A Year with the Turks: or, sketches of travel in the European and Asiatic dominions of the Sultan

Preface

. rpHE fodowing pages are intended to gire a 'plain unvarnished' account of a journey through Turkey, and of the character of her population. In the present crisis, the popular mind has espoused the side of the Osmanli ; but rather, it would seem, from antagonism to Kussia, than from a true sympathy for the Turks; and my principal object is to set forth, without extenuation, without reference to partisan writers, all those points presented to the notice of a disinterested inquirer, which may enable us to judge, whether or not the Turkish nation is, in itself, deserving of support. Whatever the faults of the people may be, they have been systematically held up to odium by mis representations ; and a single example may illustrate PEEFACE. VI the necessity of guarding against statements which tend to vilify their conduct.

A lately pubbshed work on Turkey,* compiled, it would appear, chiefly from German authorities, describes an outbreak of the Mohammedan Albanians, and says, ' the Christian villages they plundered and sometimes burnt down. Vrania, a considerable town inhabited by Christians, did not escape this fate ; the churches were destroyed, the men massacred, and the women and children dragged away into slavery/ Now it happened that I was present at this very juncture, and although I ought, according to this veracious history, to have been massacred, I am able to observe — 1st. That I heard of no case of a village being plundered or burnt down. 2dly. Vrania is not a Christian, but mainly a Turkish town. 3dly. A church was destroyed, as will be described in Chapter IX. 4thly. Nobody was massacred; the only loss of life being on the side of the Turks, with whom the quarrel commenced. * The Ottoman, Empire and its Resources, by E. Miohelsen. 1854.

PEEFACE. VII othly. The carrying away of the women and children into slavery is a pure piece of fiction. That there was plundering and dl-treatment will be seen in the sequel ; but it was effected in despite of the Turks ; and yet upon these gross exaggera tions was founded the formal complaint and the strong language of the Russian ambassador to the Ottoman government. The position, social and geographical, of the races distributed over the dominions of the Sultan, bears materially on every phase of the ' Eastern question ;' and the ethnographical map prefixed to the volume will assist the reader in forming his judgment on many an important topic. A representation of this kind can, of course, only deal with the general view of the subject ; but if it be understood that the towns are always peopled by mingled races, as for example, those of Asia Minor by Turks, Greeks, and Arme nians ; and also, that the colours should be more or less blended at the edges, the map wdl afford a clear coup d'œil of the leading features which mark the distribution of the various inhabitants thoughout a great portion of the Turkish empire. It appears that we are on the eve of momentous

PREFACE.

. events, and that, as regards the once conflicting peoples of Turkey — 1 those opposed eyes Shall now, in mutual, well-beseeming ranks, March all one way.' Should the spirit of concord which has already made its appearance, thrive and increase, and with the good shield of fact blunt the shafts of calumny, it will be the greater satisfaction to those who, after comparing the good and the evil, have been con vinced of the real brightness of the sunny side of Turkish character. W. W. S. London, February, 1854. PAGE CONTENTS.

Chapter I

Introduction — Approach to Turkey through Hungary — Analogous populations — Plan of journey

Chapter II

Turkish Orsova — The Iron Gate — Condition of the Wallachians — The Boyars — The serfs — Natural wealth of the country — * Priesthood — Widdin — Nicopol — Battles of the Eothen Thurm — Eustchuk — A red ruffian — Galatz — A British skipper — Sulineh and the Cossacks — Mouths ofthe Danube — Gale in the Black Sea — The Symplegades rocks — Bosphorus. . . .6

Chapter III

Aleppo — The Vezeer Khan — Insecurity of the district — Turkish ' saints ' — Kitab — The ' button ' of Aleppo — Gathering of the caravan — Dread of the Arabs — Bir on the Euphrates — Mesopotamian wastes — Impudent Koords — Town of Siverek — The Karadjah mountain — Diarbekir and the Tigris — Visit to Ismael Pasha 42 b X CONTENTS.

