New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-11-24
4y1MERICAN IN BULGARLL

ArAta wound slowly up an eie'aioh oo1'o' '"o"'v
70 reach the table land which stretches away to ward
the Euxine. The city formerly numbered fifteen
thousand ia habitsnts but was partially destroyed
hast ummer by party OF Bashi BazOuks. Tbese
hnpious pcmads Of Asia scattered the peaceful in
Aabitapts, destroyed several mosques, and laid
whole streets in ruins. The place seemed well
nigh deserted Near the city gate we passed by an
old Turkish fou, tain, calling tn mind toe PALMER
days Of Islam. group Of white-armed, laughing
girls had assembled there, who fed as we ap-
preached. They may have been the ma ads OF the
fountain MelpOnene and ITALIA would not have
tsipped away II ore gracefully over the de~y velvet
have frequently noticed Turkish boys as beau
tifnl So Astyanax Ottoman children OF both
,exes nre indeed remarkable for their beauty, as
we'll AZ for the sweetness and dignity Of their be-
kayior. The latter arise from their being brought
vp in the harem. TIE father takes no part or ap-
psrent interest in their education, and the young
mind is left entirely to the sweet influences Of
maternal love, which is unusually strong 10 On
spt.l society, from the fact that female life is con-
fsed to a narrow and exclusive sphere. Fillal
and maternal affection, retained throughout lie
and tOuchiDgly manifested on all oecasons ls the
result oi this training.
From the strong admixt1re Of Circassia an blood,
and 10 limited extent that OF the Greeks, the
Turkish IT, ia my opinion, the most perce, type OF
the human race Freedom from excitement, Po-
iticsI or moral, exemption from the c0rrOding
cares OF business aud that happy alliance OF move
mept and Jepo.e IN the open air, which tie TURK
90 n ch loves, cODduce 10 the Development OF
manly beauty and are highly favorable to lon
geyity The MOslems, among whom l move ST.
len, and statuetque men Of the graceful beard and
flowing robe of the OfieDtsls, combine tbs dgnlhed
bearing of an ancient Athenan with tie majestic
aavitI Of d 3. DstOr OF Rome.
The confined sn0 fretful life OF the harem is, on
the eontrary, destructive to female charms. Mar
M ut the age of twelve or fifteen years Turkish
ladies become ugly at twenty five, uncomfortable at
krty heir mode of dress also seems TO render
the beautiful less beautiful, the uncODely more
uScomely With the Turks, vailed women wear
ing trowsers OgIe men dressed in flowing robes OF
the asyest cOlOrs; with us, men clad 10 somber
hues Ogle no 0en attlItd IN woven ale, exhibiting
all toe tints Of the rainbow. Moreover, their uo-
spgec way OF sitting cross armed Id cr0ss-legg ed
On tue bosom of mother earth, af.er the man
Fer Of their lords, gives them distorted spinal col
umDs and round shoulders, While the universal
habit Of smoking contributes 10 convert the rich
tDts Of Circassian beauty into the salloS wrinkles
Of premature age
The Indians believe that defermed bodies are
committed in fermer life Among the / 1rks,
who contend that a base soul must InhabIt de-
formed body, the cultivation of p1ysics strength
and beauty is he Id to DO the highest duty after the
chief points of religion.
observed a large number of tnmuh scattered
over the pain many of ~h ch were of considerable
sne They are like those found along the lower
DaIabe and on the steppes of Russia and belong
TO that class Of rude but very ancient monuments
found in almost every pact OF the world, iron the
plains of Central Asia TO the praires of the far
West The Turks call these conical mounds Tepe,
the Blu gsrians, Hunka, or graves Of tue Huns.
Their resemblance to the Pelasgean tumuli and to
the me unds along The VOlga aud the Mississippi in-
dicaes that all nations have like conceptions OF art
In like periods Of their development. A religious
idea may have suggested the er, elton OF some OF
them. have not untrequenty seen mounds OF
the shape, as nearly as possible, of animals known
TO have been wOrshped in ancient times but for
The most part they are doubtless simple monu-
meDts to mark the resiogplaces OF tue dead. ASK
the Bulgarian peaeant who erected them, and he
will answer, "God only knows" The Turks say
that they are simply elevations which mark the
sites of Ottoman camps aud on which were for
mn, rly displayed the horse tail ssnda axe of vic.
ferrous sulsns aid pasbas My imagination, how
ever assO ,iates these mysterious monuments with
ancient Scytbian heroes and Bulgarian kings. AS
I look upon them think of those classic souvenirs
PLAIN of Troy-Of the lofty mound believed to con-
tain the ashes of the son of Peleus but now, as
In days of old, guiding to the Rhgtean port
Tempest tos, bsrks shat DER the .Es-sn sail
With penn raining to the southern gale"
These silent watchmen of the Bulgarian plain
may have witnessed adieus as touching as those OF
Hector and Andromache heroes as noble a. AJAX
and Illus may sleep beneath them but, unlike
Ajax and the son of Nestor, their deeds have been
enbalmed in no immortal Had.
Now and then frOm an elevated point looked
down upon the low and immense DObrodja
stretching away in the distance like
THAT Sirbouisu bog
Where All mics whole have sunk"
It 10 intersected by Trajans wall, built centuries
ago, and extending from the point where the Da.
nube makes sudden sweep toward Modavia to
kostendjz on the Black Sea, while far beyond, at
the north, the Danube itself flows into the Euxine
The extended plains, or rather morssses, OF the
DObrOdja are we'll wooded, but want the mag
nola To make them equal TO the lew banks of the
Mississippi and the Savannah. The sol is exceed
DRly fertile; the atmosphere humid aUi insalubrl-
GUS The Inhabitants, numbering SCme 10000
families, represent not less than sixteen national
tiles but the ms ority are of Tartar origin, aud the
descendants of those driven from the Crimea during
the consulsions which preceded and attended the
incorporation of that peninsula into the Russian
empire.
They exercise faithfully The laws Of hospitality
prescribed by the Koran. When traveller enters
one ii their villages, the heads of the families dis.
pute among themselves the honor of re ,eiving and
entertaining him grstuitousy for three days.
Among them there are not far from 10000 Cos
SACKS, descended ffOm families who fled from the
Ukraine after the fall of Mazeppa their leader,
and Charles MI. Though fixed 10 the soil sud
become farmers like the Bulgsrians. they still
$50 a,~ I, -