264 JOURNEY TO CONSTANTINOPLE. 



worn by the death of my beloved wife after severe 

 sufferings, and seriously needed a renovating change. 

 Accordingly at the beginning of October 1865 

 I journeyed by way of Pesth to Basiash. where I 

 embarked on one of the fine Danube steamers for 

 Tchernawoda, in order to go from there via Kustendji 

 to Constantinople. On the ship it was very interesting 

 to me to meet the famous Omer Pacha, then com- 

 mander-in-chief of the Turkish army. As he exhibited 

 a desire for conversation we soon got acquainted; my 

 Havannah cigars were to his liking and his chibouk. 



o o 



which he ordered his slave repeatedly to fill for me. 

 to mine. Omer Pacha had at one time been a ser- 

 geant in the Austrian army, had then gone over to the 

 Turks, had adopted their faith and rapidly risen during 

 the war with Russia. The conquest of Montenegro, 

 which had up to that time been considered impossible, 

 finally carried him to the head of the Turkish army. 

 He was just returning from a prolonged visit to Vienna 

 and Paris. My attempts to get him to relate his war- 

 like exploits he unfortunately always evaded. The re- 

 collections of the victories, which he had achieved in 

 Vienna and Paris over the ladies of the ballet and the 

 opera, seemed to him to be more agreeable than those 

 of his warlike deeds. Only with regard to the ex- 

 pected future war of the East against the West of 

 Europe did he express himself, and that in a very 

 sanguine manner. A powerful troop of Turkish horse 

 would, so he thought, overwhelm the West as in former 

 times, and ride down all resistance. For a Turkish 



