Visits to monasteries in the Levant . le who cameover from thence said that the whole country was in aferment. In fact there seemed to be a general uproartaking place, during which each party of the free andindependent mountaineers deemed it expedient to showtheir steady adherence to their own side of the questionby shooting at any one they saw, from behind a stoneor a tree, for fear that person might accidentally be apartizan of the opposite faction. The Albanians are great dandies about their arms :the scabbard of their yataghan, and the stocks of theirpistols, are almost always of silver, a
Visits to monasteries in the Levant . le who cameover from thence said that the whole country was in aferment. In fact there seemed to be a general uproartaking place, during which each party of the free andindependent mountaineers deemed it expedient to showtheir steady adherence to their own side of the questionby shooting at any one they saw, from behind a stoneor a tree, for fear that person might accidentally be apartizan of the opposite faction. The Albanians are great dandies about their arms :the scabbard of their yataghan, and the stocks of theirpistols, are almost always of silver, as well as theirthree or four little cartridge boxes, which are frequentlygilt, and sometimes set with garnets and coral; anAlbanian is therefore worth shooting, even if he is notof another way of thinking from the gentleman whoshoots him. As I understood, however, that they didnot shoot so much at Franks because they usually havelittle about them worth taking, and are not good toeat, I conceived that I should not run any great risk ;. TATAR, OR GOVERNMENT MESSENGER. Chap. XVir. COMPARATIVE SAFETY OF FOREIGNERS. 237 s. and I resolved, therefore, not to be thwarted in myintention of exploring some of the monasteries of thatcountry. There is another reason also why Franksare seldom molested in the East—every Arab orAlbanian knows that if a PYank has a gun in his hand,which he generally has, there are two probabilities,amounting almost to certainties, vi^ith respect to thatweapon. One is, that it is loaded ; and the other that,if the trigger is pulled, there is a considerable chanceof its going off. Now these are circumstances whichapply in a much slighter degree to the magazine of smallarms which he carries about his own person. But, beyondall this, when a Frank is shot there is such a disturb-ance made about it! Consuls write letters—pashas arestirred up—guards, kawasses, and tatars gallop likemad about the country, and fire pistols in the air, andlive at free quarters in t
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