might have a nail therein, against the nails in the deck, were naturally not very easy during the operation; but the Turks cared no more about danger than bull-dogs. They received us cordially; but I fear we did not duly appreciate their civility, for we hurried from that ship, and betook ourselves to another at a convenient distance.

In the Turkish navy they have no hammocks or messtables. They roll their mess traps up in a carpet, which is stowed in the nettings; the consequence is, that a Turkish ship looks unusually clear to an English or French officer. When they go to dinner these carpets are unstowed, and the mess form themselves round their eternal cloth, and feed with their fingers; as knives and forks have yet to penetrate through the folly of national custom. They have not studied "The Results of Machinery;" and are by no means convinced that tables, chairs, glasses, &c., contribute to the comforts of life. As to beds on board, they are unknown; the Turkish sailor lies down upon the softest plank he can find, and is always ready at a moment's call, as he never unrigs himself. Aloft they are a mass of blocks and a crowd of ropes. It would require some nice discrimination in declaring the superiority between them and their enemies the Russians. The latter have wonderfully improved within these last four years, and have now some pretensions to good discipline and proper appearance. But the Turks, if they are commonly deficient in seaman-like appearance, are uncommonly deficient in the science of navigation. The master of one of their ships asked for the sun's declination for the present and ensuing year; mentioning, with a look of consummate satisfaction, that he was the only man in the ship who understood either compass or quadrant. He was quite astonished at being told that all our youngsters understood the mystery; and remarked, when he saw one of us take an altitude, "that the beardless boy had much wisdom." Mr. Morier mentions a similar occurrence in Aadji Baba; the Persians were confounded at the science of the boys; but we might return them the compliment, for they can tell when a man ought to take physic from an altitude of the sun or a star. The Turk's astonishment was increased when he was given to understand that almost every man in the ship could manage the helm, and

that many could work the reckoning. The Turkish navy was, of course, voted gloriously out of order. We saw that fleet weigh to go in search of the enemy, and we saw them shorten sail one after the other, as they came into the world. To the last day of our remaining we had thousands of Turkish seamen to witness our sending down the top-gallant and royal yards without a man aloft. They had no no more idea of tripping-lines than they had of a pianoforte.

The Turks, unlike the South Americans, rise with the lark. On the morning of the day fixed for the leave of audience with the sultan, we fired a salute at four o'clock A. M. as his sublime majesty passed the ship. By five o'clock the ambassador with his numerous suite, in which was included Lord Byron, Mr. Hobhouse, and all the disposable officers of the Salsette, had landed at Constantinople. Horses, richly caparisoned, were in attendance. The animal destined to bear the envied load of diplomacy was covered with gold, the whole accoutrements being magnificent; the other superiors of our cortége had horses arranged for them, but amongst the minor stars, we scrambled for ours. I selected a fine gallant gray, with a rich embroidered saddle-cloth, which began to caper and prance, much to my annoyance, when it felt my light weight. The road, or rather streets, were lined with janizaries, through two files of whom we had to pass; and these soldiers took care we kept our places, for if we attempted to ride out of our rank, they seized the bridle and reinstated us. In this manner, and without any accident, we arrived at the Seraglio gate, making, for Christians, a very creditable show, and assuming as much gravity as we could command on the occasion; but midshipmen are always boys, even if they are fifty years of age, and as we found ourselves out of sight of the captain, we laughed most un-orientally, and amused ourselves by endeavouring to unship one another upon every possible occasion. Mustapha, who had resided in England, and who was specially entrusted with the care of us, often rebuked us for the want of proper respect for the sultan's officers, which severally were quizzed, as we passed them. Indeed, Mustapha himself stood a good chance of being accommodated with a fowl's feather in his turban; but we

relinquished the idea, when we considered the care and
attention we always had received from this excellent
janizary, and dragoman. We alighted at the outer gate
of the Seraglio, and repaired to the inner square. Here
we were to be amused by seeing the troops paid; I fancy,
a sight the soldiers would like to see a little more fre-
quently and regularly at present. The money for the
different companies was put in various bags, and placed
at a certain distance from the soldiers: at the word of
command, they all started for the prize, the quickest run-
ner getting possession.
He received some extra paras (a
small coin, three of which make a penny,) for conveying
the bag to the barracks. This was amusing enough for a
short time, but we soon tired of ungraceful clumsiness, and
of seeing a heap of Turks sprawling on the ground. We
were ushered into the hall, in which was the grand vizier ;
we had on a previous day taken leave of him, which I have
omitted, as the present scene with the sultan was the most
magnificent, Blackberries and pomegranates are never
dished up at the same table.

