He answered, that only he and a few of the Agas
understood Turkish,--that the Mollah was a deeply-read man, who said
the prayers in the mosque in Arabic, as is customary everywhere; but
that there was no preaching, since the people only knew their prayers
in Arabic, but could not understand a sermon, and spoke nothing but
Bosniac. I think that somebody told me that Vaaz, or preaching, is
held in the Bosniac language at Seraievo. But my memory fails me in
certainty on this point.
After a pleasant chat of about an hour they went away. Our beds were,
as the ingenious Mr. Pepys says, "good, but lousy."
Next day, the Servian Natchalnik, who, on my arrival, had been absent
at Topola with the prince, came to see me; he was a middle-aged man,
with most perfect self-possession, polite without familiarity or
effort to please; he had more of the manner of a Moslem grandee, than
of a Christian subject of the Sultan.
_Natchalnik_. "Believe me, the people are much pleased that men of
learning travel through the country; it is a sign that we are not
forgotten in Europe; thank God and the European powers, that we are
now making progress.
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