SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

Researches is Asia Minor, Pontos. and Armenia; with some Account of their An- tiquities and Geology. By William I. Hamilton. Secretary to the Geological Society. In two volumes. Murray.

J7tDevolion; ; or the History of Katherine Randolph. By the Author of " The Ouly Daughter." Edited by the Author of "The Subaltern," &c. In three volumes Colburn. The Neighbours; a Story of Every-day Life. By Predcrika Bremer. Translated by Mary Hewitt. .Iu two volumes Longman and Co.

HAMILTON'S RESEARCHES IN ASIA MINOR.

Ire 1835, Mr. HAMILTON the Secretary of the Geological Society, proposed to himself a Continental tour, which he subsequently exchanged for an exploration of Asia Minor. Reading up the ancient writers, to refresh his memory upon questions of historico- geographical interest, and acquiring the use of the sextant and circle in order to make correct surveys, he started for the East in July 1835, and remained there till towards the end of 1837. The general plan of Mr. HAMILTON was to undertake his long journies in the fine season, and to make Smyrna his head-quarters during the winter; but this stationary position was rather nominal than actual, as he usually passed the time in excursions that ex- tended as far as Constantinople and the Grecian Islands. These trips were various. His larger joumies were three in number:. the first from Constantinople overland to Smyrna: the second from Trebizond (which he reached by steam) through Armenia to Kars, and returning thence to Smyrna, partly along the banks of the Black Sea and partly inland, by a route which has not hitherto been traversed, though points of it have been often visited : on his third tour, Constantinople was also his starting-point and Smyrna his goal ; his route carrying him in a more Southerly direction, and his principal objects being a " fuller examination of the geology of the Catacecaumene, a visit to the great salt lake in the centre of Asia Minor, and the ascent of Mount Argieus." It may facili- tate a reference to the country explored, to say that it lies between the 36th and 42d degrees of North latitude, and extends from the Mediterranean to the 37th degree of longitude ; excepting the ex- cursion in Armenia, when Mr. HAMILTON almost penetrated to the 44th degree of longitude, but his line of route was nearly confined to the 41st degree of latitude.

The pursuits of our traveller were five, and the subjects of his work as many. First, a minute survey of the roads he traversed, in order to fix the positions of places, their exact distances from one another, and the general bearings of the country ; a task to which he was stimulated by the gross inaccuracy of all the maps of Asia Minor, and which he pursued with unceasing industry.

"I spared neither time nor labour," be says in his Preface, "in making a careful annotation of time, distances, and directions; by which means, together with astronomical observations for latitude, I hoped to be able to construct a more correct map of those parts of the peninsula through which I passed. With this object in view, and independently of a very detailed journal, I suc- ceeded in keeping, with a very few exceptions, a minute itinerary of every mile of road, noting the exact time of departure, and, with my compass constantly in hand, the direction of the road, as well as every change, sometimes to the number of twenty or twenty-five in an hour, adding remarks suggested by the physical structure of the country. A specimen of this itinerary, representing one day's work, will be found in the Appendix, vol. IL p. 397.

"In order to construct the map, after my return to England, the whole of the route, extending over several thousand miles of road, was laid down on the scale of one inch to a mile : in this task I received much assistance from Cap- tain H. G. Hamilton. The neighbouring country was then worked in from my geographical notes and cross-bearings ; after which, it was corrected for the observations of latitude, worked out by the same officer, and then reduced by him to the scale of five miles to an inch."

The second subject of Mr. HAMILTON is what may be called his- torical geography—an endeavour to fix the site of ancient places by a careful examination of natural features and existing monu- ments, if any such remain, and, by the same process, to reconcile the descriptions or 'narratives of ancient writers with the actual facts, which modern authors, unacquainted or ill-acquainted with the country, have confused or doubted. And as Mr. HAMILTON'S course led him into the native country of &limn), and partially along the route of CYRUS'S advance and XENOPHON'S retreat, be is enabled to throw very considerable light upon the narratives, as well as to support the accuracy both of the geographer and the his- torian. The third topic embraces the antiquities of the country and a collection of inscriptions; in the former of which points he has been met, in parts, not by earlier travellers, but earlier publica- tions—as FELLOWLS'S. The fourth subject embraces geology ; and the fifth what is usually understood by travels—observations on the country and the people, with the explorer's personal adventures.

