amongst us, particularly in fummer time. To failors they would feem, as being very light, to be particularly ufeful. I have brought home with me a pair of them, that I wore in my expedition into the country, that they may ferve for a model, in cafe any body fhould be inclined to have a pair made by way of making -a trial of them. Whatever is ufeful, whether it comes from Paris or the country of the Hottentos, alike deferves our attention and imita tion. "The Hottentos who live in thefe parts, or within the boundaries of the Dutch colonies, feldom make ufe of any weapons. Here and there, indeed, a man will furnifh himself with a javelin, by way of defence against the wolves: this is called a haflagai, and will be defcribed farther on, when we come to fpeak of the more distant nations of the Hottentots. "Their habitations are as fimple as their drefs, and equally adapted to the wandering pattoral life they lead in thofe parts. In fact, they fcarcely merit any other naine than that of huts: though, perhaps, as fpacious and eligible as the tents and dwelling-places of the patriarchs, at least they are fufficient for the Hottentot's wants and defires; who may therefore be confidered as a happy man, in being able in this point likewife fo catily to fatisfy them. The great fimplicity of them is, perhaps, the reafon, why in a Hottentot's craal, or village, the huts are all built exactly alike; and that one meets there with a fpecies of architecture, that does not a little contribute to keep envy from ifinuating itself under their roots. The equality of fortune and happinefs in fome measure enjoyed by thefe people, cannot but have a fingular effect in preventing their breasts from being disturbed by this baneful paffion. Every t is difpofed in the following manner. Some of them are of a circular, and others of an oblong fhape, refembling a round bee-hive or a vault. The groundplot is from eighteen to twenty-four feet in diameter. The higheft of them are fo low, that even in the centre of the arch, it is fcarcely ever poffible for a middle-fized man to stand upright. But neither the lownefs thereof, nor that of the door, which is but juft three feet high, can perhaps be confidered as any inconvenience to a Hottentot, who finds no difficulty in ftooping and crawling on all fours, and who is at any time more inclined to lie down than fland. "The fire-place is in the middle of each hut, by which means the walls are not fo much exposed to danger from fire. From this fituation of their fire-place, the Hottentots likewife have this additional advantage, that when they fit or lie in a circle round the fire, the whole company equally enjoys the benefit of its warmnth. "The door, low as it is, is the only place that lets in the day-light; and at the fame time, the only outlet that is left for the fmoke. The Hottentot, inured to it from his infancy, fees it hover round him, without feeling the least inconvenience arifing from it to his eyes: while lying at the bottom of his hut in the midft of the cloud rolled up like a hedgehog, and wrapped up fnug in his fheep-kin, he is now and then obliged to peep out from beneath it in order to ftir the fire, or perhaps light his pipe, or elle fometimes to turn the fteak he is broiling over the coals. "The materials for thefe hots are by no means difficult to be pro cured cured; and the manner of putting them together being both neat and inartificial, merits commendation in a Hottentot, and is very suitable to his character. The frame of this arched roof, as I have described it above, is compofed of flender rods or fprays of trees. Thefe rods, being previously bent into a proper form, are laid, either whole or pieced, fome parallel with each other, others croffwife: they are then ftrengthened, by binding others round them in a circular form with withies. Thefe withies, as well as the rods themselves, are taken, as well as I can recollect, chiefly from the cliffortia conoides, which grows plentifully in this country near the rivers. Large mats are then placed very neatly over this lattice-work, fo as perfectly to cover the whole. The aperture which is left for the door is clofed, whenever there is occafion for it, with a fkin fitted to it, or a piece of matting. These mats are made of a kind of cane or reed. Thefe reeds, being laid parallel to each other, are faftened together with finews or catgut, or elfe fome kind of packthread, fuch as they have had an opportunity of getting from the Europeans. They have it, therefore, in their power, to make their mats as long as they chufe, and at the fame time as broad as the length of the rush will admit of, viz. from fix to ten feet. This fame kind of matting is now made use of likewife by the colonifts, next to the tilts of their waggons, by way of preventing the fail-cloth from being rubbed and worn by them, as well as of helping to keep out the rain. When a Hottentot has a mind to take his houfe down and remove his dwelling, he lays all his mats, fkins, and fprays on the backs of his cattle, which to a