Page:Adventures of Baron Wenceslas Wratislaw of Mitrowitz (1862).djvu/92

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42
ADVENTURES OF

an inn, and a hospital, erected and endowed with large revenues by Mahomet Pasha, in which a dish of rice or soup and a piece of mutton must be given to every comer till the third day.

On Nov. 19 we passed through the town of Esky Baba, in which is a handsome church, and an inn, ornamentally built by Ali Pasha. Here a beg from Moldavia had taken up his lodging, who had formerly been a prince there; but having been accused before the Sultan, by another Moldavian prince, of wishing to cause a disturbance, draw the people from their obedience, and revolt, he was sent for by the Sultan, who intended to have him beheaded. Seeing that there was no escape, he then turned Turk to save his neck, but only on condition that he was to be reinstated in Moldavia. This renegade prince had taken up his quarters with some thousands of Turks, not only in the town, but also in the neighbouring district, otherwise we should have spent the night there. The other, who had accused him before the Sultan, hearing that he was to be reinstated in his office, escaped with all his property into Christendom. Not being able to stay there the night, we went to the village of Bulgagium, which is principally inhabited by Greeks, and spent the night there.

On Nov. 20 we passed through the town of Burgash, which lies in a plain, and in front of which is a stone bridge thirty-seven paces long. Immediately after leaving Adrianople, whithersoever we went we saw abundance of flowers, which was to our no small astonishment, because it was the month of November. In Greece there is an abundance of the sweet-smelling narcissus and hyacinth, so that through their numbers