Chapter XII

A boorish group--Night quarters of a caravan--Shumla--An intrusion--An angry Turk--Balkan roads--Difficulties of the way--Forests of Hæmus-- Banditti--Terrors--Descent of the Balkans--Dinner--Karnabat--Gipsies-- Catching a Tartar--A fiery bedroom--A decent khan--Supper.

♦ BOORISH GROUP ♦

Having all refreshed ourselves and our horses at the fountain, we remounted in the bright light of the moon, which almost renewed the day. There was a balmy softness in the air which was quite luxurious; and as we galloped along I experienced a confirmed confidence in the goodness of that Providence to whose parental vigilance we are all so constantly indebted. We arrived at Rasgrad about eight o’clock at night, and stopped at an inn; where, as usual, we were shown to the open gallery, which communicates with all the upper apartments; the lower being entirely secluded from observation, and occupied by the family. A room was assigned to our use, but it was fastened on the outside by a padlock, the key of which could nowhere be found. A foolish-looking clown, with thick lips and staring eyes attempted to open the lock with an immense knife, but without effect. The master at length came, and forced the hasp out of the door, which then permitted us to enter a tolerably good apartment. We sat upon the floor, and took coffee, while a fresh set of horses were prepared for our journey.

At midnight, having galloped for nearly four hours without cessation, we arrived at a solitary hut, in which we espied a light. My Tartar generally contrived to have a rest and a pipe, at least, at that interval, and we accordingly dismounted. The door was upon the latch, and going in, we found a great log of wood burning in the middle of the floor, round which five peasants were sleeping. A boy was awake, to take care of the fire. We sat down without any ceremony, and enjoyed the warmth of the chamber, as the night was cold. My Tartar, who was a fine-looking man, though somewhat bulky for a courier, had bound a silk handkerchief round his turban, to preserve it from the dust. Over the usual military dress he wore a large blue cloak, which he wrapped round his shoulders in the Spanish fashion. His pipe was a plain rod of cherry wood, with a red earthen head. Taking out his pistols and sabre, which were fastened within his cincture, he laid them on the floor, and proceeded to smoke, as if he felt himself quite at home.

♦ NIGHT QUARTERS ♦

One of the peasants, disturbed by the voice of the Tartar, who directed the boy to go and fetch a fresh pitcher of water from the well outside the hut, opened his eyes and looked at us with ludicrous astonishment. An expression of terror kindled gradually over his countenance when he beheld the pistols and sabre glistening in the light of the fire. He shrunk into a corner, where he sat upon his haunches, apparently incapable of comprehending where he was, or how he could best make his escape. He then awoke his companions fearfully, who one after another gazed upon their unexpected visiters with a sort of awe, as if they were persuaded that it was all over with them, and we were come to sacrifice them without further inquiry. They must have been marauders, for their own consciences were evidently the most immediate sources of their alarm. Having rested a while and slaked our thirst from the pitcher of cool spring water, we pursued our road, to the great delight of these boors, who were quite happy to get rid of us.

♦ OF A CARAVAN ♦

We rode for about two hours, when the night became so dark that we could hardly see each other as we galloped along. Perceiving some fires among brushwood, at a distance, we directed our horses towards them, and found several men and women sleeping near burning piles under the shelter of the shrubs and brambles. In the dark ground behind was a large caravan of waggons and numerous oxen resting for the night. We were most hospitably welcomed by these people, who were immediately awoke by the salute of the Tartar. He seemed to be well known to them, and they placed mats for us by the side of their fire. We dismounted and sat down, when some cakes of excellent brown bread were brought. A whole one was put into my hands, and then a wooden keg was presented to me, from which I took a draught of the most delicious water I ever tasted.

♦ SHUMLA ♦

We waited here until the dark clouds with which the sky was overcast travelled away, and the stars shone out. The Tartar had much to say to his friends. He did not forget to relate to them the story of our accidental separation, which induced them to look at me earnestly, as much as to ask, though in a kind manner, “How could you have done so?”

We were now at the foot of the Balkans, which, after mounting our horses, we began to ascend by the light of a few stars that twinkled dimly in the heavens. The road was rough and winding, but the horses seemed well acquainted with it, and the distant lights of Shumla, now glimmering on the heights like a single taper, now scattered in various directions, cheered us through the difficulties of the way. We arrived at that celebrated town at four o’clock in the morning, amidst the barking of some hundred dogs, and rode to an inn, where we were immediately accommodated with coffee and apartments, the people being already up and stirring about the business of the day.

