Necessarily confine the wandering

The valleys which lie between them necessarily confine the wandering savage to an eastward or westward course, and the slope of the land westward invites him to that direction rather than to the east. And further, at a certain point in these westward passages, as he approaches the meridian of the Sea of Aral, he finds the mountain-ranges cease, and he has the permission, if he will, to stretch away to the north or to the south. Moreover, his course is naturally to the west, from the nature of the case, if he moves at all, for the East is his native home.

There, in the most northerly of these ranges is a lofty mountain, which some geographers have identified with the classical Imaus; it is called by the Saracens Caf, by the Turks Altai; sometimes too it has the name of the Girdle of the Earth, from the huge appearance of the chain to which it belongs, sometimes of the Golden Mountain, from the gold, as well as other metals, with which its sides abound. It is said to be at an equal distance of 2,000 miles from the Caspian, the Frozen Sea, the North Pacific Ocean, and the Bay of Bengal ; and, being in situation the furthest withdrawn from West and South, it is in fact the high metropolis of the vast Tartar country, which it overlooks, and has sent forth, in the course of ages, innumerable populations into the illimitable and mysterious regions around it, regions protected by their inland character both from the observation and the civilizing influence of foreign nations.

To eat bread in the sweat of his brow is the original punishment of mankind; the indolence of the savage shrinks from the obligation, and looks out for methods of escaping it. Com, wine, and oil have no charms for him at such a price; he Gibbon.

turns to the brute animals which are his aboriginal companions, the horse, the cow, and the sheep; he prefers fd’be a grazier than to till the ground. He feeds his horses, flocks, and herds on its spontaneous vegetation, and then in turn he feeds himself on their flesh. He remains on one spot while the natural crop yields them sustenance; when it is exhausted, he migrates to another. He adopts, what is called, the life of a nomad.

Necessarily confine the wandering

The valleys which lie between them necessarily confine the wandering savage to an eastward or westward course, and the slope of the land westward invites him to that direction rather than to the east. And further, at a certain point in these westward passages, as he approaches the meridian of the Sea of Aral, he finds the mountain-ranges cease, and he has the permission, if he will, to stretch away to the north or to the south. Moreover, his course is naturally to the west, from the nature of the case, if he moves at all, for the East is his native home.

There, in the most northerly of these ranges is a lofty mountain, which some geographers have identified with the classical Imaus; it is called by the Saracens Caf, by the Turks Altai; sometimes too it has the name of the Girdle of the Earth, from the huge appearance of the chain to which it belongs, sometimes of the Golden Mountain, from the gold, as well as other metals, with which its sides abound. It is said to be at an equal distance of 2,000 miles from the Caspian, the Frozen Sea, the North Pacific Ocean, and the Bay of Bengal ; and, being in situation the furthest withdrawn from West and South, it is in fact the high metropolis of the vast Tartar country, which it overlooks, and has sent forth, in the course of ages, innumerable populations into the illimitable and mysterious regions around it, regions protected by their inland character both from the observation and the civilizing influence of foreign nations.

To eat bread in the sweat of his brow is the original punishment of mankind; the indolence of the savage shrinks from the obligation, and looks out for methods of escaping it. Com, wine, and oil have no charms for him at such a price; he Gibbon.

turns to the brute animals which are his aboriginal companions, the horse, the cow, and the sheep; he prefers fd’be a grazier than to till the ground. He feeds his horses, flocks, and herds on its spontaneous vegetation, and then in turn he feeds himself on their flesh. He remains on one spot while the natural crop yields them sustenance; when it is exhausted, he migrates to another. He adopts, what is called, the life of a nomad.

Descriptions of Constantinople in such works

But events have verified its forecast to such an extent, that one is tempted to assume the prophet’s mantle, and predict that Colonel White’s words will come to pass in the next half-century. At any rate, if the world here has moved slowly, it has moved very far. The descriptions of Constantinople in such works as Miss Pardoe’s City of the Sultan, and Colonel White’s Three Years in Constantinople, seem to-day descriptions of another city.

