the houses of the rich Varniotes, which were
formerly fitted up quite in the Turkish style,
having, for example, in the reception-room,
or moussafir-ouda, nothing but low divans and
a Shumla carpet, or a plain mat. Many of
the houses within the walls of the city have
now a little garden or boxè, where are raised
numbers of flowers, principally the rose and
the jasmine. These intramural gardens are
often shaded by willow, linden, and lilac trees,
clumps of which are seen also in the country
around. Vegetation begins towards the
end of April, and finishes in September.
During the intervening period, Varna is a
most agreeable place of residence; and, as it is
only fourteen hours distance, even by a sailing
vessel with a good wind, from Constantinople,
or the Queen City as the Byzantines call it,
many persons spend the summer there;
returning occasionally for a short time to
the capital to transact business.

As in all the other cities of Turkey, the
streets of Varna are narrow, winding,
irregular, dirty, and generally without pavement.
It is, consequently, difficult to cross them
in the winter without sticking in the mud;
which is at least half a foot deep in front of
the grain stores and near the Land Gate,
by which all waggons enter. The climate in
general is good, and the waters for drinking
are of excellent quality. They flow abundantly
from the fountains with which the
Armenian, Greek, and Turkish quarters are
provided.

The common articles of food are pastruma,
that is to say, the meat of oxen or buffaloes
salted and dried in the sun, or sutjoukia,
sausages made of the same meat, together
with cabbages kept till half decayed in cellars,
and beans. The pastruma and sutjoukia are
prepared towards the end of the month of
September, at which period each family, in
accordance with ancient usage, kills before the
door or in the court of its house the oldest of
its buffaloes, which has supplied throughout
the year abundance of milk for the preparation,
called giaourt, or sour curds. These
buffaloes are so tame, that during the summer
they leave the stables alone in the
morning to go and seek pasture in the
country, and return at nightfall of their
own accord.

In the East, every family is obliged to
attend to the march of the seasons, and lay
in provisions accordingly. During the month
of September, whilst the public slaughtering
is going on, every family provides itself
with firewood, coals, and vegetables, for the
long winter of five months; during which,
on those stormy shores of the Black Sea,
the kitchen gardens are covered with snow,
or bound by frost, or drenched by rain.
At that season few peasants will come into
the town; or, if they do, consider themselves
entitled to ask extravagant prices. The
vegetables, of which store is made, are leeks,
parsley, celery, parsnips, carrots, beet-root,
and turnips, the roots of which are buried in
the earth in the corner of the house-court.
Common cabbages and curled colewort are
preserved either by being hung on strings
in the cellar, which is the best manner, or
in little barrels filled with salt-water. Cauliflowers, cucumbers, turnip cabbages, young
onions, and other vegetables are kept in
vinegar. What takes place in the Varniote
families in detail, is repeated on a large scale
by the trade.

Every year, from the middle of the month
of August to the end of September, are
killed in the slaughter-house placed opposite
the fortress, in the direction of Cape Soganlik,
six or eight thousand oxen or cows, which are
past work, to make pastruma, and to furnish
tallow for the candles used in the country, or
exported to Constantinople, where they are
in great demand. They are known by a red
tip which is given them at the manufactory.
Great quantities of tongues also are prepared
for exportation, and the horns are sent
fastened to the skins, which are dried in the
open air.

This period of slaughtering, called tarkhem,
is a kind of festival for the town. During
forty days that it lasts, one of the gates
closed all the rest of the year is thrown
open for the ingress and egress of the
inhabitants. In all there are five gates, three of
which—two on the land side, and one towards
the sea—are open daily; the former until nightfall,
and the latter half an hour after, for the
convenience of the merchants and the crews
of the ships dispersed about the town. The
keys of these gates are kept at night by the
Kavass Bashi or chief of the police of the
Pacha, who, on being forewarned, orders the
Land Gate—leading to the public walk, and
to the two neighbouring monasteries of Saint
Demitri and Saint Constantine—to remain
open until the return of such and such a
consul, who may have gone out to amuse
himself with his family and friends. The
fifth gate, of which we have not yet spoken,
is opened only on Twelfth day, when the
Archbishop goes down at the head of his
clergy, according to the custom of all Christian
maritime towns in the East, to throw
into the waters a cross, which the devout
sailors dive for and are happy to procure.

It is only during the two months of August
and September that carnivorous Europeans
can be certain of finding beef in the butchers'
shops; but throughout the year excellent
mutton and lamb may be obtained. Fresh
pork, which infidels will persist in eating,
can only be got in the last days of carnival.
In spring and summer, the market of vegetables
and herbs is well supplied, as is also
the fish market. Great quantities of turbot
are caught along the coast, together with
some mullets, soles, haddocks, and other fish.
Sea hedgehogs are common, but gourmands
are obliged to get oysters from Constantinople
by the steamers. Considerable development