I do not know when the party broke up, as I retreated to the other side of the house, and took possession of a room whose windows looked into a court enclosed by high walls painted in fresco, and containing two pretty fountains, whose ceaseless murmurings soon lulled me once more to sleep. A fine lime tree threw its shade far into the apartment—a female voice was singing in the distance—and as I cast myself on the divan, and closed my eyes, a feeling of luxury crept over me which influenced my dreams.——
No wonder that my visions were of home, and of the best of mothers!—I was in her arms—on her heart.
My first hour’s dream at Broussa was worth a waking day!
Ancient Gate—Greek Inscriptions—Mausoleum of Sultan Orcan—Monkish Chronicle—The Turbedar Hanoum—Inverted Columns—Painted Pillars—Splendid Marbles—Tombs of the Imperial Family—The Greek Cross—The Sultan’s Beard—Mausoleum of Sultan Ali Osman—Monastic Vaults—Ruined Chapel—Remains of a Greek Palace—Bassi Relievi—Ruined Fountains—Ancient Fosse—Dense Vegetation—Noble Prospect—Roman Aqueduct—Valley of the Source—Picturesque Groups—Coffee-Kiosks—Absence of Pretension among the Turks—The Tale Teller—Traveller’s Khan—Sick Birds—Roman Bridge—Armenian Mother.
At an early hour on the following morning we started, accompanied by a guide, and our own servant who acted as Dragoman, to visit such objects of interest as might exist in the immediate vicinity of the city; and after climbing the hill on which the ancient wall is based, and passing through a fine old gate, in whose neighbourhood we remarked several Greek inscriptions that had apparently been displaced at the capture of the city, as one or two of them are inverted, we found ourselves in front of the Mausoleum of Sultan Orcan.
This sovereign, who was the son of Othman, the first Turkish Emperor, took Broussa, (which was at the time the capital of Bithinia) in the year 1350; and, according to an old monkish chronicle which I consulted on the spot, “He found three towers filled with the treasures of these kings, which they had been amassing from the first building of the city; gold and silver in ingots and in coins; pearls and jewels, among which were twelve precious stones unique in value; furniture and dresses wrought in gold and silver; crowns of great price filled with gold and pearls; saddles, pantaloons, and swords worked with gold, and pearls, and jewels—forming altogether the lading of seven hundred camels, all of which he despatched to his native country. This done, he collected together all the young children: some he caused to lie on their stomachs upon the earth, where he trampled them beneath the feet of horses; others he flung into the river; and others again he exposed naked to the sun, where they died of thirst. Many mothers stifled their children, rather than deliver them over to the barbarian. It would be difficult to describe the torments inflicted on the Bishops, the Priesthood, and the monks; some were drowned, some burnt, some dragged by horses, &c. &c.”