Travels in Turkey, Asia Minor, Syria, and across the desert into Egypt ...

l80
TRAVELS IN ASIATIC TURKEY,
their government. They are hardy, temperate, patient under af-
flictions, and upright in their dealings. Having been accustomed
from an early age to an abstemious mode of living, and innred to
hardships,
those of the inferior classes are well calculated for a mi-
litary life. Their customary diet consists of a small portion of
bread or biscuit, with a scanty allowance of cheese, onions, olives,
and oil, whenever either or any of these articles can be procured.
It occurs but seldom that they can gratify themselves by an indul-
gence in animal food; and in such cases they are very fond of a pilaw,
consisting of a strong gravy made from mutton, fowls, &cc.
in which a proportion of boiled rice is stewed. This luxury, how-
ever, but seldom falls to the lot of the military by whom the
Turkish ranks are filled, and who have recourse to other and less
costly gratifications, the principal of which are coffee and tobacco.
The former thev drink in as
strong an infusion as possible; and to
the use of the latter
they are so much addicted, that the pipe is the
inseparable companion of many of the women even among the
lower ranks of the Turks. Wine being prohibited bv the Koran,
the usual beverage of every class of Mussulmen is water; but when-
ever they can prevail on themselves to overcome their religious scru-
ples so far as to indulge in the use of wine or spirits, they swallow
them so copiously, and with such eagerness, that, in the intoxication
which follows, they become extreme.
noisy
and riotous in the
The game of chess, which is not prohibited like gambling with
cards or dice, is one of their amusements in the camp, as well as
in the towns. They are likewise very fond of singing, which is
generally performed in a harsh and discordant tone, without any
modulation of the voice.
In addition to this
scanty allowance of bread, or biscuit and rice
(and of barley for his horse, if
belonging
to the
cavalry),
the Turk-
ish soldier is allowed from five to ten aspers, that is, from a penny
to two-pence, English, per day. With this wretched stipend he
is obliged to supply himself with tobacco, coffee, onions, olives,
Sec. When sick, he has little to expect from medical skill or at-
tendance, and can place as small a dependance on the administra-
tion of the necessary remedies, which are very rarely supplied to
combat his disease. 1 was acquainted with four surgeons belonging
to the army of the Grand Vr/ier, three of whom were Italians,
whose practice was chiefly confined to the pachas and commanders
of the different corps. They fell victims to their professional duties.