TO THE COUNTRY OF THE CICONES. 61 
inhabitants discharging their iophaikes" and pis- chap. 
tols, to celebrate the beginning of the Ramadan ; > 
which made it dangerous to appear in the ■«''""»^'"'- 
streets. During this fast, they abstain from 
every indulgence that can be considered as 
the smallest gratification of sense — even from 
smoking, or drinking water — the whole time 
that the sun is above the horizon : the conse- 
quence is, that the moment sun-set is proclaimed 
by the (Muezzinn) crier of a mosque, from a 
minaret, the Moslems abandon themselves to the 
most profligate excesses ; — and woe be to the 
(Djowr) infidel Christian, who happens to fall in 
their way during these moments of their frantic 
licentiousness ! There is, however, much pre- 
tence in the rigour with which the Turkish fasts 
are said to be observed ; as in all countries, 
where similar privations are enjoined by reli- 
gion. There are some of the Moslems, no doubt, 
who observe the strictest abstinence ; owing to 
(5) So the word is written by Lord Byro7i, in his delightful Poem. 
The word means a musket; but the <(7/>A«i/:* is a long slender r{/?e, 
very different iu its form from our common musket. Some of those 
barrels that we saw here were six feet in length. 
"Though too reniOte for sound to wake 
In echoes of tiie far (ovhaike, : 
The flashes of each joyous peal 
Are seen to prove the Moslems zeal." 
The Giaoicr,\\nt1To, p. 11. Lond. 1813. 
