TURKEY. 



with mutton or £ewl, their lappa, which is merely boiled 

 rice, and the tchorbe, a kind of broth made of the fame 

 vegetable. The fiih of the Archipelago is very good, and 

 the beef tolerable ; the hares, partridges, and other game are 

 excellent. The meat is ufually fpread on a lo.v wooden 

 table, over which the mafter of the houfe pronounces a 

 fhort prayer. The frugal repaft is followed by fruits and 

 cold water, and thefe are fucceeded by hot coffee and 

 pipes with tobacco. The houfes are expenfive, and the 

 moft coftly part of the furniture is the carpet that covers 

 the floor. Their drefs confifts of a calico ihirt, and the 

 loofe robe is faftened by a girdle, in which is iluck a dagger ; 

 while the tobacco-box, pocket-book, &c. are worn in the 

 bofom. The robe is commonly made of Englifh broad 

 cloth, trimmed with furs. The Ihoes are light Hippers. 

 The drefs of the women refembles that of the men, differ- 

 ing only in that of the head, which is a fort of bonnet, 

 formed of pafteboard covered with cloth of gold, or other 

 elegant materials, with a veil reaching to the eye-brows, and 

 a fine handkerchief concealing the lower part of the face. 

 In their perfons the Turks are very cleanly ; the females, how- 

 ever, ftain their nails with a red tinfture. Their amufements 

 are principally fuch as favour indolence, hunting and military 

 exercifes excepted. They are fond of reclining on an ele- 

 gant carpet, or in a hot feafon by the fide of a ftream, and 

 fmoking the delicate tobacco of Syria. With opium they 

 procure what they call " rief," or a placid intoxication, 

 but a ftronger dofe produces irritation and ferocity. Chefs 

 and draughts are favourite games ; whereas thofe of chance 

 are regarded as immoral. Their cofFee-houfes and baths 

 afford other means of amufement ; and the beiram, or fef- 

 tiv^ fucceeding their long lent, is a feafon of univerfal 

 diilipation. 



The Turkilh language is far inferior to the Perfian or 

 Arabic, and is formed by a mixture of feveral dialefts. Liter- 

 ature is not wholly neglefted, but they have fome fchools 

 and libraries. In the 1 8th century a printing-office was fet 

 up at Conftantinople by Ibrahim Effendi, which was at 

 firft much oppofed, but afterwards allowed to print all 

 kinds of books, thofe on religion excepted. Their market 

 for books contains many fhops well fupplied with Oriental 

 MSS. ; and they have their ancient poets, hiftorians, and 

 divines, though of httle eftimation compared with thofe of 

 Perfia or Arabia. Education, however, is little encouraged : 

 fo that ignorance forms the diftinguifhing charafter of the 

 nation. Law, connefted with their theology, is the chief 

 fubjeft of their ftudy ; but they have no inftitution that 

 merits the appellation of a college or univerfity. 



The chief city of European Turkey, and of the whole 

 Turkifh empire, is Conftantinople : next to this in dignity and 

 extent is Adrianople, two miles in circuit, and poffeffing 

 feveral fplendid works, and a confiderable ihare of com- 

 merce ; Philippopoli is a city of confiderable importance ; 

 Sofia, though meanly built, contains about 70,000 inhabit- 

 ants, and has confiderable trade ; Siliftria in Bulgaria, on 

 the Danube, contains about 6o,coo fouls ; and Bucchoreft, 

 the chief city of Walachia, is faid to have the fame number ; 

 while thofe of Jaffy or YalTy, the principal town of Mol- 

 davia, and Bender of Beflarabia, are each eftimated only at 

 10,000 or 14,000. Belgrade,thecapitalof Servia, isfuppofed 

 to contain about 25,000 inhabitants ; and thofe of Banja- 

 luka, which is a confiderable town in Bofnia, are eftimated 

 at 1 8,000. In the fouthern provinces we may firft mention 

 Salonica, containing 60,000 inhabitants, and diftinguifhed 

 by a confiderable commerce ; Lariffa, 80 Britifh miles to 

 the S., an inland town, containing 25,000 fouls ; and Atini, 

 the ancient Athens, of fmall population. See each article. 



