Then began a terrible uproar. The women rushed to catch it, upsetting
each other, quarreling, fighting, and uttering cries of terror and pain,
while the Albanians, pretending to enforce order, pushed into the crowd,
striking right and left with their batons. The pacha meanwhile sat at
a window enjoying the spectacle, and impartially applauding all well
delivered blows, no matter whence they came. During these distributions,
which really benefitted no one, many women were always severely hurt,
and some died from the blows they had received.

Ali maintained several carriages for himself and his family, but allowed
no one else to share in this prerogative. To avoid being jolted, he
simply took up the pavement in Janina and the neighbouring towns, with
the result that in summer one was choked by dust, and in winter could
hardly get through the mud. He rejoiced in the public inconvenience,
and one day having to go out in heavy rain, he remarked to one of the
officers of his escort, "How delightful to be driven through this in a
carriage, while you will have the pleasure of following on horseback!
You will be wet and dirty, whilst I smoke my pipe and laugh at your
condition."

He could not understand why Western sovereigns should permit their
subjects to enjoy the same conveniences and amusements as themselves.
"If I had a theatre," he said, "I would allow no one to be present at
performances except my own children; but these idiotic Christians do not
know how to uphold their own dignity."

There was no end to the mystifications which it amused the pacha to
carry out with those who approached him.

One day he chose to speak Turkish to a Maltese merchant who came to