stranger makes a monftrous, unwieldy, and, indeed, ridiculous appearance. "The order or diftribution of these huts in a craal or clan, is most frequently in the form of a circle with the doors inwards: by this means a kind of yard or court is formed, where the cattle is kept on nights. The milk, as foon as taken from the cow, is put to other milk, which is curdled, and is kept in a leather fack: of this the hairy fide,. being confidered as the cleanlier, is turned inwards; fo that the milk is, never drank while it is fweet. In certain northern diftricts, fuch as Roggeveld, or Bokveld, where the land is, as it is called, carrow, or dry and parched, the Hottentots, as well as the colonists, are thepherds. "There is another fpecies of Hottentots, who have got the name of bofhies-men, from dwelling in woody mountainous places. Thefe, particularly fuch as live round a bout Camdebo and Sneeberg, are fworn enemies to the paftoral life. Some of their maxims are, to live on hunting and plunder, and never to keep any animal alive for the fpace of one night. By this means they render themselves odious to the rest of mankind, and are purfued and exterininated like the wild beafts, whofe manners they have af fumed. Others of them again are kept alive, and made flaves of. Their weapons are poifoned arrows, which, fhot out of a fmall bow, will fly to the distance of two hundred paces; and will hit a mark with a tolerable degree of certainty, at the distance of fifty, or even a hundred paces. From this distance they can by ftealth, as it were, convey death to the game they hunt for food, as well as to their foes, and even to fo large and tremendous a beaft as the lion: this noble ani mal moment when the fcene becomes most interesting: all the actors are happy, and each returns home in a ftate of total irrationality, but likewife in the entire and full enjoyment of happiness not to be pro. cured by reafon. Difregarding the ridicule of those they meet, who divert themfelves by making them talk abfurdly, each imagines, and looks and feels himfelf poffeffed of whatever he withes. The reality of enjoyment often gives lefs fatis. faction." "TH ACCOUNT of the DERVISES in TURKEY. HERE are two kinds of thefe monks in Turkey, very diftinct from each other, and equally remarkable. The difference arifes from the difference of the rules impofed on them by their refpective founders. That of the Mewliach dervifes is to turn round like whirligigs, to the found of foft mufic, and feek a holy intoxication in the giddinefs which muft naturally refult from this abfurd exercife, if the habit of thus turning round did not prevent them from dizziness and drunkennefs, which they have recourse to the tavern to complete. The rule of the other monks named Tacta-Tepen, more melancholy, has, alfo, more barbarity. It confifts in walking, folemnly, in a row, one after the other, round their chapel, and pronouncing the name of God with a loud voice, and much exertion, at each stroke on a drum, beaten for that purpofe; the strokes on which growing gradually quicker, become at last fo rapid, that thefe wretches are forced to undergo a violent labour of the lungs; and the most devout never clofe the proceffion without vomiting blood. Their appearance is always fad and furly; and these monks are fo perfuaded of the fanctity of their practice, and fo certain of pleasing heaven by their howlings, that they never look on the rest of mankind but with the moft profound contempt. "There are likewife, in Turkey, other monks and fantons, who run about the country. To meet them in a wood might be dangerous: under the cloak of religion, they are careffed by fome devotees, but they are the worit company any where to be found. "Thofe of thefe dervifes who are fufficiently impudent to take advantage of the general ignorance of the Turks fet up for prophets, and prophefy with impunity. If it happen that the event juftifies the predictions they have hazarded, they are taken for faints, and held in great eftcom; but thofe, who, for want of fuccefs, can only pafs for fools, find, nevertheless, admiffion every where. Nothing can refift their effrontery; the name of God, prophaned by thefe rafcals, always impofes on the fuperftitious multitude; and I have feen one of them infolently come and feat himself by the fide of the vifir, whilft I have been privately difcourfing with him, and people of great confequence kept at a diftance. The fanaticism of the public obliges the most enlightened perfons to fubmit; and the the most eminent Turks have no other way to get rid of this rabble, but by giving them money, which only ferves to render them more troublesome, and more infolent.” DESCRIPTION of the HOT BATHS in TURKEY. "TH [From the fame Work.] HE conftruction of thefe baths to baths ought to be defcribed, in order to calculate the refult, after having examined their effects. "Two fmall chambers, built with brick, and faced with marble or plafter, communicate, and are each enlightened by fmall cupolas cut in chequers. This little edifice is