but scarcely less terrible, which was, to have his flesh torn from his bones by red-hot pincers, while boiling lead was poured into the wound, and to be afterward broken alive upon the wheel.
When the punishment of the Jew and the coronation were over, Tavernier began to turn his thoughts towards Turkey; and two French gentlemen proceeding at this period to Constantinople on public business, he obtained permission to accompany them, and set out through Hungary, Servia, Bulgaria, and Romelia, to the shores of the Dardanelles. At Constantinople he remained eleven months, during which time he undertook several little excursions, among which was one to the plains of Troy; but finding neither the pomp of courts nor the bustle of trade upon this scene of ancient glory, he was grievously disappointed, and regarded the time and money expended on the journey as so much loss. So little poetical enthusiasm had he in his soul!
At length the caravan for Persia, for the departure of which he had waited so long, set out, proceeding along the southern shore of the Black Sea, a route little frequented by Europeans. On leaving Scutari they travelled through fine plains covered with flowers, observing on both sides of the road a number of noble tombs of a pyramidal shape. On the evening of the second day the caravan halted at Gebre, the ancient Libyssa, a place rendered celebrated by the tomb of Hannibal. From this town they proceeded to Ismid, the ancient Nicomedia, where Sultan Murad erected a palace commanding a beautiful prospect, on account of the abundance of game, fruits, and wine found in the neighbourhood. Continuing their route through a country abounding with wood, picturesque hills, and rich valleys, they passed through Boli, the ancient Flaviopolis, when they halted two days in order to feast upon the pigeons of the vicinity which were as large as fowls. From thence they continued their route through Tosia, Amasia,
