The Hekim Bashi, or, The adventures of Giuseppe Antonelli, a doctor in the Turkish service

Chapter I

Mr First View of Constantinople — An Adventure in a Mosque — The Dogs of the City — A Pasha — The Narrow Streets — I Lodge in a Locanda 5

CHAPTER H.

I visit the Protomedico on the Bosphorus, and am promised an Appointment — A Happy Day with Leonora, ending in an unpleasant Adventure 21

Chapter III

I am laid on a Sick Bed, but soon recover and seek Practice in an Apothecary’s Shop — A Turkish University and the Students thereof — My First Medical Visit to the Harem of a Pasha — A Strange Baptism 37

Chapter IV

I call on Madame Francois and receive Good Advice — Ramazan commences — Turkish Hospitality — I am promised an Appointment and have to conduct a delicate Negotiation . 58

VI

Contents

PACK

Chapter V

I leave Constantinople, and in Roumelia learn how to travel a la Turque — I make some Money and see Turkish Provincial Life 75

CHAPTER VL

We overtake some Christian Prisoners and make the Acquaintance of Padre Antonio — I am snubbed by the Pasha. 94

A Provincial Governor — A Letter — I leave Trebizond 157

CHAPTER XI. Bitlis — The Kurdish Rebels and Christian Sufferers — The

Halt, the Night March, and its Consequences 177

CHAPTER NTT

We continue our March, but fall in with the Arabs — A Sick

Sheikh and a Peep into Nomad Life „ 202

A Letter from Constantinople — Osman Bey — Dr. Krasinski —

Marie — The Dervish 260

Chapter XVI

I return to the Desert — Cholera in the City — The Interview between the Sheikh and Pasha takes place, and the Result is horrible 284

CHAPTER XVH.

The Cholera desolates the City — Krasinski struck down — An

Orphan thrown on my Hands 299

TIIE HEKII BASEL

Introduction

A few months ago an English traveller was detained for some days at the Sardinian town of Pinerolo, and finding time hang heavily on his hands, he sauntered through the streets seeking for some object of interest. Except the cathedral, to which he gave an hour, there was little or nothing to attract the attention of any one in search of the picturesque in this somewhat dull provincial town, so that the stranger found himself on the outskirts without having been arrested by any other object of architectural beauty or antiquity. A large barrack-like building here caught his eye, and on looking over the doorway he saw that he was standing before the Hospital of Incurables.

VOL. I.

The first sensation experienced by the Englishman was a shudder of pity and disgust, with a desire to pass on. Overcoming by an effort this very natural feeling, he entered the building and asked permission to inspect the wards, which was readily granted him. A Sister of Charity, one of those beings that no religion but Christianity has yet produced, and who seem to carry in their daily lives the essence of that faith which bids us love one another, accompanied the stranger round the hospital. "When he saw the poor wrecks of humanity lovingly nursed, and gentle hands supporting the drooping heads of those who, hut for this benign institution, would be slowly perishing in the miserable wards of workhouses, he sighed to think that in no provincial town in wealthy England could he find anything hearing a nearer resemblance to such an hospital than the dull whitewashed sick-room of the workhouse.

While passing through one of the corridors, a Cistercian monk joined the stranger, and explained to him in the clearest manner the nature of the most interesting cases that he met with.

“ Surely,” said the stranger, “ you must have studied medicine;”

“ I am a doctor of medicine,” was the answer, which at once explained the monk’s familiarity with

INTRODUCTION.

the scientific details of disease. There was something striking about the Cistercian, however, besides his medical knowledge. He was gentle and attentive to the patients, and as he passed through the wards it was easy to see that Fra Giuseppe was a general favourite. Without being gloomy, he yet carried an expression of sadness on his face: this the stranger concluded was the effect of constant attendance on the poor incurables, and after but an hour’s converse he felt quite a friendship for the monk.

Before leaving the hospital, the Englishman inquired of the sister how it was that the Cistercian was a doctor of medicine : was it usual for monks thus to be educated ?

