Our Camp in Turkey, and the way to it

Front matter

J OUR CAMP IN TURKEY, AND THE WAY TO IT. BY MRS. YOUNG, AUTHOK OF ' CUTCH,' ' WESTEEN INDIA,' ' FACTS AND MOTION,' ETC. LONDON : RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET Publtsljrr in ffirlinarg to $ct iHajtsts. 1854. PRINTED BT JOHN EDWARD TAYLOR, LITTLE QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS. TO LIEUTENANT-COLONEL ADAMS, H.M. 28th FOOT, IN FRIENDLY ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF MUCH KINDNESS, ■Xfje follotomg Pages AEE GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR IBitfr mg test C-omnlim^nts I beg to place the following memoranda of my late rambles in Turkey before the Eeader. The "Way " will not, I trust, seem tedious, nor the "Camp" dull. The reminiscences are necessarily egotistical, as they treat of my own personal experience ; yet the encouragement which, as Mrs. Postans, in my works on India, I met with from the Public, leads me to hope that the same suffrage may be as kindly extended to the following pages on Turkey, the spirit-stirring topic of the day. MAEIANNE YOUNG. London, November, 1854. CONTENTS.

Chapter I. The Ocean Barrack

Ring, ring, ring ! — bang, bang, bang ! " What is the news now, I wonder ? Why is St. John's so noisy, and what is that salute for ? Is it the Prince Napoleon, or Marshal St. Arnaud ? — General Can robert, Lord Raglan, or the Duke ? Surely it must be the ' Caradoc ' at last ! When are we to go ? and what is the news ?" So it was, day after day, at the once quiet, tranquil little island of Malta, in the month of March last, when I, like many other energetic, travel loving amateurs, arrived at that shining, sunny, excavated Bath-brick sort of ocean-wonder, in the 'Valetta' steamer from Marseilles. The Strada Reale was crowded. The pavement, occupied by B riflemen and red-jackets of all sorts, looked like a double avenue of poppies, relieved here and there by their green leaves. The entrances of the hotels, the Imperial, Dunsford's, and Baker's, were assailed by weary, gasping people, earnestly desiring shelter, and generally repulsed by the answer, "No room."

Then private lodgings were tried, — some of these of the most extraor dinary kind, and in the most objectionable neigh bourhoods. A lodging-house letter in London, during the Great Exhibition season, would, according to ' Punch,' strongly recommend an eli gible chest of drawers as the sleeping-place of the "young gentlemen;" so, in Malta, a swarthy householder would usher one into the newly-swept charcoal closet, with laudatory remarks on its se curity from noise and cold — he might have called it, light and air ; however, so it was, and people were compelled to all sorts of abodes, at all sorts of prices. The Auberges of the Knights were filled, the Forts of St. Elmo, St. Angelo, Fort Manoel, the new Lazaretto, were bursting with troops; so was it also with the new barracks at Vederla ; in fact, it was only wonderful that the caverns of the rocks, the sheltering places of the milch-goats of the island, had not been also thought of, and secured for the troops.

Then the gossip ! Every half-hour brought its news ; the Club, of course, a principal nucleus. Greek mischief-makers, Russian spies, Turkish alarmists, were all busily engaged. At Constanti nople, the Dardanelles, and Smyrna, letters were written to mercantile friends at Athens, Naples, Syra, and so on; which were not only reported and believed, but materially amplified on arriving at Malta. The waiting-rooms of Muir and Goodenough, the two librarians of the Strada Reale, were filled with inquirers all day long. News, news, news ! — no other idea seemed to find place for a moment, and the excitement became absurd in the extreme. Intelligence, on the "best authority," was contradicted al most as soon as circulated. Orders and counter orders were " the order of the day." At the doors of the libraries and of the Post-office, papers were affixed, advertising the departure and arrival of steamers for Alexandria, England, France, and the Levant.

