I 
j8 The VEN or’i- Travels Book III. 
believe me, you will be much the better for remem- 
bring it ; for of all Kinds of Knowledge, there is none 
** more important than this, that xht World is a *Tail^ 
and happy is he that can Jay hold of it/' I have feen a 
Book that belonged once to Sir Roger Manly, the true 
Author of the Turkip Spy, which contained the Stories 
that were read in a Week at a Coffee-houfe at Damaf- 
ciis, and it was in Italian. I wonder it has not been 
publiflied, for in my Judgment it was much fuperior to 
any Thing of the Kind that I have feen in Print, and 
I ,do not doubt but there are many fuch Colledions 
in the Cabinets of the Curious in Italy and France. 
Every body knows that the Furks are great Takers of 
Opium, and much has been written upon thofe Sub- 
jeds, about which, however, there are many Miftakes ; 
we will endeavour to redify fome of them. The Furks 
call it Affioun, and the bell comes from Ahoutige in E- 
gypt. It is very true, that as much as we have heard ot 
Opium, there never was any of it in Europe. That which 
is ufed by the Fiirks of Diftindion, is drawn by Incifion 
from the largeft Sort of Black Poppies, by laying new 
Ropes under them in the hotteft Seafon of the Year *, 
when they are flit with a Lance, the Liquor falls on and 
{licks to the Ropes in Drops of an Amber Colour, 
which are carefully colleded, and fold at a confiderable 
Price ; and this is the true Opium. They afterwards mow 
and extrad the Juice from the Poppies, which over a 
flow Fire they reduce to the Confiftency of Turpentine, 
and afterwards make it up in Lumps and cover it with 
the Leaves ; this is properly Meconium, but is what 
v/e receive for and generally call Opium. The bell is 
of a black Colour, tough rather than brittle, of a pun- 
gent ftupifying Smell, and free from Drofs and Sand. 
The worft Sort is of feveral Colours, clammy in fome 
Places, hard in others, and full of Drofs and Impurities. 
W^hat is extraded from Garden Poppies in Europe, is 
what we ftile Diacodium ; and this, if it be carefully 
made, of the largeft and beft Poppies, properly cultiva- 
ted, and in a very dry hot Seafon, comes ne2irtr Opium, 
and may be ufed with better Effed than the Meconium. 
When the latter is purified and diffolved in fome con- 
venient Vehicle, it is ftiled Laudanum, and when com- 
pounded with other Ingredients, thefe are marked by a 
Variety of Epithets added to the Word Laudanum. There 
is alfo a folid Laudanum, which is only the Meconium well 
purified, and reduced again into a folid Form. The 
very beft Method of doing this is by mixing the pureft 
Meconium with Rain-Water, and then evaporating it 
over a flow Fire, to the Confiftence of a Syrup ; after 
which it will foon grow dry of itfelf. 
The Lurks, the Perfians, and, indeed, all the Eaftern 
Nations, take Opium as we do Wine or Drams ; and 
the Cbmefe are faid to have the beft Preparations of it 
in the World. It exhilerates the Spirits wonderfully, 
and the Ufe of it is fo bewitching, that when People have 
once got a Habit of taking it, they cannot leave it off ; 
and as they feel the Effedls of it lels by Ufe, they are 
obliged to increafe their Dofe, till at laft they come to 
take amazing Quantities. Mr. Gracin, an Author of 
good Credit, fays, that he faw a Fellow at Bengal, who 
for a Roupy took four Ounces of it, which made him 
fleep all that Day but the next Morning he came to 
himfelf, and appear’d not much the worfe for it. This, 
however, is very unufual, and it is very rarely that any 
Perfon in Turkey ventures upon half an Ounce, and 
this muft be after many Years Pradlice. Thofe who 
take it while they are young, feldom live to be above 
fifty ; but thofe, who begin to take it at that Age, are 
not fo much affedled with it. 
