The Prophet enjoins that male children be taught to pray at the age of seven years, and recommends the use of the rod if they are not proficient at the age of ten. Very few, however, pray before reaching maturity, and then, I am afraid, their prayers rarely ascend higher than their heads." and is filled with a profound disgust at the ap- | manner of making the ablutions and prayers. pearance of a girl. Unquestionably, one reason for this feeling may be found in the difficulty of making suitable provision for a sex which is of little or no account, except as appendages to luxury-therefore, a marriage settlement is a momentous and not always an easy thing to bring about. More than this, a wife fresh from Georgia or Circassia is more to be desired than one of a tamer civilization. We apprehend this notion about girls is one not exclusively Turk ish: "The birth of an infant, however, is an important event in a Turkish household, especially if it be a male. Then the doors are thrown open; friends come in to congratulate the father and mother; the parents can hardly find words for their joy, and there is no end to the rejoicings and festivities. Is it a female ?-the father hangs his head, the mother is grieved, the friends keep away; all regard it as a sore infliction of Providence, and the less that is said about the unfortunate affair the better. One of the first duties to be performed on the birth of a child is to whisper into its right ear, 'There is but one God, and Mohammed is his prophet.' The father names the sons, the mother the daughters. The Moslem law prohibits the mother from weaning her child before the age of two years, without the consent of the father, which, however, is usually given a few months earlier." Traveling in Wallachia is not without its hazards and inconveniences : "The Daco-Romans have a capital substitute for a fast American railway. Nothing can be more primitive than their carutzas, or post-wagons, the origin of which must date back to the time when the Scythians wandered over the Wallachian plains. Not a particle of iron is used in the construction of the four diminutive wheels, upon which is fastened a wicker basket, resembling a crate for crockery ware, and just large enough to hold a single person of flexible extremities and moderate horizontal dimensions. "To this vehicle, but little larger than a wheelbarrow, and uniting in itself all possible inconveniences, are attached by meshes of rope from four to eight Wallachian horses, or mares, perhaps, with as many colts frisking around them. The traveler imbeds himself in the fermented hay, which is to be his only cushion, and is sufficiently supplied with thorns to keep up a cutaneous as well as mental irritation. The surruja, a swarthy, longhaired Wallach, wearing a slouched hat and ample breeches, secured at the waist by a broad leather girdle, mounts one of the hind horses ; and at his shrill cry the fleet little steeds lay back their ears, and start off at a speed that sets ordinary locomotion at defiance. Should any of the wild-looking horses give out, they are abandoned by the surruja, to be picked up on his return." So important is religious instruction considered by these people, that a unique mode of imparting the pious unction exists among them. It might not be amiss to speculate as to the probable amount of whipping Young America The mode of preparing a kid for eating by would require to impart to him an odor of the gipsies reminds one of the tradition quaintly sanctity: hinted at by Charles Lamb in the preparation "After circumcision, the father instructs his son in the of the pig, the adoption of which method he dis approves, but evidently with a watering mouth, so suggestive is it of gastronomic completeness and exceeding tenderness : "Directly in front of the khan a gipsy was engaged in slaughtering kids. Having cut the throat of one of the animals, and permitted it to bleed sufficiently, he drew a cord tightly around its neck below the incision. Then puncturing the skin on one of the fore legs, and placing his mouth over the opening, with a succession of efforts he forced the air under the integument, and, to my surprise, inflated the kid to twice or three times its former size. This done, and the air confined by a string tied around the leg, he began to beat the animal vigorously with a rod. I did not understand the object of all this, but was informed by the butcher that the beating would make the kid's flesh more tender and delicate." They turned from their course, on either side, to devastate the gardens in the cities and villages; and were so numerous as to cover the earth to the depth of several inches. At times they rested only for a moment, and then flew away to give place to myriads of others. They could be heard at a great distance, such was the noise made by their wings. The people were seized with terror upon their approach. The locusts fell upon the ground with the force of large hailstones; and it was necessary to close the doors, the windows, and even the chimneys against them. In some instances, the inhabitants were successful in driving the swarms of insects into a lake, or into the sea. The advance guard would fall into the water and form small floating islands, upon which myriads upon myriads then settled down in solid living masses three feet in depth. If the wind blew from the shore they all perished; otherwise they sometimes