“ Oh, no, indeed,” was the answer ; “ but Fra Giuseppe is no ordinary monk. He has travelled much, and has lived amongst Turks, Jews, and infidels, before he was a religious man ; now he is a perfect copy of our blessed Lord : his whole time is devoted to doing good. It is two years since he came and asked permission to serve in this hospital. Poor man ! he was then worn to the bone with fasting and weeping ; but I believe his good works have allayed the trouble of his soul, and thereby improved his bodily health, for he is better than when he first joined us. But he is a wonderful

1 — 2 man ; lie lives amongst these poor people, and constantly nurses them. He is a clever doctor, too ; he cured one who was sent here as incurable, and he hopes to he successful with another ; and indeed I think he will he, for we are told that the prayers of a righteous man avail much with our Lord, and if there be a righteous man it is Fra Giuseppe.”

The stranger was so interested in this account of the monk that he called another and yet another day at the hospital, and soon ingratiated himself with the devoted man by timely presents and attentions to the most suffering of the patients, so that in the course of a week there had sprung up such mutual confidence between the two, that the monk put into the hands of his new friend a MS. which contained the confessions of the principal epoch of his life.

“ I give it you to peruse,” said the monk, “ because it may interest you as an Englishman more than a stranger of another nation. The writing of these sad confessions has been to me a source of mixed shame, happiness, and misery ; may they interest and instruct you, my brother.”

The Englishman took the MS. home with him, and read as follows ; —

THE

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF GIUSEPPE ANTONELLI

WHILE IN THE TURKISH SERVICE.

Chapter I

I see a capital, the streets of which are impassable to wheels, and scarcely to be travelled on foot ; I see a country without a road ; I see a palace of the Sultan’s on every promontory of the Bosphorus ; I see vast tracts of unoccupied land, and more dogs than human beings. — Nassau Senior.

In the early part of the year 1853, I landed in Constantinople, in the character of a young doctor seeking his fortune. My father, Giovanni Antonclli, of Naples, was also a medico, my grandfather had been the same ; but neither of them had, during their whole lives, emerged beyond respectable poverty. I had read of the East, and heard much of the lavish generosity of the Turks towards their medical attendants, and so I had long since determined to seek my fortune amongst the sons of Osman.

When I landed at the quay of Tophane, on a rotten wooden jetty, full of holes, and was saluted by the snarls of mangy dogs lying on a heap of refuse, my heart sank within me, for this did not look like the wealth I was in search of. A brawny hammal, or porter, seized my modest portmanteau (I would rather have carried it myself), and commenced trudging up the hill. Squalid poverty crossed me at every step, and yet I was deeply interested in the new scenes that met my eyes. The varieties of costume and feature, and the savage-looking men, especially the Circassians, that here stalked about, impressed my imagination, and realized much that I had read of. I had not walked many yards before I saw a mosque on my left-hand side ; I paused for an instant, to look, for the first time, at Moslems worshipping. The door was wide open ; there was a fountain near, at which a Turk was washing his feet. I advanced, and saw sundry figures kneeling and bowing. My eyes ranged over the building, which was as spacious as one of our large churches, and from the roof hung quaint lamps and ostrich eggs. A negro was worshipping near me ; he turned his head, and jabbered in some language, not a word of which I understood.

AN ADVENTURE IN A MOSQUE.

i

I disdained to notice him, until, to my astonishment, he suddenly started up, and kicked me out of the doorway. Indignant at this unworthy treatment from a black, I rushed into the street, and appealed to a Turk who, wearing a sword and uniform, was, I felt sure, a gentleman who would take my part, and gain for me satisfaction. I addressed him in Italian, he shook his head, and answered in Turkish. I pointed to the door of the mosque, where the negro was standing; the latter spoke also to the Turk, who thereupon rated me ferociously, and threatened me with a riding-whip that he carried in his hand. I need scarcely say, I quickly retired from the neighbourhood of these unmannerly wretches, thankful in having escaped a still worse scrape.

