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

34 TRAVELS IN ASIATIC TURKEY,
into new milk as much of this acidulated fluid as will curdle it in a
It is then eaten with is
slight degree.
sugar, very palatable, and,
mixed with strawberries becomes a good substitute for cream. The
milk sold here is generally a mixture, being drawn from goats,
sheep, cows, and buffaloes.
To resume my narrative. On the 28th and 29th of June, I
visited the barracks at Levant Chi/lick. The heat was less oppressive,
the thermometer at
being seventy-five. The harvest was now
begun, and I saw, during my rides, the Turks busied in mowing
their corn. They had a tolerable crop of bearded wheat (in all
Turkey the wheat is bearded), which was of a good quality.
stead of threshing it, it is their practice to harness horses and oxen
to a .small car, the bottom of which is studded with portions of
flint to cut and bruise the straw, the grain being disengaged by the
trampling of the feet of the animals, who move in a circular direction,
as S in a mill.
The 30th, on my return from the barracks, I dined and spent a
very agreeable afternoon with Mr. Thornton, an English merchant
at Buyukdere. His details relative to the oppression of the ryahs,
under which common denomination are comprehended Greeks,
Armenians, and indeed every description of Franks or Christians,
subject to the Turks, were melancholy in the extreme. They are
liable to an annual capitation, or poll tax, varying according
to their
degrees and circumstances, from a
guinea and a half to seven shillings
and sixpence English money, on the payment of which a cer-
tificate is granted them ; and this tribute, exacted from them by
right of conquest, and considered as the redemption of their heads,
forfeited in perpetuity by their subjugated ancestors, leads to many
villainous practices on the part of the Turks. It frequently occurs,
for instance, that a Turk, on meeting a ryah, without scruple or
ceremony, and without any regard to the engagements the latter
may have, takes him aside to ascertain whether he is provided with
a certificate, and, if this happens to be the case, to enquire into its
authenticity, which he is certain to dispute, or to throw some diffi-
culty or other in the way. Thus, whether the unfortunate ryah
has or has not his certificate about him, he is obliged to make a pecuniary
sacrifice, to rid himself of his oppressor's importunities. In
other instances a ryah, who is in possession of a house, has his right
to it disputed by a Turk, by whom false witnesses are suborned ;
and as the oath of the ryah is not valid in a court of justice, when
opposed to that of a Turk, he is obliged, if the cause is brought
In