To those whose reading has lain much among voyages and tra- vels, it will be conceived that such a variety of subjects inter- spersed among each other rather produces complexity than relief. The chance is very slight that a reader takes an interest in all these topics, and it is possible that he may not care for more than one or two ; yet he will find the narrative and his own attention continually diverted to subjects whose importance he does not per- haps understand and certainly cannot feel. Involving, as the work does, an essay on the ancient and modern geography of Asia Minor, accompanied by an itinerary—a memoir on the advance of

Crain and the retreat of XENOPHON, with notices of other ancient campaigners—as well as a general view of the geological features of

the country, and a classical tour—it would seem desirable to have distributed it into as many distinct parts, in order that the .reader might have its information in the readiest form. As it now stands, the reader who would fully profit by Mr. litiervrozes more scientific

labours must analyze them for himself, and, drawing up an itine- rary from the map and the volumes, note down under the respective places the pith of such information as he feels interested in. The peculiar objects of Mr. HAMILTON, like those of some other travellers, who have followed him, we think, in point of time though: they have preceded him in publication, took him out of the coin= mon lines of road. This enabled him to see many specimens of the genuine Turk ; who appears to be a more amiable person than he is painted by some travellers, who are only acquainted with the rabble of great towns, or the cads, &c. of great roads. Mr. HAMIL- TON, too, is a good witness ; for he is no great favourer of the Turks, after, as he says, he found them out.

TURKISH MANNERS AND MODES OF BUSINESS.

We reached the konak of the Agha of flarmanjik about eleven a. in-; and after going through the usual ceremony of pipes and coffee, and having our fir- mahn read out from beginning to end by the Cadi in the Agha's reception- room, we learnt that there were no horses in the village, and were compelled to wait until they should return from the mountains, whither they were gone in search of wood.

During this delay, I remained in the Agha's salamlik watching the progress of public business, highly interested with the appearance of bold independence and the dignified manner of all around me, as well as with the perfect silence in which the whole was conducted. But what struck me most was the grace and dignity of the peasants who came in to pay taxes, or procure a teskeray, or make some small present to the Agha, who was at the same time their land- lord, or, as was the case with some, merely to kiss his hand. This ceremony was performed in a peculiar and impressive manner : the inferior takes the right hand of his master between both his own, bowing sand,, low at the same time, after which he slowly strokes his beard with both his hands whilst the supe- rior merely touches his own with the hand that has been embraced. One man particularly attracted my attention : he was a fine athletic figure, and advanced towards the Agha'a secretary with great dignity as he presented his petition, accompanied with a gift rolled up in paper, containing sugar, coffee, pepper, or some such trifle; then retreating backwards until he reached the centre of the room, he quietly assumed a most dignified attitude, with his right foot a little advanced, whilst both his hands rested upon his broad red sash. Although understood not a word of the speech which be then delivered, I felt that no Young or Kemble, with their most studied arts, ever came near the natural dignity and carriage of this illiterate peasant. In broad contrast with this man's appearance was that of a feeble old man, the picture of misery, in rags and tatters, who was sitting on the floor beside him. When he afterwards arose to make his salutation to the chief, the proud Agha himself half rose from his seat to receive his welcome, and to spare him the trouble and fatigue of stooping. It was a touching instance of respect paid to old age; and the whole scene was well calculated to impress upon a stranger a favourable idea (as far at least as externals went) of the manners and feelings of the Turks. I was also much struck with the ease and publicity with which their business was transacted, and their courteous bearing towards each other : but I must confess that, when I afterwards became better acquainted with their motives, and with their corrupt system of government, I learnt to look with more sus- picion upon their outward manners, and to judge leas favourably of their actions and intentions.

