your aid." Mustapha then converted the famous power has since pressed them down, and they now church of St. Nicholas into a mosque, and on the rest in the quietude of despair. About the middle Friday of the ceremony, he repaired there in grand of the eighteenth century, driven to frenzy by the procession; and seeking to render the occurrence cruelty of a despotic governor, and by fruitless efmemorable, in the true taste of his age, he caused forts to procure his punishment or removal, the inhis prisoner, enfeebled by his sufferings, to be con- habitants of Cyprus broke out into open rebellion, ducted to the breaches which the Turkish artillery and massacred the tyrant. The Turkish authority had made in the walls of the city, and there load-was resisted for a year, but at length the insurreced with earth, taken from the ramparts. He was tion was quelled, and the work of oppression rethen led to the mosque, and compelled to remain commenced. there with this burden upon his back, stooping

During the progress of the Greek revolution, down and kissing the sill of the door, whenever Egyptian garrisons occupied the island, and the inthe Turkish general entered or went out. After habitants were prevented from breaking the Turkthis he was taken on board the great Galley of ish yoke. The Greek archbishop at Nicosia told Rhodes, and hoisted in a chair to the end of the us a lamentable tale of the cruelties inflicted upon yard, where he remained exposed to the gaze of his countrymen. To strike terror into the unforthe whole city. Then followed the last scene in tunate Greeks, as well as to deprive them of their the drama: he was fastened to a stake, planted in leaders, an order came from Constantinople for the great square of Famagosta, and there he was the massacre of the then archbishop, two bishops, skinned alive. The firmness of the Venetian and two hundred of the principal inhabitants. With martyr resisted all the refinements of Moslem cru- the usual violation of Turkish faith, these unfortuelty, and no complaint escaped him. He recited nate victims were persuaded to repair to a renthe fiftieth psalm, and expired, with the praises of dezvous, which upon some pretence was assigned God upon his lips, when the operation was half to them, and there they were all put to death. finished. The skin was sent to Constantinople; and The latest remarkable incident in Cyprian hiswell the Pasha judged his master, for it was pre-tory is the offer which, it is said, was made in the served there as a precious trophy, till finally his name of the Sultan, by the commanding officers of family ransomed it, and transported it to Venice, the English and Austrian forces, now operating where they kept it as a proud inheritance. upon the coast of Syria, to Col. Selves, the well

ment of this island, if he would renounce the service of Mehemet Ali. We have as little belief in the offer, as we should have in the refusal, if the offer were made.

One trait of character, and we close this chap-known Soliman Pasha, of the hereditary governter of Cyprian history. The Grand Seignor, learning the desperate resistance of the Venetians, remarked that he had lost more soldiers than he had gained subjects: adding, however, with all the indifference of Turkish cupidity, which regards But we must drop this retrospect, and take up wealth, and not life, that "the loss of men was the story of our voyage. Our destination was easily repaired, by the production of others." Larnica, and as we approached the island, we disSince then Cyprus has rested under the shadow of cerned at length the town, whose white houses Mahometan despotism. The incidents of its his- gradually rose out of the water, presenting a pictory for three centuries possess no interest, and turesque object, as they were intermingled with have awakened no attention. Its story may be the green foliage of the trees. The harbor is an briefly summed up in the tyranny of the rulers, open roadstead, and the buildings come down to the and in the oppression of the subjects. A tyranny, edge of the sea. We soon saw the flags of vacivil, military and ecclesiastical, which, till its ac-rious nations flying over the consular mansions, tion was enfeebled by the debility of decay, reck-where they are hoisted, in token of respect, whenless alike of life and property, seized all its vic-ever a vessel of war heaves in sight. We gazed tims could yield; and in its punishments, acknow- anxiously upon the prospect before us, seeking the ledged no limit but the will of its subordinate physiognomy of this far-famed island. To the agents-inflicting its cruelties with a barbarous east and west extended an arid beach, and further impartiality, which confounded sex, age, and con- inland was a plain, which gradually rose into a dition, and guilt and innocence, in one common mountainous ridge. There were but few traces of fate,-till at length this once beautiful spot, equally cultivation, and the eye sought in vain, farm-houses, favored in its soil, climate, and position, has become fields, and those evidences of prosperity, which a desert-the most signal example perhaps, which regions less favored by nature, but blessed with history furnishes, of the evils of an arbitrary go-happier governments, offer to the traveller. To the west was the town of Salamis, a miserable The character of the unfortunate Cypriots seems place, where the inhabitants are every year decito have undergone a change. In the middle ages mated by the malaria; but where they are tempted they were turbulent and impatient, frequently break- to remain, by the produce of the lake, which suping out into revolt: but the weight of Turkish plies the country with salt, and where it is crys

