Mavrocordato was now on the eve of departing for Ligovitzi. He therefore appointed a commission of three members, to act in his room during his absence. These members were, Praidi, Jani Tricoupi, and Tazzi Mangina.
Ligovitzi, though about two thousand feet above the level of the sea,
becomes towards the latter end of summer, and during the whole of the autumn, very
unhealthy, on account of the miasmata, that emanate from the numerous extensive lakes in
its neighbourhood. The soldiers soon began to experience their noxious influence, and were
attacked with severe agues. Although the paroxysm yielded easily to bark, yet the
continuance of the same causes of the complaint, inevitably brought on relapses, a few days
after the patient looked upon himself as convalescent. To avoid this evil, the following
method was adopted as soon as a fever made its appearance: a brisk emeto-cathartic was
administered. The next day, if no further indication of cleansing the primes vice existed,
sixteen drachms of bark were given; and the patient removed to some healthy village near
Dragomesta, or in the Zugo mountains, where he was directed to take the medicine,
prescribed, in two days. It may not be amiss here to remark, that repeated experience
demonstrated that the febrifuge powers of bark were strikingly increased
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Scarcely was I convalescent, when notice was brought me that Mavrocordato had fallen seriously ill. With all possible haste I returned to the camp, and found him labouring under a bilious fever, brought on by the unwholesomeness of the water, the pestilential nature of the air at the convent, improper diet, and, above all, by the uninterrupted mental agitation, with which a thousand vexations hourly embittered his existence.
Convinced that, in this case, the removal of moral causes was of more importance, than medical treatment, or at least that the omission of the former would baffle the best directed efforts of the latter, I insisted on his leaving the camp instantly. He was consequently removed to Chrysovitza; a village four hours to the west of Ligovitzi.
The landscape around this place is beautiful; the ancient ruins crowning its insulated mountain, and overshadowed by the lofty oaks that adorn it, present a highly picturesque appearance. Xeromero (dry district) is the name, under which this part of the country is known, owing to the scarcity of water. On this account it is little cultivated; yet its hills and the country throughout are in general more Wooded than any other parts of Greece. Its forests were the favourite retreats of the Kleftes, and are often celebrated in their songs, as the theatre of their encounters with the Armatolis.
A few days after our arrival in this village, Spiro
Milio presented himself to Mavrocordato, with a
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About this time, also, two very different individuals made their appearance
at Chrysovitzi. The one Mr. Scoulo from Smyrna, a petit-maître;
the other Mr. Constantine Polychroniades, an infirm pedagogue, sixty
years of age. The former regaled us, during
| 210 | MEMOIRS ON GREECE. |
This gentleman was born at Zagori, a district not far from Ioanina, famous throughout the Levant for its breed of itinerant quacks. The male population consists solely of M.D.’s; Zagoriot and doctor being synonymes; and indeed, the medical profession becomes, in their hands, so lucrative, as entirely to supersede the necessity of any other. An idea of their wealth may be formed from their houses, which are well-built, spacious, and the best furnished in Turkey. When at home, they live like gentlemen at large.
It may not prove uninteresting to those, who wish to ascertain the state of
medicine in Turkey, to hear some particulars relative to the education and qualifications,
requisite to obtain a degree at this singular university. The first thing taught to the
young men is the professional language; a dissonant jargon composed purposely to carry on
their business, hold consultations, &c. without being understood by any being in
existence but themselves. They are then taught reading sufficiently to decipher the pages
of their ιστροσοϕι, or
manuscript, containing a selection of deceptive formulæ, for all possible diseases,
incident to human nature. When a candidate has given before the elders proofs of his
proficiency in these attainments, they declare him to be, dignus
entrare in docto nostro corpore; and he then prepares to leave
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Two others, who pass under the denomination of servants, employ their time
in going from house to house in quest of patients; and as, from their menial employment,
they are thought to be disinterested, credit is the more easily given to their word. Thus
they journey from town to town, hardly ever remaining more than a fortnight in any place.
After a tour of five or six years, they return for a while to their families, and divide in
equal shares the gains of their charlatanism. On a second journey, they all change parts,
in order to escape detection. The dottore
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The wealth of the Zagoriots attracted the cupidity of Ali Pasha. Some of the richest had time to escape over to Europe. The rest of the population had to pay the enormous impositions, this despot annually laid upon their province. For these motives, had Mr. Polychroniades fled from his country; but although during his prolonged stay in Europe he picked up some information, he did not yet become a great proficient in science, which indeed he only cultivated as a Zagoriot does medicine.
We were also honoured by the society of Mr. Prassino, eparch of Xeromero and Vonitza, who came to pay a visit to Mavrocordato, emissary of the Hetareia; he informed us of the apathy, testified by the Greek population to the calls of liberty, when before the bursting out of the revolution he travelled about the country, to ascertain the state of the public feeling. He never expected, he said, that, of their own accord, his countrymen would throw off the yoke, to which they seemed so well accustomed. Ali Pasha’s death, and Sultan Mahmoud’s cruel conduct towards the Greeks at Constantinople, and the clergy throughout Turkey, were the chief causes of the insurrection, according to his judgment.
There can be little doubt but the Albanian Pasha’s long resistance
and fall were the principal circumstances, which opened the eyes of the Greeks; by making
them acquainted with the weakness of Turkey; and also by removing the only fear that could
keep them under direct control. If Ali Pasha had
continued to govern Albania, so universal was the dread of his power, that even the thought
of a revolution would never have entered the minds of the Greeks;
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Mr. Prassino had become civilized in Russia; not the best school certainly to learn liberal principles. He did not, at least, show himself better than the generality of Logiotati; hence, in the administration of his prefecture, he sacrificed every consideration to the shrine of self-interest. They did not act in so glaring a manner as the capitani; but, uniting more cunning to equal rapacity, they imitated those birds of prey, who profit by the obscurity and silence of night, to commit the greater havoc.
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