In the closing remark of the following passage we scarcely go with Mr. HAMILTON. To us it seems rather a civility than other- wise ; of which we have a counterpart in England when a person says, in reply to thanks, " it is my duty," or " it is my business."

n We were delayed this morning for want of horses, in consequence of the intractability of the Menzilji, and learnt that the person to whom we had ap- plied yesterday had been superseded by a new Governor just arrived. Hence, perhaps, his incivility, since, being no longer in office, he did not care for our firmahn. I often observed, that on thanking an Agile or Mutxellian for his courtesy and hospitality, he has replied that 'he had only obeyed the orders of the Padischah,' that I was recommended by the Padisehall,' or words to that effect; thereby implying, that had he been independent he would not have shown so much civility to an Infidel"

TUREISII KINDNESS.

We were much struck, on all the roads in Asia Minor, at the great number of fountains which we met with. They are invaluable to the traveller over the parched and dried-up plains, and are often the result of the pure benevolence and genuine native hospitality of the Turkish peasant. In some places, where there is no spring or supply of water to form a running stream, the charitable inhabitant of a neighbouring village places a large vessel of water in a rude hut, built either of stone or boughs, to shade it from the sun : this jar or vessel is filled daily, or as often as necessity requires, and the water is sometimes brought from a distance of many miles.

TURKEY CARPET-MAKING.

On expressing a wish to witness the process of making carpets, we were at first told that it would be attended with some difficulty, as they are entirely made by women ; but after some time, an old man was found who agreed to admit us after the women had been sent out of the way. The machinery is very rude and simple, and fully accounts for the difficulty which, according to the Smyrna merchants, exists in executing orders exactly; as it is impossible, on fixing the loom, to tell the exact breadth to which the carpet may stretch in the making. On entering a court-yard, we saw a large coarse frame, fixed under an open shed, which served as a loom : the horizontal beams of the frame are much longer than the upright, and to them the threads of the warp are fas- tened, being rolled round the upper one, and let out as required, when the finished part of the carpet is wound round the lower beam ; these long threads are then separated alternately by rude machinery, and the coloured worsteds, which are lying by in large round balls, are tied by a peculiar kind of double knot to each two threads, according to the pattern, which is left entirely to the memory of the worker; after each row of these Lots three strong transverse threads of the woof are passed by hand in and out alternately between those of the warp ; the whole is then beaten and pressed together by a heavy bent wooden comb, resembling the fingers of the hand; the ends of the knots are

first cut off with a large knife, and the whole is afterwards sheared and made even with a large pair of scissors. Each woman works a breadth of from four to five feet ; consequently four or five women would work simultaneously at a carpet twenty feet wide. A STRIKING LANDSCAPE.

From the burial-ground we walked to see the ruins of an ancient castle pointed

out to us on the banks of the river, nearly two miles off to the South. After walking about a mile across the plain, we suddenly reached the edge of the deeply excavated valley, through which the Kopli 8n flows : a wild and fan- tastic scene presented itself to us on our first coming in sight of the ravine, the precipitous and water-worn rocks on each side of it assuming the wildest and most extraordinary forms. The river flowed along its winding bed at least five hundred feet below us, while immediately is front, perched upon a lofty and almost insulated rock, with perpendicular sides, and connected with the plain (M1 which we were by a narrow ridge of rock scarcely twenty feet wide at the am- milt, and between two hundred and three hundred feet high, stood the ruined castle we were in search of. Not the least curious features of the scene were the remarkable contortions of the river, sometimes returning, after a course of two miles, to within fifty yards of where it had flowed before, separated from its former bed by a long, narrow wall, upwards of three hundred feet in height. The steep chalky side themselves are worn and weathered into every possible variety of form. Hero a detached peak, like a Gothic church, raises aloft its tapering spire; there a huge mass of perpendicular wall, with its rents and fissures, its dark caves and deep-worn crevices, stands forth like the palace or castle of an age of giants. There seemed no end to the lofty pinnacles and narrow promontories round which the river flowed, and whose fantastic shapes increased the peculiarity of the scene. But what added much to the striking effect of the view, was the remarkable horizontal stratification of the white rock, increasing the illusion of its being a mass of ruined buildings.

