CHAPTER XVIII.

Route to Adrianople-Plain of Thrace-Tumuli-Description of Adrianople-Great mosque-Observations upon Islamism -Its tendencies-Insalubrity of Adrianople-Sketch of the Great Fair at Usundji-Notices on the fairs of European Turkey-Arrival at Philippopoli-Its inhabitants-Commerce -Armenian nationality-Their characteristics-The Paulinists, a religious sect at Philippopoli.

ON leaving the banks of the Maritza and its tributaries, with their picturesque hills, romantic valleys and defiles, we enter the vast plain of the ancient Thrace, something between an elevated steppe and a prairie, extending from Philippopoli to the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmora and Constantinople; not far short of eighty leagues in length, and inhabited for the most part by nomade tribes-Turks, Turkomans, Tatars and Bulgarians.

In the midst of the land of these wandering shepherds, the populous city of Adrianople-the Turkish Edréné-elevates itself in all its Oriental grandeur of mosque, minaret and kiosk. To relieve the sameness

of the landscape, we have tumuli instead of hills, tents, and ozier huts for towns and cities. The tumuli, those mysterious monuments of the earliest inhabitants of the world, are frequently found rising to a considerable height. In one place we find them grouped together like gigantic mole-hills, and in another swelling into a little mountain.

The Slavonians call them by the name of Ounka, and the Osmanli Tepé. If you ask the one what has been their destination, he will tell you they are the sepulchres of the Hunka (Huns); while the haughty Osmanli tries to make you believe they were erected by his ancestors as posts of observation during the conquest of the country. They are not peculiar to this part of Thrace; I found them equally numerous in Krim Tatary, Central Asia, Russia and Poland; everywhere the same, conical in shape, formed of earth, and scattered about without any plan or order whatever.

In these vast prairies, the Osmanli is the dominant race; he here pursues his original occupation-a wandering shepherd, surrounded by his flocks and herds, with the bright blue heaven for his canopy, and the fragrant herb for his bed. Next comes the mercurial Greek, who eschews labour, and flies to seek a maintenance, by his superior intellect and shrewdness, in the towns and cities on the sea-coast. The Bulgarians, who have already commenced disturbing this home of the dead, by using the plough, are fast advancing in point of numbers on the other two, and, thanks to their healthful occupation and sobriety, their families

are more numerous and healthy. Another innovation on the customs of the old Osmanli is also visible here; you may travel from Constantinople to Adrianople on a char-à-banc, which perhaps in a little time may give way to the rail.

On approaching Adrianople, the plain becomes contracted, and we again see the towering mountain. We are also reminded of the vicinity of a large and populous town, by the number of gardens, orchards and cultivated fields that skirt the pathway of the caravan. The town itself, with its numerous mosques, minarets and painted kiosks, now partly hid in the foliage of the trees, and again developed to its full extent, fascinates the eye of the traveller, and, as a picture, cannot be surpassed by the romantic aspect of the public buildings, and the beauty of the situation. There is a fine fertile plain with its meandering rivers in front, and mountains shelving down to hills in the back ground.

Adrianople has the advantage of being situated on three rivers the Maritza, the Arda, and the Tondja. From the neglected state of these streams, here and there forming marshes, the town is infested with mosquitoes; this, with the filth of the streets, and the number of mangy dogs roving about without home or master, render it a disagreeable residence. It is also much subject to typhus fever, and never free, even during the winter, from intermittent fever.

The mosque built by Sultan Bajazet, when Adrianople was the capital of the Ottoman Empire, is the finest religious edifice ever constructed by the Turks. Euro

pean genius has invented nothing in architecture more bold and original than this splendid building, nor anything that produces so charming an effect as its elegant minaret, piercing the air to a height of more than a bundred feet.

A few piastres, given to the Muezzin, gained me admission. How changed is the spirit of the age, since the day when a Christian dog could not cross the threshold of a mosque, and live! All that is required of the traveller now, is to leave his shoes at the door and remain silent, lest he should disturb the Faithful at their prayers. The embellishments of this mosque, which are simple and elegant, differ but little from those in Constantinople, and the whole building was a pattern of cleanliness.

A few devout Osmanli still lingered, or lay about on their knees and faces, deeply absorbed in prayer. That perfect abandonment with which the Mahometan resigns himself to the Almighty in his devotions, is one of the sublimest spectacles of religious feeling to be found among the members of any creed whatever. He sees nothing, he hears nothing; the whole world, its joys and cares, are forgotten in the intensity of his devotion. There are no useless ceremonies to captivate the senses; no images to tempt the human imagination into the sin of adoration; no dogmas but the belief in one God, and but two great duties imposed upon him by his creed-prayer, and charity to all mankind.

We cannot wonder that these humanizing principles, introduced among mankind by its energetic founder,

Mahomet, as the basis of his new creed, should have succeeded in making such rapid progress among the wandering tribes of Asia, promising as it did, not only happiness in this world, but all that the boundless fancies of man could invent of celestial joys in the next. And however false may have been the creed of Mahomet, its earliest followers were pre-eminent for virtue, and continued to live in harmony with the professors of every other religion, till the ambition of mighty chiefs, combined with priestcraft, made it a political vehicle for the enslavement of mankind, when Islamism became a persecuting religion, enforcing its peculiar tenets by the sword.

Without reference to the truth or falsehood of the creed of Mahomet, in the precepts of its religious code and legislative enactments, we everywhere see the absence of a master-mind, and in no respect more striking than in the indolent resignation inculcated to the decrees of heaven, and which teaches a man to fold his arms, and in utter abandonment, perish by his own voluntary inaction. The most energetic people that ever existed could not withstand the paralyzing influence of such a doctrine. This may be numbered among the principal causes which have led to the decadence of every Mahometan country, interwoven as it is into all the habits, customs and manners of the people, and forms we fear an almost insurmountable barrier against any Mahometan community ever becoming highly civilized, great and powerful.

We have a striking example of the baneful effects the creed of Mahomet exercises over the character and