Something about the Turkish Provinces.War, my young friends, is a fiendish sport. It has been said it is a game that, if their subjects were wise, kings could not play at. Its object is—killing on a large scale; mowing down men as if they were fields of corn, and with as little compunction; bringing bristling bayonets, grape and canister-shot, red-hot balls, explosive bombs, and volleys of bullets upon poor humanity; and blowing up into the air, or down into the deep, thousands of poor unfortunate fellows who, perhaps, know no more about the quarrel that produced the war, than so many unhatched chickens. Truly, to read history, one might suppose that the human race, during the last four thousand years at least, must have been a little insane; there seems so little reason for all the bombardments, assaults, battles, and massacres, which have taken place. Well, we thought ourselves getting wiser; the boys and girls that had read “Peter Parley’s Annual” fifteen years ago, had become men and women; and education had made great strides. The drill-sergeant of the German despots was drafted into our schools; and Chelsea children were taught to read by military discipline, with a view totheir being made friends of humanity, and lovers of peace. The European kings and potentates were a Holy Alliance of loving brothers, and had pretended that the Christian religion should be their future guide. They said this, after they had received several and sundry sound drubbings from the great Napoleon; and, while rubbing their shoulders and sides, after one cudgelling they had received—and deservedly received, too—said, they would be very good boys. But, as soon as the danger was past, and they had got a little over their various mishaps, they began to lie, rob, cheat, and filch, not only from each other, but from their next-door neighbours, like so many wolves or foxes. At last, one savage old Bear, more savage and more powerful than the rest, makes a grab at a Turkey; whereupon the Turkey, instead of falling a victim, like a goose, blew up his purple nose like a windy sun-rise, and puffed out his feathers, and stretched forth his wings, and came towards the old Bear like a game-cock, and called upon the British Lion and the French Eagle to back him. “But what is all this about?” my young friends inquire. Take a map, and look at it. Find out the Black Sea; and you will see on its northern coast, the Russian Empire stretches down towards the south; and, to the west, you will see certain provinces which belong to Turkey, the principal of which is Moldavia. It is the most northern province of Turkey. It is bounded on the east by Bessarabia—a province which formed part of Turkey until 1812, when it was given up to the great Russian Bear; on the south is Wallachia; and on the west and north, by the provinces of the Austrian Empire. The province forms a compact territory, about 200 miles in length, and 120 in breadth.Moldavia formed part of the Byzantine or Eastern Empire, and suffered greatly from the incursions of the rude hordes which infested Europe in the middle ages. When the Turks conquered Constantinople from the Greek Emperors, Moldavia by a timely submission, obtained favourable treatment from the Sultan; and had its own laws, liberties, and religion secured. Thus it remained for two centuries: at length the Czar of Russia directed his attention to this province; but was unable to lay hold of it at that time. What he will do now remains to be seen.Although Moldavia forms a part of the Turkish dominions, the Moldavians are not Mahommedans. They profess the religion of the Greek Church—a superstitious and corrupt form of Christianity professed also by the Russians. Persons who have not received baptism by the rites of this Church are not deemed Christians; the misguided people dwell upon rites and ceremonies, oblations, offerings, prayers to images, severity of discipline; and the heaviest crimes are settled by confession and absolution of the Priest. Reading and the perusal of the Holy Scriptures are almost wholly unknown; and though we might at first be glad that the Moldavians were not Mahommedans, yet, when we consider the iniquities of the creed they follow, it would perhaps be better if they were.The Moldavians believe in all sorts of witchcraft, in apparitions of the dead, in ghosts and in miracles performed by the images of saints. In illness they place an image near them, and when they recover, they attribute the recovery to the efficacy of the image alone. No prayers or thanksgiving are offered up either to the Deity or to the Saviour; but to the Virgin and a prodigious number of Saints.The principal food of the peasantry consists of a kind of dough, calledmamma linga, made of the flour of Indian wheat, sometimes mixed with milk. The season of Lent is usually kept by them with vigorous severity, and for the first two or three days after its termination, they sparingly indulge themselves with a little meat; but many of them are too poor to obtain this indulgence, and content themselves with a few eggs only.The dress of these people bears some resemblance to that of the Dacians, in the time of the Romans; and has probably suffered but little change for centuries. Their feet are covered with sandals made of goat skin. They wear a kind of loose pantaloon, which is fastened to the waist by a light leathern belt, and closes from the knee downwards. The upper part of the dress is composed of a light waistcoat, and a short jacket over it, of coarse cotton stuff; in winter they add a white sheep-skin, which is hung over the shoulders in the manner of the hussar’s pelisse. The hair is twisted round the back of the head, and covered with a cap, usually of sheep-skin. The women are generally clothed from the neck to the ancles in a long gown of light-coloured cheap cotton, made high at the waist, which they cover on holiday occasions