Chapter IV. Page

Town and monastery of Arghaneh — The Taurus — Arghaneh Maden — Evening party among the Turks — Tour of inspection with the Pasha — A Koordish dinner — Withering effects of maladministration — Limekilns — Visit to the copper mines — Flourishing town of Charput — Kebban Maden — Natural history of the English by a Magyar — Lodgings on the house-tops— A triumphal entry — Inspection of the silver mines — Koordish quarrymen — Depopulation of the mining district — Ladies of Kebban — Apology for dram-drinking — Obstructions offered to our journey by the Beg . 83

Chapter V

Summer encampment of Ergavan — Hakim Khan — New companions — Village of Hassan Tchelebi — Dawning suspicions — A plot — An anxious ride — Aladja Khan — Gangal — Delikli Tash — Eange ofthe Anti-Taurus — Siwas — Quarantine farce -Forced quarters — The ruined mosque — A government office -Deserted villages ........ 126

Chapter VI

Tocat : its copper works — Commodious houses — An Armenian miser — A rolling-stone Utopian — Entomology of the posthouse — Punishment of highway robbers — Ravines of Amasiah — Saracenic scraps — Ladik : fertile country — Kawak — A cloudy sky — Extensive forests — Honesty of the Turkish population — The Euxine — A road concert — Samsun: its insufficient defences — Turkish endurance of fatigue — Itinerary from Diarbekir to Samsun 153

Chapter VII

The Black Sea — Turkish passengers and English captains — Sinope — Constantinople by night — Turkish probity— Austrian steamer — Defective boilers — Proposed road-companions — Salonica CONTENTS. XI

Chapter VIII. Page

Jews of Salonica — Antiquities — The Khan barber — The 'Woman's Castle' — Generous villagers — Costura — A Balkan — Poisonous bread — Political discussion with an Arnaoot — Town of Istib: old church and bridge — Tshaoosh Kiiiy : Christian Khan preferred — The Giaour — Unwelcome tidings— A Turkish farm — Reception of their master by Bulgarian peasants — Vrania, and the valley of the Morava 186

Chapter IX

State of siege — The Arnaoots — Cause of insurrection — Hospitality of Mahmoud Beg : his house — Visits of congratulation — Wonders of Syria — Street excursion — Lessons in geography — Daily occupations — Turkish cuisine — Conference with Arnaoot chiefs -Destruction of the Christian church — A pic-nic — Hot baths -Leave-taking 216

Chapter X

Upper Mœsia — Arnaoot plunder — Onslaught of dogs — Entry into Lescovatz — Visitors of lower grade — Discomfiture of a Moollah — Excursions among the Christians — Attachment to brandy — Greek merchants — Turkish probity and Greek roguery — Kourvingrad — Nissa — Travelled Osmanli tradesman — Gipsies 248

Chapter XI

Servia — The Costumanza— Introduction of bureaucracy — Biovuac in the forest — Krouschevatz — The Protopope — Greek dodges — Prince Milosch — Belgrade 265

Chapter XII

General considerations on European Turkey — Population — The Turks — Liberality of their institutions — Corruptness of officials — Good qualities — Eeforms — The Albanians or Arnaoots — The Bulgarians, and their self-government: their position with respect to the Turks — Proposed scheme of spoliation . . CONTENTS.

Chapter XIII. Page

A word to detractors and friends of laisser allet Turkish patriotism not extinct — Voluntary contributions — False accusations — Probable results of Eussian extension — Transitional etate of Turkey — Students in Europe — Concluding remarks on the national characters 286

Chapter XIV

Mineral resources of Turkey — Geological features — Mines in the Asiatic and in the European provinces — Eequirements for the development of the mines A YEAR WITH THE TURKS.

Chapter I

Introduction — Approach to Turkey through Hungary — Analogous populations — Plan of journey. SPHERE can be few temperaments in which the -*- approach to the confines of Christendom does not awake an exciting sensation of interest. The novelty of the scenes on which we gaze, the picturesqueness of the figures which cross our path, the traditions and histories of the lands upon which we enter, and tbe pohtical questions affecting the present and the future of their strangely mingled populations, combine to invest tbe East with a romance unknown in Western Europe. Hungary, and its provinces, Slavonia and Transylvania, with their strongly contrasted peoples, their Babel of tongues, and their mixture of civilization and wildness, form an admirable stepping-stone to aid the traveller in crossing from our countries of balance and routine to those of irregularity and adventure.