I had my rug brought up, and laid on the floor. Having then satisfied myself by examining the panelled partitions of my chamber, that it had no communication with any other room, I locked my door, having previously entreated that the labours of a lad, who was pounding coffee in a mortar below, should be suspended. Placing my portmanteau at my head I lay down much fatigued, hoping that I might have a few hours of refreshing sleep. I had scarcely slept an hour, however, when just as the light of day was coming in at my window, a door which I had not perceived at the head of my couch, opened, and a great Turk, half dressed, stepped over me. I presumed that seeing me there he would not think of remaining in my room to disturb my repose. But I was very much mistaken; for, approaching the window, he sat himself down near it in an armchair, having ejected from the said chair very unceremoniously my coat, waistcoat and suspenders, of which I had disencumbered myself. Then calling through the window to his servant, he ordered his hooka to be brought, and crowned his impertinence by giving way to a violent cough with which he was afflicted.

♦ AN INTRUSION ♦ ♦ AN ANGRY TURK ♦

When the servant came, he could not, of course, open the door, as it was locked inside. The Turk was obliged to get up to open it, an exertion which annoyed him excessively. I had, moreover, the misfortune, on shutting the window before I lay down, to break a pane of the glass in endeavouring to close the frame that opened on a hinge, of which all the nails were loose. Here was another theme for his anger, which became violent. Every person belonging to the house was summoned to account for this occurrence, which was the more deeply resented, inasmuch as it was calculated, the morning being raw and misty, to increase the invalid’s malady. I, at length, gave them to understand that I was the offender; upon which the Turk threw himself back in his chair, took the end of his hooka in his mouth, and bubbled away as loud as he could, determined to revenge himself by rendering it impossible for me to sleep. In this object he effectually succeeded. I continued prostrate, however, until seven o’clock, when I rose and breakfasted capitally on brown bread and a bowl of boiled milk. There was a waggon in the yard, filled with grapes, which a Turk was preparing to tread out. A tub was placed beneath to receive the liquor, in which state, before the process of fermentation begins, it is a favourite beverage all over the country at this season of the year. I went to the waggon, and selecting a cluster of the grapes, helped myself, looking at the same time round for some person to whom I might pay the price of them. The owner made his appearance with a very surly frown on his face; but when I tendered him some pieces of silver, he, with a very different expression of feature, not only refused them, but picking out two or three of the best clusters he could find, substituted them for the inferior one which I had chosen for myself.

♦ BALKANS ♦

We set out at eight o’clock in the morning, (Oct. 13) slowly ascending the mountains. I had no opportunity of examining the fortifications which Hussein Pacha was said to have erected at the side of the town by which we had entered. On the side towards the Balkans I perceived no symptoms whatever of warlike preparation, though the abrupt precipices beneath which we rode for a while afforded the most favourable positions for defences that might, I should suppose, be rendered almost impregnable; as, from the nature of the ground, it would be difficult to bring artillery to bear upon them. Passing into the more open country, we found it pretty well cultivated; the people were gathering the vintage every where, so that, during the whole day, we obtained abundance of fine grapes merely by asking for them. My limbs were a little jaded from riding so many hours at the rate we had hitherto travelled; but, as we were now constantly ascending, we were obliged to slacken our pace. I was therefore by no means so much knocked up as I had expected. My Tartar gave me reason to hope that we should arrive at Stamboul on the evening of the following day, provided we could meet with good horses.

♦ DIFFICULTIES OF THE WAY ♦

The road through the mountains would certainly not have been deemed practicable for an English saddle-horse. It was simply marked over the natural rock by frequent use, no care whatever having been for one moment expended upon it, even for the purpose of removing the loose stones, or breaking down the more prominent masses. Sometimes we rode over a track polished like ice by the winter torrents, on which, when ascending, we were obliged diligently to take a zigzag course, when descending, to allow the animal now and then to slide at his own discretion. On other occasions, the near foot might be seen on a pointed rock, while the off leg was about to pounce into a hole, the hinder hoofs making the best of their way through boulder-stones, as if playing with them at marbles.

♦ FORESTS OF HÆMUS ♦

It seemed to me, at first, an improper hazard of life to attempt to ride over such a road as this, where the horse and rider, even going at the most stealthy pace, were every moment in peril of being dashed to the ground. But the animals, though in England the whole five would not be deemed worth as many pounds, were so well accustomed to the business which they had to perform, that, be the disposition of the track what it might, they never by any chance made a false step. Their intelligence, prudence, courage, and extreme watchfulness for their own safety, as well as for that of the lives intrusted to their keeping, were wonderful. No human being could have executed their office with the uniform success which attended all their movements. So rapidly did they gain upon my confidence, that, on levels or even on declivities, I did not hesitate to follow my Tartar’s example, when, with a view to recover the time lost in ascending, or to escape quickly from a pass through a dense part of the woods, whence banditti sometimes fire upon the traveller, he absolutely galloped over these smooth or broken masses, both equally dangerous, as if he were flying for his life.

