NOTE ON PAGE 124, ETC.

     
      The following passages, as being upon the subject of the foregoing Lectures, are extracted from the lively narrative of an Expedition to the Jordan and Dead Sea by Commander Lynch, of the United States Navy.
      1. He was presented to Sultan Abdoul Medjid in February, 1848. He says: “On the left hung a gorgeous crimson velvet curtain, embroidered and fringed with gold” [the ancient Tartar one was of felt], “and towards it the secretary led the way. His countenance and his manner exhibited more awe than I had ever seen depicted in the human countenance. He seemed to hold his breath; and his step was so soft and stealthy, that once or twice I stopped, under the impression that I had left him behind, but found him ever beside me. There were three of us in close proximity, and the stairway was lined with officers and attendants; but such was the death-like stillness that I could distinctly hear my own foot-fall. If it had been a wild beast slumbering in his lair that we were about to visit, there could not have been a silence more deeply hushed.”
      2. “I presented him, in the name of the President of the United States, with some biographies and prints, illustrative of the character and habits of our North American Indians, the work of American artists. He looked at some of them ... and said that he considered them as evidences of the advancement of the United States in civilization, and would treasure them as a souvenir of the good feeling of its Government towards him. At the word 'civilization,' pronounced in French, I started, for it seemed singular, coming from the lips of a Turk, and applied to our country.” The author accounts for it by observing that the Sultan is but a beginner in French, and probably meant by “civilization” arts and sciences.
      3. He saw the old Tartar throne, which puts one in mind of Attila's queen, Zingis's lieutenant, and Timour. “The old divan, upon which the Sultans formerly reclined when they gave audience, looks like an overgrown four-poster, covered with carbuncles, turquoise, amethysts, topaz, emeralds, ruby, and diamond: the couch was covered with Damascus silk and Cashmere shawls.”
      4. “Anchored in the Bay of Scio. In the afternoon, the weather partially moderating, visited the shore. From the ship we had enjoyed a view of rich orchards and green fields; but on landing we found ourselves amid a scene of desolation.... We rode into the country.... What a contrast between the luxuriant vegetation, the bounty of nature, and the devastation of man! Nearly every house was unroofed and in ruins, not one in ten inhabited, although surrounded with thick groves of orange-trees loaded with the weight of their golden fruit.”
      “While weather-bound, we availed ourselves of the opportunity to visit the ruins [of Ephesus]. There are no trees and but very few bushes on the face of this old country, but the mountain-slopes and the valleys are enamelled with thousands of beautiful flowers.... Winding round the precipitous crest of a mountain, we saw the river Cayster ... flowing through the alluvial plain to the sea, and on its banks the black tents of herdsmen, with their flocks of goats around them.” As Chandler had seen them there ninety years ago.
      5. “The tomb of Mahmood is a sarcophagus about eight feet high and as many long, covered with purple cloth embroidered in gold, and many votive shawls of the richest cashmere thrown over it.... At the head is the crimson tarbouch which the monarch wore in life, with a lofty plume, secured by a large and lustrous aigrette of diamonds. The following words are inscribed in letters of gold on the face of the tomb:—'This is the tomb of the layer of the basis of the civilization of his empire; of the monarch of exalted place, the Sultan victorious and just, Mahmood Khan, son of the victorious Abd' al Hamid Khan. May the Almighty make his abode in the gardens of Paradise! Born,' etc.”
      “From the eager employment of Franks, the introduction of foreign machinery, and the adoption of improved modes of cultivating the land, the present Sultan gives the strongest assurance of his anxiety to promote the welfare of his people.”
      San Stefano “possesses two things in its near vicinity, of peculiar interest to an American—a model farm and an agricultural school. The farm consists of about 2,000 acres of land, especially appropriated to the culture of the cotton-plant. Both farm and school are under the superintendence of Dr. Davis of South Carolina.... Besides the principal culture, he is sedulously engaged in the introduction of seeds, plants, domestic animals, and agricultural instruments. The school is held in one of the kiosks of the Sultan, which overlooks the sea.”
      At Jaffa, Dr. Kayat, H.B.M. Consul, “has encouraged the culture of the vine; has introduced that of the mulberry and of the Irish potato; and by word and example is endeavouring to prevail on the people in the adjacent plain to cultivate the sweet potato.... In the court-yard we observed an English plough of improved construction.”
