of any description to look at. The redeeming resource was the
promenade on the banks of the Danube, which has here attained almost
its full volume, and uniting the waters of Alp, Carpathian, and
Balkan, rushes impatiently to the Euxine.

At length the day of departure came. The attendant had just removed
the tumbler of coffee, tossing the fragments of toast into the
court-yard, an operation which appeared to have a magnetic effect on
the bills of the poultry; and then, with his accustomed impropriety,
placed the plate as a basis to my hookah, telling me that F----, a
Bulgarian Christian, wished to speak with me.

"Let him walk in," said I, as I took the first delightful whiff; and
F----, darkening the window that looked out on the verandah, gave me a
fugitive look of recognition, and then entering and making his
salutation in a kindly hearty manner, asked me to eat my mid-day meal
with him.

"Indeed," quoth I, "I accept your invitation. I have not gone to pay
my visit to the Bey, because I remain here too short a time to need
his good offices; but I am anxious to make the acquaintance of the
people,--so I am your guest."

When the hour arrived, I adjusted the tassel of my fez, put on my
great coat, and proceeded to the Christian quarter; where, after
various turnings and windings, I at length arrived at a high wooden
gateway, new and unpainted.

An uncouth tuning of fiddles, the odour of savoury fare, and a hearty
laugh from within, told me that I had no further to go; for all these