On the road with maximilian's ambassador.

• Author: de Busbecq, Ogier Gbiselin
• Position: Brief Article

There remained one annoyance, which was almost worse than a lack of wine, namely, that our sleep used to be interrupted in a most distressing manner. We often had to rise early, sometimes even before it was light, in order to arrive in good time at more convenient halting-places.... [But] the Turks have no hours to mark the time, just as they have no milestones to mark distances. They have, it is true, a class of men called talismans, attached to the service of their mosques, who make use of water-clocks. When they judge from these that dawn is at hand, they raise a shout from a high tower erected for the purpose, in order to exhort and invite men to say their prayers. They repeat the performance half-way between sunrise and midday, again at midday, and half-way between...