Passing through a motley crowd, composed in part of men selling old clothes and arms, of boys earning small trays of sweetmeats, of others distributing sherbet and lemonade, and working my way through a mass of human beings apparently doing nothing, I followed my guide through a labyrinth of filthy lanes, lined by wooden houses. I met numerous human beings shuffling along the streets in huge shoes, with bodies enveloped in ample garments, and faces in thick folds of muslin. The slow and waddling steps, betokening, apparently, great weakness, gave

THE HE KIM BASHI.

me the idea of invalids, wrapped up prematurely in their grave-clothes. These figures were Turkish women, and they were thus disguised, and hidden from the sight of their male neighbours, in the interests of virtue. I sincerely hoped their husbands and fellow-citizens were repaid the sacrifice, though a longer residence in the country made me doubt it. What a contrast did these poor creatures afford to the gaily tripping maidens of the West, whose presence gives such a grace to every city, whose coquettish ornamentation of the person — so charming, yet so venial — is as blameless of exciting immodest admiration, as the hideous disguise of the East is powerless, when relied on as a preserver of feminine purity. My reflections on this point were rudely disturbed by an angry bark and painful bite from a filthy dog which I had trodden on ; there were numbers lying about. I cursed the beast, and wondered to whom all these curs belonged ; I did not then know that they were wild, or rather ownerless (for they seemed to he quite domesticated), and were fed by the refuse of the houses. In their general bearing and manners, they bore a remarkable resemblance to their fellow-citizens the Turks ; the dogs were equally lazy and improvident as the people, and, like them, churlish, fanatical, and savage towards

I MEET A PASHA.

foreigners ; for, on the appearance of a strange animal, the dogs of the whole quarter would combine to tear him to pieces, and in war their apathy was laid aside, and they fought well, as the Osmanlis do behind walls. There appeared also to be a good deal of infanticide amongst the animals, and lastly, as a point of resemblance, I could not see of what use they were in the world. “ Why don’t you destroy these savage nuisances ? ” I asked of a citizen ; “of what use are they?” “None that I know of,” he replied, “ and they are offensive creatures, too ; but you see they are there, and we don’t like disturbing the existing state of things.” The man reasoned like an old statesman of the Holy Alliance epoch. All the houses I passed were built of "wood, which accounted for the constant reports of large fires at Constantinople. I saw no merry faces at the windows, they were jealously covered with a trellissed framework ; and the streets had, in truth, a somewhat gloomy aspect, though here and there were groups of children playing about. As I passed, these boys saluted me by cries of “ ghiaour,” and other epithets, which I fortunately did not understand. Presently I met a man of rank, mounted on a beautiful Arab horse, the saddle on which was covered with a shabraque of blue cloth and gold embroidery, and the

THE HEKIM BA SHI.

bridle gaily embossed. A groom in Egyptian dress walked by bis master’s side, and be was followed by four or five servants, who carried pipe-sticks, portfolios, and other little matters. The shopkeepers, as the great man passed, stood up, and folded their hands before them ; the pasha first saluted them, and they reverently salaamed in return. Strange contrast to the custom of the West, where the inferior first pays homage to the superior !

The various costumes I met with, in this my first progress through the streets, were quite puzzling. I could not distinguish Jews from Turks, nor Christians from Moslems. I could not say which man was an Armenian, and which a Greek ; nor did I know that a strange figure, dressed in the skins of wild animals, and carrying a battle-axe in his hand, was a Dervish, a man professing no exclusive nationality. I should have thought he belonged to some savage race of Circassians ; and when I met another fellow, with sheepskin cap and Mongol aspect, I thought he was from some distant tribe of Central Asia, whereas he was a Cossack colonist of Asia Minor. A grave-looking Moslem offered me toothpicks for sale. He was so decent-looking and respectable, that I could not conceive how he lived by this trade ; the value of the whole stock would

I REACH PERA.

not have purchased his turban, made of many folds of cotton ; nevertheless he had come from a distant place, from Bokhara, and professed to maintain himself, while travelling to Mecca, by the sale of such trifles as toothpicks.