Turkish woman today

In the political situation, in the matter of education both among the Turks and the Christian populations, the changes are simply enormous. This is, however, not the place to expatiate upon these serious topics, although it is only by their consideration that the greatness and far-reaching consequences of the new state of things can be properly appreciated. But look at the change in the matter of dress. Where is now the variety of costume, where the brightness of colour that made the movement of the population at all times a procession in gala dress? So far as her garb is concerned, a Turkish woman to-day is a sere and withered leaf.

She is almost a European lady, thinly disguised. And where are the men who moved about, crowned with turbans, and attired in long, coloured, flowing robes? You meet them occasionally on the street, or see them gathered about the mosques, weary and tattered stragglers of generations of men, whose mien and gait were the look and motion of princes. Some one has said that the Turks committed a great mistake when they adopted the European dress; for the change makes you suppose that they have ceased to be Orientals, and are to be judged by European standards in all respects. Too much is therefore expected of them. Certainly the change has not improved their appearance. It has robbed them of that quiet dignity and commanding air which imposed immediate respect. The eagle is shorn of his plumes.

Boat together was unknown until quite recent times

For husband and wife to walk, or drive, or boat together was unknown until quite recent times, and when such proceedings occur they are regarded with disfavour. In tramway cars, in trains, on steamers, in waiting-rooms, men and women occupy different compartments. Should the ladies’ cabin on the steamers which ply between the city and the suburbs on the Bosporus or the Marmora be unoccupied at starting by Turkish women, gentlemen are permitted to seat themselves in it, and to keep their places so long as Moslem women do not appear. But if a Turkish lady embarks at a station on the way, the cabin must be forthwith vacated by its male occupants, who do not present the air of the lords of creation as they wander to find other seats.

On one occasion a foreign lady and gentleman reached a certain pier on the Bosporus some time before the arrival of the steamer, which was to convey them to the city, and, finding the ladies’ waiting-room empty, seated themselves in it Presently an elderly Turkish woman, belonging to a somewhat humble class of society, appeared, accompanied by her son, a lad some fourteen years old. According to strict etiquette the gentleman should have left the room. But as the lady he was escorting wished him to remain, and as the Turkish woman looked a motherly person and had her boy with her, he kept his seat, forgetful of use and wont.

Approached the gentleman

Suddenly the lad in the hanurn’s company went out. As the event proved, it was to bring the man in charge of the pier upon the scene. The latter approached the gentleman, whom he knew well, and in the politest possible manner whispered the information that the Turkish woman opposite objected to the presence of a man. There was nothing to be done but for the intruder to withdraw with as little awkwardness as the situation admitted, and the matter seemed settled to the satisfaction of all concerned.

ALONG THE LANDWARD WALLS

In the third chapter, occupied with the story of the making of Constantinople, some account has been given of the portion of the landward walls erected in the earlier half of the fifth century, when the city was enlarged under Theodosius II., viz. the portion extending from the Sea of Marmora, on the south, to the ruins of the Palace of the Porphyrogenitus (Tekfour Serai) on the north. That seemed the most appropriate place to speak of the origin and character of fortifications which were built as much for the growth and convenience of the city in its civic relations, as for its security as the citadel of the Empire. To that chapter the reader who desires to recall the information given on the subject, is referred. Here, after a brief account of the additions made to the Theodosian walls, in subsequent times, we shall consider the historical importance of the landward walls as a whole, and glance at some of the scenes enacted before them.

The post-Theodosian portions of the walls that guarded Constantinople on the side of the land extend from the courtyard of the Palace of the Porphyrogenitus to the shore of the Golden Horn at Aivan Serai. They replaced an older line of fortifications which ran, at a short distance to the rear, between the same points, and were constructed to strengthen the weak places which time revealed in this part of the city’s armour. First in the order of position, though not in the order of time, comes the wall erected by Manuel Comnenus (1142-1180), for the greater security of the Palace of Blachernse, his favourite residence, which stood within the old bulwarks, just mentioned.

