In The Plain Of
The Afrin, About Three Miles From Mursal Oglu’S Residence, And Half An
Hour From The
Afrin, stands an insulated hillock in the plain with the
ruins of a Saracen castle, called Daoud Pasha; four miles
To the N.E. of
it is situated another similar hillock, with ruins of a castle, called
Tshyie. The sight of these numerous ruins fills the minds of the
Turkmans and Kurds with ideas of hidden treasures, and they relate a
variety of traditionary tales of Moggrebyn Sheikhs, who have been once
on the point of getting out the treasure, when they have been
interrupted by the shrieks of a woman, &c. &c. Having provided myself at
Aleppo with a small hammer to break off spesimens of rocks, the Turkmans
could not be pursuaded that this instrument was not for the purpose of
searching for gold. Several Turkmans pressed me to do them the favour of
working for a day in their behalf. I endeavoured to persuade them that
the hammer was to assist me in procuring medicinal herbs.
[FN#1] Tshay is the Chinese word for tea; and our word is corrupted from
it. The word Tshay is used all over Tartary and Turkey, where the dried
herb, which is brought over land from China, is also well known. In
Syria and Egypt, where the word is better known than the herb, real tea
is generally distinguished by the name of Tshay Hindy (tea of India).
Ed.
APPENDIX. No.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 830 of 870
Words from 225599 to 225848
of 236498