After climbing a weary hill from the landing-place, I expected we should arrive at the main street, and so we did, but I could not recognize it as such. It was as narrow, dirty, and unlike my idea of a street as any we had come through, so far. At the corner my porter stopped, and I read over an imposing doorway, “ Hotel d’Angleterre.” I had been warned against this place, as far too costly and luxurious for my slender means. Had it not been so, the aspect of some beefy, arrogant-looking Britons, lounging at the doorway, would have been sufficient to repel me. These lavish islanders, whose pockets seem inexhaustible, haunt certain hotels, that all others would do well to avoid, unless they are Russian or Wallachian boyards. I paused but for a moment before the portals of this place, and urged my porter to resume his trifling load, and proceed in quest of a locanda to which I had been directed. We were now in the Grande Rue de Pera, or the principal street of the European quarter. I found that nationalities were strictly confined to certain quarters in Con-

THE HEKIM BAS HI.

stantinople, but the people of Europe were, by the Turks, contemptuously grouped under one head, and styled “ Franks ; ” and here, in Pera and Galata, they all lived, not under the sovereignty of the Sultan, but each individual under the laws of the European state to which he belonged. All this Frankish colony was crowded into a small space of the city, and the consequence was, that the house-rents were enormous, while those of the Turkish quarters were absurdly small, and yet so great is the social repugnance between Asiatics and Europeans, that no member of the latter community was allowed to reside in a Turkish quarter. I believe there was no law against such a residence, but custom was stronger than law, and the few individuals who had ventured to rent and live in a house amongst the Turks, were only too glad to quit it, after an ordeal of constant annoyances from their neighbours. But I am anticipating the details of my experience in Turkey.

In the streets of Pera I saw comparatively little of Asiatic life. All the shops were European, mostly French or Italian, and many people whom I met were in European costume and hat ; still a large proportion wore Asiatic garments of some kind, but the ample turban of the old-fashioned Turk had been replaced by the fez, or red cloth cap with silk tassel.

A LOCANDA IS FOUND AT LAST.

After a weary scramble over the unutterably bad pavement of Pera, I reached at length the small Italian locanda to which I had been recommended. I should assuredly have chosen a cleaner place, poor as I was, had I not been warned of the excessive dearness of everything in Pera.

The house was kept by Signor Tagliagamba, a Neapolitan. I was mortified to find that I could not have a room to myself ; I must share one with another signore who had occupied it already a week. Tired and hungry, I was only too happy to concede to any reasonable terms, so I carried my box into a room furnished by two dirty beds, and, after an ablution, descended into the salle a manger to breakfast, for it was now mid-day. I was soon perfectly at home. Round a table sat twelve people, all Italians, all compatriots, (for are not Italians compatriots, whether Romans, Neapolitans, Tuscans, or Piedmontese ! Viva Italia !) My companions were nearly all artists belonging to the Teatro Naum, in Pera. They were a gay and jovial company, unconstrained by any prudery, and ready to welcome a fellow-countryman to the Levant. We at once became good friends, and ere night set in I was initiated and made free of the Society of the Locanda of Signor Tagliagamba. Need I say that I repaired on the same night to the theatre,

THE IIEKIM BASHI.

where my tawdry friends came out as bespangled counts and marchionesses, or that I joined in the supper after the night’s work, and was voted a galantuomo ?

On the following morning I was anxious to reconnoitre the country I had invaded, and, with that intent, I looked over two or three letters of introduction with which I had been furnished. One of these was addressed to Dr. Leoni, a distinguished physician who had been in Constantinople for thirty years, had held sundry places under the government, and was even now physician to the Sultan Yalide, or empress mother, who lived in imperial state on the Bosphorus. The other was directed to Signor Scarpa, a military man whose rank I had not ascertained ; which was embarrassing, as I knew not how to address him properly. I started at a somewhat early hour on my voyage of discovery. I was not long in finding the house of Dr. Leoni, as it was well known. By the way, one great advantage I had was in the possession of a language so universally understood. I soon discovered that French and Italian were more useful even than Turkish, (which I had yet to learn), in Pera and Galata. French for polite society, Italian for every one. In one of the smallest side-streets leading from the Grand Rue de Pera, I was shown a somewhat

A FRIEND IS DISCOVERED.

