The British Expedition to the CrimeaRussell, William Howard, Sir
History
The British Expedition to the Crimea
Russell, William Howard, Sir
Crimean War, 1853-1856
To fill up the scene, however, you must catch a number of the biggest
breeched, longest bearded, dirtiest, and stateliest old Turks to be had
at any price in the Ottoman empire; provide them with pipes, keep them
smoking all day on wooden stages or platforms about two feet from the
ground, everywhere by the water's edge or up the main streets, in the
shops of the bazaar which is one of the "passages" or arcades already
described; see that they have no slippers on, nothing but stout woollen
hose, their foot gear being left on the ground, shawl turbans (one or
two being green, for the real descendant of the Prophet), flowing
fur-lined coats, and bright-hued sashes, in which are to be stuck
silver-sheathed yataghans and ornamented Damascus pistols; don't let
them move more than their eyes, or express any emotion at the sight of
anything except an English lady; then gather a noisy crowd of fez-capped
Greeks in baggy blue breeches, smart jackets, sashes, and rich vests--of
soberly-dressed Armenians--of keen-looking Jews, with flashing eyes--of
Chasseurs de Vincennes, Zouaves, British riflemen, _vivandières_,
Sappers and Miners, Nubian slaves, Camel-drivers, Commissaries and
Sailors, and direct them in streams round the little islets on which the
smoking Turks are harboured, and you will populate the place.
It will be observed that women are not mentioned in this description,
but children were not by any means wanting--on the contrary, there was a
glut of them, in the Greek quarter particularly, and now and then a
bundle of clothes, in yellow leather boots, covered at the top with a
piece of white linen, might be seen moving about, which you will do well
to believe contained a woman neither young nor pretty. Dogs, so large,
savage, tailless, hairy, and curiously-shaped, that Wombwell could make
a fortune out of them if aided by any clever zoological nomenclator,
prowled along the shore and walked through the shallow water, in which
stood bullocks and buffaloes, French steamers and transports, with the
tricolor flying, and the paddlebox boats full of troops on their way to
land--a solitary English steamer, with the red ensign, at anchor in the
bay--and Greek polaccas, with their beautiful white sails and trim rig,
flying down the straits, which are here about three and a half miles
broad, so that the villages on the rich swelling hills of the Asia Minor
side are plainly visible,--must be added, and then the picture will be
tolerably complete.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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