Travels into Turkey: Containing the most accurate account of the Turks, and neighbouring nations, their manners, customs, religion, superstition, policy, riches, coins, &c.Busbecq, Ogier Ghislain de
History
Travels into Turkey: Containing the most accurate account of the Turks, and neighbouring nations, their manners, customs, religion, superstition, policy, riches, coins, &c.
Busbecq, Ogier Ghislain de
Turkey -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800
Printing hath been in use among them for many Ages, as appears by their
several printed Books: For Paper, they use the Cases of _Silk-worms_;
it is so thin that it will bear Printing on one side only, the other is
blank. In this City, he said, there were a great many Shops full of Musk,
which was the fresh foame of a certain Beast as big as a Kid. A Lion is
highly prized amongst them; there are none of them in that Country, and
therefore they value it at a great Rate, and will pay well for it. This
is what I could learn of this Wanderer concerning _Cathay_; believe it
as you please. I asked him further, whether he had brought back any rare
Root, Fruit or Stone, out of that Country? He told me, he had brought
nothing but a little Root for his own Use, which he bit and eat a little
of, when he was faint or cold, and it would presently warm and relieve
him; and thereupon he gave me a piece of it, telling me I must use it
very sparingly: I desired Dr. _Williams_, my Physician, then alive, to
taste of it, who, by its biting and inflaming the Mouth, judged it to be
a root of the _Wolfleaf-tree_.
Let me now tell you another wondrous Story of another wandering _Turkish_
Monk. He wore a Cap and white Cloak down to his Heels, with long
Hair, such as Painters draw the _Apostles_ with. He had a promising
Countenance, but was a meer Impostor; and, yet the _Turks_ admired him
as a miraculous Man. My Interpreters were persuaded to bring him to
me, that I might see him. He dined with me soberly and modesty enough;
afterwards he goes down into the Yard, and upon his return, he takes up
a huge Stone, and struck with it divers times upon his naked Breast, as
many Blows as would have felled an Ox: Then he took a piece of Iron, that
was heated in the Fire on purpose, and thrust it into his Mouth, where
he stirred it up and down so that his Spittle hiss’d again; ’twas a long
piece of Iron, thick and quadrangular in that part which he thrust into
his Mouth, and it was red-hot as a live Coal: Then he put the Iron into
the Fire again, and after I had made him a Present, he saluted me and
departed. My Domesticks wonder’d at the Trick, all but one, who pretended
he knew more than all the rest; _Oh_, says he, _he is a meer Cheat_; and
thereupon he takes hold of the stronger part of the Iron, pretending
he could do as much as the Juggler. He had no sooner grasped it in his
Hands, than he threw it away, and his Fingers were well burnt for his
Audaciousness, so that they were many days a curing. This Accident caused
his Fellows to laugh, and jearingly to ask, whether the Iron were hot
enough yet, and whether he would touch it again or not?
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