hands on his head and touched his beard, he told me in the Turkish language that I might join his slaves; but he insisted that I should be dressed just like them.

"I went immediately after this interview, with one of my friends, to the market, called the Bazar, and bought two long white robes that reached to my ancles, a complete turban, a linen girdle, a fustian pair of drawers to tuck the ends of my robe in,-two small bags, the one for my own use, the other to hang on my horse's head while feeding him with barley and straw,-a leathern spoon and salt, a carpet to sleep on,-and lastly a paletot (a sort of doublet) of a white skin, which I lined with linen cloth, and which was of service to me in the nights. I purchased also a white tarquais (a sort of quiver) complete, to which hung a sword and knives: but as to the tarquais and sword, I could only buy them privately, for if those who have the administration of justice had known of it, the seller and myself would have run great risks.

"The damascus blades are the handsomest and best of all Syria and it is curious to observe their manner of bur

nishing them. This operation is performed before tempering; and they have, for this purpose, a small piece of wood, in which is fixed an iron, which they rub up and down the blade, and thus clear off all inequalities, as a plane does to wood: they then temper and polish it. This polish is so highly finished, that when any one wants to arrange his turban, he uses his sword for a looking glass. As to its temper, it is perfect, and I have nowhere seen swords that cut so excellently.

"There are made at Damascus, and in the adjoining country, mirrors of steel, that magnify objects like burning glasses. I have seen some that, when exposed to the sun, have reflected the heat so strongly as to set fire to a plank fifteen or sixteen feet distant.

"I bought a small horse that turned out very well. Before my departure, I had him shod at Damascus; and thence, as far as Bursa, which is near fifty days journey, I had nothing to do with his

feet, excepting one of the fore ones which was pricked by a nail, and made him lame for three weeks, so well do they shoe their horses. The shoes are light, thin, lengthened towards the heel, and thinner there than at the toe. They are not turned up, and have but four nail holes, two on each side. The nails are square, with a thick and heavy head. When a shoe is wanted, and it is necessary to work it to make it fit the hoof, it is done cold without ever putting it in the fire, which can readily be done because it is so thin. To pare the hoof, they use a pruning knife, similar to what vine-dressers trim their vines with, both in this as well as on the other side of the sea.

"The horses of this country only walk and gallop; and, when purchased, those who have the best walk are preferred, as in Europe those who trot the best. They have wide nostrils, gallop well, and are excel.ent, costing little on the road; for they eat only at night, and then but a small quantity of barley with chopped straw. They never drink but in the afternoon; and their bridles are always left in their mouths, even when in the stable, like mules: when there, they have the two hinder legs tied, and they are intermixed all together, horses and mares, All are geldings, excepting a few kept for stallions. Should you have any business with a rich man, and call on him, he will carry you, to speak with you, to his stables, which are, consequently, kept always very cool, and very clean.

We, Europeans, prefer a stonehorse of a good breed, but the Moors esteem only mares. In that country, a great man is not ashamed to ride a mare, with its foal running after the dam. I have seen some exceedingly beautiful, sold as high as two or three hundred ducats. They are accustomed to keep their horses very low, and never to allow them to get fat. The men of fortune carry with them, when they ride, a small drum, which they use in battle, or in skirmishes, to rally their men: it is fastened to the pummel of their saddles, and they beat on it with a piece of flat leather. I also purchased one, with spurs, and vermillion-coloured boots,

which came up to my knees, according to the custom of the country.

"As a mark of my gratitude to Hoyarbarach, I went to offer him a pot of green ginger, but he refused it; and it was by dint of prayers and entreaties that I prevailed on him to accept of it. I had not any other pledge for my security than what I have mentioned; but I found him full of frankness and good will, more, perhaps, than I should have found in many Christians.