It terminates at the foot of the steep hill on which the quarter of Egri Kapou is situated. With its nine noble towers it presents a striking likeness to the fortifications of a feudal baronial castle, and its solid masonry defied the Turkish cannon in 1453. Then follow walls, the original date of whose construction cannot be precisely determined, as they evidently underwent frequent repairs and alterations tour packages balkan. Here is found the Tower of Isaac Angelus, and, in the body of the wall to the north of the tower, are three stories of large chambers, very much ruined, which some authorities regard as the cells of the State Prison of Anemas.

More probably, they were either barracks or store-rooms attached to the imperial residence, and at the same time buttresses for the support of the terraced hill on which the palace was built. Beyond this chambered wall there is a double line of fortifications. The inner wall was erected in 627, under Heraclius, after the siege of the city by the Avars, to protect the quarter of Blachernae and its celebrated Church of S. Mary of Blachernse more effectively in the future than when assailed by that enemy.

The outer wall was built as an additional defence in 818, by Leo the Armenian (818-820), in view of an expected attack upon the city by the Bulgarians under Crum.

Splendid natural scenery

The territory outside the landward walls has indeed a charm of its own, in its quiet rural aspect, and in the glimpses it affords of distant blue water seen through dark groves of cypresses. But it cannot pretend to the splendid natural scenery which confronts the shores of the Sea of Marmora or of the Golden Horn, and makes the beauty of Constantinople famous throughout the world. This, however, is not altogether a disadvantage, for it allows the visitor to view without distraction the imposing line of bulwarks ranged across the promontory from sea to sea, and to appreciate calmly all their significance.

On the other sides of the city, the fortifications which guarded the Queen of Cities are comparatively unimportant, and are easily lost sight of in the beauty of their surroundings. Here the walls and towers are everything. Here they attained their greatest strength; here they rendered their greatest service; here, like troops bearing the wounds and scars of a great campaign, they force the beholder to realise the immense debt which the civilised world owes to Constantinople for the strength, the valour, and the sacrifices devoted through long centuries to the defence of the highest life of mankind against terrible foes.

Golden Horn from the Sea of Marmora

He also constructed another harbour on the southern side of the city, placing it in the hollow ground below the heights on which the Hippodrome stands, and thus provided for the convenience and safety of ships that found it difficult to make the Golden Horn from the Sea of Marmora, in the face of the northern winds that prevail in the Bosporus. The harbour was first known as the New Harbour and the Harbour of Julian, but, in the sixth century, it was also named the Harbour of Sophia or the Sophias, in view of extensive repairs made at the instance of the Empress Sophia, the consort of Justin II. The basin of the harbour can still be traced in the configuration of the ground it once occupied, where its memory is preserved by the present name of the locality—Kadriga Limani, the Port of the Galley.

At the head of the harbour Julian built a portico, a crescent in shape, and therefore spoken of as the Sigma, from its resemblance to the curved form of that letter in the Greek alphabet. Very appropriately the portico became a favourite lounge of the philosophers in Constantinople, and the scene of their discussions. But what Julian doubtless considered his richest and most filial gift to the city of his birth, was the presentation to its public library of his collection of books.

Surmounted respectively

Valens, the next Emperor concerned with the growth of the city, gave special attention to the water-supply of Constantinople—always a serious question owing to the comparative scarcity of water in the immediate neighbourhood. The picturesque aqueduct which, with its double tier of arches gar-landed with ivy, still transports water across the valley between the hills surmounted respectively by the Mosque of Sultan Mehemet and the War Office, was built in this reign. It was an addition to the system of water-supply provided by Constantine; a system which, probably, had previously served the town of Byzantium, and which he only extended and improved. Near the eastern end of the aqueduct a splendid public fountain was placed.

Dospat Vacha Hydro Power Cascade

Dospat-Vacha Hydro-Power Cascade commissioned between 1958 and 1965

During this period the Kozloduy nuclear power plant was constructed and commissioned on the Danube (1974). Its initial capacity consisted of 2×440 MW VVER-440 reactors. Later on it was extended by another 2×440 MW reactors of the same type. In 1987 Unit 5, VVER-1000 with a capacity of 1000 MW was commissioned, and in 1991-Unit 6 of the same type. Thus the total capacity of Kozloduy amounted to 1760+2000 = 3760 MW. Its annual output is presented in Table 14.

