1 4
2 with the approach of spring, however, it was radically cured.
3 Amongst the many remedies which I applied, Law sonia inermis
4 proved the most effective. Every evening, before going to bed,
5 I applied to the affected part the pulverized herb, with as much
6 water as was sufficient to make a soft poultice. In the morning
7 I washed it off, but the place continued red ; it is the same herb,
8 indeed, with which the fair sex in the East stain their hands and
9 feet. To strengthen my body, and especially my feet, I also used
10 sea-bathing, which had a very good effect. From Sissopolis, we
11 arrived, after a voyage of two days, at Constantinople. The
12 view of the panorama of the Turkish capital and its environs,
13 which we had on entering the Bosphorus, was so fine, and so im-
14 posing, that I felt compensated for all the dangers and troubles
15 hitherto endured, and completely forgot them for the- time. In
16 winter (the middle of December, 1816) nature was still arrayed
17 in green. This, however, did not last long; for in the beginning
18 of January a heavy fall of snow, three feet deep, took place, and
19 it grew much colder than I expected to find it in Stambul.
20 Before the expiration of the year 1817, I had an opportunity
21 of continuing my journey towards Jerusalem, a city I was de-
22 sirous of visiting. I was engaged as physician in ordinary to the
23 Governor of Tocat, with whom I travelled into the interior of
24 Asia Minor. However agreeable this journey might have been
25 during the summer, it was very fatiguing during the winter, as
26 almost every step cost us an effort, and we made our way with
27 difficulty through the snow which covered the high mountains of
28 Asia Minor. The caravan of the new governor, with whom I
29 travelled, consisted of sixty horses and mules. One day we lost
30 our way during a violent snow-storm in the mountains of Anato-
31 lia, and we had to pass a very bad night, till at last we got out
32 of the deep snow, and found a village. On this journey I began
33 to make a collection of antiques (ancient Greek coins and engraved
34 stones), which at that time were easily obtained at the silver-
35 smiths, at a low price. I regret I did not then so well understand
36 the value of them. From Tocat I travelled to Aleppo, passing
37 through Kaisari, Tharsus, Adana, Alexandretta, and Antiochia.