"God, who had protected me in the accomplishment of this journey, brought me acquainted with a Jew of Caffa, who spoke the tartar and italian languages; and I requested him to assist me in putting down in writing the names of every thing I might have occasion to want for myself and my horse, while on the road. On our arrival, the first day's journey, at Ballec, I drew out my paper to know how to ask for barley and chop. ped straw, which I wanted to give my horse. Ten or twelve Turks near me, observing my action, burst into laughter, and, coming nearer to examine my paper, seemed as much surprised at our writing as we are with theirs. They took a liking to me, and made every effort to teach me to speak Turkish: they were never weary of making me often repeat the same thing, and pronounced it so many different ways that I could not fail to retain it; so, when we separated, I knew how to call for every thing necessary for myself and horse."

He had now to acquire new customs and learn to sleep on the ground, to drink nothing but water, and to sit cross legged. It was still more painful to sit his horse with such very short stirrups as the Turks used, and he suffered so much at first that he could not remount without assistance, so sore were his hams. After a little while the manner seemed more convenient than ours, but he often remarks its inconvenience in war, and that no Turkish horseman could resist the thrust of a lance. His travelling gear consisted of a table-cloth, as he calls it, four feet in diameter, sound, and having strings attached

to it, so that when the meal was over, it was drawn up like a purse with all its contents. He bought also at Hame, Turkish spoons, knives with their steel, a comb and case, case, and a leathern cup, all which were suspended to the sword. A Circassian mamaluke in the caravan, seeing him alone and ignorant of the language of the country, took him as a companion, and saved his life from some Turcomans who would fain have killed him, considering that he was but a Christian. La Brocquiere seems with the food which he found, to have been pleased well enough a boiled goose, drest, for want of verjuice, with the green leaves of the leek, served him and his friend the mamaluke for three days. A horde of Turcomans with whom they halted gave them three cakes of bread a foot broad, round, and thinner than wafers, which they folded

60 up, as grocers do their curdled milk, called yogort. They papers for spices, and filled with cook, he says, a nice dish with green walnuts. Their manner is to peel them, cut them into two, and put them on a string, then they are besprinkled with boiled wine, which attaches itself to them and forms a jelly like paste all around them. It is a very agreeable food, especially when a person is hungry." He talks of regaling himself eagerly upon sheep's trotters, and eating buffalo cream till he almost burst. Meat dried in the sun did not please him, he found it more difficult to drink with the Turks than to eat with them, and forewarns any persons that may travel through these countries from attempting it, unless they wish to swallow as much as will bring them to the ground. Whenever indeed the Turks broke the prohibition of their law against wine, they did it in good earnest.

His friend the mamaluke was nearly dying on the road after a night spent in drinking. "In such cases they have a very large bottle full of water, and as their stomach becomes empty, they drink water as long as they are able, as if they would rinse a bottle."-A whole morning's rinsing recovered him. This vice appears to have been more commonly, or at least more openly practised among the Moslem then, than it is at present. Sultan Amurat he says, had given the government of Greece to a Bulgarian slave, merely because he had the talent of drinking hard. At Couhongue La Brocquiere met with two Cypriots sent there to renew the treaty between their king and the Karinan as he is here called. They would have persuaded him to return with them to Cyprus, and abandon a journey which they considered impracticable. He however had found more fidelity and virtue among misbelievers than they perhaps thought possible. Here the caravan broke up, and he parted from his friend the mamaluke, who warned him to be very circumspect in his dealings with the Saracens, for there were some among them as wicked as the Franks. I write this, says he, to recall to my readers memory, that the person who from his love to God, did me so many and essential services, was a man not of our faith! One of the things which they prayed to God for in this country, was to deliver them from the coming of such a man as Godfrey of Bouillon. La Brocquiere proceeded with Hoyarbarach, who had only his own people with him; when they were half a days journey from Bursa, a Bulgarian renegado reproached them for having him in their company, saying it was sinful in them who were returning from

Mecca. They notified to him in consequence that they must separate; the distance was fortunately for him so little that he entered the town safely, and the first Christian whom he met happened to be the very person to whom his letters were addressed. At Bursa he saw a public sale of Christians for slaves; this he calls a lamentable sight, and relates that he had seen a black girl led through the streets of Damascus almost naked for the same purpose. Both sights had appeared to him equally shocking, his travels are published nearly four centuries after they were written, and his countrymen at this day uphold the slavetrade.