vernment.

tallized by the power of the sun. In summer the of stone, and may serve as a type of the residenlake is almost empty, but it is filled at the com-ces of the rich Cypriots. It had two stories, and mencement of the spring, and the salt is formed was entered by a porte cochére, whence a flight of as the heat increases. It is taken away as it hard-stairs led to the second story, the habitation of the ens, and piled upon the beach, whence it is trans- family. Upon these stairs, we always found postported for the supply of the markets of Syria, and ed the kavass of the consul. This is an imporof the Archipelago, and even of Constantinople. tant functionary in the East, who well deserves a As we cast anchor we were visited from the passing notice. Originally from contempt, but shore; but there being no quarantine regulations, now perhaps from fear, the governments of the we were at liberty to land without delay; and, Mahometan countries refused to take cognizance availing ourselves of this power, we left the ship of disputes between Christian residents, subjects immediately, and repaired to the house of the of other powers. These differences are left to American Consul. We found this gentleman, Mr. their proper consuls to arrange, and thence has Mattei, and his amiable family, prepared to render grown up a peculiar jurisdiction in those regions. us all the services in their power. He is himself The consuls are powerful personages, exempt an Italian, and his wife is an Arab, from some part from the Turkish local authorities, and enjoying of Mount Lebanon; and they have one son, an important privileges: among these, the dearest to intelligent, promising young man, and two daugh- the natives of the country who are selected for ters. The young ladies preserved in their cos- foreign consuls, is their freedom from taxation. tume, a mixture of Frank and Oriental fashions, These consular offices are therefore sought with which was something picturesque, and in unison great avidity; and happy is the oppressed Greek with the style of their beauty. While we remain- or Armenian, who can put on the livery of a Chrised at Larnica, we often visited this family, and tian nation, and hoist its protecting flag upon his they were always kind and hospitable. But we still made the frigate our home, as we could find no where else in the East, the comforts which an American ship of war carries with her. Even, however, in this distant and secluded spot, two of our countrymen had established themselves Messrs. Pease and Thompson,-induced by a noble zeal to spread the truths of the gospel, and to be useful in the education of the Cyprian youth.

mansion. As, however, an infidel dog, even when enjoying the highest immunities, cannot interfere with the true believer, it was necessary, in order to conciliate this fundamental maxim of Mahometan law, with the duties and privileges of the consul, to provide them with an agent charged with their protection, and with the execution of their orders. During the existence of the Janissaries, a member of that powerful corps was always selected for We found that these worthy missionaries and this purpose; for whatever else may have been their families had won for themselves general es- the faults of their organization, or of their conteem, and were indefatigable in the execution of duct, they had won for themselves a reputation of their self-imposed task. We have since learned, great fidelity towards the persons in whose emwith great regret, that Mr. Pease has fallen a vic-ployment they were placed. The Consular Janistim to the insalubrity of the climate, the martyr of his own generous self-devotedness.

