Visit to Constantinople and Athens

Front matter

VISIT TO CONSTANTINOPLE AND ATHENS. BT REV. WALTER COLTON, U. S. N. AUTHOR OF SHIP AND SHORE. " Vagari, luelrare, discorrere, quivis potnst, panel, lndagare, deecere, id eat vere pertegrinari." NEW-YORK : LEAVITT, LORD & CO., 180 BROADWAY. BOSTON i— CROCKER 4 BREWSTER. 1836. Entered, according to Act of Congress, hy Leavitt, Loed & Co., in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, in the Clerk's office of the Bouthem district of New-York. TO GULIAN C. VERPLANK. ESQ, These unpretending pages, penned in those leisure hours which are ever occurring in a life at sea, and which may perhaps be excused from those higher and sterner obligations which opportunities more propitious impose, are inscribed, as a slight token of the author's respect for his intellectual and moral endowments, and the effective, unostentatious manner in which these have been exerted for the benefit of others. PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 13 Jolm-sireei, New-York. CONTENTS. Preface 9

Chapter I

Departure from Smyrna — Condition on board an English yacht — Storm offMetelin — Loss of spars and provisions — Tenedos and the strand of Ilium — Beating up the Dardanelles — Scenery, towns, and fortifications of the shore — Passage of Leander and Xerxes — Pliny's aerolite — Sea of Marmora — First view of Constantinople — Apprehensions on landing— A night scene 13

Chapter II

Janizary cavash — Fate of Hallet Effendi — Stratagem of Mahomet — Capture of Constantinople — The silver sofa — Palace of the Sultan — his wives, odalisques, guards, garden— The Sultan shooting an arrow — Conversation with him — His personal appearance — Prevalence of the plague 37

Chapter III

Visit to the royal Mosques — St. Sophia — Mosque of Achmet — of Sultan Solyman — Tomb of its founder — Mosque of Osman — Church and State — Mausoleums of Ottoman princes — Antiquities of the At-meidan — Egyptian obelisk — Marble pyramid — Delphic column — Marcian's pillar — Sports ofthe djerid 51

Chapter IV

City fountains — Artificial lakes — Subterranean structures — Appearance of bazars — Merchandise of the east — Habits of the females — Sister ofthe Sultan — Khans ofthe city — Turkish bath — Sale ofa Georgian— Condition of a purchased girl 64 * 1* CONTENTS.

Chapter V

Teriakis, or opium-eaters — An experiment with the drug — its effects on the imagination — grandeur and horror of its dreams — Walls of the city — Intentions of Russia — Grave of Ali of Yanina — Traits of this fierce pasha — Treachery connected with his death 78

Chapter VI

Caloyer and his deathless fish — The Seven Towers — Imprisonment of foreign ambassadors — Arabian story-teller — Habits of the Mussulman — Birds ofthe Bosphorus — Objects of a Turk's humanity — The great cemetery of Scutari 91

Chapter VII

Navy yard and national ships — Memory of William Eckford — Introduction to the Capudan pasha— Powers of his office — Valley of sweet waters — Repose of the scenery — Party of ladies — Conflagration of a village — A Greek girl and her blind father — Moral effects of the plague — Fires in the Turkish capital 103

Chapter VIII

Beauty of the Bosphorus— Tragical associations — Tower of Mahomet — Godfrey's tent — Janizary surrogee — Village of Belgrade — Circle of Greek girls — Superstition of a dervish — Simplicity of religion — Man's last sleep 120

Chapter IX

Sultan's attendance at Mosque — Royal barges — Worship of the Mussulman— Assemblage of Turkish ladies — Their personal , appearance — Social amusements — Early education — Matrimo. nial alliance — Ruling passion — Conjugal traits 132

Chapter X

The Mussulman in his treatment of his Mother — in commercial transactions — in private life — in a public station — in misfortune — in the disguise of his feelings — in attachments to ancient usages — in an ignominious death CONTENTS.