spacious house as that of Dr. Leoni, ancl I applied myself at once to the knocker. The door was not opened, hut I heard the latch lifted by a contrivance inside, and so I pushed open the door and entered. I found myself in a very shabby vestibule, floored with marble. In one corner was a well and a bucket, and the odour of a foetid drain was very strong. Opposite was a wooden staircase, and hanging over the banisters appeared the figure of a Greek girl, who, when I caught her eye, shook her head interrogatively, after the manner of her country. I asked if the dottore were at home, on which the maiden jerked up her head, which I understood to mean that he was upstairs, so I commenced the ascent. She, however, barred the way, exclaiming, “ Ohee, ohee,” and at last “no la casa iatros,” which I understood better than the Greek negative, and so I retreated from the residence of the great doctor. (1.) I next went in search of Signor Scarpa, who, in early youth, had been a schoolfellow of my father. The search for this gentleman took me more than half the day, and then I found myself before a neat little house at Haskeui, far up the Golden Horn, and close to the Jewish quarter. I knocked at the door, which again was answered by the uplifting of the latch ; but this time I heard a voice over head, and looking up I beheld a bronzed old sabreur leaning out of the window, and asking me in polite terms the object of my visit. I answered briefly that my name was Antonelli, and that I had just arrived from Naples.

“From Naples!” exclaimed Signor Scarpa, for it was he, and at once the head and shoulders disappeared, and I heard him rapidly coming downstairs. He appeared in his shirt-sleeves, for the day was hot, and warmly embraced me as the worthy son of a most worthy father, his oldest, dearest friend : “ E come sta il padre ? ” exclaimed the old man. “ Ah ! how I love him, even now, the dear boy; but time flies, and he is my age, and I am surely sixty ; per Dio ! how you resemble Giovanni — and your name?” “ Giuseppe.” “ Giuseppe, va bene — I must call you Giovanni, for you are his image ; let me then call you Giovanni : favorisca — sit down here in this cool place,” and so, speaking rapidly, he led me int-o an exquisitely clean little room, furnished with the usual long Turkish divan, with two chairs and a table besides. I handed my host my father’s letter, which he read greedily, breaking forth into exclamations from time to time, until at length a tear rolled down his bronzed cheek, losing itself in his large moustache. Just then two ladies entered ; one a tall, dark, matronly woman, full of grace and dignity ; the other, a

WHAT IS A RAYAH?

shrinking adolescent girl, of extreme beauty, whose age might be about fifteen. I rose and bowed profoundly, while Signor Scarpa introduced me, in the kindliest manner, as the son of bis earliest and best friend.

In the warm and sunny atmosphere of such kindly feelings, it may well be supposed that the tender plant of friendship grew up vigorously. In a distant foreign land, compatriots throw ofi' many of those restraints which people usually impose on themselves when first meeting ; thus it was that, at the end of an hour, I quite felt myself a member of the family, and most deeply grateful for so warm a welcome.

I mentioned to Signor Scarpa my embarrassment as to his military rank. “ I know you have been for many years in the Turkish army,” I observed, “ and yet I have never heard your military title, so that I am, even now, doubtful how to address you.”

The old man smiled, and answered, —

“ That only proves that you know little or nothing of Turkey. I must first inform you that I am a ghiaour, though not a rayah ; that is to say, I am a misbeliever from the Mahomedan point of view.”

“ But what is a rayah ? ” I asked.

“ A rayah is a non-Mussulman subject of the Sultan. I am not a subject of his Majesty, and, therefore, not a rayah ; but, being a Christian, I

VOL. I.

THE HEKIM BASIII.

cannot command Mussulmans, and so have no rank in the army. I am a tahlimji — that is to say, a military instructor. For twenty years I have worked at the instruction of the Nizam, first as a drillsergeant, latterly in the higher branches, hut here I am still simply a tahlimji ; there can be no titles for me. I forfeited an honourable career wlien the hot blood of my youth led me to join the revolutionary societies of my native land. Kismet-dur — it is my destiny,” and, so saying, the worthy old man heaved a sigh, and changed the conversation. (2.)

He observed that I had brought with me to Turkey an excellent profession, and asked me whether I intended to practise in Constantinople, or to enter the public service.

“ That,” said I, “ depends upon the value of the public appointments, and the facility, or otherwise, of obtaining them ; also upon the opening there may be for a private medico in the city.”