The grand vizier was seated under a kind of canopy, on a raised musnud; before him was a table, about two feet from the floor; and in different parts of the room were round tables placed, or sprinkled about, like those in a club-room. The ambassador sat at the table of the grand vizier :-if he was allowed to place his knee on the musnud or not, I could not see, and certainly should not have remarked the rest were distributed at the different tables, according to their respective ranks, with the exception of myself. Captain Bathurst never allowed me to go out of his sight, without Mustapha had hold of me; so that I now had the honour of being near the great capitan bashaw, the Turkish admiral, who never had been to sea since the day he was born! We squatted like tailors-a position easy enough for a boy, but irksome in the extreme to a grown person, unaccustomed to make coats, or to keep his legs in one position like a fakir. Tablecloths we had; but the substitutes for fingers, knives and forks, were dispensed with. When we had taken our seats, an order came from the sultan, "that the infidels might be clothed and fed, and brought before him." We were to be fed first, and commenced operations after the following singular

manner :-bear in mind, it is not every man who has been robed by the sultan of the East, and crammed in company with his grand vizier. Inhsallah! Praise God! I am somebody.

One dish was brought at a time, and placed in the centre of the table. We had no soup; and if fish was offered, it was in such an oriental garb, that I never found my friend out. As may be supposed, no Christian was in a hurry to begin the repast. A mass of jammed meat was placed before us, swimming in gravy, greasy enough; and we had neither knife, fork, or spoon. The capitan bashaw, with proper becoming Turkish gravity and politeness, aware of our awkwardness, kindly became our master, and set a laudable example, by plunging his fingers into the dish of mashed meat, and throwing his head back with most oriental elegance, (for Turks are elegant and polished in their manners,) deposited the savoury morsel into as wide a mouth as Grimaldi's. It was beautifully executed; not a drop of gravy fell upon his dress, and he followed up the first attack with a rapid seizure of another pinch. My eyes were fixed upon the great admiral. I opened my mouth instinctively, in imitation of my superior officer. Our party looked at each other in silent astonishment: the example fairly set, we were not hasty to follow; for it was wisely remarked that the fingers of the heretic ought not to dip in the same dish with those of the faithful; but as the sultan had desired that the infidels should be fed, we considered it nothing more than common civility to obey so sublime a mandate; and as we protested in former days against a priest receiving the sacrament for the whole body of communicants, so we respectfully protested against the capitan bashaw eating for all of us. I took an encouraging wink from his lordship, and stretched my eager hand, which Captain Bathurst very properly put aside, saying, "S-s-stop, youngster, I fancy you have had a scarcity of w-w-w-water; let me tr-tr—trtry first, why you have forgotten to w-w-wash your hands this morning." I believe there was some truth in the accusation; a toilet at four o'clock is never very care. fully performed: we always called the Turks dirty fellows, and I concluded that I should not be worse than my neigh. bours. We all got on well enough, and pecked away at

discretion; dish after dish was brought in rapid succession, and into every one I dipped my paw. We ate in silence, more like baboons than human creatures. Turks seldom converse with much animation at any time, and often have 1 seen them swallow smoke and coffee for hours together without uttering a syllable. Of all the eatables offered, we managed the kabobs the best: these are small pieces of grilled meat placed upon a wooden skewer, about a respectable mouthful in size, and easily handled; but of these, for it is a common dish, and by no means admissible into a Turk's cookery-book as a fashionable edible, there were but few, and they were shortly demolished. Towards the conculsion of the feast came a boiled turkey. We looked at each other, then at the bird. I laughed outright at the sudden dilemma, and silence was broken by Captain Bathurst, who voted us "p-p-properly puzzled at last;" but no! the capitan bashaw seized the bird by the breast, and twisting his hand, tore off a large portion of the meat; another of our party, the present Sir Stratford Canning, I believe, attempted to follow the example, but he was unsuccessful as to quantity, and we hesitated to make another trial. I ventured to hint, for I like turkeys, that the legs could be easily managed and that a certain good allowance would be the result of success. 'Well, then," said the captain, "do you sieze one, and I'll try the other." I did as I was ordered, (good boy!) and in a second we left only the body for the rest of the company. It was boiled to rags, and hardly repaid us for the laugh we occasioned. The bashaw did not laugh; he never relaxed a muscle of his face, and seemed to think himself by no means nearer heaven for being placed in such excommunicated society. I counted thirty-two dishes the last was the worst of all: to judge from appearance, taste, and smell, it was a composition of garlic, onions, and toad-stools, and which very nearly dislodged what I had so carefully stowed away. Iced sherbet, a beverage fit for angels, was handed round, and drank out of silver goblets; after which came baked pears, done exactly in our fashion, with the sauce as red, as if the cochineal fly was used in Turkish kitchens as well as in our own. There was now a dead halt for a short time; when a phalanx of doubtful men appeared with silver VOL. I.

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