♦ BANDITTI ♦

Nothing in nature can be more beautiful than the variety, especially towards the close of the autumn, of the hues that distinguish the shrubs and trees which compose the forests of Mount Hæmus. On one side, as if for the purpose of ornament, an eminence rising gradually from the torrent bed over which we rode, and extending towards the heavens, was clothed to its summit with the most magnificent shrubs, tinted with all shades of colour, light gold, russet brown, silver ash, pale green, scarlet red, orange, and the incomparable blue of the iris. Amidst these shrubs the convolvulus and other flowering creepers suspended their festoons of bells, rivalling the delicate white of the lily, or the transparent pink of the wild rose.

On the other side the thick forests sometimes below us, sometimes threatening to march down upon us from their tremendous heights, rank long grass, ferns, and brambles, branches interlacing with each other, old trees fallen in all directions and scathed by the lightning, rendering them impenetrable, seemed, indeed, peculiarly fitted to be the haunts of robbers. The assassin has only to place himself behind the trunk of a tree, wait until the wayfarer appears in view, then deliberately take his aim, and he can hardly fail to bring down his victim. Pursuit is altogether out of the question. Retaliation would be equally impracticable, as the murderer could not be seen. The traveller who is best armed, as in this case my Tartar was, is usually selected for the first experiment. The discharge is the signal to the whole band, who are stationed at their posts along the edge of the forest to be ready to fire at the remaining fugitives; and then, when all danger of a contest is over, the work of plunder commences.

♦ TERRORS ♦

My Tartar and postilion were in a perfect fever during the whole time we were riding through these passes. We galloped the whole way, whether up or down the declivities. Sometimes the road was occupied by caravans, and we were obliged to mount narrow and broken pathways, which we found or made upon its edge. But even over these tracks, where there was scarcely room for the horse’s hoof, we flew with a speed which must have betrayed their terror. I do not affect to say that I was myself altogether free from alarm; but I confess that I thought a great deal less of perils from banditti than from the rocks over which I was obliged to pursue my companions. It was emphatically one of those instances of which I have occasionally seen other examples in the course of my life, where in order to escape visionary dangers, real dangers were incurred of a much more serious description.

♦ DESCENT OF THE BALKANS ♦

Heated and fatigued with our steeple chase, we at length rested on the summit of the lofty range on which we had been travelling all day, in a hut formed of planks inserted perpendicularly in the earth, and roofed with tiles, inhabited by a solitary old man who supplied us with coffee. In the evening we descended towards the lower ranges of the Balkans, which succeed each other like so many undulations, varying in height, but almost all destitute of trees, here and there speckled with brambles, sometimes covered with heath, but wholly unfit for any purpose of cultivation. My Tartar, therefore, had no longer any fears of banditti. We occasionally saw in the sheltered valleys considerable encampments of gipsies, but these wanderers excited no apprehension in his mind. Indeed they appeared every where much more intent on enjoying the pleasures of music and dancing, or preparing their meals at the fires which were lighted near their tents, than in meditating attacks upon travellers. At the same time we prudently avoided making their acquaintance, being quite satisfied with the distant view of their tents and fires, and the groups moving around them--objects which in every climate are so picturesque--and with the sound of their pipes, violins, hurdygurdies and tambourines, intermingled with the regular stamping of the dancers, and the shouts of men and children, which echoed in joyful tones through the otherwise desolate mountains.

♦ DINNER ♦

Our horses having behaved so well in conducting us without accident, and with such fearful expedition over the first and highest ridge of the Balkans, I urged the Tartar to stop and allow them to be fed at one or two hamlets through which we rode. But my entreaties were in vain. He seemed to have no feeling whatever with respect to the unfortunate animals, except to urge them on as far as he could within the shortest possible space of time. I insisted, however, upon justice being done to them, and dismounting at the first house, looking like an inn, which I met on the road, I refused to go further until the horses were provided with corn. He observed, that if the horses were to dine there so also must I, a proceeding, however, to which I objected, as we were not then more than two or three leagues distant from Karnabat, a town of some importance in Romania. However, he gave orders for dinner. An unhappy hen who was amusing herself sauntering about the farm-yard, was laid hold of by our landlady, who having gashed the jugular vein with skill, dipped the body into boiling water, plucked off the feathers, and in about an hour presented the victim to me boiled to rags, in a wooden bowl, which looked so filthy that nothing could induce me to touch its contents. A wooden tray was also brought with coarse dirty salt, half-baked black bread, and a rusty knife. I resolutely deferred dining until we should stop for the night at the town already mentioned. The Tartar took his usual meal of bread, hard eggs, and onions; and when he saw that I would scarcely even look at the fowl, he deliberately wrapped it up in some paper, and put it into the haversack, which dangled from his saddle--“a very useless precaution,” thought I, “for if you do not eat it yourself, I am quite sure that nobody else will!”