Chapter XI

The life coveted by a Mussulman— Stillness of a Turkish town — Inferences of the stranger — Love of show— Capabilities of the Turk — His conjugal habits— Inconsistencies in his character.. 162

Chapter XII

Destruction of the Janizaries — Means employed to effect it— their final deportment — Features in the present government of Turkey — Character of Sultan Mahmoud — Spirit of his reforms- .. 173

Chapter XIII

Departure from Constantinople — Plain of Troy — Ancient remains Opinion of travellers — Arguments of a lady — Vigils of a night on the plain — Visit to Helen's fount — Ruins of Alexandria Troas — A. gloomy Greek — Mental tortures 182

Chapter XIV

Gulf of Argos — Reported loss of the frigate — Storied features of the Argolic plain — Trait in woman — Tomb of Agamemnon — Fortress of Napoli — -Love of the marvellous — Discovery of Eve' b Monument — Inscription — Antiquarian rapture 197

Chapter XV

Town of Napoli— Appearance of the place — Gayety of the inhabitants — Paganini of Greece — Island of Hydra — Wildnes3 of its features— Habits of the men — Costume of the ladies— Religious services on board ship — Passage to Egina... 212

Chapter XVI

Island of Egina — Softness of its Bcenery — Twilight ramble — Aspect of the town — College and Museum — Visit to the temple of Jupiter Panhellenius—- Sites of sacred edifices — One's native village — "Maid of Athens" — Officer ofthe Greek army 229

Chapter XVII

First view of Athens — Straits of Salamis — Strand of the Piræus — Temple of Theseus — Mars Hill— Paul before the philosophers of Greece — Prison of Socrates — Testy travellers — Modern town — Schools of the missionaries CONTENTS.

Chapter XVIII

Athens — Ascent of the Acropolis— The Parthenon — beauty of its architecture — present condition — impressions it makes on the spectator — Erectheum— delicacy of its proportions — violence it has suffered — The Pandrosea — singularity of its origin — Horologium — failure of the artist — Lantern of Demosthenes — eloquence of the orator — Temple of Jupiter Olympus — Cell of an anchorite on its architrave — Ruins of the Stadium 256

Chapter XIX

Athens — Sunset from the Acropolis — Traits of the Athenians — Objects of their superstition— Person, costume, and habits of the Females — Domestic peculiarities of the mother — Female writers — their attempt at great themes— Traits of the men — Physical and moral qualities — Period and objects of marriage 272

Chapter XX

Athens — Moral influence of her memorials — Features of the revolution — Conduct of the Greeks — Their future prospects — Charges brought against them — Intellectual and moral claims of the Turks and Greeks compared — Genius ofthe two nations contrasted — Sources of religious influence — Missionaries — The missionary enterprise 286

Chapter XXI

Departure from Athens— Feelings on leaving Greece — Reasons for writing this Journal — Armenian bride — Entertainment on board ship — Sentiment of an Athenian gentleman — Washington's last injunction— Passage to Mahon— Arrival of friends Winter amusements— The waltz and camp meeting 308

Chapter XXII

Consequences of our Visit to Constantinople — Solemnities of a court martial — Situation as counsel for the defendant — Sentence of the court— Principles of our naval code — Redress of grievances— Thoughts of Home— Obituary

Preface

. The situation in which the following pages were writ ten must be my apology for any faults in style, any errors in matter, which they may contain. They were written at sea, from hasty notes taken at the places to which they refer, without any aid from the observation of other tra vellers, or the assistance ofa common guide book, or any access to historical records. They were written amid the ceaseless noise and systematized confusion which prevail on board a man-of-war ; the lively conversation of the ward-room officers in one ear, the prattle of the pantry boys in the other ; the echoing tread of sailors over head ; on a table lashed down to prevent its being capsized, in a chair secured with lanyards against the force of the ship's lurch, and with the manuscript tacked to its place to escape the fate which befell the Sybilline leaves.

This is no fancy picture : any one who has been at sea, and especially they who have traversed the ocean in an armed ship, can attest the sobriety of the sketch, and also appre ciate the embarrassments which such a situation imposes. But, notwithstanding these unfavorable circumstances, I humbly trust the reader will find something in the fol lowing pages that may compensate him for the time spent

PREFACE.

