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WITH, THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA MINOR. 33
within, sit on the floor as many women as it can contain, their heads just appearing
above the edge whenever the motion on the uneven road throws the curtains aside. It
is drawn by two or more buffaloes, or oxen, whose tails are fastened to a long and lofty
bow extending from the neck-yokes, and projecting over their backs. This arch is
profusely decorated with gaudy tassels. The white locks of the animals between the
horns are stained with henna, and round the necks are suspended amulets of bright blue
beads, to guard them against the effects of an evil eye. It is the most improved carriage
of the Turkish empire, and travels at the rate of two miles an hour. In these machines,
covered up from human gaze, the sultan and great men of the empire transport their
harems: they are conducted by black eunuchs, with drawn sabres, who menace any
one who approaches the line of march, with instant death.
When parties proceed to those pic-nics, even the members of a family never mix
together. The unsocial jealousy of a Turk so separates the sexes, that the father,
husband, and brother are never seen in the same groups with their female relatives.
The women assemble on one side round the fountain, and the men on the other, under
the trees. Between, are the various persons who vend refreshments to both indiscriminately. On the left is the tchorba-gee mixing sherbet. This word means, literally, any
kind of fluid food, and it is sometimes applied to soup. A colonel of janissaries was
called a tchorba-gee, because he was the dispenser of soup to his corps. The drink,
however, which is generally so called, is a decoction of dried fruit. Raisins, pears,
peaches, prunes, and others, are prepared and kept for the purpose, and a liquor of
various flavour is compounded from them, more or less acidulated or sweetened,
and always cooled with ice, a small lump of wdiich floats in every cup. On the other
side is a vender of yaourt. This is a refreshment of universal consumption and extreme
antiquity. The Turks affirm that Abraham was taught by an angel how to make it,
and that Hagar, with her son Ishmael, would have perished in the wilderness, but for
a pot of it she had the precaution to take with her. It is more certainly described by
Strabo as in use in his day in the Taurica Chersonesus, and so is at least 1800 years
old. It is a preparation of sour milk, forming a thick consistent mess, cool and grateful
to the taste, and wholesome to the constitution. It is sold in small shallow bowls of
coarse earthenware, and is the constant food of all classes in Turkey.*
The itinerant confectioner is always a necessary person at these meetings. He carries
about upon his head a large wooden tray, and under his arm a stand with three legs.
When required, he sets his stand, and lays his tray upon it covered with good things.
The first is a composition of ground rice boiled to the consistence of a jelly, light and
* As it may be agreeable to some of our readers to know how to make this ancient food,
the following is the mode pursued by the Turks:—A quart of boiled milk is poured upon barm
of beer, and allowed to ferment. Of this fermentation two spoonsful are poured into another quart
of milk. When this process is repeated, the flavour of barm is altogether lost. The yaourt thus
made becomes the substance which forms the future food without more barm. A tea-spoonful is
bruised in a vessel, and a quart of tepid fresh milk is poured upon it, and set aside in an earthen
vessel: in two hours it will be a rich, thick, subacid fluid, covered with a coat of cream.
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