During a twelvemonth passed in these regions B A YEAE WITH THE TUEKS. [chap. I. 2 north of the Danube, I had learnt to prize many a good trait in the character of the Madjiar and of his rivals, the German settler and the Slavonian — whether much abused Croat or more peaceful Servian. Along excursion, chiefly on foot, along the military frontier, had, like misfortune, brought me acquainted with strange bed-fellows, in tbe shape of Wallack villagers in their poverty-stricken huts, and border soldiers in their lone guard-houses ; whdst the hospitabty of successful gold miners around Zalathna, of country gentlemen in the Bannat, and of Servian monks in Slavonia, opened up to me many phases of life curious in themselves and characteristic ofa state of transition. But the nearer the frontier of Turkey the more stirring became the pictures of national character, and the tales of doings in the interior; and at length, in spite of kindly invitations, and the attractive geolo gical features which had formed a prominent object of examination on my journeys, I rejoiced on bidding adieu to Orsova, the last town in the South Eastern comer of Hungary.

A great majority of the population of European Turkey is composed of nations either identical with or closely allied to some of those above mentioned ; and it is no less interesting than politically important to compare theh condition in Hungary with that in the dominions of their Ottoman rulers. The bulk of the CHAP. I.] EUEOPEAN TUEKEY. 3 people who inhabit Bulgaria,* Servia, Montenegro, Bosnia, and Hertzegovina, are Slavonians speaking a kindred language with that of the Servians or 'Ratzen' of Southern Hungary, and for the most part of the same religious creed ; whdst the Wallacks of Transylvania and the Bannat are but a branch of the nation which occupies Wallachia and Moldavia, and possesses more vigorous representatives in Mount Pindus and the S.W. of European Turkey. But a cursory glance is not sufficient to unravel the chaos of nationalities, and religions, and customs formed by tbe juxta-position of all these, with the Albanians who inhabit certain districts, and with the Turks, Greeks, and Jews, who are sprinkled more or less plentifully throughout this part of the empire.

The social condition of the country interposes great difficulties in the codection of information, and very few Western Europeans have been sufficiently in con tact with several of these conflicting parties to give satisfactory evidence on the data for the general questions now so frequently broached in regard to the future fate of this fine land. The travels of men who ride in haste and state, with Tahtars and interpreters, give them but little more insight into the real working * The Bulgarians, although originally of a distinct stock, are so fused with their neighbours, that they may now be regarded as wholly Slavonized. b2 A YEAE WITH THE TUEKS. [chap. I. 4 and thinking life of the natives, than would a journey by coach or railroad to a foreigner in our own island. Tbe views of Europeans long resident in the country are for the most part so tinged with some particular prejudice, that ideas obtained through their informa tion are apt to be extremely partial to one party or the other, as seen through some discoloured medium ; and still more is this the case where reliance is placed on servants or dragomen, who seek at the expense of others to elevate theh own national cause.

By none can results be more fairly obtained, and comparisons more evenly weighed, than by those who in a plain and simple manner make theh way from place to place, brought to the level of the people they wish to study by some acquaintance with theh language, and by the absence of that barrier which is generally inter posed between the natives and those who travel with the signs of greater wealth and with introductions to chiefs and governors. The circumstances under which I journeyed from end to end of Turkey, enabled me to see many of the relations of tbe country in so unbiassed a light that I deem it almost a duty to contribute my mite towards the clearing up of those questions which at present agitate the whole civilised world. Centuries of war fare and rehgious hatred, and the studied misrepre sentations of enemies, have so covered with odium the CHAP. I.] PLAN OF JOURNEY. 5 name of the Osmanli, that the testimony of one who, although but partiady prepared for tbe task, has roved among them alone and unrecommended, cannot but tend to develope an appreciation of theh true character.

It may be premised, that the first portion of my journey, made from the Hungarian frontier to Con stantinople, has been so often described that there woidd be no excuse for repeating it, were it not that any additional details respecting Wallachia and the Lower Danube must present some objects of interest at a time when the eyes of ad Europe are turned in that direction. It was only after the lapse of about a year occupied in Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor, that I returned through European Turkey, better prepared, and favoured too by accident, to become acquainted with the domestic life and the social relations of the Turk I purpose, then, to omit altogether the beaten route through Egypt and Syria ; and after taking a prebminary view of the first visit to Constantinople by way of the Danube, to give some account of a journey through a part of Mesopotamia and Asia Minor.

It wdl afterwards be more feasible, in describing a traverse through the almost undescribed tracts of Northern Macedonia and Mœsia, to place before the reader some of those points which are indispensable in forming a true judgment upon the Eastern question.

