The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-08-27


find, on payment of a few hundred pounds
down. II any statues were found, / believe
they we're garden images. Turkish proprie-
tor told me might dig for statues or bas-reliefs
on many parts of his property; and believe
him. for he was owner of the site of q city as
large as Bristol or Norwich 1t was, how
ever, an inconvenient spot to transport heavy
marbles from; and when it was not covered
with the winter floods, it was poisonous with
malaria. Such are the drawbacks, where
there are real chances
Visions beset the Levantine of cities in the
interior, desolate, but with temples perfect
and statuary standing. Some will tell you
that they have found such places, when
driven by brigands off the beaten route;
cities unmarked on the maps and unnamed
by the ancient geographers and historians.
They could not stay, and have wished
to return but years have passed away,
and their business has not yet permitted.
The columns they saw were as polished as
when new, and cleaning in snowy white
| brightness. Tombs are ever and anon said
to be opened, in which lamps were found
burning, which only went out when the fresh
air entered BY the last flicker of such a
lamp, the king whose body the light watched,
visibly faded from his lfe-like color, and his
| solid flesh and embroidered robes fell to
dust
sweet is the small valley, with its vines and
figs and olives its orange and citron trees
yet scenting the air, its gardened houses,
its lanes and hedgerows, the trickling
stream and Towering shrubs How charm
ing yonder street.-the palace, gaily painted,
as a picture by itself; the free foun-
tain next its gate speaks of the
bounty of its founders, mindful of the future;
the cotfee-house gives shelter III its shady
balcony to the reposing guests! All is calm;
with Just so much air as cools and mellows
the sunshine, and leaves us to enjoy its bril-
liancy unwearied; yet in one moment shall all
! this, and all who live in it, be shaken to death
and ruin; one second more of the frequent
earthquake, one further strain of power, and
| even the fallen ruins are engulfed, the sea-
wave rolls over the spot, and black floods
burst forth from the chasms in the soil.
There was one spot often passed before
knew its story. cathedral with iingling
bells sent up a huge tower aloft, and around
its precincts quiet monks filled the numerous
chambers. The shops bad their busy occu-
pants, and climbing vines made canopies over
| the narrow ways; many traveller has marked
the scene. One day, while / rested in a
counting-hous near there, an aged merchant
told me how, in the great earthquake, his
family had occupied the house at the corner
| of the cathedral yard. There they took re-
|
pose His father, then baby, lay on mat
tress by a servant Suddenly the ground
opened, drawing in four men who lay next to
| him, and, closing again, entombed them for
ever. / seldom traversed the marble pave
ment but thought what if the earth should
yawn again, as of yore
In merely worldly things none know what
eyes behold them, even in the open streets
| Those yelled Turkish women wander about
| 1. Ill To Won
lady in a dove-coored ferijee, whom you
cannot distinguish, is perhaps bosom con-
fidante of your own wife, That coarse native
woman in crinoline, the suspicious Greek may
| fear to be the encouragement in person,
disguised, Watching evil-doers. He who ven
lures forth at night does so at the risk of
encountering Hmoun Alraschid and his
attendant, Mesrour; and if he stop at home
they may be listening under his windows.
An Armenian may be scared to death by an
unknown soap-vendor, who follows him about,
pressing soap and conversation on him, and
| whom he belieAes to be the Sultan Caliph of
! Islam so arrayed OF the Grand Vizier.
! What seems and is not, or what Is, who
knows-in the East? Philosophy and theo-
logy flourish on the borders between the real
and the imaginary. The power of magic
comes to relieve unsettled minds and to reas-
sure the vulgar, who are more numerous than
not in magic and its kindred sciences. Islam
could not conquer magic; it only consecrated
its power and furnished it with new means of
incantation. The magi of the East are de-
funct, but the magician of Africa, the Moor,
the Maghreli, rules with traditional might,
adapts the science and weaves the cuneiform
characters of Babylon into his weird alphabet.
| All Islam confirms the power of magic. What
the magician does to find stolen napkins or
bring back lost lovers, the dervish acknow-
! ledgeS as potent to eXpel disease and restore
life. The great name of God may be written
in wOndrous shapes. Here, such an emblem
protects house from fire; there in a tablet
it shields the tailor from the temptations of
dishonesty. 1t is over the doorway of the
mosque and the shop of the magician. The
magician is not now so favored as of old, but
| his shop is sometimes to be seen, with speci-
mems in the windows of white and holy charms,
horoscopes, tables of magic letters and magic
squares, ineffable names. / remember
one fellows shop, and he had talking
parrot hanging over the door, An incre-
dulous passenger remarked to me that the
parrot was cleverer than the magician; but
| the magician drove an excellent trade
In warding off evil, securing tickle love-
promising children, curing sickness, and dis
covering theft, the talisman- dealer, the magi-
clan, and the astrologer yet thrive throughout
the East. The gypsy is missionary to be
found in every house. There is nothing too
impossible for credulity. modern coniuror
drew five francs head from large commu-
nifty by sending round his carte e-de-viste,
representing him with his head at his feet.
An intelligent audience of educated persons
was highly indignant that this part of the
performance did not come off.
One marvel have read in a veracious book,
hot tba dc Of 1o1 10 i