A WAIWODA'S AFTERNOON.

In the afternoon I visited the Waiwoda, who had urged me to stay two or three days with him : here I bad a good opportunity of seeing how a Turk spends his afternoon. I found him surrounded by his attendants, seated in a niche or alcove built by the road-side over a cool and bubbling fountain. After smoking a pipe, he proposed walking to see the river; to which I gladly assented, expecting a walk along its rocky banks : but we had hardly proceeded two hundred yards when we reached the bridge, which was the limit of his tether ; and, selecting the shady side, we seated ourselves on the grass near the water's edge. Here, while discussing a plate of cherries, my host took occasion, in allusion to different articles of my dress, to praise England and its productions; admitting that the Turks were an idle, ignorant people, whose customs would admit of no comparison with those of Frangistan, (Europe,) and added that the English were very. rich and the Turks very poor. To this I answered, that one reason was, that in England, when a man became rich by his industry or exertions, the law enabled him to keep his property, and to leave it to his family on his death, and that the government did not arbitrarily step in and carry off the whole or the greater part of it : at which he significantly stroked his beard and looked very grave. After another pipe we made a move, and returned to the meadows opposite his konak; where carpets and cushions were brought out and spread under the trees, and pipes, with the addition of coffee, were again produced. Here I was treated with a novel kind of entertainment ; being roused by loud shouts and cries, and on looking round, 1 saw an unfortunate wretch lying on his back before the door of the konak, with his heels up in the air tied to a log of wood held up by two men, whilst others were inflicting the bastinado on his naked soles with great rapidity. On appealing to the Go- vernor to know the meaning of this proceeding, he was pleased to say, that in consequence of my presence he would let the man off with a slight punishment, although he richly deserved more for his turbulent and quarrelsome behaviour ; and ordered him to be set at liberty. On being released he could hardly move, and was roughly pushed out of the way into the house. He had been quarrel- ling with and striking an old woman; but the aggravation of his crime was having used indecorous language to a woman.

TURKISH VOCALISTS.

I was kept awake last night by the lugubrious howling and screaming of a party of Turks who had established themselves on a neighbouring rock, where, regardless of the hour or the repose of the inhabitants, they continued their wild singing without break or interruption for several hours. The performance consisted, as well as I could distinguish it, of a monotonous chant, kept up for a considerable time by one person in a very low note, while the others occa- sionally joined in the chorus. The solo part was apparently made up of verses sung with a kind of air, but of which the three or four concluding notes always seemed wanting; which produced an incomplete and unsatisfactory effect. During part of the performance, the chorus chimed in with a sort of half- minute gun, consisting of a single note, begun very loud, and gradually dying away, sustained for some time without break or shake. The same note was always renewed, and apparently at very regular intervals. The whole produced a most unpleasant effect, not unlike the baying of dogs to the moon.

USE OF CHAIRS IN ASIA MINOR.

This was bazaar or market day; and as we rode through the town on our way to Niksar, we saw exposed for sale many decently-manufactured four- legged chairs. I had never seen them used in the houses, and it was long be- fore I ascertained the purpose to which they were applied by the peasants. Corn is threshed in Asia Minor, as in some other parts of the East, by dragging a heavy board stuck full of sharp flints over the straw, on which, in order to in- crease the pressure, a man or a couple of boys generally stand; but, besides the difficulty of keeping their balance, this is a fatiguing operation, and therefore they sit on a chair whenever they can procure one.

TURKISH TALE.