. in the perusal. If I did not think so, I would cast the manuscript into the fire, for its publication could only in jure me, without benefiting him. The man betrays but little sense who speaks when there are none to listen, and still less when what he says is to be condemned for its stupidity or errors. But I hope the reader will find, among the lighter sketches of this narrative, some ofthe habits, customs, and characteristic traits of the Turk and Greek brought into prominent relief. If I have utterly failed on these points, I will not now fall back upon the strength of any reserved forces. Phæton soared, at the sun, and fell into the strangling waves of the Eridanus ; but as my attempt has not been quite so ambitious, my fall may per haps be less disastrous. But I would not vainly stir expectation : to tell the plain truth, I wrote this unpretending book for my own pleasure and advantage, and I now publish it for the pos sible pleasure and advantage ofthe reader.

As for pecu niary considerations, I should have reluctantly submitted to the drudgery of correcting the proof sheets for any thing it may avail me in that form ; and as for literary celebrity, the book itself will drop, in a few months, from the expanse of the public mind, silently as a pebble sinks through the surface of a sleeping lake. The reader, who may have honored " Ship and Shore" with a perusal, will perceive that this book, though sepa rate and distinct in its topics, is yet a continuation of that humble effort. The subjects which remain, as connected with our cruise in the Mediterranean, upon which I pro pose to touch in a future volume, relate to Italy. I took

PREFACE.

. 11 notes in my visit to Paris and London, but as their prepa ration for the press would be only an unwelcome task, I have abandoned all idea of making use of them as a jour nalist. Italy, however, lies so warmly in my feelings, and awakens so many bright and mournful recollections, that I cannot forego, however superfluous it may seem, all ex pression of my admiration and grief. I should like to take the reader with me among her monuments of perished grandeur and beauty, and see if we cannot awaken some ofthe eloquent echoes that sleep in her ruins. The at tempt, considering who it is that proposes to make it, may perhaps be vain ; for these ruins are too much like the bell of some old cathedral that sends out its tones only at the approach of kings ; but perhaps for once the favor may be accorded to a poor pilgrim who brings nothing, except the sincerity of his tears.

The more serious reader, who may have taken exception to some of the harmless pleasantries of " Ship and Shore," will find, perhaps, in these pages less cause of regret. But should he meet, occasionally, with sentences betraying some of those lighter and less regular pulsations which will, now and then, visit the heart, he must not be offended. The only real difference between us, probably, is, that I give expression to feelings which he, more discreetly, perhaps, allows to pass off in silence. Religion is not with me — and it ought not to be with any one — a source of gloom : it is not a great funeral pall, spread out over nature, wrapping the fragrant flowers, hushing the melodious fountains, and shutting out the bright influences of heaven ; it is, itself, an exhaustless

PREFACE.

. source of cheering, all-pervading light — warming and beautifying the earth — visiting man in his most obscure abode — reaching the darkest recesses of his doubts and dismay, relieving his cares — sanctifying his sorrows — dispelling the despondency which the brevity of his existence here casts around him, and inspiring hopes over which death and the grave have no power. To return to this volume: I hope the reader will not rebuke the author on the force of any detached pas sages : It is a small attempt, taken as a whole, and as such he will let it undergo the ordeal of his opinion. There are passages in it which I could wish were out, but it is now too late : the feeble, the irrelevant, and the rash must remain. But some of their faults may, perhaps, come, with the reader, under the amiable, absolving rule ofthe ancient critic — " Ubi piura nitent in carmine, non ego paucis Offendar maculis, quas aut incuria fudit, Aut humana parum cavit natura." w. c. Naval Station, Bostox, May 1, 1836. VISIT TO CONSTANTINOPLE AND ATHENS.

Chapter I

Departure from Smyrna — Condition on board an English Yacht — Storm off Metelin — Loss of Spars and Provisions— Tenedos and the Strand of Ilium — Beating up the Dardanelles— Scenery, Towns, and Fortifications of the Shore — Passage of Leander and Xerxes — Pliny's Aerolite— Sea of Marmora — First View of Constantinople — Apprehensions on Landing — A Night Scene. Our frigate was now riding quietly at anchor, before Smyrna, and we were eagerly casting about for the most feasible method of reaching Constanti nople. As the route by land must be entirely on horseback, exposed to a scorching sun, to the un ceremonious demands of outlaws, and without the comforts of a solitary hotel, we preferred a convey ance by water. The wind prevailing, at this season of the year, directly from that point in which our course lay, rendered it quite impossible for us to beat our ship up against the current of the Darda nelles.