Hour by hour these announcements were changed, till they became, by reason of contradic tory interpolations, almost illegible. The " Can dia" superseded the "Indus;" the "Himalaya," bound to Alexandria, sailed for Turkey ; the " Ripon " took the mails of the "Euxinej" and every ship, and every body, presented the same b aspect of uncertainty and confusion. Wonderful monster vessels, that had ploughed the Atlantic, and never been heard of among us before, came proudly into the shining harbour of Valetta, and were away again ere morning light. Old, creaky, crazy steamers, patched for the time, were towed slowly out, laden with women, horses, and stores, the spectators much doubting whether any of them would reach their destination, and the desti nation itself involved in much obscurity. Then all Malta would be excited by the thunderings of a salute from the Fort, which, reverberating among the rocks, was re-echoed by the men-of war in harbour.

Anon we all raced up to a bar racco — an elevated sort of colonnade overhanging the Mediterranean ; while beneath us rushed in a little steamer, carrying English or French colours; on which we at once tore down again to the Custom-house landing, to arrive with the guard of honour and the Governor's carriage, and witness the disembarkation of a certain number of cocked hats and w*hite feathers appertaining to the great men and staff of the Allied Armies. By this time the Square in front of Government House was covered with Maltese, in their hanging caps and sleeve-depending coats ; and people happy enough to squeeze into projecting windows, or out into the narrowest of all balconies, in time, might see a carriage full of Algerine or other heroes, Mar shal St. Arnaud with his beautiful wife, honest looking Canrobert, or Prince Napoleon, the living image of his uncle.

This excitement all over, one was rather at a loss what to do; the season was past for balls, and Malta begins to be dull enough in March. However, there was the little Italian Opera in the Strada Teatro. Here we had ' Norma' and the ' Trovatore,' and the 'Trovatore' and 'Norma.' The actors all spoke a patois that not even Italians could understand ; but the scenery was pretty, and the orchestra respectable, and people w*ent be cause there was indeed nowhere else to go. One soon sees all that Malta has to show ; — St. Paul's Bay, Citta Vecchia, the Garden of St. Anto nio, St. John's Church, and the Capuchin Morgue. After this, people declare themselves bored ; and I daresay they are, for one must naturally grow tired of standing on the steps of a Club, to hear constantly contradicted news, — of eating ices from the Cafe del Commercio, rather thawed by their transit, — of going to the Post-office to find letters are not sorted " yet," — and of taking refuge in listening to a badly performed opera, of which one cannot understand a word.

All this monotony, too, became more unendurable by reason of the panting anxiety there was to go forward, to mingle in great events, in new scenes, to win shining honours or glorious memories. The last, I suppose, however, were not much thought of. It is more usual, I fancy, to calculate on the good coming to ourselves, and the harm to our neigh bours. At least, I believe so : and I think Roche foucauld bears me out in the idea ; and moreover mischievously declares that the fulfilment brings a sort of pleasure with it — perhaps at our own es cape ? — I do not know. There was a great demand for horses and bag gage animals at Malta ; and the Maltese were wont to caper up and down the Strada Reale on horses for sale, distinguished by a little knot of coloured ribbon on their brow. The prices set upon them were of course preposterous, because the seller ex pected a quarter of the sum asked to be proposed, and was prepared to take half; this being habitual to Maltese trading, and not depending altogether on the army.

It is very droll, in the market at Malta, to observe this system. One asks a fisher man the price of one of the radiant, rainbow coloured finny tribe, struggling in the wet weed before him, and he names the price of an alder manic turbot ; but as you smile, he adds, " Give me eighteenpence ! give me twelvepence ! give me sixpence !" and so on, till he, without interruption from the buyer, fixes on an almost nominal sum, but, in fact, the real value, where fish is so abundant, and, except on fast-days, not much used. How* pretty the Malta market is, with its wonderfully coloured fish, — its marvellously sized vegetables, tropical as well as European, — its piles of purple figs, rich grapes, loquats, medlars, melons, oranges, peaches ; — a massing of rich colour, delightful to the painter's eye !

