232 FROM THE HELLESPONT 
^vn^* "^^^^^^l^cd by any thing in the Archipelago; 
^ w '-' not only owing to the grandeur, the height. 
the bead of Hercules ; and for the obverse, the letters EPT, with the 
name of a magistrate. An Extract from Mr. Wulpole's Journal will 
here communicate the result of his remarks in /isia Minor, made 
subsequei)tly to his arrival at Smyrna. 
" During my journey in Asia, I took up my abode for the night in 
the khans or caravanserais, choosing a room to myself in these bad sub- 
stitutes for inns, rather than the private houses of the Turks, where my 
Janissary procured me admittance. For although the Turks are quiet 
and inofFensive, yet any thing is preferable to sleeping in a small room 
•with half-a-dozen of them ; or to a cross-legged posture at meals, round a 
low table, eating spcon-meats, of which their repasts generally consist. 
As the road I travelled was not much frequented, I was forced to stop at 
the houses of individuals; and arriving generally at sun-set, I found them 
beginning their supper ; their dinner is at ten in the morning, as they rise 
at break of day. Sometimes a village afforded a small hut of mud and 
straw, purposely built for travellers : half of this was raised about two 
feet from the ground, for men to lie on ; the other half accommodated 
three or four horses. In the great towns it was necessary to go first to 
the Governor, with some present, accompanied by my Janissary. At 
Guzel-hissar I waited on the Aga, who, after some conversation with my 
Janissary, ordered a Greek (his tailor) to receive me into his house, where 
I remained some days. Presents to tlie servants are always given. At 
Melasso, I waited on the Governor: it was the time of the fast of the 
Ramadan : I found him sitting on his divan, counting his beads of thick 
amber : a pipe was brought to me, but not to him, as he did not smoke, 
eat, nor drink, from sun-rise to sun-set. He shewed me guns and pistols 
made in England : these some Englishmen had brought to Melasso, coming 
to buy horses for the army on the Egyptian Expedition. This fast of the 
Ramadan I found was most strictly observed. IMy Janissary was not so 
scrupulously abstemious as my guide, who never even took snuflT until the 
sun was below the horizon. I passed the evenings WTiting my journal, 
and reading some books of travels I had with me. The Turkish peasants 
■would sometimes bring medals : these they found in the fields. The con- 
versation of the Turks turned generally, as I found from my interpreter, 
on tlie affairs of the village and its neighbourhood. Tlie women never 
appeared. 
