DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5542#0104
94
CROSS THE MACESTUS.
[Chap, xxxvi.
belong to Greeks. Of these, my host was one of the most
wealthy- He had several handsome children, whose occu-
pation was feeding silkworms, for which purpose a large
room was fitted up with two tables suspended from the
ceiling; on each of these were four or six square piles of
mulberry-branches covered with worms. They are fed
three times a-day, that is to say, their food is renewed three
times by placing fresh-cut branches with their leaves still
on over the old ones, which are never removed, but remain
as a kind of bed until the worms are full grown. With the
true vagueness of all Orientals, they would not venture to
make even a guess as to the quantity of silk their stock of
worms might produce. " Allah bilir," or God knows ; " per-
haps five okes, perhaps twenty," was the only answer I
could obtain.
Several cases of plague had lately occurred here, as well
as at Abullionte, and I now learnt that it was raging more
or less all over the country.
Saturday, May 27.—From Muhalitsch to Aidinjik—eight
hours. Starting at a quarter before seven, we descended to
the banks of the Macestus, or Susugherli Chai, flowing to
the cast about half a mile north of the town, until it falls
into the lthyndacus. Our course, after crossing the river,
was generally W.N.W., and for the first two or three miles
over a rich plain covered with mulberry plantations. We
were then ferried over another deep but not rapid river,
called the Kara Dere Su (Black Valley lliver), also flowing
east from the lake of Maniyas, the ancient lake of Mile-
topolis, said to be about four hours off. Beyond the ferry
we passed a small village, called Kara Kieui, on our right
hand : the scenery of this part of the plain was rich and
picturesque; the luxuriant vegetation, the lofty trees
covered with festoons of the wild vine hanging down to the
ground, and the air scented with the sweet fragrance of
their flower, all reminded me of the province of Djanik on
the Black Sea.*
* Sec ante, vol. i. p. 28fi.
CROSS THE MACESTUS.
[Chap, xxxvi.
belong to Greeks. Of these, my host was one of the most
wealthy- He had several handsome children, whose occu-
pation was feeding silkworms, for which purpose a large
room was fitted up with two tables suspended from the
ceiling; on each of these were four or six square piles of
mulberry-branches covered with worms. They are fed
three times a-day, that is to say, their food is renewed three
times by placing fresh-cut branches with their leaves still
on over the old ones, which are never removed, but remain
as a kind of bed until the worms are full grown. With the
true vagueness of all Orientals, they would not venture to
make even a guess as to the quantity of silk their stock of
worms might produce. " Allah bilir," or God knows ; " per-
haps five okes, perhaps twenty," was the only answer I
could obtain.
Several cases of plague had lately occurred here, as well
as at Abullionte, and I now learnt that it was raging more
or less all over the country.
Saturday, May 27.—From Muhalitsch to Aidinjik—eight
hours. Starting at a quarter before seven, we descended to
the banks of the Macestus, or Susugherli Chai, flowing to
the cast about half a mile north of the town, until it falls
into the lthyndacus. Our course, after crossing the river,
was generally W.N.W., and for the first two or three miles
over a rich plain covered with mulberry plantations. We
were then ferried over another deep but not rapid river,
called the Kara Dere Su (Black Valley lliver), also flowing
east from the lake of Maniyas, the ancient lake of Mile-
topolis, said to be about four hours off. Beyond the ferry
we passed a small village, called Kara Kieui, on our right
hand : the scenery of this part of the plain was rich and
picturesque; the luxuriant vegetation, the lofty trees
covered with festoons of the wild vine hanging down to the
ground, and the air scented with the sweet fragrance of
their flower, all reminded me of the province of Djanik on
the Black Sea.*
* Sec ante, vol. i. p. 28fi.