So with the street-stalls : I know nothing prettier, as the sun falls on it, than a street fruit-stall at Malta, resting against some portion of richly carved stonework, with its gay awning, brown and yellow baskets, throwing cast shadows on each other, and the white-teethed, bright-eyed, smiling, picturesquely-attired vendor. Altogether, the early mornings at Malta are charming. The fresh delicious air; the blue waters, with their many-coloured passage-boats plying about the harbours from Valetta to Sliema, Sliema to Pieta; the goats in large flocks, with red neck laces and silver bells, strolling from door to door, waiting to be milked ; the Maltese ladies, kind looking and soft-eyed, passing along in their black faldettes to the morning Mass ; the curious, picturesque old green calesses, on two wheels, with sorry nags quite overpowered by heavy and antique harness, — the drivers smoking, laughing, singing along, as they go jolting on the shafts to a neighbouring casal (village) ; the little carts passing in, laden with rich red monster clover; the large, handsome, gaily-caparisoned mules; the stealthy, handsome, sandalled Capuchin, on his way to St. John's ; the merry children, each a study for Mu rillo; — each and all are pleasant items, and form a wbole most agreeable to the eye of that too rare searcher for healthful enjoyment, the early stroller about Malta.

I have said, people were generally dreadfully tired of Malta, and did not flatter the place, but very openly expressed their sense of disgust and weari ness. The ladies perhaps liked it best, because it kept their sons and husbands longer by their side ; and heavy were the hearts as that day approached when Malta must be left, the troop-steamer de clared in readiness, and poor women, whether wives of officers or soldiers, were left with streaming eyes on the Barracco, while the fine ship glided on toward her Eastern point, and those whom God joined were put asunder — when again to meet ? I remember coining in from a country ride in a calesse, when the ' Himalaya' was going out laden with troops : the sun was shedding its golden light over the blue water, and that deep purple tone was rising on the horizon peculiar, I think, to Malta in early spring.

A crowd were scattered about the rocky hillocks at Florian, watching and wishing well to the noble ship. Among them was a pretty young Englishwoman, a soldier's wife, with two little smiling rosy children at her foot, gathering daisies. " Get up, children," said the mother, " and kiss your hands to father." " I don't want to, mother," said the elder, intent on its little pas time. " Oh, you naughty child !" answered the wo man, snatching it in her arms, and hurrying to the wall, under which the ship lay ; " you'll likely never see him again." I turned away,— the truth was so sorrowful, so full of pathos. How few of the brave hearts now beating with hopes of glory on the deck of that fine ship would ever feel again the loving pressure of wife or child ! But such is war ! 'Tis well it has its bands and colours, flags and music, to hide the tears in manly eyes, and drown the sobs of woman's voice ; or, despite huzza ing crowds, it would be but on the whole, perhaps, an unpopular institution.

One of the pleasantest methods for passing a warm morning in Malta, I found, was to lounge in a comfortable chair in the quiet library of kind b Mr. Quintana, in the shaded Strada Stretta, and turn over books on Turkey, — not " Histories of the Ottoman Empire," though very valuable no doubt in their way, but rather personal experiences of the land, having authority, of course, such as we find in White's book, or Slade's ; for I do hold, that the mere visitor, the mere summer tourist, however agreeable his sketches may be, is not authorized to pass strictures or advance opinions on the go vernments or social opinions of any people so su perficially seen ; and although this notion of mine has reference to the mere travellers in all lands, most especially it bears, I think, on Turkey, which, perhaps from its social casing of reserve, and its religious prejudices, is less to be known, its inter nal economy less easily to be judged, than that of any other nation on the globe.

From Quintana' s library, I often hired a boat at the especially disagreeable landing-stairs of the Marsamuseetta, and glided away, across the Qua rantine Harbour, to Misida, where my friend Mr. Quintana had lately built a house, from the angle of whose flat roof floated the Spanish flag, in compliment to his nation. Here I was able to observe the process of making a garden out of hard rock; a matter, as I pondered over the as pect of our ocean barrack, as wonderful to me as any performance of Herr Dobler, Robin, or An derson. Yet here and there the marvel is seen of a very luxuriant and well-kept garden in the rocky fastnesses of Malta; while about Misida, and the casals generally, the wild flowers are varied and abundant, springing in masses about the grey rock like a dream of the Trosachs, and re minding one of Richardson's Highland pictures in the New Water Colour.