      He speaks in several places of the remains of the terrace cultivation (vid. above, p. 128) of Palestine.
      6. “We visited the barracks, where a large number of Turkish soldiers, shaved and dressed like Europeans except the moustache and the tarbouch, received us with the Asiatic salute.... The whole caserne was scrupulously clean, the bread dark coloured, but well baked and sweet. The colonel, who politely accompanied us, said that the bastinado had been discontinued, on account of its injuring the culprit's eyes.”
      ... “Here,” in the Palace, “we saw the last of the White Eunuchs; the present enlightened Sultan having pensioned off those on hand, and discontinued their attendance for ever.”
      “In an extensive, but nearly vacant building, was an abortive attempt at a museum.”
      “It is said, but untruly, that the slave market of Constantinople has been abolished. An edict, it is true, was some years since promulgated, which declared the purchase and sale of slaves to be unlawful; the prohibition, however, is only operative against the Franks, under which term the Greeks are included.”
      7. “Every coloured person, employed by the Government, receives monthly wages; and, if a slave, is emancipated at the expiration of seven years, when he becomes eligible to any office beneath the sovereignty. Many of the high dignitaries of the empire were originally slaves; the present Governor of the Dardanelles is a black, and was, a short time since, freed from servitude.”
      “The secretary had the most prepossessing countenance of any Turk I had yet seen, and in conversation evinced a spirit of inquiry and an amount of intelligence that far surpassed my expectations.... His history is a pleasing one. He was a poor boy, a charity scholar in one of the public schools. The late Sultan Mahmood requiring a page to fill a vacancy in his suite, directed the appointment to be given to the most intelligent pupil. The present secretary was the fortunate one; and by his abilities, his suavity and discretion, has risen to the highest office near the person of majesty.”
     
      CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES.
      [The dates, as will be seen, are fixed on no scientific principal, but are taken as they severally occur in approved authors.]
      OUTLINES OF TURKISH CHRONOLOGY.
                           A.D.
        I. Tartar Empire of the Turks in the north and centre of
  Asia 500-700
        II. Their subjection, education, and silent growth, under the
  Saracens 700-1000
        III. Their Gaznevide Empire in Hindostan 1000-1200
        IV. Their Seljukian Empire in Persia and Asia Minor 1048-1100
        V. Decline of the Seljukians, yet continuous descent of their
  kindred tribes to the West 1100-1300
        VI. Their Ottoman Empire in Asia, Africa, and Europe,
  growing for 270 years 1300-1571
        VII. Their Ottoman Empire declining for 270 years 1571-1841
     
      CHRONOLOGICAL EVENTS INTRODUCED INTO THE FOREGOING LECTURES.
                           B.C.
        Semiramis lost in the Scythian desert p. 13 —
  The Scythians celebrated by Homer pp. 29, 39 900
  The Scythians occupy for twenty-eight years the Median kingdom
  in the time of Cyaxares pp. 15, 22 (Prideaux) 633
  Cyrus loses his life in an expedition against the Scythian Massagetæ
  p. 14 (Clinton) 529
  Darius invades Scythia north of the Danube, p. 16 (Clinton ) 508
  Zoroaster p. 66 (Prideaux) 492
  Alexander's campaign in Sogdiana p. 18 (Clinton) 329
                           A.D.
        Ancient Empire of the Huns in further Asia ends; their consequent
  emigration westward p. 26 (Gibbon) 100
        The White Huns of Sogdiana pp. 26, 34, 52, 60, 67 after 100
        Main body of the Huns invade the Goths on the north of the
  Danube p. 22 (L'Art de vérifier les dates) 376
        Attila and his Huns ravage the Roman Empire pp. 27, 28 441-452
        Mission of St. Leo to Attila pp. 29, 31 453
        Tartar Empire of the Turks pp. 49-52 (L'Art, etc., Gibbon),
    about 500-700
  Chosroes the Second captures the Holy Cross p. 53
    (L'Art, etc.) 614
  Mahomet assumes the royal dignity. The Hegira p. 69 (L'Art ) 622
  The Turks from the Wolga settled by the Emperor Heraclius
  in Georgia against the Persians p. 53 (Gibbon) 626
  The Turks invade Sogdiana p. 68 (Gibbon) 626
  Heraclius recovers the Holy Cross p. 53 (L'Art, etc.) 628
  Death of Mahomet p. 69 (L'Art) 632
  Yezdegerde, last King of Persia, flying from the Saracens, is
  received and murdered by the Turks in Sogdiana p. 69 ( Universal
    History
) 654
  The Saracens reduce the Turks in Sogdiana p. 70 (L'Art, and
    Univ. Hist.) 705-716
        The Caliphate transferred from Damascus to Bagdad p. 76
    (L'Art) 762
  Harun al Raschid p. 77 (L'Art) 786
  The Turks taken into the pay of the Caliphs p. 77 (L'Art) 833, etc.