I have already alluded to the aqueduct along the road-side on entering Amasia, and which Fontanier mistook for the watercourse mentioned by Strabo. The Turks of Amasia have a tradition respecting its origin, which is no bad specimen of their talents and ingenuity in this way. The story goes, that there once dwelt in this neighbourhood a rich and powerful young man of the name of Fer-hat, who was in love with a beautiful damsel of Amasia. He offered her marriage ; which she accepted, on condition that he supplied her native town with water from a distant valley, and performed all the work himself. Undismayed at the magnitude of the undertaking, he immediatyly set to work, and, to judge from the result, must have laboured hard for many a year. At length, one day he met an old woman, who, with true Turkish inquisitiveness, asked him what he was about. Fer-hat told her the story of his love, and that he hoped soon to have completed his task : whereupon she replied, that he might cease from his useless labour, as the maiden, who must by this time have passed her seventieth year, was dead. On hearing this, he gave up his un- dertaking ; and soon dying, of a broken heart, was buried with the lady of his love on the summit of a neighbouring mountain.

PAYMENTS IN TURKEY.

It is contrary to all the habits and practices of Turkish society or domestic life to pay an inferior; he is merely lodged and fed, and occasionally receives a present. The usual mode by which a Pachs, Agha, or Governor remunerates his followers, is by sending them to some neighbouring town or district, to con- vey an order, to receive taxes, or to settle a dispute : in these cases the town, village, or district, is charged with the payment of a certain sum to the bearer, according to the distance and importance of the business, the amount being ge- nerally written on the order. This explains how the Turkish Governors are enabled to support so many and such large establishments.

FLATTERERS BIT.

Many anecdotes were current at Smyrna respecting Hussein Bey, the Governor, who had the character of being the most notorious and rapacious money-maker in the empire. Some of his expedients are worth recording as instances of Turkish manners. lie possesses a large house and garden, near Bournoubat, which produces excellent fruit, and in which two years ago be bad a most abundant crop of cherries. Anxious to sell them to advantage, he sent for the principal fruiterers to value them ; who were all equally desirous of propitiating the Governor by praising his fruit. They vied with each other in estimating the quantity as well as the quality, and ended by congratulating .Hussein Bey on his good fortune and success. But they did not know whom they had to deal with ; for no sooner had he got them to declare unanimously

that his cherries were worth some highly preposterous sum, than he nailed them to their bargain, and declared they should not leave his house until they bad bought his fruit at the price they had named. Remonstrance was use. less, and they were compelled to pay the penalty of their flattery.

TURKISH RECKONING.

The camels at length appeared, after considerable delay. I was amused at the originality of Holies mode of counting, as he paid for the five horses. The distance to Sari Karaman was fourteen hours, and his object was to prove to the owners that fourteen times five were seventy, they wanting more money. First be began with the tens, which he counted on his fingers, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty ; he then told the fours in the same way, four, eight, twelve, sixteen, twenty. " There," said he, "don't you see fifty and twenty make seventy ?"

Although not connected with our author's researches in Asia Minor, we will take a couple of passages from his winter-trips; one for its relation to chivalry, the other to commerce.

ASPECT OF RHODES.

Here we at once found ourselves walking amidst the ancient habitations of the Knights of Rhodes; which produced the effect of having been suddenly transported into a former age, rather than into a different place. Many of the houses were in ruins; some were inhabited by Turks; but all presented the same exterior that they did three or four hundred years ago. Built in the peculiar architecture of the feudal times, a strange combination of the contrary qualities of the gay and the sombre, massive yet not devoid of elegance, and constructed entirely of stone, they have equally resisted the corroding influence of time, and the mischievous effects of Turkish violence and ignorance : the escutcheons and coats of arms of the Knights likewise, of different countries, several sometimes occurring in the same house, remain fixed in the walls un- injured.