Chapter II

Turkish Orsova— The Iron Gate— Condition of the Wallachians— The Boyars— The serfs— Natural wealth of the country— Priesthood— Widdin— Nicopol— Battles of the Eothen Thurm— Eustchuk— A red ruffian— Galatz— A British skipper— Sulineh and the Cossacks— Mouths of the Danube— Gale in the Black Sea— The Symplegades rocks — Bosphorus. ON a bright autumnal morning, the 11th November, we embarked on board a long flat-bottomed boat pulled by eight men, to descend the rapids of the Lower Danube, and meet the steamer which was awaiting us at Skela Gladova, in Wallachia. A motley group was assembled in the stern-sheets, — the late Turkish ambassador at Vienna, an old grey bearded man, arrayed in ample robes, who smoked magnificently mounted tcbibouks, and scrutinized the rest of the company through his opera-glass; his suite, in fez and European coats, chatting and laughing, and playing with the children of a Danish missionary on his way to Smyrna ; a German Jew, figuring as an English missionary to the oriental Jews ; a wed-read American tourist ; and a group of CHAP, n.] TUEKISH ORSOVA. 7 Wadachian gentlemen, or, rather, rich men, with a Prince Ghika, of the reigning family, at their head, the most important personages of the party in theh own estimation, and certainly the most so, as they bore on the discomfort of the rest, since disobliging manners, arrogance, and cowardice, distinguished the coterie.

The grandest features of the gorge which the mighty river has torn for itself through the mountain barrier were aheady passed ; but in gliding downwards from Orsova, we had still to thread the celebrated narrows of the I) emir Kapu, or Iron Gate. Smoothly we rounded a point in the bank of the stream, and at once a new region was before us. Rising to only a smad elevation above the turbid waters lay the island of New Orsova, its Turkish fortress mouldering in neglect, but so placed as to command effectually the passage of the river. Dark and rocky heights were pded behind it as a back ground, picturesque houses and minarehs peered above a grove of trees, a flanking tower and a battery a fleur d'eau were reflected in the glancing stream, and the whole scene lighted up by the bright morning sun, implanted such a cheeriness in the feelings, that with enthusiasm we exchanged the old monotony of civilized Europe for the bright uncertainties of the East A YEAR WITH THE TURKS. [chap. n. At a very short distance below this isolated little garrison commences the grand impediment to the navigation of the Lower Danube, which, as it was considered, in the earliest times, a natural bar or line of division, led the Romans to call that part of the river above it Danubius, and that below it, as far as the Black Sea, Ister.

A line of breaking water, and tbe roaring of its waves, both perceptible from a distance of half a mde, herald the approach to tbe Iron Gate. As we near it, the Turks contemplate its appearance calmly, the Wallachians show unmistakeable symptoms of the white feather. And now sharp crags of mica-slate rock point in dark ledges across the river, theh strata striking nearly at right angles to the course of the stream : the entire mass of waters is suddenly in such a state of perturbation, that as the boat dances and reels among its breakers, it becomes difficult to determine what is the main course of the current The whole surface boils and bubbles in a thousand eddies, and whilst the stern of the vessel is impelled downwards by a rushing torrent, a back-water suddenly takes her bow, and would at once swing her round, but for tbe action of the oar used as a rudder.

The pass has been likened by some imaginative writers to 'the jaws of an infernal monster,' and other CHAP. H.] THE IRON GATE. 9 terrific appearances; but although it must be ad mitted that when tbe water is low it may present a more formidable aspect, it would now scarcely have deterred a member of the London Scullers' Club from impelling his wager-boat through it ; and during the distance of a mile, through which the turbulence of the water was continued, no rock showed its head above the surface. That commerce might not be impeded by the obstacles to navigation which render th% Danube, for a length of about forty miles, rarely available except for flat-bottomed boats, a fine road— due to the patriotic intedigence and perseverance of Count Sze'chenyi — bas been constructed along the Hun garian shore, vis-a-vis to the no less bold and even more romantic road of Trajan, of which remains are to be seen at intervals along the Servian cliffs.