If we except the feraglios and royal palaces, the chief 

 edifices in Turkey are the mofques and caravanferas. 



The manufactures and commerce of Turkey in Europe 

 are chiefly condufted by foreigners. The Levant trade 

 almoft entirely centres in Smyrna and the Afiatic fliore. 

 The manufaftures principally exported from Eiu-opean 

 Turkey are inconfiderable, being chiefly carpets and fome 

 few other articles ; but the produfts are currants, figs, faf- 

 fron, ftatuary marble from Paros, filk, and drugs. 



The cUmate and feafons vary with the different regions 

 comprehended within the limits of European Turkey ; and 

 to thefe we refer for an account of them. The general 

 appearance of Turkey in Europe is mountainous, here and 

 there interfperfed with dehcious plains and vales ; enriched by 

 the Danube, which interfefts its provinces, and the numerous 

 gulfs of the Archipelago and Mediterranean. The foil is 

 generally fertile, the northern parts producing wheat and 

 rich pafture, the middle and fouthern abundance of rice : 

 but agriculture, as well as almoft every other art and 

 fcience, is neglefted by the Turks. The principal rivers 

 of Turkey are the Danube, already mentioned, the Ma- 

 ritz or ancient Hebrus, the Vardari or ancient Axius, the 

 E fleer or ancient Oeflvus, the Morava or ancient Margus, 

 and the Drin, rifing N. of Albania, and falling into the 

 Save. Budzac and Walachia, as well as Albania and the 

 fouthern provinces, contain confiderable lakes. The chains 

 of mountains in Turkey are numerous and extenfive. Here 

 we might mention, if they were not elfewhere noticed, the 

 Carpathian chain, anciently called the Baftarnic Alps ; the 

 grand range of the Hxmus with its branches ; and mount 

 Athos of ancient celebrity. European Turkey alfo abounds 

 with forefts. Of its zoology we fliall merely notice the jackal, 

 the camel, and horfe, and alfo its cattle and flieep, which 

 are numerous and of different kinds. Its mineralogy has 

 been little inveftigated. The gold mines of Philippi, about 

 eighty miles E. of Salonica, produced in the time of Philip 

 of Macedon annually about looo talents, or 2,880,000/. 

 fterling ; and fdver mines were found in Attica, and other 

 quarters. 



The chief iflands belonging to Turkey in Europe are 

 thofe of the Archipelago ; for an account of thefe we refer 

 to their names, fuch are Crete or Candia, Negropont, the 

 Cyclades, Sporades, Lemnos, &c. &c. 



Turkey in ylfm extends from the fliores of the ^gean 

 fea or Archipelago, to the confines of Perfia, through a' 

 fpace of about 1050 Britifh miles. The boundaries to- 

 wards Perfia are the mountians of Ararat and Elwend. 

 Towards the N. the Turkifli territories are divided from 

 the Ruflian by the river Cuban and the chain of Caucafus ; 

 in the S. they extend to the junftion of the Tigris and the 

 Euphrates, which laft river feparates, for a confiderable in- 

 terval, the Turkifh poffeflions from thofe of the Arabs. 

 The diftance from the Cuban to the junftion of the Tigris 

 and Euphrates may be eftimated at about 1 100 Britifh 

 miles. This extenfive empire is divided into nine or ten 

 provinces, viz. Natolia W., Karaman S., and Roum N.E. 

 N. of Armenia are Guria or Guriel, Mingrclia, and the 

 Abkhas of Caucafus, the ancient Circaffias. To the S. 

 of Armenia, alfo denominated Turcomania, are Curdiftan 

 and Irak-Arabi, part of ancient Perfia, round the celebrated 

 capital Bagdad. The ancient Mefopotamia, between the 

 Tigris and the Euphrates, now partly correfponds with the 

 province of Algezira ; and Syria, or Soiia, comprehends 

 the celebrated countries along the eaftern extremities of the 

 Mediterranean. Thefe provinces arc fubdivided into go- 

 vernments, arbitrarily adniiniftered by pafhas. The original 

 population of thefe regions confifted chiefly of Scythians 



blended 