managed to get back, and after drying their wings resumed their flight. The legends scattered through the pages of "When the sun shines, the locusts generally fly about the work, are, to our mind, the least attractive feature it contains. We are all familiar with two hundred feet above the earth, but in dark, cloudy the oriental turn of thought and expression, weather, so low that a man who is encountered by the locusts is obliged to turn his back upon them and stand more or less at least, and we soon weary of its firmly until they have passed. The young locusts show sensuousness and limited range of ideas, to say themselves in the first days of Spring, and attain their nothing of its verbose metaphor. The betroth-full size, about two inches in length, in three or four als of the Roumanians, or as we prefer, Walla-weeks. The females deposit fifty to sixty eggs in the chians, are very curious, and should have been earth in the month of August, after which both males given with less pretentiousness the tone of highfalutin sentimentalism, with which the author has invested his descriptions, detracts materially from the interest of the reader. A plague of locusts is vigorously given : "The greatest plagues of the Moldo-Wallachs, especially those inhabiting the plains, are the clouds of locusts which at times make their appearance from the steppes of Southern Russia. They occasioned great ravages in the year 1825, but in 1828-9 visited the Principalities in such multitudes as to intercept for hours the light of the sun, destroying the crops, and in some localities leaving not a trace of vegetation behind. A few hours sufficed to transform an oasis into a desert, for every locust,' says a Russian proverb, bites like a horse, eats as voraciously as a wolf, and digests what it devours more easily and quickly than any other animal.' The inhabitants believed that the day of judgment had come. The most superstitious of them would not assist in chasing the locusts into the rivers, or help drive them away, believing that they were sent by Providence, and therefore not to be disturbed. In other places, as soon as a cloud of locusts made its appearance on the horizon, the people, men and women, young and old, ran together, and with hand-bells, guns, drums, and tin pans, set up such a din as, not unfrequently, to frighten away the winged scourges. "Smoke was found to be still more effective. When the locusts showed themselves in the air, immense bonfires of straw aud prairie grass were kindled, which sometimes caused the locusts to change their direction, but occasionally brought about the very evil they were intended to prevent. The last ranks, neither seeing nor being sensible of the smoke, pushed those before them into the flames; the heaps of victims extinguished the fire, and the entire host then settled down upon the earth and began their ravages. "It was calculated that one of these clouds of locusts, many square acres in extent, and so thick as to shade the earth like a pavilion, contained at least one billion of insects. and females perish." The following story is in a fine vein of narrative, and not without its latent good-natured satire : "The bazaars are the resort of the idlers of Stamboul. They often become the theater of curious intrigues and entanglements from the fact that Turkish females enjoy more freedom there than in other public places. On a certain day, not many months ago, says Rolland, a beautiful Moslem female might have been seen standing before one of the shops of the Bezestan. Her eyes, moist and expressive of agitation, and an appearance of discontent which the transparent yasmak did not conceal, indicated that she was not at that moment experiencing the philosophical quietude which her religion both recommends and inspires. 6 "See,' said she to the aged female who accompanied her; see, my mother, if my objections to this union are not well founded. A husband who is old, ugly and infirm! Who says he is enamored of me, when he is only jealous! Who bestows ten times less care upon me than upon the chief of his wives! Who lets me languish in solitude, without procuring me a single pleasure! He is rich, it is true; but he is also avaricious; and what advantage to me is his wealth, if I am not permitted to share it with him? See how I am clothed! What jewels does he give me? He would even forbid me to visit my parents and friends! Ah! I do not see a female pass by without sigh. ing for her lot; and especially do I envy those Frank ladies who act as they wish, who speak as they please, and whose husbands adorn them with the choicest presents afforded by the Bezestan !' "At the conclusion of this philippic, to which the mother listened attentively, the two Mussulman ladies entered the shop, filled with Moslem and Christian purchasers, who regarded with silent admiration the grace and beauty of the discontented Ayesha. "They were followed by a young man whose dress and figure marked him for a child of the Orient. He was a Levantine, the only son of an opulent Genoese family long established in Constantinople. Understanding Turkish THE MOTHER AND DAUGHTER AT THE BAZAAR. perfectly, he had not lost a word of the conversation.] His curiosity was excited to learn more concerning the fair Moslem of nineteen Summers. The latter lavished naif terms of admiration upon the marvels of taste and beauty exhibited by the merchant. Chagrined at