The Mississippi Creole. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1841-1851, 1849-06-16
SKETCHES OF TRAVEL,
The Plague in COnstantinopIe.

The Plague in COnstantinOpIe.
One peculiarly Of the disease is the disincli-
nation which is always shown by those who
ale pIogue-stricken to confess that they are i'll.
They invariably conceal it as long as possible
and even when burning with fever and in an
agony ofpain, they will pretend that they are
well and try 10 walk about. But this attempt
at deception continue for a very short period,
Tor they soon become delirious or insensible,
and generally are unable to move. There is
a look about the eye, and an expression ofhor-
ror and anxiety in the face Of one who has got
the plague, which is not to be mistaken or for
gotten by those who have seen them. One day
at Galata, | nearly ran against a man who was
sitting on the ground on a hand-bier, upon
which some Turks were about to carry him a.
way, and the look of the unfortunate mans
face, haunted me for days. The expression of
hopeless despair and agony was indeed but too
applicable to his case they were going to car
ry him to the plague hospital, from whence |
never heard Of any one returning. 1t would
have been far more mercilul to have shot him
at once.
There are many curious superstitions and
circumstances connected with the plague.
One is that when the destroying angel enters
into the house, the dogs in the quarter assem-
bic in the night and howl before the door; and
the Greeks firmly believe that the dogscan see
the evil spirit ofthe plague; although il is in
visible to human eyes. Some people, howev-
e, are said to have seen the plague, its ap
pearance being that Of an old woman, tall, thin
and ghastly, and dressed sometimes in black,
sometimes in white; she stalks along the
st~reets-glides through the doors or the habi-
tations Of the cOndemned-and walks once
round the room other victim, who is from that
moment death smilten. 1t is also asserted that
when three small spots make their appearance
upon the knee, the patient is doomed-he has
got the plague and his fate is sealed. They
are called the p%ilotti-the pilot and harbing-
ers Of death. Some, however, have recovered
after these spots have shown themselves.
! had at this time a honse at Para, which |
occupied when anything brought me to Con-
stantinople from Therapia. On one Occas on
was sitting with a gentleman whose flial pie
ty did him much honor, for he had attended his
father through the horrors of this illness, and
he mad died of the plague in his arms, when he
heard the dogs braying in an unusual way.
On looking'outo of the window there they were
all Of row seated against the opposite wall,
bowling mournfully and looking up at the
house in the moon light. One dog looked We
ry hard at me | thought; / did not like it at all
and began to investigate whether l had not
some pain or other about me; and this COM
Portable 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 unwell it was said that he had
had o fall from his horse that morning. The
dogs, though we escaped the plague ourselves,
were right; the plague had got into the house
@ose to us in the same street; but how many
died oft we did not learn.
II was about this time two Jews-extortion-
ers, poor men, whom consequently nobody
cared about-were talking together on q mar
row street at Galata, when they both dropped
down stricken with the plague; there they lay
upon the ground, no one would touch them;
and as the street was extremely narrow. no
one could pass that way it was in effect block
ed up by the two unhappy men. They did
not die quickly. "The devil was sure of
them" the charitable people said, eco he was in
no hurry" There they lay a long tlme-ma-
ny daysi and people called to them and put
their heads round the corner of the street to
look at them. Some tenderer hearted than the
rest got a long pole from a dyer's shop hard
by and pushed tub of water to them and
threw them some bread, for no one dared APP
proach them. One Jew was quiet; he ate a
little bread, and drank some water and lay
still. The other was violent; the pain Of his
livid swellings drove him wild, and he shouted
and raved and twisted about upon the ground.
The people looked at him from the corner, and
shuddared as they quickly drew back their
heads! He died and the other Jew still lay
there, as quiet as he was before, close to the
quiet corpse of his poor friend, For some time
they did not know whether he was dead or
not, but at last they found he drank no more
water, and ate no more bread, as they knew
that he had died also. There lay the W bed
les in the way, till some one paid a bamei-
a Turkish porter-who being a stanch f%atolist,
caring neither for plague nor Jew, nor Genule'
dead or alive, carried off the bodies on his
back and then the street was Passable again.
The Turks have a touching custom when
the plague RACES very g~reatly, and a thousand