The Szdchenyi road is continued along the northern bank of tbe river, over the little stream which separates the Bannat from Wallachia, and has been scooped out ofthe living rock at the base of a mountain, the crossing of which used to occupy ten to fourteen hours with a bullock-cart. On the Turkish side are faint vestiges of a canal which Trajan cut through the flat of land opportunely occurring there, for the purpose of facihtating the communication with his A YEAE WITH THE TUEKS. [chap. II. splendid bridge; and on an island near to which we passed can be discerned traces of entrenchments pro bably thrown up by the same hands. It is not without a feeling of humility that one compares these relics of ancient greatness with the present debased state of the countries in which they may occasionally be traced.

What enterprise and prosperity are indicated by these magnificent works, as well on the nearer as on the farther side of the mountain barriers which separated the mother country from her colonies ! and now, after so many centuries of boasted progress, we, tbe people of a generation wbich seems to have made the most rapid strides in civilization, see at length the fulfilment of works intended to lead to the same effects as must, in the midst of the Roman emphe, have been long in action. In Slavonia, at the baths of Hercules near Mehadia, in tbe vale of Hatszeg, and many other places in Tran sylvania, as well as in Wadachia, evidences of ancient taste, industry, and splendour, have from time to time been brought to view ; but the excellent roads, the canals, the bridges, the cities, with their palaces, theatres, and temples, all telling of the flourishing state of the Dacian colonies, are mouldering in ruin, or buried beneath the dust of barbarous ages.

And when we enter the ultra-Danubian portion, Wallachia, where these marks of wealth and power once existed, chap, n.] THE EOUMANI. 11 we find a people relapsed into an almost primitive barbarism, dwelling in holes in the earth, or in sheds more suited for the abode of swine than of men, a people of slaves, abused and oppressed by a few arrogant nobles and theh minions. Turn to the upper classes, and we see that their only idea of civi lisation consists in apeing the fashions and language of a people whose better qualities they are ignorant of, — that their only pleasures are gambling, show, and the immoralities wbich stamp Bucharest as the most dissolute city in Europe. When Hadrian, with a timid policy unworthy the successor of the enterprising Trajan, recalled the Roman legions from ultra-Danubian Dacia, and destroyed tbe bridge which Trajan had with so much success erected, many of the military colonists, and the offspring of soldiers who had married Dacian women, were left exposed to the incursions of the barbarians.

Although proud to entitle themselves Romouni, or Roumani, they have always exhibited a flexible spirit in certain points, for they have yielded their country, often without resistance, to every successive host which poured down from the north ; and were well treated, probably in consequence of their understanding some of the useful arts un known to theh less civilised conquerors. Their language they have retained almost as it was given [chap. II. 12 A YEAE WITH THE TUEKS. them — a provincial Latin, which can hardly be distinguished from some of the ruder Italian dialects, when purified from the admixture of the Slavic ■Words which have been engrafted plentifully on it, in contact with the Bulgarians and Servians. Their social state, however, has gradually been sinking; in the twelfth century they were strong enough to bid defiance to Alexius Comnenus in some of the fortresses of the district they occupied from the Danube to Epirus.

Subdued by the Turks, they were held down by a rod of hon ; and through their non-interfering, although corrupt, misgovernment, were reduced to a state from which there appears to be no prospect of theh yet rising. The Porte used to appoint a regent, or Hospodar, who, according to law, ought to remain in office at least three years ; but as it was necessary for him, on nomination, to make a valuable present to the ministers, he was of course changed as often as possible : extortion thus became the order of the day, and each rank pressing on that beneath it, battened on the peasant as their spoil. A crowd of hungry Greeks have en tered the land, who rent the farms from the boyars, or nobles and gentry, and, with a view to making a fortune rapidly, take every mode of squeezing those who fall within their gripe.

Certain taxes, for tri bute to the Porte, &c, have to be paid in money ; CHAP, n.] WALLACHIAN SERFS. 13 and since cash is to be found only in the bands of the Greeks, the countrymen are obliged to make over all that they have in order to be able to pay. These poor serfs may cultivate as much land as they will, for there is plenty to spare, and of good quality ; and after the tenth, twentieth, ground rents, days of forced labour for the farmer, &c, are paid, the rest is their own to operate upon. The Wallachians are, how ever, a thriftless and a lazy set, who, under the present state of things, wdl do nothing without blows, wbich are paid out to them with much liberality ; and tdl they can be satisfied that they have an in terest in being industrious, it is vain to hope for better things. We were taught to believe that the independence from Turkey, obtained a few years since by Russian arms, was to produce good fruits, but the campaign itself plunged the country into a depth of misery ; and this naturally rich land, with little more than two milbons of inhabitants, is sometimes visited by famine — a result doubtless of the state of slavery in which the peasants are still fettered, and the want of an honourable middle-class to step in between the extravagant boyars and the sunken people.

