DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5542#0173
162
DEMIRJI KIEUI.
[CilAP. XL
one of the principal causes of the discoloration of the
Mseander in the lower part of its course. Two miles further
south we reached Seve Kieui, and two miles beyond an-
other village where the Menzil khan of the district was
kept. No horses could be procured until the following day,
I therefore determined to go on to Demirji Kieui, another
two miles. As we quitted the place, I saw a large sarco-
phagus in the bed of the torrent, used as a drinking-trough
for cattle. Besides vineyards on the rising grounds, the
lower part of the plain produces melons, cotton and Indian
corn. The best grapes grown in this district are consumed
in the neighbouring towns; the inferior quality is used in
making sweetmeats, raki or spirits, and pekmes, a kind of
treacle. The Turks also prepare another substance from
the juice of grapes, and occasionally other fruit, by boiling
them down to a jelly, and after separating the pekmes or
saccharine part, drying the residue in long strings, thus
forming a black gelatinous substance, only remarkable for
its extreme insipidity.
We reached Demirji Kieui at a quarter after eleven.
In the burial-ground were many new-made graves, and on
inquiry we learnt that the plague had committed great ra-
vages here last year. I was much surprised, an hour or two
after my arrival, at receiving a visit from the Agha Djamal
Bey, attended by numerous followers and the chief men of
the village. It was an extraordinary mark of civility on
the part of a Turk; but his curiosity had been excited by
the unusual appearance of a Frank traveller in this part
of the country. He had lived much at Constantinople, and
appeared to be intelligent and inquiring. He was well ac-
quainted with many European customs, and evidently be-
longed to the new school, by which much of his Mussulman
pride had been subdued. The greater part of the sur-
rounding country belonged to his family, and his father-
was residing at Constantinople in the capacity of general of
the guards.
Tuesday, June 20.—Leaving Demirji Kieui soon after six
DEMIRJI KIEUI.
[CilAP. XL
one of the principal causes of the discoloration of the
Mseander in the lower part of its course. Two miles further
south we reached Seve Kieui, and two miles beyond an-
other village where the Menzil khan of the district was
kept. No horses could be procured until the following day,
I therefore determined to go on to Demirji Kieui, another
two miles. As we quitted the place, I saw a large sarco-
phagus in the bed of the torrent, used as a drinking-trough
for cattle. Besides vineyards on the rising grounds, the
lower part of the plain produces melons, cotton and Indian
corn. The best grapes grown in this district are consumed
in the neighbouring towns; the inferior quality is used in
making sweetmeats, raki or spirits, and pekmes, a kind of
treacle. The Turks also prepare another substance from
the juice of grapes, and occasionally other fruit, by boiling
them down to a jelly, and after separating the pekmes or
saccharine part, drying the residue in long strings, thus
forming a black gelatinous substance, only remarkable for
its extreme insipidity.
We reached Demirji Kieui at a quarter after eleven.
In the burial-ground were many new-made graves, and on
inquiry we learnt that the plague had committed great ra-
vages here last year. I was much surprised, an hour or two
after my arrival, at receiving a visit from the Agha Djamal
Bey, attended by numerous followers and the chief men of
the village. It was an extraordinary mark of civility on
the part of a Turk; but his curiosity had been excited by
the unusual appearance of a Frank traveller in this part
of the country. He had lived much at Constantinople, and
appeared to be intelligent and inquiring. He was well ac-
quainted with many European customs, and evidently be-
longed to the new school, by which much of his Mussulman
pride had been subdued. The greater part of the sur-
rounding country belonged to his family, and his father-
was residing at Constantinople in the capacity of general of
the guards.
Tuesday, June 20.—Leaving Demirji Kieui soon after six