DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5541#0104
7G
MODERN INHABITANTS.
[Chap. v.
nople by his son and successor Mahomet II., when both
sank into comparative insignificance. From this period, no
longer the resort of princes and chiefs, and removed from
the healthy influence of European contact, Brusa, still
endeared to the Turks by associations and recollections of
its former importance, as well as by the charms of its
situation, became for a long course of years the resort of
Mahomedan bigotry and superstition, and few towns in the
Turkish empire have been so remarkable for the hostile
spirit shown to Franks and Christians.
Of late years, however, the character of its inhabitants
appears to have undergone considerable change. Browne
observes in his narrative that in the year 1801 wine was
not allowed to be publicly sold, and that the inhabitants
were remarkable for their fanaticism and intolerance; but
now, as we were informed by an Armenian merchant for
whom we had brought letters of introduction from Con-
stantinople, not only wine but even the flesh of the wild
boar is allowed to be sold publicly in the streets. He also
confirmed the commonly received opinion respecting the
healthiness of the situation of Brusa, but added that all
the inhabitants were more or less victims of habitual intem-
perance and sloth.
In his house we saw, for the first time, a practice which
is prevalent amongst the Franks as well as the Greek and
Armenian merchants, viz. of covering the carpets and divans
with a coarse cloth made of goats' hair, in order to prevent
the contagion of the plague. This coarse cloth is, as well as
wood, everywhere considered as a non-conductor of plague.
It is therefore usual for travellers and merchants in the
interior, who are at all apprehensive of this disease, to have
large sacks made of it, into which smaller articles, or such
as are susceptible of communicating infection, are placed,
in order that they may not come in contact with the surijis,
the horses, or their pack-saddles.
The principal features of Brusa are its hot-springs. The
chief source is about a mile and a half to the west of the
MODERN INHABITANTS.
[Chap. v.
nople by his son and successor Mahomet II., when both
sank into comparative insignificance. From this period, no
longer the resort of princes and chiefs, and removed from
the healthy influence of European contact, Brusa, still
endeared to the Turks by associations and recollections of
its former importance, as well as by the charms of its
situation, became for a long course of years the resort of
Mahomedan bigotry and superstition, and few towns in the
Turkish empire have been so remarkable for the hostile
spirit shown to Franks and Christians.
Of late years, however, the character of its inhabitants
appears to have undergone considerable change. Browne
observes in his narrative that in the year 1801 wine was
not allowed to be publicly sold, and that the inhabitants
were remarkable for their fanaticism and intolerance; but
now, as we were informed by an Armenian merchant for
whom we had brought letters of introduction from Con-
stantinople, not only wine but even the flesh of the wild
boar is allowed to be sold publicly in the streets. He also
confirmed the commonly received opinion respecting the
healthiness of the situation of Brusa, but added that all
the inhabitants were more or less victims of habitual intem-
perance and sloth.
In his house we saw, for the first time, a practice which
is prevalent amongst the Franks as well as the Greek and
Armenian merchants, viz. of covering the carpets and divans
with a coarse cloth made of goats' hair, in order to prevent
the contagion of the plague. This coarse cloth is, as well as
wood, everywhere considered as a non-conductor of plague.
It is therefore usual for travellers and merchants in the
interior, who are at all apprehensive of this disease, to have
large sacks made of it, into which smaller articles, or such
as are susceptible of communicating infection, are placed,
in order that they may not come in contact with the surijis,
the horses, or their pack-saddles.
The principal features of Brusa are its hot-springs. The
chief source is about a mile and a half to the west of the