♦ KARNABAT ♦

We remounted about seven o’clock in the evening. Our horses at first got on very well but after exerting themselves for an hour or two, it became evident that the toils of the morning among the rough roads of the mountain had literally knocked them up. Even at a moderate pace we ought to have reached Karnabat at nine, but it was past eleven before we entered its gates, though we had seen the lights of the town the whole evening. I was a good deal fatigued, less from riding, which never affects me, than from the labour which it cost me to push my miserable horse forward. His limbs seemed to have lost all their vital supply of lubricity. Every step was a stoppage. I should have greatly preferred walking, if that had not been rendered impracticable by my Turkish jack-boots, with pointed toes, which, as well as the heels, were turned up, so as to give the sole the complete form of the segment of a circle.

♦ GIPSIES ♦

However I looked forward to the hope of finding good quarters at Karnabat, as most of the towns of Romania, being inhabited principally by Turks, are of a better description than those in Bulgaria, which I had hitherto visited. The proportion of Mussulmen in the latter province is not considerable, and is dispersed through Vidin, Nicopoli, Rutschuk, and Shumla. The great mass of its population consists of the Sclavonian race, who profess to be Christians, but who appear to have scarcely any houses of worship.

♦ CATCHING A TARTAR ♦

The southern valleys of the Balkans seem to be favourite abodes of the gipsies, who occupy them without any fear of disturbance. How these people, who neither spin nor weave, nor cultivate the earth, clothe themselves so well, and accumulate the abundance of vegetables, flesh-meat, fowls, and rum, with which they are always provided, is to me as great a mystery as the origin of their tribes, and the purpose for which they are endowed with migratory dispositions, apparently destined to defy all the powers of civilization.

The conduct of my guide during the day did not tend to raise him very much in my esteem. Upon alighting for the night, I was not long in finding out that I had indeed “caught a Tartar.” We stopped near a mean-looking house; upon the door being opened, I saw that it consisted of only one room, in which eight or ten persons were already sleeping, and an immense fire was blazing in an oven, in which bread was about to be placed. Had the information of my Wallachian friends, of fur boot and pelisse memory, been at all correct with reference to the inclemency of the Balkans, I should probably not have very strongly objected to the neighbourhood of the oven. But as the fact was, that in crossing these mountains, I not only saw neither ice nor snow, but found it impossible even to wear my cloak, on account of the intense heat, which even at this hour of the night was but little mitigated, I refused at once to expose myself to the danger of being baked on one hand, and poisoned by the atmosphere of so many companions on the other. Besides, I perceived there no chance whatever of a good dinner, of which I really stood very much in need.

♦ A FIERY BEDROOM ♦

The moon was shining brightly in a cloudless sky, and after parleying for a while with my Tartar, who understood, or seemed to understand, very little of my Italian, I said that if he did not conduct me to a respectable inn, I should endeavour to find one for myself, and that moreover I should report him to his chief for his behaviour. He declared that there was no other inn open in the town at that hour of the night, and that he would not go in search of one. Kindling his pipe, he sat down outside the door, and said that from that house he would not depart. In the mean time the owner went out and borrowed a feather-bed, which he displayed before me with great triumph; and he added that if that would not do, he had even a magnificent hooka at my service, which he had also borrowed for the occasion. I could not help being pleased with the kindness of this poor Turk, but no temptation whatever could induce me to enter the furnace which he called his house.

♦ A DECENT KHAN ♦

I walked up the street as well as I could in my boots, my whip in my hand, to see what I could do for myself. Some six or eight fellows followed me chattering, and one or two going before me, seemed resolved to prevent me from proceeding further. I calmly applied my whip to their legs, and dispersed the whole group in an instant. After I had searched about in vain for a while, the Tartar at length came to find me, and seeing that I was inflexible in my purpose, he conducted me to a khan of the first class, where I was delighted to find some appearance of decency.

♦ SUPPER ♦

We knocked for a while before we were admitted, and we had some difficulty in finding vacant places on the divan, as the inn was crowded. But two Turks, in the most civil manner, yielded us their stations in the principal chamber, and adjourned for the remainder of the night into another room. My supper was served about half-past twelve. Poached eggs floating in oil were first brought, which I could not reconcile by any effort to my taste. A dish of boiled rice next made its appearance, together with a bowl of milk, which I found excellent. Pickles were appended to the rice, but I had no fancy for them; and then some hard eggs made their appearance, which constituted the principal part of my meal. I closed this operation with a glass of hot rum-and-water, after which, wrapping myself up in my cloak, I lay down on the cushion of the divan, and slept profoundly till seven o’clock the following morning.