Journal Of A Visit To Constantinople And Some Of The Greek Islands In The Spring And Summer Of 1833 Part 10

ADDENDA.

_List of the Turkish Fleet in the Bosphorus._

Frigates 8

Line of Battle 5

Three Deckers 2

Corvettes 3

Sloops 5

Cutters 5

At Lamsacke. Frigates 4

Sloops 2

Cutters 1

At St. Stefano. Frigates 3 ---- Total 38 ====

_Mohammed Ali's Navy._[23]

GUNS.

1. Masr 138

2. Acre 138

3. Mah.e.l.let-el-Kebir 100

4. Mansourah 100

5. Alexandria 96

6. Aboukir 90

7. Jaffaria 62

8. Bahirah 60

9. Rashid 58

10. Kafr-el-Shekh 58

11. Sheergehat 54

12. Damietta 50

13. Mufti Gehat 22

14. Tantah 24

15. Pelenga Gehat 22

16. Psyche 22

17. Fouah 20

18. Genah Baharia 20

19. Cervelli 20

20. Satalia 20

21. Washington 18

22. Semuda Gehat 18

23. Timsah 13

_State of the Thermometer at Constantinople, from May 6.

to June 3. inclusive._

LOWEST AT NIGHT. A. M.

May 6. 46 8 56 7. 42 -- -- 8. 45 -- 60 9. 47 -- 56 10. -- -- -- 11. -- -- 57 12. 44 -- 54 13. -- -- -- 14. 49 -- 56 15. 51 -- 55 16. 47 7 52 17. -- -- 55 18. 52 8 58 22. 59 -- 69 23. 52 -- 55 24. -- -- 57 25. 42 -- 51 26. 49 -- 60 27. 58 -- 62 28. 59 -- 69 29. 56 -- 60 30. 55 -- 65 31. 55 -- 64 June 1. 56 -- 58 2. 52 -- 60 3. 55 -- 59

Here it ceased to be an object of remark.

NOTE TO PAGE 24.

This practice of insulting the religion of such as profess a faith different from their own has ever been a characteristic of the Oriental nations, and is ill.u.s.trative of a pa.s.sage in the New Testament, which I have not seen explained by any of the commentators: I mean the expression of our Saviour, where he denounces the votaries of avarice, by declaring that "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of G.o.d."

For a long time previous to Christ's appearance, it had been usual for the "Sons of Ishmael," or pagan Arabs of Asia Minor, to make hostile incursions into the provincial towns of Judea, and riding their dromedaries into the synagogues, to desecrate the altar in the manner here ascribed to the Turks. In order to put a stop to these enormities, the Jews. .h.i.t upon the expedient of constructing the doors of their churches so low, that an ordinary-sized man could only enter by stooping; and thus they completely foiled their persecutors, for the disinclination of the Arabs to dismount, even on the most pressing occasions, is well known to such as have travelled among these sons of the Desert. In the hyperbolical phraseology of the East, these diminished apertures were compared to the eye of a needle; and the impossibility of a camel making his way through them, became at length a proverbial expression for any impracticable undertaking.

THE END.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] As we sailed through the strait formed by it and the mainland,--and a very beautiful scene it affords,--I was informed by those on board, that a shoal is marked down upon the ship's chart as being in the centre. Having never before heard the slightest allusion to this fact, I intend to ascertain its accuracy, by actual inspection, at some more favourable opportunity.

[2] "The ridge of the Somma forms a semicircle, the curve of which lies north-east, its two extremities stretching out south-east. The front, which faces the south-west and the cone of Vesuvius, is almost perpendicular; but the side towards the north is a sloping plain, cut lengthwise by deep ravines, and covered with vineyards, except a few hundred feet near the summit, which are clothed with small chestnut and oak trees."--_Sketches of Vesuvius_, p. 2.