Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1849-08-02

Darkness himself had made his appearance
in the face of day, no one could have shown
, greater alarm at his approach, than when the
men cried out that the Armenian pague-doc-
tor was coming down the street.
One peculiarly of the disease, is the dis
inclination which is always shown by those
who are. plague-stricken to confess that they
are so, or even 10 own that they are ill.,
They invariably conceal it as long as posi-
BILE; and even when burning with fever, and
n, an agony of pain, they will pretend they
are well and try TO walk about. But this
attempt at deception continues but very
! short period, for they soon become delirious
: or insensible, and generally unable to move.
There Is look about the eye, and an ex-
preston Of anxiety and horror in the face.
OF one who has got the plague, which is not
to he mistaken or forgotten by those who
nave once seen them. One day, at Galata,
l nearly ran against man who was sitting
: on the ground on hand-bier, upon which
some Turks were about to carry him away
and the look OF that mans face haunted me
Tor days. The expression of hopeless des-
pair aud agony was indeed but too appica-
able to his case; they were going to carry
MN to the plague.hospital, from which |
never heard of any one returning. 1t would
have been far more merciful TO have shot
him at once.
There are many curious superstitions and
circumstances connected with the plague.
One is that when the destroying angel ell
tiers INTO house, the dogs ofthe quarter as
semble IN the night, and howl before the
door and the Greeks firmly believe that
the dogs can see the evil spirit of the plague,
It's appearance being that of an old woman,
tall, TIM, and CHASTITY, and dressed in black
sometimes IN white; she stalks along the
streets-glldes through the doors ofthe habi-
tations of the condemned, and walks once
round the room other victim, who is from
that moment death-smitten. II is also as
certalned that when three small spots make
their appearance upon the knee, the patient
is doomed-he has got the plague, and his
tate IS sealed. They are called the piloui-
the pilots and harbingers Of death. Some,
however, have recovered after these spots
have shown themselves
had at this time a lodging in the house
at Pera, which | occupied when anything
brought me to Constantinople from Thera-
Pia. On one occasion was sitting with a
gentleman whose flial piety did him much
honor, for he had attended his father through
all the horrors of this illness, and he had
died of the plague in his arms, when he
heard the dogs barking in an unusual way.
On looking out of the window, there they
were all in a row, seated against the oppo-
site wall, bowling mournfuIy, and looking
r up to the house in the moonlight. One dog
looked very hard at me | thought; did
not like it at all, and began to investigate
whether had not some pain or other about
me; and this comfortable feeling was not
diminished when my friends Arab servant
came into the room and said that another
person who lodged in the house was very
unwel 1t was said that lie had fall from
his horse that morning. The dogs, though
we escaped the plague ourselves, were right :;
the plague had got into one of the houses
close to us III the same street, but how ma
ny died Oft | did not learn.
1t was about this time that two Jews
extortioners, poor men, whom consequently
nobody thought about, were walking togeth.
er in narrow street at Galata, when they
both dropped down stricken with the plague !;
there they lay on the ground no one would
touch them; and as the street was extreme
ly narrow, no one could pass that way; it
+ was, in fact blocked up by the two unhap-
Ply men. They did not die quickly. "The
devil was sure of them" the charitable peo-
pie said, " so he was III no hurry" There
they lay long tme--many days; and peo-
pie called to them. Some more tender-heart-
ed men than the rest, got long pole from
the dyes's shop hard by, and pushed a tub
nf, ~. a. 1
for no one dared TO approach them. One
Jew was quiet; he ate little bread and
drank some water, and lay still. The other
was yiulent the pain of his livid swelings
drove him wild, and he shouted, and rayed
and twisted about the ground. The people
looked at him from the corner and shudder-
ed as they quickly drew back their heads.
lie died and the other Jew still lay there,
quiet as he was before, close to the quiet
corpse of his friend. For some time they
, did not know whether he was dead or not /;
but, al last, they found that he drank no
more water aud ate no more bread so they
knew that he had died also. There Law the
two bodies in the way ill some one paid IA
hamal-a Turkish porter-who being a
staunch Professionalism, caring neither for
plague, Jew, nor Gentle, dead or alive, car
ried of'the two bodies on his back and then
the street was passable again.
The Turks have touching custom when
the plague RACES very greatly, and thousand
corpses are carried out daily from STEAMBOAT
through the groves of cypress which rise o.
yer the burial grounds beyond the walls
AT times of terror and grief such as these,
the Shiekh vi Islam causes all the little
children to be assembled on beautiful
height called the DC Maiden-the Place of
Arrows-and there they bow down upon the
ground, and raise their innocent voices in
supplication to the Father of Mercy, and i'm
plore his compassion on the afflicted city
Visit TO the Monasteries Of the LeUant.
The Crust of the Earth.