sary was called a kavass, and the name and functions still continue, though the turbulent body has It is generally agreed that Larnica occupies the been abolished from which these functionaries were site of the Necropolis of Citium. Ruins of that chosen. Our friend the Cyprian kavass, was a extinct eity yet exist, pointing out its position and fine specimen of the Ottoman race. Well proporextent; and the stones of its ruined edifices yet tioned in stature, with a black piercing eye, a proud furnish building materials for the construction of look, and a flowing beard, he stood there the reSalamis and Larnica. The Abbé Marite, who presentative, as it were, of the haughty warriors wrote a very good work in Italian upon Cyprus, who professed to maintain by the sword, what by describes Larnica as the most agreeable place in the island; and we might be unjust if we withheld the reason, which does more honor to his frankness than to his taste: "for I know," says he, "nothing more interesting than a commercial place." However this may be, its port is the most accessible to the interior of the country; and it is, in fact, the great mart of Cyprus. We examined everything in the city and its environs, worthy of observation. It contains nearly a thousand families, as well Greek as Turk. There are some wealthy merchants and proprietors, but a large portion of the inhabitants are not merely poor-they are miserable. The house of the consul was built

the sword they had acquired. His costume was in admirable keeping with his physical properties: his head was covered with an immense turban. He wore a close tunic of silk, girded by a belt which contained his richly ornamented handjar and pistols, and loose flowing pantaloons. Over these was his large red robe, and in his hand he held a long baton, ornamented with a silver head. Woe to the unhappy Greek who should pass him without due reverence.

Ascending the stone staircase thus guarded, the visitor passes through a large ante-chamber, whence he is introduced into the salon of reception. This is an extensive apartment, well lighted, and look

ing out upon the sea, with a high ceiling, having of the Mahometan religion. It was a curious and the floor covered with matting. It is plain, and interesting spectacle, and we returned again and with little furniture, the principal article being a again to observe it. On the ruins of the former silk divan, which extends around the room. There steeple, a minaret has been erected, and it is from are neither chairs, tables, looking-glass, nor pic-this tower that the muezzin calls the faithful to tures. The oppressive heat of the climate seems prayers. The Mahometans interdict the use of the enemy to be feared; and a cool temperature bells, both in their mosques and in the Christian the summum bonum to be sought. An extensive places of worship; and in the Latin and Greek court-yard was in the rear of the house, and a gar-churches, we found the time of worship announced den ornamented with flowers, shrubs and trees, by the striking of a long board, which gives out a whose shade and foliage were in agreeable contrast with the parched country which surrounded the

town.

