IN THE TURKISH CAMP.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4916, 23 December 1876, Page 1 (Supplement)

IN THE TURKISH CAMP.

A correspondent of the London Daily 'Tekgraph writes as follows from the headquarters of the Turkish army at Nissa, under date of 12th September:— I then proceeded'to look at Hue'ssin Pa lia's men in the valley.' A. curiously composed force was that. To say that there were no bona fide Turks in it would perhaps be an exaggeration, for I thinfc there were 150 Turkish Cossacks and half a battalion of regular Osmahli infantry there. But the foot regiments, of which there were two, close to the Morava stream, and within easy gunshot of Alexinatz, were certainly not Moslems. ' In uniform they were like their comradeß of the line; in drill and set-up they were, I fancied,' a little superior to some battalions I bad seen. They were, if anything, a little finer in point of stature, handsome, soldierly .men;' and it' was'drily when I came Tiear'their commander's tent, and saw unfolded'the bright red banner'bf which I told you once,' bearing alike'the crescent and the cross, that I learned I was amongst the Greek Christians of Constantinople, who bad enlisted to save the Porte from the designs of Moscow. I have read somewhere that not 500 were ever enlisted. Here were 2500 as handsome volunteers as I ever saw in my life. "They fight well, too," said a Turkish colonel. "I never saw the Serbs run away so fast before as when these Giaours came down that hill over there after them," he added. "You see that one," he continued, beckoning a fine light-haired, sharp-featured corporal to nim ; "ie's a Jew. Yesterday we were going over the hills, and we came across a party of Serbs. That fellow ran in and caught two of them, brought them in as prisoners, and is to be decorated for it. He's done equally good things before." Saying which he patted the young Hebrew on the back, while the soldier modestlysmiled, made a salute, and then went away. " This is a good man, too," added the officer, calling up another soldier. " He's a Pole, I believe ; at any rate, he fights like a lion." To my surprise, the volunteer had no sooner saluted than he said, "I beg your pardon, sir, bat I have been in the English service. I served in Abyssinia. My time being out I came here ; but the difference is that, whereas the English gave us plenty to eat and drink and regular pay, we here get scarcely enough to live upon, and no money. However, we want to teach these restless Serbs a lesson ; so we don't mind much." And off he went to munch his hard biscuit and drink the particularly muddy water of the river. But these were only part of Hussein Pasha's happy family, the rest were the Circassians. A FETE NIGHT IN CAMP. .ir This was the first night I had seen these Asiatic warriors in encampment, and on this occasion, curiously enough, it was a kind of fete night. The Circassians had driven in scores of Servian oxen and sheep, had brought hundreds of fowls and pullets, and both they and the Christians were to have a great feast. So at their invitation I was seated by a great brushwood fire, while a warrior whose broad chest and powerful lungs had well fitted him for duty, chanted out a ditty, in which all around joined. It was a melancholy chant, always iu'a minor key, never once resolving itself into a joyful note, but ever redolent, like the Scot's, call to battle, of "chains aad slavery." And for this there was reason enough and to spare. Of the strong men who sat and stood near that bright, roaring fire, most were past the middle age. Their faces were deeply seared with hardship and • care ; their lives had been tliat of an Ishmaelite since their earliest days. And there was scarcely one amongst them who could not tell some dark tale of Russian oppression. The singer himself had spent year after year in a Muscovite dungeon ; his brother, whose life, he had. saved this very morning with peculiar daring, had been whipped and imprisoned too by these same Muscovs—all had lost their property, their horses, their everything in those dark days when the. great Czar would have them begone, and wished to exterminate them. WHAT THET HAD To'EAT. I was clearly in luck's way, for from their abundant haversacks came fowls and eggs in plenty; there was one amongst them, too, who had some rice, and these, with some coffee I had brought, made a feast, to which were presently added two melons, some roasted ears of maize, and some plums. It was clear we were to make a night of it, and I almost forgot my fever in the excitement of the scene. Some of the party made a huge stew in a copper bowl, which erewhile had figured on Serbian boards ; others pickled fowls, and, running sticks through them after the manner of spits, roasted them in the blaze. ' Indian corn was placed upon the embers, and eggs simmered in tiny pots, while those who could sing told of the incidents of the day in verse more noisy than tuneful. At last the meal prepared was eaten; then all sat around the fire and smoked, the modesty with which these uninstructed savages helped themselves from my tobacco-box, astonished me 'beyond measure. Tales were -told of personal adventure, the prospects of the, war debated upon in rude fashion, and so the evening wore on. A fact for teetotallers—not one of these men drank anything stronger than coffee ; and in this they followed the custom of all the Circassians in camp, who, while undergoing more fatigue and privation than any other class of men in the army, and always evincing the greatest daring, are total abstainers from their youth upwards, even from the thin wine with which the country abounds. The Turks, since the Crimean war, have unhappily contracted a taste for raki, a heady, disagreeable spirit, made, I believe, from some parta of grapes; but into this'vice the Circassians have never lalleri, arid their marvellous physique and endurance is a proof of what temperance can .effect. ■'...;..';.