During the period reviewed here, the electric power generated by Kozloduy NPP reached 35.6% of the total power generated in the country (1989), and in the recent years its share has exceeded 40%.

The construction of a second nuclear power plant also was begun on the Danube-Belene NPP. However, after considerable progress of the construction, it was stopped and has not been continued.

The 220 kV overhead transmission line ring: Aleko-Maritsa East-Dobrudja-Gorna Oryahovitsa-Aleko was completed in 1971.

Transmission network

During that period a 400 kV transmission network was constructed-comparatively big for the scale of Bulgaria. It was developed according to the “closed loop” pattern, like the 220 kV and 110 kV networks, and was completed in 1984. At the same time, interconnection lines for such voltages were also built with the countries listed below:

Varna TPP, commissioned in 1969-overall view Varna Substation 750/400 kV, commissioned in 1987 Varna Substation 750/400 kV -transformer area Varna Substation 750/400 kV- 750 kV switchyard 750 kV overhead transmission line to Varna Substation

The related power supply substations for 220, 400 and 750 kV were also constructed, as well as a considerable number of substations for 110/10-20 kV (Table 15).Substations ft transformers diagram of the 400 kV and 220 kV transmission system in Bulgaria, 1980

Mountainous region bordering the Western Morava

It was supposed that when the Austro-German forces reached the higher mountainous region bordering the Western Morava valley and it became difficult if not impossible to bring up their heavy guns, the rate of advance would become even slower than before. The fact that the advance was actually accelerated has been interpreted to mean that the failure of Serbian supplies weakened the defense more than the unfavorable local topography injured the plans of the offensive. The Teutons moved rapidly across the Western Morava, and the Serbian army took np a position running eastward along the mountain crests south of the valley, then southward along the ridge west of the Morava-Vardar trench, and southwestward across the Katchanik gorge.

It will immediately appear that the Katchanik position was the strategic key to this entire battle front. In the rear of the Serbian armies facing north and east, runs the straight subsidiary trench formed by the Lepenatz valley, Kosovo Polye, and the Ibar valley. The gateway to this trench is the narrow Katchanik gorge. A railway from Uskiib runs through the gorge to Mitrovitza at the north end of the Kosovo Polye, thereby more than doubling the strategic value of the depression. If the Bulgarian forces already in possession of tiskiib should succeed in breaking through the Katchanik gorge into the plain of Kosovo, they could strike north and east against the rear of the Serbian armies and convert retreat into disaster. Little wonder, then, that the “Katchanik Pass” figured so prominently in the war despatches during this period!

Key to the Serbian position

But if Katchanik was the key to the Serbian position, Yeles was the key to Katchanik. Should the Anglo-French troops coming up the Yardar from Saloniki capture Yeles and debouch into the triangular lowland to the north, they would take in the rear the Bulgarian army trying to break through the Katchanik position. It would not be necessary for the Anglo- French force to enter the Lepenatz valley; the mere threat of enclosing the Bulgarians in the valley between the Serbs up at Katchanik and their allies down at the valley mouth would be sufficient to bring the Bulgars out of the trap in order to fight on the lowland, where, if defeated, they could retire northeastward into a region fully under their control. The threat would become imminent the moment Yeles fell to the Allies. Such were the topographic relations responsible for the rather striking fact that an Anglo-French attack upon Yeles relieved the pressure upon Serbian forces in the mountains far to the north.

Impelled by his vigorous arm

Impelled by his vigorous arm, the geritex flew with unerring precision and double velocity. He uses his pistols and sabre with superior skill: but his pre-eminence was most conspicuous at the public spectacles of the Grand Signior in the circus, where the young men opposed themselves in fierce combat to the lion, or other ferocious animals and where the meed of victory constantly adorned Hassan’s brow.

