The Sun.
London, England, 1829-11-25 00:00:00

A TURKISH HOTEL.

"The following description of a Turkish hotfi,,
immediately after the expulsion of the Janissaries,
is taken from a work of M. Fontanier, who
lately gave an account of his travels in Petsia„.
Georgia, and Turkey, to the Royal Academy.of
Sciences at Paris. From Me Fontanier'w state-
ment it would seem that the Turkish innkeepers
are even more inquisitive than those of Atnstica,
" On my arrival at Sapanja," he says, " I
stalled myself in a coffee-house, which is the only
kind of hotel in this country. After having ar-
ranged my carpet and seated myself a la Torque,
holding my pipe in one hand and the coffee in
the other, I entered into conversation with the
master of the house, who was not tardy in giv,
ing me a hearty welcome, and putting to me a
series of questions, to which I was so accustomed
that my answers were all ready. What do YOU
want ?—Where are you going ?--Have you a
teskeri (passport) ?--Have you much money '?
—Are you a spy ?' &c. Four or five Turkish
travellers, separated from me by wooden balus-
trades which divided the room into several com-
partments, listened to these queries with the
greatest indifference, and smoked on with the
most imperturbable gravity. For me it was quite
an affair of memory, and, above all, of patience,
for if there had been twenty questions, I must
have answered them all. The interrogatories
finished, I offered them coffee— an infallible means
in this country of establishing karmony, and
procuring the rights of hospitality. At the same
time I asked them what had been going on at
Constantinople. Our host put on au air of dig-
nity, and at last, without ceasing to warm the
coffee and arrange the fire, replied, My
soul, the Sultan Mahmoud, our Lord, will
have no more Janissaries. What will become of
us if the pachas and the great are allowed
to feed upon us at their ease. We must fly
and become Curdes ? The taxes will he raised,
and perhaps (but God preserve us from it !) they
will be levied on the Mussulmans. The Sultan
Mahmoud is become an Infidel ; but it is his
dog of a son, Mehemed Ali Paella, who has
suggested all these enormities. May God de-
prive him of his eyes !' Every Turk in the
room vociferated this imprecation in chorus, and
then relapsed into their habitual silence. As
the night approached, every one began to think-
of his own affairs. Some of the travellers got
themselves shaved, others brought in their pro-
visions, and some arranged their carpets and
their toilet for the night. As for me, I could
not help admiring the good sense which was
mixed up with the detached and homely phrases
I had just heard, Every body regretted the
Janissaries arrived at the hotel while I was there;
but I remarked that the landlord hurried out to
speak to them, and assured them that he had
not room enough for their accommodation."
M. Fontanier, on his route towards Constanti-
nople, met about a hundred of the Janissaries,
who were disarmed, and some of them had their
hands tied behind them with a cord, the extre-
mity of which was held by the catvas, or Paella's
guard. He learnt that, after the massacre, the
government arrested every one whom they could
find in the capital, and without allowing them to
arrange their affairs, or to see their families,
made them embark for Scutari, with orders to
follow the road to Asia. Those who were bound
were destined as examples of the vengeance of
the grand seignor, and to intitnidate the rebels :
these had been taken by chance from among their
companions in misfortune, and were to be be-
headed in succession, on reaching certain dis-
tances.—Literary Gazette.

TIIE CURSE 0/, SCOTLAND.—The origin of
the nine of diamonds being called the terse of Scotland is
not generally known. It arose from the following cir-
cumstance :—The ❑ight before the battle of Culloden, the
Duke of CUMBIALAND thought proper to send orders to
General Caltratu. not to give quarter; and this order
bring dispatched in much haste, wax written on a card.
This card happened to be the nine •of diamonds, from
which circumstance it got the appellation above named.—
Tito Mirrrr.