The Greek islands furnish a miserable set of men and women to the population of Turkey, who come to gather spoils in the metropolis, and then return to enjoy them at home. Robberies, and even assassinations are committed by them, which, if they are detected, are either protected by the Greek legation, or punished by a short imprisonment, and then the miscreants are again let loose, hardened in crime, and thirsting to revenge their temporary detention.
It is only within the last two years, that a famous bandit, in the vicinity of Smyrna, has been captured. Katurjy Yanny and his merry men had long infested the neighboring mountains, detaining gentlemen on their travels, carrying them blindfolded to their den, and only liberating them upon the receipt of a handsome ransom from their friends. The eagle of the mountain was at last caged in the humble prison of Smyrna. While other miserable victims were peeping through their latticed and iron bound casements, whining out a feeble cry for alms, he, the proud chieftain, sat upon a sofa, dressed in the picturesque costume of the Greek mountaineer, his eyes flashing defiance, and his lofty bearing all princely, as he puffed his narghillé, and chatted with those about him. But he must now feel somewhat crest-fallen, as day succeeds day, and he still dwells within the awful precincts of the Bagnio, whence, like the rest of its miserable occupants, the once proud Katurgy Yanny, sometimes emerges, broom in hand, and chained to his fellow, to sweep the streets of the metropolis.
The restless temperament and fanaticism of the Greeks have ever made them the most turbulent of the Ottoman subjects, and ready instruments in the hands of Russian diplomatists for sowing the seeds of discord and confusion in the Turkish empire.
The Jews of Turkey, of whom there are about 170,000, are by no means exempt from the sorrows and curses of their race. As if conscious that there is no escape from the contempt of the rest of the world, they are willing to undertake the meanest of earth's callings, literally to "eat the dirt" of their Moslem masters.
Content to appear like the refuse of humanity, they strive to accumulate the miser's hoards, and receive the buffetings and cursings of their neighbors as if they were choice blessings--usury of all sorts, whether upon sequins or old clothes, peddling the meanest of wares in the streets, rag-picking, and filth-gathering in general, are their means of earning a livelihood.