The principal street led up a gentle rise to the west: it was broader than is usual in the towns of the Levant, and could boast a footpath on each side. On our left we passed a massive building, now converted into barracks for the new troops: it was formerly a college, used as a residence for time poorer Knights, and containing rooms for the despatch of public business. On our right were ancient houses, inhabited by Turks or left to decay, built in a florid Gothic style, with ornamented beadings, and borders of flowers round the windows and along the walls. Among the numerous escutcheons with which they were adorned were the royal arms of England—three lions passant, quartered with those of France. three fleurs de lis. At the top of the street we reached the ruined palace of the Grand Master ; near it was the principal church, dedicated to St. John,—a long, Gothic edifice, now converted into a mosque. Here the fortifications were of great strength, forming, as it were, the key to the whole defence. The wall was very lofty, defended by a deep ditch extending round the fortress on the land side, while a high covered way connected with the wall by a drawbridge led over the fosse, and an intervening ravelin to a strong detached fort on the west.

We were much struck with the breadth and cleanliness of the streets, paved with small round pebbles, which abound in the conglomerate at this end of the island. Every house had its garden, in which oranges and lemons grew luxu- riantly, while the tall and graceful palms added to the Oriental character of the scenery. Two churches belonging to the Knights, that of St. John, and that of the Apostles, have been converted by the Turks into mosques. Round the entrance of the latter are some beautiful arabesque traceries carved in white marble, representing arms and armour, drums and standards, cuirasses, gaunt- lets and grcaves, quivers, bows, and helmets, all executed with the greatest delicacy. SPONGE OP SYME.

On reaching the town, we were surprised at being conducted to a large Greek tavern or café; and at seeing many European-looking characters. These were agents come to purchase sponge ; which forms the chief traffic of the island, and the procuring of which is the principal occupation of

the inhabitants. In the port were vessels of various sizes, the larger waiting for cargoes which they take to. Smyrna, where it is sorted for the European market : the finest quality, which sells here for about two hundred piastres per oke, or seventeen shillings per pound, is almost exclusively confined to the English market. The smaller vessels belonged to the island in them, the divers visit the coast of Candle, and even Barbary, in search of this useful article of trade, which is also found in the rocky coves round the island itself; though not of so fine a quality. The sponge when first detached from the rock, where it grows in a cup-like shape, is perfectly smooth and black, sometimes covered with a skin or coating of the same hue, and full of an offensive white liquid, which is forced out by pressing it under foot. When packed in casks to be sent to Smyrna the sponges are filled with fine white sand, and when dried are compressed into a very small compass. The object of the sand is said to be in order to preserve the sponge : it also adds considerably to their weight ; and as they are always sold by weight, it appears at first to be rather a dishonest mode of proceeding; but it is probable that were it not for the sand the fine sponges would weigh so little that they would be cheaper than the coarse ones, whereas, if the fine sponge requires a greater quantity of sand to fill up its pores, its weight will be proportionably increased ; thus, the mixing the sand and selling them by weight may be, in fact, perfectly fair and honest: however, I must admit I did not hear this reason given.

The views of Mr. HAMILTON on the general character of the Turks, though harsh, are probably just. Of their alleged growing liberality he thinks little ; because, with many, it is not toleration, but indifference. Ceasing to believe in Mahometanism, they be- lieve in nothing ; and give in to European habits, either from a servile submission to power, or to free themselves from restraint. As to their national restoration, he holds it itppossible : and upon sufficient grounds. The entire public mind of Turkey is corrupt. No matter how good an individual may be, he no sooner gets into the most trifling office, than he becomes as peculating if not so cruel or tyrannical as his brother officials; not merely because the whole system of their institutions fosters the habit, (no salaries being paid, and many places bought,) but because the public mind looks for it : and this difficulty is insuperable. If the greatest law- giver and statesman that ever lived were to be combined in a single person, he could not rouse and renovate the Turkish empire, be- cause his instruments would fail him. He could give the Turks nothing but lifeless forms—paper institutions, which neither offi- cials nor the people would or could effectuate. It would be the same as it all the Anglo-Indian offices, Court of Directors inclusive, were filled by native Hindoos—or indeed much worse, for the Indian public may have picked up something from the English rule.