Few countries have been more favoured by nature than this principality. Its broad, well-watered plains produce the richest crops ; its hdls, well calculated A YEAR WITH THE TURKS. [chap. n. 14 for vineyards, bear whole woods of fruit trees ; whilst the higher mountains, towards the Transylvanian frontier, are said to present indications of minerals, and bristle with extensive forests, at present totally neglected. A chief source of gain is sheep feeding ; and, in addition to the common fleeces, a large quan tity of the valuable ' Astrachan ' fur is obtained, by killing the pregnant ewe and skinning the young lamb. Honey is also produced abundantly, for the hives will give forth yearly three, four, or five swarms. Among the wild beasts, bears and wolves are common in the upper mountains, and the former are some times taken by the gipsies in a ludicrous manner.

They fill a little barrel with honey and brandy, and lay it in some place to which the bear often resorts ; the attraction of the sweet mixture is so great that Mr. Brain not only indulges himself, but often brings Mrs. B. and all the little B/s to partake of the delicacy; the whole party then eat and drink till the spirit does its work, they caper and dance about for a time as if demented, and at length fall asleep, and become an easy prey to theh captors. The people of Wallachia are well budt, active, and often naturally clever ; yet idleness and the re-. suits of oppression cause them to lead the life of savages. Their national songs are pretty, and said to be full of natural poetry : a lively chorus often chap, n.] WALLACHIAN PRIESTS. 15 accompanies the dances, in which men and women take part ; but the too common delight of the Wal lachian, when he has a little money, is to wander from one public-house to another, to drink pints of wretched brandy, and to sing and dance wildly to the enbvening fiddles of a gipsy band, after which he goes drunk to his miserable hovel, and sleeps till aroused by the blows of the pandour's stick to com mence afresh his round of labour.

It is only astonish ing that such exaction and tyranny have not been overthrown by the exasperated people, for feelings of revenge do at times break forth, and the oppressive factor is at dead of night well belaboured, or even murdered and his house fired. In 1848-9, an out break of a fearful kind would probably have burst forth, bad it not been for the joint occupation of the principalities by Russian and Turkish armies. The state of profound ignorance which prevails among the people is hard to be enlightened, since the priesthood is scarcely raised in intelligence above the rustics, and one may see the parish ' popa ' dressed in skins and fodowing at the plough-tad like the lowest of his flock. It is only when he dons his official costume that he is considered to bear a sacred character.

Nay, so far does this feeling go, that I have heard of the priest's robe being torn off in a quarrel that he may be drubbed with impunity, and A YEAR WITH THE TURKS. [chap. n. 16 then put on again, when he is at once superstitiously bebeved to become another person. The report that there are bishops among them unable to read I can scarcely credit ; but certain it is that a great propor tion of the parish priests are unprepared to do more than mumble through, by rote, what is necessary for the church service. I had obtained some insight into the character of this people in wandering, on the Transylvanian side, along the frontiers of Wallachia and Moldavia, besides information derived from one or two of the more intelligent priests ; and a walk through Skela Gladova (although, from the activity occa sioned by the steamers, it is very far above the generality of Wallachian vidages) wid necessarily suggest such subjects for contemplation.

The mud hovels, filthy within and without, the wild-animal like look of the inhabitants, clothed in rough sheep skins, their treatment when at work, kicked and cuffed like dogs, and theh little wooden church, its uncouth pictures of saints and virgins, and its painted grave-crosses reminding the traveder more ofa tabooed ground in New Zealand than of the hallowed pre cincts of a Christian temple ; moreover, all that he hears of the country from the foreigners who, for motives of gain, have settled themselves in it, all in cbne him to marvel how it can be possible that a land chap, n.] BO YAR LUXURY. 17 and its people should be so deeply ' faden from its high estate.' Skela Gladova is reached in about two hours from Orsova, being a distance of twelve or fourteen miles. From hence the steamers run alternately, one calling at all the towns on the Wallachian, the other at those on the Bulgarian or Turkish shore, since the quarantine regulations prevent their passing from one to tbe other ad libitum.