30 MUSTAFA PASHA. 



ropean furniture, and a large fire blazing merrily, 

 the pasha himself sitting on a sofa, with his legs 

 hanging down, — an uncommon position for an 

 Eastern. He was dressed in a well buttoned-up, 

 double-breasted, long surtout coat, loose trowsers, 

 and large slippers, with a fez, or red cap, which 

 Turks wear on all occasions, upon his head. He 

 made us sit upon chairs, and then dismissed the 

 attendants, of which there were plenty in the 

 room, with a wave of his hand. I suppose it 

 was out of compliment to us that he was sitting 

 in our fashion ; but I could not help contrasting 

 the easy position in which a Turk sits on a com- 

 fortable divan, with the very constrained one he 

 was then enduring. With a loose dress, there is 

 no more easy posture than the half-recumbent, 

 half-crouching one of a Turk on a divan ; and I 

 am sure our visit must have been a period of pain 

 and inconvenience to the Pasha. He shewed us 

 his own and the sultan's miniatures, very well exe- 

 cuted by an Italian, and set in diamonds, and 

 conversed with us a good deal on general subjects, 

 through the dragoman or interpreter, who trans- 

 lated into Turkish our conversation with him in 

 French. We took our leave much gratified with 