with a shorter dress, buttoned from the neck to the waist, and ornamented with one or two rows of beads. Under ordinary circumstances the poorer classes go barefoot, and have no covering for the head, except a handkerchief.Almost every village has a small church or chapel belonging to it, and one or two priests who act as curates. The ecclesiastics of their order are chosen from amongst the ordinary peasants, from which they are only distinguishedby an immense beard. They lead the same sort of life, and follow their usual labour, when not engaged in the exercise of their clerical functions; but they are exempted from taxes. The generality of them can neither read nor write. They learn the formula of the services by rote, and if a book is seen in their chapels, it is more for ornament than use.The towns and seaports of Moldavia partake of that mixed European character that results from the intercourse between merchants, dealers, &c. The peasants’ huts are all built of the same size and style; the walls are of clay, and the roofs thatched with straw, neither of which is calculated to protect the inmates from the inclemencies of bad weather. The ground-floors are, however, occupied as long as the weather will permit; and in the winter the inmates retire to cells underground, easily kept warm by a little fire made of dung, roots, and some branches of trees, which, at the same time, serves for cooking their scanty food. Each family, however numerous, sleeps in one of these subterranean habitations, the beds being formed of coarse woollen rags.Perhaps the most extraordinary feature in the structure of Moldavian society is the vast number of gipsies residing therein. Their bodily constitution is strong, and they are so hardened by constant exposure to the cold weather, that they appear fit for any labour or fatigue; but their natural aversion to a life of industry is, in general, so great, that they prefer all the miseries of indigence to the enjoyment of comforts that are to be reaped by persevering exertion.Both men and women are finely formed, but are exceedingly dirty in their habits and appearance. They acknowledgeno particular religion; nor do they think of following the precepts of any, unless compelled. Their chief occupation, in their vagrant life, is the making of iron tools, baskets, and other cheap articles. They attend wine-houses and taverns, and are sometimes called to the houses of noblemen when a concert is to be given; as many of them play rudely on various concert instruments. When the public works are to be constructed, the Government gipsies, who are acquainted with masonry, are called in to assist the labourers, receiving food and no wages, and are, in other respects, treated like cattle.I have, for the present, confined myself principally to the humbler classes of the Moldavians. I shall, in my nextprattle, inform my young readers of the Wallachians, and of the country of Wallachia, which the Great Russian Bear wants to steal.sailing ship
War, my young friends, is a fiendish sport. It has been said it is a game that, if their subjects were wise, kings could not play at. Its object is—killing on a large scale; mowing down men as if they were fields of corn, and with as little compunction; bringing bristling bayonets, grape and canister-shot, red-hot balls, explosive bombs, and volleys of bullets upon poor humanity; and blowing up into the air, or down into the deep, thousands of poor unfortunate fellows who, perhaps, know no more about the quarrel that produced the war, than so many unhatched chickens. Truly, to read history, one might suppose that the human race, during the last four thousand years at least, must have been a little insane; there seems so little reason for all the bombardments, assaults, battles, and massacres, which have taken place. Well, we thought ourselves getting wiser; the boys and girls that had read “Peter Parley’s Annual” fifteen years ago, had become men and women; and education had made great strides. The drill-sergeant of the German despots was drafted into our schools; and Chelsea children were taught to read by military discipline, with a view totheir being made friends of humanity, and lovers of peace. The European kings and potentates were a Holy Alliance of loving brothers, and had pretended that the Christian religion should be their future guide. They said this, after they had received several and sundry sound drubbings from the great Napoleon; and, while rubbing their shoulders and sides, after one cudgelling they had received—and deservedly received, too—said, they would be very good boys. But, as soon as the danger was past, and they had got a little over their various mishaps, they began to lie, rob, cheat, and filch, not only from each other, but from their next-door neighbours, like so many wolves or foxes. At last, one savage old Bear, more savage and more powerful than the rest, makes a grab at a Turkey; whereupon the Turkey, instead of falling a victim, like a goose, blew up his purple nose like a windy sun-rise, and puffed out his feathers, and stretched forth his wings, and came towards the old Bear like a game-cock, and called upon the British Lion and the French Eagle to back him. “But what is all this about?” my young friends inquire. Take a map, and look at it. Find out the Black Sea; and you will see on its northern coast, the Russian Empire stretches down towards the south; and, to the west, you will see certain provinces which belong to Turkey, the principal of which is Moldavia. It is the most northern province of Turkey. It is bounded on the east by Bessarabia—a province which formed part of Turkey until 1812, when it was given up to the great Russian Bear; on the south is Wallachia; and on the west and north, by the provinces of the Austrian Empire. The province forms a compact territory, about 200 miles in length, and 120 in breadth.