We therefore went on board a little cutter, maliciously called the Spitfire, which was once a barge belonging to a member of the English parlia ment from Liverpool ; but which, by some strange vicissitude in the taste of the times, or the fortunes of its owner, has found its way to its present less elegant, but more serviceable situation. Our company on this occasion consisted of Capt. Read with his Lady, and eight or ten Officers attached to the Frigate. Our provisions having been taken on board, our anchor weighed, and our parting gun discharged, we made all sail to a stirring breeze, and passed quickly down the gulf of Smyrna. We were all in a fine flow of spirits, especially the captain of the little craft, who, I presume, never before felt so fully the importance of his situation. Nor was Bill, the cook, insensible of the increased dignity and responsiblity of his occupation ; but was ever and anon, as he counted over again the number to be fed, dropping some new article into the pot, which was now vigorously boiling in the caboose ; it grieved me to see the ruthless manner in which he would wring the necks of the chickens.

Though naturally of a humane disposition, yet he was now so full of the " pomp and circumstance of office," that I really believe he would have sacrificed, with out a sigh, a whole aviary of the most sweetly singing pets. The contents of the pot, which had now been for several hours in a state of violent ebullition, were at length turned into a common receiver, from which each one helped himself with a delightful self-appro priating privilege. The varieties it contained went CONSTANTINOPLE. 15 far beyond those of the sea-pie, chowder, or even the inimitable lobscouse ; I doubt, indeed, whether they have ever been equalled, since the witches in Macbeth filled their capacious cauldron. But Bill, who had been so successful as a cook, rather failed in the functions of a waiter ; for as he cut the wires which confined the corks, the porter escaped with such a foaming vehemence, that very little of it was arrested by the goblet.

His look, as he saw the be verage irrevocably escape, had a force of regret that reminded me of the anguish of one, who, on a different occasion, was witnessing with me the burn ing of a distillery. This mill of delirium occupied a slight eminence close to a sheet of quiet water, with which it communicated by a precipitous chan nel. The whiskey, as the fire reached the long tiers of casks which held it, was at once kindled and released, and rushing down this channel overspread the little lake, and rose in a pyramid of flame ; its light fell on the dismayed countenance of the indivi dual to whom I have alluded ; he looked as a devotee with his hope of heaven suddenly blotted out. He had no pecuniary interest in the distillery ; but the irretrievable destruction of so much of that which can drown sorrow, inspire forgetfulness, and which had been his only refuge for years, overwhelmed him.

He retired to his house and died that night ! The close of our first day out, brought us along the bold and beautiful shores of Lesbos. This island was anciently celebrated for the richness of its wines, the softness of its climate, the fertility of its soil, and the beauty of its females. It was the birth place of a Theophrastus, whose eloquence and philo sophy enlisted the admiration of Plato and Aristotle ; of a Pittacus, whose valor and patriotism were the pride and defence of his country ; of a Sapho, the fire and sweetness of whose verse have cast an un fading splendor on the genius of her sex. But of its ancient opulence and refinement scarcely a vestige remains; its wines are no longer sung or sought ; its temples and statues have passed away ; and of its daughters I have seen but one with charms of form and mind sufficient to move and melt the heart.

I met her in Smyrna ; why was it not in America ? Alas ! we are the fools of time and cir cumstances ! When that which most strikes and captivates us comes within our reach, some obstacle springs up, against which it is in vain to struggle : thus our life is a conflict with capricious incidents and irremediable fortuities. The night closed over us in our little craft with a dark and heavy frown. The black masses of cloud which began to ascend above the horizon, at sunset, were quickly followed by others of a still more portentous aspect. These squadrons of darkness and storm soon invaded the whole heaven, and in their gathered depths seemed to hang over us in substantial gloom. The wind appeared to have been CONSTANTINOPLE. entirely obstructed in its passage ; the sea retained a swinging, dead motion; yet a stranger to these phenomena would have anticipated only a night's detention on his voyage.