Of course Malta does not present much variety of scenery ; and yet the place gains wonderfully upon the eye, and this by reason of the constant play of light and shadow ; and as the hill-lines rise above each other, and the white domes of the casal churches tower above them, the view is decidedly pleasant, despite the long lines of stone boundaries, — the ugliness of these low walls being to a certain degree redeemed in early spring by the beautiful crimson clover, and the fields of bright green barley, even more wonderful than Quintana's little garden, from which I took a sketch of Bhircharcarra one afternoon. After passing about a month in this fashion, — all racket and arrival at Valetta, all bustle and con fusion in the harbours, all anxiety and distraction in the barracks, — the order came for the gallant regiment to advance.

Then came a scene baffling all, description. The square within the fine new barracks of Vederla was crowded with Maltese, trying hard to dispose of baggage animals of all descriptions, — the blind, the halt, the spavined, the vicious ; donkeys, mules, horses, ponies. A miserable quadruped, that would have been condemned as unfit to drag a Brighton bathing-machine, was loudly eulogized as a first-rate charger ; — " Stand fire beautiful, your honour ! " The impression was, that the Maltese, departing from his national habit for this time only, spoke truth : doubtless the nag would stand — would do anything, in short, but move on. Then ponies, — such a race ! — decked with blue ribbons, and paraded up and down by owners who, the moment they discovered my presence through an open door, would add to the previous eulogy, " Carry a lady best, Sir ; always used carry lady."

There was no lack of light carts either, — pleasant conveyances enough, with a thin mattress laid along the seat; and some of these were bought, with the chance of taking them on, though, despite their capability of being dissected like a model toy, the general idea was against the necessary permis sion being ceded. Donkeys were generally unpo pular, fine as they are at Malta ; but these apa thetic animals stood winking and blinking in the sunlight, perfectly contented with their lot, and apparently caring very little for Turkish thistles, tall as they are, if they could but get Maltese clover. Then the packing, the exchanging, the selling superfluous comforts ; the collection of a few stan dard edibles ; the saddles to be mended at the last moment ; the tin dinner-services, of two plates, one dish, and a drinking-cup, to be made com plete ; the camp bedsteads and stools to be select ed; the parading, the drumming, the orders, and counter-orders; the private fryings of bacon and eggs for officers' breakfasts, often by the officers themselves, on the most doubtful fires, and in the most unworthy frying-pans ; and, at last, the em barkation on board the Vesuvius steamer !

The crowding, the discomfort ; the luxury of one officer, who was allowed to lie on the floor in the surgeon's cabin with his feet under the chest of drawers ; the misery of another, taken on board so ill as to be scarcely considered out of danger for the voyage : but at last it ended, and, at sunset of the 6th of April, away steamed the Cyclops with her troublesome burden in tow, to arrive in a dreadful snow-storm in the Dardanelles, and to land at Gallipoli in as much misery as the newly arrived on Turkish soil perhaps ever endured. Of this however I was not a personal witness, intending, as I eventually did, to follow in the wake of the grande armee by some more tranquil and suitable means. And a little gossip about these means, in such stirring times, may perhaps amuse the reader.

Chapter II. The

'ARMY AND NAVY.' Uncertain whether or not it would be possible to dare the tented field, I was yet determined on seeing the " City of the Sultan." It had been with me, as with many, a desire of life, from the time of my first acquaintance with Hajee Baba and the Arabian Nights : I had formed a sort of determination to that effect, and, as it is sometimes said, that when an idea once enters a woman's head it becomes stereotyped there, so my wanderings in Egypt and India had in nowise weakened that intention ; and the repeated occurrence of some contretemps when I was, as I thought, about to effect my object, did rather, as I need not assure any observer of human nature, stimulate than chill my original pur pose. But how to go? If it had been possible to realize the dreams I had delighted in — if it had OUR CAMP IN TURICEY. only been necessary to seat myself on a carpet, and desire to find myself at Seraglio Point, and to see the Bosphorus at my feet, there were plenty of Smyrna rugs to be bought at Paolo Vella's, in the Strada San Giovanni, and the thing was simple enough.

