taries of the Greek Church, whom he won over to his interests, at the sacrifice of a large portion of his illgotten treasures. He also sent rich presents, and an embassy in the person of the Greek Bishop of Nissa to Michaeli, the son of Prince Milosh, who at this time governed Servia, requesting him to intercede with the infuriated people.

Relying on the promises made by the Pacha to the clergy of the Greek Church assembled at Nissa, that their grievances should be redressed, threatened with excommunication, dreading the invasion of their country by Prince Michaeli, who declared he would unite his army with that of Turkey, the greater number of the insurgent peasants sullenly and reluctantly returned to their homes. The Mahometan is ever treacherous in his dealings with the Rayah; and the perfidious Mustapha of Nissa, having united his forces with those of Hussein, the Pacha of Widin, commenced those barbarous butcheries, from the details of which the soul of every man possessing a spark of humanity sickens with horror. It is recorded, that during this razzia the whole country leading from Nissa to Sofia was laid waste, and more than a hundred villages burned to the ground. At the same time, the ravages of Jacoub Pacha, at the head of a vast horde of Mussulman-Bosnians and Arnouts, almost surpass belief; their depredations were confined to Upper Moesia, extending from Nissa to the plains of Macedonia. The towns of Vrania and Leskovatz were sacked, and every valuable belonging to the Christians carried off; the churches were burnt, the clergy shot or dispersed, and the unhappy

woman who was unable to fly for protection to the Haiduc of the mountain, was treated with the most revolting barbarity; and, as if fate had willed that there should be no refuge for the Rayah but the fastnesses of the Haiduc, the heartless Prince of Servia closed his frontiers against the fugitives, who were shot if they attempted to pass into Servia.

A little conciliation on the part of these barbarous pachas might have allayed the irritation of the people, exhorted as they were to obedience by the high dignitaries of the Greek Church, and dreading excommunication; at the same time, the Sultan and his Government would have been saved much humiliation and danger.

The predatory hordes of Bosnia and Albania, intoxicated with success, and now that the valleys and defiles leading to their respective countries were deserted, having nothing to fear from the hostility of the Rayah insurgents, prepared to carry off on pack-horses to their own homes the immense booty they had acquired. But the eye of a vengeful people never sleeps; they were intercepted by bands of Haiducs, Ouskoks, and Klepts, who united to the peasants, now desperate, massacred every soul that fell into their hands to the amount of several thousands; and so great was the booty, including weapons and ammunition, that the spoil of the Arnout is still a proverb, and the victory the subject of many a spirit-stirring piesma among the Slavonian bards and story-tellers.

Encouraged by success, the insurrection may be said to have only now commenced, several towns and isolated

forts successively fell into the hands of the insurgents. Sofia and Nissa, together with many other important towns in Bulgaria, were again besieged, and even Stamboul was not secure, since the revolt had now spread into Macedonia, Thessaly, and Candia; and it may with truth be said, that the fate of the Ottoman Porte trembled in the balance, while the humiliated sovereign, to preserve his rule, saw himself obliged to seek the mediation of the Patriarch of Constantinople, and also that of the Russian Ambassador.

The mediators between the sovereign and his people, in effecting a reconciliation, were aided by the industrious habits of the Bulgarian tribes, whose love for his home and smiling fields prevailed over the excitement of glorious war, and they were again induced by many promises of ameliorating their social condition to give up the contest.

Mustapha, the Pacha of Nissa, was sent into banishment, and his nephew, the primary cause of all this mischief, was never more heard of. An Osmanli commissioner, Bey Teifik, respected by the Bulgarians, for his high probity and conciliatory disposition, was sent by the Divan, invested with full powers to grant the insurgents a general amnesty, and redress their grievances; but as these demands involved, in some instances, the rights of the Sultan, and the interests of the Osmanli grandee, Bulgarian commissioners were invited to accompany the Bey to Stamboul, that the treaty might be considered, and receive the ratification of the Sultan !

An Osmanli ruler rarely keeps faith with the Rayah. At the very moment this negotiation was going forward, advantage was taken to send Hussein Pacha with an army of tacticoes, to cover the route leading to Constantinople, and to relieve the fortresses that had been so closely besieged by the insurgents; at the same time, six thousand Albanians and Bosnians defeated the rebel Rayah chief, Milo, at Leskovatz, which led to the disorganization of his followers; but being bred in the school of Tzerni George, he still held out, and as a last resource, threw himself into the fort of Kaminitza, near Nissa, with only, it is said, thirty men; he soon fell; and his little garrison, now reduced to a few men, besieged by cannon, and finding the fort crumbling around them, cut their way, in despair, through the Turkish ranks,

and retreated to the mountains.

With Milo's death, the insurrection of the Bulgarians ended, having gained but little by their protracted and sanguinary contest. The future fate of this people-who shall tell!

CHAPTER IX.

Visit to the Pacha of Nissa-The missing Englishman-Italian doctor-Hospitality of the Pacha-Arnout guard-Crossing the Balkan-Traces of ancient roads-Aspect of the country -Splendid view-Ruins of an old Hungarian castle-Karaoul -Arrival at Orkup-Sketch of the town and inhabitantsAdvantages of an Imperial firman-An agreeable surprize.

PREVIOUS to commencing my tour in these provinces, my friends at Constantinople procured for me an Imperial firman, which secures to the traveller many privileges beyond those given by the ordinary teskeré. In addition to this, Selim, the Pacha of Belgrade, furnished me with a recommendatory letter to his friend, Wassif Mehemet Bey, Pacha of Nissa.

On arriving at Nissa, I called on the Pacha, with the intention of presenting him the letter; finding him from home, I left it with his private secretary, proposing to repeat my visit. The Pacha, on his return, as I subsequently learned, having perused my letter, gave immediate orders that I should be admitted-he would see the Englishman.