CAFF A. 
145 
connection with the religious establishments for c *™ r - 
whose maintenance the honour of the Russian ' . — 
empire had been pledged, were of no other 
value to their destroyers than to supply a few 
soldiers with bullets', or their officers with a 
dram. We were in a Turkish coffee-house at 
CaJ'a, when the principal minaret, one of the 
antient and characteristic monuments of the 
country, was thrown down with such violence, 
that its fall shook every house in the place. 
The Turks, seated on divdns, were smoking ; and 
when this is the case, an earthquake will scarcely 
rouse them; nevertheless, at this flagrant act ot 
impiety and dishonour, they all rose, breathing 
out deep and bitter curses against the enemies 
of their Prophet. Even the Greeks, who were 
present, testified their anger by similar impre- 
cations. One of them, turning to me, and 
shrugging his shoulders, said, with a coun- 
tenance of contempt and indignation, 2 x,v0a,t ! 
Scythians ! This we afterwards found to be 
a common term of reproach ; for although the 
Greeks profess a religion which is common to 
the Russians, yet the former detest the latter as 
cordially as do the T urks, or Tahtars 1 2 . The 
(1) The Russian troops are compelled to provide themselves 
with lead. 
(2) The mild and amiable Pallas, notwithstanding the awe in which 
he was kept by the Russian Government, could not pass in silence the 
destruction 
