344 Travels through Turkey, 



for travelling into the interior parts of this country, fo inte- 

 refting in every point of view. C. Verniac allowed us the 

 whole of our appointment, authorifed us to engage a drago- 

 man, gave us a letter to the chief minifter of the king of 

 Perfia, another to the pacha of Bagdad, and, at the fame 

 time, various inftructions both verbally and in writing. 



At the moment of our departure, the Porte had a deiign 

 of conftrucfing in the harbour of Conftantinople a bafon 

 after the model of that of Toulon : and fome Armenian 

 merchants wifhed to prevail on us to communicate to them 

 a difcovery we had made of an excellent kind of pozzolana, 

 by offering us the fnm of 30,000 piaftres. As we were here 

 under the orders of the Republic, we did not think ourfelves 

 at liberty to enter into any treaty with Armenians, in regard 

 to our difcoveries, until we had apprifed the envoy of the 

 Republic. C. Verniac, who intended to get this bafon con- 

 ftrucled by French engineers, defircd us to rejeft the offers 

 of the Armenians, promifing to procure us a more ample 

 recompence from the Porte ; and he immediately font the firft 

 dragoman of the legation to the Turkifh government, to com- 

 municate our difcovery, and make an offer of our fervice*. 

 The Porte feemed to accept this offer with gratitude : and 

 having requeued a note on the fubjecT, we embraced the 

 earlu'ft opportunity of tranfmitting to it a memoir, in which 

 we faid that we had difcovered pozzolana of an inferior 

 quality near the channel of the Black Sea, in Prince's iflands, 

 and various iflands of the Archipelago ; and fome of a fupe- 

 rior quality, or at leaft equal to that of Italv, in the ifland 

 of Santorin. The memoir concluded with a few details re- 

 fpefting the method of employing both. 



The mjnjfters of the Porte, when they received this me- 

 moir, informed the dragoman, that the Armenians had de- 

 manded for the difcovery 60,000 piaftres, though they had 

 offered us only 30,000. They added, that they would never 

 forget the fervicc which we rendered to them, and that their 

 gratitude would be boundlefs if we could effect what we 



promifed . 