Courageous, generous, benevolent and, except when under the immediate influence of passion, most humane; impartial in his official distribution of rewards and punishments; warm and sincere in his attachments ; affable and courteous to his inferiors; ever ready to alleviate distress ; but implacable in his enmity to oppressor; it is only to be lamented that a character rendered brilliant by so many excellent qualities was not destined to shine under the more happy influence of a Christian Government, where the prejudices inseparable from a Turkish education, which have been productive of the only blemish that tarnishes so bright a character, could never have existed.

In the high post he enjoys as Lord High Admiral, his privileges are very nearly as great as those of the most despotic prince, and the lives of all his inferiors are at his disposal.

At all the conflagrations in the city or suburbs or Constantinople, which are pretty frequent, the Grand Signior, Grand Vizier, and Capitan Pasha are obliged to assist, in order to animate by their presence and persuasion those [who] are employed in putting out the flames. The last of these great personages who arrives forfeits a certain sum of money, one thousand Venetian sequins, in favour of the first. The Capitan Pasha is constantly the first, though he is by many years the eldest of the three.

Capitan Pasha

On the night of the twenty-first, when a fire broke out in the palace of the Grand Vizier, who was with the army, the Capitan Pasha was at his beautiful villa, situated about four miles from Constantinople. He was immediately informed of it, and in a moment set off on horseback, with forty attendants, and reached town in less than twenty minutes, though the road was scarcely passable, being covered with snow some feet deep, and the night unusually dark ; so that out of his forty attendants, one only was able to keep up with him, all the rest having been thrown from their horses, and unable or unwilling to follow him.

PARTRIDGES AND WILD BOARS

Though the Rock of Gibralter is surrounded by the sea, well water is to be found all over it, pretty good, and fit to drink, though heavy and often brackish ; but the rain water from the mountain, which is filtered through the sands without the south port, is exceedingly good and wholesome, and remains uncorrupt a long time. It is collected into a reservoir, and from thence conducted to the town. This aqueduct was first begun by the Moors, and carried by earthen pipes : in their time it reached the city, supplying the Atarasana1 and the Castle : that now existing was planned by a Spanish Jesuit, and only reaches to the grand parade. The hill universally abounds with cavities and receptacles for rain, which mostly centre in the Reservoir, affording an inexhaustible stock of excellent water, greatly con-tributing to the health of the inhabitants.

PARTRIDGES AND WILD BOARS

I was much surprised, in one ot my excursions, to spring a covey of partridges of about twelve brace. I saw nothing for them to feed on, but was informed that they eat the seed of the Palmetto, which grows in great abundance on every part of the Rock. I met with numbers of them afterwards : nor was I astonished at it, when I knew that there was a strict rule observed forbidding any person of whatever rank or condition to fire a shot on any account, unless at an enemy, and they have had sufficient sport in this way to satisfy any reasonable people for some time.

At the southern end of the Rock, some way up, above St. Michael’s Cave, there are many wild boars, which are sometimes seen a dozen in number. I should willingly have paid those gentlemen a visit, had shooting been permitted. On the Sugarloaf there are monkeys in hundreds ; and though the soldiers often complain medicine and art, when on guard, of being pelted by them with stones, they are not permitted to defend themselves by shooting at them.

There is very little society at Gibralter, but a perfect harmony subsists between the Garrison and the few inhabitants ; and with apparent wishes to promote conviviality, they spend their time in a very pleasant manner. I felt so much comfort and satisfaction among them that it was with much regret I left this celebrated Rock ; not less endeared to me by the hospitality I experienced there than it is known to the rest of the world for its memorable defence.

November the sixths we re-embarked on board the London. Nothing remarkable occurred to us on the first days of our navigation ; nor shall I attempt to describe the various scenes and trifling occurrences which do not fail to attract the attention of the inexperienced navigator. It was not till the thirteenth that we discovered land, which proved to be the island of Sardinia.

