334 FROM THE CAPITAL OF THE BANNAf, 
CHAP, country, however barbarous or enlightened : 
■ yet there are some tribes more universally dis- 
tinguished by this vice than others ; as the 
wild Irish, and wilder Calmucks. Gaming is 
perhaps unknown among the Turks, who are 
nevertheless fond of amusements which exercise 
the understanding without gratifying avarice. 
The real truth is, that although youth and libe- 
rality have been considered as the excitements 
of a passion for play, the disposition is always 
an indication of selfishness; and it is for this 
reason that barbarous nations are always the 
most addicted to gambling. 
May 7 ■ — Campaign country, and good roads, 
jifoism. as before, to Mohsin ; a place remarkable only 
for its beautiful Greek church, which would be 
considered as a model of good taste in London 
or Paris. Thence to Kanitsha, where we 
crossed the river Theiss, the western boundary 
of the Bannat. By the side of this river, the 
mercury in Fahrenheit's, thermometer, at noon, 
Rirer stood at 6l**. The Theiss is the Tibiscus of 
Ptolemy, and the Tibesis of Herodotus. By 
Latin authors it was termed Patissus\ It 
Tibiscus. 
(l) " Dacis, utait (PUnius), pulsis ad Pathsum &mnein, quera ego 
detracts primA syllabi Tissunt, vel ut nunc vuTgo vocant Tizarn, 
accipio." 
