Page:Adventures of Baron Wenceslas Wratislaw of Mitrowitz (1862).djvu/95

 and gifts, this same Selim obtained the throne, drove his father out, and ordered him to be poisoned in this town, as the Turkish chronicles describe at length. Here, for the first time, we saw the sea, and had it always on the right hand. We spent the night in the town.

On Nov. 22, before we arrived at Selebrya, a town on the sea, we saw manifest tokens of ancient earthworks, or walls, which were constructed from this city to the Danube, by order of the last Greek emperors, in order that the district might be surrounded and enclosed with fortifications, that is, that the villages, lands, and property of the people of Constantinople might be safe from the incursions of foreign and barbarous nations. In Selebrya we were much delighted by the cheerful and pleasant prospect over the calm sea, so that I could not restrain myself from running down with some of the rest, without the leave and knowledge of my lord the ambassador, or his steward, and gazing upon the sea, of which I had never had a glimpse before, till I was satisfied. We ran down to the shore, and wondered at the swimming and leaping of the dolphins and other fish, and I collected some very beautiful striped shells, and forgot to return to the town. Meanwhile, the Turks in the town saw a caicque, or pirate boat, making straight for the shore, with its sails spread. The chiaouses pointed the boat out to my lord the ambassador, and warned him not to allow any of his suite to go far from the town, affirming that the pirates sometimes stayed the night somewhere on the coast, and lay in wait to kidnap people and carry them off. When this prohibition was issued, and not till then, I and my companions were missed. It being ascertained that we