Volume 3

The Percy anecdotes / collected and edited by Reuben and Sholto Percy [pseud.].

Date:
pref. 1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Percy anecdotes / collected and edited by Reuben and Sholto Percy [pseud.]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    06 Enow. I have been told that a Pasha of three tails, is authorized by law to cut off five heads a day ; a Pasha of two tails, three ; and a Pasha of one tail, one. A Mollah (Judge) of Jerusalem being dis- turbed at night by dogs, ordered all those animals in Jerusalem and its environs to be killed, and thus excited a mutiny among the people, who are forbidden by the Koran to kill any beast unless it be hurtful, or neces- sary for the nourishment of man. Having, however, by the authority of the Mufti, his father, succeeded in obtaining obedience to his orders, he was emboldened to issue another still more capricious. The flies being very troublesome to him during the heat of summer, he ordered that every artizan should bring him every day forty of these insects on a string, under a pain of severe fine ; and he caused this ridiculous sentence to be severely enforced. When a Grand Vizier is favourably deposed (i.e. without banishing him or putting him to death), it is signified to him by a chiaoux from the Sultan, who goes to his table and wipes the ink out of his golden pen ; this he under- stands as the sign of his dismissal ; if his fate be more severe, he receives an order from the Sultan to await his sentence in a small kiosk (summer house) just outside the walls of the Seraglio, where he sits sometimes four or six hours, before the messenger comes to tell him whether he is to be banished or put to death. Hussein, Capitan Pasha (the famous one who fought at Chesme), when in the bay of Smyrna once, with his fleet, seeing one of his ships run foul of another, ordered the captain on board, and behehded him immediately^ The same Hussein had a Jew physician called in one day to relieve him from an aching tooth; the clumsy fellow unfortunately drew the wrong one, but as the agony of extraction drowned the pain for a time, he got away un- detected ; the pain soon returned, and a few days after Hussein meeting the man on the Bosphorus, stopped him, and had every tooth in his head drawn. The Turks lately punished a pirate by flaying him alive ; they began at the head, and when they came to the breast, the man died with agony. A Turk was lately beheaded at Buyukdereh (by order of the Grand Vizier, who was walking about in disguise), for having sold for twenty- four paras, a quantity of chestnuts, of which the price was fixed at twelve paras. A Turkish Love Affair. The modern laws of Cos do not reward female chastity, but they discountenance in a very singular manner, any cruelty in females towards their admirers. While Dr. Clarke was in that island, an instance occurred, in which the fatal termination of a love affair occasioned a trial for what the Mohammedan lawyers called ‘ homicide by an intermediate cause.’ The case was as follows : A young man desperately in love with a girl of Stanchio, eagerly sought to marry her ; but | his proposals were rejected. In consequence of his disappointment, he bought some poison and destroyed himself. The Turkish police instantly arrested the father of the young woman, as the cause, by implication, of the man’s death : under the fifth species of homi- cide, he became therefore amenable for this act of suicide. When the cause came before the magistrate, it was urged literally by the accusers, that ‘ if he, the accused, had not had I a daughter, the deceased would not have fallen in love ; consequently he would not have been disappointed ; consequently he would not have swallowed poison ; consequently he would not I have died; but he, the accused, had a daughter, I and the deceased had fallen in love, and had I been disappointed ; and had swallowed poison,- I and had died.’ Upon all these counts, he was | called upon to pay the price of the young I man’s life ; and this being fixed at the sum of eighty piastres, it was accordingly exacted ! The People of Tibra. If any one among the Cucis, or Mountaineers of Tibra, puts another to death, the chief of the tribe, or other persons who bear no relation to the deceased, have no concern in punishing the murderer; but if the murdered person have a brother, or other heir, he may take blood for blood ; nor has any man whatever a right to prevent or oppose such retaliation. When a man is detected in the commission £■ of theft, or any other atrocious offence, the * chieftain causes a recompense to be given to L the complainant, and reconciles both parties; f but the chief himself receives a customary 1 fine, and each party gives a feast of pork, & or other meat, to the people of his respective p tribe. The Ashantees. The laws of the Ashantees are very severe- To be convicted of cowardice, is punished with death. In almost all cases of treason, the life of the accuser is at risk, as well as that of the accused, and is forfeited on the acquittal of the latter. Those accused of witchcraft, or of I being possessed with a devil, are tortured mi death. A person accidentally killing another, pays five ounces of gold to the family, and defrays the burial customs. In the case of] murder, it is twenty ounces of gold and a slave, or he and his family become the slaves of thei family deceased. No man is punished for killing his ownj slave, but he is for the murder of his wife and I child. If he kills the slave of another, hej must pay his value. If a great man kills Hi>| equal in rank, he is generally allowed to die byj his own hands : the death of an inferior isj generally compensated by a fine to the family,! equal to seven slaves. A captain is allowed to put his wife to death! for infidelity; but instead of this, it is expected! that he will accept a liberal offer of gold from! the family, for her redemption.