ARMENIA.

The "Bad Black Sea".

CHAPTER I.

· Coal-field near the Bosphorus — Trebizond from the sea Fish and turkeys-The bazaars - Coronas Ancient tombs - Church of St. Sofia Preservation of old manners and ceremonies - Toilette of a person of distinction – Russian loss in 1828-9- Ancient prayer-Varna - Statistics of Wallachia-Visit to Abdallah Pasha - His outward appearHis love of medical experiments - Trade of Trebizond.

ance

FENA KARA DEGNIZ.-The Bad Black Sea. This is the character that stormy lake has acquired in the estimation of its neighbours at Constantinople. Of 1000 Turkish vessels which skim over its waters every year, 500 are said to be wrecked as a matter of course. The wind sometimes will blow from all the four quarters of heaven within two hours' time, agitating the waters like a boiling caldron. Dense fogs obscure the air during the winter, by the assistance of which the Turkish vessels continually mistake the entrance of a valley called the False Bogaz for the entrance of the Bosphorus, and are wrecked there perpetually. I have seen dead

B

bodies floating about in that part of the sea, where I first became acquainted with the fact that the corpse of a woman floats upon its back, while that of a man floats upon its face. In short, at Constantinople they say that everything that is bad comes from the Black Sea: the plague, the Russians, the fogs, and the cold-all come from thence; and though this time we had a fine calm passage, I was glad enough to arrive at the end of the voyage at Trebizond. Before landing, however, I must give a passing tribute to the beauty of the scenery on the south coast, that is, on the north coast of Asia Minor. Rocks and hills are its usual character near the shore, with higher mountains inland. Between the Bosphorus and Heraclea are boundless fields of coal, which crops out on the side of the hills, so that no mining would be required to get the coal; and besides this great facility in its production, the hills are of such an easy slope that a tramroad would convey the coal-waggons down to the ships on the sea-coast without any difficulty. No nation but the Turks would delay to make use of such a source of enormous wealth as this coal would naturally supply, when it can be had with such remarkable ease so near to the great maritime city of Constantinople. It seems to be a peculiarity in

human nature that those who are too stupid to undertake any useful work are frequently jealous of the interference of others who are more able and willing than themselves, as the old fable of the dog in the manger exemplifies. I understand that more than one English company have been desirous of opening these immense mines of wealth, on the condition of paying a large sum or a good percentage to the Turkish Government; but they are jealous of a foreigner's undertaking that which they are incapable of carrying out themselves. So English steamers bring English coal to Constantinople, which costs I don't know what, by the time it arrives within a few miles of a spot* which is as well furnished with the most useful, if not the most ornamental, of minerals as Newcastle-upon-Tyne itself.

Beyond Sinope, where the flat alluvial land stretches down to the sea-shore, there are forests of such timber as we have no idea of in these northern regions. Here there are miles of trees so high, and large, and like minarets in flower. Wild boars, stags, and various kinds of game abound in these magnifi

straight that they look

* Since this was written, the coal-field of Eraglé has been opened under the direction of English engineers, and the coals are sent to Constantinople.

cent primæval woods, protected by the fevers and agues which arise from the dense jungle and unhealthy swamps inland, which prevent the sportsman from following the game during great part of the year. The inhabitants of all this part of Turkey, Circassia, &c., are good shots with the short heavy rifle which is their constant companion, and they sometimes kill a deer. As their religion protects the pigs, the wild boars roam unmolested in this, for them at least, "free and independent country." The stag resembles the red deer in every respect, only it is considerably smaller; its venison is not particularly good.

Trebizond presents an imposing appearance from the sea; it stands upon a rocky table-land, from which peculiarity in its situation it takes its name Tρarea being a table in Greek, if we are to believe what Dr. used to tell us at

school. There is no harbour, not even a bay, and a rolling sea comes in sometimes which looks, and I should think must be, awfully dangerous. I have seen the whole of the keel of the ships at anchor, as they rolled over from one side to the other. The view from the sea of the curious ancient town, the mountains in the background, and the great chain of the Circassian mountains on the left, is magnificent in the extreme. The

only thing that the Black Sea is good for, that I know of (and that, I think, may be said of some other seas), is fish. The kalkan balouk, shield-fish-a sort of turbot, with black prickles on his back-though not quite worth a voyage to Trebizond, is well worth the attention of the most experienced gastronome when he once gets there. The red mullet also is caught in great quantities; but the oddest fish is the turkey. This animal is generally considered to be a bird, of the genus poultry, and so he is in all outward appearances; but at Trebizond the turkeys live entirely upon a diet of sprats and other little fish washed on shore by the waves, by which it comes to pass that their flesh tastes like very exceedingly bad fish, and abominably nasty it is; though, if reclaimed from these bad habits, and fed on corn and herbs, like other respectable birds, they become very good, and are worthy of being stuffed with chesnuts and roasted, and of occupying the spot upon the dinner-table from whence the remains of the kalkan balouk have been removed.

On landing, the beauty of the prospect ceases, for, like many Oriental towns, the streets are lanes between blank walls, over which the branches of fig-trees, roofs of houses, and boughs of orange and lemon trees appear at intervals;