most lugubrious sound. But the Turkish hours of prayer are proclaimed by a peculiar officer, who is called a muezzin, who ascends the minaret, which We wandered through the streets, gazing upon rises from each mosque, and from the top, calls all that was worthy of a look, and upon much that out towards the south, then towards the east, and was not. These streets are narrow, crooked and the north, ending with the west. The summons dirty, and exhibit a most stoical indifference to is a fixed formula, every where alike, and is an all the regulations of police. The common houses invocation of the name of God, and of Mahomet, are built of dried brick, mixed with straw, which his prophet. It is expressed in a kind of howl, in the rainy season, admit the water in abundance. uttered with the full force of the lungs, while the Their external color is red, but the interior is fingers are held to the ears. While lying in the painted with a white pigment, found in the neigh-beautiful basin of Constantinople, with Europe on boring hills; and some of them are commodious. one side, and Asia on the other, we many a time They are covered with earth, mixed with clay, and watched the muezzins of the neighboring mosques, floored with stones. as they wound their way slowly up the minarets, One of our first visits was to the mosque. It and have there seen and heard them address themwas formerly a Latin church. It is a Gothic edi-selves in succession, to the four cardinal points of fice, whose front is ornamented with six marble the heavens, announcing that the hour of prayer columns, divided into three naves, by four pillars was come. And at night there was something afwhich support the roof. We found the Mahome-fecting in these loud warnings, issuing from a thoutan ecclesiastics of Cyprus more liberal than in sand towers of a populous and sleeping capital, any other part of the Turkish Empire. Whether and coming mournfully to us over the waters, anthis relaxation of fanaticism was toleration or in-nouncing the existence of God, and the duties of difference, we know not; but the fact is certain. man. These cries are uttered five times in the Wherever else we had sought entrance into a twenty-four hours, at dawn, at noon, at three mosque, we had found difficulties, which some- o'clock, at sunset, and at midnight. At each antimes the local functionaries removed, and some- nunciation, every true believer should repeat the times we declined to encounter, freely acknow-stated prayer, and on Friday, the Mahometan Sabledging the danger of contending against prejudices bath, a sixth prayer is enjoined, which should take which time had not softened. With every dispo- place an hour before sunset. At noon is the prinsition to promote our wishes, and with all the cipal ceremony in the mosques; and we observed influence which high rank and extensive power, at Larnica that the attendance at that hour was civil and military, gave him, the Governor General numerous. Infidelity has no doubt made great of Syria, Sheriff Pasha, freely told us at Damascus, that it would be dangerous for us to enter the great mosque of that city, a peculiar object of veneration; and so far was this caution carried, that our guide in this ancient place, built before the days of Abraham, Seid Ali, who was attached to the British Consulate, and whose natural shrewdness had been augmented by foreign travel, as much as his true faith had been diminished, allowed us only to cast a stealthy glance into this holy edifice, as we passed the doors, which were opened for the entrance of all true believers.

havoc in the ranks of Islamism; and we were given to understand in the East, that most of the high functionaries, and of the enlightened men, were the veriest skeptics in their religious faith. It cannot but be that the progress of information will reveal the nakedness of Moslem pretensions, and the absurdities of the dogmas of Mahomet. Still, however, fanaticism usurps the place of rational belief; and high or low, whether sincere or hypocritical, must practice the outward observances enjoined by the Arabian prophet. Even the Padisha must make his procession to the mosque, But in Larnica no one was excluded from the as solemnly as in the days of the Amuraths or mosque. Our sailors entered it at pleasure, and the Othmans; and we saw the late Sultan Mahmoud, "we roamed through it as freely as we should have when, in his splendid caique he crossed the Bosdone through a Catholic church; and in the midst phorus to repair to one of his temples, there to of the performance of the most holy ceremonies offer up his prayers, as required by the Koran. It

was a glorious spectacle, whose impression no time | the appearance and costume of Mahmoud. He çan efface. The broad strait which unites the passed within a few feet of us, and cast his eye Euxine with the Propontis was still; there was not a ripple upon the water, nor a cloud in the heavens; a numerous Turkish fleet rode at anchor, some of which were three-deckers, and there were vessels of war of other nations, and all these ships were in their gala trim, set off with flags of every hue and shape; the shores were crowded with spectators, and the harbor with boats, and these were not like our boats, but light and slim, and elegantly fitted up,—and they seemed instinct with life.

