CHAPTER XVI.

THE APOCALYPTIC CHURCHES. SMYRNA.

View of Smyrna from the bay.-Town.-Turkish quarter.— Cemeteries.-Resort of females. - Streets and houses. Bazaars.-Population.-Produce.-Trade.-Recession of sea.-Accommodation for travellers.-Tundoor.-Climate. -Veneration for storks.-Etymology of name.-Countryhouses.Earthquakes. Plague. Curious fact. - Old fort. Bust of Amazon.-View.- Stadium.- Theatre.Aqueduct. River Meles.-Birthplace of Homer.-Æolic origin of the city. Its history. Martyrdom of Polycarp. Celebration of its anniversary.-State of religion. -Protestant chapels and service. Comparison of present state of Smyrna with that of the other apocalyptic churches.

THE view of Smyrna from the sea is striking. It stands in the centre of an amphitheatre of hills which shelter it on every side except the south, where they form a gulf whose beauties have been compared to those

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of the bay of Naples; but the comparison is too favorable to be just. The town spreads up the slope of Mount Pagus and stretches along its foot; on the quay are seen the houses of European merchants and consuls; and beyond, the Turkish quarter with its usual picturesque admixture of minarets and cypresses. Above, a wood of these stately trees indicates the site of the Turkish cemetery, while thousands of marble slabs, paving the acclivity of the mountain, point out the south as the quarter selected for the resting-place of deceased Armenians and Hebrews. This is the favorite resort of the Turkish females, whose lively-colored dresses strikingly contrast with their long flowing white veils, as they sit quaffing sherbet and smoking chibouques on carpets spread on the ground; they are usually accompanied by negroes or negresses, and form themselves into little groups to discuss the merits of their respective lords and the budgets of their various harems.

But if a first view be calculated to make a favorable impression, this is not confirmed by an inspection of the interior of the city. The quarter occupied by Franks, called Frank Street, has a gutter running through its centre,

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and is dirty, ill-paved, and narrow; in addition to which, it is rendered almost impassable by long strings of camels and porters carrying huge bales of cotton, who compel the pedestrian frequently to seek refuge under a gateway. The houses are miserably built; the sides consist often of planks; and when of bricks, the walls are too thin to keep out cold and damp. Neither windows nor doors are made to shut close: none of the former have weights attached, to allow of their remaining open at any elevation; and if locks appear on the latter, it is too much to expect that they should be serviceable. The shops are little dark rooms; but tolerably supplied with European articles. The bazaars, with their long covered rows of stalls, built with sundry precautions against fire whose ravages are awfully common, are secured by iron gates closed at night. As to the rest, Turkish towns in general offer little variety, and the description already given of Constantinople applies to Smyrna, except as regards the finer buildings, greater extent, and gaudy exterior of the capital.

The modern city, called by the Turks Ismir, contains a population estimated at more than a hundred and twenty, and less than a hundred and fifty, thousand. Of these, thirty

thousand may be Greeks, eight thousand Armenians, ten thousand Jews, five thousand Catholics, six hundred Protestants, and the rest Turks. All are supported by commerce. The chief imports are woollen cloths, lead, tin, glass, and wrought silks. The principal articles of export are cotton, silk, carpets, Angora wool, camelots, skins, wax, amber, drugs, and fruit. Sweet lemons, oranges, citrons, watermelons, figs, and grapes abound here in great perfection. Fish, likewise, is very plentiful, as is game of all kinds, and the flesh of wild boars. The sheep, like those of Perekop in Crim Tartary and the cape of Good Hope, have broad tails, which weigh ten or twelve pounds each, and yield a rich fat in high repute.

The sea is gradually receding from the shore; and this to such an extent that the governor of the town now and then sells slips of land half under water, leaving the purchasers to secure them against the waves. The process

and it is

of recession, however, is a slow one; difficult to assign a probable time for the production of any sensible effects. It was predicted in the last century, but the catastrophe foretold seems to have advanced very little towards completion, that, ere long,

Smyrna, like Ephesus, would be altogether deserted by the sea; in which case the fountain of her commerce would probably be dried up, and she would sink into the comparative insignificance of Pergamus, Thyatira, and Philadelphia; if not into the utter desolation of her fallen sisters, Ephesus, Sardis, and Laodicea.

There is a great lack of accommodation for travellers. The only inn in the town contains but a single decent room; and the noise of revelry is incessant. Besides this, there are three boarding-houses, of which it is difficult to name the best, for nobody that has tried one seems willing to believe that he could exchange for a worse. Furnished lodgings are not to be procured; nor can furniture be hired for a few weeks or months; so that, unless accommodated by a friend, a traveller will generally be uncomfortably circumstanced. The apparatus commonly used for supplying warmth to the body in cold weather is a tundoor, or brazier; this is placed under the table, which is covered by a large cloth held by each member of the family circle up to the chin, to prevent the heat from escaping. Grates and stoves have of late years been introduced; but they are still rare, and to be seen only in Frank dwellings.