Moldavia formed part of the Byzantine or Eastern Empire, and suffered greatly from the incursions of the rude hordes which infested Europe in the middle ages. When the Turks conquered Constantinople from the Greek Emperors, Moldavia by a timely submission, obtained favourable treatment from the Sultan; and had its own laws, liberties, and religion secured. Thus it remained for two centuries: at length the Czar of Russia directed his attention to this province; but was unable to lay hold of it at that time. What he will do now remains to be seen.
Although Moldavia forms a part of the Turkish dominions, the Moldavians are not Mahommedans. They profess the religion of the Greek Church—a superstitious and corrupt form of Christianity professed also by the Russians. Persons who have not received baptism by the rites of this Church are not deemed Christians; the misguided people dwell upon rites and ceremonies, oblations, offerings, prayers to images, severity of discipline; and the heaviest crimes are settled by confession and absolution of the Priest. Reading and the perusal of the Holy Scriptures are almost wholly unknown; and though we might at first be glad that the Moldavians were not Mahommedans, yet, when we consider the iniquities of the creed they follow, it would perhaps be better if they were.
The Moldavians believe in all sorts of witchcraft, in apparitions of the dead, in ghosts and in miracles performed by the images of saints. In illness they place an image near them, and when they recover, they attribute the recovery to the efficacy of the image alone. No prayers or thanksgiving are offered up either to the Deity or to the Saviour; but to the Virgin and a prodigious number of Saints.
The principal food of the peasantry consists of a kind of dough, calledmamma linga, made of the flour of Indian wheat, sometimes mixed with milk. The season of Lent is usually kept by them with vigorous severity, and for the first two or three days after its termination, they sparingly indulge themselves with a little meat; but many of them are too poor to obtain this indulgence, and content themselves with a few eggs only.
The dress of these people bears some resemblance to that of the Dacians, in the time of the Romans; and has probably suffered but little change for centuries. Their feet are covered with sandals made of goat skin. They wear a kind of loose pantaloon, which is fastened to the waist by a light leathern belt, and closes from the knee downwards. The upper part of the dress is composed of a light waistcoat, and a short jacket over it, of coarse cotton stuff; in winter they add a white sheep-skin, which is hung over the shoulders in the manner of the hussar’s pelisse. The hair is twisted round the back of the head, and covered with a cap, usually of sheep-skin. The women are generally clothed from the neck to the ancles in a long gown of light-coloured cheap cotton, made high at the waist, which they cover on holiday occasions with a shorter dress, buttoned from the neck to the waist, and ornamented with one or two rows of beads. Under ordinary circumstances the poorer classes go barefoot, and have no covering for the head, except a handkerchief.
Almost every village has a small church or chapel belonging to it, and one or two priests who act as curates. The ecclesiastics of their order are chosen from amongst the ordinary peasants, from which they are only distinguishedby an immense beard. They lead the same sort of life, and follow their usual labour, when not engaged in the exercise of their clerical functions; but they are exempted from taxes. The generality of them can neither read nor write. They learn the formula of the services by rote, and if a book is seen in their chapels, it is more for ornament than use.
The towns and seaports of Moldavia partake of that mixed European character that results from the intercourse between merchants, dealers, &c. The peasants’ huts are all built of the same size and style; the walls are of clay, and the roofs thatched with straw, neither of which is calculated to protect the inmates from the inclemencies of bad weather. The ground-floors are, however, occupied as long as the weather will permit; and in the winter the inmates retire to cells underground, easily kept warm by a little fire made of dung, roots, and some branches of trees, which, at the same time, serves for cooking their scanty food. Each family, however numerous, sleeps in one of these subterranean habitations, the beds being formed of coarse woollen rags.
Perhaps the most extraordinary feature in the structure of Moldavian society is the vast number of gipsies residing therein. Their bodily constitution is strong, and they are so hardened by constant exposure to the cold weather, that they appear fit for any labour or fatigue; but their natural aversion to a life of industry is, in general, so great, that they prefer all the miseries of indigence to the enjoyment of comforts that are to be reaped by persevering exertion.
Both men and women are finely formed, but are exceedingly dirty in their habits and appearance. They acknowledgeno particular religion; nor do they think of following the precepts of any, unless compelled. Their chief occupation, in their vagrant life, is the making of iron tools, baskets, and other cheap articles. They attend wine-houses and taverns, and are sometimes called to the houses of noblemen when a concert is to be given; as many of them play rudely on various concert instruments. When the public works are to be constructed, the Government gipsies, who are acquainted with masonry, are called in to assist the labourers, receiving food and no wages, and are, in other respects, treated like cattle.
I have, for the present, confined myself principally to the humbler classes of the Moldavians. I shall, in my nextprattle, inform my young readers of the Wallachians, and of the country of Wallachia, which the Great Russian Bear wants to steal.
sailing ship