at the striped banner which waved over us, as if uncertain to what nation these Giaours belonged. He then looked steadily at us, and gave us the opportunity to observe his features, under the most favorable circumstances. His face was rather pallid, the effect perhaps of his intemperate habits, which, it was well known, had obtained a mastery over him. But this color set off to the greatest advantage the noblest black beard which ever enriched a Moslem chin; but which, alas! for imperial vanity, we have since ascertained, owed its When the Commander of the Faithful left his intense hue to cosmetics, and not to nature. His summer palace, upon the Asiatic side of the Bos- eyes were jet black, and we have never encounterphorus, and entered his gilded caique, these huge ed a pair more piercing. They were well characships opened their guns, and saluting in succession, terized by an English diplomatic gentleman of kept up a deafening roar of artillery. It was cu-high literary character, who had been presented to rious to see these immense machines paying this him, and who was describing to us the ceremony, tribute of acknowledgment, to the little speck as "the eyes of a fierce beast, rather than of a which glided by under their sterns. It was indeed man." There was certainly an expression, accoma fairy boat, carved, gilded, and ornamented in the panying their fixed gaze, such as we have never most magnificent style; with silk awnings, curtains seen issue from a mortal head. It seems to have and cushions, and rowed by a vigorous crew in heightened, if not to have produced that sentiment rich uniforms. And upon these cushions reclined of apprehension, and sometimes of terror, expethe successor of the Prophet, with his head suffi- rienced by the functionaries of his government, ciently elevated to look around him, and regarding when admitted into his presence. His features with apparent interest the whole gorgeous specta- were regular and agreeable; and there was an air cle. At his feet were two great officers of his of majesty about him which agreed well with the court their functions would no doubt appear more head of the Ottoman Empire. He wore a blue dignified and their stations more important, if we frock coat, with an order upon his breast, a red could give their titles as these are set forth in the Fez cap upon his head, and over his shoulders an Turkish Blue Book. But not having access to embroidered cloak. His stature we could not disthe records of the Imperial Court, and being desi- tinguish, for he retained his reclining position, rerous to do all justice to the wisdom of institutions turning a slight inclination of the head to the saluwhere personal servility is sought to be disguised tation we made, as he passed by us. And thus by pompous words, we must ask our readers to disappeared this vision. tax their memories for some of these titles, exist- But to return to Moslem devotion. There is ing relics of barbarism, which yet survive in Eu- something touching in the earnestness and puncrope, and to apply these to the attendants of Mah- tuality with which the duties of prayer are permoud. An obvious analogy suggests to us, that formed; and the more absurd their tenets, the more one of these was the Lord Great Chamberlain of regret is felt, that a people thus docile to a false the Puffing Department, and the other the Lord faith have not received their inspirations at a purer High Steward of the Blowing Department. The fountain. We often observed, that whatever ocformer carried the pipe, and presented it to the cupation engaged the attention of our Turkish atsacred lips; and the other the fan, and invoked the tendants, they would stop in the midst of their breezes of the Bosphorus upon the Vicegerent of employments, prepare themselves for the ceremoAllah. It is melancholy, indeed, to destroy the nial of prayer, according to their ritual, and then romance of magnificence by the enunciation of a plain fact, but our duty as a faithful chronicler requires us to say, that one of these great men was the sultan's pipe-bearer and the other his fan-holder. Immediately following the caique of Mahmoud was another, in which was his son, the present Emperor, Abdul Medfid.

repeat the prescribed form. Many a time, when the hours of prayer came, we have seen them dismount in the road, spread out their little carpets, which they always carry upon a journey, make their ablutions with sand, instead of water, turn towards Mecca, and recite their invocations to Allah and the Prophet. It is well known that the Koran We had embarked in one of our boats to have enjoins the washing of the hands and feet before a better view of the ceremony, and rowed to a part religious ceremonies. When water can be had, of the harbor where we knew the Sultan must they are scrupulous in the performance of this pass. As the Imperial barge approached, we lay duty; where it cannot, by a kind of pious fraud,— upon our oars, and taking off our hats, watched that an Anglo-Saxon lawyer might call a fiction

of religion, which, like the fictions of law, that do be followed, but the monuments of Citium have one thing, and presume another, and satisfy a ten-given way before the cupidity of Salamis and of der conscience,-they throw sand upon their limbs. Larnica; and the quarry was too convenient, not They have no false shame in the most public per- to furnish building materials for these modern ciformance of their religious duties; and one cannot but be sensibly struck by the reflection, that at daily fixed periods, all the inhabitants of a great city, whatever their rank or employment, or whereever they are, whether in seclusion or in society, whether upon a throne or in a prison, kneel down together, and professing a mutual faith, implore the Divine blessing!

ties. This is the constant course of things in the East; and Turkish lime-kilns and miserable habitations have absorbed some of the most beautiful works of art, which had survived the revolutions of twenty centuries.