Not so with the weather beaten sailor who sat at the helm ; for as often as his eye rested on the lamp which glimmered in the binnacle, I observed something in his countenance which spoke of change and peril. He had scarcely raised his eye, when the black brooding mass above was riven and kindled with the fiercest lightning and thunder ; torrents and tempest soon followed ; we immediately dropped under the deck, but it was a poor refuge. The hatches were instantly battened down, all fresh air excluded, and we were there shut up, with scarcely room enough to sit or stand in ; while above, the tempest was breaking down our masts and rigging, the thunder shaking the very sea, and the waves plunging over the cutter, as if they had already overmastered their victim. It is a part of a sailor's creed, when he can do nothing to relieve his situation, to put up with it re signedly.

We found below several dark and narrow recesses called berths; casting lots for them, one fell to me, and I eagerly deposited a portion of my self in it, for it was so short, that head or feet must swing ; but I was immediately pounced upon by a host of those corsairs who take a man's flesh and blood, instead of his purse. I quickly jumped out, determined not to die two deaths, for we were all 2* apprehensive of one, before the night should be through. One or two more of these berths were tried by others, but instantly forsaken, with denun ciations upon all insects that jump or creep. We now piled ourselves down on the floor, without regard to positions or propinquities ; while a kind of sarco phagus, fixed up in the stern of the craft, accommo dated Mrs. R. : the commander of the Constellation being on deck to watch what might betide, and afford counsel where it might avail for good.

This was the longest night I ever saw, save one ; when I watched alone in a deserted house with a corse, and saw, through my excited imagination, in the stir of each cricket, a giant bursting from the cerements of his grave ! The loss of fresh air, and room to stand or lie in, were not our only misfortunes ; the quick roll and plunge of the cutter were so unlike the long, majestic motion of our Frigate, to which we had become ac customed, that the dull dizziness and faintness of a mockish sea-sickness came in to aid the miseries of our condition. " What a senseless dupe to my curiosity I am," exclaimed one, twisting himself into some new shape. " This is going to Constantinople," cried a second, "or to the bottom," interrupted a third, " and I don't care which," muttered a fourth. " I never understood before the horrors of the Middle Passage," muttered another.

" This is very like it," replied the twister at his side, " and if the Sultan CONSTANTINOPLE. should make us slaves, as he has done many a good Christian man before, the sickening parallel would be completed." " Don't be concerned on that score," in terrupted one, a little more inclined to be facetious, " for he will never be able to find us, unless he can plunge to the bottom of the sea, and I have never heard that his Sultanship has taken to pearl-diving." " Pearl-diving !" ejaculated the startled critic of the pile, " do you compare that poor figment of mor tality, when it shall become breathless, to a pearl ? Why, the dust of all the beauty and manly perfection that has breathed from the birth of Adam, is worth less now as the bubble that breaks over our heads. Human vanity, pride, and self-conceit, in such an hour, and such a place as this, is like a tinselled shroud in a closing grave."

Here the only lamp that glimmered in our dismal abode went out ; and for the remainder of the night, we had as little to do with light, air, or the upper world, as Jonah, in his truly sub-marine ship. Daylight at last began to break ; though we had no evidence of it, till we had burst up the battened hatches with that convulsivo force which one unconsciously exerts when near being smothered. The storm had partially subsided, the wind came in suspended gusts ; the rain in occasional dashes. I inquired respecting Mrs. R., and found that she had rested in her sar cophagus with the fortitude and repose of a true sailor in his wind-swung hammock. Capt. R., who had been up through the night, was sitting braced up near the man at the helm, and sound asleep ; the captain of the cutter, in his capote and tarpaulin, was meekly nodding against the binnacle ; two sail ors, exhausted with fatigue, had thrown themselves upon the tattered fragments of the gaff-sail ; while Bill, the cook, whom I never knew to flag or sleep, was fastening a pulley to a jury mast.

Our poultry, consisting mainly of two or three dozen chickens, lay dead in their wave-washed coop ; and several ducks, strange as it may seem, had shared the same melancholy fate. Most of the casks which contained our fresh water had made their escape through the shattered railing ; and our cooking apparatus had gone to aid the culinary wants of some mermaid of the sea. Tangled ropes, and the remnants of sails, and broken spars lay around ; and the whole had the appearance of a mangled relic left to float, as un worthy of the burial which the sea accords to the stately ship. The piteous plight of our craft, the sudden bereavements of our condition, with the wan and melancholy cast of each countenance, contrasted so strongly with the beauty and gallantry of our first setting sail and with the romance of our expe dition, that two of us, as we sat down in silence to look at each other, burst into an involuntary laugh.