But, unfortunately for me, I was living in a mechanical, not a magical age, so that, besides what was to be done privately, the only means of going to the Golden Horn was by the French steamers from Marseilles, at this time so crowded by troops and horses, that the thing was not to be thought of, as even the obliging clerk of the Messageries Imperiales told me himself. This decided, the next point was to find an English transport steamer, if possible lightly laden, and to secure a passage in her. Now, as I write it, the matter looks simple enough; but, after a week's hard work, it proved the exact reverse; — troops, troops were everywhere, and not a berth to spare. I passed the hottest hours of every hot day in running down the Strada San Giovanni, with its steps and goldsmiths' shops, till the workers in filagree learned to smile as I, on a sort of reversed treadmill, long drawn out, made my way to the Nix Mangiare Stairs, persecuted all the distance with "Want a boat, Missus?"

"Very fine boat, Lady;" "Take my boat, Mum;" "This way, Signora;" and so on, according to the varied Maltese notions of what was most inviting to woman's ears; till at length, in a clean boat, under a sufficient awning, I found my way to the office of the kind-hearted Admiral, there to be told that the steamers were all crowded, or they were going in half an hour, or they had broken down and must be towed ; or, if a chance did occur, on my return to Valetta I was sure to hear another of the thousand reports always rife, of a catastrophe at Constantinople, a descent of the Cossacks, a horrid piracy in the Ægean, or something so very dis turbing about Greeks, Turks, French, and Rus sians, — everything in turn, and nothing long, — that, half ill and wholly weary, my stereotyped idea seemed rather photographic, and my sun-picture likely to be erased by the friction of difficulty.

For that evening, at least, I gave up the idea of Constantinople ; but, my reason strengthened with rest, the next morning found me again at the Nix Mangiare, questioning the boatmen about steamers that had arrived during the night, and frequently going alongside, only to find them crowded with Sappers and Miners, or something or other which made them impossible to me. The French boats, even the regular mail-steamers, were, in this period of "actualities," as an Italian acquaintance of mine called it, crowded with red trousers, casquettes, horses, and Hungarian generals. Very odd, but every Hungarian who finds business fail, commerce uncertain, and politics unsteady, dubs himself a General ; and hastens, with a bit of rib bon at the button-hole of a rather questionable frock-coat, to add his weight to the collective force.

Sometimes my difficulty was increased, by not readily making a boatman understand the steamer to which he was required to row. The Maltese^ boatman speaks his own language only too fluently and too loudly, like his comrades of the town, but the dialect is not such as one cares to acquire ; of French he is ignorant ; Italian he may occasionally speak, but rarely understands, which renders a dia logue in that language unsatisfactory; moreover he prefers English, which he speaks in a manner of which the following direction may afford a to lerable idea. I was walking at Sliema one even ing, searching for a friend's house, — a rather diffi cult employment where there are neither streets nor numbers, and where villas are not distin guished by the romantic names of " Myrtle Lodge" or "Argaum Villa," as with us; consequently I was induced to consult a Maltese calesse-driver, who was occupied in cleaning his master's carriage, and summoned my Italian for the purpose, — the rather perhaps to impress the knowledge of my possession of an accomplishment on the mind of a lady in mourning who was then slowly walk ing towards us.

" Dov' e la casa di Signor S ? e la via facile a trovarsi ?" inquired I. The answer was in English : — " You see Madama : bene !—follow her ; and when she ketch him house, you find Signor S ." Of this construction is Maltese English. After my vessel-hunt had continued for some days, I was at last told of a little craft, the ' Army and Navy,' about to proceed, under very agreeable circumstances, to the seat of war. Two gentle men, late officers in the army, had built a pretty little yacht; and, in care of an experienced captain, had brought her out to combine profit with pleasure, by taking powder to the fleet at Varna. One felt disposed to look grave over the powder per haps ; but the advantages were otherwise so great, that, considering the chances of the 'Army and Navy' not worse than that of all armed steamers, and not sure that my character for courage was not in sad risk from a demur, at midday on the 4th of May, I, with one small overland trunk prepared at an hour's notice, one note, and a pair of sketch books, found myself on board the pretty little yacht under steam for Gallipoli.

