142 TRAVELS IN THE EIGHTIES. 



though he admitted it to be true : " It should be re- 

 marked, however, that infanticide is extremely pre- 

 valent, and not punished by law." And the following : 

 " According to Turkish law, the succession is vested 

 in the eldest male of the Royal family. Formerly, as 

 a matter of policy, all males of the House of Osrnan, 

 other than the sons of the reigning Sultan, were 

 murdered. This cruel practice has been for some 

 time abolished." 



It is difficult to understand how the following, 

 referring to an historical event on the Island of Chios, 

 could be obnoxious : " The Capitan Pasha soon ap- 

 peared with a powerful fleet, and an army of fanatical 

 Moslems was ferried across and let loose upon the 

 unfortunate island. Then commenced the work of 

 destruction. The island was given up to indiscrimi- 

 nate pillage and massacre. The Archbishop and heads 

 of the clergy," &c. And one more, perhaps the most 

 crucial of all : " The rapid progress of the European 

 nations in the arts of war at length drove back the 

 tide of Turkish conquest, while internal demoralisation 

 has now brought the Empire to the verge of extinc- 

 tion." One ought to remember that the Turkish 

 Government do not pay all official salaries with 

 wonderful regularity, and that the officials in question 

 feel bound to recoup themselves somehow. I met with 

 several English who had suffered from the depreda- 

 tions of the censor, having been deprived of such 

 unlikely books, among others, as "Don Quixote" and 

 a French grammar and a dictionary. Anyhow, tra- 