" There is but a step between the sublime and ridi culous." Only yesterday, we were a picture of floating symmetry, grace, and gladness, and now so CONSTANTINOPLE. 21 changed that even the sea-bird wheeled away from the spectacle to his rude aerie in the cliff. We were not far from that spot where Æneas fitted out his ships for their long voyage ; with this great example of patience and perseverance before us, we set ourselves to repairing our shattered craft. Fortunately a spare spar or two had been taken on board ; a cast-off sail and a few coils of rope were found in the hold ; these, with what the storm had left, enabled us to restore the upper works, so that before evening we were on our way again, with the promise of a better night ; and so it proved, with the exception of the couch-corsair, who renewed, with unrepentant severity, the full measure of his bloody exactions.

The next morning we passed the ancient Lectum, now a beautiful village, on a forest-feathered acclivity, with its delicate minarets glittering above the green shade, and its leaping cascade, dashing down as if it heard the call of the wave on the beach. At evening we were beating up between Tenedos and the Troad ; and though our starboard tack hardly brought us upon a long reach to the silent shore of Priam, yet we could bear witness to the reasonable range of vision in Virgil : Est in conspectu Tenedos, notissima sama Insula. — -En. ii. 21. Nor could we say less for the optical propriety and vaticinal truth of that blind minstrel, who, as he placed his hand against the majestic tomb of Achilles, and heard the waves break on the shore, sung of this sweet romantic isle. A soft twilight was resting on hill and dale, through which the island, the tomb-crowned shore, and the distant range of Ida, rose with melting beau ty.

It was, perhaps, iri a night like this, that the Grecian fleet, leaving with muffled oars their unsus pected retreat behind Tenedos, advanced to the strand of Troy, and laid that city of song in ashes. I can imagine the consternation and despair of the daughters of Ilium, as they woke from their early slumber, and found their dwellings in flames. One could almost wish to turn the current of time back ward, and float up to that infant period when this scene of treachery and sorrow occurred, that he might plunge into it, and rescue some of the young and beautiful beings who were its innocent victims. But as the river returns not to its source, so time will never retrace its steps ; and from the distance to which it has now borne us, so far from sympathiz ing with the bewildering grief of this sad catastrophe, we begin to doubt its ever having been a reality.

The day will come when our woes will fall on the skeptical ear of man like the vanishing sounds of the sighing wind ; our graves will be sunk in the very earth where others have mouldered, and tomb will thus inherit tomb, till even the place of our dust and the last memorial of our existence have vanished CONSTANTINOPLE. forever 1 Yet there is One who will never cease to l»e mindful, and who, if we are his, will hold us in everlasting remembrance. And now, gentle reader, should you prefer lin gering among the fading relics and saered recollec tions of this Plain, to following me in my troubled way to Stamboul, I will meet you here again close to that soft fount, in whieh the beautiful Helen once iaved her delicate limbs, or on the green banks of the Seamander, in whose yellow waves Minerva, Juno, and Venus, about to appear before Paris, changed their locks to floating gold.

Yet you must not stay here ; I cannot part with you, for there is a life between us, a mystical thread of union, that ■must not be broken. Come with me, and if there be any kindness in love, any truth in the human heart, you shall not be without a friend. Another day had nearly passed when our barge, ■still struggling against a head wind, eut her way through the entrance of the Hellespont, which is de fended by two formidable castles posted on the ex treme verge of the Asiatie and European shore. A small village rose in the rear df each, crowned with a mosque, whose connection with the huge ranges of mounted ordnance reminded one of the time when Islamism was not only defended, but propagated, by the sword. The country, from a frequent and lofty range of precipices, became of a milder genius, and fertile valleys were seen stretching up far and wide among the swelling hills, yet in these rich cham paignes the voice of the plowman, and the song of the reaper, were not heard, nor could we observe, but in very few places, the animating tokens of agricultural enterprise.