Page:Travels & discoveries in the Levant (1865) Vol. 1.djvu/321

Rh with the exertion, and lie gave the book to his divan effendi to read to him. He told me that it was the history of the destruction of the Janissaries, drawn up by official authority, and that his own name was mentioned in it.

On arriving at Tenedos, I spent two or three days on shore in the house of M. Tolmides, the Austrian consular agent, from whom I obtained some useful information about the island.

Tenedos is much less mountainous than any island of the Archipelago which I have yet seen. Something like roads exist; and people talk about going to the right or the left, instead of up or down, as they do at Mytilene, where there is hardly a square mile of level land. The vineyards lie in small plains surrounded by hills, which keep off the violence of the winds. The vines are very small, and cultivated along the ground, more in the European style than in any vineyard which I have seen in Turkey. The vineyards are generally manured every two years; they are dug three times each year with a two- pronged hoe, still called by its ancient name, The soil is a rich and friable loam. The grapes most esteemed for flavour are called Mavrelia. As these yield but little juice, they are mixed with a commoner sort called Kondoures. At the vintage the grapes are picked over, and the decayed ones rejected; but this is not done with much care. The grapes are trodden by the foot, and the pulp then put into a vat, where it is kept boiling for about a month; it is then put into barrels, where it remains for another month; after which the wine is fit to