“ The public appointments are not badly paid,” answered the tahlimji, “ and I should advise you to try for one. Sometimes great difficulty is experienced in obtaining a nomination, at other times nothing is easier : at all events, if successful, you would have a certain payment of about 1,200 piastres a month, with ample rations, and you would be

COFFEE APPEARS.

acquiring Turkish, which, of course, is essential in any career. You hacl better invoke the assistance of our compatriot, Dr. Leoni.”

“ I have already called on him,” I answered; “ 1 have left a letter of introduction.”

“ Bravo ! then I propose we both visit him early to-morrow morning, before he starts on his visits ; he is a true Italian in his heart, and knows the Turks well, and he will give us excellent advice,”

I now rose to depart.

“ Nay, stay and sup with us,” exclaimed the tahlimji, and the signora added her voice to the hospitable entreaty. But I had already engaged myself to a more convivial party at the locanda, and so I declined, with thanks.

“ At least you must conform to our Eastern customs,” said the signora ; “ in one moment coffee will appear.”

I then reseated myself, and presently a Greek youth brought a tray, with small cups of coffee, which were handed round. The signorina presently disappeared, and soon afterwards entered the room bearing another tray, on which were sweetmeats and pure cold water.

“ You see, Signor Antonelli, that my child Leonora is our slave ; that, too, is Eastern.”

THE HEKIM BASIII.

“ We are not waited on, we serve our lords," remarked the signora.

I was embarrassed, and rose respectfully to take the glass of water from the fair maiden’s hands, who smiled at the joke, while the tahlimji exclaimed, “ Bravo ! bravo ! what an admirable harem I have ! what a pasha I have become ! ”

Truly, to my eyes, Leonora was a houri worthy of Paradise ; I trembled as my hand accidentally touched hers, and the hot blood of youth already mantled to my cheeks, when mine met those large soft eyes, which as yet expressed but pure virgin modesty. I now took leave in earnest, promising the tahlimji to meet him at seven on the following morning at Dr. Leoni’s.

I was tired, hot, and weary when I reached the locanda, after so long a walk ; but my hopes were high, for I had found a friend, and what treasure can be greater than that in a foreign land ? There was no theatre to-night, so my artistic friends were enjoying themselves, and I was one of them, and entered heartily into their fun. The ladies were gay and frolicsome, the gentlemen gallant and humorous, so we passed a pleasant evening, and continued our revels into a late hour.

CHAPTEE II.

I VISIT THE PrOTOMEDICO ON THE BOSPHORUS, AND AM PRO- MISED an Appointment. — A Happy Day with Leonora,

ENDING IN AN UNPLEASANT ADVENTURE.

I had to rise early, and to be at Dr. Leoni’s bouse soon after seven. In Constantinople, I discovered that the medicos who had good practice were obliged, in the summer time, to begin their avocations at an early hour. A sick man is always glad to see his doctor at any time, the earlier the better, and so the first visits were paid to the nearest patients, those in Pera and Galata ; but, as all the wealthier classes, Turks, Greeks, Armenians, and Europeans, leave their town houses when the heats of summer commence, the chief part of a doctor’s work is on the Bosphorus. He is in his caique as early as eight o’clock, and is rowed many miles up and down the Bosphorus, calling at the yaalis, or summer-houses, on the shores of that beautiful strait. I found the kind-hearted tahlimji on the steps of the house as I arrived. “ Bravo ! ” he exclaimed ; “ exact

THE IIEKIM BASIIL to the minute, an excellent trait in a young man.” The door was opened, and we were at once ushered into a small room, where Dr. Leoni was taking his early cup of coffee and milk. He greeted the tahlimji with an affectionate empressement, while he gravely bowed to me as I was presented. He was a somewhat stern man, of a rather stiff and dignified deportment, and wore the fez, which showed he was in the imperial service. As the tahlimji pronounced my name, and added some warm expressions of recommendation, the doctor scanned me with the most piercing look I had ever undergone, and which annoyed me not a little, though, to confess the truth, there was no overt act of ill-breeding in it. I thought I detected a good deal of the Puritan in that cold searching gaze, and that is a variety of the human race for whom I have always felt a decided aversion.