  The Turks tyrannize over the Caliphs p. 79 (L'Art) 862-870
  The Caliphs lose Sogdiana p. 80 (L'Art) 873
  The Turkish dynasty of the Gaznevides in Khorasan and Sogdiana
    p. 80 (Dow) 977
  Mahmood the Gaznevide pp. 80-84 (Dow) 997
        Seljuk the Turk pp. 84-89 (Univ. Hist.) 985
  The Seljukian Turks wrest Sogdiana and Khorasan from the
  Gaznevides p. 89 (Dow) 1041
  Togrul Beg, the Seljukian, turns to the West pp. 89, 92
    (Baronius) 1048
  Sufferings of Christians on pilgrimage to Jerusalem pp. 98-101
  (Baronius) 1064
  Alp Arslan's victory over the Emperor Diogenes p. 93
    (Baronius) 1071
  St. Gregory the Seventh's letter against the Turks p. 98 ( Sharon
  Turner
) 1074
  Jerusalem in possession of the Turks p. 98 (L'Art) 1076
  Soliman, the Seljukian Sultan of Roum, establishes himself at
  Nicæa p. 131 (L'Art) 1082
        The Council of Placentia under Urban the Second pp. 109, 137
  (L'Art) 1095
  The first Crusade p. 109 (L'Art) 1097
  Conquests of Zingis Khan and the Moguls pp. 32-34
    (L'Art) 1176-1259
  Richard Coeur de Lion in Palestine p. 140 (L'Art) 1190
  Institution of Mamlooks p. 217 about 1200
  Constantinople taken by the Latins p. 139 (L'Art) 1203
  Greek Empire of Nicæa p. 121 (L'Art) 1206
  The Greek Emperor Vataces encourages agriculture in Asia
  Minor p. 121 (L'Art) 1222-1255
        The Moguls subjugate Russia p. 225 (L'Art) 1236
  Mission of St. Louis to the Moguls pp. 35-41 (L'Art) 1253
  The Turks attack the north and west coast of Asia Minor
    p. 93 (Univ. Hist.) 1266-1296
  Marco Polo p. 37 1270
  End of the Seljukian kingdom of Roum p. 132 (L'Art) 1294
        Othman p. 132 1301
  The Popes retire to Avignon for seventy years p. 143 (L'Art ) 1305
  Orchan, successor to Othman, originates the institution of
  Janizaries p. 134 (L'Art) 1326-1360
  Battle of Cressy p. 140 1346
  Battle of Poitiers, p. 140 1356
  Wicliffe, p. 139 1360
  Amurath institutes the Janizaries pp. 113, 215, 218 (Gibbon ) 1370
  Conquests of Timour p. 32 (L'Art) 1370, etc.
  Schismatical Pontiffs for thirty-eight years p. 143
    (L'Art) 1378-1417
  Battle of Nicopolis p. 146 (L'Art) 1393
  Timour defeats and captures Bajazet p. 144 (L'Art) 1402
  Timour at Samarcand pp. 38, 45 (L'Art) 1404
  Timour dies on his Chinese expedition p. 46 1405
        Henry the Fourth of England dies, p. 141 1413
  Battle of Agincourt pp. 140, 145 1415
  Huss p. 140 1415
  Henry the Fifth of England dies p. 142 1422
  Maid of Orleans p. 141 1428
  Battle of Varna p. 147 (L'Art) 1442
  Constantinople taken by the Ottomans p. 147 1453
  John Basilowich rescues Russia from the Moguls p. 47
    (L'Art) about 1480
  Luther p. 140 1517
  Soliman the Great pp. 148, 192 1520
  St. Pius the Fifth p. 153 1568
  Battle of Lepanto pp. 156, 189 1571