The ' Army and Navy' was extremely small, and my eye had long been accustomed to the mighty craft filling in these stirring times the Malta harbour ; so that, as she dashed round among the surf beating up over the rocks of Valetta on one side, and of the Fort of Ricasala on the other, I am afraid I wished myself on shore, and heard with great pleasure how gallantly the little craft had weathered heavy seas in the Bay of Biscay without a complaining groan from any of her bulkheads. Our working captain was a seaman of the best class, experienced in Eastern seas, and possessed of all the advantages of Scotch character and training. Our amateur captain we dubbed the Capitan Pasha at once, by reason of a red Guernsey and a green smoking cap with a gold tassel, which, we fancied, gave him a most Oriental air ; and so it would, had the colours been reversed.

But we were too merry to care much about such facts just then. We formed altogether a party of five ;— the gen tlemen owners, a young officer on leave from the Malta garrison, a very unobtrusive and amiable Swiss governess (on her way to a family in Con stantinople), and myself. Our saloon was small, but partaking more of the character of an Oxo nian's room at Magdalen, than that of the cuddy THE fARMY AND NAVY.' 21 of a steamer. We had books in abundance, and for decorations gloves and foils. The sea was ex actly what persons who have never voyaged upon it fancy the Mediterranean to be, — a dream of sunny blue. The wind unfortunately was easter ly, a prevalent one at this season. Three Turks, who had craved permission to accompany us at Malta, with their mattresses, goats' -hair cloaks, and a little caffass like a bamboo bird-cage, filled with rings of Sicilian bread, onions, dates, and radishes, found this state of things very unpleasant ; and curling themselves up, with due Moham medan submission to Allah, looked very much like a bundle of ropes coiled after the Flemish fashion.

In the evening however the patriarch of the party, which consisted of a father and his sons, proved himself of use, according to the pastoral habits of his land. We had a goat on board, to whom general at tention was directed at tea-time ; for every one who has been on board ship must remember the luxury of seeing fresh milk, instead of plates of cut lemon, as in the French steamers, decorating the festive board of teacups. Our goat too had been lying very suggestively by the side of the water-cask all day, and seemed quite to under stand what was expected of goats ; but curiously enough, not one of the crew could milk her. The steward, who had been in the army all his life, was in the same predicament ; and a young Spanish boy, — once an assistant pirate, and useful as such people generally are, — smilingly declared his inca pacity for this peaceful art of shepherd life ; on which, our grave friend the ancient Moslem so lemnly unrolled himself, and soon proved that he at least was worthy the patronage of that Dame Durden whom we all remember as worthily great in the history of pastorals.

At sunset, — which, by the way, was one quite worthy of the Ionian Sea, — two sailing vessels were in sight, somewhat out of the course, like our selves. To one I shall ever feel obliged for her consideration in lying to at that particular time, as by that means her hull and sails were cast in deep shadow against one of the most glorious com binations of blue and orange I have ever seen. In a moment, every study of light and shade, whether of Turner, Harding, or old Bumet, seemed to pass in a succession of dissolving views before the eye ; and never, even when under the " Line," have I seen any effect more splendid. The wind still on the following morning seemed to hold the same opinion, and to wish us back again at Malta. The sea however was without a ripple on its surface, and our breakfast passed most merrily.

None seemed to know an end to their travelling plea santries ; and the anecdotes were so fresh and clever, that a genial, good-tempered listener might have been as much amused as at a morning enter tainment in the London season. Every one who has travelled as one ought to travel, anxious to receive and create enjoyment, acquire information, and strengthen one's powers of observation, must have been struck by the fact of the additional qualities for agreeable intercourse which seem excited by the circumstances of travel. And how often it occurs that, having been charmed with a companion in a steamer or on a railroad, on the mountains of Turkey or the plains of Italy, we are surprised, on a re-union in London, to find how much less pleasant our friend then appears to be ! Fresh air, change of climate, temporary ab sence from care, exercise, all may tend to produce this effect ; but the fact will be allowed, I think, to be undeniable.