As to Wine, there is nothing clearer than that the 
Ufe of it is forbidden to the Lurks by the Interpreters 
of iherr Law, except in Cafes of NeceiTity, when it is 
prefcribed them as Phyfick. The Clergy make a great 
Point of carrying the Edidls againft the Ufe of it into 
the ftridteft Execution, but to v^ery little Purpofe *, and 
what they do of this Kind, produces as bad Confe- 
quences as Drunkennefs ; for upon the coming out of 
any new Edibl, or once or twice in a Year to keep up 
a Show of executing the old ones, the Sub-Bafliaw and 
bis Officers go into fome miferable Tippling-houfe, let 
all the Wine about, take every Penny of Money they 
can lay their Hands on, break and deftroy whatever 
they meet with in the Cabin •, and, to complete all, 
treat the Mafter of the Houfe, at his own Door, with 
a delicate Baftinadoe ; of which, if he complains, or 
infinuates that he depended upon the Officer’s Pro- 
teflion, in Confideration of an annual Prefent, he is 
probably fent to Goal into the Bargain. But notwith- 
ftanding all this, there are every- where Tippling-houfes 
kept by the Greeks, for the Sake of getting a little 
Money, where yet they are expofed to a great many 
Inconveniencies, and to the daily Infults of the Lurks 
when in their Cups. 
Their Hovels are both within and without the moft 
defpicable Places that can be imagined. Four Mud 
Walls compofe the Houfe, plaifter’d on the In fide, 
painted over with bawdy Figures, drawn in Charcoal 
by drunken Lurks, three or four rotten Benches, and a 
few Earthen Pots in which the Wine is both drawn and 
drunk. Wretched as thefe Places are, they want not 
Company or Noife from Morning till Night, the Greeks 
being exceflively abufive, and the Lurks brutally quar- 
relfome in their Liquor ; which fhews, that, from a 
political Principle, the Prohibition of Wine in thefe 
Countries is a very right Thing. 
Almoft all our Travellers agree, that the Lurks are 
extravagantly ignorant ; but the Queftion is, whether 
themfelves are good Judges of this, and whether it lies 
much in their Way to be acquainted with fuch as apply 
themfelves to Letters. It is, indeed, very true that the 
Lurks are prodigioufly fond of Aftronomy, Geomancy, 
and other Arts of Divination, which are very juftly 
mentioned as Proofs of their Ignorance ; but in Excufe 
of this, we fliould confider, that .mean People pradife 
this with Belief, and that Perfons of higher Stations do 
it out of Cunning. We ought alfo to refled, that it 
is not fo long fince we ourfelves were addidred to thefe 
Fooleries, in which, after all, the Lurks excel us ex- 
tremely, not that their Aftrology or other Arts are a 
Grain more certain, but the Cheat is managed with 
infinitely greater Dexterity. The Lurks have Grammars 
and Didionaries of their own Language; Books of 
Divinity, Hiftory, Poetry, Phyfick, Mathematicks and 
Morality ; fo that after all, perhaps, they are not quite 
fo barbarous in this Refped:, or at leaft not fo univer- 
fally ignorant as they are reprefented ; nor do we find, 
that in any Negociations with their Viziers, they 
are apt to be over-reached in their Politicks. 
Their Religion, indeed, is abfurd enough ; but this 
is common to them and to other Mahometans ; and, 
perhaps, they appear more abfurd to us, than they re- 
ally are, from our Want of being acquainted with many 
of their Dodrines. It is moft certain, that they enter- 
tain very odd Notions of the State of the Dead, and 
are adually perfuaded, that they have fome Kind of 
Senfation in their Graves. An Englijh Merchant once 
walking by a Lurkijh Village, with a Janizary before 
him, came to the Burying- place of the Jews, where a 
miferable, Ihabby-looking Fellow was fitting before one 
of the Tombs ; upon which the Janizary ftept up to 
him, and accofted him in thefe Words : Tou old Raf- 
cal, what do you do out of your Grave ? get into it again 
this Minute, and don*t ftink the World a fecond Lime ! 
The poor Jew marched off as faft as he was able, and 
the Janizary took it for granted that he was fneaked into 
his Grave again. 
But with all their Superftition, there is no Want of 
Free-thinkers amongft the Lurks, who take great Li- 
berties with their Religion, and perhaps believe very lit- 
tle more of it than the Chrifiians themfelves. But they 
are obliged to keep their Notions very fecret, for the 
Civil Government handing upon the lame Bafis with 
their religious Belief, any open Declarations of Infidelity 
would not only render a Man highly infamous, but fub- 
jed; him alfo to grievous Punifliments, The Dervifes 
or Monks are fometimes Enthufiafts, but, generally 
fpeaking, they are notorious Cheats and Hypocrites ; 
they commonly affed a very warm Zeal for their Reli- 
gion, which they exprefs by being very rude to Chrif- 
tiaus, and taking uncommon Freedom with Perfons of' 