On the same morning I was very much entertained with the appearance of a vast number of pilot fish. This fish is known to live in perfect amity with the shark, whose caterer he is said to be, in the same manner as the iackal is the lion’s. We endeavoured to catch some of them with lines ; but did not succeed. We tried to strike them with the harpoon, but being rather too small to be killed in this manner we only got two of them after labouring for three hours. We had them dressed for dinner and found them eat tolerably well.

Having unfortunately stood too much to the northward, we perceived that most likely we should not be able to weather the island, which would be one hundred miles out of our course, and to my great mortification, our apprehensions were but too well founded.

Observant and intelligent traveller

Considering the early age at which Whaley was removed from school, he seems to have acquired no inconsiderable amount of education. He was certainly an observant and intelligent traveller, and in spite of many distractions, must have spent much of his time in noting down such descriptive details as he has preserved of his visits to Gibraltar, Constantinople, Asia Minor, Jerusalem, and other places of interest. At Rome, he tells us that he spent eight hours a day for two months “ in viewing whatever was worthy the notice of a traveller.”

The sketches he made during his wanderings, which were, however, unfortunately lost,* point to the possession of some artistic ability ; and his allusions to ancient history and mythology, his occasional quotations from the Latin poets, together with some evidence of a knowledge of Greek, all go to show that he retained something more than a mere schoolboy smattering of the classics. Where he chiefly fails as a writer is in the spelling of foreign names of places, some of which, as he gives them, are quite impossible to identify. The Memoirs were, however, compiled from notes made here and there through his travels, often, no doubt, in a hurried manner, and from casual information gathered by the way, and when after the lapse of some years he came to transcribe his disjointed memoranda, he had probably forgotten the less-known names, and may have been out of the reach of such books as would have enabled him to show more correctness in this branch of orthography.

Tombstones in Jerusalem

Not unconnected with the subject of his general attainments in the way of education, there is one feature of the Memoirs which is deserving of more than a passing notice. He gives in his pages exact copies of several inscriptions, which he took from the original slabs or tombstones in Jerusalem as they then appeared, although saying nothing as to what led him into this branch of archaeology, one seldom touched on by any but those who have devoted some serious study to matters of the kind.

It might be suggested, and with plausibility, that his reproductions of these ancient writings were intended to be used as further proofs of his having been in the Holy City, and with a view to convincing the friends who had wagered against his getting there. But the honesty of his confession of the purpose for which he obtained the certificates given to him by the Superiors of the conventual establishments at Jerusalem and Nazareth1 show that such suggestions are unnecessary.

General skepticism

It seems likely then, at no very remote day, to fare ill with the old enemy of the Cross. However, we must not undervalue what is still the strength of his position. First, no well-authenticated tokens come to us of the decay of the Mahometan faith. It is true, that in one or two cities, in Constantinople perhaps, or in the marts of commerce, laxity of opinion, and general skepticism, may to a certain extent prevail, as also in the highest class of all, and in those who have most to do with Europeans; but I confess nothing has been brought home to me to show that this superstition is not still a living, energetic principle in the Turkish population, sufficient to bind them together in one, and to lead to bold and persevering action. It must be recollected that a national and local faith, like the Mahometan, is most closely connected with the sentiments of patriotism, family honour, loyalty towards the past, and party spirit; and this the more in the case of a religion which has no articles of faith at all, except those of the Divine Unity and the mission of Mahomet.

To these must be added more general considerations; that they have ever prospered under their religion, that they are habituated to it, that it suits them, that it is their badge of a standing antagonism to nations they abhor, and that it places them, in their own imagination, in a spiritual position relatively to those nations, which they would simply forfeit if they abandoned it. It would require clear proof of the fact, to credit in their instance the report of a change of mind, which antecedently is so improbable.

Raw material of the Turkish nation

And next it must be borne in mind, that, few as may be the Osmanlis, yet the raw material of the Turkish nation, represented principally by the Turcomans, extends over half Asia; and, if it is what it ever has been, might under circumstances be combined or concentrated into a formidable power. It extends at this day from Asia Minor, in a continuous tract, to the Lena, towards Kamtchatka, and from Siberia down to Khorasan, the Hindu Cush, and China.