not being able to make so valuable purchases as the Christian ladies, she criticised their dress with cutting raillery, and laughed outright when the poor Europeans attempted to try on the bracelets and slippers designed for the more delicate limbs of the daughters of the Orient. Then her former sadness returned, and she threw herself upon the divan, saying in a low voice, 'How happy are these Christians in having husbands whom they love, and by whom they are beloved!' "The moment was favorable for a suitor. Such, in fact, our Levantine had already become. He approached, and in a low tone of voice addressed the fair Ayesha. While the mother was engaged in looking over the cashmeres and jewels, the youth poured into the ears of the beautiful Moslem that intoxicating melody of words which always fascinates the daughters of Eve. A half hour more, and the enamored one had accepted the present of a magnificent necklace. It was, moreover, secretly arranged that she should return the next day, under the pretext of paying the generous Levantine. The meeting on the morrow was followed by another and another. The mother, deceived at first, afterward became an acComplice, and the two wooers were shortly the most passionate and happy lovers in the world. "The jealous and avaricious old husband happened to be detained in Syria by important business. As he had no eunuch, Ayesha lived under the protection of her own family, and enjoyed almost unlimited freedom. "But the best things have an end. "The husband returned to Stamboul the very moment when least expected. On seeing him enter his house, Ayesha, without calculating the consequences of such a step, fled to her lover; and the latter was under the necessity of disclosing the bonne aventure to his parents, declaring at the same time that he would live or die with the object of his affection. In former times, they would have been bound together in a leathern sack and made to kiss the blue waves of the Bosphorus. The first care was to conceal them. The Sardinian minister was induced to intercede, but limited his good offices to the Levantine. The latter protested that if separated from Ayesha, he would deliver himself up to the Turkish authorities. "The young wife had a sister attached to the service of one of the sultanas, who offered to intercede for her. Informed that they were willing to overlook, in part, her offense, she responded that death was preferable to a separation from her lover. This persistent heroism in a passion so sincere interested every one acquainted with the circumstances. High dignitaries interfered, and the offending ones were enabled to take refuge on board the steamer for Egypt. The Genoese merchant at last induced the Turkish husband to repudiate his wife, in consideration of several thousand piastres. Difference in religion then remained the only obstacle to a union pursued through so many difficulties. Thus, at present, the father of the Levantine maintains that Ayesha is about to become a Christian, while the mother of Ayesha insists that the young husband is on the point of embracing the faith of Islam. After all, what matters it? God is great! and the religion of lovers-is it not love?" voted to the observations and experiences of the traveler himself, while at the same time we have no right to complain of this, as it did not enter into the original plan of the author; but the indications occasionally given show both tact and spirit. Of Florence Nightingale, the wonderful and beautiful child of soul, barely a mention is made. Of himself he says: "At this point of my narrative, it is proper to allude more fully to the Turkish service, and to my own connection with the Ottoman army. On my arrival at Bucharest, the We regret that so little of the book is de-last of August, I immediately called upon the English TOMB OF THE SULTANA VOLIDE, AT EYOUT. Consul General to place myself under his protection, there being no American agent in the Prin cipalities. At his house I met Muza Pacha, an English officer who had greatly distinguish ed himself in Southern Africa, and held the rank of a general in Omer Pacha's staff. He desired me to accept of the position of a surgeon in the Turkish army, physicians being at that time in great demand. A few days afterward, we called upon Omer Pacha, who also requested that I should remain. An order was given me to join a regiment in the camp outside the city barrier, but my attention, dur ing a stay of six weeks, was confined almost entirely to the inmates of the hospitals and a few Russian prisoners. The enemy had retreated, so that there was no opportunity for active field service short of the Crimea. For a time the cholera raged fearfully in the army. A number of the Boyard palaces were converted into hospitals; but, in spite of all our efforts, 4,000 men were swept away by the frightful pestilence." The book is filled mostly with material aside from the profession of the author, although he does not fail to give us some interesting data in regard to medical lights in the Orient : "Comparatively few Turks practice medicine. The professors of the healing art in Turkey are mostly Greek and Italian adventurers, who make the simple Moslems the dupes of their charlatanism. Even those who are em a book of interest. Our traveler is not a mere living locomotive; he is evidently more at home with books than men, and everywhere through the interesting