ITS FORTIFICATIONS. 301 



also are faced with fascines. The guns are iron, 

 and about three in each face command the river. 

 The wheels of the carriages are made of sohd 

 wood. 



The Danube is about a mile in width at this 

 part, but an enemy with the means of transport- 

 ing an army would find the works of Sili stria, in 

 their present dilapidated state, a very slight ob- 

 stacle to his forcing the passage of the river, if he 

 wished to do so. 



Silistria is a Bulgarian town. A Greek inha- 

 bitant I talked to in my perambulations told me 

 that the inhabitants amount to about two thou* 

 sand, of which two hundred families are Greek; 

 there are a few Armenians, but the greater part 

 of the population is Turkish. The houses are 

 built of mud, with tiled roofs. Their small gar- 

 dens are surrounded by very strong and im- 

 mensely high stake and binder hedges. Some of 

 the houses in these gardens have rather a neat 

 appearance. Here I first remarked the difference 

 in the race, a total change in the countenances 

 of the people, both in complexion and features. 

 The women here have very tolerable complexions, 

 and much lighter hair than the Greeks generally; 