"It was at Bursa, says the traveller, that I eat for the first time, caviare and olive oil. This food is only fit for Greeks, and when nothing better can be had." Like all travellers, he found the Greeks worse than the Turks. He joined company with some Genoese merchants bound to Pera, which then belonged to Genoa. There he met an ambassador from the Duke of Milan, on his way to Amurath, to negociate a peace between him and the Emperor Sigismond, and proceeded with him. While he was at Constantinople, the Greek Emperor having learned that he was a Burgundian, had it enquired of him if it were true that the Duke had taken the Maid of Orleans, which the Greeks would scarcely believe. Even the Greeks were astonished at the atrocious cruelty with which this extraordinary woman was treated, though perhaps superstition had more part than humanity in this wonder. La Brocquiere saw some tilting with alder-rods here, and notices it, like a good knight and a valiant, with due contempt.

Amurath chose to receive the ambassador at Adrianople. This Sultan was then in his full pride, not having yet been humbled by Scanderbeg. He was a little, short, thick man, with the physiognomy of a Tartar, a broad brown face, high cheek bones, and round beard, a great crooked nose, and little eyes, a lover of drinking, and generous when drunk. He drank indeed like a Turk and a Sultan, easily stowing away from ten to twelve gondils of wine, which the Editor computes at about three and twenty bottles; certainly no Christian, or common man could have coped with this sublime toper. The ambassador was instructed to entreat him to give up to Sigismond good part of his conquests; the answer was more reasonable than the demand, that the Sultan had never met the Emperor's forces without beating them, and that it was showing some regard to his bro ther the Duke of Milan, to abstain from pushing his conquests further.-Such was the fear in which the Hungarians stood of him, that Belgrade was garrisoned by Germans; troops that knew the Turks could not be trusted there.

This circumstance leads La Brocquiere to a dissertation concerning the strength of the Turks and the best means of recovering the Holy Land. This is ably and This is ably and impartially executed. He regards the Christians as stronger men and better warriors individually, but worse soldiers.-The discipline of the Turks being at that time excellent. When they wished to surprise the enemy, he says, ten thousand of them would make less noise than a hundred Christians.

Parthian-like, it was in their flight that they were formidable, and had most frequently been victorious, shooting their arrows while flying with unerring skill. But the Turkish bow was not strong, and their arrows were short. The conquest of Turkey he thought not difficult for a well-commanded army of French, English, and Germans. The Duke of Burgundy had planned a crusade and M. le Grand conjectures with good reason, that this part of the Esquire Carver's book was written with a view to it. This Editor speaks of the crusaders with that sort of con tempt which has been fashionable for the last century, but for which, in truth there is little cause. No wars were ever more wise in their object, or more beneficial in their consequences. They gave Christendom a respite from war, and in all human all human probability saved it from the Ottoman yoke.

La Brocquiere travelled home through Pest, Buda, and Vienna. The following passage evidently relates to the secret tribunal. It occurred at Valse, when the traveller was the guest of the Lord.

"The morrow of our arrival, a bavarian gentleman came to pay his respects to the lord of Valse. Sir Jacques Trousset, informed of his arrival, declared he would hang him on a thorn in a garden. The lord de Valse hastened to him, and entreated he would not put such an affront plied sir Jacques, should he come elseon him in his own house. Well,' rewhere within my reach, he shall not escape hanging.' The lord de Valse went to the gentleman, and made him a sign to go away, which he complied with. The cause of this anger of sir Jacques was, that he himself and the greater part of his attendants were of the secret company, and that the gentleman, having been also a member, had misbehaved *."