho, — may 

 God shew eternal mercy to him. If a 



man is buried, upon tJie top of the stone 

 is a Turkisli turban ; if a woman, ano- 

 ther sort of ornament is placed there. 

 The stone at the feet is the same in 

 both. The sepulchral chapels erected 

 in memory of some sninls of Ishimism 

 aud of the sultans, are called tnrbeh. 

 These buildings are generally place<l 

 in the gardens of the mosques, founded 

 by these princes ; they are veiy richly 

 adorned. The grave, which is in the 

 middle of the chapel, is covered with a 

 wooden chest, wrapped in red velvet, 

 enriched with gold and precious stones, 

 and having different verses of the Koran 

 embroidered on it ; towards the side 

 where reclines the head of the defunct 

 monarch, is seen a piece of the veil 

 which has covered the shrine of Mecca, 

 (for no Moslem must be buried without 

 a piece of that sacred cloth,) over which 

 is a muslin turban. Silver rails, in- 

 crustetl with mother-of-pearl, surround 

 tlie grave, at the extremities of which 

 are two lofty cliaudeliei-s with tapers. 

 The interior of these chapels is magni- 

 ficently adorned with marble, poreelain, 

 and golden inscriptions. Lamps, ever 

 lighted, hang from the roof, aud the 

 turbehdars, or keepers of the tomb, are 

 constantly reading cliaptei's of the 

 Koran for tlie repose of the soul of the 

 sultans. Constantinople contains about 

 twenty of these turbehs. The Turkish 

 burial grounds are always placed near 

 the towns, and, being kept clean and 

 adorned with verdure, are agreeable 

 yet impressive objects ; they lue never 

 imagined to be haunted, a circumstance 

 more to be attributed to their attractive 

 appearance, than to any strejigth of 

 mind peculiar to the followers of Ma- 

 homet. Indeed, one can see no reason 

 why the resting-place of our departed 

 friends, should be in the most dirty 

 .and nielancholy spots, or why their ;^- 

 maius should be so often and so hil^ 

 necessarily disturbed. ,, ;;,({ , ,, 



THE THOUGH. ,j,,:ij,,>iJ 'oR 



The though is a horse's tail,^ stainea 

 red, and stuck upon a pole, with a gilt 

 knob at (he top : this is one of the mi- 

 litary ensigns of the Turks, aud the 

 dignityof a Vizier is determined by the 

 number of these horses' tails which he 

 is allowed to cany before him. Besides 

 the though^ each dozen of men has» 

 when on march, a small standard, the 

 number of which causes the army to 

 be crowded with flag-l)earers, who i*t 

 battle are worse than useless ; the 

 Turkish soldiers think it no disgrace 

 to loose their colours, excepting, how- 

 ever. 