region which he visits, you perceive that he links the reminiscences of his more studious hours with the associations of the countries through which he sojourns. Sometimes, also, a sweet pathos mingles with his ob ployed professionally in the seraglio, and penetrate the mysterious harems of the Turkish grandees, do not hesi-servations, as he contrasts the state of a kingtate to administer preparations followed by the most fatal effects. The imperial license to practise anywhere in the Sultan's dominions can be obtained for a few plastres. The Turks do, indeed, profess to teach medicine in the schools attached to the mosques after the doctrines of the old Arab authors, but the practice is founded upon no definite system. Their simple remedies, however, are usually more efficacious than the treatment dictated by the ignorance and superstition of the Greeks. The believer in fatality does not fear death; and this is the principal reason why, in times of the plague, the Turks suffer less than the timid Christians. "The Mussulman will not submit to surgical operations, and consequently but one amputation took place during the entire siege, when judicious medical treatment might have saved thousands of lives. Of the three hundred wounded sent over to Widdin, after the battle of Cetate, but five ever recrossed the river." The thought of the medical profession naturally suggests the cemetery, "God's Acre," sometimes filled without warrant therefor. "The cemeteries of Pera and Scutari are the Hyde Park and Champs Elysees of imperial Stamboul. Cool and shady retreats are they; and on Sunday afternoons, particularly during the Moslem festivals, when a greater degree liberty is enjoyed by the female sex, groups of vailed women may be seen seated on the grass or the fallen monuments, sportive and merry, even in the presence of the black eunuchs who act as their attending genii. But a few feet distant, perhaps, a lovely being is weeping over a newly-filled grave; or, to soothe the passionate grief of a widowed heart, is planting flowers in the tear-moistened earth-flowers as sweet as those which Rousseau placed in the chamber of his dying Heloise. "Woman is ever kind-ever devotional; and where the stoical Mussulman thinks it unmanly to shed a tear, the Circassian, bought with his gold, finds no other solace for her grief. "The Turks regard their sojourn in Europe as a temporary encampment. They love the soil of Asia, which belongs to Islam, and whence sprung the Ottoman dynasty; and prefer sepulture, however humble, in Scutari, to a resting place ever so beautiful in magnificent Pera or sylvan Eyout. Every hour of the day, dark pro cessions hie across the Bosphorus with muffled oar, and mount the narrow way leading up to the chosen burial place of Islam, fitly named the "Ladder of Death." On this spot, crowded with perennial cypress and memorial stone, we witness, in strange contrast, the indecent haste of Turkish burials, and the dreamy pleasure-seeking of the Orientals-the most touching exhibitions of sorrow, and the liveliest manifestations of joy, with littleness and greatness, poverty and splendor, pollution and purity, mingling with the dust side by side." dom, to-day miserable and besotted, with what it was in its day of power. He is a dreamer, more than tourist. At every temptation, he is ready to turn away from the rough highway before him, to solace himself in the delectable gardens of a lively fancy. We might extract more liberally, for frequent passages abound, such as overcoming the difficulties of language by the intervention of pantomime, &c.: "Piaff, the crowning glory of every Turkish repast, was brought on; but I determined to have a chicken wherewith to finish my evening meal. I could think of the Turkish word for wings and legs, but was unable to call to mind the phrase for the tout ensemble, roasted nicely upon coals. An idea struck me. Rising to my feet, I gave a tremendous crow, which, for once in my experience, burst the floodgates of Ottoman gravity, and probably immortalized me in the estimation of my com panions. Then they smoked their pipes gravely, and exclaimed, 'God is great!' After that philological triumph, the fowl was quickly forthcoming. And hereafter, when those statuesque Moslems meet together in the khan of Bashardshik, they will doubtless tell of the howadji who spoke to them as they had never heard man speak before. In conclusion, we must again repeat our regret that a book so evidently well-timed had not been prepared with more care, for it might have been made as interesting as the travels of Anacharsis, and we are confident that the times demand all the care we have intimated. It is, however, notwithstanding some suspicious anecdotes and Oriental persiflage, a work that will be read. A GOOD MOTTO.-The maker of a new clock for Temple Hall, London, was desired to wait on the benchers of the Temple for a suitable motto to be placed upon it. After several ineffectual applications, he came just as they had sat down to dinner, and on asking for the motto, one of them testily replied “Go about your business." Taking this as an answer to his question, he placed it on the clock. The benchers, though at first surprised, concluded that there could be no better motto; so that, ever since, the Temple clock has continued to remind lawyers and others to go about their Despite of some affectation, the Roumania is business. |