commonly joined to the houfe by a fmall room, in which they undrefs: double doors, folding over, and lifted with felt, hut in the firit and fecond part of the stove, "A wood fire is kept up in a fubterranean vault, the entrance to which is without. This fire-place is under the farthermoft chamber, and heats a caldron immediately beneath the marble floor, which ferves as a cieling to the vault. Pipes, placed within the walls, come from the infide of the caldron, and go out at the cupola, to evaporate the water, which is kept continually boiling. Other tubes, communicating with a refervoir, are likewife contained within the brick work, and furnish the infide with cold water, by the means of cocks placed at the fide of thofe which yield the warm water. Small feats of smooth wood are made to fit on, and drains cut in the marble to carry off the water which is thrown down. "These private baths, always heated twenty-four hours before they are used, by being thus confructed, have fo great a degree of heat, that, after being entirely un dreffed in the exterior chamber, and having put on very high fandals of wood, to keep the feet from being burnt by the marble floor, it is impoffible to enter the first room, till you have ftopt a moment between the two doors to let the lungs dilate; after which you cannot enter the fecond ftove, under which the heat is most active, without taking the fame precautions: and it is probable, that the air of this room bears the fame proportion to that of the first, as this does to the external air. A fudden perfpiration, rushing through all the pores, is felt immediately as they are entered; but the violence of this heat does not prevent the women from ftaying in thefe baths five or fix hours together, and returning to them very frequently. Those who have not private baths ge to the public ones: they are always prepared, and contrived in fuch a manner as to contain a great number of people. "Some of the women, a little more delicate and fcrupulous than the reft, take the bath for themfelves alone, and go thither with their particular friends. To complete the entertainment, they carry with them their provifion. The pleasure of enjoying greater liberty, and converfing all day together, no doubt makes them amends for having fo ill chofen the place. "Bathing women, named Telleks, with their hands wrapped in little bags of ferge, rub the skin till it is dry. They likewife make ufe of a very fine clay, mixt up with rofe leaves, and afterwards dried in the fun, as a kind of foap, with which they rub the head, pouring on it warm water from large metal bafons: the women's hair, thus cleaned and perfumed, is afterwards tied up in a great number of fmall treffes. "This defcription wants the pearls, the diamonds, the rich fluffs, and all the finery with which lady Montague has been pleafed to ornament thefe baths. It is, indeed, difficult to believe, that that lady ever actually entered them completely drefied as has been afferted. What is most certain is, that a too frequent use of these stoves, at length, opens the pores to fuch a degree as to render them viable. It is equally certain that fo violent a dilatation of the fibres, by altering the fhape, brings on decrepitude before old age. "Thefe public baths are very numerous in every part of the city, and are likewife frequented by the men; but at different hours from those set apart for the women. A man who fhould dare attempt to enter while they are within, would be feverely punished, though he had the good fortune to escape the taffes, fandals, and wet peftemals, that af fault him in fhoals. The Turkish women are inexorable, when the audacity of a man means nothing more than infult; but it is impofi ble to confider, without horror, the difinal confequences of the blind paflions to which they are fometimes a prey. "I do not fpeak here of those women who fo frequently fell their charms, and whofe mutilated dead bodies I have often feen in the environs of Conftantinople. The cruelty of the men who murder them, to evade paying, or to avoid the danger of being taken up when bringing them back into the city, is a villainy which may be accounted for, either by avarice or fear. But I fpeak of thofe women of a more exalted rank, whom an irrefiflible fury overpowers, and who efcape fecretly from their prifons. Thefe unfortunate creatures always carry off with them their jewels, and think nothing too good for their lover. Blinded by their unhappy paffion, they do not perceive that this very wealth becomes the caufe of their deftruction. The villains to whom they fly, never fail, at the end of a few days, to punish their temerity, and infure the poffeffion of their effects by a crime, which, however monstrous, the government is leaft in hafte to punish. The bodies of thefe miferable women, ftript and mangled, are frequently feen floating in the Port, under the very windows of their murderers; and thefe dreadful examples, fo likely to intimidate the reft, and prevent fuch madness, neither terrify nor amend." VARIOUS |