We desired to survey the condition of the Cyprian women, and to form a correct estimate of their station in society, and of their qualities, physical and moral. But our time was too short, and our opportunities too unfavorable for anything more than a passing glance. We shall tell however what we saw.

We found the interior of the mosque of Larnica destitute of all ornaments. There was a kind of elevated tribune, or pulpit, near one corner, which was occupied by the imaum, or attending priest. There were neither divisions nor seats: all was It must be recollected that this island is divided perfectly plain. The congregation kneeled each between the Greeks and the Turks and there is upon a mat, carpet, or corner of his garment, and no more marked difference in the whole social state seemed to recite his prayer with much fervor. of the Mahometans and Christians than is found in Their genuflexions and motions were not the least the customs which regulate the condition of the curious part of the ceremony. They first kneeled women. Any general portrait would be fallacious. down, and struck their foreheads against the floor; The common features are too few to appear upon they then arose upon their knees, bowing repeat-the same canvass. To be faithful, there must be edly; and then upon their feet, raising their hands two sketches—one for each religion. We do not towards the heavens; and then crossing them upon aspire to present either. We shall content ourtheir hearts. Sometimes they were motionless, selves with a trace or two, which may serve as a apparently engaged in earnest devotion; and these "relief" to the works of other artists. We have alternations of posture continued during all the often met the Mahometan women in the streets, ceremony. It is difficult for a spectator, who has but their uncouth costumes on such occasions denot often been present upon these occasions, to prived them of all interest. Covered with a long convey an adequate conception of the ceremonial. dark hood or mantle, their features, and even their It was obvious, however, that the whole was regu- forms, were wholly concealed: but the holes in lated by an established ritual, for all the congrega- their masks enabled them to survey that world to tion followed the same form, and went through which they were impenetrable. Sometimes a their motions in perfect unison. While this cere- bright look would pierce through these windows, mony was going on upon the floor of the mosque, revealing the fire of intellect and emotion, which the imaum in the tribune was not idle. He ad- might be hid, but not smothered. Under these dressed the auditory in an uninterrupted monoto- circumstances the nearest kinsman cannot recognous tone; and the only definite explanation we nize his relation, and a husband may be jostled by could gather from our interpreter of the meaning his own wife without suspecting who is near him. of his discourse, may be summed up in these words, No doubt the pictures of Eastern life, so richly "God is great, there is but one God, and Mahomet traced in the Arabian tales, contain many a faithis his prophet." His sermon, if it may be so called, ful portrait of female infidelity. But the painting continued about twenty minutes; and though we is overcharged; and we believe there is neither were not fortunate enough to comprehend the tenor that eternal jealousy and caution on the part of the of his remarks, yet other travellers, with better husbands, nor that disregard of their duties on means of information, have said, that the Maho-the part of their wives, which we have been taught metan priests, in their addresses, and in their ex- to suppose exist in all Mahometan countries. Inpositions of the Koran, dwell with some force upon stead of a dissertation we will give an incident, great moral duties, and inculcate the necessity of a holy life, as well as of a pure faith.

which our readers may not find uninteresting, and which will convey a general notion of the life of We sought the remains of the ancient city of the Turkish women of the wealthy class. Its Citium, whose site Larnica has usurped. But scene is at Damascus, but there is such an identity nothing satisfactory could be seen. The founda- in the Moslem female manners, that what happened tion of the walls, and of a few edifices, may yet at the city of Pharpar and Albana, may have be traced; and there are ruins, which mark the happened at any other place in the Empire-at Conformer existence of extensive aqueducts-those stantinople or at Mecca, at Cairo or at Larnica. structures which seem to have been so indispensa- While in Damascus, we were fortunate enough ble to the cities of antiquity. The ditch, too, may to become acquainted with Mr. Farran, the British